I have hitherto adhered as strictly to what I did and saw myself, as
if I were in a court of justice, and bound by the law of evidence; but
you, who are at a distance, may, perhaps, require some further
explanation, to enable you to comprehend clearly the state of things
around me. I think Rumour ought to be represented, not only with a
hundred tongues, but with a great magnifying-glass in her hand; and
she did not fail to use it on the present occasion, although I have
certainly seen events of less importance much more magnified before
they got very far from the scene in which they were acted. Indeed, the
principal excitement and exaggeration were in the neighbourhood of the
spot itself, where the insurrection had taken place. Here everything
was in confusion, if not amongst the military, amongst the
inhabitants. No one seemed to know the number of the insurgents;
whether there was one man or many; what direction they were taking,
and whether there were ramifications of the conspiracy in other
counties and states. Consequently, Jerusalem and the whole
neighbourhood was in a state of the greatest alarm; and very dark and
gloomy apprehensions were entertained, even by the best-informed and
the calmest of the county authorities. Every one felt as if he were
standing close to a powder magazine in which a slow match was burning;
and I have no doubt that if the revolted negroes had gained any
success, a considerable number more of the slaves would have risen,
and a very formidable body of armed men would have been collected,
although I by no means imagine that anything like a general revolt
would have taken place. Indeed, the conduct of many of the negroes on
this occasion showed the strongest attachment to their masters, and a
firm determination to resist all temptations to join the insurgents.
Throughout the whole country round, however, a feeling of alarm and
uncertainty spread far and wide; but vigorous measures were
immediately taken to crush the insurrection in the spot where it had
originated, and to guard against its spreading farther. Bodies of
troops and marines were instantly sent up from Norfolk and Fort
Monroe. Detachments of volunteers and militia were despatched from
Petersburg and Richmond, and abundance of arms and ammunition was
collected and forwarded with all possible haste.
The public journals again and again warned their readers against
exaggerated reports and unnecessary alarm; but they aided a good deal
to increase apprehension, by such reports as these,--
"That the insurgent negroes numbered about four or five hundred. That
although repulsed in one or two skirmishes with the militia, they were
retreating towards Colonel Allen's plantation, where they were likely
to be greatly reinforced."
Other reports said that they were falling back on the great Dismal
Swamp, known to be the place of refuge already of a great number of
fugitive slaves. And again, that they were all well armed, mounted,
and supplied with ammunition.
The statements of the number of white persons who had been slain, and
the number who were missing, were also very much exaggerated, and
carried into many bosoms the same anxiety and terror which agitated
mine.
Although the account given by the prisoners at the block-house
certainly afforded some relief to my mind, and re-awakened hope, I
could not shake off apprehension; and I would fain have set off that
very hour to ascertain whether poor Bessy had really found a refuge
amongst the old servants of Aunt Bab. I found that was impossible,
however; and, after having met all my suggestions, by objections
unanswerable, Billy Byles added,--
"Depend upon it, Sir Richard, there is nothing to be done by you
to-night, but to get some food and some rest. With the first ray of
light to-morrow morning I will be ready to set out with you, and
to-night you shall share a little dog-hole of a room which I have
secured for myself in the midst of all this scramble and confusion. As
to food, that will be a more difficult matter; for I do not believe
there are provisions enough in Jerusalem to feed one-half of the
people here. Plenty of good whiskey is to be got, and bad brandy; but
everything else, as far as I can learn, is exhausted. Come, first, let
us go and see what our good friend the colonel is doing down there. I
can't imagine what he can be about, poking away at the corner of the
bridge by himself."
Billy Byles was one of those men who were made for happiness, whose
minds may perhaps be susceptible of strong impressions, but those
impressions are merely temporary. Now I have heard it argued that men
of this character suffer as much diminution of their pleasures as
their pains. But I do not think so. In the first place, few will
assert, I imagine, that in this world of trial the pleasures are at
all equal to the pains; and, in the next place, I do not see that it
is a necessary consequence of men being a little susceptible of a
pang, that they should be little susceptible of an enjoyment. At
least, at that moment, I envied him the facility with which he could
cast away the thought of all the dreadful things which had been
passing around us, and walk unconcernedly down to the river side to
see what a gentleman had been doing in whom he had no particular
interest.
The distance could not be above twenty or thirty yards. I remained
where I was; but the moment after, he called out,--
"Hurrah! Treasure trove, treasure trove! Gentlemen both, I seize and
impound you on behalf of the state, and of William Byles, Esq., of
Dunmore, near the Cross Keys, and the county of Southampton, in the
state of Virginia."
And up he came, carrying in each hand a large, short-necked black
bottle.
"What have you got there?" I asked.
"London porter, for a hundred dollars," answered Billy. "That fellow
knows what good living is. Oh, he's as cute as a sea-gull, and I see
how he has set to work, He has somehow got up some London porter, and
finding victuals and drink rather scarce in this great city, and good
friends plenty, who would help him through it, he has gone and hid it
down there, in the corner under the sand, to come down and drink his
own health when nobody is by. There are more bottles there. You had
better go and get a bottle. London porter is meat and drink too."
I declined, however, helping myself from another man's store
without his permission; but Billy Byles only laughed at my scruples,
and we returned into the heart of the village. There he introduced
me into what he called his dog-hole, which was a neat little room
enough, in a neat little house, belonging to a free mulatto and his
wife--quadroons, I suppose I ought to call them, for the portion of
dark blood seemed to be very small. They were all attention, and even
affection, towards Mr. Byles, who informed me that they had been
slaves of his father, but were made free at his death. The old man
hurried to get a couple of glasses as soon as Billy exhibited the
porter bottles; and while he was gone, my companion fell into an
unwonted reverie, which was explained as soon as his coloured friend
returned.
"Jacobus," he said, "there's something I want you to do for me, and
you must do it cleverly--here, cut this wire over the cork. You know
Miss Davenport, don't you; Miss Bessy Davenport?--there, take that
fork, thrust it through the wire, and twist it round--well, she
escaped from Mr. Stringer's house with this gentleman, my friend Sir
Richard Conway; but somehow she got lost in the woods about six or
seven o'clock this evening. Now, I want you--cut the string, there's a
knife--now, I want you to go out and inquire everywhere, and of
everybody--d----n it, you'll let all the porter jump out of the
bottle. Pour it out quick into the two glasses. Sir Richard, your
health.--You see, Jacobus, we must, and will find out, this very
night, what has become of Miss Davenport, and you know quite well that
every piece of news throughout the whole country gets tossed about
from hand to hand amongst your people just like a ball amongst a pack
of children; so you must go and find out if there's anybody in the
whole place who can tell you where she is. Ask the people as if it
were a great secret, promise them to tell nobody, and then come and
tell us."
"I'll do my best, Master Billy," said the old man; "but you know
there's been such confusion these last two days, that we are all
straggled, and nobody has had any time to find out anything. You say
she was lost about six or seven this evening?"
Mr. Byles added all the information that was necessary, and his envoy
departed, somewhat proud, I imagine, of his commission.
"He won't find out anything to-night," said Billy Byles, as soon as
the man was gone; "for, most probably, nobody in the place knows
anything about the matter. But he'll go and talk to all the coloured
people, and then they'll all begin jabbering, and chattering, and
inquiring. The question will go, heaven knows how, down all the
high-roads and by-ways, and to-morrow we shall have a whole budget of
intelligence. Halloo! that sounds like cannon coming in."
And, going to the window, he added,--
"So it is, by Jove! Two brass pieces, and a squad of artillerymen.
We'll pound them to-morrow, if they take the field. Let us come and
see what is going on."
I accompanied him to the door; but we had scarcely reached the
threshold, when we were met by Mr. Henry Thornton, his fine, tall
figure looking very imposing in the garb of a colonel of militia. He
shook me warmly by the hand; but I could see that a good deal of grave
anxiety was upon his countenance.
"I did not think of coming into town to-night," he said, "but I heard
of your fight at Dr. Blunt's, and that the poor devils had been
dispersed with great loss. One serious check is enough to discourage
them altogether. I think we shall have no more of it; and, at all
events, it is over for to-night. But what is this I hear about poor
Bessy Davenport?"
I related to him everything that had occurred, and watched his
countenance eagerly as I did so, in order to divine, if possible, what
were the conclusions at which his mind arrived.
He looked very grave, especially when he found we had ascertained that
Bessy had not been brought in by Colonel Halliday's party?
"Not that he is the man," said Mr. Thornton, after expressing some
painful disappointment at the breaking down of that hope of her
safety--"not that he is a man whom any of us would choose to act as
her escort under ordinary circumstances. But he dare not--no, he dare
not," added Mr. Thornton, somewhat sternly--"take any advantage of his
position."
"Who is this Colonel Halliday?" I asked. "You all seem to have some
doubt of him."
"Why, don't you know?" cried Billy Byles. "He was Bob Thornton's
second in the duel with you."
"He acted in a very gentlemanly manner there," I said.
"Ay, that might be," answered Mr. Thornton. "But he's a wild,
unscrupulous fellow, notwithstanding. He certainly was colleaguing
with Robert Thornton when that worthy tried to cheat her out of her
whole property. Perhaps you do not know that he proposed to marry her,
when she was not sixteen, and we had afterwards every reason to
believe that there was an understanding between him and Robert, that
they should share the spoils between them.
"Bessy, however, settled the matter for herself; for she told him she
would sooner marry a rattlesnake; and I do not think he has ever
forgiven the disgust--ay, the disgust, that is the only word--which
she expressed towards him. She was quite a girl then, and a wild girl
too; and she spoke her mind more freely, perhaps, than she would have
done, had she been older. There is no use of making enemies in this
world, even of people we do not desire for friends."
Mr. Thornton fell into a somewhat dark and gloomy reverie, and it may
easily be imagined that my thoughts were not particularly pleasant.
After a moment or two, however, he said,--
"Well, Sir Richard, it is now near one o'clock. You had better go to
bed, and try to rest. I will do the same. We will both be up early
to-morrow; and, after having taken counsel with our pillows, we may be
able to devise some plan for tracing poor Bessy out."
He was turning away, when suddenly he held out his hand to me in his
frank, kindly way, saying,--
"Do not alarm yourself, my dear sir. I have no doubt our dear girl is
safe. If she had met with any harm from these misguided people, her
body would have been left where they murdered her. They have taken no
pains to conceal their deeds. All I want to get rid of is this
horrible feeling of uncertainty; though, indeed, we are in the same
case with a hundred others in this town; for there is hardly a family
that is not doubtful and anxious about some one of its members. I am
not one to use the name of God on every occasion; but trust in Him is,
in such circumstances, our best stay and only consolation."
Thus saying, he left me; and his last words recalled to my mind the
better and the surer sources of hope and comfort, which had been too
much forgotten in the excitement and anxiety of the last few hours.
A mattress and a blanket were brought in for me, to Mr. Byles's room;
and though he, in his universal good humour, would fain have had me
take his bed, I cast myself down upon my lowly couch, and resolutely
tried to sleep. I had by no means recovered my full strength; I was
weary and exhausted with the labours of the day and with want of food.
Perhaps in such a state of fatigue, the glass of porter which I had
taken had more effect than it otherwise would have produced; and
though I was half angry with myself when I felt the leaden weight
pressing down my eyelids, I was soon in a profound sleep. I do not
believe, if an axe had been suspended over my head, or a pistol
presented at my ear, I could have kept myself awake.