"Now, dearest Bessy," I said, as soon as the man was gone, "you had
better go into the other room and lie down to rest. Take Jenny with
you, and I will remain here. That man will keep his word with us,
depend upon it, and we shall see no more of them. But, as a
precaution, I will push this table against the door, so that no one
can take us by surprise."
"But you want sleep yourself, Richard," she said.
"I will get some in this corner, where it is dry," I answered.
And, after some persuasion, she left me.
Did I sleep? Oh, no. Not only the necessity of watching to guard
against any intrusion kept me awake, but I had pleasant--nay,
joyful--thoughts to dwell upon. I had discovered a secret, at least I
thought so, upon which all my future happiness depended; and the happy
reveries which followed might well occupy the two or three hours which
remained of night.
At the end of that time I could perceive a faint greyish light,
glimmering through the chinks of the rude shutters; and I thought I
might as well reconnoitre the ground without. I did not feel sure that
the negroes had quitted the neighbourhood; and though I was inclined
to believe that, after what had passed, they would offer us no
violence, even if we encountered them; yet there is so much
uncertainty and even treachery in the character of all barbarous
people that ever I have seen, that I did not like to risk taking Bessy
from the shelter of the hut till I was sure the man had gone.
Partly removing the shutter, so as to leave perhaps half a hand's
breadth for sight, I gazed out upon the wild and desolate scene
presented by the Swamp, which looked more wild and desolate than ever,
in that dull and unconfirmed light. All was still and quiet; and no
moving object met my eye for a moment or two, till I saw the grass
agitated slightly, not a couple of steps from the front of the hut. An
instant after, a huge rattlesnake dragged himself sluggishly out of
the long, dry grass, and crawled lazily towards a little knoll where
the light fell most strongly. He seemed as if he were going out to
take his morning's walk before his human enemies came abroad.
The next instant I beheld one of those beautiful creatures called the
king-snake, not half the size of the other, dash out in his checkered
coat of jet-black and ivory-white, and dart at the great sluggish
reptile. A desperate fight ensued. They coiled one with the other;
they bit, they struck at each other with their heads; and I could
hardly imagine that the great rattlesnake could not easily destroy his
little antagonist.
But I was mistaken. At the end of three minutes, the rattlesnake lay
writhing on the ground in the agonies of death, and the king-snake,
apparently uninjured, glided round and round several times, evidently
calculating whether there was any possibility of swallowing him. That
was impossible, however, from the relative size of the two creatures;
and, contented with his victory, the brilliant little conqueror glided
away.
"How happy it would be," I thought, "if, in the world of human life,
the reptiles thus destroyed each other--ay, and so they do sometimes."
I knew not how soon I should see my fancy verified.
While I was thus pondering, I thought I heard a faint and distant
sound; but it seemed to me as if, mingled in the noise, were tones of
the human voice, and the footfalls of several horses.
Before the hut, as I have said, and hiding it, but only partially
hiding it, as I found afterwards, from one of the paths across the
Swamp, was a clump of bushes, with a tall pyramidal cedar or two
rising up in the midst. I dare say, in the confusion of objects, the
trees, the bushes, the green and yellow leaves, the fallen trunks,
cast in every wild variety of attitude; the plashy ground, and here
and there a higher piece of sandy bank with gray and yellow surfaces,
thousands of people might pass along that way without a suspicion that
any cabin was near. Still it was not fully concealed; and afterwards,
when I passed along that very path, knowing where it lay, I could
clearly distinguish the lines of the little gable with its thatch.
I listened eagerly, and the sounds grew more and more
distinct--horses' feet beating hard and fast, and people talking. A
minute after I could discern the party through the branches--three
white men on horseback, and a stout young negro. They were bidden
again; but in another moment I saw them more distinctly, and I
recognized Robert Thornton and his father. The other white man's
appearance was somewhat familiar to me, but I could not remember where
I had seen him before. It was that of the man, Matthew Leary, who had
accompanied Robert Thornton when first I encountered him, and whom
Billy Byles had described "as a man who would sell his own father, if
he could find any man to buy him."
They passed on behind the clump of bushes, right in front; and,
thinking them gone, I was turning to wake Bessy, in order that we
might find the horses, which I could perceive nowhere in the
neighbourhood, and then proceed across the Swamp as fast as possible.
Suddenly, however, I was stopped by the sound of voices again quite
near. I put my eye to the chink, which I had nearly closed; and,
somewhat to my consternation, beheld the whole party before the hut.
"Why, I told you so!" cried old Mr. Thornton. "It is a cabin by ----.
Who the devil built it here, I wonder?"
"Well, come along, come along, father!" cried Robert Thornton, in an
impatient and even angry tone; "if you dawdle on in this way, we shall
miss our mark entirely. You can come back and see all about this when
we have got her off. I tell you, if they catch hold of her, and bring
her back, we are ruined."
He muttered something about an old fool; and his tender father called
somebody a d--d jackanapes. But the old man seemed habitually under
the control of his worthy son, and he rode on in the end, though
apparently very unwillingly.
As they passed onward, a negro drew partly out from amongst the
bushes, with a gun in his hand, which he raised for a moment to his
shoulder, but then let it drop again, as if he doubted his distance or
his aim. The next moment he glided back quietly into the bushes, and
disappeared entirely. I continued to watch for a minute or two; and
once I thought I saw a dark face appear as if gazing out in the
direction which Mr. Thornton's party had taken; but it was seen only
for an instant, and I turned to think what had best be done.
The question became, what was the greatest risk? Mr. Thornton, I
judged, was very likely to return as soon as he found that Bessy was
liberated; but, whatever violence he might venture to indulge in
towards the comparatively unprotected negroes, I felt assured that he
would hesitate a good deal before he would enter into a struggle which
he knew must be carried to extremity with white people.
On the other hand, Nat Turner and his companions had bound themselves
by no very extensive engagement. They had promised us security during
that night; but they might well look upon the bond as extending no
further; and, moreover, the great moral power of responsibility was
taken from them. They had dared and incurred the utmost penalty that
human laws could pronounce; no mercy shown towards us could atone for
their past inconceivable guilt; no fresh murder, no fresh barbarity
could add one iota to the punishment which they were certain of
receiving in this world. If they were not watching for our coming
forth, why did they remain hiding there in the bushes just opposite
the hut? I could not but suspect, also, that, hampered as I had left
them, the horses could not have got out of sight without having been
removed.
Added to these thoughts came the considerations, that if we went out
from the hut we could be attacked on any side, unaided by any or
either party; but that as long as we remained within it, I could
defend the door with very little difficulty against a more numerous
force than I had yet seen; and, in addition, I thought that it was
more than probable the sheriff, when he found, on returning to his own
house, that neither I nor Bessy had returned, would scour the country
along the state-line, and, perhaps, even pass it in search of us.
Bessy still slept soundly, to all appearance; and at length, after
much hesitation, I determined not to rouse her. I employed, the time
in sawing out, with the old saw which lay in the corner, several stout
pins and bolts to fasten the door. For this purpose I took part of the
table, and in a short time I made the entrance secure. The shutters of
the windows ran in grooves, and the woodwork, both of them and of the
door, was almost an inch and a half thick; which, though penetrable by
a musket-ball, was sufficient to deaden the shot greatly. There were
no apertures at the back of the house: the square aperture which
served for a window, commanded the only approach; and, satisfied that
my little castle was fortified as far as possible, I waited, watching
to see if the negroes would quit the covert, though I had some
apprehension that they might make their exit on the opposite side.
I had hardly resumed my post at the window a minute, when Bessy crept
up to my side. The noise of the axe and the saw had awakened her; and
I had to tell her all that had occurred, and to go over with her all
the reasonings which induced me to remain where we were. She seemed to
have an unquestioning faith in my decisions; and while I tightly
fastened up the window in the other room where she had been sleeping,
she kept watch in the first room, never moving from the spot where I
had placed her.
"Nothing has moved," she said, as I rejoined her; "not a twig has
quivered, not a rain-drop has fallen from a leaf."
"Then probably the men remain there still," I answered; "for I suspect
they have horses with them, and the batch of bushes is too narrow for
any large body to move out unperceived."
"I do not think," observed Bessy, after meditating for a moment or
two, "that there is any fear of violence from Mr. Thornton or his
party. Robert is a coward, I am sure. He may bolster himself up to
some degree of determination when he is forced to it by fear of the
world; and he may do terrible and cruel acts where poor negroes or
women are concerned. But he is always more or less cowed, as I have
seen, when he is opposed to a free man, and more especially to a
gentleman. He does not seem to know how to act; and, in his
hesitation, he gets alarmed."
"I agree with you," I replied; "for although in the unfortunate affair
between himself and me he did not actually show want of nerve, I could
plainly perceive he would a great deal rather have avoided fighting,
had it been possible. But see! there is something moving in the
bushes."
It certainly was so, and the movement was towards the side at which we
were standing, but nobody issued forth; and after waiting for a few
minutes more, sharing in my watch, Bessy left me to call old Jenny,
who had slept uninterruptedly through all that had taken place.
The good old cook set to work at once to light a fire again; and I did
not think it worth while to prevent her, for the negroes already knew
that we were there; and if Mr. Thornton came at all, it would be to
search the place, so that the treacherous signal of the smoke could do
us no harm. Indeed, in the present instance, it did us much good. Our
breakfast was destined to be very scanty. Bread, there was very
little. The fish was all consumed; and some eggs, which aunt Jenny
roasted in the ashes, were all that remained of the more solid fare.
Worst of all, we had no water; and I perceived, with no light
apprehension, that if our enemies could not take us by storm, they
might soon starve us out by a blockade.
We took it by turns to watch and to eat, making old Jenny breakfast
first; but she had not assumed her post at the window for three
minutes, when she exclaimed,--
"Here dey comin', mas'r--here dey comin'!"
Starting up, I ran to her side. I instantly saw the party, and
distinguished who they were. Mr. William Thornton and his son had
visited the old place, as they called it; found that I had taken Miss
Davenport away, fixed at once upon the cabin they had seen in the
wood, and pursued us thither.
They had dismounted at some little distance, had given the horses to
the negro-boy, and were approaching towards the hut on foot, when I
saw them. I placed on the table the powder and the slugs, and the two
pistols ready loaded.
"Bessy," I said, "can you load rapidly, as soon as I have fired, in
case of need?"
"Yes, yes," she answered, "I have seen it done often. I am sure I can
do it."
"Then you stand between me and the table, Jenny," I said, "and hand
the weapons to and fro. As soon as I have fired, if I should have
occasion to fire, give me another weapon. One man here," I added, with
a smile to encourage them, "is equal to five or six without."
I then pushed back the shutter a little more, leaned the muzzle of the
gun upon the sill, and looked out, careless of further concealment.
Mr. Thornton's party, that is to say, the three white men, had stopped
at the distance of about one hundred and fifty yards from the cabin,
apparently to consult. But a moment after they turned to march forward
again, and their eyes instantly fell upon me at the window.