CHAPTER XV.
As the boat, which contained the party, pulled by six of the bestoars-men among the soldiers of the garrison, and steered, as we haveshown, by the dexterous Sambo, now glided past the spot, therecollections of the tradition connected with the bridge drew fromseveral of the party expressions of sympathy and feigned terror, astheir several humors dictated. Remarking that Miss Montgomerie'sattention appeared to be deeply excited by what she heard, while shegazed earnestly upon the dwelling in the back ground, Gerald Granthamthought to interest her yet more, and amuse and startle the rest of theparty, by detailing his extraordinary, and hitherto unrevealedadventure, on a recent occasion. To this strange tale, as may naturallybe supposed, some of his companions listened with an air of almostincredulity, nor indeed would they rest satisfied until Sambo, who kepthis eyes turned steadily away from the shore, and to whom appeal wasfrequently made by his master, confirmed his statement in everyparticular; and with such marks of revived horror in his looks, asconvinced them, Gerald was not playing upon their facility of belief.The more incredulous his brother officers, the more animated had becomethe sailor in his description, and, on arriving at that part of hisnarrative which detailed the reappearance and reflection of themysterious figure in the upper room, upon the court below, every onebecame insensibly fixed in mute attention. From the moment of hiscommencing, Miss Montgomerie had withdrawn her gaze from the land, andfixing it upon her lover, manifested all the interest he could desire.Her feelings were evidently touched by what she heard, for she grewpaler as Gerald proceeded, while her breathing was suspended, as iffearful to lose a single syllable he uttered. At each more excitingcrisis of the narrative, she betrayed a corresponding intensity ofattention, until at length, when the officer described his mounting onthe water butt, and obtaining a full view of all within the room, shelooked as still and rigid as if she had been metamorphosed into astatue. This eagerness of attention, shared as it was, although not tothe same extent perhaps, by the rest of Gerald's auditory, was onlyremarkable in Miss Montgomerie, in as much as she was one of too muchmental preoccupation to feel or betray interest in anything, and itmight have been the risk encountered by her lover, and the share he hadborne in the mysterious occurrence, that now caused her to lapse fromher wonted inaccessibility to impressions of the sort. As theclimax of the narrative approached, her interest became deeper, and herabsorption more profound. An involuntary shudder passed over her form,and a slight contraction of the nerves of her face was perceptible, whenGerald described to his attentive and shocked auditory, the raising ofthe arm of the assassin; and her emotion at length assumed such acharacter of nervousness, that when he exultingly told of the rapiddischarge of his own pistol, as having been the only means of avertingthe fate of the doomed, she could not refrain from rising suddenly inthe boat, and putting her hand to her side, with the shrinking movementof one who had been suddenly wounded.
While in the act of rising she had drawn the cloak, with which, like theother ladies, she was provided, more closely over her shoulders--Samboseemed to have caught some new idea from this action, for furtivelytouching Henry Grantham, who sat immediately before him, and on theright of Miss Montgomerie, he leaned forward and whispered a fewsentences in his ear.
Meanwhile Miss Montgomerie was not a little rallied on the extremesusceptibility which had led her as it were to identify herself with thescene. Gerald remarked that on recovering her presence of mind, she atfirst looked as if she fancied herself the subject of sarcasm, and wouldhave resented the liberty; but finding there was nothing painted in themanner of those who addressed her, finished by joining, yet with someappearance of constraint, in the laugh against herself.
"I confess," she said coloring, "that the strange incident which Mr.Grantham has related, and which he has so well described, has caused meto be guilty of a ridiculous emotion. I am not usually startled into theexpression of strong feeling, but there was so much to excite andsurprise in his catastrophe that I could not avoid in some measureidentifying myself with the scene."
"Nay, Miss Montgomerie," remarked Julia D'Egville, "there can be noreason why such emotion should be either disavowed or termed ridiculous.For my part, I own that I cannot sufficiently express my horror of thewretch who could thus deliberately attempt the life of another. Howlucky was it, Gerald, that you arrived at that critical moment; but haveyou no idea--not the slightest--of the person of the assassin or of hisintended victim?"
"Not the slightest--the disguise of the person was too effectual to bepenetrated, and the face I had not once an opportunity of beholding.
"Yet," observed Miss Montgomerie, "from your previous description of thefigure, it is by no means a matter of certainty that it was not a womanyou pursued, instead of a man--or, was there anything to betray thevacillation of purpose which would naturally attend one of our sex in anenterprise of the kind."
"What, a woman engage in so unnatural a deed!" remarked HenryGrantham--"surely, Miss Montgomerie," for he always spoke rather _at_than _to_ her--"cannot seek to maintain a supposition so opposed to allprobability--neither will she be so unjust towards herself as to admitthe existence of such monstrous guilt in the heart of another of hersex."
"Impossible!" said Gerald. "Whatever might have been my impression whenI first saw the figure in the merchantman--that is to say, if I had thena doubt in regard to the sex, it was entirely removed, when later Ibeheld the unfaltering energy with which it entered upon its murderouspurpose. The hand of woman never could have been armed with such fierceand unflinching determination as that hand."
"The emergency of the occasion, it would seem, did not much interferewith your study of character," observed Miss Montgomerie, with a faintsmile--"but you say you fired--was it with intent to kill the killer?"
"I scarcely know with what intent myself; but if I can rightlyunderstand my own impulse, it was more with a view to divert him fromhis deadly object, than to slay--and this impression acquires strengthfrom the fact of my having missed him--I am almost sorry now that Idid."
"Perhaps," said Miss Montgomerie, "you might have slain one worthierthan him you sought to save. As one of your oldest poetssings--whatever is is right----"
"What!" exclaimed the younger Grantham with emphasis, "Can MissMontgomerie then form any idea of the persons who figured in thatscene?"
Most of the party looked at the questioner with surprise. Gerald frownedand for the first time in his life entertained a feeling of angeragainst his brother. In no way moved or piqued by the demand, MissMontgomerie calmly replied:
"I can see no just reason for such inference, Mr. Grantham; I merelystated a case of possibility, without anything which can refer to themerit of either of the parties."
Henry Grantham felt that he was rebuked--but although he could not avoidsomething like an apologetical explanation of his remark, he was not themore favorably disposed towards her who had forced it from him. In thisfeeling he was confirmed by the annoyance he felt at having been visitedby the anger of the brother to whom he was so attached. Arrived at HogIsland, and equipped with their guns and fishing rods, the gentlemendispersed in quest of game, some threading the mazes of the wood inquest of the various birds that frequent the vicinity, others seekingthose points of the island where the dense foliage affords a shade tothe numerous delicately-flavored fish which, luxuriating in the stilldeep water, seek relief from the heat of summer. To these lattersportsmen the ladies of the party principally attached themselves,quitting them only at intervals to collect pebbles on the sands, or tosaunter about the wood, in search of the wild flowers or fruits thatabounded along its skirt, while the servants busied themselves inerecting the marquee and making preparation for dinner.
Among those who went in pursuit of game were the Granthams, who, likemost Canadians, were not only excellent shots, but much given to a sportin which they had had considerable practice in early boyhood. For ashort time they had continued with their companions; but as the woodbecame thicker and their object consequently mo
re attainable bydispersion, they took a course parallel with the point at which thefishers had assembled, while their companions continued to move in anopposite direction. There was an unusual reserve in the manner of thebrothers as they now wound through the intricacies of the wood. Eachappeared to feel that the other had given him cause for displeasure, andeach--unwilling to introduce the subject most at heart--availed himselfwith avidity rather of the several opportunities which the starting ofthe game afforded for conversation of a general nature. They had gone onin this manner for some time, and having been tolerably successful intheir sport, were meditating their return to the party on the beach,when the ear of Gerald was arrested by the drumming of a partridge at ashort distance. Glancing his quick eye in the direction whence the soundcame, he beheld a remarkably fine bird, which, while continuing to beatits wings violently against the fallen tree on which it was perched, hadits neck outstretched and its gaze intently fixed on some object below.Tempted by the size and beauty of the bird, Gerald fired and it fell tothe earth. He advanced, stooped, and was in the act of picking it up,when a sharp and well known rattle was heard to issue from beneath thelog. The warning was sufficient to save him, had he consented even foran instant to forego his prize; but, accustomed to meet with thesereptiles on almost every excursion of the kind, and never havingsustained any injury from them, he persevered in disengaging thepartridge from some briers with which, in falling, it had got entangled.Before he could again raise himself, an enormous rattlesnake had dartedupon him, and stung with rage perhaps at being deprived of its victim,had severely bitten him above the left wrist. The instantaneous pangthat darted throughout the whole limb caused Gerald to utter anexclamation; and dropping the bird, he sank, almost fainting, on the logwhence his enemy had attacked him.
The cry of agony reached Henry Grantham as he was carelessly awaitinghis brother's return and at once forgetting their temporaryestrangement, and full of eager love and apprehension--he flew toascertain the nature of the injury. To his surprise and horror heremarked that, although not a minute had elapsed since the fangs of thereptile had penetrated into the flesh, the arm was already considerablyinflamed and exhibiting then a dark and discolored hue. That a remedywas at hand he knew but what it was, and how to be applied he was notaware, the Indians alone being in the possession of the secret. Deemingthat Sambo might have some knowledge of the kind, he now made the woodsecho with the sound of his name, in a manner that could not fail tostartle and alarm the whole of the scattered party. Soon afterwards therustling of forms was heard in various directions, as they forcedthemselves through the underwood, and the first who came in sight wasMiss Montgomerie, preceded by the old negro. The lamentation of thelatter was intense, and when on approaching his young master, hediscovered the true nature of his accident and confessed his ignoranceof all remedy, he burst into tears, and throwing himself upon the earthtore his grey woollen hair away, regardless of all entreaty on the partof Gerald to moderate his grief. Miss Montgomerie now came forward, andnever did sounds of melody fall so harmoniously on the ear, as did hervoice on that of the younger Grantham as she pledged herself to thecure, on their instant return to the spot where the marquee had beenerected. With this promise she again disappeared, and several others ofthe party having now joined them, Gerald, duly supported, once moreslowly retraced his way to the same point.
"Damn him pattridge," muttered Sambo, who lingered a moment or two inthe rear to harness himself with the apparatus of which his master haddisencumbered his person. "Damn him pattridge," and he kicked thelifeless bird indignantly with his foot, "you all he cause he dis; whathe hell he do here?"
This tirade however against the pattridge did not by any means preventthe utterer from eventually consigning it to its proper destination inthe game bag as the noblest specimen of the day's sport, and thusburthened he issued from the wood, nearly at the same moment with thewounded Gerald and his friends.
The consternation of all parties on witnessing the disaster of thesailor, whose arm had already swollen to a fearful size, while the wounditself began to assume an appearance of mortification, was stronglycontrasted with the calm silence of Miss Montgomerie, who was busilyemployed in stirring certain herbs which she was boiling over the firethat had been kindled in the distance for the preparation of the dinner.The sleeve of the sufferer's shooting jacket had been ripped to theshoulder by his brother and as he now sat on a pile of cloaks within themarquee, the rapid discoloration of the white skin, could be distinctlytraced, marking as it did the progress of the deadly poison towards thevital portion of the system. In this trying emergency all eyes wereturned with anxiety on the slightest movement of her who had undertakenthe cure, and none more eagerly than those of Henry Grantham andGertrude D'Egville, the latter of whom, gentle even as she was, couldnot but acknowledge a pang of regret that to another, and that other afavored rival--should be the task of alleviating the anguish andpreserving the life of the only man she had ever loved.
At length Miss Montgomerie came forward; and never was a beneficentangel more welcomed than did Henry Grantham welcome her, whom an hoursince he had looked upon with aversion, when with a countenance ofunwonted paleness but confident of success, she advanced towards theopening of the marquee, to which interest in the sufferer had drawn eventhe domestics. All made way for her approach. Kneeling at the side ofGerald, and depositing the vessel in which she had mixed herpreparation, she took the wounded arm in her own fair hands with theview, it was supposed, of holding it while another applied the remedy.Scarcely however had she secured it in a firm grasp when, to thesurprise and consternation of all around, she applied her own lips tothe wound and continued them there in despite of the efforts of Geraldto withdraw his arm, nor was it until there was already a visiblereduction in the size, and change in the color of the limb that sheremoved them. This done she arose and retired to the skirt of the woodwhence she again returned in less than a minute. Even in the short timethat had elapsed, the arm of the sufferer had experienced an almostmiraculous change. The inflammation had greatly subsided, while thediscoloration had retired to the immediate vicinity of the wound, whichin its turn however had assumed a more virulent appearance. From this itwas evident that the suction had been the means of recalling, to theneighborhood of the injury, such portions of the poison as had expanded,concentrating all in one mass immediately beneath its surface, andthereby affording fuller exposure to the action of the final remedy.This--consisting of certain herbs of a dark color, and spread at herdirection by the trembling hands of Gertrude, on her whitehandkerchief--Miss Montgomerie now proceeded to apply, covering aconsiderable portion around the orifice of the two small wounds,inflicted by the fangs of the serpent, with the dense mass of thevegetable preparation. The relief produced by this was effectual, and inless than an hour, so completely had the poison been extracted, and thestrength of the arm restored, that Gerald was enabled not merely toresume his shooting jacket, but to partake, although sparingly of themeal which followed.
It may be presumed that the bold action of Miss Montgomerie passed notwithout the applause it so highly merited, yet even while applauding,there were some of the party, and particularly Henry Grantham, whoregarded it with feelings not wholly untinctured with the unpleasant.Her countenance and figure, as she stood in the midst of the forest,preparing the embrocation, so well harmonizing with the scene andoccupation; the avidity with which she sucked the open wound of thesufferer, and the fearless manner in which she imbibed that which wasconsidered death to others; all this, combined with a general demeanorin which predominated a reserve deeply shaded with mystery, threw overthe actor and the action an air of the preternatural, occasioning moreof surprise and awe than prepossession. Such, especially, as we havesaid, was the impression momentarily, produced on Henry Grantham; butwhen he beheld his brother's eye and cheek once more beaming withreturning strength and health, he saw in her but the generous preserverof that brother's life to whom his own boundless debt of gratitude wasdue. It was at this moment tha
t, in the course of conversation on thesubject, Captain Molineux inquired of Miss Montgomerie, what antidoteshe possessed against the influence of the poison. Every eye was turnedupon her as she vaguely answered, a smile of peculiar meaning playingover her lips, that "Captain Molineux must be satisfied with knowing shebore a charmed life." Then again it was that the young soldier'sfeelings underwent another reaction, and as he caught the words and lookwhich accompanied them, he scarcely could persuade himself she was notthe almost vampire and sorceress that his excited imagination hadrepresented.
Not the least deeply interested in the events of the morning, was theold negro. During their meal, at the service of which he assisted, hiseyes scarcely quitted her whom he appeared to regard with a mingledfeeling of awe and adoration; nay, such was his abstraction that, inattempting to place a dish of game on the rude table at which the partysat, he lodged the whole of the contents in the lap of Middlemore, aclumsiness that drew from the latter an exclamation of horror, followedhowever the instant afterwards by Sambo's apology.
"I beg a pardon, Massa Middlemore," he exclaimed, "I let him fall hegravey in he lap."
"Then will you by some means contrive to lap it up?" returned theofficer quaintly.
Sambo applied his napkin and the dinner proceeded without otheroccurrence. Owing to an apprehension that the night air might tend torenew the inflammation of the wounded arm, the boat was early inreadiness for the return of the party, whose day of pleasure had been insome manner turned into a day of mourning, so that long before sun set,they had again reached their respective homes at Detroit.
Matilda Montgomerie; Or, The Prophecy Fulfilled Page 15