by Lilian Bell
CHAPTER XIX.
THE FEAR
Carolina had not been a week among her kinsmen before they began to warnher of the terror of the South. They definitely forbade her ever ridingalone, except in broad daylight along the public highway, and even thensome white man of her acquaintance generally made it his business to becalled in whatever direction she happened to be going.
All this Carolina saw and felt and appreciated, but with the naturalfearlessness of her character and the total want of comprehension whichwomen seem to feel who have never come into contact with this universaldread of all Southern States, Carolina often forgot her warnings, andtempted opportunity by striking off the highway into the pine woods toinspect her turpentine camps.
Once Moultrie La Grange found her unaccompanied by any white man,talking to a burly negro in a camp, and when he had taken her away andthey had gained the road where she could see distinctly, she found himwhite and shaking. Knowing his physical courage, this exhibition of fearstartled her, and for a few weeks she was more cautious.
Then one afternoon she mounted Scintilla and rode into Enterprise forthe mail. She received the letter from Kate which has just been quotedand read it as she rode along. It contained so much food for thoughtthat Carolina forgot everything else, until, looking up, she found thatshe was just opposite the new terrapin crawl she was having preparedunder Moultrie's direction. Without thinking, she struck into the woodsand threaded her way among the giant pine-trees toward the coast.
It was virgin forest and on her own land, a tract she intended leasingto some orchard turpentine factors in Jacksonville. It was twilight inthe forest, but Carolina rode forward fearlessly, glancing sharply atthe trees for signs of their having been boxed by thieving negroes.
Suddenly she saw a boxed tree, and, springing down, she drew Scintilla'sbridle over her arm and stooped to examine the suspected tree. As shewas bending down, Scintilla jerked her head, and the bridle slipped fromCarolina's arm. She sprang to her feet, but, with a nicker of delight,the handsome horse kicked up her heels and pranced away from her,looking for all the world like a child ready for a romp.
So free from fear she was that Carolina laughed aloud, but the laughfroze on her lips, for, without turning her head, she could see,crouching down and creeping toward her, the huge form of a negro man,whose half-open mouth and half-closed eyes, as he stole noiselesslycloser and closer, instantly told her of her dire peril.
The girl's whole body became rigid with terror,--a terror so intense andso unspeakable that she realized how it was that women can go mad fromthe effect of it. In a moment, every warning, every hint, every wordthat she had heard on the subject flashed through her brain withlightning quickness. An intense silence reigned in the forest, brokenonly by Scintilla's cropping a stray tuft of spring grass and thefootsteps of the black creeping nearer to his white prey.
Carolina never thought of screaming. No white man was within a mile ofher. Oh, for Moultrie,--Moultrie, who had saved her once before! Asick feeling came over her--things began to swim before her eyes--sheswayed--and at the sight of her weakness the negro stood upright.
He was no longer a crawling horror. He was a man, and her God was athand!
The girl smote her hands together. "His truth shall be thy shield!""God is my all!" "He is my rock and my fortress!" "Thou shalt callupon me and I will answer!" "Fear not, for I am with thee!" Detachedsentences, phrases, half-sentences fell from her lips in frozenwhispers. But the man stood still. He was no longer crawling towardher. And they stood looking at each other. He had queer eyes,--one blueand one black--where had she heard of such eyes--where had she seen thisvery man?
"'Polyte!" she cried.
Instantly the white woman got the ascendency over the black blood of theman.
"'Polyte, do you know who you are? You are the son of my father'snurse! Your mother was my father's black mammy!"
The assurance, even the confidence, left the man's manner. Hisshoulders drooped perceptibly. He took a backward step. Surely she didnot know what he was or she would not speak to him except to scream forhelp.
"Do you know who I am?"
"Yas, missis."
"You don't know how you frightened me, until I saw who you were. Then Iknew that you would catch Scintilla for me. Mr. Moultrie has told mewhat a way you have with animals."
In an instant the man was her servant, the son of her grandfather'sslave. His fear of detection and punishment left him, and he was quickenough to know that her supposed ignorance of his intentions had savedhim from a horrible death. He was a bad negro partly because he was sointelligent.
"I'll git her for you. Jes' watch me!"
He turned eagerly toward the horse and snapped his fingers. Scintillaraised her head and began to step gingerly toward the man. 'Polyte'spower over animals may have been hypnotism, but to Carolina it was likemagic to see Scintilla's bridle in 'Polyte's hand. The man proudly ledthe mare to her.
"Help me to mount," said Carolina, her shaking knees threatening everyminute to give way beneath her. "No, hold your hand, and when I put myfoot in it, you lift me. There!"
Once on her horse's back, Carolina felt her heart begin to beat withless noise. It seemed as if he could see how it pounded against herside.
"'Polyte," she said, "you are what people call a bad man. You have beenbleeding my trees, and I don't know what all. Why don't you behave?"
The man kicked at a tuft of moss.
"Nobody won't hire me, Miss Calline. Ise done been in de chain-gang toooften. Nobody won' trus' me!"
"Well, if I will trust you, for the sake of your dead mother, will yoube good and faithful to me?"
The man's face lighted up. He took a step toward her.
"Will I? Miss Calline, on'y jes' try me! I kin do anyt'in'!"
"I believe you. Well, I'm going to try you. I want you to be my--well,my body-servant. To go everywhere I go and take care ofme--so--I--won't--be--frightened--again. Will you?"
The man's eyes wavered in momentary terror. But he kept his head.
"On'y jes' try me!"
"I'm going to. But you must have a horse to ride. Look out for a goodone, and one for me, too. You must get me, 'Polyte, the bestsaddle-horse in South Carolina!"
"Yas'm. I'll do my bes'. I kin git you a hawse."
"I'll pay you good wages, 'Polyte. But you mustn't drink. If a ladyhires you, you can never get drunk, you know."
"I'll tek de pledge."
"Take any pledge that you can keep," said Carolina. She gathered up thereins and turned her horse. The man took a step nearer.
"Well, 'Polyte?"
"Miss Calline--"
"Well?"
"Nobody ain't ever trusted me befo'!"
"Well?"
"Not even my ole mammy. She voodooed me. She said I brought her badluck, an' everybody tuk up de bad word agin me--"
"Well?"
"Even when I was a child, dey laid ever'thin' awn to me."
"I know."
"Well, you say ''Polyte, I trus' you. You tek care ob me.'"
"Yes, that is what I say."
"Well, Miss Calline, _you gwine be teken cah ob_!"
"I am sure of it. Good-bye, 'Polyte."
As she rode away, Carolina's shoulders drooped until she seemed fairlyto shrink in her saddle.
"If he had touched me--oh, my God!--if he had touched me, I would havekilled myself!"
She bowed her face in her hands, and the bitter tears streamed throughher fingers.
She strove to think--to quiet herself--no one must know. Suddenly sheheard the hoof-beats of a horse behind her. She dashed away her tearsand straightened herself in her saddle. If any white man suspected thecause of her agitation, a human life--the life of some black man--wouldpay the forfeit. 'Polyte's life was in her keeping. She began to thinkof him as her property,--a human soul given into her power until itcould be saved
through her ministrations. God help him to have gotaway! God protect him! Black or white, he was God's child! Thetear-stained face of a white woman,--a woman riding alone?
Scintilla had never felt a spur before in her life. Carolina knew it byher snort of fright and surprise. But she needed her best speed to drawaway from the avenging white man on her track.
In her stall that night, Scintilla knew that there was a sharp-toothedanimal which had bitten her twice in one short ride. She had tried torun away from it, but it was fastened to a woman's heel.