“Then may we not resume an intercourse as entertaining as it was full of profit to myself?”
“Time heals — but Time must not be spurred too hard,” I answered, watching him.
His stealthy eyes dropped as he inclined his head in acquiescence.
Then Sir Peter spoke, frankly, impetuously, his good heart dictating ever to his reason; and what he said was amiable and kind, standing there, his sweet lady’s arm resting on his own. And she, too, spoke graciously but gravely, with a gentle admonition trailing at the end.
But when he turned to Elsin Grey, she softened nothing, and her gesture committed him to silence while she spoke: “End now what you have said so well, nor add one word to that delicate pyramid of eloquence which you have raised so high to your own honor, Captain Butler. I am slow-witted and must ask advice from that physician, Time, whom Mr. Renault, too, has called in council.”
“Am I, then, banished?” he asked below his breath.
“Ask yourself, Mr. Butler. And if you find no reply, then I shall answer you.”
All eyes were on her. What magic metamorphosis had made this woman from a child in a single night! Where had vanished that vague roundness of cheek and chin in this drawn beauty of maturity? that untroubled eye, that indecision of caprice, that charming restlessness, that childish confidence in others, accepting as a creed what grave lips uttered as a guidance to the lesser years that rested lightly on her?
And Walter Butler, too, had noted some of this, perplexed at the reserve, the calm self-confidence, the unimagined strength and cold composure which he had once swayed by his passion, as a fair and clean-stemmed sapling tosses in tempests that uproot maturer growth.
His furtive, unconvinced eyes sought the floor as he took his leave with every ceremony due himself and us. Dawn already whitened the east. He mounted by the tavern window, and I saw him against the pallid sky in silhouette, riding slowly toward the city, Jessop beside him, and their horses’ manes whipping the rising sea-wind from the west.
“What a nightmare this has been!” whispered Lady Coleville, her husband’s hands imprisoned in her own. And to Elsin: “Child! what scenes have we dragged you through! Heaven forgive us! — for you have learned a sorry wisdom here concerning men!”
“I have learned,” she said steadily, “more than you think, madam. Will you forgive me if I ask a word alone with Mr. Renault?”
“Not here, child. Look! Day comes creeping on us yonder in the hills. Come home before you have your talk with Carus. You may ride with him if you desire, but follow us.”
Sir Peter turned to gather up his pistols; but Elsin laid her hand on them, saying that I would care for everything.
“Sure, she means to have her way with us as well as with Walter Butler,” he said humorously. “Come, sweetheart, leave them to this new wisdom Elsin found along the road somewhere between the Coq d’Or and Wall Street. They may be wiser than they seem; they could not well be less wise than they are.”
The set smile on Elsin’s lips changed nothing as Sir Peter led his lady, all reluctant, from the coffee-room, where the sunken candles flickered in the pallid light of morning.
From the front windows we saw the coach drive up, and Lady Coleville, looking back in protest, enter; and after her Sir Peter, and Dr. Carmody with his cases.
“Come to the door and make as though we meant to mount and follow,” she said quietly. “Here, take these pistols. Raise the pan and lower the hammers. They are loaded. Thrust them somewhere — beneath your coat. Now follow me.”
I obeyed in silence. As we came out of the tavern-door Lady Coleville nodded, and her coach moved off, passing our horses, which the hostlers were bringing round.
I put Elsin up, then swung astride my roan, following her out into the road — a rod or two only ere she wheeled into the honeysuckle lane, reining in so that I came abreast of her.
“Now ride!” she said in an unsteady voice. “I know the man you have to deal with. There is no mercy in him, I tell you, and no safety now for you until you make the rebel lines.”
“I know it,” I said; “but what of you?”
“What of me?” She laughed a bitter laugh, striking her horse so that he bounded forward down the sandy lane, I abreast of her, stride for stride. “What of me? Why, I lied to him, that is all, Mr. Renault. And he knew it!”
“Is that all?” I asked.
“No, not all. He told the truth to you and to Sir Peter. And I knew it.”
“In what did he tell the truth?”
“In what he said about — his mistress.” Her face crimsoned, but she held her head steady and high, nor faltered at the word.
“How is it that you know?”
“How does a woman know? Tell me and I’ll confess it. I know because a woman knows such things. Let it rest there — a matter scarcely fitted for discussion between a maid and a man — though I am being soundly schooled, God wot, in every branch of infamy.”
“Then turn here,” I said, reining in, “and ride no more with what men call a spy.”
But she galloped on, head set, flushed and expressionless, and I spurred to overtake her.
“Turn back!” I said hoarsely. “It may go hard with you if I am taken at the lines!”
“Those passes that Sir Henry gave you — you have them?”
“Yes.”
“For Sir Peter and his lady?”
“So they are made out.”
“Do they know you at Kingsbridge?”
“Yes. The Fifty-fourth guard it.”
“Then how can you hope to pass?”
“I shall pass one way or another,” I said between my teeth.
She drew from her breast a crumpled paper, unfolded it, and passed it to me, galloping beside me all the while. I scanned it carefully; it was a pass signed by Sir Henry Clinton, permitting her and me to pass the lines, and dated that very night.
“How in Heaven’s name did you secure this paper in the last nick of time?” I cried, astounded.
“I knew you needed it — from what you said there in my chamber. Do you remember that Sir Henry left the Fort for a council? It is not far to Queen Street; and when I left you I mounted and galloped thither.”
“But — but what excuse — —”
“Ask me not, Carus,” she said impatiently, while a new color flowed through cheek and temple. “Sir Henry first denied me, then he began to laugh; and I — I galloped here with the ink all wet upon the pass. Whither leads this lane?”
“To the Kingsbridge road.”
“Would they stop and search us if dissatisfied?”
“I think not.”
“Well, I shall take no risk,” she said, snatching the blotted paper from her bosom — the paper she had taken from Walter Butler, and which was written in my hand. “Hide it under a stone in the hedgerow, and place the passes that you had for Sir Peter with it,” she said, drawing bridle and looking back.
I dismounted, turned up a great stone, thrust the papers under, then dropped it to its immemorial bed once more.
“Quick!” she whispered. “I heard a horse’s iron-shod foot striking a pebble.”
“Behind us?”
“Yes. Now gallop!”
Our horses plunged on again, fretting at the curb. She rode a mare as black as a crow save for three silvery fetlocks, and my roan’s stride distressed her nothing. Into the Kingsbridge road we plunged in the white river-mist that walled the hedges from our view, and there, as we galloped through the sand, far behind us I thought to hear a sound like metal clipping stone.
“You shall come no farther,” I said. “You can not be found in company with me. Turn south, and strike the Greenwich road.”
“Too late,” she said calmly. “You forget I compromised myself with that same pass you carry.”
“Why in God’s name did you include yourself in it?” I asked.
“Because the pass was denied me until I asked it for us both.”
“You mean — —”
“I mean that I lied again to Sir Henry Clinton, Mr. Renault. Spare me now.”
Amazed, comprehending nothing, I fell silent for a space, then turned to scan her face, but read nothing in its immobility.
“Why did you do all this for me, a spy?” I asked.
“For that reason,” she answered sharply— “lest the disgrace bespatter my kinsman, Sir Peter, and his sweet lady.”
“But — what will be said when you return alone and I am gone?”
“Nothing, for I do not return.”
“You — you — —”
“I ask you to spare me. Once the lines are passed there is no danger that disgrace shall fall on any one — not even on you and me.”
“But how — what will folk say — —”
“They’ll say we fled together to be wedded!” she cried, exasperated. “If you will force me, learn then that I made excuse and got my pass for that! I told Sir Henry that I loved you and that I was plighted to Walter Butler. And Sir Henry, hating Mr. Butler, laughed until he could not see for the tears, and scratched me off my pass for Gretna Green, with his choicest blessing on the lie I offered in return! There, sir, is what I have done. I said I loved you, and I lied. I shall go with you, then ask a flag of the rebels to pass me on to Canada. And so you see, Mr. Renault, that no disgrace can fall on me or mine through any infamy, however black, that others must account for!”
And she drew her sun-mask from her belt and put it on.
Her wit, her most amazing resource, her anger, so amazed me that I rode on, dazed, swaying in the stride of the tireless gallop. Then in a flash, alert once more, I saw ahead the mist rising from the Harlem, the mill on the left, with its empty windows and the two poplar-trees beside it, the stone piers and wooden railing of the bridge, the sentinels on guard, already faced our way, watching our swift approach.
As we drew bridle in a whirlwind of sand the guard came tumbling out at the post’s loud bawling, and the officer of the guard followed, sauntering up to our hard-breathing horses and peering up into our faces.
“Enderly!” I exclaimed.
“Well, what the devil, Carus—” he began, then bit his words in two and bowed to the masked lady, perplexed eyes traveling from her to me and back again. When I held out the pass for his inspection, he took it, scrutinizing it gravely, nodded, and strolled back to the mill.
“Hurry, Enderly!” I called after him.
He struck a smarter gait, but to me it seemed a year ere he reappeared with a pass viséed, and handed it to me.
“Have a care,” he said; “the country beyond swarms with cowboys and skinners, and the rebel horse ride everywhere unchecked. They’ve an outpost at Valentine’s, and riflemen along the Bronx — —”
At that instant a far sound came to my ears, distant still on the road behind us. It was the galloping of horses. Elsin Grey leaped from her saddle, lifting her mask and smiling sweetly down at Captain Enderly.
“It’s a sharp run to Gretna Green,” she said. “If you can detain the gentleman who follows us we will not forget the service, Captain Enderly!”
“By Heaven!” he exclaimed, his perplexed face clearing into grinning comprehension. And to the sentries: “Fall back there, lads! Free way for’ard!” he cried. “Now, Carus! Madam, your most obedient!”
The steady thud of galloping horses sounded nearer behind us. I turned, expecting to see the horsemen, but they were still screened by the hill.
“Luck to you!” muttered Enderly, as we swung into a canter, our horses’ hoofs drumming thunder on the quivering planks that jumped beneath us as we spurred to a gallop. Ah! They were shouting now, behind us! They, too, had heard the echoing tattoo we beat across the bridge.
“Pray God that young man holds them!” she whispered, pale face turned. “There they are! They spy us now! They are riding at the bridge! Mercy on us! the soldiers have a horse by the bit, forcing him back. They have stopped Mr. Butler. Now, Carus!”
Into the sand once more we plunged, riding at a sheer run through the semidarkness of the forest that closed in everywhere; on, on, the wind whistling in our teeth, her hair blowing, and her gilt-laced hat flying from the silken cord that held it to her shoulder. How grandly her black mare bore her — the slight, pale-faced figure sitting the saddle with such perfect grace and poise!
The road swung to the east, ascending in long spirals. Then through the trees I caught the glimmer of water — the Bronx River — and beyond I saw a stubble-field all rosy in the first rays of the rising sun.
The ascent was steeper now. Our horses slackened to a canter, to a trot, then to a walk as the road rose upward, set with boulders and loose stones.
I had just turned to caution my companion, and was pointing ahead to a deep washout which left but a narrow path between two jutting boulders, when, without the slightest sound, from the shadow of these same rocks sprang two men, long brown rifles leveled. And in silence we drew bridle at the voiceless order from the muzzles of those twin barrels bearing upon us without a tremor.
From the shadow ... sprang two men, long brown rifles leveled.
An instant of suspense; the rifle of the shorter fellow swept from Elsin Grey to me; and I, menaced by both weapons, sat on my heavily breathing horse, whose wise head and questioning ears reconnoitered these strange people who checked us at the rocky summit of the hill. For they were strange, silent folk, clothed in doeskin from neck to ankle, and alike as two peas in their caped hunting-shirts, belted in with scarlet wampum, and the fringe falling in soft cascades from shoulder to cuff, from hip to ankle, following the laced seams.
My roan had become nervous, shaking his head and backing, and Elsin’s restive mare began sidling across their line of fire.
“Rein in, madam!” came a warning voice— “and you, sir! Stand fast there! Now, young man, from which party do you come?”
“From the lower,” I answered cheerfully, “and happy to be clear of them.”
“And with which party do you foregather, my gay cock o’ the woods?”
“With the upper party, friend.”
“Friend!” sneered the taller fellow, lowering his rifle and casting it into the hollow of his left arm. “It strikes me that you are somewhat sudden with your affections—” He came sauntering forward, a giant in his soft, clinging buckskins, talking all the while in an irritable voice: “Friend? Maybe, and maybe not,” he grumbled; “all eggs don’t hatch into dickey-birds, nor do all rattlers beat the long roll.” He laid a sudden hand on my bridle, looking up at me with swaggering impudence, which instantly changed into amazed recognition.
“Gad-a-mercy!” he cried, delighted; “is it you, Mr. Renault?”
“It surely is,” I said, drawing a long breath of relief to find in these same forest-runners my two drovers, Mount and the little Weasel.
“How far is it to the lines, friend Mount?”
“Not far, not very far, Mr. Renault,” he said. “There should be a post of Jersey militia this side o’ Valentine’s, and we’re like to see a brace of Sheldon’s dragoons at any moment. Lord, sir, but I’m contented to see you, for I was loath to leave you in York, and Walter Butler there untethered, ranging the streets, free as a panther on a sunset cliff!”
The Weasel, rifle at a peaceful trail, came trotting up beside his giant comrade, standing on tiptoe to link arms with him, his solemn owl-like eyes roaming from Elsin Grey to me.
I named them to Elsin. She regarded them listlessly from her saddle, and they removed their round skull-caps of silver moleskin and bowed to her.
“I never thought to be so willing to meet rebel riflemen,” she said, patting her horse’s mane and glancing at me.
“Lord, Cade!” whispered Mount to his companion, “he’s stolen a Tory maid from under their very noses! Make thy finest bow, man, for the credit o’ Morgan’s Men!”
And again the strange pair bowed low, caps in hand, the Weasel with quiet, quaint dignity, Mount with his elaborate rustic swagger, and a flouris
h peculiar to the forest-runner, gay, reckless, yet withal respectful.
A faint smile touched her eyes as she inclined her proud little head. Mount looked up at me. I nodded; and the two riflemen wheeled in their tracks and trotted forward, Mount leading, and his solemn little comrade following at heel, close as a hound. When they had disappeared over the hill’s rocky summit our horses moved forward at a walk, breasting the crest, then slowly descended the northern slope, picking their way among the loosened slate and pebbles.
And now for the first time came to me a delicious thrill of exaltation in my new-found liberty. Free at last of that prison city. Free at last to look all men between the eyes. Free to bear arms, and use them, too, under a flag I had not seen in four long years save as they brought in our captured colors — a ragged, blood-blackened rag or two to match those silken standards lost at Bennington and Saratoga.
I looked up into the cloudless sky, I looked around me. I saw the tall trees tinted by the sun, I felt a free wind blowing from that wild north I loved so well.
I drew my lungs full. I opened wide my arms, easing each cramped muscle. I stretched my legs to the stirrup’s length in sweetest content.
Down through a fragrant birch-grown road, smelling of fern and wintergreen and sassafras, we moved, the cool tinkle of moss-choked watercourses ever in our ears, mingling with melodies of woodland birds — shy, freedom-loving birds that came not with the robins to the city. Ah, I knew these birds, being country-bred — knew them one and all — the gray hermit, holy chorister of hymn divine, the white-throat, sweetly repeating his allegiance to his motherland of Canada, the great scarlet-tufted cock that drums on the bark in stillest depths, the lonely little creeping-birds that whimper up and down the trunks of forest trees, and the black-capped chickadee that fears not man, but cities — all these I listened to, and knew and loved as guerdons of that freedom which I had so long craved, and craved in vain.
And now I had it; it was mine! I tasted it, I embraced it with wide arms, I breathed it. And far away I heard the woodland hermits singing of freedom, and of the sweetness of it, and of the mercies of the Most High.
Works of Robert W Chambers Page 235