XXV
How empty and weak are my words that try to tell of that day! Idoubt if there is in them anywhere what may suggest, even feebly,the height and depth of that experience or one ray of the light inher face. There are the words nearly as we said them; there arethe sighs, the glances, the tears: but everywhere there is muchmissing--that fair young face and a thousand things irresistiblethat drift in with every tide of high feeling. Of my history thereis not much more to write, albeit some say the best is untold.
I had never such a heart of lead as went with me to my work thatafternoon. What became of me I cared not a straw then, for I knewmy love was hopeless. D'ri met me as I got off my horse at theHarbor. His keen eye saw my trouble quickly--saw near to thebottom of it.
"Be'n hit?" said he, his great hand on my shoulder.
"With trouble," I answered. "Torn me up a little inside."
"Thought so," he remarked soberly. "Judas Priest! ye luk es ef ashell 'ad bu'st 'n yer cockpit. Ain' nuthin' 'll spile a manquicker. Sheer off a leetle an' git out o' range. An' 'member,Ray, don't never give up the ship. Thet air 's whut Perry tol' us."
I said nothing and walked away, but have always remembered hiscounsel, there was so much of his big heart in it. The army was tomove immediately, in that foolish campaign of Wilkinson that endedwith disaster at Chrysler's Farm. They were making the boats,small craft with oars, of which three hundred or more would beneeded to carry us. We were to go eastward on the river and joinHampden, whose corps was to march overland to Plattsburg, at somepoint on the north shore. Word came, while I was away, that downamong the islands our enemy had been mounting cannon. It lookedas if our plan had leaked, as if, indeed, there were good chance ofour being blown out of water the first day of our journey. So,before the army started, I was to take D'ri and eleven others, withfour boats, and go down to reconnoitre.
We got away before sundown that day, and, as dark came, werepassing the southwest corner of Wolf Island. I was leading thelittle fleet, and got ashore, intending to creep along the edge andrejoin them at the foot of the island. I had a cow-bell, mutedwith cork, and was to clang it for a signal in case of need. Well,I was a bit more reckless that night than ever I had been. BeforeI had gone twenty rods I warned them to flee and leave me. I hearda move in the brush, and was backing off, when a light flashed onme, and I felt the touch of a bayonet. Then quickly I saw therewas no help for me, and gave the signal, for I was walled in.Well, I am not going to tell the story of my capture. My sabrecould serve me well, but, heavens! it was no magic wand such as onemay read of in the story-books. I knew then it would serve me bestin the scabbard. There were few words and no fighting in theceremony. I gave up, and let them bind my arms. In two hours theyhad me in jail, I knew not where. In the morning they let me senda note to Lord Ronley, who was now barely two days out of his owntrouble. A week passed; I was to be tried for a spy, and sawclearly the end of it all. Suddenly, a morning when my hopes weregone, I heard the voice of his Lordship in the little corridor. Akeeper came with him to the door of my cell, and opened it.
"The doctor," said he.
"Well, well, old fellow," said Ronley, clapping me on the shoulder,"you are ill, I hear."
"Really, I do not wish to alarm you," I said, smiling, "but--but itdoes look serious."
He asked me to show my tongue, and I did so.
"Cheer up," said he, presently; "I have brought you this pill. Itis an excellent remedy."
He had taken from his pocket a brown pill of the size of a largepea, and sat rolling it in his palm. Had he brought me poison?
"I suppose it is better than--"
He shot a glance at me as if to command silence, then he put thepill in my palm. I saw it was of brown tissue rolled tightly.
"Don't take it now," said he; "too soon after breakfast. Wait halfan hour. A cup of water," he added, turning to the guard, who leftus for a moment.
He leaned to my ear and whispered:--
"Remember," said he, "2 is _a_, and 3 is _b_, and so on. Becareful until the guard changes."
He handed me a small watch as he was leaving.
"It may be good company," he remarked.
I unrolled the tissue as soon as I was alone. It was covered withthese figures:--
21-24-6-13-23-6
21-16-15-10-8-9-21 4-6-13-13 5-16-16-19 22-15-13-16-4-12-6-5 13-10-7-21 20-14-2-13-13 24-10-15-5-16-24 10-15 4-16-19-19-10-5-16-19 3-2-4-12 21-16 24-2-13-13 8-16 19-10-8-9-21 21-16 19-16-2-5 13-6-7-21 200 17-2-4-6-20 21-16 17-2-21-9 13-6-7-21 21-16 19-10-23-6-19 19-10-8-9-21 21-24-6-15-21-26 21-16 21-9-10-4-12-6-21.
I made out the reading, shortly, as follows:--
"Twelve to-night cell door unlocked. Lift small window in corridor. Back to wall go right to road. Left two hundred paces to path. Left to river. Right twenty to thicket."
Having read the figures, I rolled the tissue firmly, and hid it inmy ear. It was a day of some excitement, I remember, for that veryafternoon I was condemned to death. A priest, having heard of myplight, came in that evening, and offered me the good ministry ofthe church. The words, the face, of that simple man, filled mewith a deep tenderness for all who seek in the shadows of thisworld with the lantern of God's mercy. Never, so long as I live,shall an ill word of them go unrebuked in my hearing. He left meat 10.30, and as he went away, my jailer banged the iron doorwithout locking it. Then I lay down there in the dark, and beganto tell off the time by my heartbeats, allowing forty-five hundredto the hour, and was not far wrong. I thought much of his Lordshipas I waited. To him I had been of some service, but, surely, notenough to explain this tender regard, involving, as it must havedone, bribery and no small degree of peril to himself. My countingover, I tried the door, which swung easily as I put my hand uponit, The little corridor was dark and I could hear no sound save thesnoring of a drunken soldier, committed that day for fighting, asthe turnkey had told me. I found the small window, and slid thesash, and let my boots fall to the ground, then climbing throughand dropping on them. It was a dark night, but I was not long inreaching the road and pacing my way to the path and river. HisLordship and a boatman lay in the thicket waiting for me.
"This way," the former whispered, taking my arm and leading me tothe mouth of a little brook, where a boat was tied, the bottommuffled with blankets. I took the stern seat, his Lordship thebow, and we pushed off. The boatman, a big, husky fellow, had beenrowing a long hour when we put into a cove under the high shore ofan island. I could see a moving glow back in the bushes. It swungslowly, like a pendulum of light, with a mighty flit and tumble ofshadows. We tied our boat, climbed the shore, and made slowly forthe light. Nearing it, his Lordship whistled twice, and gotanswer. The lantern was now still; it lighted the side of asoldier in high boots; and suddenly I saw it was D'ri. I caughthis hand, raising it to my lips. We could not speak, either of us.He stepped aside, lifting the lantern. God! there stood Louise.She was all in black, her head bent forward.
"Dear love!" I cried, grasping her hands, "why--why have you comehere?"
She turned her face away, and spoke slowly, her voice tremblingwith emotion.
"To give my body to be burned," said she.
I turned, lifting my arm to smite the man who had brought me there;but lo! some stronger hand had struck him, some wonder-workingpower of a kind that removes mountains. Lord Ronley was wiping hiseyes.
"I cannot do this thing," said he, in a broken voice. "I cannot dothis thing. Take her and go."
D'ri had turned away to hide his feelings.
"Take them to your boat," said his Lordship.
"Wait a minute," said D'ri, fixing his lantern. "Judas Priest! Iain't got no stren'th. I 'm all tore t' shoe-strings."
I took her arm, and we followed D'ri to the landing. Lord Ronleycoming with us.
"Good-by," said he, leaning to push us off. "I am a better man forknowing you. Dear girl, you have put all the evil out of me."
He held a
moment to the boat, taking my hand as I came by him.
"Bell," said he, "henceforward may there be peace between you andme."
"And between your country and mine," I answered.
And, thank God! the war was soon over, and ever since there hasbeen peace between the two great peoples. I rejoice that even weold men have washed our hearts of bitterness, and that the younghave now more sense of brotherhood.
Above all price are the words of a wise man, but silence, that isthe great counsellor. In silence wisdom enters the heart andunderstanding puts forth her voice. In the hush of that night rideI grew to manhood; I put away childish things. I saw, or thought Isaw, the two great powers of good and evil. One was love, with thepower of God in it to lift up, to ennoble; the other, love'scounterfeit, a cunning device of the devil, with all his power towreck and destroy, deceiving him that has taken it until he findsat last he has neither gold nor silver, but only base metal hangingas a millstone to his neck.
At dawn we got ashore on Battle Point. We waited there, Louise andI, while D'ri went away to bring horses. The sun rose clear andwarm; it was like a summer morning, but stiller, for the woods hadlost their songful tenantry. We took the forest road, walkingslowly. Some bugler near us had begun to play the song ofYankee-land. Its phrases travelled like waves in the sea, somehigh-crested, moving with a mighty rush, filling the valleys,mounting the hills, tossing their spray aloft, flooding all theshores of silence. Far and near, the trees were singing in praiseof my native land.
"Ramon," said Louise, looking up at me, a sweet and queenly dignityin her face, "I have come to love this country."
"And you could not have done so much for me unless you had loved--"
She looked up at me quickly, and put her finger to her lips. Mytongue faltered, obeying the command. How sweet and beautiful shewas then, her splendid form erect, the light of her eyes softenedby long lashes! She looked down thoughtfully as she gave thebottom of her gown a shake.
"Once upon a time," said she, slowly, as our eyes met again, "therewas a little country that had a cruel king. And he commanded thatnone of all his people should speak until--until--"
She hesitated, stirring the dead leaves with her dainty foot.
"Until a great mountain had been removed and buried in the sea,"she added in a low tone.
"Ah, that was hard."
"Especially for the ladies," she went on, sighing. "Dieu! theycould only sit and hold their tongues and weep and feel veryfoolish. And the longer they were silent the more they had to say."
"And those who broke the law?" I inquired.
"Were condemned to silence for their lives," she answered. "Come,we are both in danger; let us go."
A bit farther on we came to a log house where a veteran of the oldwar sat playing his bugle, and a motherly woman bade us sit awhileat the door-step.
D'Ri and I Page 27
