Eleven Possible Cases
Page 22
THE BUSHWHACKER'S GRATITUDE.
BY KIRKE MUNROE.
As we sat over our after-dinner coffee and cigars in the major's cosylibrary, one evening last winter, I discovered my host to be in areminiscent mood, and ventured to ask him a question that I hadfrequently meditated. He smiled and was silent for a moment beforeanswering.
"Yes, I have, as you suggest, experienced a number of what may be termedadventures since entering Uncle Sam's service. Of them all, however, Ihave no difficulty in recalling one that stands out pre-eminently as themost thrilling experience of my life;" and then he gave this narrative:
"Shortly after the close of the war, I was ordered to a remote sectionof the South, not far from the Gulf coast, to investigate certain claimsagainst the Government that involved what, for that part of the country,was a large sum of money. As, for several reasons, it was deemedadvisable that my real business there should be kept secret, I assumedthe role of a settler, took possession of a vacant tract of land, builta two-pen log cabin, engaged a negro servant, and proceeded to explorethe country with a view to making the acquaintance of my neighbors.
"The place in which I was located was remote from railroads or regularroutes of travel, and was about as wild and lawless a district as couldwell be found east of the Mississippi. It was a limestone country,abounding in sink-holes, caverns, and underground rivers, and thicklycovered with a primeval growth of timber. A few clearings at longintervals marked the fields and garden patches of its widely scatteredinhabitants, who were as primitive a set of people as I had everencountered. During the war it had been a very hot-bed of bushwhacking,and its men had plundered and killed on both sides, with a slightpredilection in favor of Southerners and a bitter hatred of Yankees.Although I carefully concealed my connection with the army, and was mostguarded in my remarks whenever forced to allude to the war, I could nothide the fact that I was a Northern man. On that account alone I wasfrom the first an object of suspicion and close scrutiny to myneighbors, by most of whom my friendly overtures were received with asullen unresponsiveness that was, to say the least, discouraging.
"My nearest neighbor was a giant of a man named Case Haffner, who, as Ilearned before leaving Washington, was the acknowledged leader of thedistrict and foremost in all its deeds of deviltry. He, better than anyother, could furnish me with the information I wished to acquire. Forthis reason I had taken up my abode as near to him as the unwritten lawof the country, which forbade neighbors to live within less than a mileof each other, allowed. In vain did I strive to cultivate hisacquaintance. He would have nothing to do with me. Only by stratagem didI succeed in meeting him, when he simply ignored my presence and walkedaway without a word. He lived alone with his son Abner, a bright,keen-witted lad of about fifteen, the pride of his father's life and thesole object of his ambitions. With this boy I also tried to scrape anacquaintance, hoping to win the father's confidence through him, but tono purpose. He either eluded me or fled like a startled deer if bychance we met. While others of the neighborhood sought my house with aview to satisfy their curiosity, with Case Haffner and his son 'Ab,' Icould hold no intercourse.
"So matters stood at the end of a month, when, late one evening, onreturning from an all day's ride to a remote corner of the settlement Iwas overtaken by a terrific thunder storm while still some distance fromhome. I was accompanied by Caesar, my negro servant, and we were onhorseback. Bewildered by the storm we lost our way, and after a halfhour of hopeless wandering, floundering and general discomfort I wasmore than thankful to discover a feeble light twinkling in the window ofa log cabin.
"Receiving no response to my repeated knockings at the door, I pushed itopen and entered. I had not recognized the cabin and did not know untilI saw Case Haffner sitting on a stool before the great mud-chinkedfire-place, that it was his. The man's face was buried in his hands, andhe did not look up at my entrance, nor in any way betray a consciousnessof my presence. As I glanced about the rudely-furnished room in searchof Abner, my eye fell upon a bed on which lay the motionless form of theboy. The light was dim, and fancying him to be asleep, I called him byname.
"At this the man by the fire sprang to his feet, and glaring at me likea wild beast, cried out with a terrible oath that his son was dead, andfor me to be gone before he killed me for intruding on his misery.Instead of obeying him I stepped to the bedside. The boy was to allappearance lifeless, but disregarding the father's protest, and making acareful examination of the body, I became convinced that the vital sparkhad not yet fled. He had been stricken with one of the quick fevers ofthat country and had apparently succumbed to it. With a slight medicalknowledge gained in the army, I saw that there was still a chance ofsaving him. Caesar was at once dispatched to fetch my traveling medicinecase, while I heated a kettle of water. Case Haffner meantime regardingmy movements with an apathetic indifference. To make a long story short,I succeeded before morning in restoring the boy to life and a healthfulsleep. At the end of a week, during which I visited him daily, hisrecovery was assured.
"In all this time, though the father watched my every movement with acatlike intentness, he never spoke to me if he could help it nor did heexpress the slightest gratitude for the service I had rendered him.Thus, when the boy was so far recovered that I had no longer an excusefor visiting the Haffners' cabin, I was apparently as far from gainingtheir friendship or confidence as I had been before the night of thestorm.
"This state of affairs continued unchanged when at the end of threemonths from my arrival in that place I found my business there nearlyconcluded. I had established the validity of the claims I had been sentto investigate, had reported upon them, and had been ordered to settlethem with the money that would be forwarded to me for that purpose. Atthe same time I imagined that all this business had been conducted withsuch secrecy as to be unsuspected by a human being beside myself and myprincipals in the matter. Thus thinking, I went alone, and without afeeling of insecurity, to the nearest railway station, where I expectedto receive the money. It did not arrive on that day; but instead I founda cipher dispatch stating that it would be sent a week later. Acceptingthe situation with as good grace as possible, I purchased someprovisions, placed them in the canvas bag that I had provided for themoney and returned to my temporary forest home.
"Late that night I was awakened from a sound sleep by a knock at thedoor of my room. In answer to my inquiry of 'Who's there?' came arequest in the voice of my negro man, that I would give him somemedicine to relieve 'de colic misery dat was like to kill him.' As hehad made similar requests, with which I had complied, several timesbefore, I unsuspiciously opened the door.
"The candle that I had just lighted gave me a glimpse of Caesar, withashen face and the muzzle of a revolver pressed against his head. At thesame moment a pistol was leveled at my own face and I was seized andbound by two masked men. In vain did I demand the meaning of thisoutrage. No answer was given, and I was led outside, while a hasty butthorough search was made of every portion of the cabin. It was, ofcourse, a fruitless one, and after a while the two men who made itrejoined the one who was guarding me.
"Now one of them spoke, and in a voice which in spite of its disguisedtone I at once recognized as that of Case Haffner said, 'You mought aswell give us that money, Major, fer we're bound to have it, and thequicker you surrender it the easier we'll let you off.'
"I answered that I had no money; that it had not arrived. They repliedthat they knew all about my business, and that being closely watched Ihad been seen to bring that money, which they knew I expected toreceive, home from the railway station the evening before.
"Finally their leader said: 'Well, Major, ef you are bound not to own uptill we force you to, we'll have to try a dose of the Black Hole, and Ireckon that'll fetch you to terms quicker'n most anything.'
"I had heard of the Black Hole, and the suggestion thrilled me withhorror. It was a pit in the lime rock reputed to be of fabulous depthand was located at some distance from my cabin in one of the mostimpenetrab
le of the forest recesses. From it, so the negroes had toldme, issued uncanny moanings and groans which they attributed to theghosts of those who they declared had been flung into it by thebushwhackers when they wished to effectually remove all traces of someof their numerous deeds of blood.
"I protested and made promises, but to no purpose. My money or the BlackHole was the only answer I received, as I was hurried away through theforest. No other word was spoken, and, left to my own bitterreflections, I took no note of the direction in which we were going, norof the distance traversed. When we at length halted I became consciousof a hollow moaning sound that seemed to come from the earth at my feet.
"Once more the question was asked, 'Will you give in, Major, and tell uswhere the money is, or shall we drop you into the back door of hell?'
"I answered, 'For God's sake, gentlemen, believe me when I say that Ihave received no money. If I had I would gladly give it as the price ofmy life.'
"A mocking laugh was their only reply. In another moment a slender ropewas knotted under my pinioned arms and a sudden push left me swinginghelplessly in the mouth of the awful pit beside which we had halted.
"'We'll wait here just one hour, Major,' came to me in Case Haffner'svoice, 'and give you a chance to consider the situation. If you decideto let us have the money inside of that time, jest holler, and we'llpull you up. If you decide to go to hell and take the greenbacks withyou, why, we'll jest have ter bid you good-by, that's all.'
"Then I was slowly lowered down, down, down, through the blackness. Soslow was my descent that I seemed to be suspended for hours and to sinkmiles into the heart of the earth. The pain of the slender cord cuttinginto my flesh was well-nigh intolerable, and I bear livid evidences ofit to this day; with each moment the moaning, gurgling, and groaningfrom the unknown depths into which I was sinking became more distinctand horrible.
"Suddenly, those above let go of the rope and with a yell of despair Idropped, I do not know how far, into water that closed above my head. AsI rose to the surface, choking and gasping for breath, I felt that I wasbeing swept forward by a powerful current, and as I again sank my feettouched bottom. A moment later I stood in water up to my shoulders andagain breathed freely. For some time I was confused beyond the power ofthought by the hollow roar of the black waters rushing through thoseawful caverns. All surrounding space seemed filled with snarling,formless monsters, cautiously advancing and making ready to spring atme. Even now I often awake at night with the horror of that momentstrong upon me. It was so unendurable that I resolved to end it. It waswith great difficulty that I maintained my footing. I could not do somuch longer. Why should I attempt to? There was absolutely no hope ofescape. I tried to pray 'Oh, Lord Jesus, receive my soul.' Then mymuscles relaxed and I was swept away by the rushing torrent.
"I have no idea how far I was carried before my feet again touchedbottom, this time in water that was not above my waist. I had closed myeyes. Now I opened them. A bright light was swinging to and fro not ahundred feet from me. I stared at it blankly and with little interest,only wondering with a languid curiosity what sort of a subterranean_ignis fatuus_ it might be, when suddenly my bewildered senses werestartled into renewed activity by the sound of a shout. It was a humanvoice uttering a long-drawn 'Hello-o-o!' that echoed and reechoedweirdly through the cavernous depths about me. I essayed to answer, butcould not. Then I slowly made my way through the shoaling water towardthe light.
"In another minute I stood beside a boy, the one whose life I had savedtwo months before, and as he cut the thongs that bound my arms he saidcheerily:
"'It's all right, Major. Paw'lowed you'd be coming along this yere way'bout this time o' night, en' telled me to shorely be on hand to meet upwith yer. Now, ef yo'll foller me, we'll be outen this direckly.'
"The boy was standing in the mouth of a narrow passage, that, free fromwater, led away almost at right angles to the main channel of theunderground river. It ended at a well-like opening in which stood a rudeladder, climbing this, we emerged through a well concealed trap doorinto the very room where Abner Haffner had laid at the point of deathtwo months before."
"Is that all?" I asked, as the major paused and lighted a fresh cigar.
"Yes, it's all of that story. I could not cause the arrest of the gang,even had I known who composed it, without causing that of their leader,and from the moment that blessed light illumined the black waters ofthat underground river I would not have harmed Case Haffner for anythingthe world holds best worth having. No; by daylight I was well out ofthat section of country, nor have I ever since set foot in it."
"Have you ever heard again from that boy?"
"Who, Abner? Well, I should say I had. I put him through college, and heis in Congress to-day. If I should tell you his real name you wouldinstantly recognize it as that of one of the smartest men ever sent toWashington from the far South."