CHAPTER XL
JACQUELIN GRAY AND ANDY STAMPER PAY AN OLD DEBT
The disappearance of Leech had strangely affected Miss Bush. She wasmuch agitated by it. Her host was sure at first that Leech had goneoff; then he was sure he had been murdered. Miss Bush was accustomedto investigate for herself. Among her acquaintances was old Peggy, wholived in the cabin on the abandoned place. Miss Bush, in her roundamong the negroes, had found the old woman, and, in the face of somecoldness on the latter’s part, had persisted in showing her kindness,and had finally won her gratitude, if not her friendship. Soon afterLeech’s disappearance she paid old Peggy a visit. Then she went to seeMiss Welch. If Miss Welch would only use her influence with CaptainAllen! Miss Welch had none; they did not even speak. But she made asuggestion.
So, one evening about dusk, just after the arrival of Thurston withhis command, a visitor, deeply veiled, applied to the sentinel at thegate of the court-green, and asked leave to see Mr. Jacquelin Gray. Thesergeant of the guard was called, and, after certain formalities, shewas admitted to the clerk’s office; and a few minutes later JacquelinGray came in. The visitor stated, with some nervousness, that shewished to see him privately, and Jacquelin, wondering what the strangercould want with him, walked with her into the inner office. Even thereshe appeared greatly embarrassed. She evidently did not know how tobegin, and Jacquelin, to relieve her, asked her kindly what he could dofor her.
“I have a great favor to ask of you,” she said.
“Well, madam, I do not know what I can do for anyone, a prisoner likeme,” said Jacquelin, smiling half-grimly, half-sadly. “But I think Ican say that whatever I can do I will do.”
“I am sure you can. If you cannot, no one can. I want you to intercedefor me with Captain Allen.”
“With Steve! For you? Why, I do not know where he is! And I am sure ifhe knew you wanted anything he could grant, he would do it on your ownsimple request. Who are you?”
The visitor, after a moment of hesitation, put back her veil and facedhim. “Don’t you remember me?” she asked, timidly.
Jacquelin looked at her earnestly. For a moment he was deeply puzzled;then, as a faint smile came into her eyes, a light broke on him.
“Why, Miss Bush! What are you doing here?”
“I am teaching school. I am the school-teacher at the Bend, Miss May.”
“Is it possible?” He stepped forward and took her hand warmly. “I neverknew it. I have heard the name, but I never connected it with you. Whydid you not let me know before? I am very glad to see you, and I cansay that anything in the world I can do for you I will do.”
“You must not promise too fast. It is a great favor I have to prefer,”she said. “And I do not know whether, when you hear it, you will bewilling to help me.”
“Well, I know. I have not forgotten the hospital.” She appeared oncemore deterred from speaking by embarrassment.
“I want you to save Jonadab Leech,” she said.
“What! What do you know of him?” asked Jacquelin, in sincereastonishment.
“I know he is alive.”
“You do? What do you know of him? What is he to you?”
“He is—he was—my husband.”
“Miss Bush!”
“We were separated. But——” She stopped in agitation, pulled downher veil, and turned her face away. Jacquelin watched her in silentsympathy.
“I am sure it was his fault,” he said.
“Yes, I think it was,” brokenly, from under her veil. “He was not verykind to me. But I cannot forget that he was my husband, and the fatherof my child.”
“I will do what I can for you,” Jacquelin said, kindly. “Tell me howyou think I can help him. What do you know of him?”
She composed herself, and told him what she knew. She knew where Leechwas, and the conditions under which he was held. She wanted Jacquelinto interfere personally. This alone would save him, she believed. Thedifficulty was to get Jacquelin free. Here her powers failed, and shesat looking at Jacquelin in hopeless anxiety.
Jacquelin thought deeply. Suddenly he roused himself.
“All right, Miss Bush. I will see what I can do. You are just in time.The order has come this evening, I hear, for us to go to the cityto-morrow. I have never asked a favor of my keepers; but I will do itfor you, and, if you will wait in here, I will let you know if there isany chance.”
He went out, leaving the little school-teacher in the dim office,His first visit was to his fellow-prisoner, Mr. Stamper. It was anextraordinary request that he made of Thurston a little later: to beallowed to leave his prison for the night, and take Andy Stamper withhim, and to be lent two good horses. But it was granted. He promised tobe back by daylight, and Thurston knew he would be back.
“I will be here, dead or alive,” said Jacquelin; and he and AndyStamper rode away in the dusk.
Leech was awakened from his slumbers that night by the trampling ofmany horses outside, and footsteps and voices in the rooms above him.He started up in terror; for though he could not catch anything thatwas said, he knew from the sound that there must be many men in theparty, and he felt sure that his time had come.
He rose and groped around his chamber. By creeping up to the chimneyand listening intently, he could after awhile distinguish a part ofwhat was said. To his unspeakable terror he could hear his own namementioned again and again. The men were a body of Ku Klux, and theywere debating what should be done with him. Most of the voices werelow, but now and then one rose. He heard one man distinctly give hisvote that he should be hanged, and, judging from the muffled applausethat followed, it appeared to meet with much favor. Then he heard thename of Steve Allen, and the discussion seemed to be heated. Suddenly,in the midst of it, there was a general exclamation. A door slammed;a heavy tread crossed the floor above him, and dead silence fell. Itwas broken by a single voice speaking in the deep tone which Leechrecognized instantly as Steve Allen’s. He gave himself up for lost.But he was astonished at the next words that caught his ear. CaptainAllen’s voice was clearer than the others, or he was speaking louder,and to the prisoner’s surprise he was defending him, or, at least, wasopposing the others. He was evidently angry. Leech heard him say he wassurprised to find them there and to learn why they had come. There wasa confused murmur at this, and Leech heard one voice calling, “Order!Order! Remember your vows.”
This produced quiet, and the voice said (evidently speaking to CaptainAllen):
“It is the decision of the Supreme Council. We have come to take theprisoner and deal with him according to our laws.”
“And I tell you,” said Captain Allen, his voice ringing out clear andperfectly audible, “that I do not recognize your laws, and that youshall not have him. He is my prisoner, and I will defend him with mylife. You will not get him except over my dead body.”
There was a suppressed murmur at this, but Captain Allen continued,speaking firmly and boldly. He went over the state of affairs in theCounty, and related his object in capturing Leech to hold him as ahostage for his friends and relatives. To do away with him would be todestroy the very object with which he had taken him prisoner, and wouldrender himself liable for his murder. This he did not propose to allow.He should hold Leech for the present, and meantime would be responsiblefor him; and he would allow no one to touch a hair of his head.
Leech began to breathe again. It was a strange feeling to him to begrateful to Steve Allen; but at that moment he could have kissed hisfeet. There was more talking, but too confused for Leech to catch whatwas said; and whenever Allen spoke it was in the same bold tone, whichshowed that he remained firm; and, at length, Leech could hear thecrowd going. They came down outside the house, and Leech could hearthem getting their horses, and, finally, they rode away. One thing,however, terrified the prisoner. The voices of two men talking near thewall reached him from above. One of them was grumbling that CaptainAllen should have come and prevented their carrying out their plan. Whowas he, he asked, that he could come in and defy
the decision of theSupreme Council? He had left the order, and declared that he did notrecognize them any longer; and the speaker did not like to have him oranyone setting himself up and claiming to be above the order.
“Oh, never mind about that,” said the other; “he won’t be here all thetime. We’ll come back some time when he is not here, and deal with thatdog as he deserves; and then Allen will find out whether he is as bigas he thinks himself.”
Just then an order was given by someone, and they rode off, and leftLeech with the drops of sweat standing out on his forehead. The soundof their trampling died away, and there fell a deep silence, broken fora little while by the faint sound of a distant footstep, which Leechbelieved to be that of his captor and guard; and after a short timeeven this died out, and Leech went back to his bed, trembling withfright, and, finally, sank into a fitful slumber.
He had not been asleep a great while when there was again a sound ofhorses trampling. Leech sprang up once more, in an agony of terror. Heheard a challenge from above—“Halt, there!”—from some one who seemedto be a guard, and then a colloquy, in which he could distinguish hisname; and then his guard seemed to yield. After a short interval heheard the footsteps of several men coming down the stair that led tohis door, and there was a short consultation outside. He heard someonesay, “This is the place Steve said he is in; I know it.”
They tried the door, and then a voice called him, “Leech,Leech—Colonel Leech!” He was afraid to answer. He was almost dead withfright. It called again; and this time he was glad he had not answered,for he heard one of the men say, “He forgot to give me the key. We’llbreak in the door. Wait, I’ll get an axe.”
He went up the stair, and Leech could hear the other waiting outside.Leech was sure now that his last hour had come. In his terror he ranto the chimney and attempted to climb up in it. It was too narrow,however; and all he could do was to get up in it a little way and drawup his feet. Here he stuck, wedged in, paralyzed with terror, while heheard the blows outside under which the door was giving way.
Presently the door was smashed in, and Leech could see the light of thetorch, or whatever it was, flashed upon the floor, and could hear thevoices of the men.
“He isn’t in here,” he heard one say, and his heart revived a little;but the next second it sank, for he heard the searchers say, “Thereis his bed. He has been in it; so he must be here somewhere.” Theyapproached the chimney, and one of them held his torch up.
“Here he is,” he laughed. “Come out, Colonel.”
He did not wait for Leech to move, but, reaching up, caught him by theleg and pulled him down amid a cloud of dust and soot. Leech must havepresented a strange appearance, for the men, who were masked, burst outlaughing. Leech began to pray for his life, but the men only laughed.
“Come on, Colonel. We’ll present you to your friends as you are,” saidone of them, the smaller. “You ought to be pleased with your looks, foryou look just like one of your friends. You wouldn’t know yourself froma nigger.”
Leech recognized Andy Stamper, and knew he was lost. Andy had escaped.He began to beg him, and to make him all sorts of promises, which Andycut short.
“Oh, pshaw! Come along. Shut up. This is no time for you to be makingpromises. Come along, and keep your mouth shut.”
They seized him, and dragged him up the steps and through a door outinto the darkness. There, at a little distance, were two horses, on oneof which Andy Stamper sprang, while the other man made Leech mount upbehind him; and then, springing on the other horse himself, they setoff at a sharp trot. As they mounted, Leech recognized Jacquelin Gray.He nearly fell from his horse.
As they followed wood-paths he began to have a dim hope; not much,however, for he could not think that these two men could intend him anygood. Once, as they were on a road, the sound of horses’ feet aheadreached them, and the two riders instantly left the road and struckinto the bushes.
“If you get out of this,” said Andy Stamper, “and get back safe to yourfriends, will you swear you’ll never say a word about it to anybody?Never a single——?”
“Yes, I’ll swear. I swear before——” said the prisoner, so quicklythat the other had not time to finish his question.
“That you will never tell anyone a word about this place, or how yougot here, or how you were taken, or anything?”
“Yes, yes. I swear before G—d I never will—never a word. I swear Iwon’t.”
“Let’s see. How will you swear it?” asked the other, reflectively.
“I’ll swear it on the Bible. I’ll swear on a stack of Bibles.”
“We ain’t got any Bibles,” said the other, dryly.
“I’ll give you my word of honor as a gentleman.”
The other only grunted. He was not much impressed.
“I’ll swear before——”
Mr. Stamper suddenly roused up to the necessities of the occasion.
“Here,” he said, quickly. “Do you swear that, if you ever breathe aword as to how you got here, who brought you, or who took you away, oranything you saw here, or anything about the place at all, you hopeG—d will strike you dead, and d—n you in h—l fire?”
“Yes. I’ll swear it,” said Leech, fervently. “I hope he will d—n meforever if I do.”
“And strike you dead?” repeated Andy, not to admit any loophole.
“Yes.”
“If that don’t keep him nothin’ will,” said Andy, dryly, half-aloud;and then he added, for further security: “Well, you’d better keep it,for if you don’t, the earth won’t be big enough to hide you. You won’thave another chance.”
As they waited, a body of horsemen, heavily muffled, rode silentlyalong the road they had just left, and passed out of sight into thewoods behind them. It was a body of Ku Klux making their way back home,or, perhaps, back to the house from which Leech had just been taken.The two rescuers rode on and at length emerged into a field, and,crossing it, dismounted behind a clump of buildings.
The eastern sky was just beginning to redden with the first glimmer ofdawn; and the cheep of a bird announcing it was heard in the trees asthe men tied their horses.
“Come on,” said Andy. “In a little while you can make your promises.”They led Leech between them, half-dead with fright and fatigue, and,helping him over a wall, dragged him up to a door, and, opening it,walked in.
“Who’s that?” asked a man, rising from a sofa, where he had evidentlybeen asleep.
“Here we are; back on time,” said Jacquelin, gravely.
“Ah! you’ve got back? Wait. I’ll strike a light. Who’s this with you?”
“A prisoner,” said Andy, with mock solemnity; “but whether white orblack you’ll have to tell.”
The man struck a light, and Leech, to his astonishment, found himselfin the presence of a Federal officer—of Reely Thurston.
The two men stared at each other in blank amazement. And it is probablethat, if at that moment their happiness in finding their chief wishgratified could have been marred, it would have been by the fact thatthey owed this to each other. Perhaps something of this kind must haveappeared in their faces, for Jacquelin laughed.
“Well, you two can settle matters between you. We are off—to jail,” hesaid. “Now, Major Leech, you can make good your promises; and it willdepend on whether you see fit to do so or not, whether we have done agood act or not. Good-night.” He and Andy went off.
The next day the prisoners were sent to the city under CaptainThurston’s personal guard, the little Captain, for his own privatereasons, deciding to take them himself. Leech accompanied them.
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