The Cavaliers of Virginia, vol. 1 of 2

by William Alexander Caruthers

  CHAPTER XI.

  "The eager pack from couples freed, Dash through the bush, the briar, the brake, While answering hound, and horn, and steed, The mountain echoes startling wake." _The Wild Huntsman_.

  A few days after the events recorded in the last chapter, the denizensof the ancient city were roused betimes by the sounds of the hunter'shorn, the echoing chorus of the eager hounds, and the neighing of thefiery steeds, as they were led forth to the gallant pastime of thechase. The river and overhanging hills were enveloped in an impenetrableveil of mist, and the dew settled in a snowy cloud, upon the hair andcastors of the Cavaliers as they issued from their doors, rubbing theireyes and preparing to mount the mettled coursers which pawed the earthand blew thick volumes of smoke from their expanded nostrils. Thesepreparations for the enlivening sports of the field were not confined toa small number of the civic youth, or to the keener sportsmen amongtheir elders--all the gentry of the town and colony, with fewexceptions, were assembled on the occasion.

  Sir William Berkley with his numerous guests, Gideon Fairfax, with hisfellows of the Council, the members of the House of Burgesses, nowprincipally occupying the hotel of the "Berkley Arms," Frank Beverly,Philip Ludwell, Charles Dudley, with the Harrisons, the Powells, &c. allnow came curvetting into the public square, dressed in their gay huntingjerkens and neat foraging caps, some with bugles swinging from theirshoulders, and others with firearms suspended at their backs.

  A stately gray-headed old negro, known by the cognomen of Congo, was incommand of some half score of more youthful footmen of his own colour,in the livery of the Governor, each of whom held the leashes of a pairof hounds.

  These, from time to time as old Congo wound a skilful blast upon hisbugle, opened a deafening chorus, which echoed through the surroundingforests, and awakened from their slumbers the drowsy citizens of thetown. Many a damsel peeped from her lattice to catch a glimpse of thegay Cavaliers as they wheeled into the place of rendezvous in parties oftens and twenties, all noisy and boisterous; some with the anticipationof the promised sports, and others from the more artificial stimulus ofa morning julep. The sound of Congo's bugle had reverberated through thesilent streets in signal blasts to the grooms of the gentry at a muchearlier hour of the morning, so that many of the high-born damselsinhabiting the purlieus of this little court, were also on the alert.Among these our heroine, awakened by the echoing chorus of the "hunter'shorn," was already dressed and smiling from her window, like one of herown sweet flowers, upon the gay young Cavaliers, as they passed inreview before her.

  In an adjoining window was another inhabitant of the same mansion,roused by the same cheering notes, but he smiled not upon the joyousthrong as they gathered around the spot occupied by Congo and his caninefavourites, nor yet upon those of the gay youths who rode up and touchedtheir beavers respectfully to the smiling maiden as they singly or inpairs cantered away over the bridge in pursuit of their day's sport. Itwas Bacon! his head bandaged and his countenance pale and wan from hislate illness and loss of blood.

  Nevertheless he was dressed, and as eager for the sport as any youthamong them, but exhausted nature negatived his feeble efforts andlonging aspirations, and he had seated himself at the window in sullendisappointment. This latter feeling was in nowise subdued by the sightof Frank Beverly, already recovered from his slight wounds, dressed in ascarlet jerken and hunting cap, a bugle over his shoulder, and mountedupon a noble animal apparently as eager to display his fine proportionsas his master. The thundering clatter of the chargers' heels as thisnumerous cavalcade now passed in long succession over the bridge beforethe gazing citizens, thus untimely awakened from their slumbers, atlength began to die away in silence, broken at intervals by the measuredtramp of an occasional party of the more staid, older and less eagerCavaliers, pursuing the main body at a pace more suited to their age; orby the gallop of some slumbering sluggard hastening to overtake his morepunctual comrades of the chase. Now and then a note from the bugle ofsome overjoyous youth, as he entered the forest, brought a frown uponthe brow of old Congo, whose look was turned in silent appeal againstthese irregular proceedings, to his master, who rode apart in earnestconversation with Mr. Fairfax. While our sportsmen are thus joyouslymoving on their way to the appointed spot, we will pursue the thread ofthe dialogue between the two dignitaries just alluded to, as it hadreference to the leading personages of our story.

  "Nay, treat not my apprehensions lightly, Fairfax; is not that youth wholeans so disconsolately out of your window this morning, a proper knightto catch the errant fancies of a girl of sixteen?" said Sir William.

  "He is indeed a right well-favoured boy," replied Mr. Fairfax, "and onecalculated to win his way to a colder heart than that of a maiden nearhis own age. Was he not the means of your own preservation, Sir William,from the knives of yonder murderous fanatics cooped up in the jail ofthe city?"

  "Ay!" said his companion, drily, "I grant him to be all that you say heis, but does not that enforce more powerfully what I have been saying?Ought you not under such circumstances, to acquaint him with thenecessity of his finding another house than your's for his home, whereyour daughter is constantly before his eyes, and what is more important,where he is constantly before her's, not only with the attractions ofhis own well-favoured person, but in the interesting character of herfather's and her uncle's preserver?"

  "If the poor youth had ever presumed upon his position in my family, tomake advances to my daughter, then indeed there might be some proprietyin the course you recommend, Sir William. But I have observed himclosely since our last conversation on this subject, and I am satisfiedthat there is nothing more than fraternal affection between them."

  "It is very difficult, Fairfax, for the parties themselves to draw anexact line, where the one kind of affection ends, and the other begins;the gradation from mere brotherly regard to love is so veryimperceptible, that the very persons in whom it takes place are oftenunconscious of it, until accident or warning from others forces it upontheir apprehension."

  "But where is the necessity of examining into these fine distinctionsnow, Sir William? Where is the point of the matter."

  "To that it was my purpose to come presently, but you are always soimpetuous and sanguine, if you will permit me to say so, that I havefound it difficult to discuss this matter in your presence, with all thecoolness and deliberation which ought to attend the negotiation of analliance between the kinsman of his majesty's representative in theColony, and the daughter of his nearest relative--the heiress probablyof both their fortunes."

  "But has not the match between Virginia and Frank been a settled matterfor years?"

  "Ay, truly, Fairfax, and I am rejoiced that you remember it; but was itnot also agreed, for wise purposes, that the parties themselves shouldknow nothing of the contract until Frank became of age?"

  "True, and what then?"

  "That time has been passed some months."

  "Indeed!"

  "Ay, and what is more important to the happiness of the young pair,Frank himself has moved in the business without any prompting from me.This, you know, was what we desired, and the very end for which thematter was kept from their knowledge."

  "He has then proposed himself to Virginia, and she has doubtlessaccepted him! All right, all right, Sir William. I always told you itwould turn out just in this way. Every thing turns out for the best. Yousee the advantage of leaving the young people to themselves."

  "Yes, yes, it has all turned out very happily in your sanguineimagination; but you run away with the matter without hearing me out."

  "Did you not say it was all settled? I certainly understood you so!"

  "No, I said nothing like it. I said that my young kinsman had moved inthe business without my prompting; and I intended to say, if you hadpermitted me, that he had authorized me, this day, to make a formaltender of his hand and fortune to your daughter, through you; which Inow do."

  "Well, why did you not say so
at first, Sir William, and there couldhave been no trouble about the matter. Instead of that, you read me along lecture about the danger of harbouring handsome young fellows in myhouse generally, concluding in particular, with a recapitulation of thevarious debts of gratitude due from me and my family, and yourself, topoor Bacon. But as far as I am concerned, I give my hearty consent tothe proposed union, and you may so assure Frank from me, and tell himthat he has nothing more to do, but to appear as every way worthy in theeyes of Virginia as he does in mine."

  "There, you see, you are coming in your own immethodical and precipitateway, to the very point with which I set out. I was merely hazarding afew observations upon the various prepossessing qualities of yourprotegee, and expressing some fears of the intercourse subsistingbetween him and your daughter, with a view to put you on your guard atonce. This was not done with a view to read you a lecture, as you arepleased to say, but from the best grounded apprehensions that thingswere not proceeding well for our scheme."

  "Is there any ground for the fears you mention?"

  "There is, Fairfax! Lady Berkley has often of late mentioned herapprehensions to me, that there is a growing and mutual attachmentbetween your ward and your daughter. Frank has observed the same thing,and indeed the very proposals I have just had the honour of making toyou, have probably resulted from a desire on his part to bring thematter to an eclaircissement at once."

  "I will speak to Virginia and her mother on the subject, and my word forit, my daughter will show you that she knows what is due to her birthand standing in society. But as to turning Nathaniel out of my house! Icould as soon turn Virginia herself out. Poor boy, he has a farm of hisown, it is true, but my house has always been a home to him, and italways shall be, as long as he continues worthy, and I continue the headof it."

  "Ay, that farm! There was another ill-advised piece of generosity; notcontent with bringing up a foundling like your own son, you mustpurchase him a farm and stock it."

  "Indeed, Governor, you give me credit for much more generosity than Ihave exercised. _I_ purchased him no farm, or if I did, it was merelyas his agent and guardian. He furnished the means himself."

  "That was very strange! Very strange indeed, that a youth withoutoccupation, and without any visible fortune, should purchase and stockone of the most valuable plantations in the colony."

  As they arrived at this point in their discourse, they had ascended tothe top of one of the highest hills within many miles of the city. Herethey found the sportsmen who had preceded them, closely groupedtogether, and all talking at once, while Old Cong, (as he was familiarlycalled by the youths,) was engaged in slipping the leashes. One pairafter another of the fleet animals snuffed the air for a moment, andthen bounded down the slope of the hill, carrying their noses close tothe earth, and eagerly questing backward and forward through theshrubbery; sometimes retracing their steps to the very point from whichthey started.

  At length one of the foremost of the pack opened a shrill note as heran, indicative to the uninitiated, only of eagerness and impatience inthe pursuit of the game, but Old Congo's experienced eye instantlybrightened up, as with head erect, he uttered a sharp shrill whoop, andmounting his fleet courser, he shot down the hill with the fleetness ofthe wind, making the woods echo with his merry _hip halloo_, as hecheered them on. By this time the pack were following the leader in thedevious trail on which he was now warm; the whole chorus sometimesopening in joyous and eager concert as they came upon the scent, justfrom the impress of sly Reynard's feet, and then again relapsing intosilence. These intervals in the cheerful cry announced the doubt whichas yet existed, whether the trail upon which they had struck was anything more than the devious windings made by the game on emerging fromhis den, for the purpose, as the negroes stoutly affirmed, of throwinghis pursuers out. It seemed indeed as if such had been the intention ofthe cunning animal, for a plan of the intricate mazes which the packwere threading, if laid down upon paper, would very much resemble acomplicated problem in Euclid, or the track of a ship upon a voyage ofdiscovery in unknown seas. Meanwhile Old Congo was in the thickest ofthem; now cursing one refractory member, and again cheering a favourite.The Cavaliers stood in groups--one foot in the stirrup and a hand on thepummel of the saddle, or smoothing down the curling mane of theirimpatient chargers. At length the problem was solved, and the houndswere seen coursing in a circle round the brow of the hill, a continuousyelp from the leader, and an answering chorus from the pack, announcingto the waiting gentry, that the game was up. They instantly mounted, andwere presently flying over the uneven ground at a speed and with areckless, yet skilful horsemanship, which bade defiance to all theperils of the chase. Here one lost his cap by the limb of a tree; thereanother measured his length upon the ground by the stumble of hischarger; the main party speeding apace, regardless of all, save the foxand his pursuers.

  The chase, like misfortune, is a wonderful leveller of distinctions.Foremost in the field were the proud Sir William and the keener Fairfax;one upon either side of Congo, whooping and yelling in unison, and alldistinctions forgotten for the moment, but the speed and bottom of theircoursers; the countenances of the three alike expressive of concentratedeagerness in the sport. To a spectator on the summit of the hill, thescene was not wanting in picturesque and striking features. The sun wasjust peeping over the blue hills, and lifting the vapours from thevalleys beneath, in all the variegated and beauteous tints of therainbow, as they arose in majestic masses and encircled the summits ofthe cliffs. The cool and invigorating breeze of a young summer morn, asit was wafted through the romantic dales and glens, came loaded with therichest sweets of forest and of flower. And when the music of the houndswas softened in the distance to a faint harmonious swell upon the air,the feathered tribes, luxuriant in beauty, warbled forth their richeststrains of nature's melody as they hopped from twig to twig, flashingtheir brilliant colours in dazzling contrast to the pendant dew-dropsglittering in the sunbeams. On the other hand the rays fell in broadsheets of light upon the tranquil waters of the noble Powhatan, as seenthrough the deep green foliage of the woodland vista. The city too wasdimly visible in the distance, its towering columns of smoke shootinghigh up towards heaven through the clear calm air, and expanding intofleecy waves as they were lost or scattered in the higher regions of theatmosphere. These morning glories of a southern sunrise were, however,lost upon our sportsmen, who now came sweeping round the base of thehill from the opposite side, the horses covered with foam, and ridersmaking the welkin ring again with their shouts of gladness andexcitement. The dignity of station and of birth, affairs of state, andall other considerations foreign to the business of the time, wereutterly forgotten and abandoned, while their late proud possessors viedwith the youngest and the humblest in seizing the pleasures of thechase. The horses seemed in the distance as if their bodies were movingthrough the air, a foot and a half nearer the ground than they werewont, their legs nearly invisible; while their riders bent over theirnecks as if impatient even of this headlong speed.

  Hitherto the hounds as usual, when in pursuit of the fox, had moved inthe figure of a rude circle, never departing to any great distance fromthe point whence they had started, but moving round and round the hill;and there was every appearance that the chase would be thus continueduntil the game was either fairly run down, or had gained the shelter ofhis hole.

  In the present instance, however, an unexpected reprieve was granted tothe hard pressed animal. The dogs, as they came round the brow of thehill for the third or fourth time, struck off abruptly from theirregular circuit; the foremost chargers were reined up and in a shorttime the whole cavalcade was brought to a stand at the point where thedogs had quitted the track.

  The cause of this interruption to the sport was readily understood bythe experienced Cavaliers. A buck had crossed between the dogs and thefox, and the former, contrary to their usual discipline and stanchness,broke off to follow the newest scent. Many were the imprecations hurledat the head of Old Congo and his deputies fo
r this misconduct of theircharge, the consequence, as was affirmed, of their having been set uponthe trail of a buck on the previous Sabbath. It was now, however, toolate to remedy the evil, as Congo's bugle itself was not sufficient torecall the eager pack.

  Firearms were immediately unslung from the shoulders of such as borethem, and Mr. Fairfax, as the keenest sportsman, leading the way, nearlyhalf of the youths were quickly seen following him up the opposite hill.Sir William Berkley and such of the company as had already been wornout, retraced their steps to the picturesque point from which they hadset out, and which has already been described.

  Here some of the footmen, retained for the purpose, speedilyconstructed a rude table under an umbrageous tree, upon which was laidout a tempting display of cold viands, wines and strong waters. Horseswere now tied to the surrounding trees, and their riders threwthemselves upon the sward to repose their wearied limbs, and regaletheir longing eyes upon the good things which only awaited the return oftheir comrades. This delay seemed likely, however, to prove rathertedious to the longing appetites of the former, who had not as yetbroken their fast.

  Full two hours had elapsed, and yet no token came of hounds or huntsmen.The patience even of the formal and ceremonious Sir William began toflag, and he forthwith ordered the bugles to sound a recall from thehighest spot in the neighbourhood. In vain the reverberating blastsreechoed from hill to hill, and from river to cliff; in vain they,paused to listen for the music of the hounds or an answering signal fromthe keener sportsmen. After repeated trials the patience of the Governorgave way, and having set apart a share of the provision for theircomrades, they fell upon the tempting display with knife and dagger.Cups of horn, and silver flagons were speedily, produced, and in a shorttime their absent compeers were almost forgotten in the generaldestruction of cold capons, tongue and ham.

  Towards the conclusion of the repast, the absent sportsmen began to dropin singly and at intervals. The bridles of their foaming horses werethrown to the grooms, and they fell upon the wine and fowls likefamished soldiers, after a long day's march. Then came a panting hound,crouching beneath the legs of a horse, with his tongue hanging from hismouth; then another, and another, until they had all obeyed the summonsof the bugle.

  None of the huntsmen who had returned as yet, had been in at the death;but it was supposed that Mr. Fairfax, the only one now missing, had beenmore fortunate, as the hounds that came in last were covered with blood.He was momentarily expected, but they listened in vain for the sound ofhis horn. Old Congo was despatched over the hills to summon him with hisbugle, but he likewise returned without any tidings of the absentCavalier, and without having heard any answering notes to those of hisown horn. Hours were spent in waiting for him, at first occupied by theyounger Cavaliers in various games and athletic sports, but as the daywaned apace, and still no news of him arrived, uneasiness began toengross the minds of his associates.

  By the orders of the Governor, the whole Cavalcade spread themselves,and scoured the forests for miles in the direction he had been seen totake, but no answer was returned to their shouts and bugles, and notoken of his presence and safety was discovered. Occasionally twoparties were brought together by a supposed answer from his bugle, butit was found to be only the reply of one scouring party to another.

  After a long and fruitless search, they resolved to hasten to the city,in hopes that he had reached his home by some other route, and in casethis supposition should prove fallacious it was resolved that the wholemale population should be called out to the search. The distance wasaccomplished with a speed and recklessness quite equal to that withwhich they had performed it in the morning, but with feelings verydifferent. A general and gloomy silence pervaded their ranks. GideonFairfax was one of the most universally popular Cavaliers in the Colony;he was generous, hospitable, and sincere, with his equals, and humaneand affable to his inferiors. His own slaves idolized him, and wouldhave readily perilled life and limb in defence either of his person orhis reputation.

  When, the cavalcade arrived at the bridge, their painful suspense andanxiety were little relieved by perceiving an immense crowd assembledround the house of Mr. Fairfax. That some accident must have befallenhim they had too good reason now to apprehend, else what could havedrawn the multitude together? The arrival of a successful huntsman, wasan affair of too frequent occurrence at Jamestown to excite the presentvisible commotion. The returning and anxious Cavaliers were soon met bythe eager throng, who pressed around them in crowds, each partydemanding of the other news respecting their absent fellow-citizen.

  The assemblage of the crowd around the house was soon explained by theappearance of his favourite charger, upon which he had set out in themorning, so full of health, vigour and animation. He was held in themidst of the assemblage, his head-gear broken, the saddle bloody, andhis sides dripping with mud and water, as if he had just crossed throughthe river. In this condition he had presented himself at the stable doorwhere he was usually kept, without his rider, and this was all they knewin the city concerning the fate of the missing horseman. This was enoughto excite the most distracting fears in the minds of his own family, andthe worst apprehensions, in those of his immediate friends and morehumble admirers.

  Horses and men were speedily volunteered for the purpose of scouring thewhole forest in the direction of the chase. Many of the Cavaliers barelydismounted from one horse to mount another; and in a very few minutes,hundreds of citizens, some on horseback and others on foot, hadassembled. While they were thus speedily collecting their forces, ascream from some washerwomen on the bank of the river, quickly drew thecrowd in that direction. Men, women and children rushed to the spot withfeelings of anxiety and alarm, wrought to the highest pitch. They werenot left long in doubt, for a boat was just nearing the shore, in whichwere two men rowing, while another supported upon his lap the head ofthe still living but wounded Cavalier.