Chapter IV.
COLONEL WARLOW'S STORY--CONTINUED.
The listeners had seated themselves on the buffalo-robes which ScottMoreland's thoughtfulness had provided, and the colonel resumed thethread of his narrative.
"The blow was followed by unconsciousness, and when I awoke, as it were,from a long and fevered sleep, I was seated in an easy-chair on a shadedveranda, and before me stretched the limitless ocean, its restless wavespurling in foam on the sandy beach at my feet. Beside the porch on whichI was seated grew luxuriant lime and orange trees, loaded with fruit andbloom, and the air was heavy with the sensuous odors of tropicalflowers.
"A ray of memory gleamed feebly across my confused and cloudy mind, andI vaguely wondered why my hands should be so wasted and thin. Then awavering sensation swept over my mental faculties like a dark cloud. Theglimmer of memory once again struggled and flickered, then flashed forthwith a dazzling light, piercing through the fog and haze which had solong obscured the light of reason, and I felt as if the sun had justarisen.
"As I sat with closed eyes, gently rocking to and fro, I remembereddimly, like some half-forgotten dream, my long journey across thecontinent with Walraven, our camping beside the Kansas stream at theStone Corral; and then with surprise I looked out on the ocean beforeme. Suddenly the memory of that night of horror came vividly to my mind,and with a loud cry I sprang to my feet; but a firm hand was laid on myshoulder, and a kind voice requested me to be calm, and pressed me todrink the glass of wine which was held to my lips.
"I obeyed mechanically, and as I drained the cup of its sparklingcontents I glanced up at the bronzed though handsome stranger beside me,who, with joy and gratification beaming in his blue eyes, said in answerto my look of inquiry:--
"'Old boy, you will soon be yourself again; but you must not talk toomuch, nor ask questions just now.'
"'But where am I, and what does it all mean?' I exclaimed in a dazedsort of way.
"'You are near Los Angeles, and this is the Pacific Ocean which liesbefore you,' he answered slowly.
"When he had made this strange statement, I felt a wavering sensationonce more cross my brain, as if madness were about to seize me.
"'You should not talk, nor think of the past,' said he anxiously, 'butbrace up and recover; then we will go up to the mines, and dig outnuggets like nigger-heads.'
"'But at least tell me how I came here,' I entreated.
"'Well,' said he in a faltering manner, 'if you will be composed I willdo so; but you must not give way to your emotions.'
"I sank back in the chair, motioning for him to proceed, as the suspensewas unbearable; and he then related the following, in soothing tones,like one who had long humored and tenderly nursed a suffering invalid:--
"'My name is Roger Coble, and my home is near Springfield, Ill., fromwhich place I started to the gold-fields of the Sacramento River, whichhad thrown our quiet rural community into a great excitement by therumor of their fabulous richness. Our train had only traveled a fewdays' drive westward from the Missouri, when we came to the Stone Corralon the bank of the Cottonwood. There we found you, wounded anddelirious. I placed you on a canvas bed in one of my wagons, and broughtyou on to Santa Fe.
"'As you were still delirious and in a helpless condition, I could notbear the thought of leaving you at the latter place, but brought youalong with the train to this place, where we arrived last week, and I amoverjoyed to see you on your feet again.'
"'But what was the fate of Walraven and his wife?' I cried, in greatexcitement.
"Seeing the wild look again coming into my eyes, he said, with asaddened expression:--
"'Do not ask any more questions, my boy. When you become stronger I willtell you all. But now, my friend, do try to think of pleasanter themes.If you do not, you will surely relapse into your former deplorablestate.'
"Therefore I took his kindly advice, and ignored the past with all itsbitter memories, and listened with growing interest to his hopeful plansfor the future. As he told of the great gold-fields that had beendiscovered in the newly acquired California, that were of such fabulousrichness, he said, that all the world was wild with excitement andwonder, I began to feel the infection of his enthusiasm, and almostforgot the fact that I was penniless and two thousand miles from home.
"The next day I felt still stronger; but the ugly wound on my head wasnot yet entirely healed, being a painful reminder of the terrible blowwhich I had received the night of the attack at the corral.
"As the days passed by I rapidly convalesced, and erelong was able towalk through the orange-groves, or sail with Roger out on the tranquilwater; but whenever I had nerved myself up to the point of asking thefate of my friends, to my horror I would find that same old sickening,wavering sensation steal over my brain that I remembered so well, and Iwould shudder to think that I stood, as it were, upon the brink ofmadness.
"So in our long rambles on the sea-shore or drives on the beach, weshunned all allusion to the fateful past, tacitly ignoring theunexplained sequel to that terrible tragedy; but the suspense and strainwere so great that it is a blissful thing that events followed whichdiverted my mind from the painful subject, or perhaps my reason may havebeen utterly overthrown.
"Roger had disposed of his teams, and, after consulting me, procuredtickets to San Francisco, a small village that had sprung up on thecoast to the north, and as he gave me my ticket he said with a smile:--
"'We will be pards, George, and divide profit and loss up in the mines,and when you strike it "rich," why, you can repay me; and as forinterest--guess we will smoke that out at your expense.'
"I replied, through my tears, that all the gold of this earth could notrepay his kindness and generosity.
"Before sailing on the _Lapwing_ I wrote to my friends in Missouri,telling them briefly of the disaster which had befallen me, but that Iwas with the best fellow alive; and in my letter to sister Amy I toldher how nobly Roger had cared for me in my direst hour of trial andneed, and I hinted that she must wait for me to bring him back, which Iwould do when I had regained my lost fortune by working in the mines, towhich we were now just starting, full of hope and enthusiasm.
"Our first day out on the Pacific proved that body of water to bewoefully misnamed indeed; for the weather was just as vile and fickle asI ever saw on the much maligned Atlantic. In the evening Roger andmyself were seated on deck, watching the sun set in a pile of blackclouds, which, as the broad streams of amber and violet flamed up frombehind the sombre mass, slowly changed to purple, rose, and crimson,edged with gold.
"When the brilliant hues had faded, the dusky clouds rested on a sullensea, that was only ruffled by the fitful breeze, which rose and fell,then died away, leaving a death-like calm, oppressive as it wasforeboding.
"The frightened sea-birds flew screaming by, flapping their broad whitewings, then fading swiftly away. The captain now came on deck, and, byhis quick orders and restless movements, we knew that he anticipateddanger from the storm which we could see rapidly rising, and the riggingwas soon in order to meet the heavy gale.
"A fiery moon rose in the pale eastern sky, and out to the south-westhung the bow-shaped cloud, black as ebony, save when veined by theblood-red lightning; but as the majestic mass towered to the zenith, itchanged to green, edged by a roll of fleecy white, which rose and fellas if weaving a shroud for sea and sky.
"We lashed ourselves to the rigging, so we could get the full benefit,as Roger said, of our first storm at sea. We had not long to wait, forsoon a wall of waves, like a troop of war-horses, came tossing theirsnowy manes on the gale, and when the mad surge struck us the old shipquivered in every timber. The clouds wrapped us about, and the blindingspray and rain drenched the deck; the lightning glimmered fitfullythrough the mist, or hissed in zigzag streams of molten gold along thesurging waves. A lull, then again the blinding flash, followed by thebellowing thunder, crashing down, it seemed, to the caverns beneath, thewind shrieking through the rigging, the tumult of waves, rising inho
arse clamor and deafening roar--followed again by blinding stroke andmaddening crash.
"I have stood on old Chapultepec's crumbling wall, when mortar andcannon hurled their iron hail; when screaming shells and belching roarmingled with the shrieks of mangled and dying men, and the sullen boomof exploding mines shocked and dulled the ear; but never had I known anhour like this.
"The poor old vessel, like a hunted doe, bounded away, followed by allthe hounds of the gale, climbing the dizzy cliff or leaping the yawningchasm, and throwing the foam from off her sides; then hiding in thegorges below, where the glassy wall towered far above with combingcrest, scattering the spray out over the tossing sea. Again, as the shipclimbed the watery hill, she seemed to pause one brief moment on thefoamy height, then plunged into the swishing whirlpool beneath.
"The night wore on, yet still our vessel staggered along in her wildflight; but the winds began to abate their fury somewhat, and theflashes grew more dim and fitful until the storm rolled away to theeast. Then the moon peered with white face through the rift of clouds;but as her spectral light only served to make more weird and appallingthe waste of heaving billows, she quickly hid behind her fleecy veil, asif to shut the wild scene from view.
"Although the wind had died to a gentle gale, the frightened waves stillgalloped madly along as though fleeing from a grizzly horror they darednot face, and the ship labored like some jaded cavalry horse, thatstaggers and reels after the fierce charge.
"The deck had been a scene of great confusion ever since the storm hadabated, and, although the waves and spray broke over the vessel, thecrew were rushing about wildly, and to our surprise we saw themlaunching the boats; so we unlashed ourselves and hurried forward--onlyto hear the despairing cry: 'The vessel is sinking!'
"I looked out upon the waves, which even now seemed nearer, and with aclammy shudder comprehended what horror they were fleeing. Death rodethose cold waters, and every billow was a yawning grave.
"What a dread alternative--to cast ourselves out on that boiling,foaming sea, with only a frail boat between us and eternity, or remainon deck and feel the ship slowly settling under us!
"But the boats were quickly manned, and into them were thrown a fewcasks of spirits and water, with a small quantity of food; then wepushed off from the fast-sinking ship, and in a moment were riding thewaves.
"We had left a light burning on the vessel, to enable us to steer awayfrom it, and thus avoid being run down or ingulfed by the finalwhirlpool of the wreck; and after tossing about on the troubled watersfor half an hour, trying to keep the boats together, we heard a loudreport, caused by the compressed air blowing up the deck of the vessel;then the light on the old ship went out forever, and the sea closed overher shattered form.
"It may have been an hour before dawn, when suddenly we found ourselvesamong the breakers, and the coast looming dimly through the mist. Beforewe had time to realize our situation our boat was capsized and we werestruggling with the waves.
"I shouted to Roger, but no answer. Then I saw a head appear above thewater, and swam toward it, hoping it was he; but the form was carriedaround the headland by the rapid current, so I struck out for thefrowning cliff.
"Diving under the largest waves, I saw, to my great joy, that I wasgaining and soon was thrown on the rocks with terrible force; but I lostmy hold on the stony ledge that I had clutched, and was being carriedback to sea; but a thought struck me which I instantly recognized asbeing the only chance of escape, and to which I am certain I owe thepreservation of my life: I dived to the bottom, and began walking towardthe cliff, which was not more than a rod away.
"Oh, the horror and agony of those few moments under the sea! Theseconds seemed to lengthen to hours. Brief as the time and short as thedistance may have been, I've traveled many a thousand miles through thesandy deserts of the West and suffered less than in that one minute atthe bottom of the ocean."
A Fortune Hunter; Or, The Old Stone Corral: A Tale of the Santa Fe Trail Page 5
