Bessy and I had time enough to talk over many things; yet no word of love was spoken between us--no reference made to the subjects which had so completely engrossed us not eighteen hours before. She was completely in my power. I might have said what I pleased, exacted what promises I pleased; but I would not take so cruel an advantage of her position. There was something so trusting, too, so confiding, so utterly and entirely reliant in her own conduct, that I should never have forgiven myself in after years if I had shown the least want of generosity in deed, or word, or thought towards her in such a situation. Nor, indeed, was it at all necessary to say anything. Her head rested on my bosom; her beautiful eyes looked up confidingly in my face; her hand lay clasped in mine. What need of words to speak all that was in our hearts? As old Sterne truly says, "Talking of love is not making love;" and it was sufficient for us to feel that we did truly love each other. Two or three hours passed by, and they did not seem long. Everything was still and quiet around us. There was no further sound of musketry, no galloping of horse. Once or twice I left her for a few minutes to approach as near as was prudent to the one path or the other, which were here separated by a belt of wood not more than three hundred yards wide. But nothing could I discover. No sound met my ear; no moving object was to be seen as far as the trees would let my eye penetrate. I believe--I even then believed--that we might go on in safety. But, ever self-deceiving, human nature would not let me act upon the belief which was really in my heart. Those hours there with Bessy were so very, very sweet, that surely I may be forgiven for conjuring up imaginary dangers, and forcing myself to believe them real; and summoning prudence and discretion to second the voice of inclination. Dear Bessy, did you not give in to the self-delusion too? It was very warm in our little sheltered bower; for though the trees kept off the sunshine--the fierce Virginian sunshine--they deprived us of the breeze which we only knew to be blowing by the waving of the tops, and the whispering of the higher leaves as they jostled each other amid the bending boughs. Traces of fatigue were on Bessy's face; and I coaxed her to go to sleep, persuading her it would give her strength for our onward walk. It was very pleasant to watch her while she lay with closed eyes; and when I had been gazing upon her in the early morning, I could not make out what was the especial charm. There must be something, I think, in the aspect of peace and calm--not without life, but living, animated, perfect tranquillity, so harmonious to the latent hopes and expectations of immortality, when all shall be absorbed in the serene and deep sense of God's great goodness, that the contemplation of even a faint and inadequate image of such a state fills the bosom with strange and bewildered admiration. Bessy needed no great persuasion indeed, for her eyes were very heavy; and besides the omnipotent and ever watchful Eye, there was another loving wakefulness to watch over her. She leaned upon my shoulder, and her eyes closed. Then, suddenly, she opened them with a start--some memory of danger or of grief crossed the still waking fancy--and then the sweet eyes closed again, and she slept profoundly. I could have slumbered too in such dear proximity; for I also was somewhat weary, and felt less strong than was my wont. But I would not suffer an eye to close while there was danger near my treasure. An hour, perhaps an hour and a half, passed. I could not tell how the day had gone by, for I had forgotten to wind up my watch, and it had stopped; but I judged by the aspect of the sky that it must be near four o'clock. Sometimes I had gazed on Bessy as she lay, and thought to myself, how false a forger must nature be if the writing on that lovely face did not speak a noble, sweet, frank spirit below. Then I remembered an old picture in my father's house, of the Children in the Wood, nearly in the same attitude as we lay there, and as innocent of evil thoughts as we were. I smiled at the quaint comparison that wove itself in my mind between those babes and ourselves. At other times my eye roved round our little shady resting-place, and my ear was turned to catch any sound that might announce the approach of danger. Two pistols and the gun lay beside me, and the other two pistols in my pocket were in reach of my hand. To say sooth, I had some confidence both in my courage and my dexterity, and I doubted not that I could give a good account even of a numerous body of assailants. Yet all was so peaceful that there seemed to me no danger, and I fondly thought we should reach the county town that night and find security there. Peril, by custom, loses its fearfulness; and I could willingly have passed many a day with Bessy in those wild scenes, even with all their anxieties, had it not been for her sake. But I felt that she could not bear such excitement long; therefore I was anxious that it should all come to an end, even though the tediousness, and the dulness, and the oppressiveness of formal society were forced upon us, instead of the wild, genial freedom of the woods. About four, however, as my eye rested upon the ground before us towards the junction of the two paths, something seemed to arise through the low bushes at the foot of the trees, which rather puzzled me. At first, I thought it proceeded from the early mists of evening. It was like the blue hazy vapour which ascends from the ground at the close of a warm day; and it lingered and spread out among the shrubs and bushes without using above a foot or two from the ground. It speedily increased, however; and, from one particular spot, went up a bluish-white cloud, rolling in graceful sweeps up to the tree-tops, and spreading itself in ever-varying circles as it went. It was evident, at length, that some one had lighted a fire in the wood at no great distance. Now, indeed, there seemed cause for anxiety. The wind blew from us towards the spot whence the smoke arose, so that I could catch no sound of voices, even if any were speaking there. Still, that some persons were very near us was certain; and that they were a party of the revolted negroes was more than probable. Various considerations engaged my mind for several moments; but, on the whole, I thought it would be better to wake Bessy, and remove as quietly as possible to some more distant spot. What she had been dreaming of I know not, but it was evidently something alarming; for when I spoke to her and gently raised her head, she uttered a quick cry of fear. It was very low, but it was sufficient, as the wind then lay, to reach other ears than mine. I was explaining to her what I had seen and what I thought best to do, and pointing in the direction of the smoke, when I saw the bushes move, perhaps thirty paces in advance.
"Lie down!" I whispered, withdrawing my arm from around her body; "lie down, and keep quite still, whatever happens. There is somebody coming through the wood. I have the lives of six here beside me, and then I have the sword. I do not think they can be many; and if not, I am their master." Bessy obeyed without a word; but put her hand over her eyes, as if to shut out more completely the sights which she thought were to follow. I quietly raised the gun, which I had reloaded with buckshot, and, placing it to my shoulder, levelled it at the spot where I had seen the bushes move, resolved not to fire until I could fire effectually. A moment after, a branch was agitated somewhat nearer and more to the right; and my aim was instantly directed there. Again the same indication showed the person approaching nearer still, and I followed the waving boughs with the gun. At length, a dark face appeared, peeping through the leaves, not more than twelve yards distant; but, luckily, at the same moment, I perceived the gaudy colours of a printed handkerchief, such as is very commonly worn on the head by the negro women in that district. A minute after, a voice exclaimed,--
"Master, master, put down your gun. I not come to do you any harm. We run away like you." I dropped the point of the gun, but still kept it in my hand, watching eagerly the ground in advance, lest the woman should be followed by any of the murderous bands that were roving through the country. The bushes seemed all still, however; and, quietly and timidly, she came on, as if still fearful of the weapon in my hands. She was a girl of about eighteen or twenty years of age, and a dark mulatto; but well formed, and of a frank, good-humoured countenance.
"Ah, Miss Bessy," she cried, when she came within six or seven feet of us, "is that you? You must have had a hard time of it, I reckon. Oh dear! oh dear! that this should ever come to pass! Why, how did you ever come to get away? Those nigger-devils have killed every one at Mr. Stringer's, minister and all--him who preached to them so fine. I dare say he wish now he had not told 'em to kill their masters. He little thought he have his own head split with a hatchet." Bessy had risen, and gazed for a moment on the speaker, as if she did not recollect her, and the girl continued:--
"Why, don't you remember Minerva, who lived with Mr. Travis? Ah, they killed my poor master and missus, and even the poor little baby, Eddy; and never say one word to the women, but go about murdering in de night; and so we all go frightened and run away into de woods, for we did not know that our turn might not come next, for dey are all so furious; and Nat Turner say he is sent by de Lord to kill and to slay and to 'terminate all on whom he finds de mark. Now, who can tell whether she has got de mark or not? So five of us come away here, and all the rest have gone away, I do not know where, and taken de children wid dem." While she had been speaking, I had still kept my eyes upon the brushwood before me, and had satisfied myself that no one followed her; and Bessy, who had been somewhat bewildered at first, both by the news of the danger and by being suddenly woke from her sleep, now recognized the girl, and said,--
"I remember you now, Minerva. You were the child's nurse, were you not? I do not think you would betray us or injure us."
"I would not for my life, Miss Bessy," replied the girl. "I would die to help you, but would do nothing to hurt you." We Englishmen are not very fond of warm professions, for we rarely make them ourselves, and have no allowance for different customs, blood, and temper. Yet the girl's face looked frank and open; and I invited her to sit down beside us, wishing to extract any information she might possess. It was not much that she could give; for, as I think I have elsewhere remarked, there is not a perfect sympathy between the mulatto and the black race. The former are inclined to be somewhat conceited upon their approximation to their masters; the latter view the mulattoes with a certain degree of contempt and dislike as inheriting a portion of the blood of the slave-holder, without his power or intellect. They often intermarry, it is true; still this latent sort of aversion prevails; and you will always hear the negroes speak of the yellow man or the yellow woman with a cold and slighting tone. On the present occasion, it would seem, many of the mulattoes entertained some apprehension that the vengeance of the negroes would be extended to them on account of the white blood in their veins. This was especially the case amongst the mulatto women; and Minerva told us, she had only ventured to hold communication with some of the people of her own colour. From them she had learned that from thirty to forty white persons had been slaughtered during the preceding night; that being attacked totally unprepared, no resistance had been offered, and that the negroes in the morning, in considerable numbers (swelled doubtlessly by her imagination), and armed and mounted, had marched upon Jerusalem, intending to sack and burn the town. They had been met upon the road, however, at the distance of about a mile from where we then were, by a body of armed white men, who had fired upon and dispersed them. But she added, what was very important in our eyes, that they had since reassembled in greater force than ever, and had murdered a party of four white people whom they had met upon the road. She could not give us any of the particulars, for she had only heard them from a mulatto man, who had heard them from somebody else. We must all have had cause to know--sometimes to our cost--how dangerous it is to rely upon current rumours in times of peril and excitement. It seemed to me, too, that the girl was inclined to shirk some of my questions. I asked Bessy, therefore, in Italian, which she spoke very well, if the woman was to be relied upon.
"Oh, yes," she answered; "I have always heard her spoken of as a very good, honest girl, although, doubtless, she, like all the negroes, is inclined to magnify whatever she hears."
"Were the white men who you say were killed upon the road armed?" I asked, turning to the girl.
"Yes, that they were," she said; "for the gentleman told me there was a terrible fight. But all the white men were killed, nevertheless; de niggers were too many for them."
"Can you tell which way the black men went after that?" I inquired.
"No," she answered; "I know nottin' about dat; only dey did not come down here, or we should have heard de horses' feet.
"Three men passed by on horseback," I observed, "and the rest may have been on foot."
"Oh, no," she cried, "dey all got horses; dey take de horses, and de guns, and de gunpowder, wherever dey go. Dey took all ole master's horses after dey murdered dem all. Oh, I wish I knew who it were dat murder de baby, I would tear his heart out." And a look of fury came into her eyes, that could not well be feigned.
"Dat Nat Turner is de head of it all," she continued. "He tinks himself a prophet; but I tink him a devil; for who but a devil would murder poor innocent babes and young children?" Here our conversation paused for a moment or two; and then Bessy inquired the names of the other four women who were with her brown companion. She repeated them severally, and at the mention of one of them, I could see that Bessy's countenance fell.
"Why, how came you withher, Minerva?" she inquired. "I have heard she is a very bad woman."
"Ah, well, dat's true," answered the girl; "sheisa bad woman, Miss Bessy, and beat her own children, and get drunk, and all dat; but then she was master's slave, and she is so nearly white dat all de niggers hate her, and Nat Turner once said he would kill her if she didn't mind. Dat was when she break her husband's head wid de stone bottle--so we could not refuse to take her wid us, for dey would kill her, certain sure." This seemed a very reasonable account of the matter; but we had no time to consider much farther, for while she was speaking, another mulatto woman, considerably older, whose approach I had not remarked, suddenly appeared in the brake before us, and Bessy started up with a look of pleasure, exclaiming--
"Ah, Jenny, is that you? I am very glad to see you."
"Ah, Miss Bessy, Miss Bessy!" cried the woman, taking her in her great fat arms, and giving her a kiss, while the tears ran over her cheeks. "Thank God you have, escaped! I thought that noble gentleman would take care of you. And when I went over the house--that terrible house--and all the corpusses lying about, and the poor boys with their brains dashed out, and that McGrubber at the top flight of the stairs, all hacked and hewed with the axes, and found your room empty, though the door was all broken to pieces, I did hope you had got away. Yet my heart failed me to think what would become of the dear child."
"This is the cook at Beavors, Richard," said Bessy; "she was dear aunt Bab's cook too."
"Oh, I remember I have seen her," I replied, "the day we went over and took possession of the house in Mr. Stringer's absence. Jenny, I am very glad to see you here. But did anything happen to make you quit the house after you had stayed so long?"
"Dear, yes, sir," answered the good woman. "I heard they were killing all the yellow people as well as the white, and I thought it better to get out of the way; though, afterwards, as I walked along, I called myself a great fool for my pains, and I don't believe the story now; I think it's all a lie. But as I passed by here, I saw smoke in the woods, and heard women's tongues, and that made me come up. But you must not think, Sir Richard, that all the black people are as bad as Nat Turner and his gang. Only two of all the men at Mr. Stringer's would join them, and I will take my oath that none of my dear old missus's servants would lift a hand against a white man after all you did, and got them out of the hands of the dealer, and had to fight and be wounded to prevent them being taken to Orl[ee]ns." I could not help smiling at the curious version she had got of my quarrel with Mr. Robert Thornton; but I found afterwards that the general notion of the poor people was, that their remaining in Virginia had entirely depended upon the result of my duel with that worthy gentleman. If he had killed me, they thought they would have all been sent away at once to a place of which they seemed to have a particular dread. But other considerations pressed strongly for attention; and, after musing for a moment, I said,--
"I fear that smoke may betray us to some of the wandering parties which may be about. What have they lighted a fire for, Minerva? They cannot want a fire on this hot day."
"Oh, but dey want something to eat," replied the girl; "and old Lou is roasting a rabbit she snared."
"Oh, there is no fear, Sir Richard," said Jenny. "They have all gone the other way; besides, they tell me a number of them ran away with buck-shot in their skins, and they'll be a long time before they come back again, I reckon. Why, the road all the way to Jerusalem 's quite clear now."
"I wish I could believe it so, Jenny," I answered; "for I want to take Miss Davenport there as soon as possible. But I understand there are some thirty or forty in the band; and though I would defend her to the last, I should soon be overpowered by such a number."
"Ay," answered Jenny, "there were sixty of them this morning--I counted them myself; but there are not so many now. They have begun to melt away, and there will soon not be twenty of them left together, unless there are others coming up that I don't know about. But you can soon satisfy yourself, Sir Richard; for if you just walk along, keeping in the inside of the woods, with the sun a little bit to your right, at the end of about half an hour you will come upon the high road; and if you see no trace of them between this and that, you may be sure that it's all clear. They won't venture on the high road in a hurry again; for the gentlemen are all assembling at the town, and are too many for them. I'll go with you, if you like, and show you the way. I'm not afraid. Indeed I should have gone to Jerusalem myself, only it's not pleasant for us poor creatures. The gentlemen take us up because we are black, and the niggers kill us, because they say we are yellow; so what are we to do?"
"Let us go on, Richard," said Bessy. "I do not think there will be much danger." A moment's thought, however, made me resolve, before I took her with me, to reconnoitre the country in front by myself. It was evident that Jenny's information, like that of the mulatto girl, Minerva, was merely upon hearsay; and I did not choose to risk the life of one very dear to me upon the strength of vague rumours. Besides, Bessy had now with her one on whom she could depend, and who, in some respects, might be more serviceable to her than even I could be. Jenny, in all probability, knew all the paths and by-roads in a country in which she had been born and brought up. She knew the customs and ways of the people, and could judge of their movements and their purposes much better than I could do. She was, moreover, a very stout, powerful woman, and did not seem to lack courage or decision; all very serviceable qualities of body and mind in the circumstances wherein we were placed.
"I will go on, dear Bessy," I said, "and see what I can discover for a mile or so in advance. I will return as soon as I have satisfied myself that the way is clear. In the meantime, you stay here with Jenny till I come back, unless you find some cause for apprehension. In case you are obliged to leave the place, tear up a handkerchief, or this paper, in which the biscuits were wrapped, and drop the pieces on the way. You had better keep these two pistols with you. The sound will reach me a long way, and would, I suspect, frighten these scoundrels more than the shot."
"Oh, give me one of them, Sir Richard," said Jenny; "I'll shoot 'em if they come here, and then break their skulls with the hammer like a cleaver."
"Here is a bigger one, Jenny," I said, giving one of the larger pistols I had found at Mr. Travis's. "You will protect your young mistress, I know, Jenny. Dearest Bessy, you are not afraid to stay till I come back?"
"No," she answered, faintly; and then added, "I would rather go with you, Richard; but I will not embarrass you, and perhaps you judge best; only do not be long, dear Richard; for I shall be fearful for you till you return." I took a step or two forward; but then my heart smote me for a piece of selfish forgetfulness; and, returning, I inquired of Jenny whether she had seen anything of my poor servant Zed.
"No, I have not, sir," replied the woman. "Poor old man, I don't think they would hurt him: he was as black as any of them. Oh, he must certainly be safe; for I should have found him somewhere lying about if they had killed him. Besides, what should they kill him for?" I explained to her how he had devoted himself to give Bessy and myself time to escape. But she still retained the same opinion; asserting that he must have got away before the door into Bessy's room from the corridor had been broken down. Thus she forced me to be satisfied. I walked away again towards the south-west.
My progress was somewhat slower than I had anticipated; for, in many places, the bushes grew very thick, and tangled underwood sometimes prevented the possibility of advancing in a straight line. Occasionally, too, a piece of swampy ground retarded me sadly; but after having once caught sight of the wider part, or rather wood-road, on the right, I always returned to within a few yards of it whenever any impediment forced me to make a circuit, knowing that it must necessarily lead into the high-road to Jerusalem. I thus exposed myself, it is true, to some danger of being seen. But we are all, I suppose, curious creatures in one respect. Whatever may be said of man's selfishness, and by whatsoever strange cause a sort of transposition of self into another may be supposed to be brought about, certain it is that he who is the least careful, perhaps reckless, of his own life, becomes wonderfully cautious, and even timid, when one whom he loves is involved in the same peril with himself. I am fully of opinion, from the difference of my feelings that day, when Bessy was with me and when I was alone, that no military or naval man should have his wife with him in camp or on shipboard. I felt, as I walked on, as if I could have routed a whole troop of those insurgent negroes. I had a double-barrelled gun, well charged; a pistol and a sword; and I thought I could answer for the lives of four at least. Besides, the conviction grew upon me that these men would be easily disheartened. The murder of women and children, I thought, could be no very exhilarating remembrance; and whatever may be said of the courage of despair, I am certain that the man who fights with a rope round his neck is sure to fight ill. However, neither I nor they were put to the test upon the present occasion. All was quiet as I walked along; and athwart the path, wherever I caught sight of it, poured the calm beams of the declining sun, unchequered by the shadow of a living thing. Several times I was tempted to go back by the thought of Bessy, and the fear that some danger might approach her during my absence; still, I believed it better to make sure that the wood, up to the junction of the two roads, was clear, and I walked on. At length I came to a spot where, through an opening of the trees, I caught a glimpse of what seemed a sandy streak running along before me; and a moment after I heard a voice crying,--
"Hi, hi! haw, John, haw!" I hurried on with a glad heart, in the thought that I might find some farmer driving his team to the town. When I came within sight, however, I perceived it was only a negro carter, sitting on a barrel in front of a heavily-laden cart, and driving a team of oxen by his voice along the high-road to the county town. At first, I was tempted to send a message by him to the sheriff and magistrates; but, remembering the looseness which besets a negro's tongue, I judged he was more likely to tell it to the first person of his own colour whom he met, than to carry it to those for whom it was intended. He did not perceive me as I stood among the bushes, but went on, now urging his slow beasts on their way, now breaking forth into a beautiful negro song, called "The Shocking of the Corn." The easy indifference with which he went,--his apparent unconsciousness of any subject of agitation or alarm, was a great comfort to me. I argued, in the first place, that the high-road was clear of the enemy; and, in the second place, that the insurrection could not have spread very far; for had he been conscious of its existence, instead of sitting there on his barrel, with his chin bent almost down to his knees, he would have been gazing about in every direction with all the excitable curiosity of a negro. Satisfied that Bessy could proceed in safety towards Jerusalem, I turned upon my steps, and made my way slowly back towards the meeting of the paths. Though my mind was certainly much more at ease, yet I took care to cast my eyes round on every side as far as possible, seeking for any indication that could confirm or impair my sense of security. I met with nothing, however, till I came to a very narrow path, if path it could be called, along which a man might make his way on foot, but which seemed scarcely wide enough for any one to pass on horseback; and yet upon the green grass which covered it, I saw the print of several horses' hoofs. They might have been there when I passed before, but I had not remarked them; and this sight was the cause of fresh anxiety to me, as great as the sight of the savage's footprint to Robinson Crusoe on his desert island. The only thing to be done, however, was to hurry forward and rejoin Bessy as soon as possible. I listened for every sound as I went, but I heard nothing. There was no report of fire-arms, no scream or cry, except that of a blue jay as he flew from tree to tree. At length, I reached the junction of the roads, upon both of which I saw the marks of horses' hoofs. Whether they were fresh or not, I could not distinguish, for the ground was dry and sandy; and they might very well have been left, I thought, by horsemen who had passed in the morning. Pushing my way on through the bushes, I presently came to a little open space not more than a hundred and fifty yards from the angle where the two paths joined, and in the midst I perceived a spot covered with white ashes, and a sort of tripod of poles over it, something like those on which our gipsies swing their kettles. This was clearly the place where the mulatto women had been cooking; but all were now gone, and with a feeling of dread I cannot express, I saw the marks of horses' feet here also. After one hasty glance around, which afforded no indication to base any conclusion upon, I hurried on towards the spot where I had left the dear girl with the two women, and made my way straight to it, having taken care as I went to mark particular trees, so as to guide me on my way back. I came in sight of the little bank where it was first seen over the bushes in front. Could I be mistaken? Bessy was not there! Could I have missed the track, and come upon some spot in the mazes of the forest like that where I had left her? Vain hoping against hope! I broke through the bushes like some wild animal pursued by dogs. I came rapidly on the ground. There could be no more doubt or mistake. There were the fragments of the biscuits of which we had made our scanty meal; there the paper in which they had been wrapped; but not a living soul. Oh! how my heart sank! But what had become of her? They had not killed her there, that was clear; for no sign of a struggle was visible, and they were not likely to impede their course by dragging a corpse away with them. Yet I thought I saw upon the ground the traces of men's boots or shoes--large, broad footmarks, and several of them. I could not be very sure, for the ground was hard, and covered with dry grass. What I saw might have been the marks of my own feet, and I stood bewildered with feelings of dread and horror, such as I had never known in life before. I had heard of men losing their presence of mind in dangers and difficulties. I had never known it in my own case; but now my brain whirled. The thought of Bessy in the hands of those ruffians seemed to confound, almost to annihilate, every other thought; and I stood for more than one minute hesitating, undetermined, like a frightened girl. Reason returned, at length, however. The first thing was to discover some trace whither they had taken her, dead or alive. They must have come from the angles of the roads, that was clear, and probably had gone away by the other side. I examined the trees and bushes with anxious care, and in one part, where they were not very thick, some of the branches seemed bent back, and one twig I perceived was broken. A step or two farther on, a large old tree stood prominently forward, and on its rugged bark near the root was a small fragment of cotton stuff, in colour resembling that in which the woman Jenny had been dressed. This was the way they had dragged them, I concluded, and I went on with steps which seemed sadly slow to the impatience of my spirit. But I was too much alive to the necessity of watching the most minute circumstances, if I would discover any trace of Bessy, to hurry rashly on. At length I came to a place covered thickly with tender wild plants, about the height of my knee, and there I could clearly perceive, by the crushed stems and leaves, that a number of persons must have passed. But here, too, the troop seemed to have separated. The shrubs were beaten down to the left, but very much more to the right, and the party who had taken the latter course seemed to have bent their steps in a direction almost back again. After a moment's hesitation, I took the right-hand track, and found traces of the band for a considerable distance. At length they ceased, or, at all events, my eyes could detect them no longer. The party seemed, in fact, to have separated, each man pursuing a course by himself; and I stood anxious and confounded, not knowing which way to take. I cannot describe the pain of that moment; and now that it is all over, it is hardly possible to convey to you all the fears, the pangs, the anxieties, that pressed upon my mind and overloaded my heart. The scene of blood and horror which I had witnessed at the house of Mr. Travis, the blood dabbled bodies of the two lovely girls who had been torn from their beds and gashed to death with hatchet-wounds, the infant with its brains dashed out upon the floor, were all present to my mind at that moment, and all connected themselves with the thought of her I loved, and seemed only to illustrate the fate of Bessy Davenport! I felt as if I should go mad; but there was an eagerness, a fierceness, pervading the wild, tumultuous sensations within me--a spirit, good or evil, which seemed to cry eternally, "Find her! find her, dead or alive! and take vengeance on her murderers, if thine own life be the sacrifice!" I could not consider accurately, or scan earnestly, which was the way the larger or less bodies had taken; but after a moment of confused and doubtful pause, I plunged headlong amongst the bushes, forcing my way through the tangled laurels, as they are here called, till I came to a more open space, where older trees rose out of the turf with very little undergrowth. The struggle with the obstacles in my way certainly had not calmed me; but many a rapid thought had passed through my mind as I forced my path on, and I paused on the more open ground to try to compose and direct my thoughts. The sun was now hardly an hour above the horizon; his slanting beams passed in long stripes of light between the boughs of the old trees, and gilded the grass beneath them; and as I gazed round, I fancied I perceived that upon one somewhat various and circuitous track, every here and there, was a dark little spot of shadow, as if something had depressed the turf, and left an indentation which interrupted the long lines of light. It was a man's footmark, and eagerly I followed it for near a quarter of a mile. At the end of that distance, I know not what it was made me pause. I have heard of people, who, like some of the inferior animals, have a sense, a strange mysterious impression of the vicinity of some noxious creature--of a snake, a crocodile, a tiger. Such seemed, at that moment, the case with me. I felt as if something loathed and dreaded was near, and slackening my pace, and stepping noiselessly, I advanced through the trees into one of those little open brakes which were frequent in the forest. The moment I did so, my eyes fell upon a tall negro-man lying at the foot of an oak, with a musket by his side. As he lay, his face was turned a little away, and the boughs cast a deep shadow over him; but the sound of my footfall, light as it was, made him snatch up his gun, and start upon his feet in a moment; and, with a strange feeling of satisfaction, I saw Nat Turner, the leader of revolt, before me. His musket and my gun were instantly levelled, and I heard the cock of the musket click; but the next instant, the sun shining full on my face, he recognized me, and exclaimed,--
"Hold hard, Englishman, hold hard! If you fire, you will never know what you want to know." The hope of finding Bessy was all powerful, and as he still held his musket at his shoulder, I exclaimed,--
"Ground your arms, then, and I will ground mine." He obeyed at once, trusting without hesitation to my honour. I dropped the gun from my shoulder, and we stood for a moment or two gazing upon each other, as if waiting to see who would speak the next word.
"Well," I said at length, "what have you to tell me?"
"Sit down there," he said, in a calm and even commanding tone, "and speak low; for there are more ears near than yours and mine. I do not want to take you at a disadvantage. If we have to fight this thing out, let us fight it out together; though still I am better off than you are; for you love life, I hate it. You have hopes, I have none, but to do the work upon which I am sent, how much soever I detest it, and then to quit it for the grave." As he spoke, he seated himself where he had before been lying, putting his musket carelessly down beside him, as if he had no apprehension that I would take advantage of any negligence on his part. I was more careful; for what he had said of more ears being near than ours had roused suspicions; and placing my gun close to my hand as I seated myself, I drew the pistol from my pocket, and laid it within reach.
"There is no need of such care," he said, in a somewhat sarcastic tone;--"the first loud call, the first gun-report, will bring plenty of others hither."
"I haveyourlife, at all events, at my command," I replied. "You cannot escape me; and I do not intend you shall, though my own life be lost the moment after." The man laughed till he showed all his white row of teeth.
"Why, then," demanded he, "should I tell you anything? But be not too sure, Englishman. I would fain spare your life. You are not one of our oppressors; you have never held a slave. Your countrymen, I hear, have set my countrymen free, wherever they were in bondage; and we have no quarrel with you."
"Then why," I exclaimed, thinking of the unhappy McGrubber, "did you kill a man who was the advocate of your emancipation, the bold denouncer of your masters? Why did you chop him to pieces with your axes, in Mr. Stringer's house?"
"Because he did it all for his own selfish purposes," answered Turner; "because he did it all for the political ends of himself, and his party, not for any love of us, or of freedom, or of justice. Do you think we are to be caught by such vain talk? Do you think we never hear from our brethren who have fled to those Northern states? Do you think they do not send us word that they are worse off there than they are here? That they are treated like dogs by the very men who pretended to be their friends? That they are excluded from their churches? That to ride in the same carriage with them is an abomination--to shake them by the hand--a defilement? Do you think that we know all these things and then--although all that these preachers and Abolitionists say is true, holy as the gospel, just as God himself--do you think, I ask, we give them thanks for what they say, when their acts do not accord with their words, and we know by their deeds that they despise and hate us, although they profess to regard us as brethren, and equal with themselves?"
"Well, well," I answered, "all these abstruse discussions are vain. I know nothing of your parties in this land; I have nothing to do with them. I act as I think right myself; and I try to keep my professions and my deeds upon a par----"
"And so you do," interrupted the man.
"The question now is," I continued, "what have you to tell me concerning Miss Davenport?"
"You shall hear presently," he answered. "Last night--a terrible night it was--and nothing but the will of God and His command sustained me in the dreadful work He had appointed me to do----"
"Forbear! forbear!" I cried, my blood boiling with indignation. "Do not blaspheme the name of the Lord, by giving His word as a sanction for the murder, the dark, silent assassination of innocent girls and babes."
"He sent me forth to destroy," said the man, in a gloomy but still a solemn tone. "He told me--He Himself, when, like him of old, I lay in a trance, but having my eyes open--when His visible presence was before me, and I heard His voice within my soul--He told me that Christ had laid down the yoke He had borne so long for me, and that I was to take it up--that Satan and the avenger were loosed, and that I was to go forth and destroy, sparing neither age nor sex of the oppressor. Even as He gave commands to the Israelites of old, so gave He commandment unto me, and the command was to destroy. I have obeyed it to the uttermost, although my heart often quivered when my hand struck firmly. Yet, when we had smitten root and branch in Stringer's house, last night, and I found that Bessy Davenport had escaped, I rejoiced, while all the others were furious, and I said, 'This is God's doing.' For she had been like an angel amongst the people--she had comforted, she had befriended us all. She had sat by my own mother on her death-bed, and had wiped the cold sweat from her brow, and held the cool drink to her lips, and spoke the words of comfort in her ears. She knew no difference between white and black then; and why should I know any difference now? Yet if I had found her, I would have killed her too, for it was God's command not to spare. But the Lord delivered her. It was His doing, and I was grateful."
"Well, well," I cried, somewhat impatiently, "come to the point. It matters little to me what were your motives; they will be judged by yourself and others. All that I know is that you and your companions have murdered in cold blood women and children who could not wrong you."
"Does not he who kills the serpent tread upon her eggs?" said the man, gloomily. "Do you suppose we would have another race of oppressors grow up when we could nip them in the bud? Even worldly policy would say 'No.' But what have I to do with worldly policy, when I Lave got God's command in my heart? Did He not tell me to destroy, to smite them hip and thigh, as soon as I saw the appointed sign in the heavens? When the sun was darkened at noon-day, I was to commence the work, and not to withdraw my hand until it was accomplished."
"Foolish man!" I exclaimed; "that was only an eclipse, a thing that returns continually at fixed and certain periods by the mere movements of the earth and the moon. But, without argument, what have you to tell me? Give me the information you promised about Miss Davenport." He mused for a moment with a very gloomy brow; and although I cannot of course tell exactly what were his thoughts, I believe that the idea of the sign in the heavens, on which he laid so much stress, being a mere natural phenomenon, gave him much discomfort. At length he murmured, as if speaking to himself,--
"An eclipse!--I have heard of such things. No, no; it was the sign--it was the sign. Well, well," he continued, turning his face to me; "I will tell you. Do you remember going out to walk with Bessy Davenport, and sitting with her under an old tree, and a long conversation you had with her, and how she wept and told you, though she loved you, she could never be your wife?--I was very near you then, though you did not know it."
"I did not, indeed," I replied. "But what of that?"
"Well," responded Turner, "I was sorry for you; for I am not without a heart, though you may think so. There was something said about a packet of old letters, and she would not tell you what they contained, though in them lay the bar between you and her. Well, when the men had dashed in the door, and we found that she was gone, the others ran about like mad things seeking for her; but I stood still in the room, and I saw a packet of old letters lie upon the table. I took it up. It is the only thing, I have ever taken, except horses and arms; for I do not rob or steal; but I said to myself--'If ever I see that young Englishman again, he shall see this, and know the truth. Every man has a right to know the truth regarding his own fate.' Here it is, you can take it." Without rising, he drew the papers from his pocket, and held them forth to me. I rose hastily, and incautiously approached him without my arms. He gave me the paper; but at the same moment some evil spirit seemed to come over him, for his eyes rolled wildly in his head, and he murmured in a low, guttural tone--
"Now I could kill you."
"Do not be too sure of that," I answered, retreating.
"Fear not, fear not," he cried. "It is gone. It is a temptation, but it is over. It is pleasant to see the red blood of our enemies, and when we have seen it, we like to see more, and it becomes a thirst; but it is over." I seated myself by my arms again, and put the papers in my pocket.
"As to this packet," I said, "I thank you for it, and will give it to Miss Davenport as soon as I find her. You mistake me, however, if you imagine I will read a word of it before I give it to her. No man of honour would do so, even if he knew his happiness for life depended on it. Now, therefore, tell me where she is? What have you and your people done with her? for I gather from your words that you have not injured her." He gazed at me for a moment with a fixed stare, and then asked--
"Do you not know where she is?"
"No," I answered; "but you must know; for you and your people passed over the very spot where I left her, not five hundred yards from this place." He was silent for a moment or two, and then answered coldly,--
"If you do not know, neither do I." There was something almost sneering in his tone; and starting up with my weapons in my hand, I exclaimed,--
"Turner, you are telling me a lie."
"A lie!" he cried fiercely, rising likewise; "a lie! and that to me, the destroying messenger of God, commissioned to bring down the high, and to raise up the lowly;--to me, who never told anything but truth in all my life!"
"Ay," I answered angrily, for I felt quite sure he was deceiving me. "You are telling me a lie; and if you do not instantly let me know what has become of Miss Davenport, I will send the charge of this gun through your heart." He gave a low whistle, and then a laugh; and I had hardly time to raise the gun to my shoulder, before three stout negroes were by his side, each with a musket in his hand. These were somewhat fearful odds; but there was no escape, and I made up my mind instantly. They might hit, or they might miss me; but I felt very sure that before I fell, I would have two of their lives. The right-hand barrel of my gun for Turner himself; the left-hand barrel for the man next to him: such was the calculation; and then, if I still survived, I had the sword and the pistol left. Long deliberation under such circumstances is neither possible nor necessary. Both hammers were up, my finger was on the trigger, murderers were before, and the next instant I should have fired at any risk, and at any odds. But just at that moment I heard a rushing, rustling sort of sound, close upon my right hand; and, afraid of being taken on the flank, I paused and turned my head a little to see who was coming. At the same moment, a tall, stalwart black man standing on the right of Nat Turner fired his musket, and I felt the ball go through my hair, and slightly graze my temple.
"That is one shot lost," I said to myself, drawing back towards the great tree, and so covering my right side. "He shall not have time to load again." But before I could discharge my gun, the space between me and my adversaries was occupied by two figures which I recognized, indeed, but not quite distinctly in the excitement of the moment and the somewhat waning light.