Лучшие романы Томаса Майна Рида / The Best of Thomas Mayne Reid. Майн Рид

[14], sweltering in a suit of livery; all bespeak, not a poor Northern-States settler in search of a new home, but a rich Southerner who has already purchased one, and is on his way to take possession of it.

      And this is the exact story of the train. It is the property of a planter who has landed at Indianola[15], on the Gulf of Matagorda[16]; and is now travelling overland – en route[17] for his destination.

      In the cortège[18] that accompanies it, riding habitually at its head, is the planter himself – Woodley Poindexter – a tall thin man of fifty, with a slightly sallowish complexion, and aspect proudly severe. He is simply though not inexpensively clad: in a loosely fitting frock of alpaca cloth, a waistcoat of black satin, and trousers of nankin[19]. A shirt of finest linen shows its plaits through the opening of his vest – its collar embraced by a piece of black ribbon; while the shoe, resting in his stirrup, is of finest tanned leather. His features are shaded by a broad-brimmed Leghorn hat[20].

      Two horsemen are riding alongside – one on his right, the other on the left – a stripling scarce twenty, and a young man six or seven years older. The former is his son – a youth, whose open cheerful countenance contrasts, not only with the severe aspect of his father, but with the somewhat sinister features on the other side, and which belong to his cousin.

      The youth is dressed in a French blouse of sky-coloured “cottonade,” with trousers of the same material; a most appropriate costume for a southern climate, and which, with the Panama hat[21] upon his head, is equally becoming.

      The cousin, an ex-officer of volunteers, affects a military undress of dark blue cloth, with a forage cap to correspond.

      There is another horseman riding near, who, only on account of having a white skin – not white for all that – is entitled to description. His coarser features, and cheaper habiliments; the keel-coloured “cowhide” clutched in his right hand, and flirted with such evident skill, proclaim him the overseer – and whipper up – of the swarthy pedestrians composing the entourage[22] of the train.

      The travelling carriage, which is a “carriole[23]” – a sort of cross between a Jersey waggon[24] and a barouche[25] – has two occupants. One is a young lady of the whitest skin; the other a girl of the blackest. The former is the daughter of Woodley Poindexter – his only daughter. She of the sable complexion is the young lady’s handmaid.

      The emigrating party is from the “coast” of the Mississippi[26] – from Louisiana[27]. The planter is not himself a native of this State – in other words a Creole[28]; but the type is exhibited in the countenance of his son – still more in that fair face, seen occasionally through the curtains of the carriole, and whose delicate features declare descent from one of those endorsed damsels – filles à la casette – who, more than a hundred years ago, came across the Atlantic provided with proofs of their virtue – in the casket!

      A grand sugar planter of the South is Woodley Poindexter; one of the highest and haughtiest of his class; one of the most profuse in aristocratic hospitalities: hence the necessity of forsaking his Mississippian home, and transferring himself and his “penates[29],” – with only a remnant of his “niggers,” – to the wilds of south-western Texas.

      The sun is upon the meridian line, and almost in the zenith. The travellers tread upon their own shadows. Enervated by the excessive heat, the white horsemen sit silently in their saddles. Even the dusky pedestrians, less sensible to its influence, have ceased their garrulous “gumbo;” and, in straggling groups, shamble listlessly along in the rear of the waggons.

      The silence – solemn as that of a funereal procession – is interrupted only at intervals by the pistol-like crack of a whip, or the loud “wo-ha,” delivered in deep baritone from the thick lips of some sable teamster.

      Slowly the train moves on, as if groping its way. There is no regular road. The route is indicated by the wheel-marks of some vehicles that have passed before – barely conspicuous, by having crushed the culms of the shot grass.

      Notwithstanding the slow progress, the teams are doing their best. The planter believes himself within less than twenty miles of the end of his journey. He hopes to reach it before night: hence the march continued through the mid-day heat.

      Unexpectedly the drivers are directed to pull up, by a sign from the overseer; who has been riding a hundred yards in the advance, and who is seen to make a sudden stop – as if some obstruction had presented itself.

      He comes trotting back towards the train. His gestures tell of something amiss. What is it?

      There has been much talk about Indians – of a probability of their being encountered in this quarter.

      Can it be the red-skinned marauders? Scarcely: the gestures of the overseer do not betray actual alarm.

      “What is it, Mr Sansom?” asked the planter, as the man rode up.

      “The grass air burnt. The prairy’s been afire.”

      “Been on fire! Is it on fire now?” hurriedly inquired the owner of the waggons, with an apprehensive glance towards the travelling carriage. “Where? I see no smoke!”

      “No, sir – no,” stammered the overseer, becoming conscious that he had caused unnecessary alarm; “I didn’t say it air afire now: only thet it hez been, an the hul ground air as black as the ten o’ spades.”

      “Ta – tat! what of that? I suppose we can travel over a black prairie, as safely as a green one?

      “What nonsense of you, Josh Sansom, to raise such a row about nothing – frightening people out of their senses! Ho! there, you niggers! Lay the leather to your teams, and let the train proceed. Whip up! – whip up!”

      “But, Captain Calhoun,” protested the overseer, in

15

Indianola – the city in central Iowa founded in 1849; there used to be a town of the same name in Texas

16

the Gulf of Matagorda – the Bay of Matagorda, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico in southern Texas

17

en route – on the way to/from (French)

18

cortège – a procession (French)

19

nankin – a kind of rich cloth

20

A Leghorn hat is a hat made of straw imported from Livorno, a town in Italy

21

A Panama hat is a light hat made of plaited palm leaves; the name comes from Panama, a Spanish-speaking republic in Central America

22

entourage – people accompanying a respected or high-ranking person

23

carriole – a light, covered carriage drawn by one horse

24

a Jersey wagon – a light two-wheeled carriage

25

a barouche – a four-wheeled carriage for four passengers and the driver, with two seats facing each other

26

the Mississippi – the largest river in North America; it flows south to the Gulf of Mexico. Together with its tributary, the Missouri River, the Mississippi is the longest river in the world

27

Louisiana – the US state (123,366 square kilometres) admitted to the union in 1812 as the 18^th member; it borders Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas

28

a Creole – in the old French or Spanish states in the south of the USA, a person of pure European or mixed European origin; descendants of the French and Spanish settlers

29

penates – home, household; in Roman mythology, Penates were household gods who protected the house