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

[220], with only a small kerchief coifed over her crown, she resembled some fair nymph of the night, some daughter of the moon, whom Luna delighted to surround with a silvery effulgence!

      Calhoun reasoned rapidly. He could not do otherwise than connect her appearance outside the casement with the advent of the man who was making his way across the river.

      And who could this man be? Who but Maurice the mustanger?

      A clandestine meeting! And by appointment!

      There could be no doubt of it; and if there had, it would have been dissolved, at seeing the white-robed figure glide noiselessly down the stone steps, and along the gravelled walks, till it at length disappeared among the trees that shadowed the mooring-place of the skiff.

      Like one paralysed with a powerful stroke, the ex-captain continued for some time upon the azotea – speechless and without motion. It was only after the white drapery had disappeared, and he heard the low murmur of voices rising from among the trees, that he was stimulated to resolve upon some course of proceeding.

      He thought no longer of awaking the inmates of the house – at least not then. Better first to be himself the sole witness of his cousin’s disgrace; and then – and then —

      In short, he was not in a state of mind to form any definite plan; and, acting solely under the blind stimulus of a fell instinct, he hurried down the escalera, and made his way through the house, and out into the garden.

      He felt feeble as he pressed forward. His legs had tottered under him while descending the stone steps. They did the same as he glided along the gravelled walk. They continued to tremble as he crouched behind the tree trunk that hindered him from being seen – while playing spectator of a scene that afflicted him to the utmost depths of his soul.

      He heard their vows; their mutual confessions of love; the determination of the mustanger to be gone by the break of the morrow’s day; as also his promise to return, and the revelation to which that promise led.

      With bitter chagrin, he heard how this determination was combated by Louise, and the reasons why she at length appeared to consent to it.

      He was witness to that final and rapturous embrace, that caused him to strike his foot nervously against the pebbles, and make that noise that had scared the cicadas into silence.

      Why at that moment did he not spring forward – put a termination to the intolerable tête-à-tête – and with a blow of his bowie-knife lay his rival low – at his own feet and that of his mistress? Why had he not done this at the beginning – for to him there needed no further evidence, than the interview itself, to prove that his cousin had been dishonoured?

      There was a time when he would not have been so patient. What, then, was the punctilio that restrained him? Was it the presence of that piece of perfect mechanism, that, with a sheen of steel, glistened upon the person of his rival, and which under the bright moonbeams, could be distinguished as a “Colt’s six-shooter?”

      Perhaps it may have been. At all events, despite the terrible temptation to which his soul was submitted, something not only hindered him from taking an immediate vengeance, but in the mid-moments of that maddening spectacle – the final embrace – prompted him to turn away from the spot, and with an earnestness, even keener than he had yet exhibited, hurry back in the direction of the house: leaving the lovers, still unconscious of having been observed, to bring their sweet interview to an ending – sure to be procrastinated.

      Chapter 34

      A Chivalrous Dictation

      Where went Cassius Calhoun?

      Certainly not to his own sleeping-room. There was no sleep for a spirit suffering like his.

      He went not there; but to the chamber of his cousin. Not hers – now untenanted, with its couch unoccupied, its coverlet undisturbed – but to that of her brother, young Henry Poindexter.

      He went direct as crooked corridors would permit him – in haste, without waiting to avail himself of the assistance of a candle.

      It was not needed. The moonbeams penetrating through the open bars of the reja[221], filled the chamber with light – sufficient for his purpose. They disclosed the outlines of the apartment, with its simple furniture – a washstand, a dressing-table, a couple of chairs, and a bed with “mosquito curtains.”

      Under those last was the youth reclining; in that sweet silent slumber experienced only by the innocent. His finely formed head rested calmly upon the pillow, over which lay scattered a profusion of shining curls.

      As Calhoun lifted the muslin “bar,” the moonbeams fell upon his face, displaying its outlines of the manliest aristocratic type.

      What a contrast between those two sets of features, brought into such close proximity! Both physically handsome; but morally, as Hyperion[222] to the Satyr[223].

      “Awake, Harry! awake!” was the abrupt salutation extended to the sleeper, accompanied by a violent shaking of his shoulder.

      “Oh! ah! you, cousin Cash? What is it? not the Indiana, I hope?”

      “Worse than that – worse! worse! Quick! Rouse yourself, and see! Quick, or it will be too late! Quick, and be the witness of your own disgrace – the dishonour of your house. Quick, or the name of Poindexter will be the laughing-stock of Texas!”

      After such summons there could be no inclination for sleep – at least on the part of a Poindexter; and at a single bound, the youngest representative of the family cleared the mosquito curtains, and stood upon his feet in the middle of the floor – in an attitude of speechless astonishment.

      “Don’t wait to dress,” cried his excited counsellor, “stay, you may put on your pants. Damn the clothes! There’s no time for standing upon trifles. Quick! Quick!”

      The simple costume the young planter was accustomed to wear, consisting of trousers and Creole blouse of Attakapas cottonade[224], were adjusted to his person in less than twenty seconds of time; and in twenty more, obedient to the command of his cousin – without understanding why he had been so unceremoniously summoned forth – he was hurrying along the gravelled walks of the garden.

      “What is it, Cash?” he inquired, as soon as the latter showed signs of coming to a stop. “What does it all mean?”

      “See for yourself! Stand close to me! Look through yonder opening in the trees that leads down to the place where your skiff is kept. Do you see anything there?”

      “Something white. It looks like a woman’s dress. It is that. It’s a woman!”

      “It is a woman. Who do you suppose she is?”

      “I can’t tell. Who do you say she is?”

      “There’s another figure – a dark one – by her side.”

      “It appears to be a man? It is a man!”

      “And who do you suppose he is?”

      “How should I know, cousin Cash? Do you?”

      “I do. That man is Maurice the mustanger!”

      “And the woman?”

      “Is Louise – your sister – in his arms!”

      As

221

reja – an iron or wooden grate (Spanish)

222

Hyperion – in Greek mythology, one of the Titans

223

Satyr – in Greek mythology, half man, half goat; Satyrs were associated with the god Dionysus and his cult

224

cottonade – cotton (Spanish)