The leader had chosen to begin his tour of the state in the farthest mountain counties that had always been comparatively free from negro influence. These counties were counted as safe for the opposition before the startling program of the editor's party had been announced. Yet from the first day's mass meeting which he had addressed an enthusiasm had been developed under the spell of Norton's eloquence5 that had swept the crowds of mountaineers off their feet. They had never been slave owners, and they had no use for a negro as servant, laborer6, voter, citizen, or in any other capacity. The idea of freeing the state forever from their baleful influence threw the entire white race into solid ranks supporting his ticket.
The enthusiasm kindled7 in the mountains swept the[Pg 248] foothills, gaining resistless force as it reached the more inflammable feelings of the people of the plains who were living in daily touch with the negro.
Yet amid all the scenes of cheering and enthusiasm through which he was passing daily the heart of the leader was heavy with dread8. His mind was brooding over the last scene with Cleo and its possible outcome.
He began to worry with increasing anguish9 over the certainty that when she struck the blow would be a deadly one. The higher the tide of his triumph rose, the greater became the tension of his nerves. Each day had its appointment to speak. Some days were crowded with three or four engagements. These dates were made two weeks ahead and great expense had been incurred10 in each case to advertise them and secure record crowds. It was a point of honor with him to make good these dates even to the smallest appointment at a country crossroads.
It was impossible to leave for a trip home. It would mean the loss of at least four days. Yet his anxiety at last became so intense that he determined11 to rearrange his dates and swing his campaign into the territory near the Capital at once. It was not a good policy. He would risk the loss of the cumulative12 power of his work now sweeping13 from county to county, a resistless force. But it would enable him to return home for a few hours between his appointments.
There had been nothing in Tom's reports to arouse his fears. The boy had faithfully carried out his instructions to give no information that might annoy him. His brief letters were bright, cheerful, and always closed with the statement: "Everything all right at[Pg 249] home, and I'm still jollying the professor about supporting the cause he hates."
When he reached the county adjoining the Capital his anxiety had reached a point beyond endurance. It would be three days before he could connect with a schedule of trains that would enable him to get home between the time of his hours to speak. He simply could not wait.
He telegraphed to Tom to send Andy to the meeting next day with a bound volume of the paper for the year 1866 which contained some facts he wished to use in his speech in this district.
Andy's glib15 tongue would give him the information he needed.
The train was late and the papers did not arrive in time. He was compelled to leave his hotel and go to the meeting without them.
An enormous crowd had gathered. And for the first time on his tour he felt hostility16 in the glances that occasionally shot from groups of men as he passed. The county was noted17 for its gangs of toughs who lived on the edge of a swamp that had been the rendezvous18 of criminals for a century.
The opposition had determined to make a disturbance19 at this meeting and if possible end it with a riot. They counted on the editor's fiery20 temper when aroused to make this a certainty. They had not figured on the cool audacity21 with which he would meet such a situation.
When he reached the speaker's stand, the county Chairman whispered:
"They are going to make trouble here to-day."
"Yes?"[Pg 250]
"They've got a speaker who's going to demand a division of time."
The editor smiled:
"Really?"
"Yes," the Chairman said, nodding toward a tall, ministerial-looking individual who was already working his way through the crowd. "That's the fellow coming now."
Norton turned and confronted the chosen orator22 of the opposition, a backwoods preacher of a rude native eloquence whose name he had often heard.
He saw at a glance that he was a man of force. His strong mouth was clean of mustache and the lower lip was shaved to the chin. A long beard covered the massive jaws23 and his hair reached the collar of his coat. He had been a deserter during the war, and a drunken member of the little Scalawag Governor's famous guard that had attempted to rule the state without the civil law. He had been converted in a Baptist revival24 at a crossroads meeting place years before and became a preacher. His religious conversion25, however, had not reached his politics or dimmed his memory of the events of Reconstruction26.
He had hated Norton with a deep and abiding27 fervor28 from the day he had escaped from his battalion29 in the Civil War down to the present moment.
Norton hadn't the remotest idea that he was the young recruit who had taken to his heels on entering a battle and never stopped running until he reached home.
"This is Major Norton?" the preacher asked.
"Yes," was the curt30 answer.
"I demand a division of time with you in a joint31 discussion here, sir."[Pg 251]
Norton's figure stiffened32 and he looked at the man with a flush of anger:
"Did you say demand?"
"Yes, sir, I did," the preacher answered, snapping his hard mouth firmly. "We believe in free speech in this county."
Norton placed his hands in his pockets, and looked him over from head to foot:
"Well, you've got the gall33 of the devil, I must say, even if you do wear the livery of heaven. You demand free speech at my expense! I like your cheek. It cost my committee two hundred dollars to advertise this meeting and make it a success, and you step up at the last moment and demand that I turn it over to your party. If you want free speech, hire your own hall and make it to your heart's content. You can't address this crowd from a speaker's stand built with my money."
"You refuse?"
Norton looked at him steadily34 for a moment and took a step closer:
"I am trying to convey that impression to your mind. Must I use my foot to emphasize it?"
The long-haired one paled slightly, turned and quickly pushed his way through the crowd to a group awaiting him on the edge of the brush arbor35 that had been built to shelter the people from the sun. The Chairman whispered to Norton:
"There'll be trouble certain—they're a tough lot. More than half the men here are with him."
"They won't be when I've finished," he answered with a smile.
"You'd better divide with them——"[Pg 252]
"I'll see him in hell first!"
Norton stepped quickly on the rude pine platform that had been erected36 for the speaker and faced the crowd. For the first time on his trip the cheering was given with moderation.
He saw the preacher walk back under the arbor and his men distribute themselves with apparent design in different parts of the crowd.
He lifted his hand with a gesture to stop the applause and a sudden hush38 fell over the eager, serious faces.
His eye wandered carelessly over the throng39 and singled out the men he had seen distribute themselves among them. He suddenly slipped his hand behind him and drew from beneath his long black frock coat a big revolver and laid it beside the pitcher40 of lemonade the Chairman had provided.
A slight stir swept the crowd and the stillness could be felt.
The speaker lifted his broad shoulders and began his speech in an intense voice that found its way to the last man who hung on the edge of the crowd:
"Gentlemen," he began slowly, "if there's any one present who doesn't wish to hear what I have to say, now is the time to leave. This is my meeting, and I will not be interrupted. If, in spite of this announcement, there happens to be any one here who is looking for trouble"—he stopped and touched the shining thing that lay before him—"you'll find it here on the table—walk right up to the front."
A cheer rent the air. He stilled it with a quick gesture and plunged41 into his speech.
In the intense situation which had developed he had[Pg 253] forgotten the fear that had been gnawing42 at his heart for the past weeks.
At the height of his power over his audience his eye suddenly caught the black face of Andy grinning in evident admiration43 of his master's eloquence.
Something in the symbolism of this negro grinning at him over the heads of the people hanging breathless on his words sent a wave of sickening fear to his heart. In vain he struggled to throw the feeling off in the midst of his impassioned appeal. It was impossible. For the remaining half hour he spoke44 as if in a trance. Unconsciously his voice was lowered to a strange intense monotone that sent the chills down the spines45 of his hearers.
He closed his speech in a silence that was strangling.
The people were dazed and he was half-way down the steps of the rude platform before they sufficiently46 recovered to break into round after round of cheering.
He had unconsciously made the most powerful speech of his life, and no man in all the crowd that he had hypnotized could have dreamed the grim secret which had been the source of his inspiration.
Without a moment's delay he found Andy, examined the package he brought and hurried to his room.
"Everything all right at home, Andy?" he asked with apparent carelessness.
The negro was still lost in admiration of Norton's triumph over his hostile audience.
"Yassah, you sho did set 'em afire wid dat speech, major!" he said with a laugh.
"And I asked you if everything was all right at home?"[Pg 254]
"Oh, yassah, yassah—everything's all right. Of cose, sah, dey's a few little things always happenin'. Dem pigs get in de garden las' week an' et everything up, an' dat ole cow er own got de hollow horn agin. But everything else all right, sah."
"And how's aunt Minerva?"
"Des es big an' fat ez ebber, sah, an' er gittin' mo' unruly every day—yassah—she's gittin' so sassy she try ter run de whole place an' me, too."
"And Cleo?"
This question he asked bustling47 over his papers with an indifference49 so perfectly50 assumed that Andy never guessed his interest to be more than casual, and yet he ceased to breathe until he caught the laughing answer:
"Oh, she's right dar holdin' her own wid Miss Minerva an' I tells her las' week she's lookin' better dan ebber—yassah—she's all right."
Norton felt a sense of grateful relief. His fears had been groundless. They were preposterous51 to start with. The idea that she might attempt to visit Helen in his absence was, of course, absurd.
His next question was asked with a good-natured, hearty52 tone:
"And Mr. Tom?"
Andy laughed immoderately and Norton watched him with increasing wonder.
"Right dar's whar my tale begins!"
"Why, what's the matter with him?" the father asked with a touch of anxiety in his voice.
"Lordy, dey ain't nuttin' de matter wid him 'tall—hit's a fresh cut!"
Again Andy laughed with unction.[Pg 255]
"What is it?" Norton asked with impatience53. "What's the matter with Tom?"
"Nuttin' 'tall, sah—nuttin' 'tall—I nebber see 'im lookin' so well in my life. He gets up sooner den37 I ebber knowed him before. He comes home quicker an' stays dar longer an' he's de jolliest young gentleman I know anywhar in de state. Mo' specially54, sah, since dat handsome young lady from de North come down to see us——"
The father's heart was in his throat as he stammered55:
"A handsome young lady from the North—I don't understand!"
"Why, Miss Helen, sah, de young lady you invite ter spen' de summer wid us."
Norton's eyes suddenly grew dim, he leaned on the table, stared at Andy, and repeated blankly:
"The young lady I asked to spend the summer with us?"
"Yassah, Miss Helen, sah, is her name—she cum 'bout14 er week atter you lef——"
"And she's been there ever since?" he asked.
"Yassah, an' she sho is a powerful fine young lady, sah. I don't blame Mister Tom fer bein' crazy 'bout her!"
There was a moment's dead silence.
"So Tom's crazy about her?" he said in a high, nervous voice, which Andy took for a joke.
"Yassah, I'se had some sperience myself, sah, but I ain't nebber seen nuttin' like dis! He des trot56 long atter her day an' night like a fice. An' de funny thing, sah, is dat he doan' seem ter know dat he's doin' it. Everybody 'bout de house laffin' fit ter kill dersef an'[Pg 256] he don't pay no 'tention. He des sticks to her like a sick kitten to a hot brick! Yassah, hit sho's funny! I des knowed you'd bust48 er laughin' when you sees 'em."
Norton had sunk to a seat too weak to stand. His face was pale and his breath came in short gasps57 as he turned to the negro, stared at him hopelessly for a moment and said:
"Andy, get me a good horse and buggy at the livery stable—we'll drive through the country to-night. I want to get home right away."
Andy's mouth opened and his eyes stared in blank amazement58.
"De Lawd, major, hit's mos' sundown now an' hit's a hundred miles from here home—hit took me all day ter come on de train."
"No, it's only forty miles straight across the country. We can make it to-night with a good horse. Hurry, I'll have my valise packed in a few minutes."
"Do you know de way, sah?" Andy asked, scratching his head.
"Do as I tell you—quick!" Norton thundered.
The negro darted59 from the room and returned in half an hour with a horse and buggy.
Through the long hours of the night they drove with but a single stop at midnight in a quiet street of a sleeping village. They halted at the well beside a store and watered the horse.
A graveyard60 was passed a mile beyond the village, and Andy glanced timidly over his shoulder at the white marble slabs61 glistening62 in the starlight. His master had not spoken for two hours save the sharp order to stop at the well.[Pg 257]
"Dis sho is er lonesome lookin' place!" Andy said with a shiver.
But the man beside him gave no sign that he heard. His eyes were set in a strange stare at the stars that twinkled in the edge of the tree tops far ahead.
Andy grew so lonely and frightened finally at the ominous63 silence that he pretended to be lost at each crossroads to force Norton to speak.
"I wuz afraid you gone ter sleep, sah!" he said with an apologetic laugh. "An' I wuz erfered dat you'd fall out er de buggy gwine down er hill."
In vain he tried to break the silence. There was no answer—no sign that he was in the same world, save the fact of his body's presence.
The first streak64 of dawn was widening on the eastern horizon when Norton's cramped65 legs limped into the gate of his home. He stopped to steady his nerves and looked blankly up at the window of his boy's room. He had given Tom his mother's old room when he had reached the age of sixteen.
Somewhere behind those fluted66 pillars, white and ghost-like in the dawn, lay the girl who had suddenly risen from the dead to lead his faltering67 feet up life's Calvary. He saw the cross slowly lifting its dark form from the hilltop with arms outstretched to embrace him, and the chill of death crept into his heart.
The chirp68 of stirring birds, the dim noises of waking life, the whitening sky-line behind the house recalled another morning in his boyhood. He had waked at daylight to go to his traps set at the branch in the edge of the woods behind the barn. The plantation69 at that time had extended into the town. A fox had been killing70 his fancy chickens. He had vowed71 vengeance72 in[Pg 258] his boyish wrath73, bought half a dozen powerful steel-traps and set them in the fox's path. The prowler had been interrupted the night before and had not gotten his prey74. He would return sure.
He recalled now every emotion that had thrilled his young heart as he bounded along the dew-soaked path to his traps.
Before he could see the place he heard the struggles of his captive.
"I've got him!" he shouted with a throb75 of savage76 joy.
He leaped the fence and stood frozen to the spot. The fox was a magnificent specimen77 of his breed, tall and heavy as a setter dog, with beautiful appealing eyes. His fine gray fur was spotched with blood, his mouth torn and bleeding from the effort to break the cruel bars that held his foreleg in their death-like grip. With each desperate pull the blood spurted78 afresh and the steel cut deeper into bone and flesh.
The strange cries of pain and terror from the trapped victim had struck him dumb. He had come with murder in his heart to take revenge on his enemy, but when he looked with blanched79 face on the blood and heard the pitiful cries he rushed to the spot, tore the steel arms apart, loosed the fox, pushed his quivering form from him and gasped80:
"Go—go—I'm sorry I hurt you like that!"
Stirred by the memories of the dawn he lived this scene again in vivid anguish, and as he slowly mounted the steps of his home, felt the steel bars of an inexorable fate close on his own throat.
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1
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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phoenix
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| n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生 | |
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taunting
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| 嘲讽( taunt的现在分词 )； 嘲弄； 辱骂； 奚落 | |
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eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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laborer
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| n.劳动者，劳工 | |
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kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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8
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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incurred
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| [医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式 | |
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11
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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12
cumulative
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| adj.累积的，渐增的 | |
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sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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14
bout
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| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
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15
glib
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| adj.圆滑的，油嘴滑舌的 | |
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hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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19
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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audacity
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| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
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orator
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| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
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jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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revival
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| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
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25
conversion
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| n.转化，转换，转变 | |
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reconstruction
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| n.重建，再现，复原 | |
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27
abiding
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| adj.永久的，持久的，不变的 | |
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28
fervor
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| n.热诚；热心；炽热 | |
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29
battalion
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| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
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30
curt
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| adj.简短的，草率的 | |
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joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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stiffened
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| 加强的 | |
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gall
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| v.使烦恼，使焦躁，难堪；n.磨难 | |
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34
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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arbor
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| n.凉亭；树木 | |
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ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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pitcher
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| n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手 | |
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41
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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42
gnawing
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| a.痛苦的，折磨人的 | |
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43
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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44
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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45
spines
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| n.脊柱( spine的名词复数 )；脊椎；（动植物的）刺；书脊 | |
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46
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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bustling
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| adj.喧闹的 | |
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48
bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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49
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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51
preposterous
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| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
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52
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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53
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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54
specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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55
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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56
trot
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| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
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57
gasps
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| v.喘气( gasp的第三人称单数 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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58
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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59
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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60
graveyard
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| n.坟场 | |
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61
slabs
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| n.厚板，平板，厚片( slab的名词复数 )；厚胶片 | |
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glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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cramped
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| a.狭窄的 | |
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fluted
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| a.有凹槽的 | |
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faltering
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| 犹豫的，支吾的，蹒跚的 | |
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chirp
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| v.(尤指鸟)唧唧喳喳的叫 | |
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plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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spurted
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| （液体，火焰等）喷出，（使）涌出( spurt的过去式和过去分词 )； （短暂地）加速前进，冲刺 | |
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blanched
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| v.使变白( blanch的过去式 )；使（植物）不见阳光而变白；酸洗（金属）使有光泽；用沸水烫（杏仁等）以便去皮 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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