Gholson brought the mulatress. In the feeble rays of an old tin lantern, on some gunny-sacking that lay about the gin-room floor, sat old Dismukes cross-legged and smiling, with arms folded and revolver dangling7 from his right hand, at full cock. On one side crouched8 Harry9 and I, on the other side Gholson and the slave woman. Facing him, half sat, half knelt Oliver, bound hand and foot, and gagged with his own knotted handkerchief. The lantern hung from a low beam just above his face; his eyes blazed across the short interval10 with the splendor11 of a hawk's. The dread12 issue of the hour seemed all at once to have taken from his outward aspect the baser signs of his habits and crimes, and I saw large extenuation13 for Charlotte's great mistake. From the big Colonel's face, too, the heaviness of drink was gone, and its smile grew almost fine as he spoke14.
"Ten minutes for prayer is a good while to allow you, my amiable15 friend; we ain't heard for our much speaking, are we, Brother Gholson? Still, we've given you that, and it's half gone. If you don't want the other half we won't force it on you; we've got that wedding to go to, and I'm afraid we'll be late."
The bound man sat like a statue. The slave girl went upon her knees and began to pray for her master,--with whom she had remained after every other servant on the place had run off to the Federals, supplicating16 with a piteous fervor17 that drew tears down Harry's cheeks. "Humph!" said the Arkansan, still smiling straight into Oliver's eyes, "she'd better be thanking God for her freedom, for that's what we're going to give her to-night; we're going to take her and your poor old crippled father to the outposts and turn 'em loose, and if either of 'em ever shows up inside our lines after to-night, we'll hang 'em. You fixed18 the date of your death last June, and we're not going to let it be changed; that's when you died. Ain't it, Gholson? Whoever says it ain't fixes the date of his own funeral, eh, boys? I take pleasure in telling you we're not going to hang your father, because I believe in my bones you'd rather we'd hang him than not. Mr. Gholson, you're our most pious19 believer in obedience20 to orders; well, I'm going to give you one, and if you don't make a botch of it I sha'n't have to make a botch of you; understand?"
Gholson's lips moved inaudibly, his jaws21 set hard, and he blanched22; but the Colonel smiled once more: "I've heard that at one time you said, or implied, that Captain Ferry had betrayed his office, because when he had a fair chance to shoot this varmint he omitted, for private reasons, to do it. And I've heard you say, myself, that this isn't your own little private war. So,--just change seats with me."
They exchanged. The slave girl sank forward upon her face moaning and sobbing23. Harry silently wept. "Now, Gholson, you know me; draw--pistol."
Gholson drew; I grew sick. "Ready,"--Gholson came to a ready and so did the Colonel; "aim," Gholson slowly aimed, the Colonel kept a ready, and Oliver, for the first time took his eyes from him and gazed at Gholson. "Fire!" Gholson fired; Oliver silently fell forward; with a stifled24 cry the girl sprang to him and drew his head into her lap, and he softly straightened out and was still. "Oh, sweet Jesus!" she cried, "Oh, sweet Jesus!"
The amused Colonel held the lantern close down. "He's all right, Brother Gholson," was his verdict; the ball had gone to the heart. "Still, just to clinch25 the thing, we'll calcine him, gin-house and all."
Gin-house and all, we burned him up. On our horses out in the open road to the house, we sat, the girl perched behind the Colonel, and watched the fire mount and whirl and crackle behind the awful black arms of the cotton-press. The Arkansan shook his head: "It's too fine; 'tain't a dog's death, after all. Lord! why didn't I think of it in time? we'd ought to 'a' just dropped him alive into that lint-box and turned the press down onto him with our horses!"
When the pile was in one great flame we rode to the dwelling26, and the girl was sent in to bid old Lucius begone. The doors stood open, a soft firelight shone from his room. We saw her form darken his chamber27 threshold and halt, and then she wailed28: "Oh, Lawd God A'mighty! Oh, Lawd God A'mighty!"
"Stop that noise! Gholson, hold the horses. Come. Lieutenant29, come Smith, maybe he's killed himself, but it seems too good to be true. Here, girl, go cram30 what you can get into a pillow-case, and mount behind my saddle again; be quick, we're going to burn this hornet's nest too." Harry and I had already run to the old man's room, and, sure enough, there lay the aged31 assassin hideous32 in his fallen bulk, with his own bullet in his brain.
Once more the Arkansan shook his head at the leaping flames. "Too good, too good for either of 'em, entirely33; we've let 'em settle at five cents on the dollar. Here girl,"--he reached back and handed her a wad of greenbacks,--"here's your dividend34; you're a preferred creditor35." He had rifled the pockets of both the dead men, and this was their contents. "Now, boys, we'll dust, or we'll be getting shot at by some fool or other. We're leaving a fine horse hid away somewhere hereabouts, but we can't help that; come on."
In due time the Colonel, with the slave girl, and Harry with her pillow-case of duds, turned toward Fayette, and Gholson and I toward the brigade, at union Church. Then, at last, my old friend and co-religionist let his wrath36 loose. He began with a flood of curses, lifting high a loaded carbine which we had found with Oliver and which he was ordered to turn in. As he gave his ecstasy37 utterance38 it grew; he brandished39 the weapon like a Bedouin, dug the rowels into his overspent beast and curbed40 him back to his haunches, fisted him about the ears, gnashed with the pain of his own blows, and howled, and stood up in the stirrups and cursed again. I had heard church-members curse, but they were new church-members, camp converts, and their curses were an infant's cooing, to this. Unwittingly he caused his horse to stumble, and the torrent41 of his passion gathered force like rain after a peal3 of thunder; he clubbed the gun to bring it down upon the beautiful creature's head, and when I caught it on the rise he wrenched42 it from me as if I were a girl, threw it fifty feet away, sprang to the ground and caught it up, fired it in the air, and with one blow against a tree sent the stock flying, threw the barrel underfoot, leapt upon it, tore his hair and his hat, and cursed and champed and howled. I sat holding his horse and feeling my satisfaction rise like the mercury in a warmed thermometer. Contrasting this mood with the cold malignancy and resolve of his temper in the soldiers' room at Sessions's, I saw, to my delight, that our secret was forever imprisoned43 in his breast, gagged and chained down by the iron of his own inextricable infamy44. At dawn he awakened45 me that he might persuade me to reject the evidences brought against his character by his doings and endurings of the night, and that he might rebuild the old house of words in which habitually46 he found shelter, too abysmally47 self-conceited ever to see his own hypocrisy48. We breakfasted with the "attatchays"; after which he had barely secured my final assurance that our friendship remained unmarred, when old Dismukes and Harry mounted at the Colonel's tent, and the old brute49, as they trotted50 out into the Gallatin road, beckoned51 me to join them.
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1
warily
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| adv.留心地 | |
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2
pealed
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| v.（使）（钟等）鸣响，（雷等）发出隆隆声( peal的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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peal
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| n.钟声；v.鸣响 | |
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4
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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5
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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7
dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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8
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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9
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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10
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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12
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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13
extenuation
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| n.减轻罪孽的借口；酌情减轻；细 | |
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14
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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15
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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16
supplicating
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| v.祈求，哀求，恳求( supplicate的现在分词 ) | |
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fervor
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| n.热诚；热心；炽热 | |
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18
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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19
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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21
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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22
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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23
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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24
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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25
clinch
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| v.敲弯，钉牢；确定；扭住对方 [参]clench | |
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26
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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28
wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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29
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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30
cram
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| v.填塞，塞满，临时抱佛脚，为考试而学习 | |
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31
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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32
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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33
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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dividend
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| n.红利，股息；回报，效益 | |
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35
creditor
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| n.债仅人，债主，贷方 | |
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36
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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37
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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38
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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39
brandished
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| v.挥舞( brandish的过去式和过去分词 )；炫耀 | |
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40
curbed
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| v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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41
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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42
wrenched
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| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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43
imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
infamy
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| n.声名狼藉，出丑，恶行 | |
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45
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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46
habitually
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| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
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47
abysmally
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| adv.极糟地；可怕地；完全地；极端地 | |
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48
hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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49
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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50
trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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51
beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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