THE RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TANAHA. THE RANGERS AO REGULATORS TANAHA : fife ^m0tig tju A TALE OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS. CHAKLES SUMMEKFIELD, (A. TV. ARRINGTON), Late Judge of the Rio Grcvnde District. A0THOB Or "SKETCHES OF THE 80UTH-WE8T. n KEW YOEK: ROBERT M. DE WITT, PUBLISHER, (LATE DE WITT & DAVENPORT), 160 & 162 NASSAU STREET ENTXKZD according to Act of Congress, in the year 1886, by ROBERT M. DE WITT, Clerk's Office of the Ditrict Court of the Uuived State., for the Southern District of New York. W. H. TIIISON, Stevotypr. Gw>. RUBSWJ^ * Co., Jfrintor. G. W. AUSXAUDBK, Binder or THE SONS OF IMMORTAL QENIUS, Whose political wisdom extended the luminous area of Freedom by the successive additions of Florida's ever-green peninsula, of the imperial domain and priceless delta of Louisiana, of the world-controlling cotton- fields of Texas, of California's golden valleys, and the silver mountains of New Mexico and to all those who inherit the same passion for pioneer ing progress, and equal love for the glory of their native land, this work is dedicated in humility and hope by the AUTHOR. P K E F A E . THE design of the author in the humble conception and hasty prepara tion of the following work was to give explicitly an accurate picture of one phase in the development of South- Western life, namely, the pioneer ing or transition state, and inferentially to account for its existence in the peculiar social circumstances of its actual environment. I had thought, at first, to present the matter in a purely narrative form, with precise localities, names, and dates, so as to realize a veritable history, as thrilling and intensely dramatic in its events as any probable romance could be. But a little reflection soon satisfied me that such a method of treatment would be unnecessarily cruel, as many of the actors in those stormy scenes which find a place in the sequel are still living, while the others now no more, have left friends and relatives who would be pained to a profound degree by revelations of so special a character. I was compelled, there fore, by motives of humanity, to exhibit the facts in the shape of a tale or story, indulging at the same time in a few of the liberties allowed by that species of composition. Nevertheless, I can truly affirm, that in no instance have I suffered myself to deal in exaggerations, or to interpolate utterly fictitious incidents. I have even omitted the historical consequence of " the poisoned wedding," not only from want of space, but in order to avoid too great an accumulation of deadly horrors. For as it now stands, the delineation will doubtless be charged with an excess of dark and gloomy coloring. I admit the objection, and offer in excuse the unan swerable plea of fidelity to the facts. I have described society in the given sphere as it was, and I may add, as it always will be under similar circumstances. PREFACE. vii Every new country, when first opened to emigration, is settled by a strange mixture of heterogeneous elements by the enterprising and the virtuous seeking to improve their condition, and by the vicious of differ ent grades who desire to escape from the trammels or the terrors of the law. In such cases, a collision between the opposing interests and passions becomes inevitable. Theft, robbery, and fearful homicides precipitate the crisis ; and in the absence of all legitimate authority and regular organi zation, the remedy of lynching is the natural result. That is the epoch of strife, turbulence, and general combat the state of nature, which is always a state of war, when sanguinary crimes provoke still more san guinary punishments ; and savage fury and brutal force inaugurate the reign of universal terror. It must not be supposed, however, that this transititional period is pecu liar to any geographical section of the country. It has been witnessed in Illinois, in Wisconsin, and in Missouri, as well as in Arkansas, Texas, and California; and everywhere it has been the effect of the same social causes. In all the instances, too, the phenomenon has been equally brief in duration. The evil soon runs its course. The anarchists and despera does are either exterminated or driven farther to the west ; and the beau tiful spirit of order and progress emerges from the chaos of confusion and blood. For, not even in the petty contests of life on the frontier, any more than in the mightiest shock of adverse nations and races, will humanity or civilization ever suffer a permanent check, or lose a single important battle. CONTENTS. % CHAPTER I. The Travellers in the Storm, 18 CHAPTER II. Colonel Miles The Midnight Alarm, 26 CHAPTER HI. Major Morrow and Sol Tattle Captain Carlyle, 88 CHAPTER IV. The Ball The Departure, CHAPTER V. Major Morrow and Joanna, CHAPTER VL Captain Carlyle and Lucy The Murder, ....,... 78 CHAPTER VII. Sol Tattle The unexpected Meeting, . ........ 85 CHAPTER Uncle Jack, 96 CHAPTER IX. The Two Duels, 107 CONTENTS PAGM CHAPTER X. Revenge, t CHAPTER XIV. The Battle at the Block-House Judge Moore, CHAPTER XVII. Lucy, CHAPTER XVHI. The Trial by Torture, 118 CHAPTER XI. Plots and Counterplots, ........ .... 186 CHAPTER XII. The Negro Meeting, ............. 143 CHAPTER XIII. The Narrow Escape, ............. 154 CHAPTER XV. Sol Tuttle and Brother Dave The Brothers Barton and the Sisters Ewing, . . 181 CHAPTER XVI. Carlyle and Curran, ............. 194 CHAPTER XIX. The Trial An Execution, . . 240 CHAPTER XX. The Rangers, 2 s7 CHAPTER XXI. MaryandLucy, 275 CHAPTER XXII. Major Morrow and Joanna, ... . . 293 CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER XXHL The Defeat of the Lynchers, 810 CHAPTER XXIV. The Defeat of the Robbers, . 82T CHAPTER XXV. Major Morrow and Dave Tuttle, 845 CHAPTER XXVI. The Jail, 862 CHAPTER XXVII. TheLast, 880 THE BAMEBS OF THE TAIAHA CHAPTER I. THE TRAVELLERS IN THE STORM. ABOUT the middle of the afternoon, on the second day of April, 1842, a couple of travellers coming from Louisiana, along the old dim pathway known as " Morrow's Trace," crossed the famous boundary of the river Sabine, into Shelby county, in the Republic of Texas. One of these, and evidently the first in natural as well as civil status, was a tall, very handsome youth, richly dressed in dark cloth, and mounted on a powerful black horse, with a pair of revolvers in the holsters before his saddle. It would have been impossible to imagine the stranger's real standing in life, from the mere survey of his person. His countenance combined all the shrewd intelligence usually found in the face of the law yer, with the more pleasing air revealed by that of the politi- 14 RANGERS AND REGULATORS OP THE TANAHA. cian, while the live light of bravery radiant in his vivid blue eyes, perhaps, indicated a son of that Southern chivalry, whose fiery prowess rivals any that the world has yet witnessed. His carriage presented a happy mixture of ease, dignity, and grace, and the heyday of wild joy and ardent hope, those twin-lustres of the innocent and inexperienced heart, beamed on all his fea tures, pure as the sunshine of spring in the azure of heaven above his head. The young man's companion, and apparently his servant, was a large negro of the darkest dye, and from his clothing and demeanor, clearly a considerable favorite of the master. As if for the sake of contrast in color, he rode an enormous white mule, of whose appearance and performances, as he gazed at it frequently and fondly, he seemed immeasurably vain. Their course meandered through the deep forest on the right bank of the Sabine, and it would be difficult to conceive a pic ture of more profound and utter solitude, than that which met their eyes. Gigantic trees, like an army of ancient Titans, the monstrous birth of unknown centuries, towered on high ; while the luxuriant undergrowth of the most brilliant green, blended with millions of parasites, and silvered over with that grey wiz- zard's hair, the waving long moss, formed a wild web of tangled verdure, almost impenetrable to the wings of a bird, save where this one poor path had been opened by the axe of the pioneer, or tomahawk of the hunter. It looked like an asylum for the refugees and robbers, who were said to abound in the country, and certainly no bandit's heart could have wished for a more secure hiding-place. Some such fancy appeared to trouble the mind of the negro as he glanced around timidly, and inquired in anxious tones ; " Say, massa Boiling, how fur am y' guyin' yit ?" " A dozen miles, or so, Caesar," was the careless reply " Oh, Lordy ! it's nearly night jist now ! what roariu' noise am that ?" cried the black, in the greatest terror. THE TRAVELLERS IN THE STORM. 15 As he spoke, the lurid clouds, which had been gradually mus tering, for the last hour, suddenly darkened the old woods, and a low moaning sound was heard in the southwest, like the distant roar of the sea. "It is the wind I" exclaimed the young master ; "we shall have a hurricane, and that will be awful in such a forest ! come on, Caesar, and keep close behind me." And they spurred their animals to the highest speed. Nevertheless, escape seemed impossible, so narrow was the winding trail, while the pendent branches, and drooping vines overhead, frequently forced them to pause. In the meantime, the wilderness, previously still as the cham ber of death, without so much as the murmur of a zephyr's wing, now began to sigh, like some breaking heart, and all the pine-tops sung a melancholy song, as if whispering to each other the weird secrets of their impending doom. And then, all in a moment, quick as the coming of a thought, one wide, wild, wavering flash, the big billow from an ocean of electric fire, dashed away the darkness, and like the conflagration of a world, illu minated the earth and sky. A peal of thunder followed, as long, as loud, as appalling as the simultaneous burst of ten thousand pieces of artillery. This was the signal for the onset of the storm. " Oh ! massa, we'll never see Alabam' agin I" lamented the negro, with looks of horror. " Fear not, Ca3sar 1" shouted the youth ; " we will soon reach more open woods." But the hurricane howled more wildly than ever, and even hope died in the quivering heart, before that dreadful scene of utter desolation. Immense limbs were torn from the tallest trees, while the small ones lost their green leaves and golden flowers, as if stripped to nakedness by some human hand. The poor birds fled from their ruined nests, and unable to ride on the giddy gyrations of the whirlwind, flapped their useless wings 16 RANGERS AND REGULATORS OP THE TANAHA. and fell upon the earth. The most savage beasts, all their fero cious instincts quelled by the presence of a common peril, filled the forest with yells of terror, or cries of mortal anguish. Then, all became hushed ; but the silence was more awfully ominous than the rolling reverberations of the thunder, or the deepest roar from the voice of the storm. The wild animals, soothed by the delusive calm, and deeming the danger already past, ceased their frightful clamor, and all was still " Now is the time, Caesar," exclaimed the young master, " let us fly for our lives 1 J; And they sped onwards with the velocity of the wind, and shortly reached a small glade, where they leaped from their saddles, and sought a precarious shelter under the boughs of a low, but sturdy oak, near the centre of this natural meadow. " I think that we are safe, at last," murmured the youth, with 'white lips. " I guess so," ejaculated the slave, through the chattering teeth. But at the instant, blacker darkness enveloped the earth, and more lurid lightning rent the sky. The tornado, like a drunken devil fresh from slumber, awakened with more frightul fury. It seized the soaring pine trees in the surrounding forest, twisted them together like ropes, and hurled them down in great heaps of ruin. Titanian trunks, that had braved the thunder of a thousand storms, bowed in the dust almost without resistance. The terrified horse and mule plunged, snorted, and broke away from their bridles, but only to return and sink upon their trembling knees, as if to implore human protection. Then, the very vault of heaven itself appeared to part, as if split asunder by the lightning of an archangel's sword ; and the great rain, in roaring cataracts, rushed out of the clouds, like another deluge, to drown the world. But again, the tempest paused-; and a ribbon of radiant blue sky was seen low down in the west, from which the setting THE TRAVELLERS IN THE STORM. It sun soon poured a flood of golden glory, with beams as divinely bright as if no tears had ever stained the fair face of either man or nature. " All right, now ! hurrah for Alabam' and Massa Boiling !" shouted Caesar, with a sudden light of joy in his enormous white eyes, ardent in the ratio of his recent horror. All at once, a faint, startled cry was heard, then a wild, piercing shriek, and a young girl emerged from the forest, with pale features, and fear-frenzied looks, exclaiming, in a voice of sweet, yet indescribably mournful music, " Oh ! save me, for the love of Christ !" Her snowy robes, tnoroughly saturated with the late rain, revealed a slender form of matchless symmetry and grace, and her visage, though pallid in the extreme, was beautiful as the picture of an angel. The young traveller, thinking that she would faint with her naii.t kss agitation, flew to meet her, and extended his arms for support, when suddenly, as" the last burning bolt of the thunder storm, a forked arrow of amethystine flame dashed between them, and both sank upon the earth, with their unconscious lips in contact, while a final peal from heaven, louder than all the rest, sounded like a knell for their funeral ! "Oh I my dear Massa Boiling 1" cried the terrified slave, rushing to the fallen youth. But the latter had been only stunned, and quickly recovering, devoted himself to the resusci tation of the lovely being who had been struck down by his side. She lay among the flowers on the greensward, without motion or any signs of Jife ; and yet the young man thought her far more beautiful than any form of animated flesh that ever had dawned on his gazing eyes, or glittered even in his rarest dreams. He lifted her up in his arms. He chafed her soft white hands and snowy temples. He pressed her bosom to his heart, as if 18 RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TAN AHA. he might warm that bewitching clay, by the fires which he felt in his own blood. He breathed upon her pale lips ; but still seemingly all in vain. He raised a countenance of unutterable agony towards the pitiless arch of heaven, exclaiming, in half frantic accents, " Great God ! let her yet live 1 she is too beautiful to die 1" At last her breast stirred gently. Like some new-born zephyr, an almost inaudible sigh fluttered again on her sweet rose-bud of a mouth. The lily-like lids and raven lashes parted, and the brilliant black eyes shone out with a bewildered expression, like one suddenly aroused from the weird enchantment of a horrible dream. The youth uttered an ejaculation of insuppressible joy ; and even Caesar murmured his humble, quiet gratitude, " Thank the good Lordy ; for she's the finest gal eber I seed 1" "Where am I ? Who are you ?" said the young girl, in a faint, frightened whisper, withdrawing herself from the invol untary embrace of the traveller,- with a blush of maiden modesty, not unmixed with many tokens of alarm. " I am the stranger," answered Boiling, in tones of unspeak able kindness, " from whom you requested protection the moment before we were both smitten to the earth by lightning ; and I now offer you any assistance which it may be in my power to render." She gazed upon his countenance with her dark, starry eyes, timid and tearful, as if in doubt as to the prudence of trusting one that she knew not, and had never previously seen. " Fear me not, fair lady," remarked the youth, tenderly, but with a certain air of noble pride ; " I am a gentleman, and as such would sooner behold my right hand wither than harm, or even insult, by word, look, or gesture, any being bearing the sex of my sainted mother, much less a virgin lovely and pure as the one now before me and who has so nearly rnet death by my side " THE TRAVELLERS IN THE STORM. . 19 " Miss, believe rnassa William Boiling," interposed Caesar, in accents of gentle persuasion ; " he's of the first family in old Yirginny. His father's judge in Alabam', and all of 'em am rich as cream." Soothed by the delicious music of the master's voice, and by the seeming candor of the servant's manner, the suspicions of the girl rapidly gave way, but still she remained silent. " May I be permitted to inquire," said Boiling, in tones of the deepest sympathy, " what unfortunate chance exposed you thus to the fury of the storm, in a place so far from the settle ments ?" As he spoke, the wild notes of a bugle, long, loud, and linger ing, rung on the evening air, at the distance of some half a mile to the left, and immediately a similar sound, as of a preconcerted signal, responded from the right. The effect on the mind of the maiden was instantaneous and awful as magic. At one frightful leap, she sprung back to the bosom of her proffered protector, and clinging there with con vulsive energy, her quivering arms around his neck, she gasped, " The robbers ! the robbers ! I am lost 1" In vain the astonished traveller sought to ascertain the causes of her apprehension. She still murmured, " The robbers I the robbers I Save me, or I am lost I" " I will save you, or sink in death by your side," answered the youth, in accents of terrible determination, as his brave blue eyes flashed with the lightning of battle. He instantly sprang, into the saddle, and commanded, " Caesar, help her up behind me. They must have swift horses to overtake mine, and a formidable force to withstand my two revolvers !" The gigantic slave lifted the fairy form to her seat, as easily as if she had been an infant, so great was his strength ; and the party hurried away along the path towards Shelbyville. But they were destined to encounter many difficulties, which rendered their progress slow and toilsome ; for the tempest had 20- RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TANAHA. blown down several large trees across the trail, and in other localities, had filled it with tangled branches. At length, they emerged from the wreck left by the hurricane, which had expended its principal force in a circular space, of not more than three miles in diameter ; but the pale shadows of evening had deepened into the darkness of night, and although the burning beauty of a thousand stars glittered on high, their mild lustre could not penetrate the thick mantle of foliage that hung on the surrounding forest, almost as rayless as the gloom of a cavern. The young man, no longer able to perceive any trace of the path, dropped the reins on his horse's neck, confiding in the sharper vision and peculiar instincts of the noble animal. A death-like silence reigned in the solemn woods, broken only by the occasional shrieks of some night-bird, or the savage cries of rage or hunger uttered by the wild beasts in their nocturnal forays. The arms of tne virgin ciaspea tne waist of the traveller more trustfully. He could hear, in fancy, the beating of her heart. He felt upon his cheek her warm breath, intoxicating his senses like some delicious perfume. Ah, me ! how many unimaginable consequences, for good or evil, might that myste rious chance have to answer for, which thus strangely threw those young souls together ! What glowing hopes it might kindle or quench I What hearts it might bless to beatitude, or break for ever ! What luxuries of love, what horrors of hatred, what curses of crime, innumerable, all-absorbing, endless, might it not entail on these two, and others ! What wonder ful, yet weak and wavering beings we are 1 human atoms float ing at random on the great life-sea, that every wind and tide may toss about at will. A sudden concurrence of circumstances, the most unexpected, the most trivial and fortuitous the tones of one voice, the glance of an eye, the birth of a babe, the bridal of a relative, every scene that can be enacted from the infant's cradle to the old man's grave the wafture of a finger, THE TRAVELLERS IN THE STORM. 21 the flight of a feather, or the fall of a fan, may change, from their deepest foundations, all our settled plans, all our firmest purposes, as if we were truly what the ancient heathens deemed us, but mere dice in the iron hand of Destiny, to be played at the pre-appointed hour, in accordance with the evolutions of an unknown and irresistible law I But no such serious reflections troubled the imagination of William Boiling.- He only yearned to become better acquainted with the history of the fair creature that fortune had committed, for the time, to his keeping. At last they emerged from the impenetrable shadows of the forest into a space more free from foliage, and the glimmering starlight revealed at the distance of a few hundred yards before them, a luminous expanse of sky, indicating the vicinity of a prairie. " You need not have any more fear of the robbers, now,' 7 remarked the young man, with inexpressible tenderness. " Where do you reside ?*' " My father lives two miles beyond Shelby ville," she answered, in a whisper. " At the large block-house on the hill ?" he inquired, in the same kind tones. " That is the one." " I remember having observed it, on my visit to the country, last fall, though I did not learn the name of the owner," said Boiling. " Colonel Miles," replied the maiden, to this indirect- question. " And what does the colonel call his beautiful daughter T 9 " Mary." "Mary! the divine name!" murmured the youth, fondly: " the sweetest of all words, ever whispered by a lover, lisped by the lips of childhood, or sung in the notes of song! pardon my enthusiasm; it was the first sound I uttered when an infant the name of my dear mother." " Is she living ?" she said, with a stifled sigh. 22 BANGERS AND REGULATOKS OF THE TANAHA. " In heaven !" he responded, in accents of painful sadness. " And mine is the same," sobbed the young girl. " Then, you have a still warmer claim for my sympathy and protection, as a sister orphan of the heart," returned Boiling, in a voice of touching devotion. After a few minutes of silence, he added, with evident anxiety : " I shall likely become a citizen of Shelby County, and I hope that we shall be friends." " I trust so," she answered, in a whisper so faint, yet magical, as to make every chord in his bosom vibrate as if his heart itself had been thrilled with the point of a golden arrow. Suddenly the hoarse voice of Caesar was heard close behind them : " Massa Boiling, lend me one of yer shooters ; thar's sumthen comin arter us, sure !" " Nonsense !" exclaimed the master ; " but here, take it, if you wish ; and he handed the slave a revolver. Hardly had he done so, when the shrill blast of a bugle sounded in their rear, and so unexpectedly, and with such wild, war-like tones, as to startle, for an instant, even the chivalrous bravery of young Boiling. The effect on the frightened virgin was appalling. The youth vainly essayed to allay her terrors with suggestions, which his own reason failed to recognize. " They cannot be bandits," he urged ; " for if so, they would not blow a trumpet to put us on our guard. They are, probably, wandering hunters, or travellers, who have lost their way." " No, no," she replied, in despairing accents, and quivering in every nerve, like a loose leaf in the whirlwind : " that was Comanche Ben's bugle ; I would know it among a hundred. Fly instantly, if you would save our lives 1" u If we perish, we will die together," he returned ; for to his fevered and fiery imagination, there was a sweet drop of pleasure even in that bitter reflection. At the moment, the horse pricked up his sharp ears, and gave a loud, hasty snort, as if he scented danger, and immediately THE TRAVELLERS IN THE STORM. 23 afterwards, the figure of a man appeared from behind the trunk of an immense oak, and standing in the middle of the path, saluted them in tones of strange, yet sinister melody. " Good evening, sir. Old Boreas, on his huge guitar of thundering forests, swept a grand march for the gods to-day. Did you happen to hear any of the rich music ?" " More than enough," answered the young man, wondering greatly at the poetical style of the intruder. The latter continued : " Do you travel by starlight from choice or necessity, or, perhaps, you may be a devotee of the divine science, astrology ?" " I never respond, with the tongue, to impertinent questions," said the other, sternly ; " will you please to get out of the way, and let us pass ?" " What ! there are two of you ? " replied the stranger, in sneering accents ; " I thought as much, from the glimpse of a white garment on your horse's flank ; and so I inferred that you worship at the altar of the sweet Paphian divinity, rather than before the shrine of the wiser Muses 1" " Move out of the path, or by Heaven, I will pistol you like a dog I" cried the youth, in a terrible voice. " That would only prove you to be a fool," said the stranger, " for half a dozen of my best forest rangers are in ambush, not ten paces before you, while as many more are stationed in the rear, to out off all hopes of retreat ; and as discretion is allowed to be the better part of valor, you must, of necessity, exhibit your approval of the maxim, by surrendering unconditionally." " Oh 1 God, we are lost !" exclaimed the maiden, in an agony of terror. " Is that you, my Madonna, loveliest of all the Marys ? v cried the robber, in mocking tones, as if recognizing her voice. And then, he immediately added ; " I have a proposition to offer, by way of compromise, Sir Traveller. Give me up the girl and your purse, and you may go about your business." 24 RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TANAHA. " Hold fast now, and we will ride over him, and escape," whispered the young man in the ear of his shuddering companion ; and, applying the spurs suddenly to the sides of his horse, the spirited animal made a mighty leap forwards, and trampling down the bandit, dashed along the road with the swiftness of an arrow. The action was so unexpected, and the velocity so furious, that the other villains in ambuscade, in vain endeavored to intercept their flight. Guns flashed, pistols roared, and fierce cries and curses rent the air, as if troops of demons were fighting in the darkness ; but neither the youth or maiden received any wound. In a minute they gained the open prairie, and were not pursued. As soon as they found themselves safe from the appalling peril, the young girl inquired, anxiously : "Where is Caesar?" " I fear that we shall never see the faithful fellow, again," lamented his master, in tones of deep emotion. "The misfor tune is indeed a sad one to me. He has been my comrade, rather than servant, from the cradle ; and never have I seen cause to question either his affection or fidelity. I know well that, at any hour, for my sake, he would willingly have laid down his life, as he doubtless has just now done." As if to confirm his worst apprehensions, they soon heard the clatter of galloping hoofs, and the white mule came up without its rider. With melancholy hearts they continued their journey to the home of Mary's father, discoursing in musical whispers that thrilled through each other's souls. Was this tender feeling love, at first sight ? Who can say ? But one thing is certain, it must have been so, if they were destined ever to love at all ; for there cannot be a pure passion worthy of the name, which does not come in all its force, like the lightning of heaven, at the flash of the eyes only, and all divine. Who waits for the second view, or the rigid criticism of cold, calculating reason, to worship the boundless beauty of stars and THE TRAVELLERS IN THE STORM. 25 rainbows, the opaline lustres on the wings of brilliant birds, the music of night winds among the pine-tops, or the solemn mur mur of the sounding sea ? For love follows beauty, as light doth the sun. 26 RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TANAHA. CHAPTER II. COLONEL MILES THE MIDNIGHT ALARM. WHEN young Boiling and the Beauty of the Forest reached the residence of her father, they beheld a scene of the greatest confusion, which had been caused by the mysterious absence of the fair daughter. Half a hundred slaves, armed with naming pine torches, were flying about wildly, piercing the darkness in all directions, shouting in startled tones, " Mary ! Mary ! oh I dear young Missus 1" with countless other fond, yet frightened exclamations, evincing the most intense grief for the supposed loss of their favorite. Their almost frantic joy at her reappearance surpassed even the tumultuous tokens of their recent terrors, and they all gathered around her with loud cries of delight, the women and children kissing her hands and the very hems of her garments, asking, at the same time, a thousand questions. " Whar have you been ? Wur you out in the rain ? Did f git lost in the woods ?" While many of the more silent, among the sable sea of eager faces, sobbed and wept, as if the beautiful girl had been their own child. For there is no burning ardor of affec tionate friendship to excel that which the black servant of the South feels for a truly kind master or mistress. Mary, however, did not % seem disposed to gratify the natural curiosity of the anxious negroes, by giving any account of her late perilous adventures, but asked distractedly for her father. COLONEL MILES THE MIDNIGHT ALARM. 27 Upon being informed that the Colonel had been absent since morning, she turned to the young traveller, and remarked in disquieted accents, " I must put you in the care of the slaves, to-night. Here, Tony, see that this stranger has every, possible attention. I was indebted to him for my life, by his brave assistance in the tornado. Mr. Boiling, I wish you a pleasant sleep and happy dreams." And with a smile, pale, but sweet as the radiance of starlight, she glided out of the room ; and the youth felt as if some celestial lustre had suddenly left the now darkened air, but the music of her soft, singing tones still rung in his soul j for she possessed one of those rich, rare voices, whose echoes, like the bewildering cadence of a strange, wild tune, linger in the ear, and haunt the enraptured recesses of the listener's brain, long after the words have ceased to warble on the speaker's lips. Boiling was so absorbed in this new, nameless melody, that he did not notice, until after three repetitions, the obsequious question of the black waiter, " Will mas'r have something to eat ?" "Yes," replied the traveller, abstractedly. " Here, Dinah," ordered Tony, with" a look 9f pompous com mand, " run y' nigger, and git this gen'man's supper, quick. Gin him the fust chop, do y' hear ? And you, Sam Snowball, don't stand thar turnin' up the whites of yer eyes, like a dyin' duck ; put up his boss, and stuff 7 im chock full of con and fod der. Stir yer stumps, like a hog on ice." The traveller now directed his attention to the huge form and ebon face before him, but experienced little satisfaction in the survey. Those great eyes gleamed with an aspect of mingled cunning and ferocity, while the simulated, deceitful smile, on the coarse, animal features, reminded one of the nursery myths about grinning fiends and hobgoblins, and more especially of Congo and cannibals. With a low bow of ludicrous courtesy, Tony inquired, " I ax yer pardon, mas'r, but, wur y' out in the harracane to-day ?" 28 RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TANAHA. " Yes," was the brief and somewhat stern response. " And where mout y' cotch young missus ?" " I met with her by accident during the storm ; and it is singular how she happened to be in such a wilderness, remote from a human dwelling/ 5 said the young man, hoping to extract a little light out of so dark a subject, for the complexion of the negro seemed so supremely black, that the very sight of it might have been supposed enough to extinguish a candle. But Tony eluded the force of the suggestion, replying, quite innocently, " I knows nuthen' about it ; but, mas'r, did y' see any robbers ?" " Do you have such dangerous people in these parts ?" in quired Boiling, watching earnestly the countenance of the slave. "Oh, Lordy ! plenty of 'em,' 7 affirmed Tony, with an aspect of real, or well-feigned horror ; " and lots of Boboiitioners, too. They make the darkies run off like wild hogs." Aunt Dinah soon brought in a luxurious meal, and this being dispatched, the traveller, accompanied by his waiter, with candle in hand, went to the sleeping apartment, on the same floor as the parlor. Here, as Boiling was undressing, the sable gossip lingered, and ventured a final assault. " Mas'r, don't you think young missus Mary is a very nice gal ?" " Certainly," returned the youth, in impatient accents, but with a blushing face. " I know of a pusson who lubs her to kill !' 7 said Tony, with a mysterious air. The traveller suddenly felt his heart beat like the roll of a drum in battle, but he asked calmly, " Does the happy lover, of whom you speak, succeed in his courtship with the fair girl ?" " I can't say as to that, mas'r ; but I spec as how he'll hev her, any how," remarked the black, with a strange gleam on his repulsive visage. " Jemany I" he cried, as Boiling deposited his weapons on a stand beside the bed ; " What magnifyin' pistols I COLONEL MILES THE MIDNIGHT ALARM. 29 Aint them darlins' ! A feller wouldn't laugh what was shot with sich fixins ! I swow, they're most as fine as the Captain's !" The young man glanced at the countenance of the negro, at the moment when this warm eulogy was uttered, and thought that he had never before witnessed so sinister a physiognomy. The twinkle in his white eyes looked even murderous. Here Tony approached him with a certain cunning smile, and interrogated in a sort of confidential whisper, "Mas'r, am y' one of the speckelaters what 'em calls Forest Rangers?" "No," answered the youth in astonishment. " Then why do y' take so many tools?" demanded the negro, with saucy impertinence ; and wheeling round he left the room, muttering as he went, "He's not one of 'em, that's a fac' ; but he 'sembles the Captain, and he has a hoss-load of'shootm' irons 1" The traveller immediately blew out his candle, and threw him self upon his couch ; but the sweet seraph of sleep touched not his eyelids with the dew-dropping finger that baptises the soul with Lethean waters, or brings golden dreams. The events of the past day all came back in vivid scenes, marching before his mind like the figures of a shifting panorama, as manifest to his imagina tion as they had been to his bodily senses. Again, he listened to the roar of the hurricane ; he saw the falling forest, wrapped in sheets of amethystine flame, and fled for life, with the faith ful Caesar by his side. Again, he held the angel of beauty in his arms, and felt her perfumed breath upon his cheek. And then, once more, he heard the blast of the bandit's bugle, the firing of guns, the wild shouts of infuriate men, and made his escape from the dreadful danger, with that one face shining brighter than the starlight so near to his own. After a time, however, his thoughts assumed a more practical tendency. He reflected, with painful emotions, on the singu larity of the circumstances, under which he met the beautiful Mary, and a horrible doubt darkened the divinity, before which 30 RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TANAHA. his spirit had so nearly bowed down to worship. How happened she to be there, so far from the settlement, and alone in the wil derness ? She recognized even the tones of the robbers' trum pet, and the leader of the band also knew her. She had avoided any explanation as- to the particulars of her misfortune among the outlaws ; she had refused even to answer the questions of the sympathising slaves, or so much as to intimate that she had been menaced with peril other than from the tornado. And then, as the statement of Tony occurred to his recollection, that she was ardently beloved by some one, he inferred the foolish non sequitur, that she probably reciprocated the passion, and he resolved to think no more about her. In this manner the tedious hours rolled slowly away until long after midnight, when suddenly his quick ear detected the mur mur of voices near the window, and rising softly, he parted the curtains, and glanced out through the panes of glass into the darkness. He perceived two men standing on the ground out side, one of medial height, and the other unusually tall, his head reaching the sill, which was more than six feet from the earth. The youth stooped down, and was enabled to catch some, fragmentary sentences of their whispered conversation. " I wonder what can keep Bill and Comanche Ben so long," said one, impatiently. "The devil, their master, only knows," replied the other; " but we need not wait for them. Let us do the business our selves." " Impossible !" answered the first ; " for, ten to one, the traveller came home with the girl, and he would fight for her like a wildcat, and arouse all the buck niggers on the plantation. It won't do, Captain ; we must have more help." "I tell you, Jack," said the latter, with an oath, "we must get Mary away to-night, or she will tell everything, and we shall have another lynching scrape, worse than the last one in Missouri." COLONEL MILES THE MIDNIGHT ALARM. 31 " You are afraid also, that she will find a fresh lover in the handsome stranger," suggested his companion, with a half- suppressed titter. " Cease your silly jesting," commanded the other ; " she shall be in my embrace before daylight, or sleep in the skeleton arms of death ! You must remember that the Colonel will be back in the morning, and would surely file a strong bill of exceptions against our kind claims to his daughter." At the moment, a slight whistle was heard, and a huge form approached the robbers, and speaking to them in a faint whis per, they all disappeared around the corner of the house. Al though the sky was much obscured bypassing clouds, the young man thought that the third person, whose advent in the scene had caused the actors to change their place so quickly, could be no other than the loquacious Tony ; and believing that they had gone to the sleeping room of their virgin victim, he instantly took his resolution. Having already put on his clothing, when he ascertained the infernal purpose of the villains, he now filled his pockets with pistols, relumed his candle, and rushing into the hall, rung the bell furiously. In a minute afterwards, the adjacent cabins of the Africans resounded with noise and confusion, and dusky visages swarmed into the house in great excitement and fear. The traveller related briefly what he had overheard, and ordered an immediate search for the bandits, leading the pursuit himself. But the reverberating echoes of flying hoofs from the bridge above the neighboring stream, at the distance of some hundred yards, pro claimed that the ruffians had taken the alarm, and effected their successful retreat. On returning to the parlor, the young man was pained to a degree that he could not comprehend himself, with the appear ance and conduct of the maiden, whom the previous peril most nearly concerned. Her features were exceedingly pale, but her 32 RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TANAHA. ^ dark eyes remained fixed upon the floor, and she asked no ques tions. Breaking the oppressive silence, the youth remarked, with agitation, " The boldness of these bandits is unaccountable. It almost staggers belief." " Yes," murmured Mary, " Dinah has told me what you heard; but did they say anything about me ?" " Only, that they intended to carry you off, or murder you." "Was that all ?" she gasped, with a countenance of terror. " That was all," answered the youth, keeping back half the tale of horrors from motives of delicacy. The response seemed to relieve her soul from the spectre of some appalling thought, and actuated by a sudden and uncon trollable impulse, she sprung forwards, and grasping the trav eller's .hand, exclaimed in tones of the deepest feeling, " You have delivered me twice from a doom more dreadful than the tortures of the most cruel death. Oh, tell me how I shall ever thank you enough 1" His doubts all fled away before the celestial music of that bewitching voice, more divinely sweet, more pure, more spirit ual, than the wildest wind-notes of the jEolian harp, when heaven's own breath plays among its strings beneath the pale lustre of the evening star. The fascinated youth, with difficulty repressing the warmer words that burned for utterance on his tremulous lips, replied, with almost passionate fondness, " The gratitude of one so good and beautiful repays me ten thousand times for any little service which I have rendered you, and deserves even the devotion of a life." At the instant, she dropped his fingers from hers, and uttered a startled cry, " My father !" The young man glanced towards the door, and beheld a tall, COLONEL MILES THE MIDNIGHT ALARM. 33 dark-featured man, gazing upon them with a surprised, yet stern and menacing look. ~ Mary hesitated a moment, and then bounded to the parental bosom, crying, " Father, this stranger saved my life to-day in the storm." " And how did you chance to be out in the storm ?" said the Colonel, incredulously. " I started in the morning for a walk to Shelby ville, but was assaulted by the robbers, when about half the way. They car ried me off many miles into the forest, when the tempest over took us, and amidst their fear and confusion I made my escape ; yet I should have been captured again, but for the protection and bravery of this generous young man." " How long did it take you to manufacture this romance ?" asked the father, with a bitter sneer ; " or perhaps you had able assistance," he added, with a disdainful gesture at the stranger. The latter responded warmly, " I can vouch for the truth of the most important facts of the story. We were attacked by the bandits, and I lost a valuable servant in the rencounter, and what is stranger still, two members, as I believe, of the same gang, have been here to-night, at this very house, for the pur pose of doing a deadly injury to your daughter, which I was fortunately enabled to prevent, from overhearing their whispered conversation beneath my window." The Colonel's face lost its color, and he replied, with a quiver ing voice, " Pardon my unjust suspicions, and accept my grate ful acknowledgments for your brave and generous conduct in the rescue of my only child." " But oh, father," said Mary, shuddering at the mere recol lection, " you could never imagine who the robbers were." " What 1 did you know them ?" gasped the Colonel, reeling as if he had been stunned by a thunder-bolt. " Alas I but too well," affirmed the pale, shuddering girl, " One of them was Captain " 34 RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TANAHA. " Not another word ! not for your life !" shouted her father, grasping her arm with a force that caused an involuntary cry of pain, He then hastily turned to Boiling, remarking in hollow tones, " Young man, as your rest has been so badly broken, you had better retire again to your bed, and get some sleep." As soon as the youth had left the parlor, Colonel Miles asked in low whispers, as if he feared that the very walls might over hear and report the awful secret, " Mary, who were the ruffians?" She repeated two names, the sound of which sent every drop of blood from her father's face back in frozen currents upon his heart, as he inquired, " What happened ? tell me all ; but speak softly, my dear child, you dream not how terrible is the danger." " I had reached the thicket in the Tanaha bottom," said the daughter, " when I turned aside to cull some beautiful crimson flowers, that I saw gleaming through the wild vines. At the moment, the two came up from opposite directions, and saluting each other, halted and engaged in conversation. I was so entirely concealed by the leafy bushes that they did not perceive me ; and not wishing to play the eavesdropper, which I could not avoid doing while in such a position, I had resolved to emerge from the tangled foliage into the road, and address them, when the appalling character of their discourse arrested my steps, and as it were rooted my feet to the spot. It causes the very blood in my veins to run cold, when I recall the horrible revelations of their villainy. They spoke of robbery, theft and murder as the common pursuit and pastime of their lives. They avowed their purpose to seduce half the slaves in the coun try from their masters, under promises of freedom, and then to run them off to Louisiana, and sell them for their own gain. They boasted of the numbers that belonged to their band, and specified several men of influence as among them." " Mary, did they mention me in any manner ? Say, for God's sake, did they name me ?" inquired the Colonel, pale as a corpse. COLONEL MILES THE MIDNIGHT ALARM. 35 "No, v said the maiden ; "but they spoke of me in such a way that I could not wholly suppress an involuntary cry of hor ror. Instantly the Captain darted through the foliage, and seizing me by the arm, dragged me still farther into the woods, while his comrade followed, leading their horses. All my prayers and entreaties were unavailing. They said that I had become acquainted with their plans, and that they must therefore make sure of my secrecy. They conducted me to their camp, and were discussing the question as to their action towards me, whether they should send me to their great council-ground, as they called it, in the Red River swamp, or murder me at once, when the hurricane began to howl in the forest, and the trees cracked like hail-stones on a skylight. It looked like the end of the world. They were too much terrified to notice me, and I escaped." "Have you related the facts to the young traveller?" inter rogated the Colonel, anxiously. " No ; I only told him my fear of the robbers when we first met." " Did you mention their names ?" " I did not." " Did you inform any of the negroes ?" " I have not done so as yet." Her father reflected a minute, and said, with the pale shadow of a simulated smile on his dark features, " Mary, the whole thing was a sheer joke, conversation and all, to frighten you ; for they are both men of the highest honor, although a little wild, and too fond of such practical jests." The astounded daughter gazed on his visage with a look of utter bewilderment, as if unable to credit the evidence of her own ears, or deeming the speaker distracted. " Do you not think my explanation plausible ?" he asked, scru tinizing her countenance. " What 1" she cried, with sudden, and almost angry anima- 36 BANNERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TANAHA. tion, " did the villains gag me for mere fun ? Was the roar of firearms, was the hissing hail of bullets, the natural result oi a childish frolic ? Did the murderous wretches slay or steal the stranger's servant for the sake of the wild sport ? Father, I am as much surprised as grieved to witness your indifference when you spoke, but an instant ago, of danger the most deadly." " Well, Mary, at all events, it is absolutely necessary that we should keep the matter a close secret," responded the Colonel, in a voice and with an aspect of unutterable fear. " And why so ?" she hastily inquired, with flashing eyes. "If we cover up such deeds, do we not become accomplices in their guilt ? Oh, my dear father, for once, take your loving child's advice. Denounce the red-handed murderers, and drag them to the bar of avenging justice. My testimony alone, and I will rejoice to give it, will be sufficient to hang them." The Colonel paced the floor in terrible agitation. At length he faltered, " Mary, I approve your feelings, but we must not act as you desire nay, hear me out we dare not. The rogues in this country are really in the majority, and even command the most important offices, including those of judges and sheriffs. They have witnesses to swear away any man's life that they wish out of their path, and when offended, they do not hesitate to shoot down their enemies, wherever they may find them by the fire-side, in the field, at the wedding, at the funeral, in the church, or even in the court-house, anywhere and everywhere, without scruple, or mercy, or the dread of punishment. No, Mary, we must not betray by any, the least word or sign, the consciousness of this foul outrage. We must be in all respects precisely as we were before it occurred." "In all respects?" questioned the young girl, in tones of frightful agony. " We must, or perish !" " Must I still endure the disgusting attentions of this murder ous monster, the hateful captain, whom I always detested ?" COLONEL MILES THE MIDNIGHT ALARM. 31 " There is no help for it." " Father, I would rather die !" exclaimed Mary, reeling sud denly, as if shocked beyond endurance. " What do you say, girl ?" yelled the Colonel, griping her arm till he nearly fractured the bone, while his features writhed in hideous distortions ; " would you kill me ? I tell you that my property, my reputation, my life all, all are in that man's power. It matters not how. He is the master, and I the slave. Will you save me by a little courtesy, or murder me by your cruel pride T' 11 1 will do as you direct," murmured Mary, in a hoarse whis per ; " anything, everything but give my person to the polluting bridal with a devil 1 That I will never do ; no, not for the sal vation of the whole world." " I shall not demand it, my child," said the father, weeping tears of agony. " Only let me have a brief space, a few months, to mature my plans, to get my hand out of the infernal wild beast's mouth, and I will find the means of settling all accounts in one bloody payment." He pronounced the last sentence in a voice that made the very marrow creep in his daughter's bones. She had never before seen the face of her father look like that of a demon. What could it all mean ? What was this strange, diabolical mystery, which seemed to demand the sacrifice of a child so fair t CHAPTER III. MAJOR MORROW AND SOL TUTTLE CAPTAIN CARLYLE. WHEN William Boiling arose the next morning, after a brief and troubled slumber, he found breakfast already prepared on the table ; for the people of the backwoods, like the birds and beasts of their own dewy forests, are early risers. The Colonel saluted his guest with a show of much cordiality, but his man ner evinced uneasiness and apprehension, notwithstanding all his efforts to be pleasing. At first, the young man scarcely observed the singular embarrassment of his host, his attention being occu pied by the appearance of the fair daughter. She had greeted him with a distant bow, as if he had been a mere stranger. Her lovely features were pale, and her dark eyes dim, from the traces of recent tears. Even her slight, snowy fingers quivered ner vously, rendering her task difficult to fill their cups with the steaming, fragrant coffee. By way of apology for her too obvious agitation, the Colonel remarked, "We must excuse Mary's awkwardness this morning; she has not yet recovered from the effects of yesterday's adven ture." " It is no wonder that the recollection should be profound, as well as painful," said Boiling, thoughtfully. " Such occurrences are so common in this country that they have almost ceased to excite surprise," returned the other, indif ferently. "It must be a strange state of society nearly as bad as the MAJOR MORROW AND SOL. TUTTLE CAPTAIN CARLYLE. 39 lawless condition of savage life," answered the youth. " I regret it the more, as I had intended to make this section of the repub lic my future home." Mary raised her eyes with a quick glance of mingled pleasure and curiosity. "Did you purpose opening a plantation?" interrupted Colonel Miles. " Such was my plan," replied Boiling ; and then, hesitating an instant between the prudence which forbade him to be over communicative and his desire to effect a favorable impression in the mind of the charming daughter, the latter motive prepon derated, and he added, " my business in Texas is rather that of an agent than of a principal. My father and uncle have deputed me to select and purchase a large quantity of lands, with a view to their own actual settlement, as well as subsequent speculation in sales." " A most perilous enterprise, truly," exclaimed the Colonel, seriously. " I should think any sort of enterprise perilous, after the scenes I have witnessed," answered the young man ; " the rights of property might be as safe among the Camanches." " You mistake my meaning," replied the other ; "I do not allude to the impotency of legal restraint, or to the absence of civil protection for our security, nor yet to the social anarchy which prevails in the community. I refer to the deadly preju dice of the people against speculators in land. Most of the squatters would rather shoot one of that odious class than butcher the wildest wolf. So if you have any regard for your personal welfare, or even for your life, you will relinquish all such dangerous designs." Netled somewhat by the language and tone of this gratuitous advice, Boiling retorted haughtily, " I am not accustomed to change my schemes, either from the fear of individual men or of mobs." * "That is a proper spirit, and^perfectly natural in the ardent 40 RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TANAHA. season of reckless youth, and especially as you are yet unac quainted with the country ; but one year's experience in the tumults of Texas will not fail to teach you, that where inobs are too powerful for the law, they must always vanquish the bravest private citizen.'-' " Yes ; but the cause of order ever triumphs in the end, and if it has its victims and martyrs, it can boast of its heroes also," said the young man, his face beaming with enthusiasm. " That time will doubtless come in this purple land, at last ; but I am afraid it is far distant, and before the day arrives many a noble heart must pour out its 'blood like rain," remarked the Colonel, mournfully. From the tenor of his host's conversation, Boiling concluded, perhaps too hastily, that the other, for some unimaginable reason, did not wish him to locate in the country, and he addressed a question, by way of proving the truth of this inference : " Is there no other part of the republic free from the objections which you have urged so forcibly ?" " Oh, yes,' ; answered the Colonel, apparently much relieved by the idea ; " there are large tracts farther west, nearly desti tute of population, and which may be bought for a mere song." " And which are annually visited by Comanches," suggested Mary, timidly. The father gave her a stealthy, but stern glance of reproof, which sent her eyes to the floor. " Your observations strike me as being important," remarked the yotfng man, " but I must see more of the country and its inhabitants before I can determine on my course." " Remain with us to-day," said Colonel Miles, " and you will have an opportunity of becoming better acquainted with our citizens. Everybody will be here to witness the grand shooting- match." The words were kind enough, but there seemed to be no warm welcome in the tones or countenance of the speaker, and Boiling's lofty pride prompted a brief refusal, when he caught an anxious, blushing look on Mary's .beautiful face, which MAJOR MORROW AND SOL. TUTTLE CAPTAIN CARLYLE. 4l checked the cold response of denial, and he answered in an indifferent voice, " I thank you, Colonel ; I will accept your courteous offer of hospitality. I must stay "in the neighborhood a few days, and perhaps I may obtain tidings of my lost servant." " Make my house your home," said the other, with the same icy air ; and then he added, coloring to the temples, as if ashamed of what he was about to say, " I have one request to make, on your own account, as well as my own, that you will say nothing in relation to the unfortunate events of yesterday and last night. You cannot conceive, nor can I explain, the terrible conse quences to me and to my daughter, which would follow from the public agitation of the subject. In the mean time, I will assume the task of discovering your slave, if he be alive." It would be impossible to paint the astonishment expressed by the young man's features, on hearing this proposition, but he noticed the imploring glance of Mary's dark eyes, and promised as the Colonel desired. They had hardly ended their morning repast when the people began to gather for the shooting-match, and its incidental past imes. The assemblage was of the most wonderful and miscel laneous description. No human hand could approach a correct delineation of the different characters no, not even the coarse pen of Sterne, or the comic pencil of Hogarth. There were mingled in one immense motley crowd, both sexes, all ages, sizes, colors, classes, hunters, herdsmen, gamblers, merchants, mechanics, planters, preachers, robbers, assassins, and honest men, poverty, independence, and the proudest wealth. There might be seen in close proximity, fops, fluttering in gay plumage, and sun-burnt forms clothed in leather and crowned with coon- skin caps ; bright belles, rustling in robes of silk, and flash ing with the gleam of golden ornaments, and modest maidens in rude, homespun raiment, the fabric of their own looms all enjoying the common holiday, and associating on equal terms, 454 RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TANAHA. as if the ideal perfection of Democracy, so long doubted as a political myth, had been at last realized. On such occasions, a stranger, with any prestige of either fame or appearance, is always an object of universal attention on the frontier ; and accordingly, William Boiling soon found himself, much to his vexation and annoyance, the cynosure of all eyes, a star, a lion of the first magnitude, with the masses. The inter est was exaggerated, in his case, by some faint rumors of his recent encounter with the bandits. For ^though Colonel Miles had sworn the Africans to the strictest secrecy on the subject, they could not help whispering all the items within their keeping to others, under a similar injunction of inviolable silence. And hence, every person to whom he was introduced by his host, and many who forced their acquaintance upon him, without formality, cross-examined him critically as to the adventure in quqsiion. He, however, evaded the general inquisition with as HttleTlepar- ture from the truth as might be, answering to all, that the affair amounted to nothing more than a slight alarm, which might, perhaps, be without any certain foundation. Indeed, he endeavored to avoid the throng as much as he could, -remaining in the house in the vicinity of Mary. He was prompted to this course, not only by that magnetic thread of mysterious attraction, which drew him involuntarily to the side of the forest-born beauty, but also by the more worldly wish, to scrutinize her countenance, at the entrance of each new arrival, and thus to learn, from her looks, who were the bandits of yesterday, if they should chance to be in attendance. Among the first introductions, was a Major Morrow with his lady. The former presented a great brawny frame, with a small, globular head ; fierce and irregular features, deeply marked with yellow freckles ; keen and cruel grey eyes, restless and menacing ; enormous red whiskers, and hair of the same fiery tint ; hands huge and apparently heavy as sledge hammers ; with an aspect, combining the strangest mixture of cunning, ferocity, and satanic MAJOR MORROW AND SOL. TDTTLE CAPTAIN OARLYLE. 43 pride. He was fashionably dressed in rich black cloth, and seemed not a little vain of a magnificent gold watch, which he consulted every few minutes, like one awaiting impatiently for the moment of an important appointment. The wife, as if for the sake of contrast, was a pale, delicate figure, lithe and slender as a sylph, with features sufficiently comely, had they possessed one tinge of color, and eyes of so unearthly a black, wild, sad, and glittering, as to fill the heart of the beholder with involuntary and nameless awe. Had she been less youthful, and more deficient in personal charms, she would probably have been mistaken by vulgar superstition for a witch ; but as the case was, she might have sat for the picture of some melancholy ghost, that had been disembodied by love and suicide. " I hear, Mr. Boiling, that you had a fight yesterday with the robbers," said Major Morrow, in that singular thumping tone, which, more than any other physical peculiarity, distinguishes the man of belligerent passions. * " I met with some ruffians whose conduct indicated evil inten tions ; but I may, perhaps, have misjudged them," answered the youth, carelessly. " Eh ! you don't want to talk more about it. You have too much modesty to blow your own trumpet. But I can tell you, the country swarms with rogues ; and it never will be any better until we organize a company of Lynch ers. We fixed them in Missouri done the thing up brown, I may say we hung half the thieves, and scared the rest to death !" As the major uttered this truculent boast, the young man saw an individual who had just entered the room, cast upon the speaker a look of indescribable rage and hatred. He then advanced, and Colonel Miles, grasping his hand cordially, exclaimed, " I am glad to see you, Sol Tuttle : what success in your late hunt on the Trinity ? Let me make you acquainted with Mr. William Boiling, of Alabama." 44 RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TANAHA. " Mr. Boiling I" said Sol Tattle, with a low bow; " stranger, I ax pardon ; but if I mout be so bold, are you akin to the Boilings of Old Yirginriy ?" " I am the son of General William Boiling, formerly of the State you have mentioned, but now a judge in the city of Mobile. " " Then you are of the true grit, and no mistake, a great great granson, or sumthen of the sort, of old Pocahontas," cried Sol, squeezing the youth's fingers so ardently, as nearly to crush the bones ; " I'm myself of the same linage, though of rather a poor branch." " Mr, Tuttle, let me introduce you to Major Morrow," said the colonel. " I know the major a leetle too well already," answered Sol, turning off, with a disdainful smile. " What ! do you mean to insult me ?" cried Morrow, with flashing eyes. - " No, it ain't worth while," replied Tuttle, walking coolly out of the door, when the other muttered, " I'll fix him yet before the sun goes down !" William Boiling continued to observe the countenance of Mary, as the various individuals arrived ; but he could perceive no change which betrayed the advent of the bandits. She kept her eyes riveted on the entrance of the parlor, with a disquieted look, as if she feared or expected the appearance of some unwel come guest. The youth then remembered that she had used the word captain, when checked by her father, on the previous night, in her incipient disclosure of the names which he so eagerly desired to ascertain ; but he very soon found that this could afford him no clue to the discovery sought, since every third man in the crowd seemed to wear the nom de guerre specified, while the remainder were of higher military rank ! At length, they all adjourned their mass-meeting at the dwel ling-house, and collected again in a small prairie, half a mile MAJOR MORROW AND SOL. TDTTLE CAPTAIN CARLYLE. 45 distant, to witness the shooting-match. The target being set up, at sixty yards, the sport opened. A good deal of close firing followed, and considerable money was lost and won, bat still nothing occurred to elicit unusual excitement, until Major Mor row took his station, and poising a long, heavy rifle off-hand, cried in boastful accents : " Now, look, boys ; and I'll show you how the Lynchers used to shoot in Missouri !" A loud roar drowned the last word and the ball pierced the centre of the target. Deafening acclamations rent the air ; and the major shouted : - " I'll bet a hundred dollars in gold, that no other man on the ground can beat it." " You may well say that, for nobody can git nearer a mark than the centre," replied Sol Tuttle, with a sneer. " Then, I'll bet, that no other man can equal it," said Mor row, frowning savagely. "Done !" answered Sol, without an instant's reflection. " But you must stake the cash ; I don't do a credit business,' 7 remarked the Major. " May be y' think I haint got the stuffin, old hoss-fly," retorted Tuttle, pulling out a long, greasy purse, and counting out the required sum. He then went to the stand, and measuring the distance with his eye, said in tones of thunder: " Now, I'll show you how the Moderators used to whip the Lynchers in Missouri 1" Instantly, he raised his rifle, almost as lengthy as himself, and fired quick as a thought. " You have missed the tree !" cried the major, in tones of scornful triumph. " I'll bet you another cool hundred, that my bullet has gone right into the same hole as yourn," answered Sol, with unwa vering confidence. " Done," was the response, and the money .was placed in deposit. The spectators rushed around the tree, and a dozen blows of the axe decided the issue in favor of Tuttle. The two bits of lead were found buried together. 46 RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TAN AHA. The features of the major absolutely writhed with vexation and rage, as he fulminated the brutal challenge : " Suppose that we exchange this sort of target for living ones, such as will prove where the shot touches by streams of blood ! Let us aim at each other's hearts, and I'll bet you a thousand dollars on trust, if you wish, that you fall first 1" " I don't want to shoot you," replied Sol, " for yer hide ain't worth the trouble of skinnin' it from yer carkiss, and yer meat, old sinner, would be tougher than bull beef P j. An uncontrollable burst of laughter from the bystanders greeted the ludicrous retort ; and Morrow, nearly choking with fury and mortification, cried hoarsely, with the adjunct of a horrible oath: " But you shall fight me, or I'll horsewhip you within an inch of your life !" " Wait till the balance of the sport is over, and then we'll see about it," said Sol, with the greatest indifference. At the moment, Colonel Miles announced that pistol shooting was next in order. The target was fixed at the distance of twelve paces, and as previously, many fine shots might be seen, but nothing which appeared to approach the ideal of the popular imagination. At last, it came to Major Morrow's turn, and again he drove out the centre. He repeated the same boastful offer of a bet, which was as promptly accepted by Sol Tuttle, and the identical consequences resulted, which had been wit nessed in the contest with rifles. The pistol bullets were imbedded in one hole ! This time, however, the major uttered no verbal threat, but his dagger-like, grey eyes looked murder ! Suddenly, an immense shout rung on the air : " Captain Carlyle I Captain Carlyle ! He will show you how to shoot 1 huzza for the gallant captain !" A slender man, with handsome features, long flowing dark hair, and vivid black eyes, elbowed his way through the throng, bowing gracefully to the right and left, with the air of a courtier, in acknowledgment of the general acclamations. MAJOR MORROW AND SOL. TDTTLE CAPTAIN CARLYLE. 47 Young Boiling glanced at Mary, and thought that the new comer must be the bandit of yesterday, from her extraordinary emotion, her face being mortally pale, and her form vibrating as if she were shaken by an earthquake 1 But the demeanor of her father gave the lie to any such supposition. For he hailed the stranger with extreme cordiality, and even fulsome fawning. A still more disagreeable idea then gained possession of Boiling's mind, that Carlyle was the favored lover of the beautiful girl, and from this fact resulted her agitation. And although he could not be said to feel the consciousness of passion in his own* bosom as yet, still the very possibility was painfully torturing, that her heart might already belong to another. Nevertheless, when he scanned the fascinating appearance of the captain, he could not discredit the hypothesis suggested by his jealousy. At all events, hope whispered to his fancy, " he has not saved her life as I have done !" The target being again prepared, Captain Carlyle stepped off fifteen paces, and after turning his back towards the mark, sud denly wheeled, and fired quick as a flash of lightning. Plaudits followed like the roar of a whirlwind. His bullet had penetra ted the centre ! He then snatched from his bosom a small pocket Deringer, and repeating the experiment, produced the same result. A moment afterwards, a raven flitted some sixty feet above his head, through the air ; he raised his other duelling pistol, and shot off its neck. The people shouted till they were hoarse, and this feat closed the contests with fire-arms. No one else dared try his skill that day. William Boiling, when he found the opportunity, advanced towards Carlyle, so as to get a more accurate view of his features. Their eyes met, and encountered in a stern, searching, protracted gaze, as if their two secret souls were, at the first sight, measuring each other's strength, for some future and frightful conflict, where one would be sure to perish ! The captain did not, however, reveal in his countenance any tokens of recog- 48 RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TANAHA. nition, as if he had ever seen the youth before. He appeared to be actuated by a mysterious force of instinctive, natural hatred one of those inexplicable antipathies, which baffle all analysis, and bemock psychological laws and similar to the emotion that moved the other simultaneously. Finally, after this mutual mute defiance had lasted nearly two minutes, the captain's glance fell, and he turned away with a smile of revenge, lurid as the light of purgatorial flames. " He's afeerd of you," said a whisper in Boiling's ear ; and casting his eyes around, he beheld the serious face of Sol Tuttle. "Yes, he's sartanly afeerd of you," iterated the hunter ; " but you'd better keep yer eye skinned fur him : becaze he's an orful jewillist 1" " I shall not show the white feather, if it pleases the bully to cross my path," said the youth, haughtily. " Oh I no danger of the old Pocahontas blood playin' craw fish ;" replied the other ; " but he beats the very devil with his pistol. It's wusser nor thunder !" Hardly had the word left the speaker's mouth, when Major Morrow rushed to the spot, with a murderous light gleaming in his grey eyes, crying furiously: "Tuttle, you must fight me now, or take the consequence !" and he flourished on high a heavy horsewhip. " Ar' y' spilein' fur a tussle, old wolf?" asked Sol, with a merry, ringing laugh, and a visage indescribably comical. " Will you fight me as a man, or must I whip you like a dog ?" thundered the major, in tones of phrensied rage. " Some breeds of dogs hev a dangerous habit of bitin' when y' kick 'em," retorted Tuttle, with a sly wink, and showing his teeth, as if to intimate that he belonged to the canine class specified. The whip fell, but the howl of pain was uttered by Morrow, for quick as the flashing of a thought, Sol seized his wrist, and, giving a sudden jerk, dislocated the shoulder of his adversary, MAJOR MORROW AND SOL. TUTTLE CAPTAIN CARLYLE. 49 and nearly crushed the bones of his arm, with a grasp like fingers of iron. " Thar, that feeler will do this time, old coon," exclaimed Tuttle ; " but if f fool with me agin, I'll onjinte yer cussed neck I" CHAPTER IT. THE BALL THE DEPARTURE. THE savage personal rencounter described in the preceding chapter, did not interrupt the progress of the festivities. Only the defeated Major, with his lady, returned home, after he had availed himself of the little surgical aid which the united wis dom of half a dozen quack doctors could afford him. Colonel Miles feasted the multitude luxuriously during the afternoon, and at night they enjoyed themselves in their favorite pastime of drinking and dancing. Captain Carlyle almost entirely monopolized the society of the fair Mary ; and William Boiling, as he wandered about, like a restless spirit, among the throng of spectators, heard, with pain, many such expressions as the following : "What a hand some couple ! I wonder when the wedding will take place !" and other intimations, showing the general belief that the future union of the pair was a fact fully arranged and settled. How ever, their behavior towards each other did not seem to indi cate one particle of true affection on either side. The eyes of the captain certainly glowed with the fiercest light of animal passion desire without delicacy, tenderness or love ; and his features had a haughty, sneering look, almost equivalent to positive hatred. The young girl, on the contrary, appeared utterly dejected, and floated through the mazy evolu tions of the waltz, pale, silent, and seemingly unconscious, as if THE BALL THE DEPARTURE. 51 dancing in a dream. She never once gazed upon the visage of her partner, or replied to his murmured words. Occasionally, indeed, her timid glance sought the face of William Boiling, but she instantly withdrew her eyes, with strong symptoms of alarm, on perceiving that he was regarding her with vigilant attention. The youth himself experienced the most disagreeable emotions of wonder and grief, but determined to wait patiently, and, at all hazards, to devise some means for the solution of the mys tery, before the party should break up. Captain Carlyle also noticed the unremitting observation of Boiling, and his aspect became positively fiendish, in its ominous, sarcastic smile of unutterable ferocity. He opened his thin, writhing lips, as if about to thunder some bloody menace of insult and defiance, when a frightful incident happened to pre vent the act, if such really were his truculent intention. Suddenly, in the yard, where hundreds had been carousing by the red illumination of an immense pine-log fire, a terrible outcry was heard. Shouts, shrieks, curses, and all the usual tokens of a murderous melee in the backwoods, rent the midnight air, accompanied by the roar of pistols and the ring of clashing steel. The populace seemed to be divided into different contend ing factions, some exclaiming, "Hurrah for "Comanche Ben I" and others vociferating similar ejaculations for " Sol Tuttle," the hunter ; and the tempest of the battle did not die away until the descendant of Pocahontas had compelled three of his opponents to beg for quarter, fighting with his fists alone against foes weaponed with firearms, who, having missed their intended victim, had unintentionally laid out several of the spec tators dead in their tracks. At the commencement of the affray, the crowd in the hall rushed out of the door, to witness the conflict, and young Boi ling was left, for a few moments, alone with Mary. He had caught, amidst the noise, the name of Comanche Ben, which the maiden had associated with the bugle of the bandits, on the night 52 RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TANAHA. of their attack ; but earnestly as he desired to unravel that mys tery, there was another one deeper and dearer to his heart, now immediately before him, in the troubled countenance of the beautiful girl. " You do not appear to enjoy the amusement very much," said the youth, hardly knowing how to begin. " I detest such scenes," she replied, with a perceptible shud der. " You surely cannot be displeased with the attentions of your partner, as he never leaves your side," suggested Boiling. Turning white as a piece of paper, she murmured, in a tremu lous whisper, " Oh, that he would leave me now and forever !" " Then why do you tolerate his persevering gallantry ?" 11 For the love of Christ, for pity's sake, do not ask me 1" she implored, shivering as with ungovernable fear. " Miss Miles," said the youth, in low tones of infinite tender ness, "accident made us acquainted, under strange circum stances, yet such as should inspire mutual candor and confidence. You have interested me more than I can tell, or even explain to myself, unspeakably more than any other human being ever did on earth. May I claim your pardon for asking a private interview ?" Her cheek, before so pallid, now burned with the brightest crimson, as she commenced her answer in a sweet, sighing whis per. " Yes ; I also wish to speak to you, if" What proviso she was about to annex will never be known, as at the instant her father entered, from an adjoining apartment, and with angry features, commanded, " Mary, come here ; I want you." A moment afterwards the throng returned to the room, and the waltz went on again, as if nothing had occurred to mar their harmony, with the exception of the families whose circles had been so rudely broken by the murders in the adjacent yard. Mary, however, did not again appear in the hall, and as Boiling remained with his eyes riveted on the door through which she THE BALL THE DEPARTURE. 53 had made her exit, it siu 1 . Jenly opened, revealing the handsome form and smiling face of Captain Carlyle. Their glances met in another long, fixed stare of speechless hatred. But the aspect of the duellist had a look of such deadly meaning, so cruelly, defiantly triumphant, and withal so scornful and over bearing, that the high-spirited young Virginian took one step forward to slap his cheek, when Colonel Miles caught him by the arm, and drawing him aside, remarked, " I want to converse with you on a matter of great importance.'' The two walked out some distance into the garden behind the dwelling, and pausing, the colonel began abruptly, in a grave tone : " Mr. Boiling, I take you to be a gentleman of the purest honor, and therefore, I say to you frankly, that any attentions of yours to my daughter, will be disagreeable both to her and myself." " I have not voluntarily paid her any attentions at least, any more than her late misfortunes forced me to render," answered Boiling, haughtily. The other winced at this reference to services which deserved treatment so different, and responded hastily, in more friendly tones : " We are not ungrateful for the brave defence which you made against the bandits ; but I have the strongest reasons for the sentiment that I expressed in the outset." " Perhaps, you may deem me unfit to associate on terms of equality with your family ; if so, let me assure you, and the proof is easy, that I am your peer, both in wealth and respect ability," said the youth, in accents of caustic bitterness. " The motives for my conduct are not at all of the character which you would insinuate," remarked the Colonel, in a voice of displeasure. " In plain terms, Mary is affianced to another, and must, of course, be circumspect in her demeanor towards mere strangers." " Oh, yes, I thought so the duellist is the happy man. Col onel, let me congratulate you on the magnificence of your son- 54 RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TANAHA. in-law, and the misery of your only daughter," exclaimed Boiling, in tones of terrible irony. " Why should she be miserable as the wife of one who pos sesses riches and popularity, and is universally beloved, and who could to-morrow be elected to Congress, if he desired the honor." " Because she hates him as immeasurably as I do." " How do you know that ?" cried the father, grasping the young man's arm with convulsive energy, and trembling as with an ague. " I infer it from all her looks and actions," answered Boiling, " and you *re perfectly aware of the truth yourself." "You are entirely mistaken," said the Colonel, breathing more freely ; " and besides, if Mary's heart were perfectly free, you dare not offer her your hand, as I am well advised by information which I have received this very night." " What do you mean ?" interrogated the other, in great sur prise. " Because your proud and aristocratic friends would disown and cast you off as a beggar, if you should wed against their wishes, and with the family of such an indifferent a character as mine." 11 Some person has told you a base falsehood," returned Boi ling, with a certain lofty air ; "I am not dependent on the caprices of my kindred, if they were as tyrannical as you allege, because I chance to inherit a fortune in my own right, by the partial will of my deceased grandfather. However, I will at once relieve you from my disagreeable presence, if you will be so obliging as to order my horse." " Surely," said Miles, joyfully, and hurried away to give the proper mandate. The youth walked rapidly back to the house, muttering, as he went, "Before my exit, I will claim payment from the cap tain for all the mute insults which he has offered me ; and woe THE BALL THE DEPARTURE. 55 to him if he denies the bloody debt !" But upon entering the hall, to his bitter disappointment, the foe had already gone. Indeed, it was now nearly daylight, and the assembled multi tude had begun to break up hastily. As the young man passed out of the door, with an icy bow to his late host, Sol Tuttle hailed him : " Well, Mr. Boiling, I see you're about to cut dirt from these diggins ; which way ?" " My road lies up the Tanaha," said the other. " And mine, too," answered Sol ; " and I'd be mighty proud of yer company." Boiling gladly assented, in the hope to learn something more of several persons at the late gathering, from the friendly hunter. But the latter, at first, did not seem in the least dis posed to gratify his curiosity. He rode on in moody silence, looking sharply into the bushes on the right and left, as if apprehending danger. At length their path diverged from the black shadows of the forest, and entered a broad expanse of prairie, just as the diamond beauties of the golden dawn began to glitter in the starry orient ; and almost immediately, the full, infinite efful gence of the divine day illuminated the earth and sky. For in that genial Southern land, the perfection and prime of light do not come by slow growth, as in the higher latitudes of the unfriendly frozen North. First, you see a faint sparkle, a gleam of pale fire, modest as the earliest love-beam of a timid eye ; next a sweet suffusion, a crimson glow, like the blush of burning blood on the warm cheek of a virgin bride, as she moves on the arm of her chosen one to the altar ; and then, quick as the rapid rush of lightning, the sun, in cloudless glory, parts the azure curtains of the air, and, like some almighty giant, as he is, leaps, at one flaming bound, out of heaven, upon the earth he loves, and clasps it with fiery caresses. All the bright birds warble, RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TANAHA. 56 the butterflies flash their rainbow wings, and the bees murmur around the honey-dew of the flower-cups. At the instant, the spirits of the hunter became luminous with the air, and he banished all previous apprehension from his mind. The effect, it must be candidly confessed, did not originate so much from any sentiment arising out of the poetical beauty of the morning, as from the more rational sense of its practical utility. If he chanced to encounter enemies now, it would be even-handed, and they could not take him by surprise. " It appears that you had quite a battle, last night," remarked Boiling, with another effort to elicit discourse. 11 Yes ; and it was all on yer account," said Sol, with a twinkle of humor in his merry black eye. " How so ?" inquired the youth. " Yes," continued the hunter, not heeding the question ; " and I've been uneasy all the way on yer account, too." " Well, suppose that you explain the cause, and then I may perhaps sympathise with your feelings," remarked Boiling with a smile. " It's rather a long story, and I'd rather not commence until arter breakfast," answered Sol, with an affected seriousness that failed to hide his anxiety to begin at once, 11 Oh, as to that, you can cut the matter as short as you please ; only let me have some fragment of the tale, as it so nearly concerns myself," urged Boiling, very interested. " I guess as how it does," replied Tuttle. '* Perhaps you mout know Mary Miles ? Don't redden so about yer gills, for I seed you lookin' at her, mighty sweet. Well, I'm powerful intermate with her, and I'll tell you how it come. The gal has an uncle, old Jack Miles, who's the only neighbor in a day's ride of my wigwam ; and so, as there be but two on us and our families, you may swear we don't quarrel. Every year, and sometimes oftener, Mary goes out thar to see her kinsfolks ; for though THE BALL THE DEPARTURE. 57 th ey be poor, like meself, she's too good to be proud ; and so you see as how I come acquainted with her. Well, she took to sort o' likin' me, but I liked her better ; and that's the 'casion of the intermacy I spoke about. Now maybe yer would wish to know what she said to me last night, consarnin' you !" interro gated the hunter, with a sly wink. " As you please," said Boiling, coloring to the eyes. " Well, jist before we left, she slipped round the house, and tuk me one side, and sez she, Mr. Tuttle, yo* wer interduced to a young man called William Boiling ? ' Yes,' sez I. Sez she, * He's in danger ; some persons ar goin' to murder him.' ' Who ?' sez I. * I can't give their names, v says she ; 'but, Sol, yer a brave feller, and if ye'll jist ride off with him, for my sake, and hold yer tongue on the subjec', I'll thank you as long as I have breath.' And then the big shinin' tears come into her black eyes, and in mine, too, and I swore I'd do it." " Was that all she said ?" inquired the youth, in- accents of the deepest anxiety. " Yes ; for then the Colonel walked up, with a face mad as a thundercloud, and cussin' like blazes, told her to make herself scarce." " Have you any idea when Miss Miles will visit her relations in your neighborhood again ?" asked Boiling, with indications of emotion too profound for concealment. "The fust of next month, so she told me yisterday; and if you'll jist go home with me, Susy and the children will be glad to see you ; and by waitin' a week, you can chat with her as much as you want." " I cannot accept your offered hospitality for the present, but I will endeavor to avail myself of it in a few days," replied the young man, kindly. " I must try to discover a valuable servant thai I lost a short time since." " I heerd about it/' remarked Sol ; " and thar's not a doubt the robbers have got him." 58 RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TANAHA. " What course would you advise me to adopt, under the cir cumstances ?" interrogated Boiling, thinking that the hunter's familiar experience with the wild scenes of forest life might ena ble him to impart useful information. The latter reflected seriously a brief space, and said, "You had better go to Major Morrow, and tell him all about it. He can do more for you than I can. He's got a secret Lynchin' company, and is up to all the cunnin' tricks of the rogues. You see, I give you nmnterested counsel, for I hate the old sinner worse nor a polecat. I put his shoulder out of jint last night, but the next time that he fools with me, it shall be his neck." " May I be allowed to ask what was the cause of the ani mosity between you ?" " He killed my brother in Missouri," answered Sol, in tones unutterably mournful, while the great round tears rolled down his sunburnt cheeks like rain-drops. As soon -as he became less agitated, in order to divert his attention from the painful subject of his thoughts, Boiling inquired, " What sort of a country is it where you reside ?" The hunter responded with almost poetic enthusiasm : " A perfect paradise a big sea of prairies, level as a barn-floor, and sweet leetle islands of timber sprinkled all over it, with deers thick as cattle in a medder, the sile black as yer hat, the green grass up to yer head, and full of yeller flowers as the sky is of stars." " Do you own the laud where you live ?" " No ; all that belongs to a rich speckerlater in Shelby ville, who won't sell less pieces than a thousand acres. He owns fifty miles square." " Would you object, if I should purchase the entire tract ?" asked Boiling, cautiously, remembering the statements of Col onel Miles as to the bitter prejudices of the squatters. " By no means," answered the other, promptly ; " I don't feel about it as some men do. I know the sile isn't mine, and THE BALL THE DEPARTURE. 59 perhaps not much of it ever will be, so it matters not who else has it. But the wild bucks and buffaloes are my property as much as my own hoss, when they git within reach of my rifle ; and them no speckerlater can take from me, unless he shoots 'em fust." " How does it happen that Colonel Miles is so wealthy, while his brother is so poor?" interrogated Boiling, suddenly changing the theme. "That is more nor I can say," responded the hunter, with a dubious shake of the head. ; '* some people think that the Colo nel has speckerlated mishonestly. -One thing is savtiu, that he's made his fortin since he went to Texas, only ten years ago." " Are you acquainted with Captain Carlyle ?" " Ah ! thar's another of them upstarters, that got rich in a hurry ; " said Sol. thoughtfully. " Five winters past, and he fetch up in Shellyville, without a penny in his pocket, and now he has a big plantation, and works a hundred niggers. Prehaps he made it shootin' sumthin' else than birds !" " Does any body accuse him of dishonest conduct ?" " No ; every body is too much afeerd of him to speak a word agin him, and I advertise you to keep yer eye skinned when you meet him ; fur it's my expression that he's the chap who inten ded to murder you last night, that yer gal spoke of." "He will meet with me sooner than he expects," remarked Boiling, with a terrible look. After deliberating in silence for some time, the youth deter mined to follow the hunter's advice, and seek an interview with Major Morrow. Having communicated his purpose to the other, Sol. after pressing him not to forget his promised visit, showed a dim path to the right, leading towards the heavy forests of the Tanaha, which he asserted, would conduct him to his destination, and they parted with emotions of mutual good will. William Boiling pursued his journey alone over the wild 60 RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TANAHA. desolate prairie, waving with long grass, and sparkling with the most brilliant flowers, even at this early season of the young year. For in that glorious climate, the most divine in the world, the sunbeams of the first month in Spring turn to eme rald verdure and amethystine blooms almost as soon as they touch the earth with kindly kisses of fire. The red deer wantoned in the balmy air, or reclined on the velvet green sward, the tur keys uttered shrill calls to their mates, the wild horses careered in the blue distance, tossing their free tails like banners in bat tle ; but the unconscious youth, saw nothing, heard nothing, remembered nothing, save the self-created, but most vivid and bewitching spectres of his otfn thoughts. His soul wandered at will in a fairy and most fantastic world of dreams, the bright creatures of imagination and love. Yes, he loved. He felt it in every pulsation of his heart, in every changing idea of his feverish throbbing brain, and he realized the immutable fact, that he had never before in all his life, known even the meaning of the word passion. The new feeling, like an unutterable inspiration, the lightning shock of some celestial flame, mastered his reason, conquered his senses, absorbed all his essence, sowed the universe with stars, coined the air into bridal songs, transmuted every sand-grain on the common earth to gold. All the trees were of living emerald, and every rock glittered with the dust of dia monds. While present by the dear one's side he had wavered, won dered, doubted. But a few brief hours of absence, had changed her into an angel of perfection, purity, and more than mortal beauty a thing to be worshipped, sainted, and enshrined in the holiest place of the heart for ever more. What mattered it to him with this fire in his blood, this wild lightning in his brain, this sweet madness in his mind, that insuperable difficulties barred the road to fruition that fortune, friends, other and older vows, fierce foes, and death itself, appeared in the path to the heavenly hope, and warned him away as with hands of horror. He THE BALL THE DEPARTURE. 61 would vanquish all, do battle against impossibilities, reverse the iron wheel of destiny, unsphere the laws of nature, and grasp his prize, or suffer annihilation of the soul itself in the crisis of the conflict ! For the first impulse of love, everywhere and ever, is a frenzy which embodies itself in fire-pictures of fancy and feeling. CHAPTER Y. MAJOR MORROW AND JOANNA AT length, aroused from his deep reverie that heavenly dream of the heart, which comes to every human soul but only once, in the light of the golden dawn that lies on the sweet paradise of our youth William Boiling found himself at the gate of an immense field, and, from the previous description of the place, as sketched by the hunter, he recognized it instantly as the residence of Major Morrow. Indeed, the plantation was so singularly arranged, that no one who had ever heard of it, could possibly mistake the locality. The dwelling of the owner, built of enormous pine logs, in the form of a block-house, pierced on all sides by port-holes, for musket and rifle, stood in the middle of the vast field, and at the centre of a considerable square, composed of negro cabins, as if the whole had been specially constructed for a strong position of defence. Nor were other indications wanting to prove the military forethought of the Major in a prudent provision to guard against surprise. The farm absolutely swarmed with dogs of every variety, among which the terrible bloodhound predominated in numerical force and ferocity. As soon as the young man made his appearance, all these savage monsters seemed to consider him an intruder upon their domain, a natural enemy, upon whom they had an inalienable right to pounce, without a moment's warning ; and uttering unearthly howls of rage, they rushed towards him from all MAJOR MORROW AND JOANNA. 63 directions, like a whirlwind of hairy demons. Fortunately, the fence was high, and being outside of the enclosure, the stranger was safe from an immediate assault. In a brief space, an African hastened from the house, and stilling the canine tempest by a few hearty curses and well-aimed blows, inquired, with a profound obeisance, " Pray, massa, what's yer will ?" " I desire to see Major Morrow." " In dat case ye must send de name ; fur him won't allow any wagabond strangers to come in de gate," remarked the slave, with a look of suspicion. Boiling gave the required address, adding that he wished to consult the major in reference to a servant, who had recently been stolen by the robbers. The other hurried away on his mission, and shortly returning, with a countenance of evident satisfaction, opened the ponderous wooden gate, saying, " Massa Morrow be berry glad to see you." The youth, however, hesitated to enter the hurricane of dogs, whose red gleaming eyes continued to watch him with unwaver ing attention. "Neber-be 'fraid of dem now, massa," said the negro, noticing the dubious apprehension of Boiling ; " when me lets you in, dey acknowledge you fur a friend, and would fight for you, at de drop of a hat." With this comfortable assurance, the other entered, and instantly experienced the truth of the African's assertion. The shaggy fiends suddenly changed their hostile attitude for one of 4he most intense welcome, leaping playfully around him, and filling the air with ringing, deep-mouthed music. How strange a mystery is the manifestation of animal instinct ! This uner ring sagacity without speech, this logic without laws, this pecu liar inference of the senses, which often fails not even where human reason falters, and where the formal rules of the syllogism lead to fatal errors. Is there indeed a god within the bosom of the mere brute, as well as in the brain of his lordly master ? 64 RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TANAHA. Boiling met with a most cordial reception from the major, which was perhaps due to the nature of his errand, more than to any personal predilection in the mind of the other. " You must excuse the offer of my left hand," said Morrow, bowing, and holding out his great hairy fingers ; " that hang dog of a hunter pulled my shoulder out of joint yesterday ; but it's set now, and will be all right in a week, and then " . He checked the menace, but his awful aspect told that it would have conveyed a murderous meaning. " Take a seat," he added. " And so you wish my assistance to find your nigger. You could not have called on a better hand. I'm arter the rogues with a sharp stick, and the end of it on fire. You were a little shy at the Colonel's ball ; but that was right, as half the people there were thieves : and, cunning with courage, is the ginuine watch word for these diggins. Howsomever, you must now tell me all about it." The young man commenced, and narrated the principal facts connected with his adventure among the bandits, suppressing only what related to the beautiful girl ; his soul revolting at the bare idea of mentioning even her musical name in the presence of so coarse an auditor. The major heard him with marked attention patiently to the close, and then exclaimed, with an air of deep thought, " It's a very bad case. These were no common robbers, or petty thieves, but the ringleaders of a powerful band, as bloody-minded as they are brave. Your nigger is a goner, I'm afraid." " Do you think that they have killed him ?" inquired Bollingy sadly. " Oh, no danger of that," answered the other, " if they could help it. Their business is not to shoot darkies, which would be unprofitable sport, but to steal them and run them off to the States for sale. In this way some of the villains have become rich in a few years." " Do you know who the chiefs of the enterprise are ?" MAJOR MORROW AND JOANNA. 65 " May be as how I do, and may be as how I don't, but cun ning with courage is the right talk," said the major, with an inscrutable twinkle in his gleaming grey eye. " You think then, that I may as well relinquish all hopes of recovering my servant ?" interrogated Boiling in gloomy tones. " Wait until to-morrow, arid after consultin' some of my neighbors, I will be able to tell you better ; but I'm sure we'll never do much with them rascals, unless we raise a big Lynch ing company, as we did in Missouri ;" and the major uttered a low fiendish chuckle, at the recollection of scenes which, if des cribed, would have startled his hearer with unmitigated horror. " If we could only bring them all together at one grand barbacue, and poison them !" suggested a voice in strange mild sweetness. "Just listen at her !" cried the major, with a frown ; " pisen is Joanna's great medicine to cure the robbers of the itch on their fingers ; but I call that downright murder I" " Ah !" reasoned the wife, in the same mellifluous accents ; " I cannot see the difference betwixt your medicine and mine. You stab, hang, burn, and whip the rogues to death. But cer tainly the most genteel, as well as easy way of dying, is by poi son ; I do not mean any of those common coarse drugs, but some quick subtle extract, that kills like a flash of lightning !" " Shut up," ordered the husband savagely ; "you make my very hair stand on an end !" It must be confessed that young Boiling fully concurred in the major's sentiment. He gazed, with a cold shudder at the visage, immovable as marble, of that singular woman, who could thus deliberately avow and openly defend, the perpetration of crimes the darkest, the most atrocious in the calendar of human guilt, or even in that of devils ! He thought at first, that her words must be ironical, but her features betrayed no such import. There was not a gleam on her pale colorless face, changeless as a surface of snow ; while her wild black eyes 66 RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TANAHA. seemed as ever sad, and profoundly earnest. He was surprised, however, as well as shocked. Her forehead had a massive breadth and height, denoting much intellect, and her language at once luminous and grammatically accurate, revealed some mental culture. There was nothing about her positively dis pleasing, save the mouth, with icy thin lips, sculptured into a sinister smile, that seemed to have frozen there forever. Her age might amount to forty-five summers, but although she was the mother of a troop of sons and daughters, her appearance showed few traces to indicate the flight of time. Her brow presented not one furrow, and her luxuriant ringlets had the raven's blackness. William Boiling, notwithstanding all his abhorrence, felt himself involuntarily spell-bound, bewitched, as it were, literally, by the unaccountable fascinations of this wicked-hearted female. " Have you noticed my armory ?" inquired Morrow, changing the subject, and pointing with a gesture of pride to the four cor ners of the room, which were all filled with enormous stacks of weapons, rifles, muskets and swords. The mantel-piece, too, was covered with knives, daggers and pistols of every form and cali ber, from the long duelling barrel to the murderous revolver of Colt, and the not less deadly tube of Deringer, " Ain't they darlin's ?" asked the owner, with an aspect of infinite beatitude, as he smoothed and handled these shapes ot steel, and even talked to them, as if they had been children of his bosom. These are the true friends," he said, with glowing enthusiasm. " They never desert one in the day of danger. They never lie or tattle or deceive. They never ask for anything but a thimblefull of powder and a small bite of lead, and they never talk at all, but in tones of thunder, and always speak to the purpose. They are gentler than horses, for they never kick ; and far more obedient than slaves for they never jaw you back ; and if you only touch them with even your little finger, they move in an instant, and lay the proudest foe humble at your feet I' MAJOR MORROW AND JOANNA. 6t The major then proposed a walk over the farm. Boiling assented, and they rambled around the vast field, including nearly a mile square of level bottom land, fertile as the soil of a garden, and in a fine state of cultivation. The young corn was now about as tall as the knees, undulating in graceful green waves before the wind, like a sunny sea of emerald. Some fifty slaves were busily employed in ploughing and hoeing, and the young ma thought that he could detect, in many of their coun tenances, tokens of bitter hatred towards their master. They had approached the fence on the bank of the Tanaha, when suddenly a dark form sprung from the clump of bushes, and uttered a loud exclamation of the wildest joy ; "0 Massa Boiling ! dear dear Massa Billy, am you here ?" and the lost Caesar, weeping tears of unutterable emotion, rushed forwards and clasping the young man's hand, kissed it with as devout a fervor, as if it had been a holy relic. " Where have you been ? How did you escape ? tell me all the circumstances," said the master with dewy eyelids, almost as excited as the slave himself. " When you got away," began Caesar, " I was so powerful glad, that I cried loud ; thank God massa's safe ; so one of them hollered to the rest, don't kill him for he's a nigger, but all of you catch him.' Then they tried to gather round me, but the white mule kicked like a whole team, and I kept blazin' fast as possinble with your revolver, and I 'spec' I hit one or two of 'em, fur I heard 'em squall out, like roosters cotch by a fox, and then they tuk to shootin' back, and I 'eluded, that I'd never see Ala bama any more. Then I thought of a trick, and jumpin' outen the saddle, run off through the bushes. Arterwards, I circled round till I found the trail some miles ahead, and I've kept on Selim's track ever since. I knowed it by a jog in the shoe. But I had to come dreadful slow, dodgin' about in the brush, fur I'se feer'd to be seen, 'case some one might steal me." " I am very glad to see you," said the youth, his features 68 RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TANAHA. beaming with affectionate delight ; "I had come to persuade this gentleman to aid me in searching for you." "But whar's the angel gal ?" inquired the slave anxiously. Boiling gave him a token to be silent on that subject, and the other then asked with signs of equal interest ; " hav^e you seed anything of Bob ? poor fellow ! I 'spec' the robbers am got him." " O no," answered his master smiling ; " the white mule overtook me, in a short time after the attack, and has ontinued with Selim since. You will find him in the stable. " Ah ! I'm so happy," cried Caesar, still weeping ; " I like Bob better nor anything in the world 'cept you." The incident furnished the major a datum for the universal and necessary inference, which he deduced equally from all sorts of facts ; " We must organize a great company of lynchers." They all walked to the house, and Caesar being dismissed to the kitchen, the major's family with their guest, sat down to supper, at the fashionable hour in the backwoods, a little before sunset. Boiling had now an opportunity of inspecting the other members of this peculiar social circle. They consisted of three sons, ranging from nineteen to twenty-three years of age, huge freckle-faced, red-haired images of their father, and two daugh ters, the eldest of whom proved her own paternity by the strong est species of ocular evidence ; while the younger somewhat resembled her mother, having her eyes of unearthly black, and strange beauty of form and feature, without the corpse-like pale ness of her complexion, and the icy smile of her sinister livid lips. This young girl, indeed, would have been extremely charming, but for the awkward, blushing, bashfulness of her manner, and her obvious want of intellectual cultivation. How ever, both these extraneous defects might yet, perhaps, be remo ved, as she had scarcely arrived at the verge of fifteen. After the repast had ended, the major remarked to his guest, "Joanna and the girls must amuse you to-night, as I have important and pressing business in the neighborhood that will MAJOR MORROW AND JOANNA. 69 engage me till a late hour. Come, boys, get your weapons and let's make tracks." And the old bear and his three cubs, shouldered their guns, loaded themselves with revolvers and bowie knives, and started on some unknown nocturnal mission. In order to while away the time, as neither Joanna nor her timid daughters, seemed disposed to entertain him with their conversation, Boiling stepped to a large book-shelf, supported by pins driven into the wall, and which appeared to be well supplied with learned looking octavos. The first volume that he picked up, was the record of the most celebrated criminal trials in all ages and nations, at least, so the title announced in pompous phrase. Upon turning over the leaves, he discovered from their soiled thumb-worn condition, that they had been thoroughly studied, especially the numerous cases of prosecution for poisoning, which all, in addition to the horrible text, con tained marginal notes, in a delicate female hand, showing that they had been devoured con amort. All the other books related to medical or chemical science, and the youth shuddered to per ceive that several treatises on poison had been annotated, like the criminal record, previously mentioned, with reference to baneful herbs and their effect upon animal life. Determined, if possible, to penetrate the mystery, he inquired apparently in careless tones ; " may I ask, madam, if any of your relatives are physicians ?" " I am a female doctor, myself, as my mother was before me," replied the sweet sinister voice. " It must be an interesting profession," suggested the youth, feeling his way. The wild black eyes instantly sparkled with sudden animation, as the lady answered ; "0 it is a divine study, for which I always felt a love amounting almost to positive passion. Let poets and philosophers prate as much as they like, about the wonder-working control of the mind over matter, what is that compared with the still mightier effects of matter upon mind ? 70 RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TANAHA. A few grains of opium can wrap the soul in dreams of elysian lux ury, or thrill it with infernal pangs of fiery torture ! The green tincture of an Indian herb, can bring bliss which the rose bower of Eden never knew. The purple juice of a plant, that creeps on the bosom of every prairie, can 'fill the mind with murderous madness, such as all the sages on earth could never hope to cure. Wild weeds grow in every forest, that yield an essence by proper distillation, one drop of which on the tongue, will kill the strong est giant of mortal mould, quick as the Maze of a thunderbolt. One fact alone decides the issue of strength between the two worlds, the spiritual and material ; the mind cannot destroy one living organ, but ten thousand forms of matter, can wither and dissolve the entire frame, and send the spirit away on its last long journey." The other looked at the feminine speaker, with feelings of unutterable astonishment. He had shared the common preju dice, that very little intelligence might be expected on the fron tier, forgetting that countless different causes misfortune, pover ty, crime, and innate restlessness, have combined to drive exiles from every land into the sheltering shadows of those dark green woods. At length he asked ; " Where was your native place ?" " London," she answered, her countenance returning to its old sad expression ; " my father was an eminent professor of Chemistry till a great calamity compelled us to emigrate. We wandered to Missouri, where the dust of all my family now rests in quiet, which no storm can ever more disturb.' 7 She paused a moment, and added in a strange tone, " did you never feel that it would be a joy to die ?" *' I cannot say that I ever experienced the desire of which you speak," responded Boiling, a sense of the ludicrous, rapidly effa cing his previous serious impression. " I do not allude," she continued, " to the sweet tranquillity which death insures the dreamless repose, the freedom from all pain and passion ; from the doubts of love, and from the agonies MAJOR MORROW AND JOANNA. 71 of hate although for these and all other earthly ills, the dark ness of the grave is a sovereign remedy. I refer to the knowledge which the immortal mind may, perchance, attain when liberated from the thrall of the material senses. I want to pierce the secret heart of the universe ; to get behind the shift ing scenes of purple clouds, and painted sunshine, and hold the hand which moves them ; to scan the golden axles of ten thou sand rolling worlds, and see on what they hang. To perceive, to know, and never more to guess, or vaguely imagine, ah ! may not death give us that, for surely life never can ?" " But may it not also give us something more than that ?" said the youth weighing slowly his words, and watching their effect ; " may it not bring us justice ? may it not measure out pun ishment for all our sins ? may it not place us face to face with the victims that we have so cruelly wronged in life ? May not the circumstances be reversed, and the victims exercise the office of avengers ? may not those who were the slain in this world become the slayers in the next ?" She started suddenly as if stung by an adder, her thin lips were convulsed as by spasms of shooting pain, and she spoke no more that night. In the meantime, as singular, and perhaps a much more amusing discussion was going on, in one of the small negro cabins, some fifty yards distant. The sable interlocutors were a vain but ignorant mulatto, with sinister features, whom they called Hannibal, or by the usual abbreviation, Han., Caesar and Tony, the latter having arrived after nightfall from the plantation of Colonel Miles. " I wonder, Darky, that you did not stay away when you had got rid of yer master so easy ?" remarked Han with a sneer. " Whar would I stay, out amongst the wolves ?" answered Caesar innocently. " He's ignorant as a goose 1" said Han with a look of affected pity. 72 RANGERS AND REGULATORS OF THE TAN AHA. " He don't know nuthin' of life, no more nor a blind boss I" added Tony with an air of pride. " Would you have me to live on grass, like a buffalo ?" interrogated Caesar with a puzzled countenance. Lor no, you black booby I" laughed Hail ; " couldn't you use yer legs, and make 'em carry you to the free States ?" " Whar's that ?" asked Caesar, opening his big white eyes, till they appeared like two enormous dogwood blossoms. " Jist listen to him !' cried Han, while he and Tony burst into loud peals of merriment, showing all their ivory. " Well, I s'pose I must colluminate yer ignorance, poor Nig ger," observed Han with a face of commiseration : " there am free states way up toward the north star." " Do you mean heaven ?" interrupted Caesar. " O Lor ! you'll kill this here chile !" shouted Han, laughing until the tears rolled down his cheeks ; while Tony tumbled on the floor, and kicked with tempestuous mirth, as if in convul sions. As soon as Han could master his emotions, he continued ; " The free states am in Canady, and thar' niggars am better nor anybody else. Them am the gentlemen, and the others black thar boots. Them do jist what 'em please ; marry white gals and cuts up all sorts of shines. Well, s'pose you don't know the way thar, plenty of white men in these parts to show you. These have meetin's in de woods arter night, and tell you all 'bout it. Thar am one to-morrow evenin', spose you go 'long on us j but if you cheap, we'll cut yer throat." " What do they call these white men that help niggers to run off ?" asked Csesar. " Hobbolitions, or bobolitionists, I don't know circumspec' which," replied Tony. " I'll see about it," Caesar remarked prudently, and the meet ing adjourned, sine die. CHAPTER VI. CAPTAIN CARLYLE AND LUCY THE MURDER. THE residence of Captain Carlyle was situated in the rich alluvial delta of the Tanaha and Sabine, near their point of junction. It consisted of a large farm in a high state of culti vation, well peopled by numerous choice slaves, while the dwel ling was a sort of fortress, very similar to that of Major Mor row's, with this difference, that instead of standing in the middle of the field, it occupied the bank of the river, which happened in that place to be high and precipitous. On the morning of the day when the events occurred that I have just related, the proprietors of the plantation might have been seen seated at a most sumptuous breakfast in a small room of his house, which he chose to dignify with the name of " Library," and which, it must be confessed, was not altogether unworthy of the title. An elegant book-case, of black walnut, was well supplied with gold-dust of the immortal dead, embrac ing the elite of the ancient and modern classics, but especially the works of the great masters in jurisprudence an