University of Virginia Library

3. CHAPTER III.

A FEW days prior to the time of the opening of our story, a youth,
tall in person, with fair hair, blue eyes, large and full, and a countenance,
noble and prepossessing, was standing upon a low, wooded
cliff, overlooking the waters of the bay. His arms were folded
upon his breast, and his face wore a thoughtful and sad expression.
It was twilight, when the first shadows of evening steal over the
sky without obscuring the scene. On his right and left, curved
the long disappearing line of shore, till distance dissolved land into
air, and the bounds of the horizon were lost in the hazy blent of
earth and sky. Before him stretched the bay, calm and serene.
A ship of war rode at anchor far away to the left, black in her distinct
outlines; while dispersed here and there over the wide wave
moved under gentle sail, many a trading ship and smaller craft.
The snow-white sea-gull, balanced himself in the air level with
his eyes, or darted downward and skimmed along the surface with
a shrieking cry. The fisher's boat lay moored near the shore, and
at intervals the smooth deep would be broken by silvery fish leaping
from their element high into the air, and then falling back into
it with a sharp dash of the parting waters. The waves of the ever
breathing sea unfolded their silvery edges at his feet, with low
sounds like the murmured dreams from the lips of a sleeping infant.
Above his head on the branch of a scathed tree, sat a robin,
warbling at intervals a sweet note as if the day had not been long
enough for it to pour forth all its joy for its existence, and it would
tell the night of its happiness. At the feet of the young man,
crouching in submissive posture, but with a look of affection that
showed him to be the friend and not the slave of his master, was a
noble intelligent looking hound; and ever and anon he would look
wistfully up into his face to win, but in vain, a glance of kindness.

But the majesty of the sea, the beauty of the hour and scene,
the melody of nature and the caresses of affection, were all alike
unheeded by the young man. His own thoughts were a world,
which shut out the present and visible.

`It must be,' he said to himself at length giving utterance to his
musings: `the haughty and beautiful girl loves my brother Duncan;
and I must forget her, and banish this love that is consuming
me from my heart! Let them be happy—I will seek excitement
and adventure in the wide world and in its votex of action forget
her!'

He turned from the cliff as he spoke, and slowly took his way
along a path which led by the shore to a noble mansion, situated
on an open lawn, commanding a view of the bay. A light twinkled
through the foliage from one of its windows.

`That is her boudoir! I hear notes of music! She is at her harp.
I will seek her while her soul is subdued by its deep power, and
pour out before her all my feelings! If she hate me—if she scorn
me—I can only fly, as I have already resolved to do! Yet I must
see her ere I go! Love me I cannot hope she ever will! Would to
God my brother and she had never met! then I would have had
her love; I alone been the possessor of the rich treasure! She
loved me ere he came to win her! But he knew not I loved or he
would not have sought her love. I will seek her and know the
worst. Life or death are in her words. Her lips are the arbiters
of my destiny!'

He approached the mansion by a path half hidden by shrubbery
and stopped opposite and near a window in one wing from which
streamed the rays of light. From it came volumes of rich sounds,
proceeding from a sweet female voice, mingled with harp-tones.
He listened with the breathless adoration and secret joy of a lover.
The voice ceased, and the harp was silent. He was advancing
when a deep melodious voice, modulated by passion and tenderness,
fell upon his ear in the place of the sounds he heard. He
recognised it to be his younger brother's, the dark-eyed, dark-locked
Howard's! He started as if an added had stung his bosom, and
involuntarily an exclamation of deep emotion and bitterness escaped
him. It was unheard, for the speaker went on to breathe into
her ear soft words of love.

`That song, dear Bel, hath never been so sweetly breathed from
mortal lips. Your voice hath a spell that makes me feel music as
I never feel it when others sing. Is it love, ma belle?'

Duncan saw his brother as he sat on a low ottoman at her feet,
look up into her face with a glance of admiring devotion, and also
her own returning smile He saw him press his lips to her fair
hand, whose whiteness rivalled the brilliancy of the pearls that
adorned its fingers.

Fickle and inconstant! thus have I pressed my lips to her fair
hand, and thus have I too looked up with love to meet the same
returning smile! I will forget her! I need nothing further to assure
me that she loves my brother! Alas, noble and beloved Howard!
how little do you know the thorns that you are planting in
the bosom of your brother! Thou canst not love her as I have
loved her! Thy nature is more buoyant, thy spirit lighter than
mine! Love with me is life; with thee 'tis but life's pastime.

What is the sweet Isabel to thee, that other beautiful women may
not also be! But for me there is but one Isabel, but one woman!
But love on even with thy deepest love! Worship at the shrine
where I have laid my heart as a sacrifice! I will not speak to thee
of my bitterness. If thou canst be happy, he so! I love thee too
well to mar it! though thou, O thou, my brother, hast deeply
marred mine! Yet, as I gaze, methinks there sits a sadness upon
her brow, as if her thoughts dwelt on me! She smiles, but 'tis not as
she has smiled on me, putting all her heart into it! It cannot be that
she, so noble and generous, so superior to her sex, should be so
false to me! I will speak with her once more, and then say farewell
forever! I will walk awhile in this grove till Howard has departed,
and then seek her presence!'

And was Isabel Sumpter false to this noble young man? Had
she ever loved him, and now loved his brother? Let us review
the story of their passion. Isabel was the only daughter of one
of the oldest Virgiman families. Her father had been a prominent
leader in the provincial Congress; and was now living on
his estate at the age of sixty, enjoying the blessings of that liberty
for which he had with every other American gentleman of that
day risked life, and property, and sacred honor. His estate lay on
the Chesapeake bay, between Norfolk and James river, and the
mansion as we have already mentioned, commanded an extensive
view of the shores of the Bay. In this retirement Isabel was the
idol of his affection, her mother having long been dead. The adjoining
estate to that of Judge Sumpter's, was the property of
Colonel Dudley, something of whom is already known to the
reader. The mansion of this gentleman, which we have already
had a glimpse of through the telescope of the Consul, was beautifully
situated on a headland of the bay, in a grove about a third
of a mile from the water. The proprietors of the two estates had
been of opposite politics in the war, and little intercourse had existed
between them. But as their children grew up, became acquainted,
and time merged old differences in oblivion, they were
oftener thrown together, till at length a neighborly and friendly feeling
was firmly established between the two. The family of
Colonel Dudley consisted of his wife, a handsome, strong-minded
woman, and two sons, Duncan and Howard. There were two years
difference in the ages of these two young gentlemen, and a great
difference in their characters. Duncan the eldest, was of a quiet,
studious turn of mind, yet fond of the chase and other manly exercises.
He loved the beautiful in nature for the sake of beauty,
and the universe around him, and a part of which he was, was ever
a source of wonder and poetic contemplation to his reflecting
mind. The ocean in the loneliness and majesty of its space and
power, had for him an indescribable charm; and hours he had
spent upon its verge, watching the play of its leviathan-like billows,
and listening to the solemn and grand music of its roar.
Night after night had he walked beneath the splendid stars, and
gazed in awe and admiration upon the glorious display of Infinite
Wisdow and Power. All nature to him was a book in which the
Deity had written forth the manifestation of himself.

The mind of Howard was cast in a different mould. Books he
had little love for; and his free spirit spurned impatiently the tramels
of tutors and masters. He loved the forests, not like Duncan,
for their solemn beauty, but for the game in their coverts. He
was bold, reckless and full of adventure from his boyhood. He
was a proficient in every hardy sport and his life, save that he dwelt
in a house when in doors, was as free and independent as that of a
young Indian. He loved danger, for the feeling of independence
it gives. He loved to venture upon the bay in a frail skiff, and
risk his life in the warfare of the elements. If a hawk's eyrie was
discovered on a cliff, he would scale the height, though inaccessible
to all others, and make captive the fierce bird.

Thus, opposite as were the tastes and characters of the two
brothers, they were alike in one point, that is in their devoted love
for each other. Néver was fraternal affection so beautifully illustrated,
as in the bearing of these two youths towards one another.
They also were one in their reverence for the great and noble; in
the high tone of their feelings; in the purity of their principles;
though Howard from the impulsive character of his being, was often
found erring.

Such were the two sons of Colonel Dudley at the ages of seventeen
and nineteen, when one morning, the day after Duncan's return
from two years absence at the University at Cambridge, the
two brothers were walking by the shore watching the fishermen in
the bay, and talking of a thousand things of the past, the present
and the future. They were accompanied by two hounds, a stag-hound
and a light, elegant grey-hound. Duncan had one year
more to remain to complete his collegiate course, and was now at
home during the fall vacation. Howard had resolutely declined
fitting for college, preferring he said to be a farmer. He had,
therefore, during the period of his brothers' studious absence, remained
at home, nominally under a tutor, but rarely reciting a lesson
to him, passing his days shooting, boating, and in other sports
suiting his temper. Isabel Sumpter had been in Philadelphia
since her tenth year, with an aunt at school, and there her father
also passed most of his time, occasionally visiting his estate for a
few weeks in autumn. The young man had not, therefore, seen
her for four years.

`I must take you to a famous burrow,' said Howard, as his
brother stopped as if he would turn back again; `I have an old
she fox there, safely caged in with stakes, that has two young
ones nearly grown. I'll let them go while you are at home, and
then we shall have capital sport. Last year I run a fox across
seven plantations four miles beyong Norfolk, and he took the water.
I was mounted on `Billy,' and plunged in and swum after
him. I liked to have drowned Billy, but got the fellow's brush,
and it now hangs up in the hall.'

`Stay a moment, brother, and then I will gladly go where you
wish. I want you to admire the beautiful manner in which the
waves break upon this floor of sand! they swell up far off from
the shore, and then roll inward with a slow and beautiful motion,
and with an edge like liquid flint, which breaks like a casket opening
and lavishly empties a wealth of pearls at our feet.

`I never saw pearls here, Duncan,' answered the practical Howard;
`but I have seen the waves break here many a time. And
once I was bathing just where we are now, and was swiming off
about twenty yards from the shore, to ride in upon the waves which
were rolling mountain high, when I saw a large shark lift his
huge back from a billow close to me. I instantly dived and as I
went down I saw his dark shadow above me, and thought I was
lost. But he rode away on the next wave, and when I rose to the
surface close in shore, I saw his black fin on the crest of a wave
too far off for me to fear him?'

`And did you continue in the water?'

`Yes, and had at least twenty rides ashore on as many billows,
but I saw no more of him.'

`You were rash and imprudent.'

`If you call that rash, brother,' said Howard, indifferently,
`what would you call an exploit of mine last winter with a bear.
Judge Sumpter's servants came running over here in great alarm
one night, saying that a bear had entered the negro quarter and
carried off a young negro boy. The Judge was away and the
agent was at Norfolk, and the blacks had no fire arms. I was in
bed, and instantly rose and got my double-barrelled gun, and gave
Black Zip my ducking piece, and calling Belt and Lightfoot, I started
on the track of the bear, which the negroes pointed out to me. It
was a moonlight night, and when once the dogs took the
trail we travelled rapidly. A mile from the quarter we tracked
him to the old Tobacco house down by the Red Spring. The dogs
stood outside and filled the air with a terrific noise of barking and
yelping, but feared to enter the long dark building. The moonlight
which streamed in through the ruins showed me the bear—
a huge black fellow in one corner. He was squatting on his hind
legs, and held the little negro hugged closely to his breast. He
growled and gnashed his glittering fangs as he saw me. I leveled
my piece, and was about to let him have sixteen buck shot in
his head, when Zip knocked it up, crying,

`Gorra,—massy, young masser, you kill de little nigger sure for
sartin.' The piece went off, and with the jerk, and one barrel
firing the other, both were discharged into the roof of the building.
I threw down my gun, the bear howled horribly, and the negroes
yelled and the hounds barked louder and more fiercely than ever.
The little negro made no cry, and I believed the bear had pressed
him to death. I now told Zip and the others, among whom were
the parents of the boy, that if they meddled with me, I would let
the bear cat the boy. I then tried to coax the dogs to attack him,
but they proved cowardly. So I resolved, savage as he looked, to
do it myself. If I had a rifle, I could have settled him with a single
ball. The gun I now had I knew to coutain only duck shot.
I was therefore fearful of hitting the boy. So I laid it down, and
took from my pocket my jack hunting-knife; and this very blade.
he said, showing Duncan a jack-knife with a blade not more than
three and a half inches in length; and crept towards him, grasping
it in this manner, firmly in my hand. My other hand I wraped
up in a blouze jacket belonging to Zip, making a thick bunch
of it on my hand. The bear growled and snapped as he saw me
advancing, and as I came nearer he fairly roared. I kept my eye
on his, which looked fiery red, dark as it was, and expected every
moment to see him drop the little negro and spring upon me. I
went nearer and nearer still, and he gnashed his white teeth more
and more angrily. Yet he did not stir from the corner or let go
the boy. I thought he seemed to hug him closer and closer, the
closer I came to him. I got so near him that I could feel his
breath as he growled, warm on my cheek. But I was not near
enough to strike him. One step more, and not three feet separated
us. I drew back my arm to bury the knife in his heart. As
I did so, he caught the negro on his left paw and made a simultaneous
spring and blow at me with his right. The blow was like
a man's blow. It fell upon my chest like a fist. I staggered back
under it; but instantly recovering myself I caught a firm hold of
the paw, and held it with the gripe of a vice. The bear blew his
fierce hot breath in my face, and dropped the boy to release his
other paw. As he did so, I buried the knife and half the hilt into
his heart! He sprung upon me, nevertheless, with a terrific
growl of vengeance, and I fell under him. He got my wrist between
his jaws, but he did not close them upon it. He was dead
ere he could bury his fangs. I had to call the negroes to take him
off from me, he was so heavy and large. The little negro was'nt
hurt, but was terribly frightened. The skin of the bear I'll show
you when we go home!'

`That was true bravery, my noble brother,' said Duncan; `you
risked your life in the cause of humanity. Your conduct touching
the shark was less praise-worthy. There is a difference between
courage and rashness. The coward (not that you are one,
mark me!) often is or affects to be rash and imprudent, to conceal
his cowardice. The truly brave man only risks life on great occasions.
A hero and a bravado are persons of very different characters.'

`You are always wise and sensible, Duncan,' answered Howard.

`And you ever frank and generous, brother. See yonder snowy
sea-gull! How silvery bright his slender pinions flash as he
wheels in the air!'

`Yes, he could be taken on the wing at this distance with a
rifle, as he balances himself,' answered Howard, who saw only a
good shot in the object which had drawn forth the poetic admiration
of his brother.

`There is a group of fishermen on the white beach in the curve
of the bay, and from the smoke they seem to be cooking their
morning meal. How picturesque the whole party, with their upturned
boats, their out-spread nets, their various attitudes about the
fire!'

`And those are the fellows that prowl about the forests here, and
poach all the game. One day I started a deer on the marshes below
Rock Hill, and run him to the sea-shore, when he came in
contact with the net stretched across the beech, as you see them
now. His antlers became entangled in it, and before he could ex
tricate himself, or I could come up, the brutes knocked him in the
head with oars and stones, fairly beating the noble creatures brains
out! I could have served them in the same way!'

`But there are plenty of deer here to test your skill with the
rifle, Howard. I have seen no less than four in the glades as we
have walked along, gazing on us at a distance, in spirited, timid
attitudes, lingering, yet ready to fly!'

`Yes, they are plenty enough; but a deer should fall only by
the rifle. It was shameful, the way those fishermen did butcher
that one!'

`And here comes a second deer along the snow-white sands,
brother, or I am deceived by the distance,' he exclaimed, his eye
following the curving shore of the bay, where it gracefully bent to
the right towards the seat of Judge Sumpter, the cupola of which
was visible half a mile distant over the tree tops.

`You are not mistaken! It is a deer! He is coming, dashing
along over the hard sand just where the one went I have just mentioned.
There is a marsh above here out of which, if you drive
them, they are sure to take to the firm beech and fly along it like
the wind, till a mile the other side of us they come to a gorge in
the cliff, which they are sure to take and regain the marsh-land
inland. He is now making for it, and will soon pass beneath us
on the shore, unless the fishermen again stop him.'

`There are hunters abroad to have started him!'

`Yes; and there they appear in sight, round yonder rock, riding
like the wind!'

`And one is a female, by her flying robe! And she has the
lead!'

`And will keep it too!' cried Howard with enthusiasm, hastening
from the edge of the wood along which the path they had been
pursuing led, to the verge of the head-land, which rose forty or
fifty feet precipitously above the smooth beach.

`They ride well, both of them!' observed Duncan, with animation,
as he gained the cliff, which commanded a full view of the
sands. `See, Howard! The fishermen have risen to stop the
deer! The gentleman waves his hand to forbid it! See, he has
cleared their nets at a single leap!'

`Bravo!' shouted Howard. He is a noble stag. I can distinguish
the gentleman. It is Judge Sumpter. His hat has fallen
off, and exposes his white hair. He is an old and keen sportsman!
But who can that fearless girl be who sets her horse and lets him
go bounding and flying as if he was in his native freedom! See
him take that ravine; and she never moved from her firm seat no
more than her saddle did! Oh for Billy and to be dashing on by
her side! She is beautiful, too! I can see her face distinctly
flushed and brilliant with excitement! She must be a Virginian,
for none but Virginians ride thus!'

`I think it must be Miss Sumpter,' said Duncan.

`And sure enough who but she!' cried Howard. I recollect
hearing some one say last week that Isabel Sumpter was expected
home! She is a noble creature, if it be she; and I could fall in
love with her were I a man, for the way she sits a horse. How
gallantly the deer carries himself. See how feely, like wings, he
flings his fore feet cut and erects his chest. Fly, good deer, fly!
you earn your freedom! But if you knew what fair dame followed
in pursuit, you would willingly suffer yourself to be taken captive!'

`You are gallant, Howard, for a youth of seventeen,' said Duncan,
smiling. `But the lady is very beautiful. What a superb
figure and air! How expressive of high enjoyment her face is!
All is animation in her! How gallantly the old gray haired hunter
rides close behind! In a moment the deer will pass us and
the next moment they, and then we shall see her better! There
dashes off your stag hound down the crevice to the shore, Howard!'

`And there leaps the grey-hound over the cliff after him, and
both to meet the deer! It is too late to restrain their fire! They
will be sure to bring him down.'

`Perhaps the judge will thank you for the service of your dogs

to stop the chase, as he seems to be calling after his daughter, as if
alarmed at her fleet riding!'

`There go the dogs, both scouring along the sands!' cried Howard,
his whole spirit in the scene. `The deer is coming along full in
their path? Look! he sees them approaching him, and suddenly
stops in full flight!'

`What an attitude of surprise and fear! how expressive! He
hesitates!'

`He will turn from the dogs! See! he hurriedly measures the
height of the cliff; now glances at the water. The deep bay of
the hound appals him. He turns! He flies back again! He prefers
rather trusting to human beings than to brutes! Look at that
fearless girl as the hounds sweep on after the fugitive! She means
to turn him with her slender riding-whip! Hark! hear that shout
of warning from her father!'

`And she will perish if she heed it not!' cried Duncan earnestly.

The deer maddened and terrified, dashed on with his antlers laid
back upon his shoulders! His course was swift and direct as an
arrow. He strained every muscle to escape the fleet bounds of the
grayhound, who was close at his haunches. The young lady on
seeing him turn in his course, had reined in her spirited hunter,
over which she seemed to have the most perfect command, and as
he came back on his flight, she dashed fearlessly into his path,
leaning forward in her saddle with her riding whip levelled as if to
turn him again! She heard not, or heeded not the voice of her
father warning her to keep out of the track of the deer, which
blinded by fear, would not avoid her. The deer made directly for
her, and she galloped forward as directly for him. The path between
the cliff and the water was very narrow, and the two horses
nearly took up the whole space.

`She will be sacrificed,' cried Duncan, throwing himself over
the cliff and sliding to the bottom, with risk of life and limb.

`The deer will take the water before he encounters a horse, be
he never so mad,' said Howard; yet following his brother down
the precipice, to the sands.

The deer on coming within two lengths of the horse, on which
the young lady was mounted, was startled by a loud shout from
her father, and at the very moment when he threatened to come
in contact with the fiery horse, he swerved suddenly from his strait
course, and sought to pass by the edge of the water. The maiden
encouraged by this desire to avoid her, guided her horse so as still
to meet him. The deer took to the water, and dashed in deeper
and deeper into the briny flood, to endeavour to get round her,
while in the excitement of the moment, the maiden let her horse,
ambitious for the contest, plunge deeper and still deeper to head
him, until the water flowed up to the horn of her saddle. At length
they came in contact, horse and stag, with such violence as to unseat
her. A sharp point of one of the antlers of the deer, which he had
levelled to meet the shock, entered the chest of the horse, cleaving
his heart, and with a leap high in air, he plunged beneath the
encrimsoned flood. The fearless and rash girl to save herself, involuntarily
caught by one of the antlers of the stag, who endeavored
to shake her off; and finding this impossible, for her grasp was for
life, he struck her with his hoofs, just as the dogs took the water
to assail him. She was sinking insensible beneath the waves when
Duncan Dudley caught her in his arms. Howard, seeing that she
was likely to be in safety, bounded after the stag, which had got
out of the water, and which the greyhound in a moment after,
brought down upon his haunches. Howard threw himself bodily
upon him, and forcing back his antlered head with on arm, he plunged
his knife deep into his white breast. The crimson tide flowed
from the wound, and the stag fixing upon him a look of almost
human sadness and reproach, sighed heavily and died.