University of Virginia Library

2. CHAPTER II.
THE FLIGHT.

There is, in the beautiful suburbs of Boston, a region of country more beautiful
than any other portion of the elegant environs of this northern capital.—
It lies towards the South West and within two or three leagues only of the
metropolis. It is a region of villas, of garden joined to garden, of lawn bordering

on lawn, of grove mingling with grove. In every quarter towards which
the eye is turned are seen the gothic roofs of stone cottages, or the tall Corinthian
architraves of more imposing edifices lifting themselves above the green
trees, or adorning some graceful hill-side, or crowning proudly some noble
eminence. This peculiar scene embraces full a wide league in length and
breadth: a picturesque and rural confusion of groves and gardens, lakelet and
lawns, porticoes and verandahs, turrets and pavilions. The grounds of each
villa not only meet like continuous ranges of the same domain, but pathways
and gates afford free communication from one to the other, so that on all sides
are visible smooth walks, open or shady, winding in every direction through dell
and dale, over the green, sunny hill-side, and amid the shadowy woodlands.—
Besides these there run through this region of rural luxury and opulent repose,
gravelled carriage-ways, branching out from the high-way, which winds in a
serpentine course through the very bosom of this pleasant scene.

The dwellers in this fair region were, and still are, chiefly retired statesmen
and merchants who had withdrawn hither to enjoy the fragrance of those flowers
of life, the existence of which, in the world of action, they had known only
by the thorns. There were, besides, one or two English gentlemen of fortune
and family who had chosen in this paradise an abiding place, and two or three
opulent planters from South Carolina and Louisiana had also erected beautiful
mansions here and dwelt in them, transferring to their northern home all the
graceful elegancies of domestic life which are studied with such care and known
and loved so well in the homes of the `Sunny South.'

It was about nine o'clock on a lovely starry evening in July, that two persons
might have been seen emerging from one of the by-paths which wound along
a green hedge-way bordering the grounds of one of the most beautiful of all the
estates occupying the region we have just described. The glow of the golden
west still lingered far up the sky and gave more light thanthe stars, so that objects
were seen with distinctness though without much boldness of outline.—
The white fronts of the villas around could be faintly discerned glancing amid
the foliage which surrounded them, and here and there a light, sparkling like
a star that had fallen, among the woodlands, indicated where a mansion was
hidden.

It was a soft, rich summer's night, with a quiet atmosphere laden with the
fragrance of flowers and shrubs. The katy-did thrummed his shrill toned guitar
in the trees and hedge-rows, the fire-fly shot athwart the shadows of their path,
and low above their heads would swoop the fearless whip-poor-will, almost
touching their persons with his long speckled wing.

The path along which they moved was narrow and ran parallel and close beside
the crossing-road which led towards the villa from which they were coming.
As one of the party was mounted, and as they seemed to move with great
caution and stillness, the one on horseback stooping low so as not to be seen
from the avenue on the other side of the hedge, it looked as if this anxiety to
avoid the usual carriage way, proceeded from fear of pursnit. They continued
on until the hedge terminated at the great gate-way of the avenue close upon
the high-way. There they stopped under the branches of a wide-spread oak
which flung its gigantic arms across the stone arch above the gate. In the very
angle of the hedge in contact with one of the massive pillars of the arch was
visible a small foot-way gate which opened from the path out into the high-road
at the very point where the carriage way also turned into it. At this gate the
party stopped and the individual on foot, after taking a careful survey up the
avenue and down the road by thrusting his head underneath the gate, rose to
his feet and said in a whisper.

`De road am clear, young misses. Dar no body in de way; and now if I can
manage to get Browny out froo dis litty gate ve is in de pike safe as a brack bird
under the harrar. It mitey narrer gate, Miss Marie, an' old Browny he orful fat;
but if he condescen' squeeze a leety bit he get froo clare!'

`Then I had best alight, Moses,' said a low, richly-keyed voice, in sweet and
singular contrast to the African gutterals of Moses.

`P'raps misses better,' answered Moses, in a patronizing tone; `but debbel!
wat am dat?' he cried, as a night hawk disturbed in its perch, swept past his
head, with a fierce shrieking cry.

`It is but a bird, with which the hedges and woodlands are full,' answered the

young girl, for such her voice and the faint outline of her person, seen dimly in
shaded nook where they were, showed her to be. `Are you quite sure the way
is free?' she asked with trembling anxiety, yet in a voice that indicated decision
and boldness of heart for whatever might be before her.

Moses got down on his hands and knees again, and looked up and down the
road and listened, while the young female lightly sprang to the ground and taking
the horse by the bit to hold him, eagerly bent her head also to listen.

`I does'nt hear notin', Mamselle; but dat are tree toad ober dar in de hickory
tree keep up sich a talkin', and he hab a berry bad cold at dat, I kant hear perticklerly:
but it am my `pinion dey aint nobody comin'.'

`Then open the gate and let us go quickly on our way. I dont fear pursuit
yet; but I do not wish any one to discover my flight, nor give any one a clue
to my way. The most I dread, and for which I came this way by the hedge, is
meeting the Count!'

`I know dat misses, mity well,' answered the black, in a zealous, faithful
tone; `I knows you doesnt nor I noder! But p'raps he wont be out to-night it
am so late!'

`He was coming out to-night to join my father in a morning's ride over to
see the battle-ground at Lexington, and I do not wish to meet him on the way.
He might not recognize me yet, if he looked at all, he would know Brouny.'

`Dat he would, Mamselle Marie. De Count al'ays tell a critter agen he seed
'um onct!'

`Hark! There is a sound up the road!' she said placing her hand upon the
shoulder of the black man to caution him to silence. `It is a horseman!'

`Dat am fac,' missis! He come full gallop!'

`It must be he—for thus he rides!'

`See, Brouny prick him left ear up and shake him right one, Missis Marie!—
Dat am de vay de knowin beast al'ays do ven he hear 'quaintance comin'. Dat
am de Count's horse and Brouny 'cognise him footstep!'

Through the interstices in the hedge they saw the horseman dashing up at
full speed and when they expected to see him turn into the gate, he galloped
by and soon was lost to the eye and ear in the distance.

`You were mistaken, Moses!'

`Dat I was, Mamselle, and so was Brouny, too, bad as me!' answered the
black with emphasis. `Dat wasn't de Count sure, coz he al'ays ride um brack
horse and dat vas a gray one! Hark, missis. Dare anodder. I hear um on de
pike. Don't open de gate yet; but jist slink back, coz it may be he dis time; and
dar am Brouny sniffin' his nose jiss ef he vos sniffin' a 'quaintance. Dis am de
Count dis time and no mistake, missis,' added Moses drawing back his head
quickly as this second horseman came up at a top speed trot. He had hardly
spoken when the rider came abreast of them; spurred through the gate and disappeared
at a round trot up the avenue. `Dat was him, missis,' ejaculated Moses,
taking breath.

`Yes,' answered the young girl, as if relieved from an apprehension; `and
now we have nothing to do but to get into the road and advance at as rapid a
rate as we can.'

`Dat will be mity fast, Mamselle Marie if you lets Brouny go off of his own
head, for he's jiss chock filled wid oats I giv him for dis special casion. Jiss
step back a leetle step, missis, and I open de gate and see if I get de horse froo
it. Dar! He froo, sure enuff, but it am been a mity tight squeeze, Missis. Now
you jiss put your leety foot in my hand and I springs you up again jiss like a
squirl heppin' from de ground up top ob de fence.'

The young girl placed a foot—a very small and elegantly shaped one shod in
a closely fitting French boot—in her black attendant's broad palm and bounded
lightly into the saddle.

`Now I am seated, Moses. Where is your horse?'

`I rid old Croppy jiss arter sun-down ober by de ole bridge half a mile `yond
and hitch um under it wid him bridle. He waiten' dar now, I reckon if nobody
aint steal 'em.'

`Let us go on as rapidly as possible! I may be missed and pursued.'

`Ah, missis, I wishes young master Frank was here to protect you, den I'm
bressed if dar is any ting you hab to be 'feared ob! Master Frank be brab as um
lion and lub you like um—like um lamb.'

The maiden sighed and saying briefly, `Onward!' put her well-fed brownmare
to her best paces. `I will wait at the bridge till you come up! Here I am
not safe a moment.'

She then cantered lightly forward while Moses ran along by the side of the
horse at a speed of foot his appearance did not promise. They were met by a
carriage and a single chaise but no one noticed them and in a little while they
reached the bridge, a low one-arched structure spanning a narrow rivulet.

`Here am Crop fast sleep wid him nose on de cold stone,' called out Moses
from beneath the bridge.

`Do not delay, Moses, but mount and ride after me,' commanded his mistress
in a firm tone; and the same instant Moses heard the clatter of the mare's slender
hoofs upon the loose planks of the bridge. He mounted the back of the
old horse and clambering up the bank soon crossed the bridge in pursuit, and
to do Croppy justice, he showed wind and speed, both, however, being greatly
assisted by the heels and a certain cudgel appertaining to Moses.

They rode on about a league in a Northeasterly direction, sometimes winding
through intervales, sometimes ascending hills over which the high-way wound,
from the summit of which a very distant view of the lights of the metropolis
were visible, sparkling like minute stars gleaming through a dark cloud on the
horizon, which the city resembled.

At length they reached a point where a road branched from the pike in a more
Easterly direction. Without hesitation the young girl took this and followed
closely by her attendent rode on, at the same rapid rate at which she had pressed
her horse the four miles she had come.

`Missis whar is you gwoin'?' at length asked Moses as he leaned forward on
Croppy's neck, who managed with a great outlay of his fore-legs and stratagem
of his neck to keep his nose within five inches of Brouny's tail all the way along;
`Misses whar is you gwoin'?'

`You shall know soon, Moses?'

`Yis, I dare say I shall, missis! I does'nt ax for myself only for Croppy.—
He jiss keeps up coz I holds him up wid my heels druv in his sides. If I luff
'um go he souse rite down and den I'm up, missis! I ant axed no question's
afore! I gets your mare; I rides Croppy under de bridge and tell him wait dare
for me; I gets ebbery ting ready you axes me; I keeps dark as de bottom ob a
boot-leg; and I comes wid you, coz you say you want to runaway from dis
black Count. Now, missis, whar am you gwoin?'

The young girl made no reply but continued to dash on in the same spirited
manner for a few hundred yards farther, until a gentle rise in the road gave them
an extensive night view before them. The landscape was dark and wide, yet
there was sufficient light from the stars to determine, with tolerable accuracy,
the nigher features. Those more distant were blent with the hazy darkness of
the distance, relieved here and there by a light gleaming from some cottage
home. On reaching this point of view she reined up for the first time since leaving
the old bridge and gazed off upon the dim prospect, as if in seach of some
object. On her right, away over woodland, meadow and water, was visible
still, the dark, lamp-glittering City of the Three Hills, and after surveying it a
moment she said, in that peculiarly rich voice we before alluded to,

`I am not yet at the point I thought I had reached, Moses. We have a full
half league yet to ride. Come, and then you shall be at liberty to return.'

`Croppy hab brace him two fore-feet on de groun', hab head 'tween em, hab
lay back him ear on um neck, and say he don't go no furder dis way, Mamselle
Marie.'

`I cannot delay for Croppy, Moses,' she said very firmly. `You must press
him forward.'

`I hab press him forward, and press him in de side and queese him rib in,
and debbel a bit he say vill he move. Dar! you see dat, Missis!' cried Moses
suddenly, in a tone of indignation and surprise; `you see dat caper?'

The fair fugitive checked her horse and looked around, and beheld the
obstinate old horse quietly laid down in the middle of the road under Moses,
who was standing up like a colossus astride him.

`You must leave him and come with me! Or, no—I will ride forward at
the speed I am compelled to go and as I only brought you with me to take

back the horses, I will leave my horse tied about halt a league further on in
the edge of a wood which crowns the first hill!'

`But who—what, Missis—whar'll you go?' cried Moses. `You aint gwoine
to leab Moses!'

`Yes,' she answered, touched by his plaintive tones; `I do not wish you
should know where I go, as you may be questioned, and if you know you may
perhaps inform.'

`Neber, Missis, neber. Massa will cut out my tongue, but I'm bressed for
ebber and ebber if I tell.'

`I know you will be faithful as you can be, Moses; but I cannot let you
accompany me any further than the wood I speak of. There we must separate,
you to return with the horses and have them both in their stalls, and yourself
in your bed before dawn.'

`But, Missis, I luv you too much to leab you: who hab you to stan by
you but old Moses, 'cept massa Frank, and he aint comed yet from Sout'
Carolina. Whar shall I tell mass' Frank you gone, when he come to marry
you? Oh, Missis, dis brake massa Frank im heart, and Mose brack heart
break too.'

`Well, Moses, you may keep by me until I get to the wood. Then return
peaceably if you love me, though if you knew all — but I cannot speak now
of what is pressing so upon my soul. Come and keep by my saddle if your
horse refuse to travel! I will ride slower to accommodate you!'

`You are good and kind to de poor niggar, my beautiful Missis,' answered
Moses, with a voice husky with emotion. `If you goes off I hopes you'll
come back soon's mass' Frank has killed dat debbel Count what you run way
from. I mean tell mass' Frank, and bress my brack soul if I dont run de bullet,
for Massa Frank shoot him! Den you come back and marry, Massa Frank,
and old Mose dance at de weddin! Croppy, you demmur brute get up and
travel, or I'm bressed uv I dont leff you here in de road all alone, for de bears
to eat ye up, and I guess when dey gets dere teef in yer meat you'll wish you
was a streakin'it nine mile an hour, an' old Mose across your carcass. Come,
dont you see as Missis is waitin'?'

But neither the persuasions, nor the cuffs nor even the well-bestowed kicks
of the indignant African upon his old favorite could prevail upon him to stir
out of his comfortable bed in the thick dust of the road, and leaving him with
bitter reproaches, Moses followed the impatient maiden, and taking hold of the
horn of her saddle, trotted by her side as she rode along at an easy canter.

`You must say nothing to Frank, Moses, to irritate him against the Count de
Rosselau! and I command you not to mention to him that you knew anything
of my flight or which way I took. This, also, be sure you keep from my father!'

`Massa Frank will kill him sure, Miss Marie,' said Moses stoutly.

`No, he will learn from me all ere he can reach here. Be faithful and discreet,
Moses, and you will best please me.'

`I'll do any ting, missis, for you—but—'

`Leave my saddle free. We are pursued,' she cried, smartly striking her
mare with her whip and bounding away; while at the same moment came the
clatter of horse's hoofs behind.

`I b'leive it am dat debbil Croppy comin', missis, sure as I was born wid a
brack skin,' cried Moses, letting go the saddle and turning to stop his steed,
for it was Croppy sure enough.

`Ah, you gray rascal; ah, you coward, you glad enuff come on when you
finds Mose leff you all lone by yourself! you brack conscience scare you.
Now stop and let me ride you, old hypocrite.'

Croppy suffered Moses to catch him by the bridle; and the African without
delay threw himself across his back, which he had no sooner fairly crossed
than down crouched Croppy in the road leaving his astonished rider standing
above him like a pair of compasses.

The fugitive, his mistress, seeing him seize upon and mount his horse pressed
forward supposing he was following. In a few minutes the sound of her
horse's hoofs ceased to vibrate on the ear of the unhappy and hapless Moses,
who still remained standing astride his crouching charger immoveable as a
statue in bronze. If his fist had been of bronze that would have been the last
hour of Croppy's life; for dealing him a blow, strengthened by mingled an

ger and grief, in the skull, he left him and started on foot after his mistress. He
had not gone one hundred yards before he heard Croppy coming up at a
slapping pace after him. He made an effort to arrest his course as he passed
him but in vain, he dashed snorting by and was soon out of sight in the direction
taken by Brouny.

When, at length, Moses reached the wood indicated by his mistress, he
found Croppy standing quietly with his head resting over Brouny's neck,
who was fastened with the bridle to the first tree of the grove within a few
feet of the road; yet the place was so concealed as not to be discovered
without being sought. Here, indeed, Moses found his horses, but his mistress
had disappeared; and after hastily mounting Brouny and galloping in every
direction to discover her, Croppy cantering perseveringly close behind at
his heels all the way, he sadly turned the mare's head homeward; and ere
midnight he reached the villa he had left a few hours before in company with
the youthful fugitive, whose subsequent adventures will form the remaining
chapters of our story.