39. XXXIX.
THE OLYMPIAN IRE OF CAPTAIN LONGKNIFE.
CAPTAIN WAGNER had just mounted Injun-hater,
and happy, triumphant, his chin in the
air, was about to set out from the Ordinary for
Greenway Court, when all at once, Falconbridge
emerged from the forest, and galloped toward him.
He rode one of Fairfax's horses, whose speed he had
well tested, according to the recommendation of the Earl,
and in the bright morning sun presented a very attractive
appearance.
“Whither bound, comrade?” said the Captain, reining
in the active Injunhater, “you come on like a thunderbolt!”
“I am a very harmless one, Captain,” returned Falconbridge,
“and the Ordinary is my mark.”
“You are from Greenway?”
“Yes.”
“Any news?”
“None at all; his lordship, whom I left a short time ago,
is quite well.”
“He always is that, or the devil take it! He rides over
the mountains enough to make anybody well and strong.
You had a pleasant time?”
“Very pleasant.”
“And a sound night's rest, doubtless?”
“Well, yes—I slept well enough; but a strange thing
happened.”
“Strange? What was that? Did you have any more
visions?”
“No, Captain, but I saw myself.”
“Saw yourself? Oh, you mean you were guilty of the
vanity of looking into a mirror, of which there are not so
many in this region. Well, companion, when one's as good
looking a fellow as you are, that's not unnatural, or may
the devil take it!”
“I did not say that I saw myself in a mirror—I was on
canvas.”
“On canvas!”
“Yes, my actual self, Captain!”
And Falconbridge described the portrait, the manner in
which he had seen it, and the effect which it had produced
upon him.
“Strange enough,” said the soldier; “and did you
mention it to his lordship?”
“He alluded to it himself at breakfast, and asked me if I
had slept well with this second nocturnal visitor—you remember
the first?”
“Yes, companion, and what was the explanation?”
“A very simple one. His lordship had placed the picture
there as an agreeable surprise to me. It was the portrait
of a friend of his who had been long dead—and my resemblance,
he said, to this friend, had impressed him, upon
our very first meeting.”
“Well,” said the soldier, “all that's very interesting and
striking. I never saw the picture, but mean, as soon as I
arrive, to go up stairs and look at it. Did you arrange your
business?”
“In half an hour. I need not have come from the Low
country hither.”
“And you return?”
“Well, yes, I imagine so, Captain,” said Falconbridge
with some hesitation, “before very long.”
“I'm glad to hear it,” was Captain Wagner's apparently
unfriendly reply. “I think of going down to see Gooch
who, I'm told, sails for England in the spring, and we might
jog along together.”
“Then you have business with Governor Gooch?”
“Yes—about my lands.”
And Captain Wagner gave a twist to his moustache, which
made that decoration stand out prominently from his martial
countenance.
“I own, or shall very soon own, my dear comrade, some
of the prettiest pieces of ground in the Virginia valley. I
will be mysterious, I will shirk the subject for the present,
but I have said what I have said,” added the soldier in a
determined voice, as though some opponent disputed his
statement. “My property lies in and around the town of
Winchester—a noble place, Falconbridge, the pearl of the
entire universe. It is my intention to make Gooch build a
fort there, appoint me commandant, and commission me
generalissimo of the frontier.”
“Oh! really? But he could do worse.”
“Thank you, comrade—and to be frank, I agree with you.
Once commandant of an armed post, let me hear of the rascally
Injuns daring to set foot on my ground! Let me
hear that any of the copper-nosed scoundrels think of coming
to the place or the neighborhood! I'll march on 'em,
and exterminate 'em off the face of the earth! I will make
the Opequon and Lost River run with their blood! I will
choke those streams with their miserable carcasses, as I'm
told Julius Cæsar did at the battle of Marathon in Africa!
I'll cut 'em into slices, and fry, and eat 'em! If I don't I'm
a dandy, Falconbridge!”
With which words, the Captain assumed a terrific frown,
made a farewell sign to his companion, and setting spur to
Injunhater, went on toward Greenway.
Falconbridge laughed, and dismounting, gave his horse
into the hands of an ostler, directing him to lead the animal
back in the afternoon to Greenway. Then he ordered his
own horse, Sir John, to be saddled, and was ere long curbing
that intelligent quadruped, with a joyous hand.
To his inquiries regarding the wizard, his daughter, and
George, Mrs. Butterton replied that all three persons had
set out some hours before on their return to the Fort Mountain—George
riding his sorrel, the old man and his daughter
occupying the landlord's sole vehicle. It was very plain,
added the dame, that Mr. George was a friend of theirs.
Replying to this significant observation with a smile only,
and saluting the lady with a low inclination, Falconbridge
set forward at a round pace, for Mr. Argal's.
He had not seen Miss Argal for almost a whole—day.
