MONSIEUR VIOLET (FISCLE PART-IV) by FREDERICK MARRYAT (novel books to read txt) 📖

Safely Through The Arkansas. Beware Of Pretty Girls, And

Honest, Clever People; Never Say You Are Travelling Further Than From

The Last City To The Nearest, As A Long Journey Generally Implies That

You Have Cash; And, If Possible, Never Put Your Horse In a Stable.

Farewell."

 

 

 

The Soil In the Arkansas Is Rocky And Mountainous As Far As To The

Western Border Of The State, When You Enter Upon The Great American

Desert, Which Continues To The Other Side Of The Cimarron, Nearly To The

Foot Of The Cordilleras. The Eastern Portion Of Arkansas, Which Is

Watered by The Mississippi, Is An Unknown Swamp, For There The Ground Is

Too Soft Even For The Light-Footed indian; And, I May Say, That The

Whole Territory Contained between The Mississippi And The St. Francis

River Is Nothing But A Continued river-Bottom.

 

 

 

It Is Asserted, On The Authority Of Intelligent Residents, That The

River-Bottoms Of The St. Francis Were Not Subject To Be Overflowed

Previous To The Earthquakes Of 1811 And 1812, When An Extensive Tract In

The Valley Of That River Sank To A Considerable Depth. According To

Stoddart, Who Knew Nothing Of The Shocks Of 1811, Earthquakes Have Been

Common Here From The First Settlement Of The Country; He Himself

Experienced several Shocks At Kaskaskia, In 1804, By Which The Soldiers

Stationed there Were Aroused from Sleep, And The Buildings Were Much

Shaken And Disjointed. Oscillations Still Occur With Such Frequency As

To Be Regarded with Indifference By The Inhabitants, Who Familiarly Call

Them _Shakes_. But The Earthquakes Of 1811 And 1812, Which Were Felt

From New England To New Orleans, Are The Only Ones Known To Have Left

Permanent Traces, Although There Is Every Probability That This Part Of

The Valley Of The Mississippi Has Been Much Convulsed at Former Periods.

 

 

 

In 1812 The Earth Opened in wide Chasms, From Which Columns Of Water And

Sand Burst Forth; Hills Disappeared, And Their Sites Were Occupied by

Lakes; The Beds Of The Lakes Were Raised, And Their Waters Flowed off,

Leaving Them Dry; The Courses Of The Streams Were Changed by The

Elevation Of Their Beds And The Falling Of Their Banks; For One Whole

Hour The Current Of The Mississippi Was Turned backwards Towards Its

Source, Until Its Accumulated waters Were Able To Break Through The

Barrier Which Had Dammed them Up; Boats Were Dashed on The Banks, Or

Suddenly Left Dry In the Deserted channel, Or Hurried backwards And

Forwards With The Surging Eddies; While In the Midst Of These Awful

Changes, Electric Fires, Accompanied by Loud Rumblings, Flashed through

The Air, Which Was Darkened with Clouds And Vapour.

 

 

 

In Some Places, Submerged forests And Cane-Brakes Are Still Visible At A

Great Depth, On The Bottom Of Lakes, Which Were Then Formed. That The

Causes Of These Convulsions Were Not Local, As Some Have Imagined, Is

Evident Enough From The Fact, That The Azores, The West India Islands,

And The Northern Coast Of South America Were Unusually Agitated at The

Same Time, And The Cities Of Carracas, Laguayra, And Some Others Were

Totally Destroyed.

 

 

 

I Had Been Advised not To Stop At Any House On The Borders, And Would

Have Proceeded on To Missouri, Bivouacking During The Night, Had It Not

Been That The Rainy Season Had Just Commenced, And It Was Far From

Pleasant To Pass The Night Exposed to The Most Terrific Showers Of Rain

That Could Be Imagined. When I Arrived upon The St. Francis River, I

Found Myself Compelled by The State Of The Weather To Stop At A

Parson'S--I Don'T Know What Particular Sect He Professed to Belong To;

But He Was Reputed to Be The Greatest Hypocrite In the World, And The

"Smartest Scoundrel" In the Arkansas.

 

 

 

My Horse Was Put Into The Stable, My Saddle Into The Hall, And I

Brought My Saddle-Bags Into The Sitting-Room. Then, As Usual, I Went To

The Well For A Purification After My Day'S Ride. To My Astonishment, I

Found, On My Return, That My Saddlebags Had Already Disappeared. I Had

In Them Jewels And Money To Rather A Considerable Amount For A Person In

My Position, And I Inquired of A Woman Cooking In the Next Room What Had

Become Of Them. She Answered she Did Not Know, But That Probably Her

Father Had Put Them Out Of The Way.

 

 

 

I Waited a Long While, Standing at The Door, With No Small Anxiety, Till

At Last I Perceived the Parson Crossing an Indian-Corn Field, And Coming

Towards The House. I Went To Meet Him, And Asked what He Had Done With

My Saddle-Bags; To Which Question He Answered angrily, He Did Not Know

What I Meant; That I Had No Saddle-Bags When I Came To His House; That

He Suspected i Was A Knowing One, But Could Not Come Round So Old A Fox

As He Was.

 

 

 

As By That Time I Was Perfectly _Au Fait_ To All The Tricks Of Arkansas

Smartness, I Returned to The Hall, Took My Pistols From The Holsters,

Placed them In my Belt, And, Seizing My Rifle, I Followed his Trail Upon

The Soft Ground Of The Fields. It Led me To A Corn-House, And There,

After An Hour'S Search, I Found My Lost Saddle-Bags. I Threw Them Upon

My Shoulders, And Returned to The House Just As A Terrible Shower Had

Commenced. When Within Fifteen Yards From The Threshold, The Parson,

With His Wife And Daughter, A Pretty Girl Of Sixteen, In tears, Came Up

To Me To Apologize. The Mother Declared the Girl Would Be The Death Of

Her, And The Parson Informed me, With Great Humility, That His Daughter,

Having Entered the Room, And Seeing The Saddle-Bags, Had Taken And

Hidden Them, Believing That They Belonged to Her Sweetheart, Who Was

Expected on A Visit. Upon This, The Girl Cried most Violently, Saying

She Only Wished to Play A Trick To Charley. She Was An Honest Girl,

And No Thief.

 

 

 

I Thought Proper To Pretend To Be Satisfied with This Explanation And

Ordered my Supper, And, Shortly Afterwards, To My Great Relief, New

Guests Arrived; They Were Four Missourian Planters, Returning Home From

A Bear-Hunt In the Swamps Of The St. Francis. One Of Them Was A Mr.

Courtenay, To Whom I Had A Letter From Captain Finn, And, Before The Day

Had Closed, I Received a Cordial Invitation To Go And Stay With Him For

At Least A Week.

 

 

 

As He Spoke French, I Told Him, In that Language, My Saddle-Bag

Adventure; He Was Not Surprised, As He Was Aware Of The Character Of Our

Host. It Was Arranged that Mr. Courtenay And I Should Sleep In a

Double-Bedded room On The First Floor; The Other Hunters Were

Accommodated in another Part Of The House. Before Retiring For The

Night, They All Went To Visit Their Horses, And The Young Girl Took That

Opportunity To Light Me To The Room.

 

 

 

"Oh, Sir," She Said To Me, After She Had Closed the Door, "Pray Do Not

Tell The Other Travellers What I Did, Or They Would All Say That I Am

Courting Charley, And My Character Would Be Lost."

 

 

 

"Mark Me," Replied i, "I Have Already Told The Story, And I Know The

Charley Story Is Nothing But A--What Your Father Ordered you To Say.

When I Went To The Corn-House, The Tracks I Followed were Those Made By

Your Father'S Heavy Boots, And Not By Your Light Pumps And Small Feet.

The Parson Is A Villain; Tell Him That; And If It Were Not Too Much

Trouble, I Would Summon Him Before Some Magistrate."

 

 

 

The Girl Appeared much Shocked, And I Repented my Harshness, And Was

About To Address Her More Kindly, When She Interrupted me.

 

 

 

"Spare Me, Sir," She Said, "I Know All; I Am So Unhappy; If I Had But A

Place To Go To, Where I Could Work For Bread, I Would Do It In a Minute,

For Here I Am Very, Very Miserable."

 

 

 

At That Moment The Poor Girl Heard The Footsteps Of The Hunters,

Returning From The Stable, And She Quitted me In haste.

 

 

 

When Mr. Courtenay Entered the Room, He Told Me He Expected that The

Parson Was Planning Some New Iniquity, For He Had Seen Him Just Then

Crossing The River In a Dug-Out. As Everything Was To Be Feared from The

Rascal, After The Circumstance Of The Saddle-Bags, We Resolved that We

Would Keep A Watch; We Dragged our Beds Near The Window, And Lay Down

Without Undressing.

 

 

 

To Pass Away The Time, We Talked of Captain Finn And Of The Texans. Mr.

Courtenay Related to Me A Case Of Negro-Stealing By The Same General

John Meyer, Of Whom My Fellow Companion, The Parson, Had Already Talked

So Much While We Travelling In texas. One Winter, Mr. Courtenay,

Returning From The East, Was Stopped in vincennes (Indiana) By The

Depth Of The Snow, Which For A Few Days Rendered the Roads Impassable.

There He Saw A Very Fine Breed of Sheep, Which He Determined to

Introduce Upon His Plantation; And Hearing That The General Would Be

Coming Down The River In a Large Flat Boat As Soon As The Ice Would

Permit, He Made An Agreement With Him That He Should Bring a Dozen Of

The Animals To The Plantation, Which Stood A Few Miles Below The Mouth

Of The Ohio, On The Other Side Of The Mississippi.

 

 

 

Meyer Made His Bargain, And Two Months Afterwards Delivered the Live

Stock, For Which He Received the Price Agreed upon. Then He Asked

Permission To Encamp Upon Mr. Courtenay'S Land, As His Boat Had Received

Some Very Serious Injury, Which Could Not Be Repaired under Five Or Six

Days. Mr. Courtenay Allowed meyer And His People To Take Shelter In a

Brick Barn, And Ordered his Negroes To Furnish The Boat-Men With

Potatoes And Vegetables Of All Descriptions.

 

 

 

Three Or Four Days Afterwards He Was Astonished by, Several Of His

Slaves Informing Him The General Had Been Tampering With Them, Saying

They Were Fools To Remain Slaves, When They Could Be As Free As White

Men, And That If They Would Come Down The River With Him, He Would Take

Them To Texas, Where He Would Pay Them Twenty Dollars A Month For

Their Labour.

 

 

 

Courtenay Advised them, By All Means, To Seem To Accede To The

Proposition, And Gave Them Instructions As To How They Were To Act. He

Then Despatched notes To Some Twenty Neighbours, Requesting Them To Come

To The Plantation, And Bring Their Whips With Them, As They Would

Be Required.

 

 

 

Meyer Having Repaired his Boats, Came To Return Thanks, And To Announce

His Departure Early On The Following Morning. At Eleven O'Clock, When He

Thought Everybody In the House Was Asleep, He Hastened, With Two Of His

Sons, To A Lane, Where He Had Made An Appointment With The Negroes To

Meet Him And Accompany Him To His Boat, Which Was Ready To Start. He

Found Half-A-Dozen Of The Negroes, And, Advising Them Not To Speak

Before They Were Fairly Off The Plantation, Desired them To Follow Him

To The Boat; But, To His Astonishment, He Soon Discovered that The Lane

Was Occupied with Other Negroes And White Men, Armed with The

Much-Dreaded cow-Hides. He Called out To His Two Sons To Fly, But It Was

Too Late.

 

 

 

The General And His Two Sons Were Undoubtedly Accustomed to Such

Disasters, For They Showed amazing Dexterity In taking advantage Of The

Angles Of The Fences, To Evade The Lashes: But, In spite Of All Their

Devices, They Were Cruelly Punished, As They Had Nearly A Quarter Of A

Mile Of Gauntlet To Run Through Before They Were Clear Of The Lane. In

Vain They Groaned, And Swore, And Prayed; The Blows Fell Thicker And

Thicker, Principally From The Hands Of The Negroes, Who, Having Now And

Then Tasted of The Cow-Hide, Were In high Glee At The Idea Of Flogging

White Men.

 

 

 

The Worshipful General And His Dutiful Sons At Last Arrived at Their

Boat, Quite Exhausted, And Almost Fainting Under The Agony Of The

Well-Applied lashes. Once On Board, They Cut Their Cable, And Pushed

Into The Middle Of The Stream; And Although Meyer Had Come Down The

River At Least Ten Times Since, He Always Managed to Pass The Plantation

During Night, And Close To The Bank Of The Opposite Shore.

 

 

 

I Told Mr. Courtenay What I Knew Myself About General John Meyer; While

I Was Talking, His Attention Was Attracted by A Noise Near The Stables,

Which Were Situated at The Bottom Of A Lane, Before Our Windows. We

Immediately Suspected that There Would Be An Attempt To Steal Our

Horses; So I Handed my Rifle To My Companion, Who Posted himself In a

Position Commanding The Lane, Through Which The Thief Or Thieves Must

Necessarily Pass.

 

 

 

We Waited thus In suspense For A Few Minutes, Till Mr. Courtenay Desired

Me To Take His Place, Saying,--

 

 

 

"If Any One Passes The Lane With Any Of Our Horses, Shoot Him; I Will Go

Down Myself And Thrash The Blackguard,