CHAPTER XXIII.
ZULMIERA, THE HALF-CARIB GIRL.
A Legend of the Savannah.
The sun was rapidly sinking in the west, but its declining beams only threw upon every object a richer tone of colour, as a party, consisting of three persons, emerged from a small shrubbery, and halted upon the brow of a shelving hill.
The foremost of the party was a man who probably verged upon the mellow age of fifty; but his eagle-eye, and stalwart frame, told that his years sat light upon him. He was what would have been termed a handsome man; but a supercilious curl of his upper lip, and an expression of scornful indifference, which, though apparently suppressed, lingered in his dark hazel eye, added to a brow furrowed by deep lines, and compressed by slumbering passions, which only waited the spur of the moment to be called into action, detracted from the otherwise agreeable character of his features, and effectually forbid any approach to familiarity. A deep and unsightly scar, the effects of a sabre-cut, which, commencing from the right ear, traversed the jaw, injured yet further his good looks. He was habited in a complete suit of black velvet, of the richest texture; the sombreness of which was in some measure relieved by diamond clasps, and small knee-buckles of the same costly stones. A small collar of the finest lawn made its appearance above the doublet; and a black-sheathed "Andrèa Ferrara," with basket hilt, dangling from his side, and calf-skin boots, completed his costume. This dress, fitting tight to his shape, shewed to advantage the large but perfect symmetry of his person; while the dark brown hair, sprinkled here and there with the grey badge of declining years, cropt close around his temples; and the steeple-crowned hat peculiar to his sect and times, bespoke him, what he was, the friend of Cromwell--the roundhead governor of Antigua.
The next person that gained the open ground was Bridget, the beautiful daughter of the governor. If ever there was a personification of extreme loveliness, it was known in Bridget. Scarcely seventeen, her slight but rounded figure, and her sweet, mild face, while it struck the beholder with admiration, and riveted his attention, gave the idea of some embodied sylph. Her complexion was of that ethereal tint of which the poet says--
"Oh, call it fair, not pale."
The lily could scarcely outvie it in purity of colour, although every emanation of her guileless heart called up the latent rose-tint into her delicate cheek; while the small, pouting lip, with all the rich glow of the coral, forbid effectually the supposition of ill health. A slightly aquiline nose, a classically-formed and dimpled chin, with a fair and open forehead, in which every azure vein could be traced, were the prominent features; blended with that mingled sweetness, that feminine grace, and that inexpressible _something_, which really and actually constitutes beauty. But her eyes--those soft, lovely eyes--look at them, as she raises the long lashes, and you can fancy, that were her features devoid of any pretensions to comeliness, those liquid orbs would richly compensate for all. Of the clearest hazel, every glance that fell from them spoke the inmost feelings of her soul; and whether they beamed forth in pity, or flashed with animation, they equally bespoke the benevolence of her nature.
Puritan as her father was, he did not deny his daughter, any more than himself, the use of a few ornaments; and a bandeau of pearls fastened around her graceful head vainly endeavoured to restrain the abundant tresses of her soft, glossy, brown hair, which, breaking loose, floated upon her shoulders in natural ringlets. Her dress of dove-coloured satin flowed in rich and ample folds to her feet, from whence the little slipper peeped forth; and, gathered around her slender waist by a girdle of pearls, shewed the admirable proportions of her figure. The stiff puritan ruff of lawn, in which every plait could be counted, screened her neck; but around her small white throat was fastened a carcanet of her favourite gems, not purer in tint than her own fair skin. A wimple of the same colour as her dress, and lined with pale rose tiffany, was tied under her little rounded chin, but which, in the joyousness of her nature, she had unfastened, that she might more fully enjoy the beauties of the evening.
The remaining individual that formed the trio was in every respect far different from those already described; yet, as she stood a few paces behind Bridget--to mark the difference in their rank, although near enough to join in the conversation--her lofty and commanding figure called equally for attention and admiration. The clear olive tinge of her complexion, the large black eye, which sparkled with dazzling light, and the long coal-black hair, braided and twined round and round her head, told that she was not of the same country, or the same people as her mistress. Servant--slave as she was--she looked born to command; and daring must that person be who would encounter for the second time the flash of her offended eye. Formed in a larger mould than Bridget, her figure still bore the utmost symmetrical proportions; and the rounded arm and taper fingers might have served as a model for the Goddess of Beauty: this female was Zulmiera--the half-Carib girl.
The mother of Zulmiera was a very beautiful Carib woman, who, in that disgraceful partition of them among the English, (after the massacre of their male friends at St. Kitts during Sir Thomas Warner's government of that island,) fell to the share of a young Englishman, a follower of Sir Thomas Warner's son, in his after colonization of Antigua. Xamba accompanied her master to his new residence, and there bore him a daughter; but dying soon after, the infant was brought up in the governor's family. After the reduction of Antigua by Sir George Ayscue, and the establishment of a republican governor, in place of the opposer of Cromwell's power, Zulmiera, who was rapidly attaining the full burst of womanhood, was, at the earnest entreaties of Bridget Everard, who was charmed with the untutored graces of the beautiful Indian maiden, promoted to the office of her companion. It must be allowed, that this appointment met not with the full approval of the governor. Violently attached to Cromwell, and bearing bitter hatred to the royalist party, and all malignants, he thought the girl had been too long nurtured in their principles to make a faithful attendant to the daughter of a republican. But Bridget was his only child,--a motherless girl; and stern and unbending as he was to others, his iron mood gave way before her playful caresses.
Still there was another and deep cause of dislike he had against Zulmiera. Upon further acquaintance with this Indian girl, he found her too haughty for his own arrogant spirit to deal with. Too high-minded and forgetful of her real rank as a servant, and apparently under the impression that, while attending upon her mistress, she was in fact her equal, if not her superior.
Zulmiera was, in truth, fully alive to this sentiment. She looked upon herself as the descendant (on her mother's side) of a long line of chiefs--of those who had once been rulers in the land, and who had received from their swarthy subjects the homage that monarchs of a more civilized nation were wont to receive.
Thinking thus of Zulmiera, no wonder that the governor distrusted her. Nor was the girl ignorant of his opinion of her; and consequently their feelings of dislike were mutual. She knew he hated her; and he felt that in her heart she despised him. Still, she loved Bridget--for who could not love that mild, fair girl?-- loved her with an intensity of fervour, unknown to the inhabitants of colder climes--and would have shed for her her heart's best blood; for love and hatred were to Zulmiera all-absorbing passions. Yet there was another who held the _first_ place in Zulmiera's heart,--one that was to the half-instructed, half-Indian girl--her "idol god."
But to return to the movements of the trio. Having left the concealment of the shrubbery, the whole party paused, and with different feelings gazed upon the landscape stretched before them. The slight declivity upon the brow of which they were standing, had been cleared, and was now planted with tobacco, whose broad green leaves, and delicate trumpet flowers, attracted the attention of numerous gorgeous insects. This plantation stretched to the end of a wild copse, where every native shrub and brushwood grew together with the loftier trees, and formed an almost impervious thicket. Beyond this copse, the waters of a beautiful creek, which ran a short way inland, glittered like gold in the beams of the setting sun; while on every side rose undulating hills, begirt with many an infant plantation, belonging to some of the earlier settlers. Further off, the broad ocean stretched its interminable waves, its billows sleeping in calmness; except in one part, where a long ridge of shelving rocks fretted them into motion, and caused them to send forth their angry roar.[89]
At the bottom of the hill upon which they were standing ran a bridle-path, which, winding in and out, branched off in two directions; one passing through the populous town of Falmouth, the other extending to the shores of a beautiful harbour,[90] where some industrious settlers were cultivating the adjoining country. Along this path a single horseman was seen slowly advancing, in the direction of the harbour. As he gained the skirts of the hill, he reined up for a moment his prancing steed, and, looking towards the party, raised his plumed hat and bent forward in graceful obeisance. The dark eyes of Zulmiera sparkled with delight, and standing, as she did, behind the governor and his daughter, unseen by them, she raised her hand and waved a return, while, at the same instant, the rosiest blush sprang to the cheeks of Bridget, and crimsoned her very throat. The horseman again bent his head, and then, replacing his hat, shook the broidered reins and galloped off in the direction he had chosen for his equestrian amusement.
Following with his eye the plumed stranger until he was lost in the intervening copse, the governor turned to his daughter, and fixing a steady, penetrating glance upon her, exclaimed, "Ha! then the young malignant's designs appear to be more open than they were. But, mark me, daughter Bridget," and his eye became sterner and darker as the pupil dilated with his awakening passion, and his haughty lip curled with increased scorn--"mark me, Bridget, sooner than I'd see thee mated with one of his malignant race, mine own hand should stretch thee at my feet a breathless corpse!--yea, as Jephtha slew his daughter, so would I slay thee!" The agitated and frightened girl threw herself upon her father's breast, and, amid tears and sobs, stammered out-- "Father--dearest father! think not so. Raphe de Merefield is naught to me; he never spoke to me but with the most studied politeness, and, indeed, he shuns rather than seeks my presence." --"'Tis well, then, maiden--my suspicions are unfounded; the wolf has not entered the sheepfold to steal the tender lamb; but I have observed him lately wandering about these grounds, and I feared my daughter was the object. But listen!" and again his eye flashed, his lip trembled--"verily, I know that young man well-- ay, better than he knows me--for his father was my neighbour and my deadliest foe!--and what was more, the foe of Cromwell! He it was that assisted that tyrannical man, Charles Stuart, in his escape from Hampton Court, and after aided him in his long struggles to maintain possession of a crown which had long been doomed to destruction. He it was that beggared his brother to obtain money to carry out that well-slain tyrant's nefarious designs! And he it was that, at the battle of Naseby, gave me this ugly sign of recognition," pointing to the scar which disfigured his cheek. "But was he not discomfited? Yea, as the dry leaf he fell. Lo! as David girded up his strength in the day of battle, so girded I up mine; and as he smote his enemies with the edge of the sword, so my trusty weapon stretched the haughty Philistine upon the ground, never to rise again! Guess, then, if thou canst, how much I love yon cavalier, who hath sucked in with his very milk the taint of papistry--for did not that Babylonish woman whom men call the Queen of England rear him up from his cradle? yea, and taught him all her sorceries. Had my honoured friend and master, the protector, followed my advice, this young traitor to the commonwealth would never have escaped from England to disseminate his malignant poison abroad. Cromwell should have crushed the egg before it was hatched. But verily I wax hot and am impatient, not considering the time approacheth when rebels and arch-rebels shall melt away as the hoar frost melteth before the sun. Despatches have reached me that it is Cromwell's intention to send, in the course of a few months, a squadron against St. Domingo, and my instructions are to see that a proper troop be raised in this island to join the expedition. I am resolved that Master Raphe de Merefield be one of the gallants who shall serve in that affair; a goodly bullet-shot or, albeit, a well-applied stroke from the rapier of a Spaniard, may relieve me from his machinations; or should he refuse to fight under the banner of the commonwealth, verily, I know the malignancy of his father cleaves so closely to him, that it will only be maintaining Cromwell's interest to have him properly secured, or we may see another revolt when we least expect it." Thus saying, the governor walked forward a few paces, and shading his eyes from the lingering sunbeams, scanned for a few moments the scene before him.
What passed in the mind of Bridget during the foregoing conversation it is unnecessary to relate, but the emotions called up in the heart of the Carib girl while hearing her lover thus traduced were violent and various. Hate, scorn, and revenge, fired her eye, and sent a torrent of hot blood through her veins, which, rushing to her face, turned the clear olive to a fiery crimson. Yet so well was she accustomed to master her feelings, that before her young mistress was sufficiently recovered to commence another dialogue, she stood the same apparently calm being, her hands folded across her breast; and only that her eye was more dilated, and her cheek still slightly tinged, none could tell that aught had moved her.
An exclamation from the governor, who had, for the last few minutes, been intently gazing in one direction, arrested his daughter's attention, and, gliding to his elbow, she inquired if he addressed her. "Look, Bridget," replied her father, in a still stern, but not unmusical voice--"look o'er yonder grove--dost thou see aught moving?"--"Nothing, dearest father," answered the maiden, in her own sweet tones--"nothing but the bland zephyr sporting amid the young green leaves, and playing its fairy music upon them." "Foolish enthusiast! But haste, girl!--fetch me the wondrous instrument the lord-general gave me, and let me give yon grove a sharper look--methinks it contains more inmates than we wot of. I have heard of wild Indians and their deeds."
Roused by his remarks, Zulmiera started forward, and in an agitated voice which she in vain tried to stifle, exclaimed, "Oh, no, your excellency, naught is there, save, as the Lady Bridget saith, the whispering wind or the fly-birds as they seek their leafy bower." "Back, girl!" fiercely retorted the governor--"back to thy place; who taught thee to hazard thy remarks? Methinks thy cavalier masters might have made thee know thy station better."
Again the blood rushed to the cheek and temples of Zulmiera-- again the eye flashed fire--but again she mastered her emotions; exclaiming, however, as she did so, but in a voice too subdued to reach her companion's ear, "Rest till to-morrow's night, proud man, then wilt thou learn who governs here!"
At this moment, Bridget placed in her father's hand the lately invented telescope,[91] when, raising it to his eye, he narrowly observed the whole breadth of the copse; the distant creek and the farther ocean; but nothing met his eye--nothing, save the wavy green, or the wing of a weary sea-fowl as it sought its nest. Slowly dropping the instrument, the governor once more gazed with his naked eye in that direction. The sun had set some minutes before, and as the last of his golden beams faded in the west, he turned upon his heel, and, followed by the females, was once more lost in the verdant shrubbery.
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[89] Now called the Memora's.
[90] Now called English Harbour.
[91] Telescopes were said to have been invented during the reign of James I., although some attribute the invention to Roger Bacon, 1292.