The Maroon

As if the eclipse had not been a sufficient climax to the round of _fetes_ got up for the express amusement of Mr Smythje, only a few days--or, rather, nights--after, still anot...

In his bosom were many new emotions, springing from the strange revelations to which he had just listened. His mind was in such a state of chaotic confusion, that it required so...

That object was a small silken purse that lay upon the table. Stringless it was, though the broken strands of a blue ribbon attached to it showed that it had not always been so.

On the third day after the slaver had cast anchor in the Bay of Montego, a large square-rigged vessel made her appearance in the offing; and, heading shoreward, with all sail se...

Once more under the _ceiba_, that gigantic trysting tree, stood the Maroon and his mistress. Not, as before, in the bright noonday sun, but near the mid-hour of the night. The F...

With shy but graceful mien, she advanced towards the _ceiba_, and with sufficient firmness of step to show that she came not in doubt. A smile, confident and slightly coquettish...

The young Englishman gazed upon the advancing troop with keen curiosity. There were about a dozen of them, all black men, or nearly all--only one or two of them showing any admi...

For a while after the departure of Cynthia, the temple of Obi remained untenanted, except by its dumb deities: its priest having gone to ferry his neophyte across the lagoon.

On the quarter-deck of the slaver, and near the "companion," stood a man of unique appearance--differing not only from the whites who composed the crew, but also from the blacks...

While these scenes were transpiring upon the plantation of Mount Welcome, others of a still more exciting nature were being enacted on that which adjoined it--the property of Ja...

On the morning that succeeded the occurrence of these tragic events, one entering at the great gate of Mount Welcome estate, and directing his eye up the long, palm-shaded avenu...

He was now seated, with a small table before him, covered with a piece of green baize, and carrying a gold snuff-box, an inkstand, pens, and some sheets of paper.

Instead of standing in the middle of the floor, the breakfast table had been placed close to the front window--in order that, with the jalousies thrown open, the fresh air might...

Inappropriate as Jacob Jessuron's neighbours may have deemed the title of his estate--the Happy Valley--Herbert Vaughan had no reason to regard it as a misnomer. From the hour i...

Every day, after that on which he had received the two English letters-- and almost every hour during daylight--might Loftus Vaughan have been seen, telescope in hand, at one of...

Occupying one corner of the mansion of Mount Welcome--that which was farthest removed from the din and clangour of the kitchen--was a small chamber, richly and elegantly furnish...

It was about twelve o'clock in the day. Jessuron and his daughter had just stepped forth into the verandah, and taken their stand by the balustrade looking down into the court....

The carriage conveying Mr Montagu Smythje from Montego Bay to Mount Welcome, passed up the avenue and arrived at the great house, just one hour before Herbert Vaughan, mounted o...

In the most unamiable of tempers did the slave-speculator ride back down the avenue. So out of sorts was he at the result of his interview, that he did not think of unfolding hi...

"Intawupted!" exclaimed Smythje, briskly restoring his person to its erect position. "What an infawnal haw!" he continued, drawing out his handkerchief, and dusting the knee on...

On the flank of the "Mountain" that frowned towards the Happy Valley, and not far from the Jumbe Rock, a spring gushed forth. So copious was it as to merit the name of fountain....

"Oh! that's all right," said the planter, encouragingly. "So long as there's no harm meant, there's no harm done. Mr Trusty tells me you have business with me. Is it about that?"

For nearly an hour did the cob continue its gallop, without pause or slacking. The road was a wide one, much tracked by wheels; and, as it ran in a direct course, the rider took...

What object had he in view in thus becoming the patron and protector of the young Englishman--an outcast adventurer, apparently incapable of making him any return? Why such libe...

The canoe soon made its trip, and returned with Cynthia seated in the stern. As upon the occasion of her former visit, she carried a basket upon her arm filled with comestibles,...

The two plotters were palavering loud enough. In that place there was no need--at least, so thought they--for restrained speech; and the listener could have heard every word, bu...

He no longer needed an interview with his uncle, for the sake of having an explanation. This new slight had crowned his convictions that he was there an unwelcome guest; and no...

The scene that had thus transpired in the depths of the Duppy's Hole requires some explanation. The dialogue which Cynthia had held with the hideous Coromantee, though couched i...

On the day after the slave-ship had landed her cargo, and at an early hour in the morning, Mr Vaughan, looking from the front window of his house, perceived a solitary horseman...

As soon as he had seen the mansion of Mount Welcome fairly given to the flames, the Coromantee, bearing its young mistress in his arms, hurried away from the spot. Outside the g...

Yola, true to her tryst, set forth to meet her beloved Maroon. The hour of midnight was the time that had been appointed; but, in order to secure punctuality, she took her depar...

"The ekwipse is commencing," said Smythje, holding the glass to his eye. "The sun and moon are just kissing, like two lovers. How pwetty it is! Dawn't yaw think so, fayaw Kate?"

Mr Smythje did not know, and no longer did he care. Too glad to get away from the scene of his unpleasant adventure, he made no inquiry about his negligent squire; nor did he ev...

From the spot where he had seated himself, the mansion of Mount Welcome was in view--that is, it would have been, had it been daytime, or even a moonlight night. As it was, howe...

From mingled motives Herbert had lingered on that wild spot. He feared the dread development which he knew must take place on their return to Mount Welcome. What a terrible blow...

Cubina, on getting clear of the penn-keeper's precincts, lost little time in returning to the glade; and, having once more reached the _ceiba_, seated himself on a log to await...

The brief conversation between Jessuron and his overseer had taken place _sotto voce_: as it was not desirable that it should be overheard by any one--much less by the nephew of...

Just at the time that Chakra departed from the Jumbe Rock to pay his nocturnal visit to the Jew, the latter was leaving his penn to honour the Coromantee with a similar call.

On seeing the dead body of her father, Kate Vaughan sank to the earth beside it; not unconsciously, but on her knees, and in an agony of grief. Bending over it, she kissed the c...

The mulatta appeared to hesitate. Inside, the place was dark as Erebus: though without it was not very different. The shadow of the _ceiba_, with its dense shrouding of moss, in...

Cubina, on arriving near the precincts of the penn, moved forward with increased caution. He knew that the penn-keeper was accustomed to keep dogs and night-watchers around his...

The heart of the young Maroon, though by nature bold and brave, was for a moment impressed with fear. He had known the myal-man of Mount Welcome--never very intimately--but enou...

The sun was just going down to his bed in the blue Caribbean, and tinting with a carmine-coloured light the glistening surface of the Jumbe Rock, when a human figure was seen as...

Beyond the shadow of a doubt was Smythje standing upon a snake, or rather, _dancing_ upon one: for as he felt the scaly creature crawling and writhing under his feet with a stro...

On emerging from the Duppy's Hole, the penn-keeper tracked it, as straight as the path would permit him, towards his own home. He walked with hurried steps, as if he had some pu...

Of the three magistrates who condemned the Coromantee, one had been slumbering in his grave for six months; the second, about that number of days; and the third--the great Custo...

The spectator in the tree began to fancy that he was dreaming. Within the short space of twenty minutes he had been the witness of a greater number of exciting events than he mi...

To Chakra, viewing them from the summit of the Jumbe Rock, the well-lighted windows of Mount Welcome had proclaimed the presence of company within the mansion. In this, however,...

On that same morning, and about the same hour, a scene of remarkable parallelism was passing at Mount Welcome. Loftus Vaughan was holding dialogue with his daughter, as Jacob Je...

Of the latter he had little apprehension. Though Smythje, having lost the opportunity of the eclipse, had not yet declared himself, Mr Vaughan knew it was his intention to do so...

She resolved, as long as possible, to restrain her instinct of revenge. She would see them meet--be witness of their mutual endearments--be sure of it; and then would be her tim...

The celebrated eclipse of Columbus, by which that shrewd navigator so advantageously deluded the simple savages of Don Christopher's Cove, is not the only one for which the isla...

The sun had already hidden his red disc under the sea horizon, when the man-hunters mounted the hill, and approached the hut where Custos Vaughan had been compelled to make halt...

On parting from the presence of his fair cousin, and, at the same time, from the house of his inhospitable relative, Herbert Vaughan struck off through the shrubbery that stretc...

Herbert was surprised at the turn things had taken. The only explanation he could think of was, that it was to his uncle's name he was indebted for the honours that were being d...

The boar had stopped over the _debris_ of Herbert's breakfast--some fragments of the mountain-cabbage which had been left upon the ground. Switching his feathered tail, and utte...

It is situated about ten miles from Montego Bay, in a broad valley, between two rounded ridges. These ridges, after running parallel for more than a mile, and gradually increasi...

"Master!" said he, making a low obeisance as he spoke, "after that, words are but a poor way of offering thanks. If the brave white gentleman who has risked his life for a colou...

On beholding what he believed to be the dead body of his cousin, the grief of Herbert Vaughan proclaimed itself in a wild cry--in tones of the bitterest agony. He flung his gun...

On a tranquil morning in the fair month of May--fair in Jamaica, as elsewhere on the earth--a large bell ringing in the great hall of Mount Welcome announced the hour of breakfast.

Several days had elapsed since that on which Mr Montagu Smythje became the guest of Mount Welcome; and during the time neither pains nor expense had been spared in his entertain...

Until daybreak was Quaco permitted to continue his snoring and his slumber. Up to that time, no Chakra appeared; but just as the red aurora began to tinge the tops of the forest...

The mutual spite between planter and penn-keeper was of old standing-- dating, in fact, from their first acquaintance with each other. Some sharp practice between them, in the s...

In solemn pace the procession which accompanied the corpse of Custos Vaughan moved silently on along the lonely road. The Jumbe Rock was now in sight, encarmined by the last ray...

Observing a profound silence, the two young men pressed forward. Neither liked to put question to the other. Each dreaded the answer the other might make--each was thinking only...

Rapid as was the pitch, and dark the abyss into which it was made, the sportsman was not killed. Neither was he much hurt: for the "punk" through which he had pitched, though no...

A portion of the level platform, on which Mount Welcome was built, extended to the rear of the dwelling; and was occupied, as already described, by a garden filled with rare and...

Day was dawning when the tiger Chakra returned to his lair in the Duppy's Hole. With him night was day, and the dawn of the morn the twilight of evening.

The practice of this horrid art had become appallingly common--so common that upon almost every extensive estate in the island there was a "professor" of it; in other words, an...

It was no longer the disgrace of returning with an empty game-bag, but the chagrin which he expected to have to undergo, presenting himself at Mount Welcome in the "pickle" in w...

In less than half an hour after the brief conversation between Mr Montagu Smythje and the young steerage passenger, the _Sea Nymph_ had got warped into port, and was lying along...

These earnest utterances of love exchanged between the two cousins were suddenly interrupted. Sounds of woe broke upon the stillness of the night, and in the same place as before.

That he had obtained the interview he sought, and that its result had gratified him, might be inferred from the complacent smile that played upon his countenance as he sallied f...

That he did not sleep soundly may be attributed solely to his anxieties about the morrow: for the night was mild throughout, and the composition of his improvised couch kept him...

"No, ye don't!" cried he, moving his musket up and down, while still keeping it levelled upon the foremost of the _cacadores_. "No, Mister Jack Spaniard, not a foot d'you set ou...

The sun was sinking out of sight into the bosom of the blue Caribbean, and the twilight, long since extended over the valley below, was now spreading its purple robe around the...

The sun was just beginning to re-gild the glittering flanks of the Jumbe Rock, his rays not yet having reached the valley below, when lights streaming through the jalousied wind...

Words could but feebly express the agony rankling in the heart of Herbert Vaughan. He knew not Chakra in person; but a full description of him, morally as well as physically, ha...

Her surreptitious departure from the dwelling--the time chosen, when Smythje was out of the way--her quick gait and backward glances as she stole through the shrubbery: all indi...

It was not without regret that Herbert parted with this new friend; and long time was he following upon the heels of Quaco, before he ceased to reflect on the circumstances that...

In that hammock slept Herbert Vaughan. His long sea-voyage had accustomed him to the use of a swing couch--even to a liking for it; and as the night was warm, he had preferred t...

A hot West Indian sun was rapidly declining towards the Caribbean Sea-- as if hastening to cool his fiery orb in the blue water--when a ship, that had rounded Pedro Point, in th...

To Herbert Vaughan it was a moment of tumultuous emotions--joy springing up in the midst of utter woe. That his cousin still breathed he could not doubt; that she lived he was o...

After passing beyond the precincts of his own plantation, and traversing for some distance a by-road known as the Carrion Crow, Mr Vaughan at length reached the main highway, wh...

Far better would it have been for Mr Vaughan--at least, for the success of his schemes--had he adopted an honourable course with his nephew; and at once introduced him, openly a...

Up to the moment that the boar was laid prostrate upon the ground, he in the _toque_ had been kept too well employed with his fierce game to find time for looking at anything el...

Cubina for some time preserved his constrained position. He dared not derange it; since the Jew still stayed in the shadowy corridor-- sometimes moving about; but more generally...

Loftus Vaughan was not long alone, though the company that came first to intrude on the solitude that surrounded him was such as no man, either living or dying, would desire to...

The short tropic twilight had passed, and night had descended upon the Island of Jamaica. It promised to be a night of deepest darkness. The moon would not rise before midnight;...

On the part of Cubina it was now a struggle between prudence and a desire to carry out his original programme--whether he should not go off alone, or still try to communicate wi...

It almost seemed as if the divine patron of the chase--the good Saint Hubert--had regarded the spilt wine as an oblation to himself, and, in return, had consented to give the sp...

Cynthia was not slow in responding to the summons of the Jew, who possessed an influence over her which, if not so powerful, was also less mysterious than that wielded by the my...

To ascertain this fact it was not necessary to enter within the shrine of the Coromantee Pantheon. Nevertheless, Cubina and Herbert, as if moved by a mechanical impulse, rushed...

Chakra, on reaching the crest of the cliff, found Jacob Jessuron in a state of impatience bordering upon torment. The Jew was striding back and forth among the trees, at interva...

"What! you want me to go to Savannah? I'm with you for any reasonable adventure; but my time's not exactly my own, and I must first have a reason for such a journey."

At a word from their chief, they broke up into knots of two or three individuals each; and went off in different directions--disappearing amid the underwood as silently as they...

In making his hurried departure from the Happy Valley, Herbert Vaughan narrowly escaped observation. A delay of ten minutes longer would have led to his design being interrupted...

The original motive of the myal-man, in conspiring the death of the Custos Vaughan, would have been strong enough to urge him on without this new instigation. As we have seen, i...

Opening the door, and passing out, Kate Vaughan paused timidly upon the top of the stairway that led down into the garden. Her steps were stayed by a feeling of bashful reserve,...

Towards sunset a fresh inspection was made of the tracks, Jessuron going in person to examine them. The skilled herdsman was again questioned; and on this occasion a fresh fact...

"Whugh!" ejaculated the Coromantee, as soon as his confederate was out of hearing; "dar's someting heavy on de mind ob dat ere ole Jew-- someting wuss dan de death ob de Cussus...

Throughout the day the penn-keeper kept to his penn. The unexplained absence of his protege rendered it prudent to postpone his proposed visit to the minister: besides, Cynthia...

At the point where they had gone out of the glade, there was a path that led up the hills in the direction of the Jumbe Rock. It was a mere cattle track--used only very occasion...

He was naked to the breech-cloth--excepting the hog-skin greaves upon his shanks, and the old brimless hat upon his head. This, however, was all the costume Quaco ever wore--all...

On that same evening, about half-an-hour before sunset, a singular procession was seen moving along the Carrion Crow Road, in the direction of Mount Welcome. Its slow progress,...

The ravine leading up the rear of the Jumbe Rock--the only way by which its summit could be reached--though easily scaled by a pedestrian, was not practicable for a person on ho...

Almost on the same instant that the slave-barque had dropped anchor, a small boat shot out from the silent shore; which, as soon as it had got fairly clear of the land, could be...

While Herbert Vaughan was making these reflections, the light began to re-dawn--gradually, as it were, raising the veil from the face of his cousin. He could not resist turning...

He made no further attempt at climbing out. Repeated trials had fully convinced him of the impracticability of that; and he was now satisfied that his only hope lay in the chanc...

As Cubina pronounced this command, he faced towards the mountain, and was hastening to gain the wicket in the garden wall, when an object came before his eyes that caused him to...

For some moments after Smythje was gone, Kate Vaughan remained where he had left her--silent and motionless as the sculptured marbles by her side. Niobe was near; and, as if by...

On the night after that on which Chakra had given reception to Jessuron, and about the same hour, the Coromantee was at home in his hut, engaged in some operation of a nature ap...

With their pieces cocked, and ready for instant execution, Cubina and Herbert were pressing to get within range, when the notes of a horn, sounded by one of the men before the f...

A stranger to the circumstances that surrounded her might have fancied that it was sympathy--at seeing him so dull and downcast--mingled with the natural regret she might have a...

At that hour, when the heart of Judith Jessuron was alternately torn by the passions of love and jealousy, a passion equally profound, though apparently more tranquil, was burni...

Quaco simply uttered one of those exclamations that proclaim a climax; Cubina felt chagrined--disappointed in more ways than one; while Herbert gave way to grief--though less th...

On starting off from the Duppy's Hole, it had been the intention of the Jew to wait by the base of the Jumbe Rock for the return of Chakra with the robbers. Before arriving at t...

The Maroon captain, before leaving the Duppy's Hole, had given official orders to his lieutenant about the capture of Chakra. There could no longer be any question of the absenc...

The countenance of the myal-man had assumed an air of solemnity that betokened serious determination; and the mulatta felt a presentiment that, in return for his services, somet...