Fire Cloud Part 9

No one appeared to be more excited on the subject of the pirate, than Captain Flint. He declared that he had seen the mysterious vessel, had been chased by her, and had only escaped by his superior sailing.

Several vessels had been fitted out expressly for the purpose of capturing this daring stranger, but all to no purpose; nothing could be seen of her.

For a long time she would seem to absent herself from the coast, and vessels would come and go in safety. Then all of a sudden, she would appear again and several vessels would be missing, and never heard from more.

The last occurrence of this kind is the one which we have already given an account of the capturing and sinking of the vessel in which young Billings had taken pa.s.sage for Europe.

We have already seen how h.e.l.lena Rosenthrall's having accidentally discovered her lover's ring on the finger of Captain Flint, had excited suspicions of the merchant's daughter, and what happened to her in consequence.

Captain Flint having made it the interest of Rosenthrall to keep his suspicions to himself if he still adhered to them, endeavored to convince him that his daughter was mistaken, and that the ring however much it might resemble the one belonging to her lover, was one which had been given to him by his own mother at her death, and had been worn by her as long as he could remember.

This explanation satisfied, or seemed to satisfy the merchant, and the two men appeared to be as good friends as ever again.

The sudden and strange disappearance of the daughter of a person of so much consequence as Carl Rosenthrall, would cause no little excitement in a place no larger than New York was at the time of which we write.

Most of the people agreed in the opinion with the merchant that the girl had been carried off by the Indian Fire Cloud, in order to avenge himself for the insult he had received years before. As we have seen, Captain Flint encouraged this opinion, and promised that in an expedition he was about fitting out for the Indian country, he would make the recovery of the young woman one of his special objects.

Flint knew all the while where Fire Cloud was to be found, and fearing that he might come to the city ignorant as he was of the suspicion he was laboring under, and thereby expose the double game he was playing, he determined to visit the Indian in secret, under pretence of putting him on his guard, but in reality for the purpose of saving himself.

He sought out the old chief accordingly, and warned him of his danger.

Fire Cloud was greatly enraged to think that he should be suspected carrying off the young woman.

"He hated her father," he said, "for he was a cheat, and had a crooked tongue. But the paleface maiden was his friend, and for her sake he would find her if she was among his people, and would restore her to her friends."

"If you enter the city of the palefaces, they will hang you up like a dog without listening to anything you have to say in your defence,"

said Flint.

"The next time Fire Cloud enters the city of the palefaces, the maiden shall accompany him," replied the Indian.

This was the sort of an answer that Flint wished, and expected, and he now saw that there was no danger to be apprehended from that quarter.

But if Captain Flint felt himself relieved from danger in this quarter, things looked rather squally in another. If he knew how to disguise his vessel by putting on a false bow so as to make her look longer, and lengthen the masts so as to make her carry more sail, he was not the only one who understood these tricks. And one old sailor whose bark had been chased by the strange schooner, declared that she very much resembled Captain Flint's schooner disguised in this way.

And then it was observed that the strange craft was never seen when the captain's vessel was lying in port, or when she was known to be up the river where he was trading among the Indians.

Another suspicious circ.u.mstance was, that shortly after the strange disappearance of a merchant vessel, Flint's schooner came into port with her rigging considerably damaged, as if she had suffered from some unusual cause. Flint accounted for it by saying that he had been fired into by the pirate, and had just escaped with the skin of his teeth.

These suspicions were at first spoken cautiously, and in whispers only, by a very few.

They came to the ears of Flint himself at last, who seeing the danger immediately set about taking measures to counteract it by meeting and repelling, what he pretended to consider base slanders invented by his enemies for the purpose of effecting his ruin.

He threatened to prosecute the slanderers, and if they wished to see how much of a pirate he was, let them fit out a vessel such as he would describe, arm her, and man her according to his directions, give him command of her, and if he didn't bring that blasted pirate into port he'd never return to it himself. He'd like no better fun than to meet her on equal terms, in an open sea.

This bragadocia had the desired effect for awhile; besides, although it could hardly be said that Flint had any real friends, yet there were so many influential men who were concerned with him in some of his contraband transactions. These dreaded the exposure to themselves, should Flint's real character be discovered, which caused them to answer for him in the place of friends.

These men would no doubt be the first to crush him, could they only do so without involving themselves in his ruin.

But all this helped to convince Flint that his time in this part of the country was pretty near up, and if he meant to continue in his present line of business, he must look out for some new field of operations.

More than ever satisfied on this point, Captain Flint anxiously awaited the arrival of the vessel, the capture of which was to be the finishing stroke of his operations in this part of the world.

CHAPTER IX.

When Captain Flint had decided to take possession of the cavern, and fit it up as a place of retreat and concealment for himself and his gang, he saw the necessity of having some one whom he could trust to take charge of the place in his absence. A moment's reflection satisfied him there was no one who would be more likely to serve him in this capacity than the Indian woman who had rescued him from the fearful fate he had just escaped.

Lightfoot, who in her simplicity, looked upon him as a great chief, was flattered by the proposal which he made her, and immediately took charge of the establishment, and Captain Flint soon found that he had no reason to repent the choice he had made, so far as fidelity to his interests was concerned.

For a while at first he treated her with as much kindness as it was in the nature of such as he to treat any one.

He may possibly have felt some grat.i.tude for the service she had rendered him, but it was self-interest more than any other feeling that caused him to do all in his power to gain a controling influence over her.

He loaded her with presents of a character suited to her uncultivated taste.

Her person fairly glittered with beads, and jewelry of the most gaudy character, while of shawls and blankets of the most glaring colors, she had more than she knew what to do with.

This course he pursued until he fancied he had completely won her affection, and he could safely show himself in his true character without the risk of loosing his influence over her.

His manner to her now changed, and he commenced treating her more as a slave than an equal, or one to whom he felt himself under obligations.

It is true he would now and then treat her as formerly, and would occasionally make her rich presents, but it would be done in the way that the master would bestow a favor on a servant.

Lightfoot bore this unkind treatment for some time without resenting it, or appearing to notice it. Thinking perhaps that it was only a freak of ill-humor that would last but for a short time, and then the great chiefs attachment would return.

Flint fancied that he had won the heart of the Indian woman, and acting on the presumption that "love is blind," he thought that he could do as he pleased without loosing hold on her affections.

In this he had deceived himself. He had only captured the woman's fancy. He had not won her heart.

So that when Lightfoot found this altered manner of the captain's towards her was not caused by a mere freak of humor, but was only his true character showing itself, her fondness for him, if fondness it could be called, began to cool.

Things had come to this pa.s.s, when h.e.l.lena Rosenthrall was brought into the cave.

The first thought of Lightfoot was that she had now discovered the cause of the captain's change of manner towards her. He had found another object on which to lavish his favors and here was her rival.

And she was to be the servant, the slave of this new favorite.

Flint, in leaving h.e.l.lena in charge of Lightfoot, gave strict charges that she should be treated with every attention, but that she should by no means be allowed to leave the cave.

The manner of Lightfoot to h.e.l.lena, was at first sullen: and reserved, and although she paid her all the attention that h.e.l.lena required of her, she went no further.

But after awhile, noticing the sad countenance of her paleface sister, and that her face was frequently bathed in tears, her heart softened toward her, and she ventured to ask the cause of her sorrow. And when she had heard h.e.l.lena's story, her feelings towards her underwent an entire change.

From this time forward the two women were firm friends, and Lightfoot pledged herself to do all in her power to restore her to her friends.

Her attachment to Captain Flint was still too strong, however, to make her take any measures to effect that object, until she could do so without endangering his safety.