Mr. Fortescue Part 45

"That is my sword," I said, pointing to the weapon by his side, which had been given to me by Carera.

"Your sword! What do you mean?" "You took it from me eleven years ago, when I fell into your hands at San Felipe, and you hunted my friend Carmen and myself with bloodhounds."

"What folly is this? Hunted you with bloodhounds, forsooth! Why, this is the first time I ever set eyes on you--the man is mad--or drunk"

(addressing his friends).

"You lie, Griscelli; and you are not a liar merely, but a murderer and a coward."

"_Por Dios_, you shall pay for this insult with your heart's blood!" he shouted, furiously, half drawing his sword.

"It is like you to draw on an unarmed man." I said, laying hold of his wrist. "Give me a sword, and you shall make me pay for the insult with my blood--if you can. Senores" (by this time all the people in the _patio_ had gathered round us), "Senores, are there here any Venezuelan caballeros who will bear me out in this quarrel. I am an Englishman, by name Fortescue; eleven years ago, while serving under General Mejia on the patriot side, I fell into the hands of General Griscelli, who deprived me of the sword he now wears, which I received as a present from Senor Carera, whose name you may remember. Then, after deceiving us with false promises--my friend General Carmen and myself--he hunted us with his bloodhounds, and we escaped as by a miracle. Now he protests that he never saw me before. What say you, senores, am I not right in stigmatizing him as a murderer and liar?"

"Quite right!" said a middle-aged, soldierly-looking man. I also served in the war of liberation, and remember Griscelli's name well. It would serve him right to poniard him on the spot."

"No, no. I want no murder. I demand only satisfaction."

"And he shall give it you or take the consequences. I will gladly act as one witness, and I am sure my friend here, Senor Don Luis de Medina, who is also a veteran of the war, will act as the other. Will you fight, Griscelli?"

"Certainly--provided that we fight at once, and to the death. You can arrange the details with my friends here."

"Be it so." I said, "_A la muerte._"

"To the death! To the death!" shouted the crowd, whose native ferocity was now thoroughly roused.

After a short conference and a reference to Griscelli and myself, the seconds announced that we were to fight with swords in Senor de Medina's garden, whither we straightway wended, for there were no police to meddle with us, and at that time duels _a la muerte_ were of daily occurrence in the city of Caracas. When we arrived at the garden, which was only a stone's-throw walk from the _posada_, Senor de Medina produced two swords with cutting edges, and blades five feet long; for we were to fight in Spanish fashion, and Spanish duelists both cut and thrust, and, when occasion serves, use the left hand as a help in parrying.

Then the spectators, of whom there were fully two score, made a ring, and Griscelli and I (having meanwhile doffed our hats, coats, and shirts), stepped into the arena.

I had not handled a sword for years, and for aught I knew Griscelli might be a consummate swordsman and in daily practice. On the other hand, he was too stout to be in first-rate condition, and, besides being younger, I had slightly the advantage in length of arm.

When the word was given to begin, he opened the attack with great energy and resolution, and was obviously intent on killing me if he could. For a minute or two it was all I could do to hold my own; and partly to test his strength and skill, partly to get my hand in, I stood purposely on the defensive.

At the end of the first bout neither of us had received a scratch, but Griscelli showed signs of fatigue while I was quite fresh. Also he was very angry and excited, and when we resumed he came at me with more than his former impetuosity, as if he meant to bear me down by the sheer weight and rapidity of his strokes. His favorite attack was a cut aimed at my head. Six several times he repeated this manoeuvre, and six times I stopped the stroke with the usual guard. Baffled and furious, he tried it again, but--probably because of failing strength--less swiftly and adroitly. My opportunity had come. Quick as thought I ran under his guard, and, thrusting his right arm aside with my left hand, pa.s.sed my sword through his body.

Then there were cries of bravo, for the popular feeling was on my side, and my seconds congratulated me warmly on my victory. But I said little in reply, my attention being attracted by a young man who was kneeling beside Griscelli's body and, as it might seem, saying a silent prayer. When he had done he rose to his feet, and as I looked on his face I saw he was the dead man's son.

"Sir, you have killed my father, and I shall kill you," he said, in a calm voice, but with intense pa.s.sion. "Yes, I shall kill you, and if I fail my cousins will kill you. If you escape us all, then we will charge our children to avenge the death of the man you have this day slain. We are Corsicans, and we never forgive. I know your name; mine is Giuseppe Griscelli."

"You are distraught with grief, and know not what you say," I said as kindly as I could, for I pitied the lad. "But let not your grief make you unjust. Your father died in fair fight. If I had not killed him he would have killed me, and years ago he tried to hunt me to death for his amus.e.m.e.nt."

"And I and mine--we will hunt you to death for our revenge. Or will you fight now? I am ready."

"No, I have no quarrel with you, and I should be sorry to hurt you."

"Go your way, then, but remember--"

"Better leave him; he seems half-crazed," interposed Medina. "Come into my house while my slaves remove the body."

CHAPTER x.x.xV.

A NOVEL WAGER.

Three days afterward Carmen, apprised by his wife of my arrival, returned to Caracas, and I became their guest, greatly to my satisfaction, for the duel with Griscelli, besides making me temporarily famous, had brought me so many friends and invitations that I knew not how to dispose of them.

In discussing the incident with Salvador, I expressed surprise that Griscelli should have dared to return to a country where he had committed so many cruelties and made so many enemies.

"He left Venezuela the year after you disappeared, and much is forgotten in ten years," was the answer. "All the same, I don't suppose he would have come back if Olivarez--the last president and a Yellow--had not made it known that he would bestow commissions on Spanish officers of distinction and give them commands in the national army. It was a most absurd proceeding. But we shot Olivarez three months ago, and I will see that these Spanish interlopers are sent out of the country forthwith, that young spark who threatens to murder you, included."

"Let him stay if he likes. I doubt whether he meant what he said."

"I have no doubt of it, whatever, _amigo mio_, and he shall go. If he stayed in the country I could not answer for your safety; and if you come across any of the Griscellis in Europe, take my advice and be as watchful as if you were crossing a river infested with _caribe_ fish."

Carmen was much discouraged by the state of the republic, as well he might be. By turning out the Spaniards the former colonies had merely exchanged despotism for anarchy; instead of being beaten with whips they were beaten with scorpions. But though discouraged Carmen was not dismayed. He belonged to the Blues, who being in power, regarded their opponents, the Yellows, as rebels; and he was confident that the triumph of his party would insure the tranquillity of the country. As he was careful to explain to me, he was a Blue because he was a patriot, and he pressed me so warmly to return with him to La Victoria, accept a command in his army, and aid in the suppression of the insurrection, that I ended by consenting.

At Carmen's instance, the president gave me the command of a brigade, and would have raised me to the rank of general. But when I found that there were about three generals for every colonel I chose the nominally inferior but actually more distinguished grade.

I remained in Venezuela two years, campaigning nearly all the time. But it was an ign.o.ble warfare, cruel and ruthless, and had I not given my word to Carmen, to stand by him until the country was pacified, I should have resigned my commission much sooner than I did. Ramon, who acted as one of my orderlies, bore himself bravely and was several times wounded.

In the meanwhile I received several communications from Van Voorst, and made two visits to Curacoa. The cutting and disposal of my diamonds being naturally rather a long business, it was nearly two years after I had shipped them to Holland before I learned the result of my venture.

After all expenses were paid they brought me nearly three hundred thousand pounds, which account Goldberg, Van Voorst & Company "held at my disposal."

It was to arrange and advise with the Amsterdam people, as to the investment of this great fortune, that I went to Europe. But I did not depart until my promise was fulfilled. I left Venezuela pacified--from exhaustion--and Carmen in somewhat better spirits than I had found him.

His last words were a warning, which I have had frequent occasion to remember: "Beware of the Griscellis."

I sailed from Curacoa (Ramon, of course, accompanying me), in a Dutch ship, bound for Rotterdam, whither I arrived in due course, and proceeding thence to Amsterdam, introduced myself to Goldberg, Van Voorst & Company.

They were a weighty and respectable firm in every sense of the term, and received me with a ponderous gravity befitting the occasion.

Though extremely courteous in their old-fashioned way, they neither wasted words nor asked unnecessary questions. But they made me a momentous proposal--no less than to become their partner. They had an ample capital for their original trade of diamond merchants; but having recently become contractors for government loans, they had opportunities of turning my fortune to much better account than investing it in ordinary securities.

Goldberg & Company did not make it a condition that I should take an active part in the business--that would be just as I pleased. After being fully enlightened as to the nature of their transactions, and looking at their latest balance-sheets, I closed with the offer, and I have never had occasion to regret my decision. We opened branch houses in London and Paris; the firm is now one of the largest of its kind in Europe; we reckon our capital by millions, and, as I have lived long, and had no children to provide for, the amount standing to my credit exceeds that of all the other partners put together, and yields me a princely income.

But I could not settle down to the monotonous career of a merchant, and though I have always taken an interest in the business of the house, and on several important occasions acted as its special agent in the greater capitals, my life since that time--a period of nearly fifty years--has been spent mainly in foreign travel and scientific study. I have revisited South America and recrossed the Andes, ridden on horseback from Vera Cruz to San Francisco, and from San Francisco to the headwaters of the Mississippi and the Missouri. I served in the war between Belgium and Holland, went through the Mexican campaign of 1846, fought with Sam Houston at the battle of San Jacinto, and was present, as a spectator, at the fall of Sebastopol and the capture of Delhi. In the course of my wanderings I have encountered many moving accidents by flood and field.

Once I was captured by Greek brigands, after a desperate fight, in which both Ramon and myself were wounded, and had to pay four thousand pounds for my ransom. For the last twenty years, however, I have avoided serious risks, done no avoidable fighting, and travelled only in beaten tracks; and, unless I am killed by one of the Griscelli, I dare say I shall live twenty years longer.

While studying therapeutics and pathology under Professor Giessler, of Zurich, shortly after my return to Europe, I took up the subject of longevity, as to which Giessler had collected much curious information, and formed certain theories, one being that people of sound const.i.tution and strong vitality, with no hereditary predisposition to disease may, by observing a correct regimen, easily live to be a hundred, preserving until that age their faculties virtually intact--in other words, only begin to be old at a hundred. So far I agree with him, but as to what const.i.tuted a "correct regimen" we differed. He held that the life most conducive to length of years was that of the scholar--his own, in fact--regular, uneventful, reflective, and sedentary. I, on the other hand, thought that the man who pa.s.sed much of his time in the open air, moving about and using his limbs, would live the longer--other things being equal, and a.s.suming that both observed the accepted rules of health.

The result of our discussion was a friendly wager. "You try your way; I will try mine," said Giessler, "and we will see who lives the longer--at any rate, the survivor will. The survivor must also publish an account of his system, _pour encourageur les autres_."

As we were of the same age, equally sound in const.i.tution and strong in physique, and not greatly dissimilar in temperament, I accepted the challenge. The compet.i.tion is still going on. Every New Year's day we write each other a letter, always in the same words, which both answers and asks the same questions: "Still alive?" If either fails to receive his letter at the specified time, he will presume that the other is _hors de combat_, if not dead, and make further inquiry. But I think I shall win.

Three years ago I met Giessler at the meeting of the British a.s.sociation, and, though he denied it, he was palpably aging. His shoulders were bent, his hearing and eye-sight failing, and the _area senilis_ was very strongly marked, while I--am what you see.

I have, however, had an advantage over the professor, which it is only fair to mention. In my wanderings I have always taken occasion, when opportunity offered, to observe the habits of tribes who are remarkable for longevity. None are more remarkable in this respect than the Callavayas of the Andes, and I satisfied myself that they do really live long, though perhaps not so long as some of them say. Now, these people are herbalists, and when they reach middle age make a practice of drinking a decoction which, as they believe, has the power of prolonging life. I brought with me to Europe specimens and seeds of the plant (peculiar to the region) from which the simple is distilled, a.n.a.lyzed the one and cultivated the other. The conclusion at which I arrived was, that the plant in question did actually possess the property of r.e.t.a.r.ding that softening of the arteries which more than anything else causes the decrepitude of old age. It contains a peculiar alkaloid of which, for thirty years past, I had taken (in solution) a much-diluted dose almost daily. You see the result. I also give Ramon an occasional dose, and he is the most vigorous man of his years I know. I sent some to Giessler, but he said it was an empirical remedy, and declined to take it. He preferred electric baths. I take my electric baths by horseback exercise, and riding to hounds.