The Guerilla Chief Part 26

As I expected, Casey _would_ send the challenge; and, as I almost confidently antic.i.p.ated, the other _accepted_ it. It ended in a duel, and I need hardly add that swords were the weapons.

I refrain from giving a description of this duel, which differed only from about a million of others--minutely described by romance writers-- in being one of the very shortest of combats. At the very first pa.s.sage Casey received (and I esteemed it very fortunate that he did so) his adversary's sword through the muscles of his right arm--completely disabling him. That was all the satisfaction he ever got for the loss of his repeater!

Of course this rude thrust ended the combat; and Monsieur Jacques Despard marched off the ground without a scratch upon his person or a blemish on his name.

Casey, however, still a.s.serted--though, of course, not publicly--"that the fellow took the watch;" and I afterwards found good reason to believe he _did_ take it.

Story 2, Chapter VII.

HOSPITABLE FRIENDS.

Casey's views were commercial, and New Orleans was not the place where a display of spirit would be likely to damage his prospects. It appeared rather to have an opposite effect; for, before his arm was well out of the sling, I had the gratification to learn that he had received an appointment in one of the large cotton commission houses--a calling sufficiently suited to his temperament.

My own object in visiting the Western World was less definite. I was of that age when travel is attractive--young enough to afford a few years of _far niente_ before entering upon the more serious pursuits of life.

In short, I had no object beyond idleness and sight-seeing; and in either way, a month or two may be pa.s.sed in New Orleans without much danger of suffering from _ennui_.

My stay in the "Crescent City" extended to a period of full three months. A pleasant hospitality induced me to prolong it beyond what I had originally intended: and the dispenser of this hospitality was no other than Monsieur Luis De Hauteroche.

Notwithstanding the _bizarrerie_ of its beginning, our acquaintance soon grew into friendship; for the southern heart is of free and quick expansion, as the flowers of its clime, and its affection as rapidly ripens. There the friendship of a single month is often as strong--ay, and as lasting too--as that which results from years of intercourse under the cold ceremonies of old world life.

In a month De Hauteroche and I were bosom friends; and scarcely a day pa.s.sed that we did not see each other, scarcely three that we were not companions in some boating or hunting excursion--some _fete champetre_ among his Creole acquaintances, the hospitable planters of the "coast,"--at the _bal-masque_, or in the boxes of the "Theatre Francais."

In the morning hours I often visited him at his place of business--for business he did not altogether neglect--in the Rue Royale; but more frequently in the evening at his private residence--the pretty little "cabane," as he called it, with its gla.s.s door windows and vine-loaded verandahs, in the adjoining street of the Rue Bourgogne.

This charming spot had a peculiar attraction for me. Was it the company of De Hauteroche himself or that of Adele, his fair sister, that drew me so often thither? It must have been one or the other--for excepting the dark-skinned domestics, the two were the only inmates of the house. I relished much the conversation of my young Creole friend--perhaps still more, the music which his sister understood how to produce upon her harp and guitar. Especially did the notes of the harp vibrate pleasantly upon my ear; and the picture of a fair maiden seated in front of that n.o.ble stringed instrument, soon impressed itself on my spirit, whether awake or dreaming. Adele became the vision of my dreams.

Without designing it, I soon became acquainted with the family history of my new friends. It was but the natural consequence of the confidential intercourse that had sprung up between us.

They were the orphan children of an officer of the Napoleonic army--an _ancien-colonel_ of artillery--who, after the defeat of Waterloo, surrendered up his sword and sought an asylum in the Far West. He was but one of many, who, at that time, deprived of the patronage of their great leader, became _emigres_ by a sort of voluntary exile, finding in the French settlements of the New World--Louisiana among the rest--a kindred and congenial home.

In the case of Hauteroche, however, the habits of the military man had not fitted him either for a commercial life or that of a planter. His affairs had not prospered--and at his death, which had occurred but the year before--he had left his children little other inheritance than that of an excellent education and a spotless name.

Far otherwise had it been with a comrade who accompanied him in his exile--a brother officer of his regiment and a devoted bosom friend.

The latter preferring the cooler climate of Saint Louis, had gone up the river and settled there.

He was a Norman, and his young wife had accompanied him. With the stauncher qualities of this race, he had devoted himself to commercial pursuits; and his perseverance was rewarded by the acquirement of an ample fortune--which, with his wife--also of Norman family--and an only daughter, he was now enjoying in opulent retirement.

The almost fraternal friendship of the two ex-officers was not extinguished by their altered mode of life; but, on the contrary, it continued as warm as ever during the period of their residence in the New World. Annually the "crate" of oranges from the south was sent up to Saint Louis, and as often was the barrel of apples or walnuts--the produce of the more temperate clime--despatched in the opposite direction--a pleasant interchange of presents effected by the medium of the mighty Mississippi.

A personal intercourse, too, was at intervals renewed. Every two or three years the old colonel had indulged himself with a ramble on the prairies which lie contiguous to the settlements of Saint Louis, while his brother officer, at like intervals, reciprocated the visit by a trip to the great southern metropolis, thus in a very convenient manner combining the opportunities of business and pleasure.

Under these circ.u.mstances it was natural that the families of De Hauteroche and Dardonville should be affectionately attached to each other, and such was in reality the case. I was constantly hearing of the latter--of the goodness of Madame Dardonville--of the beauty of Olympe.

It was nearly three years since either De Hauteroche or his sister had seen their Saint Louis friends. Olympe, as was alleged, was then but a child; but the fervour with which the young avocat descanted upon her merits, led me to suspect that in his eyes at least, she had reached a very interesting period of her childhood. Now and then the merry badinage of his sister on this point, bringing the colour to his cheeks, confirmed me in the suspicion.

My new acquaintances had admitted me as a link into the chain of their happy circle; and for three months I enjoyed, almost without interruption, its pleasant hospitality.

It became a spell that was hard to break; and when the hour of leave-taking arrived, I looked upon it as a painful necessity--though my absence did not promise to be a prolonged one.

The necessity was one of sufficient urgency. A July sun was glaring from the sky, and the yellow spectre had entered the Crescent City, upon its annual visit of devastation.

Already had it begun its ghastly work, and here and there presented itself in horrid mien. In those Faubourgs where dwelt the less opulent of the population, I observed traces of its presence; that symbol of terrible significance--the red cross upon the closed door--telling too plainly that the destroyer had been there.

It would have been madness for me to have remained amidst a pestilence, from which it was so easy to escape. Twenty hours upon a fast boat, and I should be clear of the danger: and among the up-river towns I might make choice of an asylum.

Four large cities--Pittsburg, Louisville, Cincinatti, and Saint Louis-- lay beyond the lat.i.tude of the epidemic: all easy of access. In any of these I might find a luxurious home; but I longed to look upon those boundless fields of green, for years the idol of my youthful fancy; and I knew that Saint Louis was the gate that guided to them. Thither, then, was I bound.

With regret I parted from my Creole friends. They had no need to fly or fear the scourge. Acclimatised in the middle of that vast _marais_, its malaria had for them neither terror nor danger. Immunity from both was their birthright, and New Orleans was their home throughout the year: though during the months of intolerable heat and utter stagnation of business, it was their habit to reside in one of the numerous summer retreats found upon the sh.o.r.es of Lake Pontchartrain.

I was in hopes they would have accompanied me to Saint Louis, and I endeavoured to induce them to do so.

Luis seemed desirous, and yet declined! I knew not the delicate reason that influenced him to this self-denial.

I promised to return with the first frost; for this usually kills "Yellow Jack."

"Ah! you will not be here so soon?" said Adele, in a tone that pretended to be pensive. "You will like Saint Louis too well to leave it.

Perhaps when you have seen Olympe--"

"And what of Olympe?"

"She is beautiful--she is rich--"

"Those are qualities that more concern your brother; and if I should make love to Olympe, it will only be as his proxy."

"Ha! ha! a perilous prospect for poor Luis!"

"Oh, no! Luis need fear no rival; but, jesting apart, I should be glad to enter into a little covenant with him."

"A covenant?"

"Yes--the terms of which would be, that in Saint Louis I should use all my interest in his favour, while he should here reciprocate, by employing his in mine."

"In what quarter, Monsieur?"

"Here, _at home_."

Adele's dark brown eyes rolled upon me a moment, as if in innocent astonishment; and then, suddenly changing their expression, they danced and sparkled to a peal of merry laughter, which ended in the words:--"_Au revoir! la premiere gelee, adieu! adieu_!" Luis was outside, waiting to accompany me to the boat; and, returning the adieu somewhat confusedly, I hurried up the steps of the verandah, and joined him.

In another hour I was upon the broad bosom of the "Father of Waters,"

breasting his mighty current towards its far distant source.

Story 2, Chapter VIII.

THE VILLA DARDONVILLE.

Soon after my arrival in Saint Louis, I called upon the Dardonvilles, and presented my letter of introduction. It was a sealed doc.u.ment, and I knew not the nature of its contents; but from the effect produced I must have been the bearer of strong credentials. It placed me at once on a footing of intimacy with the friends of my friends.

The family did not reside in town, but at the distance of a mile or so from it. Their villa stood upon a high bluff of the river, commanding a view of the broad n.o.ble stream, and beyond the wooded lowlands of Illinois, stretching like a sea of bluish green to the far eastern horizon.