The Maroon Part 25

As he spoke the sound of a horn was heard reverberating through the woods; and then another, and another--until nearly a dozen could be distinguished, yet all in different directions. They were evidently answers to the signal he had sounded.

"So, Master Vaughan," he resumed, with an air expressive of triumph, though in a restrained and modest way, "you see these vultures would not have had it all their own way? My hawks were too near for that. Not the less am I beholden to you, Master Vaughan. I did not think it worth while to call my people. I knew the poltroons would not venture beyond a little swaggering talk. See! they come!"

"Who?"

"The Maroons!"

Herbert heard a rustling among the bushes on the opposite side of the glade; and, at the same time, about a dozen armed men emerged from the underwood, and advanced rapidly towards the _ceiba_.

Volume One, Chapter XXVIII.

A FOREST BREAKFAST.

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 admixture of colour. There was not a dwarfish or deformed figure in the party. On the contrary, every man of them possessed a tall stalwart form, strong muscular limbs, a skin shining with health, and eyes sparkling with a vigorous brilliance that betokened an innate sense of freedom and independence.

Their erect, upright carriage and free, forward step confirmed the belief, which Herbert had already formed, that these black men were not _bondsmen_. There was nothing of the slave either in their looks or gestures. But for the colour of their skins, he would never have thought of a.s.sociating such men with the idea of slavery. Armed as they were with long knives and guns, some of them with stout spears, they could not be slaves. Besides, their equipments told that they were hunters--and warriors, if need he. All of them had horns, with pouches suspended over their shoulders; and each was provided with a netted calabash for water, like that of the yellow hunter, already described.

A few carried an equipment altogether different--consisting of a small pannier of withe-work, or palm-fibre neatly woven. It rested upon the back, where it was held in place by a band of palm sinnet, crossing the breast, and another brought over the forehead, which thus sustained a portion of the weight. This pannier was the _cutacoo_--the depository of their provisions, and of such articles as were required in their wild forest rambles.

With regard to their costume, that was _bizarre_, though not unpicturesque. No two were dressed alike, though there was a certain idiosyncrasy in their attire, which proclaimed them all of one following. The _toqued_ "bandanna" was the most common head-dress--a few having palm-leaf hats. Only some of them had a shirt with sleeves; others wanted a complete pair of trousers; and one or two were naked from the waist upward, and from the thighs downwards--the white cotton loin-cloth being the unique and only garment! All of them had their feet and ankles covered: as the stony and th.o.r.n.y paths they were accustomed to tread rendered necessary. The _chaussure_ was the same with all; and appeared to be a tight-fitting jack-boot, of some species of raw hide, without seam or st.i.tching of any kind. The reddish bristles standing thinly over its surface, proclaimed the character of the material. It was the skin of the wild hog: the hind leg of a boar, drawn upon the foot while fresh and warm, as it dries tightening over the instep and ankle like an elastic stocking. A little tr.i.m.m.i.n.g with the knife is all that is necessary for this ready-made moca.s.sin; and once on, it is never taken off till the wearing of the sole renders necessary a refit. Drawing on his boots, therefore, is no part of the diurnal duties of a Jamaica hog-hunter.

I have said that Herbert Vaughan regarded the new comers with a feeling of curiosity as well as surprise. It was no wonder he did so. The mode in which they had been summoned into his presence, their echo-like answers to the horn signal, and their prompt, almost instantaneous appearance, formed a series of incidents that more resembled what might have been witnessed upon the stage of a theatre than in real life; and had the yellow hunter been a white man, and he and his followers clad in Lincoln green, the young Englishman might have fancied himself in Sherwood Forest, with bold Robin _redivivus_, and his merry men mustering around him!

"This white gentleman has not eaten breakfast," said Cubina to his followers as they came up. "Well, Quaco! what have you got in your cutacoos?"

The individual thus appealed to was a jet-black negro of large dimensions, with a grave yet quizzical cast of countenance. He appeared to be a sort of lieutenant: perhaps the "Little John" of the party.

"Well, worthy capten," answered he, saluting the yellow hunter with a somewhat awkward grace; "I believe there's enough, one thing with another--that be, if the gen'lman has got a good appet.i.te, and's not too nice about what he eats."

"What is there? Let me see!" interrupted Cubina, as he proceeded to inspect the panniers. "A ham of wild hog barbecued," continued he, turning out the contents of a cutacoo. "Well, that to begin with--the white gentry are rather partial to our barbecued hog! What else? a brace of soldier-crabs. So far good. Ah! better still, a pair of ramier pigeons, and a wild guinea-fowl. Who carries the coffee and sugar?"

"Here, captain," cried another of the cutacoo men, throwing his pannier to the ground, and drawing out several bags which contained the necessary materials for coffee-making.

"A fire, and be quick!" commanded Cubina.

At the word given a tinder was struck, dry leaves and branches quickly collected, and a sparkling, crackling fire soon blazed upon the ground.

Over this was erected a crane--resting horizontally on two forked sticks--which soon carried a brace of iron pots suspended in the blaze.

With so many cooks, the process of preparing the meat for the pots was very short and quick. The pigeons and guinea-fowl were singed as fast as feathers would burn; and then being "drawn and quartered," were flung in torn fragments into the largest of the pots.

The soldier-crabs shared the same fate; and some pieces of the wild hog ham. A handful of salt was added, water, a few slices of plantain, eddoes, calalue, and red capsic.u.m--all of which ingredients were supplied from the cutacoos.

A strong fire of dried f.a.ggots soon brought the pot to a furious boil; and the lieutenant Quaco--who appeared also to act as _chef de cuisine_--after repeatedly testing the contents, at length declared that the _pepper-pot_ was ready for serving up.

Dishes, bowls, cups, and platters made their appearance--all being sh.e.l.ls of the calabash, of different shapes; and as soon as Herbert and the captain were helped to the choicest portions of the savoury stew, the remainder was distributed among the men: who, seating themselves in groups over the ground, proceeded to discuss the well-known viand with an avidity that showed it was also their breakfast.

The _pepper-pot_ was not the sole dish of the _dejeuner_. Pork steaks, cut from the carca.s.s of the freshly-slain boar, were added; while plantains and "cocoa-fingers," roasted in the ashes, contributed a subst.i.tute for bread not to be despisingly spoken of.

The second pot boiling over the fire contained the coffee; which, quaffed from the calabashes, tasted as fine as if sipped out of cups of the purest Sevres porcelain.

In this "al-fresco" feast the poor captive was not forgotten, but was supplied among the rest--the colossal Quaco administering to his wants with an air of quizzical compa.s.sion.

The young Englishman desired enlightenment about the character of his hosts; but delicacy forbade any direct inquiries. Could they be robbers--brigands with black skins? Their arms and accoutrements gave colour to the supposition. _Maroons_ they called themselves, but the name was new, and helped not Herbert in his perplexity. "If robbers,"

thought he, "they are the gentlest of their calling."

Breakfast over, the Maroons gathered up their traps, and prepared to depart from the spot.

Already the wild boar had been butchered, cut up into portable flitches, and packed away in the cutacoos.

The wales upon the back of the runaway had been anointed by the hand of Quaco with some balsamic cerate; and by gestures the unfortunate youth was made to understand that he was to accompany the party. Instead of objecting to this, his eyes sparkled with a vivid joy. From the courtesy he had already received at their hands, he could not augur evil.

The Maroons, out of respect to their chief--whom they appeared to treat with submissive deference--had moved some distance away, leaving Captain Cubina alone with his English guest. The latter, with his gun shouldered, stood ready to depart.

"You are a stranger in the island?" said the Maroon, half interrogatively. "I fancy you have not been living long with your uncle?"

"No," answered Herbert. "I never saw my uncle before yesterday afternoon."

"_Crambo_!" exclaimed the hunter-captain in some surprise; "you have just arrived, then? In that case, Master Vaughan--and that is why I have made bold to ask you--you will scarce be able to find your way back to Mount Welcome. One of my people will go with you?"

"No, thank you. I think I can manage it alone."

Herbert hesitated to say that he was not going to Mount Welcome.

"It is a crooked path," urged the Maroon; "though straight enough to one who knows it. You need not take the guide so far as the great house; though Mr Vaughan, I believe, does not object to our people going on his grounds, as some other planters do. You can leave the man when you get within sight of the place. Without a guide, I fear you will not be able to find the path."

"In truth, Captain Cubina," said Herbert, no longer caring what idea his words might communicate to his Maroon acquaintance, "I don't wish to find the path you speak of. I'm not going that way."

"Not to Mount Welcome?"

"No."

The Maroon remained for a moment silent, while a puzzled expression played over his features. "Only arrived yesterday--out all night in the woods--not going back! Something strange in all this."

Such were the quick reflections that pa.s.sed through his mind.

He had already noticed an air of distraction--of dejection, too--in the countenance of the stranger. What could it mean? The gay ribbon knotted in the b.u.t.ton-hole of his coat--what could that mean?

Captain Cubina was of the age--and perhaps just then in the very temper--to observe all matters that appeared indications of a certain soft sentiment; and both the blue ribbon and the thoughtful att.i.tude were of that signification. He knew something of the white denizens of Mount Welcome--more, perhaps, of those with a coloured skin. Could the odd behaviour of the young Englishman be attributed to some family difficulty that might have arisen there?

The Maroon mentally answered this interrogatory for himself: with the reflection that something of the kind had occurred.

Perhaps Captain Cubina was not merely guessing! Perhaps he had already listened to some whisper of plantation gossip: for electricity itself can scarce travel faster than news in the negro _quarter_!

If the hunter-captain had any suspicions as to the real position of his woodland guest, he was polite enough not to express them. On the contrary, he waived the opportunity given him by Herbert's ambiguous rejoinder, and simply said--

"If you are going elsewhere, you will need a guide all the same. This glade is surrounded by a wide stretch of tangled woods. There is no good path leading anywhere."

"You are very kind," answered Herbert, touched by the delicate solicitude of this man with a coloured skin. "I wish to reach Montego Bay; and if one of your men would set me on the main road, I should certainly feel under great obligations. As to rewarding him for his trouble, beyond thanking him, I am sorry to say that circ.u.mstances just now have placed it out of my power."