The Maroon Part 56

"Whugh!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed he, in one of the pauses that occurred between two vigorous pulls at the bottle; "ole villum Jew wuss dan Chakra--wuss dan de Debbil hisseff! Doan' know why _he_ want rebbenge. Das nuffin' to me. _I_ want rebbenge, an', by de great Accompong! I'se a g'wine to hab it! Ef dis gal proob true, as de odder's did--she _muss_ proob true--in tree week de proud, fat buckra jussis dat condemn me to dat Jumbe Rock--'Cussos rodelorum,' as de call 'im--won't hab no more flesh on 'im bones dan de 'keleton he tink wa' myen. And den, when 'im die-- ah! den, affer 'im die, de daughter ob dat Quasheba dat twenty year 'go 'corn de lub ob de Coromantee for dat ob de yellow Maroon--maybe her dauter, de Lilly Quasheba, sleep in de arms ob Chakra de myal-man!

Whugh!"

As the minister of Obi gave utterance to this hypothetical threat, a lurid light glared un in his sunken eyes, while his white, sharklike teeth were displayed in an exulting grin--hideous as if the Demon himself were smiling over some monstrous menace!

Both cognac and rum-bottle were repeatedly tasted, until the strong frame of the Coromantee gave way to the stronger spirit of the alcohol; and, muttering fearful threats in his gumbo jargon, he at length sank unconscious on the floor.

There, under the light of the lard lamp--now flickering feebly--he lay like some hideous satyr, whom Bacchus, by an angry blow, had felled prostrate to the earth!

Volume Two, Chapter XXV.

THE MYSTERIOUS MOTIVE.

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, it was one of deadly revenge-- simple, and easily understood.

Not so easily understood was that which actuated the Jew. On the contrary, so secretly had he conceived his purposes, that no living man--not even Chakra himself--had been made privy to them. Up to this moment they may have appeared mysterious; and the time has arrived when it becomes necessary to reveal them. The explanation will show them to be only natural--only in keeping with the character of this crooked and cruel old man.

It is scarce necessary to say that Jacob Jessuron was no type of his race; nor, indeed, of any race. A German Jew by birth, it was not necessarily this that made him either slave-dealer or slave-stealer.

Christians have taken their full share in both branches of the nefarious trade; and equally with Jews and Mohammedans have they been guilty of its most hideous enormities. It was not, therefore, because Jacob Jessuron chanced to be a Jew that he was a trafficker in human flesh and blood--any more than that he was a villainous man; but because he was Jacob Jessuron--a representative of neither race nor nation, but simply a character _sui generis_.

Without dwelling upon his general demerits, let us return to the more particular theme of the motives which were instigating him to make a victim of his neighbour Vaughan--a death victim: for his conversation with Chakra showed that this was the very starting-point of his intentions.

In the first place, he was well acquainted with the domestic history of the planter--at least, with that portion of it that had transpired subsequent to the latter's coming into possession of Mount Welcome. He knew something of Mr Vaughan previously--while the latter was manager of the Montagu Castle estate--but it was only after the Custos had become his nearer neighbour, by removal to his present residence, that the Jew's knowledge of him and his private affairs had become intimate and accurate.

This knowledge he had obtained in various ways: partly by the opportunities of social intercourse, never very cordial; partly through business transactions; and, perhaps, more than all--at least, as regarded some of the more secret pa.s.sages of Mr Vaughan's history--from the myal-man, Chakra.

Notwithstanding his grotesque hideousness, the Coromantee was gifted with a rare though dangerous intelligence. He was _au fait_ to everything that had occurred upon the plantation of Mount Welcome for a past period of nearly forty years. As already hinted, he knew too much; and it was this inconvenient omniscience that had caused him to be consigned to the Jumbe Rock.

For more than one purpose had the Jew made use of the myal-man; and if the latter was at present a.s.sisting him in his dark design, it was not the first by many, both deep and dark, in which Chakra had lent him a hand. Their secret partnership had been of long duration.

The Jew's knowledge of the affairs of Loftus Vaughan extended to many facts unknown even to Chakra. One of these was, that his neighbour was blessed with an English brother, who had an only son.

An artist was the English brother, without fortune--almost without name.

Many other circ.u.mstances relating to him had come to the knowledge of Jessuron; among the rest, that the proud Custos knew little about his poor English relatives, cared less, and scarcely kept up correspondence with them.

In what way could this knowledge interest Jacob Jessuron?--for it did.

Thus, then: it was known to him that Loftus Vaughan had never been married to the quadroon Quasheba. That circ.u.mstance, however, would have signified little, had Quasheba been a white woman, or even a "quinteroon"--in Jamaica termed a _mustee_, and by some fanciful plagiarists, of late, pedantically styled "octoroon"--a t.i.tle which, it may here be stated, has no existence except in the romantic brains of these second-hand _litterateurs_.

We repeat it--had the slave Quasheba been either a white woman, or even a _mustee_, the fact of a marriage, or no marriage, would have signified little--so far as regarded the succession of her offspring to the estates of the father. It is true that, if not married, the daughter would, by the laws of Jamaica--as by those of other lands--still have been _illegitimate_; but for all that, she could have inherited her father's property, _if left to her by will_: since in Jamaica no _entail_ existed.

As things stood, however, the case was widely, and for the Lilly Quasheba--Kate Vaughan--dangerously different. Her mother was _only a quadroon_; and, married or unmarried, she, the daughter, could not inherit--_even by will_--beyond the paltry legacy of 2000 pounds currency, or 1500 pounds sterling!

Kate Vaughan was herself only a _mustee_--still wanting one step farther from slavery to bring her within the protecting pale of freedom and the enjoyment of its favours.

No will that Loftus Vaughan could decree, no testamentary disposition he might make, could render his daughter his devisee--his heiress.

He might will his property to anybody he pleased: so long as that anybody was a so-called _white_; but, failing to make such testament, his estate of Mount Welcome, with all he possessed besides, must fall to the next of his own kin--in short, to his nephew Herbert.

Was there no remedy for this unspeakable dilemma? No means by which his own daughter might be saved from disinheritance?

There was. A special act might be obtained from the a.s.sembly of the Island.

Loftus Vaughan knew the remedy, and fully intended to adopt it. Every day was he designing to set out for Spanish Town--the capital--to obtain the _special act_; and every day was the journey put off.

It was the execution of this design that the Jew Jessuron of all things dreaded most; and to prevent it was the object of his visit to the temple of Obi.

Why he dreaded it scarce needs explanation.

Should Loftus Vaughan fail in his intent, Herbert Vaughan would be the heir of Mount Welcome; and Herbert's heart was in the keeping of Judith Jessuron.

So fondly believed the Jewess; and, with her a.s.surance of the fact, so also the Jew.

The _love-spell_ woven by Judith had been the first step towards securing the grand inheritance. The second was to be the _death-spell_, administered by Chakra and his acolyte.

Volume Two, Chapter XXVI.

THE DEATH-SPELL.

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 apparently important: since it engrossed his whole attention.

A fire was burning in the middle of the floor, in a rude, extemporised furnace, constructed with four large stones, so placed as to inclose a small quadrangle.

The fuel with which this fire was fed, although giving out a great quant.i.ty of smoke, burnt also with a bright, clear flame. It was not wood, but consisted of a number of black agglutinated ma.s.ses, bearing a resemblance to peat or coal.

A stranger to Jamaica might have been puzzled to make out what it was; though a denizen of the Island could have told at a glance, that the dark-coloured pieces piled upon the fire were fragments detached from the nests of the Duck-ants; which, often as large as hogsheads, may be seen adhering to the trees of a tropical forest.

As the smoke emitted by this fuel is less painful to the eyes than that of a wood fire, and yet more efficacious in clearing out the mosquitoes--that plague of a southern clime--it may be supposed that the Coromantee had chosen it on that account. Whether or not, it served his purpose well.

A small iron pot, without crook or crane, rested upon the stones of the furnace; and the anxious glances with which the negro regarded its simmering contents--now stirring them a little, now lifting a portion in his wooden spoon, and carefully scrutinising it under the light of the lamp--told that the concoction in which he was engaged was of a _chemical_, rather than _culinary_ nature. As he bent over the fire-- like a he-Hecate stirring her witches' cauldron--his earnest yet stealthy manner, combined with his cat-like movements and furtive glances, betrayed some devilish design.

This idea was strengthened on looking at the objects that lay near to his hand--some portions of which had been already consigned to the pot.

A cutacoo rested upon the floor, containing plants of several species; among which a botanist could have recognised the branched _calalue_, the dumb-cane, and various other herbs and roots of noxious fame.

Conspicuous was the "Savannah flower," with its tortuous stem and golden corolla--a true dogbane, and one of the most potent of vegetable poisons.

By its side could be seen its antidote--the curious nuts of the "nhandiroba": for the myal-man could _cure_ as well as _kill_, whenever it became his interest to do so.

Drawing from such a larder, it was plain that he was not engaged in the preparation of his supper. Poisons, not provisions, were the ingredients of the pot.

The specific he was now concocting was from various sources, but chiefly from the sap of the Savannah flower. It was the _spell of Obeah_!

For whom was the Coromantee preparing this precious h.e.l.l-broth?

His mutterings as he stooped over the pot revealed the name of his intended victim.

"You may be 'trong, Cussus Vaugh'n--dat I doan deny; but, by de power ob Obeah, you soon shake in you shoes. Obeah! Ha! ha! ha! Dat do fo' de know-nuffin' n.i.g.g.as. My Obeah am de Sabbana flower, de branch calalue, and the allimgator apple--dem's de 'pell mo' powerful dan Obi hisseff-- dem's de stuff dat gib de shibberin' body and de staggerin' limbs to de enemies ob Chakra. Whugh!"

Once more dipping the spoon into the pot, and skimming up a portion of the boiling liquid, he bent forward to examine it.

"'T am done!" he exclaimed. "Jess de right colour--jess de right tickness. Now fo' bottle de licka!"