Confessions Of Con Cregan Part 39

"Oh, no; I was accidentally standing on the wharf when his yacht came up the river at New Orleans."

"You did n't remark a young man on the p.o.o.p in a foraging-cap, with a gold band round it?"

"I cannot say I did."

"He carried a key-bugle in his hand."

"I did not perceive him."

"That was me; how different was I then! Well, well, I 'll hasten on. We arrived at New Orleans, not quite determined whither next we should bend our steps; and hearing by mere accident of this Texan expedition, we took it into our heads we would join it. On inquiring about the matter, we found that a lottery was in progress, the prizes of which were various portions of equipment, horses, mules, baggage, negroes, and so on. For this--just out of caprice--we took several tickets; but as, from one cause or other, the drawing was delayed, we lingered on, going each day to the office, and there making acquaintance with a number of fellows interested in the expedition, but whose manner and style, I need scarcely say, were not good recommendations to intimacy. Broughton, however, always liked that kind of thing; low company, with him, had always the charm of an amus.e.m.e.nt that he could resign whenever he fancied. Now, as he grew more intimate with these fellows, he obtained admission into a kind of club they held in an obscure part of the town, and thither we generally repaired every evening, when too late for any more correct society. They were all, or at least they affected to be, interested in Texan expeditions; and the conversation never took any other turn than what concerned these objects; and if at first our Old World notions were shocked at their indifference to life,--the reckless disregard of honor and good faith they evinced,--we came by degrees to feel that the moral code of the Prairies permitted many things which were never sanctioned in more cultivated lat.i.tudes.

"Broughton entered into all this with a most extraordinary interest.

Nothing seemed too wild, too abandoned, and too outrageous for his notions; and, I shame to say it, he soon made me a convert to his opinions. His constant speech was, 'Be as virtuous as you please, my dear fellow, among ladies and gentlemen; but pray fight Choctaws, p.a.w.nees, and half-breeds with their own weapons, which are either a trick or a tomahawk.' I never liked the theory; but partly from daily iteration, partly from a yielding pliancy of disposition, and in great measure from being shamed into it, I gave way, and joined him in all the pledges he gave, to go through with anything the expedition exacted.

I must be brief; that light yonder is on Fork Island, where we stop to take in wood; and ere we reach it, I must make up my mind to one course or other.

"As the time for the starting of the expedition drew nigh, the various plans and schemes became the theme of nightly discussion; and we heard of nothing but guides and trails, where gra.s.s was to be found for the cattle, and where water could be had, with significant hints about certain places and people who were known or believed to be inimical to these excursions. Thus, on the map, were marked certain villages which might be put under contribution, and certain log-houses which should be made to pay a heavy impost: here, it was a convent to be mulcted; and there, a store or a mill to be burned! In fact, the expedition seemed to have as many vengeances to fulfil as hopes of gain to gratify; for each had a friend who was maltreated, or robbed, or murdered, and whose fate or fortunes required an expiation.--But I weary you, Padre, with all this?"

"Not at all, my son; I recognize perfectly the accuracy of your account.

I have heard a good deal about these people."

"There was one individual, however, so universally detested that you would suppose he must have been a kind of devil incarnate to have incurred such general hate. Every one bad a grudge against him, and, in fact, there was a kind of struggle who should be allotted to wreak on him the common vengeance of the company. It was at last decided that his fate should be lotteried, and that whoever won the first prize--this mare of which you may have heard--should also win the right to finish this wretched man. I gained this infamous distinction; and here am I, on my way to claim my prize and commit a murder! Ay, I may as well employ the true word,--it is nothing less than a murder! I have not even the poor excuse of revenge. I cannot pretend that he ever injured me,--nay, I have not even seen him; I never heard of his name till two days ago; nor, even now, could I succeed in finding him out, if I were not provided with certain clews at Houston, and certain guides by whose aid I am to track him. My oath is pledged: I swore it solemnly that, if the lot fell upon me, I 'd do the deed, and do it I will; yet, I am equally resolved never to survive it."--Here I produced my revolver.--"If this barrel be for the unlucky Chico, this other is for myself!"

"What name did you say?" cried he, with a faltering voice, while his hand, as he laid it on my arm, shook like ague.

"Chico, the wretch is called," I said, fixing a cap on my pistol.

"And why call him a wretch, my son? Has he ever injured you? How do you know that he is not some poor, kindly hearted creature, the father of five children, one of them a baby, perhaps? How can you tell the difficulties by which he gains his living, and the hazard to which he exposes his life in doing so? And is it to injure such a man you will go down to your own grave an a.s.sa.s.sin?"

"I'll do it," said I, doggedly; "I'll keep my oath."

"Such an oath never bound any man; it is a snare of Satan."

"So it may,--I 'll keep it," said I, beating the deck with my foot, with the dogged determination of one not to be turned from his purpose.

"Kill in cold blood a man you never saw before?"

"Just so; I am not going to think of him, when I set so little store by myself; I only wish the fellow were here now, and I'd show you whether I'd falter or not."

"Poor Chico,--I could weep for him!" said he, blubbering.

"Keep your pity for _me_," said I,--"I, that am bound by this terrible oath, and must either stamp myself a coward or a murderer. As for Chico, I believe a more worthless wretch never existed,--a poor, mean-spirited creature, whose trade is to be a spy, and by whose cursed machinations many a fine fellow has been ruined."

"You are all wrong, sir," said the Padre, warmly. "I know the man myself; he is an amiable, kind-hearted being, that never harmed any one."

"He's the fellow to die, then!" said I, roughly.

"He has a small family, unprovided for."

"They have the inheritance of his virtues," said I, scoffingly.

"Can you have the heart for such cruelty?" cried he, almost sobbing.

"Come with me when I land at Houston, and see,--that's all!" said I.

"A few minutes back, I was hesitating whether I would not land at this island and abandon my purpose. The weakness is now over; I feel a kind of fiendish spirit growing up within me already; I cannot think of the fellow without a sense of loathing and hatred!"

"Lie down, my son, and compose yourself for an hour or two; sleep and rest will calm your agitated brain, and you will then listen to my counsels with profit: your present excitement overmasters your reason, and my words would be of no effect."

"I know it--I feel it here, across my temples--that it is a kind of paroxysm; but I never close my eyes that I do not fancy I see the fellow, now in one shape, now in another, for he can a.s.sume a thousand disguises; while in my ears his accursed name is always ringing."

"I pity you from my heart!" said the other; and certainly a sadder expression I never saw in any human face before. "But go down below; go down, I beseech you."

"I have only taken a deck-pa.s.sage," said I, doggedly; "I determined that I would see no one, speak to no one."

"Nor need you, my son," said he, coaxingly. "They are all sound asleep in the after-cabin; take _my_ berth,--I do not want it; I am always better upon deck."

"If you will have it so," said I, yielding; "but, for your life, not a word of what I have said to you! Do not deceive yourself by any false idea of humanity. Were you to shoot me where I stand, you could not save him,--_his_ doom is spoken. If _I_ fail, there is Broughton, and, after him, a score of others, sworn to do the work."

"Lie down and calm yourself," said he, leading me to the companion-ladder; "we must speak of this to-morrow."

I squeezed his hand, and slowly descended to the cabin. At first the thought occurred to me that he might give the alarm and have me seized; but then this would expose him so palpably to my recognition, should I chance to escape, it was unlikely he would do so. The stillness on deck showed me I was correct in this latter estimate, and so I turned into his comfortable berth, and, while I drew the counterpane over me, thought I had made a capital exchange for the hard ribs of the "long-boat."

If my stratagem had succeeded in impressing my friend Chico with a most lively fear, it did not leave my own mind at perfect tranquillity. I knew that he must be a fellow of infinite resources, and that the game between us, in all likelihood, had but commenced. In circ.u.mstances of difficulty, I have constantly made a practice of changing places with my antagonist, fancying myself in _his_ position, and asking myself how I should act? This taking the "adversary's hand" is admirable practice in the game of life; it suggests an immense range of combinations, and improves one's play prodigiously.

I now began to myself a little exercise after this fas.h.i.+on: but what between previous fatigue, the warmth of the cabin, and the luxury of a real bed, Chico and I changed places so often, in my brain, that confusion ensued, then came weariness, and, at last sound sleep,--so sound that I was only awoke by the steward as he popped his greasy head into the berth and said, "I say, master, here we are, standing close in: had n't you better get up?"

I did as he advised; and, as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, said, "Where's the Padre, steward?--what's become of him?"

"He was took ill last night, and stopped at Fork Island; he 'll go back with us to-morrow to Galveston."

"You know him, I suppose?" said I, looking at the fellow with a shrewd intelligence that he knew how to construe.

"Well," cried he, scratching his head, "well, mayhap I do guess a bit who he is."

"So do I, steward; and when we meet again, he 'll know _me_." said I, with a look of such imposing sternness that I saw the fellow was recording it. "You may tell him so, steward. I 'll wait for him here till I catch him; and if he escape both myself and my friend Broughton,--Broughton; don't forget the name,--he is deeper than I give him credit for."

As I was about to leave the cabin, I caught sight of the corner of a red handkerchief peeping out beneath the pillow of the berth. I drew it forth, and found it was Chico's travelling kit, which he preferred abandoning to the risk of again meeting me. It contained a small black skull-cap such as priests wear, a Romish missal, a string of beads, with a few common articles of dress, and eight dollars in silver.

"The spoils of victory," quoth I, embodying the whole in my own bundle: "the enemy's baggage and the military chest captured."

"Which is the White Hart?" said I, as I came on deck, now crowded with sh.o.r.e folk, porters, and waiters.

"This way, sir,--follow me," said a smart fellow in a waiter's dress; and I handed him my bundle and stepped on sh.o.r.e.

CHAPTER XX. THE LOG-HUT AT BRAZOS

I was all impatience to see my prize: and scarcely had I entered the inn than I pa.s.sed out into the stable-yard, now crowded with many of those equestrian-looking figures I had seen on board the steamer.