The Headless Horseman Part 136

There is no need to guess at the meaning of this profane speech--the last of Calhoun's life. Its meaning is made clear by the act that accompanies it.

While speaking he has kept his right hand under the left breast of his coat. Along with the oath it comes forth, holding a revolver.

The spectators have just time to see the pistol--as it glints under the slanting sunbeams--when two shots are heard in quick succession.

With a like interval between, two men fall forward upon their faces; and lie with their heads closely contiguous!

One is Maurice Gerald, the mustanger,--the other Ca.s.sius Calhoun, ex-captain of volunteer cavalry.

The crowd closes around, believing both to be dead; while through the stillness that succeeds is heard a female voice, in those wild plaintive tones that tell of a heart nigh parting in twain!

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED.

JOY.

Joy!

There was this under the evergreen oak, when it was discovered that only the suicide was a success, and the attempt at a.s.sa.s.sination a failure.

There was this in the heart of Louise Poindexter, on learning that her lover still lived.

Though saddened by the series of tragedies so quickly transpiring, she was but human; and, being woman, who can blame her for giving way to the subdued happiness that succeeded? Not I. Not you, if you speak truly.

The pa.s.sion that controlled her may not be popular under a strictly Puritan standard. Still is it according to the dictates of Nature-- universal and irresistible--telling us that father, mother, sister, and brother, are all to be forsaken for that love illimitable; on Earth only exceeded--sometimes scarce equalled--by the love of self.

Do not reproach the young Creole, because this pa.s.sion was paramount in her soul. Do not blame her for feeling pleasure amidst moments that should otherwise have been devoted to sadness. Nor, that her happiness was heightened, on learning from the astonished spectators, how her lover's life had been preserved--as it might seem miraculously.

The aim of the a.s.sa.s.sin had been true enough. He must have felt sure of it, before turning the muzzle towards his own temples, and firing the bullet that had lodged in his brain. Right over the heart he had hit his intended victim, and through the heart would the leaden missile have made its way, but that a _gage d'amour_--the gift of her who alone could have secured it such a place--turned aside the shot, causing it to _ricochet_!

Not harmlessly, however: since it struck one of the spectators standing too close to the spot.

Not quite harmless, either, was it to him for whom it had been intended.

The stunning shock--with the mental and corporeal excitement--long sustained--did not fail to produce its effect; and the mind of Maurice Gerald once more returned to its delirious dreaming.

But no longer lay his body in danger--in the chapparal, surrounded by wolves, and shadowed by soaring vultures,--in a hut, where he was but ill attended--in a jail, where he was scarce cared for at all.

When again restored to consciousness, it was to discover that the fair vision of his dreams was no vision at all, but a lovely woman--the loveliest on the Leona, or in all Texas if you like--by name Louise Poindexter.

There was now no one to object to her nursing him; not even her own father. The spirit of the aristocratic planter--steeped in sorrow, and humiliated by misfortune--had become purged of its false pride; though it needed not this to make him willingly acquiesce in an alliance, which, instead of a "n.o.body," gave him a n.o.bleman for his son. Such, in reality, was Sir Maurice Gerald--erst known as Maurice the mustanger!

In Texas the t.i.tle would have counted for little; nor did its owner care to carry it. But, by a bit of good fortune--not always attendant on an Irish baronetcy--it carried along with it an endowment--ample enough to clear Casa del Corvo of the mortgage held by the late Ca.s.sius Calhoun, and claimed by his nearest of kin.

This was not Woodley Poindexter: for after Calhoun's death, it was discovered that the ex-captain had once been a Benedict; and there was a young scion of his stock--living in New Orleans--who had the legal right to say he was his son!

It mattered not to Maurice Gerald; who, now clear of every entanglement, became the husband of the fair Creole.

After a visit to his native land--including the European tour--which was also that of his honeymoon--Sir Maurice, swayed by his inclinations, once more returned to Texas, and made Casa del Corvo his permanent home.

The "blue-eyed colleen" of Castle Ballagh must have been a myth--having existence only in the erratic fancy of Phelim. Or it may have been the bud of a young love, blighted ere it reached blooming--by absence, oft fatal to such tender plants of pa.s.sion?

Whether or no, Louise Poindexter--Lady Gerald she must now be called-- during her sojourn in the Emerald Isle saw nothing to excite her to jealousy.

Only once again did this fell pa.s.sion take possession of her spirit; and then only in the shape of a shadow soon to pa.s.s away.

It was one day when her husband came home to the hacienda--bearing in his arms the body of a beautiful woman!

Not yet dead; though the blood streaming from a wound in her bared bosom showed she had not long to live.

To the question, "Who has done this?" she was only able to answer, "Diaz--Diaz!"

It was the last utterance of Isidora Covarubio de los Llanos!

As the spirit of the unhappy _senorita_ pa.s.sed into eternity, along with it went all rancour from that of her more fortunate rival. There can be no jealousy of the dead. That of Lady Gerald was at rest, and for ever.

It was succeeded by a strong sympathy for the ill-fated Isidora; whose story she now better comprehended. She even a.s.sisted her lord in the saddling of his red-bay steed, and encouraged him in the pursuit of the a.s.sa.s.sin.

She joyed to see the latter led back at the end of a lazo--held in the hand of her husband; and refused to interfere, when a band of Regulators, called hastily together, dealt out summary chastis.e.m.e.nt--by hanging him to a tree!

It was not cruelty--only a crude kind of justice:--"an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth."

And what a poor compensation it seemed, to those who had taken part in exacting it!

As they stood gazing upon the remains of the villain, and his victim-- the swarth ruffian dangling from the branch above, and the fair form lying underneath--the hearts of the Texans were touched--as perhaps they had never been before.

There was a strange thought pa.s.sing through their minds; a sadness independent of that caused by the spectacle of a murder. It was regret at having so hastily despatched the a.s.sa.s.sin!

Beautiful, even in death, was Isidora. Such features as she possessed, owe not everything to the light of life. That voluptuous shape--the true form divine--may be admired in the cold statue.

Men stood gazing upon her dead body--long gazing--loth to go away--at length going with thoughts not altogether sacred!

In the physical world Time is accounted the destroyer; though in the moral, it is oft the restorer. Nowhere has it effected greater changes than in Texas--during the last decade--and especially in the settlements of the Nueces and Leona.

Plantations have sprung up, where late the _chapparal_ thickly covered the earth; and cities stand, where the wild steed once roamed over a pathless prairie.

There are new names for men, places, and things.

For all this, there are those who could conduct you to an ancient hacienda--still known as Casa del Corvo.

Once there, you would become the recipient of a hospitality, unequalled in European lands.

You would have for your host one of the handsomest men in Texas; for your hostess one of its most beautiful women--both still this side of middle life.

Residing under their roof you would find an old gentleman, of aristocratic air and venerable aspect--withal chatty and cheerful--who would conduct you around the _corrales_, show you the stock, and never tire of talking about the hundreds--ay thousands--of horses and horned cattle, seen roaming over the pastures of the plantation.