Before parting with Poindexter and his friends, the major made known to them--what he had hitherto kept back--the facts relating to the b.l.o.o.d.y sign, and the tracker's interpretation of it. As he was no longer to take part in the search, he thought it better to communicate to those who should, a circ.u.mstance so important.

It pained him to direct suspicion upon the young Irishman, with whom in the way of his calling he had held some pleasant intercourse. But duty was paramount; and, notwithstanding his disbelief in the mustanger's guilt, or rather his belief in its improbability, he could not help acknowledging that appearances were against him.

With the planter and his party it was no longer a suspicion. Now that the question of Indians was disposed of, men boldly proclaimed Maurice Gerald a murderer.

That the deed had been done no one thought of doubting.

Oberdoffer's story had furnished the first chapter of the evidence.

Henry's horse returning with the blood-stained saddle the last. The intermediate links were readily supplied--partly by the interpretations of the tracker, and partly by conjecture.

No one paused to investigate the motive--at least with any degree of closeness. The hostility of Gerald was accounted for by his quarrel with Calhoun; on the supposition that it might have extended to the whole family of the Poindexters!

It was very absurd reasoning; but men upon the track of a supposed murderer rarely reason at all. They think only of destroying him.

With this thought did they separate; intending to start afresh on the following morning, throw themselves once more upon the trail of the two men who were missing, and follow it up, till one or both should be found--one or both, living or dead.

The party left with Spangler remained upon the spot which the major had chosen as a camping ground.

They were in all less than a dozen. A larger number was deemed unnecessary. Comanches, in that quarter, were no longer to be looked for; nor was there any other danger that called for a strength of men.

Two or three would have been sufficient for the duty required of them.

Nine or ten stayed--some out of curiosity, others for the sake of companionship. They were chiefly young men--sons of planters and the like. Calhoun was among them--the acknowledged chief of the party; though Spangler, acting as guide, was tacitly understood to be the man to whom obedience should be given.

Instead of going to sleep, after the others had ridden away, they gathered around a roaring fire, already kindled within the thicket glade.

Among them was no stint for supper--either of eatables or drinkables.

The many who had gone back--knowing they would not need them--had surrendered their haversacks, and the "heel-taps" of their canteens, to the few who remained. There was liquor enough to last through the night--even if spent in continuous carousing.

Despite their knowledge of this--despite the cheerful crackling of the logs, as they took their seats around the fire--they were not in high spirits.

One and all appeared to be under some influence, that, like a spell, prevented them from enjoying a pleasure perhaps not surpa.s.sed upon earth.

You may talk of the tranquil joys of the domestic hearth. At times, upon the prairie, I have myself thought of, and longed to return to them. But now, looking back upon both, and calmly comparing them, one with the other, I cannot help exclaiming:

"Give me the circle of the camp-fire, with half-a-dozen of my hunter comrades around it--once again give me that, and be welcome to the wealth I have acc.u.mulated, and the trivial honours I have gained--thrice welcome to the care and the toil that must still be exerted in retaining them."

The sombre abstraction of their spirits was easily explained. The weird shape was fresh in their thoughts. They were yet under the influence of an indefinable awe.

Account for the apparition as they best could, and laugh at it--as they at intervals affected to do--they could not clear their minds of this unaccountable incubus, nor feel satisfied with any explanation that had been offered.

The guide Spangler partook of the general sentiment, as did their leader Calhoun.

The latter appeared more affected by it than any of the party! Seated, with moody brow, under the shadow of the trees, at some distance from the fire, he had not spoken a word since the departure of the dragoons.

Nor did he seem disposed to join the circle of those who were basking in the blaze; but kept himself apart, as if not caring to come under the scrutiny of his companions.

There was still the same wild look in his eyes--the same scared expression upon his features--that had shown itself before sunset.

"I say, Cash Calhoun!" cried one of the young fellows by the fire, who was beginning to talk "tall," under the influence of the oft-repeated potations--"come up, old fellow, and join us in a drink! We all respect your sorrow; and will do what we can to get satisfaction, for you and yours. But a man mustn't always mope, as you're doing. Come along here, and take a 'smile' of the Monongaheela! It'll do you a power of good, I promise you."

Whether it was that he was pleased at the interpretation put upon his silent att.i.tude--which the speech told him had been observed--or whether he had become suddenly inclined towards a feeling of good fellowship, Calhoun accepted the invitation; and stepping up to the fire, fell into line with the rest of the roysterers. Before seating himself, he took a pull at the proffered flask.

From that moment his air changed, as if by enchantment. Instead of showing sombre, he became eminently hilarious--so much so as to cause surprise to more than one of the party. The behaviour seemed odd for a man, whose cousin was supposed to have been murdered that very morning.

Though commencing in the character of an invited guest, he soon exhibited himself as the host of the occasion. After the others had emptied their respective flasks, he proved himself possessed of a supply that seemed inexhaustible. Canteen after canteen came forth, from his capacious saddle-bags--the legacy left by many departed friends, who had gone back with the major.

Partaking of these at the invitation of their leader--encouraged by his example--the young planter "bloods" who encircled the camp fire, talked, sang, danced, roared, and even rolled around it, until the alcohol could no longer keep them awake. Then, yielding to exhausted nature, they sank back upon the sward, some perhaps to experience the dread slumber of a first intoxication.

The ex-officer of volunteers was the last of the number who laid himself along the gra.s.s.

If the last to lie down, he was the first to get up. Scarce had the carousal ceased--scarce had the sonorous breathing of his companions proclaimed them asleep--when he rose into an erect att.i.tude, and with cautious steps stole out from among them. With like stealthy tread he kept on to the confines of the camp--to the spot where his horse stood "hitched" to a tree.

Releasing the rein from its knot, and throwing it over the neck of the animal, he clambered into the saddle, and rode noiselessly away.

In all these actions there was no evidence that he was intoxicated. On the contrary, they proclaimed a clear brain, bent upon some purpose previously determined. What could it be?

Urged by affection, was he going forth to trace the mystery of the murder, by finding the body of the murdered man? Did he wish to show his zeal by going alone?

Some such design might have been interpreted from a series of speeches that fell carelessly from his lips, as he rode through the chapparal.

"Thank G.o.d, there's a clear moon, and six good hours before those youngsters will think of getting to their feet! I'll have time to search every corner of the thicket, for a couple of miles around the place; and if the body be there I cannot fail to find it. But what could that thing have meant? If I'd been the only one to see it, I might have believed myself mad. But they all saw it--every one of them.

Almighty heavens! what could it have been?"

The closing speech ended in an exclamation of terrified surprise-- elicited by a spectacle that at the moment presented itself to the eyes of the ex-officer--causing him to rein up his horse, as if some dread danger was before him.

Coming in by a side path, he had arrived on the edge of the opening already described. He was just turning into it, when he saw, that he was not the only horseman, who at that late hour was traversing the chapparal.

Another, to all appearance as well mounted as himself, was approaching along the avenue--not slowly as he, but in a quick trot.

Long before the strange rider had come near, the moonlight, shining fall upon him, enabled Calhoun to see that he was _headless_!

There could be no mistake about the observation. Though quickly made, it was complete. The white moon beams, silvering his shoulders, were reflected from no face, above or between them! It could be no illusion of the moon's light. Calhoun had seen that same shape under the glare of the sun.

He now saw more--the missing head, ghastly and gory, half shrouded behind the hairy holsters! More still--he recognised the horse--the striped serape upon the shoulders of the rider--the water-guards upon his legs--the complete caparison--all the belongings of Maurice the mustanger!

He had ample time to take in these details. At a stand in the embouchure of the side path, terror held him transfixed to the spot.

His horse appeared to share the feeling. Trembling in its tracks, the animal made no effort to escape; even when the headless rider pulled up in front, and, with a snorting, rearing steed, remained for a moment confronting the frightened party.

It was only after the blood bay had given utterance to a wild "whigher"--responded to by the howl of a hound close following at his heels--and turned into the avenue to continue his interrupted trot--only then that Calhoun became sufficiently released from the spell of horror to find speech.

"G.o.d of heaven!" he cried, in a quivering voice, "what can it mean? Is it man, or demon, that mocks me? Has the whole day been a dream? Or am I mad--mad--mad?"

The scarce coherent speech was succeeded by action, instantaneous but determined. Whatever the purpose of his exploration, it was evidently abandoned: for, turning his horse with a wrench upon the rein, he rode back by the way he had come--only at a far faster pace,--pausing not till he had re-entered the encampment.

Then stealing up to the edge of the fire, he lay down among the slumbering inebriates--not to sleep, but to stay trembling in their midst, till daylight disclosed a haggard pallor upon his cheeks, and ghastly glances sent forth from his sunken eyes.

CHAPTER FORTY SIX.