Greenway Court; or, The Bloody Ground, No. XVI-XXII [pp. 419-436]

G' eenway Court; or, the Bloody Ground.
When your friend, uneasy at your absence, comes to search for you, he finds a
mangled body, half-devoured, and emptied of every drop of blood; panthers
like blood!"
"Captain-Captain Wagner!" murmured Falconbridge, "speak to me as a
friend-speak to me in plain words-you
mean "
"That I do not like panthers, male or
female," said Captain Wagner, sullenly;
they are too tender and cruel, too beautiful and fatal with their undulating bodies,
their graceful limbs, their soft, velvety
covering, their smiles, their sighs, their
fascinating glances-!"
"Captain! Captain!"
"They smile too sweetly and bite too
ferociously! They caress too softly the
victim before tearing him to pieces, and
lapping with a smile his heart's blood!
Would you have me like the animal when
I know it so well!"
Falconbridge was silent for a moment,
evidently overcome by this terrible allegory. At last he said with much agitation:
"Captain! friend! why have you spoken with such cruel emnity of Miss
Argal?"
"I have spoken of no one," said the
Captain gloomily; "I have not mentioned
Miss Argal's name! I have spoken of
an animal which I should fear mortally,
were not my muscles of force sufficient to
catch that animal in my arms, were she
to spring upon me, and there crush
her!"
Falconbridge, plunged in disturbed
thought, made no reply. They galloped
on for a quarter of a mile in silence, and
then the moon came out between the
lurid clouds. The storm had passed away
toward the south.
Captain Wagner, chancing to look at
his companion, saw that he was very pale,
and that his forehead was covered with a
cold sweat. The words of the soldier
seemed to have paralyzed him, for he remained perfectly slent —pale, and with
eyes full of wonder, fixed far away upon
the distance.
Not a word more was uttered by either
of the companions until they reached the
Some days after the scenes which we
have tried to make pass before the eyes
of the reader, Captain Wagner, who had
been uninterruptedly engaged in conferences with the Earl, bethought him of
paying so me attention to his private atffai rs. Accordingly, one morning be fore
the sun had risen he donned h is warlike
accoutrements, mounted " Injunhat er,"
and set out for the Ordi nar y.
The sun soon appeared above the brow
of the mountain, and scatter ed the river
mists before him. The landscape waked
up, the birds began to sing, and not to
be behind the m, the Capta in shouted
lustily a n old border ballad, with an
ardour which was superior to its musical
execution.
" The fact is," he said in a confidential
tone, after finishing the chorus, " the
fact is, I was not intended to delight the
world by the sweet tones of my voice.
Astonishing, but dooms true! It's not
given to everybody to excel in all things,
and this is one of my failings. On, Injunhater!"
And the worthy touched his great black
animal with the spur, and cantered along
gaily, presenting as he moved through
the burnished sunlight, an exceedingly
striking and martial appearance.
"A fine morning, by the snout of the
dragon!" continued the Captain, looking
round with satisfaction on the expanse
of forest and prairie. " I should like to
feel for once like Fairfax yonder, that
the world belonged to me-that I was
master. But wherefore? Am I not better off by far than this good baron of
Cameron? First, I am a common individual-and these lords must have such a
435
1859.1
Ordinary, and here they separated, and
retired to their beds.
With Falconbridge the night iva,s a
vigil of wonder and incredulity; with
Captain Wagner, on the contrary, it was
a genuine period of rest.
xxiii.
REFLECTIONS OF CAPTAIN LONGKNIFE.