Delphi Complete Works of the Brontes Charlotte, Emily, Anne Brontë (Illustrated) (282 page)

“Farewell Colonel” replied his weeping captive “And remember that if such should be your fate the recollection of what you have this night done will not tend to alleviate the agonies of death”

“Pshaw” said he with a reckless laugh “do you think I have any fears on that score? no my conscience if I ever had any has been long seared. Immortality finds no place in my creed & death is with me but an abbreviated term for lasting sleep.’ Once more farewell”

with these words he snatched her hand kissed it fervently & departed. The twilight glimmer of dawn was now stealing through the narrow casements of lady Emily’s prison & falling on her face & person as she lay stretched on the tattered velvet couch where overcome with fatigue she had now thrown herself revealed a touching picture of Beauty in Distress.’ her hair hung in loose & neglected curls on her snowy neck & shoulder her eyes were closed her long dark lashes wet with tears rested motionless on her cheek except when a fresh drop trembled on their silken fringes, her face usually blooming was now pale as alabaster from the misery of the sleepless night she had passed. one white hand & arm supported her head on the pillow & the other confined the folds of the dark mantle in which she was still partially enveloped.

After some time in spite of the wretchedness of her situation, separated it might be for ever from all she held dear on earth, & confined in a solitary ruin with no other attendant than the withered hag Bertha, she fell into a deep slumber & while she enjoys this temporary respite from affliction we will revert to other matters.

CHAPTER THE SIXTH

It is well known that the Great War between the Ashantee’s & Twelves ended, after many bloody & obstinate battles in the complete subjugation of the former, their prince being slain their nation nearly annihilated, their metropolis destroyed & the circumjacent country reduced to a condition of the wildest & most appalling desolation which the imagination of man can conceive. Quashie the Kings only son, then at the tender age of four or five years was taken prisoner. At the General Partition of booty he with other captives fell to the share of his Grace the Duke of Wellington from whom he experienced as much care & tenderness as if he had been that Monarch’s son instead of his slave. In these gilded fetters the young prince grew up, his literary education was duly cared for but he declined to profit by the instructions bestowed on him further than as it regarded the acquisition of the English & Ashantee languages & the capability of expressing himself in both by pen as well as tongue. In bodily exercises & military affairs however the case was different, everything relating to these he learnt with an avidity which showed how fully he inherited his father’s warlike spirit. At the age of seventeen, he was a tall handsome youth, black as jet & with an eye full of expression & fire, his disposition was bold, irritable, active, daring & at the same time deeply treacherous.

It now began to appear that notwithstanding the care with which he had been treated by his conquerors he retained against them as if by instinct the most deeply rooted and inveterate hatred. Since his fifteenth year he had been accustomed to take long excursions by himself among the mountains & forests of Ashantee for the purpose as he said of hunting the wild animals that abound there, but subsequent events showed that his real employment during these expeditions was discovering & prompting to Rebellion the hidden tribes of Africans who after the Destruction of Coomassie & the slaughter of King Quamina had concealed themselves in fastnesses inaccessible to any but a native of the country. When he had sufficiently kindled in these
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’d savages a spirit of slumbering discontent, & roused them to make an effort for regaining that independence as a nation which they had lost, he in conjunction with the celebrated brothers Budi & Benini formerly his father’s favourite counsellors unfurled the Royal standard of Ashantee & summoned the scattered remnant of that once mighty empire to join him without delay at the foot of Mount Pindus.

It seemed as if this invocation had called from their graves a portion at least of the vast army which fourteen years since had reddened with their blood the lofty heights of Rosendale-Hill. Multitudes flocked to his banner from the mountain glens & caverns of Jibbel Kumri from the unexplored regions of Inner Africa & from the almost boundless Desert of Sahara, so that in a few weeks no less than fifteen thousand armed natives of a kingdom which was supposed to have been extirpated declared themselves ready to shed the last drop of their blood in vindication of Quashie the second’s claim to his ancestral throne. With this determination they marched toward Verdopolis & had arrived within four hundred miles of that City before intelligence of what had taken place reached the twelves. When the fact of this rebellion was known however the Duke of Wellington immediately desired that the punishment of the rebels might be left to him as the young viper who commanded them had been nourished on his own hearth & brought up by him with almost parental tenderness, his request was immediately granted & the duke despatched ten thousand troops under the command of General Leaf a descendant by the way of the famous Captain Leaf to stop the progress of the insurgents.

When Quashie heard of the formidable force which was advancing against him he sent an ambassador to Gondar requesting assistance from the Abysinnian King & in the mean time commenced a very orderly retreat. Ras Michael who detested the British readily permitted an army of eight thousand soldiers to assist Quashie in his bold enterprise against them. With this reinforcement that young warrior ventured to give the enemy battle. An engagement accordingly ensued near Fateconda on the Senegal Which after a very obstinate contest ended rather in favour of the Verdopolitans though the victory they gained was of that nature that another similar one would have been total destruction. A fresh addition now arrived from Abyssinia so that the army of the rebels was very little the worse for their defeat, while Leafs force amounted barely to six thousand men. The Duke being informed of this state of things immediately ordered out sixteen regiments & placing himself at their head marched without delay to the scene of the action. On his arrival he found that the enemy had been joined by a large body of Moors from the North so that he was still far inferior in numbers but trusting to the superior discipline of his troops he determined to stand his ground without further reinforcement. Having given the reader this necessary information I will now proceed with my narrative in a more detailed & less historical style.

It was a glorious evening in the end of summer when the hostile armies lay encamped on opposite banks of the river Senegal. The sun was slowly approaching the horizon of a speckless sky & threw his parting rays with softened brilliancy over a scene of unsurpassed loveliness. between the two hosts lay a beautiful valley where groves of delicate-leaved tamarind trees & tall palmyras sweetly shadowed the blue bright waters of the wandering stream. A cluster of deserted huts whose inhabitants had fled at the approach of soldiers crowned the gently-sloped aclivity which embosomed the glen. on one side in the largest of these the Duke of Wellington had taken up his quaters & here he now sat surrounded by four of his principal officers. Two of these are already known to our readers being the Marquis of Charlesworth & Colonel Percy, of the remaining two the first was a middle- sized man with broad shoulders & spindle shanksf: his forehead was rather high his nose large & projecting, his mouth wide & his chin remarkably long, he was dressed in uniform with a star on his breast & large cambric ruffles at each wrist, the other was a little personage with jointless limbs, a chubby face & a pale pink wig of frizzled silk surmounted by a tall black hat on which was an ornament of carved wood, these officers were conversing with each other in undertones not to disturb the duke’s meditations who sat with his eyes fixed on the wide prospect which opened before him & which was bounded by a dim sweeping milk-white line indicating the commencement of the great sandy desert.

Bobadil” said he suddenly addressing himself to the former of the two gentlemen I have just described “do you not perceive something moving in the direction of the enemies camp? it is under the shadow of that lofty hill to the north & appears like a dark & compact body of men, surely it is not some new ally?”

Bobadil came forward & began to poke out his neck strain & wink his eyes, look through his fingers &c. but finally declared he could perceive nothing, the Marquis of Charlesworth & General Leaf the owner of the pink wig were equally unsuccessful.

“You are a set of moles” said the Duke “I see them most distinctly they have rounded the hill & their arms are glittering brightly in the sunshine . come hither Percy can’t you see that flashing hedge of spears with a banner displayed in the rear?”, “Certainly my lord” replied Percy whose younger eyes could easily discern what was quite lost to the dimmed optics of the old Generals “they are now turned from the rebels & seem advancing towards us.” A silence of a quater of an hour here ensued during which the Duke continued to gaze intently at the approaching army, for such it was now distinctly seen to be. they slowly wound away from the Ashantee camp & entering a deep valley were for the present lost to sight. But ere long a burst of wild music heralded their reappearance, gradually they emerged from the sinuous winding of the Glen which had concealed them & in martial array advanced to the sound of shrill pipes & deep-toned kettle drums along the right bank of the Senegal.

“These are not foes but friends” exclaimed the Duke starting up. “Upon my word St Clair has kept his promise well, I did not think his northern hills could send forth such a fine body of troops.f”

“Who are they my lord?” exclaimed all the officers at once, with the exception of Percy, whose brow had suddenly grown dark at the mention of St Clair.

“The men of Elimbos, the lads of the mist” replied his Grace. “Here Percy order my horse & your own & attend me whilst I go to meet them.”

Percy left the hut & in a few minutes the Duke & himself were galloping down towards the valley. As they drew near that Highland host my father frequently expressed his admiration at the perfect order in which the ranks moved, the athletic appearance & uncommon stature of the men who formed them & the clean well burnished appearance of their arms & equipments, just as they reached the ad

vanced guard a general halt was called, both rode through the unfolding columns till on gaining the centre of the little army, they perceived the Earl surrounded by his choicest vassals all dressed in the green tartan of their clan & bearing spears, bows quivers & small triangular shields. Near him stood a gigantic warrior whose snow white hair & beard proclaimed advanced age while from his erect bearing herculean frame & sinewy limbs it was easy to perceive that he retained unimpaired all the vigourous powers of youth, he bore in one hand a huge spear proportionate to his own Titanic size from which floated the broad folds of a green banner bearing as a device a golden Eagle with expanded wings & the motto “I dwell on the rock”. This person was the celebrated Donald of the Standard called in common parlance the ape of the Hills. he is now one hundred & ten years of age & consequently was at that period ninety.” After a cordial greeting on each side the Duke proceeded to direct St Clair how to encamp his men & to give him other instructions which it is unnecessary here to recapitulate, their conference being ended he took leave for the night & returned with Colonel Percy to his own quaters.

It may now be as well to connect the broken thread of my rambling narrative before I proceed further.

When St Clair reached Verdopolis after his interview with lady Emily Charlesworth at Clydesdale Castle he ordered his page to go to the nearest place where carriages were let out to hire & order one to be in readiness by eleven o’clock that night, from some unexplained cause of delay it was not prepared till past twelve & consequently the bird was flown before he arrived at the appointed place of rendezvous. In a state of impatience amounting almost to madness he continued to pace the chestnut avenue watching the setting of the moon, the slow vanishing of the stars & the gradual approach of day-light, listening to every breath of wind & transforming the rustle of each falling leaf in
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the step of his expected fair one. Morning broke however, the sun
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°se, the Deer awoke from their light slumbers & still lady Emily came not. Stung to the heart with her apparent infidelity, he determined to learn the cause of it from her own mouth & if a satisfactory excuse were not assigned to bid her an eternal farewell, with this resolution
^he
hastened to the castle .

on his arrival he found it all in confusion, the servants hurrying to & fro with countenances of doubt & dismay. on inquiring the reason of this unusual movement, he was informed that lady Emily had disappeared that night & that no one knew where she was gone. Terror struck at this intelligence he immediately returned to Verdopolis where he remained for some days during which time the most diligent research was made after the unfortunate lady by her atflicted Uncle but all to no purpose. Finding this to be the case St Clair who had now- lost all motive for desiring a continuance of life & whose bitter & heart-gnawing anguish rendered a quiescent state of existence the most terrible of all others determined immediately to offer his own services & those of the clan whose cheiftain he was to the Duke of Wellington in his intended expedition against the Ashantees. this proposal of course was gratefully accepted & St Clair soon after departed to gather his warriors & lead them from their native mountains. With his opportune arrival the reader is already acquainted & now having cleared scores I may trot on unincumbered.

On the evening of the day which followed that event as The Earl sat in his tent with no other companion than the little Page Andrew who squatting like a Turk in one corner was employed in burnishing his master’s spear & silver quiver. Colonel Percy rode up on his gallant war- horse & informed St Clair that the Duke was about to hold a council of war in which his presence would be required. It was with difficulty that our hero managed to return a civil answer to the unwelcome envoy, with a haughtiness of gesture & a sterness of tone that ill-suited the courteous nature of the words he replyed “that he felt highly flattered by the Duke’s request & would attend him without delay” Whether Percy experienced any reciprocation of animosity I know not but his countenance expressed none as with a bland smile & low inclination of the head he touched his horse’s sides & caracoled’ gaily away.

The council was held in a large tent covered with scarlet cloth richly ornamented with gold embroidery & from the summit waved a crimson flag bearing the arms of England. When St Clair entered this superb pavillion, he found the Duke surrounded by about twenty officersf. at his left hand sat the Marquis of Charlesworth whose pale countenance & abstracted air told a melancholy tale of recent afflic