The Buccaneer Chief: A Romance of the Spanish Main

"Agreed; but suppose I placed in the canoe not only provisions, but cutlasses, axes, daggers, and four fusils, with powder and ball?"

"The pale Chief would do that!" he said, with an incredulous air. "Thus armed, who could resist Omopoua?"

"Suppose I did more?" the adventurer continued, with a smile.

"The Chief is jesting; he is very gay. He says to himself, the Indians are credulous; I will have a laugh at the expense of Omopoua."

"I am not jesting, Chief – on the contrary, I am very serious; I will give you the things I have enumerated to you, and, in order that you may reach your country in safety, I will lend you a comrade, a brave man, who will be your brother, and defend you as you would defend yourself."

"And that companion?"

"Is here," said Montbarts, pointing to his engagé, who was standing calm and motionless by his side.

"Then I am not to make the expedition with you, Montbarts?" the latter said, in a sad voice, and with a reproachful accent.

"Reassure yourself," said Montbarts, tapping him gently on the shoulder; "the mission I send you on is most confidential, and even more perilous than the expedition I am undertaking. I wanted a devoted man – another self – and I have chosen you."

"You have done well, in that case; I will prove to you that you are not mistaken about me."

"I am convinced of that already, my lad. Do you accept this companion, Omopoua? He will help you to pass without being insulted through the filibusters you may meet on your route."

"Good! The pale Chief really loves Omopoua. What is the Indian to do on arriving in his country?"

"Omopoua's brothers have sought shelter, I think, in the neighbourhood of the Artibonite?"

"Yes, in the great savannahs to which the French have given the name of Mirebalais."

"Good! Omopoua will go and join his friends; he will tell them in what way the filibusters treat the Caribs: he will present his companion to them, and wait."

"I will wait: the pale Chief, then, is coming to Haiti?"

"Probably," said Montbarts, with a smile of indefinable meaning; "and the proof is, that my engagé will remain with your tribe till my arrival."

"Good! I will await the coming of the pale Chief. When am I start?"

"This very night. Go down to the beach; go in my name to the owner of the canoe which brought us ashore – here is money," and he gave him several piastres; "tell him that I buy his boat exactly as it stands. You will lay in provisions at the same time, and then wait for your comrade, to whom I have a few words to say – but he will rejoin you soon."

"I will go, then; gratitude is in my heart, and not on my lips. On the day when you ask for my life I will give it you, because it is yours, as well as that of all those who love me. Farewell!"

And he made a movement to leave the room.

"Where are you going?" Montbarts asked him.

"I am off; did you not give me leave to go?"

"Yes, but you are forgetting something."

"What is it?"

"The arms I promised you. Take from the rack a fusil for yourself, and four others, which you can dispose of as you please, six cutlasses, six daggers, and six hatchets; when you leave port, on passing the lugger, you will ask Michael the Basque, in my name, for two barrels of gunpowder and two bags of bullets – he will give them to you. Now go, and I wish you all good fortune."

The Carib, overcome by this generosity, so simple and so full of grandeur, knelt to the adventurer, and seizing his feet, which he placed on his head, he exclaimed, in a deeply affected voice —

"I pay you homage as to the best of men. I and mine are henceforth and eternally your devoted slaves." He got up, placed on his shoulder the arms which the engagé handed him, and quitted the hatto.

For some minutes his footsteps could be heard resounding on the path; but this sound gradually died away, and a complete silence returned.

"Now for us two, Olonnais!" Montbarts then said, addressing the engagé.

The latter drew nearer.

"I am listening, master," he said.

"I saw you today for the first time, and yet you pleased me at the very first glance," the adventurer continued. "I fancy myself a tolerable physiognomist. Your frank and open face, your bold-looking eyes, and the expression of audacity and intelligence spread over your features, disposed me in your favour. That is the reason why I bought you. I trust that I am not deceived about you; but I wish to make trial of you. You know that I am at liberty to shorten your engagement, or even, if I like, restore you your freedom tomorrow, so think of that, and act accordingly."

"Whether engaged or free I shall always be devoted to you, Montbarts," the Olonnais said, "hence do not speak to me of recompense, for it is useless with me: make your trial, and I hope to emerge from it with honour."

"That is speaking like a man and a frank adventurer: listen to me, then, and do not let a word of what you are about to hear escape your lips."

"I shall be dumb."

"In ten days at the most I shall anchor in Port Margot in St. Domingo; the expedition I command is intended to take Tortoise Isle by surprise; but while we are occupied on our side in surprising the Spaniards, they must not be able to attack us in the rear, and ruin our establishments at Grande Terre."

"I understand; Omopoua's Caribs are scattered along the Spanish frontier, and must be converted into allies of the expedition."

"The very thing – you have understood me perfectly. Such is your missive; but you must act with extreme cleverness and considerable prudence, in order not to give the alarm to the Gavachos on one hand, or arouse the suspicious of the Caribs on the other; the Indians are susceptible and mistrustful, especially with white men, against whom they have so many causes of complaint. The part you have to play is rather difficult, but I think you will succeed – thanks to the influence of Omopoua; besides, two days after my arrival at Port Margot, I will proceed to the savannahs of the Artibonite, in order to have an understanding, and to make the arrangements I may consider necessary. You see that I act toward you with perfect frankness, and rather as with a brother than an engagé."

"I thank you for it; you shall have no cause to repent it."

"I am glad to believe it – ah! A final recommendation, of secondary importance, but, for all that, serious."

"What is it?"

"The Spaniards frequently hunt, or make excursions in the savannahs of the Artibonite; watch them, though without letting them perceive you; let them not have the slightest suspicion of what we are meditating against them, for the least imprudence might have excessively grave consequences for the success of our plans."

"I will act with prudence, be assured."

"Now, my lad, I have only to wish you a pleasant trip, and successful result."

"Will you allow me, in my turn, to ask you a question before departing?"

"Speak, I allow it."

"For what reason have you, who possess so many brave and devoted friends, instead of applying to one of them, chosen an obscure engagé, whom you hardly know, to confide to him so difficult and so confidential a mission?"

"Are you anxious to know?" the adventurer asked, laughingly.

"Yes, if you do not consider the question indiscreet."