CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
HE FALLS UPON SCYLLA, SEEKING TO AVOID CHARYBDIS.
Fathom, whose own principles taught him to be suspicious, and ever uponhis guard against the treachery of his fellow-creatures, could havedispensed with this instance of her care, in confining her guest to herchamber, and began to be seized with strange fancies, when he observedthat there was no bolt on the inside of the door, by which he mightsecure himself from intrusion. In consequence of these suggestions, heproposed to take an accurate survey of every object in the apartment,and, in the course of his inquiry, had the mortification to find the deadbody of a man, still warm, who had been lately stabbed, and concealedbeneath several bundles of straw.
Such a discovery could not fail to fill the breast of our hero withunspeakable horror; for he concluded that he himself would undergo thesame fate before morning, without the interposition of a miracle in hisfavour. In the first transports of his dread, he ran to the window, witha view to escape by that outlet, and found his flight effectuallyobstructed by divers strong bars of iron. Then his heart began topalpitate, his hair to bristle up, and his knees to totter; his thoughtsteemed with presages of death and destruction; his conscience rose up injudgment against him, and he underwent a severe paroxysm of dismay anddistraction. His spirits were agitated into a state of fermentation thatproduced a species of resolution akin to that which is inspired by brandyor other strong liquors, and, by an impulse that seemed supernatural, hewas immediately hurried into measures for his own preservation.
What upon a less interesting occasion his imagination durst not propose,he now executed without scruple or remorse. He undressed the corpse thatlay bleeding among the straw, and, conveying it to the bed in his arms,deposited it in the attitude of a person who sleeps at his ease; then heextinguished the light, took possession of the place from whence the bodyhad been removed, and, holding a pistol ready cocked in each hand, waitedfor the sequel with that determined purpose which is often the immediateproduction of despair. About midnight he heard the sound of feetascending the ladder; the door was softly opened; he saw the shadow oftwo men stalking towards the bed, a dark lanthorn being unshrouded,directed their aim to the supposed sleeper, and he that held it thrust aponiard to his heart; the force of the blow made a compression on thechest, and a sort of groan issued from the windpipe of the defunct; thestroke was repeated, without producing a repetition of the note, so thatthe assassins concluded the work was effectually done, and retired forthe present with a design to return and rifle the deceased at theirleisure.
Never had our hero spent a moment in such agony as he felt during thisoperation; the whole surface of his body was covered with a cold sweat,and his nerves were relaxed with an universal palsy. In short, heremained in a trance that, in all probability, contributed to his safety;for, had he retained the use of his senses, he might have been discoveredby the transports of his fear. The first use he made of his retrievedrecollection, was to perceive that the assassins had left the door openin their retreat; and he would have instantly availed himself of thistheir neglect, by sallying out upon them, at the hazard of his life, hadhe not been restrained by a conversation he overheard in the room below,importing, that the ruffians were going to set out upon anotherexpedition, in hopes of finding more prey. They accordingly departed,after having laid strong injunctions upon the old woman to keep the doorfast locked during their absence; and Ferdinand took his resolutionwithout farther delay. So soon as, by his conjecture, the robbers wereat a sufficient distance from the house, he rose from his lurking-place,moved softly towards the bed, and, rummaging the pockets of the deceased,found a purse well stored with ducats, of which, together with a silverwatch and a diamond ring, he immediately possessed himself withoutscruple; then, descending with great care and circumspection into thelower apartment, stood before the old beldame, before she had the leastintimation of his approach.
Accustomed as she was to the trade of blood, the hoary hag did not beholdthis apparition without giving signs of infinite terror and astonishment,believing it was no other than the spirit of her second guest, who hadbeen murdered; she fell upon her knees and began to recommend herself tothe protection of the saints, crossing herself with as much devotion asif she had been entitled to the particular care and attention of Heaven.Nor did her anxiety abate, when she was undeceived in this hersupposition, and understood it was no phantom, but the real substance ofthe stranger, who, without staying to upbraid her with the enormity ofher crimes, commanded her, on pain of immediate death, to produce hishorse, to which being conducted, he set her upon the saddle withoutdelay, and, mounting behind, invested her with the management of thereins, swearing, in a most peremptory tone, that the only chance she hadfor her life, was in directing him safely to the next town; and that, sosoon as she should give him the least cause to doubt her fidelity in theperformance of that task, he would on the instant act the part of herexecutioner.
This declaration had its effect upon the withered Hecate, who, with manysupplications for mercy and forgiveness, promised to guide him in safetyto a certain village at the distance of two leagues, where he might lodgein security, and be provided with a fresh horse, or other convenience,for pursuing his intended route. On these conditions he told her shemight deserve his clemency; and they accordingly took their departuretogether, she being placed astride upon the saddle, holding the bridle inone hand and a switch in the other; and our adventurer sitting on thecrupper, superintending her conduct, and keeping the muzzle of a pistolclose at her ear. In this equipage they travelled across part of thesame wood in which his guide had forsaken him; and it is not to besupposed that he passed his time in the most agreeable reverie, while hefound himself involved in the labyrinth of those shades, which heconsidered as the haunts of robbery and assassination.
Common fear was a comfortable sensation to what he felt in thisexcursion. The first steps he had taken for his preservation were theeffects of mere instinct, while his faculties were extinguished orsuppressed by despair; but now, as his reflection began to recur, he washaunted by the most intolerable apprehensions. Every whisper of the windthrough the thickets was swelled into the hoarse menaces of murder, theshaking of the boughs was construed into the brandishing of poniards, andevery shadow of a tree became the apparition of a ruffian eager forblood. In short, at each of these occurrences he felt what wasinfinitely more tormenting than the stab of a real dagger; and at everyfresh fillip of his fear, he acted as a remembrancer to his conductress,in a new volley of imprecations, importing, that her life was absolutelyconnected with his opinion of his own safety.
Human nature could not longer subsist under such complicated terror. Atlast he found himself clear of the forest, and was blessed with thedistant view of an inhabited place. He then began to exercise histhoughts upon a new subject. He debated with himself, whether he shouldmake a parade of his intrepidity and public spirit, by disclosing hisachievement, and surrendering his guide to the penalty of the law; orleave the old hag and her accomplices to the remorse of their ownconsciences, and proceed quietly on his journey to Paris in undisturbedpossession of the prize he had already obtained. This last step hedetermined to take, upon recollecting, that, in the course of hisinformation, the story of the murdered stranger would infallibly attractthe attention of justice, and, in that case, the effects he had borrowedfrom the defunct must be refunded for the benefit of those who had aright to the succession. This was an argument which our adventurer couldnot resist; he foresaw that he should be stripped of his acquisition,which he looked upon as the fair fruits of his valour and sagacity; and,moreover, be detained as an evidence against the robbers, to the manifestdetriment of his affairs. Perhaps too he had motives of conscience, thatdissuaded him from bearing witness against a set of people whoseprinciples did not much differ from his own.
Influenced by such considerations, he yielded to the first importunity ofthe beldame, whom he dismissed at a very small distance from the village,after he had earnestly
exhorted her to quit such an atrocious course oflife, and atone for her past crimes, by sacrificing her associates to thedemands of justice. She did not fail to vow a perfect reformation, andto prostrate herself before him for the favour she had found; then shebetook herself to her habitation, with full purpose of advising herfellow-murderers to repair with all despatch to the village, and impeachour hero, who, wisely distrusting her professions, stayed no longer inthe place than to hire a guide for the next stage, which brought him tothe city of Chalons-sur-Marne.