BERNARD LILE;
AN
istorical lomante,
EMBRACINO THE PERIODS OF
THE TEXAS REVOLUTION.
AND THB
MEXICAN WAR.
BY
THE HON. JEREMIAH CLEMENS.
PHILADELPHIA:
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
1856.




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by
JEREMIAH  CLEMENS,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Curt for the Northern District of Alabama




DEDICATION,
TO
GEORGE W. NEAL, HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA.
MY DEAR GEORGE,I have taken the liberty, without consulting you, of inscribing your name on this page. The play-mate and class-mate of
my childhood and boyhood-the zealous and unwavering friend
of a manhood which the shadow has darkened as often as the
sunshine has gladdened, I should have been untrue to myself
if I had failed to mark my appreciation of a friendship so warm
and so unselfish.
Between you and me professions of kindness zre not needed.
We can afford to take each other's good will on trust, unless
the experience of more than half a lifetime is valueless; but it
may not be ungrateful to your children to know, that others
have appreciated the upright manliness, the stainless integrity,
the clear judgment, and the untiring energy of a father's character. It is a far higher legacy than any other you may have to
bestow, and I would have them cherish it with increasing pride
and satisfaction.
JERE. CLEMENS.








PREFACE.
THIS book owes its existence to an accident,
which for months prevented me from participating
in the more active duties of life.  Although a
romance in name, imagination has had little to do
with its preparation. It records events the most
of which will be familiar to many who read it.
Most of the characters are drawn from  real life.
Not a place is described I have not visited. Scarcely
a scene is depicted which is not based upon an
actual occurrence. It is a book of life-of life not
as I wished it, or thought it ought to be, but as I
have found it. It has no plan, for human life has
none. A thousand unforeseen circumstances are for
ever swaying our purposes, and making a mockery
of our firmest resolves.  It makes no attempt to
paint the author's ideal of a perfect man.  In all
"the busy, bitter scenes" through which I have
passed, I have met no such character, and believe
not in its existence. There are none of us so free
(ix)




X                 PREFACE.
from  errors that we can afford, without self-con.
demnation, to be uncharitable to the sins of others;
and I know of no good that can be accomplished by
freeing the hero of a romance from the faults incident to humanity.
The reader will find in this volume no approach
to the extravagancies of language attributed to the
South-West by almanac makers and scribblers,
whose knowledge of the country and the people is
bounded by a steam-boat excursion down the Mississippi. The South-West has a language of its own;
but it in no degree resembles the miserable caricatures with which the country has been flooded.
Sometimes whole sentences are uttered not only in
the purest English, but in the loftiest strain of
eloquence.  Then again every line is filled with
inaccuracies, but the figures are always striking,
and the words chosen best calculated to convey most
forcibly the speaker's meaning. Born upon the frontier myself, and passing the most of my life among
its rudest scenes, I know the people well, and have
sought to preserve their language exactly as it is.
Every man who writes a book, I suppose has a
motive; but very few tell it honestly in the preface.
Perhaps I shall best escape the suspicion of like
disingenuousness by keeping mine a secret; remarking only, that if the American, when he lays it down,




PREFACE.                    xi
feels in his bosom a warmer throb for his country, a
higher appreciation of its excellencies, and a more
devoted attachment to its institutions, he need not
look further for the motive which induced the author
to undergo the labor it has cost, or the hope which
sustains him in submitting his production to the
criticism of the press.
THE AUTHOR.




LIFE.
How little do we know the secret source,
From which life's fountain bubbles into day?
How little can we guide its wandering course,
As on it flows upon its turbid way?
We watch it as it rises from the spring,
And follow for a little way the tide;
Then doubt and gloom their heavy shadows fling,
On all that we would wish to know beside.
Of one thing only can we certain be;
That care and sorrow never leave the bed,
That little stream must journey to the seaStill constant when all brighter things have fled.
(xii)




BERNARD LILE.
CHAPTER I.
I can bearHowevor wretchedly,'tis still to boarIn life what others could not brook to dream,
But perish in their slumber."
Ir was a gloomy night, towards the close of October,
1835.  The wind whistled along the broad avenue that
leads from the Capitol to the mansion of the president,
and the blinding sleet was driving fiercely in the face of
a pedestrian, who, closely muffled in a heavy boat-coat,
was moving rapidly over the broken and uneven pavements
of the Federal City. Turning into a cross street, he was
lost amid the deep darkness every where reigning, save
upon the lamp-lit avenue.  Let us follow as he pursues
his solitary way through night and tempest.  What is it
that drives him forth at such an hour? In that wide city
all the hopes and fears, the cares, the sorrows, and the
joys which make up the sum of human life, have found an
abiding place.  Ambition, avarice, venality, corruptionthe petty vice, the daring crime, are strangely mingled
with all that is elevating in patriotism, generous in feeling,
or manly in action. But it is not at the bidding of passion, or of duty-of vice or of virtue, that our wanderer
braves the elements.  Gold he does not seek, and the
schemes of political managers are strangers to his bosom.
It may be that such things have occupied his thoughts in
2




14               BERNARD  LILE.
other days, but they have long since palled upon the taste.
He is a slave to that wild, fierce, never-ceasing want, which
assumes a mastery over the soul, when the heart has been
burned to ashes by the fires of former passions.  Upon
all the past one word was written in lurid charactersAGONY;-on all the future-DESPAIR.  He knew his doom
-had walked with it hand in hand for many a year, until
grown so familiar no shudder followed its contemplation.
Still it drove him on, and on, and on, he knew not where,
and cared not, so the pathway was stormy and dangerous.
It is hard enough to walk through the world with no object but forgetfulness; no hope but to chase way the dark
thoughts and bitter memories that hang around us. Yet
this is peaceful tranquility compared with the restless
wretchedness of a strong human mind, too proud to bend,
too inflexible to break, too haughty to shun reflection, or
seek for sympathy to soothe the miseries of existence.
"War with all things,
And death to all things, and disease to most things,
And pangs and bitterness; these were the fruits
Of the forbidden tree."
But there is a higher curse; a sterner condemnation, which
fell upon the rebellious angels, and falls now, at intervals
of centuries, upon some son of earth, whose nature, like
theirs, scorns the obedience Omnipotence demands, or the
submission or repentance necessary to forgiveness. That
curse is never written on the brow. It steals not away the
symmetry of form, and leaves untouched the beauty of
feature. Petty vices, such as debauchery, avarice, licentiousness, all these leave their traces behind them.  But
the victim of a loftier curse hugs the fatal secret to his
bosom, and lives on without love, without hope, without
fear; guarding with sleepless vigilance against every outward manifestation of suffering or of grief.  Of such a




BERNARD   LILE.                     15
nature was the solitary night-wanderer whose footsteps we
propose to trace.  Above human pity, he would have
spurned human sympathy as an insult.  Whatever his lot
might be, he sought no support, but wrapped in the
settled firmness of his own soul awaited, without a tremor,
all he could be called on to endure.
Steadily, without turning or pausing, he passed along
the gloomy street, until he reached a plain brick dwelling
of no outward pretensions.  The door was opened at his
knock, and, depositing his hat and over-coat in the entry,
he moved without question to an inner apartment. It was
evident that he was no unfamiliar guest.  Within that
room, decked with the splendor of an Eastern queen,
half sat, half reclined, a female of startling loveliness.
Her costume was that of another land, and the vivid light
flashing from her dark eyes, told of passions which had
their birth beneath a fiercer sun than ours. Twenty summers might have passed over her head, but of this the
gazer was in doubt, for while her form denoted maturity,
there was in every motion that elastic freedom and buoyancy so seldom  surviving early girlhood.  She wore a
robe of crimson velvet over a dress of satin, richly worked,
and sparkling with jewels.  Below the short skirt, wide
trowsers of the finest lace extended to the ankles, where
they were gathered with diamond clasps. The costly band
that had confined her hair was loosened, and it now hung
in jetty masses about a neck and shoulders whose whiteness might have shamed the snows of Ararat.  A little
foot, of perfect symmetry, was resting on a cushioned stool,
and at the moment her attention seemed to be occupied
by the precious stone which supplied the place of a buckle
to her satin slipper.  She looked up with a glad smile
when the door opened, and, though she did not rise, there
was joy and music in her silvery voice.




16              BERNARD  LILE.
"You are welcome, Bernard.  Oh I so welcome, for it is
a wild night, and I feared you would be late."
"I thought not of the night, Zerah, and in truth it is
not so very bad. I should have liked it better, if it had
been more stormy.  The war of the elements is far more
grateful than the petty struggles of my kind."
He threw himself upon the sofa, and added, as he gently
took her hand in his own.  "Order some refreshments.
Brandy if you please, for I have a story to tell, and a little
of that fiery poison Satan sent into the world for his owD
purposes, will not be amiss."
The bell was touched, glasses and brandy placed on a
stand before him, and his lovely companion, leaning her
head on her hand, prepared to listen without a word of
comment to all he saw fit to relate. He did not keep her
in suspense.  With a low but firm and steady voice his
narrative was begun.
"This is my native land.  Many years ago it witnessed
a terrible tragedy. I will not shock you by relating the
horrid tale.  It is enough that it made me what I am.
To-night I have gone through it all again. To-night it
has risen up before me, clear, vivid, distinct, as in that
hour when my hand was first dyed with human blood, and
I became a curse to earth, an outcast from  heaven.
Before the sun of Asia had first pressed its fiery kiss
upon that heavenly brow of thine, my Zerah, I loved
with a wilder fervor than the angels who deserted heaven
and itsjoys, for the sweeter embraces of the virgins of earth.
It is needless now to go over all I felt, enjoyed and suffered.
Still more needless to describe one who was everything to
me-who has been nothing to you heretofore, and whom
I have no wish should hereafter be a sad and sorrowing
memory. We were wedded according to the forms of that
religion you despise and hate. Her after story must remain




BERNARD  LILE.                     17
a sealed bookto you; but from that time I became a wanderer.
Peace, rest, forgetfulness were gone forever. The first taste
of blood had created a never-ending thirst for more; and
in many a land the pathway of Bernard Lile has been
marked by havoc, and bedewed with tears. I met you
and there came a calm. With that came, also, a yearning
desire to visit once more the home of my youth, and tread
among the graves of those I had known and loved, long,
long ago. The rest you know. To-night in one of those
halls, so common in crowded cities, where fortune is first
lost, then honor, character, the sense of shame, and often
life itself, I watched a young man at play, whose golden
locks, bright blue eyes, and speaking face too vividly
placed before me the image of one I had last seen wrapped
in a purple shroud. He lost until his last farthing was
gone, when he rose from the table, passed into another
room, and drank deeply. I followed-placed my hand on
his shoulder, and inquired,' Is your name Wilson?'
"'Yes, sir,' was the hoarse and almost inarticulate
reply.
"' The son of Robert Wilson of?'
"'The same, sir, did you know him?'
"'Well, very well.  He is dead I infer from your question; but James, Sarah, and Willie, where are they?'
"' Gone, all gone; I am the last of my race.'
"You have seen me, Zerah, when the cobra capella had
wound its folds about my limbs, and not a muscle quivered
beneath its slimy touch.  You have seen me when the
lightning shivered the rock on which I leaned, and not a
movement betrayed consciousness of the terrible danger.
But that boy's brief, sad story-that history of woe condensed into a single line, so shook me for a moment, that I
could not trust my voice in reply.  He was the first to
break silence.
2*




18             BERNARD  LILE.
"'You seem, sir, to have known my family well. May 1
ask you your name'
"' It would not enlighten you, if you heard it. I was an
exile before your birth, and the name I now bear was
assumed in a foreign land. But pardon the seeming rudeness, and allow me to ask you a few other questions. Your
father, when I knew him, was far from rich. You have
lost heavily to-night; can you afford it?'
"' I am ruined, penniless,' was the reply, in a tone that
showed despair had already folded its wings on his young
heart, and begun to fit it for a life of crime, a death of
shame.
"' How much have you lost?'
"'Every cent I had in the world. Fifteen hundred
dollars.'
Taking out a card, and writing on it, Bernard Lile, care
of Monsieur Evadne, Banker, New York, I handed it to
him, with a roll of notes, about twice the amount of his
losses; adding,'You will do me a favor, my young
friend, by accepting this money as a loan, and a still
greater favor, if at any time you should need a friend, by
dropping a note to this address.'
"He trembled, stammered, and then burst into tears.
"' I thank you, sir. I thank you. From my soul I do.
I will keep your card, but I cannot take this money from
a stranger. I can never repay it. I am a Lieutenant in
the army, and can live upon my pay, but I cannot live
under the sense of such an obligation.'
"I am no stranger to any of your blood. The money I
must insist upon your taking.  The- devil never had so
efficient an agent as Poverty. When you see your comrades
indulging in a style of living you cannot afford, you will
be contriving means to indulge in it also. When you lie
down at night, you will be dreaming of your losses. At




BERNARD  LILE.                    19
first you will curse the folly that sent you to the gamingtable.  Then you will begin to think that "luck may
change."  You will be induced to try it again.  The
tempter will be always whispering in your ear, and if you
do not seek the cowardly grave of the suicide, you will end
by becoming bankrupt in character, as well as in fortune.
Take the money you must; unless you would have me
think that the son of an old friend, the last scion of a
gallant race, is utterly lost to himself, and his country.'
"' But you, sir, you,' he faltered,'can you spare so large
an amount? for it will be long before I can pay you, if
ever.'
"'Spare it I Aye, and five hundred times the sum if it
were needed to save you. Once I was young and unstained
as you are-the future bright with promise, and glorious
with hope. Then I became an outcast, poor, much poorer
than you are: friendless and penniless-half naked, and
half dead with hunger.  Now I am rich; richer than your
wildest calculation would equal. But I went through that
to obtain it, which would have withered a thousand frames
like yours, and frozen the life-blood in a thousand hearts.
To-morrow I shall see you again-for the present goodbye. I do not tell you to avoid the gaming-table, for
this is a lesson I think you will not readily forget. It is
only men whose hearts are cased in ice, or worse, like mine
in fire, who can be gainers here.'
"And so, without waiting for a reply, I left him, and
have come to tell you I shall soon be a wanderer again.
That boy is the brother of her whose grave I dug."
Calmly, coldly, without a sign of emotion, without a
shade upon his brow, his story had been told. Even the
fair listener, who knew so well the strange being with whom
her fate was linked, wondered at the mighty power of that
unconquerable will, which, to all outward seeming, could




20              BERNARD  LILE.
silence remorse at pleasure, and bind down agony with
fetters of adamant. Whatever emotions may have agitated
her while listening to this dark recital, they found no voice,
and called forth no questioning.
Rising slowly, when it was ended, she threw one lovely
arm  around his neck, smoothed back the hair from his
pallid brow with the other hand, and imprinting a kiss upon
it, inquired seriously, but not sadly, or complainingly,
"Well, Bernard, when shall we go?"
" Ah I there is the worst of it, for it will give you pain.
I go alone."
" Alone I" she exclaimed, starting to her feet, with sudden
and passionate energy.  " Alone I and wherefore?"
" Sit down and listen. When I left this continent it was
a wilderness, except a narrow belt of land on its eastern
coast. Since that time, wave after wave of bold, hardy and
adventurous spirits have poured across the mountains, and
penetrated the pathless forests of the west. To these were
added the desperate and the lawless for whom civil society
had become an insecure abiding place.  Splendid cities
now stand where the panther and the savage then held
divided dominion, and palaces are floating on the bosom
of streams nothing had ever rippled save the light canoe of
the Indian.  As arts and civilization advanced, the first
adventurers, and others of like character, wert driven
farther west, until they reached, and crossed that mighty
river not unaptly named'the great father of waters.' Our
own territory, vast as that was, seemed too contracted for
those restless wanderers. They reached the confines of a
neighboring nation, and plunged without hesitation into
the wide prairies stretching for miles and miles along the
northern frontier of Mexico.  Nor were they at first unwelcome visitors.  Practiced, from early infancy, in the
daily use of the rifle-fearless as the lion of the desert; and




BERNARD  LILE.                     21
ready at any moment to engage in the most dangerous
undertakings; it was fondly hoped they would prove an
efficient protection, to the timid inhabitants, from the
merciless inroads of the savages. And so they did; but
as time wore on they began to think that the land defended
by their valor, ought of right to belong to them: and that
the government from which they derived no protection was
entitled to no allegiance.  Difficulties, discontent, quarrels
with the central government, were the necessary result.
These disputes have reached their climax, and the world is
about to witness the most extraordinary spectacle in its
history.-A little community of not more than five thousand inhabitants, boldly defying a nation of eight millions
of people, and appealing to the decision of the god of
battles. In that struggle, when it does come, I must have
a part. The wild chivalry which gives it birth, the desperate odds, the iron men who have raised the tempest, and
defy its power, all possess attractions I would find it difficult to resist. Above and beyond this, for the first time in
many years, a ray of hope has dawned on me. There is a
low, sweet voice forever whispering in my bosom, go, such
a work may be accepted in some part as an atonement for
the past. In a war begun and carried on to secure the
right of self-government, and the higher right of interpreting the word of God according to the light of our own reason, rather than the corrupt and interested relations of
Romish priests, the powers of good cannot be indifferent.
Every drop of blood shed in such a cause is hallowed-every
good blow struck, lightens the burden of former sins, and
infuses new life and energy into the weary and heavy laden.
" I pretend not to question, Bernard, that whatever you
do is for the best. I only ask to go with you, no matter
what sky may look down upon the land you visit. I have
slept upon your bosom among the Caucasian mountains



22              BERNARD  LILE.
together we have traversed the desert of Zahara, and together we inhaled the deadly malaria of the Africa gold
cost. There can be nothing new to me in the sights and
sounds of battle: or do you fear that this life of sloth
has subdued the strength and courage of the Georgian
girl?"
"No, Zerah, no. I know all that you can do, and all
that you can endure. Place a keen sabre in this little
hand, and I would rather trust it in the hour of danger
than a dozen of the silken things of cities who are misnamed
men. It is the faith, the religion, and above all the customs of those among whom I must sojourn, that makes our
separation for a time needful. In that land, and among
that people, it would be impossible to avoid things at
which'-you would shudder more than at the carnage of a
battle-field. There, no such thing as seclusion exists.
Every one, men, women, children, and even strange visitors
sleep in the same cabin, without so much as a canvass
screen between them.  Their meals are all in common.
The women cook the game the men bring in, wash and
mend the coarse garments soiled or torn in the chase. Of
Mahomet they have never heard, and would very likely
laugh at you whenever you attempted to go through your
devotions. They would intrude upon your privacy at all
hours, and without the slightest ceremony. They would
expect you to go through the same drudgery to which
their own wives and daughters are accustomed. All this
too would be done without any wanton purpose to wound
your feelings, without a suspicion that it was repugnant or
distasteful. Yet the least one of these things would be worse
to you than a dagger's wound. I have seen," he continued,
lifting her jewelled hand from the arm on which it fondly
rested, " I have seen these diamonds flashing around the
hilt of a Turkish yatagan, and it seemed to me not inap



BERNARD  LILE.                     23
propriate, but they would be sadly out of place if employed
in scrubbing the iron frying pan of a western settler.
" Why go, then, Bernard; why mingle at all with these
ill-mannered savages?"
"Because I cannot help it. It is written in the book of
fate, and I have no power to avoid my destiny. A great
work is to be done.  The instruments are rude and untutored, but they have been fitted for the task before them
by danger and privation.  They have been taught in a
stern school the needful lessons of daring and endurance.
They are now about to begin the dismemberment of an
empire, whose doom has been pronounced by that All-wise
Being, whom you and I worship alike, though we have
accepted different prophets. It is my fate to carry there
that superhuman strength, and that wonderful skill in arms,
which was given for higher ends than those I have heretofore pursued."
He ceased. There was no reply. Like all of her faith,
and race, she was an undoubting believer in destiny, and to
such an argument, her mind was prepared with no answer.
She sighed heavily-cast her eyes upon the floor, silently
and sadly for a time, then threw herself upon his bosom,
and spoke long and earnestly in some far foreign tongue.
Her theme was not the trials and troubles they had endured
together.  She spoke not of their early separation, of the
fears that agitated, or the hopes that softened the parting
hour.  It was of love, burning, passionate, present love.
Her eyes were sparkling with a light not of earth-in every
radiant feature there was a loveliness beyond that of Eve
before sin had visited the garden of Eden-her voice fell
upon the ear of him to whom she clung, in tones so soft,
so low, so sweet, that it seemed the breathings of an angel
choir, and his strong arm pressed her to a breast from
which beauty and music had for a time chased the demon
away.




24               BERNARD   LILE.
CHAPTER II.
"And then her step, as light
Along the unconscious earth she went,
Seemed that of one born with a right
To walk some heavenlier element;
And tread in places were her feet
A star at every step should meet."
Two days had passed away, and on the third morning, a
young man, clothed in the uniform of a Lieutenant of Infantry, was seated at a writing-desk in one of the large
hotels of Washington.   He had evidently been  long
engaged in some occupation not altogether pleasing, for it
had cast a deep shade of thought over features otherwise
femininely beautiful. It was not anger, nor impatience,
nor sorrow; but rather doubt, perplexity, anxiety.  It
was a strange expression for one so young-for one who
ought to be so free from care-for one whose proverbially
light-hearted profession, rarely encourages the indulgence
of any grief, except that of manly sorrow over a comrade's
bier.  There is an open letter before him, perhaps its
pages may reveal what it is that has flung the shadow on
his brow.
"A strange, wild adventure has happened to me, even
here, in the Federal City, Charles, where no man in his
senses ever imagined that anything could befal a young
officer on leave, of sufficient importance to fill up a page
in a letter of kind remembrance to a distant friend. While
I write, I almost doubt whether I am awake or dreaming.
" More than once I have laid aside the pen, walked to
the window, and looked out upon the busy street, to assure
myself that no troubled slumber had raised up unreal




BERNARD   LILE.                     25
visions to annoy and perplex me. The broad sun is looking down as usual upon this human ant-hill, and a restless
throng of insects are hurrying to and fro, urged on by
motives and impulses as various as the bodies they inhabit.
I am awake.  No spirit from the land of dreams has been
playing delusive pranks with imagination. It is real, all
real.  When you read my story, you will say that I ought
to rejoice; that its promises are all tinted with the rose;
and so my reason tells me, but somehow I cannot drive
away an unaccountable depression, a warning of approaching woe and danger.
" Three days ago a mere accident drew me to a gaming
table. I lost more than I could well afford, and in my
anxiety to recover it staked the last dollar I possessed.'All done?' asked the cool and passionless banker.'Turn
on,' was the response of the betters. He did turn on, and
I was penniless. I left the table utterly ruined, and then,
must needs make a still greater fool of myself, by swallowing large draughts of brandy, while the blood was already
running like molten lava in my veins.  I had noticed a
gentleman at the Faro Bank staking immense sums upon
the most desperate odds, yet always winning, although you
would have judged from his manner that he was scarcely
thinking of the game, and was utterly indifferent whether
he won or lost. When I left the table, feeling very much
like digging for myself an unhonored grave, he followed,
and commenced a series of questions it is wonderful I did
not resent as impertinent.  There was about him an air
and manner which impressed, awed, and fascinated me
beyond expression. I cannot explain to you the feeling,
but it seemed as if he had the power, and the right, to control and govern me as he willed. He spoke of my father,
and other relatives-said he had known them well in his
youth, and finally forced me to accept, as a loan, a sum more
3




26              BERNARD  LILE.
than double what I had lost. When I inquired his name, he
handed me a card, on which was written Bernard Lile, care
of Mons. Evadne, banker, New York.  At the same time
giving me to understand that was not his real name, but
one he had assumed in a foreign land.  You will not be
surprised to learn that this singular gentlemen absorbed
every thought for the remainder of the night.  Morning
found me resting on a pillow slumber had not visited. He
appeared to have known my family so well; to take so
deep an interest in my welfare; was undeniably so gifted,
as well as so rich. Above all, there was about him that
nameless spell, seldom met with more than once in a lifetime, but when met it clings to the memory, defying forgetfulness, as it conquers disobedience. It is not genius,
nor strength, nor courage, but the three combined, drilled
and disciplined by experience, and governed by an adamantine WILL no power can shake, no difficulty embarrass.
Every word he uttered; every tone of his voice was remembered.  Every time I closed my eyes, in vain attempts
to sleep, the tall form, and the firm martial step were
painted on my vision.  He has been a soldier, I know;
and I shall esteem it an instance of good fortune if, at any
time, it falls to my lot to follow such a leader to the embattled plain.
"While still occupied with the reflections his presence
and conduct had excited, he called as he had promised.
After a few unimportant inquiries, altogether personal to
myself, he spoke of his early departure from the city, said,
that he had much to do in the meantime, but he could
afford to trespass for an hour upon other engagements for
the purpose of introducing me to one whose acquaintance,
he trusted, would prove both agreeable and profitable. I
signified my readiness to accompany him of course, for in
truth I had no excuse for declining, and no power to refuse




BERNARD  LILE.                    27
if a thousand excuses had been at hand. Haughty, imperious, self-willed, as I am represented to be, I believe if
that man had told me to stab the first person I met on the
street, I would have obeyed him on the instant. On the
way he inquired the number of my regiment, and where it
was stationed. He looked surprised when I told him that
it was scattered in various directions, with scarcely more
than a single company at a point. Addressing me again,
after a brief pause he said"'I am afraid you will think me very ignorant, when I
inquire the strength of your army; but you must remember
that I have been long a stranger here, aud know less of
my own country than almost any other.'
" When I told him that the whole infantry force of the
Union consisted of eight regiments, he exclaimed,'Ahl
is that all?' then added, musingly,'eight skeleton regiments to guard a mighty empire I Why, that force would
scarcely suffice to drive the robbers from the mountains to
the northward of Jerusalem. Yet even there, among that
rude banditti, I have never heard the name-of America mentioned without respect. Strange land; strange people. In
the old world the means employed must be proportioned to
the effect sought to be produced; but here the mightiest
results not unfrequently flow from the most insignificant
causes.  A dozen men with axes and rifles crossed the
Alleghanies, and an empire sprung into existence as if by
magic.  A dozen more, with the same implements, crossed
the Mississippi, and another empire is about to be added
to the Union.  The snows of the Rocky Mountains will
next be passed, and the Atlantic joined to the Pacific by a
living Anglo-Saxon tide.  Every day reveals some new
miracle, and the tales of the Arabian Nights are surpassed
by the reality. Providence has appointed a great work to
be done, and it may be, my young friend, that you and I




28              BERNARD  LILE.
will meet hereafter, in a field, where both shall be employed
as laborers.    But who is worthy to open the book, and
loosen the seals thereof?"'
"He spoke no more, but walked on, absorbed with his
own reflections, and apparently unconscious of my presence.
We soon reached a house in one of the upper wards of the
city. Upon the door he gave a single rap, and opening it
without further ceremony, invited me to enter. We were
met by a servant in the entry, to whom he addressed a
question in a language I did not understand.  Her reply
was given in the same tongue: when it was received he
opened another door with as little ceremony as the first. I
followed him to the threshold, but there stopped, spellbound, and absolutely incapable of motion.  Rising from
a work stand, where she had been engaged in some feminine employment, and advancing to meet us, was a female
of such surpassing grace and beauty that, at the moment,
I fancied she had descended from another sphere. Coming
forward with the light springy steps of the antelope she
extended her hand to her husband, and said, in a voice
clearer and sweeter than the music of a German flute.'
"'And this is your young friend, Bernard?'
"  Even so, Zerah, and, as you have saved me half the
trouble of an introduction, I have only to say to Mr. Wilson, that this,' laying his hand upon her glossy head,'is
my young bride.  The only thing of much value that half
a lifetime of wandering and danger has brought me.'
" She extended her hand with a frank welcome. I took
it with the expression of a hope that an acquaintance
promising to be so agreeable might not soon terminate.
"' Never fear, young sir, I rarely lose sight of those whom
Bernard loves. You are much more likely to get tired of
me than I of you.'
"I said something, I know not rightly what.  I tried to




BERNARD   LILE.                     29
be gallant; very possibly I was only foolish. She motioned
me to a seat, and in a little while we were engaged in a conversation upon the ordinary topics of the day. But every
sound of that voice thrilled through me like an electric
flash, and every glance of that dark eye wakened emotions
wild and new.  It was not admiration; that word expresses
not one tenth part of what I felt. It was not love; that I
knew would be madness.  The woman who had once given
her heart to him she called husband, would shudder at the
far off footsteps of another passion. It was not adorationi;
for there was much about her to remind you of earth.  I
know not what it was, and can only describe it as a fascination that won and enchained me until I lost all feeling, all
desire, but that of rendering myself pleasing to the enchantress whose spell was upon me.
"It was not very long before Mr. Lile rose, and remarking
that he had something to show me that might be of interest
to a soldier, led the way out of the apartment.'This,' he
said, as he opened the door of another room,' is my small
armory.' It was hung round with guns of every description, and style of workmanship.  Swords, daggers and
pistols. The collection was a rich and curious one. I
did not fail to express the surprise I felt, adding that it
must have been gathered at great cost, as well as trouble.
"' No,' he replied'they are the weapons of the countries
in which I have been a- sojourner, and were collected one
by one without much cost or trouble. This,' he continued,
taking down a richly mounted cimeter,'belonged to a
Mameluke officer who tried the experiment of shortening
my stature by a head, and lost his weapon in the effort. It
is a pretty blade, and a dangerous one, but it requires a
skilful hand to wield it.  Strength avails nothing; it is all
skill and practice.'
"' So saying, he drew the bright and glittering steel from
3*




30               BERNARD   LILE.
the scabbard, and turning to where a large nail was driven
in the planking of the room, severed it at a blow. So admirably was the blade tempered that the iron made no
impression upon it, and I found it, along its whole length,
smooth and keen as before.
"Before returning the cimeter, I made several inquiries
as to the manner of tempering steel in the East. Spoke
of the fact, that our mechanics had never been able to
attain such high perfection in the art, and incidentially
alluded to the feats of Saladin, as described by Sir Walter
Scott.
"' I doubt,' he replied,' if that story was altogether an
invention. In all its essential parts it was probably true.
Sir Walter only transferred to the Sultan a dexterity possessed by hundreds of his subjects.  Still I like not the
weapon; for a downright blow on the battle field it is
useless. Here is something that suits me better.'
"The sword thus indicated, was shaped very much after
the fashion of the British artillery sabre, but longer, and
more than twice the weight of any I had ever seen.  It
occurred to me, that no human arm could wield that ponderous blade for any length of time. He must have divined
my thoughts, for he said, as he took it from my hand,
"' I had it made to suit myself. It is too heavy for most
men, but I find no difficulty in using it. Besides its weight,
the temper is just as admirable as yon Damascus cimeter,
and with ordinary force will easily cleave through greater
obstacles than a rusty nail.'
"We now passed on to a rack where his pistols were suspended.  He made some remarks upon each, indicative of
the place of its manufacture, or the manner it was obtained.
Near the end of the rack he took down one of Colt's
revolvers.




BERNARD  LILE.                     31
"'This,' he said,'is of native growth, and for service is
worth all the others together.'
"'Do you value it so highly?'
"'It is impossible to value it too highly.  Revolving
guns have been known for a hundred years, but they were
so clumsily constructed as to be worthless.  This is a different affair. It is capable of great improvement, and no
doubt will be greatly improved by its inventor, if he be the
man of genius his past achievements indicate; but even
now, without further alteration, I have seen nothing to
equal or approach it.'
" My attention was now directed to a full length portrait
of my host, hanging against the wall, at the extremity of
the room.  He was dressed in a rich foreign garb; the
long heavy sabre I had just been examining was in his
hand, the point resting on the earth, while at his feet was
the figure of a man, evidently a vanquished and pardoned
enemy, who was apparently rising slowly and painfully
from the ground, where he had been hurled. Underneath
were the words:
" That mercy I to others show,
That mercy show to me."
"Both of us stopped and regarded the painting in
silence. What was passing through his mind I know not.
Mine was filled with many thoughts.  I wandered away,
in imagination, to the distant clime where the words of
forgiveness had followed the deadly struggle. A new phase
had exhibited itself in the character of my new acquaintance. Mercy clothed him with her downy mantle and my
heart yearned towards the strong man, as to a gentle and
loving brother. His voice broke a reverie, pleasing enough
to make me wish it longer.
"'That is Zerah's work. It records an incident which




82              BERNARD  LILE.
affected her greatly, and that picture was painted to perpetuate its memory. You see, also, that she is not unacquainted with  our English classics; though  she little
dreams from whence Pope borrowed the sentiment.'
"I ventured to say,'I was not aware it had been
borrowed.'
"'Because you have never taken the trouble to think
about the matter at all. You have repeated the original,
I dare say, hundreds of times, Forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.  In my
opinion, the alteration has marred its beauty. But come,
Zerah brooks no neglect, and we must return to her now,
if we would find that angel-face as radiant as we left it.'
"' She is indeed an angel.'
"'Yes I and the more lovable for the strong human
passions which inhabit that exquisite form.'
"We found the lovely mistress of the mansion looking
over the pages of a richly bound volume.  It was laid
aside immediately on our entrance.  The conversation
that ensued was far from gay, but it was cheerful, and left
none but pleasant impressions behind.  When I rose to
depart, he took my hand, and, speaking warmly, and kindly,
bade me remember'that he had left an address in my possession, and that he expected me to apply to Monsieur
Evadne in case any of the trials incident to youth should
overtake me.'
"'I did not bring you here,' he continued,'for the
trifling purpose of an hour's conversation, or the still more
trifling one of exhibiting the toys you have just been examining.  I am going on a long journey, and shall not be
here to assist you, if you should need assistance, but a
letter addressed to Monsieur Evadne will reach Zerah, and
you must be in a sore strait if she does not find the means
of relieving you.'




BERNARD  LILE.                     33
"I thanked him earnestly for his kindness, and in my
turn proffered any assistance I could render his wife during
his absence.
"'My dear sir,' was the reply,'Zerah is a genuine
Moslem.  She goes to no plays-no parties-no places of
public amusement. She never leaves her own door without
being closely veiled. She does not understand, and would
not accept the courtesies so common among us, and so
grateful to a lady mingling in American society. In all
else she is provided for. She can command those who are
both shrewd and worldly, and whose interest it is to be
faithful, obedient, and honest.  Leave her your address,
and keep Evadne advised of your whereabouts.  She will
send for you if she needs you, F..d fail not on your part to
apply to her.'
" He dropped my hand.  His wife advanced, and gave
me hers. I heard the tones of that silvery voice, and knew
it was a blessing she invoked, but the words were lost in
the music that gave them utterance.  I raised the little
hand respectfully to my lips, and turned away. In another
moment the door had closed between me and the friends I
had found so strangely, and parted from so suddenly.
"You cannot conceive the strength of the impression
they have made upon me.  One or the other is incessantly
rising up before me. Sometimes it is the man; mysterious,
incomprehensible.  With his wonderful powers of mind
and body; his marble face, calm, unruffled, cold, still and
passionless. Speaking always in a voice of unconscious
command, and hiding  every emotion without seeming
effort. Once only did I detect any change in his impassable features. When he raised that heavy sabre, and let his
eye glance along the polished blade, there was a flash that
told of the volcano slumbering within.  Then again, the
vision changes, and his wife appears in her supernatural




34              BERNARD  LILE.
beauty; looking as if she had just descended from above,
and had not remained on earth long enough to soil her
satin slipper. The melody of her last adieu is even now
floating around me, and never did Cherub, or Cherubim,
utter notes more enchanting. Who are they? What can
they be? Ask among the old men in the neighborhood if
they remember any one to whom my description will apply.
I dared not asked him more than he chose to tell; but a
curiosity has been awakened which  must be satisfied.
Write at once and let me know what you can find out.
"ROBERT WILSON."
Poor boy I how little he knew his own heart I How
ignorant he was of the dreadful precipice on whose outmost verge he was standing.  Not love the woman who
had so captivated his fancy I Not love her I and because he was hopeless of a return. Oh I what a low and
earthy thing would love be, if it could be cramped by such
boundaries. If hearts were put up in the market, bargained
and bartered for, like silk or sandal wood, in the marts of
Arabia.  If the young are to go out, with triple armor
round their bosoms, saying to the beautiful and the good,
I have a heart hidden somewhere within me that I am
willing to dispose of, but I must first know what I am to
receive in return. If you will give me an assurance that
yours is to be trafficked for, I will take off this outward
covering, exhibit mine, and begin to arrange the terms of
an exchange. This is not the passion whose celestial birth
has been sung in every land where the letters of Cadmus
have penetrated; not the passion that exalts, informs, and
purifies our nature till we become in truth, but a "little
lower than the angels." Love, genuine love, comes unbidden, and remains, uninvited. No matter what difficulties may surround it-no matter if Hope never put




BERNARD  LILE.                     35
forth its leaves, or putting them forth, they had early
sickened and died, still it lives on, changeless among the
changeful  immortal amid the dying.  Who that has
looked from a high balcony upon a garden of roses, ever
stopped to inquire if he could pluck the flower before
admiring its beauty. Shall a higher sentiment, the highest
that has winged its way from its natal home beyond the
stars, be driven shuddering back by the cold calculations
of a peddling trader.  No, oh, no! We are bad enough;
the fruits of the forbidden tree have not all been gathered,
but neither has the atonement been in vain; and Robert
Wilson penned a libel on himself when he wrote that he
could not love Zerah Lile, because he knew she loved
another.  He did more; he lulled himself into security
when the outposts of the citadel were taken, and its inner
defences fearfully weakened.  He who continues to read
these pages will have occasion to remember his self-deception, and to note its consequences.  What answer was
returned to his inquiries in relation to the husband, is
unknown. It is very improbable that he obtained the
information he sought. Time, war, toil, and suffering, are
no gentle playmates.  In all things they work changes
inward and outward.  The boy of twenty is often no more
like the man of forty, than the lamb of the hill-side resembles the tiger of the jungles.  Whatever had been the
Bernard Lile of yesterday, it was not the Bernard Lile of
to-day. That very calmness, no fear, no love, no hate, no
astonishment ever chased away, only betrayed the ordeal
he had passed.  He had conquered, and was master of
himself, but the victory had cost him dear, and the traces
of the struggle would remain forever.




36               BERNARD  LILE.
CHAPTER III.
"This should have been a noble creature: he
Hath all the energy which would have made
A goodly frame of glorious elements,
Had they been wisely managed."
IN the year 1835, there stood upon the bank of the Mississippi, near the mouth of the Arkansas river, a rude
collection of log cabins, intended for the accommodation
of the hunters of that wild region, and of the gamblers
who congregated there, for the purpose of cheating these
sons of the forest out of the hard earnings of the chase.
At that period there were floating on every boat, and
infesting every landing place along the entire length of the
"Great Father of Waters," a class of men, now happily
passing away, whose sole business it was to cheat the inexperienced and the unsuspecting of whatever money or
produce they might possess. Generally of good manners
and insinuating address, with an extensive knowledge of
human nature; liberal to profusion when their ever-varying
fortunes permitted liberality; equally ready for a fray or a
feast; it was difficult to avoid their companionship, and to
become a companion was almost certainly to become a
victim. Among their most favored resorts was the landing
to which allusion has been made.  Here came the hunter
when the chase was done; and here came the trader to
barter for his furs and peltries. The gambler looked upon
both as pigeons to be plucked, and it mattered little to him
who was subjected to the operation.  His object was to
obtain money to squander in the sensual indulgences of
the cities on the great river and its tributaries. To do him




BERNARD  LILE.                       87
justice, he never thought of the wide misery he sometimes
inflicted. IHe took no account of agents defrauding their
employers to obtain "a stake," or of families deprived of
the common necessaries of life by his skilful manipulations.
Place immediately before his eyes a case of poverty or of
suffering, and he was much more ready to relieve it with his
purse, than many of those whose charities not unfrequently
find a place in the newspapers. Often blackened by other
vices, careless of public opinion, lost to the sense of shame,
there was still one green spot in his heart, and the needy
never applied to him in vain if he had the means to relieve
them.  Nor were other virtues wanting; springing among
thorns and branches-choked and cramped it is true, but
virtues nevertheless. If we could read the private history
of one gambler's life; if we could trace each step of his
downward progress; realize the allurements that enticed,
the temptations that beset him, we should doubtless find
much in the record to demand both pity and forgiveness.
They do not spring into the world full-fledged and ready to
prey upon their kind. Nine times in ten they are victims
before they become plunderers.  All are not thoroughly
bad, but it is well for the young to remember, that all who
indulge in such practices, are liable to become so-all are
certain to give great pain where they little dream of inflicting it, and all are certain to be sufferers themselves.
It was night. A clear, star. light night, with just enough
frost in the air to make the large wood-fire blazing in the
front cabin pleasant and comfortable.  Around the fire
were grouped six or seven stalwart hunters, watching with
eager interest a game of " seven up," going on between one
of their number and a man whose profusion of ruffles and
ornaments, indicated his profession as plainly as if it had
been written on his brow.  In a corner sat an individual
who was paying but little attention to the game, casting
4




88              BERNARD  LILE.
only an occasional glance at the players, and then turning
his eyes again to the blazing logs on the hearth stone. He
wore the air and manner of a stranger whose stay in the
place had probably been caused by one of those accidents
common to travellers.  To complete the picture, the landlord was leaning with his elbows upon a rude counter,
dignified with the name of a bar; dividing his time pretty
equally between marking the points of the game, and puffing at the corn-cob pipe he held between his lips.
" How is the game, Williams?" said the gambler, turning to his host.
"You are five to his four."
"Then I beg."
"I give," said the hunter, who had dealt the cards.
"That makes six, and here's the low spot, showing the
lowest trump, which puts me out."'
"The game is closed," was the commentary of the hunter, as he rose from his seat.  "I'm busted!"
The gambler rose also, and carelessly putting the stakes
in his waistcoat pocket, remarked to those around,"Well boys, as I'm in luck to-night, I'll stand treat.
Williams, give us some of that real old Bourbon-none of
your Tennessee bald-face.  Stranger," turning to the traveller in the corner, "won't you join us."
The invitation was coldly, but politely declined.
"Well, no harm done. You lost that last game, Tom
Simpson," addressing his late adversary, " by begging on
the first hand. I had narry trump, and if you had stood
on the Jack, I was bound to be beaten."
"No matter how it was lost," replied Simpson, with a
knit brow and a clenched hand, it's lost; and the money
has gone into your pocket, like all the rest I have made for
the last five years. But," he continued, striking the counter
with a force that made the bottles and glasses jingle, "look




BERNARD  LILE.                     39
out, Jim Black, I know you are none too good to cheat.
I believe you have been cheating me all along, and if ever
I catch you at that game, I'll drive my knife through your
heart in less than half a minute afterwards."
" There is no use in talking that way, Tom. I know it
as well as you do; and you needn't be telling a fellow of
it every time you see him. Just wait'til you catch me."
"I will; but, by God, when I do catch you, you won't
have many seconds to say your prayers."
Black was a man of dauntless courage, which the enervating effects of a life of debauchery and licentiousness had
failed to subdue.  Looking calmly into the face of the
fierce and powerful man who confronted him, he replied,"Well, Tom, I hope to have the pleasure of drinking
your health very frequently before that time comes. Here's
to you, old fellow, better luck the next time, if it is to my
cost," and he drained his glass to the bottom.
The stranger, who had listened to the foregoing conversation, with far more attention than he had bestowed upon
anything going on around him, now rose from his seat, and
approaching Black, inquired,
"Is it true that you have been playing cards with this
man for years, with the full knowledge that your life was,
every moment, in imminent peril from his suspicions?"
"Why, yes I Everybody knows Tom  Simpson is much
more likely to cut a throat than to talk about it. But I
trust a good deal to my luck, and a good deal more to
skill and coolness."
"Now, this is something I call worth living for," said
the stranger, earnestly.  "I never expected to envy a
human being, but I do envy you, sir.  I would give fifty
thousand dollars for one week of such excitement."
Simpson's brow grew darker, and his eye flashed with a
deadlier light. Stung by his losses-almost maddened by




40              BERNARD  LILE.
the conviction that he had been cheated, and was unable to
detect it: he was exactly in the condition to quarrel with
any body, or on any pretext. Laying his hand firmly on
the shoulder of the last speaker, he growled rather than
said.
" So you think there would be something funny in having
Tom Simpson's knife pointed at your heart. By the Lord
God you had better try it."
There was a dead silence in the room.  The giant
strength and desperate character of the backwoodsman
were known to all; and each one held his breath with the
conviction that very soon the floor would be stained with
murder. The stranger alone was unmoved. Not a shade
passed over his marble face. For an instant the dull,
sleepy look vanished from his dark hazel eye, and a flash
as vivid as the lightning took its place. But it was for an
instant only.  Calmly lifting the strong man's hand from
his shoulder, he said, slowly and sternly.
" I should indeed like to make the experiment, if I did
not know it would be useless. You are no match for me
-have no power to harm me, and there could be little excitement in a struggle, when I know before hand how it
must result."
"You think so, do you?" howled Simpson, aiming a
blow at the head of his antagonist that would have prostrated an ox.
Quick as thought, the arm of the infuriated hunter was
knocked up, and the next instant he was hurled, as if
driven from a catapult, into the extreme corner of the
room.  A yell of rage and pain escaped him as he rose
from the floor, and drawing his knife, he sprang with the
bound of a tiger towards his foe. With the right foot
thrown back, the left knee slightly bent, and the left hand
raised to the height of the elbow, that foe awaited his




BERNARD  LILE.                     41
coming, watching every motion with a lynx's eye. The
broad, bright blade rose on high, glittering in the light of
the fire with a sickly bluish glare-it descended, but not
on the bosom at which it was aimed. The arm that held
it was enclosed in an iron grasp, and Simpson dragged
froward with a sudden jerk, lay upon the floor, stunned and
senseless. Instantly springing upon his prostrate enemy,
and drawing his arms forcibly behind him, the stranger
bound them fast with his silken handkerchief. Then taking
a leathern thong from the wall where it was hanging, he
proceeded deliberately to fasten his feet in the same manner. When this was accomplished he rose from the body
and quietly remarked,
" There, sir, I do not think it will take long for you to
get cool in that fix."
All this had happened so suddenly, that not one of the
spectators had time to utter a word or raise a hand to
interfere. Now, that it was over, they turned their eyes
from the prostrate hunter, with wonder and awe to the
seemingly passionless victor.  He had resumed his seat
with as much composure as if the terrible conflict he had
provoked was the mere pastime of children; and was again
gazing into the fire with the same half-sleepy, half-abstracted
look he had worn during the earlier part of the evening.
Simpson, who had now recovered partially from the stunning effects of his fall, was regarding his late antagonist
with a look of mingled astonishment and curiosity.
"Stranger," said he in a tone no longer indicative of
passion or defiance, " will you tell me what is your name,
and where you hail from?"
"My name is Bernard Lile.  No matter where I came
from. It is enough that I am an American."
" Thank you for the information. I rather think," he
continued, "I have come out second best in this skrimmage,
4*




42              BERNARD  LILE.
and may as well own up. I'm  licked bodyaciously, out
and out, and since I've acknowledged the corn, you might
as well untie these knots. This is not exactly a feather
bed I'm lying on, and my shoulder is burning as if a hundred red hot spindles were stuck in it."
Without a word Lile rose, and removed the shackles
from the prostrate huntsman.  Then placing one hand
above, and the other below the shoulder joint, he pressed
it with considerable force. The examination satisfied him
that no great harm was done, for he turned away, saying,
"It is not out of joint, it is only sprained. Rub it well
with camphor-I suppose that is the best thing you can
get here-and it will be well in a day or two."
The landlord had no camphor.  "Then give me some
whiskey," exclaimed Simpson, " and rub it in hard. Jim
Black will pay for the sperits out of the money he has won
from me."
"Certainly," assented the gambler.  "Not only that, I
will make you a poultice to-night, and insure it to take the
soreness out by breakfast to-morrow."
The momentary awe created by the sudden conflict, and
its almost miraculous termination was at an end.  Scenes
of peril and blood were too familiar to all present to drive
away, for any length of time, their accustomed cheerfulness.
The bottle circulated freely among them, and many a wild
story of hair-breadth escapes from the Indians, or the wild
beasts, filled up the intervals. Simpson was standing at
the counter, his brawny chest and sinewy arms laid bare,
while his host was rubbing his shoulder, with a hand as
hard and horny as the skin of the alligator.
"I say, Tom," said he in a whisper, pouring on at the
same time a fresh supply of whiskey, " that was a bad fight
you picked up."
"Bad I I think it was," replied Simpson, through his




BERNARD  LILE.                     43
ground teeth, " Do you know there is but one thing keeps
me from believing that fellow is the devil."
"What is that?"
"Why, if it was Old Nick himself, I am almost sure he
would have been off to hell with Jim Black before this.
Still I don't understand how anything of flesh and blood,
could jerk my knife from  my hand, without getting a
scratch, and then tie me fast, hand and foot, in less time
than it takes to tell it."
"Nor I neither, Tom. I thought you was a long ways
the best man on the Mississippi."
" I would have sworn it, Williams, at the drop of a hat.
Why, it was only last week that I caught a half-grown
panther by the throat, and choked the critter lifeless before
it could do more than tear the clothes, and a little of the
hide off my arm and breast. Yet this fellow comes along
here and handles me as if I was a ten-year old boy.  I
don't understand it, and I never shall."
By this time Black had returned with the poultice.
Bidding Williams spread down a buffalo skin, he applied
it carefully and skilfully to the battered shoulder of his
patient.
"There," he said, as the last ligature was fastened,
"all's right.  Now lie down and be quiet."
"I will, Jim, though its nigh about the only thing in
which I would like to follow your advice. They tell me
you were a doctor before women and cards got into your
head, and made you the devil's imp that you are. At any
rate you cured me once before of a worse hurt than this,
and it may be that same thing has more than once kept my
knife from between your ribs."
"May be so," replied the gambler, carelessly, "but it is
not dead certain. I do not think I could have got out of
the scrape as easily as that fellow yonder did; still it is no




44              BERNARD  LILE.
five to one bet that every one who undertakes it is going to
kill me first."
So saying, he turned on his heel and walked away.
Before the first light of the morning had gilded the east,
the hunters had taken their way to the forest, and none appeared at the breakfast table but Lile, Simpson and Black.
Bear meat and venison steaks were smoking on the board,
with excellent corn-bread, butter and milk. There was,
also, something called coffee, but it was muddier than the
water of the Mississippi of which it was made. The biscuit
resembled in shape and size the mud turtle, so common in
the creeks and bayous of the South.  In Mr.' Black's
opinion, however, it was a breakfast "not to be sneezed
at;" and either the others agreed with him, or their appetites were something of the sharpest. Conversation there
was none; unless a brief question, now and then, and a
still more brief reply, could be called conversation. Between these three men there could be little in common, and
neither thought fit to manifest any particular interest in the
affairs of his companions. What the future might reveal,
what antagonism, or what friendships it might establish,
was unknown, and very probably uncared for. When the
meal was finished, they sauntered into the front cabin,
which, as we have seen, answered the purposes of sittingroom, card-room, and grocery.
"This is likely to be a dull day," remarked Black, as he
drew a cigar from his pocket, and lighted it by one of the
blazing brands of the fire.  "The boys will not be back
before night, and we shall have nothing to do but watch
the steamboats as they pass. It is a pity your arm is hurt,
but for that we might have a social game of cards to pass
away the time."
"My arm is well enough," surlily responded Simpson,
who did not exactly like the allusion to his discomfiture of




BERNARD  LILE.                    45
the night before. "I can handle my rifle or knife easy,
but I have no money, and I don't think I would play with
you any more, if I had."
"Perhaps, sir," said Lile, addressing Black, "you would
take a game with me."
The gambler's eyes sparkled. It was the very thing he
had been longing for, but he stood too much in awe of that
strange man to make the advance.
" Certainly," he said, "I do not know how else to get
through the day."
Seating himself astride the long bench before the fire, he
drew a deck of cards from his pocket, and shuffling them
carelessly, asked,
"What shall we bet?"
"Anything you please."
"Well, I never bet very high, but a little stake makes
the game more interesting.  Suppose we say ten a game."
Lile pulled out a purse, well filled with gold; a coin
remarkably scarce at that day on the Mississippi, when the
whole country was flooded with paper money. In a short
time afterwards this money became utterly worthless,
making shipwreck of many a reputed fortune, and dragging
down many a man who fancied he was beyond the reach of
poverty.
The money was staked, and the game commenced. At
first the gambler won.  The stakes were doubled-he
lost-doubled again, and again, until, in less than an hour,
the redoubtable Jim Black was penniless. In his desperation, he pulled out his watch and diamond pin, and proffered
to play for them.
"No," was the reply, "I have no use for your jewels.
I am satisfied with the lesson I have given you. These
cards are marked. I knew them as well as you did, having seen such things often in Paris.  You thought to




46             BERNARD  LILE.
swindle me, and now that you have had your own trick
turned upon you, must put up with your losses in the best
way you can."
"Where is the mark?" asked Simpson, who had been
watching the game with intense interest."
" There.'  Putting his finger on the left hand side of the
card, about a fourth of its length from the top.
Simpson took the deck in his hand-ran his eye eagerly
over them, and exclaimed;
"By God I it is as big as a horse shoe."
" Yes, now that it is shown to you; but you have been
playing with this man for years without making the discovery."
Simpson laid down the cards, and in a tone of deep and
stern determination addressed Black, who had remained
perfectly silent during the foregoing colloquy.
" I told you that if ever I caught you cheating, I would
introduce my knife to your heart strings, and as God is my
judge I will keep my word."
The gambler's matchless impudence now came to his aid.
He had long since recovered from the first confusion of
detection. Looking Simpson steadily in the face, he said:
" You promised, I know, to cut my throat, or something
of the sort, if you ever caught me cheating you; but it
happens that you haven't caught me at all. I played a
marked deck on a stranger who knew them better than I
did, and I have got badly sucked in. But what is that to
you? I never cheated you, or if I did you never caught
me, and can't prove it."
" He is right," said Lile, " and if you will take my advice
you will avoid him hereafter, rather than quarrel with him
for what is past and gone. I assure you it is the better
course. Let it drop where it is and walk a little way with
me. I have something to say to you privately."




BERNARD  LILE.                      47
Slowly, reluctantly, and with frequent backward glances
at the object of his resentment, Simpson followed the footsteps of Lile. When safe beyond the chance of being overheard, the latter briefly inquired,
"How much money has that fellow won from you?"
"First and last at least three thousand dollars."
Well, here is about five thousand dollars I have just
won from him.  Take it all, you are entitled to some compensation for the uneasiness he has made you suffer."
Simpson drew back, but Lile urged it upon him. " Take
it man, most of it is yours.  I do not want it, and played
with him for no other purpose than to win what you had
lost. Besides I want you to do me a service, and I do not
know how I could have paid for it in a cheaper way."
The hunter pocketed the money, but it was clear he had
many misgivings as to the propriety of doing so. His companion continued interrogatively.
"You know the road to San Antonio de Bexar?'
" Every foot of it, as well as I know the ground back of
Williams's house."
"Well, I am going there, and I want.some one who can
guide me by the nearest paths through the forest, and over
the prairies. Will you go?"
Simpson thought of the pile of gold he had seen-he
knew the scarcity of that description of money-he remembered also that his companion had never uttered a syllable
to indicate from whence he came, or what was his business,
and a suspicion flashed over his mind that he was an emissary of the Mexican government.  Under this impression
he replied.
" Tell me first whether you have any dealings with the
Mexicans."
" No, but I hope to have soon. The American settlers
in Texas have declared for independence.  They will have




48              BERNARD  LILE.
a hard struggle, and I am going to offer such assistance as
a single arm can give."
"If that is what you are after," ejaculated the hunter,
"you need not have paid so high for a guide. I would
have done it for love. What is more, I will stand by you
till the game's played out."
"Then we will consider it settled.  When can you
start?7
" Day after to-morrow.  By that time my arm will be
strong enough to stand a tussel with a bear.  I have
nothing else to do but send this money to my old father
and mother in  Tennessee, who reduced  themselves to
poverty in trying to learn me better things than roaming
the woods three-fourths of the year, and associating with
gamblers and cut-throats the other fourth.  When I know
they are provided for neither man nor devil will have much
hold on me."
" I thought you had been better educated than the men
with whom I found you."
" Yes, I learned English pretty well, and also a little
Latin and Greek: but I have been among these people so
long I have caught their language, as well as their manners, and I suppose it will stick by me to my dying day."
Without further conversation they returned to the house,
and the same day Simpson took advantage of a passing
steamboat to send his money to a merchant of New
Orleans, with instructions to forward it to his father.
The night passed much as usual after the return of the
absent hunters, except that there was no gambling. Black
did not appear at all discomfited by his exposure, or out
of spirits from the serious loss he had sustained. Helaughed,
drank, told stories with the rest, and was among the last to
seek his bear sk;n couch.
With the ctwn of morning the hunters again sought the




BERNARD  LILE.                   49
woods, and Black, contrary to his custom, went with them.
Lile and Simpson were busied with preparations for their
departure. The latter insisted on seeing everything. It
was in vain the former assured him that he was himself an
old hunter and soldier; that he knew all that was needful,
and had provided it accordingly. Simpson urged that the
woods were new and strange; the dangers to be encountered
of a different kind to anyto which his comrade had been
accustomed.  He examined his rifle; shot it at a mark to
prove its accuracy. Tried the temper of his bowie knife
by driving it through an inch plank; and finally inspected
his powder horn and bullet pouch.  The examination
clearly pleased him. As he laid down the last mentioned
article he gave vent to his satisfaction.
" You know more than I thought any man could learn
in the settlements; and it is a real comfort in the woods to
know you can rely on your companion."
5




60               BERNARD LILE.
CHAPTER IV.
"Weak, weak and vain our struggles to be free;
Before earth's atoms from dark chaos sprung,
The hand of fate had traced his stern decree,
And high in heaven the changeless tablet hung."
THE sun had long passed its meridian, and was rapidly
descending the western hemisphere. In the deep forest of
cottonwood which nearly every where skirts the Mississippi,
two men, with their rifles beside them, were seated on the
trunk of a fallen tree in earnest conversation. The first was
our old acquaintance Black, who was very busily engaged
digging a trough in the decaying trunk with the point of his
Bowie knife.  The other was a tall and powerful man, with
black eyes and sun-burned face. His thin and closely compressed lips, together with a certain fierce, devil-may-care
expression of countenance, told of iron firmness, and a
haughty self-dependence, resulting from  many a danger
encountered and overcome.  In sleep, a physiognomist
would have pronounced those features well suited to his
manly form; but there was something in the eye-its catlike shape; its constant watchfulness; its restless and
uneasy roving from object to object, that spoke of crime
more loudly than of daring.  Not a dry branch cracked,
not a bird fluttered but attracted his attention, and each
time his hand was laid unconsciously on the long rifle by
his side.  At the time to which our story refers, Black
desisted from his occupation, and looking fixedly at his
companion, hissed through his closed teeth,"I tell you, Montgomery, it must be done."
"And I tell you, Jim Black, this is no child's business.




BERNARD  LILE,                     51
I wouldn't mind sending a rifle-bullet through the stranger,
if he is as rich as you say he is, but Tom Simpson is too
well known in this neighborhood.  He will be missed.
You and me will be suspected, and we have done a good
many things in our time that won't bear searching into."
" Simpson must die too. He is dangerous. Every time
he looked at me last night, his eye had the roll of the panther when about to make his leap. Besides, he knows all
now, and will tell every trader that comes to the Landing,
so that as long as he lives our game here is blocked."
"I know all that, and wish that d-m-d black-browed,
say-nothing devil, had been in hell before he came this way.
But how are we to help the mischief that is done without
running too much risk? The law is weak in these parts,
I know, but you and me have' escaped a long time, and
luck will change after awhile."
"Yes; luck will change.  Men who rely on luck are
certain to be swamped in the end, but sense and management seldom fail.  They start to-morrow for Texas, and
take the nigh cut through the swamp. I wormed it all out
of Lile last night, when he little thought what I was after.
For sixty miles the path can be travelled very well by
horses. Now what is to prevent you and me from crossing
the river to your cabin to-night-mounting our horses at
daylight, and pushing on ahead for forty or fifty miles.
There are plenty of hiding places for the horses as well as
for ourselves, and the job can be done without risking a
coroner's inquest."
His fellow-ruffian did not answer for some time.  He
was calculating in his own mind all the chances of risk and
profit. At length he spoke,"I suppose I must stand by you, Jim, but I don't like it
a bit. Tom Simpson has the eye of a hawk,and knows the
woods better than any Indian between here and the Rocky




52              BERNARD  LILE.
Mountains. I can't tell what that stranger knows, but he's
not been raised on carpeted floors, and that skrimmage of
his, at Williams's, the other night, was not the first he's
been in by a hundred.  You say I shall have the five
thousand?"
"Yes, that much any how, and if he is as rich as I think
he is, there will be more to divide. Now let us be off.
We have no time to spare, and need not stop at the Landing to make excuses for not killing any game to-day."
"But we must stop to buy a quart at Williams's.  I
don't think I ever left this side without taking some of the
red-eye with me, and it would look rather suspicious if I
went without it."
"Right; exactly right. I did not think of that. Buy
half a gallon; and whisper to Williams, as a great secret,
that I have determined to keep out of the way until that
affair of the marked cards blows over. He will be certain
to tell it to every body, and it will account for our absence."
As the sun was descending behind the tree tops, on his
westward journey, the intended victims of this cold-blooded
assassination were standing on the bank of the Mississippi,
watching the muddy torrent rushing by with its mighty
tribute to the ocean. To one of them all that he saw was
too familiar to excite emotion.  The dark forest of cottonwood had been his home for years. By day and by night
he had threaded its most intricate paths. Each individual
tree was a familiar acquaintance.  Separately and collectively he looked upon them with that feeling of indifference
to which use alike brings the free rover of the woods and
the lordly occupant of a palace. In the river, indeed, he
felt an exulting pride-the pride of patriotism. It belonged to America.  Like Niagara, the lakes, or the wide
prairie, it belonged to his country. He had come to spend
a portion of every year upon its banks. In his heart he




BERNARD   LILE.                     53
believed the commerce of the world could not be carried
on without its aid, and that man would have been treading
upon dangerous ground who ventured to say, in his presence, the universe contained any thing to equal or rival
it. Its sucks, eddies, whirlpools, snags, sawyers, all were
dear to him, and the faintest approach to a sneer would
have been resented as promptly as an intimation that the
battle of New Orleans was not the greatest recorded event
in history.
To the other it suggested reflections of a widely different
nature.  He compared it with his own stormy and tempestuous life-rushing on in its headlong course, grand,
majestic, turbid, terrible. Laughing to scorn the puny
efforts of man to control and direct it.   Threatening
everything that floated upon its bosom with destruction.
Whelming every obstacle beneath its waves, and finally
cutting its way far into the Gulf, tinging even the deep sea
with its own muddy hue.
" But at last," he murmured, " it mingles with its brother
waters.  The stain it has'borne for a thousand miles is
washed away, and in that vast home the wild torrent becomes clear and pure as the mountain rill. Will it be so
with me?  I know not, and I doubt.  Yet, surely the
feeling that urged me to revisit these shores was from above.
It is not the promptings of the Evil One that, day after
day, direct me to assist in striking the shackles of tyranny
from human limbs, and the deadlier shackles of superstition
from the human soul.  Not his the hand that drew away
the curtain from the star of hope. Not his the voice that
whispers return, repent; there was pardon for the thief
upon the cross, and the words of forgiveness converted his
dying agonies into rapture."
A calm had come-the calm of despair.  The winds that
now ruffle those waves, could only have been unchained by
5*




54             BERNARD  LILE.
the hand of Him whose mercy follows even those who have
trampled on His laws and defied His power.
Slowly he turned to go away, but Simpson laid his hand
upon his arm, and whispered,
" Wait."
Black and Montgomery were approaching from  the
direction of the house, with their guns and accoutrements.
Walking in the Indian fashion, one behind the other, they
passed by our two friends without a sign of recognition,
undid the fastenings of a skiff, and commenced pulling
rapidly across the stream.  Simpson watched them  in
silence, until they had pulled out many yards from the
bank, when his thoughts assumed the shape of words.
"There goes a precious pair of scoundrels. I wonder
what devil's work is in the wind now. Every time, in my
knowing, that they have crossed this river together, some
traveler has been missed, or some other foul deed done."
"Their good intentions are directed to us this time, my
friend," was the response of Lile. "Mr. Black, like most
cunning people, betrayed himself last night. He was too
inquisitive by half, and much too careless, seemingly, about
the answers he received. Men situated as he and I are, do
not ask questions of each other without feeling an interest
in the answers. From his look and manner, an unsuspecting person would have been apt to imagine that my route,
and my time of starting were the most indifferent things in
the world to Mr. James Black. My conclusion was, that he
intended to waylay and murder us both, if he could, and I
have been expecting all day to see him do the very thing
he is now doing."
"Like enough I Like enough! He hates you for exposing him-he knows that he has lost me as a customer,
and may, at any time, feel the point of my knife. Besides,
he would cut half a dozen throats, at any time, for a less




BERNARD  LILE.                     55
sum than he thinks you have about you.  I wish you
had let me kill the murdering thief, as I meant to do,
yesterday. "
"I shall not interfere a second time, if my suspicions are
correct. Is any change in our plans necessary?"
"Not if forty lions were in the path. We know something now, and will know more in the morning. If murder
is what they are after, they will catch it themselves, unless
Tom Simpson has forgotten his woodcraft."
Lile extended his hand, and grasped that of his companion cordially,
"Now I know you, my gallant friend; and as our lots
are to be henceforth cast together, I may as well say that
you need  have no misgivings about my inexperience.
True, I know nothing of the country we are to pass, but I
am an older woodsman than yourself, and never in the
forest, the desert, or the walled town, have I met that man
who was my equal with rifle, with sword, or with dagger."
" I believe you; and what is more, if you were to tell
me you could run and jump the Mississippi, I'll be d    d
if I didn't believe that too. It would be no stranger than
jerking me about like a cub bear of a mouth old."
"Forget that. I will do the same thing for your foes,
if it should ever become necessary."
" Forget it I I might as well try and forget I had ever
seen that river yonder.  I shall dream of it for a year.
Not in malice though. It was an open stand up business,
with the advantages all on my side, and Tom Simpson is
not a man to nurse ill-blood for a free fight of his own
choosing. "
The deepening shadows now reminded them that it was
about the usual hour for supper.  The thoughts of the
hunter had again returned to their purposed journey, and
as they walked towards the house, he said,




66              BERNARD  LILE.
"We must pack up two days' provision. There is plenty
of game on the way, but it will not do to let our riflea
speak in the woods until we know what Black and Montgomery are after."
With this the subject was quietly dropped, and neither
refered to  it again. There was no bustle of preparation,
no nervous restlessness.  Calm and self-confident-relying
with perfect faith on each other's skill and courage-conscious that both had been tried by greater dangers than
any now threatening them, and certain that no proper precaution would be neglected; the knowledge that their
pathway was to be waylaid by murderers, created no more
uneasiness than a winter rain would have done in the
bosom of an ordinary traveler.
The next morning a dense fog shrouded the Mississippi,
and completely hid the opposite shore.  At such a time
the boldest shrink from  trusting themselves upon the
bosom of the dangerous stream. The wheels of the steamboat are stopped, and the sonorous bell continually sends
forth its warning peals. The birds sit with folded wings
on the trees, and the panther creeps with slow and fearful
steps to the brink to lap his morning draught. The long
moss hangs in gloomy festoons from the stirless branches.
No breath of air is stealing over forest or wave; but every
where there broods a still and awful calm. At one place
the murky vapors shape themselves into the dim outlines
of a grim tower, with its frowning battlements and guarded
loop-holes-close by these rises a giant figure, whose proportions are those of an ante-deluvian race. Rapidly as
the shifting scenes of a panorama these are swept away,
and an old graveyard takes their place, whose hoary tombstones are covered with the moss of centuries.  This in
turn disappears, and another, and another, and another
succeeds; but all sad, all sorrowful, all filling the mind




BERNARD  LILE.                    57
with nameless dread and apprehension.  The far-off hoot
of the owl struggles slowly through the mist, and the long
cry of the wolf sounds like the requiem of the water-wraith
over the victims about to be swallowed up by the rapacious
flood. Night has its terrors, but night and storm, and
darkness, have no shapes of fear like those that people a
fog on the Mississippi.  Real dangers mingle with those
imagination has conjured up, and reason aids the fancy to
unman the stoutest heart. Yet our travelers stopped not
for fog, or floating trees, or the hidden shore before them.
Silently, but firmly, they stepped into the frail skiff, and
pulled gout upon the foaming waters. The light paddleblades bent in the grasp of the strong hands that held
them, and the little barque sped through the gloom with
the swiftness of the sea-gull. Landing on the western
bank, they followed the main road a short distance, and
then struck off along a bridle path to the South.
"It is but a short mile to Montgomery's cabin," said
Simpson, as they walked on, "and there we shall learn
enough to decide upon our plans."
"You do not expect to find them there, do you?"
"Not if they mean mischief. In that case they were
off two hours ago. Montgomery will shed no blood near his
own door. The settlements here are too thick. He is suspected already, and a murder here would be troublesome."
A few minutes walk brought them in sight of three or
four cabins in the forest, constituting the dwelling and out
houses of Montgomery.  As they approached, three large
and powerful dogs sprang over the fence with the evident
purpose of giving instant battle to the intruders.  The
hunter, however, was an old acquaitance, whose footsteps
they had often followed through the woods.
At the first sound of his voice their fierce growls were
changed into a glad whining, and all three leaped upon




58             BERNARD  LILE.
him, licking his hands and face in the exuberance of their
joy.
" There, pups, that will do," said he, as he gave to each
a rude caress.  "If your master was half as honest and
true as you are, he and I would pass through the world,
and leave it, on better terms than I expect."
The noise of the dogs brought an old negress to the
door, whom Simpson addressed with a cordial" Good morning, Aunt Sophy, where is your master?"
"Him  and Massa Black, done gone huntin' dis two
hours ago."
Letting the butt-end of his rifle fall to the ground, and
crossing his arms over the muzzle, he questioned the old
woman long, and closely. He asked particularly what
time they started. Why they had not taken the dogs.
What route they took, and whether they had gone on foot
or horseback. Having obtained all the information she
possessed he declined "Aunt Sophy's" invitation to stop
and take breakfast-bade her good bye, and placing one
hand on the topmost rail of the fence, he cleared it at a
bound.  His companion followed his example, and the
two moved on in the direction of the deep forest skirting
the clearing. In a short time they came to a path made
by cattle or other domestic animals going to and returning
from a water hole. Here they separated, walking on side
by side, but at a considerable distance apart, and scrutinizing closely every foot of ground they passed. Hour after
hour glided by. Absorbed in the business before them, not
a word was spoken until near noon, when Lile called the
hunter to his side, and pointed to the deep print of horses
hoofs in the soft soil of the woods.
Here is the trail at last; and one a blind man might
follow."




BERNARD  LILE.                     59
Simpson examined it for a moment, and then spoke in a
low musing tone, as if talking to himself.
"Well, Bill Montgomery is a damnder fool than I took
him to be. Why, I can follow that track for a week and
tell within five minutes of the time he crosses every mud
hole on the way. Jim Black never knowed much about
the woods, but he ought to have known better than to
leave signs as plain as these when he goes hunting such
dangerous game as you and me, captain.
Lile only replied by a brief inquiry as to the nature of
the country before them.
" It is all open woods for thirty miles, with little or no
undergrowth. Then there is a cypress swamp, for three or
four miles. Beyond that is a canebrake. It is there they
will wait for us, for there only can they hide the horses."
"Then we have nothing to do but follow these tracks
for the remainder of the day."
" That's all. Do you take the path, I'll follow the trail,
I reckon they run pretty much together, but I don't like
to risk losing the scent, now we've found it."
The progress of our travelers now became much more
rapid. It is true that with the habitual caution of men
inured to the dangers of a wild and roving life their eyes
continually roamed through the forest, searching out every
suspicious object, and marking every moving thing, but
this in no degree abated the speed of their progress.
Occasionally a deer bounded past, and near nightfall a
huge bear, within fifty yards, reared himself against the
trunk of a tree, and commenced, leisurely, to pull off the
bark with his claws.  Beyond this no living thing disturbed the solitude about them. About dark they reached
the lagoon agreed upon as the place of their night's
encampment.  A  fire was soon kindled, and the rude
supper brought with them was despatched with a relish




60              BERNARD  LILE.
the'dwellers in cities never know. Their plans for the
morrow were then arranged as far as practicable: much,
of course, being left to be determined by circumstances,
When this was done the hunter arose, and taking his rifle
said,
"You may sleep here as safely as if you were in Williams's cabin. We are in a bend of the lagoon, and the
gap is not more than forty yards wide. With this starlight it will go hard if a wild cat enters without my knowing
it. I will rouse you at midnight if it is needful."
So saying he disappeared among the trees.
Lile spread his blanket upon the ground, and laid down
upon it, but not to sleep. He gazed upward through the
trees upon the calm blue sky, and the bright stars which
everywhere spangled its vault. With what bitter reproaches
did that scene of peace, of beauty, and of holy harmony
speak to his stormy soul. In the mountains of Asiaamid the gorgeous civilization of Europe-in the deserts
of Africa-on the heaving billows of the dark blue sea, a
hundred, and a hundred times had those stars spoken to
him before. But never until now had they so touched,
softened and subdued his iron nature. Memory carried
him back into the long gone past. He remembered himself a bright eyed boy, rising with the lark and warbling
songs as blithe and gay as his.  Now bounding with his
young companions in joyous sport from hill to hill, or
breasting with exulting strength the billows of the mountain stream. Then came a dream of love: sweet as it
always is in youth, when we scarce dare name even to our
own hearts the passion that consumes it. When we build
an altar and place thereon a divinity of our own creationrobbing the archangels of their beauty, and stealing from
heaven its sinless purity to clothe an earthly idol; before
which we then bow down in blind adoration.  Adoration




BERNARD  LILE.                     61
that soon finds a bitter ending. Happy those who never
dream: or whom an early death cuts off before the hour of
waking comes.  How or when that hour came to him none
knew, but come it did, and war, famine, pestilence, the wild
adventure, and the wilder revel had each taken him by the
hand, but each in turn fled before the mightier demon who
had taken sanctuary in his breast.  Even now with his
path waylaid by murderers; with the howl of the hungry
panther in his ear, and none but a solitary sentinel to guard
his lonely couch, he thought not of the dangers around, or
the weary journey before him.  Step by step he traced
back the years of memory. Every joy he had known rose
up before him, but the vision rested only for a moment,
and brought no gladness in its train. Not so with its sorrows.  They were seared in as by the lightning on his
brain. Rapidly he ran over the terrible record until words
came to syllable reflection.
"And now, what am I?  An outcast and a wanderer:
my father's honest name discarded that it might not be
blackened by the deeds of his son. High talents unemployed.  Genius bringing  forth none but evil fruits.
Strength, skill, and courage, more than mortal, sold year
after year to some barbarian prince, in whose petty feuds
were wasted energies sufficient for a nation's redemption.
Exciting strife wherever I go, and dogged, even here, by a
fatality that is never at rest except when my hand is red
with human blood.  Oh! could we only know to what the
first sin leads how few would take that fearful step."
At this moment the cracking of a dry branch caught his
ear, and springing to his feet, rifle in hand, he bent his
gaze in the direction whence the sound proceeded.
"You sleep lightly," said Simpson, emerging from the
wood, "the snapping of that stick would hardly have
waked a slumbering panther."
6




62             BERNARD  LILE.
Lile did not see proper to give occasion for painful
questions by saying he had not slept at all. Throwing his
rifle on his shoulder, and casting his eye upwards to the
stars, he replied.
"It is past midnight.  Show me my post, and I will
keep watch until day-break."
" No further watch is needed. Indeed I did suppose not
any was necessary from the first: but as it would do me no
harm to sit up until midnight I thought I might as well
keep an eye on the track those murdering villains had
taken. "
Fresh fuel was added to the fire, and the two friends
stretching themselves side by side upon the ground, slept
until the dawning morn had streaked the east with its rosy
hues.




BERNARD LILE.                         63
CHAPTER V.
"Such tools the tempter ever needs,
To do the bloodiest of deeds;
For them, no visioned terrors daunt,
Their nights no fancied spectres haunt,
"Fell as he was in act and mind,
He left no bolder heart behind."
LET us return to Montgomery and Black, whom we left
paddling across the turbid current of the Mississippi. The
shades of night had fallen on the earth when they reached
the collection of huts described in the foregoing chapter.
They found the old negress at her solitary supper. Bidding
her add something to it for a couple of hungry men, they
divested themselves of their accoutrements; took a long
draught from the stone jug Montgomery had brought with
him, and set about building a huge fire upon the ample
hearth of an adjoining room. This done, their rifles were
discharged; carefully cleaned; their locks removed and
oiled. Then followed another swig at the jug, and with
appetites sharpened by exercise and alcohol, they sat down
to the plentiful repast "Aunt Sophy" had prepared.
Supper over, they took their way to the stable, in which
were two horses of uncommon bone and muscle.  These
were thoroughly rubbed down, corn-cobs supplying the
place of curry-combs, and plentifully fed. Returning to
the house, the jug was again put in requisition for a
"Night-cap."   Some bear-skins were spread upon the
floor before the fire, and the two were soon wrapped in
slumber as profound, and apparently as peaceful as that
of an infant in its cradle.




64               BERNARD  LILE.
All this time their conversation had been about the
ordinary events every day occurring in the forest, or on
the river. There was no allusion to the murders they had
that day agreed to perpetrate. No speculations upon the
chances of success or failure in their undertaking. Their
bearing throughout was calm, cool, undisturbed by fear,
or by anxiety. In short, they were bold, hardy, and determined men, who, having once resolved upon the commission of a crime, permitted no weak misgivings to interfere
with the execution of their purposes. The stirring life of
the frontier had done much to drown reflection.  They
were also in the morning of existence, and at that age, the
voice of remorse, though never silent, comes to us in comparatively faint and feeble notes. It is in after years, when
strength begins to wane, and courage to fail, that conscience gathers its hordes of demons about the heart. It is
then we look upon the sunbeam with horror, from its contrast with the blackness within. It is then we shrink and
tremble at the night, and fancy that every shadow is a
grinning fiend.  The evil we have done not only clings to
the human soul with a never-ending life, but year by year
it exudes a deadlier venom, while year by year the power
of resistance fails. The lost wretch feels as if he were
chained on the brink of a burning lake, whose lurid waves
rise higher and higher, as they roll in angry surges at his
feet. One after another, mirrored on its fiery surface, the
deeds of a lifetime spring up with startling distinctness,
while to his ear, each separate one has found a voice and
shrieks for retribution. Oh I how different do they seem at
such an hour from the things that self-delusion painted,
when interest, pride, revenge, ambition, avarice, with careful hands obscured the deeds they prompted. As yet the
lawless ruffians, reposing beneath the roof of that forest
cabin were unvisited by the torments of remorse. It might




BERNARD  LILE.                     65
be they would never know them here.  It might be that
an All-wise Providence had decreed, they should rush suddenly and unprepared, upon the dread hereafter. Let us
wait-the problem will soon be solved.
About two hours after midnight the gambler rose.
Heaping some additional logs on the fire, he roused his
companion with a gruff
" Come, Bill, it is time we were stirring."
Montgomery rose, and producing an iron lamp, fed with
bear's grease, from a cupboard in the corner of the room,
lighted, and placed it upon the table. Their rifles were
again inspected, and the blades of their Bowie knives partially oiled, so as to pull easily from the scabbards. Black
then undertook to prepare breakfast, while the squatter
went to the stable to examine into the condition of the
horses.  The morning was frosty and cold for that low
latitude, a circumstance Montgomery did not fail to make
an excuse for helping himself to an "eye opener," on his
return to the house.
"I have told you, Bill," said the gambler, looking up
from the meats he was frying, "at least a hundred times,
that if you mean to make your living by cards, you must
quit that d-m-d habit of drinking in the morning.  I
am as fond of liquor as you are, but I never drink until
after dinner. And no man ought to who doesn't want his
brain kept as muddy as the Mississippi."
"Maybe you are right about the papers, Jim, but you
and I have set about making a living with a different sett
of tools, and, as liquor don't interfere with the use of the
rifle or the knife, you needn't grumble now."
"It interferes with every thing, I tell you. Brains are
just as necessary in a skrimmage with a bear, as in a game
of poker; and yours will be of d-n —d little use to you
6*




66              BERNARD  LILE.
the balance of this day. At least mine would be to me, if
I had swallowed half the whiskey you have. "
" Well, there's nothing but hard riding to do to-day, and
to-morrow I'll humor your whim."
" That will do.  Now let us eat and be off.  It is past
three o'clock, and it wont lack much of day-break by the
time we get started."
Breakfast was despatched after the manner of men who
regard eating as a necessary evil; not as a luxury to be
prolonged to the latest moment. The horses were brought
out, saddled, and packed with the few articles necessary
for a short encampment in the woods.  The two then
mounted, and set out on their dark journey without a
twinge of conscience, or one moment's reluctant pause.
" Keep well to the right," said the squatter, to his companion, who was a little ahead, "if Simpson and the
stranger come straight from the landing, they will strike
the trace about my water hole, and it is best not to let
them see horse's tracks beyond that."
" Pshaw I they have no suspicion of us."
"I reckon not; and I should be sorry if they had. But
Simpson knows, as well as I do, that there's mighty little
traveling done along this trace on horseback, and it's not
the safest thing in the world, to set him to guessing what
it means."
Black mused for a moment, and then said slowly and
earnestly,
"Bill, tell the honest truth, ain't you a little afraid of
Tom Simpson?"
The squatter checked the throb of rising passion at the
reflection on his courage the question seemed to imply;
but his answer, though divested of anger, was given in
that low, determined tone, which conveys a warning, as
distinct as that of the rattlesnake before he strikes.




BERNARD  LILE.                     67
"Jim, if you had asked that question like a man who
wanted to hurt feelins, I should have been tempted to
try my rifle on your carcase before the other game got in
sight."
"I meant no harm.  I do not want to quarrel with you
any where; and certainly not now, or here. I had good
reasons for asking."
"Then I'll tell you.  I don't think I ever knowed exactly what it was to be afraid-that is, what other men
call afraid. I don't know how to explain it, but I'll tell
you a story, and that will let you understand the rights of
it. When I was a little boy, daddy lived up on the edge
of the Indian nation. One evening there came a traveler
along, and asked if he could stay all night. Daddy was
gone hunting, and nobody knowed when he'd be back. So
mammy told him he might stay, if he could take care of his
own horse. I followed the stranger to the stable, where
the first thing he did was to shuck himself, and go to rubbing his horse with all his might.  I was standing looking
on, whistling Yankee Doodle, when he turned'round and
asked me if I warnt afraid.'No,' says I,' what's here to
be afraid of?'' Oh! nothing,' says he,'only I sometimes
have fits, and then I'm dangerous.' I didn't know what
fits meant, but I took it to be some wild varmint like a
bear, or a catamount,  So I sidled off to the house;
gathered mammy's butcher knife, and a good sized rock,
and then went straight back to the stable. The feller never
let on like he seed me, but kept working away on his
horse.  After a while he begun to pile in the corn and
fodder.  I couldn't stand it any longer.'Stranger,' says
I,'aint you going to have one of them things?''What
things,' says he.' Them things you was talking about,'
says I.' Oh I fits,' says he, busting out in a laugh,'what
the devil do you want me to have one of them for?'' Kase




68              BERNARD  LILE.
I never seed one of the critters,' says I,' and I wants to see
one.' He looked at me in a way I didn't then understand,
and said, mighty solemn,' I was only joking with you, my
son. Put away your knife and rock, and remember what I
tell you, when I am gone. With that bold heart in your
bosom, you have onlf to lead an honest life, and this world
will be no hard place for you to live in.'
"And now, Jim, the feeling I had, when I was going
back to the stables, with that rock and knife, is the only
kind of fear I ever felt. I didn't want to run away from
the thing, no matter what it was, but I wanted to get
something to hurt it.
"While I am talking, I may as well tell you something
else. It's more than twenty years since that happened.
I'm sure I haven't thought about it more than two or three
times since; but yesterday, when we was coming down the
bank, and that stranger turned to look at us, I'd a swore
he was the same man who told me to lead an honest life.
He's changed mightily.  He's fuller, and his flesh looks
harder, and tougher.  He's had trouble enough, I'll be
bound.  But the first time I laid my eyes on him, I was
certain I had seen him somewhere. I watched him when
Tom Simpson was charging on him like a buffalo bull;
and there was something in his eye I had seen before.  I
watched him when he was moping over the fire, looking as
doleful as a gal whose sweetheart had got tired and gin
her leg bail; and I was certain I knowed him, but I
couldn't think where we had met. When he turned to look
at us, as we were making for the skiff, it flashed on me at
once.  As certain as my name is Bill Montgomery, that
man was in these parts twenty years ago."
Black listened to the narrative in silence, and from the
careless manner he permitted the bridle to hang on his




BERNARD  LILE.                     69
horse's neck, it was evident he was deeply interested,
When it was finished, he asked, in a voice of some anxiety,
"Well, what has that to do with our present business?"
"Nothing.  Only it looks a little hard, to waylay and
shoot a man who gave me the only good advice any one
ever took the trouble to waste upon me."
"Think of the five thousand dollars, Bill, and recollect
this job makes you independent."
"I have thought of that, or I should not have stirred
from my cabin this morning.  No matter what comes, you
needn't be afraid of any flinching on my part now."
Neither appeared to be disposed to continue the conversation.  Montgomery had already spoken at much
greater length than was his wont; and he now pushed on
ahead, still keeping about a hundred yards to the right of
the path, or trace, as it was generally called by the settlers.
The sun was nearly up, when the squatter broke the unsocial silence of their lonely ride.
"We must mend our gait.  I want to cross the Cypress
Swamp before sundown; for I have no notion of floundering
in that d-d bog after dark."
The horses were pressed into a rapid trot: a pace they
preserved throughout the day, wherever the nature of the
ground would admit of it.
It was yet early in the evening, when they approached
the edge of a gloomy morass, that fancy might easily have
converted into a vast burial place for some Aboriginal
tribe. The bare, and stunted knees, scattered here and
there, looked like tombstones, placed to mark where chiefs
and warriors slumbered; and over all the dark Cypress,
with its melancholy drapery of moss, kept up a continual
moaning, as the wind howled through it, for the beautiful,
and the brave, who had long ago passed to the Spirit land.
The scene was not without its influence on the hardened




70              BERNARD  LILE.
natures of the lawless men who now reined up on its brink.
The one was rude and unlettered. Beyond the first rudiments of his own tongue; he had learned nothing from
books; but it was impossible to live, as he had done from
early infancy, in the wild forest-to roam over the vast
Prairie, and climb the snow-capped summits of the Rocky
Mountains-without imbibing a portion of that poetry
which gives to the language of the Indian, a beauty and a
melody, rarely equalled by the cultivated eloquence of
civilized life. Unknown to himself, a lovely flower had
grown and blossomed amid the noxious weeds neglect had
sown, and evil associations nourished, in a heart not
naturally bad.
The other was of a different order. His intellect had
been carefully cultivated, and he had at one time mingled
familiarly with the most polished society.  He was a
student, at times, notwithstanding the absorbing nature of
his pursuits. To a thirst for gaming, he had surrendered
character, honor, temporal prospects, and everlasting hope;
but to his active mind, books of some sort were a necessity.
In addition to English literature, he was familiar with the
infidel writings of France and Germany. A school whose
baleful malaria has floated across the Atlantic, and is
beginning to infect the purer atmosphere of our Western
continent.  He was one of those human compounds, by no
means so infrequent as we are prone to imagine. With a
keen perception of the beautiful, and a not unjust appreciation of all that virtue can bestow; he was dragged on, not
blindly, or reluctantly, but willingly, and with a knowledge
of the consequences, to the dark doom that sooner or later
overtakes the criminal.
Morally, the squatter was infinitely the better man, for
his was in part the sin of ignorance.  He had but one
talent to account for, while the other had seven. Dif.




BERNARD  LILE.                     71
ferent, however, as they were by nature, and still more
by education, that gloomy swamp, with its funeral vegetation of cypress, waked kindred emotions in each, and tamed
alike, for an instant, the tiger and the fiend.
"We must make in for the trace," said Montgomery,
after a pause, "there is no other crossing place."
His voice was low-almost sad. His companion noticed
it, and would not trust his own in reply, for fear of betraying a similar weakness.
The swamp was crossed by the horses slowly, and with
difficulty. On the opposite side a wide cane-brake spread
out before them. Following the trace for a short distance
further, they came to an opening having the appearance
of an old camping ground, used by either Indians or
hunters, on former occasions.  Here they halted-unsaddled, and so fastened the horses, as to enable them to feed
on the young cane growing around.  A fire was kindled;
and, after paying their respects to the leathern bottle
Montgomery had brought with him, the less important
business of supper began to occupy their thoughts. The
cooking process was simple enough.  A young cane was
cut from the adjoining thicket, one end sharpened, and run
through a piece of raw meat.  The meat was then held to
the fire, on this primitive spit, until about half done, when
it was changed, and the other side subjected for a like time
to the operation of heat.  A cold hoe-cake supplied the
place of a plate, and a Bowie knife did the rest.
Reader, did you ever try it? If not, take the word of a
man who has, that no supper served up in the most faultless restaurant of New York or Philadelphia, ever yielded
a flavor so delicious as a day's exercise in the open air,
where the winds of heaven are permitted to blow unobstructed by brick and mortar, added to a fast of thirteen
or fourteen hours, imparts to this woodland cookery.




72              BERNARD  LILE.
Under the genial influence of the beverage contained in
Montgomery's bottle, the two became gay and noisy. Not
unfrequently the loud laugh, ringing through the forest,
disturbed the owl on his solitary perch.  Now a rude
song rises on the air, and the panther moves uneasily in his
lair, as the night wind bears the unaccustomed sound to
his ear.  Who would have deemed that these men were
bent upon an errand of murder? Alas I in this world the
blackest crime often puts on the gayest seeming.  It is
not alone the sullen brow, and the gloomy mood, which
speak to you of violated laws, and outraged humanity. If
sin wore always its own unsightly covering, many of the
young and inexperienced, who are first its dupes, and then
its agents, would escape its snares; and many a human
tear, wrung from  the mother, the wife, and the sister,
would dry up at the fountain.
" It will be two hours," said Montgomery, as they arose
from a hasty meal in the morning, "before the game can
reach the stand; but accidents might happen, and it's best
to be at our posts. There are trees enough in the edge of
the cane to cover us; and they must come out so close
that we can pick them  off before they know what hurts'em.  Do you take Simpson for your mark, I'll take the
stranger. "
Black assented to this arrangement. Each one selected
a tree, sufficiently large to screen him from any prying eye
in the direction of the swamp, and lying down behind it,
awaited patiently the coming of their intended victims.
They had occupied their hiding place but a few minutes,
when the squatter's attention was attracted by a hasty
exclamation from Black.
"Damnation, man! look yonder!  Hell, and fury, we
must have been bewitched this morning."




BERNARD  LILE.                    73
A s he spoke he pointed to a column of smoke, rising
majestically from their camp-fire of the night before.
"By God   you are right," answered the squatter,
springing to his feet. "It will not do to have that smoke
curling up among the trees when Tom  Simpson's on the
trail. But that blunder's soon mended."
With rapid strides he returned to the fire, and carefully
extinguished every burning brand.  It was already too
late. A mile off, in the swamp, the quick eye of Lile had
detected the smoke above the tree tops, and pointed it out
to Simpson. The latter watched it for some time without
giving expression to his thoughts.
" It is smoke, certain; and Bill Montgomery, and Jim
Black built the fire that made it.  There is mighty little
credit, captain, in circumventing a couple of born idiots
like them. In the first place they must leave a trail a
counter-hopper could follow: and now they have hung up
a sign-board in the clouds, to let us know exactly where
they are. Curse their pictures, they must think they've
got an easy job on hand, or they wouldn't be half so careless."
" The smoke has disappeared," responded Lile, who had
continued to watch it.
"Worse and worse. If they had let the fire burn, a
fellow who didn't know that two such lambs as they are,
were in this neck of woods, might have thought it was built
by some honest traveler, who had left it burning when he
started this morning. But any man, with two grains of
sense, would know that some devilment was afoot, when.
they take the trouble to put it out at this time of day.
Well, Mr. Black, this game ain't  seven up.' I reckon I
have got about as many advantages of you now, as you
have had of me for the last five years. And, by the eternal
God," he continued through his ground teeth, "I will




74              BERNARD  LILE.
play them  all.  In one hour more, if you are not past
robbing at cards, and murdering on the road, I will sign a
lie-bill, and give you permission to paste it on my old
father's door."
The hand that held his rifle was clenched with a force
that almost glued it to the barrel; and the muscles of his
arm swelled beneath the tight buckskin hunting shirt, until
the limb looked gnarled and knotted as the trunk of the
live oak.  Lile watched him, with the interest a strong
man always feels, in the physical development of another.
In his heart he believed he had never seen a frame of such
tremendous power, and capable of so much endurance; and
he thought how easy it would be, with such a companion,
to clear a pathway through a hundred opposing foes.
Notwithstanding  the deep and  concentrated  passion
boiling in every vein of the hunter's frame, he was calculating, with cool precaution, every step to be taken.
Thinking over every tree, and hiding place on the margin
of the swamp, where a foe might be concealed. Estimating
every chance of surprise on either side; and calling to mind
every inequality of the ground, that might assist or obstruct him in the fight. In such a struggle he meant to
throw away no chance, however slight. The covering of a
single cane stalk would not have been dispensed with. It
was not that his pathway was waylaid, and his blood sought
by assassins, which so roused and inflamed him.  It was the
five years of poverty and privation he had undergone-the
consciousness that his parents had been deprived of the
comforts of life, while all his gains went to line the pockets
of a swindler. —This roused the ferocity whose very intenseness made rashness impossible. True the money had been
restored to him, but the suffering could never be obliterated;
and hate, the darkest and the deadliest hate, suppressed'
and almost mastered until now, found legitimate excuse for




BERNARD  LILE.                      75
its gratification, and gave to conscience the power of clothing the act of vengeance with the mantle of self-defence.
A little farther on the swamp became harder and firmer.
Here they left the trace, and struck off in a south-eastern
direction, so as to reach the firm ground about a quarter
of a mile below where Black and Montgomery were posted.
To do this, wide leaps were occasionally necessary, and
near the margin, a black slough, full twenty feet in width,
seemed to bar all further progress. Simpson stopped and
hesitated; but Lile, taking the hunter's rifle in his left
hand, cleared it, w.ith both guns, lightly and easily. Relieved of the weight of his rifle, his companion also essayed
the dangerous leap.  With his utmost effort he barely
reached the outer edge of the bank.  A  strong hand
grasped his collar as his foot struck the turf, and dragging
him forward, saved him from falling backward in the slough.
" This is no time to thank you," he whispered.  "A few
steps puts us on firm ground; and yonder within twenty
yards of that broken tree, we are certain to find our very
particular friends."
No further time was wasted in conversation. Separating
as had been before agreed on-the one following the edge
of the swamp, the other skirting the cane-they commenced
their advance with all the caution of men trained in the
wiles of Indian warfare. Never exposing their bodies for
more than an instant at a time; springing from tree to
tree with lightning like rapidity, they approached noiselessly, the spot where the assassins were lying in wait. At
length, in bounding from the shelter of one tree to another,
Lile lighted upon a dry cane stalk which cracked loudly
beneath his weight.  Black and Montgomery, whose eyes
had hitherto been bent chiefly in one direction, were instantly aware of their danger.  They comprehended at a
glance that they had been suspected,-that Lile and Simp



76              BERNARD  LILE.
son had consequently avoided the trace, and were now
approaching their position from the flank with no very
peaceful intentions.  Surprised as they were, their conduct
exhibited none of the cowardly meanness that usually characterises the assassin. Promptly availing themselves of the
shelter of the trees where they were lying-opposing skill
to skill, and courage to courage, they prepared to take the
chances of the deadly struggle.  By a quick change of
position, Lile sought to expose Montgomery to the fire of
his own or Simpson's rifle.  With equal rapidity the
squatter bounded to another covert..The thick cane on
one side, and the morass on the other prevented any further
manceuvering, and it appeared now to be a question of
patience alone. All at once the squatter was startled by
the fierce growl of a panther immediately behind him.
Turning to face this unexpected foe, his head protruded
beyond the shelter of the tree. The sharp crack of a rifle
immediately rang through the forest, and Bill Montgomery
fell to the earth a lifeless corpse. Black heard the growl
of the panther, followed by the rifle shot, and his eye was
attracted to the spot where his late companion stood.  It
was for a moment only, but that moment was fatal. Darting from the tree where he was sheltered, with leaps more
rapid than those of the grey-hound, Simpson cleared the
space between them. Black saw his danger when it was
too late. He attempted to raise his rifle, but the hunter
grasped it with one hand, while with the other he drove the
long bowie knife to the hilt in his breast, forcing it through
two ribs in its bloody passage. The rough edges of the
bones grated harshly as the knife was withdrawn from the
wound. -A glassy film came over the eyes of the gambler
-an ashy paleness spread around his lips-without a
word, without a groan he sunk down, dead even before his
body touched its mother earth.




B 1RNARD  LILE.                    77
Simpson gazed upon the prostrate form with an expression half of pity, half of gratified revenge. Pulling off the
handkerchief from the dead man's neck, he wiped away the
crimson stains from his weapon, and addressed the inanimate body.
" I have known you, Jim Black, a little more than five
years, and the most of that' time, I have had a presentiment
that I would kill you some day. You have brought it on
yourself, when you had only to keep out of my way twentyfour hours longer, and I should have been gone beyond
your reach.  You electioneered hard for a bloody grave,
and you have got it. If you were alive now you would
own you deserved it. The only good thing any man can
put into your funeral sermon, is, that you were game to the
back bone-I never knew you stand by, and see the strong
oppress the weak; and never heard of your cowering to an
angry frown, if the devil himself wore it."
Lile, who had reloaded his rifle, now approached,
saying.
" That rush was gallantly made, my friend, but it was
very bad generalship.  After Montgomery was disposed of
we could easily have placed Mr. Black between two fires,
where either you or I could shoot him without the slightest
risk."
"There was no risk about it, captain, I knew that if I
could ever catch his eye off me, he was gone. I had been
wishing for five minutes that a limb would fall, or something would happen to make him look round.  That
panther did the business, and it has put me in such good
humor with the critters, that I don't think I shall shoot one
for a year to come."
"No panther was near."
"Why, I heard his growl as plain as I hear you now."
"Nevertheless there was no panther about. Nature be7*




78              BERNARD  LILE.
stowed upon me the gift of ventriloquism, and as I found
it useful, I practiced it carefully when I was a sojourner in
the far east.  When I found that Montgomery had no
notion of showing any part of his person for me to practice
at, I concluded I would try what effect an angry panther
at his heels would produce. It startled him, as I expected,
and a half ounce ball through his brain, saved him from
the mortification of finding out how badly he had been
cheated."
"Well," replied the hunter, "this is the third wrinkle
I've got within the week. First, I found out that I was
no pumpkins in a scuffle. Next, that I couldn't jump for
corn shucks.  And now, after ten years' practice, it turns
out that I am tolerable ordinary even at a bush fight. I
shouldn't be surprised if it would end by your showing
me the road to San Antonio, instead of my guiding you."




BERNARD LILE.                       79
CHAPTER VI.
"Innumerous o'er their human prey,
Grim errors hang the hoarded sorrow;
Through vapors gleams the present day,
And darkness wraps the morrow."
OUR story now changes from  the free forest to the
crowded city.  From  the rude scenes and daring deeds
of the West, to the velvet ottomans and the courtly vices
abounding where spires and cupolas rise to meet the
clouds, instead of the tall cottonwood, the majestic oak,
or the towering chestnut. In one of those splendid mansions in the city of New York, whose decorations rival the
gorgeous magnificence of an Eastern palace, a throng of
pleasure's votaries had assembled.  Diamonds glittered
beneath the soft light of the chandeliers, and eyes, brighter
than the jewels about them, reminded you of Mahomet's
promises to the faithful, when the war-worn soldier of the
Crescent passed from the battle-field to the arms of the
Houris who awaited his coming.  Music floated through
the perfumed air of the crowded saloons, and now and then
the low laugh of a young girl, richer and sweeter than all
instrumental melody combined, fell upon the charmed ear,
and made the listener dream of heaven. The camel-driver
of Mecca was but half an impostor. The daring courage,
the lofty genius, and the matchless wisdom that led him
on to empire over shattered thrones and broken sceptres,
were emanations from  the God whose prophet he pretended to be, and stamped with probability the mission
with which he claimed to be entrusted. He searched all
the depths of the human heart-tried all strings, until, at




80              BERNARD  LILE.
last, his hand rested on a chord that throbbed alike in the
breast of the peasant and the prince-the scholar and the
boor. Discarding the temptation of gold for avarice, of
glory for ambition, of luxury and ease for indolence, he
seized upon one all-pervading, all-alluring passion. He
held out one reward for danger and privation, for toil,
famine and death.  When the glittering stars of the Crescent waved over him, the soldier thought of the dark-eyed
girls his prophet had described in language whose prose is
poetry-whose poetry sings itself into music.  Amid the
deadly roar of battle, their songs were floating around him,
and the lance's point was to him a bridal bed. Stretched
upon the cumbered plain, he looked upward to the rounded
forms, the swelling bosoms, and the love-lighted countenances which seemed impatient at his delay, and the
bloody sod became a couch of roses, and wounds and
death but lovely ministers to the softest pleasures.  Mark
Anthony threw away a world for Cleopatra's lips, and
Mark Anthony was but a type of his race.  Speculative
school-men may talk about the fanaticism  of the early
Moslem, and attribute to religious zeal his daring and his
triumphs.  But men who have known the world, who have
turned over page after page of the human heart, who have
seen it in the sunshine and the shadow, who have watched
its throbbings from the palace to the hovel, will form more
correct opinions. Fanaticism was indeed burning within
him, but it was the fanaticism of love. Woman was the
goddess of his idolatry-her lips the nectar for which his
soul was athirst-her embrace the heaven for which he
panted.  No wonder he triumphed.  No wonder that,
with such rewards before him, two continents were insufficient to stay his victorious tread, and, at last, the wild
music of the Saracen mingled with the roar of the waves,
beating on the Western shore of Europe.




BERNARD  LILE.                    81
In all our moods, in spite of all our struggles, the charms
of woman sway and bend us as easily as the north wind
bows the waving grass. Even frailty, in such a tenement,
catches the hues of Eden, and the pleased senses lull the
severer judgment to sleep. Look upon the lovely beings
now gliding through yonder stately mansion.  The very
air they breathe has turned to incense, and all things about
them are bathed in a glorious beauty beyond the artist's
skill to paint-beyond the human tongue to syllable. Yet
all were not unstained by something worse than levity.
Few could expose a breast no touch of sin had ever
darkened-while over many of the richest flowers blooming
there the hot breath of passion had passed, leaving an
adder's egg to be warmed to life among leaves whose outward seeming was unchanged, and whose fragrance still
was sweet.
Reclining on a sofa close to the music-stand was a young
officer to whom  the reader has been introduced.  He
seemed like one upon whom the enchantments around had
lost their power, and his brow was darkened by thoughts
that had no business there at such a time. He was roused
by a light tap on the arm, and a sweet voice murmured"You are melancholy to-night, Mr. Wilson."
He turned quickly, and beside him was one who might
have served as a model for the Grecian artist, who wandered
from isle to isle, whispered his tale of love in every maiden's
ear, treasured up every beauty and every grace in his
memory, and then combining them all, produced his ideal
of the Goddess of Love.
"Pardon me, Mrs. Winter, but I knew not that you
were here, and Paradise would be gloomy without you."
"Pshaw I I thought better of you.  Quit compliments,
or give them the spice of originality."
" That were indeed difficult. I doubt if there is a single




82              BERNARD  LILE.
flower in that wide field Genius has not already gathered
and laid at your feet."
"Upon my word, you improve.  But give me your arm
-I wish to take a stroll with you through these rooms;
first to show you off as my beau, and next because I am
dying of curiosity, and I know no one else who can relieve
me."
"I take it for granted," he remarked, after advancing a
few steps, "that your last motive is the controlling one.
Pray tell me in what I can gratify you."
"Now, that is what I call coming to the point, and
smacks of the soldier much more than the fashionable gentleman.  But I am only a fashionable woman, and cannot
afford to be so direct. Besides, you know but little of
woman's nature if you suppose that even the gratification
of her curiosity could take precedence of the vanity of being
escorted by so faultless a gentleman as Mr. Robert Wilson.
Stop," she continued, as he was about to reply, "the compliment was given gratis, and I want no return, at least not
in the same coin."
Approaching a deep window, she drew her companion
within the heavy drapery of satin and gold.
"There," she said, "we have done enough to be talked
about for the next half hour. At least twenty of my bosom
friends will be whispering to their bosom friends, that a
desperate flirtation is going on between you and me; and
more than one will contrive to let my husband understand,
in the most innocent manner imaginable, that I am madly
in love with a young officer of the army."
" A pleasant intimation truly. And pray what will he
say to all that?"
" Say I Nothing.  He will forget that he has heard it
before supper is over. He never loved me enough to be
jealous. "




BERNARD  LILE..                    83
"And did you love him?"
"Fie I for shame.  You will give me a horrid idea of
your West Point training directly. I do not care, though,
if I do answer this one; but, remember, you must ask me
no more such questions. No, I did not. He had enormous
wealth-I had some beauty, and more accomplishments. It
suited him to have a fine woman at the head of his establishment; it suited me to have an establishment.  The
word love was not written in our marriage contract, and I
do not think it was mentioned by the priest at the altar.
I never loved any one else. I am sure he never did. I do
all I can to make his home pleasant and agreeable. He
humors all my whims, and so we are the best possible
friends, while neither makes the slightest pretensions to
more. There, sir," she continued, "you have the confession
of a pretty woman, which can do you no good, and may
cost you something; for I do not make confessions gratis,
if I do sometimes pay compliments in that way."
" I can think of nothing you could ask that is not granted
beforehand."
" Thank you. If you please, we will proceed to business
after your own fashion-plainly, and without circumlocution. Rumor has it that there has recently arrived in this
great city a Circassian or Georgian, or some other Asiatic
Princess, beautiful as an angel, and rich as she is beautiful.
It is added that you have been so fortunate as to make her
acquaintance. Is the story true, or any part of it I"
It was well that the heavy curtains shut out the light of
the chandeliers; for a tell-tale paleness spread over the
countenance of the young officer, and any one endowed with
half the shrewdness and knowledge of society possessed by
his fair companion, would have read his secret at a glance.
The question was so sudden, so different from any thing he




84              BERNARD  LILE.
expected, that the power of utterance failed, and he almost
gasped for breath.
"You do not answer me.  Has my first question proved
too much for all your liberal professions?"
With difficulty he commanded himself sufficiently to
reply.  "I was thinking what interest you could possibly
have in such a matter."
"None, it may be, or it may be a great deal.  Is the
story true?"
"It is.  At least I believe so."
"One thing more. You must introduce me. Do not
think," she added quickly, "that I do not see and understand all the folly and meanness of running after titled
strangers, who accept our hospitalities with an air of condescension, and repay the kindness we lavish upon them by
unmeasured abuse or unfeeling criticism. I feel the degradation of such vile sycophancy; but it is the fashion, and
while it is so, I must swim with the tide."
Seizing eagerly upon the opportunity thus offered to
change the conversation, Mr. Wilson replied, "Why not
establish a better fashion?  Why not lead the way in
teaching our countrywomen to respect American merit
and American virtue? Believe me, there is more genuine
worth in one honest American heart, than in a hundred
of the worthless scions of a rotten aristocracy."
"Perhaps so. But it is not worth we seek in society.
An easy address and polished manners are worth a thousand virtues."
"Oh, what a commentary," answered the young man,
with emotion, "upon that gay throng through which we
just now passed. In the islands of the East there is said
to be a reptile, whose glossy skin of blended colors emits a
light so beautiful and exhales an odor so delicious, that
the traveller cannot resist the temptation to gather it to




BERNARD  LILE.                     85
nis bosom, though he knows its touch is deadly. How
like to that reptile is the fashionable world you describe;
and surely you, who are its queen, must know it well."
"Mr. Wilson, if most of my acquaintances had talked
to me in the strain you have done to-night, I should have
laughed in their faces, or turned on my heel and left them
to their own meditations.  If I have not done the same
thing with you, it is, partly, because I suppose you did not
care one straw whether I did or not."
"You wronged me then.  I should have cared a great
deal; for it would have made me think less of you than
I hope ever to do.  It would pain me deeply to believe
that so fair a shrine held nothing within, the pure might
love, the good claim kindred with, or the enthusiastic
worship. "
The splendid woman he addressed looked down with
unconcealed embarrassment; but when she spoke her voice
was clear and sweet.  "I ought to be angry, but in truth
I am better pleased than I care to express. I am not the
heartless thing the world, my world, believes me, and I
am glad you know it.  Excuse me, however, for saying
this conversation is rather too serious for a young gentleman
of twenty-three or four, and a young woman scarcely his
senior. When shall I have the pleasure of an introduction
to this Eastern Peri?"
It was now the lieutenant's turn to feel embarrassed.
He hesitated, stammered, and at last said he was afraid his
acquaintance was too slight to venture on taking such a
liberty.
"Go and ask her, man.  I never intended to run the'
risk of being turned away from her door."
" Mrs. Winter," he replied gravely, almost sternly, " you
know not what you ask. Besides, if your object be what
I suspect, it would be useless.  Her faith is Mahometan.8




86              BERNARD  LILE.
she receives few visitors-goes to no public assemblages,
and could not be drawn, by any earthly inducement, into
the brilliant society over which you preside."
" Is this so? Then half my interest in her is already
gone. I do not care to conceal from you that it was the
eclat of first introducing a princess, young, rich, and of
peerless beauty, to the exclusives of upper-tendom, which
made me so anxious for an introduction."
"As that inducement no longer exists, I suppose I may
consider your application withdrawn."
" Quite the contrary. I am a true woman, Mr. Wilson.
I see there are difficulties in the way, and those very difficulties determine me'to persist in my original purpose.
Of course I may depend on your assistance?"
"Pardon me, madam; but in this matter I cannot aid
you."
"And why not?" she asked, angrily. " I fancy that the
acquaintance of Pauline Winter would bring no discredit
even upon a princess, at least in this republican land; and
that a young lieutenant of the army need not be ashamed
of the slight intimacy implied by calling upon a stranger
in her society."
" Now you are angry and unjust. I will not answer you
with taunts, as I might do; for that young officer, obscure
as you deem him, unfriended as he is, with no fortune but
honor, a good sword, and a strong arm to wield it, stands
far too high in his own esteem to wound a woman's feelings. I cannot do what you ask, and I will not. Neither
will I stay and listen to insults I cannot resent. With
perfect sincerity, I wish you pleasant slumbers, and a
happy waking."
He turned, but her hand was on his arm.  "Stay. We
must not part in anger.  Excuse my hasty speech; for
indeed, indeed, I meant not what you have chosen to




BERNARD  LILE.                     87
impute to me. But you must admit your refusal to grant
me so slight a favor is very, very strange."
"Slight I" and his whole frame shuddered as he repeated the word. " Slight I I tell you, granting that favor
would go far towards making me the thing I most loathe
on earth-a villain, an ungrateful, teacherous villain."'"More mystery.  I have heard too  much, or not
enough."
" Then hear more. Ever since I have known Zerah Lile,
I have been conscious of a wild intoxication in her presence
-something I had never felt before-something I could
not understand. Still I persuaded myself it was not love.
Self-delusion was easy, for it was pleasant. But at last
the truth broke on me, though not until my veins were
filled with a fiery poison, compared with which the adder's
would be innocent. For such a malady there was no cure.
There was, however, one way to preserve my own respect,
and prevent her from discovering that I had cherished a
hopeless passion. That course I adopted, and swore never
again to enter her presence of my own free will."
"You love her. Why not tell her so, and sue for her's
in return. I thought you held the opinion that an American gentleman might pretend to the love of a queen."
"So I do. Would to God there was no barrier but
that.  Unfortunately she is already married to an American gentleman, and," he added, with unconscious sarcasm,
"loves her husband."
" Married!" ejaculated the lady, and the thought flashed
over her mind that if she could not secure the princess, it
would be no mean triumph to capture the husband. "Married I Who is her husband? where is he now? and what
is he?"
"As to who he is, I only know that he is my benefactor.
As to where he is, I am equally ignorant, except that he




88              BERNARD  LILE.
told me he was going on a long journey. What he is can
be more easily answered.  He is a man of wonderful endowments-gifted beyond the sons of earth with strength,
courage, genius-all that can allure, and all that can command.  Long a soldier in other lands, he returns to his
own in the meridian of life, to pass the remnant of his
days on the free soil where his infancy was rocked."
There was a pause.  The man was wrapped in his own
bitter reflections: The lady was regretting the failure of
her scheme to dazzle the fashionables of the good city of
Gotham. She was the first to break the silence. "I pity
you."  (Perhaps she felt some portion of the sympathy
she expressed.)  "From  my soul I pity you.  Our conference," she added, "has lasted too long. Take me back
to the music room, and try to look more cheerful, or they
will swear I have blasted all your young hopes in the bud."
As they walked on he drew a card from his pocket, and,
stopping beneath one of the lights, wrote on it the name
and address of Monsieur Evadne.  " I could not," he remarked, as he handed it to her, " comply with your request.
But here is the address of one who probably can. He is
a banker, and is doubtless known to Mr. Winter."
" You are very kind; but I am afraid I shall not have
the heart to pursue the matter any further."
Nevertheless she put away the card carefully in her
bosom.
And this is fashionable life. High capacities for good
frittered away upon idle follies. Talents that might be
employed to improve and enlighten a generation, wasted
upon petty rivalries, where even a triumph leaves a sting,
and the mortification of failure carries always the added
bitterness of self-contempt.  Where the heart is deadened,
the feelings indurated-every pure and every lofty passion
withered, and the holiest emotions crushed and trampled




BERNARD  LILE.                      89
on by a selfishness so low, so mean, so despicable, that
the haughty Lucifer turns in disgust from the reptiles
crawling into his kingdom, and leaves to meaner instruments the task of torturing a littleness his proud and lofty
nature cannot stoop to punish.
Let us turn from the scenes where splendor only wraps
corruption in its gaudy mantle, to follow the footsteps of
one whose mind is yet unpolluted-whose instincts are
still upright and honest. Lingering a few minutes after
his fair companion had left him, he made his way unobserved to the front entrance, and was soon upon Broadway,
that great thoroughfare which silence and solitude have
long since abandoned.  Where the beggar and the merchant prince meet upon terms of equality-where the
morning always dawns upon brows blackened by crime,
or haggard with dissipation-where the frail of one sex
and the restless and the wretched of the other make a continuous stream from the first lamp-lighting to the rising of
the sun, when they disappear in dark alleys, or darker
human dens, to give place to the sons of avarice,
" Whose hearts of human flesh,
Beneath the petrifying touch of gold,
Have grown as stony as the trodden ways."
Not once, but often, the pen of genius has been employed
in describing a great city at night, and giving substance to
the impressions it never fails to make. But it is in the
early morning that its deepest secrets are revealed-its
widest contrasts manifest.  It is then that the laborer,
passing to his daily toil, burdened with the implements of
his trade, makes his way with difficulty through the gilded
equipages, and liveried footmen about some rich man's
mansion-looks up at the illuminated windows, and wonders how it happens that he, with all the attributes of a
8*




90              BERNARD  LILE.
man- heart, brain, feeling, honor, virtue   should be
doomed to unceasing toil, while the mere caricatures of
men who fill those luxurious chambers, whispering soft
nothings into ears incapable of comprehending the language
of intellect; or moving with slow and mincing gait over
Brussels carpets softer and warmer than the couch from
which the laborer has just risen; or lounging on a sofa,
fan in hand, to recover from the excessive fatigue of having
danced two sets in succession; should live on in ease and
indolence, staining the current of society with the vices
that alike distinguish them from, and sink them below, the
chattering monkeys of interior Africa. Pass on honest
son of toil, and repine not at the seeming hardness of the
dispensation. Yours is far the happier lot. No French
cooks, and no artificial stimulants are needed to give sweetness to the food you have earned by the sweat of your
brow. Sleep comes unbidden to the hard couch of poverty,
while the downy pillows of the dissolute woo the gentle
goddess in vain, and drugs and opiates purchase the fevered
slumber that is not rest, nor even forgetfulness, but a heavy
stupor peopled by the spectres of conscience.  You may
fold your wife to your bosom with the proud conviction,
that, though the rough winds of winter may have played
among her tresses, and the summer's sun burned its freckles
upon her cheek, no lawless lust has ever sipped a single
dew-drop from her lip. The little infant who climbs upon
your knee, bears your image reflected in its tiny features,
and when his young breath, sweeter than the odor of roseleaves, is fanning your cheek, no dark suspicion checks the
outpouring of a father's love, and turns to gall a father's
fondness.
A few stars yet linger in heaven. Like the pale watchers
by a dead man's corpse, they have looked down through
the long night upon corruption, and now they are drop



BERNARD   LILE.                     91
ping away; one by one, worn, wearied, sad and sorrowful.
The lumps still burn along the street, and the curtain of
night is but half withdrawn.  Mark that closely muffled
female hurrying rapidly up the pavement.  Her husband
is fiom home.  Her children have been left untended.and
uncared for.  She has passed the night in a libertine's arms,
and the trembling fears of the morning are treading on the
heels of the guilty joys of the evening. With nervous haste
she is returning to the bed she has dishonored, shuddering
at every step lest her disguise should be penetrated by the
prying eyes of some acquaintance, who, she knows, would
not hesitate to borrow her plate for a dinner party, and
publish the shame of the lender to give zest to the entertainment.
Here comes one of a different order. That opera dress
proclaims that she too has passed the night from home.
But on that brow, lovely as it is, sin has set its signet ring,
and shame long since blushed itself to death. She has left
her lover (what a revolting application of the word 1) not
because she feared detection and exposure, but that he did.
And now she is walking leisurely to one of those palaces
of prostitution, where a few short years of splendid sensuality are purchased by a death of misery, and an eternity
of woe.
There is another, the heavy cross on whose bosom betokens that her faith is Catholic. She has lingered at the
confessional, but the warm kiss and the double benediction
at parting proves that the penitent's long visit to the
priest's chamber has been a sweet one to him, and the expression of her countenance, as she trips homeward, denotes
that the penance imposed was not severe or displeasing.
Issuing from yonder cellar is a knot of drunken revelers,
who have been vexing the ear of night with ribald songs
and ribald jests.  Squandering the hard earnings of an




92              BERNARD  LILE.
industrious parent-wandering through life without an aim,
without an object, save the gratification of beastly appetites.
With no tear for the wretched-no word of hope for the
despairing-no balm for the suffering.  A foul blot upon
the moral creation, festering and rankling, and only endurable to the beholder because he knows it is eating away
its own existence.  Decay and death are written in the
blood-shot eye, and on the bloated face, and the worm is
already hungering for his loathsome banquet.
A little further on you may behold a young man with
downcast look and staggering gait. Intoxication has not
caused that reeling weakness, or filled his swimming brain
with fire. He has passed his first night at a gaming table,
and the hell of earth has given him a foretaste of the hell
hereafter.  Within a twelvemonth his employer will be
robbed-his own fair fame blasted-the gray hairs of his
parents dishonored-and a convict's cell in the penitentiary
his narrow dwelling-place.
But is there nothing pure and lovely-nothing upon
which the eye may dwell without repugnance, or the heart
treasure among its holiest memories?  Yes, much, very
much an angel might look down upon with gladness.
Here the widest charity atones for the narrowest selfishness.  The loftiest aspiration relieves the lowest instinct.
The purest piety combats the blackest infidelity. Truth,
Genius, Poetry, and Eloquence move with unstained garments among their debasing contrasts. A world is gathered
here.  A human world, and a world of beasts and reptiles.
How delightful the one, if it could be separated from the
horrors of the other I
Our hero paused not to speculate upon the moving mass
with which he mingled. In his own bosom there was food
enough for thought. A great temptation had sprung upon
him-he had yielded, for he was human.  To know Zerah




BERNARD  LILE.                     93
and not to love her, was to him an impossibility. Rapidly
and strongly that love had twined itself about his heart
strings, and there it would remain forever. But he was
not one to deceive himself with the vain hope that it could
be returned, nor did he wish it. From him she was fenced
round by a double wall of gratitude and honor. Had these
defences not existed, it would still have been the same.
For worlds he would not have breathed one word of passion in her ear. Duty and self-respect required him to
avoid the object of his idolatry, and prudence assured him
that distance was his best protection.  In his solitary
chamber he thought over the past, and pondered on the
future. To say that no bitterness mingled with his meditations would be to exempt him from the frailties of humanity,
Yet was there no wavering, no unmanly attempts at selfdeception-no dishonoring dreams of a guilty triumph in
a trusting husband's absence.  She was to him "a crystal
gilded shrine."  Once the thought flashed over his mind
that Lile might never return-that she might again be free
But almost instantly followed the question. What of it?
Would she love me then? And the answer came, from the
inmost depths of his own self-partial bosom, NO. Like the
proudest of England's Peeresses, she would turn from a
second suitor with the haughty response, "Equal the deeds
of Marlborough before you seek the hand that once was
his."  Hour after hour he paced his little room, and when
the sunbeams stole through the window, he threw himself
into a chair and penned a letter to the Secretary of War.
He asked to be relieved from the recruiting station at
New York, and ordered to duty on the frontier. Enclosing  the letter to the Commander-in-chief for his
approval, he summoned all his fortitude to wait with
patience an answer to his application. In a few days it
came.  How eagerly he broke the seals I His eye glanced




94              BERNARD  LILE.
over it, an icy coldness shook his hand, and the paper fell
to the floor. His request was granted, but his look was
that of a condemned criminal, rather than of the successful
applicant.  Such is human nature.  Yesterday he would
have given his little all to be assured of the contents of that
paper. To-day he read it as a sentence of banishment from
the only light that beamed on earth for him. A banishment easy in contemplation, dreadful in reality.  Every
nerve was rigid, and the blood stood stagnant in his veins.
Thought only lived.  That dreary pause revealed a life of
crushed and broken hopes-of blasted joy and gnawing
agony.  Oh I why should one so young, so noble, be so
sternly tried? Was it that ages ago, before earth's atoms
were collected from chaos, the doom of everything that
moves, and has its being here, was written on a changeless
tablet, and hung around the Eternal Throne? or was it
that fire and torture were needed to melt away the dross
from the gold of mortality, and fit it for the hands of a
Workman whose ends we know not-whose justice we dare
not question? Not here, amid the shadows of this lower
orb, may the answer be read. The messenger of an unseen
Power walks among us in darkness, striking down whom
he listeth.  We know not whence the blow cometh nor
wherefore, and never can know until that great day when
all that is dark shall be made bright, and all that is mysterious shall be revealed.
Other thoughts than those of an overshadowed existence
found a place in the mind of Wilson.  Dim and afar off a
solitary light rose on his vision. Through the mists of the
prevent it beckoned him on over a rough and stony pathway to the splendid fane it lighted.  No sweet flowers
reared their stems of beauty around its base. No offering
from the hand of friendship filled the air with incense. No
home endearments knelt and worshiped there. Pity turned




BERNARD  LILE.                     95
from its scorching blaze, and Mercy stilled the notes whose
power to charm was gone. But neither the toilsome road,
nor the cheerless end could banish the fascination of that
Altar's flame. In every age, man has owned its influence.
In every age, the high and the happy have sacrificed contentment and peace for its sake.  Then why should the
wretched hesitate?  Surely they are Ambition's fittest
votaries. To them it curtains the past, and gilds the future.
It beamed upon the young officer like the first star that
kindled its rays over Paradise, and he welcomed its coming
as the Persian welcomes the advent of his fiery god.
The bowed head was raised from  the hand on which
it leaned. With firm and erect carriage he passed from
the barrack room to the street. His heart had grown old
and hoary: and he went forth to battle with the world
with all the life and energy of youth, added to the cooler
judgment and unbending purposes of maturer years.
That day he addressed a note to Monsieur Evadne,
advising him that he was about to leave New York, for
the head-quarters of his regiment in the West-requesting
him to inform Mrs. Lile, and excusing himself for not
calling in person, upon the plea of necessary preparations
for his hasty departure. If he expected an answer, none
came. It was long afterwards, when stretched upon a bed
to which wounds and fever had confined him, among the
everglades of Florida, that he heard once more from his
strange benefactor and his beautiful spouse.




96                BERNARD   LILE.
CHAPTER VII.
And tall and strong and swift of foot were they,
Beyond the dwarfing city's pale abortions,
Because their thoughts had never been the prey
Of care or gain, the green woods were their portions;
No sinking spirits told them they grow gray;
No fashion made them apes of her distortions;
Simple they were, not savage; and their rifles,
Though very true, were not yet used for trifles."
WE must again tax the reader to journey from  the city
to the wilderness. Our history lies mainly with that mysterious man whose destiny seemed akin to that of the fated
Jew who struck the Saviour on his way to the cross, and
heard the awful doom thundered in his ear, "tarry thou till
I come."  Centuries have rolled away since those words of
fearful import echoed upon Calvary. The mighty empire,
which, stretching out its arms from the shores of the Medi
terranean, grasped a world in its vast embrace, is numbered
among the things that have been. The four arches of the
Forum have crumbled away, and the traveler searches in
vain for the spot, where the goddess of eloquence, bestowed
upon the young Cicero the baptism  of eternal fame.  The
lightning of heaven has descended upon the Pantheon, and
its scathed and blackened walls have been succeeded by a
Christian church.   The sun-beam  no longer gilds the
Augustan halls, and the outlawed bandit lurks amid the
gray ruins from whence issued the mandates that swept
over earth, and found none bold enough to disregard them.
Arches, vaults, temples, and porticoes-the long colonnade,
and the splendid mausoleum-are no more.  The grove,
where fauns and satyrs danced to the lyre of Ovid, is a




BERNARD   LIL.E.                    97
dreary waste, where death is for ever riding on the malaria
that rises from the steaming plain. The forest of Hymettus, where Virgil gathered the honey that filled his verse,
has disappeared, and the sweet thyme and the odorous
wild-flower sickened and died when the shadow of the
green leaves passed away.  New thrones have risen-new
empires ceased to be. But the wretch whose tongue reviled,
and whose hand smote a crucified Redeemer, lives on. Still
wherever he wanders, travels with him the curse, "tarry
thou till I come." One by one his kindred and his tribe
laid down in everlasting sleep. One by one he followed
them to their final resting-place, and the fierce agony of
the damned, gnawed his heart-strings, as the hollow sound
made by the falling earth on the coffin-lid, shaped itself
into words, and murmured, "tarry thou till I come."
Winter came and went, but brought no whiteness to his
raven locks. The hoariness was all within. Years flew
by.  The Roman eagles had winged their flight from
Palestine, and the silver stars of the crescent glittered
through the land of Judea; but no change had come for
him.  Beneath the banner of Lusignan, he stormed the
infidel fortress of Cesarea; a huge stone toppled from the
shaken wall, and crushed him  beneath its weight.  The
senses fled, but on the very verge of eternity the spirit stayed
its flight. Strong hands rolled the granite mass from the
mangled form; the bleeding body was stretched upon a
litter of lances, and from the hollow tread of the soldiers,
who bore him to the leech's care came up the words, "tarry
thou till I come." He sought another land, and entered
a great city, where the plague had made its loathsome
home.  He sat down by the side of the stricken victims,
and held their infected hands within his own. He rested
upon the same couch with the putrid corpse, and lifted the
dead bodies with his naked arms, into the burial cart; but
9




98             BERNARD  LILE.
the pestilence scathed him not, and the groaning wheels,
as they rolled away, screeched-"tarry thou till I come."
Again, he stood upon a beetling crag, and looked down
upon the foaming surf that roared around its base. With
a wild laugh he leaped from the dizzy height into the dark
gulf below. The waters closed around him, but the next
surge threw him, stunned and bleeding on the shore, and
the winds that swept over the sea, howled louder as they
passed, "tarry thou till I come." And so, from age to
age, and zone to zone, he has wandered on; denied the
last refuge of mortality, yet suffering all mortality can
endure. Like him had Bernard Lile been a wanderer.
Like him had he grown familiar with agony, but, unlike
the Jew, the dark night around him might have a morning.
From his own haughty and imperious heart was distilled
the venom that had made his life a thing of gloom and
terror. Let that heart be touched and softened by repentance; let it bow in humility at the footstool of a power
no mortal may resist, and the star which rose in beauty
over Bethlehem, will give peace and brightness to the
shadow and the night. Already there were indications of
a change. It might take years to effect it-it might never
come; but there is always hope when the struggle between
good and evil has once commenced. Even as he stood
near the dead bodies of the baffled assassins, in the forest
of Arkansas, thoughts crowded upon him  that brought
forth fruits at another day, and as he turned to follow the
footsteps of his guide, through the thick cane-brake before
them, the stern lines of his compressed lips had almost
relaxed into softness.
Rapidly through the forest, and over the wide prairie,
they pressed on their lonely journey. From the women
and the children in the few scattered houses on the route,
they learned that there was a gathering of the hardy




BERNARD  LILE.                     99
pioneers on the frontier-that Burleson, Rusk, Fannin,
Milam, and many others, were in the field.  Blood had
been shed, and more was soon to flow.  When they approached nearer to San Antonio, they learned that the
town and fortress were garrisoned by about fifteen hundred Mexicans, under the command of General Cos.  The
next day they entered the camp of General Burleson, and
found his forces to consist of six or seven hundred men,
tolerably well armed with rifles and knives, but very poorly
provided with artillery. The new comers were gladly welcomed.  Lile walked through the encampment; marking
with a soldier's eye all he saw, and calculating all they
could accomplish. Undisciplined they certainly were; but
there was in each bosom an abiding conviction of the justice of their cause, an indifference to life, if unaccompanied
with liberty, and a self-confidence nothing but an infancy
rocked amid dangers can give, and nothing but death can
take away. In that army there was no brawling, no gambling, no drunkenness. The first settlers of Texas were
earnest and sober men. Their lonely lives had imparted
a deep seriousness of character to the most thoughtless
among them. They did not plunge into revolution. They
walked into it, with their eyes open; knowing the odds
against them, and scorning it, when Freedom gave the
word.  For such men fetters are never forged.
On the fifth of December, a tall, gray-haired man, whose
firm tread and swelling muscles told that time had stolen
away none of his strength, stepped from the ranks, and
held brief conference with the general. Then turning to
where the citizen soldiery were drawn up in rude imitation
of regular order, his voice swelled bold and high as he
exclaimed, "Who will join Old Ben Milam in storming
the Alamo?"  There was no preface; no stirring appeal
to their patriotism; no glowing pictures of glory to be




100             BERNARD  LILE.
won in the perilous undertaking; but the simple question,
repeated in a voice clearer and louder than the trumpet's
call, "Who will join Old Ben Milam  in storming the
Alamo?" Storm the Alamo! Storm a stone fortress bristling with cannon, and defended by fifteen hundred regular
troops! Storm  it, and with what?  With undisciplined
militia, armed only with rifles and hatchets I Aye! it is
even with such tools that iron man expects to pick his way
through the granite walls of the enemy's stronghold. The
question was so sudden-the men so unprepared for such
a desperate proposition, that for a brief space no voice was
raised in reply.
"If, sir," said Bernard Lile, stepping deliberately to the
side of the veteran Texan, " you will accept a stranger's aid,
there is one rifle at your service."
"You might have said two, captain," added Simpson;
"for I wouldn't miss that sight for the best plantation on
the Mississippi."
Three hundred more rushed to the side of Milam.
Three hundred such as roused Ferguson from his eyrie on
King's Mountain, and struck the death-blow to British
dominion in America.  They paused not to ask what
means they possessed to accomplish the daring deed.
One man had been found bold enough to propose it, and
around that man rallied three hundred " children of the
the chase," whose nerves of twisted steel had never been
shaken by disease or debauchery, and in whose vocabulary
the word fear had never been written   With them to
resolve, was to act; and in two hours from the time that
old man's voice rang along the lines, they were on the
march for the fortress that a few weeks later became
immortal.  Formed in two divisions, the first under Milam
himself, the second under Col. Johnson, they entered the
suburbs of San Antonio.  A  sharp fire of grape and




B.E RNARD  LILE.                  101
musketry was opened upon them  from  the town. The
heavy roll of a twenty-four pounder from the fortress aucceeded.  The iron globe hurtled, with savage ferocity,
through the street.  Another and another followed, until
the house of Antonio de la Garza, in which the division
tnder Milam had taken shelter, was riddled with cannonballs.  Unaccustomed to regular warfare-without scientific knowledge, or the instruments necessary to render it
effective, the cause of the republicans looked desperate
indeed.  In this extremity, the miltary experience of Lile
enabled him to render inestimable service. Seizing a crowbar, he set the example of opening a passage from one
house, through the partition walls, to another.
"Remember that trick, boys," shouted Milam, as he
leaped through the opening; "it may help us at a pinch
another day."
From house to house the daring pioneers burrowed their
way.  Once within rifle range, a close and deadly fire was
opened upon the enemy's artillery.  The Mexican gunners disappeared as rapidly as a swarm of insects is swept
away by the wing of the tempest; and when the night
closed in, every piece, within range of the Texan shot, was
abandoned.  Under cover of the darkness, the assailants
employed themselves in strengthening the position they
had gained. At day-light, they discovered that the Mexicans had occupied the house-tops in their front. Throughout the day the fire was kept up on both sides with little
apparent advantage.  As the shades of evening began to
fall, Milam grew restless and impatient.
"This will never do," he said; "our powder will give
out. We must make a rush."
"I think you can do better, Colonel," suggested Lile.
"Yonder house to the right commands the enemy's position. If that is taken he must give way."
9*




102              BERNARD  LILE.
"By heavens! you are right," answered the old man,
with flashing eyes.  "Will you lead a detachment across
that street?  It takes a bold man to do it; for the bullets
are flying as thick as musquitoes on the Brazos."
"No, Colonel.  I came here to follow, not to lead; but
if you will send an officer and five or six men to occupy it,
I and my friend Simpson, will engage to make a way into
that house, in five minutes, if the bullets were twice as thick
as they are."
"Quick, then.  Here's McDonald, who never feared the
devil himself, shall support you."
With a rifle in one hand, a crow-bar in the other, Lile
and Simpson leaped from the window into the street, They
reached the opposite side, and the crow-bars, impelled by
arms that gave them  the force of a battering-ram, had
shaken the solid door from its hinges, before the Mexicans
seemed to be aware of their object. A shower of bullets
began to patter around them. It was too late. The door
fell, and the two friends leaped within the cover of the
building, just as McDonald and his men descended to the
street on the opposite side. A harder task was before the
lieutenant. The first surprise of the Mexicans was over,
and a hundred muskets were levelled at his little band.
Two fell to rise no more, and two others were badly hurt.
Without further loss, he gained the house, and the enemy
lost no time in falling back to a new position.  The night
of the 6th was employed by the enemy in-opening a trench
on the Alamo side of the river, and strengthening a battery
on a cross street.  At daylight on the 7th, a continued
roll of musketry from the trench, and the sullen boom of
the guns of the battery, told that the work of death had
re-commenced.  A thick smoke settled over the Mexican
lines, and sheltered the artillerists from the unerring rifles
of the Texans.  Incessant flashes of lurid light chequered




BERNARD  LILE.                  103
the gloomy curtain, and the dense vapor rose and fell as
the round shot tore through it, with a fierce, hissing sound,
on their dreadful errand. For the first time the hardy
yeomen felt the unequal nature of the contest they had so
gallantly provoked. For the first time they began to experience that uneasy feeling which is so apt to afflict young
soldiers who are compelled to sustain a galling fire without
the chance of returning it effectually.
Milam saw the unwonted depression spread among his
men, and all the lion of his nature was roused. " Stand to
it, boys," he shouted.  "Remember Zacatecas.  Learn
from her that unless you gorge the tyrant with his own
blood, he will soon be lapping that of your wives and
children. Keep behind your sand bags, and let him waste
his powder upon them. We'll get to closer quarters when
the sun goes down."
The gallant bearing of their commander dispelled the
momentary panic of the troops, and a loud shout answered
his cheering words. Satisfied with this encouraging demonstration, Milam turned towards the quarter occupied by
the division under Col. Johnson. He gained the middle
of the street-there was a quick roll of musketry-the old
man stopped-reeled-fell, and his gray hairs, clotted with
blood and dirt, were strewed upon the ground. Instantly
a tall form was at his side. With a giant's strength, he
lifted the dying martyr in his arms, and bore him back
among his men.
"This is a dark day for Texas," said Bernard Lile, composing the manly limbs of the hero as he spoke. "We
may take yonder fortress, and we will, for the earth that
has drank the blood of Milam can never bear a foreign
yoke; but a hundred fortresses would be insufficient to
pay his country for the life that has fled."
So died the first great martyr to the cause of Texan in



104             BERNARD  LILE.
dependence.  His death-couch was the unpaved floor of a
Spanish hovel-his winding-sheet a soldier's blanket. But
the cloth of scarlet and gold which covered Cceur-de-Lion
on his kingly bier, hid no bolder heart; and the steel-clad
nobles, who gathered around the dead sovereign, shook
with no sincerer grief, than the rude forest children who
bent above the lifeless form of the Republican Leader.
There was no outward burst of grief-no maddening calls
for vengeance on the foe. The fire of rage died out in the
presence of a deeper and a deadlier passion. The light
that gleamed from every eye was the cold, concentrated,
merciless glare of the tigress, when the hunter's shot has
drawn the life-blood of her cub. A hasty consultation was
held, and Col. Johnson selected to take the place of their
lamented commander.  At ten o'clock that night, in the
midst of a cold, drenching rain, they stormed the house of
Antonio Navarro.  Next morning the Zambrano Row was
taken: the enemy being driven with murderous fury from
every room.  The priest's house now fell, and the Mexicans
were completely shut up in the Alamo.  To a soldier like
Lile, it seemed that the most serious work of the colonists
was now only about to begin.  They had nothing with
which to batter down the walls. There was nothing with
which to cover their nearer approach.  To scale them
looked like madness, and yet to scale them was the fixed
determination of every officer and every man in that dauntless band.
"We have hunted the wild beast to his den," said Lile
to a rugged forester by his side; "but I do not see how
we are to get him out."
"By God," replied the man, "if I hadn't seen you do
things Gen. Jackson would study about before trying, I'd
half suspect you of being a little cowardly."
" You are welcome to suspect what you please, if you




BERNARD  LILE.                    105
will only get over those walls as quick as I do. Still, I
cannot see how it is to be done."
"Eat them down with our teeth, if there's no other way.
Old Ben Milam will never rest in his grave until we do it."
" Well, I do not intend to eat any of those stones, but I
intend to be the first on top of them, and my hand shall be
the first to quell a foe beyond them.  Will you mount with
me?"
"I'll try; but to tell the truth and shame the devil, I
don't believe I'm able to keep up with you."
He had hardly ceased speaking before a white flag was
seen to emerge from the fortress.
"There," said Lile, pointing it out to his companion,
"our bargain is spoiled.  They are about to capitulate."
"Yes," was the bitter response, "the white-livered dogs
have knocked under, and Milam's blood is not half revenged.  Never mind-another day they shall pay for it."
True enough, the bearer of that flag, was the bearer of a
proposition to surrender.  General Martin Perfecto de
Cos, with an army of fifteen hundred regulars, protected
by a strong town and a still stronger fortress, surrendered
to three hundred militia, and was himself the messenger of
his own disgrace to his master. History records no more
daring achievement, and contains but one more glorious
chapter.
The volunteers, who had stormed the town and fortress
of San Antonio de Bexar, dispersed, and returned to their
several homes, leaving about a hundred men under command of Col. Travis, to keep possession of the post they
had so gallantly won.  Simpson, who had been badly
wounded in the assault, was removed by Lile to Carlos's
Rancho on the river below.
Our story still lingers around the spot so memorable in
the annals of Texas.  Early in February, courier after




106             BERNARD  LILE-.
courier came in from beyond San Antonio, with the startling intelligence that Santa Anna had collected a great
army, and was marching in person toward the revolted
province.
"Eloody with spurring, fiery red with speed,"
these couriers rushed from post to post, to spread the news
of the coming danger. The dictator proclaimed in advance
his intention not to subjugate, but to destroy. From the
Rio Grande to the Sabine, it was known to be his fixed
resolve to spare neither age nor sex-to leave, in his own
phraseology, "nothing of Texas but the recollection that
it had been."  Unawed by numbers-unappalled by the
threatened doom, the citizen soldiers prepared to breast
the advancing tide. It was well understood that the first
fury of the tempest must burst upon the Alamo, and, as the
little band under Travis were wholly inadequate to its
defence, he was again and again urged to blow up the
walls and retreat.
"Never I" replied the dauntless patriot.  "When these
walls are blown down, it shall be by Mexican cannon, not
by American powder."
Again he was told that his force was insufficient to man
the walls; that he must be cut off, and every man would be
sacrificed.
"I know it," was the stern reply, " but I want to teach
these barbarians what Americans can do.  I know that
we shall be sacrificed, but the victory will cost the enemy
dear, and in the end be worse for him than a defeat."
On the 21st of February, the advanced division of the
army of Santa Anna, under Ramirez Sezma, sat down
before the devoted citadel. A flag was sent in, with a
summons to surrender at discretion.
"Go back and tell your chief," answered the heroic




BERNARD  LILE.                   10T
Travis, "that I have lived with unshackled limbs, and by
the blessing of God, intend to die so."
Slowly from the church of Bexar now rose a blod-red
flag.  Upon its crimson folds no motto was written-no
device appeared. Above the temple of the living Godin mockery of the Redeemer's precepts, there it waved, a
dark and awful red.
"See," said Crocket, as the merciless signal caught the
breeze, "they give us fair warning to expect no quarter."
"They had better wait till we ask it," answered Bowie,
a stern smile spreading around his thin lips, and giving to
his countenance that peculiar expression of deadly determination, before which, it is said, the boldest on the frontiers had quailed.
"You are wrong, Bowie," said Travis, bitterly, "for in
that case they never would have had an opportunity of
displaying this amiable trait of the Mexican character.
But come away from the walls.  Round shot and shell are
not the most agreeable aquaintances in the world, and in
five minutes more a swarm of them will be traveling in
this direction."
The commander of the Almo was mistaken.  The Mexican general was in no hurry. Slowly and deliberately he
drew his lines, and erected his batteries. About three o'clock
on the morning of the 23d, a rocket ascended from the
head-quarters of the Mexicans: rising high into the air, it
turned slowly and gracefully at the culminating pointthe dry powder ignited, brilliant sparks for a moment illuminated the heavens, and all again was black. A  half
hour later, another fiery messenger went up towards the
stars. Simultaneously, the roar of five different batteries
shook the solid earth. Darkly, as the pestilence walks, the
round shot hurtled on its way; with an angry kiss, the heavy
shell sped towards its mark, leaving a trail of light behind,




108             BERNARD  LILE.
But shot and shell had a common destination. For twentyfour hours, without ceasing, that blasting hail beat upon
the doomed garrison.  For twenty-four hours they bore
up under the ceaseless storm of infernal missiles.  Not an
eye winked-not a cheek blanched.  Calmly, fearlessly
they waited for the nearer struggle. At length it came.
A dark column, with the regiment of Tampico at its head,
moved in double quick time to the assault.  The fierce
cannonade had ceased, and nothing but the tramp of
marching men disturbed the silence of the early morning.
Still as the copper snake in its coil, lay Travis and his
men. Nearer and nearer came the tread of the stormers.
At once a dozen fire-balls were ignited and hurled from the
ramparts.  The dark space over which the Mexicans were
marching, was lighted up as if by magic. Even the buttons on the uniforms of the foe were distinctly visible.
" Now let them have it I" shouted Travis, and a sheet of
flame ran along the walls. Curses, dying groans, and the
confused noise of armed men jostling against each other,
proclaimed the fatal accuracy of the riflemen. Another
volley succeeded, and the famed regiment, baptised "invincible" by Santa Anna, broke and fled in wild terror to
the encampment, all that day, with a red spot upon his
cheek, Sezma moved among his men.  Threats of punishment were freely mingled with promises of reward. Their
pride, their patriotism  was appealed to.  They were
reminded of their former achievements, and stung by
comments on the infamy of being baffled by a handful of
raw militia.  The next morning, two columns moved to
the assault.  One from Bexar, west, and the other from
Lavilleta, south.  The artillery of the garrison, under the
command  of Major Evans, ploughed  bloody furrows
through the advancing columns, but not until they came
within rifle range did they falter. Upon that compact




BERNARD  LILE.                   109
mass every shot from the garrison told. File after file
went down in quick succession.  They paused-huddled
together like frightened wild fowl —a shower of grape
swept through them-a volley of rifle bullets completed
the panic-with a yell of terror they threw away their
muskets, and fled behind their entrenchments.
The Mexican general had suffered too grievously, and
his men were too much disheartened to venture upon a
third attack. Again the roar of artillery swept over the
Prairie, and frightened the wild deer to more distant pastures. On the first of March, thirty-two men, from Gonzales, cut their way through the enemy and joined the
garrison.  With these was Bernard Lile.  He had left his
wounded friend to take part in the game of life and death
so boldy played by Travis. Never has the pen of history
been called upon to record an exploit like that these devoted patriots had performed.  Thirty-two men cutting
their way through an army of four thousand I  Seeking
no reward-impelled by no hope of safety-guided and
animated by no feeling but patriotism, and asking nothing
but the privilege to die side by side with their countrymen.
Desperate men have often been known to resort to desperate
expedients for the preservation of life. But such was not
the motive of the men of Gonzales.  Outside the enemies'
lines they were already safe. They cut their way in to die.
It was the martyrdom of liberty they sought; and as long
as the silver waters of the San Antonio glide towards the
sea, they will have a voice to murmur their fame.
On the 3d day of March, Santa Anna himself, with strong
reinforcements, arrived and assumed the command.  A
new battery of heavier metal was established, and lines of
cavalry, to prevent the possibility of escape, were drawn
between the entrenched camps that encircled the fort.
Travis saw that his last hour was rapidly approaching.
10




110             BERNARD  LILE.
Resolving to make one more effort-not for life, but for
Texas-he called his men together, told them plainly that
in two days, at farthest, unless succor arrived, certain
butchery awaited them, and asked who would undertake to
bear a letter, through the Mexicans, to the President of
the Texan Convention.  The men listened in silence and
with folded arms. Not a man moved-not a voice was
raised in reply. A shade gathered on the manly brow of
their leader.
"What l" he exclaimed, "have I no one here bold
enough to risk his life singly for Texas?"
David Crocket stepped from the ranks; his buckskin
hunting-shirt was stiffened with clay, and blackened with
powder-smoke, but his fresh and ruddy complexion gave
no token of the fatigue he had undergone, and his bearing
was as calm as when he walked down the aisle of the representative Hall at Washington.
"You see, Colonel," he began, "it's not because any of
us are afeard to die, but because none of us wants to lose
his share in what is coming. When I was in Congress, I
noticed that all the fellows were striving for glory; but
talking wasn't one of my gifts, and precious little glory fell
to my lot. Now here, behind these rocks, the question is
put in a shape that I feel able to take a hand. I'm arter
glory, Colonel, mixed up with a sprinkle of Mexican hide
and tallow.' I reckon these boys are much of my way of
thinking; and if you ain't got no objection we'll just stay
where we are."
Amidst the applauding murmurs which followed the Old
Hunter's harangue, Bernard Lile walked to the side of the
commanding officer.
" I am comparatively a stranger, Colonel," he said, " and
it is most fit the lot should fall on me. I came here to




BERNARD  LILE.                     111
serve Texas, and it matters little to me in what capacity
the service is rendered."
" Let him go, Colonel," shouted a dozen voices at once,
"we saw him  when he lifted old Ben Milam  from  the
street, and if mortal man can get through yonder lines, he
will do it."
So it was arranged that Bernard Lile should that night
be the bearer of despatches to the President of the Convention, or to General Houston, (then supposed to be in
Victoria,) as circumstances might determine.
When darkness came, Lile was ushered from the gate by
Travis himself.  " God bless you!" said the hero, grasping
the hand of his messenger for the last time. "We shall
meet no more.  In a few days, I and the brave fellows
with me will be food for the vultures. You, sir, are said to
have a heart that never knew fear, and an arm that never
met its equal. Use both for Texas, if you would have the
blessing of a dying man.  Say to our friends to take no
thought about avenging our deaths. We will avenge ourselves. But tell them to learn from us that life without
liberty is worthless, and if they cease to struggle while one
hostile foot is left upon the soil of Texas, we will come
back to curse it. Again, good-bye. In another world we
may recall the memory of this hour.  In this one we are
parted for ever."
Lile returned the firm pressure of his hand. He spoke
not of hope, for he knew that none existed.  He offered
no encouragement, for he felt such words would be an
insult to that dauntless chief. But as he turned away, he
resolved that more t~han one Mexican ghost should, before
the morrow came, precede the gifted and self-sacrificing
patriot to the spirit land.
Knowing little of those with whom he had to contend,
and believing they would make an effort to escape during




112             BERNARD  LILE.
the night, Santa Anna had taken the extraordinary pre.
caution of placing three lines of sentinels between his
encampment and the fort. Approaching the first of these,
Lile put in practice the arts he had learned among the
Thugs of India.  Throwing himself upon the ground he
wound along with the noiseless motion of the serpent,
towards his intended victim. Suddenly he stood erect by
the sentry's side. Grasping the astonished soldier by the
throat, he drove a long knife to his heart. Without relinquishing the hold upon his neck, he let him sink slowly
to the earth, to prevent the clatter of his arms in falling.
A gurgling noise escaped from the windpipe when the
pressure was removed; a slight shiver shook the body, but
nothing else gave warning that a soul had fled. At the
second line, and again at the third, the same scene was reenacted. A thousand yards south-east from the Alamo,
an entrenched camp lay directly in his path.  Here he
anticipated little vigilance would be exercised. With three
lines of sentinels between them and the fort, and strong
cavalry pickets in every direction outside, it was to be
expected that they would feel tolerably secure. He was
not, however, a man to omit any precaution where the least
uncertainty existed. Stealthily he crossed the ditch and
clambered over the earthworks. Profound silence reigned
throughout the encampment.  Slowly he passed through
to the opposite side, assured himself that there was nothing
in that quarter to interfere with his escape, and then returned among the tents.  The first he entered he judged
from its position to be that of a captain of a company. A
dark lantern was dimly burning within. The solitary occupant slept soundly-from that sleep he never awakened.
With the blood that gushed in a crimson torrent upon the
camp-bed, Lile traced upon the canvas wall: "Remember
the blood-red flag of Bexar."  Softly he crept to another




BERNARD  LILE.                   113
tent, and another, and wherever he went, the angel of
death went with him. By accident his hand touched the
foot of a soldier who slept less soundly than his comrades.
Starting up he grasped the intruder, and fiercely demanded
his name.  Scarcely a second elapsed before the Mexican
sank with a dying groan across the mouth of the tent;
but the alarm was given-it spread from tent to tent;
lights flashed through the encampment; and the "long
roll " sent forth its startling notes. Swiftly as the flight of
the night-hawk, Bernard Lile cleared the works and sped
across the rolling prairie.  The din of the camp rose
behind him-squadrons of horse were galloping around —
the sharp challenge of the pickets were heard on every
side. Without winding or turning he ran the dangerous
gauntlet, and was soon far beyond the reach of pursuit.
Through the 4th and 5th of March a heavy bombardment was kept up by the Mexicans.  At day-break on the
sixth they rushed to the final assault. They were met by
a shower of grape and bullets too thick and deadly for any
Mexican courage, to stand,-they broke and fled in wild disarray towards the town. They were with difficulty halted
and reformed by their officers.  Again they rushed on;
this time bearing the blood-red banner in their midst.
"Mark the man who carries that flag," said Travis to
the powder-grimed rifleman by his side.
The sharp crack of the rifle followed, and the flag went
down.  Another hand raised it aloft, another rifle shot
succeeded, and again it fell. It was caught up once more;
once more the report of the rifle was heard, and the bunting fell for the last time. There was no hand in that host
bold enough to raise it again.
"Toting that bloody rag aint so funny after all," muttered the grim rifleman, as he reloaded his piece.
The enemy had in the meantime gained the wall and
10*




114             BERNARD  LILE.
planted the scaling-ladders against it. Strong hands seized
them, and hurled ladders and mounting Mexicans to the
ground together. Rifle and pistol shots were poured upon
the confused mass. Again the stormers scattered and fled
over the plains. Santa Anna himself halted the fugitives.
With bitter execrations of their cowardice, were mingled
the most tempting promises of promotion and reward. He
reminded them that the little garrison must be worn down
by ten days' incessant fatigue and night watching, and
spoke of the deep disgrace of being baffled by an enemy so
few in numbers-so ill prepared for prolonged resistance.
Strong reinforcements were brought up.  The artillery
played incessantly upon the fort to cover their approach.
Thus protected and supported, they were driven once more
to the assault. The rifles of the garrison made wide havoc
in the advancing ranks. Ladders were thrown down, and
stones toppled upon the struggling crowd below. But new
foes succeeded; they swarmed up the wall and mixed with
its defenders. Overborne by numbers —with no chance to
reload-the Americans clubbed their guns, and fought on
until the last man expired. None asked foi quarter,
"But each struck singly, silently, and home,
And sank outwearied rather than o'ercome."
Travis remained upon the wall until two shots passed
through his body. He fell, and General Mora rushed up
to dispatch him. The dying hero raised himself upon his
elbow, and thrust his good sword through the heart of the
Mexican.  They were found side by side in death; the
sword of Travis, clenched in his stiffened hand, and still
remaining in the breast of Mora. Around David Crocket
there was a horrid wall of human bodies. His death was
sudden and without pain.  The freshness of his features
was unchanged, and a strange smile rested upon his rigid




BERNARD  LILE.                   115
lips. Death had overtaken him before it faded, and glued
it there till the worm came to eat it away.
Such was the dictator's first achievement in Texas.
Fifteen hundred of his dead and wounded soldiers told the
fearful story of " what Americans can do." Over that spot,
some day, a monument will rise to meet the skies, with the
proud inscription, "Thermopylae had one messenger of
defeat, but the Alamo had none!"




116              BERNARD   LILE.
CHAPTER VIII.
"Yet though destruction sweeps these lovely plains
Rise, fellow-men: our country yet remains.
By that dread name we wave the sword on high,
And swear for her to live-for her to die."
BERNARD LILE reached the Cibolo, and followed that
stream  to its junction with the San Antonio.  Here he
rested until the daylight would enable him to make such
observations as his situation demanded. The direct route
to Victoria would leave Goliad, where Fannin was stationed,
considerably to the right; but that involved the necessity
of crossing the open prairie, which would, without doubt,
be continually scoured by Mexican horse. At another time
the danger from this quarter would have had little influence
on his course; but he knew not of what importance the
despatches he carried might be to the Texan commander,
and resolved to encounter no risk in their delivery that
could be avoided.  When morning came, he soon ascertained that the prairie was alive with light troops, and no
alternative remained for him but to make for Goliad, keeping as much as possible within the protection of the timber.
The toilsome distance was accomplished with a rapidity
almost miraculous.  Arrived at Goliad, he communicated
to Colonel Fannin all he had seen at Bexar-the inevitable
fate of the devoted garrison, and the probability that his
own post would be the next point of attack. That gallant
officer engaged to send Travis's despatches to General
Houston, and Bernard Lile determined to remain at Goliad,
and share the fate of Fannin and his comrades.  This
course was rendered more  agreeable, by finding Tom




BERNARD   LILE.                    117
Simpson in the camp, completely recovered from his wound.
The force under Colonel Fannin was composed almost
entirely of volunteers from the States-men who had left
the comforts and security of home, to do battle in the cause
of liberty-not mere adventurers, who had no ties to bind
them to the land of their birth, and who were willing to
take any chance of bettering their desperate fortunes-not
paupers, to whom the camp was a refuge from starvationnor hardened miscreants, to whom war and butchery was a
delight-but young men, for the most part educated and
refined, who left peace, security, and plenty, for peril, privation, and death. In their boyhood, they had read the
story of the revolution, and their little hearts bounded with
indignant anger at the recital of the wrongs our fathers
had suffered.  In manhood the tale was borne to them,
that, in a neighboring land, their kindred and friends were
threatened with chains and the gibbet, and the generous
impulse of the child swelled into the sterner resolve of the
man.  Urged on by that love of liberty engendered by
American principles, they grasped their rifles, and rushed
to take part in the struggle begun by freedom against the
myrmidons of despotism.  They were a glorious band:
swayed neither by the lust of conquest nor of spoil, but
frankly periling life and fortune that a people might be
redeemed,
"How sweetly on the ear such echoes sound!
While the mere victors may appal or stun
The servile and the vain, such names will be
A watchword till the future shall be free."
Marching berefooted, not half clothed, and often not
half fed, they had already gone through an amount of privation and fatigue which would have dispirited a veteran
corps.  Yet these young soldiers, fresh from the luxuries




118             BERNARD  LILE.
of home, bore up under every discouragement, with a forti.
tude unsurpassed by that of the army of Washington in the
camp of Valley Forge.  The high qualities they had exhibited in garrison were about to be tested still further in
the open field. The Alamo had fallen, and its brave defenders-crushed, not conquered, had been swept from the
path of the invader. The slightest acquaintance with military operations indicated Goliad as the next point of attack.
Oa the 12th of March, Colonel Fannin sent Captain King,
with his company, to bring in some unprotected families
from the Mission of Refugio.  To divide his force at such
a time was not the act of a prudent military leader, but it
indicated the presence of a higher and a nobler qualityhumanity.  The great Bruce, in one of his direst straits,
halted his little band, and freely exposed his own life, and
the lives of those who were with him, to English butchery,
rather than leave a single woman in distress. Amid all
the achievements that made his name immortal, none shine
with a more enduring lustre.  The hand that crushed Sir
Henry de Bohun's helm-the courage no danger could
daunt-the energy no despair could chill, and the wisdom
that broke the yoke of England, may cease to be remembered, but the heart that melted at a woman's wail is embalmed for ever.  Actuated by like feelings, Fannin sent
King to the Mission, and by this act sacrificed, in the end,
his own life, and spread mourning through Texas and the
States. King encountered an overwhelming Mexican force
at the Mission. Taking refuge in the church, with twentyeight men, he defended himself with desperate courage
until the arrival of Lieutenant Colonel Ward, with a battalion, to his relief. The Mexicans then drew off, but soon
after, being also reinforced, returned and reinvested the
church. Three several assaults were made, and successively
repulsed with immense slaughter.  Some boys, with a




BERNARD  LILE.                     119
commissioned officer, occupied the yard of the church, and
fought with such obstinate valor as to call forth the warmest
plaudits of Ward.  Against this point the efforts of the
Mexicans were now directed.  Formed in close column,
firmly and silently they came on. At the distance of a
hundred yards, they deployed into line-detachments from
the two wings took the yard in flank, and the centre attacked fiercely in front. The fate of the "little brothers,"
as they were christened, appeared inevitable. A tall and
powerful man glided among them; with a quick step he
passed from  one to the other; "Keep under cover, and
hold your fire my little heroes; wait for the signal." The
enemy approached within thirty yards-the rifle of Bernard
Lile-for it was he-rose to his shoulder,-and the foremost Mexican bit the dust.  Quick as thought, the boys
responded to the signal. Their wasting fire speedily disordered the Mexican ranks.  An officer in the uniform of
a colonel rode among them, fiercely waving his sword, and
threatening instant death to the fugitives. The shattered
lines was reformed.  They were greeted by withering
volleys from the yard; still they pressed on steadily and
sternly over the dying and the dead.  The leading files
were in a few feet of the stone fence, when another hurricane of bullets swept through them, and again they were
broken.  Again that daring officer checked their flight;
again he renewed their disordered ranks; again he led
them to the assault.  "There," said Bernard Lile, "is the
truest soldier I have ever seen in a Mexican uniform. It
is a pity to harm him; but my little favorites here must
not be sacrificed for a punctilio." Even as he spoke, his
eye was glancing along the barrel of his rifle. A sharp
report followed.  The Mexican reeled in the saddlegrasped convulsively the mane of his horse, then tumbled
heavily to the ground.  A  single volley drove the dis



120             BERNARD LILEo
spirited assailants from the field. Profiting by the leisure
afforded him, Ward made a careful inspection of his command.  Three of the boys were too badly wounded to
recover. His losses in other respects were trifling. The
inspection, however, revealed the appalling fact, that not
three rounds of ammunition remained.  The enemy had
disappeared, but they were unquestionably close at hand,
and were probably only waiting for reinforcements to
renew the attack. To retreat was unavoidable, yet a retreat in the face of an enemy so greatly superior, across
an open prairie, with no cavalry, and no artillery, was an
achievement Xenophon would have hesitated to attempt.
Night came, and the order to march was given; but first
it became necessary to communicate to the wounded boys
the painful fact that it was impossible to remove them.
The reply of the little sufferers deserves to be perpetuated
in tablets of gold: "Never mind us; put some water in
reach, and save yourselves." The big tears came to the
eye of Simpson, who had fought like a lion throughout
the day.
"By the Lord," he exclaimed to Lile, "this shall not
be. I'll carry one myself-wont you take another, captain?"
" Willingly," answered Lile, " would I engage to carry
twice the weight to the Gaudaloupe, if it would save them;
but it would be cruel to move them, Tom.  The one who
is least hurt has not three hours to live. It is best to let
them die in peace."
A soft couch was made by spreading the blankets, taken
from the dead Mexicans around the church, upon the floor.
The dying boys were laid upon it —water was given them
-with sobs and tears their comrades bade them adieu, and
set out upon their hazardous march.  Simpson was the
last to leave the church. It was fearful to look upon the




BERNARD  LILE.                  121
fierce grief that shook his sturdy frame. Kneeling upon
the bed of blankets, he pressed a kiss upon each of their
pale cheeks, and recorded a dark oath, which drew tears
from many a Mexican mother and wife in after years.
"Them boys," he muttered, as he walked along, "will be
chopped into sausage meat, by the d-d brutes who couldn't
look them in the face when they had guns in their hands.
If God spares me, for every drop of blood they've lost, I'll
draw ten from Mexican veins, and I'm not sure but what
it will git to be twenty, before I begin to be particular
in counting."
Darkly the little band made their way towards Victoria.
At the crossing of the San Antonio, Lile.and Simpson
who were attached to no company, and who, since their
entrance into Texas, had fought whenever and wherever it
suited them, abandoned the main body with the purpose of
rejoining Col. Fannin, whose post they had no doubt,
was by this time beleaguered by the enemy. They reached
Goliad to find that it had. been abandoned by the Americans. In obedience to an order from Gen. Houston, Col.
Fannin had evacuated the place on the 19th of March,
and commenced a toilsome retreat to Victoria. Following
in the track of the retreating force, oar adventurers learned
slowly, one by one, the events we shall condense into a
continuous narrative.
Col. Fannin's command amounted to two hundred and
seventy-five effective men. Four companies of infantry,
under Captains Shackelford, Pettis, Duval, and McManeman, with a few regular artillerists under Captain Westover.
The river was'crossed with difficulty, on account of the
inefficiency of the teams drawing the cannon. The guns
were finally dragged up the C.nk by the men-the untiring
Shackelford himself wading into the stream, and seizing a
wheel, set the example of rolling it up with his own hands
11




122             BERNARD  LILE.
After passing the San Antonio, and when within five miles
of the Coleto timber, a halt was determined on, against the
earnest remonstrances of Captain Shackelford, for the purpose of resting the wearied men and cattle. That gallant
officer, with a prudence even more commendable than the
high courage that led him to the field, insisted upon continuing their march to the timber, where the Mexican
cavalry would be useless, and the men in some degree protected by the trees from the overwheming odds the enemy
were hourly expected to bring against them.  He was
unfortunately overruled, and the command halted where it
was.  In one of his letters to the president of the convention, Col. Fannin had said, that while he had no superior
as a company officer in Texas, he had grave doubts of his
own fitness for the command of a considerable force.
Whether this criticism upon his own merits was just, or
whether it flowed from too great modesty, can never be
satisfactorily determined. He was cut off before time and
opportunity were allowed for the solution of the question.
It is certain, however, that he was one of the most gifted,
as he was one of the bravest, of the early defenders of Texas.
The two errors contemporary testimony ascribe to him
were venial faults. The first was dictated by humanitythe second sprung from the lion-like nature that despised
danger too much to guard sufficiently against its approaches. The one has its apology in the best feelings
of the heart-a little experience in the field would soon
have corrected the other. Still it is permitted to the
friends of those who fell, to monrn a mistake that had so
deplorable an end.  Had the counsel of Shackelford been
followed, the bloodiest page in the history of Texas might
never have been written, and the lamented Fannin himself
might now be alive, to enjoy the shelter of that tree whpose
infant roots his life-blood watered.




BERNARD  LILE.                    323
For an hour the halt continued.  To the dweller in
cities that space seems brief and unimportant.  It is only
another drop of life w'asted-another talent buried. But
how often has the fate of armies and of empires hung upon
that little spot of time.  An hour, and Fannin would have
been in easy reach of the Coleto timber. An hour, and
oh I how different would have been the tale borne to the
widowed wives, agonized sisters, and bereaved mothers of
a band as chivalrous as Rome or Sparta ever sent to battle.
There were those in that little army who knew its importance, but they knew also the duty of a soldier too well to
murmur.  Gloomily and wearily they marked the minutes
as they passed-gloomily they stretched themselves upon
the long grass, inwardly chaffing, not at danger, not at the
overshadowing doom, but of the probability of a defeat
where victory might so easily be secured, or the more
galling alternative of being surrounded on the prairie, and
starved into capitulation, without a good blow struck, or a
laurel gathered to twine about their distant graves. At
length that hour of fate rolled by, and the line of march was
resumed.  For nearly four miles no enemy appeared, and
the near timber awakened hopes that were soon to be sadly
crushed. The bugle notes of a cavalry troop came floating
over the prairie. There was a wild fierceness in the barbaric
music borrowed by Old Spain from its Moorish conquerors.
Slowly, in firm order, and with the unmistakable bearing
of tried veterans, seven hundred of the lancers of Mexico
filed from a skirt of woods to the front, and moved obliquely
across the path of Fannin. Guidons waved gracefully in the
passing breeze-gleams of light flashed from the steel heads
of their long lances-gay uniforms and gaudy trappings
lent their varied colors to the martial show. In this emergency the resolution of the American commander was
promptly taken.  To cut his way through to the timber,




124             BERNARD  LILE.
was the dictate of prudence as well as of manliness.
Closing his men into a compact mass, he moved directly
upon the intervening horsemen.  But now emerging from
the same point of woods where the cavalry had first been
seen, a dark column of twelve hundred infantry stretched
itself out upon the prairie.  Here, also, the amlunition
wagon broke down.  Captivity, or battle upon the enemy's
own terms, were the only alternatives that remained. At
once a hollow square was formed, and with little hope save
that of a glorious death, the devoted band awaited the
assault.  The enemy began by firing at long distances
with their escopetas.  No shot was returned in reply.
They approached nearer, and poured in another volley.
Still no answer. Again they advanced, and fired. Several
of Fannin's men were wounded by this discharge. A ball
carried away the cock of his own rifle, and another buried
itself in the breech. Calm and unmoved, he stood erect
among the bullets-from time to time ordering his men not
to fire yet.  The enemy who had now closed within a hundred yards, halted. It was evident they did not intend to
approach any nearer to the front face of the square, which
was composed of the companies of Shackelford and Pettis.
The impatience of the troops was gratified by an order to
fire, and the battle began in earnest. The remnant of the
Tampico regiment, which had survived the storming of
the Almo, charged the left face. They were received by a
murderous discharge from a piece of artillery, and when a
little nearer were mowed down by the score by Duval's
riflemen. Almost at the same time the rear face was
charged by a body of lancers, yelling and shouting like
so many fiends broke loose from hell. A sharp fire of
canister arrested them in mid career, and horse and man
went down together on the bloody plain. For six hours,
without intermission, the battle raged. For six hours that




BERNARD  LILE.                    125
little band of heroes held at bay a force of more than seven
times their number. Assailed on every side by lance, and
bullet, and bayonet-their guns useless for the want of
water to sponge them-without a breastwork, or trench,
or tree, or the slightest protection of any description,
unshrinking and unquailing they fought on. Now a heavy
volley from the enemy makes a horrid gap in that living
wall. The dead and the dying are borne within-the square
contracts, and again a solid front is presented to the murderous shower. And so on through the day, and when the
shadow of the night came down, that square was unbroken,
and the enemy drew off from a field over which the pennons
of the volunteers still fluttered.  Col. Fannin had been
seriously wounded early in the action, but continued through
the day to cheer and encourage his men. The unshaken
valor they had exhibited was about to be rendered doubly
illustrious. Under cover of the darkness, there was a fair
prospect for those who were unhurt to reach the timber,
and make good their retreat.  It was soon ascertained,
however, that, during the engagement, their teams had all
been killed or scattered, and if they retreated, they must
leave their wounded comrades, of whom sixty were lying
in their midst, to the mercy of a merciless foe. With one
accord they resolved to remain, and share together whatever fate might befall them. With the dawn of morn, it'was discovered that the Mexicans had received a reinforcement of five hundred men-they had also erected a battery
beyond the range of Fannin's rifles. The volunteers were
now in some sort protected by a slight earth-work, thrown up
during the night. Carefully husbanding their ammunition,
they received the Mexican fire without attempting to return
it. Cannon balls whistled over them, and around them,
but no answering echo came from the shallow trench and
fragile breastwork. Deliberately, and beyond the reach of
11*




126            BERNARD  LILE.
harm, the enemy kept up the work of murder. After a
while they hoisted a signal for negotiations. Major Wallace was sent out to them. Gen. Urea insisted on treating
with the commanding officer in person. Sorely wounded
as he was, Col. Fannin determined to comply with the
request.  As he,limped by Captain Shackelford, nearly
one-half of whose company had been killed or wounded on
the day before, that gallant officer, his tall form unbowed,
his bronzed cheek not a shade paler, his voice clear, and
without a tremor, addressed him in the determined language
of a man for whom death has no terrors, when honor and
duty gild its coming.
"If you can save our wounded, colonel-obtain fair and
honorable terms, and such as you can rely on, capitulate.
If not, come back among us-our graves are already dug
-we know how to make them immortal before falling into
them. "
The Mexican general not only offered terms fair and
honorable, but more highly favorable than Fannin had a
right to expect. How he intended to keep them, can only
be known to his God. How he did keep them, will be seen
hereafter.
It was the 20th of March. The sun had not far to
travel on his westward journey, when Lile and Simpson
crossed the San Antonio.  Before leaving the skirt of
wood that runs along the river's bank, they looked out
carefully upon the prairie. A strong body of Mexicans
was marching towards them.  Secreting themselves carefully, they waited its approach.  It was the guard of
Urea driving the unwounded volunteers, who had surrendered with Fannin, back to Goliad. Straggling parties
of Mexicans continued to pass until the sun went down.
The two then emerged into the open prairie, keeping a
little way from the direct track to Victoria.




BERNARD  LILE.                    127
"It is all over," said Lile; "there has been a battle
somewhere near, and the Mexican army is still encamped
about the spot, or else they have murdered the wounded. "
"That's what they've done," replied Simpson, with a
fierce oath, " and here have I let at least three hundred of
the devils go by without drawing a lead on the first one."
"Never mind," rejoined his companion, "there is time
enough for that.  Fear not that I will leave this neighborhood before you have an opportunity of shedding blood
enough to satiate the deadliest revenge."
The long stride of men accustomed to pedestrian exercise, carried them  rapidly over the level country.  Far
ahead the camp-fires of a considerable army blazed up
along the edge of the Coleto timber.
"They will keep poor watch to-night," said Lile; "for
they know that the last troops on this side the Gaudaloupe
are either dead or captives.  It will be easy to crawl near
enough to mingle mourning with their rejoicing."
No proposition could have been more acceptable to
Simpson in the then temper of his mind. It was agreed
to approach within rifle-shot of the nearest fire, select each
one his own mark, and make their escape before the confusion would enable the foe to begin a pursuit. Diverging
to the left, they reached the timber above the encampment,
and cautiously, through the shadows of the dark wood,
drew near and nearer to the blazing fires.
"Look," whispered Lile, laying his hand on Simpson's
arm; "look through this opening.  There is an object
moving backwards and forwards between us and the light.
It must be a sentry."
" I see it," was the reply, in the same low tone; " but it's
no trouble to get rid of him."
"Not much.  Still we must wait-perhaps an hour.-.
perhaps more."




128             BERNARD  LILE.
"Why?  I can stop that fellow's breathing in ten
minutes, without disturbing the whippoorwill on the tree
above his head."
"Very likely.  But we do not know when the guard
will be relieved, and if they should come around before we
had effected our purpose, and find a comrade dead upon
his post, an alarm would be given which would make our
situation more exciting than agreeable.  This man may
thank his stars for the good fortune that has placed him
on duty at this particular time-the one who takes his
place will have less cause to be grateful."
Approaching as near as they could with safety, they
took advantage of the screen afforded by a fallen pecantree, and waited for the relief to come round. Very soon
the quick challenge of a sentry was heard-the countersign was given-a new man was put upon the post-his
instructions communicated in a whisper, and the relief
moved on. When the tread of the marching guard died
away, Lile rose, and said:
" Now is our time. We have two hours before us. Give
me your rifle until the sentinel is quieted."
Without a word Simpson handed him his rifle, drew his
knife, and disappeared in the direction of the sentry.  In
less than ten minutes he returned, whispered "all is clear,"
and resumed his gun.  The two then made directly for the
nearest camp-fire.  As they passed the spot where the
sentry had been posted, Lile noticed that he was sitting
with his back against a tree, apparently sound asleep; but
a dark tide that welled from his bosom, was making its
way slowly over the ground.  Nearing the fires, they discovered that no tents had been pitched, and they judged
rightly that the halt in that place was intended to be a
brief one.  Gathered about some blazing logs, ten or
twelve Mexican soldiers were intently engaged in the fas



BERNARD  LILE.                   129
cinating game of Monte. Indicating by signs the different
objects at which they meant to fire, their rifles rose together,
and together the sharp echoes rang through the forest.
Turning instantly with the speed of the wild deer, they
bounded back along the margin of the little stream. To
the noise and confusion prevailing in the camp they gave
little heed, well knowing that no continued pursuit would
be attempted in the dark. At the distance of half a mile
they halted, and deliberately reloaded their guns.
" They will not move now before sun-up," said Lile, "for
they will never believe two men would have ventured on
such a deed, if unsupported. It will give Ward two or
three hours more time, if he is not already captured, as I
fear he is. For him we can do nothing more.  Let us
back to Goliad, we may help some of the prisoners to
escape. "
Simpson gladly acceded to the proposition.  Aside
from his willingness to share any danger his companion
chose to encounter, he had another motive. When kneeling by the side of the wounded boys in the Mission Church,
he had recorded an oath in heaven. Whenever he closed
his eyes he fancied he could see thin silken locks clotted
with blood-thin beardless faces disfigured by a brutal soldiery-their fair bosoms gashed with unnumbered wounds.
Gloomily he brooded over the fate he believed, and believed
truly, had overtaken them.  Revenge is a natural instinct
of the human heart. In the gentlest of our race it takes
years of watchful training to soften and subdue it. Long
and bitter must the struggle be before we receive, without
ripening, the divine precept, " Vengeance is mine: I will
repay, saith the Lord." The duty of forgiveness was one
Simpson had never learned.  His separation from civilized
life and his association with the Indian tribes, had, on the
contrary, cherished and strengthened the vengeful feelings




130              BERNARD  LILE.
of his nature. To him there was nothing holier than the
blow that sent the murderer after his victim; and he would
have scorned himself if, at any time, he had hesitated to
take life for life. In the present case there was much to
palliate, if not justify the bloody resolution he had formed.
The invader had entered Texas with the avowed purpose
of extermination, and his acts thus far had been in accordance with the proclamation. Butchery of the living had
been accompanied with the foulest indignities to the dead.
The bodies of the slain had first been mutilated, and then
left to rot where they fell. The only wonder is, that the
feeling thus awakened was arrested where it was.
Without rest or refreshment the two friends again struck
across the prairie for the San Antonio. For days they
skulked around Goliad, subsisting on a deer Simpson had
killed, and wild onions in the river bottom. Once Lile
formed the resolution of killing the sentries, and penetrating the town during the night.  A little reflection taught
him this would be superflous, and might give the Mexicans
a pretext for murdering their prisoners. On the 25th they
saw Ward and his companions brought in.  At daylight
on the 27th, Lile, who was sleeping at the root of a tree,
was roused by Simpson.
"What's in the wind now?  They are marching our
men out towards the river with their knapsacks on. What
does it mean?"
" It means treachery and murder," answered Lile. "Cold,
black and heartless murder I"
A little distance from the river the prisoners were made
to kneel down with their faces to the river. A suspicion of
the truth flashed over one of the men. He sprang to his feet,
loudly exclaiming, "Boys, they are going to kill us!-die
with your faces to them like men!" A volley of musketry
silenced his voice forever.  Another succeeded.  With a




BERNARD  LILE.                    131
shout of hell the Mexicans rushed on with lance and bayonet to complete the work. Dying groans mingled plentifully with the brutal curses of the slayers, but not a craven
cry, not a prayer for mercy issued from the mangled mass.
The agony of torn sinews and crashing bones made itself
heard; but no begging, no whining, no sign of terror added
to the infernal gratification of the murderers.
As Simpson looked upon the scene, the veins of his
temples swelled and worked like writhing serpents. Twice
he raised his rifle, and twice his comrade laid his hand
upon the lock, and sternly muttered "be still I"  When it
was over, they both turned away and penetrated deeper in
the wood.  An hour later they were at the ford of the San
Antonio.  A  troop of Lancers was approaching.  As
the foremost files entered the stream they were greeted by
that peculiar report of the western rifle, (sharp, quick and
deadly,) no other fire-arm ever gives out; two bodies
floated down the river-two steeds struggled masterless to
the bank. Promptly the officer in command gave the order
to charge-but the ford was deep and difficult, and before
the passage was effected two more saddles were empty.
Emerging from the river and finding that in consequence
of the tangled undergrowth, as well as the swampy nature
of the soil, pursuit on horseback was impossible, the Mexican officer dismounted the greater part of his force, and
proceeded to scour the woods in every direction. This
was exactly what the Texan scouts had foreseen avld desired. Trained to the woods, they knew all the advantages
they possessed and purposely drew the enemy further and
further down the river. Frequent vollies of escopetas sounded
through the woods. Occasionally only the rifle spoke in
reply, but its every tone was a funeral knell. The Mexicans soon discovered that a longer chase held out no prospect except that of their own destruction, and commenced




132             BERNARD  LILE.
a rapid retreat. Lile and Simpson had no idea of parting
company thus.  The relative position of the parties were
reversed. The pursued became the pursuers. With dogged
pertinacity they hung upon the steps of the retiring foe.
Breathless with fatigue and pale with terror, the Mexicans
at length regained the road. Mounting their horses they
fled with disgraceful speed from the fatal spot, leaving
fifteen of their number weltering in blood.  Upon examining the horses of the slain, the two Americans found a
small quantity of dried beef, and a much more considerable
supply of parched meal, mixed with grated sugar. Transferring these to a couple of the best steeds, and supplying
themselves with two Mexican blankets each, they mounted
and set off in a gallop to join the main army of Texas.  It
was known that General Houston had retreated towards
the Brazos.  A column under Sezma was hanging on his
rear.  Santa Anna was moving across the country with a
strong force, due east from  San Antonio.  Ninety or a
hundred miles to the south, the division that had destroyed
Fannin and Ward, were also moving eastward.  In all
direction clouds of light troops scoured the open country.
The whole distance is prairie, broken only when a running
stream  makes its way to the Gulf.  The timber on the
Colorado is the widest and that is only about seven miles
in extent. Lile's object was to avoid the roving bands of
Mexicans, and reach General Houston's camp with as little
delay as possible.  The open nature of the country made
this a work both of difficulty and of danger. The first day
their horses were completely knocked up.  They were
abandoned, and the journey continued on foot.  It now
became imperative that they should hide during the day,
and travel only at night.  The prairies of Texas are frequently dotted with small islands of timber, called in the
phraseology of the country, " Motts."  Near these there




BERNARD  LILE.                     133
are usually low, marshy places, where the water collects
during the rainy season, often remaining through the summer heats.  On the third day, impelled by the desire of
concealment, as well as for the convenience of water, the
two friends had taken shelter in one of these motts.  Long
continued fatigue and watchfulness had done its work even
upon their toughened sinews and iron frames. About noon
they awakened from a deep sleep to find that a party of ten
mounted Mexicans were within a few hundred yards of
them.  Flight would inevitably result in discovery and
probably death. Concealing themselves as well as they
could among the bushes, they waited for any advantage the
chapter of accidents might offer. From the careless manner
the Mexicans approached, it was clear that they were
wholly unsuspicious of the presence of an enemy.  Their
horses were watered, and "staked out" on the prairie to
enable them to graze, when the party piled their arms, and
began to prepare the noon-day meal. While thus engaged,
at some distance from their guns, two rifle shots echoed from
the timber behind them-two bodies fell forward on the
little fire, extinguishing it with blood.  With drawn knives
and a fierce shout, Lile and Simpson rushed upon the survivors. Panic struck at the suddenness of the assault, the
Mexicans scattered and fled precipitately.  Lile halted
when he reached the pile of arms. Not so did Simpson.
With terrible speed he followed in the track of the fugitives.  The foot of the hindmost caught in the tangled
grass, and he fell.  As he struggled up the knife was
sheathed in his back. The next one sank upon his knees
and begged for mercy. " Yes," was the fierce reply, "such
mercy as you showed Fannin."  The blow descended, and
the blood from the main artery of the neck spouted in the
hunter's face. Deliberately he wiped away the crimson
stains and rejoined his companion.
12




134            BERNARD  LILE.
"I reckon," he said, "we've about paid for the boys;
but it will take a life time to pay for Goliad. "
Two of the best horses and all the provisions, as on the
former occasion, were appropriated without scruple. The
next day they learned from a scouting party of Texans,
whom they accidentally encountered, that General Houston
had received the news of Fannin's defeat on the evening of
the 25th of March, and had fallen back to some point on
the Brazos, believed to be San Felipe. Communicating,
in their turn, the story of the massacre they had witnessed
at Goliad, they pursued their way towards the head-quarters
of the " Army of Freedom." On the evening of the 6th of
April they reached San Felipe de Austin, and found its
smouldering ruins occupied by the Mexican army; the
Americans having burned it to the ground when compelled
to evacuate it. Here they lost all trace of General Houston, and skulked in the neighborhood for several days before
learning that he had gone in the direction of Harrisburg.
It was the evening of the 20th of April that Lile and
Simpson rode into the camp of the last army Texas was
able to muster. The two armies lay in sight of each other,
each occupying a body of timber near Lynch's ferry on the
San Jacinto river, with an open prairie between. There
had been firing throughout the day, and Colonel Sherman
had made a daring, but unsuccessful, charge with sixtyeight men upon the enemy's artillery. Being unsupported,
and finding himself opposed by an overwhelming force of
cavalry, infantry and artillery, he drew off in good order,
with the loss of only two men badly wounded. The main
body of both armies had been busily employed during the
day-the Texans in cutting away the brush and undergrowth in front of their encampment-the Mexicans in
throwing up a breastwork of timber and earth. It was the
obvious policy of Santa Anna to remain where he was




BERNARD  LILE.                    135
without striking a blow. He had between six and seven
thousand soldiers scattered over the country in his rear, and
was hourly expecting reinforcements.  On the other hand,
Texas had collected the last man she could hope to muster.
The Fabian policy heretofore pursued by General Houston, was abandoned at the urgent solicitations of his officers,
and the next day was fixed for the decision of the fate of
Texas.  Lile and Simpson found the Americans silently
and sternly preparing for the morrow's battle. But one
fear was felt among them, and that was that their commander might still judge it prudent to draw off without
hazarding a general engagement.  Around every fire was
gathered a knot of rough and hardy backwoodsmen, too
much excited for slumber, too gloomily anxious and uncertain for conversation.  Some were cleaning their firelocks-others were carefully rubbing the rust from their
knife-blades. An old man on the verge of sixty, who had
put one gun in  order, was industriously engaged on
another.
"What do you want with two guns," asked a comrade,
who was near him.
"I want to use them," was the reply; "my son and sonin-law were killed at the Alamo, and I shall fight for both
to-morrow. "
"It's not certain," was the moody rejoinder, "we'll fight
at all to-morrow.  We've had so many orders to retreat
that, by God, I wouldn't be surprised if we got another
before morning."
The old man looked up with an incredulous stare. " Not
fight! Not fight, and Santa Anna in less than a mile of
us I May I be eternally damned, if' Old Sam' does retreat, if I don't charge that army by myself, and go to join
my murdered boys!"
"And may the devil fly away with me," said Simpson,




136             BERN'ARD  LILE.
who had been listening with folded arms to the foregoing
conversation, "if I don't charge with you."
"There will be more fingers in the pie," muttered two or
three of the weather-beaten group.
Lile had spread his blanket upon the ground, and was
half reclining upon it. His voice was clear and cheerful,
as he said:
"It is wrong to doubt the General, comrades.  He is
too good a soldier not to know that further retreat must
end either in exile or the grave. Sleep, and husband your
strength.  You will need it when the sun rises."
At every camp-fire scenes similar to that just described were
being enacted.  The very intensity of their desire for battle
made them doubt the realization of their hopes. At intervals
impatient ejaculations, half stifled curses, and dark and dismal
resolutions, were fiercely muttered; but for the most part men
were wrapped in their own meditations, and silence brooded
over the sleepless host. The morning dissipated all shadow
of doubt.  Coolly and deliberately the American commander had weighed the chances of the doubtful struggle.
Again and again he had passed in review every possible
contingency.  Prudently and thoughtfully his resolution
was formed-promptly and fearlessly it was executed.
The order for battle was given. With that order came a
mighty change over the spirits of the troops. The men
who a few hours before were sullen, gloomy, angry, almost
mutinous, now sprang to their places with joyous alacrity.
The light laugh, and the lighter jest, were freely interchanged, and bets were offered as to who should cut the
first razor strap from  the back of Santa Anna.  The
musicians caught the infection, and that army of daring
patriots, whose friends and relatives had been butchered by
the hundred-whose houses had been burned down-whose
wives and children were homeless, and whose own destruc



BERNARD  LILE.                    137
tion, to all human calculations, was imminent and certain,
moved to battle to the soft melody of
"Will you come to the bower?"
Sherman began the fight on the left.  Pouring in one
deadly volley, he shouted "Charge  and remember the
Alamo."  The wild cry ran along his line, and was caught
up and prolonged to the extreme right of the Texan army.
It was not a charge, but a rush, or as one historian has
called it, "a universal assault.  The Mexican lines swayed
and bent before the hurricane of steel.  With terrible
strength it tore through them, drowning prayer and shriek,
and dying groan alike, in its awful roar. In fifteen minutes
the field of San Jacinto was a vast slaughter pen in whose
crimson mire lay the bodies of six hundred of the tools of
tyranny, while far away over the wide prairie, north and
south, east and west, rang the glad shouts of the victors;
and old men, women and children-the homeless and the
destitute, caught the echoes and answered, WE  ARE
FREE I
When the rout of the enemy was complete, and it was
certain they could not again be rallied, Lile desisted from
the pursuit, and walked slowly back over the battle-field.
The first body that attracted his attention was that of
General Castrillon. He had used every effort to prevent
the flight of his men, and when that failed, deliberately
folded his arms-sullenly refused to ask for quarter, and
met his fate without a tremor. Three rifle balls had passed
through him, but the dark frown was still upon his brow,
and the face, even in death, was firm and unquailing.
"This at least," muttered Lile, "was a man.  He asked
not for the mercy he had never shown, and redeemed, in
dying, the cruelties that had stained his living career."
12*




138            BERNARD  LILE.
Passing on, he observed that most of the Mexicans were
lying on their faces. Not fifty of them had taken their
wounds in front.  He sat down upon a block of wood in
the heart of what had been the Mexican camp.  Silence
brooded over the spot. The victors and the vanquished,
mixed in a headlong race, had rushed on. He was alone
among the dead. Darkly yet distinctly the stupendous
results of that day's victory rose up before him. A blow
had been struck at the foundation of every throne on the
American continent. Along the pathway of the future he
tracked the giant march of freedom. Well he knew, when
once begun, that onward march knows no retreat.  With
a prophet's eye, he saw the shackles of the slave shivered
from his limbs, while from province to province-through
storm and tempest-through blood and tears-the spirit
of Liberty held its resistless way; striking the pampered
priest and the lordly tyrant together to the dust-evoking
from the ruins of the gorgeous cathedral a purer and a
holier religion, and proclaiming from the rent fragments of
the stately palace, that the law has no superior-that all
alike must bend to its mandates, and all alike are entitled
to its blessings.




BERNARD  LILE.                       139
CHAPTER IX.
" High up in heaven one lovely star
Pours in upon my soul its light:
As, nested from the world afar,
A dove, with eyes clear, fond, and bright,
Gazes with earnest, mute delight
Upon its young, that all its life a treasure are.
TWENTY years ago the island of Galveston was a mere
sand bank. Four or five fishermen's huts dotted the beach,
and a few scattered dwellings of not much greater pretension, marked the site of the present city.  Some distance
down the island three trees rose in a cluster,-the only
green things that grew upon the barren waste, except along
wiry grass with which it was partially covered.  Near the
entrance of the harbor were the remains of a rude fortification, built by Lafitte, when his piratical flag waved over
the waters of the Gulf. At this place a fisherman had
erected a temporary dwelling, and here Bernard Lile had
obtained permission to remain until he could procure a
passage in some one of the light coasting vessels trading to
New Orleans.  A treaty of peace had been concluded with
Santa Anna, who was then a prisoner of war at Velasco;
and all prospect of active operations being at an end, Lile
was about to return to the beautiful being he had left for
the purpose of taking part in the fierce struggle that had
begun so sadly, and terminated so gloriously for the cause
of Texas.  Three days after the battle of San Jacinto,
a messenger had brought him a letter from  his wife.  It
was an answer to one he had written from the bank of the
Mississippi, and ran as follows'




140             BERNARD  LILE.
"So, Bernard, you thought it useless to write, as no
letter could reach you in the wild land to which you have
gone.  I have surmounted greater obstacles for a less
reward. What if there is no regular post?  Here, as elsewhere, there are men who will do anything for money, and
what sum could I deem extravagant that secured communion
with you?  There is a wild bliss in every thought that
turns towards you, and when my hand has traced the letters
that form your name, I can gaze for hours on the characters,
finding in every one a beauty and a glory it is impossible
for it to wear in any other connection. To pour out my
full soul-to tell you all I have seen or felt, enjoyed or
suffered, this is, indeed, a privilege denied to written intercourse, because all written words are weak and powerless
to express the throbbings of a heart where love has made
its home. Still the very act of writing has its rapture.
The knowledge that your hand will hold the paper-that
your eye will run over the lines-that you will think of me
more often after its perusal, is a joy of which nothing can
deprive me, and which nothing in the wide world but your
presence could give. It is well I believe not in the faith
your fathers taught. It is well I grew up in a land where
it is not deemed sin for a woman to worship her husband.
Your Allah may demand of the Christian wife divided
devotion on earth, and a sole dominion hereafter. Mine
asserts no such claim; nor would it be accorded if he did.
In this bosom there is no room for another passion. Call
it love, devotion, worship, idolatry, what you will; all, all
is yours, and yours I would proclaim it on the arch of
Al-Sirat if I knew the words would plunge me into the
burning gulf below.  But not so is it written in the Koran.
In the third of heaven set apart for the faithful of our sex,
and presided over by the mother of the prophet, its highest
honors and its sweetest enjoyments are the rewards of those




BERNARD LILE                      141
who have loved most intensely below.  Think, Bernard,
what bliss will be mine; when centuries hence that haven
shall at last be reached.
"Do you remember when we sat down at the feet of an
old man beneath the sky of Syria, and drank in the lore he
had gathered through many, and many a year of fasting
and of vigil?  Do you remember how he traced out, step
by step —from star to star —through the countless thousands
that thronged the blue space above us, the soul's illimitable
career? Beginning on this lower orb where disease and death,
poverty and crime, disappointed hopes and blighted aspirations, the vexing littleness, and the sterner torture beset
each hour of the cloudy journey, and travelling on through
brighter spheres, losing at each progressive step some care,
some pain, some grief that had afflicted us before, —gaining
from each new capacities for enjoyment, new love of the
beautiful and the good-gathering a host of feelings higher,
purer, holier-listening to melodies that grow softer, more
enchanting, and more delicious as we advance, until all
we now know of bliss is lost, and all we can conceive of
beatitude is forgotten, amid the inexpressible delights of
the reality.  Do you remember he foretold such a destiny
for us, and when he led us through worlds on worlds to
the seventh heaven, I asked:' And then, what then?
Shall I be separated from  Bernard,, there?'  And the
old man drew his mantle about his face, and answered not;
and you folded me to your bosom with a sad smile, and
said,'love me while you can, Zerah! the future is a dark
riddle, that the sage may read imperfectly —you and I not
at all.'
"Well, Bernard, that question revealed a love that most
men would have shrunk from as fearfully as the sting of
the asp; but you drew the passionate thing who uttered it




142             BERNARD  LILE.
nearer to your heart, and from that hour I knew that Eblis
had no power to tear us asunder.
" My pen has run back into the past, and I am forgetting
there are many things in the present you are desirous to
know.  That the first days of your departure were dreary
enough I need not say. Unhappily for himself, your young
friend, Robert Wilson, thought it his duty to pay me many
attentions. Day by day I watched the growth of a passion
I knew not how to check, and whose existence, to do him
justice, I believe he did not himself suspect. But it is a
knowledge that cannot long be hidden, and when it came
to him he acted as became the man who called you benefactor. If he had breathed one word of passion in my ear
-if he had avowed the feelings I knew were burning and
struggling in his bosom, and sought to win even pity or
compassion in return, I would have scorned and loathed
him more than the ugliest toad that defiles the earth. Not
so did he act. Promptly, almost rudely, he tore himself
away, vainly fancying that he carried his secret with him,
and no doubt, supposing me indignant at the seemingly
cold and formal announcement of his departure, through
Monsieur Evadne. Then I pitied him. Then, if it could
have relieved a single pang he suffered, I would have sent
for him and soothed him with words of affection and regard, but I knew this would be idle, or rather it would
be adding torture to torture; and so I let him go, trusting
to time to soften the blow, and hoping that the active
duties of a profession which leaves little time for melancholy thought, would blot out the memory of the wild and
hopeless dream he had unconsciously nourished. If ever
the day comes when we can meet without pain on his part,
I will gladly tell him how much I honor the upright manliness he has exhibited-how much I feel for the misery he
has endured. That day may be afar off, and I fear me it




BERNARD  LILE.                    143
is; but let us hope that though the flower may be struck
from the stem, the plant may continue to grow and flourish
not the less vigorous and useful after its sweetness is gone
for ever.  In the meantime, I have directed Monsieur
Evadne, to keep an eye on his every movement, and see
that he wants for nothing money can buy.  I had hoped
also to procure him promotion to a higher rank, but our
good friend tells me neither money nor influence avail any
thing, for such a purpose, under this singular government
of yours, and that he must carve his way with his own right
hand from grade to grade.  All, therefore, has been done
I could do; the rest remains with you.
"A few days after Mr. Wilson's departure, I was surprised by a visit from a lady, who, I was told, occupied
the highest rank in New York society,  She is certainly
beautiful.  Her voice is low and sweet, and her manners
are indicative of a head strong enough to sustain the consciousness of many surpassing attractions. I have been
forced to see her often, and would willingly be rid of her,
for I like her not, and yet find it difficult to discover what
it is that repels me. You will naturally attribute it to the
different customs and observances of our respective creeds.
I think not.  Much as I detest the constant exposure of
female charms permitted, if not enjoined, in your society,
I have learned how to make allowances for indelicacies
which must result from such a course of training, and which
from the very unconsciousness that they are indelicacies, in
point of fact, cease to be so with those who are habituated
to them.  The Indian or the African maid, who daily associates with the opposite sex in a state but little removed
from nudity, is not necessarily immodest, but it cannot be
denied, that her sensibilities are much less acute, and her
liability to error much greater from the custom. Your
habits of promiscuous association are not so bad, and while




144             BEERN'ARD.. LILE.
I see in them much' that is repugnant to ny taste, I am
sure I have so far got the better of prejudice as not to
judge them by the standard they would infallibly be subjected to in Mahometan lands. It is not that Mrs. Winter
goes unveiled. It is not that her ordinary dress exposes
more of her person than I think modest or becoming-it
is not that she is constantly intimating her wishes that I
should mingle in scenes I detest, or visit places whose
publicity makes me shudder, that has created an aversion
not easy to be concealed. You remember the little serpent
that twines among the flowers of Persia, and when the
bulbul comes to court the rose, hushes its song is death.
Soft and beautiful and seemingly gentle and harmless, you
might take it for the plaything of a child, and yet a giant's
strength would be instantly withered by its venom. Even
so does this woman seem to me. Lovely as she is-robed
with graces that would adorn a sultan's throne-always
affable in manner-always kind in words, there is still
something to recall the serpent among the flowers. There
is a spark in her bosom that has never yet been awakened.
When it is struck, it will be deadly, and woe to him on
whom her love or hatred lights. She asks often of you,
and when you will return. I cannot tell her, for I do not
know, and I would not tell her if I could. I cannot dwell
upon your meeting with her without a feeling of uneasiness
as far removed from jealousy as midnoon from midnight,
but as full of agony as the darkest jealousy could inflict.
"Let me turn to a dearer theme.  Rumors of coming
battle daily reach us. I do not tell you to shun the foremost rank, for well I know that post is yours by right, as
it will be by choice.  Nor do I tell you to win new laurels
to swell the pride of a woman already too vain of her lord
to believe that fame has other gifts to bestow; and who
loves him too much to doubt that others hold the same




BERNAIRD,- LILE.                  145
opinion.  I pretend not to judge when or where the sword
should be sheathed. The sense of duty that led you to the
field must be your only guide. But if you cannot come to
me soon, let me come to you.  There is a terrible beauty
in watching a single arm drive back a quailing host, and
unwomanly as the wish is, I long once more to see you
clear a pathway through the ranks of war. Not long since
I caught myself wishing I were a man that I might share
this peril with you, as I had shared those of other climes:
but in a moment came the thought that if I were I could
not be the wife of Bernard Lile, and the foolish whim fled
away rebuked.
"Send back my messenger as soon as may be, with such
tidings as you have to convey to her who is waiting
to receive them, neither murmuring nor repining, nor
gloomy, nor impatient, but loving and dutiful as ever."
To this letter he had despatched an answer announcing the
probable close of the war-the capture of Santa Anna,
and his own immediate return, Procuring a sail-boat on
the head of the bay, in company with Simpson, he landed
on Galveston island, for the purpose of taking passage to
the United States. In the hut of the fisherman he again
drew the letter from his bosom, and re-read the passages
which referred to Robert Wilson, with absorbing interest.
" Poor boy," he muttered, " must I and mine bring blight
and sorrow upon all who bear your name? Sorrow when
I meant kindness.  Decay when I meant to infuse new life
into a vigorous shoot. There is fate in this. The shadow
is over my pathway yet.  The fearful race is not so nearly
run as I had begun to hope.  God grant that I may not,
as of old time, rebel at the hand of the chastener, and relapse into the sullen calm of impenitent despair."
The opportunity he had waited for at length offered.
13




146             BERNARD  LILE
The light boat of the fisherman was ready to convey him
to the vessel. Walking along the beach with Simpson he
conferred with that worthy upon his future plans.
"You will not go with me, Tom?"
"No, captain.  If I did not suffocate in the thick air of
the towns, or sicken and die right out from inaction, I
should be eternally fretted and annoyed by finding myself
an object of curiosity and dread to all the children and
little niggers we met. Besides, what the devil could I do
in the settlements? I should be as much out of place as a
bear at a bran-dance, and about as welcome."
" Go back to books and study, Tom.  You have higher
capacities than you deem, and are not yet too old to serve
mankind in the closet, as you have done in the field."
"It won't do, captain.  I had some such dreams in my
youth; but that was before I had ever felt the wild freedom
of the woods.  It is all forgotten now. I must remain
upon the border-at least until my eyes grow dim, and
these strong limbs stiffen with age.  If you want me at
any time seek me in the west. I shall be somewhere along
the Gaudaloupe or the San Antonio, unless the Mexicans
or Camanches contrive to send me on a journey to the
happy hunting-grounds.  There will be wild work there
for long years to come, and whenever you hear of a daring
deed done, be certain that Tom Simpson has neither forgotten the wounded'boys of the Mission Church, nor the
cowardly murder of Goliad."
"And so you think this peace will not last?"
"LastI It will never begin.  As soon as Santa Anna
is safe he will laugh at the treaty. Filisola will halt where
he is, and the work must be begun afresh."
"In that event you may count upon my speedy return.
In the meantime can I do any thing for you in the States?"
"Nothing, but to write to the old man, and the old




BERNARD  LILE.                     147
woman that you left me well, and contented: and that I
mean to come and see them before they die."
" That shall be attended to. And now good-bye. Our
first meeting gave little promise of future friendship: but
we have frankly periled life together since; and I say to
you as I shall say to your dearest relatives, that a bolder,
truer heart, or a stronger arm never served his country or
his friend at need."
"Thank you.  Thank you; not so much for myself, but
it will make the old man feel proud of his son, and I have
caused him trouble enough to make me wish to bring him
some comfort in his old age."
Lile stepped into the boat. The hunter wateked it, as it
rose and fell with the heaving waves, until it neared the
vessel's side.
" There goes a man," he said, wiping a tear from his
sunburned cheek, " whom a pet lamb might love, but whom
a run mad tiger might fear to meet.  We shall see each
other again I know.  He's not made for towns, any more
than I am."
Thus, upon the lonely beach, the two friends parted.
The one to tread the dusty thoroughfares of civilized life
-the other to mingle in the wild excitements of a border
warfare.
Arrived at New Orleans, Lile soon found himself engaged
in consultations with agents of the Telan government, who
were devising means to start the infant r4public prosperously upon its new career. As a naval force was one of
the first and most important requisites, he engaged to man
and arm a vessel at his own expence, stipulating only that
he should himself have the selection of the officers and
crew.  This done he procured a passport for Cuba, and in
a few days was again upon the blue waters of the gulf.
The wind wus blowing fiercely, and the angry waves dashed




148             BERNARD  LILE.
high up against the walls of the Moro Castle, as the vessel
entered the harbor of Havana.  Lile was standing upon
the deck with a fellow passenger, (whom he had learned
was an English engineer,) examining the celebrated fortress
with as much attention as the surging billows would allow.
" Your republic," said the Englishman, " is reported to
have cast a longing eye on the queen of the Antilles. That
castle looks like an ugly obstacle in the way."
" I do not know what my countrymen may desire," an-:swered Lile, "but if they should resolve to invade Cuba,
that castle will prove a weak defence."
"Weak I  You have nothing in your republic that
approaches it."
" Perhaps not.  You doubtless remember the story of
the Spartan, who, when asked,' where are your city's walls?'
promptly answered,'the bosoms of her sons.' We build
no such fortifications.  We take them."
" When you take this one the day of miracles will have
arrived. 
" I have witnessed a greater miracle within a few months
past. I have seen three hundred volunteers, without a siege
train or any of the aids of science, take a stone fortress
garrisoned by fifteen hundred just such soldiers as yonder
castle holds; and if ever the American Union sends a hostile force against this island, the Moro battlements will not
delay its conquest for a single week."
"You speak sanguinely, sir, for one whose theory is
opposed by all the rules of scientific war. We, in Europe,
do not entertain such extravagant opinions of the prowess
of your countrymen."
" And yet a handful of raw recruits, drawn hastily from
the plough, and the workshop, tore the laurels gathered in
the peninsula, from the brow of Packenham, and drove his
veterans in disgrace and terror to their ships."




BERNARD   LILE.                    149
The captain of the ship now interposed, and directed the
conversation to other topics.
It was night-the soft night of Cuba.  The moon was
riding in the heavens clear, bright, and brilliant. Its rays
appeared to rest with fond delight upon the lofty spire, and
the gilded cupola, while it was easy to fancy them shrinking
with disgust from'the dark, narrow, and filthy streets of
the island metropolis.  From the plaza, in front of the
palace of the governor-general, a band of music sent forth
its delicious strains.  Hurrying volantes filled the streets,
and crowds of pedestrians thronged the little footways, all
flowing towards the place of nightly recreation.
The luxury of a moonlight promenade in that scorching
clime, added to the Spaniard's passionate fondness for music,
never fails to draw together on such occasions "the beauty
and the chivalry" of Havana.  But distrust and suspicion
are for ever hanging like a dark cloud above the scene.
Here every tone of the voice, and every gesture of the hand
is watched and noted. Even the laugh of the young Senorita is robbed of its mirth, for she knows not but the spies
of the despot may report it as treason. Love, which elsewhere scorns the shackle and the bolt, finds himself fluttering
with crippled wing, beneath a sky whose very air might fill
an Iceland heart with fire. The maiden listens to the soft
tale she loves to hear-the orange groves are blooming
about her-bowers which the wild flower and the evergreen
have united to form, are gently stirring in the balmy breeze
-peace is in the heaven above, and sweetness in the earth
below, but a horrid doubt comes to drive away the trembling ecstacy, and blast the fragrant beauty of the hour.
As she listens an inward monitor whispers that the pleading
tongue, whose accents had almost won her beating heart,
is that of a paid informer-that the jealous suspicions of
tyranny have rested on a loved father, or a darling brother,
13*




150             BERNARD  LILE.
and that he who is kneeling at her feet is hired to win
her love, in order to betray more easily the father, or tho
brother to the dungeon or the garote.  Yet she dares not
spurn him. She must listen and pretend to believe. From
a hypocrite she becomes in turn a betrayer; and thus
through the whole net work of society the deadly venom is
diffused.
Lile lingered not among the promenaders, but threaded
his way to the billiard saloon at Delmonico's. Glancing
around the room, his eye rested on a bronzed and weather
beaten seaman, who was watching the game with evident interest. Walking up to this individual, he quietly
proposed to try his skill at an unoccupied table. The
seaman looked up-a flash of recognition illuminated his
countenance-it disappeared as quick as it came, and he
answered,"I'm sorry I can't amuse you. You see I'm a cripple;"
and he pointed to his right arm resting in a sling.
Lile took a seat on one of the cushioned benches, and
continued to watch the game for some minutes in silence.
He then rose and walked into the refreshment room.
Seating himself at one of the little circular tables he
lighted a cigaritta, and called for a glass of iced lemonade.
While thus occupied, the seaman also entered. Ordering
some cigars, as soon as the servant was out of hearing, he
whispered, "Follow me when I go out."  The cigars after
some chafering were paid for, and the seaman sauntered
towards the street entrance. Lile also discharged his bill,
and walked slowly to the door.  Keeping some distance
apart, but constantly in view, they proceeded leisurely
along the street leading to the Bishop's Garden. After
awhile the houses grew thinner.  Scattered patches of
open ground allowed the moon-beams to light up the




BERNARD  LILE.                    151
surrounding objects.  The seaman now halted until his
companion approached.
"We can walk on together now; but keep in the middle of the street. It is never safe to go near a dark wall
in Havana."
"I hardly hoped to have met you, Velasquez," said Bernard Lile, "though I came here for the purpose."
"Hush I" responded the person thus addressed; "call
no names until we are safely housed. You might as well
talk in the ear of Dionysius as among Cuban winds."
They soon reached a large and seemingly deserted mansion, surrounded  by an iron railing.  The gate was
unlocked by Velasquez, as we shall now call him, who
stopped to secure it again while Lile walked on towards
the house. A large blood-hound was sleeping on a mat
before the door; rushing towards the intruder with a fierce
growl, he sprang directly at his face. Sudden and ferocious as the assault was, Lile was neither surprised nor
thrown off his guard. Stepping a little back, he caught
the infuriated brute by the throat-held him for a moment
in his deadly gripe, and then dashed him to the ground
with a violence that forced the blood from mouth, eye, and
nostrils.
"Damnation,".exclaimed Velasquez, hurrying up, "has
the infernal brute torn you badly?"
"Not at all," was the calm reply; "he is himself the
only sufferer."
"I hope you have not killed him.  He is worth his
weight in gold, and it was all from my d-n-d carelessness in letting you go on without thinking of the dog."
" No; that gasp is not the gasp of death. Pour a little
brandy and water ih his mouth —the fresh air will do the
rest."




152             BERNARD  LILE.
A sharp ring brought an ill-looking servant to the door.
The dog was given into his charge, and Lile entered the
house with his host. Entering a room dimly lighted by a
single lamp, Velasquez invited his guest to be seated, and
unlocking a crypt in the wall of the room, drew forth a
bottle and drinking glasses.
"Now," he said, as he arranged them on a table, "we
can talk freely; and here is something better than the
wishy-washy stuff at Delmonico's."
Lile imitated his example, and helped himself liberally
to the brandy and water.
"It is now more than twenty years," he said, turning
the glass on the table slowly with his fingers as he spoke,
"since I took passage on the good ship Nantucket, for
Oadiz. "
"I haven't overhauled the log-book lately," was the
reply; "but I guess your reckoning is about right."
"You bore another name at that day, Juan Velasquez,
and followed nobler pursuits than at present."
"According to my recollection, Bernard Lile," was the
serious but not angry reply, "both of us sailed under
different colors from those we now carry at the masthead. "
" True I but have you no wish to go back to the old home
we loved so well-to wander by the little stream whose
clear, pure waters seemed as if they had trickled from
Paradise-to walk through the old grave-yard, and read
upon the marble tomb-stones, where, and when the venerated fathers of our native village had passed away-to
learn what young shoots had sprung into existence, and
sickened and died before the mildew of vice had spread
along their leaves-to stand where the humble schoolhouse was hid among the clustering trees-to listen once
more to the song of the nightingale, in the shady groves




BERNARD  LILE.                    153
where our young loves were told, in that early time when
the heart mistakes admiration of the beautiful for love, and
knows not the stormy nature of the passion which rends
the bosom of the man. Have no such dreams visited your
midnight pillow, Juan Velasquez, and made your ocean
couch more restless than the billows you rode?"
"Often, Bernard, often. But why ask! Why torture
me or yourself, by recalling a happiness we can never know.
A dark red stream is flowing between you and your native
land. Wild deeds ashore and afloat have thickened around
my path, and a halter would be the most probable welcome
of the wanderer home."
"Not so. You would never be recognized.  Besides,
although a slaver, your trade has been confined to the
Spanish coast, where it is not piracy."
"So says my log-book; but there are those whose
notions of geography might vary from it."
" I have been home, and no one knew me.  Nay, more,
if I had proclaimed my name and lineage, they would have
taken me for a lunatic."
"You 1" exclaimed the sailor, starting suddenly to his
feet.  " You have stood upon the soil of New Hampshire 
You have listened to the pealing organ in the old stone
church I You have knelt among the moss-covered graves I
You have drank from the little brook that goes dancing to
the Merrimac I You have done this, while I have been
sweltering in this accursed Isle of slaves and pirates 
Good God I the thought will drive sleep from my eyelids
for a month to come."
" Sit down, and let us talk calmly. Try a little more of
this brandy and water. By the time another glass is
finished, you will be in a better state to listen to what I
have to tell."
Briefly, but clearly, Lile related all that had befallen




154             BERNARD  LILE.
him since they had last met three years before. Ending
with a glowing picture of the infant republic in whose
revolutionary struggle he had fought so gallantly and so
successfully. When he had concluded, his listener raised
his head from  the hand whereon it leaned, and said
thoughtfully,
"This accounts for the strange stories I have heard, of
a wonderful man who baffled armies with his single strength,
and glided unseen through waking hosts, destroying as he
went.  I thought it some tale invented by the priests to
amuse the fools, who imagine that heaven can only be
reached over turnpikes where the holy fathers gather the
tolls. I knew not you had left Palestine to give lessons
on American prowess to the half-breed Spaniards and
Indians of Mexico."
Hie paused a moment-sipped his brandy, and resumed,
"But to what does this tend?  I know you have not
sought me for nothing.  You would not have come upon
such an uncertain errand without strong motives."
"The errand was not so uncertain.  You might not
have been upon the Island, but it was certain that I should
hear of you, and secure eventual communication.  Still
you are so far right, that I would not have come without
a strong motive. Of those who knew me in boyhood, not
one, save yourself, is living who would recognise me now.
When I was driven a blood-stained outcast from my native
shores, it was your ship that received me. A hundred ties
have since been added, and now, when I see, or hope I see,
the dawning of a brighter morn, I have come to point it
out, and ask you to share it with me.  What say you,
John Abbott, to throwing the gyves, and fetters, and
grates, and all the other implements of your accursed
traffic into the sea; and launching on an honorable career,
beneath an unstained flag?'




BERNARD  LILE.                   155
"What say I? What would the parched traveler on
the desert of Zahara say to a gushing spring from our
native hills? Even so say I; that it would be as welcome,
and is-as unattainable."
"Listen, John.  When a boy the swollen Merrimac
closed over you; but a hand was stretched forth to save.
When wounded, bleeding, faint, in the dark morass, near
Sierra Leone, a cutlass was raised to dispatch you, the
arm that held it was severed from the trunk, and you were
delivered. When your vessel was sunk by a man-of-warwhen all you had was gone, and you had hardly escaped
with life in the canoe of a Kroo-man, another vessel was
supplied you-your broken fortunes were mended, and you
became the richer from the disaster. When the deadly
fever at the mouth of the Senegal had turned your blood
to fire, care and nursing brought back the pulses of health.
Surely you are in no worse strait now."
" I remember it all; and forget not that I owe it to you.
But this is not a case where your interference would avail
me. I am a marked man. I am known as the most daring
slave trader between Africa and the Spanish colonies.
Fame adds, the most bloodthirsty and remorseless; but in
that fame lies as usual.  Go where I will, that brand will
cling to me. It is only here, where the traffic is legal, that
I can find associates. And even if I abandoned it tomorrow, I must either make my home on this Island, or
become a hermit."
"All that has been thought of. I have agreed to fit
out, at my own expense, a ship for the Texan navy, stipulating for the selection of the officers. Take the command
of her-drop your Spanish name-resume that of your
boyhood, and when a few years have rolled away, you can
return to your own land, honored and respected, while I
must continue to be known only as Bernard Lile."




156             BERNARD  LILE.
"I will think of it.  My head is strangely confused just
now. Another glass of brandy will do us no harm, and
then we must to bed, for the sun is stealing through the
lattice-work, and it will soon be too hot for anything but
slumber."
Lile had noticed that, soon after passing his own gate,
the arm of Velazquez was removed from the sling in which
he had carried it in the streets, and a long knife, that had
evidently been concealed in the folds of the India shawl,
was returned to his bosom.  He now quietly remarked,
"I thought you were a cripple."
" My good friend," was the response, "assassinations in
this delightful climate, are about as frequent as prayermeetings in New England.  In order, I suppose, to give
the lovers of this agreeable pastime as much impunity as
possible, the law makes it highly penal for any sojourner
here to carry arms in his own defence. Now I am no subscriber to the theories of non-resistance, which I learn have
taken root in our old country since I left, but, at the same
time, it does not suit me to quarrel with the decrees of the
captain-general. I have, therefore, adopted the little ruse
of twisting an India shawl about my neck, and giving
out that my right hand is disabled, when I think it prudent
to have a bit of bright steel in my grasp."
" One other question. Why do you consider it necessary
to take so many precautions in your intercourse with
others?
"With all others I do not. But I am known to every
government spy in Havana, and  every stranger who
approaches me is watched.  I have dealings with many
persons to whom a more intimate acquaintance with the
authorities would be disagreeable; consequently, I recognise no one-am seen with no one, until I know what




BERNARD  LILE.                    157
his business is, and how far he has reason to dread investigation.
"But yourself; have you nothing to fear?"
"Nothing to fear, but a good deal to pay.  When I
return from a successful cruise to Africa, my first care is
to present the captain-general with a number of slavesmy next to distribute appropriate presents of slaves, ivory,
or gold dust, among his favorite officials. After that I
am safe."
"Your pictures of life in Cuba are gloomy ones."
" They are true; and that is a merit most pictures do
not possess."
"With your permission," he continued, "we will postpone further conversation until the evening. There is your
couch. You must be content to occupy the same apartment with me, for there is no other about the house that
will be endurable two hours hence."
The sultry day of the tropics at length wore away. The
sun went down clear, unclouded, brilliant to the last-burning with meridian lustre on the very edge of the glowing
heavens.  The silver moon walked along the sky, robed
with a beauty unknown to colder climes. The dark forest
of mangos, beyond the city walls, was vocal with a thousand melodies.  A  thousand insects whose life would
wither at the north-wind's breath, glittered in the moonbeams, or sang within the shadow of the trees.  The
nightly saturnalia of the animal world had returned. Even
man, restless, dissatisfied, impatient-fevered by ambition
or avarice-trembling with guilty fears, or rapt in lofty
meditations, owned the witchery of the hour, and forgot to
struggle, to shudder, or to hope. From the back piazza
of the house the two friends looked out upon the enchanting scene.
14




158             BERNARD  LILE.
"This island," said Velasquez, "will some day own the
dominion of the'stars and stripes,' and then it will be a
paradise. "
"Nothing is more certain," rejoined his companion;
"party feuds, and sectional jealousies may keep it out for
a time, but it must inevitably become a part of the American Union, and you and I will probably live to see
it."
"I hope so; for I love it despite the blasting tyranny
that crushes its industry, and poisons its happiness; and I
would have it free and prosperous, albeit that then it
would cease to shelter the Rover of the African Main."
"If you accept my proposition it will matter little to
you whether the slave trade is permitted or forbidden."
"Let us in, Bernard," was the agitated reply; "I know
not where you schooled yourself to speak ever in that calm,
unruffled voice; but I believe not your feelings are as dead,
and waveless as they seem; and I know, that before we
converse further on last night's topic, I must have brandy."
Without a word Lile followed his host to the apartment
they had occupied during the heats of the day.
"Now," said Velasquez, after supplying himself with
the needed beverage, "hear my answer, and ask me as few
questions as possible; for you can ask none that will not
give me pain. I have thought over all you said; I feel the
kindness that dictated it, and acknowledge the hopes it
holds out; but it will not do. The office you desire me to
take would be sure to excite inquiry, and rip up by-gone
events. I will go to Texas, not in your ship, but my own.
Not as an officer of the national navy, but as a'Down
East trader,' who is willing, for a consideration, to take
a few guns aboard his craft, and sail for a time under Texan
colors. Doubt not that I will place that consideration at




BERNARD  LILE                     159
a figure the Texan authorities will gladly close with.
The engagement once entered into, I will serve her with
whatever skill I possess. By the time she needs me no
longer, the exploits of Juan Velasquez will be forgotten,
or swallowed up in those of some new adventurer. In the
meantime, I can prepare the simple villagers for my return
by purchasing a small property there, and giving out that
the wild sailor, whom they supposed buried in the North
Pacific, is cruising along the coast of Mexico, and expects
to settle among them to enjoy the little wealth his labors
have gathered. This will lull inquiry, or direct it into
channels I need not fear. In four or five years I can go
back with safety.  If this satisfies you, let us turn to other
subjects, for I love not to dwell upon promised happiness
with maddening years of doubt and trouble intervening.
"I wished it otherwise, but I am  content.  Are you
rich enough to carry out your plans?"
"I have enough, and more than enough. If I should
need money at any time, I will apply to you."
"I shall claim your hospitality for one day more, and
then I go to Zerah. You and I have done many deeds,
John Abbott," he continued, "that will not bear overhauling by the Great Captain above.  Mixed with them there
has happily been something of good; but there is much
yet to atone. Earnestly, and sincerely, let us enter on
the work."
"Bernard Lile, if all the diamonds of Brazil were piled
before me, I would not take them and exchange the feelings of to-day with those of yesterday. I owe you morelove you more than any human thing —beyond all human
things together; and come what may, from this time forth
the name of John Abbott shall be stainless. Resume your
own; you have done enough already to redeem it, and may
wear it with pride."




160             BERNARD  LILE.' Never I never I My punishment would be incomplete
could that sweet hope be cherished."
We draw the veil over what followed in that lone mansion in the Island City. Long and fiercely had these two
battled with the world.  They had riven human statutes
and mocked at human panishments.  Their fellow-worms
could invent no terror to daunt, no torture to appal them,
but the shadow of the Archangel's wing rested upon them,
and they became as pleading infants before the Eternal
Throne.




BERNARD  LILE.                       16i
CHAPTER X.
"How narrowly we miss the road
That might our future life decide I
So many paths are vainly tried I
So many but the right one trode."
"The slightest thing shall turn the scale:
The music of a distant chime,
The visions of an older time,
The weariness of things that fail."
A BRIG lying in the harbor of Havana, was alive and
active with the bustle that immediately precedes departure
upon a distant voyage. The monotonous, but not unmusical, song of the sailors, as they hoisted in the anchors,
floated over the still and glassy waters. The flapping sails
already began to catch the gentle breeze, as the parting
words of John Abbott and Bernard Lile were spoken.
"Good-bye," said the former, placing his foot on the
topmost round of the descending ladder. " Of Juan Velasquez you will never hear again; but in three months,
tidings of John Abbott will be borne to you that I hope
will please you."
"I doubt it not.   For you and I another morn has
dawned; and if the cloud comes between us and the sun,
we must remember that, to hearts as stubborn as ours it is
needful the chastening hand should sometimes be manifest."
The flashing oars dipped in the briny deep-an arrowy
ripple spread over its still and waveless surface, and the
little boat glided like a thing of life to the mole.
Soft and balmy blew the breezes that wafted the wanderer to his natal home. Alone with.his own thoughts,
14*




162             BERNARD  LILE.
upon the trackless sea, resolutely and impartially he scanned
the pages of his existence.  How needful is such a task for
the purest of the children of earth! and yet how few undertake it I how few of those who do, succeed I Pride and
self love are forever interposing a deceptive mist between
us and the past.  We look upon what has been done
always with a feverish anxiety to have it appear as if done
for the best.  What we know has been done wrong-so
palpably wrong no delusion is possible-we attribute to
causes beyond our control, or to a blind and undistinguishing destiny.  In some form, or in some shape, the
spirit of evil is ever present, making self examination a
mockery, and blasting the redeeming fruits of repentance,
by clothing that repentance in the debasing garb of a
weak and cowardly humiliation.  Not in this spirit did
Bernard Lile disinter the deeds he had committed. Firmly
and justly he held the scales-honestly and fairly he weighed
them one by one-humbly and penitently he acknowledged
the wide errors he detected-nobly and manfully he resolved
to amend them.  In the rigid impartiality of the trial he
had instituted, he discovered a hundred ways in which the
most fatal of his mistakes might have been avoided, and its
gloomiest consequences robbed of their bitterness. At the
time it seemed to him impossible not to have acted as he
did without loss of character or self-respect.  Now he perceived that he was the victim of the same sin that hurled the
rebellious angels from heaven. That a little more of patience
and forbearance-a little less of pride and wilfulness, would
have changed the whole current of his life, and left him free
to exert the high powers of his mind and body, to adorn
and ennoble the country he still loved with a yearning tenderness, even in the stormiest periods of his exile, or the
blackest of his despair.  He saw it all, neither magnifying
nor diminishing its unsightly deformity; yet he indulged no




BERNARD  LILE.                    163
unavailing regrets. His repentance was not of that character that weeps over gone follies, but makes no provision
against the coming of new ones.  Deeds, not tears, were
its fruits. A better life, not a gloomier one, its promise.
With a clear sky and favoring gales the good brig tarried
not on her voyage.  Amid the din, and rush, and bustle
of a New York wharf Bernard Lile leaped ashore.  A
carriage was called, and he was soon rolling over the stony
streets to the dwelling of Monsieur Evadne.  On his
meeting with Zerah we will not dwell.  Such scenes are
sacred from the vulgar eye. He who loves, and has been
separated from all he holds most dear on earth, may easily
picture the fondness of the hour-the burning kiss —the
close embrace —the earnest question repeated again and
again —the loving gaze that wanders over his features, or
rests among his locks, to see if time, or war, or toil, have
left the impress of their whitening steps —the renewed
caress-the speaking face, now pale as the lily, now flush
ing with the hues of the rose-the swimming eye, and the
ruby lip, lighted by smiles as brilliant as the sunbeams
that fell on the garden of Eden the first morning of creation-these may be dreamed of, cherished, hugged to our
heart of hearts, but not described, revealed or pictured to
the gross senses whose channels are of clay. To his young
wife he was something more than life and love on earth
combined.  For him she had abandoned country, kindred,
friends.  To him she had surrendered heart, imagination,
judgment.  Beyond these and above them, he had become
her religion. On the strong wing of an Asiatic fancy, she
had soared from world to world, until she reached and
rested among raptures the prophet of her faith was powerless to describe, and sought not to penetrate beyond; but
even there, no flower bloomed, no stream glided in silvery
beauty, no bird warbled, no incense burned, unless beauty,




164             BERNARD  LILE.
and music and fragrance were enjoyed by him.  How she
met him, or how that man of outward calm, and inward
fire, returned the greeting, is a secret that those will deserve
to be happy who penetrate, and those who do not, never
can be.
Days passed, calmly and sweetly in the quiet seclusion
of the banker's house. Care, toil, grief, struggles, poverty
and crime were around them, but they knew it not. The
outward world was forgotten, or remembered only as an
unpleasant acquaintance, with whose presence and society
they  gladly dispensed.  It was the season when the
"fashionables " have deserted the dusty city, for the more
dissipated life of the watering places. Mrs. Winter had
taken wing with the rest, and undisturbed by her teasing
importunities, Zerah gave herself up to happiness. Lile had
communicated to Monsieur Evadne his desire to purchase
and fit up a suitable residence in his native village, and
that gentleman, with his usual business promptitude, had set
about the necessary preliminaries.
The first cold days of Autumn, brought back the summer
emigration, and Zerah was startled from her dreams of
bliss by an unexpected call from Pauline Winter.  With
consummate art she affected never to have heard of Bernard
Lile's return. Spoke of her meeting with him as an unhoped for pleasure, the greater, she added, from her expectation of converting him into an ally, with whose assistance
Mrs. Lile might be induced to mingle in that society she
was formed to adorn.
"I should fear, madam," was the courteous reply, "to
attempt anything in which you had failed. Besides these
are matters I understand little about, and in which I never
interfere. Zerah must consult her own taste, as she has
always heretofore."
"And that taste," added his wife, "leads me to prefer




BERNARD  LILE.                  165
the seclusion that early training and habit have made a
second nature.  You must pardon us, Mrs. Winter; I
should bring a cloud upon your gay circles by attempting
to move within them."
"That were impossible. But if you will not come your.
self, I hope you will occasionally surrender your husband
to my keeping.  He at least has not habit and religion to
plead as an excuse."
" Certainly," said Lile, "I could not wish for a fairer
conductress through the mazes of fashion; and none but the
most imperious motives could induce me to decline so
tempting a proposal. Really, though, Mrs. Winter, my
habits are almost as lonely as Zerah's. It has been long
since I mingled familiarly with any society except that of
the camp."
"So much the better," was the rejoinder.  "I am told
that long abstinence from the enjoyment of any favorite
taste, or appetite, redoubles its pleasure. You shall come
to me soon, and make the experiment."
"Perhaps so. But I make no promises.  My stay in
this city may not be a long one. My duties may at any
time call me away; and you may judge how unfit I am for
fashionable life, when I venture to plead duty to a lady as
an excuse for not at once complying with her request.
" I judge nothing now; but shall reserve the question for
decision and discussion, when we meet at one of my'evening reunions. "
More passed in the same vein. The lady took her departure, believing she had at length succeeded in her long
cherished scheme, but without the exulting pride she once
thought that success would bring.  There was thought
upon her brow as she entered the splendid equipage at the
door, and there was more of feeling than she knew, or meant
to express, in her voice, as she said,




166              BERNARD  LILE.
"Good bye. Before many days I shall ask you what
you think of life in New York."
An hour before she was burning to introduce him  to
society.  Now she would gladly postpone it, if she could
invent any other scheme to secure his society untrammelled
by the presence of his wife. A strange riddle is the human
heart.  Like the little child, who cries and. frets because its
mother will not let it play with the burning taper, so we
grown up children, grow angry, impatient, and rebellious,
when any object of desire is beyond our reach. Let the
protecting care of the mother be withdrawn from the child,
and it learns, through the agony of blistered fingers, that
brightness and beauty are not always harmless playthings.
Happier than the adult, its punishment is temporary, while
the lesson endures for a life-time. For our delusions, on
the other hand, there is no cure; because the discovery
that they are delusions, is fatal. We go on drawing thread
after thread from the inmost core of the heart, and twining
them into a glossy drapery, on which we hang the hopes
and joys of existence. If the support to which they are
attached should give way, the life-blood is dragged out by
the falling thread, and all human feeling hurried to a rayless tomb.  From such lessons no wisdom is ever gathered,
no amendment ever follows.  They are sent in judgment,
not in mercy, and, to add to the bitterness of the punishment, they are clothed in the semblance of boons we have
importunately demanded, and impiously reproached the
hand that withheld them.
Alone in her carriage, Mrs. Winter became seriously and
gloomily thoughtful.  The curtain of a hitherto hidden
mystery in her existence was beginning to be withdrawn.
"He is singularly handsome," was her inward reflection.
"So calm, so self-possessed, and withal so gentle in his
manners, who could believe his life had been passed in




BERNARD  LILE.                    167
camps, with a rude soldiery for his only tutors.  Mr.
Bernard Lile may tell me what he pleases, but that soft
and refined politeness was learned in the peaceful courts of
kings, not in the rough tents of war. But it is his voice
that moves me most; low, and sweet, and musical as an
JEolian harp; oh! how much better is it fitted for a lover's
pleading in a lady's bower, than a chieftain's harsh commands amid the vile din and butchery of a battle-field.
Why did I not meet him before such impassable barriers
had grown up between us?  How madly I should have
loved him I How different would my existence have been
from the aimless thing it is?"
Poor self-deceiver, you love him  now.  The burning
taper is before you. With the child's simplicity you are
longing to play with the graceful flame. The boon you
seek is death; and if left for another week to the guidance
of your own judgment, woe and doom are before you.
When Lile returned to the room where he had left his
wife, he found her standing on the floor.  She approached,
and placing her hand on his shoulder, inquired anxiously,
"Will you go to these public parties, Bernard?"
"No, Zerah.  For many reasons, no.  First, and that
would be enough alone, it would cause you uneasiness.
You have not mentioned Mrs. Winter's name since my
return, but I have forgotten no word of your letter.
Besides, it does not at all comport with my plans to become
an object of curiosity to all the idle people of New York.
I meant to leave here very soon, at all events. Mrs. Winter
has hurried our departure.  To-morrow we will go, if you
can put up for a time with the discomforts of an unfinished
house."
He took her hands in his, and, drawing her nearer to
him, stooped to imprint a kiss upon her brow. The shadows
of doubt and foreboding anxiety, which had gathered there,




168             BERNARD  LILE.
were dissipated, and a glad smile lighted up her angel
features, as she replied,
"I can put up with anything where you are, but in truth
there is nothing to put up with. It will be a pleasure,
rather than an annoyance, to try a more primitive mode of
living than is allowable under Monsieur Evadne's roof.
You will think me childish and foolish," she continued,
"but I cannot drive from my mind the conviction, that
Mrs. Winter will some day work you harm.  I had a
strange wild dream, while you were gone. I thought she
had come between you and me, and I had stabbed her as
she slept.  When I waked, I could scarcely shake off the
impression that the warm blood still covered my hand. I
shudder even yet to think of it."
" You must strive to give brighter colors to your fancies,
Zerah.  The fact that Mrs. Winter stiil lives, in excellent
health, ought to teach you the fallacy of trusting to dreams. "
" Nay, I believe not in dreams as the vulgar interpret
them: but if read aright they have a voice of wisdom not
to be despised.  Once, when a little girl, I wandered forth
with my father to gather the flocks from the hill side.
We met an old man weeping bitterly.  His life had been
so blameless and affectionate that he was known throughout the tribe as the' favorite of Allah.' Wondering what
it was that had wrung such bitter tears from the patriarch,
my father approached and inquired into the cause of his
grief.
"' I had a dream last night,' was the reply,'that disturbs me sorely. I dreamed I had murdered the friend of
my early days.'
"And my father spoke, as you did but now, and said,'Why weep for that? you know it was all unreal; your
friend still lives.'
"'Yes, so the young and strong always reason; but the




BERNARD  LILE.                    169
spirit, that trembles on the verge of eternity, is gifted with
a clearer vision. Allah sends no messenger on- an idle
errand.  That dream came to warn me to guard well the
future-that I had within me impulses and passions that
might lead to murder-that under the influence of interest,
ambition, or anger I had the capacity to dye my hands in
the blood of my dearest friend.  Therefore I weep to find
that old age, and a life of self watching, have not conquered
the innate baseness of my nature, and that I must go on
trembling, and guarding against myself to the tomb.'
"The old man's language has abided with me to the
present day.  I shudder to think there are things that
would make me shed blood."
" Is that all," replied her husband, in a lighter tone than
was usual for him. "Then be at rest, sweet one, for that
is a knowledge no dream was needed to impart.  Unless
my memory is greivously at fault, you have shed blood, and
shuddered not when it flowed."
"But that was by your side and in your defence."
"Yes, and I little thought when, to amuse you, I spent
months in teaching you to wield the light yataghan of Asia,
that one day the lessons would be turned to so good an
account.  If you had dreamed of that beforehand, I should
have had more faith in your visions now. For the rest,
be assured that all of us need self watching; but there is
no reason why that supervision should not be exercised
without bringing gloom and disquiet to the mind. -Henceforth let the clouds be mine, and the sunshine yours. I
must go forth to prepare for our departure. Make your
preparations also. In a few days, among the green hills
of New Hampshire, you will forget this idle dream."
She said no more; but she did not forget.  It had
taken too strong hold of her fancy to allow reason to
combat it successfully.
15




170             BERNARD  LILE.
In a little village of New Hampshire, whose name and
exact locality, the curious reader must excuse us for withholding, weeks and months of undisturbed and tranquil
happiness flew over the heads of Zerah and her husband.
Gradually Lile had worked himself into the regards of the
sturdy villagers. No ostentation of wealth-no assumption
of superiority proclaimed the wide difference between the
rich and gifted stranger, and his unpretending neighbors.
Daily he mingled with them familiarly as an equal, receiving
and bestowing the hundred little kindnesses that sweeten the
intercourse of adjoining farmers. His wife, too, had thrown
aside her eastern garb, and not unfrequently was seen
wending across the fields to the old homesteads around, or
listening with grave attention to the advice of the thrifty
house-wives who insisted on instructing her in all the mysteries of the kitchen and the pantry. By and by she was
prevailed upon to attend the old stone church, whose
erection dated back beyond the revolution, and though she
never neglected the observances of her own faith, she
exhibited a reverential respect for those of her Christian
neighbors, and the venerated pastor already began to speak
of her as " a brand snatched from the burning." Her husband knew her better. He knew that soft nature was harder
than steel in all matters connected with her religion, but
he listened to the old pastor's words without attempting to
correct his-error. To her he said,
" I feared greatly these people would annoy you with
their preaching, for I knew of old that it is the nature of
a Yankee to feel more interest in everybody's soul than
his own. I am rejoiced to see how easily you have accommodated yourself to circumstances, and how good humoredly
you submit to their obtrusive intermeddlings with your
conscience. "
"Love, Bernard," was the reply, " is a gentle teacher,




BERNARD  LILE.                  171
and a happy heart finds no difficulty in banishing ill
temper. These people are kind to you. They are trying
to be kind to me, and it would be cruel to tell them by
word or act they are only impertinent."
"You are right, and I was wrong to mistrust the spirit
in which you would receive it. Remember, if at any time
hereafter you should grow impatient with them, there is
nothing that so delights a genuine Yankee as wearying
heaven with prayers for some person who stands in less
need of them than himself, or some thing about which he
is in profound ignorance, yet imagines he understands a
little better than his Maker. Every community has its
follies. In New England seven in every ten are afflicted
with the belief, that the Almighty has placed them here for
the special purpose of enlightening and redeeming the rest
of mankind, and that in order to do this, it it quite immaterial how many vices and immoralities they leave uncorrected, and unrebuked at home, so they only declaim
loudly and long against those they discover, or imagine to
exist, elsewhere. Bear with them until it becomes really
offensive. In that case I know how to put a stop to it. In
any case consult your own heart, and that alone, it is a
truer and a holier guide than you can find in all New
England. "
A new subject for gossip now engrossed the attention of
the villagers.  An agent had come up from Boston and
bought the old homestead of Ephraim Abbot. It was
soon known that this purchase had been made in the name
of John Abbott, the wild sailor boy, who had gone off on
a whaling expedition and never returned. Rumors were
rife that he had amassed a considerable fortune by gainful
traffic with the Pacific islands, and was now cruising as a
privateer under the flag of Texas, against the commerce of
Mexico. None knew exactly when he would return, but




172             BERNARD  LILE.
the purchase of his father's former mansion was regarded as
conclusive proof that he intended soon to settle for life in
his native village. Everywhere there is magic in wealth.
Here, where titles of nobility are forbidden, and coronets
and ducal crowns, are not allowed to divide the admiration
of the populace, we look at the rich through magnifying
glasses of intense power.  From one end of the republic
to the other, they are treated with a subserviency whose
universality is all that redeems it from baseness.  The
satirist may ridicule, the moralist bemoan, and the orator
denounce this patent meanness; but men who have read
the poem with delight, and the essay with a feeling conviction of its truth, or listened with rapt attention to the
burning words of the speaker, will, the next hour, run
across a crowded street to shake a rich man's hand, when
virtue and intellect clothed in rags, if met upon the same
pavement would struggle in vain for a passing notice. It
was wonderful with how many virtues the reported riches
of John Abbott had clothed him.  Those who a month
before had forgotten his existence, and those who spoke of
him  as a graceless scamp, for whom the devil had an
especial fondness from  his cradle, now  remembered a
hundred anecdotes of his goodness of heart, and energy
of character, and more than one gray headed wiseacre was
heard to say, in tones of self-gratulation, " I always knew
there was backbone in the boy."  Bernard Lile was the
only person in the village who appeared to be unabsorbed
by the momentous event. He listened to all the others had
to say, but made no comments on the various stories he
heard.
Winter came-the hard winter of New England. Cold
and bitter as it was, Zerah gladly welcomed its coining,
since it afforded a never-failing excuse for the seclusion
she loved to indulge.  Her husband went forth as usual,




BERNARD  LILE.                    173
but she stirred not beyond her own door. Early in April
Lile entered her apartment and handed her an open letter.
It was from John Abbott.
"Your accounts," he wrote, "are so favorable, that I
have changed my original purpose.  I shall be with you
in two months after this is received. You know all that is
needful to be done, and I leave it in your hands."
"I am so glad," she exclaimed, glancing over the brief
contents of the letter; " I love that man, though I saw him
but seldom."
"'And you were right Zerah. The instincts of the good
are the truest wisdom after all. Show me the man upon
whom young girls and children love to fondle, and I will
show you one who, whatever the world may say of him,
has a kind and upright heart.  John Abbott has long
followed a traffic forbidden by the laws, and reprobated by
the philanthropists, but he is sterling gold nevertheless."
Before those two months had rolled away, the rose had
faded from the cheek of Zerah, and the springy lightness
of her step was gone. The winds of the White M )untains
had swept over the sun-born flower of Asia, and mingled
with its warm life the icy chill of consumption. Care, skill,
and nursing, were lavished upon her, but her step grew
weaker visibly, and the hollow cough, too surely indicated
the fatal nature of the disease. Lile would sit by her side,
and talk for hours tenderly and hopefully, but alone in his
own room he paced the floor with uncertain steps, often
raising his clenched hand, and uttering a fierce groan of
mingled  agony and  defiance.  About this time John
Abbott made his promised appearance.  He was warmly
welcomed by the villagers, and days were given up to
receiving their Visits, and listening to their congratulations.
At length an ill-natured gossip, anxious to ingratiate himself with the rich man, inquired if their new neigbor, Mr.
15*




174              BERNARD  LILE.
Lile, had called to pay his respects, and upon being
answered in the negative, was proceeding to comment
harshly upon the seeming discourtesy, when he was interrupted by another, of better heart, who suggested that the
serious illness of Mrs. Lile might well be her husband's
apology.  This gave Capt. Abbott the opportunity he
desired to make inquiries without exciting remark, and he
soon extracted a full history of Bernard Lile and his wife
since their settlement in.  At the close of the conversation he announced his purpose to "drop in before
long and take a look at the stranger." Whatever Capt.
Abbott did was right of course; and "everybody" exclaimed, "what a kind, good heart he has I" when they
saw him'next day deliberately walking towards the house
of mourning.
Their meeting was that of stern, strong men, who love
each other, and have been brought together in a period of
trial and of sorrow. Scarcely a word was spoken-not a
tear gathered in either eye, but their hands were clasped
with a lorce that would have wrung the blood from fingers
less sinewy and hard. At once Lile led his friend to the
room where Zerah was reclining on a sofa, by the open
window, to enjoy the breezes of summer. Gently and tenderly the sailor greeted her, regretting that he did not find
her in the same high health as when they parted at Timboo, but speaking cheerfully of her speedy recovery.  He
made many minute inquiries of the places she had visited
since, and listened with deep interest to all that had pleased
or gratified her in her journeyings. When he rose to leave
it was with the assurance that he would call every day she
was willing to receive him. Lile walked a short distance.
with him down the green lane.
"I think I know all," he said, "but it is possible my




BERNARD  LILE.                   175
love for her frightens me too much. Do you think there
is a chance for her recovery."
"Bernard, if you were a weak man-nay more, if fate
could deal any blow that would make you shrink and
cower; in a word, if you were not my brother, I would tell
you to hope."
"Hush   Breathe not that word. Even she knows it
not. While I live it must be blotted from your vocabulary.
When I am gone the secret is yours; do with it as you
will."
"You think then," he continued, "she must die."
"Before another crop of flowers have scented the air,
the loveliest bloom that ever gladdened the earth since
Adam  and Eve were driven by the flaming sword and
waving wing of the angel from Paradise, will be hidden
beneath the turf in yonder church-yard."
"So my own judgment tells me.  I shall see you tomorrow. "
"Yes; and the next day, and the next. Never in gloom
or peril have you fallen away from my side, and though I
cannot avert this grief, I can, and will share it with you."
John Abbott was true to his promise.  Every day he
was at his brother's door. Every day he sat by the side
of Zerah, and beguiled the weary hours with the wild
stories he had gathered in his adventurous career, until at
last the stricken victim began to look for his coming with
as much impatience as her husband. The villagers soon
found that good-humored and frank as Capt. Abbott generally was, there were some subjects with which it was not
safe to meddle. Above all he brooked no allusion to his
brother's wife, or her religion. One day he was walking
with a deacon along the street, It was the hour when the
factory operatives were released from the noon-day meal.
A company of volunteers were parading at the time. The




176             BERNARD  LILE.
little children, pleased with the show, paid little attention
to any thing but the soldiers. One of them, covered with
cotton from the factory, heedlessly ran against the prim
deacon, and soiled his best suit. With an angry "mind
what you are about," the deacon rudely applied his huge
paw to the little fellow's delicate cheek. In a moment
Abbott caught his arm in the gripe of a vice, and said
sternly,
" Give that boy a dollar."
"What should I give him a dollar for?"
"Because this muster is the only glimpse of sunshine
the poor thing has seen in a month, and you have clouded
that by your brutal treatment."
"I guess'I have no dollars to give away."
"And I guess," was the prompt reply, "that if you don't
do it, I will wallow you in the mire, until every rag on
your back is too filthy to carpet a pig-stye."
This threat, and the manner of him who made it, could
not be resisted.  The dollar was slowly and reluctantly
handed to the now grinning urchin.
"So far, so well," said Abbott; "but night before last,
at prayer-meeting, you took occasion to put up a long
petition for the'poor, pagan wife' of Bernard Lile. If
he had heard you, he would have broken every bone in
your body, if the life of a generation had died with you.
And now let me tell you for myself, that, if ever you
breathe her name again in public meeting, I will get up
and expose your conduct of to-day."
The deacon walked way, and John Abbott had an
enemy for life: but John Abbott cared very little for that.
At another time he was listening to one of those pious
gentry, whose charity is too expansive to be confined to
their neighorhood or state, discoursing upon the horrors
of southern slavery, and solemnly averring that he be.




BERNARD  LILE.                    177
li1ved it to be a holiness in the sight of God and man to
assist a slave in escaping from his master.
"Have you ever been in a slave state?" asked Abbott.
"I am happy to say I never have," was the pert reply,
"and I trust I never may be."
"Well, I have: and I am happy to say there is no state
south of the Potomac, where a man could do what you did
three weeks ago, without being shunned as a leper."
"What did I do, sir?"
"You employed a man to mow in your meadow, and
when he accidentally cut himself dangerously, you not only
refused to send for surgical assistance, but refused to feed
him, and turned him from your door, bleeding as he was.
I, sir, the upholder of slavery, took him in; fed, nourished,
and tended him.  Which do you think rendered the most
acceptable service to heaven?"
The man slunk off, but another, who was not disposed to
yield the argument so readily, entered the lists with the air
of a man who is about to propound and unanswerable
interrogatory.
"You  cannot deny, Captain Abbott, that southern
slavery is fatal to female virtue?"
"I do deny it.  Like every human institution, it is
liable to abuse; and that it is sometimes abused in this
regard, I do not question. But that is the fault of human
nature, not of the system. If your life was pried into as
closely as you are desirous of prying into the lives of our
southern  brethren, it would be easy to prove you a
panderer to prostitution."
The man was one of the most sanctimonious members of
the church in -.  He reddened with anger as he
replied,
"I defy you to make good your insinuation."
"That is exactly what I mean to do," was the cool re.




178             BERNARD  LILE.
joinder.  "You had a poor orphan girl engaged as a'help' in your family.  In trying to avoid treading on
your little child, who had crawled in her way, she stumbled,
and broke a handful of plates and dishes. You turned her
out of employment, gave her a bad name, refused to pay
her wages, and left her no alternative but starvation, or
prostitution.  She is now the inmate of a den of infamy.
Do you think a just God will permit you to be singing in
heaven, while she is shrieking in hell?"
If John Abbott had been a poor man, he would have
been perfectly unendurable in, but he was rich, and
his bitter sayings were all set down to the account of a
sailor's "eccentricities."
In the meantime, Bernard Lile was in happy ignorance
of all that was passing around him. Occupied with attentions to his suffering wife, he never bestowed a thought
upon the outward world.  Her's was the common history
of consumption.  At times the hectic flush of the disease
spread over her cheek, and gave it the rosy hue of health.
At times she felt better and stronger, and walked forth
into the fields, leaning on the arm of her husband, to enjoy
the sweet scenery of a New England summer.  The hopeless nature of her complaint had been hidden from her, but
one evening as she looked out upon the setting sun, she
turned and said,
" I am going before you, Bernard. Like yon glorious orb,
darkness will soon be about the places where I have loved
to dwell; but remember the sun shines on, though we see it
not, and when the shadow comes to us, another hemisphere
is bathing in its lustre. So when the worm is eating our
earthly tenement, the soul only goes to be robed by angel
hands with a higher loveliness."
It was the first time she had alluded to her approaching
end, and accustomed as he had been to suppress every sign




BERNARD  LILE.                    179
of human emotion he shuddered as the trembling tones fell
upon his ear.
"I do remember it, Zerah; and I remember also the
prophecy of the Syrian Sage. I do not, indeed, believe in
the sweet dream  precisely as he painted it, but my soul
tells me we shall meet hereafter, and be the happier for the
meeting."
" Oh, yes I But for that, death would be very dark, and
very dreary. As it is, I think of it as a long parting,
which must take place, and which it is wrong to sadden
still more by repining."
"You view it justly, my own love; and I will try to bear
this blow with a portion of your own sweetness; although
it is far heavier than all that have gone before. God
placed you upon earth as an instrument to redeem a bold
strong man, whose feet had wandered widely from heaven.
Your mission is accomplished, and his ministers are waiting to bear you to your native skies. I must await his
good pleasure before I rejoin you. I know not what work
he may have for me to perform, but I am sure it will not
be denied me to pray earnestly and fervently, that it may
be a brief one."
" Trust all to Him. I see before you days of usefulness,
and deeds of high and holy import.  Happy here you
cannot be when I am gone, but you can pave the way for
a happiness that knows no end, and you will."
A  week later, Bernard Lile, and John Abbott, were
standing over a new made grave in the old church-yard
of.
"Let there be no name," said the former, "upon the
tombstone. Engrave on it, the simple line,' The beautiful
has departed.' When I also am dust, have our names
linked together on the slab." I have made you a deed,"
he continued, "of the little farm, and all that pertains to




180             BERNARD  LILE.
it.  Lock up the room in which she died, and let no one
enter it until my return.  Take the little cimeter in the
armory-it was hers, and saved my life once in her handhang it up in your own bed-room, and see that neither
rust nor dirt defiles it. With all else do as you think best.
If you should marry, and need additional funds for your
family wants, draw upon Evadne.  He will have instructions to honor your drafts."
"But, Bernard," said his companion, "I have no ties to
bind me here, and see no reason why I should not go with
you."
"There are many.  In the first place you are a sailor,
and unfit for the woods; but the unanswerable reason is,
that if you go, there will be no one left to do all that is
proper and right for her who found Bernard Lile a hardened
devil, and left him a man. Besides, I shall not be alone.
I left a friend on the frontier, as bold, as strong, and as
true as you are, John; and that is saying a great deal.
The forest and the prairie have long been his home.  I
shall seek his cabin and abide with him for a time. You
will hear from me as often as circumstances will permit.
For this night I claim the shelter of your roof. Mice
would bring up thoughts it is better not to awaken. Tomorrow I go."
The long absence he contemplated, and the many things
that demanded his attention before his departure, protracted his stay in New York, far beyond his original expectations. To his surprise, he received a note from Mrs.
Winter, condoling with him  on his recent bereavement.
It was written kindly, and in excellent taste, but it recalled
events that were painful, and he would have prefered that
it had not been received. There was, however, no alternative but to answer it, and he did so with graceful courtesy.
He heard of her no more, until they accidently met upon




BERNARD  LILE.                    181
Broadway.  He was about passing, with a mere bow of
recognition, when she called him by name, and made some
inquiry he could not avoid answering without rudeness.
Mrs. Winter had far too much tact to allude to his former
evasion of her hospitalities, but she remembered it, and
was determined not to be foiled a second time.
"You are going to Monsieur Evadne's?"
"Yes.  My outdoor business for the day is completed,
and I was returning to address some letters to a few
friends before my departure from New York."
"My purchases are also finished," she said, "and as I
am going in the same direction, we will walk on together."
With easy self-possession, she dropped into the current
news of the day-making not the slightest allusion to
Zerah, or to the fashionable world, with which her existence
had heretofore seemingly been bound up. She wished him
to remember neither the one, nor the other.  With the
instinctive quickness of a woman, she felt that Bernard
Lile had loved for the last time, but she knew that the very
loneliness that follows the going down of the bright star,
from which we have drunk in all of gladness and beauty,
that has cheered our mortal state, prepares the heart for
the reception of kindly emotions; and that words fitly
spoken at such a time, are sure to win friendship, if they
kindle not the flames of a new passion from the ashes of
the old. Love was represented by the Ancients as a blind
divinity.  If so, his other organs are endowed with a
delicacy and keenness that make ample atonement for the
defect. Mrs. Winter was in love, and with exquisite skill
she was careful to say nothing to scare away the bird she
wished to entice.
" You spoke but now," she remarked, "of your speedy
departure from  New  York.  Do you indeed leave us
soon?
16




182             BERNARD  LILE.
"Such is my present purpose.  I have been delayed
already beyond the time when I had hoped to be on my
journey."
"It would be impertinent," she said, slowly, "to question
the entire correctness of a purpose, whose controlling
motive I do not know, but not impertinent nor intrusive, I
trust, to regret the pleasure of which it threatens to deprive me."
"I had not the vanity to suppose," he replied, "that my
going, or remaining, would bring regret or satisfaction to
one surrounded as you are with enjoyments."
" The enjoyments may not be as real as they seem."
"Those of this world seldom are. But I should judge
that you had few wishes ungratified."
"In truth there are very few: still the conviction that
there is one cherished object beyond our reach, is sufficient
to embitter all the blessings that are granted. I say not
this is my case. I but enunciate a truth in which I am
sure you will concur. We part at this corner," she continued, hastily, as if unwilling to hear a reply, "I shall be
rejoiced to see you again before you leave.  Monsieur
Evadne can furnish you with our address."
To an invitation so conveyed, it was difficult to frame a
refusal, and Lile had given his promise to call upon the
Syren before she walked away.
Why Mrs. Winter should perseveringly seek the society
of a man who did not love her, and who her reason told
her never would, is a question philosophical speculators
may settle among themselves.  It might be a sufficient
answer to say she loved, and with those who do, hope rarely
dies. We may think it extinguished.  We may examine
our bosoms again and again, and say that it is; but like
the little stream that winds its living path hundreds of feet
below the earth's surface, it flows on, unseen, unknown,




BERNARD  LILE.                     183
buoyant with life, and seeking only some narrow crevice to
bubble into light.
Still another question may suggest itself.  Why should
she, who was bound for life to another, by vows plighted
at the altar, encourage the growth of a passion which,
whether successful or unsuccessful, must bring woe, and
might bring suffering and disgrace together?"
curious fool be still,
Is human love the growth of human will?"
Nearly always we are hurried into errors, where the heart is
concerned, without the least perception of the consequences.
The dream is too sweet to permit us to reason of its uncertain results: or, if we reason at all, reason itself is colored
by the love it is evoked to destroy. As long as the threads
are of gossamer, we think it ridiculous to guard against
fetters a breath can destroy. By the time we wake to the
necessity of a struggle, those threads are of hardened steel,
and the captive is bound forever. Nay, more, he has lost
the wish to be free. The growth of such a passion is often
as rapid as the gourd that sheltered Jonah on the plains
of Nineveh.  Happy, thrice happy, would it be, if it
withered and died as soon.  Mrs. Winter began by thinking she could love Bernard Lile, if there were no barriers
between them.  The step he had taken of leaving New
York, suddenly, and without warning, connected him  inseparably with her thoughts. In the interval of his absence,
she discovered that she was madly in love; for the first
time her heart had been touched.  She knew it, and she
said to herself that she rejoiced he was gone. She even
tried to believe that the wearing dissipation of fashionable
life would soon blot his image from her memory.
"How is it possible," she inwardly asked, "that I,
hackn'ed in the world's ways, and daily wasting mind and




184            BERNARD  LILE.
heart upon its mean ambitions, should be capable of loving
to a degree that might be dangerous?  When younger,
with feelings fresh and untutored by experience, I played
with the gentle passion; what have I to dread now?"
Mrs. Winter knew not that Cupid himself had suggested
this mode of reasoning, and she went on thinking of
Bernard Lile, more and more, until his manly form was
ever before her, and his musical voice eternally ringing in
her ear. Often she awakened from slumbers in which he
had mingled with the bright things that thronged around
her dreaming pillow, and then she would close her eyes,
and try to sleep again, hoping to enjoy once more the
sweet and cherished madness of the vision. By and by she
heard that his young and lovely wife had returned to
heaven: and her heart throbbed with startling vehemence,
when she reflected that a mighty gap had thus been made
in the wall of adamant that separated her from the object
of her absorbing passion. What obstacle now remained?
None, she thought, but the formal vows her husband had
purchased at the marriage altar, and these were but little
likely to restrain her from the gratification of the intense
delights imagination had pictured. Anxiously she revolved
many different schemes for bringing about a meeting without
seeming to seek it; and when chance at length effected it,
she hailed that chance as a happy augury for the future.
Not many days had elapsed before Bernard Lile was at
the door of the stately mansion of Mr. Winter. The lady
received him  alone.  An hour passed in pleasant and
agreeable conversation. When he departed she bade him
adieu with winning courtesy, but nothing more. She did
not walk to the door with him, but turned to the musicstand, and examined, or seemed to examine, the contents
of a new volume, until he had descended to the street.
Then she sat down on the little stool, and buried her face




BERNARD  LILE.                   185
in her hands, not to weep, but to think. After a while she
rose and walked from the room, muttering, indistinctly,
" He will come again. I am sure of that. "
He did come, and, as he found he was not to be annoyed
by invitations to attend her public parties, his visits were
repeated.  Gradually her manner towards him became
more tender.  Gradually she led him away from intellectual topics to softer themes. She contrived to let him
understand, not suddenly but by partial glimpses, how
loveless her life had been, and gently wooed compassion to
her joyless lot. Admirably her game was played. With
the calculating skill of a finished chess player, she touched
no piece it was dangerous to move;  Any other man
would have been subdued; and even he with all his wide
experience, and lofty intellect, owed his safety alone to the
memories that clustered about the grave of his departed
wife. He began to suspect that her feelings towards him
were of a warmer nature than prudence would justify,
when one evening as they stood alone at a window watching the sinking sun, she laid her hand on his arm, and
looking inquiringly in his face, said,
"Will nothing persuade you to abandon the thoughts
of roving away from a land as lovely, and as happy as
this?"
"I can hardly say that a choice is left me," was the
reply.  " Here I might do some good, but that is problematical-At all events I know where there is a field
of labor for which I am fitted; and I must not permit
pleasure to lessen the demands of duties my judgment'tells
me are imperative."
"Do you then think that in our pilgrimage through me
it is wrong or improper to gather such enjoyments as are
to be found by the wayside?"
"Certainly I hold no such opinion. On the contrary I
16*




186             BERNARD   LILE.
believe every innocent enjoyment is an acceptable offering
in the sight of heaven. I only mean that for me no enjoyments are left-that nothing but duties remain."
"Why so?  Rich as you are, and gifted with capacities
for the keenest intellectual and social delights, why should
you not sip the honey that is presented to your lips, rather
than wander afar off for the gall andwormwood that taxes
your industry to find?"
The sun had gone down, and the evening star was
shining alone in the heavens.  He answered not directly
but pointed to the solitary sphere and said, mournfully,
"Look at yonder star.  Notwithstanding all its brilliancy it is denied companionship with its celestial sisters.
A little later when its fellow orbs begin to glimmer in the
blue vault it will sink below the horizon's edge. So it has
done for ages that are gone; so it will do for ages that are
to come.  To me, as to that star, the doom of solitude has
been spoken.  I know not the purpose, but I know that it
must be obeyed.  Wherever the happy and the beautiful
are, my stay must be brief.  Already I am  beginning to
feel that I have needlessly encountered the risk of receiving
another bruise upon a withered and broken reed.
"Your simile may be just as far as it goes, but it is
imperfect.  Look now again to the right of yonder star
whose solitary brilliancy you bemoan.  Do you not see a
little orb whose rays are almost lost in the splendor by its
side?  Sweet and lovely in its retiring modesty it clings
with undying tenacity to its glorious mate; together they
traverse the remaining segment of the circle; together they
sink into the ocean wave.",There was a dead silence for many minutes. When she
looked up, there was a lustre beyond that of the stars in
her speaking eyes, and sweeter than the flutes of angels
floated the soft syllables



BERNARD  LILE.                   187
"Do you understand me now?"
The step of Mr. Winter sounded in the entry.  To her
it was as hateful as the sentence that condemns a felon to
the gallows-to him it was as welcome as the pardon that
reverses the stern decree.
When alone in his own apartment he passed in review
the events of the last ten days, and wondered at his blindness. He thought now that he ought to have perceived she
loved him from the beginning, and he reproached himself
for permitting the illusion to last so long. How to remedy
the evil was his next care. With the decisive promptitude
of his character he rang the bell, and requested the presence
of Monsieur Evadne.  Upon the entrance of that gentleman, he calmly remarked,
"I have not given as much attention to our business
matters, my good friend, for the last few days as I might
have done, and I have sent for you to know if it is possible
to close them up by ten o'clock to-morrow."
"Everything," replied Evadne, " is possible with energy
and industry."
"I may then count upon its being done?"
" Assuredly.  It will only cost the loss of a few hour's
sleep, and that my clerks are as well accustomed to as
myself."
" I am obliged to you for your promptness.  There is
but one other thing I wish attended to. When I am gone
write to Robert Wilson-advise him to resign his commission in the army, and engage in some civil pursuit that
holds out the promise of greater, and more immediate
usefulness. Tell him that you have instructions to honor
his drafts for whatever amount may be necessary to start
him in business, and that it is my earnest wish he should
consult with you as to the future, and regulate his conduct
in some degree by your advice. You know how to do




188            BERNARD  LILE.
this kindly and well, and I trust it to you. Say to him
that I shall be absent for a considerable period. I know
not how long. You may add that I am alone now, and
that Zerah sleeps in the old church yard at."
With difficulty the man of business drove back the
choking sensation he felt rising in his throat and inquired,
huskily,
"Is there anything more to be done?"
"Nothing now. I will hand you some papers at breakfast, together with written directions where to find me
when it is needful. Good night."
The banker left the room, and the strong man kneeling
in his solitary chamber, sought relief from the wild war
of his own rebellious passions in earnest and fervent supplication at the foot stool of the Most High. There, alone
with his God, new hopes sprang into existence, and his
soul drank in the beginning of the promise.
"Behold, I create new heavens, and a new earth; and
the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind."




BERNARD LILE.                       189
CHAPTER XI.
"If thou hast crushed a flower,
The root may not be blighted;
If thou hast quenched a lamp,
Once more it may be lighted.
*    *    *    *    e
"But if upon the troubled sea
Thou cast a gem unheeded;
Hope not that wind or wave will bring
The treasure back when needed."
PAULINE WINTER knew not the effect her words had
produced.  She knew she had given pain, but from that
very circumstance she extracted hope, since it indicated
that whatever other difficulties she might have to overcome, she would not be required to combat the sullen
calm of passionless despair. She was neither surprised
nor uneasy at his absence the next day, and she made no
inquiries into the cause of it.  But when another and
another passed, and brought no tidings, she grew restless
and fearful. On the fourth morning a letter was put into
her hands from Philadelphia.
"After our last interview," it ran, "I found it absolutely
necessary to leave New York at once. It can matter little
to you where I go, or what fate awaits me; but I cannot
find it in my heart to make so churlish a return for all your
kindness as to set out upon a journey of years without a
word of leave-taking. In the busy world you will have no
leisure to think of one who has crossed your path for a
moment only to sadden it, and long before I come back
again you will have forgotten my existence. With warm
thanks for the hours not unhappily passed in your society,
and still warmer wishes for your welfare, I bid you adieu.
" BERNARD LILE."




190             BERNARD  LILE.
She read this note repeatedly with close attention. At
cne time she thought she could trace in it evidences of a
heart not altogether untouched by the arts she had employed to win it. At another she crushed it in her tiny
palm with a feeling of agonised despair. Then again she
smoothed the crumpled paper, and pressed it to her fevered
lips. Finally, it was deposited in her bosom, with the
inward resolution to write to him as soon as she could
extract the necessary information as to where a letter would
reach him from Mons. Evadne, revealing all the wild fervor
of the love that consumed her, and begging him to return
if he would not have the stream of her existence dried up
at the fountain.
In the meantime Bernard Lile was floating down the
beautiful Ohio, towards its junction with the turbid Mississippi. On the western borders of Texas there was pressing
need for the bold and strong to protect the families of the
settlers from the constant incursions of Indians and Mexicans.  The treaty of peace and limits signed by Santa
Anna had, in a short time thereafter, been declared a
nullity by Bustamente, and a merciless war had recommenced, more apparently for the purpose of harassing
and annoying the Texans, than with any hope of ultimate
subjugation.  Large armies were no longer poured upon
her territories, but from Metamoras, Reynosa, Camargo,
and other towns along the Rio Grande, frequent expeditions were sent secretly and suddenly across the border,
plundering and burning detached settlements, small towns
and villages, and then rapidly retreating without waiting
to try the issue of a battle. In this way the country beyond the San Antonio had been completely desolated.
One family resided at Live Oak Point, between the bays
of Aransas and Copano, and another at Lamar, across the
bay from Live Oak Point.  With these exceptions the




BERNARD  LILE.                   191
wild animals were the only inhabitants of the vast region
stretching away from the San Antonio to the Rio Grande.
Even along the former river the settlements were few and
far between.  Some miles below the point where the road
from Lamar to Victoria crosses the San Antonio, Tom
Simpson had erected his cabin, and surrounded it with a
rude palisade of logs. On the eastern side it was protected by the river bottom, whose waters almost washed its
base. From every other quarter the approach was over a
level prairie, and Simpson had too much confidence in
himself and his rifle to doubt his ability to defend it
against any predatory party, while the river bottom
afforded a never-failing means of escape from any more
considerable force.  He had another security also in the
absence of any thing to tempt the cupidity of either Mexicans or Camanches. Living altogether upon the produce
of the chase-raising no herds, and cultivating no crops,
there was nothing to be gained by disturbing him except
rifle bullets directed with wonderful accuracy towards the
vitals of the assailants.  He was widely known on the
border, and as widely feared and hated by his country's
enemies.  Many a scheme had been laid to entrap him
without success, but they shrunk from  an open assault
upon his slight fortress, well knowing that it must be
attended with a heavy loss, and would moreover very probably result in failure.  One evening in June he had
ascended to the roof of his cabin for the purpose of looking out upon the prairie to mark if any rising smoke, or
other sign, indicated the neighborhood of an enemy. Two
horsemen were approaching from the direction of the Victoria road.
" They must be some of our people," he said, after ascertaining that they were certainly alone.  "No two men in




192            BERNARD  LILE.
Mexico would undertake to enter Tom Simpson's den, if
the gate was wide open before them."
IHe descended deliberately, and drawing the block from
the port-hole, examined the new comers with close attention. When they had approached within thirty yards, he
suddenly threw open the gate, and, with a shout of wild
joy, rush out to meet them.
"I knew it would be so," he said, clasping the hand of
Lile, and wringing it again and again, " I knew we should
meet on the border once more."
Cordially and kindly Lile returned the warm greeting of
his friend.  The party then entered the enclosure, and
Simpson, after closing and barring the gate, assisted in
removing the saddles and bridles from the horses-shook
down a quantity of hay cut from the long grass of the
prairie, and left them to wander at will within the palisades.
To questions propounded by Simpson, Bernard Lile said,
"I remembered your parting words on the beach at
Galveston, and made my way at once to the West. In
Victoria, I fortunately met with this gentleman, and prevailed upon him to guide me to your dwelling."
Lile's companion was no stranger to Simpson; who now
turned to him, and said with animation,
"And let me tell you, Bill Stokes, that you have done
many a worse day's work. I shall remember this as long
as I am above ground, whenever you need a helping hand.
If it ever happens that the Mexicans or Camanches light
upon your cattle, or mustangs, I'll follow the trail to the
Rio Grande, or the Rocky Mountains, but what I'll have
Obem baek."
All this time the hunter was busily engaged in the duties
of hospitality. The fire had been replenished, and a plentiful supply of venison was sending out its savoury smell
from the hearthstone.  The cooking utensils were few and




BERNARD  LILE.                    193
rude, but the most fastidious epicure would not have
objected to the flavor of the repast. When it was ended,
the three gathered around a blazing fire, which is not
uncomfortable in that climate, after nightfall, during the
hottest seasons. Many questions were asked and answered
on either side, and several hours of the night thus glided
almost imperceptibly by.
Something outside attracted the hunter's attention.  He
rose and stood at the door for awhile in silence, then fastening it securely with two heavy bars, he inquired in a low
tone,
"Did you hear that?"
"Yes," answered Stokes, taking down his rifle, and
bullet pouch, "the Camanches are about."
"I heard nothing," said Lile, "but the hooting of an
owl."
"It was a Camanche," responded Simpson,'"as certain
as a gun is iron."
Lile imitated the example of his companions, and armed
himself without delay; observing, however, as he did so,
" I am afraid I have become a little rusty. Tell me why
you are so certain that sound was made by a human being
at all-if so, why by an Indian, and, particularly, why by
a Camanche? for I am told there are many roving tribes
in this vicinity."
"Listen," said Simpson, " do you hear it now?"
"Yes."
"Do you hear the echo from the river?"
"Yes."
"Well, the human voice has an echo, but there is none
to the hoot of an owl. Besides, that sound comes directly
from the west.  The nearest timber in that direction is a
little mott two miles off. I never heard of an owl's lighting in the grass to pitch his infernal ugly tune. It is not
17




194             BERNARD  LILE.
a Mexican, for they know that five thousand Greasers
couldn't catch me at night, with the river bottom in ten
feet of my fence. It is not a Tonkawa, or Caroncahua,
because I am on friendly terms with them, and they would
have had more sense, too, than to agree on a signal they
know I understand.  It is a Camanche sure, and there are
not less than fifty to back him. They will waste a full half
hour, before they begin the attack, in prying around to
find out whether I'm  asleep or awake.  The first notice
they git will be apt to be a bullet through the short ribs."
So saying, he led the way to the top of the house, the
roof of which was nearly fiat, while the outside logs, running several feet above it, formed an excellent breastwork
against small arms of any description. The three sides of
the house, commanding a view of the prairie, were occupied
by the defenders; that next the river being left unguarded,
as no danger was apprehended from that quarter.  The
moon was shining brightly, and from the height where they
were stationed, everything was visible that elevated itself
above the waving grass. Eyes less practiced than those
now watching it, would soon have discovered that it was
agitated by something more than the light breeze coming
up from the gulf; but the exact locality of the moving
objects was too uncertain to justify the risk of a shot.
After a while, Lile thought he detected a slight scraping
noise against the palisades on the side of the house where
he was stationed, and in a few seconds the head and
shoulders of an Indian rose slowly above them. Raising
his rifle with a quick aim, he fired before half the body of
the savage was exposed.  The Indian sank down, still
clinging with his hands to the top of the split logs. In
this way he hung for a brief space, when his hold relaxed,
and with a deep groan he fell heavily to the ground.




BERNARD  LILE.                    195
"Keep close," shouted Simpson, "they know they are
discovered now, and a flight of arrows will come next."
The words were hardly spoken before thirty or forty
arrows stuck in the log breastwork, or whistled over the
heads of its defenders.  At the same instant a wild yell
rang over the prairie, and a rush was made upon the defences from  three sides at once.  The Indians, beyond
doubt, supposed Simpson to be alone, and calculated that
by making a rush from several points at the same time his
attention would be distracted, so that they could easily
effect an entrance by catching the tops of the palisades
with their lassos, and thus dragging  themselves up.
Ignorant of his interior defences, they imagined if they
could once succeed in getting inside, his fate was sealed.
They were grievously surprised when, mounting almost at
the same moment, from different points, three rifle shots
hurled as many assailants lifeless to the earth; but other
lassos were thrown, and other warriors clambered up.
Lile, who was armed with two of Colt's revolvers, in addition to his rifle, found no- difficulty in clearing his side as
rapidly as they showed themselves above the timber, and
also in materially assisting Stokes, who was next to him.
Simpson had shot down three of his enemies in quick succession, but as he was ramming home a fourth bullet, two
Indians scrambled up together, eight or ten feet apart.
The death dealing rifle pronounced the doom of one of
them, as he straddled the palisades, and, falling forward,
he was caught upon the sharp points, and suspended there
a ghastly spectacle, in the clear moonlight, to his kindred
and tribe around. The other succeeded in dropping within
unhurt.
"You have got in my good fellow," muttered Simpson,
"let us see how you are to get out."
Then turning to his companions, he said.




196             BERNARD  LILE.
"Do the best you can above here, while I take care of
that fellow below." 
He was half way down the ladder before the words were
fairly spoken.  The Indian as soon as he touched the
ground had run to the gate for the purpose of throwing
it open, and in expectation of such a movement, the warriors
had suspended their attacks, and were clustering to that
point to take instant advantage of the daring manoeuvre.
This was a contingency Tom Simpson had foreseen and
provided against long ago, and the savage, to his dismay,
found that the heavy bars securing the gate were kept in
their places by an iron chain and rings, which in its turn
was fastened by an enormous padlock.  While he was
looking about for something to shiver the lock, the hunter
descended to the ground floor of his cabin and bounded
into the yard. With equal weapons the contest must have
resulted in a victory to the white man. Tom  Simpson
made no idle boast when he asserted that no two Indians
that ever walked the forest were a match for him in a hand
to hand encounter. Apart from  his superior skill and
strength, he had a terrible advantage in the long "Arkansas
tooth pick," that gleamed in his brawny hand. The butcher
knife of the savage was turned aside with scarcely an effort,
and the bubbling blood fringed with a light edging of foam
covered the hilt of the white man's weapon before it was
half withdrawn from the naked body.  Dragging an axe
from a recess where it was hidden, he ran around the interior of the palisades, severing every lasso that was suspended
to them. This done he again ascended to the roof. The
enemy had entirely disappeared. From the long delay in
opening the gate they readily guessed the fate of their comrade, and disheartened by the heavy losses they had sustained
they had crawled off through the grass. It was scarcely
more than a half hour later when a dark line was seen to




BERNARD  LILE.                   197
emrrge from the "mott" of timber to the west and move
rapidly northward.
" There they go," said Simpson.  "Their horses were
hidden in that clump of trees, and now they are off with
a new grudge against me, and a new caution to be par
ticular in indulging it."
"We can go below," he continued.  "Is either of you
hurt?"
"I've got an arrow in my shoulder," replied Stokes,
"but it don't hurt much, and I don't think the bone is
touched."
A blaze was soon kindled, and Lile skilfully extracted
the arrow, and bandaged the wound.  Picking up the
feathered missile he examined it attentively, remarking,
" This must have been sent by a feeble hand, or it would
have hurt more sorely."
" It struck the log," answered Stokes, " and deadened
itself scraping through the bark.  D-n'em, they don't
shoot them things for fun. They shot my brother on the
San Marcos, and when I found him the head was sticking
out at his back, and the feather was jam up against his
breast."
"You have paid the debt with interest to-night."
"I paid it long ago; but I shall keep on paying it whenever I have a chance.  It's different from any other debt
I ever owed. The more it's paid, the better a feller feels.
I left the States between two days to keep from settling a
few little contracts I had made in Mississippi, but no man
can say I ever dodged when there was an opening for a
settlement with either Mexicans or Camanches. "
Whatever opinion Lile may have formed of the morals
of his new acquaintance he kept it to himself, and the party
sought the repose they so much needed. When morning
came, and they had partaken of a meal prepared with their




198             BERNARD  LILE.
own hands, Stokes indicated his purpose of returning to
Victoria. His wound he treated as a mere scratch, whose
chief inconvenience would be that he would be compelled
"to tell every feller" he met, how the hurt was received
With Simpson's aid his horse was caparisoned, and he rode
away whistling " old Rosin the beau."
As soon as he was out of hearing, Simpson said,
"There's a pretty fair specimen, captain, of the wild
characters who have come out among us since the revolution. He will fight from sun-up to sun-down by your side
for the love of the thing-will ride ten miles any day to do
you a favor-will cling to you through the worst times, and
could not be bought by all the gold of Mexico to betray
you.  Yet, as he told you, he once run away to avoid
the payment of his honest debts. To-day he would kill a
Mexican without scruple for his blanket, or a Camanche
for his horse, and to-morrow, if he could find whiskey
enough to get half drunk, he would practice carving with
his bowie knife on the body of his best friend for the
slightest offence. I do not like this new stock half so well
as the old, and I have been thinking of pulling up stakes,
and squatting way out on the San Saba."
"I will go with you," answered Lile, "for I love not
such characters any better than you do: though they are
a hundred times better than the smooth silken villains of
cities, who rob with professions of friendship, and murder
character and happiness with the blandest of smiles.
"Let us go within," he continued, "and talk over our
plans deliberately. I have brought two steeds of different
mettle from the sorry jades we rode over the prairie after
the massacre of Goliad, and I have also brought some new
weapons which in our hands will reduce an odds of ten to
one against us to an equality."
"By the Lord," put in Simpson, "it strikes me that




BERNARD  LILE.                    199
wouldn't make much more than a fair fight any way. We
have been in worse scrapes than that, and got out of them
without losing a hair."
" Yes, it was worse at Bexar; and a great deal worse at
the ford of San Antonio.  But we had stone houses to
shelter us at the first, and trees and swampy ground at the
last.  We may be caught some day without these advantages, and in that case we must rely upon superior arms to
make up the loss."
The horses were first examined. Simpson had been a
bold rider in his youth, and though long accustomed to
trust to his own limbs in preference to any four footed
animal, he had not forgottten his early training, and pointed
out with unconcealed satisfaction the excellent points of
each steed in turn. Full sixteen hands high, broad boned,
and strong; they had been selected from the best hunting
stock of England, and were unmatched on the American
continent for speed and endurance.
" They'll do certain," ejaculated the hunter.  "If them
weapons you were talking about, are half as good, we can
ride to the Pacific ocean without finding men enough to
stop us."
They entered the cabin, and Lile drew from the holsters
the pair of revolvers he had brought for Simpson. They
were " five shooters," of the calibre manufactured at that
day; not so large or so deadly as the cavalry holster which
came in use during the Mexican war, but more convenient,
from the facility of carrying it in a belt when the horseman
has dismounted.  The present pistol doubtless surpasses it
in perfection of workmanship and material, but it is difficult
to find an old " ranger " who believes in the possibility of
any improvement to the original arm.
"Our boys," said Simpson, "are beginning to use these
things out here, and they say there's nothing like them;




200              BERNARD  LILE.
but for my part I have always thought they was intended
for weakly people.  When I get close enough to use a
pistol, a good knife does the business quicker and more
certain."
"Judging this pistol by such as you have known, your
conclusion is a natural one.  But, my good friend, this
short weapon, in a hand as firm as yours, will kill at forty
yards with as much certainty as your rifle; and that is a
good deal too far off to use a knife effectively."
Simpson turned it in his hand and eyed it incredulously.
"I see," continued Lile, "you must have a practical
lesson.  Bring out that puncheon, and rub a little wet
powder on it until, you make a mark half the size of your
hand. "
When this was done, he placed it against the side of the
palisades, stepped off forty yards, and raising the pistol
fired the five charges in quick succession without lowering
his hand.
"Now look where those balls have struck."
"Every bullet's in the black," was the response, "and
by the living God they have gone through two inches of
solid timber, and buried themselves in the logs."
" Well, would that kill a man?"
"Kill a man! It would kill the devil. Let me try it."
His experiments at first were rather awkward; but he
was a willing scholar, and in the course of that day and
the next he became so great a proficient that it would have
been as he expressed it, "dangerous for anything bigger
than a snow bird to show itself before the sights."
His lessons did not end here. He was next taught the
art of firing from horseback. This was continued until he
was able to send a bullet through a tin cup at full speed."
"You need nothing now but a little more practice," said




BERNARD  LILE.                    201
his instructor; "when I have taught you the broadsword
exercise we will be prepared for any emergency."
"I don't mind learning," he replied, "but I can't see
what use a fellow can have for any thing more than a rifle,
a five-shooter, and a bowie."
" So you thought a few days ago about the pistol. A
bowie knife in your hand would be a poor weapon against
a good sabre in mine."
" I found out a good while since that a knife in my hand
was a poor weapon against you any way; but everybody
ain't you; and if there is any other living thing that can
git clear of Tom Simpson's knife, I'd like to see it."
"And so would I.  Still there may be occasions when
the broadsword would serve a better purpose."
Under a preceptor who never had his equal Simpson's
progress was rapid and satisfactory. Before a month went
by he lost much of the awe with which he had heretofore
regarded his companion.  He saw that the wonderful
dexterity, so incomprehensible at first, was the result of
long, and careful training, and began to understand the
extraordinary development of which the physical man is
capable when diet and exercise are regulated by sound
judgment and unremitting watchfulness.
Providing themselves with pack-mules for the transportation of articles of absolute necessity, and engaging two
of the settlers to assist them in the erection of their fortification, they set out early in September for their contemplated residence on the lonely waters of the San Saba.
A few desperate conflicts with the wild Indians in that
vicinity; the terrible rapidity and accuracy with which
Colt's revolvers carried death into the ranks of the naked
savages; the size, speed, and bottom of their horses, soon
caused them to be regarded with superstitious dread, and
the roving bands continually wandering over that uwAn.




202             BERNARD  LILE.
habited region, would diverge far from the direct path to
avoid the palisaded cabin of the white hunters.
"It is best to have no intercourse with them," said Lile
to his companion; "neither to sell them any thing or purchase from them.  In addition to affording a chance for
treachery, any familiarity would lessen their terrors, and
teach them we are as vulnerable as other men. The mere
fact that we will not trade with, and cheat them, from
being a cause of wonder, has become a cause of reverence.
The white man's wants have hitherto appeared to them
insatiable, and they have unfortunately not been accustomed in their dealings to scrupulous honesty and fairness.
They naturally conclude that those who want nothing, are
either of a different race, or that they are supplied by some
supernatural agency. Already they avoid our dwelling; in
another year they will abandon the hunting grounds we
frequent, and the paths we travel."
As he predicted, so it turned out. Alone in the wilderness, with thousands of armed foemen around them, they
were as safe, and as free from molestation as if girded by
the bayonets of an army.  Not only so, the women and
children along the border slept the sounder from the outpost they had established.  In their annual visits to
Austin they had become familiar with all the daring spirits
continually flocking to the West. To these they were often
enabled to impart information that served to defeat a meditated incursion, and not unfrequently the dread of their
interference had sent a predatory party to the right about
which would otherwise have inflicted much suffering on
the inhabitants. It is not the purpose of this history to
trace out the adventures that checkered their existence.
Unconsciously they were fitting themselves to become participants in events whose coming was as yet hidden in the
womb of the future. Silently but anxiously the eye of the




BERNARD  LILE.                   203
great republic was resting on its infant daughter. The
petty brawls of the politicians went on unchecked and
unheeded, because as yet no actual necessity existed for
gathering the young thing beneath its parent wing. The
panther will watch its young at play with half closed lids
and seeming indifference. It may tumble from a limb, or
be rudely bitten by its mate, and come limping to her side,
and she heeds it not. But let what she fears as a real
danger approach-in an instant all the deadly energy of
the animal is aroused; with a fierce bound she springs
between it and the threatened attack, and greets the intruder with the sharp tusk, and the sharper claw. In like
manner the American nation had watched the struggles
and difficulties of Texas.  Small statesmen wearied the
public ear with harangues on the subject of liberty generally, and Texan annexation particularly, but a drunken
shout at a cross roads meeting, was about the most active
demonstration that rewarded their noisy patriotism. Secure in their own immutable resolves the people slumbered,
or appeared to slumber, while the demagogues grew hoarse
with bawling.  The time had not yet come. No actual
danger was impending. Years rolled on, and Texas had
demonstrated her ability to repel any invasion Mexico
might project; but troubles of another kind had overtaken
her. The debts of her revolutionary struggle, and those
that had since accumulated, were pressing like an incubus
upon her prosperity. The salaries of her public officers
were paid in a currency depreciated to one-fifth of its nominal value. Her soldiers were altogether unpaid, and her
seamen not much better provided for.  In pursuance of
an unscrupulous policy never changed, and always selfish,
England was preparing to take advantage of her embarrassment, and reduce her people to a state not far removed
from vassalage. Then it was that the sleeping' republic




204             BERNA.RD  LILE.
waked up. With the bound, of the panther she sprung
between her offspring and the impending danger. A bold
man then stood at the helm of state. A bold, a true, and
a sagacious one, though libelled by pensioned presses, and
maligned by mercenary declaimers.  The throbbings of
the great heart of the nation met a kindred throb in his
own, and John Tyler signed the treaty of annexation. The
thousand insects who had been buzzing about annexation
for years, without exciting the most mercurial pulse,
hugged to their little bosoms the delusive phantasy, that
they had aided in swelling the deep flood that now swept
over the land; and creeping things to this day exult in the
belief, that their arguments, their eloquence, and their
sagacity overwhelmed the matchless orator, and the incorruptible patriot who unfortunately for himself and his
country, breasted a current no human strength could stem.
Such things, never understood, and never can, that Henry
Clay was defeated solely and entirely because, with the
uncalculating fondness of a mother for its spoiled and
favorite child, the United States were too deeply attached
to Texas to estimate correctly its danger, or listen to the
reasoning that told them they were alarmed too much.
On such occasions, the mother will throw off for the moment the authority of the husband who has loved and
cherished her in sickness and in health; and a people will
discard in like manner the statesman whose counsels have
been to them as a pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by
night.  Neither are to be blamed; and the historian who
records the diversity, if true to his high mission, will refuse
to color it on the one side or on the other, save by a falling
tear.
To the cabin of the hunters, soon afterwards, came
tidings of war on a grand scale. War for their native and
adopted countries.  The day's hunt was over, and seated




BERNARD  LILE.                    205
on a bear skin by the blazing fire, they were busy with
their own thoughts. Lile was the first to speak.
" What say you, Tom?  Ten years have gone since we
stepped to the side of Milam, on the plain before San
Antonio; but these sinews," he continued, extending an
arm on which the muscles rose in cords as large as a cable
rope, "are as strong as then, and as capable of rendering
effective service beneath the starred and striped banner, as
under the single star. "
"I have been thinking over it all, captain;" replied
Simpson, who still adhered, with unchanging pertinacity to
the title he had bestowed upon his companion on the
banks of the Mississippi. " And just now I saw, as plain
as I see you, the wounded boys lying on their bloody
blankets in the Mission church. I heard again their feeble
voices bidding us take care of ourselves; and felt once
more the soft cold cheeks that my lips pressed on the
death couch. When that passed off, another picture took
its place. It was the cold-blooded, cowardly massacre of
Fannin and his men.  I can walk blindfolded to the very
spot where they fell on the plain of Labahia. I know the
exact color of the bark on the two trees where you and I
were hid. The whole scene is before me-the unsuspecting
victims-the levelled muskets-the smoke curling slowly,
and sullenly away, as if it wanted to hide the deed from
heaven.  The infernal shout as the murderers rushed up to
finish their hellish work-the dying groans, and then the
dead silence that prevailed about the butchered and mangled
mass, it's all present to me now, and I don't feel the easier
for having thought of it so little of late."
"They were dark and bloody deeds, certainly, but there
was also a bloody atonement. It is not vengeance for the
past, but security and liberty for the future, that impels me
18




206             BERNARD  LILE.
to take part in the war that will soon be carried to the
heart of Mexico."
"It is nothing to me what reasons the President and
Congress may give for declaring war.  They know more
about it than I do, and I am willing to go whenever and
wherever a good rifle and a strong arm are needed; but I
am not at all sorry that, in serving my country, I shall also
have a chance to pay a bloody debt, with bloody interest."
"Will you never get through paying that debt, Tom?"
"Never  Never " was the reply, in a tone so fixed,
and so determined, that his friend knew it was useless to
press him  further.  He thought a moment before he
continued.
"We will go together, at all events; no matter what
may be our motives."
" Of course we will go together, and stay together, until
one or the other is under the ground. As for our motives,
I take it, the only difference will be, that every time I send
a bullet through a Greaser, I shall think of the Mission and
of Goliad, while you may only remember that tyranny has
one tool less."
The war had not yet been declared, but every man on
the border knew it must come; and Lile and Simpson
speedily prepared to abandon their solitary fortress in the
wilderness, for the canvass streets, and regular duties of an
armed encampment.  It was not without sorrowing hearts
they turned their footsteps for the last time from the rude
logs that had sheltered them so well. That humble cabin
was the only home they knew, and they went forth from its
portal with a conviction that, in the wide world before
them, there was not another roof-tree which would not be
viewed with indifference, or recal some memory that was
painful.
Before entering upon the stirring scenes of the Mexican




BERNARD  LILE.                    207
war, we must return to one who has stood out too prominently on these pages, to be unceremoniously dismissed.
Pauline Winter sought Monsieur Evadne.  That gentleman chose to be in profound ignorance of the movements
of his principal. With the never failing politeness of a
Frenchman, he feelingly regretted his utter inability to
furnish the information she sought, and whether she believed or doubted him, she was compelled to put on the
semblance of content.  His parting bow was made with
his hand on his heart, accompanied with an assurance, that
he would ransack the world to gratify a lady of such exquisite loveliness.
"It is no great matter," she said, with as much composure as she could command.  "I borrowed a miniature
from him for the purpose of having it copied.  In the
hurry of his departure he has forgotten the original, and I
wished to return it to him."
"If madame would be so good as to trust it in my
keeping, I do not doubt but that I shall have an opportunity of returning it to the owner."
"Pardon me; I believe I will retain it. I know he
values it highly. As you know not where he is, I may as
readily be able to restore it as yourself."
"The correctness of madame's judgment is inquestionable; but he has business with me, and must write soon."
"In that case, call on me, and I will hand you the
packet.  Good morning."
The lady disappeared before the Frenchman had recovered from the low bow which acknowledged her adieu.
The man of business, with all his shrewdness, had been
outwitted by the shrewder tactics of the woman in love.
He had never seen a miniature in the possession of Bernard
Lile, except an extraordinary likeness of Zerah, which was
worn habitually in his bosom.  Mrs. Winter had also




208             BERNARD  LILE.
caught a glimpse of that miniature on a former occasion
and it suggested her present artifice.
Turning from the banker's door, she sought the studio
of an artist, and directed him to paint a miniature of
herself, with as little delay as was compatible with perfect
execution.  Some days later, when it was completed to
her satisfaction, she sat down and wrote.
" I know not in what light you will regard the step I
have taken, for a wild fire is running through my veins,
that mocks at connected thought. That I loved you, you
knew, and that you fled from me, as you thought, in mercy,
I will not question.  But, Bernard Lile, there was no
mercy in the dark tortures that desertion has inflicted.
Better to be an outcast, shunned by those who would now
go into ecstacies at a passing notice, and reviled by those
who are now fawning around me with sickening adulation.
Better to bear the world's sneers, the stings of poverty,
and the loss of self-respect, for an age beyond that of the
Psalmist, than endure for a single hour the gnawing agony
of a heart that has given away its all, and met with no
return.  Will you answer, that I have written my own
doom, and must abide it.  That you shunned me from the
first-that I am bound to another by ties-hateful ties.
which the laws of man have foolishly undertaken to declare
everlasting, and which ought to have preserved me from a
danger that came not without warning, and remained not
uninvited. All this, and more, I have told myself. In
the silent watches of the night I have reasoned and struggled, until a thick mist gathered about my faculties, and I
could see nothing through its gloomy drapery. Yet the
heart beat on. Love still informed and animated its every
pulse.  The wrong and the folly that invited his coming
were forgotten, but his presence was acknowledged,
cherished, clung to; and even the delirious madness shed




BERNARD  LILE.                    209
from his fiery wing, was dearer than the cold joys the
calm and the passionless have miscalled raptures. As you
ought to know, and do know, love is not a matter of taste
and judgment, like the purchase of a carriage, or the fitting
up a new establishment. It comes without reason, remains
against reason, dreads no barriers, and shrinks from the
presence of no restraints. Upon you has been lavished
the whole wealth of my affection. To you it pleads for
toleration, if it may not hope for a warmer return. Come
back, and take me with you to -the world's limit, if you
choose.  Speak to me gently and kindly-let me pillow
my head upon your bosom, and feel that resting place is
secured to it, and I will ask for nothing more. I do not
promise to make you happy, but I beg, entreat, implore you
to render me so.
" I never professed any attachment to Mr. Winter.  He
sought it not. He was satisfied with formal observances,
and duties; and I lived on ignorant of passion, and contented, until I met you.  The burning wishes that have
struggled and rioted in my bosom since then, I cannot
describe, and your wildest fancies would be inadequate to
paint.  Come to me if there is pity for human suffering in
your nature.  I am pleading now not for love, but for
mercy.  Say not that I am lost if you come.  I know it,
but there is bliss in the degradation. What care I for the
world's opinion? You are the world to me.
"In the package which contains this, you will find my
miniature. Keep it, and then I shall be assured that some
day my summons will be heeded.  Farewell."
The miniature and the letter were carefully sealed up,
directed to Bernard Lile, and put away to await the call
of Monsieur Evadne.
It was not very long before the Frenchman came to say
that he was about sending a messenger with letters and
18*




210             BERNARD  LILE.
papers to Mr. Lile, and that he should be very happy to
accommodate madame at the same time.  The package
was delivered to him without special instructions, and with
apparent indifference.  A  year went by.  A  year of
agonized suspense.  One day a sealed paper was laid
upon the table before her. She opened it, and her own
miniature fell from her palsied hand. The note accompanying it was brief and decisive.
"My heart is dead to every emotion of loge. I should
bring you misery and disgrace, instead of joy, by again
intruding myself upon your presence. Forget one who is
far too unworthy to have excited such a passion in your
bosom. In the whirl of society it will be easy to efface the
unpleasant remembrance-much easier than it will be for
me to obtain self-forgiveness for the uneasiness I have
unintentionally caused you.  I must not take such an
occasion as this to obtrude advice upon you, but you are
fitted for higher and holier things than the narrow walks
of fashion allow, and it would gladden my exile to know
that you were fulfilling your appropriate mission. With the
fervent wishes of a lone and blighted man, for your welfare
and happiness, I must bid you a final adieu."
"My mission," she murmured, "God knows what it
may be."
Mrs. Winter's heart did not break.  Hearts do sometimes break in this world, and sometimes they do worserot inch by inch, and drop piecemeal into the tomb. But
there is a worse fate still, and a far more common one;
when with the affections, the virtues also die out-when
passion has swept over the breast, like fire over the prairie,
burning together the green thing and the dry-the parched
stem, and the springing' blade.  The moral life droops
and withers-the animal exists. In the place of a host of
affections and sympathies, a fierce thirst, more unappeasa



BERNARD  LILE.                   211
ble than that of Tantalus, comes and seats itself within,
driving us on forever to some new madness, or some foul
crime. Such was the fate of Pauline Winter. The hopeless love she had cherished did not kill her, nor die itself:
it only forced her to seek new channels of enjoymentnew and more powerful excitements.  She had cast a
priceless gem upon the waters; it could not be lured back,
and she went in search of it amid the troubled depths of a
guilty ocean. Before another twelvemonth was told by the
tongue of time, she eloped with a libertine, and became a
stained and blackened outcast.
Here let the curtain drop.  All instruction is not
healthful, and that philanthropy is of questionable usefulness which reveals the minute points of a guilty life to
the young, with the expectation of turning their footsteps
from the pitfall.




212              BERNARD LILE.
CHAPTER  XII.
"Not his the heart the Phrygian victor bore;
Not his the brand that gleamed on Granic's shore;
Not his the race all conquering Julius ran;
Not his the star that led the Corsican.
His country called him-called in wild despair.
The warrior came and all his soul was there."
AT the instance of Major Donaldson, the American
Charge to Texas, Gen. Taylor had been ordered by the
President to concentrate a small army at Corpus Christi, for
the protection of the frontier, while Commodore Stockton,
under similar instructions assembled a considerable fleet in
the Gulf. The rude treatment of the American envoy in
Mexico, determined the President to occupy the disputed
territory between the Nueces and the Rio Grande, and on
the 8th of March, 1846, the advance column of the army
of Gen. Taylor commenced its march for the latter river.
They proceeded without encountering an enemy to the
Arroyo Colorado, within thirty miles of Metamoras, where
they met a Mexican force, who drew off without offering
battle.  On the 28th of March, the American army encamped within cannon range of Metamoras, and began a
field work which was subsequently named Fort Brown, in
honor of the gallant officer who lost his life in its defence.
The Mexicans with equal industry erected batteries on the
opposite side of the river. But as yet no blow had been
struck-no thunder was audible-no lightning played upon
the dark cloud that obscured the horizon. Not long afterwards a company of dragoons, who had been sent up the
river to reconnoitre, were surrounded by the Mexicans,
and the whole taken prisoners.   It was the first time




BERNARD  LILE.                   218
they had ever encountered American regulars, and the
result was hailed as a happy augury of the coming struggle.
Like most auguries except those of a firm heart, and strong
arm, it proved to be wofully fallacious. Walker's camp
was next surprised, and his company scattered, slain or
taken captive.  Thus auspiciously for Mexico opened the
bloody drama whose closing scenes were played in the
heart of her empire.  From that time to the treaty of
Guadaloupe Hidalgo not another success gladdened their
arms.  Not a field was fought of which the invaders did
not remain the victors. Not a fortress was invested that
was not taken.  And but a single company of American
troops ever grounded their arms in presence of an enemy.
For campaigns of such magnitude and such uninterrupted
success, the world's history will be searched in vain. On
the 8th of May, 1846, the war began in earnest. The two
armies encountered each other at Palo Alto.  The Mexicans under Arista were six thousand strong. The Americans under Taylor numbered twenty-three hundred, all told.
The battle lasted five hours, when Arista drew off, and
Taylor camped his victorious army on the hotly contested
field. Arista halted at Resaca de la Palma, a strong
position protected by a deep ravine, skirted by dense
thickets.  At four o'clock, on the 9th, Gen. Taylor came
up with the enemy. The Mexicans are said to have fought
bravely and well, but their columns were at length broken
by successive charges, and the whole army fled in the
wildest disorder, leaving their artillery, munitions, baggage,
camp equipage, everything in the hands of the victors.
Intelligence of these events were borne to the interior,
and Lile and Simpson hurried their preparations for joining the invading army. When they reached Metamoras
they found that Gen. Taylor had left that city, and was
concentrating his army at Camargo, one hundred and




214            BERNARD  LILE.
eighty miles above, near the junction of the San Juan and
Rio Grande, with a view of advancing on Monterey, the
capital of New Leon, at that time occupied by Gen. Ampudia with about seven thousand regular and three thousand irregular troops.
An American whose ill fortune has made him for any
number of days, a sojourner in the city of Metamoras, can
have no difficulty in tracing the origin of the term " greaser,"
originally applied by the old Texans to the Mexican
Rancheros, and subsequently extended to the whole nation.
Narrow, muddy, filthy streets, swarming with men, women
and children as filthy-enlivened by an eternal chorus of
little dogs without hair, except about the muzzles, and the
tips of their tails-houses without floors, built of mud and
straw, and inhabited by fleas, and other vermin, in the proportion of fifty to the square inch-disgusting sewersrotting offal, and a hot, sickly atmosphere, make up an
assembly of discomforts compared with which the purgatory of an orthodox Catholic is rather an agreeable kind of
place. The people look greasy, their clothes are greasy,
their dogs are greasy, their houses are greasy-everywhere
grease and filth hold divided dominion, and the singular
appropriateness of the name bestowed by the western
settlers, soon caused it to be universally adopted by the
American army.
Lile and Simpson were standing on the upper deck of
one of the many steamers sent out by the United States
government to transport troops and munitions to Camargo.
The deck-hands were lounging idly about the lower deck;
some of them sleeping, or trying to sleep in the hot sunothers drawing figures on the rough planks, and others
again holding a kind of broken conversation upon disconnected subjects.




BERNARD  LILE.                   215
" There's a Greaser, I know," said Simpson, pointing to
one of the hands, "and he's not here for any good."
"I do not think I have ever seen him before," was the
reply. " What do you know about him?"
" He lived awhile at Seguin's Ranche, and the boys ran
him away on suspicion of being a spy for the robbers who
used to trouble us then. Afterwards he was employed by
Kinney; then Cameron took him as a guide when he went
to Mier, where he was murdered; and if this fellow didn't
have a hand in it, he was damnably slandered."
"May you not be mistaken? I am sure I have never
seen this man at Corpus Christi."
" You might not have noticed him, but he was there.
I never mistake the ear marks of a Greaser. I'll swear to
him on a stack of Bibles."
"We must watch him then; but I do not see what harm
he can do here; unless it is to pilfer something from the
steamer.'2
" He was born a thief, and I reckon counts the stealage
as the best part of his wages. But he has done worse
things than steal.  He would murder his brother for a
peso, and betray any thing but his priest for half the
money."
The captain had now come on board, and just as the
sun went down, the cable was slipped, and the steamer
backed out into the stream.  A  number of convalescing
soldiers were lying about the vessel, who had recently
been discharged from the hospitals. The strong and the
healthy were for the most part sent up by land as they
arrived, as guards for the wagon trains Gen. Taylor was
collecting preparatory to his advance into the interior.
Moving carelessly among these, addressing a question to
one, or a light remark to another, Simpson gradually made
his way to the front part of the boat, where the firemen




216             BERNARD  LILE.
were engaged in their duties. By the blazing light of the
fires he scrutinized anew the features of the Mexican who
had attracted his attention while standing on the uppef
deck.  The examination satisfied him, and placing his
hand lightly on the fellow's shoulder, he said slowly,
"When did you see Cameron last, Jose?"
The man started, with visible surprise and alarm, but
in a moment a dull, heavy expression settled on his countenance, and he answered,
"No entende Americana."
" The devil you don't I I could find a way to make you,
but it aint worth while now."
And Simpson walked away to seek Lile, and assure him
there could be no possible doubt of the identity of the individual in question. Later in the night, when all on board
were buried in sleep, except the officers and men on duty,
Tom Simpson was standing on the lower deck, now watching the ripples made by the paddles on the muddy surface
of the Rio Grande, now casting an eye on the dreary and
desolate scenery presented along that singular river. From
Metamoras to Camargo not a solitary tree grows upon its
margin. Bleak wastes, interspersed with patches of chaparal, everywhere meet the eye. At intervals they glided by
whole acres of ground which presented the exact appearance of an old peach orchard, whose withered and sapless
trees were rotting in solitary loneliness slowly away. No
white-walled cottages; no cultivated fields; no ornamented
grounds relieved the sameness of the prospect, or gave
evidence that civilized man exercised dominion over the
blasted soil. It was the home of a people whose substance
had been wrung from them by the tyrant and the priest,
and whose energies had been withered by the baleful conviction that any provision for the morrow would only serve
to pamper their oppressors. Occupied by the reflections




BERNARD  LILE.                   217
suggested by the hour and the scene, Tom Simpson paid
no attention to a crouching form stealthily approaching the
spot where he stood. With a sudden spring the Mexican
was upon him, endeavoring with all his force to push the
sturdy backwoodsman into the rushing flood. Fortunately
he was standing immediately by one of the pillars that
supported the upper deck, and as he reeled forward, clutching the air without an object, his hand caught the friendly
support. But for this his life and adventures would have
been brought to a sudden termination.  With a mighty
effort he drew himself back from the foaming waters, and
dealing the Mexican a blow that stretched him upon the
deck, he sprang upon him with a deep growl, between
anger and satisfaction.  Deliberately, but skilfully and
securely, he bound his now trembling and pleading captive; addressing him during the operation in a tone that
gave no encouragement to hopes of merciful treatment.
"You didn't understand English awhile ago, and by
G-d there are some English words I don't understand
now.  Mercy, eh I Mercy for a sneaking scoundrel, who
tried to make catfish meat of Tom Simpson. Well, I'm
going to be merciful.  I'm  going to drop you into this
ugly, dirty, crooked creek, that you call a grand river,
Behind the wheels. You tried to push me in before'em,
where a few thumps from them iron paddles would have
interfered with a fellow's swimming most infernally."
By this time the noise had attracted a dozen or more of
the soldiers and "hands," to the place. Simpson answered
their interrogatories, without desisting a moment from
his occupation.  Various modes of punishment were suggested.
" Never mind, boys," was the rejoinder.  "It's all
settled."
Lifting the Mexican, as easily as if he had been. an




218             BERNARD  LILE.
infant, he bore him back to the stern of the boat. Depositing his burden, and drawing his bowie knife, he again
addressed him.
"Now, my beauty, before I let you go, I intend to put
a mark on you. A smooth crop of the right ear, and a
swallow fork in the left; that was my old father's mark in
Tennessee, and I have put it on many a cub bear since, just
to keep up the family fashion."
" You don't mean to mark him that way?" asked one of
the soldiers.
" If I don't may the Lord take a liking to me," was the
reply, and the sharp knife slipped through the upper section
of the ear, cutting it smooth and square. Amid the yells
and contortions of the suffering wretch, the left ear was
doubled up between the thumb and forefinger, when a
single cut of the knife transformed it into that particular
shape known among hog breeders as a swallow fork.
The ligatures that fastened hand and foot were removed,
and seizing the howling miscreant in his sinewy hands, he
pitched him far out in the stream.  He disappeared for a
space under the rapid current, but, by the clear light of the
moon, they soon saw him rise above the waves, and strike
out for the bank.
"He'll make it easy," said Simpson.  "This d    d
branch aint wide enough to drown a puppy, let alone a
Greaser, who is as much used to muddy water as a tadpole."
The soldiers gathered in a group to make their comments on the scene they had just witnessed, and Simpson
ascended to the pilot-house.
"What are you doing up," asked the pilot, "at this
time of night, Tom?"
"It's been a long time since the captain and me both
went to sleep at once. It's his turn to sleep first to-night."




BERNARD  LILE.                    219
"There's no use of standing guard on board of the
boat. "
"May be not, but we don't like to break through a
good habit, and besides there's no telling what might
happen."
Then suddenly changing the subject of conversation, he
asked in turn,
"What do you know of this river, Jim?"
"Not much.  None of us do."
"Do you stop anywhere near here?"
"Yes.  We have to' wood' about five miles above."
"What sort of a place is it?"
"It's an ugly chaparal thicket.
"No chance to go by without stopping?"
"None at all.  Wood is not piled up here, every mile,
like it is on the Mississippi.  What do you want to know
for?"
Simpson then related all that had occurred below; the
pilot's situation and duties having kept him in ignorance
of the whole affair.  He added what he had known of the
Mexican before, and expressed his opinion, that some
treachery was afoot. The pilot listened attentively, and
when the story was ended, he said,
" Go below, Tom, and call up Captain H —. Tell
him I want to see him directly."
When the captain of the boat came above, he was made
acquainted with the events of the night, and with Simpson's
suspicions.
"We must stop to wood," he said.  "The probability
is that we can do so without interruption.  They must
have agreed on a signal, and as Jose is not here to give it,
they will not be apt to venture on a serious attack.  The
worst we have to apprehend is, that they may fire from the
bushes, and kill some of our men."




220             BERNARD  LILE.
The sergeant in charge of the soldiers was called up,
and directed to post his men as well as he could behind
the boxes and hogsheads, ready for instant action. By
the time these arrangements were completed, the boat
neared the woodyard.  Slowly and cautiously they approached the shore, and as nothing appeared to increasetheir suspicions, the captain began to think he had been
needlessly alarmed.
Lile had been awakened, and together with Simpson,
was standing in the shadow of the pilot-house.
"Look out there, Tom," he said.  "Do you not see
something glittering above the bushes, about forty yards
from the bank?"
" Plain enough. I have been trying for two minutes to
make out what it was."
"It is the steel head of a Mexican lance."
"I have killed many a buck," said Simpson, "when I
could see nothing but the tips of his horns above the
bushes, but that lance is too steady to be held in a man's
hand.  It must be fastened in the ground."
"Nevertheless, the owner may be seated by it. At any
rate, there is nothing to be lost but a charge of powder
and lead."
He raised his rifle as he ceased speaking, and its sharp
report was followed by the sudden disappearance of the
lance. Then came a hurried volley of escopetas, and a
rushing noise like that of men retreating precipitately
through the thorny chaparal.
"There they go," exclaimed Simpson.  "The sneaking,
thieving, murdering cowards. There's enough of them to
eat up this boat, and everything that's on it, and they are
running from a single rifle shot, like a herd of frightened
cattle."
" There is some excuse for it this time, Tom. They no




BERNARD  LILE.                    221
doubt supposed, from the absence of any answering signal,
that the boat was filled with soldiers. You must remember, they did not know that you had sent Jose on an
exploring expedition to the bottom of the Rio Grande."
"I wish I had.  But you might as well try to drown an
alligator.  He was safe ashore in ten minutes after I
pitched him in, all the better for his ducking; as the cold
water would stop the bleeding from his ears, and save him
a doctor's bill "
" Do you ever expect to meet him again, that you were
so particular in marking him?"
" Never but once," was the ominous reply, "if an ounce
of lead, or eight inches of bright steel will be enough to
stop his tramping."
At-Camargo, Bernard Lile found Robert Wilson. Their
meeting was cordial and sincerely friendly, though saddened by memories painful to both.  Neither made any
allusion to Zerah, but eachfelt she was uppermost in the
thoughts of the other. In reply to his inquiries, Lile was
informed, that his friend, following the advice of Monsieur
Evadne, had resigned his commission in the army, and
engaged in business in the North West.  Success had
attended his efforts, and the Mexican war found him in
prosperous circumstances. Abandoning his peaceful pursuits, like thousands of others, he volunteered his services,
and came out to the Rio Grande with the rank of captain.
"Thanks to your kindness," he continued, "I am rich
enough to serve my country without embarrassing myself,
for although all I possess would be regarded as a poor
pittance by a New York capitalist, it is wealth where I
live, and more than suffices for a man of simple tastes, and
unostentatious habits."
"All wealth," answered Lile, "is comparative. He who
has the means to supply his wants, whether it be one dollar,
19*




222            BERNARD  LILE.
or a thousand, is rich: and he, whose wants outrun his
means, is poor, though he may count his hordes by the
million."
Their intercourse was constant and confidential. They
had a common bond, mentioned by neither, but remembered by both. On the 20th of August, when Gen. Worth,
with the advanced division, began his march for Monterey,
Wilson proposed to Lile that he should take up his quarters in his tent, and make his home in the regiment of
which his company formed a part.
"No," answered Lile. "In the last ten years I have
acquired a good deal of Tom  Simpson's wild love for
freedom. He and I will remain together, and it would
not suit the discipline of your regiment to have us roving
about among you, doing duty when and where we pleased.
We expect no pay from the government-draw no rations,
and fight always as the Kentuckian did at New Orleans,' on our own hook.' The camp of the Rangers is the only
place where we would be endured. We have, moreover,
many friends and acquaintances there who would not be
willing to part with us lightly. But I shall be near you
whenever a battle is fought."
They parted thus, and did not meet again until the
American army had begun to draw its folds around the
capital of New Leon.
On the 20th September, Gen. Worth turned the hill of
the Bishop's palace, and took up a position in rear of the
city, on the Saltillo road. On the 21st, May's dragoons
and the Texan cavalry were dispatched to his assistance.
The enemy had collected a strong force upon a fortified
height, and the daring general, unmatched for chivalry
in an army where chivalry was the rule, and the want
of it the exception, at once determined on carrying it
by the bayonet. A round shot struck the head of the




BERNARD  LILE.                    ~23
column, before it had deployed into line and ploughed
through it. Without losing the step that dauntless soldiery
closed the horrid gap, and pressed on in the pathway of
death.  At the same time the light troops of Texas
swarmed up from another side.  Here no regular order
was attempted.  Every man was his own officer. Bushes,
trees, rocks, everything that afforded the slightest shelter
was promptly occupied, and from behind each one a deadly
messenger was sent into the Mexican lines. Better soldiers
than ever fought under the banner of Ampudia would have
quailed at the fierce assault. From one quarter the disciplined  column was hurled  with irresistible strength
against the leagured works.  From another the unequalled
marksmen of the south-west poured an incessant shower of
lead upon the defenders. The sharp crack of the rifle, the
duller roar of the musket, and the thrilling clang of the
clashing bayonet met upon the bloody height, and annihilated the struggling garrison as easily as the boa constrictor
crushes the quivering life of the mountain kid.  The
bivouac of Worth's division on the night of the 21st, was
a hill-side soaked with gore, and strewed with the dead
bodies of a conquered enemy. With the dawn on the 22d,
another scene of the fearful tragedy was enacted.  The
height above the Bishop's palace was now the point of
attack.  Covered with strong works of earth and stone,
bristling with cannon, and filled with a picked soldiery
more than double the number of the assailants, the last
stronghold that defended the rear of Monterey, the beautiful, reared itself in proud defiance across the march
of the invaders.  Through smoke and flame, the ringing
cannon shot, and the crashing steel, the warriors of the
States clambered up the stony height. Bernard Lile and
Tom Simpson had early thrown aside their rifles: each
with the deadly revolver in his hand, and a long bowie




224             BERNARD  LILE.
knife in his belt, they leaped from crag to crag, or swung
themselves upwards by the roots and bushes on the mountain side. A  little lower down Gillespie and his men
struggled up the ascent.  They reached the top to be
greeted by a withering fire of grape and musketry which
scattered death in all directions from  its angry wing.
The gallant Gillespie reeled forward with a death wound
in his breast-in a vain effort to steady himself the point
of his sword was driven deep into the ground. Again he
staggered-the good blade snapped in twain, and he fell
upon it a lifeless corpse. A wild cry of vengeance rose
from the Ranger ranks.  A hundred hands grasped the
stone parapet, A hundred stalwart forms were swung above
it.  Another fatal volley swept away one-third of the
assailants, but the survivors dropped among the defenders
-the battle was over-it was butchery now-the terrible
revolver heaped the camp with mounds of dead, and when
the flag of Mexico sunk to the earth the fierce victors gazed
with a feeling almost of awe upon the wide havoc themselves had made.
At once Gen. Worth turned the batteries of the Bishop's
hill against the city they were erected to defend, and the
plunging shot bursting through the roofs of the houses,
and carrying dismay and death among the citizens, was the
first notice conveyed to Ampudia that his stronghold was
in the hands of his enemy.
On the 23d the indefatigable Worth stormed the suburbs
of the city, driving the enemy before him and compelling
him to concentrate his forces in the citadel, and the plaza.
Never was there a general better fitted to be the leader of
the impetuous troops who flocked beneath his standard.
Prompt as he was fearless, one blow incessantly followed
another.  Where he fought, no pause, no rest, no breathing
time was allowed.  The shout that hailed one great suce




BERNARD  LILE.                   225
cess was scarcely hushed before the echoes were again
awakened by the sterner shout that answered a new order
to rush upon another of the enemy's defences. The Mexicans appalled by the startling rapidity of his movements
shivered with nervous dread as the living tide rolled upon
them, and the victory was won before a drop of blood
fattened the soil.
In front of the city, under the immediate eye of Gen.
Taylor, daring deeds were enacted, and laurel crowns
abundantly gathered by the republican soldiers. But Gen.
Butler had been driven back wounded and bleeding from
an assault he led in person, and Col. Garland advancing
against a strong redoubt was met by murderous discharges
of artillery, which compelled him to retire. The brigade
of Quitman alone effected a lodgment, and not until the
Bishop's Hill was captured by Worth, did the. Mexicans
abandon their outworks in front. On the night of the 23d,
Gen. Ampudia sent propositions for a capitulation.  On
the 24th, the terms were agreed to, and on the 25th, the
city of Monterey was occupied by the American troops.
On the bank of the San Juan, where it winds nearest
to the mountain range of the Sierra Madre, a few nights
after the events just recorded, five or six burning fires
streaked the limpid waters with long lines of reddish light.
Around each of these was gathered a group of old frontier
men, to whom the discipline of a regular army was intolerable, and whose notions of wild independence were shocked
even by the lighter restraints of the Ranger camp.  Here
no tents were pitched, no baggage wagons were collected,
no regular guard posted, or relieved. They were accustomed in the colder climate of Texas to repose in the open
air, and here beneath the soft sky of New Leon, a sense of
suffocation would have oppressed them if confined within
the canvass walls of a tent. Their baggage consisted of a




226             BERNARD  LILE.
blanket, an extra pair of pantaloons, socks, and a shirt.
Their camp equipage was a tin cup. Wherever they halted,,a limb from the nearest bush served the purpose of a spit;
or if none were to be found, the ramrods of their rifles were
put in requisition. A few grains of coffee, mashed into a
powder with the handles of their Bowie knives, were put
into the cup and drunk without straining, from the same
vessel in which it was boiled. Upon any alarm  or any
sudden call, they were prepared in two minutes to march,
to retreat, or to fight. Never detailing any one for the
duties of a sentry, and arranging all things by agreement
among themselves, they yet kept better watch, marked
more accurately every unusual sound, and were earlier
apprised of impending danger than any troops in the
army.  Refusing to have their names inscribed on the
muster-roll, they received no pay, and for the most part
subsisted themselves. In battle they were almost always
with the Rangers. Wherever the bullets were flying thickest
they were sure to be found. Wherever the dead were piled
the highest there they had charged. Invariably discarding
the rifle as they neared an enemy, and resorting to the
revolver, it was terrible to witness the wide havoc which
always marked the spot where they fought.
"What are we to do pow, John Glanton?" said a large,
broad-shouldered man, cramming a huge piece of beef into
his capacious mouth. "Old Zack has patched up an eight
weeks' peace, and d-m me if I know what to be at while
it lasts."
The youth he addressed had not seen more than twentytwo summers.  His cheek was smooth and almost beardless; his frame slender and light. There was a peculiar
glossiness about the long, raven hair that hung around his
neck, and but for the firm lip, and the flashing eye, he
might have been mistaken for a woman in disguise. But




BERNARD  LILE.                   227
that slight frame was knit of twisted steel, and the white
hand that brushed back his flowing hair had shed more
blood than would have furnished its owner a crimson bath.
"Suck your paws," he said, laughing, "like an old he
bear in winter. As for me, I hear that Mustang Gray is
ordered to Camargo, and I shall vamos with him. I hear,
too, that some of the boys are to be quartered in Mier.
Wouldn't you like to go there, and cheer up some of the
widows you had a hand in making when Fisher and the
rest of you run your heads into that sweet trap in'42?"
" And what kept you out of it, boy, as you was," was
the quick retort, "but the devil's luck, that always follows
an imp like you? As for the widows," he continued, "they
oughtn't to think hard of me for ridding them of a d-d
trifling lot of husbands."
" And I'll swear they won't. I'll bet my revolver against
a quart of muscal that you may go to a fandango and
dance with every widow in the house, without hearing a
word about the pretty little red puddles you made in the
streets."
"I shan't try it, John; for if they didn't think about it
I should. I should be thinking too of the d-n-d rusty
chains they hammered around my legs, and kept them there
until they gnawed into the bone. That job of work aint
paid for yet, and I think I will settle up square with the
men before I begin to make love to the Senoritas."
"There is exactly where we differ.  I'm thinking of the
girls all the time, and curse me if I haven't killed half a
dozen Greasers for no other reason in the world than
because I thought it would delight the black-eyed, orangecheeked damsels to get rid of the infernal brutes."
"You killed'em more because you was a born devil,
John, than anything else," replied the volunteer, lying




228             BERNARD  LILE.
down upon his blanket with the air of a man who intended
to put an end to the conversation.
"What are you going to do, Tom?" asked Glanton,
placing his hand on Simpson's knee, who was seated on the
ground by his side.
"I can't tell. The captain and me haven't talked it
over yet."
"Where is he?"
"In Monterey, with Captain Wilson, who has got a
bullet through his ribs, that is likely to be serious."
"Tom," said Glanton, thoughtfully, "you are the only
man in this country that knows anything tJout Bernard
Lile."
"Why he was in Texas, and fought by the side of your
father, before you was big enough to shoot a rifle without
a rest."
" Yes, I know that, and I have heard my father tell tales
of what he did in the Revolution, until I couldn't sleep the
whole night for thinking of them.  But nobody knows
anything about him before that."
"You had better ask him."
Ask him I I would as soon think of asking old Zach
Taylor to give me his gray horse. Ask him! I think you
say. No sir-ree. But, Tom," he continued, in a coaxing
tone, "just give me a hint, and there's no telling what I'll
do for you."
" I don't know anything to tell you, John, and wouldn't
do it if I did, unless he said so."
"Well," said Glanton, rising, walking behind Simpson,
and putting his hands on his shoulders, " if you wont tell
me anything, I'll tell you something."
He stooped, as if to whisper in his ear, and catching the
member in his teeth, bit it sharply. With a hasty exclamation, the hunter turned to grasp his tormentor, but the




BERNARD  LILE.                   229
active youth had bounded beyond his reach, and with a loud
laugh disappeared in the darkness.
"Plague take the boy," muttered Simpson, rubbing the
smarting member, "he's brought the blood."
Very soon a dead silence reigned around the lonely
camp-fires, the burning brands were dropping slowly to
ashes, and a deep sleep had fallen on the rough, hardy and
fearless volunteers. It was long after midnight when John
Glanton came in, and touching one of the sleepers with his
foot, said,
" Come, Jim.  It's your time now."
The man rose-stirred the fire so as to see that the caps
on his revolver were all right, and walked off. Glanton
quietly stretched himself upon the blanket from which the
other had just risen. This was all the ceremony of relieving guard in that free encampment. They had no countersign, and wanted none. The sentry let any one pass out
who chose to go, and any one he knew, and did not suspect
of mischief, was in like manner permitted to enter. They
stood guard only to prevent the approach of outward
danger. Every thing else was left to the individual's unrestrained inclinations. In an army, such a system would
be destruction; with them it was safe as agreeable.
In a small house, close to the plaza, in the City of
Monterey, Bernard Lile was seated by the side of his
wounded friend. He was too familiar with gunshot wounds
to doubt that this one was fatal. With kind and gentle
words, he smoothed back the matted hair from the brow of
Robert Wilson, and held the cooling draught to his fevered
lips; but his attentions were bestowed only to relieve the
present sufferings of the patient, without a gleam of hope
that they might result in ultimate recovery.  Captain
Wilson was himself fully aware of his approaching end,
and spoke of it with the calm firmness of a patriot soldier,
20




230             BERNARD  LILE.
who knows that his duty has been discharged, and feels
that a life given to his country is never lost. It blooms
again, beyond the grave, in a land where winter never
comes, and suffering is unknown.  Hanging around the
throne of sapphire and gold, a rich garland awaits the
coming of him who has died for his country, and when the
Eternal Hand has dropped it on his brow, Justice hands
the record of his life to Mercy, and turns away until all
that is black, and all that is sinful, is erased.
It was near daylight-the strong man leaned his elbow
upon the couch of the dying. From his deep and regular
breathing, he believed he slept soundly, but very soon a
weak voice inquired,
"What time is it now?"
"Nearly five o'clock," was the answer.  "Do you feel
easy?"
"Too easy.  The pain is gone, and death is coming.
Put away the curtain from the window, that I may see the
first rays of the rising sun. Before its setting, these eyes
will be shrouded with eternal darkness."
Lile did as he was directed; when the wounded man
again called him to his side.
" Sit down. There is one thing which has been pressing
upon me for days, and I must mention it before I go.
Your wife died believing me churlish, and it may be ungrateful.  I would not have you live on in the same
belief."
"Do not distress yourself," answered Lile, "by dwelling
on so sad a subject. She knew all, and did you justice."
"All I are you sure of it?"
" As sure of it, as I am of my own existence." And he
drew from his bosom the letter he had received from Zerah
in Texas, and read it slowly and plainly.
Robert Wilson raised himself slightly, and listened with




BERNARD  LILE.                  231
eager attention.  When it was concluded, he fell back
upon his pillow, and murmured, faintly,
"Bless her I She was an angel, who strayed away from
heaven for a little while to gladden the earth with her
presence. I shall see her soon."
He never moved again. Without a sigh, without a
gasp, without a shiver, the spirit passed away, and the
hand of his friend rested on a pallid corpse.
When Simpson came into the city that day, according
to his custom, he was met at the door by Lile.
"It is all over, Tom. He is gone like most of those I
have loved on earth.  Yourself and one other remain.
Who can say how soon those links may also be shattered?"
"It will be a sorrowful day, captain, when you and I
part. But there is no telling when it may happen. We've
both got a habit of gitting in the way of bullets, and one
or the other is like enough to be picked off whenever a
battle is fought."
They entered the house, and the backwoodsman gazed
long in silence upon the cold clay before them. His voice
was choked and husky, when he spoke.
" He was.a good one, or I'm no judge of a soldier. He's
gone to heaven, I reckon."
"I hope so."
"Don't you believe, captain, that a man who is killed in
his country's battles always goes there?"
"I believe, Tom, that such a death is a meet atonement
for many an error, but I pretend not to understand the
purposes of the Almighty.  His justice and his mercy are
inscrutable, and he is wisest who questions not, and murmurs not at his decrees."




232              BERNARD  LILE.
CHAPTER XIII.
"Seel how calm he looks, and stately,
Like a warrior on his shield,
Waiting till the flush of morning
Breaks along the battle field.
See!-Oh  never more my comrades,
Shall we see that falcon eye
Redden with its inward lightning
As the hour of fight drew nigh."
IN  obedience to the injunctions of Robert Wilson,
Bernard Lile had enclosed the body in a double coffin,
and prepared to carry it to his native village for interment.
The sad duty was in some degree lightened by the reflection that it gave him  an opportunity of meeting John
Abbott, and enjoying a brief intercourse with that true and
faithful friend. Perhaps also he anticipated a melancholy
pleasure in visiting the grave of Zerah, after an absence of
years, and kneeling on the sod which became holy ground
the day her remains were deposited beneath it. An eight
weeks' truce had been agreed on by the hostile commanders,
and no active operations were anticipated within the time
his absence would necessarily consume.  Tom  Simpson
rode a few miles with the escort which conveyed the bodies
of Robert Wilson and many another gallant soldier, back
to the land they had loved so truly, and served so faithfully. In that funeral train there were, beyond doubt,
corpses of men whose lives had not been altogether free
from  reproach.  But whatever vices may have rioted in
their bosoms they had made all the atonement this world
can demand, and whatever censure may have attached to
them while living, was lost in the admiration excited by the
manly devotion to liberty, and the unmistakable love of




BERNARD  LILE.                   233
country which sealed its sincerity-with blood. The rough
backwoodsman, as he rode by the side of Lile, gave expression to feelings that had a place in the bosoms of
ninety-nine in every hundred composing the American army.
"It will be a solemn day when these poor fellows are
landed at New Orleans, but a proud one. Their sweethearts will all be crying, but if they are the right grit, and
I know our gals are, they wouldn't swap off these dead
bodies for the best men who stayed at home when Old Zack
crossed the Rio Grande."
" There are thousands upon thousands there, Tom, who
would have come as cheerfully, and fought as bravely as
these, but the opportunity was denied them."
" They were in bad luck then. I would rather have died
at Monterey, than to have been kept at home nursing babies,
when men were playing the game of life and death with
lead and steel."
His companion made no reply at the moment. When
he again spoke his thoughts had traveled to a dinerent
subject.
"What do you purpose to do while I am gone?"
" I haven't settled on it yet. There's Jack Hays, Ben
McCulloch, and old Lamar, to choose between, and a fellow
can't go wrong, no matter which he takes."
"They are true soldiers, all of them.  True and tried;
and what is better still, kind and upright men. I shall
come back as soon as I can."
Months rolled away, and Bernard Lile did not return.
On the 12th of November, the division of Gen. Worth was
again pushed forward, and in a few days thereafter that
indomitable officer took possession of Saltillo.  In December he was joined by a column under Gen. Wool, and
soon afterwards Gen. Taylor himself hurried to that point
to meet an attack threatened by Santa Anna with over20*




234             BERNARD  LILE.,
whelming numbers. The operations of General Scott had
made it necessary for him to withdraw nearly the entire
regular force from the command of Gen. Taylor, and Santa
Anna who hoped to win an easy victory over the undisciplined volunteers who remained, moved from San Louis
Potosi with an army of twenty-two thousand men admirably
equipped, and abundantly supplied with all the munitions
of war. A daring reconnoissance made by Ben McCulloch
apprised Gen. Taylor of the approach of his enemy. On
the 20th of February, Lieutenant-Colonel May was despatched to the Hacienda of Hecliondo, and Major McCulloch again sent to Encarnacion.  On the 21st Gen. Taylor
fell back to Buena Vista. On the 22d, the army of Santa
Anna came in sight, and soon after midday the battle began
between a force of twenty thousand disciplined troops, and
less than one fourth that number of volunteers, most of
whom now for the first time looked upon a stricken field.
Throug:hout that day and the next the murderous conflict
raged, but at last the stubborn heroism of the republican
soldiery triumphed over the desperate odds; under cover
of the darkness Santa Anna retreated, leaving the ensanguined plain thickly strewed with his dead and dyinghis army completely disorganised-his own laurels forever
withered.  A  death blow was struck at the energies of
Mexico, soon to be followed by others as fatal from another
quarter, until even Castilian pride was humbled, and the
haughty descendants of the early conquerors were crushed
beneath a heel as heavy, if not as pitiless, as that which
blotted the Aztec name from the map of nations.
On the 9th of March, the army of Gen. Scott landed at
Sacrificios, and on the 27th of the same month the city of
Vera Cruz, and the famed castle of San Juan De Ulloa,
were surrendered to his arms after a regular investment of
only fifteen days.




BERNARD  LILE.                   235
The movements of Santa Anna in the mean time had
exhibited al almost incredible amount of daring energy.
Defeated at Buena Vista on the 23d of February, he had
returned to the city of Mexico, a distance of more than
seven hundred miles,-quelled a serious insurrection, collected another army of eighteen thousand men, and advanced
to the heights of Cerro Gordo, which command the national
road between Vera Cruz and Jalapa.  All this had been
accomplished before the middle of April, and here in this
seemingly impregnable position, strong by nature and
rendered doubly strong by art, he awaited the coming of
Scott. Every defence that science sould suggest had been
added, and the Mexican general was so well satisfied that
he was heard to exclaim, " If the Americans can storm this
position, they can storm hell itself.". On the 17th of April, Gen. Scott completed his arrangement, and issued his final orders. The battle began at
daylight on the 18th, and before two o'clock every battery
had been carried, Santa Anna was a fugitive, his army was
annihilated, and forty-three pieces of brass ordnance,
together with all his munitions were in the hands of Scott.
Still, Bernard Lile had not revisited the land where
these stirring scenes were enacted, and Tom Simpson, who
had borne his part in all that had transpired on the line of
the Rio Grande, began to feel uneasy at the absence of his
friend.
At length he received a letter, and when he had glanced
at the signature, eagerly perused its contents.
"I regret that I could not be with you at Buena Vista.
It was a glorious field and will be embalmed forever in the
hearts of the American people. Many things I could not
foresee have detained me, and besides I wished to make a
final disposition of everything I possess, for I have a pre



236             BERNARD  LILE.
sentiment that my race is nearly run. All is arranged, and
I shall set out in a short time for Vera Cruz. Meet me
there. It is along that line the war must be henceforth
waged, and I am sure you feel as I do that the place best
suited to us is that where the hardest blows are given and
received.
"BERNARD LILE."
A column of volunteers, under Gen. Lane, were about
descending the Rio Grande for the purpose of reinforcing
Gen. Scott.  Uniting himself with these Tom  Simpson
embarked at Brasos Santiago, and in the month of August,
1847, leaped from a surf-boat to the shore at Vera Cruz.
He was greeted by Lile who had waited his coming, and
the next day it was arranged that, as Col. Hays was still
behind with the Rangers, they should attach themselves to
Walker's company of mounted rifles, and accompany Gen.
Lane on his march to the interior.  Many causes conspired to hasten the movements of Lane.  The deadly
vomito was raging throughout the tierra caliente, and impelled him  to seek safety from its attacks among the
mountain ranges. Gen. Scott's communications with the
coast had been entirely cut off, and the most painful uncertainty as to the fate of his gallant army existed.  Joe
Lane was not a man to remain idle at such a time. As a
partisan officer he had no superior, and it was doubtful if
he had any equal in the American army.  Always in
motion; always on the alert; shrouding his own plans with
impenetrable secresy, and divining, with scarcely ever failing certainty, those of his enemy, he spread terror and
dismay in all directions. At one time the head of his
column, at sun-down, would be directed eastward towards
some garrisoned town or fortified place, and the Mexican
scouts would ride off at full speed to give warning of the




BERNARD  LILE.                   237
threatened attack.  The next morning he would pounce
upon an encampment, and cut up a guerilla troop resting in
security twenty-five or thirty miles off in an opposite direction.  Sometimes he would abandon a place, carrying with
him his sick, wounded, baggage, munitions, and every thing
which indicated an intention to move entirely off. At
night he would return with a picked body of men, and
destroy a company or more of guerillas who had been
tempted to occupy his old quarters after his departure.
The armies of Napoleon melted away before the system
of guerilla war adopted in Old Spain. In Mexico, Gen.
Lane turned their own tactics against themselves. Padre
Jarauta was beaten with his own weapons. Every day
the number of his lancers lessened. He was more than once
surprised himself, and narrowly escaped the clutches of his
indefatigable foeman.
At Jalapa Gen. Lane at length received information
that put an end to the system of warfare he had thus far
pursued so successfully, and with such beneficial results.
The battles of Molino del Rey, Chepultepec, and the
Garitas, had followed those of Contreras and Cherubusco.
The city of Mexico was in the possession of Gen. Scott,
but still his position was critical in the extreme. When
that wonderful commander descended from Ayotla into the
valley of Mexico, his field reports showed an effective force
of only ten thousand eight hundred men. With that little
army he had fought five bloody battles, and with its shattered remains now occupied a city of more than two hundred thousand hostile inhabitants.  Every moment the
hero and his veterans were in danger of being overwhelmed
by numbers no human strength and courage could resist,
and without waiting for orders in a case so plain Gen.
Lane at once took up the line of march for Mexico.




238               BERNARD LILE.
CHAPTER XIV' All was prepared-the fire, the sword, the men
To wield them in their terrible array.
The army, like a lion from his den,
March'd forth with nerve and sinews bent to slayA human hydra, issuing from its fen
To broathe destruction on its winding way."
THE sun of an October morning was stealing over the
hills, bathing in its rays, rock and tree, and tower, and
temple.  Not the pale sun of our northern clime, cold,
misty, and cheerless; but the bright sun of the tropics,
bursting from its ocean bed, in all the gorgeous beauty of
that enchanted land.  Upon a fair city, on the vast "table
land" of Mexico, that sun was shedding its earliest light.
Not yet had the day's toil begun. Not yet had the busy
hum of life roused the luxurious sons and daughters of the
far South from  their slumbers in the balmy air.  The
stillness and the silence of rest was about it. Even as the
messengers, in the vision of Zechariah, who came to the
angel of the Lord, that stood among the myrtle trees, and
said, "We have passed to and fro through the earth, and
behold! all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest." Even
so, hour by hour, through the night, the sentries on the
ramparts of Huamantla had proclaimed, " all is well."
Morning came-such a morning as the first that broke
over the garden  "eastward  in Eden."  Even the rude
soldiery of the guard, shook off the lethargy of the night
watch, to feast their souls upon its glorious beauty. Never
in his untold wanderings had the day-king burst upon a
lovelier scene. The high peaks of the Cordilleras, wrapt
in the snowy mantles, borrowed from nature centuries ago,




BERNARD  LILE.                    239
and gleaming in the mellow sunlight, with that unspeakable lustre that almost wins us to adoration-the wide
plain, teeming with fruits, and adorned with flowers-the
great city, built by the conquerors; rich in all the works
of art, glowing with all the gems of earth, and proudly
claiming to be the fairest child of the brilliant chivalry of a
by gone age-the deep blue sky, added to the fragrance
of the early morning, together made a Paradise in reality,
far brighter than any creation of a poet's fancy.
All now is loveliness and peace; but it is the deceitful
lull of the air, when the tempest is gathering its fearful
array for the battle of the elements. Not alone from mountain top, from spire, and minaret, flash back the morning's
beams.  There, away to the south-east, glitters a long line
of terrible beauty. In the far distance, it seems, as it winds
through fields of cactus, like a pathway of molten silver.
Now it catches the glance of the soldier upon yon tower,
and for him the loveliness of the morning has faded, for to
him it speaks of a sterner metal. It is the glancing of the
sunbeam on musket, and bayonet, and sabre, and, beneath
that line of glowing light, the dreaded warriors of "the
States" are moving on the doomed city, with firm and
rapid tread.
Rouse thee, fair denizen of that lovely city, and yet
lovelier land, thy dream  of peace is at an end!  The
splendid panorama, now spread out before thee, will soon
be swept away to make room for a bloodier landscape, and
the eye that has opened from slumber, on a scene which
might tempt angels from the skies, will close upon a picture
painted by the fiends of hell.
At a considerable distance from the great national highway, and of no absolute importance as a military post, the
City of Huamantla had been passed unmolested by the
invaders.  There it lay in its beauty, and its pride; un



240             BERNARD  LILE.
marked by fire or sword, and unconscious of the desolation
which was approaching.  In the months, of August and
September preceding, the decisive battles of the valley had
placed General Scott in possession of the City of Mexico;
but his army, at all times much too weak for the mighty
undertaking entrusted to his management, had been sadly
weakened, and cut to pieces on the bloody and unequal
fields over which he had won his victorious way. He was
a conqueror in the capitol of his enemy; but a conqueror
whose mightiest energies had been taxed to the uttermost,
and to whom rest and repose were as necessary as grateful.
Taking prompt advantage of the crippled condition of the
Americans, the great chief of the Mexican nation, with a
tireless energy, and a military skill rarely surpassed, rapidly
collected the remnants of his beaten armies, and precipitated
himself upon Puebla, a post that had been for some time
beleaguered by an irregular Mexican force, and the maintenance of which was of the last importance to the American commander, since through that alone his communications with the sea coast could be kept open. For more
than thirty days the roar of battle resounded through its
streets.  The little garrison, under Colonel Childs, was
daily wasting away. Disease struck down the strong man,
whom the cannot shot had spared; and hunger gnawed
away the strength no fatigue could overcome. Still they
fought on; with the iron nerve, and the unyielding obstinacy of the Anglo-Saxon race, they repelled assault after
assault, calmly bidding defiance to danger and death from
without, and sternly quelling the ceaseless cravings of
hunger and thirst within. Every soldier was aware of the
immensity of the stake depending upon his courage and
endurance. All looked forward to the probability of a bloody
grave, but none ever dreamed of a surrender. That post
might become the burial place of a band of heroes, who




BERNARD  LILE.                    241
were worthy to have stood side by side with Leonidas in
the pass of Thermopylae, but never until then could an
enemy's flag wave above its defences.  Suddenly there was
a cessation of active operations on the part of the beseigers.
The iron hail of the past thirty days was succeeded by
a comparative calm.  Occasionally only, a heavy gun
belched forth its volumes of smoke and flame, as it dispatched a winged messenger on an errand of destruction;
while long intervals marked the rattling volleys of musketry, and escopetas.  The stubborn resistance of the
garrison had accomplished its end. Time was everything,
and time had been gained.  They knew not how near at
hand was the assistance they had longed for-they only
knew that their orders were to maintain the post at every
hazard; and, if no assistance ever came, they were thankful
for the privilege of writing another glorious chapter in the
history of the great republic. Not so with the Mexican
leader. Every step of General Lane's progress had been
reported to him. Day by day he had calculated the lessening distance, and day by day his assaults upon the Cuartel
had been more determined. Often superintending in person
the direction of the guns, he watched with intense anxiety
the effect of every shot, and the result of every assault;
still, as each night closed in, he had the mortification of
finding that he was as far as ever from the accomplishment
of his object, and that his greatest efforts had only succeeded in spreading an additional feast for the vultures,
already so fully gorged, that they refused to banquet on
anything but the eyes of the slain.  The reports of his
scouts now advised him, that he had delayed to the last
moment of safety.  Instead of the assailant, he was about
to become the assailed with that indomitable garrison on
one side, and a fresh army, in high spirits, and burning to
21




242              BERNARD  LILE.
rival the almost incredible deeds of their brethren in the
valley, on the other. In this crisis he resorted to one of
those masterly manceuvres that distinguished the whole of
his operations.  He was an enemy, and a bitter one, but
let us do him justice. No man ever lived who accomplished
more with-feebler means.  No campaigns were ever better
planned. It is doubtful if the impartial critic will be able
to detect hereafter a single serious error. It is true, he failed signally in all his undertakings, but those failures flowed
from no want of military skill, courage, or energy, on his
part. They were the results, rather, of circumstances beneath
whose weight Napoleon would have been crushed. In this,
almost the very last of his military operations, he vindicated
his right to the title of a great commander. Withdrawing
all his disposable forces from the siege of Puebla, he moved
silently and secretly to encounter the " Marion of the war."
The soldiers of the northern republic had won a terrible
fame in the bloody campaigns of Mexico, and not daring
to trust his own men in an open encounter with an enemy
by whom they had been so often beaten, he left only a small
body upon the high road, with instructions to fall back as
the Americans advanced.  With the main body he moved
himself in the direction of Huamantla, intending, when
Gen. Lane had passed that point, to make a decisive attack
the succeeding night upon his rear-the body in front having orders to assail him at the same time from the direction
of Puebla.
Riding at the head of the column, as was his wont, about
mid-day Gen. Lane ordered his bugler to sound the usual
signal for an army on the march to halt, and rest. Throwing his bridle reign to an orderly, he took refuge, with a
portion of his staff, under the thick shade of a spreading
tree, to partake of such refreshment as the time allowed.




BERNARD  LILE.                   243
A piece of cold beef, a hard biscuit, and an onion from a
haversack, with a supply of Mexican aguardiente, from an
India-rubber canteen, constituted the homely fare of the
republican general.  While thus occupied, Lile and Simpson rode up. Nodding familiarly to his old favorites, the
general invited them to get down, and join in his repast.
"This aguardiente," he added, "is not the best liquor
in the world; but it will do to wash down dry beef and
sea-biscuit, when no better is to be had."
Thanking him for the courtesy, but touching very lightly
the proffered liquid, Lile continued,"We have come, general, to ask a favor."
"AhI Well that is something which does not happen
often. What is it?"
" With your permission, we propose to take one of Dominguez's spies, and ride on as far as Amazoque, for the
purpose of learning something more reliable of Santa
Anna's movements."
A shade came over the weather beaten visage of the
general, and he thought deeply before he replied.
"It won't do, Lile. I can't afford to send the two best
men in my army on such a desperate errand.  Mexican
light troops are swarming over the whole country; your
guide, too, would betray you for a single peso."
A slight smile played, for an instant, on the haughty lip
of the daring soldier.
"Pardon me, general, but you over estimate the danger.
Simpson and I are better armed, and better mounted, than
any caballeros in Mexico; and ten to one is an odds we
have faced before now, without any great apprehensions."
"Besides, general," broke in the Ranger, "there is no
danger in the world from'the Greaser.' I can trust him
any where."




244             BERNARD  LILE.
"Domnt you think, Tom," asked Gen. Lane, "that a man
who has betrayed his country, would betray any thing?"
"Undoubtedly that's my opinion, provided he didn't have
a fore-knowledge that he would be started on the road to
kingdom come in five minutes after he did it. But this
fellow, Antonio, knowed me on the Rio Grande, and he's
got a suspicion in his head, that if he tried to play me any
tricks, his kin would have to scrape up all the tlacos they
could get together, for the Padre to pray him out of
purgatory."
"I do not like this," said the general, again addressing
Lile, "the risk is very great; but I need reliable information sadly, and should not be excusable as a soldier for
rejecting your offer.  Go, sir; God knows I have not
shunned danger myself, when our country demanded it, and
I will not baulk your wish to serve her."
Lile bowed his thanks; but Simpson was not content so
to part with the officer to whom he was attached so much.
"Good-bye, general; the captain will bring you all the
news, and if there is any thing to eat between here and
Amazoque, or in the town either, you'll have a better dinner to-morrow than you are eating to-day."
As they rode away they were joined by the Mexican,
who had halted a little way off when they approached the
general, and the three men were soon lost to view in the
winding of the road.  They had not ridden far when Lile
inquired of the guide how long they could travel the main
road with safety.
"Not a league, senor," was the reply.  "Padre Jarauta
is at El Pinar, and his lanceros never sleep."
"Well, take the lead. Choose the safest paths, but push
on rapidly."
This injunction, however, was much easier to give than
to obey. The cross country it was necessary for them to




BERNARD  LILE.                    245
pass over, was often filled with a tangled undergrowth of
thorns, and their progress was still further delayed by the
stone fences running in all directions through the country.
At nightfall they were still four or five leagues from their
destination. A heavy bank of clouds, that had long been
gathering in the west, now spread rapidly over the horizon,
and broad sheets of lurid lightning, growing brighter and
brighter at each successive flash, portended that a tropical
storm was at hand.
"We're in bad luck, captain," said Simpson, as they
leaped their horses over a low wall of loose stone; "not
that I care a straw for the rain, or the wind, or the darkness either, if we only knowed the land-marks about these'diggins;' but Antonio has been figuring that string of
beads about his neck for a full quarter of an hour, and I
don't believe he will know his right hand from his left in a
quarter more. The devil only knows where he'll carry us,
and then, if he takes us wrong, I shall have to blow his
brains out upon an oncertainty."
"There must be a Hacienda close by," rejoined his com
panion, "and we will stop there until the storm is over.
Antonio," he continued, calling to the Mexican who was
still in advance, "do you know any Hacienda near at hand
where we could obtain shelter from the storm?"
"Si, seFior."
"Take us there; and mark me, speak English when you
address either of us.  Remember, that we are deserters
from the American army, and do not understand a word of
Spanish. "
The guide, whose spirits had vastly improved at the prospect of escaping the coming tempest, soon brought them
to the heavy gate of a country house, surrounded by a high
wall, crenelled and loop-holed, for defence against the
robber bands who infest that misgoverned land.  At the
21*




246             BERNARD  LILE.
loud summons of the guide, torches and lanterns began to
flash through the enclosure, and the quick hurrying of feet,
in different directions, spoke rather of the watchfulness of
a beseiged garrison, than the calm security of the inmates
of a peaceful country house. After a long parley, and a
thousand protestations from  Antonio, that they were
"friends," "great friends," the massy gate swung lazily
back on its iron hinges, and our party, passing underneath
the arch, found themselves in a square court, planted with
flowers, and laid off in tiny walks, with a cool, clear fountain bubbling up in the centre.
In the same enclosure, separated only by a narrow gravel
walk, the stables, the poultry house, and the pig-stye, presenting a wide and disgusting contrast, to these evidences
of a refined and cultivated taste. In nearly every house in
Mexico, may be witnessed the same admixture of filth, and
cleanliness; of order, and disorder; of the beautiful, and
the disgusting. It is the struggle of intellect and refinement, against governmental misrule and priestly superstition. In such a land the same house, of necessity, contains
the biped, and the quadruped: for there alone is there any
assurance of safety for either; but the fountain played by
the pig-stye, and the flowers blooming around the dung
hill, have each a voice to proclaim how high in the scale
of civilization the people might attainunder happier auspices.
By the time the clanking sound of the closing gate had
died away, the rain came pouring down in torents, and the
winds howled fiercely around the solid walls of the Hacienda.
Leaving Antonio to tell what story he pleased to the owner
of the mansion, our two friends proceeded directly to the
stable with the horses.  Like true soldiers, their first care
was for the noble animals, whose strength and speed might
at any moment be taxed to the utmost.  Not until their
glossy hides were cleared of every speck of dirt, did Lile




BERNARD  LILE.                    247
and Simpson enter that part of the building designed for the
exclusive habitation of man. In the meantime Antonio had
learned that there were none but servants about the establishment, under the control of a superintendent; the owner of the
country house having joined the army of Santa Anna, in
Puebla, with most of the peons on his estate.  He had
also, succeeded in impressing upon the superintendent a
very exalted opinion of the liberality of his fellow travelers,
as was sufficiently attested, by the pains he had taken to
prepare a supper after the most fastidious Mexican taste.
Scarcely had the substantial repast been concluded, when
a bugle note mingled with the low mutterings of the
thunder without.  The superintendent rushed from  the
room, and  Antonio's yellow complexion was instantly
changed to a livid white.
" What does this mean?" sternly demanded Lile.
"They are lanceros of the body guard, Senor, and I
shall be shot in less than an hour as a traitor."
" Quick; to the gate, and see how many there are. We'll
save you, unless there is more than one troop upon us.
When the Mexican departed upon his errand, Simpson
quietly drew his revolver —set it upon the half cock, and
with his thumb and forefinger, turned the cylinder twice
round, to see that it worked smoothly; then loosening his
bowie knife in the sheath, he seated himself again at the
table, and pouring out a glass of pulque, drank it off with
as little concern as if he had been in the heart of the
American camp.  His business, as he understood it, was
simply to execute whatever plan his comrade devised; and
he had no idea of troubling his head with useless conjectures, before his orders were received. Lile walked to the
door, to which Antonio now returned in breathless haste,
to announce that the party outside consisted of one teniente
and eight soldados.




248             BERNARD  LILE.
" No more?  Then you are safe enough, and need not
trouble your patron saint with any prayers for the present;
but mind that you do exactly as I direct you. Keep out
of their sight, and when the lancers are quartered for the
night, go to the stables and saddle our horses. Yours is
a sorry brute, and I advise you to exchange him for the
best one in their troop."
" Si, Senor," interposed the Mexican, to whom  this
appropriation of another's property, appeared the most
equitable thing imaginable.
" When you hear me sing' La Ponchada,"' continued
Lile, " lead the horses at once to the gate. You know
the words?
Ya no se llaman negros
Los hijos de Arragon;
Se Ilaman defensores
De Isabel de Bourbon.'"
"I know the song well, Sefor, and shall not forget."
"Now begone.  I will manage every thing else."
Returning to the table he seated himself by the side of
Simpson, and said, in a low tone,
"You heard that there is but nine of them."
"Yes; and unless I am worse mistaken than the fellow
that burnt his shirt, that's just nine more than will ever
ride out of this caboose with whole skins."
" It may come to that; but we must try and take the
lieutenant alive to Gen. Lane. It will be worth double
the lives of his whole regiment."
" Just as you please, captain, only let me know what's
to do, and I'm thar."
The lancers had now effected an entrance into the court
yard.  The troopers made their way to the stables with
the horses. The officer, preceded by the temporary host,




BERNARD  LILE.                    249
took shelter from the inclemency of the night without
delay. At the door he stopped, and asked, sharply,
"Who have we here?"
" Two American deserters, Seinor, on their way to join
his excellency, the President."
" Ah I" said he, lifting the scarlet bonnet from his head,
and shaking the rain drops from  its lofty plumes.  "I
shall have the pleasure then of introducing them to his
excellency myself."
He was a young man, who had apparently seen some
service.  Like most of his countrymen there was a good
deal of the coxcomb about him, but his manner was bold
and soldierly, though a little tinged with suspicion, as he
addressed our two friends in excellent English.
"I am told, Senfors, that you seek his excellency Gen.
Santa Anna.  I am myself bound for his head-quarters.
If it is agreeable to you we will ride in company."
Lile readily expressed his assent to the arrangement,
together with his gratification at having accidentally fallen
in with so excellent an officer.
Numerous questions were now propounded as to the
strength of Gen. Lane's army? What proportion of troops
were regulars, and what volunteers? What was the number
and size of his guns? What was his cavalry force? Where
he had encamped for the several preceding days, and where
he had now probably halted?  From  the manner the answers were received, Lile judged correctly, that the lieutenant was already perfectly acquainted with Gen. Lane's
movements, and that his questions were put more for the
purpose of detecting any inconsistency in the statements of
the reputed deserters, than that of acquiring additional
information. Accordingly his answers were all plain, brief,
and strictly true; but the Spanish blood is by nature suspicious, and the lieutenant was far from being satisfied that




50               BERNARD LILE.
all was exactly right. His non-commissioned officer had
reported to him for orders, and been instructed by him to
wait. Apparently satisfied, he rose from his seat, and went
out to the apartment occupied by his men. In obedience
to a sign from Lile, Simpson followed him with noiseless
steps. He returned quickly, and said with a shrug,"Humph I He's taking as much pains to catch us as
the boy took to catch the rattle-snake. He has ordered
the sergeant to post one sentry at this door, and one at
the gate; and to be ready to march at four o'clock."
The entrance of the officer put' an end to further remarks,
and soon afterwards they were aware that a sentry was
posted at the door. Without paying any attention to this
unusual precaution, Lile commenced a conversation with
the Mexican, and gradually drew him on to listen to many a
feat of chivalry, and many a tale of love in other lands.
Discarding the harsher dialect of the Saxon, he employed
the soft, musical tongue of Grenada, to tell how he had
stood by moonlight in the shadows of the Alhambra, and
listened to the story of the Cid, of Pelayo, of Bobadilla, and
the long line of heroes who had rendered Spain's history,
for a hundred years, the wonder of the world. Mingled
with these, were descriptions of the fair hands that had
braided their pennons for the battle-field; of the bright eyes
that welcomed their return; and the sweet lips that repaid
a thousand fold the wounds of war. Eagerly, as the young
always do such things, the lieutenant drank in his words.
His suspicions had fled; and when the first sentry was
relieved, he was listening with wrapt attention to the rich,
full voice of Lile, as he sang with melting tenderness, that
sweetest of Spanish songs,
"Cuando me llaman bonita,
El corazon me palpita."




BERNARD  LILE.                  251
This was the moment for which Lile had waited.  He
knew that it would be two hours before the sentries were
again visited, and during that time every thing about the
Hacienda would be buried in profound repose. Pretending
to be much engaged with the lieutenant, he reached his
hand to the pitcher of water, and purposely spilled the
whole of its contents. With an ejaculation as to his own
carelessness, he handed the pitcher to Simpson, and bade
him  refill it from the fountain in the court.  Simpson
advanced to the threshold, but there he was promptly
halted by the sentinel. The officer, without turning his
head, sharply ordered the soldier to "let him  pass."
Simpson stepped out, pulling the door after him. The
sentry turned away with a muttered caramba.  The next
instant the heavy stone pitcher was swung aloft-it
descended with a dull, crashing sound, and the sentry
sank into eternal sleep upon his post.  Almost at the
same moment, Lile had seized the lieutenant with one
giant hand, and pressing the other on his mouth, sternly
whispered," Attempt to move, or utter a syllable, and you are a
dead man."
By the time Simpson had moved the dead soldier from
the door-way, the Mexican officer was securely bound and
gagged. But the Ranger paused not to see what success
had attended his companion. With the stealthy step of a
cat he entered the gloomy arch of the gateway. When he
reappeared his arm was crimsoned to the elbow with
blood.  Entering the room, and cautiously closing the
door, he said," All is ready except another horse, and that we must
have. -If I go to the stable, that coward Antonio will
either hide himself, or make some cursed blunder that will
betray us."




252             BERNARD  LILE.
" That is easily remedied," answered Lile, " I will give the
signal, and carry this young gentleman to the gate. When
Antonio comes, I will keep on the outside until you join us."
Extinguishing the light, he sang the first stanza of " La
Ponchada," and lifting the Mexican in his arms carried
him quickly to the gate.  Antonio soon came out, and
before they had fastened the officer securely on the horse
the guide had selected for himself, Simpson also appeared,
leading another.  The storm  had cleared way, and the
stars shone clear and bright in the heavens.  Lile noticed
Simpson tying something to his saddle-bow as he mounted,
and inquired what it was.
"Nothing but a cotton bag," was the reply, "containing
two chickens and a goose.  I promised the general he
should have a good dinner to-morrow, and I don't like to
break my word; especially to as clever a fellow as he is."
Under the guidance of Antonio, the party made directly
for the National road. Rapidly they pressed on-not from
fear of pursuit, but in order to reach the American encampment before the army was put in motion.  Simpson,
who was leading the captive's horse, took advantage of
the first smooth piece of ground to offer him all the consolation his situation admitted of.
"Make yourself easy, lieutenant,' Old Lane' is as clever
a fellow as ever trod shoe leather, and though I don't
know what he wants with you, I'm dead sure he'll treat
you according to Gunter. A fellow that's tied and gagged,
must feel mighty uncomfortable, I know, but you aint the
first one that ever was fixed that way, when no great harm
was meant to him.  The old general has got a soft heart
in that rough carcase of his, and its seldom he's hard on
any thing but a thief or a coward."
The consolatory harangue of the Ranger was cut short
by a sharp challenge, " who goes there," followed by the




BERISARD  LILE.                  253
rattling of a musket brought suddenly from a shoulder to
a ready.
" Friends, with a prisoner."
"Stand friends.  Advance one friend, and give the
countersign. "
Lile explained that they had been out upon a scouting
expedition, by direction of the general, and were not in
possession of the countersign.
" Stand where you are. Officer of the guard; number
five."
The words ran along the line until they were caught up,
and repeated by the sentry at the guard tent.   The
steady tramp of marching men followed, and very soon,
Lile and his party, were admitted within the lines, and
furnished with a guide to the general's quarters.
It was hardly one in the morning, but the general was
already astir; examining with his adjutant general, a map
spread upon a mess chest in his tent. Lile entered with
his prisoner.  A  half hour passed.  The form of the
adjutant general emerged from the canvass screen. A few
brief orders were given. Aids hurried in different directions.  A bugle sounded the reveille.  Drum and fife,
and brass band, answered the signal.  Light after light
glimmered over the plain.  The human hive was roused,
and woe be to those upon whom its anger fell.
Gen. Lane had learned all the plans of his enemy, and
with the prompt decision of his character, he put his army
in motion; abandoned the road to Puebla, and marched
directly upon Huamantla.  Wholly unconscious of this
unexpected movement of his active and vigilant foe, Santa
Anna was approaching the same point from  another
direction.
The morning of the 9th of October came, and the startled
citizens looked out upon a field glittering with the bur22




254             BERNARD  LILE.
nished arms of a gallant host, in their war array. Ignorant
of the near approach of their countrymen under Santa
Anna, and deeming resistance hopeless, white flags were
immediately displayed from the house tops, and the steeples
of the churches. The gallant Walker, who commanded the
advance, at once entered the city with his small band of
"mounted rifles."
"I thought," said the rifleman, turning to Lile, who
rode by his side, "that we should be certain to have a
battle here that would do to talk about in the States, but
the cowardly dogs don't mean to give us any chance for
glory to-day."
" We may have our mettle tried sooner than you expect,"
replied his companion, pulling the thick buckskin gauntlet
from his right hand, and for the first time drawing his
sabre.  "I do not like the signs.  There are too many
heads above the parapets of the houses. The women have
all left the windows, and yonder is a strong body of horse
hastily forming on the Plaza. Keep your men well together,
and move slowly."
So saying he reined up, and with his unsheathed sword,
beckoned Simpson, who was considerably in the rear, to
come up.
"Keep near to Walker, Tom.  He will need our help
directly.  These'rifles' are new  recruits, and know
nothing about the old Ranger mode of fighting; while
Walker understands no other. He will be killed unless-"
The remainder of the sentence was lost amid the rattling
of musketry, and the infuriated cries which ran along the
whole length of the street.
" Close up men," shouted Walker, "and charge."
They did charge but it was upon their own destruction.
Shielded by the houses, the Mexicans poured volley after
volley, into their lessening ranks; while from the parapets




BERNARD  LILE.                   255
above, huge masses of stone were incessantly thundered
upon their devoted heads. In a few seconds the dauntless
captain rode almost alone. A hand was laid upon his
bridle, and the calm voice of Lile, calmest ever amid the
roar of battle, sounded in his ear.
"Are you mad? your men are nearly all dead. You
must back with me, if you would live to avenge this
treachery."
With a bitter malediction the infuriated officer permitted
his horse's head to be turned towards the gate.  Some
distance down the street, a little squad of the rifles had
formed in something like regular order, and were contending with desperate courage against overwhelming odds.
Placing himself at the head of these, Walker again gave
the order to charge. The words were yet on his lips when
a musket ball struck him on the breast. The reins deserted
his hand, and he reeled like a drunken man in the saddle.
With a wild shout, a body of horsemen rushed from a cross
street, and threw themselves upon the shattered ranks of
the Americans.  The lance of the leading file struck the
dying captain in the face, and hurled him from his steed.
Lile reached his side too late to save, but time enough
to avenge him. Through bonnet and skull, down to where
the neck and shoulder join, bit the forceful steel. Not
for an instant did he pause where the luckless lancer fell.
Right through the bloody press he cleft his dreadful way.
The friend whose blanket he had shared by the camp-fire
-whose last tortilla he had divided at the mess table, had
been butchered before his eyes, and all the fiend was roused
within him. Right and left flashed that crimson sabre.
Right and left heads, and arms, and men, and steeds were
falling around him. Appalled at the wide havoc of a
single arm, the boldest lancers turned and fled. Loud and
clear rang his voice above the din.




256             BERNARD  LILE
"Retreat," he shouted to the rifles, who still desperately
maintained their ground. " Cut your way through the foot.
Simpson and I will keep back the lancers until the gate is
gained."
The Mexican cavalry, who had drawn off a short dis.
tance, were reformed, and again thundered to the charge.
Simpson was now by the side of Lile. They waited not to
receive the shock, but striking their spurs deep in their
horses' flanks, with the rush of an avalanche met the advancing tide. The light small horses of Mexico went down
like wisps of straw, before the battle chargers of the States.
Again the lancers broke and fled, and two men were the
victors over a hundred.
"Let us be off, Tom," said Lile, "the few rifles who are
left, have passed the gate, and we have sent enough ghosts
to join Walker on his dreary journey."
"By the Lord," rejoined Simpson," if they travel the
same road he does, they will have to fight every inch of the
way to the other world."
At the gate they found a young rifleman sitting with his
back against the wall, and his pistol in his hand. To an
inquiry as to what he was doing there, he answered,
" My horse is dead. My leg is broke, and I can't get
any further. Tell the general to say to my mother, when
he gets home, that I died fighting to the last, as my grandfather did at Lundy's lane."
"Gallant boy I" exclaimed Lile, "I hope you will live
many a year to tell this day's story yourself."
Leaning forward, he seized the wounded soldier with his
sinewy hand, and lifted him to the saddle-bow, as easily as
if he had been an infant.  Touching his steed with the
spur, he flew across the plain to where the American army
was drawn up in battle array. He now learned, that soon
after the advance guard had entered iHuamantla, Santa




BERNARD  LILE.                   257
Anna had appeared in sight, and the sudden hope inspired
by this circumstance, had caused the treacherous assault in
the city.
As they lighted from their jaded steeds, he noticed that
Simpson walked with difficulty, and the color had entirely
deserted his cheek.
" Are you hurt, Tom?" he inquired, anxiously.
"Yes, sorter.  I've got a bullet through my left arm,
and a tolerable deep furrow in my side; ploughed there
by one of them cursed poking sticks, no Christian people
would use. But I reckon the fellow that did it got full
pay, for it's my opinion, I cut his backbone clear in two as
he went by, after jobbing me with that d-d long ironheaded stick."
When General Santa Anna drew out into the plain
before Huamantla, he found himself suddenly confronted
by the American forces. Confessedly unable to cope with
his enemy on an equal field, he labored under the additional
disadvantage of being forced into a battle, under circumstances amounting to a complete surprise. In such a contest victory could not be a moment doubtful.  He was
quickly beaten at all points, and forced to take refuge in
the mountains.  Now came the hour of retribution for the
treacherous city.  The sacred emblem of peace had been
stained with blood, and the usages of all wars gave up the
offenders as a "prey to the spoiler." It is fearful to see a
soldiery fevered with victory, turned loose to pillage and
to slay.  Then, and then only, the red demon of war is
clothed in all his horrors. Vengeance, lust, hate, and
rapine, walk abroad unrestrained, and the air is tortured
with a mingled discord of horrible sounds, that might shame
the builders of Babel into silence. The dull grating noise
of the sharp steel, as it bites through skull and brain-the
vengeful shout of the slayer-the despairing shriek of the
22*




258             BERNARD  LILE.
agonized victim-the clatter of muskets and pick-axesthe crash of falling doors and windows-the ringing shot,
and the muttered curse, are fit accompaniments to deeIs
the furies might look upon and envy.
All day, through that fair city, the work went on. All
day the fierce license of the soldiery was unrestrained, and
yell and groan, and prayer, and curse-the death-shotthe shriek of the virgin, and the wail of the infant rose
mingling up to heaven.  The sun went down; and now,
the wild notes of a solitary bugle pealed shrill and clear
upon the air.  Then from  each regiment, battalion, and
corps, the hoarse drum sent forth its summons. The bloodhounds were called off from their prey. The lawless passions of the hour before were stilled at the stern mandates
of an iron discipline. The feast of death was at an end.
The last mellow tints of the golden sunset melted from the
sky; star after star came forth, and it was night in Huamantla.  A  night of strange and fearful contrasts; of
beauty, and of desolation. Without the walls, thousands
of homeless wretches-old men, women, and children, were
shivering in the night air, while near at hand, a horde of
hungry wolves were feasting on the dead bodies of the
slain. The savage growls of the ferocious animals mingled
horribly with the low moans of the wounded. At intervals
a sharp cry of agony would rise above all other sounds, as
a ravenous beast fastened his fangs upon some unfortunate
being, in whom the vital spark was not yet entirely extinct.
Within the walls, whole streets were literally McAdamized
with fragments of broken glass, china, and gilded porcelain.  The costliest furniture, shivered to pieces, was
scattered every where around; and groups of soldiers were
cooking their suppers, or washing off the stains of carnage
by the light of fires fed with mahogany and rosewood,
which had adorned palaces that morning. Here and there




BERNARD  LILE.                   259
a smouldering mass of ashes, a blackened wall, or a smoking rafter, marked where a stately mansion once stood, and
a happy family gathered about the hearth-stone. In other
quarters, the red glare of the still burning houses, revealed,
with horrid distinctness, the mangled bodies of the dead;
and shed a sickening light upon the dark pools of blood
that dotted the ground. Occasionally a faithful dog would
crawl out from his hiding place, and, smelling around the
carcase of his dead master, send up a long and mournful
howl; but beyond this no living thing was moving in
Huamantla, save the fierce soldiers who had made it a
desert.
So passed the first hours of the night.  Again that
solitary bugle sounds its piercing signal, and from each
separate command, the beat of the "tattoo" proclaims that
it is the hour of silence, and of rest. Strange power of
discipline I There was not one coward in all that host.
Not one, who, under the eyes of his comrades, would not
have moved on certain destruction with an unfaltering step.
Not one who would have obeyed the order of a monarch
on his throne. Not one who had not that day done deeds,
at the bare recital of which the blood runs cold. Yet there
was a spell in the mandates of that stirring music, that bent
every feeling to instant obedience. Its last notes had
scarcely died away, before every sound was hushed, and
every soldier had thrown himself upon the soft couch the
day's plunder had procured. With his hands dyed red with
blood-among the homes he had desolated-in the very
midst of the ruins he had wrought; he laid himself down
to dream  of his own peaceful home.  He who had that
day made widows and orphans by the score, murmured a
blessing upon his own wife, and little ones, far away in his
native land; and his last waking thoughts were of the joy
and gladness his return would impart.




260             BERNARD  LILE.
Slumber spread its mantle over the conquerors. The
armed tread of the sentry, ringing on the stone pavement,
or crashing sharply, as it crushed to atoms some costly
article of luxury, alone broke the stillness of the night.
And now from garret and cellar, and secret hiding place,
stole forth the frightened citizens, who had escaped the
day's violence, vainly hoping, under cover of the darkness,
to escape beyond the walls, and join their countrymen in
the mountains. Along the dark alleys; close in the shadows
of the houses; over the dead bodies of their kindred;
through puddles of blood, slowly, and painfully they crawled
along.  At each opening, the clear starlight revealed the
form of a sentry on his post, and the startled fugitives
shrank back, to try another, and another avenue, and be
again, and again disappointed.  Poor fools I you cannot
pass that argus line, nor would it profit you to do so.
You would only escape from the company of the dead, who
feel not; to that of the living, whose own woes leave no room
for sympathy with yours. Be still, and you are safe. No
one will harm you now. The fever in the blood of the
victors has subsided, and the most pitiless of that host
would share with you the contents of his haversack, or
cover you with his blanket.
With the first light of the morning, the American general
was on his march.  Stretched in an ambulance, upon the
softest couch the plundered city could supply, lay the giant
form  of the veteran Ranger. Reining his fiery courser
back to the slow pace of the mule team, Lile was riding
thoughtfully by his side.
" Captain," said the Ranger, putting aside the curtain of
the rude conveyance, "you say poor Walker was decently
put away."
"Yes, Tom, all was done that a soldier could do."
" That's some comfort. But I wish all the ashes of that




BERNARD  LILE.                   261
d    d town, mixed up with all the blood spilt in it, had
been piled over him for a tombstone."
"The monument would have been a high one, Tom, for
everything in Huamantla, that would burn, is ashes now;
and never in the old world, or the new, have I seen a
bloodier spot than that within those walls."
"I reckon so; and I'm glad of it. But I'm glad too I
had no hand in it."
" You are right, my friend. Blood shed in any but our
country's battles, or our own just defence, is a dark thing
to think of.  You will sleep the sounder hereafter for
striking no blow after resistance ceased. The punishment
of treachery is needful, but the office of executioner is a
thing to be avoided if possible."
"Was any of the wimen folks hurt?"
"I do not know.. There are bad men in every army,
and a bad man, turned loose on such a day as yesterday,
will do anything."
"By God, if I had seen a fellow lay his hand upon a
gal, except in kindness, I would have mashed his skull, if
he had been the general's own brother."
" So would I, Tom; but it might have happened without
my seeing it."
The thoughts of the Ranger now took another direction.
The wild melee, in which his comrade had put forth all his
terrible strength, was again before him. There was a fierce
exultation in his voice, as he said,
" That charge you made when Walker fell, was a thing
to be proud of. I wouldn't have missed seeing it for a
thousand. Them fellows must have thought hell had busted
loose; and I reckon they wasn't fur wrong either. That
first one you struck, set his horse five seconds after his head
tumbled on his shoulders; and the side of his face that fell
next to me, looked like he hadn't made up his mind whether




262            BERNARD  LILE.
he was killed or not. I have had a hand in a good many
fights in my time, and ought to know something about
them; and I am keen to swear there's no ten men in Jack
Hays's regiment could do what you did."
"Pshaw, you did as much yourself."
"No I didn't. I never saw the day I was able. What's
more, if it hadn't been for you, I should have been sleeping
with Walker, instead of riding along here on the softest
bed I ever laid upon. I wish to God you would tell me
where you were brought up: and why it is that no living
thing can hurt you."
"I may tell you all about myself some day; but the
story is too long and too sad to be repeated here. Now
rest. You have talked enough for a wounded man."
As he spoke, the bridle rein was slackened-the impatient
animal cleared the ambulance at a bound, and the Ranger
was left to his own reflections.




BERNARD LILE.                        263
CHIAPTER XV
"The city is taken-only part by partAnd death is drunk with gore; there's not a street
Where fights not to the last some desperate heart,
For those for whom it soon shall cease to beat.
Here war forgot his own destructive art
In more destroying nature."
THE Mexican army, beaten before Huamantla, was too
much disorganized to  be again reassembled.   It was
scattered to the four winds of heaven.  A  considerable
detachment having taken refuge in Atlisco, General Lane
resolved, if possible, to surprise it, or failing in that, at
least to capture the munitions and supplies there collected.
It was near sunset when, after a long and fatiguing march,
his column appeared in sight of the town.  The hurried
ringing of bells, and other notes of preparation, indicated
that a desperate resistance was contemplated.  Ignorant
of the nature of the defences, and willing moreover to give
his wearied army the repose they so much needed, the
American general determined to delay the assault until
the following day.  Disposing his little force in such a
manner as to command the approaches by the main roads,
the men were ordered to lie down upon their arms, and
await the reappearance of daylight. In the meantime the
citizens were in a state of the most dreadful apprehension.
Believing from the disposition of the American army, and
the known character of its commander, that a night assault
was intended, sleep fled from their eyelids, and hurrying
feet and moaning cries gave token of the wild disorder'
within.  The garrison  exhibited a weakness almost as
abject.  Afraid even to trust a patrolling party beyond




264            BERNARD  LILE.
the walls, they resorted to the expedient of throwing out
fire-balls at brief intervals to light up the space around
them, and enable them to detect an approaching foe. The
invaders did not fail to notice these evidences of unmanly
fear, and augured rightly that the morrow's work would
be a light one. Major Lally, a giant New Englander, as
much distinguished for unfailing good-humor, as for dauntless courage, turned to a brother officer, with a broad grin
upon his countenance"It is my opinion that old Lane is violating the constitution of our country."
" How so?"
" He is inflicting cruel punishment upon the soldados
in yonder town, and I think Gen. Scott ought to courtmartial him for frightening the poor devils so unmercifully."
"What the devil would you have him do, major?" was
the laughing rejoinder.  "Do you want him to march in
and quiet their fears by cutting their throats by the light of
burning houses?"
The brow of the gallant soldier darkened.
" No," he said, "there was enough of that done at Huamantla. Vile and treacherous as they are, and richly as they
deserved it, I hope never to see another sight like that."
"It is not the first time they have deserved it, major.
For twelve long years they have broken treaties, murdered
prisoners, robbed and burned defenceless houses, and I am
glad they have learned at last that mercy may be overtaxed.
"I guess you are right.  I do not mean to question it;
but I do not want to have blood shed in that way upon my
hands. I would rather let Padre Jarauta practice at me
forty days more with his escopets."
You might do that without any great risk, unless the




]BERNARD  LILE.                   265
doctor slanders you.  He swears that the bullet which
struck you at the National Bridge, was mashed as flat as a
pan-cake, and that it made no more impression on your
jaw-bone than if it had been shot against an iron column."
"I'll make an impression on his with my knuckles," replied the major, with a good-humored smile, "if he continues to repeat that story. By the Lord, I did not eat a
pound of meat for a week, or drink a drop of whiskey for
double that time. I would like to see him put upon such
rations, if he thinks it is a thing to be laughed at."
" He would rather charge the heaviest battery at Atlisco
by himself to-morrow. By the way," he continued, " speaking of Padre Jarauta, what message was that you received
from him at Jalapa?"
" I sent him word, by an officer who had come in with
a flag, that, after shooting at me forty days in succession,
I thought I was entitled to a good dinner at his hands. He
sent me in a lamb and a turkey, with an apology for the bad
marksmanship of his men; saying, they were new recruits,
but he was drilling them daily, and hoped, that by the time
I started for Perote, they would be able to hit a man of
my size with tolerable certainty."
With a light laugh his companion walked away, and the
major stretched his huge form upon the ground, and slept
until the signal bugle once more waked the slumbering
host to conquest and to glory.
A little more than half a mile from the walls of Atlisco
there was a deserted Hacienda, to which was atttached a
small chapel with an enclosed grave-yard.  Within this
yard two companies of horse had taken up their temporary
quarters.  It was night when they entered, and picketing
their horses as well as the darkness allowed, they dropped
down to sleep among the silent graves. When morning
23




266             BERNARD  LILE.
came, Bernard Lile found that he had been reposing on a
tomb-stone, which bore the inscription,"El sepulchro de mi madre."
With a feeling of bitter contempt, the soldier ran his eye
over the letters.  "My mother's grave," he muttered.
"Shame upon the coward wretch who had feeling enough
to rear this monument, but lacked the nerve to defend it.
The hand which traced these words was in all probability
trembling behind that town's defences, while the slab its
owner ought to have died to protect from insult, was the
couch of a foreign foe. Great God will such a people long
be permitted to hold dominion over the fairest portion of
the globe?  Will the eagles now perched upon its hill
tops, or screaming over its valleys, again wing their flight
to the northward of the Rio Grande? Will party strife at
home, or a weak fear of senseless censures from abroad,
recal the immortal army which has planted the standard
of the republic upon the regal hill of Chepultepec, and
flung its glorious folds to the breeze from the halls of the
murdered Montezumas? A high mission will be unfulfilled
if one foot of the Aztec empire is restored to the despot
and his slaves. A great work will have to be commenced
anew; but it will be commenced, and it will be completed.
This land was not made to be the home of those who will
not defend the spot where reposes a mother's remains."
The Mexicans had kept up the amusement of throwing
out fire balls upon the plain until near midnight; by that
time the little courage they possessed had completely oozed
out. First, one or two at a time, then larger groups, slunk
off along the narrow sheep paths, and made their way into
the country. At daybreak not a soldier remained in the
town.  Without firing a gun, Gen. Lane marched in, and
took possession of the public property they were too much
terrified to destroy.




BERNARD  LILE.                  267
Affairs had by this time assumed such a shape in the
valley of Mexico as to remove all immediate necessity for
additional troops, and Gen. Scott ordered Gen. Lane to
assume the governorship of the department of Puebla, and
establish his head-quarters in that city of mobs and pronunciamentos. The repose thus granted enabled Lile to devote
his whole time to Tom Simpson, whose wounds turned out
to be much more grievous than he anticipated. A strong
constitution aided by care, and skilful treatment brought
him back from the brink of the grave.  He began to
recover, and Lile was enabled to calculate almost the
exact time when the stout backwoodsman would be able to
ride by his side through the ranks of war. In the meantime Col. Hays had landed at Vera Cruz with his Rangers,
and was making his way up to the new field of adventure
before him. The Mexican government had been removed
to Queretaro, and the American Commander-in-chief was
industriously engaged in organizing and drilling the new
recruits sent out by the States, preparatory to following
the steps of the flying congress. The rich mining regions
were as yet untouched, and a full harvest of glory was still
anticipated by the hardy soldiers of the republic. They
knew not that petty intrigues were at work in Washington
to darken the laurels the hero had gathered, and deprive
his country of nearly all the fruits of his hard won victories.
In the month of November Col. Hays came up with his
Rangers, and after a series of brilliant services, which it
does not fall within the scope of this history to record, was
ordered to the city of Mexico. With them went Lile and
Simpson. That regiment was the home to which they had
been accustomed-the men with whom they were familiar,
and to whom they were bound by the strongest ties. Moreover it was there alone they were annoyed by no disagree



268             BERNARD  LILE.
able regulations, and fettered by no troublesome require.
ments.
Three leagues from the city of Mexico, a high hill rises
out of the lake Tezcuco-the great causewaythrough the
lake touches its base-around this hill the Mexicans had
drawn three tiers of works, and" filled them with cannon.
The strength of the position had induced Gen. Scott to go
south about, and approach the city from the side of Chepultepec. It was now in the possession of the Americans, and
the formidable batteries had all been removed. At this
place the rangers halted for the night.  John Glanton was
standing on the causeway examining with the curiosity of
a first comer the hill, the lake, the great city, and the
towering mountains around. A heavy hand was laid upon
his shoulder, and Tom  Simpson said, in a voice which
boded mischief.
" Do you remember, John, taking a regular wolf snap at
my ear on the bank of the San Juan, at Monterey?"
"Can't say I recollect anything of the kind," answered
Glanton, laughing, and trying at the same time to jerk
away from the grasp that held him.
" I'll see if I can't refresh your memory."
Stooping with a quick motion he seized him by the leg
of the pantaloons, and raising him in his sinewy arms
pitched him out into the lake.
Practical jokes were too common in that rude camp, and
Glanton knew the stout hunter too well to exhibit the least
ill-temper, he struggled out of the lake, and scrambled up
the causeway, swearing it was a " d-.d careless trick."
"Why the devil," he said "didn't you give me notice, so
that I could have pulled off my revolver, and bowie knife.
This water is as salt as the Gulf of Mexico, and I shall
have two hours hard work to keep my documents from
spoiling with rust.'




BERNARD  LILE.                     269
"It took my ear more than two hours to get well,
Johnny, but if you have got anything fit to eat for supper
in your mess I will go with you, and help you clean up."
Scenes like these were of almost daily occurrence, and
instead of serving as a pretext for the fierce brawls that
not unfrequently disturbed other regiments, they bound the
individuals closer together and made that wild camp a
model of brotherly kindness. For one Ranger to possess
a days rations, or a canteen of aguardiente, while another
was destitute, was something they never learned to comprehend. From the Colonel down, everything, except their
horses, revolvers, and knives were common property. These
alone were sacred from any but the owner's touch. The
lonely frontier, where these soldiers were made, is now
thickly peopled by inhabitants as dissimilar from the first
settlers as it is possible to imagine. Ten years in the
history of any other nation passes unmarked and unnoted.
Ten years in America works out mighty results. This day
twenty years ago, (March 19th,) the roar of battle swept
over the prairie between the San Antonio and the Coleto,
and there were none to listen to the booming cannon, as it
sent death through the devoted ranks of the patriot band
under Fannin, save the wild deer, and the wild horse which
fattened among the flowery meadows the footsteps of man
seldom pressed. To-day a city casts its shadows upon the
turbid waters of the Rio Grande two hundred miles to the
westward, and all between, the springing crops, and the
grazing herds proclaim that the old Ranger's occupation
is gone. Not now is heard the gathering song,'Mount, mount and away,
O' the green prairies wide,
The sword is our sceptre,
The fleet steed is our pride.
23*




270             BERNARD  LILE.
A new race has come to take the place of the old. Are
they better?  No.  Are they more useful?  No.  Have
they added to the nation's strength, or the nation's real
wealth?  No.  Let dreaming moralists, or sickly sentimentalists preach as they may, the strong arm, the bold
heart, the life in the open air, the generosity that was never
overtaxed, and the friendship that never grew weary, are
poorly exchanged for the Dutch traffickers in tallow and
cheese, who have settled in the old homes of the free rovers
of the prairie.
An army of twenty thousand men was now assembled in
the City of Mexico.  The license of men unfettered by any
restraints except those of military discipline, made the
splendid capital anything but a pattern of morality. At
the Sociedad, and at the Bella Union, there assembled
nightly a throng, who, in the absence of the feverish excitement of the battle-field, eagerly trod the no less fiery
mazes of pleasure. In one suite of apartments the gambler
established his head-quarters.  Billiards, roulette, faro,
monte, and other games, held out their tempting baits, and
hooked their victims. In another, all the delicacies that
could gratify the female palate were exhibited. In another
were to be found the stronger stimulants, better suited to
the taste of the Northern soldiery. In still another a regimental band sent forth its music; but the stirring notes of
the charge have died away, and it is the soft waltz that
now floats upon the air.  The brilliant uniforms of the
officers are glittering in mingled radiance with the flashing
jewels that decorate the brows, and arms, and necks of the
dark eyed Senoritas. Voices, which have been heard above
the cannon's roar, are softened to a lover's pleading; and
arms that had shattered ranks of steel, now gently encircled
tapering waists, whose lines of perfect symmetry wooed
the fond caress.  Around the cool fountains of the Ala



BERNARD  LILEB.                   271
meda, where the struggling moonlight makes its way in
scattered patches to the earth, loving couples have stolen
away to bowers, which even the bright eyes of the stars
cannot penetrate, and there drink from luscious lips a
nectar sweeter than the dew of Hermon, or the dew that
descended upon the mountains of Zion.
In these light scenes, it is needless to say that Bernard
Lile did not mingle.  To him the fountain of pleasure was
as bitter as the waters of Marah, and he turned from it in
sad and severe reproof. Other employments better suited
to his taste were at hand.
The seventeenth of February, eighteen hundred and
forty-eight, was a stirring day in the City of Mexico. For
sometime rumors had been afloat that the general-in-chief
was about sending an expedition upon some secret service,
the nature of which none knew, but the character of the
officer to whom the command was assigned, gave assurance
of new dangers to be encountered, and new honors to be
won. In a large army, a report of the kind never fails to
excite the liveliest emotions.  Situated as the American
forces then were, these emotions acquired a degree of intensity seldom  equalled.  The hardy veterans, who had
waded through fire and blood to the capital of Mexico,
wearied with a " dull repose," were burning for new opportunities to gather the laurels of war; while their less fortunate countrymen, who had been denied participation in the
great battles of the preceding campaign, were hurrying
from the Sociedad to Paoli's, and from Paoli's to Laurent's,
vainly endeavoring to ascertain if at last there was "a
chance" for them.
On the morning of the 17th, it was made known that the
detachment was to consist of the Rangers, under Colonel
Hays, part of the third dragoons, and one company of
mounted rifles, under Major Polk, and a few officers from




272             BERNARD  LILE.
different corps, who had obtained leave to join the expedi.
tion as volunteers.  There is less of selfishness in the
character of the American soldier than in that of any other
living thing.  Those who expected to be detailed for the
service, and were disappointed, naturally gave vent to their
feelings in a few deep and bitter curses; but the next impulse was to hurry up and congratulate their more fortunate
fellow-soldiers. In giving and receiving these congratulations, together with the cordial interchange of friendly sentiments, the time passed gaily enough until the hour of
parting arrived. Then came clustering memories of hardships and perils encountered together, of kind words spoken,
and of good deeds performed through all the changeful
drama of a soldiers' life. Hands, joined it might be for the
last time, lingered in each other's clasp. Bold hearts felt
an inward sinking, and cheeks were blanched that had
never paled at the cannon's flash, as injunction after injunction was laid upon those who remained, to send this or
that article to a mother, or a sister, or a wife, if the chances
of battle should cut off its owner, and his body be left to
moulder beneath a foreign soil.
The parting cup was pledged and many a fervent " God
bless you," mingled with the bugle notes that sounded the
" advance." The gallant troops filed into the street leading
to the " great causeway," through the Garita of El Pinon,
and were soon lost to view. For the purpose of deceiving
the Mexican spies, or at least of leaving them in total
uncertainty as to his intended route, Gen. Lane moved
steadily along the road to Vera Cruz as far as the Hacienda
of San Felipe.  Returning upon his footsteps during the,night he made a dash to the right, hoping by forced
marches to surprise the town of Tulancingo, at which place
Paredes, Almonte, and Padre Jarauta were then understood
to be arranging some plan of operations against the Ame



BERNARD  LILE.                     273
rican forces. Early on the morning of the 22d he entered
the town without resistance, the enemy having by some
means obtained information of his approach, and hurriedly
evacuated the place. The bed in which Paredes had slept
was still warm, but the bird had flown. Allowing a brief
rest, to recruit his men and horses, the indefatigable partizan was in the saddle on the night of the 23d moving with
his accustomed celerity on Zicaultiplan, a town to the
northward of Tulancingo, whither Padre Jarauta with his
force of lancers had retired. A night march over a broken
and mountainous country is decidedly the most distasteful
duty in a soldier's career. The light laugh and the free
jest, or the gay notes of a joyous song, which rob the day
of a portion of its fatigues, are all wanting now. Every
thing catches from the night its sombre hues; and the
muttered imprecation, as a clumsy horse tumbles to his
knees, or a hanging branch scratches unexpectedly across
the face, is almost the only sound that breaks the stern
silence of the riders.  Darkly through that wild region
toiled on the warriors of the States: now clambering the
rough sides of a lofty mountain: now skirting the edge of
a dark chasm, where one misstep would plunge horse and
rider into an abyss of unknown depth: now recoiling from
the brink of a deep baranca which the darkness had hidden
from view, and painfully searching for a crossing place
among stones, brush, and thorny cactus: now sliding down
a sharp descent, and anon moving at a quibk trot along a
level space, the curses of the troopers, and the snorting of
the frightened horses, giving place to the jingling noise of
the steel scabbards striking against spur and stirrup. In
the midst of such impediments and discomforts slowly wore
away the night.  At day-break the general seized upon a
mountain Hacienda, and placing strict guard over every
inmate of the establishment to prevent them from spreading




274             BERNARD  LILE.
a report of his movements, gave the order for rest and
refreshment.  With the night the toilsome march was
resumed, over a country even more wild and rugged than
that they had already crossed with so much labor and peril,
but obstacles to men like them are only incentives to greater
exertion, and when the light streaks of dawn began to
appear in the east, on the morning of 25th, they were in
full view of the town. It had never entered the head of
Jarauta that so small a force would venture so far into the
interior over roads impracticable for artillery.  His lancers
were for the most part unarmed, and watering their horses
in the little stream near the town when Gen. Lane came in
sight.  The alarm  soon spread, and preparations were
rapidly made to  receive the adventurous Americans.
Entering at a gallop at the head of his command the
general was saluted by a heavy fire from a cuartel on the
right, which proclaimed that the famous guerilla chief,
though surprised and taken at advantage, was determined
to dispute the ground with his usual desperate courage.
Detaching a company of Rangers to engage and destroy
this outpost, the general passed on, side by side with the
daring Hays, into the heart of the town. From the housetops, from the doors and windows on each side of the
street a storm of bullets was poured upon them. Returning
the fire of the Mexicans only by an occasional shot when
some eager assailant incautiously exposed his person, the
Americans pushed forward with unabated rapidity for the
main plaza.  Here they were encountered by a body of
lancers under Jarauta in person; but as well might a
feeble barrier of sand be expected to stay the current of
the mighty Mississippi.  On went the Rangers, neither
sword nor lance in the right hand, but in lieu thereof the
terrible revolver, ready poised for its bloody work.  A
little nearer, and without a word of command; without a




BERNARD  LILE.                    275
signal, save the example of their leader, they poured in
their deadly fire, and, with a wild stout, burst with irresistible fury on the Mexican ranks.  Down went horse and
rider —down went lance and guidon. Like a tempest the
men of the States swept over them, and the gay uniforms
of the lancers, their red bonnets and gaudy plumes carpeted
the stone pavements of the plaza. For the success of this
charge Col. Hays had relied on the bone and muscle of
his horses even more than the dauntless intrepidity of his
men.  The enemy once broken and scattered, the battle
became a succession of single combats in which man after
man went down before the fire of the revolvers with appalling rapidity. Not a single lancer was unharmed. Jarauta
himself was twice wounded, and finally, after doing all that
courage and conduct could effect, made his escape almost
by a miracle.
In the meantime Major Polk was not idle. Dismounting
his rifles he entrusted to them the duty of storming a cuartel
where a party of the enemy were quartered, and charging
himself with the remainder of his command along the street
beyond the plaza, encountered and cut to pieces a body of
the enemy in that direction.  Here the sharp sabre did its
silent work, and the track of the dragoons could be distinctly traced by the mangled bodies that lined the way.
At one place a lancer, cloven through bonnet and skull,
cumbered the street-close by him was stretched a comrade
with his head nearly severed from his body, and the blood
gushing in dark torrents from the veins and artery through
which the keen blade had glided.  A little further on, a
horse cut down by a sabre stroke was gasping his life
away, while his master was groaning in concert from a
ghastly wound passing through  from  breast to  back.
Along the whole street the fierce horsemen had left bloody
tokens of their presence.




276              BERNARD LILE.
In still another quarter of the town a little squad consisting
of Truett, Chevallie, bIle, Simpson, and four or five others,
were slowly driving before them a Mexican force of more
than ten times their number. These were old Rangers of
the prairie and mountain, to whom a deadly conflict was
an everyday occurrence, and whose perfect coolness enabled
them  to take advantage of every post, stone, and doorfacing.  Armed with revolvers they had a fearful advantage
in the narrow street, over the escopetas of the foe, and
fearfully did they use it. Thirty-one Mexicans killed or
wounded attested the fatal accuracy and efficiency of their
weapons.  Pressing the enemy into a yard surrounded by
a high stone wall, and entering with them, with the daring
confidence of men who had tried each other in a thousand
scenes of carnage, steadily and coolly they gathered in the
harvest of death. The enclosure proved to be the stable
yard of a Posada in which were piled up large stacks of
straw for the use of the muleteers of that mountain region.
Both parties sought to avail themselves of the protection
these stacks afforded, and the consequence was that the
combustible material was soon ignited by the flashes of the
fire arms. Rapidly the flames were communicated to the
thatched roofs of the adjoining buildings.   The most
dreaded of the elements had come to the aid of man in his
work of destruction, and vast volumes of flame leaping over
alleys and streets, rolled on from house to house.  Women
and children lost their terror of the Americans before this
new and remorseless enemy, and throwing open their doors
and windows rushed wildly into the streets. The mother
with her babe clasped to her breast; the young girl with her
long hair floating over neck and shoulders; the little child
bare headed, and its feet dabbled in blood, it might be that
of a father-with shrieks, and tears, and prayers for mercy,
fled before the devouring element.   Silently the stern




BERNARD  LILE.                    277
warriors to whom death was a plaything, gave way before
the distracted throng. Silently they let the helpless human
tide pass on to seek shelter in the neighboring haciendas.
All felt that any offer of protection, or any effort at consolation would be a mockery; but many a heart unused to
pity swelled to the very throat, and many a bloody hand
instinctively put away the weapons of war as the piteous
crowd swept by.
The business of the day was over-Jarauta's band were
dead or captive, and Zicaultiplan fast crumbling into ashes.
Collecting his scattered troops in the main plaza, around
which the stone buildings with their tiled roofs were impervious to fire, Gen. Lane made his dispositions for a day of
repose.  The town burned on-heavy masses of smoke
hung in dark clouds above-the dying and the dead were
around; but amid all the soldier threw his tired limbs upon
his bed of blankets, and slumber, sweeter than an infant's
in its cradle, chased away all memory of the carnage and
the strife-all thought of the living wretches whose homes
were ashes.
24




278               BERNARD LILE.
CHAPTER XVI.
"They laid him in the earth, and on his breast,
Besides the wound that sent his soul to rest,
They found the scattered dints of many a scar,
Which were not planted there in recent war 
Where'er had pass'd his summer years of life,
It seems they vanish'd-in a land of strife;
But all unknown his glory or his guilt,
These only told that somewhere blood was spilt."
ON the peak of a high mountain, about seventy miles to
the northward of the city of Mexico, four men were seated
around a table in a Hacienda, on which were placed a
roasted turkey a platter of tortillas, and a stone pitcher of
pulque.  The four consisted of Bernard Lile, Tom Simpson, John Glanton, and a lieutenant of volunteers who had
accompanied Gen. Lane's expedition as an amateur. The
general himself had pushed on with Hay's Rangers and
Polk's Dragoons to Pachuca, where Col. Withers was quartered with a regiment of infantry, a field battery, and two
companies of the 3d dragoons.
" Guajolote, I think you said this place was named," said
Glanton, helping himself to the wing of the turkey.
"Hacienda del Guajolote," replied the lieutenant.
" Well, by God," rejoined the Ranger, "there never was
a place more appropriately named.  Turkey is the only
meat to be had about the premises, and the infernal Greaser
says that is all we can get in the morning."
"You are getting dainty, John," put in Simpson; "I've
seen the time when you would have thanked God for such
a meal as this."
"Very likely you have, Tom; and very likely you will
again.  But I know a greater variety is to be had here,




BERNARD  LILE.                  279
and I'll be d-n —d if I don't have it in the morning, or
I'll put your mark on this fellow's ears."
"There must be no violence, John," quietly remarked
Bernard Lile; "at least while you are with me.  Gen.
Lane is already seriously vexed at the accidental burning
of Zicaultiplan. The Mexicans will charge him with burning it designedly, and we must not do any thing to give
color to the accusation."
The supper was concluded without further conversation,
when the party adjourned to the stables to make a final
inspection of their horses before retiring for the night.
No armed parties of Mexicans had been heard of in that
vicinity since the capture of Zicaultiplan, and it was
believed that no roving band would dare to show itself so
near the American forces.  It was therefore more from
habit than any belief of its necessity that a sentry was
posted over the horses, while the other three returned to
the Hacienda, and threw themselves upon the couches
which had been prepared for them  by the sullen and
moody host. The room they occupied appeared to have
but one entrance, which opened upon the square court
inside, immediately fronting the stables, but about midnight Bernard Lile was startled by a gleam of light from
the opposite side of the room; raising himself upon his
elbow, he observed a concealed door slowly opening in the
wall, and directly afterwards a young girl of sixteen or
seventeen summers, stepped into the room; she walked
lightly by the bed, and discovering that he was awake,
whispered, "It is not good to sleep more, senior;" then
extinguishing the light, passed out into the yard.
A very few minutes sufficed to rouse John Glanton and
the lieutenant, and to call in Tom Simpson, who was on
guard at the stables. None of them doubted that danger
of some sort was impending, but the nature of that danger




280             BERNARD  LILE.
was a question of more difficult solution. Their first care
was to examine the door by which the girl had entered.
They found this to consist of a strong wooden frame, filled
with iron nails, driven into the wood, and painted so as to
resemble exactly the adjacent wall. With difficulty they
discovered the spring by which it closed, and opening it
looked out upon a sharp precipice on the face of the
mountain, accessible only by a very narrow and difficult
foot-path.' That will do," said Lile, after completing his examination of the premises; "Tom, do you and Lieut. -
take post at the outer gate-see that it is securely barred
and fastened, and that no one opens it from the inside.
John Glanton and I will make good this pass against more
men than can be assembled in these mountains on a few
hours' notice."
The lights were extinguished. Each one took the post
assigned him, and awaited with the patient watchfulness of
the cat the coming of the foe.
The moon was shining brightly overhead, but the thick
foliage of the mountain-side covered the earth with its
shadows, and the glimpses our watchers were enabled to
catch of the little pathway, were dim and indistinct. Presently there was a noise as of feet clambering over loose
stones, and then, where a little patch of moonlight fell
unobstructed through the trees, the flash of arms was distinctly visible. The party appeared to be about ten in
number, but Lile judged correctly, that there was a supporting party in the rear. When the advance had ascended
to the summit of the mountain, the leader paused and
seemed to hesitate.  The secret door was wide open, a
circumstance upon which he had not calculated, and which
excited rather unpleasant suspicions.  The dead silence
which reigned within quieted his apprehensions, and after




BERNARD  LILE.                    281
a brief consultation with his men, they again advanced.
They were now within five feet of the door when two revolvers, in quick succession, hurled as many victims to the
ground.  Two more followed, and the remainder of the
Mexicans, without firing a shot, rolled, rather than fled,
down the mountain.  Once under cover of the trees, they
commenced a harmless fire upon the doorway.  Their
friends from below also joined them, and the balls came
pattering thick and heavy through the narrow entrance.
Lile and Glanton did not attempt to return the fire, but
husbanded all their energies for the assault which they
supposed would soon be made.
At the first sound of firearms, Simpson and the lieutenant
had drawn themselves deep in the shadow of the arched
gateway. Directly hurrying steps were heard approaching
from the inside, and their host, rushing to the gate, began
with eager hands to unfasten the heavy bars. A grasp of
iron was laid upon his shoulder-he was drawn suddenly
back, and before he had time to utter more than a single
exclamation, the bowie knife of the hunter was buried in
his heart.
" Now," said Simpson, " one of us is enough to keep this
post, I'll go in to help the captain and Glanton."
Soon afterwards the firing from below ceased, and it
became evident that the enemy were preparing for a
" rush." Leaving the pathway, they climbed up the mountain, and collected in knots on each side of the door, where
they were completely sheltered from the fire of the defenders. At a preconcerted signal, they rushed into the
narrow entrance with levelled lances, and a wild yell, that
would have struck terror into hearts less bold and selfreliant than those opposed to them. At the first step they
were greeted by a deadly fire of revolvers, and then the




282            BERNARD  LILE.
heavy sabre of Lile, and the knives of Simpson and Glanton were applied with murderous fury. In less than two
minutes the dark passage was piled with ten ghastly
corpses, and their surviving comrades were flying in terror
from the bloody scene.
"They are gone this time," said Life, after a moment's
pause, "and will return no more. Strike a light, John,
and let us see what has been done."
His voice was calm and unruffled as if nothing extraordinary had occurred, and neither of his comrades suspected that he had received a scratch, much less that he
had a death wound in his bosom.. 
When the lights were brought, the dead bodies thrown
outside, and the secret panel closed, he sat down upon a
couch, and said,
"Bring me a basin of water, and tear a bandage from
one of these sheets. There is an ounce ball in my bosom,
which must prove fatal, but I do not want to die here.
We must do what we can to save my strength for the
journey to the city."
The wound was washed-it bled but little, and there
was a dark blue ring around the ragged edges, which, to
their experienced eyes, spoke too surely of approaching
death. When the bandage was securely fastened, Tom
Simpson turned away-the big tears were rolling down
his cheek, and his voice was choked and husky, as he
exclaimed,
"Oh I God, this is horrible."
"Not so, Tom," was Lile's reply.  "You and I have
inflicted a hundred such wounds in our day, and we knew
long ago that fate might well have in store something of
the sort for us."
John Glanton spoke not, but there was a deadly, snaky
glare in his eye, and none who knew him could have




BERNARD  LILE.                  283
doubted that he was revolving some scheme of wild and
fearful vengeance.
The premises were now searched, and a light cart with
a couple of mules procured to transport the wounded man
to the City of Mexico. This was filled with straw and
clothing from the hacienda, and soon after sunrise the
melancholy party took up the line of march for the headquarters of the American army. John Glanton had remained a little behind. At the first bench of the mountain
they paused to await his coming. A heavy smoke was now
rising from the hacienda.
" What have you done, John," asked Lile of Glanton, as
he rode up.
"Set fire to the d    d den of cut-throats in four
places," was the fierce reply, "and pitched the dead body
of the owner on the flames. It is well the Peons had fled,
or I should have piled them on alive."
" I am sorry for it. It will do me no good, and you
will remember it hereafter with sorrow."
" Not I," answered the reckless Ranger. " And besides,
if I had gone home and told my father that I had left one
rafter on that infernal hacienda, he would have disowned
his son."
Proceeding along the bench of the mountain, their attention was soon attracted by one of those natural phenomena,
which the dwellers on the plains never witness.
Around them  the sun was shining brightly, and the
heavens above were unmarked by a single cloud. Far
beneath them, midway between the valley and the mountain top, the tempest had gathered its army of clouds, and
the pall of night was over the land. Upon its dark surface, the lightning was tracing lines of terrible beauty, and
the loud artillery of heaven rolled upward from the vast
and gloomy depth. With wonder and awe they halted to




284             BERNARD  LILE.
gaze upon the wild sublimity of the scene. After awhile
the lightning played less fiercely upon the gloomy curtain
-the thick darkness began to disappear-slowly and sullenly, cloud after cloud detached itself from the blackened
mass-one by one they melted away, and lake, and field,
and hamlet, and city, lay stretched out before them, glowing and glittering in the glad light of the glorious sun of
the tropics.
" There, Tom," said Lile, slowly and thoughtfully, "is a
type of the life now drawing to its close. For many years
there was a curtain before my vision, which shut out all
things bright and beautiful, and was checquered only by
images as fearful as the pathway of the forked lightning.
I remember when I sought in vain to penetrate the future,
and catch but a single ray of hope. The tempest and the
night were there, and all beyond was darkness and sorrow.
But, thank God, he sent an angel to bring sunlight to an
overshadowed heart, and now, when about to stand face to
face with my Maker, I can join in the rejoicing song.'Lo I the winter is past, and the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing
of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our
land.'"
Simpson had ridden by the side of Lile, sad, silent, and
dejected. The certainty of the speedy death of his friend,
had bowed that iron man even to the dust, and he answered
his cheering words only with sobs and tears. Glanton and
the Lieutenant were also silent and moody. Neither replied
to the observations of their wounded comrade, but descended slowly and mournfully into the valley of Mexico.
For miles the country gave evidence of careful cultivation. White haciendas every where dotted its surface.
Plantations of magua, spread out on either hand, and
hedges of cactus added a wild and singular beauty to the




BERNARD   LILE.                    285
scene. The country was unscathed by war, and long lines
of pack mules, loaded with grain and other provisions for
the market in Mexico, thronged the roads.  But as the
party approached the head of Lake Tezcuco, a wide change
was manifest.  A  white salty coating crusted the earth.
Dreary marshes, through which struggled up a tough russet
colored grass, wearied the eye. Not a living thing was
moving on the wide expanse, and over all the hot sun
poured down his fierce and fiery rays.
" Far as the eye could reach, no tree was seen;
Earth clad in russet, scorned the lively green.
No birds except as birds of passage flew;
No bee was heard to hum, no dove to coo;
No streams as amber smooth, as amber clear,
Were seen to glide or heard to warble here."
The gloom and melancholy around accorded well with
the feelings in the hearts of the travelers, save that one on
whom the shadow of death even then was resting. From
time to time, he addressed cheering words to his comrades
-suppressed every utterance of pain, and spoke in a tone
of hope and confidence they had never heard him indulge
before.
At night, when they had stopped to rest in a lonely
hacienda, he called Simpson to the side of his couch, and
said,
"My strength is going, Tom, faster than I thought, and
I had better tell you now what I wish done when I am
gone.  Carry my body to the village of --, in New
Hampshire; search out one John Abbott, and tell him
that is all that remains of Bernard Lile.  He will know
what to do.  You know where my papers are, take them
with you. There is a will among them, dividing my propert} between John Abbott and yourself.  Read all you




28ga BERNARD   LILEfiad written there together, and when the perusal is ended,
commit all but the will to the flames. If you wish to know
anything more of the early history of the friend you have
served so faithfully, ask him, he will tell you. And now,
my friend, grieve not for me; my task on earth is fulfilled,
and it is fitting I ohould die thus. For many a year I have
not known en happy an hour as this.  There is an angel
waiting for me above, and that glad meeting will repay me
a thousand fold for all the trials, and sorrows of this life
below."
Simpson promised 311 that he was asked, but the sobs
that shook his sturdy frame, told how little he was able to
comply with the hard injunction not to mourn over the
doom of a friend he had loved so long and so well.
The next morning, Lile was much weaker, but very
cheerful.  He was placed in the cart, and on the road,
conversed, at intervals, with his companions in his usual
unimpassioned voice. He had been silent for some minutes,
when, as they approached the little town of Gaudalupe
Hidalgo, Simpson addressed him a question. There was
no answer-riding up to the sice of the cart, he laid his
hand upon his breast-almost instantly a cry of agony
rent the air, and the hunter fell from his horse, as if a rifle
ball had passed through his brain. Glanton rushed to the
aid of Simpson, and the Lieutenant approached the cart;
Bernard Lile was a corpse.  Calmly, peacefully, as an
infant in its slumbers, his spirit had passed away.
"He is gone," said the Lieutenant, as Glanton, after
assisting to recover Simpson, also approached.
"Yes I" said the Ranger, looking mournfully upon the
dead body, "the best soldier the world ever saw, or ever
will again, has left our camp forever."
Here, reader, we must let the curtain drop. There are
those still living to whom all that follows would be dis



BERNARD  LILE.                   287
tasteful. The after fate of the actors i the.wild scenes we
have painted, is not necessary to develope whatever instruction is to be drawn from the pages of this history, and
you must pardon us for not gratifying a curiosity which
would certainly bring sorrow to others, and no probable
benefit to you.
THE END.