[figure description] Page 165.[end figure description]

PIRATE'S RENDEZVOUS—CAPTIVES—STANZAS—SCENE IN A GROTTO.

The scenery of the north-eastern portion of the
Gulf is varied by immense gorges, flanked by precipitous
cliffs, indented with caverns, many of which are
of great extent, sometimes penetrating into the bosom
of the rocky ridges several hundred feet. The
Cibao mountains, an elevated range, commencing
near Cape Espada, terminate at Cape St. Nicolas,
on the extremity of the most northern of the two
western tongues of the island. At this point the
main spine of the mountain separates into several
precipitous promontories, one or two of which end
abruptly at the sea-shore, over which they form precipices
many hundred feet in height.

These cliffs share the peculiar features of the wild
scenery of this region, and caverns, and rocky ravines,
nearly enclosed above, are excavated by the hand
of nature, or some convulsion of her empire, in great
numbers along their bases. The loftiest of these
Alpine branches, after running out an isolated mural
precipice into the sea, for more than half a league,

[figure description] Page 166.[end figure description]

ends in a bluff about three hundred feet in height,
the edge of which, covered with rich woods, juts
several yards out over the perpendicular face, like a
stupendous roof. Beneath, the water was very deep
and clear, displaying, to one looking down from the
cave, thousands of many-coloured sea shells.

About twenty feet above the surface of the water,
the face of the rock receded, leaving a terrace, against
which a vessel might lie so closely, that one could
step from it on to her yards. This terrace was about
thirty feet broad, and upon it frowned a heavy gun
placed on a carriage. Beyond it opened the mouth
of a vast cavern, which, with many sinuosities,
penetrated far into the base of the cliff. The entrance
was irregularly formed, in shape somewhat
resembling a gothic gateway, though of gigantic
dimensions. In front of this entrance spread the
broad gulf of Gonares, which flowed unbroken
to within about half a mile of the cavern, where
it met, with a loud roar, two nearly parallel
ridges of high rocks, extending from the base of the
cliff, leaving a narrow, deep passage from the sea
for small vessels, quite to the foot of the rock, or vestibule
of the grotto beneath, in front of which, widening
into a small basin, it formed a safe and convenient
shelter.

This cavern had long been used by the buccaneers
as a general rendezvous---a repository for their
treasures, and a prison for those captives whom they
detained for the purpose of drawing ransom for their
liberation. Here also they resorted to repair their
vessels, and to receive the instructions of Lafitte,
who made this rendezvous of his fleet only second
to that of Barritaria. To this scene we now transport
our readers---about a week after the expedition
against the villa of Señor Velasquez.

The principal apartment of this grotto consisted
of an interior chamber, illuminated by a solitary

[figure description] Page 167.[end figure description]

lamp, burning in a projecting shelf of the cave. It
was about forty feet in diameter, and nearly circular,
rising into a lofty dome, from the nave of which
hung a stalactic mass of open work, resembling a
huge chandelier---as it reflected in numerous brilliant
points the rays of the little lamp beneath.

Crystalized icicles, and innumerable fanciful
stalactic creations, hung around the chamber---pilasters
of the same beautiful material, terminating in
half-formed arches, stood out in fine relief from the
dark sides, united by delicate lattice-tracery. The
dome itself was carved, with the accuracy of architecture
into the richest fret-work. Shaded niches
were half concealed by exquisitely arranged folds
of thin plates of stalactite. The roof was open to
the blue sky, through which one or two trembling
stars could be seen glancing among the waving
foliage. Vast rocks lay upon the floor of the room,
fallen, apparently, from deep niches in the sides and
ceiling, while regular forms, like statues, pedestals,
and columns, either stood, or were strewed about the
chamber. At the extremity of the cave, a small,
glittering cascade of water gushed from a crevice
in the side, and with a monotonous sound, rung upon
the rocky pavement beneath, and after flowing over
it, like running glass, for a few feet, disappeared in
a deep pit opened in a recess of the cave, and could
be heard, after long intervals, reverberating in the
vast depths, as it leaped from shelf to shelf, till the
sound was lost in the bowels of the earth.

One side of the cave was covered by fantastic
stalactic drapery, which fell in a broad sheet to the
floor.

The only entrance to the cavern, before which
paced a sailor-sentinel, was narrow, and lighted near
the outside by a lamp, which had once hung in a
ship's cabin, suspended from the low ceiling. From
this passage branched others, for a short distance,

[figure description] Page 168.[end figure description]

terminating sometimes in small rooms, at others in
deep pits and mere crevices in the rock. Many of
these branches, or lesser caverns, contained chests,
tables,chairs, arms, and garments, strewn about---
hammocks, cooking utensils, and other indications
of being occasionally occupied. Naval and military
weapons, with a few articles of ship furniture, were
scattered about the room, and bales of goods were
piled in recesses around the cavern.

In one of these recesses, terminated by a stalactic
sheet, almost transparent, dropped from the low
roof to the rocky pavement, and forming one side
of the niche, was spread a strip of rich carpet, strewn
with bamboo leaves, upon which reclined a figure,
half obscured in the gloom of the deeply-shaded
vault, buried in sound, but feverish sleep. His head
was uncovered, displaying a profusion of chesnut
hair; his brow was pale, and his eyelids and temples
were transparent from illness. His form was
partly wrapped in a dark blue cloak, upon the folds
of which rested his left arm, bandaged as though
to protect a wound. The rays of the lamp in the
larger chamber, half interrupted by the projecting
sides of the niche, fell obliquely across the upper
part of his face, leaving the lower portion in deep
shadow. A broken sabre and a shattered pistol lay
near him, the relics of a recent fierce conflict between
the prisoner, for such he was, and the young
Spaniard Martinez, his captor, in attempting to
escape from the cave.

There was a deep silence in the cave, uninterrupted
save by the breathing of the sleeper, which was
irregular, and occasionally the low rumbling of the
distant surf, reverberating along the passages, and
nearly lost before it came moaningly into the inner
chamber of the grotto.

Suddenly the silence was broken by a low voice,
apparently from some concealed recess, singing a

[figure description] Page 169.[end figure description]

plaintive air. The words were Castillian, and
flowed from the lips of the invisible singer with
melancholy cadence.

The voice was soft and silvery in its tones, yet
the sleeper, like one on whom a finger is lightly

[figure description] Page 170.[end figure description]

laid, started and opened his eyes as the first notes
fell upon his ear, and gazed wonderingly around
him, as if spell-bound, until the last tremulous notes
ceased, and silence reigned again throughout the
solemn vault.

“Do I dream—that voice!—it is hushed!—I
must be dreaming!” he exclaimed, starting with
energy and strength from his couch, and gazing
wildly around him “Ah! it was but a sweet
dream---this cave! this wounded arm---alas! I am
a prisoner! Kind heaven, I thank thee for this
happy dream!” he exclaimed, fervently. “And is
it indeed a dream?---may not her released spirit
have been hovering over me in my sleep, and soothing
my burning slumbers with that air I loved to
hear her sing on earth. Oh, blessed spirit!” he
fervently cried, under the influence of his fevered
imagination, dropping upon his knee, “if thou art
indeed near me, bless me with that angelic melody.
Sweet Constanza! if I may not see thee, let me
hear thy voice once more!”

“Who calls upon the name of Constanza?” fell
upon his ear, in the liquid and melancholy accents
of the song.

“Mon Dieu! it is---it is she!” he exclaimed;
identity of circumstances, and places, and recollection
of the causes which brought him there, suddenly
returning. “It is---it is she---Constanza!
Constanza! speak! are you there?” he cried, turning
to the side of the niche from which the voice
proceeded, and placing his lips to the thin stalactic
wall. “It is D'Oyley that addresses you!”

“Alphonse!---my own Alphonse!” she exclaimed,
her voice trembling between hope and fear;
“can it be you?---no! no! Alphonse is far, far
away, and knows not the fate of his poor Constanza!”

“God of heaven! it is indeed Constanza!”

[figure description] Page 171.[end figure description]

exclaimed the count, assured. “Dear Constanza, I
have come to release you---it is your own Alphonse!
and no other! Is there no way of getting to you?”
he cried, suddenly endowed with almost supernatural
strength, at the same time eagerly seeking
some mode of ingress to that part of the cavern
where she was evidently imprisoned. There was
no reply from within to his anxious inquiry.

“Tell me, Constanza,” he continued, raising his
voice; “Do you know the passage that leads from
without to your apartment? Direct me, and I will
pass out---master my guard---enter, and rescue you!
Speak---dear Constanza!” he earnestly added; but
the echoes of his own voice through the hollow
cavern, only replied to his eager words.

`She must have fainted, or---Heaven be blessed!
here is a passage!” he added, with delight, as his
eye glanced from the stalactic drapery separating
the vaults, to a heavy iron pike which lay upon the
pavement; “this shall do my purpose!” and seizing
the weapon, he struck with violence upon the transparent
and brittle surface of the wall, and repeating
the blow, with additional force, the stalactic sheet
gave way, broken and shattered like ice. In a few
moments, under his heavy strokes, a breech was
made through the partition, and a stream of light
passed through the aperture into his part of the
cave. Inspired to greater exertions by this success,
he redoubled his efforts. But finding his strength
failing before he could effect an opening sufficient
to admit his body, he cast his eyes round for some
more powerful agent and they rested upon a broken
spar leaning against the side of the outer cavern.
This he grasped, and with all his remaining strength,
bore it heavily against the breech, when, after repeating
his efforts, a large mass fell inward and
left a broad opening. With an exclamation of

[figure description] Page 172.[end figure description]

joyful surprise, he sprung through the passage into the
apartment.

It was an immense chamber, dimly lighted by a
lamp, suspended, in chains, from the low ceiling.
The walls, where they were not stuccoed with grey
stalactic incrustations, were black. He paused a
moment at the entrance, to give his vision power to
perceive, through the mysterious half-illumined
darkness, the dimensions and details of the vault.

Through a large crevice above, he saw, faintly
shining into the aperture, the moon, which, probably
associated with the thoughts of her lover,
suggested the song he heard. There appeared one
inlet to the apartment, on the opposite side, which
was now closed by a heavily barred door. In the
centre of the chamber, under a kind of canopy
made of canvass, was spread a rug, dyed of many
brilliant colours. An old negress sat upon her
heels, at the side of it, fast asleep, yet waving over
the unoccupied carpet, a tuft of feathers. A basket
of fruits, and a silver basin of spring water, stood
near her, and various costly articles for the toilet,
and a clasped missal and a guitar, lay upon a velvet
cushion, placed at the head of the mat.

There was no other furniture in the vast cavern,
which was silent and desolate—its distant extremities
scarcely perceptible in the perpetual darkness
which reigned there.

“Where has she disappeared?” exclaimed the
lover, as his eye surveyed these details, without
meeting the object he sought. Springing into the
chamber, he started! as, lying by the side of a
fallen stalactic pillar, he saw the lifeless form of the
Castillian maiden.

He kneeled by her side, and placed his lips upon
her own. They were scarcely warm with life, and
the throbbing of her breast was faint, and her pulse,

[figure description] Page 173.[end figure description]

as he pressed his finger upon her wrist, was like
the dying vibration of a harp-string. Raising her,
he bore her to the canopy, and placed her upon the
humble couch, which, by the kindness of Theodore,
had been placed in the chamber, awakened
the old negress, and, with her aid, after a long time,
restored her to consciousness.

“Blessed Maria! where am I?” faintly inquired
the maiden, as she gazed around her.—“And
did I hear his voice—can it be real!—oh! it was
too much!—too much joy!”—and she looked
eagerly up into the face of the negress.

“Juana, is it only you?” she added, in a disappointed
tone. “Of what was I thinking?” And
again she closed her eyes, as if endeavouring to
recal some pleasing vision. “Did you not hear a
voice, Juana? It was his,—yes! it must have
been his! I thought it Lafitte's—he can speak
like him, when he will, but it was his. D'Oyley's!
my own Alphonse's!”

“Alphonse is near you, dear Constanza! look
up,” said the count, and she felt her hand pressed
ardently, while a warm kiss was imprinted upon
her lips.

Opening her eyes, and fixing them full upon her
lover, who had retired a little, when animation first
returned, lest his sudden presence, like the sound
of his voice, should again throw her into insensibility.

“Is it, indeed, Alphonse?” she joyfully exclaimed,
and, for a few moments, the lovers remained
locked in each other's arms.

“What,” she at length said, “have I not suffered!”

“I know it. I know all, Constanza! but, let us
think of escape,” he added---“Can you sit up?”—
and raising her from the mat, sat beside her upon
the cushion.

[figure description] Page 174.[end figure description]

“Oh, what have I not suffered!” she repeated,
leaning her head upon his shoulder, and bursting
into tears. “I know not how, amidst all the dreary
scenes I have passed through, I have retained my
reason. And yet I live! and bless thee! dear
Maria! all I love on earth, is by my side—my own
Alphonse!” And she pressed him to her bosom,
as if she feared he would again be separated from
her.

“And still, my Constanza! in all these wild
and fearful scenes—surrounded by such beings---in
the power of such men---still, my Constanza? Forgive
me, sweet one! but if you have suffered
wrong, dearly shall you be revenged!”

“Constanza is still the Constanza you left her!”
she cried, with emotion, while the rich blood mounted
to her cheek, as she hid her face in his bosom;
“although a prisoner, I have been treated with
honour,” and, as she spoke, truth and innocence
were written upon her pure brow, too plainly to be
misconstrued---and, clasping her in his arms, he
exclaimed, “Too much happiness! Protector of
the innocent!” he added, looking upward, “I
thank thee!”

We will briefly pass over the story Constanza
related to her lover, in which she detailed the incidents
connected with her first capture from her father's
roof---her liberation by the pirate---her second
capture by one of his vessels, and her landing, the
day before, at the cave. She also informed him
of the departure of the vessel, which captured her,
on another expedition---spoke of her lonely and desolate
situation in the cavern, whither she was conveyed
on leaving the vessel, and, in grateful terms,
mentioned the kindness of young Théodore, who
visited her occasionally, and had shown those
attentions to her comfort, with which she was

[figure description] Page 175.[end figure description]

surrounded, and alsosecured to her, not withstanding the
objections of the pirate, Sebastiano, the attendance of
old black Juana; who, with a fidelity, peculiar to
the negro, had never left her from the time of her
capture.

Previous section

Next section