The trip to Louisville was uneventful, yet significant. As Norton went aboard the boat, the captain touched his arm and whispered.
"Captain Norton?"
"Yes?"
"The lady——"
"Does not return with us, sir."
The captain stepped back and signed to his men. Of these there were ten—all big, bearded men who kept silent for the whole trip, though Duval tried to converse with them more than once. Nor did any address Norton after he was aboard. Save for the captain's orders, the trip was made in silence.
When they were rowing past the bluff behind which Red Hugh dwelt, Norton searched the woods in vain for any sign of his friends, and caught Duval's eye roving over the bluff as well. Buck Creek and Salt River were passed without stoppage, and when Norton offered to pay his passage, he was informed that it has been paid; Duval, a little later, was taxed a dollar, which he paid promptly. At length Sullivan's ferry swept by and Shippingsport hove in sight ahead.
Norton knew nothing of what had been going on in his absence, but there were a large number of craft, both keel and flatboats, in the Louisville harbour, while loading of freight was proceeding busily.
The skiff rowed in through the vessels to a wharf, and Norton saw a small figure in scarlet breeches and fustian greatcoat waiting for their landing. He leaped out with a cry of joy, and greeted Elisha Ayres with a strong grip of the hand. The little schoolmaster straightened his greasy wig, and turned to meet Duval with a low bow.
"Your servant, Mr. Duval!" he said, in his dry precise manner.
The lawyer bowed slightly, fastened his cold gaze on the pinched, twinkling-eyed face of Ayres, and passed on without speaking. With a chuckle, Ayres passed his arm under Norton's and turned.
"Come, Mr. Norton. Do not talk, if you please."
In no little wonder, Norton accommodated his step to that of the other, and they walked through the little town toward Louisville. Ayres placed no ban of silence upon his own tongue, however; he chattered volubly, pointed out various objects of interest, and paused at the top of the hill to turn Norton toward the harbour.
"Just to our right, Mr. Norton, is the Berthoud rope-walk—one of the finest, I may say, in the United States. There is Mr. Berthoud's residence just beyond us. Now from here we get a truly remarkable view of the shipping; you will observe that a half-dozen keels are being laden for New Orleans, under command of Commodore Peters. The outside craft is the gunboat of Captain Nevitt, which carries a small cannon. To the left you will see Captain Brookfield's horse-boat—a most ingenious contrivance, sir."
At length Norton caught the drift of all this volubility, and gazed at the "horse-boat" with no little interest. It was a large craft of forty tons, with an ungainly gallery on the upper deck. On this, as Ayres pointed out, six or seven horses worked a treadmill which in turn worked the large side-paddles, over each gunwale. The boat was a decided novelty, and as Brookfield had broken a number of paddles on his trip up-river, she would be delayed from joining the fleet under Peters and Nevitt, which was leaving in two days.
When Norton had finished his inspection, Ayres turned him toward the city again and they proceeded on their way. Duval had disappeared. Mindful of the rapidity with which things had happened to him on his previous visit, Norton kept a watchful eye on the passers-by; he had an uneasy sense of being watched, and perceived that an unduly large proportion of the men were roughly dressed but excellently armed. It seemed to him that Duval must have filled the town with his own men, and things began to loom up darkly before him.
"These, sir, are the hanging gardens of Mr. Buttet"—and Ayres paused as they reached the lower end of town, speaking in his usual oratorical style and with a sweep of his hand toward the handsome brick house to their left. "From here we gain an excellent view of the river—one of the finest views in the United States, I may say, sir. Yonder you perceive Jeffersonville in Indiana; a little to the left, the magnificent falls of the Ohio. Beyond this, Clarksville and the Silver Creek hills, with the forests and Rock Island completing the panorama. And just ahead of us, sir, an interesting episode is about to be enacted, if I mistake not."
Norton, who was paying little heed to the view but much to what passed around him, loosened his knife in its sheath; the "interesting episode", he concluded swiftly, would be enacted by something better than fists. Lounging on the board walk a dozen yards ahead, and eyeing him with insolent and provocative glances, were two huge rivermen. Both were idly whittling at small sticks, and Norton had no doubt of their intent.
Fastening his eyes on the pair and already angered by their insolent looks, he flung off Ayres's restraining hand and stepped forward. Then, however, something very odd took place.
Swinging around the corner at which the two rivermen stood, came three tow-clad farmers with a snatch of drunken song. One of them lurched heavily against the nearer riverman, who shoved him away with a snarling curse.
"Who—who you shovin'?" demanded the farmer thickly.
"Git out, ye drunken fool," snapped the big riverman angrily, his eye was still on Norton. "Move on—we ain't got time to spend on ye."
"Whoop-ee!"—and the farmer gave vent to a wild howl of rage. "Hurray fer Jefferson! Damn the Democrats! Shove me, will ye? I'll learn ye! I'm a cross betwixt a streak of chain-lightning and a bear-cat! I was sired by a thunderbolt an' riz by an alligator an' I eats rattlers fer breakfast—whoop-ee!"
With which peroration he gave the riverman no chance for the usual exchange of personal history, but with an astonishingly accurate blow for a drunken man landed his right on the riverman's jaw. His two companions instantly fell upon the second riverman and with a whirlwind of blows and dust and flashing knives and yells, all five drove out into the street and left the sidewalk clear.
"Come, sir"—and Norton felt Ayres pluck his arm. "They will lodge the two men in jail, but we must not be detained as witnesses."
In a flash the real meaning of the scene broke upon the Louisianian, and with a grunt he strode off beside Ayres. Something most amazing must have happened in the city of Louisville, he thought. A week previously, mention of Blacknose had been enough to get a man his death; now, two members of the mysterious gang were openly assaulted in the streets! His last view of the combat, through the gathering crowd, showed one of the farmers perched on the body of a riverman and industriously gouging for the eyes of his enemy in true border fashion.
Five minutes later Norton found himself led toward a good-sized brick house which stood back from the street amid spacious gardens. This, announced Ayres, belonged to Mr. Tarascon, a prominent merchant, who expected Norton as his guest. Comprehending dimly that the schoolmaster must have moved with tremendous activity in his absence, the Louisianian strode up the steps to be greeted quietly by a small elderly Frenchman—no other than the owner of the place. He was unmarried, it appeared, and when Norton addressed him in his own tongue, he cried effusively that the house no longer belonged to him but to his honoured guest. Moreover, the words were quite sincere.
The afternoon being practically over, Tarascon and Ayres accompanied Norton to his room—a spacious bedroom on the ground floor, and there left him with a darkie to attend his personal wants, and a great variety of clothes to choose from. With a sigh of relief, Norton bathed and discarded his buckskin for a plum-coloured suit; he was a gentleman once more in place of a woods rover; and when he inspected the cravat which the grinning darkie had adjusted, he could scarce believe that at daybreak he had been sitting in a canoe with an acknowledged Indian-slayer, rifle in hand. The day was far from done, however. When he was dressed, the negro ted him through a dark corridor to two rooms blazing with candles: one a dining-room of gigantic size, the other an equally large music-room. Still blinking at the lights, Norton found his hand gripped by Audubon and then perceived that he had come into a gathering of men.
"Gentlemen, Captain John Norton!" announced Mr. Tarascon, and turned, smiling. "Perhaps you had best introduce our friends piecemeal, Mr. Audubon!"
A dozen men were present—Colonel Taylor, Rosier, Ayres, and others of the Louisville merchants to whom Audubon introduced the Louisianian. Colonel Boone had returned home to Missouri, while Norton found that his friend, Zach Taylor, had been ordered to Vincennes to join General Harrison; barely had he been made acquainted with all there, however, when Colonel Taylor rose and with a gesture obtained silence.
"Mr. Norton"—and it was easy to see that the old border fighter felt bitterly the shame of his words—"when you were here last, this town was in a peculiar state, sir. As you are only too well aware, the very name of Blacknose spread terror; men were murdered and property destroyed almost with impunity; the secrecy of this gang of river-pirates and its thorough organization seemed to hold us all spellbound. I acknowledge it with shame, sir. Then, with your coming, all this was changed."
As Colonel Dick paused, Norton felt himself the centre of attention. He was himself too interested in what was coming to heed this, however, and merely nodded.
"You had barely arrived, Mr. Norton, when an attempt was made upon your life; a few hours later you were accused of a dastardly murder and only the quick wit of Mr. Ayres threw the pursuers from your track. We had given you up for lost, sir, when Mr. Audubon returned to town and at once communicated with Mr. Ayres. The result, you see here."
"I fancy I have seen the results before this," smiled Norton drily, and told of the encounter he had witnessed in town. A quick nod passed around.
"We can trust every man here," declared Audubon quietly but impressively. "The grounds of this house are guarded by armed men, Norton——"
"But how do you know they can all be trusted?" demanded the Louisianian keenly.
"Because, sir," spoke up Ayres, "Mr. Audubon and I enlisted them personally. We went up-river and carefully selected only those who had lost brothers or sons or fathers with the boats which have vanished down the river. Every man of us here has sustained heavy losses in property from the same cause. In short, sir, we have raised a company of Regulators, with which to exterminate this pestilent Blacknose gang."
Norton whistled to himself, eyeing the energetic little schoolmaster in some admiration as the whole thing broke over his mind. So then, they were fighting secrecy with secrecy, organization with organization!
Now he understood a good deal which had mystified him—the words of Kitty Grigg, the odd silence of his boatmen, the manner in which the two bellicose rivermen had been disposed of. Ayres had been swift and clever, also; by enlisting only the relatives of the men who had disappeared with their boats, during the past two years, all possibility of treachery was removed and the "Regulators" were certain to be animated by a live hatred of Duval—but did they know of Duval yet? Norton flung a quick glance around and found all waiting for him to speak. "How many here know who Blacknose is, Audubon?"
The words were like a shock; Norton needed no other answer to his question than the startled questioning look which ran over the faces in a flash.
"Only Ayres," returned the bird-lover, gravely. "It is a thing we cannot prove definitely, and it would be much better to destroy the whole gang at one blow. We will lay our suspicions before these friends of ours to-night, and take counsel."
While Audubon was speaking, a white-haired negro flung back the curtains which shut off the dining-room, and now announced dinner. Mr. Tarascon rose.
"Then—you have ascertained something definite, Mr. Norton?"
"Yes. I may say that we have ascertained everything."
In the startled silence all grouped themselves about the long table, Norton sitting between Tarascon and Ayres. Then, while the deft silent negro slaves waited upon them and the long dinner was discussed, Norton and Audubon related what they had overheard on the bluff near the blazed cottonwood, the Louisianian adding the conversation between Grigg and Duval that same morning.
Being wealthy and very hospitable in a land then noted for its inhospitality, Mr. Tarascon had provided his best wines for the occasion, both of French and Spanish. In consequence, certain honest merchants, who were more accustomed to home distilled corn liquor, drank wisely but too well of the rarer vintage; and no sooner had the two friends finished their tale than the table leaped into wild uproar.
For this, Norton was by no means sorry. The issue came squarely forward; Was it possible that Charles Duval could be in alliance with such a gang of thieves and pirates? To many of those present it was hard of credence; and one estimable old merchant, who wore a high black stock, a red peruke, and a coat cut in the fashion of the nineties, arose and pounded the table in vinuous indignation.
"Gentlemen, I refuse to believe this monstrous concoction!" he roared fervidly. "I have known Charles Duval for ten years, and I knew his father before him. Our friend and esteemed neighbour Henry Clay, now a member of Congress, knows him——"
"Yes, Clay knows him?" broke in a loud laugh from someone. "Clay knocked him down in front of the courthouse at Lexington last summer——"
"I refuse to believe it!" continued he of the black stock. "This charge is not proven, my friends. I will go and bring Charles Duval himself to deny it to your face——"
And shaking his fist, the angry old merchant shoved back his chair and started for the door. Norton would have sprung up to check him, but was restrained by Audubon's hand; the others glanced at one another in wondering fear, bewildered. Were the merchant to carry out his purpose, ruin was certain to fall upon them; yet Tarascon only sat at the head of the table and smiled as he sipped his wine. And, as the merchant flung open the door, it was seen to be guarded by a tall tow-clad man and barred by a rifle.
"Sir—Mr. Tarascon—what means this!" spluttered the merchant, turning.
"It means, sir, that my cellars are wide and my caution is wider," returned the host with only a veiled threat. He smiled very politely but his eyes were keen as he glanced at the men who lined the table.
"Gentlemen," he went on quietly, "you can readily understand that whether Mr. Norton and Mr. Audubon are correct or not in their suspicions, no word of what we are about must come to Mr. Duval. Each man of you here to-night is a gentleman; before you leave this house, you pass me your words to that effect. Else, you do not leave. It is very simple. We are going to stamp out this damnable river piracy, and I promise you that every justice shall be done Mr. Duval. Sir, pray return to your seat. Boy, fetch that Oporto I had from New Orleans last fall."
Norton, watching, perceived that he had fallen among men of weight. Tarascon was obeyed by the angry merchant, amid a grave silence, and Colonel Taylor was the first to pledge his word to secrecy. One by one the others followed suit, after which Elisha Ayres rose, pledged Norton's health in his grandiloquent manner, and fell to discussing the plan which he had already elaborated with Audubon.
This plan of action needed co-operation by the merchants there gathered, and it was based upon Norton's own idea. Brookfield's horse-boat was to be chartered and laden with a particularly valuable cargo, in which lading each of the merchants should risk an equal share. Brookfield himself was a man above suspicion, already enrolled in Ayres's "Regulators", and willing to risk his craft in the venture.
The boat would be another three weeks in lading, or perhaps less. Thus ample time would be given Blacknose in which to learn of its rich cargo and prepare an ambuscade. At Henderson the boat would secretly pick up twenty of the "Regulators", who would stow themselves below-decks in readiness for an attack.
Norton was to ship openly as a passenger, spreading abroad the report that his visit to Louisville had been barren of results, and in the meantime he was to remain as the guest of Tarascon in Louisville. Ayres drily assured him that he would be well guarded. With her rich cargo, the boat would be almost certain to be attacked; all that was necessary was for a prisoner or two to be made, in which case they would turn State's evidence and the rest of the gang could be hunted down readily enough.
"Once we ascertain definitely who Blacknose is," said Audubon, "we cut off the whole affair. Personally, I have no doubt of the matter; but to those of you who cannot believe Duval guilty, I would say—wait. This whole matter must be conducted with the greatest secrecy; let no hint of it get to your slaves, for the gang no doubt has many of our slaves in its pay."
"It's a good plan," stated Norton thoughtfully, frowning. "Almost too good, my friends. We must not overplay our hand—do not say too much about the rich cargo, for example. Duval, or Blacknose, is no fool! The thing seems all cut and dried, and that is why I fear—well, wait and see. When the time comes, we can show no mercy; that gang is pitiless, more savage than the redskins, and from the moment Brookfield's boat casts off her moorings at Shippingsport it becomes a war to the knife. Well, gentlemen"—and with a smile he rose, glass in hand—"for the rest of this evening let us cast care aside, and so allow me to propose a toast to the gentleman whose wig sets awry over a very excellent set of brains—Mr. Elisha Ayres, gentlemen!"
And the toast was drunk standing, while the little schoolmaster wriggled in huge delight and tried to straighten his greasy wig. None the less, Norton remained thoughtful that evening—for he could not forget the girl with gold-red hair whose hand had come to his lips that day, and whose gage he wore inside his shirt.