Picture to the eye of your imagination this jumble of mixed nationalities – in their varied costumes of race, condition, and calling; jot in here and there a black-skinned scion of Ethiopia [111] , the body servant of some officer, or the emissary of a planter from the adjacent settlements; imagine them standing in gossiping groups, or stalking over the level plain, amidst some half-dozen halted waggons; a couple of six-pounders upon their carriages, with caissons close by; a square tent or two, with its surmounting fly – occupied by some eccentric officer who prefers sleeping under canvas; a stack of bayoneted rifles belonging to the soldiers on guard, – imagine all these component parts, and you will have before your mind’s eye a truthful picture of a military fort upon the frontier of Texas, and the extreme selvedge of civilisation.
About a week after the arrival of the Louisiana planter at his new home, three officers were seen standing upon the parade ground in front of Fort Inge, with their eyes turned towards the hacienda of Casa del Corvo.
They were all young men: the oldest not over thirty years of age. His shoulder-straps with the double bar proclaimed him a captain; the second, with a single cross bar, was a first lieutenant; while the youngest of the two, with an empty chevron, was either a second lieutenant or “brevet.”
They were off duty; engaged in conversation – their theme, the “new people” in Casa del Corvo – by which was meant the Louisiana planter and his family.
“A sort of housewarming it’s to be,” said the infantry captain, alluding to an invitation that had reached the Fort, extending to all the commissioned officers of the garrison. “Dinner first, and dancing afterwards – a regular field day, where I suppose we shall see paraded the aristocracy and beauty of the settlement.”
“Aristocracy?” laughingly rejoined the lieutenant of dragoons. “Not much of that here, I fancy; and of beauty still less.”
“You mistake, Hancock. There are both upon the banks of the Leona. Some good States families have strayed out this way. We’ll meet them at Poindexter’s party, no doubt. On the question of aristocracy, the host himself, if you’ll pardon a poor joke, is himself a host. He has enough of it to inoculate all the company that may be present; and as for beauty, I’ll back his daughter against anything this side the Sabine. The commissary’s niece will be no longer belle about here.”
“Oh, indeed!” drawled the lieutenant of rifles, in a tone that told of his being chafed by this representation. “Miss Poindexter must be deuced good-looking, then.”
“She’s all that, I tell you, if she be anything like what she was when I last saw her, which was at a Bayou Lafourche ball. There were half a dozen young Creoles there, who came nigh crossing swords about her.”
“A coquette, I suppose?” insinuated the rifleman.
“Nothing of the kind, Crossman. Quite the contrary, I assure you. She’s a girl of spirit, though – likely enough to snub any fellow who might try to be too familiar. She’s not without some of the father’s pride. It’s a family trait of the Poindexters.”
“Just the girl I should cotton to,” jocosely remarked the young dragoon. “And if she’s as good-looking as you say, Captain Sloman, I shall certainly go in for her. Unlike Crossman here, I’m clear of all entanglements of the heart. Thank the Lord for it!”
“Well, Mr Hancock,” rejoined the infantry officer, a gentleman of sober inclinings, “I’m not given to betting; but I’d lay a big wager you won’t say that, after you have seen Louise Poindexter – that is, if you speak your mind.”
“Pshaw, Sloman! don’t you be alarmed about me. I’ve been too often under the fire of bright eyes to have any fear of them.”
“None so bright as hers.”
“Deuce take it! you make a fellow fall in love with this lady without having set eyes upon her. She must be something extraordinary – incomparable.”
“She was both, when I last saw her.”
“How long ago was that?”
“The Lafourche ball? Let me see – about eighteen months. Just after we got back from Mexico. She was then ‘coming out’ as society styles it: —
“A new star in the firmament, to light and glory born!”
“Eighteen months is a long time,” sagely remarked Crossman – “a long time for an unmarried maiden – especially among Creoles, where they often get spliced at twelve, instead of ‘sweet sixteen.’ Her beauty may have lost some of its bloom?”
“I believe not a bit. I should have called to see; only I knew they were in the middle of their ‘plenishing,’ and mightn’t desire to be visited. But the major has been to Casa del Corvo, and brought back such a report about Miss Poindexter’s beauty as almost got him into a scrape with the lady commanding the post.”
“Upon my soul, Captain Sloman!” asseverated the lieutenant of dragoons, “you’ve excited my curiosity to such a degree, I feel already half in love with Louise Poindexter!”
“Before you get altogether into it,” rejoined the officer of infantry, in a serious tone, “let me recommend a little caution. There’s a ibête nor in the background.”
“A brother, I suppose? That is the individual usually so regarded.”
“There is a brother, but it’s not he. A free noble young fellow he is – the only Poindexter I ever knew not eaten up with pride, he’s quite the reverse.”
“The aristocratic father, then? Surely he wouldn’t object to a quartering with the Hancocks?”
“I’m not so sure of that; seeing that the Hancocks are Yankees, and he’s a chivalric Southerner ! But it’s not old Poindexter I mean.”
“Who, then, is the black beast, or what is it – if not a human?”
“It is human, after a fashion. A male cousin – a queer card he is – by name Cassius Calhoun.”
“I think I’ve heard the name.”
“So have I,” said the lieutenant of rifles.
“So has almost everybody who had anything to do with the Mexican war [112] – that is, who took part in Scott’s campaign [113] . He figured there extensively, and not very creditably either. He was captain in a volunteer regiment of Mississippians – for he hails from that State; but he was oftener met with at the monté-table [114] than in the quarters of his regiment. He had one or two affairs, that gave him the reputation of a bully. But that notoriety was not of Mexican-war origin. He had earned it before going there; and was well known among the desperadoes of New Orleans as a dangerous man .”
“What of all that?” asked the young dragoon, in a tone slightly savouring of defiance. “Who cares whether Mr Cassius Calhoun be a dangerous man, or a harmless one? Not I. He’s only the girl’s cousin, you say?”
“Something more, perhaps. I have reason to think he’s her lover.”
“Accepted, do you suppose?”
“That I can’t tell. I only know, or suspect, that he’s the favourite of the father. I have heard reasons why; given only in whispers, it is true, but too probable to be scouted. The old story – influence springing from mortgage money. Poindexter’s not so rich as he has been – else we’d never have seen him out here.”