THE AMBUSCADE
The half-blood Faringhea, wishing doubtless to escape from the dark thoughts which the words of the Indian on the mysterious course of the Cholera had raised within him, abruptly changed the subject of conversation.His eye shone with lurid fire, and his countenance took an expression of savage enthusiasm, as he cried: "Bowanee will always watch over us, intrepid hunters of men! Courage, brothers, courage! The world is large; our prey is everywhere.The English may force us to quit India, three chiefs of the good work--but what matter? We leave there our brethren, secret, numerous, and terrible, as black scorpions, whose presence is only known by their mortal sting.Exiles will widen our domains.Brother, you shall have America!" said he to the Hindoo, with an inspired air."Brother, you shall have Africa!" said he to the negro."Brothers, I will take Europe! Wherever men are to be found, there must be oppressors and victims--wherever there are victims, there must be hearts swollen with hate--it is for us to inflame that hate with all the ardor of vengeance! It is for us, servants of Bowanee, to draw towards us, by seducing wiles, all whose zeal, courage, and audacity may be useful to the cause.Let us rival each other in devotion and sacrifices; let us lend each other strength, help, support! That all who are not with us may be our prey, let us stand alone in the midst of all, against all, and in spite of all.For us, there must be neither country nor family.Our family is composed of our brethren; our country is the world."
This kind of savage eloquence made a deep impression on the negro and the Indian, over whom Faringhea generally exercised considerable influence, his intellectual powers being very superior to theirs, though they were themselves two of the most eminent chiefs of this bloody association.
"Yes, you are right, brother!" cried the Indian, sharing the enthusiasm of Faringhea; "the world is ours.Even here, in Java, let us leave some trace of our passage.Before we depart, let us establish the good work in this island; it will increase quickly, for here also is great misery, and the Dutch are rapacious as the English.Brother, I have seen in the marshy rice-fields of this island, always fatal to those who cultivate them, men whom absolute want forced to the deadly task--they were livid as corpses--some of them worn out with sickness, fatigue, and hunger, fell--never to rise again.Brothers, the good work will prosper in this country!"
"The other evening," said the half-caste, "I was on the banks of the lake, behind a rock; a young woman came there--a few rags hardly covered her lean and sun-scorched body--in her arms she held a little child, which she pressed weeping to her milkless breast.She kissed it three times, and said to it: `You, at least, shall not be so unhappy as your father'--and she threw it into the lake.It uttered one wail, and disappeared.On this cry, the alligators, hidden amongst the reeds, leaped joyfully into the water.There are mothers here who kill their children out of pity.--Brothers, the good work will prosper in this country!"
"This morning," said the negro, "whilst they tore the flesh of one of his black slaves with whips, a withered old merchant of Batavia left his country-house to come to the town.Lolling in his palanquin, he received, with languid indolence, the sad caresses of two of those girls, whom he had bought, to people his harem, from parents too poor to give them food.The palanquin, which held this little old man, and the girls, was carried by twelve young and robust men.There are here, you see, mothers who in their misery sell their own daughters--slaves that are scourged--men that carry other men, like beasts of burden.--Brothers, the good work will prosper in this country!"
"Yes, in this country--and in every land of oppression, distress, corruption, and slavery."
"Could we but induce Djalma to join us, as Mahal the Smuggler advised,"
said the Indian, "our voyage to Java would doubly profit us; for we should then number among our band this brave and enterprising youth, who has so many motives to hate mankind."
"He will soon be here; let us envenom his resentments."
"Remind him of his father's death!"
"Of the massacre of his people!"
"His own captivity!"
"Only let hatred inflame his heart, and he will be ours."
The negro, who had remained for some time lost in thought, said suddenly:
"Brothers, suppose Mahal the Smuggler were to betray us?"
"He" cried the Hindoo, almost with indignation; "he gave us an asylum on board his bark; he secured our flight from the Continent; he is again to take us with him to Bombay, where we shall find vessels for America, Europe, Africa."
"What interest would Mahal have to betray us?" said Faringhea."Nothing could save him from the vengeance of the sons of Bowanee, and that he knows."
"Well," said the black, "he promised to get Djalma to come hither this evening, and, once amongst us, he must needs be our own."
"Was it not the Smuggler who told us to order the Malay to enter the ajoupa of Djalma, to surprise him during his sleep, and, instead of killing him as he might have done, to trace the name of Bowanee upon his arm? Djalma will thus learn to judge of the resolution, the cunning and obedience of our brethren, and he will understand what he has to hope or fear from such men.Be it through admiration or through terror, he must become one of us."
"But if he refuses to join us, notwithstanding the reasons he has to hate mankind?"
"Then--Bowanee will decide his fate," said Faringhea, with a gloomy look;
"I have my plan."
"But will the Malay succeed in surprising Djalma during his sleep?" said the negro.
"There is none nobler, more agile, more dexterous, than the Malay," said Faringhea."He once had the daring to surprise in her den a black panther, as she suckled her cub.He killed the dam, and took away the young one, which he afterwards sold to some European ship's captain."