Read Online Heaven and Hell by John Jakes - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: John Jakes
Tags: United States, Fiction, Historical fiction, General, Romance, Historical, United States - History - 1865-1898
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yellow-pine plank thirty inches wide lay across the low spot in the salt marsh, a place otherwise impassable. Cooper reached the inland end of the plank a step or two before the ungainly fellow on the mule reached the other end with his mournful Negro.
On a dry hillock twenty feet from the crossing, an alligator lay sunning. They were common in the coastal marshes. This one was ma, ture: twelve feet long, probably five hundred pounds. Disturbed by the interlopers, it slid into the water and submerged. Only its unhooded eyes, above the water, showed its slow movement toward the plank.
Sometimes 'gators were dangerous if too hungry, or if they perceived a man or an animal as a threat.
Cooper noticed the 'gator. Although he'd seen them since he was small, they terrified him. Nightmares of their tooth-lined jaws still tormented him occasionally. He shivered as he watched the eyes glide closer. Abruptly, the eyes submerged, and the alligator swam away.
Cooper thought the young man with the imperial was familiar, but
°uldn't place him. He heard him say, from the other end of the plank, Give way."
42 HEAVEN AND HELL
Hot and irritable, Cooper began, "I see no reason--"
"I say again, sir, give way."
"No, sir. You're impertinent and presumptuous, and I don't know you."
"But I know you, sir." The young man's glance conveyed suppressed rage, yet he spoke in a conversational, even pleasant, way. The contradiction set Cooper's nerves to twitching.
"You're Mr. Cooper Main, from Charleston. The Carolina Shipping Company. Mont Royal Plantation. Desmond LaMotte, sir."
"Oh, yes. The dancing teacher." With that resolved, Cooper started his horse over the plank.
It had the effect of a match thrown in dry grass. Des kicked his Page 46
mule forward. Hooves rapped the plank. The mule frightened Cooper's horse, causing it to side-step and fall. Cooper twisted in the air to keep from being crushed, and landed in the shallows next to the horse. He thrashed and came up unhurt but covered with slimy mud.
"What the hell is wrong with you, LaMotte?"
"Dishonor, sir. Dishonor is what's wrong. Or does your family no longer understand the meaning of honor? It may be insubstantial as the sunlight, but it's no less important to life."
Dripping and chilled despite the heat, Cooper wondered if he'd met someone unbalanced by the war. "I don't know what in the name of God you mean."
"I refer, sir, to the tragedies visited upon members of my family by members of yours."
"I've done nothing to any LaMotte."
"Others with your name have done sinful things. You all smeared the honor of the LaMotte family by allowing Colonel Main to cuckold my first cousin Justin. Before I came home, your runaway slave Cuffey slew my first cousin Francis."
"But I tell you I had nothing to do--"
"We have held family councils, those of us who have survived,"
Des broke in. "I am glad I met you now, because it saves me from seeking you out in Charleston."
"For what?"
"To inform you that the LaMottes have agreed to settle our debt of honor."
"You're talking nonsense. Dueling's against the law."
"I am not referring to dueling. We'll use other means--at a time and place of our choosing. But we'll settle the debt."
Cooper reached for his horse's bridle. Water dripped from the animal and from Cooper's elbows, plopping in the silence. He wanted to Lost Causes 43
scoff at this deranged young man, but was deterred by what he saw in LaMotte's eyes.
Page 47
"We'll settle it with you, Mr. Main, or we'll settle it with your brother's nigger widow, or we'll settle it with both of you. Be assured of it."
And on he rode, mule shoes loud as pistol fire on the plank. After he reached solid ground, his hunched serving man followed, never once meeting Cooper's eye.
Cooper shivered again and led his horse from the water.
Late that night, at his house on Tradd Street, near the Battery, Cooper told his wife of the incident. Judith laughed.
That angered him. "He meant it. You
On a dry hillock twenty feet from the crossing, an alligator lay sunning. They were common in the coastal marshes. This one was ma, ture: twelve feet long, probably five hundred pounds. Disturbed by the interlopers, it slid into the water and submerged. Only its unhooded eyes, above the water, showed its slow movement toward the plank.
Sometimes 'gators were dangerous if too hungry, or if they perceived a man or an animal as a threat.
Cooper noticed the 'gator. Although he'd seen them since he was small, they terrified him. Nightmares of their tooth-lined jaws still tormented him occasionally. He shivered as he watched the eyes glide closer. Abruptly, the eyes submerged, and the alligator swam away.
Cooper thought the young man with the imperial was familiar, but
°uldn't place him. He heard him say, from the other end of the plank, Give way."
42 HEAVEN AND HELL
Hot and irritable, Cooper began, "I see no reason--"
"I say again, sir, give way."
"No, sir. You're impertinent and presumptuous, and I don't know you."
"But I know you, sir." The young man's glance conveyed suppressed rage, yet he spoke in a conversational, even pleasant, way. The contradiction set Cooper's nerves to twitching.
"You're Mr. Cooper Main, from Charleston. The Carolina Shipping Company. Mont Royal Plantation. Desmond LaMotte, sir."
"Oh, yes. The dancing teacher." With that resolved, Cooper started his horse over the plank.
It had the effect of a match thrown in dry grass. Des kicked his Page 46
mule forward. Hooves rapped the plank. The mule frightened Cooper's horse, causing it to side-step and fall. Cooper twisted in the air to keep from being crushed, and landed in the shallows next to the horse. He thrashed and came up unhurt but covered with slimy mud.
"What the hell is wrong with you, LaMotte?"
"Dishonor, sir. Dishonor is what's wrong. Or does your family no longer understand the meaning of honor? It may be insubstantial as the sunlight, but it's no less important to life."
Dripping and chilled despite the heat, Cooper wondered if he'd met someone unbalanced by the war. "I don't know what in the name of God you mean."
"I refer, sir, to the tragedies visited upon members of my family by members of yours."
"I've done nothing to any LaMotte."
"Others with your name have done sinful things. You all smeared the honor of the LaMotte family by allowing Colonel Main to cuckold my first cousin Justin. Before I came home, your runaway slave Cuffey slew my first cousin Francis."
"But I tell you I had nothing to do--"
"We have held family councils, those of us who have survived,"
Des broke in. "I am glad I met you now, because it saves me from seeking you out in Charleston."
"For what?"
"To inform you that the LaMottes have agreed to settle our debt of honor."
"You're talking nonsense. Dueling's against the law."
"I am not referring to dueling. We'll use other means--at a time and place of our choosing. But we'll settle the debt."
Cooper reached for his horse's bridle. Water dripped from the animal and from Cooper's elbows, plopping in the silence. He wanted to Lost Causes 43
scoff at this deranged young man, but was deterred by what he saw in LaMotte's eyes.
Page 47
"We'll settle it with you, Mr. Main, or we'll settle it with your brother's nigger widow, or we'll settle it with both of you. Be assured of it."
And on he rode, mule shoes loud as pistol fire on the plank. After he reached solid ground, his hunched serving man followed, never once meeting Cooper's eye.
Cooper shivered again and led his horse from the water.
Late that night, at his house on Tradd Street, near the Battery, Cooper told his wife of the incident. Judith laughed.
That angered him. "He meant it. You
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