CHAPTER XXXVI. MRS. MASON AT HER STUDIES. 265
CHAPTER XXXVII. SETTLING THE WEDDING DAY. 272
CHAPTER XXXIX. OUT IN THE DEPTHS OF THE NIGHT. 284
CHAPTER XLI. THE MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE. 298
CHAPTER XLII. ON THE FIRST STAGE TO PRISON. 307
CHAPTER XLVI. JUBE FINDS HIS WAY TO BAYS HOLLOW. 331
CHAPTER XLVII. A CHILDISH CONSULTATION. 336
CHAPTER XLVIII. PAUL SEES HIS MOTHER'S NECKLACE. 341
CHAPTER XLIX. A PALACE READY FOR ITS MISTRESS. 348
CHAPTER LII. THE STREETS AND THE COURT HOUSE. 362
CHAPTER LV. THE TRAIL OF THE SERPENT. 376
CHAPTER LXVII. TOGETHER, YET SEPARATED. 439
CHAPTER LXXVII. THE CONVICT'S RETURN. 498
CHAPTER LXXVIII. TOM HUTCHINS' QUARREL. 502
CHAPTER LXXIX. THE WEDDING AND THE BAPTISM. 508
A low coast, burdened in every foot of its soil with the luxuriant growth of a tropical climate; a large town, straggling and flat, swarming like a hive of bees with turbulent life. Lights flickering wildly from the windows and dancing with a fantastic and red glare up and down the streets. A dull, hollow sound rolling constantly out upon the stillness of the waters, broken now and then with sharp shrieks as lightning cleaves the thunder gust.
This was the scene commanded from the deck of a New England brig, lying in the harbor of Port au Prince, on one of those terrible nights in the end of the last century, when the horrible passions that had rioted through France, like wild beasts ravening for blood, fled across seas and fired themselves anew in the hot life of the tropics.
The contrast between the stillness of the harbor, where the starlight fell smilingly, and the waters rippled like kisses around the vessels, and that demon riot on the shore, was awful. To lie so near, with death shrieks cutting the air every instant, with murderous yells chasing them, like fiends, was enough to drive men mad. The iron-hearted New England sailors on that deck, grew restive as caged lions, while the tumult swelled louder and louder around them. The young captain turned white as he took short marches up and down the deck. The men drew close together, eyeing each other with fierce glances. A word from the captain would have sent them headlong into the massacre, in a wild effort to save the women and children, whose shrieks, even from the distance, drove them frantic.