AN OVATION
landed by my agent; it should be so simple! I am not afraid," he filled his great chest and glared savagely out at the blue water, "for another it would seem so easy! How simple it would be for Leyden!" The black face was troubled, perplexed; the fullness had left the voice; it had the querulous note of a complaining child.
Virginia glanced at him in swift surprise; the change was so sudden, this transition from confidence to doubt. The Prophet had suddenly confused his oracles, the Guide had lost his way, the Pilot run upon a shoal; yet there was in the voice a childish helplessness that stirred her pity more than it awakened her contempt. It called upon the maternal; this great, groping brain, struggling toward the light had been enmeshed, fallen into a quicksand, was suddenly bewildered, and called to her for aid.
"Those ideas come to everyone who is called upon to play a central part, Count Dessalines. There are bound to be doubts and fears not of one's duty but of oneself. You must close your ears and eyes to them, work steadily on, and accept the issue. It is not for yourself that you fear; it is for the great and sacred responsibility which you have assumed."
She paused; the expression of despair had been swept from his face as cumulus clouds drift across the sky to band the earth with sun and shadow. The dull look had left the dark, metallic eyes.
"You must not dwell upon these doubts," continued Virginia. "Probably there never lived a man of your race more fully equipped for this task than you."
"Ah!" interrupted Dessalines, "it is true. You are right." The face was aglow again, inspired, confident. "It is the height of my ambition for my people which
191
