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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:35:06 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:35:06 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10743-0.txt b/10743-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7e390ac --- /dev/null +++ b/10743-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7306 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10743 *** + + MOONFLEET + + J. MEADE FALKNER + + 1898 + + + + +We thought there was no more behind +But such a day tomorrow as today +And to be a boy eternal. + +Shakespeare + + + + +TO ALL MOHUNES +OF FLEET AND MOONFLEET +IN AGRO DORCESTRENSI +LIVING OR DEAD + + + + +CONTENTS + + 1 IN MOONFLEET VILLAGE + + 2 THE FLOODS + + 3 A DISCOVERY + + 4 IN THE VAULT + + 5 THE RESCUE + + 6 AN ASSAULT + + 7 AN AUCTION + + 8 THE LANDING + + 9 A JUDGEMENT + +10 THE ESCAPE + +11 THE SEA-CAVE + +12 A FUNERAL + +13 AN INTERVIEW + +14 THE WELL-HOUSE + +15 THE WELL + +16 THE JEWEL + +17 AT YMEGUEN + +18 IN THE BAY + +19 ON THE BEACH + + + + +Says the Cap'n to the Crew, +We have slipped the Revenue, + I can see the cliffs of Dover on the lee: +Tip the signal to the _Swan_, +And anchor broadside on, + And out with the kegs of Eau-de-Vie, + Says the Cap'n: + Out with the kegs of Eau-de-Vie. +Says the Lander to his men, +Get your grummets on the pin, + There's a blue light burning out at sea. +The windward anchors creep, +And the Gauger's fast asleep, + And the kegs are bobbing one, two, three, + Says the Lander: + The kegs are bobbing one, two, three. + +But the bold Preventive man +Primes the powder in his pan + And cries to the Posse, Follow me. +We will take this smuggling gang, +And those that fight shall hang + Dingle dangle from the execution tree, + Says the Gauger: +Dingle dangle with the weary moon to see. + + + + +CHAPTER 1 + +IN MOONFLEET VILLAGE + +So sleeps the pride of former days--_More_ + + +The village of Moonfleet lies half a mile from the sea on the right or +west bank of the Fleet stream. This rivulet, which is so narrow as it +passes the houses that I have known a good jumper clear it without a +pole, broadens out into salt marshes below the village, and loses itself +at last in a lake of brackish water. The lake is good for nothing except +sea-fowl, herons, and oysters, and forms such a place as they call in the +Indies a lagoon; being shut off from the open Channel by a monstrous +great beach or dike of pebbles, of which I shall speak more hereafter. +When I was a child I thought that this place was called Moonfleet, +because on a still night, whether in summer, or in winter frosts, the +moon shone very brightly on the lagoon; but learned afterwards that 'twas +but short for 'Mohune-fleet', from the Mohunes, a great family who were +once lords of all these parts. + +My name is John Trenchard, and I was fifteen years of age when this story +begins. My father and mother had both been dead for years, and I boarded +with my aunt, Miss Arnold, who was kind to me in her own fashion, but too +strict and precise ever to make me love her. + +I shall first speak of one evening in the fall of the year 1757. It must +have been late in October, though I have forgotten the exact date, and I +sat in the little front parlour reading after tea. My aunt had few books; +a Bible, a Common Prayer, and some volumes of sermons are all that I can +recollect now; but the Reverend Mr. Glennie, who taught us village +children, had lent me a story-book, full of interest and adventure, +called the _Arabian Nights Entertainment_. At last the light began to +fail, and I was nothing loth to leave off reading for several reasons; +as, first, the parlour was a chilly room with horse-hair chairs and sofa, +and only a coloured-paper screen in the grate, for my aunt did not allow +a fire till the first of November; second, there was a rank smell of +molten tallow in the house, for my aunt was dipping winter candles on +frames in the back kitchen; third, I had reached a part in the _Arabian +Nights_ which tightened my breath and made me wish to leave off reading +for very anxiousness of expectation. It was that point in the story of +the 'Wonderful Lamp', where the false uncle lets fall a stone that seals +the mouth of the underground chamber; and immures the boy, Aladdin, in +the darkness, because he would not give up the lamp till he stood safe on +the surface again. This scene reminded me of one of those dreadful +nightmares, where we dream we are shut in a little room, the walls of +which are closing in upon us, and so impressed me that the memory of it +served as a warning in an adventure that befell me later on. So I gave up +reading and stepped out into the street. It was a poor street at best, +though once, no doubt, it had been finer. Now, there were not two hundred +souls in Moonfleet, and yet the houses that held them straggled sadly +over half a mile, lying at intervals along either side of the road. +Nothing was ever made new in the village; if a house wanted repair badly, +it was pulled down, and so there were toothless gaps in the street, and +overrun gardens with broken-down walls, and many of the houses that yet +stood looked as though they could stand but little longer. + +The sun had set; indeed, it was already so dusk that the lower or +sea-end of the street was lost from sight. There was a little fog or +smoke-wreath in the air, with an odour of burning weeds, and that first +frosty feeling of the autumn that makes us think of glowing fires and +the comfort of long winter evenings to come. All was very still, but I +could hear the tapping of a hammer farther down the street, and walked +to see what was doing, for we had no trades in Moonfleet save that of +fishing. It was Ratsey the sexton at work in a shed which opened on the +street, lettering a tombstone with a mallet and graver. He had been +mason before he became fisherman, and was handy with his tools; so that +if anyone wanted a headstone set up in the churchyard, he went to Ratsey +to get it done. I lent over the half-door and watched him a minute, +chipping away with the graver in a bad light from a lantern; then he +looked up, and seeing me, said: + +'Here, John, if you have nothing to do, come in and hold the lantern for +me, 'tis but a half-hour's job to get all finished.' + +Ratsey was always kind to me, and had lent me a chisel many a time to +make boats, so I stepped in and held the lantern watching him chink out +the bits of Portland stone with a graver, and blinking the while when +they came too near my eyes. The inscription stood complete, but he was +putting the finishing touches to a little sea-piece carved at the top of +the stone, which showed a schooner boarding a cutter. I thought it fine +work at the time, but know now that it was rough enough; indeed, you may +see it for yourself in Moonfleet churchyard to this day, and read the +inscription too, though it is yellow with lichen, and not so plain as it +was that night. This is how it runs: + +SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF DAVID BLOCK + +Aged 15, who was killed by a shot fired from the _Elector_ Schooner, +21 June 1757. + +Of life bereft (by fell design), + I mingle with my fellow clay. +On God's protection I recline + To save me in the Judgement Day. + +There too must you, cruel man, appear, + Repent ere it be all too late; +Or else a dreadful sentence fear, + For God will sure revenge my fate. + +The Reverend Mr. Glennie wrote the verses, and I knew them by heart, for +he had given me a copy; indeed, the whole village had rung with the tale +of David's death, and it was yet in every mouth. He was only child to +Elzevir Block, who kept the Why Not? inn at the bottom of the village, +and was with the contrabandiers, when their ketch was boarded that June +night by the Government schooner. People said that it was Magistrate +Maskew of Moonfleet Manor who had put the Revenue men on the track, and +anyway he was on board the _Elector_ as she overhauled the ketch. There +was some show of fighting when the vessels first came alongside of one +another, and Maskew drew a pistol and fired it off in young David's face, +with only the two gunwales between them. In the afternoon of Midsummer's +Day the _Elector_ brought the ketch into Moonfleet, and there was a posse +of constables to march the smugglers off to Dorchester Jail. The +prisoners trudged up through the village ironed two and two together, +while people stood at their doors or followed them, the men greeting them +with a kindly word, for we knew most of them as Ringstave and Monkbury +men, and the women sorrowing for their wives. But they left David's body +in the ketch, so the boy paid dear for his night's frolic. + +'Ay, 'twas a cruel, cruel thing to fire on so young a lad,' Ratsey said, +as he stepped back a pace to study the effect of a flag that he was +chiselling on the Revenue schooner, 'and trouble is likely to come to +the other poor fellows taken, for Lawyer Empson says three of them will +surely hang at next Assize. I recollect', he went on, 'thirty years ago, +when there was a bit of a scuffle between the _Royal Sophy_ and the +_Marnhull_, they hanged four of the contrabandiers, and my old father +caught his death of cold what with going to see the poor chaps turned off +at Dorchester, and standing up to his knees in the river Frome to get a +sight of them, for all the countryside was there, and such a press there +was no place on land. There, that's enough,' he said, turning again to +the gravestone. 'On Monday I'll line the ports in black, and get a brush +of red to pick out the flag; and now, my son, you've helped with the +lantern, so come down to the Why Not? and there I'll have a word with +Elzevir, who sadly needs the talk of kindly friends to cheer him, and +we'll find you a glass of Hollands to keep out autumn chills.' + +I was but a lad, and thought it a vast honour to be asked to the Why +Not?--for did not such an invitation raise me at once to the dignity of +manhood. Ah, sweet boyhood, how eager are we as boys to be quit of thee, +with what regret do we look back on thee before our man's race is +half-way run! Yet was not my pleasure without alloy, for I feared even to +think of what Aunt Jane would say if she knew that I had been at the Why +Not?--and beside that, I stood in awe of grim old Elzevir Block, grimmer +and sadder a thousand times since David's death. + +The Why Not? was not the real name of the inn; it was properly the Mohune +Arms. The Mohunes had once owned, as I have said, the whole of the +village; but their fortunes fell, and with them fell the fortunes of +Moonfleet. The ruins of their mansion showed grey on the hillside above +the village; their almshouses stood half-way down the street, with the +quadrangle deserted and overgrown; the Mohune image and superscription +was on everything from the church to the inn, and everything that bore it +was stamped also with the superscription of decay. And here it is +necessary that I say a few words as to this family badge; for, as you +will see, I was to bear it all my life, and shall carry its impress with +me to the grave. The Mohune shield was plain white or silver, and bore +nothing upon it except a great black 'Y. I call it a 'Y', though the +Reverend Mr. Glennie once explained to me that it was not a 'Y' at all, +but what heralds call a _cross-pall. Cross-pall_ or no _cross-pall,_ it +looked for all the world like a black 'Y', with a broad arm ending in +each of the top corners of the shield, and the tail coming down into the +bottom. You might see that cognizance carved on the manor, and on the +stonework and woodwork of the church, and on a score of houses in the +village, and it hung on the signboard over the door of the inn. Everyone +knew the Mohune 'Y' for miles around, and a former landlord having called +the inn the Why Not? in jest, the name had stuck to it ever since. + +More than once on winter evenings, when men were drinking in the Why +Not?, I had stood outside, and listened to them singing 'Ducky-stones', +or 'Kegs bobbing One, Two, Three', or some of the other tunes that +sailors sing in the west. Such songs had neither beginning nor ending, +and very little sense to catch hold of in the middle. One man would crone +the air, and the others would crone a solemn chorus, but there was little +hard drinking, for Elzevir Block never got drunk himself, and did not +like his guests to get drunk either. On singing nights the room grew hot, +and the steam stood so thick on the glass inside that one could not see +in; but at other times, when there was no company, I have peeped through +the red curtains and watched Elzevir Block and Ratsey playing backgammon +at the trestle-table by the fire. It was on the trestle-table that Block +had afterwards laid out his son's dead body, and some said they had +looked through the window at night and seen the father trying to wash the +blood-matting out of the boy's yellow hair, and heard him groaning and +talking to the lifeless clay as if it could understand. Anyhow, there had +been little drinking in the inn since that time, for Block grew more and +more silent and morose. He had never courted customers, and now he +scowled on any that came, so that men looked on the Why Not? as a +blighted spot, and went to drink at the Three Choughs at Ringstave. + +My heart was in my mouth when Ratsey lifted the latch and led me into the +inn parlour. It was a low sanded room with no light except a fire of +seawood on the hearth, burning clear and lambent with blue salt flames. +There were tables at each end of the room, and wooden-seated chairs round +the walls, and at the trestle table by the chimney sat Elzevir Block +smoking a long pipe and looking at the fire. He was a man of fifty, with +a shock of grizzled hair, a broad but not unkindly face of regular +features, bushy eyebrows, and the finest forehead that I ever saw. His +frame was thick-set, and still immensely strong; indeed, the countryside +was full of tales of his strange prowess or endurance. Blocks had been +landlords at the Why Not? father and son for years, but Elzevir's mother +came from the Low Countries, and that was how he got his outland name and +could speak Dutch. Few men knew much of him, and folks often wondered how +it was he kept the Why Not? on so little custom as went that way. Yet he +never seemed to lack for money; and if people loved to tell stories of +his strength, they would speak also of widows helped, and sick comforted +with unknown gifts, and hint that some of them came from Elzevir Block +for all he was so grim and silent. + +He turned round and got up as we came in, and my fears led me to think +that his face darkened when he saw me. + +'What does this boy want?' he said to Ratsey sharply. + +'He wants the same as I want, and that's a glass of Ararat milk to keep +out autumn chills,' the sexton answered, drawing another chair up to the +trestle-table. + +'Cows' milk is best for children such as he,' was Elzevir's answer, as he +took two shining brass candlesticks from the mantel-board, set them on +the table, and lit the candles with a burning chip from the hearth. + +'John is no child; he is the same age as David, and comes from helping me +to finish David's headstone. 'Tis finished now, barring the paint upon +the ships, and, please God, by Monday night we will have it set fair and +square in the churchyard, and then the poor lad may rest in peace, +knowing he has above him Master Ratsey's best handiwork, and the parson's +verses to set forth how shamefully he came to his end.' + +I thought that Elzevir softened a little as Ratsey spoke of his son, and +he said, 'Ay, David rests in peace. 'Tis they that brought him to his end +that shall not rest in peace when their time comes. And it may come +sooner than they think,' he added, speaking more to himself than to us. I +knew that he meant Mr. Maskew, and recollected that some had warned the +magistrate that he had better keep out of Elzevir's way, for there was no +knowing what a desperate man might do. And yet the two had met since in +the village street, and nothing worse come of it than a scowling look +from Block. + +'Tush, man!' broke in the sexton, 'it was the foulest deed ever man +did; but let not thy mind brood on it, nor think how thou mayest get +thyself avenged. Leave that to Providence; for He whose wisdom lets +such things be done, will surely see they meet their due reward. +"Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, saith the Lord".' And he took his +hat off and hung it on a peg. + +Block did not answer, but set three glasses on the table, and then took +out from a cupboard a little round long-necked bottle, from which he +poured out a glass for Ratsey and himself. Then he half-filled the third, +and pushed it along the table to me, saying, 'There, take it, lad, if +thou wilt; 'twill do thee no good, but may do thee no harm.' + +Ratsey raised his glass almost before it was filled. He sniffed the +liquor and smacked his lips. 'O rare milk of Ararat!' he said, 'it is +sweet and strong, and sets the heart at ease. And now get the +backgammon-board, John, and set it for us on the table.' So they fell to +the game, and I took a sly sip at the liquor, but nearly choked myself, +not being used to strong waters, and finding it heady and burning in the +throat. Neither man spoke, and there was no sound except the constant +rattle of the dice, and the rubbing of the pieces being moved across the +board. Now and then one of the players stopped to light his pipe, and at +the end of a game they scored their totals on the table with a bit of +chalk. So I watched them for an hour, knowing the game myself, and being +interested at seeing Elzevir's backgammon-board, which I had heard talked +of before. + +It had formed part of the furniture of the Why Not? for generations of +landlords, and served perhaps to pass time for cavaliers of the Civil +Wars. All was of oak, black and polished, board, dice-boxes, and men, but +round the edge ran a Latin inscription inlaid in light wood, which I read +on that first evening, but did not understand till Mr. Glennie translated +it to me. I had cause to remember it afterwards, so I shall set it down +here in Latin for those who know that tongue, _Ita in vita ut in lusu +alae pessima jactura arte corrigenda est_, and in English as Mr. Glennie +translated it, _As in life, so in a game of hazard, skill will make +something of the worst of throws_. At last Elzevir looked up and spoke +to me, not unkindly, 'Lad, it is time for you to go home; men say that +Blackbeard walks on the first nights of winter, and some have met him +face to face betwixt this house and yours.' I saw he wanted to be rid of +me, so bade them both good night, and was off home, running all the way +thither, though not from any fear of Blackbeard, for Ratsey had often +told me that there was no chance of meeting him unless one passed the +churchyard by night. + +Blackbeard was one of the Mohunes who had died a century back, and was +buried in the vault under the church, with others of his family, but +could not rest there, whether, as some said, because he was always +looking for a lost treasure, or as others, because of his exceeding +wickedness in life. If this last were the true reason, he must have been +bad indeed, for Mohunes have died before and since his day wicked enough +to bear anyone company in their vault or elsewhere. Men would have it +that on dark winter nights Blackbeard might be seen with an old-fashioned +lanthorn digging for treasure in the graveyard; and those who professed +to know said he was the tallest of men, with full black beard, coppery +face, and such evil eyes, that any who once met their gaze must die +within a year. However that might be, there were few in Moonfleet who +would not rather walk ten miles round than go near the churchyard after +dark; and once when Cracky Jones, a poor doited body, was found there +one summer morning, lying dead on the grass, it was thought that he had +met Blackbeard in the night. + +Mr. Glennie, who knew more about such things than anyone else, told me +that Blackbeard was none other than a certain Colonel John Mohune, +deceased about one hundred years ago. He would have it that Colonel +Mohune, in the dreadful wars against King Charles the First, had deserted +the allegiance of his house and supported the cause of the rebels. So +being made Governor of Carisbrooke Castle for the Parliament, he became +there the King's jailer, but was false to his trust. For the King, +carrying constantly hidden about his person a great diamond which had +once been given him by his brother King of France, Mohune got wind of +this jewel, and promised that if it were given him he would wink at His +Majesty's escape. Then this wicked man, having taken the bribe, plays +traitor again, comes with a file of soldiers at the hour appointed for +the King's flight, finds His Majesty escaping through a window, has him +away to a stricter ward, and reports to the Parliament that the King's +escape is only prevented by Colonel Mohune's watchfulness. But how true, +as Mr. Glennie said, that we should not be envious against the ungodly, +against the man that walketh after evil counsels. Suspicion fell on +Colonel Mohune; he was removed from his Governorship, and came back to +his home at Moonfleet. There he lived in seclusion, despised by both +parties in the State, until he died, about the time of the happy +Restoration of King Charles the Second. But even after his death he could +not get rest; for men said that he had hid somewhere that treasure given +him to permit the King's escape, and that not daring to reclaim it, had +let the secret die with him, and so must needs come out of his grave to +try to get at it again. Mr. Glennie would never say whether he believed +the tale or not, pointing out that apparitions both of good and evil +spirits are related in Holy Scripture, but that the churchyard was an +unlikely spot for Colonel Mohune to seek his treasure in; for had it been +buried there, he would have had a hundred chances to have it up in his +lifetime. However this may be, though I was brave as a lion by day, and +used indeed to frequent the churchyard, because there was the widest +view of the sea to be obtained from it, yet no reward would have taken me +thither at night. Nor was I myself without some witness to the tale, for +having to walk to Ringstave for Dr. Hawkins on the night my aunt broke +her leg, I took the path along the down which overlooks the churchyard at +a mile off; and thence most certainly saw a light moving to and fro about +the church, where no honest man could be at two o'clock in the morning. + + + + +CHAPTER 2 + +THE FLOODS + +Then banks came down with ruin and rout, +Then beaten spray flew round about, +Then all the mighty floods were out, + And all the world was in the sea _--Jean Ingelow_ + + +On the third of November, a few days after this visit to the Why Not?, +the wind, which had been blowing from the south-west, began about four in +the afternoon to rise in sudden strong gusts. The rooks had been +pitch-falling all the morning, so we knew that bad weather was due; and +when we came out from the schooling that Mr. Glennie gave us in the hall +of the old almshouses, there were wisps of thatch, and even stray tiles, +flying from the roofs, and the children sang: + +Blow wind, rise storm, +Ship ashore before morn. + +It is heathenish rhyme that has come down out of other and worse times; +for though I do not say but that a wreck on Moonfleet beach was looked +upon sometimes as little short of a godsend, yet I hope none of us were +so wicked as to _wish_ a vessel to be wrecked that we might share in the +plunder. Indeed, I have known the men of Moonfleet risk their own lives a +hundred times to save those of shipwrecked mariners, as when the +_Darius_, East Indiaman, came ashore; nay, even poor nameless corpses +washed up were sure of Christian burial, or perhaps of one of Master +Ratsey's headstones to set forth sex and date, as may be seen in the +churchyard to this day. + +Our village lies near the centre of Moonfleet Bay, a great bight twenty +miles across, and a death-trap to up-channel sailors in a +south-westerly gale. For with that wind blowing strong from south, if +you cannot double the Snout, you must most surely come ashore; and many +a good ship failing to round that point has beat up and down the bay +all day, but come to beach in the evening. And once on the beach, the +sea has little mercy, for the water is deep right in, and the waves +curl over full on the pebbles with a weight no timbers can withstand. +Then if poor fellows try to save themselves, there is a deadly +under-tow or rush back of the water, which sucks them off their legs, +and carries them again under the thundering waves. It is that back-suck +of the pebbles that you may hear for miles inland, even at Dorchester, +on still nights long after the winds that caused it have sunk, and +which makes people turn in their beds, and thank God they are not +fighting with the sea on Moonfleet beach. + +But on this third of November there was no wreck, only such a wind as I +have never known before, and only once since. All night long the tempest +grew fiercer, and I think no one in Moonfleet went to bed; for there was +such a breaking of tiles and glass, such a banging of doon and rattling +of shutters, that no sleep was possible, and we were afraid besides lest +the chimneys should fall and crush us. The wind blew fiercest about five +in the morning, and then some ran up the street calling out a new +danger--that the sea was breaking over the beach, and that all the place +was like to be flooded. Some of the women were for flitting forthwith and +climbing the down; but Master Ratsey, who was going round with others to +comfort people, soon showed us that the upper part of the village stood +so high, that if the water was to get thither, there was no knowing if it +would not cover Ridgedown itself. But what with its being a spring-tide, +and the sea breaking clean over the great outer beach of pebbles--a thing +that had not happened for fifty years--there was so much water piled up +in the lagoon, that it passed its bounds and flooded all the sea meadows, +and even the lower end of the street. So when day broke, there was the +churchyard flooded, though 'twas on rising ground, and the church itself +standing up like a steep little island, and the water over the door-sill +of the Why Not?, though Elzevir Block would not budge, saying he did not +care if the sea swept him away. It was but a nine-hours' wonder, for the +wind fell very suddenly; the water began to go back, the sun shone +bright, and before noon people came out to the doors to see the floods +and talk over the storm. Most said that never had been so fierce a wind, +but some of the oldest spoke of one in the second year of Queen Anne, and +would have it as bad or worse. But whether worse or not, this storm was a +weighty matter enough for me, and turned the course of my life, as you +shall hear. + +I have said that the waters came up so high that the church stood out +like an island; but they went back quickly, and Mr. Glennie was able to +hold service on the next Sunday morning. Few enough folks came to +Moonfleet Church at any time; but fewer still came that morning, for +the meadows between the village and the churchyard were wet and miry +from the water. There were streamers of seaweed tangled about the very +tombstones, and against the outside of the churchyard wall was piled up +a great bank of it, from which came a salt rancid smell like a +guillemot's egg that is always in the air after a south-westerly gale +has strewn the shore with wrack. + +This church is as large as any other I have seen, and divided into two +parts with a stone screen across the middle. Perhaps Moonfleet was once a +large place, and then likely enough there were people to fill such a +church, but never since I knew it did anyone worship in that part called +the nave. This western portion was quite empty beyond a few old tombs and +a Royal Arms of Queen Anne; the pavement too was damp and mossy; and +there were green patches down the white walls where the rains had got in. +So the handful of people that came to church were glad enough to get the +other side of the screen in the chancel, where at least the pew floors +were boarded over, and the panelling of oak-work kept off the draughts. + +Now this Sunday morning there were only three or four, I think, beside +Mr. Glennie and Ratsey and the half-dozen of us boys, who crossed the +swampy meadows strewn with drowned shrew-mice and moles. Even my aunt was +not at church, being prevented by a migraine, but a surprise waited those +who did go, for there in a pew by himself sat Elzevir Block. The people +stared at him as they came in, for no one had ever known him go to church +before; some saying in the village that he was a Catholic, and others an +infidel. However that may be, there he was this day, wishing perhaps to +show a favour to the parson who had written the verses for David's +headstone. He took no notice of anyone, nor exchanged greetings with +those that came in, as was the fashion in Moonfleet Church, but kept his +eyes fixed on a prayer-book which he held in his hand, though he could +not be following the minister, for he never turned the leaf. + +The church was so damp from the floods, that Master Ratsey had put a fire +in the brazier which stood at the back, but was not commonly lighted till +the winter had fairly begun. We boys sat as close to the brazier as we +could, for the wet cold struck up from the flags, and besides that, we +were so far from the clergyman, and so well screened by the oak backs, +that we could bake an apple or roast a chestnut without much fear of +being caught. But that morning there was something else to take off our +thoughts; for before the service was well begun, we became aware of a +strange noise under the church. The first time it came was just as Mr. +Glennie was finishing 'Dearly Beloved', and we heard it again before the +second lesson. It was not a loud noise, but rather like that which a boat +makes jostling against another at sea, only there was something deeper +and more hollow about it. We boys looked at each other, for we knew what +was under the church, and that the sound could only come from the Mohune +Vault. No one at Moonfleet had ever seen the inside of that vault; but +Ratsey was told by his father, who was clerk before him, that it underlay +half the chancel, and that there were more than a score of Mohunes lying +there. It had not been opened for over forty years, since Gerald Mohune, +who burst a blood-vessel drinking at Weymouth races, was buried there; +but there was a tale that one Sunday afternoon, many years back, there +had come from the vault so horrible and unearthly a cry, that parson and +people got up and fled from the church, and would not worship there for +weeks afterwards. + +We thought of these stories, and huddled up closer to the brazier, being +frightened at the noise, and uncertain whether we should not turn tail +and run from the church. For it was certain that something was moving in +the Mohune vault, to which there was no entrance except by a ringed stone +in the chancel floor, that had not been lifted for forty years. + +However, we thought better of it, and did not budge, though I could see +when standing up and looking over the tops of the seats that others +beside ourselves were ill at ease; for Granny Tucker gave such starts +when she heard the sounds, that twice her spectacles fell off her nose +into her lap, and Master Ratsey seemed to be trying to mask the one noise +by making another himself, whether by shuffling with his feet or by +thumping down his prayer-book. But the thing that most surprised me was +that even Elzevir Block, who cared, men said, for neither God nor Devil, +looked unquiet, and gave a quick glance at Ratsey every time the sound +came. So we sat till Mr. Glennie was well on with the sermon. His +discourse interested me though I was only a boy, for he likened life to +the letter 'Y', saying that 'in each man's life must come a point where +two roads part like the arms of a "Y", and that everyone must choose for +himself whether he will follow the broad and sloping path on the left or +the steep and narrow path on the right. For,' said he, 'if you will look +in your books, you will see that the letter "Y" is not like the Mohunes', +with both arms equal, but has the arm on the left broader and more +sloping than the arm on the right; hence ancient philosophers hold that +this arm on the left represents the easy downward road to destruction, +and the arm on the right the narrow upward path of life.' When we heard +that we all fell to searching our prayer-books for a capital 'Y'; and +Granny Tucker, who knew not A from B, made much ado in fumbling with her +book, for she would have people think that she could read. Then just at +that moment came a noise from below louder than those before, hollow and +grating like the cry of an old man in pain. With that up jumps Granny +Tucker, calling out loud in church to Mr. Glennie-- + +'O Master, however can'ee bide there preaching when the Moons be rising +from their graves?' and out from the church. + +That was too much for the others, and all fled, Mrs. Vining crying, +'Lordsakes, we shall all be throttled like Cracky Jones.' + +So in a minute there were none left in the church, save and except Mr. +Glennie, with me, Ratsey, and Elzevir Block. I did not run: first, not +wishing to show myself coward before the men; second, because I thought +if Blackbeard came he would fall on the men rather than on a boy; and +third, that if it came to blows, Block was strong enough to give account +even of a Mohune. Mr. Glennie went on with his sermon, making as though +he neither heard any noise nor saw the people leave the church; and when +he had finished, Elzevir walked out, but I stopped to see what the +minister would say to Ratsey about the noise in the vault. The sexton +helped Mr. Glennie off with his gown, and then seeing me standing by and +listening, said-- + +'The Lord has sent evil angels among us; 'tis a terrible thing, Master +Glennie, to hear the dead men moving under our feet.' + +'Tut, tut,' answered the minister, 'it is only their own fears that make +such noises terrible to the vulgar. As for Blackbeard, I am not here to +say whether guilty spirits sometimes cannot rest and are seen wandering +by men; but for these noises, they are certainly Nature's work as is the +noise of waves upon the beach. The floods have filled the vault with +water, and so the coffins getting afloat, move in some eddies that we +know not of, and jostle one another. Then being hollow, they give forth +those sounds you hear, and these are your evil angels. 'Tis very true the +dead do move beneath our feet, but 'tis because they cannot help +themselves, being carried hither and thither by the water. Fie, Ratsey +man, you should know better than to fright a boy with silly talk of +spirits when the truth is bad enough.' + +The parson's words had the ring of truth in them to me, and I never +doubted that he was right. So this mystery was explained, and yet it was +a dreadful thing, and made me shiver, to think of the Mohunes all adrift +in their coffins, and jostling one another in the dark. I pictured them +to myself, the many generations, old men and children, man and maid, all +bones now, each afloat in his little box of rotting wood; and Blackbeard +himself in a great coffin bigger than all the rest, coming crashing into +the weaker ones, as a ship in a heavy sea comes crashing down sometimes +in the trough, on a small boat that is trying to board her. And then +there was the outer darkness of the vault itself to think of, and the +close air, and the black putrid water nearly up to the roof on which such +sorry ships were sailing. + +Ratsey looked a little crestfallen at what Mr. Glennie said, but put a +good face on it, and answered-- + +'Well, master, I am but a plain man, and know nothing about floods and +these eddies and hidden workings of Nature of which you speak; but, +saving your presence, I hold it a fond thing to make light of such +warnings as are given us. 'Tis always said, "When the Moons move, then +Moonfleet mourns"; and I have heard my father tell that the last time +they stirred was in Queen Anne's second year, when the great storm blew +men's homes about their heads. And as for frighting children, 'tis well +that heady boys should learn to stand in awe, and not pry into what does +not concern them--or they may come to harm.' He added the last words with +what I felt sure was a nod of warning to myself, though I did not then +understand what he meant. So he walked off in a huff with Elzevir, who +was waiting for him outside, and I went with Mr. Glennie and carried his +gown for him back to his lodging in the village. + +Mr. Glennie was always very friendly, making much of me, and talking to +me as though I were his equal; which was due, I think, to there being no +one of his own knowledge in the neighbourhood, and so he had as lief talk +to an ignorant boy as to an ignorant man. After we had passed the +churchyard turnstile and were crossing the sludgy meadows, I asked him +again what he knew of Blackbeard and his lost treasure. + +'My son,' he answered, 'all that I have been able to gather is, that this +Colonel John Mohune (foolishly called Blackbeard) was the first to impair +the family fortunes by his excesses, and even let the almshouses fall to +ruin, and turned the poor away. Unless report strangely belies him, he +was an evil man, and besides numberless lesser crimes, had on his hands +the blood of a faithful servant, whom he made away with because chance +had brought to the man's ears some guilty secret of the master. Then, at +the end of his life, being filled with fear and remorse (as must always +happen with evil livers at the last), he sent for Rector Kindersley of +Dorchester to confess him, though a Protestant, and wished to make amends +by leaving that treasure so ill-gotten from King Charles (which was all +that he had to leave) for the repair and support of the almshouses. He +made a last will, which I have seen, to this effect, but without +describing the treasure further than to call it a diamond, nor saying +where it was to be found. Doubtless he meant to get it himself, sell it, +and afterwards apply the profit to his good purpose, but before he could +do so death called him suddenly to his account. So men say that he cannot +rest in his grave, not having made even so tardy a reparation, and never +will rest unless the treasure is found and spent upon the poor.' + +I thought much over what Mr. Glennie had said and fell to wondering where +Blackbeard could have hid his diamond, and whether I might not find it +some day and make myself a rich man. Now, as I considered that noise we +had heard under the church, and Parson Glennie's explanation of it, I was +more and more perplexed; for the noise had, as I have said, something +deep and hollow-booming in it, and how was that to be made by decayed +coffins. I had more than once seen Ratsey, in digging a grave, turn up +pieces of coffins, and sometimes a tarnished name-plate would show that +they had not been so very long underground, and yet the wood was quite +decayed and rotten. And granting that such were in the earth, and so +might more easily perish, yet when the top was taken off old Guy's brick +grave to put his widow beside him, Master Ratsey gave me a peep in, and +old Guy's coffin had cracks and warps in it, and looked as if a sound +blow would send it to pieces. Yet here were the Mohune coffins that had +been put away for generations, and must be rotten as tinder, tapping +against each other with a sound like a drum, as if they were still sound +and air-tight. Still, Mr. Glennie must be right; for if it was not the +coffins, what should it be that made the noise? + +So on the next day after we heard the sounds in church, being the +Monday, as soon as morning school was over, off I ran down street and +across meadows to the churchyard, meaning to listen outside the church +if the Mohunes were still moving. I say outside the church, for I knew +Ratsey would not lend me the key to go in after what he had said about +boys prying into things that did not concern them; and besides that, I +do not know that I should care to have ventured inside alone, even if I +had the key. + +When I reached the church, not a little out of breath, I listened first +on the side nearest the village, that is the north side; putting my ear +against the wall, and afterwards lying down on the ground, though the +grass was long and wet, so that I might the better catch any sound that +came. But I could hear nothing, and so concluded that the Mohunes had +come to rest again, yet thought I would walk round the church and listen +too on the south or sea side, for that their worships might have drifted +over to that side, and be there rubbing shoulders with one another. So I +went round, and was glad to get out of the cold shade into the sun on the +south. But here was a surprise; for when I came round a great buttress +which juts out from the wall, what should I see but two men, and these +two were Ratsey and Elzevir Block. I came upon them unawares, and, lo and +behold, there was Master Ratsey lying also on the ground with his ear to +the wall, while Elzevir sat back against the inside of the buttress with +a spy-glass in his hand, smoking and looking out to sea. + +Now, I had as much right to be in the churchyard as Ratsey or Elzevir, +and yet I felt a sudden shame as if I had been caught in some bad act, +and knew the blood was running to my cheeks. At first I had it in my mind +to turn tail and make off, but concluded to stand my ground since they +had seen me, and so bade them 'Good morning'. Master Ratsey jumped to his +feet as nimbly as a cat; and if he had not been a man, I should have +thought he was blushing too, for his face was very red, though that came +perhaps from lying on the ground. I could see he was a little put about, +and out of countenance, though he tried to say 'Good morning, John', in +an easy tone, as if it was a common thing for him to be lying in the +churchyard, with his ear to the wall, on a winter's morning. 'Good +morning, John,' he said; 'and what might you be doing in the churchyard +this fine day?' + +I answered that I was come to listen if the Mohunes were still moving. + +'Well, that I can't tell you,' returned Ratsey, 'not wishing to waste +thought on such idle matters, and having to examine this wall whether +the floods have not so damaged it as to need under-pinning; so if you +have time to gad about of a morning, get you back to my workshop and +fetch me a plasterer's hammer which I have left behind, so that I can +try this mortar.' + +I knew that he was making excuses about underpinning, for the wall was +sound as a rock, but was glad enough to take him at his word and beat a +retreat from where I was not wanted. Indeed, I soon saw how he was +mocking me, for the men did not even wait for me to come back with the +hammer, but I met them returning in the first meadow. Master Ratsey made +another excuse that he did not need the hammer now, as he had found out +that all that was wanted was a little pointing with new mortar. 'But if +you have such time to waste, John,' he added, 'you can come tomorrow and +help me to get new thwarts in the _Petrel_, which she badly wants.' + +So we three came back to the village together; but looking up at Elzevir +once while Master Ratsey was making these pretences, I saw his eyes +twinkle under their heavy brows, as if he was amused at the other's +embarrassment. + +The next Sunday, when we went to church, all was quiet as usual, +there was no Elzevir, and no more noises, and I never heard the +Mohunes move again. + + + + +CHAPTER 3 + +A DISCOVERY + +Some bold adventurers disdain +The limits of their little reign, + And unknown regions dare descry; +Still, as they run, they look behind, +They hear a voice in every wind + And snatch a fearful joy--_Gray_ + + +I have said that I used often in the daytime, when not at school, to go +to the churchyard, because being on a little rise, there was the best +view of the sea to be had from it; and on a fine day you could watch the +French privateers creeping along the cliffs under the Snout, and lying in +wait for an Indiaman or up-channel trader. There were at Moonfleet few +boys of my own age, and none that I cared to make my companion; so I was +given to muse alone, and did so for the most part in the open air, all +the more because my aunt did not like to see an idle boy, with muddy +boots, about her house. + +For a few weeks, indeed, after the day that I had surprised Elzevir and +Ratsey, I kept away from the church, fearing to meet them there again; +but a little later resumed my visits, and saw no more of them. Now, my +favourite seat in the churchyard was the flat top of a raised stone tomb, +which stands on the south-east of the church. I have heard Mr. Glennie +call it an altar-tomb, and in its day it had been a fine monument, being +carved round with festoons of fruit and flowers; but had suffered so much +from the weather, that I never was able to read the lettering on it, or +to find out who had been buried beneath. Here I chose most to sit, not +only because it had a flat and convenient top, but because it was +screened from the wind by a thick clump of yew-trees. These yews had +once, I think, completely surrounded it, but had either died or been cut +down on the south side, so that anyone sitting on the grave-top was snug +from the weather, and yet possessed a fine prospect over the sea. On the +other three sides, the yews grew close and thick, embowering the tomb +like the high back of a fireside chair; and many times in autumn I have +seen the stone slab crimson with the fallen waxy berries, and taken some +home to my aunt, who liked to taste them with a glass of sloe-gin after +her Sunday dinner. Others beside me, no doubt, found this tomb a +comfortable seat and look-out; for there was quite a path worn to it on +the south side, though all the times I had visited it I had never seen +anyone there. + +So it came about that on a certain afternoon in the beginning of +February, in the year 1758, I was sitting on this tomb looking out to +sea. Though it was so early in the year, the air was soft and warm as a +May day, and so still that I could hear the drumming of turnips that +Gaffer George was flinging into a cart on the hillside, near half a mile +away. Ever since the floods of which I have spoken, the weather had been +open, but with high winds, and little or no rain. Thus as the land dried +after the floods there began to open cracks in the heavy clay soil on +which Moonfleet is built, such as are usually only seen with us in the +height of summer. There were cracks by the side of the path in the +sea-meadows between the village and the church, and cracks in the +churchyard itself, and one running right up to this very tomb. + +It must have been past four o'clock in the afternoon, and I was for +returning to tea at my aunt's, when underneath the stone on which I sat I +heard a rumbling and crumbling, and on jumping off saw that the crack in +the ground had still further widened, just where it came up to the tomb, +and that the dry earth had so shrunk and settled that there was a hole +in the ground a foot or more across. Now this hole reached under the big +stone that formed one side of the tomb, and falling on my hands and knees +and looking down it, I perceived that there was under the monument a +larger cavity, into which the hole opened. I believe there never was boy +yet who saw a hole in the ground, or a cave in a hill, or much more an +underground passage, but longed incontinently to be into it and discover +whither it led. So it was with me; and seeing that the earth had fallen +enough into the hole to open a way under the stone, I slipped myself in +feet foremost, dropped down on to a heap of fallen mould, and found that +I could stand upright under the monument itself. + +Now this was what I had expected, for I thought that there had been below +this grave a vault, the roof of which had given way and let the earth +fall in. But as soon as my eyes were used to the dimmer light, I saw that +it was no such thing, but that the hole into which I had crept was only +the mouth of a passage, which sloped gently down in the direction of the +church. My heart fell to thumping with eagerness and surprise, for I +thought I had made a wonderful discovery, and that this hidden way would +certainly lead to great things, perhaps even to Blackbeard's hoard; for +ever since Mr. Glennie's tale I had constantly before my eyes a vision of +the diamond and the wealth it was to bring me. The passage was two paces +broad, as high as a tall man, and cut through the soil, without bricks or +any other lining; and what surprised me most was that it did not seem +deserted nor mouldy and cob-webbed, as one would expect such a place to +be, but rather a well-used thoroughfare; for I could see the soft clay +floor was trodden with the prints of many boots, and marked with a trail +as if some heavy thing had been dragged over it. + +So I set out down the passage, reaching out my hand before me lest I +should run against anything in the dark, and sliding my feet slowly to +avoid pitfalls in the floor. But before I had gone half a dozen paces, +the darkness grew so black that I was frightened, and so far from going +on was glad to turn sharp about, and see the glimmer of light that came +in through the hole under the tomb. Then a horror of the darkness seized +me, and before I well knew what I was about I found myself wriggling my +body up under the tombstone on to the churchyard grass, and was once more +in the low evening sunlight and the soft sweet air. + +Home I ran to my aunt's, for it was past tea-time, and beside that I knew +I must fetch a candle if I were ever to search out the passage; and to +search it I had well made up my mind, no matter how much I was scared for +this moment. My aunt gave me but a sorry greeting when I came into the +kitchen, for I was late and hot. She never said much when displeased, but +had a way of saying nothing, which was much worse; and would only reply +yes or no, and that after an interval, to anything that was asked of her. +So the meal was silent enough, for she had finished before I arrived, and +I ate but little myself being too much occupied with the thought of my +strange discovery, and finding, beside, the tea lukewarm and the victuals +not enticing. + +You may guess that I said nothing of what I had seen, but made up my mind +that as soon as my aunt's back was turned I would get a candle and +tinder-box, and return to the churchyard. The sun was down before Aunt +Jane gave thanks for what we had received, and then, turning to me, she +said in a cold and measured voice: + +'John, I have observed that you are often out and about of nights, +sometimes as late as half past seven or eight. Now, it is not seemly for +young folk to be abroad after dark, and I do not choose that my nephew +should be called a gadabout. "What's bred in the bone will come out in +the flesh", and 'twas with such loafing that your father began his wild +ways, and afterwards led my poor sister such a life as never was, till +the mercy of Providence took him away.' + +Aunt Jane often spoke thus of my father, whom I never remembered, but +believe him to have been an honest man and good fellow to boot, if +something given to roaming and to the contraband. + +'So understand', she went on, 'that I will not have you out again this +evening, no, nor any other evening, after dusk. Bed is the place for +youth when night falls, but if this seem to you too early you can sit +with me for an hour in the parlour, and I will read you a discourse of +Doctor Sherlock that will banish vain thoughts, and leave you in a fit +frame for quiet sleep.' + +So she led the way into the parlour, took the book from the shelf, put it +on the table within the little circle of light cast by a shaded candle, +and began. It was dull enough, though I had borne such tribulations +before, and the drone of my aunt's voice would have sent me to sleep, as +it had done at other times, even in a straight-backed chair, had I not +been so full of my discovery, and chafed at this delay. Thus all the time +my aunt read of spiritualities and saving grace, I had my mind on +diamonds and all kinds of mammon, for I never doubted that Blackbeard's +treasure would be found at the end of that secret passage. The sermon +finished at last, and my aunt closed the book with a stiff 'good night' +for me. I was for giving her my formal kiss, but she made as if she did +not see me and turned away; so we went upstairs each to our own room, and +I never kissed Aunt Jane again. + +There was a moon three-quarters full, already in the sky, and on +moonlight nights I was allowed no candle to show me to bed. But on that +night I needed none, for I never took off my clothes, having resolved to +wait till my aunt was asleep, and then, ghosts or no ghosts, to make my +way back to the churchyard. I did not dare to put off that visit even +till the morning, lest some chance passer-by should light upon the hole, +and so forestall me with Blackbeard's treasure. + +Thus I lay wide awake on my bed watching the shadow of the tester-post +against the whitewashed wall, and noting how it had moved, by degrees, as +the moon went farther round. At last, just as it touched the picture of +the Good Shepherd which hung over the mantelpiece, I heard my aunt +snoring in her room, and knew that I was free. Yet I waited a few minutes +so that she might get well on with her first sleep, and then took off my +boots, and in stockinged feet slipped past her room and down the stairs. +How stair, handrail, and landing creaked that night, and how my feet and +body struck noisily against things seen quite well but misjudged in the +effort not to misjudge them! And yet there was the note of safety still +sounding, for the snoring never ceased, and the sleeper woke not, though +her waking then might have changed all my life. So I came safely to the +kitchen, and there put in my pocket one of the best winter candles and +the tinder-box, and as I crept out of the room heard suddenly how loud +the old clock was ticking, and looking up saw the bright brass band +marking half past ten on the dial. + +Out in the street I kept in the shadow of the houses as far as I might, +though all was silent as the grave; indeed, I think that when the moon is +bright a great hush falls always upon Nature, as though she was taken up +in wondering at her own beauty. Everyone was fast asleep in Moonfleet and +there was no light in any window; only when I came opposite the Why Not? +I saw from the red glow behind the curtains that the bottom room was lit +up, so Elzevir was not yet gone to bed. It was strange, for the Why Not? +had been shut up early for many a long night past, and I crossed over +cautiously to see if I could make out what was going forward. But that +was not to be done, for the panes were thickly steamed over; and this +surprised me more as showing that there was a good company inside. +Moreover, as I stood and listened I could hear a mutter of deep voices +inside, not as of roisterers, but of sober men talking low. + +Eagerness would not let me wait long, and I was off across the meadows +towards the church, though not without sad misgivings as soon as the last +house was left well behind me. At the churchyard wall my courage had +waned somewhat: it seemed a shameless thing to come to rifle Blackbeard's +treasure just in the very place and hour that Blackbeard loved; and as I +passed the turnstile I half-expected that a tall figure, hairy and +evil-eyed, would spring out from the shadow on the north side of the +church. But nothing stirred, and the frosty grass sounded crisp under my +feet as I made across the churchyard, stepping over the graves and +keeping always out of the shadows, towards the black clump of yew-trees +on the far side. + +When I got round the yews, there was the tomb standing out white against +them, and at the foot of the tomb was the hole like a patch of black +velvet spread upon the ground, it was so dark. Then, for a moment, I +thought that Blackbeard might be lying in wait in the bottom of the hole, +and I stood uncertain whether to go on or back. I could catch the rustle +of the water on the beach--not of any waves, for the bay was smooth as +glass, but just a lipper at the fringe; and wishing to put off with any +excuse the descent into the passage, though I had quite resolved to make +it, I settled with myself that I would count the water wash twenty times, +and at the twentieth would let myself down into the hole. Only seven +wavelets had come in when I forgot to count, for there, right in the +middle of the moon's path across the water, lay a lugger moored broadside +to the beach. She was about half a mile out, but there was no mistake, +for though her sails were lowered her masts and hull stood out black +against the moonlight. Here was a fresh reason for delay, for surely one +must consider what this craft could be, and what had brought her here. +She was too small for a privateer, too large for a fishing-smack, and +could not be a revenue boat by her low freeboard in the waist; and 'twas +a strange thing for a boat to cast anchor in the midst of Moonfleet Bay +even on a night so fine as this. Then while I watched I saw a blue flare +in the bows, only for a moment, as if a man had lit a squib and flung it +overboard, but I knew from it she was a contrabandier, and signalling +either to the shore or to a mate in the offing. With that, courage came +back, and I resolved to make this flare my signal for getting down into +the hole, screwing my heart up with the thought that if Blackbeard was +really waiting for me there, 'twould be little good to turn tail now, for +he would be after me and could certainly run much faster than I. Then I +took one last look round, and down into the hole forthwith, the same way +as I had got down earlier in the day. So on that February night John +Trenchard found himself standing in the heap of loose fallen mould at the +bottom of the hole, with a mixture of courage and cowardice in his heart, +but overruling all a great desire to get at Blackbeard's diamond. + +Out came tinder-box and candle, and I was glad indeed when the light +burned up bright enough to show that no one, at any rate, was standing by +my side. But then there was the passage, and who could say what might be +lurking there? Yet I did not falter, but set out on this adventurous +journey, walking very slowly indeed--but that was from fear of +pitfalls--and nerving myself with the thought of the great diamond which +surely would be found at the end of the passage. What should I not be +able to do with such wealth? I would buy a nag for Mr. Glennie, a new +boat for Ratsey, and a silk gown for Aunt Jane, in spite of her being so +hard with me as on this night. And thus I would make myself the greatest +man in Moonfleet, richer even than Mr. Maskew, and build a stone house in +the sea-meadows with a good prospect of the sea, and marry Grace Maskew +and live happily, and fish. I walked on down the passage, reaching out +the candle as far as might be in front of me, and whistling to keep +myself company, yet saw neither Blackbeard nor anyone else. All the way +there were footprints on the floor, and the roof was black as with smoke +of torches, and this made me fear lest some of those who had been there +before might have made away with the diamond. Now, though I have spoken +of this journey down the passage as though it were a mile long, and +though it verily seemed so to me that night, yet I afterwards found it +was not more than twenty yards or thereabouts; and then I came upon a +stone wall which had once blocked the road, but was now broken through so +as to make a ragged doorway into a chamber beyond. There I stood on the +rough sill of the door, holding my breath and reaching out my candle +arm's-length into the darkness, to see what sort of a place this was +before I put foot into it. And before the light had well time to fall on +things, I knew that I was underneath the church, and that this chamber +was none other than the Mohune Vault. + +It was a large room, much larger, I think, than the schoolroom where Mr. +Glennie taught us, but not near so high, being only some nine feet from +floor to roof. I say floor, though in reality there was none, but only a +bottom of soft wet sand; and when I stepped down on to it my heart beat +very fiercely, for I remembered what manner of place I was entering, and +the dreadful sounds which had issued from it that Sunday morning so short +a time before. I satisfied myself that there was nothing evil lurking in +the dark corners, or nothing visible at least, and then began to look +round and note what was to be seen. Walls and roof were stone, and at one +end was a staircase closed by a great flat stone at top--that same stone +which I had often seen, with a ring in it, in the floor of the church +above. All round the sides were stone shelves, with divisions between +them like great bookcases, but instead of books there were the coffins of +the Mohunes. Yet these lay only at the sides, and in the middle of the +room was something very different, for here were stacked scores of casks, +kegs, and runlets, from a storage butt that might hold thirty gallons +down to a breaker that held only one. They were marked all of them in +white paint on the end with figures and letters, that doubtless set forth +the quality to those that understood. Here indeed was a discovery, and +instead of picking up at the end of the passage a little brass or silver +casket, which had only to be opened to show Blackbeard's diamond gleaming +inside, I had stumbled on the Mohunes' vault, and found it to be nothing +but a cellar of gentlemen of the contraband, for surely good liquor would +never be stored in so shy a place if it ever had paid the excise. + +As I walked round this stack of casks my foot struck sharply on the edge +of a butt, which must have been near empty, and straightway came from it +the same hollow, booming sound (only fainter) which had so frightened us +in church that Sunday morning. So it was the casks, and not the coffins, +that had been knocking one against another; and I was pleased with +myself, remembering how I had reasoned that coffin-wood could never give +that booming sound. + +It was plain enough that the whole place had been under water: the floor +was still muddy, and the green and sweating walls showed the flood-mark +within two feet of the roof; there was a wisp or two of fine seaweed that +had somehow got in, and a small crab was still alive and scuttled across +the corner, yet the coffins were but little disturbed. They lay on the +shelves in rows, one above the other, and numbered twenty-three in all: +most were in lead, and so could never float, but of those in wood some +were turned slantways in their niches, and one had floated right away and +been left on the floor upside down in a corner when the waters went back. + +First I fell to wondering as to whose cellar this was, and how so much +liquor could have been brought in with secrecy; and how it was I had +never seen anything of the contraband-men, though it was clear that they +had made this flat tomb the entrance to their storehouse, as I had made +it my seat. And then I remembered how Ratsey had tried to scare me with +talk of Blackbeard; and how Elzevir, who had never been seen at church +before, was there the Sunday of the noises; and how he had looked ill at +ease whenever the noise came, though he was bold as a lion; and how I had +tripped upon him and Ratsey in the churchyard; and how Master Ratsey lay +with his ear to the wall: and putting all these things together and +casting them up, I thought that Elzevir and Ratsey knew as much as any +about this hiding-place. These reflections gave me more courage, for I +considered that the tales of Blackbeard walking or digging among the +graves had been set afloat to keep those that were not wanted from the +place, and guessed now that when I saw the light moving in the churchyard +that night I went to fetch Dr. Hawkins, it was no corpse-candle, but a +lantern of smugglers running a cargo. Then, having settled these +important matters, I began to turn over in my mind how to get at the +treasure; and herein was much cast down, for in this place was neither +casket nor diamond, but only coffins and double-Hollands. So it was that, +having no better plan, I set to work to see whether I could learn +anything from the coffins themselves; but with little success, for the +lead coffins had no names upon them, and on such of the wooden coffins as +bore plates I found the writing to be Latin, and so rusted over that I +could make nothing of it. + +Soon I wished I had not come at all, considering that the diamond had +vanished into air, and it was a sad thing to be cabined with so many dead +men. It moved me, too, to see pieces of banners and funeral shields, and +even shreds of wreaths that dear hearts had put there a century ago, now +all ruined and rotten--some still clinging, water-sodden, to the coffins, +and some trampled in the sand of the floor. I had spent some time in this +bootless search, and was resolved to give up further inquiry and foot it +home, when the clock in the tower struck midnight. Surely never was +ghostly hour sounded in more ghostly place. Moonfleet peal was known over +half the county, and the finest part of it was the clock bell. 'Twas said +that in times past (when, perhaps, the chimes were rung more often than +now) the voice of this bell had led safe home boats that were lost in the +fog; and this night its clangour, mellow and profound, reached even to +the vault. Bim-bom it went, bim-bom, twelve heavy thuds that shook the +walls, twelve resonant echoes that followed, and then a purring and +vibration of the air, so that the ear could not tell when it ended. + +I was wrought up, perhaps, by the strangeness of the hour and place, and +my hearing quicker than at other times, but before the tremor of the bell +was quite passed away I knew there was some other sound in the air, and +that the awful stillness of the vault was broken. At first I could not +tell what this new sound was, nor whence it came, and now it seemed a +little noise close by, and now a great noise in the distance. And then it +grew nearer and more defined, and in a moment I knew it was the sound of +voices talking. They must have been a long way off at first, and for a +minute, that seemed as an age, they came no nearer. What a minute was +that to me! Even now, so many years after, I can recall the anguish of +it, and how I stood with ears pricked up, eyes starting, and a clammy +sweat upon my face, waiting for those speakers to come. It was the +anguish of the rabbit at the end of his burrow, with the ferret's eyes +gleaming in the dark, and gun and lurcher waiting at the mouth of the +hole. I was caught in a trap, and knew beside that contraband-men had a +way of sealing prying eyes and stilling babbling tongues; and I +remembered poor Cracky Jones found dead in the churchyard, and how men +_said_ he had met Blackbeard in the night. + +These were but the thoughts of a second, but the voices were nearer, and +I heard a dull thud far up the passage, and knew that a man had jumped +down from the churchyard into the hole. So I took a last stare round, +agonizing to see if there was any way of escape; but the stone walls and +roof were solid enough to crush me, and the stack of casks too closely +packed to hide more than a rat. There was a man speaking now from the +bottom of the hole to others in the churchyard, and then my eyes were led +as by a loadstone to a great wooden coffin that lay by itself on the top +shelf, a full six feet from the ground. When I saw the coffin I knew that +I was respited, for, as I judged, there was space between it and the wall +behind enough to contain my little carcass; and in a second I had put out +the candle, scrambled up the shelves, half-stunned my senses with dashing +my head against the roof, and squeezed my body betwixt wall and coffin. +There I lay on one side with a thin and rotten plank between the dead man +and me, dazed with the blow to my head, and breathing hard; while the +glow of torches as they came down the passage reddened and flickered on +the roof above. + + + + +CHAPTER 4 + +IN THE VAULT + +Let us hob and nob with Death--_Tennyson_ + + +Though nothing of the vault except the roof was visible from where I +lay, and so I could not see these visitors, yet I heard every word +spoken, and soon made out one voice as being Master Ratsey's. This +discovery gave me no surprise but much solace, for I thought that if the +worst happened and I was discovered, I should find one friend with whom +I could plead for life. + +'It is well the earth gave way', the sexton was saying, 'on a night when +we were here to find it. I was in the graveyard myself after midday, and +all was snug and tight then. 'Twould have been awkward enough to have the +hole stand open through the day, for any passer-by to light on.' + +There were four or five men in the vault already, and I could hear more +coming down the passage, and guessed from their heavy footsteps that they +were carrying burdens. There was a sound, too, of dumping kegs down on +the ground, with a swish of liquor inside them, and then the noise of +casks being moved. + +'I thought we should have a fall there ere long,' Ratsey went on, 'what +with this drought parching the ground, and the trampling at the edge when +we move out the side stone to get in, but there is no mischief done +beyond what can be easily made good. A gravestone or two and a few spades +of earth will make all sound again. Leave that to me.' + +'Be careful what you do,' rejoined another man's voice that I did not +know, 'lest someone see you digging, and scent us out.' + +'Make your mind easy,' Ratsey said; 'I have dug too often in this +graveyard for any to wonder if they see me with a spade.' + +Then the conversation broke off, and there was little more talking, only +a noise of men going backwards and forwards, and of putting down of kegs +and the hollow gurgle of good liquor being poured from breakers into the +casks. By and by fumes of brandy began to fill the air, and climb to +where I lay, overcoming the mouldy smell of decayed wood and the dampness +of the green walls. It may have been that these fumes mounted to my head, +and gave me courage not my own, but so it was that I lost something of +the stifling fear that had gripped me, and could listen with more ease to +what was going forward. There was a pause in the carrying to and fro; +they were talking again now, and someone said-- + +'I was in Dorchester three days ago, and heard men say it will go hard +with the poor chaps who had the brush with the _Elector_ last summer. +Judge Barentyne comes on Assize next week, and that old fox Maskew has +driven down to Taunton to get at him before and coach him back; making +out to him that the Law's arm is weak in these parts against the +contraband, and must be strengthened by some wholesome hangings.' + +'They are a cruel pair,' another put in, 'and we shall have new gibbets on +Ridgedown for leading lights. Once I get even with Maskew, the other may +go hang, ay, and they may hang me too.' + +'The Devil send him to meet me one dark night on the down alone,' said +someone else, 'and I will give him a pistol's mouth to look down, and +spoil his face for him.' + +'No, thou wilt not,' said a deep voice, and then I knew that Elzevir was +there too; 'none shall lay hand on Maskew but I. So mark that, lad, that +when his day of reckoning comes, 'tis _I_ will reckon with him.' + +Then for a few minutes I did not pay much heed to what was said, being +terribly straitened for room, and cramped with pain from lying so long in +one place. The thick smoke from the pitch torches too came curling across +the roof and down upon me, making me sick and giddy with its evil smell +and taste; and though all was very dim, I could see my hands were black +with oily smuts. At last I was able to wriggle myself over without making +too much noise, and felt a great relief in changing sides, but gave such +a start as made the coffin creak again at hearing my own name. + +'There is a boy of Trenchard's,' said a voice that I thought was +Parmiter's, who lived at the bottom of the village--'there is a boy of +Trenchard's that I mistrust; he is for ever wandering in the graveyard, +and I have seen him a score of times sitting on this tomb and looking out +to sea. This very night, when the wind fell at sundown, and we were hung +up with sails flapping, three miles out, and waited for the dark to get +the sweeps, I took my glass to scan the coast-line, and lo, here on the +tomb-top sits Master Trenchard. I could not see his face, but knew him by +his cut, and fear the boy sits there to play the spy and then tells +Maskew.' + +'You're right,' said Greening of Ringstave, for I knew his +slow drawl; 'and many a time when I have sat in The Wood, and watched the +Manor to see Maskew safe at home before we ran a cargo, I have seen this +boy too go round about the place with a hangdog look, scanning the house +as if his life depended on't.' + +'Twas very true what Greening said; for of a summer evening I would take +the path that led up Weatherbeech Hill, behind the Manor; both because +'twas a walk that had a good prospect in itself, and also a sweet charm +for me, namely, the hope of seeing Grace Maskew. And there I often sat +upon the stile that ends the path and opens on the down, and watched the +old half-ruined house below; and sometimes saw white-frocked Gracie +walking on the terrace in the evening sun, and sometimes in returning +passed her window near enough to wave a greeting. And once, when she had +the fever, and Dr. Hawkins came twice a day to see her, I had no heart +for school, but sat on that stile the livelong day, looking at the gabled +house where she was lying ill. And Mr. Glennie never rated me for playing +truant, nor told Aunt Jane, guessing, as I thought afterwards, the cause, +and having once been young himself. 'Twas but boy's love, yet serious for +me; and on the day she lay near death, I made so bold as to stop Dr. +Hawkins on his horse and ask him how she did; and he bearing with me for +the eagerness that he read in my face, bent down over his saddle and +smiled, and said my playmate would come back to me again. + +So it was quite true that I had watched the house, but not as a spy, and +would not have borne tales to old Maskew for anything that could be +offered. Then Ratsey spoke up for me and said--''Tis a false scent. The +boy is well enough, and simple, and has told me many a time he seeks the +churchyard because there is a fine view to be had there of the sea, and +'tis the sea he loves. A month ago, when the high tide set, and this +vault was so full of water that we could not get in, I came with Elzevir +to make out if the floods were going down inside, or what eddy 'twas that +set the casks tapping one against another. So as I lay on the ground with +my ear glued close against the wall, who should march round the church +but John Trenchard, Esquire, not treading delicately like King Agag, or +spying, but just come on a voyage of discovery for himself. For in the +church on Sunday, when we heard the tapping in the vault below, my young +gentleman was scared enough; but afterwards, being told by Parson +Glennie--who should know better--that such noises were not made by +ghosts, but by the Mohunes at sea in their coffins, he plucks up heart, +and comes down on the Monday to see if they are still afloat. So there he +caught me lying like a zany on the ground. You may guess I stood at +attention soon enough, but told him I was looking at the founds to see if +they wanted underpinning from the floods. And so I set his mind at ease, +for 'tis a simple child, and packed him off to get my dubbing hammer. And +I think the boy will not be here so often now to frighten honest +Parmiter, for I have weaved him some pretty tales of Blackbeard, and he +has a wholesome scare of meeting the Colonel. But after dark I pledge my +life that neither he nor any other in the town would pass the churchyard +wall, no, not for a thousand pounds.' + +I heard him chuckling to himself, and the others laughed loudly too, when +he was telling how he palmed me off; but 'he laughs loudest who laughs +last', thought I, and should have chuckled too, were it not for making +the coffin creak. And then, to my surprise, Elzevir spoke: 'The lad is +a brave lad; I would he were my son. He is David's age, and will make a +good sailor later on.' + +They were simple words, yet pleasing to me; for Elzevir spoke as if he +meant them, and I had got to like him a little in spite of all his +grimness; and beside that, was sorry for his grief over his son. I was so +moved by what he said, that for a moment I was for jumping up and calling +out to him that I lay here and liked him well, but then thought better of +it, and so kept still. + +The carrying was over, and I fancy they were all sitting on the ends of +kegs or leaning up against the pile; but could not see, and was still +much troubled with the torch smoke, though now and then I caught through +it a whiff of tobacco, which showed that some were smoking. + +Then Greening, who had a singing voice for all his drawl, struck up +with-- + +Says the Cap'n to the crew, +We have slipt the revenue, + +but Ratsey stopped him with a sharp 'No more of that; the words aren't +to our taste tonight, but come as wry as if the parson called _Old +Hundred_ and I tuned up with _Veni_.' I knew he meant the last verse +with a hanging touch in it; but Greening was for going on with the song, +until some others broke in too, and he saw that the company would have +none of it. + +'Not but what the labourer is worthy of his hire,' went on Master Ratsey; +'so spile that little breaker of Schiedam, and send a rummer round to +keep off midnight chills.' + +He loved a glass of the good liquor well, and with him 'twas always the +same reasoning, namely, to keep off chills; though he chopped the words +to suit the season, and now 'twas autumn, now winter, now spring, or +summer chills. + +They must have found glasses, though I could not remember to have seen +any in the vault, for a minute later fugleman Ratsey spoke again-- + +'Now, lads, glasses full and bumpers for a toast. And here's to +Blackbeard, to Father Blackbeard, who watches over our treasure better +than he did over his own; for were it not the fear of him that keeps off +idle feet and prying eyes, we should have the gaugers in, and our store +ransacked twenty times.' + +So he spoke, and it seemed there was a little halting at first, as of +men not liking to take Blackbeard's name in Blackbeard's place, or raise +the Devil by mocking at him. But then some of the bolder shouted +'Blackbeard', and so the more timid chimed in, and in a minute there +were a score of voices calling 'Blackbeard, Blackbeard', till the place +rang again. + +Then Elzevir cried out angrily, 'Silence. Are you mad, or has the liquor +mastered you? Are you Revenue-men that you dare shout and roister? or +contrabandiers with the lugger in the offing, and your life in your hand. +You make noise enough to wake folk in Moonfleet from their beds.' + +'Tut, man,' retorted Ratsey testily, 'and if they waked, they would but +pull the blankets tight about their ears, and say 'twas Blackbeard piping +his crew of lost Mohunes to help him dig for treasure.' + +Yet for all that 'twas plain that Block ruled the roost, for there was +silence for a minute, and then one said, 'Ay, Master Elzevir is right; +let us away, the night is far spent, and we have nothing but the sweeps +to take the lugger out of sight by dawn.' + +So the meeting broke up, and the torchlight grew dimmer, and died away +as it had come in a red flicker on the roof, and the footsteps sounded +fainter as they went up the passage, until the vault was left to the dead +men and me. Yet for a very long time--it seemed hours--after all had gone +I could hear a murmur of distant voices, and knew that some were talking +at the end of the passage, and perhaps considering how the landslip might +best be restored. So while I heard them thus conversing I dared not +descend from my perch, lest someone might turn back to the vault, though +I was glad enough to sit up, and ease my aching back and limbs. Yet in +the awful blackness of the place even the echo of these human voices +seemed a kindly and blessed thing, and a certain shrinking loneliness +fell on me when they ceased at last and all was silent. Then I resolved I +would be off at once, and get back to the moonlight bed that I had left +hours ago, having no stomach for more treasure-hunting, and being glad +indeed to be still left with the treasure of life. + +Thus, sitting where I was, I lit my candle once more, and then clambered +across that great coffin which, for two hours or more, had been a +mid-wall of partition between me and danger. But to get out of the niche +was harder than to get in; for now that I had a candle to light me, I saw +that the coffin, though sound enough to outer view, was wormed through +and through, and little better than a rotten shell. So it was that I had +some ado to get over it, not daring either to kneel upon it or to bring +much weight to bear with my hand, lest it should go through. And now +having got safely across, I sat for an instant on that narrow ledge of +the stone shelf which projected beyond the coffin on the vault side, and +made ready to jump forward on to the floor below. And how it happened I +know not, but there I lost my balance, and as I slipped the candle flew +out of my grasp. Then I clutched at the coffin to save myself, but my +hand went clean through it, and so I came to the ground in a cloud of +dust and splinters; having only got hold of a wisp of seaweed, or a +handful of those draggled funeral trappings which were strewn about this +place. The floor of the vault was sandy; and so, though I fell crookedly, +I took but little harm beyond a shaking; and soon, pulling myself +together, set to strike my flint and blow the match into a flame to +search for the fallen candle. Yet all the time I kept in my fingers this +handful of light stuff; and when the flame burnt up again I held the +thing against the light, and saw that it was no wisp of seaweed, but +something black and wiry. For a moment, I could not gather what I had +hold of, but then gave a start that nearly sent the candle out, and +perhaps a cry, and let it drop as if it were red-hot iron, for I knew +that it was a man's beard. + +Now when I saw that, I felt a sort of throttling fright, as though one +had caught hold of my heartstrings; and so many and such strange thoughts +rose in me, that the blood went pounding round and round in my head, as +it did once afterwards when I was fighting with the sea and near drowned. +Surely to have in hand the beard of any dead man in any place was bad +enough, but worse a thousand times in such a place as this, and to know +on whose face it had grown. For, almost before I fully saw what it was, I +knew it was that black beard which had given Colonel John Mohune his +nickname, and this was his great coffin I had hid behind. + +I had lain, therefore, all that time, cheek by jowl with Blackbeard +himself, with only a thin shell of tinder wood to keep him from me, and +now had thrust my hand into his coffin and plucked away his beard. So +that if ever wicked men have power to show themselves after death, and +still to work evil, one would guess that he would show himself now and +fall upon me. Thus a sick dread got hold of me, and had I been a woman +or a girl I think I should have swooned; but being only a boy, and not +knowing how to swoon, did the next best thing, which was to put myself as +far as might be from the beard, and make for the outlet. Yet had I scarce +set foot in the passage when I stopped, remembering how once already this +same evening I had played the coward, and run home scared with my own +fears. So I was brought up for very shame, and beside that thought how I +had come to this place to look for Blackbeard's treasure, and might have +gone away without knowing even so much as where he lay, had not chance +first led me to be down by his side, and afterwards placed my hand upon +his beard. And surely this could not be chance alone, but must rather be +the finger of Providence guiding me to that which I desired to find. This +consideration somewhat restored my courage, and after several feints to +return, advances, stoppings, and panics, I was in the vault again, +walking carefully round the stack of barrels, and fearing to see the +glimmer of the candle fall upon that beard. There it was upon the sand, +and holding the candle nearer to it with a certain caution, as though it +would spring up and bite me, I saw it was a great full black beard, more +than a foot long, but going grey at the tips; and had at the back, +keeping it together, a thin tissue of dried skin, like the false parting +which Aunt Jane wore under her cap on Sundays. This I could see as it lay +before me, for I did not handle or lift it, but only peered into it, with +the candle, on all sides, busying myself the while with thoughts of the +man of whom it had once been part. + +In returning to the vault, I had no very sure purpose in mind; only a +vague surmise that this finding of Blackbeard's coffin would somehow lead +to the finding of his treasure. But as I looked at the beard and +pondered, I began to see that if anything was to be done, it must be by +searching in the coffin itself, and the clearer this became to me, the +greater was my dislike to set about such a task. So I put off the evil +hour, by feigning to myself that it was necessary to make a careful +scrutiny of the beard, and thus wasted at least ten minutes. But at +length, seeing that the candle was burning low, and could certainly last +little more than half an hour, and considering that it must now be +getting near dawn, I buckled to the distasteful work of rummaging the +coffin. Nor had I any need to climb up on to the top shelf again, but +standing on the one beneath, found my head and arms well on a level with +the search. And beside that, the task was not so difficult as I had +thought; for in my fall I had broken off the head-end of the lid, and +brought away the whole of that side that faced the vault. Now, any lad of +my age, and perhaps some men too, might well have been frightened to set +about such a matter as to search in a coffin; and if any had said, a few +hours before, that I should ever have courage to do this by night in the +Mohune vault, I would not have believed him. Yet here I was, and had +advanced along the path of terror so gradually, and as it were foot by +foot in the past night, that when I came to this final step I was not +near so scared as when I first felt my way into the vault. It was not the +first time either that I had looked on death; but had, indeed, always a +leaning to such sights and matters, and had seen corpses washed up from +the _Darius_ and other wrecks, and besides that had helped Ratsey to case +some poor bodies that had died in their beds. + +The coffin was, as I have said, of great length, and the side being +removed, I could see the whole outline of the skeleton that lay in it. I +say the outline, for the form was wrapped in a woollen or flannel shroud, +so that the bones themselves were not visible. The man that lay in it was +little short of a giant, measuring, as I guessed, a full six and a half +feet, and the flannel having sunk in over the belly, the end of the +breast-bone, the hips, knees, and toes were very easy to be made out. The +head was swathed in linen bands that had been white, but were now stained +and discoloured with damp, but of this I shall not speak more, and +beneath the chin-cloth the beard had once escaped. The clutch which I had +made to save myself in falling had torn away this chin-band and let the +lower jaw drop on the breast; but little else was disturbed, and there +was Colonel John Mohune resting as he had been laid out a century ago. I +lifted that portion of the lid which had been left behind, and reached +over to see if there was anything hid on the other side of the body; but +had scarce let the light fall in the coffin when my heart gave a great +bound, and all fear left me in the flush of success, for there I saw what +I had come to seek. + +On the breast of this silent and swathed figure lay a locket, attached to +the neck by a thin chain, which passed inside the linen bandages. A +whiter portion of the flannel showed how far the beard had extended, but +locket and chain were quite black, though I judged that they were made of +silver. The shape of this locket was not unlike a crown-piece, only three +times as thick, and as soon as I set eyes upon it I never doubted but +that inside would be found the diamond. + +It was then that a great pity came over me for this thin shadow of man; +thinking rather what a fine, tall gentleman Colonel Mohune had once been, +and a good soldier no doubt besides, than that he had wasted a noble +estate and played traitor to the king. And then I reflected that it was +all for the bit of flashing stone, which lay as I hoped within the +locket, that he had sold his honour; and wished that the jewel might +bring me better fortune than had fallen to him, or at any rate, that it +might not lead me into such miry paths. Yet such thoughts did not delay +my purpose, and I possessed myself of the locket easily enough, finding a +hasp in the chain, and so drawing it out from the linen folds. I had +expected as I moved the locket to hear the jewel rattle in the inside, +but there was no sound, and then I thought that the diamond might cleave +to the side with damp, or perhaps be wrapped in wool. Scarcely was the +locket well in my hand before I had it undone, finding a thumb-nick +whereby, after a little persuasion, the back, though rusted, could be +opened on a hinge. My breath came very fast, and I shook so that I had a +difficulty to keep my thumbnail in the nick, yet hardly was it opened +before exalted expectation gave place to deepest disappointment. + +For there lay all the secret of the locket disclosed, and there was no +diamond, no, nor any other jewel, and nothing at all except a little +piece of folded paper. Then I felt like a man who has played away all his +property and stakes his last crown--heavy-hearted, yet hoping against +hope that luck may turn, and that with this piece he may win back all his +money. So it was with me; for I hoped that this paper might have written +on it directions for the finding of the jewel, and that I might yet rise +from the table a winner. It was but a frail hope, and quickly dashed; for +when I had smoothed the creases and spread out the piece of paper in the +candle-light, there was nothing to be seen except a few verses from the +Psalms of David. The paper was yellow, and showed a lattice of folds +where it had been pressed into the locket; but the handwriting, though +small, was clear and neat, and there was no mistaking a word of what was +there set down. 'Twas so short, I could read it at once: + +The days of our age are threescore years and ten; +And though men be so strong that they come +To fourscore years, yet is their strength then +But labour and sorrow, so soon passeth it +Away, and we are gone. +--Psalm 90, 21 + +And as for me, my feet are almost gone; +My treadings are wellnigh slipped. +--73, 6 + +But let not the waterflood drown me; neither let +The deep swallow me up. +--69, 11 + +So, going through the vale of misery, I shall +Use it for a well, till the pools are filled +With water. +--84, 14 + +For thou hast made the North and the South: +Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name. +--89, 6 + +So here was an end to great hopes, and I was after all to leave the vault +no richer than I had entered it. For look at it as I might, I could not +see that these verses could ever lead to any diamond; and though I might +otherwise have thought of ciphers or secret writing, yet, remembering +what Mr. Glennie had said, that Blackbeard after his wicked life desired +to make a good end, and sent for a parson to confess him, I guessed that +such pious words had been hung round his neck as a charm to keep the +spirits of evil away from his tomb. I was disappointed enough, but before +I left picked up the beard from the floor, though it sent a shiver +through me to touch it, and put it back in its place on the dead man's +breast. I restored also such pieces of the coffin as I could get at, but +could not make much of it; so left things as they were, trusting that +those who came there next would think the wood had fallen to pieces by +natural decay. But the locket I kept, and hung about my neck under my +shirt; both as being a curious thing in itself, and because I thought +that if the good words inside it were strong enough to keep off bad +spirits from Blackbeard, they would be also strong enough to keep +Blackbeard from me. + +When this was done the candle had burnt so low, that I could no longer +hold it in my fingers, and was forced to stick it on a piece of the +broken wood, and so carry it before me. But, after all, I was not to +escape from Blackbeard's clutches so easily; for when I came to the end +of the passage, and was prepared to climb up into the churchyard, I found +that the hole was stopped, and that there was no exit. + +I understood now how it was that I had heard talking so long after the +company had left the vault; for it was clear that Ratsey had been as +good as his word, and that the falling in of the ground had been +repaired before the contraband-men went home that night. At first I made +light of the matter, thinking I should soon be able to dislodge this new +work, and so find a way out. But when I looked more narrowly into the +business, I did not feel so sure; for they had made a sound job of it, +putting one very heavy burial slab at the side to pile earth against +till the hole was full, and then covering it with another. These were +both of slate, and I knew whence they came; for there were a dozen or +more of such disused and weather-worn covers laid up against the north +side of the church, and every one of them a good burden for four men. +Yet I hoped by grouting at the earth below it to be able to dislodge the +stone at the side; but while I was considering how best to begin, the +candle flickered, the wick gave a sudden lurch to one side, and I was +left in darkness. + +Thus my plight was evil indeed, for I had nothing now to burn to give me +light, and knew that 'twas no use setting to grout till I could see to go +about it. Moreover, the darkness was of that black kind that is never +found beneath the open sky, no, not even on the darkest night, but lurks +in close and covered places and strains the eyes in trying to see into +it. Yet I did not give way, but settled to wait for the dawn, which must, +I knew, be now at hand; for then I thought enough light would come +through the chinks of the tomb above to show me how to set to work. Nor +was I even much scared, as one who having been in peril of life from the +contraband-men for a spy, and in peril from evil ghosts for rifling +Blackbeard's tomb, deemed it a light thing to be left in the dark to wait +an hour till morning. So I sat down on the floor of the passage, which, +if damp, was at least soft, and being tired with what I had gone through, +and not used to miss a night's rest, fell straightway asleep. + +How long I slept I cannot tell, for I had nothing to guide me to the +time, but woke at length, and found myself still in darkness. I stood up +and stretched my limbs, but did not feel as one refreshed by wholesome +sleep, but sick and tired with pains in back, arms, and legs, as if +beaten or bruised. I have said I was still in darkness, yet it was not +the blackness of the last night; and looking up into the inside of the +tomb above, I could see the faintest line of light at one corner, which +showed the sun was up. For this line of light was the sunlight, filtering +slowly through a crevice at the joining of the stones; but the sides of +the tomb had been fitted much closer than I reckoned for, and it was +plain there would never be light in the place enough to guide me to my +work. All this I considered as I rested on the ground, for I had sat down +again, feeling too tired to stand. But as I kept my eye on the narrow +streak of light I was much startled, for I looked at the south-west +corner of the tomb, and yet was looking towards the sun. This I gathered +from the tone of the light; and although there was no direct outlet to +the air, and only a glimmer came in, as I have said, yet I knew certainly +that the sun was low in the west and falling full upon this stone. + +Here was a surprise, and a sad one for me, for I perceived that I had +slept away a day, and that the sun was setting for another night. And yet +it mattered little, for night or daytime there was no light to help me in +this horrible place; and though my eyes had grown accustomed to the +gloom, I could make out nothing to show me where to work. So I took out +my tinder-box, meaning to fan the match into a flame, and to get at least +one moment's look at the place, and then to set to digging with my hands. + +But as I lay asleep the top had been pressed off the box, and the tinder +got loose in my pocket; and though I picked the tinder out easily enough, +and got it in the box again, yet the salt damps of the place had soddened +it in the night, and spark by spark fell idle from the flint. + +And then it was that I first perceived the danger in which I stood; for +there was no hope of kindling a light, and I doubted now whether even in +the light I could ever have done much to dislodge the great slab of +slate. I began also to feel very hungry, as not having eaten for +twenty-four hours; and worse than that, there was a parching thirst and +dryness in my throat, and nothing with which to quench it. Yet there was +no time to be lost if I was ever to get out alive, and so I groped with +my hands against the side of the grave until I made out the bottom edge +of the slab, and then fell to grubbing beneath it with my fingers. But +the earth, which the day before had looked light and loamy to the eye, +was stiff and hard enough when one came to tackle it with naked hands, +and in an hour's time I had done little more than further weary myself +and bruise my fingers. + +Then I was forced to rest; and, sitting down on the ground, saw that the +glimmering streak of light had faded, and that the awful blackness of +the previous night was creeping up again. And now I had no heart to face +it, being cowed with hunger, thirst, and weariness; and so flung myself +upon my face, that I might not see how dark it was, and groaned for very +lowness of spirit. Thus I lay for a long time, but afterwards stood up +and cried aloud, and shrieked if anyone should haply hear me, calling to +Mr. Glennie and Ratsey, and even Elzevir, by name, to save me from this +awful place. But there came no answer, except the echo of my own voice +sounding hollow and far off down in the vault. So in despair I turned +back to the earth wall below the slab, and scrabbled at it with my +fingers, till my nails were broken and the blood ran out; having all the +while a sure knowledge, like a cord twisted round my head, that no effort +of mine could ever dislodge the great stone. And thus the hours passed, +and I shall not say more here, for the remembrance of that time is still +terrible, and besides, no words could ever set forth the anguish I then +suffered, yet did slumber come sometimes to my help; for even while I was +working at the earth, sheer weariness would overtake me, and I sank on to +the ground and fell asleep. + +And still the hours passed, and at last I knew by the glimmer of light +in the tomb above that the sun had risen again, and a maddening thirst +had hold of me. And then I thought of all the barrels piled up in the +vault and of the liquor that they held; and stuck not because 'twas +spirit, for I would scarce have paused to sate that thirst even with +molten lead. So I felt my way down the passage back to the vault, and +recked not of the darkness, nor of Blackbeard and his crew, if only I +could lay my lips to liquor. Thus I groped about the barrels till near +the top of the stack my hand struck on the spile of a keg, and drawing +it, I got my mouth to the hold. + +What the liquor was I do not know, but it was not so strong but that I +could swallow it in great gulps and found it less burning than my burning +throat. But when I turned to get back to the passage, I could not find +the outlet, and fumbled round and round until my brain was dizzy, and I +fell senseless to the ground. + + + + +CHAPTER 5 + +THE RESCUE + +Shades of the dead, have I not heard your voices +Rise on the night-rolling breath of the gale?--_Byron_ + + +When I came to myself I was lying, not in the outer blackness of the +Mohune vault, not on a floor of sand; but in a bed of sweet clean linen, +and in a little whitewashed room, through the window of which the spring +sunlight streamed. Oh, the blessed sunshine, and how I praised God for +the light! At first I thought I was in my own bed at my aunt's house, and +had dreamed of the vault and the smugglers, and that my being prisoned in +the darkness was but the horror of a nightmare. I was for getting up, but +fell back on my pillow in the effort to rise, with a weakness and sick +languor which I had never known before. And as I sunk down, I felt +something swing about my neck, and putting up my hand, found 'twas +Colonel John Mohune's black locket, and so knew that part at least of +this adventure was no dream. + +Then the door opened, and to my wandering thought it seemed that I was +back again in the vault, for in came Elzevir Block. Then I held up my +hands, and cried-- + +'O Elzevir, save me, save me; I am not come to spy.' + +But he, with a kind look on his face, put his hand on my shoulder, and +pushed me gently back, saying-- + +'Lie still, lad, there is none here will hurt thee, and drink this.' + +He held out to me a bowl of steaming broth, that filled the room with a +savour sweeter, ten thousand times, to me than every rose and lily of the +world; yet would not let me drink it at a gulp, but made me sip it with a +spoon like any baby. Thus while I drank, he told me where I was, namely, +in an attic at the Why Not?, but would not say more then, bidding me get +to sleep again, and I should know all afterwards. And so it was ten days +or more before youth and health had their way, and I was strong again; +and all that time Elzevir Block sat by my bed, and nursed me tenderly as +a woman. So piece by piece I learned the story of how they found me. + +'Twas Mr. Glennie who first moved to seek me; for when the second day +came that I was not at school, he thought that I was ill, and went to my +aunt's to ask how I did, as was his wont when any ailed. But Aunt Jane +answered him stiffly that she could not say how I did. + +'For,' says she, 'he is run off I know not where, but as he makes his +bed, must he lie on't; and if he run away for his pleasure, may stay away +for mine. I have been pestered with this lot too long, and only bore with +him for poor sister Martha's sake; but 'tis after his father that the +graceless lad takes, and thus rewards me.' + +With that she bangs the door in the parson's face and off he goes to +Ratsey, but can learn nothing there, and so concludes that I have run +away to sea, and am seeking ship at Poole or Weymouth. + +But that same day came Sam Tewkesbury to the Why Not? about nightfall, +and begged a glass of rum, being, as he said, 'all of a shake', and +telling a tale of how he passed the churchyard wall on his return from +work, and in the dusk heard screams and wailing voices, and knew 'twas +Blackbeard piping his lost Mohunes to hunt for treasure. So, though he +saw nothing, he turned tail and never stopped running till he stood at +the inn door. Then, forthwith, Elzevir leaves Sam to drink at the Why +Not? alone, and himself sets off running up the street to call for Master +Ratsey; and they two make straight across the sea-meadows in the dark. + +'For as soon as I heard Tewkesbury tell of screams and wailings in the +air, and no one to be seen,' said Elzevir, 'I guessed that some poor soul +had got shut in the vault, and was there crying for his life. And to this +I was not guided by mother wit, but by a surer and a sadder token. Thou +wilt have heard how thirteen years ago a daft body we called Cracky Jones +was found one morning in the churchyard dead. He was gone missing for a +week before, and twice within that week I had sat through the night upon +the hill behind the church, watching to warn the lugger with a flare she +could not put in for the surf upon the beach. And on those nights, the +air being still though a heavy swell was running, I heard thrice or more +a throttled scream come shivering across the meadows from the graveyard. +Yet beyond turning my blood cold for a moment, it gave me little trouble, +for evil tales have hung about the church; and though I did not set much +store by the old yarns of Blackbeard piping up his crew, yet I thought +strange things might well go on among the graves at night. And so I never +budged, nor stirred hand or foot to save a fellow-creature in his agony. + +'But when the surf fell enough for the boats to get ashore, and Greening +held a lantern for me to jump down into the passage, after we had got the +side out of the tomb, the first thing the light fell on at the bottom +was a white face turned skyward. I have not forgot that, lad, for 'twas +Cracky Jones lay there, with his face thin and shrunk, yet all the doited +look gone out of it. We tried to force some brandy in his mouth, but he +was stark and dead; with knees drawn up towards his head, so stiff we had +to lift him doubled as he was, and lay him by the churchyard wall for +some of us to find next day. We never knew how he got there, but guessed +that he had hung about the landers some night when they ran a cargo, and +slipped in when the watchman's back was turned. Thus when Sam Tewkesbury +spoke of screams and wailings, and no one to be seen, I knew what 'twas, +but never guessed who might be shut in there, not knowing thou wert gone +amissing. So ran to Ratsey to get his help to slip the side stone off, +for by myself I cannot stir it now, though once I did when I was younger; +and from him learned that thou wert lost, and knew whom we should find +before we got there.' + +I shuddered while Elzevir talked, for I thought how Cracky Jones had +perhaps hidden behind the self-same coffin that sheltered me, and how +narrowly I had escaped his fate. And that old story came back into my +mind, how, years ago, there once arose so terrible a cry from the vault +at service-time, that parson and people fled from the church; and I +doubted not now that some other poor soul had got shut in that awful +place, and was then calling for help to those whose fears would not let +them listen. + +'There we found thee,' Elzevir went on, 'stretched out on the sand, +senseless and far gone; and there was something in thy face that made me +think of David when he lay stretched out in his last sleep. And so I put +thee on my shoulder and bare thee back, and here thou art in David's +room, and shalt find board and bed with me as long as thou hast mind +to.' We spoke much together during the days when I was getting +stronger, and I grew to like Elzevir well, finding his grimness was but +on the outside, and that never was a kinder man. Indeed, I think that my +being with him did him good; for he felt that there was once more +someone to love him, and his heart went out to me as to his son David. +Never once did he ask me to keep my counsel as to the vault and what I +had seen there, knowing, perhaps, he had no need, for I would have died +rather than tell the secret to any. Only, one day Master Ratsey, who +often came to see me, said-- + +'John, there is only Elzevir and I who know that you have seen the +inside of our bond-cellar; and 'tis well, for if some of the landers +guessed, they might have ugly ways to stop all chance of prating. So +keep our secret tight, and we'll keep yours, for "he that refraineth his +lips is wise".' + +I wondered how Master Ratsey could quote Scripture so pat, and yet cheat +the revenue; though, in truth, 'twas thought little sin at Moonfleet to +run a cargo; and, perhaps, he guessed what I was thinking, for he added-- + +'Not that a Christian man has aught to be ashamed of in landing a cask of +good liquor, for we read that when Israel came out of Egypt, the chosen +people were bid trick their oppressors out of jewels of silver and jewels +of gold; and among those cruel taskmasters, Some of the worst must +certainly have been the tax-gatherers.' + + * * * * * + +The first walk I took when I grew stronger and was able to get about was +up to Aunt Jane's, notwithstanding she had never so much as been to ask +after me all these days. She knew, indeed, where I was, for Ratsey had +told her I lay at the Why Not?, explaining that Elzevir had found me one +night on the ground famished and half-dead, yet not saying where. But my +aunt greeted me with hard words, which I need not repeat here; for, +perhaps, she meant them not unkindly, but only to bring me back again to +the right way. She did not let me cross the threshold, holding the door +ajar in her hand, and saying she would have no tavern-loungers in her +house, but that if I liked the Why Not? so well, I could go back there +again for her. I had been for begging her pardon for playing truant; but +when I heard such scurvy words, felt the devil rise in my heart, and only +laughed, though bitter tears were in my eyes. So I turned my back upon +the only home that I had ever known, and sauntered off down the village, +feeling very lone, and am not sure I was not crying before I came again +to the Why Not? + +Then Elzevir saw that my face was downcast, and asked what ailed me, and +so I told him how my aunt had turned me away, and that I had no home to +go to. But he seemed pleased rather than sorry, and said that I must come +now and live with him, for he had plenty for both; and that since chance +had led him to save my life, I should be to him a son in David's place. +So I went to keep house with him at the Why Not? and my aunt sent down my +bag of clothes, and would have made over to Elzevir the pittance that my +father left for my keep, but he said it was not needful, and he would +have none of it. + + + + +CHAPTER 6 + +AN ASSAULT + + Surely after all, +The noblest answer unto such +Is perfect stillness when they brawl--_Tennyson_ + + +I have more than once brought up the name of Mr. Maskew; and as I shall +have other things to tell of him later on, I may as well relate here what +manner of man he was. His stature was but medium, not exceeding five feet +four inches, I think; and to make the most of it, he flung his head far +back, and gave himself a little strut in walking. He had a thin face with +a sharp nose that looked as if it would peck you, and grey eyes that +could pierce a millstone if there was a guinea on the far side of it. His +hair, for he wore his own, had been red, though it was now grizzled; and +the colour of it was set down in Moonfleet to his being a Scotchman, for +we thought all Scotchmen were red-headed. He was a lawyer by profession, +and having made money in Edinburgh, had gone so far south as Moonfleet to +get quit, as was said, of the memories of rascally deeds. It was about +four years since he bought a parcel of the Mohune Estate, which had been +breaking up and selling piecemeal for a generation; and on his land stood +the Manor House, or so much of it as was left. Of the mansion I have +spoken before. It was a very long house of two storeys, with a projecting +gable and doorway in the middle, and at each end gabled wings running out +crosswise. The Maskews lived in one of these wings, and that was the only +habitable portion of the place; for as to the rest, the glass was out of +the windows, and in some places the roofs had fallen in. Mr. Maskew made +no attempt to repair house or grounds, and the bough of the great cedar +which the snows had brought down in '49 still blocked the drive. The +entrance to the house was through the porchway in the middle, but more +than one tumble-down corridor had to be threaded before one reached +the inhabited wing; while fowls and pigs and squirrels had possession of +the terrace lawns in front. It was not for want of money that Maskew let +things remain thus, for men said that he was rich enough, only that his +mood was miserly; and perhaps, also, it was the lack of woman's company +that made him think so little of neatness and order. For his wife was +dead; and though he had a daughter, she was young, and had not yet weight +enough to make her father do things that he did not choose. + +Till Maskew came there had been none living in the Manor House for a +generation, so the village children used the terrace for a playground, +and picked primroses in the woods; and the men thought they had a right +to snare a rabbit or shoot a pheasant in the chase. But the new owner +changed all this, hiding gins and spring-guns in the coverts, and nailing +up boards on the trees to say he would have the law of any that +trespassed. So he soon made enemies for himself, and before long had +everyone's hand against him. Yet he preferred his neighbour's enmity to +their goodwill, and went about to make it more bitter by getting himself +posted for magistrate, and giving out that he would put down the +contraband thereabouts. For no one round Moonfleet was for the Excise; +but farmers loved a glass of Schnapps that had never been gauged, and +their wives a piece of fine lace from France. And then came the affair +between the _Elector_ and the ketch, with David Block's death; and after +that they said it was not safe for Maskew to walk at large, and that he +would be found some day dead on the down; but he gave no heed to it, and +went on as if he had been a paid exciseman rather than a magistrate. + +When I was a little boy the Manor woods were my delight, and many a sunny +afternoon have I sat on the terrace edge looking down over the village, +and munching red quarantines from the ruined fruit gardens. And though +this was now forbidden, yet the Manor had still a sweeter attraction to +me than apples or bird-batting, and that was Grace Maskew. She was an +only child, and about my own age, or little better, at the time of which +I am speaking. I knew her, because she went every day to the old +almshouses to be taught by the Reverend Mr. Glennie, from whom I also +received my schooling. She was tall for her age, and slim, with a thin +face and a tumble of tawny hair, which flew about her in a wind or when +she ran. Her frocks were washed and patched and faded, and showed more of +her arms and legs than the dressmaker had ever intended, for she was a +growing girl, and had none to look after her clothes. She was a favourite +playfellow with all, and an early choice for games of 'prisoner's base', +and she could beat most of us boys at speed. Thus, though we all hated +her father, and had for him many jeering titles among ourselves; yet we +never used an evil nickname nor a railing word against him when she was +by, because we liked her well. + +There were a half-dozen of us boys, and as many girls, whom Mr. Glennie +used to teach; and that you may see what sort of man Maskew was, I will +tell you what happened one day in school between him and the parson. Mr. +Glennie taught us in the almshouses; for though there were now no +bedesmen, and the houses themselves were fallen to decay, yet the little +hall in which the inmates had once dined was still maintained, and served +for our schoolroom. It was a long and lofty room, with a high wainscot +all round it, a carved oak screen at one end, and a broad window at the +other. A very heavy table, polished by use, and sadly besmirched with +ink, ran down the middle of the hall with benches on either side of it +for us to use; and a high desk for Mr. Glennie stood under the window at +the end of the room. Thus we were sitting one morning with our +summing-slates and grammars before us when the door in the screen opens +and Mr. Maskew enters. + +I have told you already of the verses which Mr. Glennie wrote for David +Block's grave; and when the floods had gone down Ratsey set up the +headstone with the poetry carved on it. But Maskew, through not going to +church, never saw the stone for weeks, until one morning, walking through +the churchyard, he lighted on it, and knew the verses for Mr. Glennie's. +So 'twas to have it out with the parson that he had come to school this +day; and though we did not know so much then, yet guessed from his +presence that something was in the wind, and could read in his face that +he was very angry. Now, for all that we hated Maskew, yet were we glad +enough to see him there, as hoping for something strange to vary the +sameness of school, and scenting a disturbance in the air. Only Grace was +ill at ease for fear her father should say something unseemly, and kept +her head down with shocks of hair falling over her book, though I could +see her blushing between them. So in vapours Maskew, and with an angry +glance about him makes straight for the desk where our master sits at the +top of the room. + +For a moment Mr. Glennie, being shortsighted, did not see who 'twas; but +as his visitor drew near, rose courteously to greet him. + +'Good day to you, Mister Maskew,' says he, holding out his hand. + +But Maskew puts his arms behind his back and bubbles out, 'Hold not out +your hand to me lest I spit on it. 'Tis like your snivelling cant to +write sweet psalms for smuggling rogues and try to frighten honest men +with your judgements.' + +At first Mr. Glennie did not know what the other would be at, and +afterwards understanding, turned very pale; but said as a minister he +would never be backward in reproving those whom he considered in the +wrong, whether from the pulpit or from the gravestone. Then Maskew +flies into a great passion, and pours out many vile and insolent words, +saying Mr. Glennie is in league with the smugglers and fattens on their +crimes; that the poetry is a libel; and that he, Maskew, will have the +law of him for calumny. + +After that he took Grace by the arm, and bade her get hat and cape and +come with him. 'For,' says he, 'I will not have thee taught any more by a +psalm-singing hypocrite that calls thy father murderer.' And all the +while he kept drawing up closer to Mr. Glennie, until the two stood very +near each other. + +There was a great difference between them; the one short and blustering, +with a red face turned up; the other tall and craning down, ill-clad, +ill-fed, and pale. Maskew had in his left hand a basket, with which he +went marketing of mornings, for he made his own purchases, and liked +fish, as being cheaper than meat. He had been chaffering with the +fishwives this very day, and was bringing back his provend with him when +he visited our school. + +Then he said to Mr. Glennie: 'Now, Sir Parson, the law has given into +your fool's hands a power over this churchyard, and 'tis your trade to +stop unseemly headlines from being set up within its walls, or once set +up, to turn them out forthwith. So I give you a week's grace, and if +tomorrow sennight yon stone be not gone, I will have it up and flung in +pieces outside the wall.' + +Mr. Glennie answered him in a low voice, but quite clear, so that we +could hear where we sat: 'I can neither turn the stone out myself, nor +stop you from turning it out if you so mind; but if you do this thing, +and dishonour the graveyard, there is One stronger than either you or I +that must be reckoned with.' + +I knew afterwards that he meant the Almighty, but thought then that +'twas of Elzevir he spoke; and so, perhaps, did Mr. Maskew, for he fell +into a worse rage, thrust his hand in the basket, whipped out a great +sole he had there, and in a twinkling dashes it in Mr. Glennie's face, +with a 'Then, take that for an unmannerly parson, for I would not foul my +fist with your mealy chops.' + +But to see that stirred my choler, for Mr. Glennie was weak as wax, and +would never have held up his hand to stop a blow, even were he strong as +Goliath. So I was for setting on Maskew, and being a stout lad for my +age, could have had him on the floor as easy as a baby; but as I rose +from my seat, I saw he held Grace by the hand, and so hung back for a +moment, and before I got my thoughts together he was gone, and I saw the +tail of Grace's cape whisk round the screen door. + +A sole is at the best an ugly thing to have in one's face, and this sole +was larger than most, for Maskew took care to get what he could for his +money, so it went with a loud smack on Mr. Glennie's cheek, and then fell +with another smack on the floor. At this we all laughed, as children +will, and Mr. Glennie did not check us, but went back and sat very quiet +at his desk; and soon I was sorry I had laughed, for he looked sad, with +his face sanded and a great red patch on one side, and beside that the +fin had scratched him and made a blood-drop trickle down his cheek. A few +minutes later the thin voice of the almshouse clock said twelve, and away +walked Mr. Glennie without his usual 'Good day, children', and there was +the sole left lying on the dusty floor in front of his desk. + +It seemed a shame so fine a fish should be wasted, so I picked it up and +slipped it in my desk, sending Fred Burt to get his mother's gridiron +that we might grill it on the schoolroom fire. While he was gone I went +out to the court to play, and had not been there five minutes when back +comes Maskew through our playground without Grace, and goes into the +schoolroom. But in the screen at the end of the room was a chink, against +which we used to hold our fingers on bright days for the sun to shine +through, and show the blood pink; so up I slipped and fixed my eye to the +hole, wanting to know what he was at. He had his basket with him, and I +soon saw he had come back for the sole, not having the heart to leave so +good a bit of fish. But look where he would, he could not find it, for he +never searched my desk, and had to go off with a sour countenance; but +Fred Burt and I cooked the sole, and found it well flavoured, for all it +had given so much pain to Mr. Glennie. + +After that Grace came no more to school, both because her father had +said she should not, and because she was herself ashamed to go back +after what Maskew had done to Mr. Glennie. And then it was that I took to +wandering much in the Manor woods, having no fear of man-traps, for I +knew their place as soon as they were put down, but often catching sight +of Grace, and sometimes finding occasion to talk with her. Thus time +passed, and I lived with Elzevir at the Why Not?, still going to school +of mornings, but spending the afternoons in fishing, or in helping him +in the garden, or with the boats. As soon as I got to know him well, I +begged him to let me help run the cargoes, but he refused, saying I was +yet too young, and must not come into mischief. Yet, later, yielding to +my importunity, he consented; and more than one dark night I was in the +landing-boats that unburdened the lugger, though I could never bring +myself to enter the Mohune vault again, but would stand as sentry at the +passage-mouth. And all the while I had round my neck Colonel John +Mohune's locket, and at first wore it next myself, but finding it black +the skin, put it between shirt and body-jacket. And there by dint of +wear it grew less black, and showed a little of the metal underneath, +and at last I took to polishing it at odd times, until it came out quite +white and shiny, like the pure silver that it was. Elzevir had seen this +locket when he put me to bed the first time I came to the Why Not? and +afterwards I told him whence I got it; but though we had it out more +than once of an evening, we could never come at any hidden meaning. +Indeed, we scarce tried to, judging it to be certainly a sacred charm to +keep evil spirits from Blackbeard's body. + + + + +CHAPTER 7 + +AN AUCTION + +What if my house be troubled with a rat, +And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats +To have it baned--_Shakespeare_ + + +One evening in March, when the days were lengthening fast, there came a +messenger from Dorchester, and brought printed notices for fixing to the +shutters of the Why Not? and to the church door, which said that in a +week's time the bailiff of the duchy of Cornwall would visit Moonfleet. +This bailiff was an important person, and his visits stood as events in +village history. Once in five years he made a perambulation, or journey, +through the whole duchy, inspecting all the Royal property, and arranging +for new leases. His visits to Moonfleet were generally short enough, for +owing to the Mohunes owning all the land, the only duchy estate there was +the Why Not? and the only duty of the bailiff to renew that five-year +lease, under which Blocks had held the inn, father and son, for +generations. But for all that, the business was not performed without +ceremony, for there was a solemn show of putting up the lease of the inn +to the highest bidder, though it was well understood that no one except +Elzevir would make an offer. + +So one morning, a week later, I went up to the top end of the village +to watch for the bailiff's postchaise, and about eleven of the forenoon +saw it coming down the hill with four horses and two postillions. +Presently it came past, and I saw there were two men in it--a clerk +sitting with his back to the horses, and in the seat opposite a little +man in a periwig, whom I took for the bailiff. Then I ran down to my +aunt's house, for Elzevir had asked me to beg one of her best winter +candles for a purpose which I will explain presently. I had not seen +Aunt Jane, except in church, since the day that she dismissed me, but +she was no stiffer than usual, and gave me the candle readily enough. +'There,' she said, 'take it, and I wish it may bring light into your +dark heart, and show you what a wicked thing it is to leave your own +kith and kin and go to dwell in a tavern.' I was for saying that it was +kith and kin that left me, and not I them; and as for living in a +tavern, it was better to live there than nowhere at all, as she would +wish me to do in turning me out of her house; but did not, and only +thanked her for the candle, and was off. + +When I came to the inn, there was the postchaise in front of the door, +the horses being led away to bait, and a little group of villagers +standing round; for though the auction of the Why Not? was in itself a +trite thing with a foregone conclusion, yet the bailiff's visit always +stirred some show of interest. There were a few children with their noses +flattened against the windows of the parlour, and inside were Mr. Bailiff +and Mr. Clerk hard at work on their dinner. Mr. Bailiff, who was, as I +guessed, the little man in the periwig, sat at the top of the table, and +Mr. Clerk sat at the bottom, and on chairs were placed their hats, and +travelling-cloaks, and bundles of papers tied together with green tape. +You may be sure that Elzevir had a good dinner for them, with hot rabbit +pie and cold round of brawn, and a piece of blue vinny, which Mr. Bailiff +ate heartily, but his clerk would not touch, saying he had as lief chew +soap. There was also a bottle of Ararat milk, and a flagon of ale, for we +were afraid to set French wines before them, lest they should fall to +wondering how they were come by. + +Elzevir took the candle, chiding me a little for being late, and set it +in a brass candlestick in the middle of the table. Then Mr. Clerk takes a +little rule from his pocket, measures an inch down on the candle, sticks +into the grease at that point a scarf-pin with an onyx head that Elzevir +lent him, and lights the wick. Now the reason of this was, that the +custom ran in Moonfleet when either land or lease was put up to bidding, +to stick a pin in a candle; and so long as the pin held firm, it was open +to any to make a better offer, but when the flame burnt down and the pin +fell out, then land or lease fell to the last bidder. So after dinner was +over and the table cleared, Mr. Clerk takes out a roll of papers and +reads a legal description of the Why Not?, calling it the Mohune Arms, an +excellent messuage or tenement now used as a tavern, and speaking of the +convenient paddocks or parcels of grazing land at the back of it, called +Moons'-lease, amounting to sixteen acres more or less. Then he invites +the company to make an offer of rent for such a desirable property under +a five years' lease, and as Elzevir and I are the only company present, +the bidding is soon done; for Elzevir offers a rent of 12 a year, which +has always been the value of the Why Not? The clerk makes a note of +this; but the business is not over yet, for we must wait till the pin +drops out of the candle before the lease is finally made out. So the men +fell to smoking to pass the time, till there could not have been more +than ten minutes' candle to burn, and Mr. Bailiff, with a glass of Ararat +milk in his hand, was saying, 'Tis a curious and fine tap of Hollands you +keep here, Master Block,' when in walked Mr. Maskew. + +A thunderbolt would not have astonished me so much as did his appearance, +and Elzevir's face grew black as night; but the bailiff and clerk showed +no surprise, not knowing the terms on which persons in our village stood +to one another, and thinking it natural that someone should come in to +see the pin drop, and the end of an ancient custom. Indeed, Maskew seemed +to know the bailiff, for he passed the time of day with him, and was then +for sitting down at the table without taking any notice of Elzevir or me. +But just as he began to seat himself, Block shouted out, 'You are no +welcome visitor in my house, and I would sooner see your back than see +your face, but sit at this table you shall not.' I knew what he meant; +for on that table they had laid out David's body, and with that he struck +his fist upon the board so smart as to make the bailiff jump and nearly +bring the pin out of the candle. + +'Heyday, sirs,' says Mr. Bailiff, astonished, 'let us have no brawling +here, the more so as this worshipful gentleman is a magistrate and +something of a friend of mine.' Yet Maskew refrained from sitting, but +stood by the bailiff's chair, turning white, and not red, as he did with +Mr. Glennie; and muttered something, that he had as lief stand as sit, +and that it should soon be Block's turn to ask sitting-room of _him_. + +I was wondering what possibly could have brought Maskew there, when the +bailiff, who was ill at ease, said--'Come, Mr. Clerk, the pin hath but +another minute's hold; rehearse what has been done, for I must get this +lease delivered and off to Bridport, where much business waits.' + +So the clerk read in a singsong voice that the property of the duchy of +Cornwall, called the Mohune Arms, an inn or tavern, with all its land, +tenements, and appurtenances, situate in the Parish of St. Sebastian, +Moonfleet, having been offered on lease for five years, would be let to +Elzevir Block at a rent of 12 per annum, unless anyone offered a higher +rent before the pin fell from the candle. + +There was no one to make another offer, and the bailiff said to Elzevir, +'Tell them to have the horses round, the pin will be out in a minute, and +'twill save time.' So Elzevir gave the order, and then we all stood round +in silence, waiting for the pin to fall. The grease had burnt down to the +mark, or almost below it, as it appeared; but just where the pin stuck in +there was a little lump of harder tallow that held bravely out, refusing +to be melted. The bailiff gave a stamp of impatience with his foot under +the table as though he hoped thus to shake out the pin, and then a little +dry voice came from Maskew, saying-- + +'I offer 13 a year for the inn.' + +This fell upon us with so much surprise, that all looked round, seeking +as it were some other speaker, and never thinking that it could be +Maskew. Elzevir was the first, I believe, to fully understand 'twas he; +and without turning to look at bailiff or Maskew, but having his elbows +on the table, his face between his hands, and looking straight out to +sea said in a sturdy voice, 'I offer 20.' + +The words were scarce out of his mouth when Maskew caps them with 21, +and so in less than a minute the rent of the Why Not? was near doubled. +Then the bailiff looked from one to the other, not knowing what to make +of it all, nor whether 'twas comedy or serious, and said-- + +'Kind sir, I warn ye not to trifle; I have no time to waste in April +fooling, and he who makes offers in sport will have to stand to them +in earnest.' + +But there was no lack of earnest in one at least of the men that he had +before him, and the voice with which Elzevir said 30 was still sturdy. +Maskew called 31 and 41, and Elzevir 40 and 50, and then I looked at +the candle, and saw that the head of the pin was no longer level, it had +sunk a little--a very little. The clerk awoke from his indifference, and +was making notes of the bids with a squeaking quill, the bailiff frowned +as being puzzled, and thinking that none had a right to puzzle him. As +for me, I could not sit still, but got on my feet, if so I might better +bear the suspense; for I understood now that Maskew had made up his mind +to turn Elzevir out, and that Elzevir was fighting for his home. _His_ +home, and had he not made it my home too, and were we both to be made +outcasts to please the spite of this mean little man? + +There were some more bids, and then I knew that Maskew was saying 91, +and saw the head of the pin was lower; the hard lump of tallow in Aunt +Jane's candle was thawing. The bailiff struck in: 'Are ye mad, sirs, and +you, Master Block, save your breath, and spare your money; and if this +worshipful gentleman must become innkeeper at any price, let him have the +place in the Devil's name, and I will give thee the Mermaid, at Bridport, +with a snug parlour, and ten times the trade of this.' + +Elzevir seemed not to hear what he said, but only called out 100, with +his face still looking out to sea, and the same sturdiness in his voice. +Then Maskew tried a spring, and went to 120, and Elzevir capped him with +130, and 140, 150, 160, 170 followed quick. My breath came so fast +that I was almost giddy, and I had to clench my hands to remind myself of +where I was, and what was going on. The bidders too were breathing hard, +Elzevir had taken his head from his hands, and the eyes of all were on +the pin. The lump of tallow was worn down now; it was hard to say why the +pin did not fall. Maskew gulped out 180, and Elzevir said 190, and then +the pin gave a lurch, and I thought the Why Not? was saved, though at the +price of ruin. No; the pin had not fallen, there was a film that held it +by the point, one second, only one second. Elzevir's breath, which was +ready to outbid whatever Maskew said, caught in his throat with the +catching pin, and Maskew sighed out 200, before the pin pattered on the +bottom of the brass candlestick. + +The clerk forgot his master's presence and shut his notebook with a bang, +'Congratulate you, sir,' says he, quite pert to Maskew; 'you are the +landlord of the poorest pothouse in the Duchy at 200 a year.' + +The bailiff paid no heed to what his man did, but took his periwig +off and wiped his head. 'Well, I'm hanged,' he said; and so the Why +Not? was lost. + +Just as the last bid was given, Elzevir half-rose from his chair, and +for a moment I expected to see him spring like a wild beast on Maskew; +but he said nothing, and sat down again with the same stolid look on his +face. And, indeed, it was perhaps well that he thus thought better of +it, for Maskew stuck his hand into his bosom as the other rose; and +though he withdrew it again when Elzevir got back to his chair, yet the +front of his waistcoat was a little bulged, and, looking sideways, I saw +the silver-shod butt of a pistol nestling far down against his white +shirt. The bailiff was vexed, I think, that he had been betrayed into +such strong words; for he tried at once to put on as indifferent an air +as might be, saying in dry tones, 'Well, gentlemen, there seems to be +here some personal matter into which I shall not attempt to spy. Two +hundred pounds more or less is but a flea-bite to the Duchy; and if you, +sir,' turning to Maskew, 'wish later on to change your mind, and be quit +of the bargain, I shall not be the man to stand in your way. In any +case, I imagine 'twill be time enough to seal the lease if I send it +from London.' + +I knew he said this, and hinted at delay as wishing to do Elzevir a good +turn; for his clerk had the lease already made out pat, and it only +wanted the name and rent filled in to be sealed and signed. But, 'No,' +says Maskew, 'business is business, Mr. Bailiff, and the post uncertain +to parts so distant from the capital as these; so I'll thank you to make +out the lease to me now, and on May Day place me in possession.' + +'So be it then,' said the bailiff a little testily, 'but blame me not for +driving hard bargains; for the Duchy, whose servant I am,' and he raised +his hat, 'is no daughter of the horse-leech. Fill in the figures, Mr. +Scrutton, and let us away.' + +So Mr. Scrutton, for that was Mr. Clerk's name, scratches a bit with his +quill on the parchment sheet to fill in the money, and then Maskew +scratches his name, and Mr. Bailiff scratches his name, and Mr. Clerk +scratches again to witness Mr. Bailiff's name, and then Mr. Bailiff takes +from his mails a little shagreen case, and out from the case comes +sealing-wax and the travelling seal of the Duchy. + +There was my aunt's best winter-candle still burning away in the +daylight, for no one had taken any thought to put it out; and Mr. Bailiff +melts the wax at it, till a drop of sealing-wax falls into the grease and +makes a gutter down one side, and then there is a sweating of the +parchment under the hot wax, and at last on goes the seal. 'Signed, +sealed, and delivered,' says Mr. Clerk, rolling up the sheet and handing +it to Maskew; and Maskew takes and thrusts it into his bosom underneath +his waistcoat front--all cheek by jowl with that silver-hafted pistol, +whose butt I had seen before. + +The postchaise stood before the door, the horses were stamping on the +cobble-stones, and the harness jingled. Mr. Clerk had carried out his +mails, but Mr. Bailiff stopped for a moment as he flung the travelling +cloak about his shoulders to say to Elzevir, 'Tut, man, take things not +too hardly. Thou shalt have the Mermaid at 20 a year, which will be +worth ten times as much to thee as this dreary place; and canst send thy +son to Bryson's school, where they will make a scholar of him, for he is +a brave lad'; and he touched my shoulder, and gave me a kindly look as +he passed. + +'I thank your worship,' said Elzevir, 'for all your goodness; but when I +quit this place, I shall not set up my staff again at any inn door.' + +Mr. Bailiff seemed nettled to see his offer made so little of, and left +the room with a stiff, 'Then I wish you good day.' + +Maskew had slipped out before him, and the children's noses left the +window-pane as the great man walked down the steps. There was a little +group to see the start, but it quickly melted; and before the clatter of +hoofs died away, the report spread through the village that Maskew had +turned Elzevir out of the Why Not? + +For a long time after all had gone, Elzevir sat at the table with his +head between his hands, and I kept quiet also, both because I was myself +sorry that we were to be sent adrift, and because I wished to show +Elzevir that I felt for him in his troubles. But the young cannot enter +fully into their elders' sorrows, however much they may wish to, and +after a time the silence palled upon me. It was getting dusk, and the +candle which bore itself so bravely through auction and lease-sealing +burnt low in the socket. A minute later the light gave some flickering +flashes, failings, and sputters, and then the wick tottered, and out +popped the flame, leaving us with the chilly grey of a March evening +creeping up in the corners of the room. I could bear the gloom no longer, +but made up the fire till the light danced ruddy across pewter and +porcelain on the dresser. 'Come, Master Block,' I said, 'there is time +enough before May Day to think what we shall do, so let us take a cup of +tea, and after that I will play you a game of backgammon.' But he still +remained cast down, and would say nothing; and as chance would have it, +though I wished to let him win at backgammon, that so, perhaps, he might +get cheered, yet do what I would that night I could not lose. So as his +luck grew worse his moodiness increased, and at last he shut the board +with a bang, saying, in reference to that motto that ran round its edge, +'Life is like a game of hazard, and surely none ever flung worse throws, +or made so little of them as I.' + + + + +CHAPTER 8 + +THE LANDING + +Let my lamp at midnight hour +Be seen in some high lonely tower--_Milton_ + + +Maskew got ugly looks from the men, and sour words from the wives, as he +went up through the village that afternoon, for all knew what he had +done, and for many days after the auction he durst not show his face +abroad. Yet Damen of Ringstave and some others of the landers' men, who +made it their business to keep an eye upon him, said that he had been +twice to Weymouth of evenings, and held converse there with Mr. Luckham +of the Excise, and with Captain Henning, who commanded the troopers then +in quarters on the Nothe. And by degrees it got about, but how I do not +know, that he had persuaded the Revenue to strike hard at the smugglers, +and that a strong posse was to be held in readiness to take the landers +in the act the next time they should try to run a cargo. Why Maskew +should so put himself about to help the Revenue I cannot tell, nor did +anyone ever certainly find out; but some said 'twas out of sheer +wantonness, and a desire to hurt his neighbours; and others, that he saw +what an apt place this was for landing cargoes, and wished first to make +a brave show of zeal for the Excise, and afterwards to get the whole of +the contraband trade into his own hands. However that may be, I think he +was certainly in league with the Revenue men, and more than once I saw +him on the Manor terrace with a spy glass in his hand, and guessed that +he was looking for the lugger in the offing. Now, word was mostly given +to the lander, by safe hands, of the night on which a cargo should be +run, and then in the morning or afternoon, the lugger would come just +near enough the land to be made out with glasses, and afterwards lie off +again out of sight till nightfall. The nights chosen for such work were +without moon, but as still as might be, so long as there was wind enough +to fill the sails; and often the lugger could be made out from the beach, +but sometimes 'twas necessary to signal with flares, though they were +used as little as might be. Yet after there had been a long spell of +rough weather, and a cargo had to be run at all hazards, I have known the +boats come in even on the bright moonlight and take their risk, for 'twas +said the Excise slept sounder round us than anywhere in all the Channel. + +These tales of Maskew's doings failed not to reach Elzevir, and for some +days he thought best not to move, though there was a cargo on the other +side that wanted landing badly. But one evening when he had won at +backgammon, and was in an open mood, he took me into confidence, setting +down the dice box on the table, and saying-- + +'There is word come from the shippers that we must take a cargo, for that +they cannot keep the stuff by them longer at St. Malo. Now with this +devil at the Manor prowling round, I dare not risk the job on Moonfleet +beach, nor yet stow the liquor in the vault; so I have told the +_Bonaventure_ to put her nose into this bay tomorrow afternoon that +Maskew may see her well, and then to lie out again to sea, as she has +done a hundred times before. But instead of waiting in the offing, she +will make straight off up Channel to a little strip of shingle underneath +Hoar Head.' I nodded to show I knew the place, and he went on--'Men used +to choose that spot in good old times to beach a cargo before the +passage to the vault was dug; and there is a worked-out quarry they +called Pyegrove's Hole, not too far off up the down, and choked with +brambles, where we can find shelter for a hundred kegs. So we'll be under +Hoar Head at five tomorrow morn with the pack-horses. I wish we could be +earlier, for the sun rises thereabout, but the tide will not serve +before.' + +It was at that moment that I felt a cold touch on my shoulders, as of the +fresh air from outside, and thought beside I had a whiff of salt seaweed +from the beach. So round I looked to see if door or window stood ajar. +The window was tight enough, and shuttered to boot, but the door was not +to be seen plainly for a wooden screen, which parted it from the parlour, +and was meant to keep off draughts. Yet I could just see a top corner of +the door above the screen and thought it was not fast. So up I got to +shut it, for the nights were cold; but coming round the corner of the +screen found that 'twas closed, and yet I could have sworn I saw the +latch fall to its place as I walked towards it. Then I dashed forward, +and in a trice had the door open, and was in the street. But the night +was moonless and black, and I neither saw nor heard aught stirring, save +the gentle sea-wash on Moonfleet beach beyond the salt meadows. + +Elzevir looked at me uneasily as I came back. + +'What ails thee, boy?' said he. + +'I thought I heard someone at the door,' I answered; 'did you not feel a +cold wind as if it was open?' + +'It is but the night is sharp, the spring sets in very chill; slip the +bolt, and sit down again,' and he flung a fresh log on the fire, that +sent a cloud of sparks crackling up the chimney and out into the room. + +'Elzevir,' I said, 'I think there was one listening at the door, and +there may be others in the house, so before we sit again let us take +candle and go through the rooms to make sure none are prying on us.' + +He laughed and said, ''Twas but the wind that blew the door open,' but +that I might do as I pleased. So I lit another candle, and was for +starting on my search; but he cried, 'Nay, thou shalt not go alone'; and +so we went all round the house together, and found not so much as a +mouse stirring. + +He laughed the more when we came back to the parlour. ''Tis the cold +has chilled thy heart and made thee timid of that skulking rascal of +the Manor; fill me a glass of Ararat milk, and one for thyself, and let +us to bed.' + +I had learned by this not to be afraid of the good liquor, and while we +sat sipping it, Elzevir went on-- + +'There is a fortnight yet to run, and then you and I shall be cut adrift +from our moorings. It is a cruel thing to see the doors of this house +closed on me, where I and mine have lived a century or more, but I must +see it. Yet let us not be too cast down, but try to make something even +of this worst of throws.' + +I was glad enough to hear him speak in this firmer strain, for I had seen +what a sore thought it had been for these days past that he must leave +the Why Not?, and how it often made him moody and downcast. + +'We will have no more of innkeeping,' he said; 'I have been sick and +tired of it this many a day, and care not now to see men abuse good +liquor and addle their silly pates to fill my purse. And I have +something, boy, put snug away in Dorchester town that will give us bread +to eat and beer to drink, even if the throws run still deuce-ace. But we +must seek a roof to shelter us when the Why Not? is shut, and 'tis best +we leave this Moonfleet of ours for a season, till Maskew finds a rope's +end long enough to hang himself withal. So, when our work is done +tomorrow night, we will walk out along the cliff to Worth, and take a +look at a cottage there that Damen spoke about, with a walled orchard at +the back, and fuchsia hedge in front--'tis near the Lobster Inn, and has +a fine prospect of the sea; and if we live there, we will leave the vault +alone awhile and use this Pyegrove's Hole for storehouse, till the watch +is relaxed.' + +I did not answer, having my thoughts on other things, and he tossed off +his liquor, saying, 'Thou'rt tired; so let's to bed, for we shall get +little sleep tomorrow night.' + +It was true that I was tired, and yet I could not get to sleep, but +tossed and turned in my bed for thinking of many things, and being vexed +that we were to leave Moonfleet. Yet mine was a selfish sorrow; for I had +little thought for Elzevir and the pain that it must be to him to quit, +the Why Not?: nor yet was it the grief of leaving Moonfleet that so +troubled me, although that was the only place I ever had known, and +seemed to me then--as now--the only spot on earth fit to be lived in; but +the real care and canker was that I was going away from Grace Maskew. For +since she had left school I had grown fonder of her; and now that it was +difficult to see her, I took the more pains to accomplish it, and met her +sometimes in Manor Woods, and more than once, when Maskew was away, had +walked with her on Weatherbeech Hill. So we bred up a boy-and-girl +affection, and must needs pledge ourselves to be true to one another, not +knowing what such silly words might mean. And I told Grace all my +secrets, not even excepting the doings of the contraband, and the Mohune +vault and Blackbeard's locket, for I knew all was as safe with her as +with me, and that her father could never rack aught from her. Nay, more, +her bedroom was at the top of the gabled wing of the Manor House, and +looked right out to sea; and one clear night, when our boat was coming +late from fishing, I saw her candle burning there, and next day told her +of it. And then she said that she would set a candle to burn before the +panes on winter nights, and be a leading light for boats at sea. And so +she did, and others beside me saw and used it, calling it 'Maskew's +Match', and saying that it was the attorney sitting up all night to pore +over ledgers and add up his fortune. + +So this night as I lay awake I vexed and vexed myself for thinking of +her, and at last resolved to go up next morning to the Manor Woods and +lie in wait for Grace, to tell her what was up, and that we were going +away to Worth. + +Next day, the 16th of April--a day I have had cause to remember all my +life--I played truant from Mr. Glennie, and by ten in the forenoon found +myself in the woods. + +There was a little dimple on the hillside above the house, green with +burdocks in summer and filled with dry leaves in winter--just big enough +to hold one lying flat, and not so deep but that I could look over the +lip of it and see the house without being seen. Thither I went that day, +and lay down in the dry leaves to wait and watch for Grace. + +The morning was bright enough. The chills of the night before had given +way to sunlight that seemed warm as summer, and yet had with it the soft +freshness of spring. There was scarce a breath moving in the wood, though +I could see the clouds of white dust stalking up the road that climbs +Ridge down, and the trees were green with buds, yet without leafage to +keep the sunbeams from lighting up the ground below, which glowed with +yellow king-cups. So I lay there for a long, long while; and to make time +pass quicker, took from my bosom the silver locket, and opening it, read +again the parchment, which I had read times out of mind before, and knew +indeed by heart. + +'The days of our age are threescore years and ten', and the rest. + +Now, whenever I handled the locket, my thoughts were turned to Mohune's +treasure; and it was natural that it should be so, for the locket +reminded me of my first journey to the vault; and I laughed at myself, +remembering how simple I had been, and had hoped to find the place +littered with diamonds, and to see the gold lying packed in heaps. And +thus for the hundredth time I came to rack my brain to know where the +diamond could be hid, and thought at last it must be buried in the +churchyard, because of the talk of Blackbeard being seen on wild nights +digging there for his treasure. But then, I reasoned, that very like it +was the contrabandiers whom men had seen with spades when they were +digging out the passage from the tomb to the vault, and set them down for +ghosts because they wrought at night. And while I was busy with such +thoughts, the door opened in the house below me, and out came Grace with +a hood on her head and a basket for wild flowers in her hand. + +I watched to see which way she would walk; and as soon as she took the +path that leads up Weatherbeech, made off through the dry brushwood to +meet her, for we had settled she should never go that road except when +Maskew was away. So there we met and spent an hour together on the hill, +though I shall not write here what we said, because it was mostly silly +stuff. She spoke much of the auction and of Elzevir leaving the Why Not?, +and though she never said a word against her father, let me know what +pain his doing gave her. But most she grieved that we were leaving +Moonfleet, and showed her grief in such pretty ways, as made me almost +glad to see her sorry. And from her I learned that Maskew was indeed +absent from home, having been called away suddenly last night. The +evening was so fine, he said (and this surprised me, remembering how dark +and cold it was with us), that he must needs walk round the policies; but +about nine o'clock came back and told her he had got a sudden call to +business, which would take him to Weymouth then and there. So to saddle, +and off he went on his mare, bidding Grace not to look for him for two +nights to come. + +I know not why it was, but what she said of Maskew made me thoughtful and +silent, and she too must be back home lest the old servant that kept +house for them should say she had been too long away, and so we parted. +Then off I went through the woods and down the village street, but as I +passed my old home saw Aunt Jane standing on the doorstep. I bade her +'Good day', and was for running on to the Why Not?, for I was late enough +already, but she called me to her, seeming in a milder mood, and said she +had something for me in the house. So left me standing while she went off +to get it, and back she came and thrust into my hand a little +prayer-book, which I had often seen about the parlour in past days, +saying, 'Here is a Common Prayer which I had meant to send thee with thy +clothes. It was thy poor mother's, and I pray may some day be as precious +a balm to thee as it once was to that godly woman.' With that she gave me +the 'Good day', and I pocketed the little red leather book, which did +indeed afterwards prove precious to me, though not in the way she meant, +and ran down street to the Why Not? + + * * * * * + +That same evening Elzevir and I left the Why Not?, went up through the +village, climbed the down, and were at the brow by sunset. We had started +earlier than we fixed the night before, because word had come to Elzevir +that morning that the tide called Gulder would serve for the beaching of +the _Bonaventure_ at three instead of five. 'Tis a strange thing the +Gulder, and not even sailors can count closely with it; for on the Dorset +coast the tide makes four times a day, twice with the common flow, and +twice with the Gulder, and this last being shifty and uncertain as to +time, flings out many a sea-reckoning. + +It was about seven o'clock when we were at the top of the hill, and there +were fifteen good miles to cover to get to Hoar Head. Dusk was upon us +before we had walked half an hour; but when the night fell, it was not +black as on the last evening, but a deep sort of blue, and the heat of +the day did not die with the sun, but left the air still warm and balmy. +We trudged on in silence, and were glad enough when we saw by a white +stone here and there at the side of the path that we were nearing the +cliff; for the Preventive men mark all the footpaths on the cliff with +whitewashed stones, so that one can pick up the way without risk on a +dark night. A few minutes more, and we reached a broad piece of open +sward, which I knew for the top of Hoar Head. + +Hoar Head is the highest of that line of cliffs, which stretches twenty +miles from Weymouth to St. Alban's Head, and it stands up eighty fathoms +or more above the water. The seaward side is a great sheer of chalk, but +falls not straight into the sea, for three parts down there is a lower +ledge or terrace, called the under-cliff. + +'Twas to this ledge that we were bound; and though we were now straight +above, I knew we had a mile or more to go before we could get down to +it. So on we went again, and found the bridle-path that slopes down +through a deep dip in the cliff line; and when we reached this +under-ledge, I looked up at the sky, the night being clear, and guessed +by the stars that 'twas past midnight. I knew the place from having once +been there for blackberries; for the brambles on the under-cliff being +sheltered every way but south, and open to the sun, grow the finest in +all those parts. + +We were not alone, for I could make out a score of men, some standing in +groups, some resting on the ground, and the dark shapes of the +pack-horses showing larger in the dimness. There were a few words of +greeting muttered in deep voices, and then all was still, so that one +heard the browsing horses trying to crop something off the turf. It was +not the first cargo I had helped to run, and I knew most of the men, but +did not speak with them, being tired, and wishing to rest till I was +wanted. So cast myself down on the turf, but had not lain there long when +I saw someone coming to me through the brambles, and Master Ratsey said, +'Well, Jack, so thou and Elzevir are leaving Moonfleet, and I fain would +flit myself, but then who would be left to lead the old folk to their +last homes, for dead do not bury their dead in these days.' + +I was half-asleep, and took little heed of what he said, putting him off +with, 'That need not keep you, Master; they will find others to fill your +place.' Yet he would not let me be, but went on talking for the pleasure +of hearing his own voice. + +'Nay, child, you know not what you say. They may find men to dig a grave, +and perhaps to fill it, but who shall toss the mould when Parson Glennie +gives the "earth to earth"; it takes a mort of knowledge to make it +rattle kindly on the coffin-lid.' + +I felt sleep heavy on my eyelids, and was for begging him to let me rest, +when there came a whistle from below, and in a moment all were on their +feet. The drivers went to the packhorses' heads, and so we walked down to +the strand, a silent moving group of men and horses mixed; and before we +came to the bottom, heard the first boat's nose grind on the beach, and +the feet of the seamen crunching in the pebbles. Then all fell to the +business of landing, and a strange enough scene it was, what with the +medley of men, the lanthorns swinging, and a frothy Upper from the sea +running up till sometimes it was over our boots; and all the time there +was a patter of French and Dutch, for most of the _Bonaventure's_ men +were foreigners. But I shall not speak more of this; for, after all, one +landing is very like another, and kegs come ashore in much the same way, +whether they are to pay excise or not. + +It must have been three o'clock before the lugger's boats were off again +to sea, and by that time the horses were well laden, and most of the men +had a keg or two to carry beside. Then Elzevir, who was in command, gave +the word, and we began to file away from the beach up to the under-cliff. +Now, what with the cargo being heavy, we were longer than usual in +getting away; and though there was no sign of sunrise, yet the night was +greyer, and not so blue as it had been. + +We reached the under-cliff, and were moving across it to address +ourselves to the bridle-path, and so wind sideways up the steep, when I +saw something moving behind one of the plumbs of brambles with which the +place is beset. It was only a glimpse of motion that I had perceived, and +could not say whether 'twas man or animal, or even frightened bird behind +the bushes. But others had seen it as well; there was some shouting, half +a dozen flung down their kegs and started in pursuit. + +All eyes were turned to the bridle-path, and in a twinkling hunters and +hunted were in view. The greyhounds were Damen and Garrett, with some +others, and the hare was an older man, who leapt and bounded forward, +faster than I should have thought any but a youth could run; but then he +knew what men were after him, and that 'twas a race for life. For though +it was but a moment before all were lost in the night, yet this was long +enough to show me that the man was none other than Maskew, and I knew +that his life was not worth ten minutes' purchase. + +Now I hated this man, and had myself suffered something at his hand, +besides seeing him put much grievous suffering on others; but I wished +then with all my heart he might escape, and had a horrible dread of what +was to come. Yet I knew all the time escape was impossible; for though +Maskew ran desperately, the way was steep and stony, and he had behind +him some of the fleetest feet along that coast. We had all stopped with +one accord, as not wishing to move a step forward till we had seen the +issue of the chase; and I was near enough to look into Elzevir's face, +but saw there neither passion nor bloodthirstiness, but only a calm +resolve, as if he had to deal with something well expected. + +We had not long to wait, for very soon we heard a rolling of stones and +trampling of feet coming down the path, and from the darkness issued a +group of men, having Maskew in the middle of them. They were hustling him +along fast, two having hold of him by the arms, and a third by the neck +of his shirt behind. The sight gave me a sick qualm, like an overdose of +tobacco, for it was the first time I had ever seen a man man-handled, and +a fellow-creature abused. His cap was lost, and his thin hair tangled +over his forehead, his coat was torn off, so that he stood in his +waistcoat alone; he was pale, and gasped terribly, whether from the sharp +run, or from violence, or fear, or all combined. + +There was a babel of voices when they came up of desperate men who had a +bitterest enemy in their clutch; and some shouted, 'Club him', 'Shoot +him', 'Hang him', while others were for throwing him over the cliff. Then +someone saw under the flap of his waistcoat that same silver-hafted +pistol that lay so lately next the lease of the Why Not? and snatching it +from him, flung it on the grass at Block's feet. + +But Elzevir's deep voice mastered their contentions-- + +'Lads, ye remember how I said when this man's reckoning day should come +'twas I would reckon with him, and had your promise to it. Nor is it +right that any should lay hand on him but I, for is he not sealed to me +with my son's blood? So touch him not, but bind him hand and foot, and +leave him here with me and go your ways; there is no time to lose, for +the light grows apace.' + +There was a little muttered murmuring, but Elzevir's will overbore them +here as it had done in the vault; and they yielded the more easily, +because every man knew in his heart that he would never see Maskew again +alive. So within ten minutes all were winding up the bridle-path, horses +and men, all except three; for there were left upon the brambly +greensward of the under-cliff Maskew and Elzevir and I, and the pistol +lay at Elzevir's feet. + + + + +CHAPTER 9 + +A JUDGEMENT + +Let them fight it out, friend. Things have gone too far, +God must judge the couple: leave them as they are--_Browning_ + + +I made as if I would follow the others, not wishing to see what I must +see if I stayed behind, and knowing that I was powerless to bend Elzevir +from his purpose. But he called me back and bade me wait with him, for +that I might be useful by and by. So I waited, but was only able to make +a dreadful guess at how I might be of use, and feared the worst. + +Maskew sat on the sward with his hands lashed tight behind his back, and +his feet tied in front. They had set him with his shoulders against a +great block of weather-worn stone that was half-buried and half-stuck up +out of the turf. There he sat keeping his eyes on the ground, and was +breathing less painfully than when he was first brought, but still very +pale. Elzevir stood with the lanthorn in his hand, looking at Maskew +with a fixed gaze, and we could hear the hoofs of the heavy-laden horses +beating up the path, till they turned a corner, and all was still. + +The silence was broken by Maskew: 'Unloose me, villain, and let me go. I +am a magistrate of the county, and if you do not, I will have you +gibbeted on this cliff-top.' + +They were brave words enough, yet seemed to me but bad play-acting; and +brought to my remembrance how, when I was a little fellow, Mr. Glennie +once made me recite a battle-piece of Mr. Dryden before my betters; and +how I could scarce get out the bloody threats for shyness and rising +tears. So it was with Maskew's words; for he had much ado to gather +breath to say them, and they came in a thin voice that had no sting of +wrath or passion in it. + +Then Elzevir spoke to him, not roughly, but resolved; and yet with +melancholy, like a judge sentencing a prisoner: + +'Talk not to me of gibbets, for thou wilt neither hang nor see men hanged +again. A month ago thou satst under my roof, watching the flame burn down +till the pin dropped and gave thee right to turn me out from my old home. +And now this morning thou shalt watch that flame again, for I will give +thee one inch more of candle, and when the pin drops, will put this thine +own pistol to thy head, and kill thee with as little thought as I would +kill a stoat or other vermin.' + +Then he opened the lanthorn slide, took out from his neckcloth that same +pin with the onyx head which he had used in the Why Not? and fixed it in +the tallow a short inch from the top, setting the lanthorn down upon the +sward in front of Maskew. + +As for me, I was dismayed beyond telling at these words, and made +giddy with the revulsion of feeling; for, whereas, but a few minutes +ago, I would have thought nothing too bad for Maskew, now I was turned +round to wish he might come off with his life, and to look with terror +upon Elzevir. + +It had grown much lighter, but not yet with the rosy flush of sunrise; +only the stars had faded out, and the deep blue of the night given way to +a misty grey. The light was strong enough to let all things be seen, but +not to call the due tints back to them. So I could see cliffs and ground, +bushes and stones and sea, and all were of one pearly grey colour, or +rather they were colourless; but the most colourless and greyest thing of +all was Maskew's face. His hair had got awry, and his head showed much +balder than when it was well trimmed; his face, too, was drawn with heavy +lines, and there were rings under his eyes. Beside all that, he had got +an ugly fall in trying to escape, and one cheek was muddied, and down it +trickled a blood-drop where a stone had cut him. He was a sorry sight +enough, and looking at him, I remembered that day in the schoolroom when +this very man had struck the parson, and how our master had sat patient +under it, with a blood-drop trickling down his cheek too. Maskew kept his +eyes fixed for a long time on the ground, but raised them at last, and +looked at me with a vacant yet pity-seeking look. Now, till that moment I +had never seen a trace of Grace in his features, nor of him in hers; and +yet as he gazed at me then, there was something of her present in his +face, even battered as it was, so that it seemed as if she looked at me +behind his eyes. And that made me the sorrier for him, and at last I felt +I could not stand by and see him done to death. + +When Elzevir had stuck the pin into the candle he never shut the slide +again; and though no wind blew, there was a light breath moving in the +morning off the sea, that got inside the lanthorn and set the flame +askew. And so the candle guttered down one side till but little tallow +was left above the pin; for though the flame grew pale and paler to the +view in the growing morning light, yet it burnt freely all the time. So +at last there was left, as I judged, but a quarter of an hour to run +before the pin should fall, and I saw that Maskew knew this as well as I, +for his eyes were fixed on the lanthorn. + +At last he spoke again, but the brave words were gone, and the thin voice +was thinner. He had dropped threats, and was begging piteously for his +life. 'Spare me,' he said; 'spare me, Mr. Block: I have an only daughter, +a young girl with none but me to guard her. Would you rob a young girl of +her only help and cast her on the world? Would you have them find me dead +upon the cliff and bring me back to her a bloody corpse?' + +Then Elzevir answered: 'And had I not an only son, and was he not brought +back to me a bloody corpse? Whose pistol was it that flashed in his face +and took his life away? Do you not know? It was this very same that shall +flash in yours. So make what peace you may with God, for you have little +time to make it.' + +With that he took the pistol from the ground where it had lain, and +turning his back on Maskew, walked slowly to and fro among the +bramble-plumps. + +Though Maskew's words about his daughter seemed but to feed Elzevir's +anger, by leading him to think of David, they sank deep in my heart; and +if it had seemed a fearful thing before to stand by and see a +fellow-creature butchered, it seemed now ten thousand times more fearful. +And when I thought of Grace, and what such a deed would mean to her, my +pulse beat so fierce that I must needs spring to my feet and run to +reason with Elzevir, and tell him this must not be. + +He was still walking among the bushes when I found him, and let me say +my say till I was out of breath, and bore with me if I talked fast, and +if my tongue outran my judgement. + +'Thou hast a warm heart, lad,' he said, 'and 'tis for that I like thee. +And if thou hast a chief place in thy heart for me, I cannot grumble if +thou find a little room there even for our enemies. Would I could set thy +soul at ease, and do all that thou askest. In the first flush of wrath, +when he was taken plotting against our lives, it seemed a little thing +enough to take his evil life. But now these morning airs have cooled me, +and it goes against my will to shoot a cowering hound tied hand and foot, +even though he had murdered twenty sons of mine. I have thought if +there be any way to spare his life, and leave this hour's agony to read a +lesson not to be unlearned until the grave. For such poltroons dread +death, and in one hour they die a hundred times. But there is no way out: +his life lies in the scale against the lives of all our men, yes, and thy +life too. They left him in my hands well knowing I should take account of +him; and am I now to play them false and turn him loose again to hang +them all? It cannot be.' + +Still I pleaded hard for Maskew's life, hanging on Elzevir's arm, and +using every argument that I could think of to soften his purpose; but he +pushed me off; and though I saw that he was loth to do it, I had a +terrible conviction that he was not a man to be turned back from his +resolve, and would go through with it to the end. + +We came back together from the brambles to the piece of sward, and there +sat Maskew where we had left him with his back against the stone. Only, +while we were away he had managed to wriggle his watch out of the fob, +and it lay beside him on the turf, tied to him with a black silk riband. +The face of it was turned upwards, and as I passed I saw the hand pointed +to five. Sunrise was very near; for though the cliff shut out the east +from us, the west over Portland was all aglow with copper-red and gold, +and the candle burnt low. The head of the pin was drooping, though very +slightly, but as I saw it droop a month before, and I knew that the final +act was not far off. + +Maskew knew it too, for he made his last appeal, using such passionate +words as I cannot now relate, and wriggling with his body as if to get +his hands from behind his back and hold them up in supplication. He +offered money; a thousand, five thousand, ten thousand pounds to be set +free; he would give back the Why Not?; he would leave Moonfleet; and all +the while the sweat ran down his furrowed face, and at last his voice was +choked with sobs, for he was crying for his life in craven fear. + +He might have spoken to a deaf man for all he moved his judge; and +Elzevir's answer was to cock the pistol and prime the powder in the pan. + +Then I stuck my fingers in my ears and shut my eyes, that I might +neither see nor hear what followed, but in a second changed my mind and +opened them again, for I had made a great resolve to stop this matter, +come what might. + +Maskew was making a dreadful sound between a moan and strangled cry; it +almost seemed as if he thought that there were others by him beside +Elzevir and me, and was shouting to them for help. The sun had risen, and +his first rays blazed on a window far away in the west on top of Portland +Island, and then there was a tinkle in the inside of the lanthorn, and +the pin fell. + +Elzevir looked full at Maskew, and raised his pistol; but before he had +time to take aim, I dashed upon him like a wild cat, springing on his +right arm, and crying to him to stop. It was an unequal struggle, a lad, +though full-grown and lusty, against one of the powerfullest of men, but +indignation nerved my arms, and his were weak, because he doubted of his +right. So 'twas with some effort that he shook me off, and in the +struggle the pistol was fired into the air. + +Then I let go of him, and stumbled for a moment, tired with that bout, +but pleased withal, because I saw what peace even so short a respite had +brought to Maskew. For at the pistol shot 'twas as if a mask of horror +had fallen from his face, and left him his old countenance again; and +then I saw he turned his eyes towards the cliff-top, and thought that he +was looking up in thankfulness to heaven. + +But now a new thing happened; for before the echoes of that pistol-shot +had died on the keen morning air, I thought I heard a noise of distant +shouting, and looked about to see whence it could come. Elzevir looked +round too, but Maskew forgetting to upbraid me for making him miss his +aim, still kept his face turned up towards the cliff. Then the voices +came nearer, and there was a mingled sound as of men shouting to one +another, and gathering in from different places. 'Twas from the cliff-top +that the voices came, and thither Elzevir and I looked up, and there too +Maskew kept his eyes fixed. And in a moment there were a score of men +stood on the cliff's edge high above our heads. The sky behind them was +pink flushed with the keenest light of the young day, and they stood out +against it sharp cut and black as the silhouette of my mother that used +to hang up by the parlour chimney. They were soldiers, and I knew the +tall mitre-caps of the 13th, and saw the shafts of light from the sunrise +come flashing round their bodies, and glance off the barrels of their +matchlocks. + +I knew it all now; it was the Posse who had lain in ambush. Elzevir saw +it too, and then all shouted at once. 'Yield at the King's command: you +are our prisoners!' calls the voice of one of those black silhouettes, +far up on the cliff-top. + +'We are lost,' cries Elzevir; 'it is the Posse; but if we die, this +traitor shall go before us,' and he makes towards Maskew to brain him +with the pistol. + +'Shoot, shoot, in the Devil's name,' screams Maskew, 'or I am a +dead man.' + +Then there came a flash of fire along the black line of silhouettes, +with a crackle like a near peal of thunder, and a fut, fut, fut, of +bullets in the turf. And before Elzevir could get at him, Maskew had +fallen over on the sward with a groan, and with a little red hole in the +middle of his forehead. + +'Run for the cliff-side,' cried Elzevir to me; 'get close in, and they +cannot touch thee,' and he made for the chalk wall. But I had fallen on +my knees like a bullock felled by a pole-axe, and had a scorching pain in +my left foot. Elzevir looked back. 'What, have they hit thee too?' he +said, and ran and picked me up like a child. And then there is another +flash and fut, fut, in the turf; but the shots find no billet this time, +and we are lying close against the cliff, panting but safe. + + + + +CHAPTER 10 + +THE ESCAPE + + ... How fearful +And dizzy 'tis to cast one's eyes so low! + ... I'll look no more +Lest my brain turn--_Shakespeare_ + + +The while chalk was a bulwark between us and the foe; and though one or +two of them loosed off their matchlocks, trying to get at us sideways, +they could not even see their quarry, and 'twas only shooting at a +venture. We were safe. But for how short a time! Safe just for so long as +it should please the soldiers not to come down to take us, safe with a +discharged pistol in our grasp, and a shot man lying at our feet. + +Elzevir was the first to speak: 'Can you stand, John? Is the bone +broken?' + +'I cannot stand,' I said; 'there is something gone in my leg, and I feel +blood running down into my boot.' + +He knelt, and rolled down the leg of my stocking; but though he only +moved my foot ever so little, it caused me sharp pain, for feeling was +coming back after the first numbness of the shot. + +'They have broke the leg, though it bleeds little,' Elzevir said. 'We +have no time to splice it here, but I will put a kerchief round, and +while I wrap it, listen to how we lie, and then choose what we shall do.' + +I nodded, biting my lips hard to conceal the pain he gave me, and he went +on: 'We have a quarter of an hour before the Posse can get down to us. +But come they will, and thou canst judge what chance we have to save +liberty or life with that carrion lying by us'--and he jerked his thumb +at Maskew--'though I am glad 'twas not my hand that sent him to his +reckoning, and therefore do not blame thee if thou didst make me waste a +charge in air. So one thing we can do is to wait here until they come, +and I can account for a few of them before they shoot me down; but thou +canst not fight with a broken leg, and they will take thee alive, and +then there is a dance on air at Dorchester Jail.' + +I felt sick with pain and bitterly cast down to think that I was like to +come so soon to such a vile end; so only gave a sigh, wishing heartily +that Maskew were not dead, and that my leg were not broke, but that I was +back again at the Why Not? or even hearing one of Dr. Sherlock's sermons +in my aunt's parlour. + +Elzevir looked down at me when I sighed, and seeing, I suppose, that I +was sorrowful, tried to put a better face on a bad business. 'Forgive me, +lad,' he said, 'if I have spoke too roughly. There is yet another way +that we may try; and if thou hadst but two whole legs, I would have tried +it, but now 'tis little short of madness. And yet, if thou fear'st not, I +will still try it. Just at the end of this flat ledge, farthest from +where the bridle-path leads down, but not a hundred yards from where we +stand, there is a sheep-track leading up the cliff. It starts where the +under-cliff dies back again into the chalk face, and climbs by slants and +elbow-turns up to the top. The shepherds call it the Zigzag, and even +sheep lose their footing on it; and of men I never heard but one had +climbed it, and that was lander Jordan, when the Excise was on his heels, +half a century back. But he that tries it stakes all on head and foot, +and a wounded bird like thee may not dare that flight. Yet, if thou art +content to hang thy life upon a hair, I will carry thee some way; and +where there is no room to carry, thou must down on hands and knees and +trail thy foot.' + +It was a desperate chance enough, but came as welcome as a patch of blue +through lowering skies. 'Yes,' I said, 'dear Master Elzevir, let us get +to it quickly; and if we fall, 'tis better far to die upon the rocks +below than to wait here for them to hale us off to jail.' And with that I +tried to stand, thinking I might go dot and carry even with a broken leg. +But 'twas no use, and down I sank with a groan. Then Elzevir caught me +up, holding me in his arms, with my head looking over his back, and made +off for the Zigzag. And as we slunk along, close to the cliff-side, I +saw, between the brambles, Maskew lying with his face turned up to the +morning sky. And there was the little red hole in the middle of his +forehead, and a thread of blood that welled up from it and trickled off +on to the sward. + +It was a sight to stagger any man, and would have made me swoon perhaps, +but that there was no time, for we were at the end of the under-cliff, +and Elzevir set me down for a minute, before he buckled to his task. And +'twas a task that might cow the bravest, and when I looked upon the +Zigzag, it seemed better to stay where we were and fall into the hands +of the Posse than set foot on that awful way, and fall upon the rocks +below. For the Zigzag started off as a fair enough chalk path, but in a +few paces narrowed down till it was but a whiter thread against the +grey-white cliff-face, and afterwards turned sharply back, crossing a +hundred feet direct above our heads. And then I smelt an evil stench, +and looking about, saw the blown-out carcass of a rotting sheep lie +close at hand. + +'Faugh,' said Elzevir, 'tis a poor beast has lost his foothold.' + +It was an ill omen enough, and I said as much, beseeching him to make his +own way up the Zigzag and leave me where I was, for that they might have +mercy on a boy. + +'Tush!' he cried; 'it is thy heart that fails thee, and 'tis too late now +to change counsel. We have fifteen minutes yet to win or lose with, and +if we gain the cliff-top in that time we shall have an hour's start, or +more, for they will take all that to search the under-cliff. And Maskew, +too, will keep them in check a little, while they try to bring the life +back to so good a man. But if we fall, why, we shall fall together, and +outwit their cunning. So shut thy eyes, and keep them tight until I bid +thee open them.' With that he caught me up again, and I shut my eyes +firm, rebuking myself for my faint-heartedness, and not telling him how +much my foot hurt me. In a minute I knew from Elzevir's steps that he +had left the turf and was upon the chalk. Now I do not believe that there +were half a dozen men beside in England who would have ventured up that +path, even free and untrammelled, and not a man in all the world to do it +with a full-grown lad in his arms. Yet Elzevir made no bones of it, nor +spoke a single word; only he went very slow, and I felt him scuffle with +his foot as he set it forward, to make sure he was putting it down firm. + +I said nothing, not wishing to distract him from his terrible task, and +held my breath, when I could, so that I might lie quieter in his arms. +Thus he went on for a time that seemed without end, and yet was really +but a minute or two; and by degrees I felt the wind, that we could scarce +perceive at all on the under-cliff, blow fresher and cold on the +cliff-side. And then the path grew steeper and steeper, and Elzevir went +slower and slower, till at last he spoke: + +'John, I am going to stop; but open not thy eyes till I have set thee +down and bid thee.' + +I did as bidden, and he lowered me gently, setting me on all-fours upon +the path; and speaking again: + +'The path is too narrow here for me to carry thee, and thou must creep +round this corner on thy hands and knees. But have a care to keep thy +outer hand near to the inner, and the balance of thy body to the cliff, +for there is no room to dance hornpipes here. And hold thy eyes fixed on +the chalk-wall, looking neither down nor seaward.' + +'Twas well he told me what to do, and well I did it; for when I opened my +eyes, even without moving them from the cliff-side, I saw that the ledge +was little more than a foot wide, and that ever so little a lean of the +body would dash me on the rocks below. So I crept on, but spent much time +that was so precious in travelling those ten yards to take me round the +first elbow of the path; for my foot was heavy and gave me fierce pain to +drag, though I tried to mask it from Elzevir. And he, forgetting what I +suffered, cried out, 'Quicken thy pace, lad, if thou canst, the time is +short.' Now so frail is man's temper, that though he was doing more than +any ever did to save another's life, and was all I had to trust to in the +world; yet because he forgot my pain and bade me quicken, my choler rose, +and I nearly gave him back an angry word, but thought better of it and +kept it in. + +Then he told me to stop, for that the way grew wider and he would pick me +up again. But here was another difficulty, for the path was still so +narrow and the cliff-wall so close that he could not take me up in his +arms. So I lay flat on my face, and he stepped over me, setting his foot +between my shoulders to do it; and then, while he knelt down upon the +path, I climbed up from behind upon him, putting my arms round his neck; +and so he bore me 'pickaback'. I shut my eyes firm again, and thus we +moved along another spell, mounting still and feeling the wind still +freshening. + +At length he said that we were come to the last turn of the path, and he +must set me down once more. So down upon his knees and hands he went, and +I slid off behind, on to the ledge. Both were on all-fours now; Elzevir +first and I following. But as I crept along, I relaxed care for a moment, +and my eyes wandered from the cliff-side and looked down. And far below I +saw the blue sea twinkling like a dazzling mirror, and the gulls wheeling +about the sheer chalk wall, and then I thought of that bloated carcass of +a sheep that had fallen from this very spot perhaps, and in an instant +felt a sickening qualm and swimming of the brain, and knew that I was +giddy and must fall. + +Then I called out to Elzevir, and he, guessing what had come over me, +cries to turn upon my side, and press my belly to the cliff. And how he +did it in such a narrow strait I know not; but he turned round, and lying +down himself, thrust his hand firmly in my back, pressing me closer to +the cliff. Yet it was none too soon, for if he had not held me tight, I +should have flung myself down in sheer despair to get quit of that +dreadful sickness. + +'Keep thine eyes shut, John,' he said, 'and count up numbers loud to me, +that I may know thou art not turning faint.' So I gave out, 'One, two, +three,' and while I went on counting, heard him repeating to himself, +though his words seemed thin and far off: 'We must have taken ten minutes +to get here, and in five more they will be on the under-cliff; and if we +ever reach the top, who knows but they have left a guard! No, no, they +will not leave a guard, for not a man knows of the Zigzag; and, if they +knew, they would not guess that we should try it. We have but fifty yards +to go to win, and now this cursed giddy fit has come upon the child, and +he will fall and drag me with him; or they will see us from below, and +pick us off like sitting guillemots against the cliff-face.' + +So he talked to himself, and all the while I would have given a world to +pluck up heart and creep on farther; yet could not, for the deadly +sweating fear that had hold of me. Thus I lay with my face to the cliff, +and Elzevir pushing firmly in my back; and the thing that frightened me +most was that there was nothing at all for the hand to take hold of, for +had there been a piece of string, or even a thread of cotton, stretched +along to give a semblance of support, I think I could have done it; but +there was only the cliff-wall, sheer and white, against that narrowest +way, with never cranny to put a finger into. The wind was blowing in +fresh puffs, and though I did not open my eyes, I knew that it was moving +the little tufts of bent grass, and the chiding cries of the gulls +seemed to invite me to be done with fear and pain and broken leg, and +fling myself off on to the rocks below. + +Then Elzevir spoke. 'John' he said, 'there is no time to play the woman; +another minute of this and we are lost. Pluck up thy courage, keep thy +eyes to the cliff, and forward.' + +Yet I could not, but answered: 'I cannot, I cannot; if I open my eyes, or +move hand or foot, I shall fall on the rocks below.' + +He waited a second, and then said: 'Nay, move thou must, and 'tis better +to risk falling now, than fall for certain with another bullet in thee +later on.' And with that he shifted his hand from my back and fixed it +in my coat-collar, moving backwards himself, and setting to drag me +after him. + +Now, I was so besotted with fright that I would not budge an inch, +fearing to fall over if I opened my eyes. And Elzevir, for all he was so +strong, could not pull a helpless lump backwards up that path. So he gave +it up, leaving go hold on me with a groan, and at that moment there rose +from the under-cliff, below a sound of voices and shouting. + +'Zounds, they are down already!' cried Elzevir, 'and have found Maskew's +body; it is all up; another minute and they will see us.' + +But so strange is the force of mind on body, and the power of a greater +to master a lesser fear, that when I heard those voices from below, all +fright of falling left me in a moment, and I could open my eyes without a +trace of giddiness. So I began to move forward again on hands and knees. +And Elzevir, seeing me, thought for a moment I had gone mad, and was +dragging myself over the cliff; but then saw how it was, and moved +backwards himself before me, saying in a low voice, 'Brave lad! Once +creep round this turn, and I will pick thee up again. There is but fifty +yards to go, and we shall foil these devils yet!' + +Then we heard the voices again, but farther off, and not so loud; and +knew that our pursuers had left the under-cliff and turned down on to the +beach, thinking that we were hiding by the sea. + +Five minutes later Elzevir stepped on to the cliff-top, with me +upon his back. + +'We have made something of this throw,' he said, 'and are safe for +another hour, though I thought thy giddy head had ruined us.' + +Then he put me gently upon the springy turf, and lay down himself upon +his back, stretching his arms out straight on either side, and breathing +hard to recover from the task he had performed. + + * * * * * + +The day was still young, and far below us was stretched the moving floor +of the Channel, with a silver-grey film of night-mists not yet lifted in +the offing. A hummocky up-and-down line of cliffs, all projections, +dents, bays, and hollows, trended southward till it ended in the great +bluff of St. Alban's Head, ten miles away. The cliff-face was gleaming +white, the sea tawny inshore, but purest blue outside, with the straight +sunpath across it, spangled and gleaming like a mackerel's back. + +The relief of being once more on firm ground, and the exultation of an +escape from immediate danger, removed my pain and made me forget that my +leg was broken. So I lay for a moment basking in the sun; and the wind, +which a few minutes before threatened to blow me from that narrow ledge, +seemed now but the gentlest of breezes, fresh with the breath of the +kindly sea. But this was only for a moment, for the anguish came back +and grew apace, and I fell to thinking dismally of the plight we were in. +How things had been against us in these last days! First there was losing +the Why Not? and that was bad enough; second, there was the being known +by the Excise for smugglers, and perhaps for murderers; third and last, +there was the breaking of my leg, which made escape so difficult. But, +most of all, there came before my eyes that grey face turned up against +the morning sun, and I thought of all it meant for Grace, and would have +given my own life to call back that of our worst enemy. + +Then Elzevir sat up, stretching himself like one waking out of sleep, and +said: 'We must be gone. They will not be back for some time yet, and, +when they come, will not think to search closely for us hereabouts; but +that we cannot risk, and must get clear away. This leg of thine will keep +us tied for weeks, and we must find some place where we can lie hid, and +tend it. Now, I know such a hiding-hole in Purbeck, which they call +Joseph's Pit, and thither we must go; but it will take all the day to get +there, for it is seven miles off, and I am older than I was, and thou too +heavy a babe to carry over lightly.' + +I did not know the pit he spoke of, but was glad to hear of some place, +however far off, where I could lie still and get ease from the pain. And +so he took me in his arms again and started off across the fields. + +I need not tell of that weary journey, and indeed could not, if I wished; +for the pain went to my head and filled me with such a drowsy anguish +that I knew nothing except when some unlooked-for movement gave me a +sharper twinge, and made me cry out. At first Elzevir walked briskly, but +as the day wore on went slower, and was fain more than once to put me +down and rest, till at last he could only carry me a hundred yards at a +time. It was after noon, for the sun was past the meridian, and very hot +for the time of year, when the face of the country began to change; and +instead of the short sward of the open down, sprinkled with tiny white +snail-shells, the ground was brashy with flat stones, and divided up into +tillage fields. It was a bleak wide-bitten place enough, looking as if +'twould never pay for turning, and instead of hedges there were dreary +walls built of dry stone without mortar. Behind one of these walls, +broken down in places, but held together with straggling ivy, and +buttressed here and there with a bramble-bush, Elzevir put me down at +length and said, 'I am beat, and can carry thee no farther for this +present, though there is not now much farther to go. We have passed +Purbeck Gates, and these walls will screen us from prying eyes if any +chance comer pass along the down. And as for the soldiers, they are not +like to come this way so soon, and if they come I cannot help it; for +weariness and the sun's heat have made my feet like lead. A score of +years ago I would have laughed at such a task, but now 'tis different, +and I must take a little sleep and rest till the air is cooler. So sit +thee here and lean thy shoulder up against the wall, and thus thou canst +look through this broken place and watch both ways. Then, if thou see +aught moving, wake me up.--I wish I had a thimbleful of powder to make +this whistle sound'--and he took Maskew's silver-butted pistol again from +his bosom, and handled it lovingly,--'tis like my evil luck to carry +fire-arms thirty years, and leave them at home at a pinch like this.' +With that he flung himself down where there was a narrow shadow close +against the bottom of the wall, and in a minute I knew from his heavy +breathing that he was asleep. + +The wind had freshened much, and was blowing strong from the west; and +now that I was under the lee of the wall I began to perceive that +drowsiness creeping upon me which overtakes a man who has been tousled +for an hour or two by the wind, and gets at length into shelter. +Moreover, though I was not tired by grievous toil like Elzevir, I had +passed a night without sleep, and felt besides the weariness of pain to +lull me to slumber. So it was, that before a quarter of an hour was past, +I had much ado to keep awake, for all I knew that I was left on guard. +Then I sought something to fix my thoughts, and looking on that side of +the wall where the sward was, fell to counting the mole-hills that were +cast up in numbers thereabout. And when I had exhausted them, and +reckoned up thirty little heaps of dry and powdery brown earth, that lay +at random on the green turf, I turned my eyes to the tillage field on the +other side of the wall, and saw the inch-high blades of corn coming up +between the stones. Then I fell to counting the blades, feeling glad to +have discovered a reckoning that would not be exhausted at thirty, but +would go on for millions, and millions, and millions; and before I had +reached ten in so heroic a numeration was fast asleep. + +A sharp noise woke me with a start that set the pain tingling in my leg, +and though I could see nothing, I knew that a shot had been fired very +near us. I was for waking Elzevir, but he was already full awake, and put +a finger on his lip to show I should not speak. Then he crept a few paces +down the wall to where an ivy bush over-topped it, enough for him to look +through the leaves without being seen. He dropped down again with a look +of relief, and said, ''Tis but a lad scaring rooks with a blunderbuss; we +will not stir unless he makes this way.' + +A minute later he said: 'The boy is coming straight for the wall; we +shall have to show ourselves'; and while he spoke there was a rattle of +falling stones, where the boy was partly climbing and partly pulling +down the dry wall, and so Elzevir stood up. The boy looked frightened, +and made as if he would run off, but Elzevir passed him the time of day +in a civil voice, and he stopped and gave it back. + +'What are you doing here, son?' Block asked. + +'Scaring rooks for Farmer Topp,' was the answer. + +'Have you got a charge of powder to spare?' said Elzevir, showing his +pistol. 'I want to get a rabbit in the gorse for supper, and have dropped +my flask. Maybe you've seen a flask in walking through the furrows?' + +He whispered to me to lie still, so that it might not be perceived my leg +was broken; and the boy replied: + +'No, I have seen no flask; but very like have not come the same way as +you, being sent out here from Lowermoigne; and as for powder, I have +little left, and must save that for the rooks, or shall get a beating for +my pains.' + +'Come,' said Elzevir, 'give me a charge or two, and there is half a crown +for thee.' And he took the coin out of his pocket and showed it. + +The boy's eyes twinkled, and so would mine at so valuable a piece, and +he took out from his pocket a battered cowskin flask. 'Give flask and +all,' said Elzevir, 'and thou shalt have a crown,' and he showed him the +larger coin. + +No time was wasted in words; Elzevir had the flask in his pocket, and the +boy was biting the crown. + +'What shot have you?' said Elzevir. + +'What! have you dropped your shot-flask too?' asked the boy. And his +voice had something of surprise in it. + +'Nay, but my shot are over small; if thou hast a slug or two, I would +take them.' + +'I have a dozen goose-slugs, No. 2,' said the boy; 'but thou +must pay a shilling for them. My master says I never am to use them, +except I see a swan or buzzard, or something fit to cook, come over: I +shall get a sound beating for my pains, and to be beat is worth a +shilling.' + +'If thou art beat, be beat for something more,' says Elzevir the tempter. +'Give me that firelock that thou carriest, and take a guinea.' + +'Nay, I know not,' says the boy; 'there are queer tales afloat at +Lowermoigne, how that a Posse met the Contraband this morning, and shots +were fired, and a gauger got an overdose of lead--maybe of goose slugs +No. 2. The smugglers got off clear, but they say the hue and cry is up +already, and that a head-price will be fixed of twenty pound. So if I +sell you a fowling-piece, maybe I shall do wrong, and have the Government +upon me as well as my master.' The surprise in his voice was changed to +suspicion, for while he spoke I saw that his eye had fallen on my foot, +though I tried to keep it in the shadow; and that he saw the boot clotted +with blood, and the kerchief tied round my leg. + +''Tis for that very reason,' says Elzevir, 'that I want the firelock. +These smugglers are roaming loose, and a pistol is a poor thing to stop +such wicked rascals on a lone hill-side. Come, come, _thou_ dost not want +a piece to guard thee; they will not hurt a boy.' + +He had the guinea between his finger and thumb, and the gleam of the gold +was too strong to be withstood. So we gained a sorry matchlock, slugs, +and powder, and the boy walked off over the furrow, whistling with his +hand in his pocket, and a guinea and a crown-piece in his hand. + +His whistle sounded innocent enough, yet I mistrusted him, having caught +his eye when he was looking at my bloody foot; and so I said as much to +Elzevir, who only laughed, saying the boy was simple and harmless. But +from where I sat I could peep out through the brambles in the open gap, +and see without being seen--and there was my young gentleman walking +carelessly enough, and whistling like any bird so long as Elzevir's head +was above the wall; but when Elzevir sat down, the boy gave a careful +look round, and seeing no one watching any more, dropped his whistling +and made off as fast as heels would carry him. Then I knew that he had +guessed who we were, and was off to warn the hue and cry; but before +Elzevir was on his feet again, the boy was out of sight, over the +hill-brow. + +'Let us move on,' said Block; 'tis but a little distance now to go, and +the heat is past already. We must have slept three hours or more, for +thou art but a sorry watchman, John. 'Tis when the sentry sleeps that +the enemy laughs, and for thee the Posse might have had us both like +daylight owls.' + +With that he took me on his back and made off with a lusty stride, +keeping as much as possible under the brow of the hill and in the shelter +of the walls. We had slept longer than we thought, for the sun was +westering fast, and though the rest had refreshed me, my leg had grown +stiff, and hurt the more in dangling when we started again. Elzevir was +still walking strongly, in spite of the heavy burden he carried, and in +less than half an hour I knew, though I had never been there before, we +were in the land of the old marble quarries at the back of Anvil Point. + +Although I knew little of these quarries, and certainly was in evil +plight to take note of anything at that time, yet afterwards I learnt +much about them. Out of such excavations comes that black Purbeck Marble +which you see in old churches in our country, and I am told in other +parts of England as well. And the way of making a marble quarry is to +sink a tunnel, slanting very steeply down into the earth, like a well +turned askew, till you reach fifty, seventy, or perhaps one hundred feet +deep. Then from the bottom of this shaft there spread out narrow passages +or tunnels, mostly six feet high, but sometimes only three or four, and +in these the marble is dug. These quarries were made by men centuries +ago, some say by the Romans themselves; and though some are still worked +in other parts of Purbeck, those at the back of Anvil Point have been +disused beyond the memory of man. + +We had left the stony village fields, and the face of the country was +covered once more with the closest sward, which was just putting on the +brighter green of spring. This turf was not smooth, but hummocky, for +under it lay heaps of worthless stone and marble drawn out of the +quarries ages ago, which the green vestment had covered for the most +part, though it left sometimes a little patch of broken rubble peering +out at the top of a mound. There were many tumble-down walls and low +gables left of the cottages of the old quarrymen; grass-covered ridges +marked out the little garden-folds, and here and there still stood a +forlorn gooseberry-bush, or a stunted plum- or apple-tree with its +branches all swept eastward by the up-Channel gales. As for the quarry +shafts themselves, they too were covered round the tips with the green +turf, and down them led a narrow flight of steep-cut steps, with a slide +of soap-stone at the side, on which the marble blocks were once hauled up +by wooden winches. Down these steps no feet ever walked now, for not only +were suffocating gases said to beset the bottom of the shafts, but men +would have it that in the narrow passages below lurked evil spirits and +demons. One who ought to know about such things, told me that when St. +Aldhelm first came to Purbeck, he bound the old Pagan gods under a ban +deep in these passages, but that the worst of all the crew was a certain +demon called the Mandrive, who watched over the best of the black marble. +And that was why such marble might only be used in churches or for +graves, for if it were not for this holy purpose, the Mandrive would +have power to strangle the man that hewed it. + +It was by the side of one of these old shafts that Elzevir laid me down +at last. The light was very low, showing all the little unevennesses of +the turf; and the sward crept over the edges of the hole, and every crack +and crevice in steps and slide was green with ferns. The green ferns +shrouded the walls of the hole, and ruddy brown brambles overgrew the +steps, till all was lost in the gloom that hung at the bottom of the pit. + +Elzevir drew a deep breath or two of the cool evening air, like a man who +has come through a difficult trial. + +'There,' he said, 'this is Joseph's Pit, and here we must lie hid until +thy foot is sound again. Once get to the bottom safe, and we can laugh at +Posse, and hue and cry, and at the King's Crown itself. They cannot +search all the quarries, and are not like to search any of them, for they +are cowards at the best, and hang much on tales of the Mandrive. Ay, and +such tales are true enough, for there lurk gases at the bottom of most of +the shafts, like devils to strangle any that go down. And if they do come +down this Joseph's Pit, we still have nineteen chances in a score they +cannot thread the workings. But last, if they come down, and thread the +path, there is this pistol and a rusty matchlock; and before they come to +where we lie, we can hold the troop at bay and sell our lives so dear +they will not care to buy them.' + +We waited a few minutes, and then he took me in his arms and began to +descend the steps, back first, as one goes down a hatchway. The sun was +setting in a heavy bank of clouds just as we began to go down, and I +could not help remembering how I had seen it set over peaceful Moonfleet +only twenty-four hours ago; and how far off we were now, and how long it +was likely to be before I saw that dear village and Grace again. + +The stairs were still sharp cut and little worn, but Elzevir paid great +care to his feet, lest he should slip on the ferns and mosses with which +they were overgrown. When we reached the brambles he met them with his +back, and though I heard the thorns tearing in his coat, he shoved them +aside with his broad shoulders, and screened my dangling leg from getting +caught. Thus he came safe without stumble to the bottom of the pit. + +When we got there all was dark, but he stepped off into a narrow opening +on the right hand, and walked on as if he knew the way. I could see +nothing, but perceived that we were passing through endless galleries cut +in the solid rock, high enough, for the most part, to allow of walking +upright, but sometimes so low as to force him to bend down and carry me +in a very constrained attitude. Only twice did he set me down at a +turning, while he took out his tinder-box and lit a match; but at length +the darkness became less dark, and I saw that we were in a large cave or +room, into which the light came through some opening at the far end. At +the same time I felt a colder breath and fresh salt smell in the air that +told me we were very near the sea. + + + + +CHAPTER 11 + +THE SEA-CAVE + +The dull loneness, the black shade, +That these hanging vaults have made: +The strange music of the waves +Beating on these hollow caves--_Wither_ + + +He set me down in one corner, where was some loose dry silver-sand upon +the floor, which others had perhaps used for a resting-place before. +'Thou must lie here for a month or two, lad,' he said; 'tis a mean bed, +but I have known many worse, and will get straw tomorrow if I can, to +better it.' + +I had eaten nothing all day, nor had Elzevir, yet I felt no hunger, only +a giddiness and burning thirst like that which came upon me when I was +shut in the Mohune vault. So 'twas very music to me to hear a pat and +splash of water dropping from the roof into a little pool upon the floor, +and Elzevir made a cup out of my hat and gave a full drink of it that was +icy-cool and more delicious than any smuggled wine of France. + +And after that I knew little that happened for ten days or more, for +fever had hold of me, and as I learnt afterwards, I talked wild and could +scarce be restrained from jumping up and loosing the bindings that +Elzevir had put upon my leg. And all that time he nursed me as tenderly +as any mother could her child, and never left the cave except when he was +forced to seek food. But after the fever passed it left me very thin, as +I could see from hands and arms, and weaker than a baby; and I used to +lie the whole day, not thinking much, nor troubling about anything, but +eating what was given me and drawing a quiet pleasure from the knowledge +that strength was gradually returning. Elzevir had found a battered +sea-chest up on Peveril Point, and from the side of it made splints to +set my leg--using his own shirt for bandages. The sand-bed too was made +more soft and easy with some armfuls of straw, and in one corner of the +cave was a little pile of driftwood and an iron cooking-pot. And all +these things had Elzevir got by foraging of nights, using great care that +none should see him, and taking only what would not be much missed or +thought about; but soon he contrived to give Ratsey word of where we +were, and after that the sexton fended for us. There were none even of +the landers knew what was become of us, save only Ratsey; and he never +came down the quarry, but would leave what he brought in one of the +ruined cottages a half-mile from the shaft. And all the while there was +strict search being made for us, and mounted Excisemen scouring the +country; for though at first the Posse took back Maskew's dead body and +said we must have fallen over the cliff, for there was nothing to be +found of us, yet afterwards a farm-boy brought a tale of how he had come +suddenly on men lurking under a wall, and how one had a bloody foot and +leg, and how the other sprung upon him and after a fierce struggle +wrenched his master's rook-piece from his hands, rifled his pocket of a +powder-horn, and made off with them like a hare towards Corfe. And as to +Maskew, some of the soldiers said that Elzevir had shot him, and others +that he died by misadventure, being killed by a stray bullet of one of +his own men on the hill-top; but for all that they put a head-price on +Elzevir of 50, and 20 for me, so we had reason to lie close. It must +have been Maskew that listened that night at the door when Elzevir told +me the hour at which the cargo was to be run; for the Posse had been +ordered to be at Hoar Head at four in the morning. So all the gang would +have been taken had it not been for the Gulder making earlier, and the +soldiers being delayed by tippling at the Lobster. + +All this Elzevir learnt from Ratsey and told me to pass the time, +though in truth I had as lief not heard it, for 'tis no pleasant thing +to see one's head wrote down so low as 20. And what I wanted most to +know, namely how Grace fared and how she took the bad news of her +father's death, I could not hear, for Elzevir said nothing, and I was +shy to ask him. + +Now when I came entirely to myself, and was able to take stock of things, +I found that the place in which I lay was a cave some eight yards square +and three in height, whose straight-cut walls showed that men had once +hewed stone therefrom. On one side was that passage through which we had +come in, and on the other opened a sort of door which gave on to a stone +ledge eight fathoms above high-water mark. For the cave was cut out just +inside that iron cliff-face which lies between St. Alban's Head and +Swanage. But the cliffs here are different from those on the other side +of the Head, being neither so high as Hoar Head nor of chalk, but +standing for the most part only an hundred or an hundred and fifty feet +above the sea, and showing towards it a stern face of solid rock. But +though they rise not so high above the water, they go down a long way +below it; so that there is fifty fathom right up to the cliff, and many a +good craft out of reckoning in fog, or on a pitch-dark night, has run +full against that frowning wall, and perished, ship and crew, without a +soul to hear their cries. Yet, though the rock looks hard as adamant, the +eternal washing of the wave has worn it out below, and even with the +slightest swell there is a dull and distant booming of the surge in those +cavernous deeps; and when the wind blows fresh, each roller smites the +cliff like a thunder-clap, till even the living rock trembles again. + +It was on a ledge of that rock-face that our cave opened, and sometimes +on a fine day Elzevir would carry me out thither, so that I might sun +myself and see all the moving Channel without myself being seen. For this +ledge was carved out something like a balcony, so that when the quarry +was in working they could lower the stone by pulleys to boats lying +underneath, and perhaps haul up a keg or two by the way of ballast, as +might be guessed by the stanchions still rusting in the rock. + +Such was this gallery; and as for the inside of the cave, 'twas a great +empty room, with a white floor made up of broken stone-dust trodden hard +of old till one would say it was plaster; and dry, without those sweaty +damps so often seen in such places--save only in one corner a +land-spring dropped from the roof trickling down over spiky +rock-icicles, and falling into a little hollow in the floor. This basin +had been scooped out of set purpose, with a gutter seaward for the +overflow, and round it and on the wet patch of the roof above grew a +garden of ferns and other clinging plants. + +The weeks moved on until we were in the middle of May, when even the +nights were no longer cold, as the sun gathered power. And with the +warmer days my strength too increased, and though I dared not yet stand, +my leg had ceased to pain me, except for some sharp twinges now and then, +which Elzevir said were caused by the bone setting. And then he would put +a poultice made of grass upon the place, and once walked almost as far as +Chaldron to pluck sorrel for a soothing mash. + +Now though he had gone out and in so many times in safety, yet I was +always ill at ease when he was away, lest he might fall into some ambush +and never come back. Nor was it any thought of what would come to me if +he were caught that grieved me, but only care for him; for I had come to +lean in everything upon this grim and grizzled giant, and love him like a +father. So when he was away I took to reading to beguile my thoughts; but +found little choice of matter, having only my aunt's red Prayer-book that +I thrust into my bosom the afternoon that I left Moonfleet, and +Blackbeard's locket. For that locket hung always round my neck; and I +often had the parchment out and read it; not that I did not know it now +by heart, but because reading it seemed to bring Grace to my thoughts, +for the last time I had read it was when I saw her in the Manor woods. + +Elzevir and I had often talked over what was to be done when my leg +should be sound again, and resolved to take passage to St. Malo in the +_Bonaventure_, and there lie hid till the pursuit against us should have +ceased. For though 'twas wartime, French and English were as brothers in +the contraband, and the shippers would give us bit and sup, and glad to, +as long as we had need of them. But of this I need not say more, because +'twas but a project, which other events came in to overturn. + +Yet 'twas this very errand, namely, to fix with the _Bonaventure_'s men +the time to take us over to the other side, that Elzevir had gone out, on +the day of which I shall now speak. He was to go to Poole, and left our +cave in the afternoon, thinking it safe to keep along the cliff-edge even +in the daylight, and to strike across country when dusk came on. The wind +had blown fresh all the morning from south-west, and after Elzevir had +left, strengthened to a gale. My leg was now so strong that I could walk +across the cave with the help of a stout blackthorn that Elzevir had cut +me: and so I went out that afternoon on to the ledge to watch the growing +sea. There I sat down, with my back against a protecting rock, in such a +place that I could see up-Channel and yet shelter from the rushing wind. +The sky was overcast, and the long wall of rock showed grey with +orange-brown patches and a darker line of sea-weed at the base like the +under strake of a boat's belly, for the tide was but beginning to make. +There was a mist, half-fog, half-spray, scudding before the wind, and +through it I could see the white-backed rollers lifting over Peveril +Point; while all along the cliff-face the sea-birds thronged the ledges, +and sat huddled in snowy lines, knowing the mischief that was brewing in +the elements. + +It was a melancholy scene, and bred melancholy in my heart; and about +sun-down the wind southed a point or two, setting the sea more against +the cliff, so that the spray began to fly even over my ledge and drove me +back into the cave. The night came on much sooner than usual, and before +long I was lying on my straw bed in perfect darkness. The wind had gone +still more to south, and was screaming through the opening of the cave; +the caverns down below bellowed and rumbled; every now and then a giant +roller struck the rock such a blow as made the cave tremble, and then a +second later there would fall, splattering on the ledge outside, the +heavy spray that had been lifted by the impact. + +I have said that I was melancholy; but worse followed, for I grew timid, +and fearful of the wild night, and the loneliness, and the darkness. And +all sorts of evil tales came to my mind, and I thought much of baleful +heathen gods that St. Aldhelm had banished to these underground cellars, +and of the Mandrive who leapt on people in the dark and strangled them. +And then fancy played another trick on me, and I seemed to see a man +lying on the cave-floor with a drawn white face upturned, and a red hole +in the forehead; and at last could bear the dark no longer, but got up +with my lame leg and groped round till I found a candle, for we had two +or three in store. 'Twas only with much ado I got it lit and set up in +the corner of the cave, and then I sat down close by trying to screen it +with my coat. But do what I would the wind came gusting round the corner, +blowing the flame to one side, and making the candle gutter as another +candle guttered on that black day at the Why Not? And so thought whisked +round till I saw Maskew's face wearing a look of evil triumph, when the +pin fell at the auction, and again his face grew deadly pale, and there +was the bullet-mark on his brow. + +Surely there were evil spirits in this place to lead my thoughts so much +astray, and then there came to my mind that locket on my neck, which men +had once hung round Blackbeard's to scare evil spirits from his tomb. If +it could frighten them from him, might it not rout them now, and make +them fly from me? And with that thought I took the parchment out, and +opening it before the flickering light, although I knew all, word for +word, conned it over again, and read it out aloud. It was a relief to +hear a human voice, even though 'twas nothing but my own, and I took to +shouting the words, having much ado even so to make them heard for the +raging of the storm: + +'The days of our age are threescore years and ten; and though men be so +strong that they come to fourscore years; yet is their strength then but +labour and sorrow; so soon passeth it away, and we are gone. + +'And as for me, my feet were almost ...' + +At the 'almost' I stopped, being brought up suddenly with a fierce beat +of blood through my veins, and a jump fit to burst them, for I had heard +a scuffling noise in the passage that led to the cave, as if someone had +stumbled against a loose stone in the dark. I did not know then, but have +learnt since, that where there is a loud noise, such as the roaring of a +cascade, the churning of a mill, or, as here, the rage and bluster of a +storm--if there arise some different sound, even though it be as slight +as the whistle of a bird, 'twill strike the ear clear above the general +din. And so it was this night, for I caught that stumbling tread even +when the gale blew loudest, and sat motionless and breathless, in my +eagerness of listening, and then the gale lulled an instant, and I heard +the slow beat of footsteps as of one groping his way down the passage in +the dark. I knew it was not Elzevir, for first he could not be back from +Poole for many hours yet, and second, he always whistled in a certain way +to show 'twas he coming and gave besides a pass-word; yet, if not +Elzevir, who could it be? I blew out the light, for I did not want to +guide the aim of some unknown marksman shooting at me from the dark; and +then I thought of that gaunt strangler that sprang on marbleworkers in +the gloom; yet it could not be the Mandrive, for surely he would know his +own passages better than to stumble in them in the dark. It was more +likely to be one of the hue and cry who had smelt us out, and hoped +perhaps to be able to reconnoitre without being perceived on so awful a +night. Whenever Elzevir went out foraging, he carried with him that +silver-butted pistol which had once been Maskew's, but left behind the +old rook-piece. We had plenty of powder and slugs now, having obtained a +store of both from Ratsey, and Elzevir had bid me keep the matchlock +charged, and use it or not after my own judgement, if any came to the +cave; but gave as his counsel that it was better to die fighting than to +swing at Dorchester, for that we should most certainly do if taken. We +had agreed, moreover, on a pass-word, which was _Prosper the +Bonaventure_, so that I might challenge betimes any that I heard coming, +and if they gave not back this countersign might know it was not Elzevir. + +So now I reached out for the piece, which lay beside me on the floor, and +scrambled to my feet; lifting the deckle in the darkness, and feeling +with my fingers in the pan to see 'twas full of powder. + +The lull in the storm still lasted, and I heard the footsteps +advancing, though with uncertain slowness, and once after a heavy +stumble I thought I caught a muttereth oath, as if someone had struck +his foot against a stone. + +Then I shouted out clear in the darkness a 'Who goes there?' that rang +again through the stone roofs. The footsteps stopped, but there was no +answer. 'Who goes there?' I repeated. 'Answer, or I fire.' + +'_Prosper the Bonaventure_,' came back out of the darkness, and I knew +that I was safe. 'The devil take thee for a hot-blooded young bantam to +shoot thy best friend with powder and ball, that he was fool enough to +give thee'; and by this time I had guessed 'twas Master Ratsey, and +recognized his voice. 'I would have let thee hear soon enough that 'twas +I, if I had known I was so near thy lair; but 'tis more than a man's life +is worth to creep down moleholes in the dark, and on a night like this. +And why I could not get out the gibberish about the _Bonaventure_ sooner, +was because I matched my shin to break a stone, and lost the wager and my +breath together. And when my wind returned 'tis very like that I was +trapped into an oath, which is sad enough for me, who am sexton, and so +to say in small orders of the Church of England as by law established.' + +By the time I had put down the gun and coaxed the candle again to light, +Ratsey stepped into the cave. He wore a sou'wester, and was dripping with +wet, but seemed glad to see me and shook me by the hand. He was welcome +enough to me also, for he banished the dreadful loneliness, and his +coming was a bit out of my old pleasant life that lay so far away, and +seemed to bring me once more within reach of some that were dearest. + + + + +CHAPTER 12 + +A FUNERAL + +How he lies in his rights of a man! +Death has done all death can--_Browning_ + + +We stood for a moment holding one another's hands; then Ratsey spoke. +'John, these two months have changed thee from boy to man. Thou wast a +child when I turned that morning as we went up Hoar Head with the +pack-horses, and looked back on thee and Elzevir below, and Maskew lying +on the ground. 'Twas a sorry business, and has broken up the finest gang +that ever ran a cargo, besides driving thee and Elzevir to hide in caves +and dens of the earth. Thou shouldst have come with us that morn; not +have stayed behind. The work was too rough for boys: the skipper should +have piped the reefing-hands.' + +It was true enough, or seemed to me true then, for I felt much cast down; +but only said, 'Nay, Master Ratsey, where Master Block stays, there I +must stay too, and where he goes I follow.' + +Then I sat down upon the bed in the corner, feeling my leg began to ache; +and the storm, which had lulled for a few minutes, came up again all the +fiercer with wilder gusts and showers of spray and rain driving into the +cave from seaward. So I was scarce sat down when in came a roaring blast, +filling even our corner with cold, wet air, that quenched the weakling +candle flame. + +'God save us, what a night!' Ratsey cried. + +'God save poor souls at sea,' said I. + +'Amen to that,' says he, 'and would that every Amen I have said had come +as truly from my heart. There will be sea enough on Moonfleet Beach this +night to lift a schooner to the top of it, and launch her down into the +fields behind. I had as lief be in the Mohune vault as in this fearsome +place, and liefer too, if half the tales men tell are true of faces that +may meet one here. For God's sake let us light a fire, for I caught sight +of a store of driftwood before that sickly candle went out.' + +It was some time before we got a fire alight, and even after the flame +had caught well hold, the rush of the wind would every now and again blow +the smoke into our eyes, or send a shower of sparks dancing through the +cave. But by degrees the logs began to glow clear white, and such a +cheerful warmth came out, as was in itself a solace and remedy for man's +afflictions. + +'Ah!' said Ratsey, 'I was shrammed with wet and cold, and half-dead with +this baffling wind. It is a blessed thing a fire,' and he unbuttoned his +pilot-coat, 'and needful now, if ever. My soul is very low, lad, for +this place has strange memories for me; and I recollect, forty years ago +(when I was just a boy like thee), old lander Jordan's gang, and I among +them, were in this very cave on such another night. I was new to the +trade then, as thou might be, and could not sleep for noise of wind and +sea. And in the small hours of an autumn morning, as I lay here, just +where we lie now, I heard such wailing cries above the storm, ay, and +such shrieks of women, as made my blood run cold and have not yet forgot +them. And so I woke the gang who were all deep asleep as seasoned +contrabandiers should be; but though we knew that there were +fellow-creatures fighting for their lives in the seething flood beneath +us, we could not stir hand or foot to save them, for nothing could be +seen for rain and spray, and 'twas not till next morning that we learned +the _Florida_ had foundered just below with every soul on board. Ay, +'tis a queer life, and you and Block are in a queer strait now, and that +is what I came to tell you. See here.' And he took out of his pocket an +oblong strip of printed paper: + + * * * * * + +G.R. + +WHITEHALL, 15 May 1758 + +Whereas it hath been humbly represented to the King that on Friday, the +night of the 16th of April last, THOMAS MASKEW, a Justice of the Peace, +was most inhumanly murdered at Hoar Head, a lone place in the Parish of +Chaldron, in the County of Dorset, by one ELZEVIR BLOCK and one JOHN +TRENCHARD, both of the Parish of Moonfleet, in the aforesaid County: His +Majesty, for the better discovering and bringing to Justice these +Persons, is pleased to promise His Most Gracious PARDON to any of the +Persons concerned therein, except the Persons who actually committed the +said Murder; and, as a further Encouragement, a REWARD OF FIFTY POUNDS to +any Person who shall furnish such INFORMATION as shall lead to the +APPREHENSION of the said ELZEVIR BLOCK, and a REWARD of TWENTY POUNDS to +any Person who shall furnish such INFORMATION as shall lead to the +APPREHENSION of the said JOHN TRENCHARD. Such INFORMATION to be given to +ME, or to the GOVERNOUR of His MAJESTY'S GAOL in Dorchester. + +HOLDERNESSE. + + * * * * * + +'There--that's the bill,' he said; 'and a vastly fine piece it is, and +yet I wish that 'twas played with other actors. Now, in Moonfleet there +is none that know your hiding-place, and not a man, nor woman either, +that would tell if they knew it ten times over. But fifty pounds for +Elzevir, and twenty pounds for an empty pumpkin-top like thine, is a fair +round sum, and there are vagabonds about this countryside scurvy enough +to try to earn it. And some of these have set the Excisemen on _my_ +track, with tales of how it is I that know where you lie hid, and bring +you meat and drink. So it is that I cannot stir abroad now, no, not even +to the church o' Sundays, without having some rogue lurking at my heels +to watch my movements. And that is why I chose such a night to come +hither, knowing these knaves like dry skins, but never thinking that the +wind would blow like this. I am come to tell Block that 'tis not safe for +me to be so much in Purbeck, and that I dare no longer bring food or what +not, or these man-hounds will scent you out. Your leg is sound again, and +'tis best to be flitting while you may, and there's the _Éperon d'Or,_ +and Chauvelais to give you welcome on the other side.' + +I told him how Elzevir was gone this very night to Poole to settle with +the _Bonaventure_, when she should come to take us off; and at that +Ratsey seemed pleased. There were many things I wished to learn of him, +and especially how Grace did, but felt a shyness, and durst not ask him. +And he said no more for a minute, seeming low-hearted and crouching over +the fire. So we sat huddled in the corner by the glowing logs, the red +light flickering on the cave roof, and showing the lines on Ratsey's +face; while the steam rose from his drying clothes. The gale blew as +fiercely as ever, but the tide had fallen, and there was not so much +spray coming into the cave. Then Ratsey spoke again-- + +'My heart is very heavy, John, tonight, to think how all the good old +times are gone, and how that Master Block can never again go back to +Moonfleet. It was as fine a lander's crew as ever stood together, not +even excepting Captain Jordan's, and now must all be broken up; for this +mess of Maskew's has made the place too hot to hold us, and 'twill be +many a long day before another cargo's run on Moonfleet Beach. But how to +get the liquor out of Mohune's vault I know not; and that reminds me, I +have something in my pouches for Elzevir an' thee'; and with that he drew +forth either lapel a great wicker-bound flask. He put one to his lips, +tilting it and drinking long and deep, and then passed it to me, with a +sigh of satisfaction. 'Ah, that has the right smack. Here, take it, +child, and warm thy heart; 'tis the true milk of Ararat, and the last +thou'lt taste this side the Channel.' + +Then I drank too, but lightly, for the good liquor was no stranger to me, +though it was only so few months ago that I had tasted it for the first +time in the Why Not? and in a minute it tingled in my fingertips. Soon a +grateful sense of warmth and comfort stole over me, and our state seemed +not so desperate, nor even the night so wild. Ratsey, too, wore a more +cheerful air, and the lines in his face were not so deeply marked; the +golden, sparkling influence of the flask had loosed his tongue, and he +was talking now of what I most wanted to hear. + +'Yes, yes, it is a sad break-up, and what will happen to the old Why Not? +I cannot tell. None have passed the threshold since you left, only the +Duchy men came and sealed the doors, making it felony to force them. And +even these lawyer chaps know not where the right stands, for Maskew never +paid a rent and died before he took possession; and Master Block's term +is long expired, and now he is in hiding and an outlaw. + +'But I am sorriest for Maskew's girl, who grows thin and pale as any +lily. For when the soldiers brought the body back, the men stood at their +doors and cursed the clay, and some of the fishwives spat at it; and old +Mother Veitch, who kept house for him, swore he had never paid her a +penny of wages, and that she was afear'd to stop under the same roof with +such an evil corpse. So out she goes from the Manor House, leaving that +poor child alone in it with her dead father; and there were not wanting +some to say it was all a judgement; and called to mind how Elzevir had +been once left alone with his dead son at the Why Not? But in the village +there was not a man that doubted that 'twas Block had sent Maskew to his +account, nor did I doubt it either, till a tale got abroad that he was +killed by a stray shot fired by the Posse from the cliff. And when they +took the hue-and-cry papers to the Manor House for his lass, as next of +kin, to sign the requisition, she would not set her name to it, saying +that Block had never lifted his hand against her father when they met at +Moonfleet or on the road, and that she never would believe he was the man +to let his anger sleep so long and then attack an enemy in cold blood. +And as for thee, she knew thee for a trusty lad, who would not do such +things himself, nor yet stand by whilst others did them.' + +Now what Ratsey said was sweeter than any music in my ears, and I felt +myself a better man, as anyone must of whom a true woman speaks well, and +that I must live uprightly to deserve such praise. Then I resolved that +come what might I would make my way once more to Moonfleet, before we +fled from England, and see Grace; so that I might tell her all that +happened about her father's death, saving only that Elzevir had meant +himself to put Maskew away; for it was no use to tell her this when she +had said that he could never think to do such a thing, and besides, for +all I knew, he never did mean to shoot, but only to frighten him. Though +I thus resolved, I said nothing of it to Master Ratsey, but only nodded, +and he went on-- + +'Well, seeing there was no one save this poor girl to look to putting +Maskew under ground, I must needs take it in hand myself; roughing +together a sound coffin and digging as fair a grave for him as could be +made for any lord, except that lords have always vaults to sleep in. Then +I got Mother Nutting's fish-cart to carry the body down, for there was +not a man in Moonfleet would lay hand to the coffin to bear it; and off +we started down the street, I leading the wall-eyed pony, and the coffin +following on the trolley. There was no mourner to see him home except his +daughter, and she without a bit of black upon her, for she had no time to +get her crapes; and yet she needed none, having grief writ plain enough +upon her face. + +'When we got to the churchyard, a crowd was gathered there, men and women +and children, not only from Moonfleet but from Ringstave and Monkbury. +They were not come to mourn, but to make gibes to show how much they +hated him, and many of the children had old pots and pans for rough +music. Parson Glennie was waiting in the church, and there he waited, for +the cart could not pass the gate, and we had no bearers to lift the +coffin. Then I looked round to see if there was any that would help to +lift, but when I tried to meet a man's eye he looked away, and all I +could see was the bitter scowling faces of the women. And all the while +the girl stood by the trolley looking on the ground. She had a little +kerchief over her head that let the hair fall about her shoulders, and +her face was very white, with eyes red and swollen through weeping. But +when she knew that all that crowd was there to mock her father, and that +there was not a man would raise hand to lift him, she laid her head upon +the coffin, hiding her face in her hands, and sobbed bitterly.' + +Ratsey stopped for a moment and drank again deep at the flask; and as for +me, I still said nothing, feeling a great lump in my throat; and +reflecting how hatred and passion have power to turn men to brutes. + +'I am a rough man,' Ratsey resumed, 'but tender-like withal, and when I +saw her weep, I ran off to the church to tell the parson how it was, and +beg him to come out and try if we two could lift the coffin. So out he +came just as he was, with surplice on his back and book in hand. But when +the men knew what he was come for, and looked upon that tall, fair girl +bowed down over her father's coffin, their hearts were moved, and first +Tom Tewkesbury stepped out with a sheepish air, and then Garrett, and +then four others. So now we had six fine bearers, and 'twas only women +that could still look hard and scowling, and even they said no word, and +not a boy beat on his pan. + +'Then Mr. Glennie, seeing he was not wanted for bearer, changed to +parson, and strikes up with "I am the resurrection and the life". 'Tis a +great text, John, and though I've heard it scores and scores of times, it +never sounded sweeter than on that day. For 'twas a fine afternoon, and +what with there being no wind, but the sun bright and the sea still and +blue, there was a calm on everything that seemed to say "Rest in Peace, +Rest in Peace". And was not the spring with us, and the whole land +preaching of resurrection, the birds singing, trees and flowers waking +from their winter sleep, and cowslips yellow on the very graves? Then +surely 'tis a fond thing to push our enmities beyond the grave, and +perhaps even _he_ was not so bad as we held him, but might have tricked +himself into thinking he did right to hunt down the contraband. I know +not how it was, but something like this came into my mind, and did +perhaps to others, for we got him under without a sign or word from any +that stood there. There was not one sound heard inside the church or out, +except Mr. Glennie's reading and my amens, and now and then a sob from +the poor child. But when 'twas all over, and the coffin safe lowered, up +she walks to Tom Tewkesbury saying, through her tears, "I thank you, sir, +for your kindness," and holds out her hand. So he took it, looking askew, +and afterwards the five other bearers; and then she walked away by +herself, and no one moved till she had left the churchyard gate, letting +her pass out like a queen.' + +'And so she is a queen,' I said, not being able to keep from speaking, +for very pride to hear how she had borne herself, and because she had +always shown kindness to me. 'So she is, and fairer than any queen to boot.' + +Ratsey gave me a questioning look, and I could see a little smile upon +his face in the firelight. 'Ay, she is fair enough,' said he, as though +reflecting to himself, 'but white and thin. Mayhap she would make a match +for thee--if ye were man and woman, and not boy and girl; if she were not +rich, and thou not poor and an outlaw; and--if she would have thee.' + +It vexed me to hear his banter, and to think how I had let my secret out, +so I did not answer, and we sat by the embers for a while without +speaking, while the wind still blew through the cave like a funnel. + +Ratsey spoke first. 'John, pass me the flask; I can hear voices mounting +the cliff of those poor souls of the _Florida_.' + +With that he took another heavy pull, and flung a log on the fire, till +sparks flew about as in a smithy, and the flame that had slumbered woke +again and leapt out white, blue, and green from the salt wood. Now, as +the light danced and flickered I saw a piece of parchment lying at +Ratsey's feet: and this was none other than the writing out of +Blackbeard's locket, which I had been reading when I first heard +footsteps in the passage, and had dropped in my alarm of hostile +visitors. Ratsey saw it too, and stretched out his hand to pick it up. I +would have concealed it if I could, because I had never told him how I +had rifled Blackbeard's coffin, and did not want to be questioned as to +how I had come by the writing. But to try to stop him getting hold of it +would only have spurred his curiosity, and so I said nothing when he took +it in his hands. + +'What is this, son?' asked he. + +'It is only Scripture verses,' I answered, 'which I got some time ago. +'Tis said they are a spell against Spirits of Evil, and I was reading +them to keep off the loneliness of this place, when you came in and made +me drop them.' + +I was afraid lest he should ask whence I had got them, but he did not, +thinking perhaps that my aunt had given them to me. The heat of the +flames had curled the parchment a little, and he spread it out on his +knee, conning it in the firelight. + +''Tis well written,' he said, 'and good verses enough, but he who put +them together for a spell knew little how to keep off evil spirits, for +this would not keep a flea from a black cat. I could do ten times better +myself, being not without some little understanding of such things,' and +he nodded seriously; 'and though I never yet met any from the other +world, they would not take me unprepared if they should come. For I have +spent half my life in graveyard or church, and 'twould be as foolish to +move about such places and have no words to meet an evil visitor withal, +as to bear money on a lonely road without a pistol. So one day, after +Parson Glennie had preached from Habakkuk, how that "the vision is for an +appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie: though it +tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry", I +talked with him on these matters, and got from him three or four rousing +texts such as spectres fear more than a burned child does the fire. I +will learn them all to thee some day, but for the moment take this Latin +which I got by heart: "_Abite a me in ignem etenum qui paratus est +diabolo at angelis ejus."_ Englished it means: "Depart from me into +eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels," but hath at least +double that power in Latin. So get that after me by heart, and use it +freely if thou art led to think that there are evil presences near, and +in such lonely places as this cave.' I humoured him by doing as he +desired; and that the rather because I hoped his thoughts would thus be +turned away from the writing; but as soon as I had the spell by rote he +turned back to the parchment, saying, 'He was but a poor divine who wrote +this, for beside choosing ill-fitting verses, he cannot even give right +numbers to them. For see here, "The days of our age are three-score years +and ten; and though men be so strong that they come to four-score years, +yet is their strength then but labour and sorrow, so soon passeth it away +and we are gone", and he writes Psalm 90,21. Now I have said that Psalm +with parson verse and verse about for every sleeper we have laid to rest +in churchyard mould for thirty years; and know it hath not twenty verses +in it, all told, and this same verse is the clerk's verse and cometh +tenth, and yet he calls it twenty-first. I wish I had here a Common +Prayer, and I would prove my words.' + +He stopped and flung me back the parchment scornfully; but I folded it +and slipped it in my pocket, brooding all the while over a strange +thought that his last words had brought to me. Nor did I tell him that I +had by me my aunt's prayer-book, wishing to examine for myself more +closely whether he was right, after he should have gone. + +'I must be away,' he said at last, 'though loath to leave this good fire +and liquor. I would fain wait till Elzevir was back, and fainer till this +gale was spent, but it may not be; the nights are short, and I must be +out of Purbeck before sunrise. So tell Block what I say, that he and thou +must flit; and pass the flask, for I have fifteen miles to walk against +the wind, and must keep off these midnight chills.' + +He drank again, and then rose to his feet, shaking himself like a dog; +and walking briskly across the cave twice or thrice to make sure, as I +thought, that the Ararat milk had not confused his steps. Then he shook +my hand warmly, and disappeared in the deep shadow of the passage-mouth. + +The wind was blowing more fitfully than before, and there was some sign +of a lull between the gusts. I stood at the opening of the passage, and +listened till the echo of Ratsey's footsteps died away, and then +returning to the corner, flung more wood on the fire, and lit the candle. +After that I took out again the parchment, and also my aunt's red +prayer-book, and sat down to study them. First I looked out in the book +that text about the 'days of our life', and found that it was indeed in +the ninetieth Psalm, but the tenth verse, just as Ratsey said, and not +the twenty-first as it was writ on the parchment. And then I took the +second text, and here again the Psalm was given correct, but the verse +was two, and not six, as my scribe had it. It was just the same with the +other three--the number of the Psalm was right but the verse wrong. So +here was a discovery, for all was painfully written smooth and clean +without a blot, and yet in every verse an error. But if the second number +did not stand for the verse, what else should it mean? I had scarce +formed the question to myself before I had the answer, and knew that it +must be the number of the word chosen in each text to make a secret +meaning. I was in as great a fever and excitement now as when I found the +locket in the Mohune vault, and could scarce count with trembling fingers +as far as twenty-one, in the first verse, for hurry and amaze. It was +'fourscore' that the number fell on in the first text, 'feet' in the +second, 'deep' in the third, 'well' in the fourth, 'north' in the fifth. + +Fourscore--feet--deep--well--north. + +There was the cipher read, and what an easy trick! and yet I had not +lighted on it all this while, nor ever should have, but for Sexton Ratsey +and his burial verse. It was a cunning plan of Blackbeard; but other folk +were quite as cunning as he, and here was all his treasure at our feet. I +chuckled over that to myself, rubbing my hands, and read it through +again: + +Fourscore--feet--deep--well--north. + +'Twas all so simple, and the word in the fourth verse 'well' and not +'vale' or 'pool' as I had stuck at so often in trying to unriddle it. How +was it I had not guessed as much before? and here was something to tell +Elzevir when he came back, that the clue was found to the cipher, and the +secret out. I would not reveal it all at once, but tease him by making +him guess, and at last tell him everything, and we would set to work at +once to make ourselves rich men. And then I thought once more of Grace, +and how the laugh would be on my side now, for all Master Ratsey's banter +about her being rich and me being poor! + +Fourscore--feet--deep--well--north. + +I read it again, and somehow it was this time a little less clear, and I +fell to thinking what it was exactly that I should tell Elzevir, and how +we were to get to work to find the treasure. 'Twas hid in a _well_--that +was plain enough, but in what well?--and what did 'north' mean? Was it +the _north well,_ or to _north of the well_--or, was it fourscore feet +_north_ of the _deep well_? I stared at the verses as if the ink would +change colour and show some other sense, and then a veil seemed drawn +across the writing, and the meaning to slip away, and be as far as ever +from my grasp. _Fourscore--feet--deep--well--north_: and by degrees +exulting gladness gave way to bewilderment and disquiet of spirit, and +in the gusts of wind I heard Blackbeard himself laughing and mocking me +for thinking I had found his treasure. Still I read and re-read it, +juggling with the words and turning them about to squeeze new meaning +from them. + +'Fourscore feet deep _in the north well_,'--'fourscore feet deep in the +well _to north_'--'fourscore feet _north of the deep well_,'--so the +words went round and round in my head, till I was tired and giddy, and +fell unawares asleep. + +It was daylight when I awoke, and the wind had fallen, though I could +still hear the thunder of the swell against the rock-face down below. The +fire was yet burning, and by it sat Elzevir, cooking something in the +pot. He looked fresh and keen, like a man risen from a long night's +sleep, rather than one who had spent the hours of darkness in struggling +against a gale, and must afterwards remain watching because, forsooth, +the sentinel sleeps. + +He spoke as soon as he saw that I was awake, laughing and saying: 'How +goes the night, Watchman? This is the second time that I have caught thee +napping, and didst sleep so sound it might have taken a cold pistol's +lips against thy forehead to awake thee.' + +I was too full of my story even to beg his pardon, but began at once to +tell him what had happened; and how, by following the hint that Ratsey +dropped, I had made out, as I thought, a secret meaning in these verses. +Elzevir heard me patiently, and with more show of interest towards the +end; and then took the parchment in his hands, reading it carefully, and +checking the errors of numbering by the help of the red prayer-book. + +'I believe thou art right,' he said at length; 'for why should the +figures all be false if there is no hidden trickery in it? If't had been +one or two were wrong, I would have said some priest had copied them in +error; for priests are thriftless folk, and had as lief set a thing down +wrong as right; but with all wrong there is no room for chance. So if he +means it, let us see what 'tis he means. First he says 'tis in a well. +But what well? and the depth he gives of fourscore feet is over-deep for +any well near Moonfleet.' + +I was for saying it must be the well at the Manor House, but before the +words left my mouth, remembered there was no well at the manor at all, +for the house was watered by a runnel brook that broke out from the woods +above, and jumping down from stone to stone ran through the manor +gardens, and emptied itself into the Fleet below. + +'And now I come to think on it,' Elzevir went on, ''tis more likely that +the well he speaks of was not in these parts at all. For see here, this +Blackbeard was a spendthrift, squandering all he had, and would most +surely have squandered the jewel too, could he have laid his hands on it. +And yet 'tis said he did not, therefore I think he must have stowed it +safe in some place where afterwards he could not get at it. For if't had +been near Moonfleet, he would have had it up a hundred times. But thou +hast often talked of Blackbeard and his end with Parson Glennie; so speak +up, lad, and let us hear all that thou know'st of these tales. Maybe +'twill help us to come to some judgement.' + +So I told him all that Mr. Glennie had told me, how that Colonel John +Mohune, whom men called Blackbeard, was a wastrel from his youth, and +squandered all his substance in riotous living. Thus being at his last +turn, he changed from royalist to rebel, and was set to guard the king in +the castle of Carisbrooke. But there he stooped to a bribe, and took from +his royal prisoner a splendid diamond of the crown to let him go; then, +with the jewel in his pocket, turned traitor again, and showed a file of +soldiers into the room where the king was stuck between the window bars, +escaping. But no one trusted Blackbeard after that, and so he lost his +post, and came back in his age, a broken man, to Moonfleet. There he +rusted out his life, but when he neared his end was filled with fear, and +sent for a clergyman to give him consolation. And 'twas at the parson's +instance that he made a will, and bequeathed the diamond, which was the +only thing he had left, to the Mohune almshouses at Moonfleet. These were +the very houses that he had robbed and let go to ruin, and they never +benefited by his testament, for when it was opened there was the bequest +plain enough, but not a word to say where was the jewel. Some said that +it was all a mockery, and that Blackbeard never had the jewel; others +that the jewel was in his hand when he died, but carried off by some that +stood by. But most thought, and handed down the tale, that being taken +suddenly, he died before he could reveal the safe place of the jewel; and +that in his last throes he struggled hard to speak as if he had some +secret to unburden. + +All this I told Elzevir, and he listened close as though some of it was +new to him. When I was speaking of Blackbeard being at Carisbrooke, he +made a little quick move as though to speak, but did not, waiting till I +had finished the tale. Then he broke out with: 'John, the diamond is yet +at Carisbrooke. I wonder I had not thought of Carisbrooke before you +spoke; and there he can get fourscore feet, and twice and thrice +fourscore, if he list, and none to stop him. 'Tis Carisbrooke. I have +heard of that well from childhood, and once saw it when a boy. It is dug +in the Castle Keep, and goes down fifty fathoms or more into the bowels +of the chalk below. It is so deep no man can draw the buckets on a winch, +but they must have an ass inside a tread-wheel to hoist them up. Now, +why this Colonel John Mohune, whom we call Blackbeard, should have chosen +a well at all to hide his jewel in, I cannot say; but given he chose a +well, 'twas odds he would choose Carisbrooke. 'Tis a known place, and I +have heard that people come as far as from London to see the castle and +this well.' + +He spoke quick and with more fire than I had known him use before, and I +felt he was right. It seemed indeed natural enough that if Blackbeard was +to hide the diamond in a well, it would be in the well of that very +castle where he had earned it so evilly. + +'When he says the "well north",' continued Elzevir, ''tis clear he means +to take a compass and mark north by needle, and at eighty feet in the +well-side below that point will lie the treasure. I fixed yesterday with +the _Bonaventure's_ men that they should lie underneath this ledge +tomorrow sennight, if the sea be smooth, and take us off on the +spring-tide. At midnight is their hour, and I said eight days on, to give +thy leg a week wherewith to strengthen. I thought to make for St. Malo, +and leave thee at the _Éperon d'Or_ with old Chauvelais, where thou +couldst learn to patter French until these evil times have blown by. But +now, if thou art set to hunt this treasure up, and hast a mind to run thy +head into a noose; why, I am not so old but that I too can play the fool, +and we will let St. Malo be, and make for Carisbrooke. I know the castle; +it is not two miles distant from Newport, and at Newport we can lie at +the Bugle, which is an inn addicted to the contraband. The king's writ +runs but lamely in the Channel Isles and Wight, and if we wear some other +kit than this, maybe we shall find Newport as safe as St. Malo.' + +This was just what I wanted, and so we settled there and then that we +would get the _Bonaventure_ to land us in the Isle of Wight instead of at +St. Malo. Since man first walked upon this earth, a tale of buried +treasure must have had a master-power to stir his blood, and mine was +hotly stirred. Even Elzevir, though he did not show it, was moved, I +thought, at heart; and we chafed in our cave prison, and those eight days +went wearily enough. Yet 'twas not time lost, for every day my leg grew +stronger; and like a wolf which I saw once in a cage at Dorchester Fair, +I spent hours in marching round the cave to kill the time and put more +vigour in my steps. Ratsey did not visit us again, but in spite of what +he said, met Elzevir more than once, and got money for him from +Dorchester and many other things he needed. It was after meeting Ratsey +that Elzevir came back one night, bringing a long whip in one hand, and +in the other a bundle which held clothes to mask us in the next scene. +There was a carter's smock for him, white and quilted over with +needlework, such as carters wear on the Down farms, and for me a smaller +one, and hats and leather leggings all to match. We tried them on, and +were for all the world carter and carter's boy; and I laughed long to see +Elzevir stand there and practise how to crack his whip and cry 'Who-ho' +as carters do to horses. And for all he was so grave, there was a smile +on his face too, and he showed me how to twist a wisp of straw out of the +bed to bind above my ankles at the bottom of the leggings. He had cut off +his beard, and yet lost nothing of his looks; for his jaw and deep chin +showed firm and powerful. And as for me, we made a broth of young walnut +leaves and twigs, and tanned my hands and face with it a ruddy brown, so +that I looked a different lad. + + + + +CHAPTER 13 + +AN INTERVIEW + +No human creature stirred to go or come, + No face looked forth from shut or open casement, +No chimney smoked, there was no sign of home + From parapet to basement--_Hood_ + + +And so the days went on, until there came to be but two nights more +before we were to leave our cave. Now I have said that the delay chafed +us, because we were impatient to get at the treasure; but there was +something else that vexed me and made me more unquiet with every day that +passed. And this was that I had resolved to see Grace before I left these +parts, and yet knew not how to tell it to Elzevir. But on this evening, +seeing the time was grown so short, I knew that I must speak or drop my +purpose, and so spoke. + +We were sitting like the sea-birds on the ledge outside our cave, looking +towards St. Alban's Head and watching the last glow of sunset. The +evening vapours began to sweep down Channel, and Elzevir shrugged his +shoulders. 'The night turns chill,' he said, and got up to go back to the +cave. So then I thought my time was come, and following him inside said: + +'Dear Master Elzevir, you have watched over me all this while and tended +me kinder than any father could his son; and 'tis to you I owe my life, +and that my leg is strong again. Yet I am restless this night, and beg +that you will give me leave to climb the shaft and walk abroad. It is two +months and more that I have been in the cave and seen nothing but stone +walls, and I would gladly tread once more upon the Down.' + +'Say not that I have saved thy life,' Elzevir broke in; ''twas I who +brought thy life in danger; and but for me thou mightst even now be +lying snug abed at Moonfleet, instead of hiding in the chambers of these +rocks. So speak not of that, but if thou hast a mind to air thyself an +hour, I see little harm in it. These wayward fancies fall on men as they +get better of sickness; and I must go tonight to that ruined house of +which I spoke to thee, to fetch a pocket compass Master Ratsey was to put +there. So thou canst come with me and smell the night air on the Down.' + +He had agreed more readily than I looked for, and so I pushed the +matter, saying: + +'Nay, master, grant me leave to go yet a little farther afield. You know +that I was born in Moonfleet, and have been bred there all my life, and +love the trees and stream and very stones of it. And I have set my heart +on seeing it once more before we leave these parts for good and all. So +give me leave to walk along the Down and look on Moonfleet but this once, +and in this ploughboy guise I shall be safe enough, and will come back to +you tomorrow night' + +He looked at me a moment without speaking; and all the while I felt he +saw me through and through, and yet he was not angry. But I turned red, +and cast my eyes upon the ground, and then he spoke: + +'Lad, I have known men risk their lives for many things: for gold, and +love, and hate; but never one would play with death that he might see a +tree or stream or stones. And when men say they love a place or town, +thou mayst be sure 'tis not the place they love but some that live there; +or that they loved some in the past, and so would see the spot again to +kindle memory withal. Thus when thou speakest of Moonfleet, I may guess +that thou hast someone there to see--or hope to see. It cannot be thine +aunt, for there is no love lost between ye; and besides, no man ever +perilled his life to bid adieu to an aunt. So have no secrets from me, +John, but tell me straight, and I will judge whether this second +treasure that thou seekest is true gold enough to fling thy life into the +scale against it.' + +Then I told him all, keeping nothing back, but trying to make him see +that there was little danger in my visiting Moonfleet, for none would +know me in a carter's dress, and that my knowledge of the place would let +me use a hedge or wall or wood for cover; and finally, if I were seen, my +leg was now sound, and there were few could beat me in a running match +upon the Down. So I talked on, not so much in the hope of convincing him +as to keep saying something; for I durst not look up, and feared to hear +an angry word from him when I should stop. But at last I had spoken all I +could, and ceased because I had no more. Yet he did not break out as I +had thought, but there was silence; and after a moment I looked up, and +saw by his face that his thoughts were wandering. When he spoke there was +no anger in his voice, but only something sad. + +'Thou art a foolish lad,' he said. 'Yet I was young once myself, and my +ways have been too dark to make me wish to darken others, or try to chill +young blood. Now thine own life has got a shadow on't already that I have +helped to cast, so take the brightness of it while thou mayst, and get +thee gone. But for this girl, I know her for a comely lass and +good-hearted, and have wondered often how she came to have _him_ for her +father. I am glad now I have not his blood on my hands; and never would +have gone to take it then, for all the evil he had brought on me, but +that the lives of every mother's son hung on his life. So make thy mind +at ease, and get thee gone and see these streams and trees and stones +thou talkest of. Yet if thou'rt shot upon the Down, or taken off to jail, +blame thine own folly and not me. And I will walk with thee to Purbeck +Gates tonight, and then come back and wait. But if thou art not here +again by midnight tomorrow, I shall believe that thou art taken in some +snare, and come out to seek thee.' + +I took his hand, and thanked him with what words I could that he had let +me go, and then got on the smock, putting some bread and meat in my +pockets, as I was likely to find little to eat on my journey. It was +dark before we left the cave, for there is little dusk with us, and the +division between day and night sharper than in more northern parts. +Elzevir took me by the hand and led me through the darkness of the +workings, telling me where I should stoop, and when the way was uneven. +Thus we came to the bottom of the shaft, and looking up through ferns +and brambles, I could see the deep blue of the sky overhead, and a great +star gazing down full at us. We climbed the steps with the soap-stone +slide at one side, and then walked on briskly over the springy turf +through the hillocks of the covered quarry-heaps and the ruins of the +deserted cottages. + +There was a heavy dew which got through my boots before we had gone half +a mile, and though there was no moon, the sky was very clear, and I could +see the veil of gossamers spread silvery white over the grass. Neither of +us spoke, partly because it was safer not to speak, for the voice carries +far in a still night on the Downs; and partly, I think, because the +beauty of the starry heaven had taken hold upon us both, ruling our +hearts with thoughts too big for words. We soon reached that ruined +cottage of which Elzevir had spoken, and in what had once been an oven, +found the compass safe enough as Ratsey had promised. Then on again over +the solitary hills, not speaking ourselves, and neither seeing light in +window nor hearing dog stir, until we reached that strange defile which +men call the Gates of Purbeck. Here is a natural road nicking the +highest summit of the hill, with walls as sharp as if the hand of man had +cut them, through which have walked for ages all the few travellers in +this lonely place, shepherds and sailors, soldiers and Excisemen. And +although, as I suppose, no carts have been through it for centuries, +there are ruts in the chalk floor as wide and deep as if the cars of +giants used it in past times. + +So here Elzevir stopped, and drawing from his bosom that silver-butted +pistol of which I have spoken, thrust it in my hand. 'Here, take it, +child,' he said, 'but use it not till thou art closely pressed, and then +if thou _must_ shoot, shoot low--it flings.' I took it and gripped his +hand, and so we parted, he going back to Purbeck, and I making along the +top of the ridge at the back of Hoar Head. It must have been near three +when I reached a great grass-grown mound called Culliford Tree, that +marks the resting-place of some old warrior of the past. The top is +planted with a clump of trees that cut the skyline, and there I sat +awhile to rest. But not for long, for looking back towards Purbeck, I +could see the faint hint of dawn low on the sea-line behind St. Alban's +Head, and so pressed forward knowing I had a full ten miles to cover yet. + +Thus I travelled on, and soon came to the first sign of man, namely a +flock of lambs being fed with turnips on a summer fallow. The sun was +well up now, and flushed all with a rosy glow, showing the sheep and the +roots they eat white against the brown earth. Still I saw no shepherd, +nor even dog, and about seven o'clock stood safe on Weatherbeech Hill +that looks down over Moonfleet. + +There at my feet lay the Manor woods and the old house, and lower down +the white road and the straggling cottages, and farther still the Why +Not? and the glassy Fleet, and beyond that the open sea. I cannot say +how sad, yet sweet, the sight was: it seemed like the mirage of the +desert, of which I had been told--so beautiful, but never to be reached +again by me. The air was still, and the blue smoke of the morning +wood-fires rose straight up, but none from the Why Not? or Manor House. +The sun was already very hot, and I dropped at once from the hill-top, +digging my heels into the brown-burned turf, and keeping as much as might +be among the furze champs. So I was soon in the wood, and made straight +for the little dell and lay down there, burying myself in the wild +rhubarb and burdocks, yet so that I could see the doorway of the Manor +House over the lip of the hill. + +Then I reflected what I was to do, or how I should get to speak with +Grace: and thought I would first wait an hour or two, and see whether she +came out, and afterwards, if she did not, would go down boldly and knock +at the door. This seemed not very dangerous, for it was likely, from what +Ratsey had said, that there was no one with her in the house, and if +there was it would be but an old woman, to whom I could pass as a +stranger in my disguise, and ask my way to some house in the village. So +I lay still and munched a piece of bread, and heard the clock in the +church tower strike eight and afterwards nine, but saw no one move in the +house. The wood was all alive with singing-birds, and with the calling of +cuckoo and wood-pigeon. There were deep patches of green shade and +lighter patches of yellow sunlight, in which the iris leaves gleamed with +a sheeny white, and a shimmering blue sea of ground-ivy spread all +through the wood. It struck ten, and as the heat increased the birds sang +less and the droning of the bees grew more distinct, and at last I got +up, shook myself, smoothed my smock, and making a turn, came out on the +road that led to the house. + +Though my disguise was good, I fear I made but an indifferent bad +ploughboy when walking, and found a difficulty in dealing with my hands, +not knowing how ploughboys are wont to carry them. So I came round in +front of the house, and gave a rat-tat on the door, while my pulse beat +as loud inside of me as ever did the knocker without. The sound ran round +the building, and backwards among the walks, and all was silent as +before. I waited a minute, and was for knocking again, thinking there +might be no one in the house, and then heard a light footstep coming +along the corridor, yet durst not look through the window to see who it +was in passing, as I might have done, but kept myself close to the door. + +The bolts were being drawn, and a girl's voice asked, 'Who is there?' I +gave a jump to hear that voice, knowing it well for Grace's, and had a +mind to shout out my name. But then I remembered there might be some in +the house with her besides, and that I must remain disguised. Moreover, +laughing is so mixed with crying in our world, and trifling things with +serious, that even in this pass I believe I was secretly pleased to have +to play a trick on her, and test whether she would find me out in this +dress or not. So I spoke out in our round Dorset speech, such as they +talk it out in the vale, saying, 'A poor boy who is out of his way.' + +Then she opened one leaf of the door, and asked me whither I would go, +looking at me as one might at a stranger and not knowing who it was. + +I answered that I was a farm lad who had walked from Purbeck, and sought +an inn called the Why Not? kept by one Master Block. When she heard that, +she gave a little start, and looked me over again, yet could make nothing +of it, but said: + +'Good lad, if you will step on to this terrace I can show you the Why +Not? inn, but 'tis shut these two months or more, and Master Block away.' + +With that she turned towards the terrace, I following, but when we +were outside of ear-shot from the door, I spoke in my own voice, +quick but low: + +'Grace, it is I, John Trenchard, who am come to say goodbye before I +leave these parts, and have much to tell that you would wish to hear. Are +there any beside in the house with you?' + +Now many girls who had suffered as she had, and were thus surprised, +would have screamed, or perhaps swooned, but she did neither, only +flushing a little and saying, also quick and low, 'Let us go back to the +house; I am alone.' + +So we went back, and after the door was bolted, took both hands and stood +up face to face in the passage looking into one another's eyes. I was +tired with a long walk and sleepless night, and so full of joy to see her +again that my head swam and all seemed a sweet dream. Then she squeezed +my hands, and I knew 'twas real, and was for kissing her for very love; +but she guessed what I would be at, perhaps, and cast my hands loose, +drawing back a little, as if to see me better, and saying, 'John, you +have grown a man in these two months.' So I did not kiss her. + +But if it was true that I was grown a man, it was truer still that she +was grown a woman, and as tall as I. And these recent sufferings had +taken from her something of light and frolic girlhood, and left her with +a manner more staid and sober. She was dressed in black, with longer +skirts, and her hair caught up behind; and perhaps it was the mourning +frock that made her look pale and thin, as Ratsey said. So while I looked +at her, she looked at me, and could not choose but smile to see my +carter's smock; and as for my brown face and hands, thought I had been +hiding in some country underneath the sun, until I told her of the +walnut-juice. Then before we fell to talking, she said it was better we +should sit in the garden, for that a woman might come in to help her with +the house, and anyway it was safer, so that I might get out at the back +in case of need. So she led the way down the corridor and through the +living-part of the house, and we passed several rooms, and one little +parlour lined with shelves and musty books. The blinds were pulled, but +let enough light in to show a high-backed horsehair chair that stood at +the table. In front of it lay an open volume, and a pair of horn-rimmed +spectacles, that I had often seen on Maskew's nose; so I knew it was his +study, and that nothing had been moved since last he sat there. Even now +I trembled to think in whose house I was, and half-expected the old +attorney to step in and hale me off to jail; till I remembered how all my +trouble had come about, and how I last had seen him with his face turned +up against the morning sun. + +Thus we came to the garden, where I had never been before. It was a great +square, shut in with a brick wall of twelve or fifteen feet, big enough +to suit a palace, but then ill kept and sorely overgrown. I could spend +long in speaking of that plot; how the flowers, and fruit-trees, +pot-herbs, spice, and simples ran all wild and intermixed. The pink brick +walls caught every ray of sun that fell, and that morning there was a +hushed, close heat in it, and a warm breath rose from the strawberry +beds, for they were then in full bearing. I was glad enough to get out of +the sun when Grace led the way into a walk of medlar-trees and quinces, +where the boughs interlaced and formed an alley to a brick summer-house. +This summer-house stands in the angle of the south wall, and by it two +fig-trees, whose tops you can see from the outside. They are well known +for the biggest and the earliest bearing of all that part, and Grace +showed me how, if danger threatened, I might climb up their boughs and +scale the wall. + +We sat in the summer-house, and I told her all that had happened at her +father's death, only concealing that Elzevir had meant to do the deed +himself; because it was no use to tell her that, and besides, for all I +knew, he never did mean to shoot, but only to frighten. + +She wept again while I spoke, but afterwards dried her tears, and must +needs look at my leg to see the bullet-wound, and if it was all +soundly healed. + +Then I told her of the secret sense that Master Ratsey's words put into +the texts written on the parchment. I had showed her the locket before, +but we had it out again now; and she read and read again the writing, +while I pointed out how the words fell, and told her I was going away to +get the diamond and come back the richest man in all the countryside. + +Then she said, 'Ah, John! set not your heart too much upon this diamond. +If what they say is true, 'twas evilly come by, and will bring evil with +it. Even this wicked man durst not spend it for himself, but meant to +give it to the poor; so, if indeed you ever find it, keep it not for +yourself, but set his soul at rest by doing with it what he meant to do, +or it will bring a curse upon you.' + +I only smiled at what she said, taking it to be a girlish fancy, and did +not tell her why I wanted so much to be rich--namely, to marry her one +day. Then, having talked long about my own concerns as selfishly as a man +always does, I thought to ask after herself, and what she was going to +do. She told me that a month past lawyers had come to Moonfleet, and +pressed her to leave the place, and they would give her in charge to a +lady in London, because, said they, her father had died without a will, +and so she must be made a ward of Chancery. But she had begged them to +let her be, for she could never live anywhere else than in Moonfleet, +and that the air and commodity of the place suited her well. So they went +off, saying that they must take direction of the Court to know whether +she might stay here or not, and here she yet was. This made me sad, for +all I knew of Chancery was that whatever it put hand on fell to ruin, as +witness the Chancery Mills at Cerne, or the Chancery Wharf at Wareham; +and certainly it would take little enough to ruin the Manor House, for it +was three parts in decay already. + +Thus we talked, and after that she put on a calico bonnet and picked me a +dish of strawberries, staying to pull the finest, although the sun was +beating down from mid-heaven, and brought me bread and meat from the +house. Then she rolled up a shawl to make me a pillow, and bade me lie +down on the seat that ran round the summer-house and get to sleep, for I +had told her that I had walked all night, and must be back again at the +cave come midnight She went back to the house, and that was the most +sweet and peaceful sleep that ever I knew, for I was very tired, and had +this thought to soothe me as I fell asleep--that I had seen Grace, and +that she was so kind to me. + +She was sitting beside me when I awoke and knitting a piece of work. The +heat of the day was somewhat less, and she told me that it was past five +o'clock by the sun-dial; so I knew that I must go. She made me take a +packet of victuals and a bottle of milk, and as she put it into my +pocket the bottle struck on the butt of Maskew's pistol, which I had in +my bosom. 'What have you there?' she said; but I did not tell her, +fearing to call up bitter memories. + +We stood hand in hand again, as we had done in the morning, and she said: +'John, you will wander on the sea, and may perhaps put into Moonfleet. +Though you have not been here of late, I have kept a candle burning at +the window every night, as in the past. So, if you come to beach on any +night you will see that light, and know Grace remembers you. And if you +see it not, then know that I am dead or gone, for I will think of you +every night till you come back again.' I had nothing to say, for my heart +was too full with her sweet words and with the sorrow of parting, but +only drew her close to me and kissed her; and this time she did not step +back, but kissed me again. + +Then I climbed up the fig-tree, thinking it safer so to get out over the +wall than to go back to the front of the house, and as I sat on the wall +ready to drop the other side, turned to her and said good-bye. + +'Good-bye,' cried she; 'and have a care how you touch the treasure; it +was evilly come by, and will bring a curse with it.' + +'Good-bye, good-bye,' I said, and dropped on to the soft leafy bottom +of the wood. + + + + +CHAPTER 14 + +THE WELL-HOUSE + +For those thou mayest not look upon +Are gathering fast round the yawning stone--_Scott_ + + +It wanted yet half an hour of midnight when I found myself at the shaft +of the marble quarry, and before I had well set foot on the steps to +descend, heard Elzevir's voice challenging out of the darkness below. I +gave back '_Prosper the Bonaventure',_ and so came home again to sleep +the last time in our cave. + +The next night was well suited to flight. There was a spring-tide with +full moon, and a light breeze setting off the land which left the water +smooth under the cliff. We saw the _Bonaventure_ cruising in the Channel +before sundown, and after the darkness fell she lay close in and took us +off in her boat. There were several men on board of her that I knew, and +they greeted us kindly, and made much of us. I was indeed glad to be +among them again, and yet felt a pang at leaving our dear Dorset coast, +and the old cave that had been hospital and home to me for two months. + +The wind set us up-Channel, and by daybreak they put us ashore at Cowes, +so we walked to Newport and came there before many were stirring. Such as +we saw in the street paid no heed to us but took us doubtless for some +carter and his boy who had brought corn in from the country for the +Southampton packet, and were about early to lead the team home again. +'Tis a little place enough this Newport, and we soon found the Bugle; but +Elzevir made so good a carter that the landlord did not know him, though +he had his acquaintance before. So they fenced a little with one another. + +'Have you bed and victuals for a plain country man and his boy?' +says Elzevir. + +'Nay, that I have not,' says the landlord, looking him up and down, and +not liking to take in strangers who might use their eyes inside, and +perhaps get on the trail of the Contraband. ''Tis near the Summer +Statute and the place over full already. I cannot move my gentlemen, +and would bid you try the Wheatsheaf, which is a good house, and not so +full as this.' + +'Ay, 'tis a busy time, and 'tis these fairs that make things _prosper_,' +and Elzevir marked the last word a little as he said it. + +The man looked harder at him, and asked, 'Prosper what?' as if he were +hard of hearing. + +'_Prosper the Bonaventure_,' was the answer, and then the landlord caught +Elzevir by the hand, shaking it hard and saying, 'Why, you are Master +Block, and I expecting you this morn, and never knew you.' He laughed as +he stared at us again, and Elzevir smiled too. Then the landlord led us +in. 'And this is?' he said, looking at me. + +'This is a well-licked whelp,' replied Elzevir, 'who got a bullet in the +leg two months ago in that touch under Hoar Head; and is worth more than +he looks, for they have put twenty golden guineas on his head--so have a +care of such a precious top-knot.' + +So long as we stopped at the Bugle we had the best of lodging and the +choicest meat and drink, and all the while the landlord treated Elzevir +as though he were a prince. And so he was indeed a prince among the +contrabandiers, and held, as I found out long afterwards, for captain of +all landers between Start and Solent. At first the landlord would take no +money of us, saying that he was in our debt, and had received many a good +turn from Master Block in the past, but Elzevir had got gold from +Dorchester before we left the cave and forced him to take payment. I was +glad enough to lie between clean sweet sheets at night instead of on a +heap of sand, and sit once more knife and fork in hand before a +well-filled trencher. 'Twas thought best I should show myself as little +as possible, so I was content to pass my time in a room at the back of +the house whilst Elzevir went abroad to make inquiries how we could find +entrance to the Castle at Carisbrooke. Nor did the time hang heavy on my +hands, for I found some old books in the Bugle, and among them several to +my taste, especially a _History of Corfe Castle_, which set forth how +there was a secret passage from the ruins to some of the old marble +quarries, and perhaps to that very one that sheltered us. + +Elzevir was out most of the day, so that I saw him only at breakfast and +supper. He had been several times to Carisbrooke, and told me that the +Castle was used as a jail for persons taken in the wars, and was now full +of French prisoners. He had met several of the turnkeys or jailers, +drinking with them in the inns there, and making out that he was himself +a carter, who waited at Newport till a wind-bound ship should bring +grindstones from Lyme Regis. Thus he was able at last to enter the Castle +and to see well-house and well, and spent some days in trying to devise a +plan whereby we might get at the well without making the man who had +charge of it privy to our full design; but in this did not succeed. + +There is a slip of garden at the back of the Bugle, which runs down to a +little stream, and one evening when I was taking the air there after +dark, Elzevir returned and said the time was come for us to put +Blackbeard's cipher to the proof. + +'I have tried every way,' he said, 'to see if we could work this +secretly; but 'tis not to be done without the privity of the man who +keeps the well, and even with his help it is not easy. He is a man I do +not trust, but have been forced to tell him there is treasure hidden in +the well, yet without saying where it lies or how to get it. He promises +to let us search the well, taking one-third the value of all we find, for +his share; for I said not that thou and I were one at heart, but only +that there was a boy who had the key, and claimed an equal third with +both of us. Tomorrow we must be up betimes, and at the Castle gates by +six o'clock for him to let us in. And thou shalt not be carter any more, +but mason's boy, and I a mason, for I have got coats in the house, +brushes and trowels and lime-bucket, and we are going to Carisbrooke to +plaster up a weak patch in this same well-side.' + +Elzevir had thought carefully over this plan, and when we left the Bugle +next morning we were better masons in our splashed clothes than ever we +had been farm servants. I carried a bucket and a brush, and Elzevir a +plasterer's hammer and a coil of stout twine over his arm. It was a wet +morning, and had been raining all night. The sky was stagnant, and +one-coloured without wind, and the heavy drops fell straight down out of +a grey veil that covered everything. The air struck cold when we first +came out, but trudging over the heavy road soon made us remember that it +was July, and we were very hot and soaking wet when we stood at the +gateway of Carisbrooke Castle. Here are two flanking towers and a stout +gate-house reached by a stone bridge crossing the moat; and when I saw it +I remembered that 'twas here Colonel Mohune had earned the wages of his +unrighteousness, and thought how many times he must have passed these +gates. Elzevir knocked as one that had a right, and we were evidently +expected, for a wicket in the heavy door was opened at once. The man who +let us in was tall and stout, but had a puffy face, and too much flesh on +him to be very strong, though he was not, I think, more than thirty years +of age. He gave Elzevir a smile, and passed the time of day civilly +enough, nodding also to me; but I did not like his oily black hair, and a +shifty eye that turned away uneasily when one met it. + +'Good-morning, Master Well-wright,' he said to Elzevir. 'You have brought +ugly weather with you, and are drowning wet; will you take a sup of ale +before you get to work?' + +Elzevir thanked him kindly but would not drink, so the man led on and we +followed him. We crossed a bailey or outer court where the rain had made +the gravel very miry, and came on the other side to a door which led by +steps into a large hall. This building had once been a banquet-room, I +think, for there was an inscription over it very plain in lead: _He led +me into his banquet hall, and his banner over me was love_. + +I had time to read this while the turnkey unlocked the door with one of a +heavy bunch of keys that he carried at his girdle. But when we entered, +what a disappointment!--for there were no banquets now, no banners, no +love, but the whole place gutted and turned into a barrack for French +prisoners. The air was very close, as where men had slept all night, and +a thick steam on the windows. Most of the prisoners were still asleep, +and lay stretched out on straw palliasses round the walls, but some were +sitting up and making models of ships out of fish-bones, or building up +crucifixes inside bottles, as sailors love to do in their spare time. +They paid little heed to us as we passed, though the sleepy guards, who +were lounging on their matchlocks, nodded to our conductor, and thus we +went right through that evil-smelling white-washed room. We left it at +the other end, went down three steps into the open air again, crossed +another small court, and so came to a square building of stone with a +high roof like the large dovecots that you may see in old stackyards. + +Here our guide took another key, and, while the door was being opened, +Elzevir whispered to me, 'It is the well-house,' and my pulse beat quick +to think we were so near our goal. + +The building was open to the roof, and the first thing to be seen in it +was that tread-wheel of which Elzevir had spoken. It was a great open +wheel of wood, ten or twelve feet across, and very like a mill-wheel, +only the space between the rims was boarded flat, but had treads nailed +on it to give foothold to a donkey. The patient beast was lying loose +stabled on some straw in a corner of the room, and, as soon as we came +in, stood up and stretched himself, knowing that the day's work was to +begin. 'He was here long before my time,' the turnkey said, 'and knows +the place so well that he goes into the wheel and sets to work by +himself.' At the side of the wheel was the well-mouth, a dark, round +opening with a low parapet round it, rising two feet from the floor. + +We were so near our goal. Yet, were we near it at all? How did we know +Mohune had meant to tell the place of hiding for the diamond in those +words. They might have meant a dozen things beside. And if it was of the +diamond they spoke, then how did we know the well was this one? there +were a hundred wells beside. These thoughts came to me, making hope less +sure; and perhaps it was the steamy overcast morning and the rain, or a +scant breakfast, that beat my spirit down--for I have known men's mood +change much with weather and with food; but sure it was that now we stood +so near to put it to the touch, I liked our business less and less. + +As soon as we were entered the turnkey locked the door from the inside, +and when he let the key drop to its place, and it jangled with the others +on his belt, it seemed to me he had us as his prisoners in a trap. I +tried to catch his eye to see if it looked bad or good, but could not, +for he kept his shifty face turned always somewhere else; and then it +came to my mind that if the treasure was really fraught with evil, this +coarse dark-haired man, who could not look one straight, was to become a +minister of ruin to bring the curse home to us. + +But if I was weak and timid Elzevir had no misgivings. He had taken the +coil of twine off his arm and was undoing it. 'We will let an end of this +down the well,' he said, 'and I have made a knot in it at eighty feet. +This lad thinks the treasure is in the well wall, eighty feet below us, +so when the knot is on well lip we shall know we have the right depth.' I +tried again to see what look the turnkey wore when he heard where the +treasure was, but could not, and so fell to examining the well. + +A spindle ran from the axle of the wheel across the well, and on the +spindle was a drum to take the rope. There was some clutch or fastening +which could be fixed or loosed at will to make the drum turn with the +tread-wheel, or let it run free, and a footbreak to lower the bucket fast +or slow, or stop it altogether. + +'I will get into the bucket,' Elzevir said, turning to me, 'and this +good man will lower me gently by the break until I reach the string-end +down below. Then I will shout, and so fix you the wheel and give me time +to search.' + +This was not what I looked for, having thought that it was I should go; +and though I liked going down the well little enough, yet somehow now I +felt I would rather do that than have Master Elzevir down the hole, and +me left locked alone with this villainous fellow up above. + +So I said, 'No, master, that cannot be; 'tis my place to go, being +smaller and a lighter weight than thou; and thou shalt stop here and help +this gentleman to lower me down.' + +Elzevir spoke a few words to try to change my purpose, but soon gave in, +knowing it was certainly the better plan, and having only thought to go +himself because he doubted if I had the heart to do it. But the turnkey +showed much ill-humour at the change, and strove to let the plan stand as +it was, and for Elzevir to go down the well. Things that were settled, he +said, should remain settled; he was not one for changes; it was a man's +task this and no child's play; a boy would not have his senses about him, +and might overlook the place. I fixed my eyes on Elzevir to let him know +what I thought, and Master Turnkey's words fell lightly on his ears as +water on a duck's back. Then this ill-eyed man tried to work upon my +fears; saying that the well is deep and the bucket small, I shall get +giddy and be overbalanced. I do not say that these forebodings were +without effect on me, but I had made up my mind that, bad as it might be +to go down, it was yet worse to have Master Elzevir prisoned in the well, +and I remain above. Thus the turnkey perceived at last that he was +speaking to deaf ears, and turned to the business. + +Yet there was one fear that still held me, for thinking of what I had +heard of the quarry shafts in Purbeck, how men had gone down to explore, +and there been taken with a sudden giddiness, and never lived to tell +what they had seen; and so I said to Master Elzevir, 'Art sure the well +is clean, and that no deadly gases lurk below?' + +'Thou mayst be sure I knew the well was sweet before I let thee talk of +going down,' he answered. 'For yesterday we lowered a candle to the +water, and the flame burned bright and steady; and where the candle +lives, there man lives too. But thou art right: these gases change from +day to day, and we will try the thing again. So bring the candle, +Master Jailer.' + +The jailer brought a candle fixed on a wooden triangle, which he was wont +to show strangers who came to see the well, and lowered it on a string. +It was not till then I knew what a task I had before me, for looking over +the parapet, and taking care not to lose my balance, because the parapet +was low, and the floor round it green and slippery with water-splashings, +I watched the candle sink into that cavernous depth, and from a bright +flame turn into a little twinkling star, and then to a mere point of +light. At last it rested on the water, and there was a shimmer where the +wood frame had set ripples moving. We watched it twinkle for a little +while, and the jailer raised the candle from the water, and dropped down +a stone from some he kept there for that purpose. This stone struck the +wall half-way down, and went from side to side, crashing and whirring +till it met the water with a booming plunge; and there rose a groan and +moan from the eddies, like those dreadful sounds of the surge that I +heard on lonely nights in the sea-caverns underneath our hiding-place in +Purbeck. The jailer looked at me then for the first time, and his eyes +had an ugly meaning, as if he said, 'There--that is how you will sound +when you fall from your perch.' But it was no use to frighten, for I had +made up my mind. + +They pulled the candle up forthwith and put it in my hand, and I flung +the plasterer's hammer into the bucket, where it hung above the well, and +then got in myself. The turnkey stood at the break-wheel, and Elzevir +leant over the parapet to steady the rope. 'Art sure that thou canst do +it, lad?' he said, speaking low, and put his hand kindly on my shoulder. +'Are head and heart sure? Thou art my diamond, and I would rather lose +all other diamonds in the world than aught should come to thee. So, if +thou doubtest, let me go, or let not any go at all.' + +'Never doubt, master,' I said, touched by tenderness, and wrung his +hand. 'My head is sure; I have no broken leg to turn it silly +now'--for I guessed he was thinking of Hoar Head and how I had gone +giddy on the Zigzag. + + + + +CHAPTER 15 + +THE WELL + +The grave doth gape and doting death is near--_Shakespeare_ + + +The bucket was large, for all that the turnkey had tried to frighten me +into think it small, and I could crouch in it low enough to feel safe of +not falling out. Moreover, such a venture was not entirely new to me, for +I had once been over Gad Cliff in a basket, to get two peregrines' eggs; +yet none the less I felt ill at ease and fearful, when the bucket began +to sink into that dreadful depth, and the air to grow chilly as I went +down. They lowered me gently enough, so that I was able to take stock of +the way the wall was made, and found that for the most part it was cut +through solid chalk; but here and there, where the chalk failed or was +broken away, they had lined the walls with brick, patching them now on +this side, now on that, and now all round. By degrees the light, which +was dim even overground that rainy day, died out in the well, till all +was black as night but for my candle, and far overhead I could see the +well-mouth, white and round like a lustreless full-moon. + +I kept an eye all the time on Elzevir's cord that hung down the +well-side, and when I saw it was coming to a finish, shouted to them to +stop, and they brought the bucket up near level with the end of it, so I +knew I was about eighty feet deep. Then I raised myself, standing up in +the bucket and holding by the rope, and began to look round, knowing not +all the while what I looked for, but thinking to see a hole in the wall, +or perhaps the diamond itself shining out of a cranny. But I could +perceive nothing; and what made it more difficult was, that the walls +here were lined completely with small flat bricks, and looked much the +same all round. I examined these bricks as closely as I might, and took +course by course, looking first at the north side where the plumb-line +hung, and afterwards turning round in the bucket till I was afraid of +getting giddy; but to little purpose. They could see my candle moving +round and round from the well-top, and knew no doubt what I was at, but +Master Turnkey grew impatient, and shouted down, 'What are you doing? +have you found nothing? can you see no treasure?' + +'No,' I called back, 'I can see nothing,' and then, 'Are you sure, Master +Block, that you have measured the plummet true to eighty feet?' + +I heard them talking together, but could not make out what they said, for +the bim-bom and echo in the well, till Elzevir shouted again, 'They say +this floor has been raised; you must try lower.' + +Then the bucket began to move lower, slowly, and I crouched down in it +again, not wishing to look too much into the unfathomable, dark abyss +below. And all the while there rose groanings and moanings from eddies in +the bottom of the well, as if the spirits that kept watch over the jewel +were yammering together that one should be so near it; and clear above +them all I heard Grace's voice, sweet and grave, 'Have a care, have a +care how you touch the treasure; it was evilly come by, and will bring a +curse with it.' + +But I had set foot on this way now, and must go through with it, so when +the bucket stopped some six feet lower down, I fell again to diligently +examining the walls. They were still built of the shallow bricks, and +scanning them course by course as before, I could at first see nothing, +but as I moved my eyes downward they were brought up by a mark scratched +on a brick, close to the hanging plummet-line. + +Now, however lightly a man may glance through a book, yet if his own +name, or even only one nice it, should be printed on the page, his +eyes will instantly be stopped by it; so too, if his name be mentioned +by others in their speech, though it should be whispered never so low, +his ears will catch it. Thus it was with this mark, for though it was +very slight, so that I think not one in a thousand would ever have +noticed it at all, yet it stopped my eyes and brought up my thoughts +suddenly, because I knew by instinct that it had something to do with +me and what I sought. + +The sides of this well are not moist, green, or clammy, like the sides of +some others where damp and noxious exhalations abound, but dry and clean; +for it is said that there are below hidden entrances and exits for the +water, which keep it always moving. So these bricks were also dry and +clean, and this mark as sharp as if made yesterday, though the issue +showed that 'twas put there a very long time ago. Now the mark was not +deeply or regularly graven, but roughly scratched, as I have known boys +score their names, or alphabet letters, or a date, on the alabaster +figures that lie in Moonfleet Church. And here, too, was scored a letter +of the alphabet, a plain 'Y', and would have passed for nothing more +perhaps to any not born in Moonfleet; but to me it was the _cross-pall,_ +or black 'Y' of the Mohunes, under whose shadow we were all brought up. +So as soon as I saw that, I knew I was near what I sought, and that +Colonel John Mohune had put this sign there a century ago, either by his +own hands or by those of a servant; and then I thought of Mr. Glennie's +story, that the Colonel's conscience was always unquiet, because of a +servant whom he had put away, and now I seemed to understand something +more of it. + +My heart throbbed fiercely, as many another's heart has throbbed when he +has come near the fulfilment of a great desire, whether lawful or guilty, +and I tried to get at the brick. But though by holding on to the rope +with my left hand, I could reach over far enough to touch the brick with +my right 'twas as much as I could do, and so I shouted up the well that +they must bring me nearer in to the side. They understood what I would be +at, and slipped a noose over the well-rope and so drew it in to the side, +and made it fast till I should give the word to loose again. Thus I was +brought close to the well-wall, and the marked brick near about the level +of my face when I stood up in the bucket. There was nothing to show that +this brick had been tampered with, nor did it sound hollow when tapped, +though when I came to look closely at the joints, it seemed as though +there was more cement than usual about the edges. But I never doubted +that what we sought was to be found behind it, and so got to work at +once, fixing the wooden frame of the candle in the fastening of the +chain, and chipping out the mortar setting with the plasterer's hammer. + +When they saw above that first I was to be pulled in to the side, and +afterwards fell to work on the wall of the well, they guessed, no doubt, +how matters were, and I had scarce begun chipping when I heard the +turnkey's voice again, sharp and greedy, 'What are you doing? have you +found nothing?' It chafed me that this grasping fellow should be always +shouting to me while Elzevir was content to stay quiet, so I cried back +that I had found nothing, and that he should know what I was doing in +good time. + +Soon I had the mortar out of the joints, and the brick loose enough to +prise it forward, by putting the edge of the hammer in the crack. I +lifted it clean out and put it in the bucket, to see later on, in case +of need, if there was a hollow for anything to be hidden in; but never +had occasion to look at it again, for there, behind the brick, was a +little hole in the wall, and in the hole what I sought. I had my fingers +in the wall too quick for words, and brought out a little parchment bag, +for all the world like those dried fish-eggs cast up on the beach that +children call shepherds' purses. Now, shepherds' purses are crisp, and +crackle to the touch, and sometimes I have known a pebble get inside one +and rattle like a pea in a drum; and this little bag that I pulled out +was dry too, and crackling, and had something of the size of a small +pebble that rattled in the inside of it. Only I knew well that this was +no pebble, and set to work to get it out. But though the little bag was +parched and dry, 'twas not so easily torn, and at last I struck off the +corner of it with the sharp edge of my hammer against the bucket. Then I +shook it carefully, and out into my hand there dropped a pure crystal as +big as a walnut. I had never in my life seen a diamond, either large or +small--yet even if I had not known that Blackbeard had buried a diamond, +and if we had not come hither of set purpose to find it, I should not +have doubted that what I had in my hand was a diamond, and this of +matchless size and brilliance. It was cut into many facets, and though +there was little or no light in the well save my candle, there seemed to +be in this stone the light of a thousand fires that flashed out, +sparkling red and blue and green, as I turned it between my fingers. At +first I could think of nothing else, neither how it got there, nor how I +had come to find it, but only of it, the diamond, and that with such a +prize Elzevir and I could live happily ever afterwards, and that I should +be a rich man and able to go back to Moonfleet. So I crouched down in the +bottom of the bucket, being filled entirely with such thoughts, and +turned it over and over again, wondering continually more and more to see +the fiery light fly out of it. I was, as it were, dazed by its +brilliance, and by the possibilities of wealth that it contained, and +had, perhaps, a desire to keep it to myself as long as might be; so that +I thought nothing of the two who were waiting for me at the well-mouth, +till I was suddenly called back by the harsh voice of the turnkey, crying +as before-- + +'What are you doing? have you found nothing?' + +'Yes,' I shouted back, 'I have found the treasure; you can pull me up.' +The words were scarcely out of my mouth before the bucket began to move, +and I went up a great deal faster than I had gone down. Yet in that short +journey other thoughts came to my mind, and I heard Grace's voice again, +sweet and grave, 'Have a care, have a care how you touch the treasure; it +was evilly come by, and will bring a curse with it.' At the same time I +remembered how I had been led to the discovery of this jewel--first, by +Mr. Glennie's stories, second, by my finding the locket, and third, by +Ratsey giving me the hint that the writing was a cipher, and so had come +to the hiding-place without a swerve or stumble; and it seemed to me that +I could not have reached it so straight without a leading hand, but +whether good or evil, who should say? + +As I neared the top I heard the turnkey urging the donkey to trot faster +in the wheel, so that the bucket might rise the quicker, but just before +my head was level with the ground he set the break on and fixed me where +I was. I was glad to see the light again, and Elzevir's face looking +kindly on me, but vexed to be brought up thus suddenly just when I was +expecting to set foot on _terra firma_. + +The turnkey had stopped me through his covetous eagerness, so that he +might get sooner at the jewel, and now he craned over the low parapet and +reached out his hand to me, crying--'Where is the treasure? where is the +treasure? give me the treasure!' + +I held the diamond between finger and thumb of my right hand, and waved +it for Elzevir to see. By stretching out my arm I could have placed it in +the turnkey's hand, and was just going to do so, when I caught his eyes +for the second time that day, and something in them made me stop. There +was a look in his face that brought back to me the memory of an autumn +evening, when I sat in my aunt's parlour reading the book called the +_Arabian Nights_; and how, in the story of the _Wonderful Lamp_, +Aladdin's wicked uncle stands at the top of the stairs when the boy is +coming up out of the underground cavern, and will not let him out, unless +he first gives up the treasure. But Aladdin refused to give up his lamp +until he should stand safe on the ground again, because he guessed that +if he did, his uncle would shut him up in the cavern and leave him to die +there; and the look in the turnkey's eyes made me refuse to hand him the +jewel till I was safe out of the well, for a horrible fear seized me +that, as soon as he had taken it from me, he meant to let me fall down +and drown below. + +So when he reached down his hand and said, 'Give me the treasure,' I +answered, 'Pull me up then; I cannot show it you in the bucket.' + +'Nay, lad,' he said, cozening me, 'tis safer to give it me now, and have +both hands free to help you getting out; these stones are wet and greasy, +and you may chance to slip, and having no hand to save you, fall back in +the well.' + +But I was not to be cheated, and said again sturdily, 'No, you must pull +me up first.' + +Then he took to scowling, and cried in an angry tone, 'Give me the +treasure, I say, or it will be the worse for you'; but Elzevir would +not let him speak to me that way, and broke in roughly, 'Let the boy up, +he is sure-footed and will not slip. 'Tis his treasure, and he shall do +with it as he likes: only that thou shalt have a third of it when we +have sold it.' + +Then he: ''Tis not his treasure--no, nor yours either, but mine, for it +is in my well, and I have let you get it. Yet I will give you a +half-share in it; but as for this boy, what has he to do with it? We will +give him a golden guinea, and he will be richly paid for his pains.' + +'Tush,' cries Elzevir, 'let us have no more fooling; this boy shall have +his share, or I will know the reason why.' + +'Ay, you shall know the reason, fair enough,' answers the turnkey, 'and +'tis because your name is Block, and there is a price of 50 upon your +head, and 20 upon this boy's. You thought to outwit me, and are yourself +outwitted; and here I have you in a trap, and neither leaves this room, +except with hands tied, and bound for the gallows, unless I first have +the jewel safe in my purse.' + +On that I whipped the diamond back quick into the little parchment bag, +and thrust both down snug into my breeches-pocket, meaning to have a +fight for it, anyway, before I let it go. And looking up again, I saw the +turnkey's hand on the butt of his pistol, and cried, 'Beware, beware! he +draws on you.' But before the words were out of my mouth, the turn-key +had his weapon up and levelled full at Elzevir. 'Surrender,' he cries, +'or I shoot you dead, and the 50 is mine,' and never giving time for +answer, fires. Elzevir stood on the other side of the well-mouth, and it +seemed the other could not miss him at such a distance; but as I blinked +my eyes at the flash, I felt the bullet strike the iron chain to which I +was holding, and saw that Elzevir was safe. + +The turnkey saw it too, and flinging away his pistol, sprang round the +well and was at Elzevir's throat before he knew whether he was hit or +not. I have said that the turnkey was a tall, strong man, and twenty +years the younger of the two; so doubtless when he made for Elzevir, he +thought he would easily have him broken down and handcuffed, and then +turn to me. But he reckoned without his host, for though Elzevir was the +shorter and older man, he was wonderfully strong, and seasoned as a +salted thong. Then they hugged one another and began a terrible struggle: +for Elzevir knew that he was wrestling for life, and I daresay the +turnkey guessed that the stakes were much the same for him too. + +As soon as I saw what they were at, and that the bucket was safe fixed, +I laid hold of the well-chain, and climbing up by it swung myself on to +the top of the parapet, being eager to help Elzevir, and get the turnkey +gagged and bound while we made our escape. But before I was well on the +firm ground again, I saw that little help of mine was needed, for the +turnkey was flagging, and there was a look of anguish and desperate +surprise upon his face, to find that the man he had thought to master so +lightly was strong as a giant. They were swaying to and fro, and the +jailer's grip was slackening, for his muscles were overwrought and +tired; but Elzevir held him firm as a vice, and I saw from his eyes and +the bearing of his body that he was gathering himself up to give his +enemy a fall. + +Now I guessed that the fall he would use would be the Compton Toss, for +though I had never seen him give it, yet he was well known for a wrestler +in his younger days, and the Compton Toss for his most certain fall. I +shall not explain the method of it, but those who have seen it used will +know that 'tis a deadly fall, and he who lets himself get thrown that way +even upon grass, is seldom fit to wrestle another bout the same day. +Still 'tis a difficult fall to use, and perhaps Elzevir would never have +been able to give it, had not the other at that moment taken one hand off +the waist, and tried to make a clutch with it at the throat. But the +only way of avoiding that fall, and indeed most others, is to keep both +hands firm between hip and shoulder-blade, and the moment Elzevir felt +one hand off his back, he had the jailer off his feet and gave him +Compton's Toss. I do not know whether Elzevir had been so taxed by the +fierce struggle that he could not put his fullest force into the throw, +or whether the other, being a very strong and heavy man, needed more to +fling him; but so it was, that instead of the turnkey going down straight +as he should, with the back of his head on the floor (for that is the +real damage of the toss), he must needs stagger backwards a pace or two, +trying to regain his footing before he went over. + +It was those few staggering paces that ruined him, for with the last he +came upon the stones close to the well-mouth, that had been made wet and +slippery by continual spilling there of water. Then up flew his heels, +and he fell backwards with all his weight. + +As soon as I saw how near the well-mouth he was got, I shouted out and +ran to save him; but Elzevir saw it quicker than I, and springing forward +seized him by the belt just when he turned over. The parapet wall was +very low, and caught the turnkey behind the knee as he staggered, +tripping him over into the well-mouth. He gave a bitter cry, and there +was a wrench on his face when he knew where he was come, and 'twas then +Elzevir caught him by the belt. For a moment I thought he was saved, +seeing Elzevir setting his body low back with heels pressed firm against +the parapet wall to stand the strain. Then the belt gave way at the +fastening, and Elzevir fell sprawling on the floor. But the other went +backwards down the well. + +I got to the parapet just as he fell head first into that black abyss. +There was a second of silence, then a dreadful noise like a coconut +being broken on a pavement--for we once had coconuts in plenty at +Moonfleet, when the _Bataviaman_ came on the beach, then a deep echoing +blow, where he rebounded and struck the wall again, and last of all, the +thud and thundering splash, when he reached the water at the bottom. I +held my breath for sheer horror, and listened to see if he would cry, +though I knew at heart he would never cry again, after that first +sickening smash; but there was no sound or voice, except the moaning +voices of the water eddies that I had heard before. + +Elzevir slung himself into the bucket. 'You can handle the break,' he +said to me; 'let me down quick into the well.' I took the break-lever, +lowering him as quickly as I durst, till I heard the bucket touch water +at the bottom, and then stood by and listened. All was still, and yet I +started once, and could not help looking round over my shoulder, for it +seemed as if I was not alone in the well-house; and though I could see no +one, yet I had a fancy of a tall black-bearded man, with coppery face, +chasing another round and round the well-mouth. Both vanished from my +fancy just as the pursuer had his hand on the pursued; but Mr. Glennie's +story came back again to my mind, how that Colonel Mohune's conscience +was always unquiet because of a servant he had put away, and I guessed +now that the turnkey was not the first man these walls had seen go +headlong down the well. + +Elzevir had been in the well so long that I began to fear something had +happened to him, when he shouted to me to bring him up. So I fixed the +clutch, and set the donkey going in the tread-wheel; and the patient +drudge started on his round, recking nothing whether it was a bucket of +water he brought up, or a live man, or a dead man, while I looked over +the parapet, and waited with a cramping suspense to see whether Elzevir +would be alone, or have something with him. But when the bucket came in +sight there was only Elzevir in it, so I knew the turnkey had never come +to the top of the water again, and, indeed, there was but little chance +he should after that first knock. Elzevir said nothing to me, till I +spoke: 'Let us fling the jewel down the well after him, Master Block; it +was evilly come by, and will bring a curse with it.' + +He hesitated for a moment while I half-hoped yet half-feared he was going +to do as I asked, but then said: + +'No, no; thou art not fit to keep so precious a thing. Give it me. It is +thy treasure, and I will never touch penny of it; but fling it down the +well thou shalt not; for this man has lost his life for it, and we have +risked ours for it--ay, and may lose them for it too, perhaps.' + +So I gave him the jewel. + + + + +CHAPTER 16 + +THE JEWEL + +All that glisters is not gold--_Shakespeare_ + + +There was the turnkey's belt lying on the floor, with the keys and +manacles fixed to it, just as it had failed and come off him at the fatal +moment. Elzevir picked it up, tried the keys till he found the right +one, and unlocked the door of the well-house. + +'There are other locks to open before we get out,' I said. + +'Ay,' he answered, 'but it is more than our life is worth to be seen with +these keys, so send them down the well, after their master.' + +I took them back and flung them, belt and keys and handcuffs, clanking +down against the sides into the blackness and the hidden water at the +bottom. Then we took pail and hammer, brush and ropes, and turned our +backs upon that hateful place. There was the little court to cross before +we came to the doors of the banquet-hall. They were locked, but we +knocked until a guard opened them. He knew us for the plasterer-men, who +had passed an hour before, and only asked, 'Where is Ephraim?' meaning +the turnkey. 'He is stopping behind in the well-house,' Elzevir said, and +so we passed on through the hall, where the prisoners were making what +breakfast they might of odds and ends, with a savoury smell of cooking +and a great patter of French. + +At the outer gate was another guard to be passed, but they opened for us +without question, cursing Ephraim under their breath, that he did not +take the pains to let his own men out. Then the wicket of the great gates +swung-to behind us, and we went into the open again. As soon as we were +out of sight we quickened our pace, and the weather having much bettered, +and a fresh breeze springing up, we came back to the Bugle about ten in +the forenoon. + +I believe that neither of us spoke a word during that walk, and though +Elzevir had not yet seen the diamond, he never even took the pains to +draw it out of the little parchment bag, in which it still lay hid in his +pocket. Yet if I did not speak I thought, and my thoughts were sad +enough. For here were we a second time, flying for our lives, and if we +had not the full guilt of blood upon our hands, yet blood was surely +there. So this flight was very bitter to me, because the scene of death +of which I had been witness this morning seemed to take me farther still +away from all my old happy life, and to stand like another dreadful +obstacle between Grace and me. In the Family Bible lying on the table in +my aunt's best parlour was a picture of Cain, which I had often looked at +with fear on wet Sunday afternoons. It showed Cain striding along in the +midst of a boundless desert, with his sons and their wives striding +behind him, and their little children carried slung on poles. There was a +quick, swinging motion in the bodies of all, as though they must needs +always stride as fast as they might, and never rest, and their faces were +set hard, and thin with eternal wandering and disquiet. But the thinnest +and most restless-looking and hardest face was Cain's, and on the middle +of his forehead there was a dark spot, which God had set to show that +none might touch him, because he was the first murderer, and cursed for +ever. This had always been to me a dreadful picture, though I could not +choose but look at it, and was sorry indeed for Cain, for all he was so +wicked, because it seemed so hard to have to wander up and down the world +all his life long, and never be able to come to moorings. And yet this +very thing had come upon me now, for here we were, with the blood of two +men on our hands, wanderers on the face of the earth, who durst never go +home; and if the mark of Cain was not on my forehead already, I felt it +might come out there at any minute. + +When we reached the Bugle I went upstairs and flung myself upon the bed +to try to rest a little and think, but Elzevir shut himself in with the +landlord, and I could hear them talking earnestly in the room under me. +After a while he came up and said that he had considered with the +landlord how we could best get away, telling him that we must be off at +once, but letting him suppose that we were eager to leave the place +because some of the Excise had got wind of our whereabouts. He had said +nothing to our host about the turnkey, wishing as few persons as possible +to know of that matter, but doubted not that we should by all means +hasten our departure from the island, for that as soon as the turnkey was +missed inquiry would certainly be made for the plasterers with whom he +was last seen. + +Yet in this thing at least Fortune favoured us, for there was now lying +at Cowes, and ready to sail that night, a Dutch couper that had run a +cargo of Hollands on the other side of the island, and was going back to +Scheveningen freighted with wool. Our landlord knew the Dutch captain +well, having often done business for him, and so could give us letters of +recommendation which would ensure us a passage to the Low Countries. Thus +in the afternoon we were on the road, making our way from Newport to +Cowes in a new disguise, for we had changed our clothes again, and now +wore the common sailor dress of blue. + +The clouds had returned after the rain, and the afternoon was wet, and +worse than the morning, so I shall not say anything of another weary and +silent walk. We arrived on Cowes quay by eight in the evening, and found +the couper ready to make sail, and waiting only for the tide to set out. +Her name was the _Gouden Droom_, and she was a little larger than the +_Bonaventure_, but had a smaller crew, and was not near so well found. +Elzevir exchanged a few words with the captain, and gave him the +landlord's letter, and after that they let us come on board, but said +nothing to us. We judged that we were best out of the way, so went below; +and finding her laden deep, and even the cabin full of bales of wool, +flung ourselves on them to rest. I was so tired and heavy with sleep that +my eyes closed almost before I was lain down, and never opened till the +next morning was well advanced. + +I shall not say anything about our voyage, nor how we came safe to +Scheveningen, because it has little to do with this story. Elzevir had +settled that we should go to Holland, not only because the couper was +waiting to sail thither for we might doubtless have found other boats +before long to take us elsewhere--but also because he had learned at +Newport that the Hague was the first market in the world for diamonds. +This he told me after we were safe housed in a little tavern in the town, +which was frequented by seamen, but those of the better class, such as +mates and skippers of small vessels. Here we lay for several days while +Elzevir made such inquiry as he could without waking suspicion as to who +were the best dealers in precious stones, and the most able to pay a good +price for a valuable jewel. It was lucky, too, for us that Elzevir could +speak the Dutch language--not well indeed, but enough to make himself +understood, and to understand others. When I asked where he had learned +it, he told me that he came of Dutch blood on his mother's side, and so +got his name of Elzevir; and that he could once speak in Dutch as readily +as in English, only that his mother dying when he was yet a boy he lost +something of the facility. + +As the days passed, the memory of that dreadful morning at Carisbrooke +became dimmer to me, and my mind more cheerful or composed. I got the +diamond back from Elzevir, and had it out many times, both by day and by +night, and every time it seemed more brilliant and wonderful than the +last. Often of nights, after all the house was gone to rest, I would +lock the door of the room, and sit with a candle burning on the table, +and turn the diamond over in my hands. It was, as I have said, as big as +a pigeon's egg or walnut, delicately cut and faceted all over, perfect +and flawless, without speck or stain, and yet, for all it was so clear +and colourless, there flew out from the depth of it such flashes and +sparkles of red, blue, and green, as made one wonder whence these tints +could come. Thus while I sat and watched it I would tell Elzevir stories +from the _Arabian Nights_, of wondrous jewels, though I believe there +never was a stone that the eagles brought up from the Valley of +Diamonds, no, nor any in the Caliph's crown itself, that could excel +this gem of ours. + +You may be sure that at such times we talked much of the value that was +to be put upon the stone, and what was likely to be got for it, but never +could settle, not having any experience of such things. Only, I was sure +that it must be worth thousands of pounds, and so sat and rubbed my +hands, saying that though life was like a game of hazard, and our throws +had hitherto been bad enough, yet we had made something of this last. But +all the while a strange change was coming over us both, and our parts +seemed turned about. For whereas a few days before it was I who wished to +fling the diamond away, feeling overwrought and heavy-hearted in that +awful well-house, and Elzevir who held me from it; now it was he that +seemed to set little store by it, and I to whom it was all in all. He +seldom cared to look much at the jewel, and one night when I was praising +it to him, spoke out: + +'Set not thy heart too much upon this stone. It is thine, and thine to +deal with. Never a penny will I touch that we may get for it. Yet, +were I thou, and reached great wealth with it, and so came back one +day to Moonfleet, I would not spend it all on my own ends, but put +aside a part to build the poor-houses again, as men say Blackbeard +meant to do with it' + +I did not know what made him speak like this, and was not willing, even +in fancy, to agree to what he counselled; for with that gem before me, +lustrous, and all the brighter for lying on a rough deal table, I could +only think of the wealth it was to bring to us, and how I would most +certainly go back one day to Moonfleet and marry Grace. So I never +answered Elzevir, but took the diamond and slipped it back in the silver +locket, which still hung round my neck, for that was the safest place for +it that we could think of. + +We spent some days in wandering round the town making inquiries, and +learnt that most of the diamond-buyers lived near one another in a +certain little street, whose name I have forgotten, but that the richest +and best known of them was one Krispijn Aldobrand. He was a Jew by birth, +but had lived all his life in the Hague, and besides having bought and +sold some of the finest stones, was said to ask few questions, and to +trouble little whence stones came, so they were but good. Thus, after +much thought and many changes of purpose, we chose this Aldobrand, and +settled we would put the matter to the touch with him. + +We took an evening in late summer for our venture, and came to +Aldobrand's house about an hour before sundown. I remember the place +well, though I have not seen it for so long, and am certainly never like +to see it again. It was a low house of two stories standing back a little +from the street, with some wooden palings and a grass plot before it, and +a stone-flagged path leading up to the door. The front of it was +whitewashed, with green shutters, and had a shiny-leaved magnolia trained +round about the windows. These jewellers had no shops, though sometimes +they set a single necklace or bracelet in a bottom window, but put up +notices proclaiming their trade. Thus there was over Aldobrand's door a +board stuck out to say that he bought and sold jewels, and would lend +money on diamonds or other valuables. + +A sturdy serving-man opened the door, and when he heard our business was +to sell a jewel, left us in a stone-floored hall or lobby, while he went +upstairs to ask whether his master would see us. A few minutes later the +stairs creaked, and Aldobrand himself came down. He was a little wizened +man with yellow skin and deep wrinkles, not less than seventy years old; +and I saw he wore shoes of polished leather, silver-buckled, and +tilted-heeled to add to his stature. He began speaking to us from the +landing, not coming down into the hall, but leaning over the handrail: + +'Well, my sons, what would you with me? I hear you have a jewel to sell, +but you must know I do not purchase sailors' flotsam. So if 'tis a +moonstone or catseye, or some pin-head diamonds, keep them to make +brooches for your sweethearts, for Aldobrand buys no toys like that.' + +He had a thin and squeaky voice, and spoke to us in our own tongue, +guessing no doubt that we were English from our faces. 'Twas true he +handled the language badly enough, yet I was glad he used it, for so I +could follow all that was said. + +'No toys like that,' he said again, repeating his last words, and Elzevir +answered: 'May it please your worship, we are sailors from over sea, and +this boy has a diamond that he would sell.' + +I had the gem in my hand all ready, and when the old man squeaked +peevishly, 'Out with it then, let's see, let's see,' I reached it out to +him. He stretched down over the banisters, and took it; holding out his +palm hollowed, as if 'twas some little paltry stone that might otherwise +fall and be lost. It nettled me to have him thus underrate our treasure, +even though he had never seen it, and so I plumped it down into his hand +as if it were as big as a pumpkin. Now the hall was a dim place, being +lit only by a half-circle of glass over the door, and so I could not see +very well; yet in reaching down he brought his head near mine, and I +could swear his face changed when he felt the size of the stone in his +hand, and turned from impatience and contempt to wonder and delight. He +took the jewel quickly from his palm, and held it up between finger and +thumb, and when he spoke again, his voice was changed as well as his +face, and had lost most of the sharp impatience. + +'There is not light enough to see in this dark place--follow me,' and he +turned back and went upstairs rapidly, holding the stone in his hand; and +we close at his heels, being anxious not to lose sight of him now that he +had our diamond, for all he was so rich and well known a man. + +Thus we came to another landing, and there he flung open the door of a +room which looked out west, and had the light of the setting sun +streaming in full flood through the window. The change from the dimness +of the stairs to this level red blaze was so quick that for a minute I +could make out nothing, but turning my back to the window saw presently +that the room was panelled all through with painted wood, with a bed let +into the wall on one side, and shelves round the others, on which were +many small coffers and strong-boxes of iron. The jeweller was sitting at +a table with his face to the sun, holding the diamond up against the +light, and gazing into it closely, so that I could see every working of +his face. The hard and cunning look had come back to it, and he turned +suddenly upon me and asked quite sharply, 'What is your name, boy? Whence +do you come?' + +Now I was not used to walk under false names, and he took me unawares, +so I must needs blurt out, 'My name is John Trenchard, sir, and I come +from Moonfleet, in Dorset.' + +A second later I could have bitten off my tongue for having said as much, +and saw Elzevir frowning at me to make me hold my peace. But 'twas too +late then, for the merchant was writing down my answer in a parchment +ledger. And though it would seem to most but a little thing that he +should thus take down my name and birthplace, and only vexed us at the +time, because we would not have it known at all whence we came; yet in +the overrulings of Providence it was ordered that this note in Mr. +Aldobrand's book should hereafter change the issue of my life. + +'From Moonfleet, in Dorset,' he repeated to himself, as he finished +writing my answer. 'And how did John Trenchard come by this?' and he +tapped the diamond as it lay on the table before him. + +Then Elzevir broke in quickly, fearing no doubt lest I should be betrayed +into saying more: 'Nay, sir, we are not come to play at questions and +answers, but to know whether your worship will buy this diamond, and at +what price. We have no time to tell long histories, and so must only say +that we are English sailors, and that the stone is fairly come by.' And +he let his fingers play with the diamond on the table, as if he feared it +might slip away from him. + +'Softly, softly,' said the old man; 'all stones are fairly come by; but +had you told me whence you got this, I might have spared myself some +tedious tests, which now I must crave pardon for making.' + +He opened a cupboard in the panelling, and took out from it a little +pair of scales, some crystals, a black-stone, and a bottle full of a +green liquid. Then he sat down again, drew the diamond gently from +Elzevir's fingers, which were loth to part with it, and began using his +scales; balancing the diamond carefully, now against a crystal, now +against some small brass weights. I stood with my back to the sunset, +watching the red light fall upon this old man as he weighed the diamond, +rubbed it on the black-stone, or let fall on it a drop of the liquor, +and so could see the wonder and emotion fade away from his face, and +only hard craftiness left in it. + +I watched him meddling till I could bear to watch no longer, feeling a +fierce feverish suspense as to what he might say, and my pulse beating +so quick that I could scarce stand still. For was not the decisive +moment very nigh when we should know, from these parched-up lips, the +value of the jewel, and whether it was worth risking life for, whether +the fabric of our hopes was built on sure foundation or on slippery +sand? So I turned my back on the diamond merchant, and looked out of the +window, waiting all the while to catch the slightest word that might +come from his lips. + +I have found then and at other times that in such moments, though the +mind be occupied entirely by one overwhelming thought, yet the eyes take +in, as it were unwittingly, all that lies before them, so that we can +afterwards recall a face or landscape of which at the time we took no +note. Thus it was with me that night, for though I was thinking of +nothing but the jewel, yet I noted everything that could be seen through +the window, and the recollection was of use to me later on. The window +was made in the French style, reaching down to the floor, and opening +like a door with two leaves. It led on to a little balcony, and now stood +open (for the day was still very hot), and on the wall below was trained +a pear-tree, which half-embowered the balcony with its green leaves. The +window could be well protected in case of need, having latticed wooden +blinds inside, and heavy shutters shod with iron on the outer wall, and +there were besides strong bolts and sockets from which ran certain wires +whose use I did not know. Below the balcony was a square garden-plot, +shut in with a brick wall, and kept very neat and trim. There were +hollyhocks round the walls, and many-coloured poppies, with many other +shrubs and flowers. My eyes fell on one especially, a tall red-blossomed +rushy kind of flower, that I had never seen before; and that seemed +indeed to be something out of the common, for it stood in the middle of a +little earth-plot, and had the whole bed nearly to itself. + +I was looking at this flower, not thinking of it, but wondering all the +while whether Mr. Aldobrand would say the diamond was worth ten thousand +pounds, or fifty, or a hundred thousand, when I heard him speaking, and +turned round quick. 'My sons, and you especially, son John,' he said, and +turned to me: 'this stone that you have brought me is no stone at all, +but glass--or rather paste, for so we call it. Not but what it is good +paste, and perhaps the best that I have seen, and so I had to try it to +make sure. But against high chymic tests no sham can stand; and first it +is too light in weight, and second, when rubbed on this Basanus or +Black-stone, traces no line of white, as any diamond must. But, third and +last, I have tried it with the hermeneutic proof, and dipped it in this +most costly lembic; and the liquor remains pure green and clear, not +turbid orange, a diamond leaves it.' + +As he spoke the room spun round, and I felt the sickness and +heart-sinking that comes with the sudden destruction of long-cherished +hope. So it was all a sham, a bit of glass, for which we had risked our +lives. Blackbeard had only mocked us even in his death, and from rich men +we were become the poorest outcasts. And all the other bright fancies +that had been built on this worthless thing fell down at once, like a +house of cards. There was no money now with which to go back rich to +Moonfleet, no money to cloak past offences, no money to marry Grace; and +with that I gave a sigh, and my knees failing should have fallen had not +Elzevir held me. + +'Nay, son John,' squeaked the old man, seeing I was so put about, 'take +it not hardly, for though this is but paste, I say not it is worthless. +It is as fine work as ever I have seen, and I will offer you ten silver +crowns for it; which is a goodly sum for a sailor-lad to have in hand, +and more than all the other buyers in this town would bid you for it.' + +'Tush, tush,' cried Elzevir, and I could hear the bitterness and +disappointment in his voice, however much he tried to hide it; 'we are +not come to beg for silver crowns, so keep them in your purse. And the +devil take this shining sham; we are well quit of it; there is a curse +upon the thing!' And with that he caught up the stone and flung it away +out of the window in his anger. + +This brought the diamond-buyer to his feet in a moment. 'You fool, you +cursed fool!' he shrieked, 'are you come here to beard me? and when I say +the thing is worth ten silver crowns do you fling it to the winds?' + +I had sprung forward with a half thought of catching Elzevir's arm; but +it was too late--the stone flew up in the air, caught the low rays of the +setting sun for a moment, and then fell among the flowers. I could not +see it as it fell, yet followed with my eyes the line in which it should +have fallen, and thought I saw a glimmer where it touched the earth. It +was only a flash or sparkle for an instant, just at the stem of that same +rushy red-flowered plant, and then nothing more to be seen; but as I +faced round I saw the little man's eyes turned that way too, and perhaps +he saw the flash as well as I. + +'There's for your ten crowns!' said Elzevir. 'Let us be going, lad.' And +he took me by the arm and marched me out of the room and down the stairs. + +'Go, and a blight on you!' says Mr. Aldobrand, his voice being not so +high as when he cried out last, but in his usual squeak; and then he +repeated, 'a blight on you,' just for a parting shot as we went through +the door. + +We passed two more waiting-men on the stairs, but they said nothing to +us, and so we came to the street. + +We walked along together for some time without a word, and then +Elzevir said, 'Cheer up, lad, cheer up. Thou saidst thyself thou +fearedst there was a curse on the thing, so now it is gone, maybe we +are well quit of it.' + +Yet I could not say anything, being too much disappointed to find the +diamond was a sham, and bitterly cast down at the loss of all our hopes. +It was all very well to think there was a curse upon the stone so long as +we had it, and to feign that we were ready to part with it; but now it +was gone I knew that at heart I never wished to part with it at all, and +would have risked any curse to have it back again. There was supper +waiting for us when we got back, but I had no stomach for victuals and +sat moodily while Elzevir ate, and he not much. But when I sat and +brooded over what had happened, a new thought came to my mind and I +jumped up and cried, 'Elzevir, we are fools! The stone is no sham; 'tis a +real diamond!' + +He put down his knife and fork, and looked at me, not saying anything, +but waiting for me to say more, and yet did not show so much surprise as +I expected. Then I reminded him how the old merchant's face was full of +wonder and delight when first he saw the stone, which showed he thought +it was real then, and how afterwards, though he schooled his voice to +bring out long words to deceive us, he was ready enough to spring to his +feet and shriek out loud when Elzevir threw the stone into the garden. I +spoke fast, and in talking to him convinced myself, so when I stopped for +want of breath I was quite sure that the stone was indeed a diamond, and +that Aldobrand had duped us. + +Still Elzevir showed little eagerness, and only said-- + +''Tis like enough that what you say is true, but what would you have us +do? The stone is flung away.' + +'Yes,' I answered; 'but I saw where it fell, and know the very place; let +us go back now at once and get it.' + +'Do you not think that Aldobrand saw the place too?' asked Elzevir; and +then I remembered how, when I turned back to the room after seeing the +stone fall, I caught the eyes of the old merchant looking the same way; +and how he spoke more quietly after that, and not with the bitter cry he +used when Elzevir tossed the jewel out of the window. + +'I do not know,' I said doubtfully; 'let us go back and see. It fell +just by the stem of a red flower that I marked well. What!' I added, +seeing him still hesitate and draw back, 'do you doubt? Shall we not go +and get it?' + +Still he did not answer for a minute, and then spoke slowly, as if +weighing his words. 'I cannot tell. I think that all you say is true, and +that this stone is real. Nay, I was half of that mind when I threw it +away, and yet I would not say we are not best without it. 'Twas you who +first spoke of a curse upon the jewel, and I laughed at that as being a +childish tale. But now I cannot tell; for ever since we first scented +this treasure luck has run against us, John; yes, run against us very +strong; and here we are, flying from home, called outlaws, and with blood +upon our hands. Not that blood frightens me, for I have stood face to +face with men in fair fight, and never felt a death-blow given so weigh +on my soul; but these two men came to a tricksy kind of end, and yet I +could not help it. 'Tis true that all my life I've served the +Contraband, but no man ever knew me do a foul action; and now I do not +like that men should call me felon, and like it less that they should +call thee felon too. Perhaps there may be after all some curse that hangs +about this stone, and leads to ruin those that handle it. I cannot say, +for I am not a Parson Glennie in these things; but Blackbeard in an evil +mood may have tied the treasure up to be a curse to any that use it for +themselves. What do we want with this thing at all? I have got money to +be touched at need; we may lie quiet this side the Channel, where thou +shalt learn an honest trade, and when the mischief has blown over we will +go back to Moonfleet. So let the jewel be, John; shall we not let the +jewel be?' + +He spoke earnestly, and most earnestly at the end, taking me by the hand +and looking me full in the face. But I could not look him back again, and +turned my eyes away, for I was wilful, and would not bring myself to let +the diamond go. Yet all the while I thought that what he said was true, +and I remembered that sermon that Mr. Glennie preached, saying that life +was like a 'Y', and that to each comes a time when two ways part, and +where he must choose whether he will take the broad and sloping road or +the steep and narrow path. So now I guessed that long ago I had chosen +the broad road, and now was but walking farther down it in seeking after +this evil treasure, and still I could not bear to give all up, and +persuaded myself that it was a child's folly to madly fling away so fine +a stone. So instead of listening to good advice from one so much older +than me, I set to work to talk him over, and persuaded him that if we got +the diamond again, and ever could sell it, we would give the money to +build up the Mohune almshouses, knowing well in my heart that I never +meant to do any such thing. Thus at the last Elzevir, who was the +stubbornest of men, and never yielded, was overborne by his great love to +me, and yielded here. + +It was ten o'clock before we set out together, to go again to +Aldobrand's, meaning to climb the garden wall and get the stone. I walked +quickly enough, and talked all the time to silence my own misgivings, but +Elzevir hung back a little and said nothing, for it was sorely against +his judgement that he came at all. But as we neared the place I ceased my +chatter, and so we went on in silence, each busy with his own thoughts, +We did not come in front of Aldobrand's house, but turned out of the main +street down a side lane which we guessed would skirt the garden wall. +There were few people moving even in the streets, and in this little lane +there was not a soul to meet as we crept along in the shadow of the high +walls. We were not mistaken, for soon we came to what we judged was the +outside of Aldobrand's garden. + +Here we paused for a minute, and I believe Elzevir was for making a last +remonstrance, but I gave him no chance, for I had found a place where +some bricks were loosened in the wall-face, and set myself to climb. It +was easy enough to scale for us, and in a minute we both dropped down in +a bed of soft mould on the other side. We pushed through some +gooseberry-bushes that caught the clothes, and distinguishing the outline +of the house, made that way, till in a few steps we stood on the +_Pelouse_ or turf, which I had seen from the balcony three hours before. +I knew the twirl of the walks, and the pattern of the beds; the rank of +hollyhocks that stood up all along the wall, and the poppies breathing +out a faint sickly odour in the night. An utter silence held all the +garden, and, the night being very clear, there was still enough light to +show the colours of the flowers when one looked close at them, though the +green of the leaves was turned to grey. We kept in the shadow of the +wall, and looked expectantly at the house. But no murmur came from it, it +might have been a house of the dead for any noise the living made there; +nor was there light in any window, except in one behind the balcony, to +which our eyes were turned first. In that room there was someone not yet +gone to rest, for we could see a lattice of light where a lamp shone +through the open work of the wooden blinds. + +'He is up still,' I whispered, 'and the outside shutters are not closed.' +Elzevir nodded, and then I made straight for the bed where the red flower +grew. I had no need of any light to see the bells of that great rushy +thing, for it was different from any of the rest, and besides that was +planted by itself. + +I pointed it out to Elzevir. 'The stone lies by the stalk of that +flower,' I said, 'on the side nearest to the house'; and then I stayed +him with my hand upon his arm, that he should stand where he was at the +bed's edge, while I stepped on and got the stone. + +My feet sank in the soft earth as I passed through the fringe of poppies +circling the outside of the bed, and so I stood beside the tall rushy +flower. The scarlet of its bells was almost black, but there was no +mistaking it, and I stooped to pick the diamond up. Was it possible? was +there nothing for my outstretched hand to finger, except the soft rich +loam, and on the darkness of the ground no guiding sparkle? I knelt down +to make more sure, and looked all round the plant, and still found +nothing, though it was light enough to see a pebble, much more to catch +the gleam and flash of the great diamond I knew so well. + +It was not there, and yet I knew that I had seen it fall beyond all room +for doubt. 'It is gone, Elzevir; it is gone!' I cried out in my +anguish, but only heard a 'Hush!' from him to bid me not to speak so +loud. Then I fell on my knees again, and sifted the mould through my +fingers, to make sure the stone had not sunk in and been overlooked. + +But it was all to no purpose, and at last I stepped back to where Elzevir +was, and begged him to light a piece of match in the shelter of the +hollyhocks; and I would screen it with my hands, so that the light should +fall upon the ground, and not be seen from the house, and so search round +the flower. He did as I asked, not because he thought that I should find +anything, but rather to humour me; and, as he put the lighted match into +my hands, said, speaking low, 'Let the stone be, lad, let it be; for +either thou didst fail to mark the place right, or others have been here +before thee. 'Tis ruled we should not touch the stone again, and so 'tis +best; let be, let be; let us get home.' + +He put his hand upon my shoulder gently, and spoke with such an +earnestness and pleading in his voice that one would have thought it was +a woman rather than a great rough giant; and yet I would not hear, and +broke away, sheltering the match in my hollowed hands, and making back to +the red flower. But this time, just as I stepped upon the mould, coming +to the bed from the house side, the light fell on the ground, and there I +saw something that brought me up short. + +It was but a dint or impress on the soft brown loam, and yet, before my +eyes were well upon it, I knew it for the print of a sharp heel--a sharp +deep heel, having just in front of it the outline of a little foot. There +is a story every boy was given to read when I was young, of Crusoe +wrecked upon a desert isle, who, walking one day on the shore, was +staggered by a single footprint in the sand, because he learnt thus that +there were savages in that sad place, where he thought he stood alone. +Yet I believe even that footprint in the sand was never greater blow to +him than was this impress in the garden mould to me, for I remembered +well the little shoes of polished leather, with their silver buckles and +high-tilted heels. + +He _had_ been here before us. I found another footprint, and another +leading towards the middle of the bed; and then I flung the match away, +trampling the fire out in the soil. It was no use searching farther now, +for I knew well there was no diamond here for us. + +I stepped back to the lawn, and caught Elzevir by the arm. 'Aldobrand has +been here before us, and stole away the jewel,' I whispered sharp; and +looking wildly round in the still night, saw the lattice of lamplight +shining through the wooden blinds of the balcony window. + +'Well, there's an end of it!' said he, 'and we are saved further +question. 'Tis gone, so let us cry good riddance to it and be off.' So he +turned to go back, and there was one more chance for me to choose the +better way and go with him; but still I could not give the jewel up, and +must go farther on the other path which led to ruin for us both. For I +had my eyes fixed on the light coming through the blinds of that window, +and saw how thick and strong the boughs of the pear-tree were trained +against the wall about the balcony. + +'Elzevir,' I said, swallowing the bitter disappointment which rose in my +throat, 'I cannot go till I have seen what is doing in that room above. I +will climb to the balcony and look in through the chinks. Perhaps he is +not there, perhaps he has left our diamond there and we may get it back +again.' So I went straight to the house, not giving him time to raise a +word to stop me, for there was something in me driving me on, and I was +not to be stopped by anyone from that purpose. + +There was no need to fear any seeing us, for all the windows except that +one, were tight shuttered, and though our footsteps on the soft lawn woke +no sound, I knew that Elzevir was following me. It was no easy task to +climb the pear-tree, for all that the boughs looked so strong, for they +lay close against the wall, and gave little hold for hand or foot. Twice, +or more, an unripe pear was broken off, and fell rustling down through +the leaves to earth, and I paused and waited to hear if anyone was +disturbed in the room above; but all was deathly still, and at last I got +my hand upon the parapet, and so came safe to the balcony. + +I was panting from the hard climb, yet did not wait to get my breath, but +made straight for the window to see what was going on inside. The outer +shutters were still flung back, as they had been in the afternoon, and +there was no difficulty in looking in, for I found an opening in the +lattice-blind just level with my eyes, and could see all the room inside. +It was well lit, as for a marriage feast, and I think there were a score +of candles or more burning in holders on the table, or in sconces on the +wall. At the table, on the farther side of it from me, and facing the +window, sat Aldobrand, just as he sat when he told us the stone was a +sham. His face was turned towards the window, and as I looked full at him +it seemed impossible but that he should know that I was there. + +In front of him, on the table, lay the diamond--our diamond, my diamond; +for I knew it was a diamond now, and not false. It was not alone, but had +a dozen more cut gems laid beside it on the table, each a little apart +from the other; yet there was no mistaking mine, which was thrice as big +as any of the rest. And if it surpassed them in size, how much more did +it excel in fierceness and sparkle! All the candles in the room were +mirrored in it, and as the splendour flashed from every line and facet +that I knew so well, it seemed to call to me, 'Am I not queen of all +diamonds of the world? am I not your diamond? will you not take me to +yourself again? will you save me from this sorry trickster?' + +I had my eyes fixed, but still knew that Elzevir was beside me. He would +not let me risk myself in any hazard alone without he stood by me himself +to help in case of need; and yet his faithfulness but galled me now, and +I asked myself with a sneer, Am I never to stir hand or foot without this +man to dog me? The merchant sat still for a minute as though thinking, +and then he took one of the diamonds that lay on the table, and then +another, and set them close beside the great stone, pitting them, as it +were, with it. Yet how could any match with that?--for it outshone them +all as the sun outshines the stars in heaven. + +Then the old man took the stone and weighed it in the scales which stood +on the table before him, balancing it carefully, and a dozen times, +against some little weights of brass; and then he wrote with pen and ink +in a sheepskin book, and afterwards on a sheet of paper as though casting +up numbers. What would I not have given to see the figures that he wrote? +for was he not casting up the value of the jewel, and summing out the +profits he would make? After that he took the stone between finger and +thumb, holding it up before his eyes, and placing it now this way, now +that, so that the light might best fall on it. I could have cursed him +for the wondering love of that fair jewel that overspread his face; and +cursed him ten times more for the smile upon his lips, because I guessed +he laughed to think how he had duped two simple sailors that very +afternoon. + +There was the diamond in his hands--our diamond, my diamond--in his +hands, and I but two yards from my own; only a flimsy veil of wood and +glass to keep me from the treasure he had basely stolen from us. Then I +felt Elzevir's hand upon my shoulder. 'Let us be going,' he said; 'a +minute more and he may come to put these shutters to, and find us here. +Let us be going. Diamonds are not for simple folk like us; this is an +evil stone, and brings a curse with it. Let us be going, John.' + +But I shook off the kind hand roughly, forgetting how he had saved my +life, and nursed me for many weary weeks and stood by me through bad +and worse; for just now the man at the table rose and took out a little +iron box from a cupboard at the back of the room. I knew that he was +going to lock my treasure into it, and that I should see it no more. +But the great jewel lying lonely on the table flashed and sparkled in +the light of twenty candles, and called to me, 'Am I not queen of all +diamonds of the world? am I not your diamond? save me from the hands of +this scurvy robber.' + +Then I hurled myself forward with all my weight full on the joining of +the window frames, and in a second crashed through the glass, and through +the wooden blind into the room behind. + +The noise of splintered wood and glass had not died away before there was +a sound as of bells ringing all over the house, and the wires I had seen +in the afternoon dangled loose in front of my face. But I cared neither +for bells nor wires, for there lay the great jewel flashing before me. +The merchant had turned sharp round at the crash, and darted for the +diamond, crying 'Thieves! thieves! thieves!' He was nearer to it than I, +and as I dashed forward our hands met across the table, with his +underneath upon the stone. But I gripped him by the wrist, and though he +struggled, he was but a weak old man, and in a few seconds I had it +twisted from his grasp. In a few seconds--but before they were past the +diamond was well in my hand--the door burst open, and in rushed six +sturdy serving-men with staves and bludgeons. + +Elzevir had given a little groan when he saw me force the window, but +followed me into the room and was now at my side. 'Thieves! thieves! +thieves!' screamed the merchant, falling back exhausted in his chair and +pointing to us, and then the knaves fell on too quick for us to make for +the window. Two set on me and four on Elzevir; and one man, even a giant, +cannot fight with four--above all when they carry staves. + +Never had I seen Master Block overborne or worsted by any odds; and +Fortune was kind to me, at least in this, that she let me not see the +issue then, for a staff caught me so round a knock on the head as made +the diamond drop out of my hand, and laid me swooning on the floor. + + + + +CHAPTER 17 + +AT YMEGUEN + +As if a thief should steal a tainted vest, +Some dead man's spoil, and sicken of his pest--_Hood_ + + +'Tis bitterer to me than wormwood the memory of what followed, and I +shall tell the story in the fewest words I may. We were cast into prison, +and lay there for months in a stone cell with little light, and only foul +straw to lie on. At first we were cut and bruised from that tussle and +cudgelling in Aldobrand's house, and it was long before we were recovered +of our wounds, for we had nothing but bread and water to live on, and +that so bad as barely to hold body and soul together. Afterwards the +heavy fetters that were put about our ankles set up sores and galled us +so that we scarce could move for pain. And if the iron galled my flesh, +my spirit chafed ten times more within those damp and dismal walls; yet +all that time Elzevir never breathed a word of reproach, though it was my +wilfulness had led us into so terrible a strait. + +At last came our jailer, one morning, and said that we must be brought up +that day before the _Geregt_, which is their Court of Assize, to be tried +for our crime. So we were marched off to the court-house, in spite of +sores and heavy irons, and were glad enough to see the daylight once +more, and drink the open air, even though it should be to our death that +we were walking; for the jailer said they were like to hang us for what +we had done. In the court-house our business was soon over, because there +were many to speak against us, but none to plead our cause; and all being +done in the Dutch language I understood nothing of it, except what +Elzevir told me afterwards. + +There was Mr. Aldobrand in his black gown and buckled shoes with +tip-tilted heels, standing at a table and giving evidence: How that one +afternoon in August came two evil-looking English sailors to his house +under pretence of selling a diamond, which turned out to be but a lump of +glass: and that having taken observation of all his dwelling, and more +particularly the approaches to his business-room, they went their ways. +But later in the same day, or rather night, as he sat matching together +certain diamonds for a coronet ordered by the most illustrious the Holy +Roman Emperor, these same ill-favoured English sailors burst suddenly +through shutters and window, and made forcible entry into his +business-room. There they furiously attacked him, wrenched the diamond +from his hand, and beat him within an ace of his life. But by the good +Providence of God, and his own foresight, the window was fitted with a +certain alarm, which rang bells in other parts of the house. Thus his +trusty servants were summoned, and after being themselves attacked and +nearly overborne, succeeded at last in mastering these scurvy ruffians +and handing them over to the law, from which Mr. Aldobrand claimed +sovereign justice. + +Thus much Elzevir explained to me afterwards, but at that time when +that pretender spoke of the diamond as being his own, Elzevir cut in +and said in open court that 'twas a lie, and that this precious stone +was none other than the one that we had offered in the afternoon, when +Aldobrand had said 'twas glass. Then the diamond merchant laughed, and +took from his purse our great diamond, which seemed to fill the place +with light and dazzled half the court. He turned it over in his hand, +poising it in his palm like a great flourishing lamp of light, and +asked if 'twas likely that two common sailor-men should hawk a stone +like that. Nay more, that the court might know what daring rogues they +had to deal with, he pulled out from his pocket the quittance given him +by Shalamof the Jew of Petersburg, for this same jewel, and showed it +to the judge. Whether 'twas a forged quittance or one for some other +stone we knew not, but Elzevir spoke again, saying that the stone was +ours and we had found it in England. When Mr. Aldobrand laughed again, +and held the jewel up once more: were such pebbles, he asked, found on +the shore by every squalid fisherman? And the great diamond flashed as +he put it back into his purse, and cried to me, 'Am I not queen of all +the diamonds of the world? Must I house with this base rascal?' but I +was powerless now to help. + +After Aldobrand, the serving-men gave witness, telling how they had +trapped us in the act, red-handed: and as for this jewel, they had seen +their master handle it any time in these six months past. + +But Elzevir was galled to the quick with all their falsehoods, and burst +out again, that they were liars and the jewel ours; till a jailer who +stood by struck him on the mouth and cut his lip, to silence him. + +The process was soon finished, and the judge in his red robes stood up +and sentenced us to the galleys for life; bidding us admire the mercy +of the law to Outlanders, for had we been but Dutchmen, we should sure +have hanged. + +Then they took and marched us out of court, as well as we could walk for +fetters, and Elzevir with a bleeding mouth. But as we passed the place +where Aldobrand sat, he bows to me and says in English, 'Your servant, +Mr. Trenchard. I wish you a good day, Sir John Trenchard--of Moonfleet, +in Dorset.' The jailer paused a moment, hearing Aldobrand speak to us +though not understanding what he said, so I had time to answer him: + +'Good day, Sir Aldobrand, Liar, and Thief; and may the diamond bring you +evil in this present life, and damnation in that which is to come.' + +So we parted from him, and at that same time departed from our liberty +and from all joys of life. + +We were fettered together with other prisoners in droves of six, our +wrists manacled to a long bar, but I was put into a different gang from +Elzevir. Thus we marched a ten days' journey into the country to a place +called Ymeguen, where a royal fortress was building. That was a weary +march for me, for 'twas January, with wet and miry roads, and I had +little enough clothes upon my back to keep off rain and cold. On either +side rode guards on horseback, with loaded flint-locks across the +saddlebow, and long whips in their hands with which they let fly at any +laggard; though 'twas hard enough for men to walk where the mud was over +the horses' fetlocks. I had no chance to speak to Elzevir all the +journey, and indeed spoke nothing at all, for those to whom I was chained +were brute beasts rather than men, and spoke only in Dutch to boot. + +There was but little of the building of the fortress begun when we +reached Ymeguen, and the task that we were set to was the digging of the +trenches and other earthworks. I believe that there were five hundred men +employed in this way, and all of them condemned like us to galley-work +for life. We were divided into squads of twenty-five, but Elzevir was +drafted to another squad and a different part of the workings, so I saw +him no more except at odd times, now and again, when our gangs met, and +we could exchange a word or two in passing. + +Thus I had no solace of any company but my own, and was driven to +thinking, and to occupy my mind with the recollection of the past. And at +first the life of my boyhood, now lost for ever, was constantly present +even in my dreams, and I would wake up thinking that I was at school +again under Mr. Glennie, or talking in the summer-house with Grace, or +climbing Weatherbeech Hill with the salt Channel breeze singing through +the trees. But alas! these things faded when I opened my eyes, and knew +the foul-smelling wood-hut and floor of fetid straw where fifty of us lay +in fetters every night; I say I dreamt these things at first, but by +degrees remembrance grew blunted and the images less clear, and even +these sweet, sad visions of the night came to me less often. Thus life +became a weary round, in which month followed month, season followed +season, year followed year, and brought always the same eternal +profitless-work. And yet the work was merciful, for it dulled the biting +edge of thought, and the unchanging evenness of life gave wings to time. + +In all the years the locusts ate for me at Ymeguen, there is but one +thing I need speak of here. I had been there a week when I was loosed one +morning from my irons, and taken from work into a little hut apart, where +there stood a half-dozen of the guard, and in the midst a stout wooden +chair with clamps and bands. A fire burned on the floor, and there was a +fume and smoke that filled the air with a smell of burned meat. My heart +misgave me when I saw that chair and fire, and smelt that sickly smell, +for I guessed this was a torture room, and these the torturers waiting. +They forced me into the chair and bound me there with lashings and a +cramp about the head; and then one took a red-iron from the fire upon the +floor, and tried it a little way from his hand to prove the heat. I had +screwed up my heart to bear the pain as best I might, but when I saw that +iron sighed for sheer relief, because I knew it for only a branding tool, +and not the torture. And so they branded me on the left cheek, setting +the iron between the nose and cheek-bone, where 'twas plainest to be +seen. I took the pain and scorching light enough, seeing that I had +looked for much worse, and should not have made mention of the thing here +at all, were it not for the branding mark they used. Now this mark was a +'Y', being the first letter of Ymeguen, and set on all the prisoners that +worked there, as I found afterwards; but to me 'twas much more than a +mere letter, and nothing less than the black 'Y' itself, or _cross-pall_ +of the Mohunes. Thus as a sheep is marked, with his owner's keel and can +be claimed wherever he may be, so here was I branded with the keel of +the Mohunes and marked for theirs in life or death, whithersoever I +should wander. 'Twas three months after that, and the mark healed and +well set, that I saw Elzevir again; and as we passed each other in the +trench and called a greeting, I saw that he too bore the _cross-pall_ +full on his left cheek. + +Thus years went on and I was grown from boy to man, and that no weak one +either: for though they gave us but scant food and bad, the air was fresh +and strong, because Ymeguen was meant for palace as well as fortress, and +they chose a healthful site. And by degrees the moats were dug, and +ramparts built, and stone by stone the castle rose till 'twas near the +finish, and so our labour was not wanted. Every day squads of our +fellow-prisoners marched away, and my gang was left till nearly last, +being engaged in making good a culvert that heavy rains had broken down. + +It was in the tenth year of our captivity, and in the twenty-sixth of my +age, that one morning instead of the guard marching us to work, they +handed us over to a party of mounted soldiers, from whose matchlocks and +long whips I knew that we were going to leave Ymeguen. Before we left, +another gang joined us, and how my heart went out when I saw Elzevir +among them! It was two years or more since we had met even to pass a +greeting, for I worked outside the fortress and he on the great tower +inside, and I took note his hair was whiter and a sadder look upon his +face. And as for the _cross-pall_ on his cheek, I never thought of it at +all, for we were all so well used to the mark, that if one bore it not +stamped upon his face we should have stared at him as on a man born with +but one eye. But though his look was sad, yet Elzevir had a kind smile +and hearty greeting for me as he passed, and on the march, when they +served out our food, we got a chance to speak a word or two together. +Yet how could we find room for much gladness, for even the pleasure of +meeting was marred because we were forced thus to take note, as it were, +of each other's misery, and to know that the one had nothing for his old +age but to break in prison, and the other nothing but the prison to eat +away the strength of his prime. + +Before long, all knew whither we were bound, for it leaked out we were +to march to the Hague and thence to Scheveningen, to take ship to the +settlements of Java, where they use transported felons on the sugar +farms. Was this the end of young hopes and lofty aims--to live and die a +slave in the Dutch plantations? Hopes of Grace, hopes of seeing +Moonfleet again, were dead long long ago; and now was there to be no +hope of liberty, or even wholesome air, this side the grave, but only +burning sun and steaming swamps, and the crack of the slave-driver's +whip till the end came? Could it be so? Could it be so? And yet what +help was there, or what release? Had I not watched ten years for any +gleam or loophole of relief, and never found it? If we were shut in +cells or dungeons in the deepest rock we might have schemed escape, but +here in the open, fettered up in-droves, what could we do? They were +bitter thoughts enough that filled my heart as I trudged along the rough +roads, fettered by my wrist to the long bar; and seeing Elzevir's white +hair and bowed shoulders trudging in front of me, remembered when that +head had scarce a grizzle on it, and the back was straight as the +massive stubborn pillars in old Moonfleet church. What was it had +brought us to this pitch? And then I called to mind a July evening, +years ago, the twilight summer-house and a sweet grave voice that said, +'Have a care how you touch the treasure: it was evilly come by and will +bring a curse with it.' Ay, 'twas the diamond had done it all, and +brought a blight upon my life, since that first night I spent in +Moonfleet vault; and I cursed the stone, and Blackbeard and his lost +Mohunes, and trudged on bearing their cognizance branded on my face. + +We marched back to the Hague, and through that very street where +Aldobrand dwelt, only the house was shut, and the board that bore his +name taken away; so it seemed that he had left the place or else was +dead. Thus we reached the quays at last, and though I knew that I was +leaving Europe and leaving all hope behind, yet 'twas a delight to smell +the sea again, and fill my nostrils with the keen salt air. + + + + +CHAPTER 18 + +IN THE BAY + +Let broad leagues dissever + Him from yonder foam, +O God! to think man ever + Comes too near his home--_Hood_ + + +The ship that was to carry us swung at the buoy a quarter of a mile +offshore, and there were row-boats waiting to take us to her. She was a +brig of some 120 tons burthen, and as we came under the stern I saw her +name was the _Aurungzebe_. + +'Twas with regret unspeakable I took my last look at Europe; and casting +my eyes round saw the smoke of the town dark against the darkening sky; +yet knew that neither smoke nor sky was half as black as was the prospect +of my life. + +They sent us down to the orlop or lowest deck, a foul place where was no +air nor light, and shut the hatches down on top of us. There were thirty +of us all told, hustled and driven like pigs into this deck, which was to +be our pigsty for six months or more. Here was just light enough, when +they had the hatches off, to show us what sort of place it was, namely, +as foul as it smelt, with never table, seat, nor anything, but roughest +planks and balks; and there they changed our bonds, taking away the bar, +and putting a tight bracelet round one wrist, with a padlocked chain +running through a loop on it. Thus we were still ironed, six together, +but had a greater freedom and more scope to move. And more than this, the +man who shifted the chains, whether through caprice, or perhaps because +he really wished to show us what pity he might, padlocked me on to the +same chain with Elzevir, saying, we were English swine and might sink or +swim together. Then the hatches were put on, and there they left us in +the dark to think or sleep or curse the time away. The weariness of +Ymeguen was bad indeed, and yet it was a heaven to this night of hell, +where all we had to look for was twice a day the moving of the hatches, +and half an hour's glimmer of a ship's lantern, while they served us out +the broken victuals that the Dutch crew would not eat. + +I shall say nothing of the foulness of this place, because 'twas too +foul to be written on paper; and if 'twas foul at starting, 'twas ten +times worse when we reached open sea, for of all the prisoners only +Elzevir and I were sailors, and the rest took the motion unkindly. + +From the first we made bad weather of it, for though we were below and +could see nothing, yet 'twas easy enough to tell there was a heavy +head-sea running, almost as soon as we were well out of harbour. +Although Elzevir and I had not had any chance of talking freely for so +long, and were now able to speak as we liked, being linked so close +together, we said but little. And this, not because we did not value +very greatly one another's company, but because we had nothing to talk +of except memories of the past, and those were too bitter, and came too +readily to our minds, to need any to summon them. There was, too, the +banishment from Europe, from all and everything we loved, and the awful +certainty of slavery that lay continuously on us like a weight of lead. +Thus we said little. + +We had been out a week, I think--for time is difficult enough to measure +where there is neither clock nor sun nor stars--when the weather, which +had moderated a little, began to grow much worse. The ship plunged and +laboured heavily, and this added much to our discomfort; because there +was nothing to hold on by, and unless we lay flat on the filthy deck, we +ran a risk of being flung to the side whenever there came a more violent +lurch or roll. Though we were so deep down, yet the roaring of wind and +wave was loud enough to reach us, and there was such a noise when the +ship went about, such grinding of ropes, with creaking and groaning of +timbers, as would make a landsman fear the brig was going to pieces. And +this some of our fellow-prisoners feared indeed, and fell to crying, or +kneeling chained together as they were upon the sloping deck, while they +tried to remember long-forgotten prayers. For my own part, I wondered why +these poor wretches should pray to be delivered from the sea, when all +that was before them was lifelong slavery; but I was perhaps able to look +more calmly on the matter myself as having been at sea, and not thinking +that the vessel was going to founder because of the noise. Yet the storm +rose till 'twas very plain that we were in a raging sea, and the streams +which began to trickle through the joinings of the hatch showed that +water had got below. + +'I have known better ships go under for less than this,' Elzevir said to +me; 'and if our skipper hath not a tight craft, and stout hands to work +her, there will soon be two score slaves the less to cut the canes in +Java. I cannot guess where we are now--may be off Ushant, may be not so +far, for this sea is too short for the Bay; but the saints send us +sea-room, for we have been wearing these three hours.' + +'Twas true enough that we had gone to wearing, as one might tell from the +heavier roll or wallowing when we went round, instead of the plunging of +a tack; but there was no chance of getting at our whereabouts. The only +thing we had to reckon time withal, was the taking off of the hatch twice +a day for food; and even this poor clock kept not the hour too well, for +often there were such gaps and intervals as made our bellies pine, and at +this present we had waited so long that I craved even that filthy broken +meat they fed us with. + +So we were glad enough to hear a noise at the hatch just as Elzevir had +done speaking, and the cover was flung off, letting in a splash of salt +water and a little dim and dusky light. But instead of the guard with +their muskets and lanterns and the tubs of broken victuals, there was +only one man, and that the jailer who had padlocked us into gangs at the +beginning of the voyage. + +He bent down for a moment over the hatch, holding on to the combing to +steady himself in the sea-way, and flung a key on a chain down into the +orlop, right among us. 'Take it,' he shouted in Dutch, 'and make the most +of it. God helps the brave, and the devil takes the hindmost.' + +That said, he stayed not one moment, but turned about quick and was gone. +For an instant none knew what this play portended, and there was the key +lying on the deck, and the hatch left open. Then Elzevir saw what it all +meant, and seized the key. 'John,' cries he, speaking to me in English, +'the ship is foundering, and they are giving us a chance to save our +lives, and not drown like rats in a trap.' With that he tried the key on +the padlock which held our chain, and it fitted so well that in a trice +our gang was free. Off fell the chain clanking on the floor, and nothing +left of our bonds but an iron bracelet clamped round the left wrist. You +may be sure the others were quick enough to make use of the key when they +knew what 'twas, but we waited not to see more, but made for the ladder. + +Now Elzevir and I, being used to the sea, were first through the hatchway +above, and oh, the strength and sweet coolness of the sea air, instead of +the warm, fetid reek of the orlop below! There was a good deal of water +sousing about on the main deck, but nothing to show the ship was sinking, +yet none of the crew was to be seen. We stayed there not a second, but +moved to the companion as fast as we could for the heavy pitching of the +ship, and so came on deck. + +The dusk of a winter's evening was setting in, yet with ample light to +see near at hand, and the first thing I perceived was that the deck was +empty. There was not a living soul but us upon it. The brig was broached +to, with her bows against the heaviest sea I ever saw, and the waves +swept her fore and aft; so we made for the tail of the deck-house, and +there took stock. But before we got there I knew why 'twas the crew were +gone, and why they let us loose, for Elzevir pointed to something whither +we were drifting, and shouted in my ear so that I heard it above all the +raging of the tempest--'We are on a lee shore.' + +We were lying head to sea, and never a bit of canvas left except one +storm-staysail. There were tattered ribands fluttering on the yards to +show where the sails had been blown away, and every now and then the +staysail would flap like a gun going off, to show it wanted to follow +them. But for all we lay head to sea, we were moving backwards, and each +great wave as it passed carried us on stern first with a leap and +swirling lift. 'Twas over the stern that Elzevir pointed, in the course +that we were going, and there was such a mist, what with the wind and +rain and spindrift, that one could see but a little way. And yet I saw +too far, for in the mist to which we were making a sternboard, I saw a +white line like a fringe or valance to the sea; and then I looked to +starboard, and there was the same white fringe, and then to larboard, and +the white fringe was there too. Only those who know the sea know how +terrible were Elzevir's words uttered in such a place. A moment before I +was exalted with the keen salt wind, and with a hope and freedom that +had been strangers for long; but now 'twas all dashed, and death, that is +so far off to the young, had moved nearer by fifty years--was moving a +year nearer every minute. + +'We are on a lee shore,' Elzevir shouted; and I looked and knew what the +white fringe was, and that we should be in the breakers in half an hour. +What a whirl of wind and wave and sea, what a whirl of thought and wild +conjecture! What was that land to which we were drifting? Was it cliff, +with deep water and iron face, where a good ship is shattered at a blow, +and death comes like a thunder-clap? Or was it shelving sand, where there +is stranding, and the pound, pound, pound of the waves for howls, before +she goes to pieces and all is over? + +We were in a bay, for there was the long white crescent of surf reaching +far away on either side, till it was lost in the dusk, and the brig +helpless in the midst of it. Elzevir had hold of my arm, and gripped it +hard as he looked to larboard. I followed his eyes, and where one horn of +the white crescent faded into the mist, caught a dark shadow in the air, +and knew it was high land looming behind. And then the murk and driving +rain lifted ever so little, and as it were only for that purpose; and we +saw a misty bluff slope down into the sea, like the long head of a +basking alligator poised upon the water, and stared into each other's +eyes, and cried together, 'The Snout!' + +It had vanished almost before it was seen, and yet we knew there was no +mistake; it was the Snout that was there looming behind the moving rack, +and we were in Moonfleet Bay. Oh, what a rush of thought then came, +dazing me with its sweet bitterness, to think that after all these weary +years of prison and exile we had come back to Moonfleet! We were so near +to all we loved, so near--only a mile of broken water--and yet so far, +for death lay between, and we had come back to Moonfleet to die. There +was a change came over Elzevir's features when he saw the Snout; his face +had lost its sadness and wore a look of sober happiness. He put his mouth +close to my ear and said: 'There is some strange leading hand has brought +us home at last, and I had rather drown on Moonfleet Beach than live in +prison any more, and drown we must within an hour. Yet we will play the +man, and make a fight for life.' And then, as if gathering together all +his force: 'We have weathered bad times together, and who knows but we +shall weather this?' + +The other prisoners were on deck now, and had found their way aft. They +were wild with fear, being landsmen and never having seen an angry sea, +and indeed that sea might have frighted sailors too. So they stumbled +along drenched with the waves, and clustered round Elzevir, for they +looked on him as a leader, because he knew the ways of the sea and was +the only one left calm in this dreadful strait. + +It was plain that when the Dutch crew found they were embayed, and that +the ship must drift into the breakers, they had taken to the boats, for +gig and jolly-boat were gone and only the pinnace left amidships. 'Twas +too heavy a boat perhaps for them to have got out in such a fearful sea; +but there it lay, and it was to that the prisoners turned their eyes. +Some had hold of Elzevir's arms, some fell upon the deck and caught him +by the knees, beseeching him to show them how to get the pinnace out. + +Then he spoke out, shouting to make them hear: 'Friends, any man that +takes to boat is lost. I know this bay and know this beach, and was +indeed born hereabouts, but never knew a boat come to land in such a sea, +save bottom uppermost. So if you want my counsel, there you have it, +namely, to stick by the ship. In half an hour we shall be in the +breakers; and I will put the helm up and try to head the brig bows on to +the beach; so every man will have a chance to fight for his own life, and +God have mercy on those that drown.' + +I knew what he said was the truth, and there was nothing for it but to +stick to the ship, though that was small chance enough; but those poor, +fear-demented souls would have nothing of his advice now 'twas given, +and must needs go for the boat. Then some came up from below who had been +in the spirit-room and were full of drink and drink-courage, and +heartened on the rest, saying they would have the pinnace out, and every +soul should be saved. Indeed, Fate seemed to point them that road, for a +heavier sea than any came on board, and cleared away a great piece of +larboard bulwarks that had been working loose, and made, as it were, a +clear launching-way for the boat. Again did Elzevir try to prevail with +them to stand by the ship, but they turned away and all made for the +pinnace. It lay amidships and was a heavy boat enough, but with so many +hands to help they got it to the broken bulwarks. Then Elzevir, seeing +they would have it out at any price, showed them how to take advantage of +the sea, and shifted the helm a little till the _Aurungzebe_ fell off to +larboard, and put the gap in the bulwarks on the lee. So in a few minutes +there it lay at a rope's-end on the sheltered side, deep laden with +thirty men, who were ill found with oars, and much worse found with skill +to use them. There were one or two, before they left, shouted to Elzevir +and me to try to make us follow them; partly, I think, because they +really liked Elzevir, and partly that they might have a sailor in the +boat to direct them; but the others cast off and left us with a curse, +saying that we might go and drown for obstinate Englishmen. + +So we two were left alone on the brig, which kept drifting backwards +slowly; but the pinnace was soon lost to sight, though we saw that they +were rowing wild as soon as she passed out of the shelter of the ship, +and that they had much ado to keep her head to the sea. + +Then Elzevir went to the kicking-wheel, and beckoned me to help him, and +between us we put the helm hard up. I saw then that he had given up all +hope of the wind shifting, and was trying to run her dead for the beach. + +She was broached-to with her bows in the wind, but gradually paid off as +the staysail filled, and so she headed straight for shore. The November +night had fallen, and it was very dark, only the white fringe of the +breakers could be seen, and grew plainer as we drew closer to it. The +wind was blowing fiercer than ever, and the waves broke more fiercely +nearer the shore. They had lost their dirty yellow colour when the light +died, and were rolling after us like great black mountains, with a +combing white top that seemed as if they must overwhelm us every minute. +Twice they pooped us, and we were up to our waists in icy water, but +still held to the wheel for our lives. + +The white line was nearer to us now, and above all the rage of wind and +sea I could hear the awful roar of the under-tow sucking back the +pebbles on the beach. The last time I could remember hearing that roar +was when I lay, as a boy, one summer's night 'twixt sleep and waking, in +the little whitewashed bedroom at my aunt's; and I wondered now if any +sat before their inland hearths this night, and hearing that far distant +roar, would throw another log on the fire, and thank God they were not +fighting for their lives in Moonfleet Bay. I could picture all that was +going on this night on the beach--how Ratsey and the landers would have +sighted the _Aurungzebe,_ perhaps at noon, perhaps before, and knew she +was embayed, and nothing could save her but the wind drawing to east. +But the wind would hold pinned in the south, and they would see sail +after sail blown off her, and watch her wear and wear, and every time +come nearer in; and the talk would run through the street that there was +a ship could not weather the Snout, and must come ashore by sundown. +Then half the village would be gathered on the beach, with the men ready +to risk their lives for ours, and in no wise wishing for the ship to be +wrecked; yet anxious not to lose their chance of booty, if Providence +should rule that wrecked she must be. And I knew Ratsey would be there, +and Damen, Tewkesbury, and Laver, and like enough Parson Glennie, and +perhaps--and at that perhaps, my thoughts came back to where we were, +for I heard Elzevir speaking to me: + +'Look,' he said, 'there's a light!' + +'Twas but the faintest twinkle, or not even that; only something that +told there was a light behind drift and darkness. It grew clearer as we +looked at it, and again was lost in the mirk, and then Elzevir said, +'Maskew's Match!' + +It was a long-forgotten name that came to me from so far off, down such +long alleys of the memory, that I had, as it were, to grope and grapple +with it to know what it should mean. Then it all came back, and I was a +boy again on the trawler, creeping shorewards in the light breeze of an +August night, and watching that friendly twinkle from the Manor woods +above the village. Had she not promised she would keep that lamp alight +to guide all sailors every night till I came back again; was she not +waiting still for me, was I not coming back to her now? But what a coming +back! No more a boy, not on an August night, but broken, branded convict +in the November gale! 'Twas well, indeed, there was between us that white +fringe of death, that she might never see what I had fallen to. + +'Twas likely Elzevir had something of the same thoughts, for he spoke +again, forgetting perhaps that I was man now, and no longer boy, and +using a name he had not used for years. 'Johnnie,' he said, 'I am cold +and sore downhearted. In ten minutes we shall be in the surf. Go down to +the spirit locker, drink thyself, and bring me up a bottle here. We +shall both need a young man's strength, and I have not got it any more.' + +I did as he bid me, and found the locker though the cabin was all awash, +and having drunk myself, took him the bottle back. 'Twas good Hollands +enough, being from the captain's own store, but nothing to the old Ararat +milk of the Why Not? Elzevir took a pull at it, and then flung the bottle +away. 'Tis sound liquor,' he laughed, '"and good for autumn chills", as +Ratsey would have said.' + +We were very near the white fringe now, and the waves followed us higher +and more curling. Then there was a sickly wan glow that spread itself +through the watery air in front of us, and I knew that they were burning +a blue light on the beach. They would all be there waiting for us, +though we could not see them, and they did not know that there were only +two men that they were signalling to, and those two Moonfleet born. They +burn that light in Moonfleet Bay just where a little streak of clay +crops out beneath the pebbles, and if a vessel can make that spot she +gets a softer bottom. So we put the wheel over a bit, and set her +straight for the flare. + +There was a deafening noise as we came near the shore, the shrieking of +the wind in the rigging, the crash of the combing seas, and over all the +awful grinding roar of the under-tow sucking down the pebbles. + +'It is coming now,' Elzevir said; and I could see dim figures moving in +the misty glare from the blue light; and then, just as the _Aurungzebe_ +was making fair for the signal, a monstrous combing sea pooped her and +washed us both from the wheel, forward in a swirling flood. We grasped at +anything we could, and so brought up bruised and half-drowned in the +fore-chains; but as the wheel ran free, another sea struck her and +slewed her round. There was a second while the water seemed over, under, +and on every side, and then the _Aurungzebe_ went broadside on Moonfleet +beach, with a noise like thunder and a blow that stunned us. + +I have seen ships come ashore in that same place before and since, and +bump on and off with every wave, till the stout balks could stand the +pounding no more and parted. But 'twas not so with our poor brig, for +after that first fearful shock she never moved again, being flung so firm +upon the beach by one great swamping wave that never another had power to +uproot her. Only she careened over beachwards, turning herself away from +the seas, as a child bows his head to escape a cruel master's ferule, and +then her masts broke off, first the fore and then the main, with a +splitting crash that made itself heard above all. + +We were on the lee side underneath the shelter of the deckhouse clinging +to the shrouds, now up to our knees in water as the wave came on, now +left high and dry when it went back. The blue light was still burning, +but the ship was beached a little to the right of it, and the dim group +of fishermen had moved up along the beach till they were opposite us. +Thus we were but a hundred feet distant from them, but 'twas the interval +of death and life, for between us and the shore was a maddened race of +seething water, white foaming waves that leapt up from all sides against +our broken bulwarks, or sucked back the pebbles with a grinding roar till +they left the beach nearly dry. + +We stood there for a minute hanging on, and waiting for resolution to +come back to us after the shock of grounding. On the weather side the +seas struck and curled over the brig with a noise like thunder, and the +force of countless tons. They came over the top of the deck-house in a +cataract of solid water, and there was a crash, crash, crash of rending +wood, as plank after plank gave way before that stern assault. We could +feel the deck-house itself quiver, and shake again as we stood with our +backs against it, and at last it moved so much that we knew it must soon +be washed over on us. + +The moment had come. 'We must go after the next big wave runs back,' +Elzevir shouted. 'Jump when I give the word, and get as far up the +pebbles as you can before the next comes in: they will throw us a +rope's-end to catch; so now good-bye, John, and God save us both!' + +I wrung his hand, and took off my convict clothes, keeping my boots on to +meet the pebbles, and was so cold that I almost longed for the surf. Then +we stood waiting side by side till a great wave came in, turning the +space 'twixt ship and shore into a boiling caldron: a minute later 'twas +all sucked back again with a roar, and we jumped. + +I fell on hands and feet where the water was a yard deep under the ship, +but got my footing and floundered through the slop, in a desperate +struggle to climb as high as might be on the beach before the next wave +came in. I saw the string of men lashed together and reaching down as +far as man might, to save any that came through the surf, and heard them +shout to cheer us, and marked a coil of rope flung out. Elzevir was by +my side and saw it too, and we both kept our feet and plunged forward +through the quivering slack water; but then there came an awful thunder +behind, the crash of the sea over the wreck, and we knew that another +mountain wave was on our heels. It came in with a swishing roar, a rush +and rise of furious water that swept us like corks up the beach, till we +were within touch of the rope's-end, and the men shouted again to +hearten us as they flung it out. Elzevir seized it with his left hand +and reached out his right to me. Our fingers touched, and in that very +moment the wave fell instantly, with an awful suck, and I was swept +down the beach again. Yet the under-tow took me not back to sea, for +amid the floating wreckage floated the shattered maintop, and in the +truck of that great spar I caught, and so was left with it upon the +beach thirty paces from the men and Elzevir. Then he left his own +assured salvation, namely the rope, and strode down again into the very +jaws of death to catch me by the hand and set me on my feet. Sight and +breath were failing me; I was numb with cold and half-dead from the +buffeting of the sea; yet his giant strength was powerful to save me +then, as it had saved me before. So when we heard once more the warning +crash and thunder of the returning wave we were but a fathom distant +from the rope. 'Take heart, lad,' he cried; ''tis now or never,' and as +the water reached our breasts gave me a fierce shove forward with his +hands. There was a roar of water in my ears, with a great shouting of +the men upon the beach, and then I caught the rope. + + + + +CHAPTER 19 + +ON THE BEACH + +Toll for the brave, + The grave that are no more; +All sunk beneath the wave + Fast by their native shore--_Cowper_ + + +The night was cold, and I had nothing on me save breeches and boots, and +those drenched with the sea, and had been wrestling with the surf so long +that there was little left in me. Yet once I clutched the rope I clung to +it for very life, and in a minute found myself in the midst of the +beachmen. I heard them shout again, and felt strong hands seize me, but +could not see their faces for a mist that swam before my eyes, and could +not speak because my throat and tongue were cracked with the salt water, +and the voice would not come. There was a crowd about me of men and some +women, and I spread out my hands, blindly, to catch hold of them, but my +knees failed and let me down upon the beach. And after that I remember +only having coats flung over me, and being carried off out of the wind, +and laid in warmest blankets before a fire. I was numb with the cold, my +hair was matted with the salt, and my flesh white and shrivelled, but +they forced liquor into my mouth, and so I lay in drowsy content till +utter weariness bound me in sleep. + +It was a deep and dreamless sleep for hours, and when it left me, gently +and as it were inch by inch, I found I was still lying wrapped in +blankets by the fire. Oh, what a vast and infinite peace was that, to lie +there half-asleep, yet wake enough to know that I had slipped my prison +and the pains of death, and was a free man here in my native place! At +last I shifted myself a little, growing more awake; and opening my eyes +saw I was not alone, for two men sat at a table by me with glasses and a +bottle before them. + +'He is coming-to,' said one, 'and may live yet to tell us who he is, and +from what port his craft sailed.' + +'There has been many a craft,' the other said, 'has sailed for many a +port, and made this beach her last; and many an honest man has landed on +it, and never one alive in such a sea. Nor would this one be living +either, if it had not been for that other brave heart to stand by and +save him. Brave heart, brave heart,' he said over to himself. 'Here, pass +me the bottle or I shall get the vapours. 'Tis good against these early +chills, and I have not been in this place for ten years past, since poor +Elzevir was cut adrift.' + +I could not see the speaker's face from where I lay upon the floor, yet +seemed to know his voice; and so was fumbling in my weakened mind to put +a name to it, when he spoke of Elzevir, and sent my thoughts flying +elsewhere. + +'Elzevir,' I said, 'where is Elzevir?' and sat up to look round, +expecting to see him lying near me, and remembering the wreck more +clearly now, and how he had saved me with that last shove forward on the +beach. But he was not to be seen, and so I guessed that his great +strength had brought him round quicker than had my youth, and that he was +gone back to the beach. + +'Hush,' said one of the men at the table, 'lie down and get to sleep +again'; and then he added, speaking to his comrade: 'His brain is +wandering yet: do you see how he has caught up my words about Elzevir?' + +'No,' I struck in, 'my head is clear enough; I am speaking of Elzevir +Block. I pray you tell me where he is. Is he well again?' They got up +and stared at one another and at me, when I named Elzevir Block, and then +I knew the one that spoke for Master Ratsey only greyer than he was. + +'Who are you?' he cried, 'who talk of Elzevir Block.' + +'Do you not know me, Master Ratsey?' and I looked full in his face. 'I am +John Trenchard, who left you so long ago. I pray you tell me where is +Master Block?' + +Master Ratsey looked as if he had seen a ghost, and was struck dumb at +first: but then ran up and shook me by the hand so warmly that I fell +back again on my pillow, while he poured out questions in a flood. How +had I fared, where had I been, whence had I come? until I stopped him, +saying: 'Softly, kind friend, and I will answer; only tell me first, +where is Master Elzevir?' + +'Nay, that I cannot say,' he answered, 'for never a soul has set eyes on +Elzevir since that summer morning we put thee and him ashore at Newport.' + +'Oh, fool me not!' I cried out, chafing at his excuses; 'I am not +wandering now. 'Twas Elzevir that saved me in the surf last night. 'Twas +he that landed with me.' + +There was a look of sad amaze that came on Ratsey's face when I said +that; a look that woke in me an awful surmise. 'What!' cried he, 'was +that Master Elzevir that dragged thee through the surf?' + +'Ay, 'twas he landed with me, 'twas he landed with me,' I said; trying, +as it were, to make true by repeating that which I feared was not the +truth. There was a minute's silence, and then Ratsey spoke very softly: +'There was none landed with you; there was no soul saved from that ship +alive save you.' + +His words fell, one by one, upon my ear as if they were drops of molten +lead. 'It is not true,' I cried; 'he pulled me up the beach himself, and +it was he that pushed me forward to the rope.' + +'Ay, he saved thee, and then the under-tow got hold of him and swept him +down under the curl. I could not see his face, but might have known there +never was a man, save Elzevir, could fight the surf on Moonfleet beach +like that. Yet had we known 'twas he, we could have done no more, for +many risked their lives last night to save you both. We could have done +no more.' Then I gave a great groan for utter anguish, to think that he +had given up the safety he had won for himself, and laid down his life, +there on the beach, for me; to think that he had died on the threshold of +his home; that I should never get a kind look from him again, nor ever +hear his kindly voice. + +It is wearisome to others to talk of deep grief, and beside that no +words, even of the wisest man, can ever set it forth, nor even if we were +able could our memory bear to tell it. So I shall not speak more of that +terrible blow, only to say that sorrow, so far from casting my body down, +as one might have expected, gave it strength, and I rose up from the +mattress where I had been lying. They tried to stop me, and even to hold +me back, but for all I was so weak, I pushed them aside and must needs +fling a blanket round me and away back to the beach. + +The morning was breaking as I left the Why Not?, for 'twas in no other +place but that I lay, and the wind, though still high, had abated. There +were light clouds crossing the heaven very swiftly, and between them +patches of clear sky where the stars were growing paler before the dawn. +The stars were growing paler; but there was another star, that shone out +from the Manor woods above the village, although I could not see the +house, and told me Grace, like the wise virgins, kept her lamp alight all +night. Yet even that light shone without lustre for me then, for my heart +was too full to think of anything but of him who had laid down his life +for mine, and of the strong kind heart that was stilled for ever. + +'Twas well I knew the way, so sure of old, from Why Not? to beach; for I +took no heed to path or feet, but plunged along in the morning dusk, +blind with sorrow and weariness of spirit. There was a fire of driftwood +burning at the back of the beach, and round it crouched a group of men +in reefing jackets and sou'westers waiting for morning to save what they +might from the wreck; but I gave them a wide berth and so passed in the +darkness without a word, and came to the top of the beach. There was +light enough to make out what was doing. The sea was running very high, +but with the falling wind the waves came in more leisurely and with less +of broken water, curling over in a tawny sweep and regular thunderous +beat all along the bay for miles. There was no sign left of the hull of +the _Aurungzebe_, but the beach was strewn with so much wreckage as one +would have thought could never come from so small a ship. There were +barrels and kegs, gratings and hatch-covers, booms and pieces of masts +and trucks; and beside all that, the heaving water in-shore was covered +with a floating mask of broken match-wood, and the waves, as they curled +over, carried up and dashed down on the pebble planks and beams beyond +number. There were a dozen or more of men on the seaward side of the +beach, with oilskins to keep the wet out, prowling up and down the +pebbles to see what they could lay their hands on; and now and then they +would run down almost into the white fringe, risking their lives to save +a keg as they had risked them to save their fellows last night--as they +had risked their lives to save ours, as Elzevir had risked his life to +save mine, and lost it there in the white fringe. + +I sat down at the top of the beach, with elbows on knees, head between +hands, and face set out to sea, not knowing well why I was there or what +I sought, but only thinking that Elzevir was floating somewhere in that +floating skin of wreck-wood, and that I must be at hand to meet him when +he came ashore. He would surely come in time, for I had seen others come +ashore that way. For when the _Bataviaman_ went on the beach, I stood as +near her as our rescuers had stood to us last night, and there were some +aboard who took the fatal leap from off her bows and tried to battle +through the surf. I was so near them I could mark their features and read +the wild hope in their faces at the first, and then the under-tow took +hold of them, and never one that saved his life that day. And yet all +came to beach at last, and I knew them by their dead faces for the men I +had seen hoping against hope 'twixt ship and shore; some naked and some +clothed, some bruised and sorely beaten by the pebbles and the sea, and +some sound and untouched--all came to beach at last. + +So I sat and waited for him to come; and none of the beach-walkers said +anything to me, the Moonfleet men thinking I came from Ringstave, and the +Langton men that I belonged to Moonfleet; and both that I had marked some +cask at sea for my own and was waiting till it should come in. Only after +a while Master Ratsey joined me, and sitting down by me, begged me to eat +bread and meat that he had brought. Now I had little heart to eat, but +took what he gave me to save myself from his importunities, and having +once tasted was led by nature to eat all, and was much benefited thereby. +Yet I could not talk with Ratsey, nor answer any of his questions, though +another time I should have put a thousand to him myself; and he seeing +'twas no good sat by me in silence, using a spy-glass now and again to +make out the things floating at sea. As the day grew the men left the +fire at the back of the beach, and came down to the sea-front where the +waves were continually casting up fresh spoil. And there all worked with +a will, not each one for his own hand, but all to make a common hoard +which should be divided afterwards. + +Among the flotsam moving outside the breakers I could see more than one +dark ball, like black buoys, bobbing up and down, and lifting as the +wave came by: and knew them for the heads of drowned men. Yet though I +took Ratsey's glass and scanned all carefully enough, I could make +nothing of them, but saw the pinnace floating bottom up, and farther out +another boat deserted and down to her gunwale in the water. 'Twas midday +before the first body was cast up, when the sky was breaking a little, +and a thin and watery sun trying to get through, and afterwards three +other bodies followed. They were part of the pinnace's crew, for all had +the iron ring on the left wrist, as Ratsey told me, who went down to see +them, though he said nothing of the branded 'Y', and they were taken up +and put under some sheeting at the back of the beach, there to lie till a +grave should be made ready for them. + +Then I felt something that told me he was coming and saw a body rolled +over in the surf, and knew it for the one I sought. 'Twas nearest me he +was flung up, and I ran down the beach, caring nothing for the white +foam, nor for the under-tow, and laid hold of him: for had he not left +the rescue-line last night, and run down into the surf to save my +worthless life? Ratsey was at my side, and so between us we drew him up +out of the running foam, and then I wrung the water from his hair, and +wiped his face and, kneeling down there, kissed him. + +When they saw that we had got a body, others of the men came up, and +stared to see me handle him so tenderly. But when they knew, at last, I +was a stranger and had the iron ring upon my wrist, and a 'Y' burned upon +my cheek, they stared the more; until the tale went round that I was he +who had come through the surf last night alive, and this poor body was my +friend who had laid down his life for me. Then I saw Ratsey speak with +one and another of the group, and knew that he was telling them our +names; and some that I had known came up and shook me by the hand, not +saying anything because they saw my heart was full; and some bent down +and looked in Elzevir's face, and touched his hands as if to greet him. +Sea and stones had been merciful with him, and he showed neither bruise +nor wound, but his face wore a look of great peace, and his eyes and +mouth were shut. Even I, who knew where 'twas, could scarcely see the 'Y' +mark on his cheek, for the paleness of death had taken out the colour of +the scar, and left his face as smooth and mellow-white as the alabaster +figures in Moonfleet church. His body was naked from the waist up, as he +had stripped for jumping from the brig, and we could see the great broad +chest and swelling muscles that had pulled him out of many a desperate +pass, and only failed him, for the first and last time so few hours ago. + +They stood for a little while looking in silence at the old lander who +had run his last cargo on Moonfleet beach, and then they laid his arms +down by his side, and slung him in a sail, and carried him away. I walked +beside, and as we came down across the sea-meadows, the sun broke out and +we met little groups of schoolchildren making their way down to the beach +to see what was doing with the wreck. They stood aside to let us go by, +the boys pulling their caps and the girls dropping a curtsy, when they +knew that it was a poor drowned body passing; and as I saw the children I +thought I saw myself among them, and I was no more a man, but just come +out from Mr. Glennie's teaching in the old almshouse hall. + +Thus we came to the Why Not? and there set him down. The inn had not +been let, as I learned afterwards, since Maskew died; and they had put +a fire in it last night for the first time, knowing that the brig would +be wrecked, and thinking that some might come off with their lives and +require tending. The door stood open, and they carried him into the +parlour, where the fire was still burning, and laid him down on the +trestle-table, covering his face and body with the sail. This done they +all stood round a little while, awkwardly enough, as not knowing what +to do; and then slipped away one by one, because grief is a thing that +only women know how to handle, and they wanted to be back on the beach +to get what might be from the wreck. Last of all went Master Ratsey, +saying, he saw that I would as lief be alone, and that he would come +back before dark. + +So I was left alone with my dead friend, and with a host of bitterest +thoughts. The room had not been cleaned; there were spider-webs on the +beams, and the dust stood so thick on the window-panes as to shut out +half the light. The dust was on everything: on chairs and tables, save on +the trestle-table where he lay. 'Twas on this very trestle they had laid +out David's body; 'twas in this very room that this still form, who would +never more know either joy or sorrow, had bowed down and wept over his +son. The room was just as we had left it an April evening years ago, and +on the dresser lay the great backgammon board, so dusty that one could +not read the lettering on it; 'Life is like a game of hazard; the skilful +player will make something of the worst of throws'; but what unskillful +players we had been, how bad our throws, how little we had made of them! + +'Twas with thoughts like this that I was busy while the short afternoon +was spent, and the story went up and down the village, how that Elzevir +Block and John Trenchard, who left so long ago, were come back to +Moonfleet, and that the old lander was drowned saving the young man's +life. The dusk was creeping up as I turned back the sail from off his +face and took another look at my lost friend, my only friend; for who +was there now to care a jot for me? I might go and drown myself on +Moonfleet beach, for anyone that would grieve over me. What did it profit +me to have broken bonds and to be free again? what use was freedom to me +now? where was I to go, what was I to do? My friend was gone. + +So I went back and sat with my head in my hands looking into the fire, +when I heard someone step into the room, but did not turn, thinking it +was Master Ratsey come back and treading lightly so as not to disturb me. +Then I felt a light touch on my shoulder, and looking up saw standing by +me a tall and stately woman, girl no longer, but woman in the full +strength and beauty of youth. I knew her in a moment, for she had altered +little, except her oval face had something more of dignity, and the tawny +hair that used to fly about her back was now gathered up. She was looking +down at me, and let her hand rest on my shoulder. 'John,' she said, 'have +you forgotten me? May I not share your sorrow? Did you not think to tell +me you were come? Did you not see the light, did you not know there was a +friend that waited for you?' + +I said nothing, not being able to speak, but marvelling how she had come +just in the point of time to prove me wrong to think I had no friend; and +she went on: + +'Is it well for you to be here? Grieve not too sadly, for none could have +died nobler than he died; and in these years that you have been away, I +have thought much of him and found him good at heart, and if he did aught +wrong 'twas because others wronged him more.' + +And while she spoke I thought how Elzevir had gone to shoot her father, +and only failed of it by a hair's-breadth, and yet she spoke so well I +thought he never really meant to shoot at all, but only to scare the +magistrate. And what a whirligig of time was here, that I should have +saved Elzevir from having that blot on his conscience, and then that he +should save my life, and now that Maskew's daughter should be the one to +praise Elzevir when he lay dead! And still I could not speak. + +And again she said: 'John, have you no word for me? have you forgotten? +do you not love me still? Have I no part in your sorrow?' + +Then I took her hand in mine and raised it to my lips, and said, 'Dear +Mistress Grace, I have forgotten nothing, and honour you above all +others: but of love I may not speak more to you--nor you to me, for we +are no more boy and girl as in times past, but you a noble lady and I a +broken wretch'; and with that I told how I had been ten years a +prisoner, and why, and showed her the iron ring upon my wrist, and the +brand upon my cheek. + +At the brand she stared, and said, 'Speak not of wealth; 'tis not wealth +makes men, and if you have come back no richer than you went, you are +come back no poorer, nor poorer, John, in honour. And I am rich and have +more wealth than I can rightly use, so speak not of these things; but be +glad that you are poor, and were not let to profit by that evil treasure. +But for this brand, it is no prison name to me, but the Mohunes' badge, +to show that you are theirs and must do their bidding. Said I not to you, +Have a care how you touch the treasure, it was evilly come by and will +bring a curse with it? But now, I pray you, with a greater earnestness, +seeing you bear this mark upon you, touch no penny of that treasure if it +should some day come back to you, but put it to such uses as Colonel +Mohune thought would help his sinful soul.' + +With that she took her hand from mine and bade me 'good night', leaving +me in the darkening room with the glow from the fire lighting up the sail +and the outline of the body that lay under it. After she was gone I +pondered long over what she had said, and what that should mean when she +spoke of the treasure one day coming back to me: but wondered much the +most to find how constant is the love of woman, and how she could still +find a place in her heart for so poor a thing as I. But as to what she +said, I was to learn her meaning this very night. + +Master Ratsey had come in and gone again, not stopping with me very long, +because there was much doing on the beach; but bidding me be of good +cheer, and have no fear of the law; for that the ban against me and the +head-price had been dead for many a year. 'Twas Grace had made her +lawyers move for this, refusing herself to sign the hue and cry, and +saying that the fatal shot was fired by misadventure. And so a dread +which was just waking was laid to rest for ever; and when Ratsey went I +made up the fire, and lay down in the blankets in front of it, for I was +dog-tired and longed for sleep. I was already dozing, but not asleep, +when there was a knock at the door, and in walked Mr. Glennie. He was +aged, and stooped a little, as I could see by the firelight, but for all +that I knew him at once, and sitting up offered him what welcome I could. + +He looked at me curiously at first, as taking note of the bearded man +that had grown out of the boy he remembered, but gave me very kindly +greeting, and sat down beside me on a bench. First, he lifted the sail +from the dead body, and looked at the sleeping face. Then he took out a +Common Prayer reading the Commendamus over the dead, and giving me +spiritual comfort, and lastly, he fell to talking about the past. From +him I learnt something of what had happened while I was away, though for +that matter nothing had happened at all, except a few deaths, for that +is the only sort of change for which we look in Moonfleet. And among +those who had passed away was Miss Arnold, my aunt, so that I was +another friend the less, if indeed I should count her a friend: for +though she meant me well, she showed her care with too much strictness +to let me love her, and so in my great sorrow for Elzevir I found no +room to grieve for her. + +Whether from the spiritual solace Mr. Glennie offered me, or whether from +his pointing out how much cause for thankfulness I had in being loosed +out of prison and saved from imminent death, certain it was I felt some +assuagement of grief, and took pleasure in his talk. + +'And though I may by some be reprehended,' he said, 'for presuming to +refer to profane authors after citing Holy Scripture, yet I cannot +refrain from saying that even the great poet Homer counsels moderation in +mourning, "for quickly," says he, "cometh satiety of chilly grief".' + +After this I thought he was going, but he cleared his throat in such a +way that I guessed he had something important to say, and he drew a long +folded blue paper from his pocket. 'My son,' he said, opening it +leisurely and smoothing it out upon his knee, 'we should never revile +Fortune, and in speaking of Fortune I only use that appellation in our +poor human sense, and do not imply that there is any Chance at all but +what is subject to an over-ruling Providence; we should never, I say, +revile Fortune, for just at that moment when she appears to have deserted +us, she may be only gone away to seek some richest treasure to bring back +with her. And that this is so let what I am about to read to you prove; +so light a candle and set it by me, for my eyes cannot follow the writing +in this dancing firelight.' + +I took an end of candle which stood on the mantelpiece and did as he bid +me, and he went on: 'I shall read you this letter which I received near +eight years ago, and of the weightiness of it you shall yourself judge.' + +I shall not here set down that letter in full, although I have it by me, +but will put it shortly, because it was from a lawyer, tricked with +long-winded phrases and spun out as such letters are to afford cover +afterwards for a heavier charge. It was addressed to the Reverend Horace +Glennie, Perpetual Curate of Moonfleet, in the County of Dorset, England, +and written in English by Heer Roosten, Attorney and Signariat of the +Hague in the Kingdom of Holland. It set forth that one Krispijn +Aldobrand, jeweller and dealer in precious stones, at the Hague, had sent +for Heer Roosten to draw a will for him. And that the said Krispijn +Aldobrand, being near his end, had deposed to the said Heer Roosten, that +he, Aldobrand, was desirous to leave all his goods to one John Trenchard, +of Moonfleet, Dorset, in the Kingdom of England. And that he was moved +to do this, first, by the consideration that he, Aldobrand, had no +children to whom to leave aught, and second, because he desired to make +full and fitting restitution to John Trenchard, for that he had once +obtained from the said John a diamond without paying the proper price for +it. Which stone he, Aldobrand, had sold and converted into money, and +having so done, found afterwards both his fortune and his health decline; +so that, although he had great riches before he became possessed of the +diamond, these had forthwith melted through unfortunate ventures and +speculations, till he had little remaining to him but the money that this +same diamond had brought. + +He therefore left to John Trenchard everything of which he should die +possessed, and being near death begged his forgiveness if he had wronged +him in aught. These were the instructions which Heer Roosten received +from Mr. Aldobrand, whose health sensibly declined, until three months +later he died. It was well, Heer Roosten added, that the will had been +drawn in good time, for as Mr. Aldobrand grew weaker, he became a prey to +delusions, saying that John Trenchard had laid a curse upon the diamond, +and professing even to relate the words of it, namely, that it should +'bring evil in this life, and damnation in that which is to come.' Nor +was this all, for he could get no sleep, but woke up with a horrid dream, +in which, so he informed Heer Roosten, he saw continually a tall man with +a coppery face and black beard draw the bed-curtains and mock him. Thus +he came at length to his end, and after his death Heer Roosten +endeavoured to give effect to the provision of the will, by writing to +John Trenchard, at Moonfleet, Dorset, to apprise him that he was left +sole heir. That address, indeed, was all the indication that Aldobrand +had given, though he constantly promised his attorney to let him have +closer information as to Trenchard's whereabouts, in good time. This +information was, however, always postponed, perhaps because Aldobrand +hoped he might get better and so repent of his repentance. So all Heer +Roosten had to do was to write to Trenchard at Moonfleet, and in due +course the letter was returned to him, with the information that +Trenchard had fled that place to escape the law, and was then nowhere to +be found. After that Heer Roosten was advised to write to the minister of +the parish, and so addressed these lines to Mr. Glennie. + +This was the gist of the letter which Mr. Glennie read, and you may +easily guess how such news moved me, and how we sat far into the night +talking and considering what steps it was best to take, for we feared +lest so long an interval as eight years having elapsed, the lawyers might +have made some other disposition of the money. It was midnight when Mr. +Glennie left. The candle had long burnt out, but the fire was bright, +and he knelt a moment by the trestle-table before he went out. + +'He made a good end, John,' he said, rising from his knees, 'and I pray +that our end may be in as good cause when it comes. For with the best of +us the hour of death is an awful hour, and we may well pray, as every +Sunday, to be delivered in it. But there is another time which those who +wrote this Litany thought no less perilous, and bade us pray to be +delivered in all time of our wealth. So I pray that if, after all, this +wealth comes to your hand you may be led to use it well; for though I do +not hold with foolish tales, or think a curse hangs on riches themselves, +yet if riches have been set apart for a good purpose, even by evil men, +as Colonel John Mohune set apart this treasure, it cannot be but that we +shall do grievous wrong in putting them to other use. So fare you well, +and remember that there are other treasures besides this, and that a good +woman's love is worth far more than all the gold and jewels of the +world--as I once knew.' And with that he left me. + +I guessed that he had spoken with Grace that day, and as I lay dozing in +front of the fire, alone in this old room I knew so well, alone with that +silent friend who had died to save me, I mourned him none the less, but +yet sorrowed not as one without hope. + + * * * * * + +What need to tell this tale at any more length, since you may know, by my +telling it, that all went well? for what man would sit down to write a +history that ended in his own discomfiture? All that great wealth came to +my hands, and if I do not say how great it was, 'tis that I may not wake +envy, for it was far more than ever I could have thought. And of that +money I never touched penny piece, having learnt a bitter lesson in the +past, but laid it out in good works, with Mr. Glennie and Grace to help +me. First, we rebuilt and enlarged the almshouses beyond all that Colonel +John Mohune could ever think of, and so established them as to be a haven +for ever for all worn-out sailors of that coast. Next, we sought the +guidance of the Brethren of the Trinity, and built a lighthouse on the +Snout, to be a Channel beacon for sea-going ships, as Maskew's match had +been a light for our fishing-boats in the past. Lastly, we beautified the +church, turning out the cumbrous seats of oak, and neatly pewing it with +deal and baize, that made it most commodious to sit in of the Sabbath. +There was also much old glass which we removed, and reglazed all the +windows tight against the wind, so that what with a high pulpit, +reading-desk, and seat for Master Clerk and new Commandment boards each +side of the Holy Table, there was not a church could vie with ours in the +countryside. But that great vault below it, with its memories, was set in +order, and then safely walled up, and after that nothing was more ever +heard of Blackbeard and his lost Mohunes. And as for the landers, I +cannot say where they went; and if a cargo is still run of a dark night +upon the beach, I know nothing of it, being both Lord of the Manor and +Justice of the Peace. + +The village, too, renewed itself with the new almshouses and church. +There were old houses rebuilt and fresh ones reared, and all are ours, +except the Why Not? which still remains the Duchy Inn. And that was let +again, and men left the Choughs at Ringstave and came back to their old +haunt, and any shipwrecked or travel-worn sailor found board and welcome +within its doors. + +And of the Mohune Hospital--for that was what the alms-houses were now +called--Master Glennie was first warden, with fair rooms and a full +library, and Master Ratsey head of the Bedesmen. There they spent happier +days, till they were gathered in the fullness of their years; and sleep +on the sunny side of the church, within sound of the sea, by that great +buttress where I once found Master Ratsey listening with his ear to +ground. And close beside them lies Elzevir Block, most faithful and most +loved by me, with a text on his tombstone: 'Greater love hath no man than +this, that a man lay down his life for his friend,' and some of Mr. +Glennie's verses. + +And of ourselves let me speak last. The Manor House is a stately home +again, with trim lawns and terraced balustrades, where we can sit and +see the thin blue smoke hang above the village on summer evenings. And +in the Manor woods my wife and I have seen a little Grace and a little +John and little Elzevir, our firstborn, play; and now our daughter is +grown up, fair to us as the polished corners of the Temple, and our sons +are gone out to serve King George on sea and land. But as for us, for +Grace and me, we never leave this our happy Moonfleet, being well +content to see the dawn tipping the long cliff-line with gold, and the +night walking in dew across the meadows; to watch the spring clothe the +beech boughs with green, or the figs ripen on the southern wall: while +behind all, is spread as a curtain the eternal sea, ever the same and +ever changing. Yet I love to see it best when it is lashed to madness in +the autumn gale, and to hear the grinding roar and churn of the pebbles +like a great organ playing all the night. 'Tis then I turn in bed and +thank God, more from the heart, perhaps, than, any other living man, +that I am not fighting for my life on Moonfleet Beach. And more than +once I have stood rope in hand in that same awful place, and tried to +save a struggling wretch; but never saw one come through the surf alive, +in such a night as he saved me. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Moonfleet, by J. 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Meade Falkner + +Release Date: January 18, 2004 [EBook #10743] +[Last updated: December 4, 2013] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOONFLEET *** + + + + +Produced by Riikka Talonpoika, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + + MOONFLEET + + J. MEADE FALKNER + + 1898 + + + + +We thought there was no more behind +But such a day tomorrow as today +And to be a boy eternal. + +Shakespeare + + + + +TO ALL MOHUNES +OF FLEET AND MOONFLEET +IN AGRO DORCESTRENSI +LIVING OR DEAD + + + + +CONTENTS + + 1 IN MOONFLEET VILLAGE + + 2 THE FLOODS + + 3 A DISCOVERY + + 4 IN THE VAULT + + 5 THE RESCUE + + 6 AN ASSAULT + + 7 AN AUCTION + + 8 THE LANDING + + 9 A JUDGEMENT + +10 THE ESCAPE + +11 THE SEA-CAVE + +12 A FUNERAL + +13 AN INTERVIEW + +14 THE WELL-HOUSE + +15 THE WELL + +16 THE JEWEL + +17 AT YMEGUEN + +18 IN THE BAY + +19 ON THE BEACH + + + + +Says the Cap'n to the Crew, +We have slipped the Revenue, + I can see the cliffs of Dover on the lee: +Tip the signal to the _Swan_, +And anchor broadside on, + And out with the kegs of Eau-de-Vie, + Says the Cap'n: + Out with the kegs of Eau-de-Vie. +Says the Lander to his men, +Get your grummets on the pin, + There's a blue light burning out at sea. +The windward anchors creep, +And the Gauger's fast asleep, + And the kegs are bobbing one, two, three, + Says the Lander: + The kegs are bobbing one, two, three. + +But the bold Preventive man +Primes the powder in his pan + And cries to the Posse, Follow me. +We will take this smuggling gang, +And those that fight shall hang + Dingle dangle from the execution tree, + Says the Gauger: +Dingle dangle with the weary moon to see. + + + + +CHAPTER 1 + +IN MOONFLEET VILLAGE + +So sleeps the pride of former days--_More_ + + +The village of Moonfleet lies half a mile from the sea on the right or +west bank of the Fleet stream. This rivulet, which is so narrow as it +passes the houses that I have known a good jumper clear it without a +pole, broadens out into salt marshes below the village, and loses itself +at last in a lake of brackish water. The lake is good for nothing except +sea-fowl, herons, and oysters, and forms such a place as they call in the +Indies a lagoon; being shut off from the open Channel by a monstrous +great beach or dike of pebbles, of which I shall speak more hereafter. +When I was a child I thought that this place was called Moonfleet, +because on a still night, whether in summer, or in winter frosts, the +moon shone very brightly on the lagoon; but learned afterwards that 'twas +but short for 'Mohune-fleet', from the Mohunes, a great family who were +once lords of all these parts. + +My name is John Trenchard, and I was fifteen years of age when this story +begins. My father and mother had both been dead for years, and I boarded +with my aunt, Miss Arnold, who was kind to me in her own fashion, but too +strict and precise ever to make me love her. + +I shall first speak of one evening in the fall of the year 1757. It must +have been late in October, though I have forgotten the exact date, and I +sat in the little front parlour reading after tea. My aunt had few books; +a Bible, a Common Prayer, and some volumes of sermons are all that I can +recollect now; but the Reverend Mr. Glennie, who taught us village +children, had lent me a story-book, full of interest and adventure, +called the _Arabian Nights Entertainment_. At last the light began to +fail, and I was nothing loth to leave off reading for several reasons; +as, first, the parlour was a chilly room with horse-hair chairs and sofa, +and only a coloured-paper screen in the grate, for my aunt did not allow +a fire till the first of November; second, there was a rank smell of +molten tallow in the house, for my aunt was dipping winter candles on +frames in the back kitchen; third, I had reached a part in the _Arabian +Nights_ which tightened my breath and made me wish to leave off reading +for very anxiousness of expectation. It was that point in the story of +the 'Wonderful Lamp', where the false uncle lets fall a stone that seals +the mouth of the underground chamber; and immures the boy, Aladdin, in +the darkness, because he would not give up the lamp till he stood safe on +the surface again. This scene reminded me of one of those dreadful +nightmares, where we dream we are shut in a little room, the walls of +which are closing in upon us, and so impressed me that the memory of it +served as a warning in an adventure that befell me later on. So I gave up +reading and stepped out into the street. It was a poor street at best, +though once, no doubt, it had been finer. Now, there were not two hundred +souls in Moonfleet, and yet the houses that held them straggled sadly +over half a mile, lying at intervals along either side of the road. +Nothing was ever made new in the village; if a house wanted repair badly, +it was pulled down, and so there were toothless gaps in the street, and +overrun gardens with broken-down walls, and many of the houses that yet +stood looked as though they could stand but little longer. + +The sun had set; indeed, it was already so dusk that the lower or +sea-end of the street was lost from sight. There was a little fog or +smoke-wreath in the air, with an odour of burning weeds, and that first +frosty feeling of the autumn that makes us think of glowing fires and +the comfort of long winter evenings to come. All was very still, but I +could hear the tapping of a hammer farther down the street, and walked +to see what was doing, for we had no trades in Moonfleet save that of +fishing. It was Ratsey the sexton at work in a shed which opened on the +street, lettering a tombstone with a mallet and graver. He had been +mason before he became fisherman, and was handy with his tools; so that +if anyone wanted a headstone set up in the churchyard, he went to Ratsey +to get it done. I lent over the half-door and watched him a minute, +chipping away with the graver in a bad light from a lantern; then he +looked up, and seeing me, said: + +'Here, John, if you have nothing to do, come in and hold the lantern for +me, 'tis but a half-hour's job to get all finished.' + +Ratsey was always kind to me, and had lent me a chisel many a time to +make boats, so I stepped in and held the lantern watching him chink out +the bits of Portland stone with a graver, and blinking the while when +they came too near my eyes. The inscription stood complete, but he was +putting the finishing touches to a little sea-piece carved at the top of +the stone, which showed a schooner boarding a cutter. I thought it fine +work at the time, but know now that it was rough enough; indeed, you may +see it for yourself in Moonfleet churchyard to this day, and read the +inscription too, though it is yellow with lichen, and not so plain as it +was that night. This is how it runs: + +SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF DAVID BLOCK + +Aged 15, who was killed by a shot fired from the _Elector_ Schooner, +21 June 1757. + +Of life bereft (by fell design), + I mingle with my fellow clay. +On God's protection I recline + To save me in the Judgement Day. + +There too must you, cruel man, appear, + Repent ere it be all too late; +Or else a dreadful sentence fear, + For God will sure revenge my fate. + +The Reverend Mr. Glennie wrote the verses, and I knew them by heart, for +he had given me a copy; indeed, the whole village had rung with the tale +of David's death, and it was yet in every mouth. He was only child to +Elzevir Block, who kept the Why Not? inn at the bottom of the village, +and was with the contrabandiers, when their ketch was boarded that June +night by the Government schooner. People said that it was Magistrate +Maskew of Moonfleet Manor who had put the Revenue men on the track, and +anyway he was on board the _Elector_ as she overhauled the ketch. There +was some show of fighting when the vessels first came alongside of one +another, and Maskew drew a pistol and fired it off in young David's face, +with only the two gunwales between them. In the afternoon of Midsummer's +Day the _Elector_ brought the ketch into Moonfleet, and there was a posse +of constables to march the smugglers off to Dorchester Jail. The +prisoners trudged up through the village ironed two and two together, +while people stood at their doors or followed them, the men greeting them +with a kindly word, for we knew most of them as Ringstave and Monkbury +men, and the women sorrowing for their wives. But they left David's body +in the ketch, so the boy paid dear for his night's frolic. + +'Ay, 'twas a cruel, cruel thing to fire on so young a lad,' Ratsey said, +as he stepped back a pace to study the effect of a flag that he was +chiselling on the Revenue schooner, 'and trouble is likely to come to +the other poor fellows taken, for Lawyer Empson says three of them will +surely hang at next Assize. I recollect', he went on, 'thirty years ago, +when there was a bit of a scuffle between the _Royal Sophy_ and the +_Marnhull_, they hanged four of the contrabandiers, and my old father +caught his death of cold what with going to see the poor chaps turned off +at Dorchester, and standing up to his knees in the river Frome to get a +sight of them, for all the countryside was there, and such a press there +was no place on land. There, that's enough,' he said, turning again to +the gravestone. 'On Monday I'll line the ports in black, and get a brush +of red to pick out the flag; and now, my son, you've helped with the +lantern, so come down to the Why Not? and there I'll have a word with +Elzevir, who sadly needs the talk of kindly friends to cheer him, and +we'll find you a glass of Hollands to keep out autumn chills.' + +I was but a lad, and thought it a vast honour to be asked to the Why +Not?--for did not such an invitation raise me at once to the dignity of +manhood. Ah, sweet boyhood, how eager are we as boys to be quit of thee, +with what regret do we look back on thee before our man's race is +half-way run! Yet was not my pleasure without alloy, for I feared even to +think of what Aunt Jane would say if she knew that I had been at the Why +Not?--and beside that, I stood in awe of grim old Elzevir Block, grimmer +and sadder a thousand times since David's death. + +The Why Not? was not the real name of the inn; it was properly the Mohune +Arms. The Mohunes had once owned, as I have said, the whole of the +village; but their fortunes fell, and with them fell the fortunes of +Moonfleet. The ruins of their mansion showed grey on the hillside above +the village; their almshouses stood half-way down the street, with the +quadrangle deserted and overgrown; the Mohune image and superscription +was on everything from the church to the inn, and everything that bore it +was stamped also with the superscription of decay. And here it is +necessary that I say a few words as to this family badge; for, as you +will see, I was to bear it all my life, and shall carry its impress with +me to the grave. The Mohune shield was plain white or silver, and bore +nothing upon it except a great black 'Y. I call it a 'Y', though the +Reverend Mr. Glennie once explained to me that it was not a 'Y' at all, +but what heralds call a _cross-pall. Cross-pall_ or no _cross-pall,_ it +looked for all the world like a black 'Y', with a broad arm ending in +each of the top corners of the shield, and the tail coming down into the +bottom. You might see that cognizance carved on the manor, and on the +stonework and woodwork of the church, and on a score of houses in the +village, and it hung on the signboard over the door of the inn. Everyone +knew the Mohune 'Y' for miles around, and a former landlord having called +the inn the Why Not? in jest, the name had stuck to it ever since. + +More than once on winter evenings, when men were drinking in the Why +Not?, I had stood outside, and listened to them singing 'Ducky-stones', +or 'Kegs bobbing One, Two, Three', or some of the other tunes that +sailors sing in the west. Such songs had neither beginning nor ending, +and very little sense to catch hold of in the middle. One man would crone +the air, and the others would crone a solemn chorus, but there was little +hard drinking, for Elzevir Block never got drunk himself, and did not +like his guests to get drunk either. On singing nights the room grew hot, +and the steam stood so thick on the glass inside that one could not see +in; but at other times, when there was no company, I have peeped through +the red curtains and watched Elzevir Block and Ratsey playing backgammon +at the trestle-table by the fire. It was on the trestle-table that Block +had afterwards laid out his son's dead body, and some said they had +looked through the window at night and seen the father trying to wash the +blood-matting out of the boy's yellow hair, and heard him groaning and +talking to the lifeless clay as if it could understand. Anyhow, there had +been little drinking in the inn since that time, for Block grew more and +more silent and morose. He had never courted customers, and now he +scowled on any that came, so that men looked on the Why Not? as a +blighted spot, and went to drink at the Three Choughs at Ringstave. + +My heart was in my mouth when Ratsey lifted the latch and led me into the +inn parlour. It was a low sanded room with no light except a fire of +seawood on the hearth, burning clear and lambent with blue salt flames. +There were tables at each end of the room, and wooden-seated chairs round +the walls, and at the trestle table by the chimney sat Elzevir Block +smoking a long pipe and looking at the fire. He was a man of fifty, with +a shock of grizzled hair, a broad but not unkindly face of regular +features, bushy eyebrows, and the finest forehead that I ever saw. His +frame was thick-set, and still immensely strong; indeed, the countryside +was full of tales of his strange prowess or endurance. Blocks had been +landlords at the Why Not? father and son for years, but Elzevir's mother +came from the Low Countries, and that was how he got his outland name and +could speak Dutch. Few men knew much of him, and folks often wondered how +it was he kept the Why Not? on so little custom as went that way. Yet he +never seemed to lack for money; and if people loved to tell stories of +his strength, they would speak also of widows helped, and sick comforted +with unknown gifts, and hint that some of them came from Elzevir Block +for all he was so grim and silent. + +He turned round and got up as we came in, and my fears led me to think +that his face darkened when he saw me. + +'What does this boy want?' he said to Ratsey sharply. + +'He wants the same as I want, and that's a glass of Ararat milk to keep +out autumn chills,' the sexton answered, drawing another chair up to the +trestle-table. + +'Cows' milk is best for children such as he,' was Elzevir's answer, as he +took two shining brass candlesticks from the mantel-board, set them on +the table, and lit the candles with a burning chip from the hearth. + +'John is no child; he is the same age as David, and comes from helping me +to finish David's headstone. 'Tis finished now, barring the paint upon +the ships, and, please God, by Monday night we will have it set fair and +square in the churchyard, and then the poor lad may rest in peace, +knowing he has above him Master Ratsey's best handiwork, and the parson's +verses to set forth how shamefully he came to his end.' + +I thought that Elzevir softened a little as Ratsey spoke of his son, and +he said, 'Ay, David rests in peace. 'Tis they that brought him to his end +that shall not rest in peace when their time comes. And it may come +sooner than they think,' he added, speaking more to himself than to us. I +knew that he meant Mr. Maskew, and recollected that some had warned the +magistrate that he had better keep out of Elzevir's way, for there was no +knowing what a desperate man might do. And yet the two had met since in +the village street, and nothing worse come of it than a scowling look +from Block. + +'Tush, man!' broke in the sexton, 'it was the foulest deed ever man +did; but let not thy mind brood on it, nor think how thou mayest get +thyself avenged. Leave that to Providence; for He whose wisdom lets +such things be done, will surely see they meet their due reward. +"Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, saith the Lord".' And he took his +hat off and hung it on a peg. + +Block did not answer, but set three glasses on the table, and then took +out from a cupboard a little round long-necked bottle, from which he +poured out a glass for Ratsey and himself. Then he half-filled the third, +and pushed it along the table to me, saying, 'There, take it, lad, if +thou wilt; 'twill do thee no good, but may do thee no harm.' + +Ratsey raised his glass almost before it was filled. He sniffed the +liquor and smacked his lips. 'O rare milk of Ararat!' he said, 'it is +sweet and strong, and sets the heart at ease. And now get the +backgammon-board, John, and set it for us on the table.' So they fell to +the game, and I took a sly sip at the liquor, but nearly choked myself, +not being used to strong waters, and finding it heady and burning in the +throat. Neither man spoke, and there was no sound except the constant +rattle of the dice, and the rubbing of the pieces being moved across the +board. Now and then one of the players stopped to light his pipe, and at +the end of a game they scored their totals on the table with a bit of +chalk. So I watched them for an hour, knowing the game myself, and being +interested at seeing Elzevir's backgammon-board, which I had heard talked +of before. + +It had formed part of the furniture of the Why Not? for generations of +landlords, and served perhaps to pass time for cavaliers of the Civil +Wars. All was of oak, black and polished, board, dice-boxes, and men, but +round the edge ran a Latin inscription inlaid in light wood, which I read +on that first evening, but did not understand till Mr. Glennie translated +it to me. I had cause to remember it afterwards, so I shall set it down +here in Latin for those who know that tongue, _Ita in vita ut in lusu +alae pessima jactura arte corrigenda est_, and in English as Mr. Glennie +translated it, _As in life, so in a game of hazard, skill will make +something of the worst of throws_. At last Elzevir looked up and spoke +to me, not unkindly, 'Lad, it is time for you to go home; men say that +Blackbeard walks on the first nights of winter, and some have met him +face to face betwixt this house and yours.' I saw he wanted to be rid of +me, so bade them both good night, and was off home, running all the way +thither, though not from any fear of Blackbeard, for Ratsey had often +told me that there was no chance of meeting him unless one passed the +churchyard by night. + +Blackbeard was one of the Mohunes who had died a century back, and was +buried in the vault under the church, with others of his family, but +could not rest there, whether, as some said, because he was always +looking for a lost treasure, or as others, because of his exceeding +wickedness in life. If this last were the true reason, he must have been +bad indeed, for Mohunes have died before and since his day wicked enough +to bear anyone company in their vault or elsewhere. Men would have it +that on dark winter nights Blackbeard might be seen with an old-fashioned +lanthorn digging for treasure in the graveyard; and those who professed +to know said he was the tallest of men, with full black beard, coppery +face, and such evil eyes, that any who once met their gaze must die +within a year. However that might be, there were few in Moonfleet who +would not rather walk ten miles round than go near the churchyard after +dark; and once when Cracky Jones, a poor doited body, was found there +one summer morning, lying dead on the grass, it was thought that he had +met Blackbeard in the night. + +Mr. Glennie, who knew more about such things than anyone else, told me +that Blackbeard was none other than a certain Colonel John Mohune, +deceased about one hundred years ago. He would have it that Colonel +Mohune, in the dreadful wars against King Charles the First, had deserted +the allegiance of his house and supported the cause of the rebels. So +being made Governor of Carisbrooke Castle for the Parliament, he became +there the King's jailer, but was false to his trust. For the King, +carrying constantly hidden about his person a great diamond which had +once been given him by his brother King of France, Mohune got wind of +this jewel, and promised that if it were given him he would wink at His +Majesty's escape. Then this wicked man, having taken the bribe, plays +traitor again, comes with a file of soldiers at the hour appointed for +the King's flight, finds His Majesty escaping through a window, has him +away to a stricter ward, and reports to the Parliament that the King's +escape is only prevented by Colonel Mohune's watchfulness. But how true, +as Mr. Glennie said, that we should not be envious against the ungodly, +against the man that walketh after evil counsels. Suspicion fell on +Colonel Mohune; he was removed from his Governorship, and came back to +his home at Moonfleet. There he lived in seclusion, despised by both +parties in the State, until he died, about the time of the happy +Restoration of King Charles the Second. But even after his death he could +not get rest; for men said that he had hid somewhere that treasure given +him to permit the King's escape, and that not daring to reclaim it, had +let the secret die with him, and so must needs come out of his grave to +try to get at it again. Mr. Glennie would never say whether he believed +the tale or not, pointing out that apparitions both of good and evil +spirits are related in Holy Scripture, but that the churchyard was an +unlikely spot for Colonel Mohune to seek his treasure in; for had it been +buried there, he would have had a hundred chances to have it up in his +lifetime. However this may be, though I was brave as a lion by day, and +used indeed to frequent the churchyard, because there was the widest +view of the sea to be obtained from it, yet no reward would have taken me +thither at night. Nor was I myself without some witness to the tale, for +having to walk to Ringstave for Dr. Hawkins on the night my aunt broke +her leg, I took the path along the down which overlooks the churchyard at +a mile off; and thence most certainly saw a light moving to and fro about +the church, where no honest man could be at two o'clock in the morning. + + + + +CHAPTER 2 + +THE FLOODS + +Then banks came down with ruin and rout, +Then beaten spray flew round about, +Then all the mighty floods were out, + And all the world was in the sea _--Jean Ingelow_ + + +On the third of November, a few days after this visit to the Why Not?, +the wind, which had been blowing from the south-west, began about four in +the afternoon to rise in sudden strong gusts. The rooks had been +pitch-falling all the morning, so we knew that bad weather was due; and +when we came out from the schooling that Mr. Glennie gave us in the hall +of the old almshouses, there were wisps of thatch, and even stray tiles, +flying from the roofs, and the children sang: + +Blow wind, rise storm, +Ship ashore before morn. + +It is heathenish rhyme that has come down out of other and worse times; +for though I do not say but that a wreck on Moonfleet beach was looked +upon sometimes as little short of a godsend, yet I hope none of us were +so wicked as to _wish_ a vessel to be wrecked that we might share in the +plunder. Indeed, I have known the men of Moonfleet risk their own lives a +hundred times to save those of shipwrecked mariners, as when the +_Darius_, East Indiaman, came ashore; nay, even poor nameless corpses +washed up were sure of Christian burial, or perhaps of one of Master +Ratsey's headstones to set forth sex and date, as may be seen in the +churchyard to this day. + +Our village lies near the centre of Moonfleet Bay, a great bight twenty +miles across, and a death-trap to up-channel sailors in a +south-westerly gale. For with that wind blowing strong from south, if +you cannot double the Snout, you must most surely come ashore; and many +a good ship failing to round that point has beat up and down the bay +all day, but come to beach in the evening. And once on the beach, the +sea has little mercy, for the water is deep right in, and the waves +curl over full on the pebbles with a weight no timbers can withstand. +Then if poor fellows try to save themselves, there is a deadly +under-tow or rush back of the water, which sucks them off their legs, +and carries them again under the thundering waves. It is that back-suck +of the pebbles that you may hear for miles inland, even at Dorchester, +on still nights long after the winds that caused it have sunk, and +which makes people turn in their beds, and thank God they are not +fighting with the sea on Moonfleet beach. + +But on this third of November there was no wreck, only such a wind as I +have never known before, and only once since. All night long the tempest +grew fiercer, and I think no one in Moonfleet went to bed; for there was +such a breaking of tiles and glass, such a banging of doon and rattling +of shutters, that no sleep was possible, and we were afraid besides lest +the chimneys should fall and crush us. The wind blew fiercest about five +in the morning, and then some ran up the street calling out a new +danger--that the sea was breaking over the beach, and that all the place +was like to be flooded. Some of the women were for flitting forthwith and +climbing the down; but Master Ratsey, who was going round with others to +comfort people, soon showed us that the upper part of the village stood +so high, that if the water was to get thither, there was no knowing if it +would not cover Ridgedown itself. But what with its being a spring-tide, +and the sea breaking clean over the great outer beach of pebbles--a thing +that had not happened for fifty years--there was so much water piled up +in the lagoon, that it passed its bounds and flooded all the sea meadows, +and even the lower end of the street. So when day broke, there was the +churchyard flooded, though 'twas on rising ground, and the church itself +standing up like a steep little island, and the water over the door-sill +of the Why Not?, though Elzevir Block would not budge, saying he did not +care if the sea swept him away. It was but a nine-hours' wonder, for the +wind fell very suddenly; the water began to go back, the sun shone +bright, and before noon people came out to the doors to see the floods +and talk over the storm. Most said that never had been so fierce a wind, +but some of the oldest spoke of one in the second year of Queen Anne, and +would have it as bad or worse. But whether worse or not, this storm was a +weighty matter enough for me, and turned the course of my life, as you +shall hear. + +I have said that the waters came up so high that the church stood out +like an island; but they went back quickly, and Mr. Glennie was able to +hold service on the next Sunday morning. Few enough folks came to +Moonfleet Church at any time; but fewer still came that morning, for +the meadows between the village and the churchyard were wet and miry +from the water. There were streamers of seaweed tangled about the very +tombstones, and against the outside of the churchyard wall was piled up +a great bank of it, from which came a salt rancid smell like a +guillemot's egg that is always in the air after a south-westerly gale +has strewn the shore with wrack. + +This church is as large as any other I have seen, and divided into two +parts with a stone screen across the middle. Perhaps Moonfleet was once a +large place, and then likely enough there were people to fill such a +church, but never since I knew it did anyone worship in that part called +the nave. This western portion was quite empty beyond a few old tombs and +a Royal Arms of Queen Anne; the pavement too was damp and mossy; and +there were green patches down the white walls where the rains had got in. +So the handful of people that came to church were glad enough to get the +other side of the screen in the chancel, where at least the pew floors +were boarded over, and the panelling of oak-work kept off the draughts. + +Now this Sunday morning there were only three or four, I think, beside +Mr. Glennie and Ratsey and the half-dozen of us boys, who crossed the +swampy meadows strewn with drowned shrew-mice and moles. Even my aunt was +not at church, being prevented by a migraine, but a surprise waited those +who did go, for there in a pew by himself sat Elzevir Block. The people +stared at him as they came in, for no one had ever known him go to church +before; some saying in the village that he was a Catholic, and others an +infidel. However that may be, there he was this day, wishing perhaps to +show a favour to the parson who had written the verses for David's +headstone. He took no notice of anyone, nor exchanged greetings with +those that came in, as was the fashion in Moonfleet Church, but kept his +eyes fixed on a prayer-book which he held in his hand, though he could +not be following the minister, for he never turned the leaf. + +The church was so damp from the floods, that Master Ratsey had put a fire +in the brazier which stood at the back, but was not commonly lighted till +the winter had fairly begun. We boys sat as close to the brazier as we +could, for the wet cold struck up from the flags, and besides that, we +were so far from the clergyman, and so well screened by the oak backs, +that we could bake an apple or roast a chestnut without much fear of +being caught. But that morning there was something else to take off our +thoughts; for before the service was well begun, we became aware of a +strange noise under the church. The first time it came was just as Mr. +Glennie was finishing 'Dearly Beloved', and we heard it again before the +second lesson. It was not a loud noise, but rather like that which a boat +makes jostling against another at sea, only there was something deeper +and more hollow about it. We boys looked at each other, for we knew what +was under the church, and that the sound could only come from the Mohune +Vault. No one at Moonfleet had ever seen the inside of that vault; but +Ratsey was told by his father, who was clerk before him, that it underlay +half the chancel, and that there were more than a score of Mohunes lying +there. It had not been opened for over forty years, since Gerald Mohune, +who burst a blood-vessel drinking at Weymouth races, was buried there; +but there was a tale that one Sunday afternoon, many years back, there +had come from the vault so horrible and unearthly a cry, that parson and +people got up and fled from the church, and would not worship there for +weeks afterwards. + +We thought of these stories, and huddled up closer to the brazier, being +frightened at the noise, and uncertain whether we should not turn tail +and run from the church. For it was certain that something was moving in +the Mohune vault, to which there was no entrance except by a ringed stone +in the chancel floor, that had not been lifted for forty years. + +However, we thought better of it, and did not budge, though I could see +when standing up and looking over the tops of the seats that others +beside ourselves were ill at ease; for Granny Tucker gave such starts +when she heard the sounds, that twice her spectacles fell off her nose +into her lap, and Master Ratsey seemed to be trying to mask the one noise +by making another himself, whether by shuffling with his feet or by +thumping down his prayer-book. But the thing that most surprised me was +that even Elzevir Block, who cared, men said, for neither God nor Devil, +looked unquiet, and gave a quick glance at Ratsey every time the sound +came. So we sat till Mr. Glennie was well on with the sermon. His +discourse interested me though I was only a boy, for he likened life to +the letter 'Y', saying that 'in each man's life must come a point where +two roads part like the arms of a "Y", and that everyone must choose for +himself whether he will follow the broad and sloping path on the left or +the steep and narrow path on the right. For,' said he, 'if you will look +in your books, you will see that the letter "Y" is not like the Mohunes', +with both arms equal, but has the arm on the left broader and more +sloping than the arm on the right; hence ancient philosophers hold that +this arm on the left represents the easy downward road to destruction, +and the arm on the right the narrow upward path of life.' When we heard +that we all fell to searching our prayer-books for a capital 'Y'; and +Granny Tucker, who knew not A from B, made much ado in fumbling with her +book, for she would have people think that she could read. Then just at +that moment came a noise from below louder than those before, hollow and +grating like the cry of an old man in pain. With that up jumps Granny +Tucker, calling out loud in church to Mr. Glennie-- + +'O Master, however can'ee bide there preaching when the Moons be rising +from their graves?' and out from the church. + +That was too much for the others, and all fled, Mrs. Vining crying, +'Lordsakes, we shall all be throttled like Cracky Jones.' + +So in a minute there were none left in the church, save and except Mr. +Glennie, with me, Ratsey, and Elzevir Block. I did not run: first, not +wishing to show myself coward before the men; second, because I thought +if Blackbeard came he would fall on the men rather than on a boy; and +third, that if it came to blows, Block was strong enough to give account +even of a Mohune. Mr. Glennie went on with his sermon, making as though +he neither heard any noise nor saw the people leave the church; and when +he had finished, Elzevir walked out, but I stopped to see what the +minister would say to Ratsey about the noise in the vault. The sexton +helped Mr. Glennie off with his gown, and then seeing me standing by and +listening, said-- + +'The Lord has sent evil angels among us; 'tis a terrible thing, Master +Glennie, to hear the dead men moving under our feet.' + +'Tut, tut,' answered the minister, 'it is only their own fears that make +such noises terrible to the vulgar. As for Blackbeard, I am not here to +say whether guilty spirits sometimes cannot rest and are seen wandering +by men; but for these noises, they are certainly Nature's work as is the +noise of waves upon the beach. The floods have filled the vault with +water, and so the coffins getting afloat, move in some eddies that we +know not of, and jostle one another. Then being hollow, they give forth +those sounds you hear, and these are your evil angels. 'Tis very true the +dead do move beneath our feet, but 'tis because they cannot help +themselves, being carried hither and thither by the water. Fie, Ratsey +man, you should know better than to fright a boy with silly talk of +spirits when the truth is bad enough.' + +The parson's words had the ring of truth in them to me, and I never +doubted that he was right. So this mystery was explained, and yet it was +a dreadful thing, and made me shiver, to think of the Mohunes all adrift +in their coffins, and jostling one another in the dark. I pictured them +to myself, the many generations, old men and children, man and maid, all +bones now, each afloat in his little box of rotting wood; and Blackbeard +himself in a great coffin bigger than all the rest, coming crashing into +the weaker ones, as a ship in a heavy sea comes crashing down sometimes +in the trough, on a small boat that is trying to board her. And then +there was the outer darkness of the vault itself to think of, and the +close air, and the black putrid water nearly up to the roof on which such +sorry ships were sailing. + +Ratsey looked a little crestfallen at what Mr. Glennie said, but put a +good face on it, and answered-- + +'Well, master, I am but a plain man, and know nothing about floods and +these eddies and hidden workings of Nature of which you speak; but, +saving your presence, I hold it a fond thing to make light of such +warnings as are given us. 'Tis always said, "When the Moons move, then +Moonfleet mourns"; and I have heard my father tell that the last time +they stirred was in Queen Anne's second year, when the great storm blew +men's homes about their heads. And as for frighting children, 'tis well +that heady boys should learn to stand in awe, and not pry into what does +not concern them--or they may come to harm.' He added the last words with +what I felt sure was a nod of warning to myself, though I did not then +understand what he meant. So he walked off in a huff with Elzevir, who +was waiting for him outside, and I went with Mr. Glennie and carried his +gown for him back to his lodging in the village. + +Mr. Glennie was always very friendly, making much of me, and talking to +me as though I were his equal; which was due, I think, to there being no +one of his own knowledge in the neighbourhood, and so he had as lief talk +to an ignorant boy as to an ignorant man. After we had passed the +churchyard turnstile and were crossing the sludgy meadows, I asked him +again what he knew of Blackbeard and his lost treasure. + +'My son,' he answered, 'all that I have been able to gather is, that this +Colonel John Mohune (foolishly called Blackbeard) was the first to impair +the family fortunes by his excesses, and even let the almshouses fall to +ruin, and turned the poor away. Unless report strangely belies him, he +was an evil man, and besides numberless lesser crimes, had on his hands +the blood of a faithful servant, whom he made away with because chance +had brought to the man's ears some guilty secret of the master. Then, at +the end of his life, being filled with fear and remorse (as must always +happen with evil livers at the last), he sent for Rector Kindersley of +Dorchester to confess him, though a Protestant, and wished to make amends +by leaving that treasure so ill-gotten from King Charles (which was all +that he had to leave) for the repair and support of the almshouses. He +made a last will, which I have seen, to this effect, but without +describing the treasure further than to call it a diamond, nor saying +where it was to be found. Doubtless he meant to get it himself, sell it, +and afterwards apply the profit to his good purpose, but before he could +do so death called him suddenly to his account. So men say that he cannot +rest in his grave, not having made even so tardy a reparation, and never +will rest unless the treasure is found and spent upon the poor.' + +I thought much over what Mr. Glennie had said and fell to wondering where +Blackbeard could have hid his diamond, and whether I might not find it +some day and make myself a rich man. Now, as I considered that noise we +had heard under the church, and Parson Glennie's explanation of it, I was +more and more perplexed; for the noise had, as I have said, something +deep and hollow-booming in it, and how was that to be made by decayed +coffins. I had more than once seen Ratsey, in digging a grave, turn up +pieces of coffins, and sometimes a tarnished name-plate would show that +they had not been so very long underground, and yet the wood was quite +decayed and rotten. And granting that such were in the earth, and so +might more easily perish, yet when the top was taken off old Guy's brick +grave to put his widow beside him, Master Ratsey gave me a peep in, and +old Guy's coffin had cracks and warps in it, and looked as if a sound +blow would send it to pieces. Yet here were the Mohune coffins that had +been put away for generations, and must be rotten as tinder, tapping +against each other with a sound like a drum, as if they were still sound +and air-tight. Still, Mr. Glennie must be right; for if it was not the +coffins, what should it be that made the noise? + +So on the next day after we heard the sounds in church, being the +Monday, as soon as morning school was over, off I ran down street and +across meadows to the churchyard, meaning to listen outside the church +if the Mohunes were still moving. I say outside the church, for I knew +Ratsey would not lend me the key to go in after what he had said about +boys prying into things that did not concern them; and besides that, I +do not know that I should care to have ventured inside alone, even if I +had the key. + +When I reached the church, not a little out of breath, I listened first +on the side nearest the village, that is the north side; putting my ear +against the wall, and afterwards lying down on the ground, though the +grass was long and wet, so that I might the better catch any sound that +came. But I could hear nothing, and so concluded that the Mohunes had +come to rest again, yet thought I would walk round the church and listen +too on the south or sea side, for that their worships might have drifted +over to that side, and be there rubbing shoulders with one another. So I +went round, and was glad to get out of the cold shade into the sun on the +south. But here was a surprise; for when I came round a great buttress +which juts out from the wall, what should I see but two men, and these +two were Ratsey and Elzevir Block. I came upon them unawares, and, lo and +behold, there was Master Ratsey lying also on the ground with his ear to +the wall, while Elzevir sat back against the inside of the buttress with +a spy-glass in his hand, smoking and looking out to sea. + +Now, I had as much right to be in the churchyard as Ratsey or Elzevir, +and yet I felt a sudden shame as if I had been caught in some bad act, +and knew the blood was running to my cheeks. At first I had it in my mind +to turn tail and make off, but concluded to stand my ground since they +had seen me, and so bade them 'Good morning'. Master Ratsey jumped to his +feet as nimbly as a cat; and if he had not been a man, I should have +thought he was blushing too, for his face was very red, though that came +perhaps from lying on the ground. I could see he was a little put about, +and out of countenance, though he tried to say 'Good morning, John', in +an easy tone, as if it was a common thing for him to be lying in the +churchyard, with his ear to the wall, on a winter's morning. 'Good +morning, John,' he said; 'and what might you be doing in the churchyard +this fine day?' + +I answered that I was come to listen if the Mohunes were still moving. + +'Well, that I can't tell you,' returned Ratsey, 'not wishing to waste +thought on such idle matters, and having to examine this wall whether +the floods have not so damaged it as to need under-pinning; so if you +have time to gad about of a morning, get you back to my workshop and +fetch me a plasterer's hammer which I have left behind, so that I can +try this mortar.' + +I knew that he was making excuses about underpinning, for the wall was +sound as a rock, but was glad enough to take him at his word and beat a +retreat from where I was not wanted. Indeed, I soon saw how he was +mocking me, for the men did not even wait for me to come back with the +hammer, but I met them returning in the first meadow. Master Ratsey made +another excuse that he did not need the hammer now, as he had found out +that all that was wanted was a little pointing with new mortar. 'But if +you have such time to waste, John,' he added, 'you can come tomorrow and +help me to get new thwarts in the _Petrel_, which she badly wants.' + +So we three came back to the village together; but looking up at Elzevir +once while Master Ratsey was making these pretences, I saw his eyes +twinkle under their heavy brows, as if he was amused at the other's +embarrassment. + +The next Sunday, when we went to church, all was quiet as usual, +there was no Elzevir, and no more noises, and I never heard the +Mohunes move again. + + + + +CHAPTER 3 + +A DISCOVERY + +Some bold adventurers disdain +The limits of their little reign, + And unknown regions dare descry; +Still, as they run, they look behind, +They hear a voice in every wind + And snatch a fearful joy--_Gray_ + + +I have said that I used often in the daytime, when not at school, to go +to the churchyard, because being on a little rise, there was the best +view of the sea to be had from it; and on a fine day you could watch the +French privateers creeping along the cliffs under the Snout, and lying in +wait for an Indiaman or up-channel trader. There were at Moonfleet few +boys of my own age, and none that I cared to make my companion; so I was +given to muse alone, and did so for the most part in the open air, all +the more because my aunt did not like to see an idle boy, with muddy +boots, about her house. + +For a few weeks, indeed, after the day that I had surprised Elzevir and +Ratsey, I kept away from the church, fearing to meet them there again; +but a little later resumed my visits, and saw no more of them. Now, my +favourite seat in the churchyard was the flat top of a raised stone tomb, +which stands on the south-east of the church. I have heard Mr. Glennie +call it an altar-tomb, and in its day it had been a fine monument, being +carved round with festoons of fruit and flowers; but had suffered so much +from the weather, that I never was able to read the lettering on it, or +to find out who had been buried beneath. Here I chose most to sit, not +only because it had a flat and convenient top, but because it was +screened from the wind by a thick clump of yew-trees. These yews had +once, I think, completely surrounded it, but had either died or been cut +down on the south side, so that anyone sitting on the grave-top was snug +from the weather, and yet possessed a fine prospect over the sea. On the +other three sides, the yews grew close and thick, embowering the tomb +like the high back of a fireside chair; and many times in autumn I have +seen the stone slab crimson with the fallen waxy berries, and taken some +home to my aunt, who liked to taste them with a glass of sloe-gin after +her Sunday dinner. Others beside me, no doubt, found this tomb a +comfortable seat and look-out; for there was quite a path worn to it on +the south side, though all the times I had visited it I had never seen +anyone there. + +So it came about that on a certain afternoon in the beginning of +February, in the year 1758, I was sitting on this tomb looking out to +sea. Though it was so early in the year, the air was soft and warm as a +May day, and so still that I could hear the drumming of turnips that +Gaffer George was flinging into a cart on the hillside, near half a mile +away. Ever since the floods of which I have spoken, the weather had been +open, but with high winds, and little or no rain. Thus as the land dried +after the floods there began to open cracks in the heavy clay soil on +which Moonfleet is built, such as are usually only seen with us in the +height of summer. There were cracks by the side of the path in the +sea-meadows between the village and the church, and cracks in the +churchyard itself, and one running right up to this very tomb. + +It must have been past four o'clock in the afternoon, and I was for +returning to tea at my aunt's, when underneath the stone on which I sat I +heard a rumbling and crumbling, and on jumping off saw that the crack in +the ground had still further widened, just where it came up to the tomb, +and that the dry earth had so shrunk and settled that there was a hole +in the ground a foot or more across. Now this hole reached under the big +stone that formed one side of the tomb, and falling on my hands and knees +and looking down it, I perceived that there was under the monument a +larger cavity, into which the hole opened. I believe there never was boy +yet who saw a hole in the ground, or a cave in a hill, or much more an +underground passage, but longed incontinently to be into it and discover +whither it led. So it was with me; and seeing that the earth had fallen +enough into the hole to open a way under the stone, I slipped myself in +feet foremost, dropped down on to a heap of fallen mould, and found that +I could stand upright under the monument itself. + +Now this was what I had expected, for I thought that there had been below +this grave a vault, the roof of which had given way and let the earth +fall in. But as soon as my eyes were used to the dimmer light, I saw that +it was no such thing, but that the hole into which I had crept was only +the mouth of a passage, which sloped gently down in the direction of the +church. My heart fell to thumping with eagerness and surprise, for I +thought I had made a wonderful discovery, and that this hidden way would +certainly lead to great things, perhaps even to Blackbeard's hoard; for +ever since Mr. Glennie's tale I had constantly before my eyes a vision of +the diamond and the wealth it was to bring me. The passage was two paces +broad, as high as a tall man, and cut through the soil, without bricks or +any other lining; and what surprised me most was that it did not seem +deserted nor mouldy and cob-webbed, as one would expect such a place to +be, but rather a well-used thoroughfare; for I could see the soft clay +floor was trodden with the prints of many boots, and marked with a trail +as if some heavy thing had been dragged over it. + +So I set out down the passage, reaching out my hand before me lest I +should run against anything in the dark, and sliding my feet slowly to +avoid pitfalls in the floor. But before I had gone half a dozen paces, +the darkness grew so black that I was frightened, and so far from going +on was glad to turn sharp about, and see the glimmer of light that came +in through the hole under the tomb. Then a horror of the darkness seized +me, and before I well knew what I was about I found myself wriggling my +body up under the tombstone on to the churchyard grass, and was once more +in the low evening sunlight and the soft sweet air. + +Home I ran to my aunt's, for it was past tea-time, and beside that I knew +I must fetch a candle if I were ever to search out the passage; and to +search it I had well made up my mind, no matter how much I was scared for +this moment. My aunt gave me but a sorry greeting when I came into the +kitchen, for I was late and hot. She never said much when displeased, but +had a way of saying nothing, which was much worse; and would only reply +yes or no, and that after an interval, to anything that was asked of her. +So the meal was silent enough, for she had finished before I arrived, and +I ate but little myself being too much occupied with the thought of my +strange discovery, and finding, beside, the tea lukewarm and the victuals +not enticing. + +You may guess that I said nothing of what I had seen, but made up my mind +that as soon as my aunt's back was turned I would get a candle and +tinder-box, and return to the churchyard. The sun was down before Aunt +Jane gave thanks for what we had received, and then, turning to me, she +said in a cold and measured voice: + +'John, I have observed that you are often out and about of nights, +sometimes as late as half past seven or eight. Now, it is not seemly for +young folk to be abroad after dark, and I do not choose that my nephew +should be called a gadabout. "What's bred in the bone will come out in +the flesh", and 'twas with such loafing that your father began his wild +ways, and afterwards led my poor sister such a life as never was, till +the mercy of Providence took him away.' + +Aunt Jane often spoke thus of my father, whom I never remembered, but +believe him to have been an honest man and good fellow to boot, if +something given to roaming and to the contraband. + +'So understand', she went on, 'that I will not have you out again this +evening, no, nor any other evening, after dusk. Bed is the place for +youth when night falls, but if this seem to you too early you can sit +with me for an hour in the parlour, and I will read you a discourse of +Doctor Sherlock that will banish vain thoughts, and leave you in a fit +frame for quiet sleep.' + +So she led the way into the parlour, took the book from the shelf, put it +on the table within the little circle of light cast by a shaded candle, +and began. It was dull enough, though I had borne such tribulations +before, and the drone of my aunt's voice would have sent me to sleep, as +it had done at other times, even in a straight-backed chair, had I not +been so full of my discovery, and chafed at this delay. Thus all the time +my aunt read of spiritualities and saving grace, I had my mind on +diamonds and all kinds of mammon, for I never doubted that Blackbeard's +treasure would be found at the end of that secret passage. The sermon +finished at last, and my aunt closed the book with a stiff 'good night' +for me. I was for giving her my formal kiss, but she made as if she did +not see me and turned away; so we went upstairs each to our own room, and +I never kissed Aunt Jane again. + +There was a moon three-quarters full, already in the sky, and on +moonlight nights I was allowed no candle to show me to bed. But on that +night I needed none, for I never took off my clothes, having resolved to +wait till my aunt was asleep, and then, ghosts or no ghosts, to make my +way back to the churchyard. I did not dare to put off that visit even +till the morning, lest some chance passer-by should light upon the hole, +and so forestall me with Blackbeard's treasure. + +Thus I lay wide awake on my bed watching the shadow of the tester-post +against the whitewashed wall, and noting how it had moved, by degrees, as +the moon went farther round. At last, just as it touched the picture of +the Good Shepherd which hung over the mantelpiece, I heard my aunt +snoring in her room, and knew that I was free. Yet I waited a few minutes +so that she might get well on with her first sleep, and then took off my +boots, and in stockinged feet slipped past her room and down the stairs. +How stair, handrail, and landing creaked that night, and how my feet and +body struck noisily against things seen quite well but misjudged in the +effort not to misjudge them! And yet there was the note of safety still +sounding, for the snoring never ceased, and the sleeper woke not, though +her waking then might have changed all my life. So I came safely to the +kitchen, and there put in my pocket one of the best winter candles and +the tinder-box, and as I crept out of the room heard suddenly how loud +the old clock was ticking, and looking up saw the bright brass band +marking half past ten on the dial. + +Out in the street I kept in the shadow of the houses as far as I might, +though all was silent as the grave; indeed, I think that when the moon is +bright a great hush falls always upon Nature, as though she was taken up +in wondering at her own beauty. Everyone was fast asleep in Moonfleet and +there was no light in any window; only when I came opposite the Why Not? +I saw from the red glow behind the curtains that the bottom room was lit +up, so Elzevir was not yet gone to bed. It was strange, for the Why Not? +had been shut up early for many a long night past, and I crossed over +cautiously to see if I could make out what was going forward. But that +was not to be done, for the panes were thickly steamed over; and this +surprised me more as showing that there was a good company inside. +Moreover, as I stood and listened I could hear a mutter of deep voices +inside, not as of roisterers, but of sober men talking low. + +Eagerness would not let me wait long, and I was off across the meadows +towards the church, though not without sad misgivings as soon as the last +house was left well behind me. At the churchyard wall my courage had +waned somewhat: it seemed a shameless thing to come to rifle Blackbeard's +treasure just in the very place and hour that Blackbeard loved; and as I +passed the turnstile I half-expected that a tall figure, hairy and +evil-eyed, would spring out from the shadow on the north side of the +church. But nothing stirred, and the frosty grass sounded crisp under my +feet as I made across the churchyard, stepping over the graves and +keeping always out of the shadows, towards the black clump of yew-trees +on the far side. + +When I got round the yews, there was the tomb standing out white against +them, and at the foot of the tomb was the hole like a patch of black +velvet spread upon the ground, it was so dark. Then, for a moment, I +thought that Blackbeard might be lying in wait in the bottom of the hole, +and I stood uncertain whether to go on or back. I could catch the rustle +of the water on the beach--not of any waves, for the bay was smooth as +glass, but just a lipper at the fringe; and wishing to put off with any +excuse the descent into the passage, though I had quite resolved to make +it, I settled with myself that I would count the water wash twenty times, +and at the twentieth would let myself down into the hole. Only seven +wavelets had come in when I forgot to count, for there, right in the +middle of the moon's path across the water, lay a lugger moored broadside +to the beach. She was about half a mile out, but there was no mistake, +for though her sails were lowered her masts and hull stood out black +against the moonlight. Here was a fresh reason for delay, for surely one +must consider what this craft could be, and what had brought her here. +She was too small for a privateer, too large for a fishing-smack, and +could not be a revenue boat by her low freeboard in the waist; and 'twas +a strange thing for a boat to cast anchor in the midst of Moonfleet Bay +even on a night so fine as this. Then while I watched I saw a blue flare +in the bows, only for a moment, as if a man had lit a squib and flung it +overboard, but I knew from it she was a contrabandier, and signalling +either to the shore or to a mate in the offing. With that, courage came +back, and I resolved to make this flare my signal for getting down into +the hole, screwing my heart up with the thought that if Blackbeard was +really waiting for me there, 'twould be little good to turn tail now, for +he would be after me and could certainly run much faster than I. Then I +took one last look round, and down into the hole forthwith, the same way +as I had got down earlier in the day. So on that February night John +Trenchard found himself standing in the heap of loose fallen mould at the +bottom of the hole, with a mixture of courage and cowardice in his heart, +but overruling all a great desire to get at Blackbeard's diamond. + +Out came tinder-box and candle, and I was glad indeed when the light +burned up bright enough to show that no one, at any rate, was standing by +my side. But then there was the passage, and who could say what might be +lurking there? Yet I did not falter, but set out on this adventurous +journey, walking very slowly indeed--but that was from fear of +pitfalls--and nerving myself with the thought of the great diamond which +surely would be found at the end of the passage. What should I not be +able to do with such wealth? I would buy a nag for Mr. Glennie, a new +boat for Ratsey, and a silk gown for Aunt Jane, in spite of her being so +hard with me as on this night. And thus I would make myself the greatest +man in Moonfleet, richer even than Mr. Maskew, and build a stone house in +the sea-meadows with a good prospect of the sea, and marry Grace Maskew +and live happily, and fish. I walked on down the passage, reaching out +the candle as far as might be in front of me, and whistling to keep +myself company, yet saw neither Blackbeard nor anyone else. All the way +there were footprints on the floor, and the roof was black as with smoke +of torches, and this made me fear lest some of those who had been there +before might have made away with the diamond. Now, though I have spoken +of this journey down the passage as though it were a mile long, and +though it verily seemed so to me that night, yet I afterwards found it +was not more than twenty yards or thereabouts; and then I came upon a +stone wall which had once blocked the road, but was now broken through so +as to make a ragged doorway into a chamber beyond. There I stood on the +rough sill of the door, holding my breath and reaching out my candle +arm's-length into the darkness, to see what sort of a place this was +before I put foot into it. And before the light had well time to fall on +things, I knew that I was underneath the church, and that this chamber +was none other than the Mohune Vault. + +It was a large room, much larger, I think, than the schoolroom where Mr. +Glennie taught us, but not near so high, being only some nine feet from +floor to roof. I say floor, though in reality there was none, but only a +bottom of soft wet sand; and when I stepped down on to it my heart beat +very fiercely, for I remembered what manner of place I was entering, and +the dreadful sounds which had issued from it that Sunday morning so short +a time before. I satisfied myself that there was nothing evil lurking in +the dark corners, or nothing visible at least, and then began to look +round and note what was to be seen. Walls and roof were stone, and at one +end was a staircase closed by a great flat stone at top--that same stone +which I had often seen, with a ring in it, in the floor of the church +above. All round the sides were stone shelves, with divisions between +them like great bookcases, but instead of books there were the coffins of +the Mohunes. Yet these lay only at the sides, and in the middle of the +room was something very different, for here were stacked scores of casks, +kegs, and runlets, from a storage butt that might hold thirty gallons +down to a breaker that held only one. They were marked all of them in +white paint on the end with figures and letters, that doubtless set forth +the quality to those that understood. Here indeed was a discovery, and +instead of picking up at the end of the passage a little brass or silver +casket, which had only to be opened to show Blackbeard's diamond gleaming +inside, I had stumbled on the Mohunes' vault, and found it to be nothing +but a cellar of gentlemen of the contraband, for surely good liquor would +never be stored in so shy a place if it ever had paid the excise. + +As I walked round this stack of casks my foot struck sharply on the edge +of a butt, which must have been near empty, and straightway came from it +the same hollow, booming sound (only fainter) which had so frightened us +in church that Sunday morning. So it was the casks, and not the coffins, +that had been knocking one against another; and I was pleased with +myself, remembering how I had reasoned that coffin-wood could never give +that booming sound. + +It was plain enough that the whole place had been under water: the floor +was still muddy, and the green and sweating walls showed the flood-mark +within two feet of the roof; there was a wisp or two of fine seaweed that +had somehow got in, and a small crab was still alive and scuttled across +the corner, yet the coffins were but little disturbed. They lay on the +shelves in rows, one above the other, and numbered twenty-three in all: +most were in lead, and so could never float, but of those in wood some +were turned slantways in their niches, and one had floated right away and +been left on the floor upside down in a corner when the waters went back. + +First I fell to wondering as to whose cellar this was, and how so much +liquor could have been brought in with secrecy; and how it was I had +never seen anything of the contraband-men, though it was clear that they +had made this flat tomb the entrance to their storehouse, as I had made +it my seat. And then I remembered how Ratsey had tried to scare me with +talk of Blackbeard; and how Elzevir, who had never been seen at church +before, was there the Sunday of the noises; and how he had looked ill at +ease whenever the noise came, though he was bold as a lion; and how I had +tripped upon him and Ratsey in the churchyard; and how Master Ratsey lay +with his ear to the wall: and putting all these things together and +casting them up, I thought that Elzevir and Ratsey knew as much as any +about this hiding-place. These reflections gave me more courage, for I +considered that the tales of Blackbeard walking or digging among the +graves had been set afloat to keep those that were not wanted from the +place, and guessed now that when I saw the light moving in the churchyard +that night I went to fetch Dr. Hawkins, it was no corpse-candle, but a +lantern of smugglers running a cargo. Then, having settled these +important matters, I began to turn over in my mind how to get at the +treasure; and herein was much cast down, for in this place was neither +casket nor diamond, but only coffins and double-Hollands. So it was that, +having no better plan, I set to work to see whether I could learn +anything from the coffins themselves; but with little success, for the +lead coffins had no names upon them, and on such of the wooden coffins as +bore plates I found the writing to be Latin, and so rusted over that I +could make nothing of it. + +Soon I wished I had not come at all, considering that the diamond had +vanished into air, and it was a sad thing to be cabined with so many dead +men. It moved me, too, to see pieces of banners and funeral shields, and +even shreds of wreaths that dear hearts had put there a century ago, now +all ruined and rotten--some still clinging, water-sodden, to the coffins, +and some trampled in the sand of the floor. I had spent some time in this +bootless search, and was resolved to give up further inquiry and foot it +home, when the clock in the tower struck midnight. Surely never was +ghostly hour sounded in more ghostly place. Moonfleet peal was known over +half the county, and the finest part of it was the clock bell. 'Twas said +that in times past (when, perhaps, the chimes were rung more often than +now) the voice of this bell had led safe home boats that were lost in the +fog; and this night its clangour, mellow and profound, reached even to +the vault. Bim-bom it went, bim-bom, twelve heavy thuds that shook the +walls, twelve resonant echoes that followed, and then a purring and +vibration of the air, so that the ear could not tell when it ended. + +I was wrought up, perhaps, by the strangeness of the hour and place, and +my hearing quicker than at other times, but before the tremor of the bell +was quite passed away I knew there was some other sound in the air, and +that the awful stillness of the vault was broken. At first I could not +tell what this new sound was, nor whence it came, and now it seemed a +little noise close by, and now a great noise in the distance. And then it +grew nearer and more defined, and in a moment I knew it was the sound of +voices talking. They must have been a long way off at first, and for a +minute, that seemed as an age, they came no nearer. What a minute was +that to me! Even now, so many years after, I can recall the anguish of +it, and how I stood with ears pricked up, eyes starting, and a clammy +sweat upon my face, waiting for those speakers to come. It was the +anguish of the rabbit at the end of his burrow, with the ferret's eyes +gleaming in the dark, and gun and lurcher waiting at the mouth of the +hole. I was caught in a trap, and knew beside that contraband-men had a +way of sealing prying eyes and stilling babbling tongues; and I +remembered poor Cracky Jones found dead in the churchyard, and how men +_said_ he had met Blackbeard in the night. + +These were but the thoughts of a second, but the voices were nearer, and +I heard a dull thud far up the passage, and knew that a man had jumped +down from the churchyard into the hole. So I took a last stare round, +agonizing to see if there was any way of escape; but the stone walls and +roof were solid enough to crush me, and the stack of casks too closely +packed to hide more than a rat. There was a man speaking now from the +bottom of the hole to others in the churchyard, and then my eyes were led +as by a loadstone to a great wooden coffin that lay by itself on the top +shelf, a full six feet from the ground. When I saw the coffin I knew that +I was respited, for, as I judged, there was space between it and the wall +behind enough to contain my little carcass; and in a second I had put out +the candle, scrambled up the shelves, half-stunned my senses with dashing +my head against the roof, and squeezed my body betwixt wall and coffin. +There I lay on one side with a thin and rotten plank between the dead man +and me, dazed with the blow to my head, and breathing hard; while the +glow of torches as they came down the passage reddened and flickered on +the roof above. + + + + +CHAPTER 4 + +IN THE VAULT + +Let us hob and nob with Death--_Tennyson_ + + +Though nothing of the vault except the roof was visible from where I +lay, and so I could not see these visitors, yet I heard every word +spoken, and soon made out one voice as being Master Ratsey's. This +discovery gave me no surprise but much solace, for I thought that if the +worst happened and I was discovered, I should find one friend with whom +I could plead for life. + +'It is well the earth gave way', the sexton was saying, 'on a night when +we were here to find it. I was in the graveyard myself after midday, and +all was snug and tight then. 'Twould have been awkward enough to have the +hole stand open through the day, for any passer-by to light on.' + +There were four or five men in the vault already, and I could hear more +coming down the passage, and guessed from their heavy footsteps that they +were carrying burdens. There was a sound, too, of dumping kegs down on +the ground, with a swish of liquor inside them, and then the noise of +casks being moved. + +'I thought we should have a fall there ere long,' Ratsey went on, 'what +with this drought parching the ground, and the trampling at the edge when +we move out the side stone to get in, but there is no mischief done +beyond what can be easily made good. A gravestone or two and a few spades +of earth will make all sound again. Leave that to me.' + +'Be careful what you do,' rejoined another man's voice that I did not +know, 'lest someone see you digging, and scent us out.' + +'Make your mind easy,' Ratsey said; 'I have dug too often in this +graveyard for any to wonder if they see me with a spade.' + +Then the conversation broke off, and there was little more talking, only +a noise of men going backwards and forwards, and of putting down of kegs +and the hollow gurgle of good liquor being poured from breakers into the +casks. By and by fumes of brandy began to fill the air, and climb to +where I lay, overcoming the mouldy smell of decayed wood and the dampness +of the green walls. It may have been that these fumes mounted to my head, +and gave me courage not my own, but so it was that I lost something of +the stifling fear that had gripped me, and could listen with more ease to +what was going forward. There was a pause in the carrying to and fro; +they were talking again now, and someone said-- + +'I was in Dorchester three days ago, and heard men say it will go hard +with the poor chaps who had the brush with the _Elector_ last summer. +Judge Barentyne comes on Assize next week, and that old fox Maskew has +driven down to Taunton to get at him before and coach him back; making +out to him that the Law's arm is weak in these parts against the +contraband, and must be strengthened by some wholesome hangings.' + +'They are a cruel pair,' another put in, 'and we shall have new gibbets on +Ridgedown for leading lights. Once I get even with Maskew, the other may +go hang, ay, and they may hang me too.' + +'The Devil send him to meet me one dark night on the down alone,' said +someone else, 'and I will give him a pistol's mouth to look down, and +spoil his face for him.' + +'No, thou wilt not,' said a deep voice, and then I knew that Elzevir was +there too; 'none shall lay hand on Maskew but I. So mark that, lad, that +when his day of reckoning comes, 'tis _I_ will reckon with him.' + +Then for a few minutes I did not pay much heed to what was said, being +terribly straitened for room, and cramped with pain from lying so long in +one place. The thick smoke from the pitch torches too came curling across +the roof and down upon me, making me sick and giddy with its evil smell +and taste; and though all was very dim, I could see my hands were black +with oily smuts. At last I was able to wriggle myself over without making +too much noise, and felt a great relief in changing sides, but gave such +a start as made the coffin creak again at hearing my own name. + +'There is a boy of Trenchard's,' said a voice that I thought was +Parmiter's, who lived at the bottom of the village--'there is a boy of +Trenchard's that I mistrust; he is for ever wandering in the graveyard, +and I have seen him a score of times sitting on this tomb and looking out +to sea. This very night, when the wind fell at sundown, and we were hung +up with sails flapping, three miles out, and waited for the dark to get +the sweeps, I took my glass to scan the coast-line, and lo, here on the +tomb-top sits Master Trenchard. I could not see his face, but knew him by +his cut, and fear the boy sits there to play the spy and then tells +Maskew.' + +'You're right,' said Greening of Ringstave, for I knew his +slow drawl; 'and many a time when I have sat in The Wood, and watched the +Manor to see Maskew safe at home before we ran a cargo, I have seen this +boy too go round about the place with a hangdog look, scanning the house +as if his life depended on't.' + +'Twas very true what Greening said; for of a summer evening I would take +the path that led up Weatherbeech Hill, behind the Manor; both because +'twas a walk that had a good prospect in itself, and also a sweet charm +for me, namely, the hope of seeing Grace Maskew. And there I often sat +upon the stile that ends the path and opens on the down, and watched the +old half-ruined house below; and sometimes saw white-frocked Gracie +walking on the terrace in the evening sun, and sometimes in returning +passed her window near enough to wave a greeting. And once, when she had +the fever, and Dr. Hawkins came twice a day to see her, I had no heart +for school, but sat on that stile the livelong day, looking at the gabled +house where she was lying ill. And Mr. Glennie never rated me for playing +truant, nor told Aunt Jane, guessing, as I thought afterwards, the cause, +and having once been young himself. 'Twas but boy's love, yet serious for +me; and on the day she lay near death, I made so bold as to stop Dr. +Hawkins on his horse and ask him how she did; and he bearing with me for +the eagerness that he read in my face, bent down over his saddle and +smiled, and said my playmate would come back to me again. + +So it was quite true that I had watched the house, but not as a spy, and +would not have borne tales to old Maskew for anything that could be +offered. Then Ratsey spoke up for me and said--''Tis a false scent. The +boy is well enough, and simple, and has told me many a time he seeks the +churchyard because there is a fine view to be had there of the sea, and +'tis the sea he loves. A month ago, when the high tide set, and this +vault was so full of water that we could not get in, I came with Elzevir +to make out if the floods were going down inside, or what eddy 'twas that +set the casks tapping one against another. So as I lay on the ground with +my ear glued close against the wall, who should march round the church +but John Trenchard, Esquire, not treading delicately like King Agag, or +spying, but just come on a voyage of discovery for himself. For in the +church on Sunday, when we heard the tapping in the vault below, my young +gentleman was scared enough; but afterwards, being told by Parson +Glennie--who should know better--that such noises were not made by +ghosts, but by the Mohunes at sea in their coffins, he plucks up heart, +and comes down on the Monday to see if they are still afloat. So there he +caught me lying like a zany on the ground. You may guess I stood at +attention soon enough, but told him I was looking at the founds to see if +they wanted underpinning from the floods. And so I set his mind at ease, +for 'tis a simple child, and packed him off to get my dubbing hammer. And +I think the boy will not be here so often now to frighten honest +Parmiter, for I have weaved him some pretty tales of Blackbeard, and he +has a wholesome scare of meeting the Colonel. But after dark I pledge my +life that neither he nor any other in the town would pass the churchyard +wall, no, not for a thousand pounds.' + +I heard him chuckling to himself, and the others laughed loudly too, when +he was telling how he palmed me off; but 'he laughs loudest who laughs +last', thought I, and should have chuckled too, were it not for making +the coffin creak. And then, to my surprise, Elzevir spoke: 'The lad is +a brave lad; I would he were my son. He is David's age, and will make a +good sailor later on.' + +They were simple words, yet pleasing to me; for Elzevir spoke as if he +meant them, and I had got to like him a little in spite of all his +grimness; and beside that, was sorry for his grief over his son. I was so +moved by what he said, that for a moment I was for jumping up and calling +out to him that I lay here and liked him well, but then thought better of +it, and so kept still. + +The carrying was over, and I fancy they were all sitting on the ends of +kegs or leaning up against the pile; but could not see, and was still +much troubled with the torch smoke, though now and then I caught through +it a whiff of tobacco, which showed that some were smoking. + +Then Greening, who had a singing voice for all his drawl, struck up +with-- + +Says the Cap'n to the crew, +We have slipt the revenue, + +but Ratsey stopped him with a sharp 'No more of that; the words aren't +to our taste tonight, but come as wry as if the parson called _Old +Hundred_ and I tuned up with _Veni_.' I knew he meant the last verse +with a hanging touch in it; but Greening was for going on with the song, +until some others broke in too, and he saw that the company would have +none of it. + +'Not but what the labourer is worthy of his hire,' went on Master Ratsey; +'so spile that little breaker of Schiedam, and send a rummer round to +keep off midnight chills.' + +He loved a glass of the good liquor well, and with him 'twas always the +same reasoning, namely, to keep off chills; though he chopped the words +to suit the season, and now 'twas autumn, now winter, now spring, or +summer chills. + +They must have found glasses, though I could not remember to have seen +any in the vault, for a minute later fugleman Ratsey spoke again-- + +'Now, lads, glasses full and bumpers for a toast. And here's to +Blackbeard, to Father Blackbeard, who watches over our treasure better +than he did over his own; for were it not the fear of him that keeps off +idle feet and prying eyes, we should have the gaugers in, and our store +ransacked twenty times.' + +So he spoke, and it seemed there was a little halting at first, as of +men not liking to take Blackbeard's name in Blackbeard's place, or raise +the Devil by mocking at him. But then some of the bolder shouted +'Blackbeard', and so the more timid chimed in, and in a minute there +were a score of voices calling 'Blackbeard, Blackbeard', till the place +rang again. + +Then Elzevir cried out angrily, 'Silence. Are you mad, or has the liquor +mastered you? Are you Revenue-men that you dare shout and roister? or +contrabandiers with the lugger in the offing, and your life in your hand. +You make noise enough to wake folk in Moonfleet from their beds.' + +'Tut, man,' retorted Ratsey testily, 'and if they waked, they would but +pull the blankets tight about their ears, and say 'twas Blackbeard piping +his crew of lost Mohunes to help him dig for treasure.' + +Yet for all that 'twas plain that Block ruled the roost, for there was +silence for a minute, and then one said, 'Ay, Master Elzevir is right; +let us away, the night is far spent, and we have nothing but the sweeps +to take the lugger out of sight by dawn.' + +So the meeting broke up, and the torchlight grew dimmer, and died away +as it had come in a red flicker on the roof, and the footsteps sounded +fainter as they went up the passage, until the vault was left to the dead +men and me. Yet for a very long time--it seemed hours--after all had gone +I could hear a murmur of distant voices, and knew that some were talking +at the end of the passage, and perhaps considering how the landslip might +best be restored. So while I heard them thus conversing I dared not +descend from my perch, lest someone might turn back to the vault, though +I was glad enough to sit up, and ease my aching back and limbs. Yet in +the awful blackness of the place even the echo of these human voices +seemed a kindly and blessed thing, and a certain shrinking loneliness +fell on me when they ceased at last and all was silent. Then I resolved I +would be off at once, and get back to the moonlight bed that I had left +hours ago, having no stomach for more treasure-hunting, and being glad +indeed to be still left with the treasure of life. + +Thus, sitting where I was, I lit my candle once more, and then clambered +across that great coffin which, for two hours or more, had been a +mid-wall of partition between me and danger. But to get out of the niche +was harder than to get in; for now that I had a candle to light me, I saw +that the coffin, though sound enough to outer view, was wormed through +and through, and little better than a rotten shell. So it was that I had +some ado to get over it, not daring either to kneel upon it or to bring +much weight to bear with my hand, lest it should go through. And now +having got safely across, I sat for an instant on that narrow ledge of +the stone shelf which projected beyond the coffin on the vault side, and +made ready to jump forward on to the floor below. And how it happened I +know not, but there I lost my balance, and as I slipped the candle flew +out of my grasp. Then I clutched at the coffin to save myself, but my +hand went clean through it, and so I came to the ground in a cloud of +dust and splinters; having only got hold of a wisp of seaweed, or a +handful of those draggled funeral trappings which were strewn about this +place. The floor of the vault was sandy; and so, though I fell crookedly, +I took but little harm beyond a shaking; and soon, pulling myself +together, set to strike my flint and blow the match into a flame to +search for the fallen candle. Yet all the time I kept in my fingers this +handful of light stuff; and when the flame burnt up again I held the +thing against the light, and saw that it was no wisp of seaweed, but +something black and wiry. For a moment, I could not gather what I had +hold of, but then gave a start that nearly sent the candle out, and +perhaps a cry, and let it drop as if it were red-hot iron, for I knew +that it was a man's beard. + +Now when I saw that, I felt a sort of throttling fright, as though one +had caught hold of my heartstrings; and so many and such strange thoughts +rose in me, that the blood went pounding round and round in my head, as +it did once afterwards when I was fighting with the sea and near drowned. +Surely to have in hand the beard of any dead man in any place was bad +enough, but worse a thousand times in such a place as this, and to know +on whose face it had grown. For, almost before I fully saw what it was, I +knew it was that black beard which had given Colonel John Mohune his +nickname, and this was his great coffin I had hid behind. + +I had lain, therefore, all that time, cheek by jowl with Blackbeard +himself, with only a thin shell of tinder wood to keep him from me, and +now had thrust my hand into his coffin and plucked away his beard. So +that if ever wicked men have power to show themselves after death, and +still to work evil, one would guess that he would show himself now and +fall upon me. Thus a sick dread got hold of me, and had I been a woman +or a girl I think I should have swooned; but being only a boy, and not +knowing how to swoon, did the next best thing, which was to put myself as +far as might be from the beard, and make for the outlet. Yet had I scarce +set foot in the passage when I stopped, remembering how once already this +same evening I had played the coward, and run home scared with my own +fears. So I was brought up for very shame, and beside that thought how I +had come to this place to look for Blackbeard's treasure, and might have +gone away without knowing even so much as where he lay, had not chance +first led me to be down by his side, and afterwards placed my hand upon +his beard. And surely this could not be chance alone, but must rather be +the finger of Providence guiding me to that which I desired to find. This +consideration somewhat restored my courage, and after several feints to +return, advances, stoppings, and panics, I was in the vault again, +walking carefully round the stack of barrels, and fearing to see the +glimmer of the candle fall upon that beard. There it was upon the sand, +and holding the candle nearer to it with a certain caution, as though it +would spring up and bite me, I saw it was a great full black beard, more +than a foot long, but going grey at the tips; and had at the back, +keeping it together, a thin tissue of dried skin, like the false parting +which Aunt Jane wore under her cap on Sundays. This I could see as it lay +before me, for I did not handle or lift it, but only peered into it, with +the candle, on all sides, busying myself the while with thoughts of the +man of whom it had once been part. + +In returning to the vault, I had no very sure purpose in mind; only a +vague surmise that this finding of Blackbeard's coffin would somehow lead +to the finding of his treasure. But as I looked at the beard and +pondered, I began to see that if anything was to be done, it must be by +searching in the coffin itself, and the clearer this became to me, the +greater was my dislike to set about such a task. So I put off the evil +hour, by feigning to myself that it was necessary to make a careful +scrutiny of the beard, and thus wasted at least ten minutes. But at +length, seeing that the candle was burning low, and could certainly last +little more than half an hour, and considering that it must now be +getting near dawn, I buckled to the distasteful work of rummaging the +coffin. Nor had I any need to climb up on to the top shelf again, but +standing on the one beneath, found my head and arms well on a level with +the search. And beside that, the task was not so difficult as I had +thought; for in my fall I had broken off the head-end of the lid, and +brought away the whole of that side that faced the vault. Now, any lad of +my age, and perhaps some men too, might well have been frightened to set +about such a matter as to search in a coffin; and if any had said, a few +hours before, that I should ever have courage to do this by night in the +Mohune vault, I would not have believed him. Yet here I was, and had +advanced along the path of terror so gradually, and as it were foot by +foot in the past night, that when I came to this final step I was not +near so scared as when I first felt my way into the vault. It was not the +first time either that I had looked on death; but had, indeed, always a +leaning to such sights and matters, and had seen corpses washed up from +the _Darius_ and other wrecks, and besides that had helped Ratsey to case +some poor bodies that had died in their beds. + +The coffin was, as I have said, of great length, and the side being +removed, I could see the whole outline of the skeleton that lay in it. I +say the outline, for the form was wrapped in a woollen or flannel shroud, +so that the bones themselves were not visible. The man that lay in it was +little short of a giant, measuring, as I guessed, a full six and a half +feet, and the flannel having sunk in over the belly, the end of the +breast-bone, the hips, knees, and toes were very easy to be made out. The +head was swathed in linen bands that had been white, but were now stained +and discoloured with damp, but of this I shall not speak more, and +beneath the chin-cloth the beard had once escaped. The clutch which I had +made to save myself in falling had torn away this chin-band and let the +lower jaw drop on the breast; but little else was disturbed, and there +was Colonel John Mohune resting as he had been laid out a century ago. I +lifted that portion of the lid which had been left behind, and reached +over to see if there was anything hid on the other side of the body; but +had scarce let the light fall in the coffin when my heart gave a great +bound, and all fear left me in the flush of success, for there I saw what +I had come to seek. + +On the breast of this silent and swathed figure lay a locket, attached to +the neck by a thin chain, which passed inside the linen bandages. A +whiter portion of the flannel showed how far the beard had extended, but +locket and chain were quite black, though I judged that they were made of +silver. The shape of this locket was not unlike a crown-piece, only three +times as thick, and as soon as I set eyes upon it I never doubted but +that inside would be found the diamond. + +It was then that a great pity came over me for this thin shadow of man; +thinking rather what a fine, tall gentleman Colonel Mohune had once been, +and a good soldier no doubt besides, than that he had wasted a noble +estate and played traitor to the king. And then I reflected that it was +all for the bit of flashing stone, which lay as I hoped within the +locket, that he had sold his honour; and wished that the jewel might +bring me better fortune than had fallen to him, or at any rate, that it +might not lead me into such miry paths. Yet such thoughts did not delay +my purpose, and I possessed myself of the locket easily enough, finding a +hasp in the chain, and so drawing it out from the linen folds. I had +expected as I moved the locket to hear the jewel rattle in the inside, +but there was no sound, and then I thought that the diamond might cleave +to the side with damp, or perhaps be wrapped in wool. Scarcely was the +locket well in my hand before I had it undone, finding a thumb-nick +whereby, after a little persuasion, the back, though rusted, could be +opened on a hinge. My breath came very fast, and I shook so that I had a +difficulty to keep my thumbnail in the nick, yet hardly was it opened +before exalted expectation gave place to deepest disappointment. + +For there lay all the secret of the locket disclosed, and there was no +diamond, no, nor any other jewel, and nothing at all except a little +piece of folded paper. Then I felt like a man who has played away all his +property and stakes his last crown--heavy-hearted, yet hoping against +hope that luck may turn, and that with this piece he may win back all his +money. So it was with me; for I hoped that this paper might have written +on it directions for the finding of the jewel, and that I might yet rise +from the table a winner. It was but a frail hope, and quickly dashed; for +when I had smoothed the creases and spread out the piece of paper in the +candle-light, there was nothing to be seen except a few verses from the +Psalms of David. The paper was yellow, and showed a lattice of folds +where it had been pressed into the locket; but the handwriting, though +small, was clear and neat, and there was no mistaking a word of what was +there set down. 'Twas so short, I could read it at once: + +The days of our age are threescore years and ten; +And though men be so strong that they come +To fourscore years, yet is their strength then +But labour and sorrow, so soon passeth it +Away, and we are gone. +--Psalm 90, 21 + +And as for me, my feet are almost gone; +My treadings are wellnigh slipped. +--73, 6 + +But let not the waterflood drown me; neither let +The deep swallow me up. +--69, 11 + +So, going through the vale of misery, I shall +Use it for a well, till the pools are filled +With water. +--84, 14 + +For thou hast made the North and the South: +Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name. +--89, 6 + +So here was an end to great hopes, and I was after all to leave the vault +no richer than I had entered it. For look at it as I might, I could not +see that these verses could ever lead to any diamond; and though I might +otherwise have thought of ciphers or secret writing, yet, remembering +what Mr. Glennie had said, that Blackbeard after his wicked life desired +to make a good end, and sent for a parson to confess him, I guessed that +such pious words had been hung round his neck as a charm to keep the +spirits of evil away from his tomb. I was disappointed enough, but before +I left picked up the beard from the floor, though it sent a shiver +through me to touch it, and put it back in its place on the dead man's +breast. I restored also such pieces of the coffin as I could get at, but +could not make much of it; so left things as they were, trusting that +those who came there next would think the wood had fallen to pieces by +natural decay. But the locket I kept, and hung about my neck under my +shirt; both as being a curious thing in itself, and because I thought +that if the good words inside it were strong enough to keep off bad +spirits from Blackbeard, they would be also strong enough to keep +Blackbeard from me. + +When this was done the candle had burnt so low, that I could no longer +hold it in my fingers, and was forced to stick it on a piece of the +broken wood, and so carry it before me. But, after all, I was not to +escape from Blackbeard's clutches so easily; for when I came to the end +of the passage, and was prepared to climb up into the churchyard, I found +that the hole was stopped, and that there was no exit. + +I understood now how it was that I had heard talking so long after the +company had left the vault; for it was clear that Ratsey had been as +good as his word, and that the falling in of the ground had been +repaired before the contraband-men went home that night. At first I made +light of the matter, thinking I should soon be able to dislodge this new +work, and so find a way out. But when I looked more narrowly into the +business, I did not feel so sure; for they had made a sound job of it, +putting one very heavy burial slab at the side to pile earth against +till the hole was full, and then covering it with another. These were +both of slate, and I knew whence they came; for there were a dozen or +more of such disused and weather-worn covers laid up against the north +side of the church, and every one of them a good burden for four men. +Yet I hoped by grouting at the earth below it to be able to dislodge the +stone at the side; but while I was considering how best to begin, the +candle flickered, the wick gave a sudden lurch to one side, and I was +left in darkness. + +Thus my plight was evil indeed, for I had nothing now to burn to give me +light, and knew that 'twas no use setting to grout till I could see to go +about it. Moreover, the darkness was of that black kind that is never +found beneath the open sky, no, not even on the darkest night, but lurks +in close and covered places and strains the eyes in trying to see into +it. Yet I did not give way, but settled to wait for the dawn, which must, +I knew, be now at hand; for then I thought enough light would come +through the chinks of the tomb above to show me how to set to work. Nor +was I even much scared, as one who having been in peril of life from the +contraband-men for a spy, and in peril from evil ghosts for rifling +Blackbeard's tomb, deemed it a light thing to be left in the dark to wait +an hour till morning. So I sat down on the floor of the passage, which, +if damp, was at least soft, and being tired with what I had gone through, +and not used to miss a night's rest, fell straightway asleep. + +How long I slept I cannot tell, for I had nothing to guide me to the +time, but woke at length, and found myself still in darkness. I stood up +and stretched my limbs, but did not feel as one refreshed by wholesome +sleep, but sick and tired with pains in back, arms, and legs, as if +beaten or bruised. I have said I was still in darkness, yet it was not +the blackness of the last night; and looking up into the inside of the +tomb above, I could see the faintest line of light at one corner, which +showed the sun was up. For this line of light was the sunlight, filtering +slowly through a crevice at the joining of the stones; but the sides of +the tomb had been fitted much closer than I reckoned for, and it was +plain there would never be light in the place enough to guide me to my +work. All this I considered as I rested on the ground, for I had sat down +again, feeling too tired to stand. But as I kept my eye on the narrow +streak of light I was much startled, for I looked at the south-west +corner of the tomb, and yet was looking towards the sun. This I gathered +from the tone of the light; and although there was no direct outlet to +the air, and only a glimmer came in, as I have said, yet I knew certainly +that the sun was low in the west and falling full upon this stone. + +Here was a surprise, and a sad one for me, for I perceived that I had +slept away a day, and that the sun was setting for another night. And yet +it mattered little, for night or daytime there was no light to help me in +this horrible place; and though my eyes had grown accustomed to the +gloom, I could make out nothing to show me where to work. So I took out +my tinder-box, meaning to fan the match into a flame, and to get at least +one moment's look at the place, and then to set to digging with my hands. + +But as I lay asleep the top had been pressed off the box, and the tinder +got loose in my pocket; and though I picked the tinder out easily enough, +and got it in the box again, yet the salt damps of the place had soddened +it in the night, and spark by spark fell idle from the flint. + +And then it was that I first perceived the danger in which I stood; for +there was no hope of kindling a light, and I doubted now whether even in +the light I could ever have done much to dislodge the great slab of +slate. I began also to feel very hungry, as not having eaten for +twenty-four hours; and worse than that, there was a parching thirst and +dryness in my throat, and nothing with which to quench it. Yet there was +no time to be lost if I was ever to get out alive, and so I groped with +my hands against the side of the grave until I made out the bottom edge +of the slab, and then fell to grubbing beneath it with my fingers. But +the earth, which the day before had looked light and loamy to the eye, +was stiff and hard enough when one came to tackle it with naked hands, +and in an hour's time I had done little more than further weary myself +and bruise my fingers. + +Then I was forced to rest; and, sitting down on the ground, saw that the +glimmering streak of light had faded, and that the awful blackness of +the previous night was creeping up again. And now I had no heart to face +it, being cowed with hunger, thirst, and weariness; and so flung myself +upon my face, that I might not see how dark it was, and groaned for very +lowness of spirit. Thus I lay for a long time, but afterwards stood up +and cried aloud, and shrieked if anyone should haply hear me, calling to +Mr. Glennie and Ratsey, and even Elzevir, by name, to save me from this +awful place. But there came no answer, except the echo of my own voice +sounding hollow and far off down in the vault. So in despair I turned +back to the earth wall below the slab, and scrabbled at it with my +fingers, till my nails were broken and the blood ran out; having all the +while a sure knowledge, like a cord twisted round my head, that no effort +of mine could ever dislodge the great stone. And thus the hours passed, +and I shall not say more here, for the remembrance of that time is still +terrible, and besides, no words could ever set forth the anguish I then +suffered, yet did slumber come sometimes to my help; for even while I was +working at the earth, sheer weariness would overtake me, and I sank on to +the ground and fell asleep. + +And still the hours passed, and at last I knew by the glimmer of light +in the tomb above that the sun had risen again, and a maddening thirst +had hold of me. And then I thought of all the barrels piled up in the +vault and of the liquor that they held; and stuck not because 'twas +spirit, for I would scarce have paused to sate that thirst even with +molten lead. So I felt my way down the passage back to the vault, and +recked not of the darkness, nor of Blackbeard and his crew, if only I +could lay my lips to liquor. Thus I groped about the barrels till near +the top of the stack my hand struck on the spile of a keg, and drawing +it, I got my mouth to the hold. + +What the liquor was I do not know, but it was not so strong but that I +could swallow it in great gulps and found it less burning than my burning +throat. But when I turned to get back to the passage, I could not find +the outlet, and fumbled round and round until my brain was dizzy, and I +fell senseless to the ground. + + + + +CHAPTER 5 + +THE RESCUE + +Shades of the dead, have I not heard your voices +Rise on the night-rolling breath of the gale?--_Byron_ + + +When I came to myself I was lying, not in the outer blackness of the +Mohune vault, not on a floor of sand; but in a bed of sweet clean linen, +and in a little whitewashed room, through the window of which the spring +sunlight streamed. Oh, the blessed sunshine, and how I praised God for +the light! At first I thought I was in my own bed at my aunt's house, and +had dreamed of the vault and the smugglers, and that my being prisoned in +the darkness was but the horror of a nightmare. I was for getting up, but +fell back on my pillow in the effort to rise, with a weakness and sick +languor which I had never known before. And as I sunk down, I felt +something swing about my neck, and putting up my hand, found 'twas +Colonel John Mohune's black locket, and so knew that part at least of +this adventure was no dream. + +Then the door opened, and to my wandering thought it seemed that I was +back again in the vault, for in came Elzevir Block. Then I held up my +hands, and cried-- + +'O Elzevir, save me, save me; I am not come to spy.' + +But he, with a kind look on his face, put his hand on my shoulder, and +pushed me gently back, saying-- + +'Lie still, lad, there is none here will hurt thee, and drink this.' + +He held out to me a bowl of steaming broth, that filled the room with a +savour sweeter, ten thousand times, to me than every rose and lily of the +world; yet would not let me drink it at a gulp, but made me sip it with a +spoon like any baby. Thus while I drank, he told me where I was, namely, +in an attic at the Why Not?, but would not say more then, bidding me get +to sleep again, and I should know all afterwards. And so it was ten days +or more before youth and health had their way, and I was strong again; +and all that time Elzevir Block sat by my bed, and nursed me tenderly as +a woman. So piece by piece I learned the story of how they found me. + +'Twas Mr. Glennie who first moved to seek me; for when the second day +came that I was not at school, he thought that I was ill, and went to my +aunt's to ask how I did, as was his wont when any ailed. But Aunt Jane +answered him stiffly that she could not say how I did. + +'For,' says she, 'he is run off I know not where, but as he makes his +bed, must he lie on't; and if he run away for his pleasure, may stay away +for mine. I have been pestered with this lot too long, and only bore with +him for poor sister Martha's sake; but 'tis after his father that the +graceless lad takes, and thus rewards me.' + +With that she bangs the door in the parson's face and off he goes to +Ratsey, but can learn nothing there, and so concludes that I have run +away to sea, and am seeking ship at Poole or Weymouth. + +But that same day came Sam Tewkesbury to the Why Not? about nightfall, +and begged a glass of rum, being, as he said, 'all of a shake', and +telling a tale of how he passed the churchyard wall on his return from +work, and in the dusk heard screams and wailing voices, and knew 'twas +Blackbeard piping his lost Mohunes to hunt for treasure. So, though he +saw nothing, he turned tail and never stopped running till he stood at +the inn door. Then, forthwith, Elzevir leaves Sam to drink at the Why +Not? alone, and himself sets off running up the street to call for Master +Ratsey; and they two make straight across the sea-meadows in the dark. + +'For as soon as I heard Tewkesbury tell of screams and wailings in the +air, and no one to be seen,' said Elzevir, 'I guessed that some poor soul +had got shut in the vault, and was there crying for his life. And to this +I was not guided by mother wit, but by a surer and a sadder token. Thou +wilt have heard how thirteen years ago a daft body we called Cracky Jones +was found one morning in the churchyard dead. He was gone missing for a +week before, and twice within that week I had sat through the night upon +the hill behind the church, watching to warn the lugger with a flare she +could not put in for the surf upon the beach. And on those nights, the +air being still though a heavy swell was running, I heard thrice or more +a throttled scream come shivering across the meadows from the graveyard. +Yet beyond turning my blood cold for a moment, it gave me little trouble, +for evil tales have hung about the church; and though I did not set much +store by the old yarns of Blackbeard piping up his crew, yet I thought +strange things might well go on among the graves at night. And so I never +budged, nor stirred hand or foot to save a fellow-creature in his agony. + +'But when the surf fell enough for the boats to get ashore, and Greening +held a lantern for me to jump down into the passage, after we had got the +side out of the tomb, the first thing the light fell on at the bottom +was a white face turned skyward. I have not forgot that, lad, for 'twas +Cracky Jones lay there, with his face thin and shrunk, yet all the doited +look gone out of it. We tried to force some brandy in his mouth, but he +was stark and dead; with knees drawn up towards his head, so stiff we had +to lift him doubled as he was, and lay him by the churchyard wall for +some of us to find next day. We never knew how he got there, but guessed +that he had hung about the landers some night when they ran a cargo, and +slipped in when the watchman's back was turned. Thus when Sam Tewkesbury +spoke of screams and wailings, and no one to be seen, I knew what 'twas, +but never guessed who might be shut in there, not knowing thou wert gone +amissing. So ran to Ratsey to get his help to slip the side stone off, +for by myself I cannot stir it now, though once I did when I was younger; +and from him learned that thou wert lost, and knew whom we should find +before we got there.' + +I shuddered while Elzevir talked, for I thought how Cracky Jones had +perhaps hidden behind the self-same coffin that sheltered me, and how +narrowly I had escaped his fate. And that old story came back into my +mind, how, years ago, there once arose so terrible a cry from the vault +at service-time, that parson and people fled from the church; and I +doubted not now that some other poor soul had got shut in that awful +place, and was then calling for help to those whose fears would not let +them listen. + +'There we found thee,' Elzevir went on, 'stretched out on the sand, +senseless and far gone; and there was something in thy face that made me +think of David when he lay stretched out in his last sleep. And so I put +thee on my shoulder and bare thee back, and here thou art in David's +room, and shalt find board and bed with me as long as thou hast mind +to.' We spoke much together during the days when I was getting +stronger, and I grew to like Elzevir well, finding his grimness was but +on the outside, and that never was a kinder man. Indeed, I think that my +being with him did him good; for he felt that there was once more +someone to love him, and his heart went out to me as to his son David. +Never once did he ask me to keep my counsel as to the vault and what I +had seen there, knowing, perhaps, he had no need, for I would have died +rather than tell the secret to any. Only, one day Master Ratsey, who +often came to see me, said-- + +'John, there is only Elzevir and I who know that you have seen the +inside of our bond-cellar; and 'tis well, for if some of the landers +guessed, they might have ugly ways to stop all chance of prating. So +keep our secret tight, and we'll keep yours, for "he that refraineth his +lips is wise".' + +I wondered how Master Ratsey could quote Scripture so pat, and yet cheat +the revenue; though, in truth, 'twas thought little sin at Moonfleet to +run a cargo; and, perhaps, he guessed what I was thinking, for he added-- + +'Not that a Christian man has aught to be ashamed of in landing a cask of +good liquor, for we read that when Israel came out of Egypt, the chosen +people were bid trick their oppressors out of jewels of silver and jewels +of gold; and among those cruel taskmasters, Some of the worst must +certainly have been the tax-gatherers.' + + * * * * * + +The first walk I took when I grew stronger and was able to get about was +up to Aunt Jane's, notwithstanding she had never so much as been to ask +after me all these days. She knew, indeed, where I was, for Ratsey had +told her I lay at the Why Not?, explaining that Elzevir had found me one +night on the ground famished and half-dead, yet not saying where. But my +aunt greeted me with hard words, which I need not repeat here; for, +perhaps, she meant them not unkindly, but only to bring me back again to +the right way. She did not let me cross the threshold, holding the door +ajar in her hand, and saying she would have no tavern-loungers in her +house, but that if I liked the Why Not? so well, I could go back there +again for her. I had been for begging her pardon for playing truant; but +when I heard such scurvy words, felt the devil rise in my heart, and only +laughed, though bitter tears were in my eyes. So I turned my back upon +the only home that I had ever known, and sauntered off down the village, +feeling very lone, and am not sure I was not crying before I came again +to the Why Not? + +Then Elzevir saw that my face was downcast, and asked what ailed me, and +so I told him how my aunt had turned me away, and that I had no home to +go to. But he seemed pleased rather than sorry, and said that I must come +now and live with him, for he had plenty for both; and that since chance +had led him to save my life, I should be to him a son in David's place. +So I went to keep house with him at the Why Not? and my aunt sent down my +bag of clothes, and would have made over to Elzevir the pittance that my +father left for my keep, but he said it was not needful, and he would +have none of it. + + + + +CHAPTER 6 + +AN ASSAULT + + Surely after all, +The noblest answer unto such +Is perfect stillness when they brawl--_Tennyson_ + + +I have more than once brought up the name of Mr. Maskew; and as I shall +have other things to tell of him later on, I may as well relate here what +manner of man he was. His stature was but medium, not exceeding five feet +four inches, I think; and to make the most of it, he flung his head far +back, and gave himself a little strut in walking. He had a thin face with +a sharp nose that looked as if it would peck you, and grey eyes that +could pierce a millstone if there was a guinea on the far side of it. His +hair, for he wore his own, had been red, though it was now grizzled; and +the colour of it was set down in Moonfleet to his being a Scotchman, for +we thought all Scotchmen were red-headed. He was a lawyer by profession, +and having made money in Edinburgh, had gone so far south as Moonfleet to +get quit, as was said, of the memories of rascally deeds. It was about +four years since he bought a parcel of the Mohune Estate, which had been +breaking up and selling piecemeal for a generation; and on his land stood +the Manor House, or so much of it as was left. Of the mansion I have +spoken before. It was a very long house of two storeys, with a projecting +gable and doorway in the middle, and at each end gabled wings running out +crosswise. The Maskews lived in one of these wings, and that was the only +habitable portion of the place; for as to the rest, the glass was out of +the windows, and in some places the roofs had fallen in. Mr. Maskew made +no attempt to repair house or grounds, and the bough of the great cedar +which the snows had brought down in '49 still blocked the drive. The +entrance to the house was through the porchway in the middle, but more +than one tumble-down corridor had to be threaded before one reached +the inhabited wing; while fowls and pigs and squirrels had possession of +the terrace lawns in front. It was not for want of money that Maskew let +things remain thus, for men said that he was rich enough, only that his +mood was miserly; and perhaps, also, it was the lack of woman's company +that made him think so little of neatness and order. For his wife was +dead; and though he had a daughter, she was young, and had not yet weight +enough to make her father do things that he did not choose. + +Till Maskew came there had been none living in the Manor House for a +generation, so the village children used the terrace for a playground, +and picked primroses in the woods; and the men thought they had a right +to snare a rabbit or shoot a pheasant in the chase. But the new owner +changed all this, hiding gins and spring-guns in the coverts, and nailing +up boards on the trees to say he would have the law of any that +trespassed. So he soon made enemies for himself, and before long had +everyone's hand against him. Yet he preferred his neighbour's enmity to +their goodwill, and went about to make it more bitter by getting himself +posted for magistrate, and giving out that he would put down the +contraband thereabouts. For no one round Moonfleet was for the Excise; +but farmers loved a glass of Schnapps that had never been gauged, and +their wives a piece of fine lace from France. And then came the affair +between the _Elector_ and the ketch, with David Block's death; and after +that they said it was not safe for Maskew to walk at large, and that he +would be found some day dead on the down; but he gave no heed to it, and +went on as if he had been a paid exciseman rather than a magistrate. + +When I was a little boy the Manor woods were my delight, and many a sunny +afternoon have I sat on the terrace edge looking down over the village, +and munching red quarantines from the ruined fruit gardens. And though +this was now forbidden, yet the Manor had still a sweeter attraction to +me than apples or bird-batting, and that was Grace Maskew. She was an +only child, and about my own age, or little better, at the time of which +I am speaking. I knew her, because she went every day to the old +almshouses to be taught by the Reverend Mr. Glennie, from whom I also +received my schooling. She was tall for her age, and slim, with a thin +face and a tumble of tawny hair, which flew about her in a wind or when +she ran. Her frocks were washed and patched and faded, and showed more of +her arms and legs than the dressmaker had ever intended, for she was a +growing girl, and had none to look after her clothes. She was a favourite +playfellow with all, and an early choice for games of 'prisoner's base', +and she could beat most of us boys at speed. Thus, though we all hated +her father, and had for him many jeering titles among ourselves; yet we +never used an evil nickname nor a railing word against him when she was +by, because we liked her well. + +There were a half-dozen of us boys, and as many girls, whom Mr. Glennie +used to teach; and that you may see what sort of man Maskew was, I will +tell you what happened one day in school between him and the parson. Mr. +Glennie taught us in the almshouses; for though there were now no +bedesmen, and the houses themselves were fallen to decay, yet the little +hall in which the inmates had once dined was still maintained, and served +for our schoolroom. It was a long and lofty room, with a high wainscot +all round it, a carved oak screen at one end, and a broad window at the +other. A very heavy table, polished by use, and sadly besmirched with +ink, ran down the middle of the hall with benches on either side of it +for us to use; and a high desk for Mr. Glennie stood under the window at +the end of the room. Thus we were sitting one morning with our +summing-slates and grammars before us when the door in the screen opens +and Mr. Maskew enters. + +I have told you already of the verses which Mr. Glennie wrote for David +Block's grave; and when the floods had gone down Ratsey set up the +headstone with the poetry carved on it. But Maskew, through not going to +church, never saw the stone for weeks, until one morning, walking through +the churchyard, he lighted on it, and knew the verses for Mr. Glennie's. +So 'twas to have it out with the parson that he had come to school this +day; and though we did not know so much then, yet guessed from his +presence that something was in the wind, and could read in his face that +he was very angry. Now, for all that we hated Maskew, yet were we glad +enough to see him there, as hoping for something strange to vary the +sameness of school, and scenting a disturbance in the air. Only Grace was +ill at ease for fear her father should say something unseemly, and kept +her head down with shocks of hair falling over her book, though I could +see her blushing between them. So in vapours Maskew, and with an angry +glance about him makes straight for the desk where our master sits at the +top of the room. + +For a moment Mr. Glennie, being shortsighted, did not see who 'twas; but +as his visitor drew near, rose courteously to greet him. + +'Good day to you, Mister Maskew,' says he, holding out his hand. + +But Maskew puts his arms behind his back and bubbles out, 'Hold not out +your hand to me lest I spit on it. 'Tis like your snivelling cant to +write sweet psalms for smuggling rogues and try to frighten honest men +with your judgements.' + +At first Mr. Glennie did not know what the other would be at, and +afterwards understanding, turned very pale; but said as a minister he +would never be backward in reproving those whom he considered in the +wrong, whether from the pulpit or from the gravestone. Then Maskew +flies into a great passion, and pours out many vile and insolent words, +saying Mr. Glennie is in league with the smugglers and fattens on their +crimes; that the poetry is a libel; and that he, Maskew, will have the +law of him for calumny. + +After that he took Grace by the arm, and bade her get hat and cape and +come with him. 'For,' says he, 'I will not have thee taught any more by a +psalm-singing hypocrite that calls thy father murderer.' And all the +while he kept drawing up closer to Mr. Glennie, until the two stood very +near each other. + +There was a great difference between them; the one short and blustering, +with a red face turned up; the other tall and craning down, ill-clad, +ill-fed, and pale. Maskew had in his left hand a basket, with which he +went marketing of mornings, for he made his own purchases, and liked +fish, as being cheaper than meat. He had been chaffering with the +fishwives this very day, and was bringing back his provend with him when +he visited our school. + +Then he said to Mr. Glennie: 'Now, Sir Parson, the law has given into +your fool's hands a power over this churchyard, and 'tis your trade to +stop unseemly headlines from being set up within its walls, or once set +up, to turn them out forthwith. So I give you a week's grace, and if +tomorrow sennight yon stone be not gone, I will have it up and flung in +pieces outside the wall.' + +Mr. Glennie answered him in a low voice, but quite clear, so that we +could hear where we sat: 'I can neither turn the stone out myself, nor +stop you from turning it out if you so mind; but if you do this thing, +and dishonour the graveyard, there is One stronger than either you or I +that must be reckoned with.' + +I knew afterwards that he meant the Almighty, but thought then that +'twas of Elzevir he spoke; and so, perhaps, did Mr. Maskew, for he fell +into a worse rage, thrust his hand in the basket, whipped out a great +sole he had there, and in a twinkling dashes it in Mr. Glennie's face, +with a 'Then, take that for an unmannerly parson, for I would not foul my +fist with your mealy chops.' + +But to see that stirred my choler, for Mr. Glennie was weak as wax, and +would never have held up his hand to stop a blow, even were he strong as +Goliath. So I was for setting on Maskew, and being a stout lad for my +age, could have had him on the floor as easy as a baby; but as I rose +from my seat, I saw he held Grace by the hand, and so hung back for a +moment, and before I got my thoughts together he was gone, and I saw the +tail of Grace's cape whisk round the screen door. + +A sole is at the best an ugly thing to have in one's face, and this sole +was larger than most, for Maskew took care to get what he could for his +money, so it went with a loud smack on Mr. Glennie's cheek, and then fell +with another smack on the floor. At this we all laughed, as children +will, and Mr. Glennie did not check us, but went back and sat very quiet +at his desk; and soon I was sorry I had laughed, for he looked sad, with +his face sanded and a great red patch on one side, and beside that the +fin had scratched him and made a blood-drop trickle down his cheek. A few +minutes later the thin voice of the almshouse clock said twelve, and away +walked Mr. Glennie without his usual 'Good day, children', and there was +the sole left lying on the dusty floor in front of his desk. + +It seemed a shame so fine a fish should be wasted, so I picked it up and +slipped it in my desk, sending Fred Burt to get his mother's gridiron +that we might grill it on the schoolroom fire. While he was gone I went +out to the court to play, and had not been there five minutes when back +comes Maskew through our playground without Grace, and goes into the +schoolroom. But in the screen at the end of the room was a chink, against +which we used to hold our fingers on bright days for the sun to shine +through, and show the blood pink; so up I slipped and fixed my eye to the +hole, wanting to know what he was at. He had his basket with him, and I +soon saw he had come back for the sole, not having the heart to leave so +good a bit of fish. But look where he would, he could not find it, for he +never searched my desk, and had to go off with a sour countenance; but +Fred Burt and I cooked the sole, and found it well flavoured, for all it +had given so much pain to Mr. Glennie. + +After that Grace came no more to school, both because her father had +said she should not, and because she was herself ashamed to go back +after what Maskew had done to Mr. Glennie. And then it was that I took to +wandering much in the Manor woods, having no fear of man-traps, for I +knew their place as soon as they were put down, but often catching sight +of Grace, and sometimes finding occasion to talk with her. Thus time +passed, and I lived with Elzevir at the Why Not?, still going to school +of mornings, but spending the afternoons in fishing, or in helping him +in the garden, or with the boats. As soon as I got to know him well, I +begged him to let me help run the cargoes, but he refused, saying I was +yet too young, and must not come into mischief. Yet, later, yielding to +my importunity, he consented; and more than one dark night I was in the +landing-boats that unburdened the lugger, though I could never bring +myself to enter the Mohune vault again, but would stand as sentry at the +passage-mouth. And all the while I had round my neck Colonel John +Mohune's locket, and at first wore it next myself, but finding it black +the skin, put it between shirt and body-jacket. And there by dint of +wear it grew less black, and showed a little of the metal underneath, +and at last I took to polishing it at odd times, until it came out quite +white and shiny, like the pure silver that it was. Elzevir had seen this +locket when he put me to bed the first time I came to the Why Not? and +afterwards I told him whence I got it; but though we had it out more +than once of an evening, we could never come at any hidden meaning. +Indeed, we scarce tried to, judging it to be certainly a sacred charm to +keep evil spirits from Blackbeard's body. + + + + +CHAPTER 7 + +AN AUCTION + +What if my house be troubled with a rat, +And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats +To have it baned--_Shakespeare_ + + +One evening in March, when the days were lengthening fast, there came a +messenger from Dorchester, and brought printed notices for fixing to the +shutters of the Why Not? and to the church door, which said that in a +week's time the bailiff of the duchy of Cornwall would visit Moonfleet. +This bailiff was an important person, and his visits stood as events in +village history. Once in five years he made a perambulation, or journey, +through the whole duchy, inspecting all the Royal property, and arranging +for new leases. His visits to Moonfleet were generally short enough, for +owing to the Mohunes owning all the land, the only duchy estate there was +the Why Not? and the only duty of the bailiff to renew that five-year +lease, under which Blocks had held the inn, father and son, for +generations. But for all that, the business was not performed without +ceremony, for there was a solemn show of putting up the lease of the inn +to the highest bidder, though it was well understood that no one except +Elzevir would make an offer. + +So one morning, a week later, I went up to the top end of the village +to watch for the bailiff's postchaise, and about eleven of the forenoon +saw it coming down the hill with four horses and two postillions. +Presently it came past, and I saw there were two men in it--a clerk +sitting with his back to the horses, and in the seat opposite a little +man in a periwig, whom I took for the bailiff. Then I ran down to my +aunt's house, for Elzevir had asked me to beg one of her best winter +candles for a purpose which I will explain presently. I had not seen +Aunt Jane, except in church, since the day that she dismissed me, but +she was no stiffer than usual, and gave me the candle readily enough. +'There,' she said, 'take it, and I wish it may bring light into your +dark heart, and show you what a wicked thing it is to leave your own +kith and kin and go to dwell in a tavern.' I was for saying that it was +kith and kin that left me, and not I them; and as for living in a +tavern, it was better to live there than nowhere at all, as she would +wish me to do in turning me out of her house; but did not, and only +thanked her for the candle, and was off. + +When I came to the inn, there was the postchaise in front of the door, +the horses being led away to bait, and a little group of villagers +standing round; for though the auction of the Why Not? was in itself a +trite thing with a foregone conclusion, yet the bailiff's visit always +stirred some show of interest. There were a few children with their noses +flattened against the windows of the parlour, and inside were Mr. Bailiff +and Mr. Clerk hard at work on their dinner. Mr. Bailiff, who was, as I +guessed, the little man in the periwig, sat at the top of the table, and +Mr. Clerk sat at the bottom, and on chairs were placed their hats, and +travelling-cloaks, and bundles of papers tied together with green tape. +You may be sure that Elzevir had a good dinner for them, with hot rabbit +pie and cold round of brawn, and a piece of blue vinny, which Mr. Bailiff +ate heartily, but his clerk would not touch, saying he had as lief chew +soap. There was also a bottle of Ararat milk, and a flagon of ale, for we +were afraid to set French wines before them, lest they should fall to +wondering how they were come by. + +Elzevir took the candle, chiding me a little for being late, and set it +in a brass candlestick in the middle of the table. Then Mr. Clerk takes a +little rule from his pocket, measures an inch down on the candle, sticks +into the grease at that point a scarf-pin with an onyx head that Elzevir +lent him, and lights the wick. Now the reason of this was, that the +custom ran in Moonfleet when either land or lease was put up to bidding, +to stick a pin in a candle; and so long as the pin held firm, it was open +to any to make a better offer, but when the flame burnt down and the pin +fell out, then land or lease fell to the last bidder. So after dinner was +over and the table cleared, Mr. Clerk takes out a roll of papers and +reads a legal description of the Why Not?, calling it the Mohune Arms, an +excellent messuage or tenement now used as a tavern, and speaking of the +convenient paddocks or parcels of grazing land at the back of it, called +Moons'-lease, amounting to sixteen acres more or less. Then he invites +the company to make an offer of rent for such a desirable property under +a five years' lease, and as Elzevir and I are the only company present, +the bidding is soon done; for Elzevir offers a rent of 12 a year, which +has always been the value of the Why Not? The clerk makes a note of +this; but the business is not over yet, for we must wait till the pin +drops out of the candle before the lease is finally made out. So the men +fell to smoking to pass the time, till there could not have been more +than ten minutes' candle to burn, and Mr. Bailiff, with a glass of Ararat +milk in his hand, was saying, 'Tis a curious and fine tap of Hollands you +keep here, Master Block,' when in walked Mr. Maskew. + +A thunderbolt would not have astonished me so much as did his appearance, +and Elzevir's face grew black as night; but the bailiff and clerk showed +no surprise, not knowing the terms on which persons in our village stood +to one another, and thinking it natural that someone should come in to +see the pin drop, and the end of an ancient custom. Indeed, Maskew seemed +to know the bailiff, for he passed the time of day with him, and was then +for sitting down at the table without taking any notice of Elzevir or me. +But just as he began to seat himself, Block shouted out, 'You are no +welcome visitor in my house, and I would sooner see your back than see +your face, but sit at this table you shall not.' I knew what he meant; +for on that table they had laid out David's body, and with that he struck +his fist upon the board so smart as to make the bailiff jump and nearly +bring the pin out of the candle. + +'Heyday, sirs,' says Mr. Bailiff, astonished, 'let us have no brawling +here, the more so as this worshipful gentleman is a magistrate and +something of a friend of mine.' Yet Maskew refrained from sitting, but +stood by the bailiff's chair, turning white, and not red, as he did with +Mr. Glennie; and muttered something, that he had as lief stand as sit, +and that it should soon be Block's turn to ask sitting-room of _him_. + +I was wondering what possibly could have brought Maskew there, when the +bailiff, who was ill at ease, said--'Come, Mr. Clerk, the pin hath but +another minute's hold; rehearse what has been done, for I must get this +lease delivered and off to Bridport, where much business waits.' + +So the clerk read in a singsong voice that the property of the duchy of +Cornwall, called the Mohune Arms, an inn or tavern, with all its land, +tenements, and appurtenances, situate in the Parish of St. Sebastian, +Moonfleet, having been offered on lease for five years, would be let to +Elzevir Block at a rent of 12 per annum, unless anyone offered a higher +rent before the pin fell from the candle. + +There was no one to make another offer, and the bailiff said to Elzevir, +'Tell them to have the horses round, the pin will be out in a minute, and +'twill save time.' So Elzevir gave the order, and then we all stood round +in silence, waiting for the pin to fall. The grease had burnt down to the +mark, or almost below it, as it appeared; but just where the pin stuck in +there was a little lump of harder tallow that held bravely out, refusing +to be melted. The bailiff gave a stamp of impatience with his foot under +the table as though he hoped thus to shake out the pin, and then a little +dry voice came from Maskew, saying-- + +'I offer 13 a year for the inn.' + +This fell upon us with so much surprise, that all looked round, seeking +as it were some other speaker, and never thinking that it could be +Maskew. Elzevir was the first, I believe, to fully understand 'twas he; +and without turning to look at bailiff or Maskew, but having his elbows +on the table, his face between his hands, and looking straight out to +sea said in a sturdy voice, 'I offer 20.' + +The words were scarce out of his mouth when Maskew caps them with 21, +and so in less than a minute the rent of the Why Not? was near doubled. +Then the bailiff looked from one to the other, not knowing what to make +of it all, nor whether 'twas comedy or serious, and said-- + +'Kind sir, I warn ye not to trifle; I have no time to waste in April +fooling, and he who makes offers in sport will have to stand to them +in earnest.' + +But there was no lack of earnest in one at least of the men that he had +before him, and the voice with which Elzevir said 30 was still sturdy. +Maskew called 31 and 41, and Elzevir 40 and 50, and then I looked at +the candle, and saw that the head of the pin was no longer level, it had +sunk a little--a very little. The clerk awoke from his indifference, and +was making notes of the bids with a squeaking quill, the bailiff frowned +as being puzzled, and thinking that none had a right to puzzle him. As +for me, I could not sit still, but got on my feet, if so I might better +bear the suspense; for I understood now that Maskew had made up his mind +to turn Elzevir out, and that Elzevir was fighting for his home. _His_ +home, and had he not made it my home too, and were we both to be made +outcasts to please the spite of this mean little man? + +There were some more bids, and then I knew that Maskew was saying 91, +and saw the head of the pin was lower; the hard lump of tallow in Aunt +Jane's candle was thawing. The bailiff struck in: 'Are ye mad, sirs, and +you, Master Block, save your breath, and spare your money; and if this +worshipful gentleman must become innkeeper at any price, let him have the +place in the Devil's name, and I will give thee the Mermaid, at Bridport, +with a snug parlour, and ten times the trade of this.' + +Elzevir seemed not to hear what he said, but only called out 100, with +his face still looking out to sea, and the same sturdiness in his voice. +Then Maskew tried a spring, and went to 120, and Elzevir capped him with +130, and 140, 150, 160, 170 followed quick. My breath came so fast +that I was almost giddy, and I had to clench my hands to remind myself of +where I was, and what was going on. The bidders too were breathing hard, +Elzevir had taken his head from his hands, and the eyes of all were on +the pin. The lump of tallow was worn down now; it was hard to say why the +pin did not fall. Maskew gulped out 180, and Elzevir said 190, and then +the pin gave a lurch, and I thought the Why Not? was saved, though at the +price of ruin. No; the pin had not fallen, there was a film that held it +by the point, one second, only one second. Elzevir's breath, which was +ready to outbid whatever Maskew said, caught in his throat with the +catching pin, and Maskew sighed out 200, before the pin pattered on the +bottom of the brass candlestick. + +The clerk forgot his master's presence and shut his notebook with a bang, +'Congratulate you, sir,' says he, quite pert to Maskew; 'you are the +landlord of the poorest pothouse in the Duchy at 200 a year.' + +The bailiff paid no heed to what his man did, but took his periwig +off and wiped his head. 'Well, I'm hanged,' he said; and so the Why +Not? was lost. + +Just as the last bid was given, Elzevir half-rose from his chair, and +for a moment I expected to see him spring like a wild beast on Maskew; +but he said nothing, and sat down again with the same stolid look on his +face. And, indeed, it was perhaps well that he thus thought better of +it, for Maskew stuck his hand into his bosom as the other rose; and +though he withdrew it again when Elzevir got back to his chair, yet the +front of his waistcoat was a little bulged, and, looking sideways, I saw +the silver-shod butt of a pistol nestling far down against his white +shirt. The bailiff was vexed, I think, that he had been betrayed into +such strong words; for he tried at once to put on as indifferent an air +as might be, saying in dry tones, 'Well, gentlemen, there seems to be +here some personal matter into which I shall not attempt to spy. Two +hundred pounds more or less is but a flea-bite to the Duchy; and if you, +sir,' turning to Maskew, 'wish later on to change your mind, and be quit +of the bargain, I shall not be the man to stand in your way. In any +case, I imagine 'twill be time enough to seal the lease if I send it +from London.' + +I knew he said this, and hinted at delay as wishing to do Elzevir a good +turn; for his clerk had the lease already made out pat, and it only +wanted the name and rent filled in to be sealed and signed. But, 'No,' +says Maskew, 'business is business, Mr. Bailiff, and the post uncertain +to parts so distant from the capital as these; so I'll thank you to make +out the lease to me now, and on May Day place me in possession.' + +'So be it then,' said the bailiff a little testily, 'but blame me not for +driving hard bargains; for the Duchy, whose servant I am,' and he raised +his hat, 'is no daughter of the horse-leech. Fill in the figures, Mr. +Scrutton, and let us away.' + +So Mr. Scrutton, for that was Mr. Clerk's name, scratches a bit with his +quill on the parchment sheet to fill in the money, and then Maskew +scratches his name, and Mr. Bailiff scratches his name, and Mr. Clerk +scratches again to witness Mr. Bailiff's name, and then Mr. Bailiff takes +from his mails a little shagreen case, and out from the case comes +sealing-wax and the travelling seal of the Duchy. + +There was my aunt's best winter-candle still burning away in the +daylight, for no one had taken any thought to put it out; and Mr. Bailiff +melts the wax at it, till a drop of sealing-wax falls into the grease and +makes a gutter down one side, and then there is a sweating of the +parchment under the hot wax, and at last on goes the seal. 'Signed, +sealed, and delivered,' says Mr. Clerk, rolling up the sheet and handing +it to Maskew; and Maskew takes and thrusts it into his bosom underneath +his waistcoat front--all cheek by jowl with that silver-hafted pistol, +whose butt I had seen before. + +The postchaise stood before the door, the horses were stamping on the +cobble-stones, and the harness jingled. Mr. Clerk had carried out his +mails, but Mr. Bailiff stopped for a moment as he flung the travelling +cloak about his shoulders to say to Elzevir, 'Tut, man, take things not +too hardly. Thou shalt have the Mermaid at 20 a year, which will be +worth ten times as much to thee as this dreary place; and canst send thy +son to Bryson's school, where they will make a scholar of him, for he is +a brave lad'; and he touched my shoulder, and gave me a kindly look as +he passed. + +'I thank your worship,' said Elzevir, 'for all your goodness; but when I +quit this place, I shall not set up my staff again at any inn door.' + +Mr. Bailiff seemed nettled to see his offer made so little of, and left +the room with a stiff, 'Then I wish you good day.' + +Maskew had slipped out before him, and the children's noses left the +window-pane as the great man walked down the steps. There was a little +group to see the start, but it quickly melted; and before the clatter of +hoofs died away, the report spread through the village that Maskew had +turned Elzevir out of the Why Not? + +For a long time after all had gone, Elzevir sat at the table with his +head between his hands, and I kept quiet also, both because I was myself +sorry that we were to be sent adrift, and because I wished to show +Elzevir that I felt for him in his troubles. But the young cannot enter +fully into their elders' sorrows, however much they may wish to, and +after a time the silence palled upon me. It was getting dusk, and the +candle which bore itself so bravely through auction and lease-sealing +burnt low in the socket. A minute later the light gave some flickering +flashes, failings, and sputters, and then the wick tottered, and out +popped the flame, leaving us with the chilly grey of a March evening +creeping up in the corners of the room. I could bear the gloom no longer, +but made up the fire till the light danced ruddy across pewter and +porcelain on the dresser. 'Come, Master Block,' I said, 'there is time +enough before May Day to think what we shall do, so let us take a cup of +tea, and after that I will play you a game of backgammon.' But he still +remained cast down, and would say nothing; and as chance would have it, +though I wished to let him win at backgammon, that so, perhaps, he might +get cheered, yet do what I would that night I could not lose. So as his +luck grew worse his moodiness increased, and at last he shut the board +with a bang, saying, in reference to that motto that ran round its edge, +'Life is like a game of hazard, and surely none ever flung worse throws, +or made so little of them as I.' + + + + +CHAPTER 8 + +THE LANDING + +Let my lamp at midnight hour +Be seen in some high lonely tower--_Milton_ + + +Maskew got ugly looks from the men, and sour words from the wives, as he +went up through the village that afternoon, for all knew what he had +done, and for many days after the auction he durst not show his face +abroad. Yet Damen of Ringstave and some others of the landers' men, who +made it their business to keep an eye upon him, said that he had been +twice to Weymouth of evenings, and held converse there with Mr. Luckham +of the Excise, and with Captain Henning, who commanded the troopers then +in quarters on the Nothe. And by degrees it got about, but how I do not +know, that he had persuaded the Revenue to strike hard at the smugglers, +and that a strong posse was to be held in readiness to take the landers +in the act the next time they should try to run a cargo. Why Maskew +should so put himself about to help the Revenue I cannot tell, nor did +anyone ever certainly find out; but some said 'twas out of sheer +wantonness, and a desire to hurt his neighbours; and others, that he saw +what an apt place this was for landing cargoes, and wished first to make +a brave show of zeal for the Excise, and afterwards to get the whole of +the contraband trade into his own hands. However that may be, I think he +was certainly in league with the Revenue men, and more than once I saw +him on the Manor terrace with a spy glass in his hand, and guessed that +he was looking for the lugger in the offing. Now, word was mostly given +to the lander, by safe hands, of the night on which a cargo should be +run, and then in the morning or afternoon, the lugger would come just +near enough the land to be made out with glasses, and afterwards lie off +again out of sight till nightfall. The nights chosen for such work were +without moon, but as still as might be, so long as there was wind enough +to fill the sails; and often the lugger could be made out from the beach, +but sometimes 'twas necessary to signal with flares, though they were +used as little as might be. Yet after there had been a long spell of +rough weather, and a cargo had to be run at all hazards, I have known the +boats come in even on the bright moonlight and take their risk, for 'twas +said the Excise slept sounder round us than anywhere in all the Channel. + +These tales of Maskew's doings failed not to reach Elzevir, and for some +days he thought best not to move, though there was a cargo on the other +side that wanted landing badly. But one evening when he had won at +backgammon, and was in an open mood, he took me into confidence, setting +down the dice box on the table, and saying-- + +'There is word come from the shippers that we must take a cargo, for that +they cannot keep the stuff by them longer at St. Malo. Now with this +devil at the Manor prowling round, I dare not risk the job on Moonfleet +beach, nor yet stow the liquor in the vault; so I have told the +_Bonaventure_ to put her nose into this bay tomorrow afternoon that +Maskew may see her well, and then to lie out again to sea, as she has +done a hundred times before. But instead of waiting in the offing, she +will make straight off up Channel to a little strip of shingle underneath +Hoar Head.' I nodded to show I knew the place, and he went on--'Men used +to choose that spot in good old times to beach a cargo before the +passage to the vault was dug; and there is a worked-out quarry they +called Pyegrove's Hole, not too far off up the down, and choked with +brambles, where we can find shelter for a hundred kegs. So we'll be under +Hoar Head at five tomorrow morn with the pack-horses. I wish we could be +earlier, for the sun rises thereabout, but the tide will not serve +before.' + +It was at that moment that I felt a cold touch on my shoulders, as of the +fresh air from outside, and thought beside I had a whiff of salt seaweed +from the beach. So round I looked to see if door or window stood ajar. +The window was tight enough, and shuttered to boot, but the door was not +to be seen plainly for a wooden screen, which parted it from the parlour, +and was meant to keep off draughts. Yet I could just see a top corner of +the door above the screen and thought it was not fast. So up I got to +shut it, for the nights were cold; but coming round the corner of the +screen found that 'twas closed, and yet I could have sworn I saw the +latch fall to its place as I walked towards it. Then I dashed forward, +and in a trice had the door open, and was in the street. But the night +was moonless and black, and I neither saw nor heard aught stirring, save +the gentle sea-wash on Moonfleet beach beyond the salt meadows. + +Elzevir looked at me uneasily as I came back. + +'What ails thee, boy?' said he. + +'I thought I heard someone at the door,' I answered; 'did you not feel a +cold wind as if it was open?' + +'It is but the night is sharp, the spring sets in very chill; slip the +bolt, and sit down again,' and he flung a fresh log on the fire, that +sent a cloud of sparks crackling up the chimney and out into the room. + +'Elzevir,' I said, 'I think there was one listening at the door, and +there may be others in the house, so before we sit again let us take +candle and go through the rooms to make sure none are prying on us.' + +He laughed and said, ''Twas but the wind that blew the door open,' but +that I might do as I pleased. So I lit another candle, and was for +starting on my search; but he cried, 'Nay, thou shalt not go alone'; and +so we went all round the house together, and found not so much as a +mouse stirring. + +He laughed the more when we came back to the parlour. ''Tis the cold +has chilled thy heart and made thee timid of that skulking rascal of +the Manor; fill me a glass of Ararat milk, and one for thyself, and let +us to bed.' + +I had learned by this not to be afraid of the good liquor, and while we +sat sipping it, Elzevir went on-- + +'There is a fortnight yet to run, and then you and I shall be cut adrift +from our moorings. It is a cruel thing to see the doors of this house +closed on me, where I and mine have lived a century or more, but I must +see it. Yet let us not be too cast down, but try to make something even +of this worst of throws.' + +I was glad enough to hear him speak in this firmer strain, for I had seen +what a sore thought it had been for these days past that he must leave +the Why Not?, and how it often made him moody and downcast. + +'We will have no more of innkeeping,' he said; 'I have been sick and +tired of it this many a day, and care not now to see men abuse good +liquor and addle their silly pates to fill my purse. And I have +something, boy, put snug away in Dorchester town that will give us bread +to eat and beer to drink, even if the throws run still deuce-ace. But we +must seek a roof to shelter us when the Why Not? is shut, and 'tis best +we leave this Moonfleet of ours for a season, till Maskew finds a rope's +end long enough to hang himself withal. So, when our work is done +tomorrow night, we will walk out along the cliff to Worth, and take a +look at a cottage there that Damen spoke about, with a walled orchard at +the back, and fuchsia hedge in front--'tis near the Lobster Inn, and has +a fine prospect of the sea; and if we live there, we will leave the vault +alone awhile and use this Pyegrove's Hole for storehouse, till the watch +is relaxed.' + +I did not answer, having my thoughts on other things, and he tossed off +his liquor, saying, 'Thou'rt tired; so let's to bed, for we shall get +little sleep tomorrow night.' + +It was true that I was tired, and yet I could not get to sleep, but +tossed and turned in my bed for thinking of many things, and being vexed +that we were to leave Moonfleet. Yet mine was a selfish sorrow; for I had +little thought for Elzevir and the pain that it must be to him to quit, +the Why Not?: nor yet was it the grief of leaving Moonfleet that so +troubled me, although that was the only place I ever had known, and +seemed to me then--as now--the only spot on earth fit to be lived in; but +the real care and canker was that I was going away from Grace Maskew. For +since she had left school I had grown fonder of her; and now that it was +difficult to see her, I took the more pains to accomplish it, and met her +sometimes in Manor Woods, and more than once, when Maskew was away, had +walked with her on Weatherbeech Hill. So we bred up a boy-and-girl +affection, and must needs pledge ourselves to be true to one another, not +knowing what such silly words might mean. And I told Grace all my +secrets, not even excepting the doings of the contraband, and the Mohune +vault and Blackbeard's locket, for I knew all was as safe with her as +with me, and that her father could never rack aught from her. Nay, more, +her bedroom was at the top of the gabled wing of the Manor House, and +looked right out to sea; and one clear night, when our boat was coming +late from fishing, I saw her candle burning there, and next day told her +of it. And then she said that she would set a candle to burn before the +panes on winter nights, and be a leading light for boats at sea. And so +she did, and others beside me saw and used it, calling it 'Maskew's +Match', and saying that it was the attorney sitting up all night to pore +over ledgers and add up his fortune. + +So this night as I lay awake I vexed and vexed myself for thinking of +her, and at last resolved to go up next morning to the Manor Woods and +lie in wait for Grace, to tell her what was up, and that we were going +away to Worth. + +Next day, the 16th of April--a day I have had cause to remember all my +life--I played truant from Mr. Glennie, and by ten in the forenoon found +myself in the woods. + +There was a little dimple on the hillside above the house, green with +burdocks in summer and filled with dry leaves in winter--just big enough +to hold one lying flat, and not so deep but that I could look over the +lip of it and see the house without being seen. Thither I went that day, +and lay down in the dry leaves to wait and watch for Grace. + +The morning was bright enough. The chills of the night before had given +way to sunlight that seemed warm as summer, and yet had with it the soft +freshness of spring. There was scarce a breath moving in the wood, though +I could see the clouds of white dust stalking up the road that climbs +Ridge down, and the trees were green with buds, yet without leafage to +keep the sunbeams from lighting up the ground below, which glowed with +yellow king-cups. So I lay there for a long, long while; and to make time +pass quicker, took from my bosom the silver locket, and opening it, read +again the parchment, which I had read times out of mind before, and knew +indeed by heart. + +'The days of our age are threescore years and ten', and the rest. + +Now, whenever I handled the locket, my thoughts were turned to Mohune's +treasure; and it was natural that it should be so, for the locket +reminded me of my first journey to the vault; and I laughed at myself, +remembering how simple I had been, and had hoped to find the place +littered with diamonds, and to see the gold lying packed in heaps. And +thus for the hundredth time I came to rack my brain to know where the +diamond could be hid, and thought at last it must be buried in the +churchyard, because of the talk of Blackbeard being seen on wild nights +digging there for his treasure. But then, I reasoned, that very like it +was the contrabandiers whom men had seen with spades when they were +digging out the passage from the tomb to the vault, and set them down for +ghosts because they wrought at night. And while I was busy with such +thoughts, the door opened in the house below me, and out came Grace with +a hood on her head and a basket for wild flowers in her hand. + +I watched to see which way she would walk; and as soon as she took the +path that leads up Weatherbeech, made off through the dry brushwood to +meet her, for we had settled she should never go that road except when +Maskew was away. So there we met and spent an hour together on the hill, +though I shall not write here what we said, because it was mostly silly +stuff. She spoke much of the auction and of Elzevir leaving the Why Not?, +and though she never said a word against her father, let me know what +pain his doing gave her. But most she grieved that we were leaving +Moonfleet, and showed her grief in such pretty ways, as made me almost +glad to see her sorry. And from her I learned that Maskew was indeed +absent from home, having been called away suddenly last night. The +evening was so fine, he said (and this surprised me, remembering how dark +and cold it was with us), that he must needs walk round the policies; but +about nine o'clock came back and told her he had got a sudden call to +business, which would take him to Weymouth then and there. So to saddle, +and off he went on his mare, bidding Grace not to look for him for two +nights to come. + +I know not why it was, but what she said of Maskew made me thoughtful and +silent, and she too must be back home lest the old servant that kept +house for them should say she had been too long away, and so we parted. +Then off I went through the woods and down the village street, but as I +passed my old home saw Aunt Jane standing on the doorstep. I bade her +'Good day', and was for running on to the Why Not?, for I was late enough +already, but she called me to her, seeming in a milder mood, and said she +had something for me in the house. So left me standing while she went off +to get it, and back she came and thrust into my hand a little +prayer-book, which I had often seen about the parlour in past days, +saying, 'Here is a Common Prayer which I had meant to send thee with thy +clothes. It was thy poor mother's, and I pray may some day be as precious +a balm to thee as it once was to that godly woman.' With that she gave me +the 'Good day', and I pocketed the little red leather book, which did +indeed afterwards prove precious to me, though not in the way she meant, +and ran down street to the Why Not? + + * * * * * + +That same evening Elzevir and I left the Why Not?, went up through the +village, climbed the down, and were at the brow by sunset. We had started +earlier than we fixed the night before, because word had come to Elzevir +that morning that the tide called Gulder would serve for the beaching of +the _Bonaventure_ at three instead of five. 'Tis a strange thing the +Gulder, and not even sailors can count closely with it; for on the Dorset +coast the tide makes four times a day, twice with the common flow, and +twice with the Gulder, and this last being shifty and uncertain as to +time, flings out many a sea-reckoning. + +It was about seven o'clock when we were at the top of the hill, and there +were fifteen good miles to cover to get to Hoar Head. Dusk was upon us +before we had walked half an hour; but when the night fell, it was not +black as on the last evening, but a deep sort of blue, and the heat of +the day did not die with the sun, but left the air still warm and balmy. +We trudged on in silence, and were glad enough when we saw by a white +stone here and there at the side of the path that we were nearing the +cliff; for the Preventive men mark all the footpaths on the cliff with +whitewashed stones, so that one can pick up the way without risk on a +dark night. A few minutes more, and we reached a broad piece of open +sward, which I knew for the top of Hoar Head. + +Hoar Head is the highest of that line of cliffs, which stretches twenty +miles from Weymouth to St. Alban's Head, and it stands up eighty fathoms +or more above the water. The seaward side is a great sheer of chalk, but +falls not straight into the sea, for three parts down there is a lower +ledge or terrace, called the under-cliff. + +'Twas to this ledge that we were bound; and though we were now straight +above, I knew we had a mile or more to go before we could get down to +it. So on we went again, and found the bridle-path that slopes down +through a deep dip in the cliff line; and when we reached this +under-ledge, I looked up at the sky, the night being clear, and guessed +by the stars that 'twas past midnight. I knew the place from having once +been there for blackberries; for the brambles on the under-cliff being +sheltered every way but south, and open to the sun, grow the finest in +all those parts. + +We were not alone, for I could make out a score of men, some standing in +groups, some resting on the ground, and the dark shapes of the +pack-horses showing larger in the dimness. There were a few words of +greeting muttered in deep voices, and then all was still, so that one +heard the browsing horses trying to crop something off the turf. It was +not the first cargo I had helped to run, and I knew most of the men, but +did not speak with them, being tired, and wishing to rest till I was +wanted. So cast myself down on the turf, but had not lain there long when +I saw someone coming to me through the brambles, and Master Ratsey said, +'Well, Jack, so thou and Elzevir are leaving Moonfleet, and I fain would +flit myself, but then who would be left to lead the old folk to their +last homes, for dead do not bury their dead in these days.' + +I was half-asleep, and took little heed of what he said, putting him off +with, 'That need not keep you, Master; they will find others to fill your +place.' Yet he would not let me be, but went on talking for the pleasure +of hearing his own voice. + +'Nay, child, you know not what you say. They may find men to dig a grave, +and perhaps to fill it, but who shall toss the mould when Parson Glennie +gives the "earth to earth"; it takes a mort of knowledge to make it +rattle kindly on the coffin-lid.' + +I felt sleep heavy on my eyelids, and was for begging him to let me rest, +when there came a whistle from below, and in a moment all were on their +feet. The drivers went to the packhorses' heads, and so we walked down to +the strand, a silent moving group of men and horses mixed; and before we +came to the bottom, heard the first boat's nose grind on the beach, and +the feet of the seamen crunching in the pebbles. Then all fell to the +business of landing, and a strange enough scene it was, what with the +medley of men, the lanthorns swinging, and a frothy Upper from the sea +running up till sometimes it was over our boots; and all the time there +was a patter of French and Dutch, for most of the _Bonaventure's_ men +were foreigners. But I shall not speak more of this; for, after all, one +landing is very like another, and kegs come ashore in much the same way, +whether they are to pay excise or not. + +It must have been three o'clock before the lugger's boats were off again +to sea, and by that time the horses were well laden, and most of the men +had a keg or two to carry beside. Then Elzevir, who was in command, gave +the word, and we began to file away from the beach up to the under-cliff. +Now, what with the cargo being heavy, we were longer than usual in +getting away; and though there was no sign of sunrise, yet the night was +greyer, and not so blue as it had been. + +We reached the under-cliff, and were moving across it to address +ourselves to the bridle-path, and so wind sideways up the steep, when I +saw something moving behind one of the plumbs of brambles with which the +place is beset. It was only a glimpse of motion that I had perceived, and +could not say whether 'twas man or animal, or even frightened bird behind +the bushes. But others had seen it as well; there was some shouting, half +a dozen flung down their kegs and started in pursuit. + +All eyes were turned to the bridle-path, and in a twinkling hunters and +hunted were in view. The greyhounds were Damen and Garrett, with some +others, and the hare was an older man, who leapt and bounded forward, +faster than I should have thought any but a youth could run; but then he +knew what men were after him, and that 'twas a race for life. For though +it was but a moment before all were lost in the night, yet this was long +enough to show me that the man was none other than Maskew, and I knew +that his life was not worth ten minutes' purchase. + +Now I hated this man, and had myself suffered something at his hand, +besides seeing him put much grievous suffering on others; but I wished +then with all my heart he might escape, and had a horrible dread of what +was to come. Yet I knew all the time escape was impossible; for though +Maskew ran desperately, the way was steep and stony, and he had behind +him some of the fleetest feet along that coast. We had all stopped with +one accord, as not wishing to move a step forward till we had seen the +issue of the chase; and I was near enough to look into Elzevir's face, +but saw there neither passion nor bloodthirstiness, but only a calm +resolve, as if he had to deal with something well expected. + +We had not long to wait, for very soon we heard a rolling of stones and +trampling of feet coming down the path, and from the darkness issued a +group of men, having Maskew in the middle of them. They were hustling him +along fast, two having hold of him by the arms, and a third by the neck +of his shirt behind. The sight gave me a sick qualm, like an overdose of +tobacco, for it was the first time I had ever seen a man man-handled, and +a fellow-creature abused. His cap was lost, and his thin hair tangled +over his forehead, his coat was torn off, so that he stood in his +waistcoat alone; he was pale, and gasped terribly, whether from the sharp +run, or from violence, or fear, or all combined. + +There was a babel of voices when they came up of desperate men who had a +bitterest enemy in their clutch; and some shouted, 'Club him', 'Shoot +him', 'Hang him', while others were for throwing him over the cliff. Then +someone saw under the flap of his waistcoat that same silver-hafted +pistol that lay so lately next the lease of the Why Not? and snatching it +from him, flung it on the grass at Block's feet. + +But Elzevir's deep voice mastered their contentions-- + +'Lads, ye remember how I said when this man's reckoning day should come +'twas I would reckon with him, and had your promise to it. Nor is it +right that any should lay hand on him but I, for is he not sealed to me +with my son's blood? So touch him not, but bind him hand and foot, and +leave him here with me and go your ways; there is no time to lose, for +the light grows apace.' + +There was a little muttered murmuring, but Elzevir's will overbore them +here as it had done in the vault; and they yielded the more easily, +because every man knew in his heart that he would never see Maskew again +alive. So within ten minutes all were winding up the bridle-path, horses +and men, all except three; for there were left upon the brambly +greensward of the under-cliff Maskew and Elzevir and I, and the pistol +lay at Elzevir's feet. + + + + +CHAPTER 9 + +A JUDGEMENT + +Let them fight it out, friend. Things have gone too far, +God must judge the couple: leave them as they are--_Browning_ + + +I made as if I would follow the others, not wishing to see what I must +see if I stayed behind, and knowing that I was powerless to bend Elzevir +from his purpose. But he called me back and bade me wait with him, for +that I might be useful by and by. So I waited, but was only able to make +a dreadful guess at how I might be of use, and feared the worst. + +Maskew sat on the sward with his hands lashed tight behind his back, and +his feet tied in front. They had set him with his shoulders against a +great block of weather-worn stone that was half-buried and half-stuck up +out of the turf. There he sat keeping his eyes on the ground, and was +breathing less painfully than when he was first brought, but still very +pale. Elzevir stood with the lanthorn in his hand, looking at Maskew +with a fixed gaze, and we could hear the hoofs of the heavy-laden horses +beating up the path, till they turned a corner, and all was still. + +The silence was broken by Maskew: 'Unloose me, villain, and let me go. I +am a magistrate of the county, and if you do not, I will have you +gibbeted on this cliff-top.' + +They were brave words enough, yet seemed to me but bad play-acting; and +brought to my remembrance how, when I was a little fellow, Mr. Glennie +once made me recite a battle-piece of Mr. Dryden before my betters; and +how I could scarce get out the bloody threats for shyness and rising +tears. So it was with Maskew's words; for he had much ado to gather +breath to say them, and they came in a thin voice that had no sting of +wrath or passion in it. + +Then Elzevir spoke to him, not roughly, but resolved; and yet with +melancholy, like a judge sentencing a prisoner: + +'Talk not to me of gibbets, for thou wilt neither hang nor see men hanged +again. A month ago thou satst under my roof, watching the flame burn down +till the pin dropped and gave thee right to turn me out from my old home. +And now this morning thou shalt watch that flame again, for I will give +thee one inch more of candle, and when the pin drops, will put this thine +own pistol to thy head, and kill thee with as little thought as I would +kill a stoat or other vermin.' + +Then he opened the lanthorn slide, took out from his neckcloth that same +pin with the onyx head which he had used in the Why Not? and fixed it in +the tallow a short inch from the top, setting the lanthorn down upon the +sward in front of Maskew. + +As for me, I was dismayed beyond telling at these words, and made +giddy with the revulsion of feeling; for, whereas, but a few minutes +ago, I would have thought nothing too bad for Maskew, now I was turned +round to wish he might come off with his life, and to look with terror +upon Elzevir. + +It had grown much lighter, but not yet with the rosy flush of sunrise; +only the stars had faded out, and the deep blue of the night given way to +a misty grey. The light was strong enough to let all things be seen, but +not to call the due tints back to them. So I could see cliffs and ground, +bushes and stones and sea, and all were of one pearly grey colour, or +rather they were colourless; but the most colourless and greyest thing of +all was Maskew's face. His hair had got awry, and his head showed much +balder than when it was well trimmed; his face, too, was drawn with heavy +lines, and there were rings under his eyes. Beside all that, he had got +an ugly fall in trying to escape, and one cheek was muddied, and down it +trickled a blood-drop where a stone had cut him. He was a sorry sight +enough, and looking at him, I remembered that day in the schoolroom when +this very man had struck the parson, and how our master had sat patient +under it, with a blood-drop trickling down his cheek too. Maskew kept his +eyes fixed for a long time on the ground, but raised them at last, and +looked at me with a vacant yet pity-seeking look. Now, till that moment I +had never seen a trace of Grace in his features, nor of him in hers; and +yet as he gazed at me then, there was something of her present in his +face, even battered as it was, so that it seemed as if she looked at me +behind his eyes. And that made me the sorrier for him, and at last I felt +I could not stand by and see him done to death. + +When Elzevir had stuck the pin into the candle he never shut the slide +again; and though no wind blew, there was a light breath moving in the +morning off the sea, that got inside the lanthorn and set the flame +askew. And so the candle guttered down one side till but little tallow +was left above the pin; for though the flame grew pale and paler to the +view in the growing morning light, yet it burnt freely all the time. So +at last there was left, as I judged, but a quarter of an hour to run +before the pin should fall, and I saw that Maskew knew this as well as I, +for his eyes were fixed on the lanthorn. + +At last he spoke again, but the brave words were gone, and the thin voice +was thinner. He had dropped threats, and was begging piteously for his +life. 'Spare me,' he said; 'spare me, Mr. Block: I have an only daughter, +a young girl with none but me to guard her. Would you rob a young girl of +her only help and cast her on the world? Would you have them find me dead +upon the cliff and bring me back to her a bloody corpse?' + +Then Elzevir answered: 'And had I not an only son, and was he not brought +back to me a bloody corpse? Whose pistol was it that flashed in his face +and took his life away? Do you not know? It was this very same that shall +flash in yours. So make what peace you may with God, for you have little +time to make it.' + +With that he took the pistol from the ground where it had lain, and +turning his back on Maskew, walked slowly to and fro among the +bramble-plumps. + +Though Maskew's words about his daughter seemed but to feed Elzevir's +anger, by leading him to think of David, they sank deep in my heart; and +if it had seemed a fearful thing before to stand by and see a +fellow-creature butchered, it seemed now ten thousand times more fearful. +And when I thought of Grace, and what such a deed would mean to her, my +pulse beat so fierce that I must needs spring to my feet and run to +reason with Elzevir, and tell him this must not be. + +He was still walking among the bushes when I found him, and let me say +my say till I was out of breath, and bore with me if I talked fast, and +if my tongue outran my judgement. + +'Thou hast a warm heart, lad,' he said, 'and 'tis for that I like thee. +And if thou hast a chief place in thy heart for me, I cannot grumble if +thou find a little room there even for our enemies. Would I could set thy +soul at ease, and do all that thou askest. In the first flush of wrath, +when he was taken plotting against our lives, it seemed a little thing +enough to take his evil life. But now these morning airs have cooled me, +and it goes against my will to shoot a cowering hound tied hand and foot, +even though he had murdered twenty sons of mine. I have thought if +there be any way to spare his life, and leave this hour's agony to read a +lesson not to be unlearned until the grave. For such poltroons dread +death, and in one hour they die a hundred times. But there is no way out: +his life lies in the scale against the lives of all our men, yes, and thy +life too. They left him in my hands well knowing I should take account of +him; and am I now to play them false and turn him loose again to hang +them all? It cannot be.' + +Still I pleaded hard for Maskew's life, hanging on Elzevir's arm, and +using every argument that I could think of to soften his purpose; but he +pushed me off; and though I saw that he was loth to do it, I had a +terrible conviction that he was not a man to be turned back from his +resolve, and would go through with it to the end. + +We came back together from the brambles to the piece of sward, and there +sat Maskew where we had left him with his back against the stone. Only, +while we were away he had managed to wriggle his watch out of the fob, +and it lay beside him on the turf, tied to him with a black silk riband. +The face of it was turned upwards, and as I passed I saw the hand pointed +to five. Sunrise was very near; for though the cliff shut out the east +from us, the west over Portland was all aglow with copper-red and gold, +and the candle burnt low. The head of the pin was drooping, though very +slightly, but as I saw it droop a month before, and I knew that the final +act was not far off. + +Maskew knew it too, for he made his last appeal, using such passionate +words as I cannot now relate, and wriggling with his body as if to get +his hands from behind his back and hold them up in supplication. He +offered money; a thousand, five thousand, ten thousand pounds to be set +free; he would give back the Why Not?; he would leave Moonfleet; and all +the while the sweat ran down his furrowed face, and at last his voice was +choked with sobs, for he was crying for his life in craven fear. + +He might have spoken to a deaf man for all he moved his judge; and +Elzevir's answer was to cock the pistol and prime the powder in the pan. + +Then I stuck my fingers in my ears and shut my eyes, that I might +neither see nor hear what followed, but in a second changed my mind and +opened them again, for I had made a great resolve to stop this matter, +come what might. + +Maskew was making a dreadful sound between a moan and strangled cry; it +almost seemed as if he thought that there were others by him beside +Elzevir and me, and was shouting to them for help. The sun had risen, and +his first rays blazed on a window far away in the west on top of Portland +Island, and then there was a tinkle in the inside of the lanthorn, and +the pin fell. + +Elzevir looked full at Maskew, and raised his pistol; but before he had +time to take aim, I dashed upon him like a wild cat, springing on his +right arm, and crying to him to stop. It was an unequal struggle, a lad, +though full-grown and lusty, against one of the powerfullest of men, but +indignation nerved my arms, and his were weak, because he doubted of his +right. So 'twas with some effort that he shook me off, and in the +struggle the pistol was fired into the air. + +Then I let go of him, and stumbled for a moment, tired with that bout, +but pleased withal, because I saw what peace even so short a respite had +brought to Maskew. For at the pistol shot 'twas as if a mask of horror +had fallen from his face, and left him his old countenance again; and +then I saw he turned his eyes towards the cliff-top, and thought that he +was looking up in thankfulness to heaven. + +But now a new thing happened; for before the echoes of that pistol-shot +had died on the keen morning air, I thought I heard a noise of distant +shouting, and looked about to see whence it could come. Elzevir looked +round too, but Maskew forgetting to upbraid me for making him miss his +aim, still kept his face turned up towards the cliff. Then the voices +came nearer, and there was a mingled sound as of men shouting to one +another, and gathering in from different places. 'Twas from the cliff-top +that the voices came, and thither Elzevir and I looked up, and there too +Maskew kept his eyes fixed. And in a moment there were a score of men +stood on the cliff's edge high above our heads. The sky behind them was +pink flushed with the keenest light of the young day, and they stood out +against it sharp cut and black as the silhouette of my mother that used +to hang up by the parlour chimney. They were soldiers, and I knew the +tall mitre-caps of the 13th, and saw the shafts of light from the sunrise +come flashing round their bodies, and glance off the barrels of their +matchlocks. + +I knew it all now; it was the Posse who had lain in ambush. Elzevir saw +it too, and then all shouted at once. 'Yield at the King's command: you +are our prisoners!' calls the voice of one of those black silhouettes, +far up on the cliff-top. + +'We are lost,' cries Elzevir; 'it is the Posse; but if we die, this +traitor shall go before us,' and he makes towards Maskew to brain him +with the pistol. + +'Shoot, shoot, in the Devil's name,' screams Maskew, 'or I am a +dead man.' + +Then there came a flash of fire along the black line of silhouettes, +with a crackle like a near peal of thunder, and a fut, fut, fut, of +bullets in the turf. And before Elzevir could get at him, Maskew had +fallen over on the sward with a groan, and with a little red hole in the +middle of his forehead. + +'Run for the cliff-side,' cried Elzevir to me; 'get close in, and they +cannot touch thee,' and he made for the chalk wall. But I had fallen on +my knees like a bullock felled by a pole-axe, and had a scorching pain in +my left foot. Elzevir looked back. 'What, have they hit thee too?' he +said, and ran and picked me up like a child. And then there is another +flash and fut, fut, in the turf; but the shots find no billet this time, +and we are lying close against the cliff, panting but safe. + + + + +CHAPTER 10 + +THE ESCAPE + + ... How fearful +And dizzy 'tis to cast one's eyes so low! + ... I'll look no more +Lest my brain turn--_Shakespeare_ + + +The while chalk was a bulwark between us and the foe; and though one or +two of them loosed off their matchlocks, trying to get at us sideways, +they could not even see their quarry, and 'twas only shooting at a +venture. We were safe. But for how short a time! Safe just for so long as +it should please the soldiers not to come down to take us, safe with a +discharged pistol in our grasp, and a shot man lying at our feet. + +Elzevir was the first to speak: 'Can you stand, John? Is the bone +broken?' + +'I cannot stand,' I said; 'there is something gone in my leg, and I feel +blood running down into my boot.' + +He knelt, and rolled down the leg of my stocking; but though he only +moved my foot ever so little, it caused me sharp pain, for feeling was +coming back after the first numbness of the shot. + +'They have broke the leg, though it bleeds little,' Elzevir said. 'We +have no time to splice it here, but I will put a kerchief round, and +while I wrap it, listen to how we lie, and then choose what we shall do.' + +I nodded, biting my lips hard to conceal the pain he gave me, and he went +on: 'We have a quarter of an hour before the Posse can get down to us. +But come they will, and thou canst judge what chance we have to save +liberty or life with that carrion lying by us'--and he jerked his thumb +at Maskew--'though I am glad 'twas not my hand that sent him to his +reckoning, and therefore do not blame thee if thou didst make me waste a +charge in air. So one thing we can do is to wait here until they come, +and I can account for a few of them before they shoot me down; but thou +canst not fight with a broken leg, and they will take thee alive, and +then there is a dance on air at Dorchester Jail.' + +I felt sick with pain and bitterly cast down to think that I was like to +come so soon to such a vile end; so only gave a sigh, wishing heartily +that Maskew were not dead, and that my leg were not broke, but that I was +back again at the Why Not? or even hearing one of Dr. Sherlock's sermons +in my aunt's parlour. + +Elzevir looked down at me when I sighed, and seeing, I suppose, that I +was sorrowful, tried to put a better face on a bad business. 'Forgive me, +lad,' he said, 'if I have spoke too roughly. There is yet another way +that we may try; and if thou hadst but two whole legs, I would have tried +it, but now 'tis little short of madness. And yet, if thou fear'st not, I +will still try it. Just at the end of this flat ledge, farthest from +where the bridle-path leads down, but not a hundred yards from where we +stand, there is a sheep-track leading up the cliff. It starts where the +under-cliff dies back again into the chalk face, and climbs by slants and +elbow-turns up to the top. The shepherds call it the Zigzag, and even +sheep lose their footing on it; and of men I never heard but one had +climbed it, and that was lander Jordan, when the Excise was on his heels, +half a century back. But he that tries it stakes all on head and foot, +and a wounded bird like thee may not dare that flight. Yet, if thou art +content to hang thy life upon a hair, I will carry thee some way; and +where there is no room to carry, thou must down on hands and knees and +trail thy foot.' + +It was a desperate chance enough, but came as welcome as a patch of blue +through lowering skies. 'Yes,' I said, 'dear Master Elzevir, let us get +to it quickly; and if we fall, 'tis better far to die upon the rocks +below than to wait here for them to hale us off to jail.' And with that I +tried to stand, thinking I might go dot and carry even with a broken leg. +But 'twas no use, and down I sank with a groan. Then Elzevir caught me +up, holding me in his arms, with my head looking over his back, and made +off for the Zigzag. And as we slunk along, close to the cliff-side, I +saw, between the brambles, Maskew lying with his face turned up to the +morning sky. And there was the little red hole in the middle of his +forehead, and a thread of blood that welled up from it and trickled off +on to the sward. + +It was a sight to stagger any man, and would have made me swoon perhaps, +but that there was no time, for we were at the end of the under-cliff, +and Elzevir set me down for a minute, before he buckled to his task. And +'twas a task that might cow the bravest, and when I looked upon the +Zigzag, it seemed better to stay where we were and fall into the hands +of the Posse than set foot on that awful way, and fall upon the rocks +below. For the Zigzag started off as a fair enough chalk path, but in a +few paces narrowed down till it was but a whiter thread against the +grey-white cliff-face, and afterwards turned sharply back, crossing a +hundred feet direct above our heads. And then I smelt an evil stench, +and looking about, saw the blown-out carcass of a rotting sheep lie +close at hand. + +'Faugh,' said Elzevir, 'tis a poor beast has lost his foothold.' + +It was an ill omen enough, and I said as much, beseeching him to make his +own way up the Zigzag and leave me where I was, for that they might have +mercy on a boy. + +'Tush!' he cried; 'it is thy heart that fails thee, and 'tis too late now +to change counsel. We have fifteen minutes yet to win or lose with, and +if we gain the cliff-top in that time we shall have an hour's start, or +more, for they will take all that to search the under-cliff. And Maskew, +too, will keep them in check a little, while they try to bring the life +back to so good a man. But if we fall, why, we shall fall together, and +outwit their cunning. So shut thy eyes, and keep them tight until I bid +thee open them.' With that he caught me up again, and I shut my eyes +firm, rebuking myself for my faint-heartedness, and not telling him how +much my foot hurt me. In a minute I knew from Elzevir's steps that he +had left the turf and was upon the chalk. Now I do not believe that there +were half a dozen men beside in England who would have ventured up that +path, even free and untrammelled, and not a man in all the world to do it +with a full-grown lad in his arms. Yet Elzevir made no bones of it, nor +spoke a single word; only he went very slow, and I felt him scuffle with +his foot as he set it forward, to make sure he was putting it down firm. + +I said nothing, not wishing to distract him from his terrible task, and +held my breath, when I could, so that I might lie quieter in his arms. +Thus he went on for a time that seemed without end, and yet was really +but a minute or two; and by degrees I felt the wind, that we could scarce +perceive at all on the under-cliff, blow fresher and cold on the +cliff-side. And then the path grew steeper and steeper, and Elzevir went +slower and slower, till at last he spoke: + +'John, I am going to stop; but open not thy eyes till I have set thee +down and bid thee.' + +I did as bidden, and he lowered me gently, setting me on all-fours upon +the path; and speaking again: + +'The path is too narrow here for me to carry thee, and thou must creep +round this corner on thy hands and knees. But have a care to keep thy +outer hand near to the inner, and the balance of thy body to the cliff, +for there is no room to dance hornpipes here. And hold thy eyes fixed on +the chalk-wall, looking neither down nor seaward.' + +'Twas well he told me what to do, and well I did it; for when I opened my +eyes, even without moving them from the cliff-side, I saw that the ledge +was little more than a foot wide, and that ever so little a lean of the +body would dash me on the rocks below. So I crept on, but spent much time +that was so precious in travelling those ten yards to take me round the +first elbow of the path; for my foot was heavy and gave me fierce pain to +drag, though I tried to mask it from Elzevir. And he, forgetting what I +suffered, cried out, 'Quicken thy pace, lad, if thou canst, the time is +short.' Now so frail is man's temper, that though he was doing more than +any ever did to save another's life, and was all I had to trust to in the +world; yet because he forgot my pain and bade me quicken, my choler rose, +and I nearly gave him back an angry word, but thought better of it and +kept it in. + +Then he told me to stop, for that the way grew wider and he would pick me +up again. But here was another difficulty, for the path was still so +narrow and the cliff-wall so close that he could not take me up in his +arms. So I lay flat on my face, and he stepped over me, setting his foot +between my shoulders to do it; and then, while he knelt down upon the +path, I climbed up from behind upon him, putting my arms round his neck; +and so he bore me 'pickaback'. I shut my eyes firm again, and thus we +moved along another spell, mounting still and feeling the wind still +freshening. + +At length he said that we were come to the last turn of the path, and he +must set me down once more. So down upon his knees and hands he went, and +I slid off behind, on to the ledge. Both were on all-fours now; Elzevir +first and I following. But as I crept along, I relaxed care for a moment, +and my eyes wandered from the cliff-side and looked down. And far below I +saw the blue sea twinkling like a dazzling mirror, and the gulls wheeling +about the sheer chalk wall, and then I thought of that bloated carcass of +a sheep that had fallen from this very spot perhaps, and in an instant +felt a sickening qualm and swimming of the brain, and knew that I was +giddy and must fall. + +Then I called out to Elzevir, and he, guessing what had come over me, +cries to turn upon my side, and press my belly to the cliff. And how he +did it in such a narrow strait I know not; but he turned round, and lying +down himself, thrust his hand firmly in my back, pressing me closer to +the cliff. Yet it was none too soon, for if he had not held me tight, I +should have flung myself down in sheer despair to get quit of that +dreadful sickness. + +'Keep thine eyes shut, John,' he said, 'and count up numbers loud to me, +that I may know thou art not turning faint.' So I gave out, 'One, two, +three,' and while I went on counting, heard him repeating to himself, +though his words seemed thin and far off: 'We must have taken ten minutes +to get here, and in five more they will be on the under-cliff; and if we +ever reach the top, who knows but they have left a guard! No, no, they +will not leave a guard, for not a man knows of the Zigzag; and, if they +knew, they would not guess that we should try it. We have but fifty yards +to go to win, and now this cursed giddy fit has come upon the child, and +he will fall and drag me with him; or they will see us from below, and +pick us off like sitting guillemots against the cliff-face.' + +So he talked to himself, and all the while I would have given a world to +pluck up heart and creep on farther; yet could not, for the deadly +sweating fear that had hold of me. Thus I lay with my face to the cliff, +and Elzevir pushing firmly in my back; and the thing that frightened me +most was that there was nothing at all for the hand to take hold of, for +had there been a piece of string, or even a thread of cotton, stretched +along to give a semblance of support, I think I could have done it; but +there was only the cliff-wall, sheer and white, against that narrowest +way, with never cranny to put a finger into. The wind was blowing in +fresh puffs, and though I did not open my eyes, I knew that it was moving +the little tufts of bent grass, and the chiding cries of the gulls +seemed to invite me to be done with fear and pain and broken leg, and +fling myself off on to the rocks below. + +Then Elzevir spoke. 'John' he said, 'there is no time to play the woman; +another minute of this and we are lost. Pluck up thy courage, keep thy +eyes to the cliff, and forward.' + +Yet I could not, but answered: 'I cannot, I cannot; if I open my eyes, or +move hand or foot, I shall fall on the rocks below.' + +He waited a second, and then said: 'Nay, move thou must, and 'tis better +to risk falling now, than fall for certain with another bullet in thee +later on.' And with that he shifted his hand from my back and fixed it +in my coat-collar, moving backwards himself, and setting to drag me +after him. + +Now, I was so besotted with fright that I would not budge an inch, +fearing to fall over if I opened my eyes. And Elzevir, for all he was so +strong, could not pull a helpless lump backwards up that path. So he gave +it up, leaving go hold on me with a groan, and at that moment there rose +from the under-cliff, below a sound of voices and shouting. + +'Zounds, they are down already!' cried Elzevir, 'and have found Maskew's +body; it is all up; another minute and they will see us.' + +But so strange is the force of mind on body, and the power of a greater +to master a lesser fear, that when I heard those voices from below, all +fright of falling left me in a moment, and I could open my eyes without a +trace of giddiness. So I began to move forward again on hands and knees. +And Elzevir, seeing me, thought for a moment I had gone mad, and was +dragging myself over the cliff; but then saw how it was, and moved +backwards himself before me, saying in a low voice, 'Brave lad! Once +creep round this turn, and I will pick thee up again. There is but fifty +yards to go, and we shall foil these devils yet!' + +Then we heard the voices again, but farther off, and not so loud; and +knew that our pursuers had left the under-cliff and turned down on to the +beach, thinking that we were hiding by the sea. + +Five minutes later Elzevir stepped on to the cliff-top, with me +upon his back. + +'We have made something of this throw,' he said, 'and are safe for +another hour, though I thought thy giddy head had ruined us.' + +Then he put me gently upon the springy turf, and lay down himself upon +his back, stretching his arms out straight on either side, and breathing +hard to recover from the task he had performed. + + * * * * * + +The day was still young, and far below us was stretched the moving floor +of the Channel, with a silver-grey film of night-mists not yet lifted in +the offing. A hummocky up-and-down line of cliffs, all projections, +dents, bays, and hollows, trended southward till it ended in the great +bluff of St. Alban's Head, ten miles away. The cliff-face was gleaming +white, the sea tawny inshore, but purest blue outside, with the straight +sunpath across it, spangled and gleaming like a mackerel's back. + +The relief of being once more on firm ground, and the exultation of an +escape from immediate danger, removed my pain and made me forget that my +leg was broken. So I lay for a moment basking in the sun; and the wind, +which a few minutes before threatened to blow me from that narrow ledge, +seemed now but the gentlest of breezes, fresh with the breath of the +kindly sea. But this was only for a moment, for the anguish came back +and grew apace, and I fell to thinking dismally of the plight we were in. +How things had been against us in these last days! First there was losing +the Why Not? and that was bad enough; second, there was the being known +by the Excise for smugglers, and perhaps for murderers; third and last, +there was the breaking of my leg, which made escape so difficult. But, +most of all, there came before my eyes that grey face turned up against +the morning sun, and I thought of all it meant for Grace, and would have +given my own life to call back that of our worst enemy. + +Then Elzevir sat up, stretching himself like one waking out of sleep, and +said: 'We must be gone. They will not be back for some time yet, and, +when they come, will not think to search closely for us hereabouts; but +that we cannot risk, and must get clear away. This leg of thine will keep +us tied for weeks, and we must find some place where we can lie hid, and +tend it. Now, I know such a hiding-hole in Purbeck, which they call +Joseph's Pit, and thither we must go; but it will take all the day to get +there, for it is seven miles off, and I am older than I was, and thou too +heavy a babe to carry over lightly.' + +I did not know the pit he spoke of, but was glad to hear of some place, +however far off, where I could lie still and get ease from the pain. And +so he took me in his arms again and started off across the fields. + +I need not tell of that weary journey, and indeed could not, if I wished; +for the pain went to my head and filled me with such a drowsy anguish +that I knew nothing except when some unlooked-for movement gave me a +sharper twinge, and made me cry out. At first Elzevir walked briskly, but +as the day wore on went slower, and was fain more than once to put me +down and rest, till at last he could only carry me a hundred yards at a +time. It was after noon, for the sun was past the meridian, and very hot +for the time of year, when the face of the country began to change; and +instead of the short sward of the open down, sprinkled with tiny white +snail-shells, the ground was brashy with flat stones, and divided up into +tillage fields. It was a bleak wide-bitten place enough, looking as if +'twould never pay for turning, and instead of hedges there were dreary +walls built of dry stone without mortar. Behind one of these walls, +broken down in places, but held together with straggling ivy, and +buttressed here and there with a bramble-bush, Elzevir put me down at +length and said, 'I am beat, and can carry thee no farther for this +present, though there is not now much farther to go. We have passed +Purbeck Gates, and these walls will screen us from prying eyes if any +chance comer pass along the down. And as for the soldiers, they are not +like to come this way so soon, and if they come I cannot help it; for +weariness and the sun's heat have made my feet like lead. A score of +years ago I would have laughed at such a task, but now 'tis different, +and I must take a little sleep and rest till the air is cooler. So sit +thee here and lean thy shoulder up against the wall, and thus thou canst +look through this broken place and watch both ways. Then, if thou see +aught moving, wake me up.--I wish I had a thimbleful of powder to make +this whistle sound'--and he took Maskew's silver-butted pistol again from +his bosom, and handled it lovingly,--'tis like my evil luck to carry +fire-arms thirty years, and leave them at home at a pinch like this.' +With that he flung himself down where there was a narrow shadow close +against the bottom of the wall, and in a minute I knew from his heavy +breathing that he was asleep. + +The wind had freshened much, and was blowing strong from the west; and +now that I was under the lee of the wall I began to perceive that +drowsiness creeping upon me which overtakes a man who has been tousled +for an hour or two by the wind, and gets at length into shelter. +Moreover, though I was not tired by grievous toil like Elzevir, I had +passed a night without sleep, and felt besides the weariness of pain to +lull me to slumber. So it was, that before a quarter of an hour was past, +I had much ado to keep awake, for all I knew that I was left on guard. +Then I sought something to fix my thoughts, and looking on that side of +the wall where the sward was, fell to counting the mole-hills that were +cast up in numbers thereabout. And when I had exhausted them, and +reckoned up thirty little heaps of dry and powdery brown earth, that lay +at random on the green turf, I turned my eyes to the tillage field on the +other side of the wall, and saw the inch-high blades of corn coming up +between the stones. Then I fell to counting the blades, feeling glad to +have discovered a reckoning that would not be exhausted at thirty, but +would go on for millions, and millions, and millions; and before I had +reached ten in so heroic a numeration was fast asleep. + +A sharp noise woke me with a start that set the pain tingling in my leg, +and though I could see nothing, I knew that a shot had been fired very +near us. I was for waking Elzevir, but he was already full awake, and put +a finger on his lip to show I should not speak. Then he crept a few paces +down the wall to where an ivy bush over-topped it, enough for him to look +through the leaves without being seen. He dropped down again with a look +of relief, and said, ''Tis but a lad scaring rooks with a blunderbuss; we +will not stir unless he makes this way.' + +A minute later he said: 'The boy is coming straight for the wall; we +shall have to show ourselves'; and while he spoke there was a rattle of +falling stones, where the boy was partly climbing and partly pulling +down the dry wall, and so Elzevir stood up. The boy looked frightened, +and made as if he would run off, but Elzevir passed him the time of day +in a civil voice, and he stopped and gave it back. + +'What are you doing here, son?' Block asked. + +'Scaring rooks for Farmer Topp,' was the answer. + +'Have you got a charge of powder to spare?' said Elzevir, showing his +pistol. 'I want to get a rabbit in the gorse for supper, and have dropped +my flask. Maybe you've seen a flask in walking through the furrows?' + +He whispered to me to lie still, so that it might not be perceived my leg +was broken; and the boy replied: + +'No, I have seen no flask; but very like have not come the same way as +you, being sent out here from Lowermoigne; and as for powder, I have +little left, and must save that for the rooks, or shall get a beating for +my pains.' + +'Come,' said Elzevir, 'give me a charge or two, and there is half a crown +for thee.' And he took the coin out of his pocket and showed it. + +The boy's eyes twinkled, and so would mine at so valuable a piece, and +he took out from his pocket a battered cowskin flask. 'Give flask and +all,' said Elzevir, 'and thou shalt have a crown,' and he showed him the +larger coin. + +No time was wasted in words; Elzevir had the flask in his pocket, and the +boy was biting the crown. + +'What shot have you?' said Elzevir. + +'What! have you dropped your shot-flask too?' asked the boy. And his +voice had something of surprise in it. + +'Nay, but my shot are over small; if thou hast a slug or two, I would +take them.' + +'I have a dozen goose-slugs, No. 2,' said the boy; 'but thou +must pay a shilling for them. My master says I never am to use them, +except I see a swan or buzzard, or something fit to cook, come over: I +shall get a sound beating for my pains, and to be beat is worth a +shilling.' + +'If thou art beat, be beat for something more,' says Elzevir the tempter. +'Give me that firelock that thou carriest, and take a guinea.' + +'Nay, I know not,' says the boy; 'there are queer tales afloat at +Lowermoigne, how that a Posse met the Contraband this morning, and shots +were fired, and a gauger got an overdose of lead--maybe of goose slugs +No. 2. The smugglers got off clear, but they say the hue and cry is up +already, and that a head-price will be fixed of twenty pound. So if I +sell you a fowling-piece, maybe I shall do wrong, and have the Government +upon me as well as my master.' The surprise in his voice was changed to +suspicion, for while he spoke I saw that his eye had fallen on my foot, +though I tried to keep it in the shadow; and that he saw the boot clotted +with blood, and the kerchief tied round my leg. + +''Tis for that very reason,' says Elzevir, 'that I want the firelock. +These smugglers are roaming loose, and a pistol is a poor thing to stop +such wicked rascals on a lone hill-side. Come, come, _thou_ dost not want +a piece to guard thee; they will not hurt a boy.' + +He had the guinea between his finger and thumb, and the gleam of the gold +was too strong to be withstood. So we gained a sorry matchlock, slugs, +and powder, and the boy walked off over the furrow, whistling with his +hand in his pocket, and a guinea and a crown-piece in his hand. + +His whistle sounded innocent enough, yet I mistrusted him, having caught +his eye when he was looking at my bloody foot; and so I said as much to +Elzevir, who only laughed, saying the boy was simple and harmless. But +from where I sat I could peep out through the brambles in the open gap, +and see without being seen--and there was my young gentleman walking +carelessly enough, and whistling like any bird so long as Elzevir's head +was above the wall; but when Elzevir sat down, the boy gave a careful +look round, and seeing no one watching any more, dropped his whistling +and made off as fast as heels would carry him. Then I knew that he had +guessed who we were, and was off to warn the hue and cry; but before +Elzevir was on his feet again, the boy was out of sight, over the +hill-brow. + +'Let us move on,' said Block; 'tis but a little distance now to go, and +the heat is past already. We must have slept three hours or more, for +thou art but a sorry watchman, John. 'Tis when the sentry sleeps that +the enemy laughs, and for thee the Posse might have had us both like +daylight owls.' + +With that he took me on his back and made off with a lusty stride, +keeping as much as possible under the brow of the hill and in the shelter +of the walls. We had slept longer than we thought, for the sun was +westering fast, and though the rest had refreshed me, my leg had grown +stiff, and hurt the more in dangling when we started again. Elzevir was +still walking strongly, in spite of the heavy burden he carried, and in +less than half an hour I knew, though I had never been there before, we +were in the land of the old marble quarries at the back of Anvil Point. + +Although I knew little of these quarries, and certainly was in evil +plight to take note of anything at that time, yet afterwards I learnt +much about them. Out of such excavations comes that black Purbeck Marble +which you see in old churches in our country, and I am told in other +parts of England as well. And the way of making a marble quarry is to +sink a tunnel, slanting very steeply down into the earth, like a well +turned askew, till you reach fifty, seventy, or perhaps one hundred feet +deep. Then from the bottom of this shaft there spread out narrow passages +or tunnels, mostly six feet high, but sometimes only three or four, and +in these the marble is dug. These quarries were made by men centuries +ago, some say by the Romans themselves; and though some are still worked +in other parts of Purbeck, those at the back of Anvil Point have been +disused beyond the memory of man. + +We had left the stony village fields, and the face of the country was +covered once more with the closest sward, which was just putting on the +brighter green of spring. This turf was not smooth, but hummocky, for +under it lay heaps of worthless stone and marble drawn out of the +quarries ages ago, which the green vestment had covered for the most +part, though it left sometimes a little patch of broken rubble peering +out at the top of a mound. There were many tumble-down walls and low +gables left of the cottages of the old quarrymen; grass-covered ridges +marked out the little garden-folds, and here and there still stood a +forlorn gooseberry-bush, or a stunted plum- or apple-tree with its +branches all swept eastward by the up-Channel gales. As for the quarry +shafts themselves, they too were covered round the tips with the green +turf, and down them led a narrow flight of steep-cut steps, with a slide +of soap-stone at the side, on which the marble blocks were once hauled up +by wooden winches. Down these steps no feet ever walked now, for not only +were suffocating gases said to beset the bottom of the shafts, but men +would have it that in the narrow passages below lurked evil spirits and +demons. One who ought to know about such things, told me that when St. +Aldhelm first came to Purbeck, he bound the old Pagan gods under a ban +deep in these passages, but that the worst of all the crew was a certain +demon called the Mandrive, who watched over the best of the black marble. +And that was why such marble might only be used in churches or for +graves, for if it were not for this holy purpose, the Mandrive would +have power to strangle the man that hewed it. + +It was by the side of one of these old shafts that Elzevir laid me down +at last. The light was very low, showing all the little unevennesses of +the turf; and the sward crept over the edges of the hole, and every crack +and crevice in steps and slide was green with ferns. The green ferns +shrouded the walls of the hole, and ruddy brown brambles overgrew the +steps, till all was lost in the gloom that hung at the bottom of the pit. + +Elzevir drew a deep breath or two of the cool evening air, like a man who +has come through a difficult trial. + +'There,' he said, 'this is Joseph's Pit, and here we must lie hid until +thy foot is sound again. Once get to the bottom safe, and we can laugh at +Posse, and hue and cry, and at the King's Crown itself. They cannot +search all the quarries, and are not like to search any of them, for they +are cowards at the best, and hang much on tales of the Mandrive. Ay, and +such tales are true enough, for there lurk gases at the bottom of most of +the shafts, like devils to strangle any that go down. And if they do come +down this Joseph's Pit, we still have nineteen chances in a score they +cannot thread the workings. But last, if they come down, and thread the +path, there is this pistol and a rusty matchlock; and before they come to +where we lie, we can hold the troop at bay and sell our lives so dear +they will not care to buy them.' + +We waited a few minutes, and then he took me in his arms and began to +descend the steps, back first, as one goes down a hatchway. The sun was +setting in a heavy bank of clouds just as we began to go down, and I +could not help remembering how I had seen it set over peaceful Moonfleet +only twenty-four hours ago; and how far off we were now, and how long it +was likely to be before I saw that dear village and Grace again. + +The stairs were still sharp cut and little worn, but Elzevir paid great +care to his feet, lest he should slip on the ferns and mosses with which +they were overgrown. When we reached the brambles he met them with his +back, and though I heard the thorns tearing in his coat, he shoved them +aside with his broad shoulders, and screened my dangling leg from getting +caught. Thus he came safe without stumble to the bottom of the pit. + +When we got there all was dark, but he stepped off into a narrow opening +on the right hand, and walked on as if he knew the way. I could see +nothing, but perceived that we were passing through endless galleries cut +in the solid rock, high enough, for the most part, to allow of walking +upright, but sometimes so low as to force him to bend down and carry me +in a very constrained attitude. Only twice did he set me down at a +turning, while he took out his tinder-box and lit a match; but at length +the darkness became less dark, and I saw that we were in a large cave or +room, into which the light came through some opening at the far end. At +the same time I felt a colder breath and fresh salt smell in the air that +told me we were very near the sea. + + + + +CHAPTER 11 + +THE SEA-CAVE + +The dull loneness, the black shade, +That these hanging vaults have made: +The strange music of the waves +Beating on these hollow caves--_Wither_ + + +He set me down in one corner, where was some loose dry silver-sand upon +the floor, which others had perhaps used for a resting-place before. +'Thou must lie here for a month or two, lad,' he said; 'tis a mean bed, +but I have known many worse, and will get straw tomorrow if I can, to +better it.' + +I had eaten nothing all day, nor had Elzevir, yet I felt no hunger, only +a giddiness and burning thirst like that which came upon me when I was +shut in the Mohune vault. So 'twas very music to me to hear a pat and +splash of water dropping from the roof into a little pool upon the floor, +and Elzevir made a cup out of my hat and gave a full drink of it that was +icy-cool and more delicious than any smuggled wine of France. + +And after that I knew little that happened for ten days or more, for +fever had hold of me, and as I learnt afterwards, I talked wild and could +scarce be restrained from jumping up and loosing the bindings that +Elzevir had put upon my leg. And all that time he nursed me as tenderly +as any mother could her child, and never left the cave except when he was +forced to seek food. But after the fever passed it left me very thin, as +I could see from hands and arms, and weaker than a baby; and I used to +lie the whole day, not thinking much, nor troubling about anything, but +eating what was given me and drawing a quiet pleasure from the knowledge +that strength was gradually returning. Elzevir had found a battered +sea-chest up on Peveril Point, and from the side of it made splints to +set my leg--using his own shirt for bandages. The sand-bed too was made +more soft and easy with some armfuls of straw, and in one corner of the +cave was a little pile of driftwood and an iron cooking-pot. And all +these things had Elzevir got by foraging of nights, using great care that +none should see him, and taking only what would not be much missed or +thought about; but soon he contrived to give Ratsey word of where we +were, and after that the sexton fended for us. There were none even of +the landers knew what was become of us, save only Ratsey; and he never +came down the quarry, but would leave what he brought in one of the +ruined cottages a half-mile from the shaft. And all the while there was +strict search being made for us, and mounted Excisemen scouring the +country; for though at first the Posse took back Maskew's dead body and +said we must have fallen over the cliff, for there was nothing to be +found of us, yet afterwards a farm-boy brought a tale of how he had come +suddenly on men lurking under a wall, and how one had a bloody foot and +leg, and how the other sprung upon him and after a fierce struggle +wrenched his master's rook-piece from his hands, rifled his pocket of a +powder-horn, and made off with them like a hare towards Corfe. And as to +Maskew, some of the soldiers said that Elzevir had shot him, and others +that he died by misadventure, being killed by a stray bullet of one of +his own men on the hill-top; but for all that they put a head-price on +Elzevir of 50, and 20 for me, so we had reason to lie close. It must +have been Maskew that listened that night at the door when Elzevir told +me the hour at which the cargo was to be run; for the Posse had been +ordered to be at Hoar Head at four in the morning. So all the gang would +have been taken had it not been for the Gulder making earlier, and the +soldiers being delayed by tippling at the Lobster. + +All this Elzevir learnt from Ratsey and told me to pass the time, +though in truth I had as lief not heard it, for 'tis no pleasant thing +to see one's head wrote down so low as 20. And what I wanted most to +know, namely how Grace fared and how she took the bad news of her +father's death, I could not hear, for Elzevir said nothing, and I was +shy to ask him. + +Now when I came entirely to myself, and was able to take stock of things, +I found that the place in which I lay was a cave some eight yards square +and three in height, whose straight-cut walls showed that men had once +hewed stone therefrom. On one side was that passage through which we had +come in, and on the other opened a sort of door which gave on to a stone +ledge eight fathoms above high-water mark. For the cave was cut out just +inside that iron cliff-face which lies between St. Alban's Head and +Swanage. But the cliffs here are different from those on the other side +of the Head, being neither so high as Hoar Head nor of chalk, but +standing for the most part only an hundred or an hundred and fifty feet +above the sea, and showing towards it a stern face of solid rock. But +though they rise not so high above the water, they go down a long way +below it; so that there is fifty fathom right up to the cliff, and many a +good craft out of reckoning in fog, or on a pitch-dark night, has run +full against that frowning wall, and perished, ship and crew, without a +soul to hear their cries. Yet, though the rock looks hard as adamant, the +eternal washing of the wave has worn it out below, and even with the +slightest swell there is a dull and distant booming of the surge in those +cavernous deeps; and when the wind blows fresh, each roller smites the +cliff like a thunder-clap, till even the living rock trembles again. + +It was on a ledge of that rock-face that our cave opened, and sometimes +on a fine day Elzevir would carry me out thither, so that I might sun +myself and see all the moving Channel without myself being seen. For this +ledge was carved out something like a balcony, so that when the quarry +was in working they could lower the stone by pulleys to boats lying +underneath, and perhaps haul up a keg or two by the way of ballast, as +might be guessed by the stanchions still rusting in the rock. + +Such was this gallery; and as for the inside of the cave, 'twas a great +empty room, with a white floor made up of broken stone-dust trodden hard +of old till one would say it was plaster; and dry, without those sweaty +damps so often seen in such places--save only in one corner a +land-spring dropped from the roof trickling down over spiky +rock-icicles, and falling into a little hollow in the floor. This basin +had been scooped out of set purpose, with a gutter seaward for the +overflow, and round it and on the wet patch of the roof above grew a +garden of ferns and other clinging plants. + +The weeks moved on until we were in the middle of May, when even the +nights were no longer cold, as the sun gathered power. And with the +warmer days my strength too increased, and though I dared not yet stand, +my leg had ceased to pain me, except for some sharp twinges now and then, +which Elzevir said were caused by the bone setting. And then he would put +a poultice made of grass upon the place, and once walked almost as far as +Chaldron to pluck sorrel for a soothing mash. + +Now though he had gone out and in so many times in safety, yet I was +always ill at ease when he was away, lest he might fall into some ambush +and never come back. Nor was it any thought of what would come to me if +he were caught that grieved me, but only care for him; for I had come to +lean in everything upon this grim and grizzled giant, and love him like a +father. So when he was away I took to reading to beguile my thoughts; but +found little choice of matter, having only my aunt's red Prayer-book that +I thrust into my bosom the afternoon that I left Moonfleet, and +Blackbeard's locket. For that locket hung always round my neck; and I +often had the parchment out and read it; not that I did not know it now +by heart, but because reading it seemed to bring Grace to my thoughts, +for the last time I had read it was when I saw her in the Manor woods. + +Elzevir and I had often talked over what was to be done when my leg +should be sound again, and resolved to take passage to St. Malo in the +_Bonaventure_, and there lie hid till the pursuit against us should have +ceased. For though 'twas wartime, French and English were as brothers in +the contraband, and the shippers would give us bit and sup, and glad to, +as long as we had need of them. But of this I need not say more, because +'twas but a project, which other events came in to overturn. + +Yet 'twas this very errand, namely, to fix with the _Bonaventure_'s men +the time to take us over to the other side, that Elzevir had gone out, on +the day of which I shall now speak. He was to go to Poole, and left our +cave in the afternoon, thinking it safe to keep along the cliff-edge even +in the daylight, and to strike across country when dusk came on. The wind +had blown fresh all the morning from south-west, and after Elzevir had +left, strengthened to a gale. My leg was now so strong that I could walk +across the cave with the help of a stout blackthorn that Elzevir had cut +me: and so I went out that afternoon on to the ledge to watch the growing +sea. There I sat down, with my back against a protecting rock, in such a +place that I could see up-Channel and yet shelter from the rushing wind. +The sky was overcast, and the long wall of rock showed grey with +orange-brown patches and a darker line of sea-weed at the base like the +under strake of a boat's belly, for the tide was but beginning to make. +There was a mist, half-fog, half-spray, scudding before the wind, and +through it I could see the white-backed rollers lifting over Peveril +Point; while all along the cliff-face the sea-birds thronged the ledges, +and sat huddled in snowy lines, knowing the mischief that was brewing in +the elements. + +It was a melancholy scene, and bred melancholy in my heart; and about +sun-down the wind southed a point or two, setting the sea more against +the cliff, so that the spray began to fly even over my ledge and drove me +back into the cave. The night came on much sooner than usual, and before +long I was lying on my straw bed in perfect darkness. The wind had gone +still more to south, and was screaming through the opening of the cave; +the caverns down below bellowed and rumbled; every now and then a giant +roller struck the rock such a blow as made the cave tremble, and then a +second later there would fall, splattering on the ledge outside, the +heavy spray that had been lifted by the impact. + +I have said that I was melancholy; but worse followed, for I grew timid, +and fearful of the wild night, and the loneliness, and the darkness. And +all sorts of evil tales came to my mind, and I thought much of baleful +heathen gods that St. Aldhelm had banished to these underground cellars, +and of the Mandrive who leapt on people in the dark and strangled them. +And then fancy played another trick on me, and I seemed to see a man +lying on the cave-floor with a drawn white face upturned, and a red hole +in the forehead; and at last could bear the dark no longer, but got up +with my lame leg and groped round till I found a candle, for we had two +or three in store. 'Twas only with much ado I got it lit and set up in +the corner of the cave, and then I sat down close by trying to screen it +with my coat. But do what I would the wind came gusting round the corner, +blowing the flame to one side, and making the candle gutter as another +candle guttered on that black day at the Why Not? And so thought whisked +round till I saw Maskew's face wearing a look of evil triumph, when the +pin fell at the auction, and again his face grew deadly pale, and there +was the bullet-mark on his brow. + +Surely there were evil spirits in this place to lead my thoughts so much +astray, and then there came to my mind that locket on my neck, which men +had once hung round Blackbeard's to scare evil spirits from his tomb. If +it could frighten them from him, might it not rout them now, and make +them fly from me? And with that thought I took the parchment out, and +opening it before the flickering light, although I knew all, word for +word, conned it over again, and read it out aloud. It was a relief to +hear a human voice, even though 'twas nothing but my own, and I took to +shouting the words, having much ado even so to make them heard for the +raging of the storm: + +'The days of our age are threescore years and ten; and though men be so +strong that they come to fourscore years; yet is their strength then but +labour and sorrow; so soon passeth it away, and we are gone. + +'And as for me, my feet were almost ...' + +At the 'almost' I stopped, being brought up suddenly with a fierce beat +of blood through my veins, and a jump fit to burst them, for I had heard +a scuffling noise in the passage that led to the cave, as if someone had +stumbled against a loose stone in the dark. I did not know then, but have +learnt since, that where there is a loud noise, such as the roaring of a +cascade, the churning of a mill, or, as here, the rage and bluster of a +storm--if there arise some different sound, even though it be as slight +as the whistle of a bird, 'twill strike the ear clear above the general +din. And so it was this night, for I caught that stumbling tread even +when the gale blew loudest, and sat motionless and breathless, in my +eagerness of listening, and then the gale lulled an instant, and I heard +the slow beat of footsteps as of one groping his way down the passage in +the dark. I knew it was not Elzevir, for first he could not be back from +Poole for many hours yet, and second, he always whistled in a certain way +to show 'twas he coming and gave besides a pass-word; yet, if not +Elzevir, who could it be? I blew out the light, for I did not want to +guide the aim of some unknown marksman shooting at me from the dark; and +then I thought of that gaunt strangler that sprang on marbleworkers in +the gloom; yet it could not be the Mandrive, for surely he would know his +own passages better than to stumble in them in the dark. It was more +likely to be one of the hue and cry who had smelt us out, and hoped +perhaps to be able to reconnoitre without being perceived on so awful a +night. Whenever Elzevir went out foraging, he carried with him that +silver-butted pistol which had once been Maskew's, but left behind the +old rook-piece. We had plenty of powder and slugs now, having obtained a +store of both from Ratsey, and Elzevir had bid me keep the matchlock +charged, and use it or not after my own judgement, if any came to the +cave; but gave as his counsel that it was better to die fighting than to +swing at Dorchester, for that we should most certainly do if taken. We +had agreed, moreover, on a pass-word, which was _Prosper the +Bonaventure_, so that I might challenge betimes any that I heard coming, +and if they gave not back this countersign might know it was not Elzevir. + +So now I reached out for the piece, which lay beside me on the floor, and +scrambled to my feet; lifting the deckle in the darkness, and feeling +with my fingers in the pan to see 'twas full of powder. + +The lull in the storm still lasted, and I heard the footsteps +advancing, though with uncertain slowness, and once after a heavy +stumble I thought I caught a muttereth oath, as if someone had struck +his foot against a stone. + +Then I shouted out clear in the darkness a 'Who goes there?' that rang +again through the stone roofs. The footsteps stopped, but there was no +answer. 'Who goes there?' I repeated. 'Answer, or I fire.' + +'_Prosper the Bonaventure_,' came back out of the darkness, and I knew +that I was safe. 'The devil take thee for a hot-blooded young bantam to +shoot thy best friend with powder and ball, that he was fool enough to +give thee'; and by this time I had guessed 'twas Master Ratsey, and +recognized his voice. 'I would have let thee hear soon enough that 'twas +I, if I had known I was so near thy lair; but 'tis more than a man's life +is worth to creep down moleholes in the dark, and on a night like this. +And why I could not get out the gibberish about the _Bonaventure_ sooner, +was because I matched my shin to break a stone, and lost the wager and my +breath together. And when my wind returned 'tis very like that I was +trapped into an oath, which is sad enough for me, who am sexton, and so +to say in small orders of the Church of England as by law established.' + +By the time I had put down the gun and coaxed the candle again to light, +Ratsey stepped into the cave. He wore a sou'wester, and was dripping with +wet, but seemed glad to see me and shook me by the hand. He was welcome +enough to me also, for he banished the dreadful loneliness, and his +coming was a bit out of my old pleasant life that lay so far away, and +seemed to bring me once more within reach of some that were dearest. + + + + +CHAPTER 12 + +A FUNERAL + +How he lies in his rights of a man! +Death has done all death can--_Browning_ + + +We stood for a moment holding one another's hands; then Ratsey spoke. +'John, these two months have changed thee from boy to man. Thou wast a +child when I turned that morning as we went up Hoar Head with the +pack-horses, and looked back on thee and Elzevir below, and Maskew lying +on the ground. 'Twas a sorry business, and has broken up the finest gang +that ever ran a cargo, besides driving thee and Elzevir to hide in caves +and dens of the earth. Thou shouldst have come with us that morn; not +have stayed behind. The work was too rough for boys: the skipper should +have piped the reefing-hands.' + +It was true enough, or seemed to me true then, for I felt much cast down; +but only said, 'Nay, Master Ratsey, where Master Block stays, there I +must stay too, and where he goes I follow.' + +Then I sat down upon the bed in the corner, feeling my leg began to ache; +and the storm, which had lulled for a few minutes, came up again all the +fiercer with wilder gusts and showers of spray and rain driving into the +cave from seaward. So I was scarce sat down when in came a roaring blast, +filling even our corner with cold, wet air, that quenched the weakling +candle flame. + +'God save us, what a night!' Ratsey cried. + +'God save poor souls at sea,' said I. + +'Amen to that,' says he, 'and would that every Amen I have said had come +as truly from my heart. There will be sea enough on Moonfleet Beach this +night to lift a schooner to the top of it, and launch her down into the +fields behind. I had as lief be in the Mohune vault as in this fearsome +place, and liefer too, if half the tales men tell are true of faces that +may meet one here. For God's sake let us light a fire, for I caught sight +of a store of driftwood before that sickly candle went out.' + +It was some time before we got a fire alight, and even after the flame +had caught well hold, the rush of the wind would every now and again blow +the smoke into our eyes, or send a shower of sparks dancing through the +cave. But by degrees the logs began to glow clear white, and such a +cheerful warmth came out, as was in itself a solace and remedy for man's +afflictions. + +'Ah!' said Ratsey, 'I was shrammed with wet and cold, and half-dead with +this baffling wind. It is a blessed thing a fire,' and he unbuttoned his +pilot-coat, 'and needful now, if ever. My soul is very low, lad, for +this place has strange memories for me; and I recollect, forty years ago +(when I was just a boy like thee), old lander Jordan's gang, and I among +them, were in this very cave on such another night. I was new to the +trade then, as thou might be, and could not sleep for noise of wind and +sea. And in the small hours of an autumn morning, as I lay here, just +where we lie now, I heard such wailing cries above the storm, ay, and +such shrieks of women, as made my blood run cold and have not yet forgot +them. And so I woke the gang who were all deep asleep as seasoned +contrabandiers should be; but though we knew that there were +fellow-creatures fighting for their lives in the seething flood beneath +us, we could not stir hand or foot to save them, for nothing could be +seen for rain and spray, and 'twas not till next morning that we learned +the _Florida_ had foundered just below with every soul on board. Ay, +'tis a queer life, and you and Block are in a queer strait now, and that +is what I came to tell you. See here.' And he took out of his pocket an +oblong strip of printed paper: + + * * * * * + +G.R. + +WHITEHALL, 15 May 1758 + +Whereas it hath been humbly represented to the King that on Friday, the +night of the 16th of April last, THOMAS MASKEW, a Justice of the Peace, +was most inhumanly murdered at Hoar Head, a lone place in the Parish of +Chaldron, in the County of Dorset, by one ELZEVIR BLOCK and one JOHN +TRENCHARD, both of the Parish of Moonfleet, in the aforesaid County: His +Majesty, for the better discovering and bringing to Justice these +Persons, is pleased to promise His Most Gracious PARDON to any of the +Persons concerned therein, except the Persons who actually committed the +said Murder; and, as a further Encouragement, a REWARD OF FIFTY POUNDS to +any Person who shall furnish such INFORMATION as shall lead to the +APPREHENSION of the said ELZEVIR BLOCK, and a REWARD of TWENTY POUNDS to +any Person who shall furnish such INFORMATION as shall lead to the +APPREHENSION of the said JOHN TRENCHARD. Such INFORMATION to be given to +ME, or to the GOVERNOUR of His MAJESTY'S GAOL in Dorchester. + +HOLDERNESSE. + + * * * * * + +'There--that's the bill,' he said; 'and a vastly fine piece it is, and +yet I wish that 'twas played with other actors. Now, in Moonfleet there +is none that know your hiding-place, and not a man, nor woman either, +that would tell if they knew it ten times over. But fifty pounds for +Elzevir, and twenty pounds for an empty pumpkin-top like thine, is a fair +round sum, and there are vagabonds about this countryside scurvy enough +to try to earn it. And some of these have set the Excisemen on _my_ +track, with tales of how it is I that know where you lie hid, and bring +you meat and drink. So it is that I cannot stir abroad now, no, not even +to the church o' Sundays, without having some rogue lurking at my heels +to watch my movements. And that is why I chose such a night to come +hither, knowing these knaves like dry skins, but never thinking that the +wind would blow like this. I am come to tell Block that 'tis not safe for +me to be so much in Purbeck, and that I dare no longer bring food or what +not, or these man-hounds will scent you out. Your leg is sound again, and +'tis best to be flitting while you may, and there's the _Éperon d'Or,_ +and Chauvelais to give you welcome on the other side.' + +I told him how Elzevir was gone this very night to Poole to settle with +the _Bonaventure_, when she should come to take us off; and at that +Ratsey seemed pleased. There were many things I wished to learn of him, +and especially how Grace did, but felt a shyness, and durst not ask him. +And he said no more for a minute, seeming low-hearted and crouching over +the fire. So we sat huddled in the corner by the glowing logs, the red +light flickering on the cave roof, and showing the lines on Ratsey's +face; while the steam rose from his drying clothes. The gale blew as +fiercely as ever, but the tide had fallen, and there was not so much +spray coming into the cave. Then Ratsey spoke again-- + +'My heart is very heavy, John, tonight, to think how all the good old +times are gone, and how that Master Block can never again go back to +Moonfleet. It was as fine a lander's crew as ever stood together, not +even excepting Captain Jordan's, and now must all be broken up; for this +mess of Maskew's has made the place too hot to hold us, and 'twill be +many a long day before another cargo's run on Moonfleet Beach. But how to +get the liquor out of Mohune's vault I know not; and that reminds me, I +have something in my pouches for Elzevir an' thee'; and with that he drew +forth either lapel a great wicker-bound flask. He put one to his lips, +tilting it and drinking long and deep, and then passed it to me, with a +sigh of satisfaction. 'Ah, that has the right smack. Here, take it, +child, and warm thy heart; 'tis the true milk of Ararat, and the last +thou'lt taste this side the Channel.' + +Then I drank too, but lightly, for the good liquor was no stranger to me, +though it was only so few months ago that I had tasted it for the first +time in the Why Not? and in a minute it tingled in my fingertips. Soon a +grateful sense of warmth and comfort stole over me, and our state seemed +not so desperate, nor even the night so wild. Ratsey, too, wore a more +cheerful air, and the lines in his face were not so deeply marked; the +golden, sparkling influence of the flask had loosed his tongue, and he +was talking now of what I most wanted to hear. + +'Yes, yes, it is a sad break-up, and what will happen to the old Why Not? +I cannot tell. None have passed the threshold since you left, only the +Duchy men came and sealed the doors, making it felony to force them. And +even these lawyer chaps know not where the right stands, for Maskew never +paid a rent and died before he took possession; and Master Block's term +is long expired, and now he is in hiding and an outlaw. + +'But I am sorriest for Maskew's girl, who grows thin and pale as any +lily. For when the soldiers brought the body back, the men stood at their +doors and cursed the clay, and some of the fishwives spat at it; and old +Mother Veitch, who kept house for him, swore he had never paid her a +penny of wages, and that she was afear'd to stop under the same roof with +such an evil corpse. So out she goes from the Manor House, leaving that +poor child alone in it with her dead father; and there were not wanting +some to say it was all a judgement; and called to mind how Elzevir had +been once left alone with his dead son at the Why Not? But in the village +there was not a man that doubted that 'twas Block had sent Maskew to his +account, nor did I doubt it either, till a tale got abroad that he was +killed by a stray shot fired by the Posse from the cliff. And when they +took the hue-and-cry papers to the Manor House for his lass, as next of +kin, to sign the requisition, she would not set her name to it, saying +that Block had never lifted his hand against her father when they met at +Moonfleet or on the road, and that she never would believe he was the man +to let his anger sleep so long and then attack an enemy in cold blood. +And as for thee, she knew thee for a trusty lad, who would not do such +things himself, nor yet stand by whilst others did them.' + +Now what Ratsey said was sweeter than any music in my ears, and I felt +myself a better man, as anyone must of whom a true woman speaks well, and +that I must live uprightly to deserve such praise. Then I resolved that +come what might I would make my way once more to Moonfleet, before we +fled from England, and see Grace; so that I might tell her all that +happened about her father's death, saving only that Elzevir had meant +himself to put Maskew away; for it was no use to tell her this when she +had said that he could never think to do such a thing, and besides, for +all I knew, he never did mean to shoot, but only to frighten him. Though +I thus resolved, I said nothing of it to Master Ratsey, but only nodded, +and he went on-- + +'Well, seeing there was no one save this poor girl to look to putting +Maskew under ground, I must needs take it in hand myself; roughing +together a sound coffin and digging as fair a grave for him as could be +made for any lord, except that lords have always vaults to sleep in. Then +I got Mother Nutting's fish-cart to carry the body down, for there was +not a man in Moonfleet would lay hand to the coffin to bear it; and off +we started down the street, I leading the wall-eyed pony, and the coffin +following on the trolley. There was no mourner to see him home except his +daughter, and she without a bit of black upon her, for she had no time to +get her crapes; and yet she needed none, having grief writ plain enough +upon her face. + +'When we got to the churchyard, a crowd was gathered there, men and women +and children, not only from Moonfleet but from Ringstave and Monkbury. +They were not come to mourn, but to make gibes to show how much they +hated him, and many of the children had old pots and pans for rough +music. Parson Glennie was waiting in the church, and there he waited, for +the cart could not pass the gate, and we had no bearers to lift the +coffin. Then I looked round to see if there was any that would help to +lift, but when I tried to meet a man's eye he looked away, and all I +could see was the bitter scowling faces of the women. And all the while +the girl stood by the trolley looking on the ground. She had a little +kerchief over her head that let the hair fall about her shoulders, and +her face was very white, with eyes red and swollen through weeping. But +when she knew that all that crowd was there to mock her father, and that +there was not a man would raise hand to lift him, she laid her head upon +the coffin, hiding her face in her hands, and sobbed bitterly.' + +Ratsey stopped for a moment and drank again deep at the flask; and as for +me, I still said nothing, feeling a great lump in my throat; and +reflecting how hatred and passion have power to turn men to brutes. + +'I am a rough man,' Ratsey resumed, 'but tender-like withal, and when I +saw her weep, I ran off to the church to tell the parson how it was, and +beg him to come out and try if we two could lift the coffin. So out he +came just as he was, with surplice on his back and book in hand. But when +the men knew what he was come for, and looked upon that tall, fair girl +bowed down over her father's coffin, their hearts were moved, and first +Tom Tewkesbury stepped out with a sheepish air, and then Garrett, and +then four others. So now we had six fine bearers, and 'twas only women +that could still look hard and scowling, and even they said no word, and +not a boy beat on his pan. + +'Then Mr. Glennie, seeing he was not wanted for bearer, changed to +parson, and strikes up with "I am the resurrection and the life". 'Tis a +great text, John, and though I've heard it scores and scores of times, it +never sounded sweeter than on that day. For 'twas a fine afternoon, and +what with there being no wind, but the sun bright and the sea still and +blue, there was a calm on everything that seemed to say "Rest in Peace, +Rest in Peace". And was not the spring with us, and the whole land +preaching of resurrection, the birds singing, trees and flowers waking +from their winter sleep, and cowslips yellow on the very graves? Then +surely 'tis a fond thing to push our enmities beyond the grave, and +perhaps even _he_ was not so bad as we held him, but might have tricked +himself into thinking he did right to hunt down the contraband. I know +not how it was, but something like this came into my mind, and did +perhaps to others, for we got him under without a sign or word from any +that stood there. There was not one sound heard inside the church or out, +except Mr. Glennie's reading and my amens, and now and then a sob from +the poor child. But when 'twas all over, and the coffin safe lowered, up +she walks to Tom Tewkesbury saying, through her tears, "I thank you, sir, +for your kindness," and holds out her hand. So he took it, looking askew, +and afterwards the five other bearers; and then she walked away by +herself, and no one moved till she had left the churchyard gate, letting +her pass out like a queen.' + +'And so she is a queen,' I said, not being able to keep from speaking, +for very pride to hear how she had borne herself, and because she had +always shown kindness to me. 'So she is, and fairer than any queen to boot.' + +Ratsey gave me a questioning look, and I could see a little smile upon +his face in the firelight. 'Ay, she is fair enough,' said he, as though +reflecting to himself, 'but white and thin. Mayhap she would make a match +for thee--if ye were man and woman, and not boy and girl; if she were not +rich, and thou not poor and an outlaw; and--if she would have thee.' + +It vexed me to hear his banter, and to think how I had let my secret out, +so I did not answer, and we sat by the embers for a while without +speaking, while the wind still blew through the cave like a funnel. + +Ratsey spoke first. 'John, pass me the flask; I can hear voices mounting +the cliff of those poor souls of the _Florida_.' + +With that he took another heavy pull, and flung a log on the fire, till +sparks flew about as in a smithy, and the flame that had slumbered woke +again and leapt out white, blue, and green from the salt wood. Now, as +the light danced and flickered I saw a piece of parchment lying at +Ratsey's feet: and this was none other than the writing out of +Blackbeard's locket, which I had been reading when I first heard +footsteps in the passage, and had dropped in my alarm of hostile +visitors. Ratsey saw it too, and stretched out his hand to pick it up. I +would have concealed it if I could, because I had never told him how I +had rifled Blackbeard's coffin, and did not want to be questioned as to +how I had come by the writing. But to try to stop him getting hold of it +would only have spurred his curiosity, and so I said nothing when he took +it in his hands. + +'What is this, son?' asked he. + +'It is only Scripture verses,' I answered, 'which I got some time ago. +'Tis said they are a spell against Spirits of Evil, and I was reading +them to keep off the loneliness of this place, when you came in and made +me drop them.' + +I was afraid lest he should ask whence I had got them, but he did not, +thinking perhaps that my aunt had given them to me. The heat of the +flames had curled the parchment a little, and he spread it out on his +knee, conning it in the firelight. + +''Tis well written,' he said, 'and good verses enough, but he who put +them together for a spell knew little how to keep off evil spirits, for +this would not keep a flea from a black cat. I could do ten times better +myself, being not without some little understanding of such things,' and +he nodded seriously; 'and though I never yet met any from the other +world, they would not take me unprepared if they should come. For I have +spent half my life in graveyard or church, and 'twould be as foolish to +move about such places and have no words to meet an evil visitor withal, +as to bear money on a lonely road without a pistol. So one day, after +Parson Glennie had preached from Habakkuk, how that "the vision is for an +appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie: though it +tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry", I +talked with him on these matters, and got from him three or four rousing +texts such as spectres fear more than a burned child does the fire. I +will learn them all to thee some day, but for the moment take this Latin +which I got by heart: "_Abite a me in ignem etenum qui paratus est +diabolo at angelis ejus."_ Englished it means: "Depart from me into +eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels," but hath at least +double that power in Latin. So get that after me by heart, and use it +freely if thou art led to think that there are evil presences near, and +in such lonely places as this cave.' I humoured him by doing as he +desired; and that the rather because I hoped his thoughts would thus be +turned away from the writing; but as soon as I had the spell by rote he +turned back to the parchment, saying, 'He was but a poor divine who wrote +this, for beside choosing ill-fitting verses, he cannot even give right +numbers to them. For see here, "The days of our age are three-score years +and ten; and though men be so strong that they come to four-score years, +yet is their strength then but labour and sorrow, so soon passeth it away +and we are gone", and he writes Psalm 90,21. Now I have said that Psalm +with parson verse and verse about for every sleeper we have laid to rest +in churchyard mould for thirty years; and know it hath not twenty verses +in it, all told, and this same verse is the clerk's verse and cometh +tenth, and yet he calls it twenty-first. I wish I had here a Common +Prayer, and I would prove my words.' + +He stopped and flung me back the parchment scornfully; but I folded it +and slipped it in my pocket, brooding all the while over a strange +thought that his last words had brought to me. Nor did I tell him that I +had by me my aunt's prayer-book, wishing to examine for myself more +closely whether he was right, after he should have gone. + +'I must be away,' he said at last, 'though loath to leave this good fire +and liquor. I would fain wait till Elzevir was back, and fainer till this +gale was spent, but it may not be; the nights are short, and I must be +out of Purbeck before sunrise. So tell Block what I say, that he and thou +must flit; and pass the flask, for I have fifteen miles to walk against +the wind, and must keep off these midnight chills.' + +He drank again, and then rose to his feet, shaking himself like a dog; +and walking briskly across the cave twice or thrice to make sure, as I +thought, that the Ararat milk had not confused his steps. Then he shook +my hand warmly, and disappeared in the deep shadow of the passage-mouth. + +The wind was blowing more fitfully than before, and there was some sign +of a lull between the gusts. I stood at the opening of the passage, and +listened till the echo of Ratsey's footsteps died away, and then +returning to the corner, flung more wood on the fire, and lit the candle. +After that I took out again the parchment, and also my aunt's red +prayer-book, and sat down to study them. First I looked out in the book +that text about the 'days of our life', and found that it was indeed in +the ninetieth Psalm, but the tenth verse, just as Ratsey said, and not +the twenty-first as it was writ on the parchment. And then I took the +second text, and here again the Psalm was given correct, but the verse +was two, and not six, as my scribe had it. It was just the same with the +other three--the number of the Psalm was right but the verse wrong. So +here was a discovery, for all was painfully written smooth and clean +without a blot, and yet in every verse an error. But if the second number +did not stand for the verse, what else should it mean? I had scarce +formed the question to myself before I had the answer, and knew that it +must be the number of the word chosen in each text to make a secret +meaning. I was in as great a fever and excitement now as when I found the +locket in the Mohune vault, and could scarce count with trembling fingers +as far as twenty-one, in the first verse, for hurry and amaze. It was +'fourscore' that the number fell on in the first text, 'feet' in the +second, 'deep' in the third, 'well' in the fourth, 'north' in the fifth. + +Fourscore--feet--deep--well--north. + +There was the cipher read, and what an easy trick! and yet I had not +lighted on it all this while, nor ever should have, but for Sexton Ratsey +and his burial verse. It was a cunning plan of Blackbeard; but other folk +were quite as cunning as he, and here was all his treasure at our feet. I +chuckled over that to myself, rubbing my hands, and read it through +again: + +Fourscore--feet--deep--well--north. + +'Twas all so simple, and the word in the fourth verse 'well' and not +'vale' or 'pool' as I had stuck at so often in trying to unriddle it. How +was it I had not guessed as much before? and here was something to tell +Elzevir when he came back, that the clue was found to the cipher, and the +secret out. I would not reveal it all at once, but tease him by making +him guess, and at last tell him everything, and we would set to work at +once to make ourselves rich men. And then I thought once more of Grace, +and how the laugh would be on my side now, for all Master Ratsey's banter +about her being rich and me being poor! + +Fourscore--feet--deep--well--north. + +I read it again, and somehow it was this time a little less clear, and I +fell to thinking what it was exactly that I should tell Elzevir, and how +we were to get to work to find the treasure. 'Twas hid in a _well_--that +was plain enough, but in what well?--and what did 'north' mean? Was it +the _north well,_ or to _north of the well_--or, was it fourscore feet +_north_ of the _deep well_? I stared at the verses as if the ink would +change colour and show some other sense, and then a veil seemed drawn +across the writing, and the meaning to slip away, and be as far as ever +from my grasp. _Fourscore--feet--deep--well--north_: and by degrees +exulting gladness gave way to bewilderment and disquiet of spirit, and +in the gusts of wind I heard Blackbeard himself laughing and mocking me +for thinking I had found his treasure. Still I read and re-read it, +juggling with the words and turning them about to squeeze new meaning +from them. + +'Fourscore feet deep _in the north well_,'--'fourscore feet deep in the +well _to north_'--'fourscore feet _north of the deep well_,'--so the +words went round and round in my head, till I was tired and giddy, and +fell unawares asleep. + +It was daylight when I awoke, and the wind had fallen, though I could +still hear the thunder of the swell against the rock-face down below. The +fire was yet burning, and by it sat Elzevir, cooking something in the +pot. He looked fresh and keen, like a man risen from a long night's +sleep, rather than one who had spent the hours of darkness in struggling +against a gale, and must afterwards remain watching because, forsooth, +the sentinel sleeps. + +He spoke as soon as he saw that I was awake, laughing and saying: 'How +goes the night, Watchman? This is the second time that I have caught thee +napping, and didst sleep so sound it might have taken a cold pistol's +lips against thy forehead to awake thee.' + +I was too full of my story even to beg his pardon, but began at once to +tell him what had happened; and how, by following the hint that Ratsey +dropped, I had made out, as I thought, a secret meaning in these verses. +Elzevir heard me patiently, and with more show of interest towards the +end; and then took the parchment in his hands, reading it carefully, and +checking the errors of numbering by the help of the red prayer-book. + +'I believe thou art right,' he said at length; 'for why should the +figures all be false if there is no hidden trickery in it? If't had been +one or two were wrong, I would have said some priest had copied them in +error; for priests are thriftless folk, and had as lief set a thing down +wrong as right; but with all wrong there is no room for chance. So if he +means it, let us see what 'tis he means. First he says 'tis in a well. +But what well? and the depth he gives of fourscore feet is over-deep for +any well near Moonfleet.' + +I was for saying it must be the well at the Manor House, but before the +words left my mouth, remembered there was no well at the manor at all, +for the house was watered by a runnel brook that broke out from the woods +above, and jumping down from stone to stone ran through the manor +gardens, and emptied itself into the Fleet below. + +'And now I come to think on it,' Elzevir went on, ''tis more likely that +the well he speaks of was not in these parts at all. For see here, this +Blackbeard was a spendthrift, squandering all he had, and would most +surely have squandered the jewel too, could he have laid his hands on it. +And yet 'tis said he did not, therefore I think he must have stowed it +safe in some place where afterwards he could not get at it. For if't had +been near Moonfleet, he would have had it up a hundred times. But thou +hast often talked of Blackbeard and his end with Parson Glennie; so speak +up, lad, and let us hear all that thou know'st of these tales. Maybe +'twill help us to come to some judgement.' + +So I told him all that Mr. Glennie had told me, how that Colonel John +Mohune, whom men called Blackbeard, was a wastrel from his youth, and +squandered all his substance in riotous living. Thus being at his last +turn, he changed from royalist to rebel, and was set to guard the king in +the castle of Carisbrooke. But there he stooped to a bribe, and took from +his royal prisoner a splendid diamond of the crown to let him go; then, +with the jewel in his pocket, turned traitor again, and showed a file of +soldiers into the room where the king was stuck between the window bars, +escaping. But no one trusted Blackbeard after that, and so he lost his +post, and came back in his age, a broken man, to Moonfleet. There he +rusted out his life, but when he neared his end was filled with fear, and +sent for a clergyman to give him consolation. And 'twas at the parson's +instance that he made a will, and bequeathed the diamond, which was the +only thing he had left, to the Mohune almshouses at Moonfleet. These were +the very houses that he had robbed and let go to ruin, and they never +benefited by his testament, for when it was opened there was the bequest +plain enough, but not a word to say where was the jewel. Some said that +it was all a mockery, and that Blackbeard never had the jewel; others +that the jewel was in his hand when he died, but carried off by some that +stood by. But most thought, and handed down the tale, that being taken +suddenly, he died before he could reveal the safe place of the jewel; and +that in his last throes he struggled hard to speak as if he had some +secret to unburden. + +All this I told Elzevir, and he listened close as though some of it was +new to him. When I was speaking of Blackbeard being at Carisbrooke, he +made a little quick move as though to speak, but did not, waiting till I +had finished the tale. Then he broke out with: 'John, the diamond is yet +at Carisbrooke. I wonder I had not thought of Carisbrooke before you +spoke; and there he can get fourscore feet, and twice and thrice +fourscore, if he list, and none to stop him. 'Tis Carisbrooke. I have +heard of that well from childhood, and once saw it when a boy. It is dug +in the Castle Keep, and goes down fifty fathoms or more into the bowels +of the chalk below. It is so deep no man can draw the buckets on a winch, +but they must have an ass inside a tread-wheel to hoist them up. Now, +why this Colonel John Mohune, whom we call Blackbeard, should have chosen +a well at all to hide his jewel in, I cannot say; but given he chose a +well, 'twas odds he would choose Carisbrooke. 'Tis a known place, and I +have heard that people come as far as from London to see the castle and +this well.' + +He spoke quick and with more fire than I had known him use before, and I +felt he was right. It seemed indeed natural enough that if Blackbeard was +to hide the diamond in a well, it would be in the well of that very +castle where he had earned it so evilly. + +'When he says the "well north",' continued Elzevir, ''tis clear he means +to take a compass and mark north by needle, and at eighty feet in the +well-side below that point will lie the treasure. I fixed yesterday with +the _Bonaventure's_ men that they should lie underneath this ledge +tomorrow sennight, if the sea be smooth, and take us off on the +spring-tide. At midnight is their hour, and I said eight days on, to give +thy leg a week wherewith to strengthen. I thought to make for St. Malo, +and leave thee at the _Éperon d'Or_ with old Chauvelais, where thou +couldst learn to patter French until these evil times have blown by. But +now, if thou art set to hunt this treasure up, and hast a mind to run thy +head into a noose; why, I am not so old but that I too can play the fool, +and we will let St. Malo be, and make for Carisbrooke. I know the castle; +it is not two miles distant from Newport, and at Newport we can lie at +the Bugle, which is an inn addicted to the contraband. The king's writ +runs but lamely in the Channel Isles and Wight, and if we wear some other +kit than this, maybe we shall find Newport as safe as St. Malo.' + +This was just what I wanted, and so we settled there and then that we +would get the _Bonaventure_ to land us in the Isle of Wight instead of at +St. Malo. Since man first walked upon this earth, a tale of buried +treasure must have had a master-power to stir his blood, and mine was +hotly stirred. Even Elzevir, though he did not show it, was moved, I +thought, at heart; and we chafed in our cave prison, and those eight days +went wearily enough. Yet 'twas not time lost, for every day my leg grew +stronger; and like a wolf which I saw once in a cage at Dorchester Fair, +I spent hours in marching round the cave to kill the time and put more +vigour in my steps. Ratsey did not visit us again, but in spite of what +he said, met Elzevir more than once, and got money for him from +Dorchester and many other things he needed. It was after meeting Ratsey +that Elzevir came back one night, bringing a long whip in one hand, and +in the other a bundle which held clothes to mask us in the next scene. +There was a carter's smock for him, white and quilted over with +needlework, such as carters wear on the Down farms, and for me a smaller +one, and hats and leather leggings all to match. We tried them on, and +were for all the world carter and carter's boy; and I laughed long to see +Elzevir stand there and practise how to crack his whip and cry 'Who-ho' +as carters do to horses. And for all he was so grave, there was a smile +on his face too, and he showed me how to twist a wisp of straw out of the +bed to bind above my ankles at the bottom of the leggings. He had cut off +his beard, and yet lost nothing of his looks; for his jaw and deep chin +showed firm and powerful. And as for me, we made a broth of young walnut +leaves and twigs, and tanned my hands and face with it a ruddy brown, so +that I looked a different lad. + + + + +CHAPTER 13 + +AN INTERVIEW + +No human creature stirred to go or come, + No face looked forth from shut or open casement, +No chimney smoked, there was no sign of home + From parapet to basement--_Hood_ + + +And so the days went on, until there came to be but two nights more +before we were to leave our cave. Now I have said that the delay chafed +us, because we were impatient to get at the treasure; but there was +something else that vexed me and made me more unquiet with every day that +passed. And this was that I had resolved to see Grace before I left these +parts, and yet knew not how to tell it to Elzevir. But on this evening, +seeing the time was grown so short, I knew that I must speak or drop my +purpose, and so spoke. + +We were sitting like the sea-birds on the ledge outside our cave, looking +towards St. Alban's Head and watching the last glow of sunset. The +evening vapours began to sweep down Channel, and Elzevir shrugged his +shoulders. 'The night turns chill,' he said, and got up to go back to the +cave. So then I thought my time was come, and following him inside said: + +'Dear Master Elzevir, you have watched over me all this while and tended +me kinder than any father could his son; and 'tis to you I owe my life, +and that my leg is strong again. Yet I am restless this night, and beg +that you will give me leave to climb the shaft and walk abroad. It is two +months and more that I have been in the cave and seen nothing but stone +walls, and I would gladly tread once more upon the Down.' + +'Say not that I have saved thy life,' Elzevir broke in; ''twas I who +brought thy life in danger; and but for me thou mightst even now be +lying snug abed at Moonfleet, instead of hiding in the chambers of these +rocks. So speak not of that, but if thou hast a mind to air thyself an +hour, I see little harm in it. These wayward fancies fall on men as they +get better of sickness; and I must go tonight to that ruined house of +which I spoke to thee, to fetch a pocket compass Master Ratsey was to put +there. So thou canst come with me and smell the night air on the Down.' + +He had agreed more readily than I looked for, and so I pushed the +matter, saying: + +'Nay, master, grant me leave to go yet a little farther afield. You know +that I was born in Moonfleet, and have been bred there all my life, and +love the trees and stream and very stones of it. And I have set my heart +on seeing it once more before we leave these parts for good and all. So +give me leave to walk along the Down and look on Moonfleet but this once, +and in this ploughboy guise I shall be safe enough, and will come back to +you tomorrow night' + +He looked at me a moment without speaking; and all the while I felt he +saw me through and through, and yet he was not angry. But I turned red, +and cast my eyes upon the ground, and then he spoke: + +'Lad, I have known men risk their lives for many things: for gold, and +love, and hate; but never one would play with death that he might see a +tree or stream or stones. And when men say they love a place or town, +thou mayst be sure 'tis not the place they love but some that live there; +or that they loved some in the past, and so would see the spot again to +kindle memory withal. Thus when thou speakest of Moonfleet, I may guess +that thou hast someone there to see--or hope to see. It cannot be thine +aunt, for there is no love lost between ye; and besides, no man ever +perilled his life to bid adieu to an aunt. So have no secrets from me, +John, but tell me straight, and I will judge whether this second +treasure that thou seekest is true gold enough to fling thy life into the +scale against it.' + +Then I told him all, keeping nothing back, but trying to make him see +that there was little danger in my visiting Moonfleet, for none would +know me in a carter's dress, and that my knowledge of the place would let +me use a hedge or wall or wood for cover; and finally, if I were seen, my +leg was now sound, and there were few could beat me in a running match +upon the Down. So I talked on, not so much in the hope of convincing him +as to keep saying something; for I durst not look up, and feared to hear +an angry word from him when I should stop. But at last I had spoken all I +could, and ceased because I had no more. Yet he did not break out as I +had thought, but there was silence; and after a moment I looked up, and +saw by his face that his thoughts were wandering. When he spoke there was +no anger in his voice, but only something sad. + +'Thou art a foolish lad,' he said. 'Yet I was young once myself, and my +ways have been too dark to make me wish to darken others, or try to chill +young blood. Now thine own life has got a shadow on't already that I have +helped to cast, so take the brightness of it while thou mayst, and get +thee gone. But for this girl, I know her for a comely lass and +good-hearted, and have wondered often how she came to have _him_ for her +father. I am glad now I have not his blood on my hands; and never would +have gone to take it then, for all the evil he had brought on me, but +that the lives of every mother's son hung on his life. So make thy mind +at ease, and get thee gone and see these streams and trees and stones +thou talkest of. Yet if thou'rt shot upon the Down, or taken off to jail, +blame thine own folly and not me. And I will walk with thee to Purbeck +Gates tonight, and then come back and wait. But if thou art not here +again by midnight tomorrow, I shall believe that thou art taken in some +snare, and come out to seek thee.' + +I took his hand, and thanked him with what words I could that he had let +me go, and then got on the smock, putting some bread and meat in my +pockets, as I was likely to find little to eat on my journey. It was +dark before we left the cave, for there is little dusk with us, and the +division between day and night sharper than in more northern parts. +Elzevir took me by the hand and led me through the darkness of the +workings, telling me where I should stoop, and when the way was uneven. +Thus we came to the bottom of the shaft, and looking up through ferns +and brambles, I could see the deep blue of the sky overhead, and a great +star gazing down full at us. We climbed the steps with the soap-stone +slide at one side, and then walked on briskly over the springy turf +through the hillocks of the covered quarry-heaps and the ruins of the +deserted cottages. + +There was a heavy dew which got through my boots before we had gone half +a mile, and though there was no moon, the sky was very clear, and I could +see the veil of gossamers spread silvery white over the grass. Neither of +us spoke, partly because it was safer not to speak, for the voice carries +far in a still night on the Downs; and partly, I think, because the +beauty of the starry heaven had taken hold upon us both, ruling our +hearts with thoughts too big for words. We soon reached that ruined +cottage of which Elzevir had spoken, and in what had once been an oven, +found the compass safe enough as Ratsey had promised. Then on again over +the solitary hills, not speaking ourselves, and neither seeing light in +window nor hearing dog stir, until we reached that strange defile which +men call the Gates of Purbeck. Here is a natural road nicking the +highest summit of the hill, with walls as sharp as if the hand of man had +cut them, through which have walked for ages all the few travellers in +this lonely place, shepherds and sailors, soldiers and Excisemen. And +although, as I suppose, no carts have been through it for centuries, +there are ruts in the chalk floor as wide and deep as if the cars of +giants used it in past times. + +So here Elzevir stopped, and drawing from his bosom that silver-butted +pistol of which I have spoken, thrust it in my hand. 'Here, take it, +child,' he said, 'but use it not till thou art closely pressed, and then +if thou _must_ shoot, shoot low--it flings.' I took it and gripped his +hand, and so we parted, he going back to Purbeck, and I making along the +top of the ridge at the back of Hoar Head. It must have been near three +when I reached a great grass-grown mound called Culliford Tree, that +marks the resting-place of some old warrior of the past. The top is +planted with a clump of trees that cut the skyline, and there I sat +awhile to rest. But not for long, for looking back towards Purbeck, I +could see the faint hint of dawn low on the sea-line behind St. Alban's +Head, and so pressed forward knowing I had a full ten miles to cover yet. + +Thus I travelled on, and soon came to the first sign of man, namely a +flock of lambs being fed with turnips on a summer fallow. The sun was +well up now, and flushed all with a rosy glow, showing the sheep and the +roots they eat white against the brown earth. Still I saw no shepherd, +nor even dog, and about seven o'clock stood safe on Weatherbeech Hill +that looks down over Moonfleet. + +There at my feet lay the Manor woods and the old house, and lower down +the white road and the straggling cottages, and farther still the Why +Not? and the glassy Fleet, and beyond that the open sea. I cannot say +how sad, yet sweet, the sight was: it seemed like the mirage of the +desert, of which I had been told--so beautiful, but never to be reached +again by me. The air was still, and the blue smoke of the morning +wood-fires rose straight up, but none from the Why Not? or Manor House. +The sun was already very hot, and I dropped at once from the hill-top, +digging my heels into the brown-burned turf, and keeping as much as might +be among the furze champs. So I was soon in the wood, and made straight +for the little dell and lay down there, burying myself in the wild +rhubarb and burdocks, yet so that I could see the doorway of the Manor +House over the lip of the hill. + +Then I reflected what I was to do, or how I should get to speak with +Grace: and thought I would first wait an hour or two, and see whether she +came out, and afterwards, if she did not, would go down boldly and knock +at the door. This seemed not very dangerous, for it was likely, from what +Ratsey had said, that there was no one with her in the house, and if +there was it would be but an old woman, to whom I could pass as a +stranger in my disguise, and ask my way to some house in the village. So +I lay still and munched a piece of bread, and heard the clock in the +church tower strike eight and afterwards nine, but saw no one move in the +house. The wood was all alive with singing-birds, and with the calling of +cuckoo and wood-pigeon. There were deep patches of green shade and +lighter patches of yellow sunlight, in which the iris leaves gleamed with +a sheeny white, and a shimmering blue sea of ground-ivy spread all +through the wood. It struck ten, and as the heat increased the birds sang +less and the droning of the bees grew more distinct, and at last I got +up, shook myself, smoothed my smock, and making a turn, came out on the +road that led to the house. + +Though my disguise was good, I fear I made but an indifferent bad +ploughboy when walking, and found a difficulty in dealing with my hands, +not knowing how ploughboys are wont to carry them. So I came round in +front of the house, and gave a rat-tat on the door, while my pulse beat +as loud inside of me as ever did the knocker without. The sound ran round +the building, and backwards among the walks, and all was silent as +before. I waited a minute, and was for knocking again, thinking there +might be no one in the house, and then heard a light footstep coming +along the corridor, yet durst not look through the window to see who it +was in passing, as I might have done, but kept myself close to the door. + +The bolts were being drawn, and a girl's voice asked, 'Who is there?' I +gave a jump to hear that voice, knowing it well for Grace's, and had a +mind to shout out my name. But then I remembered there might be some in +the house with her besides, and that I must remain disguised. Moreover, +laughing is so mixed with crying in our world, and trifling things with +serious, that even in this pass I believe I was secretly pleased to have +to play a trick on her, and test whether she would find me out in this +dress or not. So I spoke out in our round Dorset speech, such as they +talk it out in the vale, saying, 'A poor boy who is out of his way.' + +Then she opened one leaf of the door, and asked me whither I would go, +looking at me as one might at a stranger and not knowing who it was. + +I answered that I was a farm lad who had walked from Purbeck, and sought +an inn called the Why Not? kept by one Master Block. When she heard that, +she gave a little start, and looked me over again, yet could make nothing +of it, but said: + +'Good lad, if you will step on to this terrace I can show you the Why +Not? inn, but 'tis shut these two months or more, and Master Block away.' + +With that she turned towards the terrace, I following, but when we +were outside of ear-shot from the door, I spoke in my own voice, +quick but low: + +'Grace, it is I, John Trenchard, who am come to say goodbye before I +leave these parts, and have much to tell that you would wish to hear. Are +there any beside in the house with you?' + +Now many girls who had suffered as she had, and were thus surprised, +would have screamed, or perhaps swooned, but she did neither, only +flushing a little and saying, also quick and low, 'Let us go back to the +house; I am alone.' + +So we went back, and after the door was bolted, took both hands and stood +up face to face in the passage looking into one another's eyes. I was +tired with a long walk and sleepless night, and so full of joy to see her +again that my head swam and all seemed a sweet dream. Then she squeezed +my hands, and I knew 'twas real, and was for kissing her for very love; +but she guessed what I would be at, perhaps, and cast my hands loose, +drawing back a little, as if to see me better, and saying, 'John, you +have grown a man in these two months.' So I did not kiss her. + +But if it was true that I was grown a man, it was truer still that she +was grown a woman, and as tall as I. And these recent sufferings had +taken from her something of light and frolic girlhood, and left her with +a manner more staid and sober. She was dressed in black, with longer +skirts, and her hair caught up behind; and perhaps it was the mourning +frock that made her look pale and thin, as Ratsey said. So while I looked +at her, she looked at me, and could not choose but smile to see my +carter's smock; and as for my brown face and hands, thought I had been +hiding in some country underneath the sun, until I told her of the +walnut-juice. Then before we fell to talking, she said it was better we +should sit in the garden, for that a woman might come in to help her with +the house, and anyway it was safer, so that I might get out at the back +in case of need. So she led the way down the corridor and through the +living-part of the house, and we passed several rooms, and one little +parlour lined with shelves and musty books. The blinds were pulled, but +let enough light in to show a high-backed horsehair chair that stood at +the table. In front of it lay an open volume, and a pair of horn-rimmed +spectacles, that I had often seen on Maskew's nose; so I knew it was his +study, and that nothing had been moved since last he sat there. Even now +I trembled to think in whose house I was, and half-expected the old +attorney to step in and hale me off to jail; till I remembered how all my +trouble had come about, and how I last had seen him with his face turned +up against the morning sun. + +Thus we came to the garden, where I had never been before. It was a great +square, shut in with a brick wall of twelve or fifteen feet, big enough +to suit a palace, but then ill kept and sorely overgrown. I could spend +long in speaking of that plot; how the flowers, and fruit-trees, +pot-herbs, spice, and simples ran all wild and intermixed. The pink brick +walls caught every ray of sun that fell, and that morning there was a +hushed, close heat in it, and a warm breath rose from the strawberry +beds, for they were then in full bearing. I was glad enough to get out of +the sun when Grace led the way into a walk of medlar-trees and quinces, +where the boughs interlaced and formed an alley to a brick summer-house. +This summer-house stands in the angle of the south wall, and by it two +fig-trees, whose tops you can see from the outside. They are well known +for the biggest and the earliest bearing of all that part, and Grace +showed me how, if danger threatened, I might climb up their boughs and +scale the wall. + +We sat in the summer-house, and I told her all that had happened at her +father's death, only concealing that Elzevir had meant to do the deed +himself; because it was no use to tell her that, and besides, for all I +knew, he never did mean to shoot, but only to frighten. + +She wept again while I spoke, but afterwards dried her tears, and must +needs look at my leg to see the bullet-wound, and if it was all +soundly healed. + +Then I told her of the secret sense that Master Ratsey's words put into +the texts written on the parchment. I had showed her the locket before, +but we had it out again now; and she read and read again the writing, +while I pointed out how the words fell, and told her I was going away to +get the diamond and come back the richest man in all the countryside. + +Then she said, 'Ah, John! set not your heart too much upon this diamond. +If what they say is true, 'twas evilly come by, and will bring evil with +it. Even this wicked man durst not spend it for himself, but meant to +give it to the poor; so, if indeed you ever find it, keep it not for +yourself, but set his soul at rest by doing with it what he meant to do, +or it will bring a curse upon you.' + +I only smiled at what she said, taking it to be a girlish fancy, and did +not tell her why I wanted so much to be rich--namely, to marry her one +day. Then, having talked long about my own concerns as selfishly as a man +always does, I thought to ask after herself, and what she was going to +do. She told me that a month past lawyers had come to Moonfleet, and +pressed her to leave the place, and they would give her in charge to a +lady in London, because, said they, her father had died without a will, +and so she must be made a ward of Chancery. But she had begged them to +let her be, for she could never live anywhere else than in Moonfleet, +and that the air and commodity of the place suited her well. So they went +off, saying that they must take direction of the Court to know whether +she might stay here or not, and here she yet was. This made me sad, for +all I knew of Chancery was that whatever it put hand on fell to ruin, as +witness the Chancery Mills at Cerne, or the Chancery Wharf at Wareham; +and certainly it would take little enough to ruin the Manor House, for it +was three parts in decay already. + +Thus we talked, and after that she put on a calico bonnet and picked me a +dish of strawberries, staying to pull the finest, although the sun was +beating down from mid-heaven, and brought me bread and meat from the +house. Then she rolled up a shawl to make me a pillow, and bade me lie +down on the seat that ran round the summer-house and get to sleep, for I +had told her that I had walked all night, and must be back again at the +cave come midnight She went back to the house, and that was the most +sweet and peaceful sleep that ever I knew, for I was very tired, and had +this thought to soothe me as I fell asleep--that I had seen Grace, and +that she was so kind to me. + +She was sitting beside me when I awoke and knitting a piece of work. The +heat of the day was somewhat less, and she told me that it was past five +o'clock by the sun-dial; so I knew that I must go. She made me take a +packet of victuals and a bottle of milk, and as she put it into my +pocket the bottle struck on the butt of Maskew's pistol, which I had in +my bosom. 'What have you there?' she said; but I did not tell her, +fearing to call up bitter memories. + +We stood hand in hand again, as we had done in the morning, and she said: +'John, you will wander on the sea, and may perhaps put into Moonfleet. +Though you have not been here of late, I have kept a candle burning at +the window every night, as in the past. So, if you come to beach on any +night you will see that light, and know Grace remembers you. And if you +see it not, then know that I am dead or gone, for I will think of you +every night till you come back again.' I had nothing to say, for my heart +was too full with her sweet words and with the sorrow of parting, but +only drew her close to me and kissed her; and this time she did not step +back, but kissed me again. + +Then I climbed up the fig-tree, thinking it safer so to get out over the +wall than to go back to the front of the house, and as I sat on the wall +ready to drop the other side, turned to her and said good-bye. + +'Good-bye,' cried she; 'and have a care how you touch the treasure; it +was evilly come by, and will bring a curse with it.' + +'Good-bye, good-bye,' I said, and dropped on to the soft leafy bottom +of the wood. + + + + +CHAPTER 14 + +THE WELL-HOUSE + +For those thou mayest not look upon +Are gathering fast round the yawning stone--_Scott_ + + +It wanted yet half an hour of midnight when I found myself at the shaft +of the marble quarry, and before I had well set foot on the steps to +descend, heard Elzevir's voice challenging out of the darkness below. I +gave back '_Prosper the Bonaventure',_ and so came home again to sleep +the last time in our cave. + +The next night was well suited to flight. There was a spring-tide with +full moon, and a light breeze setting off the land which left the water +smooth under the cliff. We saw the _Bonaventure_ cruising in the Channel +before sundown, and after the darkness fell she lay close in and took us +off in her boat. There were several men on board of her that I knew, and +they greeted us kindly, and made much of us. I was indeed glad to be +among them again, and yet felt a pang at leaving our dear Dorset coast, +and the old cave that had been hospital and home to me for two months. + +The wind set us up-Channel, and by daybreak they put us ashore at Cowes, +so we walked to Newport and came there before many were stirring. Such as +we saw in the street paid no heed to us but took us doubtless for some +carter and his boy who had brought corn in from the country for the +Southampton packet, and were about early to lead the team home again. +'Tis a little place enough this Newport, and we soon found the Bugle; but +Elzevir made so good a carter that the landlord did not know him, though +he had his acquaintance before. So they fenced a little with one another. + +'Have you bed and victuals for a plain country man and his boy?' +says Elzevir. + +'Nay, that I have not,' says the landlord, looking him up and down, and +not liking to take in strangers who might use their eyes inside, and +perhaps get on the trail of the Contraband. ''Tis near the Summer +Statute and the place over full already. I cannot move my gentlemen, +and would bid you try the Wheatsheaf, which is a good house, and not so +full as this.' + +'Ay, 'tis a busy time, and 'tis these fairs that make things _prosper_,' +and Elzevir marked the last word a little as he said it. + +The man looked harder at him, and asked, 'Prosper what?' as if he were +hard of hearing. + +'_Prosper the Bonaventure_,' was the answer, and then the landlord caught +Elzevir by the hand, shaking it hard and saying, 'Why, you are Master +Block, and I expecting you this morn, and never knew you.' He laughed as +he stared at us again, and Elzevir smiled too. Then the landlord led us +in. 'And this is?' he said, looking at me. + +'This is a well-licked whelp,' replied Elzevir, 'who got a bullet in the +leg two months ago in that touch under Hoar Head; and is worth more than +he looks, for they have put twenty golden guineas on his head--so have a +care of such a precious top-knot.' + +So long as we stopped at the Bugle we had the best of lodging and the +choicest meat and drink, and all the while the landlord treated Elzevir +as though he were a prince. And so he was indeed a prince among the +contrabandiers, and held, as I found out long afterwards, for captain of +all landers between Start and Solent. At first the landlord would take no +money of us, saying that he was in our debt, and had received many a good +turn from Master Block in the past, but Elzevir had got gold from +Dorchester before we left the cave and forced him to take payment. I was +glad enough to lie between clean sweet sheets at night instead of on a +heap of sand, and sit once more knife and fork in hand before a +well-filled trencher. 'Twas thought best I should show myself as little +as possible, so I was content to pass my time in a room at the back of +the house whilst Elzevir went abroad to make inquiries how we could find +entrance to the Castle at Carisbrooke. Nor did the time hang heavy on my +hands, for I found some old books in the Bugle, and among them several to +my taste, especially a _History of Corfe Castle_, which set forth how +there was a secret passage from the ruins to some of the old marble +quarries, and perhaps to that very one that sheltered us. + +Elzevir was out most of the day, so that I saw him only at breakfast and +supper. He had been several times to Carisbrooke, and told me that the +Castle was used as a jail for persons taken in the wars, and was now full +of French prisoners. He had met several of the turnkeys or jailers, +drinking with them in the inns there, and making out that he was himself +a carter, who waited at Newport till a wind-bound ship should bring +grindstones from Lyme Regis. Thus he was able at last to enter the Castle +and to see well-house and well, and spent some days in trying to devise a +plan whereby we might get at the well without making the man who had +charge of it privy to our full design; but in this did not succeed. + +There is a slip of garden at the back of the Bugle, which runs down to a +little stream, and one evening when I was taking the air there after +dark, Elzevir returned and said the time was come for us to put +Blackbeard's cipher to the proof. + +'I have tried every way,' he said, 'to see if we could work this +secretly; but 'tis not to be done without the privity of the man who +keeps the well, and even with his help it is not easy. He is a man I do +not trust, but have been forced to tell him there is treasure hidden in +the well, yet without saying where it lies or how to get it. He promises +to let us search the well, taking one-third the value of all we find, for +his share; for I said not that thou and I were one at heart, but only +that there was a boy who had the key, and claimed an equal third with +both of us. Tomorrow we must be up betimes, and at the Castle gates by +six o'clock for him to let us in. And thou shalt not be carter any more, +but mason's boy, and I a mason, for I have got coats in the house, +brushes and trowels and lime-bucket, and we are going to Carisbrooke to +plaster up a weak patch in this same well-side.' + +Elzevir had thought carefully over this plan, and when we left the Bugle +next morning we were better masons in our splashed clothes than ever we +had been farm servants. I carried a bucket and a brush, and Elzevir a +plasterer's hammer and a coil of stout twine over his arm. It was a wet +morning, and had been raining all night. The sky was stagnant, and +one-coloured without wind, and the heavy drops fell straight down out of +a grey veil that covered everything. The air struck cold when we first +came out, but trudging over the heavy road soon made us remember that it +was July, and we were very hot and soaking wet when we stood at the +gateway of Carisbrooke Castle. Here are two flanking towers and a stout +gate-house reached by a stone bridge crossing the moat; and when I saw it +I remembered that 'twas here Colonel Mohune had earned the wages of his +unrighteousness, and thought how many times he must have passed these +gates. Elzevir knocked as one that had a right, and we were evidently +expected, for a wicket in the heavy door was opened at once. The man who +let us in was tall and stout, but had a puffy face, and too much flesh on +him to be very strong, though he was not, I think, more than thirty years +of age. He gave Elzevir a smile, and passed the time of day civilly +enough, nodding also to me; but I did not like his oily black hair, and a +shifty eye that turned away uneasily when one met it. + +'Good-morning, Master Well-wright,' he said to Elzevir. 'You have brought +ugly weather with you, and are drowning wet; will you take a sup of ale +before you get to work?' + +Elzevir thanked him kindly but would not drink, so the man led on and we +followed him. We crossed a bailey or outer court where the rain had made +the gravel very miry, and came on the other side to a door which led by +steps into a large hall. This building had once been a banquet-room, I +think, for there was an inscription over it very plain in lead: _He led +me into his banquet hall, and his banner over me was love_. + +I had time to read this while the turnkey unlocked the door with one of a +heavy bunch of keys that he carried at his girdle. But when we entered, +what a disappointment!--for there were no banquets now, no banners, no +love, but the whole place gutted and turned into a barrack for French +prisoners. The air was very close, as where men had slept all night, and +a thick steam on the windows. Most of the prisoners were still asleep, +and lay stretched out on straw palliasses round the walls, but some were +sitting up and making models of ships out of fish-bones, or building up +crucifixes inside bottles, as sailors love to do in their spare time. +They paid little heed to us as we passed, though the sleepy guards, who +were lounging on their matchlocks, nodded to our conductor, and thus we +went right through that evil-smelling white-washed room. We left it at +the other end, went down three steps into the open air again, crossed +another small court, and so came to a square building of stone with a +high roof like the large dovecots that you may see in old stackyards. + +Here our guide took another key, and, while the door was being opened, +Elzevir whispered to me, 'It is the well-house,' and my pulse beat quick +to think we were so near our goal. + +The building was open to the roof, and the first thing to be seen in it +was that tread-wheel of which Elzevir had spoken. It was a great open +wheel of wood, ten or twelve feet across, and very like a mill-wheel, +only the space between the rims was boarded flat, but had treads nailed +on it to give foothold to a donkey. The patient beast was lying loose +stabled on some straw in a corner of the room, and, as soon as we came +in, stood up and stretched himself, knowing that the day's work was to +begin. 'He was here long before my time,' the turnkey said, 'and knows +the place so well that he goes into the wheel and sets to work by +himself.' At the side of the wheel was the well-mouth, a dark, round +opening with a low parapet round it, rising two feet from the floor. + +We were so near our goal. Yet, were we near it at all? How did we know +Mohune had meant to tell the place of hiding for the diamond in those +words. They might have meant a dozen things beside. And if it was of the +diamond they spoke, then how did we know the well was this one? there +were a hundred wells beside. These thoughts came to me, making hope less +sure; and perhaps it was the steamy overcast morning and the rain, or a +scant breakfast, that beat my spirit down--for I have known men's mood +change much with weather and with food; but sure it was that now we stood +so near to put it to the touch, I liked our business less and less. + +As soon as we were entered the turnkey locked the door from the inside, +and when he let the key drop to its place, and it jangled with the others +on his belt, it seemed to me he had us as his prisoners in a trap. I +tried to catch his eye to see if it looked bad or good, but could not, +for he kept his shifty face turned always somewhere else; and then it +came to my mind that if the treasure was really fraught with evil, this +coarse dark-haired man, who could not look one straight, was to become a +minister of ruin to bring the curse home to us. + +But if I was weak and timid Elzevir had no misgivings. He had taken the +coil of twine off his arm and was undoing it. 'We will let an end of this +down the well,' he said, 'and I have made a knot in it at eighty feet. +This lad thinks the treasure is in the well wall, eighty feet below us, +so when the knot is on well lip we shall know we have the right depth.' I +tried again to see what look the turnkey wore when he heard where the +treasure was, but could not, and so fell to examining the well. + +A spindle ran from the axle of the wheel across the well, and on the +spindle was a drum to take the rope. There was some clutch or fastening +which could be fixed or loosed at will to make the drum turn with the +tread-wheel, or let it run free, and a footbreak to lower the bucket fast +or slow, or stop it altogether. + +'I will get into the bucket,' Elzevir said, turning to me, 'and this +good man will lower me gently by the break until I reach the string-end +down below. Then I will shout, and so fix you the wheel and give me time +to search.' + +This was not what I looked for, having thought that it was I should go; +and though I liked going down the well little enough, yet somehow now I +felt I would rather do that than have Master Elzevir down the hole, and +me left locked alone with this villainous fellow up above. + +So I said, 'No, master, that cannot be; 'tis my place to go, being +smaller and a lighter weight than thou; and thou shalt stop here and help +this gentleman to lower me down.' + +Elzevir spoke a few words to try to change my purpose, but soon gave in, +knowing it was certainly the better plan, and having only thought to go +himself because he doubted if I had the heart to do it. But the turnkey +showed much ill-humour at the change, and strove to let the plan stand as +it was, and for Elzevir to go down the well. Things that were settled, he +said, should remain settled; he was not one for changes; it was a man's +task this and no child's play; a boy would not have his senses about him, +and might overlook the place. I fixed my eyes on Elzevir to let him know +what I thought, and Master Turnkey's words fell lightly on his ears as +water on a duck's back. Then this ill-eyed man tried to work upon my +fears; saying that the well is deep and the bucket small, I shall get +giddy and be overbalanced. I do not say that these forebodings were +without effect on me, but I had made up my mind that, bad as it might be +to go down, it was yet worse to have Master Elzevir prisoned in the well, +and I remain above. Thus the turnkey perceived at last that he was +speaking to deaf ears, and turned to the business. + +Yet there was one fear that still held me, for thinking of what I had +heard of the quarry shafts in Purbeck, how men had gone down to explore, +and there been taken with a sudden giddiness, and never lived to tell +what they had seen; and so I said to Master Elzevir, 'Art sure the well +is clean, and that no deadly gases lurk below?' + +'Thou mayst be sure I knew the well was sweet before I let thee talk of +going down,' he answered. 'For yesterday we lowered a candle to the +water, and the flame burned bright and steady; and where the candle +lives, there man lives too. But thou art right: these gases change from +day to day, and we will try the thing again. So bring the candle, +Master Jailer.' + +The jailer brought a candle fixed on a wooden triangle, which he was wont +to show strangers who came to see the well, and lowered it on a string. +It was not till then I knew what a task I had before me, for looking over +the parapet, and taking care not to lose my balance, because the parapet +was low, and the floor round it green and slippery with water-splashings, +I watched the candle sink into that cavernous depth, and from a bright +flame turn into a little twinkling star, and then to a mere point of +light. At last it rested on the water, and there was a shimmer where the +wood frame had set ripples moving. We watched it twinkle for a little +while, and the jailer raised the candle from the water, and dropped down +a stone from some he kept there for that purpose. This stone struck the +wall half-way down, and went from side to side, crashing and whirring +till it met the water with a booming plunge; and there rose a groan and +moan from the eddies, like those dreadful sounds of the surge that I +heard on lonely nights in the sea-caverns underneath our hiding-place in +Purbeck. The jailer looked at me then for the first time, and his eyes +had an ugly meaning, as if he said, 'There--that is how you will sound +when you fall from your perch.' But it was no use to frighten, for I had +made up my mind. + +They pulled the candle up forthwith and put it in my hand, and I flung +the plasterer's hammer into the bucket, where it hung above the well, and +then got in myself. The turnkey stood at the break-wheel, and Elzevir +leant over the parapet to steady the rope. 'Art sure that thou canst do +it, lad?' he said, speaking low, and put his hand kindly on my shoulder. +'Are head and heart sure? Thou art my diamond, and I would rather lose +all other diamonds in the world than aught should come to thee. So, if +thou doubtest, let me go, or let not any go at all.' + +'Never doubt, master,' I said, touched by tenderness, and wrung his +hand. 'My head is sure; I have no broken leg to turn it silly +now'--for I guessed he was thinking of Hoar Head and how I had gone +giddy on the Zigzag. + + + + +CHAPTER 15 + +THE WELL + +The grave doth gape and doting death is near--_Shakespeare_ + + +The bucket was large, for all that the turnkey had tried to frighten me +into think it small, and I could crouch in it low enough to feel safe of +not falling out. Moreover, such a venture was not entirely new to me, for +I had once been over Gad Cliff in a basket, to get two peregrines' eggs; +yet none the less I felt ill at ease and fearful, when the bucket began +to sink into that dreadful depth, and the air to grow chilly as I went +down. They lowered me gently enough, so that I was able to take stock of +the way the wall was made, and found that for the most part it was cut +through solid chalk; but here and there, where the chalk failed or was +broken away, they had lined the walls with brick, patching them now on +this side, now on that, and now all round. By degrees the light, which +was dim even overground that rainy day, died out in the well, till all +was black as night but for my candle, and far overhead I could see the +well-mouth, white and round like a lustreless full-moon. + +I kept an eye all the time on Elzevir's cord that hung down the +well-side, and when I saw it was coming to a finish, shouted to them to +stop, and they brought the bucket up near level with the end of it, so I +knew I was about eighty feet deep. Then I raised myself, standing up in +the bucket and holding by the rope, and began to look round, knowing not +all the while what I looked for, but thinking to see a hole in the wall, +or perhaps the diamond itself shining out of a cranny. But I could +perceive nothing; and what made it more difficult was, that the walls +here were lined completely with small flat bricks, and looked much the +same all round. I examined these bricks as closely as I might, and took +course by course, looking first at the north side where the plumb-line +hung, and afterwards turning round in the bucket till I was afraid of +getting giddy; but to little purpose. They could see my candle moving +round and round from the well-top, and knew no doubt what I was at, but +Master Turnkey grew impatient, and shouted down, 'What are you doing? +have you found nothing? can you see no treasure?' + +'No,' I called back, 'I can see nothing,' and then, 'Are you sure, Master +Block, that you have measured the plummet true to eighty feet?' + +I heard them talking together, but could not make out what they said, for +the bim-bom and echo in the well, till Elzevir shouted again, 'They say +this floor has been raised; you must try lower.' + +Then the bucket began to move lower, slowly, and I crouched down in it +again, not wishing to look too much into the unfathomable, dark abyss +below. And all the while there rose groanings and moanings from eddies in +the bottom of the well, as if the spirits that kept watch over the jewel +were yammering together that one should be so near it; and clear above +them all I heard Grace's voice, sweet and grave, 'Have a care, have a +care how you touch the treasure; it was evilly come by, and will bring a +curse with it.' + +But I had set foot on this way now, and must go through with it, so when +the bucket stopped some six feet lower down, I fell again to diligently +examining the walls. They were still built of the shallow bricks, and +scanning them course by course as before, I could at first see nothing, +but as I moved my eyes downward they were brought up by a mark scratched +on a brick, close to the hanging plummet-line. + +Now, however lightly a man may glance through a book, yet if his own +name, or even only one nice it, should be printed on the page, his +eyes will instantly be stopped by it; so too, if his name be mentioned +by others in their speech, though it should be whispered never so low, +his ears will catch it. Thus it was with this mark, for though it was +very slight, so that I think not one in a thousand would ever have +noticed it at all, yet it stopped my eyes and brought up my thoughts +suddenly, because I knew by instinct that it had something to do with +me and what I sought. + +The sides of this well are not moist, green, or clammy, like the sides of +some others where damp and noxious exhalations abound, but dry and clean; +for it is said that there are below hidden entrances and exits for the +water, which keep it always moving. So these bricks were also dry and +clean, and this mark as sharp as if made yesterday, though the issue +showed that 'twas put there a very long time ago. Now the mark was not +deeply or regularly graven, but roughly scratched, as I have known boys +score their names, or alphabet letters, or a date, on the alabaster +figures that lie in Moonfleet Church. And here, too, was scored a letter +of the alphabet, a plain 'Y', and would have passed for nothing more +perhaps to any not born in Moonfleet; but to me it was the _cross-pall,_ +or black 'Y' of the Mohunes, under whose shadow we were all brought up. +So as soon as I saw that, I knew I was near what I sought, and that +Colonel John Mohune had put this sign there a century ago, either by his +own hands or by those of a servant; and then I thought of Mr. Glennie's +story, that the Colonel's conscience was always unquiet, because of a +servant whom he had put away, and now I seemed to understand something +more of it. + +My heart throbbed fiercely, as many another's heart has throbbed when he +has come near the fulfilment of a great desire, whether lawful or guilty, +and I tried to get at the brick. But though by holding on to the rope +with my left hand, I could reach over far enough to touch the brick with +my right 'twas as much as I could do, and so I shouted up the well that +they must bring me nearer in to the side. They understood what I would be +at, and slipped a noose over the well-rope and so drew it in to the side, +and made it fast till I should give the word to loose again. Thus I was +brought close to the well-wall, and the marked brick near about the level +of my face when I stood up in the bucket. There was nothing to show that +this brick had been tampered with, nor did it sound hollow when tapped, +though when I came to look closely at the joints, it seemed as though +there was more cement than usual about the edges. But I never doubted +that what we sought was to be found behind it, and so got to work at +once, fixing the wooden frame of the candle in the fastening of the +chain, and chipping out the mortar setting with the plasterer's hammer. + +When they saw above that first I was to be pulled in to the side, and +afterwards fell to work on the wall of the well, they guessed, no doubt, +how matters were, and I had scarce begun chipping when I heard the +turnkey's voice again, sharp and greedy, 'What are you doing? have you +found nothing?' It chafed me that this grasping fellow should be always +shouting to me while Elzevir was content to stay quiet, so I cried back +that I had found nothing, and that he should know what I was doing in +good time. + +Soon I had the mortar out of the joints, and the brick loose enough to +prise it forward, by putting the edge of the hammer in the crack. I +lifted it clean out and put it in the bucket, to see later on, in case +of need, if there was a hollow for anything to be hidden in; but never +had occasion to look at it again, for there, behind the brick, was a +little hole in the wall, and in the hole what I sought. I had my fingers +in the wall too quick for words, and brought out a little parchment bag, +for all the world like those dried fish-eggs cast up on the beach that +children call shepherds' purses. Now, shepherds' purses are crisp, and +crackle to the touch, and sometimes I have known a pebble get inside one +and rattle like a pea in a drum; and this little bag that I pulled out +was dry too, and crackling, and had something of the size of a small +pebble that rattled in the inside of it. Only I knew well that this was +no pebble, and set to work to get it out. But though the little bag was +parched and dry, 'twas not so easily torn, and at last I struck off the +corner of it with the sharp edge of my hammer against the bucket. Then I +shook it carefully, and out into my hand there dropped a pure crystal as +big as a walnut. I had never in my life seen a diamond, either large or +small--yet even if I had not known that Blackbeard had buried a diamond, +and if we had not come hither of set purpose to find it, I should not +have doubted that what I had in my hand was a diamond, and this of +matchless size and brilliance. It was cut into many facets, and though +there was little or no light in the well save my candle, there seemed to +be in this stone the light of a thousand fires that flashed out, +sparkling red and blue and green, as I turned it between my fingers. At +first I could think of nothing else, neither how it got there, nor how I +had come to find it, but only of it, the diamond, and that with such a +prize Elzevir and I could live happily ever afterwards, and that I should +be a rich man and able to go back to Moonfleet. So I crouched down in the +bottom of the bucket, being filled entirely with such thoughts, and +turned it over and over again, wondering continually more and more to see +the fiery light fly out of it. I was, as it were, dazed by its +brilliance, and by the possibilities of wealth that it contained, and +had, perhaps, a desire to keep it to myself as long as might be; so that +I thought nothing of the two who were waiting for me at the well-mouth, +till I was suddenly called back by the harsh voice of the turnkey, crying +as before-- + +'What are you doing? have you found nothing?' + +'Yes,' I shouted back, 'I have found the treasure; you can pull me up.' +The words were scarcely out of my mouth before the bucket began to move, +and I went up a great deal faster than I had gone down. Yet in that short +journey other thoughts came to my mind, and I heard Grace's voice again, +sweet and grave, 'Have a care, have a care how you touch the treasure; it +was evilly come by, and will bring a curse with it.' At the same time I +remembered how I had been led to the discovery of this jewel--first, by +Mr. Glennie's stories, second, by my finding the locket, and third, by +Ratsey giving me the hint that the writing was a cipher, and so had come +to the hiding-place without a swerve or stumble; and it seemed to me that +I could not have reached it so straight without a leading hand, but +whether good or evil, who should say? + +As I neared the top I heard the turnkey urging the donkey to trot faster +in the wheel, so that the bucket might rise the quicker, but just before +my head was level with the ground he set the break on and fixed me where +I was. I was glad to see the light again, and Elzevir's face looking +kindly on me, but vexed to be brought up thus suddenly just when I was +expecting to set foot on _terra firma_. + +The turnkey had stopped me through his covetous eagerness, so that he +might get sooner at the jewel, and now he craned over the low parapet and +reached out his hand to me, crying--'Where is the treasure? where is the +treasure? give me the treasure!' + +I held the diamond between finger and thumb of my right hand, and waved +it for Elzevir to see. By stretching out my arm I could have placed it in +the turnkey's hand, and was just going to do so, when I caught his eyes +for the second time that day, and something in them made me stop. There +was a look in his face that brought back to me the memory of an autumn +evening, when I sat in my aunt's parlour reading the book called the +_Arabian Nights_; and how, in the story of the _Wonderful Lamp_, +Aladdin's wicked uncle stands at the top of the stairs when the boy is +coming up out of the underground cavern, and will not let him out, unless +he first gives up the treasure. But Aladdin refused to give up his lamp +until he should stand safe on the ground again, because he guessed that +if he did, his uncle would shut him up in the cavern and leave him to die +there; and the look in the turnkey's eyes made me refuse to hand him the +jewel till I was safe out of the well, for a horrible fear seized me +that, as soon as he had taken it from me, he meant to let me fall down +and drown below. + +So when he reached down his hand and said, 'Give me the treasure,' I +answered, 'Pull me up then; I cannot show it you in the bucket.' + +'Nay, lad,' he said, cozening me, 'tis safer to give it me now, and have +both hands free to help you getting out; these stones are wet and greasy, +and you may chance to slip, and having no hand to save you, fall back in +the well.' + +But I was not to be cheated, and said again sturdily, 'No, you must pull +me up first.' + +Then he took to scowling, and cried in an angry tone, 'Give me the +treasure, I say, or it will be the worse for you'; but Elzevir would +not let him speak to me that way, and broke in roughly, 'Let the boy up, +he is sure-footed and will not slip. 'Tis his treasure, and he shall do +with it as he likes: only that thou shalt have a third of it when we +have sold it.' + +Then he: ''Tis not his treasure--no, nor yours either, but mine, for it +is in my well, and I have let you get it. Yet I will give you a +half-share in it; but as for this boy, what has he to do with it? We will +give him a golden guinea, and he will be richly paid for his pains.' + +'Tush,' cries Elzevir, 'let us have no more fooling; this boy shall have +his share, or I will know the reason why.' + +'Ay, you shall know the reason, fair enough,' answers the turnkey, 'and +'tis because your name is Block, and there is a price of 50 upon your +head, and 20 upon this boy's. You thought to outwit me, and are yourself +outwitted; and here I have you in a trap, and neither leaves this room, +except with hands tied, and bound for the gallows, unless I first have +the jewel safe in my purse.' + +On that I whipped the diamond back quick into the little parchment bag, +and thrust both down snug into my breeches-pocket, meaning to have a +fight for it, anyway, before I let it go. And looking up again, I saw the +turnkey's hand on the butt of his pistol, and cried, 'Beware, beware! he +draws on you.' But before the words were out of my mouth, the turn-key +had his weapon up and levelled full at Elzevir. 'Surrender,' he cries, +'or I shoot you dead, and the 50 is mine,' and never giving time for +answer, fires. Elzevir stood on the other side of the well-mouth, and it +seemed the other could not miss him at such a distance; but as I blinked +my eyes at the flash, I felt the bullet strike the iron chain to which I +was holding, and saw that Elzevir was safe. + +The turnkey saw it too, and flinging away his pistol, sprang round the +well and was at Elzevir's throat before he knew whether he was hit or +not. I have said that the turnkey was a tall, strong man, and twenty +years the younger of the two; so doubtless when he made for Elzevir, he +thought he would easily have him broken down and handcuffed, and then +turn to me. But he reckoned without his host, for though Elzevir was the +shorter and older man, he was wonderfully strong, and seasoned as a +salted thong. Then they hugged one another and began a terrible struggle: +for Elzevir knew that he was wrestling for life, and I daresay the +turnkey guessed that the stakes were much the same for him too. + +As soon as I saw what they were at, and that the bucket was safe fixed, +I laid hold of the well-chain, and climbing up by it swung myself on to +the top of the parapet, being eager to help Elzevir, and get the turnkey +gagged and bound while we made our escape. But before I was well on the +firm ground again, I saw that little help of mine was needed, for the +turnkey was flagging, and there was a look of anguish and desperate +surprise upon his face, to find that the man he had thought to master so +lightly was strong as a giant. They were swaying to and fro, and the +jailer's grip was slackening, for his muscles were overwrought and +tired; but Elzevir held him firm as a vice, and I saw from his eyes and +the bearing of his body that he was gathering himself up to give his +enemy a fall. + +Now I guessed that the fall he would use would be the Compton Toss, for +though I had never seen him give it, yet he was well known for a wrestler +in his younger days, and the Compton Toss for his most certain fall. I +shall not explain the method of it, but those who have seen it used will +know that 'tis a deadly fall, and he who lets himself get thrown that way +even upon grass, is seldom fit to wrestle another bout the same day. +Still 'tis a difficult fall to use, and perhaps Elzevir would never have +been able to give it, had not the other at that moment taken one hand off +the waist, and tried to make a clutch with it at the throat. But the +only way of avoiding that fall, and indeed most others, is to keep both +hands firm between hip and shoulder-blade, and the moment Elzevir felt +one hand off his back, he had the jailer off his feet and gave him +Compton's Toss. I do not know whether Elzevir had been so taxed by the +fierce struggle that he could not put his fullest force into the throw, +or whether the other, being a very strong and heavy man, needed more to +fling him; but so it was, that instead of the turnkey going down straight +as he should, with the back of his head on the floor (for that is the +real damage of the toss), he must needs stagger backwards a pace or two, +trying to regain his footing before he went over. + +It was those few staggering paces that ruined him, for with the last he +came upon the stones close to the well-mouth, that had been made wet and +slippery by continual spilling there of water. Then up flew his heels, +and he fell backwards with all his weight. + +As soon as I saw how near the well-mouth he was got, I shouted out and +ran to save him; but Elzevir saw it quicker than I, and springing forward +seized him by the belt just when he turned over. The parapet wall was +very low, and caught the turnkey behind the knee as he staggered, +tripping him over into the well-mouth. He gave a bitter cry, and there +was a wrench on his face when he knew where he was come, and 'twas then +Elzevir caught him by the belt. For a moment I thought he was saved, +seeing Elzevir setting his body low back with heels pressed firm against +the parapet wall to stand the strain. Then the belt gave way at the +fastening, and Elzevir fell sprawling on the floor. But the other went +backwards down the well. + +I got to the parapet just as he fell head first into that black abyss. +There was a second of silence, then a dreadful noise like a coconut +being broken on a pavement--for we once had coconuts in plenty at +Moonfleet, when the _Bataviaman_ came on the beach, then a deep echoing +blow, where he rebounded and struck the wall again, and last of all, the +thud and thundering splash, when he reached the water at the bottom. I +held my breath for sheer horror, and listened to see if he would cry, +though I knew at heart he would never cry again, after that first +sickening smash; but there was no sound or voice, except the moaning +voices of the water eddies that I had heard before. + +Elzevir slung himself into the bucket. 'You can handle the break,' he +said to me; 'let me down quick into the well.' I took the break-lever, +lowering him as quickly as I durst, till I heard the bucket touch water +at the bottom, and then stood by and listened. All was still, and yet I +started once, and could not help looking round over my shoulder, for it +seemed as if I was not alone in the well-house; and though I could see no +one, yet I had a fancy of a tall black-bearded man, with coppery face, +chasing another round and round the well-mouth. Both vanished from my +fancy just as the pursuer had his hand on the pursued; but Mr. Glennie's +story came back again to my mind, how that Colonel Mohune's conscience +was always unquiet because of a servant he had put away, and I guessed +now that the turnkey was not the first man these walls had seen go +headlong down the well. + +Elzevir had been in the well so long that I began to fear something had +happened to him, when he shouted to me to bring him up. So I fixed the +clutch, and set the donkey going in the tread-wheel; and the patient +drudge started on his round, recking nothing whether it was a bucket of +water he brought up, or a live man, or a dead man, while I looked over +the parapet, and waited with a cramping suspense to see whether Elzevir +would be alone, or have something with him. But when the bucket came in +sight there was only Elzevir in it, so I knew the turnkey had never come +to the top of the water again, and, indeed, there was but little chance +he should after that first knock. Elzevir said nothing to me, till I +spoke: 'Let us fling the jewel down the well after him, Master Block; it +was evilly come by, and will bring a curse with it.' + +He hesitated for a moment while I half-hoped yet half-feared he was going +to do as I asked, but then said: + +'No, no; thou art not fit to keep so precious a thing. Give it me. It is +thy treasure, and I will never touch penny of it; but fling it down the +well thou shalt not; for this man has lost his life for it, and we have +risked ours for it--ay, and may lose them for it too, perhaps.' + +So I gave him the jewel. + + + + +CHAPTER 16 + +THE JEWEL + +All that glisters is not gold--_Shakespeare_ + + +There was the turnkey's belt lying on the floor, with the keys and +manacles fixed to it, just as it had failed and come off him at the fatal +moment. Elzevir picked it up, tried the keys till he found the right +one, and unlocked the door of the well-house. + +'There are other locks to open before we get out,' I said. + +'Ay,' he answered, 'but it is more than our life is worth to be seen with +these keys, so send them down the well, after their master.' + +I took them back and flung them, belt and keys and handcuffs, clanking +down against the sides into the blackness and the hidden water at the +bottom. Then we took pail and hammer, brush and ropes, and turned our +backs upon that hateful place. There was the little court to cross before +we came to the doors of the banquet-hall. They were locked, but we +knocked until a guard opened them. He knew us for the plasterer-men, who +had passed an hour before, and only asked, 'Where is Ephraim?' meaning +the turnkey. 'He is stopping behind in the well-house,' Elzevir said, and +so we passed on through the hall, where the prisoners were making what +breakfast they might of odds and ends, with a savoury smell of cooking +and a great patter of French. + +At the outer gate was another guard to be passed, but they opened for us +without question, cursing Ephraim under their breath, that he did not +take the pains to let his own men out. Then the wicket of the great gates +swung-to behind us, and we went into the open again. As soon as we were +out of sight we quickened our pace, and the weather having much bettered, +and a fresh breeze springing up, we came back to the Bugle about ten in +the forenoon. + +I believe that neither of us spoke a word during that walk, and though +Elzevir had not yet seen the diamond, he never even took the pains to +draw it out of the little parchment bag, in which it still lay hid in his +pocket. Yet if I did not speak I thought, and my thoughts were sad +enough. For here were we a second time, flying for our lives, and if we +had not the full guilt of blood upon our hands, yet blood was surely +there. So this flight was very bitter to me, because the scene of death +of which I had been witness this morning seemed to take me farther still +away from all my old happy life, and to stand like another dreadful +obstacle between Grace and me. In the Family Bible lying on the table in +my aunt's best parlour was a picture of Cain, which I had often looked at +with fear on wet Sunday afternoons. It showed Cain striding along in the +midst of a boundless desert, with his sons and their wives striding +behind him, and their little children carried slung on poles. There was a +quick, swinging motion in the bodies of all, as though they must needs +always stride as fast as they might, and never rest, and their faces were +set hard, and thin with eternal wandering and disquiet. But the thinnest +and most restless-looking and hardest face was Cain's, and on the middle +of his forehead there was a dark spot, which God had set to show that +none might touch him, because he was the first murderer, and cursed for +ever. This had always been to me a dreadful picture, though I could not +choose but look at it, and was sorry indeed for Cain, for all he was so +wicked, because it seemed so hard to have to wander up and down the world +all his life long, and never be able to come to moorings. And yet this +very thing had come upon me now, for here we were, with the blood of two +men on our hands, wanderers on the face of the earth, who durst never go +home; and if the mark of Cain was not on my forehead already, I felt it +might come out there at any minute. + +When we reached the Bugle I went upstairs and flung myself upon the bed +to try to rest a little and think, but Elzevir shut himself in with the +landlord, and I could hear them talking earnestly in the room under me. +After a while he came up and said that he had considered with the +landlord how we could best get away, telling him that we must be off at +once, but letting him suppose that we were eager to leave the place +because some of the Excise had got wind of our whereabouts. He had said +nothing to our host about the turnkey, wishing as few persons as possible +to know of that matter, but doubted not that we should by all means +hasten our departure from the island, for that as soon as the turnkey was +missed inquiry would certainly be made for the plasterers with whom he +was last seen. + +Yet in this thing at least Fortune favoured us, for there was now lying +at Cowes, and ready to sail that night, a Dutch couper that had run a +cargo of Hollands on the other side of the island, and was going back to +Scheveningen freighted with wool. Our landlord knew the Dutch captain +well, having often done business for him, and so could give us letters of +recommendation which would ensure us a passage to the Low Countries. Thus +in the afternoon we were on the road, making our way from Newport to +Cowes in a new disguise, for we had changed our clothes again, and now +wore the common sailor dress of blue. + +The clouds had returned after the rain, and the afternoon was wet, and +worse than the morning, so I shall not say anything of another weary and +silent walk. We arrived on Cowes quay by eight in the evening, and found +the couper ready to make sail, and waiting only for the tide to set out. +Her name was the _Gouden Droom_, and she was a little larger than the +_Bonaventure_, but had a smaller crew, and was not near so well found. +Elzevir exchanged a few words with the captain, and gave him the +landlord's letter, and after that they let us come on board, but said +nothing to us. We judged that we were best out of the way, so went below; +and finding her laden deep, and even the cabin full of bales of wool, +flung ourselves on them to rest. I was so tired and heavy with sleep that +my eyes closed almost before I was lain down, and never opened till the +next morning was well advanced. + +I shall not say anything about our voyage, nor how we came safe to +Scheveningen, because it has little to do with this story. Elzevir had +settled that we should go to Holland, not only because the couper was +waiting to sail thither for we might doubtless have found other boats +before long to take us elsewhere--but also because he had learned at +Newport that the Hague was the first market in the world for diamonds. +This he told me after we were safe housed in a little tavern in the town, +which was frequented by seamen, but those of the better class, such as +mates and skippers of small vessels. Here we lay for several days while +Elzevir made such inquiry as he could without waking suspicion as to who +were the best dealers in precious stones, and the most able to pay a good +price for a valuable jewel. It was lucky, too, for us that Elzevir could +speak the Dutch language--not well indeed, but enough to make himself +understood, and to understand others. When I asked where he had learned +it, he told me that he came of Dutch blood on his mother's side, and so +got his name of Elzevir; and that he could once speak in Dutch as readily +as in English, only that his mother dying when he was yet a boy he lost +something of the facility. + +As the days passed, the memory of that dreadful morning at Carisbrooke +became dimmer to me, and my mind more cheerful or composed. I got the +diamond back from Elzevir, and had it out many times, both by day and by +night, and every time it seemed more brilliant and wonderful than the +last. Often of nights, after all the house was gone to rest, I would +lock the door of the room, and sit with a candle burning on the table, +and turn the diamond over in my hands. It was, as I have said, as big as +a pigeon's egg or walnut, delicately cut and faceted all over, perfect +and flawless, without speck or stain, and yet, for all it was so clear +and colourless, there flew out from the depth of it such flashes and +sparkles of red, blue, and green, as made one wonder whence these tints +could come. Thus while I sat and watched it I would tell Elzevir stories +from the _Arabian Nights_, of wondrous jewels, though I believe there +never was a stone that the eagles brought up from the Valley of +Diamonds, no, nor any in the Caliph's crown itself, that could excel +this gem of ours. + +You may be sure that at such times we talked much of the value that was +to be put upon the stone, and what was likely to be got for it, but never +could settle, not having any experience of such things. Only, I was sure +that it must be worth thousands of pounds, and so sat and rubbed my +hands, saying that though life was like a game of hazard, and our throws +had hitherto been bad enough, yet we had made something of this last. But +all the while a strange change was coming over us both, and our parts +seemed turned about. For whereas a few days before it was I who wished to +fling the diamond away, feeling overwrought and heavy-hearted in that +awful well-house, and Elzevir who held me from it; now it was he that +seemed to set little store by it, and I to whom it was all in all. He +seldom cared to look much at the jewel, and one night when I was praising +it to him, spoke out: + +'Set not thy heart too much upon this stone. It is thine, and thine to +deal with. Never a penny will I touch that we may get for it. Yet, +were I thou, and reached great wealth with it, and so came back one +day to Moonfleet, I would not spend it all on my own ends, but put +aside a part to build the poor-houses again, as men say Blackbeard +meant to do with it' + +I did not know what made him speak like this, and was not willing, even +in fancy, to agree to what he counselled; for with that gem before me, +lustrous, and all the brighter for lying on a rough deal table, I could +only think of the wealth it was to bring to us, and how I would most +certainly go back one day to Moonfleet and marry Grace. So I never +answered Elzevir, but took the diamond and slipped it back in the silver +locket, which still hung round my neck, for that was the safest place for +it that we could think of. + +We spent some days in wandering round the town making inquiries, and +learnt that most of the diamond-buyers lived near one another in a +certain little street, whose name I have forgotten, but that the richest +and best known of them was one Krispijn Aldobrand. He was a Jew by birth, +but had lived all his life in the Hague, and besides having bought and +sold some of the finest stones, was said to ask few questions, and to +trouble little whence stones came, so they were but good. Thus, after +much thought and many changes of purpose, we chose this Aldobrand, and +settled we would put the matter to the touch with him. + +We took an evening in late summer for our venture, and came to +Aldobrand's house about an hour before sundown. I remember the place +well, though I have not seen it for so long, and am certainly never like +to see it again. It was a low house of two stories standing back a little +from the street, with some wooden palings and a grass plot before it, and +a stone-flagged path leading up to the door. The front of it was +whitewashed, with green shutters, and had a shiny-leaved magnolia trained +round about the windows. These jewellers had no shops, though sometimes +they set a single necklace or bracelet in a bottom window, but put up +notices proclaiming their trade. Thus there was over Aldobrand's door a +board stuck out to say that he bought and sold jewels, and would lend +money on diamonds or other valuables. + +A sturdy serving-man opened the door, and when he heard our business was +to sell a jewel, left us in a stone-floored hall or lobby, while he went +upstairs to ask whether his master would see us. A few minutes later the +stairs creaked, and Aldobrand himself came down. He was a little wizened +man with yellow skin and deep wrinkles, not less than seventy years old; +and I saw he wore shoes of polished leather, silver-buckled, and +tilted-heeled to add to his stature. He began speaking to us from the +landing, not coming down into the hall, but leaning over the handrail: + +'Well, my sons, what would you with me? I hear you have a jewel to sell, +but you must know I do not purchase sailors' flotsam. So if 'tis a +moonstone or catseye, or some pin-head diamonds, keep them to make +brooches for your sweethearts, for Aldobrand buys no toys like that.' + +He had a thin and squeaky voice, and spoke to us in our own tongue, +guessing no doubt that we were English from our faces. 'Twas true he +handled the language badly enough, yet I was glad he used it, for so I +could follow all that was said. + +'No toys like that,' he said again, repeating his last words, and Elzevir +answered: 'May it please your worship, we are sailors from over sea, and +this boy has a diamond that he would sell.' + +I had the gem in my hand all ready, and when the old man squeaked +peevishly, 'Out with it then, let's see, let's see,' I reached it out to +him. He stretched down over the banisters, and took it; holding out his +palm hollowed, as if 'twas some little paltry stone that might otherwise +fall and be lost. It nettled me to have him thus underrate our treasure, +even though he had never seen it, and so I plumped it down into his hand +as if it were as big as a pumpkin. Now the hall was a dim place, being +lit only by a half-circle of glass over the door, and so I could not see +very well; yet in reaching down he brought his head near mine, and I +could swear his face changed when he felt the size of the stone in his +hand, and turned from impatience and contempt to wonder and delight. He +took the jewel quickly from his palm, and held it up between finger and +thumb, and when he spoke again, his voice was changed as well as his +face, and had lost most of the sharp impatience. + +'There is not light enough to see in this dark place--follow me,' and he +turned back and went upstairs rapidly, holding the stone in his hand; and +we close at his heels, being anxious not to lose sight of him now that he +had our diamond, for all he was so rich and well known a man. + +Thus we came to another landing, and there he flung open the door of a +room which looked out west, and had the light of the setting sun +streaming in full flood through the window. The change from the dimness +of the stairs to this level red blaze was so quick that for a minute I +could make out nothing, but turning my back to the window saw presently +that the room was panelled all through with painted wood, with a bed let +into the wall on one side, and shelves round the others, on which were +many small coffers and strong-boxes of iron. The jeweller was sitting at +a table with his face to the sun, holding the diamond up against the +light, and gazing into it closely, so that I could see every working of +his face. The hard and cunning look had come back to it, and he turned +suddenly upon me and asked quite sharply, 'What is your name, boy? Whence +do you come?' + +Now I was not used to walk under false names, and he took me unawares, +so I must needs blurt out, 'My name is John Trenchard, sir, and I come +from Moonfleet, in Dorset.' + +A second later I could have bitten off my tongue for having said as much, +and saw Elzevir frowning at me to make me hold my peace. But 'twas too +late then, for the merchant was writing down my answer in a parchment +ledger. And though it would seem to most but a little thing that he +should thus take down my name and birthplace, and only vexed us at the +time, because we would not have it known at all whence we came; yet in +the overrulings of Providence it was ordered that this note in Mr. +Aldobrand's book should hereafter change the issue of my life. + +'From Moonfleet, in Dorset,' he repeated to himself, as he finished +writing my answer. 'And how did John Trenchard come by this?' and he +tapped the diamond as it lay on the table before him. + +Then Elzevir broke in quickly, fearing no doubt lest I should be betrayed +into saying more: 'Nay, sir, we are not come to play at questions and +answers, but to know whether your worship will buy this diamond, and at +what price. We have no time to tell long histories, and so must only say +that we are English sailors, and that the stone is fairly come by.' And +he let his fingers play with the diamond on the table, as if he feared it +might slip away from him. + +'Softly, softly,' said the old man; 'all stones are fairly come by; but +had you told me whence you got this, I might have spared myself some +tedious tests, which now I must crave pardon for making.' + +He opened a cupboard in the panelling, and took out from it a little +pair of scales, some crystals, a black-stone, and a bottle full of a +green liquid. Then he sat down again, drew the diamond gently from +Elzevir's fingers, which were loth to part with it, and began using his +scales; balancing the diamond carefully, now against a crystal, now +against some small brass weights. I stood with my back to the sunset, +watching the red light fall upon this old man as he weighed the diamond, +rubbed it on the black-stone, or let fall on it a drop of the liquor, +and so could see the wonder and emotion fade away from his face, and +only hard craftiness left in it. + +I watched him meddling till I could bear to watch no longer, feeling a +fierce feverish suspense as to what he might say, and my pulse beating +so quick that I could scarce stand still. For was not the decisive +moment very nigh when we should know, from these parched-up lips, the +value of the jewel, and whether it was worth risking life for, whether +the fabric of our hopes was built on sure foundation or on slippery +sand? So I turned my back on the diamond merchant, and looked out of the +window, waiting all the while to catch the slightest word that might +come from his lips. + +I have found then and at other times that in such moments, though the +mind be occupied entirely by one overwhelming thought, yet the eyes take +in, as it were unwittingly, all that lies before them, so that we can +afterwards recall a face or landscape of which at the time we took no +note. Thus it was with me that night, for though I was thinking of +nothing but the jewel, yet I noted everything that could be seen through +the window, and the recollection was of use to me later on. The window +was made in the French style, reaching down to the floor, and opening +like a door with two leaves. It led on to a little balcony, and now stood +open (for the day was still very hot), and on the wall below was trained +a pear-tree, which half-embowered the balcony with its green leaves. The +window could be well protected in case of need, having latticed wooden +blinds inside, and heavy shutters shod with iron on the outer wall, and +there were besides strong bolts and sockets from which ran certain wires +whose use I did not know. Below the balcony was a square garden-plot, +shut in with a brick wall, and kept very neat and trim. There were +hollyhocks round the walls, and many-coloured poppies, with many other +shrubs and flowers. My eyes fell on one especially, a tall red-blossomed +rushy kind of flower, that I had never seen before; and that seemed +indeed to be something out of the common, for it stood in the middle of a +little earth-plot, and had the whole bed nearly to itself. + +I was looking at this flower, not thinking of it, but wondering all the +while whether Mr. Aldobrand would say the diamond was worth ten thousand +pounds, or fifty, or a hundred thousand, when I heard him speaking, and +turned round quick. 'My sons, and you especially, son John,' he said, and +turned to me: 'this stone that you have brought me is no stone at all, +but glass--or rather paste, for so we call it. Not but what it is good +paste, and perhaps the best that I have seen, and so I had to try it to +make sure. But against high chymic tests no sham can stand; and first it +is too light in weight, and second, when rubbed on this Basanus or +Black-stone, traces no line of white, as any diamond must. But, third and +last, I have tried it with the hermeneutic proof, and dipped it in this +most costly lembic; and the liquor remains pure green and clear, not +turbid orange, a diamond leaves it.' + +As he spoke the room spun round, and I felt the sickness and +heart-sinking that comes with the sudden destruction of long-cherished +hope. So it was all a sham, a bit of glass, for which we had risked our +lives. Blackbeard had only mocked us even in his death, and from rich men +we were become the poorest outcasts. And all the other bright fancies +that had been built on this worthless thing fell down at once, like a +house of cards. There was no money now with which to go back rich to +Moonfleet, no money to cloak past offences, no money to marry Grace; and +with that I gave a sigh, and my knees failing should have fallen had not +Elzevir held me. + +'Nay, son John,' squeaked the old man, seeing I was so put about, 'take +it not hardly, for though this is but paste, I say not it is worthless. +It is as fine work as ever I have seen, and I will offer you ten silver +crowns for it; which is a goodly sum for a sailor-lad to have in hand, +and more than all the other buyers in this town would bid you for it.' + +'Tush, tush,' cried Elzevir, and I could hear the bitterness and +disappointment in his voice, however much he tried to hide it; 'we are +not come to beg for silver crowns, so keep them in your purse. And the +devil take this shining sham; we are well quit of it; there is a curse +upon the thing!' And with that he caught up the stone and flung it away +out of the window in his anger. + +This brought the diamond-buyer to his feet in a moment. 'You fool, you +cursed fool!' he shrieked, 'are you come here to beard me? and when I say +the thing is worth ten silver crowns do you fling it to the winds?' + +I had sprung forward with a half thought of catching Elzevir's arm; but +it was too late--the stone flew up in the air, caught the low rays of the +setting sun for a moment, and then fell among the flowers. I could not +see it as it fell, yet followed with my eyes the line in which it should +have fallen, and thought I saw a glimmer where it touched the earth. It +was only a flash or sparkle for an instant, just at the stem of that same +rushy red-flowered plant, and then nothing more to be seen; but as I +faced round I saw the little man's eyes turned that way too, and perhaps +he saw the flash as well as I. + +'There's for your ten crowns!' said Elzevir. 'Let us be going, lad.' And +he took me by the arm and marched me out of the room and down the stairs. + +'Go, and a blight on you!' says Mr. Aldobrand, his voice being not so +high as when he cried out last, but in his usual squeak; and then he +repeated, 'a blight on you,' just for a parting shot as we went through +the door. + +We passed two more waiting-men on the stairs, but they said nothing to +us, and so we came to the street. + +We walked along together for some time without a word, and then +Elzevir said, 'Cheer up, lad, cheer up. Thou saidst thyself thou +fearedst there was a curse on the thing, so now it is gone, maybe we +are well quit of it.' + +Yet I could not say anything, being too much disappointed to find the +diamond was a sham, and bitterly cast down at the loss of all our hopes. +It was all very well to think there was a curse upon the stone so long as +we had it, and to feign that we were ready to part with it; but now it +was gone I knew that at heart I never wished to part with it at all, and +would have risked any curse to have it back again. There was supper +waiting for us when we got back, but I had no stomach for victuals and +sat moodily while Elzevir ate, and he not much. But when I sat and +brooded over what had happened, a new thought came to my mind and I +jumped up and cried, 'Elzevir, we are fools! The stone is no sham; 'tis a +real diamond!' + +He put down his knife and fork, and looked at me, not saying anything, +but waiting for me to say more, and yet did not show so much surprise as +I expected. Then I reminded him how the old merchant's face was full of +wonder and delight when first he saw the stone, which showed he thought +it was real then, and how afterwards, though he schooled his voice to +bring out long words to deceive us, he was ready enough to spring to his +feet and shriek out loud when Elzevir threw the stone into the garden. I +spoke fast, and in talking to him convinced myself, so when I stopped for +want of breath I was quite sure that the stone was indeed a diamond, and +that Aldobrand had duped us. + +Still Elzevir showed little eagerness, and only said-- + +''Tis like enough that what you say is true, but what would you have us +do? The stone is flung away.' + +'Yes,' I answered; 'but I saw where it fell, and know the very place; let +us go back now at once and get it.' + +'Do you not think that Aldobrand saw the place too?' asked Elzevir; and +then I remembered how, when I turned back to the room after seeing the +stone fall, I caught the eyes of the old merchant looking the same way; +and how he spoke more quietly after that, and not with the bitter cry he +used when Elzevir tossed the jewel out of the window. + +'I do not know,' I said doubtfully; 'let us go back and see. It fell +just by the stem of a red flower that I marked well. What!' I added, +seeing him still hesitate and draw back, 'do you doubt? Shall we not go +and get it?' + +Still he did not answer for a minute, and then spoke slowly, as if +weighing his words. 'I cannot tell. I think that all you say is true, and +that this stone is real. Nay, I was half of that mind when I threw it +away, and yet I would not say we are not best without it. 'Twas you who +first spoke of a curse upon the jewel, and I laughed at that as being a +childish tale. But now I cannot tell; for ever since we first scented +this treasure luck has run against us, John; yes, run against us very +strong; and here we are, flying from home, called outlaws, and with blood +upon our hands. Not that blood frightens me, for I have stood face to +face with men in fair fight, and never felt a death-blow given so weigh +on my soul; but these two men came to a tricksy kind of end, and yet I +could not help it. 'Tis true that all my life I've served the +Contraband, but no man ever knew me do a foul action; and now I do not +like that men should call me felon, and like it less that they should +call thee felon too. Perhaps there may be after all some curse that hangs +about this stone, and leads to ruin those that handle it. I cannot say, +for I am not a Parson Glennie in these things; but Blackbeard in an evil +mood may have tied the treasure up to be a curse to any that use it for +themselves. What do we want with this thing at all? I have got money to +be touched at need; we may lie quiet this side the Channel, where thou +shalt learn an honest trade, and when the mischief has blown over we will +go back to Moonfleet. So let the jewel be, John; shall we not let the +jewel be?' + +He spoke earnestly, and most earnestly at the end, taking me by the hand +and looking me full in the face. But I could not look him back again, and +turned my eyes away, for I was wilful, and would not bring myself to let +the diamond go. Yet all the while I thought that what he said was true, +and I remembered that sermon that Mr. Glennie preached, saying that life +was like a 'Y', and that to each comes a time when two ways part, and +where he must choose whether he will take the broad and sloping road or +the steep and narrow path. So now I guessed that long ago I had chosen +the broad road, and now was but walking farther down it in seeking after +this evil treasure, and still I could not bear to give all up, and +persuaded myself that it was a child's folly to madly fling away so fine +a stone. So instead of listening to good advice from one so much older +than me, I set to work to talk him over, and persuaded him that if we got +the diamond again, and ever could sell it, we would give the money to +build up the Mohune almshouses, knowing well in my heart that I never +meant to do any such thing. Thus at the last Elzevir, who was the +stubbornest of men, and never yielded, was overborne by his great love to +me, and yielded here. + +It was ten o'clock before we set out together, to go again to +Aldobrand's, meaning to climb the garden wall and get the stone. I walked +quickly enough, and talked all the time to silence my own misgivings, but +Elzevir hung back a little and said nothing, for it was sorely against +his judgement that he came at all. But as we neared the place I ceased my +chatter, and so we went on in silence, each busy with his own thoughts, +We did not come in front of Aldobrand's house, but turned out of the main +street down a side lane which we guessed would skirt the garden wall. +There were few people moving even in the streets, and in this little lane +there was not a soul to meet as we crept along in the shadow of the high +walls. We were not mistaken, for soon we came to what we judged was the +outside of Aldobrand's garden. + +Here we paused for a minute, and I believe Elzevir was for making a last +remonstrance, but I gave him no chance, for I had found a place where +some bricks were loosened in the wall-face, and set myself to climb. It +was easy enough to scale for us, and in a minute we both dropped down in +a bed of soft mould on the other side. We pushed through some +gooseberry-bushes that caught the clothes, and distinguishing the outline +of the house, made that way, till in a few steps we stood on the +_Pelouse_ or turf, which I had seen from the balcony three hours before. +I knew the twirl of the walks, and the pattern of the beds; the rank of +hollyhocks that stood up all along the wall, and the poppies breathing +out a faint sickly odour in the night. An utter silence held all the +garden, and, the night being very clear, there was still enough light to +show the colours of the flowers when one looked close at them, though the +green of the leaves was turned to grey. We kept in the shadow of the +wall, and looked expectantly at the house. But no murmur came from it, it +might have been a house of the dead for any noise the living made there; +nor was there light in any window, except in one behind the balcony, to +which our eyes were turned first. In that room there was someone not yet +gone to rest, for we could see a lattice of light where a lamp shone +through the open work of the wooden blinds. + +'He is up still,' I whispered, 'and the outside shutters are not closed.' +Elzevir nodded, and then I made straight for the bed where the red flower +grew. I had no need of any light to see the bells of that great rushy +thing, for it was different from any of the rest, and besides that was +planted by itself. + +I pointed it out to Elzevir. 'The stone lies by the stalk of that +flower,' I said, 'on the side nearest to the house'; and then I stayed +him with my hand upon his arm, that he should stand where he was at the +bed's edge, while I stepped on and got the stone. + +My feet sank in the soft earth as I passed through the fringe of poppies +circling the outside of the bed, and so I stood beside the tall rushy +flower. The scarlet of its bells was almost black, but there was no +mistaking it, and I stooped to pick the diamond up. Was it possible? was +there nothing for my outstretched hand to finger, except the soft rich +loam, and on the darkness of the ground no guiding sparkle? I knelt down +to make more sure, and looked all round the plant, and still found +nothing, though it was light enough to see a pebble, much more to catch +the gleam and flash of the great diamond I knew so well. + +It was not there, and yet I knew that I had seen it fall beyond all room +for doubt. 'It is gone, Elzevir; it is gone!' I cried out in my +anguish, but only heard a 'Hush!' from him to bid me not to speak so +loud. Then I fell on my knees again, and sifted the mould through my +fingers, to make sure the stone had not sunk in and been overlooked. + +But it was all to no purpose, and at last I stepped back to where Elzevir +was, and begged him to light a piece of match in the shelter of the +hollyhocks; and I would screen it with my hands, so that the light should +fall upon the ground, and not be seen from the house, and so search round +the flower. He did as I asked, not because he thought that I should find +anything, but rather to humour me; and, as he put the lighted match into +my hands, said, speaking low, 'Let the stone be, lad, let it be; for +either thou didst fail to mark the place right, or others have been here +before thee. 'Tis ruled we should not touch the stone again, and so 'tis +best; let be, let be; let us get home.' + +He put his hand upon my shoulder gently, and spoke with such an +earnestness and pleading in his voice that one would have thought it was +a woman rather than a great rough giant; and yet I would not hear, and +broke away, sheltering the match in my hollowed hands, and making back to +the red flower. But this time, just as I stepped upon the mould, coming +to the bed from the house side, the light fell on the ground, and there I +saw something that brought me up short. + +It was but a dint or impress on the soft brown loam, and yet, before my +eyes were well upon it, I knew it for the print of a sharp heel--a sharp +deep heel, having just in front of it the outline of a little foot. There +is a story every boy was given to read when I was young, of Crusoe +wrecked upon a desert isle, who, walking one day on the shore, was +staggered by a single footprint in the sand, because he learnt thus that +there were savages in that sad place, where he thought he stood alone. +Yet I believe even that footprint in the sand was never greater blow to +him than was this impress in the garden mould to me, for I remembered +well the little shoes of polished leather, with their silver buckles and +high-tilted heels. + +He _had_ been here before us. I found another footprint, and another +leading towards the middle of the bed; and then I flung the match away, +trampling the fire out in the soil. It was no use searching farther now, +for I knew well there was no diamond here for us. + +I stepped back to the lawn, and caught Elzevir by the arm. 'Aldobrand has +been here before us, and stole away the jewel,' I whispered sharp; and +looking wildly round in the still night, saw the lattice of lamplight +shining through the wooden blinds of the balcony window. + +'Well, there's an end of it!' said he, 'and we are saved further +question. 'Tis gone, so let us cry good riddance to it and be off.' So he +turned to go back, and there was one more chance for me to choose the +better way and go with him; but still I could not give the jewel up, and +must go farther on the other path which led to ruin for us both. For I +had my eyes fixed on the light coming through the blinds of that window, +and saw how thick and strong the boughs of the pear-tree were trained +against the wall about the balcony. + +'Elzevir,' I said, swallowing the bitter disappointment which rose in my +throat, 'I cannot go till I have seen what is doing in that room above. I +will climb to the balcony and look in through the chinks. Perhaps he is +not there, perhaps he has left our diamond there and we may get it back +again.' So I went straight to the house, not giving him time to raise a +word to stop me, for there was something in me driving me on, and I was +not to be stopped by anyone from that purpose. + +There was no need to fear any seeing us, for all the windows except that +one, were tight shuttered, and though our footsteps on the soft lawn woke +no sound, I knew that Elzevir was following me. It was no easy task to +climb the pear-tree, for all that the boughs looked so strong, for they +lay close against the wall, and gave little hold for hand or foot. Twice, +or more, an unripe pear was broken off, and fell rustling down through +the leaves to earth, and I paused and waited to hear if anyone was +disturbed in the room above; but all was deathly still, and at last I got +my hand upon the parapet, and so came safe to the balcony. + +I was panting from the hard climb, yet did not wait to get my breath, but +made straight for the window to see what was going on inside. The outer +shutters were still flung back, as they had been in the afternoon, and +there was no difficulty in looking in, for I found an opening in the +lattice-blind just level with my eyes, and could see all the room inside. +It was well lit, as for a marriage feast, and I think there were a score +of candles or more burning in holders on the table, or in sconces on the +wall. At the table, on the farther side of it from me, and facing the +window, sat Aldobrand, just as he sat when he told us the stone was a +sham. His face was turned towards the window, and as I looked full at him +it seemed impossible but that he should know that I was there. + +In front of him, on the table, lay the diamond--our diamond, my diamond; +for I knew it was a diamond now, and not false. It was not alone, but had +a dozen more cut gems laid beside it on the table, each a little apart +from the other; yet there was no mistaking mine, which was thrice as big +as any of the rest. And if it surpassed them in size, how much more did +it excel in fierceness and sparkle! All the candles in the room were +mirrored in it, and as the splendour flashed from every line and facet +that I knew so well, it seemed to call to me, 'Am I not queen of all +diamonds of the world? am I not your diamond? will you not take me to +yourself again? will you save me from this sorry trickster?' + +I had my eyes fixed, but still knew that Elzevir was beside me. He would +not let me risk myself in any hazard alone without he stood by me himself +to help in case of need; and yet his faithfulness but galled me now, and +I asked myself with a sneer, Am I never to stir hand or foot without this +man to dog me? The merchant sat still for a minute as though thinking, +and then he took one of the diamonds that lay on the table, and then +another, and set them close beside the great stone, pitting them, as it +were, with it. Yet how could any match with that?--for it outshone them +all as the sun outshines the stars in heaven. + +Then the old man took the stone and weighed it in the scales which stood +on the table before him, balancing it carefully, and a dozen times, +against some little weights of brass; and then he wrote with pen and ink +in a sheepskin book, and afterwards on a sheet of paper as though casting +up numbers. What would I not have given to see the figures that he wrote? +for was he not casting up the value of the jewel, and summing out the +profits he would make? After that he took the stone between finger and +thumb, holding it up before his eyes, and placing it now this way, now +that, so that the light might best fall on it. I could have cursed him +for the wondering love of that fair jewel that overspread his face; and +cursed him ten times more for the smile upon his lips, because I guessed +he laughed to think how he had duped two simple sailors that very +afternoon. + +There was the diamond in his hands--our diamond, my diamond--in his +hands, and I but two yards from my own; only a flimsy veil of wood and +glass to keep me from the treasure he had basely stolen from us. Then I +felt Elzevir's hand upon my shoulder. 'Let us be going,' he said; 'a +minute more and he may come to put these shutters to, and find us here. +Let us be going. Diamonds are not for simple folk like us; this is an +evil stone, and brings a curse with it. Let us be going, John.' + +But I shook off the kind hand roughly, forgetting how he had saved my +life, and nursed me for many weary weeks and stood by me through bad +and worse; for just now the man at the table rose and took out a little +iron box from a cupboard at the back of the room. I knew that he was +going to lock my treasure into it, and that I should see it no more. +But the great jewel lying lonely on the table flashed and sparkled in +the light of twenty candles, and called to me, 'Am I not queen of all +diamonds of the world? am I not your diamond? save me from the hands of +this scurvy robber.' + +Then I hurled myself forward with all my weight full on the joining of +the window frames, and in a second crashed through the glass, and through +the wooden blind into the room behind. + +The noise of splintered wood and glass had not died away before there was +a sound as of bells ringing all over the house, and the wires I had seen +in the afternoon dangled loose in front of my face. But I cared neither +for bells nor wires, for there lay the great jewel flashing before me. +The merchant had turned sharp round at the crash, and darted for the +diamond, crying 'Thieves! thieves! thieves!' He was nearer to it than I, +and as I dashed forward our hands met across the table, with his +underneath upon the stone. But I gripped him by the wrist, and though he +struggled, he was but a weak old man, and in a few seconds I had it +twisted from his grasp. In a few seconds--but before they were past the +diamond was well in my hand--the door burst open, and in rushed six +sturdy serving-men with staves and bludgeons. + +Elzevir had given a little groan when he saw me force the window, but +followed me into the room and was now at my side. 'Thieves! thieves! +thieves!' screamed the merchant, falling back exhausted in his chair and +pointing to us, and then the knaves fell on too quick for us to make for +the window. Two set on me and four on Elzevir; and one man, even a giant, +cannot fight with four--above all when they carry staves. + +Never had I seen Master Block overborne or worsted by any odds; and +Fortune was kind to me, at least in this, that she let me not see the +issue then, for a staff caught me so round a knock on the head as made +the diamond drop out of my hand, and laid me swooning on the floor. + + + + +CHAPTER 17 + +AT YMEGUEN + +As if a thief should steal a tainted vest, +Some dead man's spoil, and sicken of his pest--_Hood_ + + +'Tis bitterer to me than wormwood the memory of what followed, and I +shall tell the story in the fewest words I may. We were cast into prison, +and lay there for months in a stone cell with little light, and only foul +straw to lie on. At first we were cut and bruised from that tussle and +cudgelling in Aldobrand's house, and it was long before we were recovered +of our wounds, for we had nothing but bread and water to live on, and +that so bad as barely to hold body and soul together. Afterwards the +heavy fetters that were put about our ankles set up sores and galled us +so that we scarce could move for pain. And if the iron galled my flesh, +my spirit chafed ten times more within those damp and dismal walls; yet +all that time Elzevir never breathed a word of reproach, though it was my +wilfulness had led us into so terrible a strait. + +At last came our jailer, one morning, and said that we must be brought up +that day before the _Geregt_, which is their Court of Assize, to be tried +for our crime. So we were marched off to the court-house, in spite of +sores and heavy irons, and were glad enough to see the daylight once +more, and drink the open air, even though it should be to our death that +we were walking; for the jailer said they were like to hang us for what +we had done. In the court-house our business was soon over, because there +were many to speak against us, but none to plead our cause; and all being +done in the Dutch language I understood nothing of it, except what +Elzevir told me afterwards. + +There was Mr. Aldobrand in his black gown and buckled shoes with +tip-tilted heels, standing at a table and giving evidence: How that one +afternoon in August came two evil-looking English sailors to his house +under pretence of selling a diamond, which turned out to be but a lump of +glass: and that having taken observation of all his dwelling, and more +particularly the approaches to his business-room, they went their ways. +But later in the same day, or rather night, as he sat matching together +certain diamonds for a coronet ordered by the most illustrious the Holy +Roman Emperor, these same ill-favoured English sailors burst suddenly +through shutters and window, and made forcible entry into his +business-room. There they furiously attacked him, wrenched the diamond +from his hand, and beat him within an ace of his life. But by the good +Providence of God, and his own foresight, the window was fitted with a +certain alarm, which rang bells in other parts of the house. Thus his +trusty servants were summoned, and after being themselves attacked and +nearly overborne, succeeded at last in mastering these scurvy ruffians +and handing them over to the law, from which Mr. Aldobrand claimed +sovereign justice. + +Thus much Elzevir explained to me afterwards, but at that time when +that pretender spoke of the diamond as being his own, Elzevir cut in +and said in open court that 'twas a lie, and that this precious stone +was none other than the one that we had offered in the afternoon, when +Aldobrand had said 'twas glass. Then the diamond merchant laughed, and +took from his purse our great diamond, which seemed to fill the place +with light and dazzled half the court. He turned it over in his hand, +poising it in his palm like a great flourishing lamp of light, and +asked if 'twas likely that two common sailor-men should hawk a stone +like that. Nay more, that the court might know what daring rogues they +had to deal with, he pulled out from his pocket the quittance given him +by Shalamof the Jew of Petersburg, for this same jewel, and showed it +to the judge. Whether 'twas a forged quittance or one for some other +stone we knew not, but Elzevir spoke again, saying that the stone was +ours and we had found it in England. When Mr. Aldobrand laughed again, +and held the jewel up once more: were such pebbles, he asked, found on +the shore by every squalid fisherman? And the great diamond flashed as +he put it back into his purse, and cried to me, 'Am I not queen of all +the diamonds of the world? Must I house with this base rascal?' but I +was powerless now to help. + +After Aldobrand, the serving-men gave witness, telling how they had +trapped us in the act, red-handed: and as for this jewel, they had seen +their master handle it any time in these six months past. + +But Elzevir was galled to the quick with all their falsehoods, and burst +out again, that they were liars and the jewel ours; till a jailer who +stood by struck him on the mouth and cut his lip, to silence him. + +The process was soon finished, and the judge in his red robes stood up +and sentenced us to the galleys for life; bidding us admire the mercy +of the law to Outlanders, for had we been but Dutchmen, we should sure +have hanged. + +Then they took and marched us out of court, as well as we could walk for +fetters, and Elzevir with a bleeding mouth. But as we passed the place +where Aldobrand sat, he bows to me and says in English, 'Your servant, +Mr. Trenchard. I wish you a good day, Sir John Trenchard--of Moonfleet, +in Dorset.' The jailer paused a moment, hearing Aldobrand speak to us +though not understanding what he said, so I had time to answer him: + +'Good day, Sir Aldobrand, Liar, and Thief; and may the diamond bring you +evil in this present life, and damnation in that which is to come.' + +So we parted from him, and at that same time departed from our liberty +and from all joys of life. + +We were fettered together with other prisoners in droves of six, our +wrists manacled to a long bar, but I was put into a different gang from +Elzevir. Thus we marched a ten days' journey into the country to a place +called Ymeguen, where a royal fortress was building. That was a weary +march for me, for 'twas January, with wet and miry roads, and I had +little enough clothes upon my back to keep off rain and cold. On either +side rode guards on horseback, with loaded flint-locks across the +saddlebow, and long whips in their hands with which they let fly at any +laggard; though 'twas hard enough for men to walk where the mud was over +the horses' fetlocks. I had no chance to speak to Elzevir all the +journey, and indeed spoke nothing at all, for those to whom I was chained +were brute beasts rather than men, and spoke only in Dutch to boot. + +There was but little of the building of the fortress begun when we +reached Ymeguen, and the task that we were set to was the digging of the +trenches and other earthworks. I believe that there were five hundred men +employed in this way, and all of them condemned like us to galley-work +for life. We were divided into squads of twenty-five, but Elzevir was +drafted to another squad and a different part of the workings, so I saw +him no more except at odd times, now and again, when our gangs met, and +we could exchange a word or two in passing. + +Thus I had no solace of any company but my own, and was driven to +thinking, and to occupy my mind with the recollection of the past. And at +first the life of my boyhood, now lost for ever, was constantly present +even in my dreams, and I would wake up thinking that I was at school +again under Mr. Glennie, or talking in the summer-house with Grace, or +climbing Weatherbeech Hill with the salt Channel breeze singing through +the trees. But alas! these things faded when I opened my eyes, and knew +the foul-smelling wood-hut and floor of fetid straw where fifty of us lay +in fetters every night; I say I dreamt these things at first, but by +degrees remembrance grew blunted and the images less clear, and even +these sweet, sad visions of the night came to me less often. Thus life +became a weary round, in which month followed month, season followed +season, year followed year, and brought always the same eternal +profitless-work. And yet the work was merciful, for it dulled the biting +edge of thought, and the unchanging evenness of life gave wings to time. + +In all the years the locusts ate for me at Ymeguen, there is but one +thing I need speak of here. I had been there a week when I was loosed one +morning from my irons, and taken from work into a little hut apart, where +there stood a half-dozen of the guard, and in the midst a stout wooden +chair with clamps and bands. A fire burned on the floor, and there was a +fume and smoke that filled the air with a smell of burned meat. My heart +misgave me when I saw that chair and fire, and smelt that sickly smell, +for I guessed this was a torture room, and these the torturers waiting. +They forced me into the chair and bound me there with lashings and a +cramp about the head; and then one took a red-iron from the fire upon the +floor, and tried it a little way from his hand to prove the heat. I had +screwed up my heart to bear the pain as best I might, but when I saw that +iron sighed for sheer relief, because I knew it for only a branding tool, +and not the torture. And so they branded me on the left cheek, setting +the iron between the nose and cheek-bone, where 'twas plainest to be +seen. I took the pain and scorching light enough, seeing that I had +looked for much worse, and should not have made mention of the thing here +at all, were it not for the branding mark they used. Now this mark was a +'Y', being the first letter of Ymeguen, and set on all the prisoners that +worked there, as I found afterwards; but to me 'twas much more than a +mere letter, and nothing less than the black 'Y' itself, or _cross-pall_ +of the Mohunes. Thus as a sheep is marked, with his owner's keel and can +be claimed wherever he may be, so here was I branded with the keel of +the Mohunes and marked for theirs in life or death, whithersoever I +should wander. 'Twas three months after that, and the mark healed and +well set, that I saw Elzevir again; and as we passed each other in the +trench and called a greeting, I saw that he too bore the _cross-pall_ +full on his left cheek. + +Thus years went on and I was grown from boy to man, and that no weak one +either: for though they gave us but scant food and bad, the air was fresh +and strong, because Ymeguen was meant for palace as well as fortress, and +they chose a healthful site. And by degrees the moats were dug, and +ramparts built, and stone by stone the castle rose till 'twas near the +finish, and so our labour was not wanted. Every day squads of our +fellow-prisoners marched away, and my gang was left till nearly last, +being engaged in making good a culvert that heavy rains had broken down. + +It was in the tenth year of our captivity, and in the twenty-sixth of my +age, that one morning instead of the guard marching us to work, they +handed us over to a party of mounted soldiers, from whose matchlocks and +long whips I knew that we were going to leave Ymeguen. Before we left, +another gang joined us, and how my heart went out when I saw Elzevir +among them! It was two years or more since we had met even to pass a +greeting, for I worked outside the fortress and he on the great tower +inside, and I took note his hair was whiter and a sadder look upon his +face. And as for the _cross-pall_ on his cheek, I never thought of it at +all, for we were all so well used to the mark, that if one bore it not +stamped upon his face we should have stared at him as on a man born with +but one eye. But though his look was sad, yet Elzevir had a kind smile +and hearty greeting for me as he passed, and on the march, when they +served out our food, we got a chance to speak a word or two together. +Yet how could we find room for much gladness, for even the pleasure of +meeting was marred because we were forced thus to take note, as it were, +of each other's misery, and to know that the one had nothing for his old +age but to break in prison, and the other nothing but the prison to eat +away the strength of his prime. + +Before long, all knew whither we were bound, for it leaked out we were +to march to the Hague and thence to Scheveningen, to take ship to the +settlements of Java, where they use transported felons on the sugar +farms. Was this the end of young hopes and lofty aims--to live and die a +slave in the Dutch plantations? Hopes of Grace, hopes of seeing +Moonfleet again, were dead long long ago; and now was there to be no +hope of liberty, or even wholesome air, this side the grave, but only +burning sun and steaming swamps, and the crack of the slave-driver's +whip till the end came? Could it be so? Could it be so? And yet what +help was there, or what release? Had I not watched ten years for any +gleam or loophole of relief, and never found it? If we were shut in +cells or dungeons in the deepest rock we might have schemed escape, but +here in the open, fettered up in-droves, what could we do? They were +bitter thoughts enough that filled my heart as I trudged along the rough +roads, fettered by my wrist to the long bar; and seeing Elzevir's white +hair and bowed shoulders trudging in front of me, remembered when that +head had scarce a grizzle on it, and the back was straight as the +massive stubborn pillars in old Moonfleet church. What was it had +brought us to this pitch? And then I called to mind a July evening, +years ago, the twilight summer-house and a sweet grave voice that said, +'Have a care how you touch the treasure: it was evilly come by and will +bring a curse with it.' Ay, 'twas the diamond had done it all, and +brought a blight upon my life, since that first night I spent in +Moonfleet vault; and I cursed the stone, and Blackbeard and his lost +Mohunes, and trudged on bearing their cognizance branded on my face. + +We marched back to the Hague, and through that very street where +Aldobrand dwelt, only the house was shut, and the board that bore his +name taken away; so it seemed that he had left the place or else was +dead. Thus we reached the quays at last, and though I knew that I was +leaving Europe and leaving all hope behind, yet 'twas a delight to smell +the sea again, and fill my nostrils with the keen salt air. + + + + +CHAPTER 18 + +IN THE BAY + +Let broad leagues dissever + Him from yonder foam, +O God! to think man ever + Comes too near his home--_Hood_ + + +The ship that was to carry us swung at the buoy a quarter of a mile +offshore, and there were row-boats waiting to take us to her. She was a +brig of some 120 tons burthen, and as we came under the stern I saw her +name was the _Aurungzebe_. + +'Twas with regret unspeakable I took my last look at Europe; and casting +my eyes round saw the smoke of the town dark against the darkening sky; +yet knew that neither smoke nor sky was half as black as was the prospect +of my life. + +They sent us down to the orlop or lowest deck, a foul place where was no +air nor light, and shut the hatches down on top of us. There were thirty +of us all told, hustled and driven like pigs into this deck, which was to +be our pigsty for six months or more. Here was just light enough, when +they had the hatches off, to show us what sort of place it was, namely, +as foul as it smelt, with never table, seat, nor anything, but roughest +planks and balks; and there they changed our bonds, taking away the bar, +and putting a tight bracelet round one wrist, with a padlocked chain +running through a loop on it. Thus we were still ironed, six together, +but had a greater freedom and more scope to move. And more than this, the +man who shifted the chains, whether through caprice, or perhaps because +he really wished to show us what pity he might, padlocked me on to the +same chain with Elzevir, saying, we were English swine and might sink or +swim together. Then the hatches were put on, and there they left us in +the dark to think or sleep or curse the time away. The weariness of +Ymeguen was bad indeed, and yet it was a heaven to this night of hell, +where all we had to look for was twice a day the moving of the hatches, +and half an hour's glimmer of a ship's lantern, while they served us out +the broken victuals that the Dutch crew would not eat. + +I shall say nothing of the foulness of this place, because 'twas too +foul to be written on paper; and if 'twas foul at starting, 'twas ten +times worse when we reached open sea, for of all the prisoners only +Elzevir and I were sailors, and the rest took the motion unkindly. + +From the first we made bad weather of it, for though we were below and +could see nothing, yet 'twas easy enough to tell there was a heavy +head-sea running, almost as soon as we were well out of harbour. +Although Elzevir and I had not had any chance of talking freely for so +long, and were now able to speak as we liked, being linked so close +together, we said but little. And this, not because we did not value +very greatly one another's company, but because we had nothing to talk +of except memories of the past, and those were too bitter, and came too +readily to our minds, to need any to summon them. There was, too, the +banishment from Europe, from all and everything we loved, and the awful +certainty of slavery that lay continuously on us like a weight of lead. +Thus we said little. + +We had been out a week, I think--for time is difficult enough to measure +where there is neither clock nor sun nor stars--when the weather, which +had moderated a little, began to grow much worse. The ship plunged and +laboured heavily, and this added much to our discomfort; because there +was nothing to hold on by, and unless we lay flat on the filthy deck, we +ran a risk of being flung to the side whenever there came a more violent +lurch or roll. Though we were so deep down, yet the roaring of wind and +wave was loud enough to reach us, and there was such a noise when the +ship went about, such grinding of ropes, with creaking and groaning of +timbers, as would make a landsman fear the brig was going to pieces. And +this some of our fellow-prisoners feared indeed, and fell to crying, or +kneeling chained together as they were upon the sloping deck, while they +tried to remember long-forgotten prayers. For my own part, I wondered why +these poor wretches should pray to be delivered from the sea, when all +that was before them was lifelong slavery; but I was perhaps able to look +more calmly on the matter myself as having been at sea, and not thinking +that the vessel was going to founder because of the noise. Yet the storm +rose till 'twas very plain that we were in a raging sea, and the streams +which began to trickle through the joinings of the hatch showed that +water had got below. + +'I have known better ships go under for less than this,' Elzevir said to +me; 'and if our skipper hath not a tight craft, and stout hands to work +her, there will soon be two score slaves the less to cut the canes in +Java. I cannot guess where we are now--may be off Ushant, may be not so +far, for this sea is too short for the Bay; but the saints send us +sea-room, for we have been wearing these three hours.' + +'Twas true enough that we had gone to wearing, as one might tell from the +heavier roll or wallowing when we went round, instead of the plunging of +a tack; but there was no chance of getting at our whereabouts. The only +thing we had to reckon time withal, was the taking off of the hatch twice +a day for food; and even this poor clock kept not the hour too well, for +often there were such gaps and intervals as made our bellies pine, and at +this present we had waited so long that I craved even that filthy broken +meat they fed us with. + +So we were glad enough to hear a noise at the hatch just as Elzevir had +done speaking, and the cover was flung off, letting in a splash of salt +water and a little dim and dusky light. But instead of the guard with +their muskets and lanterns and the tubs of broken victuals, there was +only one man, and that the jailer who had padlocked us into gangs at the +beginning of the voyage. + +He bent down for a moment over the hatch, holding on to the combing to +steady himself in the sea-way, and flung a key on a chain down into the +orlop, right among us. 'Take it,' he shouted in Dutch, 'and make the most +of it. God helps the brave, and the devil takes the hindmost.' + +That said, he stayed not one moment, but turned about quick and was gone. +For an instant none knew what this play portended, and there was the key +lying on the deck, and the hatch left open. Then Elzevir saw what it all +meant, and seized the key. 'John,' cries he, speaking to me in English, +'the ship is foundering, and they are giving us a chance to save our +lives, and not drown like rats in a trap.' With that he tried the key on +the padlock which held our chain, and it fitted so well that in a trice +our gang was free. Off fell the chain clanking on the floor, and nothing +left of our bonds but an iron bracelet clamped round the left wrist. You +may be sure the others were quick enough to make use of the key when they +knew what 'twas, but we waited not to see more, but made for the ladder. + +Now Elzevir and I, being used to the sea, were first through the hatchway +above, and oh, the strength and sweet coolness of the sea air, instead of +the warm, fetid reek of the orlop below! There was a good deal of water +sousing about on the main deck, but nothing to show the ship was sinking, +yet none of the crew was to be seen. We stayed there not a second, but +moved to the companion as fast as we could for the heavy pitching of the +ship, and so came on deck. + +The dusk of a winter's evening was setting in, yet with ample light to +see near at hand, and the first thing I perceived was that the deck was +empty. There was not a living soul but us upon it. The brig was broached +to, with her bows against the heaviest sea I ever saw, and the waves +swept her fore and aft; so we made for the tail of the deck-house, and +there took stock. But before we got there I knew why 'twas the crew were +gone, and why they let us loose, for Elzevir pointed to something whither +we were drifting, and shouted in my ear so that I heard it above all the +raging of the tempest--'We are on a lee shore.' + +We were lying head to sea, and never a bit of canvas left except one +storm-staysail. There were tattered ribands fluttering on the yards to +show where the sails had been blown away, and every now and then the +staysail would flap like a gun going off, to show it wanted to follow +them. But for all we lay head to sea, we were moving backwards, and each +great wave as it passed carried us on stern first with a leap and +swirling lift. 'Twas over the stern that Elzevir pointed, in the course +that we were going, and there was such a mist, what with the wind and +rain and spindrift, that one could see but a little way. And yet I saw +too far, for in the mist to which we were making a sternboard, I saw a +white line like a fringe or valance to the sea; and then I looked to +starboard, and there was the same white fringe, and then to larboard, and +the white fringe was there too. Only those who know the sea know how +terrible were Elzevir's words uttered in such a place. A moment before I +was exalted with the keen salt wind, and with a hope and freedom that +had been strangers for long; but now 'twas all dashed, and death, that is +so far off to the young, had moved nearer by fifty years--was moving a +year nearer every minute. + +'We are on a lee shore,' Elzevir shouted; and I looked and knew what the +white fringe was, and that we should be in the breakers in half an hour. +What a whirl of wind and wave and sea, what a whirl of thought and wild +conjecture! What was that land to which we were drifting? Was it cliff, +with deep water and iron face, where a good ship is shattered at a blow, +and death comes like a thunder-clap? Or was it shelving sand, where there +is stranding, and the pound, pound, pound of the waves for howls, before +she goes to pieces and all is over? + +We were in a bay, for there was the long white crescent of surf reaching +far away on either side, till it was lost in the dusk, and the brig +helpless in the midst of it. Elzevir had hold of my arm, and gripped it +hard as he looked to larboard. I followed his eyes, and where one horn of +the white crescent faded into the mist, caught a dark shadow in the air, +and knew it was high land looming behind. And then the murk and driving +rain lifted ever so little, and as it were only for that purpose; and we +saw a misty bluff slope down into the sea, like the long head of a +basking alligator poised upon the water, and stared into each other's +eyes, and cried together, 'The Snout!' + +It had vanished almost before it was seen, and yet we knew there was no +mistake; it was the Snout that was there looming behind the moving rack, +and we were in Moonfleet Bay. Oh, what a rush of thought then came, +dazing me with its sweet bitterness, to think that after all these weary +years of prison and exile we had come back to Moonfleet! We were so near +to all we loved, so near--only a mile of broken water--and yet so far, +for death lay between, and we had come back to Moonfleet to die. There +was a change came over Elzevir's features when he saw the Snout; his face +had lost its sadness and wore a look of sober happiness. He put his mouth +close to my ear and said: 'There is some strange leading hand has brought +us home at last, and I had rather drown on Moonfleet Beach than live in +prison any more, and drown we must within an hour. Yet we will play the +man, and make a fight for life.' And then, as if gathering together all +his force: 'We have weathered bad times together, and who knows but we +shall weather this?' + +The other prisoners were on deck now, and had found their way aft. They +were wild with fear, being landsmen and never having seen an angry sea, +and indeed that sea might have frighted sailors too. So they stumbled +along drenched with the waves, and clustered round Elzevir, for they +looked on him as a leader, because he knew the ways of the sea and was +the only one left calm in this dreadful strait. + +It was plain that when the Dutch crew found they were embayed, and that +the ship must drift into the breakers, they had taken to the boats, for +gig and jolly-boat were gone and only the pinnace left amidships. 'Twas +too heavy a boat perhaps for them to have got out in such a fearful sea; +but there it lay, and it was to that the prisoners turned their eyes. +Some had hold of Elzevir's arms, some fell upon the deck and caught him +by the knees, beseeching him to show them how to get the pinnace out. + +Then he spoke out, shouting to make them hear: 'Friends, any man that +takes to boat is lost. I know this bay and know this beach, and was +indeed born hereabouts, but never knew a boat come to land in such a sea, +save bottom uppermost. So if you want my counsel, there you have it, +namely, to stick by the ship. In half an hour we shall be in the +breakers; and I will put the helm up and try to head the brig bows on to +the beach; so every man will have a chance to fight for his own life, and +God have mercy on those that drown.' + +I knew what he said was the truth, and there was nothing for it but to +stick to the ship, though that was small chance enough; but those poor, +fear-demented souls would have nothing of his advice now 'twas given, +and must needs go for the boat. Then some came up from below who had been +in the spirit-room and were full of drink and drink-courage, and +heartened on the rest, saying they would have the pinnace out, and every +soul should be saved. Indeed, Fate seemed to point them that road, for a +heavier sea than any came on board, and cleared away a great piece of +larboard bulwarks that had been working loose, and made, as it were, a +clear launching-way for the boat. Again did Elzevir try to prevail with +them to stand by the ship, but they turned away and all made for the +pinnace. It lay amidships and was a heavy boat enough, but with so many +hands to help they got it to the broken bulwarks. Then Elzevir, seeing +they would have it out at any price, showed them how to take advantage of +the sea, and shifted the helm a little till the _Aurungzebe_ fell off to +larboard, and put the gap in the bulwarks on the lee. So in a few minutes +there it lay at a rope's-end on the sheltered side, deep laden with +thirty men, who were ill found with oars, and much worse found with skill +to use them. There were one or two, before they left, shouted to Elzevir +and me to try to make us follow them; partly, I think, because they +really liked Elzevir, and partly that they might have a sailor in the +boat to direct them; but the others cast off and left us with a curse, +saying that we might go and drown for obstinate Englishmen. + +So we two were left alone on the brig, which kept drifting backwards +slowly; but the pinnace was soon lost to sight, though we saw that they +were rowing wild as soon as she passed out of the shelter of the ship, +and that they had much ado to keep her head to the sea. + +Then Elzevir went to the kicking-wheel, and beckoned me to help him, and +between us we put the helm hard up. I saw then that he had given up all +hope of the wind shifting, and was trying to run her dead for the beach. + +She was broached-to with her bows in the wind, but gradually paid off as +the staysail filled, and so she headed straight for shore. The November +night had fallen, and it was very dark, only the white fringe of the +breakers could be seen, and grew plainer as we drew closer to it. The +wind was blowing fiercer than ever, and the waves broke more fiercely +nearer the shore. They had lost their dirty yellow colour when the light +died, and were rolling after us like great black mountains, with a +combing white top that seemed as if they must overwhelm us every minute. +Twice they pooped us, and we were up to our waists in icy water, but +still held to the wheel for our lives. + +The white line was nearer to us now, and above all the rage of wind and +sea I could hear the awful roar of the under-tow sucking back the +pebbles on the beach. The last time I could remember hearing that roar +was when I lay, as a boy, one summer's night 'twixt sleep and waking, in +the little whitewashed bedroom at my aunt's; and I wondered now if any +sat before their inland hearths this night, and hearing that far distant +roar, would throw another log on the fire, and thank God they were not +fighting for their lives in Moonfleet Bay. I could picture all that was +going on this night on the beach--how Ratsey and the landers would have +sighted the _Aurungzebe,_ perhaps at noon, perhaps before, and knew she +was embayed, and nothing could save her but the wind drawing to east. +But the wind would hold pinned in the south, and they would see sail +after sail blown off her, and watch her wear and wear, and every time +come nearer in; and the talk would run through the street that there was +a ship could not weather the Snout, and must come ashore by sundown. +Then half the village would be gathered on the beach, with the men ready +to risk their lives for ours, and in no wise wishing for the ship to be +wrecked; yet anxious not to lose their chance of booty, if Providence +should rule that wrecked she must be. And I knew Ratsey would be there, +and Damen, Tewkesbury, and Laver, and like enough Parson Glennie, and +perhaps--and at that perhaps, my thoughts came back to where we were, +for I heard Elzevir speaking to me: + +'Look,' he said, 'there's a light!' + +'Twas but the faintest twinkle, or not even that; only something that +told there was a light behind drift and darkness. It grew clearer as we +looked at it, and again was lost in the mirk, and then Elzevir said, +'Maskew's Match!' + +It was a long-forgotten name that came to me from so far off, down such +long alleys of the memory, that I had, as it were, to grope and grapple +with it to know what it should mean. Then it all came back, and I was a +boy again on the trawler, creeping shorewards in the light breeze of an +August night, and watching that friendly twinkle from the Manor woods +above the village. Had she not promised she would keep that lamp alight +to guide all sailors every night till I came back again; was she not +waiting still for me, was I not coming back to her now? But what a coming +back! No more a boy, not on an August night, but broken, branded convict +in the November gale! 'Twas well, indeed, there was between us that white +fringe of death, that she might never see what I had fallen to. + +'Twas likely Elzevir had something of the same thoughts, for he spoke +again, forgetting perhaps that I was man now, and no longer boy, and +using a name he had not used for years. 'Johnnie,' he said, 'I am cold +and sore downhearted. In ten minutes we shall be in the surf. Go down to +the spirit locker, drink thyself, and bring me up a bottle here. We +shall both need a young man's strength, and I have not got it any more.' + +I did as he bid me, and found the locker though the cabin was all awash, +and having drunk myself, took him the bottle back. 'Twas good Hollands +enough, being from the captain's own store, but nothing to the old Ararat +milk of the Why Not? Elzevir took a pull at it, and then flung the bottle +away. 'Tis sound liquor,' he laughed, '"and good for autumn chills", as +Ratsey would have said.' + +We were very near the white fringe now, and the waves followed us higher +and more curling. Then there was a sickly wan glow that spread itself +through the watery air in front of us, and I knew that they were burning +a blue light on the beach. They would all be there waiting for us, +though we could not see them, and they did not know that there were only +two men that they were signalling to, and those two Moonfleet born. They +burn that light in Moonfleet Bay just where a little streak of clay +crops out beneath the pebbles, and if a vessel can make that spot she +gets a softer bottom. So we put the wheel over a bit, and set her +straight for the flare. + +There was a deafening noise as we came near the shore, the shrieking of +the wind in the rigging, the crash of the combing seas, and over all the +awful grinding roar of the under-tow sucking down the pebbles. + +'It is coming now,' Elzevir said; and I could see dim figures moving in +the misty glare from the blue light; and then, just as the _Aurungzebe_ +was making fair for the signal, a monstrous combing sea pooped her and +washed us both from the wheel, forward in a swirling flood. We grasped at +anything we could, and so brought up bruised and half-drowned in the +fore-chains; but as the wheel ran free, another sea struck her and +slewed her round. There was a second while the water seemed over, under, +and on every side, and then the _Aurungzebe_ went broadside on Moonfleet +beach, with a noise like thunder and a blow that stunned us. + +I have seen ships come ashore in that same place before and since, and +bump on and off with every wave, till the stout balks could stand the +pounding no more and parted. But 'twas not so with our poor brig, for +after that first fearful shock she never moved again, being flung so firm +upon the beach by one great swamping wave that never another had power to +uproot her. Only she careened over beachwards, turning herself away from +the seas, as a child bows his head to escape a cruel master's ferule, and +then her masts broke off, first the fore and then the main, with a +splitting crash that made itself heard above all. + +We were on the lee side underneath the shelter of the deckhouse clinging +to the shrouds, now up to our knees in water as the wave came on, now +left high and dry when it went back. The blue light was still burning, +but the ship was beached a little to the right of it, and the dim group +of fishermen had moved up along the beach till they were opposite us. +Thus we were but a hundred feet distant from them, but 'twas the interval +of death and life, for between us and the shore was a maddened race of +seething water, white foaming waves that leapt up from all sides against +our broken bulwarks, or sucked back the pebbles with a grinding roar till +they left the beach nearly dry. + +We stood there for a minute hanging on, and waiting for resolution to +come back to us after the shock of grounding. On the weather side the +seas struck and curled over the brig with a noise like thunder, and the +force of countless tons. They came over the top of the deck-house in a +cataract of solid water, and there was a crash, crash, crash of rending +wood, as plank after plank gave way before that stern assault. We could +feel the deck-house itself quiver, and shake again as we stood with our +backs against it, and at last it moved so much that we knew it must soon +be washed over on us. + +The moment had come. 'We must go after the next big wave runs back,' +Elzevir shouted. 'Jump when I give the word, and get as far up the +pebbles as you can before the next comes in: they will throw us a +rope's-end to catch; so now good-bye, John, and God save us both!' + +I wrung his hand, and took off my convict clothes, keeping my boots on to +meet the pebbles, and was so cold that I almost longed for the surf. Then +we stood waiting side by side till a great wave came in, turning the +space 'twixt ship and shore into a boiling caldron: a minute later 'twas +all sucked back again with a roar, and we jumped. + +I fell on hands and feet where the water was a yard deep under the ship, +but got my footing and floundered through the slop, in a desperate +struggle to climb as high as might be on the beach before the next wave +came in. I saw the string of men lashed together and reaching down as +far as man might, to save any that came through the surf, and heard them +shout to cheer us, and marked a coil of rope flung out. Elzevir was by +my side and saw it too, and we both kept our feet and plunged forward +through the quivering slack water; but then there came an awful thunder +behind, the crash of the sea over the wreck, and we knew that another +mountain wave was on our heels. It came in with a swishing roar, a rush +and rise of furious water that swept us like corks up the beach, till we +were within touch of the rope's-end, and the men shouted again to +hearten us as they flung it out. Elzevir seized it with his left hand +and reached out his right to me. Our fingers touched, and in that very +moment the wave fell instantly, with an awful suck, and I was swept +down the beach again. Yet the under-tow took me not back to sea, for +amid the floating wreckage floated the shattered maintop, and in the +truck of that great spar I caught, and so was left with it upon the +beach thirty paces from the men and Elzevir. Then he left his own +assured salvation, namely the rope, and strode down again into the very +jaws of death to catch me by the hand and set me on my feet. Sight and +breath were failing me; I was numb with cold and half-dead from the +buffeting of the sea; yet his giant strength was powerful to save me +then, as it had saved me before. So when we heard once more the warning +crash and thunder of the returning wave we were but a fathom distant +from the rope. 'Take heart, lad,' he cried; ''tis now or never,' and as +the water reached our breasts gave me a fierce shove forward with his +hands. There was a roar of water in my ears, with a great shouting of +the men upon the beach, and then I caught the rope. + + + + +CHAPTER 19 + +ON THE BEACH + +Toll for the brave, + The grave that are no more; +All sunk beneath the wave + Fast by their native shore--_Cowper_ + + +The night was cold, and I had nothing on me save breeches and boots, and +those drenched with the sea, and had been wrestling with the surf so long +that there was little left in me. Yet once I clutched the rope I clung to +it for very life, and in a minute found myself in the midst of the +beachmen. I heard them shout again, and felt strong hands seize me, but +could not see their faces for a mist that swam before my eyes, and could +not speak because my throat and tongue were cracked with the salt water, +and the voice would not come. There was a crowd about me of men and some +women, and I spread out my hands, blindly, to catch hold of them, but my +knees failed and let me down upon the beach. And after that I remember +only having coats flung over me, and being carried off out of the wind, +and laid in warmest blankets before a fire. I was numb with the cold, my +hair was matted with the salt, and my flesh white and shrivelled, but +they forced liquor into my mouth, and so I lay in drowsy content till +utter weariness bound me in sleep. + +It was a deep and dreamless sleep for hours, and when it left me, gently +and as it were inch by inch, I found I was still lying wrapped in +blankets by the fire. Oh, what a vast and infinite peace was that, to lie +there half-asleep, yet wake enough to know that I had slipped my prison +and the pains of death, and was a free man here in my native place! At +last I shifted myself a little, growing more awake; and opening my eyes +saw I was not alone, for two men sat at a table by me with glasses and a +bottle before them. + +'He is coming-to,' said one, 'and may live yet to tell us who he is, and +from what port his craft sailed.' + +'There has been many a craft,' the other said, 'has sailed for many a +port, and made this beach her last; and many an honest man has landed on +it, and never one alive in such a sea. Nor would this one be living +either, if it had not been for that other brave heart to stand by and +save him. Brave heart, brave heart,' he said over to himself. 'Here, pass +me the bottle or I shall get the vapours. 'Tis good against these early +chills, and I have not been in this place for ten years past, since poor +Elzevir was cut adrift.' + +I could not see the speaker's face from where I lay upon the floor, yet +seemed to know his voice; and so was fumbling in my weakened mind to put +a name to it, when he spoke of Elzevir, and sent my thoughts flying +elsewhere. + +'Elzevir,' I said, 'where is Elzevir?' and sat up to look round, +expecting to see him lying near me, and remembering the wreck more +clearly now, and how he had saved me with that last shove forward on the +beach. But he was not to be seen, and so I guessed that his great +strength had brought him round quicker than had my youth, and that he was +gone back to the beach. + +'Hush,' said one of the men at the table, 'lie down and get to sleep +again'; and then he added, speaking to his comrade: 'His brain is +wandering yet: do you see how he has caught up my words about Elzevir?' + +'No,' I struck in, 'my head is clear enough; I am speaking of Elzevir +Block. I pray you tell me where he is. Is he well again?' They got up +and stared at one another and at me, when I named Elzevir Block, and then +I knew the one that spoke for Master Ratsey only greyer than he was. + +'Who are you?' he cried, 'who talk of Elzevir Block.' + +'Do you not know me, Master Ratsey?' and I looked full in his face. 'I am +John Trenchard, who left you so long ago. I pray you tell me where is +Master Block?' + +Master Ratsey looked as if he had seen a ghost, and was struck dumb at +first: but then ran up and shook me by the hand so warmly that I fell +back again on my pillow, while he poured out questions in a flood. How +had I fared, where had I been, whence had I come? until I stopped him, +saying: 'Softly, kind friend, and I will answer; only tell me first, +where is Master Elzevir?' + +'Nay, that I cannot say,' he answered, 'for never a soul has set eyes on +Elzevir since that summer morning we put thee and him ashore at Newport.' + +'Oh, fool me not!' I cried out, chafing at his excuses; 'I am not +wandering now. 'Twas Elzevir that saved me in the surf last night. 'Twas +he that landed with me.' + +There was a look of sad amaze that came on Ratsey's face when I said +that; a look that woke in me an awful surmise. 'What!' cried he, 'was +that Master Elzevir that dragged thee through the surf?' + +'Ay, 'twas he landed with me, 'twas he landed with me,' I said; trying, +as it were, to make true by repeating that which I feared was not the +truth. There was a minute's silence, and then Ratsey spoke very softly: +'There was none landed with you; there was no soul saved from that ship +alive save you.' + +His words fell, one by one, upon my ear as if they were drops of molten +lead. 'It is not true,' I cried; 'he pulled me up the beach himself, and +it was he that pushed me forward to the rope.' + +'Ay, he saved thee, and then the under-tow got hold of him and swept him +down under the curl. I could not see his face, but might have known there +never was a man, save Elzevir, could fight the surf on Moonfleet beach +like that. Yet had we known 'twas he, we could have done no more, for +many risked their lives last night to save you both. We could have done +no more.' Then I gave a great groan for utter anguish, to think that he +had given up the safety he had won for himself, and laid down his life, +there on the beach, for me; to think that he had died on the threshold of +his home; that I should never get a kind look from him again, nor ever +hear his kindly voice. + +It is wearisome to others to talk of deep grief, and beside that no +words, even of the wisest man, can ever set it forth, nor even if we were +able could our memory bear to tell it. So I shall not speak more of that +terrible blow, only to say that sorrow, so far from casting my body down, +as one might have expected, gave it strength, and I rose up from the +mattress where I had been lying. They tried to stop me, and even to hold +me back, but for all I was so weak, I pushed them aside and must needs +fling a blanket round me and away back to the beach. + +The morning was breaking as I left the Why Not?, for 'twas in no other +place but that I lay, and the wind, though still high, had abated. There +were light clouds crossing the heaven very swiftly, and between them +patches of clear sky where the stars were growing paler before the dawn. +The stars were growing paler; but there was another star, that shone out +from the Manor woods above the village, although I could not see the +house, and told me Grace, like the wise virgins, kept her lamp alight all +night. Yet even that light shone without lustre for me then, for my heart +was too full to think of anything but of him who had laid down his life +for mine, and of the strong kind heart that was stilled for ever. + +'Twas well I knew the way, so sure of old, from Why Not? to beach; for I +took no heed to path or feet, but plunged along in the morning dusk, +blind with sorrow and weariness of spirit. There was a fire of driftwood +burning at the back of the beach, and round it crouched a group of men +in reefing jackets and sou'westers waiting for morning to save what they +might from the wreck; but I gave them a wide berth and so passed in the +darkness without a word, and came to the top of the beach. There was +light enough to make out what was doing. The sea was running very high, +but with the falling wind the waves came in more leisurely and with less +of broken water, curling over in a tawny sweep and regular thunderous +beat all along the bay for miles. There was no sign left of the hull of +the _Aurungzebe_, but the beach was strewn with so much wreckage as one +would have thought could never come from so small a ship. There were +barrels and kegs, gratings and hatch-covers, booms and pieces of masts +and trucks; and beside all that, the heaving water in-shore was covered +with a floating mask of broken match-wood, and the waves, as they curled +over, carried up and dashed down on the pebble planks and beams beyond +number. There were a dozen or more of men on the seaward side of the +beach, with oilskins to keep the wet out, prowling up and down the +pebbles to see what they could lay their hands on; and now and then they +would run down almost into the white fringe, risking their lives to save +a keg as they had risked them to save their fellows last night--as they +had risked their lives to save ours, as Elzevir had risked his life to +save mine, and lost it there in the white fringe. + +I sat down at the top of the beach, with elbows on knees, head between +hands, and face set out to sea, not knowing well why I was there or what +I sought, but only thinking that Elzevir was floating somewhere in that +floating skin of wreck-wood, and that I must be at hand to meet him when +he came ashore. He would surely come in time, for I had seen others come +ashore that way. For when the _Bataviaman_ went on the beach, I stood as +near her as our rescuers had stood to us last night, and there were some +aboard who took the fatal leap from off her bows and tried to battle +through the surf. I was so near them I could mark their features and read +the wild hope in their faces at the first, and then the under-tow took +hold of them, and never one that saved his life that day. And yet all +came to beach at last, and I knew them by their dead faces for the men I +had seen hoping against hope 'twixt ship and shore; some naked and some +clothed, some bruised and sorely beaten by the pebbles and the sea, and +some sound and untouched--all came to beach at last. + +So I sat and waited for him to come; and none of the beach-walkers said +anything to me, the Moonfleet men thinking I came from Ringstave, and the +Langton men that I belonged to Moonfleet; and both that I had marked some +cask at sea for my own and was waiting till it should come in. Only after +a while Master Ratsey joined me, and sitting down by me, begged me to eat +bread and meat that he had brought. Now I had little heart to eat, but +took what he gave me to save myself from his importunities, and having +once tasted was led by nature to eat all, and was much benefited thereby. +Yet I could not talk with Ratsey, nor answer any of his questions, though +another time I should have put a thousand to him myself; and he seeing +'twas no good sat by me in silence, using a spy-glass now and again to +make out the things floating at sea. As the day grew the men left the +fire at the back of the beach, and came down to the sea-front where the +waves were continually casting up fresh spoil. And there all worked with +a will, not each one for his own hand, but all to make a common hoard +which should be divided afterwards. + +Among the flotsam moving outside the breakers I could see more than one +dark ball, like black buoys, bobbing up and down, and lifting as the +wave came by: and knew them for the heads of drowned men. Yet though I +took Ratsey's glass and scanned all carefully enough, I could make +nothing of them, but saw the pinnace floating bottom up, and farther out +another boat deserted and down to her gunwale in the water. 'Twas midday +before the first body was cast up, when the sky was breaking a little, +and a thin and watery sun trying to get through, and afterwards three +other bodies followed. They were part of the pinnace's crew, for all had +the iron ring on the left wrist, as Ratsey told me, who went down to see +them, though he said nothing of the branded 'Y', and they were taken up +and put under some sheeting at the back of the beach, there to lie till a +grave should be made ready for them. + +Then I felt something that told me he was coming and saw a body rolled +over in the surf, and knew it for the one I sought. 'Twas nearest me he +was flung up, and I ran down the beach, caring nothing for the white +foam, nor for the under-tow, and laid hold of him: for had he not left +the rescue-line last night, and run down into the surf to save my +worthless life? Ratsey was at my side, and so between us we drew him up +out of the running foam, and then I wrung the water from his hair, and +wiped his face and, kneeling down there, kissed him. + +When they saw that we had got a body, others of the men came up, and +stared to see me handle him so tenderly. But when they knew, at last, I +was a stranger and had the iron ring upon my wrist, and a 'Y' burned upon +my cheek, they stared the more; until the tale went round that I was he +who had come through the surf last night alive, and this poor body was my +friend who had laid down his life for me. Then I saw Ratsey speak with +one and another of the group, and knew that he was telling them our +names; and some that I had known came up and shook me by the hand, not +saying anything because they saw my heart was full; and some bent down +and looked in Elzevir's face, and touched his hands as if to greet him. +Sea and stones had been merciful with him, and he showed neither bruise +nor wound, but his face wore a look of great peace, and his eyes and +mouth were shut. Even I, who knew where 'twas, could scarcely see the 'Y' +mark on his cheek, for the paleness of death had taken out the colour of +the scar, and left his face as smooth and mellow-white as the alabaster +figures in Moonfleet church. His body was naked from the waist up, as he +had stripped for jumping from the brig, and we could see the great broad +chest and swelling muscles that had pulled him out of many a desperate +pass, and only failed him, for the first and last time so few hours ago. + +They stood for a little while looking in silence at the old lander who +had run his last cargo on Moonfleet beach, and then they laid his arms +down by his side, and slung him in a sail, and carried him away. I walked +beside, and as we came down across the sea-meadows, the sun broke out and +we met little groups of schoolchildren making their way down to the beach +to see what was doing with the wreck. They stood aside to let us go by, +the boys pulling their caps and the girls dropping a curtsy, when they +knew that it was a poor drowned body passing; and as I saw the children I +thought I saw myself among them, and I was no more a man, but just come +out from Mr. Glennie's teaching in the old almshouse hall. + +Thus we came to the Why Not? and there set him down. The inn had not +been let, as I learned afterwards, since Maskew died; and they had put +a fire in it last night for the first time, knowing that the brig would +be wrecked, and thinking that some might come off with their lives and +require tending. The door stood open, and they carried him into the +parlour, where the fire was still burning, and laid him down on the +trestle-table, covering his face and body with the sail. This done they +all stood round a little while, awkwardly enough, as not knowing what +to do; and then slipped away one by one, because grief is a thing that +only women know how to handle, and they wanted to be back on the beach +to get what might be from the wreck. Last of all went Master Ratsey, +saying, he saw that I would as lief be alone, and that he would come +back before dark. + +So I was left alone with my dead friend, and with a host of bitterest +thoughts. The room had not been cleaned; there were spider-webs on the +beams, and the dust stood so thick on the window-panes as to shut out +half the light. The dust was on everything: on chairs and tables, save on +the trestle-table where he lay. 'Twas on this very trestle they had laid +out David's body; 'twas in this very room that this still form, who would +never more know either joy or sorrow, had bowed down and wept over his +son. The room was just as we had left it an April evening years ago, and +on the dresser lay the great backgammon board, so dusty that one could +not read the lettering on it; 'Life is like a game of hazard; the skilful +player will make something of the worst of throws'; but what unskillful +players we had been, how bad our throws, how little we had made of them! + +'Twas with thoughts like this that I was busy while the short afternoon +was spent, and the story went up and down the village, how that Elzevir +Block and John Trenchard, who left so long ago, were come back to +Moonfleet, and that the old lander was drowned saving the young man's +life. The dusk was creeping up as I turned back the sail from off his +face and took another look at my lost friend, my only friend; for who +was there now to care a jot for me? I might go and drown myself on +Moonfleet beach, for anyone that would grieve over me. What did it profit +me to have broken bonds and to be free again? what use was freedom to me +now? where was I to go, what was I to do? My friend was gone. + +So I went back and sat with my head in my hands looking into the fire, +when I heard someone step into the room, but did not turn, thinking it +was Master Ratsey come back and treading lightly so as not to disturb me. +Then I felt a light touch on my shoulder, and looking up saw standing by +me a tall and stately woman, girl no longer, but woman in the full +strength and beauty of youth. I knew her in a moment, for she had altered +little, except her oval face had something more of dignity, and the tawny +hair that used to fly about her back was now gathered up. She was looking +down at me, and let her hand rest on my shoulder. 'John,' she said, 'have +you forgotten me? May I not share your sorrow? Did you not think to tell +me you were come? Did you not see the light, did you not know there was a +friend that waited for you?' + +I said nothing, not being able to speak, but marvelling how she had come +just in the point of time to prove me wrong to think I had no friend; and +she went on: + +'Is it well for you to be here? Grieve not too sadly, for none could have +died nobler than he died; and in these years that you have been away, I +have thought much of him and found him good at heart, and if he did aught +wrong 'twas because others wronged him more.' + +And while she spoke I thought how Elzevir had gone to shoot her father, +and only failed of it by a hair's-breadth, and yet she spoke so well I +thought he never really meant to shoot at all, but only to scare the +magistrate. And what a whirligig of time was here, that I should have +saved Elzevir from having that blot on his conscience, and then that he +should save my life, and now that Maskew's daughter should be the one to +praise Elzevir when he lay dead! And still I could not speak. + +And again she said: 'John, have you no word for me? have you forgotten? +do you not love me still? Have I no part in your sorrow?' + +Then I took her hand in mine and raised it to my lips, and said, 'Dear +Mistress Grace, I have forgotten nothing, and honour you above all +others: but of love I may not speak more to you--nor you to me, for we +are no more boy and girl as in times past, but you a noble lady and I a +broken wretch'; and with that I told how I had been ten years a +prisoner, and why, and showed her the iron ring upon my wrist, and the +brand upon my cheek. + +At the brand she stared, and said, 'Speak not of wealth; 'tis not wealth +makes men, and if you have come back no richer than you went, you are +come back no poorer, nor poorer, John, in honour. And I am rich and have +more wealth than I can rightly use, so speak not of these things; but be +glad that you are poor, and were not let to profit by that evil treasure. +But for this brand, it is no prison name to me, but the Mohunes' badge, +to show that you are theirs and must do their bidding. Said I not to you, +Have a care how you touch the treasure, it was evilly come by and will +bring a curse with it? But now, I pray you, with a greater earnestness, +seeing you bear this mark upon you, touch no penny of that treasure if it +should some day come back to you, but put it to such uses as Colonel +Mohune thought would help his sinful soul.' + +With that she took her hand from mine and bade me 'good night', leaving +me in the darkening room with the glow from the fire lighting up the sail +and the outline of the body that lay under it. After she was gone I +pondered long over what she had said, and what that should mean when she +spoke of the treasure one day coming back to me: but wondered much the +most to find how constant is the love of woman, and how she could still +find a place in her heart for so poor a thing as I. But as to what she +said, I was to learn her meaning this very night. + +Master Ratsey had come in and gone again, not stopping with me very long, +because there was much doing on the beach; but bidding me be of good +cheer, and have no fear of the law; for that the ban against me and the +head-price had been dead for many a year. 'Twas Grace had made her +lawyers move for this, refusing herself to sign the hue and cry, and +saying that the fatal shot was fired by misadventure. And so a dread +which was just waking was laid to rest for ever; and when Ratsey went I +made up the fire, and lay down in the blankets in front of it, for I was +dog-tired and longed for sleep. I was already dozing, but not asleep, +when there was a knock at the door, and in walked Mr. Glennie. He was +aged, and stooped a little, as I could see by the firelight, but for all +that I knew him at once, and sitting up offered him what welcome I could. + +He looked at me curiously at first, as taking note of the bearded man +that had grown out of the boy he remembered, but gave me very kindly +greeting, and sat down beside me on a bench. First, he lifted the sail +from the dead body, and looked at the sleeping face. Then he took out a +Common Prayer reading the Commendamus over the dead, and giving me +spiritual comfort, and lastly, he fell to talking about the past. From +him I learnt something of what had happened while I was away, though for +that matter nothing had happened at all, except a few deaths, for that +is the only sort of change for which we look in Moonfleet. And among +those who had passed away was Miss Arnold, my aunt, so that I was +another friend the less, if indeed I should count her a friend: for +though she meant me well, she showed her care with too much strictness +to let me love her, and so in my great sorrow for Elzevir I found no +room to grieve for her. + +Whether from the spiritual solace Mr. Glennie offered me, or whether from +his pointing out how much cause for thankfulness I had in being loosed +out of prison and saved from imminent death, certain it was I felt some +assuagement of grief, and took pleasure in his talk. + +'And though I may by some be reprehended,' he said, 'for presuming to +refer to profane authors after citing Holy Scripture, yet I cannot +refrain from saying that even the great poet Homer counsels moderation in +mourning, "for quickly," says he, "cometh satiety of chilly grief".' + +After this I thought he was going, but he cleared his throat in such a +way that I guessed he had something important to say, and he drew a long +folded blue paper from his pocket. 'My son,' he said, opening it +leisurely and smoothing it out upon his knee, 'we should never revile +Fortune, and in speaking of Fortune I only use that appellation in our +poor human sense, and do not imply that there is any Chance at all but +what is subject to an over-ruling Providence; we should never, I say, +revile Fortune, for just at that moment when she appears to have deserted +us, she may be only gone away to seek some richest treasure to bring back +with her. And that this is so let what I am about to read to you prove; +so light a candle and set it by me, for my eyes cannot follow the writing +in this dancing firelight.' + +I took an end of candle which stood on the mantelpiece and did as he bid +me, and he went on: 'I shall read you this letter which I received near +eight years ago, and of the weightiness of it you shall yourself judge.' + +I shall not here set down that letter in full, although I have it by me, +but will put it shortly, because it was from a lawyer, tricked with +long-winded phrases and spun out as such letters are to afford cover +afterwards for a heavier charge. It was addressed to the Reverend Horace +Glennie, Perpetual Curate of Moonfleet, in the County of Dorset, England, +and written in English by Heer Roosten, Attorney and Signariat of the +Hague in the Kingdom of Holland. It set forth that one Krispijn +Aldobrand, jeweller and dealer in precious stones, at the Hague, had sent +for Heer Roosten to draw a will for him. And that the said Krispijn +Aldobrand, being near his end, had deposed to the said Heer Roosten, that +he, Aldobrand, was desirous to leave all his goods to one John Trenchard, +of Moonfleet, Dorset, in the Kingdom of England. And that he was moved +to do this, first, by the consideration that he, Aldobrand, had no +children to whom to leave aught, and second, because he desired to make +full and fitting restitution to John Trenchard, for that he had once +obtained from the said John a diamond without paying the proper price for +it. Which stone he, Aldobrand, had sold and converted into money, and +having so done, found afterwards both his fortune and his health decline; +so that, although he had great riches before he became possessed of the +diamond, these had forthwith melted through unfortunate ventures and +speculations, till he had little remaining to him but the money that this +same diamond had brought. + +He therefore left to John Trenchard everything of which he should die +possessed, and being near death begged his forgiveness if he had wronged +him in aught. These were the instructions which Heer Roosten received +from Mr. Aldobrand, whose health sensibly declined, until three months +later he died. It was well, Heer Roosten added, that the will had been +drawn in good time, for as Mr. Aldobrand grew weaker, he became a prey to +delusions, saying that John Trenchard had laid a curse upon the diamond, +and professing even to relate the words of it, namely, that it should +'bring evil in this life, and damnation in that which is to come.' Nor +was this all, for he could get no sleep, but woke up with a horrid dream, +in which, so he informed Heer Roosten, he saw continually a tall man with +a coppery face and black beard draw the bed-curtains and mock him. Thus +he came at length to his end, and after his death Heer Roosten +endeavoured to give effect to the provision of the will, by writing to +John Trenchard, at Moonfleet, Dorset, to apprise him that he was left +sole heir. That address, indeed, was all the indication that Aldobrand +had given, though he constantly promised his attorney to let him have +closer information as to Trenchard's whereabouts, in good time. This +information was, however, always postponed, perhaps because Aldobrand +hoped he might get better and so repent of his repentance. So all Heer +Roosten had to do was to write to Trenchard at Moonfleet, and in due +course the letter was returned to him, with the information that +Trenchard had fled that place to escape the law, and was then nowhere to +be found. After that Heer Roosten was advised to write to the minister of +the parish, and so addressed these lines to Mr. Glennie. + +This was the gist of the letter which Mr. Glennie read, and you may +easily guess how such news moved me, and how we sat far into the night +talking and considering what steps it was best to take, for we feared +lest so long an interval as eight years having elapsed, the lawyers might +have made some other disposition of the money. It was midnight when Mr. +Glennie left. The candle had long burnt out, but the fire was bright, +and he knelt a moment by the trestle-table before he went out. + +'He made a good end, John,' he said, rising from his knees, 'and I pray +that our end may be in as good cause when it comes. For with the best of +us the hour of death is an awful hour, and we may well pray, as every +Sunday, to be delivered in it. But there is another time which those who +wrote this Litany thought no less perilous, and bade us pray to be +delivered in all time of our wealth. So I pray that if, after all, this +wealth comes to your hand you may be led to use it well; for though I do +not hold with foolish tales, or think a curse hangs on riches themselves, +yet if riches have been set apart for a good purpose, even by evil men, +as Colonel John Mohune set apart this treasure, it cannot be but that we +shall do grievous wrong in putting them to other use. So fare you well, +and remember that there are other treasures besides this, and that a good +woman's love is worth far more than all the gold and jewels of the +world--as I once knew.' And with that he left me. + +I guessed that he had spoken with Grace that day, and as I lay dozing in +front of the fire, alone in this old room I knew so well, alone with that +silent friend who had died to save me, I mourned him none the less, but +yet sorrowed not as one without hope. + + * * * * * + +What need to tell this tale at any more length, since you may know, by my +telling it, that all went well? for what man would sit down to write a +history that ended in his own discomfiture? All that great wealth came to +my hands, and if I do not say how great it was, 'tis that I may not wake +envy, for it was far more than ever I could have thought. And of that +money I never touched penny piece, having learnt a bitter lesson in the +past, but laid it out in good works, with Mr. Glennie and Grace to help +me. First, we rebuilt and enlarged the almshouses beyond all that Colonel +John Mohune could ever think of, and so established them as to be a haven +for ever for all worn-out sailors of that coast. Next, we sought the +guidance of the Brethren of the Trinity, and built a lighthouse on the +Snout, to be a Channel beacon for sea-going ships, as Maskew's match had +been a light for our fishing-boats in the past. Lastly, we beautified the +church, turning out the cumbrous seats of oak, and neatly pewing it with +deal and baize, that made it most commodious to sit in of the Sabbath. +There was also much old glass which we removed, and reglazed all the +windows tight against the wind, so that what with a high pulpit, +reading-desk, and seat for Master Clerk and new Commandment boards each +side of the Holy Table, there was not a church could vie with ours in the +countryside. But that great vault below it, with its memories, was set in +order, and then safely walled up, and after that nothing was more ever +heard of Blackbeard and his lost Mohunes. And as for the landers, I +cannot say where they went; and if a cargo is still run of a dark night +upon the beach, I know nothing of it, being both Lord of the Manor and +Justice of the Peace. + +The village, too, renewed itself with the new almshouses and church. +There were old houses rebuilt and fresh ones reared, and all are ours, +except the Why Not? which still remains the Duchy Inn. And that was let +again, and men left the Choughs at Ringstave and came back to their old +haunt, and any shipwrecked or travel-worn sailor found board and welcome +within its doors. + +And of the Mohune Hospital--for that was what the alms-houses were now +called--Master Glennie was first warden, with fair rooms and a full +library, and Master Ratsey head of the Bedesmen. There they spent happier +days, till they were gathered in the fullness of their years; and sleep +on the sunny side of the church, within sound of the sea, by that great +buttress where I once found Master Ratsey listening with his ear to +ground. And close beside them lies Elzevir Block, most faithful and most +loved by me, with a text on his tombstone: 'Greater love hath no man than +this, that a man lay down his life for his friend,' and some of Mr. +Glennie's verses. + +And of ourselves let me speak last. The Manor House is a stately home +again, with trim lawns and terraced balustrades, where we can sit and +see the thin blue smoke hang above the village on summer evenings. And +in the Manor woods my wife and I have seen a little Grace and a little +John and little Elzevir, our firstborn, play; and now our daughter is +grown up, fair to us as the polished corners of the Temple, and our sons +are gone out to serve King George on sea and land. But as for us, for +Grace and me, we never leave this our happy Moonfleet, being well +content to see the dawn tipping the long cliff-line with gold, and the +night walking in dew across the meadows; to watch the spring clothe the +beech boughs with green, or the figs ripen on the southern wall: while +behind all, is spread as a curtain the eternal sea, ever the same and +ever changing. Yet I love to see it best when it is lashed to madness in +the autumn gale, and to hear the grinding roar and churn of the pebbles +like a great organ playing all the night. 'Tis then I turn in bed and +thank God, more from the heart, perhaps, than, any other living man, +that I am not fighting for my life on Moonfleet Beach. And more than +once I have stood rope in hand in that same awful place, and tried to +save a struggling wretch; but never saw one come through the surf alive, +in such a night as he saved me. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Moonfleet, by J. 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Meade Falkner + +Release Date: January 18, 2004 [EBook #10743] +[Last updated: December 4, 2013] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOONFLEET *** + + + + +Produced by Riikka Talonpoika, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + + MOONFLEET + + J. MEADE FALKNER + + 1898 + + + + +We thought there was no more behind +But such a day tomorrow as today +And to be a boy eternal. + +Shakespeare + + + + +TO ALL MOHUNES +OF FLEET AND MOONFLEET +IN AGRO DORCESTRENSI +LIVING OR DEAD + + + + +CONTENTS + + 1 IN MOONFLEET VILLAGE + + 2 THE FLOODS + + 3 A DISCOVERY + + 4 IN THE VAULT + + 5 THE RESCUE + + 6 AN ASSAULT + + 7 AN AUCTION + + 8 THE LANDING + + 9 A JUDGEMENT + +10 THE ESCAPE + +11 THE SEA-CAVE + +12 A FUNERAL + +13 AN INTERVIEW + +14 THE WELL-HOUSE + +15 THE WELL + +16 THE JEWEL + +17 AT YMEGUEN + +18 IN THE BAY + +19 ON THE BEACH + + + + +Says the Cap'n to the Crew, +We have slipped the Revenue, + I can see the cliffs of Dover on the lee: +Tip the signal to the _Swan_, +And anchor broadside on, + And out with the kegs of Eau-de-Vie, + Says the Cap'n: + Out with the kegs of Eau-de-Vie. +Says the Lander to his men, +Get your grummets on the pin, + There's a blue light burning out at sea. +The windward anchors creep, +And the Gauger's fast asleep, + And the kegs are bobbing one, two, three, + Says the Lander: + The kegs are bobbing one, two, three. + +But the bold Preventive man +Primes the powder in his pan + And cries to the Posse, Follow me. +We will take this smuggling gang, +And those that fight shall hang + Dingle dangle from the execution tree, + Says the Gauger: +Dingle dangle with the weary moon to see. + + + + +CHAPTER 1 + +IN MOONFLEET VILLAGE + +So sleeps the pride of former days--_More_ + + +The village of Moonfleet lies half a mile from the sea on the right or +west bank of the Fleet stream. This rivulet, which is so narrow as it +passes the houses that I have known a good jumper clear it without a +pole, broadens out into salt marshes below the village, and loses itself +at last in a lake of brackish water. The lake is good for nothing except +sea-fowl, herons, and oysters, and forms such a place as they call in the +Indies a lagoon; being shut off from the open Channel by a monstrous +great beach or dike of pebbles, of which I shall speak more hereafter. +When I was a child I thought that this place was called Moonfleet, +because on a still night, whether in summer, or in winter frosts, the +moon shone very brightly on the lagoon; but learned afterwards that 'twas +but short for 'Mohune-fleet', from the Mohunes, a great family who were +once lords of all these parts. + +My name is John Trenchard, and I was fifteen years of age when this story +begins. My father and mother had both been dead for years, and I boarded +with my aunt, Miss Arnold, who was kind to me in her own fashion, but too +strict and precise ever to make me love her. + +I shall first speak of one evening in the fall of the year 1757. It must +have been late in October, though I have forgotten the exact date, and I +sat in the little front parlour reading after tea. My aunt had few books; +a Bible, a Common Prayer, and some volumes of sermons are all that I can +recollect now; but the Reverend Mr. Glennie, who taught us village +children, had lent me a story-book, full of interest and adventure, +called the _Arabian Nights Entertainment_. At last the light began to +fail, and I was nothing loth to leave off reading for several reasons; +as, first, the parlour was a chilly room with horse-hair chairs and sofa, +and only a coloured-paper screen in the grate, for my aunt did not allow +a fire till the first of November; second, there was a rank smell of +molten tallow in the house, for my aunt was dipping winter candles on +frames in the back kitchen; third, I had reached a part in the _Arabian +Nights_ which tightened my breath and made me wish to leave off reading +for very anxiousness of expectation. It was that point in the story of +the 'Wonderful Lamp', where the false uncle lets fall a stone that seals +the mouth of the underground chamber; and immures the boy, Aladdin, in +the darkness, because he would not give up the lamp till he stood safe on +the surface again. This scene reminded me of one of those dreadful +nightmares, where we dream we are shut in a little room, the walls of +which are closing in upon us, and so impressed me that the memory of it +served as a warning in an adventure that befell me later on. So I gave up +reading and stepped out into the street. It was a poor street at best, +though once, no doubt, it had been finer. Now, there were not two hundred +souls in Moonfleet, and yet the houses that held them straggled sadly +over half a mile, lying at intervals along either side of the road. +Nothing was ever made new in the village; if a house wanted repair badly, +it was pulled down, and so there were toothless gaps in the street, and +overrun gardens with broken-down walls, and many of the houses that yet +stood looked as though they could stand but little longer. + +The sun had set; indeed, it was already so dusk that the lower or +sea-end of the street was lost from sight. There was a little fog or +smoke-wreath in the air, with an odour of burning weeds, and that first +frosty feeling of the autumn that makes us think of glowing fires and +the comfort of long winter evenings to come. All was very still, but I +could hear the tapping of a hammer farther down the street, and walked +to see what was doing, for we had no trades in Moonfleet save that of +fishing. It was Ratsey the sexton at work in a shed which opened on the +street, lettering a tombstone with a mallet and graver. He had been +mason before he became fisherman, and was handy with his tools; so that +if anyone wanted a headstone set up in the churchyard, he went to Ratsey +to get it done. I lent over the half-door and watched him a minute, +chipping away with the graver in a bad light from a lantern; then he +looked up, and seeing me, said: + +'Here, John, if you have nothing to do, come in and hold the lantern for +me, 'tis but a half-hour's job to get all finished.' + +Ratsey was always kind to me, and had lent me a chisel many a time to +make boats, so I stepped in and held the lantern watching him chink out +the bits of Portland stone with a graver, and blinking the while when +they came too near my eyes. The inscription stood complete, but he was +putting the finishing touches to a little sea-piece carved at the top of +the stone, which showed a schooner boarding a cutter. I thought it fine +work at the time, but know now that it was rough enough; indeed, you may +see it for yourself in Moonfleet churchyard to this day, and read the +inscription too, though it is yellow with lichen, and not so plain as it +was that night. This is how it runs: + +SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF DAVID BLOCK + +Aged 15, who was killed by a shot fired from the _Elector_ Schooner, +21 June 1757. + +Of life bereft (by fell design), + I mingle with my fellow clay. +On God's protection I recline + To save me in the Judgement Day. + +There too must you, cruel man, appear, + Repent ere it be all too late; +Or else a dreadful sentence fear, + For God will sure revenge my fate. + +The Reverend Mr. Glennie wrote the verses, and I knew them by heart, for +he had given me a copy; indeed, the whole village had rung with the tale +of David's death, and it was yet in every mouth. He was only child to +Elzevir Block, who kept the Why Not? inn at the bottom of the village, +and was with the contrabandiers, when their ketch was boarded that June +night by the Government schooner. People said that it was Magistrate +Maskew of Moonfleet Manor who had put the Revenue men on the track, and +anyway he was on board the _Elector_ as she overhauled the ketch. There +was some show of fighting when the vessels first came alongside of one +another, and Maskew drew a pistol and fired it off in young David's face, +with only the two gunwales between them. In the afternoon of Midsummer's +Day the _Elector_ brought the ketch into Moonfleet, and there was a posse +of constables to march the smugglers off to Dorchester Jail. The +prisoners trudged up through the village ironed two and two together, +while people stood at their doors or followed them, the men greeting them +with a kindly word, for we knew most of them as Ringstave and Monkbury +men, and the women sorrowing for their wives. But they left David's body +in the ketch, so the boy paid dear for his night's frolic. + +'Ay, 'twas a cruel, cruel thing to fire on so young a lad,' Ratsey said, +as he stepped back a pace to study the effect of a flag that he was +chiselling on the Revenue schooner, 'and trouble is likely to come to +the other poor fellows taken, for Lawyer Empson says three of them will +surely hang at next Assize. I recollect', he went on, 'thirty years ago, +when there was a bit of a scuffle between the _Royal Sophy_ and the +_Marnhull_, they hanged four of the contrabandiers, and my old father +caught his death of cold what with going to see the poor chaps turned off +at Dorchester, and standing up to his knees in the river Frome to get a +sight of them, for all the countryside was there, and such a press there +was no place on land. There, that's enough,' he said, turning again to +the gravestone. 'On Monday I'll line the ports in black, and get a brush +of red to pick out the flag; and now, my son, you've helped with the +lantern, so come down to the Why Not? and there I'll have a word with +Elzevir, who sadly needs the talk of kindly friends to cheer him, and +we'll find you a glass of Hollands to keep out autumn chills.' + +I was but a lad, and thought it a vast honour to be asked to the Why +Not?--for did not such an invitation raise me at once to the dignity of +manhood. Ah, sweet boyhood, how eager are we as boys to be quit of thee, +with what regret do we look back on thee before our man's race is +half-way run! Yet was not my pleasure without alloy, for I feared even to +think of what Aunt Jane would say if she knew that I had been at the Why +Not?--and beside that, I stood in awe of grim old Elzevir Block, grimmer +and sadder a thousand times since David's death. + +The Why Not? was not the real name of the inn; it was properly the Mohune +Arms. The Mohunes had once owned, as I have said, the whole of the +village; but their fortunes fell, and with them fell the fortunes of +Moonfleet. The ruins of their mansion showed grey on the hillside above +the village; their almshouses stood half-way down the street, with the +quadrangle deserted and overgrown; the Mohune image and superscription +was on everything from the church to the inn, and everything that bore it +was stamped also with the superscription of decay. And here it is +necessary that I say a few words as to this family badge; for, as you +will see, I was to bear it all my life, and shall carry its impress with +me to the grave. The Mohune shield was plain white or silver, and bore +nothing upon it except a great black 'Y. I call it a 'Y', though the +Reverend Mr. Glennie once explained to me that it was not a 'Y' at all, +but what heralds call a _cross-pall. Cross-pall_ or no _cross-pall,_ it +looked for all the world like a black 'Y', with a broad arm ending in +each of the top corners of the shield, and the tail coming down into the +bottom. You might see that cognizance carved on the manor, and on the +stonework and woodwork of the church, and on a score of houses in the +village, and it hung on the signboard over the door of the inn. Everyone +knew the Mohune 'Y' for miles around, and a former landlord having called +the inn the Why Not? in jest, the name had stuck to it ever since. + +More than once on winter evenings, when men were drinking in the Why +Not?, I had stood outside, and listened to them singing 'Ducky-stones', +or 'Kegs bobbing One, Two, Three', or some of the other tunes that +sailors sing in the west. Such songs had neither beginning nor ending, +and very little sense to catch hold of in the middle. One man would crone +the air, and the others would crone a solemn chorus, but there was little +hard drinking, for Elzevir Block never got drunk himself, and did not +like his guests to get drunk either. On singing nights the room grew hot, +and the steam stood so thick on the glass inside that one could not see +in; but at other times, when there was no company, I have peeped through +the red curtains and watched Elzevir Block and Ratsey playing backgammon +at the trestle-table by the fire. It was on the trestle-table that Block +had afterwards laid out his son's dead body, and some said they had +looked through the window at night and seen the father trying to wash the +blood-matting out of the boy's yellow hair, and heard him groaning and +talking to the lifeless clay as if it could understand. Anyhow, there had +been little drinking in the inn since that time, for Block grew more and +more silent and morose. He had never courted customers, and now he +scowled on any that came, so that men looked on the Why Not? as a +blighted spot, and went to drink at the Three Choughs at Ringstave. + +My heart was in my mouth when Ratsey lifted the latch and led me into the +inn parlour. It was a low sanded room with no light except a fire of +seawood on the hearth, burning clear and lambent with blue salt flames. +There were tables at each end of the room, and wooden-seated chairs round +the walls, and at the trestle table by the chimney sat Elzevir Block +smoking a long pipe and looking at the fire. He was a man of fifty, with +a shock of grizzled hair, a broad but not unkindly face of regular +features, bushy eyebrows, and the finest forehead that I ever saw. His +frame was thick-set, and still immensely strong; indeed, the countryside +was full of tales of his strange prowess or endurance. Blocks had been +landlords at the Why Not? father and son for years, but Elzevir's mother +came from the Low Countries, and that was how he got his outland name and +could speak Dutch. Few men knew much of him, and folks often wondered how +it was he kept the Why Not? on so little custom as went that way. Yet he +never seemed to lack for money; and if people loved to tell stories of +his strength, they would speak also of widows helped, and sick comforted +with unknown gifts, and hint that some of them came from Elzevir Block +for all he was so grim and silent. + +He turned round and got up as we came in, and my fears led me to think +that his face darkened when he saw me. + +'What does this boy want?' he said to Ratsey sharply. + +'He wants the same as I want, and that's a glass of Ararat milk to keep +out autumn chills,' the sexton answered, drawing another chair up to the +trestle-table. + +'Cows' milk is best for children such as he,' was Elzevir's answer, as he +took two shining brass candlesticks from the mantel-board, set them on +the table, and lit the candles with a burning chip from the hearth. + +'John is no child; he is the same age as David, and comes from helping me +to finish David's headstone. 'Tis finished now, barring the paint upon +the ships, and, please God, by Monday night we will have it set fair and +square in the churchyard, and then the poor lad may rest in peace, +knowing he has above him Master Ratsey's best handiwork, and the parson's +verses to set forth how shamefully he came to his end.' + +I thought that Elzevir softened a little as Ratsey spoke of his son, and +he said, 'Ay, David rests in peace. 'Tis they that brought him to his end +that shall not rest in peace when their time comes. And it may come +sooner than they think,' he added, speaking more to himself than to us. I +knew that he meant Mr. Maskew, and recollected that some had warned the +magistrate that he had better keep out of Elzevir's way, for there was no +knowing what a desperate man might do. And yet the two had met since in +the village street, and nothing worse come of it than a scowling look +from Block. + +'Tush, man!' broke in the sexton, 'it was the foulest deed ever man +did; but let not thy mind brood on it, nor think how thou mayest get +thyself avenged. Leave that to Providence; for He whose wisdom lets +such things be done, will surely see they meet their due reward. +"Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, saith the Lord".' And he took his +hat off and hung it on a peg. + +Block did not answer, but set three glasses on the table, and then took +out from a cupboard a little round long-necked bottle, from which he +poured out a glass for Ratsey and himself. Then he half-filled the third, +and pushed it along the table to me, saying, 'There, take it, lad, if +thou wilt; 'twill do thee no good, but may do thee no harm.' + +Ratsey raised his glass almost before it was filled. He sniffed the +liquor and smacked his lips. 'O rare milk of Ararat!' he said, 'it is +sweet and strong, and sets the heart at ease. And now get the +backgammon-board, John, and set it for us on the table.' So they fell to +the game, and I took a sly sip at the liquor, but nearly choked myself, +not being used to strong waters, and finding it heady and burning in the +throat. Neither man spoke, and there was no sound except the constant +rattle of the dice, and the rubbing of the pieces being moved across the +board. Now and then one of the players stopped to light his pipe, and at +the end of a game they scored their totals on the table with a bit of +chalk. So I watched them for an hour, knowing the game myself, and being +interested at seeing Elzevir's backgammon-board, which I had heard talked +of before. + +It had formed part of the furniture of the Why Not? for generations of +landlords, and served perhaps to pass time for cavaliers of the Civil +Wars. All was of oak, black and polished, board, dice-boxes, and men, but +round the edge ran a Latin inscription inlaid in light wood, which I read +on that first evening, but did not understand till Mr. Glennie translated +it to me. I had cause to remember it afterwards, so I shall set it down +here in Latin for those who know that tongue, _Ita in vita ut in lusu +alae pessima jactura arte corrigenda est_, and in English as Mr. Glennie +translated it, _As in life, so in a game of hazard, skill will make +something of the worst of throws_. At last Elzevir looked up and spoke +to me, not unkindly, 'Lad, it is time for you to go home; men say that +Blackbeard walks on the first nights of winter, and some have met him +face to face betwixt this house and yours.' I saw he wanted to be rid of +me, so bade them both good night, and was off home, running all the way +thither, though not from any fear of Blackbeard, for Ratsey had often +told me that there was no chance of meeting him unless one passed the +churchyard by night. + +Blackbeard was one of the Mohunes who had died a century back, and was +buried in the vault under the church, with others of his family, but +could not rest there, whether, as some said, because he was always +looking for a lost treasure, or as others, because of his exceeding +wickedness in life. If this last were the true reason, he must have been +bad indeed, for Mohunes have died before and since his day wicked enough +to bear anyone company in their vault or elsewhere. Men would have it +that on dark winter nights Blackbeard might be seen with an old-fashioned +lanthorn digging for treasure in the graveyard; and those who professed +to know said he was the tallest of men, with full black beard, coppery +face, and such evil eyes, that any who once met their gaze must die +within a year. However that might be, there were few in Moonfleet who +would not rather walk ten miles round than go near the churchyard after +dark; and once when Cracky Jones, a poor doited body, was found there +one summer morning, lying dead on the grass, it was thought that he had +met Blackbeard in the night. + +Mr. Glennie, who knew more about such things than anyone else, told me +that Blackbeard was none other than a certain Colonel John Mohune, +deceased about one hundred years ago. He would have it that Colonel +Mohune, in the dreadful wars against King Charles the First, had deserted +the allegiance of his house and supported the cause of the rebels. So +being made Governor of Carisbrooke Castle for the Parliament, he became +there the King's jailer, but was false to his trust. For the King, +carrying constantly hidden about his person a great diamond which had +once been given him by his brother King of France, Mohune got wind of +this jewel, and promised that if it were given him he would wink at His +Majesty's escape. Then this wicked man, having taken the bribe, plays +traitor again, comes with a file of soldiers at the hour appointed for +the King's flight, finds His Majesty escaping through a window, has him +away to a stricter ward, and reports to the Parliament that the King's +escape is only prevented by Colonel Mohune's watchfulness. But how true, +as Mr. Glennie said, that we should not be envious against the ungodly, +against the man that walketh after evil counsels. Suspicion fell on +Colonel Mohune; he was removed from his Governorship, and came back to +his home at Moonfleet. There he lived in seclusion, despised by both +parties in the State, until he died, about the time of the happy +Restoration of King Charles the Second. But even after his death he could +not get rest; for men said that he had hid somewhere that treasure given +him to permit the King's escape, and that not daring to reclaim it, had +let the secret die with him, and so must needs come out of his grave to +try to get at it again. Mr. Glennie would never say whether he believed +the tale or not, pointing out that apparitions both of good and evil +spirits are related in Holy Scripture, but that the churchyard was an +unlikely spot for Colonel Mohune to seek his treasure in; for had it been +buried there, he would have had a hundred chances to have it up in his +lifetime. However this may be, though I was brave as a lion by day, and +used indeed to frequent the churchyard, because there was the widest +view of the sea to be obtained from it, yet no reward would have taken me +thither at night. Nor was I myself without some witness to the tale, for +having to walk to Ringstave for Dr. Hawkins on the night my aunt broke +her leg, I took the path along the down which overlooks the churchyard at +a mile off; and thence most certainly saw a light moving to and fro about +the church, where no honest man could be at two o'clock in the morning. + + + + +CHAPTER 2 + +THE FLOODS + +Then banks came down with ruin and rout, +Then beaten spray flew round about, +Then all the mighty floods were out, + And all the world was in the sea _--Jean Ingelow_ + + +On the third of November, a few days after this visit to the Why Not?, +the wind, which had been blowing from the south-west, began about four in +the afternoon to rise in sudden strong gusts. The rooks had been +pitch-falling all the morning, so we knew that bad weather was due; and +when we came out from the schooling that Mr. Glennie gave us in the hall +of the old almshouses, there were wisps of thatch, and even stray tiles, +flying from the roofs, and the children sang: + +Blow wind, rise storm, +Ship ashore before morn. + +It is heathenish rhyme that has come down out of other and worse times; +for though I do not say but that a wreck on Moonfleet beach was looked +upon sometimes as little short of a godsend, yet I hope none of us were +so wicked as to _wish_ a vessel to be wrecked that we might share in the +plunder. Indeed, I have known the men of Moonfleet risk their own lives a +hundred times to save those of shipwrecked mariners, as when the +_Darius_, East Indiaman, came ashore; nay, even poor nameless corpses +washed up were sure of Christian burial, or perhaps of one of Master +Ratsey's headstones to set forth sex and date, as may be seen in the +churchyard to this day. + +Our village lies near the centre of Moonfleet Bay, a great bight twenty +miles across, and a death-trap to up-channel sailors in a +south-westerly gale. For with that wind blowing strong from south, if +you cannot double the Snout, you must most surely come ashore; and many +a good ship failing to round that point has beat up and down the bay +all day, but come to beach in the evening. And once on the beach, the +sea has little mercy, for the water is deep right in, and the waves +curl over full on the pebbles with a weight no timbers can withstand. +Then if poor fellows try to save themselves, there is a deadly +under-tow or rush back of the water, which sucks them off their legs, +and carries them again under the thundering waves. It is that back-suck +of the pebbles that you may hear for miles inland, even at Dorchester, +on still nights long after the winds that caused it have sunk, and +which makes people turn in their beds, and thank God they are not +fighting with the sea on Moonfleet beach. + +But on this third of November there was no wreck, only such a wind as I +have never known before, and only once since. All night long the tempest +grew fiercer, and I think no one in Moonfleet went to bed; for there was +such a breaking of tiles and glass, such a banging of doon and rattling +of shutters, that no sleep was possible, and we were afraid besides lest +the chimneys should fall and crush us. The wind blew fiercest about five +in the morning, and then some ran up the street calling out a new +danger--that the sea was breaking over the beach, and that all the place +was like to be flooded. Some of the women were for flitting forthwith and +climbing the down; but Master Ratsey, who was going round with others to +comfort people, soon showed us that the upper part of the village stood +so high, that if the water was to get thither, there was no knowing if it +would not cover Ridgedown itself. But what with its being a spring-tide, +and the sea breaking clean over the great outer beach of pebbles--a thing +that had not happened for fifty years--there was so much water piled up +in the lagoon, that it passed its bounds and flooded all the sea meadows, +and even the lower end of the street. So when day broke, there was the +churchyard flooded, though 'twas on rising ground, and the church itself +standing up like a steep little island, and the water over the door-sill +of the Why Not?, though Elzevir Block would not budge, saying he did not +care if the sea swept him away. It was but a nine-hours' wonder, for the +wind fell very suddenly; the water began to go back, the sun shone +bright, and before noon people came out to the doors to see the floods +and talk over the storm. Most said that never had been so fierce a wind, +but some of the oldest spoke of one in the second year of Queen Anne, and +would have it as bad or worse. But whether worse or not, this storm was a +weighty matter enough for me, and turned the course of my life, as you +shall hear. + +I have said that the waters came up so high that the church stood out +like an island; but they went back quickly, and Mr. Glennie was able to +hold service on the next Sunday morning. Few enough folks came to +Moonfleet Church at any time; but fewer still came that morning, for +the meadows between the village and the churchyard were wet and miry +from the water. There were streamers of seaweed tangled about the very +tombstones, and against the outside of the churchyard wall was piled up +a great bank of it, from which came a salt rancid smell like a +guillemot's egg that is always in the air after a south-westerly gale +has strewn the shore with wrack. + +This church is as large as any other I have seen, and divided into two +parts with a stone screen across the middle. Perhaps Moonfleet was once a +large place, and then likely enough there were people to fill such a +church, but never since I knew it did anyone worship in that part called +the nave. This western portion was quite empty beyond a few old tombs and +a Royal Arms of Queen Anne; the pavement too was damp and mossy; and +there were green patches down the white walls where the rains had got in. +So the handful of people that came to church were glad enough to get the +other side of the screen in the chancel, where at least the pew floors +were boarded over, and the panelling of oak-work kept off the draughts. + +Now this Sunday morning there were only three or four, I think, beside +Mr. Glennie and Ratsey and the half-dozen of us boys, who crossed the +swampy meadows strewn with drowned shrew-mice and moles. Even my aunt was +not at church, being prevented by a migraine, but a surprise waited those +who did go, for there in a pew by himself sat Elzevir Block. The people +stared at him as they came in, for no one had ever known him go to church +before; some saying in the village that he was a Catholic, and others an +infidel. However that may be, there he was this day, wishing perhaps to +show a favour to the parson who had written the verses for David's +headstone. He took no notice of anyone, nor exchanged greetings with +those that came in, as was the fashion in Moonfleet Church, but kept his +eyes fixed on a prayer-book which he held in his hand, though he could +not be following the minister, for he never turned the leaf. + +The church was so damp from the floods, that Master Ratsey had put a fire +in the brazier which stood at the back, but was not commonly lighted till +the winter had fairly begun. We boys sat as close to the brazier as we +could, for the wet cold struck up from the flags, and besides that, we +were so far from the clergyman, and so well screened by the oak backs, +that we could bake an apple or roast a chestnut without much fear of +being caught. But that morning there was something else to take off our +thoughts; for before the service was well begun, we became aware of a +strange noise under the church. The first time it came was just as Mr. +Glennie was finishing 'Dearly Beloved', and we heard it again before the +second lesson. It was not a loud noise, but rather like that which a boat +makes jostling against another at sea, only there was something deeper +and more hollow about it. We boys looked at each other, for we knew what +was under the church, and that the sound could only come from the Mohune +Vault. No one at Moonfleet had ever seen the inside of that vault; but +Ratsey was told by his father, who was clerk before him, that it underlay +half the chancel, and that there were more than a score of Mohunes lying +there. It had not been opened for over forty years, since Gerald Mohune, +who burst a blood-vessel drinking at Weymouth races, was buried there; +but there was a tale that one Sunday afternoon, many years back, there +had come from the vault so horrible and unearthly a cry, that parson and +people got up and fled from the church, and would not worship there for +weeks afterwards. + +We thought of these stories, and huddled up closer to the brazier, being +frightened at the noise, and uncertain whether we should not turn tail +and run from the church. For it was certain that something was moving in +the Mohune vault, to which there was no entrance except by a ringed stone +in the chancel floor, that had not been lifted for forty years. + +However, we thought better of it, and did not budge, though I could see +when standing up and looking over the tops of the seats that others +beside ourselves were ill at ease; for Granny Tucker gave such starts +when she heard the sounds, that twice her spectacles fell off her nose +into her lap, and Master Ratsey seemed to be trying to mask the one noise +by making another himself, whether by shuffling with his feet or by +thumping down his prayer-book. But the thing that most surprised me was +that even Elzevir Block, who cared, men said, for neither God nor Devil, +looked unquiet, and gave a quick glance at Ratsey every time the sound +came. So we sat till Mr. Glennie was well on with the sermon. His +discourse interested me though I was only a boy, for he likened life to +the letter 'Y', saying that 'in each man's life must come a point where +two roads part like the arms of a "Y", and that everyone must choose for +himself whether he will follow the broad and sloping path on the left or +the steep and narrow path on the right. For,' said he, 'if you will look +in your books, you will see that the letter "Y" is not like the Mohunes', +with both arms equal, but has the arm on the left broader and more +sloping than the arm on the right; hence ancient philosophers hold that +this arm on the left represents the easy downward road to destruction, +and the arm on the right the narrow upward path of life.' When we heard +that we all fell to searching our prayer-books for a capital 'Y'; and +Granny Tucker, who knew not A from B, made much ado in fumbling with her +book, for she would have people think that she could read. Then just at +that moment came a noise from below louder than those before, hollow and +grating like the cry of an old man in pain. With that up jumps Granny +Tucker, calling out loud in church to Mr. Glennie-- + +'O Master, however can'ee bide there preaching when the Moons be rising +from their graves?' and out from the church. + +That was too much for the others, and all fled, Mrs. Vining crying, +'Lordsakes, we shall all be throttled like Cracky Jones.' + +So in a minute there were none left in the church, save and except Mr. +Glennie, with me, Ratsey, and Elzevir Block. I did not run: first, not +wishing to show myself coward before the men; second, because I thought +if Blackbeard came he would fall on the men rather than on a boy; and +third, that if it came to blows, Block was strong enough to give account +even of a Mohune. Mr. Glennie went on with his sermon, making as though +he neither heard any noise nor saw the people leave the church; and when +he had finished, Elzevir walked out, but I stopped to see what the +minister would say to Ratsey about the noise in the vault. The sexton +helped Mr. Glennie off with his gown, and then seeing me standing by and +listening, said-- + +'The Lord has sent evil angels among us; 'tis a terrible thing, Master +Glennie, to hear the dead men moving under our feet.' + +'Tut, tut,' answered the minister, 'it is only their own fears that make +such noises terrible to the vulgar. As for Blackbeard, I am not here to +say whether guilty spirits sometimes cannot rest and are seen wandering +by men; but for these noises, they are certainly Nature's work as is the +noise of waves upon the beach. The floods have filled the vault with +water, and so the coffins getting afloat, move in some eddies that we +know not of, and jostle one another. Then being hollow, they give forth +those sounds you hear, and these are your evil angels. 'Tis very true the +dead do move beneath our feet, but 'tis because they cannot help +themselves, being carried hither and thither by the water. Fie, Ratsey +man, you should know better than to fright a boy with silly talk of +spirits when the truth is bad enough.' + +The parson's words had the ring of truth in them to me, and I never +doubted that he was right. So this mystery was explained, and yet it was +a dreadful thing, and made me shiver, to think of the Mohunes all adrift +in their coffins, and jostling one another in the dark. I pictured them +to myself, the many generations, old men and children, man and maid, all +bones now, each afloat in his little box of rotting wood; and Blackbeard +himself in a great coffin bigger than all the rest, coming crashing into +the weaker ones, as a ship in a heavy sea comes crashing down sometimes +in the trough, on a small boat that is trying to board her. And then +there was the outer darkness of the vault itself to think of, and the +close air, and the black putrid water nearly up to the roof on which such +sorry ships were sailing. + +Ratsey looked a little crestfallen at what Mr. Glennie said, but put a +good face on it, and answered-- + +'Well, master, I am but a plain man, and know nothing about floods and +these eddies and hidden workings of Nature of which you speak; but, +saving your presence, I hold it a fond thing to make light of such +warnings as are given us. 'Tis always said, "When the Moons move, then +Moonfleet mourns"; and I have heard my father tell that the last time +they stirred was in Queen Anne's second year, when the great storm blew +men's homes about their heads. And as for frighting children, 'tis well +that heady boys should learn to stand in awe, and not pry into what does +not concern them--or they may come to harm.' He added the last words with +what I felt sure was a nod of warning to myself, though I did not then +understand what he meant. So he walked off in a huff with Elzevir, who +was waiting for him outside, and I went with Mr. Glennie and carried his +gown for him back to his lodging in the village. + +Mr. Glennie was always very friendly, making much of me, and talking to +me as though I were his equal; which was due, I think, to there being no +one of his own knowledge in the neighbourhood, and so he had as lief talk +to an ignorant boy as to an ignorant man. After we had passed the +churchyard turnstile and were crossing the sludgy meadows, I asked him +again what he knew of Blackbeard and his lost treasure. + +'My son,' he answered, 'all that I have been able to gather is, that this +Colonel John Mohune (foolishly called Blackbeard) was the first to impair +the family fortunes by his excesses, and even let the almshouses fall to +ruin, and turned the poor away. Unless report strangely belies him, he +was an evil man, and besides numberless lesser crimes, had on his hands +the blood of a faithful servant, whom he made away with because chance +had brought to the man's ears some guilty secret of the master. Then, at +the end of his life, being filled with fear and remorse (as must always +happen with evil livers at the last), he sent for Rector Kindersley of +Dorchester to confess him, though a Protestant, and wished to make amends +by leaving that treasure so ill-gotten from King Charles (which was all +that he had to leave) for the repair and support of the almshouses. He +made a last will, which I have seen, to this effect, but without +describing the treasure further than to call it a diamond, nor saying +where it was to be found. Doubtless he meant to get it himself, sell it, +and afterwards apply the profit to his good purpose, but before he could +do so death called him suddenly to his account. So men say that he cannot +rest in his grave, not having made even so tardy a reparation, and never +will rest unless the treasure is found and spent upon the poor.' + +I thought much over what Mr. Glennie had said and fell to wondering where +Blackbeard could have hid his diamond, and whether I might not find it +some day and make myself a rich man. Now, as I considered that noise we +had heard under the church, and Parson Glennie's explanation of it, I was +more and more perplexed; for the noise had, as I have said, something +deep and hollow-booming in it, and how was that to be made by decayed +coffins. I had more than once seen Ratsey, in digging a grave, turn up +pieces of coffins, and sometimes a tarnished name-plate would show that +they had not been so very long underground, and yet the wood was quite +decayed and rotten. And granting that such were in the earth, and so +might more easily perish, yet when the top was taken off old Guy's brick +grave to put his widow beside him, Master Ratsey gave me a peep in, and +old Guy's coffin had cracks and warps in it, and looked as if a sound +blow would send it to pieces. Yet here were the Mohune coffins that had +been put away for generations, and must be rotten as tinder, tapping +against each other with a sound like a drum, as if they were still sound +and air-tight. Still, Mr. Glennie must be right; for if it was not the +coffins, what should it be that made the noise? + +So on the next day after we heard the sounds in church, being the +Monday, as soon as morning school was over, off I ran down street and +across meadows to the churchyard, meaning to listen outside the church +if the Mohunes were still moving. I say outside the church, for I knew +Ratsey would not lend me the key to go in after what he had said about +boys prying into things that did not concern them; and besides that, I +do not know that I should care to have ventured inside alone, even if I +had the key. + +When I reached the church, not a little out of breath, I listened first +on the side nearest the village, that is the north side; putting my ear +against the wall, and afterwards lying down on the ground, though the +grass was long and wet, so that I might the better catch any sound that +came. But I could hear nothing, and so concluded that the Mohunes had +come to rest again, yet thought I would walk round the church and listen +too on the south or sea side, for that their worships might have drifted +over to that side, and be there rubbing shoulders with one another. So I +went round, and was glad to get out of the cold shade into the sun on the +south. But here was a surprise; for when I came round a great buttress +which juts out from the wall, what should I see but two men, and these +two were Ratsey and Elzevir Block. I came upon them unawares, and, lo and +behold, there was Master Ratsey lying also on the ground with his ear to +the wall, while Elzevir sat back against the inside of the buttress with +a spy-glass in his hand, smoking and looking out to sea. + +Now, I had as much right to be in the churchyard as Ratsey or Elzevir, +and yet I felt a sudden shame as if I had been caught in some bad act, +and knew the blood was running to my cheeks. At first I had it in my mind +to turn tail and make off, but concluded to stand my ground since they +had seen me, and so bade them 'Good morning'. Master Ratsey jumped to his +feet as nimbly as a cat; and if he had not been a man, I should have +thought he was blushing too, for his face was very red, though that came +perhaps from lying on the ground. I could see he was a little put about, +and out of countenance, though he tried to say 'Good morning, John', in +an easy tone, as if it was a common thing for him to be lying in the +churchyard, with his ear to the wall, on a winter's morning. 'Good +morning, John,' he said; 'and what might you be doing in the churchyard +this fine day?' + +I answered that I was come to listen if the Mohunes were still moving. + +'Well, that I can't tell you,' returned Ratsey, 'not wishing to waste +thought on such idle matters, and having to examine this wall whether +the floods have not so damaged it as to need under-pinning; so if you +have time to gad about of a morning, get you back to my workshop and +fetch me a plasterer's hammer which I have left behind, so that I can +try this mortar.' + +I knew that he was making excuses about underpinning, for the wall was +sound as a rock, but was glad enough to take him at his word and beat a +retreat from where I was not wanted. Indeed, I soon saw how he was +mocking me, for the men did not even wait for me to come back with the +hammer, but I met them returning in the first meadow. Master Ratsey made +another excuse that he did not need the hammer now, as he had found out +that all that was wanted was a little pointing with new mortar. 'But if +you have such time to waste, John,' he added, 'you can come tomorrow and +help me to get new thwarts in the _Petrel_, which she badly wants.' + +So we three came back to the village together; but looking up at Elzevir +once while Master Ratsey was making these pretences, I saw his eyes +twinkle under their heavy brows, as if he was amused at the other's +embarrassment. + +The next Sunday, when we went to church, all was quiet as usual, +there was no Elzevir, and no more noises, and I never heard the +Mohunes move again. + + + + +CHAPTER 3 + +A DISCOVERY + +Some bold adventurers disdain +The limits of their little reign, + And unknown regions dare descry; +Still, as they run, they look behind, +They hear a voice in every wind + And snatch a fearful joy--_Gray_ + + +I have said that I used often in the daytime, when not at school, to go +to the churchyard, because being on a little rise, there was the best +view of the sea to be had from it; and on a fine day you could watch the +French privateers creeping along the cliffs under the Snout, and lying in +wait for an Indiaman or up-channel trader. There were at Moonfleet few +boys of my own age, and none that I cared to make my companion; so I was +given to muse alone, and did so for the most part in the open air, all +the more because my aunt did not like to see an idle boy, with muddy +boots, about her house. + +For a few weeks, indeed, after the day that I had surprised Elzevir and +Ratsey, I kept away from the church, fearing to meet them there again; +but a little later resumed my visits, and saw no more of them. Now, my +favourite seat in the churchyard was the flat top of a raised stone tomb, +which stands on the south-east of the church. I have heard Mr. Glennie +call it an altar-tomb, and in its day it had been a fine monument, being +carved round with festoons of fruit and flowers; but had suffered so much +from the weather, that I never was able to read the lettering on it, or +to find out who had been buried beneath. Here I chose most to sit, not +only because it had a flat and convenient top, but because it was +screened from the wind by a thick clump of yew-trees. These yews had +once, I think, completely surrounded it, but had either died or been cut +down on the south side, so that anyone sitting on the grave-top was snug +from the weather, and yet possessed a fine prospect over the sea. On the +other three sides, the yews grew close and thick, embowering the tomb +like the high back of a fireside chair; and many times in autumn I have +seen the stone slab crimson with the fallen waxy berries, and taken some +home to my aunt, who liked to taste them with a glass of sloe-gin after +her Sunday dinner. Others beside me, no doubt, found this tomb a +comfortable seat and look-out; for there was quite a path worn to it on +the south side, though all the times I had visited it I had never seen +anyone there. + +So it came about that on a certain afternoon in the beginning of +February, in the year 1758, I was sitting on this tomb looking out to +sea. Though it was so early in the year, the air was soft and warm as a +May day, and so still that I could hear the drumming of turnips that +Gaffer George was flinging into a cart on the hillside, near half a mile +away. Ever since the floods of which I have spoken, the weather had been +open, but with high winds, and little or no rain. Thus as the land dried +after the floods there began to open cracks in the heavy clay soil on +which Moonfleet is built, such as are usually only seen with us in the +height of summer. There were cracks by the side of the path in the +sea-meadows between the village and the church, and cracks in the +churchyard itself, and one running right up to this very tomb. + +It must have been past four o'clock in the afternoon, and I was for +returning to tea at my aunt's, when underneath the stone on which I sat I +heard a rumbling and crumbling, and on jumping off saw that the crack in +the ground had still further widened, just where it came up to the tomb, +and that the dry earth had so shrunk and settled that there was a hole +in the ground a foot or more across. Now this hole reached under the big +stone that formed one side of the tomb, and falling on my hands and knees +and looking down it, I perceived that there was under the monument a +larger cavity, into which the hole opened. I believe there never was boy +yet who saw a hole in the ground, or a cave in a hill, or much more an +underground passage, but longed incontinently to be into it and discover +whither it led. So it was with me; and seeing that the earth had fallen +enough into the hole to open a way under the stone, I slipped myself in +feet foremost, dropped down on to a heap of fallen mould, and found that +I could stand upright under the monument itself. + +Now this was what I had expected, for I thought that there had been below +this grave a vault, the roof of which had given way and let the earth +fall in. But as soon as my eyes were used to the dimmer light, I saw that +it was no such thing, but that the hole into which I had crept was only +the mouth of a passage, which sloped gently down in the direction of the +church. My heart fell to thumping with eagerness and surprise, for I +thought I had made a wonderful discovery, and that this hidden way would +certainly lead to great things, perhaps even to Blackbeard's hoard; for +ever since Mr. Glennie's tale I had constantly before my eyes a vision of +the diamond and the wealth it was to bring me. The passage was two paces +broad, as high as a tall man, and cut through the soil, without bricks or +any other lining; and what surprised me most was that it did not seem +deserted nor mouldy and cob-webbed, as one would expect such a place to +be, but rather a well-used thoroughfare; for I could see the soft clay +floor was trodden with the prints of many boots, and marked with a trail +as if some heavy thing had been dragged over it. + +So I set out down the passage, reaching out my hand before me lest I +should run against anything in the dark, and sliding my feet slowly to +avoid pitfalls in the floor. But before I had gone half a dozen paces, +the darkness grew so black that I was frightened, and so far from going +on was glad to turn sharp about, and see the glimmer of light that came +in through the hole under the tomb. Then a horror of the darkness seized +me, and before I well knew what I was about I found myself wriggling my +body up under the tombstone on to the churchyard grass, and was once more +in the low evening sunlight and the soft sweet air. + +Home I ran to my aunt's, for it was past tea-time, and beside that I knew +I must fetch a candle if I were ever to search out the passage; and to +search it I had well made up my mind, no matter how much I was scared for +this moment. My aunt gave me but a sorry greeting when I came into the +kitchen, for I was late and hot. She never said much when displeased, but +had a way of saying nothing, which was much worse; and would only reply +yes or no, and that after an interval, to anything that was asked of her. +So the meal was silent enough, for she had finished before I arrived, and +I ate but little myself being too much occupied with the thought of my +strange discovery, and finding, beside, the tea lukewarm and the victuals +not enticing. + +You may guess that I said nothing of what I had seen, but made up my mind +that as soon as my aunt's back was turned I would get a candle and +tinder-box, and return to the churchyard. The sun was down before Aunt +Jane gave thanks for what we had received, and then, turning to me, she +said in a cold and measured voice: + +'John, I have observed that you are often out and about of nights, +sometimes as late as half past seven or eight. Now, it is not seemly for +young folk to be abroad after dark, and I do not choose that my nephew +should be called a gadabout. "What's bred in the bone will come out in +the flesh", and 'twas with such loafing that your father began his wild +ways, and afterwards led my poor sister such a life as never was, till +the mercy of Providence took him away.' + +Aunt Jane often spoke thus of my father, whom I never remembered, but +believe him to have been an honest man and good fellow to boot, if +something given to roaming and to the contraband. + +'So understand', she went on, 'that I will not have you out again this +evening, no, nor any other evening, after dusk. Bed is the place for +youth when night falls, but if this seem to you too early you can sit +with me for an hour in the parlour, and I will read you a discourse of +Doctor Sherlock that will banish vain thoughts, and leave you in a fit +frame for quiet sleep.' + +So she led the way into the parlour, took the book from the shelf, put it +on the table within the little circle of light cast by a shaded candle, +and began. It was dull enough, though I had borne such tribulations +before, and the drone of my aunt's voice would have sent me to sleep, as +it had done at other times, even in a straight-backed chair, had I not +been so full of my discovery, and chafed at this delay. Thus all the time +my aunt read of spiritualities and saving grace, I had my mind on +diamonds and all kinds of mammon, for I never doubted that Blackbeard's +treasure would be found at the end of that secret passage. The sermon +finished at last, and my aunt closed the book with a stiff 'good night' +for me. I was for giving her my formal kiss, but she made as if she did +not see me and turned away; so we went upstairs each to our own room, and +I never kissed Aunt Jane again. + +There was a moon three-quarters full, already in the sky, and on +moonlight nights I was allowed no candle to show me to bed. But on that +night I needed none, for I never took off my clothes, having resolved to +wait till my aunt was asleep, and then, ghosts or no ghosts, to make my +way back to the churchyard. I did not dare to put off that visit even +till the morning, lest some chance passer-by should light upon the hole, +and so forestall me with Blackbeard's treasure. + +Thus I lay wide awake on my bed watching the shadow of the tester-post +against the whitewashed wall, and noting how it had moved, by degrees, as +the moon went farther round. At last, just as it touched the picture of +the Good Shepherd which hung over the mantelpiece, I heard my aunt +snoring in her room, and knew that I was free. Yet I waited a few minutes +so that she might get well on with her first sleep, and then took off my +boots, and in stockinged feet slipped past her room and down the stairs. +How stair, handrail, and landing creaked that night, and how my feet and +body struck noisily against things seen quite well but misjudged in the +effort not to misjudge them! And yet there was the note of safety still +sounding, for the snoring never ceased, and the sleeper woke not, though +her waking then might have changed all my life. So I came safely to the +kitchen, and there put in my pocket one of the best winter candles and +the tinder-box, and as I crept out of the room heard suddenly how loud +the old clock was ticking, and looking up saw the bright brass band +marking half past ten on the dial. + +Out in the street I kept in the shadow of the houses as far as I might, +though all was silent as the grave; indeed, I think that when the moon is +bright a great hush falls always upon Nature, as though she was taken up +in wondering at her own beauty. Everyone was fast asleep in Moonfleet and +there was no light in any window; only when I came opposite the Why Not? +I saw from the red glow behind the curtains that the bottom room was lit +up, so Elzevir was not yet gone to bed. It was strange, for the Why Not? +had been shut up early for many a long night past, and I crossed over +cautiously to see if I could make out what was going forward. But that +was not to be done, for the panes were thickly steamed over; and this +surprised me more as showing that there was a good company inside. +Moreover, as I stood and listened I could hear a mutter of deep voices +inside, not as of roisterers, but of sober men talking low. + +Eagerness would not let me wait long, and I was off across the meadows +towards the church, though not without sad misgivings as soon as the last +house was left well behind me. At the churchyard wall my courage had +waned somewhat: it seemed a shameless thing to come to rifle Blackbeard's +treasure just in the very place and hour that Blackbeard loved; and as I +passed the turnstile I half-expected that a tall figure, hairy and +evil-eyed, would spring out from the shadow on the north side of the +church. But nothing stirred, and the frosty grass sounded crisp under my +feet as I made across the churchyard, stepping over the graves and +keeping always out of the shadows, towards the black clump of yew-trees +on the far side. + +When I got round the yews, there was the tomb standing out white against +them, and at the foot of the tomb was the hole like a patch of black +velvet spread upon the ground, it was so dark. Then, for a moment, I +thought that Blackbeard might be lying in wait in the bottom of the hole, +and I stood uncertain whether to go on or back. I could catch the rustle +of the water on the beach--not of any waves, for the bay was smooth as +glass, but just a lipper at the fringe; and wishing to put off with any +excuse the descent into the passage, though I had quite resolved to make +it, I settled with myself that I would count the water wash twenty times, +and at the twentieth would let myself down into the hole. Only seven +wavelets had come in when I forgot to count, for there, right in the +middle of the moon's path across the water, lay a lugger moored broadside +to the beach. She was about half a mile out, but there was no mistake, +for though her sails were lowered her masts and hull stood out black +against the moonlight. Here was a fresh reason for delay, for surely one +must consider what this craft could be, and what had brought her here. +She was too small for a privateer, too large for a fishing-smack, and +could not be a revenue boat by her low freeboard in the waist; and 'twas +a strange thing for a boat to cast anchor in the midst of Moonfleet Bay +even on a night so fine as this. Then while I watched I saw a blue flare +in the bows, only for a moment, as if a man had lit a squib and flung it +overboard, but I knew from it she was a contrabandier, and signalling +either to the shore or to a mate in the offing. With that, courage came +back, and I resolved to make this flare my signal for getting down into +the hole, screwing my heart up with the thought that if Blackbeard was +really waiting for me there, 'twould be little good to turn tail now, for +he would be after me and could certainly run much faster than I. Then I +took one last look round, and down into the hole forthwith, the same way +as I had got down earlier in the day. So on that February night John +Trenchard found himself standing in the heap of loose fallen mould at the +bottom of the hole, with a mixture of courage and cowardice in his heart, +but overruling all a great desire to get at Blackbeard's diamond. + +Out came tinder-box and candle, and I was glad indeed when the light +burned up bright enough to show that no one, at any rate, was standing by +my side. But then there was the passage, and who could say what might be +lurking there? Yet I did not falter, but set out on this adventurous +journey, walking very slowly indeed--but that was from fear of +pitfalls--and nerving myself with the thought of the great diamond which +surely would be found at the end of the passage. What should I not be +able to do with such wealth? I would buy a nag for Mr. Glennie, a new +boat for Ratsey, and a silk gown for Aunt Jane, in spite of her being so +hard with me as on this night. And thus I would make myself the greatest +man in Moonfleet, richer even than Mr. Maskew, and build a stone house in +the sea-meadows with a good prospect of the sea, and marry Grace Maskew +and live happily, and fish. I walked on down the passage, reaching out +the candle as far as might be in front of me, and whistling to keep +myself company, yet saw neither Blackbeard nor anyone else. All the way +there were footprints on the floor, and the roof was black as with smoke +of torches, and this made me fear lest some of those who had been there +before might have made away with the diamond. Now, though I have spoken +of this journey down the passage as though it were a mile long, and +though it verily seemed so to me that night, yet I afterwards found it +was not more than twenty yards or thereabouts; and then I came upon a +stone wall which had once blocked the road, but was now broken through so +as to make a ragged doorway into a chamber beyond. There I stood on the +rough sill of the door, holding my breath and reaching out my candle +arm's-length into the darkness, to see what sort of a place this was +before I put foot into it. And before the light had well time to fall on +things, I knew that I was underneath the church, and that this chamber +was none other than the Mohune Vault. + +It was a large room, much larger, I think, than the schoolroom where Mr. +Glennie taught us, but not near so high, being only some nine feet from +floor to roof. I say floor, though in reality there was none, but only a +bottom of soft wet sand; and when I stepped down on to it my heart beat +very fiercely, for I remembered what manner of place I was entering, and +the dreadful sounds which had issued from it that Sunday morning so short +a time before. I satisfied myself that there was nothing evil lurking in +the dark corners, or nothing visible at least, and then began to look +round and note what was to be seen. Walls and roof were stone, and at one +end was a staircase closed by a great flat stone at top--that same stone +which I had often seen, with a ring in it, in the floor of the church +above. All round the sides were stone shelves, with divisions between +them like great bookcases, but instead of books there were the coffins of +the Mohunes. Yet these lay only at the sides, and in the middle of the +room was something very different, for here were stacked scores of casks, +kegs, and runlets, from a storage butt that might hold thirty gallons +down to a breaker that held only one. They were marked all of them in +white paint on the end with figures and letters, that doubtless set forth +the quality to those that understood. Here indeed was a discovery, and +instead of picking up at the end of the passage a little brass or silver +casket, which had only to be opened to show Blackbeard's diamond gleaming +inside, I had stumbled on the Mohunes' vault, and found it to be nothing +but a cellar of gentlemen of the contraband, for surely good liquor would +never be stored in so shy a place if it ever had paid the excise. + +As I walked round this stack of casks my foot struck sharply on the edge +of a butt, which must have been near empty, and straightway came from it +the same hollow, booming sound (only fainter) which had so frightened us +in church that Sunday morning. So it was the casks, and not the coffins, +that had been knocking one against another; and I was pleased with +myself, remembering how I had reasoned that coffin-wood could never give +that booming sound. + +It was plain enough that the whole place had been under water: the floor +was still muddy, and the green and sweating walls showed the flood-mark +within two feet of the roof; there was a wisp or two of fine seaweed that +had somehow got in, and a small crab was still alive and scuttled across +the corner, yet the coffins were but little disturbed. They lay on the +shelves in rows, one above the other, and numbered twenty-three in all: +most were in lead, and so could never float, but of those in wood some +were turned slantways in their niches, and one had floated right away and +been left on the floor upside down in a corner when the waters went back. + +First I fell to wondering as to whose cellar this was, and how so much +liquor could have been brought in with secrecy; and how it was I had +never seen anything of the contraband-men, though it was clear that they +had made this flat tomb the entrance to their storehouse, as I had made +it my seat. And then I remembered how Ratsey had tried to scare me with +talk of Blackbeard; and how Elzevir, who had never been seen at church +before, was there the Sunday of the noises; and how he had looked ill at +ease whenever the noise came, though he was bold as a lion; and how I had +tripped upon him and Ratsey in the churchyard; and how Master Ratsey lay +with his ear to the wall: and putting all these things together and +casting them up, I thought that Elzevir and Ratsey knew as much as any +about this hiding-place. These reflections gave me more courage, for I +considered that the tales of Blackbeard walking or digging among the +graves had been set afloat to keep those that were not wanted from the +place, and guessed now that when I saw the light moving in the churchyard +that night I went to fetch Dr. Hawkins, it was no corpse-candle, but a +lantern of smugglers running a cargo. Then, having settled these +important matters, I began to turn over in my mind how to get at the +treasure; and herein was much cast down, for in this place was neither +casket nor diamond, but only coffins and double-Hollands. So it was that, +having no better plan, I set to work to see whether I could learn +anything from the coffins themselves; but with little success, for the +lead coffins had no names upon them, and on such of the wooden coffins as +bore plates I found the writing to be Latin, and so rusted over that I +could make nothing of it. + +Soon I wished I had not come at all, considering that the diamond had +vanished into air, and it was a sad thing to be cabined with so many dead +men. It moved me, too, to see pieces of banners and funeral shields, and +even shreds of wreaths that dear hearts had put there a century ago, now +all ruined and rotten--some still clinging, water-sodden, to the coffins, +and some trampled in the sand of the floor. I had spent some time in this +bootless search, and was resolved to give up further inquiry and foot it +home, when the clock in the tower struck midnight. Surely never was +ghostly hour sounded in more ghostly place. Moonfleet peal was known over +half the county, and the finest part of it was the clock bell. 'Twas said +that in times past (when, perhaps, the chimes were rung more often than +now) the voice of this bell had led safe home boats that were lost in the +fog; and this night its clangour, mellow and profound, reached even to +the vault. Bim-bom it went, bim-bom, twelve heavy thuds that shook the +walls, twelve resonant echoes that followed, and then a purring and +vibration of the air, so that the ear could not tell when it ended. + +I was wrought up, perhaps, by the strangeness of the hour and place, and +my hearing quicker than at other times, but before the tremor of the bell +was quite passed away I knew there was some other sound in the air, and +that the awful stillness of the vault was broken. At first I could not +tell what this new sound was, nor whence it came, and now it seemed a +little noise close by, and now a great noise in the distance. And then it +grew nearer and more defined, and in a moment I knew it was the sound of +voices talking. They must have been a long way off at first, and for a +minute, that seemed as an age, they came no nearer. What a minute was +that to me! Even now, so many years after, I can recall the anguish of +it, and how I stood with ears pricked up, eyes starting, and a clammy +sweat upon my face, waiting for those speakers to come. It was the +anguish of the rabbit at the end of his burrow, with the ferret's eyes +gleaming in the dark, and gun and lurcher waiting at the mouth of the +hole. I was caught in a trap, and knew beside that contraband-men had a +way of sealing prying eyes and stilling babbling tongues; and I +remembered poor Cracky Jones found dead in the churchyard, and how men +_said_ he had met Blackbeard in the night. + +These were but the thoughts of a second, but the voices were nearer, and +I heard a dull thud far up the passage, and knew that a man had jumped +down from the churchyard into the hole. So I took a last stare round, +agonizing to see if there was any way of escape; but the stone walls and +roof were solid enough to crush me, and the stack of casks too closely +packed to hide more than a rat. There was a man speaking now from the +bottom of the hole to others in the churchyard, and then my eyes were led +as by a loadstone to a great wooden coffin that lay by itself on the top +shelf, a full six feet from the ground. When I saw the coffin I knew that +I was respited, for, as I judged, there was space between it and the wall +behind enough to contain my little carcass; and in a second I had put out +the candle, scrambled up the shelves, half-stunned my senses with dashing +my head against the roof, and squeezed my body betwixt wall and coffin. +There I lay on one side with a thin and rotten plank between the dead man +and me, dazed with the blow to my head, and breathing hard; while the +glow of torches as they came down the passage reddened and flickered on +the roof above. + + + + +CHAPTER 4 + +IN THE VAULT + +Let us hob and nob with Death--_Tennyson_ + + +Though nothing of the vault except the roof was visible from where I +lay, and so I could not see these visitors, yet I heard every word +spoken, and soon made out one voice as being Master Ratsey's. This +discovery gave me no surprise but much solace, for I thought that if the +worst happened and I was discovered, I should find one friend with whom +I could plead for life. + +'It is well the earth gave way', the sexton was saying, 'on a night when +we were here to find it. I was in the graveyard myself after midday, and +all was snug and tight then. 'Twould have been awkward enough to have the +hole stand open through the day, for any passer-by to light on.' + +There were four or five men in the vault already, and I could hear more +coming down the passage, and guessed from their heavy footsteps that they +were carrying burdens. There was a sound, too, of dumping kegs down on +the ground, with a swish of liquor inside them, and then the noise of +casks being moved. + +'I thought we should have a fall there ere long,' Ratsey went on, 'what +with this drought parching the ground, and the trampling at the edge when +we move out the side stone to get in, but there is no mischief done +beyond what can be easily made good. A gravestone or two and a few spades +of earth will make all sound again. Leave that to me.' + +'Be careful what you do,' rejoined another man's voice that I did not +know, 'lest someone see you digging, and scent us out.' + +'Make your mind easy,' Ratsey said; 'I have dug too often in this +graveyard for any to wonder if they see me with a spade.' + +Then the conversation broke off, and there was little more talking, only +a noise of men going backwards and forwards, and of putting down of kegs +and the hollow gurgle of good liquor being poured from breakers into the +casks. By and by fumes of brandy began to fill the air, and climb to +where I lay, overcoming the mouldy smell of decayed wood and the dampness +of the green walls. It may have been that these fumes mounted to my head, +and gave me courage not my own, but so it was that I lost something of +the stifling fear that had gripped me, and could listen with more ease to +what was going forward. There was a pause in the carrying to and fro; +they were talking again now, and someone said-- + +'I was in Dorchester three days ago, and heard men say it will go hard +with the poor chaps who had the brush with the _Elector_ last summer. +Judge Barentyne comes on Assize next week, and that old fox Maskew has +driven down to Taunton to get at him before and coach him back; making +out to him that the Law's arm is weak in these parts against the +contraband, and must be strengthened by some wholesome hangings.' + +'They are a cruel pair,' another put in, 'and we shall have new gibbets on +Ridgedown for leading lights. Once I get even with Maskew, the other may +go hang, ay, and they may hang me too.' + +'The Devil send him to meet me one dark night on the down alone,' said +someone else, 'and I will give him a pistol's mouth to look down, and +spoil his face for him.' + +'No, thou wilt not,' said a deep voice, and then I knew that Elzevir was +there too; 'none shall lay hand on Maskew but I. So mark that, lad, that +when his day of reckoning comes, 'tis _I_ will reckon with him.' + +Then for a few minutes I did not pay much heed to what was said, being +terribly straitened for room, and cramped with pain from lying so long in +one place. The thick smoke from the pitch torches too came curling across +the roof and down upon me, making me sick and giddy with its evil smell +and taste; and though all was very dim, I could see my hands were black +with oily smuts. At last I was able to wriggle myself over without making +too much noise, and felt a great relief in changing sides, but gave such +a start as made the coffin creak again at hearing my own name. + +'There is a boy of Trenchard's,' said a voice that I thought was +Parmiter's, who lived at the bottom of the village--'there is a boy of +Trenchard's that I mistrust; he is for ever wandering in the graveyard, +and I have seen him a score of times sitting on this tomb and looking out +to sea. This very night, when the wind fell at sundown, and we were hung +up with sails flapping, three miles out, and waited for the dark to get +the sweeps, I took my glass to scan the coast-line, and lo, here on the +tomb-top sits Master Trenchard. I could not see his face, but knew him by +his cut, and fear the boy sits there to play the spy and then tells +Maskew.' + +'You're right,' said Greening of Ringstave, for I knew his +slow drawl; 'and many a time when I have sat in The Wood, and watched the +Manor to see Maskew safe at home before we ran a cargo, I have seen this +boy too go round about the place with a hangdog look, scanning the house +as if his life depended on't.' + +'Twas very true what Greening said; for of a summer evening I would take +the path that led up Weatherbeech Hill, behind the Manor; both because +'twas a walk that had a good prospect in itself, and also a sweet charm +for me, namely, the hope of seeing Grace Maskew. And there I often sat +upon the stile that ends the path and opens on the down, and watched the +old half-ruined house below; and sometimes saw white-frocked Gracie +walking on the terrace in the evening sun, and sometimes in returning +passed her window near enough to wave a greeting. And once, when she had +the fever, and Dr. Hawkins came twice a day to see her, I had no heart +for school, but sat on that stile the livelong day, looking at the gabled +house where she was lying ill. And Mr. Glennie never rated me for playing +truant, nor told Aunt Jane, guessing, as I thought afterwards, the cause, +and having once been young himself. 'Twas but boy's love, yet serious for +me; and on the day she lay near death, I made so bold as to stop Dr. +Hawkins on his horse and ask him how she did; and he bearing with me for +the eagerness that he read in my face, bent down over his saddle and +smiled, and said my playmate would come back to me again. + +So it was quite true that I had watched the house, but not as a spy, and +would not have borne tales to old Maskew for anything that could be +offered. Then Ratsey spoke up for me and said--''Tis a false scent. The +boy is well enough, and simple, and has told me many a time he seeks the +churchyard because there is a fine view to be had there of the sea, and +'tis the sea he loves. A month ago, when the high tide set, and this +vault was so full of water that we could not get in, I came with Elzevir +to make out if the floods were going down inside, or what eddy 'twas that +set the casks tapping one against another. So as I lay on the ground with +my ear glued close against the wall, who should march round the church +but John Trenchard, Esquire, not treading delicately like King Agag, or +spying, but just come on a voyage of discovery for himself. For in the +church on Sunday, when we heard the tapping in the vault below, my young +gentleman was scared enough; but afterwards, being told by Parson +Glennie--who should know better--that such noises were not made by +ghosts, but by the Mohunes at sea in their coffins, he plucks up heart, +and comes down on the Monday to see if they are still afloat. So there he +caught me lying like a zany on the ground. You may guess I stood at +attention soon enough, but told him I was looking at the founds to see if +they wanted underpinning from the floods. And so I set his mind at ease, +for 'tis a simple child, and packed him off to get my dubbing hammer. And +I think the boy will not be here so often now to frighten honest +Parmiter, for I have weaved him some pretty tales of Blackbeard, and he +has a wholesome scare of meeting the Colonel. But after dark I pledge my +life that neither he nor any other in the town would pass the churchyard +wall, no, not for a thousand pounds.' + +I heard him chuckling to himself, and the others laughed loudly too, when +he was telling how he palmed me off; but 'he laughs loudest who laughs +last', thought I, and should have chuckled too, were it not for making +the coffin creak. And then, to my surprise, Elzevir spoke: 'The lad is +a brave lad; I would he were my son. He is David's age, and will make a +good sailor later on.' + +They were simple words, yet pleasing to me; for Elzevir spoke as if he +meant them, and I had got to like him a little in spite of all his +grimness; and beside that, was sorry for his grief over his son. I was so +moved by what he said, that for a moment I was for jumping up and calling +out to him that I lay here and liked him well, but then thought better of +it, and so kept still. + +The carrying was over, and I fancy they were all sitting on the ends of +kegs or leaning up against the pile; but could not see, and was still +much troubled with the torch smoke, though now and then I caught through +it a whiff of tobacco, which showed that some were smoking. + +Then Greening, who had a singing voice for all his drawl, struck up +with-- + +Says the Cap'n to the crew, +We have slipt the revenue, + +but Ratsey stopped him with a sharp 'No more of that; the words aren't +to our taste tonight, but come as wry as if the parson called _Old +Hundred_ and I tuned up with _Veni_.' I knew he meant the last verse +with a hanging touch in it; but Greening was for going on with the song, +until some others broke in too, and he saw that the company would have +none of it. + +'Not but what the labourer is worthy of his hire,' went on Master Ratsey; +'so spile that little breaker of Schiedam, and send a rummer round to +keep off midnight chills.' + +He loved a glass of the good liquor well, and with him 'twas always the +same reasoning, namely, to keep off chills; though he chopped the words +to suit the season, and now 'twas autumn, now winter, now spring, or +summer chills. + +They must have found glasses, though I could not remember to have seen +any in the vault, for a minute later fugleman Ratsey spoke again-- + +'Now, lads, glasses full and bumpers for a toast. And here's to +Blackbeard, to Father Blackbeard, who watches over our treasure better +than he did over his own; for were it not the fear of him that keeps off +idle feet and prying eyes, we should have the gaugers in, and our store +ransacked twenty times.' + +So he spoke, and it seemed there was a little halting at first, as of +men not liking to take Blackbeard's name in Blackbeard's place, or raise +the Devil by mocking at him. But then some of the bolder shouted +'Blackbeard', and so the more timid chimed in, and in a minute there +were a score of voices calling 'Blackbeard, Blackbeard', till the place +rang again. + +Then Elzevir cried out angrily, 'Silence. Are you mad, or has the liquor +mastered you? Are you Revenue-men that you dare shout and roister? or +contrabandiers with the lugger in the offing, and your life in your hand. +You make noise enough to wake folk in Moonfleet from their beds.' + +'Tut, man,' retorted Ratsey testily, 'and if they waked, they would but +pull the blankets tight about their ears, and say 'twas Blackbeard piping +his crew of lost Mohunes to help him dig for treasure.' + +Yet for all that 'twas plain that Block ruled the roost, for there was +silence for a minute, and then one said, 'Ay, Master Elzevir is right; +let us away, the night is far spent, and we have nothing but the sweeps +to take the lugger out of sight by dawn.' + +So the meeting broke up, and the torchlight grew dimmer, and died away +as it had come in a red flicker on the roof, and the footsteps sounded +fainter as they went up the passage, until the vault was left to the dead +men and me. Yet for a very long time--it seemed hours--after all had gone +I could hear a murmur of distant voices, and knew that some were talking +at the end of the passage, and perhaps considering how the landslip might +best be restored. So while I heard them thus conversing I dared not +descend from my perch, lest someone might turn back to the vault, though +I was glad enough to sit up, and ease my aching back and limbs. Yet in +the awful blackness of the place even the echo of these human voices +seemed a kindly and blessed thing, and a certain shrinking loneliness +fell on me when they ceased at last and all was silent. Then I resolved I +would be off at once, and get back to the moonlight bed that I had left +hours ago, having no stomach for more treasure-hunting, and being glad +indeed to be still left with the treasure of life. + +Thus, sitting where I was, I lit my candle once more, and then clambered +across that great coffin which, for two hours or more, had been a +mid-wall of partition between me and danger. But to get out of the niche +was harder than to get in; for now that I had a candle to light me, I saw +that the coffin, though sound enough to outer view, was wormed through +and through, and little better than a rotten shell. So it was that I had +some ado to get over it, not daring either to kneel upon it or to bring +much weight to bear with my hand, lest it should go through. And now +having got safely across, I sat for an instant on that narrow ledge of +the stone shelf which projected beyond the coffin on the vault side, and +made ready to jump forward on to the floor below. And how it happened I +know not, but there I lost my balance, and as I slipped the candle flew +out of my grasp. Then I clutched at the coffin to save myself, but my +hand went clean through it, and so I came to the ground in a cloud of +dust and splinters; having only got hold of a wisp of seaweed, or a +handful of those draggled funeral trappings which were strewn about this +place. The floor of the vault was sandy; and so, though I fell crookedly, +I took but little harm beyond a shaking; and soon, pulling myself +together, set to strike my flint and blow the match into a flame to +search for the fallen candle. Yet all the time I kept in my fingers this +handful of light stuff; and when the flame burnt up again I held the +thing against the light, and saw that it was no wisp of seaweed, but +something black and wiry. For a moment, I could not gather what I had +hold of, but then gave a start that nearly sent the candle out, and +perhaps a cry, and let it drop as if it were red-hot iron, for I knew +that it was a man's beard. + +Now when I saw that, I felt a sort of throttling fright, as though one +had caught hold of my heartstrings; and so many and such strange thoughts +rose in me, that the blood went pounding round and round in my head, as +it did once afterwards when I was fighting with the sea and near drowned. +Surely to have in hand the beard of any dead man in any place was bad +enough, but worse a thousand times in such a place as this, and to know +on whose face it had grown. For, almost before I fully saw what it was, I +knew it was that black beard which had given Colonel John Mohune his +nickname, and this was his great coffin I had hid behind. + +I had lain, therefore, all that time, cheek by jowl with Blackbeard +himself, with only a thin shell of tinder wood to keep him from me, and +now had thrust my hand into his coffin and plucked away his beard. So +that if ever wicked men have power to show themselves after death, and +still to work evil, one would guess that he would show himself now and +fall upon me. Thus a sick dread got hold of me, and had I been a woman +or a girl I think I should have swooned; but being only a boy, and not +knowing how to swoon, did the next best thing, which was to put myself as +far as might be from the beard, and make for the outlet. Yet had I scarce +set foot in the passage when I stopped, remembering how once already this +same evening I had played the coward, and run home scared with my own +fears. So I was brought up for very shame, and beside that thought how I +had come to this place to look for Blackbeard's treasure, and might have +gone away without knowing even so much as where he lay, had not chance +first led me to be down by his side, and afterwards placed my hand upon +his beard. And surely this could not be chance alone, but must rather be +the finger of Providence guiding me to that which I desired to find. This +consideration somewhat restored my courage, and after several feints to +return, advances, stoppings, and panics, I was in the vault again, +walking carefully round the stack of barrels, and fearing to see the +glimmer of the candle fall upon that beard. There it was upon the sand, +and holding the candle nearer to it with a certain caution, as though it +would spring up and bite me, I saw it was a great full black beard, more +than a foot long, but going grey at the tips; and had at the back, +keeping it together, a thin tissue of dried skin, like the false parting +which Aunt Jane wore under her cap on Sundays. This I could see as it lay +before me, for I did not handle or lift it, but only peered into it, with +the candle, on all sides, busying myself the while with thoughts of the +man of whom it had once been part. + +In returning to the vault, I had no very sure purpose in mind; only a +vague surmise that this finding of Blackbeard's coffin would somehow lead +to the finding of his treasure. But as I looked at the beard and +pondered, I began to see that if anything was to be done, it must be by +searching in the coffin itself, and the clearer this became to me, the +greater was my dislike to set about such a task. So I put off the evil +hour, by feigning to myself that it was necessary to make a careful +scrutiny of the beard, and thus wasted at least ten minutes. But at +length, seeing that the candle was burning low, and could certainly last +little more than half an hour, and considering that it must now be +getting near dawn, I buckled to the distasteful work of rummaging the +coffin. Nor had I any need to climb up on to the top shelf again, but +standing on the one beneath, found my head and arms well on a level with +the search. And beside that, the task was not so difficult as I had +thought; for in my fall I had broken off the head-end of the lid, and +brought away the whole of that side that faced the vault. Now, any lad of +my age, and perhaps some men too, might well have been frightened to set +about such a matter as to search in a coffin; and if any had said, a few +hours before, that I should ever have courage to do this by night in the +Mohune vault, I would not have believed him. Yet here I was, and had +advanced along the path of terror so gradually, and as it were foot by +foot in the past night, that when I came to this final step I was not +near so scared as when I first felt my way into the vault. It was not the +first time either that I had looked on death; but had, indeed, always a +leaning to such sights and matters, and had seen corpses washed up from +the _Darius_ and other wrecks, and besides that had helped Ratsey to case +some poor bodies that had died in their beds. + +The coffin was, as I have said, of great length, and the side being +removed, I could see the whole outline of the skeleton that lay in it. I +say the outline, for the form was wrapped in a woollen or flannel shroud, +so that the bones themselves were not visible. The man that lay in it was +little short of a giant, measuring, as I guessed, a full six and a half +feet, and the flannel having sunk in over the belly, the end of the +breast-bone, the hips, knees, and toes were very easy to be made out. The +head was swathed in linen bands that had been white, but were now stained +and discoloured with damp, but of this I shall not speak more, and +beneath the chin-cloth the beard had once escaped. The clutch which I had +made to save myself in falling had torn away this chin-band and let the +lower jaw drop on the breast; but little else was disturbed, and there +was Colonel John Mohune resting as he had been laid out a century ago. I +lifted that portion of the lid which had been left behind, and reached +over to see if there was anything hid on the other side of the body; but +had scarce let the light fall in the coffin when my heart gave a great +bound, and all fear left me in the flush of success, for there I saw what +I had come to seek. + +On the breast of this silent and swathed figure lay a locket, attached to +the neck by a thin chain, which passed inside the linen bandages. A +whiter portion of the flannel showed how far the beard had extended, but +locket and chain were quite black, though I judged that they were made of +silver. The shape of this locket was not unlike a crown-piece, only three +times as thick, and as soon as I set eyes upon it I never doubted but +that inside would be found the diamond. + +It was then that a great pity came over me for this thin shadow of man; +thinking rather what a fine, tall gentleman Colonel Mohune had once been, +and a good soldier no doubt besides, than that he had wasted a noble +estate and played traitor to the king. And then I reflected that it was +all for the bit of flashing stone, which lay as I hoped within the +locket, that he had sold his honour; and wished that the jewel might +bring me better fortune than had fallen to him, or at any rate, that it +might not lead me into such miry paths. Yet such thoughts did not delay +my purpose, and I possessed myself of the locket easily enough, finding a +hasp in the chain, and so drawing it out from the linen folds. I had +expected as I moved the locket to hear the jewel rattle in the inside, +but there was no sound, and then I thought that the diamond might cleave +to the side with damp, or perhaps be wrapped in wool. Scarcely was the +locket well in my hand before I had it undone, finding a thumb-nick +whereby, after a little persuasion, the back, though rusted, could be +opened on a hinge. My breath came very fast, and I shook so that I had a +difficulty to keep my thumbnail in the nick, yet hardly was it opened +before exalted expectation gave place to deepest disappointment. + +For there lay all the secret of the locket disclosed, and there was no +diamond, no, nor any other jewel, and nothing at all except a little +piece of folded paper. Then I felt like a man who has played away all his +property and stakes his last crown--heavy-hearted, yet hoping against +hope that luck may turn, and that with this piece he may win back all his +money. So it was with me; for I hoped that this paper might have written +on it directions for the finding of the jewel, and that I might yet rise +from the table a winner. It was but a frail hope, and quickly dashed; for +when I had smoothed the creases and spread out the piece of paper in the +candle-light, there was nothing to be seen except a few verses from the +Psalms of David. The paper was yellow, and showed a lattice of folds +where it had been pressed into the locket; but the handwriting, though +small, was clear and neat, and there was no mistaking a word of what was +there set down. 'Twas so short, I could read it at once: + +The days of our age are threescore years and ten; +And though men be so strong that they come +To fourscore years, yet is their strength then +But labour and sorrow, so soon passeth it +Away, and we are gone. +--Psalm 90, 21 + +And as for me, my feet are almost gone; +My treadings are wellnigh slipped. +--73, 6 + +But let not the waterflood drown me; neither let +The deep swallow me up. +--69, 11 + +So, going through the vale of misery, I shall +Use it for a well, till the pools are filled +With water. +--84, 14 + +For thou hast made the North and the South: +Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name. +--89, 6 + +So here was an end to great hopes, and I was after all to leave the vault +no richer than I had entered it. For look at it as I might, I could not +see that these verses could ever lead to any diamond; and though I might +otherwise have thought of ciphers or secret writing, yet, remembering +what Mr. Glennie had said, that Blackbeard after his wicked life desired +to make a good end, and sent for a parson to confess him, I guessed that +such pious words had been hung round his neck as a charm to keep the +spirits of evil away from his tomb. I was disappointed enough, but before +I left picked up the beard from the floor, though it sent a shiver +through me to touch it, and put it back in its place on the dead man's +breast. I restored also such pieces of the coffin as I could get at, but +could not make much of it; so left things as they were, trusting that +those who came there next would think the wood had fallen to pieces by +natural decay. But the locket I kept, and hung about my neck under my +shirt; both as being a curious thing in itself, and because I thought +that if the good words inside it were strong enough to keep off bad +spirits from Blackbeard, they would be also strong enough to keep +Blackbeard from me. + +When this was done the candle had burnt so low, that I could no longer +hold it in my fingers, and was forced to stick it on a piece of the +broken wood, and so carry it before me. But, after all, I was not to +escape from Blackbeard's clutches so easily; for when I came to the end +of the passage, and was prepared to climb up into the churchyard, I found +that the hole was stopped, and that there was no exit. + +I understood now how it was that I had heard talking so long after the +company had left the vault; for it was clear that Ratsey had been as +good as his word, and that the falling in of the ground had been +repaired before the contraband-men went home that night. At first I made +light of the matter, thinking I should soon be able to dislodge this new +work, and so find a way out. But when I looked more narrowly into the +business, I did not feel so sure; for they had made a sound job of it, +putting one very heavy burial slab at the side to pile earth against +till the hole was full, and then covering it with another. These were +both of slate, and I knew whence they came; for there were a dozen or +more of such disused and weather-worn covers laid up against the north +side of the church, and every one of them a good burden for four men. +Yet I hoped by grouting at the earth below it to be able to dislodge the +stone at the side; but while I was considering how best to begin, the +candle flickered, the wick gave a sudden lurch to one side, and I was +left in darkness. + +Thus my plight was evil indeed, for I had nothing now to burn to give me +light, and knew that 'twas no use setting to grout till I could see to go +about it. Moreover, the darkness was of that black kind that is never +found beneath the open sky, no, not even on the darkest night, but lurks +in close and covered places and strains the eyes in trying to see into +it. Yet I did not give way, but settled to wait for the dawn, which must, +I knew, be now at hand; for then I thought enough light would come +through the chinks of the tomb above to show me how to set to work. Nor +was I even much scared, as one who having been in peril of life from the +contraband-men for a spy, and in peril from evil ghosts for rifling +Blackbeard's tomb, deemed it a light thing to be left in the dark to wait +an hour till morning. So I sat down on the floor of the passage, which, +if damp, was at least soft, and being tired with what I had gone through, +and not used to miss a night's rest, fell straightway asleep. + +How long I slept I cannot tell, for I had nothing to guide me to the +time, but woke at length, and found myself still in darkness. I stood up +and stretched my limbs, but did not feel as one refreshed by wholesome +sleep, but sick and tired with pains in back, arms, and legs, as if +beaten or bruised. I have said I was still in darkness, yet it was not +the blackness of the last night; and looking up into the inside of the +tomb above, I could see the faintest line of light at one corner, which +showed the sun was up. For this line of light was the sunlight, filtering +slowly through a crevice at the joining of the stones; but the sides of +the tomb had been fitted much closer than I reckoned for, and it was +plain there would never be light in the place enough to guide me to my +work. All this I considered as I rested on the ground, for I had sat down +again, feeling too tired to stand. But as I kept my eye on the narrow +streak of light I was much startled, for I looked at the south-west +corner of the tomb, and yet was looking towards the sun. This I gathered +from the tone of the light; and although there was no direct outlet to +the air, and only a glimmer came in, as I have said, yet I knew certainly +that the sun was low in the west and falling full upon this stone. + +Here was a surprise, and a sad one for me, for I perceived that I had +slept away a day, and that the sun was setting for another night. And yet +it mattered little, for night or daytime there was no light to help me in +this horrible place; and though my eyes had grown accustomed to the +gloom, I could make out nothing to show me where to work. So I took out +my tinder-box, meaning to fan the match into a flame, and to get at least +one moment's look at the place, and then to set to digging with my hands. + +But as I lay asleep the top had been pressed off the box, and the tinder +got loose in my pocket; and though I picked the tinder out easily enough, +and got it in the box again, yet the salt damps of the place had soddened +it in the night, and spark by spark fell idle from the flint. + +And then it was that I first perceived the danger in which I stood; for +there was no hope of kindling a light, and I doubted now whether even in +the light I could ever have done much to dislodge the great slab of +slate. I began also to feel very hungry, as not having eaten for +twenty-four hours; and worse than that, there was a parching thirst and +dryness in my throat, and nothing with which to quench it. Yet there was +no time to be lost if I was ever to get out alive, and so I groped with +my hands against the side of the grave until I made out the bottom edge +of the slab, and then fell to grubbing beneath it with my fingers. But +the earth, which the day before had looked light and loamy to the eye, +was stiff and hard enough when one came to tackle it with naked hands, +and in an hour's time I had done little more than further weary myself +and bruise my fingers. + +Then I was forced to rest; and, sitting down on the ground, saw that the +glimmering streak of light had faded, and that the awful blackness of +the previous night was creeping up again. And now I had no heart to face +it, being cowed with hunger, thirst, and weariness; and so flung myself +upon my face, that I might not see how dark it was, and groaned for very +lowness of spirit. Thus I lay for a long time, but afterwards stood up +and cried aloud, and shrieked if anyone should haply hear me, calling to +Mr. Glennie and Ratsey, and even Elzevir, by name, to save me from this +awful place. But there came no answer, except the echo of my own voice +sounding hollow and far off down in the vault. So in despair I turned +back to the earth wall below the slab, and scrabbled at it with my +fingers, till my nails were broken and the blood ran out; having all the +while a sure knowledge, like a cord twisted round my head, that no effort +of mine could ever dislodge the great stone. And thus the hours passed, +and I shall not say more here, for the remembrance of that time is still +terrible, and besides, no words could ever set forth the anguish I then +suffered, yet did slumber come sometimes to my help; for even while I was +working at the earth, sheer weariness would overtake me, and I sank on to +the ground and fell asleep. + +And still the hours passed, and at last I knew by the glimmer of light +in the tomb above that the sun had risen again, and a maddening thirst +had hold of me. And then I thought of all the barrels piled up in the +vault and of the liquor that they held; and stuck not because 'twas +spirit, for I would scarce have paused to sate that thirst even with +molten lead. So I felt my way down the passage back to the vault, and +recked not of the darkness, nor of Blackbeard and his crew, if only I +could lay my lips to liquor. Thus I groped about the barrels till near +the top of the stack my hand struck on the spile of a keg, and drawing +it, I got my mouth to the hold. + +What the liquor was I do not know, but it was not so strong but that I +could swallow it in great gulps and found it less burning than my burning +throat. But when I turned to get back to the passage, I could not find +the outlet, and fumbled round and round until my brain was dizzy, and I +fell senseless to the ground. + + + + +CHAPTER 5 + +THE RESCUE + +Shades of the dead, have I not heard your voices +Rise on the night-rolling breath of the gale?--_Byron_ + + +When I came to myself I was lying, not in the outer blackness of the +Mohune vault, not on a floor of sand; but in a bed of sweet clean linen, +and in a little whitewashed room, through the window of which the spring +sunlight streamed. Oh, the blessed sunshine, and how I praised God for +the light! At first I thought I was in my own bed at my aunt's house, and +had dreamed of the vault and the smugglers, and that my being prisoned in +the darkness was but the horror of a nightmare. I was for getting up, but +fell back on my pillow in the effort to rise, with a weakness and sick +languor which I had never known before. And as I sunk down, I felt +something swing about my neck, and putting up my hand, found 'twas +Colonel John Mohune's black locket, and so knew that part at least of +this adventure was no dream. + +Then the door opened, and to my wandering thought it seemed that I was +back again in the vault, for in came Elzevir Block. Then I held up my +hands, and cried-- + +'O Elzevir, save me, save me; I am not come to spy.' + +But he, with a kind look on his face, put his hand on my shoulder, and +pushed me gently back, saying-- + +'Lie still, lad, there is none here will hurt thee, and drink this.' + +He held out to me a bowl of steaming broth, that filled the room with a +savour sweeter, ten thousand times, to me than every rose and lily of the +world; yet would not let me drink it at a gulp, but made me sip it with a +spoon like any baby. Thus while I drank, he told me where I was, namely, +in an attic at the Why Not?, but would not say more then, bidding me get +to sleep again, and I should know all afterwards. And so it was ten days +or more before youth and health had their way, and I was strong again; +and all that time Elzevir Block sat by my bed, and nursed me tenderly as +a woman. So piece by piece I learned the story of how they found me. + +'Twas Mr. Glennie who first moved to seek me; for when the second day +came that I was not at school, he thought that I was ill, and went to my +aunt's to ask how I did, as was his wont when any ailed. But Aunt Jane +answered him stiffly that she could not say how I did. + +'For,' says she, 'he is run off I know not where, but as he makes his +bed, must he lie on't; and if he run away for his pleasure, may stay away +for mine. I have been pestered with this lot too long, and only bore with +him for poor sister Martha's sake; but 'tis after his father that the +graceless lad takes, and thus rewards me.' + +With that she bangs the door in the parson's face and off he goes to +Ratsey, but can learn nothing there, and so concludes that I have run +away to sea, and am seeking ship at Poole or Weymouth. + +But that same day came Sam Tewkesbury to the Why Not? about nightfall, +and begged a glass of rum, being, as he said, 'all of a shake', and +telling a tale of how he passed the churchyard wall on his return from +work, and in the dusk heard screams and wailing voices, and knew 'twas +Blackbeard piping his lost Mohunes to hunt for treasure. So, though he +saw nothing, he turned tail and never stopped running till he stood at +the inn door. Then, forthwith, Elzevir leaves Sam to drink at the Why +Not? alone, and himself sets off running up the street to call for Master +Ratsey; and they two make straight across the sea-meadows in the dark. + +'For as soon as I heard Tewkesbury tell of screams and wailings in the +air, and no one to be seen,' said Elzevir, 'I guessed that some poor soul +had got shut in the vault, and was there crying for his life. And to this +I was not guided by mother wit, but by a surer and a sadder token. Thou +wilt have heard how thirteen years ago a daft body we called Cracky Jones +was found one morning in the churchyard dead. He was gone missing for a +week before, and twice within that week I had sat through the night upon +the hill behind the church, watching to warn the lugger with a flare she +could not put in for the surf upon the beach. And on those nights, the +air being still though a heavy swell was running, I heard thrice or more +a throttled scream come shivering across the meadows from the graveyard. +Yet beyond turning my blood cold for a moment, it gave me little trouble, +for evil tales have hung about the church; and though I did not set much +store by the old yarns of Blackbeard piping up his crew, yet I thought +strange things might well go on among the graves at night. And so I never +budged, nor stirred hand or foot to save a fellow-creature in his agony. + +'But when the surf fell enough for the boats to get ashore, and Greening +held a lantern for me to jump down into the passage, after we had got the +side out of the tomb, the first thing the light fell on at the bottom +was a white face turned skyward. I have not forgot that, lad, for 'twas +Cracky Jones lay there, with his face thin and shrunk, yet all the doited +look gone out of it. We tried to force some brandy in his mouth, but he +was stark and dead; with knees drawn up towards his head, so stiff we had +to lift him doubled as he was, and lay him by the churchyard wall for +some of us to find next day. We never knew how he got there, but guessed +that he had hung about the landers some night when they ran a cargo, and +slipped in when the watchman's back was turned. Thus when Sam Tewkesbury +spoke of screams and wailings, and no one to be seen, I knew what 'twas, +but never guessed who might be shut in there, not knowing thou wert gone +amissing. So ran to Ratsey to get his help to slip the side stone off, +for by myself I cannot stir it now, though once I did when I was younger; +and from him learned that thou wert lost, and knew whom we should find +before we got there.' + +I shuddered while Elzevir talked, for I thought how Cracky Jones had +perhaps hidden behind the self-same coffin that sheltered me, and how +narrowly I had escaped his fate. And that old story came back into my +mind, how, years ago, there once arose so terrible a cry from the vault +at service-time, that parson and people fled from the church; and I +doubted not now that some other poor soul had got shut in that awful +place, and was then calling for help to those whose fears would not let +them listen. + +'There we found thee,' Elzevir went on, 'stretched out on the sand, +senseless and far gone; and there was something in thy face that made me +think of David when he lay stretched out in his last sleep. And so I put +thee on my shoulder and bare thee back, and here thou art in David's +room, and shalt find board and bed with me as long as thou hast mind +to.' We spoke much together during the days when I was getting +stronger, and I grew to like Elzevir well, finding his grimness was but +on the outside, and that never was a kinder man. Indeed, I think that my +being with him did him good; for he felt that there was once more +someone to love him, and his heart went out to me as to his son David. +Never once did he ask me to keep my counsel as to the vault and what I +had seen there, knowing, perhaps, he had no need, for I would have died +rather than tell the secret to any. Only, one day Master Ratsey, who +often came to see me, said-- + +'John, there is only Elzevir and I who know that you have seen the +inside of our bond-cellar; and 'tis well, for if some of the landers +guessed, they might have ugly ways to stop all chance of prating. So +keep our secret tight, and we'll keep yours, for "he that refraineth his +lips is wise".' + +I wondered how Master Ratsey could quote Scripture so pat, and yet cheat +the revenue; though, in truth, 'twas thought little sin at Moonfleet to +run a cargo; and, perhaps, he guessed what I was thinking, for he added-- + +'Not that a Christian man has aught to be ashamed of in landing a cask of +good liquor, for we read that when Israel came out of Egypt, the chosen +people were bid trick their oppressors out of jewels of silver and jewels +of gold; and among those cruel taskmasters, Some of the worst must +certainly have been the tax-gatherers.' + + * * * * * + +The first walk I took when I grew stronger and was able to get about was +up to Aunt Jane's, notwithstanding she had never so much as been to ask +after me all these days. She knew, indeed, where I was, for Ratsey had +told her I lay at the Why Not?, explaining that Elzevir had found me one +night on the ground famished and half-dead, yet not saying where. But my +aunt greeted me with hard words, which I need not repeat here; for, +perhaps, she meant them not unkindly, but only to bring me back again to +the right way. She did not let me cross the threshold, holding the door +ajar in her hand, and saying she would have no tavern-loungers in her +house, but that if I liked the Why Not? so well, I could go back there +again for her. I had been for begging her pardon for playing truant; but +when I heard such scurvy words, felt the devil rise in my heart, and only +laughed, though bitter tears were in my eyes. So I turned my back upon +the only home that I had ever known, and sauntered off down the village, +feeling very lone, and am not sure I was not crying before I came again +to the Why Not? + +Then Elzevir saw that my face was downcast, and asked what ailed me, and +so I told him how my aunt had turned me away, and that I had no home to +go to. But he seemed pleased rather than sorry, and said that I must come +now and live with him, for he had plenty for both; and that since chance +had led him to save my life, I should be to him a son in David's place. +So I went to keep house with him at the Why Not? and my aunt sent down my +bag of clothes, and would have made over to Elzevir the pittance that my +father left for my keep, but he said it was not needful, and he would +have none of it. + + + + +CHAPTER 6 + +AN ASSAULT + + Surely after all, +The noblest answer unto such +Is perfect stillness when they brawl--_Tennyson_ + + +I have more than once brought up the name of Mr. Maskew; and as I shall +have other things to tell of him later on, I may as well relate here what +manner of man he was. His stature was but medium, not exceeding five feet +four inches, I think; and to make the most of it, he flung his head far +back, and gave himself a little strut in walking. He had a thin face with +a sharp nose that looked as if it would peck you, and grey eyes that +could pierce a millstone if there was a guinea on the far side of it. His +hair, for he wore his own, had been red, though it was now grizzled; and +the colour of it was set down in Moonfleet to his being a Scotchman, for +we thought all Scotchmen were red-headed. He was a lawyer by profession, +and having made money in Edinburgh, had gone so far south as Moonfleet to +get quit, as was said, of the memories of rascally deeds. It was about +four years since he bought a parcel of the Mohune Estate, which had been +breaking up and selling piecemeal for a generation; and on his land stood +the Manor House, or so much of it as was left. Of the mansion I have +spoken before. It was a very long house of two storeys, with a projecting +gable and doorway in the middle, and at each end gabled wings running out +crosswise. The Maskews lived in one of these wings, and that was the only +habitable portion of the place; for as to the rest, the glass was out of +the windows, and in some places the roofs had fallen in. Mr. Maskew made +no attempt to repair house or grounds, and the bough of the great cedar +which the snows had brought down in '49 still blocked the drive. The +entrance to the house was through the porchway in the middle, but more +than one tumble-down corridor had to be threaded before one reached +the inhabited wing; while fowls and pigs and squirrels had possession of +the terrace lawns in front. It was not for want of money that Maskew let +things remain thus, for men said that he was rich enough, only that his +mood was miserly; and perhaps, also, it was the lack of woman's company +that made him think so little of neatness and order. For his wife was +dead; and though he had a daughter, she was young, and had not yet weight +enough to make her father do things that he did not choose. + +Till Maskew came there had been none living in the Manor House for a +generation, so the village children used the terrace for a playground, +and picked primroses in the woods; and the men thought they had a right +to snare a rabbit or shoot a pheasant in the chase. But the new owner +changed all this, hiding gins and spring-guns in the coverts, and nailing +up boards on the trees to say he would have the law of any that +trespassed. So he soon made enemies for himself, and before long had +everyone's hand against him. Yet he preferred his neighbour's enmity to +their goodwill, and went about to make it more bitter by getting himself +posted for magistrate, and giving out that he would put down the +contraband thereabouts. For no one round Moonfleet was for the Excise; +but farmers loved a glass of Schnapps that had never been gauged, and +their wives a piece of fine lace from France. And then came the affair +between the _Elector_ and the ketch, with David Block's death; and after +that they said it was not safe for Maskew to walk at large, and that he +would be found some day dead on the down; but he gave no heed to it, and +went on as if he had been a paid exciseman rather than a magistrate. + +When I was a little boy the Manor woods were my delight, and many a sunny +afternoon have I sat on the terrace edge looking down over the village, +and munching red quarantines from the ruined fruit gardens. And though +this was now forbidden, yet the Manor had still a sweeter attraction to +me than apples or bird-batting, and that was Grace Maskew. She was an +only child, and about my own age, or little better, at the time of which +I am speaking. I knew her, because she went every day to the old +almshouses to be taught by the Reverend Mr. Glennie, from whom I also +received my schooling. She was tall for her age, and slim, with a thin +face and a tumble of tawny hair, which flew about her in a wind or when +she ran. Her frocks were washed and patched and faded, and showed more of +her arms and legs than the dressmaker had ever intended, for she was a +growing girl, and had none to look after her clothes. She was a favourite +playfellow with all, and an early choice for games of 'prisoner's base', +and she could beat most of us boys at speed. Thus, though we all hated +her father, and had for him many jeering titles among ourselves; yet we +never used an evil nickname nor a railing word against him when she was +by, because we liked her well. + +There were a half-dozen of us boys, and as many girls, whom Mr. Glennie +used to teach; and that you may see what sort of man Maskew was, I will +tell you what happened one day in school between him and the parson. Mr. +Glennie taught us in the almshouses; for though there were now no +bedesmen, and the houses themselves were fallen to decay, yet the little +hall in which the inmates had once dined was still maintained, and served +for our schoolroom. It was a long and lofty room, with a high wainscot +all round it, a carved oak screen at one end, and a broad window at the +other. A very heavy table, polished by use, and sadly besmirched with +ink, ran down the middle of the hall with benches on either side of it +for us to use; and a high desk for Mr. Glennie stood under the window at +the end of the room. Thus we were sitting one morning with our +summing-slates and grammars before us when the door in the screen opens +and Mr. Maskew enters. + +I have told you already of the verses which Mr. Glennie wrote for David +Block's grave; and when the floods had gone down Ratsey set up the +headstone with the poetry carved on it. But Maskew, through not going to +church, never saw the stone for weeks, until one morning, walking through +the churchyard, he lighted on it, and knew the verses for Mr. Glennie's. +So 'twas to have it out with the parson that he had come to school this +day; and though we did not know so much then, yet guessed from his +presence that something was in the wind, and could read in his face that +he was very angry. Now, for all that we hated Maskew, yet were we glad +enough to see him there, as hoping for something strange to vary the +sameness of school, and scenting a disturbance in the air. Only Grace was +ill at ease for fear her father should say something unseemly, and kept +her head down with shocks of hair falling over her book, though I could +see her blushing between them. So in vapours Maskew, and with an angry +glance about him makes straight for the desk where our master sits at the +top of the room. + +For a moment Mr. Glennie, being shortsighted, did not see who 'twas; but +as his visitor drew near, rose courteously to greet him. + +'Good day to you, Mister Maskew,' says he, holding out his hand. + +But Maskew puts his arms behind his back and bubbles out, 'Hold not out +your hand to me lest I spit on it. 'Tis like your snivelling cant to +write sweet psalms for smuggling rogues and try to frighten honest men +with your judgements.' + +At first Mr. Glennie did not know what the other would be at, and +afterwards understanding, turned very pale; but said as a minister he +would never be backward in reproving those whom he considered in the +wrong, whether from the pulpit or from the gravestone. Then Maskew +flies into a great passion, and pours out many vile and insolent words, +saying Mr. Glennie is in league with the smugglers and fattens on their +crimes; that the poetry is a libel; and that he, Maskew, will have the +law of him for calumny. + +After that he took Grace by the arm, and bade her get hat and cape and +come with him. 'For,' says he, 'I will not have thee taught any more by a +psalm-singing hypocrite that calls thy father murderer.' And all the +while he kept drawing up closer to Mr. Glennie, until the two stood very +near each other. + +There was a great difference between them; the one short and blustering, +with a red face turned up; the other tall and craning down, ill-clad, +ill-fed, and pale. Maskew had in his left hand a basket, with which he +went marketing of mornings, for he made his own purchases, and liked +fish, as being cheaper than meat. He had been chaffering with the +fishwives this very day, and was bringing back his provend with him when +he visited our school. + +Then he said to Mr. Glennie: 'Now, Sir Parson, the law has given into +your fool's hands a power over this churchyard, and 'tis your trade to +stop unseemly headlines from being set up within its walls, or once set +up, to turn them out forthwith. So I give you a week's grace, and if +tomorrow sennight yon stone be not gone, I will have it up and flung in +pieces outside the wall.' + +Mr. Glennie answered him in a low voice, but quite clear, so that we +could hear where we sat: 'I can neither turn the stone out myself, nor +stop you from turning it out if you so mind; but if you do this thing, +and dishonour the graveyard, there is One stronger than either you or I +that must be reckoned with.' + +I knew afterwards that he meant the Almighty, but thought then that +'twas of Elzevir he spoke; and so, perhaps, did Mr. Maskew, for he fell +into a worse rage, thrust his hand in the basket, whipped out a great +sole he had there, and in a twinkling dashes it in Mr. Glennie's face, +with a 'Then, take that for an unmannerly parson, for I would not foul my +fist with your mealy chops.' + +But to see that stirred my choler, for Mr. Glennie was weak as wax, and +would never have held up his hand to stop a blow, even were he strong as +Goliath. So I was for setting on Maskew, and being a stout lad for my +age, could have had him on the floor as easy as a baby; but as I rose +from my seat, I saw he held Grace by the hand, and so hung back for a +moment, and before I got my thoughts together he was gone, and I saw the +tail of Grace's cape whisk round the screen door. + +A sole is at the best an ugly thing to have in one's face, and this sole +was larger than most, for Maskew took care to get what he could for his +money, so it went with a loud smack on Mr. Glennie's cheek, and then fell +with another smack on the floor. At this we all laughed, as children +will, and Mr. Glennie did not check us, but went back and sat very quiet +at his desk; and soon I was sorry I had laughed, for he looked sad, with +his face sanded and a great red patch on one side, and beside that the +fin had scratched him and made a blood-drop trickle down his cheek. A few +minutes later the thin voice of the almshouse clock said twelve, and away +walked Mr. Glennie without his usual 'Good day, children', and there was +the sole left lying on the dusty floor in front of his desk. + +It seemed a shame so fine a fish should be wasted, so I picked it up and +slipped it in my desk, sending Fred Burt to get his mother's gridiron +that we might grill it on the schoolroom fire. While he was gone I went +out to the court to play, and had not been there five minutes when back +comes Maskew through our playground without Grace, and goes into the +schoolroom. But in the screen at the end of the room was a chink, against +which we used to hold our fingers on bright days for the sun to shine +through, and show the blood pink; so up I slipped and fixed my eye to the +hole, wanting to know what he was at. He had his basket with him, and I +soon saw he had come back for the sole, not having the heart to leave so +good a bit of fish. But look where he would, he could not find it, for he +never searched my desk, and had to go off with a sour countenance; but +Fred Burt and I cooked the sole, and found it well flavoured, for all it +had given so much pain to Mr. Glennie. + +After that Grace came no more to school, both because her father had +said she should not, and because she was herself ashamed to go back +after what Maskew had done to Mr. Glennie. And then it was that I took to +wandering much in the Manor woods, having no fear of man-traps, for I +knew their place as soon as they were put down, but often catching sight +of Grace, and sometimes finding occasion to talk with her. Thus time +passed, and I lived with Elzevir at the Why Not?, still going to school +of mornings, but spending the afternoons in fishing, or in helping him +in the garden, or with the boats. As soon as I got to know him well, I +begged him to let me help run the cargoes, but he refused, saying I was +yet too young, and must not come into mischief. Yet, later, yielding to +my importunity, he consented; and more than one dark night I was in the +landing-boats that unburdened the lugger, though I could never bring +myself to enter the Mohune vault again, but would stand as sentry at the +passage-mouth. And all the while I had round my neck Colonel John +Mohune's locket, and at first wore it next myself, but finding it black +the skin, put it between shirt and body-jacket. And there by dint of +wear it grew less black, and showed a little of the metal underneath, +and at last I took to polishing it at odd times, until it came out quite +white and shiny, like the pure silver that it was. Elzevir had seen this +locket when he put me to bed the first time I came to the Why Not? and +afterwards I told him whence I got it; but though we had it out more +than once of an evening, we could never come at any hidden meaning. +Indeed, we scarce tried to, judging it to be certainly a sacred charm to +keep evil spirits from Blackbeard's body. + + + + +CHAPTER 7 + +AN AUCTION + +What if my house be troubled with a rat, +And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats +To have it baned--_Shakespeare_ + + +One evening in March, when the days were lengthening fast, there came a +messenger from Dorchester, and brought printed notices for fixing to the +shutters of the Why Not? and to the church door, which said that in a +week's time the bailiff of the duchy of Cornwall would visit Moonfleet. +This bailiff was an important person, and his visits stood as events in +village history. Once in five years he made a perambulation, or journey, +through the whole duchy, inspecting all the Royal property, and arranging +for new leases. His visits to Moonfleet were generally short enough, for +owing to the Mohunes owning all the land, the only duchy estate there was +the Why Not? and the only duty of the bailiff to renew that five-year +lease, under which Blocks had held the inn, father and son, for +generations. But for all that, the business was not performed without +ceremony, for there was a solemn show of putting up the lease of the inn +to the highest bidder, though it was well understood that no one except +Elzevir would make an offer. + +So one morning, a week later, I went up to the top end of the village +to watch for the bailiff's postchaise, and about eleven of the forenoon +saw it coming down the hill with four horses and two postillions. +Presently it came past, and I saw there were two men in it--a clerk +sitting with his back to the horses, and in the seat opposite a little +man in a periwig, whom I took for the bailiff. Then I ran down to my +aunt's house, for Elzevir had asked me to beg one of her best winter +candles for a purpose which I will explain presently. I had not seen +Aunt Jane, except in church, since the day that she dismissed me, but +she was no stiffer than usual, and gave me the candle readily enough. +'There,' she said, 'take it, and I wish it may bring light into your +dark heart, and show you what a wicked thing it is to leave your own +kith and kin and go to dwell in a tavern.' I was for saying that it was +kith and kin that left me, and not I them; and as for living in a +tavern, it was better to live there than nowhere at all, as she would +wish me to do in turning me out of her house; but did not, and only +thanked her for the candle, and was off. + +When I came to the inn, there was the postchaise in front of the door, +the horses being led away to bait, and a little group of villagers +standing round; for though the auction of the Why Not? was in itself a +trite thing with a foregone conclusion, yet the bailiff's visit always +stirred some show of interest. There were a few children with their noses +flattened against the windows of the parlour, and inside were Mr. Bailiff +and Mr. Clerk hard at work on their dinner. Mr. Bailiff, who was, as I +guessed, the little man in the periwig, sat at the top of the table, and +Mr. Clerk sat at the bottom, and on chairs were placed their hats, and +travelling-cloaks, and bundles of papers tied together with green tape. +You may be sure that Elzevir had a good dinner for them, with hot rabbit +pie and cold round of brawn, and a piece of blue vinny, which Mr. Bailiff +ate heartily, but his clerk would not touch, saying he had as lief chew +soap. There was also a bottle of Ararat milk, and a flagon of ale, for we +were afraid to set French wines before them, lest they should fall to +wondering how they were come by. + +Elzevir took the candle, chiding me a little for being late, and set it +in a brass candlestick in the middle of the table. Then Mr. Clerk takes a +little rule from his pocket, measures an inch down on the candle, sticks +into the grease at that point a scarf-pin with an onyx head that Elzevir +lent him, and lights the wick. Now the reason of this was, that the +custom ran in Moonfleet when either land or lease was put up to bidding, +to stick a pin in a candle; and so long as the pin held firm, it was open +to any to make a better offer, but when the flame burnt down and the pin +fell out, then land or lease fell to the last bidder. So after dinner was +over and the table cleared, Mr. Clerk takes out a roll of papers and +reads a legal description of the Why Not?, calling it the Mohune Arms, an +excellent messuage or tenement now used as a tavern, and speaking of the +convenient paddocks or parcels of grazing land at the back of it, called +Moons'-lease, amounting to sixteen acres more or less. Then he invites +the company to make an offer of rent for such a desirable property under +a five years' lease, and as Elzevir and I are the only company present, +the bidding is soon done; for Elzevir offers a rent of 12 a year, which +has always been the value of the Why Not? The clerk makes a note of +this; but the business is not over yet, for we must wait till the pin +drops out of the candle before the lease is finally made out. So the men +fell to smoking to pass the time, till there could not have been more +than ten minutes' candle to burn, and Mr. Bailiff, with a glass of Ararat +milk in his hand, was saying, 'Tis a curious and fine tap of Hollands you +keep here, Master Block,' when in walked Mr. Maskew. + +A thunderbolt would not have astonished me so much as did his appearance, +and Elzevir's face grew black as night; but the bailiff and clerk showed +no surprise, not knowing the terms on which persons in our village stood +to one another, and thinking it natural that someone should come in to +see the pin drop, and the end of an ancient custom. Indeed, Maskew seemed +to know the bailiff, for he passed the time of day with him, and was then +for sitting down at the table without taking any notice of Elzevir or me. +But just as he began to seat himself, Block shouted out, 'You are no +welcome visitor in my house, and I would sooner see your back than see +your face, but sit at this table you shall not.' I knew what he meant; +for on that table they had laid out David's body, and with that he struck +his fist upon the board so smart as to make the bailiff jump and nearly +bring the pin out of the candle. + +'Heyday, sirs,' says Mr. Bailiff, astonished, 'let us have no brawling +here, the more so as this worshipful gentleman is a magistrate and +something of a friend of mine.' Yet Maskew refrained from sitting, but +stood by the bailiff's chair, turning white, and not red, as he did with +Mr. Glennie; and muttered something, that he had as lief stand as sit, +and that it should soon be Block's turn to ask sitting-room of _him_. + +I was wondering what possibly could have brought Maskew there, when the +bailiff, who was ill at ease, said--'Come, Mr. Clerk, the pin hath but +another minute's hold; rehearse what has been done, for I must get this +lease delivered and off to Bridport, where much business waits.' + +So the clerk read in a singsong voice that the property of the duchy of +Cornwall, called the Mohune Arms, an inn or tavern, with all its land, +tenements, and appurtenances, situate in the Parish of St. Sebastian, +Moonfleet, having been offered on lease for five years, would be let to +Elzevir Block at a rent of 12 per annum, unless anyone offered a higher +rent before the pin fell from the candle. + +There was no one to make another offer, and the bailiff said to Elzevir, +'Tell them to have the horses round, the pin will be out in a minute, and +'twill save time.' So Elzevir gave the order, and then we all stood round +in silence, waiting for the pin to fall. The grease had burnt down to the +mark, or almost below it, as it appeared; but just where the pin stuck in +there was a little lump of harder tallow that held bravely out, refusing +to be melted. The bailiff gave a stamp of impatience with his foot under +the table as though he hoped thus to shake out the pin, and then a little +dry voice came from Maskew, saying-- + +'I offer 13 a year for the inn.' + +This fell upon us with so much surprise, that all looked round, seeking +as it were some other speaker, and never thinking that it could be +Maskew. Elzevir was the first, I believe, to fully understand 'twas he; +and without turning to look at bailiff or Maskew, but having his elbows +on the table, his face between his hands, and looking straight out to +sea said in a sturdy voice, 'I offer 20.' + +The words were scarce out of his mouth when Maskew caps them with 21, +and so in less than a minute the rent of the Why Not? was near doubled. +Then the bailiff looked from one to the other, not knowing what to make +of it all, nor whether 'twas comedy or serious, and said-- + +'Kind sir, I warn ye not to trifle; I have no time to waste in April +fooling, and he who makes offers in sport will have to stand to them +in earnest.' + +But there was no lack of earnest in one at least of the men that he had +before him, and the voice with which Elzevir said 30 was still sturdy. +Maskew called 31 and 41, and Elzevir 40 and 50, and then I looked at +the candle, and saw that the head of the pin was no longer level, it had +sunk a little--a very little. The clerk awoke from his indifference, and +was making notes of the bids with a squeaking quill, the bailiff frowned +as being puzzled, and thinking that none had a right to puzzle him. As +for me, I could not sit still, but got on my feet, if so I might better +bear the suspense; for I understood now that Maskew had made up his mind +to turn Elzevir out, and that Elzevir was fighting for his home. _His_ +home, and had he not made it my home too, and were we both to be made +outcasts to please the spite of this mean little man? + +There were some more bids, and then I knew that Maskew was saying 91, +and saw the head of the pin was lower; the hard lump of tallow in Aunt +Jane's candle was thawing. The bailiff struck in: 'Are ye mad, sirs, and +you, Master Block, save your breath, and spare your money; and if this +worshipful gentleman must become innkeeper at any price, let him have the +place in the Devil's name, and I will give thee the Mermaid, at Bridport, +with a snug parlour, and ten times the trade of this.' + +Elzevir seemed not to hear what he said, but only called out 100, with +his face still looking out to sea, and the same sturdiness in his voice. +Then Maskew tried a spring, and went to 120, and Elzevir capped him with +130, and 140, 150, 160, 170 followed quick. My breath came so fast +that I was almost giddy, and I had to clench my hands to remind myself of +where I was, and what was going on. The bidders too were breathing hard, +Elzevir had taken his head from his hands, and the eyes of all were on +the pin. The lump of tallow was worn down now; it was hard to say why the +pin did not fall. Maskew gulped out 180, and Elzevir said 190, and then +the pin gave a lurch, and I thought the Why Not? was saved, though at the +price of ruin. No; the pin had not fallen, there was a film that held it +by the point, one second, only one second. Elzevir's breath, which was +ready to outbid whatever Maskew said, caught in his throat with the +catching pin, and Maskew sighed out 200, before the pin pattered on the +bottom of the brass candlestick. + +The clerk forgot his master's presence and shut his notebook with a bang, +'Congratulate you, sir,' says he, quite pert to Maskew; 'you are the +landlord of the poorest pothouse in the Duchy at 200 a year.' + +The bailiff paid no heed to what his man did, but took his periwig +off and wiped his head. 'Well, I'm hanged,' he said; and so the Why +Not? was lost. + +Just as the last bid was given, Elzevir half-rose from his chair, and +for a moment I expected to see him spring like a wild beast on Maskew; +but he said nothing, and sat down again with the same stolid look on his +face. And, indeed, it was perhaps well that he thus thought better of +it, for Maskew stuck his hand into his bosom as the other rose; and +though he withdrew it again when Elzevir got back to his chair, yet the +front of his waistcoat was a little bulged, and, looking sideways, I saw +the silver-shod butt of a pistol nestling far down against his white +shirt. The bailiff was vexed, I think, that he had been betrayed into +such strong words; for he tried at once to put on as indifferent an air +as might be, saying in dry tones, 'Well, gentlemen, there seems to be +here some personal matter into which I shall not attempt to spy. Two +hundred pounds more or less is but a flea-bite to the Duchy; and if you, +sir,' turning to Maskew, 'wish later on to change your mind, and be quit +of the bargain, I shall not be the man to stand in your way. In any +case, I imagine 'twill be time enough to seal the lease if I send it +from London.' + +I knew he said this, and hinted at delay as wishing to do Elzevir a good +turn; for his clerk had the lease already made out pat, and it only +wanted the name and rent filled in to be sealed and signed. But, 'No,' +says Maskew, 'business is business, Mr. Bailiff, and the post uncertain +to parts so distant from the capital as these; so I'll thank you to make +out the lease to me now, and on May Day place me in possession.' + +'So be it then,' said the bailiff a little testily, 'but blame me not for +driving hard bargains; for the Duchy, whose servant I am,' and he raised +his hat, 'is no daughter of the horse-leech. Fill in the figures, Mr. +Scrutton, and let us away.' + +So Mr. Scrutton, for that was Mr. Clerk's name, scratches a bit with his +quill on the parchment sheet to fill in the money, and then Maskew +scratches his name, and Mr. Bailiff scratches his name, and Mr. Clerk +scratches again to witness Mr. Bailiff's name, and then Mr. Bailiff takes +from his mails a little shagreen case, and out from the case comes +sealing-wax and the travelling seal of the Duchy. + +There was my aunt's best winter-candle still burning away in the +daylight, for no one had taken any thought to put it out; and Mr. Bailiff +melts the wax at it, till a drop of sealing-wax falls into the grease and +makes a gutter down one side, and then there is a sweating of the +parchment under the hot wax, and at last on goes the seal. 'Signed, +sealed, and delivered,' says Mr. Clerk, rolling up the sheet and handing +it to Maskew; and Maskew takes and thrusts it into his bosom underneath +his waistcoat front--all cheek by jowl with that silver-hafted pistol, +whose butt I had seen before. + +The postchaise stood before the door, the horses were stamping on the +cobble-stones, and the harness jingled. Mr. Clerk had carried out his +mails, but Mr. Bailiff stopped for a moment as he flung the travelling +cloak about his shoulders to say to Elzevir, 'Tut, man, take things not +too hardly. Thou shalt have the Mermaid at 20 a year, which will be +worth ten times as much to thee as this dreary place; and canst send thy +son to Bryson's school, where they will make a scholar of him, for he is +a brave lad'; and he touched my shoulder, and gave me a kindly look as +he passed. + +'I thank your worship,' said Elzevir, 'for all your goodness; but when I +quit this place, I shall not set up my staff again at any inn door.' + +Mr. Bailiff seemed nettled to see his offer made so little of, and left +the room with a stiff, 'Then I wish you good day.' + +Maskew had slipped out before him, and the children's noses left the +window-pane as the great man walked down the steps. There was a little +group to see the start, but it quickly melted; and before the clatter of +hoofs died away, the report spread through the village that Maskew had +turned Elzevir out of the Why Not? + +For a long time after all had gone, Elzevir sat at the table with his +head between his hands, and I kept quiet also, both because I was myself +sorry that we were to be sent adrift, and because I wished to show +Elzevir that I felt for him in his troubles. But the young cannot enter +fully into their elders' sorrows, however much they may wish to, and +after a time the silence palled upon me. It was getting dusk, and the +candle which bore itself so bravely through auction and lease-sealing +burnt low in the socket. A minute later the light gave some flickering +flashes, failings, and sputters, and then the wick tottered, and out +popped the flame, leaving us with the chilly grey of a March evening +creeping up in the corners of the room. I could bear the gloom no longer, +but made up the fire till the light danced ruddy across pewter and +porcelain on the dresser. 'Come, Master Block,' I said, 'there is time +enough before May Day to think what we shall do, so let us take a cup of +tea, and after that I will play you a game of backgammon.' But he still +remained cast down, and would say nothing; and as chance would have it, +though I wished to let him win at backgammon, that so, perhaps, he might +get cheered, yet do what I would that night I could not lose. So as his +luck grew worse his moodiness increased, and at last he shut the board +with a bang, saying, in reference to that motto that ran round its edge, +'Life is like a game of hazard, and surely none ever flung worse throws, +or made so little of them as I.' + + + + +CHAPTER 8 + +THE LANDING + +Let my lamp at midnight hour +Be seen in some high lonely tower--_Milton_ + + +Maskew got ugly looks from the men, and sour words from the wives, as he +went up through the village that afternoon, for all knew what he had +done, and for many days after the auction he durst not show his face +abroad. Yet Damen of Ringstave and some others of the landers' men, who +made it their business to keep an eye upon him, said that he had been +twice to Weymouth of evenings, and held converse there with Mr. Luckham +of the Excise, and with Captain Henning, who commanded the troopers then +in quarters on the Nothe. And by degrees it got about, but how I do not +know, that he had persuaded the Revenue to strike hard at the smugglers, +and that a strong posse was to be held in readiness to take the landers +in the act the next time they should try to run a cargo. Why Maskew +should so put himself about to help the Revenue I cannot tell, nor did +anyone ever certainly find out; but some said 'twas out of sheer +wantonness, and a desire to hurt his neighbours; and others, that he saw +what an apt place this was for landing cargoes, and wished first to make +a brave show of zeal for the Excise, and afterwards to get the whole of +the contraband trade into his own hands. However that may be, I think he +was certainly in league with the Revenue men, and more than once I saw +him on the Manor terrace with a spy glass in his hand, and guessed that +he was looking for the lugger in the offing. Now, word was mostly given +to the lander, by safe hands, of the night on which a cargo should be +run, and then in the morning or afternoon, the lugger would come just +near enough the land to be made out with glasses, and afterwards lie off +again out of sight till nightfall. The nights chosen for such work were +without moon, but as still as might be, so long as there was wind enough +to fill the sails; and often the lugger could be made out from the beach, +but sometimes 'twas necessary to signal with flares, though they were +used as little as might be. Yet after there had been a long spell of +rough weather, and a cargo had to be run at all hazards, I have known the +boats come in even on the bright moonlight and take their risk, for 'twas +said the Excise slept sounder round us than anywhere in all the Channel. + +These tales of Maskew's doings failed not to reach Elzevir, and for some +days he thought best not to move, though there was a cargo on the other +side that wanted landing badly. But one evening when he had won at +backgammon, and was in an open mood, he took me into confidence, setting +down the dice box on the table, and saying-- + +'There is word come from the shippers that we must take a cargo, for that +they cannot keep the stuff by them longer at St. Malo. Now with this +devil at the Manor prowling round, I dare not risk the job on Moonfleet +beach, nor yet stow the liquor in the vault; so I have told the +_Bonaventure_ to put her nose into this bay tomorrow afternoon that +Maskew may see her well, and then to lie out again to sea, as she has +done a hundred times before. But instead of waiting in the offing, she +will make straight off up Channel to a little strip of shingle underneath +Hoar Head.' I nodded to show I knew the place, and he went on--'Men used +to choose that spot in good old times to beach a cargo before the +passage to the vault was dug; and there is a worked-out quarry they +called Pyegrove's Hole, not too far off up the down, and choked with +brambles, where we can find shelter for a hundred kegs. So we'll be under +Hoar Head at five tomorrow morn with the pack-horses. I wish we could be +earlier, for the sun rises thereabout, but the tide will not serve +before.' + +It was at that moment that I felt a cold touch on my shoulders, as of the +fresh air from outside, and thought beside I had a whiff of salt seaweed +from the beach. So round I looked to see if door or window stood ajar. +The window was tight enough, and shuttered to boot, but the door was not +to be seen plainly for a wooden screen, which parted it from the parlour, +and was meant to keep off draughts. Yet I could just see a top corner of +the door above the screen and thought it was not fast. So up I got to +shut it, for the nights were cold; but coming round the corner of the +screen found that 'twas closed, and yet I could have sworn I saw the +latch fall to its place as I walked towards it. Then I dashed forward, +and in a trice had the door open, and was in the street. But the night +was moonless and black, and I neither saw nor heard aught stirring, save +the gentle sea-wash on Moonfleet beach beyond the salt meadows. + +Elzevir looked at me uneasily as I came back. + +'What ails thee, boy?' said he. + +'I thought I heard someone at the door,' I answered; 'did you not feel a +cold wind as if it was open?' + +'It is but the night is sharp, the spring sets in very chill; slip the +bolt, and sit down again,' and he flung a fresh log on the fire, that +sent a cloud of sparks crackling up the chimney and out into the room. + +'Elzevir,' I said, 'I think there was one listening at the door, and +there may be others in the house, so before we sit again let us take +candle and go through the rooms to make sure none are prying on us.' + +He laughed and said, ''Twas but the wind that blew the door open,' but +that I might do as I pleased. So I lit another candle, and was for +starting on my search; but he cried, 'Nay, thou shalt not go alone'; and +so we went all round the house together, and found not so much as a +mouse stirring. + +He laughed the more when we came back to the parlour. ''Tis the cold +has chilled thy heart and made thee timid of that skulking rascal of +the Manor; fill me a glass of Ararat milk, and one for thyself, and let +us to bed.' + +I had learned by this not to be afraid of the good liquor, and while we +sat sipping it, Elzevir went on-- + +'There is a fortnight yet to run, and then you and I shall be cut adrift +from our moorings. It is a cruel thing to see the doors of this house +closed on me, where I and mine have lived a century or more, but I must +see it. Yet let us not be too cast down, but try to make something even +of this worst of throws.' + +I was glad enough to hear him speak in this firmer strain, for I had seen +what a sore thought it had been for these days past that he must leave +the Why Not?, and how it often made him moody and downcast. + +'We will have no more of innkeeping,' he said; 'I have been sick and +tired of it this many a day, and care not now to see men abuse good +liquor and addle their silly pates to fill my purse. And I have +something, boy, put snug away in Dorchester town that will give us bread +to eat and beer to drink, even if the throws run still deuce-ace. But we +must seek a roof to shelter us when the Why Not? is shut, and 'tis best +we leave this Moonfleet of ours for a season, till Maskew finds a rope's +end long enough to hang himself withal. So, when our work is done +tomorrow night, we will walk out along the cliff to Worth, and take a +look at a cottage there that Damen spoke about, with a walled orchard at +the back, and fuchsia hedge in front--'tis near the Lobster Inn, and has +a fine prospect of the sea; and if we live there, we will leave the vault +alone awhile and use this Pyegrove's Hole for storehouse, till the watch +is relaxed.' + +I did not answer, having my thoughts on other things, and he tossed off +his liquor, saying, 'Thou'rt tired; so let's to bed, for we shall get +little sleep tomorrow night.' + +It was true that I was tired, and yet I could not get to sleep, but +tossed and turned in my bed for thinking of many things, and being vexed +that we were to leave Moonfleet. Yet mine was a selfish sorrow; for I had +little thought for Elzevir and the pain that it must be to him to quit, +the Why Not?: nor yet was it the grief of leaving Moonfleet that so +troubled me, although that was the only place I ever had known, and +seemed to me then--as now--the only spot on earth fit to be lived in; but +the real care and canker was that I was going away from Grace Maskew. For +since she had left school I had grown fonder of her; and now that it was +difficult to see her, I took the more pains to accomplish it, and met her +sometimes in Manor Woods, and more than once, when Maskew was away, had +walked with her on Weatherbeech Hill. So we bred up a boy-and-girl +affection, and must needs pledge ourselves to be true to one another, not +knowing what such silly words might mean. And I told Grace all my +secrets, not even excepting the doings of the contraband, and the Mohune +vault and Blackbeard's locket, for I knew all was as safe with her as +with me, and that her father could never rack aught from her. Nay, more, +her bedroom was at the top of the gabled wing of the Manor House, and +looked right out to sea; and one clear night, when our boat was coming +late from fishing, I saw her candle burning there, and next day told her +of it. And then she said that she would set a candle to burn before the +panes on winter nights, and be a leading light for boats at sea. And so +she did, and others beside me saw and used it, calling it 'Maskew's +Match', and saying that it was the attorney sitting up all night to pore +over ledgers and add up his fortune. + +So this night as I lay awake I vexed and vexed myself for thinking of +her, and at last resolved to go up next morning to the Manor Woods and +lie in wait for Grace, to tell her what was up, and that we were going +away to Worth. + +Next day, the 16th of April--a day I have had cause to remember all my +life--I played truant from Mr. Glennie, and by ten in the forenoon found +myself in the woods. + +There was a little dimple on the hillside above the house, green with +burdocks in summer and filled with dry leaves in winter--just big enough +to hold one lying flat, and not so deep but that I could look over the +lip of it and see the house without being seen. Thither I went that day, +and lay down in the dry leaves to wait and watch for Grace. + +The morning was bright enough. The chills of the night before had given +way to sunlight that seemed warm as summer, and yet had with it the soft +freshness of spring. There was scarce a breath moving in the wood, though +I could see the clouds of white dust stalking up the road that climbs +Ridge down, and the trees were green with buds, yet without leafage to +keep the sunbeams from lighting up the ground below, which glowed with +yellow king-cups. So I lay there for a long, long while; and to make time +pass quicker, took from my bosom the silver locket, and opening it, read +again the parchment, which I had read times out of mind before, and knew +indeed by heart. + +'The days of our age are threescore years and ten', and the rest. + +Now, whenever I handled the locket, my thoughts were turned to Mohune's +treasure; and it was natural that it should be so, for the locket +reminded me of my first journey to the vault; and I laughed at myself, +remembering how simple I had been, and had hoped to find the place +littered with diamonds, and to see the gold lying packed in heaps. And +thus for the hundredth time I came to rack my brain to know where the +diamond could be hid, and thought at last it must be buried in the +churchyard, because of the talk of Blackbeard being seen on wild nights +digging there for his treasure. But then, I reasoned, that very like it +was the contrabandiers whom men had seen with spades when they were +digging out the passage from the tomb to the vault, and set them down for +ghosts because they wrought at night. And while I was busy with such +thoughts, the door opened in the house below me, and out came Grace with +a hood on her head and a basket for wild flowers in her hand. + +I watched to see which way she would walk; and as soon as she took the +path that leads up Weatherbeech, made off through the dry brushwood to +meet her, for we had settled she should never go that road except when +Maskew was away. So there we met and spent an hour together on the hill, +though I shall not write here what we said, because it was mostly silly +stuff. She spoke much of the auction and of Elzevir leaving the Why Not?, +and though she never said a word against her father, let me know what +pain his doing gave her. But most she grieved that we were leaving +Moonfleet, and showed her grief in such pretty ways, as made me almost +glad to see her sorry. And from her I learned that Maskew was indeed +absent from home, having been called away suddenly last night. The +evening was so fine, he said (and this surprised me, remembering how dark +and cold it was with us), that he must needs walk round the policies; but +about nine o'clock came back and told her he had got a sudden call to +business, which would take him to Weymouth then and there. So to saddle, +and off he went on his mare, bidding Grace not to look for him for two +nights to come. + +I know not why it was, but what she said of Maskew made me thoughtful and +silent, and she too must be back home lest the old servant that kept +house for them should say she had been too long away, and so we parted. +Then off I went through the woods and down the village street, but as I +passed my old home saw Aunt Jane standing on the doorstep. I bade her +'Good day', and was for running on to the Why Not?, for I was late enough +already, but she called me to her, seeming in a milder mood, and said she +had something for me in the house. So left me standing while she went off +to get it, and back she came and thrust into my hand a little +prayer-book, which I had often seen about the parlour in past days, +saying, 'Here is a Common Prayer which I had meant to send thee with thy +clothes. It was thy poor mother's, and I pray may some day be as precious +a balm to thee as it once was to that godly woman.' With that she gave me +the 'Good day', and I pocketed the little red leather book, which did +indeed afterwards prove precious to me, though not in the way she meant, +and ran down street to the Why Not? + + * * * * * + +That same evening Elzevir and I left the Why Not?, went up through the +village, climbed the down, and were at the brow by sunset. We had started +earlier than we fixed the night before, because word had come to Elzevir +that morning that the tide called Gulder would serve for the beaching of +the _Bonaventure_ at three instead of five. 'Tis a strange thing the +Gulder, and not even sailors can count closely with it; for on the Dorset +coast the tide makes four times a day, twice with the common flow, and +twice with the Gulder, and this last being shifty and uncertain as to +time, flings out many a sea-reckoning. + +It was about seven o'clock when we were at the top of the hill, and there +were fifteen good miles to cover to get to Hoar Head. Dusk was upon us +before we had walked half an hour; but when the night fell, it was not +black as on the last evening, but a deep sort of blue, and the heat of +the day did not die with the sun, but left the air still warm and balmy. +We trudged on in silence, and were glad enough when we saw by a white +stone here and there at the side of the path that we were nearing the +cliff; for the Preventive men mark all the footpaths on the cliff with +whitewashed stones, so that one can pick up the way without risk on a +dark night. A few minutes more, and we reached a broad piece of open +sward, which I knew for the top of Hoar Head. + +Hoar Head is the highest of that line of cliffs, which stretches twenty +miles from Weymouth to St. Alban's Head, and it stands up eighty fathoms +or more above the water. The seaward side is a great sheer of chalk, but +falls not straight into the sea, for three parts down there is a lower +ledge or terrace, called the under-cliff. + +'Twas to this ledge that we were bound; and though we were now straight +above, I knew we had a mile or more to go before we could get down to +it. So on we went again, and found the bridle-path that slopes down +through a deep dip in the cliff line; and when we reached this +under-ledge, I looked up at the sky, the night being clear, and guessed +by the stars that 'twas past midnight. I knew the place from having once +been there for blackberries; for the brambles on the under-cliff being +sheltered every way but south, and open to the sun, grow the finest in +all those parts. + +We were not alone, for I could make out a score of men, some standing in +groups, some resting on the ground, and the dark shapes of the +pack-horses showing larger in the dimness. There were a few words of +greeting muttered in deep voices, and then all was still, so that one +heard the browsing horses trying to crop something off the turf. It was +not the first cargo I had helped to run, and I knew most of the men, but +did not speak with them, being tired, and wishing to rest till I was +wanted. So cast myself down on the turf, but had not lain there long when +I saw someone coming to me through the brambles, and Master Ratsey said, +'Well, Jack, so thou and Elzevir are leaving Moonfleet, and I fain would +flit myself, but then who would be left to lead the old folk to their +last homes, for dead do not bury their dead in these days.' + +I was half-asleep, and took little heed of what he said, putting him off +with, 'That need not keep you, Master; they will find others to fill your +place.' Yet he would not let me be, but went on talking for the pleasure +of hearing his own voice. + +'Nay, child, you know not what you say. They may find men to dig a grave, +and perhaps to fill it, but who shall toss the mould when Parson Glennie +gives the "earth to earth"; it takes a mort of knowledge to make it +rattle kindly on the coffin-lid.' + +I felt sleep heavy on my eyelids, and was for begging him to let me rest, +when there came a whistle from below, and in a moment all were on their +feet. The drivers went to the packhorses' heads, and so we walked down to +the strand, a silent moving group of men and horses mixed; and before we +came to the bottom, heard the first boat's nose grind on the beach, and +the feet of the seamen crunching in the pebbles. Then all fell to the +business of landing, and a strange enough scene it was, what with the +medley of men, the lanthorns swinging, and a frothy Upper from the sea +running up till sometimes it was over our boots; and all the time there +was a patter of French and Dutch, for most of the _Bonaventure's_ men +were foreigners. But I shall not speak more of this; for, after all, one +landing is very like another, and kegs come ashore in much the same way, +whether they are to pay excise or not. + +It must have been three o'clock before the lugger's boats were off again +to sea, and by that time the horses were well laden, and most of the men +had a keg or two to carry beside. Then Elzevir, who was in command, gave +the word, and we began to file away from the beach up to the under-cliff. +Now, what with the cargo being heavy, we were longer than usual in +getting away; and though there was no sign of sunrise, yet the night was +greyer, and not so blue as it had been. + +We reached the under-cliff, and were moving across it to address +ourselves to the bridle-path, and so wind sideways up the steep, when I +saw something moving behind one of the plumbs of brambles with which the +place is beset. It was only a glimpse of motion that I had perceived, and +could not say whether 'twas man or animal, or even frightened bird behind +the bushes. But others had seen it as well; there was some shouting, half +a dozen flung down their kegs and started in pursuit. + +All eyes were turned to the bridle-path, and in a twinkling hunters and +hunted were in view. The greyhounds were Damen and Garrett, with some +others, and the hare was an older man, who leapt and bounded forward, +faster than I should have thought any but a youth could run; but then he +knew what men were after him, and that 'twas a race for life. For though +it was but a moment before all were lost in the night, yet this was long +enough to show me that the man was none other than Maskew, and I knew +that his life was not worth ten minutes' purchase. + +Now I hated this man, and had myself suffered something at his hand, +besides seeing him put much grievous suffering on others; but I wished +then with all my heart he might escape, and had a horrible dread of what +was to come. Yet I knew all the time escape was impossible; for though +Maskew ran desperately, the way was steep and stony, and he had behind +him some of the fleetest feet along that coast. We had all stopped with +one accord, as not wishing to move a step forward till we had seen the +issue of the chase; and I was near enough to look into Elzevir's face, +but saw there neither passion nor bloodthirstiness, but only a calm +resolve, as if he had to deal with something well expected. + +We had not long to wait, for very soon we heard a rolling of stones and +trampling of feet coming down the path, and from the darkness issued a +group of men, having Maskew in the middle of them. They were hustling him +along fast, two having hold of him by the arms, and a third by the neck +of his shirt behind. The sight gave me a sick qualm, like an overdose of +tobacco, for it was the first time I had ever seen a man man-handled, and +a fellow-creature abused. His cap was lost, and his thin hair tangled +over his forehead, his coat was torn off, so that he stood in his +waistcoat alone; he was pale, and gasped terribly, whether from the sharp +run, or from violence, or fear, or all combined. + +There was a babel of voices when they came up of desperate men who had a +bitterest enemy in their clutch; and some shouted, 'Club him', 'Shoot +him', 'Hang him', while others were for throwing him over the cliff. Then +someone saw under the flap of his waistcoat that same silver-hafted +pistol that lay so lately next the lease of the Why Not? and snatching it +from him, flung it on the grass at Block's feet. + +But Elzevir's deep voice mastered their contentions-- + +'Lads, ye remember how I said when this man's reckoning day should come +'twas I would reckon with him, and had your promise to it. Nor is it +right that any should lay hand on him but I, for is he not sealed to me +with my son's blood? So touch him not, but bind him hand and foot, and +leave him here with me and go your ways; there is no time to lose, for +the light grows apace.' + +There was a little muttered murmuring, but Elzevir's will overbore them +here as it had done in the vault; and they yielded the more easily, +because every man knew in his heart that he would never see Maskew again +alive. So within ten minutes all were winding up the bridle-path, horses +and men, all except three; for there were left upon the brambly +greensward of the under-cliff Maskew and Elzevir and I, and the pistol +lay at Elzevir's feet. + + + + +CHAPTER 9 + +A JUDGEMENT + +Let them fight it out, friend. Things have gone too far, +God must judge the couple: leave them as they are--_Browning_ + + +I made as if I would follow the others, not wishing to see what I must +see if I stayed behind, and knowing that I was powerless to bend Elzevir +from his purpose. But he called me back and bade me wait with him, for +that I might be useful by and by. So I waited, but was only able to make +a dreadful guess at how I might be of use, and feared the worst. + +Maskew sat on the sward with his hands lashed tight behind his back, and +his feet tied in front. They had set him with his shoulders against a +great block of weather-worn stone that was half-buried and half-stuck up +out of the turf. There he sat keeping his eyes on the ground, and was +breathing less painfully than when he was first brought, but still very +pale. Elzevir stood with the lanthorn in his hand, looking at Maskew +with a fixed gaze, and we could hear the hoofs of the heavy-laden horses +beating up the path, till they turned a corner, and all was still. + +The silence was broken by Maskew: 'Unloose me, villain, and let me go. I +am a magistrate of the county, and if you do not, I will have you +gibbeted on this cliff-top.' + +They were brave words enough, yet seemed to me but bad play-acting; and +brought to my remembrance how, when I was a little fellow, Mr. Glennie +once made me recite a battle-piece of Mr. Dryden before my betters; and +how I could scarce get out the bloody threats for shyness and rising +tears. So it was with Maskew's words; for he had much ado to gather +breath to say them, and they came in a thin voice that had no sting of +wrath or passion in it. + +Then Elzevir spoke to him, not roughly, but resolved; and yet with +melancholy, like a judge sentencing a prisoner: + +'Talk not to me of gibbets, for thou wilt neither hang nor see men hanged +again. A month ago thou satst under my roof, watching the flame burn down +till the pin dropped and gave thee right to turn me out from my old home. +And now this morning thou shalt watch that flame again, for I will give +thee one inch more of candle, and when the pin drops, will put this thine +own pistol to thy head, and kill thee with as little thought as I would +kill a stoat or other vermin.' + +Then he opened the lanthorn slide, took out from his neckcloth that same +pin with the onyx head which he had used in the Why Not? and fixed it in +the tallow a short inch from the top, setting the lanthorn down upon the +sward in front of Maskew. + +As for me, I was dismayed beyond telling at these words, and made +giddy with the revulsion of feeling; for, whereas, but a few minutes +ago, I would have thought nothing too bad for Maskew, now I was turned +round to wish he might come off with his life, and to look with terror +upon Elzevir. + +It had grown much lighter, but not yet with the rosy flush of sunrise; +only the stars had faded out, and the deep blue of the night given way to +a misty grey. The light was strong enough to let all things be seen, but +not to call the due tints back to them. So I could see cliffs and ground, +bushes and stones and sea, and all were of one pearly grey colour, or +rather they were colourless; but the most colourless and greyest thing of +all was Maskew's face. His hair had got awry, and his head showed much +balder than when it was well trimmed; his face, too, was drawn with heavy +lines, and there were rings under his eyes. Beside all that, he had got +an ugly fall in trying to escape, and one cheek was muddied, and down it +trickled a blood-drop where a stone had cut him. He was a sorry sight +enough, and looking at him, I remembered that day in the schoolroom when +this very man had struck the parson, and how our master had sat patient +under it, with a blood-drop trickling down his cheek too. Maskew kept his +eyes fixed for a long time on the ground, but raised them at last, and +looked at me with a vacant yet pity-seeking look. Now, till that moment I +had never seen a trace of Grace in his features, nor of him in hers; and +yet as he gazed at me then, there was something of her present in his +face, even battered as it was, so that it seemed as if she looked at me +behind his eyes. And that made me the sorrier for him, and at last I felt +I could not stand by and see him done to death. + +When Elzevir had stuck the pin into the candle he never shut the slide +again; and though no wind blew, there was a light breath moving in the +morning off the sea, that got inside the lanthorn and set the flame +askew. And so the candle guttered down one side till but little tallow +was left above the pin; for though the flame grew pale and paler to the +view in the growing morning light, yet it burnt freely all the time. So +at last there was left, as I judged, but a quarter of an hour to run +before the pin should fall, and I saw that Maskew knew this as well as I, +for his eyes were fixed on the lanthorn. + +At last he spoke again, but the brave words were gone, and the thin voice +was thinner. He had dropped threats, and was begging piteously for his +life. 'Spare me,' he said; 'spare me, Mr. Block: I have an only daughter, +a young girl with none but me to guard her. Would you rob a young girl of +her only help and cast her on the world? Would you have them find me dead +upon the cliff and bring me back to her a bloody corpse?' + +Then Elzevir answered: 'And had I not an only son, and was he not brought +back to me a bloody corpse? Whose pistol was it that flashed in his face +and took his life away? Do you not know? It was this very same that shall +flash in yours. So make what peace you may with God, for you have little +time to make it.' + +With that he took the pistol from the ground where it had lain, and +turning his back on Maskew, walked slowly to and fro among the +bramble-plumps. + +Though Maskew's words about his daughter seemed but to feed Elzevir's +anger, by leading him to think of David, they sank deep in my heart; and +if it had seemed a fearful thing before to stand by and see a +fellow-creature butchered, it seemed now ten thousand times more fearful. +And when I thought of Grace, and what such a deed would mean to her, my +pulse beat so fierce that I must needs spring to my feet and run to +reason with Elzevir, and tell him this must not be. + +He was still walking among the bushes when I found him, and let me say +my say till I was out of breath, and bore with me if I talked fast, and +if my tongue outran my judgement. + +'Thou hast a warm heart, lad,' he said, 'and 'tis for that I like thee. +And if thou hast a chief place in thy heart for me, I cannot grumble if +thou find a little room there even for our enemies. Would I could set thy +soul at ease, and do all that thou askest. In the first flush of wrath, +when he was taken plotting against our lives, it seemed a little thing +enough to take his evil life. But now these morning airs have cooled me, +and it goes against my will to shoot a cowering hound tied hand and foot, +even though he had murdered twenty sons of mine. I have thought if +there be any way to spare his life, and leave this hour's agony to read a +lesson not to be unlearned until the grave. For such poltroons dread +death, and in one hour they die a hundred times. But there is no way out: +his life lies in the scale against the lives of all our men, yes, and thy +life too. They left him in my hands well knowing I should take account of +him; and am I now to play them false and turn him loose again to hang +them all? It cannot be.' + +Still I pleaded hard for Maskew's life, hanging on Elzevir's arm, and +using every argument that I could think of to soften his purpose; but he +pushed me off; and though I saw that he was loth to do it, I had a +terrible conviction that he was not a man to be turned back from his +resolve, and would go through with it to the end. + +We came back together from the brambles to the piece of sward, and there +sat Maskew where we had left him with his back against the stone. Only, +while we were away he had managed to wriggle his watch out of the fob, +and it lay beside him on the turf, tied to him with a black silk riband. +The face of it was turned upwards, and as I passed I saw the hand pointed +to five. Sunrise was very near; for though the cliff shut out the east +from us, the west over Portland was all aglow with copper-red and gold, +and the candle burnt low. The head of the pin was drooping, though very +slightly, but as I saw it droop a month before, and I knew that the final +act was not far off. + +Maskew knew it too, for he made his last appeal, using such passionate +words as I cannot now relate, and wriggling with his body as if to get +his hands from behind his back and hold them up in supplication. He +offered money; a thousand, five thousand, ten thousand pounds to be set +free; he would give back the Why Not?; he would leave Moonfleet; and all +the while the sweat ran down his furrowed face, and at last his voice was +choked with sobs, for he was crying for his life in craven fear. + +He might have spoken to a deaf man for all he moved his judge; and +Elzevir's answer was to cock the pistol and prime the powder in the pan. + +Then I stuck my fingers in my ears and shut my eyes, that I might +neither see nor hear what followed, but in a second changed my mind and +opened them again, for I had made a great resolve to stop this matter, +come what might. + +Maskew was making a dreadful sound between a moan and strangled cry; it +almost seemed as if he thought that there were others by him beside +Elzevir and me, and was shouting to them for help. The sun had risen, and +his first rays blazed on a window far away in the west on top of Portland +Island, and then there was a tinkle in the inside of the lanthorn, and +the pin fell. + +Elzevir looked full at Maskew, and raised his pistol; but before he had +time to take aim, I dashed upon him like a wild cat, springing on his +right arm, and crying to him to stop. It was an unequal struggle, a lad, +though full-grown and lusty, against one of the powerfullest of men, but +indignation nerved my arms, and his were weak, because he doubted of his +right. So 'twas with some effort that he shook me off, and in the +struggle the pistol was fired into the air. + +Then I let go of him, and stumbled for a moment, tired with that bout, +but pleased withal, because I saw what peace even so short a respite had +brought to Maskew. For at the pistol shot 'twas as if a mask of horror +had fallen from his face, and left him his old countenance again; and +then I saw he turned his eyes towards the cliff-top, and thought that he +was looking up in thankfulness to heaven. + +But now a new thing happened; for before the echoes of that pistol-shot +had died on the keen morning air, I thought I heard a noise of distant +shouting, and looked about to see whence it could come. Elzevir looked +round too, but Maskew forgetting to upbraid me for making him miss his +aim, still kept his face turned up towards the cliff. Then the voices +came nearer, and there was a mingled sound as of men shouting to one +another, and gathering in from different places. 'Twas from the cliff-top +that the voices came, and thither Elzevir and I looked up, and there too +Maskew kept his eyes fixed. And in a moment there were a score of men +stood on the cliff's edge high above our heads. The sky behind them was +pink flushed with the keenest light of the young day, and they stood out +against it sharp cut and black as the silhouette of my mother that used +to hang up by the parlour chimney. They were soldiers, and I knew the +tall mitre-caps of the 13th, and saw the shafts of light from the sunrise +come flashing round their bodies, and glance off the barrels of their +matchlocks. + +I knew it all now; it was the Posse who had lain in ambush. Elzevir saw +it too, and then all shouted at once. 'Yield at the King's command: you +are our prisoners!' calls the voice of one of those black silhouettes, +far up on the cliff-top. + +'We are lost,' cries Elzevir; 'it is the Posse; but if we die, this +traitor shall go before us,' and he makes towards Maskew to brain him +with the pistol. + +'Shoot, shoot, in the Devil's name,' screams Maskew, 'or I am a +dead man.' + +Then there came a flash of fire along the black line of silhouettes, +with a crackle like a near peal of thunder, and a fut, fut, fut, of +bullets in the turf. And before Elzevir could get at him, Maskew had +fallen over on the sward with a groan, and with a little red hole in the +middle of his forehead. + +'Run for the cliff-side,' cried Elzevir to me; 'get close in, and they +cannot touch thee,' and he made for the chalk wall. But I had fallen on +my knees like a bullock felled by a pole-axe, and had a scorching pain in +my left foot. Elzevir looked back. 'What, have they hit thee too?' he +said, and ran and picked me up like a child. And then there is another +flash and fut, fut, in the turf; but the shots find no billet this time, +and we are lying close against the cliff, panting but safe. + + + + +CHAPTER 10 + +THE ESCAPE + + ... How fearful +And dizzy 'tis to cast one's eyes so low! + ... I'll look no more +Lest my brain turn--_Shakespeare_ + + +The while chalk was a bulwark between us and the foe; and though one or +two of them loosed off their matchlocks, trying to get at us sideways, +they could not even see their quarry, and 'twas only shooting at a +venture. We were safe. But for how short a time! Safe just for so long as +it should please the soldiers not to come down to take us, safe with a +discharged pistol in our grasp, and a shot man lying at our feet. + +Elzevir was the first to speak: 'Can you stand, John? Is the bone +broken?' + +'I cannot stand,' I said; 'there is something gone in my leg, and I feel +blood running down into my boot.' + +He knelt, and rolled down the leg of my stocking; but though he only +moved my foot ever so little, it caused me sharp pain, for feeling was +coming back after the first numbness of the shot. + +'They have broke the leg, though it bleeds little,' Elzevir said. 'We +have no time to splice it here, but I will put a kerchief round, and +while I wrap it, listen to how we lie, and then choose what we shall do.' + +I nodded, biting my lips hard to conceal the pain he gave me, and he went +on: 'We have a quarter of an hour before the Posse can get down to us. +But come they will, and thou canst judge what chance we have to save +liberty or life with that carrion lying by us'--and he jerked his thumb +at Maskew--'though I am glad 'twas not my hand that sent him to his +reckoning, and therefore do not blame thee if thou didst make me waste a +charge in air. So one thing we can do is to wait here until they come, +and I can account for a few of them before they shoot me down; but thou +canst not fight with a broken leg, and they will take thee alive, and +then there is a dance on air at Dorchester Jail.' + +I felt sick with pain and bitterly cast down to think that I was like to +come so soon to such a vile end; so only gave a sigh, wishing heartily +that Maskew were not dead, and that my leg were not broke, but that I was +back again at the Why Not? or even hearing one of Dr. Sherlock's sermons +in my aunt's parlour. + +Elzevir looked down at me when I sighed, and seeing, I suppose, that I +was sorrowful, tried to put a better face on a bad business. 'Forgive me, +lad,' he said, 'if I have spoke too roughly. There is yet another way +that we may try; and if thou hadst but two whole legs, I would have tried +it, but now 'tis little short of madness. And yet, if thou fear'st not, I +will still try it. Just at the end of this flat ledge, farthest from +where the bridle-path leads down, but not a hundred yards from where we +stand, there is a sheep-track leading up the cliff. It starts where the +under-cliff dies back again into the chalk face, and climbs by slants and +elbow-turns up to the top. The shepherds call it the Zigzag, and even +sheep lose their footing on it; and of men I never heard but one had +climbed it, and that was lander Jordan, when the Excise was on his heels, +half a century back. But he that tries it stakes all on head and foot, +and a wounded bird like thee may not dare that flight. Yet, if thou art +content to hang thy life upon a hair, I will carry thee some way; and +where there is no room to carry, thou must down on hands and knees and +trail thy foot.' + +It was a desperate chance enough, but came as welcome as a patch of blue +through lowering skies. 'Yes,' I said, 'dear Master Elzevir, let us get +to it quickly; and if we fall, 'tis better far to die upon the rocks +below than to wait here for them to hale us off to jail.' And with that I +tried to stand, thinking I might go dot and carry even with a broken leg. +But 'twas no use, and down I sank with a groan. Then Elzevir caught me +up, holding me in his arms, with my head looking over his back, and made +off for the Zigzag. And as we slunk along, close to the cliff-side, I +saw, between the brambles, Maskew lying with his face turned up to the +morning sky. And there was the little red hole in the middle of his +forehead, and a thread of blood that welled up from it and trickled off +on to the sward. + +It was a sight to stagger any man, and would have made me swoon perhaps, +but that there was no time, for we were at the end of the under-cliff, +and Elzevir set me down for a minute, before he buckled to his task. And +'twas a task that might cow the bravest, and when I looked upon the +Zigzag, it seemed better to stay where we were and fall into the hands +of the Posse than set foot on that awful way, and fall upon the rocks +below. For the Zigzag started off as a fair enough chalk path, but in a +few paces narrowed down till it was but a whiter thread against the +grey-white cliff-face, and afterwards turned sharply back, crossing a +hundred feet direct above our heads. And then I smelt an evil stench, +and looking about, saw the blown-out carcass of a rotting sheep lie +close at hand. + +'Faugh,' said Elzevir, 'tis a poor beast has lost his foothold.' + +It was an ill omen enough, and I said as much, beseeching him to make his +own way up the Zigzag and leave me where I was, for that they might have +mercy on a boy. + +'Tush!' he cried; 'it is thy heart that fails thee, and 'tis too late now +to change counsel. We have fifteen minutes yet to win or lose with, and +if we gain the cliff-top in that time we shall have an hour's start, or +more, for they will take all that to search the under-cliff. And Maskew, +too, will keep them in check a little, while they try to bring the life +back to so good a man. But if we fall, why, we shall fall together, and +outwit their cunning. So shut thy eyes, and keep them tight until I bid +thee open them.' With that he caught me up again, and I shut my eyes +firm, rebuking myself for my faint-heartedness, and not telling him how +much my foot hurt me. In a minute I knew from Elzevir's steps that he +had left the turf and was upon the chalk. Now I do not believe that there +were half a dozen men beside in England who would have ventured up that +path, even free and untrammelled, and not a man in all the world to do it +with a full-grown lad in his arms. Yet Elzevir made no bones of it, nor +spoke a single word; only he went very slow, and I felt him scuffle with +his foot as he set it forward, to make sure he was putting it down firm. + +I said nothing, not wishing to distract him from his terrible task, and +held my breath, when I could, so that I might lie quieter in his arms. +Thus he went on for a time that seemed without end, and yet was really +but a minute or two; and by degrees I felt the wind, that we could scarce +perceive at all on the under-cliff, blow fresher and cold on the +cliff-side. And then the path grew steeper and steeper, and Elzevir went +slower and slower, till at last he spoke: + +'John, I am going to stop; but open not thy eyes till I have set thee +down and bid thee.' + +I did as bidden, and he lowered me gently, setting me on all-fours upon +the path; and speaking again: + +'The path is too narrow here for me to carry thee, and thou must creep +round this corner on thy hands and knees. But have a care to keep thy +outer hand near to the inner, and the balance of thy body to the cliff, +for there is no room to dance hornpipes here. And hold thy eyes fixed on +the chalk-wall, looking neither down nor seaward.' + +'Twas well he told me what to do, and well I did it; for when I opened my +eyes, even without moving them from the cliff-side, I saw that the ledge +was little more than a foot wide, and that ever so little a lean of the +body would dash me on the rocks below. So I crept on, but spent much time +that was so precious in travelling those ten yards to take me round the +first elbow of the path; for my foot was heavy and gave me fierce pain to +drag, though I tried to mask it from Elzevir. And he, forgetting what I +suffered, cried out, 'Quicken thy pace, lad, if thou canst, the time is +short.' Now so frail is man's temper, that though he was doing more than +any ever did to save another's life, and was all I had to trust to in the +world; yet because he forgot my pain and bade me quicken, my choler rose, +and I nearly gave him back an angry word, but thought better of it and +kept it in. + +Then he told me to stop, for that the way grew wider and he would pick me +up again. But here was another difficulty, for the path was still so +narrow and the cliff-wall so close that he could not take me up in his +arms. So I lay flat on my face, and he stepped over me, setting his foot +between my shoulders to do it; and then, while he knelt down upon the +path, I climbed up from behind upon him, putting my arms round his neck; +and so he bore me 'pickaback'. I shut my eyes firm again, and thus we +moved along another spell, mounting still and feeling the wind still +freshening. + +At length he said that we were come to the last turn of the path, and he +must set me down once more. So down upon his knees and hands he went, and +I slid off behind, on to the ledge. Both were on all-fours now; Elzevir +first and I following. But as I crept along, I relaxed care for a moment, +and my eyes wandered from the cliff-side and looked down. And far below I +saw the blue sea twinkling like a dazzling mirror, and the gulls wheeling +about the sheer chalk wall, and then I thought of that bloated carcass of +a sheep that had fallen from this very spot perhaps, and in an instant +felt a sickening qualm and swimming of the brain, and knew that I was +giddy and must fall. + +Then I called out to Elzevir, and he, guessing what had come over me, +cries to turn upon my side, and press my belly to the cliff. And how he +did it in such a narrow strait I know not; but he turned round, and lying +down himself, thrust his hand firmly in my back, pressing me closer to +the cliff. Yet it was none too soon, for if he had not held me tight, I +should have flung myself down in sheer despair to get quit of that +dreadful sickness. + +'Keep thine eyes shut, John,' he said, 'and count up numbers loud to me, +that I may know thou art not turning faint.' So I gave out, 'One, two, +three,' and while I went on counting, heard him repeating to himself, +though his words seemed thin and far off: 'We must have taken ten minutes +to get here, and in five more they will be on the under-cliff; and if we +ever reach the top, who knows but they have left a guard! No, no, they +will not leave a guard, for not a man knows of the Zigzag; and, if they +knew, they would not guess that we should try it. We have but fifty yards +to go to win, and now this cursed giddy fit has come upon the child, and +he will fall and drag me with him; or they will see us from below, and +pick us off like sitting guillemots against the cliff-face.' + +So he talked to himself, and all the while I would have given a world to +pluck up heart and creep on farther; yet could not, for the deadly +sweating fear that had hold of me. Thus I lay with my face to the cliff, +and Elzevir pushing firmly in my back; and the thing that frightened me +most was that there was nothing at all for the hand to take hold of, for +had there been a piece of string, or even a thread of cotton, stretched +along to give a semblance of support, I think I could have done it; but +there was only the cliff-wall, sheer and white, against that narrowest +way, with never cranny to put a finger into. The wind was blowing in +fresh puffs, and though I did not open my eyes, I knew that it was moving +the little tufts of bent grass, and the chiding cries of the gulls +seemed to invite me to be done with fear and pain and broken leg, and +fling myself off on to the rocks below. + +Then Elzevir spoke. 'John' he said, 'there is no time to play the woman; +another minute of this and we are lost. Pluck up thy courage, keep thy +eyes to the cliff, and forward.' + +Yet I could not, but answered: 'I cannot, I cannot; if I open my eyes, or +move hand or foot, I shall fall on the rocks below.' + +He waited a second, and then said: 'Nay, move thou must, and 'tis better +to risk falling now, than fall for certain with another bullet in thee +later on.' And with that he shifted his hand from my back and fixed it +in my coat-collar, moving backwards himself, and setting to drag me +after him. + +Now, I was so besotted with fright that I would not budge an inch, +fearing to fall over if I opened my eyes. And Elzevir, for all he was so +strong, could not pull a helpless lump backwards up that path. So he gave +it up, leaving go hold on me with a groan, and at that moment there rose +from the under-cliff, below a sound of voices and shouting. + +'Zounds, they are down already!' cried Elzevir, 'and have found Maskew's +body; it is all up; another minute and they will see us.' + +But so strange is the force of mind on body, and the power of a greater +to master a lesser fear, that when I heard those voices from below, all +fright of falling left me in a moment, and I could open my eyes without a +trace of giddiness. So I began to move forward again on hands and knees. +And Elzevir, seeing me, thought for a moment I had gone mad, and was +dragging myself over the cliff; but then saw how it was, and moved +backwards himself before me, saying in a low voice, 'Brave lad! Once +creep round this turn, and I will pick thee up again. There is but fifty +yards to go, and we shall foil these devils yet!' + +Then we heard the voices again, but farther off, and not so loud; and +knew that our pursuers had left the under-cliff and turned down on to the +beach, thinking that we were hiding by the sea. + +Five minutes later Elzevir stepped on to the cliff-top, with me +upon his back. + +'We have made something of this throw,' he said, 'and are safe for +another hour, though I thought thy giddy head had ruined us.' + +Then he put me gently upon the springy turf, and lay down himself upon +his back, stretching his arms out straight on either side, and breathing +hard to recover from the task he had performed. + + * * * * * + +The day was still young, and far below us was stretched the moving floor +of the Channel, with a silver-grey film of night-mists not yet lifted in +the offing. A hummocky up-and-down line of cliffs, all projections, +dents, bays, and hollows, trended southward till it ended in the great +bluff of St. Alban's Head, ten miles away. The cliff-face was gleaming +white, the sea tawny inshore, but purest blue outside, with the straight +sunpath across it, spangled and gleaming like a mackerel's back. + +The relief of being once more on firm ground, and the exultation of an +escape from immediate danger, removed my pain and made me forget that my +leg was broken. So I lay for a moment basking in the sun; and the wind, +which a few minutes before threatened to blow me from that narrow ledge, +seemed now but the gentlest of breezes, fresh with the breath of the +kindly sea. But this was only for a moment, for the anguish came back +and grew apace, and I fell to thinking dismally of the plight we were in. +How things had been against us in these last days! First there was losing +the Why Not? and that was bad enough; second, there was the being known +by the Excise for smugglers, and perhaps for murderers; third and last, +there was the breaking of my leg, which made escape so difficult. But, +most of all, there came before my eyes that grey face turned up against +the morning sun, and I thought of all it meant for Grace, and would have +given my own life to call back that of our worst enemy. + +Then Elzevir sat up, stretching himself like one waking out of sleep, and +said: 'We must be gone. They will not be back for some time yet, and, +when they come, will not think to search closely for us hereabouts; but +that we cannot risk, and must get clear away. This leg of thine will keep +us tied for weeks, and we must find some place where we can lie hid, and +tend it. Now, I know such a hiding-hole in Purbeck, which they call +Joseph's Pit, and thither we must go; but it will take all the day to get +there, for it is seven miles off, and I am older than I was, and thou too +heavy a babe to carry over lightly.' + +I did not know the pit he spoke of, but was glad to hear of some place, +however far off, where I could lie still and get ease from the pain. And +so he took me in his arms again and started off across the fields. + +I need not tell of that weary journey, and indeed could not, if I wished; +for the pain went to my head and filled me with such a drowsy anguish +that I knew nothing except when some unlooked-for movement gave me a +sharper twinge, and made me cry out. At first Elzevir walked briskly, but +as the day wore on went slower, and was fain more than once to put me +down and rest, till at last he could only carry me a hundred yards at a +time. It was after noon, for the sun was past the meridian, and very hot +for the time of year, when the face of the country began to change; and +instead of the short sward of the open down, sprinkled with tiny white +snail-shells, the ground was brashy with flat stones, and divided up into +tillage fields. It was a bleak wide-bitten place enough, looking as if +'twould never pay for turning, and instead of hedges there were dreary +walls built of dry stone without mortar. Behind one of these walls, +broken down in places, but held together with straggling ivy, and +buttressed here and there with a bramble-bush, Elzevir put me down at +length and said, 'I am beat, and can carry thee no farther for this +present, though there is not now much farther to go. We have passed +Purbeck Gates, and these walls will screen us from prying eyes if any +chance comer pass along the down. And as for the soldiers, they are not +like to come this way so soon, and if they come I cannot help it; for +weariness and the sun's heat have made my feet like lead. A score of +years ago I would have laughed at such a task, but now 'tis different, +and I must take a little sleep and rest till the air is cooler. So sit +thee here and lean thy shoulder up against the wall, and thus thou canst +look through this broken place and watch both ways. Then, if thou see +aught moving, wake me up.--I wish I had a thimbleful of powder to make +this whistle sound'--and he took Maskew's silver-butted pistol again from +his bosom, and handled it lovingly,--'tis like my evil luck to carry +fire-arms thirty years, and leave them at home at a pinch like this.' +With that he flung himself down where there was a narrow shadow close +against the bottom of the wall, and in a minute I knew from his heavy +breathing that he was asleep. + +The wind had freshened much, and was blowing strong from the west; and +now that I was under the lee of the wall I began to perceive that +drowsiness creeping upon me which overtakes a man who has been tousled +for an hour or two by the wind, and gets at length into shelter. +Moreover, though I was not tired by grievous toil like Elzevir, I had +passed a night without sleep, and felt besides the weariness of pain to +lull me to slumber. So it was, that before a quarter of an hour was past, +I had much ado to keep awake, for all I knew that I was left on guard. +Then I sought something to fix my thoughts, and looking on that side of +the wall where the sward was, fell to counting the mole-hills that were +cast up in numbers thereabout. And when I had exhausted them, and +reckoned up thirty little heaps of dry and powdery brown earth, that lay +at random on the green turf, I turned my eyes to the tillage field on the +other side of the wall, and saw the inch-high blades of corn coming up +between the stones. Then I fell to counting the blades, feeling glad to +have discovered a reckoning that would not be exhausted at thirty, but +would go on for millions, and millions, and millions; and before I had +reached ten in so heroic a numeration was fast asleep. + +A sharp noise woke me with a start that set the pain tingling in my leg, +and though I could see nothing, I knew that a shot had been fired very +near us. I was for waking Elzevir, but he was already full awake, and put +a finger on his lip to show I should not speak. Then he crept a few paces +down the wall to where an ivy bush over-topped it, enough for him to look +through the leaves without being seen. He dropped down again with a look +of relief, and said, ''Tis but a lad scaring rooks with a blunderbuss; we +will not stir unless he makes this way.' + +A minute later he said: 'The boy is coming straight for the wall; we +shall have to show ourselves'; and while he spoke there was a rattle of +falling stones, where the boy was partly climbing and partly pulling +down the dry wall, and so Elzevir stood up. The boy looked frightened, +and made as if he would run off, but Elzevir passed him the time of day +in a civil voice, and he stopped and gave it back. + +'What are you doing here, son?' Block asked. + +'Scaring rooks for Farmer Topp,' was the answer. + +'Have you got a charge of powder to spare?' said Elzevir, showing his +pistol. 'I want to get a rabbit in the gorse for supper, and have dropped +my flask. Maybe you've seen a flask in walking through the furrows?' + +He whispered to me to lie still, so that it might not be perceived my leg +was broken; and the boy replied: + +'No, I have seen no flask; but very like have not come the same way as +you, being sent out here from Lowermoigne; and as for powder, I have +little left, and must save that for the rooks, or shall get a beating for +my pains.' + +'Come,' said Elzevir, 'give me a charge or two, and there is half a crown +for thee.' And he took the coin out of his pocket and showed it. + +The boy's eyes twinkled, and so would mine at so valuable a piece, and +he took out from his pocket a battered cowskin flask. 'Give flask and +all,' said Elzevir, 'and thou shalt have a crown,' and he showed him the +larger coin. + +No time was wasted in words; Elzevir had the flask in his pocket, and the +boy was biting the crown. + +'What shot have you?' said Elzevir. + +'What! have you dropped your shot-flask too?' asked the boy. And his +voice had something of surprise in it. + +'Nay, but my shot are over small; if thou hast a slug or two, I would +take them.' + +'I have a dozen goose-slugs, No. 2,' said the boy; 'but thou +must pay a shilling for them. My master says I never am to use them, +except I see a swan or buzzard, or something fit to cook, come over: I +shall get a sound beating for my pains, and to be beat is worth a +shilling.' + +'If thou art beat, be beat for something more,' says Elzevir the tempter. +'Give me that firelock that thou carriest, and take a guinea.' + +'Nay, I know not,' says the boy; 'there are queer tales afloat at +Lowermoigne, how that a Posse met the Contraband this morning, and shots +were fired, and a gauger got an overdose of lead--maybe of goose slugs +No. 2. The smugglers got off clear, but they say the hue and cry is up +already, and that a head-price will be fixed of twenty pound. So if I +sell you a fowling-piece, maybe I shall do wrong, and have the Government +upon me as well as my master.' The surprise in his voice was changed to +suspicion, for while he spoke I saw that his eye had fallen on my foot, +though I tried to keep it in the shadow; and that he saw the boot clotted +with blood, and the kerchief tied round my leg. + +''Tis for that very reason,' says Elzevir, 'that I want the firelock. +These smugglers are roaming loose, and a pistol is a poor thing to stop +such wicked rascals on a lone hill-side. Come, come, _thou_ dost not want +a piece to guard thee; they will not hurt a boy.' + +He had the guinea between his finger and thumb, and the gleam of the gold +was too strong to be withstood. So we gained a sorry matchlock, slugs, +and powder, and the boy walked off over the furrow, whistling with his +hand in his pocket, and a guinea and a crown-piece in his hand. + +His whistle sounded innocent enough, yet I mistrusted him, having caught +his eye when he was looking at my bloody foot; and so I said as much to +Elzevir, who only laughed, saying the boy was simple and harmless. But +from where I sat I could peep out through the brambles in the open gap, +and see without being seen--and there was my young gentleman walking +carelessly enough, and whistling like any bird so long as Elzevir's head +was above the wall; but when Elzevir sat down, the boy gave a careful +look round, and seeing no one watching any more, dropped his whistling +and made off as fast as heels would carry him. Then I knew that he had +guessed who we were, and was off to warn the hue and cry; but before +Elzevir was on his feet again, the boy was out of sight, over the +hill-brow. + +'Let us move on,' said Block; 'tis but a little distance now to go, and +the heat is past already. We must have slept three hours or more, for +thou art but a sorry watchman, John. 'Tis when the sentry sleeps that +the enemy laughs, and for thee the Posse might have had us both like +daylight owls.' + +With that he took me on his back and made off with a lusty stride, +keeping as much as possible under the brow of the hill and in the shelter +of the walls. We had slept longer than we thought, for the sun was +westering fast, and though the rest had refreshed me, my leg had grown +stiff, and hurt the more in dangling when we started again. Elzevir was +still walking strongly, in spite of the heavy burden he carried, and in +less than half an hour I knew, though I had never been there before, we +were in the land of the old marble quarries at the back of Anvil Point. + +Although I knew little of these quarries, and certainly was in evil +plight to take note of anything at that time, yet afterwards I learnt +much about them. Out of such excavations comes that black Purbeck Marble +which you see in old churches in our country, and I am told in other +parts of England as well. And the way of making a marble quarry is to +sink a tunnel, slanting very steeply down into the earth, like a well +turned askew, till you reach fifty, seventy, or perhaps one hundred feet +deep. Then from the bottom of this shaft there spread out narrow passages +or tunnels, mostly six feet high, but sometimes only three or four, and +in these the marble is dug. These quarries were made by men centuries +ago, some say by the Romans themselves; and though some are still worked +in other parts of Purbeck, those at the back of Anvil Point have been +disused beyond the memory of man. + +We had left the stony village fields, and the face of the country was +covered once more with the closest sward, which was just putting on the +brighter green of spring. This turf was not smooth, but hummocky, for +under it lay heaps of worthless stone and marble drawn out of the +quarries ages ago, which the green vestment had covered for the most +part, though it left sometimes a little patch of broken rubble peering +out at the top of a mound. There were many tumble-down walls and low +gables left of the cottages of the old quarrymen; grass-covered ridges +marked out the little garden-folds, and here and there still stood a +forlorn gooseberry-bush, or a stunted plum- or apple-tree with its +branches all swept eastward by the up-Channel gales. As for the quarry +shafts themselves, they too were covered round the tips with the green +turf, and down them led a narrow flight of steep-cut steps, with a slide +of soap-stone at the side, on which the marble blocks were once hauled up +by wooden winches. Down these steps no feet ever walked now, for not only +were suffocating gases said to beset the bottom of the shafts, but men +would have it that in the narrow passages below lurked evil spirits and +demons. One who ought to know about such things, told me that when St. +Aldhelm first came to Purbeck, he bound the old Pagan gods under a ban +deep in these passages, but that the worst of all the crew was a certain +demon called the Mandrive, who watched over the best of the black marble. +And that was why such marble might only be used in churches or for +graves, for if it were not for this holy purpose, the Mandrive would +have power to strangle the man that hewed it. + +It was by the side of one of these old shafts that Elzevir laid me down +at last. The light was very low, showing all the little unevennesses of +the turf; and the sward crept over the edges of the hole, and every crack +and crevice in steps and slide was green with ferns. The green ferns +shrouded the walls of the hole, and ruddy brown brambles overgrew the +steps, till all was lost in the gloom that hung at the bottom of the pit. + +Elzevir drew a deep breath or two of the cool evening air, like a man who +has come through a difficult trial. + +'There,' he said, 'this is Joseph's Pit, and here we must lie hid until +thy foot is sound again. Once get to the bottom safe, and we can laugh at +Posse, and hue and cry, and at the King's Crown itself. They cannot +search all the quarries, and are not like to search any of them, for they +are cowards at the best, and hang much on tales of the Mandrive. Ay, and +such tales are true enough, for there lurk gases at the bottom of most of +the shafts, like devils to strangle any that go down. And if they do come +down this Joseph's Pit, we still have nineteen chances in a score they +cannot thread the workings. But last, if they come down, and thread the +path, there is this pistol and a rusty matchlock; and before they come to +where we lie, we can hold the troop at bay and sell our lives so dear +they will not care to buy them.' + +We waited a few minutes, and then he took me in his arms and began to +descend the steps, back first, as one goes down a hatchway. The sun was +setting in a heavy bank of clouds just as we began to go down, and I +could not help remembering how I had seen it set over peaceful Moonfleet +only twenty-four hours ago; and how far off we were now, and how long it +was likely to be before I saw that dear village and Grace again. + +The stairs were still sharp cut and little worn, but Elzevir paid great +care to his feet, lest he should slip on the ferns and mosses with which +they were overgrown. When we reached the brambles he met them with his +back, and though I heard the thorns tearing in his coat, he shoved them +aside with his broad shoulders, and screened my dangling leg from getting +caught. Thus he came safe without stumble to the bottom of the pit. + +When we got there all was dark, but he stepped off into a narrow opening +on the right hand, and walked on as if he knew the way. I could see +nothing, but perceived that we were passing through endless galleries cut +in the solid rock, high enough, for the most part, to allow of walking +upright, but sometimes so low as to force him to bend down and carry me +in a very constrained attitude. Only twice did he set me down at a +turning, while he took out his tinder-box and lit a match; but at length +the darkness became less dark, and I saw that we were in a large cave or +room, into which the light came through some opening at the far end. At +the same time I felt a colder breath and fresh salt smell in the air that +told me we were very near the sea. + + + + +CHAPTER 11 + +THE SEA-CAVE + +The dull loneness, the black shade, +That these hanging vaults have made: +The strange music of the waves +Beating on these hollow caves--_Wither_ + + +He set me down in one corner, where was some loose dry silver-sand upon +the floor, which others had perhaps used for a resting-place before. +'Thou must lie here for a month or two, lad,' he said; 'tis a mean bed, +but I have known many worse, and will get straw tomorrow if I can, to +better it.' + +I had eaten nothing all day, nor had Elzevir, yet I felt no hunger, only +a giddiness and burning thirst like that which came upon me when I was +shut in the Mohune vault. So 'twas very music to me to hear a pat and +splash of water dropping from the roof into a little pool upon the floor, +and Elzevir made a cup out of my hat and gave a full drink of it that was +icy-cool and more delicious than any smuggled wine of France. + +And after that I knew little that happened for ten days or more, for +fever had hold of me, and as I learnt afterwards, I talked wild and could +scarce be restrained from jumping up and loosing the bindings that +Elzevir had put upon my leg. And all that time he nursed me as tenderly +as any mother could her child, and never left the cave except when he was +forced to seek food. But after the fever passed it left me very thin, as +I could see from hands and arms, and weaker than a baby; and I used to +lie the whole day, not thinking much, nor troubling about anything, but +eating what was given me and drawing a quiet pleasure from the knowledge +that strength was gradually returning. Elzevir had found a battered +sea-chest up on Peveril Point, and from the side of it made splints to +set my leg--using his own shirt for bandages. The sand-bed too was made +more soft and easy with some armfuls of straw, and in one corner of the +cave was a little pile of driftwood and an iron cooking-pot. And all +these things had Elzevir got by foraging of nights, using great care that +none should see him, and taking only what would not be much missed or +thought about; but soon he contrived to give Ratsey word of where we +were, and after that the sexton fended for us. There were none even of +the landers knew what was become of us, save only Ratsey; and he never +came down the quarry, but would leave what he brought in one of the +ruined cottages a half-mile from the shaft. And all the while there was +strict search being made for us, and mounted Excisemen scouring the +country; for though at first the Posse took back Maskew's dead body and +said we must have fallen over the cliff, for there was nothing to be +found of us, yet afterwards a farm-boy brought a tale of how he had come +suddenly on men lurking under a wall, and how one had a bloody foot and +leg, and how the other sprung upon him and after a fierce struggle +wrenched his master's rook-piece from his hands, rifled his pocket of a +powder-horn, and made off with them like a hare towards Corfe. And as to +Maskew, some of the soldiers said that Elzevir had shot him, and others +that he died by misadventure, being killed by a stray bullet of one of +his own men on the hill-top; but for all that they put a head-price on +Elzevir of 50, and 20 for me, so we had reason to lie close. It must +have been Maskew that listened that night at the door when Elzevir told +me the hour at which the cargo was to be run; for the Posse had been +ordered to be at Hoar Head at four in the morning. So all the gang would +have been taken had it not been for the Gulder making earlier, and the +soldiers being delayed by tippling at the Lobster. + +All this Elzevir learnt from Ratsey and told me to pass the time, +though in truth I had as lief not heard it, for 'tis no pleasant thing +to see one's head wrote down so low as 20. And what I wanted most to +know, namely how Grace fared and how she took the bad news of her +father's death, I could not hear, for Elzevir said nothing, and I was +shy to ask him. + +Now when I came entirely to myself, and was able to take stock of things, +I found that the place in which I lay was a cave some eight yards square +and three in height, whose straight-cut walls showed that men had once +hewed stone therefrom. On one side was that passage through which we had +come in, and on the other opened a sort of door which gave on to a stone +ledge eight fathoms above high-water mark. For the cave was cut out just +inside that iron cliff-face which lies between St. Alban's Head and +Swanage. But the cliffs here are different from those on the other side +of the Head, being neither so high as Hoar Head nor of chalk, but +standing for the most part only an hundred or an hundred and fifty feet +above the sea, and showing towards it a stern face of solid rock. But +though they rise not so high above the water, they go down a long way +below it; so that there is fifty fathom right up to the cliff, and many a +good craft out of reckoning in fog, or on a pitch-dark night, has run +full against that frowning wall, and perished, ship and crew, without a +soul to hear their cries. Yet, though the rock looks hard as adamant, the +eternal washing of the wave has worn it out below, and even with the +slightest swell there is a dull and distant booming of the surge in those +cavernous deeps; and when the wind blows fresh, each roller smites the +cliff like a thunder-clap, till even the living rock trembles again. + +It was on a ledge of that rock-face that our cave opened, and sometimes +on a fine day Elzevir would carry me out thither, so that I might sun +myself and see all the moving Channel without myself being seen. For this +ledge was carved out something like a balcony, so that when the quarry +was in working they could lower the stone by pulleys to boats lying +underneath, and perhaps haul up a keg or two by the way of ballast, as +might be guessed by the stanchions still rusting in the rock. + +Such was this gallery; and as for the inside of the cave, 'twas a great +empty room, with a white floor made up of broken stone-dust trodden hard +of old till one would say it was plaster; and dry, without those sweaty +damps so often seen in such places--save only in one corner a +land-spring dropped from the roof trickling down over spiky +rock-icicles, and falling into a little hollow in the floor. This basin +had been scooped out of set purpose, with a gutter seaward for the +overflow, and round it and on the wet patch of the roof above grew a +garden of ferns and other clinging plants. + +The weeks moved on until we were in the middle of May, when even the +nights were no longer cold, as the sun gathered power. And with the +warmer days my strength too increased, and though I dared not yet stand, +my leg had ceased to pain me, except for some sharp twinges now and then, +which Elzevir said were caused by the bone setting. And then he would put +a poultice made of grass upon the place, and once walked almost as far as +Chaldron to pluck sorrel for a soothing mash. + +Now though he had gone out and in so many times in safety, yet I was +always ill at ease when he was away, lest he might fall into some ambush +and never come back. Nor was it any thought of what would come to me if +he were caught that grieved me, but only care for him; for I had come to +lean in everything upon this grim and grizzled giant, and love him like a +father. So when he was away I took to reading to beguile my thoughts; but +found little choice of matter, having only my aunt's red Prayer-book that +I thrust into my bosom the afternoon that I left Moonfleet, and +Blackbeard's locket. For that locket hung always round my neck; and I +often had the parchment out and read it; not that I did not know it now +by heart, but because reading it seemed to bring Grace to my thoughts, +for the last time I had read it was when I saw her in the Manor woods. + +Elzevir and I had often talked over what was to be done when my leg +should be sound again, and resolved to take passage to St. Malo in the +_Bonaventure_, and there lie hid till the pursuit against us should have +ceased. For though 'twas wartime, French and English were as brothers in +the contraband, and the shippers would give us bit and sup, and glad to, +as long as we had need of them. But of this I need not say more, because +'twas but a project, which other events came in to overturn. + +Yet 'twas this very errand, namely, to fix with the _Bonaventure_'s men +the time to take us over to the other side, that Elzevir had gone out, on +the day of which I shall now speak. He was to go to Poole, and left our +cave in the afternoon, thinking it safe to keep along the cliff-edge even +in the daylight, and to strike across country when dusk came on. The wind +had blown fresh all the morning from south-west, and after Elzevir had +left, strengthened to a gale. My leg was now so strong that I could walk +across the cave with the help of a stout blackthorn that Elzevir had cut +me: and so I went out that afternoon on to the ledge to watch the growing +sea. There I sat down, with my back against a protecting rock, in such a +place that I could see up-Channel and yet shelter from the rushing wind. +The sky was overcast, and the long wall of rock showed grey with +orange-brown patches and a darker line of sea-weed at the base like the +under strake of a boat's belly, for the tide was but beginning to make. +There was a mist, half-fog, half-spray, scudding before the wind, and +through it I could see the white-backed rollers lifting over Peveril +Point; while all along the cliff-face the sea-birds thronged the ledges, +and sat huddled in snowy lines, knowing the mischief that was brewing in +the elements. + +It was a melancholy scene, and bred melancholy in my heart; and about +sun-down the wind southed a point or two, setting the sea more against +the cliff, so that the spray began to fly even over my ledge and drove me +back into the cave. The night came on much sooner than usual, and before +long I was lying on my straw bed in perfect darkness. The wind had gone +still more to south, and was screaming through the opening of the cave; +the caverns down below bellowed and rumbled; every now and then a giant +roller struck the rock such a blow as made the cave tremble, and then a +second later there would fall, splattering on the ledge outside, the +heavy spray that had been lifted by the impact. + +I have said that I was melancholy; but worse followed, for I grew timid, +and fearful of the wild night, and the loneliness, and the darkness. And +all sorts of evil tales came to my mind, and I thought much of baleful +heathen gods that St. Aldhelm had banished to these underground cellars, +and of the Mandrive who leapt on people in the dark and strangled them. +And then fancy played another trick on me, and I seemed to see a man +lying on the cave-floor with a drawn white face upturned, and a red hole +in the forehead; and at last could bear the dark no longer, but got up +with my lame leg and groped round till I found a candle, for we had two +or three in store. 'Twas only with much ado I got it lit and set up in +the corner of the cave, and then I sat down close by trying to screen it +with my coat. But do what I would the wind came gusting round the corner, +blowing the flame to one side, and making the candle gutter as another +candle guttered on that black day at the Why Not? And so thought whisked +round till I saw Maskew's face wearing a look of evil triumph, when the +pin fell at the auction, and again his face grew deadly pale, and there +was the bullet-mark on his brow. + +Surely there were evil spirits in this place to lead my thoughts so much +astray, and then there came to my mind that locket on my neck, which men +had once hung round Blackbeard's to scare evil spirits from his tomb. If +it could frighten them from him, might it not rout them now, and make +them fly from me? And with that thought I took the parchment out, and +opening it before the flickering light, although I knew all, word for +word, conned it over again, and read it out aloud. It was a relief to +hear a human voice, even though 'twas nothing but my own, and I took to +shouting the words, having much ado even so to make them heard for the +raging of the storm: + +'The days of our age are threescore years and ten; and though men be so +strong that they come to fourscore years; yet is their strength then but +labour and sorrow; so soon passeth it away, and we are gone. + +'And as for me, my feet were almost ...' + +At the 'almost' I stopped, being brought up suddenly with a fierce beat +of blood through my veins, and a jump fit to burst them, for I had heard +a scuffling noise in the passage that led to the cave, as if someone had +stumbled against a loose stone in the dark. I did not know then, but have +learnt since, that where there is a loud noise, such as the roaring of a +cascade, the churning of a mill, or, as here, the rage and bluster of a +storm--if there arise some different sound, even though it be as slight +as the whistle of a bird, 'twill strike the ear clear above the general +din. And so it was this night, for I caught that stumbling tread even +when the gale blew loudest, and sat motionless and breathless, in my +eagerness of listening, and then the gale lulled an instant, and I heard +the slow beat of footsteps as of one groping his way down the passage in +the dark. I knew it was not Elzevir, for first he could not be back from +Poole for many hours yet, and second, he always whistled in a certain way +to show 'twas he coming and gave besides a pass-word; yet, if not +Elzevir, who could it be? I blew out the light, for I did not want to +guide the aim of some unknown marksman shooting at me from the dark; and +then I thought of that gaunt strangler that sprang on marbleworkers in +the gloom; yet it could not be the Mandrive, for surely he would know his +own passages better than to stumble in them in the dark. It was more +likely to be one of the hue and cry who had smelt us out, and hoped +perhaps to be able to reconnoitre without being perceived on so awful a +night. Whenever Elzevir went out foraging, he carried with him that +silver-butted pistol which had once been Maskew's, but left behind the +old rook-piece. We had plenty of powder and slugs now, having obtained a +store of both from Ratsey, and Elzevir had bid me keep the matchlock +charged, and use it or not after my own judgement, if any came to the +cave; but gave as his counsel that it was better to die fighting than to +swing at Dorchester, for that we should most certainly do if taken. We +had agreed, moreover, on a pass-word, which was _Prosper the +Bonaventure_, so that I might challenge betimes any that I heard coming, +and if they gave not back this countersign might know it was not Elzevir. + +So now I reached out for the piece, which lay beside me on the floor, and +scrambled to my feet; lifting the deckle in the darkness, and feeling +with my fingers in the pan to see 'twas full of powder. + +The lull in the storm still lasted, and I heard the footsteps +advancing, though with uncertain slowness, and once after a heavy +stumble I thought I caught a muttereth oath, as if someone had struck +his foot against a stone. + +Then I shouted out clear in the darkness a 'Who goes there?' that rang +again through the stone roofs. The footsteps stopped, but there was no +answer. 'Who goes there?' I repeated. 'Answer, or I fire.' + +'_Prosper the Bonaventure_,' came back out of the darkness, and I knew +that I was safe. 'The devil take thee for a hot-blooded young bantam to +shoot thy best friend with powder and ball, that he was fool enough to +give thee'; and by this time I had guessed 'twas Master Ratsey, and +recognized his voice. 'I would have let thee hear soon enough that 'twas +I, if I had known I was so near thy lair; but 'tis more than a man's life +is worth to creep down moleholes in the dark, and on a night like this. +And why I could not get out the gibberish about the _Bonaventure_ sooner, +was because I matched my shin to break a stone, and lost the wager and my +breath together. And when my wind returned 'tis very like that I was +trapped into an oath, which is sad enough for me, who am sexton, and so +to say in small orders of the Church of England as by law established.' + +By the time I had put down the gun and coaxed the candle again to light, +Ratsey stepped into the cave. He wore a sou'wester, and was dripping with +wet, but seemed glad to see me and shook me by the hand. He was welcome +enough to me also, for he banished the dreadful loneliness, and his +coming was a bit out of my old pleasant life that lay so far away, and +seemed to bring me once more within reach of some that were dearest. + + + + +CHAPTER 12 + +A FUNERAL + +How he lies in his rights of a man! +Death has done all death can--_Browning_ + + +We stood for a moment holding one another's hands; then Ratsey spoke. +'John, these two months have changed thee from boy to man. Thou wast a +child when I turned that morning as we went up Hoar Head with the +pack-horses, and looked back on thee and Elzevir below, and Maskew lying +on the ground. 'Twas a sorry business, and has broken up the finest gang +that ever ran a cargo, besides driving thee and Elzevir to hide in caves +and dens of the earth. Thou shouldst have come with us that morn; not +have stayed behind. The work was too rough for boys: the skipper should +have piped the reefing-hands.' + +It was true enough, or seemed to me true then, for I felt much cast down; +but only said, 'Nay, Master Ratsey, where Master Block stays, there I +must stay too, and where he goes I follow.' + +Then I sat down upon the bed in the corner, feeling my leg began to ache; +and the storm, which had lulled for a few minutes, came up again all the +fiercer with wilder gusts and showers of spray and rain driving into the +cave from seaward. So I was scarce sat down when in came a roaring blast, +filling even our corner with cold, wet air, that quenched the weakling +candle flame. + +'God save us, what a night!' Ratsey cried. + +'God save poor souls at sea,' said I. + +'Amen to that,' says he, 'and would that every Amen I have said had come +as truly from my heart. There will be sea enough on Moonfleet Beach this +night to lift a schooner to the top of it, and launch her down into the +fields behind. I had as lief be in the Mohune vault as in this fearsome +place, and liefer too, if half the tales men tell are true of faces that +may meet one here. For God's sake let us light a fire, for I caught sight +of a store of driftwood before that sickly candle went out.' + +It was some time before we got a fire alight, and even after the flame +had caught well hold, the rush of the wind would every now and again blow +the smoke into our eyes, or send a shower of sparks dancing through the +cave. But by degrees the logs began to glow clear white, and such a +cheerful warmth came out, as was in itself a solace and remedy for man's +afflictions. + +'Ah!' said Ratsey, 'I was shrammed with wet and cold, and half-dead with +this baffling wind. It is a blessed thing a fire,' and he unbuttoned his +pilot-coat, 'and needful now, if ever. My soul is very low, lad, for +this place has strange memories for me; and I recollect, forty years ago +(when I was just a boy like thee), old lander Jordan's gang, and I among +them, were in this very cave on such another night. I was new to the +trade then, as thou might be, and could not sleep for noise of wind and +sea. And in the small hours of an autumn morning, as I lay here, just +where we lie now, I heard such wailing cries above the storm, ay, and +such shrieks of women, as made my blood run cold and have not yet forgot +them. And so I woke the gang who were all deep asleep as seasoned +contrabandiers should be; but though we knew that there were +fellow-creatures fighting for their lives in the seething flood beneath +us, we could not stir hand or foot to save them, for nothing could be +seen for rain and spray, and 'twas not till next morning that we learned +the _Florida_ had foundered just below with every soul on board. Ay, +'tis a queer life, and you and Block are in a queer strait now, and that +is what I came to tell you. See here.' And he took out of his pocket an +oblong strip of printed paper: + + * * * * * + +G.R. + +WHITEHALL, 15 May 1758 + +Whereas it hath been humbly represented to the King that on Friday, the +night of the 16th of April last, THOMAS MASKEW, a Justice of the Peace, +was most inhumanly murdered at Hoar Head, a lone place in the Parish of +Chaldron, in the County of Dorset, by one ELZEVIR BLOCK and one JOHN +TRENCHARD, both of the Parish of Moonfleet, in the aforesaid County: His +Majesty, for the better discovering and bringing to Justice these +Persons, is pleased to promise His Most Gracious PARDON to any of the +Persons concerned therein, except the Persons who actually committed the +said Murder; and, as a further Encouragement, a REWARD OF FIFTY POUNDS to +any Person who shall furnish such INFORMATION as shall lead to the +APPREHENSION of the said ELZEVIR BLOCK, and a REWARD of TWENTY POUNDS to +any Person who shall furnish such INFORMATION as shall lead to the +APPREHENSION of the said JOHN TRENCHARD. Such INFORMATION to be given to +ME, or to the GOVERNOUR of His MAJESTY'S GAOL in Dorchester. + +HOLDERNESSE. + + * * * * * + +'There--that's the bill,' he said; 'and a vastly fine piece it is, and +yet I wish that 'twas played with other actors. Now, in Moonfleet there +is none that know your hiding-place, and not a man, nor woman either, +that would tell if they knew it ten times over. But fifty pounds for +Elzevir, and twenty pounds for an empty pumpkin-top like thine, is a fair +round sum, and there are vagabonds about this countryside scurvy enough +to try to earn it. And some of these have set the Excisemen on _my_ +track, with tales of how it is I that know where you lie hid, and bring +you meat and drink. So it is that I cannot stir abroad now, no, not even +to the church o' Sundays, without having some rogue lurking at my heels +to watch my movements. And that is why I chose such a night to come +hither, knowing these knaves like dry skins, but never thinking that the +wind would blow like this. I am come to tell Block that 'tis not safe for +me to be so much in Purbeck, and that I dare no longer bring food or what +not, or these man-hounds will scent you out. Your leg is sound again, and +'tis best to be flitting while you may, and there's the _Eperon d'Or,_ +and Chauvelais to give you welcome on the other side.' + +I told him how Elzevir was gone this very night to Poole to settle with +the _Bonaventure_, when she should come to take us off; and at that +Ratsey seemed pleased. There were many things I wished to learn of him, +and especially how Grace did, but felt a shyness, and durst not ask him. +And he said no more for a minute, seeming low-hearted and crouching over +the fire. So we sat huddled in the corner by the glowing logs, the red +light flickering on the cave roof, and showing the lines on Ratsey's +face; while the steam rose from his drying clothes. The gale blew as +fiercely as ever, but the tide had fallen, and there was not so much +spray coming into the cave. Then Ratsey spoke again-- + +'My heart is very heavy, John, tonight, to think how all the good old +times are gone, and how that Master Block can never again go back to +Moonfleet. It was as fine a lander's crew as ever stood together, not +even excepting Captain Jordan's, and now must all be broken up; for this +mess of Maskew's has made the place too hot to hold us, and 'twill be +many a long day before another cargo's run on Moonfleet Beach. But how to +get the liquor out of Mohune's vault I know not; and that reminds me, I +have something in my pouches for Elzevir an' thee'; and with that he drew +forth either lapel a great wicker-bound flask. He put one to his lips, +tilting it and drinking long and deep, and then passed it to me, with a +sigh of satisfaction. 'Ah, that has the right smack. Here, take it, +child, and warm thy heart; 'tis the true milk of Ararat, and the last +thou'lt taste this side the Channel.' + +Then I drank too, but lightly, for the good liquor was no stranger to me, +though it was only so few months ago that I had tasted it for the first +time in the Why Not? and in a minute it tingled in my fingertips. Soon a +grateful sense of warmth and comfort stole over me, and our state seemed +not so desperate, nor even the night so wild. Ratsey, too, wore a more +cheerful air, and the lines in his face were not so deeply marked; the +golden, sparkling influence of the flask had loosed his tongue, and he +was talking now of what I most wanted to hear. + +'Yes, yes, it is a sad break-up, and what will happen to the old Why Not? +I cannot tell. None have passed the threshold since you left, only the +Duchy men came and sealed the doors, making it felony to force them. And +even these lawyer chaps know not where the right stands, for Maskew never +paid a rent and died before he took possession; and Master Block's term +is long expired, and now he is in hiding and an outlaw. + +'But I am sorriest for Maskew's girl, who grows thin and pale as any +lily. For when the soldiers brought the body back, the men stood at their +doors and cursed the clay, and some of the fishwives spat at it; and old +Mother Veitch, who kept house for him, swore he had never paid her a +penny of wages, and that she was afear'd to stop under the same roof with +such an evil corpse. So out she goes from the Manor House, leaving that +poor child alone in it with her dead father; and there were not wanting +some to say it was all a judgement; and called to mind how Elzevir had +been once left alone with his dead son at the Why Not? But in the village +there was not a man that doubted that 'twas Block had sent Maskew to his +account, nor did I doubt it either, till a tale got abroad that he was +killed by a stray shot fired by the Posse from the cliff. And when they +took the hue-and-cry papers to the Manor House for his lass, as next of +kin, to sign the requisition, she would not set her name to it, saying +that Block had never lifted his hand against her father when they met at +Moonfleet or on the road, and that she never would believe he was the man +to let his anger sleep so long and then attack an enemy in cold blood. +And as for thee, she knew thee for a trusty lad, who would not do such +things himself, nor yet stand by whilst others did them.' + +Now what Ratsey said was sweeter than any music in my ears, and I felt +myself a better man, as anyone must of whom a true woman speaks well, and +that I must live uprightly to deserve such praise. Then I resolved that +come what might I would make my way once more to Moonfleet, before we +fled from England, and see Grace; so that I might tell her all that +happened about her father's death, saving only that Elzevir had meant +himself to put Maskew away; for it was no use to tell her this when she +had said that he could never think to do such a thing, and besides, for +all I knew, he never did mean to shoot, but only to frighten him. Though +I thus resolved, I said nothing of it to Master Ratsey, but only nodded, +and he went on-- + +'Well, seeing there was no one save this poor girl to look to putting +Maskew under ground, I must needs take it in hand myself; roughing +together a sound coffin and digging as fair a grave for him as could be +made for any lord, except that lords have always vaults to sleep in. Then +I got Mother Nutting's fish-cart to carry the body down, for there was +not a man in Moonfleet would lay hand to the coffin to bear it; and off +we started down the street, I leading the wall-eyed pony, and the coffin +following on the trolley. There was no mourner to see him home except his +daughter, and she without a bit of black upon her, for she had no time to +get her crapes; and yet she needed none, having grief writ plain enough +upon her face. + +'When we got to the churchyard, a crowd was gathered there, men and women +and children, not only from Moonfleet but from Ringstave and Monkbury. +They were not come to mourn, but to make gibes to show how much they +hated him, and many of the children had old pots and pans for rough +music. Parson Glennie was waiting in the church, and there he waited, for +the cart could not pass the gate, and we had no bearers to lift the +coffin. Then I looked round to see if there was any that would help to +lift, but when I tried to meet a man's eye he looked away, and all I +could see was the bitter scowling faces of the women. And all the while +the girl stood by the trolley looking on the ground. She had a little +kerchief over her head that let the hair fall about her shoulders, and +her face was very white, with eyes red and swollen through weeping. But +when she knew that all that crowd was there to mock her father, and that +there was not a man would raise hand to lift him, she laid her head upon +the coffin, hiding her face in her hands, and sobbed bitterly.' + +Ratsey stopped for a moment and drank again deep at the flask; and as for +me, I still said nothing, feeling a great lump in my throat; and +reflecting how hatred and passion have power to turn men to brutes. + +'I am a rough man,' Ratsey resumed, 'but tender-like withal, and when I +saw her weep, I ran off to the church to tell the parson how it was, and +beg him to come out and try if we two could lift the coffin. So out he +came just as he was, with surplice on his back and book in hand. But when +the men knew what he was come for, and looked upon that tall, fair girl +bowed down over her father's coffin, their hearts were moved, and first +Tom Tewkesbury stepped out with a sheepish air, and then Garrett, and +then four others. So now we had six fine bearers, and 'twas only women +that could still look hard and scowling, and even they said no word, and +not a boy beat on his pan. + +'Then Mr. Glennie, seeing he was not wanted for bearer, changed to +parson, and strikes up with "I am the resurrection and the life". 'Tis a +great text, John, and though I've heard it scores and scores of times, it +never sounded sweeter than on that day. For 'twas a fine afternoon, and +what with there being no wind, but the sun bright and the sea still and +blue, there was a calm on everything that seemed to say "Rest in Peace, +Rest in Peace". And was not the spring with us, and the whole land +preaching of resurrection, the birds singing, trees and flowers waking +from their winter sleep, and cowslips yellow on the very graves? Then +surely 'tis a fond thing to push our enmities beyond the grave, and +perhaps even _he_ was not so bad as we held him, but might have tricked +himself into thinking he did right to hunt down the contraband. I know +not how it was, but something like this came into my mind, and did +perhaps to others, for we got him under without a sign or word from any +that stood there. There was not one sound heard inside the church or out, +except Mr. Glennie's reading and my amens, and now and then a sob from +the poor child. But when 'twas all over, and the coffin safe lowered, up +she walks to Tom Tewkesbury saying, through her tears, "I thank you, sir, +for your kindness," and holds out her hand. So he took it, looking askew, +and afterwards the five other bearers; and then she walked away by +herself, and no one moved till she had left the churchyard gate, letting +her pass out like a queen.' + +'And so she is a queen,' I said, not being able to keep from speaking, +for very pride to hear how she had borne herself, and because she had +always shown kindness to me. 'So she is, and fairer than any queen to boot.' + +Ratsey gave me a questioning look, and I could see a little smile upon +his face in the firelight. 'Ay, she is fair enough,' said he, as though +reflecting to himself, 'but white and thin. Mayhap she would make a match +for thee--if ye were man and woman, and not boy and girl; if she were not +rich, and thou not poor and an outlaw; and--if she would have thee.' + +It vexed me to hear his banter, and to think how I had let my secret out, +so I did not answer, and we sat by the embers for a while without +speaking, while the wind still blew through the cave like a funnel. + +Ratsey spoke first. 'John, pass me the flask; I can hear voices mounting +the cliff of those poor souls of the _Florida_.' + +With that he took another heavy pull, and flung a log on the fire, till +sparks flew about as in a smithy, and the flame that had slumbered woke +again and leapt out white, blue, and green from the salt wood. Now, as +the light danced and flickered I saw a piece of parchment lying at +Ratsey's feet: and this was none other than the writing out of +Blackbeard's locket, which I had been reading when I first heard +footsteps in the passage, and had dropped in my alarm of hostile +visitors. Ratsey saw it too, and stretched out his hand to pick it up. I +would have concealed it if I could, because I had never told him how I +had rifled Blackbeard's coffin, and did not want to be questioned as to +how I had come by the writing. But to try to stop him getting hold of it +would only have spurred his curiosity, and so I said nothing when he took +it in his hands. + +'What is this, son?' asked he. + +'It is only Scripture verses,' I answered, 'which I got some time ago. +'Tis said they are a spell against Spirits of Evil, and I was reading +them to keep off the loneliness of this place, when you came in and made +me drop them.' + +I was afraid lest he should ask whence I had got them, but he did not, +thinking perhaps that my aunt had given them to me. The heat of the +flames had curled the parchment a little, and he spread it out on his +knee, conning it in the firelight. + +''Tis well written,' he said, 'and good verses enough, but he who put +them together for a spell knew little how to keep off evil spirits, for +this would not keep a flea from a black cat. I could do ten times better +myself, being not without some little understanding of such things,' and +he nodded seriously; 'and though I never yet met any from the other +world, they would not take me unprepared if they should come. For I have +spent half my life in graveyard or church, and 'twould be as foolish to +move about such places and have no words to meet an evil visitor withal, +as to bear money on a lonely road without a pistol. So one day, after +Parson Glennie had preached from Habakkuk, how that "the vision is for an +appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie: though it +tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry", I +talked with him on these matters, and got from him three or four rousing +texts such as spectres fear more than a burned child does the fire. I +will learn them all to thee some day, but for the moment take this Latin +which I got by heart: "_Abite a me in ignem etenum qui paratus est +diabolo at angelis ejus."_ Englished it means: "Depart from me into +eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels," but hath at least +double that power in Latin. So get that after me by heart, and use it +freely if thou art led to think that there are evil presences near, and +in such lonely places as this cave.' I humoured him by doing as he +desired; and that the rather because I hoped his thoughts would thus be +turned away from the writing; but as soon as I had the spell by rote he +turned back to the parchment, saying, 'He was but a poor divine who wrote +this, for beside choosing ill-fitting verses, he cannot even give right +numbers to them. For see here, "The days of our age are three-score years +and ten; and though men be so strong that they come to four-score years, +yet is their strength then but labour and sorrow, so soon passeth it away +and we are gone", and he writes Psalm 90,21. Now I have said that Psalm +with parson verse and verse about for every sleeper we have laid to rest +in churchyard mould for thirty years; and know it hath not twenty verses +in it, all told, and this same verse is the clerk's verse and cometh +tenth, and yet he calls it twenty-first. I wish I had here a Common +Prayer, and I would prove my words.' + +He stopped and flung me back the parchment scornfully; but I folded it +and slipped it in my pocket, brooding all the while over a strange +thought that his last words had brought to me. Nor did I tell him that I +had by me my aunt's prayer-book, wishing to examine for myself more +closely whether he was right, after he should have gone. + +'I must be away,' he said at last, 'though loath to leave this good fire +and liquor. I would fain wait till Elzevir was back, and fainer till this +gale was spent, but it may not be; the nights are short, and I must be +out of Purbeck before sunrise. So tell Block what I say, that he and thou +must flit; and pass the flask, for I have fifteen miles to walk against +the wind, and must keep off these midnight chills.' + +He drank again, and then rose to his feet, shaking himself like a dog; +and walking briskly across the cave twice or thrice to make sure, as I +thought, that the Ararat milk had not confused his steps. Then he shook +my hand warmly, and disappeared in the deep shadow of the passage-mouth. + +The wind was blowing more fitfully than before, and there was some sign +of a lull between the gusts. I stood at the opening of the passage, and +listened till the echo of Ratsey's footsteps died away, and then +returning to the corner, flung more wood on the fire, and lit the candle. +After that I took out again the parchment, and also my aunt's red +prayer-book, and sat down to study them. First I looked out in the book +that text about the 'days of our life', and found that it was indeed in +the ninetieth Psalm, but the tenth verse, just as Ratsey said, and not +the twenty-first as it was writ on the parchment. And then I took the +second text, and here again the Psalm was given correct, but the verse +was two, and not six, as my scribe had it. It was just the same with the +other three--the number of the Psalm was right but the verse wrong. So +here was a discovery, for all was painfully written smooth and clean +without a blot, and yet in every verse an error. But if the second number +did not stand for the verse, what else should it mean? I had scarce +formed the question to myself before I had the answer, and knew that it +must be the number of the word chosen in each text to make a secret +meaning. I was in as great a fever and excitement now as when I found the +locket in the Mohune vault, and could scarce count with trembling fingers +as far as twenty-one, in the first verse, for hurry and amaze. It was +'fourscore' that the number fell on in the first text, 'feet' in the +second, 'deep' in the third, 'well' in the fourth, 'north' in the fifth. + +Fourscore--feet--deep--well--north. + +There was the cipher read, and what an easy trick! and yet I had not +lighted on it all this while, nor ever should have, but for Sexton Ratsey +and his burial verse. It was a cunning plan of Blackbeard; but other folk +were quite as cunning as he, and here was all his treasure at our feet. I +chuckled over that to myself, rubbing my hands, and read it through +again: + +Fourscore--feet--deep--well--north. + +'Twas all so simple, and the word in the fourth verse 'well' and not +'vale' or 'pool' as I had stuck at so often in trying to unriddle it. How +was it I had not guessed as much before? and here was something to tell +Elzevir when he came back, that the clue was found to the cipher, and the +secret out. I would not reveal it all at once, but tease him by making +him guess, and at last tell him everything, and we would set to work at +once to make ourselves rich men. And then I thought once more of Grace, +and how the laugh would be on my side now, for all Master Ratsey's banter +about her being rich and me being poor! + +Fourscore--feet--deep--well--north. + +I read it again, and somehow it was this time a little less clear, and I +fell to thinking what it was exactly that I should tell Elzevir, and how +we were to get to work to find the treasure. 'Twas hid in a _well_--that +was plain enough, but in what well?--and what did 'north' mean? Was it +the _north well,_ or to _north of the well_--or, was it fourscore feet +_north_ of the _deep well_? I stared at the verses as if the ink would +change colour and show some other sense, and then a veil seemed drawn +across the writing, and the meaning to slip away, and be as far as ever +from my grasp. _Fourscore--feet--deep--well--north_: and by degrees +exulting gladness gave way to bewilderment and disquiet of spirit, and +in the gusts of wind I heard Blackbeard himself laughing and mocking me +for thinking I had found his treasure. Still I read and re-read it, +juggling with the words and turning them about to squeeze new meaning +from them. + +'Fourscore feet deep _in the north well_,'--'fourscore feet deep in the +well _to north_'--'fourscore feet _north of the deep well_,'--so the +words went round and round in my head, till I was tired and giddy, and +fell unawares asleep. + +It was daylight when I awoke, and the wind had fallen, though I could +still hear the thunder of the swell against the rock-face down below. The +fire was yet burning, and by it sat Elzevir, cooking something in the +pot. He looked fresh and keen, like a man risen from a long night's +sleep, rather than one who had spent the hours of darkness in struggling +against a gale, and must afterwards remain watching because, forsooth, +the sentinel sleeps. + +He spoke as soon as he saw that I was awake, laughing and saying: 'How +goes the night, Watchman? This is the second time that I have caught thee +napping, and didst sleep so sound it might have taken a cold pistol's +lips against thy forehead to awake thee.' + +I was too full of my story even to beg his pardon, but began at once to +tell him what had happened; and how, by following the hint that Ratsey +dropped, I had made out, as I thought, a secret meaning in these verses. +Elzevir heard me patiently, and with more show of interest towards the +end; and then took the parchment in his hands, reading it carefully, and +checking the errors of numbering by the help of the red prayer-book. + +'I believe thou art right,' he said at length; 'for why should the +figures all be false if there is no hidden trickery in it? If't had been +one or two were wrong, I would have said some priest had copied them in +error; for priests are thriftless folk, and had as lief set a thing down +wrong as right; but with all wrong there is no room for chance. So if he +means it, let us see what 'tis he means. First he says 'tis in a well. +But what well? and the depth he gives of fourscore feet is over-deep for +any well near Moonfleet.' + +I was for saying it must be the well at the Manor House, but before the +words left my mouth, remembered there was no well at the manor at all, +for the house was watered by a runnel brook that broke out from the woods +above, and jumping down from stone to stone ran through the manor +gardens, and emptied itself into the Fleet below. + +'And now I come to think on it,' Elzevir went on, ''tis more likely that +the well he speaks of was not in these parts at all. For see here, this +Blackbeard was a spendthrift, squandering all he had, and would most +surely have squandered the jewel too, could he have laid his hands on it. +And yet 'tis said he did not, therefore I think he must have stowed it +safe in some place where afterwards he could not get at it. For if't had +been near Moonfleet, he would have had it up a hundred times. But thou +hast often talked of Blackbeard and his end with Parson Glennie; so speak +up, lad, and let us hear all that thou know'st of these tales. Maybe +'twill help us to come to some judgement.' + +So I told him all that Mr. Glennie had told me, how that Colonel John +Mohune, whom men called Blackbeard, was a wastrel from his youth, and +squandered all his substance in riotous living. Thus being at his last +turn, he changed from royalist to rebel, and was set to guard the king in +the castle of Carisbrooke. But there he stooped to a bribe, and took from +his royal prisoner a splendid diamond of the crown to let him go; then, +with the jewel in his pocket, turned traitor again, and showed a file of +soldiers into the room where the king was stuck between the window bars, +escaping. But no one trusted Blackbeard after that, and so he lost his +post, and came back in his age, a broken man, to Moonfleet. There he +rusted out his life, but when he neared his end was filled with fear, and +sent for a clergyman to give him consolation. And 'twas at the parson's +instance that he made a will, and bequeathed the diamond, which was the +only thing he had left, to the Mohune almshouses at Moonfleet. These were +the very houses that he had robbed and let go to ruin, and they never +benefited by his testament, for when it was opened there was the bequest +plain enough, but not a word to say where was the jewel. Some said that +it was all a mockery, and that Blackbeard never had the jewel; others +that the jewel was in his hand when he died, but carried off by some that +stood by. But most thought, and handed down the tale, that being taken +suddenly, he died before he could reveal the safe place of the jewel; and +that in his last throes he struggled hard to speak as if he had some +secret to unburden. + +All this I told Elzevir, and he listened close as though some of it was +new to him. When I was speaking of Blackbeard being at Carisbrooke, he +made a little quick move as though to speak, but did not, waiting till I +had finished the tale. Then he broke out with: 'John, the diamond is yet +at Carisbrooke. I wonder I had not thought of Carisbrooke before you +spoke; and there he can get fourscore feet, and twice and thrice +fourscore, if he list, and none to stop him. 'Tis Carisbrooke. I have +heard of that well from childhood, and once saw it when a boy. It is dug +in the Castle Keep, and goes down fifty fathoms or more into the bowels +of the chalk below. It is so deep no man can draw the buckets on a winch, +but they must have an ass inside a tread-wheel to hoist them up. Now, +why this Colonel John Mohune, whom we call Blackbeard, should have chosen +a well at all to hide his jewel in, I cannot say; but given he chose a +well, 'twas odds he would choose Carisbrooke. 'Tis a known place, and I +have heard that people come as far as from London to see the castle and +this well.' + +He spoke quick and with more fire than I had known him use before, and I +felt he was right. It seemed indeed natural enough that if Blackbeard was +to hide the diamond in a well, it would be in the well of that very +castle where he had earned it so evilly. + +'When he says the "well north",' continued Elzevir, ''tis clear he means +to take a compass and mark north by needle, and at eighty feet in the +well-side below that point will lie the treasure. I fixed yesterday with +the _Bonaventure's_ men that they should lie underneath this ledge +tomorrow sennight, if the sea be smooth, and take us off on the +spring-tide. At midnight is their hour, and I said eight days on, to give +thy leg a week wherewith to strengthen. I thought to make for St. Malo, +and leave thee at the _Eperon d'Or_ with old Chauvelais, where thou +couldst learn to patter French until these evil times have blown by. But +now, if thou art set to hunt this treasure up, and hast a mind to run thy +head into a noose; why, I am not so old but that I too can play the fool, +and we will let St. Malo be, and make for Carisbrooke. I know the castle; +it is not two miles distant from Newport, and at Newport we can lie at +the Bugle, which is an inn addicted to the contraband. The king's writ +runs but lamely in the Channel Isles and Wight, and if we wear some other +kit than this, maybe we shall find Newport as safe as St. Malo.' + +This was just what I wanted, and so we settled there and then that we +would get the _Bonaventure_ to land us in the Isle of Wight instead of at +St. Malo. Since man first walked upon this earth, a tale of buried +treasure must have had a master-power to stir his blood, and mine was +hotly stirred. Even Elzevir, though he did not show it, was moved, I +thought, at heart; and we chafed in our cave prison, and those eight days +went wearily enough. Yet 'twas not time lost, for every day my leg grew +stronger; and like a wolf which I saw once in a cage at Dorchester Fair, +I spent hours in marching round the cave to kill the time and put more +vigour in my steps. Ratsey did not visit us again, but in spite of what +he said, met Elzevir more than once, and got money for him from +Dorchester and many other things he needed. It was after meeting Ratsey +that Elzevir came back one night, bringing a long whip in one hand, and +in the other a bundle which held clothes to mask us in the next scene. +There was a carter's smock for him, white and quilted over with +needlework, such as carters wear on the Down farms, and for me a smaller +one, and hats and leather leggings all to match. We tried them on, and +were for all the world carter and carter's boy; and I laughed long to see +Elzevir stand there and practise how to crack his whip and cry 'Who-ho' +as carters do to horses. And for all he was so grave, there was a smile +on his face too, and he showed me how to twist a wisp of straw out of the +bed to bind above my ankles at the bottom of the leggings. He had cut off +his beard, and yet lost nothing of his looks; for his jaw and deep chin +showed firm and powerful. And as for me, we made a broth of young walnut +leaves and twigs, and tanned my hands and face with it a ruddy brown, so +that I looked a different lad. + + + + +CHAPTER 13 + +AN INTERVIEW + +No human creature stirred to go or come, + No face looked forth from shut or open casement, +No chimney smoked, there was no sign of home + From parapet to basement--_Hood_ + + +And so the days went on, until there came to be but two nights more +before we were to leave our cave. Now I have said that the delay chafed +us, because we were impatient to get at the treasure; but there was +something else that vexed me and made me more unquiet with every day that +passed. And this was that I had resolved to see Grace before I left these +parts, and yet knew not how to tell it to Elzevir. But on this evening, +seeing the time was grown so short, I knew that I must speak or drop my +purpose, and so spoke. + +We were sitting like the sea-birds on the ledge outside our cave, looking +towards St. Alban's Head and watching the last glow of sunset. The +evening vapours began to sweep down Channel, and Elzevir shrugged his +shoulders. 'The night turns chill,' he said, and got up to go back to the +cave. So then I thought my time was come, and following him inside said: + +'Dear Master Elzevir, you have watched over me all this while and tended +me kinder than any father could his son; and 'tis to you I owe my life, +and that my leg is strong again. Yet I am restless this night, and beg +that you will give me leave to climb the shaft and walk abroad. It is two +months and more that I have been in the cave and seen nothing but stone +walls, and I would gladly tread once more upon the Down.' + +'Say not that I have saved thy life,' Elzevir broke in; ''twas I who +brought thy life in danger; and but for me thou mightst even now be +lying snug abed at Moonfleet, instead of hiding in the chambers of these +rocks. So speak not of that, but if thou hast a mind to air thyself an +hour, I see little harm in it. These wayward fancies fall on men as they +get better of sickness; and I must go tonight to that ruined house of +which I spoke to thee, to fetch a pocket compass Master Ratsey was to put +there. So thou canst come with me and smell the night air on the Down.' + +He had agreed more readily than I looked for, and so I pushed the +matter, saying: + +'Nay, master, grant me leave to go yet a little farther afield. You know +that I was born in Moonfleet, and have been bred there all my life, and +love the trees and stream and very stones of it. And I have set my heart +on seeing it once more before we leave these parts for good and all. So +give me leave to walk along the Down and look on Moonfleet but this once, +and in this ploughboy guise I shall be safe enough, and will come back to +you tomorrow night' + +He looked at me a moment without speaking; and all the while I felt he +saw me through and through, and yet he was not angry. But I turned red, +and cast my eyes upon the ground, and then he spoke: + +'Lad, I have known men risk their lives for many things: for gold, and +love, and hate; but never one would play with death that he might see a +tree or stream or stones. And when men say they love a place or town, +thou mayst be sure 'tis not the place they love but some that live there; +or that they loved some in the past, and so would see the spot again to +kindle memory withal. Thus when thou speakest of Moonfleet, I may guess +that thou hast someone there to see--or hope to see. It cannot be thine +aunt, for there is no love lost between ye; and besides, no man ever +perilled his life to bid adieu to an aunt. So have no secrets from me, +John, but tell me straight, and I will judge whether this second +treasure that thou seekest is true gold enough to fling thy life into the +scale against it.' + +Then I told him all, keeping nothing back, but trying to make him see +that there was little danger in my visiting Moonfleet, for none would +know me in a carter's dress, and that my knowledge of the place would let +me use a hedge or wall or wood for cover; and finally, if I were seen, my +leg was now sound, and there were few could beat me in a running match +upon the Down. So I talked on, not so much in the hope of convincing him +as to keep saying something; for I durst not look up, and feared to hear +an angry word from him when I should stop. But at last I had spoken all I +could, and ceased because I had no more. Yet he did not break out as I +had thought, but there was silence; and after a moment I looked up, and +saw by his face that his thoughts were wandering. When he spoke there was +no anger in his voice, but only something sad. + +'Thou art a foolish lad,' he said. 'Yet I was young once myself, and my +ways have been too dark to make me wish to darken others, or try to chill +young blood. Now thine own life has got a shadow on't already that I have +helped to cast, so take the brightness of it while thou mayst, and get +thee gone. But for this girl, I know her for a comely lass and +good-hearted, and have wondered often how she came to have _him_ for her +father. I am glad now I have not his blood on my hands; and never would +have gone to take it then, for all the evil he had brought on me, but +that the lives of every mother's son hung on his life. So make thy mind +at ease, and get thee gone and see these streams and trees and stones +thou talkest of. Yet if thou'rt shot upon the Down, or taken off to jail, +blame thine own folly and not me. And I will walk with thee to Purbeck +Gates tonight, and then come back and wait. But if thou art not here +again by midnight tomorrow, I shall believe that thou art taken in some +snare, and come out to seek thee.' + +I took his hand, and thanked him with what words I could that he had let +me go, and then got on the smock, putting some bread and meat in my +pockets, as I was likely to find little to eat on my journey. It was +dark before we left the cave, for there is little dusk with us, and the +division between day and night sharper than in more northern parts. +Elzevir took me by the hand and led me through the darkness of the +workings, telling me where I should stoop, and when the way was uneven. +Thus we came to the bottom of the shaft, and looking up through ferns +and brambles, I could see the deep blue of the sky overhead, and a great +star gazing down full at us. We climbed the steps with the soap-stone +slide at one side, and then walked on briskly over the springy turf +through the hillocks of the covered quarry-heaps and the ruins of the +deserted cottages. + +There was a heavy dew which got through my boots before we had gone half +a mile, and though there was no moon, the sky was very clear, and I could +see the veil of gossamers spread silvery white over the grass. Neither of +us spoke, partly because it was safer not to speak, for the voice carries +far in a still night on the Downs; and partly, I think, because the +beauty of the starry heaven had taken hold upon us both, ruling our +hearts with thoughts too big for words. We soon reached that ruined +cottage of which Elzevir had spoken, and in what had once been an oven, +found the compass safe enough as Ratsey had promised. Then on again over +the solitary hills, not speaking ourselves, and neither seeing light in +window nor hearing dog stir, until we reached that strange defile which +men call the Gates of Purbeck. Here is a natural road nicking the +highest summit of the hill, with walls as sharp as if the hand of man had +cut them, through which have walked for ages all the few travellers in +this lonely place, shepherds and sailors, soldiers and Excisemen. And +although, as I suppose, no carts have been through it for centuries, +there are ruts in the chalk floor as wide and deep as if the cars of +giants used it in past times. + +So here Elzevir stopped, and drawing from his bosom that silver-butted +pistol of which I have spoken, thrust it in my hand. 'Here, take it, +child,' he said, 'but use it not till thou art closely pressed, and then +if thou _must_ shoot, shoot low--it flings.' I took it and gripped his +hand, and so we parted, he going back to Purbeck, and I making along the +top of the ridge at the back of Hoar Head. It must have been near three +when I reached a great grass-grown mound called Culliford Tree, that +marks the resting-place of some old warrior of the past. The top is +planted with a clump of trees that cut the skyline, and there I sat +awhile to rest. But not for long, for looking back towards Purbeck, I +could see the faint hint of dawn low on the sea-line behind St. Alban's +Head, and so pressed forward knowing I had a full ten miles to cover yet. + +Thus I travelled on, and soon came to the first sign of man, namely a +flock of lambs being fed with turnips on a summer fallow. The sun was +well up now, and flushed all with a rosy glow, showing the sheep and the +roots they eat white against the brown earth. Still I saw no shepherd, +nor even dog, and about seven o'clock stood safe on Weatherbeech Hill +that looks down over Moonfleet. + +There at my feet lay the Manor woods and the old house, and lower down +the white road and the straggling cottages, and farther still the Why +Not? and the glassy Fleet, and beyond that the open sea. I cannot say +how sad, yet sweet, the sight was: it seemed like the mirage of the +desert, of which I had been told--so beautiful, but never to be reached +again by me. The air was still, and the blue smoke of the morning +wood-fires rose straight up, but none from the Why Not? or Manor House. +The sun was already very hot, and I dropped at once from the hill-top, +digging my heels into the brown-burned turf, and keeping as much as might +be among the furze champs. So I was soon in the wood, and made straight +for the little dell and lay down there, burying myself in the wild +rhubarb and burdocks, yet so that I could see the doorway of the Manor +House over the lip of the hill. + +Then I reflected what I was to do, or how I should get to speak with +Grace: and thought I would first wait an hour or two, and see whether she +came out, and afterwards, if she did not, would go down boldly and knock +at the door. This seemed not very dangerous, for it was likely, from what +Ratsey had said, that there was no one with her in the house, and if +there was it would be but an old woman, to whom I could pass as a +stranger in my disguise, and ask my way to some house in the village. So +I lay still and munched a piece of bread, and heard the clock in the +church tower strike eight and afterwards nine, but saw no one move in the +house. The wood was all alive with singing-birds, and with the calling of +cuckoo and wood-pigeon. There were deep patches of green shade and +lighter patches of yellow sunlight, in which the iris leaves gleamed with +a sheeny white, and a shimmering blue sea of ground-ivy spread all +through the wood. It struck ten, and as the heat increased the birds sang +less and the droning of the bees grew more distinct, and at last I got +up, shook myself, smoothed my smock, and making a turn, came out on the +road that led to the house. + +Though my disguise was good, I fear I made but an indifferent bad +ploughboy when walking, and found a difficulty in dealing with my hands, +not knowing how ploughboys are wont to carry them. So I came round in +front of the house, and gave a rat-tat on the door, while my pulse beat +as loud inside of me as ever did the knocker without. The sound ran round +the building, and backwards among the walks, and all was silent as +before. I waited a minute, and was for knocking again, thinking there +might be no one in the house, and then heard a light footstep coming +along the corridor, yet durst not look through the window to see who it +was in passing, as I might have done, but kept myself close to the door. + +The bolts were being drawn, and a girl's voice asked, 'Who is there?' I +gave a jump to hear that voice, knowing it well for Grace's, and had a +mind to shout out my name. But then I remembered there might be some in +the house with her besides, and that I must remain disguised. Moreover, +laughing is so mixed with crying in our world, and trifling things with +serious, that even in this pass I believe I was secretly pleased to have +to play a trick on her, and test whether she would find me out in this +dress or not. So I spoke out in our round Dorset speech, such as they +talk it out in the vale, saying, 'A poor boy who is out of his way.' + +Then she opened one leaf of the door, and asked me whither I would go, +looking at me as one might at a stranger and not knowing who it was. + +I answered that I was a farm lad who had walked from Purbeck, and sought +an inn called the Why Not? kept by one Master Block. When she heard that, +she gave a little start, and looked me over again, yet could make nothing +of it, but said: + +'Good lad, if you will step on to this terrace I can show you the Why +Not? inn, but 'tis shut these two months or more, and Master Block away.' + +With that she turned towards the terrace, I following, but when we +were outside of ear-shot from the door, I spoke in my own voice, +quick but low: + +'Grace, it is I, John Trenchard, who am come to say goodbye before I +leave these parts, and have much to tell that you would wish to hear. Are +there any beside in the house with you?' + +Now many girls who had suffered as she had, and were thus surprised, +would have screamed, or perhaps swooned, but she did neither, only +flushing a little and saying, also quick and low, 'Let us go back to the +house; I am alone.' + +So we went back, and after the door was bolted, took both hands and stood +up face to face in the passage looking into one another's eyes. I was +tired with a long walk and sleepless night, and so full of joy to see her +again that my head swam and all seemed a sweet dream. Then she squeezed +my hands, and I knew 'twas real, and was for kissing her for very love; +but she guessed what I would be at, perhaps, and cast my hands loose, +drawing back a little, as if to see me better, and saying, 'John, you +have grown a man in these two months.' So I did not kiss her. + +But if it was true that I was grown a man, it was truer still that she +was grown a woman, and as tall as I. And these recent sufferings had +taken from her something of light and frolic girlhood, and left her with +a manner more staid and sober. She was dressed in black, with longer +skirts, and her hair caught up behind; and perhaps it was the mourning +frock that made her look pale and thin, as Ratsey said. So while I looked +at her, she looked at me, and could not choose but smile to see my +carter's smock; and as for my brown face and hands, thought I had been +hiding in some country underneath the sun, until I told her of the +walnut-juice. Then before we fell to talking, she said it was better we +should sit in the garden, for that a woman might come in to help her with +the house, and anyway it was safer, so that I might get out at the back +in case of need. So she led the way down the corridor and through the +living-part of the house, and we passed several rooms, and one little +parlour lined with shelves and musty books. The blinds were pulled, but +let enough light in to show a high-backed horsehair chair that stood at +the table. In front of it lay an open volume, and a pair of horn-rimmed +spectacles, that I had often seen on Maskew's nose; so I knew it was his +study, and that nothing had been moved since last he sat there. Even now +I trembled to think in whose house I was, and half-expected the old +attorney to step in and hale me off to jail; till I remembered how all my +trouble had come about, and how I last had seen him with his face turned +up against the morning sun. + +Thus we came to the garden, where I had never been before. It was a great +square, shut in with a brick wall of twelve or fifteen feet, big enough +to suit a palace, but then ill kept and sorely overgrown. I could spend +long in speaking of that plot; how the flowers, and fruit-trees, +pot-herbs, spice, and simples ran all wild and intermixed. The pink brick +walls caught every ray of sun that fell, and that morning there was a +hushed, close heat in it, and a warm breath rose from the strawberry +beds, for they were then in full bearing. I was glad enough to get out of +the sun when Grace led the way into a walk of medlar-trees and quinces, +where the boughs interlaced and formed an alley to a brick summer-house. +This summer-house stands in the angle of the south wall, and by it two +fig-trees, whose tops you can see from the outside. They are well known +for the biggest and the earliest bearing of all that part, and Grace +showed me how, if danger threatened, I might climb up their boughs and +scale the wall. + +We sat in the summer-house, and I told her all that had happened at her +father's death, only concealing that Elzevir had meant to do the deed +himself; because it was no use to tell her that, and besides, for all I +knew, he never did mean to shoot, but only to frighten. + +She wept again while I spoke, but afterwards dried her tears, and must +needs look at my leg to see the bullet-wound, and if it was all +soundly healed. + +Then I told her of the secret sense that Master Ratsey's words put into +the texts written on the parchment. I had showed her the locket before, +but we had it out again now; and she read and read again the writing, +while I pointed out how the words fell, and told her I was going away to +get the diamond and come back the richest man in all the countryside. + +Then she said, 'Ah, John! set not your heart too much upon this diamond. +If what they say is true, 'twas evilly come by, and will bring evil with +it. Even this wicked man durst not spend it for himself, but meant to +give it to the poor; so, if indeed you ever find it, keep it not for +yourself, but set his soul at rest by doing with it what he meant to do, +or it will bring a curse upon you.' + +I only smiled at what she said, taking it to be a girlish fancy, and did +not tell her why I wanted so much to be rich--namely, to marry her one +day. Then, having talked long about my own concerns as selfishly as a man +always does, I thought to ask after herself, and what she was going to +do. She told me that a month past lawyers had come to Moonfleet, and +pressed her to leave the place, and they would give her in charge to a +lady in London, because, said they, her father had died without a will, +and so she must be made a ward of Chancery. But she had begged them to +let her be, for she could never live anywhere else than in Moonfleet, +and that the air and commodity of the place suited her well. So they went +off, saying that they must take direction of the Court to know whether +she might stay here or not, and here she yet was. This made me sad, for +all I knew of Chancery was that whatever it put hand on fell to ruin, as +witness the Chancery Mills at Cerne, or the Chancery Wharf at Wareham; +and certainly it would take little enough to ruin the Manor House, for it +was three parts in decay already. + +Thus we talked, and after that she put on a calico bonnet and picked me a +dish of strawberries, staying to pull the finest, although the sun was +beating down from mid-heaven, and brought me bread and meat from the +house. Then she rolled up a shawl to make me a pillow, and bade me lie +down on the seat that ran round the summer-house and get to sleep, for I +had told her that I had walked all night, and must be back again at the +cave come midnight She went back to the house, and that was the most +sweet and peaceful sleep that ever I knew, for I was very tired, and had +this thought to soothe me as I fell asleep--that I had seen Grace, and +that she was so kind to me. + +She was sitting beside me when I awoke and knitting a piece of work. The +heat of the day was somewhat less, and she told me that it was past five +o'clock by the sun-dial; so I knew that I must go. She made me take a +packet of victuals and a bottle of milk, and as she put it into my +pocket the bottle struck on the butt of Maskew's pistol, which I had in +my bosom. 'What have you there?' she said; but I did not tell her, +fearing to call up bitter memories. + +We stood hand in hand again, as we had done in the morning, and she said: +'John, you will wander on the sea, and may perhaps put into Moonfleet. +Though you have not been here of late, I have kept a candle burning at +the window every night, as in the past. So, if you come to beach on any +night you will see that light, and know Grace remembers you. And if you +see it not, then know that I am dead or gone, for I will think of you +every night till you come back again.' I had nothing to say, for my heart +was too full with her sweet words and with the sorrow of parting, but +only drew her close to me and kissed her; and this time she did not step +back, but kissed me again. + +Then I climbed up the fig-tree, thinking it safer so to get out over the +wall than to go back to the front of the house, and as I sat on the wall +ready to drop the other side, turned to her and said good-bye. + +'Good-bye,' cried she; 'and have a care how you touch the treasure; it +was evilly come by, and will bring a curse with it.' + +'Good-bye, good-bye,' I said, and dropped on to the soft leafy bottom +of the wood. + + + + +CHAPTER 14 + +THE WELL-HOUSE + +For those thou mayest not look upon +Are gathering fast round the yawning stone--_Scott_ + + +It wanted yet half an hour of midnight when I found myself at the shaft +of the marble quarry, and before I had well set foot on the steps to +descend, heard Elzevir's voice challenging out of the darkness below. I +gave back '_Prosper the Bonaventure',_ and so came home again to sleep +the last time in our cave. + +The next night was well suited to flight. There was a spring-tide with +full moon, and a light breeze setting off the land which left the water +smooth under the cliff. We saw the _Bonaventure_ cruising in the Channel +before sundown, and after the darkness fell she lay close in and took us +off in her boat. There were several men on board of her that I knew, and +they greeted us kindly, and made much of us. I was indeed glad to be +among them again, and yet felt a pang at leaving our dear Dorset coast, +and the old cave that had been hospital and home to me for two months. + +The wind set us up-Channel, and by daybreak they put us ashore at Cowes, +so we walked to Newport and came there before many were stirring. Such as +we saw in the street paid no heed to us but took us doubtless for some +carter and his boy who had brought corn in from the country for the +Southampton packet, and were about early to lead the team home again. +'Tis a little place enough this Newport, and we soon found the Bugle; but +Elzevir made so good a carter that the landlord did not know him, though +he had his acquaintance before. So they fenced a little with one another. + +'Have you bed and victuals for a plain country man and his boy?' +says Elzevir. + +'Nay, that I have not,' says the landlord, looking him up and down, and +not liking to take in strangers who might use their eyes inside, and +perhaps get on the trail of the Contraband. ''Tis near the Summer +Statute and the place over full already. I cannot move my gentlemen, +and would bid you try the Wheatsheaf, which is a good house, and not so +full as this.' + +'Ay, 'tis a busy time, and 'tis these fairs that make things _prosper_,' +and Elzevir marked the last word a little as he said it. + +The man looked harder at him, and asked, 'Prosper what?' as if he were +hard of hearing. + +'_Prosper the Bonaventure_,' was the answer, and then the landlord caught +Elzevir by the hand, shaking it hard and saying, 'Why, you are Master +Block, and I expecting you this morn, and never knew you.' He laughed as +he stared at us again, and Elzevir smiled too. Then the landlord led us +in. 'And this is?' he said, looking at me. + +'This is a well-licked whelp,' replied Elzevir, 'who got a bullet in the +leg two months ago in that touch under Hoar Head; and is worth more than +he looks, for they have put twenty golden guineas on his head--so have a +care of such a precious top-knot.' + +So long as we stopped at the Bugle we had the best of lodging and the +choicest meat and drink, and all the while the landlord treated Elzevir +as though he were a prince. And so he was indeed a prince among the +contrabandiers, and held, as I found out long afterwards, for captain of +all landers between Start and Solent. At first the landlord would take no +money of us, saying that he was in our debt, and had received many a good +turn from Master Block in the past, but Elzevir had got gold from +Dorchester before we left the cave and forced him to take payment. I was +glad enough to lie between clean sweet sheets at night instead of on a +heap of sand, and sit once more knife and fork in hand before a +well-filled trencher. 'Twas thought best I should show myself as little +as possible, so I was content to pass my time in a room at the back of +the house whilst Elzevir went abroad to make inquiries how we could find +entrance to the Castle at Carisbrooke. Nor did the time hang heavy on my +hands, for I found some old books in the Bugle, and among them several to +my taste, especially a _History of Corfe Castle_, which set forth how +there was a secret passage from the ruins to some of the old marble +quarries, and perhaps to that very one that sheltered us. + +Elzevir was out most of the day, so that I saw him only at breakfast and +supper. He had been several times to Carisbrooke, and told me that the +Castle was used as a jail for persons taken in the wars, and was now full +of French prisoners. He had met several of the turnkeys or jailers, +drinking with them in the inns there, and making out that he was himself +a carter, who waited at Newport till a wind-bound ship should bring +grindstones from Lyme Regis. Thus he was able at last to enter the Castle +and to see well-house and well, and spent some days in trying to devise a +plan whereby we might get at the well without making the man who had +charge of it privy to our full design; but in this did not succeed. + +There is a slip of garden at the back of the Bugle, which runs down to a +little stream, and one evening when I was taking the air there after +dark, Elzevir returned and said the time was come for us to put +Blackbeard's cipher to the proof. + +'I have tried every way,' he said, 'to see if we could work this +secretly; but 'tis not to be done without the privity of the man who +keeps the well, and even with his help it is not easy. He is a man I do +not trust, but have been forced to tell him there is treasure hidden in +the well, yet without saying where it lies or how to get it. He promises +to let us search the well, taking one-third the value of all we find, for +his share; for I said not that thou and I were one at heart, but only +that there was a boy who had the key, and claimed an equal third with +both of us. Tomorrow we must be up betimes, and at the Castle gates by +six o'clock for him to let us in. And thou shalt not be carter any more, +but mason's boy, and I a mason, for I have got coats in the house, +brushes and trowels and lime-bucket, and we are going to Carisbrooke to +plaster up a weak patch in this same well-side.' + +Elzevir had thought carefully over this plan, and when we left the Bugle +next morning we were better masons in our splashed clothes than ever we +had been farm servants. I carried a bucket and a brush, and Elzevir a +plasterer's hammer and a coil of stout twine over his arm. It was a wet +morning, and had been raining all night. The sky was stagnant, and +one-coloured without wind, and the heavy drops fell straight down out of +a grey veil that covered everything. The air struck cold when we first +came out, but trudging over the heavy road soon made us remember that it +was July, and we were very hot and soaking wet when we stood at the +gateway of Carisbrooke Castle. Here are two flanking towers and a stout +gate-house reached by a stone bridge crossing the moat; and when I saw it +I remembered that 'twas here Colonel Mohune had earned the wages of his +unrighteousness, and thought how many times he must have passed these +gates. Elzevir knocked as one that had a right, and we were evidently +expected, for a wicket in the heavy door was opened at once. The man who +let us in was tall and stout, but had a puffy face, and too much flesh on +him to be very strong, though he was not, I think, more than thirty years +of age. He gave Elzevir a smile, and passed the time of day civilly +enough, nodding also to me; but I did not like his oily black hair, and a +shifty eye that turned away uneasily when one met it. + +'Good-morning, Master Well-wright,' he said to Elzevir. 'You have brought +ugly weather with you, and are drowning wet; will you take a sup of ale +before you get to work?' + +Elzevir thanked him kindly but would not drink, so the man led on and we +followed him. We crossed a bailey or outer court where the rain had made +the gravel very miry, and came on the other side to a door which led by +steps into a large hall. This building had once been a banquet-room, I +think, for there was an inscription over it very plain in lead: _He led +me into his banquet hall, and his banner over me was love_. + +I had time to read this while the turnkey unlocked the door with one of a +heavy bunch of keys that he carried at his girdle. But when we entered, +what a disappointment!--for there were no banquets now, no banners, no +love, but the whole place gutted and turned into a barrack for French +prisoners. The air was very close, as where men had slept all night, and +a thick steam on the windows. Most of the prisoners were still asleep, +and lay stretched out on straw palliasses round the walls, but some were +sitting up and making models of ships out of fish-bones, or building up +crucifixes inside bottles, as sailors love to do in their spare time. +They paid little heed to us as we passed, though the sleepy guards, who +were lounging on their matchlocks, nodded to our conductor, and thus we +went right through that evil-smelling white-washed room. We left it at +the other end, went down three steps into the open air again, crossed +another small court, and so came to a square building of stone with a +high roof like the large dovecots that you may see in old stackyards. + +Here our guide took another key, and, while the door was being opened, +Elzevir whispered to me, 'It is the well-house,' and my pulse beat quick +to think we were so near our goal. + +The building was open to the roof, and the first thing to be seen in it +was that tread-wheel of which Elzevir had spoken. It was a great open +wheel of wood, ten or twelve feet across, and very like a mill-wheel, +only the space between the rims was boarded flat, but had treads nailed +on it to give foothold to a donkey. The patient beast was lying loose +stabled on some straw in a corner of the room, and, as soon as we came +in, stood up and stretched himself, knowing that the day's work was to +begin. 'He was here long before my time,' the turnkey said, 'and knows +the place so well that he goes into the wheel and sets to work by +himself.' At the side of the wheel was the well-mouth, a dark, round +opening with a low parapet round it, rising two feet from the floor. + +We were so near our goal. Yet, were we near it at all? How did we know +Mohune had meant to tell the place of hiding for the diamond in those +words. They might have meant a dozen things beside. And if it was of the +diamond they spoke, then how did we know the well was this one? there +were a hundred wells beside. These thoughts came to me, making hope less +sure; and perhaps it was the steamy overcast morning and the rain, or a +scant breakfast, that beat my spirit down--for I have known men's mood +change much with weather and with food; but sure it was that now we stood +so near to put it to the touch, I liked our business less and less. + +As soon as we were entered the turnkey locked the door from the inside, +and when he let the key drop to its place, and it jangled with the others +on his belt, it seemed to me he had us as his prisoners in a trap. I +tried to catch his eye to see if it looked bad or good, but could not, +for he kept his shifty face turned always somewhere else; and then it +came to my mind that if the treasure was really fraught with evil, this +coarse dark-haired man, who could not look one straight, was to become a +minister of ruin to bring the curse home to us. + +But if I was weak and timid Elzevir had no misgivings. He had taken the +coil of twine off his arm and was undoing it. 'We will let an end of this +down the well,' he said, 'and I have made a knot in it at eighty feet. +This lad thinks the treasure is in the well wall, eighty feet below us, +so when the knot is on well lip we shall know we have the right depth.' I +tried again to see what look the turnkey wore when he heard where the +treasure was, but could not, and so fell to examining the well. + +A spindle ran from the axle of the wheel across the well, and on the +spindle was a drum to take the rope. There was some clutch or fastening +which could be fixed or loosed at will to make the drum turn with the +tread-wheel, or let it run free, and a footbreak to lower the bucket fast +or slow, or stop it altogether. + +'I will get into the bucket,' Elzevir said, turning to me, 'and this +good man will lower me gently by the break until I reach the string-end +down below. Then I will shout, and so fix you the wheel and give me time +to search.' + +This was not what I looked for, having thought that it was I should go; +and though I liked going down the well little enough, yet somehow now I +felt I would rather do that than have Master Elzevir down the hole, and +me left locked alone with this villainous fellow up above. + +So I said, 'No, master, that cannot be; 'tis my place to go, being +smaller and a lighter weight than thou; and thou shalt stop here and help +this gentleman to lower me down.' + +Elzevir spoke a few words to try to change my purpose, but soon gave in, +knowing it was certainly the better plan, and having only thought to go +himself because he doubted if I had the heart to do it. But the turnkey +showed much ill-humour at the change, and strove to let the plan stand as +it was, and for Elzevir to go down the well. Things that were settled, he +said, should remain settled; he was not one for changes; it was a man's +task this and no child's play; a boy would not have his senses about him, +and might overlook the place. I fixed my eyes on Elzevir to let him know +what I thought, and Master Turnkey's words fell lightly on his ears as +water on a duck's back. Then this ill-eyed man tried to work upon my +fears; saying that the well is deep and the bucket small, I shall get +giddy and be overbalanced. I do not say that these forebodings were +without effect on me, but I had made up my mind that, bad as it might be +to go down, it was yet worse to have Master Elzevir prisoned in the well, +and I remain above. Thus the turnkey perceived at last that he was +speaking to deaf ears, and turned to the business. + +Yet there was one fear that still held me, for thinking of what I had +heard of the quarry shafts in Purbeck, how men had gone down to explore, +and there been taken with a sudden giddiness, and never lived to tell +what they had seen; and so I said to Master Elzevir, 'Art sure the well +is clean, and that no deadly gases lurk below?' + +'Thou mayst be sure I knew the well was sweet before I let thee talk of +going down,' he answered. 'For yesterday we lowered a candle to the +water, and the flame burned bright and steady; and where the candle +lives, there man lives too. But thou art right: these gases change from +day to day, and we will try the thing again. So bring the candle, +Master Jailer.' + +The jailer brought a candle fixed on a wooden triangle, which he was wont +to show strangers who came to see the well, and lowered it on a string. +It was not till then I knew what a task I had before me, for looking over +the parapet, and taking care not to lose my balance, because the parapet +was low, and the floor round it green and slippery with water-splashings, +I watched the candle sink into that cavernous depth, and from a bright +flame turn into a little twinkling star, and then to a mere point of +light. At last it rested on the water, and there was a shimmer where the +wood frame had set ripples moving. We watched it twinkle for a little +while, and the jailer raised the candle from the water, and dropped down +a stone from some he kept there for that purpose. This stone struck the +wall half-way down, and went from side to side, crashing and whirring +till it met the water with a booming plunge; and there rose a groan and +moan from the eddies, like those dreadful sounds of the surge that I +heard on lonely nights in the sea-caverns underneath our hiding-place in +Purbeck. The jailer looked at me then for the first time, and his eyes +had an ugly meaning, as if he said, 'There--that is how you will sound +when you fall from your perch.' But it was no use to frighten, for I had +made up my mind. + +They pulled the candle up forthwith and put it in my hand, and I flung +the plasterer's hammer into the bucket, where it hung above the well, and +then got in myself. The turnkey stood at the break-wheel, and Elzevir +leant over the parapet to steady the rope. 'Art sure that thou canst do +it, lad?' he said, speaking low, and put his hand kindly on my shoulder. +'Are head and heart sure? Thou art my diamond, and I would rather lose +all other diamonds in the world than aught should come to thee. So, if +thou doubtest, let me go, or let not any go at all.' + +'Never doubt, master,' I said, touched by tenderness, and wrung his +hand. 'My head is sure; I have no broken leg to turn it silly +now'--for I guessed he was thinking of Hoar Head and how I had gone +giddy on the Zigzag. + + + + +CHAPTER 15 + +THE WELL + +The grave doth gape and doting death is near--_Shakespeare_ + + +The bucket was large, for all that the turnkey had tried to frighten me +into think it small, and I could crouch in it low enough to feel safe of +not falling out. Moreover, such a venture was not entirely new to me, for +I had once been over Gad Cliff in a basket, to get two peregrines' eggs; +yet none the less I felt ill at ease and fearful, when the bucket began +to sink into that dreadful depth, and the air to grow chilly as I went +down. They lowered me gently enough, so that I was able to take stock of +the way the wall was made, and found that for the most part it was cut +through solid chalk; but here and there, where the chalk failed or was +broken away, they had lined the walls with brick, patching them now on +this side, now on that, and now all round. By degrees the light, which +was dim even overground that rainy day, died out in the well, till all +was black as night but for my candle, and far overhead I could see the +well-mouth, white and round like a lustreless full-moon. + +I kept an eye all the time on Elzevir's cord that hung down the +well-side, and when I saw it was coming to a finish, shouted to them to +stop, and they brought the bucket up near level with the end of it, so I +knew I was about eighty feet deep. Then I raised myself, standing up in +the bucket and holding by the rope, and began to look round, knowing not +all the while what I looked for, but thinking to see a hole in the wall, +or perhaps the diamond itself shining out of a cranny. But I could +perceive nothing; and what made it more difficult was, that the walls +here were lined completely with small flat bricks, and looked much the +same all round. I examined these bricks as closely as I might, and took +course by course, looking first at the north side where the plumb-line +hung, and afterwards turning round in the bucket till I was afraid of +getting giddy; but to little purpose. They could see my candle moving +round and round from the well-top, and knew no doubt what I was at, but +Master Turnkey grew impatient, and shouted down, 'What are you doing? +have you found nothing? can you see no treasure?' + +'No,' I called back, 'I can see nothing,' and then, 'Are you sure, Master +Block, that you have measured the plummet true to eighty feet?' + +I heard them talking together, but could not make out what they said, for +the bim-bom and echo in the well, till Elzevir shouted again, 'They say +this floor has been raised; you must try lower.' + +Then the bucket began to move lower, slowly, and I crouched down in it +again, not wishing to look too much into the unfathomable, dark abyss +below. And all the while there rose groanings and moanings from eddies in +the bottom of the well, as if the spirits that kept watch over the jewel +were yammering together that one should be so near it; and clear above +them all I heard Grace's voice, sweet and grave, 'Have a care, have a +care how you touch the treasure; it was evilly come by, and will bring a +curse with it.' + +But I had set foot on this way now, and must go through with it, so when +the bucket stopped some six feet lower down, I fell again to diligently +examining the walls. They were still built of the shallow bricks, and +scanning them course by course as before, I could at first see nothing, +but as I moved my eyes downward they were brought up by a mark scratched +on a brick, close to the hanging plummet-line. + +Now, however lightly a man may glance through a book, yet if his own +name, or even only one nice it, should be printed on the page, his +eyes will instantly be stopped by it; so too, if his name be mentioned +by others in their speech, though it should be whispered never so low, +his ears will catch it. Thus it was with this mark, for though it was +very slight, so that I think not one in a thousand would ever have +noticed it at all, yet it stopped my eyes and brought up my thoughts +suddenly, because I knew by instinct that it had something to do with +me and what I sought. + +The sides of this well are not moist, green, or clammy, like the sides of +some others where damp and noxious exhalations abound, but dry and clean; +for it is said that there are below hidden entrances and exits for the +water, which keep it always moving. So these bricks were also dry and +clean, and this mark as sharp as if made yesterday, though the issue +showed that 'twas put there a very long time ago. Now the mark was not +deeply or regularly graven, but roughly scratched, as I have known boys +score their names, or alphabet letters, or a date, on the alabaster +figures that lie in Moonfleet Church. And here, too, was scored a letter +of the alphabet, a plain 'Y', and would have passed for nothing more +perhaps to any not born in Moonfleet; but to me it was the _cross-pall,_ +or black 'Y' of the Mohunes, under whose shadow we were all brought up. +So as soon as I saw that, I knew I was near what I sought, and that +Colonel John Mohune had put this sign there a century ago, either by his +own hands or by those of a servant; and then I thought of Mr. Glennie's +story, that the Colonel's conscience was always unquiet, because of a +servant whom he had put away, and now I seemed to understand something +more of it. + +My heart throbbed fiercely, as many another's heart has throbbed when he +has come near the fulfilment of a great desire, whether lawful or guilty, +and I tried to get at the brick. But though by holding on to the rope +with my left hand, I could reach over far enough to touch the brick with +my right 'twas as much as I could do, and so I shouted up the well that +they must bring me nearer in to the side. They understood what I would be +at, and slipped a noose over the well-rope and so drew it in to the side, +and made it fast till I should give the word to loose again. Thus I was +brought close to the well-wall, and the marked brick near about the level +of my face when I stood up in the bucket. There was nothing to show that +this brick had been tampered with, nor did it sound hollow when tapped, +though when I came to look closely at the joints, it seemed as though +there was more cement than usual about the edges. But I never doubted +that what we sought was to be found behind it, and so got to work at +once, fixing the wooden frame of the candle in the fastening of the +chain, and chipping out the mortar setting with the plasterer's hammer. + +When they saw above that first I was to be pulled in to the side, and +afterwards fell to work on the wall of the well, they guessed, no doubt, +how matters were, and I had scarce begun chipping when I heard the +turnkey's voice again, sharp and greedy, 'What are you doing? have you +found nothing?' It chafed me that this grasping fellow should be always +shouting to me while Elzevir was content to stay quiet, so I cried back +that I had found nothing, and that he should know what I was doing in +good time. + +Soon I had the mortar out of the joints, and the brick loose enough to +prise it forward, by putting the edge of the hammer in the crack. I +lifted it clean out and put it in the bucket, to see later on, in case +of need, if there was a hollow for anything to be hidden in; but never +had occasion to look at it again, for there, behind the brick, was a +little hole in the wall, and in the hole what I sought. I had my fingers +in the wall too quick for words, and brought out a little parchment bag, +for all the world like those dried fish-eggs cast up on the beach that +children call shepherds' purses. Now, shepherds' purses are crisp, and +crackle to the touch, and sometimes I have known a pebble get inside one +and rattle like a pea in a drum; and this little bag that I pulled out +was dry too, and crackling, and had something of the size of a small +pebble that rattled in the inside of it. Only I knew well that this was +no pebble, and set to work to get it out. But though the little bag was +parched and dry, 'twas not so easily torn, and at last I struck off the +corner of it with the sharp edge of my hammer against the bucket. Then I +shook it carefully, and out into my hand there dropped a pure crystal as +big as a walnut. I had never in my life seen a diamond, either large or +small--yet even if I had not known that Blackbeard had buried a diamond, +and if we had not come hither of set purpose to find it, I should not +have doubted that what I had in my hand was a diamond, and this of +matchless size and brilliance. It was cut into many facets, and though +there was little or no light in the well save my candle, there seemed to +be in this stone the light of a thousand fires that flashed out, +sparkling red and blue and green, as I turned it between my fingers. At +first I could think of nothing else, neither how it got there, nor how I +had come to find it, but only of it, the diamond, and that with such a +prize Elzevir and I could live happily ever afterwards, and that I should +be a rich man and able to go back to Moonfleet. So I crouched down in the +bottom of the bucket, being filled entirely with such thoughts, and +turned it over and over again, wondering continually more and more to see +the fiery light fly out of it. I was, as it were, dazed by its +brilliance, and by the possibilities of wealth that it contained, and +had, perhaps, a desire to keep it to myself as long as might be; so that +I thought nothing of the two who were waiting for me at the well-mouth, +till I was suddenly called back by the harsh voice of the turnkey, crying +as before-- + +'What are you doing? have you found nothing?' + +'Yes,' I shouted back, 'I have found the treasure; you can pull me up.' +The words were scarcely out of my mouth before the bucket began to move, +and I went up a great deal faster than I had gone down. Yet in that short +journey other thoughts came to my mind, and I heard Grace's voice again, +sweet and grave, 'Have a care, have a care how you touch the treasure; it +was evilly come by, and will bring a curse with it.' At the same time I +remembered how I had been led to the discovery of this jewel--first, by +Mr. Glennie's stories, second, by my finding the locket, and third, by +Ratsey giving me the hint that the writing was a cipher, and so had come +to the hiding-place without a swerve or stumble; and it seemed to me that +I could not have reached it so straight without a leading hand, but +whether good or evil, who should say? + +As I neared the top I heard the turnkey urging the donkey to trot faster +in the wheel, so that the bucket might rise the quicker, but just before +my head was level with the ground he set the break on and fixed me where +I was. I was glad to see the light again, and Elzevir's face looking +kindly on me, but vexed to be brought up thus suddenly just when I was +expecting to set foot on _terra firma_. + +The turnkey had stopped me through his covetous eagerness, so that he +might get sooner at the jewel, and now he craned over the low parapet and +reached out his hand to me, crying--'Where is the treasure? where is the +treasure? give me the treasure!' + +I held the diamond between finger and thumb of my right hand, and waved +it for Elzevir to see. By stretching out my arm I could have placed it in +the turnkey's hand, and was just going to do so, when I caught his eyes +for the second time that day, and something in them made me stop. There +was a look in his face that brought back to me the memory of an autumn +evening, when I sat in my aunt's parlour reading the book called the +_Arabian Nights_; and how, in the story of the _Wonderful Lamp_, +Aladdin's wicked uncle stands at the top of the stairs when the boy is +coming up out of the underground cavern, and will not let him out, unless +he first gives up the treasure. But Aladdin refused to give up his lamp +until he should stand safe on the ground again, because he guessed that +if he did, his uncle would shut him up in the cavern and leave him to die +there; and the look in the turnkey's eyes made me refuse to hand him the +jewel till I was safe out of the well, for a horrible fear seized me +that, as soon as he had taken it from me, he meant to let me fall down +and drown below. + +So when he reached down his hand and said, 'Give me the treasure,' I +answered, 'Pull me up then; I cannot show it you in the bucket.' + +'Nay, lad,' he said, cozening me, 'tis safer to give it me now, and have +both hands free to help you getting out; these stones are wet and greasy, +and you may chance to slip, and having no hand to save you, fall back in +the well.' + +But I was not to be cheated, and said again sturdily, 'No, you must pull +me up first.' + +Then he took to scowling, and cried in an angry tone, 'Give me the +treasure, I say, or it will be the worse for you'; but Elzevir would +not let him speak to me that way, and broke in roughly, 'Let the boy up, +he is sure-footed and will not slip. 'Tis his treasure, and he shall do +with it as he likes: only that thou shalt have a third of it when we +have sold it.' + +Then he: ''Tis not his treasure--no, nor yours either, but mine, for it +is in my well, and I have let you get it. Yet I will give you a +half-share in it; but as for this boy, what has he to do with it? We will +give him a golden guinea, and he will be richly paid for his pains.' + +'Tush,' cries Elzevir, 'let us have no more fooling; this boy shall have +his share, or I will know the reason why.' + +'Ay, you shall know the reason, fair enough,' answers the turnkey, 'and +'tis because your name is Block, and there is a price of 50 upon your +head, and 20 upon this boy's. You thought to outwit me, and are yourself +outwitted; and here I have you in a trap, and neither leaves this room, +except with hands tied, and bound for the gallows, unless I first have +the jewel safe in my purse.' + +On that I whipped the diamond back quick into the little parchment bag, +and thrust both down snug into my breeches-pocket, meaning to have a +fight for it, anyway, before I let it go. And looking up again, I saw the +turnkey's hand on the butt of his pistol, and cried, 'Beware, beware! he +draws on you.' But before the words were out of my mouth, the turn-key +had his weapon up and levelled full at Elzevir. 'Surrender,' he cries, +'or I shoot you dead, and the 50 is mine,' and never giving time for +answer, fires. Elzevir stood on the other side of the well-mouth, and it +seemed the other could not miss him at such a distance; but as I blinked +my eyes at the flash, I felt the bullet strike the iron chain to which I +was holding, and saw that Elzevir was safe. + +The turnkey saw it too, and flinging away his pistol, sprang round the +well and was at Elzevir's throat before he knew whether he was hit or +not. I have said that the turnkey was a tall, strong man, and twenty +years the younger of the two; so doubtless when he made for Elzevir, he +thought he would easily have him broken down and handcuffed, and then +turn to me. But he reckoned without his host, for though Elzevir was the +shorter and older man, he was wonderfully strong, and seasoned as a +salted thong. Then they hugged one another and began a terrible struggle: +for Elzevir knew that he was wrestling for life, and I daresay the +turnkey guessed that the stakes were much the same for him too. + +As soon as I saw what they were at, and that the bucket was safe fixed, +I laid hold of the well-chain, and climbing up by it swung myself on to +the top of the parapet, being eager to help Elzevir, and get the turnkey +gagged and bound while we made our escape. But before I was well on the +firm ground again, I saw that little help of mine was needed, for the +turnkey was flagging, and there was a look of anguish and desperate +surprise upon his face, to find that the man he had thought to master so +lightly was strong as a giant. They were swaying to and fro, and the +jailer's grip was slackening, for his muscles were overwrought and +tired; but Elzevir held him firm as a vice, and I saw from his eyes and +the bearing of his body that he was gathering himself up to give his +enemy a fall. + +Now I guessed that the fall he would use would be the Compton Toss, for +though I had never seen him give it, yet he was well known for a wrestler +in his younger days, and the Compton Toss for his most certain fall. I +shall not explain the method of it, but those who have seen it used will +know that 'tis a deadly fall, and he who lets himself get thrown that way +even upon grass, is seldom fit to wrestle another bout the same day. +Still 'tis a difficult fall to use, and perhaps Elzevir would never have +been able to give it, had not the other at that moment taken one hand off +the waist, and tried to make a clutch with it at the throat. But the +only way of avoiding that fall, and indeed most others, is to keep both +hands firm between hip and shoulder-blade, and the moment Elzevir felt +one hand off his back, he had the jailer off his feet and gave him +Compton's Toss. I do not know whether Elzevir had been so taxed by the +fierce struggle that he could not put his fullest force into the throw, +or whether the other, being a very strong and heavy man, needed more to +fling him; but so it was, that instead of the turnkey going down straight +as he should, with the back of his head on the floor (for that is the +real damage of the toss), he must needs stagger backwards a pace or two, +trying to regain his footing before he went over. + +It was those few staggering paces that ruined him, for with the last he +came upon the stones close to the well-mouth, that had been made wet and +slippery by continual spilling there of water. Then up flew his heels, +and he fell backwards with all his weight. + +As soon as I saw how near the well-mouth he was got, I shouted out and +ran to save him; but Elzevir saw it quicker than I, and springing forward +seized him by the belt just when he turned over. The parapet wall was +very low, and caught the turnkey behind the knee as he staggered, +tripping him over into the well-mouth. He gave a bitter cry, and there +was a wrench on his face when he knew where he was come, and 'twas then +Elzevir caught him by the belt. For a moment I thought he was saved, +seeing Elzevir setting his body low back with heels pressed firm against +the parapet wall to stand the strain. Then the belt gave way at the +fastening, and Elzevir fell sprawling on the floor. But the other went +backwards down the well. + +I got to the parapet just as he fell head first into that black abyss. +There was a second of silence, then a dreadful noise like a coconut +being broken on a pavement--for we once had coconuts in plenty at +Moonfleet, when the _Bataviaman_ came on the beach, then a deep echoing +blow, where he rebounded and struck the wall again, and last of all, the +thud and thundering splash, when he reached the water at the bottom. I +held my breath for sheer horror, and listened to see if he would cry, +though I knew at heart he would never cry again, after that first +sickening smash; but there was no sound or voice, except the moaning +voices of the water eddies that I had heard before. + +Elzevir slung himself into the bucket. 'You can handle the break,' he +said to me; 'let me down quick into the well.' I took the break-lever, +lowering him as quickly as I durst, till I heard the bucket touch water +at the bottom, and then stood by and listened. All was still, and yet I +started once, and could not help looking round over my shoulder, for it +seemed as if I was not alone in the well-house; and though I could see no +one, yet I had a fancy of a tall black-bearded man, with coppery face, +chasing another round and round the well-mouth. Both vanished from my +fancy just as the pursuer had his hand on the pursued; but Mr. Glennie's +story came back again to my mind, how that Colonel Mohune's conscience +was always unquiet because of a servant he had put away, and I guessed +now that the turnkey was not the first man these walls had seen go +headlong down the well. + +Elzevir had been in the well so long that I began to fear something had +happened to him, when he shouted to me to bring him up. So I fixed the +clutch, and set the donkey going in the tread-wheel; and the patient +drudge started on his round, recking nothing whether it was a bucket of +water he brought up, or a live man, or a dead man, while I looked over +the parapet, and waited with a cramping suspense to see whether Elzevir +would be alone, or have something with him. But when the bucket came in +sight there was only Elzevir in it, so I knew the turnkey had never come +to the top of the water again, and, indeed, there was but little chance +he should after that first knock. Elzevir said nothing to me, till I +spoke: 'Let us fling the jewel down the well after him, Master Block; it +was evilly come by, and will bring a curse with it.' + +He hesitated for a moment while I half-hoped yet half-feared he was going +to do as I asked, but then said: + +'No, no; thou art not fit to keep so precious a thing. Give it me. It is +thy treasure, and I will never touch penny of it; but fling it down the +well thou shalt not; for this man has lost his life for it, and we have +risked ours for it--ay, and may lose them for it too, perhaps.' + +So I gave him the jewel. + + + + +CHAPTER 16 + +THE JEWEL + +All that glisters is not gold--_Shakespeare_ + + +There was the turnkey's belt lying on the floor, with the keys and +manacles fixed to it, just as it had failed and come off him at the fatal +moment. Elzevir picked it up, tried the keys till he found the right +one, and unlocked the door of the well-house. + +'There are other locks to open before we get out,' I said. + +'Ay,' he answered, 'but it is more than our life is worth to be seen with +these keys, so send them down the well, after their master.' + +I took them back and flung them, belt and keys and handcuffs, clanking +down against the sides into the blackness and the hidden water at the +bottom. Then we took pail and hammer, brush and ropes, and turned our +backs upon that hateful place. There was the little court to cross before +we came to the doors of the banquet-hall. They were locked, but we +knocked until a guard opened them. He knew us for the plasterer-men, who +had passed an hour before, and only asked, 'Where is Ephraim?' meaning +the turnkey. 'He is stopping behind in the well-house,' Elzevir said, and +so we passed on through the hall, where the prisoners were making what +breakfast they might of odds and ends, with a savoury smell of cooking +and a great patter of French. + +At the outer gate was another guard to be passed, but they opened for us +without question, cursing Ephraim under their breath, that he did not +take the pains to let his own men out. Then the wicket of the great gates +swung-to behind us, and we went into the open again. As soon as we were +out of sight we quickened our pace, and the weather having much bettered, +and a fresh breeze springing up, we came back to the Bugle about ten in +the forenoon. + +I believe that neither of us spoke a word during that walk, and though +Elzevir had not yet seen the diamond, he never even took the pains to +draw it out of the little parchment bag, in which it still lay hid in his +pocket. Yet if I did not speak I thought, and my thoughts were sad +enough. For here were we a second time, flying for our lives, and if we +had not the full guilt of blood upon our hands, yet blood was surely +there. So this flight was very bitter to me, because the scene of death +of which I had been witness this morning seemed to take me farther still +away from all my old happy life, and to stand like another dreadful +obstacle between Grace and me. In the Family Bible lying on the table in +my aunt's best parlour was a picture of Cain, which I had often looked at +with fear on wet Sunday afternoons. It showed Cain striding along in the +midst of a boundless desert, with his sons and their wives striding +behind him, and their little children carried slung on poles. There was a +quick, swinging motion in the bodies of all, as though they must needs +always stride as fast as they might, and never rest, and their faces were +set hard, and thin with eternal wandering and disquiet. But the thinnest +and most restless-looking and hardest face was Cain's, and on the middle +of his forehead there was a dark spot, which God had set to show that +none might touch him, because he was the first murderer, and cursed for +ever. This had always been to me a dreadful picture, though I could not +choose but look at it, and was sorry indeed for Cain, for all he was so +wicked, because it seemed so hard to have to wander up and down the world +all his life long, and never be able to come to moorings. And yet this +very thing had come upon me now, for here we were, with the blood of two +men on our hands, wanderers on the face of the earth, who durst never go +home; and if the mark of Cain was not on my forehead already, I felt it +might come out there at any minute. + +When we reached the Bugle I went upstairs and flung myself upon the bed +to try to rest a little and think, but Elzevir shut himself in with the +landlord, and I could hear them talking earnestly in the room under me. +After a while he came up and said that he had considered with the +landlord how we could best get away, telling him that we must be off at +once, but letting him suppose that we were eager to leave the place +because some of the Excise had got wind of our whereabouts. He had said +nothing to our host about the turnkey, wishing as few persons as possible +to know of that matter, but doubted not that we should by all means +hasten our departure from the island, for that as soon as the turnkey was +missed inquiry would certainly be made for the plasterers with whom he +was last seen. + +Yet in this thing at least Fortune favoured us, for there was now lying +at Cowes, and ready to sail that night, a Dutch couper that had run a +cargo of Hollands on the other side of the island, and was going back to +Scheveningen freighted with wool. Our landlord knew the Dutch captain +well, having often done business for him, and so could give us letters of +recommendation which would ensure us a passage to the Low Countries. Thus +in the afternoon we were on the road, making our way from Newport to +Cowes in a new disguise, for we had changed our clothes again, and now +wore the common sailor dress of blue. + +The clouds had returned after the rain, and the afternoon was wet, and +worse than the morning, so I shall not say anything of another weary and +silent walk. We arrived on Cowes quay by eight in the evening, and found +the couper ready to make sail, and waiting only for the tide to set out. +Her name was the _Gouden Droom_, and she was a little larger than the +_Bonaventure_, but had a smaller crew, and was not near so well found. +Elzevir exchanged a few words with the captain, and gave him the +landlord's letter, and after that they let us come on board, but said +nothing to us. We judged that we were best out of the way, so went below; +and finding her laden deep, and even the cabin full of bales of wool, +flung ourselves on them to rest. I was so tired and heavy with sleep that +my eyes closed almost before I was lain down, and never opened till the +next morning was well advanced. + +I shall not say anything about our voyage, nor how we came safe to +Scheveningen, because it has little to do with this story. Elzevir had +settled that we should go to Holland, not only because the couper was +waiting to sail thither for we might doubtless have found other boats +before long to take us elsewhere--but also because he had learned at +Newport that the Hague was the first market in the world for diamonds. +This he told me after we were safe housed in a little tavern in the town, +which was frequented by seamen, but those of the better class, such as +mates and skippers of small vessels. Here we lay for several days while +Elzevir made such inquiry as he could without waking suspicion as to who +were the best dealers in precious stones, and the most able to pay a good +price for a valuable jewel. It was lucky, too, for us that Elzevir could +speak the Dutch language--not well indeed, but enough to make himself +understood, and to understand others. When I asked where he had learned +it, he told me that he came of Dutch blood on his mother's side, and so +got his name of Elzevir; and that he could once speak in Dutch as readily +as in English, only that his mother dying when he was yet a boy he lost +something of the facility. + +As the days passed, the memory of that dreadful morning at Carisbrooke +became dimmer to me, and my mind more cheerful or composed. I got the +diamond back from Elzevir, and had it out many times, both by day and by +night, and every time it seemed more brilliant and wonderful than the +last. Often of nights, after all the house was gone to rest, I would +lock the door of the room, and sit with a candle burning on the table, +and turn the diamond over in my hands. It was, as I have said, as big as +a pigeon's egg or walnut, delicately cut and faceted all over, perfect +and flawless, without speck or stain, and yet, for all it was so clear +and colourless, there flew out from the depth of it such flashes and +sparkles of red, blue, and green, as made one wonder whence these tints +could come. Thus while I sat and watched it I would tell Elzevir stories +from the _Arabian Nights_, of wondrous jewels, though I believe there +never was a stone that the eagles brought up from the Valley of +Diamonds, no, nor any in the Caliph's crown itself, that could excel +this gem of ours. + +You may be sure that at such times we talked much of the value that was +to be put upon the stone, and what was likely to be got for it, but never +could settle, not having any experience of such things. Only, I was sure +that it must be worth thousands of pounds, and so sat and rubbed my +hands, saying that though life was like a game of hazard, and our throws +had hitherto been bad enough, yet we had made something of this last. But +all the while a strange change was coming over us both, and our parts +seemed turned about. For whereas a few days before it was I who wished to +fling the diamond away, feeling overwrought and heavy-hearted in that +awful well-house, and Elzevir who held me from it; now it was he that +seemed to set little store by it, and I to whom it was all in all. He +seldom cared to look much at the jewel, and one night when I was praising +it to him, spoke out: + +'Set not thy heart too much upon this stone. It is thine, and thine to +deal with. Never a penny will I touch that we may get for it. Yet, +were I thou, and reached great wealth with it, and so came back one +day to Moonfleet, I would not spend it all on my own ends, but put +aside a part to build the poor-houses again, as men say Blackbeard +meant to do with it' + +I did not know what made him speak like this, and was not willing, even +in fancy, to agree to what he counselled; for with that gem before me, +lustrous, and all the brighter for lying on a rough deal table, I could +only think of the wealth it was to bring to us, and how I would most +certainly go back one day to Moonfleet and marry Grace. So I never +answered Elzevir, but took the diamond and slipped it back in the silver +locket, which still hung round my neck, for that was the safest place for +it that we could think of. + +We spent some days in wandering round the town making inquiries, and +learnt that most of the diamond-buyers lived near one another in a +certain little street, whose name I have forgotten, but that the richest +and best known of them was one Krispijn Aldobrand. He was a Jew by birth, +but had lived all his life in the Hague, and besides having bought and +sold some of the finest stones, was said to ask few questions, and to +trouble little whence stones came, so they were but good. Thus, after +much thought and many changes of purpose, we chose this Aldobrand, and +settled we would put the matter to the touch with him. + +We took an evening in late summer for our venture, and came to +Aldobrand's house about an hour before sundown. I remember the place +well, though I have not seen it for so long, and am certainly never like +to see it again. It was a low house of two stories standing back a little +from the street, with some wooden palings and a grass plot before it, and +a stone-flagged path leading up to the door. The front of it was +whitewashed, with green shutters, and had a shiny-leaved magnolia trained +round about the windows. These jewellers had no shops, though sometimes +they set a single necklace or bracelet in a bottom window, but put up +notices proclaiming their trade. Thus there was over Aldobrand's door a +board stuck out to say that he bought and sold jewels, and would lend +money on diamonds or other valuables. + +A sturdy serving-man opened the door, and when he heard our business was +to sell a jewel, left us in a stone-floored hall or lobby, while he went +upstairs to ask whether his master would see us. A few minutes later the +stairs creaked, and Aldobrand himself came down. He was a little wizened +man with yellow skin and deep wrinkles, not less than seventy years old; +and I saw he wore shoes of polished leather, silver-buckled, and +tilted-heeled to add to his stature. He began speaking to us from the +landing, not coming down into the hall, but leaning over the handrail: + +'Well, my sons, what would you with me? I hear you have a jewel to sell, +but you must know I do not purchase sailors' flotsam. So if 'tis a +moonstone or catseye, or some pin-head diamonds, keep them to make +brooches for your sweethearts, for Aldobrand buys no toys like that.' + +He had a thin and squeaky voice, and spoke to us in our own tongue, +guessing no doubt that we were English from our faces. 'Twas true he +handled the language badly enough, yet I was glad he used it, for so I +could follow all that was said. + +'No toys like that,' he said again, repeating his last words, and Elzevir +answered: 'May it please your worship, we are sailors from over sea, and +this boy has a diamond that he would sell.' + +I had the gem in my hand all ready, and when the old man squeaked +peevishly, 'Out with it then, let's see, let's see,' I reached it out to +him. He stretched down over the banisters, and took it; holding out his +palm hollowed, as if 'twas some little paltry stone that might otherwise +fall and be lost. It nettled me to have him thus underrate our treasure, +even though he had never seen it, and so I plumped it down into his hand +as if it were as big as a pumpkin. Now the hall was a dim place, being +lit only by a half-circle of glass over the door, and so I could not see +very well; yet in reaching down he brought his head near mine, and I +could swear his face changed when he felt the size of the stone in his +hand, and turned from impatience and contempt to wonder and delight. He +took the jewel quickly from his palm, and held it up between finger and +thumb, and when he spoke again, his voice was changed as well as his +face, and had lost most of the sharp impatience. + +'There is not light enough to see in this dark place--follow me,' and he +turned back and went upstairs rapidly, holding the stone in his hand; and +we close at his heels, being anxious not to lose sight of him now that he +had our diamond, for all he was so rich and well known a man. + +Thus we came to another landing, and there he flung open the door of a +room which looked out west, and had the light of the setting sun +streaming in full flood through the window. The change from the dimness +of the stairs to this level red blaze was so quick that for a minute I +could make out nothing, but turning my back to the window saw presently +that the room was panelled all through with painted wood, with a bed let +into the wall on one side, and shelves round the others, on which were +many small coffers and strong-boxes of iron. The jeweller was sitting at +a table with his face to the sun, holding the diamond up against the +light, and gazing into it closely, so that I could see every working of +his face. The hard and cunning look had come back to it, and he turned +suddenly upon me and asked quite sharply, 'What is your name, boy? Whence +do you come?' + +Now I was not used to walk under false names, and he took me unawares, +so I must needs blurt out, 'My name is John Trenchard, sir, and I come +from Moonfleet, in Dorset.' + +A second later I could have bitten off my tongue for having said as much, +and saw Elzevir frowning at me to make me hold my peace. But 'twas too +late then, for the merchant was writing down my answer in a parchment +ledger. And though it would seem to most but a little thing that he +should thus take down my name and birthplace, and only vexed us at the +time, because we would not have it known at all whence we came; yet in +the overrulings of Providence it was ordered that this note in Mr. +Aldobrand's book should hereafter change the issue of my life. + +'From Moonfleet, in Dorset,' he repeated to himself, as he finished +writing my answer. 'And how did John Trenchard come by this?' and he +tapped the diamond as it lay on the table before him. + +Then Elzevir broke in quickly, fearing no doubt lest I should be betrayed +into saying more: 'Nay, sir, we are not come to play at questions and +answers, but to know whether your worship will buy this diamond, and at +what price. We have no time to tell long histories, and so must only say +that we are English sailors, and that the stone is fairly come by.' And +he let his fingers play with the diamond on the table, as if he feared it +might slip away from him. + +'Softly, softly,' said the old man; 'all stones are fairly come by; but +had you told me whence you got this, I might have spared myself some +tedious tests, which now I must crave pardon for making.' + +He opened a cupboard in the panelling, and took out from it a little +pair of scales, some crystals, a black-stone, and a bottle full of a +green liquid. Then he sat down again, drew the diamond gently from +Elzevir's fingers, which were loth to part with it, and began using his +scales; balancing the diamond carefully, now against a crystal, now +against some small brass weights. I stood with my back to the sunset, +watching the red light fall upon this old man as he weighed the diamond, +rubbed it on the black-stone, or let fall on it a drop of the liquor, +and so could see the wonder and emotion fade away from his face, and +only hard craftiness left in it. + +I watched him meddling till I could bear to watch no longer, feeling a +fierce feverish suspense as to what he might say, and my pulse beating +so quick that I could scarce stand still. For was not the decisive +moment very nigh when we should know, from these parched-up lips, the +value of the jewel, and whether it was worth risking life for, whether +the fabric of our hopes was built on sure foundation or on slippery +sand? So I turned my back on the diamond merchant, and looked out of the +window, waiting all the while to catch the slightest word that might +come from his lips. + +I have found then and at other times that in such moments, though the +mind be occupied entirely by one overwhelming thought, yet the eyes take +in, as it were unwittingly, all that lies before them, so that we can +afterwards recall a face or landscape of which at the time we took no +note. Thus it was with me that night, for though I was thinking of +nothing but the jewel, yet I noted everything that could be seen through +the window, and the recollection was of use to me later on. The window +was made in the French style, reaching down to the floor, and opening +like a door with two leaves. It led on to a little balcony, and now stood +open (for the day was still very hot), and on the wall below was trained +a pear-tree, which half-embowered the balcony with its green leaves. The +window could be well protected in case of need, having latticed wooden +blinds inside, and heavy shutters shod with iron on the outer wall, and +there were besides strong bolts and sockets from which ran certain wires +whose use I did not know. Below the balcony was a square garden-plot, +shut in with a brick wall, and kept very neat and trim. There were +hollyhocks round the walls, and many-coloured poppies, with many other +shrubs and flowers. My eyes fell on one especially, a tall red-blossomed +rushy kind of flower, that I had never seen before; and that seemed +indeed to be something out of the common, for it stood in the middle of a +little earth-plot, and had the whole bed nearly to itself. + +I was looking at this flower, not thinking of it, but wondering all the +while whether Mr. Aldobrand would say the diamond was worth ten thousand +pounds, or fifty, or a hundred thousand, when I heard him speaking, and +turned round quick. 'My sons, and you especially, son John,' he said, and +turned to me: 'this stone that you have brought me is no stone at all, +but glass--or rather paste, for so we call it. Not but what it is good +paste, and perhaps the best that I have seen, and so I had to try it to +make sure. But against high chymic tests no sham can stand; and first it +is too light in weight, and second, when rubbed on this Basanus or +Black-stone, traces no line of white, as any diamond must. But, third and +last, I have tried it with the hermeneutic proof, and dipped it in this +most costly lembic; and the liquor remains pure green and clear, not +turbid orange, a diamond leaves it.' + +As he spoke the room spun round, and I felt the sickness and +heart-sinking that comes with the sudden destruction of long-cherished +hope. So it was all a sham, a bit of glass, for which we had risked our +lives. Blackbeard had only mocked us even in his death, and from rich men +we were become the poorest outcasts. And all the other bright fancies +that had been built on this worthless thing fell down at once, like a +house of cards. There was no money now with which to go back rich to +Moonfleet, no money to cloak past offences, no money to marry Grace; and +with that I gave a sigh, and my knees failing should have fallen had not +Elzevir held me. + +'Nay, son John,' squeaked the old man, seeing I was so put about, 'take +it not hardly, for though this is but paste, I say not it is worthless. +It is as fine work as ever I have seen, and I will offer you ten silver +crowns for it; which is a goodly sum for a sailor-lad to have in hand, +and more than all the other buyers in this town would bid you for it.' + +'Tush, tush,' cried Elzevir, and I could hear the bitterness and +disappointment in his voice, however much he tried to hide it; 'we are +not come to beg for silver crowns, so keep them in your purse. And the +devil take this shining sham; we are well quit of it; there is a curse +upon the thing!' And with that he caught up the stone and flung it away +out of the window in his anger. + +This brought the diamond-buyer to his feet in a moment. 'You fool, you +cursed fool!' he shrieked, 'are you come here to beard me? and when I say +the thing is worth ten silver crowns do you fling it to the winds?' + +I had sprung forward with a half thought of catching Elzevir's arm; but +it was too late--the stone flew up in the air, caught the low rays of the +setting sun for a moment, and then fell among the flowers. I could not +see it as it fell, yet followed with my eyes the line in which it should +have fallen, and thought I saw a glimmer where it touched the earth. It +was only a flash or sparkle for an instant, just at the stem of that same +rushy red-flowered plant, and then nothing more to be seen; but as I +faced round I saw the little man's eyes turned that way too, and perhaps +he saw the flash as well as I. + +'There's for your ten crowns!' said Elzevir. 'Let us be going, lad.' And +he took me by the arm and marched me out of the room and down the stairs. + +'Go, and a blight on you!' says Mr. Aldobrand, his voice being not so +high as when he cried out last, but in his usual squeak; and then he +repeated, 'a blight on you,' just for a parting shot as we went through +the door. + +We passed two more waiting-men on the stairs, but they said nothing to +us, and so we came to the street. + +We walked along together for some time without a word, and then +Elzevir said, 'Cheer up, lad, cheer up. Thou saidst thyself thou +fearedst there was a curse on the thing, so now it is gone, maybe we +are well quit of it.' + +Yet I could not say anything, being too much disappointed to find the +diamond was a sham, and bitterly cast down at the loss of all our hopes. +It was all very well to think there was a curse upon the stone so long as +we had it, and to feign that we were ready to part with it; but now it +was gone I knew that at heart I never wished to part with it at all, and +would have risked any curse to have it back again. There was supper +waiting for us when we got back, but I had no stomach for victuals and +sat moodily while Elzevir ate, and he not much. But when I sat and +brooded over what had happened, a new thought came to my mind and I +jumped up and cried, 'Elzevir, we are fools! The stone is no sham; 'tis a +real diamond!' + +He put down his knife and fork, and looked at me, not saying anything, +but waiting for me to say more, and yet did not show so much surprise as +I expected. Then I reminded him how the old merchant's face was full of +wonder and delight when first he saw the stone, which showed he thought +it was real then, and how afterwards, though he schooled his voice to +bring out long words to deceive us, he was ready enough to spring to his +feet and shriek out loud when Elzevir threw the stone into the garden. I +spoke fast, and in talking to him convinced myself, so when I stopped for +want of breath I was quite sure that the stone was indeed a diamond, and +that Aldobrand had duped us. + +Still Elzevir showed little eagerness, and only said-- + +''Tis like enough that what you say is true, but what would you have us +do? The stone is flung away.' + +'Yes,' I answered; 'but I saw where it fell, and know the very place; let +us go back now at once and get it.' + +'Do you not think that Aldobrand saw the place too?' asked Elzevir; and +then I remembered how, when I turned back to the room after seeing the +stone fall, I caught the eyes of the old merchant looking the same way; +and how he spoke more quietly after that, and not with the bitter cry he +used when Elzevir tossed the jewel out of the window. + +'I do not know,' I said doubtfully; 'let us go back and see. It fell +just by the stem of a red flower that I marked well. What!' I added, +seeing him still hesitate and draw back, 'do you doubt? Shall we not go +and get it?' + +Still he did not answer for a minute, and then spoke slowly, as if +weighing his words. 'I cannot tell. I think that all you say is true, and +that this stone is real. Nay, I was half of that mind when I threw it +away, and yet I would not say we are not best without it. 'Twas you who +first spoke of a curse upon the jewel, and I laughed at that as being a +childish tale. But now I cannot tell; for ever since we first scented +this treasure luck has run against us, John; yes, run against us very +strong; and here we are, flying from home, called outlaws, and with blood +upon our hands. Not that blood frightens me, for I have stood face to +face with men in fair fight, and never felt a death-blow given so weigh +on my soul; but these two men came to a tricksy kind of end, and yet I +could not help it. 'Tis true that all my life I've served the +Contraband, but no man ever knew me do a foul action; and now I do not +like that men should call me felon, and like it less that they should +call thee felon too. Perhaps there may be after all some curse that hangs +about this stone, and leads to ruin those that handle it. I cannot say, +for I am not a Parson Glennie in these things; but Blackbeard in an evil +mood may have tied the treasure up to be a curse to any that use it for +themselves. What do we want with this thing at all? I have got money to +be touched at need; we may lie quiet this side the Channel, where thou +shalt learn an honest trade, and when the mischief has blown over we will +go back to Moonfleet. So let the jewel be, John; shall we not let the +jewel be?' + +He spoke earnestly, and most earnestly at the end, taking me by the hand +and looking me full in the face. But I could not look him back again, and +turned my eyes away, for I was wilful, and would not bring myself to let +the diamond go. Yet all the while I thought that what he said was true, +and I remembered that sermon that Mr. Glennie preached, saying that life +was like a 'Y', and that to each comes a time when two ways part, and +where he must choose whether he will take the broad and sloping road or +the steep and narrow path. So now I guessed that long ago I had chosen +the broad road, and now was but walking farther down it in seeking after +this evil treasure, and still I could not bear to give all up, and +persuaded myself that it was a child's folly to madly fling away so fine +a stone. So instead of listening to good advice from one so much older +than me, I set to work to talk him over, and persuaded him that if we got +the diamond again, and ever could sell it, we would give the money to +build up the Mohune almshouses, knowing well in my heart that I never +meant to do any such thing. Thus at the last Elzevir, who was the +stubbornest of men, and never yielded, was overborne by his great love to +me, and yielded here. + +It was ten o'clock before we set out together, to go again to +Aldobrand's, meaning to climb the garden wall and get the stone. I walked +quickly enough, and talked all the time to silence my own misgivings, but +Elzevir hung back a little and said nothing, for it was sorely against +his judgement that he came at all. But as we neared the place I ceased my +chatter, and so we went on in silence, each busy with his own thoughts, +We did not come in front of Aldobrand's house, but turned out of the main +street down a side lane which we guessed would skirt the garden wall. +There were few people moving even in the streets, and in this little lane +there was not a soul to meet as we crept along in the shadow of the high +walls. We were not mistaken, for soon we came to what we judged was the +outside of Aldobrand's garden. + +Here we paused for a minute, and I believe Elzevir was for making a last +remonstrance, but I gave him no chance, for I had found a place where +some bricks were loosened in the wall-face, and set myself to climb. It +was easy enough to scale for us, and in a minute we both dropped down in +a bed of soft mould on the other side. We pushed through some +gooseberry-bushes that caught the clothes, and distinguishing the outline +of the house, made that way, till in a few steps we stood on the +_Pelouse_ or turf, which I had seen from the balcony three hours before. +I knew the twirl of the walks, and the pattern of the beds; the rank of +hollyhocks that stood up all along the wall, and the poppies breathing +out a faint sickly odour in the night. An utter silence held all the +garden, and, the night being very clear, there was still enough light to +show the colours of the flowers when one looked close at them, though the +green of the leaves was turned to grey. We kept in the shadow of the +wall, and looked expectantly at the house. But no murmur came from it, it +might have been a house of the dead for any noise the living made there; +nor was there light in any window, except in one behind the balcony, to +which our eyes were turned first. In that room there was someone not yet +gone to rest, for we could see a lattice of light where a lamp shone +through the open work of the wooden blinds. + +'He is up still,' I whispered, 'and the outside shutters are not closed.' +Elzevir nodded, and then I made straight for the bed where the red flower +grew. I had no need of any light to see the bells of that great rushy +thing, for it was different from any of the rest, and besides that was +planted by itself. + +I pointed it out to Elzevir. 'The stone lies by the stalk of that +flower,' I said, 'on the side nearest to the house'; and then I stayed +him with my hand upon his arm, that he should stand where he was at the +bed's edge, while I stepped on and got the stone. + +My feet sank in the soft earth as I passed through the fringe of poppies +circling the outside of the bed, and so I stood beside the tall rushy +flower. The scarlet of its bells was almost black, but there was no +mistaking it, and I stooped to pick the diamond up. Was it possible? was +there nothing for my outstretched hand to finger, except the soft rich +loam, and on the darkness of the ground no guiding sparkle? I knelt down +to make more sure, and looked all round the plant, and still found +nothing, though it was light enough to see a pebble, much more to catch +the gleam and flash of the great diamond I knew so well. + +It was not there, and yet I knew that I had seen it fall beyond all room +for doubt. 'It is gone, Elzevir; it is gone!' I cried out in my +anguish, but only heard a 'Hush!' from him to bid me not to speak so +loud. Then I fell on my knees again, and sifted the mould through my +fingers, to make sure the stone had not sunk in and been overlooked. + +But it was all to no purpose, and at last I stepped back to where Elzevir +was, and begged him to light a piece of match in the shelter of the +hollyhocks; and I would screen it with my hands, so that the light should +fall upon the ground, and not be seen from the house, and so search round +the flower. He did as I asked, not because he thought that I should find +anything, but rather to humour me; and, as he put the lighted match into +my hands, said, speaking low, 'Let the stone be, lad, let it be; for +either thou didst fail to mark the place right, or others have been here +before thee. 'Tis ruled we should not touch the stone again, and so 'tis +best; let be, let be; let us get home.' + +He put his hand upon my shoulder gently, and spoke with such an +earnestness and pleading in his voice that one would have thought it was +a woman rather than a great rough giant; and yet I would not hear, and +broke away, sheltering the match in my hollowed hands, and making back to +the red flower. But this time, just as I stepped upon the mould, coming +to the bed from the house side, the light fell on the ground, and there I +saw something that brought me up short. + +It was but a dint or impress on the soft brown loam, and yet, before my +eyes were well upon it, I knew it for the print of a sharp heel--a sharp +deep heel, having just in front of it the outline of a little foot. There +is a story every boy was given to read when I was young, of Crusoe +wrecked upon a desert isle, who, walking one day on the shore, was +staggered by a single footprint in the sand, because he learnt thus that +there were savages in that sad place, where he thought he stood alone. +Yet I believe even that footprint in the sand was never greater blow to +him than was this impress in the garden mould to me, for I remembered +well the little shoes of polished leather, with their silver buckles and +high-tilted heels. + +He _had_ been here before us. I found another footprint, and another +leading towards the middle of the bed; and then I flung the match away, +trampling the fire out in the soil. It was no use searching farther now, +for I knew well there was no diamond here for us. + +I stepped back to the lawn, and caught Elzevir by the arm. 'Aldobrand has +been here before us, and stole away the jewel,' I whispered sharp; and +looking wildly round in the still night, saw the lattice of lamplight +shining through the wooden blinds of the balcony window. + +'Well, there's an end of it!' said he, 'and we are saved further +question. 'Tis gone, so let us cry good riddance to it and be off.' So he +turned to go back, and there was one more chance for me to choose the +better way and go with him; but still I could not give the jewel up, and +must go farther on the other path which led to ruin for us both. For I +had my eyes fixed on the light coming through the blinds of that window, +and saw how thick and strong the boughs of the pear-tree were trained +against the wall about the balcony. + +'Elzevir,' I said, swallowing the bitter disappointment which rose in my +throat, 'I cannot go till I have seen what is doing in that room above. I +will climb to the balcony and look in through the chinks. Perhaps he is +not there, perhaps he has left our diamond there and we may get it back +again.' So I went straight to the house, not giving him time to raise a +word to stop me, for there was something in me driving me on, and I was +not to be stopped by anyone from that purpose. + +There was no need to fear any seeing us, for all the windows except that +one, were tight shuttered, and though our footsteps on the soft lawn woke +no sound, I knew that Elzevir was following me. It was no easy task to +climb the pear-tree, for all that the boughs looked so strong, for they +lay close against the wall, and gave little hold for hand or foot. Twice, +or more, an unripe pear was broken off, and fell rustling down through +the leaves to earth, and I paused and waited to hear if anyone was +disturbed in the room above; but all was deathly still, and at last I got +my hand upon the parapet, and so came safe to the balcony. + +I was panting from the hard climb, yet did not wait to get my breath, but +made straight for the window to see what was going on inside. The outer +shutters were still flung back, as they had been in the afternoon, and +there was no difficulty in looking in, for I found an opening in the +lattice-blind just level with my eyes, and could see all the room inside. +It was well lit, as for a marriage feast, and I think there were a score +of candles or more burning in holders on the table, or in sconces on the +wall. At the table, on the farther side of it from me, and facing the +window, sat Aldobrand, just as he sat when he told us the stone was a +sham. His face was turned towards the window, and as I looked full at him +it seemed impossible but that he should know that I was there. + +In front of him, on the table, lay the diamond--our diamond, my diamond; +for I knew it was a diamond now, and not false. It was not alone, but had +a dozen more cut gems laid beside it on the table, each a little apart +from the other; yet there was no mistaking mine, which was thrice as big +as any of the rest. And if it surpassed them in size, how much more did +it excel in fierceness and sparkle! All the candles in the room were +mirrored in it, and as the splendour flashed from every line and facet +that I knew so well, it seemed to call to me, 'Am I not queen of all +diamonds of the world? am I not your diamond? will you not take me to +yourself again? will you save me from this sorry trickster?' + +I had my eyes fixed, but still knew that Elzevir was beside me. He would +not let me risk myself in any hazard alone without he stood by me himself +to help in case of need; and yet his faithfulness but galled me now, and +I asked myself with a sneer, Am I never to stir hand or foot without this +man to dog me? The merchant sat still for a minute as though thinking, +and then he took one of the diamonds that lay on the table, and then +another, and set them close beside the great stone, pitting them, as it +were, with it. Yet how could any match with that?--for it outshone them +all as the sun outshines the stars in heaven. + +Then the old man took the stone and weighed it in the scales which stood +on the table before him, balancing it carefully, and a dozen times, +against some little weights of brass; and then he wrote with pen and ink +in a sheepskin book, and afterwards on a sheet of paper as though casting +up numbers. What would I not have given to see the figures that he wrote? +for was he not casting up the value of the jewel, and summing out the +profits he would make? After that he took the stone between finger and +thumb, holding it up before his eyes, and placing it now this way, now +that, so that the light might best fall on it. I could have cursed him +for the wondering love of that fair jewel that overspread his face; and +cursed him ten times more for the smile upon his lips, because I guessed +he laughed to think how he had duped two simple sailors that very +afternoon. + +There was the diamond in his hands--our diamond, my diamond--in his +hands, and I but two yards from my own; only a flimsy veil of wood and +glass to keep me from the treasure he had basely stolen from us. Then I +felt Elzevir's hand upon my shoulder. 'Let us be going,' he said; 'a +minute more and he may come to put these shutters to, and find us here. +Let us be going. Diamonds are not for simple folk like us; this is an +evil stone, and brings a curse with it. Let us be going, John.' + +But I shook off the kind hand roughly, forgetting how he had saved my +life, and nursed me for many weary weeks and stood by me through bad +and worse; for just now the man at the table rose and took out a little +iron box from a cupboard at the back of the room. I knew that he was +going to lock my treasure into it, and that I should see it no more. +But the great jewel lying lonely on the table flashed and sparkled in +the light of twenty candles, and called to me, 'Am I not queen of all +diamonds of the world? am I not your diamond? save me from the hands of +this scurvy robber.' + +Then I hurled myself forward with all my weight full on the joining of +the window frames, and in a second crashed through the glass, and through +the wooden blind into the room behind. + +The noise of splintered wood and glass had not died away before there was +a sound as of bells ringing all over the house, and the wires I had seen +in the afternoon dangled loose in front of my face. But I cared neither +for bells nor wires, for there lay the great jewel flashing before me. +The merchant had turned sharp round at the crash, and darted for the +diamond, crying 'Thieves! thieves! thieves!' He was nearer to it than I, +and as I dashed forward our hands met across the table, with his +underneath upon the stone. But I gripped him by the wrist, and though he +struggled, he was but a weak old man, and in a few seconds I had it +twisted from his grasp. In a few seconds--but before they were past the +diamond was well in my hand--the door burst open, and in rushed six +sturdy serving-men with staves and bludgeons. + +Elzevir had given a little groan when he saw me force the window, but +followed me into the room and was now at my side. 'Thieves! thieves! +thieves!' screamed the merchant, falling back exhausted in his chair and +pointing to us, and then the knaves fell on too quick for us to make for +the window. Two set on me and four on Elzevir; and one man, even a giant, +cannot fight with four--above all when they carry staves. + +Never had I seen Master Block overborne or worsted by any odds; and +Fortune was kind to me, at least in this, that she let me not see the +issue then, for a staff caught me so round a knock on the head as made +the diamond drop out of my hand, and laid me swooning on the floor. + + + + +CHAPTER 17 + +AT YMEGUEN + +As if a thief should steal a tainted vest, +Some dead man's spoil, and sicken of his pest--_Hood_ + + +'Tis bitterer to me than wormwood the memory of what followed, and I +shall tell the story in the fewest words I may. We were cast into prison, +and lay there for months in a stone cell with little light, and only foul +straw to lie on. At first we were cut and bruised from that tussle and +cudgelling in Aldobrand's house, and it was long before we were recovered +of our wounds, for we had nothing but bread and water to live on, and +that so bad as barely to hold body and soul together. Afterwards the +heavy fetters that were put about our ankles set up sores and galled us +so that we scarce could move for pain. And if the iron galled my flesh, +my spirit chafed ten times more within those damp and dismal walls; yet +all that time Elzevir never breathed a word of reproach, though it was my +wilfulness had led us into so terrible a strait. + +At last came our jailer, one morning, and said that we must be brought up +that day before the _Geregt_, which is their Court of Assize, to be tried +for our crime. So we were marched off to the court-house, in spite of +sores and heavy irons, and were glad enough to see the daylight once +more, and drink the open air, even though it should be to our death that +we were walking; for the jailer said they were like to hang us for what +we had done. In the court-house our business was soon over, because there +were many to speak against us, but none to plead our cause; and all being +done in the Dutch language I understood nothing of it, except what +Elzevir told me afterwards. + +There was Mr. Aldobrand in his black gown and buckled shoes with +tip-tilted heels, standing at a table and giving evidence: How that one +afternoon in August came two evil-looking English sailors to his house +under pretence of selling a diamond, which turned out to be but a lump of +glass: and that having taken observation of all his dwelling, and more +particularly the approaches to his business-room, they went their ways. +But later in the same day, or rather night, as he sat matching together +certain diamonds for a coronet ordered by the most illustrious the Holy +Roman Emperor, these same ill-favoured English sailors burst suddenly +through shutters and window, and made forcible entry into his +business-room. There they furiously attacked him, wrenched the diamond +from his hand, and beat him within an ace of his life. But by the good +Providence of God, and his own foresight, the window was fitted with a +certain alarm, which rang bells in other parts of the house. Thus his +trusty servants were summoned, and after being themselves attacked and +nearly overborne, succeeded at last in mastering these scurvy ruffians +and handing them over to the law, from which Mr. Aldobrand claimed +sovereign justice. + +Thus much Elzevir explained to me afterwards, but at that time when +that pretender spoke of the diamond as being his own, Elzevir cut in +and said in open court that 'twas a lie, and that this precious stone +was none other than the one that we had offered in the afternoon, when +Aldobrand had said 'twas glass. Then the diamond merchant laughed, and +took from his purse our great diamond, which seemed to fill the place +with light and dazzled half the court. He turned it over in his hand, +poising it in his palm like a great flourishing lamp of light, and +asked if 'twas likely that two common sailor-men should hawk a stone +like that. Nay more, that the court might know what daring rogues they +had to deal with, he pulled out from his pocket the quittance given him +by Shalamof the Jew of Petersburg, for this same jewel, and showed it +to the judge. Whether 'twas a forged quittance or one for some other +stone we knew not, but Elzevir spoke again, saying that the stone was +ours and we had found it in England. When Mr. Aldobrand laughed again, +and held the jewel up once more: were such pebbles, he asked, found on +the shore by every squalid fisherman? And the great diamond flashed as +he put it back into his purse, and cried to me, 'Am I not queen of all +the diamonds of the world? Must I house with this base rascal?' but I +was powerless now to help. + +After Aldobrand, the serving-men gave witness, telling how they had +trapped us in the act, red-handed: and as for this jewel, they had seen +their master handle it any time in these six months past. + +But Elzevir was galled to the quick with all their falsehoods, and burst +out again, that they were liars and the jewel ours; till a jailer who +stood by struck him on the mouth and cut his lip, to silence him. + +The process was soon finished, and the judge in his red robes stood up +and sentenced us to the galleys for life; bidding us admire the mercy +of the law to Outlanders, for had we been but Dutchmen, we should sure +have hanged. + +Then they took and marched us out of court, as well as we could walk for +fetters, and Elzevir with a bleeding mouth. But as we passed the place +where Aldobrand sat, he bows to me and says in English, 'Your servant, +Mr. Trenchard. I wish you a good day, Sir John Trenchard--of Moonfleet, +in Dorset.' The jailer paused a moment, hearing Aldobrand speak to us +though not understanding what he said, so I had time to answer him: + +'Good day, Sir Aldobrand, Liar, and Thief; and may the diamond bring you +evil in this present life, and damnation in that which is to come.' + +So we parted from him, and at that same time departed from our liberty +and from all joys of life. + +We were fettered together with other prisoners in droves of six, our +wrists manacled to a long bar, but I was put into a different gang from +Elzevir. Thus we marched a ten days' journey into the country to a place +called Ymeguen, where a royal fortress was building. That was a weary +march for me, for 'twas January, with wet and miry roads, and I had +little enough clothes upon my back to keep off rain and cold. On either +side rode guards on horseback, with loaded flint-locks across the +saddlebow, and long whips in their hands with which they let fly at any +laggard; though 'twas hard enough for men to walk where the mud was over +the horses' fetlocks. I had no chance to speak to Elzevir all the +journey, and indeed spoke nothing at all, for those to whom I was chained +were brute beasts rather than men, and spoke only in Dutch to boot. + +There was but little of the building of the fortress begun when we +reached Ymeguen, and the task that we were set to was the digging of the +trenches and other earthworks. I believe that there were five hundred men +employed in this way, and all of them condemned like us to galley-work +for life. We were divided into squads of twenty-five, but Elzevir was +drafted to another squad and a different part of the workings, so I saw +him no more except at odd times, now and again, when our gangs met, and +we could exchange a word or two in passing. + +Thus I had no solace of any company but my own, and was driven to +thinking, and to occupy my mind with the recollection of the past. And at +first the life of my boyhood, now lost for ever, was constantly present +even in my dreams, and I would wake up thinking that I was at school +again under Mr. Glennie, or talking in the summer-house with Grace, or +climbing Weatherbeech Hill with the salt Channel breeze singing through +the trees. But alas! these things faded when I opened my eyes, and knew +the foul-smelling wood-hut and floor of fetid straw where fifty of us lay +in fetters every night; I say I dreamt these things at first, but by +degrees remembrance grew blunted and the images less clear, and even +these sweet, sad visions of the night came to me less often. Thus life +became a weary round, in which month followed month, season followed +season, year followed year, and brought always the same eternal +profitless-work. And yet the work was merciful, for it dulled the biting +edge of thought, and the unchanging evenness of life gave wings to time. + +In all the years the locusts ate for me at Ymeguen, there is but one +thing I need speak of here. I had been there a week when I was loosed one +morning from my irons, and taken from work into a little hut apart, where +there stood a half-dozen of the guard, and in the midst a stout wooden +chair with clamps and bands. A fire burned on the floor, and there was a +fume and smoke that filled the air with a smell of burned meat. My heart +misgave me when I saw that chair and fire, and smelt that sickly smell, +for I guessed this was a torture room, and these the torturers waiting. +They forced me into the chair and bound me there with lashings and a +cramp about the head; and then one took a red-iron from the fire upon the +floor, and tried it a little way from his hand to prove the heat. I had +screwed up my heart to bear the pain as best I might, but when I saw that +iron sighed for sheer relief, because I knew it for only a branding tool, +and not the torture. And so they branded me on the left cheek, setting +the iron between the nose and cheek-bone, where 'twas plainest to be +seen. I took the pain and scorching light enough, seeing that I had +looked for much worse, and should not have made mention of the thing here +at all, were it not for the branding mark they used. Now this mark was a +'Y', being the first letter of Ymeguen, and set on all the prisoners that +worked there, as I found afterwards; but to me 'twas much more than a +mere letter, and nothing less than the black 'Y' itself, or _cross-pall_ +of the Mohunes. Thus as a sheep is marked, with his owner's keel and can +be claimed wherever he may be, so here was I branded with the keel of +the Mohunes and marked for theirs in life or death, whithersoever I +should wander. 'Twas three months after that, and the mark healed and +well set, that I saw Elzevir again; and as we passed each other in the +trench and called a greeting, I saw that he too bore the _cross-pall_ +full on his left cheek. + +Thus years went on and I was grown from boy to man, and that no weak one +either: for though they gave us but scant food and bad, the air was fresh +and strong, because Ymeguen was meant for palace as well as fortress, and +they chose a healthful site. And by degrees the moats were dug, and +ramparts built, and stone by stone the castle rose till 'twas near the +finish, and so our labour was not wanted. Every day squads of our +fellow-prisoners marched away, and my gang was left till nearly last, +being engaged in making good a culvert that heavy rains had broken down. + +It was in the tenth year of our captivity, and in the twenty-sixth of my +age, that one morning instead of the guard marching us to work, they +handed us over to a party of mounted soldiers, from whose matchlocks and +long whips I knew that we were going to leave Ymeguen. Before we left, +another gang joined us, and how my heart went out when I saw Elzevir +among them! It was two years or more since we had met even to pass a +greeting, for I worked outside the fortress and he on the great tower +inside, and I took note his hair was whiter and a sadder look upon his +face. And as for the _cross-pall_ on his cheek, I never thought of it at +all, for we were all so well used to the mark, that if one bore it not +stamped upon his face we should have stared at him as on a man born with +but one eye. But though his look was sad, yet Elzevir had a kind smile +and hearty greeting for me as he passed, and on the march, when they +served out our food, we got a chance to speak a word or two together. +Yet how could we find room for much gladness, for even the pleasure of +meeting was marred because we were forced thus to take note, as it were, +of each other's misery, and to know that the one had nothing for his old +age but to break in prison, and the other nothing but the prison to eat +away the strength of his prime. + +Before long, all knew whither we were bound, for it leaked out we were +to march to the Hague and thence to Scheveningen, to take ship to the +settlements of Java, where they use transported felons on the sugar +farms. Was this the end of young hopes and lofty aims--to live and die a +slave in the Dutch plantations? Hopes of Grace, hopes of seeing +Moonfleet again, were dead long long ago; and now was there to be no +hope of liberty, or even wholesome air, this side the grave, but only +burning sun and steaming swamps, and the crack of the slave-driver's +whip till the end came? Could it be so? Could it be so? And yet what +help was there, or what release? Had I not watched ten years for any +gleam or loophole of relief, and never found it? If we were shut in +cells or dungeons in the deepest rock we might have schemed escape, but +here in the open, fettered up in-droves, what could we do? They were +bitter thoughts enough that filled my heart as I trudged along the rough +roads, fettered by my wrist to the long bar; and seeing Elzevir's white +hair and bowed shoulders trudging in front of me, remembered when that +head had scarce a grizzle on it, and the back was straight as the +massive stubborn pillars in old Moonfleet church. What was it had +brought us to this pitch? And then I called to mind a July evening, +years ago, the twilight summer-house and a sweet grave voice that said, +'Have a care how you touch the treasure: it was evilly come by and will +bring a curse with it.' Ay, 'twas the diamond had done it all, and +brought a blight upon my life, since that first night I spent in +Moonfleet vault; and I cursed the stone, and Blackbeard and his lost +Mohunes, and trudged on bearing their cognizance branded on my face. + +We marched back to the Hague, and through that very street where +Aldobrand dwelt, only the house was shut, and the board that bore his +name taken away; so it seemed that he had left the place or else was +dead. Thus we reached the quays at last, and though I knew that I was +leaving Europe and leaving all hope behind, yet 'twas a delight to smell +the sea again, and fill my nostrils with the keen salt air. + + + + +CHAPTER 18 + +IN THE BAY + +Let broad leagues dissever + Him from yonder foam, +O God! to think man ever + Comes too near his home--_Hood_ + + +The ship that was to carry us swung at the buoy a quarter of a mile +offshore, and there were row-boats waiting to take us to her. She was a +brig of some 120 tons burthen, and as we came under the stern I saw her +name was the _Aurungzebe_. + +'Twas with regret unspeakable I took my last look at Europe; and casting +my eyes round saw the smoke of the town dark against the darkening sky; +yet knew that neither smoke nor sky was half as black as was the prospect +of my life. + +They sent us down to the orlop or lowest deck, a foul place where was no +air nor light, and shut the hatches down on top of us. There were thirty +of us all told, hustled and driven like pigs into this deck, which was to +be our pigsty for six months or more. Here was just light enough, when +they had the hatches off, to show us what sort of place it was, namely, +as foul as it smelt, with never table, seat, nor anything, but roughest +planks and balks; and there they changed our bonds, taking away the bar, +and putting a tight bracelet round one wrist, with a padlocked chain +running through a loop on it. Thus we were still ironed, six together, +but had a greater freedom and more scope to move. And more than this, the +man who shifted the chains, whether through caprice, or perhaps because +he really wished to show us what pity he might, padlocked me on to the +same chain with Elzevir, saying, we were English swine and might sink or +swim together. Then the hatches were put on, and there they left us in +the dark to think or sleep or curse the time away. The weariness of +Ymeguen was bad indeed, and yet it was a heaven to this night of hell, +where all we had to look for was twice a day the moving of the hatches, +and half an hour's glimmer of a ship's lantern, while they served us out +the broken victuals that the Dutch crew would not eat. + +I shall say nothing of the foulness of this place, because 'twas too +foul to be written on paper; and if 'twas foul at starting, 'twas ten +times worse when we reached open sea, for of all the prisoners only +Elzevir and I were sailors, and the rest took the motion unkindly. + +From the first we made bad weather of it, for though we were below and +could see nothing, yet 'twas easy enough to tell there was a heavy +head-sea running, almost as soon as we were well out of harbour. +Although Elzevir and I had not had any chance of talking freely for so +long, and were now able to speak as we liked, being linked so close +together, we said but little. And this, not because we did not value +very greatly one another's company, but because we had nothing to talk +of except memories of the past, and those were too bitter, and came too +readily to our minds, to need any to summon them. There was, too, the +banishment from Europe, from all and everything we loved, and the awful +certainty of slavery that lay continuously on us like a weight of lead. +Thus we said little. + +We had been out a week, I think--for time is difficult enough to measure +where there is neither clock nor sun nor stars--when the weather, which +had moderated a little, began to grow much worse. The ship plunged and +laboured heavily, and this added much to our discomfort; because there +was nothing to hold on by, and unless we lay flat on the filthy deck, we +ran a risk of being flung to the side whenever there came a more violent +lurch or roll. Though we were so deep down, yet the roaring of wind and +wave was loud enough to reach us, and there was such a noise when the +ship went about, such grinding of ropes, with creaking and groaning of +timbers, as would make a landsman fear the brig was going to pieces. And +this some of our fellow-prisoners feared indeed, and fell to crying, or +kneeling chained together as they were upon the sloping deck, while they +tried to remember long-forgotten prayers. For my own part, I wondered why +these poor wretches should pray to be delivered from the sea, when all +that was before them was lifelong slavery; but I was perhaps able to look +more calmly on the matter myself as having been at sea, and not thinking +that the vessel was going to founder because of the noise. Yet the storm +rose till 'twas very plain that we were in a raging sea, and the streams +which began to trickle through the joinings of the hatch showed that +water had got below. + +'I have known better ships go under for less than this,' Elzevir said to +me; 'and if our skipper hath not a tight craft, and stout hands to work +her, there will soon be two score slaves the less to cut the canes in +Java. I cannot guess where we are now--may be off Ushant, may be not so +far, for this sea is too short for the Bay; but the saints send us +sea-room, for we have been wearing these three hours.' + +'Twas true enough that we had gone to wearing, as one might tell from the +heavier roll or wallowing when we went round, instead of the plunging of +a tack; but there was no chance of getting at our whereabouts. The only +thing we had to reckon time withal, was the taking off of the hatch twice +a day for food; and even this poor clock kept not the hour too well, for +often there were such gaps and intervals as made our bellies pine, and at +this present we had waited so long that I craved even that filthy broken +meat they fed us with. + +So we were glad enough to hear a noise at the hatch just as Elzevir had +done speaking, and the cover was flung off, letting in a splash of salt +water and a little dim and dusky light. But instead of the guard with +their muskets and lanterns and the tubs of broken victuals, there was +only one man, and that the jailer who had padlocked us into gangs at the +beginning of the voyage. + +He bent down for a moment over the hatch, holding on to the combing to +steady himself in the sea-way, and flung a key on a chain down into the +orlop, right among us. 'Take it,' he shouted in Dutch, 'and make the most +of it. God helps the brave, and the devil takes the hindmost.' + +That said, he stayed not one moment, but turned about quick and was gone. +For an instant none knew what this play portended, and there was the key +lying on the deck, and the hatch left open. Then Elzevir saw what it all +meant, and seized the key. 'John,' cries he, speaking to me in English, +'the ship is foundering, and they are giving us a chance to save our +lives, and not drown like rats in a trap.' With that he tried the key on +the padlock which held our chain, and it fitted so well that in a trice +our gang was free. Off fell the chain clanking on the floor, and nothing +left of our bonds but an iron bracelet clamped round the left wrist. You +may be sure the others were quick enough to make use of the key when they +knew what 'twas, but we waited not to see more, but made for the ladder. + +Now Elzevir and I, being used to the sea, were first through the hatchway +above, and oh, the strength and sweet coolness of the sea air, instead of +the warm, fetid reek of the orlop below! There was a good deal of water +sousing about on the main deck, but nothing to show the ship was sinking, +yet none of the crew was to be seen. We stayed there not a second, but +moved to the companion as fast as we could for the heavy pitching of the +ship, and so came on deck. + +The dusk of a winter's evening was setting in, yet with ample light to +see near at hand, and the first thing I perceived was that the deck was +empty. There was not a living soul but us upon it. The brig was broached +to, with her bows against the heaviest sea I ever saw, and the waves +swept her fore and aft; so we made for the tail of the deck-house, and +there took stock. But before we got there I knew why 'twas the crew were +gone, and why they let us loose, for Elzevir pointed to something whither +we were drifting, and shouted in my ear so that I heard it above all the +raging of the tempest--'We are on a lee shore.' + +We were lying head to sea, and never a bit of canvas left except one +storm-staysail. There were tattered ribands fluttering on the yards to +show where the sails had been blown away, and every now and then the +staysail would flap like a gun going off, to show it wanted to follow +them. But for all we lay head to sea, we were moving backwards, and each +great wave as it passed carried us on stern first with a leap and +swirling lift. 'Twas over the stern that Elzevir pointed, in the course +that we were going, and there was such a mist, what with the wind and +rain and spindrift, that one could see but a little way. And yet I saw +too far, for in the mist to which we were making a sternboard, I saw a +white line like a fringe or valance to the sea; and then I looked to +starboard, and there was the same white fringe, and then to larboard, and +the white fringe was there too. Only those who know the sea know how +terrible were Elzevir's words uttered in such a place. A moment before I +was exalted with the keen salt wind, and with a hope and freedom that +had been strangers for long; but now 'twas all dashed, and death, that is +so far off to the young, had moved nearer by fifty years--was moving a +year nearer every minute. + +'We are on a lee shore,' Elzevir shouted; and I looked and knew what the +white fringe was, and that we should be in the breakers in half an hour. +What a whirl of wind and wave and sea, what a whirl of thought and wild +conjecture! What was that land to which we were drifting? Was it cliff, +with deep water and iron face, where a good ship is shattered at a blow, +and death comes like a thunder-clap? Or was it shelving sand, where there +is stranding, and the pound, pound, pound of the waves for howls, before +she goes to pieces and all is over? + +We were in a bay, for there was the long white crescent of surf reaching +far away on either side, till it was lost in the dusk, and the brig +helpless in the midst of it. Elzevir had hold of my arm, and gripped it +hard as he looked to larboard. I followed his eyes, and where one horn of +the white crescent faded into the mist, caught a dark shadow in the air, +and knew it was high land looming behind. And then the murk and driving +rain lifted ever so little, and as it were only for that purpose; and we +saw a misty bluff slope down into the sea, like the long head of a +basking alligator poised upon the water, and stared into each other's +eyes, and cried together, 'The Snout!' + +It had vanished almost before it was seen, and yet we knew there was no +mistake; it was the Snout that was there looming behind the moving rack, +and we were in Moonfleet Bay. Oh, what a rush of thought then came, +dazing me with its sweet bitterness, to think that after all these weary +years of prison and exile we had come back to Moonfleet! We were so near +to all we loved, so near--only a mile of broken water--and yet so far, +for death lay between, and we had come back to Moonfleet to die. There +was a change came over Elzevir's features when he saw the Snout; his face +had lost its sadness and wore a look of sober happiness. He put his mouth +close to my ear and said: 'There is some strange leading hand has brought +us home at last, and I had rather drown on Moonfleet Beach than live in +prison any more, and drown we must within an hour. Yet we will play the +man, and make a fight for life.' And then, as if gathering together all +his force: 'We have weathered bad times together, and who knows but we +shall weather this?' + +The other prisoners were on deck now, and had found their way aft. They +were wild with fear, being landsmen and never having seen an angry sea, +and indeed that sea might have frighted sailors too. So they stumbled +along drenched with the waves, and clustered round Elzevir, for they +looked on him as a leader, because he knew the ways of the sea and was +the only one left calm in this dreadful strait. + +It was plain that when the Dutch crew found they were embayed, and that +the ship must drift into the breakers, they had taken to the boats, for +gig and jolly-boat were gone and only the pinnace left amidships. 'Twas +too heavy a boat perhaps for them to have got out in such a fearful sea; +but there it lay, and it was to that the prisoners turned their eyes. +Some had hold of Elzevir's arms, some fell upon the deck and caught him +by the knees, beseeching him to show them how to get the pinnace out. + +Then he spoke out, shouting to make them hear: 'Friends, any man that +takes to boat is lost. I know this bay and know this beach, and was +indeed born hereabouts, but never knew a boat come to land in such a sea, +save bottom uppermost. So if you want my counsel, there you have it, +namely, to stick by the ship. In half an hour we shall be in the +breakers; and I will put the helm up and try to head the brig bows on to +the beach; so every man will have a chance to fight for his own life, and +God have mercy on those that drown.' + +I knew what he said was the truth, and there was nothing for it but to +stick to the ship, though that was small chance enough; but those poor, +fear-demented souls would have nothing of his advice now 'twas given, +and must needs go for the boat. Then some came up from below who had been +in the spirit-room and were full of drink and drink-courage, and +heartened on the rest, saying they would have the pinnace out, and every +soul should be saved. Indeed, Fate seemed to point them that road, for a +heavier sea than any came on board, and cleared away a great piece of +larboard bulwarks that had been working loose, and made, as it were, a +clear launching-way for the boat. Again did Elzevir try to prevail with +them to stand by the ship, but they turned away and all made for the +pinnace. It lay amidships and was a heavy boat enough, but with so many +hands to help they got it to the broken bulwarks. Then Elzevir, seeing +they would have it out at any price, showed them how to take advantage of +the sea, and shifted the helm a little till the _Aurungzebe_ fell off to +larboard, and put the gap in the bulwarks on the lee. So in a few minutes +there it lay at a rope's-end on the sheltered side, deep laden with +thirty men, who were ill found with oars, and much worse found with skill +to use them. There were one or two, before they left, shouted to Elzevir +and me to try to make us follow them; partly, I think, because they +really liked Elzevir, and partly that they might have a sailor in the +boat to direct them; but the others cast off and left us with a curse, +saying that we might go and drown for obstinate Englishmen. + +So we two were left alone on the brig, which kept drifting backwards +slowly; but the pinnace was soon lost to sight, though we saw that they +were rowing wild as soon as she passed out of the shelter of the ship, +and that they had much ado to keep her head to the sea. + +Then Elzevir went to the kicking-wheel, and beckoned me to help him, and +between us we put the helm hard up. I saw then that he had given up all +hope of the wind shifting, and was trying to run her dead for the beach. + +She was broached-to with her bows in the wind, but gradually paid off as +the staysail filled, and so she headed straight for shore. The November +night had fallen, and it was very dark, only the white fringe of the +breakers could be seen, and grew plainer as we drew closer to it. The +wind was blowing fiercer than ever, and the waves broke more fiercely +nearer the shore. They had lost their dirty yellow colour when the light +died, and were rolling after us like great black mountains, with a +combing white top that seemed as if they must overwhelm us every minute. +Twice they pooped us, and we were up to our waists in icy water, but +still held to the wheel for our lives. + +The white line was nearer to us now, and above all the rage of wind and +sea I could hear the awful roar of the under-tow sucking back the +pebbles on the beach. The last time I could remember hearing that roar +was when I lay, as a boy, one summer's night 'twixt sleep and waking, in +the little whitewashed bedroom at my aunt's; and I wondered now if any +sat before their inland hearths this night, and hearing that far distant +roar, would throw another log on the fire, and thank God they were not +fighting for their lives in Moonfleet Bay. I could picture all that was +going on this night on the beach--how Ratsey and the landers would have +sighted the _Aurungzebe,_ perhaps at noon, perhaps before, and knew she +was embayed, and nothing could save her but the wind drawing to east. +But the wind would hold pinned in the south, and they would see sail +after sail blown off her, and watch her wear and wear, and every time +come nearer in; and the talk would run through the street that there was +a ship could not weather the Snout, and must come ashore by sundown. +Then half the village would be gathered on the beach, with the men ready +to risk their lives for ours, and in no wise wishing for the ship to be +wrecked; yet anxious not to lose their chance of booty, if Providence +should rule that wrecked she must be. And I knew Ratsey would be there, +and Damen, Tewkesbury, and Laver, and like enough Parson Glennie, and +perhaps--and at that perhaps, my thoughts came back to where we were, +for I heard Elzevir speaking to me: + +'Look,' he said, 'there's a light!' + +'Twas but the faintest twinkle, or not even that; only something that +told there was a light behind drift and darkness. It grew clearer as we +looked at it, and again was lost in the mirk, and then Elzevir said, +'Maskew's Match!' + +It was a long-forgotten name that came to me from so far off, down such +long alleys of the memory, that I had, as it were, to grope and grapple +with it to know what it should mean. Then it all came back, and I was a +boy again on the trawler, creeping shorewards in the light breeze of an +August night, and watching that friendly twinkle from the Manor woods +above the village. Had she not promised she would keep that lamp alight +to guide all sailors every night till I came back again; was she not +waiting still for me, was I not coming back to her now? But what a coming +back! No more a boy, not on an August night, but broken, branded convict +in the November gale! 'Twas well, indeed, there was between us that white +fringe of death, that she might never see what I had fallen to. + +'Twas likely Elzevir had something of the same thoughts, for he spoke +again, forgetting perhaps that I was man now, and no longer boy, and +using a name he had not used for years. 'Johnnie,' he said, 'I am cold +and sore downhearted. In ten minutes we shall be in the surf. Go down to +the spirit locker, drink thyself, and bring me up a bottle here. We +shall both need a young man's strength, and I have not got it any more.' + +I did as he bid me, and found the locker though the cabin was all awash, +and having drunk myself, took him the bottle back. 'Twas good Hollands +enough, being from the captain's own store, but nothing to the old Ararat +milk of the Why Not? Elzevir took a pull at it, and then flung the bottle +away. 'Tis sound liquor,' he laughed, '"and good for autumn chills", as +Ratsey would have said.' + +We were very near the white fringe now, and the waves followed us higher +and more curling. Then there was a sickly wan glow that spread itself +through the watery air in front of us, and I knew that they were burning +a blue light on the beach. They would all be there waiting for us, +though we could not see them, and they did not know that there were only +two men that they were signalling to, and those two Moonfleet born. They +burn that light in Moonfleet Bay just where a little streak of clay +crops out beneath the pebbles, and if a vessel can make that spot she +gets a softer bottom. So we put the wheel over a bit, and set her +straight for the flare. + +There was a deafening noise as we came near the shore, the shrieking of +the wind in the rigging, the crash of the combing seas, and over all the +awful grinding roar of the under-tow sucking down the pebbles. + +'It is coming now,' Elzevir said; and I could see dim figures moving in +the misty glare from the blue light; and then, just as the _Aurungzebe_ +was making fair for the signal, a monstrous combing sea pooped her and +washed us both from the wheel, forward in a swirling flood. We grasped at +anything we could, and so brought up bruised and half-drowned in the +fore-chains; but as the wheel ran free, another sea struck her and +slewed her round. There was a second while the water seemed over, under, +and on every side, and then the _Aurungzebe_ went broadside on Moonfleet +beach, with a noise like thunder and a blow that stunned us. + +I have seen ships come ashore in that same place before and since, and +bump on and off with every wave, till the stout balks could stand the +pounding no more and parted. But 'twas not so with our poor brig, for +after that first fearful shock she never moved again, being flung so firm +upon the beach by one great swamping wave that never another had power to +uproot her. Only she careened over beachwards, turning herself away from +the seas, as a child bows his head to escape a cruel master's ferule, and +then her masts broke off, first the fore and then the main, with a +splitting crash that made itself heard above all. + +We were on the lee side underneath the shelter of the deckhouse clinging +to the shrouds, now up to our knees in water as the wave came on, now +left high and dry when it went back. The blue light was still burning, +but the ship was beached a little to the right of it, and the dim group +of fishermen had moved up along the beach till they were opposite us. +Thus we were but a hundred feet distant from them, but 'twas the interval +of death and life, for between us and the shore was a maddened race of +seething water, white foaming waves that leapt up from all sides against +our broken bulwarks, or sucked back the pebbles with a grinding roar till +they left the beach nearly dry. + +We stood there for a minute hanging on, and waiting for resolution to +come back to us after the shock of grounding. On the weather side the +seas struck and curled over the brig with a noise like thunder, and the +force of countless tons. They came over the top of the deck-house in a +cataract of solid water, and there was a crash, crash, crash of rending +wood, as plank after plank gave way before that stern assault. We could +feel the deck-house itself quiver, and shake again as we stood with our +backs against it, and at last it moved so much that we knew it must soon +be washed over on us. + +The moment had come. 'We must go after the next big wave runs back,' +Elzevir shouted. 'Jump when I give the word, and get as far up the +pebbles as you can before the next comes in: they will throw us a +rope's-end to catch; so now good-bye, John, and God save us both!' + +I wrung his hand, and took off my convict clothes, keeping my boots on to +meet the pebbles, and was so cold that I almost longed for the surf. Then +we stood waiting side by side till a great wave came in, turning the +space 'twixt ship and shore into a boiling caldron: a minute later 'twas +all sucked back again with a roar, and we jumped. + +I fell on hands and feet where the water was a yard deep under the ship, +but got my footing and floundered through the slop, in a desperate +struggle to climb as high as might be on the beach before the next wave +came in. I saw the string of men lashed together and reaching down as +far as man might, to save any that came through the surf, and heard them +shout to cheer us, and marked a coil of rope flung out. Elzevir was by +my side and saw it too, and we both kept our feet and plunged forward +through the quivering slack water; but then there came an awful thunder +behind, the crash of the sea over the wreck, and we knew that another +mountain wave was on our heels. It came in with a swishing roar, a rush +and rise of furious water that swept us like corks up the beach, till we +were within touch of the rope's-end, and the men shouted again to +hearten us as they flung it out. Elzevir seized it with his left hand +and reached out his right to me. Our fingers touched, and in that very +moment the wave fell instantly, with an awful suck, and I was swept +down the beach again. Yet the under-tow took me not back to sea, for +amid the floating wreckage floated the shattered maintop, and in the +truck of that great spar I caught, and so was left with it upon the +beach thirty paces from the men and Elzevir. Then he left his own +assured salvation, namely the rope, and strode down again into the very +jaws of death to catch me by the hand and set me on my feet. Sight and +breath were failing me; I was numb with cold and half-dead from the +buffeting of the sea; yet his giant strength was powerful to save me +then, as it had saved me before. So when we heard once more the warning +crash and thunder of the returning wave we were but a fathom distant +from the rope. 'Take heart, lad,' he cried; ''tis now or never,' and as +the water reached our breasts gave me a fierce shove forward with his +hands. There was a roar of water in my ears, with a great shouting of +the men upon the beach, and then I caught the rope. + + + + +CHAPTER 19 + +ON THE BEACH + +Toll for the brave, + The grave that are no more; +All sunk beneath the wave + Fast by their native shore--_Cowper_ + + +The night was cold, and I had nothing on me save breeches and boots, and +those drenched with the sea, and had been wrestling with the surf so long +that there was little left in me. Yet once I clutched the rope I clung to +it for very life, and in a minute found myself in the midst of the +beachmen. I heard them shout again, and felt strong hands seize me, but +could not see their faces for a mist that swam before my eyes, and could +not speak because my throat and tongue were cracked with the salt water, +and the voice would not come. There was a crowd about me of men and some +women, and I spread out my hands, blindly, to catch hold of them, but my +knees failed and let me down upon the beach. And after that I remember +only having coats flung over me, and being carried off out of the wind, +and laid in warmest blankets before a fire. I was numb with the cold, my +hair was matted with the salt, and my flesh white and shrivelled, but +they forced liquor into my mouth, and so I lay in drowsy content till +utter weariness bound me in sleep. + +It was a deep and dreamless sleep for hours, and when it left me, gently +and as it were inch by inch, I found I was still lying wrapped in +blankets by the fire. Oh, what a vast and infinite peace was that, to lie +there half-asleep, yet wake enough to know that I had slipped my prison +and the pains of death, and was a free man here in my native place! At +last I shifted myself a little, growing more awake; and opening my eyes +saw I was not alone, for two men sat at a table by me with glasses and a +bottle before them. + +'He is coming-to,' said one, 'and may live yet to tell us who he is, and +from what port his craft sailed.' + +'There has been many a craft,' the other said, 'has sailed for many a +port, and made this beach her last; and many an honest man has landed on +it, and never one alive in such a sea. Nor would this one be living +either, if it had not been for that other brave heart to stand by and +save him. Brave heart, brave heart,' he said over to himself. 'Here, pass +me the bottle or I shall get the vapours. 'Tis good against these early +chills, and I have not been in this place for ten years past, since poor +Elzevir was cut adrift.' + +I could not see the speaker's face from where I lay upon the floor, yet +seemed to know his voice; and so was fumbling in my weakened mind to put +a name to it, when he spoke of Elzevir, and sent my thoughts flying +elsewhere. + +'Elzevir,' I said, 'where is Elzevir?' and sat up to look round, +expecting to see him lying near me, and remembering the wreck more +clearly now, and how he had saved me with that last shove forward on the +beach. But he was not to be seen, and so I guessed that his great +strength had brought him round quicker than had my youth, and that he was +gone back to the beach. + +'Hush,' said one of the men at the table, 'lie down and get to sleep +again'; and then he added, speaking to his comrade: 'His brain is +wandering yet: do you see how he has caught up my words about Elzevir?' + +'No,' I struck in, 'my head is clear enough; I am speaking of Elzevir +Block. I pray you tell me where he is. Is he well again?' They got up +and stared at one another and at me, when I named Elzevir Block, and then +I knew the one that spoke for Master Ratsey only greyer than he was. + +'Who are you?' he cried, 'who talk of Elzevir Block.' + +'Do you not know me, Master Ratsey?' and I looked full in his face. 'I am +John Trenchard, who left you so long ago. I pray you tell me where is +Master Block?' + +Master Ratsey looked as if he had seen a ghost, and was struck dumb at +first: but then ran up and shook me by the hand so warmly that I fell +back again on my pillow, while he poured out questions in a flood. How +had I fared, where had I been, whence had I come? until I stopped him, +saying: 'Softly, kind friend, and I will answer; only tell me first, +where is Master Elzevir?' + +'Nay, that I cannot say,' he answered, 'for never a soul has set eyes on +Elzevir since that summer morning we put thee and him ashore at Newport.' + +'Oh, fool me not!' I cried out, chafing at his excuses; 'I am not +wandering now. 'Twas Elzevir that saved me in the surf last night. 'Twas +he that landed with me.' + +There was a look of sad amaze that came on Ratsey's face when I said +that; a look that woke in me an awful surmise. 'What!' cried he, 'was +that Master Elzevir that dragged thee through the surf?' + +'Ay, 'twas he landed with me, 'twas he landed with me,' I said; trying, +as it were, to make true by repeating that which I feared was not the +truth. There was a minute's silence, and then Ratsey spoke very softly: +'There was none landed with you; there was no soul saved from that ship +alive save you.' + +His words fell, one by one, upon my ear as if they were drops of molten +lead. 'It is not true,' I cried; 'he pulled me up the beach himself, and +it was he that pushed me forward to the rope.' + +'Ay, he saved thee, and then the under-tow got hold of him and swept him +down under the curl. I could not see his face, but might have known there +never was a man, save Elzevir, could fight the surf on Moonfleet beach +like that. Yet had we known 'twas he, we could have done no more, for +many risked their lives last night to save you both. We could have done +no more.' Then I gave a great groan for utter anguish, to think that he +had given up the safety he had won for himself, and laid down his life, +there on the beach, for me; to think that he had died on the threshold of +his home; that I should never get a kind look from him again, nor ever +hear his kindly voice. + +It is wearisome to others to talk of deep grief, and beside that no +words, even of the wisest man, can ever set it forth, nor even if we were +able could our memory bear to tell it. So I shall not speak more of that +terrible blow, only to say that sorrow, so far from casting my body down, +as one might have expected, gave it strength, and I rose up from the +mattress where I had been lying. They tried to stop me, and even to hold +me back, but for all I was so weak, I pushed them aside and must needs +fling a blanket round me and away back to the beach. + +The morning was breaking as I left the Why Not?, for 'twas in no other +place but that I lay, and the wind, though still high, had abated. There +were light clouds crossing the heaven very swiftly, and between them +patches of clear sky where the stars were growing paler before the dawn. +The stars were growing paler; but there was another star, that shone out +from the Manor woods above the village, although I could not see the +house, and told me Grace, like the wise virgins, kept her lamp alight all +night. Yet even that light shone without lustre for me then, for my heart +was too full to think of anything but of him who had laid down his life +for mine, and of the strong kind heart that was stilled for ever. + +'Twas well I knew the way, so sure of old, from Why Not? to beach; for I +took no heed to path or feet, but plunged along in the morning dusk, +blind with sorrow and weariness of spirit. There was a fire of driftwood +burning at the back of the beach, and round it crouched a group of men +in reefing jackets and sou'westers waiting for morning to save what they +might from the wreck; but I gave them a wide berth and so passed in the +darkness without a word, and came to the top of the beach. There was +light enough to make out what was doing. The sea was running very high, +but with the falling wind the waves came in more leisurely and with less +of broken water, curling over in a tawny sweep and regular thunderous +beat all along the bay for miles. There was no sign left of the hull of +the _Aurungzebe_, but the beach was strewn with so much wreckage as one +would have thought could never come from so small a ship. There were +barrels and kegs, gratings and hatch-covers, booms and pieces of masts +and trucks; and beside all that, the heaving water in-shore was covered +with a floating mask of broken match-wood, and the waves, as they curled +over, carried up and dashed down on the pebble planks and beams beyond +number. There were a dozen or more of men on the seaward side of the +beach, with oilskins to keep the wet out, prowling up and down the +pebbles to see what they could lay their hands on; and now and then they +would run down almost into the white fringe, risking their lives to save +a keg as they had risked them to save their fellows last night--as they +had risked their lives to save ours, as Elzevir had risked his life to +save mine, and lost it there in the white fringe. + +I sat down at the top of the beach, with elbows on knees, head between +hands, and face set out to sea, not knowing well why I was there or what +I sought, but only thinking that Elzevir was floating somewhere in that +floating skin of wreck-wood, and that I must be at hand to meet him when +he came ashore. He would surely come in time, for I had seen others come +ashore that way. For when the _Bataviaman_ went on the beach, I stood as +near her as our rescuers had stood to us last night, and there were some +aboard who took the fatal leap from off her bows and tried to battle +through the surf. I was so near them I could mark their features and read +the wild hope in their faces at the first, and then the under-tow took +hold of them, and never one that saved his life that day. And yet all +came to beach at last, and I knew them by their dead faces for the men I +had seen hoping against hope 'twixt ship and shore; some naked and some +clothed, some bruised and sorely beaten by the pebbles and the sea, and +some sound and untouched--all came to beach at last. + +So I sat and waited for him to come; and none of the beach-walkers said +anything to me, the Moonfleet men thinking I came from Ringstave, and the +Langton men that I belonged to Moonfleet; and both that I had marked some +cask at sea for my own and was waiting till it should come in. Only after +a while Master Ratsey joined me, and sitting down by me, begged me to eat +bread and meat that he had brought. Now I had little heart to eat, but +took what he gave me to save myself from his importunities, and having +once tasted was led by nature to eat all, and was much benefited thereby. +Yet I could not talk with Ratsey, nor answer any of his questions, though +another time I should have put a thousand to him myself; and he seeing +'twas no good sat by me in silence, using a spy-glass now and again to +make out the things floating at sea. As the day grew the men left the +fire at the back of the beach, and came down to the sea-front where the +waves were continually casting up fresh spoil. And there all worked with +a will, not each one for his own hand, but all to make a common hoard +which should be divided afterwards. + +Among the flotsam moving outside the breakers I could see more than one +dark ball, like black buoys, bobbing up and down, and lifting as the +wave came by: and knew them for the heads of drowned men. Yet though I +took Ratsey's glass and scanned all carefully enough, I could make +nothing of them, but saw the pinnace floating bottom up, and farther out +another boat deserted and down to her gunwale in the water. 'Twas midday +before the first body was cast up, when the sky was breaking a little, +and a thin and watery sun trying to get through, and afterwards three +other bodies followed. They were part of the pinnace's crew, for all had +the iron ring on the left wrist, as Ratsey told me, who went down to see +them, though he said nothing of the branded 'Y', and they were taken up +and put under some sheeting at the back of the beach, there to lie till a +grave should be made ready for them. + +Then I felt something that told me he was coming and saw a body rolled +over in the surf, and knew it for the one I sought. 'Twas nearest me he +was flung up, and I ran down the beach, caring nothing for the white +foam, nor for the under-tow, and laid hold of him: for had he not left +the rescue-line last night, and run down into the surf to save my +worthless life? Ratsey was at my side, and so between us we drew him up +out of the running foam, and then I wrung the water from his hair, and +wiped his face and, kneeling down there, kissed him. + +When they saw that we had got a body, others of the men came up, and +stared to see me handle him so tenderly. But when they knew, at last, I +was a stranger and had the iron ring upon my wrist, and a 'Y' burned upon +my cheek, they stared the more; until the tale went round that I was he +who had come through the surf last night alive, and this poor body was my +friend who had laid down his life for me. Then I saw Ratsey speak with +one and another of the group, and knew that he was telling them our +names; and some that I had known came up and shook me by the hand, not +saying anything because they saw my heart was full; and some bent down +and looked in Elzevir's face, and touched his hands as if to greet him. +Sea and stones had been merciful with him, and he showed neither bruise +nor wound, but his face wore a look of great peace, and his eyes and +mouth were shut. Even I, who knew where 'twas, could scarcely see the 'Y' +mark on his cheek, for the paleness of death had taken out the colour of +the scar, and left his face as smooth and mellow-white as the alabaster +figures in Moonfleet church. His body was naked from the waist up, as he +had stripped for jumping from the brig, and we could see the great broad +chest and swelling muscles that had pulled him out of many a desperate +pass, and only failed him, for the first and last time so few hours ago. + +They stood for a little while looking in silence at the old lander who +had run his last cargo on Moonfleet beach, and then they laid his arms +down by his side, and slung him in a sail, and carried him away. I walked +beside, and as we came down across the sea-meadows, the sun broke out and +we met little groups of schoolchildren making their way down to the beach +to see what was doing with the wreck. They stood aside to let us go by, +the boys pulling their caps and the girls dropping a curtsy, when they +knew that it was a poor drowned body passing; and as I saw the children I +thought I saw myself among them, and I was no more a man, but just come +out from Mr. Glennie's teaching in the old almshouse hall. + +Thus we came to the Why Not? and there set him down. The inn had not +been let, as I learned afterwards, since Maskew died; and they had put +a fire in it last night for the first time, knowing that the brig would +be wrecked, and thinking that some might come off with their lives and +require tending. The door stood open, and they carried him into the +parlour, where the fire was still burning, and laid him down on the +trestle-table, covering his face and body with the sail. This done they +all stood round a little while, awkwardly enough, as not knowing what +to do; and then slipped away one by one, because grief is a thing that +only women know how to handle, and they wanted to be back on the beach +to get what might be from the wreck. Last of all went Master Ratsey, +saying, he saw that I would as lief be alone, and that he would come +back before dark. + +So I was left alone with my dead friend, and with a host of bitterest +thoughts. The room had not been cleaned; there were spider-webs on the +beams, and the dust stood so thick on the window-panes as to shut out +half the light. The dust was on everything: on chairs and tables, save on +the trestle-table where he lay. 'Twas on this very trestle they had laid +out David's body; 'twas in this very room that this still form, who would +never more know either joy or sorrow, had bowed down and wept over his +son. The room was just as we had left it an April evening years ago, and +on the dresser lay the great backgammon board, so dusty that one could +not read the lettering on it; 'Life is like a game of hazard; the skilful +player will make something of the worst of throws'; but what unskillful +players we had been, how bad our throws, how little we had made of them! + +'Twas with thoughts like this that I was busy while the short afternoon +was spent, and the story went up and down the village, how that Elzevir +Block and John Trenchard, who left so long ago, were come back to +Moonfleet, and that the old lander was drowned saving the young man's +life. The dusk was creeping up as I turned back the sail from off his +face and took another look at my lost friend, my only friend; for who +was there now to care a jot for me? I might go and drown myself on +Moonfleet beach, for anyone that would grieve over me. What did it profit +me to have broken bonds and to be free again? what use was freedom to me +now? where was I to go, what was I to do? My friend was gone. + +So I went back and sat with my head in my hands looking into the fire, +when I heard someone step into the room, but did not turn, thinking it +was Master Ratsey come back and treading lightly so as not to disturb me. +Then I felt a light touch on my shoulder, and looking up saw standing by +me a tall and stately woman, girl no longer, but woman in the full +strength and beauty of youth. I knew her in a moment, for she had altered +little, except her oval face had something more of dignity, and the tawny +hair that used to fly about her back was now gathered up. She was looking +down at me, and let her hand rest on my shoulder. 'John,' she said, 'have +you forgotten me? May I not share your sorrow? Did you not think to tell +me you were come? Did you not see the light, did you not know there was a +friend that waited for you?' + +I said nothing, not being able to speak, but marvelling how she had come +just in the point of time to prove me wrong to think I had no friend; and +she went on: + +'Is it well for you to be here? Grieve not too sadly, for none could have +died nobler than he died; and in these years that you have been away, I +have thought much of him and found him good at heart, and if he did aught +wrong 'twas because others wronged him more.' + +And while she spoke I thought how Elzevir had gone to shoot her father, +and only failed of it by a hair's-breadth, and yet she spoke so well I +thought he never really meant to shoot at all, but only to scare the +magistrate. And what a whirligig of time was here, that I should have +saved Elzevir from having that blot on his conscience, and then that he +should save my life, and now that Maskew's daughter should be the one to +praise Elzevir when he lay dead! And still I could not speak. + +And again she said: 'John, have you no word for me? have you forgotten? +do you not love me still? Have I no part in your sorrow?' + +Then I took her hand in mine and raised it to my lips, and said, 'Dear +Mistress Grace, I have forgotten nothing, and honour you above all +others: but of love I may not speak more to you--nor you to me, for we +are no more boy and girl as in times past, but you a noble lady and I a +broken wretch'; and with that I told how I had been ten years a +prisoner, and why, and showed her the iron ring upon my wrist, and the +brand upon my cheek. + +At the brand she stared, and said, 'Speak not of wealth; 'tis not wealth +makes men, and if you have come back no richer than you went, you are +come back no poorer, nor poorer, John, in honour. And I am rich and have +more wealth than I can rightly use, so speak not of these things; but be +glad that you are poor, and were not let to profit by that evil treasure. +But for this brand, it is no prison name to me, but the Mohunes' badge, +to show that you are theirs and must do their bidding. Said I not to you, +Have a care how you touch the treasure, it was evilly come by and will +bring a curse with it? But now, I pray you, with a greater earnestness, +seeing you bear this mark upon you, touch no penny of that treasure if it +should some day come back to you, but put it to such uses as Colonel +Mohune thought would help his sinful soul.' + +With that she took her hand from mine and bade me 'good night', leaving +me in the darkening room with the glow from the fire lighting up the sail +and the outline of the body that lay under it. After she was gone I +pondered long over what she had said, and what that should mean when she +spoke of the treasure one day coming back to me: but wondered much the +most to find how constant is the love of woman, and how she could still +find a place in her heart for so poor a thing as I. But as to what she +said, I was to learn her meaning this very night. + +Master Ratsey had come in and gone again, not stopping with me very long, +because there was much doing on the beach; but bidding me be of good +cheer, and have no fear of the law; for that the ban against me and the +head-price had been dead for many a year. 'Twas Grace had made her +lawyers move for this, refusing herself to sign the hue and cry, and +saying that the fatal shot was fired by misadventure. And so a dread +which was just waking was laid to rest for ever; and when Ratsey went I +made up the fire, and lay down in the blankets in front of it, for I was +dog-tired and longed for sleep. I was already dozing, but not asleep, +when there was a knock at the door, and in walked Mr. Glennie. He was +aged, and stooped a little, as I could see by the firelight, but for all +that I knew him at once, and sitting up offered him what welcome I could. + +He looked at me curiously at first, as taking note of the bearded man +that had grown out of the boy he remembered, but gave me very kindly +greeting, and sat down beside me on a bench. First, he lifted the sail +from the dead body, and looked at the sleeping face. Then he took out a +Common Prayer reading the Commendamus over the dead, and giving me +spiritual comfort, and lastly, he fell to talking about the past. From +him I learnt something of what had happened while I was away, though for +that matter nothing had happened at all, except a few deaths, for that +is the only sort of change for which we look in Moonfleet. And among +those who had passed away was Miss Arnold, my aunt, so that I was +another friend the less, if indeed I should count her a friend: for +though she meant me well, she showed her care with too much strictness +to let me love her, and so in my great sorrow for Elzevir I found no +room to grieve for her. + +Whether from the spiritual solace Mr. Glennie offered me, or whether from +his pointing out how much cause for thankfulness I had in being loosed +out of prison and saved from imminent death, certain it was I felt some +assuagement of grief, and took pleasure in his talk. + +'And though I may by some be reprehended,' he said, 'for presuming to +refer to profane authors after citing Holy Scripture, yet I cannot +refrain from saying that even the great poet Homer counsels moderation in +mourning, "for quickly," says he, "cometh satiety of chilly grief".' + +After this I thought he was going, but he cleared his throat in such a +way that I guessed he had something important to say, and he drew a long +folded blue paper from his pocket. 'My son,' he said, opening it +leisurely and smoothing it out upon his knee, 'we should never revile +Fortune, and in speaking of Fortune I only use that appellation in our +poor human sense, and do not imply that there is any Chance at all but +what is subject to an over-ruling Providence; we should never, I say, +revile Fortune, for just at that moment when she appears to have deserted +us, she may be only gone away to seek some richest treasure to bring back +with her. And that this is so let what I am about to read to you prove; +so light a candle and set it by me, for my eyes cannot follow the writing +in this dancing firelight.' + +I took an end of candle which stood on the mantelpiece and did as he bid +me, and he went on: 'I shall read you this letter which I received near +eight years ago, and of the weightiness of it you shall yourself judge.' + +I shall not here set down that letter in full, although I have it by me, +but will put it shortly, because it was from a lawyer, tricked with +long-winded phrases and spun out as such letters are to afford cover +afterwards for a heavier charge. It was addressed to the Reverend Horace +Glennie, Perpetual Curate of Moonfleet, in the County of Dorset, England, +and written in English by Heer Roosten, Attorney and Signariat of the +Hague in the Kingdom of Holland. It set forth that one Krispijn +Aldobrand, jeweller and dealer in precious stones, at the Hague, had sent +for Heer Roosten to draw a will for him. And that the said Krispijn +Aldobrand, being near his end, had deposed to the said Heer Roosten, that +he, Aldobrand, was desirous to leave all his goods to one John Trenchard, +of Moonfleet, Dorset, in the Kingdom of England. And that he was moved +to do this, first, by the consideration that he, Aldobrand, had no +children to whom to leave aught, and second, because he desired to make +full and fitting restitution to John Trenchard, for that he had once +obtained from the said John a diamond without paying the proper price for +it. Which stone he, Aldobrand, had sold and converted into money, and +having so done, found afterwards both his fortune and his health decline; +so that, although he had great riches before he became possessed of the +diamond, these had forthwith melted through unfortunate ventures and +speculations, till he had little remaining to him but the money that this +same diamond had brought. + +He therefore left to John Trenchard everything of which he should die +possessed, and being near death begged his forgiveness if he had wronged +him in aught. These were the instructions which Heer Roosten received +from Mr. Aldobrand, whose health sensibly declined, until three months +later he died. It was well, Heer Roosten added, that the will had been +drawn in good time, for as Mr. Aldobrand grew weaker, he became a prey to +delusions, saying that John Trenchard had laid a curse upon the diamond, +and professing even to relate the words of it, namely, that it should +'bring evil in this life, and damnation in that which is to come.' Nor +was this all, for he could get no sleep, but woke up with a horrid dream, +in which, so he informed Heer Roosten, he saw continually a tall man with +a coppery face and black beard draw the bed-curtains and mock him. Thus +he came at length to his end, and after his death Heer Roosten +endeavoured to give effect to the provision of the will, by writing to +John Trenchard, at Moonfleet, Dorset, to apprise him that he was left +sole heir. That address, indeed, was all the indication that Aldobrand +had given, though he constantly promised his attorney to let him have +closer information as to Trenchard's whereabouts, in good time. This +information was, however, always postponed, perhaps because Aldobrand +hoped he might get better and so repent of his repentance. So all Heer +Roosten had to do was to write to Trenchard at Moonfleet, and in due +course the letter was returned to him, with the information that +Trenchard had fled that place to escape the law, and was then nowhere to +be found. After that Heer Roosten was advised to write to the minister of +the parish, and so addressed these lines to Mr. Glennie. + +This was the gist of the letter which Mr. Glennie read, and you may +easily guess how such news moved me, and how we sat far into the night +talking and considering what steps it was best to take, for we feared +lest so long an interval as eight years having elapsed, the lawyers might +have made some other disposition of the money. It was midnight when Mr. +Glennie left. The candle had long burnt out, but the fire was bright, +and he knelt a moment by the trestle-table before he went out. + +'He made a good end, John,' he said, rising from his knees, 'and I pray +that our end may be in as good cause when it comes. For with the best of +us the hour of death is an awful hour, and we may well pray, as every +Sunday, to be delivered in it. But there is another time which those who +wrote this Litany thought no less perilous, and bade us pray to be +delivered in all time of our wealth. So I pray that if, after all, this +wealth comes to your hand you may be led to use it well; for though I do +not hold with foolish tales, or think a curse hangs on riches themselves, +yet if riches have been set apart for a good purpose, even by evil men, +as Colonel John Mohune set apart this treasure, it cannot be but that we +shall do grievous wrong in putting them to other use. So fare you well, +and remember that there are other treasures besides this, and that a good +woman's love is worth far more than all the gold and jewels of the +world--as I once knew.' And with that he left me. + +I guessed that he had spoken with Grace that day, and as I lay dozing in +front of the fire, alone in this old room I knew so well, alone with that +silent friend who had died to save me, I mourned him none the less, but +yet sorrowed not as one without hope. + + * * * * * + +What need to tell this tale at any more length, since you may know, by my +telling it, that all went well? for what man would sit down to write a +history that ended in his own discomfiture? All that great wealth came to +my hands, and if I do not say how great it was, 'tis that I may not wake +envy, for it was far more than ever I could have thought. And of that +money I never touched penny piece, having learnt a bitter lesson in the +past, but laid it out in good works, with Mr. Glennie and Grace to help +me. First, we rebuilt and enlarged the almshouses beyond all that Colonel +John Mohune could ever think of, and so established them as to be a haven +for ever for all worn-out sailors of that coast. Next, we sought the +guidance of the Brethren of the Trinity, and built a lighthouse on the +Snout, to be a Channel beacon for sea-going ships, as Maskew's match had +been a light for our fishing-boats in the past. Lastly, we beautified the +church, turning out the cumbrous seats of oak, and neatly pewing it with +deal and baize, that made it most commodious to sit in of the Sabbath. +There was also much old glass which we removed, and reglazed all the +windows tight against the wind, so that what with a high pulpit, +reading-desk, and seat for Master Clerk and new Commandment boards each +side of the Holy Table, there was not a church could vie with ours in the +countryside. But that great vault below it, with its memories, was set in +order, and then safely walled up, and after that nothing was more ever +heard of Blackbeard and his lost Mohunes. And as for the landers, I +cannot say where they went; and if a cargo is still run of a dark night +upon the beach, I know nothing of it, being both Lord of the Manor and +Justice of the Peace. + +The village, too, renewed itself with the new almshouses and church. +There were old houses rebuilt and fresh ones reared, and all are ours, +except the Why Not? which still remains the Duchy Inn. And that was let +again, and men left the Choughs at Ringstave and came back to their old +haunt, and any shipwrecked or travel-worn sailor found board and welcome +within its doors. + +And of the Mohune Hospital--for that was what the alms-houses were now +called--Master Glennie was first warden, with fair rooms and a full +library, and Master Ratsey head of the Bedesmen. There they spent happier +days, till they were gathered in the fullness of their years; and sleep +on the sunny side of the church, within sound of the sea, by that great +buttress where I once found Master Ratsey listening with his ear to +ground. And close beside them lies Elzevir Block, most faithful and most +loved by me, with a text on his tombstone: 'Greater love hath no man than +this, that a man lay down his life for his friend,' and some of Mr. +Glennie's verses. + +And of ourselves let me speak last. The Manor House is a stately home +again, with trim lawns and terraced balustrades, where we can sit and +see the thin blue smoke hang above the village on summer evenings. And +in the Manor woods my wife and I have seen a little Grace and a little +John and little Elzevir, our firstborn, play; and now our daughter is +grown up, fair to us as the polished corners of the Temple, and our sons +are gone out to serve King George on sea and land. But as for us, for +Grace and me, we never leave this our happy Moonfleet, being well +content to see the dawn tipping the long cliff-line with gold, and the +night walking in dew across the meadows; to watch the spring clothe the +beech boughs with green, or the figs ripen on the southern wall: while +behind all, is spread as a curtain the eternal sea, ever the same and +ever changing. Yet I love to see it best when it is lashed to madness in +the autumn gale, and to hear the grinding roar and churn of the pebbles +like a great organ playing all the night. 'Tis then I turn in bed and +thank God, more from the heart, perhaps, than, any other living man, +that I am not fighting for my life on Moonfleet Beach. And more than +once I have stood rope in hand in that same awful place, and tried to +save a struggling wretch; but never saw one come through the surf alive, +in such a night as he saved me. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Moonfleet, by J. 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