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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/15565.txt b/15565.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..64f9e96 --- /dev/null +++ b/15565.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15461 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Sir John Constantine, by Prosper Paleologus Constantine + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Sir John Constantine + Memoirs Of His Adventures At Home And Abroad And + Particularly In The Island Of Corsica: Beginning With The + Year 1756 + +Author: Prosper Paleologus Constantine + +Editor: "Q" (A. T. Quiller-Couch) + +Release Date: April 6, 2005 [EBook #15565] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIR JOHN CONSTANTINE *** + + + + +Produced by Lionel Sear + + + + + +SIR JOHN CONSTANTINE. + + +MEMOIRS OF HIS ADVENTURES AT HOME AND ABROAD AND PARTICULARLY IN +THE ISLAND OF CORSICA: BEGINNING WITH THE YEAR 1756. + + +WRITTEN BY HIS SON PROSPER PALEOLOGUS OTHERWISE CONSTANTINE AND +EDITED BY "Q" (A. T. QUILLER-COUCH). + + "For knighthood is not in the feats of warre, + As for to fight in quarrel right or wrong, + But in a cause which truth can not defarre + He ought himself for to make sure and strong + Justice to keep mixt with mercy among: + And no quarrell a knight ought to take + But for a truth, or for a woman's sake." + + + +TO THE READER + + +A hundred and fifty episodes, two sermons, and a number of moral +digressions, have been omitted from this story. + +The late ingenious Mr. Fett (whose acquaintance you will make in the +following pages), having been commissioned by Mr. Dodsley, the +publisher, to write a conspectus of the Present State of the Arts in +Italy at two guineas the folio--a fair price for that class of work-- +had delivered close upon two hundred folios before Mr. Dodsley +interposed, professing unbounded admiration of the work, its style, +and matter, but desiring to know when he might expect the end: +"For," said he, "I have other enterprises which will soon be +demanding attention, and, as a business-man, I like to make my +arrangements in good time." To this Mr. Fett replied, that he, for +his part, being well content with the rate of remuneration, did not +propose to end the work at all!--and, the agreement, having +unaccountably failed to stipulate for any such thing as a conclusion, +Mr. Dodsley had to compound for one at a crippling price. + +So this story had, in Browning's phrase, "grown old along with me," +but for the forethought of Messrs. Smith, Elder and Co., in limiting +its serial flow to twelve numbers of _The Cornhill Magazine_ +As it is, I have added a few chapters; but a hundred and fifty +episodes remain unwritten, with the courtships of Mr. Priske, and the +funeral oration spoken by the Rev. Mr. Grylls over the cenotaph Of +Sir John Constantine in Constantine Parish Church. These omissions, +however, may be remedied if you will ask the publishers for another +edition. + +Now, if it be objected against some of the adventures of Sir John +Constantine that they are extravagant, or against some of his notions +that they are fantastic, I answer that this book attempts to describe +a man and not one of these calculable little super men who, of late, +have been taking up so much more of your attention than they deserve. +Students who engage in psychical research, as it is called, often +confess themselves puzzled by the behaviour of ghosts, it appears to +them wayward and trivial. How much more likely are ghosts to be +puzzled by the actions of real men? And we are surely ghosts if we +keep nothing of the blood which sent our fathers like schoolboys to +the crusades. + +Lastly, my friend, if you would know anything of the writer who has +so often addressed you under an initial, you may find as much of him +here as in any of his books. Here is interred part, at any rate, of +the soul of the Bachelor Q, in a book which, though it tell of +adventures, I would ask you not to disdain, though you be a boy no +longer. An acquaintance of mine near the Land's End had a +remarkably fine tree of apples--to be precise, of Cox's Orange +Pippins--and one night was robbed of the whole of them. But what, +think you, had the thief left behind him, at the foot of the tree? +Why, a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles. + +ARTHUR T. QUILLER-COUCH. + +THE HAVEN, FOWEY, October 1st, 1906. + + + +CONTENTS + + +Chapter. + + +I. OF THE LINEAGE AND CONDITION OF SIR JOHN CONSTANTINE. + +II. I RIDE ON A PILGRIMAGE. + +III. I ACQUIRE A KINGDOM. + +IV. LONG VACATION. + +V. THE SILENT MEN. + +VI. HOW MY FATHER OUT OF NOTHING BUILT AN ARMY, AND IN FIVE + MINUTES PLANNED AN INVASION. + +VII. THE COMPANY OF THE ROSE. + +VIII. TRIBULATIONS OF A MAYOR. + +IX. I ENLIST AN ARMY. + +X. OF THE DISCOURSE HELD ON BOARD THE "GAUNTLET". + +XI. WE FALL IN WITH A SALLEE ROVER. + +XII. HOW WE LANDED ON THE ISLAND. + +XIII. HOW, WITHOUT FIGHTING, OUR ARMY WASTED BY ENCHANTMENT. + +XIV. HOW BY MEANS OF HER WINE I CAME TO CIRCE. + +XV. I BECOME HOSTAGE TO PRINCESS CAMILLA. + +XVI. THE FOREST HUT. + +XVII. THE FIRST CHALLENGE. + +XVIII. THE TENDER MERCIES OF PRINCE CAMILLO. + +XIX. HOW MARC'ANTONIO NURESD ME AND GAVE ME COUNSEL. + +XX. I LEARN OF LIBERTY, AND AM RESTORED TO IT. + +XXI. OF MY FATHER'S ANABASIS; AND THE DIFFERENT TEMPERS OF AN + ENGLISH GENTLEMAN AND A WILD SHEEP OF CORSICA. + +XXII. THE GREAT ADVENTURE. + +XXIII. ORDEAL AND CHOOSING. + +XXIV. THE WOOING OF PRINCESS CAMILLA. + +XXV. MY WEDDING DAY. + +XXVI. THE FLAME AND THE ALTAR. + +XXVII. MY MISTRESS RE-ENLISTS ME. + +XXVIII. GENOA. + +XXIX. VENDETTA. + +XXX. THE SUMMIT AND THE STARS. + + POSTSCRIPT. + + + + + +SIR JOHN CONSTANTINE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +OF THE LINEAGE AND CONDITION OF SIR JOHN CONSTANTINE. + + + "I have laboured to make a covenant with myself, that affection + may not press upon judgment: for I suppose there is no man, + that hath any apprehension of gentry or nobleness, but his + affection stands to a continuance of a noble name and house, + and would take hold of a twig or twine-thread to uphold it: and + yet time hath his revolution, there must be a period and an end + of all temporal things, _finis rerum_, an end of names and + dignities and whatsoever is terrene. . . . For where is Bohun? + Where is Mowbray? Where is Mortimer? Nay, which is more + and most of all, where is Plantagenet? They are intombed in the + urns and sepulchres of mortality."--_Lord Chief Justice Crewe_. + +My father, Sir John Constantine of Constantine, in the county of +Cornwall, was a gentleman of ample but impoverished estates, who by +renouncing the world had come to be pretty generally reputed a +madman. This did not affect him one jot, since he held precisely the +same opinion of his neighbours--with whom, moreover, he continued on +excellent terms. He kept six saddle horses in a stable large enough +for a regiment of cavalry; a brace of setters and an infirm spaniel +in kennels which had sometime held twenty couples of hounds; and +himself and his household in a wing of his great mansion, locking off +the rest, with its portraits and tapestries, cases of books, and +stands of antique arms, to be a barrack for the mice. This household +consisted of his brother-in-law, Gervase (a bachelor of punctual +habits but a rambling head); a butler, Billy Priske; a cook, Mrs. +Nance, who also looked after the housekeeping; two serving-maids; +and, during his holidays, the present writer. My mother (an Arundell +of Trerice) had died within a year after giving me birth; and after a +childhood which lacked playmates, indeed, but was by no means +neglected or unhappy, my father took me to Winchester College, his +old school, to be improved in those classical studies which I had +hitherto followed desultorily under our vicar, Mr. Grylls, and there +entered me as a Commoner in the house of Dr. Burton, Head-master. +I had spent almost four years at Winchester at the date (Midsummer, +1756) when this story begins. + +To return to my father. He was, as the world goes, a mass of +contrarieties. A thorough Englishman in the virtues for which +foreigners admire us, and in the extravagance at which they smile, he +had never even affected an interest in the politics over which +Englishmen grow red in the face; and this in his youth had commended +him to Walpole, who had taken him up and advanced him as well for his +abilities, address, and singularly fine presence as because his +estate then seemed adequate to maintain him in any preferment. +Again Walpole's policy abroad--which really treated warfare as the +evil it appears in other men's professions--condemned my father, a +born soldier, to seek his line in diplomacy; wherein he had no sooner +built a reputation by services at two or three of the Italian courts +than, with a knighthood in hand and an ambassadorship in prospect, he +suddenly abandoned all, cast off the world, and retired into +Cornwall, to make a humdrum marriage and practise fishing for trout. + +The reason of it none knew, or how his estate had come to be +impoverished, as beyond doubt it was. Here again he showed himself +unlike the rest of men, in that he let the stress of poverty fall +first upon himself, next upon his household, last of all upon his +tenants and other dependants. After my mother's death he cut down +his own charges (the cellar only excepted) to the last penny, shut +himself off in a couple of rooms, slept in a camp bed, wore an old +velveteen coat in winter and in summer a fisherman's smock, ate +frugally, and would have drunk beer or even water had not his stomach +abhorred them both. Of wine he drank in moderation--that is to say, +for him, since his temperance would have sent nine men out of ten +under the table--and of the best. He had indeed a large and +obstinate dignity in his drinking. It betrayed, even as his carriage +betrayed beneath his old coat, a king in exile. + +Yet while he pinched himself with these economies, he drew no +strings--or drew them tenderly--upon the expenses and charities of a +good landlord. The fences rotted around his own park and +pleasure-grounds, but his tenants' fences, walls, roofs stood in more +than moderate repair, nor (although my uncle Gervase groaned over the +accounts) would an abatement of rent be denied, the appeal having +been weighed and found to be reasonable. The rain--which falls alike +upon the just and the unjust--beat through his own roof, but never +through the labourer's thatch; and Mrs. Nance, the cook, who hated +beggars, might not without art and secrecy dismiss a single beggar +unfed. His religion he told to no man, but believed the practice of +worship to be good for all men, and regularly encouraged it by +attending church on Sundays and festivals. He and the vicar ruled +our parish together in amity, as fellow-Christians and rival anglers. + +Now, all these apparent contrarieties in my father flowed in fact +from a very rare simplicity, and this simplicity again had its origin +in his lineage, which was something more than royal. + +On the Cornish shore of the Tamar River, which divides Cornwall from +Devon, and a little above Saltash, stands the country church of +Landulph, so close by the water that the high tides wash by its +graveyard wall. Within the church you will find a mural tablet of +brass thus inscribed-- + + + "Here lyeth the body of Theodoro Paleologvs of Pesaro in + Italye, descended from ye Imperyall lyne of ye last Christian + Emperors of Greece being the sonne of Camilio ye sonne of + Prosper the sonne of Theodoro the sonne of John ye sonne of + Thomas second brother to Constantine Paleologvs, the 8th of + that name and last of yt lyne yt raygned in Constantinople + vntill svbdewed by the Tvrks who married with Mary ye davghter + of William Balls of Hadlye in Svffolke gent & had issve 5 + children Theodoro John Ferdinando Maria & Dorothy & dep'ted + this life at Clyfton ye 21th of Ianvary 1636" + +Above these words the tablet bears an eagle engraved with two heads, +and its talons resting upon two gates of Rome and Constantinople, +with (for difference) a crescent between the gates, and over all an +imperial crown. In truth this exile buried by Tamar drew his blood +direct from the loins of the great Byzantine emperors, through that +Thomas of whom Mahomet II. said, "I have found many slaves in +Peloponnesus, but this man only:" and from Theodore, through his +second son John, came the Constantines of Constantine--albeit with a +bar sinister, of which my father made small account. I believe he +held privately that a Constantine, _de stirpe imperatorum_, had no +call to concern himself with petty ceremonies of this or that of the +Church's offshoots to legitimize his blood. At any rate no bar +sinister appeared on the imperial escutcheon repeated, with +quarterings of Arundel, Mohun, Grenville, Nevile, Archdeckne, +Courtney, and, again, Arundel, on the wainscots and in the windows of +Constantine, usually with the legend _Dabit Devs His Qvoqve Finem_, +but twice or thrice with a hopefuller one, _Generis revocemvs +honores_. + +Knowing him to be thus descended, you could recognize in all my +father said or did a large simplicity as of the earlier gods, and a +dignity proper to a king as to a beggar, but to no third and mean +state. A child might beard him, but no man might venture a liberty +with him or abide the rare explosions of his anger. You might even, +upon long acquaintance, take him for a great, though mad, Englishman, +and trust him as an Englishman to the end; but the soil of his nature +was that which grows the vine--volcanic, breathing through its pores +a hidden heat to answer the sun's. Whether or no there be in man a +faith to remove mountains, there is in him (and it may come to the +same thing) a fire to split them, and anon to clothe the bare rock +with tendrils and soft-scented blooms. + +In person my father stood six feet five inches tall, and his +shoulders filled a doorway. His head was large and shapely, and he +carried it with a very noble poise; his face a fine oval, broad +across the brow and ending in a chin at once delicate and masterful; +his nose slightly aquiline; his hair--and he wore his own, tied with +a ribbon--of a shining white. His cheeks were hollow and would have +been cadaverous but for their hue, a sanguine brown, well tanned by +out-of-door living. His eyes, of an iron-grey colour, were fierce or +gentle as you took him, but as a rule extraordinarily gentle. +He would walk you thirty miles any day without fatigue, and shoot you +a woodcock against any man; but as an angler my uncle Gervase beat +him. + +He spoke Italian as readily as English; French and the modern Greek +with a little more difficulty; and could read in Greek, Latin, and +Spanish. His books were the "Meditations" of the Emperor Marcus +Aurelius, and Dante's "Divine Comedy," with the "Aeneis," Ariosto, +and some old Spanish romances next in order. I do not think he cared +greatly for any English writers but Donne and Izaak Walton, of whose +"Angler" and "Life of Sir Henry Wotton" he was inordinately fond. +In particular he admired the character of this Sir Henry Wotton, +singling him out among "the famous nations of the dead" (as Sir +Thomas Browne calls them) for a kind of posthumous friendship--nay, +almost a passion of memory. To be sure, though with more than a +hundred years between them, both had been bred at Winchester, and +both had known courts and embassies and retired from them upon +private life. . . . But who can explain friendship, even after all +the essays written upon it? Certainly to be friends with a dead man +was to my father a feat neither impossible nor absurd. + +Yet he possessed two dear living friends at least in my Uncle Gervase +and Mr. Grylls, and had even dedicated a temple to their friendship. +It stood about half a mile away from the house, at the foot of the +old deer-park: a small Ionic summer-house set on a turfed slope +facing down a dell upon the Helford River. A spring of water, very +cold and pure, rose bubbling a few paces from the porch and tumbled +down the dell with a pretty chatter. Tradition said that it had once +been visited and blessed by St. Swithun, for which cause my father +called his summer-house by the saint's name, and annually on his +festival (which falls on the 15th of July) caused wine and dessert to +be carried out thither, where the three drank to their common pastime +and discoursed of it in the cool of the evening within earshot of the +lapsing water. On many other evenings they met to smoke their pipes +here, my father and Mr. Grylls playing at chequers sometimes, while +my uncle wrapped and bent, till the light failed him, new trout flies +for the next day's sport; but to keep St. Swithun's feast they never +omitted, which my father commemorated with a tablet set against the +back wall and bearing these lines-- + + "Peace to this house within this little wood, + Named of St. Swithun and his brotherhood + That here would meet and punctual on his day + Their heads and hands and hearts together lay. + Nor may no years the mem'ries three untwine + Of Grylls W.G. + And Arundell G.A. + And Constantine J.C. Anno 1752 + Flvmina amem silvasqve inglorivs." + +Of these two friends of my father I shall speak in their proper +place, but have given up this first chapter to him alone. My readers +maybe will grumble that it omits to tell what they would first choose +to learn: the reason why he had exchanged fame and the world for a +Cornish exile. But as yet he only--and perhaps my uncle Gervase, who +kept the accounts--held the key to that secret. + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +I RIDE ON A PILGRIMAGE. + + "_Heus Rogere! fer caballos; Eja, nunc eamus!" + Domum. + + +At Winchester, which we boys (though we fared hardly) never doubted +to be the first school in the world, as it was the most ancient in +England, we had a song we called _Domum_: and because our common +pride in her--as the best pride will--belittled itself in speech, I +trust that our song honoured Saint Mary of Winton the more in that it +celebrated only the joys of leaving her. + +The tale went, it had been composed (in Latin, too) by a boy detained +at school for a punishment during the summer holidays. Another fable +improved on this by chaining him to a tree. A third imprisoned him +in cloisters whence, through the arcades and from the ossuaries of +dead fellows and scholars, he poured out his soul to the swallows +haunting the green garth-- + + "Jam repetit domum + Daulias advena, + Nosque domum repetamus." + +Whatever its origin, our custom was to sing it as the holidays-- +especially the summer holidays--drew near, and to repeat it as they +drew nearer, until every voice was hoarse. As I remember, we kept up +this custom with no decrease of fervour through the heats of June +1756, though they were such that our _hostiarius_ Dr. Warton, then a +new broom, swept us out of school and for a fortnight heard our books +(as the old practice had been) in cloisters, where we sat upon cool +stone and in the cool airs, and between our tasks watched the +swallows at play. Nevertheless we panted, until evening released us +to wander forth along the water-meadows by Itchen and bathe, and, +having bathed, to lie naked amid the mints and grasses for a while +before returning in the twilight. + +This bathing went on, not in one or two great crowds, but in groups, +and often in pairs only, scattered along the river-bank almost all +the way to Hills; it being our custom again at Winchester (and I +believe it still continues) to _socius_ or walk with one companion; +and only at one or two favoured pools would several of these couples +meet together for the sport. On the evening of which I am to tell, +my companion was a boy named Fiennes, of about my own age, and we +bathed alone, though not far away to right and left the bank teemed +with outcries and laughter and naked boys running all silvery as +their voices in the dusk. + +With all this uproar the trout of Itchen, as you may suppose, had +gone into hiding; but doubtless some fine fellows lay snug under the +stones, and--the stream running shallow after the heats--as we +stretched ourselves on the grass Fiennes challenged me to tickle for +one; it may be because he had heard me boast of my angling feats at +home. There seemed a likely pool under the farther bank; convenient, +except that to take up the best position beside it I must get the +level sun full in my face. I crept across, however, Fiennes keeping +silence, laid myself flat on my belly, and peered down into the pool, +shading my eyes with one hand. For a long while I saw no fish, until +the sun-rays, striking aslant, touched the edge of a golden fin very +prettily bestowed in a hole of the bank and well within an overlap of +green weed. Now and again the fin quivered, but for the most part my +gentleman lay quiet as a stone, head to stream, and waited for relief +from these noisy Wykehamists. Experience, perhaps, had taught him to +despise them; at any rate, when gently--very gently--I lowered my +hand and began to tickle, he showed neither alarm nor resentment. + +"Is it a trout?" demanded Fiennes, in an excited whisper from the +farther shore. But of course I made no answer, and presently I +supposed that he must have crept off to his clothes, for some way up +the stream I heard the Second Master's voice warning the bathers to +dress and return, and with his usual formula, _Ite domum saturae, +venit Hesperus, ite capelloe! Being short-sighted, he missed to spy +me, and I felt, rather than saw or heard, him pass on; for with one +hand I yet shaded my eyes while with the other I tickled. + +Yet another two minutes went by, and then with a jerk I had my trout, +my thumb and forefinger deep under his gills; brought down my other +clutch upon him and, lifting, flung him back over me among the meadow +grass, my posture being such that I could neither hold him struggling +nor recover my own balance save by rolling sideways over on my +shoulder-pin; which I did, and, running to him where he gleamed and +doubled, flipping the grasses, caught him in both hands and held him +aloft. + +But other voices than Fiennes' answered my shout over the river-- +voices that I knew, though they belonged not to this hour nor to this +place; and blinking against the sun, now sinning level across +Lavender Meads, I was aware of two tall figures standing dark against +it, and of a third and shorter one between whose legs it poured in +gold as through a natural arch. Sure no second man in England wore +Billy Priske's legs! + +Then, and while I stood amazed, my father's voice and my Uncle +Gervase's called to me together: and gulping down all wonder, +possessed with love only and a wild joy--but yet grasping my fish-- +I splashed across the shallows and up the bank, and let my father +take me naked to his heart. + +"So, lad," said he, after a moment, thrusting me a little back by the +shoulders (while I could only sob), and holding me so that the sun +fell full on me, "Dost truly love me so much?" + +"Clivver boy, clivver boy!" said the voice of Billy Priske. +"Lord, now, what things they do teach here beside the Latin!" + +The rogue said it, as I knew, to turn my father's suspicion, having +himself taught me the poacher's trick. But my uncle Gervase, whose +mind moved as slowly as it was easily diverted, answered with +gravity-- + +"It is hard knowing what may or may not be useful in after life, +seeing that God in His wisdom hides what that life is to be." + +"Very true," agreed my father, with a twinkle, and took snuff. + +"But--but what brings you here?" cried I, with a catch of the breath, +ignoring all this. + +"Nevertheless, such comely lads as they be," my uncle continued, +"God will doubtless bring them to good. Comelier lads, brother, I +never saw, nor, I think, the sun never shined on; yet there was one, +at the bowls yonder, was swearing so it grieved me to the heart." + +"Put on your clothes, boy," said my father, answering me. "We have +ridden far, but we bring no ill news; and to-morrow--I have the +Head-master's leave for it--you ride on with us to London." + +"To London!" My heart gave another great leap, as every boy's must +on hearing that he is to see London for the first time. But here we +all turned at a cry from Billy Priske, between whose planted ankles +Master Fiennes had mischievously crept and was measuring the span +between with extended thumb and little finger. My father stooped, +haled him to his feet by the collar, and demanded what he did. + +"Why, sir, he's a Colossus!" quoted that nimble youth; + + "'and we petty men + Walk under his huge legs and peer about--'" + +"And will find yourself a dishonourable grave," my father capped him. +"What's your name, boy?" + +"Fiennes, sir; Nathaniel Fiennes." The lad saluted. + +My father lifted his hat in answer. "Founder's kin?" + +"I am here on that condition, sir." + +"Then you are kinsman, as well as namesake, of him who saved our +Wykeham's tomb in the Parliament troubles. I felicitate you, sir, +and retract my words, for by that action of your kinsman's shall the +graves of all his race and name be honoured." + +Young Fiennes bowed. "Compliments fly, sir, when gentlemen meet. +But"--and he glanced over his shoulder and rubbed the small of his +back expressively, "as a Wykehamist, you will not have me late at +names-calling." + +"Go, boy, and answer to yours; they can call no better one." +My father dipped a hand in his pocket. "I may not invite you to +breakfast with us to-morrow, for we start early; and you will excuse +me if I sin against custom. . . . It was esteemed a laudable practice +in my time." A gold coin passed. + +"_Et in saecula saeculo--o--rum. Amen!_" Master Fiennes spun the +coin, pocketed it, and went off whistling schoolwards over the meads. + +My father linked his arm in mine and we followed, I asking, and the +three of them answering, a hundred questions of home. But why, or on +what business, we were riding to London on the morrow my father would +not tell. "Nay, lad," said he, "take your Bible and read that Isaac +asked no questions on the way to Moriah." + +"My uncle, who overheard this, considered it for a while, and said-- + +"The difference is that you are not going to sacrifice Prosper." + +The three were to lie that night at the George Inn, where they had +stabled their horses; and at the door of the Head-master's house, +where we Commoners lodged, they took leave of me, my father +commending me to God and good dreams. That they were happy ones I +need not tell. + +He was up and abroad early next morning, in time to attend chapel, +where by the vigour of his responses he set the nearer boys +tittering; two of whom I afterwards fought for it, though with what +result I cannot remember. The service, which we urchins heeded +little, left him pensive as we walked together towards the inn, and +he paused once or twice, with eyes downcast on the cobbles, and +muttered to himself. + +"I am striving to recollect my Morning Lines, lad," he confessed at +length, with a smile; "and thus, I think, they go. The great Sir +Henry Wotton, you have heard me tell of, in the summer before his +death made a journey hither to Winchester; and as he returned towards +Eton he said to a friend that went with him: 'How useful was that +advice of an old monk that we should perform our devotions in a +constant place, because we so meet again with the very thoughts which +possessed us at our last being there.' And, as Walton tells, +'I find it,'" he said, "'thus far experimentally true, that at my now +being in that school and seeing that very place where I sat when I +was a boy occasioned me to remember those very thoughts of my youth +which then possessed me: sweet thoughts indeed--'" + +Here my father paused. "Let me be careful, now. I should be perfect +in the words, having read them more than a hundred times. +'Sweet thoughts indeed,'" said he, "'that promised my growing years +numerous pleasures, without mixture of cares; and those to be enjoyed +when time--which I therefore thought slow-paced--had changed my youth +into manhood. But age and experience have taught me these were but +empty hopes, for I have always found it true, as my Saviour did +foretell, _Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof_. +Nevertheless, I saw there a succession of boys using the same +recreations, and, questionless, possessed with the same thoughts that +then possessed me. Thus one generation succeeds another, both in +their lives, recreations, hopes, fears, and death.'" + +"But I would not have you, lad," he went on, "to pay too much heed to +these thoughts, which will come to you in time, for as yet you are +better without 'em. Nor were they my only thoughts: for having +brought back my own sacrifice, which I had sometime hoped might be so +great, but now saw to be so little, at that moment I looked down to +your place in chapel and perceived that I had brought belike the best +offering of all. So my hope--thank God!--sprang anew as I saw you +there standing vigil by what bright armour you guessed not, nor in +preparation for what high warfare." He laid a hand on my shoulder. +"Your chapel to-day, child, has been the longer by a sermon. +There, there! forget all but the tail on't." + +We rode out of Winchester with a fine clatter, all four of us upon +hired nags, the Cornish horses being left in the stables to rest; +and after crossing the Hog's Back, baited at Guildford. +A thunderstorm in the night had cleared the weather, which, though +fine, was cooler, with a brisk breeze playing on the uplands; and +still as we went my spirits sang with the larks overhead, so blithe +was I to be sitting in saddle instead of at a scob, and riding to +London between the blown scents of hedgerow and hayfield and +beanfield, all fragrant of liberty yet none of them more delicious to +a boy than the mingled smell of leather and horseflesh. Billy Priske +kept up a chatter beside me like a brook's. He had never till now +been outside of Cornwall but in a fishing-boat, and though he had +come more than two hundred miles each new prospect was a marvel to +him. My father told me that, once across the Tamar ferry, being told +that he was now in Devonshire, he had sniffed and observed the air to +be growing "fine and stuffy;" and again, near Holt Forest, where my +father announced that we were crossing the border between Hampshire +and Surrey, he drew rein and sat for a moment looking about him and +scratching his head. + +"The Lord's ways be past finding out," he murmured. "Not so much as +a post!" + +"Why _should_ there be a post?" demanded my uncle. "Why, sir, for +the men of Hampshire and the men of Surrey to fight over and curse +one another by on Ash Wednesdays. But where there's no landmark a +plain man can't remove it, and where he can't remove it I don't see +how he can be cursed for it." + +"'Twould be a great inconvenience, as you say, Billy, if, for the +sake of argument, the men of Hampshire wanted to curse the men of +Surrey." + +"They couldn't do it"--Billy shook his head--"for the sake of +argument or any other sake; and therefore I say, though not one to +dictate to the Lord, that if a river can't be managed hereabouts-- +and, these two not being Devon and Cornwall, a whole river might be +overdoing things--there ought to be some little matter of a +trout-stream, or at the least a notice-board." + +"The fellow's right," said my father. "Man would tire too soon of +his natural vices; so we invent new ones for him by making laws and +boundaries." + +"Surely and virtues too," suggested my uncle, as we rode forward +again. "You will not deny that patriotism is a virtue?" + +"Not I," said my father; "nor that it is the finest invention of +all." + +I remember the Hog's Back and the breeze blowing there because on the +highest rise we came on a gibbet and rode around it to windward on +the broad turfy margin of the road; and also because the sight put my +father in mind of a story which he narrated on the way down to +Guildford. + + +THE STORY OF OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY. + +"It is told," began my father, "in a sermon of the famous Vieyras--" + +"For what was he famous?" asked my uncle. + +"For being a priest, and yet preaching so good a sermon on love. It +is told in it that in the kingdom of Valencia there lived an hidalgo, +young and rich, who fell in love with a virtuous lady, ill treated by +her husband: and she with him, howbeit without the least thought of +evil. But, as evil suspects its like, so this husband doubted the +fidelity which was his without his deserving, and laid a plot to be +revenged. On the pretext of the summer heats he removed with his +household to a country house; and there one day he entered a room +where his wife sat alone, turned the key, and, drawing out a dagger, +ordered her to write what he should dictate. She, being innocent, +answered him that there was no need of daggers, but she would write, +as her duty was, what he commanded: which was, a letter to the young +hidalgo telling him that her husband had left home on business; that +if her lover would come, she was ready to welcome him; and that, if +he came secretly the next night, he would find the garden gate open, +and a ladder placed against the window. This she wrote and signed, +seeing no escape; and, going to her own room, commended her fears and +her weakness to the Virgin. + +"The young hidalgo, on receiving the letter (very cautiously +delivered), could scarcely believe his bliss, but prepared, as you +will guess, to embrace it. Having dressed himself with care, at the +right hour he mounted his horse and rode out towards his lady's +house. Now, he was a devout youth, as youths go, and on his way he +remembered--which was no little thing on such an occasion--that since +morning he had not said over his rosary as his custom was. +So he began to tell it bead by bead, when a voice near at hand said +'Halt, Cavalier!' He drew his sword and peered around him in the +darkness, but could see no one, and was fumbling his rosary again +when again the voice spoke, saying, 'Look up, Cavalier!' and looking +up, he beheld against the night a row of wayside gibbets, and rode in +among them to discover who had called him. To his horror one of the +malefactors hanging there spoke down to him, begging to be cut loose; +'and,' said the poor wretch, 'if you will light the heap of twigs at +your feet and warm me by it, your charity shall not be wasted.' +For Christian charity then the youth, having his sword ready, cut him +down, and the gallows knave fell on his feet and warmed himself at +the lit fire. 'And now,' said he, being warmed, 'you must take me up +behind your saddle; for there is a plot laid to-night from which I +only can deliver you.' So they mounted and rode together to the +house, where, having entered the garden by stealth, they found the +ladder ready set. 'You must let me climb first,' said the knave; and +had no sooner reached the ladder's top than two or three pistol shots +were fired upon him from the window and as many hands reached out and +stabbed him through and through until he dropped into the ditch; +whence, however, he sprang on his feet, and catching our hidalgo by +the arm hurried him back through the garden to the gate where his +horse stood tethered. There they mounted and rode away into safety, +the dead behind the living. 'All this is enchantment to me,' said +the youth as they went. 'But I must thank you, my friend; for +whether dead or alive--and to my thinking you must be doubly dead-- +you have rendered me a great service.' 'You may say a mass for me, +and thank you,' the dead man answered; 'but for the service you must +thank the Mother of God, who commanded me and gave me power to +deliver you, and has charged me to tell you the reason of her +kindness: which is, that every day you say her rosary.' 'I do thank +her and bless her then,' replied the youth, 'and henceforth will I +say her rosary not once daily but thrice, for that she hath preserved +my life to-night.'" + +"A very proper resolution," said my uncle. + +"And I hope, sir, he kept it," chimed in Billy Priske; "good +Protestant though I be." + +"The story is not ended," said my father. "The dead man--they were +dismounted now and close under the gallows--looked at the young man +angrily, and said he, 'I doubt Our Lady's pains be wasted, after all. +Is it possible, sir, you think she sent me to-night to save your +life?' 'For what else?' inquired the youth. 'To save your soul, +sir, and your lady's; both of which (though you guessed not or forgot +it) stood in jeopardy just now, so that the gate open to you was +indeed the gate of Hell. Pray hang me back as you found me," he +concluded, 'and go your ways for a fool.'" + +"Now see what happened. The murderers in the house, coming down to +bury the body and finding it not, understood that the young man had +not come alone; from which they reasoned that his servants had +carried him off and would publish the crime. They therefore, with +their master, hurriedly fled out of the country. The lady betook +herself to a religious house, where in solitude questioning herself +she found that in will, albeit not in act, she had been less than +faithful. As for the hidalgo, he rode home and shut himself within +doors, whence he came forth in a few hours as a man from a +sepulchre--which, indeed, to his enemies he evidently was when they +heard that he was abroad and unhurt whom they had certainly stabbed +to death; and to his friends almost as great a marvel when they +perceived the alteration of his life; yea, and to himself the +greatest of all, who alone knew what had passed, and, as by +enchantment his life had taken this turn, so spent its remainder like +a man enchanted rather than converted. I am told," my father +concluded, "though the sermon says nothing about it, that he and the +lady came in the end, and as by an accident, to be buried side by +side, at a little distance, in the Chapel of Our Lady of Succour in +the Cathedral church of Valencia, and there lie stretched--two +parallels of dust--to meet only at the Resurrection when the desires +of all dust shall be purged away." + +With this story my father beguiled the road down into Guildford, and +of his three listeners I was then the least attentive. +Years afterwards, as you shall learn, I had reason to remember it. + +At Guildford, where we fed ourselves and hired a relay of horses, I +took Billy aside and questioned him (forgetting the example of Isaac) +why we were going to London and on what business. He shook his head. + +"Squire knows," said he. "As for me, a still tongue keeps a wise +head, and moreover I know not. Bain't it enough for 'ee to be quit +of school and drinking good ale in the kingdom o' Guildford? +Very well, then." + +"Still, one cannot help wondering," said I, half to myself; but Billy +dipped his face stolidly within his pewter. + +"The last friend a man should want to take up with is his Future," +said he, sagely. "I knows naught about en but what's to his +discredit--as that I shall die sooner or later, a thing that goes +against my stomach; or that at the best I shall grow old, which runs +counter to my will. He's that uncomfortable, too, you can't please +him. Take him hopeful, and you're counting your chickens; take him +doleful, and foreboding is worse than witchcraft. There was a +Mevagissey man I sailed with as a boy--and your father's tale just +now put me in mind of him--paid half a crown to a conjurer, one time, +to have his fortune told; which was, that he would marry the ugliest +maid in the parish. Whereby it preyed on his mind till he hanged +hisself. Whereby along comes the woman in the nick o' time, cuts him +down, an' marries him out o' pity while he's too weak to resist. +That's your Future; and, as I say, I keeps en at arm's length." + +With this philosophy of Billy I had to be content and find my own +guesses at the mystery. But as the afternoon wore on I kept no hold +on any speculation for more than a few minutes. I was saddle-weary, +drowsed with sunburn and the moving landscape over which the sun, +when I turned, swam in a haze of dust. The villages crowded closer, +and at the entry of each I thought London was come; but anon the +houses thinned and dwindled and we were between hedgerows again. +So it lasted, village after village, until with the shut of night, +when the long shadows of our horses before us melted into dusk, a +faint glow opened on the sky ahead and grew and brightened. +I knew it: but even as I saluted it my chin dropped forward and I +dozed. In a dream I rode through the lighted streets, and at the +door of our lodgings my father lifted me down from the saddle. + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +I ACQUIRE A KINGDOM. + + + "_Gloucester_. The trick of that voice I do well remember: + Is't not the king?" + "_Lear_. Ay, every inch a king." + _King Lear_. + +From our lodgings, which were in Bond Street, we sallied forth next +morning to view the town; my father leading us first by way of St. +James's and across the Park to the Abbey, and on the way holding +discourse to which I recalled myself with difficulty from London's +shows and wonders--his Majesty's tall guards at the palace gates, the +gorgeous promenaders in the Mall, the swans and wild fowl on the +lake. + +"I wish you to remark, my dear child," said he, "that between a +capital and solitude there is no third choice; nor, I would add, can +a mind extract the best of solitude unless it bring urbanity to the +wilderness. Your rustic is no philosopher, and your provincial +townsman is the devil: if you would meditate in Arden, your company +must be the Duke, Jaques, Touchstone--courtiers all--or, again, +Rosalind, the Duke's daughter, if you would catch the very mood of +the forest. I tell you this, child, that you may not be misled by my +example (which has a reason of its own and, I trust, an excuse) into +shunning your destiny though it lead and keep you in cities and among +crowds; for we have it on the word of no less busy a man than the +Emperor Marcus Aurelius that to seek out private retiring-rooms for +the soul such as country villages, the sea-shore, mountains, is but a +mistaken simplicity, seeing that at what time soever a man will it is +in his power to retire into himself and be at rest, dwelling within +the walls of a city as in a shepherd's fold of the mountain. So also +the sainted Juan de Avila tells us that a man who trusts in God may, +if he take pains, recollect God in streets and public places better +than will a hermit in his cell; and the excellent Archbishop of +Cambrai, writing to the Countess of Gramont, counselled her to +practise recollection and give a quiet thought to God at dinner times +in a lull of the conversation, or again when she was driving or +dressing or having her hair arranged; these hindrances (said he) +profited more than any _engouement_ of devotion. + +"But," he went on, "to bear yourself rightly in a crowd you must +study how one crowd differs from another, and how in one city you may +have that great orderly movement of life (whether of business or of +pleasure) which is the surrounding joy of princes in their palaces, +and an insensate mob, which is the most brutal and vilest aspect of +man. For as in a thronged street you may learn the high meaning of +citizenship, so in a mob you may unlearn all that makes a man +dignified. Yet even the mob you should study in a capital, as +Shakespeare did in his 'Julius Caesar' and 'Coriolanus;' for only so +can you know it in its quiddity. I conjure you, child, to get your +sense of men from their capital cities." + +He had something to tell of almost every great house we passed. +He seemed--he that had saluted no one as we crossed the Mall, saluted +of none--to walk this quarter of London with a proprietary tread; and +by and by, coming to the river, he waved an arm and broke into +panegyric. + +"Other capitals have had their turn, and others will overtake and +outstrip her; but where is one in these times to compare with London? +Where in Europe will you see streets so well ordered, squares so +spacious, houses so comfortable, yet elegant, as in this mile east +and south of Hyde Park? Where such solid, self-respecting wealth as +in our City? Where such merchant-princes and adventurers as your +Whittingtons and Greshams? Where half its commerce? and where a +commerce touched with one tithe of its imagination? Where such a +river, for trade as for pageants? On what other shore two buildings +side by side so famous, the one for just laws, civil security, +liberty with obedience, the other for heroic virtues resumed, with +their propagating dust, into the faith which sowed all and, having +reaped, renews?" + +In the Abbey--where my Uncle Gervase was forced to withdraw behind a +pillar and rub Billy Priske's neck, which by this time had a crick in +it--my father's voice, as he moved from tomb to tomb, deepened to a +regal solemnity. He repeated Beaumont's great lines-- + + "Mortality, behold and fear! + What a change of flesh is here!" + +laying a hand on my shoulder the while; and in the action I +understood that this and all his previous discourse was addressed to +me with a purpose, and that somehow our visit to London had to do +with that purpose. + + "Here they lie had realms and lands + Who now want strength to stir their hands; + Where from their pulpits seal'd with dust + They preach 'In greatness is no trust' . . . + Here are sands, ignoble things, + Dropt from the ruin'd sides of kings. . . ." + +I must have fallen a-wondering while he quoted in a low sonorous +voice, like a last echo of the great organ, rolling among the arches; +for as it ceased I came to myself with a start and found his eyes +searching me; also his hold on my shoulder had stiffened, and he held +me from him at arm's length. + +"And yet," said he, as if to himself, "this dust is the strongest man +can build with; and we must build in our generation--quickly, +trusting in the young firm flesh; yes, quickly--and trusting--though +we know what its end must be." + +These last words he muttered, and afterwards seemed to fall into a +meditation, which lasted until we found ourselves outside the Abbey +and in the light again. + +From Westminster we took boat to Blackfriars, and, landing there, +walked up through the crowded traffic to a gateway opening into +Clement's Inn. I did not know its name at the time, nor did I regard +the place as we entered, being yet fascinated with the sight of +Temple Bar and of the heads of four traitors above it on poles, +blackening in the sun; but within the courtyard we turned to the +right and mounted a staircase to the head of the second flight and to +a closed door on which my father knocked. A clerk opened, and +presently we passed through an office into a well-sized room where, +from amid a pile of books, a grave little man rose, reached for his +wig, and, having adjusted it, bowed to us. + +"Good morning! Good morning, gentlemen! Ah--er--Sir John +Constantine, I believe?" + +My father bowed. "At your service, Mr. Knox. You received my +letter, then? Let me present my brother-in-law and man of affairs, +Mr. Gervase Arundel, who will discuss with you the main part of our +business; also my son here, about whom I wrote to you." + +"Eh? Eh?" Mr. Knox, after bowing to my uncle, put on his +spectacles, took them off, wiped them, put them on again, and +regarded me benevolently. "Eh? so this is the boy--h'm--Jasper, I +believe?" + +"Prosper," my father corrected. + +"Ah, to be sure--Prosper--and I hope he will, I'm sure." Mr. Knox +chuckled at his mild little witticism and twinkled at me jocosely. +"Your letter, Sir John? Yes, to be sure, I received it. What you +propose is practicable, though irregular." + +"Irregular?" + +"Not legally irregular--oh no, not in the least. Legally the thing's +as simple as A B C. The man has only to take the benefit of the Act +of Insolvency, assign his estate to his creditors, and then-- +supposing that they are agreed--" + +"There can be no question of their agreement or disagreement. +His creditors do not exist. As I told you, I have paid them off, +bought up all their debts, and the yes or no rests with me alone." + +"Quite so; I was merely putting it as the Act directs. Very well +then, supposing _you_ agree, nothing more is necessary than an +appearance--a purely formal appearance--at the Old Bailey, and your +unfortunate friend--" + +"Pardon me," my father put in; "he is not my friend." + +"Eh?" . . . Mr. Knox removed his spectacles, breathed on them, and +rubbed them, while he regarded my father with a bewildered air. +"You'll excuse me . . . but I must own myself entirely puzzled. +Even for a friend's sake, as I was about to protest, your conduct, +sir, would be Quixotic; yes, yes, Quixotic in the highest degree, the +amount being (as you might say) princely, and the security--" +Mr. Knox paused and expressed his opinion of the security by a +pitying smile. "But if," he resumed, "this man be not even your +friend, then, my dear sir, I can merely wonder." + +For a moment my father seemed about to argue with him, but checked +himself. + +"None the less the man is very far from being my friend," he answered +quietly. + +"But surely--surely, sir, you cannot be doing this in any hope to +recover what he already owes you! That were indeed to throw the +helve after the hatchet. Nay, sir, it were madness--stark madness!" + +My father glanced at my uncle Gervase, who stood pulling his lip; +then, with an abrupt motion, he turned on Mr. Knox again. + +"You have seen him? You delivered my letter?" + +"I did." + +"What was his answer?" + +Mr. Knox shrugged his shoulders. "He jumped at it, of course." + +"And the boy, here! What did he say about the boy?" + +"Well, to speak truth, Sir John, he seemed passably amused by the +whole business. The fact is, prison has broken him up. A fine +figure he must have been in his time, but a costly one to maintain + . . . as tall as yourself, Sir John, if not taller; and florid, as +one may say; the sort of man that must have exercise and space and a +crowd to admire him, not to mention wine and meats and female +society. The Fleet has broken down all that. Even with liberty I +wouldn't promise him another year of life; and, unless I'm mistaken, +he knows his case. A rare actor, too! It wouldn't surprise me if +he'd even deceived himself. But the mask's off. Your offer +overjoyed him; that goes without saying. In spite of all your past +generosity, this new offer obviously struck him for the moment as too +good to be true. But I cannot say, Sir John, that he made any +serious effort to keep up the imposture or pretend that the security +which he can offer is more than a sentimental one. Not to put too +fine a point on it, he ordered in a couple of bottles of wine at my +expense, and over the second I left him laughing." + +My father frowned. "And yet this man, Mr. Knox, is an anointed +king." + +"Of Corsica!" Mr. Knox shrugged his shoulders. "You may take my +word for it, he's an anointed actor." + +"One can visit him, I suppose?" + +"At the most the turnkey will expect five shillings. Oh dear me yes! +For a crowned head he's accessible." + +My father took me by the arm. "Come along, then, child. And you, +Gervase, get your business through with Mr. Knox and follow us, if +you can, in half an hour. You"--he turned to Billy Priske--"had best +come with us. 'Tis possible I may need you all for witnesses." + +He walked me out and downstairs and through the lodge gateway; and so +under Temple Bar again and down Fleet Street through the throng; till +near the foot of it, turning up a side street out of the noise, we +found ourselves in face of a gateway which could only belong to a +prison. The gate itself stood open, but the passage led to an +iron-barred door, and in the passage--which was cool but +indescribably noisome--a couple of children were playing marbles, +with half a dozen turnkeys looking on and (I believe) betting on the +game. + +My father sniffed the air in the passage and turned to me. + +"Gaol-fever," he announced. "Please God, child, we won't be in it +long." + +He rescued Billy from the two urchins who had dropped their game to +pinch his calves, and addressed a word to one of the turnkeys, at the +same time passing a coin. The fellow looked at it and touched his +hat. + +"Second court, first floor, number thirty-seven." He opened a wicket +in the gate. "This way, please, and sharp to the left." + +The narrow court into which we descended by a short flight of steps +was, as I remember, empty; but passing under an archway and through a +kind of tunnel we entered a larger one crowded with men, some +gathered in groups, others pacing singly and dejectedly, the most of +them slowly too, with bowed heads, but three or four with fierce +strides as if in haste to keep an appointment. One of them, coming +abreast of us as the turnkey led us off to a staircase on the left, +halted, drew himself up, stared at us for a moment with vacant eyes, +and hurried by; yet before we mounted the stairs I saw him reach the +farther wall, wheel, and come as hastily striding back. + +The stairway led to a filthy corridor, pierced on the left with a row +of tiny windows looking on the first and empty courtyard; and on the +right with a close row of doors, the most of which stood open and +gave glimpses of foul disordered beds, broken meats, and barred +windows crusted with London grime. The smell was pestilential. +Our turnkey rapped on one of the closed doors, and half-flung, +half-kicked it open; for a box had been set against it on the inside. + +"Visitors for the Baron!" he announced, and stood aside to let us +enter. My father had ordered Billy to wait below. We two passed in +together. + +Now, my father, as I have said, was tall; yet it seemed to me that +the man who greeted us was taller, as he rose from the bed and stood +between us and the barred dirty window. By little and little I made +out that he wore an orange-coloured dressing-gown, and on his head a +Turk's fez; that he had pushed back a table at which, seated on the +bed, he had been writing; and that on the sill of the closed window +behind him stood a geranium-plant, dry with dust and withering in the +stagnant air of the room. But as yet, since he rose with his back to +the little light, I could not make out his features. I marked, +however, that he shook from head to foot. + +My father bowed--a very reverent and stately bow it was too--regarded +him for a moment, and, taking a pace backward to the door, called +after the retreating turnkey, to whom he addressed some order in a +tone to me inaudible. + +"You are welcome, Sir John," said the prisoner, as my father faced +him again; "though to my shame I cannot offer you hospitality." +He said it in English, with a thick and almost guttural foreign +accent, and his voice shook over the words. + +"I have made bold, sire, to order the remedy." + +"'Sire!'" the prisoner took him up with a flash of spirit. +"You have many rights over me, Sir John, but none to mock me, I +think." + +"As you have no right to hold me capable of it, in such a place as +this," answered my father. "I addressed you in terms which my errand +proves to be sincere. This is my son Prosper, of whom I wrote." + +"To be sure--to be sure." The prisoner turned to me and looked me +over--I am bound to say with no very great curiosity, and sideways, +in the half light, I had a better glimpse of his features, which were +bold and handsome, but dreadfully emaciated. He seemed to lose the +thread of his speech, and his hands strayed towards the table as if +in search of something. "Ah yes, the boy," said he, vaguely. + +The turnkey entering just then with two bottles of wine, my father +took one from him and filled an empty glass that stood on the table. +The prisoner's fingers closed over it. + +"I have much to drown," he explained, as, having gulped down the +wine, he refilled his glass at once, knocking the bottle-neck on its +rim in his clattering haste. "Excuse me; you'll find another glass +in the cupboard behind you. . . . Yes, yes, we were talking of the +boy. . . . Are you filled? . . . We'll drink to his health!" + +"To your health, Prosper," said my father, gravely, and drank. + +"But, see here--I received your letter right enough, and it sounds +too good to be true. Only "--and into the man's eyes there crept a +sudden cunning--"I don't understand what you want of me." + +"You may think it much or little; but all we want--or, rather, all my +boy wants--is your blessing." + +"So I gathered; and that's funny, by God! _My_ blessing--mine--and +here!" He flung out a hand. "I've had some strange requests in my +time; but, damn me, if I reckoned that any man any longer wanted my +blessing." + +"My son does, though; and even such a blessing as your own son would +need, if you had one. You understand?"--for the prisoner's eyes had +wandered to the barred window--"I mean the blessing of Theodore the +First." + +"You are a strange fellow, John Constantine," was the answer, in a +weary, almost pettish tone. "God knows I have more reason to be +grateful to you than to any man alive--" + +"But you find it hard? Then give it over. You may do it with the +lighter heart since gratitude from you would be offensive to me." + +"If you played for this--worthless prize as it is--from the +beginning--" + +Again my father took him up; and, this time, sternly. "You know +perfectly well that I never played for this from the beginning; nor +had ever dreamed of it while there was a chance that you--or _she_-- +might leave a child. I will trouble you--" My father checked +himself. "Your pardon, I am speaking roughly. I will beg you, sire, +to remember first, that you claimed and received my poor help while +there was yet a likelihood of your having children, before your wife +left you, and a good year before I myself married or dreamed of +marrying. I will beg you further to remember that no payment of what +you owed to me was ever enforced, and that the creditors who sent you +and have kept you here are commercial persons with whom I had nothing +to do; whose names until the other day were strange to me. _Now_ I +will admit that I play for a kingdom." + +"You really think it worth while?" The prisoner, who had stood all +this time blinking at the window, his hands in the pockets of his +dirty dressing-gown, turned again to question him. + +"I do." + +"But listen a moment. I have had too many favours from you, and I +don't want another under false pretences. You may call it a too-late +repentance, but the fact remains that I don't. Liberty?"--he +stretched out both gaunt arms, far beyond the sleeves of his gown, +till they seemed to measure the room and to thrust its walls wide. +"Even with a week to live I would buy it dear--you don't know, John +Constantine, how you tempt me--but not at that price." + +"Your title is good. I will take the risk." + +"How good or how bad my title is, you know. 'Tis the inheritance +against which I warn you." + +"I take the risk," my father repeated, "if you will sign." + +The prisoner shrugged his shoulders and helped himself to another +glassful. + +"We must have witnesses," said my father, "Have you a clergyman in +this den?" + +"To be sure we have. The chaplain, we call him Figg--Jonathan Figg's +his name; the Reverend Jonathan Figg, B.A., of Sydney Sussex College, +Cambridge; a good fellow and a moderately hard drinker. He spends +the best part of his morning marrying up thieves and sailors to +trulls; but he's usually leaving church about this time, if a +messenger can catch him before he's off to breakfast with 'em. +Half an hour hence he'll be too drunk to sign his name." + +"Prosper"--my father swung round on me--"run you down to Billy and +take him off to search for this clergyman. If on your way you meet +with your uncle and Mr. Knox, say that we shall require them, too, as +witnesses." + +I ran down to the courtyard, but no Billy could I see; only the +dejected groups of prisoners, and among them the one I had marked +before, still fiercely striding, and still, at the wall, returning +upon his track. I hurried out to the gate, and there, to my +amazement, found Billy in the clutches of a strapping impudent wench +and surrounded by a ring of turnkeys, who were splitting their sides +with laughter. + +"I won't!" he was crying. "I'm a married man, I tell 'ee, and the +father of twelve!" + +"Oh, Billy!" I cried, aghast at the lie. + +"There was no other way, lad. For the Lord's sake fetch Squire to +deliver me?" + +Before I could answer or ask what was happening, the damsel rounded +on me. + +"Boy," she demanded, "is this man deceiving me?" + +"As for that, ma'am," I answered, "I cannot say. But that he's a +bachelor I believe; and that he hates women I have his word over and +over." + +"Then he shall marry me or fight me," she answered very coolly, and +began to strip off her short bodice. + +"There's twelve o'clock," announced one of the turnkeys, as the first +stroke sounded from the clock above us over the prison gateway. "Too +late to be married to-day; so a fight it is." + +"A ring! a ring!" cried the others. + +I looked in Billy's face, and in all my life (as I have since often +reminded him) I never saw a man worse scared. The woman had actually +thrown off her jacket and stood up in a loose under-bodice that left +her arms free--and exceedingly red and brawny arms they were. +How he had come into this plight I could guess as little as what the +issue was like to be, when in the gateway there appeared my uncle and +Mr. Knox, and close at their heels a rabble of men and women +arm-in-arm, headed by a red-nosed clergyman with an immense white +favour pinned to his breast. + +"Hey? What's to do--what's to do!" inquired Mr. Knox. + +The clergyman thrust past him with a "Pardon me, sir," and addressed +the woman. "What's the matter, Nan? Is the bridegroom fighting +shy?" + +"Please your reverence, he tells me he's the father of twelve." + +"H'm." The priest cocked his head on one side. "You find that an +impediment?" + +"_And_ a married man, your reverence." + +"Then he has the laughing side of you, this time," said his +reverence, promptly, and took snuff. "Tut, tut, woman--down with +your fists, button up your bodice, and take disappointment with a +better grace. Come, no nonsense, or you'll start me asking what's +become of the last man I married ye to." + +"Sir," interposed my uncle, "I know not the head or tail of this +quarrel. But this man Priske is my brother's servant, and if he told +the lady what she alleges, for the credit of the family I must +correct him. In sober truth he's a bachelor, and no more the father +of twelve than I am." + +This address, delivered with entire simplicity, set the whole company +gasping. Most of all it seemed to astonish the woman, who could not +be expected to know that my uncle's chivalry accepted all her sex, +the lowest with the highest, in the image in which God made it and +without defacement. + +The priest was the first to recover himself. "My good sir," said he, +"your man may be the father of twelve or the father of lies; but I'll +not marry him after stroke of noon, for that's my rule. Moreover"-- +he swept a hand towards the bridal party behind him--"these turtles +have invited me to eat roast duck and green peas with 'em, and I hate +my gravy cold." + +"Ay, sir?" asked my uncle. "Do you tell me that folks marry and give +in marriage within this dreadful place?" + +"Now and then, sir; and in the liberties and purlieus thereof with a +proclivity that would astonish you; which, since I cannot hinder it, +I sanctify. My name is Figg, sir--Jonathan Figg; and my office, +Chaplain of the Fleet." + +"And if it please you, sir," I put in, "my father has sent me in +search of you, to beg that you will come to him at once." + +"And you have heard me say, young sir, that I marry no man after +stroke of noon; no, nor will visit him sick unless he be in _articulo +mortis_." + +"But my father neither wants to be married, sir, nor is he sick at +all. I believe it is some matter of witnessing an oath." + +"Hath he better than roast duck and green peas to offer, hey? No? +Then tell him he may come and witness _my_ oath, that I'll see him +first to Jericho." + +"Whereby, if I mistake not," said Mr. Knox, quietly, "your pocket +will continue light of two guineas; and I may add, from what I know +of Sir John Constantine, that he is quite capable, if he receive such +an answer, of having your blood in a bottle." + +"'Sir John Constantine?' did I hear you say. _Sir_ John +Constantine?'" queried the Reverend Mr. Figg, with a complete change +of manner. "That's _quite_ another thing! Anything to oblige Sir +John Constantine, I'm sure--" + +"Do you know him?" asked my uncle. + +"Well--er--no; I can't honestly declare that I _know_ him; but, of +course, one knows _of_ him--that is to say, I understand him to be a +gentleman of title; a knight at least." + +"Yes," my uncle answered, "he is at least that. What a very +extraordinary person!" he added in a wondering aside. + +Oddly enough, as we were leaving, I heard the woman Nan say pretty +much the same of my uncle. She added that she had a great mind to +kiss him. + +We found my father and the prisoner seated with the bottle between +them on the rickety liquor-stained table. Yet--as I remember the +scene now--not all the squalor of the room could efface or diminish +the majesty of their two figures. They sat like two tall old kings, +eye to eye, not friends, or reconciled only in this last and lonely +hour by meditation on man's common fate. If I cannot make you +understand this, what follows will seem to you absurd, though indeed +at the time it was not so. + +My father rose as we entered. "Here is the boy returned," said he; +"and here are the witnesses." + +The prisoner rose also. "I did not catch his name, or else I have +forgotten it," he said, fixing his eyes on me and motioning me to +step forward; which I did. His eyes--which before had seemed to me +shifty--were straight now and commanding, yet benevolent. + +"His name is Prosper; in full, John Prosper Camilio Paleologus. +Never more than one of us wears the surname of Constantine, and he +not until he succeeds as head of our house." + +"One name is enough for a king." The prisoner motioned again with +his hand. "Kneel, boy," my father commanded, and I knelt. + +"I ask you, gentlemen," said the prisoner, facing them and lifting +his voice, "to hear and remember what I shall say; to witness and +remember what I shall do; and by signature to attest what I shall +presently write. I say, then, that I, Theodore, was on the fifteenth +of April, twenty years ago, by the united voice of the people of +Corsica, made King of that island and placed in possession of its +revenues and chief dignities. I declare, as God may punish me if I +lie, that by no act of mine or of my people of Corsica has that +election been annulled, forfeited, or invalidated; that its revenues +are to-day rightfully mine to receive and bequeath, as its dignities +are to-day rightfully mine to enjoy or abdicate to an heir of my own +choosing. I declare further that, failing male issue of my own body, +I resign herewith and abdicate both rank and revenue in favour of +this boy, Prosper Paleologus, son of Constantine, and heir in descent +of Constantine last Emperor of Constantinople. I lay my hands on him +in your presence and bless him. In your presence I raise him and +salute him on both cheeks, naming him my son of choice and my +successor, Prosper I., King of the Commonwealth of Corsica. I call +on you all to attest this act with your names, and all necessary +writings confirming it; and I beseech you all to pray with me that he +may come to the full inheritance of his kingdom, and thrive therein +as he shall justly and righteously administer it. God save King +Prosper!" + +At the conclusion of this speech, admirably delivered, I--standing +with bent head as he had raised me, and with both cheeks tingling +from his salutation--heard my father's voice say sonorously, "Amen!" +and another--I think the parson's--break into something like a +chuckle. But my uncle must have put out a hand threatening his +weasand, for the sound very suddenly gave place to silence; and the +next voice I heard was Mr. Knox's. + +"May I suggest that we seat ourselves and examine the papers?" said +Mr. Knox. + +"One moment." King Theodore stepped to the cupboard and drew out a +bundle in a blue-and-white checked kerchief, and a smaller one in +brown paper. The kerchief, having been laid on the table and +unwrapped, disclosed a fantastic piece of ironwork in the shape of a +crown, set with stones of which the preciousness was concealed by a +plentiful layer of dust. He lifted this, set it on my head for a +moment, and, replacing it on the table, took up the brown-paper +parcel. + +"This," said he, "contains the Great Seal. To whose keeping "--he +turned to my father--"am I to entrust them, Sir John?" + +My father nodded towards Billy Priske, who stepped forward and tucked +both parcels under his arm, while Mr. Knox spread his papers on the +table. + + +We walked back to our lodgings that afternoon, with Billy Priske +behind us bearing in his pocket the Great Seal and under his arm, in +a checked kerchief, the Iron Crown of Corsica. + +Two mornings later we took horse and set our faces westward again; +and thus ended my brief first visit to London. Billy Priske carried +the sacred parcel on the saddle before him; and my uncle, riding +beside him, spent no small part of the way in an exhortation against +lying in general, and particularly against the sin of laying false +claim to the paternity of twelve children. + +Now, so shaken was Billy by his one adventure in London that until we +had passed the tenth milestone he seemed content enough to be rated. +I believe that as, for the remainder of his stay in London, he had +never strayed beyond sight, so even yet he took comfort and security +from my uncle's voice; "since," said he, quoting a Cornish proverb, +"'tis better be rated by your own than mated with a stranger." +But, by-and-by, taking courage to protest that a lie might on +occasion be pardonable and even necessary, he drew my father into the +discussion. + +"This difficulty of Billy's," interposed my father, "was in some sort +anticipated by Plato, who instanced that a madman with a knife in his +hand might inquire of you to direct him which way had been taken by +the victim he proposed to murder. He posits it as a nice point. +Should one answer truthfully, or deceive?" + +"For my part," answered my uncle, "I should knock him down." + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +LONG VACATION. + + + "In a harbour grene aslope whereas I lay, + The byrdes sang swete in the middes of the day, + I dreamed fast of mirth and play: + In youth is pleasure, in youth is pleasure." + Robert Wever. + +A history (you will say) which finds a schoolboy tickling trout, and +by the end of another chapter has clapped a crown on his head and +hailed him sovereign over a people of whom he has scarcely heard and +knows nothing save that they are warlike and extremely hot-tempered, +should be in a fair way to move ahead briskly. Nevertheless I shall +pass over the first two years of the reign of King Prosper, during +which he stayed at school and performed nothing worthy of mention: +and shall come to a summer's afternoon at Oxford, close upon the end +of term, when Nat Fiennes and I sat together in my rooms in New +College--he curled on the window-seat with a book, and I stretched in +an easy-chair by the fireplace, and deep in a news-sheet. + +"By the way, Nat," said I, looking up as I turned the page, +"where will you spend your vacation?" + +A groan answered me. + +"Hullo!" I went on, making a hasty guess at his case. "Has the +little cordwainer's tall daughter jilted you, as I promised she +would?" + +"A curse on this age!" swore Nat, who ever carried his heart on his +sleeve. + +I began to hum-- + + "I loved a lass, a fair one, + As fair as e'er was seen; + She was indeed a rare one, + Another Sheba queen. + Her waist exceeding small, + The fives did fit her shoe; + But now alas! sh' 'as left me, + Falero, lero, loo!" + +"Curse the age!" repeated Nat, viciously. "If these were Lancelot's +days now, a man could run mad in the forest and lie naked and chew +sticks; and then she'd be sorry." + + "In summer time to Medley + My love and I would go; + The boatmen there stood read'ly + My love and me to row," + +sang I, and ducked my head to avoid the cushion he hurled. +"Well then, there's very pretty forest land around my home in +Cornwall, with undergrowth and dropped twigs to last you till +Michaelmas term. So why not ride down with me and spend at least the +fore-part of your madness there?" + +"I hate your Cornwall." + +"'Tis a poor rugged land," said I; "but hath this convenience above +your own home, that it contains no nymphs to whom you have yet sworn +passion. You may meet ours with a straight brow; and they are fair, +too, and unembarrassed, though I won't warrant them if you run bare." + +"'Tis never I that am inconstant." + +"Never, Nat; 'tis she, always and only--" she, she, and only she"-- +and there have been six of her to my knowledge." + +"If I were a king, now--" + +"T'cht!" said I (for as my best friend, and almost my sole one, he +knew my story). + +"If a fellow were a king now--instead of being doomed to the law-- +oh, good Lord!" + +"You are incoherent, dear lad," said I; "and yet you tell me one +thing plainly enough; which is that in place of loving this one or +that one, or the cordwainer's strapping daughter, you are in love +with being in love." + +"Well, and why not?" he demanded. "Were I a king, now, that is even +what I would be--in love with being in love. Were I a king, now, so +deep in love were I with being in love, that my messengers should +compass earth to fetch me the right princess. Yes, and could they +not reach to her, if I but heard of one hidden and afar that was +worth my loving, I would build ships and launch them, enlist crews +and armies, sail all seas and challenge all wars, to win her. +If I were king, now, my love should dwell in the fastnesses of the +mountains, and I would reach her; she should drive me to turn again +and gather the bones of the seamen I had dropped overboard, and I +would turn and dredge the seas for them; for a whim she should demand +to watch me at the task, and gangs of slaves should level mountains +to open a prospect from her window; nay, all this while she should +deny me sight of her, and I would embrace that last hardship that in +the end she might be the dearer prize, a queen worthy to seat beside +me. Man, heave your great lubberly bones out of that chair and +salute a poor devil whom, as you put it, a cordwainer's daughter has +jilted." + +"Hullo!" cried I, who had turned from his rhapsody to con the news +again, and on the instant had been caught by a familiar name at the +foot of the page. + +"What is it?" + +"Why," said I, reading, "it seems that you are not the only such +madman as you have just proclaimed yourself. Listen to this: it is +headed "'Falmouth.' + + "'A Gentleman, having read that the Methodist Preachers are to + pay a visit to Falmouth, Cornwall, on the 16th, 17th, and 18th + of next month; and that on the occasion of their last visit + certain women, their sympathizers, were set upon and brutally + handled by the mob; hereby announces that he will be present on + the Market Strand, Falmouth, on these dates, with intent to put + a stop to such behaviour, and invites any who share his + indignation to meet him there and help to see fair play. + The badge to be a Red Rose pinned in the hat.'" + "'EUGENIO.'" + +"What think you of that?" I asked, without turning my head. + +"The newspaper comes from Cornwall?" he asked. + +"From Falmouth itself. My father sent it. . . . Jove!" I cried after +a moment, "I wonder if he's answerable for this? 'Twould be like his +extravagance." + +"A pity but what you inherited some of it, then," said Nat, crossly. + +"Tell you what, Nat"--I slewed about in my chair--"Come you down to +Cornwall and we'll stick each a rose in our hats and help this Master +Engenio, whoever he is. I've a curiosity to discover him: and if he +be my father--he has not marked the passage, by the way--we'll have +rare fun in smoking him and tracking him unbeknown to the +_rendezvous_. Come, lad; and if I know the Falmouth mob, you shall +have a pretty little turn-up well worth the journey." + +But Nat, still staring out of window, shook his head. He was in one +of his perverse moods--and they had been growing frequent of late-- +in which nothing I could say or do seemed to content him; and for +this I chiefly accused the cordwainer's daughter, who in fact was a +decent merry girl, fond of strawberries, with no more notion of +falling in love with Nat than of running off with her father's +apprentice. Whatever the cause of it, a cloud had been creeping over +our friendship of late. He sought companions--some of them serious +men--with whom I could not be easy. We kept up the pretence, but +talked no longer with entirely open hearts. Yet I loved him; and now +in a sudden urgent desire to carry him off to Cornwall with me and +clear up all misunderstandings, I caught his arm and haled him down +to our college garden, which lies close within the city wall; and +there, pacing the broken military terrace, plied him with a dozen +reasons why he should come. Still he shook his head to all of them; +and presently, hearing four o'clock strike, pulled up in his walk and +announced that he must be going--he had an engagement. + +"And where?" I asked. + +He confessed that it was to visit the poor prisoners shut up for debt +in Bocardo. + +I pulled a wry mouth, remembering the dismal crew in the Fleet +Prison. But though, the confession being forced from him, he ended +wistfully and as if upon a question, I did not offer to come. +It seemed a mighty dull way to finish a summer's afternoon. +Moreover I was nettled. So I let him go and watched him through the +gate, thinking bitterly that our friendship was sick and drooping by +no fault of mine. + +The truth was--or so I tried to excuse him--that beside his plaguey +trick of falling in and out of love he had an overhanging quarrel +with his father, a worthy man, tyrannous when crossed, who meant him +for the law. Nat abhorred the law, and, foreseeing that the tussel +must come, vexed his honest conscience with the thought that while +delaying to declare war he was eating his father's bread. +This thought, working upon the ferment of youth, kept him like a colt +in a fretful lather. He scribbled verses, but never finished so much +as a sonnet; he flung himself into religion, but chiefly, I thought, +to challenge and irritate his undevout friends; and he would drop any +occupation to rail at me and what he was pleased to call my phlegm. + +He had some reason too, though at the time I could not discover it. +Now, looking back, I can see into what a stagnant calm I had run. +My boyhood should have been over; in body I had shot up to a great +awkward height; but for the while the man within me drowsed and hung +fire. I lived in the passing day and was content with it. +Nat's gusts of passion amused me, and why a man should want to write +verses or fall in love was a mystery at which I arrived no nearer +than to laugh. For this (strange as it may sound) I believe the +visit to London was partly to blame. Nothing had come of it, except +that the unhappy King Theodore had gained his release and improved +upon it by dying, a few weeks later, in wretched lodgings in Soho; +where, at my father's expense, the church of St. Anne's now bore a +mural tablet to his memory with an epitaph obligingly contributed by +the Hon. Horace Walpole, since Earl of Orford. + + + Near this place is interred + THEODORE KING OF CORSICA + who died in this parish + Dec. 11, 1756 + immediately after leaving + The King's Bench Prison by + the benefit of the Act of Insolvency + in consequence of which + he registered his kingdom of Corsica + for the use of his creditors. + + The grave, great teacher, to a level brings + Heroes and beggars, galley slaves and kings; + But Theodore this moral learned ere dead: + Fate poured his lesson on his living head, + Bestow'd a kingdom, and denied him bread. + +My father, who copied this out for me, had announced in few words +poor Theodore's fate, but without particular allusion to our +adventure, which, as he made no movement to follow it up, or none +that he confided, I came in time to regard humorously as an escapade +of his, a holiday frolic, a piece of midsummer madness. The serious +part was that he had undoubtedly paid away large sums of money, and +for two years my Uncle Gervase had worn a distracted air which I set +down to the family accounts. By degrees I came to conclude, with the +rest of the world, that my father's brain was more than a little +cracked, and sounded my uncle privately about this--delicately as I +thought; but he met me with a fierce unexpected heat. "Your father," +said he, "is the best man in the world, and I bid you wait to +understand him better, taking my word that he has great designs for +you." Sure enough, too, my father seemed to hint at this in the +tenor of his conversation with me, which was ever of high politics +and the government of states, or on some point which could be +stretched to bear on these; but of any immediate design he forbore-- +as it seemed, carefully--to speak. Thus I found myself at pause and +let my youth wait upon his decision. + +Yet I had sense enough to feel less than satisfied with myself, +albeit sorer with Nat as I watched the dear lad go from me across +the turf and out at the garden gate. Nor will I swear that my eyes +did not smart a little. I was but a boy, and had set my heart on our +travelling down to Cornwall together. + +To Cornwall I rode down alone, a week later, and fell to work to idle +my vacation away; fishing a little, but oftener sailing my boat; +sometimes alone, sometimes with Billy Priske for company. + Billy--whose duties as butler were what he called a _sine qua non_, +pronounced as "shiny Canaan" and meaning a sinecure--had spent some +part of term time in netting me a trammel, of which he was +inordinately proud, and with this we amused ourselves, sailing or +rowing down to the river's mouth every evening at nightfall to set +it, and, again, soon after daybreak, to haul it, and usually +returning with good store of fish for breakfast--soles, dories, +plaice, and the red mullet for which Helford is famous above all +streams. + +Now, during these lazy weeks I had not forgotten Eugenio's +advertisement, which, on returning to my rooms that evening after +Nat's rebuff, I had clipped from the newspaper and since kept in my +pocket. For the fun of it, and to find out who this Eugenio might +be--I had given over suspecting my father--my mind was made up to +ride over to Falmouth on the 16th of July; but whether with or +without a rose in my hat I had not determined. Therefore on the +morning of the 15th, when Billy, after hauling the trammel, began to +lay our plans for the morrow, I cut him short, telling him that +to-morrow I should not fish. + +"What's matter with 'ee to-all?" he asked, smashing a spider-crab and +picking it out piecemeal from the net. "Pretty fair catch to-day, +id'n-a? spite of all the weed; an' no harm done by these varmints +that a man can't put to rights afore evenin'." + +I took the paddles without answering and pulled towards the river's +mouth, while he sat and smoked his pipe over the business of clearing +the net of weed. Around his feet on the bottom boards lay our +morning's catch--half a dozen soles and twice the number of plaice, a +brace of edible crabs, six or seven red mullet, besides a number of +gurnard and wrass worth no man's eating, an ugly-looking monkfish and +a bream of wonderful rainbow hues. A fog lay over the sea, so dense +that in places we could see but a few yards; but over it the tops of +the tall cliffs stood out clear, and the sun was mounting. A faint +breeze blew from the southward. All promised a hot still day. + +The tide was making, too, and with wind and tide to help I pulled +over the river bar and towards the creek where daily, after hauling +the trammel, I bathed from the boat; a delectable corner in the eye +of the morning sunshine, paved fathoms deep with round, white +pebbles, one of which, from the gunwale, I selected to dive for. + +The sun broke through the sea-fog around us while I stripped; it +shone, as I balanced myself for the plunge, on the broad wings of a +heron flapping out from the wood's blue shadow; it shone on the +scales of the fish struggling and gasping under the thwarts. +Divine the river was, divine the morning, divine the moment--the last +of my boyhood. + +Souse I plunged and deep, with wide-open eyes, chose out and grasped +my pebble, and rose to the surface holding it high as though it had +been a gem. The sound of the splash was in my ears and the echo of +my own laugh, but with it there mingled a cry from Billy Priske, and +shaking the water out of my eyes I saw him erect in the stern-sheets +and astare at a vision parting the fog--the vision of a tall +fore-and-aft sail, golden-grey against the sunlight, and above the +sail a foot or two of a stout pole-mast, and above the mast a gilded +truck and weather-vane with a tail of scarlet bunting. So closely +the fog hung about her that for a second I took her to be a cutter; +and then a second sail crept through the curtain, and I recognized +her for the _Gauntlet_ ketch, Port of Falmouth, Captain Jo Pomery, +returned from six months' foreign. I announced her to Billy with a +shout. + +"As if a man couldn' tell that!" answered Billy, removing his cap and +rubbing the back of his head. "What brings her in here, that's what +I'm askin'." + +"Belike," said I, scrambling over the gunwale, "the man has lost his +bearings in this fog, and mistakes Helford for Falmouth entrance." + +"Lost his bearin's! Jo Pomery lost his bearin's!" Billy regarded me +between pity and reproach. "And him sailing her in from Blackhead +close round the Manacles, in half a capful o' wind an' the tides +lookin' fifty ways for Sunday! That's what he've a-done, for the +weather lifted while we was hauling trammel--anyways east of south a +man could see clear for three mile and more, an' not a vessel in +sight there. There's maybe three men in the world besides Jo Pomery +could ha' done it--the Lord knows how, unless 'tis by sense o' smell. +And he've a-lost his bearin's, says you!" + +"Well then," I ventured, "perhaps he has a fancy to land part of his +cargo duty-free." + +"That's likelier," Billy assented. "I don't say 'tis the truth, mind +you: for if 'tis truth, why should the man choose to fetch land by +daylight? Fog? A man like Jo Pomery isn' one to mistake a little +pride-o'-the-mornin' for proper thick weather--the more by token it's +been liftin' this hour and more. But 'tis a likelier guess anyway, +the _Gauntlet_ being from foreign. 'Lost his bearin's,' says you, +and come, as you might say, slap through the Manacles; an' by +accident, as you might say! Luck has a broad back, my son, but be +careful how you dance 'pon it." + +"Where does she come from?" I asked. + +"Mediterranean; that's all I know. Four months and more she must ha' +took on this trip. Iss; sailed out o' Falmouth back-along in the +tail-end o' February, and her cargo muskets and other combustibles." + +"Muskets?" + +"Muskets; and you may leave askin' me who wants muskets out there, +for in the first place I don't know, an' a still tongue makes a wise +head." + +I had slipped on shirt and breeches. "We'll give him a hail, +anyway," said I, "and if there's sport on hand he may happen to let +us join it." + +The ketch by this time was pushing her nose past the spit of rock +hiding our creek from seaward. As she came by with both large sails +boomed out to starboard and sheets alternately sagging loose and +tautening with a jerk, I caught sight of two of her crew in the bows, +the one looking on while the other very deliberately unlashed the +anchor, and aft by the wheel a third man, whom I made out to be +Captain Pomery himself. + +"_Gauntlet_ ahoy!" I shouted, standing on the thwart and making a +trumpet of my hands. + +Captain Pomery turned, cast a glance towards us over his left +shoulder and lifted a hand. A moment later he called an order +forward, and the two men left the anchor and ran to haul in sheets. +Here was a plain invitation to pull alongside. I seized a paddle, +and was working the boat's nose round, to pursue, when another figure +showed above the _Gauntlet's_ bulwarks: a tall figure in an +orange-russet garment like a dressing-gown; a monk, to all +appearance, for the sun played on his tonsured scalp as he leaned +forward and watched our approach. + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +THE SILENT MEN. + + + "Seamen, seamen, whence come ye? + _Pardonnez moy, je vous en prie_." + _Old Song_. + +A monk he was too. A second and third look over my shoulder left me +no doubt of it. He gravely handed us a rope as we overtook the ketch +and ran alongside, and as gravely bowed when I leapt upon deck; but +he gave us no other welcome. + +His russet gown reached almost to his feet, which were bare; and he +stood amid the strangest litter of a deck-cargo, consisting mainly-- +or so at first glance it seemed to me--of pot-plants and rude +agricultural implements: spades, flails, forks, mattocks, picks, +hoes, dibbles, rakes, lashed in bundles; sieves, buckets, kegs, bins, +milk-pails, seed-hods, troughs, mangers, a wired dovecote, and a +score of hen-coops filled with poultry. Forward of the mainmast +stood a cart with shafts, upright and lashed to the mast, that the +headsails might work clear. The space between the masts was occupied +by enormous open hatchways through which came the lowing of oxen, and +through these, peering down into the hold, I saw the backs of cattle +and horses moving in its gloom, and the bodies of men stretched in +the straw at their feet. + +So much of the _Gauntlet's_ hugger-mugger I managed to discern before +Captain Pomery left the helm and hurried forward to give us welcome +on board. + +"Mornin', Squire Prosper! Mornin', Billy! You know _me_, sir--Cap'n +Jo Pomery--which is short for Job, and 'tis the luckiest chance, sir, +you hailed me, for you'm nearabouts the first man I wanted to see. +Faith, now, and I wonder how your father (God bless him) will take +it?" + +"Why, what's the matter?" asked I, with a glance at the monk, who had +drawn back a pace and stood, still silent, fingering his rosary. + +"The matter? Good Lord! isn't _this_ matter enough?" Captain Jo waved +an arm to include all the deck-cargo. "See them pot-plants, there, +and what they'm teeled [1] in?" + +"Drinking-troughs?" said I. "Or . . . is it coffins?" + +"Coffins it is. I'd feel easier in mind if you could tell me what +your father (God bless him) will say to it." + +"But what has all this to do with my father?" I demanded, and, +seeking Billy's eyes, found them as frankly full of amaze as my own. + +"Not but what," continued Captain Jo, "they've behaved well, though +dog-sick to a man from the time we left port. Look at 'em!"--he +caught me by the arm and, drawing me to the hatchway, pointed down to +the hold. "A round score and eight, and all well paid for as +passengers; but for the return journey I won't answer. It depends on +your father, and that"--with a jerk of his thumb towards the tall +monk--"I stippilated when I shipped 'em. 'Never you mind,' was the +answer I got; 'take 'em to England to Sir John Constantine.' +And here they be!" + +"But who on earth are they?" I cried, staring down into the gloom, +where presently I made out that the men stretched in the straw at the +horses' feet were monks all, and habited like the monk on the deck +behind me. To him next I turned, to find his eyes, which were dark +and quick, searching me curiously; and as I turned he made a step +forward, put out a hand as if to touch me on the shirt-sleeve, and +anon drew it back, yet still continued to regard me. + +"You are a son, signor, of Sir John Constantine?" he asked, in soft +Italian. + +"I am his only son, sir," I answered him in the same language. + +"Ah! You speak my tongue?" A gleam of joy passed over his grave +features. "And you are his son? So! I should have guessed it at +once, for you bear great likeness to him." + +"You know my father, sir?" + +"Years ago." His hands, which he used expressively, seemed to grope +in a far past. "I come to him also from one who knew him years ago." + +"Upon what business, sir!--if I am allowed to ask." + +"I bring a message." + +"You bring a tolerably full one, then," said I, glancing first at the +disorder on deck and from that down to the recumbent figures in the +hold. + +"I speak for them," he went on, having followed the glance. +"It is most necessary that they keep silence; but I speak for all." + +"Then, sir, as it seems to me, you have much to say." + +"No," he answered slowly; "very little, I think; very little, as you +will see." + +Here Captain Jo interrupted us. He had stepped back to steady the +wheel, but I fancy that the word _silenzio_ must have reached him, +and that, small Italian though he knew, with this particular word the +voyage had made him bitterly acquainted. + +"Dumb!" he shouted. "Dumb as gutted haddocks!" + +"Dumb!" I echoed, while the two seamen forward heard and laughed. + +"It is their vow," said the monk, gravely, and seemed on the point to +say more. + +But at this moment Captain Pomery sang out "Gybe-O!" At the warning +we ducked our heads together as the boom swung over and the +_Gauntlet_, heeling gently for a moment, rounded the river-bend in +view of the great house of Constantine, set high and gazing over the +folded woods. A house more magnificently placed, with forest, park, +and great stone terraces rising in successive tiers from the water's +edge, I do not believe our England in those days could show; and it +deserved its site, being amply classical in design, with a facade +that, discarding mere ornament, expressed its proportion and symmetry +in bold straight lines, prolonged by the terraces on which tall rows +of pointed yews stood sentinel. Right English though it was, it bore +(as my father used to say of our best English poetry) the stamp of +great Italian descent, and I saw the monk give a start as he lifted +his eyes to it. + +"We have not these river-creeks in Italy," said he, "nor these woods, +nor these green lawns; and yet, if those trees, aloft there, were but +cypresses--" He broke off. "Our voyage has a good ending," he +added, half to himself. + +The _Gauntlet_ being in ballast, and the tide high, Captain Pomery +found plenty of Water in the winding channel, every curve of which he +knew to a hair, and steered for at its due moment, winking cheerfully +at Billy and me, who stood ready to correct his pilotage. He had +taken in his mainsail, and carried steerage way with mizzen and jib +only; and thus, for close upon a mile, we rode up on the tide, +scaring the herons and curlews before us, until drawing within sight +of a grass-grown quay he let run down his remaining canvas and laid +the ketch alongside, so gently that one of the seamen, who had cast a +stout fender overside, stepped ashore, and with a slow pull on her +main rigging checked and brought her to a standstill. + +"_Aut Lacedaemonium Tarentum_," said the monk at my shoulder quietly; +and, as I stared at him, "Ah, to be sure, this is your Tarentum, is +it not? Yet the words came to me for the sound's sake only and their +so gentle close. Our voyage has even such an ending." + +"I had best run on," I suggested, "and warn my father of your +coming." + +"It is not necessary." + +"Nevertheless," I urged, "they can be preparing breakfast for you, +up at the house, while you and your friends are making ready to come +ashore." + +"We have broken our fast," he answered; "and we are quite ready, if +you will be so good as to guide us." + +He stepped to the hatchways and called down, announcing simply that +the voyage was ended: and in the dusk there I saw monk after monk +upheave himself from the straw and come clambering up the ladder; +tall monks and short, old monks and young and middle-aged, lean monks +and thickset--but the most of them cadaverous, and all of them yellow +with sea-sickness; twenty-eight monks, all barefoot, all tolerably +dirty, and all blinking in the fresh sunshine. When they were +gathered, at a sign from one of them--by dress not distinguishable +from his fellows--all knelt and gave silent thanks for the voyage +accomplished. + +I could see that Billy Priske was frightened: for, arising, they +rolled their eyes about them like wild animals turned loose in an +unfamiliar country, and the whites of their eyes were yellow (so to +speak) with seafaring, and their pupils glassy with fever and from +the sea's glare. But the monk their spokesman touched my arm and +motioned me to lead; and, when I obeyed, one by one the whole troop +fell into line and followed at his heels. + +Thus we went--I leading, with him and the rest in single file after +me--up by the footpath through the woods, and forth into sunshine +again upon the green dewy bracken of the deer-park. Here my +companion spoke for the first time since disembarking. + +"Your father, sir," said he, looking about him and seeming to sniff +the morning air, "must be a very rich signor." + +"On the contrary," I answered, "I have some reason to believe him a +poor man." + +He stared down for a moment at his bare feet, and the skirts of his +gown wet to the knees with the grasses. + +"Ah? Well, it will make no difference," he said; and we resumed our +way. + +As we climbed the last slope under the terraces of the house, I +caught sight of my father leaning by a balustrade high above us, at +the head of a double flight of broad stone steps, and splicing the +top joint of a trout-rod he had broken the day before. He must have +caught sight of us almost at the moment when we emerged from the +woods. + +He showed no surprise at all. Only as I led my guests up the steps +he set down his work and, raising a hand, bent to them in a very +courteous welcome. + +"Good morning, lad! And good morning to those you bring, +whencesoever they come." + +"They come, sir," I answered "in Jo Pomery's ketch _Gauntlet_, I +believe from Italy; and with a message for you." + +"My father turned his gaze from me to the spokesman at my elbow. +His eyebrows lifted with surprise and sudden pleasure. + +"Hey?" he exclaimed. "Is it my old friend--" + +But the other, before his name could be uttered, lifted a hand. + +"My name is the Brother Basilio now, Sir John: no other am I +permitted to remember. The peace of God be with you, and upon your +house!" + +"And with you, Brother Basilio, since you will have it so: and with +all your company! You bear a message for me? But first you must +break your fast." He turned to lead the way to the house. + +"We have eaten already, Sir John. As soon as your leisure serves, we +would deliver our message." + +My father called to Billy Priske--who hung in the rear of the monks-- +bidding him fetch my uncle Gervase in from the stables to the State +Room, and so, without another word, motioned to his visitors to +follow. To this day I can hear the shuffle of their bare feet on the +steps and slabs of the terrace as they hurried after him to keep up +with his long strides. + +In the great entrance-hall he paused to lift a bunch of rusty keys +off their hook, and, choosing the largest, unlocked the door of the +State Room. The lock had been kept well oiled, for Billy Priske +entered it twice daily; in the morning, to open a window or two, and +at sunset, to close them. But it is a fact that I had not crossed +its threshold a score of times in my life, though I ran by it, maybe, +as many times a day; nor (as I believe) had my father entered it for +years. Yet it was the noblest room in the house, in length +seventy-five feet, panelled high in dark oak and cedar and adorned +around each panel with carvings of Grinling Gibbons--festoons and +crowns and cherub-faces and intricate baskets of flowers. Each panel +held a portrait, and over every panel, in faded gilt against the +morning sun, shone an imperial crown. The windows were draped with +hangings of rotten velvet. At the far end on a dais stood a porphyry +table, and behind it, facing down the room, a single chair, or +throne, also of porphyry and rudely carved. For the rest the room +held nothing but dust--dust so thick that our visitors' naked feet +left imprints upon it as they huddled after their leader to the dais, +where my father took his seat, after beckoning me forward to stand on +his right. + +But of all bewildered faces there was never a blanker, I believe, +since the world began than my uncle Gervase's; who now appeared in +the doorway, a bucket in his hand, straight from the stables where he +had been giving my father's roan horse a drench. Billy's summons +must have hurried him, for he had not even waited to turn down his +shirt-sleeves: but as plainly it had given him no sort of notion why +he was wanted and in the State Room. I guessed indeed that on his +way he had caught up the bucket supposing that the house was afire. +At sight of the monks he set it down slowly, gently, staring at them +the while, and seemed in act of inverting it to sit upon, when my +father addressed him from the dais over the shaven heads of the +audience. + +"Brother, I am sorry to have disturbed you: but here is a business in +which I may need your counsel. Will it please you to step this way? +These guests of ours, I should first explain, have arrived from over +seas." + +My uncle came forward, still like a man in a dream, mounted the dais +on my father's left, and, turning, surveyed the visitors in front. + +"Eh? To be sure, to be sure," he murmured. "Broomsticks!" + +"Their spokesman here, who gives his name as the Brother Basilio, +bears a message for me; and since he presents it in form with a whole +legation at his back, I think it due to treat him with equal +ceremony. Do you agree?" + +"If you ask me," my uncle answered, after a pause full of thought, +"they would prefer to start, maybe, with a wash and a breakfast. +By good luck, Billy tells me, the trammel has made a good haul. +As for basins, brother, our stock will not serve all these gentlemen; +but if the rest will take the will for the deed and use the pump, +I'll go round meanwhile and see how the hens have been laying." + +"You are the most practical of men, brother: but my offer of +breakfast has already been declined. Shall we hear what Dom Basilio +has to say?" + +"I have nothing to say, Sir John," put in Brother Basilio, advancing, +"but to give you this letter and await your answer." + +He drew a folded paper from his tunic and handed it to my father, who +rose to receive it, turned it over, and glanced at the +superscription. I saw a red flush creep slowly up to his temples and +fade, leaving his face extraordinarily pale. A moment later, in face +of his audience, he lifted the paper to his lips, kissed it +reverently, and broke the seal. + +Again I saw the flush mount to his temples as he read the letter +through slowly and in silence. Then after a long pause he handed it +to me; and I took it wondering, for his eyes were dim and yet bright +with a noble joy. + +The letter (turned into English) ran thus-- + + "_To Sir John Constantine, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the + Star, at his house of Constantine in Cornwall, England_. + + "MY FRIEND, + + "The bearer of this and his company have been driven by the + Genoese from their monastery of San Giorgio on my estate of + Casalabriva above the Taravo valley, the same where you will + remember our treading the vintage together to the freedom of + Corsica. But the Genoese have cut down my vines long since, + and now they have fired the roof over these my tenants and + driven them into the _macchia_, whence they send message to me + to deliver them. Indeed, friend, I have much ado to protect + myself in these days: but by good fortune I have heard of an + English vessel homeward bound which will serve them if they can + reach the coast, whence numbers of the faithful will send them + off with good provision. Afterwards, what will happen? + To England the ship is bound, and in England I know you only. + Remembering your great heart, I call on it for what help you + can render to these holy men. _Addio_, friend. You are + remembered in my constant prayers to Christ, the Virgin, and + all the Saints. + + "EMILIA." + +At a sign from my father--who had sunk back in his chair and sat +gripping its arms--I passed on this epistle to my uncle Gervase, who +read it and ran his hand through his hair. + +"Dear me!" said he, running his eye over the attentive monks, "this +lady, whoever she may be--" + +"She is a crowned queen, brother Gervase," my father interrupted; +"and moreover she is the noblest woman in the world." + +"As to that, brother," returned my uncle, "I am saying nothing. +But speaking of what I know, I say she can be but poorly conversant +with your worldly affairs." + +My father half-lifted himself from his seat. "And is that how you +take it?" he demanded sharply. "Is that all you read in the letter? +Brother, I tell you again, this lady is a queen. What should a queen +know of my degree of poverty?" + +"Nevertheless--" began my uncle. + +But my father cut him short again. "I had hoped," said he, +reproachfully, "you would have been prompt to recognize her noble +confidence. Mark you how, no question put, she honours me. +'Do this, for my sake'--Who but the greatest in the world can appeal +thus simply?" + +"None, maybe," my uncle replied; "as none but the well-to-do can +answer with a like ease." + +"You come near to anger me, brother; but I remember that you never +knew her. Is not this house large? Are not four-fifths of my rooms +lying at this moment un-tenanted? Very well; for so long as it +pleases them, since she claims it, these holy men shall be our +guests. No more of this," my father commanded peremptorily, and +added, with all the gravity in the world, "You should thank her +consideration rather, that she sends us visitors so frugal, since +poverty degrades us to these economies. But there is one thing +puzzles me." He took the letter again from my uncle and fastened his +gaze on the Brother Basilio. "She says she has much ado to protect +herself." + +"Indeed, Sir John," answered Brother Basilio, "I fear the queen, our +late liege-lady, speaks somewhat less than the truth. She wrote to +you from a poor lodging hard by Bastia, having ventured back to +Corsica out of Tuscany on business of her own; and on the eve of +sailing we heard that she had been taken prisoner by the Genoese." + +"What!" My father rose, clutching the arms of his chair. Of stone +they were, like the chair itself, and well mortised: but his great +grip wrenched them out of their mortises and they crashed on the +dais. "What! You left her a prisoner of the Genoese!" He gazed +around them in a wrath that slowly grew cold, freezing into contempt. +"Go, sirs; since she commands it, room shall be found for you all. +My house for the while is yours. But go from me now." + +[1] Tilled, planted. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +HOW MY FATHER OUT OF NOTHING BUILT AN ARMY, AND IN FIVE MINUTES +PLANNED AN INVASION. + + + Walled Townes, stored Arcenalls and Armouries, Goodly Races of + Horse, Chariots of Warre, Elephants, Ordnance, Artillery, and + the like: All this is but a Sheep in a Lion's Skin, except the + Breed and disposition be stout and warlike. Nay, Number it + selfe in Armies importeth not much where the People is of weake + courage: For (as _Virgil_ saith) It never troubles a Wolfe, how + many the sheepe be."--BACON. + +For the rest of the day my father shut himself in his room, while my +uncle spent the most of it seated on the brewhouse steps in a shaded +corner of the back court, through which the monks brought in their +furniture and returned to the ship for more. The bundles they +carried were prodigious, and all the morning they worked without halt +or rest, ascending and descending the hill in single file and always +at equal distances one behind another. Watching from the terrace +down the slope of the park as they came and went, you might have +taken them for a company of ants moving camp. But my uncle never +wholly recovered from the shock of their first freight, to see man by +man cross the court with a stout coffin on his back and above each +coffin a pack of straw: nor was he content with Fra Basilio's +explanation that the brethren slept in these coffins by rule and +saved the expense of beds. + +"For my part," said my uncle, "considering the numbers that manage +it, I should have thought death no such dexterity as to need +practice." + +"Yet bethink you, sir, of St. Paul's words. 'I protest,' said he, +'I die daily.'" + +"Why, yes, sir, and so do we all," agreed my uncle, and fell silent, +though on the very point, as it seemed, of continuing the argument. +"I did not choose to be discourteous, lad," he explained to me later: +"but I had a mind to tell him that we do daily a score of things we +don't brag about--of which I might have added that washing is one: +and I believe 'twould have been news to him." + +I had never known my uncle in so rough a temper. Poor man! +I believe that all the time he sat there on the brewhouse steps, he +was calculating woefully the cost of these visitors; and it hurt him +the worse because he had a native disposition to be hospitable. + +"But who is this lady that signs herself Emilia?" I asked. + +"A crowned queen, lad, and the noblest lady in the world--you heard +your father say it. This evening he may choose to tell us some +further particulars." + +"Why this evening?" I asked, and then suddenly remembered that to-day +was the 15th of July and St. Swithun's feast; that my father would +not fail to drink wine after dinner in the little temple below the +deer-park; and that he had promised to admit me to-night to make the +fourth in St. Swithun's brotherhood. + +He appeared at dinner-time, punctual and dressed with more than his +usual care (I noted that he wore his finest lace ruffles); and before +going in to dinner we were joined by the Vicar, much perturbed--as +his manner showed--by the news of a sudden descent of papists upon +his parish. Indeed the good man so bubbled with it that we had +scarcely taken our seats before the stream of questions overflowed. +"Who were these men?" "How many!" "Whence had they come, and why?" +etc. + +I glanced at my father in some anxiety for his temper. But he +laughed and carved the salmon composedly. He had a deep and tolerant +affection for Mr. Grylls. + +"Where shall I begin!" said he. "They are, I believe, between twenty +and thirty in number, though I took no care to count; and they belong +to the Trappistine Order, to which I have ever been attracted; first, +because I count it admirable to renounce all for a faith, however +frantic, and secondly for the memory of Bouthillier de Rance, who a +hundred years ago revived the order after five hundred years of +desuetude." + +"And who was he?" inquired the Vicar. + +"He was a young rake in Paris, tonsured for the sake of the family +benefices, who had for mistress no less a lady than the Duchess de +Rohan-Montbazon. One day, returning from the country after a week's +absence and letting himself into the house by a private key, he +rushed upstairs in a lover's haste, burst open the door, and found +himself in a chamber hung with black and lit with many candles. +His mistress had died, the day before, of a putrid fever. +But--worse than this and most horrible--the servants had ordered the +coffin in haste; and, when delivered, it was found to be too short. +Upon which, to have done with her, in their terror of infection, they +had lopped off the head, which lay pitiably dissevered from the +trunk. For three years after the young man travelled as one mad, but +at length found solace in his neglected abbacy of Soligny-la-Trappe, +and in reviving its extreme Cistercian rigours." + +"I had supposed the Trappists to be a French order in origin, and +confined to France," said the Vicar. + +"They have offshoots: of which I knew but one in Italy, that settled +some fifty years back in a monastery they call Buon-Solazzo, outside +Florence, at the invitation of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. But I have +been making question of our guests through Dom Basilio, their +guest-master and abbot _de facto_ (since their late abbot, an old man +whom he calls Dom Polifilo, died of exposure on the mountains some +three days before they embarked); and it appears that they belong to +a second colony, which has made its home for these ten years at +Casalabriva in Corsica, having arrived by invitation of the Queen +Emilia of that island, and there abiding until the Genoese burned the +roof over their heads." + +The Vicar sipped his wine. + +"You have considered," he asked, "the peril of introducing so many +papists into our quiet parish?" + +"I have not considered it for a moment," answered my father, +cheerfully. "Nor have I introduced them. But if you fear they'll +convert--pervert--subvert--invert your parishioners and turn 'em into +papists, I can reassure you. For in the first place thirty men, or +thirty thousand, of whom only one can open his mouth, are, for +proselytizing, equal to one man and no more." + +"They can teach by their example if not by their precept," urged the +Vicar. + +"Their example is to sleep in their coffins. My good sir, if you +will not trust your English doctrine to its own truth, you might at +least rely on the persuasiveness of its comforts. Nay, pardon me, my +friend," he went on, as the Vicar's either cheekbone showed a red +flush, "I did not mean to speak offensively; but, Englishman though I +am, in matters of religion my countrymen are ever a puzzle to me. +At a great price you won your freedom from the Bishop of Rome and his +dictation. I admire the price and I love liberty; yet liberty has +its drawbacks, as you have for a long while been discovering; of +which the first is that every man with a maggot in his head can claim +a like liberty with yourselves, quoting your own words in support of +it. Let me remind you of that passage in which Rabelais--borrowing, +I believe, from Lucian--brings the good Pantagruel and his +fellow-voyagers to a port which he calls the Port of Lanterns. +'There (says he) upon a tall tower Pantagruel recognized the Lantern +of La Rochelle, which gave us an excellent clear light. Also we saw +the Lanterns of Pharos, of Nauplia, and of the Acropolis of Athens, +sacred to Pallas,' and so on; whence I draw the moral that +coast-lights are good, yet, multiplied, they complicate navigation." + +"And apply your moral by erecting yet another!" + +"Fairly retorted. Yet how can you object without turning the sword +of Liberty against herself? Have you never heard tell, by the way, +of Captain Byng's midshipman?" + +"Who was he?" + +"I forget his name, but he started his first night aboard ship by +kneeling down and saying his prayers, as his mother had taught him." + +"I commend the boy," said my uncle. + +"I also commend him: but the crowd of his fellow-midshipmen found it +against the custom of the service and gave him the strap for it. +This, however, raised him up a champion in one of the taller lads, +who protested that their conduct was tyrannous: 'and,' said he, very +generously, 'to-morrow night I too propose to say my prayers. +If any one object, he may fight me." Thus, being a handy lad with +his fists, he established the right of religious liberty on board. +By-and-by one or two of the better disposed midshipmen followed his +example: by degrees the custom spread along the lower deck, where the +dispute had happened in full view of the whole ship's company, seamen +and marines; and by the time she reached her port of Halifax she +hadn't a man on board (outside the ward-room) but said his prayers +regularly." + +"A notable Christian triumph," was the Vicar's comment. + +"Quite so. At Halifax," pursued my father, "Captain Byng took aboard +out of hospital another small midshipman, who on his first night no +sooner climbed into his hammock than the entire mess bundled him out +of it. 'We would have you to know, young man,' said they, 'that +private devotion is the rule on board our ship. It's down on your +knees this minute or you get the strap.' + +"I leave you," my father concluded, "to draw the moral. For my part +the tale teaches me that in any struggle for freedom the real danger +begins with the moment of victory." + +Said my uncle Gervase after a pause, "Then these Corsicans of yours, +brother, stand as yet in no real danger, since the Genoese are yet +harrying their island with fire and sword." + +"In no danger at all as regards their liberty," answered my father, +poising his knife for a first cut into the saddle of mutton, "though +in some danger, I fear me, as regards their queen. They have, +however, taken the first and most important step by getting the news +carried to me. The next is to raise an army; and the next after +that, to suit the plan of invasion to our forces. Indeed," wound up +my father with another flourish of his carving-knife, "I am in +considerable doubt where to make a start." + +"I hold," said my uncle, eyeing the saddle of mutton, "that you save +the gravy by beginning close alongside the chine." + +"I was thinking for my part that either Porto or Sagone would serve +us best," said my father, meditatively. + + +Dinner over, the four of us strolled out abreast into the cool +evening and down through the deer-park to the small Ionic temple, +where Billy Priske had laid out fruit, wine, and glasses; and there, +with no more ceremony than standing to drink my health, the three +initiated me into the brotherhood of St. Swithun. It gave me a +sudden sense of being grown a man, and this sense my father very +promptly proceeded to strengthen. + +"I had hoped," said he, putting down his glass and seating himself, +"to delay Prosper's novitiate. I had designed, indeed, that after +staying his full time at Oxford he should make the Grand Tour with me +and prepare himself for his destiny by a leisured study of cities and +men. But this morning's news has forced me to reshape my plans. +Listen-- + +"In the early autumn of 1735, being then at the Court of Tuscany, I +received sudden and secret orders to repair to Corte, the capital of +Corsica, an island of which I knew nothing beyond what I had learnt +in casual talk from the Count Domenico Rivarola, who then acted as +its plenipotentiary at Florence. He was a man with whom I would +willingly have taken counsel, but my orders from England expressly +forbade it. Rivarola in fact was suspected--and justly as my story +will show--of designs of his own for the future of the island; and +although, as it will also show, we had done better to consult him, +Walpole's injunctions were precise that I should by every means keep +him in the dark. + +"The situation--to put it as briefly as I can--was this. For two +hundred years or so the island had been ruled by the Republic of +Genoa; and, by common consent, atrociously. For generations the +islanders had lived in chronic revolt, under chiefs against whom the +Genoese--or, to speak more correctly, the Bank of Genoa--had not +scrupled to apply every device, down to secret assassination. +_Uno avolso non deficit alter_: the Corsicans never lacked a leader +to replace the fallen: and in 1735 the succession was shared by two +noble patriots, Giafferi and Hyacinth Paoli. + +"Under their attacks the Genoese were slowly but none the less +certainly losing their hold on the island. Their plight was such +that, although no one knew precisely what they would do, every one +foresaw that, failing some heroic remedy, they must be driven into +the sea, garrison after garrison, and lose Corsica altogether; and of +all speculations the most probable seemed that they would sell the +island, with all its troubles, to France. Now, for France to acquire +so capital a _point d'appui_ in the Mediterranean would obviously be +no small inconvenience to England: and therefore our Ministers--who +had hitherto regarded the struggles of the islanders with +indifference--woke up to a sudden interest in Corsican affairs. + +"They had no pretext for interfering openly. But if the Corsicans +would but take heart and choose themselves a king, that king could at +a ripe moment be diplomatically acknowledged; and any interference by +France would at once become an act of violent usurpation. (For let +me tell you, my friends--the sufferings of a people count as nothing +in diplomacy against the least trivial act against a crown.) +The nuisance was, the two Paolis, Giafferi and Hyacinth, had no +notion whatever of making themselves kings; nor would their devoted +followers have tolerated it. Yet--as sometimes happens--there was a +third man, of greater descent than they, to whom at a pinch the crown +might be offered, and with a far more likely chance of the Corsicans' +acquiescence. This was a Count Ugo Colonna, a middle-aged man, +descended from the oldest nobility of the island, and head of his +family, which might more properly be called a clan; a patriot, in his +way, too, though lacking the fire of the Paolis, to whom he had +surrendered the leadership while remaining something of a +figure-head. In short my business was to confer with him at Corte, +persuade the Corsican chiefs to offer him the crown, and persuade him +to accept it. + +"I arrived then at the capital and found Count Ugo willing enough, +though by no means eager, for the honour. He was, in fact, a +mild-mannered gentleman of no great force of character, and +frequently interrupted our conference to talk of a bowel-complaint +which obviously meant more to him than all the internal complications +of Europe: and next to his bowel-complaint--but some way after--he +prized his popularity, which ever seemed more important than his +country's welfare: or belike he confused the two. He was at great +pains to impress me with the sacrifices he had made for Corsica-- +which in the past had been real enough: but he had come to regard +them chiefly as matter for public speaking, or excuse for public +bowing and lifting of the hat. You know the sort of man, I dare say. +To pass that view of life, at his age, is the last test of greatness. + +"Still, the notion of being crowned King of Corsica tickled his +vanity, and would have tickled it more had he begotten a son to +succeed him. It opened new prospects of driving through crowds and +bowing and lifting his hat: and he turned pardonably sulky when the +two Paolis treated my proposals with suspicion. They had an immense +respect for England as the leader of the free peoples: but they +wanted to know why in Tuscany I had not taken their Count Rivarola +into my confidence. In fact they were in communication with their +plenipotentiary already, and half way towards another plan, of which +very excusably they allowed me to guess nothing. + +"The upshot was that my interference threw Count Ugo into a pet with +them. He only wanted them to press him; was angry at not being +pressed; yet believed that they would repent in time. Meanwhile he +persuaded me to ride back with him to one of his estates, a palace +above the valley of the Taravo. + +"I know not why, but ever the vow of Jephthah comes to my mind as I +remember how we rode up the valley to Count Ugo's house in the hour +before sunset. 'And behold, his daughter came out to meet him with +timbrels and with dances, and she was his only child.' He had made +no vow and was incapable, poor man, of keeping any so heroic; and she +came out with no timbrel or dance, but soberly enough in her +sad-coloured dress of the people. Yet she came out while we rode a +good mile off, and waited for us as we climbed the last slope, and +she was his only child. + +"How shall I tell you of her? She helped my purpose nothing, for at +first she was vehemently opposed to her father's consenting to be +king. Her politics she derived in part from the reading of +Plutarch's Lives and in part from her own simplicity. They were +childish, utterly: yet they put me to shame, for they glowed with the +purest love of her country. She has walked on fiery ploughshares +since then; she has trodden the furnace, and her beautiful bare feet +are seared since they trod the cool vintage with me on the slopes +above the Taravo. . . . Priske, open the first of those bottles, +yonder, with the purple seal! Here is that very wine, my friends. +Pour and hold it up to the sunset before you taste. Had ever wine +such a royal heart? I will tell you how to grow it. Choose first of +all a vineyard facing south, between mountains and the sea. Let it +lie so that it drinks the sun the day through; but let the protecting +mountains carry perpetual snow to cool the land breeze all the night. +Having chosen your site, drench it for two hundred years with the +blood of freemen; drench it so deep that no tap-root can reach down +below its fertilizing virtue. Plant it in defeat, and harvest it in +hope, grape by grape, fearfully, as though the bloom on each were a +state's ransom. Next treat it after the recipe of the wine of Cos; +dropping the grapes singly into vats of sea water, drawn in stone +jars from full fifteen fathoms in a spell of halcyon weather and left +to stand for the space of one moon. Drop them in, one by one, until +the water scarcely cover the mass. Let stand again for two days, and +then call for your maidens to tread them, with hymns, under the new +moon. Ah, and yet you may miss! For your maidens must be clean, and +yet fierce as though they trod out the hearts of men, as indeed they +do. A king's daughter should lead them, and they must trample with +innocence, and yet with such fury as the prophet's who said 'their +blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my +raiment: for the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my +redeemed is come.' . . ." + +My father lifted his glass. "To thee, Emilia, child and queen!" + +He drank, and, setting down his glass, rested silent for a while, his +eyes full of a solemn rapture. + +"My friends," he went on at length, with lowered voice, "know you +that old song? + + "'Methought I walked still to and fro, + And from her company could not go-- + But when I waked it was not so: + In youth is pleasure, in youth is pleasure.' + +"All that autumn I spent under her father's roof, and--my leave +having been extended--all the winter following. The old Count had +convinced himself by this time that by accepting the crown he would +confer a signal service on Corsica, and had opened a lengthy +correspondence with the two Paolis, whose hesitation to accept this +view at once puzzled and annoyed him. For me, I wished the +correspondence might be prolonged for ever, for meanwhile I lived my +days in company with Emilia, and we loved. + +"I was a fool. Yet I cannot tax myself that I played false to duty, +though by helping to crown her father I was destroying my own hopes, +since as heiress to his throne Emilia must be far removed from me. +We scarcely thought of this, but lived in our love, we two. +So the winter passed and the spring came and the _macchia_ burst into +flower. + +"Prosper, you have never set eyes on the _macchia_, the glory of your +kingdom. But you shall behold it soon, lad, and smell it--for its +fragrance spreads around the island and far out to sea. It belts +Corsica with verdure and a million million flowers--cistus and myrtle +and broom and juniper; clematis and vetch and wild roses run mad. +Deeper than the tall forests behind it the _macchia_ will hide two +lovers, and under the open sky hedge off all the world but their +passion . . . In the _macchia_ we roamed together, day after day, and +forgot the world; forgot all but honour; for she, my lady, was a +child of sixteen, and as her knight I worshipped her. Ah, those +days! those scented days! + +"But while we loved and Count Ugo wrote letters, the two Paolis were +doing; and by-and-by they played the strangest stroke in all +Corsica's history. That spring, at Aleria on the east coast, there +landed a man of whom the Corsican's had never heard. He came out of +nowhere with a single ship and less than a score of attendants--to be +precise, two officers, a priest, a secretary, a major-domo, an +under-steward, a cook, three Tunisian slaves, and six lackeys. +He had sailed from Algiers, with a brief rest in the port of Leghorn, +and he stepped ashore in Turkish dress, with scarlet-lined cloak, +turban, and scimetar. He called himself Theodore, a baron of +Westphalia, and he brought with him a ship-load of arms and +ammunition, a thousand zechins of Tunis, and letters from half a +dozen of the Great Powers promising assistance. Whether these were +genuine or not, I cannot tell you. + +"Led by the two Paolis--this is no fairy tale, my friends--the +Corsicans welcomed and proclaimed him king, without even waiting for +despatches from Count Rivarola (who had negotiated) to inform them of +the terms agreed upon. They led him in triumph to Corte, and there, +in their ancient capital, crowned and anointed him. He gave laws, +issued edicts, struck money, distributed rewards. He put himself in +person at the head of the militia, and blocked up the Genoese in +their fortified towns. For a few months he swept the island like a +conqueror. + +"All this, as you may suppose, utterly disconcerted the Count Ugo +Colonna, who saw his dreams topple at one stroke into the dust. +But the chiefs found a way to reconcile him. Their new King Theodore +must marry and found a dynasty. Let a bride be found for him in +Colonna's daughter, and let children be born to him of the best blood +in Corsica. + +"The Count recovered his good temper: his spirits rose at a bound: he +embraced the offer. His grandsons should be kings of Corsica. +And she--my Emilia-- + +"We met once only after her father had broken the news to her. +He had not asked her consent; he had told her, in a flutter of pride, +that this thing must be, and for her country's sake. She came to me, +in the short dusk, upon the terrace overlooking the Taravo. +She was of heart too heroic to linger out our agony. In the dusk she +stretched out both hands--ah, God, the child she looked! so helpless, +so brave!--and I caught them and kissed them. Then she was gone. + +"A week later they married her to King Theodore in the Cathedral of +Corte, and crowned her beside him. Before the winter he left the +island and sailed to Holland to raise moneys! for the promises of the +Great Powers had come to nothing, even if they were genuinely given. +For myself, I had bidden good-bye to Corsica and sailed for Tuscany +on the same day that Emilia was married. + +"Now I must tell you that on the eve of sailing I wrote a letter to +the queen--as queen she would be by the time it reached her--wishing +her all happiness, and adding that if, in the time to come, fate +should bring her into poverty or danger, my estate and my life would +ever be at her service. To this I received, as I had expected, no +answer: nor did she, if ever she received it, impart its contents to +her husband. He--the rascal--had a genius for borrowing, and yet +'twas I that had to begin by seeking him out to feed him with money. + +"News came to me that he was in straits in Holland, and had for a +year been drumming the banks in vain: also that the Genoese, whom his +incursion had merely confounded, were beginning to lift their heads +and take the offensive again. At first he had terrified them like a +mad dog; the one expedient they could hit on was to set a price upon +his head. Certainly he had gifts. He contrived--and by sheer +audacity, mark you, backed by a fine presence--to drive them into +such a panic that, months after he had sailed, they were petitioning +France to send over troops to help them. The Corsicans sent a +counter-embassy. 'If,' said they to King Louis, 'your Majesty force +us to yield to Genoa, then let us drink this bitter cup to the health +of the Most Christian King, and die.' King Louis admired the speech +but nibbled at the opportunity. Our own Government meanwhile had +either lost heart or suffered itself to be persuaded by the Genoese +Minister in London. In the July after my Emilia's marriage, our late +Queen Caroline, as regent for the time of Great Britain, issued a +proclamation forbidding any subject of King George to furnish arms or +provisions to the Corsican malcontents. + +"And now you know, my dear Prosper, why I cast away the career on +which I had started with some ambition. My lady lacked help, which +as a British subject I was prohibited from offering. My conscience +allowed me to disobey: but not to disobey and eat His Majesty's +bread. I flung up my post, and as a private man hunted across Europe +for King Theodore." + +I ran him to earth in Amsterdam. He was in handsome lodgings, but +penniless. It was the first time I had conversed with him; and he, I +believe, had never seen my face. I found him affable, specious, +sanguine, but hollow as a drum. For _her_ sake I took up and renewed +the campaign among the Jew bankers. + +"To be short, he sailed back for Corsica in a well-found ship, with +cannon and ammunition on board, and some specie--the whole cargo +worth between twenty and thirty thousand pounds. He made a landing +at Tavagna and threw in almost all his warlike stores. His wife +hurried to meet him: but after a week, finding that the French were +pouring troops into the island, and becoming (they tell me) suddenly +nervous of the price on his head, he sailed away almost without +warning. They say also that on the passage he murdered the man whom +his creditors had forced him to take as supercargo, sold the vessel +at Leghorn, and made off with the specie--no penny of which had +reached his queen or his poor subjects. She--sad childless soul-- +driven with her chiefs and counsellors into the mountains before the +combined French and Genoese, escaped a year later to Tuscany, and hid +herself with her sorrows in a religious house ten miles from +Florence. + +"So ended this brief reign: and you, Prosper, have met the chief +actor in it. A very few words will tell the rest. The French +overran the island until '41, when the business of the Austrian +succession forced them to withdraw their troops and leave the Genoese +once more face to face with the islanders. Promptly these rose +again. Giafferi and Hyacinth Paoli had fled to Naples; Hyacinth with +two sons, Pascal and Clement, whom he trained there (as I am told) in +all the liberal arts and in undying hatred of the Genoese. +These two lads, returning to the island, took up their father's fight +and have maintained it, with fair success as I learn. From parts of +the island they must have completely extruded the enemy for a while; +since my lady made bold, four years ago, to settle these visitors of +ours in her palace above the Taravo. It would appear, however, that +the Genoese have gathered head again, and his business with them may +explain why Pascal Paoli has not answered the letter I addressed to +him, these eight months since, notifying my son's claim upon the +succession. Or he may have reckoned it indecent of me to address him +in lieu of his Queen, who had returned to the island. I had not +heard of her return. I heard of it to-day for the first time, and of +her peril, which shall hurry us ten times faster than our +pretensions. Prosper," my father concluded, "we must invade Corsica, +and at once." + +"Good Lord!" exclaimed my uncle. "How!" + +"In a ship," my father answered him as simply. "How otherwise?" + +Said my uncle, "But where is your ship?" + +Answered my father, "If you will but step outside and pick up one of +these fir-cones in the grass, you can almost toss it on to her deck. +She is called the _Gauntlet_, and her skipper is Captain Jo Pomery. +I might have racked my brain for a month to find such a skipper or a +ship so well found and happily named as this which Providence has +brought to my door. I attach particular importance to the name of a +ship." + +My uncle ran his hands through his hair. "But to invade a kingdom," +he protested, "you will need also an army!" + +"Certainly. I must find one." + +"But where?" + +"It must be somewhere in the neighbourhood, and within twenty-four +hours," replied my father imperturbably. "Time presses." + +"But an army must be paid. You have not only to raise one, but to +find the money to support it." + +"You put me in mind of an old German tale," said my father, helping +himself to wine. "Once upon a time there were three brothers--but +since, my dear Gervase, you show signs of impatience, I will confine +myself to the last and luckiest one. On his travels, which I will +not pause to describe in detail, he acquired three gifts--a knapsack +which, when opened, discharged a regiment of grenadiers; a cloth +which, when spread, was covered with a meal; and a purse which, when +shaken, filled itself with money." + +"Will you be serious, brother?" cried my uncle. + +"I am entirely serious!" answered my father. "The problem of an army +and its pay I propose to solve by enlisting volunteers; and the +difficulty of feeding my troops (I had forgotten it and thank you for +reminding me) will be minimized by enlisting as few as possible. +Myself and Prosper make two; Priske, here, three; I would fain have +you accompany us, Gervase, but the estate cannot spare you. +Let me see--" He drummed for a moment on the table with his fingers. +"We ought to have four more at least, to make a show: and seven is a +lucky number." + +"You seriously design," my uncle demanded, "to invade the island of +Corsica with an army of seven persons?" + +"Most seriously I do. For consider. To begin with, this Theodore-- +a vain hollow man--brought but sixteen, including many +non-combatants, and yet succeeded in winning a crown. You will allow +that to win a crown is a harder feat than to succeed to one. +On what reckoning then, or by what Rule-of-Three sum, should Prosper, +who goes to claim what already belongs to him, need more than seven? + +"Further," my father continued, "it may well be argued that the fewer +he takes the better; since we sail not against the Corsicans but +against their foes, and therefore should count on finding in every +Corsican a soldier for our standard. + +"Thirdly, the Corsicans are a touchy race, whom it would be impolitic +to offend with a show of foreign strength. + +"Fourthly, we must look a little beyond the immediate enterprise, and +not (if we can help it) saddle Prosper's kingdom with a standing +army. For, as Bacon advises, that state stands in danger whose +warriors remain in a body and are used to donatives; whereof we see +examples in the turk's Janissaries and the Pretorian Bands of Rome. + +"And fifthly, we have neither the time nor the money to collect a +stronger force. The occasion presses: and _fronte capillata est, +post haec Occasio calva_. Time turns a bald head to us if we miss +our moment to catch him by the forelock." + +"The Abantes," put in Mr. Grylls, "practised the direct contrary: of +whom Homer tells us that they shaved the forepart of their heads, the +reason being that their enemies might not grip them by the hair in +close fighting. I regret, my dear Sir John, you never warned me that +you designed Prosper for a military career. We might have bestowed +more attention on the warlike customs and operations of the +ancients." + +My father sipped his wine and regarded the Vicar benevolently. +For closest friends he had two of the most irrelevant thinkers on +earth and he delighted to distinguish between their irrelevancies. + +"But I would not," he continued, "have you doubt that the prime cause +of our expedition is to deliver my lady from the Genoese; or believe +that Prosper will press his claims unless she acknowledge them." + +"I am wondering," said my uncle, "where you will find your other four +men." + +"Prosper and I will provide them to-morrow," my father answered, with +a careless glance at me. "And now, my friends, we have talked +over-long of Corsica and nothing as yet of that companionship which +brings us here--it may be for the last time. Priske, you may open +another four bottles and leave us. Gervase, take down the book from +the cupboard and let the Vicar read to us while the light allows." + +"The marker tells me," said the Vicar, taking the book and opening +it, "that we left in the midst of Chapter 8--_On the Luce or Pike_. + +"Ay, and so I remember," my uncle agreed. + +The Vicar began to read-- + + "'And for your dead bait for a pike, for that you may be taught + by one day's going a-fishing with me or any other body that + fishes for him; for the baiting of your hook with a dead + gudgeon or a roach and moving it up and down the water is too + easy a thing to take up any time to direct you to do it. + And yet, because I cut you short in that, I will commute for it + by telling you that that was told me for a secret. It is this: + Dissolve gum of ivy in oil of spike, and therewith anoint your + dead bait for a pike, and then cast it into a likely place, and + when it has lain a short time at the bottom, draw it towards + the top of the water and so up the stream, and it is more than + likely that you have a pike follow with more than common + eagerness. And some affirm that any bait anointed with the + marrow of the thigh-bone of a heron is a great temptation to + any fish. + + "'These have not been tried by me, but told me by a friend of + mine, that pretended to do me a courtesy. But if this + direction to catch a pike thus do you no good, yet I am certain + this direction how to roast him when he is caught is choicely + good--'" + +"Upon my soul, brother," interrupted my uncle Gervase, removing the +pipe from his mouth, "this reads like a direction for the taking of +Corsica." + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +THE COMPANY OF THE ROSE. + + + "Alway be merry if thou may, + But waste not thy good alway: + Have hat of floures fresh as May, + Chapelet of roses of Whitsonday + For sich array ne costneth but lyte." + _Romaunt of the Rose_. + + _Somerset_. "Let him that is no coward + Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me." + _First Part of King Henry VI_. + +Early next morning I was returning, a rosebud in my hand, from the +neglected garden to the east of the house, when I spied my father +coming towards me along the terraces, and at once felt my ears +redden. + +"Good morning, lad!" he hailed. "But where is mine?" + +I turned back in silence and picked a bud for him. "So," said I, +"'twas you, sir, after all, that wrote the advertisement?" + +"Hey?" he answered. "I? Certainly not. I noted it and sent you the +news-sheet in half a hope that you had been the advertiser." + +"You were mistaken, sir." + +He halted and rubbed his chin. "Then who the devil can he be, I +wonder? Well, we shall discover." + +"You ride to Falmouth this morning?" + +"We have an army to collect," he answered, gripping me not unkindly +by the shoulder. + +We rode into Falmouth side by side in silence, Billy Priske following +by my father's command, and each with a red rose pinned to the flap +of his hat. Upon the way we talked, mainly of the Trappist Brothers, +and of Dom Basilio, who (it seemed) had at one time been an agent of +the British legation at Florence, and in particular had carried my +father's reports and instructions to and fro between Corsica and that +city, avoiding the vigilance of the Genoese. + +"A subtle fellow," was my father's judgment, "and, as I gave him +credit, in the matter of conscience as null as Cellini himself: the +last man in the world to turn religious. But the longer you live the +more cause will you find to wonder at the divine spirit which bloweth +where it listeth. Take these Methodists, who are to preach in +Falmouth to-day. I have seen Wesley, and stood once for an hour +listening to him. For aught I could discover he had no great +eloquence. He said little that his audience might not have heard any +Sunday in their own churches. His voice was hoarse from overwork, +and his manner by no means winning. Yet I saw many notorious +ruffians sobbing about him like children: some even throwing +themselves on the ground and writhing, like the demoniacs of +Scripture. The secret was, he spoke with authority: and the secret +again was a certain kingly neglect of trifles--he appeared not to see +those signs by which other men judge their neighbours or themselves +to be past help. Or take these Trappists: Dom Basilio tells me that +more than half of them are ex-soldiers and rough at that. To be sure +I can understand why, having once turned religious, an old soldier +runs to the Trappist rule. He has been bred under discipline, and +has to rely on discipline. 'Tis what he understands, and the harder +he gets it the more good he feels himself getting--" + +We were nearing the town by the way of Arwennack, and just here a +turn of the road brought us in sight of a whitewashed cottage and put +a period to my father's discourse, as a garden gate flew open and out +into the highway ran a lean young man with an angry woman in pursuit. +His shoulders were bent and he put up both hands to ward off her +clutch. But in the middle of the road she gripped him by the collar +and caught him two sound cuffs on the nape of the neck. + +She turned as we rode up. "The villain!" she cried, still keeping +her grip. "Oh, protect me from such villains!" + +"But, my good woman," remonstrated my father, reining up, +"it scarcely appears that you need protecting. Who is this man?" + +"A thief, your honour! Didn't I catch him prowling into my garden? +And isn't it for him to say what his business was? I put it to your +honour"--here she caught the poor wretch another cuff--"what honest +business took him into my garden, and me left a widow-woman these +sixteen years?" + +"Ai-ee!" cried the accused, still shielding his neck and cowering in +the dust--a thin ragged windlestraw of a youth, flaxen-headed, +hatchet-faced, with eyes set like a hare's. "Have pity on me sirs, +and take her off!" + +"Let him stand up," my father commanded. "And you sir, tell me-- +What were you seeking in this good woman's garden?" + +"A rose, sir--hear my defence!--a rose only, a small rose!" +His voice was high and cracked, and he flung his hands out +extravagantly. "Oh, York and Lancaster--if you will excuse me, +gentlemen--that I should suffer this for a mere rose? The day only +just begun too! And why, sirs, was I seeking a rose? Ay, there's +the rub." He folded his arms dramatically and nodded at the woman. +"There's the gall and bitterness, the worm in the fruit, the peculiar +irony--if you'll allow me to say so--of this distressing affair. +Listen, madam! If I wanted a rose of you, 'twas for your whole sex's +sake: your sex's, madam--every one of whom was, up to five or six +months ago, the object with me of something very nearly allied to +worship." + +"Lord help the creature!" cried the woman. "What's he telling +about? And what have you to do with my sex, young man? which is what +the Lord made it." + +"It is _not_, madam. Make no mistake about it: 'twere blasphemy to +think so. But speaking generally, what I--as a man--have to do with +your sex is to protect it." + +"A nice sort of protector you'd make!" she retorted, planting her +knuckles on her hips and eyeing him contemptuously. + +"I am a beginner, madam, and have much to learn. But you shall not +discourage me from protecting you, though you deny me the rose which +was to have been my emblem. Every woman is a rose, madam, as says +the poet Dunbar-- + + "'Sweet rose of vertew and of gentilness, + Richest in bonty and in bewty clear + And every vertew that is werrit dear, + Except only that ye are merciless--" + +"You take me? 'Merciless,' madam?" + +"I don't understand a word," said she, puzzled and angry. + +"He was a Scotsman: and you find it a far cry to Loch Awe. +Well, well--to resume-- + + "'Into your garth this day I did pursue--'" + +"by 'garth' meaning 'garden': a good word, and why the devil it +should be obsolescent is more than I can tell you--" + +But here my father cut him short. "My good Mrs. Ede," said he, +turning to the woman, "I believe this young man intended no harm to +you and very little to your garden. You are quits with him at any +rate. Take this shilling, step inside, and choose him a fair red +rose for the price and also in token of your forgiveness, while he +picks up his hat which is lying yonder in the dust." + +"Hey?" The youth started back, for the first time perceiving the +badges in our hats. "Are you too, sirs, of this company of the +rose?" His face fell, but with an effort he recovered himself and +smiled. + +"You are not disappointed, I hope?" inquired my father. + +"Why--to tell you the truth, sir--I had looked for a rendezvous of +careless jolly fellows. For cavaliers of your quality it never +occurred to me to bargain." He held up a flap of his ragged coat and +shook it ruefully. + +My father frowned. "And I, sir, am disappointed. A moment since I +took you for an original; but it appears you share our common English +vice of looking at the world like a lackey." + +"I, sir?" The young man waved a hand. "I am original? Give me +leave to assure you that this island contains no more servile +tradesman. Why, my lord--for I take it I speak to a gentleman of +title?--" + +"Of the very humblest, sir. I am a plain knight bachelor." + +The original cringed elaborately, rubbing his hands. "A title is a +title. Well, sir, as I was about to say, I worship a lord, but my +whole soul is bound up in a ledger: and hence (so to speak) these +tears: hence the disreputable garb in which you behold me. If I may +walk beside you, sir, after this good woman has fetched me the rose-- +thank you, madam--and provided me with a pin from the _chevaux de +frise_ in her bodice--and again, madam, I thank you: you wear the +very cuirass of matronly virtue--I should enjoy, sir, to tell you my +history. It is a somewhat curious one." + +"I feel sure, sir"--my father bowed to him from the saddle--"it will +lose nothing in the telling." + +The young man, having fastened the rose in his hat, bade adieu to his +late assailant with a bow; waved a hand to her; lifted his hat a +second time; turned after us and, falling into stride by my father's +stirrup, forthwith plunged into his story. + + THE TRAVELS OF PHINEAS FETT. + +"My name, sir, is Phineas Fett--" + +He paused. "I don't know how it may strike you: but in my infant +ears it ever seemed to forebode something in the Admiralty--a +comfortable post, carrying no fame with it, but moderately lucrative. +In wilder flights my fancy has hovered over the Pipe Office (Addison, +sir, was a fine writer; though a bit of a prig, between you and me)." + +"There was a Phineas Pett, a great shipbuilder for the Navy in King +Charles the Second's time. I believe, too, he had a son christened +after him, who became a commissioner of the Navy." + +"You don't say so! The mere accident of a letter . . . but it proves +the accuracy of our childish instincts. A commissionership--whatever +the duties it may carry--would be the very thing, or a +storekeepership, with a number of ledgers: it being understood that +shipping formed my background, in what I believe is nautically termed +the offing. I know not what exact distance constitutes an offing. +My imagination ever placed it within sight and sufficiently near the +scene of my occupation to pervade it with an odour of hemp and tar." + +He paused again, glanced up at my father, and--on a nod of +encouragement--continued-- + +"The nuisance is, I was born in the Midlands--to be precise, at West +Bromicheham--the son of a well-to-do manufacturer of artificial +jewellery. The only whiff of the brine that ever penetrated my +father's office came wafted through an off-channel of his trade. +He did an intermittent business in the gilding of small idols, to be +shipped overseas and traded as objects of worship among the negroes +of the American plantations. Jewellery, however, was his stand-by. +In the manufacture of meretricious ware he had a plausibility +amounting to genius, in the disposing of it a talent for hard +bargains; and the two together had landed him in affluence. +Well, sir, being headed off my boyhood's dream by the geographical +inconvenience of Warwickshire--for a lad may run away to be a sailor, +sir, but the devil take me if ever I heard of one running off to be a +supercargo, and even this lay a bit beyond my ambition--I recoiled +upon a passion to enter my father's business and increase the already +tidy patrimonial pile. + +"But here comes in the cross of my destiny. My father, sir, had +secretly cherished dreams of raising me above his own station. +To him a gentleman--and he ridiculously hoped to make me one--was a +fellow above working for his living. He scoffed at my enthusiasm for +trade, and at length he sent for me and in tones that brooked no +denial commanded me to learn the violin. + +"Never shall I forget the chill of heart with which I received that +fatal mandate. I have no ear for music, sir. In tenderer years +indeed I had made essay upon the Jew's harp, but had relinquished it +without a sigh. + +"'The violin!' I cried, though the words choked me. 'Father, +anything but that! If it were the violoncello, now--' + +"But he cut me short in cold incisive accents. 'The violin, or you +are no son of mine.' + +"I fled from the house, my home no longer. On the way to the front +door I had sufficient presence of mind, and no more, to make a +_detour_ to the larder and possess myself of the longest joint; which +my heated judgment, confusing temporal with linear measurement, +commended to me as the most lasting. It proved to be a shin of beef: +unnutritious except for soup (and I carried no tureen), useless as an +object of barter. With this and two half-crowns in my pocket I +slammed the front-door behind me and faced the future." + +Mr. Fett paused impressively. + +"And you call me an original, sir!" he went on in accents of +reproach; "me, who started in life with two half-crowns in my pocket, +the conventional outfit for a career of commercial success!" + +"They have carried you all the way to Falmouth!" + +"The one of them carried me so far as to Coventry, sir: where, +finding a fair in progress as I passed through the town, and falling +in with three bridesmaids who had missed their wedding-party in the +crowd, I spent the other in treating them to the hobby-horses at one +halfpenny a ride. Four halfpennies--there were four of us--make +twopence, and two's into thirty are fifteen rides; a bold investment +of capital, and undertaken (I will confess it) not only to solace the +fair ones but to ingratiate myself with the fellow who turned the +handle of the machine. To him I applied for a job. He had none to +offer, but introduced me to a company of strolling players who (as +fortune would have it) were on the point of presenting _Hamlet_ with +a _dramatis_ personae decimated by Coventry ale. They cast me for +'Polonius' and some other odds and ends. You may remember, sir, that +at one point the Prince of Denmark is instructed to 'enter reading.' +That stage direction I caught at, and by a happy 'improvisation' +spread it over the entire play. Not as 'Polonius' only, but as +`Bernardo' upon the midnight platform, as 'Osric,' as 'Fortinbras,' +as the 'Second Gravedigger,' as one of the odd Players--always I +entered reading. In my great scene with the Prince we entered +reading together. They killed me, still reading, behind the arras; +and at a late hour I supped with the company on Irish stew; for, +incensed by these novelties, the audience had raided a greengrocer's +shop between the third and fourth acts and thereafter rained their +criticism upon me in the form of cabbages and various esculent roots +which we collected each time the curtain fell. + +"Every cloud, sir, has a silver lining. I continued long enough with +this company to learn that in our country an actor need never die of +scurvy. But I weary you with my adventures, of which indeed I am yet +in the first chapter." + +"You shall rehearse them on another occasion. But will you at least +tell us how you came to Falmouth?" + +"Why, in the simplest manner in the world. A fortnight since I +happened to be sitting in the stocks, in the absurd but accursed town +of Bovey Tracey in Devonshire. My companion--for the machine +discommodated two--was a fiddler, convicted (like myself) of +vagrancy; a bottle-nosed man, who took the situation with such phlegm +as only experience can breed, and munched a sausage under the +commonalty's gaze. 'Good Lord,' said I to myself, eyeing him, +'and to think that he with my chances, or I with his taste for music, +might be driving at this moment in a coach and pair!' + +"'Sir,' said I, 'are you attached to that instrument of yours?' +'So deeply,' he answered, 'that, like Nero, I could fiddle if Bovey +Tracey were burning at this moment.' 'You can perform on it +creditably?' I asked. 'In a fashion to bring tears to your eyes,' he +answered me, and offered to prove his words. 'Not for worlds,' said +I; 'but it grieves me to think how Fortune distributes her favours.' +I told him of my father. 'I should like to make the acquaintance of +such a man,' said he. 'You shall,' said I; and fetching a pencil and +a scrap of paper out of my pocket, I wrote as follows:-- + + "_To Mr. Jonathan Fett, Manufacturer of Flams, + W. Bromicheham_." + + "The Public Stocks, Bovey Tracey, Devon. + June 21st (longest day)." + +"DEAR FATHER, + Adopt bearer, in lieu of + Your affectionate son, + PHINEAS." + +"The fiddler at first suspected a jest: but on my repeated assurances +took the letter thankfully, and at parting, on our release, pressed +on me the end of his sausage wrapped in a piece of newspaper. +I ate the sausage moodily and was about to throw the paper away when +my eye caught sight of an advertisement in the torn left-hand corner. +I read it, and my mind was made up. I am here, and (thanks to you, +sir) with a rose in my hat." + +By the time Mr. Fett concluded his narrative we had reached the +outskirts of the town, and found ourselves in a traffic which, +converging upon the Market Strand from every side-street and alley, +at once carried us along with it and constrained us to a walking +pace. My father, finding the throng on the Market Strand too dense +for our horses, turned aside to the Three Cups Inn across the street, +gave them over to the ostler, and led us upstairs to a window which +overlooked the gathering. + +The Market Strand at Falmouth is an open oblong space, not very wide, +leading off the main street to the water's edge, and terminating in +steps where as a rule the watermen wait to take off passengers to the +Packets. A lamp-post stands in the middle of it, and by the base of +this the preachers--a grey-headed man and two women in ugly bonnets-- +were already assembled, with but a foot or two dividing them from the +crowd. Close behind the lamp-post stood a knot of men conversing +together one of whom stepped forward for a word with the grey-headed +preacher. He wore a rose in his hat, and at sight of him my heart +gave a wild incredulous leap. It was Nat Fiennes! + +I pushed past my father and flung the open window still wider. +The grey-haired preacher had opened the Bible in his hand and was +climbing the stone base of the lamp-post when a handful of filth +struck the back of the book and bespattered his face. I saw Nat whip +out his sword and swing about angrily in the direction of the shot, +while the two women laid hands on either arm to check him; and at the +same moment my father spoke up sharply in my ear. + +"Tumble out, lad," he commanded. "We are in bare time." + +I vaulted over the window-ledge and dropped into the street; my +father after me, and Mr. Fett and Billy close behind. Indeed, that +first shot had but given the signal for a general engagement; and as +we picked ourselves up and thrust our way into the crowd, a whole +volley of filth bespattered the group of Methodists. In particular I +noted the man with whom Nat Fiennes, a minute since, had been +conversing--a little bald-headed fellow of about fifty-five or sixty, +in a suit of black which, even at thirty paces distant, showed rusty +in the sunshine. An egg had broken against his forehead, and the +yellow of it trickled down over his eyes; yet he stood, hat in hand, +neither yielding pace nor offering to resist. Nat, less patient, had +made a rush upon the crowd, which had closed around and swallowed him +from sight. By its violent swaying he was giving it something to +digest. One of the two women shrank terrified by the base of the +lamp-post. The other--a virago to look at, with eyes that glared +from under the pent of her black bonnet--had pulled the grey-headed +preacher down by his coat-tails, and, mounting in his room, clung +with an arm around the lamp-post and defied the persecutors. + +"Why am I here, friends?" she challenged them. "O generation of +vipers, why am I here? Answer me, you men of Belial--you, whose +fathers slew the prophets! Because I glory to suffer for the right; +because to turn the other cheek is a Christian's duty, and as a +Christian woman I'll turn it though you were twice the number, and +not be afraid what man can do unto me." + +Now, my father was well known in Falmouth and pretty generally held +in awe. At sight of him advancing, the throng fell back and gave us +passage in a sudden lull which reached even to where Nat Fiennes +struggled in the grasp of a dozen longshoremen who were hailing him +to the quay's edge, to fling him over. He broke loose, and before +they could seize him again came staggering back, panting and +dishevelled. + +"Prosper!" he cried, catching sight of me, and grinning delightedly +all over his muddied face. "I knew you would come! And your father, +too? Splendid, lad, splendid?" + +"Ye men of Falmouth"--the woman by the lamp-post lifted her voice +more shrilly--"what shall I testify of the hardness of your hearts? +Shall I testify that your Mayor sending his crier round, has +threatened to whip us through Falmouth streets at the cart-tail? +Shall I testify--" + +But here my father lifted a hand. "Gently, madam; gently, I am not +defending his Worship if he issued any such proclamation; but 'tis an +ancient punishment for scolds, and I advise you to lend him no colour +of excuse." + +"And who may _you_ be, sir?" she demanded, looking down, angry, but +checked in spite of herself by my father's air of authority. + +"One," he answered, "who has come to see fair play, and who has--as +you may see--for the moment some little influence with this rabble. +I will continue to exert it while I can, if you on your part will +forbear to provoke; for the tongue, madam, has its missiles as well +as the hands." + +"I thank you, sir," said the grey-headed preacher, stepping forward +and thrusting a book into my father's hands. "We had best begin with +a hymn, I think. I have some experience of the softening power of +music on these occasions." + +"We will sing," announced the woman, "that beautiful hymn beginning, +'Into a world of ruffians sent.' Common metre, my friends, and +Sister Tresize will give the pitch: + + "Into a world of ruffians sent, + I walk on hostile ground--" + +My father bared his head and opened the hymn-book; the rest of us, +bareheaded too, ranged ourselves beside him; and so we stood facing +the mob while the verses were sung in comparative quiet. The words +might be provocative, but few heard them. The tune commanded an +audience, as in Cornwall a tune usually will. The true secret of the +spell, however, lay in my father's presence and bearing. A British +crowd does not easily attack one whom it knows as a neighbour and +born superior; and it paid homage now to one who, having earned it +all his life, carelessly took it for granted. + +"Begad, sir," said Mr. Fett in my ear, "and the books say that the +feudal system is dead in England! Why, here's the very flower of it! +Damme, though, the old gentleman is splendid; superlative, sir; +it's ten to one against Coriolanus, and no takers. Between +ourselves, Coriolanus was a pretty fellow, but talked too much. +Phocion, sir? Did I hear you mention Phocion?" + +"You did not," I answered. + +"And quite right," said he; "with your father running, I wouldn't +back Phocion for a place. All the same," Mr. Fett admitted, "this is +what Mr. Gray of Peterhouse, Cambridge, would call a fearful joy, and +I'd be thankful for a distant prospect of the way out of it." + +"Indeed, sir"--my father, overhearing this, turned to him affably-- +"you touch the weak spot. For the moment I see no way out of the +situation, nor any chance but to prolong it; and even this," he +added, "will not be easy unless the lady on the lamp-post sensibly +alters the tone of her discourse." + +Indeed, at the conclusion of the singing she had started again to +address the crowd, albeit--acting on my father's hint--in more +moderate tones, and even, as I thought, somewhat tepidly. Her theme +was what she called convictions of sin, of which by her own account +she had wrestled with a surprising quantity; but in the rehearsal of +them, though fluent, she seemed to lose heart as her hearers relaxed +their attention. + +"Confound the woman!" grumbled my father. "She had done better, +after all, to continue frantic. The crowd came to be amused, and is +growing restive again." + +"Sir," interposed Mr. Fett, "give me leave to assure you that an +audience may be amused and yet throw things. Were this the time and +place for reminiscences, I could tell you a tale of Stony Stratford +(appropriately so-called, sir), where, as 'Juba' in Mr. Addison's +tragedy of _Cato_, for two hours I piled the Pelion of passion upon +the Ossa of elocutionary correctness, still without surmounting the +zone of plant life; which in the Arts, sir, must extend higher than +geographers concede. And yet I evoked laughter; from which I may +conclude that my efforts amused. The great Demosthenes, sir, +practised declamation with his mouth full of pebbles--for retaliatory +purposes, I have sometimes thought." + +Here my father, who had been paying no attention to Mr. Fett's +discourse, interrupted it with a sharp but joyful exclamation; and +glancing towards him I saw his face clear of anxiety. + +"We are safe," he announced quietly, nodding in the direction of the +Three Cups. "What we wanted was a fool, and we have found him." + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +TRIBULATIONS OF A MAYOR + + + "Like the Mayor of Falmouth, who thanked God when the Town Jail + was enlarged."--_Old Byword_. + +His nod was levelled at a horseman who had ridden down the street and +was pressing upon the outskirts of the crowd: and this was no less a +dignitary than the Mayor of Falmouth, preceded on foot by a beadle +and two mace-bearers, all three of them shouting "Way! Make way for +the Mayor!" with such effect that in less than half a minute the +crowd had divided itself to form a lane for them. + +"Eh? eh? What is this? What is the meaning of all this?" demanded +his Worship, magisterially, as, having drawn rein, he fumbled in his +tail pocket, drew forth a pair of horn spectacles, adjusted them on +his nose, and glared round upon the throng. + +"That, sir," answered my father, stepping forward, "is what we are +waiting to learn." + +"Sir John Constantine?" The Mayor bowed from his saddle. "You will +pardon me, Sir John, that for the moment I missed to recognize you. +The fact is, I suffer, Sir John, from some--er--shortness of sight: a +grave inconvenience, at times, to one in my position." + +"Indeed?" said my father, gravely. "And yet, as I have heard, 'tis a +malady most incident to borough magistrates." + +"You don't say so?" The Mayor considered this for a moment. +"The visitations of Providence are indeed inscrutable, Sir John. +It would give me pleasure to discuss them with you, on some--er--more +suitable occasion, if I might have the honour. But as I was about to +say, I am delighted to see you, Sir John: your presence here will +strengthen my hands in dealing with this--er--unlawful assembly." + +"_Is_ this an unlawful assembly?" my father asked. + +"It is worse, Sir John; it is far worse. I have been studying the +law, and the law admits of no dubiety. It is unlawful assembly where +three or more persons meet together to carry out some private +enterprise in circumstances calculated to excite alarm. Mark those +words, Sir John--" some private enterprise. "When the enterprise is +not private but meant to redress a public grievance, or to reform +religion, the offence becomes high treason." + +"Does the law indeed say so?" + +"It does, Sir John. The law, let me tell you, is very fierce against +any reforming of religion. Nay more, Sir John, under the first of +King George the First, statute two--I forget what chapter--by the Act +commonly called the Riot Act, it is enacted that if a dozen or more +go about reforming of religion or otherwise upsetting the public +peace and refuse to go about their business within the space of one +hour after I tell 'em to, the same becomes felony without benefit of +clergy." + +"Good Lord!" exclaimed Billy Priske, pulling off his hat and eyeing +the rose in its band. + +"And further," his Worship continued, "any man wearing the badge or +ensign of the rioters shall himself be considered a rioter without +benefit of clergy." + +All this while the crowd had been pressing closer and closer upon us, +under compulsion (as it seemed) of reinforcements from the waterside, +the purlieus of the Market Strand being, by now, so crowded that men +and women were crying out for room. At this moment, glancing across +the square, I was puzzled to see a woman leaning forth from a +first-floor window and dropping handfuls of artificial flowers upon +the heads of the throng. While I watched, she retired--her hands +being empty--came back with a band-box, and scattered its contents +broadcast, pausing to blow a kiss towards the Mayor. + +I plucked my father's sleeve to call his attention to this; but he +and the Mayor were engaged in argument, his Worship maintaining that +the Methodists--and my father that their assailants--were the prime +disturbers of the peace. + +"And how, pray," asked my father, "are these poor women to disperse, +if your ruffians won't let 'em?" + +"As to that, sir, you shall see," promised the Mayor, and turned to +the town crier. "John Sprott, call silence. Make as much noise +about it as you can, John Sprott. And you, Nandy Daddo, catch hold +of my horse's bridle here." + +He rose in his stirrups and, searching again in his tail-pocket, drew +forth a roll of paper. + +"Silence!" bawled the crier. + +"Louder, if you please, John Sprott: louder, if you can manage it! +And say 'In the name of King George,' John Sprott; and wind up with +'God save the King.' For without 'God save the King' 'tis no riot, +and a man cannot be hanged for it. So be very particular to say +'God save the King,' John Sprott, and put 'em all in the wrong." + +John Sprott bawled again, and this time achieved the whole formula. + +"That's better, John Sprott. And you--" his Worship turned upon the +Methodists, "you just listen to this, now--" + +"_Our sovereign Lord the King--_" + +Here, as the Methodists stood before him with folded hands, a lump of +filth flew past the Mayor's ear and bespattered the lamp-post. + +"Damme, who did that?" his Worship demanded. "John Sprott, who threw +that muck?" + +"I don't know the man's name, your Worship: but he's yonder, there, +in a striped shirt open at the neck, with a little round hat on the +back of his head; and, what's more, I see'd him do it." + +"Then take down his description, John Sprott, and write that at the +words 'Our sovereign Lord' he shied a lump of muck." + +John Sprott pulled out a note-book and entered the offence. + +"And after 'muck,' John Sprott, write 'God save the King.' I don't +know that 'tis necessary, but you'll be on the safe side." +His Worship unfolded the proclamation again, cleared his throat, and +resumed: + +"_Our sovereign Lord the King chargeth and commandeth all persons, +being assembled, immediately to disperse themselves and peacefully to +depart to their habitations or to their lawful business, upon the +pains contained in the Act made in the first year of George the First +for preventing--_" + +A handful of more or less liquid mud here took him on the nape of the +neck and splashed over the paper which he held in both hands. + +"Arrest that man!" he shouted, bouncing about in a fury. At the same +moment my father gripped my elbow as a volley of missiles darkened +the air, and we fell back--all the Company of the Rose--shoulder to +shoulder, to protect the Methodists, as a small but solid phalanx of +men came driving through the crowd with mischief in their faces. + +"But wait awhile! wait awhile!" called out Billy Priske, as my +father plucked out his sword. "These be no enemies, master, to us or +the Methodists, but honest sea-fardingers--packet-men all--and, look +you, with roses in their hats!" + +"Roses? Faith, and so they have!" cried my father, lowering his +guard. "But what the devil, then, is the meaning of it?" + +He was answered on the moment. The official whom his Worship called +Nandy Daddo had made a rush into the crowd, charging it with his mace +as with a battering-ram, and was in the act of clutching the man who +had thrown the filth, when the phalanx of packet-men broke through +and bore him down. A moment later I saw his gold-laced hat fly +skimming over the heads of the throng, and his mace wrenched from him +and held aloft in the hands of a red-faced man, who flourished it +twice and rushed upon the Mayor, shouting at the same time with all +his lungs: "Townshends! This way, Townshends!" whereat the +packet-men cheered and pressed after him, driving the crowd of +Falmouth to right and left. + +Clearly what mischief they meant was intended for the Mayor: and the +Mayor, for a short-sighted man, detected this very promptly. Also he +showed surprising agility in tumbling out of his saddle; which he had +scarcely done before the crupper resounded with a whack, of which one +of the borough maces bears an eloquent dent to this day. + +The Mayor, catching his toe in the stirrup as he slipped off, +staggered and fell at our feet. But the body of his horse, +interposed between him and the rioters, protected him for an instant, +and in that instant my father and Nat Fiennes dragged him up and +thrust him to the rear while we faced the assault. For now, and +without a word said, the Methodists were forgotten, and we of the +Rose were standing for law and order against this other company of +the Rose, of whose quarrel we knew nothing at all. + +Our attitude indeed, and the sight of drawn swords (to oppose which +they had no weapons but short cudgels), appeared to take them aback +for the moment. The press, however, closing on us, as we backed to +cover the Mayor's retreat, offered less and less occasion for sword +play; and, the seamen still advancing and outnumbering us by about +three to one, the whole affair began to wear an ugly look. + +At this juncture relief came to us in the strangest fashion. I had +clean forgotten the little Methodist man in black; whom, to be sure, +I had no occasion to remember but for the quiet resolution of his +carriage as he had stood with the burst egg trickling over his face. +But now, to the surprise of us all, he sprang forward upon the second +mace-bearer, snatched the mace from his hand and laid about him in a +sudden frenzy; at the first blow, delivered at unawares, catching the +ringleader on the crown and felling him like an ox. For a second, +perhaps, he stared, amazed at his own prowess, and with that the lust +of battle seized him. + +He rained blows; yet with cunning, running forth and back into our +ranks as each was delivered; and between the blows he capered, +uttering shrill inarticulate cries. This diversion indeed saved us. +For the rabble, pressing up to see the fun, left a space more or less +clear on the far side of the Market Strand, and for this space we +stampeded, dragging the Mayor along with us. + +The next thing I remember was fighting side by side with Nat before a +door beneath the window where I had seen the woman throwing down her +handfuls of artificial flowers. The lower windows were barred, but +the door stood open; and we fought to defend it whilst my father +lifted the Mayor of Falmouth by his coat-collar and the seat of his +breeches and flung him inside. Then we too backed and, ducking +indoors under the arms of the little man in black--who stood on the +step swinging the borough mace as though to scythe off the head of +any one who approached within five feet of it--seized him by the +coat-tails, dragged him inside and, slamming to the door (which shut +with two flaps), locked and bolted it and leant against it with all +our weight. + +Yet a common house-door is but a flimsy barricade against a mob, +especially if that mob be led by five-and-twenty stout-bodied seaman. +We had shut it merely to gain time, and when the cudgels outside +began to play tattoo upon its upper panels I looked for no more than +a minute's respite at the best. + +It puzzled me therefore when--and immediately upon two ugly blows +that had well-nigh shaken the lock from its fastenings--the shouting +suddenly subsided into a confused hubbub of voices, followed by a +clang and rattle of arms upon the cobblestones. This last sound +appeared to hush the others into silence. I stood listening, with my +hip pressed against the lock to hold it firm against the next +concussion. None came: but presently some one rapped with his +knuckles on the upper panel and a voice, authoritative but civil +enough, challenged us in the name of King George to open. + +To this I had almost answered bidding him go to the devil, when a +damsel put her head over the stair-rail of the landing above and +called down to us to obey and open at once: and looking up in the dim +light of the passage I recognized her for the one who had scattered +the flowers, just now, to the rioters. + +"Pardon me," said I, "but how shall I know you are not playing us a +trick?" + +"My good child," she replied, "open the door and don't stand arguing. +The riot is over and the square full of military. The person who +knocks is Captain Bright of the Pendennis Garrison. If you don't +believe me, step upstairs here and look out of window." + +"My father--" I began. + +"Your father is right enough, and so is that fool of a Mayor--or will +be when he has drunk down a glass of cordial." + +Nevertheless I would not obey her until I had sent Nat Fiennes +upstairs to look; who within a minute called over the stair-head that +the woman told the truth and I had my father's leave to open. +Thereupon I pulled open the upper flap of the door, and stood +blinking at a tall officer in gorgeous regimentals. + +"Hullo!" said he. "Good morning!" + +"Good morning!" said I. "And forgive me that I kept you waiting." + +"Don't mention it," said he very affably. "My fault entirely, for +coming late; or rather the Mayor's, who sent word that we weren't +needed. I took the liberty to doubt this as soon as my sentries +reported that a couple of boats' crews were putting ashore from the +_Townshend_ packet: and here we are in consequence. Got him safe?" + +"The Mayor?" said I. "Yes, I believe he is upstairs at this moment, +drinking brandy-and-water and pulling himself together." + +The Captain grinned amiably. "Sorry to disturb him," said he; +"but the mob is threatening to burn his house, and I'd best take him +along to read the Riot Act and put things ship-shape." + +"He has read it already, or some part of it." + +"Some part of it won't do. He must read the whole proclamation, not +forgetting 'God save the King.'" + +"If you can find the paper," said I, "there's a lump of mud on it, +marking the place where he left off." + +The Captain grinned again. "I doubt he'll have to begin afresh after +breaking off to drink brandy-and-water with Moll Whiteaway. For a +chief magistrate that will need some explaining. And yet," mused the +Captain, as he stepped into the passage, "you may have done him a +better turn than ever you guessed; for, when the mob sees the humour +of it, belike it'll be more for laughing than setting fire to his +house." + +"But who is Moll Whiteaway?" I asked. + +He stared at me. "You mean to say you didn't know?" he asked slowly. +"You didn't bring him here for a joke?" + +"A joke?" I echoed. "A mighty queer joke, sir, you'd have thought +it, if your men had been five minutes earlier." + +He leaned back against the wall of the passage. "And you brought him +here _by accident?_ Well, if this don't beat cock-fighting!" + +"But who is this Moll Whiteaway?" I repeated. + +The question again seemed to take his breath away. For answer he +could only point to a small brass plate in the lower flap of the +door; and, stooping, I read: _Miss Whiteaway, Milliner, Modes and +Robes_. + +"Oh!" said I. "That accounts for the band-box of flowers." + +"Does it?" he asked. + +"She flung them out of window to the packet-men." + +"Which, doubtless, seemed to you an everyday proceeding--just a +milliner's usual way of getting rid of her summer stock. My good +young sir, did you ever hear tell of a 'troacher'? Nay, spare that +ingenuous blush: Moll is a loose fish, but I mean less than your +modesty suspects. A 'troacher' is a kind of female smuggler that +disposes of the goods the packet-men bring home in their bunks; and +Moll Whiteaway is the head of the profession in Falmouth. Now, our +worthy Mayor took oath the other day to put down this smuggling on +board the packets; and he began yesterday with the _Townshend_. +He and the Port Searcher swept the ship, sir. They dug Portuguese +brandy in kegs out of the seamen's beds and parcels of silk out of +the very beams. They shook two case-bottles out of the chaplain's +breeches, which must have galled him sorely in his devotions. +They netted close on two hundred pounds' worth of contraband in the +fo'c's'le alone--" + +"Good Heavens!" I interjected. "And as the riot began he was calling +himself short-sighted!" + +Captain Bright laughed, clapped me on the shoulder and led the way +upstairs, where (strange to say) we found the Mayor again deploring +his defective vision. He lay in an easy-chair amid an army of +band-boxes, bonnet stands, and dummies representing the female +figure; and sipped Miss Whiteaway's brandy while he discoursed in +broken sentences to an audience consisting of that lady, my father, +Nat Fiennes, Mr. Fett, and the little man in black (who, by the way, +did not appear to be listening, but stood and pondered the borough +mace, which he held in his hands, turning it over and examining the +dents). + +"It is a great drawback, Sir John--a great drawback," his Worship +lamented. "A man in my position, sir, should have the eye of an +eagle; instead of which on all public occasions I have to rely on +John Sprott. My good woman"--he turned to Miss Whiteaway--"would you +mind taking a glance out of window and telling me what has become of +John Sprott?" + +"He's down below under protection of the soldiers," announced Miss +Whiteaway; "and no harm done but his hat lost and his gown split up +the back." + +"I shall never have the same confidence in John Sprott. He takes +altogether too sanguine a view of human nature. Why, only last +November--you remember the great gale of November the 1st, Sir John? +I was very active in burying the poor bodies brought ashore next day +and for several days after; for, as you remember, a couple of +Indymen dragged their anchors and broke up under Pendennis Battery: +and John Sprott said to me in the most assured way, 'The town'll +never forget your kindness, sir. You mark my words,' he said, +'this here action will stand you upon the pinnacles of honour till +you and me, if I may respectfully say it, sit down together in the +land of marrow and fatness.' After that you'd have thought a man +might count on some popularity. But what happened? A day or two +later--that is to say, on November the 5th--I was sitting in my shop +with a magnifying glass in my eye, cleaning out a customer's watch, +when in walked half a dozen boys carrying a man's body between 'em. +You could tell that life was extinct by the way his head hung back +and his legs trailed limp on the floor as they brought him in, and +his face looked to me terribly swollen and discoloured. +'Dear, dear!' said I. 'What? Another poor soul? Take him up to the +mortewary, that's good boys,' I said; 'and you shall have twopence +apiece out of the poor-box.' How d'ye think they answered me? +They bust out a-laughing, and cries one: 'If you please, sir, 'tis +meant for _you!_ 'Tis the fifth of November, and we'm goin' to burn +you in effigy.' I chased 'em out of the shop, and later on in the +day I spoke to John Sprott about it. 'Well now,' said John Sprott,' +I passed a lot of boys just now, burning a guy at the top of the +Moor, and I had my suspicions; but the thing hadn't a feature of +yours to take hold on, barrin' the size of its feet.' And that's +what you call popularity!" wound up the Mayor with bitterness. +"That's what a man gets for rising early and lying down late to serve +his country!" + +"Excuse me, Mr. Mayor," put in Captain Bright, "but they are +threatening to burn worse than your effigy fact I heard some talk of +setting fire to your house and shop. Nay," he went on as the Mayor +bounced up to his feet, "there's no real cause for alarm. I have +sent on my lieutenant with fifty men to keep the mob on the move, and +have stationed a dozen outside here to escort you home." + +"The Riot Act--where's my Riot Act?" cried his Worship, searching his +pockets. "I never read out 'God save the King,' and without +'God save the King' a man may burn all my valybles and make turbulent +gestures and show of arms, and harry and murder to the detriment of +the public peace, and refuse to move on when requested, and all the +time in the eyes of the law be a babe unborn. Where's the Riot Act, +I say? for without it I'm a lost man and good-bye to Falmouth!" + +"Then 'tis lucky that I came provided with a copy." Captain Bright +produced a paper from the breast of his tunic. + +The Mayor took it with trembling hands. "Why, 'tis a duplicity!" he +cried. "A very duplicity! and, what's more, printed in the same +language word for word." He caught the mace from the little man in +black. "Lead the way, Captain!" + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +I ENLIST AN ARMY. + + + "If I be not ashamed of my soldiers, I am a soused gurnet." + _Sir John Falstaff_. + +My father turned to me as they descended the stair. "This is all +very well, lad," said he, "but we have yet to find our army. +After the murder of Julius Caesar, now--" + +"I did enact Julius Caesar once," quoted Mr. Fett, in parenthesis. +"I was killed i' the capitol; Brutus killed me." + +My father frowned. "After the murder of Julius Caesar, when the mob +for two days had Rome at their mercy, I have read somewhere that two +men appeared out of nowhere, and put themselves at the head of the +rioters. None knew them; but so boldly they comported themselves, +heading the charges, marshalling the ranks, here throwing up +barricades, there plucking down doors and gates, breaking open the +prisons and setting fire to private houses, that presently the +whisper spread they were Castor and Pollux; till, at length, falling +into the hands of the aediles, these _dioscuri_ were found to be two +poor lunatics escaped from a house of detention. If we could +discover another such pair among the mob, now!" + +"We are wasting time here for certain," said I. "And where, by the +way, is Billy Priske?" + +"If you waste your time upstairs here, gentlemen," said Miss +Whiteaway, "belike you may do better in the parlour, where I had +prepared for some friends of mine with two-three chickens and a ham." + +"Ah, to be sure," said I; "the packet-men!" + +"Never you worry, young sir," she answered tartly, "so long as they +don't mind eating after their betters. And as for your man Priske, I +saw him twenty minutes ago escape towards Church Street with the +Methodists." + +"Hang it!" put in Nat Fiennes, "if I hadn't clean forgotten the +Methodists!" + +"We left them scurvily," said I; "every Jack and Jill of them but our +friend here." I nodded toward the little man in black. "And he not +only saved himself, but was half the battle." + +The little man seemed to come out of himself with a start, and gazed +from one to another of us perplexedly. + +"Excuse me, gentlemen." He drew himself up with dignity. +"Do my ears deceive me, or are you mistaking me for a Methodist?" + +"Indeed, and are you not, sir?" asked my father. "Why, good God, +gentlemen!--if you'll excuse me--but I'm the parish clerk of +Axminster!" + +My father recovered himself with a bow. "In Devon?" he asked +gravely, after a pause in which our silence paid tribute to the +announcement. + +"In Devon, sir; a county remarkable for its attachment to the +principles of the Church of England. And that I should have lived to +be mistaken for a Methodist!" + +"But, surely, John Wesley himself is a Clerk in Holy Orders? and, I +have heard, a great stickler for the Church's authority." + +"He may say so, sir," answered the little man, darkly. "He may say +so. But, if he means it, why does he go about encouraging such a +low class of people? A man, sir, is known by the company he keeps." + +"Is that in the Bible?" my father inquired. "I seem to remember, on +the contrary, that in the matter of consorting with publicans and +sinners--" + +"It won't work, sir. It has been tried in Axminster before now, and +you may take my word for it that it won't work. You mustn't suppose, +gentlemen," he went on, including us all in the argument, "you +mustn't take me for one of those parrot-Christians who just echo what +they hear in the pulpits on Sundays. I _think_ about these things; +and I find that your extreme doctrines may do all very well for the +East and for hot countries where you can go about half-naked and +nobody takes any notice; but the Church of England, as its name +implies, is the only Church for England. A truly Christian Church, +gentlemen, because it selects its doctrines from the Gospels; and +English, sir, to the core, because it selects 'em with a special view +to the needs of our beloved country. And what (if I may so put it) +is the basis of that selection? The same, sirs, which we all admit +to be the basis of England's welfare and the foundation of her +society; in other words, the land. The land, gentlemen, is solid; +and our reformed religion (say what you will, I am not denying that +it has, and will ever have, its detractors) is the religion for solid +Englishmen." + +My father put out a hand and arrested Mr. Fett, who had been +regarding the speaker with joyful admiration, and at this point made +a movement to embrace him. + +"I must have his name!" murmured Mr. Fett. "He shall at least tell +us his name!" + +"Badcock, sir; Ebenezer Badcock," answered the little man, producing +a black-edged visiting-card. + +"But," urged my father, "you must forgive us, Mr. Badcock, if we find +it hard to reconcile your conduct this morning with these sentiments, +on which, for the moment, I offer no comment except that they are +admirably expressed. What song the Sirens sang, Mr. Badcock, or what +name Achilles assumed when he hid himself among women, are questions +(as Sir Thomas Browne observes) not beyond conjecture, albeit the +Emperor Tiberius posed his grammarians with 'em. But when a man +openly champions street-preaching, and goes on to lay about him with +a mace--" + +"Ah!" exclaimed Mr. Badcock, with sudden eagerness. "And what--by +the way, sir--did you think of that performance?" + +"Why, to be sure, you behaved valiantly." + +The little man blushed with pleasure. "You really think so? +It struck you in that light, did it? Well, now I am glad--yes, sir, +and proud--to hear that opinion; because, to tell you the truth, I +thought it pretty fair myself. The fact is, gentlemen, I wasn't +altogether sure what my behaviour would be at the critical moment. +You may deem it strange that a man should arrive at my time of life +without being sure whether he's a coward or a brave man; but +Axminster--if you knew the place--affords few opportunities for that +sort of thing." + +"Allow us to reassure you, then," said my father. "But there remains +the question, why you did it?" + +Mr. Badcock rubbed his hands. "Appearances were against me, I'll +allow," he answered, with a bashful chuckle; "but you may set it down +to tchivalry. We all have our weaknesses, I hope, sir; and tchivalry +is mine." + +"Chivalry?" echoed my father. + +"You spell it with an 's'? Excuse me; whatever schooling I have +picked up has been at odd times; but I am always open to correction, +I thank the Lord." + +"But why call it a weakness, Mr. Badcock?" + +"Call it a hobby; call it what you like. _I_ look upon it as a debt, +sir, due to the memory of my late wife. An admirable woman, sir, and +by name Artemisia; which, I have sometimes thought, may partially +account for it. Allow me, gentlemen." He drew a small shagreen case +from his breast-pocket, opened it, and displayed a miniature. + +"Her portrait?" + +"In a sense. As a matter of fact, I will not conceal from you, +gentlemen, that it came to me in the form of a pledge--that being my +late profession--and I have never been able to trace the original. +But, as I said when first I showed it to the late Mrs. B., 'My dear, +you might have sat for it.' A well-developed woman, gentlemen, +though in the end she went out like the snuff of a candle, that being +the way sometimes with people who have never known an hour's +sickness. 'Am I really like that, Ebenezer?' she asked. 'In your +prime, my dear,' said I--she having married me late in life owing to +her romantic nature--'in your prime, my dear, I'll defy any one to +tell you and this party from two peas.' 'I wish I knew who she was,' +said my wife. 'Hadn't you best leave well alone?' said I; 'for I +declare till this moment I hadn't dreamed that another such woman as +yourself existed in the world, and it gives me a kind of bigamous +feeling which I can't say I find altogether unpleasant.' 'Then I'll +keep the thing,' says she, very positively, 'until the owner turns up +and redeems it;' which he never did, being, as I discovered, a +strolling portrait painter very much down on his luck. So there the +mystery remained. But (as I was telling you), though a first-rate +manager, my poor dear wife had a number of romantic notions; and +often she has said to me after I'd shut up shop, 'If wishes grew on +brambles, Ebenezer, it's not a pawnbroker's wife I'd be at this +moment.' 'Well, my dear,' I'd say to soothe her, 'there _is_ a +little bit of that about the profession, now you come to mention it.' +'And them there was a time,' she'd go on, 'when I dreamed of marryin' +a red-cross knight!' 'I have my higher moments, Artemisia,' I'd say, +half in joke; 'Why not try shutting your eyes?' But afterwards, when +that splendid woman was gone for ever, and my daughter Heeb (which is +a classical name given her by her mother) comfortably married to a +wholesale glover, and me left at home a solitary grandfather--which, +proud as you may be of it, is a slight occupation--I began to think +things over and find there was more in my poor wife's notions than +I'd ever allowed. And the upshot was that seeing this advertisement +by chance in a copy of the _Sherborne Messenger_, I determined to +shut up shop and let Axminster think I was gone on a holiday, while I +gave it a trial; for, you see, I was not altogether sure of myself." + +"Excuse me, Badcock," interrupted Mr. Fett, advancing towards him +with outstretched arms; "but have you perused the books of chivalry, +or is this the pure light of nature?" + +"Books, sir?" answered Mr. Badcock, seriously. "I never knew there +were any books about it. I never heard of tchivalry except from my +late wife; and you'll excuse the force of habit, but she pronounced +it the same as in chibbles." + +"You never read of the meeting of Amadis and Sir Galaor?" + +Mr. Badcock shook his head. + +"Nor of Percival and Galahad, nor of Sir Balin and Sir Balan? No? +Then embrace me!" + +"Sir?" + +"Embrace me!" + +"Sit down, the pair of you," my father commanded. "I have a proposal +to make, which, if I mistake not, will interest you both. +Mr. Badcock, I have heard your aspirations, and can fulfil them in a +degree that will surprise you. I like you, Mr. Badcock." + +"The feeling, sir, is mutchual." Mr. Badcock bowed with much +amiability. + +"Is time an object with you?" + +"None whatever, sir. I am on a holiday." + +"Will you be my guest to-night?" + +"With the more pleasure, sir, after my experience of the inns in +these parts. Though I may have presented her to you in a somewhat +romantic light, my Artemisia _did_ know how to make a bed; and +twenty-two years of her ministrations, not to mention her +companionship, have coddled me in this particular." + +"And you, sir"--my father turned to Mr. Fett--"will you accompany +us?" + +"With what ulterior object?" demanded Mr. Fett. "You will excuse my +speaking as a business man, and overlook the damned bad manners of +the question for the sake of its pertinence." + +My father smiled. "Why, sir, I was proposing to invite you to a sea +voyage with me." + +"There was a time, before commerce claimed me, when the mere hint of +a nautical expedition had evoked an emotion which, if it survive at +all, lingers but as in a sea-shell the whisper of the parent ocean." + +"As a supercargo, at four shillings _per diem_," suggested my father. + +"Say no more, sir; I am yours." + +"As for Mr. Fiennes--nay, lad, I remember you well." My father +turned to him with that sweet courtesy which few ever resisted. +"And blush not, lad, if I guess that to you we all owe this meeting; +'twere a bravery well beseeming your blood. As for Mr. Fiennes, he +will accompany us in heart if he cannot in presence--being, as I +understand, destined for the law?" + +"Why, sir, as for that," stammered Nat, "I have had the devil's own +dispute with my father." + +"You treated him with all respect, I hope?" + +"With all the respect in the world, sir. But it scarcely matters, +since he has cast me off, and without a penny." + +"Why, then, you can come too!" cried my father, gripping him by the +hand. "Bravo, Prosper! that makes five; and with Billy Priske, when +we can find him, six; and that leaves but one to find before +dinner-time." He pulled out his watch. "Lord!" he cried, "and 'tis +high time to feel hungry, too. If this lady now will repeat her +hospitable offer--" + +I thought at the moment, and I thought once or twice during the meal +downstairs, that my father was taxing this poor woman's hospitality. +I doubted that he, himself so carelessly hospitable, might forget to +offer her payment; and lingered after the others had trooped into the +passage, with purpose to remind him privately. + +"Come," said he, and made a notion to leave, still without offering +to pay. On the threshold I had almost turned to whisper to him when +the woman came after and touched his arm. + +"Nay, Sir John," said she, eagerly, in a low hoarse voice, "let the +lad hear me thank you. He is old enough to understand and clean +enough to profit. Shut the door, child. You know me, Sir John?" + +My father bent his head. "I never forget a face," said he, quietly. + +"Take notice of that, boy. Your father remembers me, whom to my +knowledge he never saw but once, and then as a magistrate, when he +sat to judge me. Never mind the offence, lad. I am a sinful woman, +and the punishment was--" + +"Nay, nay!" put in my father, gently. + +"The punishment was," she continued, hardening her voice, "to strip +me to the waist and whip me in public. The law allowed this, and +this they would have done to me. But your father, being chairman of +the bench--for the offence lay outside the borough--would have none +of it, and argued and forced three other magistrates to give way. +Little good he did, you may say, seeing that my name is such in +Falmouth that, only by entering my door, the Mayor just now did what +all his cleverness could never have done--stopped a riot by a silly +brutal laugh--the chief magistrate taking shelter with Moll +Whiteaway! You can't get below that for fun, as the folk will take +it; and yet I say your father did good, for he saved me from the +worst. And to-day of his goodness he has not remembered my sins, but +treated me as though they were not; and today, as only a good man +can, he goes from my house, no man thinking to laugh except at his +simplicity, even though it were known that I kissed his hand. +God bless you, Sir John, and teach your son to be merciful to women!" + +My father was ever so shy of his own kind actions that, when detected +by chance or painfully tracked out in one, he kept always a quotation +ready to justify what pure impulse had prompted. So now, as we +hurried across the deserted Market Strand to catch up with the other +three, he must needs brazen things out with the authority of Bishop +Jeremy Taylor. + +"It was a maxim of that excellent divine," said he, "that Christian +censure should never be used to make a sinner desperate; for then he +either sinks under the burden or grows impudent and tramples upon it. +A charitable modest remedy, says he, preserves that which is virtue's +girdle-fear and blushing. Honour, dear lad, is the peculiar +counsellor of well-bred natures, and these are few; but almost in all +men you will find a certain modesty toward sin, and were I a king my +judges should be warned that their duty is to chasten; whereas by +punishing immoderately they can but effect the exact opposite." + +We found our trio waiting for us on the far side of the square; and, +having fetched our horses and left an order at the inn for Billy +Priske on his return to mount and follow us, wended our way out of +the town. The streets on this side were deserted and mournful, the +shopkeepers having fastened their shutters for fear of the mob, of +whose present doings no sound reached us but a faint murmuring hubbub +borne on the afternoon air from the northward--that is, from the +direction of the Green Bank and the Penryn Road. + +My father led the way at a foot's pace, and seemed to ride pondering, +for his chin was sunk on his chest and he had pulled his hat-brim +well over his eyes (but this may have been against the July sun). +After him tramped Mr. Fett in eager converse with the little +pawnbroker, now questioning him, now halting to regard him, as a man +who has dug up a sudden treasure and for the moment can only gaze at +it and hug himself. Nat and I brought up the rear, he striding at my +stirrup and pouring forth the tale of his adventures since we parted. +A dozen times he rehearsed the scene of the parental quarrel, and +interrupted each rehearsal with a dozen anxious questions. "Ought he +to have given this answer?--to have uttered that defiance? Did I +think he had shown self-control; Had he treated the old gentleman +with becoming respect? Would I put myself in his place? Suppose it +had been my own father, now--" + +"But yours, lad, is a father in a thousand," he broke off bitterly. +"I had never a notion that father and son could be friends, as are +you and he. He is splendid--splendid!" + +I glanced at him quickly and turned my face aside, suspecting that he +took my father for a madman, and was kindly concealing the discovery. +Nevertheless I hardened my voice to answer-- + +"You will say so when you know him better. And my Uncle Gervase runs +him a good second." + +"Faith, then, I wish you'd persuade your uncle to adopt me. I'm not +envious, Prosper, in a general way, but your luck gives me a duced +orphanly feeling. Have I been over-hasty? That is the question; +whether 'twas nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of +accusing conscience or to up and have it out with the old man." + +"Pardon me, gentlemen"--Mr. Fett wheeled about suddenly on the road +ahead of us--"but it was by accident that I overheard you, and by a +singular coincidence at that moment I happened to be discussing the +same subject with Mr. Badcock here." + +"What subject?" + +"Missiles, sir. It appears that, when his blood is up, Mr. Badcock +finds himself absolutely careless of missiles. He declares that, +with a sense of smell as acute as most men's, he was unaware to-day +of having been struck with a rotten egg until I, at ten paces' +distance, drew his attention to it. Now, that is a degree of +courage--insensibility--call it what you will--to which I make no +pretence. The cut and thrust, gentlemen, the couched lance, even, +within limits, the battering ram, would have, I feel confident, +comparatively few terrors for me. But missiles I abominate. +Drawing, as I am bound to do, my anticipations of the tented field +from experience gathered--I say it literally, gathered--before the +footlights, I confess to some sympathy with the gentleman who assured +Harry Percy that but for these vile guns he would himself have been a +soldier. You will not misunderstand me. I believe on my faith that +as a military man I was born out of my time. The scythed chariots of +Boadicea, for instance, must have been damned inconvenient; yet I can +conceive myself jumping 'em. But a stone, as I learnt in my +boyhood--a stone, sirs, and _a fortiori_ a bullet--" + +"Hist!" broke in my father, at the same moment reining up. +"Prosper, what do you make of that noise, up yonder?" + +I listened. "It sounds to me like a heavy cart--" + +"Or a waggon. To my hearing there are two horses." + +"And runaway ones, by the shouting." + +We had reached a point of the road, not far from home, where a steep +lane cut across it: a track seldom used but scored with old ruts, +sunk between hedges full sixteen feet high, leading down from a back +gate of Constantine and a deserted lodge to a quay by the waterside. +Not once in three months, within my remembrance, did cart or waggon +pass along this lane, which indeed grew a fine crop of grass and +docks between the ruts. + +"Nay," said my father, after a few seconds, "I gave you a false +alarm, gentlemen. The shouting, whatever it means, is over. +Your pardon, Mr. Fett, that I interrupted you." + +"Sir," said Mr. Fett, stepping put him to reconnoitre the lane, +"I was but remarking what a number of the wise have observed before +me, that a stone which has left the hand is in the hands of the +dev--" + +He ducked his head with a cry as a stone whizzed past him and within +a foot of it. On the instant the loud rattle and thunder of +cartwheels broke forth again, and now but a short distance up the +lane; also a voice almost as loudly vociferating; and, almost before +Mr. Fett could run back to us, a whole volley of stones flew hurtling +across the road. + +"Hi, there! Halt!" My father struck spur and rode forward, in time +to catch at and check the leader of two horses slithering downhill +tandem-fashion before the weight of a heavy cart. "Confound you, +sir! What the devil d'you mean by flinging stones in this manner +across the middle of the King's highway." + +The man--he was one of the seamen of the _Gauntlet_--stood up in the +cart upon a load of stones and grinned. In one hand he gripped the +reins, in the other a fistful of flints. + +"Your honour's pardon," said he, lifting his forearm and drawing the +back of it across his dripping brow, "but the grey mare for'rad won't +pull, and the whip here won't reach her. I couldn't think upon no +better way." + +"You mean to tell me you have been pelting that poor brute all down +the lane?" + +"I couldn't think upon no better way," the seaman repeated wistfully, +almost plaintively. "She's what you might call sensitive to stones." + +"Intelligent beast!" commented Mr. Fett. "And I bought that mare +only six months ago!" (In truth my father had found the poor +creature wandering the roads and starving, cast off by her owner as +past work, and had purchased her out of mere humanity for thirty +shillings.) + +"But what business have you to be driving my cart and horses?" he +demanded. "And what's the meaning of these stones you're carting?" + +"Ballast, your honour." + +"Ballast?" + +"I don't know how much of it'll ever arrive at this rate," confessed +the seaman, dropping the handful of flints and scratching his head. +"Tis buying speed at a terrible cost of jettison. But Cap'n Pomery's +last order to me was to make haste about it, if we're to catch +to-morrow's tide." + +"Captain Pomery sent you for these stones?" + +"Why, Lord love your honour, a vessel can't discharge two dozen +Papist monks and cattle and implements to correspond without wantin' +_something_ in their place. Nice flat stones, too, the larger-sized +be, and not liable to shift in a sea-way." + +But here another strange noise drew our eyes up the lane, as an old +man in a smock-frock--a pensioner of the estate, and by name John +Worthyvale--came hobbling round the corner and down the hill towards +us, using his long-handled road hammer for a staff and uttering +shrill tremulous cries of rage. + +"Vengeance, Sir John! Vengeance for my l'il heap o' stones!" + +"Why, Worthyvale, what's the matter?" asked my father, soothingly. + +"My l'il heap o' stones, Sir John; my poor l'il heap o' stones! +What's to become o' me, master? Where will your kindness find a +bellyful for me, if these murderin' seamen take away my l'il heap o' +stones?" + +My father laid a hand on the old man's shoulder. + +"Captain Pomery wants them for ballast, Worthyvale. You understand? +It appears he can find none so suitable.'' + +"No, I _don't_ understand!" exclaimed the old fellow, fiercely. +"This has been a black week for me, Sir John. First of all my +darter's youngest darter comes and tells me she've picked up with a +man. Seems 'twas only last year she was runnin' about in short +frocks; but, dang it! the time must ha' slipped away somehow whilst +I've a-sat hammerin' stones, an' now there'll be no person left to +mind me. Next news, I hear from Master Gervase that you be goin' +foreign, Sir John, with Master Prosper here. The world gets that +empty, I wish I were dead, I do. An' now they've a-took my l'il heap +o' stones!" + +"And this old man's sires," said my father to me, but so that he did +not hear, "held land in Domesday Book--twelve virgates of land with +close on forty carucates of arable, villeins and borderers and +bondservants, six acres of wood, a hundred and twenty of pasture; and +he makes his last stand on this heap of stones. Ballast?" He turned +to the seaman. "Did I not tell Captain Pomery to ballast with wine?" + +"We were carrying it all the forenoon," the seaman answered. +"There was two hogsheads of claret." + +"And the hogshead of Madeira, with what remained of the brown sherry? +Likewise in bottles twelve dozen of the Hermitage and as much again +of the Pope's wine, of Avignon?" + +"It all went in, sir. Master Gervase checked it on board by the +list." + +"For the rest we are reduced to stones? Then, Prosper, there remains +no other course open to us." + +"Than what, sir?" I asked. + +"We must enlist this old man; and that fulfils our number." + +"Old John Worthyvale?" + +"Why not? He can sit in the hold and crack stones until I devise his +part in the campaign. Say no more. I have an inkling he will prove +not the least useful man of our company." + +"As to that, sir," I answered, with a shrug of the shoulders and a +glance at Mr. Fett and Mr. Badcock, "I don't feel able to contradict +you." + +"Then here we are assembled," said my father, cheerfully, with the +air of one closing a discussion; "the more by token that here comes +Billy Priske. Why, man," he asked, as Billy rode up--but so +dejectedly that his horse seemed to droop its ears in sympathy-- +"what ails you? Not wounded, are you?" + +"Worse," answered Billy, and groaned. + +"We were told you got quit of the crowd. + +"So I did," said Billy. "Damn it!" + +"They followed you?" I asked. + +"No, they didn't, and I wish they had." + +"Then what on earth has happened?" + +"What has happened?" Having no hair of his own to speak of, Billy +reached forward and ran his fingers through his horse's mane. +"I've engaged to get married. That's what has happened." + +"Good Lord!" + +"To a female Methody, in a Quaker bonnet. I had no idea of any such +thing when I followed her. She was sittin' on the first milestone +out of Falmouth and jabbin' her heel into the dust, like a person in +a pet. First of all, when I spoke to her, she wouldn't tell what had +annoyed her; but later on it turned out she had come expectin' to be +made a martyr of, and everything was lookin' keenly that way until +Sir John came and interfered, as she put it." + +"And she said," suggested Mr. Fett, "that she didn't mind what man +could do unto her?" + +"The very words she used, sir!" said Billy, his brow clearing as a +prisoner's will when counsel supplies him with a defence. + +"And, when you took her at her word, like a Christian woman she +turned the other cheek?" + +"She did, sir, and no harm meant; but just doing it gay, as a man +will." + +"But when you explained this, she wouldn't take no for an answer?" + +"She would not, sir. She seemed not to understand. Then I looked at +her bonnet and, a thought striking me, I tried `nay' instead. +But that didn't work no better than the other. If you could hide me +for tonight, Sir John--" + +"You had best sleep on the _Gauntlet_ to-night," said my father. +"If the woman calls, I will have a talk with her. What is her name, +by the way?" + +"Martha." + +"But I mean her full name." + +"I didn't get so far as to inquire, Sir John. But the point is, she +knows mine." + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +OF THE DISCOURSE HELD ON BOARD THE "GAUNTLET." + + + "The Pilot assured us that, considering the Gentleness of the + Winds and their pleasant Contentions, as also the Clearness of + the Atmosphere and the Calm of the Current, we stood neither in + Hope of much Good nor in Fear of much Harm . . . and advised us + to let the Ship drive, nor busy ourselves with anything but + making good Cheer." + --_The Fifth Book of the Good Pantagruel_. + +It appeared that, unknown to me, my father had already made his +arrangements with Captain Pomery, and we were to sail with the +morning's tide. During supper--which Billy Priske had no sooner laid +than he withdrew to collect his kit and carry it down to the ship, +taking old Worthyvale for company--our good Vicar arrived, as well to +bid us good-bye as in some curiosity to learn what recruits we had +picked up in Falmouth. I think the sight of them impressed him; but +at the tale of our day's adventures, and especially when he heard of +our championing the Methodists, his hands went up in horror. + +"The Methodists!" For two years past the Vicar had occupied a part +of his leisure in writing a pamphlet against them: and by "leisure" I +mean all such days as were either too inclement for fishing, or +thunderous so that the trout would not rise. + +"My dear friend, while you have been sharpening the sword of Saint +Athanasius against 'em, the rabble has been beforehand with you and +given 'em bloody noses. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of +heresy--if you call the Wesleyans heretics--as well as of the +Church." + +The Vicar sighed. "I have been slack of pace and feeble of will. +Yes, yes, I deserve the reproach." + +My father laid a hand on his shoulder. "Tut, tut! Cannot you see +that I was not reproaching, but rather daring to commend you for an +exemplar? There is a slackness which comes of weak will; but there +is another and a very noble slackness which proceeds from the two +strongest things on earth, confidence and charity; charity, which +naturally inclines to be long-suffering, and confidence which, having +assurance in its cause, dares to trust that natural inclination. +Dissent in the first generation is usually admirable and almost +always respectable: men don't leave the Church for fun, but because +they have thought and discovered, as they believe, something amiss in +her--something which in nine cases out of ten she would be the better +for considering. But dissent in the second and third generation +usually rests on bad temper, which is not admirable at all, though +often excusable because the Church's persecution has produced it. +Believe me, my dear Vicar, that if all the bishops followed your +example and slept on their wrath against heresy, they would wake up +and find nine-tenths of the heretics back in the fold. Indeed I wish +your good lady would let you pack your nightcap and come with us. +You could hire a curate over from Falmouth." + +"Could I write my pamphlet at sea?" + +"No: but, better still, by the time you returned the necessity for it +would be over." + +The Vicar smiled. "_You_ counsel lethargy?--you, who in an hour or +two start for Corsica, and with no more to-do than if bound on a +picnic!" + +"Ay, but for love," answered my father. "In love no man can be too +prompt." + +"I believe you, sir," hiccuped Mr. Fett, who had been drinking more +than was good for him. "And so, begad, does your man Priske. +Did any one mark, just now, how like a shooting star he glided in the +night from Venus' eye? Love, sir?" he turned to me. "The tender +passion? Is that our little game? Is _that_ the face that launched +a thousand ships and burnt the topless towers of Ilium? O Troy! +O Helen! You'll permit me to add, with a glance at our friend +Priske's predicament, O Dido! At five shillings _per diem_ I realize +the twin ambitions of a life-time and combine the supercargo with the +buck. Well, well! _cherchez la femme!_" + +"You pronounce it 'share-shay?'" inquired Mr. Badcock. "Now I have +seen it spelt the same as in 'church.'" + +"The same as in ch--?" Mr. Fett fixed him with a glassy but +reproachful eye. "Badcock, you are premature, premature and +indelicate." + +Here my father interposed and, heading the talk back to the +Methodists, soon had the Vicar and the little pawnbroker in full +cry--parson and clerk antiphonal, "matched in mouth like bells"--on +church discipline; which gave him opportunity, while Nat and I at our +end of the table exchanged the converse and silences of friendship, +to confer with my Uncle Gervase and run over a score of parting +instructions on the management of the estate, the ordering of the +household, and, in particular, the entertainment of our Trappist +guests. Perceiving with the corner of his eye that we two were +restless to leave the table, he pushed the bottle towards us. + +"My lads," said he, "when the drinking tires let the talk no longer +detain you." + +We thanked him, and with a glance at Mr. Fett--who had fallen asleep +with his head on his arms--stepped out upon the moonlit terrace. +I waited for Nat to speak and give me a chance to have it out with +him, if he doubted (as he must, methought) my father's sanity. +But he gazed over the park at our feet, the rolling shadows of the +woodland, the far estuary where one moonray trembled, and stretching +out both hands drew the spiced night-air into his lungs with a sob. + +"O Prosper!" + +"You are wondering where to find your room?" said I, as he turned and +glanced up at the grey glimmering facade. "The simplest way is to +pick up the first lantern you see in the hall, light it, walk +upstairs, enter what room you choose and take possession of its bed. +You have five hours to sleep, if you need sleep. Or shall I guide +you?" + +"No," said he; "the first is the only way in this enchanted house. +But I was thinking that by rights, while we are standing here, those +windows should blaze with lights and break forth with the noise of +dancing and minstrelsy. To such a castle, high against such a velvet +night as this, would Sir Lancelot come, or Sir Gawain, or Sir +Perceval, at the close of a hard day." + +"Wait for the dawn, lad, and you will find it rather the castle +overgrown with briers." + +"And, in the heart of them, the Rose!" + +"You will find no Sleeping Beauty, though you hunt through all its +rooms. She lies yonder, Nat, somewhere out beyond the sea there." + +"In a few hours we sail to her. O Prosper, and we will find her! +This is better than any dream, lad: and this is life!" + +He gazed into my eyes for a moment in the moonlight, turned on his +heel, and strode away from me toward the great door, which--like +every door in the house--stood wide all the summer night. I was +staring at the shadow of the porch into which he had disappeared, +when my father touched my elbow. + +"There goes a good lad," said he, quietly. + +"And my best friend." + +"He has sobered down strangely from the urchin I remember on +Winchester meads; and in the sobering he has grown exalted. +A man might almost say," mused my father, "that the imp in him had +shed itself off and taken flesh in that Master Fett I left snoring +with his head on my dining-table. An earthy spirit, that Master +Fett; earthy and yet somewhat inhuman. Your Nat Fiennes has the clue +of life--if only Atropos do not slit it." + +Here the Vicar came out to take his leave, winding about his neck and +throat the comforter he always wore as a protective against the +night-air. It appeared later that he was nettled by Mr. Badcock's +collapsing beneath the table just as they had reached No. XX. of the +Thirty-nine Articles and passed it through committee by consent. + +"God bless you, lad!" said he, and shook my hand. "In seeking your +kingdom you start some way ahead of Saul the son of Kish. You have +already discovered your father's asses." + +He trudged away across the dewy park and was soon lost in the +darkness. In the dim haze under the moon, having packed Mr. Badcock +and Mr. Fett in a hand-cart, we trundled them down to the shore and +lifted them aboard. They resisted not, nor stirred. + +By three o'clock our dispositions were made and Captain Pomery +professed himself ready to cast off. I returned to the house for the +last time, to awake and fetch Nat Fiennes. As I crossed the wet +sward the day broke and a lark sprang from the bracken and soared +above me singing. But I went hanging my head, heavy with lack of +sleep. + +I tried five rooms and found them empty. In the sixth Nat lay +stretched upon a tattered silk coverlet. He sprang up at my touch +and felt for his sword. + +"Past three o'clock and fine clear mornin'!" sang I, mimicking the +Oxford watch, and with my foot the tap of his staff as he had used to +pass along Holy well. + + "Hey! now the day dawis, + The jolly cock crawis--" + +"The wind will head us in the upper reach: but beyond it blows fair +for Corsica!" + +He leapt to his feet and laughed, blithe as the larks now chorussing +outside the window. But my head was heavy, and somehow my heart too, +as we walked down to the shore. + +My Uncle Gervase stood on the grass-grown quay; my father on the +deck. They had already said their goodbyes. With his right hand my +uncle took mine, at the same time laying his left on my shoulder; and +said he-- + +"Farewell, lad. The rivers in Corsica be short and eager, as I hear; +and slight fishing in them near the coast, the banks being overgrown. +But it seems there are good trout, and in the mountain pools. + +"Whether they be the same as our British trout I cannot discover. +I desire you to make certain. Also if the sardines of those parts be +the same as our Cornish pilchards, but smaller. Belike they start +from the Mediterranean Sea and reach their full size on our coasts. + +"The migrations of fishes are even less understood than those of the +birds. Yet both (being annual) will teach you, if you consider them, +to think little of this parting. God knows, lad, how sorely I spare +you. + +"Do justice, observe mercy, and walk humbly before thy God. This if +they should happen to make you king, as your father promises. + +"They have an animal very like a sheep, but wilder and fiercer. +If you have the luck to shoot one, I shall be glad of his skin. + +"'Twill be a job here, making two ends meet. But as our Lord said, +Sufficient for the day is its evil. I have put a bottle of tar-water +in your berth. + +"I have often wished to set eyes on the Mediterranean Sea. +A sea without tides must be but half a sea--speaking with all respect +to the Almighty, who made it. + +"You will pick up the wind in the lower reach. + +"There was a trick or two of fence I taught you aforetime. +I had meant to remind you of 'em. But enough, lad. Shake hands. + . . . The Lord have you in His keeping!" + +Good man! For a long while after we had thrust off from the quay, +the two seamen in the cock-boat towing us, he stood there and waved +farewells; but turned before we reached the river bend, and went his +way up through the woods--since in Cornwall it is held unlucky to +watch departing friends clean out of sight. + +Almost at once I went below in search of my hammock, and there slept +ten solid hours by the clock; a feat of which I never witted until, +coming upon deck, I rubbed my eyes to find no sight of land, but the +sea all around us, and Captain Pomery at the helm, with the sun but a +little above his right shoulder. The sky, but for a few fleeced +clouds, was clear; a brisk north-westerly breeze blew steady on our +starboard quarter, and before it the ketch ran with a fine hiss of +water about her bluff bows. My father and Nat were stretched with a +board between them on the deck by the foot of the mizzen, deep in a +game of chequers: and without disturbing them I stepped amidships +where Mr. Fett lay prone on his belly, his chin propped on both +hands, in discourse with Billy and Mr. Badcock, who reclined with +their backs against the starboard bulwark. + +"Tut, man!" said Mr. Fett, cheerfully, addressing Billy. "You have +taken the right classical way with her: think of Theseus and Ariadne, +Phaon and Sappho. . . . We are back in the world's first best age; +when a man, if he wanted a woman to wife, sailed in a ship and +abducted her, as did the Tyrian sea-captain with Io daughter of +Inachus, Jason with Medea, Paris with Helen of Greece; and again, +when he tired of her, left her on an island and sailed away. +There was Sappho, now; she ran and cast herself off a rock. +And Medea, she murdered her children in revenge. But we are over +hasty, to talk of children." + +Billy groaned aloud, "I meant no harm to the woman." + +"Nor did these heroes. As I was saying, on board this ship I find +myself back in the world's dawn, ready for any marvels, but +responsible (there's the beauty of it) only to my ledger. +As supercargo I sit careless as a god on Olympus. My pen is trimmed, +my ink-pot filled, and my ledger ruled and prepared for miracles. +_Item_, a Golden Fleece. _Item_, A king's runaway daughter, slightly +damaged: + + "Whatever befel the good ship _Argo_ + It didn't affect the supercargo," + +who whistled and sat composing blank verse, having discovered that +Jason rhymed most unheroically with bason: + + "Neglecting the daughter of Aeson + Sat Jason, a bason his knees on--" + +"You don't help a man much, sir, so far as I understand you," +grumbled Billy, with a nervous glance around the horizon. + +"Well, then I'll prescribe you another way. Nobody believes me when +I tell the following story: but 'tis true nevertheless. So listen-- + + +MR. FETT'S STORY OF THE INTERRUPTED BETROTHAL. + + +"To the south of the famous city of Oxford, between it and the town +of Abingdon, lies a neat covert called Bagley Wood: in the which, on +a Sunday evening a bare two months ago, I chose to wander with my +stage copy of Mr. Otway's _Orphan_--a silly null play, sirs, if not +altogether the nonsense for which Abingdon, two nights later, +condemned it. While I wandered amid the undergrowth, conning my +part, my attention was arrested by a female voice on the summer +breeze, most pitiably entreating for help. I closed my book and bent +my steps in the direction of the outcries. Judge of my amazement +when, parting the bushes in a secluded glade, I came upon a +distressed but not uncomely maiden, buried up to her neck in earth +beneath the spreading boughs of a beech. To exhume and release her +cost me, unprovided as I was with any tool for the purpose, no little +labour. At length, however, I disengaged her and was rewarded with +her story; which ran, that a faithless swain, having decoyed her into +the recesses of the wood, had pushed her into a pit prepared by him; +and that but for the double accident of having miscalculated her +inches and being startled by my recitations of Otway into a terror +that the whole countryside was after him with hue and cry, he had +undoubtedly consummated his fell design. After cautioning her to be +more careful in future I parted from the damsel (who to the last +protested her gratitude) and walked homeward to my lodgings, on the +way reflecting how frail a thing is woman when matched against man +the libertine." + +Billy Priske's eyes had grown round in his head. Mr. Badcock, after +sitting in thought for a full minute, observed that the incident was +peculiar in many respects. + +"Is that the end of the yarn?" I asked. + +"I never met the lady again," confessed Mr. Fett. "As for the +story," he added with a sigh, "I am accustomed to have it +disbelieved. Yet let me tell you this. On my return I related it to +the company, who received it with various degrees of incredulity--all +but a youthful stroller who had joined us at Banbury and earned +promotion, on the strength of his looks, from 'walking gentleman' to +what is known in the profession as 'first lover.' On the strength of +this, again, he had somewhat hastily aspired to the hand of our +leading tragedy lady--a mature person, who knew her own mind. +My narrative seemed to dispel the atmosphere of gloom which had hung +about him for some days; and the next morning, having promised to +accompany his betrothed on a stroll up the river bank, he left the +inn with a light, almost jaunty, tread. From the balcony I watched +them out of sight. By-and-by, however, I spied a figure returning +alone by the towpath; and, concealing myself, heard young Romeo in +the courtyard carelessly demanding of the ostler the loan of a spade. +From behind my curtain I watched him as again he made his way up the +shore with the implement tucked under his arm. I waited in a +terrible suspense. Each minute seemed an hour. A thunderstorm +happening to break over the river at this juncture (as such things +do), the scene lacked no appropriate accessory. At length, between +two flashes of lightning, I perceived in the distance my two turtles +returning, and gave voice to my relief. They were walking side by +side, but no longer arm-in-arm. Young Romeo hung his head +dejectedly: and on a closer view the lady's garments not only dripped +with the storm but showed traces of earth to the waist. The rest +they kept to themselves. I say no more, save that after the +evening's performance (of 'All for Love') young Romeo came to me and +announced that his betrothal was at an end. They had discovered (as +he put it) some incompatibility of temper." + +My father and Nat Fiennes had finished their game and come forward in +time to hear the conclusion of this amazing narrative. Billy Priske +stared at his master in bewilderment. + +"A spade!" growled Billy, mopping his brow and letting his gaze +travel around the horizon again before settling, in dull wrath, on +Mr. Fett. "What's the use, sir, of makin' a man feel like a villain +and putting thoughts into his head without means to fulfil 'em?" + +"Sit you quiet," said my father, "while I try to drive Mr. Fett's +story out of your head with an honester one." + +"About a spade, master?" + +"There is a spade in the story." + + +MY FATHER'S STORY OF THE SHIPWRECKED LOVERS. + + +"In the year 1416 a certain Portuguese sea-captain, Gonsalvez Zarco +by name, and servant of the famous Henry of Portugal, was cruising +homeward in a leaky caravel from a baffled voyage in search of the +Fortunate Islands. He had run into a fog off Cape Blanco in Africa, +and had been pushing through it for two days when the weather lifted +and the look-out spied a boat, empty but for one man, drifting a mile +and more to leeward. Zarco ran down for the boat, and the man, being +brought aboard, was found to be an escaped Moorish prisoner on his +way back to Spain. He gave his name as Morales, and said that he had +sometime been a pilot of Seville, but being captured by the Moors off +Algeciras, had spent close on twenty years in servitude to them. +In the end he and six other Christians had escaped in a boat of their +own making, but with few victuals. When these were consumed his +companions had perished one by one, horribly, and he had been sailing +without hope, not caring whither, for a day and a night before his +rescue came. + +"Now this much he told them painfully, being faint with fasting and +light-headed: but afterwards falling into a delirium, he let slip +certain words that caused Captain Zarco to bestow him in a cabin +apart and keep watch over him until the ship reached Lagos, whence he +conveyed him secretly and by night to Prince Henry, who dwelt at that +time in an arsenal of his own building, on the headland of Sagres. +There Prince Henry questioned him, and the old man, taken by +surprise, told them a story both true and wonderful. + +"In his captivity he had made friends with a fellow prisoner, an +Englishman named Prince or Prance (since dead, after no less than +thirty years of servitude), who had fallen among the Moors in the +manner following. In his youth he had been a seaman, and one day in +the year 1370 he was standing idle on Bristol Quay when a young +squire accosted him and offered to hire him for a voyage to France, +naming a good wage and pressing no small share of it upon him as +earnest money. The ship (he said, naming her) lay below at Avonmouth +and would sail that same night. Prince knew the ship and her master, +and judged from the young squire's apparel and bearing that here was +one of those voluntary expeditions by which our young nobles made it +a fashion to seek fame at the expense of our enemies the French; a +venture dangerous indeed but carrying a hopeful chance of high +profits. He agreed, therefore, and joined the ship a little after +nightfall. Toward midnight arrived a boat with our young squire and +one companion, a lady of extreme beauty, who had no sooner climbed +the ship's side than the master cut the anchor-cable and stood out +for sea. + +"The names of these pretty runaways were Robert Machin and Anne +d'Arfet, wife of a sour merchant of Bristol; and all their care was +to flee together and lose all the world for love. But they never +reached France; for having run prosperously down Channel and across +from the Land's End until they sighted Ushant, they met a +north-easterly gale which blew them off the coast; a gale so blind +and terrible and persistent that for twelve days they ran before it, +in peril of death. On the thirteenth day they sighted an island, +where, having found (as they thought) good anchorage, they brought +the ship to, and rowed the lady ashore through the surf. +Between suffering and terror she was already close upon death. + +"Now this man Prince said that 'though the seamen laid their peril at +her door, holding the monstrous storm to be a judgment direct from +Heaven upon her sin, yet not one of them, considering her childish +beauty, had the heart to throw her an ill word or so much as an +accusing look: but having borne her ashore they built a tabernacle of +boughs and roofed it with a spare sail for her and for her lover, who +watched beside her till she died. + +"On the morning of her death the seamen, who slept on the beach at a +little distance, were awakened by a terrible cry: whereat, gazing +seaward--as a seaman's first impulse is--they missed all sight of +their ship. Either the gale, reviving, had parted her moorings and +blown her out to sea, or else the two or three left on board her +treacherously slipped her cable. At all events, no more was ever +heard of her. + +"The seamen supposed then that Master Machin had called out for the +loss of the ship. But coming to him they found him staring at the +poor corpse of his lady; and when they pointed to sea he appeared to +mark not their meaning. Only he said many times, 'Is she gone? +Is she gone?' Whether he spoke of the ship or of the lady they could +not tell. Thereafter he said nothing, but turned his face away from +all offers of food, and on the fifth day the seaman buried him beside +his mistress and set up a wooden cross at their heads. + +"After this (said Prince), finding no trace of habitation on the +island, and being convinced that no ship ever passed within sight of +it, the seamen caught and killed four of the sheep which ran wild +upon the cliffs, and with the flesh of them provisioned the boat in +which they had come ashore, and took their leave. For eleven days +they steered as nearly due east as they could--that being the quarter +in which they supposed the mainland to lie, until a gale overtook +them, and, drowning the rest, cast four of them alive on the coast +near Mogador, where the Moors fell on them and sold them into +slavery, to masters living wide apart. Yet, and howsoever the others +perished, in the mouth of this one man the story lived and came after +many days to ears that understood it. + +"For Prince Henry, hearing the pilot's tale, believed verily that +this must be the island for which his sea-captains had been +searching, and in 1420 sent Zarco forth again to seek it, with the +old man on board. They reached Porto Santo, where they heard of a +dark line visible in all clear weather on the southern horizon, and +sailing for it through the fogs, came to a marshy cape, and beyond +this cape to high wooded land which Morales recognized at once from +his fellow-prisoner's description. Yes, and bringing them to shore +he led them, unerring, to the wooden cross above the beach; and +there, over the grave of these lovers, Zarco took seizin of the +island in the name of King John of Portugal, Prince Henry, and the +Order of Christ. + +"From this," my father concluded, "we may learn, first, that human +passion, of all things the most transient, may be stronger and more +enduring than death; of all things the unruliest and most deserving +to be chastened, it may rise naked from the scourge to claim the +homage of all men; nay, that this mire in which the multitude wallows +may on an instant lift up a brow of snow and challenge the Divinity +Himself, saying, 'We are of one essence, Shall not I too work +miracles?' Secondly--" + +"Your pardon, master," put in Billy, "but in all the fine speeches +about Love and War and suchlike that I've heard you read out of books +afore now, I could never make out what use they be to common fellows +like myself. Say 'tis a battle: you start us off with a shout, which +again starts off our betters a-knocking together other folks' heads +and their own: but afterwards, when I'm waiting and wondering what +became of Billy Priske, all the upshot is that some thousand were +slaughtered and maybe enough to set some river running with blood. +Likewise with these seamen, that never ran off with their neighbours' +wives, but behaved pretty creditable under the circumstances, which +didn't prevent their being spilt out of boats and eaten by fishes or +cast ashore and barbecued by heathen Turks--a pretty thing this Love +did for them, I say. And so to come to my own case, which is where +this talk started, I desire with all respect, master, that you will +first ease my mind of this question--be I in love, or bain't I?" + +"Surely, man, _you_ must know that?" + +Billy shook his head. "I've what you might call a feeling t'wards +the woman: and yet not rightly what you might call a feeling, nor yet +azactly, as you might say, t'wards her. And it can't be so strong as +I reckoned, for when she spoke the word 'marriage' you might ha' +knocked me down with a straw." + +"Eh?" put in Mr. Fett, "was she the first to mention it?" + +"Me bein' a trifle absent-minded, maybe, on that point," explained +Billy. His gaze happening to wander to the wheel, encountered +Captain Jo Pomery's; and Captain Jo, who had been listening, nodded +encouragement. + +"Speakin' as a seafarin' man and the husband o' three at one time and +another," said he, "they always do so." + +"My Artemisia," said Mr. Badcock, "was no exception; though a +powerful woman and well able to look after herself." + +"'Tis their privilege," agreed Captain Pomery. "You must allow 'em a +few." + +"But contrariwise," Billy resumed, "it must be stronger than I +reckoned, for here I be safe, as you may say, and here I should be +grateful; whereas I bain't, and, what's more, my appetite's failin'. +Be you goin' to give me something for it?" he asked, as Mr. Badcock +dived a hand suddenly into a tail pocket and drew forth what at first +appeared to be the neck of a bottle, but to closer view revealed +itself as the upper half of a flute. A second dive produced the +remainder. + +"Good Lord! Badcock has another accomplishment!" ejaculated Mr. Fett. + +"The gift of music," said Mr. Badcock, screwing the two portions of +the instrument together, "is born in some. The great Batch--John +Sebastian Batch, gentlemen--as I am credibly informed, composed a +fugue in his bed at the tender age of four." + +"He was old enough to have given his nurse warning," said Mr. Fett. + +"With me," pursued Mr. Badcock, modestly, "it has been the result of +later and (I will not conceal the truth, sirs) more assiduous +cultivation. This instrument"--he tapped it affectionately--"came to +me in the ordinary way of trade and lay unredeemed in my shop for no +less than eight years; nor when exposed for sale could it tempt a +purchaser. 'You must do something with it,' said my Artemisia--an +excellent housewife, gentlemen, who wasted nothing if she could help +it. I remember her giving me the same advice about an astrolabe, and +again about a sun-dial corrected for the meridian of Bury St. +Edmunds. 'My dear,' I answered, 'there is but one thing to be done +with a flute, and that is to learn it.' In this way I discovered +what I will go no further than to describe as my Bent." + +Mr. Badcock put the flute to his lips and blew into it. A tune +resulted. + +"But," persisted Billy Priske, after a dozen bars or so, "the latest +thing to be mentioned was my appetite: and 'tis wonderful to me how +you gentlemen are letting the conversation stray, this afternoon." + +"The worst of a flute," said Mr. Badcock, withdrawing it from his +lips with obvious reluctance, "and the objection commonly urged by +its detractors, is that a man cannot blow upon it and sing at the +same time." + +"I don't say," said Billy, seriously, "as that mayn't be a reas'nable +objection; only it didn't happen to be mine." + +"You have heard the tune," said Mr. Badcock. "Now for the words-- + + "I attempt from love's sickness to fly, in vain, + Since I am myself my own fever and pain." + +"Bravo!" my father cried. "Mr. Badcock has hit it. You are in love, +Billy, and beyond a doubt." + +"Be I?" said Billy, scratching his head. "Well, as the saying is, +many an ass has entered Jerusalem." + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +WE FALL IN WITH A SALLEE ROVER. + + + "We laid them aboard the larboard side-- + With hey! with ho! for and a nonny no! + And we threw them into the sea so wide, + And alongst the Coast of Barbary." + _The Sailor's Onely Delight_. + +My father, checked in the midst, or rather at the outset, of a +panegyric upon love, could not rest until he had found an ear into +which to deliver it; but that same evening, after the moon had risen, +drew Nat aside on the poop, and discharged the whole harangue upon +him; the result being that the dear lad, who already fancied himself +another Rudel in quest of the Lady of Tripoli, spent the next two +days in composing these verses, the only ones (to my knowledge) ever +finished by him: + + + NAT FIENNES' SONG TO THE UNDISCOVERED LADY. + + "Thou, thou, that art + My port, my refuge, and my goal, + I have no chart, + No compass but a heart + Trembling t'ward thee and to no other pole. + + "My star! Adrift + On seas that well-nigh overwhelm, + Still when they lift + I strain toward the rift, + And steer, and hold my courage to the helm. + + "With ivory comb, + Daylong thou dalliest dreaming where + The rainbow foam + Enisles thy murmuring home: + Home too for me, though I behold it ne'er! + + "Yet when the bird + Is tired, and each little wave, + Aloft is heard + A call, reminds thee gird + Thy robe and climb to where the summits rave: + + "Yea, to the white + Lone sea-mark shaken on the verge-- + 'What of the night?' + Ah, climb--ah, lift the light! + Ah, lamp thy lover labouring in the surge! + + "Fray'd rope, burst sail, + Drench'd wing, as moth toward the spark-- + I fetch, I fail, + Glad only that the gale + Breaks not my faith upon the brutal dark. + + "Be it frost or fire, + Thy bosom, I believed it warm: + I did aspire + For that, and my desire-- + Burn thou or freeze--fought thro' and beat the storm. + + "Thou, thou, that art + My sole salvation, fixed, afar, + I have no chart, + No compass but a heart + Hungry for thee and for no other star." + +"Humph!" said I, by way of criticism, when these verses were shown to +me. "Where be the mackerel lines, Captain Jo? There's too much +love-talk aboard this ship of yours." + +"Mackerel?" said Captain Jo. "Why, where's your bait?" + +"You shall lend me an inch off your pipe-stem," said I, and, to tease +Nat, began to hum the senseless old song: + + "She has ta'en a siller wand + An' gi'en strokes three, + An' chang'd my sister Masery + To a mack'rel of the sea. + And every Saturday at noon + The mack'rel comes to me, + An' she takes my laily head + An' lays it on her knee, + An' kames it wi' a kame o' pearl, + An' washes it i' the sea--" + +"Mackerel?" said Captain Pomery. "If ye found one fool enough to +take hold at the rate we're sailing, ye'd pull his head off." + +"Why, then, he would be off his head," answered I: "and there are +plenty here to make him feel at home." + +In truth I was nettled; jealous, as a lad in his first friendship is +quick to be. Were not Nat and I of one age? Then why should he be +leaving thoughts we might share, to think of woman? I had chafed at +Oxford against his precocious entanglements. Here on shipboard his +propensity was past a joke; with no goose in sight to mistake for a +swan, he must needs conjure up an imaginary princess for his +devotion. What irritated most of all was his assuming, because I had +not arrived at his folly, the right to treat me as a child. + +South and across the Bay of Biscay the weather gave us a halcyon +passage; the wind falling lighter and lighter until, within ten +leagues of Gibraltar, we ran into a flat calm, and Captain Pomery's +face began to show his vexation. + +The vexation I could understand--for your seaman naturally hates calm +weather--but scarcely the degree of it in a man of temperament so +placid. Hitherto he had taken delight in the strains of Mr. +Badcock's flute. Suddenly, and almost pettishly, he laid an embargo +on that instrument, and moreover sent word down to the hold and +commanded old Worthyvale to desist from hammering on the ballast. +All noise, in fact, appeared to irritate him. + +Mr. Badcock pocketed his flute in some dudgeon, and for occupation +fell to drinking with Mr. Fett; whose potations, if they did not +sensibly lighten the ship, heightened, at least, her semblance of +buoyancy with a deck-cargo of empty bottles. My father put no +restraint upon these topers. + +"Drink, gentlemen," said he; "drink by all means so long as it amuses +you. I had far rather you exceeded than that I should appear +inhospitable." + +"Magnifshent old man," Mr. Fett hiccuped to me confidentially, +"_an'_ magnifshent liquor. As the song shays--I beg your pardon, the +shong says--able 'make a cat speak an' man dumb-- + + "Like 'n old courtier of the queen's + An' the queen's old courtier--" + +Chorus, Mr. Bawcock, _if_ you please, an', by the way, won't mind my +calling you Bawcock, will you? Good Shakespearean word, bawcock: +euphonious, too-- + + "Accomplisht eke to flute it and to sing, + Euphonious Bawcock bids the welkin ring." + +"If," said Mr. Badcock, in an injured tone and with a dark glance aft +at Captain Pomery, "if a man don't _like_ my playing, he has only to +say so. I don't press it on any one. From all I ever heard, art is +a matter of taste. But I don't understand a man's being suddenly +upset by a tune that, only yesterday, he couldn't hear often enough." + +Out of the little logic I had picked up at Oxford I tried to explain +to him the process known as _sorites_; and suggested that Captain +Pomery, while tolerant of "I attempt from Love's sickness to fly" up +to the hundredth repetition, might conceivably show signs of tiring +at the hundred-and-first. Yet in my heart I mistrusted my own +argument, and my wonder at the skipper's conduct increased when, the +next dawn finding us still becalmed, but with the added annoyance of +a fog that almost hid the bowsprit's end, his demeanour swung back to +joviality. I taxed him with this, in my father's hearing. + +"I make less account of fogs than most men," he answered. "I can +smell land; which is a gift and born with me. But this is no weather +to be caught in anywhere near the Sallee coast; and if we're to lose +the wind, let's have a good fog to hide us, I say." + +He went on to assure us that the seas hereabouts were infested with +Moorish pirates, and to draw some dismal pictures of what might +happen if we fell in with a prowling Sallateen. + +With all his fears he kept his reckoning admirably, and we +half-sailed, half-drifted through the Strait, and so near to the Rock +of Gibraltar that, passing within range of it at the hour of +reveilly, we heard the British bugles sounding to us like ghosts +through the fog. Captain Pomery here was in two minds about +laying-to and waiting for a breeze; but a light slant of wind +encouraged him to carry the _Gauntlet_ through. It bore us between +the invisible strait, and for a score of sea-miles beyond; then, as +casually as it had helped, it deserted us. + +Day broke and discovered us with the Moorish coast low on our +starboard horizon. To Mr. Fett and Mr. Badcock this meant nothing, +and my father might have left them to their ignorance had he not in +the course of the forenoon caught them engaged upon a silly piece of +mischief, which was, to scribble on small sheets of paper various +affecting narratives--as that the _Gauntlet_ was sinking, or +desperately attacked by pirates, in such and such a latitude and +longitude--insert them in empty bottles, and commit them to the +chances of the deep. The object (as Mr. Fett explained it) being to +throw Billy Priske's sweetheart off the scent. For two days past he +had been slyly working upon Billy's fears, and was relating to him +how, with two words, a Moorish lady had followed Gilbert a Becket +from Palestine to London, and found him there--when my father, +attracted by the smell of pitch, strolled forward and caught Mr. +Badcock in the act of sealing the bottles from a ladle which stood +heating over a lamp. In the next five minutes the pair learnt that +my father could lose his temper, and the lesson visibly scared them. + +"Your pardon, sir," twittered Mr. Fett. "'Twas a foolish joke, I +confess." + +"I may lend some point to it," answered my father grimly, "by telling +you what I had a mind to conceal, that you stand at this moment at no +far remove from one of the worst dangers you have playfully invented. +The wind has dropped again, as you perceive. Along the coast yonder +live the worst pirates in the world, and with a glass we may all but +discern the dreadful barracks in which so many hundreds of our +fellow-Christians lie at this moment languishing. Please God we are +only visible from the hill-country, and coast tribes may miss to +descry us! For our goal lies north and east, and to fail of it would +break my heart. But 'twere a high enterprise for England some day to +smoke out these robbers, and I know none to which a Christian man +could more worthily engage himself." + +Mr. Badcock shivered. "In our parish church," said he, "we used to +take up a collection for these poor prisoners every Septuagesima. +Many a sermon have I listened to and wondered at their sufferings, +yet idly, as no doubt Axminster folk would wonder at this plight of +mine, could they hear of it at this moment." + +"My father, his wrath being yet recent, did not spare to paint our +peril of capture and the possible consequences in lively colours; but +observing that Nat and I had drawn near to listen, he put on a +cheerfuller tone. + +"He will turn all this to the note of love, and within five minutes," +I whispered to Nat, "or I'll forfeit five shillings." + +My father could not have heard me; yet pat on the moment he rose to +the bet as a fish to a fly. + +"Yet love," said he, "love, the star of our quest, has shone before +now into these dungeons, these dark ways of blood, these black and +cruel hearts, and divinely illuminated them; as a score of histories +bear witness, and among them one you shall hear." + +THE STORY OF THE ROVER AND THE LORD PROVOST'S DAUGHTER. + +"In Edinburgh, in the Canongate, there stands a tenement known as +Morocco Land, over the second floor of which leans forward, like a +figure-head, the wooden statue of a Moor, black and naked, with a +turban and a string of beads; and concerning this statue the +following tale is told. + +"In the reign of King James or King Charles I.--I cannot remember +which--there happened a riot in Edinburgh. Of its cause I am +uncertain, but in the progress of it the mob, headed by a young man +named Andrew Gray, set fire to the Lord Provost's house. The riot +having been quelled, its ringleaders were seized and cast into the +Tol-booth, and among them this Andrew Gray, who in due course was +brought to judgment, and in spite of much private influence (for he +came of good family) condemned to die. Before the day of execution, +however, his friends managed to spirit him out of prison, whence he +fled the country; and so escaped and in time was forgotten. + +"Many years after, at a time when the plague was raging through +Edinburgh, a Barbary corsair sailed boldly up the Firth of Forth and +sent a message ashore to the Lord Provost, demanding twenty thousand +pounds ransom, and on a threat, if it were not paid within +twenty-four hours, to burn all the shipping in the firth and along +the quays. He required, meanwhile, a score of hostages for payment, +and among them the Lord Provost's own son. + +"The Lord Provost ran about like a man demented; since, to begin +with, audacious as the terms were, the plague had spared him scarcely +a hundred men capable of resistance. Moreover, he had no son, but an +only daughter, and she was lying sick almost to death with the +distemper. So he made answer, promising the ransom, but explaining +that he for his part could send no hostage. To this the Sallee +captain replied politely--that he had some experience of the plague, +and possessed an elixir which (he made sure) would cure the maiden if +the Lord Provost would do him the honour to receive a visit; nay, +that if he failed to cure her, he would remit the city's ransom. + +"You may guess with what delight the father consented. The pirate +came ashore in state, and was made welcome. The elixir was given; +the damsel recovered; and in due course she married her Paynim foe, +who now revealed himself as the escaped prisoner, Andrew Gray. +He had risen high in the service of the Emperor of Morocco, and had +fitted out his ship expressly to be revenged upon the city which had +once condemned him to death. The story concludes that he settled +down, and lived the rest of his life as one of its most reputable +citizens." + +"But what was the elixir?" inquired Mr. Badcock. + +"T'cht!" answered my father testily. + +"I agree with you, sir," said Mr. Fett. "Mr. Badcock's question was +a foolish one. Speaking, however, as a mere man of business, and +without thought of rounding off the story artistically, I am curious +to know how they settled the ransom?" + +Captain Pomery had taken in all canvas, to be as little conspicuous +as possible; and all that day we lay becalmed under bare poles. +Not content with this, he ordered out the boat, and the two seamen +(Mike Halliday and Roger Wearne their names were) took turns with Nat +and me in towing the _Gauntlet_ off the coast. It was back-breaking +work under a broiling sun, but before evening we had the satisfaction +to lose all sight of land. Still we persevered and tugged until +close upon midnight, when the captain called us aboard, and we +tumbled asleep on deck, too weary even to seek our hammocks. + +At daybreak next morning (Sunday) my father roused me. A light wind +had sprung up from the shore, and with all canvas spread we were +slipping through the water gaily; yet not so gaily (doubted Captain +Pomery) as a lateen-sailed craft some four or five miles astern of +us--a craft which he announced to be a Moorish xebec. + +The _Gauntlet_--a flattish-bottomed ship--footed it well before the +wind, but not to compare with the xebec, which indeed was little more +than a long open boat. After an hour's chase she had plainly reduced +our lead by a mile or more. Then for close upon an hour we seemed to +have the better of the wind, and more than held our own; whereat the +most of us openly rejoiced. For reasons which he kept to himself +Captain Pomery did not share in our elation. + +For sole armament (besides our muskets) the ketch carried, close +after of her fore-hatchway, a little obsolete 3-pounder gun, long +since superannuated out of the Falmouth packet service. In the dim +past, when he had bid for her at a public auction, Captain Pomery may +have designed to use the gun as a chaser, or perhaps, even then, for +decoration only. She served now--and had served for many a peaceful +passage--but as a peg for spare coils of rope, and her rickety +carriage as a supplement, now and then, for the bitts, which were +somewhat out of repair. My father casting about, as the chase +progressed, to put us on better terms of defence, suggested unlashing +this gun and running her aft for a stern-chaser. + +Captain Pomery shook his head. "Where's the ammunition? We don't +carry a single round shot aboard, nor haven't for years. +Besides which, she'd burst to a certainty." + +"There's time enough to make up a few tins of canister," argued my +father. "Or stay--" He smote his leg. + +"Didn't I tell you old Worthyvale would turn out the usefullest man +on board?" + +"What's the matter with Worthyvale?" + +"While we've been talking, Worthyvale has been doing. What has he +been doing?" Why, breaking up the ballast, and, if I'm not mistaken, +into stones of the very size to load this gun." + +"Give Badcock and me some share of credit," pleaded Mr. Fett. +"Speaking less as an expert than from an imagination quickened by +terror of all missiles, I suggest that a hundredweight or so of empty +bottles, nicely broken up, would lend a d--d disagreeable diversity +to the charge--" + +"Not a bad idea at all," agreed my father. + +"And a certain sting to our defiance; since I understand these +ruffians drink nothing stronger than water," Mr. Fett concluded. + +We spent the next half-hour in dragging the gun aft, and fetching up +from the hold a dozen basket-loads of stone. It required a personal +appeal from my father before old Worthyvale would part with so much +of his treasure. + +During twenty minutes of this time, the xebec, having picked up with +the stronger breeze, had been shortening her distance (as Captain +Pomery put it) hand-over-fist. But no sooner had we loaded the +little gun and trained her ready for use, than my father, pausing to +mop his brow, cried out that the Moor was losing her breeze again. +She perceptibly slackened way, and before long the water astern of +her ceased to be ruffled. An oily calm spreading across the sea from +shoreward overhauled her by degrees, overtook, and held her, with +sails idle and sheets tautening and sagging as she rolled on the +heave of the swell. + +Captain Pomery promptly checked our rejoicing, telling us this was +about the worst that could happen. "We shall carry this wind for +another ten minutes at the most," he assured us. "And these devils +have boats." + +So it proved. Within ten minutes our booms were swinging uselessly; +the sea spread calm for miles around us; and we saw no fewer than +three boats being lowered from the xebec, now about four miles away. + +"There is nothing but to wait for 'em," said my father, seating +himself on deck with his musket across his knees. "Mr. Badcock!" + +"Sir?" + +"To-day is Sunday." + +"It is, sir. Six days shalt thou labour and do all thou hast to do, +but on the Seventh day (if you'll excuse me) there's a different kind +of feeling in the air. At home, sir, I have observed that even the +rooks count on it." + +"You have a fine voice, Mr. Badcock, and have been, as I gather, an +attentive hearer of sermons." + +"I may claim that merit, sir." + +"If you can remember one sufficiently well to rehearse it to us, I +feel that it would do us all good." + +Mr. Badcock coughed. "Oh, sir," he protested, "I couldn't! I reelly +couldn't. You'll excuse me, but I hold very strong opinions on +unlicensed preaching." He hesitated; then suddenly his brow cleared. +"But I can read you one, sir. _Reading_ one is altogether another +matter." + +"You have a book of sermons on board?" + +"Before starting, sir, happening to cast my eye over the book-case in +the bedroom . . . a volume of Dr. South's, sir, if you'll excuse my +liberty in borrowing it." + +He ran and fetched the volume, while we disposed ourselves to listen. + +"Where shall I begin, sir?" + +"Wherever you please. The book belongs to my brother Gervase. +For myself I have not even a bowing acquaintance with the good +Doctor." + +"The first sermon, sir, is upon Human Perfection." + +"It should have been the last, surely?" + +"Not so, sir; for it starts with Adam in the Garden of Eden." + +"Let us hear, then." + +Mr. Badcock cleared his throat and read: + + "The image of God in man is that universal rectitude of all the + faculties of the soul, by which they stand apt and disposed to + their respective offices and operations." + +"Hold a moment," interrupted my father, whose habit of commenting +aloud in church had often disconcerted Mr. Grylls. "Are you quite +sure, Mr. Badcock, that we are not starting with the Doctor's +peroration?" + +"This is the first page, sir." + +"Then the Doctor himself began at the wrong end. Prosper, will you +take a look astern and report me how many boats are coming?" + +"Three, sir," said I. "The third has just pushed off from the ship." + +"Thank you. Proceed, Mr. Badcock." + + "And first for its noblest faculty, the understanding. It was + then sublime, clear, and aspiring, and as it were the soul's + upper region, lofty and serene, free from the vapours and + disturbances of the inferior affections. . . . Like the sun it + had both light and agility; it knew no rest but in motion; no + quiet but in activity. . . . It did arbitrate upon the several + reports of sense, and all the varieties of imagination; not + like a drowsy judge, only hearing, but also directing their + verdict. In sum, it was vegete quick and lively; open as the + day, untainted as the morning, full of the innocence and + sprightliness of youth; it gave the soul a bright and a full + view into all things." + +"A fine piece of prose," remarked Mr. Fett as Mr. Badcock drew +breath. + +"A fine fiddlestick, sir!" quoth my father. "The man is talking +largely on matters of which he can know nothing; and in five minutes +(I bet you) he will come a cropper." + +Mr. Badcock resumed-- + + "For the understanding speculative there are some general maxims + and notions in the mind of man, which are the rules of + discourse and the basis of all philosophy." + +"As, for instance, never to beg the question," snapped my father, who +from this point let scarce a sentence pass without pishing and +pshawing. + + "Now it was Adam's happiness in the state of innocence to have + these clear and unsullied. He came into the world a + philosopher--" + +("Instead of which he went and ate an apple.") + + "He could see consequents yet dormant in their principles, and + effects yet unborn and in the womb of their causes." + +("'Tis a pity, then, he took not the trouble to warn Eve.") + + "His understanding could almost pierce to future contingencies. + . . ." + +("Ay, 'almost.' The fellow begins to scent mischief, and thinks to +set himself right with a saving clause. Why 'almost'?" ) + + "his conjectures improving even to prophecy, or to certainties + of prediction. Till his fall he was ignorant of nothing but + sin; or, at least, it rested in the notion without the smart of + the experiment." + +My father stamped the butt of his musket upon deck. "'Rested in the +notion,' did it? Nothing of the sort, sir! It rested in the apple, +which he was told not to eat; but, nevertheless, ate. Born a +philosopher, was he? And knew the effect of every cause without +knowing the difference between good and evil? Why, man, 'twas +precisely against becoming a philosopher that the Almighty took pains +to warn him!" + +Mr. Badcock hastily turned a page. + + "The image of God was no less resplendent in that which we call + man's practical understanding--namely, that storehouse of the + soul in which are treasured up the rules of action and the + seeds of morality. Now of this sort are these maxims: 'That + God is to be worshipped,' 'That parents are to be honoured,' + 'That a man's word is to be kept.' It was the privilege of Adam + innocent to have these notions also firm and untainted--" + +My father flung up both hands. "Oh! So Adam honoured his father and +his mother?" + +"Belike," suggested Billy Priske, scratching his head, "Eve was +expecting, and he invented it to keep her spirits up." + +"I assure you, sir," Mr. Badcock protested with dignity, "Dr. South +was the most admired preacher of his day. Her late Majesty offered +him the Deanery of Westminster." + +"I could have found a better preferment for him, then; that of Select +Preacher to the Marines." + +"If you will have patience, sir--" + +"Prosper, how near is the leading boat?" + +"A good mile away, sir, as yet." + +"Then I will have patience, Mr. Badcock." + +"The Doctor, sir, proceeds to make some observations on Love, with +which you will find yourself able to agree. Love, he says-- + + "'is the great instrument and engine of Nature, the bond and + cement of society; the spring and spirit of the universe. . . . + Now this affection in the state of innocence was happily + pitched upon its right object--'" + +"'Happily,' did you say? 'Happily'? Why, good heavens, sir! how +many women had Adam to go gallivanting after? Enough, enough, +gentleman! To your guns! and in the strength of a faith which must +be strong indeed, to have survived its expositors!" + +By this time, through our glasses, we could discern the faces of the +pirates, who, crowded in the bows and stern-sheets of the two leading +boats, weighted them almost to the water's edge. The third had +dropped, maybe half a mile behind in the race, but these two came on, +stroke for stroke, almost level--each measuring, at a guess, some +sixteen feet, and manned by eight rowers. They bore down straight +for our stern, until within a hundred yards; then separated, with the +evident intention of boarding us upon either quarter. At fifty yards +the musketeers in their bows opened fire, while my father whistled to +old Worthyvale, who, during Dr. South's sermon, had been bringing the +points of half a dozen handspikes to a red heat in the galley fire. +The two seamen, Nat and I, retorted with a volley, and Nat had the +satisfaction to drop the steersman of the boat making towards our +starboard quarter. Unluckily, as it seemed--for this was the boat on +which my father was training our 3-pounder--this threw her into +momentary confusion at a range at which he would not risk firing, and +allowed her mate to run in first and close with us. The confusion, +however, lasted but ten seconds at the most; a second steersman +stepped to the helm; and the boat came up with a rush and grated +alongside, less than half a minute behind her consort. + +Now the _Gauntlet_, as the reader will remember, sailed in ballast, +and therefore carried herself pretty high in the water. Moreover, +our enemies ran in and grappled us just forward of her quarter, where +she carried a movable panel in her bulwarks to give access to an +accommodation ladder. While Nat, Captain Pomery, Mr. Fett, and the +two seamen ran to defend the other side, at a nod from my father I +thrust this panel open, leapt back, and Mr. Badcock aiding, ran the +little gun out, while my father depressed its muzzle over the boat. +In our excess of zeal we had nearly run her overboard; indeed, I +believe that overboard she would have gone had not my father applied +the red-hot iron in the nick of time. The explosion that followed +not only flung us staggering to right and left, but lifted her on its +recoil clean out of her rickety carriage, and kicked her back and +half-way across the deck. + +Recovering myself, I gripped my musket and ran to the bulwarks. +A heave of the swell had lifted the boat up to receive our discharge, +which must have burst point-blank upon her bottom boards; for I +leaned over in bare time to see her settling down in a swirl beneath +the feet of her crew, who, after vainly grabbing for hold at the +_Gauntlet's_ sides, flung themselves forward and were swimming one +and all in a sea already discoloured for some yards with blood. + +My father called to me to fire. I heard; but for the moment the +dusky upturned faces with their bared teeth fascinated me. +They looked up at me like faces of wild beasts, neither pleading nor +hating, and in response I merely stared. + +A cry from the larboard bulwarks aroused me. Three Moors, all naked +to the waist, had actually gained the deck. A fourth, with a long +knife clenched between his teeth, stood steadying himself by the main +rigging in the act to leap; and in the act of turning I saw Captain +Pomery chop at his ankles with a cutlass and bring him down. We made +a rush on the others. One my father clubbed senseless with the butt +of his musket; another the two seamen turned and chased forward to +the bows, where he leapt overboard; the third, after hesitating an +instant, retreated, swung himself over the bulwarks, and dropped back +into the boat. + +But a second cry from Mr. Fett warned us that more were coming. +Mr. Fett had caught up a sack of stones, and was staggering with it +to discharge it on our assailants when this fresh uprush brought him +to a check. + +"That fellow has more head than I gave him credit for," panted my +father. "The gun, lad! Quick, the gun!" + +We ran to where the gun lay, and lifted it between us, straining +under its weight; lurched with it to the side, heaved it up, and sent +it over into the second boat with a crash. Prompt on the crash came +a yell, and we stared in each other's faces, giddy with our triumph, +as John Worthyvale came tottering out of the cook's galley with two +fresh red-hot handspikes. + +The third boat had come to a halt, less than seventy yards away. +A score of bobbing heads were swimming for her, the nearer ones +offering a fair mark for musketry. We held our fire, however, and +watched them. The boat took in a dozen or so, and then, being +dangerously overcrowded, left the rest to their fate, and headed back +for the xebec. The swimmers clearly hoped nothing from us. +They followed the boat, some of them for a long while. Through our +glasses we saw them sink one by one. + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +HOW WE LANDED ON THE ISLAND. + + + "Friend Sancho," said the Duke, "the isle I have promised you + can neither stir nor fly. And whether you return to it upon + the flying horse, or trudge back to it in misfortune, a pilgrim + from house to house and from inn to inn, you will always find + your isle just where you left it, and your islanders with the + same good will to welcome you as they ever had."-- + _Don Quixote_. + +Night fell, and the xebec had made no further motion to attack: but +yet, as the calm held, Captain Pomery continued gloomy; nor did his +gloom lift at all when the enemy, as soon as it was thoroughly dark, +began to burn flares and torches. + +"That will be a signal to the shore," said he. "Though, please God, +they are too far for it to reach." + +The illumination served us in one way. While it lasted, no boat +could push out from the xebec without our perceiving it. The fires +lasted until after eight bells, when the captain, believing that he +scented a breeze ahead, turned us out into the boat again, to tow the +ketch toward it. For my part, I tugged and sweated, but scented no +breeze. On the contrary, the night seemed intolerably close and +sultry, as though brooding a thunderstorm. When the xebec's fires +died down, darkness settled on us like a cap. The only light came +from the water, where our oars swirled it in pools of briming,[1] or +the tow-rope dropped for a moment and left for another moment a trail +of fire. + +Neither Mr. Fett nor Mr. Badcock could pull an oar, and old +Worthyvale had not the strength for it. The rest of us--all but the +captain, who steered and kept what watch he could astern--took the +rowing by hourly relays, pair and pair: Billy Priske and I, my father +and Mike Halliday, Nat and Roger Wearne. + +It had come round again to Billy's turn and mine, and the hour was +that darkest one which promises the near daylight. Captain Pomery, +foreboding that dawn would bring with it an instant need of a clear +head, and being by this time overweighted with drowsiness, had +stepped below for forty winks, leaving Wearne in charge of the helm. +My father and Nat had tumbled into their berths. We had left Mr. +Badcock stationed and keeping watch on the larboard side, near the +waist; and now and then, as we tugged, I fancied I could see the dim +figures of Mr. Fett and Mike Halliday standing above us in converse +near the bows. + +Of imminent danger--danger close at hand--I had no fear at all, +trusting that the still night would carry any sound of mischief, and, +moreover, that no boat could approach without being signalled, a +hundred yards off, by the briming in the water. So intolerably hot +and breathless had the night become that I spoke to Billy to ease a +stroke while I pulled off my shirt. I had drawn it over my head and +was slipping my arms clear of the sleeves, when I felt, or thought I +felt, a light waft of wind on my right cheek--the first breath of the +gathering thunderstorm--and turned up my face towards it. At that +instant I heard a short warning cry from somewhere by the helm; not a +call of alarm, but just such a gasp as a man will utter when slapped +on the shoulder at unawares from behind; then a patter of naked feet +rushing aft; then a score of outcries blending into one wild yell as +the whole boatload of Moors leapt and swarmed over the starboard +bulwarks. + +The tow-rope, tautening under the last stroke of our oars, had drawn +the boat back in its recoil, and she now drifted close under the +_Gauntlet's_ jibboom, which ran out upon a very short bowsprit. +I stood up, and reaching for a grip on the dolphin-striker, swung +myself on to the bobstay and thence to the cap of the bowsprit, where +I sat astride for a moment while Billy followed. We were barefoot +both and naked to the waist. Cautiously as a pair of cats, we worked +along the bowsprit to the foremast stay, at the foot of which the +foresail lay loose and ready for hoisting. With a fold of this I +covered myself and peered along the pitch-dark deck. + +No shot had been fired. I could distinguish no sound of struggle, no +English voice in all the din. The ship seemed to be full only of +yellings, rushings to-and-fro of feet, wild hammerings upon timber, +solid and hollow: and these pell-mell noises made the darkness, if +not darker, at least more terribly confusing. + +The cries abated a little; the noise of hammering increased, and at +the same time grew persistent and regular, almost methodical. I had +no sooner guessed the meaning of this--that the ruffians were +fastening down the hatches on their prisoners--than one of them, at +the far end of the ship, either fetched or found a lantern, lit it, +and stood it on the after-hatch. Its rays glinted on the white teeth +and eyeballs and dusky shining skins of a whole ring of Moors +gathered around the hatchway and nailing all secure. + +Now for the first time it came into my mind that these rovers spared +to kill while there remained a chance of taking their prisoners +alive; that their prey was ever the crew before the cargo; and that, +as for the captured vessel, they usually scuttled and sank her if she +drew too much water for their shallow harbours, or if (like the +_Gauntlet_) she lacked the speed for their trade. The chances were, +then, that my father yet lived. Yet how could I, naked and unarmed, +reach to him or help him? + +A sound, almost plumb beneath me, recalled me to more selfish alarms. +The Moors, whether they came from the xebec or, as we agreed later, +more probably from shore, in answer to the xebec's signal-lights-- +must have dropped down on us without stroke of oars. It may be that +for the last half a mile or more they had wriggled their boat down to +the attack by means of an oar or sweep shipped in the stern notch: a +device which would avoid all noise and, if they came slowly, all +warning but the ripple of briming off the bows. In any case they had +not failed to observe that the ketch was being towed; and now, having +discharged her boarding-party, their boat pushed forward to capture +ours, which lay beneath us bumping idly against the _Gauntlet's_ +stem. I heard some half a dozen of them start to jabber as they +found it empty. I divined--I could not see--the astonishment in +their faces, as they stared up into the darkness. + +Just then--perhaps in response to their cries--a comrade on deck ran +forward to the bows and leaned over to hail them, standing so close +to me that his shoulder brushed against the fold of the foresail +within which I cowered. Like me he was bare to the waist, but around +his loins he wore a belt scaled with silver sequins, glimmering +against the ray of the lantern on the after-hatch, and maybe also in +the first weak light of the approaching dawn. . . . + +A madness took me at the sight. In a sudden rage I gripped the +forestay with my left hand, lowered my right, and, slipping my +fingers under his belt, lifted him--he was a light man--swung him +outboard and overboard, and dropped him into the sea. + +I heard the splash; with an ugly thud, which told me that some part +of him had struck the boat's gunwale. I waited--it seemed that I +waited many seconds--expecting the answering yell, or a shot perhaps. +Still gripping the forestay with my left hand, I bent forward, ready +to leap for deck. But even as I bent, the bowsprit shook under me +like a whip, and the deck before me opened in a yellow sheet of fire. +The whole ship seemed to burst asunder and shut again, the flame of +the explosion went wavering up the rigging, and I found myself +hanging on to the forestay and dangling over emptiness. While I +dangled I heard in the roaring echoes another splash, and knew that +Billy Priske had been thrown from his hold; a splash, and close upon +it a heavy grinding sound, a crash of burst planks, an outcry ending +in a wail as the lifting sea bore back the Moor's boat and our own +together upon the Gauntlet's stem and smashed them like egg-shells. + +Then, as the ketch heaved and heaved again in the light of the flames +that ran up the tarry rigging, at one stride the dawn was on us; with +no flush of sunshine, but with a grey, steel-coloured ray that cut +the darkness like a sword. I had managed to hoist myself again to +the bowsprit, and, straddling it, had time in one glance aft to take +in the scene of ruin. Yet in that glance I saw it--the yawning hole, +the upheaved jagged deck-planks, the dark bodies hurled to right and +left into the scuppers--by three separate lights: by the yellow light +of the flames in the rigging, by the steel-grey light of dawn, and by +a sudden white-hot flush as the lightning ripped open the belly of +heaven and let loose the rain. While I blinked in the glare, the +mizzen-mast crashed overside. I cannot tell whether the lightning +struck and split it, or whether, already blasted by the explosion, it +had stood upright for those few seconds until a heave of the swell +snapped the charred stays and released it. Nay, even the dead beat +of the rain may have helped. + +In all my life I have never known such rain. Its noise drowned the +thunderclap. It fell in no drops or threads of drops, but in one +solid flood as from a burst bag. It extinguished the blaze in the +rigging as easily as you would blow out a candle. It beat me down +prone upon the bowsprit, and with such force that I felt my ribs +giving upon the timber. It stunned me as a bather is stunned who, +swimming in a pool beneath a waterfall, ventures his head into the +actual cascade. It flooded the deck so that two minutes later, when +I managed to lift my head, I saw the bodies of two Moors washed down +the starboard scuppers and clean through a gap in the broken +bulwarks, their brown legs lifting as they toppled and shot over the +edge. + +No wind had preceded the storm. The lightning had leapt out of a +still sky--still, that is, until jarred and set vibrating by the +explosion. But now, as the downpour eased, the wind came on us with +a howl, catching the ship so fierce a cuff, as she rolled with +mainsail set and no way on her, that she careened until the sea ran +in through her lee scuppers, and, for all the loss of her +mizzen-mast, came close to being thrown on her beam ends. + +While she righted herself--which she began to do but slowly--I leapt +for the deck and ran aft, avoiding the jagged splinters, in time to +catch sight of my father's head and shoulders emerging through the +burst hatchway. + +"Hullo!" he sang out cheerfully, lifting his voice against the wind. +"God be praised, lad! I was fearing we had lost you." + +"But what has happened?" I shouted. + +Before he could answer a voice hailed us over stern, and we hurried +aft to find Billy Priske dragging himself towards the ship by the +raffle of mizzen-rigging. We hoisted him in over the quarter, and +he dropped upon deck in a sitting posture. + +"Is my head on?" he asked, taking it in both hands. + +"You are hurt, Billy?" + +"Not's I know by," answered Billy, and stared about him. +"What's become o' the brown vermin?" + +"They seem to have disappeared," said my father, likewise looking +about him. + +"But what on earth has happened?" I persisted, catching him by the +shoulder and shouting in his ear above the roar of a second sudden +squall. + +"I--blew up--the ship. Captain wouldn't listen--academical fellows, +these skippers--like every one else brought up in a profession. +So I mutinied and blew--her--up. He's wounded, by the way." + +"Tell you what," yelled Billy, staggering up, "we'll be at the bottom +in two shakes if somebody don't handle her in these puffs. +Why, where's the wheel?" + +"Gone," answered my father. "Blown away, it appears." + +"_And_ she don't right herself!" + +"Ballast has shifted. The gunpowder blew it every way. Well, +well--poor old John Worthyvale won't mourn it. I left him below past +praying for." + +"Look here, Master Prosper," shouted Billy. "If the ship won't steer +we must get that mains'l in, or we're lost men. Run you and cast off +the peak halliards while I lower! The Lord be praised, here's Mike, +too," he cried, as Mike Halliday appeared at the hatchway, nursing a +badly burnt arm. "Glad to see ye, Mike, and wish I could say the +same to poor Roger. The devils knifed poor Roger, I reckon." + +"No, they did not," said my father, in a lull of the wind. +"They knocked him on the back of the head and slid his body down the +after-companion. The noise of him bumping down the ladder was what +first fetched me awake. He's a trifle dazed yet, but recovering." + +"'Tis a short life he'll recover to, unless we stir ourselves." +Billy clutched my father's arm. "Look 'ee, master! See what they +heathens be doin'!" + +"We have scared 'em," said my father. "They are putting about." + +"_Something_ has scared 'em, sure 'nough. But if 'tis from us they +be in any such hurry to get away, why did they take in a reef before +putting the helm over? No, no, master: they know the weather +hereabouts, and we don't. We've been reckonin' this for a +thunderstorm--a short blow and soon over. They know better, seemin' +to me. Else why don't they tack alongside and finish us?" + +"I believe you are right," said my father, after a long look to +windward. + +"And I'm sure of it," insisted Billy. "What's more, if we can't +right the ballast a bit and get steerage way on her afore the sea +works up, she'll go down under us inside the next two hours. +There's the pumps, too: for if she don't take in water like a basket +I was never born in Wendron parish an' taught blastin'. Why, master, +you must ha' blown the very oakum out of her seams!" + +My father frowned thoughtfully. "That's true," said he; "I have been +congratulating myself too soon. Billy, in the absence of Captain +Pomery I appoint you skipper. You have an ugly job to face, but do +your best." + +"Skipper, be I? Then right you are!" answered Billy, with a cheerful +smile. "An' the first order is for you and Master Prosper here to +tumble below an' heft ballast for your lives. Be the two specimens +safe?" + +"Eh?" It took my father a second, maybe, to fit this description to +Messrs. Badcock and Fett. "Ah, to be sure! Yes, I left them safe +and unhurt." + +"What's no good never comes to harm," said Billy. "Send 'em on deck, +then, and I'll put 'em on to the pumps." + +We left Billy face to face with a job which indeed looked to be past +hope. The wheel had gone, and with it the binnacle; and where these +had stood, from the stump of the broken mizzen-mast right aft to the +taffrail, there yawned a mighty hole fringed with splintered +deck-planking. The explosion had gutted after-hold, after-cabin, +sail-locker, and laid all bare even to the stern-post. `Twas a +marvel the stern itself had not been blown out: but as a set-off +against this mercy--and the most grievous of all, though as yet we +had not discovered it--we had lost our rudder-head, and the rudder +itself hung by a single pintle. + +"Nevertheless," maintained my father, as we toiled together upon the +ballast, "I took the only course, and in like circumstances I would +venture it again. The captain very properly thought first of his +ship: but I preferred to think that we were in a hurry." + +"How did you contrive it?" I asked, pausing to ease my back, and +listening for a moment to the sound of hatchets on deck. +(They were cutting away the tangle of the mizzen rigging.) + +"Very simply," said he. "There must have been a dozen hammering on +the after-hatch, and I guessed they would have another dozen looking +on and offering advice: so I sent Halliday to fetch a keg of powder, +and poured about half of it on the top stair of the companion. +The rest Halliday took and heaped on a sea-chest raised on a couple +of tables close under the deck. We ran up our trains on a couple of +planks laid aslant, and touched off at a signal. There were two +explosions, but we timed them so prettily that I believe they went +off in one." + +"They did," said I. + +"My wits must have been pretty clear, then--at the moment. +Afterwards (I don't mind confessing to you) I lay for some minutes +where the explosion flung me. In my hurry I had overdone the dose." + +We had been shovelling for an hour and more. Already the ship began +to labour heavily, and my father climbed to the deck to observe the +alteration in her trim. He dropped back and picked up his shovel +again in a chastened silence. In fact, deputy-captain Priske (who +had just accomplished the ticklish task of securing the rudder and +lashing a couple of ropes to its broken head for steering-gear) had +ordered him back to work, using language not unmixed with +objurgation. + +For all our efforts the _Gauntlet_ still canted heavily to leeward, +and as the gale grew to its height the little canvas necessary to +heave-to came near to drowning us. Towards midnight our plight grew +so desperate that Billy, consulting no one, determined to risk all-- +the unknown dangers of the coast, his complete ignorance of +navigation, the risk of presenting her crazy stern timbers to the +following seas--and run for it. At once we were called up from the +hold and set to relieve the half-dead workers at the pumps. + +All that night we ran blindly, and all next day. The gale had +southerned, and we no longer feared a lee-shore: but for forty-eight +hours we lived with the present knowledge that the next stern wave +might engulf us as its predecessor had just missed to do. The waves, +too, in this inland sea, were not the great rollers--the great kindly +giants--of our Atlantic gales, but shorter and more vicious in +impact: and, under Heaven, our only hope against them hung by the two +ropes of Billy's jury steering-gear. + +They served us nobly. Towards sunset of the second day, although to +eye and ear the gale had not sensibly abated, and the sea ran by us +as tall as ever, we knew that the worst was over. We could not have +explained our assurance. It was a feeling--no more--but one which +any man will recognize who has outlived a like time of peril on the +sea. We did not hope again, for we were past the effort to hope. +Numb, drenched, our very skins bleached like a washerwoman's hands, +our eyes caked with brine, our limbs so broken with weariness of the +eternal pumping that when our shift was done, where we fell there we +lay, and had to be kicked aside--we had scarcely the spirit to choose +between life and death. Yet all the while we had been fighting for +life like madmen. + +Towards the close of the day, too, Roger Wearne had made shift to +crawl on deck and bear a hand. Captain Pomery lay in the huddle of +the forecastle, no man tending him: and old Worthyvale awaited +burial, stretched in the hold upon the ballast. + +At whiles, as my fingers cramped themselves around the handle of the +pump, it seemed as though we had been fighting this fight, tholing +this misery, gripping the verge of this precipice for years upon +years, and this nightmare sat heaviest upon me when the third morning +broke and I turned in the sudden blessed sunshine--but we blessed it +not--and saw what age the struggle had written on my father's face. +I passed a hand over my eyes, and at that moment Mr. Fett, who had +been snatching an hour's sleep below--and no man better deserved it-- +thrust his head up through the broken hatchway, carolling-- + + "To all you ladies now at land + We men at sea indite, + But first would have you understand + How hard it is to write: + Our paper, pen, and ink and we + Roll up and down our ships at sea, + With a fa-_la_-LA!" + +"Catch him!" cried my father, sharply; but he meant not Mr. Fett. +His eyes were on Billy Priske, who, perched on the temporary +platform, where almost without relief he had sat and steered us, +shouting his orders without sign of fatigue, sank forward with the +rudder ropes dragging through, his hands, and dropped into the hold. + +For me, I cast myself down on deck with face upturned to the sun, and +slept. + + +I woke to find my father seated close to me, cross-legged, examining +a sextant. + +"The plague of it is," he grumbled, "that even supposing myself to +have mastered this diabolical instrument, we have ne'er a compass on +board." + +Glancing aft I saw that Mike Halliday had taken Billy's place at the +helm. At my elbow lay Nat, still sleeping. Mr. Badcock had crawled +to the bulwarks, and leaned there in uncontrollable sea-sickness. +Until the gale was done I believe he had not felt a qualm. Now, on +the top of his nausea, he had to endure the raillery of Mr. Fett, +whose active fancy had already invented a grotesque and wholly +untruthful accusation against his friend--namely, that when assailed +by the Moors, and in the act of being kicked below, he had dropped on +his knees and offered to turn Mohammedan. + +That evening we committed old Worthyvale's body to the sea, and my +father, having taken his first observation at noon, carefully entered +the latitude and longitude in his pocket-book. On consulting the +chart we found the alleged bearings somewhere south of Asia-Minor--to +be exact, off the coast of Pamphylia. My father therefore added the +word "approximately" to his entry, and waited for Captain Pomery to +recover. + +Though the sea went down even more quickly than it had arisen, the +pumps kept us fairly busy. All that night, under a clear and starry +sky, we steered for the north-east with the wind brisk upon our +starboard quarter. + + "I have no chart, + No compass but a heart," + +quoted I in mischief to Nat. But Nat, having passed through a real +gale, had saved not sufficient fondness for his verse to blush, for +it. We should have been mournful for old Worthyvale, but that night +we knew only that it was good, being young, to have escaped death. +Under the stars we made bad jokes on Mr. Badcock's sea-sickness, and +sang in chorus to Mr. Fett's solos-- + + "With a fa-la, fa-la, fa-la-la! + To all you ladies now at land . . ." + +Next morning Captain Pomery (whose hurt was a pretty severe +concussion of the skull, the explosion having flung him into the +panelling of the ship's cabin, and against the knee of a beam) +returned to duty, and professed himself able, with help, to take a +reckoning. He relieved us of another anxiety by producing a +pocket-compass from his fob. + +My father held the sextant for him, while Nat, under instructions, +worked out the sum. With a compass, upon a chart spread on the deck, +I pricked out the bearings--with a result that astonished all as I +leapt up and stared across the bows. + +"Why, lad, by the look of you we should be running ashore!" +exclaimed my father. + +"And so we should be at this moment," said I, "were not the reckoning +out." + +Captain Pomery reached out for the paper. "The reckoning is right +enough," said he, after studying it awhile. + +"Then on what land, in Heaven's name, are we running?" my father +demanded testily. + +"Why, on Corsica," I answered, pointing with my compass's foot as he +bent over the chart. "On Corsica. Where else?" + + +It wanted between three and four hours of sunset when we made the +landfall and assured ourselves that what appeared so like a low cloud +on the east-north-eastern horizon was indeed the wished-for island. +We fell to discussing our best way to approach it; my father at first +maintaining that the coast would be watched by Genoese vessels, and +therefore we should do wisely to take down sail and wait for +darkness. + +Against this, Captain Pomery maintained-- + +1. That we were carrying a fair wind, and the Lord knew how long +that would hold. + +2. That the moon would rise in less than three hours after dark, and +thenceforth we should run almost the same risk of detection as by +daylight. + +3. That in any case we could pass for what we really were, an +English trader in ballast, barely escaped from shipwreck, dismasted, +with broken steerage, making for the nearest port. + +"Man," said Captain Pomery, looking about him, "we must be a poor set +of liars if we can't pitch a yarn on _this_ evidence!" + +My father allowed himself to be persuaded, the more easily as the +argument jumped with his impatience. Accordingly, we stood on for +land, making no concealment; and the wind holding steady on our beam, +and the sun dropping astern of us in a sky without a cloud, 'twas +incredible how soon we began to make out the features of the land. +It rose like a shield to a central boss, which trembled, as it were, +into view and revealed itself a mountain peak, snowcapped and +shining, before ever the purple mist began to slip from the slopes +below it and disclose their true verdure. No sail broke the expanse +of sea between us and the shore; and, as we neared it, no scarp of +cliff, no house or group of houses broke the island's green monotony. +From the water's edge to the high snow-line it might have been built +of moss, so vivid its colour was, yet soft as velvet, and softer and +still more vivid as we approached. + +Within two miles of shore, and not long before dark, the wind (as +Captain Pomery had promised) broke off and headed us, blowing cool +and fresh off the land. I was hauling in the foresheet and belaying +when a sudden waft of fragrance fetched me upright, with head thrown +back and nostrils inhaling the breeze. + +"Ay," said my father, at my elbow, "there is no scent on earth to +compare with it. You smell the _macchia_, lad. Drink well your +first draught of it, delicious as first love." + +"But somewhere--at some time--I have smelt it before," said I. +"The same scent, only fainter. Why does it remind me of home?" + +My father considered. "I will tell you," he said. "In the corridor +at home, outside my bedroom door, stands a wardrobe, and in it hang +the clothes I wore, near upon twenty years ago, in Corsica. +They keep the fragrance of the _macchia_ yet; and if, as a child, you +ever opened that wardrobe, you recall it at this moment." + +"Yes," said I, "that was the scent." + +My father leaned and gazed at the island with dim eyes. + +Still no sign of house or habitation greeted us as we worked by short +tacks towards a deep bay which my father, after a prolonged +consultation of the chart, decided to be that of Sagona. A sharp +promontory ran out upon its northern side, and within the shelter of +this Captain Pomery looked to find good anchorage. But the +_Gauntlet_, after all her battering, lay so poorly to the wind that +darkness overtook us a good mile from land, and before we weathered +the point and cast anchor in a little bight within, the moon had +risen. It showed us a steep shore near at hand, with many grey +pinnacles of granite glimmering high over dark masses of forest +trees, and in the farthest angle of the bight its rays travelled in +silver down the waters of a miniature creek. + +The hawser ran out into five fathoms of water. We had lost our boat: +but Billy Priske had spent his afternoon in fashioning a raft out of +four empty casks and a dozen broken lengths of deck-planking; and on +this, leaving the seamen on board, the rest of us pushed off for +shore. For paddles we used a couple of spare oars. + +The water, smooth as in a lake, gave us our choice to make a landing +where we would. My father, however, who had taken command, chose to +steer straight for the entrance of the little creek. There, between +tall entrance rocks of granite, we passed through it into the shadow +of folding woods where the moon was lost to us. Sounding with our +paddles, we found a good depth of water under the raft, lit a +lantern, and pushed on, my father promising that we should discover a +village or at least a hamlet at the creek-head. + +"And you will find the inhabitants--your subjects, Prosper-- +hospitable, too. Whatever the island may have been in Seneca's time, +to deserve the abuse he heaped on it in exile, to-day the Corsicans +keep more of the old classical virtues than any nation known to me. +In vendetta they will slay one another, using the worst treachery; +but a stranger may walk the length of the island unarmed--save +against the Genoese--and find a meal at the poorest cottage, and a +bed, however rough, whereon he may sleep untroubled by suspicion." + +The raft grated and took ground on a shelving bank of sand, and Nat, +who stood forward holding the lantern, made a motion to step on +shore. My father restrained him. + +"Prosper goes first." + +I stepped on to the bank. My father, following, stooped, gathered a +handful of the fine granite sand, and holding it in the lantern's +light, let it run through his fingers. + +"Hat off, lad! and salute your kingdom!" + +"But where," said I, "be my subjects?" + +It seemed, as we formed ourselves into marching order, that I was on +the point to be answered. For above the bank we came to a causeway +which our lanterns plainly showed us to be man's handiwork; and +following it round the bend of a valley, where a stream sang its way +down to the creek, came suddenly on a flat meadow swept by the pale +light and rising to a grassy slope, where a score of whitewashed +houses huddled around a tall belfry, all glimmering under the moon. + +"In Corsica," repeated my father, leading the way across the meadow, +"every householder is a host." + +He halted at the base of the village street. + +"It is curious, however, that the dogs have not heard us. +Their barking, as a rule, is something to remember." + +He stepped up to the first house to knock. There was no door to +knock upon. The building stood open, desolate. Our lanterns showed +the grass growing on its threshold. + +We tried the next and the next. The whole village lay dead, +abandoned. We gathered in the street and shouted, raising our +lanterns aloft. No voice answered us. + +[1] Phosphorescence. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +HOW, WITHOUT FIGHTING, OUR ARMY WASTED BY ENCHANTMENT. + + + "ADRIAN. The air breathes upon us here most sweetly. . . . + GONZALO. Here is everything advantageous to life. + ANTONIO. True: save means to live." + + "CALIBAN. Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, + Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt + not." + _The Tempest_. + +Upon a sudden thought my father hurried us towards the tall belfry. +It rose cold and white against the moon, at the end of a nettle-grown +lane. A garth of ilex-oaks surrounded it; and beside it, more than +half-hidden by the untrimmed trees, stood a ridiculously squat +church. By instinct, or, rather, from association of ideas learnt in +England, I glanced around this churchyard for its gravestones. +There were none. Yet for the second time within these few hours I +was strangely reminded of home, where in an upper garret were stacked +half a dozen age-begrimed paintings on panel, one of which on an idle +day two years ago I had taken a fancy to scour with soap and water. +The painting represented a tall man, crowned and wearing Eastern +armour, with a small slave in short jacket and baggy white breeches +holding a white charger in readiness; all three figures awkwardly +drawn and without knowledge of anatomy. For background my scouring +had brought to light a group of buildings, and among them just such a +church as this, with just such a belfry. Of architecture and its +different styles I knew nothing; but, comparing the church before me +with what I could recollect of the painting, I recognized every +detail, from the cupola, high-set upon open arches, to the round, +windowless apse in which the building ended. + +My father, meanwhile, had taken a lantern and explored the interior. + +"I know this place," he announced quietly, as he reappeared, after +two or three minutes, in the ruinous doorway; "it is called Paomia. +We can bivouac in peace, and I doubt if by searching we could find a +better spot." + +We ate our supper of cold bacon and ship-bread, both slightly damaged +by sea-water--but the wine solaced us, being excellent--and stretched +ourselves to sleep under the ilex boughs, my father undertaking to +stand sentry till daybreak. Nat and I protested against this, and +offered ourselves; but he cut us short. He had his reasons, he said. + +It must have been two or even three hours later that I awoke at the +touch of his hand on my shoulder. I stared up through the boughs at +the setting moon, and around me at my comrades asleep in the grasses. +He signed to me not to awake them, but to rise and follow him softly. + +Passing through the screen of ilex, we came to a gap in the stone +wall of the garth, and through this, at the base of the hillside +below the forest, to a second screen of cypress which opened suddenly +upon a semicircle of turf; and here, bathed in the moon's rays that +slanted over the cypress-tops, stood a small Doric temple of +weather-stained marble, in proportions most delicate, a background +for a dance of nymphs, a fit tiring-room for Diana and her train. + +Its door--if ever it had possessed one--was gone, like every other +door in this strange village. My father led the way up the white +steps, halted on the threshold, and, standing aside lest he should +block the moonlight, pointed within. + +I stood at his shoulder and looked. The interior was empty, bare of +all ornament. On the wall facing the door, and cut in plain letters +a foot high, two words in Greek confronted me-- + + PHILOPATRI STEPHANOPOULOI. + +"A tomb?" I asked. + +"Yes, and a kinsman's; for the Stephanopouli were of blood the +emperors did not disdain to mate with. In the last rally the Turks +had much ado with them as leaders of the Moreote tribes around Maina, +and north along Taygetus to Sparta. Yes, and there were some who +revived the Spartan name in those days, maintaining the fight among +the mountains until the Turks swarmed across from Crete, overran +Maina and closed the struggle. Yet there was a man, Constantine +Stephanopoulos, the grandfather of this Philopater, who would buy +nothing at the price of slavery, but, collecting a thousand souls-- +men, women, and children--escaped by ship from Porto Vitilo and +sailed in search of a new home. At first he had thought of Sicily; +but, finding no welcome there, he came (in the spring of 1675, I +think) to Genoa, and obtained leave from the Genoese to choose a site +in Corsica." + +"And it was here he planted his colony?" + +"In this very valley; but, mind you, at the price of swearing fealty +to the Republic of Genoa--this and the repayment of a beggarly +thousand piastres which the Republic had advanced to pay the captain +of the ship which brought them, and to buy food and clothing. +Very generous treatment it seemed. Yet you have heard me say before +now that liberty never stands in its worst peril until the hour of +success; then too often men turn her sword against her. So these men +of Lacedaemon, coming to an island where the rule of Genoa was a +scourge to all except themselves, in gratitude, or for their oath's +sake, took sides with the oppressor. Therefore the Corsicans, who +never forget an injury, turned upon them, drove them for shelter to +Ajaccio, and laid their valley desolate; nor have the Genoese power +to restore them. + +"Fate, Prosper, has landed you on this very spot where your kinsmen +found refuge for awhile, and broke the ground, and planted orchards, +hoping for a fair continuance of peace and peaceful tillage. + + "'Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum + Tendimus in Latium--' + +"How will you read the omen?" + +"You say," said I, "that had we found our kinsmen here we had found +them in league against freedom, and friends of the tyranny we are +here to fight?" + +"Assuredly." + +"Then, sir, let me read the omen as a lesson, and avoid my kinsmen's +mistake." + +My father smiled and clapped me on the shoulder. "You say little, as +a rule, Prosper. It is a good fault in kings." + +We walked back to the churchyard, where Mr. Fett sat up, rubbing his +eyes in the dawn, and hailed us. + +"Good morning, signors! I have been dreaming that I came to a +kingdom which, indeed, seemed to be an island, but on inspection +proved to be a mushroom. What interpretation have you when a man +dreams of mushrooms?" + +"Why, this," said I, "that we passed some score of them in the meadow +below. I saw them plain by the moonlight, and kicked at them to make +sure." + +"I did better," said Mr. Fett; I gathered a dozen or two in my cap, +foreseeing breakfast. Faith, and while you have been gadding I might +have had added a rasher of bacon. Did you meet any hogs on your way? +But no; they turned back and took the path that appears to run up to +the woods yonder." + +"Hogs?" queried my father. + +"They woke me, nosing and grunting among the nettles by the wall-- +lean, brown beasts, with Homeric chines, and two or three of them +huge as the Boar of Calydon. I was minded to let off my gun at 'em, +but refrained upon two considerations--the first, that if they were +tame, to shoot them might compromise our welcome here, and perhaps +painfully, since the dimensions of the pigs appeared to argue +considerable physical strength in their masters; the second, that if +wild they might be savage enough to defend themselves when attacked." + +"Doubtless," said my father, "they belong to some herdsman in the +forest above us, and have strayed down in search of acorns. +They cannot belong to this village." + +"And why, pray?" + +"Because it contains not a single inhabitant. Moreover, gentlemen, +while you were sleeping I have taken a pretty extensive stroll. +The vineyards lie unkempt, the vines themselves unthinned, up to the +edge of the forest. The olive-trees have not been tended, but have +shed their fruit for years with no man to gather. Many even have +cracked and fallen under the weight of their crops. But no trace of +beast, wild or tame, did I discover; no dung, no signs of trampling. +The valley is utterly desolate." + +"It grows mushrooms," said Mr. Fett, cheerfully, piling a heap of dry +twigs; "and we have ship's butter and a frying-pan." + +"Are you sure," asked Mr. Badcock, examining one, "that these are +true mushrooms?" + +"They were grown in Corsica, and have not subscribed to the +Thirty-nine Articles; still, _mutatis mutandis_, in my belief they +are good mushrooms. If you doubt, we can easily make sure by stewing +them awhile in a saucepan and stirring them with a silver spoon, or +boiling them gently with Mr. Badcock's watch, as was advised by Mr. +Locke, author of the famous 'Essay on the Human Understanding.'" + +"Indeed?" said my father. "The passage must have escaped me." + +"It does not occur in the 'Essay.' He gave the advice at Montpellier +to an English family of the name of Robinson; and had they listened +to him it would have robbed Micklethwaite's 'Botany of Pewsey and +Devizes' of some fascinating pages." + +MR. FETT'S STORY OF THE FUNGI OF MONTPELLIER. + +"About the year 1677, when Mr. Locke resided at Montpellier for the +benefit of his health, and while his famous 'Essay' lay as yet in the +womb of futurity, there happened to be staying in the same _pension_ +an English family--" + +"Excuse me," put in my father, "I do not quite gather where these +people lodged." + +"The sentence was faultily constructed, I admit. They were lodging +in the same _pension_ as Mr. Locke. The family consisted of a Mrs. +Robinson, a widow; her son Eustace, aged seventeen; her daughter +Laetitia, a child of fourteen, suffering from a slight pulmonary +complaint; her son's tutor, whose name I forget for the moment, but +he was a graduate of Peterhouse, Cambridge, and an ardent botanist; +and a good-natured English female named Maria Wilkins, an old servant +whom Mrs. Robinson had brought from home--Pewsey, in Wiltshire--to +attend upon this Laetitia. The Robinsons, you gather, were +well-to-do; they were even well connected; albeit their social +position did not quite warrant their story being included in the late +Mr. D'Arcy Smith's 'Tragedies and Vicissitudes of Our County +Families.' + +"It appears that the lad Eustace, perceiving that his sister's +delicate health procured her some indulgences, complained of +headaches, which he attributed to a too intense application upon the +'Memorabilia' of Xenophon, and cajoled his mother into packing him +off with the tutor on a holiday expedition to the neighbouring +mountains of Garrigues. From this they returned two days later about +the time of _dejeuner_, with a quantity of mushrooms, which the +tutor, who had discovered them, handed around for inspection, +asserting them to be edible. + +"The opinion of Mr. Locke being invited, that philosopher took up the +position he afterwards elaborated so ingeniously, declaring that +knowledge concerning these mushrooms could only be the result of +experience, and suggesting that the tutor should first make proof of +their innocuousness on his own person. Upon this the tutor, a +priggish youth, retorted hotly that he should hope his Cambridge +studies, for which his parents had pinched themselves by many small +economies, had at least taught him to discriminate between the +_agarici_. Mr. Locke in vain endeavoured to divert the conversation +upon the scope and objects of a university education, and fell back +on suggesting that the alleged mushrooms should be stewed, and the +stew stirred with a silver spoon, when, if the spoon showed no +discolouration, he would take back his opinion that they contained +phosphorus in appreciable quantities. He was called an empiricist +for his pains; and Mrs. Robinson (who hated a dispute and invariably +melted at any allusion to the tutor's _res angusta domi_) weakly gave +way. The mushrooms were cooked and pronounced excellent by the +entire family, of whom Mrs. Robinson expired at 8.30 that evening, +the tutor at 9 o'clock, the faithful domestic Wilkins and Master +Eustace shortly after midnight, and an Alsatian cook, attached to the +establishment, some time in the small hours. The poor child, who had +partaken but sparingly, lingered until the next noon before +succumbing." + +"A strange fatality!" commented Mr. Badcock. + +Mr. Fett paused, and eyed him awhile in frank admiration before +continuing. + +"The wonder to me is you didn't call it a coincidence," he murmured. + +"Well, and so it was," said Mr. Badcock, "only the word didn't occur +to me." + +"The bodies," resumed Mr. Fett, "in accordance with the by-laws of +Montpellier, were conveyed to the town mortuary, and there bestowed +for the time in open coffins, connected by means of wire attachments +with a bell in the roof--a municipal device against premature +interment. The wires also carried a number of small bells very +sensitively hung, so that the smallest movement of reviving animation +would at once alarm the night-watchman in an adjoining chamber. + +"This watchman, an honest fellow with literary tastes above his +calling, was engaged towards midnight in reading M. de la Fontaine's +'Elegie aux Nymphes de Vaux,' when a sudden violent jangling fetched +him to his feet, with every hair of his head erect and separate. +Before he could collect his senses the jangling broke into a series +of terrific detonations, in the midst of which the bell in the roof +tolled one awful stroke and ceased. + +"I leave to your imagination the sight that met his eyes when, +lantern in hand, he reached the mortuary door. The collected +remains, promiscuously interred next day by the municipality of +Montpellier, were, at the request of a brother-in-law of Mrs. +Robinson, and through the good offices of Mr. Locke, subsequently +exhumed and despatched to Pewsey, where they rest under a suitable +inscription, locally attributed to the pen of Mr. Locke. His +admirers will recognize in the concluding lines that conscientious +exactitude which ever distinguished the philosopher. They run-- + + "'And to the Memory of one + FRITZ (? Sempach) + a Humble Native of Alsace + whose remains, by Destiny commingled + with the foregoing, + are for convenience here deposited. + II. Kings iv. 39.' + +"But the extraordinary part of my story, gentlemen, remains to be +told. Some six weeks ago, happening, in search of a theatrical +engagement, to find myself in the neighbourhood of Stonehenge, I fell +in with a pedestrian whose affability of accost invited me to a +closer acquaintance. He introduced himself as the Reverend Josias +Micklethwaite, a student of Nature, and more particularly of the +mosses and lichens of Wilts. Our liking (I have reason to believe) +was mutual, and we spent a delightful ten days in tracking up +together the course of the Wiltshire Avon, and afterwards in +perambulating the famous forest of Savernake. Here, I regret to say, +a trifling request--for the loan of five shillings, a temporary +accommodation--led to a misunderstanding, and put a period to our +companionship, and I remain his debtor but for some hours of +profitable intercourse. + +"Coming at the close of a day's ramble to Pewsey, a small town near +the source of the Avon, we visited its parish churchyard and happened +upon the memorial to the unfortunate Robinsons. An old man was +stooping over the turf beside it, engaged in gathering mushrooms, +numbers of which grew in the grass around this stone, _but nowhere +else in the whole enclosure_. The old man, who proved to be the +sexton, assured us not only of this, but also that previous to the +interment of the Robinsons no mushrooms had grown within a mile of +the spot. He added that, albeit regarded with abhorrence by the more +superstitious inhabitants of Pewsey, the fungi were edible, and gave +no trouble to ordinary digestions (his own, for example); nor upon +close examination could Mr. Micklethwaite detect that they differed +at all from the common _agaricus campestris_. So, sirs, concludes my +tale." + +Mr. Fett ended amid impressive silence. + +"I don't feel altogether so keen-set as I did five minutes back," +muttered Billy Priske. + +"For my part," said Mr. Fett, anointing the gridiron with a pat of +ship's butter, "I offer no remark upon it beyond the somewhat banal +one by which we have all been anticipated by Hamlet. 'There are more +things in heaven and earth, Horatio--'." + +"Faith, and so there are," broke in Nat Fiennes, catching me on a +sudden by the arm. "Listen!" + +High on the forest ridge, far and faint, yet clear over the +pine-tops, a voice was singing. + +The voice was a girl's--a girl's, or else some spirit's; for it fell +to us out of the very dawn, pausing and anon dropping again in little +cadences, as though upon the waft of wing; and wafted with it, wave +upon wave, came also the morning scent of the _macchia_. + +We could distinguish no words, intently though we listened, or no +more than one, which sounded like _Mortu, mortu, mortu_, many times +repeated in slow refrain before the voice lifted again to the air. +But the air itself was voluble between its cadences, and the voice, +though a woman's, seemed to challenge us on a high martial note, half +menacing, half triumphant. + +Nat Fiennes had sprung to his feet, musket in hand, when another and +less romantic sound broke the silence of the near woods; and down +through a glade on the slope above us, where darkness and day yet +mingled in a bluish twilight under the close boughs, came scampering +back the hogs described to us by Mr. Fett. Apparently they had +recovered from their fright, for they came on at a shuffling gallop +through the churchyard gate, nor hesitated until well within the +enclosure. There, with much grunting, they drew to a standstill and +eyed us, backing a little, and sidling off by twos and threes among +the nettles under the wall. + +"They are tame hogs run wild," said my father, after studying them +for a minute. "They have lost their masters, and evidently hope we +have succeeded to the care of their troughs." + +He moistened a manchet of bread from his wine-flask and flung it +towards them. The hogs winced away with a squeal of alarm, then took +courage and rushed upon the morsel together. The most of them were +lean brutes, though here and there a fat sow ran with the herd, her +dugs almost brushing the ground. In colour all were reddish-brown, +and the chine of each arched itself like a bent bow. Five or six +carried formidable tusks. + +These tusks, I think, must have struck terror in the breast of Mr. +Badcock, who, as my father enticed the hogs nearer with fresh morsels +of bread until they nuzzled close to us, suddenly made a motion to +beat them off with the butt of his musket, whereupon the whole herd +wheeled and scampered off through the gateway. + +"Why, man," cried my father, angrily, "did I not tell you they were +tame! And now you have lost us good provender!" He raised his gun. + +But here Nat touched his arm. "Let me follow them, sir, and see +which way they take. Being so tame, they have likely enough some +master or herdsman up yonder--" + +"Or herdswoman," I laughed. "Take me with you, Nat." + +"Nay, that I won't," he answered, with a quick blush. "You have the +temper of Adonis-- + + "'Hunting he lov'd, but love he laughed to scorn,' + +"and I fear his fate of you, one little Adonis among so many boars!" + +"Then take _me_" urged Mr. Badcock. "Indeed, sir," he apologized, +turning to my father, "the movement was involuntary. I am no coward, +sir, though a sudden apprehension may for the moment flush my nerves. +I desire to prove to you that on second thoughts I am ready to face +all the boars in Christendom." + +"I did not accuse you," said my father. "But go with Mr. Fiennes if +you wish." + +Nat nodded, tucked his musket under his arm, and strode out of the +churchyard with Mr. Badcock at his heels. By the gateway he halted a +moment and listened; but the voice sang no longer from the ridge. + +We watched the pair as they went up the glade, and turned to our +breakfast. The meal over, my father proposed to me to return to the +creek and fetch up a three days' supply of provisions from the ship, +leaving Mr. Fett and Billy Priske to guard the camp. (In our +confidence of finding the valley inhabited, we had brought but two +pounds of ship's biscuit, one-third as much butter, and a small keg +only of salt pork.) + +We were absent, maybe, for two hours and a half; and on our way back +fell in with Billy, who, having suffered no ill effects from his +breakfast of mushrooms (though he had eaten them under protest), was +roaming the meadow in search of more. We asked him if the two +explorers had returned. + +He answered "No," and that Mr. Fett had strolled up into the wood in +search of chestnuts, leaving him sentry over the camp. + +"And is it thus you keep sentry?" my father demanded. + +"Why, master, since this valley has no more tenantry than Sodom or +Gomorrah, cities of the plain--" Billy began confidently; but his +voice trailed off under my father's frown. + +"You have done ill, the pair of you," said my father, and strode +ahead of us across the meadow. + +At the gate of the enclosure he came to an abrupt halt. + +The hogs had returned and were routing among our camp-furniture. +For the rest, the churchyard was empty. But where were Nat Fiennes +and Mr. Badcock, who had sallied out to follow them? And where was +Mr. Fett? + +We rushed upon the brutes, and drove them squealing out of the +gateway leading to the woods. They took the rise of the glade at a +scamper, and were lost to us in the undergrowth. We followed, +shouting our comrades' names. No answer came back to us, though our +voices must have carried far beyond the next ridge. For an hour we +beat the wood, keeping together by my father's order, and shouting, +now singly, now in chorus. Nat, likely enough, had pressed forward +beyond earshot, and led Mr. Badcock on with him. But what had become +of Mr. Fett, who, as Billy asseverated, had promised to take but a +short stroll? + +My father's frown grew darker and yet darker as the minutes wore on +and still no voice answered our hailing. The sun was declining fast +when he gave the order to return to camp, which we found as we had +left it. We seated ourselves amid the disordered baggage, pulled out +a ration apiece of salt pork and ship's bread, and ate our supper in +moody silence. + +During the meal Billy kept his eye furtively on my father. + +"Master," said he, at the close, plucking up courage as my father +filled and lit a pipe of tobacco, "I be terribly to blame." + +My father puffed, without answering. + +"The Lord knows whether they be safe or lost," went on Billy, +desperately; "but we be safe, and those as can ought to sleep +to-night." + +Still my father gave no answer. + +"I can't sleep, sir, with this on my conscience--no, not if I tried. +Give me leave, sir, to stand sentry while you and Master Prosper take +what rest you may." + +"I don't know that I can trust you," said my father. + +"'Twas a careless act, I'll allow. But I've a-been your servant, Sir +John, for twenty-two year come nest Martinmas; and you know--or else +you ought to know--that for your good opinion, being set to it, I +would stand awake till I watched out every eye in my head." + +My father crammed down the ashes in his pipe, and glanced back at the +sun, now dropping into the fold of the glen between us and the sea. + +"I will give you another chance," he said. + +Thrice that night, my dreams being troubled, I awoke and stretched +myself to see Billy pacing grimly in the moonlight between us and the +gateway, tholing his penance. I know not what aroused me the fourth +time; some sound, perhaps. The dawn was breaking, and, half-lifted +on my elbow, I saw Billy, his musket still at his shoulder, halt by +the gateway as if he, too, had been arrested by the sound. After a +moment he turned, quite casually, and stepped outside the gate to +look. + +I saw him step outside. I was but half-awake, and drowsily my eyes +closed and opened again with a start, expecting to see him back at +his sentry-go. He had not returned. + +I closed my eyes again, in no way alarmed as yet. I would give him +another minute, another sixty seconds. But before I had counted +thirty my ears caught a sound, and I leapt up, wide awake, and +touched my father's shoulder. + +He sat up, cast a glance about him, and sprang to his feet. +Together we ran to the gateway. + +The voice I had heard was the grunting of the hogs. They were +gathered about the gateway again, and, as before, they scampered from +us up the glade. + +But of Billy Priske there was no sign at all. We stared at each +other and rubbed our eyes; we two, left alone out of our company of +six. Although the sun would not pierce to the valley for another +hour, it slanted already between the pine-stems on the ridge, and +above us the sky was light with another day. + +And again, punctual with the dawn, over the ridge a far voice broke +into singing. As before, it came to us in cadences descending to a +long-drawn refrain--_Mortu, mortu, mortu!_ + +"Billy! Billy Priske!" we called, and listened. + +"_Mortu, mortu, mortu!_" sang the voice, and died away behind the +ridge. + +For some time we stood and heard the hogs crashing their way through +the undergrowth at the head of the glade, with a snapping and +crackling of twigs, which by degrees grew fainter. This, too, died +away; and, returning to our camp, we sat among the baggage and stared +one another in the face. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +HOW BY MEANS OF HER SWINE I CAME TO CIRCE. + + + "So saying I took my way up from the ship and the sea-shore. + But on my way, as I drew near through the glades to the home of + the enchantress Circe, there met me Hermes with his golden rod, + in semblance of a lad wearing youth's bloom on his lip and all + youth's charm at its heyday. He clasped my hand and spake and + greeted me. 'Whither away now, wretched wight, amid these + mountain-summits alone and astray? And yonder in the styes of + Circe, transformed to swine, thy comrades lie penned and make + their lairs!'"--_Odyssey, bk. X_. + +"Prosper," said my father, seriously, "we must return to the ship." + +"I suppose so," I admitted; but with a rising temper, so that my tone +contradicted him. + +"It is most necessary. We are no longer an army, or even a +legation." + +"Nothing could be more evident. You may add, sir, that we are badly +scared, the both of us. Yet I don't stomach sailing away, at any +rate, until we have discovered what has happened to the others." +I cast a vicious glance up at the forest. + +"Good Lord, child!" my father exclaimed. "Who was suggesting it?" + +"You spoke of returning to the ship." + +"To be sure I did. She can work round to Ajaccio and repair. +She will arrive evidently from the verge of total wreck, an ordinary +trader in ballast, with nothing suspicious about her. No questions +will be asked that Pomery cannot invent an answer for off-hand. +She will be allowed to repair, refit, and sail for reinforcements." + +"Reinforcements? But where will you find reinforcements?" + +"I must rely on Gervase to provide them. Meanwhile we have work on +hand. To begin with, we must clear up this mystery, which may oblige +us to camp here for some time." + +"O-oh!" said I. + +"You do not suggest, I hope, that we can abandon our comrades, +whatever has befallen them?" + +"My dear father!" I protested. + +"Tut, lad! I never supposed it of you. Well, it seems to me we are +more likely to clear up the mystery by sitting still than by beating +the woods. Do you agree?" + +"To be sure," said I, "we may spare ourselves the trouble of +searching for it." + +"I propose then, as our first move, that we step down to the ship +together and pack Captain Pomery off to Ajaccio with his orders--" + +"Excuse me, sir," I interrupted. "_You_ shall step down to the ship, +while I wait here and guard the camp." + +"My dear Prosper," said he, "I like the spirit of that offer: but, +upon my word, I hope you won't persist in it. These misadventures, +if I may confess it, get me on the raw, and I cannot leave you here +alone without feeling damnably anxious." + +"Trust me, sir," I answered, "I shall be at least as uncomfortable +until you return. But I have an inkling that--whatever the secret +may be, and whether we surprise it or it surprises us--it will wait +until we are separated. Moreover, I have a theory to test. So far, +every man has disappeared outside the churchyard here and somewhere +on the side of the forest. The camp itself has been safe enough, and +so have the meadow and the path down to the creek. You will remember +that Billy was roaming the meadow for mushrooms at the very time we +lost Mr. Fett: yet Billy came to no harm. To be sure, the enemy, +having thinned us down to two, may venture more boldly; but if I keep +the camp here while you take the path down to the creek, and nothing +happens to either, we shall be narrowing the zone of danger, so to +speak." + +My father nodded. "You will promise me not to set foot outside the +camp?" + +"I will promise more," said I. "At the smallest warning I am going +to let off my piece. You must not be annoyed if I fetch you back on +a false alarm, or even an absurd one. I shall sit here with my +musket across my knees, and half a dozen others, all loaded, close +around me: and at the first sign of something wrong--at the crackling +of a twig, maybe--I shall fire. You, on your way to the creek, will +keep your eyes just as wide open and fire at the first hint of +danger." + +"I don't like it," my father persisted. + +"But you see the wisdom of it," said I. "We must stay here: that's +agreed. So long as we stay here we shall be desperately +uncomfortable, fearing we don't know what: that also is agreed. +Then, say I, for God's sake let us clear this business up and get it +over." + +My father nodded, stood up and shouldered his piece. I knew that his +eyes were on me, and avoided meeting them, afraid for a moment that +he was going to say something in praise of my courage, whereas in +truth I was horribly scared. That last word or two had really +expressed my terror. I desired nothing but to get the whole thing +over. My hand shook so as I turned to load the first musket that I +had twice to shorten my grasp of the ramrod before I could insert it +in the barrel. + +From the gateway leading to the lane my father watched till the +loading was done. + +"Good-bye and good luck, lad!" said he, and turned to go. A pace or +two beyond the gateway he halted as if to add a word, but thought +better of it and resumed his stride. His footsteps sounded hollow +between the walls of the narrow lane. Then he reached the turf of +the meadow, and the sound ceased suddenly. + +I wanted--wanted desperately--to break down and run after him. +By a bodily effort--something like a long pull on a rope--I held +myself steady and braced my back against the bole of the ilex tree, +which I had chosen because it gave a view through the gateway towards +the forest. Upon this opening and the glade beyond it I kept my +eyes, for the first minute or two scarcely venturing to wink, only +relaxing the strain now and again for a cautious glance to right and +left around the deserted enclosure. I could hear my heart working +like a pump. + +The enclosure--indeed the whole valley--lay deadly silent in the +growing heat of the morning. On the hidden summit behind the wood a +raven croaked; and as the sun mounted, a pair of buzzards, winging +their way to the mountains, crossed its glare and let fall a +momentary trace of shadow that touched my nerves as with a whip. +But few birds haunt the Corsican bush, and to-day even these woods +and this watered valley were dumb of song. No breeze sent a shiver +through the grey ilexes or the still paler olives in the orchard to +my right. On the slope the chestnut trees massed their foliage in +heavy plumes of green, plume upon plume, wave upon wave, a still +cascade of verdure held between jagged ridges of granite. Here and +there the granite pushed a bare pinnacle above the trees, and over +these pinnacles the air swam and quivered. + +The minutes dragged by. A caterpillar let itself down by a thread +from the end of the bough under which I sat, in a direct line between +me and the gateway. Very slowly, while I watched him, he descended +for a couple of feet, swayed a little and hung still, as if +irresolute. A butterfly, after hovering for a while over the wall's +dry coping, left it and fluttered aimlessly across the garth, +vanishing at length into the open doorway of the church. + +The church stood about thirty paces from my tree, and by turning my +head to the angle of my right shoulder I looked straight into its +porch. It struck me that from the shadow within it, or from one of +the narrow windows, a marksman could make an easy target of me. +The building had been empty over-night: no one (it was reasonable to +suppose) had entered the enclosure during Billy's sentry-go; no one +for a certainty had entered it since. Nevertheless, the fancy that +eyes might be watching me from within the church began now to worry, +and within five minutes had almost worried me into leaving my post to +explore. + +I repressed the impulse. I could not carry my stand of muskets with +me, and to leave it unguarded would be the starkest folly. Also I +had sworn to myself to keep watch on the gateway towards the forest, +and this resolution must obviously be broken if I explored the +church. I kept my seat, telling myself that, however the others had +vanished, they had vanished in silence, and therefore all danger from +gunshot might be ruled out of the reckoning. + +I had scarcely calmed myself by these reflections when a noise at +some distance up the glade fetched my musket halfway to my shoulder. +I lowered it with a short laugh of relief as our friends the hogs +came trotting downhill to the gateway. + +For the moment I was glad; on second thoughts, vexed. They explained +the noise and eased my immediate fear. They brought back--absurd as +it may sound--a sense of companionship: for although half-wild, they +showed a disposition to be sociable, and we had found that a wave of +the arm sufficed to drive them off when their advances became +embarrassing. On the other hand, they would certainly distract some +attention which I could very ill afford to spare. + +But again I calmed myself, reflecting that if any danger lurked close +at hand, these friendly nuisances might give me some clue to it by +their movements. They came trotting down to the entrance, halted and +regarded me, pushing up their snouts and grunting as though uncertain +of their welcome. Apparently reassured, they charged through, as +hogs will, in a disorderly mob, rubbing their lean flanks against the +gateposts, each seeming to protest with squeals against the crush to +which he contributed. + +One or two of the boldest came running towards me in the hope of +being fed; but, seeing that I made no motion, swerved as though their +courage failed them, and stood regarding me sideways with their +grotesque little eyes. Finding me still unresponsive, they began to +nose in the dried grasses with an affected unconcern which set me +smiling; it seemed so humanlike a pretence under rebuff. The rest, +as usual, dispersed under the trees and along the nettle-beds by the +wall. It occurred to me that, if I let these gentlemen work round to +my rear, they might distract my attention--perhaps at an awkward +moment--by nosing up to the forage-bags or upsetting the +camp-furniture, so with a wave of my musket I headed them back. +They took the hint obediently enough, and, wheeling about, fell to +rooting between me and the entrance. So I sat maybe for another five +minutes, still keeping my main attention on the gateway, but with an +occasional glance to right and left, to detect and warn back any +fresh attempt to work round my flanks. + +Now, in the act of waving my musket, I had happened to catch sight of +one remarkably fine hog among the nettles, who, taking alarm with the +rest, had winced away and disappeared in the rear of the church, +where a narrow alley ran between it and the churchyard wall. If he +followed this alley to its end, he would come into sight again around +the apse and almost directly on my right flank. I kept my eye +lifting towards this corner of the building, Waiting for him to +reappear, which by-and-by he did, and with a truly porcine air of +minding his own business and that only. + +His unconcern was so admirably affected that, to test it, instead of +waving him back I lifted my musket very quietly, almost without +shifting my position, and brought the butt against my shoulder. + +He saw the movement; for at once, even with his head down in the +grasses, he hesitated and came to a full stop. Suddenly, as my +fingers felt for the trigger-guard, my heart began to beat like a +hammer. + +_There_ lay my danger; and in a flash I knew it, but not the extent +of it. This was no hog, but a man; by the start and the quick +arrested pose in which the brute faced me, still with his head low +and his eyes regarding me from the grasses, I felt sure of him. +But what of the others? Were they also men? If so, I was certainly +lost, but I dared not turn my eyes for a glance at them. With a +sudden and most natural grunt the brute backed a little, shook his +head in disgust, and sidled towards the angle of the building. +"Now or never," thought I, and pulled the trigger. + +As the musket kicked against me I felt--I could not see--the rest of +the hogs swerve in a common panic and break for the gateway. +Their squealing took up the roar of the report and protracted it. +They were real hogs, then. + +I caught up a second musket, and, to make sure, let fly into the mass +of them as they choked the gateway. Then, without waiting to see the +effect of this shot, I snatched musket number three, and ran through +the drifting smoke to where my first victim lay face-downwards in +the grasses, his swine's mask bowed upon the forelegs crossed--as a +man crosses his arms--inwards from the elbow. As I ran he lifted +himself in agony on his knees--a man's knees. I saw a man's hand +thrust through the paunch, ripping it asunder; and, struggling so, he +rolled slowly over upon his back and lay still. I stooped and tore +the mask away. A black-avised face stared up at me, livid beneath +its sunburn, with filmed eyes. The eyes stared at me unwinking as I +slipped his other hand easily out of its case, which, even at close +view, marvellously resembled the cleft narrow hoof of a hog. I could +not disengage him further, his feet being strapped into the disguise +with tight leathern thongs: but having satisfied myself that he was +past help, I turned on a quick thought to the gateway again, and ran. + +A second hog--a real hog--lay stretched there on its side, dead as a +nail. Its companions, scampering in panic, had by this time almost +reached the head of the glade. Forgetting my promise to my father, I +started in pursuit. The thought in my mind was that, if I kept them +in sight, they would lead me to my comrades; a chance unlikely to +return. + +The glade ran up between two contracting spurs of the hill. As I +climbed, the belt of woodland narrowed on either side of the track, +until the side-valley ended in a cross ridge where the chestnuts +suddenly gave place to pines and the turf to a rocky soil carpeted +with pine needles. Here, in the spaces between the tree-trunks, I +caught my last glimpse of the hogs as two or three of the slowest ran +over the ridge and disappeared. I followed, sure of getting sight of +them from the summit. But here I found myself tricked. Beyond the +ridge lay a short dip--short, that is, as a bird flies. Not more +than fifty yards ahead the slope rose again, strewn with granite +boulders and piled masses of granite, such as in Cornwall we call +"tors"; and clear away to the mountain-tops stretched a view with +never a tree, but a few outstanding bushes only. Yet from ridge to +ridge green vegetation filled every hollow, and in the hollow between +me and the nearest the hogs were lost. + +I heard, however, their grunting and the snapping of boughs in the +undergrowth: and in that clear delusive air it seemed but three +minutes' work to reach the next ridge. I followed then, confidently +enough--and made my first acquaintance with the Corsican _macchia_ by +plunging into a cleft twenty feet deep between two rocks of granite. +I did not actually fall more than a third of the distance, for I +saved myself by clutching at a clematis which laced its coils, thick +as a man's wrist, across the cleft. But I know that the hole cannot +have been less than twenty feet deep, for I had to descend to the +bottom of it to recover my musket. + +That fall committed me, too. Within five minutes of my first +introduction to the _macchia_ I had learnt how easily a man may be +lost in it; and in less than half of five minutes I had lost not only +my way but my temper. To pursue after the hogs was nearly hopeless: +all sound of them was swallowed up in the tangle of scrub. Yet I +held on, crawling through thickets of lentisk, tangling my legs in +creepers, pushing my head into clumps of cactus, here tearing my +hands and boots on sharp granite, there ripping my clothes on prickly +thorns. Once I found what appeared to be a goat-track. It led to +another cleft of rock, where, beating down the briers, I looked down +a chasm which ended, thirty feet below, in a whole brake of cacti. +The scent of the crushed plants was divine: and I crushed a plenty of +them. + +After a struggle which must have lasted from twenty minutes to half +an hour, I gained the ridge which had seemed but three minutes away, +and there sat down to a silent lesson in geography. I had given up +all hope of following the hogs or discovering my comrades. I knew +now what it means to search for a needle in a bottle of hay, but with +many prickles I had gathered some wisdom, and learnt that, whether I +decided to go forward or to retreat, I must survey the _macchia_ +before attempting it again. + +To go forward without a clue would be folly, as well as unfair to my +father, whom my two shots must have alarmed. I decided therefore to +retreat, but first to mount a craggy pile of granite some fifty yards +on my left, which would give me not only a better survey of the bush, +but perhaps even a view over the tree-tops and down upon the bay +where the _Gauntlet_ lay at anchor. If so, by the movements on board +I might learn whether or not my father had reached her with his +commands before taking my alarm. + +The crags were not easy to climb: but, having hitched the musket in +my bandolier, I could use both hands, and so pulled myself up by the +creepers which festooned the rock here and there in swags as thick as +the _Gauntlet's_ hawser. Disappointment met me on the summit. +The trees allowed me but sight of the blue horizon; they still hid +the shores of the bay and our anchorage. My eminence, however, +showed me a track, fairly well defined, crossing the _macchia_ and +leading back to the wood. + +I was conning this when a shout in my rear fetched me right-about +face. Towards me, down and across the farther ridge I saw a man +running--Nat Fiennes! + +He had caught sight of me on my rock against the skyline, and as he +ran he waved his arms frantically, motioning to me to run also for +the woods. I could see no pursuer; but still, as he came on, his +arms waved, and were waving yet when a bush on the chine above him +threw out a little puff of grey smoke. Toppling headlong into the +bushes he was lost to me even before the report rang on my ears +across the hollow. + +I dropped on my knees for a grip on the creepers, swung myself down +the face of the crag, and within ten seconds was lost in the +_macchia_ again, fighting my way through it to the spot where Nat +lay. Wherever the scrub parted and allowed me a glimpse I kept my +eye on the bush above the chine; and so, with torn clothes and face +and hands bleeding, crossed the dip, mounted the slope and emerged +upon a ferny hollow ringed about on three sides with the _macchia_. +There face-downward in the fern lay Nat, shot through the lungs. + +I lifted him against one knee. His eyelids flickered and his lips +moved to speak, but a rush of blood choked him. Still resting him +against my knee, I felt behind me for my musket. The flint was gone +from the lock, dislodged no doubt by a blow against the crags. +With one hand I groped on the ground for a stone to replace it. +My fingers found only a tangle of dry fern, and glancing up at the +ridge, I stared straight along the barrel of a musket. At the same +moment a second barrel glimmered out between the bushes on my left. +"_Signore, favorisca di rendersi_," said a voice, very quiet and +polite. I stared around me, hopeless, at bay: and while I stared and +clutched my useless gun, from behind a rock some twenty paces up the +slope a girl stepped forward, halted, rested the butt of her musket +on the stone, and, crossing her hands above the nozzle of it, calmly +regarded us. + +Even in my rage her extraordinary wild beauty held me at gaze for a +moment. She wore over a loose white shirt a short waist-tunic of +faded green velvet, with a petticoat or kilt of the same reaching a +little below her knees, from which to the ankles her legs were cased +in tight-fitting leathern gaiters. Her stout boots shone with +toe-plates of silver or polished steel. A sad-coloured handkerchief +protected her head, its edge drawn straight across her brow in a +fashion that would have disfigured ninety-nine women in a hundred. +But no head-dress availed to disfigure that brow or the young +imperious eyes beneath it. + +"Are you a friend of this man?" she asked in Italian. + +"He is my best friend," I answered her, in the same language. +"Why have you done this to him?" + +She seemed to consider for a moment, thoughtfully, without pity. + +"I can talk to you in French if you find it easier," she said, after +a pause. + +"You may use Italian," I answered angrily. "I can understand it more +easily than you will use it to explain why you have done this +wickedness." + +"He was very foolish," she said. "He tried to run away. And you +were all very foolish to come as you did. We saw your ship while you +were yet four leagues at sea. How have you come here?" + +"I came here," answered I, "being led by your hogs, and after +shooting an assassin in disguise of a hog." + +"You have killed Giuseppe?" + +"I did my best," said I, turning and addressing myself to three +Corsicans who had stepped from the bushes around me. "But whatever +your purpose may be, you have shot my friend here, and he is dying. +If you have hearts, deal tenderly with him, and afterwards we can +talk." + +"He says well," said the girl, slowly, and nodded to the three men. +"Lift him and bring him to the camp." She turned to me. "You will +not resist?" she asked. + +"I will go with my friend," said I. + +"That is good. You may walk behind me," she said, turning on her +heel. "I am glad to have met one who talks in Italian, for the rest +of your friends can only chatter in English, a tongue which I do not +understand. Step close behind me, please; for the way is narrow. +For what are you waiting?" + +"To see that my friend is tenderly handled," I answered. + +"He is past helping," said she, carelessly. "He behaved foolishly. +You did not stop for Giuseppe, did you?" + +"I did not." + +"I am not blaming you," said she, and led the way. + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +I BECOME HOSTAGE TO THE PRINCESS CAMILLA. + + + "Silvis te, Tyrrhene, feras agitare putasti? + Advenit qui vestra dies muliebribus armis + Verba redarguerit." + VIRGIL, Aeneid, xi. + +Ahead of us, beyond the rises and hollows of the _macchia_, rose a +bare mountain summit, not very tall, the ascent to it broken by +granite ledges, so that from a distance it almost appeared to be +terraced. On a heathery slope at the foot of the first terrace the +Corsicans set down poor Nat and spoke a word to their mistress, who +presently halted and exchanged a few sentences with them in _patois_; +whereupon they stepped back a few paces into the _macchia_, and, +having quickly cut a couple of ilex-staves, fell to plaiting them +with lentisk, to form a litter. + +While this was doing I stepped back to my friend's side. His eyes +were closed; but he breathed yet, and his pulse, though faint, was +perceptible. A little blood--a very little--trickled from the corner +of his mouth. I glanced at the girl, who had drawn near and stood +close at my elbow. + +"Have you a surgeon in your camp?" I asked. "I believe that a +surgeon might save him yet." + +She shook her head. I could detect no pity in her eyes; only a touch +of curiosity, half haughty and in part sullen. + +"I doubt," she answered, "if you will find a surgeon in all Corsica. +I do not believe in surgeons." + +"Then," said I, "you have not lived always in Corsica." + +Her face flushed darkly, even while the disdain in her eyes grew +colder, more guarded. + +"What do you mean by that?" she asked. + +"Why," said I, "you are not one, I believe, to speak so positively in +mere ignorance. But see!" I went on, pointing down upon the bay over +which this higher slope gave us a clear view, "there goes the ship +that brought us here." + +She gazed at it for a while, with bent brow, evidently puzzled. + +"No," said I, watching her, "I shall not tell you yet why she goes, +nor where her port lies. But I have something to propose to you." + +"Say it." + +"It leaves one man behind, and one only, in our camp below. He is my +father, and he has some knowledge of surgery; I believe he could save +my friend here." + +She stood considering. "So much was known to me," she answered at +length; "that, after you, there would be but one left. Three of my +men have gone down to take him. He will be here before long." + +"But, pardon me--for as yet I know not whether your aim is to kill us +or take us alive--" + +She interrupted me with a slight shrug of her shoulders. "I have no +wish to kill you. But I must know what brings you here, and the rest +can talk nothing but English. As for this one"--with a gesture of +the hand towards Nat--"he was foolish. He tried to run away and warn +you." + +"Then, signorina, let me promise, who know my father, that you will +not take him alive." + +"I have sent three men." + +"You had done better to send thirty; but even so you will not +succeed." + +"I have heard tell," she said, again with a little movement of her +shoulders, "that all Englishmen are mad." + +I laughed; and this laugh of mine had a singular effect on her. +She drew back and looked at me for an instant with startled eyes, as +though she had never heard laughter in her life before, or else had +heard too much. + +"Tell me what you propose," she said. + +"I propose to send down a message to my father, and one of your men +shall carry it with a white flag (for that he shall have the loan of +my handkerchief). I will write in Italian, that you may read and +know what I say." + +"It is unnecessary." + +"I thank you." I found in my pockets the stump of a pencil and a +scrap of paper--an old Oxford bill--and wrote-- + + "DEAR FATHER, + + "We are prisoners, and Nat is wounded, but whether past help or + not I cannot say. I believe you might do something for him. + If it suit your plans, the bearer will give you safe conduct: + if not, I remain your obedient son," + "PROSPER." + +I translated this for her, and folded the paper. + +"Marc'antonio!" she called to one of the three men, who by this time +had finished plaiting the litter and were strewing it with fern. + +Marc'antonio--a lean, slight fellow with an old scar on his cheek-- +stepped forward at once. She gave him my note and handkerchief with +instructions to hurry. + +"Excuse me, principessa"--he hesitated, with a glance at me and +another at his comrades--"but these two, with the litter, will have +their hands full; and this prisoner is a strong one and artful. +Has he not already slain 'l Verru?" + +"You will mind your own business, Marc'antonio, which is to run, as I +tell you." + +The man turned without another word, but with a last distrustful +look, and plunged downhill into the scrub. The girl made a careless +sign to the others to lay Nat on his litter, and, turning, led the +way up the rocky front of the summit, presenting her back to me, +choosing the path which offered fewest impediments to the +litter-bearers in our rear. + +The sun was now high overhead, and beat torridly upon the granite +crags, which, as I clutched them, blistered my hands. The girl and +the two men (in spite of their burden) balanced themselves and sprang +from foothold to foothold with an ease which shamed me. For a while +I supposed that we were making for the actual summit; but on the +second terrace my captress bore away to the left and led us by a +track that slanted across the northern shoulder of the ridge. +A sentry started to his feet and stepped from behind a clump of arid +sage-coloured bushes, stood for a moment with the sun glinting on his +gun-barrel, and at a sign from the girl dropped back upon his post. +Just then, or a moment later, my ears caught the jigging notes of a +flute; whereby I knew Mr. Badcock to be close at hand, for it was +discoursing the tune of "The Vicar of Bray"! + +Sure enough, as we rounded the slope we came upon him, Mr. Fett, and +Billy Priske, the trio seated within a semi-circle of admiring +Corsicans, and above a scene so marvellous that I caught my breath. +The slope, breaking away to north and east, descended sheer upon a +vast amphitheatre filled with green acres of pine forest and pent +within walls of porphyry that rose in tower upon tower, pinnacle upon +pinnacle, beyond and above the tree-tops; and these pillars, as they +soared out of the gulf, seemed to shake off with difficulty the +forest that climbed after them, holding by every nook and ledge in +their riven sides--here a dark-foliaged clump caught in a chasm, +there a solitary trunk bleached and dead but still hanging by a last +grip. + +On the edge of this green cauldron the Corsicans and my comrades sat +like so many witches, their figures magnified uncannily against the +void; and far beyond, above the rose-coloured crags, deep-set in +miles of transparent blue, shone the snow-covered central peaks of +the island. + +As I rounded the corner, Mr. Fett hailed me with a shout and a vocal +imitation of a post-horn. + +"Another," he cried, and slapped his thigh triumphantly. "Another +blossom added to the posy! Badcock, my flosculet, you owe me five +shillings. Permit me to explain, sir"--he turned to me--"that Mr. +Badcock has been staking upon an anthology, I upon the full basket +and the whole hog. It is cut and come again with these Corsicans; +and, talking of hogs--" + +His chatter tailed off in a pitiful exclamation as the +litter-carriers came around the angle of the ridge with Nat's body +between them. + +"Poor lad! Ah, poor lad!" I heard Billy say. Mr. Badcock nervously +disjointed his flute. "I warned him, sir. Believe me, my last words +were that, being in Rome, so to speak, he should do as the Romans +did--" + +"There is one more," announced the girl, to her Corsicans, "and I +have sent for him. He will come under conduct; and, meanwhile, I +have to say that any man who offers to harm this prisoner, here, will +be shot." + +"But why should we harm him, principessa?" they asked; and, indeed, I +felt inclined to echo their question, seeing that she pointed at me. + +"Because he has killed Giuseppe," she answered simply. + +"Giuseppe? He has slain Giuseppe?" The simultaneous cry went up in +a wail, and by impulse the hand of each one moved to his knife. + +"Your pardon, principessa--" began one black-avised bandit, dropping +the haft of his knife and feeling for the gun at his back. + +She waived him aside and turned to me. "I should warn you, sir, that +we are of one clan here, though I may not tell you our name; and +against the slayer of one it is vendetta with us all. But I spare +you until your father arrives." + +"I thank you," answered I, feeling blue, but fetching up my best bow. +(Here was a pleasant prospect!) "I only beg to observe that I killed +this man--if I have killed him--in self-defence," I added. + +"Do you wish me to repeat that as your plea?" she asked, half in +scorn. + +"I do not," said I, with a sudden rush of anger. "Moreover, I dare +say that these savages of yours would see no distinction." + +"You are right," she replied carelessly, "they would see no +distinction." + +"But excuse me, principessa," persisted the scowling man, "a feud is +a feud, and if he has slain our Giuse--" + +"Attend to me, sir," I broke in. "Your Giuseppe came at me like a +hog, and I gave him his deserts. For the rest, if you move your hand +another inch towards that gun I will knock your brains out." I +clubbed my musket ready to strike. + +"Gently, sir!" interposed the girl. "This is folly, as you must +see." + +I shrugged my shoulders. "You will allow me, Princess. If it come +to vendetta, you have slain my friend." + +She gave her back to me and faced the ring. "I tell you," she said, +"that Giuseppe's death rests on the prisoner's word alone. +Marc'antonio and Stephanu have gone down and will bring us the truth +of it. Meanwhile I say that this one is our prisoner, like as the +others. Give him room and let him wait by his friend. Does any one +say 'nay' to that?" she demanded. + +The scowling man, with a glance at his comrades' faces, gave way. +I could not have told why, but from the start of the dispute I felt +that this girl held her bandits, or whatever they were, in imperfect +obedience. They obeyed her, yet with reserve. When pressed to the +point between submission and mutiny, they yielded; but they yielded +with a consent which I could not reconcile with submission. +Even whilst answering deferentially they appeared to be looking at +one another and taking a cue. + +For the time, however, she had prevailed with them. They stood aside +while Billy and I lifted the litter and bore it to the shade of an +overhanging rock. One even fetched me a panful of water which he had +collected from a trickling spring on the face of the cliffs hard by, +and brought me linen, too, when he saw me preparing to tear up my own +shirt to bind Nat's wound. + +We could not trace the course of the bullet, and judged it best to +spare meddling with a hurt we could not help. So, having bathed away +the clotted blood and bandaged him, we strewed a fresh bed of fern, +and watched by him, moistening his lips from time to time with water, +for which he moaned. The sun began to sink on the far side of the +mountain, and the shadow of the summit, falling into the deep gulf at +our feet, to creep across the green tree-tops massed there. While it +crept, and I watched it, Billy related in whispers how he had been +sprung upon and gagged, so swiftly that he had no chance to cry alarm +or to feel for the trigger of his musket. He rubbed his hands +delightedly when in return I told the story of my lucky shot. In his +ignorance of Italian he had caught no inkling of the peril that lucky +shot had brought upon me, nor did I choose to enlighten him. + +The shadow of the mountain was stretching more than halfway across +the valley, and in the slanting light the rosy tinge of the crags +appeared to be melting and suffusing the snow-peaks beyond, when my +father walked into the camp unannounced. He carried a gun and a +folding camp-stool, and was followed by Marc'antonio, who fluttered +my white handkerchief from the ramrod of his musket. + +"Good afternoon, gentlemen!" said my father, lifting his hat and +looking about him. + +I could see at a glance that his stature and bearing impressed the +Corsicans. They drew back for a moment, then pressed around him like +children. + +"Mbe! E bellu, il Inglese," I heard one say to his fellow. + +After quelling the brief tumult against me, and while I busied myself +with Nat, the girl had disappeared--I could not tell whither. +But now one of the band ran up the slope calling loudly to summon +her. "O principessa, ajo, ajo! Veni qui, ajo!" and, gazing after +him, I saw her at the entrance of a cave some fifty feet above us, +erect, with either hand parting and holding back the creepers that +curtained her bower. + +She let the curtains fall-to behind her, and, stepping down the +hillside, welcomed my father with the gravest of curtsies. + +"Salutation, O stranger!" + +"And to you, O lady, salutation!" my father made answer, with a bow. +"Though English," he went on, slipping easily into the dialect she +used with her followers, "I am Corsican enough to forbear from asking +their names of gentlefolk in the _macchia_; but mine is John +Constantine, and I am very much at your service." + +"My men call me the Princess Camilla." + +"A good name," said my father, and seemed to muse upon it for a +moment while he eyed her paternally. "A very good name, O Princess, +and beloved of old by Diana-- + + "'Aeternum telorum et virginitatis amorem + Intemerata--' + +"But I come at your bidding and must first of all apologize for some +little delay; the cause being that your messenger found me busy +patching up a bullet-hole in one of your men." + +"Giuseppe is not dead?" + +"He is not dead, and on the whole I incline to think he is not going +to die, though you will allow me to say that the rogue deserved it. +The other three gentlemen-at-arms despatched by you are at this +moment bringing him up the hill, very carefully, following my +instructions. He will need care. In fact, it will be touch-and-go +with him for many days to come." + +While he talked, my father, catching sight of me, had stepped to +Nat's couch. Nodding to me without more ado to lift the patient and +cut away his shirt, he knelt, unrolled his case of instruments, and +with a "Courage, lad!" bent an ear to the faint breathing. In less +than a minute, as it seemed, his hand feeling around the naked back +came to a pause a little behind and under the right arm-pit. + +"Courage, lad!" he repeated. "A little pain, and we'll have it, safe +as a wasp in an apple." + +The Corsicans under his orders had withdrawn to a little distance and +stood about us in a ring. While he probed and Nat's poor body +writhed feebly in my arms, I lifted my eyes once with a shudder, and +met the Princess Camilla's. She was watching, and without a tremor, +her face grave as a child's. + +With a short grunt of triumph, my father caught away his hand, dipped +it swiftly into the pan of water beside him, and held the bullet +aloft between thumb and forefinger. The Corsicans broke into quick +guttural cries, as men hailing a miracle. As Nat's head fell back +limp against my shoulder I saw the Princess turn and walk away alone. +Her followers dispersed by degrees, but not, I should say, until +every man had explained to every other his own theory of the wound +and the operation, and how my father had come to find the bullet so +unerringly, each theorist tapping his own chest and back, or his +interlocutor's, sometimes a couple tapping each other with vigour, +neither listening, both jabbering at full pitch of the voice with +prodigious elisions of consonants and equally prodigious drawlings of +the vowels. For us, the dressing of the wound kept us busy, and we +paid little attention even when a fresh jabbering announced that the +litter-bearers had arrived with Giuseppe. + +By-and-by, however, my father rose from his knees and, leaving me to +fasten the last bandages, strolled across the slope to see how his +other patient had borne the journey. Just at that moment I heard +again a voice calling to the Princess Camilla: "Ajo, ajo! O +principessa, veni qui!" and simultaneously the voice of Billy Priske +uplifted in an incongruous British oath. + +My father halted with a gesture of annoyance, checked himself, and, +awaiting the Princess, pointed towards an object on the turf--an +object at which Billy Priske, too, was pointing. + +It appeared that while his comrades had been attending on Giuseppe, +the third Corsican (whom they called Ste, or Stephanu) had filled up +his time by rifling our camp; and of all our possessions he had +chosen to select our half-dozen spare muskets and a burst coffer, +from which he now extracted and (for his comrade's admiration) held +aloft our chiefest treasure--the Iron Crown of Corsica. + +"Princess," said my father, coldly, "your men have broken faith. +I came to you under no compulsion, obeying your flag of truce. +It was no part of the bargain that our camp should be pillaged." + +For a while she did not seem to hear; but stood at gaze, her eyes +round with wonder. + +"Stephanu, bring it here," she commanded. + +The man brought it. "O principessa," said he, with a wondering grin, +"who are these that travel with royal crowns? If we were true folk +of the _macchia_, now, we could hold them at a fine ransom." + +She took the crown, examined it for a moment, and turning to my +father, spoke to him swiftly in French. + +"How came you by this, O Englishman?" + +"That," answered my father, stiffly, "I decline to tell you. +It has come to your hands, Princess, through violation of your flag +of truce, and in honour you should restore it to me without +question." + +She waved a hand impatiently. "This is the crown of King Theodore, +O Englishman. See the rim of mingled oak and laurel, made in +imitation of that hasty chaplet wherewith the Corsicans first crowned +him in the Convent of Alesani. Answer me, and in French, for all +your lives depend on it; yet briefly, for the sound of that tongue +angers my men. For your life, then, how did you come by this?" + +"You must find some better argument, Princess," said my father, +stiffly. + +"For your son's life then." + +I saw my father lift his eyes and scan her beautiful face. + +"My son is not a coward, Princess; the less so that--" Here my +father hesitated. + +"Quickly, quickly!" she urged him. + +He threw up his head. "Yes, quickly, Princess; and in no fear, nor +upon any condition. You are islanders; therefore you are patriots. +You are patriots; therefore you hate the Genoese and love the Queen +Emilia, whose servant I am. As I was saying, then, my son has the +less excuse to be a coward in that he hopes, one day, with the Queen +Emilia's blessing, to wear this crown bequeathed to him by the late +King Theodore." + +"_He?_" The girl swung upon me, scornfully incredulous. + +"Even he, Princess. In proof I can show you King Theodore's deed of +gift, signed with his own hand and attested." + +For the first time, then, I saw her smile; but the smile held no +correspondence with the tone of slow, quiet contempt in which she +next spoke. + +"You are trustful, O sciu Johann Constantine. I have heard that all +Englishmen tell the truth, and expect it, and are otherwise mad." + +"I trust to nothing, Princess, until I have the Queen Emilia's word. +That I would trust to my life's end." + +She nodded darkly. "You shall go to her--if you can find her." + +"Tell me where to seek her." + +"She lies at Nonza in Capo Corse; or peradventure the Genoese, who +hold her prisoner, have by this time carried her across to the +Continent." + +"Though she were in Genoa itself, I would deliver her or die." + +"You will probably die, O Englishman, before you receive her answer; +and that will be a pity--yes, a great pity. But you are free to go, +you and your company--all but your son here, this King of Corsica +that is to be, whom I keep as hostage, with his crown. Eh? Is this +not a good bargain I offer you?" + +"Be it good or bad, Princess," my father answered, "to make a bargain +takes two." + +"That is true," said I, stepping forward with a laugh, and thrusting +myself between the Corsicans, who had begun to press around with +decided menace in their looks. "And therefore the Princess will +accept me as the other party to the bargain, and as her hostage." + +Again at the sound of my laugh she shrunk a little; but presently +frowned. + +"Have you considered, cavalier," she asked coldly, "that Giuseppe is +not certain of recovery?" + +"Still less certain is my friend," answered I, and with a shrug of +the shoulders walked away to Nat's sick-couch. There, twenty minutes +later, my father took leave of me, after giving some last +instructions for the care of the invalid. In one hand he carried his +musket, in the other his camp-stool. + +"Say the word even now, lad," he offered, "and we will abide till he +recovers." + +But I shook my head. + +Billy Priske carried an enormous wine-skin slung across his +shoulders; Mr. Fett a sack of provender. Mr. Badcock had begged or +borrowed or purchased an enormous gridiron. + +"But what is that for? I asked him, as we shook hands. + +"For cooking the wild goose," he answered solemnly, "which in these +parts, as I am given to understand, is an animal they call the +_mufflone_. He partakes in some degree of the nature of a sheep. +He will find me his match, sir." + +One by one, a little before the sun sank, they bade me farewell and +passed--free men--down the path that dipped into the pine forest. +On the edge of the dip each man turned and waved a hand to me. +The princess, with Marc'antonio beside her, stood and watched them as +they passed out of sight. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +THE FOREST HUT. + + + "Then hooly, hooly rase she up, + And hooly she came nigh him, + And when she drew the curtain by-- + 'Young man, I think you're dyin'.'" + _Barbara Allan's Cruelty_. + +Evening fell, of a sudden filling the great hollow with purple +shadows. As the stars came out the Corsicans on the slope to my left +lit a fire of brushwood and busied themselves around it, cooking +their supper. They were no ordinary bandits, then; or at least had +no fear to betray their whereabouts, since on the landward side on so +clear a night the glow would be visible for many miles. + +I watched them at their preparations. Their dark figures moved +between me and the flames as they set up a tall tripod of pine poles +and hung their cauldron from the centre of it, upon a brandice. +The princess had withdrawn to her cave and did not reappear until +Stephanu, who seemed to be head-cook, announced that supper was +ready, whereupon she came and took her seat with the rest in a ring +around the fire. Marc'antonio brought me my share of seethed kid's +flesh with a capful of chestnuts roasted in the embers; a flask of +wine too, and a small pail of goat's milk with a pannikin, for Nat. +The fare might not be palatable, but plainly they did not intend us +to starve. + +Marc'antonio made no answer when I thanked him, but returned to his +seat in the ring, where from the beginning of the meal--as at a +signal--his companions had engaged in a furious and general dispute. +So at least it sounded, and so shrill at times were their contending +voices, and so fierce their gesticulations, that for some minutes I +fully expected to see them turn to other business the knives with +which they attacked their meal. + +The Princess sat listening, speaking very seldom. Once only in a +general hush the firelight showed me that her lips were moving, and I +caught the low tone of her voice, but not the words. Not once did +she look in my direction, and yet I guessed that she was speaking of +me: for the words "ostagiu," "Inglese," and the name "Giuseppe" or +"Griuse"--of the man I had shot--had recurred over and over in their +jabber, and recurred when she ceased and it broke forth again. + +It had lasted maybe for half an hour when at a signal from +Marc'antonio (whom I took to be the Princess's lieutenant or +spokesman in these matters, and to whom she turned oftener than to +any of the others, except perhaps Stephanu) two or three picked up +their muskets, looked to their priming, and walked off into the +darkness. By-and-by came in the sentinels they had relieved, and +these in turn were helped by Stephanu to supper from the cauldron. +I watched, half-expecting the dispute to start afresh, but the others +appeared to have taken their fill of it with their food; and soon, +each man, drawing his blanket over his head, lay back and stretched +themselves to sleep. The newcomers, having satisfied their hunger, +did likewise. Stephanu gave the great pot a stir, unhitched it from +the brandice, and bore it away, leaving the Princess and Marc'antonio +the only two wakeful ones beside the fire. + +They sat so long without speaking, the Princess with knees drawn up, +hands clasping them, and eyes bent on the embers into which (for the +Corsican nights are chilly) Marc'antonio now and again cast a fresh +brand--that in time my own eyes began to grow heavy. They were +smarting, too, from the smoke of the burnt wood. Nat had fallen into +a troubled sleep, in which now and again he moaned: and always at the +sound I roused myself to ease his posture or give him to drink from +the pannikin; but, for the rest, I dozed, and must have dozed for +hours. + +I started up wide awake at the sound of a footstep beside me, and sat +erect, blinking against the rays of a lantern held close to my eyes. +The Princess held it, and at Nat's head and feet stood Marc'antonio +and Stephanu, in the act of lifting his litter. She motioned that I +should stand up and follow. Marc'antonio and Stephanu fell into file +behind us. Each carried a gun in a sling. + +"I will hold the light where the path is difficult," she said +quietly; "but keep a watch upon your feet. In an hour's time we +shall have plenty of light." + +I looked and saw the sickle of the waning moon suspended over the +gulf. It shot but the feeblest glimmer along the edges of the +granite pinnacles, none upon the black masses of the pine-tops. +But around it the darkness held a faint violet glow, and I knew that +day must be climbing close on its heels. + +There was no promise of day, however, along the track into which we +plunged--the track by which my comrades had descended to cross the +valley. It dived down the mountain-side through a tunnel of pines, +and in places the winter streams, now dry, had channelled it and +broken it up with land-slides. + +"You do not ask where I am leading you," she said, holding her +lantern for me at one of these awkward places. + +"I am your hostage, Princess," I answered, without looking at her, my +eyes being busy just then in discovering good foothold. "You must do +with me what you will." + +"_If I could! Ah, if I could!_" + +She said it hard and low, with clenched teeth, almost hissing the +words. I stared at her, amazed. No sign of anger had she shown +until this moment. What cause indeed had she to be angered? In what +way had my words offended? Yet angry she was, trembling with such a +gust of wrath that the lantern shook in her hand. + +Before I could master my surprise, she had mastered herself: and, +turning, resumed her way. For the next twenty minutes we descended +in silence, while the dawn, breaking above the roofed pines, filtered +down to us and filled the spaces between their trunks with a brownish +haze. By-and-by, when the slope grew easier and flattened itself out +to form the bottom of the basin, these pines gave place to a chestnut +wood, and the carpet of slippery needles to a tangled undergrowth +taller than a very tall man: and here, in a clearing beside the +track, we came on a small hut with a ruinous palisade beside it, +fencing off a pen or courtyard of good size--some forty feet square, +maybe. + +The Princess halted, and I halted a few paces from her, studying the +hut. It was built of pine-logs sawn lengthwise in half and set +together with their untrimmed bark turned outwards: but the most of +their bark had peeled away with age. It had two square holes for +windows, and a doorway, but no door. Its shingle roof had buckled +this way and that with the rains, and had taken on a tinge of grey +which the dawn touched to softest silver. Lines of more brilliant +silver criss-crossed it, and these were the tracks of snails. + +"O King of Corsica"--she turned to me--"behold your palace!" + +Her eyes were watching me, but in what expectation I could not tell. +I stepped carelessly to the doorway and took a glance around the +interior. + +"It might be worse; and I thank you, Princess." + +"Ajo, Marc'antonio! Since the stranger approves of it so far, go +carry his friend within." + +"Your pardon, Princess," I interposed; "the place is something too +dirty to house a sick man, and until it be cleaned my friend will do +better in the fresh air." + +She shrugged her shoulders. "Your subjects, O King, have left it in +this mess, and they will help you very little to improve it." + +I walked over to the palisade and looked across it upon an unsightly +area foul with dried dung and the trampling of pigs. For weeks, if +not months, it must have lain uninhabited, but it smelt potently even +yet. + +"My subjects, Princess?" + +"With Giuse lying sick, the hogs roam without a keeper: and my people +have chosen you in his room." She paused, and I felt, rather than +saw, that both the men were eyeing me intently. I guessed then that +she was putting on me a meditated insult; to the Corsican mind, +doubtless a deep one. + +"So I am to keep your hogs, Princess?" said I, with a deliberate air. +"Well, I am your hostage." + +"I am breaking no faith, Englishman." + +"As to that, please observe that I am not accusing you. I but note +that, having the power, you use it. But two things puzzle me: of +which the first is, where shall I find my charges?" + +"Marc'antonio shall fetch them down to you from the other side of the +mountain." + +"And next, how shall I learn to tend them?" I asked, still keeping my +matter-of-fact tone. + +"They will give you no trouble. You have but to pen them at night +and number them, and again at daybreak turn them loose. They know +this forest and prefer it to the other side: you will not find that +they wander. At night you have only to blow a horn which +Marc'antonio will bring you, and the sound of it will fetch them +home." + +"A light job," said Stephanu, with a grin, "when a man can bring his +stomach to it." + +"Not so light as you suppose, my friend," I answered. "The sty, +here, will need some cleansing; since if these are to be my subjects, +I must do my best for them. It may not amount to much, but at least +my hogs shall keep themselves cleaner than some Corsicans, even than +some Corsican cooks." + +"Stephanu," said Marc'antonio, gravely, "the Englishman meant that +for you: and I tell you what I have told you before, that yours are +no fitly kept hands for a cook. I have travelled abroad and seen the +ways of other nations." + +"The sty will need mending too, Princess," said I: "but before +nightfall I will try to have it ready." + +"You will find tools in the hut," she answered, with a glance at +Marc'antonio, who nodded. "For food, you shall be kept supplied. +Stephanu has brought, in his suck yonder, flesh, cheese, and wine +sufficient for three days, with milk for your friend: and day by day +fresh milk shall be sent down to you." + +Her words were commonplace, yet her cheeks wore an angry flush +beneath their sun-burn; and I knew why. Her insult had miscarried. +In accepting this humiliation I had somehow mastered her: even the +tone she used, level and matter-of-fact, she used perforce, in place +of the high scorn with which she had started to sentence me. +My spirits rose. If I could not understand this girl, neither could +she understand me. She only felt defeat, and it puzzled and angered +her. + +"You have no complaint to make?" she asked, hesitating in spite of +herself as she turned to go. + +I laughed, having discovered that my laugh perplexed her. + +"None whatever, Princess. Am I not your hostage?" + + +When they were gone I laughed again, with a glance at Nat who lay +with closed eyes and white still face where Marc'antonio and Stephanu +had made a couch of fern and some heather for him under the chestnut +boughs. The sight of the heather gave me an idea, and I walked back +to where, at the end of the chestnut wood, a noble clump of it grew, +under a scarp of rock where the pines broke off. With my knife I cut +an armful of it and returned to the hut, pausing on my way to gather +some strings of a creeper which looked to be a clematis and +sufficiently tough for my purpose. My next step was to choose and +cut a tolerably straight staff of ilex, about five feet in length and +close upon two inches thick. While I trimmed it, a blackbird began +to sing in the undergrowth behind the hut, and, listening, my ears +seemed to catch in the pauses of his song a sound of running water, +less loud but nearer and more distinct than the murmur of the many +rock-streams that tinkled into the valley. I dropped my work for a +while and, passing to the back of the hut, found and followed through +the bushes a foot-track--overgrown and tangled with briers, but still +a track--which led me to the water. It ran, with a murmur almost +subterranean, beneath bushes so closely over-arched that my feet were +on the brink before I guessed, and I came close upon taking a bath at +unawares. Now this stream, so handy within reach, was just what I +wanted, and among the bushes by the verge grew a plant--much like our +English osier, but dwarfer--extremely pliant and tougher than the +tendrils of the clematis; so, that, having stripped it of half a +dozen twigs, I went back to work more blithely than ever. + +But for fear of disturbing Nat I could have whistled. It may even be +that, intent on my task, I did unwittingly whistle a few bars of a +tune: or perhaps the blackbird woke him. At any rate, after half an +hour's labour I looked up from my handiwork and met his eyes, open, +intent on me and with a question in them. + +"What am I doing, eh? I am making a broom, lad," I held it up for +him to admire. + +"Where is she?" he asked feebly. + +"She?" I set down my broom, fetched him a pannikin-ful of milk, and +knelt beside him while he drank it. "If you mean the Princess +Camilla, she has gone back to her mountain, leaving us in peace." + +"Camilla?" he murmured the word. + +"And a very suitable name, it seems to me. There was, if you +remember, a young lady in the Aeneid of pretty much the same +disposition." + +"Camilla," he repeated, and again but a little above his breath. +"Your father . . . he is helping her?" + +"Helping her?" I echoed. "My dear lad, if ever a young woman could +take care of herself it is the Princess. . . . And as for my father +helping her, she has packed him off northwards across the mountains +with a flea in his ear. And, talking of fleas--" I went on with a +glance at the hut. + +He brought me to a full stop with a sudden grip on my arm, +astonishingly strong for a wounded man. + +"Nay, lad--nay!" I coaxed him, but slipped a hand under him as he +insisted and sat upright. + +"She needs help, I tell you," he gasped. "Needs help . . . it was +for help I ran when--when--" + +"But what dreaming is this? My dear fellow, she makes prisoners of +us, shoots you down when you try to escape, treats me worse than a +dog, banishes us to this hut which--not to put too fine a point on +it--is a pigs'-sty, and particularly filthy at that. I don't blame +her, though some little explanation might not come amiss: but if she +has any need of help, you must admit that she dissembles it pretty +thoroughly." + +Nat would not listen. "You did not see? You did not see?--And yet +you know her language and have talked with her! Whereas I--O blind!" +he broke out passionately, "blind that you could not see!" + +A fit of coughing seized and shook him, and as I eased him back upon +his fern pillow, blood came away upon the handkerchief I held to his +lips. + +"Damn her!" I swore viciously. "Let her need help if she will, and +let her ask me for it! She has tried her best to kill you; and +what's more, she'll succeed if you don't lie still as I order. +Help? Oh yes, I'll help her--when I have helped _you!_" + +He moved his head feebly, as if to shake it: but lay quiet, panting, +with closed eyes: and so, the effusion of blood having ceased, I left +him and fell to work like a negro slave. + +By the angle of the hut there stood a pigs' trough of granite, +roughly hewn and hollowed, and among the tools within I found a leaky +wooden bucket which, by daubing it with mud from the brink of the +stream, I contrived to make passably watertight. A score of times I +must have travelled to and fro between the hut and the stream before +I had the cistern filled. Then I fell-to upon the foul walls within, +slushing and brooming them. Bats dropped from the roof and flew +blundering against me: I drove them forth from the window. The mud +floor became a quag: I seized a spade and shovelled it clean, mud and +slime and worse filth together. And still as I toiled a song kept +liddening (as we say in Cornwall) through my head: a song with two +refrains, whereof the first was the old nursery jingle--"Mud won't +daub sieve, sieve won't hold water, water won't wet stone, stone +won't edge axe, axe won't cut rod, rod won't make a gad, a gad to +hang Manachar who has eaten my raspberries every one." (So ran the +rigmarole with which Mrs. Nance had beguiled my infancy.) The second +refrain echoed poor Nat's cry, "She needs help, needs help, and you +could not see! Blind, blind, that you could not see!" + +How should she need help? Little cared I though she needed it, and +sorely! But how had the notion taken hold of Nat? + +Weakness? Delirium? No: he had been running to get help for her +when they shot him down. I had his word for that. . . . But she had +pursued with the others. For aught I knew, she herself had fired the +shot. + +If she needed help, why was she treating us despitefully--putting +this insult upon me, for example? Why had she used those words of +hate? They had been passionate words, too; spoken from the heart in +an instant of surprise. Then, again, to suppose her a friend of the +Genoese was impossible. But why, if not a friend of the Genoese, was +she a foe of their foes? Why had she taken to the _macchia_ with +these men? Why were they keeping watch on the coast while careless +that their watchfire showed inland for leagues? Why, if she were a +patriot, had the sight of King Theodore's crown awakened such scorn +and yet rage against me, its bearer? Why again, at the mere word +that my father sought the Queen Emilia, had she let him pass on, +while redoubling her despite against me? + +On top of these puzzles Nat must needs propound another, that this +girl stood in need of help! Help? From whom? + +As my mind ran over these questions, still at every pause the old +rigmarole kept dinning--"Mud won't daub sieve, sieve won't hold +water, water won't wet stone . . ." on and on without ceasing, and +still I toiled and sweated. + +By noon the hut was clean, at any rate tolerably clean; but its +soaked floor would certainly take many hours in drying, and Nat must +spend another night under the open sky. I left the hut, snatched a +meal of bread and cheese, and, after a pull at the wine flask, turned +my attention to the sty. To cleanse it before nightfall was out of +the question. I examined it and saw three good days' labour ahead of +me. But the palisading could be repaired and made secure after a +fashion, and I started upon it at once, sharpening the rotten posts +with my axe, driving, fixing, nailing, binding them firmly with +osier-twists, of which I had fetched a fresh supply from the +stream-side. I had rolled my jacket into a pillow for Nat, that he +might lie easily and watch me. + +The sun was sinking beyond the mountain, staining with deep rose the +pinnacles of granite that soared eastward above the pines, when a +horn sounded on the slope and Marc'antonio came down the track +driving the hogs before him. He instructed me good-naturedly enough +in the art of penning the brutes, breaking off from time to time to +compliment me on my labours, the sum of which appeared to affect him +with a degree of wonder not far short of awe. "But why are you doing +it? Perche? perche?" he broke off once or twice to ask, eyeing me +askance with a look rather fearful than unfriendly. + +"The Princess laid this task upon me," I answered cheerfully, indeed +with elation, feeling that so long as I could keep my tyrants puzzled +I still kept, somehow, the upper hand. + +"I have travelled, in my time," said Marc'antonio with a touch of +vainglorious pride. "I have made the acquaintance of many +continentals, even with some that were extremely rich. But I never +crossed over to England." + +"You would have found it full of eccentrics," said I. + +"I dare say," said he. "For myself, I said to myself when I took +ship, 'Marc'antonio,' said I, 'you must make it a rule to be +surprised at nothing.' But do Englishmen clean hogs'-sties for +pleasure?" + +"And the Princess? She has also travelled?" I asked, meeting his +question with another. + +For the moment my question appeared to disturb him. Recovering +himself, he answered gravely-- + +"She has travelled, but not very far. You must not do her an +injustice. . . . We form our opinions on what we see." + +"It is admittedly the best way," I assented, with equal gravity. + +At the shut of night he left me and went his way up the mountain +path, and an hour later, having attended to Nat's wants, tired as in +all my life I had never been, I stretched myself on the turf and +slept under the stars. + +The grunting of the hogs awakened me, a little before dawn. I went +to the pen, and as soon as I opened the hatch they rushed out in a +crowd, all but upsetting me as they jostled against my legs. +Then, after listening for a while after they had vanished into the +undergrowth and darkness, I crept back to my couch and slept. + +That day, though the sun was rising before I awoke again and broke +fast, I caught up with it before noon: that is to say, with the work +I had promised myself to accomplish. Before sunset I had scraped +over and cleaned the entire area of the sty. Also I had fetched fern +in handfuls and strewn the floor of the hut, which was now dry and +clean to the smell. + +In the evening I blew my horn for the hogs, and they returned to +their pen obediently as the Princess had promised. I had scarcely +finished numbering them when Marc'antonio came down the track, this +time haling a recalcitrant she-goat by a halter. + +He tethered the goat and instructed me how to milk her. + +The next evening he brought, at my request, a saw. I had cleaned out +the sty thoroughly, and turned-to at once to enlarge the +window-openings to admit more light and air into the hut. + +Still, as I worked, my spirits rose. Nat was bettering fast. +In a few more days, I promised myself, he would be out of danger. +To be sure he shook his head when I spoke of this hope, and in the +intervals of sleep--of sleep in which I rejoiced as the sweet +restorer--lay watching me, with a trouble in his eyes. + +He no longer disobeyed my orders, but lay still and watched. My last +rag of shirt was gone now, torn up for bandages. Marc'antonio had +promised to bring fresh linen to-morrow. By night I slept with my +jacket about me. By day I worked naked to the waist, yet always with +a growing cheerfulness. + +It was on the fourth afternoon, and while yet the sun stood a good +way above the pines, that the Princess Camilla deigned to revisit us. +I had carried Nat forth into the glade before the hut, where the sun +might fall on him temperately, after a torrid day--torrid, that is to +say, on the heights, but in our hollow, pight about with the trees, +the air had clung heavily. + +Marc'antonio, an hour earlier than usual, came down the track with a +bundle of linen under his left arm. I did not see that any one +followed him until Nat pulled himself up, clutching at my elbow. + +"Princess! Princess!" he cried, and his voice rang shrill towards her +under the boughs. "Help her . . . I cannot--" + +His voice choked on that last word as she came forward and stood +regarding him carelessly, coldly, while I wiped the blood and then +the bloody froth from his lips. + +"Your friend looks to be in an ill case," she said. + +"You have killed him," said I, and looked up at her stonily, as Nat's +head fell back, with a weight I could not mistake, on my arms. + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +THE FIRST CHALLENGE. + + + "The remedye agayns Ire is a vertu that men clepen Mansuetude, + that is Debonairetee; and eek another vertu, that men callen + Patience or Suffrance. . . . This vertu disconfiteth thyn + enemy. And therefore seith the wyse man, `If thou wolt + venquisse thyn enemy, lerne to suffre.'"-- + CHAUCER, _Parson's Tale_. + +"You have killed him." I lowered Nat's head, stood up and accused her +fiercely. + +She confronted me, contemptuous yet pale. Even in my wrath I could +see that her pallor had nothing to do with fear. + +"Say that I have, what then?" She very deliberately unhitched the +gun from her bandolier, and, after examining the lock, laid it on the +turf midway between us. "As my hostage you may claim vendetta; take +your shot then, and afterwards Marc'antonio shall take his." + +"No, no, Englishman!" Marc'antonio ran between us while yet I stared +at her without comprehending, and there was anguish in his cry. +"The Princess lies to you. It was I that fired the shot--I that +killed your friend!" + +The girl shrugged her shoulders indifferently. "Ah, well then, +Marc'antonio, since you will have it so, give me my gun again and +hand yours to the cavalier. Do as I tell you, please," she +commanded, as the man turned to her with a dropping jaw. + +"Princess, I implore you--" + +"You are a coward, Marc'antonio." + +"Have it so," he answered sullenly. "It is God's truth, at all +events, that I am afraid." + +"For me? But I have this." She tapped the barrel of her gun as she +took it from him. "And afterwards--if that is in your mind-- +afterwards I shall still have Stephanu." + +She said it lightly, but it brought all the blood back to his brow +and cheek with a rush. Not for many days did I learn the full +meaning of the look he turned on her, but for dumb reproach I never +saw the like of it on man's face. + +Her foot tapped the ground. "Give him the gun," she commanded; and +Marc'antonio thrust it into my hands. "Now turn your back and walk +to that first tree yonder, very slowly, pace by pace, as you hear me +count." + +Her face was set like a flint, her tone relentless. Marc'antonio +half raised his two fists, clenching them for a moment, but dropped +them by his side, turned his back, and began to walk obediently +towards the tree. + +"One--two--three--four--five," she counted, and paused. "Englishman, +this fellow has killed your friend, and you claim yourself worthy to +be King of Corsica. Prove it." + +"Excuse me, Princess," said I, "but before that I have some other +things to prove, of which some are easy and others may be hard and +tedious." + +"Seven--eight--nine." With no answer, but a curl of the lip, she +resumed her counting. + +"Marc'antonio!" I called--he had almost reached the tree. +"Come here!" + +He faced about, his eyes starting, his cheeks blanched. As he drew +nearer I saw that his forehead shone with sweat. + +"I have a word for you," I said slowly. "In the first place an +Englishman does not shoot his game sitting; it is against the rules. +Secondly, he is by no means necessarily a fool, but, if it came to +shooting against two, he might have sense enough to get his first +shot upon the one who held the musket--a point which your mistress +overlooked perhaps." I bowed to her gravely. "And thirdly," I went +on, hardening my voice, "I have to tell you, Ser Marc'antonio, that +this friend of mine, whom you have killed, was not trying to escape +you, but running to seek help for the Princess." + +Marc'antonio checked an exclamation. He glanced at the girl, and she +at him suspiciously, with a deepening frown. + +"Help?" she echoed, turning the frown upon me, "What help, sir, +should I need?" + +It was my turn now to shrug the shoulders. "Nay," I answered, +"I tell you but what he told me. He divined, or at least he was +persuaded, that you stood in need of help." + +She threw a puzzled, questioning look at the poor corpse, but lifted +her eyes to find mine fixed upon them, and shrank a little as I +stepped close. Her two hands went behind her, swiftly. I may have +made a motion to grip her by the wrists; I cannot tell. My next +words surprised myself, and the tone of my voice speaking and the +passion in it. + +"You have killed my friend," said I, "who desired only your good. +You have chosen to humiliate me, who willed you no harm. And now you +say 'it shall be vendetta.' Very well, it shall be vendetta, but as +_I_ choose it. Keep your foolish weapons; I can do without them. +Heap what insults you will upon me; I am a man and will bear them. +But you are a woman, and therefore to be mastered. For my friend's +sake I choose to hate you and to be patient. For my friend's sake, +who discovered your need, I too will discover it and help it; and +again, not as you will, but as I determine. For my friend's sake, +mistress, and if I choose, I will even love you and you shall come to +my hand. Bethink you now what pains you can put on me; but at the +last you shall come and place your neck under my foot, humbly, not +choosing to be loved or hated, only beseeching your master!" + +I broke off, half in wonder at my own words and the flame in my +blood, half in dismay to see her, who at first had fronted me +bravely, wince and put up both hands to her face, yet not so as to +cover a tide of shame flushing her from throat to brow. + +"Give me leave to shoot him, Princess," said Marc'antonio. But she +shook her head. "He has been talking with some one. . . . +With Stephanu?" His gaze questioned me gloomily. "No, I will do the +dog justice; Stephanu would not talk." + +"Lead her away," said I, "and leave me now to mourn my friend." + +He touched her by the arm, at the same time promising me with a look +that he would return for an explanation. The Princess shivered, but, +as he stood aside to let her pass, recollected herself and went +before him up the path beneath the pines. + +I stepped to where Nat lay and bent over him. I had never till now +been alone with death, and it should have found me terribly alone. + . . . I closed his eyes. . . . And this had been my friend, my +schoolfellow, cleverer than I and infinitely more thoughtful, lacking +no grace but good fortune, and lacking that only by strength of a +spirit too gallant for its fate. In all our friendship it was I that +had taken, he that had given; in the strange path we had entered and +travelled thus far together, it was he that had supplied the courage, +the loyalty, the blithe confidence that life held a prize to be won +with noble weapons; he who had set his face towards the heights and +pinned his faith to the stars; he, the victim of a senseless bullet; +he, stretched here as he had fallen, all thoughts, all activities +quenched, gone out into that night of which the darkness gathering in +this forsaken glade was but a phantom, to be chased away by +to-morrow's sun. To-morrow . . . to-morrow I should go on living and +begin forgetting him. To-morrow? God forgive me for an ingrate, I +had begun already. . . . Even as I bent over him, my uppermost +thought had not been of my friend. I had made, in the moment almost +of his death and across his body, my first acquaintance with passion. +My blood tingled yet with the strange fire; my mind ran in a tumult +of high resolves of which I understood neither the end nor the +present meaning, but only that the world had on a sudden become my +battlefield, that the fight was mine, and at all cost the victory +must be mine. It was, if I may say it without blasphemy, as if my +friend's blood had baptized me into his faith; and I saw life and +death with new eyes. + +Yet, for the moment, in finding passion I had also found self; and +shame of this self dragged down my elation. I had sprung to my feet +in wild rage against Nat's murder; I had spoken words--fierce, +unpremeditated words--which, beginning in a boyish defiance, had +ended on a note which, though my own lips uttered it, I heard as from +a trumpet sounding close and yet calling afar. In a minute or so it +had happened, and behold! I that, sitting beside Nat, should have +been terribly alone, was not alone, for my new-found self sat between +us, intruding on my sorrow. + +I declare now with shame, as it abased me then, that for hours, while +the darkness fell and the stars began their march over the tree-tops, +the ghostly intruder kept watch with me as a bodily presence mocking +us both, benumbing my efforts to sorrow. . . . Nor did it fade until +calm came to me, recalled by the murmur of unseen waters. +Listening to them I let my thoughts travel up to the ridges and forth +into that unconfined world of which Nat's spirit had been made free. + . . . I went to the hut for a pail, groped my way to the stream, and +fetched water to prepare his body for burial. When I returned the +hateful presence had vanished. My eyes went up to a star--love's +planet--poised over the dark boughs. Thither and beyond it Nat had +travelled. Through those windows he would henceforth look back and +down on me; never again through the eyes I had loved as a friend and +lived to close. I could weep now, and I wept; not passionately, not +selfishly, but in grief that seemed to rise about me like a tide and +bear me and all fate of man together upon its deep, strong +flood. . . . + +At daybreak Marc'antonio and Stephanu came down the pass and found me +digging the grave. I thought at first that they intended me some +harm, for their faces were ill-humoured enough in all conscience; but +they carried each a spade, and after growling a salutation, set down +their guns and struck in to help me with my work. + +We had been digging, maybe, for twenty minutes, and in silence, when +my ear caught the sound of furious grunting from the sty, where I had +penned the hogs overnight, a little before sundown. Nat had watched +me as I numbered them, and it seemed now so long ago that I glanced +up with a start almost guilty, as though in my grief I had neglected +the poor brutes for days. In fact I had kept them in prison for a +short hour beyond their usual time, and some one even now was +liberating them. + +It was the Princess, of whose presence I had not been aware. +She stood by the gate of the pen, her head and shoulders in sunlight, +while the hogs raced in shadow past her feet. + +Marc'antonio glanced at her across his shoulder and growled angrily. + +"Your pardon, Princess," said I, slowly, as she closed the gate after +the last of the hogs and came forward. "I have been remiss, but I +need no help either for this or for any of my work." + +She halted a few paces from the grave. "You would rather be alone?" +she asked simply. + +"I wish you to understand," said I, "that for the present I have no +choice at all but your will." + +She frowned. "I thought to lighten your work, cavalier." + +I was about to thank her ironically when the sound of a horn broke +the silence about us, its notes falling through the clear morning air +from the heights across the valley. The Corsicans dropped their +spades. + +"Ajo, listen! Listen!" cried Marc'antonio, excitedly. "That will be +the Prince--listen again! Yes, and they are answering from the +mountain. It can be no other than the Prince, returning this way!" + +While we stood with our faces upturned to the granite crags, I caught +the Princess regarding me doubtfully. Her gaze passed on as if to +interrogate Marc'antonio and Stephanu, who, however, paid no heed, +being preoccupied. + +Again the horn sounded; not clear as before, although close at hand, +for the thick woods muffled it. For another three minutes we +waited--the Princess silent, standing a little apart, with thoughtful +brow, the two men conversing in rapid guttural undertones; then far +up the track beneath the boughs a musket-barrel glinted, and another +and another, glint following glint, as a file of men came swinging +down between the pines, disappeared for a moment, and rounding a +thicket of the undergrowth emerged upon the level clearing. In dress +and bearing they were not to be distinguished from Marc'antonio, +Stephanu, or any of the bandits on the mountain. Each man carried a +musket and each wore the jacket and breeches of sad-coloured velvet, +the small cap and leathern leggings, which I afterwards learnt to be +the uniform of patriotic Corsica. But as they deployed upon the +glade--some forty men in all--and halted at sight of us, my eyes fell +upon a priest, who in order of marching had been midmost, or nearly +midmost, of the file, and upon a young man beside him, toward whom +the Princess sprang with a light step and a cry of salutation. + +"The blessing of God be upon you, O brother!" + +"And upon you, O sister!" He took her kiss and returned it, yet +(as I thought) with less fervour. Across her shoulder his gaze fell +on me, with a kind of peevish wonder, and he drew back a little as if +in the act to question her. But she was beforehand with him for the +moment. + +"And how hast thou fared, O Camillo?" she asked, leaning back, with a +hand upon his either shoulder, to look into his eyes. + +He disengaged himself sullenly, avoiding her gaze. There could be no +doubt that the two faces thus confronting one another belonged to +brother and sister, yet of the two his was the more effeminate, and +its very beauty (he was an excessively handsome lad, albeit +diminutively built) seemed to oppose itself to hers and caricature +it, being so like yet so infinitely less noble. + +"We have fared ill," he answered, turning his head aside, and added +with sudden petulance, "God's curse upon Pasquale Paoli, and all his +house!" + +"He would not receive you?" + +"On the contrary, he made us welcome and listened to all we had to +say. When I had done, Father Domenico took up the tale." + +"But surely, brother, when you had given him the proofs--when he +heard all--" + +"The mischief, sister," he interrupted, stabbing at the ground with +his heel and stealing a sidelong glance at the priest, "the mischief +was, he had already heard too much." + +She drew back, white in the face. She, too, flung a look at the +priest, but a more honest one, although in flinging it she shrank +away from him. The priest, a sensual, loose-lipped man, whose mere +aspect invited one to kick him, smiled sideways and downwards with a +deprecating air, and spread out his hands as who should say that here +was no place for a domestic discussion. + +I could make no guess at what the youth had meant; but the girl's +face told me that the stroke was cruel, and (as often happens with +the weak) his own cruelty worked him into a passion. + +"But who is this man with you?" he demanded, the blood rushing to his +face. "And how came you alone with him, and Stephanu, and +Marc'antonio? You don't tell me that the others have deserted!" + +"No one has deserted, brother. You will find them all upon the +mountain." + +"And the recruits? Is this a recruit?" + +"There are no recruits." + +"No recruits? By God, sister, this is too bad! Has this cursed +rumour spread, then, all over the countryside that honest men avoid +us like a plague--us, the Colonne!" He checked his tongue as she +drew herself up and turned from him, before the staring soldiery, +with drawn mouth and stony eyes; but stepped a pace after her on a +fresh tack of rage. + +"But you have not answered me. Who is this man, I repeat? And eh?-- +but what in God's name have we here?" He halted, staring at the +half-digged grave and Nat's body laid beside it. + + Marc'antonio stepped forward. "These are two prisoners, O Prince, +of whom, as you see, we are burying one." + +"Prisoners? But whence?" + +"From England, as they tell us, O Prince." + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +THE TENDER MERCIES OF PRINCE CAMILLO. + + + "Tyranny is the wish to have in one way what can only be had in + another."--_Blaise Pascal_. + +The young man eyed me insolently for a moment and turned again to his +sister. + +"Camilla! will you have the goodness to explain?" he demanded. + +But here, while she hesitated, searching her brother's face proudly +yet pitifully, as though unable quite to believe in the continued +brutality of his tone, I struck in. + +"Pardon me, Signore," said I, "but an explanation from me may be +shorter." + +"Eh? so you are English, and speak Corsican?" + +"Or such Tuscan," answered I, modestly, "as may pass or a poor +attempt at it. Yes, I am English, and have come hither--as the +Princess, your sister, will tell you--on a political errand which you +may or may not consider important." + +The Princess, who had turned and stood facing her brother again, +threw me a quick look. + +"I know nothing of that," she said hurriedly, "save that he came with +five others in a ship from England and encamped at Paomia below; +that, being taken prisoners, they professed to be seeking the Queen +Emilia, to deliver her; and that thereupon of the six I let four go, +keeping this one as hostage, with his friend, who has since died." + +"And the crown," put in Stephanu. "The Princess has forgotten to +mention the crown." + +"What crown?" + +"The crown, sir," said I boldly, seeing the Princess hesitate, +"of the late King Theodore of Corsica, given by him into my keeping." + +I saw the priest start as if flicked with a whip, and shoot me a +glance of curiosity from under his loose upper lids. His pupil +stepped up and thrust his face close to mine. + +"Eh? So you were seeking _me?_" he demanded. "You are mistaken, sir," +said I, "whatever your reason for such a guess. My companions--one +of them my father, an Englishman and by name Sir John Constantine-- +are seeking the Queen Emilia, whom they understand to be held +prisoner by the Genoese. Meanwhile your sister detains me as +hostage, and the crown in pawn." + +I had kept an eye on the priest as I pronounced my father's name: and +again (or I was mistaken) the pendulous lids flickered slightly. + +"You do not answer my main question," the young man persisted. +"What are you doing here, in Corsica, with the crown of King +Theodore?" + +"I am the less likely to answer that question, sir, since you can +have no right to ask it." + +"No right to ask it?" he echoed, stepping back with a slow laugh. +"No right to ask it--I! King Theodore's son?" + +I shrugged my shoulders. I had a mind to laugh back at his +impudence, and indeed nothing but the mercy of Heaven restrained me +and so saved my life. As it was, I heard an ominous growl and +glanced around to find the whole company of bandits regarding me with +lively disfavour, whereas up to this point I had seemed to detect in +their eyes some hints of leniency, even of good will. By their looks +they had disapproved of their master's abuseful words to his sister, +albeit with some reserve which I set down to their training. +But even more evidently they believed to a man in this claim of his. + +My gesture, slight as it was, gave his anger its opportunity. +He drew back a pace, his handsome mouth curving into a snarl. + +"You doubt my word, Englishman?" + +"I have no evidence, sir, for doubting King Theodore's," I answered +as carelessly as I could, hoping the while that none of them heard +the beating of my heart, loud in my own ears as the throb-throb of a +pump. "If you be indeed King Theodore's son, then your father--" + +"Say on, sir." + +"Why, then, your father, sir, practised some economy in telling me +the truth. But my father and I will be content with the Queen +Emilia's simple word." + +As I began this answer I saw the Princess turn away, dropping her +hands. At its conclusion she turned again, but yet irresolutely. + +"We will find something less than the Queen Emilia's word to content +you, my friend," her brother promised, eyeing me and breathing hard. +"Where is the crown, Stephanu?" + +"In safe keeping, O Prince. I beg leave to say, too, that it was I +who found it in the Englishmen's camp and brought it to the +Princess." + +"You shall have your reward, my good Stephanu. You shall put the +bearer, too, into safe keeping. Stand back, take your gun, and shoot +me this dog, here beside his grave." + +The Princess stepped forward. "Stephanu," she said quietly, +"you will put down that gun." + +Her brother rounded on her with a curse. For the moment she did not +heed, but kept her eyes on Stephanu, who had stepped back with musket +half lifted and finger already moving toward the trigger-guard. + +"Stephanu," she repeated, "on my faith as a Corsican, if you raise +that gun an inch--even a little inch--higher, I will never speak to +you again." Then lifting a hand she swung round upon her brother, +whose rage (I thank Heaven) for the moment choked him. "Is it meet, +think you, O brother, for a King of Corsica to kill his hostage?" + +"Is it meet, O sister," he snarled, "for you, of all women, to +champion a man--and a foreigner--before my soldiers? Shoot him, +Stephanu!" + +Her head went up proudly. "Stephanu will not shoot. And you, my +brother, that are so careful--I sometimes think, so over-careful--of +my honour, for once bethink you that your own deserves attention. +This Englishman placed himself in my hands freely as a hostage. +From the first, since you force me to say it, I had no liking for +him. Afterwards, when I knew his errand, I hated him for your sake: +I hated him so that in my rage I strained all duty towards a hostage +that I might insult him. Marc'antonio will bear me witness." + +"The Princess is speaking the truth before God," said Marc'antonio, +gravely. "She made the man a keeper of swine yonder." He waved a +hand toward the sty. "And he is, as I understand, a cavalier in his +own country." + +"I did more than that," the Princess went on. "Having strained the +compact, I tempted him to break it--to shoot me or to shoot +Marc'antonio, so that one or other of us might be free to kill him." + +She paused, again with her eyes on Marc'antonio, who nodded. + +"And that also is the truth," he said. "She put a gun into his +hands, that he might kill me for having killed his friend. +I did not understand at the time." + +"A pretty coward!" The young man flung this taunt out at me +viciously; but I had enough to do to hold myself steady, there by the +grave's edge, and did not heed him. + +"I do not think he is a coward," said she. (O, but those words were +sweet! and for the first time I blessed her.) "But coward or no +coward, he is our hostage, and you must not kill him." + +He turned to the priest, who all this while had stood with head on +one side, eyes aslant, and the air and attitude of a stranger who +having stumbled on a family squabble politely awaits its termination. + +"Father Domenico, is my sister right? And may I not kill this man?" + +"She is right," answered the reverend father, with something like a +sigh. "You cannot kill him consistently with honour, though I admit +the provocation to be great. The Princess appears to have committed +herself to something like a pledge." He paused here, and with his +tongue moistened his loose lips. "Moreover," he continued, "to kill +him, on our present information, would be inadvisable. I know--at +least I have heard--something of this Sir John Constantine whom the +young man asserts to be his father; and, by what has reached me, he +is capable of much." + +"Do you mean," asked the Prince, bridling angrily, "that I am to fear +him?" + +"Not at all," the priest answered quickly, still with his eyes +aslant. "But, from what I have heard, he was fortunate, long ago, to +earn the esteem of the good lady your mother, and"--he paused and +felt for his snuff-box--"it would appear that the trick runs in the +family." + +"By God, then, if I may not kill him, I may at least improve on my +sister's treatment," swore the young man. "Made him her +swine-keeper, did she? I will promote him a step. Here, you! +Take and truss him by the heels!--and fetch me a chain, one of you, +from the forage-shed. . . ." + +In the short time it took him to devise my punishment the Prince +displayed a devilishly ingenious turn of mind. Within ten minutes +under his careful directions they had me down flat on my back in the +filth of the sty, with my neck securely chained to a post of the +palisade, my legs outstretched, and either ankle strapped to a peg. +My hands they left free, to supply me (as the Prince explained) with +food and drink: that is to say, to reach for the loaf and the +pannikin of water which Marc'antonio, under orders, fetched from the +hut and laid beside me. Marc'antonio's punishment (for bearing +witness to the truth) was to be my gaoler and sty-keeper in my room. +He was promised, moreover, the job of hanging me as soon as my +comrades returned. + +In this pleasant posture they left me, whether under surveillance or +not I could not tell, being unable to turn my head, and scarce able +even to move it an inch either way. + +So I lay and stared up at the sky, until the blazing sun outstared +me. I will dwell on none of my torments but this, which toward +midday became intolerable. Certainly I had either died or gone mad +under it, but that my hands were free to shield me; and these I +turned in the blistering glare as a cook turns a steak on the +gridiron. Now and again I dabbled them in the pannikin beside me, +very carefully, ekeing out the short supply of water. + +I had neither resisted nor protested. I hugged this thought and +meant, if die I must, to die hugging it. I had challenged the girl, +promising her to be patient. To be sure protest or resistance would +have been idle. But I had kept my word. I don't doubt that from +time to time a moan escaped me. . . . I could not believe that +Marc'antonio was near me, watching. I heard no sound at all, no +distant voice or bugle-call from the camp on the mountain. The woods +were silent . . . silent as Nat, yonder, in his grave. Surely none +but a fiend could sit and watch me without a word. . . . + +Toward evening I broke off a crust of bread and ate it. The water I +husbanded. I might need it worse by-and-by, if Marc'antonio delayed +to come. + +But what if no one should come? + +I had been dozing--or maybe was wandering in slight delirium--when +this question wrote itself across my dreams in letters of fire, so +bright that it cleared and lit up my brain in a flash, chasing away +all other terrors. . . . + +Mercifully, it was soon answered. Far up the glade a horn sounded-- +my swine-horn, blown no doubt by Marc'antonio. The hogs were coming. + . . . Well, I must use my hands to keep them at their distance. + +I listened with all my ears. Yes, I caught the sound of their +grunting; it came nearer and nearer, and--was that a footstep, close +at hand, behind the palisade? + +Something dropped at my side--dropped in the mire with a soft thud. +I stretched out my hand, felt for it, clutched it. + +It was a file. + +My heart gave a leap. I had found a friend, then!--but in whom? +Was it Marc'antonio? No: for I heard his voice now, fifty yards +away, marshalling and cursing the hogs. His footstep was near the +gate. As he opened it and the hogs rushed in, I slipped the file +beneath me, under my shoulder blades. + +The first of the hogs, as he ran by me, put a hoof into my pannikin +and upset it; and while I struck out at him, to fend him aside, +another brute gobbled up my last morsel of crust. The clatter of the +pannikin brought Marc'antonio to my side. For a while he stood there +looking down on me in the dusk; then walked off through the sty to +the hut and returned with two hurdles which he rested over me, one +against another, tentwise, driving their stakes an inch or two into +the soil. Slight as the fence was, it would protect me from the +hogs; and I thanked him. He growled ungraciously, and, picking up +the pannikin, slouched off upon a second errand. Again when he +brought it replenished, and a fresh loaf of bread with it, I thanked +him, and again his only answer was a growl. + +I heard him latch the gate and walk away toward the hut. Night was +falling on the valley. Through my roof of hurdles a star or two +shone down palely. Now was my time. I slipped a hand beneath me and +recovered my file--my blessed file. + +The chain about my neck was not very stout. I had felt its links +with my fingers a good score of times in efforts, some deliberate, +others frantic, to loosen it even by a little. Loosen it I could +not; the Prince had done his work too cleverly: but by my calculation +an hour would suffice me to file it through. + +But an hour passed, and two hours, and still I lay staring up at the +stars, listening to the hogs as they rubbed flanks and chose and +fought for their lairs: still I lay staring, with teeth clenched and +the file idle in my hand. + +I had challenged, and I had sworn. "Bethink you now what pains you +can put upon me. . . ." These tortures were not of her devising; but +I would hold her to them. I was her hostage, and, though it killed +me, I would hold her to the last inch of her bond. As a Catholic, +she must believe in hell. I would carry my wrong even to hell then, +and meet her there with it and master her. + +I was mad. After hours of such a crucifixion a man must needs be +mad. . . . "Prosper, lad, your ideas are naught and your ambitions +earth: but you have a streak of damned obstinacy which makes me not +altogether hopeless of you!" These had been Nat's words, a month +ago; and Nat lay in his grave yonder. . . . The cramp in my legs, the +fiery pain ringing my neck, met and ran over me in waves of total +anguish. At the point where my will failed me to hold out, the power +failed me (I thank Heaven) to lift a hand. Yet the will struggled +feebly; struggled on to the verge over which all sensation dropped +plumb, as into a pit. + + +I unclosed my eyes upon the grey dawn; but upon what dawn I knew not, +whether of earth or purgatory or hell itself. They saw it swimming +in a vague light: but my ears, from a sound as of rushing waters, +awoke to a silence on which a small footfall broke, a few yards away. +Marc'antonio must have unpenned the hogs; for the sty was empty. +And the hogs in their rush must have thrown down the hurdles +protecting me; for these lay collapsed, the one at my side, the other +across me. + +The light footfall drew close and halted. I looked up into the face +of the Princess. + +She came, picking her way across the mire; and with caution, as if +she feared to be overheard. Clearly she had expected to find the sty +empty, for even to my dazed senses her dismay was evident as she +caught sight of me beneath the hurdle. + +"You have not gone! Oh, why have you not gone?" + +She was on her knees beside me in the filth. I heard her calling to +Marc'antonio, and presently Marc'antonio came, obedient as ever, yet +protesting. + +"He has not gone!" She moved her hands with a wringing gesture. + +I tried to speak, but for answer could only spread my hand, which +still grasped the file: and for days after it kept a blue weal bitten +across the palm. + +I heard Marc'antonio's voice protesting as she took the file and +sawed with it frantically across my neck-chain. + +"But he must escape and hide, at least." + +"He cannot, Princess. The torture has worn him out." + +"It were better he died, then. For I must go." + +"It were better he died, Princess: but his youth is tough. And that +you must go is above all things necessary. The Prince would kill +me. . . ." + +"A little while, Marc'antonio! The file is working." + +"To what end, Princess?--since time is wanting. The bugle will +call--it may call now at any moment. And if the Prince should miss +you--Indeed it were better that he died--" + +Their voices swam on my ear through giddy whirls of mist, I heard him +persuade her to go--at the last insist upon her going. Still the +file worked. + +Suddenly it ceased working. It seemed to me that they both had +withdrawn, and my neck still remained in bondage, though my legs were +free. I knew that my legs were free though I had not the power to +test this by drawing them up. I tried once, and closed my eyes, +swooning with pain. + +Upon the swoon broke a shattering blow, across my legs and below the +knees; a blow that lifted my body to clutch with both hands upon +night and fall back again upon black unconsciousness. + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +HOW MARC'ANTONIO NURSED ME AND GAVE ME COUNSEL. + + + "Yet sometimes famous Princes like thyself, + Drawn by report, adventurous by desire, + Tell thee, with speechless tongues and semblance pale, + That without covering, save yon field of stars, + They here stand martyrs, slain in Cupid's wars; + And with dead cheeks advise thee to desist + For going on Death's net, whom none resist." + _Pericles, Prince of Tyre_. + +His honour forbidding him to kill me, the Prince Camillo had given +orders to break my legs: and since to abandon me in this plight went +against the conscience of his followers (and even, it is possible, +against his own), he had left Marc'antonio behind to nurse me--thus +gratifying a second spite. The Prince was an ingenious young man. + +So much I gathered in faint intervals between anguish while +Marc'antonio bound me with rude splints of his own manufacture. +Yet he said little and did his surgery, though not ungently, with a +taciturn frown which I set down to moroseness, having learnt somehow +that the bandits had broken up their camp on the mountain and marched +off, leaving us two alone. + +"Did the Princess know of this?" I managed to ask, and I believe this +was my first intelligible question. + +Marc'antonio paused before answering. "She knew that you were to be +hurt, but not the manner of it. It was she that brought you the +file, by stealth. Why did you not use it, and escape?" + +"She brought me the file?" I knew it already, but found a fierce +satisfaction in the words. "And she--and you--tried to use it upon +my chain here and deliver me: I forced you to that, my friends! +As for using it myself, you heard what I promised her, yesterday, +before her brother came." + +"I heard you talk very foolishly; and now you have done worse than +foolishly. I do not understand you at all--no, by the Mother of God, +I do not! You had the whole night for filing at your chain: and it +would have been better for you, and in the end for her." + +"And for you also, Marc'antonio." + +He was silent. + +"And for you also, Marc'antonio?" I repeated it as a question. + +"Your escape would have been put down to me, Englishman. I had +provided for that," he answered simply. + +"Forgive me," I muttered, thrown back upon sudden contrition. +"I was thinking only that you must feel it a punishment to be left +alone with me. I had forgot--" + +"It is hard," he interrupted, "to bear everything in mind when one is +young." His tone was quiet, decisive, as of one stating a fact of +common knowledge; but the reproof cut me like a knife. + +"The Princess has gone too?" I asked. + +"She has gone. They are all gone. That is why it would have been +better for her too that you had escaped." + +I pondered this for a minute. "You mean," said I, "that--always +supposing the Prince had not killed you in his rage--you would now be +at her side?" + +He nodded. "Still, she has Stephanu. Stephanu will do his best," I +suggested. + +"Against what, eh?" He put his poser to me, turning with angry eyes, +but ended on a short laugh of contempt. "Do not try make-believe +with me, O Englishman." + +"There is one thing I know," said I, doggedly, "that the Princess is +in trouble or danger. And a second thing I know, that you and +Stephanu are her champions. But a third thing, which I do not know, +is why you and Stephanu hate one another." + +"And yet that should have been the easiest guess of the three," said +he, rising abruptly and taking first a dozen paces toward the hut, +then a dozen back to the shadow of the chestnut tree against the bole +of which my head rested as he had laid me, having borne me thither +from the sty. + +"_Campioni?_ That is a good word, and I thank you for it, +Englishman. Yet you wonder why I hate Stephanu? Listen. Were you +ever in Florence, in the Boboli gardens?" + +"Never. But why?" + +"Mbe! I have travelled, for my part." Marc'antonio now and always +mentioned his travels with an innocent boastfulness. "Well, in the +gardens there you will find a fountain, and on either side of it a +statue--the statues of two old kings. They sit there, those two, +carved in stone, face to face across the fountain; and with faces so +full of hate that I declare it gives you a shiver down the spine--all +the worse, if you will understand, because their eyes have no sight +in them. Now the story goes that these two kings in life were +friends of a princess of Tuscany far younger than themselves, and +championed her, and established her house while she was weak and her +enemies were strong; and that afterwards in gratitude she caused +these statues to be set up beside the fountain. Another story (to me +it sounds like a child's tale) says that at first there was no +fountain, and that the princess knew nothing of the hatred between +these old men; but the sculptor knew. Having left the order with +him, she married a husband of her own age and lived for years at a +foreign court. At length she returned to Florence and led her +husband one day out through the garden to show him the statues, when +for the first time she saw what the sculptor had done and knew for +the first time that these dead men had hated one another for her +sake; whereupon she let fall one tear which became the source of the +fountain. To me all this part of the story is foolishness: but that +I and Stephanu hate one another not otherwise than those two old +kings, and for no very different cause, is God's truth, cavalier." + +"You are devoted to her, you two?" I asked, tempting him to continue. + +He gazed down on me for a moment with immeasurable contempt. + +"I give you a figure, and you would put it into words! Words!" +He spat. "And yet it is the truth, Englishman, that once she called +me her second father. 'Her second father'--I have repeated that to +Stephanu once or twice when I have lost my temper (a rare thing with +me). You should see him turn blue!" + +I could get no more out of Marc'antonio that day, nor indeed did the +pain I suffered allow me to continue the catechism. A little before +night fell he lifted me again and carried me to a bed of +clean-smelling heather and fern he had prepared within the hut; and, +all the night through, the slightest moan from me found him alert to +give me drink or shift me to an easier posture. Our total solitude +seemed from the first to breed a certain good-fellowship between us: +neither next day nor for many days did he remit or falter in his care +for me. But his manner, though not ungentle, was taciturn. +He seemed to carry about a weight on his mind; his brow wore a +constant frown, vexed and unhappy. Once or twice I caught him +talking to himself. + +"To be sure it was enough to madden all the saints: and the Prince is +not one of them. . . ." + +"What was enough to madden all the saints, O Marc'antonio?" I asked +from my bed. + +Already he had turned in some confusion, surprised by the sound of +his own voice. He was down on hands and knees, and had been blowing +upon the embers of a wood fire, kindled under a pan of goat's milk. +The goat herself browsed in the sunlight beyond the doorway, in the +circuit allowed by a twenty-foot tether. + +"What was enough to madden all the saints, O Marc'antonio?" + +"Why," said he, savagely, "your standing up to him and denying his +birth and his sister's before all the crowd. I did not think that +anything could have saved you." + +"If I remember, I added that the Queen Emilia's bare word would be +enough for me." + +"So. But you denied it on his father's, and that is what his +enemies, the Paolists all, would give their ears to hear--yes, and +Pasquale Paoli himself, though he passes for a just man." + +"Marc'antonio," said I, seriously, "are the Prince and Princess in +truth the children of King Theodore?" + +"As God hears me, cavalier, they are his twin children, born in the +convent of Santa Maria di Fosciandora, in the valley of the Serchio, +some leagues to the north of Florence; and on the feast-day of Saint +Mark these sixteen years ago." + +"Then King Theodore either knew nothing of it, or he was a liar." + +"He was a liar, cavalier." + +"Stay a moment. I have a mind to tell you the whole story as it came +to me, and as I should have told it to the Prince Camillo, had he +treated me with decent courtesy." + +Marc'antonio ceased blowing the fire and sitting back on his heels +disposed himself to listen. Very briefly I told him of my journey to +London, my visit to the Fleet, and how I received the crown with +Theodore's blessing. + +"That he denied having children I will not say: but (I remember well) +my father took it for granted that he had no children, and he said +nothing to the contrary. Indeed on any other assumption his gift of +the crown to me would have been meaningless." + +Marc'antonio nodded, following my argument. "But there is another +difficulty," I went on. "My father, who does not lie, told me once +that King Theodore returned to the island in the year 'thirty-nine, +where he stayed but for a week; and that not until a year later did +his queen escape across to Tuscany." + +But here Marc'antonio shook his head vigorously. "Whoever told your +father that, told him an untruth. The Queen fled from Porto Vecchio +in that same winter of 'thirty-nine, a few days before Christmas. +I myself steered the boat that carried her." + +"To be sure," said I, "my father may have had his information from +King Theodore." + +"The good sisters of the convent," continued Marc'antonio, "received +the Queen and did all that was necessary for her. But among them +must have been one who loved the Genoese or their gold: for when the +children were but ten days old they vanished, having been stolen and +handed secretly to the Genoese--yes, cavalier, out of the Queen's own +sleeping-chamber. Little doubt had we they were dead--for why should +their enemies spare them? And never should we have recovered trace +of them but for the Father Domenico, who knew what had become of them +(having learnt it, no doubt, among the sisters' confessions, to +receive which he visited the convent) and that they were alive and +unharmed; but he kept the secret, for his oath's sake, or else +waiting for the time to ripen." + +"Then King Theodore may also have believed them dead," I suggested. +"Let us do him that justice. Or he may never have known that they +existed." + +Marc'antonio brushed this aside with a wave of his hand. + +"The cavalier," he answered with dignity, "may have heard me allude +to my travels?" + +"Once or twice." + +"The first time that I crossed the Alps"--great Hannibal might have +envied the roll in Marc'antonio's voice--"I bore the King tidings of +his good fortune. It was Stephanu who followed, a week later, with +the tale that the children were stolen." + +"Then Theodore _did_ believe them dead." + +"At the time, cavalier; at the time, no doubt. But more than twelve +years later, being in Brussels--" Here Marc'antonio pulled himself +up, with a sudden dark flush and a look of confusion. + +"Go on, my friend. You were saying that twelve years later, +happening to be in Brussels--" + +"By the merest chance, cavalier. Before retiring to England King +Theodore spent the most of his exile in Flanders and the Low +Countries: and in Brussels, as it happened, I had word of him and +learned--but without making myself known to him--that he was seeking +his two children." + +"Seeking them in Brussels?" + +"At a venture, no doubt, cavalier. Put the case that you were +seeking two children, of whom you knew only that they were alive and +somewhere in Europe--like two fleas, as you might say, in a bundle of +straw--" + +I looked at Marc'antonio and saw that he was lying, but politely +forbore to tell him so. + +"Then Theodore knew that his children were alive?" said I musing. +"Yet he gave my father to understand that he had no children." + +"Mbe, but he was a great liar, that Theodore? Always when it +profited, and sometimes for the pleasure of it." + +"Nevertheless, to disinherit his own son!" + +Marc'antonio's shoulders went up to his ears. "He knew well enough +what comedy he was playing. Disinherit his own son? We Corsicans, +he might be sure, would never permit that: and meanwhile your +father's money bought him out of prison. Ajo, it is simple as +milking the she-goat yonder!" + +"If you knew my father better, Marc'antonio, you would find it not +altogether so simple as you suppose. King Theodore might have told +my father that these children lived, and my father would yet have +bought his freedom for their sake; yes, and helped him to the last +shilling and the last drop of blood to restore them to the Queen +their mother." + +"Verily, cavalier, I knew your father to be a madman," said +Marc'antonio, gravely, after considering my words for awhile. +"But such madness as you speak of, who could take into account?" + +"Eh, Marc'antonio? What acquaintance have you with my father, that +you should call him mad?" + +"I remember him well, cavalier, and his long sojourning with my late +master the Count Ugo at his palace of Casalabriva above the Taravo, +and the love there was between him and my young mistress that is now +the Queen Emilia. Lovers they were for all eyes to see but the old +Count's. Mbe! we all gossiped of it, we servants and clansmen of the +Colonne--even I, that kept the goats over Bicchivano, on the road +leading up to the palace, and watched the two as they walked +together, and was of an age to think of these things. A handsomer +couple none could wish to see, and we watched them with good will; +for the Englishman touched her hand with a kind of worship as a +devout man touches his beads, and they told me that in his own +country he owned great estates--greater even than the Count's. +Indeed, cavalier, had your father thought less of love and more of +ambition there is no saying but he might have reached out for the +crown, and his love would have come to him afterwards. But, as the +saying goes, while Peter stalked the mufro Paul stole the mountain: +and again says the proverb, 'Bury not your treasure in another's +orchard.' Along came this Theodore, and with a few lies took the +crown and the jewel with it. So your father went away, and has come +again after many years; and at the first I did not recognize him, for +time has dealt heavily with us all. But afterwards, and before he +spoke his name, I knew him--partly by his great stature, partly by +his carriage, and partly, cavalier, by the likeness your youth bears +to his as I remember it. So you have the tale." + +"And in the telling, Marc'antonio," said I, "it appears that you, who +champion his children, bear Theodore's memory no good will." + +"Theodore!" Marc'antonio spat again. "If he were alive here and +before me, I would shoot him where he stood." + +"For what cause?" I asked, surprised by the shake in his voice. + +But Marc'antonio turned to the fire again, and would not answer. + + +As I remember, some three or four days passed before I contrived to +draw him into further talk; and, curiously enough, after trying him a +dozen times _per ambages_ (as old Mr. Grylls would have said) and in +vain, on the point of despair I succeeded with a few straight words. + +"Marc'antonio," said I, "I have a notion about King Theodore." + +"I am listening, cavalier." + +"A suspicion only, and horribly to his discredit." + +"It is the likelier to be near the truth." + +"Could he--think you--have _sold_ his children to the Genoese?" + +Marc'antonio cast a quick glance at me. "I have thought of that," he +said quietly. "He was capable of it." + +"It would explain why they were allowed to live. A father, however +deep his treachery, would make that a part of the bargain." + +Marc'antonio nodded. + +"I would give something," I went on, "to know how Father Domenico +came by the secret. By confession of one of the sisters, you +suggest. Well, it may be so. But there might be another way--only +take warning that I do not like this Father Domenico--" + +"I am listening." + +"Is it not possible that he himself contrived the kidnapping--always +with King Theodore's consent?" + +"Not possible," decided Marc'antonio, after a moment's thought. +"No more than you do I like the man: but consider. It was he who +sent us to find and bring them back to Corsica. At this moment, when +(as I will confess to you) all odds are against it, he holds to their +cause; he, a comfortable priest and a loose liver, has taken to the +bush and fares hardly for his zeal." + +"My good friend," said I, "you reason as though a traitor must needs +work always in a straight line and never quarrel with his paymaster; +whereas by the very nature of treachery these are two of the +unlikeliest things in the world. Now, putting this aside, tell me if +you think your Prince Camillo the better for Father Domenico's +company? . . . You do not, I see." + +"I will not say that," answered Marc'antonio, slowly. "The Prince +has good qualities. He will make a Corsican in time. But, I own to +you, he has been ill brought up, and before ever he met with Father +Domenico. As yet he thinks only of his own will, like a spoilt +child; and of his pleasures, which are not those of a king such as he +desires to be." + +Said I at a guess, "But the pleasures--eh, Marc'antonio?--such as a +forward boy learns on the pavements; of Brussels, for example?" + +I thought for the moment he would have knifed me, so fiercely he +started back and then craned forward at me, showing his white teeth. +I saw that my luck with him hung on this moment. + +"Tell me," I said, facing him and dragging hard on the hurry in my +voice, "and remember that I owe no love to this cub. You may be +loyal to him as you will, but I am the Princess's man, I! You heard +me promise her. Tell me, why has she no recruits?" + +He drew back yet farther, still with his teeth bared. "Am _I_ not +her man?" he almost hissed. + +"So you tell me," I answered, with a scornful laugh, brazening it +out. "You are her man, and Stephanu is her man, and the Prince too, +and the Father Domenico, no doubt. Yes, you are all her men, you +four: but why can she collect no others?" I paused a moment and, +holding up a hand, checked them off contemptuously upon my fingers. +"Four of you! and among you at least one traitor! Stop!" said I, as +he made a motion to protest. "You four--you and Stephanu and the +Prince and Fra Domenico--know something which it concerns her fame to +keep hidden; you four, and no other that I wot of. You are all her +men, her champions: and yet this secret leaks out and poisons all +minds against the cause. Because of it, Paoli will have no dealing +with you. Because of it, though you raise your standard on the +mountains, no Corsicans flock to it. Pah!" I went on, my scorn +confounding him, "I called you her champion, the other day! Be so +good as consider that I spoke derisively. Four pretty champions she +has, indeed; of whom one is a traitor, and the other three have not +the spirit to track him down and kill him!" + +Marc'antonio stood close by me now. To my amazement he was shaking +like a man with the ague. + +"Cavalier, you do not understand!" he protested hoarsely: but his +eyes were wistful, as though he hoped for something which yet he +dared not hear. + +"Eh? I do not understand? Well, now, listen to me. I am her man, +too, but in a different fashion. You heard what I swore to her, that +day, beside my friend's body; that whether in hate or love, and be +her need what it might, I would help her. Hear me repeat it, lying +here with my both legs broken, helpless as a log. Let strength +return to me and I will help her yet, and in spite of all her +champions." + +"In hate or in love, cavalier?" Marc'antonio's voice shook with his +whole body. + +"That shall be my secret," answered I. (Yet well I knew what the +answer was, and had known it since the moment she had bent over me in +the sty, filing at my chain.) "It had better be hate--eh, +Marc'antonio?--seeing that for some reason she hates all men, except +you, perhaps, and Stephanu, and her brother." + +"We do not count, I and Stephanu. Her brother she adores. But the +rest of men she hates, cavalier, and with good cause." + +"Then it had better be hate?" + +"Yes, yes"--and there was appeal in his voice--"it had a thousand +times better be hate, could such a miracle happen." He peered into +my eyes for a moment, and shook his head. "But it is not hate, +cavalier; you do not deceive me. And since it is not--" + +"Well?" + +"It were better for you--far better--that Giuse had died of the wound +you gave him." + +"Why, what on earth has Giuse to do with this matter?" I demanded. +Indeed I had all but forgotten Giuse's existence. + +"Only this; that had Giuse died, they would have killed you out of +hand in _vendetta_." + +"You are an amiable race, you Corsicans!" + +"And you came, cavalier, meaning to reign over us! Now, I have taken +a liking to you and will give you a warning. Be like your father, +and give up all for love." + +"Suppose," said I, after a pause, "that for love I choose rather to +dare all?" + +"Signore"--he stepped back and, raising himself erect, flung out both +hands passionately--"Take her, if you must take her, away from +Corsica! She is innocent, but here they will never understand. +What she did she did for her brother, far from home: yet he--he has +no thanks, no bowels of pity, and here at home it is killing her! +There was a young man, a noble, head of the family of Rocca Serra by +Sartene--" Marc'antonio broke off, trembling. + +"You must finish," said I, in a voice cold and slow as the chilled +blood about my heart. + +"There was no harm in her. By her brother's will they were +betrothed. She hated the youth, and he--he was eager--until the day +before the marriage--" + +"What happened, Marc'antonio?" + +"He slew himself, cavalier. Some story reached him, and he slew +himself with his own gun. O cavalier, if you can help us, take her +away from Corsica!" + +He cast up both hands and ran from me. + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +I LEARN OF LIBERTY, AND AM RESTORED TO IT. + + + "A! Fredome is a noble thing: + Fredome mayse man to haif liking." + BARBOUR, _The Bruce_. + + "Non enim propter gloriam divitas aut honores pugnanus, + sed propter libertatem solummodo, quam nemo bonus nisi cum vita + amittit.--" + _Lit. Comit. et Baron_. Scotoe ad Pap. A.D. 1320 + (quoted by BOSWELL). + + "When corn ripeth in every steade + Mury it is in feld and hyde; + Sinne hit is and shame to chyde. + Knyghtis wolleth on huntyng ride, + The deor galopith by wodis side, + He that can his tyme abyde, + At his wille him schal betyde." + _Alisaunder_. + +More than this Marc'antonio would not tell me, though I laid many +traps for more during the long weeks my bones were healing. +But although he denied me his confidence in this matter, he told me +much of this Corsica I had so childishly invaded, and a great deal to +make me blush for my random ignorance; of the people, their untiring +feud with Genoa, their insufferable wrongs, their succession of +heroic leaders. He did not speak of their passion for liberty, as a +man will not of what is holiest in his love. He had no need. +It spoke for itself in the ring of his voice, in the glooms and +lights of his eyes, as we lay on either side of our wood fire; and I +listened, till the embers died down, to the deeds of Jean Paul de +Leca, of Giudice della Rocca, of Bel Messer, of Sampiero di Ornano, +of the great Gaffori and other chiefs, all famous in their day, each +in his turn assassinated by Genoese gold. I heard of Venaco, where +the ghost of Bel Messer yet wanders, with the ghosts of his wife and +seven children drowned by the Genoese in the little lake of the Seven +Bowls. I heard of the twenty-one shepherds of Bastelica who marched +down from their mountains, and routed eight hundred Greeks and +Genoese of the garrison of Ajaccio; how at length they were +intercepted and slain between the river and the marshes--all but one +youth, who, stretched among his comrades and feigning death, was +taken and led to execution through the streets of the town, carrying +six heads, and each a kinsman's. I heard how Gaffori besieged his +own house; how the Genoese, having stolen his infant son, exposed the +child in the breach to stop the firing; and how Gaffori called to +them "I was a Corsican before I was a father," and the cannonade went +on, yet the child miraculously escaped unhurt. I heard of Sampiero's +last fight with his murderers, in the torrent bed under the castle of +Giglio; of Maria Gentili of Oletta, who died to save her brother from +death. . . . And until now these had not even been names to me! +I had adventured to win this kingdom as a man goes out with a gun to +shoot partridges. I could not hide my shame of it. + +"You have taught me much in these evenings, O Marc'antonio," said I. + +"And you, cavalier, have taught me much." + +"In what way, my friend?" + +Marc'antonio looked across the fire with a smile, and held up a +carved piece of wood he had been sharpening to a point. In shape it +resembled an elephant's tusk, and it formed part of an apparatus to +keep a pig from straying, two of these tusks being so fastened above +the beast's neck that they caught and hampered him in the +undergrowth. + +"Eccu!" said Marc'antonio. "You have taught me to be a swinekeeper, +for instance. There is no shame in any calling but what a man brings +to it. You have taught me to endure lesser things for the sake of +greater, and that is a hard lesson at my age." + +From Marc'antonio I learned not only that this Corsica was a land +with its own ambitions, which no stranger might share--a nation small +but earnest, in which my presence was merely impertinent and +laughable withal--but that the Prince Camillo's chances of becoming +its king were only a trifle less derisory than my own. Marc'antonio +would not admit this in so many words; but he gave me to understand +that Pasquale Paoli had by this time cleared the interior of the +Genoese, and was thrusting them little by little from their last grip +on the extremities of the island--Calvi and some smaller strongholds +in the north, Bonifacio in the south, and a few isolated forts along +the littoral; that the people looked up to him and to him only; that +the constitution he had invented was working and working well; that +his writ ran throughout Corsica, and his laws were enforced, even +those which he had aimed at vendetta and cross-vendetta; and that the +militia was faithful to him, almost to a man. "Nor will I deny, +cavalier," he added, "that he seems to me an honest patriot and a +wise one. They say he seeks the Crown, however." + +"Well, and why not?" I demanded. "If he can unite Corsica and win +her freedom, does he not deserve to be her king?" + +Marc'antonio shook his head. + +"Would your Prince Camillo make a better one?" I urged. + +"It is a question of right, cavalier. I love this Paoli for +trouncing the Genoese; but for denying the Prince his rights I must +hate him, and especially for the grounds of his denial." + +"Tell me those grounds precisely, Marc'antonio." + +But he would not; and somehow I knew that they concerned the +Princess. + +"Paoli is generous in that he leaves us in peace," he answered, +evading the question; "and I must hate him all the more for this, +because he spares us out of contempt." + +"Yet," said I, musing, "that priest must have a card up his sleeve. +Rat that he looked, I cannot fancy him sticking to a ship until she +foundered." + + +Certainly we were left in peace. For any sign that reached to us +there, in our cup of he hills, the whole island might have been +desolate. The forest and the beasts in it, tame and wild, +belonged--so Marc'antonio informed me--to the Colonne; the slopes +between us and the sea to the lost great colony of Paomia. +No one disturbed us. Week followed week, yet since the Prince had +passed with his men no traveller came down the path which ran between +our hut and Nat's grave, over which the undergrowth already was +pushing its autumn shoots. Indeed, the path led no whither but to +the sea and the forsaken village. Twice a week Marc'antonio would +leave me for five or six hours and return with bread, and at whiles +with a bag of dried figs or a basket of cheeses and olives for +supplement. I learned that he purchased them in a _paese_ to the +southward, beyond the forest and beyond the ridge of the hills; but +he made a mystery of this, and I had to be content with his word that +in Corsica folk in the bush need never starve. Also, sometimes I +would hear his gun, and he would bring me home five or six brace of +blackbirds strung on a wand of osier; and these birds grew plumper +and made the better eating as autumn painted the arbutus with scarlet +berries. + +To me, so long held a prisoner within the hut, this change of season +came with a shock upon the never-to-be-sufficiently-blessed day when +Marc'antonio, having examined and felt my bones and pronounced them +healed, lifted and bore me, as you might carry a child, up the path +to the old camp on the ridge. He was proud (good man) as he had a +right to be. Surgeons in Corsica there might be none, as he assured +me, or none capable of probing an ordinary bullet wound. But in +youth he had learnt the art of bone-setting, and practised it upon +the sheep which slipped and broke themselves in the gorge of the +Taravo; and his care of me was a masterpiece, to be boasted over to +his dying day. "The smallest limp, at the outside!" he promised me; +he would not answer entirely for the left leg, that thrice-teasing, +thrice-accursed fracture. Another ten days, and we might be sure; he +could not allow me to set foot to ground under ten days. But while +he carried me he whistled a lively air, and broke off to promise me +good shooting before a month was out--shooting of blackbirds, of deer +perhaps, perhaps even of a _mufro_. Here the whistling grew _largo +espressivo_. + +And I? I drew the upland air into my lungs, and the scent of the +recovered _macchia_ through my nostrils, and inhaled it as a man +inhales tobacco-smoke, and could have whooped for joy. Not by +one-fifth was the scent so intense as I have since smelt it in +spring, when all Corsica breaks into flower; yet intense enough and +exhilarating after the dank odours of the valley. But the colours! +On a sudden the _macchia_ had burst into fruit--carmine berries of +the sarsaparilla, upon which a few late flowerets yet drooped, duller +berries of the lentisk, olive-like berries of the phillyria, velvet +purple berries of the myrtle, and (putting all to shade) yellow and +scarlet fruit of the arbutus, clustering like fairy oranges, here and +there so thickly that the whole thicket was afire and aflame, enough +to have deceived Moses! God, how good to see it and be alive! + +Marc'antonio bore me up through the swimming air and laid me in the +shadow of the cave--_her_ cave. It was empty as she had left it, and +my back pressed the very bed of fern on which she had lain. The fern +was dry now, after long winnowing by the wind that found its way into +every crevice of this mountain summit. + +How could I choose but think of her? Thinking of her, how could I +choose but weary myself in vain speculation, by a hundred guesses +attempting to force my way past the edge of the mystery, the sinister +shadow which wrapped her round, and penetrate to the heart of it? +I recalled her beauty, childlike yet sullen; her eyes, so forthright +at times and transparently innocent, yet at times so swiftly clouded +with suspicion, not merely shy, but shy with terror, like the eyes of +a wild creature entrapped; her bearing, by turns disdainful and +defiant with a guarded shame. This turf, these boulders, had made +her bower, these matted creepers her curtain. Here she had lived +secure among savage men, each one of them ready to die--so +Marc'antonio assured me, and all that I had seen confirmed it--rather +than injure a hair of her head or suffer it to be injured. She was a +king's daughter. Yet this lad of the Rocca Serras, noble, of the +best blood of the island, had turned his own gun upon himself rather +than wed with her. + +I thought much upon this lad Rocca Serra. Why had he died? +Was it for loathing her? But men do not easily loathe such beauty. +Was it for love of her? But men do not slay themselves for fortunate +love. Had _her_ loathing been in some way the secret of his despair? +I recalled my words to her, and how she had answered them, turning in +the steep track among the pines "I am your hostage. Do with me as +you will." "_If I could! Ah, if I could!_" I liked to think that +the lad had loved her and been disdained; yet I pitied him for being +disdained, and half hated him for having dared to love her. +Yes, for certain he had loved her. But, if so, her secret had need +be as strange almost as that of Sara, the daughter of Raguel, whom +seven husbands married, to perish on the marriage eve--"_for a wicked +spirit loveth her, which hurteth nobody but those which come unto +her_." + +In dreams I found myself travelling beyond the grave in search of +this dead lad, to question him; and not seldom would awake with these +lines running in my head, remembered as old perplexing favourites +with my father, though God knows how I took a fancy that they held +the clue-- + + "I long to talk with some old lover's ghost + Who dy'd before the God of Love was born. + I cannot think that he, who then loved most, + Sunk so low as to love one which did scorn. + But since this god produc'd a Destiny, + And that Vice-Nature Custom lets it be, + I must love her that loves not me. + + "O, were we waken'd by this tyranny + T'ungod this child again, it could not be + I should love her who loves not me. + + "Rebel and Atheist too, why murmur I + As though I felt the worst that love could do? + Love may make me leave loving, or might try + A deeper plague--to make her love me too; + Which, since she loves before, I'm loth to see: + Falsehood is worse than hate: and that must be + If she whom I love should love me." + +Many wild conjectures I made and patiently built upon, which, if I +were to write them down here, would merely bemuse the reader or drive +him to think me crazy. There on my enchanted mountain summit, ringed +about day after day by the silent land, removed from all human +company but Marc'antonio's, with no clock but the sun and no calendar +but the creeping change of the season upon the _macchia_, what wonder +if I forgot human probabilities at times in piecing and unpiecing +solutions of a riddle which itself cried out against nature? + +Marc'antonio was all the while as matter-of-fact as a good nurse +ought to be. He had fashioned me a capital pair of crutches out of +boxwood, and no sooner could I creep about on them than he began to +discourse, over the camp-fire, on the hunting excursions we were soon +to make together. + +"_Pianu, pianu_; we will grow strong, and get our hand in by little +and little. At first there will be the blackbirds and the foxes--" + +"You shoot foxes in Corsica?" I asked. + +Marc'antonio stared at me. "And why not, cavalier? You would not +have us run after them and despatch them with the stiletto!" + +I endeavoured to explain to him the craft and mystery of fox-hunting +as practised in England. He shook his head over it, greatly +bewildered. + +"It seems a long ceremony for one little fox," was his criticism. + +"But if we did it with less ritual the foxes would disappear out of +the country," I answered him. + +"And why not?" + +This naturally led me into a discourse on preserving game and on our +English game laws, which, I regret to say, gravelled him utterly. + +"A peace of God for foxes and partridges! Why, what do you allow, +then, for a _man?_" + +I explained that we did not shoot men in England. His jaw dropped. + +"Mbe! In the name of the Virgin, whatever do you do with them?" + +"We hang them sometimes, and sometimes we fight duels with them." +I expounded in brief the distinction between these processes and +their formalities, whereat he remained for a long while in a brown +study. + +"Well," he admitted, "by all accounts you English have achieved +liberty; but, _per Baccu_, you do strange things with it!" + +"Blackbirds, to begin with," he resumed, "and foxes, and a hare, +maybe. Then in the next valley there are boars--small, and wild, and +fierce, but our great half-tame ones have driven them off this +mountain. After them we will extend ourselves and stalk for deer." + +He described the deer to me and its habits. It was, as I made out, +an animal not unlike our red deer, but smaller, and of a duller coat; +shy, too, and scarce. He gave me reasons for this. In summer the +Corsican shepherds, each armed with a gun, pasture their sheep on the +mountains, in winter along the plains and valleys; in either season +driving off the poor stag, which in summer is left to range the +parched lowlands and in winter the upper snows. Of late years, +however, owing to the unsettled state of politics, the shepherds +pastured not half the numbers of sheep that Marc'antonio remembered +in his youth, and by consequence the deer had multiplied and grown +bolder. He could promise me a stag. Nay, he even hoped that owing +to these same causes the _mufri_ were pushing down by degrees to the +seaboard from the inland mountains, which they mostly haunted. +Ah, that was sport for kings! If fortune, one of these fine days, +would send us a full-grown _mufrone_ now! + +But we began upon the blackbirds. I remember yet my first, and how, +while I stood trembling a little with that excitement which only a +sick man can know who takes up his gun again, Marc'antonio held up +the bird and ripped open its crop, filled to bursting with myrtle +berries; and the exquisite violet scent they exhaled. + +Already I had flung my crutches away, and three weeks later we were +after the deer in good earnest. I had lost all account of time; but +winter was upon us, with a wealth of laurestinus flower upon the +_macchia_ and a sense of stillness in the air such as we feel at home +on windless sunny mornings in December after a night of frost. +We had started before dawn, and crossed the valley by the track +leading past our deserted hut and up between the granite pinnacles on +which, when the sunset touched them, I had so often gazed. +We had followed it up beyond the pines and over a pass leading out +among a range of undulating foot-hills, which seemed to waver and +lose heart a dozen times before making up their minds to unite and +climb, and be a snowcapped mountain. But they mounted to the snows +at length, and the snows had driven down the stag which, under +Marc'antonio's guidance, I stalked for two hours, and shot before +noon-day. We left him in the track, to be recovered as we returned, +and very cautiously made our way to the crest of the next ridge. +I chose a granite boulder for my shelter, gained it, crawled under +its lee, and, peering over, had whipped my gun to my shoulder and +very nearly pulled the trigger--was, in fact, looking along the +sight--when I found that I was aiming at a man; and not only that, +but at Billy Priske! + +I believe, on my faith that thenceforward he owed his life to the +shape of his legs--so unlike a deer's. + +He was picking his way across the dry bed of a torrent in the dip not +fifty yards below us, leaping from slab to slab of outcropping +granite as a man crosses a brook by stepping-stones; and upon a slab +midway he halted, drew off his hat, extracted a handkerchief, and +stood polishing his bald head while he took stock of the climb before +him. + +"Billy! Billy Priske!" + +He tilted his head still higher, towards the ridge and the rock on +which I stood against his skyline, frantically waving. + +"HOO-ROAR!" + +"And to think, lad," he panted, ten minutes later, as he stretched +himself on the heath beside me--"to think of your mistaking me for a +deer!" + +"Did I say so, Billy? Then I lied. It was for a _mufro_ I took you. +Marc'antonio here had as good as promised me one." + +His beaming smile changed on the instant to a look of extreme +gravity. + +"See you, lad," he said, "have you ever come across one of these here +wild sheep?" + +"Not yet." + +"I thought not. Well, I have; and I advise you not to talk +irreligious about 'em." + +"I will talk about nothing," said I, "until you tell me how my father +is, and of all your adventures." + +"He's well, lad--hearty, and well, and thriving. And he sends you +his love, and a paper for your friend here. 'Tis from the Princess; +and the upshot is, you're released from your word and free to come +back with me." + +Marc'antonio, proud of an opportunity to display his scholarship, +broke the seal and read the letter with a magisterial frown, which +changed, however, to a pleasant, friendly smile as he handed it +across to me. + +"Your captivity is at an end, cavalier. You said well, after all, +that your patience would win the day." + +"_My_ patience, Marc'antonio? What, then, of yours?" + +The tears sprang suddenly to his eyes, good fellow that he was, and +now my good friend. I stretched out a hand, and he grasped and held +it for a moment between his twain. We used no more words. + +"So my father is with the Princess?" I asked, turning on Billy, who +stared--and excusably--at this evidence of our emotion. + +"No, he bain't," said Billy; "leastways, he was with her when I left +him, at a place called Olmeta, or something of the sort. But by this +time he've a-gone north again." + +"And why goes he north?" + +"Because that's where the Genoese have shut up the lady." + +"Meaning the Queen Emilia?" + +Billy nodded. + +"And you have travelled the length of Corsica alone to tell me this +and take me back with you?" + +"No, I didn't. Leastways--" Billy opened his bag of provender, +selected a crust, and began to munch it very deliberately. +"There's a saying," he went on between mouthfuls, "about somebody or +other axin' more questions in one breath than a wise man can answer +in a week; and likewise, there's another saying that even a bagpipe +won't speak till his belly be full. Well, now, as for coming alone, +in the first place and in round numbers I didn't; and as for coming +to tell you this, partly it was and partly it wasn't; and as for your +going back with me, that's for you to choose." + +"Well, then," said I, humouring him, "we will take you point by +point, in order. To begin with, you did not come alone--_ergo_, you +had company. What company?" + +"Very poor company, lad, and by name Stephanu. That hatchet-faced +Prince Camillo chose him out for a guide to me--" Billy paused, with +his mouth open for a bite. "Why, whatever is the matter?" he asked; +for I had turned to translate this to Marc'antonio, and Marc'antonio +had started up with a growl and an oath. + +"Did Stephanu come willingly?" I asked. + +"As I was tellin', the Prince chose him for guide to me, and he +couldn't have chosen a worse one. If you'll believe me, there wasn't +an ounce of comfort in the man from the start; and this morning, +having put me in the road so that I couldn't miss it, he turned back +and left me--in a sweatin' hurry, too." + +I glanced at Marc'antonio, who had risen and was striding to and fro +upon the ridge with his fists clenched. There was mischief here for +a certainty, and Stephanu's behaviour confirmed it. For a moment, +however, I forbore to translate further, and resumed my catechising +of Billy. + +"In the second place you came with my release, and to bring me news, +and--with what purpose beside?" + +"Why, with a message for the ship, to be sure." + +"The ship?" I stared at him. "What ship?" + +"Why, the _Gauntlet_ ketch! You don't tell me," said Billy, with a +glance westward, where, however, the hills intervened and hid the +coast from us--"you don't tell me you haven't sighted her! +But she's here, lad--she _must_ be here! Your father sent home word +by her that she was to be back wi' reinforcements by the first day of +November; and did you ever in your life know your uncle disappoint +him?" + +"Marc'antonio," said I, "what is this I hear from Billy about a +ship?" + +Marc'antonio gave a start, and looked from me to Billy in evident +confusion. + +"Truly, cavalier, there was a ship. I spied her there three days +ago, at sunset, making for the island." + +"Was she the same ship that first brought us to the island?" + +"She was very like," he answered unwillingly. "Yes, indeed, +cavalier, I have no doubt she was the same ship." + +"And you never told me! Nay, I see now why for these three days we +have been hunting to the east of our camp, and always where the coast +was hidden. Yes, yes, I see now a score of tricks you have played me +while I trusted to your better knowledge--Marc'antonio," I said +sternly, "did you indeed believe so ill of me as that at sight of the +ship I should forget my parole?" + +"It was not that, cavalier; believe me, it was not that. I feared--" + +"Speak on, man." + +"I feared you might forget our talks together, and, when your release +came, forget also that other adventure on which I had hoped to bind +you. The Princess--" + +"Then your fear, my friend, did me only a little less injustice. +You have heard how my father perseveres for a woman's sake; and I am +my father's son, I hope. As for the Princess--" + +"She is in worse case than ever, cavalier, since they have contrived +to get rid of Stephanu." + +"On the contrary, my friend, her case is hopeful at length; since +this release sets us free to help her." + + +We trudged back to the camp, pausing on the way while Marc'antonio +skewered the deer's legs and slung him on a pole between us. +As we started afresh Billy observed for the first time that I walked +with a limp. + +"A broken leg," said I, carelessly; for it would not have done to +tell him all the truth. + +"Well, well," said he, content with the explanation, "accidents will +happen to them that travel; and a broken leg, they say, is stronger +when well set." + +"If that's so," said I, "I've a double excuse to be thankful"--which +he did not understand, as I did not mean him to. + + +Darkness fell on us a little before we reached the camp. From the +first I had recognized there could be no chance to-day of visiting +the shore and seeking the _Gauntlet_ at her anchorage. We were +weary, too, and hungry, and nothing remained to do but light the camp +fire, cook our supper, and listen to Billy's tale of his adventures, +a good part of which will be found in the following chapter. I ought +to say, rather, that Billy and I conversed, while Marc'antonio--for +we spoke in English--sat by the fire busy with his own thoughts; and, +by his face, they were gloomy ones. + +"What puzzles me, Billy," said I, as we parted for the night, "is who +can be aboard of the ketch. Reinforcements? Why, what +reinforcements could my uncle send?" + +"The devil a one of me knows, as the Irishman said," answered Billy, +cheerfully. "But sent 'em he has, and, if I know anything of +Mr. Gervase, they're good ones." + + +I was up before dawn, and the sun rose over the shoulder of our +mountain to find me a mile and more on my way down the track which +led to the sea. I passed the clearing and the copse where Nat had +taken his wound, and the rock, high on my right, where I had stood +and spied him running, the _macchia-filled hollows and dingles, the +wood, the village (still desolate), the graveyard where we had first +encamped; and so came to the meadow below it, where Mr. Fett had +gathered his mushrooms. It was greener than I remembered it, owing +to the autumn rains. + +I pulled up with a start. At the foot of the meadow, where the +stream ran in a curve between it and the woods, stood a man. +He held a fishing-rod in his hand, and was stepping back to make a +cast; but, at a cry from me, paused and turned slowly about. + +"Uncle Gervase!" + +"My _dear_ Prosper!" He dropped his rod and advanced, holding out +his hands to me. "Why lad, lad, you have grown to a man in these +months!" + +"And it really is you, uncle!" I cried again, as yet scarcely +believing it, though I clasped him by both hands. "And what are +_you_ doing here?" + +"Why," said he, quizzically, "'tis a monstrous confession for this +time of the year, but I was fishing for trout; and, what is more, I +have taken two, with Walton's number two June-fly, lad--Mr. Grylls's +variety--the wings, if you remember, made of the black drake's +feathers, with a touch of grey horsehair on the shank. I wished to +know, first, if a Corsican trout would answer to a Cornish fly, and, +next, if they keep the same seasons as in England. They do, +Prosper--there or thereabouts. To tell you the truth--though, as +they say an angler may catch a fish, but it takes a fisherman to tell +the truth about him--I found them woundily out of condition, and +restored them, as Mr. Grylls would put it, to their native element." + +"You don't tell me that the Vicar is here, too?" I asked, prepared at +this time to be surprised at nothing. + +"He is not, lad, though I pleaded with him very earnestly to come, +being, as you may guess, put to my wits' end by your father's +message." + +"But how, then, have you managed?" + +"Pretty well, Prosper--pretty well. But come and see for yourself. +The _Gauntlet_ lies at her old anchorage--or so Captain Pomery tells +me--and 'tis but a step down the creek to where my boat is waiting." + +We walked down beside the stream, my uncle, as we went, asking a +score of questions about our adventures and about my father and his +plans--questions which I was in no state of mind to answer +coherently. But this mattered the less since he had no leisure to +listen to my answers. + +I felt, as I said just now, ready to be surprised at nothing. +But in this I was mistaken, as I found when we rounded the corner by +the creek's head, and my eyes fell on a boat waiting, a stone's throw +from the landing-place, and on the crew that manned her. + +"Good Lord!" I cried, and stood at a halt. + +They were seven--six rowers and a coxswain--and all robed in russet +gowns that reached to their ankles. The Trappist monks! + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +OF MY FATHER'S ANABASIS; AND THE DIFFERENT TEMPERS OF AN ENGLISH +GENTLEMAN AND A WILD SHEEP OF CORSICA. + + + "Bright thoughts, clear deeds, constancy, fidelity, bounty, and + generous honesty are the gems of noble minds; wherein + (to derogate from none) the true heroick English Gentleman hath + no peer."--SIR THOMAS BROWNE. + + "La domesticite n'a eu aucune influence sur le developpement + intellectuel des _mouflons_ que nous avons possedes. . . . + Les hommes ne les effrayaient plus; il semblait meme que ces + animaux eussent acquis plus de confiance dans leur force en + apprenant a nous connaitre. Sans doute on ne peut point + conclure de quelques individus a l'espece entiere; mais on peut + assurer sans rien hasarder, que le _mouflon_ tient une des + dernieres places parmis les mammiferes quant a + l'intelligence.--" + SAINT-HILIAR ET CUVIER, _Histoire Naturelle des Mammiferes_. + +"You will find them very good fighters," said my uncle. "The most of +them, as I understand from Dom Basilio, were soldiers at one time or +another before they embraced their present calling." + +"But the devil of it is," said I, "how you contrived to enlist 'em?" + +My uncle stood still and rubbed the back of his head. "I don't know, +Prosper, that I used any arguments. I just put the case to them; +through Dom Basilio, you understand." + +"In other words, you made them an eloquent speech." + +"I did nothing of the sort," he corrected me hastily. "In the first +place because I have never made a speech and couldn't manage one if I +tried; and next, because it is against their rules. I just put the +case to Dom Basilio. All the credit belongs to him." + +Dom Basilio--for the coxswain of the boat proved to be he and no +other--gave me a different account as we pulled toward the +_Gauntlet_. Yet it agreed with my uncle's in the main. + +"In faith," said he, "if there be any credit in what we have done or +are about to do, set it down to your uncle. Against goodness so +simple no man can strive, though he bind himself by vows. +Gratitude may have helped a little; but you can say, and you will not +be far out, that for very shame we are here." + +Captain Pomery who hailed me over the ship's side, proudly invited me +to row around and inspect the repairs in her--particularly her new +stern-post--before climbing on board. For my part, while +congratulating him upon them and upon his despatch, I admired more +the faces of Mike Halliday and Roger Wearne, grinning welcome to me +over the bulwarks. They, too, called my attention to the repairs; to +the new rudder, fitted with chains in case of accident to the helm, +to the grain of the new mizzen-mast (a beautiful spar, and without a +knot), to the teak hatch-coverings which had replaced those shattered +by the explosion. They desired me to marvel at everything; but that +they themselves after past perils should be here again and ready, for +no more than seamen's pay, to run their heads into perils yet +unhandselled, was to these honest fellows no matter worth +considering. + +"But whither be we bound, Master Prosper?" demanded Captain Jo. +"For 'tis ill biding for orders after cracking on to be punctual; and +tho' I say naught against the anchorage _as_ an anchorage, the wind, +what with these hills and gullies, is like Mulligan's blanket, always +coming and going; and by fits an' starts as the ague took the goose; +and likewise backwards and forwards, like Boscastle fair: so that our +cables be twisted worse than a pig's tail." + +"As for that," said I, "your next rendezvous, I hear, is the island +of Giraglia; but, for the whole plan of campaign, you must come and +hear it from Billy Priske, who will tell you what my father has done +and what he intends." + +Accordingly, after breakfasting aboard, we were landed again and went +up the mountain together--my uncle Gervase, Captain Pomery, Dom +Basilio and I: and on the slope below the Princess's cave we sat and +listened to Billy's story, the Trappist translating it to +Marc'antonio, who sat with his gun across his knees and his eyes +fastened on my uncle's gentle venerable face. + + +BILLY PRISKE'S STORY OF MY FATHER'S CAMPAIGN. + +"As Master Prosper has told you, gentlemen all, we left him sitting +alongside poor Mr. Fiennes, and took the path that leads down and +across the valley yonder and out again on the north side. There were +four of us--my master, myself, and the creatures Fett and Badcock-- +each man with his gun and good supply of ammunition. Besides this +Sir John carried his camp-stool and spy-glass, and in his pocket a +map along with his Bible and tobacco pouch; I the wine and his spare +gun: Fett the bag of provisions; and Badcock his flute and a +gridiron." + +"Why a gridiron?" asked my uncle. + +"The reason he gave, sir, was that it's just these little things that +get left behind, on a picnic; which Sir John, when I reported it, +pronounced to be a very good reason. 'And, as it happens,' said he, +''tis the very reason why Mr. Badcock himself goes with us: for my +son, when he becomes king, will need a Fool, and I have brought a +couple in case of accidents.' + +"We started then, as Master Prosper will remember, a little before +dark; and having lanterns to light the track, and now and then the +north star between the tree-tops to give us our bearings, we crossed +the valley and came out through a kind of pass upon a second slope, a +little nor'-west of the spot where I happened yesterday on Master +Prosper. By this, Sir John's watch marked ten o'clock and finding us +dead-beat by the roughness of the track, he commanded us to lie down +and sleep. + +"The next morning, after studying his map, he started afresh, still +holding northward in the main but bearing back a little to the left-- +that is, toward the sea, which before noon we brought in sight at a +place he called La Piana, where, he said, was a fishing village; and +so no doubt there was, for we spied a two-three boats moored a little +way out from the shore--looking down upon them through a cleft in the +rocks. The village itself we did not see, but skirted it upon high +ground and came down to the foreshore a short two miles beyond it; +where we found a beach and a spit of rock, and on the spit a +tumble-down tower standing, as lonely as a combed louse. Above the +beach ran a tolerable coast road, which divided itself into two, +after crossing a bridge behind the tower; the one following the +shore, the other striking inland up the devil of a gorge. +This inland road we took, for two reasons; the first, that by the map +it appeared to cut off a corner of our journey; the second, because +the map showed a village, not three miles up the gorge, where we +might get advice. + +"After an hour's climbing then (for the road twisted uphill along the +edge of the torrent) we came to the village, which was called Otta. +Now, the first thing to happen to us in Otta was that we found it +empty--not so much as a dog in the street--but all the inhabitants on +the hill above, in a crowd before a mighty great stone: and Badcock +would have it that they were gathered together in fear of us. +But the true reason turned out to be something quite different. +For this stone overhangs the village, which is built on a stiff +slope; and though it has hung there for hundreds of years without +moving, the villagers can never be easy that it will not tumble on +top of them; and once a year regularly, and at odd times when the +panic takes them, they march up and tie it with ropes. This very +thing they were doing as we arrived, and all because some old woman +had dreamed of an earthquake. We took notice that in the crowd and +in the gang binding the stone there was no man the right side of +fifty (barring a cripple or two); the reason being that all their +young men had enlisted in the militia. + +"These people made us welcome (and I will say, gentlemen, once for +all and in spite of what has happened to Master Prosper here, that +there is no such folk as the Corsicans for kindness to strangers), +but they told us we were on the wrong road. By following the pass we +should find ourselves in forest-tracks which indeed would lead us +down to the great plain of the Niolo and across it to Corte, whence a +good road ran north to Cape Corso; but our shorter way was the +coast-road, which (they added) we must leave before reaching Calvi-- +for fear of the Genoese--and take a southerly one which wound through +the mountains to Calenzana. They explained this many times to Sir +John, and Sir John explained it to us; and learning that we were +English, and therefore friends of liberty, they forced us to drink +wine with them--lashins of wine--until just as my head was beginning +to feel muzzy, some one called out that we were heroes and must drink +the wine of heroes, the pride of Otta, the Invincible St. Cyprien. + +"By this time we were all as sociable together as mice in malt, +except that these Corsicans never laughed at all, but stared at us +awsome-like even when the creature Fett put one foot on a chair and +another on the table and made 'em a long tom-fool speech in English, +calling 'em friends Romans and countrymen and asking them to lend him +their ears, as though his own weren't long enough. Then they brought +in the Invincible St. Cyprien, and Sir John poured out a glass, and +sniffed and tasted it and threw up his head, gazing round on the +company and looking every man full in the eyes. I can't tell you +why, gentlemen, but his bearing seemed so noble to me at that moment +I felt I could follow him to the death (though of course there wasn't +the leastest need for it, just then). I reached out for the bottle, +filled myself a glass, drank it off, and stared around just as +defiant. It gave me a very pleasant feeling in the pit of the +stomach, and the taste of it didn't seem calculated to hurt a fly. +So I took two more glasses quickly, one after the other; and every +one looked at me with their faces very bright all of a sudden--and +the room itself grown brighter--and to my astonishment I heard them +calling upon me in English for a speech. Whereby, being no public +speaker, I excused myself and walked out into the village street, +which was bright as day with the moon well over the cliffs on the +other side of the gorge, and (to my surprise) crowded with people so +that I couldn't have believed the whole City of London held half the +number, let alone a god-forsaken hole like Otta. I stood for a while +on the doorstep counting 'em, and the next thing I remember was +crossing the street to a low wall overhanging the gorge and leaning +upon it and watching the cliffs working up and down like mine-stamps. +This struck me as curious, and after thinking it over I made up my +mind to climb across and discover the reason." + +"I fear, Billy," said my uncle, "that you must have been +intoxicated." + +"But the worst, sir, was the moon; which was not like any ordinary +moon, but kept swelling and bursting in showers of the most beautiful +fireworks, so that I said to myself, 'O for the wings of a dove,' I +said, 'so that I fetch some one to put a stop to this!' And I'd +hardly said the words before it was broad day, and me lying in the +street with a small crowd about me, very solemn and curious, and my +head in the lap of a middle-aged woman that smelt of garlic, but +without any pretensions to looks. And she was lifting up her head +and singing a song, and the sound of it as melancholy as a gib-cat in +a garden of cucumbers. Whereby the whole crowd stood by and stared, +without offering to help. Whereby I said to myself, 'This is a +pretty business, and no mistake.' Whereby I saw Sir John come forth +from the house where the drinking had been, and his face was white +but his step steady; and says he, 'What have you been doing to this +woman?' 'Nothing at all,' said I; 'or, leastways, nothing to warrant +this behaviour on her part.' 'Well,' said he, 'you may be surprised +to hear it, but she maintains that you are betrothed to her.' +'A man,' said I, 'may woo where he will, but must wed where his wife +is. If this woman be my fate, I'll say no more except that 'tis +hard; but as for courting her, I never did so.' 'You are in a worse +case than you guess,' said he; 'for, to begin with, the lady is a +widow; and, secondly, she is marrying you, not for your looks, but +for revenge.' 'Why, what have I done?' said I. 'Nothing at all,' +said he; 'but from what I can hear of it, five years ago a man of +Evisa, up the valley, stole a goat belonging to this woman's husband; +whereupon the husband took a gun and went to Evisa and shot the +thief's cousin, mistaking him for the thief; whereupon the thief came +down to Otta and shot the honest man one day while he was gathering +olives in his orchard. He himself left neither chick nor child; but +his kinsmen of the family of Paolantonuccio (I can pronounce the +name, gentlemen, if you will kindly look the other way) took up the +quarrel, and with so much liveliness that to-day but three of them +survive, and these are serving just now with the militia. For the +while, therefore, the Widow Paolantonuccio has no one to carry on the +custom of the country; nor will have, until a husband offers.' +'For pity's sake, Sir John,' said I, `get me out of this! Tell them +that if any man has been courting this woman 'tis not I, William +Priske, but another in my image.' 'Why, to be sure!' cried Sir John. +'It must have been the Invincible St. Cyprien!' + +"So stepping back and seating himself again upon the doorstep, he +began to argue with the villagers, the woman standing sullen all the +while and holding me by the arm. I could not understand a word, of +course, but later on he told me the heads of his discourse. + +"'I began,' he said, 'by expounding to 'em all the doctrine of +cross-revenge, or _vendetta trasversa_, as they call it; and this I +did for two reasons--the first because in an argument there's naught +so persuasive as telling a man something he knows already--the second +because it proved to them, and to me, that I wasn't drunk. For the +doctrine has more twists in it than a conger. + +"'Next I taught them that the doctrine was damnable; and that it +robbed Corsica of men who should be fighting the Genoese, on which +errand we were bound. + +"'And lastly I proved to them out of the mouths of several wise men +(some of Greece, and others of my own inventing) that a man with +three glasses of their wine in his belly was a man possessed, and +therefore that either nothing had happened, or, if anything had +happened, the fellow to blame must be that devil of a warrior the +Invincible St. Cyprien. + +"'Yet (as so often happens) the argument that really persuaded them, +as I believe, was one I never used at all; which was, that the woman +had money and a parcel of land, and albeit no man could pick up +courage to marry her, they did not relish a stranger stepping in and +cutting them out.' + +"Be that as it may, gentlemen, in twenty minutes the crowd had come +round to Sir John's way of thinking; and they not only sold us mules +at thirty livres apiece--which Sir John knew to be the fair current +price--but helped us to truss up Mr. Fett and Mr. Badcock, each on +his beast, and walked with us back to the cross-roads, singing hymns +about Corsican liberty. Only we left the woman sadly cast down. + +"From the cross-roads, where they left us and turned back, our road +led through a great forest of pines. Among these pines hung +thousands of what seemed to be balls of white cotton, but were the +nests of a curious caterpillar; which I only mention because Mr. +Fett, coming to, picked up one of these caterpillars and slipped it +down the nape of Mr. Badcock's neck, whereby the poor man was made +uncomfortable all that day and the next; for the hairs of the insect +turned out to be full of poison. In the end we were forced to strip +him and use the gridiron upon him for a currycomb; so it came in +handy, after all. + +"On the second day, having crossed a river and come to a village +which, if I remember, was called Manso, we bore away southward among +the most horrible mountains. Among these we wandered four days, +relying always on Sir John's map: but I reckon the man who made it +must have drawn the track out of his own head and trusted that no +person would ever be fool enough to go there. Hows'ever, the weather +keeping mild, we won through the passes with no more damage than the +loss of Mr. Fett's mule (which tumbled over a precipice on the third +day), and a sore on Mr. Fett's heel, brought about by his having to +walk the rest of the way into Calenzana. + +"Now at Calenzana, a neat town, we found ourselves nearly in sight of +Calvi and plumb in sight of the Genoese outposts that were planted a +bare gunshot from the house where we lodged, on the road leading +northward to Calvi gate. To the south, as we heard--though we never +saw them--lay a regiment of Paoli's militia; and, between the two +forces Calenzana stood as a sort of no-man's-land, albeit the Genoese +claimed what they called a 'supervision' over it. In fact they never +entered it, mistrusting its defences, and also the temper of its +inhabitants, who were likely enough to rise at their backs if the +patriots gave an assault. + +"They contented themselves, then, with advancing their outposts to a +bend on the Calvi road not fifty yards from our lodging, which +happened to be the last house in the suburbs; and from his window, +during the two days we waited for Mr. Fett's sore to heal, Sir John +would watch the guard being relieved, and sometimes pick up his gun +and take long aim at the sentry, but lay it down with a sort of sigh: +for though the sight of a Genoese was poison to him, he reckoned +outpost-shooting as next door to shooting a fox. + +"Our hosts, I should tell you, were an old soldier and his wife. +The man, by his own account, followed the trade of a bird-stuffer; +which was just an excuse for laziness, for no soul ever entered his +shop but to hear him talk of his campaigning under Gaffori and under +the great Pascal Paoli's father, Hyacinth Paoli. This he would do at +great length, and, for the rest, lived on his wife, who was a +well-educated woman and kept a school for small children when they +chose to come, which again was seldom. + +"This Antonio, as we called him, owned a young ram, which was his pet +and the pride of Calenzana: for, to begin with, it was a wild ram; +and in addition to this it was tame; and, to cap all, it wasn't a bit +like a ram. And yet it was a wild ram--a wild Corsican ram. + +"Being an active sort of man in his way, though well over fifty, and +given to wandering on the mountains above Calenzana, he had come one +day upon a wild sheep with a lamb running at her heels. He let fly a +shot (for your Corsican, Master Prosper, always carries a gun) and +ran forward. The mother made off, but the lamb sat and squatted like +a hare; and so Antonio took him up and carried him home. + +"By the time we came to Calenzana the brute had grown to full size, +with horns almost two feet long. As we should reckon, they were +twisted the wrong way for a ram's, and for fleece he had a coat like +a Gossmoor pony's, brown and hairy. But a ram he was; and, the first +night, when Mr. Badcock obliged us with a tune on the flute, he came +forward and stared at him for a time and then butted him in the +stomach. + +"We had to carry the poor man to bed. We slept, all four of us, in a +loft, which could only be reached by a ladder; and a ram, as you +know, can't climb a ladder. It's out of nature. Yet the brute tried +its best, having taken such a fancy to Badcock, and wouldn't be +denied till his master beat him out of doors with a fire-shovel and +penned him up for the night. + +"The next morning, being loosed, he came in to breakfast with the +family, and butted a crock of milk all over the kitchen hearth, but +otherwise bore himself like a repentant sinner; the only difference +being that from breakfast onward he turned away from his master and +took to following Mr. Fett, who didn't like the attention at all. +Badcock kept to his bed; and Mr. Fett too, who could only manage to +limp a little, climbed up to the loft soon after midday and lay down +for a rest. + +"Sir John and I, left alone downstairs, took what we called a siesta, +each in his chair, and Sir John's chair by the shaded window. +For my part, I was glad enough for forty winks, and could have +enlisted among the Seven Sleepers after those cruel four days in the +mountains. So, with Sir John's permission, I dozed off; and sat up, +by-and-by--awake all of a sudden at the sound of my master's +stirring--to see him at the window with his gun half-lifted to his +shoulder, and away up the road a squad of Genoese soldiers marching +down to relieve guard. + +"With that there came a yell from the loft overhead. I sprang up, +rubbing my eyes, and, between rubbing 'em, saw Sir John lower his gun +and stand back a pace. The next instant--_thud, thud!_--over the +eaves upon the roadway dropped Fett and Badcock and picked themselves +up as if to burst in through the window. No good! A second later +that ram was on top of them. + +"How he had contrived to climb up the ladder and butt the pair over +the roof, there's no telling. But there he was; and gathering up his +legs from the fall as quick as lightning he headed them off from the +house and up the road. There was no violence. So far as one could +tell from the clouds of dust, he never hurt 'em once, but through the +dust we could see the Genoese staring as he nursed the pair up the +road straight into their arms. The queer part of it," wound up +Billy, reflectively, "was that, after the first moment, Sir John had +never the chance of a shot. You may doubt me, gentlemen, but Sir +John is a shot in a thousand, and, what with the dust and the +confusion, there was never a chance without risk to human life. +The Genoese giving back, in less than half a minute the road was +clear." + +"But what happened?" asked my uncle. + +"Well, sir, this here Corsica being an island, it follows that they +must have stopped somewhere. But where there's no telling." + +"You never saw them again." + +"Never," said Billy, solemnly; and, having asked and received +permission to light his pipe, resumed the tale. + +"There being now no reason to loiter in Calenzana, we left the town +next morning and rode along the hill tracks to Muro, when again we +struck the high road running northward to the coast. Sir John had +sold Mr. Badcock's mule to our hosts in Calenzana, and here in Muro +he parted with our pair also, reck'nin' it safer to travel the next +stage on foot; since by all accounts we were about to skirt the +Genoese outposts to the east of Calvi. The Corsicans, to be sure, +held and patrolled the high road (by reason that every week-day a +train of waggons travelled along it with material for the new town +a-building on the seashore, at Isola Rossa), yet not so as to +guarantee it safe for a couple of chance riders. Also Sir John had +no mind to be stopped a dozen times and questioned by the Corsican +patrols. We kept, therefore, along the hills to the east of the +road; and on our way, having halted and slept a night in an olive +orchard about five miles from the coast, we woke up a little after +daylight to the sound of heavy guns firing. + +"The meaning of this was made plain to us as we fetched our way round +to the eastward and came out upon the face of a steep hill that broke +away in steep cliffs to the very foreshore. There, below us, lay a +neat deep-water roadstead covered to westward by a small island with +a tower on it and a battery. The shore ran out towards the island, +and the two had been joined by a mole, or the makings of one, about +thirty yards long; and well back in the bight of the shore, where it +curved towards us, was a half-built town, all of new stone, with +scaffoldings standing everywhere, yet not a soul at work on 'em. +Out in the roadstead five small gunboats were tacking and blazing +away, two at the mole and three at the town itself; and the town and +the island blazing and banging back at the gunboats. We could not +see the town battery, but the island one mounted three guns, and Sir +John's spy-glass showed the people there running from one to another +like emmets. + +"Sir John studied the boats and the town through his glass for five +minutes, and after them the inshore water and the beach on our side +of the town, that was of white sand with black rocks here and there, +and ran down pretty steep as it neared the foot of our hill. +'If those fellows had any sense--' he began to say, and with that, as +if struck by a sudden thought, he looked close around him, and +towards the edge of the cliff where it broke away below us. The next +moment he was down on his stomach and crawling to the brink for a +look below. I did the same, of course; and overtook him just as he +drew back his head, and gave a sort of whistle, looking me in the +face--as well he might; for right underneath us lay a sixth gunboat, +and the crew of her ashore already with a six-pounder and hoisting it +by a tackle to a slab of rock about fifty feet above the water's +edge. A neater spot they couldn't have chosen, for it stood at an +angle the town battery couldn't answer to (which was plain, from its +sending no shot in this direction), and yet it raked the whole town +front as easy as ninepins. + +"To make things a bit fairer, this landing-party offered us as simple +pretty a target as any man could wish for; nothing to do but fire +down on 'em at forty yards, bob back and reload, with ne'er a chance +of their climbing up to do us a mischief or even to count how many we +were. I touched Sir John's elbow and tapped my gun-stock, and for +the moment he seemed to think well of it. 'Cut the tackle first,' +said he, lifting his gun. ''Twill be as good as hamstringing 'em': +and for him the shot would have been child's play. But after a +second or two he lowered his piece and drew back. 'Damme,' said he, +'I'm losing my wits. Let 'em do their work first, and we'll get +cannon and all. If only'--and here he looked nervous-like over his +shoulder up the hill--'if only those fellows from the town don't +hurry up and spoil sport!' + +"I couldn't see his face, but I could feel that he was chuckling as +the fellows below us swung up the gun and fixed it in position and +handed up the round shot. But when they followed up with two kegs of +powder and dumped 'em on to the platform, my dear master's hand went +up and he rubbed the back of his head in pure delight. After that-- +as I thought, for nothing but frolic--he even let 'em load and train +the gun for us, and only lifted his musket when the gunner--a +dark-faced fellow with a red cap on his head--was act'lly walking up +with the match alight in his linstock. + +"'I don't want to hurt that man afore 'tis necessary,' says Sir John; +and with that he takes aim and lets fly, and shears the linstock +clean in two, right in the fellow's hand. I saw the end of it--match +and all--fly halfway across the platform, and popped back my head as +the dozen Genoese there turned their faces up at us. The pity was, +we hadn't time for a look at 'em! + +"Sir John had warned me to hold my fire. But neither he nor I were +prepared for what happened next. For first one of them let out a +yell, and right on top of it half a dozen were screaming '_Imboscata! +Imboscata!_"--and with that we heard a rush of feet and, looking +over, saw the last two or three scrambling for dear life off the edge +of the platform and down the rocks to their boat. + +"'Quick, Billy--quick! Damme, but we'll risk it!' cried Sir John, +snatching up his spare gun. 'If we make a mess of it,' says he, +'plug a bullet into one of the powder kegs! Understand?' says he. + +"'Sakes alive, master!' says I. 'You bain't a-going to clamber down +that gizzy-dizzy place sure 'nuff!' + +"'Why, o' course I be,' says he, and already he had his legs over and +was lowering himself. 'Turn on your back, stick out your heels, and +hold your gun wide of you, _so_,' says he; 'and you'll come to no +harm.' + +"Well, as it happened, I didn't. Not for a hundred pound would I go +down that cliff again in cold blood, and my stomach turns wambly in +bed o' nights when I dream of it. But down it I went on the flat of +my back with my heels out, as Sir John recommended, and with my eyes +shut, about which he'd said nothing. I felt my jacket go rip from +tail to collar--you can see the rent in it for yourselves--and my +shirt likewise; and what happened to the seat of my breeches 'twould +be a scandal to mention. But in two shakes or less we were at the +bottom of the cliff together, safe and sound, and not a moment too +soon, neither: for as I picked myself up I saw Sir John lurch across +and catch up the burning fuse that lay close alongside one of the +powder kegs. Whereby, although the danger was no sooner seen than +over, I pretty near turned sick on the spot. + +"But Sir John gave me no time. 'Hooray!' he sings out. 'Help me to +slew this blessed gun round, and we'll sink boat and all for 'em +unless she slips her moorings quick!' + +"Well, sir, that was the masterpiece. We heaved and strained, and +inside of two minutes we had it trained upon the gunboat. The men +that had quitted the platform were down by the shore before this; and +a dozen had pushed their boat off and sat in her, some pulling, +others backing, and all jabbering and disputing whether to return and +take off the five or six that stood in a huddle by the water's edge +and were crying out not to be left behind. And mean time on the +gunboat some were shouting to 'em not to be a pack of cowards--for +the crew on board could see us on the platform (which the others +couldn't) and that we were only two--and others were running to cut +her cable, seeing the gun trained on 'em and not staying to think +that the wind was light and the current setting straight onshore. +And in the midst of this Sir John finds a fresh fuse, and lights it +from the old one, and bang! says we. + +"It took her plump in the stern-works, knocking her wheel and +taffrail to flinders and ripping out a fair six feet of her larboard +bulwarks. This much I saw while the smoke cleared; but Sir John was +already calling for the reload. The Genoese by good luck had left a +rammer; and the pair of us had charged her and were pushing home shot +number two as merry as crickets, when we heard a horn blown on the +hill above us, and at the same instant spied a body of Corsicans on +the beach below, marching towards us from the town. + +"Well, Sir John decided that we might just as well have a second shot +at the boat while our hand was in; and so we did, but trained it too +high in our excitement and did no damage beyond knocking a hole in +her mainsail. And our ears hadn't lost the noise of it before a man +put his head over the cliff above and spoke to us very politely in +Corsican. + +"He seemed to be asking the way down; for Sir John pointed to the way +we had come. Whereby he laughed and shook his head. And a dozen +others that had gathered beside him looked down too and laughed and +waved their hands to us. By-and-by they went off, still waving, to +look for a better way down: but they took a good twenty minutes to +reach us, and before this the gunboat had drifted close upon the +rocks and no hope for it but to surrender to the party marching along +the beach and now close at hand. + +"Well, sirs, the upshot was that this party, which had marched out +for a forlorn hope, took the gunboat and her crew as easily as a man +gathers mushrooms. And the rest of the boats, dispirited belike, +sheered off after another hour's banging and left the roadstead in +peace. But, while this was happening, the party on the cliffs had +worked their way down to our rock by a sheep-track on the western +side, and the first man to salute us was the man who had first spoken +to us from the top of the cliff: and this, let me tell you, was no +less a person than the General himself." + +"The General?" exclaimed my uncle. + +"The General Paoli, sir: a fresh-complexioned man and fairer-skinned +than any Corsican we had met on our travels; tall, too, and +upstanding; dressed in green-and-gold, with black spatter-dashes, and +looking at one with an eye like a hawk's. Compliments fly when +gentlefolks meet. Though as yet I didn't know him from Adam, 'twas +easy to mark him for a person of quality by the way he lifted his hat +and bowed. Sir John bowed back, though more stiffly; and the more +compliments the General paid him, the stiffer he grew and the shorter +his answers, till by-and-by he said in English, 'I think you know a +little of my language, sir: enough, at any rate, to take my meaning?' + +"The General bowed again at this, still keeping his smile. +'You do not wish my men to overhear? Yes, yes, I speak the English-- +a very little--and can understand it, if you will be so good as to +speak slowly.' + +"'Very well, then, sir,' said Sir John; 'if I and my man here have +been of some small service to you to-day I reckon myself happy to +have obliged so noble a patriot as Signor Pascal Paoli.' And here +they both bowed again. 'But I must warn you, sir, that my service +here is due only to the Queen Emilia, whom you also should serve, and +whom I am sworn to seek and save. The Genoese have shut her, I +believe, in Nonza, in Cape Corso.' + +"The General frowned a bit at this, but in a moment smiled at him in +an open way that was honest too, as any one could see. 'I have later +news of the Queen Emilia,' said he; 'which is that the Genoese have +removed her to the island of Giraglia, off Cape Corso. I fear, sir, +you will not reach her this side of Doomsday.' + +"'I will reach her or die,' said Sir John, stoutly. + +"The General took a glance at the Genoese gunboats. 'At present it +is hopeless,' said he; 'but I tell you, as man to man, that in two +months I hope to clear the sea of those gentry yonder. Meantime, if +you _will_ press on to Cape Corso, and, without listening to reason, +I'll beg you to accept a pass from me which will save trouble if you +fall in, as you will, with my militia. It's small enough thanks,' +said he, 'for the service you have done us this day.' + +"Those were the General's words, sirs, as I heard them and got them +by heart. And Sir John took the pass from him, scribbled there and +then on the fly-leaf of the General's pocket Bible, and put it +carefully between the leaves of his own: and so, having led us back +along the track by which he and his men had come, the General pointed +out our way to us and bade us farewell in the Lord's name. +He saw that my master wanted no thanks, and a gentleman (as they say) +would rather be unmannerly than troublesome. + +"That, sirs, is all my story, except that by the help of the +General's pass we made our way up the long length of Cape Corso: and +at first Sir John, learning there were yet some Genoese left in a +valley they call Luri, pitched his camp at the head of it, and day by +day took out his camp-stool and stalked the mountains till little by +little he cleared the valley, driving the enemy down to the _marina_ +in terror of his sharp-shooting. After that we lodged for a while in +a tower on the top of a crag, where (the country people said) a +famous old Roman had once lived out his exile. Last of all we moved +to the shore opposite the island of Giraglia; but the Genoese had +burnt the village which stood there. Among the ruins we camped, and +day after day my master conned the island across the strait, waiting +for the time when the _Gauntlet_ should be due. A tower stands in +the island, which is but a cliff of bare rock; and there must be deep +water close inshore, for once a Genoese vessel drew alongside and +landed stores: but, for the rest, day after day, my master could see +through his glass no sign of life but a sentry or two on the platform +above the landing-quay. + +"At last there came a day when, from a goatherd who brought us meat +and wine from the next _paese_, we learned that a body of armed men, +Corsicans, had pushed up to Olmeta, near by Nonza, to press the +Genoese garrison there. Sir John, sick of waiting idle, proposed +that we should travel back and help them, if only to fill up the +time. It would be on our way, at any rate, to send word to the +ketch, which was near-about due. So we travelled back to Olmeta; and +behold, we tumbled upon the Princess and her men who had first taken +us prisoners; and the Princess's brother with her--and be dashed if I +like his looks! So Sir John told his tale, and the Princess sent me +along with Master Prosper's letter of release. And here's a funny +thing now!" wound up Billy, glancing at me. "The Prince was willing +enough your release should be sent, and even chose out that fellow +Stephanu to come along with me. But something in his eye--I can't +azackly describe it--warned me he had a sort of reason for thinking +that 'twouldn't do you much good. There was a priest, too: I took a +notion that _he_ didn't much expect to see you again, sir. And this +kept me in a sweat every mile of the journey, so that when you +pointed your gun at me yesterday, as natural as life, you might have +knocked me down with a feather." + +"Then it is settled," decided my uncle, as Billy came to a full stop. +"Sir John has gone north again, you say, and will be expecting us off +the island? There's naught to prevent our starting this evening?" + +"Nothing at all," agreed Captain Pomery, to whom by a glance he had +appealed. "Leastways and supposing I can get my hawsers out of +curl-papers." + +"That suits you, Prosper?" asked my uncle. I looked across the fire +at Marc'antonio, who sat with his eyes lowered upon the gun across +his knees. + +"Marc'antonio," said I, "my friends here are proposing to sail +northward to Cape Corso to-night. They require me to sail with them. +Am I free, think you?" + +"Beyond doubt you are free, cavalier," answered Marc'antonio, still +without lifting his eyes. + +"Now, for my part," I said, "I am not so sure. Suppose--look at me +please, my friend--suppose that you and I were to go first to the +Princess together and ask her leave?" + +My uncle gazed up at Marc'antonio, who had sprung to his feet; and-- +after a long look at his face--from Marc'antonio to me. + +"Prosper," he said quietly, "we shall sail to-night. If we sail +without you, will your father forgive us? That is all I ask." + +"Dear uncle," said I, "for the life of me I cannot tell you; but that +in my place he would do the like, I am sure." + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +THE GREAT ADVENTURE. + + + "He that luvith a starre + To follow her, sinke or swym, + Hath never a feare how farre, + For the world it longith to hym: + For the road it longith to hym + And the fieldes that marcche beside-- + Lift up thi herte, my maister then, + So inery to-morn we ride." + _The Squyres Delyt_. + +So the _Gauntlet_ sailed for the island of Giraglia; and we two, +having watched her for a while as she stood out to make her +offing, trod out our camp-fire and turned our faces northward. +Marc'antonio's last action before starting was to unhobble the goats +and free the hogs from their wooden collars and headpieces. As he +finished operating he turned them loose one by one with a parting +smack on the buttocks, and they ran from us among the thickets, where +we heard their squeals change to grunts of delight. + +Brutes though they were, I could understand their delight, having +lived with them, and in even such thraldom as theirs. From my neck +also it seemed that a heavy collar-weight fell loose and slipped +itself as, having passed Nat's grave in the hollow, we left the +pine-forest at our feet and wound our way up among the granite +pinnacles, upward, still upward, into the clear air. Aloft there, +beyond the pass, the kingdom of Corsica broke on our view, laid out +in wide prospect; the distant glittering peaks of Monte d'Oro and +Monte Rotondo, the forests hitched on their shoulders like green +mantles, the creased valleys leading down their rivers to the shore; +a magic kingdom ringed with a sea of iris blue; a kingdom bequeathed +to me. A few months ago I had shouted with joy to possess it; +to-day, with more admiring eyes, I worshipped it for the lists of my +greater adventure; and surely Nat's spirit marched with me to the air +of his favourite song-- + + "If doughty deeds my lady please, + Right soon I'll mount my steed; + And strong his arm and fast his seat + That bears frae me the meed . . ." + +But, in fact, it was not until the third morning of our journey that +Marc'antonio (who, like every Corsican, abhorred walking) was able to +purchase us a steed apiece in the shape of two lean and shaggy hill +ponies. They belonged to a decayed gentleman--of the best blood in +the island, as he assured me--whom poverty had driven with his family +to inhabit a shepherd's hut above the Restorica on the flank of Monte +Rotondo where it looks towards Corte. We had slept the night under +his roof, and I remember that I was awakened next morning on my bed +of dry fern by the small chatter of the children, themselves awaking +one by one as the daylight broke. After breakfast our host led us +down to the pasture where the ponies were tethered; and when he and +Marc'antonio had haggled for twenty minutes, and I was in the act of +mounting, three of the children, aged from five downwards, came +toddling with bunches of a blue flower unknown to me, but much like a +gentian, which they had gathered on the edge of the tumbling +Restorica, some way up-stream. I took my bunch and pinned it on my +hat as I rode, hailing the omen-- + + "For you alone I ride the ring, + For you I wear the blue . . ." + +And--how went the chorus? + + "Then tell me how to woo thee, love; + O tell me how to woo thee; + For thy dear sake nae care I'll take--" + +The only care taken by Marc'antonio was to follow the bridle-tracks +winding among the foothills, and give a wide berth to the highroad +running north and south through Corte, especially to the bridges +crossing the Golo River, at each of which, he assured me, we should +find a guard posted of Paoli's militia. Luckily, he knew all the +fords, and in the hill-villages off the road the inhabitants showed +no suspicion of us, but took it for granted that we were the good +Paolists we passed for. Marc'antonio answered all their guileless +questions by giving out that we were two roving commissioners +travelling northward to delimit certain _pievi_ in the Nebbio, at the +foot of Cape Corso--an explanation which secured for us the best of +victuals as well as the highest respect. + +For awhile our course, bending roughly parallel with the Golo, led us +almost due east, and at length brought us out upon the flat shore of +the Tuscan Sea. Here the mountains, which had confined us to the +river valley, run northward with a sharp twist, and turning with them +we rode once more with our faces set toward our destination, keeping +the tall range on our left hand, and on our right the melancholy +sea-marshes where men cannot dwell for the malaria, and where for +hour after hour we rode in a silence unbroken save by the plash of +fish in the lagoon, or the cry of a heron solitary among the reeds. +This desolation lasted all the way to Biguglia, where we turned aside +again among the foothills to avoid the fortress of Bastia and the +traffic of the roads about it. Beyond Bastia we were safe in the +fastnesses of Cape Corso, across which, from this eastern shore to +the western, and to the camp at Olmeta, one only pass (so +Marc'antonio informed me) was practicable. I guessed we were nearing +it when he began to mutter to himself in the intervals of scanning +the crags high on our left; for this was to him, he confessed, an +almost unknown country. But the gap, when we came abreast of it, +could scarcely be mistaken. With a glance around, as though to take +our bearings, he abruptly headed off for it, and, having climbed the +first slope, reined up and sat for a moment, rigid in his saddle as a +statue, listening. + +The sun had sunk behind the range, and the herbage at our feet lay in +a bronze shadow; but light still bathed the sea behind us, and over +it a company of gulls kept flashing and wheeling and clamouring. +While I listened, following Marc'antonio's example, it seemed to me +that an echo from the summit directly above us took up the gull's cry +and repeated it, prolonging the note. Marc'antonio lifted and waved +a hand. + +"That will be Stephanu," he announced; and sure enough, before we had +pushed a couple of furlongs up the slope, we caught sight of Stephanu +descending a steep scree to meet us. + +He and Marc'antonio nodded salutation brusquely, as though they had +parted but a few hours ago. Marc'antonio, though relieved to see +him, wore a judicial frown. + +"What of the Princess, O Stephanu?" he demanded. + +"The Princess is well enough, for aught I know," answered Stephanu, +with a glance at me. + +"You can speak before the cavalier. He knows not everything until we +tell him; but he is one of us, and that I will engage." + +Stephanu shrugged his shoulders. "The Princess is well enough, for +aught I know," he repeated. + +"But what fool's talk is this? The Prince packed you off, meaning +mischief of some kind--what mischief you, being on the spot, should +have been able to guess." + +"It is God's truth, then, that I could not," Stephanu admitted +sullenly; "and what is more, neither could you in my place have made +a guess--no, not with all your wisdom." + +"But you travelled back with all speed? You have seen her?" + +"I travelled back with all speed." Stephanu repeated the words as a +child repeats a lesson, but whether ironically or not his face did +not tell. "Also I have seen her. And that is the devil of it." + +"Will you explain?" + +"She will have nothing to do with me; nor with you. I told her that +you would be upon the road and following close after me. Naturally I +said nothing of the cavalier here, for I knew nothing--" + +"Did she ask?" I inquired. + +Stephanu appeared to search his memory. "Now I come to think of it +she _did_ let fall a word. . . . But I for my part supposed you to be +dead; and, by the way, signore, you will accept my compliments on +your recovery." + +Marc'antonio's frown had deepened. "You mean to tell me, Stephanu," +he persisted, "that the Princess will have none of us?" + +"She bade me go my ways, and not come near her; which was cold +welcome for a man after a nine day's sweat. She added that if I or +Marc'antonio came spying upon her, or in any way interfering until +she sent for us, she would appeal to her brother against us." + +"Was the Prince present when she said this?" + +"He was not. He was away hunting, she said, in the direction of +Nonza; but in fact he must have gone reconnoitring, for he had left +the camp all but empty--no one at home but Andrea and Jacopo Galloni, +whose turn it was with the cooking--these and the Princess. But the +Prince has returned since then, for I heard his horn as I crossed the +pass." + +Stephanu, as we moved forward, kept alongside Marc'antonio's bridle, +or as nearly alongside as the narrow track allowed. I, bringing up +the rear, could not see the trouble in Marc'antonio's face, but I +heard it in his voice as he put question after question. +"The Princess was not a prisoner." "No; nor under any constraint +that Stephanu could detect. She had her gun; was in fact cleaning +and oiling its lock very leisurably when he had walked into camp. +He had found her there, seated on a rock, with Andrea and Jacopo +Galloni at a little distance below preparing the meal and taking no +notice of her. In fact, they could not see her, because the rock +overhung them." + +"She must have been sitting there for sentry," said Stephanu, "At any +rate, there was no other guard set on the camp. Well, if so, she +took it easily enough; but catching sight of me she stood up, put her +finger to her lip and pointed over the ledge. Thereupon I peered +over, but drew back my head before Andrea and Jacopo could spy me. +So I stood before her, expecting to be praised for the despatch I had +made on the road; but she praised me not. She motioned me to follow +her a little way out of earshot of the men below, to a patch of +tall-growing junipers within which, when first we pitched camp, she +had chosen to make her bower. Then she turned on me, and I saw that +in some way I had vexed her, for her eyes were wrathful; and, said +she, 'Why have you made this speed?' 'Because, O Princess, you have +need of me,' I answered. 'I have no need of you,' she said; +'but where is Marc'antonio? And the young Englishman--is he yet +alive?' 'O Princess,' I answered again, 'I did not go all the way to +the old camp, but only so far that the man Priske could not mistake +his road to it. Then, having put him in the way, I turned back and +have travelled night and day. Of the young Englishman I can tell you +nothing; but of Marc'antonio I can promise that he will be on the +road and not far behind me.'" + +"_Grazie_," muttered Marc'antonio; "but how could you be sure I had +received the message?" + +"Because the Princess had charged you to be at that post until +released. Therefore I knew you would not have quitted it, if alive; +and if you were dead--" Stephanu shrugged his shoulders. "I was in +a hurry, you understand; and in a hurry a man must take a few risks." + +"I am not saying you did ill," growled Marc'antonio, slightly +mollified. + +"The Princess said so, however. 'You are a fool, O Stephanu,' she +told me; 'and as for needing you or Marc'antonio, on the contrary, I +forbid you both to join the camp for a while. Go back. If you meet +Marc'antonio upon the road, give him this message for me.' +'But where, O Princess,' I asked, 'are we to await your pleasure?' +'Fare north, if you will, to Cape Corso,' she said, 'where that old +mad Englishman boasts that he will reach my mother in her prison at +Giraglia. He has gone thither alone, refusing help; and you may +perhaps be useful to him.'" + +Marc'antonio's growl grew deeper. "Was that all?" he asked. + +"That was all." + +"Then there is mischief here. The Prince, O Stephanu, did not +without purpose send you out of the way. Now, whatever he purposed +he must have meant to do quickly, before we two should return to the +camp--" + +"He had mischief in his heart, I will swear," assented Stephanu, +after a glance at me and another at Marc'antonio, who reassured him +with a nod. "And that the Princess plainly guessed, by her manner at +parting, when I set out with the man Priske. She was sorry enough +then to say good-bye to me," he added, half boastfully. + +"Nevertheless," answered Marc'antonio with some sarcasm, "she appears +to have neglected to confide to you what she feared." + +Stephanu spread out his hands. "The Prince, and the reverend +Father--who can tell what passes in their minds?" + +"Not you, at any rate! Very well, then--the Princess was +apprehensive. . . . Yet now, when the mischief (whatever it is) +should either be done or on the point of doing, she will have none of +our help. Clearly she knows more, yet will have none of our help. +That is altogether puzzling to me. . . . And she sends us +north. . . . Very well again; we will go north, but not far!" + +He glanced back at me over his shoulder. I read his meaning--that he +wished to plan his campaign privately with Stephanu--and, reining in +my pony, I fell back out of earshot. + +The pass towards which we were climbing stood perhaps three thousand +feet above the shore and the high road we had left; and the track, +when it reached the steeper slopes, ran in long zigzagging terraces +at the angles of which our ponies had sometimes to scramble up +stairways cut in the living rock. As the sun sank a light mist +gradually spread over the coast below us, the distant islands grew +dim, and we rode suspended, as it were, over a bottomless vale and a +sea without horizon. Slowly, out of these ghostly wastes, the moon +lifted herself in full circle, and her rays, crossing the cope of +heaven, lit up a tall grey crag on the ridge above us, and the stem +of a white-withered bush hanging from it--an isolated mass which +(my companions told me) marked the summit of the ascent. + +"The path leads round the base of it," said Stephanu. "We shall +reach it in another twenty minutes." + +"But will it not be guarded?" I asked. + +He hunched his shoulders. "The Prince is no general. A hundred +times our enemies might have destroyed us; but they prefer to leave +us alone. It is more humiliating." + +Marc'antonio rode forward deep in thought, his chin sunk upon his +breast. At the summit, under the shadow of the great rock, he reined +up, and slewing himself about in his saddle addressed Stephanu again. + +"As I remember, there is a track below which branches off to the +right, towards Nonza. It will take us wide of Olmeta and we can +strike down into the lowland somewhere between the two. The Princess +commands us to make for the north; so we shall be obeying her, and at +the same time we can bivouac close enough to take stock at sunrise +and, maybe, learn some news of the camp--yet not so close that our +horses can be heard, if by chance one should whinny." + +"As to that you may rest easy," Stephanu assured him. "It is known +that many of the farms below keep ponies in stable." + +From the pass we looked straight down upon another sea, starlit and +dimly discernible, and upon slopes and mountain spurs descending into +dense woodland over which, along the bluffs of the ridge, the lights +of a few lonely hill-farms twinkled. Stephanu found for us the track +of which Marc'antonio had spoken, and although on this side of the +range the shadows of the crags made an almost total darkness, our +ponies took us down at a fair pace. After thirty, or it may be +forty, minutes of this jolting and (to me) entirely haphazard +progress, Marc'antonio again reined up, on the edge of a +mountain-stream which roared across our path so loudly as to drown +his instructions. But at a sign from him Stephanu stepped back and +took my bridle, and within a couple of minutes I felt that my pony's +feet were treading good turf and, at a cry from my guide, ducked my +head to avoid the boughs as we threaded our way down through an +orchard of stalwart olives. + +The slope grew gentler as we descended, and eased almost to a level +on the verge of a high road running north and south under the glimmer +of the moon--or rather of the pale light heralding the moon's advent. +Marc'antonio looked about him and climbed heavily from his saddle. +He had been riding since dawn. + +I followed his example, though with difficulty--so stiff were my +limbs; picketed my pony; and, having unstrapped the blanket from my +saddle-bow, wrapped it about me and stretched myself on the thin turf +to munch the ration of crust which Marc'antonio doled out from his +bag; for he carried our provender. + +"Never grudge a hard day's work when 'tis over," said he, as he +passed me the wine-skin. "Yonder side of the mountain breeds malaria +even in winter, but on this side a man may sleep and rise fit for +adventure." + +He offered, very politely, to share his blanket with Stephanu, but +Stephanu declined. Those two might share one loyalty and together +take counsel for it, but between them as men there could be no liking +nor acceptance of favours. + +I lay listening for a while to the mutter of their voices as they +talked there together under the olives; but not for long. The few +words and exclamations that reached me carried no meaning. In truth +I was worn out. Very soon the chatter of the stream, deep among the +trees--the stream which we had just now avoided--confused itself with +their talk, and I slept. + + +Of a sudden I started and sat up erect. I had been dreaming, and in +my dream I had seen two figures pass along the road beyond the fringe +of the trees. They had passed warily, yet hurriedly, across the +patch of it now showing white between the olive trunks, under the +risen moon. Yet how could this have happened if I had dreamed it +merely? The moon, when I fell asleep, had not surmounted the ridge +behind me, and that patch of road, now showing so white and clear, +had been dim, if not quite invisible. None the less I could be sworn +that two figures had passed up the road . . . two men . . . + +Marc'antonio and Stephanu?--reconnoitring perhaps? I rubbed my eyes. +No: Marc'antonio and Stephanu lay a few paces away, stretched in +profound sleep under the moonlight drifting between the olive boughs; +and yonder, past the fringe of the orchard, shone the patch of white +high road. Two figures, half a minute since, had passed along it. +I could be sworn to it, even while reason insisted that I had been +dreaming. + +I flung off my rug, and, stepping softly to the verge of the +orchard's shadow, peered out upon the road. To my right--that is to +say, northward--it stretched away level and visibly deserted so far +as the bend, little more than a gunshot distant, where it curved +around the base of low cliff and disappeared. A few paces on this +side of the cliff glimmered the rail of a footbridge, and to this +spot my ears traced the sound of running water which had been singing +through my dreams--the same stream which had turned us aside to seek +our bivouac. Not even yet could I believe that my two wayfarers had +been phantoms merely. I had given them two minutes' start at least, +and by this time they might easily have passed the bend. +Threading my way swiftly between the boles of the olive trees, I +skirted the road to the edge of the stream and stood for a moment at +pause before stepping out upon the footbridge and into the moonlight. + +The water at my feet, scarcely seen through the dark ferns, ran +swiftly and without noise as through a trough channelled in the +living rock; but it brought its impetus from a cascade that hummed +aloft somewhere in the darkness with a low continuous thunder as of a +mill with a turning wheel. I lifted my head to the sound, and in +that instant my ears caught a slight creak from the footbridge on my +left. I faced about, and stood rigid, at gaze. A woman was stepping +across the bridge, there in the moonlight; a slight figure, cloaked +and hooded and hurrying fast; a woman, with a gun slung behind her +and the barrel of it glimmering. It was the Princess. + +I let her pass, and as she turned the bend of the road I stole out to +the footbridge and across it in pursuit. I knew now that the two +wayfarers had not been phantoms of my dreaming; that she was +following, tracking them, and that I must track and follow her. +Beyond the bend the road twisted over a low-lying spur of the +mountain between outcrops of reddish-coloured rock, and then ran +straight for almost three hundred yards, with olive orchards on +either hand; so that presently I could follow and hold her in sight, +myself keeping well within the trees' line of shadow. + +Twice she turned to look behind her, but rapidly and as if in no +great apprehension of pursuit; or perhaps her own quest had made her +reckless. At the end of this straight and almost level stretch the +road rose steeply to wind over another foot-hill, and here she broke +into a run. I pressed after her up the ascent, and from the knap of +it, with a shock, found myself looking down at close hand upon a +small dim bay of the sea with a white edge of foam curving away into +a loom of shore above which a solitary light twinkled. The road, +following the curve of the shore a few paces above the waves, lay +bare in the moonlight, without cover to right or left, until, a mile +away perhaps, it melted into the grey of night. Along that distance +my eyes sought and sought in vain for the figure that had been +running scarcely two hundred yards ahead of me. The Princess had +disappeared. + +For a short while I stood at fault; but searching the bushes on my +left, I was aware of a parting between them, overgrown indeed, yet +plainly indicating a track; along which I had pushed but two-score of +paces--perhaps less--before a light glimmered between the greenery +and I stepped into an open clearing in full view of a cottage, the +light of which fell obliquely across the turf through a warped or +cracked window-shutter. + +"Camillo!"--it was the Princess's voice, half imperious, half +pleading; and from beyond the angle of the cottage wall came the +noise of a latch shaken. "Open to me, Camillo, or by the Mother of +Christ I will blow the door in! I have a gun, Camillo, and I swear +to you!" + +The challenge was not answered. Crouching almost on all fours I +sprang across the ray of light and gained the wall's shadow. There, +as I drew breath, I heard the latch shaken again, more impatiently. + +"Camillo!" + +The bolt was drawn. Peering around the angle of the wall, I saw the +light fall full on her face as the door opened and she stepped into +the cottage. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +ORDEAL AND CHOOSING. + + + "Thou coward! Yet + Art living? canst not, wilt not find the road + To the great palace of magnificent death?-- + Though thousand ways lead to his thousand doors + Which day and night are still unbarr'd for all." + NAT. LEE.--_Oedipus_. + +"No man"--I am quoting my father--"can be great, or even wise, or +even, properly speaking, a man at all, until he has burnt his boats"; +but I imagine that those who achieve wisdom and greatness burn their +boats deliberately and not--as did I, next moment--upon a sudden wild +impulse. + +My excuse is, the door was already closing behind the Princess. +I knew she had tracked the Prince Camillo and his confessor, and that +these two were within the cottage. I knew nothing of their business, +save that it must be shameful, since she who had detected and would +prevent it chose to hide her knowledge even from Marc'antonio and +Stephanu. Then much rather (you may urge) would she choose to hide +it from me. The objection is a sound one, had I paused to consider +it; but (fortunately or unfortunately, as you may determine) I did +not. She had stepped into peril. The door was closing behind her: +in another couple of seconds it would be bolted again. I sprang for +it, hurled myself in through the entry, and there, pulling myself +erect, stared about me. + +Four faces returned my stare; four faces, and all dismayed as though +a live bombshell had dropped through the doorway. To the priest, +whom my impact had flung aside against the wall, I paid no attention. +My eyes fastened themselves on the table at which, with a lantern and +some scattered papers between them, sat two men--the Prince, and a +grey-haired officer in the blue-and-white Genoese uniform. +The Prince, who had pushed back his chair and confronted his sister +with hands stretched out to cover or to gather up the papers on the +table, slewed round upon me a face that, as it turned, slowly +stiffened with terror. The Genoese officer rose with one hand +resting on the table, while with the other he fumbled at a silver +chain hanging across his breast, and as he shot a glance at the +Prince I could almost see his lips forming the word "treachery." +The Princess's consternation was of all the most absolute. +"_The Crown! Where is the Crown?_"--as I broke in, her voice, half +imperious, half supplicatory, had panted out these words, while with +outstretched hand and forefinger she pointed at the table. Her hand +still pointed there, rigid as the rest of her body, as with dilated +eyes she stared into mine. + +"Yes, gentlemen," said I, in the easiest tone I could manage, "the +Princess asks you a question, which allow me to repeat. Where is +the Crown?" + +"In the devil's name--" gasped the Prince. + +The Genoese interrupted him. "Shut and bolt the door!" he commanded +the priest, sharply. + +"Master Domenico," said I, "if you move so much as a step, I will +shoot you through the body." + +The Genoese tugged at the chain on his breast and drew forth a +whistle. "Signore," he said quietly and with another side glance at +the Prince, "I do not know your name, but mine is Andrea Fornari, and +I command the Genoese garrison at Nonza. Having some inherited +knowledge of the Corsicans, and some fifty years' experience of my +own, I do not walk into traps. A dozen men of mine stand within call +here, at the back entrance, and my whistle will call me up another +fifty. Bearing this in mind, you will state your business as +peaceably as possible." + +"Nevertheless," said I, "since I have taken a fancy--call it a whim, +if you will--that the door remains at least unbolted. . . ." + +He shrugged his shoulders. "It will help you nothing." + +"I am an Englishman," said I. + +"Indeed? Well, I have heard before now that it will explain anything +and everything; but as yet my poor understanding scarcely stretches +it to cover your presence here." + +"Faith, sir," I answered, "to put the matter briefly, I am here +because the Princess is here, whom I have followed--though without +her knowledge--because I guessed her to be walking into peril." + +"Excuse me. Without her knowledge, you say?" The Commandant turned +to the Princess, who bowed her head but continued to gaze at me from +under her lowered brows. "Absolutely, sir." + +"And without knowledge of her errand? Again excuse me, but does it +not occur to you that you may be intruding at this moment upon a +family affair?" + +Here the Prince broke in with a scornful laugh. For a minute or so +his brow had been clearing, but, though he sneered, he could not as +yet meet his sister's eye. I noted this as his laugh drew my gaze +upon him, and it seemed that my contempt gave me a sudden clear +insight; for I found myself answering the Commandant very +deliberately-- + +"The Princess, sir, until a moment ago, perhaps knew not whether I +was alive or dead, and certainly knew not that I was within a hundred +miles of this place. Had she known it, she would as certainly not +have confided her errand to me, mixed up as it is with her brother's +shame. She would, I dare rather wager, have taken great pains to +hide it from me. And yet I will not pretend that I am quite ignorant +of it, as neither will I allow--family affair though it be--that I +have no interest in it, seeing that it concerns the crown of +Corsica." + +The Commandant glanced at the Prince, then at the priest, who stood +passive, listening, with his back to the wall, his loose-lidded eyes +studying me from the lantern's penumbra. + +"What possible interest--" begun the Commandant. + +"By the crown of Corsica," I interrupted, "I mean the material crown +of the late King Theodore, at this moment concealed (if I mistake +not) somewhere in this cottage. In it I may claim a certain +interest, seeing that I brought it from England to this island, and +that the Prince Camillo here--whose father gave it to me--is trading +it to you by fraud. Yes, _messere_, he may claim that it belongs to +him by right; but he obtained it from me by fraud, as neither he nor +his sister can deny. That perhaps might pass: but when he--he a son +of Corsica--goes on to sell it to Genoa, I reassert my claim." + +Again the Commandant shrugged his shoulders. It consoled me to note +that his glance at the Prince was by no means an admiring one. + +"I am a soldier," he said curtly. "I do not deal in sentiment; nor +is it my business, when a bargain comes to me--a bargain in which I +can serve my country--to inquire into how's and why's." + +"I grant that, sir," said I. "It is your business, now that the +crown--with what small profit may go with it--lies under your hand, +to grasp it for Genoa. But as a soldier and a brave man, you +understand that now you must grasp it by force. God knows in what +hope, if in any, the Princess here tracked out your plot; but at +least she can compel you--I can compel you--we two, weak as we are, +can compel you--to use force. The honour of a race--and that a royal +one--shall at least not pass to you on the mere signature of that +coward sitting there." I swung round upon the Prince. "You may give +up trying to hide those papers, sir, since every one in this room +knows what compact you were in the act of signing." + +The Princess stepped forward. "All this," she said to me in a low, +hard voice, "I could have done without help of you." Her tone +promised that she would never forgive, but she looked only at her +brother. "Camillo," she said, standing before him, "this Englishman +has said only what I came to say. It is not my fault that he is here +and has guessed. When I was sure, I hid my knowledge even from +Marc'antonio and Stephanu; and he--he shall die for having +overheard. The Genoese will see to that, and the Commandant, as he +is a gentleman, will write in his report that he took the crown from +us, having caught us at unawares. . . . I cannot shoot you, my +brother. Even you would not ask this of me--of me that have served +you, and that serve you now in the end. . . . See, I make no +reproaches. . . . We were badly brought up, we two, and when you were +young and helpless, vile men took hold on you and taught you to be +capable of--of this thing. But we are Colonne, we two, and can end +as Colonne." She dipped a hand within the bosom of her bodice and +drew out a phial. "Dear, I will drink after you. It will not be +hard; no, believe me, it will not be so very hard--a moment, a pang +perhaps, and everything will yet be saved. O brother, what is a +pang, a moment, that you can weigh it against a lifetime of +dishonour!" + +The Prince sprang up cursing. + +"Dishonour? And who are you that talk to me of dishonour?--you that +come straying here out of the night with your _cicisbeo_ at your +heels? You, with the dew on you and your dress bedraggled, arrive +straight from companioning in the woods and prate to me of shame--of +the blood of the Colonne!" He smote a hand on the table and spat +forth a string of vile names upon her, mixed with curses; abominable +words before which she drew back cowering, yet less (I think) from +the lash of them than from shock and horror of his incredible +baseness. Passion twisted his mouth; his tongue stammered with the +gush of his abuse; but he was lying, and knew that he was lying, for +his eyes would meet neither hers nor mine. Only after drawing breath +did he for a moment look straight at her, and then it was to demand; +"And who, pray, has driven me to this? What has made Corsica so +bitter to me that in weariness I am here to resign it? You, my +sister--you, and what is known of you. . . . Why can I do nothing with +the patriots? Why were there no recruits? Why, when I negotiated, +did the Paolists listen as to a child and smile politely and show me +their doors? Again, because of you, O my sister!--because there is +not a household in Corsica but has heard whisperings of you, and of +Brussels, and of the house in Brussels where you were sought and +found. Blood of the Colonne!--and now the blood of the Colonne takes +an English lover to warm it! Blood of--" + +With one hand I caught him by the throat, with the other by the +girdle, and flung him clean across the table into the corner, +oversetting the lantern, but not extinguishing the light, for the +Commandant caught it up deftly. As he set it back on the table I +heard him grunt, and--it seemed to me--with approval. + +"I will allow no shooting, sir," said he, quickly, yet with easy +authority, noting my hand go down to my gun-stock. + +"You misunderstand me," I answered, and indeed I was but shifting its +balance on my bandolier, which had slipped awry in the struggle. +"There are reasons why I cannot kill this man. But you will give me +leave to answer just two of his slanders upon this lady. It is false +that I came here to-night by her invitation or in her company, as it +is God's truth that for many months until we met in this room and in +your presence she has not set eyes on me. She could not have known +even that I lived since the hour when her brother there--yes, +Princess, your brother there--left me broken and maimed at the far +end of the island. For the rest, he utters slanders to which I have +no clue save that I know them to be slanders. But at a venture, if +you would know how they grew and who nurtured them, I think the +priest yonder can tell you." + +The Commandant waved a hand politely. "You have spoken well, sir. +Believe me, on this point no more is necessary. I have no doubt-- +there can be no doubt--that the Prince lies under a misapprehension. +Nevertheless, there are circumstances which lay me under obligation +to him." He paused. "And you will admit that you have placed the +lady--thoughtlessly no doubt--in a false position." + +"Well and good, sir," I replied. "If, in your opinion as a man of +honour, the error demands a victim, by all means call in your +soldiers and settle me. I stipulate only that you escort the lady +back to her people with honour, under a flag of truce; and I protest +only, as she has protested, that this traitor has no warrant to sell +you his country's rights." + +The Prince had picked himself up, and stood sulkily, still in his +corner. I suppose that he was going to answer this denunciation, +when the priest's voice broke in, smooth and unctuous. + +"Pardon me, _messeri_, but there occurs to me a more excellent way. +This Englishman has brought dishonour on one of the Colonne: +therefore it is most necessary that he should die. But before dying +let him make the only reparation--and marry her." + +I turned on him, staring: and in the flicker of his eyes as he lifted +them for one instant towards his master, I read the whole devilish +cunning of the plot. They might securely let her go, as an +Englishman's widow. The fact had merely to be proclaimed and the +islanders would have none of her. I am glad to remember that--my +brain keeping clear, albeit my pulse, already fast enough, leapt +hotly and quickened its speed--I had presence of mind to admire the +suggestion coolly, impersonally, and quite as though it affected me +no jot. + +The Commandant bent his brows. Behind them--as it seemed to me--I +could read his thought working. + +"If you, sir, have no objection," he said slowly, looking up and +addressing me with grave politeness, "I see much to be said for the +reverend father's proposal." + +He turned to the Prince, who--cur that he was--directed his spiteful +glee upon his sister. + +"It appears, O Camilla, that in our race to save each other's honour +I am to be winner. Nay, you may wear your approaching widowhood with +dignity, and boast in time to come that your husband once bore the +crown of Corsica." + +"Prince Camillo," said the Commandant, quietly, "I am here to-night +in the strict service of my Republic, to do my best for her: but I +warn you that if you a second time address your sister in that tone I +shall reserve the right to remember it later as a plain Genoese +gentleman. Sir," he faced about and addressed me again, "am I to +understand that you accept?" + +I looked at the Princess. She met my look proudly, with eyes set in +a face pale as death. I could not for the life of me read whether +they forbade me or implored. They seemed to forbid, protest . . . +and yet (the bliss of it!) for one half instant they had also seemed +to implore. Thank God at least they did not scorn! + +"Princess," I said, "these men propose to do me an infinite honour-- +an honour far above my deserving--and to kill me while my heart yet +beats with the pride of it. Yet say to me now if I must renounce it, +and I will die bearing you no grudge. Take thought, not of me, but +of yourself only, and sign to me if I must renounce." + +Still she eyed me, pale and unblinking. Her bosom panted, and for a +moment she half-raised her hand; but dropped it again. + +"I think, sir," said I, facing around on the Commandant, I think by +this time the day must be breaking. Will you kindly open the +shutters? Also you would oblige me further--set it down to an +Englishman's whim--by forming up your men outside; and we will have a +soldier's wedding." + +"Willingly, cavalier." The Commandant stepped to the shutter and +unbarred it, letting in daylight with the cool morning breeze--a +greenish-grey daylight, falling across the glade without as softly as +ever through cathedral aisles, and a breeze that was wine to the +taste as it breathed through the exhausted air of the cottage--a +sacramental dawn, and somewhere deep in the arcades of the tree-boles +a solitary bird singing! + +The Commandant leaned forth and blew his whistle. The bird's song +ceased, and was followed by the tramp of men. My brain worked so +clearly, I could almost count their footsteps. I saw them, across +the Commandant's shoulder, as they filed past the corner of the +window and, having formed into platoon, grounded arms, the butts of +their muskets thudding softly on the turf--a score of men in +blue-and-white uniforms, spick and span in the clear morning light. + +I counted them and drew a long breath. "Master priest," said I, and +held out my hand to the Princess, "in your Church, I believe, +matrimony is a sacrament. If you are ready, I am ready." + +His loose lip twitched as he stepped forward. . . . When he paused in +his muttering I lifted the Princess's cold hand and drew a seal from +my pocket--a heavy seal with a ring attached, which I fitted on her +finger; and so I held her hand, letting drop on it by degrees the +weight of the heavy seal. + +From the first she had offered no resistance, made no protest. +I pressed the seal into the palm of her hand, not telling her that it +was her own father's great seal of Corsica. But I folded her fingers +back on it, reverently touched the one encircled by the ring, and +said I-- + +"It is the best I can give;" and a little later, "It is all I brought +in my pockets but this handkerchief. Take that, too; lead me out; +and bandage my eyes, my wife." + +She took my arm obediently and we stepped out by the doorway, +bridegroom and bride, in face of the soldiery. A sergeant saluted +and came forward for the Commandant's orders. + +"A moment, sir," said I, and, laying two fingers on the Commandant's +arm, I nodded towards the bole of a stout pine-tree across the +clearing. "Will that distance suit you?" + +He nodded in reply and as I swung on my heel touched my arm in his +turn. + +"You will do me the honour, sir, to shake hands?" + +"Most willingly, sir." I shook hands with him, casting, as I did so, +a glance over my shoulder at the Prince and Father Domenico, who hung +back in the doorway--two men afraid. "Come," said I to the Princess, +and, as she seemed to hesitate, "Come, my wife," I commanded, and +walked to the pine-tree, she following. I held out the handkerchief. +She took it, still obediently, and as she took it I clasped her hand +and lifted it to my lips. + +"Nay," said I, challenging, "what was it you told your brother? +A moment? A pang? What are they to weigh against a lifetime of +dishonour?" + +I saw her blench: yet even while she bandaged me at my bidding, I did +not arrive at understanding the folly--the cruel folly of that +speech. Nay, even when, having bandaged me, she stepped away and +left me, I considered not nor surmised what second meaning might be +read in it. + +Shall I confess the truth? I was too consciously playing a part and +making a handsome exit. After all, had I not some little excuse? + . . . Here was I, young, lusty, healthful, with a man's career +before me, and across it, trenched at my feet, the grave. A saying +of Billy Priske's comes into my mind--a word spoken, years after, +upon a poor fisherman of Constantine parish whose widow, as by will +directed, spent half his savings on a tombstone of carved granite. +"A man," said Billy, "must cut a dash once in his lifetime, though +the chance don't come till he's dead." . . . Looking back across +these years I can smile at the boy I was and forgive his poor brave +flourish. But his speech was thoughtless: the woman (ah! but he +knows her better now) was withdrawn with its wound in her heart: and +between them Death was stepping forward to make the misunderstanding +final. + +I remember setting my shoulder-blades firmly against the bole of the +tree. A kind of indignation sustained me; a scorn to be cut off +thus, a scorn especially for the two cowards by the doorway. +They were talking with the Commandant. Their voices sounded across +the interval between me and the firing-party. Why were they wasting +time? . . . + +I could not distinguish their words, save that twice I heard the +Prince curse viciously. The hound (I told myself, shutting my teeth) +might have restrained his tongue for a few moments. + +The voices ceased. In a long pause I heard the insects humming in +the grasses at my feet. Would the moment never come? + +It came at last. A flash of light winked above the edge of my +bandage, and close upon it broke the roar and rattle of the +volley . . . Death? I put out my hands and groped for it. +Where was Death? + +Nay, perhaps this _was_ Death? If so, what fools were men to fear +it! The hum of the insects had given place to silence--absolute +silence. If bullet had touched me, I had felt no pang at all. +I was standing, yes, surely I was standing . . . Slowly it broke on +me that I was unhurt, that they had fired wide, prolonging their +sport with me; and I tore away the bandage, crying out upon them to +finish their cruelty. + +At a little distance sat the Princess watching me, her gun across her +knees. Beyond her and beyond the cottage, by the edge of the wood +the firing-party had fallen into rank and were marching off among the +pine-stems, the Prince and Father Domenico with them. I stared +stupidly after the disappearing uniforms, and put out a hand as if to +brush away the smoke which yet floated across the clearing. +The Commandant, turning to follow his men, at the same moment lifted +his hand in salute. So he, too, passed out of sight. + +I turned to the Princess. She arose slowly and came to me. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +THE WOOING OF PRINCESS CAMILLA. + + + "Take heed of loving me, + At least remember I forbade it thee; . . . + If thou love me, take heed of loving me." + DONNE, _The Prohibition_. + +"You have conquered." + +She had halted, a pace or two from me, with downcast eyes. She said +it very slowly, and I stared at her and answered with an unmeaning +laugh. + +"Forgive me, Princess. I--I fancy my poor wits have been shaken and +need a little time to recover. At any rate, I do not understand +you." + +"You have conquered," she repeated in a low voice that dragged upon +the words. Then, after a pause,--"You remember, once, promising me +that at the last I should come and place my neck under your +foot . . ." She glanced up at me and dropped her eyes again. "Yes, +I see that you remember. _Eccu_--I am here." + +"I remember, Princess: but even yet I do not understand. Why, and +for what, should you beseech me?" + +"In the first place for death. I am your wife . . ." She broke off +with a shiver. "There is something in the name, _messere_--is there +not?--that should move you to kindness, as a sportsman takes his game +not unkindly to break its neck. That is all I ask of you--" + +"Princess!" + +She lifted a hand. "--except that you will let me say what I have to +say. You shall think hard thoughts of me, and I am going to make +them harder; but for your own sake you shall put away vile ones-if +you can." + +I stared at her stupidly dizzied a little with the words _I am your +wife_, humming in my brain. Or say that I am naturally not +quick-witted, and I will plead that for once my dullness did me no +discredit. + +At all events it saved me for the moment: for while I stared at her, +utterly at a loss, a crackle of twigs warned us, and we turned +together as, by the pathway leading from the high-road, the bushes +parted and the face of Marc'antonio peered through upon the clearing. + +"Salutation, O Princess!" said he gravely, and stepped out of cover +attended by Stephanu, who likewise saluted. + +The Princess drew herself up imperiously. "I thought, O Stephanu, +that I had made plain my orders, that you two were neither to follow +nor to watch me?" + +"Nevertheless," Marc'antonio made answer, "when one misses a comrade +and hears, at a little distance, the firing of a volley . . . not to +mention that some one has been burning gunpowder hereabouts," he +wound up, sniffing the air with an expression that absurdly reminded +me of our Vicar, at home, tasting wine. + +"I warn you, O Marc'antonio," said the Princess, "to be wise and ask +no more questions." + +"I have asked none, O Princess," he answered again, still very +gravely, and after a glance at me turned to Stephanu. "But it runs +in my head, comrade, that the time has come to consider other things +than wisdom." + +"For example?" I challenged him sharply. + +"For example, cavalier, that I cannot reconcile this smell with any +Corsican gunpowder." + +"And you are right," said I. "Nay, Princess, you have sworn not long +since to obey me, and I choose that they shall know. That salvo, +sirs, was fired, five minutes ago, by the Genoese." + +"A 'salvo' did you say, cavalier?" + +"For our wedding, Marc'antonio." I took the Princess's hand--which +neither yielded nor resisted--and lifting it a little way, released +it to fall again limply. So for a while there was silence between us +four. + +"Marc'antonio," said I, "and you, Stephanu--it is I now who speak for +the Princess and decide for her; and I decide that you, who have +served her faithfully, deserve to be told all the truth. It is +truth, then, that we are married. The priest who married us was +Fra Domenico, and with assent of his master the Prince Camillo. +I can give you, moreover, the name of the chief witness: he is a +certain Signor or General Andrea Fornari, and commands the Genoese +garrison in Nonza." + +"Princess!" Marc'antonio implored her. + +"It is true," said she. "This gentleman has done me much honour, +having heard what my brother chose to say." + +"But I do not comprehend!" The honest fellow cast a wild look around +the clearing. "Ah, yes-the volley! They have taken the Prince, and +shot him . . . But his body--they would not take his body--and you +standing here and allowing it--" + +"My friends," I interrupted, "they have certainly taken his body, and +his soul too, for that matter; and I doubt if you can overtake either +on this side of Nonza. But with him you will find the crown of +Corsica, and the priest who helped him to sell it. I tell you this, +who are clansmen of the Colonne. Your mistress, who discovered the +plot and was here to hinder it, will confirm me." + +Their eyes questioned her; not for long. In the droop of her bowed +head was confirmation. + +"And therefore," I went on, "you two can have no better business than +to help me convey the Princess northward and bring her to her mother, +whom in this futile following after a wretched boy you have all so +strangely forgotten. By God!" said I, "there is but one man in +Corsica who has hunted, this while, on a true scent and held to it; +and he is an Englishman, solitary and faithful at this moment upon +Cape Corso!" + +"Your pardon, cavalier," answered Marc'antonio after a slow pause. +"What you say is just, in part, and I am not denying it. But so we +saw not our duty, since the Queen Emilia bade us follow her son. +With him we have hunted (as you tell us) too long and upon a false +scent. Be it so: but, since this has befallen, we must follow on the +chase a little farther. For you, you have now the right to protect +our well-beloved; not only to the end of Cape Corso, but to the end +of the world. But for us, who are two men used to obey, the Princess +your wife must suffer us to disobey her now for the first time. +The road to the Cape, avoiding Nonza, is rough and steep and must be +travelled afoot; yet I think you twain can accomplish it. At the +Cape, if God will, we will meet you and stand again at your service. +But we travel by another road--the road which does not avoid Nonza." + +He glanced at Stephanu, who nodded. + +"Farewell then, O Princess; and if this be the end of our service, +forgive what in the past has been done amiss. Farewell, O cavalier, +and be happy to protect her in perils wherein we were powerless." + +The Princess stretched out both hands. + +"Nay, mistress," said Marc'antonio, with another glance at Stephanu; +"but first cross them, that there be no telling the right from the +left: for we are two jealous men." + +She crossed them obediently, and the two took each a hand and kissed +it. + +Now all this while I could see that she was struggling for speech, +and as they released her hands she found it. + +"But wherefore must you go by Nonza, O Marc'antonio? And how many +will you take with you?" + +Marc'antonio put the first question aside. "We go alone, Princess. +You may call it a reconnaissance, on which the fewer taken the +better." + +"You will not kill him! Nay, then, O Marc'antonio, at least--at +least you will not hurt him!" + +"We hope, Princess, that there will be no need," he answered +seriously, and, saluting once more, turned on his heel. Stephanu +also saluted and turned, and the pair, falling into step, went from +us across the clearing. + +I watched them till their forms disappeared in the undergrowth, and +turned to my bride. + +"And now, Princess, I believe you have something to say to me. +Shall it be here? I will not suggest the cottage, which is overfull +maybe of unpleasant reminders; but here is a tree-trunk, if you will +be seated." + +"That shall be as my lord chooses." + +I laughed. "Your lord chooses, then, that you take a seat. It seems +(I take your word for it) that there must be hard thoughts between +us. Well, a straight quarrel is soonest ended, they say: let us have +them out and get them over." + +"Ah, you hurt! Is it necessary that you hurt so?" Her eyes no less +than her voice sobered me at once, shuddering together as though my +laugh had driven home a sword and it grated on the bone. +I remembered that she always winced at laughter, but this evident +anguish puzzled me. + +"God knows," said I, "how I am hurting you. But pardon me. +Speak what you have to speak; and I will be patient while I learn." + +"'A lifetime of dishonour,' you said, and yet you laugh . . . +A lifetime of dishonour, and you were blithe to be shot and escape +it; yet now you laugh. Ah, I cannot understand!" + +"Princess!" I protested, although not even now did I grasp what +meaning she had misread into my words. + +"But you said rightly. It is a lifetime of dishonour you have +suffered them to put on you: and I--I have taken more than life from +you, cavalier--yet I cannot grieve for you while you laugh. +O sir, do not take from me my last help, which is to honour you!" + +"Listen to me, Princess," said I, stepping close and standing over +her. "What do you suppose that I meant by using those words? +They were your own words, remember." + +"That is better. It will help us both if we are frank--only do not +treat me as a child. You heard what my brother said. Yes, and +doubtless you have heard other things to my shame? Answer me." + +"If your brother chose to utter slanders--" + +"Yes, yes; it was easy to catch him by the throat. That is how one +man treats another who calls a woman vile in her presence. It does +not mean that he disbelieves, and therefore it is worthless; but a +gallant man will act so, almost without a second thought, and because +it is _dans les formes_." She paused. "I learned that phrase in +Brussels, cavalier." + +I made no answer. + +"In Brussels, cavalier," she repeated, "where it was often in the +mouths of very vile persons. You have heard, perhaps, that we--that +my brother and I--lived our childhood in Brussels?" + +I bent my head, without answering; but still she persisted. + +"I was brought to Corsica from Brussels, cavalier. Marc'antonio and +Stephanu fetched us thence, being guided by that priest who is now my +brother's confessor." + +"I have been told so, Princess. Marc'antonio told me." + +"Did he also tell you where he found me?" + +"No, Princess." + +"Did he tell you that, being fetched hither, I was offered by my +brother in marriage to a young Count Odo of the Rocca Serra, and that +the poor boy slew himself with his own gun?" + +I stuffed my hands deep in my pockets, and said I, standing over +her-- + +"All this has been told me, Princess, though not the precise reason +for it: and since you desire me to be frank I will tell you that I +have given some thought to that dead lad--that rival of mine (if you +will permit the word) whom I never knew. The mystery of his death is +a mystery to me still; but in all my blind guesses this somehow +remained clear to me, that he had loved you, Princess; and this +(again I ask your leave to say it), because I could understand it so +well, forbade me to think unkindly of him." + +"He loved his honour better, sir." Her face had flushed darkly. + +"I am sorry, then, if I must suffer by comparison." + +"No, no," she protested. "Oh, why will you twist my words and force +me to seem ungrateful? He died rather than have me to wife: you took +me on the terms that within a few minutes you must die. For both of +you the remedy was at hand, only _you_ chose to save me before taking +it. On my knees, sir, I could thank you for that. The crueller were +they that, when you stood up claiming your right to die, they broke +the bargain and cheated you." + +"Princess," I said, after musing a moment, "if my surviving seemed to +you so pitiable, there was another way." I pointed to her musket. + +"Yes, cavalier, and I will confess to you that when, having fired +wide, they turned to go and the cheat was evident, twice before you +pulled the bandage away I had lifted my gun. But I could not fire +it, cavalier. To make me your executioner! Me, your wife--and while +you thought so vilely of me!" + +"Faith," said I grimly, "it was asking too much, even for a Genoese! +Yet again I think you overrate their little trick, since, after +all"--I touched my own gunstock--"there remains a third way--the way +chosen by young Odo of Rocca Serra." + +She put out a hand. "Sir, that way you need not take--if you will be +patient and hear me!" + +"Lady," said I, "you may hastily despise me; but I am neither going +to take that way, nor to be patient, nor to hear you. But I am, as +you invited me, going to be very frank and confess to you, risking +your contempt, that I am extremely thankful the Genoese did not shoot +me, a while ago. Indeed, I do not remember in all my life to have +felt so glad, as I feel just now, to be alive. Give me your gun, if +you please." + +"I do not understand." + +"No, you do not understand. . . . Your gun, please . . . nay, you can +lay it on the turf between us. The phial, too, that you offered your +brother. . . . Thank you. And now, my wife, let us talk of your +country and mine; two islands which appear to differ more than I had +guessed. In Corsica it would seem that, let a vile thing be spoken +against a woman, it suffices. Belief in it does not count: it +suffices that a shadow has touched her, and rather than share that +shadow, men will kill themselves--so tender a plant is their honour. +Now, in England, O Princess, men are perhaps even more irrational. +They, no more than your Corsicans, listen to the evidence and ask +themselves, 'Is this good evidence or bad? Do I believe it or +disbelieve?' They begin father back, Princess--Shall I tell you how? +They look in the face of their beloved, and they say, 'Slander this, +not as you wish for belief, but only as you dare; for here my faith +is fixed beforehand.' + +"And therefore, O Princess," I went on, after a pause in which we +eyed one another slowly, "therefore, I disbelieve any slander +concerning you; not merely because your brother's confessor was its +author--though that, to any rational man, should be enough--but +because I have looked in your face. Therefore also I, your husband, +forbid you to speak what would dishonour us both." + +"But, cavalier--if--if it were true?" + +"True?"--I let out a harsh laugh. "Take up that phial. Hold it in +your hand, so. Now look me in the face and drink--if you dare! +Look me in the face, read how I trust you, and so, if you can say the +lie to me say it--and drink!" + +She lifted the phial steadily, almost to her lips, keeping her eyes +on mine--but of a sudden faltered and let it fall upon the turf: +where I, whose heart had all but stood still, crushed my heel upon it +savagely. + +"I cannot. You have conquered," she gasped. + +"Conquered?" I swore a bitter oath. "O Princess, think you _this_ +is the way I promised to conquer you? Take up your gun again and +follow me. . . . Eh? You do not ask where I lead?" + +"It is enough that I follow you, my husband," she said humbly. + +"It is something, indeed; but before God it is not enough, nor half +enough. I see now that 'enough' may never come: almost I doubt if I, +who swore to you it should come, and since have desired it madly, +desire it any longer; and until it comes you are still the winner. +'Enough' shall be said, Princess--for my price rises--not when (as I +promised) you come to me without choosing to be loved or hated, only +beseeching your master, but when you shall come to me having made +your choice. . . . But so far, so good," said I, cheerfully, changing +my tone. "You do not ask where I lead. I am leading you, if I can +to Cape Corso, to my father; and by his help, if it shall serve, to +your mother." + +"I thank you, cavalier," she said, still in her restrained voice. +"You are a good man; and for that reason I am sorry you will not +hearken to me." + +"The mountains are before us," said I, shouldering my gun. +"Listen, Princess: let us be good comrades, us two. Let us forget +what lies at the end of the journey--the convent for you, may be, and +for me at least the parting. My life has been spared to-day, and I +tell you frankly that I am glad of the respite. For you, the +mountains hold no slanders, and shall hold no evil. Put your hand in +mine on the compact, and we will both step it bravely. Forget that +you were ever a Princess or I a promised king of this Corsica! +O beloved, travel this land, which can never be yours or mine, and +let it be ours only for a while as we journey." + +I turned and led the way up the path between the bushes: and she +followed my stride almost at a run. On the bare mountain-spur above +the high-road she overtook and fell into pace with me: and so, +skirting Nonza, we breasted the long slope of the range. + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + +MY WEDDING DAY. + + + Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge + in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us + see whether the vine hath budded and the tender grape appear.-- + _The Song of Songs_. + +Ahead of us, high on our right, rose the mountain ridges, scarp upon +scarp, to the snowy peak of Monte Stella; low on our left lay Nonza, +and beyond it a sea blue as a sapphire, scarcely rippled, void save +for one white sail far away on the south-west horizon--not the +_Gauntlet_; for, distant though she was, I could make out the shape +of her canvas, and it was square cut. + +Nonza itself lay in the shadow of the shore with the early light +shimmering upon its citadel and upper works--a fortress to all +appearance asleep: but the Genoese pickets would be awake and +guarding the northward road for at least a league beyond, and to +avoid them we must cross the high mountain spurs, using where we +could their patches of forest and our best speed where these left the +ridges bare. + +The way was hard--harder by far than I had deemed possible--and kept +us too busy for talk. Our silence was not otherwise constrained at +all. Passion fell away from us as we climbed; fell away with its +strife, its confusion, its distempered memories of the night now +past; and was left with the vapours of the coast where the malaria +brooded. Through the upper, clearer atmosphere we walked as gods on +the roof of the world, saw with clear eyes, knew with mind and spirit +untroubled by self-sickness. We were silent, having fallen into an +accord which made all speech idle. Arduous as the road soon became, +and, while unknown to both of us, more arduous to me because of my +inexperience, we chose without hesitating, almost without consulting. +Each difficulty brought decision, and with decision, its own help. +Now it was I who steadied her leap across a chasm; now came her turn +to underprop my foothold till I clambered to a ledge whence I could +reach down a hand and drag her up to me. As a rule I may call myself +a blundering climber, my build being too heavy; but I made no mistake +that day. + +In the course of a three hours' scramble she spoke to me (as I +remember) once only, and then as a comrade, in quiet approval of my +mountaineering. We had come to a crag over which--with no word +said--I had lowered her by help of my bandolier. She had waited at +the foot while I followed her down without assistance, traversing on +the way an outward-sloping ledge of smooth rock which overhung a +precipice and a sheer fall of at least three hundred feet. The ledge +had nowhere a notch in it to grip the boot-sole, and was moreover +slippery with the green ooze of a mountain spring. It has haunted my +dreams since then; I would not essay it again for my weight in money; +but I crossed it that day, so to speak, with my hands in my pockets. + +The most curious (you might call it the most uncanny) part of the +whole adventure, was that from time to time we came out of these +breathless scrambles plump upon a patch of cultivated ground and a +hill-farm with its steading; the explanation being that these farms +stand each at the head of its own ravine, and, inaccessible one to +another, have communication with the world only by the tracks which +lead down their ravines. Here, three thousand feet and more above +the sea--upon which we looked down between cliff and woodland as +through a funnel, and upon the roofs and whitewashed walls of +fishing-villages on the edge of the blue--lived slow, sedate folks, +who called their dogs off us and stared upon us as portents and gave +us goat's-milk and bread, refusing the coins we proffered. +The inhabitants of this Cape (I have since learned) are a race apart +in Corsica; slow, peaceable, without politics and almost (as we +should say) without patriotism. We came to them as gods from the +heights, and they received and sped us as gods. They were too slow +of speech to question us, or even to express their astonishment. + +There was one farm with a stream plunging past it, and, by the house +wall, a locked mill-wheel (God knows what it had ever ground), and by +the door below it a woman, seated on a flight of steps, with her +bosom half-covered and a sucking-child laid asleep in her lap. +She blinked in the sunshine as we came across the yard to her, and +said she-- + +"Salutation, O strangers, and pardon that I cannot rise: but the +little one is sick of a fever and I fear to stir him, for he makes as +if he would sleep. Nor is there any one else to entertain you, since +my husband has gone down to the _marina_ to fetch the wise woman who +lives there." + +The Princess stepped close and stood over her. "_O paesana_," said +she, "do you and your man live here alone, so far up the mountain?" + +"There is the _bambino_," said the mother, simply. "He is my first-- +and a boy, by the gift of the Holy Virgin. Already he takes notice, +and soon he will be learning to talk: but since we both talk to him +and about him, you may say that already there are three of us, and +anon the good Lord may send us others. It is hard work, _O bella +donna_, on such a farm as ours, and doubly hard on my husband now for +these months that I have been able to help him but little. But with +a good man and his child--if God spare the child--I shall want no +happiness." + +"Give me the child," said the Princess, taking a seat on the stone +slab beside her. "He shall not hurt with me while you fetch us a +draught of milk." + +The woman stared at her and at me, fearfully at first, then with a +strange look in her eyes, between awe and disbelief and a growing +hope. + +"Even when you came," she said hoarsely after a while, "I was praying +for an angel to help my child. . . . O blind, O hard of faith that I +am! And when I lifted my eyes and saw you, I bethought me not that +none walk this mountain by the path you have come, nor has this land +any like you twain for beauty and stature. . . . O lady--whether from +heaven or earth--you will not take my child but to cure it? He is my +only one." + +"Give him to me." + +The woman laid her child in the Princess's arms and ran into the +house, throwing one look of terror back at us from the doorstep. +The Princess sat motionless, gazing down on the closed lids, +frowning, deep in thoughts I could not follow. + +"You will not," said I, "leave this good foolish soul in her error?" + +"I have heard," she answered quietly, without lifting her eyes, "that +a royal touch has virtue to heal sometimes--and there was a time when +you claimed to be King of Corsica. Nay, forgive me," she took +herself up quickly, "there is bitterness yet left in me, but that +speech shall be the last of it. . . . O husband, O my friend, I was +thinking that this child will grow into a man; and of what his mother +said, that there is such a thing as a good man: and I am trying to +believe her. . . . _Eccu!_ he sleeps, poor mite! Listen to his +breathing." + +The farm-wife came out with a full bowl of milk. Her hands shook and +spilled some as she handed it to me, so eager were they to hold her +infant again. Taking it and feeling the damp sweat as she passed a +hand over its brow, she broke forth into blessings. + +We told her of her mistake: but I doubt if she heard. + +"I have dwelt here these three years," she persisted, "and none ever +walked the mountain by the path you have come." She watched us as I +held the bowl for the Princess to drink, and asked quaintly, "But is +there truly no marrying in heaven? I have thought upon that many +times, and always it puzzles me." + +We said farewell to her, and took her blessings with us as she +watched us across the head of the ravine. Then followed another +half-hour of silence and sharp climbing: but the worst was over, and +by-and-by the range tailed off into a chain of lessening hills over +which in the purple distance rose a solitary sharp cone with a +ruinous castle upon it, which (said the Princess) was Seneca's Tower +at the head of the Vale of Luri. + +We were now beyond the danger of the Genoese, and therefore turned +aside to the left and descended the slopes to the high-road, along +which we made good speed until, having passed the tower and the mouth +of the gorge which leads up to it from the westward, we came, almost +at nightfall, within sight of Pino by the sea. + +Here I proposed that I should go forward to the village and find a +night's lodging for her, pointing out that, the night being warm and +dry, I could make my couch comfortably enough in one of the citron +orchards that here lined the road on the landward side. To this at +first she assented--it seemed to me, even eagerly. But I had +scarcely taken forty paces up the road before I heard her voice +calling me back, and back I went obediently. + +"O husband," she said, "the dusk has fallen, and now in the dusk I +can say a word I have been longing all day to be free of. Nay"--she +put out a hand--"you must not forbid me. You must not even delay me +now." + +"What is it, that I should forbid you?" + +"It is--about Brussels." + +I dropped my hand impatiently and was turning away, but she touched +my arm and the touch pleaded with me to face her. + +"I have a right. . . . Yes, it was good of you to refuse it; but you +cannot go on refusing, because--see you--your goodness makes my right +the stronger. This morning I could have told you, but you refused +me. All this day I have known that refusal unjust." + +"All this day? Then--pardon, Princess--but why should I hear you +now, at this moment?" + +"The daylight is past," she said. "You can listen now and not see my +face." + +On the hedge of the ditch beside the high-road lay a rough fragment +of granite, a stone cracked and discarded, once the base of an +olive-mill. She found a seat upon it and motioned to me to come +close, and I stood close, staring down on her while she stared down +at her feet, grey with dust almost as the road itself. + +"We were children, Camillo and I," she said at length, "in keep of an +ill woman we called Maman Trebuchet, and in a house near the entrance +of a court leading off the Rue de la Madeleine and close beside the +Market. How we had come there we never inquired. . . . I suppose all +children take such things as they find them. The house was of five +storys, all let out in tenements, and we inhabited two rooms on the +fourth floor to the left as you went up the staircase. . . . Some of +the men quarrelled with their wives and beat them. There was always +a noise of quarrelling in the house: but outside, before the front +door, the men who were not beating their women would sit for hours +together and smoke and spit and tell one another stories against the +Church and against women. The pavement where they sat and the street +before it were strewn always with rotting odds and ends of +vegetables, for almost every one in that quarter earned his living by +the Market, and Maman Trebuchet among the rest. She divided her time +between walking the streets with a basket and drinking the profits +away in the cabarets, and in the intervals she cursed and beat us. +We lived for the most part on the refuse she brought home at night-- +on so much of her stock as had found no purchaser--and we played +about the gutters and alleys of the Market. So far as I remember we +were neither very happy nor yet very miserable. We knew that we were +brother and sister, and that Maman Trebuchet was not our real mother. +Beyond this we were not inquisitive, but took life as we found it. + +"Nevertheless, I know now that we were not altogether lost, but that +eyes in Brussels were watching us; though how far they were friendly +I cannot tell you. I think sometimes that the agents of the Genoese, +who had hidden us there, must have been playing their own game as +well as their masters'. There was, for example, a dark man who often +visited the Market: he called himself a lay-brother, and seemed to +be busy with religious work among the poor of the quarter. We knew +him as Maitre Antoine at first, and so he was generally called: but +he told us that his real name was Antonio--or Antoniu, as he spoke +it--and that he came from Italy. He took a great fancy to us and +obtained leave of Maman Trebuchet to teach us the Scriptures: but +what he really taught us was to speak with him in Italian. We did +not know at the time that, though he called it Tuscan, he was all the +while teaching us our own Corsican. Nor, I believe, did our guardian +know this; but one day, finding out by chance that we knew Italian +(for we had begun to talk it together, that she might not understand +what we said) and discovering how we had picked it up, she flew into +a dreadful rage, lay in wait next day to catch Maitre Antoine as he +came up the stairs, and fell upon him with such fury that the poor +man fled out of the house and we never saw him again. + +"After this--I believe about a year later--there came a day when she +bought a new cap and shawl for herself and new clothes for us, and, +having seen that we were thoroughly washed, took us up the hill to a +fine street near the palace, and to a hotel which was almost the +grandest house in the street. We entered, and were led into the +presence of a very noble-looking gentleman in a long yellow +dressing-gown, who blessed us and gave us a kiss apiece, and some +gold money, and afterwards poured out wine for Maman Trebuchet and +thanked her for taking such good care of us." + +"That was your father, Princess." + +"I have often thought so. But I remember nothing of his face except +that he had tears in his eyes when we said good-bye to him; at which +I wondered a great deal, for I had never seen a man crying. When we +were outside again in the street Maman Trebuchet took the gold away +from us. I think she too must have received money: for from that +day she neglected her marketing and drank more heavily than before. +About a month later she was dead. + +"On the day of the funeral there came to our house a man dressed like +a gentleman--yet I believe rather that he must have been some kind of +courier or valet. He spoke to us very kindly, and said that we had +friends, who had sent him to us; that when we grew up we should not +want for money; but that just now it was most important we should be +put to school and made fit for our proper position in life. We must +make up our minds to be separated, he said--and at this we both +wept--but we should see one another often. For Camillo he had found +lodgings with an excellent tutor, in whose care, after a year's +study, he was to travel abroad and see the world: while for me he had +chosen a home with some discreet ladies who would attend to my +schooling." + +"The house was in the Rue de Luxembourg--a corner house, where the +street is joined by a lane running from the Place du Parvis. He led +me to it that same evening, and Camillo came too, to make sure that I +was comfortable. It was a strange house and full of ladies, the most +of them young and all very handsomely dressed. But for their dresses +I could almost have fancied it some kind of convent. At all events, +they received me kindly, and many of them wept when they saw my +parting with Camillo." + +Here the Princess paused, and sat silent for so long that I bent +forward in the dusk to read her face. She drew away, shivering, and +put up both hands as if to cover it. + +"Well, Princess?" + +"That house, Cavalier! . . . that horrible house! . . . Ah, remember +that I was a child, scarcely twelve years old--I had heard vile words +among the market folk, but they were words and meant nothing to me: +and now I saw things which I did not understand and--and I became +used to them before ever guessing that these were the things those +vile words had meant. The women were pretty, you see . . . and +merry, and kind to me at first. Before God I never dreamed that I +was looking on harm--not at first--but afterwards, when it was too +late. The people who had put me there ceased to send money, and +being a strong child and willing to work, at first I was put to make +the women their chocolate, and carry it up to them of a morning, and +so, little by little, I came to be their house-drudge. I had lost +all news of Camillo. For hours I have hunted through the streets of +Brussels, if by chance I might get sight of him . . . but he was +lost. And I--O Cavalier, have pity on me!" + +"Wife," said I, standing before her, "why have you told me this? +Did I not say to you that I have seen your face and believe, and no +story shall shake my belief? . . . Nay, then, I am glad--yes, glad. +Dear enough, God knows, you would have been to me had I met you, a +child among these hills and ignorant of evil as a child. +How much dearer you, who have trodden the hot plough-shares and come +to me through the fires! . . . See now, I could kneel to you, O +queen, for shame at the little I have deserved." + +But she put out a hand to check me. "O friend," she said sadly, +"will you never understand? For the great faith you pay me I shall +go thankfully all my days: but the faith that should answer it I +cannot give you. . . . Ah, there lies the cruelty! You are able to +trust, and I can never trust in return. You can believe, but I +cannot believe. I have seen all men so vile that the root of faith +is withered in me. . . . Sir, believe, that though everything that +makes me will to thank you must make me seem the more ungrateful, yet +I honour you too much to give you less than an equal faith. +I am your slave, if you command. But if you ask what only can honour +us two as man and wife, you lose all, and I am for ever degraded." + +I stepped back a pace. "O Princess," I said slowly, "I shall never +claim your faith until you bring it to me. . . . And now, let all +this rest for a while. Take up your story again and tell me the +story to the end." + +So in the darkness, seated there upon the millstone with her gun +across her knees, she told me all the story, very quietly:--How at +the last she had been found in the house in Brussels by Marc'antonio +and Stephanu and fetched home to the island; how she had found there +her brother Camillo in charge of Fra Domenico, his tutor and +confessor; with what kindness the priest had received her, how he had +confessed her and assured her that the book of those horrible years +was closed; and how, nevertheless, the story had crept out, poisoning +the people's loyalty and her brother's chances. + +I heard her to the end, or almost to the end: for while she drew near +to conclude, and while I stood grinding my teeth upon the certainty +that the whole plot--from the kidnapping to the spreading of the +slanders--had been Master Domenico's work, and his only, the air +thudded with a distant dull concussion: whereat she broke off, +lifting her head to listen. + +"It is the sound of guns," said I, listening too, while half a dozen +similar concussions followed. "Heavy artillery, too, and from the +southward." + +"Nay; but what light is yonder, to the north?" + +She pointed into the night behind me, and I turned to see a faint +glow spreading along the northern horizon, and mounting, and +reddening as it mounted, until the black hills between us and Cape +Corso stood up against it in sharp outline. + +"O wife," said I, "since you must be weary, sleep for a while, and I +will keep watch: but wake soon, for yonder is something worth your +seeing." + +"Whose work is it, think you?" + +"The work," said I, "of a man who would set the whole world on fire, +and only for love." + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + +THE FLAME AND THE ALTAR. + + + "And when he saw the statly towre + Shining baith clere and bricht, + Whilk stood abune the jawing wave, + Built on a rock of height, + + "'Says, Row the boat, my mariners, + And bring me to the land, + For yonder I see my love's castle + Close by the saut sea strand." + _Rough Royal_. + + + "As 'twixt two equal armies Fate + Suspends uncertain victory, + Our souls--which to advance our state + Were gone out--hung 'twixt her and me: + + "And whilst our souls negotiate there, + We like sepulchral statues lay; + All day the same our postures were, + And we said nothing, all the day." + DONNE, _The Ecstasie_. + +She rose from the stone, but swayed a little, finding her feet. +The dim light, as she turned her face to it, showed me that she was +weary almost to fainting. She had come to a pass where the more +haste would certainly make the worse speed. + +"It is not spirit you lack, but sleep," said I; and she confessed +that it was so. An hour's rest would recover her, she said, and +obediently lay down where I found a couch for her on a bank of +sweet-smelling heath above the road. I too wanted rest, and settled +myself down with my back against a citron tree, some twenty paces +distant. + +Chaucer says somewhere (and it is true), that women take less sleep +and take it more lightly than men. It seemed to me that I had +scarcely closed my eyes before I opened them again at a touch on my +shoulder. The night was yet dark around us, save for the glow to the +northward, and at first I would hardly believe when the Princess told +me that I had been sleeping near upon three hours. Then it occurred +to me that for a long while the sky overhead had been shaking and +repeating the boom of cannon. + +"There is firing to the south of us," she said; "and heavier firing +than where the light is. It comes from Nonza or thereabouts." + +"Then it is no affair of ours, even if we could reach it. But the +flame yonder will lead us to my father." + +So we took the white glimmering high-road again and stepped out +briskly, refreshed by sleep and the cool night air that went with us, +blowing softly across the ridges on our right. We found a track that +skirted the village of Pino, leading us wide among orchards of citron +and olive, and had scarcely regained the road before the guns to the +south ceased firing. Also the red glow, though it still suffused the +north, began to fade as we neared it and climbed the last of steep +hills that run out to the extremity of the cape. There, upon the +summit, we came to a stand and caught our breath. + +The sea lay at our feet, and down across its black floor to the base +of the cliff on which we stood there ran a broad ribbon of light. +It shone from a rock less than half a league distant: and on that +rock stood a castle which was a furnace--its walls black as the bars +of a grate, its windows aglow with contained fire. For the moment it +seemed that this fire filled the whole pile of masonry: but +presently, while we stood and stared, a sudden flame, shooting high +from the walls, lit up the front of a tall tower above them, with a +line of battlements at its base and on the battlements a range of +roofs yet intact. As though a slide had been opened and as rapidly +shut again, this vision of tower, roofs, battlements, gleamed for a +second and vanished as the flame sank and a cloud of smoke and sparks +rolled up in its place and drifted heavily to leeward. + +With a light touch on the Princess's arm I bade her follow me, and +we raced together down the slope. At the foot of it we plunged into +a grove of olives and through it, as through a screen, into the +street of a little _marina_--two dozen fisher-huts, huddled close +above the foreshore, and tenantless; for their inhabitants were +gathered all on the beach and staring at the blaze. + +I have said that the folk at Cape Corso are a race apart: and surely +there never was a stranger crowd than that in which, two minutes +later, we found ourselves mingling unchallenged. They accepted us, +may be, as a minor miracle of the night. They gazed at us curiously +there in the light of the conflagration, and from us away to the +burning island, and talked together in whispers, in a patois of which +I caught but one word in three. They asked us no questions. +Their voices filled the beach with a kind of subdued murmuring, all +alike gentle and patiently explanatory. + +"It is the island of Giraglia," said one to me. "Yes, yes; this will +be the work of the patriots--a brave feat too, there's no denying." + +I pointed to a line of fishing-boats moored in the shoal water a +short furlong off the shore. + +"If you own one," said I, "give me leave to hire her from you, and +name your price." + +"_Perche, perche?_" + +"I wish to sail her to the island." + +"_O galant'uomo_, but why should any one desire to sail to the island +to-night of all nights, seeing that to-night they have set it on +fire?" + +I stared at his simplicity. "You are not patriots, it seems, at this +end of the Cape?" + +He shook his head gravely. "The Genoese on the island are our +customers, and buy our fish. Why should men quarrel?" + +"If it come to commerce, then, will you sell me your boat? The price +of her should be worth many a day's barter of fish." + +He shook his head again, but called his neighbours to him, men and +women, and they began to discuss my offer, all muttering together, +their voices mingling confusedly as in a dream. + +By-and-by the man turned to me. "The price is thirty-five livres, +signore, on deposit, for which you may choose any boat you will. +We are peaceable folk and care not to meddle; but the half shall be +refunded if you bring her back safe and sound." + +"Fetch me a shore-boat, then," said I, while they counted my money, +having fetched a lantern for the purpose. + +But it appeared that shore-boat there was none. I learned later that +my father and Captain Pomery, acting on his behalf, had hired all the +shore-boats at these _marinas_ (of which there are three hard by the +extremity of the Cape) for use in the night attack upon the island. + +"Hold you my gun, then, Princess," said I, "while I swim out to the +nearest:" and wading out till the dark water reached to my breast, I +chose out my boat, swam to her--it was but a few strokes--clambered +on board, caught up a sweep, and worked her back to the beach. +The Princess, holding our two guns high, waded out to me, and I +lifted her on board. + +We heard the voices of the villagers murmuring behind us while I +hoisted the little sail and drew the sheet home. The night-breeze, +fluking among the gullies, filled the sail at once, fell light again +and left it flapping, then drew a steady breath aft, and the voices +were lost in the hiss of water under the boat's stern. + +But not until we had passed the extreme point of land did we find the +true breeze, which there headed us lightly, blowing (as nearly as I +can guess) from N.N.E., yet allowed us a fair course, so that by +hauling the sheet close I could point well to windward of the fiery +reflection on the water and fetch the island on a single tack. +It was here, as we ran out of the loom of the land, that the waning +moon lifted her rim over the hills astern; and it was here, as we +cleared the point, that her rays, traversing the misty sea between us +and Elba, touched the grey-white canvas of a vessel jeeling along (as +we say at the fishing in Cornwall) and holding herself to windward +for a straight run down upon the island--a vessel which at first +glance I recognized for the _Gauntlet_. + +Plainly she was standing-by, waiting; plainly then her crew--or those +of them engaged for the assault--were detained yet upon the island; +whence (to make matters surer) there sounded, as our boat ran up to +it, a few loose dropping shots and a single cry--a cry that travelled +across to us down the lane of light directing us to the quay. +The blaze had died down; the upper keep, now overhanging us, stood +black and unlit against a sky almost as black; but on a stairway at +the base of it torches were moving and the flame of them shone on the +slippery steps of a quay to which I guided the boat. There, jamming +the helm down with a thrust of the foot, I ran forward and lowered +sail. + +We carried more way than I had reckoned for, and--the Princess having +no science to help me--this brought us crashing in among a press of +boats huddled in the black shadow alongside the quay-steps with such +force as almost to stave in the upper timbers of a couple and sink +them where they lay. No voice challenged us. I wondered at this as +I gripped at the dark dew-drenched canvas to haul it inboard, and +while I wondered, a strong light shone down upon us from the quay's +edge. + +A man stood there, holding a torch high over his head and shading his +eyes as he peered down at the boat--a tall man in a Trappist habit +girt high on his naked legs almost to the knees. + +"My father?" I demanded. "Where is my father?" + +He made no answer, but signed to us to make our landing, and waited +for us, still holding the torch high while I helped the Princess from +one boat to another and so to the slippery steps. + +"My father?" I demanded again. + +He turned and led us along the quay to a stairway cut in the living +rock. At the foot of it he lowered his torch for a moment that we +might see and step aside. Two bodies lay there--two of his brethren, +stretched side by side and disposedly, with arms crossed on their +breasts, ready for burial. High on the stairway, where it entered +the base of a battlemented wall under an arch of heavy stonework, a +solitary monk was drawing water from a well and sluicing the steps. +The water ran past our feet, and in the dawn (now paling about us) I +saw its colour. . . . + +The burnt building--it had been the Genoese barracks--stood high on +the right of the stairway. Its roof had fallen in upon the flames +raging through its wooden floors, so that what had been but an hour +ago a blazing furnace was now a shell of masonry out of which a cloud +of smoke rolled lazily, to hang about the upper walls of the +fortress. Through its window-spaces, void and fire-smirched, as now +and again the reek lifted, I saw the pale upper-sky with half a dozen +charred ends of roof-timber sharply defined against it--a black and +broken grid; and while yet I stared upward another pair of monks +crossed the platform above the archway. They carried a body between +them--the body of a man in the Genoese uniform--and were bearing it +towards a bastion on the western side, that overhung the sea. +There the battlements hid them from me; but by-and-by I heard a +splash. . . . + +By this time we were mounting the stairway. We passed under the +arch--where a door, shattered and wrenched from its upper hinge, lay +askew against the wall--and climbed to the platform. From this +another flight of steps (but these were of worked granite) led +straight as a ladder to a smaller platform at the foot of the keep; +and high upon these stood my uncle Gervase directing half a score of +monks to right an overturned cannon. + +His back was toward me, but he turned as I hailed him by name-- +turned, and I saw that he carried one arm in a sling. He came down +the steps to welcome me, but slowly and with a very grave face. + +"My father--where is he?" + +"He is alive, lad." My uncle took my hand and pressed it. "That is +to say, I left him alive. But come and see--" He paused--my uncle +was ever shy in the presence of women--and with his sound hand lifted +his hat to the Princess. "The signorina, if she will forgive a +stranger for suggesting it--she may be spared some pain if--" + +"She seeks her mother, sir," said I, cutting him short; "and her +mother is the Queen Emilia." + +"Your servant, signorina." My uncle bowed again and with a +reassuring smile. "And I am happy to tell you that, so far at least, +our expedition has succeeded. Your mother lives, signorina--or, +should I say, Princess? Yes, yes, Princess, to be sure--But come, +the both of you, and be prepared for gladness or sorrow, as may +betide." + +He ran up the steps and we followed him, across the platform to a low +doorway in the base of the keep, through this, and up a winding +staircase of spirals, so steep and so many that the head swam. +Open lancet windows--one at each complete round of the stair-- +admitted the morning breeze, and through them, as I clung to the +newel and climbed dizzily, I had glimpses of the sea twinkling far +below. I counted these windows up to ten or a dozen, but had lost my +reckoning for minutes before we emerged, at my uncle's heels, upon a +semi-circular landing, and in face of an iron-studded door, the hasp +of which he rattled gently. A voice answered from within bidding him +open, and very softly he thrust the door wide. + +The room into which we looked was of fair size and circular in shape. +Three windows lit it, and between us and the nearest knelt Dom +Basilio, busy with a web of linen which he was tearing into bandages. +His was the voice that had commanded us to enter; and passing in, I +was aware that the room had two other occupants; for behind the door +stood a truckle bed, and along the bed lay my father, pale as death +and swathed in bandages; and by the foot of the bed, on a stool, with +a spinning-wheel beside her, sat a woman. + +It needed no second look to tell me her name. Mean cell though it +was that held her, and mean her seat, the worn face could belong to +no one meaner than a Queen. A spool of thread had rolled from her +hand, across the floor; yet her hands upon her lap were shaped as +though they still held it. As she sat now, rigid, with her eyes on +the bed, she must have been sitting for minutes. So, while Dom +Basilio snipped and rent at his bandages, she gazed at my father on +the bed, and my father gazed back into her eyes, drinking the love in +them; and the faces of both seemed to shine with a solemn awe. + +I think we must have been standing there on the threshold, we three, +for close upon a minute before my father turned his eyes towards me-- +so far beyond this life was he travelling, and so far had the sound +of our entrance to follow and overtake his dying senses. + +"Prosper! . . ." + +"My father!" + +He lifted a hand weakly toward the bandages wrapping his breast. +"These--these are of her spinning, lad. This is her bed they have +laid me on. . . . Who is it stands there behind your shoulder?" + +"It is the Princess, father. You remember the Princess Camilla? +Yes, madam"--I turned to the Queen--"it is your daughter I bring-- +your daughter, and, with your blessing, my wife." + +The Queen, though her daughter knelt, did not offer to embrace her, +but lifted two feeble hands over the bowed head as though to bless, +while over her hands her gaze still rested on my father. + +"We have had brave work, lad," he panted. "I am sorry you come late +for it--but you were bound on your own business, eh?" He turned with +a ghost of his old smile. "Nay, child, and you did right; I am not +blaming you--The young to the young, and let the dead bury the dead! +Kiss me, lad, if you can find room between these plaguey bandages. +Your pardon, Dom Basilio: you have done your best, and, if I seem +ungrateful, let me make amends and thank you for giving me this last, +best hour. . . . Indeed, Dom Basilio, I am a dead man, but your +bandages are tying my soul here for a while, where it would stay. +Gervase"--he reached out a hand to my uncle, who was past hiding his +tears--"Gervase--brother--there needs no talk, no thanks, between +you and me. . . ." + +I drew back and, touching Dom Basilio by the shoulder, led him to the +window. "He has no single wound that in itself would be fatal," the +Trappist whispered; "but a twenty that together have bled him to +death. He hacked his way up this stair through half a score of +Genoese; at the door here, there was none left to hinder him, and we, +having found and followed with the keys, climbed over bodies to find +him stretched before it." + +"Emilia!" It was my father's voice lifted in triumph; and the Queen +rose at the sound of it, trembling, and stood by the bed. "Emilia! +Ah, love--ah, Queen, bend lower!--the love we loved--there, over the +Taravo--it was not lost. . . . It meets in our children--and we--and +we--" + +The Queen bent. + +"O great one--and we in Heaven!" I raised the Princess and led her +to the window fronting the dawn. We looked not toward the pillow +where their lips met; but into the dawn, and from the dawn into each +other's eyes. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + +MY MISTRESS RE-ENLISTS ME. + + + "If all the world were this enchanted isle, + I might forget that every man was vile, + And look on thee, and even love, awhile." + _The Voyage of Sir Scudamor_. + +We had turned from the bed, that no eyes but the Queen's might +witness my father's passing. Her arm had slipped beneath his head, +to support it, and I listened dreading to hear her announce the end. +But yet his great spirit struggled against release, unwilling to +exchange its bliss even for bliss celestial; and presently I heard +his voice speaking my name. + +"Prosper," he said; but his eyes looked upward into the Queen's, and +his voice, as it grew firmer, seemed to interpret a vision not of +earth. "Learn of me that love, though it delight in youth, yet +forsakes not the old; nay, though through life its servant follow and +never overtake. Even such service I have paid it, yet behold I have +my reward! + +"To you, dear lad, it shall be kinder; yet only on condition that you +trust it. + +"You will need to trust it, for it will change. Lose no faith in the +beam when, breaking from your lady's eyes, it fires you not as +before. It widens, lad; it is not slackening; it is passing, +enlarging into a diviner light. + +"By that light you shall see all men, women, children--yes, and all +living things--akin with you and deserving your help. It is the +light of God upon earth, and its warmth is God's charity, though He +kindle it first as a selfish spark between a youth and a maid. + +"Trust it, then, most of all when it frightens you, its first passion +fading. For then, sickening of what is transient, it dies to put on +permanence; as the creature dies--as I am dying, Prosper--into the +greatness of the Creator. + +"Take comfort and courage, then. For though the narrow beam falls no +longer from heaven, you and she will remember the spot where it +surprised you, unsealing your eyes. Let the place, the hour, be +sacred, and you the witnesses sacred one to another. So He that made +you ministers shall keep your garlands from fading. + +"O Lord of Love, high and heavenly King! who, making the hands of boy +and girl to tremble, dost of their thoughtless impulse build up +states, establish societies, and people the world, accept these +children! + +"O Master, who payest not by time, take the thanks of thy servant! +O Captain, receive my sword! O hands!"--my father raised his stiffly +towards the crucifix which Dom Basilio uplifted, standing a little +behind the Queen. "O wounded hands--nay, they are shaped like thine, +Emilia--reach and resume my soul! _In manus tuas, Domine--in manus-- +in manus tuas. . . ." + +"It is over," said Dom Basilio, slowly, after a long silence. + +I saw the Queen lower the grey head back against its pillow, and +turned to the window, where the Princess gazed out over the sea. +For a minute--maybe for longer--I stood beside her following her +gaze; then, as she lifted a hand and pointed, I was aware of two +ships on the south-west horizon, the both under full sail and +standing towards the castle. + +"Last night," said I, and paused, wondering if indeed so short a +while had passed; "theirs were the guns, off Nonza." + +She nodded, meeting my eyes for an instant only, and averting hers +again to the horizon. To my dismay they were dark and troubled. + +"Not now--not now!" she murmured hurriedly, almost fiercely, as I +would have touched her hand. Again her eyes crossed mine, and I read +that love no longer looked forth from them, but a gloomy doubt in its +place. + +From the next window my Uncle Gervase had spied the ships, and now +drew Dom Basilio's attention to them. The two discussed them for a +minute. "Were they Corsican vessels, or Genoese?" Dom Basilio +plucked me by the arm, to know my opinion. I told him of the firing +we had heard off Nonza. + +"In my belief," said I, "they are Corsicans that have drawn off from +the bombardment, though why I cannot divine, unless it be in +curiosity to discover why Giraglia was a-burning last night." + +"If, on the other hand they be Genoese," answered my uncle, shaking +his head, "this is a serious matter for us. The _Gauntlet_ has but +five men aboard, and will be culled like a peach." + +"Had she fifty, she could not keep up a fight against two gunboats-- +as gunboats they appear to be," said I. "You will make a better +defence of it from the island here, with the few cannon you have not +dismounted." + +"In that case I had best take boat, tell Captain Pomery to drop his +anchor, leaving the ketch to her fate, and fetch him ashore to help +us." + +"Do so," said I. "Yet I trust 'tis a false alarm; for that these are +Corsicans I'll lay odds." + +"It may even be," suggested Dom Basilio, "that the two are enemies, +the one in chase of the other." + +"No," I decided, scanning them; "for they have the look of being +sister ships. And, see you, the leader has rounded the point and +caught sight of the _Gauntlet_. Mark how she is carrying her +headsheets over to windward, to let her consort overtake her." + +"The lad's right!" exclaimed my uncle. "Well, God send they be not +Genoese! but I must pull out to the ketch and make sure. +You, Prosper, can help Dom Basilio meanwhile to muster his men and +right as many cannon as time allows." + +He stepped to the door, tip-toeing softly, and we followed him--with +a glance, as we went, at the figure bending over the bed. The Queen +did not heed us. + +From the upper terrace at the foot of the tower the Princess and I +watched my uncle as, with two stalwart Trappists to row him, he +pushed out and steered for the _Gauntlet_. We saw him run his boat +alongside and climb aboard. Five slow minutes passed, and it became +apparent that Captain Pomery had views of his own about abandoning +the ship, for the _Gauntlet_ neither dropped anchor nor took in +canvas, but held on her tack, letting the boat drop astern on a +tow-rope. + +Just then Dom Basilio sent up half a dozen stout monks to me from the +base of the rock; and for the next few minutes I was kept busy with +them on the eastern bastion, refixing a gun which had been thrown off +its carriage in the assault, until, casting another glance seaward, I +saw to my amazement that the ketch had run up her British colours to +her mizzen. + +But happily Captain Pomery's defiance was thrown away. A minute +later the leading gunboat ran up a small bundle on her main signal +halliards, and shook out the green flag of Corsica. + +"You can let the gun lie," said I to my monks. "These are friends." + +"They are my countrymen," said the Princess at my elbow. "That they +are friends is less certain." + +"At any rate, they are lowering a boat," said I; "and see, my uncle +is jumping into his, to intercept them." + +The Corsicans, manning their boat, pulled straight for the island; +but at half a mile's distance or less, being hailed by my uncle, lay +on their oars and waited while he bore down on them. I saw him lift +his hat to a man seated in the stern-sheets, who stood up and saluted +politely in response. The two boats drew close alongside, while +their commanders conversed, and after a couple of minutes resumed +their way abreast and drew to the landing-quay, where Dom Basilio +stood awaiting them. + +"By his stature and bearing," said I, conning him through a glass +which one of the monks passed to me, "this must be the General +himself." + +"Paoli?" queried the Princess. + +I nodded. + +"Shall we go down the rock to meet him?" + +"It is Paoli's place to mount to us," said she proudly. + +We waited therefore while my uncle led him up to us. But Pascal +Paoli was too great a man to trouble about his dignity; and for +courtesies, he contented himself with omitting none. + +"Salutation, O Princess!" He halted within a few steps of the head +of the stairway, and lifted his hat. + +"Salutation, O General!" + +"And to you, Cavalier!" He included me in his bow, "Pouf!" he +panted, looking about him; "the ascent is a sharp one, under the best +conditions. And you carried it in the darkness, against odds?" +He turned upon my uncle. "You English are a great race." + +"Excuse me, General," said my uncle, indicating Dom Basilio and the +monks: "the credit belongs rather to my friends here." + +"I had the pleasure to meet Sir John Constantine, a while ago, +outside our new town of Isola Rossa, where he did me a signal +service. You are his son, sir?" + +I bowed. + +"I condole with you, since I come too late to thank him--on behalf of +Corsica, Princess--for a yet more brilliant service. An assault such +as your party made last night requires brave men; but even more, it +requires a brave leader and a genius even to conceive it. Let me +say, sirs, that we heard your fire and saw Giraglia blazing, as far +south as Nonza, where we were conducting a far meaner enterprise; and +came north in wonder where Corsica had found such friends." + +"Say rather, sir, where my mother had found them," interposed the +Princess, coldly. "Is this curiosity of yours all your business?" + +The General met her look frankly. If annoyed, he hid his annoyance. + +"O Princess," answered he, "I will own that Corsica has left the +Queen, your mother, overlong here in captivity. For reasons of state +it was decided to work northward from point to point, clearing the +Genoese as we went. We did not reckon that, before we reached +Giraglia, an Englishman of genius would step in to anticipate us. +Our hopes, Princess, fell short of an event so happy. But I can say +that every Corsican is glad, and would wish to be such a hero." + +"Did you, then, clear the Genoese from Nonza?" I put in hastily, +noting the curl of my mistress's lips. + +"Sir, there were no Genoese to clear. We bombarded it idly, only to +learn that the Commandant Fornari had abandoned it some hours before; +that he and his men had escaped northward in long boats, rowing close +under the land." + +I glanced at the Princess, and saw her mouth whiten. "Excuse me," I +said. "Do you tell me that the whole garrison of Nonza had escaped?" + +"Unfortunately, yes." Paoli, too, glanced at the Princess; but for an +instant only. "We landed after the fortress had fired one single gun +at us, which we silenced. Beside it we found two men standing at +bay; its only defenders; and they, strange to tell, were Corsicans. +I have brought them with me on my own ship." + +"You need not tell me their names," said I. + +"My brother?" the Princess gasped. "Where is my brother?" + +The General lowered his eyes. "I regret to tell you, Princess, that +your brother has fallen into our enemies' hands. They have carried +him north, to Genoa, and with him the Priest who was his confessor. +This I learned from your two heroes, who had entered Nonza with no +other purpose than to rescue him, but had arrived too late. +They shall be brought ashore, that you may question them. + +"But what is this?" said a voice from the turret-door behind us. +"My son Camillo a prisoner, and in Genoa!" + +We turned all, to see the Queen standing there, on the threshold. +The Princess, suddenly pallid, shot a look at Paoli--a look which at +once defied and implored him. + +"It is true, dear mother," said she, steadying her voice. + +"God help us all!" The Queen clasped her hands. "The Genoese have no +pity." + +"Let your Majesty be reassured," said Paoli, slowly, "The Genoese, to +be sure, have no pity; yet I can almost promise they will not proceed +to extremities with your son. An enemy, madam, may have good reasons +for negotiating; and although the Genoese Government would be +delighted to break me on the wheel, yet, on some points, I can compel +them to bargain with me." + +He lifted his eyes. Mine were fixed on the Princess's, and I saw +them thank him for the falsehood. + +"Come, dear mother," she said, taking the Queen's hand. +"Though Camillo be in Genoa he can be reached." + +"My poor boy was ever too rash." + +"He can be reached," the Princess repeated--but I saw her wince-- +"and he shall be reached. General, I pray you to send these two men +to me. And now, mother, let one sorrow be enough for a time. +There is woman's work to be done upstairs; take me with you that I +may help." + +I did not understand these last words, but was left puzzling over +them as the two passed through the turret-door and mounted the +stairway. Nor did I remember the custom of the country until, ten +minutes later, I heard their voices lifted together in the upper +chamber intoning a lament over my father's body. + +My father--so my uncle told me--had left express orders that he +should be buried at sea. Throughout the long afternoon, with short +pauses, the voices wailed overhead, while we worked to set the +fortress in order for the garrison which Paoli sent (despatching his +second gunboat) to fetch from Isola Rossa; until, an hour before +sunset, two monks came down the stairway with the corpse, and bore it +to the quay, where Billy Priske waited with one of the _Gauntlet's_ +boats. Paoli and my uncle had taken their places in the +stern-sheets, and Dom Basilio and I, having lifted the body on board +and covered it with the _Gauntlet's_ flag, ourselves stepped into the +bows, where I took an oar and helped Billy to pull some twenty +furlongs off the shore. Dom Basilio recited the funeral service; and +there, watched by his comrades from the quay, we let sink my father +into six fathoms, to sleep at the foot of the great rock which had +been his altar. + +As I landed and climbed the path again, I caught sight of Camilla, +standing by the parapet of the east bastion, in converse with +Marc'antonio and Stephanu. She had braided her hair, and done away +with all traces of mourning, At the turret door her mother met me, +equally neat and composed. + +"I have been waiting for you," said the Queen. "Come, O son, for I +want your advice." + +She led me up past the second window of the turret, lifted the latch +of an iron-studded door in the opposite wall, and, pushing it open, +motioned me to enter. + +"But what is this?" said I, gazing around upon two camp beds, spread +with white coverlets, and a dressing-table with a jugful of +lilac-coloured stocks, such as grew in the crannies of the keep and +the rock-ledges under the platform. + +"I had no mother," said she, "to prepare my bride-chamber, and rough +is the best I can prepare for my child. But it is done with my +blessing." + +"Madame--" said I, flushing hotly, and paused at the sound of a +footstep on the stair. + +It was the Princess who came; and in an angry haste. She kissed her +mother, thrust her gently from the room, and so, closing the door, +stood with her back against it. + +"You knew of this?" she demanded. + +"Before God, I did not," I answered. + +"It is folly." She glanced around the room. "You will admit that it +is folly," she insisted. + +I bowed my head. "It is folly, if you choose to call it so." + +"I have been wanting to tell you . . . I believe you to be a good +man. Oh yes, the fault is with me! This morning--you remember what +your father said? Well, I listened, and the truth was made clear to +me, that I cannot give you the like of such love--or the like of any +such as a woman ought to give, who--who--" + +"Say no more," said I, as gently as might be. "I understand." + +"Ah, that is kind of you!" She caught at the admission eagerly. +"It is not that I doubted; I see now that some men are not vile. +But until I can _feel_ it, what use is being convinced?" +She paused, "Moreover, to-night I go on a journey." + +"And I, too," said I, meeting her eyes firmly. "To Genoa, is it +not?" + +"You guessed it? . . . But you have no right--" she faltered. + +I laughed. "But excuse me, my wife, I have all the right in the +world. At what hour will Marc'antonio be ready with the boat?" + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + +GENOA. + + + "_Gobbo_. Master young gentleman, I pray you, which is the + way to Master Jew's? + + "_Launcelot_. Turn up on the right hand at the next turning, + but at the very next turning of all, on your + left: marry at the very next turning, turn of no + hand, but turn down indirectly to the Jew's + house. + + "_Gobbo_. By God's sonties, 'twill be a hard way to hit." + _The Merchant of Venice_. + +At eleven o'clock that night we four--the Princess, Marc'antonio, +Stephanu, and I--hoisted sail and stood away from the north shore of +Giraglia, carrying a fair wind with us. Our boat had been very +cunningly chosen for us by Marc'antonio out of the small flotilla +which my father had hired at Cape Corso for the assault. She was +undecked, measured some eighteen feet over-all, and carried a +fair-sized lateen sail; but her great merit for our purpose, lay in +her looks. The inhabitants of Cape Corso (as the reader knows) have +neither the patriotism nor the prejudices of their fellow-islanders; +and this (however her owner had come by her) was a boat of Genoese +build. So Marc'antonio had assured me; and my own observation +confirmed it next day, as we neared the coast off Porto Fino. + +We had laid this course of set purpose, intending to work up to the +great harbour coastwise from the southward and enter it boldly, +passing ourselves off for a crew from Porto Fino with a catch of fish +for market. The others had discarded all that was Corsican in their +dress, and the Princess had ransacked the quarters of the late +garrison on Giraglia to rig us out in odds and ends of Genoese +costume. For the rest we trusted to fortune; but an hour before +starting I had sought out my Uncle Gervase and made him privy to the +plot. He protested, to be sure; but acquiesced in the end with a wry +face when I told him that the Princess and I were determined. + +This understood, at once my excellent and most practical uncle turned +to business. Within ten minutes it was agreed between us that the +_Gauntlet_ should sail back with General Paoli and anchor under the +batteries of Isola Rossa to await our return. She was to wait there +one month exactly. If within that time we did not return, he was to +conclude either that our enterprise had come to grief or that we had +re-shaped our designs and without respect to the _Gauntlet's_ +movements. In any event, at the end of one calendar month he might +count himself free to weigh anchor for England. We next discussed +the Queen. My uncle opined, but could not say with certainty, that +the General had it in mind to offer her protection and an honourable +retirement on her own estates above the Taravo. I bade him tell her +that, if she could wean herself from Corsica to follow her daughter, +our house of Constantine would be proud to lodge her--I hoped, for +the remainder of her days--for certain, until she should tire of it +and us. + +The rest (I say) we left to chance, which at first served us +smoothly. The breeze, though it continued fair, fell light soon +after daybreak, and noon was well past before we sighted the Ligurian +coast. We dowsed sail and pulled towards it leisurably, waiting for +the hour when the fishing-boats should put out from Porto Fino: which +they did towards sunset, running out by ones and two's before the +breeze which then began to draw off the land, and making a pretty +moving picture against the evening glow. When night had fallen we +hoisted our lateen again and worked up towards them. + +These fishermen (as I reasoned, from our own Cornish practice) would +shoot their nets soon after nightfall and before the moon's rising-- +to haul them, perhaps, two hours later, and await the approach of +morning for their second cast. Towards midnight, then, we sailed +boldly up to the outermost boat and spoke her through Marc'antonio, +who (_fas est ab hoste doceri_) had in old campaigns picked up enough +of the Genoese patois to mimic it very passably. He announced us as +sent by certain Genoese fishmongers--a new and enterprising firm +whose name he invented on the spur of the moment--to trade for the +first catch of fish and carry them early to market, where their +freshness would command good prices. The fishermen, at first +suspicious, gave way at sight of the Genoese money in his hand, and +accepted an offer which not only saved them a journey but (as we +calculated) put from three to four extra livres in their pockets. +Within twenty minutes they had transferred two thousand fish to our +boat, and we sailed off into the darkness, ostensibly to trade with +the others. Doubtless they wished us good night for a set of fools. + +We did not trouble their fellows. Two thousand fish, artfully spread +to look like thrice the number, ought to pass us under the eyes of +all Genoa: so for Genoa we headed forthwith, hauling up on the +starboard tack and heeling to our gunwale under the breeze which +freshened and blew steadily off the shore. + +Sunrise found us almost abreast of the harbour: and the clocks from +the city churches were striking seven as we rounded up under the +great mole on the eastern side of the entrance and floated into the +calm basin within. I confess that my heart sank as Genoa opened in +panorama before us, spreading in a vast semicircle with its dockyards +and warehouses, its palaces, its roofs climbing in terrace after +terrace to the villas and flower-gardens on the heights: nor was this +sense of our impudence lessened by reflecting that, once within the +mole, we had not a notion to which of the quays a fishing-boat ought +to steer to avoid suspicion. But here, again, fortune helped us. +To the right, at the extreme inner corner of the mole, I espied half +a dozen boats, not unlike our own, huddled close under a stone +stairway; and I had no sooner thrust down the helm than a man, +catching sight of us, came running along the mole to barter. + +Marc'antonio's conduct of the ensuing bargain was nothing short of +masterly. The stranger--a fishmonger's runner--turned as he met us +and trotted alongside, shaping his hands like a trumpet and bawling +down his price. Marc'antonio, affecting a slight deafness, signalled +to him to bawl louder, hunched his shoulders, shook his head +vehemently, held up ten fingers, then eight, then (after a long and +passionate protest from above) eight again. By this time two other +traffickers had joined the contest, and with scarcely a word on his +side Marc'antonio kept them going, as a juggler plays with three +balls. Not until our boat's nose grated alongside the landing was +the bargain concluded, and the first runner, a bag of silver in his +fist, almost tumbled upon us down the slippery stairs in his hurry to +clinch it. + +I stepped ashore and held out a hand to the Princess who, in her +character of _paesana_, very properly ignored it. Luckily the +courtesy escaped notice. Stephanu was making fast the boat; the +runner counting his coins into Marc'antonio's hand. + +The Princess and I mounted the stairs and, after a pretence to loiter +and await our comrades, strolled off towards the city around the +circuit of the quay. We passed the great warehouses of the Porto +Franco, staring up at them, but impassively, in true country fashion, +and a little beyond them came to the entrance of a street which--for +it was strewn with cabbage leaves and other refuse--we judged to lead +to the vegetable market. + +"Let us turn aside here," said the Princess. "I was brought up in a +cabbage-market, remember; and the smell may help to put me at my +ease." + +Now along the quays we had met and passed but a few idlers, the hour +being early for business; but in the market, when we reached it, we +found a throng--citizens and citizens' wives and housekeepers, all +armed with baskets and chaffering around the stalls. The crowd +daunted me at first; but finding it too intent to heed us, I drew +breath and was observing it at leisure when my eyes fell on the back +of a man who, bending over a stall on my right, held forth a cabbage +in one hand while with the other--so far as the basket on his arm +allowed--he gesticulated violently, cheapening the price against an +equally voluble saleswoman. + +Good heavens! That back--that voice--surely I knew them! + +The man turned, holding the cabbage aloft and calling gods, mortals, +and especially the population of Genoa, to witness. It was Mr. +Pett!--and, catching sight of me, he stared wildly, almost dropping +the vegetable. + +"Angels and ministers--" here, at a quick sign of warning from me, he +checked himself sharply. "_O anima profetica, il mio zio!_ . . . +Devil a doubt but it sounds better in Shakespeare's mother-English," +he added, as I hurried him aside; and then--for he still grasped the +cabbage, and the stallwoman was shouting after him for a thief. +"You'll excuse me, signora. Two soldi, I think you said? It is an +infamy. What? Your cabbage has a good heart? Ah, but has it ever +loved? Has it ever leapt in transport, recognizing a long-lost +friend? Importunate woman, take your fee, basely extracted from me +in a moment of weakness. O, heel of Achilles! O, locks of Samson! +Go to, Delilah, and henceforth for this may a murrain light on thy +cucumbers! + +"Though, strictly speaking," said Mr. Fett, as I drew him away and +down the street leading to the quay, "I believe murrain to be a +disease peculiar to cattle. Well, my friend, and how goes it with +you? For me"--here he tapped his basket, in which the cabbage +crowned a pile of green-stuff--"I am reduced to _buying_ my salads." +He wheeled about, following my glance, and saluted the Princess, who +had followed and overtaken us. + +"Man," said I, "you shall tell us your story as soon as ever you have +helped us to a safe lodging. But here are we--and there, coming +towards us along the quay, are two comrades--four Corsicans in all, +whose lives, if the Genoese detect us, are not worth five minutes' +purchase." + +"Then, excuse me," said Mr. Fett, becoming serious of a sudden, "but +isn't it a damned foolish business that brings you?" + +"It may be," I answered. "But the point is, Can you help us?" + +"To a lodging? Why, certainly, as luck has it, I can take you +straight--no, not straight exactly, but the devil of a way round--to +one where you can lie as snug as fleas in a blanket. Oh--er--but +excuse me--" He checked himself and stood rubbing his chin, with a +dubious glance at the Princess. + +"Indeed, sir," she put in, smoothing down at her peasant-skirt, +"I think you first found me lodging upon a bare rock, and even in +this new dress it hardly becomes me to be more fastidious." + +"I was thinking less of the lodgings, Princess, than of the company: +though, to be sure, the girls are very good-hearted, and Donna Julia, +our _prima amorosa_, makes a most discreet _duenna_, off the boards. +There is Badcock too--il signore Badcocchio: give Badcock a hint, and +he will diffuse a most permeating respectability. For the young +ladies who dwell at the entrance of the court, over the archway, I +won't answer. My acquaintance with them has not passed beyond an +interchange of winks: but we might send Badcock to expostulate with +them." + +"You are not dealing with a child, sir," said the Princess, with a +look at me and a somewhat heightened colour. "Be assured that I +shall have eyes only for what I choose to see." + +Mr. Fett bowed. "As for the lodgings, I can guarantee them. +They lie on the edge of a small Jew quarter--not the main _ghetto_-- +and within a stone's-throw of the alleged birthplace of Columbus; if +that be a recommendation. Actually they are rated in the weavers' +quarter, the burgh of San Stefano, between the old and new walls, a +little on the left of the main street as you go up from Sant' Andrea +towards Porticello, by the second turning beyond the Olive Gate." + +"I thank you," I interrupted, "but at a reasonable pace we might +arrive there before you have done giving us the direction." + +"My loquacity, sir, did you understand it," said Mr. Fett, with an +air of fine reproach, "springs less from the desire to instruct than +from the ebullience of my feelings at so happy a rencounter." + +"Well, that's very handsomely said," I acknowledged. "Oh, sir, I +have a deal to tell, and to hear! But we will talk anon. +Meanwhile"--he touched my arm as he led the way, and I fell into step +beside him--"permit me to note a change in the lady since I last had +the pleasure of meeting her--a distinct lessening of _hauteur_--a +touch of (shall I say?) womanliness. Would it be too much to ask if +you are running away with her?" + +"It would," said I. "As a matter of fact she is in Genoa to seek her +brother, the Prince Camillo." + +"Nevertheless," he insisted, and with an impertinence I could not +rebuke (for fear of drawing the attention of the passers-by, who were +numerous)--"nevertheless I divine that you have much either to tell +me or conceal." + +He, at any rate, was not reticent. On our way he informed me that +his companions in the lodgings were a troupe of strolling players +among whom he held the important role of _capo comico_. We reached +the house after threading our way through a couple of tortuous alleys +leading off a street which called itself the Via Servi, and under an +archway with a window from which a girl blew Mr. Fett an unabashed +kiss across a box of geraniums. The master of it, a Messer' Nicola +(by surname Fazio) had rooms for us and to spare. To him Mr. Fett +handed the market-basket, after extracting from it an enormous melon, +and bade him escort the Princess upstairs and give her choice of the +cleanest apartments at his disposal. He then led us to the main +living-room where, from a corner-cupboard, he produced glasses, +plates, spoons, a bowl of sugar, and a flask of white wine. +The flask he pushed towards Marc'antonio and Stephanu: the melon he +divided with his clasp-knife. + +"You will join us?" he asked, profering a slice. "You will drink, +then, at least? Ah, that is better. And will you convey my +apologies to your two bandits and beg them to excuse my conversing +with you in English? To tell the truth"--here, having helped them to +a slice apiece and laid one aside for the Princess, he took the +remainder upon his own plate--"though as a rule we make collation at +noon or a little before, my English stomach cries out against an +empty morning. You will like my Thespians, sir, when you see 'em. +The younger ladies are decidedly--er--vivacious. Bianca, our +Columbine, has all the makings of a beauty--she has but just turned +the corner of seventeen; and Lauretta, who plays the scheming +chambermaid, is more than passably good-looking. As for Donna Julia, +her charms at this time of day are moral rather than physical: but, +having married our leading lover, Rinaldo, she continues to exact his +vows on the stage and the current rate of pay for them from the +treasury. Does Rinaldo's passion show signs of flagging? She pulls +his ears for it, later on, in conjugal seclusion. Poor fellow!-- + + "_Non equidem invideo; miror magis_. + +"Do the night's takings fall short of her equally high standard? +She threatens to pull mine: for I, cavalier, am the treasurer. . . . +But at what rate am I overrunning my impulses to ask news from you! +How does your father, sir--that modern Bayard? And Captain Pomery? +And my old friend Billy Priske?" + +I told him, briefly as I could, of my father's end. He laid down his +spoon and looked at me for a while across the table with eyes which, +being unused to emotion, betrayed it awkwardly, with a certain shame. + +"A great, a lofty gentleman! . . . You'll excuse me, cavalier, but I +am not always nor altogether an ass--and I say to you that half a +dozen such knights would rejuvenate Christendom. As it is, we live +in the last worst ages when the breed can afford but one phoenix at a +time, and he must perforce spend himself on forlorn hopes. Mark you, +I say 'spend,' not 'waste': the seed of such examples cannot be +wasted--" + + 'Only the actions of the just + Smell sweet and blossom in the dust:' + +nay, not their actions only, but their every high thought which +either fate froze or fortune and circumstance choked before it could +put forth flower. Did I ever tell you, Cavalier, the Story of My +Father and the Jobbing Gardener?" + +"Not that I remember," said I. + +"Yet it is full of instruction as an egg is full of meat. My father, +who (let me remind you) is a wholesale dealer in flash jewellery, had +ever a passion for gardening, albeit that for long he had neither the +time nor the money nor even the space to indulge his hobby. +His garden--a parallelogram of seventy-two feet by twenty-three, +confined by brick walls--lay at the back of our domicile, which +excluded all but the late afternoon sunshine. As the Mantuan would +observe--" + + 'nec fertilis illa juvencis, + Nec Cereri opportuna seges, nec commoda Baccho.' + +To attend to it my father employed, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, an +old fellow over whose head some sixty-five summers had passed without +imparting to it a single secret. In short, he was the very worst +gardener in West Bromicheham, and so obstinately, so insufferably, +opinionated withal that one day, in a fit of irritation, my father +slew him with his own spade. + +"This done, he had at once to consider how to dispose of the body. +Our garden, as I have said, was confined within brick walls, two long +and one short; and this last my father had screened with a rustic +shed and a couple of laurel-bushes; that from his back-parlour +window, where he sat and smoked his pipe on a Sunday afternoon, he +might watch the path 'wandering,' as he put it, 'into the shrubbery,' +and feast his eyes on a domain which extended not only further than +the arm could stretch, but even a little further than the eye could +reach. + +"In the space, then, intervening between the laurels and the terminal +wall my father dug a grave two spits deep and interred the corpse, +covering it with a light compost of loam and leaf-mould. This was on +a Wednesday--the second Wednesday in July, as he was always +particular to mention. (And I have heard him tell the story a score +of times.) + +"On the Sunday week, at half-past three in the afternoon, my father +had finished his pipe and was laying it down, before covering his +head (as his custom was) with a silk handkerchief to protect his +slumber from the flies, when, happening to glance towards the +shrubbery, he espied a remarkably fine crimson hollyhock overtopping +the laurels. He rubbed his eyes. He had invested in past years many +a shilling in hollyhock seed, but never till now had a plant bloomed +in his garden. + +"He rubbed his eyes, I say. But there stood the hollyhock. +He rushed from the room, through the back-doorway and down the +garden. My excellent mother, aroused from her siesta by the slamming +of the door, dropped the Family Bible from her lap, and tottered in +pursuit. She found my father at the angle of the shrubbery, at a +standstill before a tangled mass of vegetation. Hollyhocks, +sunflowers, larkspurs, lilies, carnations, stocks--every bulb, every +seed which the dead man had failed to cultivate--were ramping now and +climbing from his grave high into the light. My father tore his way +through the thicket to the tool-shed, dragged forth a hook and +positively hacked a path back to my mother, barely in time to release +her from the coils of a major convolvulus (_ipomoea purpurea) which +had her fast by the ankles. + +"Now, this story, which my father used to tell modestly enough, to +account for his success at our local flower-shows, seems to me to +hold a deeper significance, and a moral which I will not insult your +intelligence by extracting for you . . . The _actions_ of the just? +Foh!" continued Mr. Fett, and filled his mouth with melon. +"What about their _passions?_ Why, sir, yet another story occurs to +me, which might pass for an express epologue upon your father's +career. Did you never hear tell of the Grand Duchess Sophia of +Carinthia and her Three Wooers?" + +"Pardon me, Mr. Fett--" I began. + +"Pardon _me_, sir," he cut me short, with a flourish of his spoon. +"I know what you would say: that you are impatient rather to hear how +it is that you find me here in Genoa. That also you shall hear, but +permit me to come to it in my own way. For the moment your news has +unhinged me, and you will help my recovery by allowing me to talk a +little faster than I can think. . . . I loved your father, Cavalier. +. . . But our tale, just now, is of--" + + +"THE GRAND DUCHESS AND HER THREE WOOERS." + + +"Once upon a time, in Carinthia, there lived a Grand Duchess, of +marriageable age. Her parents had died during her childhood, leaving +her a fine palace and an ample fortune, which, however, was not--to +use the parlance of the Exchange--easily realizable, because it +consisted mainly in an avenue of polished gold. By this avenue, +which extended for three statute miles, the palace was approached +between two parallel lines of Spanish chestnuts. It ran in an +easterly direction and was kept in a high state of polish by two +hundred retainers, so that it shone magnificently every morning when +the Grand Duchess awoke, drew her curtains, and looked forth towards +the sunrise. + +"Her name was Sophia, and the charms of her young mind rivalled those +of her person. Therefore suitors in plenty presented themselves, but +only to be rejected by her Chancellor (to whom she left the task of +preliminary inspection) until he had reduced the list to three, whom +we will call Prince Melchior, Prince Otto, and Prince Caspar. +The two former reigned over neighbouring states, but Prince Caspar, I +have heard, came from the north, beyond the Alps. + +"A day, then, was fixed for these three to learn their fate, and they +met at the foot of the avenue, at the far end of which, on her palace +steps, stood the Grand Duchess to make her choice. Now, when Prince +Melchior came to the golden road, he thought it would be a sin and a +shame were his horse to set hoof on it and scratch it and perchance +break off a plate of it; so he turned aside and rode up along the +right of it under the chestnuts. Likewise and for the same reason +Prince Otto turned aside and rode on the left. But Prince Caspar +thought of the lady so devoutly and wished so much to be with her +that he never noticed the golden pavement at all, but rode straight +up the middle of it at a gallop. + +"When the three arrived, Sophia felt that she liked Prince Caspar best +for his impetuosity; but, on the other hand, she was terribly annoyed +with him for having dented her precious avenue with hoof-marks. +She temporized, therefore, professing herself unable to decide, and +dismissed them for three years with a promise to marry the one who in +that time should prove himself the noblest knight. + +"Thereupon Prince Melchior and Prince Otto rode away in anger, for +they coveted the golden road as well as the lady. Prince Melchior, +who loved fighting, went home to collect an army and avenge the +insult, as he called it. Prince Otto, whose mind worked more subtly, +set himself by secret means to stir up disaffection among the +Carinthians, telling them that their labour and suffering had gone to +make the splendid useless avenue of gold; and he persuaded them the +more easily because it was perfectly true. (He forbore to add that +ho coveted it for his own.) But Prince Caspar, having seen his +lady-love, could find no room in his heart either for anger or even +for schemes to prove his valour. He could think of her and of her +only, day and night. And finding that his thoughts brought her +nearer to him the nearer he rode to the stars, he turned his horse +towards the Alps, and there, on the summit, among the snows, lived +solitary in a little hut. + +"His mountain overlooked the plain of Carinthia, but from such a +height that no news ever came to him of the Grand Duchess or her +people. From his hut, to which never a woodman climbed, nor even a +stray hunter, he saw only a few villages shining when they took the +sun, a lake or two, and a belt of forest through which--for it hid +the palace--sometimes at daybreak a light glinted from the golden +avenue. But one night the whole plain broke out far and wide with +bonfires, and from the grand-ducal park--over which the sky shone +reddest--he caught the sound of a bell ringing. Then he bethought +him that the three years were past, and that these illuminations were +for the wedding; and he crept to bed, ashamed and sorrowful that he +had failed and another deserved. + +"Towards daybreak, as he tossed on his straw, he seemed to hear the +bells drawing nearer and nearer, until they sounded close at hand. +He sprang up, and from the door of his hut he saw a rider on muleback +coming up the mountain track through the snow. The rider was a +woman, and as she alighted and tottered towards him, he recognized +the Grand Duchess. He carried her in and set her before his fire; +and there, while he spread food before her, she told him that the +Princes Melchior and Otto had harried her lands and burnt her palace, +and were even now fighting with each other for the golden avenue. + +"Then," said Caspar, pulling his rusty sword from under a heap of +faggots, "I will go down and win it from them; for I see my hour +coming at last." + +But the Princess said, "Foolish man, it is here! And as for the +golden avenue, that too is here, or all that was ever worth your +winning." And thereupon she drew aside her cloak, shaking the snow +from it; and when the folds parted and the firelight fell on her +bosom, he saw a breastplate gleaming--a single plate of gold--and in +the centre of it the imprint of a horse's hoof. + +"So these two, Cavalier--or so the story reached me--lived content in +their silly hut, nor ever thought it worth their while to descend to +the plain and lose what they had found. . . . But you were good +enough just now to inquire concerning my own poor adventures." + +"Billy Priske," said I, "has given me some account of them up to your +parting from my father--at Calenzana, was it not?" + +"At Calenzana." Mr. Fett sighed assent. "Ah! Cavalier, it has been +a stony road we have travelled from Calenzana. _Infandum jubes +renovare dolorem_ . . . but Badcock must bear the blame." + + Badcock with his flute made trees-- + +Has it ever struck you sir, that Orpheus possibly found the gift of +Apollo a confounded nuisance; that he must have longed at times to +get rid of his attendant beasts and compose in private? Even so it +was with Badcock. + +"That infernal _mufro_ chivvied us up the road to Calvi and into the +very arms of a Genoese picket. The soldiers arrested us--there was +no need to arrest the _mufro_, for he trotted at our heels--and +marched us to the citadel, into the presence of the commandant. +To the commandant (acting, as I thought, upon a happy inspiration) I +at once offered the beast in exchange for our liberty. I was met +with the reply that, as between rarities, he would make no invidious +distinctions, but preferred to keep the three of us; and moreover +that the _mufro_ (which had already put a sergeant and two private +soldiers out of action) appeared amenable only to the strains of Mr. +Badcock's flute. . . . And this was a fact, Cavalier. At first, and +excusably, I had supposed the brute's behaviour to express aversion; +until, observing that he waited for the conclusion of a piece before +butting at Mr. Badcock's stomach, I discovered this to be his +rough-and-ready method of demanding an _encore_. + +"The commandant proved to be a _virtuoso_. Persons of that +temperament (as you may have remarked) are often unequal to the life +of the camp with its deadening routine, its incessant demand for +vigilance in details; and, as a matter of fact, he was on the point +of being superseded for incompetence. His recall arrived, and for a +short while he was minded to make a parting gift of us to his late +comrades-in-arms, sharing us up among the three regiments that +composed the garrison and endowing them with a _mascot_ apiece; but +after a sharp struggle selfishness prevailed and he carried us with +him to the mainland. There for a week or two, in an elegant palace +behind the _Darsena_, we solaced his retirement and amused a select +circle of his friends, till (wearying perchance of Badcock's +minstrelsy) he dismissed us with a purse of sequins and bade us go to +the devil, at the same time explaining that only the ingratitude he +had experienced at the hands of his countrymen prevented his offering +us as a gift to the Republic. + +"We left the city that afternoon and climbed the gorges towards Novi, +intending our steps upon Turin. The _mufro_ trotted behind us, and +mile after mile at the brute's behest--its stern behest, Cavalier-- +Mr. Badcock fluted its favourite air, _I attempt from love's sickness +to fly_. But at the last shop before passing the gate I had provided +myself with a gun; and at nightfall, on a ledge above the torrent +roaring at our feet, I did the deed. . . . Yes, Cavalier, you behold +a sportsman who has slain a wild sheep of Corsica. Such men are +rare. + +"The echoes of the report attracted a company of pedestrians coming +down the pass. They proved to be a party of comedians moving on +Genoa from Turin, whence the Church had expelled them (as I gathered) +upon an unjust suspicion of offending against public morals. +At sight of Badcock, their leader, with little ado, offered him a +place in the troupe. His ignorance of Italian was no bar; for +pantomime, in which he was to play the role of pantaloon, is enacted +(as you are aware) in dumb-show. Nay, on the strength only of our +nationality they enlisted us both; for Englishmen, they told me, are +famous over the continent of Europe for other things and for making +the best clowns. We therefore turned back with them to Genoa. + +"But oh, Cavalier! these bodily happenings which I recite to you, +what are they in comparison with the adventures of the spirit? +I am in Italy--in Genoa, to be sure, which of all Italian cities +passes for the unfriendliest to the Muse: but that is my probation. +I have embraced the mission of my life. Here in Italy--here in the +land of the vine, the olive--of Maecenas and the Medicis--it shall +be mine to revive the arts and to make them pay; and if I can win out +of this city of skinflints at a profit, I shall have served my +apprenticeship and shall know my success assured. The Genoese, +cavalier, are a banausic race, and penurious at that; they will go +where the devil cannot, which is between the oak and the rind; +opportunity given, they would sneak the breeches off a highlander: +they divide their time between commercialism and a licentiousness of +which, sordid as it is, they habitually beat down the price. And yet +Genoa is Italy, and has the feeling of Italy--the golden atmosphere, +the clean outlines, the amplitude of its public spaces, the very +shadows in the square, the statues looking down upon the crowd, the +pose, the colouring, of any chance poor onion-seller in the market--" + +But here Mr. Fett broke off his harangue to rise and salute the +Princess, who, entering with our host at her heels, turned to +Marc'antonio and bade him, as purse-bearer, count out the money for a +week's lodging. Payment in advance (it seemed) was the rule in +Genoa. Messer' Fazio bit each coin carefully as it was tendered, and +had scarcely pocketed the last before a noise at the front-door +followed by peals of laughter announced the arrival of our +fellow-lodgers. They burst into the room singing a chorus, +_O pescatore da maremma_, and led by Mr. Badcock, who wore a wreath +of seaweed a-cock over one eye and waved a dripping basket of +sea-urchins. Two pretty girls held on to him, one by each arm, and +thrust him staggering through the doorway. + +"O pesca--to--o--o--" Mr. Badcock's eyes, alighting on me, grew +suddenly large as gooseberries and he checked himself in the middle +of a roulade. "Eh! why! bless my soul, if it's not--" + +"Precisely," interjected Mr. Fett, with a quick warning wink and a +wave of his hand to introduce us. "_I pescatori da maremma_. +. . . To them enter Proteus with his attendant nymphs. . . . They +rush on him and bind him with strings of sausages (will the Donna +Julia oblige by tucking up her sleeves and fetching the sausages from +the back kitchen, _with_ a brazier?) The music, slow at first, +becomes agitated as the old man struggles with his captors; it then +sinks and breaks forth triumphantly, _largo maestoso_, as he +discourses on the future greatness of Genoa. The whole written, +invented, and entirely stage-managed by Il Signore Fetto, Director of +Periodic Festivities to the Genoese Republic. . . . To be serious, +ladies, allow me to present to you four fellow-lodgers from--er-- +Porto Fino, whom I have invited to share our repast. What ho! +without, there! A brazier! Fazio--slave--to the macaroni! Bianca, +trip to the cupboard and fetch forth the Val Pulchello. Badcock, +hand me over the basket and go to the ant, thou sluggard; and thou, +Rinaldo, to the kitchen, where already the sausages hiss, awaiting +thee. . . ." + +In less than twenty minutes we were seated at table. Master Fazio's +hotel (it appeared) welcomed all manner of strange guests, and +(thanks to Mr. Fett's dextrous tomfooling) the comedians made us at +home at once, without questions asked. Twice I saw Mr. Badcock, as +he held a mouthful of macaroni suspended on his fork, like an angler +dangling his bait over a fish, pause and roll his eyes towards me; +and twice Mr. Fett slapped him opportunely between the +shoulder-blades. + +He had seated me between the Duenna and the pretty Bianca, to both of +whom--for both talked incessantly--I gave answers at random; which +by-and-by the Columbine observed, and also that I stole a glance now +and then across the Princess, who was trying her best to listen to +the conversation of the Matamor. + +"Are you newly married, you two?" asked the Columbine, slily. +"Oh, you need not blush! She puts us all in the shade. You are in +love with her, at least? Well, she scorns us and is not clever at +concealing it: but I will not revenge myself by trying to steal you +away. I am magnanimous, for my part; and, moreover, all women love a +lover." + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + +VENDETTA. + + + "Have ye not seyn som tyme a pale face + Among a prees, of him that hath be lad + Toward his death, wher-as him gat no grace, + And swich a colour in his face hath had, + Men mighte knowe his face that was bistad, + Amonges alle the faces in that route." + CHAUCER. _Man of Lawe's Tale_. + +"Criticism," said Mr. Fett, with his mouth full of sausage, "is the +flower of all the arts." + +"For my part, I hate it," put in the melancholy Rinaldo. + +"To be sure," Mr. Fett conceded, "if all men grasped this great +truth, there would be an end of artists; and in time, by consequence, +of critics, who live by them and for whom they exist. Therefore I +keep my discovery as a Platonic secret, and utter it but +occasionally, in my cups, and when"--with a severe glance at Mr. +Badcock--"the vulgar are not attending." + +Mr. Badcock woke up at once. "On the contrary," he explained, +"I listen best with my eyes closed; a habit I acquired in Axminster +Parish Church. Indeed, I am all ears." + +"Indeed you are. . . . Well then, as I was about to say, the secret +of success in the Arts is to make other men do the work for you. +At this obviously he will excel who has learnt to appraise other +men's work, and knows exactly of what they are capable; that is to +say, the Critic. Believe me, dear friends, the happiest moment of my +life will come when, as _impresario_ I shall have realized the +ambition of giving myself, as _capo comico_, the sack at twenty-four +hours' notice." + +"A man should know his own worth," grumbled Rinaldo, "if only in +self-defence on pay-day." + +"'Tis notorious, my dear Rinaldo, that your mere artist never does. +Intent upon expressing self, he misses the detachment which alone is +Olympian; whereas the critic--Tell me, why is an architect +architectonic? Because he sits in his parlour, pushing the brown +sherry and chatting with his clients, while his clerks express their +souls for him in a back office. This lesson, O Badcocchio, I learnt +from an uncle of mine, who had amassed a tidy competence by thus +vicariously erecting a quite incredible number of villa residences +for retired tradesmen in the midlands--to be precise, in and around +Wolverhampton. I say vicariously, for on his deathbed it brought him +inexpressible comfort that he himself had not designed these things. + +"He was in many respects a remarkable man, and came near to being a +great one. His name originally was Lorenzo Smith, to which in later +years he added that of Desborough--partly for euphony, partly because +the initials made to his mind a pleasing combination, partly also in +pursuance of his theory of life, that he best succeeds who makes +others work for him. By annexing the Desborough patronymic--which, +however, he tactfully spelled Desboro', to avoid conflict with the +family prejudices--he added, at the cost of a trifling fee to the +Consistory Court of Canterbury, a flavour of old gentility to the +artistic promise of Lorenzo, the solid commercial assurance of Smith. +Together the three proved irresistible. He prospered. He died worth +twenty-five thousand pounds, which had indeed been fifty thousand but +for an unlucky error. + +"Like many another discoverer, he pushed his discovery too far. +He reasoned--but the reasoning was not _in pari materia_--that what +he had applied to Art he could apply to Religion. In compliment to +what he understood to be the ancient faith of the Desboroughs he had +embraced the principles of Roman Catholicism--his motto, by the way, +was _Thorough_--and this landed him, shortly after middle age, in an +awkward predicament. He had, in an access of spleen, set fire to the +house of a client whose payments were in arrear. The good priest who +confessed him recommended, nay enjoined, an expiatory pilgrimage to +Rome; and my uncle, on the excuse of a rush of orders, despatched a +junior clerk to perform the pilgrimage for him. + +"For a time all went well. The young man (whom my uncle had promoted +from the painting of public-house sign-boards) made his way to Rome, +saluted the statue of the Fisherman, climbed on his knees up the +Scala Sancta, laid out the prescribed sum on relics, beads, +scapulars, medals, and what-not, and, in short, fulfilled all the +articles of my uncle's vow. On the second evening, after an +exhausting tour of the churches, he sat down in a tavern, and +incautiously, upon an empty stomach, treated himself to a whole flask +of the white wine of Sicily. It produced a revulsion, in which he +remembered his Protestant upbringing; and the upshot was, a Switzer +found him, late that night, supine in the roadway beneath the Vatican +gardens, gazing up at the moon and damning the Pope. Behaviour so +little consonant with his letters of introduction naturally awoke +misgivings. He was taken to the cells, where he broke down, and with +crapulous tears confessed the imposture; which so incensed His +Holiness that my uncle only bought himself off excommunication by +payment of a crippling sum down, and an annual tribute of his own +weight (sixteen stone twelve) in candles of pure spermaceti. +O Badcock, fill Donna Julia's glass, and pass the bottle!" + + +We spent the next five days in company with these strange +fellow-lodgers, and more than once it gave me an uncanny feeling to +turn in the midst of Mr. Fett's prattle and, catching the eye of +Marc'antonio or Stephanu as they sat and listened with absolute +gravity, to reflect on the desperate business we were here to do. +We went about the city openly, no man suspecting us. On the day +after our arrival we discovered the Prince Camillo's quarters. +The Republic had lodged him, with a small retinue, in the Palazzo +Verde, a handsome building (though not to be reckoned among the +statelier palaces of the city), with a front on the Via Balbi, and a +garden enclosed by high walls, around which ran the discreetest of +_vicoli_. One of the Dorias, so tradition said, had built it to +house a mistress, early in the seventeenth century. I doubt not the +Prince Camillo found comfortable quarters there. For the rest, he +had begun to enjoy himself after the fashion he had learnt in +Brussels, returning to dissipation with an undisguised zest. +The Genoese--themselves a self-contained people, and hypocritical, if +not virtuous--made less than a nine days' wonder of him, he was so +engagingly shameless, so frankly glad to have exchanged Corsica for +the fleshpots. There was talk that in a few days he would make +formal and public resignation of his crown in the great hall of the +Bank of Saint George. Meanwhile, he flaunted it in the streets, the +shops, the theatres. His very publicity baulked us. We tracked him +daily--his sister and I, in our peasant dress; but found never a +chance to surprise him alone. His eyes, which rested nowhere, never +detected us. + +We hunted him together, not consulting Marc'antonio and Stephanu, but +rather agreeing to keep them out of the way. Indeed I divined that +the Princess's anxiety to hold him in sight was due in some degree to +her fear of these two and what they might intend. For my part, I +watched them of an evening, at Messer' Fazio's board, expecting some +sign of jealousy. But it appeared that they had resigned her to me, +and were content to be excluded from our counsels. + +Another thing puzzled me. Public as the Prince made himself, he was +never accompanied by his evil spirit (as I held him) the priest +Domenico. Yet--_ame damnee_, or master devil, whichever he might +be--I felt sure that the key of our success lay in unearthing him. +So, while the Princess tracked her brother, I begged off at whiles to +haunt the purlieus of the Palazzo Verde--for three days without +success. But on the fourth I made a small discovery. + +The rear of the Palazzo Verde, I have said, was surrounded by narrow +alleys, of which that to the south was but a lane, scarcely five feet +in width, dividing its garden from the back wall of another palace +(as I remember, one of the Durazzi). Halfway up this lane a narrow +door broke the wall of the Palazzo Verde's garden. I had tried this +door, and found it locked. + +On the afternoon of the fourth day, as I turned into this lane, a +middle-aged man met and passed me at the entrance, walking in a +hurry. I had no proof that he came from the garden-door of the +Palazzo Verde, but I thought it worthwhile to turn and follow him; +which I did, keeping at a distance, until he entered a goldsmith's +shop in the Strada Nuova, where presently, through the pane, I saw +him talking with a customer across the counter. I retraced my steps +to the lane. The door (needless to say) was closed; but behind it, +not far within the garden, I heard a gentle persistent tapping, as of +a hammer, and wondered what it might mean. + +It spoke eloquently for the Prince Camillo's zest after pleasure that +he pursued it abroad in spite of the weather, which was abominable. +A searching mistral blew through the streets for four days, parching +the blood, and on the night of the fourth rose to something like a +hurricane. Our players fought their way against it to the theatre, +only to find it empty; and returned in the lowest of spirits. +The pretty Bianca was especially disconsolate. + +Before dawn the gale dropped, and between eleven o'clock and noon, in +a flat calm, the snow began, freezing as it fell. + +The Prince Camillo did not show himself in the streets that day. +But towards dusk, as we passed down the Via Roma, he drove by in an +improvised sleigh with bells jingling on the necks of his horses. +He was bound for the theatre, which stood at the head of the street. +The Princess turned with me, and we were in time to see him alight +and run up the steps, radiant, wrapped in furs, and carrying a great +bouquet of pink roses, such as grow in the Genoese gardens throughout +the winter. + +But it appeared that, if we kept good watch on him, others had been +keeping better; for, five minutes later, as we stood debating whether +to follow him into the theatre, Marc'antonio and Stephanu emerged +from its portico and came towards us. + +"O Princess," said Marc'antonio, "we have seen him at length and had +word with him. When we told him that you were here in Genoa, he +looked at us for a moment like a man distraught--did he not, +Stephanu?" + +"One would have said he was going to faint," Stephanu corroborated. + +"I think, with all his faults, he is terrified for your sake, for the +risk you run. He implored us to get you away from the city; and when +we told him it was impossible, he sent word that he would come to you +after the play, and himself try to persuade you. We dared not let +him know where we lodged, for fear of treachery; so, being hurried, +we appointed the street by the Weavers' Gate, where, if you will meet +him, masked, a little after nine o'clock, Stephanu and I will be +near--in case of accidents--and doubtless the Cavalier also." + +"Did he say anything of the crown, O Marc'antonio?" + +"No, Princess, for we had not time. The crowd was all around us, you +understand; and he drew up and talked to us, forcing himself to +smile, like a nobleman amusing himself with two peasants. For the +crown, we shall leave you to deal with him." + +"And I shall hold you to that bargain, O Marc'antonio," said she. +"But what will you two be doing with yourselves meanwhile?" + +"With permission, Princess, we return to the theatre. We shall watch +the play, and keep our eyes on him; and at half-past seven o'clock +the girl Bianca dances in the ballet. Mbe! I have not witnessed a +ballet since my days of travel." + +"And I will run home, then, and fetch my mask. At nine o'clock, you +say?" + +"At nine, or a little after--and by the Weavers' Gate." + +"And you will leave him to me? You understand, you two, that there +is to be no violence." + +"As we hope for Heaven, Princess." + +"Farewell, then, until nine o'clock!" She dismissed them, and they +returned to the portico and passed into the theatre. "That is good," +said she, turning to me with a sigh that seemed to lift a weight from +her heart. "For, to tell the truth, I was afraid of them." + +For me, I was afraid of them still, having observed some constraint +in Marc'antonio as he told his story, and also that, though I tried +him, his eyes refused to meet mine. To be sure, there was a natural +awkwardness in speaking of the Prince to his sister. Nevertheless +Marc'antonio's manner made me uneasy. + +It continued to worry me after I had escorted the Princess back to +our lodgings. Across the court, in the chamber over the archway, +some one was playing very prettily upon a mandolin. In spite of the +cold I stepped to the outer door to listen, and stood there gazing +out upon the thick-falling snow, busy with my thoughts. +Yes, decidedly Marc'antonio's manner had been strange. . . . + +While I stood there, a clock, down in the city, chimed out the +half-hour. Its deep note, striking across the tinkle of the +mandolin, fetched me out of my brown study. Half-past seven. . . . +I had an hour and a half to spare; ample time to step down to the +Palazzo Verde and reconnoitre. If only I could hit upon some scent +of the priest Domenico! + +I started at a brisk pace to warm my blood, which had taken a chill +from the draught of the doorway. The snow by this time lay +ankle-deep, and even deeper in the pitfalls with which the ill-lit +streets abounded; but in twenty minutes I had reached the Via Balbi. +The wind was rising; in spite of the snow driven against my face I +had not noticed until I heard it humming in the alley which led under +the shadow of the garden wall. I had scarcely noticed it before my +ears caught the jingle of bells approaching swiftly down the Via +Balbi. + +"Eh?" thought I, "is the Prince returning, then, to change his dress? +Or has he sent home his carriage, meaning to pursue the adventure on +foot?" + +There was no time to run back to the street corner and satisfy my +curiosity. The horses went clashing past the head of the alley at a +gallop, and presently I heard the front gates of the palace grind +open on their great hinges. Half a minute later they were closed +again with a jar, and almost immediately the clocks of the city began +to toll out the hour. + +Was it my fancy? Or did the last note die away with a long-drawn +choking sound, as of some one struggling for breath? . . . +And, last time, it had been the tap-tap of a hammer. . . . +Surely, strange noises haunted this alley. . . . + +I listened. I knew that I must be standing near the small door in +the wall, though in the darkness I could not see it. The sinister +sound was not repeated. I could be sworn, though, that my eyes had +heard it; and still, for two minutes perhaps, I stood listening, my +face lifted towards the wall's coping. Then indeed I heard +something--not at all that for which I strained my ears, but a soft +muffled footfall on the snow behind me--and faced about on it, +clutching at the sailor's knife I wore in my belt. + +It was a woman. She had almost blundered into me as I stood in the +shadow of the wall, and now, within reach of my arm, drew back with a +gasp of terror. Terror indeed held her numb while I craned forward, +peering into her face. + +"Signorina Bianca!" + +"But what--what brings you?" she stammered, still between quick gasps +for breath. + +In the darkness, close by, a door slammed. + +"Ah!" said I, drawing in my breath. Stretching out a hand, I laid it +on her shoulder, from which the cloak fell away, disclosing a frosty +glint of tinsel. "So it was for _you_ the Prince drove home early +from the theatre! But why is the door left open?" + +Pretty Bianca began to whimper. "I--I do not know; unless some one +has stolen my key." She put a hand down to fumble in the pocket of +her cloak. + +"Then we had best discover," said I, and drew her (though not +ungently) to the door. I found it after a little groping and, +lifting the latch--for the gust of wind had fastened it--thrust it +open upon a light which, though by no means brilliant, dazzled me +after the darkness of the alley. + +I had counted on the door's opening straight into the garden. +To my dismay I found myself in a narrow vestibule floored with +lozenges of black and white marble and running, under the wall to my +left, towards an archway where a dim lamp burned before a velvet +curtain. For a moment I halted irresolute, and then, slipping a hand +under Bianca's arm, led her forward to the archway and drew aside the +curtain. + +Again I stood blinking, dazzled by the light of many candles--or were +they but two or three candles, multiplied by the mirrors around the +walls and the gleams from the gilded furniture? And what--merciful +God, _what!_--was that foul thing hanging from the central +chandelier?--hanging there while its shadow, thrown upward past the +glass pendants, wavered in a black blot that seemed to expand and +contract upon the ceiling? + +It was a man hanging there, with his neck bent over the curtain's +rope that corded it to the chandelier; a man in a priest's frock, +under which his bare feet dangled limp and hideous. + +As the unhappy Bianca slid from under my arm to the floor, I tiptoed +forward and stared up into the face. It was the face of the priest +Domenico, livid, distorted, grinning down at me. With a shiver I +sprang past the corpse for a doorway facing me, that led still +further into this unholy pavilion. The curtain before it had been +wrenched away from the rings over the lintel--by the hand, no doubt, +of the poor wretch as he had been haled to execution--since, save for +a missing cord, the furniture of the room was undisturbed. The room +beyond was bare, uncarpeted, and furnished like a workshop. +A solitary lamp burned low on a bracket, over a table littered with +tools, and in the middle of the room stood a brazier, the coals in it +yet glowing, with five or sick steel-handled implements left as they +had been thrust into the heart of the fire. Were they, then, also +torturers, these murderers? + +My eyes turned again to the work-table. On it, among the tools, +rested a crown--the crown of Corsica! Nay, there were two--two +crowns of Corsica! . . . In what new art of treachery had the man +been surprised? Treachery to Genoa, on top of treachery to Corsica. +. . . The crowns were surprisingly alike, even to the stones around +the band--and I bethought me of the jeweller I had met in the alley. +But, feeling around the rim of each, I recognized the true one by a +dent it had taken against the _Gauntlet's_ ballast. Quick as +thought, then, I whipped it under my arm, ran back to Bianca, and +thrust it under her cloak as I bent over her. + +She lay in a cold swoon. I could not leave her in this horrible +place. . . . + +I was lifting her to carry her out into the alley, when--in the +workshop or beyond it--a key grated in a lock; and I raised myself +erect as the Prince Camillo came through the pavilion, humming a +careless tune of opera. + +"Hola!" he broke off and called, "Hola, padre, where the devil are +you hiding? And where's the pretty Bianca? . . . O, confusion seize +your puss-in-the-corner! I shall be jealous, I tell you--and br-r-h! +what a mistral of a draught!" + +He came into the room rubbing his hands, half scolding, half +laughing, with the drops of melted snow yet shining on his furred +robe from his walk across the garden. I saw him halt on the +threshold and look about him, prepared to call "Hola!" once again. +I saw his eyes fall on the corpse dangling from the chandelier, fix +themselves on it, and slowly freeze. I saw him take one tottering +step forward; and then, from an alcove, Marc'antonio and Stephanu +stepped quietly out and posted themselves between him and retreat. + +"It will be best done quietly," said Marc'antonio. "The Cavalier, +there"--he pointed to me--"has the true crown, and will carry it to +good keeping. You will pardon us, O Cavalier, that we were forced to +tell the Princess an untruth this evening; but right is right, and we +could not permit her to interfere." + +In all my life I have never seen such a face as the Prince turned +upon us, knowing that he must die. The face grinning from the +chandelier was scarcely less horrible. + +He put up a hand to it. "Not here!" he managed to say. "In the next +room--not here!" + +"As your highness wishes." Marc'antonio let him pass into the +workshop and he stood before the brazier, stretching out his palms as +though to warm them. + +"These!" he whispered hoarsely, pointing to the instruments on the +brazier. + +"Your Highness misunderstands. We are not torturers, we of the +Colonne," answered Marc'antonio, gravely. + +A clock on the mantelpiece tinkled out the hour of nine. + +"No, nor shall be murderers," I interposed. "The Princess is yet +your mistress, O Marc'antonio, and I am her husband. In the +Princess's name I command you both that you do not harm him." + +To my amazement the wretched youth drew himself up, his cowardice +gone, his face twisted with sudden venomous passion. + +"_You? You_ will protect me? Dog, I can die, but not owe _that!_" + +I leapt forward, disregarding him, seeing that Marc'antonio's hand +was lifted, and that in it a dagger glittered. But before I could +leap the Prince had snatched one of the steel rods from the brazier-- +a charcoal rake. And as I struck up Marc'antonio's arm, the rake +crashed down on my skull, tearing the scalp with its white-hot teeth. + +I staggered back with both hands held to my head. I did not see the +stroke itself; but between my spread fingers I saw the Prince sink to +the floor with the handle of Marc'antonio's dagger between his +shoulder-blades. I saw the blood gush from his mouth. And with that +I heard scream after scream from the doorway where Bianca stood +swaying, and shouts from the garden answering her screams. + +"Foolish girl!" said Marc'antonio, quietly. "And yet, perhaps, so +best!" + +He stepped over the Prince's body, and taking me by both shoulders, +hurried me through the room where the priest hung, and forth into the +vestibule. Stephanu did the same with Bianca, halting on his way to +catch up the crown and wrap it carefully in the girl's cloak. At the +garden gate he thrust the bundle into my hands, even as Marc'antonio +pushed us both into the lane. + +Outside the door I caught at the wall and drew breath, blinking while +the hot blood ran over my eyes. I looked for them to follow and help +me, for I needed help. But the door was closed softly behind us, and +a moment later I heard their footsteps as they ran back along the +vestibule, back towards the shouting voices; then, after a long +silence, a shot; then a loud cry, "CORSICA!" and another shot. + + +"They have killed him?" + +I turned feebly to Bianca; but Bianca had not spoken. She leaned, +dumb with fright, against the wall of the alleyway, and stared at the +Princess, who faced us, panting, in the whirls of snow. + +"I tried"--it was my own voice saying this--"yes, indeed, I tried to +save him. He would not, and they killed him . . . and now they also +are killed." + +"Yes--yes, I heard them." She peered close. "Can you walk? Try to +think it is a little way; for it is most necessary you should walk." + +I had not the smallest notion whether I could walk or not. +It appeared more important that my head was being eaten with red-hot +teeth. But she took my arm and led me. + +"Go before us, foolish girl, and make less noise," she commanded the +sobbing Bianca. + +"But you must try for _my_ sake," she whispered, "to think it but a +little way." + + +And I must have done so with success; for of the way through the +streets I remember nothing but the end--a light shining down the +passage of Messer' Fazio's house, a mandolin still tinkling over the +archway behind us, and a door opening upon a company seated at table, +the faces of all--and of Mr. Fett especially--very distinct under the +lamp-light. They rose--it seemed, all at once--to welcome us, and +their faces wavered as they rose. + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + +THE SUMMIT AND THE STARS. + + + "Aucassins, biax amis doux + En quel terre en irons nous? + --Douce amie, que sai jou? + Moi ne caut u nous aillons, + En forest u en destor, + Mais que je soie aveuc vous!" + _Aucassin and Nicolete. + + "E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle." + _Dante_. + +I awoke to a hum of voices . . . but when my eyes opened, the +speakers were gone, and I lay staring at an open window beyond which +the sky shone, blue and deep as a well. On a chair beside the window +sat the Princess, her hands in her lap. . . . While I stared at her, +two strange fancies played together in my mind like couples crossing +in a dance; the first, that she sat there waiting for something to +happen, and had been waiting for a very long, an endless, while; the +other that her body had grown transparent. The sunlight seemed to +float through it as through a curtain. + +I dare say that I lay incapable of movement; but this did not +distress me at all, for I felt no desire to stir--only a contentment, +deep as the sky outside, to rest there and let my eyes rest on her. +Yet either I must have spoken or (yes, the miracle was no less +likely!) she heard my thoughts; for she lifted her head and, rising, +came towards me. As she drew close, her form appeared to expand, +shutting out the light . . . and I drifted back into darkness. + +By-and-by the light glimmered again. I seemed to be rising to it, +this time, like a drowned man out of deep water; drowned, not +drowning, for I felt no struggle, but rather stood apart from my body +and watched it ascending, the arms held downwards, rigid, the palms +touching its thighs--until at the surface, on the top of a wave, my +will rejoined it and forced it to look. Then I knew that I had been +mistaken. The sky was there, deep as a well; and, as before, it +shone through an opening; and the opening had a rounded top like the +arch of a window; yet it was not a window. As before, my love sat +between me and the light, and the light shone through her. My bed +rocked a little under me, and for a while I fancied myself on board +the _Gauntlet_, laid in my bunk and listening to the rolling of her +loose ballast--until my ear distinguished and recognized the sound +for that of wheels, a low rumble through which a horse's footfall +plodded, beating time. + +I was scarcely satisfied of this before the sound grew indistinct +again and became a murmur of voices. The arch that framed the +sunlight widened; the sky drew nearer, breaking into vivid separate +tinctures--orange, blood-red, sapphire-blue; and at the same time the +Princess receded and diminished in stature. . . . The frame was a +window again, and she a figure on a coloured pane, shining there in a +company of saints and angels. But her voice remained beside me, +speaking with another voice in a great emptiness. + +The other voice--a man's--talked most of the while. I could not +follow what it said, but by-and-by caught a single word, "Milano"; +and again two words, "The mountains" and yet again, but after an +interval, "The people are poor; they give nothing; from year's end to +year's end"--and the voice prolonged itself like an echo, repeating +the words until, as they died away, they seemed to measure out the +time. + +"The more reason why _you_--" began the Princess's voice. +"There shall be spared one--a little one--for Our Lady." + +But here I felt myself drifting off once more. I was as one afloat +in a whirlpool, now carried near to a straw and anon swept away as I +clutched at it. + +The eddy brought me round again to the window that was no window, the +rumble of wheels, the plodding of a horse's hoofs. Beyond the low +arch--or was it a pent?--shone a star or two, and against their pale +radiance a shadow loomed--the shadow of the Princess, still seated, +still patient, still with her hands in her lap. The rumble of the +wheels, the slow rocking of my bed beneath me, fitted themselves to +the intermittent flash of the stars, and beat out a rhythm in my +memory--a rhythm, and by degrees the words to fit it-- + + "Tanto ch'io vidi delle cose belle + Che porta il ciel, per un pertugio tondo, + E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle." + +_A riveder le stelle_--I closed my eyes, opened them again, and lo! +the stars were gone. In their place shone pale dawn, touching the +grey-white arch of a tilt-waggon, on the floor of which I lay in a +deep litter of straw. But still by the tilt, between me and the +dawn, rested my love, and drowsed, still patient, her hands in her +lap. + +"At last! At last!" + +She called to the driver--I could not see him, for I lay with my face +to the tilt--and he pulled up his horse with a jolt. Belike he had +been slumbering, and with the same jolt awoke himself. I tried to +lift a hand--I think to brush away the illusion of the window and its +painted panes. + +Maybe, slight as it was, she mistook the movement to mean that I felt +stifled under the hood of the waggon and wanted air. At any rate, +she called again, and the driver (I have clean forgotten his face), +left his reins and came around to her. Between them they lifted me +out and laid me on a bank between the road and a water-course that +ran beside it. I heard the water rippling, near by, and presently +felt the cool, delicious touch of it as she dipped up a little in her +hollowed palms and moistened my bandages. + +Our waggon had come to a halt in the very centre (as it seemed) of a +great plain, criss-crossed with dykes and lines of trees, and dotted +with distant hamlets. The hamlets twinkled in the fresh daylight, +and in the nearest one--a mile back on the road--a fine campanile +stood up against the sun, which pierced through three windows in its +topmost story. So flat was the plain that mere sky filled +nine-tenths of the prospect; and all the wide dome of it tinkled with +the singing of larks. + +"_Ma dove? dove?_ . . ." + +The Princess pointed, and far on the road, miles beyond the waggon, +I saw that which no man, sick or hale, sees for the first time in his +life without a lift of the heart--the long glittering rampart of the +Alps. + +"Do we cross them?" + +"_Pianu_. . . . In time, O beloved; thou and I . . . all in good +time." + +I gazed up at her, half-frightened by the tenderness in her voice; +and what I saw frightened me wholly. The sullenness had gone from +her eyes; as a mother upon the child in her lap, so she looked down +upon me; but her face was wan, even in the warm sunlight, and +pinched, and hollow-eyed. I lifted her hand--a little way only, my +own being so weak. It was frail, transparent, as though wasted by +very hunger. + +She read the question I could not ask, and answered it with a brave +laugh. (It appeared, then, that she had taught herself to laugh.) + +"We have been sick, thou and I. The mountains will cure us." + +I looked along the road towards them, then up at her again. +I remembered afterwards that though she spoke so cheerfully of the +mountains, her gaze had turned from them, to travel back across the +plain. + +"A little while!" she went on. "We must wait a little while to +recover our strength. But there are friends yonder, to help us." + +"Friends?" I echoed, wondering that I possessed any. + +"You must leave all talk to me," she commanded; "and, if you are +rested, we ought not to sit idling here." She helped the driver to +lift me back into the waggon, where, as it moved on, she seated +herself in the straw and took my hand. All her shyness had gone, +with all her sullenness. + +"There is a farm," began she, "a bare twelve leagues from here, says +the waggoner, who knows it. I carry a letter to the farmer from his +brother, who is the parish priest of Trecate, and a good man. +He says that his brother, too, is a good man, and will show us +kindness for his sake, because the farm once belonged to my friend, +as the elder, until he gave it up to follow God. The pair have not +met since twenty years; for Trecate lies not far from Milan, and the +farm is deep in the mountains, above a village called Domodossola, +where the folk are no travellers. . . ." + +Here her voice faded into a dream again; for a very little waking +wearied me, then and for weeks to come, and the word Milano brought +back the church, the stained window, the priest's voice talking, and +confused all these with the rumbling of the waggon. But I held my +love's hand, and that was enough. + +We came that same evening to the shore of a lake, beautiful as a pool +dropped out of Paradise, and the next day crawled uphill, hour after +hour, over a jolting road to the village, where I lay while the +driver climbed to the farm with the Princess's letter. He was gone +five hours, but returned with the farmer, and the farmer's tall +eldest son; and the pair had brought a litter, in which to carry me +home. + +The name of this good man was Bavarello--Giacomo Bavarello--and he +lived with his wife Battestina in a house full of lean children and +live-stock. The house had deep overhanging eaves, held down by cords +and weighted with rocks; but this must have been rather in deference +to the custom of the country than as a precaution against storms, for +the farmstead lay cosily in a dingle of the mountain, where storms +never reached it. Yet it took the sun from earliest dawn almost to +the last beam of midsummer daylight. Behind it a pine forest climbed +to the snow; and up and across the snow a corniced path traversed the +face of the mountain and joined the _diligence_-road a little below +the summit of the pass. At the point of junction stood a small +chapel, with a dwelling-room attached, where lived a brother from the +Benedictine _hospice_ on the far side of the pass. His name was +Brother Polifilo, and it was supposed that he had fallen in love with +solitude (else how could he have endured to live in such a place?); +yet his smile justified his name, and his manner of playing with the +children when he descended to bring us the consolations of religion-- +which he did by arrangement with the infirm parish priest in the +valley. Also, on fine mornings when the snow held and the little +ones could be trusted along the path, the entire household of the +Bavarelli would troop up to Mass in his tiny chapel. + +For me, it was many weeks before my sick brain allowed me to climb +beyond the pines; and many weeks, though the Princess always went +with me--before she told me all the story of what had happened in +Genoa. Yet we talked much, at one time and another, though we were +silent more; for the silences told more. Only our talk and our +silences were always of the present. It was understood that the +whole story of the past would come, some day, when I had strength for +it. Of the future we never spoke. I could not then have told why; +though now all too well I can. + +Sick man though I was, bliss filled those days for me, and their +memory is steeped in bliss. Yet a thought began, after a while, to +trouble me. We were living on these poor Bavarelli, and, for aught I +knew, paying them not a penny. The good farmer might be grateful to +his priest-brother down yonder; but even if his gratitude were +inexhaustible we--strangers as we were--ought not to test it so. +To be sure, he and his wife wore a smile for us, morning and +evening--and this, though I had a notion that Donna Battestina was of +a saving disposition. I had heard the pair of them protest when the +Princess offered to make herself useful in the farm-work--for which +she was plainly unfit--or, failing that, in the housework. They had +made up their minds about us, that we were persons of gentle blood, +to whom all work must be derogatory. + +The next day I insisted on climbing the slope to the pine-wood +without support of her arm. + +"It is time," said I, "that I grew strong; unless somewhere you are +hiding a fairy purse." + +She looked at me--for between us, by this time, one spoken word would +be the key to a dozen unspoken. "You are not fit to start," she +stammered hastily, "nor will be for a long while. There are +mountains behind these, and again more mountains--" She broke off +and sat down upon a pine-log, trembling. + +"I was not thinking of that," said I; "but of these people and their +hospitality. Since we have no money I must work for them--at least, +until I can get money sent from England." + +She glanced at me again, and with a shiver up at the snow peaks +beyond the pines. I could read that she struggled with something, +deep within her, and I waited. By-and-by she leaned forward, clasped +her hands about her knee, and sat silent for a long minute, gazing +southward over the plain at our feet. + +"Listen," she said at length, but without turning her eyes. "I have +something to confess to you." Her voice dragged upon the words; but +she went on, "You have not asked me what has happened in Genoa +after--that night. The snow covered up our footmarks and the +blood--for you were bleeding all the way; but at our lodgings the +actors were frightened out of their wits, and worse than ever when I +told them what had happened to Marc'antonio and Stephanu. They would +all be arrested, they declared; the Bank of Genoa had eyes all over +the city. Nevertheless one of them showed great courage. It was +that strange friend of yours, Messer' Badcock. My first thought was +to get you down to the boat and slip away to sea; and he offered--he +alone--first of all to make his way to the harbour and bring word if +the coast (as he said) was clear. He went very cautiously, by way of +a cellar leading under our house and the next, and opening on a back +street--this, that his steps might not be traced to the front door; +and it was well that he went, for on the quay, hiding behind a stack +of timber, he saw two men in uniform posted at the head of the +water-stairs. So he hastened back, using less caution, because by +this time the snow had smoothed over his tracks, and was falling +faster every moment. The actors had already begun to pack, and +Messer' Fazio was running about in a twitter, albeit he declared +that, beside themselves, not a soul in Genoa knew of his having +lodged these Corsicans. Doubtless, however, his house would be +searched in the morning, and the important, the pressing need was to +get rid of us. + +"In his haste he could think of nothing better than an old +onion-loft, some sixty paces up the lane at the back. It was a store +merely, not connected with any house, but owned by a rich merchant of +the city who had acquired it for some debt and straightway forgotten +all about it--at least, so Messer' Fazio declared. If we were +discovered in hiding there, it could be explained that we had found +it, and used it for a lodging, asking no man's leave; and suspicion +would fall on no good citizen. + +"I made sure that you were dying, and for myself I was past caring; +so I thanked him and told him to do with us as he thought best. +He and Messer' Badcock carried you out then, and I followed. +The building was of two floors, with a door to each. A flight of +steps led from the lane to the upper door, which was padlocked; and +no one had used that way for twenty years, or so the landlord said. +We entered by the lower door, which was broken--both hasp and hinge-- +and led straight from the lane into a dirty cellar, worse than any +cowshed and paved with mud. But from this a ladder rested against +the wooden ceiling, and just above it was a plank that had worked +loose. Messer' Fazio slipped the plank aside, and with great pains +we carried you up through the opening and into the loft. I had +bandaged your head so that we left no traces of blood in the lane or +on the floor below. Then Messer' Fazio gathered up some onions which +were strewn on the floor--I believe he had been drying them there on +the sly--and took leave of us in a hurry. When he reached the bottom +again, he carried away the ladder, declaring that it belonged to him. + +"I had brought with me but a loaf of bread, a flask of milk, and one +thing else--I will tell you what that was, by-and-by. I sat by you, +waiting for you to die. When morning came I forced you to drink some +of the milk. The loft was bitterly cold, and I wondered indeed that +you were not dead. + +"Towards evening I felt faint with hunger, and was gnawing a piece of +my loaf, when a voice spoke up to me from below. It was a woman's +voice, and I took it at first for Lauretta's--she was the girl, you +remember, who played the confidante's part and such-like. But when I +pulled the plank a little aside and looked down, I saw a girl unknown +to me--until I recognized her for one of those who lived above the +archway at the entrance of Messer' Fazio's court. Lauretta had told +her, swearing her to be secret, and she was here in pity. She called +herself Gioconda; and I bless her, for your sake. + +"She fetched me bread, milk, and a little wine. But for her--for +Messer' Fazio came never near us, and the actors, she told me, had +decamped--we should both have perished. The cold lasted for ten +days; I cannot tell how you endured it; but at the end of them I +hoped you might recover, and with that I tried to think of some plan +for escaping from Genoa. The worst was, I had no money. . . ." + +The Princess paused, and shivered a little. + +"That cold . . . it is in my bones yet. I feel as though the least +touch of it now would kill me . . . and I want to live. Ah, my love, +turn your eyes from me while I tell you what next I did! +The crown . . . it belonged to Corsica. I had denied your right to +it; but you had won it back from dishonour, and I remembered that in +the band of it were jewels, the price of which might save you. +Moreover, the little that kept us from starving came from--those +women; and it was hateful to owe them even for a little bread. +So I felt then. Afterwards--But you shall hear; only turn away your +eyes. I prayed to the Virgin, but my prayers seemed to get no clear +answer. . . . Then I pulled a staple from the wall, and with the +point of it prised out one of the jewels, an amethyst. . . . I had +spoken already to Gioconda. That evening she brought me one of her +dresses, with shoes, stockings, and underskirt; a mirror, too, and +brush and comb, with paints, powders, and black stuff for the +eye-lashes, all in the same bundle, which she passed up through the +floor. I dressed myself, painted my face, tired my hair, till I +looked like even such a woman as Gioconda; and then, letting myself +down at dark by a rope made of the sheet I drew from under you, I ran +through the streets to the quarter of the merchants. La Gioconda had +forgotten to pack a cloak in the bundle; the night was snowing, with +snow underfoot; and I had run past the quays before the fear struck +me that, at so late an hour, the jewellers would have closed their +shops. But in the street behind the Dogano I found one open, and the +jeweller asked no questions. It appeared that he was used to such +women, and, having examined the stone through his magnifying-glass, +he counted me out three hundred livres. + +"I ran back, faster than I had come, and climbed to the loft, hand +over hand, with the money weighing me down. It was in my mind to +bribe one of the market-women, through Gioconda, to smuggle you out +through the North Gate, under the baskets in her cart. But the day +had scarcely broken before Gioconda came (and she had never come yet +until evening) with terrible news. She said that I must count on her +no more, for the accursed clericals (as she called them) had made +interest with the Genoese Government to clear all the stews, and that +she and her sisters by the gateway had orders to be quit of the city +within twenty-four hours; in fact her sisters had begun to pack +already, and the whole party would drive away, with their belongings, +soon after night-fall. I asked her whither. 'To Milan,' she said; +for at Turin the Church was even stronger and more bigoted than in +Genoa. + +"A new thought came to me then. I handed down my money to Gioconda, +keeping back only a little, and prayed her to go to the woman, her +mistress, and bargain with her to carry you out of the city, +concealed beneath the furniture. The girl clapped her hands at the +notion, and ran, but in an hour's time came creeping back in tears. +The woman would have more money--even threatened to betray us unless +I found her five hundred livres in all. . . . + +"I borrowed Gioconda's shawl and sent her away, charging her to +return before evening. Then I loosened another stone from the +crown--a sardonyx--and again I went out through the streets to the +jeweller's. It was worse now than by night, for the people stared, +and certain men followed me. I took them for spies at first; but +presently my stupid brain cleared, and I guessed for what they +mistook me; and then I kept them at their distance, using such tricks +as in Brussels I had seen the women use. . . ." + +"O brave one! O beloved!" + +I stretched out my hand, but she turned from the caress, and hurried +on with her tale, her eyes still fastened on the distant plain, her +voice held level on the tone of a child reciting its task. + +"The jeweller, too, asked many questions. I think he was suspicious +at my coming twice in a few hours. But the sardonyx was a finer +stone than the amethyst, and he ended by giving me three hundred and +fifty livres. Two of the men were loitering for me outside the shop. +I gave them a false address and walked home quickly, longing to run +but not daring. To mislead the men, in case they were following, I +made first for the house by the archway, and there on the stairs I +met the woman coming down with a bundle of stuff. + +"I bargained with her, then and there. There was a horrible man +belonging to the house, and at night-fall he fetched you, a little +before the carts arrived; and this was not a minute too soon. +For a crowd came with the carts. While the loading went on they +stood around the door, calling out vile jokes, and afterwards they +followed through the streets, waving torches and beating upon old +pans. I sat in the second cart, among half a dozen women. +My face was painted, and I smiled when they smiled. But you lay +under the straw at my feet; and when the gate was passed, while the +women were calling back insults to the soldiers there, I gave thanks +to Our Lady. + +"Beloved, that is my story. At Tortona I parted from the women, and +hired the waggon which brought us the rest of the way. But I had +done better, perhaps, to go with them to Milan, as Gioconda advised. +For my money began to run low, and, save Milan, there was no large +town on the road where I could sell another jewel. Yet here again +Our Lady helped; for at Trecate I found the good priest, the brother +of these Bavarelli, and he, having heard my tale, offered to travel +to Milan and do my business. So I parted with two more of the +stones; and yet a third--a little one--I gave him for Our Lady of +Trecate, as a thank-offering. We have money enough to reward these +good people, though they lodge us for yet another six months; but the +crown has only one stone remaining. It is a diamond--set in the very +front of the band--and, I think, more valuable than all the rest." + +Her voice came to a halt. "O beloved," she asked after a while, +quietly, almost desperately, "why are you silent? Can you not +forgive?" + +"Forgive?" I echoed. "Dear, I was silent, being lost in wonder, in +love. Forget that foolish crown; forget even Corsica! Soon we will +take the diamond and cross the mountains together, to a kingdom +better than Corsica. There," I wound up, forcing myself to speak +lightly, "if ever dispute should arise between us, as king and queen +we will ask my uncle Gervase to decide. He, gallant man, will say, +'Prosper, to whom do you owe your life?' . . ." + +"The mountains? Ah, not yet--not yet!" She put out her hands and +crept to me blindly, nestling, pressing her face against my ragged +coat. "A little while," she sobbed while I held her so. "A little +while!--until the child--until our child--" + + +How can I write what yet remains to be written? + +Our child was never born. So often, hand in hand, we had climbed to +the pine-woods that it escaped my notice how she, who had used to be +my support, came by degrees to lean on my arm. I saw her broken by +fasting and vigil, and for me, I winced at the sound of her cough. +The blood on her handkerchief accused me. "But we must wait until +the child is born," I promised myself, "and the mountain air will +quickly cure her." Fool! the good farm-people knew better. While I +gained strength, day by day she was wasting. "Only let us cross the +mountains," I prayed, "and at home all my life shall pay for her +love!" Fool, again! She would never cross the mountains, now. + +There came a day when I climbed the pine-wood alone. With my new +strength, and because her weight was not on my arm, I climbed higher +than usual; and then the noise of chopping drew me on to the upper +edge of the forest, where I found Brother Polifilo with his sleeves +rolled, hacking at a tree. He dropped his axe and stared at me, as +at a ghost. I could not guess what perturbed him; for he had called +at the farm but the day before and heard me boast of my new strength. + +I sat down to watch him. But after a stroke or two his arm appeared +to fail him, and he desisted. Without a word, almost without looking +at me, he laid the axe over his shoulder and went up the path towards +his chapel. + +I gazed after him, wondering. Then, of a sudden, I understood. + + +Three days later she died. To the end they could not persuade me it +was possible; nay at the very end, while she lay panting against my +arm, I could not believe. + +She died quietly--so quietly. A little before the end she had been +restless, lying with a pucker on her brow, and eyes that asked +pitiably for something--I could not guess what, until she turned them +to the chair, over the back of which (for the day was sultry), I had +tossed my coat. + +I reached for the coat and slipped it on. Her eyes grew glad at +once. + +"Closer!" she whispered. As I bent closer, she nestled her face +against it. "_La macchia! . . . la macchia!_" + +With that last breath, drawing in the scent of it, she laid her head +slowly back, and slept. + + +The Bavarelli took it for granted that I would bury her in the +graveyard, down the valley. But I consulted with Brother Polifilo. +I argued that every high mountain-top by its very nature came within +the definition of consecrated ground; and after a show of reluctance +he accepted the heresy, on condition I allowed him first to visit the +spot chosen and recite the prayer of consecration over it. + +We laid her in the coffin that Brother Polifilo brought, and carried +her to the summit of the mountain overlooking the pass, where the +rock had allowed us to dig the shallowest of graves. Beside it, when +the coffin was covered, I said good-bye to the Bavarelli and +dismissed them down the hill. They understood that I had yet a word +to speak to the good monk. + +"One thing remains," I said, and showed him the crown with the five +empty settings, and the one diamond yet glittering in its band. + +"Help me to build a cairn," said I. + +So he helped me. We built a tall cairn, and I laid the crown within +it. + +The sun was setting as we laid the last stone in place. We walked in +silence down to the pass, and there I shook hands with him by the +little chapel, and received his blessing before setting my face +northwards. + +I dare say that he stood for a long while, watching me as I descended +the curves of the road. But I never once looked back until I had +crossed the valley, far below. The great peak rose behind me; and it +seemed to me that on its summit a diamond shone amongst the stars. + + + +POSTSCRIPT. + + +BY GERVASE ARUNDEL. + + + July 15 (St. Swithun's), 1761. + +My nephew has asked me to write the few words necessary to conclude +this narrative. + +The day after my brother's burial, the _Gauntlet_, in company with +General Paoli's gunboat, _Il Sampiero_, weighed and left the island +of Giraglia for Isola Rossa, where by agreement we were to wait one +calendar month before sailing for England. + +The foregoing pages will sufficiently explain why the month passed +without my nephew's putting in an appearance. For my part, albeit my +arguments had been powerless to dissuade him from going to Genoa, I +never expected him to return, but consoled myself with the knowledge +that he had gone to his fate in a good cause, and in a spirit not +unworthy of his father. + +We were highly indebted during our stay at Isola Rossa to the +General, who, being detained there by the business of his new +fortifications, exerted himself that we should not lack a single +comfort, and seemed to inspire a like solicitude in his subjects. +I call the Corsicans his subjects since (if the reflection may be +permitted) I never met a man who carried a more authentic air of +kingliness--and I am not forgetting my own dear brother-in-law. +Alive, these two men met face to face but once; and Priske, who +witnessed the meeting, yet understood but a bare word or two of what +was said, will have it that for dignity of bearing the General would +not compare with his master. The honest fellow may be right; for +certainly no one could speak with John Constantine and doubt that +here was one of a line of kings. Nevertheless to me +(a matter-of-fact man), Paoli appeared scarcely less imposing in +person, and withal bore himself with a businesslike calm which, in a +subtle way I cannot describe, seemed to tolerate the others, yet +suggest that, beside his own purpose, theirs were something unreal. +As an Englishman I should say that he felt the weight of public +opinion behind him all the while, without which in these days the +kingliest nature must miss something of gravity. Yet he has proved +more than once that no public man can be more quixotic, upon +occasion. + +It distressed me to find that the Queen Emilia would have none of his +courtesies; as I think it distressed him, though he comported himself +perfectly. She rejected, and not too graciously, his offer to +restore her to her palace at Casalabriva and secure her there against +all enemies. From the first she had determined, failing her son's +return, to sail with us to England; and sail she did. + +But from the first I doubted her reaching it alive. Her sufferings +had worn her out, and it is a matter of dispute between Dom Basilio +(who administered the last sacrament), and me whether or no her eyes +ever saw the home to which we carried her. They were open, and she +was certainly breathing, when we made the entrance of Helford river; +for we had lifted her couch upon deck and propped her that she might +catch the earliest glimpse of Constantine above the trees. They were +open when we dropped anchor, but she was as certainly dead. She lies +buried in the private chapel of the house, disused during my +brother-in-law's lifetime, but since restored and elaborately +decorated by our Trappist guests. A slab of rose-pink Corsican +granite covers her, and is inscribed with the words, "Orate pro anima +Emiliae, Corsicorum Reginae," the date of her death, and beneath it a +verse which I took to be from the Vulgate until Parson Grylls +quarrelled with Dom Basilio over it-- + + "CRAS AMET QVI NVNQVAM AMAVIT QVIQVE AMAVIT CRAS AMET." + + +As I have said, I had parted with all hope to see my nephew again: +and it but confirmed my despair when I received a letter from General +Paoli with news that the Prince Camillo had been assassinated; for +neither his sister nor Prosper had said word to me of the young man's +treachery, and I concluded that they had bound themselves to rescue +him, an unwilling prisoner. In our last brief leave-taking on the +island, Prosper had confided to me certain wishes of his concerning +the house at Constantine, and the disposal of his estate; wishes of +which I need only say here that they obliged me after a certain +interval to get his death "presumed" (as the phrase is), and for that +purpose to ride up to London and seek counsel with our lawyer, Mr. +Knox. + +I arrived in London early in the second week of November, 1760--a +few days after the decease of our King George II.; and, my business +with Mr. Knox drawing to a conclusion, it came into my head to +procure a ticket and go visit the Prince's chamber, near the House of +Peers, where his Majesty's body lay in state. This was on the very +afternoon of the funeral, that would start for the Abbey after +nightfall, and at Westminster I found a throng already gathered in +the mud and murk. In the _chambre ardente_, which was hung with +purple, a score of silver lamps depended from the roof around a tall +purple canopy, under which the corpse reposed in its open coffin, +flanked with six immense silver candelabra. Between the candelabra +and at the head and foot of the coffin stood six gigantic soldiers of +the guard, rigid as statues, with bowed heads and arms reversed. +Only their eyes moved, and I dare say that I stared at them in +something like terror. Certainly a religious awe held me as the +pressure of the sightseers carried me forth from the doors again and +into the street, where I wedged myself into the crowd, and waited for +the procession. By this time a fog had rolled up from the river, and +the foot-guards who lined the road had begun to light their torches. +Behind them were drawn up the horse-guards, their officers erect in +saddle, with naked sabres and heavy scarves of crape. There amid the +sounds of minute guns, and of bells tolling I must have waited a full +hour before the procession came by--the fifes, the muffled drums, the +yeomen of the guard staggering with the great coffin, the +pall-bearers and peers walking two and two, with pages bearing their +heavy trains. All this I watched as it went by, and with a mind so +shaken that a hand from behind had plucked twice or thrice at my +elbow before I was aware that any one claimed my attention. +Then, turning with a moisture in my eyes--for the organ had begun to +sound within the abbey--I found myself staring past the torch of a +foot-guard and into the face of my nephew, risen from the dead! +He was haggard, unkempt in his hair and dress, and (I think) had been +fasting for a long while without being aware of his hunger. He drew +me back and away from the crowd; but when I had embraced him, it +seemed that to all my eager questions he had nothing to answer. + +"I was starting for Cornwall, to-morrow," he said. "Shall we travel +together?" And then, as though painfully recollecting, he passed a +hand over his forehead and added, "I have walked half-way across +Europe. I am a good walker by this time." + +"We will hire horses, to be sure," said I, finding nothing better to +say. + +The age, the lines in his young face cut me to the heart, and I +longed to ask concerning the Princess, but dared not. + +"Horses? Ah, yes, to be sure, I come back to riches. Nay, my dear +uncle, you are going to tell me that the estates are mortgaged deep +as ever--I know. But allow me to tell you there is all the world's +difference between poverty that is behindhand with its interest, and +poverty that has to trust God for its next meal." + +At the eating-house to which I carried him he held out his scarred +palms to me across the table. + +"They have worked my way for me from the Alps," said he. "I left my +crown there, and"--he laughed wearily--"I come back to find another +monarch in the act of laying aside a greater one. My God! +The vanity of it!" + +He drank off a glass of wine. "Find me a bed, Uncle Gervase," said +he. "I feel that I can sleep the clock round." + + +We rode out of London next day. He started in a fret to be home, but +this impatience declined by the way, and by the time we crossed Tamar +had sunk to a lethargy. Sore was I to mark the dull gaze he lifted +(by habit) at the corner of the road where Constantine comes into +view; and sorer the morning after, when, having put gun into his hand +and packed him off with Diana, the old setter, at his heel, I met him +an hour later returning dejectedly to the house. For the next three +or four months he went listless as a man dragging a wounded limb. +But since spring brought back rod and angle, I think and pray that +the voice of running water (best medicine in Nature) begins to cure +him. He has written the foregoing narrative in a hot fit which, +while it lasted, more than once kept his lamp burning till daybreak; +and although the last chapter was no sooner finished than he flung +the whole away in disgust. I have hopes of him. I may even live to +see a child running about these silent terraces . . . But this, my +dearest wish, outruns all present indications; and if Prosper ever +marries again it will be as his father married, and not for love.[1] + +By good fortune I am able to supply the reader with some later news +of two members of the expedition, Mr. Fett and Mr. Badcock. It came +to me, early this summer, in the following letter:-- + + _To Gervase Arundel, Esq., of Constantine in Cornwall, England_. + + "Venice. + Ash Wednesday (4.30 a.m.), 1761. + + "Excellent Sir, + + "I take up my pen, and lay aside the false nose I have been + wearing night and day for close on a week, to make a + communication which will doubtless interest you as it has + profoundly affected me. It will also interest your nephew and + his lady (whose hands I kiss) if they succeeded in effecting + their escape to England--where, failing news of them, I do + myself a frequent pleasure to picture them at rest upon the + quiet waters of domestic felicity. But I address myself rather + to you, whom (albeit on the briefest acquaintance) I shall ever + regard as the personification of stability and mild repose. + Heracleitus and his followers may prate of a world of flux; but + there are men to whom the recollections of their fellows ever + turn confidently, secure of finding them in the same place; and + of such, sir, you are the palmary example among my + acquaintance. + + "On the circumstances of our retreat from Genoa I need not + dilate. We decamped--I and my brother _artistes_--to Pisa, + where, after an unsatisfactory season, we broke up our company + by mutual consent and went our various ways in search of + fortune. Mr. Badcock--by this time a pantaloon of considerable + promise and not to be sneezed at in senile parts where + affection or natural decay required, or at least excused, a + broken accent--threw in his lot with me: and we bent our steps + together upon this unique city, where for close upon twelve + months I have drawn a respectable salary as Director of Public + Festivities to the Sisterhood of the Conventual Body of Santa + Chiara. Nor is the post a sinecure; since these estimable + women, though themselves vowed against earthly delights, + possess a waterside garden which, periodically--and especially + in the week preceding Lent--they throw open to the public; a + practice from which they derive unselfish pleasure and a useful + advertisement. + + "On Thursday last, the Giovedi Grasso, the Abbess had (in + consultation with me) provided an entertainment which not only + attracted the rank and fashion of Venice but (I will dare to + say) made them forget the exhaustion of the maddest day of + carnival with its bull-baiting and battles of _confetti_. + An hour before midnight all Venice had taken to its gondolas + and was being swept, with song and music, towards the Giudecca. + The lagoons swam with the reflections of a thousand moving + lanterns, and all their streaming ribbons of light converged + upon the bridge of Santa Chiara, beyond which, where the + gardens descended in stairways of marble to the water, I had + lined the banks with coloured lamps. Discreet narrow + water-alleys, less flauntingly lit, but with here and there a + caged nightingale singing in the boscage, intersected the + sisters' pleasure-grounds; but the main canal led around an + ample stretch of turf in the midst of which my workmen had + reared a stage for a masque of my composing, entitled _The Rape + of Helen_. Badcock, who was to enact the part of Menelaus, had + at my request attired himself early, for some few of my + nightingales were young birds and not to be depended on, and I + had an idea of concealing him in the shrubberies to supply a + _flauto obbligato_ while our guests arrived. I had interrupted + my instructions to despatch him on some small errand connected + with the coloured fires, and he had scarcely disappeared among + the laurels, when along the path came strolling two figures I + recognized as fellow-countrymen--the young Lord Algernon + Shafto, of the English embassy, and his mother's brother, the + Venerable John Kynaston Worley, Archdeacon of Wells. + Lord Algernon wore a domino. His uncle (I need scarcely say) + had made no innovation upon the laced hat and gaiters proper to + his archidiaconal rank--though it is likely enough that the + Venetians found this costume as eccentric as any in the throng. + He had arrived in the city a bare week before; and walked with + an arm paternally thrust in his nephew's, while he made + acquaintance with the luxurious frivolities of a Venetian + carnival. + + "As they passed me I stooped to trim the peccant wick of one of + the many lamps disposed like glowworms along the path: but a + moment later their voices told me that my countrymen had found + a seat a few paces away, in an arbour whence, by the rays of a + paper lantern which overhung it, they could observe the + passers-by. + + "'A wonderful nation,' the Archdeacon was saying, in that + resonant voice of which the well-connected among the Anglican + clergy (and their wives) alone possess the secret. 'I may tell + you, my dear lad, that this visit to Venice has been a dream of + my life, cherished though long deferred. I had not your + advantages when I was a young man. The Grand Tour was denied + me; and a country curacy with an increasing family promised to + remove the realization of my dream to the Greek Kalends. + But in all those years I never quite lost sight of it. + There is a bull-dog tenacity in us British: and still from time + to time I renewed the promise to myself that, should I survive + my dear wife--as I hoped to do--' + + "Here, having trimmed my lantern, I straightened myself up to + find that Mr. Badcock had returned and was standing behind my + shoulder. To my amazement he was trembling like an aspen. + + "'Hush!' said he, when I would have asked what ailed him. + + "I listened. I suppose Lord Algernon responded with a polite + hope that Venice fulfilled his uncle's long expectation: but I + could not catch the words. + + "'Entirely so,' was the reply. 'I may even say that it surpasses + them. Such an experience enlarges the mind, the--er--outlook. + And if a man of sixty can confess so much, how happy should you + be, my dear Algy, to have received these impressions at _your_ + age! Yet, my dear lad, remember they are of value only when + received upon a previous basis of character. The ladies, for + instance, who own these delightful grounds . . . doubtless they + are devout, in their way, but in a way how far removed from + those God-fearing English traditions which one day, as a + landlord among your tenantry and to that extent responsible for + the welfare of dependent souls, it will be yours to foster!' + + "Here, warned by a choking cry, I put out a hand to catch Mr. + Badcock by the sleeve of his pallium: but too late! With a wild + gesture he broke loose from me and plunged down the pergola + towards the arbour, at the entrance of which he flung himself + on his knees. + + "'Oh, sir!' he panted, abasing himself and stretching forth both + hands to the archidiaconal gaiters. 'Oh, sir, have pity! + Teach me to be saved!' + + "The Archdeacon (I will say) after the momentary shock rose to + the occasion like a sportsman. A glance sufficed to assure him + that the poor creature was in earnest, and with great presence + of mind he felt in his pocket for a visiting-card. + + "'Certainly, my good fellow, certainly . . . if you will call on + me to-morrow at my lodgings . . . two doors from the + embassy. . . . Dear me, how provoking! Would you mind, + Algernon, lending me one of your cards? I remember now leaving + mine on the dressing-table.' + + "He fished out a pencil, took the card his nephew proffered and, + having written down name and address, handed it to Badcock. + + "'The door of grace, my friend, stands ever open to him who + knocks. . . . Shall we say at ten-thirty to-morrow morning? + Yes, yes, a very convenient hour for me, if you have no + objection? Farewell, then, until to-morrow!' With a + benedictory wave of the hand he linked arms with Lord Algernon + and strolled away down the walk. + + "'Badcock,' said I, stepping forward and clapping a hand on his + shoulder. 'Hark to the gong calling you to the masque!' + + "But the creature stood as in a trance. 'His signature!' he + answered in an awed whisper. 'The Archdeacon of Wells's own + signature, and upon Lord Algernon's card!'--and I declare to + you that he fell to kissing the pasteboard ecstatically. + + "Well, he was past all reason. Luckily, having written it, I + had his part by rote; and so, snatching his Menelaus' wig and + beard, I ran towards the theatre. + + "That, sir, is all my tale. The man is lost to me. He left + Venice yesterday in the Archdeacon's carriage, but in what + precise capacity--whether as valet, secretary, or courier--he + would not impart. He told me, however, that his salary was + sufficient, if not ample, and that he had undertaken as a + repentant sinner to make himself generally useful. + The Archdeacon, it appears, is collecting evidence in + particular of the horrors of a Continental Sabbath. + + "Addio, sir! For me, I have now parted with the last of my + comrades, yet my resolution remains unshaken. On this sacred + soil, where so many before me have cultivated the Arts, I will + do more. I will make them pay. Meanwhile I beg you to accept + my sincere regards, and to believe me + + "Your obliged, obedient servant, + + "Phineas Fett." + + +William Priske has espoused Mrs. Nance, our good housekeeper; I +believe upon her own advice. + +The Trappists (sixteen in number) yet dwell with us, and the left +wing of Constantine has been reserved for their use. They have +deserved our gratitude, though, out of respect for their rules, I +could never convey it to them in words. Indeed, it is but seldom +that I get speech even with Dom Basilio. Sometimes when his walk +leads him by the river-bank where I stand a-fishing he will seat +himself for a while and watch; and then I find a comfort in his +presence, as though we conversed together without help of speech. +Then also, though my reason disapprove of our guest's rigour, an +inward voice tells me that there is good in their religion, as +perchance there is good wherever men have found anchorage for their +souls. + +I remember once listening in our summer-house, upon St. Swithun's +feast, while my dear brother-in-law disputed with Mr. Grylls upon +action and contemplation--which of them was the properer end of man. +I thought then that each of them, though they talked up and down and +at large, was in truth defending his own temperament: and, because I +loved them both, that neither needed defending. For my own part, the +small daily cares of Constantine have stolen away from me, not +altogether unhappily, the time of choosing, and I ask now but to +follow that counsel of the Apostle wherewith my master Walton closed +his book, and "Study to be Quiet." + + +G.A. + + +[1] Here--for it scarcely appears in the narrative--let me say that +my sister was an exemplary wife and, while fate spared her, a devoted +mother. I knew my brother-in-law for a great man, incapable of a +thought or action less than kingly, and I worshipped him (as Ben +Jonson would say) "on this side idolatry"; but if the Constantines +have a fault, it is that they demand too much of life, and exact it +somewhat too much as a matter of course. I have heard this fault +attributed to other great men.--G.A. + + +FINIS + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sir John Constantine +by Prosper Paleologus Constantine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIR JOHN CONSTANTINE *** + +***** This file should be named 15565.txt or 15565.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/5/6/15565/ + +Produced by Lionel Sear + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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