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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/16049-h.zip b/16049-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2051fe3 --- /dev/null +++ b/16049-h.zip diff --git a/16049-h/16049-h.htm b/16049-h/16049-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c949a62 --- /dev/null +++ b/16049-h/16049-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,11182 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Humphrey Bold, by Herbert Strang</title> +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[*/ + body {background:#ffffff; + color:black; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + font-size:14pt; + margin-top:70px; + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align:justify} + h1 {text-align: center; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.05em} + h1.pg {text-align: center; text-transform: none; letter-spacing: 0em} + h2 {text-align: center; letter-spacing: 0.04em} + h3 {text-align: center; letter-spacing: 0.04em} + h4 {text-align: center; } + hr {height: 5px} + pre {text-align: center; font-size: 10pt;} + p {text-indent: 4% } + caption {text-transform: uppercase; font-size: 18pt; font-weight: bold; + letter-spacing: 0.04em; font-family: "Arial";} + td { font-family: "Arial";} + thead { font-weight: bold;} + td.ltoc { letter-spacing: 0.04em; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; + text-transform: uppercase; text-align: right} + td.rtoc { font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; text-align: left} + hr.full { width: 100%; + height: 2px; } + pre.pg {font-size: 8pt; + text-align: left; } +/*]]>*/ +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, Humphrey Bold, by Herbert Strang</h1> +<pre class="pg"> +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 <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Humphrey Bold</p> +<p> A Story of the Times of Benbow</p> +<p>Author: Herbert Strang</p> +<p>Release Date: June 13, 2005 [eBook #16049]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HUMPHREY BOLD***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Martin Robb</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1>Humphrey Bold</h1> +<h2>A Story of the Time of Benbow</h2> +<h2>by Herbert Strang</h2> +<p> </p> +<h4>1909</h4> +<p> </p> +<hr /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<table align="center" summary="Table of Contents"> +<caption>Contents<br /> </caption> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top" width="30%"><a href="#Ch1">Chapter 1</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">The Wyle Cop.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch2">Chapter 2</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">Joe Breaks His Indentures.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch3">Chapter 3</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">I Meet The Mohocks.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch4">Chapter 4</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">Captain John Benbow.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch5">Chapter 5</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">I Lose My Best Friend.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch6">Chapter 6</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">I Take Articles.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch7">Chapter 7</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">A Crown Piece.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch8">Chapter 8</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">I Fall Among Thieves.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch9">Chapter 9</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">Good Samaritans.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch10">Chapter 10</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">The Shuttered Coach.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch11">Chapter 11</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">I Hold A Turnpike.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch12">Chapter 12</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">I Come To Bristowe--And Leave Unwillingly.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch13">Chapter 13</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">Duguay-Trouin.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch14">Chapter 14</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">Harmony And Some Discord.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch15">Chapter 15</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">The Bass Viol.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch16">Chapter 16</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">Across The Moat.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch17">Chapter 17</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">Exchanges.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch18">Chapter 18</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">In The Name Of King Lewis.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch19">Chapter 19</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">I Fight Duguay-Trouin.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch20">Chapter 20</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">The King's Commission.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch21">Chapter 21</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">I Meet Dick Cludde.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch22">Chapter 22</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">I Walk Into A Snare.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch23">Chapter 23</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">Uncle Moses.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch24">Chapter 24</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">I Make A Bid For Liberty.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch25">Chapter 25</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">I Spend Cludde's Crown Piece.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch26">Chapter 26</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">We Hold A Council Of War.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch27">Chapter 27</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">Some Successes And A Rebuff.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch28">Chapter 28</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">I Cut The Enemy's Cables.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch29">Chapter 29</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">We Bombard The Brig.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch30">Chapter 30</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">The Six Days' Battle.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch31">Chapter 31</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">The Cockpit.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="ltoc" valign="top"><a href="#Ch32">Chapter 32</a>:</td> +<td class="rtoc">I Become Bold.</td> +</tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h2><a name="Ch1" id="Ch1">Chapter 1</a>: The Wyle Cop.</h2> +<p>'Tis said that as a man declines towards old age his mind dwells +ever more and more on the events of his childhood. Whether that be +true of all men or not, certain it is that my memory of things that +happened fifty years ago is very clear and bright, and the little +incidents of my boyhood are more to me, because they touch me more +nearly, than such great matters as the late rebellion against His +Majesty King George, whom God preserve.</p> +<p>Especially does my thought run back to a day, fifty-six years +ago this very summer, when by mere chance, as it would appear to +men's eyes, my fortunes became linked with those of Joe Punchard, +who is now at this moment, I warrant, smoking his pipe in the lodge +at my park gates. I was eleven years old, a thin slip of a boy, +small for my age, and giving no promise, to be sure, of my present +stature and girth. The neighbors shook their heads sometimes as +they looked at me, and wondered why Mr. John Ellery, if he must +adopt a boy--a strange thing, they thought, for a bachelor to +do--did not choose one of a sturdier make than poor little Humphrey +Bold. They even joked about my name, averring that names assuredly +must go by contraries, for I was Bold by name, and timid by nature. +The joke seemed to me, even then, a very poor one, for a boy must +have the name he is born with, and I have known very delicate and +white-handed folk of the name of Smith.</p> +<p>Mr. Ellery, a bachelor, as I have said, adopted me when my own +father and mother died, which happened when I was still an infant +and, mercifully, too young to understand my loss. My father, as I +called him, was a substantial yeoman whose farm and holding lay +some three miles on the English side of Shrewsbury. He was well on +in years when he adopted me, and dwells in my memory as a strong, +silent man who, when his day's work was done, would sit in the +inglenook with a book upon his knees. This taste for reading marked +him out from the neighboring farmers, with whom, indeed, he had +little in common in any way, so that he was rather respected than +liked by them. But he was wonderfully kind to me, and if my love +for him was qualified with awe, it was from reverence, and not from +fear.</p> +<p>My frail appearance, on which the neighbors jested, caused my +father to look on me sometimes with an anxious eye, and he would +question the housekeeper and the maids about my appetite, and +whether I slept well o' nights. On these matters he need not have +had any concern, since I ate four hearty meals a day, with perhaps +an apple or a hunk of bread in between; while as for sleeping, +Mistress Pennyquick was wont to declare, five out of the seven +mornings in the week, when she woke me, that she knew I would sleep +my brains away. This prediction scarcely troubled me, and since the +motherly creature never disturbed me until I had slept a good nine +hours by the clock, I do not think she was really distressed on +this score.</p> +<p>Until I reached my eleventh birthday I did not go to school, +being taught to read and write and cipher by my father himself. But +one day he set me before him on his horse and rode into Shrewsbury, +where, after a solemn interview with Mr. Lloyd, the master, I was +put into the accidence class at King Edward's famous school. As we +rode back, I remember that my father, who was generally so silent, +talked to me more than ever before, about school, and work, and the +great men who had been in past time pupils in the same school, +notably Sir Phillip Sidney. And from that day I used to trudge +every morning, barring holidays, into the town, and say my <i>hic, +haec, hoc</i> as well, I verily believe, as the rest of my +schoolfellows.</p> +<p>But with the opening of my school days I began to know what +misery was. My lessons gave me little trouble, and the masters were +kind enough; but among the boys there were two who, before long, +kept me in a constant state of terror. They were older than I by +some four or five years, and in school I never saw them; but +outside they used to waylay me, tormenting me in many ingenious +ways. Looking back now I see that much of my terror was needless. +They seldom ill-treated me in act; but knowing, I suppose, that the +imagination is often very apprehensive in weakly bodies like mine, +they took a delight in threatening me, conjuring up all manner of +imaginary horrors, and so working on me that my sleep was disturbed +by hideous nightmares. I told nobody of what I suffered, and when +Mistress Pennyquick noticed that I was pale and heavy-eyed +sometimes in the morning, she did but suppose it was due to a +closer application to books than I had known formerly, and +forthwith increased my daily allowance of milk.</p> +<p>My father, if he had known of these doings, would doubtless have +taken strong measures to put a stop to them, for the older, though +not the worse, of the two bullies was a nephew of his own. His +sister was married to Sir Richard Cludde, of a notable family whose +seat lay north of Shrewsbury, towards Wem, and it was his only son, +named Richard after his father, who made one of this precious +couple of harriers. There was little coming and going between the +houses of the two families, for Mr. Ellery had not approved his +sister's match, Sir Richard's character being not of the best, and +heartily disliked the fine-lady airs which she put on when she +became wife of a baronet; while she on her side resented her +brother's cold looks, and nourished a special grievance against him +when he adopted me and announced that he would name me his heir. I +make no doubt that she gave tongue to her feeling in the hearing of +her son Dick, for among the many taunts which he and his boon +fellow Cyrus Vetch cast at me was that I was what they pleased to +call a "charity child."</p> +<p>I have mentioned Cyrus Vetch. If I feared Dick Cludde, I both +feared and hated his companion. Cyrus was the son of a well-to-do +merchant of the town--a man little in stature, but stout, and +wondrous big in self esteem. He was the owner of much property, +already one of the twelve aldermen, and ambitious, folk said, to +arrive at the highest dignity a citizen of Shrewsbury could attain +and wear the chain of mayor about his bulldog neck. He doted on his +son, who certainly did not take after his father so far as looks +went, for he was a tall, lanky fellow with a sallow face, the +alderman's countenance being as red as raw beef.</p> +<p>Hating Cyrus as I did, and not without cause, as will be seen +hereafter, I may be a trifle unjust in my recollection of him; but +I seem to see again a weasel face, with a pair of little restless +cunning eyes, and lips that were shaped to a perpetual sneer. As to +the sharpness of his tongue I know my memory does not play me +false: Dick Cludde's taunts bruised, but Cyrus Vetch's stung.</p> +<p>I had been less than a year at the school when an event happened +which had a great bearing on my future life. It was in the autumn +of the year 1690. I left afternoon school, and walked up Castle +Street, intending to turn down by St. Mary's Church as I was wont +to do, and make my way by Dogpole and Wyle Cop to English Bridge +and so home. But just as I came to the corner I spied Cludde and +Vetch waiting for me, as they sometimes did, at the back end of the +church. To avoid them, I went on till I came to the corner of +Dogpole and Pride Hill, hoping thereby to escape. But Cyrus Vetch's +keen eyes had seen me, and when I came to the turning by Colam's, +the vintner's, there were my two tormentors, posted right in my +path.</p> +<p>"Aha, young Bold!" says Cyrus, clutching me roughly by the arm, +"so you thought to give us the slip, did you?"</p> +<p>I could not deny it, and said nothing.</p> +<p>"Hark 'ee, young Bold," Cyrus went on, "you're to bring us +tomorrow morning a good dozen of old Ellery's apples, d'you +hear?"</p> +<p>"A good dozen, young Bold," says Cludde, with the precision of +an echo.</p> +<p>"Let me go, please, Vetch," I said, endeavoring to wrench my arm +away.</p> +<p>"Not so fast, bun face," says he, giving my arm a twist. "You'd +best promise, or it will be the worse for you. Now say after me, +'I, Humphrey Bold, adopted brat of John Ellery'--Speak up now!" +"Please let me go, Vetch," said I, wriggling in his grasp.</p> +<p>"You won't, eh? You're an obstinate pig, eh? You defy us, eh?" +and with every question the bully twisted my arm till I almost +screamed with the pain.</p> +<p>"Don't be a ninny," says Cludde. "What's a few apples! Why, old +Ellery's trees are loaded with 'em."</p> +<p>Vetch's grip somewhat relaxed while Cludde was speaking, and, +seizing the opportunity, I wrenched my arm away with a sudden +movement and took to my heels. Being thin and light of foot, I was +a fleet runner, and though they immediately set off in pursuit, I +gained on them for a few yards, and had some hope of distancing +them altogether. But just as I came to where Dogpole runs into Wyle +Cop, a stitch in the side, which often seized me at inconvenient +times, forced me to slacken speed. Seeing this, they quickened +their pace, and in a few moments they would have had me at their +mercy.</p> +<p>But in that predicament I heard Joe Punchard whistling, through +the open door of the shop where he did 'prentice work for old +Matthew Mark, the cooper. I knew Joe well; he had often brought +barrels to our farm, and once or twice on my way home from school I +had gone into the shop and watched him at his work.</p> +<p>Now, as a fox when the hounds are in full cry behind him will +run for shelter into any likely place that offers, so I, hard +pressed as I was, rushed panting into the shop, too breathless at +first to explain my need.</p> +<p>"Hallo! What's this!" cried Joe, who was just rolling down his +sleeves before closing work for the day. "What be the matter, +Master Bold? You be all of a sweat and puffing like to burst."</p> +<p>"They're after me! Keep 'em off, Joe!" I gasped.</p> +<p>"After you, be they! Some of your schoolmates worriting of you, +eh? Don't be afeared, lad. I be just going home, and I'll see you +safe to Bridge.</p> +<p>"Ah! there they be," he added, as my pursuers appeared in the +doorway.</p> +<p>"Good afternoon to you, and what might you be pleased to +want?"</p> +<p>"Out of the road, Joe Punchard!" cries Cludde, walking into the +shop. "I'll teach that little beast to run away."</p> +<p>And he came forward to where I stood, sheltering myself behind +Joe's thick-set body.</p> +<p>"Bide a minute," says Joe, lurching so as to shield me. "What +ha' Master Bold bin doin' to you?"</p> +<p>"What's that to you?" says Cyrus Vetch, edging round him on the +other side. "He's a young sneak, that's what he is, and wants a +good basting, and he'll get it, too."</p> +<p>"Not so fast now," says Joe, sticking out his elbows to broaden +himself. "I know you, Master Vetch, and 'tis my belief you and +Master Cludde are just nought but a brace of bullies, and you ought +to be ashamed of yourselves, Master Cludde in particular, seeing as +the little lad be your own cousin."</p> +<p>"You shut your mouth, Joe Punchard!" shouts Cludde in a passion. +"He my cousin, indeed!--the mean little charity brat!"</p> +<p>"And a blubbering baby, too!" says Vetch, "cries before he is +hurt."</p> +<p>"'Tis not much good crying after," says Joe with a chuckle, +before I could protest that I was not crying; I always did hate a +blubbering boy.</p> +<p>"Now you two boys be off," Joe went on. "I'm going home, and +I'll see to it you don't bait Master Bold no more this side of the +Bridge. And what's more, I tell you this: that if I cotch you two +great chaps worriting the boy again, I'll take and leather you, +both of you, and that's flat."</p> +<p>"Try it, bandy-legs," said Vetch with a sneer. "We'll do as we +please, and if you dare to lay a hand on either of us, +I'll--I'll--"</p> +<p>"What'll you do, then?" says Joe, who all this while had been +spreading himself in front of me. "What'll you do then? D'you think +I care a farden what you'll do? You'd better behave pretty, Master +Vetch, or 'twill be worse for you, my young cockchafer."</p> +<p>At this the two boys backed a little, and Joe, thinking them +daunted by his threatening mien, turned to take down the key of the +shop from its nail on the wall. But he had no sooner left my side +than Vetch sprang forward, and catching me by the arm, gave it a +cunning twist that, in spite of myself, made me shriek with pain. +Joe was round in an instant, and made for my tormentor, who with +Cludde ran towards the door. But in their endeavor to escape they +impeded each other: Vetch tripped, and before he could recover his +footing Joe had him in an iron grip, and began to shake him as I +had many times seen our terrier shake a rat he had caught in the +barn.</p> +<p>"Let me go!" yells Cyrus. "Help, Dick! Kick his shins!"</p> +<p>But Cludde, though a big fellow enough, was never over ready to +put his head in chancery. He stood in the street, shaking his fist, +and writhing his face into terrible grimaces at me.</p> +<p>"Let me go!" cries Vetch again.</p> +<p>"You young viper!" says Joe, shaking him still. "You'll misuse +the little lad before my face, will you? And squeal like a pig to +be let go, will you?</p> +<p>"Aha! You shall go," he says with a sudden laugh. "Dash me if +'twere not made o' purpose."</p> +<p>Joe Punchard, I have forgotten to mention, was short of stature, +standing no more than five feet three. But he was very thick-set +and heavily made, with massive arms and legs, the latter somewhat +bowed, making him appear even shorter than he was. It was these +legs of his, together with his big round head and shock of reddish +hair, that inspired some genius of the school with a couplet which +was often chanted by the boys when they caught sight of Joe in the +street. It ran:</p> +<pre> +O, pi, rho, bandy-legged Joe, +Turnip and carrots wherever you go. +</pre> +<p>But bandy-legged as he was, Joe had the great strength which I +have often observed to accompany that defect of nature. So it was +with exceeding ease he lifted Cyrus Vetch, for all his struggles, +with one hand, and dropped him into a barrel that stood, newly +finished, against the wall--a barrel of such noble height that +Vetch quite disappeared within it. Then, trundling it upon its +edge, as draymen do with casks of beer, he brought it to the +street, laid it sidelong, and set it rolling.</p> +<p>Now the Wyle Cop at Shrewsbury, as you may know, is a street +that winds steeply down to the English Bridge over the Severn. Had +it been straight, the bias of the barrel would doubtless have soon +carried it to the side, and Joe Punchard might have risen in course +of time to the status of a master cooper in his native town. But +when I went to the door to see what was happening, there was the +barrel in full career, following the curve of the street, and +gathering speed with every yard. Joe stood with arms akimbo, +smiling broadly. Cludde was racing after the barrel, shouting for +someone to stop it.</p> +<p>If I had not already been in such mortal terror of the +consequences of Joe's mad freak, I should have laughed to see the +wayfarers as they skipped out of the course of the runagate, not +one of them aware as yet that it held human contents, nor guessing +that the end might be more than broken staves.</p> +<p>By this time Joe himself had come to a sense of his +recklessness. He gripped me by the hand, and dragged me down the +hill at so fierce a pace that in half a minute all the breath was +out of my body. I wondered what he purposed doing, for the barrel +was now out of sight past the bend, and could scarce have been +overtaken by the wearer of the seven league boots. But as we turned +into the straight again, just by Andrew Cruddle, the saddler's, we +again espied the terrible barrel, rolling with many bumps towards +the head of the bridge.</p> +<p>And then I verily believe that my heart for some seconds ceased +to beat, and I am sure that Joe shared my dismay, for he tightened +the grip of his great strong hand upon my puny one until I could +have sworn it was crushed to a pulp. At the bridge head were two +gentlemen, who had to all appearance been engaged in chatting, for +one still sat on the parapet, while the other stood within a foot +or two of him. They were not talking now, but gazing at the barrel +rolling down towards them, and the one who was seated wore the +trace of a smile upon his face.</p> +<p>But the other--Heaven knows what terror seized me when my eyes +lighted upon him: it was none other than Joshua Vetch, the father +of the boy who, as I feared, was being churned to a jelly; and he +stood full in the path of the barrel.</p> +<p>Mr. Vetch, as I have said, was a small but corpulent man, and +stood very upright, with a slight backward inclination, to balance, +I suppose, the exceeding greatness of his rotundity. His +countenance habitually expressed disapproval, and his shaggy brows +were drawn down now in an angry frown. I perceived that he said +something to his companion, and then I saw no more for a while, a +mist seeming to gather before my eyes.</p> +<p>When I regained possession of my faculties, dreading what might +have happened, I found myself on the skirts of a group of five or +six, and heard the loud voice of Mr. Vetch bellowing forth words +which, for modesty's sake, I forbid my pen to write. He was not +dead, then, I thought, nor even hurt, or assuredly he would not +have had the strength to curse with such vigor. But what of +Cyrus?</p> +<p>"I'll have the law on the villain! Run for a potticary! D'you +hear, you gaping jackass? Run for Mr. Pinhorn and bid him come +here!"</p> +<p>And then followed a string of oaths like to those I had heard +before. The group parted hastily, and out came Dick Cludde, with a +face as white as milk, and sped up the town as fast as his long +legs would carry him. No doubt he was the "gaping jackass" whom Mr. +Vetch had so addressed in his fury.</p> +<p>Pushing my way through the townsmen who had gathered, and whose +numbers were swelled every moment by the afflux of aproned grocers, +and potboys, and 'prentices, and others from the streets, I saw +Cyrus laid on his back by the parapet, white and still, his father +pacing heavily up and down, and his friend Captain Galsworthy +fending off the prying onlookers with his cane.</p> +<p>"I'll thrash the villain to a pulp! I'll send him to the +plantations, I will! I'll break every bone in his body!"</p> +<p>So Mr. Vetch roared and, much as I disliked him, I could not but +feel a certain compassion, too, for all the world knew how he doted +on his son. I looked around for Joe Punchard, to see whether he was +in hearing of these threats, but he was not among the crowd.</p> +<p>By and by came Mr. Pinhorn, the surgeon, and some while after +him four lads bearing a stretcher, upon which the unconscious form +of my enemy was conveyed slowly up the town to Mr. Vetch's house on +Pride Hill. I followed on the edge of the crowd until I saw the +doors close upon the bearers, and then I betook myself home, in +sore distress at the fate in store for my friend Joe Punchard, and +in some terror lest I should share it, the mad freak of which he +was guilty having been performed on my behalf.</p> +<h2><a name="Ch2" id="Ch2">Chapter 2</a>: Joe Breaks His +Indentures.</h2> +<p>It was so much later than my usual hour for returning from +school that I was not surprised to see Mistress Pennyquick at the +gate of our farm, shading her eyes against the westering sun as she +looked for me up the road. I endeavored to compose my countenance +so as to betray no sign of the excitement through which I had +passed; but the attempt failed lamentably, and when the good +creature began to question me, I burst into tears. This was so rare +an occurrence with me that she was mightily concerned and adjured +me to tell all, promising that if I had done wrong she would shield +me from my father's anger. And when in answer to this I told her +what Joe Punchard had done to Cyrus Vetch, and the terrible things +I had heard the alderman threaten against him, she laughed and said +I was too tender hearted for a boy, and Joe Punchard would be none +the worse for a basting, and a deal more to the same tune, which +almost broke through my determination to say nothing of what had +caused the mischief; for, after all, Dick Cludde and Cyrus Vetch +were my schoolfellows, and, in my day; for one boy to tell on +another was the unpardonable sin.</p> +<p>My father came in soon after, and when he heard so much of the +story as I had told Mistress Pennyquick he drew his fingers through +his beard and said in his quiet way: "To be sure, barrels were not +made for that kind of vetch!"</p> +<p>And then we sat down to supper. We had hardly begun when there +came a smart rap on the door, and, with the freedom of our country +manners, in walked a visitor. My heart gave a jump when I saw it +was none other than Captain Galsworthy, the gentleman with whom Mr. +Vetch had been in converse at the bridge.</p> +<p>We knew the captain well; he was, in a way, one of the notable +persons of our town. We boys looked on him with a vast admiration +and reverence, not so much for his title--for there are captains +and captains, and I have known some who have done little in the +matter of feats of arms--as because he bore on his lean and rugged +countenance marks which no one could mistake. A deep scar seamed +his right temple, and on one of his cheeks were several little +black pits which we believed to be the marks of bullets. He spoke +but rarely of his own doings, and until he came to Shrewsbury a few +years before this he had been a stranger to the town: but it was +commonly reported that he had been in the service of the Czar of +Muscovy, and since that potentate was ever unwilling that any +officer who had once served him should leave him (save by death or +hanging), it was supposed that the captain had made his escape. He +lived alone in a little cottage on the Wem road, and, not being too +plentifully endowed with this world's goods, he eked out his +competency by giving lessons in fencing, both with singlesticks and +swords.</p> +<p>Well, in comes the captain, cocking a twinkling eye at me, lays +on the table the cane without which he never went abroad, and, +placing a chair for himself at the table, says:</p> +<p>"'Tis to be hoped we are not in for a ten years' Trojan war, +Master Humphrey."</p> +<p>Though I understood nothing of his meaning, I knew he made +reference to the recent escapade, and I felt mightily +uncomfortable. My father looked from one to the other, but did not +break his silence.</p> +<p>"They haven't put you to the Iliads yet, I suppose," says the +captain, helping himself to a mug of our home-brewed cider, "but +you know, neighbor Ellery, 'twas an apple that set the Greeks and +Trojans by the ears, and 'tis apples, or rather the want of 'em, +that is like to put discord between some of our families +hereabout."</p> +<p>"You speak in riddles, Captain," says my father at last; "and +why are you eying Humphrey in that quizzical way?"</p> +<p>"Why, bless my soul, don't you know? I thought it had been half +over the county by this."</p> +<p>"I know that that 'prentice lad Punchard hath half-killed young +Vetch, and richly deserves what he will no doubt get tomorrow."</p> +<p>"And is that all? Have you told only half your story, +Humphrey?"</p> +<p>This direct question made me still more uncomfortable, +especially as my father's eyes were sternly bent upon me. He hated +lies, and half truths still more, and I could see that he was dimly +suspecting me of a complicity in Joe Punchard's action to which I +had not confessed. But Captain Galsworthy was a shrewd old man, and +he saw at once how the matter stood.</p> +<p>"No peaching, eh, lad?" he said kindly. "I've an inquisitive +turn of mind, and after that performance with the barrel--and it +was a monstrous comical sight, Ellery, to see the little alderman +skip out of the way when the barrel made straight for his shins, +but not so funny when he pulls at the shock head sticking out and +finds it belongs to his own son--after that performance, I say, I +caught young Dick Cludde by the ear, and made him tell me the +story. And it begins with apples--like this excellent cider of +yours, Ellery."</p> +<p>He quaffed a deep draught and leaned back in his chair, giving +me another friendly wink. The captain was ever somewhat long winded +over his stories, and I could see that my father was growing +impatient; but he sat back in his chair with his hands upon the +arms and said never a word.</p> +<p>"Young Cludde and Cyrus Vetch, it seems, have a sweet tooth for +your apples, Ellery," said the captain, "and Cludde told me with a +fine indignation that Humphrey flatly refused to fill his pockets +for their behoof. They were proceeding to enforce their +requisition, I gather, when the boy broke from them, and, finding +himself hard pressed by and by, took refuge behind Joe Punchard's +bandy legs. And Joe must needs take up the cudgels on behalf of the +oppressed, and chose an original way of punishing the oppressor. +And thus the rolling of the barrel is explained."</p> +<p>At this Mistress Pennyquick broke out into vehement denunciation +of the two boys, but my father silenced her. Quietly he began to +question me: he would take no denial, and drew out of me bit by bit +the whole story of the bullying I had suffered from those two of my +schoolfellows.</p> +<p>And then he was more angry than I had seen him ever before. He +smote the arm of the chair with his great fist, and vowed he would +not have me ill used; and though he said but little, and never once +raised his voice, I knew by the set of his lips and the gleam of +his eye that it would go hard with anyone who baited me again. Then +the captain made a proposition for which I have been thankful all +my life long.</p> +<p>"The moral of it is, Ellery, that Humphrey must be a pupil of +mine.</p> +<p>"Give me your arm, boy.</p> +<p>"Ah!" says he, feeling the muscle, which was soft enough, no +doubt, seeing that I was only eleven and had never done anything +about the farm. "We must alter that. Let him come to me twice a +week, Ellery, and he shall learn the arts of self defense, first +with nature's own weapons, for boxing I take to be the true +foundation of all bodily exercise, and afterwards, when he is a +little grown, the more delicate science of swordsmanship, which +demands bodily strength and wits, and to which the other is but a +prelude. And I warrant you, if he have the right stuff in him, that +by the time the schoolmaster has done with him he shall be able to +hold his own against any man, and will need no succors from Joe +Punchard or anyone else."</p> +<p>Hereupon Mistress Pennyquick set up a cry about the wickedness +of teaching little boys to fight, and the state she would be in if +I was some day brought home mangled and disfigured, and a great +deal more to the same effect. The captain tapped the table until +she had finished, and then, with a fine courtly bow, he said:</p> +<p>"Spoken like a woman, ma'am. Humphrey will suffer hard knocks, +to be sure; yes, please God, he shall have many a black eye, and +many a bloody nose, and we shall make a man of him, ma'am: a +gentleman he is already."</p> +<p>"Yes, to be sure," says the simple creature, "and his mother was +a born lady, and--"</p> +<p>"Tuts, ma'am," the captain here interrupted. "I was not alluding +to his pedigree. The boy has suffered torment for months without +breathing a word of it to betray his schoolfellows; from that I +deduce that he has the spirit of a gentleman, and I want no further +proof."</p> +<p>"'Tis time the boy was abed," says my father. "Run away, +lad."</p> +<p>I got up at once to go, guessing that my father wished to have +some private talk with Captain Galsworthy. My ears were tingling, I +confess, with his praise of me, and my heart throbbed with delight +and pride at the thought of being the captain's pupil. I could not +sleep for thinking of it. I imagined all manner of scenes in which +I should some day figure, and saw myself already holding off five +enemies at once with my flashing sword. These visions haunted my +dreams when at last I slept, and it was after a bout of especial +fierceness that I found myself lying awake, in a great heat and +breathlessness.</p> +<p>And then I was aware of an actual sound--a sound which no doubt +had entered into my dreams as the clash of arms. It was a soft and +regular tapping, a ghostly sound to hear at dead of night, and like +to scare a boy of quick imagination. I lay for some moments in a +state bordering on panic, unable to think, much less to act.</p> +<p>Tap, tap, tap--so it went on, like the ticking of the great +clock on the stairs, only louder and more substantial. It ceased, +and I held my breath, wondering whether I should hear it again. +Then it recommenced, and I was about to spring from my bed and run +to tell Mistress Pennyquick when a sudden thought held me: What +would Captain Galsworthy think if he knew I had fled from a sound? +Would he regard me as the right stuff of which to make a man?</p> +<p>The captain's good opinion was worth so much to me now that I +crushed down my fears and sat up in bed (yet keeping a tight clutch +upon the blanket), and tried to use my reason.</p> +<p>The tapping, I reflected, must be caused by some person or +thing. A ghost is a spirit, and insubstantial, and I had never +heard that the ghost which some of the townsfolk (chiefly servant +maids) had seen in St. Alkmund's Churchyard had done more at any +time than glide silently among the tombs. And even as I decided +that the sound must have a natural cause, I had startling +confirmation of my conclusion in a new sound--nothing else than a +sneeze, sudden, and short, and stifled. The tapping ceased, and +while I was still trying to collect my wits I heard a groan, and +immediately afterwards a voice calling my name, and then a new +tapping, only quicker.</p> +<p>It was now clear to me that some one was at my window, though, +seeing that my room was some twenty feet above the ground, I was at +a loss to imagine how the tapper had mounted there.</p> +<p>My fears now being merged in surprise, I got out of bed, stole +to the window, and pulled the blind an inch aside.</p> +<p>"Master Bold! Master Bold!" came the voice again, and, venturing +a little more, I put my head between the blind and the window, and +saw a dark form against the clear summer sky.</p> +<p>"Master Bold, 'tis me, Joe Punchard," said the voice in a +whisper. "Canst let me in, lad, without making a noise?"</p> +<p>Without more ado I lifted the sash gradually, for it was heavy +and creaked, and I feared to rouse the household. When it was high +enough for Joe's bulky form to pass through he clambered over the +sill, and stood in my room.</p> +<p>"How did you get up, Joe?" I asked in a whisper.</p> +<p>"Got a ladder from the rick yard, lad. I bin tapping for nigh +half an hour, I reckon. You be one of the seven sleepers, for +sure."</p> +<p>"But what do you want, Joe? You can't stay here, you know."</p> +<p>"Nor don't want to. I be come to tell you, lad, I be going +away."</p> +<p>"Going away, Joe?"</p> +<p>"Yes. No one knows it but you, and I wouldn't ha' telled you +only the old mother will be in a rare taking when she finds me +gone, and I want you to tell her as I've come to no harm."</p> +<p>"But why, Joe?"</p> +<p>"Vetch--that's why. 'Tis no place for me now, lad. He bin +cursing and swearing he'll send me to the plantations for that +business with the barrel, and he'll keep his word. And so I be +going to run for it."</p> +<p>"But where, Joe? And what about your 'dentures?"</p> +<p>"That's where it is: my 'dentures must go too. If I be catched, +there's a flogging and prison for that. But I don't mean to be +catched. Before the sun's up I'll be on my way to Bristowe."</p> +<p>"That's ever so far."</p> +<p>"So 'tis, but not further than a pair of legs can walk."</p> +<p>"And will you get a place with a cooper there?"</p> +<p>"No, no; no more coopering for me; I be done with barrels for +good and all. I be going to sea."</p> +<p>"To sea! What ever made you think of such a thing?"</p> +<p>"One thing and another. And I won't be the first, not even from +such an upland place as Shrewsbury. Why, haven't we heard Mistress +Hind tell time and again how her brother John Benbow ran away to +sea nigh upon thirty years ago?"</p> +<p>"True, and so did Sam Blevins, and hasn't been heard of since, +Joe."</p> +<p>"Well, if Vetch ships me to the plantations you may be sure no +more will be heard of Joe Punchard, so 'tis as broad as 'tis +long."</p> +<p>"'Tis all my fault, Joe. If I hadn't run into the shop this +wouldn't have happened, and you'd have worked out your 'dentures, +and maybe risen to be a partner with Mr. Mark. I wish I had let +them catch me, Joe, I do."</p> +<p>"Now don't you take on, Master Humphrey. As for partners, I be +sick of making barrels for other folks' beer, that's the truth, and +by what I've heard there's riches to be picked up in the Indies, +and many a sea captain is a deal better off than Matthew Mark. And +I'm set on trying it, lad, the more so as, by long and short, I +dursn't stay in Shrewsbury no longer. So you'll be so good as go +and see the old mother tomorrow, and tell her I be gone to sea, and +I'll send her home silks, and satins, and diamonds, too, maybe, and +I'll come home some day rich as creases, as I heard parson say +once."</p> +<p>"I hope you will, Joe. Will you write to me and tell me how you +are getting on?"</p> +<p>"Bless your life, I can do no more than make my mark. But maybe +I'll light on some scholard who'll write down out of my mouth, and +I'll make him limn a barrel on the paper, and then you'll know for +sure 'tis me."</p> +<p>This conversation had proceeded in whispers, but Joe's whisper +was sonorous, and I was in some fear lest Mistress Pennyquick, +whose room was hard by, should hear the rumble and take alarm. Yet +I could not refrain from keeping him while I told of the matter so +near my heart--the offer of Captain Galsworthy to take me as a +pupil. Joe listened very sympathetically.</p> +<p>"'Tis an ill wind blows no one good," he said. "That there +barrel makes a sailor of me; maybe 'tis to make a sojer of +you."</p> +<p>"And what of Cyrus Vetch?" I could not help saying.</p> +<p>"Ah! Cyrus Vetch!" muttered Joe, looking troubled. "I be afeared +'twill make him a downright enemy to you, lad. But you'll grow, and +captain will learn you how to ply your fists, and when it comes to +a fight, mind of my fighting name, and punch hard."</p> +<p>Then, having promised to see his mother and do what I could to +console her, I wrung his hand and wished him well, and he climbed +out again by the window, and in the starlight I watched him carry +the ladder across the yard; and then with a final wave of the hand +he vanished into the night.</p> +<h2><a name="Ch3" id="Ch3">Chapter 3</a>: I Meet The Mohocks.</h2> +<p>At breakfast I said nothing of Joe's midnight visit, reckoning +that it would not be long before the news of his flight got abroad. +It was indeed the subject of a great buzz of talk among my +schoolfellows, who flocked about me as I walked down Castle Street, +demanding to hear the full story from my own lips. I could tell +them nothing that they did not know, save only my leave-taking with +Joe Punchard, which, of course, I had resolved to keep very close. +I learned from them that Cyrus was abed, and like to stay there, +said Mr. Pinhorn, for a week or more. His father was in a desperate +rage, and had sent horsemen along all the roads in pursuit of the +runaway, and I had some fear that my good friend would be caught +and brought back to receive his punishment.</p> +<p>However, nothing had been heard of him by the time school was +over, so that I had great hopes that he had got himself clean away. +I went to see his mother as I had promised, and said what I could +to comfort her; but the good woman was mightily upset, and declared +in a passion of weeping that she was sure she would never see her +Joe again.</p> +<p>That evening at supper my father was even more quiet than his +wont. Mistress Pennyquick told me afterwards that he had been to +see his sister Lady Cludde and her husband at Cludde Court, and +given them a piece of his mind. What passed between them I know +not, but I do know that my father never set foot in Cludde Court +again, nor did his sister come any more to the farm, even when her +brother lay a-dying. His visit had this good effect, however, that +I suffered no more bullying at the hands of Dick Cludde or Cyrus +Vetch. Dick eyed me with a malignant scowl whenever he met me, and +as for Cyrus, who did not come back to school for a good ten days, +he looked over my head as though I did not exist, which gave me no +discomfort, you may be sure. At the end of that year they were both +taken from school, Cludde going to Cambridge, and Vetch to assist +his father, who was a grain merchant in a substantial way, as all +Shrewsbury supposed.</p> +<p>It would be a tedious matter were I to tell all the little +happenings of the next few years. Whether it was due to my constant +exercise under Captain Galsworthy's tuition, I know not, but +certainly, from that very summer, I grew at an amazing rate, +shooting up until I was as tall as boys three or four years older, +yet hardening at the same time. Twice a week regularly I betook +myself to the captain's little cottage on the Wem road, and spent +an hour with him in mastering the principles and practice of what +he called the noble arts of self defense. He was pleased to say +that I was quick of eye and nimble of body, and, being on my side +very eager to learn, I was speedily in his good books, and he +seemed to take a special pleasure in teaching me.</p> +<p>At first I found our bouts at fisticuffs a severe tax. The +captain, though well on in years, was still hale and active, and, +being tall and spare, he had a great advantage of me. With the long +reach of his arms he could pummel me without giving me the least +chance of reprisal, and many's the day I crawled home after our +encounters bruised and sore, provoking indignant remonstrances from +Mistress Pennyquick. But I refused to let her coddle me, and as my +appetite never failed, and I throve amazingly, the good woman at +last ceased to lament, and, as I discovered, was wont behind my +back to vaunt my growing manliness.</p> +<p>By the time I was fifteen I was as tall as the captain himself, +and then my share of bruises ceased to be so disproportionate. In +skill, whether with the fists or the foils, he was always vastly my +superior; indeed, to this day I have never met his equal. But I had +youth on my side, and sometimes the old man at the end of a +particularly arduous bout would sigh, and wish he were younger by a +score of years.</p> +<p>No one could have been more generous in encouragement and +praise. It would have amused an onlooker, I am sure, to see him, +when I had had the good fortune to tap claret, mopping the injured +feature and all the time maintaining a flow of complimentary +remarks.</p> +<p>"Capital, my lad!"--after fifty years I can hear him still--"on +my life, a neat one, Humphrey; I shall make something of you yet, +my boy."</p> +<p>And then we fall to it again, and, being somewhat overconfident, +perhaps, after my success, I fail a little in my guard, and the +captain sees his opportunity and lands me such a series of +staggerers that I see a thousand stars, and there am I dabbing my +nose while he cries again: "Capital, my lad! A Roland for an +Oliver! And now we'll wash away the sanguinary traces of our combat +and allay our noble rage with a mug of cider."</p> +<p>And thus, giving and receiving hard knocks, we continued to be +the best of friends.</p> +<p>These years brought changes in their train. One day Joshua +Vetch, Cyrus' father, died suddenly of an apoplectic fit, brought +on, folk said, by disappointment at Mr. Adderton the draper being +elected mayor over his head. And then it was found that, so far +from being wealthy as was supposed, he had been for years living +beyond his means, being ably assisted in his expenditure by Cyrus. +His affairs were in great disorder; Cyrus himself was totally +unprovided for, and but for his uncle, John Vetch, a reputable +attorney of our town, who took pity on him, and gave him articles, +God knows what would have become of him.</p> +<p>At this change of fortune I could not but remember how, years +before, he had sneered at me as a "charity brat." I fancy he +remembered it too, for when I met him face to face one day, as I +returned from school, coming out of his uncle's office, he flushed +deeply and then gave me such a look of hatred that I felt uneasy +for days after.</p> +<p>Cyrus had never borne a good name in Shrewsbury, and after his +father's death he seemed to grow reckless. Dick Cludde was still at +college, though I never heard that he did any good there, and in +the vacations he and Cyrus consorted much together, and became in +fact the ringleaders of a wild set whose doings were a scandal in +Shrewsbury for many a day. Cludde, it seemed, had made a jaunt to +London with other young bloods at the end of the term in the +December of this year 1694, to see the great pageant of Queen +Mary's funeral.</p> +<p>The adventure did him no good, for when he returned to +Shrewsbury he formed, with Vetch and others of his kidney, a gang +in imitation of the Mohocks, as they were called-- the band of +dissolute young ruffians who then infested London, wrenching off +knockers, molesting women in the streets, pinking sober citizens, +and tumbling the old watchmen into the gutters. Our streets at +night became the scene of riotous exploits of this kind, and our +watch, being old and feeble men, were quite unable to cope with the +rioters, so that decent folk began to be afraid to stir abroad +after dark. Though they disguised themselves for these forays, it +was shrewdly suspected who they were; but they escaped actual +detection, and indeed, they were held in such terror by the +townsfolk that no one durst move against them openly, for fear of +what might come of it.</p> +<p>Things grew to such a height that one Saturday the mayor, with +half a dozen aldermen, walked out to the little cottage on the Wem +Road, and besought Captain Galsworthy's aid. The captain and I +chanced to be in the thick of an encounter with the foils, and +neither of us heard the rap on the door which announced the +visitors. A gust of air when the door was opened apprised us that +we had onlookers at our sport; but the captain's eyes never left +mine until with a dexterous turn of the wrist, which I had long +envied and sought in vain to copy, he sent my foil flying to the +end of the room.</p> +<p>"Capital, capital!" cried he, removing his mask and wiping his +heated brow.</p> +<p>"Good morning, Mr. Mayor," he added; "we have kept you waiting, +I fear; but we were just approaching the critical moment: the issue +was doubtful, and there is little satisfaction in a drawn +battle.</p> +<p>"Your looks are portentous, gentlemen: is this a visit of state, +may I ask?"</p> +<p>Whereupon the mayor, an honest little draper, made a speech +which I am sure he had diligently conned over beforehand. He passed +from a recital of the woes under which Shrewsbury suffered to a +most flattering eulogium of the captain's prowess, to which my good +friend listened with an air of approval that amused me mightily. +And then the mayor came to the point, and in the name of the +corporation and all decent citizens of Shrewsbury besought the +captain to suppress the disturbers of their peace.</p> +<p>"Hum! ha!" said the captain, rubbing his nose reflectively. "I +am an old man, Mr. Mayor: methinks this is work for younger blood +than mine."</p> +<p>"No, no!" cried the company in chorus.</p> +<p>"We seed tha knock the steel from the hand of Master Bold there +as 'twere a knitting needle," says the mayor, whose speech was as +broad as his figure.</p> +<p>"Well, well," says the captain, "I'll think of it, my friends. +You do me great honor, and I thank you for your visit."</p> +<p>The captain and I talked over the matter between ourselves, and +the upshot of our consultation was that we got together a little +band of his former pupils, and for several nights in succession we +perambulated the streets of Shrewsbury from the English to the +Welsh Bridge and from the Castle to the Quarry, with naked swords +and a martial air. But we had our exercise for nothing. The town +was as quiet as a graveyard, and the only disturber of the peace +that engaged our attention was poor Tom Jessopp, the drayman, who, +one night, having drunk more old October than was good for him, +encountered us as he was staggering home down Shoplatch, and +invited us, first to wet our whistles, and, on our declining, to +fight him for a pint. We escorted him home and put him to bed, not +without some difficulties and inconveniences, and that was the +first and last of our adventures, the captain declaring that to +deal with topers was no work for a man of honor.</p> +<p>The very night after our company was thus dissolved the mayor +was knocked down at the foot of Swan Hill by the Town Wall, gagged +and trussed, and laid upon his own doorstep, where he was found by +the maidservant in the morning, having wrought himself to the verge +of apoplexy by his struggles to rid himself of his bonds. He +besought the captain with tears of outraged dignity to resume his +guardianship of the town; but the old warrior merely rubbed his +nose and spoke of rheumatism.</p> +<p>The outrages occurred only at intervals, and ceased altogether +during the college terms, when Dick Cludde was absent, so that we +were not far wrong in our inference that he was the fount and +origin of the deeds of lawlessness. The townsfolk, you may be sure, +did not love him; nor did the high and mighty airs Sir Richard and +my lady chose to assume in their dealings with the citizens win +them many friends; so that when it became known, about the time +when Dick left Cambridge finally, without a degree, that his father +had suffered serious reverses of fortune in his adventures in +oversea trade, there were few who felt anything but +satisfaction.</p> +<p>At this time I was midway in my seventeenth year--a big +strapping fellow standing five feet ten, having quite outgrown the +delicacy of my childhood. I was high up in the school, on good +terms with the masters, though my Latin and Greek was never +considerable: on better terms with the boys, for, I must own, my +inclinations were rather towards baseball and quoits than towards +the nice discrimination of longs and shorts. I had developed in +particular an amazing strength of arm, which stood me in good stead +in wrestling bouts, and led to my being counted two in our tugs of +war. It was this same strength, I fancy, that made my schoolfellows +chary of provoking me to wrath, for which I was somewhat sorry, +having always loved a fight.</p> +<p>During these years no tidings came to us of Joe Punchard. His +poor mother, who earned a living by washing for some of our +Shrewsbury folk, feared the worst from his long silence. But +Mistress Nelly Hind, who kept a coffee shop in Raven Street, called +Mistress Punchard a croaker and bade her be of good cheer, for she +had neither seen nor directly heard from her brother John Benbow +for twenty years; yet he was alive and well, and captain of a +king's ship, if rumor were not a false, lying jade.</p> +<p>"Not that your Joe will ever rise to such a height," she +added.</p> +<p>"Sure he's a better boy than ever your John was," said Mistress +Punchard, up in arms for her offspring.</p> +<p>"John's legs are as straight as the bed post," retorted his +sister, and then the two women began a war of words, in the midst +of which, having drunk my dish of coffee, I slipped away.</p> +<p>I rarely speculated on my future, and my father never spoke of +it. We took it for granted that I should succeed him in his little +property, and during the school holidays I sometimes accompanied +him to market, and learned to handle samples of grain and to +discuss the points of his fat cattle.</p> +<p>It was when I was approaching the end of my seventeenth year +that I began to think of the future more nearly. My father had +suffered long--though Mistress Pennyquick and I had known nothing +of it, he being so reticent--from a disease which nowadays +physicians call angina pectoris, a disease that grips a man by the +chest, as 'twere his breastbones are ground together, with +breathlessness and exquisite pain. As he grew older, the attacks +recurred more frequently and with greater violence, and after one +of them, the first I had seen with my own eyes, he sent for Mr. +Vetch, the attorney, and was closeted with him a great while in his +room. Mistress Pennyquick's face was very grave when she spoke to +me about it afterwards.</p> +<p>"'Tis a bad sign when a man sends for his lawyer, Humphrey," she +said. "I can't abide 'un, for they always make me think of my +latter end. Your father have made his will, I'll be bound, and I +wish he spoke more free of things. But there, 'tis always the way; +empty barrels make the most noise, as the saying is, and I will +groan with the toothache while the poor master will suffer his +agonies without a word."</p> +<p>One night as we were sitting reading, my father had an attack +which terrified us. All at once, without a moment's warning, he +dropped his book, and stood up, bending forward, his face blue, his +eyes almost starting from his head. We hastened to him, but he +motioned us away, and then Mistress Pennyquick bade me ride for Mr. +Pinhorn. I snatched my cap, and, knowing that with my long legs I +could reach the town by the fields more quickly than on horseback +by the road, I did not stay to saddle Jerry, but set off at full +speed across five-acre, vaulted the gate into the spinney, and so +on till I gained the bridge, by which time I was blowing like a +furnace.</p> +<p>It was dark, being October, and though I knew every yard of our +ground, I marvel now to think how I escaped breaking my leg in a +ditch or coming to some other mishap. I raced on to Raven Street, +where Mr. Pinhorn lived, and by good luck found him just alighting +at the door from his nag. I told him my errand in gasps; the good +surgeon understood without much telling, and he leaped again into +the saddle (his foot never having left the stirrup) and galloped +away.</p> +<p>My knees shook so violently with the exertions I had made that I +would fain have rested awhile before returning. But the thought +that my father might die in my absence struck me with a chill, and +I set off at a swinging stride after the surgeon.</p> +<p>I had gone but a few yards, however, when ahead of me, by the +light of a flickering oil lamp, hanging from a bracket before one +of the houses, I saw a group of some five or six, youths by their +build, gathered about a doorway. Immediately afterwards I heard +from the same spot a harsh sound as of rending wood, followed by +guffaws of laughter. The party then moved quickly on for a few +paces, and again came to a halt at a doorway, whence in a few +seconds the same sound reached my ears.</p> +<p>Passing the door at which I had first seen them, I noticed that +where the knocker should have been there was nothing but a few bent +nails and a splintered panel. After former experiences my suspicion +scarce needed this confirmation: without doubt these were our +Shrewsbury Mohocks, out for a night's frolic. I had never before +seen them at their diversions, my patrolling of the streets with +Captain Galsworthy having been a mere parade, as I have related, +and now I was in no mood to encounter them, having the trouble of +my father's illness on my mind. But I perceived that they were +engaged in wreaking their knavery upon the sign board of Nelly +Hind, and my blood waxed hot at the thought of the poor woman's +distress, and my fingers itched to strike a blow on her behalf.</p> +<p>Strong as I was, I knew 'twould be mere folly to attempt +single-handed to engage half a dozen, and I was thinking of running +quickly to some of the members of the Captain's disbanded force and +enlisting their help when the situation was changed by the arrival +of old Ben Ivimey, the feeblest of the ancient watchmen to whom the +peace of Shrewsbury was confided. He was past sixty and stone deaf, +and his bent old figure, with a lantern in one hand and a staff in +the other, came round the corner all unsuspecting what was in store +for him.</p> +<p>The Mohocks, intent upon their mischief, did not observe the +coming of the watchman. He was a little man, but must have been of +some mettle in his day, for, perceiving what is afoot, he toddles +up in his odd headlong gait, and laying his hand on the arm of one +of the roisterers, formally arrests him in the name of the +mayor.</p> +<p>The fellow swings round at the touch, and bursts into a roar of +laughter. He was masked, as were all his companions; but I knew him +by his make to be Cyrus Vetch. Well, he laughs, and shakes off the +watchman's feeble grasp, and springing back, draws his sword; and +in another instant there was old Ben, the center of the group, +skipping this way and that to avoid their sword points, protesting, +threatening, appealing, escaping one merely to run upon +another.</p> +<p>I will say this for them, that they intended to do him no harm; +their lunges were sportive and not in earnest; but diverting as the +sport was to them, it was the very contrary to the old man, whose +cries proclaimed that he thought his last hour was come.</p> +<p>All this happened in the space of a few moments. I was unwilling +to leave old Ben to the mercy of his tormentors while I ran for +assistance, as I was intending; yet it was clear I could do nothing +alone.</p> +<p>"John Kynaston," thinks I, "lives only a couple of hundred yards +away: he and I together might account for the ruffians."</p> +<p>I was just turning to make my way to Kynaston's house, when a +cry of pain from the old man drove out all considerations of +prudence. In dodging one of that ring of steel points it would +appear that he had stumbled full upon another, and the weapon, by +accident or otherwise, had pierced his arm. My blood was up; I +clean forgot my design of running for help. I had no weapon with +me, but, hastily scanning the dim-lit street for a something to +wield, my foot kicked an object in the gutter. In a trice I had +seized it in both hands, barely conscious of its weight. Then I ran +with it the few yards that separated me from the scuffle, and, +lifting my weapon above my head, hurled it at the nearest of the +group. There was a sound of fury from the fellow at whom I had +aimed, and from the two beyond him--a sound muffled and all but +inarticulate, for the missile which had fallen like a bolt among +them was a large wooden bin filled with household refuse, and +placed in the gutter for the coming of the early morning +scavenger.</p> +<h2><a name="Ch4" id="Ch4">Chapter 4</a>: Captain John Benbow.</h2> +<p>Our Mohocks suffered some discomfort, I fear, as the contents of +the bin hurtled upon them. Household refuse hath, to be sure, no +sweetness of savor; and the shower of bones, eggshells, cabbage +stalks, potato parings, rinds of bacon, and what not, with a +plentiful admixture of white wood ash, served to stay their +activity in deeds, though I must own it did but enhance the fury of +their tongues. But the diversion gave me a breathing space in which +I drew old Ben within the shadow of a doorway and took his staff +from his fainting hands--not without resistance on his part, for +the mettlesome old fellow refused to yield up his insignia until I +brought my face within an inch of his dim eyes, and he recognized +me for a friend.</p> +<p>"Spring your rattle, man!" I cried, and then to the din of +curses and roars for vengeance there was added the sharp crackle of +his alarm signal.</p> +<p>By this time the leaders of the rioters had rubbed the dust from +their eyes and came towards me, the foremost of them, Cyrus Vetch, +shouting to his comrades to spit me like a toad. He had recognized +me, and sprang towards the doorway where I stood with staff aslant, +the trembling watchman still whirling his rattle behind. Mad with +rage he cut at me with his sword, which bit deep into the staff, by +that very fact becoming for a brief moment useless.</p> +<p>Before Vetch could recover his weapon, I had withdrawn mine, and +lunging fair upon him, I dealt him a thrust that sent him spinning +halfway across the street. But I was now beset by his comrades, who +made at me from both sides of the porch, but for whose shelter I +should in all likelihood have been overborne.</p> +<p>They had some sense of fair play, however. They returned their +swords to the scabbards, and were for trusting to their fists +alone. I contrived to give one of them a smart tap on the crown +before they came to close quarters; but ere I could recover myself +they were upon me, the staff was wrenched from my grasp, and I was +as hard put to it as a stag bayed by hounds. I made what play I +could with my fists, and got home at least one blow for two; but +the odds were too heavy against me, and when at length a fellow as +big as myself slipped round to my back and gripped me hard by the +neck, all my struggles did not avail to prevent my being shoved and +pulled and hustled out into the middle of the street.</p> +<p>Vetch had picked himself up, and now came running towards me in +a frenzy. In his rage he had plucked off his mask, revealing his +distorted features to all the good folk who, I doubt not, by this +time had their heads out at their windows, viewing the scene from a +secure altitude.</p> +<p>"Out of the way, Mytton!" he screamed, his voice shrill with +passion. "Out of the way, I say; I will crop his ears, the +cur!"</p> +<p>Burt Mytton, the fellow who had me by the neck, and some others +of the band, were not for pushing things to such extremities. They +closed about to protect me, and even Dick Cludde caught Vetch's arm +and expostulated with him. Another meanwhile had snatched old +Ivimey's rattle from him, and ever and anon amid the din I caught +the sound of his quavering voice calling, "Help for the watch! O my +sakes! O my bones!"</p> +<p>Then a cry arose:</p> +<p>"To the river! Give 'em a ducking!" and in another moment there +we were, myself and Ivimey, being lugged at a quick scuffle down +the street towards the Severn. There was no hope of escape, and I +had resigned myself to the imminent bath, when at a turn in the +narrow roadway we found the path blocked by two pedestrians.</p> +<p>With Mytton's hand forcing my head downwards I did not at first +see them, but I heard a loud voice call, "Hold, rascals!" breaking +in upon the watchman's feeble cry, "O my sakes! Help for the +watch!"</p> +<p>"Out of the way!" cried Vetch; but the next moment I heard a +clatter of steel upon the cobbles; and guessed that the stranger +had struck my enemy's sword from his hand. Then my neck was +released, and looking up I saw my captor himself captive in the +grip of a tall man in riding cloak and high boots, while Vetch was +struggling with a short, thick-set fellow who had his arms about +the other's body.</p> +<p>Bullies are ever cowards at heart, and the rest of the band, +finding the tables thus turned upon them, had taken to their heels +and disappeared into the night.</p> +<p>"Let me go, hound!" yelled Vetch, and at the answer I started +with a thrill of pleasure.</p> +<p>"Let ye go! Not for all the aldermen in the country. 'Twas your +tricks drove me out of Shrewsbury, and seemingly ye're at 'em +still. You ha'nt learnt your lesson, Master Vetch; more fool +you."</p> +<p>It was Joe Punchard's voice. If I had doubted it I should have +been assured by a word that fell from his companion.</p> +<p>"Haul him to the watch house, Joe. I'll bring this fellow!"</p> +<p>"And the bag, Captain?" says Joe.</p> +<p>"Give it to this long fellow," says the other, with a hard look +at me.</p> +<p>And I found a large bag thrust into my arms, which Joe had been +carrying and had dropped on the road at the encounter.</p> +<p>By this time a crowd had assembled, the good folk who had been +craning their necks at the windows having swarmed out, now that the +danger was past. And as we thronged up the street a score of voices +poured into the ears of the man Joe had called "captain" the full +tale of the Mohocks' doings.</p> +<p>I walked among them, shouldering the bag. I perceived that Joe +had not recognized me, which was not to be wondered at, seeing that +when he last saw me I was a pale slip of a boy, whereas now I was a +tall brawny youth with cheeks the color of a ripe russet. And Joe +himself was not quite the 'prentice lad I had known. His legs +indeed were no less bowed than of yore; nor was his hair less red; +but the round face appeared rounder than ever by reason of a thick +fringe of whiskers. His body had filled out, and he moved with a +rolling gait that caused him to usurp more than one man's share of +the narrow street.</p> +<p>When we had laid the two ruffians safely in ward, the captain +said to Joe:</p> +<p>"Now we'll go visit Nelly, and 'gad, my limbs yearn for bed, +Joe. This fellow can still carry the bag; 'tis worth a groat."</p> +<p>I grinned, and stepping alongside of Joe, whose head did not +reach much above my elbow, I looked down on him, and said:</p> +<p>"Don't you know me, Joe?"</p> +<p>His start of surprise set me a-smiling. His round face, somewhat +more weatherbeaten than when I saw it last, expressed amazement, +incredulity, and half a dozen more emotions in turn.</p> +<p>"Bless my soul!" he cried. "Sure 'tis little Humphrey Bold, +growed mountain high. Give me the bag, sir; God forbid you should +bear a load for Joe Punchard."</p> +<p>"No, no," I replied. "I'll earn my groat, now I've begun. And +right glad I am to see you, Joe; I had thought never to look on +your face again."</p> +<p>"And would not, but for my dear captain," says he.</p> +<p>"Captain, 'tis Master Bold, the boy I told ye of. 'Twas him I +saved from the hands of Cyrus Vetch the last day I was at home, and +sure 'tis a wonderful thing that the very night of homecoming we +save him again. Vetch needs another turn in the barrel, methinks. I +wonder if my old master has one that will hold his long +carcass.</p> +<p>"But look 'ee, Master Humphrey, this be Captain Benbow, Mistress +Nelly's brother, and my dear master. Oh, I've a deal to tell 'ee +of, and a deal to hear, I warrant me. Is my old mother yet alive, +sir?"</p> +<p>"Yes, and hale and hearty, Joe, though she has well-nigh given +up hope of the silks and satins you promised her."</p> +<p>"Bless her heart, she shall have 'em now. We have rid from +Bristowe, sir, the captain and me, and we stayed but to put up our +horses at the Bull and Gate, where I left my bag filled with good +store of things for the old woman. Won't she open her eyes! Won't +she thank Heaven for bandy-legged Joe!"</p> +<p>We had now reached the door of Mistress Hind's house, and as I +set down the bag a great oath burst from Captain Benbow's lips.</p> +<p>"Split me!" says he, eying the splintered panel and the gap +where the knocker had been. "Had I those villains on deck they +should have a supper of rope's end, I warrant you."</p> +<p>His voice was rough, and his tongue had a keen Shropshire tang, +which indeed it never lost, giving thereby evidence to confute +those who afterwards claimed for him kinship with a noble family. +In truth Benbow was the son of an honest tanner of our town, and +took no shame of his origin: his greatness was above such pettiness +of spirit. He had run away to sea at an early age, and for some +years lived a hard life before the mast. But his native merits in +time triumphed over adverse fortune, and before he was thirty he +became master and in a good measure owner of a frigate which he +called The Benbow.</p> +<p>It is said, I know not with what truth, that his fortunes date +from an adventure that befell him in the year 1686. In the Benbow +frigate he was attacked by a sallee rover, who boarded him, but was +beaten off with the loss of thirteen men. Benbow (I tell the tale +as I heard it) cut off their heads and threw them into pickle. When +he landed at Cadiz, he brought them on shore in a sack, and on +being challenged by the custom house officers as importing +contraband goods, he threw them on the table with, "Gentlemen, if +you like 'em, they are at your service."</p> +<p>This saying so tickled the humor of the king of Spain that he +recommended Benbow to our King James, and thus led to his promotion +in our Royal Navy. The captain was now somewhat above forty years +old, straight but slight in build, not ill looking, save that his +nose was a trifle over big--a defect not uncommon, I have remarked, +among great commanders.</p> +<p>Well, as I said, we had arrived at Mistress Hind's door, and the +captain was in a great rage at the havoc wrought by Vetch and his +crew. He rapped on the door with the hilt of his sword, and out +pops Mistress Nelly's head from the window above ('twas in a +night-cap), and she screams:</p> +<p>"Out upon you, you vagabones! You've done mischief enough for +one night, drat you, and if ye be not gone inside of half a minute +I'll empty the slops on ye, that I will."</p> +<p>Benbow laughed.</p> +<p>"The family spirit!" he says under his breath to Joe. "Speak to +her; don't tell her I'm here."</p> +<p>"Oh, Mistress Hind," says Joe in a mournful voice, "here's a +welcome to a poor worn-out old mariner as you used to +befriend."</p> +<p>"Who in the world are ye?" she asks.</p> +<p>"Who but Joe Punchard, ma'am, that went away for rolling a +barrel, and has been a-rolling ever since."</p> +<p>"Ay, now I know your voice. Back like a bad penny, are ye? Come +and see me tomorrow; I'm abed now."</p> +<p>"But I've brought a friend with me--another poor old +mariner"--with a wink at Benbow--"who wants a night's lodging."</p> +<p>"Can he pay?" asks Mistress Hind.</p> +<p>"To be sure: his pockets are full of pieces of eight and other +sound coin."</p> +<p>"Then I'll come down to you; but ye must bide a minute or two +till I throw a few things on, for I'd die rather than show myself +to a mariner in my night rail."</p> +<p>Benbow laughed again.</p> +<p>"'Tis twenty years or more since I saw Nell," he said, "but I'd +know her tongue in any company."</p> +<p>And now the remembrance of my father's illness, which the +subsequent excitements had driven from my mind, returned with a +sudden force that made me take a hasty leave of the two travelers, +though both asked me to wait and drink a dish of coffee with them. +So I did not see the meeting of brother and sister, but learned +from Joe next day the manner of it.</p> +<p>Mistress Hind did not recognize the captain, never having seen +him from a boy, until, sitting at table with a dish of coffee +before him, and she standing over him, bidding him haste that she +might return to bed--sitting thus, I say, he took up the dish and +began to blow into it to cool it, as children do.</p> +<p>"Why," says Mistress Hind, "tha blows it round and round to make +little waves, just like my brother John."</p> +<p>"Nelly!" says the captain, setting the dish down.</p> +<p>"And there they were," said Joe in telling me the story, "in +each other's arms, and when she'd done drying her eyes she +says,</p> +<p>"'John, and I needn't ha' minded about the night rail!'"</p> +<p>It was nigh eleven o'clock when I got home--a very late hour in +our parts, and Mistress Pennyquick was in a great to-do, imagining +all kinds of evil that might have befallen me. Mr. Pinhorn had +remained with my father a long time, she said; he was now asleep +and was not to be disturbed. I was myself fairly tired out, and +fell asleep the instant my head touched the pillow.</p> +<h2><a name="Ch5" id="Ch5">Chapter 5</a>: I Lose My Best +Friend.</h2> +<p>There was a crowded courthouse next day when Ralph Mytton and +Cyrus Vetch were brought before the Mayor and charged with breach +of the peace and malicious damage to the property of lieges. It was +the first time that the Mohocks had been caught in the act, and +their being well connected added a spice to the event.</p> +<p>The two prisoners bore themselves very differently. Mytton, a +nephew of the member of Parliament, assumed an air of bravado, +smiled and winked at his friends in court, evidently trusting to +his high connections to get him off lightly. Vetch, on the other +hand, was sullen and morose, never lifting his eyes from the floor +except when I was giving my evidence, and then he threw me a glance +in which I read, as clearly as in a book, the threat of venomous +hate. Both he and Mytton were very heavily fined, and the Mayor was +good enough to compliment me on the part I had played.</p> +<p>As we were leaving the court, a tipstaff came up to Joe +Punchard, and formally arrested him as a runaway 'prentice; at the +instance, I doubt not, of Vetch himself. But the matter ended in a +triumph for Joe, for Captain Benbow accompanied him before the +Mayor and declared that as a mariner in the King's navy he was +immune from civil action. Whether the plea was good in law I know +not. The Mayor did not know either, and the clerk, to judge by his +countenance, was in an equal state of puzzlement. But Benbow was +clearly not a man to be trifled with, and Joe had certainly had a +part in bringing the Mohocks to book, and for one reason or another +he was given the benefit of the doubt. When he left the court he +was mightily cheered by a mob of 'prentices among the crowd, and +would have accepted the invitations to drink pressed upon him but +for the peremptory orders of his captain, who was no wine bibber +himself, being therein unlike many of the navy men of his time.</p> +<p>The fines levied on Mytton and Vetch were the least part of +their punishment. The incident of the dust bin brought on them open +ridicule; they became the laughingstock of Shrewsbury. The school +wag, who afterwards became famous for his elegant Greek verses at +Cambridge, pilloried them in a lampoon which the whole town got by +heart, and for days afterwards they could not show their faces +without being greeted by some lines from it by every small boy who +thought himself beyond their reach. It began, I remember:</p> +<pre> +Come list me sing a famous battle, +A dustbin and a watchman's rattle; +The hero he was nominate Cyrus, +The scene was Shrewsbury, not Epirus. +</pre> +<p>The rhymester introduced all the characters; for instance:</p> +<pre> +Another who the dust has bitten +Was a brawny putt by name Ralph Mytton; +And Richard Cludde, a Cambridge lubber, +He ran away home to his mam to blubber; +</pre> +<p>and so the doggerel went on, chronicling the details (more or +less imaginary) of the fight, the entrance of Mr. Benbow and +Punchard on the scene:</p> +<pre> +And Nelly Hind's bashed portal closes +On bandy legs and Roman noses; +</pre> +<p>and ending thus:</p> +<pre> +<i>Carmen concludo sine mora: +"Intus si recte ne labora</i>," +</pre> +<p>which being the school motto (dragged in by the hair of the +head, so to speak), pleased Mr. Lloyd, the master, mightily.</p> +<p>The rage of the persons chiefly concerned knew no bounds, and +this good came of it, that the Mohocks troubled Shrewsbury streets +no more.</p> +<p>Captain Benbow, and with him Joe Punchard, stayed but a few days +in the town. They had come on a flying visit in an interval of the +war against the French on the high seas, and very proud we were +that the captain, one of ourselves, was winning himself a name for +prowess and gallantry in his country's service.</p> +<p>Before he departed, however, I got from Joe a relation of what +had befallen him since the night he stole away. He arrived in +Bristowe footsore and ragged, and there came nigh to starving +before he found employment. One shipmaster swore his hair was too +red: it would serve for a beacon to French privateers; another, +that he was too bandy: his legs would never grip the rigging if he +essayed to go aloft. But at length he obtained a berth on a tobacco +ship trading to Virginia, and suffered great torture both from the +sea and from the harsh and brutal ship's officers. He made other +voyages, to the Guinea coast, the Indies, and elsewhere, and one +fine day, being paid off at Southampton, he chanced to hear that +Captain Benbow was in port, and making himself known to that +officer as a fellow townsman, he was taken by him to be his +servant, and had never left him since.</p> +<p>"And have you pickled any pirates' heads?" I asked, remembering +the story, and bethinking me of the silver-mounted cup possessed by +Mr. Ridley, the captain's brother-in-law, which was said to have +once covered the head of a sallee rover.</p> +<p>"Pickled fiddlesticks!" says Joe. "Dunnat believe every +mariner's tale you hear, Master Humphrey."</p> +<p>And then he proceeded to tell me a fearful and wonderful tale of +a sea serpent, and was mightily offended when I said it was all my +eye.</p> +<p>Joe went away with his captain after a few days, and I own I +envied him, and for the first time felt a secret discontent in the +prospect of a life among pigs and poultry, a feeling which was +heightened when Dick Cludde soon afterwards departed with a +commission from His Majesty. Dick was a lubber and, I believed +then, though I had afterwards proof to the contrary, a coward; and +matching myself against him I knew I would do the king's navy more +credit than he. But I kept my thought to myself--and next day made +a sad bungle, I remember, of my construe of Thucydides' account of +the sea fight at Salamis.</p> +<p>So months passed away. I saw with grave concern that my father +was ailing more and more. The attacks of his terrible disease came +more frequently, and Mr. Pinhorn owned that he could do him no +good. He bore his pain with wonderful fortitude, never suffering a +complaint to pass his lips. Many a time in after years I recalled +his noble courage, which helped me to bear the lesser sufferings +which fell to my lot. He seemed to know that his end was +approaching, and one day called me to his private room and talked +to me with a kindness that brought a lump into my throat.</p> +<p>Much of what he said is too sacred to be set down here; I can +truthfully say that his assurance of having made ample provision +for me seemed of little moment beside his earnest loving counsel, +which made the deeper impression because he had so rarely spoken in +that strain.</p> +<p>The end came suddenly, and with a shock that stunned me, for all +I was so well prepared for it. A few brief moments of dreadful +agony, and the good man who had been more than a father to me was +no more. Never once during his long illness had his sister Lady +Cludde visited him; neither she nor her husband accompanied his +remains to the grave: and when we had left him in the churchyard of +St. Mary and returned to the house, I was roused for a little from +my stupor by the sight of Sir Richard among those assembled to hear +Mr. Vetch read the will.</p> +<p>A great wave of anger surged within me when I saw him sitting in +my father's chair, his fat hands folded upon his paunch, and his +bleared eyes rolling a quizzing glance round upon the little +company. So enraged was I that I took little heed of Mr. Vetch at +the table, and heard nothing of what he said as he drew from his +pocket a long paper sealed and tied with tape. No doubt I watched +him untie the knots and break the seal, and spread the document on +the table before him; no doubt I heard his cry of amazement, and +saw Sir Richard and the few friends of my father who were present +rise from their seats and crowd about him; but I remained listless +in my place until a shriek from Mistress Pennyquick woke me to a +sense that something was amiss. Then I heard Sir Richard say, in +his loud blustrous tones:</p> +<p>"Then my lady inherits?"</p> +<p>"Not so fast, not so fast, Sir Richard," said Mr. Vetch in a +tone of great perturbation. "She is, it is true, the heir-at-law, +but our departed friend left his house, messuage, farm and all its +appurtenances to his adopted son Humphrey Bold, with an annuity of +fifty pounds per annum to his faithful housekeeper Rebecca +Pennyquick: I took down his instructions with his own hand, and +engrossed the will myself.</p> +<p>"There is some mistake, gentlemen, something inexplicable. I +must ask you, in all fairness, to postpone your judgment of the +matter until I have made search in my office. Never in my forty +years' experience has so untoward a thing happened, and I must beg +of you to give me time to solve the mystery."</p> +<p>"I will wait on you tomorrow, Mr. Attorney," says Sir Richard. +"Meanwhile I claim this property for my Lady Cludde."</p> +<p>And with that he takes his hat and stick and marches from the +room.</p> +<p>The neighbors followed him, giving me commiserating glances, one +or two of them shaking me by the hand and speaking words of +condolence. Mr. Vetch remained for a time staring at the paper +before him; then he folded it and came to me.</p> +<p>"Some devilish prank," he said hurriedly. "Never fear, my lad; +all will come right. I will see you tomorrow, my boy."</p> +<p>And then he too went, leaving me alone with Mistress Pennyquick, +who had done nothing for some while but sob and rock herself to and +fro on her chair.</p> +<p>"That wicked man!" she moaned. "But he will be punished--he will +be punished, Humphrey. What does the good Book say about them that +despoil widows and orphans? Oh, my poor master!"</p> +<p>"What is it, Becky?" I asked, with but little curiosity for her +answer.</p> +<p>"'Tis the doing of that wicked man and his wife! I know it is," +the poor creature sobbed. "And they wouldn't come near the poor +soul when he was in his agony. And now they want to rob us--to rob +you, my poor boy, and me who served him faithful these twenty year. +God will punish him!"</p> +<p>"But what have they done, then?" I asked again.</p> +<p>"Done! Lord knows what they haven't done. I knew summat would +happen when I saw Mr. Vetch come to your poor father a while +ago--you mind, I told you so. Lawyers are all no good, that's my +belief. Don't tell me Mr. Vetch didn't know what he was a-carrying. +He's in league with the wretches, I know he is, for all his mazed +look. Don't tell me he didn't know the paper was as white as the +underside of a fleece. Fleece is the very word for it: he's fleeced +us, sure enough, and I'll come on the parish, and you'll be a +beggar, and they unnatural wretches will wallow in their pride, +and--oh! I can't abear it, I can't abear it!"</p> +<p>And the poor creature burst into a passion of weeping, so that +it was some time before I could learn the cause of her distress. It +was amazing enough. When Mr. Vetch unfolded the document which he +believed to be my father's will, the paper inside was as clean as +when it came from the scrivener's. There was not a single mark upon +it.</p> +<h2><a name="Ch6" id="Ch6">Chapter 6</a>: I Take Articles.</h2> +<p>We were at breakfast next morning, Mistress Pennyquick and I, +when Captain Galsworthy, after a herald tap on the door, walked +into the room.</p> +<p>"What's this cock-and-bull story that's running over the town?" +he cried without circumstance.</p> +<p>Before I could reply, Mistress Pennyquick began to pour out her +tale of woe, roundly accusing Sir Richard Cludde and Lawyer Vetch +of conspiring to defraud me of my rights.</p> +<p>"I haven't slept a wink the whole night through, sir," says the +poor soul, "and I've wetted six--no, 'tis seven handkerchers till +they're like clouts from the washtub, and I can hardly see out o' +my eyes, and--"</p> +<p>"Stuff and nonsense and a fiddlestick end!" cries the captain +angrily, "dry your eyes, woman. Of all God's creatures a sniveling +woman is the worst. Vetch has been wool gathering:</p> +<p>"<i>Quandoque dormitat Homerus</i>--eh, Humphrey?--</p> +<p>"Which means, ma'am, that you sometimes catch a weasel asleep. +Depend on't, he engrossed the wrong docket, and by this time has +discovered the true will in one of his moldy boxes. Gad, it'll ruin +him, though--if his nephew has not done it already. A family lawyer +can't afford to be caught napping.</p> +<p>"Put on your cap, Humphrey: we'll go and look into things and +hint that we must change our attorney."</p> +<p>So he and I set off together. But, early as it was, Sir Richard +Cludde had been before us. When we entered Mr. Vetch's office, +there was the burly knight with his hand on the door, flinging a +parting word at the lawyer, who sat behind his desk with his wig +awry, the picture of harassment and woe. Sir Richard gave a curt +nod to the captain, but vouchsafed me not a glance.</p> +<p>"You understand, Mr. Attorney?" he said. "The present occupants +will vacate the premises within a week, and you will bring me the +keys."</p> +<p>Then he strode away, banging the door after him. The captain +whistled.</p> +<p>"Sits the wind--the whirlwind, I might say-in that quarter? +Where's the will, Vetch?"</p> +<p>"I would give my right hand to know," said the lawyer. "There is +Mr. Ellery's box"--he indicated a case of black tin with the name +John Ellery printed in white letters on its side; "'twas there I +laid it, with the title deeds and other documents. I searched it +through yesterday. I spent half the night in ransacking every other +box in the room, all to no purpose."</p> +<p>"You did not lay it aside when you had drawn it and afterwards +engross a blank paper like folded, think you?"</p> +<p>"Sir, 'tis impossible. I drew the will at a sitting: it was not +a long one; folded, engrossed, and tied it with my own hands. +Nothing short of witchcraft could undo my handiwork."</p> +<p>"Or your nephew," snapped the captain. "He is the boon fellow of +young Cludde; 'tis the Cluddes who gain by the disappearance, and +mightily glad they will be of the property if all is true that's +said of Sir Richard's affairs. Where's your nephew, Vetch?"</p> +<p>"At home and abed, Captain, suffering from a catarrh. I did ask +him if he knew aught of the matter, and he laughed and denied it, +reminding me that I had never trusted him with the keys. He is +wild, I own, sir; heady and self willed, a sore trial to me +sometimes; but he is of my name, and that name is honorable in +Shrewsbury."</p> +<p>"'Tut, man, nobody but a fool would suspect you of evil dealing, +and if your nephew had a hand in this it might be nought but a +boyish prank, though a deuced indecent one. But now to the +practical question: in the absence of the will, how does Humphrey +stand?"</p> +<p>I shall never forget the poor lawyer's look of misery when this +question was put to him, sharp as a pistol shot. He bent his quill +in his hand till it cracked; he fidgeted on his stool; he began a +sentence three times and left it unfinished.</p> +<p>"In a word," says the captain, who was ever for directness, "he +is a pauper?"</p> +<p>The lawyer bowed his head, but said never a word. Captain +Galsworthy began to drum on the table with his fingers, as his +manner was when perturbed. I sat silent, still too much under the +shadow of my great loss to comprehend the full bearing of his +words.</p> +<p>"Did you put it to Cludde?" he asked suddenly.</p> +<p>"I did, sir, with all the force of which I was capable. I begged +him to acquiesce in the known wishes of our friend, to accept the +draft of the will--here it is--taken 'down by myself from his lips. +Sir Richard looked at it, pished and pshawed, said he had never +held John Ellery's wits in much account, and declared that my +instructions were a clear proof of his feeble mindedness. When I +protested that I had never known a man with a clearer head or of +sounder sense he bellowed at me: what, did I think it sound sense +to will away to a stranger property that had been in the family for +generations?</p> +<p>"'No stranger,' I said, 'indeed, by marriage a kinsman of your +own, Sir Richard.'</p> +<p>"'No kinsman of mine!' he said, 'nor of my lady's neither. When +I married Susan Ellery I did not wed her brother, nor any beggar's +brat'--those were his words, sir--'any beggar's brat he was fool +enough to keep off the parish. If you had the will I'd dispute it +against all the attorneys in England.'</p> +<p>"He is a hard man, Captain. He demands possession in a +week."</p> +<p>"And your draft has no value in law?"</p> +<p>"Not a whit, I am sorry to say."</p> +<p>"Then devil take the law," the captain snapped out.</p> +<p>"Hang me, I'll go myself and see Cludde and tell him what I +think of him."</p> +<p>"Not for me, Captain," said I, feeling my face burn. "I'll take +nothing from Sir Richard Cludde, beggar's brat as I am."</p> +<p>"You won't be a fool, Humphrey," said the captain. "Half a loaf +is better than no bread, and if I don't wring an allowance out of +the rogue, I'm a Dutchman."</p> +<p>The captain would have his way, in spite of my protestation. But +he returned from his visit to Cludde Court in a towering passion. +The knight refused point blank to acknowledge any claim upon him, +and swore that if Mistress Pennyquick and I were not out of the +house by the day he named, he would come with bailiffs and +constables and fling us out neck and crop.</p> +<p>Captain Galsworthy was more concerned than I was at the failure +of his well-meant intervention. In my ignorance of the world, and +how hardly it uses those who have nothing, I did not foresee, as my +wise old friend did, the arduous course I was to follow, nor the +many buffets in store for me, but thought, like many lads before +and since, that with the equipment of health and strength I could +ride a tilt against circumstance. Youth is green and unknowing, as +Mr. Dryden hath it, and sure 'tis a mercy.</p> +<p>Before the day was out, we had a piece of news that confirmed +the captain's suggestion as to the disappearance of the will. Cyrus +Vetch had vanished, together with the contents of his uncle's cash +box. When Mr. Vetch went home to his dinner, he found the cash box +broken open, and Cyrus gone. I could not doubt now that 'twas my +old enemy had wreaked on me the vengeance that had smouldered in +his breast ever since Joe Punchard sent him down Wyle Cop in the +barrel, and was fanned into a flame by my action on the night of +the adventure in Raven Street. Mistress Pennyquick was firm in her +belief that the Cluddes were party to the crime, but that I could +not credit then, and never will.</p> +<p>Mr. Vetch himself came to see me the next day. The poor old man +was quite broken down. He humbly begged my forgiveness for the +trouble he had brought upon me, for so he chose to regard it; and +he confessed to me, what I am sure he never revealed to a living +soul beside, that Cyrus had been for years a thorn in his flesh. He +was a spendthrift and a gambler, and had bled his uncle many a time +to discharge what he called his debts of honor. This drain upon the +lawyer, together with losses he had sustained in the failure of +Chamberlain's Land Bank scheme--that monstrous attempt of the +Tories to set up a rival to the Bank of England--had brought him to +the verge of ruin, and with tears in his eyes he expressed to me +his fear that the matter of my father's will would bring him into +such ill repute that the Shrewsbury folk would no longer trust him +and would give their business into other hands.</p> +<p>This set me a-thinking, and during the week I was allowed to +remain in the old farmhouse I turned over in my mind a plan which, +I own, mightily pleased me. It was clear that I must do something +for myself. I had never had any great liking for farming work, and +now that the position of a yeoman on my own land was denied me I +was not inclined to accept service on the land of another. Mr. +Lloyd, the master of the school, when I went to take leave of him, +was kind enough to say that he would use his interest to obtain for +me a servitorship at Oxford or a sizarship at Cambridge, which +would put me in the way of making a livelihood as a tutor or +perhaps as a parson. But I was not in the mind to be any more +subsistent on charity, even of this modified sort, nor had I indeed +any hope of achieving excellence in the classical tongues, so I +thanked him, but declined his offer.</p> +<p>The idea that had entered my noddle was that I might join Mr. +Vetch, and do something in the practice of law to make amends for +the ill fortune which, unwittingly and indirectly, I had been the +means of bringing upon him. When I had made up my mind, I mooted +the project to Captain Galsworthy, who laughed at it as quixotic, +but confessed that he saw no better course open to me.</p> +<p>"I had liever you took up a more active trade--one in which you +could put to use the sciences you have learned of me," said the old +warrior. "But that would take you from Shrewsbury, to be sure, and +I should miss our little bouts, Humphrey boy. And when you come to +think of it, a man needn't be the worse lawyer for a passable +dexterity with the small sword."</p> +<p>Mr. Vetch was quite overcome when I set my proposal before him. +He embraced it eagerly, drew out my articles at once, and swore +that I would be his salvation. And as I must needs have somewhere +to live, he insisted on my taking up my abode with him; he had a +roomy house, he said, and I need not occupy Cyrus' chamber unless I +pleased.</p> +<p>"But what about poor old Becky?" I said. "She is really harder +hit by this unlucky affair than I, and 't would break her heart to +go to the poor house."</p> +<p>"Let her come, too," said Mr. Vetch. "My housekeeper is leaving +me; the fates are conspiring in our favor, you see. Let her come +and mother us both, and I will give her twenty pounds a year."</p> +<p>I had as yet broken nothing of my designs to Mistress +Pennyquick, foreseeing trouble in that quarter. It was pitiful to +see her, who had been such a bustling housewife, sitting the +greater part of the day with her hands in her lap, or dabbing the +tears from her eyes, and to hear her melancholy plaints, which grew +the more frequent as the time drew nearer for leaving the old +house. After concluding my arrangement with Mr. Vetch I went back +to the farmhouse, flung my cap into a chair, and, sitting across +the corner of the table, said:</p> +<p>"Only two days more, Becky."</p> +<p>"And what will become of us I don't know," says the old woman. +"'Tis the poor house for me, and water gruel, and I've had my +rasher regular for forty year. And as for you, my poor lamb, never +did I think I'd live to see you put on an apron, and say 'What d'ye +lack, Madam?' to stuck-up folks as'll look on ye as so much +dirt."</p> +<p>"What's this talk of aprons?" says I, laughing.</p> +<p>"How can ye laugh?" she says, the tears rolling down her cheeks. +"Beggars can't be choosers, and ye'll have to ask Mr. Huggins to +have pity on ye and take ye into his shop, and ye'll tie up sugar +and coffee for Susan Cludde belike, and--oh, deary me!"</p> +<p>"Nonsense, Becky," says I. "I shan't have that pleasure. I'm +going to join Mr. Vetch."</p> +<p>"What!" she shrieks.</p> +<p>"'Tis true. Mr. Vetch has given me my articles, and instead of +tying up coffee and sugar I shall tie deeds and conveyances and +become a most respectable lawyer."</p> +<p>"Oh! 'twill kill me!" she moans. "Of all the dreadful news I +ever heard! And wi' Lawyer Vetch, too; the man as devours widows' +houses and makes away with good men's wills! I wish I were in my +grave, I do!"</p> +<p>"Wouldn't you rather be with me, Becky?" I said, smiling at +her.</p> +<p>"'Tis cruel to talk so," she cried, sobbing. "How can I be with +'ee? What you get from Lawyer Vetch won't keep two--if you get +anything at all. They say his nephew has ruined him--the wretch! +Indeed, if you ask me, I say you'll get more from Mr. Huggins than +from the lawyer. You'll have enough to do to keep yourself, without +being saddled with a poor, forlorn old widow woman."</p> +<p>"But won't you come? I am going to live with Mr. Vetch."</p> +<p>"Live with the devil!" she screamed, lifting her hands with a +gesture of utter despair. "It is downright wicked of you, +Humphrey--and your poor father not a week in the grave. Sure the +end of the world be coming, when the leopard and the kid shall lie +down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox."</p> +<p>"And donkeys won't bray, I suppose," says I. "There, I don't +mean you, Becky, though you are an old goose. Mr. Vetch wants a +housekeeper, and you are to come with me and mother us both, he +says, and he'll give you twenty pounds a year."</p> +<p>The good creature's look sent me into a fit of laughter. She +stared solemnly at me for a while through her tears, saying never a +word. Then the drooping corners of her mouth lifted; she folded her +hands across her plump person and said:</p> +<p>"Your father only gave me eighteen, Humphrey: are you sure 'twas +twenty the lawyer said?"</p> +<p>"Quite sure. The devil isn't as black as he's painted, eh +Becky?"</p> +<p>"Ah! you never know a man till yon've lived with him. Pennyquick +was--but there, he's gone, poor soul, as we all must, and tis ill +work saying anything against one as can't answer ye back: not that +Pennyquick was ever much of a hand at that, poor soul!"</p> +<p>I heard no more vilification of Mr. Vetch. Becky recovered her +old activity with surprising ease, and went about the house +collecting such personal belongings of her own and mine as the +lawyer told us we might remove without question. He himself came to +the house on our last day, and made an inventory of the articles we +removed, and having seen these safely bestowed in a pannier on the +back of Ben Ivimey's son, who came to carry them away, we shut the +doors of the old place, Mr. Vetch pocketed the keys, and we set off +for the town.</p> +<p>Mistress Pennyquick shed a plenitude of tears, and I had a +monstrous lump in my throat that threatened to choke me if I tried +to speak. With a discretion that raised him mightily in Becky's +esteem, Mr. Vetch fell behind, leaving us two together; and so with +full hearts we took the road, going into our new life hand in +hand.</p> +<h2><a name="Ch7" id="Ch7">Chapter 7</a>: A Crown Piece.</h2> +<p>This turn in our affairs was a nine days' wonder in Shrewsbury. +And whether it was that some chord of sympathy was touched in our +townsfolk, or that Mr. Vetch worsted his only rival, Mr. Moggridge, +in a case of breach of covenant that was tried at the next assizes, +I know not; but certain it is that my friend's business took a leap +upward from that very time. Clients flocked to him; he soon had to +employ an additional clerk; and Mistress Pennyquick, who was twice +as tyrannical as before on the strength of her extra two pounds a +year, declared privately to me one day that she wished for nothing +now but that she might live to see me a partner with Mr. Vetch, in +a house of my own, with a sensible wife and five pretty +children.</p> +<p>But I have come to believe that as an Ethiopian can not change +his skin, nor a leopard his spots, so a man can not alter the bent +of mind he was born with, nor follow any course with success but +the one to which his nature calls. I entered Mr. Vetch's office +with the best will in the world to please him, and to master the +principles of legal practice and procedure; but I found it hard to +reconcile myself to the atmosphere of a stuffy room filled with +musty tomes, and to the unvarying round of desk work--copying from +morning to night agreements, deeds and other documents bristling +with a jargon unintelligible to me.</p> +<p>I soon tired of freehold and copyhold tenure, of manorial rights +and customs, and the hundred and one legal fictions connected with +actions at law and bills in chancery that constitute the routine of +an attorney's profession. I yearned to breathe an ampler air; and +when one day I saw Dick Cludde, returned home on leave, strutting +past with Mytton and other boon companions, in all the bravery of +cocked hat, laced coat and buckled shoes, I flung down my pen and +donned my cap, and set off, with bitter rage and envy in my heart, +to pour out my soul to my constant friend, Captain Galsworthy.</p> +<p>"Halt!" cried the captain, when I was in the midst of a tirade. +"We'll have a bout."</p> +<p>And forthwith we donned the gloves, and for a full quarter of an +hour we sparred, he with the cool mastery that never deserted him, +I with a blind rage and fury which had its natural end. In the +third round I aimed a blow at my adversary's neck with my right +hand, but failing in my reach, he returned it full swing with his +left, and dealt me such a staggerer on my cheekbone that down I +went like a ninepin and measured my length on the floor.</p> +<p>"Capital!" says the captain, sitting down (the old fellow was +puffing not a little). "Capital! That was a settler, eh, my boy? +Now you can get up and talk sense."</p> +<p>I got up, rubbing my cheek, and grinning a rueful smile, as the +captain told me. We remained long in talk; never had my old friend +been wiser or more kindly. He listened to me with patience as I +told him--quietly, for he had fairly knocked my rage out of me--how +desperately sick I was of my occupation, and how I longed to +stretch my limbs and do something.</p> +<p>"I knew it, my boy," he said. "I had seen it coming. I +understand it. Haven't I been through it myself? I was bred for +commerce: you might as well have harnessed a pig. One day--I was +younger than you-I took French leave and a crown piece and trudged +to London. I enlisted in old Noll's army, shipped to Flanders and +served under Lockhart--he was a man, sir!--at the siege of Cambrai, +deserted when the campaign was at an end, and roamed over half +Europe; took service with the Emperor; fought with the Swedes +against the Poles, and the Poles against the Swedes; fell in with +Patrick Gordon, and was beguiled by him to Muscovy; and should have +been with the Czar Peter at this day if he hadn't called me a fool +when he was sober; we paid no heed to what he called us when he was +drunk.</p> +<p>"Ah! I see your eyes glistening, you young dog. You were never +born to be tied up with red tape."</p> +<p>This brief account of his life, and he never told me more, had +indeed set my heart leaping. What would I not give, I thought, to +see what he had seen, and do what he had done!</p> +<p>"But now to be practical," said the captain. "You want to go: +very well, go. But you won't sneak off like Cyrus Vetch; you can't +go with a commission like young Cludde. How much money have you +got?"</p> +<p>"A few guineas I have saved."</p> +<p>"Well, keep them; you may be in a tight place some day, and find +'em handy. You have a hankering for the sea, you say. Then tramp to +Bristowe, as your champion Joe Punchard did, and hitch on to John +Benbow if you can find him. He'll work you hard, if all that's said +about him is true; but he'll either make you or break you. That's +my advice."</p> +<p>Advice that jumps with one's own inclinations hath ever a +comfortable appearance of soundness. I told the captain that he had +hit on the very scheme I had proposed to myself, adding, however, +that I had thought to go a-horseback.</p> +<p>"A-horseback!" he cried. "What want you with a horse? You don't +own a horse, and to hire one you would expend all your guineas and +have nothing to feed either him or yourself. No, go on your shanks; +there's a world of knowledge to be gained by footing it on the open +road."</p> +<p>And so we settled that Captain Galsworthy should himself come to +our house on Pride Hill and break the news to my good friends +there. They were both downcast when they heard it, Mr. Vetch more +than Mistress Pennyquick, which somewhat surprised me. He plied me +with innumerable reasons for remaining with him, spoke of the long +miles I should have to trudge before I reached the port, described +the perils of the road, even foresaw that I should be arrested as a +vagrant and clapped into jail! He conjured up dismal pictures of +the seafaring life, and waxed quite eloquent in drawing a contrast +between the bare windswept deck and the cosy fireside, the dangers +from storm and pirates and the serenity of our quiet town. And then +the captain broke in upon his speech with a great laugh.</p> +<p>"Gad, Mr. Attorney, you have o'ershot your bolt," he cried. +"Mark you the sparkle in the boy's eyes and the catch in his +breath? The bogies you raise are beacons to him. D'you think to +frighten him as you would a girl? Spare your breath, man, to cool +your porridge; what fellow of spirit would be deterred from a life +of action by your vision of slippers and a basin of gruel?"</p> +<p>And indeed the lawyer's eloquence fell on deaf ears; or rather, +as the captain said, all his reasons did but whet my eagerness +until I fairly tingled with the imagined delight of matching myself +against the hostility of the elements and man. And so he at last +desisted, and gave a grudging compliance to my purpose; and +Mistress Pennyquick concluded the discussion with a shot at Captain +Galsworthy.</p> +<p>"This is all along o' you, Captain," she cried. "This is what +comes of teaching little boys to fight. I knew years ago 't'ud have +a bad end, and I told his poor father so, and I'm sure I hope you +are satisfied."</p> +<p>"Abundantly, ma'am," says the captain, bobbing her a bow. "My +pupil does me credit, and will do me more."</p> +<p>My preparations were soon made; indeed, I had nothing to prepare +save a few garments, which poor Becky blessed with a copious +baptism of tears. Then, one fine spring morning, when the buds on +tree and hedge were bursting and the air was full of song, I set +off on my long journey. Captain Galsworthy accompanied me for a few +miles on the road--across English Bridge, past our old farmhouse +(now held by a tenant of Sir Richard Cludde's), through the +beautiful vale of Severn, till at Cressage my way led me southward +from the river. Then he held me fast by the hand and looked me in +the face.</p> +<p>"God bless you, Humphrey," he said. "Live clean, and--and--hit +straight from the shoulder, my boy."</p> +<p>And then he turned away--not before I had seen a film of +moisture gather in his eyes.</p> +<p>Now I was fairly started on my travels--in a customary suit of +plain gray homespun, with worsted hose, knit for me by Mistress +Pennyquick, a pair of stout shoes, a round hat, and a stout staff +in my hand. I carried a few extra garments in a knapsack strapped +to my back, and my few guineas were safely stowed in a wallet +beneath my belt.</p> +<p>For a mile or two after leaving the captain I was in as black a +fit of the dumps as ever beset a man. I was but halfway through my +eighteenth year, and had as yet never gone more than ten miles from +my native town, nor slept a night away from home. 'Tis true, no +close ties of blood now bound me to Shrewsbury, but it held dear +memories and kind friends, and I felt a natural heart sickness at +thus cutting myself adrift from all and ranging forth alone into +the great unknown world. But healthy youth can not long lie under +such an oppression; my low spirits lasted just so long as it took +me to gain the crest of the hill towards Harley, and when I had +turned and taken a parting look behind--at the fields in their +fresh green, and the spires of Shrewsbury beyond, and the Severn +winding like a bright ribbon through the vale--when I had fed my +eyes on this charming scene, and breathed a prayer that in good +time I should behold it again, I set my face once more to the +south, and stepped briskly down the slope that hid my home from +sight and stood as the dividing line between my past and my future. +And as I trudged on between the bright hedgerows, and heard the +song of birds all about me, and felt the warm sunbeams on my face, +I began to exult in my youth and strength, and the words of a song +from one of my father's play books came to my mind, and I hummed +them aloud:</p> +<pre> +A merry heart goes all the day, +A sad tires in a mile a. +</pre> +<p>About half a mile out of Harley, the road makes a long ascent to +the market town of Much Wenlock. I was pretty warm by the time I +arrived there, and mighty hungry, so I repaired to the inn where my +father was wont to eat on market days, and where I had several +times been with him, and ordered a dinner of bread and cheese and +ale. The innkeeper, Mr. Appleby, was not a little surprised to see +me, and was fairly staggered when I told him I was off to Bristowe +to seek my fortune. To the stay-at-home folk of the countryside +Bristowe was as distant as Brazil, and he would have heard that I +was starting for the ends of the earth with but little more +amazement.</p> +<p>"Betsy," he called through the half-open door into the little +parlor behind, "here be young Master Bold a setting off to +Bristowe."</p> +<p>"Bless us!" cried his wife, bustling out, and bringing with her +an odor of roast meat that somewhat slacked my appetite for bread +and cheese. "Deary me! You doesn't say so now! Well, to be sure! +'Tis a fearsome long way, by all accounts; but there, you be growed +a great big chap, Master Bold, and I'm sure I wish 'ee good luck. +Come away in, sir, dinner's just off the jack, and me and my man +'ud be main proud if you'd eat a morsel with us afore ye goes."</p> +<p>I was nothing loath, and found the roast of mutton a deal more +to my liking than the frugal fare I had ordered. I was still but +halfway through my second helping when there came through the door +a great clatter of hoofs from the street, and then a loud voice +crying "Appleby! here, sirrah, stir your stumps!" with an oath or +two by way of seasoning.</p> +<p>My host got up in a hurry and ran to the outer door, and I laid +down my knife and fork, and I think my cheeks must have gone a +trifle pale, for Mistress Appleby asked me anxiously what was +amiss. I hastened to reassure her, but begged her to close the door +into the inn place which her husband had left open. She wonderingly +complied, but was enlightened a moment afterwards, when she saw +Dick Cludde swagger in, followed by the two naval captains whom his +lady mother had been entertaining.</p> +<p>"I understand your feeling, sir," said the good wife. "'Tis a +sin and a shame ye lost the farm, which was yours by right; but +doan't 'ee let 'em spoil your dinner; I can't abear mutton half, +cold."</p> +<p>A more important matter, however, than the cooling of my mutton +was troubling me. I had heard Cludde call for wine and dice, from +which it was clear that he did not intend to leave yet awhile. +There was no way out except by going through the inn taproom, and I +was not inclined to face Dick Cludde there, for he would of a +certainty make some sneering or belittling remark, and my temper +being not of the meekest I feared things might come to a brawl. Not +that I cared a fig's end for Cludde, or feared any ill result from +a personal encounter; but I knew the inn was a property of Sir +Richard's, who would speedily find a new tenant if Dick got a +broken head there.</p> +<p>There was nothing for it but to stay where I was, and bear with +what patience I might the interruption to my scarcely begun +journey. So I sat in my chair, and even through the closed door +could hear the loud voices of the naval men and the rattle of the +dice on the board. They called often for more wine, and grew more +and more boisterous as their potations lengthened, giving me a hope +that they would by and by be so fuddled as to make it possible for +me to escape unrecognized. But this hope was soon dashed.</p> +<p>"Let's have another bottle!" cried one of the three; his speech +was very thick. "Let's have another."</p> +<p>"No, no," said another. "You've had enough, Kirkby; and Cludde +there is half asleep already."</p> +<p>"Ads bobs, Walton," returned the man addressed as Kirkby, "are +you growing like Benbow? No wine, no gentlemen! What's things comm' +to, I say, when a fellow like Benbow, no gentleman"--(he pronounced +it "gemman")--"flies his flag on a king's ship!"</p> +<p>And then, being perfectly tipsy, he launched out into violent +abuse of Joe Punchard's captain, who was, it is true, a rough and +ready seaman, and, I must own, somewhat uncouth in his manners. +From his words I learned that Kirkby had been a lieutenant on +Benbow's ship, and was deeply incensed that any one who was not a +"gemman" should have had the right to give him orders. For a full +half hour he inveighed against that brave man, the head and front +of whose offense appeared to be that he rated bravery more highly +than blood, and seamanship than breeding, and often took sides with +the tars against their officers.</p> +<p>"Why, what d'ye think of this now?" cried Kirkby. "'Twas on +Portsmouth Hard, and a dirty old apple woman shoved her basket +under my nose and begged me to buy, and wouldn't be denied, and +followed me whining up the road, and out of all patience I turns +round and tips up her basket, and all the apples roll into the mud. +A tar who was smoking against the wall says something under his +breath and begins to gather up the apples. 'Leave that, sirrah!' +says I. He begs my pardon and goes on as before.</p> +<p>"I up with my cane and was laying on for his insolence when +Benbow roars out ('twas under the window of his inn) 'What be you +a-doin' of?' That's how he speaks. 'What be you a-doin' of?' says +he.</p> +<p>"'I'm a-teachin' of him manners,' says I.</p> +<p>"'I'll teach you manners,' he roars, and orders me back to my +ship, and humiliates a gemman before a lout with hair as red as +fire and legs that made a circle."</p> +<p>"Why, sure 'twas Joe Punchard," cries Cludde, "a fellow that +near killed a friend o' mine," and he breaks into the old School +distich--</p> +<pre> +"O, pi, rho, bandy-legged Joe, +Turnip and carrots wherever you go." +</pre> +<p>and the others screamed with maudlin laughter.</p> +<p>"I know who was the gemman," whispers Mistress Appleby, who had +heard it all.</p> +<p>Shortly afterwards, being in high good humor after vindicating +their quality as gentlemen, the three called for their reckoning +and went round to the stables to see to their horses. I seized the +opportunity to make my escape, taking leave very heartily of my +kind host and hostess. I was not sorry to get upon the road again, +having purposed to cover at least twenty-five or thirty miles +before night. It was downhill now, and I was swinging along at a +good pace when I heard horses behind me and saw, with annoyance, +that I might not escape unnoticed, after all. Cludde and his +companions were cantering down the hill, at the risk of mishap, for +naval officers are notoriously bad horsemen, and one of them-- +Kirkby, I doubt not--was swaying in his saddle. I stepped down to +the side of a brook which skirted the road, hoping they would pass +me by; but my lanky body was not one to escape remark, and Kirkby +himself as he came up threw a jest at my height. Cludde gave me a +glance, and a malicious smile sat upon his face.</p> +<p>"Poor beggar!" he said in an undertone, but loud enough for me +to hear, and he flung me a coin, which struck my arm and rolled to +the brink of the brook. In a trice I was up the bank, hot with a +mad rage to come to grips with the fellow. But he had anticipated +the movement, and setting spurs to his horse was beyond my reach. I +disdained to pursue him; indeed it would have been vain; I could +but stomach the affront. But I was not yet seasoned to petty +slights, and in my bitterness of spirit I sat down on the grassy +bank and for a while gave the rein to my feelings, brooding moodily +on my wrongs. Then I chanced to spy the coin which he had flung to +me as a man might fling a bone to a dog. I picked it up: it was a +crown piece. For a moment I was tempted to pitch it into the brook; +but on a sudden impulse I bestowed it in a little inner pocket +apart from the rest of my money.</p> +<p>"There it is, Dick Cludde," I muttered between my teeth, "and +there it shall remain until the day when I return it you, with +interest."</p> +<p>After that I felt more composed, and walked on with a lightened +heart.</p> +<h2><a name="Ch8" id="Ch8">Chapter 8</a>: I Fall Among +Thieves.</h2> +<p>For some time past the sky had been clouding over, and the wind +blowing up with a threat of rain. Before long it began to fall in a +steady drizzle, and I saw that if I would not be drenched to the +skin I must renounce my purpose of completing thirty miles, and +seek a shelter for the night. Coming to a small hamlet of two or +three cottages, I inquired of a laboring man whom I saw entering +one, how far I must go to find an inn. He told me that there was +one a mile or so on, just before coming to Morville, and thanking +him, I hastened on my way.</p> +<p>But before I had gone a mile I espied a ruined barn in a field +by the roadside, and being already tired and little inclined to +encounter strangers, I turned into it to see if it would afford me +sufficient protection against the weather. The interior was cosier +than the outward aspect promised, and finding a quantity of clean +hay at one end, I stripped off my coat, set down my knapsack for a +pillow, and, rolling myself in the hay, was soon fast asleep.</p> +<p>I was roused while it was still dark by the sound of voices. +Being wide awake in an instant, I had sufficient presence of mind +to avoid betraying my whereabouts by a rustling among the hay, and +lay and listened, wondering who the intruders might be, and fearing +lest they should approach my end of the barn to seek a couch for +the remainder of the night. But they made no movement in my +direction, and before many minutes had passed I understood by their +voices that they were three, and gathered from their talk that they +were poachers who had been plying their stealthy trade in the +coverts of a neighboring park, and had turned into the barn, which +they evidently knew well, for a brief rest before making for their +homes at Bridgenorth.</p> +<p>I hoped that they would leave before daylight, without +discovering me; but just as the sparrows on the roof were +twittering a greeting to the dawn, as ill luck would have it, one +of the men spied my coat, spread on staddles against the wall to +dry. He uttered a sharp exclamation, and called to his comrades. I +heard them come in my direction, and guessed by their silence that +they were looking warily around for the owner of the coat. But they +did not see me, being completely covered by the hay; and, remarking +that it looked a "rare good coat," one of them put his hand into +all the pockets in turn, and from the inner one fetched out +Cludde's crown piece.</p> +<p>"A silver crown, Jo," he says.</p> +<p>"Bite it," said another.</p> +<p>"Good as gold," returned the first. "This be rare luck."</p> +<p>Now, if I had been a few years older and more expert in dealing +with men, I should doubtless have parleyed with the fellows; but in +the heat of youth and inexperience, indignant at the freedom with +which they were handling my belongings, I sprang out of the hay, +made for the man who held the coat, and peremptorily called on him +to drop it.</p> +<p>His answer was a sudden well-planted blow which sent me +incontinently backward into the hay from which I had risen. I was +up in an instant, and then began a struggle, short and decisive. +The three men were all shorter than I, but thick-set and powerfully +made, and struggle as I might I soon had to own myself beaten, and +was borne to the floor, one holding my head, another my feet, and +the third discommoding me very much by sitting on my middle.</p> +<p>"What be you a-doing here?" says the man called Job.</p> +<p>"I might ask you the same question," I replied, again choosing +the wrong method of dealing with them.</p> +<p>"You might, but you wouldn't get no answer," was the grim +retort. "You've heard what we've a-said?" the fellow went on.</p> +<p>I replied that I had heard it all. The men joined in a chorus of +oaths, and then began to discuss among themselves what they should +do with me, with a freedom and a disregard of any view I might hold +on the matter which in other circumstances I might have found +amusing.</p> +<p>"If we lets him go," said the man called Job, "he peaches, sure +enough, and then 'tis the collar for us all," by which I understood +he meant the hangman's noose. "If we don't let him go we must +ayther take him with us or tie him up, and then belike his friends +will find him, and 'twill be the same end for us."</p> +<p>"Rest easy on both points," I said, having recovered somewhat of +my composure. "I won't peach, and I have no friends within twenty +miles."</p> +<p>"'S truth?" said the man.</p> +<p>"It is quite true," I replied.</p> +<p>Whereat they burst into a guffaw, and I knew that I had made +another mistake.</p> +<p>"He bain't over ripe," said the man on my middle.</p> +<p>"True, he was born young," said Job. "Well, now, I'm a gemman, I +am, and fair exchange is no robbery, and as I've took a fancy for +this 'ere coat, being a trifle newer nor mine, I'll chop with you; +me being a trifle older nor you makes all square, I reckon. Bill, +what about the breeches?"</p> +<p>"To be sure, Job, mine be worn thin; I'll have measter's +breeches."</p> +<p>"And what's for me?" growled the man at my feet.</p> +<p>"There's only the shirt and the boots left," said Job, "for +bein' gemmen we can't let him go bare. You take the boots, +Topper."</p> +<p>And having thus apportioned my habiliments, they proceeded to +divest me of boots and breeches, threatening to knock me on the +head if I made any resistance. In stripping me they came upon the +wallet in which my precious guineas were stowed. Job opened it in a +twinkling, and I had the mortification of seeing all the money I +possessed divided among these three ruffians.</p> +<p>When the exchange of clothing had been effected, I found myself +attired in a dirty, greasy coat much too small for me, my arms +protruding far beyond the sleeves, a pair of grimy patched leather +smalls, that left an inch or two of bare flesh above my stockings, +and boots that, rent and battered though they were, cramped my feet +terribly.</p> +<p>"How we have overgrowed!" quoth Job with a leer.</p> +<p>The others laughed; then suddenly the man called Topper looked +at Job with a frown and said:</p> +<p>"Fair's fair; that there silver crown--I want a bit of that, +Job."</p> +<p>This set them squabbling, though they kept a wary eye on me all +the time. In the end they decided to settle the ownership of the +coin by the arbitrament of chance. Job first spun it; Bill called +"heads" and lost. At the second spin Topper called "tails," and was +about to pocket the crown when I made a suggestion.</p> +<p>"Gentlemen," I said, in a conciliatory tone which I ought to +have adopted before, "I value that crown piece more highly than all +the guineas you have appropriated. 'Tis clear you are sportsmen"--I +glanced at the hares that lay on the floor, the booty of their +night's depredations. "I make you an offer which as sportsmen you +will not refuse. Let Mr. Topper and me fight it out, man to man, +and the coin go to the winner."</p> +<p>"Spoke like a man; what dost say, Topper?" said Job.</p> +<p>"Done!" says Topper, forthwith flinging off his coat, and +rolling up his shirt sleeves.</p> +<p>It was clear that I was incurring a risk, for the muscles of his +arms stood up like great globes; but if I could not match him in +strength, I hoped at least to have some little advantage of him in +science, thanks to the lessons of my good friend Captain +Galsworthy. I pulled off my coat, or rather Job's, starting a seam +as I did so, and then, the other two men standing between us and +the door, Topper and I began our bout.</p> +<p>I could see that he, as well as his companions, expected to win +an easy victory. But when at the end of the first round, we stopped +at Job's call for a breather, neither of us had got home more than +a few body blows, and Topper was patently chagrined, more +especially as the others could not forbear twitting him. He began +the second round with an impetuosity that kept me wholly on the +defensive, and pressed me so hard that I gave back and failed to +counter a blow that sent me spinning on to the hay behind. This +afforded the others much satisfaction, and at the call of time, +they encouraged Topper with a cry to give me a settler and have +done with it.</p> +<p>But this was his undoing. He came at me with the same ferocity +as before, and, confident of a speedy victory, gave me an opening +of which I was quick to take advantage. In a trice I was within his +guard; I dealt him a right-hander with all my force; he staggered, +and before he could recover, a left-hander got him on the point of +the chin, and over he went with a thud on to the floor.</p> +<p>His companions bent over him in consternation. At that moment I +could have made my escape, I doubt not, had I chosen to dash for +the door, and indeed, I was on the point of doing so when I was +stayed by some feeling that it would be hardly becoming to take +flight then. Besides, the coin for which I had fought was still in +the fallen man's pocket.</p> +<p>He got up by and by, somewhat dazed and rubbing his head. He +glowered at me for a moment, then flung the crown towards me with a +curse.</p> +<p>"Who said he was green?" he muttered, allowing Job to help him +on with his coat.</p> +<p>"He's a viper," said Job consolingly. "We won't tell no one, +Topper."</p> +<p>It was light by this time, and Bill remarked that they had best +be getting back to Bridgenorth, or they would find folk astir. They +looked at me with some hesitation; then Job said:</p> +<p>"We're a-going to make you fast, my bawcock, and don't make no +mistake. Ads bobs, if ye come to Bridgenorth Fair we'll find some +'un to down you, strike me if we don't."</p> +<p>They bound my legs and arms with withes that are used for tying +trusses of hay, and left me.</p> +<p>I felt some natural satisfaction in the issue of this fight; but +it made poor amends for the loss of my clothes and my guineas. +Luckily my knapsack, hidden in the hay, had escaped the poachers' +observation; and the recovery of Dick Cludde's crown piece gave me +a good deal of pleasure.</p> +<p>The moment the poachers were gone, I began to try to free myself +from my bonds, but it was only after much painful wriggling and +straining that I at length released my hands. My clasp knife had +departed with my breeches; Bill's pockets were empty; but after +some search, crawling about the barn, I discovered a broken slate +wherewith to cut the fastenings of my feet. And then, when I stood +upright, and with leisure for thought became fully aware of the +sorry figure I cut, in foul garments a world too small for me, I +was nigh overwhelmed with a feeling of despair, and was almost +ready to wait until nightfall, and slink back by byways to +Shrewsbury. But after a while I got the better of this +heartsickness, and, rating myself for a poltroon, I strapped on my +knapsack and issued forth from the barn, doggedly resolved to +pursue my journey.</p> +<p>It was many an hour since I had eaten, and, once more in the +open air, my stomach cried out for breakfast. When a man has never +had to want for food, it is with a disagreeable shock he realizes +that he must be hungry. True, I had the crown piece, and before the +sun had mounted I was sore tempted to spend it; but the vow I had +inwardly made to keep it for its owner, together with a shame-faced +reluctance to appear in my present condition before a fellow man, +helped me for a time to bear my hunger. Yet I knew that I could not +go long without food, and it would soon become imperative that I +should pocket my pride and either change the crown or seek some +means of earning enough to buy myself a meal.</p> +<p>For a time I trudged through the fields, avoiding the public +eye. Coming at length to a road, which I took to be the highroad, I +set off along it, stiffening my resolution to ask for a job at the +first village I reached. But just as a row of cottages came in +sight, and I was considering in what terms to make my request, a +parson and a lady on horseback turned into the road from a by-lane, +and when they had passed I heard a ripple of laughter from the +lady, no doubt in response to some jest from her companion on my +ridiculous appearance.</p> +<p>This set my blood a-boiling; I flung away in a rage, leapt a +stile into a field, and felt that I would rather starve than ask +assistance of a living soul. I sat down beneath a hedge, utterly +woebegone, and chewed the bitter cud of my misfortunes until for +sheer weariness I fell asleep.</p> +<p>When I awoke, the sun, which had shone brilliantly all day, was +already sloping to the west. My rage was gone now, and I cursed +myself for a fool. A pretty spirit I had shown indeed! What was I +good for if I could not bear a little ridicule?</p> +<p>"Let 'em laugh, and go hang!" I cried, and up I sprang, resolved +to accost the first person I met, whoever it might be, and at any +rate earn a crust.</p> +<p>I walked along the field, took a long draught from a clear brook +that crossed it, and coming into the road, spied a large house +lying some way back amid trees. True to my resolve, I made towards +it, entered an iron gate that stood open, and was marching up the +broad gravel walk leading to the house when I was checked by a +voice.</p> +<p>"Hi, you fellow, what do you want here?"</p> +<p>I turned, and saw a well-dressed boy of about my own age coming +out of a shrubbery into the walk. I stopped, feeling a certain +awkwardness, and stood before him, looking sheepish enough, no +doubt. He eyed me for a moment; then burst out a-laughing.</p> +<p>"You have no business here; get you gone, fellow," he said, when +he had recovered.</p> +<p>I gulped down the wrath that rose in me, and said quietly:</p> +<p>"I was but on my way to ask if I might do something to earn a +meal and a night's lodging."</p> +<p>He looked at me curiously, perceiving that in mode of speech I +was somewhat different from the low tramp I looked. But youth is +often impatient and hard; my appearance consorted so little with my +tongue that he had much excuse for regarding me as a ne'er-do-well, +the less deserving of pity because he probably owed his plight to +vicious courses.</p> +<p>"There's the poorhouse for tramps, and the lock-up for rascals," +he added. "Be off with you!"</p> +<p>"Pardon me, sir," said I, as quietly as before, "I have eaten +nothing for thirty hours or longer, and if you would but give me +speech with the master of the house, I doubt not he would allow me +milk and bread, for which I would willingly do a turn of work in +the morning."</p> +<p>"D'you hear me, sirrah!" cries the boy. "You're a poacher if the +truth were known. We want no lazy louts here, and if you're not +outside the gates instantly I vow I'll set the dogs on to you."</p> +<p>And with that he came up to me and gave me a shove with his +shoulder. He had courage, for he was smaller than I. 'Twas the +spirit that prompts a gentleman, however puny, to despise the +churl, however big.</p> +<p>His words I had borne patiently enough, but I could endure no +more. Wrenching myself away, I dealt him a buffet that stretched +him flat on the ground.</p> +<p>This scene had passed within a few paces of the gate, and I had +been so preoccupied that I had not heard the clatter of an +approaching horse, and in consequence was taken utterly aback when +a loud voice behind me cried, "What's this? What's this?" and +immediately afterwards the lash of a whip fell smartly on my back, +causing me to spring round in a heat of indignation. A gentleman +had just ridden in at the gate, and, taking in the situation at a +glance, had begun the chastisement which he had much reason to +suppose I deserved.</p> +<p>What with my hunger, the boy's insults, and the sting of the +lash, I was now roused to as high a pitch of fury as I had ever in +my life reached. I had taken a step towards the horse, to drag the +rider from his saddle, and he had raised the whip once more to +strike, when a voice from the direction of the house caused us both +to pause.</p> +<p>"Don't, uncle; oh, please don't!"</p> +<p>Involuntarily I turned, and saw a young girl flying down the +path, her long unloosed black hair streaming behind her. She came +to us with flushed cheeks, and breathless with running.</p> +<p>"It was all Roger's fault," she cried. "I saw it, heard it all. +The poor man is starving and wanted to work for food, and Roger was +rude to him."</p> +<p>Her uncle looked at her, and at me, and at the boy, who had +risen from the ground, wearing a sullen and crestfallen look.</p> +<p>"Is that the right of it, Roger?" asked the gentleman.</p> +<p>"He said so, sir," he replied, "but he looks such a villainous +tramp, and you know what lies they tell--why, look here!" He +stooped and picked something from the ground. "He said he was +hungry, and look at this!"</p> +<p>He held up my crown piece, which in the violence of my +movements, I suppose, had sprung out of my tattered garment. I felt +my cheeks flush hotly, and was stricken dumb in the face of this +mute evidence giving me the lie. The girl gazed at me for a moment; +then, her lip curling with disdain, she turned her back and walked +up the path towards the house.</p> +<p>"Well, rascal?" said the gentleman sternly.</p> +<p>"It is mine, truly," I said. "But--"</p> +<p>"Go fetch the men," he said to the boy.</p> +<p>"As sure as I'm alive I'll commit you for a rogue and vagabond, +for mendicancy and assault."</p> +<p>He drew his horse across the gate so that I could not escape, +while the boy hastened to the house.</p> +<p>"You are a magistrate, sir," I ventured to say, "and sure 'tis +not your custom to condemn your prisoners unheard."</p> +<p>"Adzooks, you teach me my duty?" he cried in a rage. "You +insolent scoundrel!"</p> +<p>I held my peace, and in a few moments the boy returned, with two +stablemen.</p> +<p>"Take this fellow to the coach house," said their master.</p> +<p>"I'll go where you please," I cried hotly, "but if those men lay +a finger on me I'll crack their skulls for them."</p> +<p>My height and my fierce aspect so well promised that I could +perform my threat that the men held off and eyed their master +dubiously.</p> +<p>"Lead on, Roger!" he cried with an oath, too much incensed for +further speech.</p> +<p>The boy led the way. I followed, the two stablemen stepping +behind me, but at a reasonable distance, and the horseman brought +up the rear. Thus in procession we went round the house to the +back; I entered the coach house, and the gentleman having +dismounted, came in after me, and commanded me to give an account +of myself.</p> +<h2><a name="Ch9" id="Ch9">Chapter 9</a>: Good Samaritans.</h2> +<p>During the short passage to the coach house I had been trying to +consider my course: but my state of famishment and the agitation +into which I had been thrown had bereft me of all power of +consecutive thought; so that when the gentleman called upon me, in +no gentle tones, to give an account of myself, I stood like a stock +fish before him. Then I was amazed to feel my legs giving way under +me; I stretched forth my arms in an instinctive attempt to steady +myself, and, clutching at empty air, fell heavily forward on to the +stone floor.</p> +<p>When I came to myself, I saw a kind, motherly face bending over +me, and was aware of a hot taste in my mouth.</p> +<p>"Are you better now?" said the lady, in tones the like of which +I had seldom heard.</p> +<p>I smiled, and she held a spoon to my lips, and I swallowed its +contents--a mixture of rum and milk, I think--as obediently as a +baby.</p> +<p>"Poor boy! he must have been starving," said the lady.</p> +<p>"And what right had a fellow to be starving with a crown piece +in his pocket?" said the gentleman behind.</p> +<p>"He will explain by and by," replied the lady. "He must not be +vexed tonight, James. I have made up a bed in the loft, and Martha +is preparing some food.</p> +<p>"Can you walk, my poor boy?" she asked me.</p> +<p>"I am quite well, ma'am," I said, staggering to my feet. "I +don't know what came over me."</p> +<p>She told me that I had fainted, which surprised me mightily, +though when I came to reflect it was not much to be wondered at, +seeing that never in my life before had I been for more than four +hours without food.</p> +<p>"The gentleman asked me to explain--" I began, remembering what +had preceded my fall.</p> +<p>"Never mind about that now," said the lady. "You will go to bed, +and when you have had some food you will sleep, and you can tell my +husband all about it in the morning."</p> +<p>And then she directed the two stablemen who were standing at the +door to help me up the ladder into the loft of the coach house. A +bed, spread with linen as good as ever I lay on, was arranged at +one end; and, dropping on to this, I was asleep immediately. They +told me next morning that the mistress had herself brought up the +posset which her servant had prepared; but, finding me in such deep +slumber, had carried it away again, saying that sleep was as good +as food to me then.</p> +<p>The sunlight, streaming in at the little window above my bed, +wakened me early. I was at first perplexed at my unfamiliar +surroundings, but, recollecting at length the happenings of the +previous day, I got up and descended the stairs. At the door of the +coach house one of the men I had already seen was swilling the +wheel of a big coach with pails of water, whistling the while. He +grinned when he saw me, and said:</p> +<p>"Mistress said you was to go straight to kitchen when you waked, +and fill your stomick."</p> +<p>"I am mighty hungry, to be sure, but I should like to wash +first," I replied.</p> +<p>"Why, you do look 'mazing grimy," he said with another grin. "Do +ye feel better this marnin'? You went into a faint like as I never +did see--a real female faint it was. I reckon as how you be +overgrowed, young man."</p> +<p>"Where shall I find the pump?" I asked, restive under this +reference to my unhappy attire.</p> +<p>"Ho, Giles!" he called, "take the young man to the poomp."</p> +<p>At this cry, Giles, in whom I recognized the second man whose +skull I had threatened to crack, appeared from round the corner of +the coach house. His face also wore a grin.</p> +<p>"Ay, true now, you do want the poomp," he said. "Come, and I'll +show 'ee. It do make a young feller weak-like when he overgrows his +strength. There was my sister Jane's Billy, to be sure, shot up +like a weed, he did, was for ever falling into fits, and a bit soft +in his noddle, too, poor soul.</p> +<p>"Here's the poomp; be 'ee strong enough to draw for yourself, +think 'ee, or shall I do it for 'ee?"</p> +<p>I was strongly tempted to catch the fellow by the middle and +give him a back throw which would enlighten him as to my physical +aptitude; but I forbore, and allowed him to pump for me, which he +did with great willingness, discoursing the while on the +infirmities of all his kin. Refreshed by my ablutions, I was +nothing loath to follow him to the kitchen, where a red-faced +little dumpling of a cook set before me such a breakfast as would +have made Mistress Pennyquick stare.</p> +<p>"Eat away," she said, setting her arms akimbo and eying me up +and down as I ravenously began my meal. "Lawks! I don't wonder ye +fainted if 'tis true, as they say, that ye hadn't had bite or sup +for a week. You've a big body to keep a-goin', to be sure; +overgrowed your strength seemingly. The likes of me don't +faint."</p> +<p>And at this Susan the housemaid, who had just come in, giggled, +and put her hand over her mouth, and I felt as if my ears had rims +of fire. Would they never have done with their personal allusions? +Mentally I cursed Job and Bill and Topper very heartily, and as +heartily wished that my inches were a little less.</p> +<p>Luckily I was not born without a certain sense of humor. It had +deserted me under stress of what I had gone through during the last +two days, but when my cavities had been well filled with Martha's +excellent viands, I was suddenly able to see myself as I must +appear to others, and I astonished the servants by laying down my +knife and fork, leaning back in my chair, and emitting a long +ripple of laughter.</p> +<p>"Goodness alive!" exclaimed Martha. "Giles said a' was a +natural, and I believe a' spoke true."</p> +<p>"No, no," I spluttered. "My noddle's sound enough. I think; 'tis +only that--that I'm overgrown!"</p> +<p>And with that I laughed again, and my merriment was infectious, +for the round little cook laughed until she dropped exhausted into +a chair, and the housemaid uttered shrill little titters from +behind her hands, bending forward at each explosion, opening her +hands to take a peep at me, and then "going off," as they say, +again.</p> +<p>In the midst of this hilarity there sounded suddenly a jangling +and creaking of wires in the neighborhood of the ceiling, followed +by a clang.</p> +<p>"Measter's bell!" cried Susan, and, smoothing her apron, and +settling her countenance to a wonderful demureness and sobriety, +the little rascal tripped away. She was back in a minute.</p> +<p>"Measter wants to see tha," she said.</p> +<p>I got up and followed her from the room and up the stairs, +comfortable in body and mind, for sure, I thought, such +cheerfulness was of good augury: the master of such happy servants +could not be a very terrible man. Susan showed me into a large and +well-furnished room, where, though it was summer time, a big fire +was crackling merrily in the grate. On one side of it sat the +master in a deep chair, smoking a pipe of tobacco; on the other the +kind mistress was knitting. She smiled at me as I approached, and I +knew that she was not thinking of my strange garb. The master +hummed and hawed, as if in embarrassment how to address me; then, +in a jovial tone intended to set me at my ease he said:</p> +<p>"Had a good breakfast?"</p> +<p>I assured him that I had never made such a meal in my life.</p> +<p>"That's right. Now, we want you to tell us your story in your +own way; but mind, no beating about the bush."</p> +<p>I had already resolved to tell just so much as was necessary, +without naming names, so I began:</p> +<p>"I was on my way to Bristowe, sir, and two nights ago, being +overtaken by the rain, I sought shelter in a decayed barn near the +roadside, and slept among some hay. Before morning three men came +in whom I soon discovered from their speech to be poachers. They +found me, robbed me of my money--not a vast sum--and forced me to +exchange garments with them."</p> +<p>Here the flicker of a smile crossed the gentleman's face.</p> +<p>"They left me tied hand and foot, and when I released myself I +was in such a taking at the scarecrow figure I must cut that I +shunned the sight of men, and kept to the fields. But I had not +eaten since noon of the day of my misadventure, and, being +desperately hungry, I entered your gate to beg a meal, purposing to +pay for it by some service for you."</p> +<p>"Hum! What then of this crown piece which you confessed was +yours? Why need ye starve with that in your pocket?"</p> +<p>"To that, sir, I have no answer, save that I would not spend it +till the last extremity."</p> +<p>"Hum! How old are you?"</p> +<p>"Somewhat past seventeen, sir."</p> +<p>"Just the age of our Roger," said the lady.</p> +<p>"And what's your name?"</p> +<p>At this I hesitated. I could not be more than thirty miles from +Shrewsbury, and if I told my name perchance it might travel back, +and I was in no mind to have my mischances retailed in the town. +The gentleman saw my hesitation.</p> +<p>"Well, well," he said, "no matter for that. You have run away, +eh?"</p> +<p>"No, sir. I have no relatives, and I came with full consent of +my friends."</p> +<p>"And what think you to do at Bristowe? Have you friends +there?"</p> +<p>"No, sir. I purposed to find employment on a ship."</p> +<p>"The old story!" quoth the gentleman with a grunt. Then, with a +shrewd look at me, he said: "<i>Contra mercator, novem jactantibus +austris</i>."</p> +<p>"Militia est potior," I said, capping his tag from Flaccus' +first satire, without reflecting whereto he was luring me.</p> +<p>"I knew it!" he cried, waving his pipe triumphantly at his wife. +"And you haven't run away from school?"</p> +<p>"Indeed I have not, sir. I left school some months ago."</p> +<p>The lady smiled at his crestfallen look. It was plain that, in +talking over myself and my situation, he had declared with the +positiveness which I found was part of his character, that I had +fallen into some trouble at school and fled the consequences.</p> +<p>There was a brief silence; then he said:</p> +<p>"You spoke of work. What can you do?"</p> +<p>"Little enough, sir," I replied. "But I lived for some years on +a farm, and could do something in that kind."</p> +<p>Husband and wife glanced at each other, and the gentleman +said:</p> +<p>"Well, well, go downstairs now; presently I will send for you +again."</p> +<p>I went down, and found my way, by the back of the house, the +door standing open, into the garden. I had not taken more than half +a dozen paces down the middle path when a big dog of the retriever +kind came barking towards me. Stooping down, I patted his head and +tickled his ears, a thing which all animals love, and then went on, +the dog trotting by my side in most friendly wise.</p> +<p>And at a turn of the walk I came without warning upon the girl +who had interposed to save me from a thrashing and had then gone +scornfully away, thinking me a liar. The consciousness of my +ridiculous appearance rushed upon me in a flood, and, having but +small experience of womankind save as represented by Mistress +Pennyquick and our maids, I must stand stock still, red to the +roots of my hair.</p> +<p>The girl had been walking towards me, swinging by its riband a +garden hat, for the air was hot. The dog ran to her, with a bark +that might have been of reassurance. She stopped, and, with a +pretty shyness far short of embarrassment, said:</p> +<p>"Are you better now, poor man?"</p> +<p>I mumbled something, I know not what, and she smiled and passed +on.</p> +<p>Then I felt I would have given anything to live that moment +again.</p> +<p>"Dolt! Fool! Jackass!" I called myself. "What a baby she must +think me! 'Poor man!' she said. Good heavens! Does she think I am +forty?"</p> +<p>And thus fuming at my tongue-tied awkwardness, I went along the +path.</p> +<p>I walked up and down for some time, and was still pacing along +with my back to the house, when I heard a light footstep behind me, +and for a foolish moment fancied it was the girl whose aspect and +kind words had lately put me in such a commotion. But on turning +about, I felt relief and disappointment mingled (the disappointment +was, I think, the greater) to see that it was only Susan.</p> +<p>"Measter wants tha," she said.</p> +<p>I stepped along in silence beside her, she taking three steps +for my one, and giggling to sicken a man.</p> +<p>"Tha'lt never get a sweetheart," she said by and by.</p> +<p>"Oh! and why not?" I asked.</p> +<p>"'Cos tha'rt such a great big feller," she said.</p> +<p>"What in the name of all that's wonderful has that to do with +it?"</p> +<p>The minx looked archly up into my face.</p> +<p>"Tha'rt too high for a maid to kiss," says she.</p> +<p>To this I made no answer, being no whit inclined to bandy words +with this pert young housemaid. And so we came to the house.</p> +<p>"We have been considering your case," said the master, when I +again stood before him. "Are you still set on going to +Bristowe?"</p> +<p>"Truly, sir, I have seen nought to change my mind."</p> +<p>"You know you are miles out of your road?"</p> +<p>"'Tis through coming over the fields," I said.</p> +<p>"Well, if you are bent upon it, I will furnish you with money +enough to take you there, and trust to you to repay me in good +time."</p> +<p>"'Tis good of you, sir," I said, guessing, and not wrongly, I +think, at whose persuasion he made that offer.</p> +<p>Then I was silent. The name "charity brat," bestowed on me years +before by Cyrus Vetch, still rankled in my soul, and though, now +that I look back upon it, there was nothing that need have wounded +my pride in accepting the proffered loan, I was loath to be +beholden to any man. Maybe my feeling on this point was complicated +with another of which I was as yet hardly conscious; but certain it +is that, after standing silent for a brief space, I said +suddenly:</p> +<p>"I thank you heartily, sir, but I had liever earn the +money."</p> +<p>"Pish, lad!" cried the gentleman. "'Tis easy to see you are not +of laboring rank, and as for the money, I shall not break if I +never see it again."</p> +<p>That was the worst argument he could have devised. My pride was +up in arms now, in good sooth, and I said firmly:</p> +<p>"With your leave, sir, I will earn what money I need."</p> +<p>"Didst ever see such an obstinate youth?" said he testily, +turning to his wife. "Well, as you will. I warrant you will soon +sing another tune. Go and see my steward, one of the men will take +you to him, and tell him what you know of husbandry; 'tis no more, +I warrant, than you have learned out of Vergil's +<i>Georgics</i>.</p> +<p>"Stay," he added, as I turned to go, "we must have a name for +you. You can not be a mere cipher in my estate books."</p> +<p>"Call me Joe, sir," I said, he thinking me of my friend +Punchard.</p> +<p>"Joseph in the house of bondage," says he with a laugh, "Well, +Joe it shall be."</p> +<p>I was some paces towards the door when remembrance came to +me.</p> +<p>"May I have my crown piece, sir?" I said, turning back.</p> +<p>"God bless the boy! Here, take it; 'tis the same that jumped +from your pocket. And now I bethink me, those poachers' tatters sit +very ill on your long carcass.</p> +<p>"We must find something better suited to his frame, +mistress."</p> +<p>"We will have, a clothier from Bridgenorth," said the lady.</p> +<p>"I trust you will be very happy with us the short while you +stay, Joe," she added with her gentle smile, and I went from the +room with my heart very warm towards her.</p> +<h2><a name="Ch10" id="Ch10">Chapter 10</a>: The Shuttered +Coach.</h2> +<p>Thus I entered on a period which I look back upon, after fifty +years, as one of the happiest in my life. The steward, Mr. Johnson, +an active, silent man, employed me alternately in practical work +upon the estate--felling trees, repairing fences, and so. +forth--and in keeping his books, for which latter duty my service +with Mr. Vetch had in some sort fitted me. For a week I saw nothing +of my master, and caught but fugitive glimpses of the members of +his family. I suspected, and rightly, as it turned out, that he was +deliberately keeping out of my way, but receiving careful reports +of me from Mr. Johnson.</p> +<p>His name, I learned, was James Allardyce, and his rank was +something above that of a yeoman. He was choleric in temper and +hasty in judgment, but the soul of kindness and generosity, and the +servants loved him. The boy I had felled was his only son, just +home from the school at Rugby; and his niece, Mistress Lucy, as +everyone called her, had but lately become a member of his +household. She was an orphan. Her father had been a planter with +large estates in Jamaica, and on his death she had been brought to +England at his wish by an old nurse, and delivered into the care of +her mother's brother. She had another uncle, it was said--a squire, +her father's brother, who lived somewhat north of Shrewsbury. 'Twas +Susan who told me this; she was a chatterbox, and would have talked +all day to me had I not discouraged her, and then she said I gave +myself airs.</p> +<p>But it was from Roger Allardyce I learned things so surprising +that I wonder I did not betray myself. About a week after I came to +the Hall (so the house was called) I was returning early one +morning from bathing in a stream that crossed the estate, when I +met the boy face to face. He was striding along, whistling, with +his towel over his shoulder, and gave me a look aslant as he +passed, then halted and called after me: "I say, Joe!"</p> +<p>I turned at once, and knew that he bore me no malice for the +blow I had dealt him at our first meeting.</p> +<p>"I say," he repeated, "how did you manage to keep your crown +piece when those poacher fellows bagged your money?"</p> +<p>I could not forbear smiling at this blunt manner of holding out +the olive branch. I told him of my fight with the man called +Topper.</p> +<p>"Wish I had seen it," he said, laughing heartily. "And I wish it +had happened a day or two before, for if you had been settled here +then you could have plied your fists to some better purpose."</p> +<p>I asked him to explain.</p> +<p>"Why, a lubber of a fellow rode over from Shrewsbury; he's a +cousin of mine, more's the pity, and a king's officer, by George! +There were two other officers with him, and they had been drinking, +and they insisted on coming in, and stayed ever so long playing the +fool. Father was in Bridgenorth, and Giles with him, and the other +men were not at hand, and we had to put up with their tomfoolery, +which soon drove mother and Lucy from the room: but if you had been +there we could have contrived to fling them out between us."</p> +<p>"I would have done my best," I said.</p> +<p>"How is the water?" he asked.</p> +<p>"Fresh, with a wholesome sting," I replied, and then, giving me +a friendly nod, he went on to his bath.</p> +<p>Here was strange news, I thought, as I returned to the house. I +could have no doubt that the obnoxious visitors were Dick Cludde +and his friends: for it was hardly possible that three other king's +officers should have ridden out of Shrewsbury in this direction on +the same day. If Cludde had come once he might come again, and +should he catch sight of me my story would not only be known to my +employer, but would be spread all over Shrewsbury--a thing I could +not contemplate with satisfaction. It crossed my mind that 'twould +be safer to leave Mr. Allardyce and seek employment with some other +yeoman; but from this course two reasons deterred me: first, the +liking I had taken for him and his family; second, an obstinate +reluctance to allow Dick Cludde in any way to alter my plans. It +would not be difficult, I reflected, for one in my humble position +to avoid him should he come to the house, and if I needs must meet +him, I should even welcome the occasion for bundling him out neck +and crop if he proved a troublesome visitor.</p> +<p>My resolution was strengthened a few days afterwards. Since the +morning when Roger Allardyce had first addressed me, a friendship +had sprung up between us, with a rapidity only possible to boys. We +bathed together of mornings; he would come and chat to me when I +was at my work; and the hours of work being over, he would lug me +into a little outhouse he kept as his own, and show me his +treasures--guns, and fishing tackle, a breastplate worn by his +grandfather in the Civil War, an oak-apple from the tree in which +King Charles had hidden after the battle of Worcester. He treated +me as his equal, and once, when I alluded to my dependent position, +his curiosity, which with excellent well-bred delicacy he kept in +check, got the better of him, and he begged me to tell him all +about myself, swearing never to reveal it to a soul. But I cleaved +to my determination; all I would tell him was what he knew already, +that I was a penniless orphan bent on making my way in the +world.</p> +<p>Well, one evening, when I returned from my work in the fields, I +found him waiting for me with excitement plainly writ on his open +face. He dragged me to his outhouse, and having shut the door, +said:</p> +<p>"I say, Joe, there's a storm brewing, and we may need your +fists. You remember I told you about my cousin riding over from +Shrewsbury? Well, his father came today--Sir Richard Cludde, a big +red-faced bully of a man. He's Lucy's uncle, you know; her father +was his brother, and they quarreled, and hadn't seen each other for +twenty years. But now he declares that he is Lucy's legal guardian; +his brother died suddenly and left no will, and he came today to +claim her as his ward. Father wouldn't hear of it; but told him +Lucy had been brought here by the express command of her father, +and he refused to give her up. The squire was in a terrible rage: +'tis said he has fallen on evil times, and is set on getting a hold +on Lucy's property in Jamaica, and making a match between her and +his son Dick--the lubber I told you of. There was an angry scene +'twixt him and father, you could have heard him roaring all over +the house, and he went away in a towering passion, swearing that +we'd not heard the last of it, and he'd go to law, and he'd beat us +even though it cost him his last penny, and more to the same +effect. Father makes light of it, but I know he is uneasy: he has +been several times of late to see his lawyer in Bridgenorth, and +'tis by no means clear how the law will decide. There will be +trouble, for Sir Richard is an obstinate man, and I'm glad you are +here, for we are not going to let Lucy leave us, and if he comes +one day to take her by force we'll make a fight for it, Joe. And +I'll tell you what: you must teach me how to use my fists. Shall we +begin now, Joe?"</p> +<p>I smiled at his eagerness, and though I was tired after my day's +work I would not disappoint him, but stripped off my coat, and then +and there began his instruction in what my old friend the captain +called the noble art of self defense. He proved an apt pupil, and I +a conscientious teacher, pleasing myself with the thought that by +making him expert in boxing I was maybe gathering interest on Dick +Cludde's crown piece. And being then of the age when romantic ideas +get some hold upon a boy's mind, I flattered myself also that by +staying on at the Hall I became in some sort a defender of fair +Lucy Cludde, who was far too good, I vowed, for that pudding-headed +lubber Dick.</p> +<p>After this Roger and I became faster friends than ever. We had +constant sparring matches and some practice also with singlestick +and foils; and Mr. Johnson would let me off sometimes of an +afternoon to go a-fishing with the boy. Before I had been a month +at the Hall there were few likely streams for miles around that I +did not know. All this time I had seen very little of the other +members of the family. Mr. Allardyce was putting me to probation, +inquiring of my diligence from Mr. Johnson, and hearing somewhat of +me from his son. As for Mistress Lucy, I deliberately avoided her. +I had cut anything but an heroic figure at our two meetings, and +though I was ready to engage in mortal fray as her champion, the +recollection of my abashment before her caused me to hold aloof. +She and Roger would sometimes go riding together, and I thought +with a bitter envy that, but for the misfortune that had befallen +me, I might have made one of the party, though in truth I +remembered, a moment afterwards, that but for this same misfortune +I should very likely never have seen her.</p> +<p>Thus matters went on for upwards of a month. My wages, which I +had scrupulously saved, amounted to something above twenty-five +shillings--enough to pay my way to Bristowe. There was no reason +why I should remain longer at the Hall, and indeed I was beginning +to grow restive under my servitude, light as it was, and to think +more and more eagerly of my interrupted purpose. One day, +therefore, I sought an interview with Mr. Allardyce, and told him +that having now enough money for my needs I wished to leave his +service and set forth on my way. He laughed and said:</p> +<p>"I wondered how long 'twould go on. You are still bent upon your +travels, then?"</p> +<p>I assured him that such was the case, thanked him for his +kindness, and asked to be allowed to go on the following Monday: it +was then Friday.</p> +<p>"Well, Joe," says he, "I won't stay you. Mr. Johnson has given +me good reports of you, and as for Roger, he is never tired of +singing your praises. According to him, you are a past master in +exercises of arms, and I confess I had hopes you would give up your +scheme and return to your friends and take the position you were +clearly bred for: then Roger and you might have been companions +still. But 'twas not to be; very well; on Monday we shall bid you +our adieux, and we shall look to see you someday when you have made +a name for yourself--which to be sure will not be Joe."</p> +<p>I was up early next morning, and was going off for my customary +swim when, on crossing a stile, I saw a figure draw back into a +coppice bounding the field. Thinking it was Roger who had been +before me, I called to him, but receiving no answer, and wondering +who could be abroad at that early hour--for the men of the estate +were engaged in their duties elsewhere--I sprang down and strode +off to the coppice, moved by some little curiosity. But though I +walked to and fro among the trees for some time, I saw no one, and +concluding that it was probably some poacher returning home from +his night's work I went on to the bathing place, resolved to give a +hint to Mr. Johnson.</p> +<p>Roger joined me presently, with a glum face.</p> +<p>"Oh, I say, Joe," he said, "this is deuced bad news. Father says +you are leaving us on Monday."</p> +<p>"Yes, I have been here long enough," I said.</p> +<p>"Of course, I didn't expect you to work here forever, but I did +think you would change your mind and remain friends with me."</p> +<p>"We shall always be friends, you and I, I hope," I said, "but it +will be on a different footing. I could not work here forever, as +you say: and if I mean to do anything in the world 'tis time I set +about it. Maybe five years hence I shall return, and you will not +be ashamed to own me for a friend."</p> +<p>"Ashamed! When was I ever ashamed? Why, we think a world of you, +father and mother and Lucy, too. When father told us last night, +they were sorry, yet glad, too, I own. Mother said she was sure you +would get on, and I know you will, but all the same I wish you were +not going. I say, tell me your real name, and if you have a bother +with your people I'll go and see them, I swear I will, and persuade +'em to forgive you."</p> +<p>How surprised he would have been, I thought, if I had told him +that the people whom I had not wronged, but who had done me wrong, +were relatives of his own! But I would not tell him, and when we +had finished our swim and were returning to the house, he declared +that he also would leave home; there was no fun in being a yeoman, +he said: and if a fellow like Dick Cludde could be an officer in +the king's navy, so could he--or in the army, and he would persuade +his father to let him go, by George he would! And he asked me to +write to him, so that he might know where to find me when his great +plan came to execution.</p> +<p>On Monday morning at half-past seven, after a good breakfast, I +was at the gate, girt and equipped for my journey. The poachers' +garments had, of course, long been discarded, and I was clad in the +suit of serviceable homespun obtained for me from Bridgenorth in +the first days of my service, and now but little the worse for +wear. All the family was at the gate to bid me farewell, even +Mistress Lucy, in her riding habit, for she was wont to go for an +hour's canter on fine mornings, before breakfast at half-past +eight. The adieux were said; all wished me well; Mr. Allardyce, as +a parting shot, said that I should always find a job on his estate +if I fell in with more poachers, or if my fortunes at Bristowe did +not turn out to my liking; and then, my heart warm with their +kindness, I set off up the road.</p> +<p>Six or seven miles lay between me and the highroad to Bristowe +through Worcester and Gloucester, but I knew of a short cut four +miles from the Hall, which would bring me into the road at the +turnpike at Deuxhill, some way farther south, and save a good three +miles of the road. I had learned of this short cut in the course of +my fishing expeditions with Roger; it was the nearest way to the +Borle Brook, where our angling had ever the best success--a narrow +track striking off to the right, very rutty and rough, bordered by +hedges, and uphill but not steep.</p> +<p>I had tramped three miles or more, at a good pace, when I heard +galloping horses behind me, and the rumble of wheels. Turning +about, I saw a coach drawn by three horses, with a postilion on the +leader, approaching at a great rate, jolting and swaying in a +manner that bespoke desperate haste.</p> +<p>I stood aside to let it pass, holding my nose against the +whirling dust cloud it raised, and giving it but a glance as it +rattled by. The shutters were up; I could not see whether it held +anybody; and when it had passed I again took the middle of the +road, wondering idly what necessity there might be for so great +speed. Only a minute or two afterwards I heard a light patter close +at my heels, and looking back without stopping, I was surprised to +see the big black retriever which belonged to Mistress Lucy, and +with which, since my first meeting with him in the garden, I had +been on friendly terms. The dog uttered a low bark when he +recognized me, fawned upon me, and then set off running ahead. I +noticed now that the beast left a thin trail of blood on the +ground. He had not run far when he stopped, turned round, and +barked as if to invite me on, not waiting, however, to see whether +I responded.</p> +<p>For a moment I was too much taken up with wondering by what +mishap the dog had been wounded to connect his appearance, and his +evident wish to urge me on, with the coach that had lately passed. +But then the connection struck upon me in a flash, and I began to +run with all my might. The dog had doubtless accompanied his +mistress on her morning ride; he could only have been wounded in +defending her; she must have been waylaid, and, thought linking +itself with thought, I guessed that Sir Richard Cludde had taken +this means of asserting his claim to her guardianship, and the man +I had seen in the coppice a few days before was an emissary of his. +Without a doubt she was now a prisoner in the coach, being carried +against her will to Shrewsbury.</p> +<p>The road here ran steeply downhill, and the coach was out of +sight round a bend. Without pausing to consider the chances of +overtaking it, I leapt rather than ran forward, soon outstripping +the dog, which had done his best, poor beast, but was now well-nigh +exhausted. I flung away my staff, that encumbered me, and tore +headlong down the hill, till, coming to the bend, where the road +sloped upwards, I caught sight once more of the coach, no more than +half a mile ahead of me. This surprised me, for neither the ascent +nor my speed could account for its nearness, and I wondered, as I +pounded after it, whether I had after all been mistaken.</p> +<p>But the matter was explained when I came to the inn that stood +at the point where my short cut branched off. I saw wheel tracks to +the right, crossed by similar tracks back again to the road, and I +guessed that the postilion had intended to drive his horses down +the byroad, but having found it too rough or too narrow had been +compelled to return, even at the cost of loss of time in +backing.</p> +<p>My heart leapt with exultation; the kidnappers were not making +for Shrewsbury after all; they purposed driving southward, with +what design I could not guess, nor did I stop to consider, for in a +twinkling I saw a possibility of intercepting them. Dashing into +the inn, much to the amazement of the innkeeper, who had sometimes +served Roger and me with a pot of ale as we returned from fishing, +I told him my suspicions in quick, breathless gasps, and bade him +send to Mr. Allardyce for assistance, and to follow me, if he +could, along the byroad to Deuxhill. The man was not too +quick-witted, and I could have beaten him for his slowness to +comprehend the urgency of the affair. But some glimmering of it +dawning upon him, he promised to borrow a horse from Farmer Grubb +close by, he having none of his own, and to send a messenger back +to the Hall. Without further parley I left him, and set off along +the byroad, scarce giving a glance to the poor dog limping +painfully towards the inn.</p> +<h2><a name="Ch11" id="Ch11">Chapter 11</a>: I Hold A +Turnpike.</h2> +<p>Could I reach the turnpike in time? I wondered. I had lost +perhaps three minutes at the inn. The coach must already have +reached the crossroads, and was now, without doubt, speeding +southward on a course parallel with my own, but downhill, whereas +the byroad, though shorter, was for the most part uphill, and so +rough that I risked spraining my ankle on a stone or in a rut.</p> +<p>And even supposing I gained the turnpike before the coach, would +the keeper be persuaded to close his gates against a three-horsed +vehicle on the highway? I knew the man, and luckily had done him a +slight service which perchance he would be willing to repay. Once, +when Roger and I had gone to the Borle Brook to fish, we came upon +a little girl some five years old sitting by the brink, weeping +bitterly. One foot was bare, her little shoe was floating down the +stream, she had lost herself, and was so frightened that it was +long before we could make out from her sobbing answers to our +questions that she was daughter to the turnpike man. Then Roger +rescued her shoe, and I set her aloft on my shoulder, to her great +contentment, and she was laughing merrily when we reached the +turnpike, and gave her into the hands of her distracted mother. +Remembering this, I raced on at my best speed, resolved, if only I +arrived in time, to turn this little incident to account.</p> +<p>It did but add to my anxiety that the highroad was nowhere +visible to me as I ran, so that I could not measure my progress +with that of the coach, but was forced to go on at the same +break-neck pace, not daring to moderate it in any degree. And I +could almost have cried with vexation when that plaguey stitch in +the side seized me, and I had to stand a while to recover my +breath. Then I raced on again, desperately anxious to make up for +the lost time. My work upon the Hall estate, and my exercise with +Roger, had kept my body in good condition: yet to run for four +miles or more at a stretch with the mind in a ferment would tax any +man, and by the time I came in sight of the turnpike I was fairly +overdone, dripping with sweat--'twas a sunny day in July--and +trembling in every limb.</p> +<p>And then I heard, or fancied I heard, the rattle of the coach on +my left, and I picked up my heels and scampered along the last +half-mile at a pace which, in other circumstances, I should have +deemed impossible, the loose stones flying from beneath my +feet.</p> +<p>I emerged upon the highroad, threw a glance over my left +shoulder, and gave a great gasp of relief when I spied the coach +plunging down the road, but nearly a mile distant. I had had no +clear notion of what I was going to do beyond attempting to keep +the gate closed, and now I realized with a sinking heart that, even +if I should succeed therein, the coach could scarcely be delayed +long enough for help to arrive. But certainly that was the first +step, and I dashed straight into the keeper's cottage, the door of +which stood open, and found Mistress Peabody, his wife, paring +potatoes at the table, her little girl by her side.</p> +<p>"Where is Peabody?" I blurted out.</p> +<p>"Sakes alive!" cried the woman, "but you did give me a start. +Whatever be amiss?"</p> +<p>What more I said I know not, but at my demand that she should +refuse to open the gate for the coming coach the poor bewildered +soul dropped her potatoes and declared she could never do it; +'twould cause terrible trouble with Peabody, and maybe bring about +his dismissal by the justices, and where he was she did not know, +and she had told him many a time he would get into a coil if he +left his duty and went so often to the King William a-fuddling +himself with--</p> +<p>"For God's sake, woman," I broke in, exasperated, "take the +child into the garden and leave it to me."</p> +<p>I fairly pushed her out at the back door, the little girl +clinging to her skirts, terrified at my appearance and the +fierceness of my words. I shut the door upon them, whipped the key +of the gate from its nail on the wall, flung it into the pan of +water among the potatoes, and then, a desperate expedient coming +into my mind, sauntered leisurely out of the front door, picking up +as I passed a stick of wood from among a heap with which the child +had been playing on the floor.</p> +<p>I climbed the gate, and sat upon the topmost bar, with my feet +on the third. Then, having pulled the broad brim of my hat down +over my eyes, I took out my clasp knife (it had been given me a few +days before by Roger as a memento) and began to whittle the stick, +whistling a doleful tune.</p> +<p>The coach was by this time within a hundred yards of me.</p> +<p>"Gate! gate!" shouted the postilion, but I paid no heed. There +was now a man on the box; I suppose he had been picked up at the +crossroads. He joined his cry to the postilion's, and together they +roared "Gate!" with many imprecations of the kind that men who deal +with horses have at command.</p> +<p>But I still went on whittling my stick, not without some feeling +of insecurity, for the coach was approaching at a furious speed, +and it seemed impossible that the postilion could draw up in time +to prevent the horses from dashing themselves against the barrier. +He accomplished that feat, however, and the leading horse came to a +standstill within little more than a foot of me; I could feel its +hot breath on my hand. Like the other two, it was covered with +foam, and their sides were heaving like a bellows.</p> +<p>"Gate!" roared the postilion, looking in at the open door, and +receiving no reply he turned his head towards me and demanded with +an oath to know where the turnpike keeper was.</p> +<p>"He bin gone out," I said, in the broadest Shropshire accent I +could muster.</p> +<p>"The mischief he is! Who be in charge of the gate then?"</p> +<p>Sputtering with wrath the postilion cursed me and demanded to +know what I meant by sitting a-top when travelers wished to pass +through. I assumed the vacant grin that rustics wear, and said:</p> +<p>"The toll be tuppence, measter."</p> +<p>"Here it is," says the man, flinging the coins on the ground, +"and be hanged to you."</p> +<p>I descended from my perch (the man abusing me for my slowness), +picked up the money, and went into the cottage as if to get the +key.</p> +<p>"Be quick about it," roared the postilion after me.</p> +<p>"Coming, measter," I replied, sitting on the table, out of his +sight. In a little he cried to me again:</p> +<p>"What be doin' of? Stir your stumps, I say."</p> +<p>"Coming, measter," says I, knocking my knife against the potato +pan to signify bustle. The man's language grew more and more +violent as the minutes passed and still I did not reappear, until, +having consumed as much time as I thought becoming, I went to the +doorway, and said, in the manner of stating a simple fact of no +importance,</p> +<p>"Key binna hangin' on nail, measter. The nail be proper plaace +for it: can ya tell me where to look?"</p> +<p>My drawling tone seemed to incense the man to the verge of +apoplexy. Hurling abuse at me, he ended with a threat to horsewhip +me within an inch of my life if I did not instantly find the key +and open the gate. At this I shrank back, putting up my hands to +guard my head with great affectation of terror, and withdrew once +more into the cottage. As I did so, I heard the shutters on the far +side of the coach let down, and a voice demanding the reason of the +delay.</p> +<p>"The pudding-headed scut cannot find the key, sir."</p> +<p>"Tell him," said the voice in a louder tone (and I tingled as I +recognized it)--"tell him that if he keeps us waiting another +minute we will break the gate down."</p> +<p>I laughed inwardly at this foolish threat. The gate was a stout +barrier, that would do more damage than it could receive from any +attempt of theirs.</p> +<p>"Bring out the key, rascal," roared the postilion again.</p> +<p>"An' you please, measter," says I, appearing in the doorway, "I +be afeared the key bin lost."</p> +<p>Then the man on the box scrambled down, and ran into the +cottage. With him I hunted in every nook and corner of the room, +and there being no sign of the key we went out, and to the other +side of the coach, and there I heard the coach door open, and the +voice cried:</p> +<p>"Hold the leader, Jabez; and you, Tom, go to the wheelers' +heads. I'll blow in the cursed lock with my pistol."</p> +<p>Slipping back so that I might not be seen, I peeped through the +window and saw Cyrus Vetch, pistol in hand, moving towards the +gate. Here I was in a wretched quandary. I glanced anxiously up the +road: there was never a sign of Mr. Allardyce or any other pursuer. +To blow in the lock would be the work of a second: then nothing I +could do would prevent the coach from passing through and getting +clean away.</p> +<p>I was ready to despair when a possible means of checkmate +flashed into my mind. Vetch was within a yard of the gate; his two +men were at the horses' heads, to hold them when the report of the +pistol came; their eyes were fixed on their master. As lightly as I +could (my boots being heavy, as the long service required of them +demanded) I darted through the doorway, my right hand clasping my +knife, hid behind my back. Running to the side of the horse nearest +me I set to a-hacking with all my strength at the leathern trace. +Thank Heaven my knife was new and unblunted! But I had not +succeeded in cutting the leather through when the pistol cracked +and the lock burst. The startled horses immediately began to rear +and plunge, so violently that the single man at the wheelers' heads +could not hold them. Vetch ran to assist him; none of them had +noticed that the violence of the horses' straining had completed my +unfinished work: the trace snapped in two.</p> +<p>Pulling itself free the horse swung round, and plunged more +violently than before, keeping the man Tom employed and serving +also to screen me from view. Now was my opportunity. I wrenched +open the shuttered door, and saw a man leaning with his body out of +the other door, watching the movements of Vetch. And between us, +shrinking back on the seat, was Mistress Lucy. She turned her head +as I pulled the door open, and holding on to it to preserve my +balance, for the coach was being swerved this way and that by the +frantic horses, I whispered:</p> +<p>"'Tis I, Mistress Lucy: jump out!"</p> +<p>And quick as thought--'tis a blessing when a woman's wits are +keen--she made one spring for the roadway, by a hair's breadth +eluding the grasp of Dick Cludde, who had turned about at my +whisper. I caught the girl as she touched the ground, and, pulling +her away from the wheel, just in time to save her foot from being +crushed by it, I seized her hand, and dragged her--willing +captive!--towards the doorway. I pushed her into the cottage, with +a roughness for which I afterwards asked her pardon, and hastened +in after her.</p> +<p>Before I could close and bolt the door I heard a crash and a cry +of pain, and caught a glimpse of Cludde, who, in leaping from the +coach, had fallen awry and lay sprawling in the dust. Then I shut +him from sight and ran to the other door, by which Mistress Peabody +had gone into the garden. This I slammed and barred, dashing +afterwards to the window to do the like with it. Luckily it was +already fastened, and I was hastily drawing the shutters over it, +when Vetch, his face livid with passion, came up to it, drove his +pistol through the glass, and threatened to shoot me if I did not +instantly unbolt the door.</p> +<p>I have always had reason to thank Heaven that my brain is +quickest and my resolution most cool at the moments of greatest +stress. Vetch had fired his pistol through the lock of the turnpike +gate; being busy with the horse he had certainly not had time to +recharge it, nor to get another; so I thought that I might safely +defy him. Whispering to Mistress Lucy to find some hiding place in +the cottage out of view from the window, I stood with my hand on +the shutter, and said:</p> +<p>"What will you do if I yield?"</p> +<p>The answer was the heavy pistol, hurled straight at my head. It +struck my temple and fell with a crash to the floor. I gave back a +little, half stunned by the blow, and Vetch seized that moment to +smash another pane of the window, preparing to leap on the sill and +into the room, But I had sufficient strength to anticipate him. +Throwing my whole weight on the shutter I drove it into its place, +taking a certain pleasure in the knowledge that I had at least +bruised the fellow's knuckles. Then I dropped the bar into its +socket, and in the half darkness called to Mistress Lucy that all +was well.</p> +<p>Immediately there began a heavy battering on the door, but not +so heavy but that through it I heard Cludde order his men to splice +the broken trace. 'Twas lucky it was so, for had all four of them +come with one mind to force my frail defences, the brief siege +would, I fear, have had but a sorry end. The door was a stout one, +and finding it resisted their blows, Vetch and Cludde soon +desisted, and I supposed that they had withdrawn altogether. But +after a short interval, a violent crash on the back door, which was +of much slighter timber, warned me that I must still be prepared to +fight against heavy odds.</p> +<p>I looked round for Mistress Lucy: she was standing beside an +oaken clothes press, the largest article of furniture in the +room.</p> +<p>"Help will come, I hope," I said to her; "if not, I can keep +them at bay, and I will."</p> +<p>A moment after I had spoken, I heard a shout from the road. The +blows upon the door ceased; I caught the sound of scurrying feet, +and running to the window, I unbarred the shutter and opened it so +that I might glance out. The coach was moving: the postilion was in +the saddle, the other man was on the box. It passed through the +gate: the horses were lashed to a gallop, and the equipage +disappeared down the road in a cloud of dust. Flinging the shutter +wide, I craned my neck out of the broken panes and looked in the +other direction. Not half a mile away three horsemen were pressing +a gallop towards us.</p> +<p>"You are safe," I said, turning to the girl.</p> +<p>She came eagerly to my side, and in another minute the +horsemen--the innkeeper and two men whom I did not know--leapt from +their saddles when I hailed them, and came to ask if all was +well.</p> +<h2><a name="Ch12" id="Ch12">Chapter 12</a>: I Come To +Bristowe--And Leave Unwillingly.</h2> +<p>The presence of the innkeeper and his friends--a neighboring +farmer and one of his sons: another son had ridden to acquaint Mr. +Allardyce at the Hall of the kidnapping--relieved me of a certain +embarrassment I felt, now that the stress and excitement were over. +As yet Mistress Lucy had spoken scarce a word; but she had looked +at me with great kindness, and I knew that she was but waiting for +an opportunity to thank me for the service I had rendered her. With +the shy awkwardness of my age I wished to avoid this, and so I +willingly related to the innkeeper all that had occurred, and had +barely ended when Peabody came back in haste from Glazeley, where I +fear he had been fuddling himself as his wife had suggested. To him +the story had to be told over again, I meanwhile itching to get +away before Mr. Allardyce could arrive.</p> +<p>When I announced my determination to proceed at once on my +journey there was a great outcry from the men: would I not wait and +see the Squire and be suitably rewarded? Mistress Lucy herself, who +had remained in the cottage while we conversed outside, came to the +door at this point of our discussion, and with bright color in her +cheeks beckoned me and asked whether I would not stay until her +uncle's arrival. But my mind was made up.</p> +<p>"You are in safe hands," I said, "and I have far to go."</p> +<p>"I shall not forget what you have done for me--Joe," she said, +and for the second time gave me her little hand. I could say +nothing, but when I was once more upon the road I thought of her +kind look and manner, and glowed with a deep contentment.</p> +<p>I had not walked above a mile when I heard a galloping horse +behind me, and Roger's clear voice calling me by name. I halted, +and he sprang from the saddle and caught me by the hand.</p> +<p>"By George! 'twas mighty fine of you, Joe," he cried, with +kindling eyes. "I'll break Dick Cludde's head for him, I will, if +ever I see him again. Who was the other villain? Lucy says there +were two."</p> +<p>"'Twas--" I began, but suddenly bit my lip; if I named Cyrus +Vetch my own secret, which I had so carefully guarded, would soon +be known, and I was resolved (maybe without reason) that they +should not know me as Humphrey Bold until I had done somewhat to +win credit for the name. "'Twas a long weasel-faced fellow," I +said, after so slight a pause that it escaped Roger's +perception.</p> +<p>"And weasels are vermin," cried Roger, "and he has killed Lucy's +dog! But come, Joe, what nonsense is this! Father insists that you +shall come back; he declares this trudging to Bristowe is sheer +fooling, and had already got half a dozen fine schemes in his head +for you. Mount behind me, man: the mare will carry you though you +are a monster; come back and we'll be sworn brothers."</p> +<p>I confess the boy's generosity touched me, and the offer was +tempting; but I steeled my soul against it, and, strange as it may +seem, 'twas the remembrance of Mistress Lucy that put an end to all +wavering. Once I had had no higher aim than to win Captain +Galsworthy's praise; now I felt--but dimly--that I would endure the +toils of Hercules to win a lady's favor. 'Twas the budding of young +love within me--and I never knew that a lad was any the worse for +it.</p> +<p>So I thanked Roger as warmly as I might, but held to my purpose +against all his reasons. The boy was impulsive and quick tempered, +and finding me obdurate after ten minutes' battery of argument, he +flung away in a huff, got up into the saddle, and bidding me go +hang for an obstinate mule he galloped back to the turnpike.</p> +<p>And so I set my face once more for the south. Missing my staff, +which I had thrown away in my haste, I cut myself a large hazel +switch from a copse by the roadside, promising myself a stouter +weapon when I should arrive at a town.</p> +<p>My heart was light: had I not begun to pay Dick Cludde interest +on his crown piece? I was inexpressibly glad that I had been able +to defeat his outrageous scheme, and thinking of this, I wondered +why he had driven southward instead of to his father's house beyond +Shrewsbury. My conjecture was that, knowing what a hue and cry Mr. +Allardyce would raise if he believed his niece had been conveyed +thither, the Cluddes had arranged to remove her to a distance until +the legal matter then pending should have been decided in their +favor. I remembered hearing Dick once speak of some relatives at +Worcester, and in all likelihood that had been his destination.</p> +<p>To have encountered me within so few miles of Shrewsbury must +have mightily surprised him. He had known of my intention in +setting out; 'twas common talk in Shrewsbury; and, having passed me +at Harley near two months before this, must have supposed (if he +thought of me at all) that I had long since reached my destination. +What he would infer now I did not trouble to consider, and as he +was to have rejoined his ship about this time, I did not expect any +news of my adventure would be carried back to Shrewsbury. It +crossed my mind that he might possibly seek to waylay me on the +road and take vengeance for his discomfiture, but reflecting that +he would scarcely suppose my journey, interrupted for so long, +would be resumed at once, I was in nowise disquieted; only I +resolved again to buy a stout cudgel, to have a weapon in case of +need.</p> +<p>By noon I arrived at Bewdley, where, being mighty hungry, I made +a good dinner of beef and cabbage at an inn. When I started again, +I had the good luck to get a lift in a farmer's gig, which carried +me for several miles, so that I reached Worcester without +difficulty that night. After a sound sleep at the Ram's Head I +sallied out, bought a fine staff of knobby oak at a shop in the +High Street, and after viewing the outside of the cathedral (the +doors were not yet open), a building that surpassed in beauty +anything that I had before seen, I set off for Gloucester.</p> +<p>No mischance, nor indeed any incident of note, befell me during +the remainder of my journey. I passed the next night in a wagon, +swaddled in a load of fresh mown hay, the driver with rustic +friendliness inviting me to keep him company on his dark journey. +On the third night after my departure from the Hall I trudged, +weary and footsore, into Bristowe, and sought a bed at the White +Hart in Old Market Street, this tavern having been recommended to +me by the friendly hay-cart man.</p> +<p>Next day, when I went out to view the city of which I had heard +so much, I was struck with wonderment, not merely at its size, +wherein it dwarfed Shrewsbury and all the towns through which I had +passed, but at its noise and bustle. Shrewsbury was a sleepy old +town, where life went on very placidly from day to day, and the +sight of these busy, though narrow, streets with their many fine +buildings and their swarms of people, the dogs drawing little carts +of merchandise, the river with its bridges, the floating basin with +many tall ships, the quays thronged with sailors and lightermen, +filled me not only with wonder, but with a sense of loneliness and +insignificance.</p> +<p>Among all these folk, intent upon their various occupations, +what place was there for me, I wondered? I got in the way of a line +of men on the quay side carrying large bales which I presumed had +been unloaded from a ship there moored. One of them hustled me +violently aside, another made a coarse jest upon me, and, raw and +inexperienced as I was, bewildered by the strangeness of it all, I +felt a sinking at the heart, and questioned for the first time +whether I had been wise in forsaking the scenes I knew and +venturing unbefriended into this outpost of the great world.</p> +<p>I was standing apart, gazing at the shipping, when an old, +weather-beaten sailor, smoking a black pipe, came up and accosted +me.</p> +<p>"Lost your bearings, matey?" he said in a very hoarse voice, +which yet had a tone of friendliness.</p> +<p>No doubt I looked foolish, for I knew no more than the dead what +he meant.</p> +<p>"Lor' bless you," he went on, "I knows all about it. 'Tis fifty +year since I made a course for that 'ere port from Selwood way, and +I stood like a stuck pig--like as you be standing now. Be you out +o' Zummerzet, like me?"</p> +<p>I told him I came from Shrewsbury.</p> +<p>"Never heard tell of it," he said, "but seemingly they grow high +in those parts. And what made ye steer for Bristowe, if I might +ask?"</p> +<p>Mr. Vetch had warned me against confiding in strangers; but +there was something so honest in the old seaman's look that I, who +have rarely been wrong in my instinctive judgment of men, +determined to trust him, and told him so much of my story as I +thought necessary.</p> +<p>The result was that he took me under his wing, so to speak. He +spent the whole morning with me, explaining to me the differences +in build and rig between the vessels lying there, telling me a +great deal about the duties of a seaman and the ways of life at +sea. He counseled me very earnestly to give up my design and seek +an employment on shore.</p> +<p>"Sea life bean't for the likes of you," he said. "I don't know +nothing about lawyers, saving them as they call sea lawyers, and +they're rogues; but you'd better be a land lawyer than go to sea. +'Tis all very well for them as begin as officers, but for the men +the life bean't fit for a dog. Aboard ship you'd meet some very +rough company--very rough indeed. I don't pretend to be better nor +most, but there be some terrible bad ones at sea. Of course it +depends mostly on the skipper, but even where the skipper's a good +'un--and there be good and bad--he can't have his eyes everywhere, +and I've knowed youngsters so bad used on board that they'd sooner +ha' bin dead. Not but what you mightn't stand a chance, being a big +fellow of your inches."</p> +<p>What the old fellow said did not in the least shake my +resolution. The only effect of it was to turn my inclination rather +in favor of the merchant service than the king's navy, to which I +had inclined hitherto. In a king's ship I might certainly share in +some fighting, which has ever great attractions to a healthy boy; +but then I should have little chance of seeing the world unless +specially favored by circumstances, for the ship might be kept +cruising about, looking for the French who never came. Whereas in a +merchant ship I might see India, and even China, and my new friend +told me fine stories of the fortunes to be made in those distant +parts by the lucky ones, besides which I felt a longing to see +strange and far-off lands and peoples for the mere pleasure of it. +To take service with an East Indiaman most hit my fancy, and when +the sailor told me that London and Southampton were the ports for +the East India trade, I began to think of working my passage to one +or the other of them.</p> +<p>John Woodrow, as he was named, advised me not to be in a hurry, +and when I explained that my little stock of money would be +exhausted in a few days by the charges at the inn where I had put +up, he recommended me to a widow living towards Clifton, who would +give me board and lodging for a more modest sum. My anxieties on +this score being removed, I resolved to follow Woodrow's advice, +and not be in too great haste to take my first plunge. He promised +to let me know of any decent skipper who might be sailing to +Southampton or London if, when I had had a few days to think things +over, my mind remained the same.</p> +<p>Next day a great king's ship of three decks came into the river, +and I passed the whole morning in gazing at her, watching what went +on upon her deck, and the boatloads of mariners that came ashore +from her, envying the officers, and wavering in my design to join a +merchant vessel. The vessel was named, as I found, the Sans Pareil, +and though I had little French (the dead tongues being most thought +of at Shrewsbury), I knew the words meant "the matchless," and +certainly she outdid all the other ships around her.</p> +<p>The only vessel, indeed, that any way approached her was a large +brig which, as my friend Woodrow had told me the day before, was a +privateer that was being fitted out by certain gentlemen and +merchants of Bristowe for work against the French. The Bristowe +merchants had suffered great losses from the depredations made on +their ships by French corsairs. Many a vessel loaded with a rich +freight of sugar, or tobacco, or other produce of the colonies, had +fallen a prey to the enemy, who swooped out of St. Malo or Brest, +as Woodrow said, and snapped up our barques almost within sight of +their harbor. 'Twas not to be wondered at that those who had +suffered in this way should make reprisals.</p> +<p>The Sans Pareil had such a fascination for me (never having seen +a king's ship before) that I was only awakened to the passage of +time by the crying out of my stomach. I had promised Mistress +Perry, the widow with whom I had taken up my abode, that I would +return punctually at noon for my dinner, and now the church clocks +(no less than my hunger) told me it was long past that hour. She +would be mightily vexed, and the joint would be burned black, and I +neither wished to offend her nor to eat cinders. So I now hurried +away as fast as my legs would carry me, and soon came to the +footpath leading to Clifton.</p> +<p>As I turned the corner by Jacob's Well, I stepped hastily aside +to avoid a man who was coming fast in the opposite direction. He +also moved at the same moment, and, as I have often known to happen +at such sudden encounters, the very movements made to prevent the +collision brought it about. We both moved to the same side, and +jostled each other, and I, being the more weighty of the two, gave +him a tough shoulder and well nigh upset him.</p> +<p>"Clumsy h--" he was beginning, but he got no further, and 'twas +well he did not, for if he had uttered the word "hound" that had +all but come to his lips he would scarce have gone on his way +without my mark upon him. But he did not say it, being indeed +startled out of his self possession. No doubt he had as little +expected to see me as I to see him: it was Cyrus Vetch.</p> +<p>We both turned after jostling each other. The impulse seized me +to take him by the neck and drub him for his rascally dealing with +Mistress Lucy--and to settle at the same time some little private +scores of my own. But he was in truth so pitiful a creature, and +looked so scared, that I let him alone; besides I felt that I might +one day have a greater account to pay off, to which settlement Dick +Cludde must be a party.</p> +<p>He on his side, to judge by his pale cheeks, expected a rude +handling, and when he found that I made no movement towards him, a +look of relief crossed his countenance, followed by an expression +which at the moment I was unable to fathom. Then, as by mutual +consent, and without having exchanged a word, we turned our backs +on each other and went our several ways.</p> +<p>As I expected, the joint of beef was done to shreds, and Widow +Perry rated me soundly for being so late, asking me whether I +expected her dog to keep turning the jack till doomsday. ('Twas a +strange custom of the Bristowe housewives to employ dogs for +turning their roasting jacks). With all humility I expressed +contrition, and vowed amendment, and I kept my word. While I ate my +dinner my thoughts were busy with my late encounter with Vetch, and +I wondered what he was about in Bristowe, and whether Dick Cludde +was still with him. I did not doubt they were in a desperate rage +with me, and if they should be here together I was pretty sure they +would take some means of avenging themselves; but confident of my +strength and my skill of fence the prospect gave me rather a +pleasant expectancy than any alarm.</p> +<p>So three days passed--days which I spent for the most part with +Woodrow the old mariner, plying him with questions innumerable +about shipping and life at sea, and learning many things by my own +observation. I saw no more of Vetch, nor did anything give me cause +of uneasiness. On the second day Mistress Perry, indeed, threatened +a slight discomfort by wishing me to share my room with a new +lodger she had just taken; but she gave in when I flatly refused to +bed with a stranger, and grumblingly accommodated the man--a +rough-looking sea dog--in a little closet off the stairs.</p> +<p>On the third afternoon, when I returned to the quay after my +dinner, Woodrow told me he had found a skipper who would sail for +Southampton at the end of the week, and was willing to take me as +ship's boy. He assured me that I could hope for nothing better to +begin with, and the voyage would be long enough for me to try my +sea legs, and, as he believed, to cure me of my fancy for a sea +life. I was to visit the skipper at the Angel tavern that evening, +and if he liked my figurehead, as Woodrow put it, the matter could +be settled there and then.</p> +<p>Accordingly, about seven o'clock, I met Woodrow at the corner of +the Bridge, by the Leather Hall, and accompanied him to the Angel +in Redcliffe Street, where he presented me to his friend, Captain +Reddaway. After the usual jocose allusions to my height, to which I +was now fairly inured, the skipper asked me a great many questions +about navigation, feigned a vast surprise at my ignorance, and +supplied the answers himself, to impress me, I suppose, with his +own stores of knowledge.</p> +<p>Then the two mariners settled down over their pipes and beer to +a conversation in which I was not expected to take a part; indeed, +it consisted chiefly of reminiscences of voyages they had made +together, and, though entertaining enough at first, by and by +became insufferably tedious. For politeness' sake they included me +in the conversation from time to time by waving their pipes at me, +and I did not like to risk hurting the feelings of my new employer +by showing how wearied I was, or by leaving them; so that it was +not till near ten o'clock that I managed to escape, and then only +because they had both fallen asleep.</p> +<p>The night was warm, and my lungs being filled with the reek of +their strong tobacco I determined to walk down by the river before +returning to my lodging, in the hope of getting a breath of fresh +air blowing in from the sea. The river side was deserted and +silent; the lights of the vessels at anchor increased the darkness +around; and I was walking slowly along, wondering which of the +lamps hung on Captain Reddaway's vessel, when suddenly I found +myself surrounded by a group of men who seemed to have sprung from +nowhere. Before I knew what was happening, much less make any +movement of defence, I was being dragged by rough hands to the edge +of the quay. I shouted lustily for help, only to receive a crack on +the head from one of the men, while another clapped his hand across +my mouth. I wriggled desperately, tripped up one fellow, and used +my feet to some purpose on the shins of another; but there were so +many of them that I was soon overpowered, and was quite helpless in +their hands when they lugged me down the steps into a boat that lay +moored below.</p> +<p>Throwing me into the bottom they pulled off; in a few minutes +they came under the quarter of a large vessel in midstream; I was +hauled up the side, and, more or less dazed with my rough handling, +heard without understanding a loud voice giving orders. In two +minutes I was lying bound hand and foot in the fore part of the +vessel, and there I remained, exposed to the open sky, until +morning dawned.</p> +<h2>Chapter <a name="Ch13" id="Ch13">13</a>: Duguay-Trouin.</h2> +<p>'Twas little sleep I got that night, my body smarting with the +ill usage I had suffered, and my mind in a ferment of rage and +dismay. This was the third and the worst mischance that had +befallen me since I left Shrewsbury, and no one would blame me +overmuch, perhaps, had I given way to utter despair. Old Woodrow +had told me stories about such tricks of kidnapping, but, just as +when we hear a parson denouncing sin we are apt to apply it to our +neighbor and not ourselves, so I had never dreamed that I myself +might be the victim of such an outrage. And remembering what +Woodrow had said, I broke out into a sweat of apprehension, for I +knew that I could not have been impressed as a mariner to serve +aboard a privateer, as was often done; only tried mariners were +seized with that intent, and certainly no one would wish to teach a +raw landsman his duties on a vessel engaged in such a perilous and +desperate business.</p> +<p>I could only conclude, then, that the design in kidnapping me +was to ship me to the American or West Indian plantations, whither +every year hundreds of poor wretches were sent to a dismal slavery. +Woodrow had pointed out to me one day in the street a high +magistrate of the city, who had made great wealth in the sugar +trade, and did not disdain to add to it by selling flesh and +blood.</p> +<p>My imagination racked with this fear, I lay sleepless, save for +brief intervals of restless dozing. Soon after dawn I heard +movements about the ship, and by and by some of the sailors came +and looked at me, making all manner of jests in language fouler +than I had ever heard. The features of one of them seemed familiar +to me, though at first I could not recall place or time when I had +seen him before. But after a while, as I watched him, I recognized +him in spite of some change in his garb: it was the lodger whom +Mistress Perry had wished to place in my room.</p> +<p>My kidnapping was then, I thought, a carefully arranged plan, +and I remembered that before leaving the house I had told Mistress +Perry in the man's hearing where I was going, and that I might +return somewhat late. He had doubtless lodged there to spy on me, +and I was sore tempted to speak to the fellow and ask him how much +he had got for the dirty job.</p> +<p>But an hour or two afterwards I had fuller enlightenment as to +my plight. The master of the vessel came aboard; he had spent the +night ashore; and his foot no sooner touched the deck than he +stepped to where I lay, and ordered one of the men to loose my +bonds and stand me on my feet. And as I rose, staggering, I saw +behind him the grinning faces of Cyrus Vetch and Dick Cludde. The +meaning of it all flashed upon me; this was their revenge; and the +knowledge heated me to such a fury that I leapt forward and, before +I could be stopped, dealt Vetch a buffet that sent him spinning +against the foremast. Cludde, ever chicken-hearted, turned pale, +expecting a like handling, but he was spared, for the master cried +to his men to seize me, and I was in a minute again pinioned and +laid where I had been before.</p> +<p>"Hot as pepper," says the master, with a grin to Vetch.</p> +<p>"Yes," I cried, with an impetuous rage I could not check, "and +'twill be hot for you some day. You've no right to bring me here +against my will, and I demand to be set free."</p> +<p>"Too-rol-loo-rol!" hummed the master, smirking again. "What a +bantam cock have ye brought me here, Mr. Cludde?"</p> +<p>"He was a desperate fellow at school, Captain," said Cludde. +"Why, when he was only eleven he pretty nearly murdered my friend +Vetch here."</p> +<p>"Split my snatch block, you don't say so! We shall have to watch +the weather with him aboard."</p> +<p>"D'you hear?" I cried, incensed beyond bearing. "Let me free, or +I promise you you shall suffer for it, and those curs too."</p> +<p>"Didst ever see such a brimstone galley! I'll soon bring you to +your bearings," and with that he gave me a cuff on the head which +made me dizzy.</p> +<p>He left me then with the others, and soon afterwards I saw +Cludde go over the side, taking farewell of the captain, and, to my +surprise, of Vetch also. Still more astonished was I when, the +order being given to throw off, the vessel dropped down with the +tide, having Vetch still aboard. We made the mouth of the river, +and stood out to sea; it was clear that my old enemy and I were to +be shipmates, though I could not guess the purpose of his crossing +the ocean.</p> +<p>During the ship's slow beating out I had had leisure to look +about me, and I now knew that I was aboard the Dolphin, the +privateer whose fitting out I had watched from the quayside. +Despite my sorry situation I felt a stirring of interest and +excitement; a privateer would scarce put to sea for nothing, and +the thought that ere many days were passed I might be in the midst +of a sea fight helped to drive my grievances from my mind. Withal I +was puzzled: if slavery was not to be my lot, what had my enemies +gained?</p> +<p>But I was soon, in sooth, in no state either to feed my +imagination or to nurse my wrongs. The unaccustomed motion of the +vessel produced on me the effect which but few escape; and we were +no sooner fairly out in the Channel than I turned sick, and +suffered the more severely, as I was told afterwards, because I had +had no food for upwards of fifteen hours. For a whole day I lay in +helpless misery: but then Captain Cawson (so he was named) himself +came to me, hauled me to my feet, and with an oath bade me go and +scrub the floor of the cook's galley. At the time I thought him a +monster of brutality, driving me to my death; but I soon learned +that nothing prolongs sea sickness, or indeed any sickness, so much +as brooding on it, and the activity thus forced upon me had some +part, I doubt not, in hastening my recovery.</p> +<p>From that time I was the ship's drudge. At everybody's beck and +call, I was employed from morning till night in all kinds of menial +offices. It was a hard life, and the treatment meted out to me was +rough; but having got the better of my first rage and indignation, +I resolved to make the best of my situation and to show no +sullenness; besides I honestly wished to learn all that I could of +a sailor's duty, and felt some little amusement in thinking that, +if my enemies had sought this way of crushing me, they had very +much mistaken their man. My activity and strength of limb stood me +in good stead and won me a certain rough respect from officers and +men, together with the real goodwill of a few of the better +disposed among them.</p> +<p>After a day or two one old salt, named John Dilly, took me in a +manner under his wing, and I made shift with his guidance to bear +my part in shortening and letting out sail. Fortunately the weather +was mild, and the early days of my apprenticeship were not so +terrible as they might have been had the vessel encountered the +storms that are commonly experienced in those seas, and especially +in the Bay of Biscay, in which we beat about for nigh a week in the +hope of sighting a Frenchman.</p> +<p>From John Dilly I learned that Vetch's position on board was +that of purser, he having been introduced to the captain by Dick +Cludde. Vetch attempted no active measures of hostility against me; +indeed, he kept religiously out of my way, fearing maybe that I +might seize an opportunity to settle accounts with him. Sometimes I +saw him grin with malicious pleasure when he caught sight of me +tarring ropes or engaged in some other arduous or unsavory task; +but I never gratified him by giving sign of resentment or +humiliation.</p> +<p>I had to take my watch with the rest of the crew. One morning, +some ten days after leaving Bristowe, the captain came on deck at +two bells and ordered me to the mizzen cross-trees to keep a sharp +lookout, at the same time sending Dilly to the fore cross-trees. It +was his practice, I had learned, to give a money bounty to the +first man who sighted an enemy if the discovery resulted in a +capture, and I was eager to win the prize, not more for its own +sake than as a means of standing well with the captain.</p> +<p>The sun rose over the hills of France as I sat at my post. For a +time I was entranced with the beauty of the sight, watching the +changing hues of the sky, as pink turned to gold, and gold merged +into the heavenly blue. But the morning air was chilly, and what +with the cold and my cramped position I was longing for release +when my eye was suddenly caught by what resembled the wing of a +bird on the horizon about west-southwest. Was it the sail of a +ship, I wondered, roused to excitement, or merely a cloud? Had old +Dilly observed it?</p> +<p>I durst not cry out lest I were mistaken; but, straining my +eyes, in the course of a few minutes I made out the speck to be +beyond doubt the royals of a distant ship.</p> +<p>"Sail ho!" I cried with all my might.</p> +<p>"Where away?" shouts the captain, and when I answered "About +west-sou'-west," he went to the companion way, reached for his +perspective glass, and, mounting the rigging, climbed as high as +the royal yard.</p> +<p>He took a long look through the glass, and then, shutting it up +with a snap, he cries:</p> +<p>"You're right, my lad, smite my taffrail if you're not. She's a +Frenchman, sure enough, and the bounty's yours if it comes to a +battering and grappling. I'm a man of my word, I am."</p> +<p>The stranger was yet a good way off, and the captain, instead of +altering the brig's course and standing in pursuit, shouted to the +men to brace the yards round, and, the wind being due north, headed +straight for Bordeaux, whither the vessel was to all appearance +making. At the same time he hoisted French colors at the mizzen, +and then ordered one of the anchors to be dropped over the stern +and about fifty fathom of cable to be paid out, the meaning of +which I did not understand till Dilly explained that 'twas to check +the way on the brig and allow the stranger to overhaul us. Then he +cried to us to lie flat on the deck and keep out of sight, and he +sent one of the best hands to the wheel, wearing a red cap, which +was, Dilly told me, to make him look like a Frencher.</p> +<p>There was only a light six-knot breeze, and Dilly said that the +anchor dragging astern took quite two knots off our speed, so that +in the course of an hour the stranger came clearly into view. She +was a big barque, deep in the water, and the men chuckled as they +peeped at her, for 'twas clear she was full of cargo. Every sail +was set, alow and aloft, and she came on steadily at a good rate, +not altering her course a point, from which 'twas plain she had as +yet no suspicions of us.</p> +<p>I noticed that a buoy had been fixed to the end of the cable +inboard.</p> +<p>"What's that for?" I asked Dilly, who lay at my side.</p> +<p>"'Tis ready to be flung over," he replied, "so as to mark the +position of our cable when it is sent by the board. We'll come back +for it anon."</p> +<p>When the vessel was about a mile distant, our captain gave the +order to fling the cable overboard, then shouted:</p> +<p>"Hard up, wear ship."</p> +<p>We sprang to the braces, the ship spun round, and there we were +on the starboard tack heading straight for the stranger. 'Twas +clear then that she thought something was amiss, for she tried to +put about and run for it; but being greatly hampered by her stern +sails and the press of canvas she was carrying, by the time she had +come round we had gained a good quarter mile upon her. The wind had +freshened, and in some ten minutes our captain gave the order to +haul the tarpaulin off Long Tom, the biggest of eight guns we +carried, and give the Frenchman a pill. The gun was already loaded, +and Bill Garland, the best shot aboard, of whose skill I had heard +not a little from his messmates, laid it carefully and took aim, +and then for a minute I could see nothing for the cloud of smoke. I +sprang up in my excitement; 'twas the first shot I had ever seen +fired, and the roar of it made me tingle and throb. But old Dilly +pulled me down.</p> +<p>"Not so fast, long shanks," he said. "Our turn's a-coming."</p> +<p>"Did he hit her?" I asked, dropping down beside him.</p> +<p>"Clean through the mizzen topsail," he replied, "but done no +more harm than blowing your nose."</p> +<p>The gun was reloaded, and Bill was about to fire again when the +captain sang out to him to wait a little, for we were sailing two +feet to the Frenchman's one, and drawing rapidly within point-blank +range.</p> +<p>"He's loaded with chain shot this time," said Dilly, "and that's +a terrible creature for clearing a deck or cutting up rigging. If +Bill have got his eye we'll see summat according."</p> +<p>The gun spoke, and when the smoke had cleared we saw that the +shot had cut through the Frenchman's mizzen and main weather +rigging, bringing down the top masts with all their hamper of +sails. Even to my inexperienced eye it was clear that the barque +was crippled and lay at our mercy. She still kept her flag flying, +however, and as we drew nearer we could see a throng of soldiers +upon her decks, she being without doubt a transport returning from +the French possessions in the West Indies. She fired a shot or two +at us, but they fell short, her ordnance plainly being no match for +ours, so we had nothing to do but heave to and rake her at our +pleasure. After a couple of broadsides that made havoc on her +decks, she suddenly struck her flag, and of our crew I was perhaps +the only one who did not cheer, for it seemed to me that none but a +craven would have yielded so easily, and I was longing for the +excitement of boarding. We ran up to windward of her, and Captain +Cawson, keeping the port broadside trained on her in case of +treachery, sent an armed boat's crew in charge of the first mate to +take possession of her.</p> +<p>I was not among those who were told off for this duty, but the +fever of adventure had got such a hold upon me that I was hungry to +take a share in what was toward. So I contrived to slip into the +boat at the last moment, at some peril of a ducking, and mounted +the Frenchman's deck with the rest. Then I wished that I had not +been so impetuous, for the sight that met my eye was more terrible +than anything I had ever imagined, and explained the surrender. +Scores of wounded and dying men were strewn over the decks; their +groans and piteous looks turned my heart sick. But such sights were +no new thing to the rest of the crew. They set to work with amazing +coolness to clear the decks, and get the vessel into trim, our +captain having ordered the mate to rig jury masts, under which he +hoped to sail the prize to England.</p> +<p>This seemed to me, I own, an enterprise of much danger, for we +were near the French coast, and might easily fall in with a French +frigate, or even a squadron of the enemy's vessels. But the prize +was exceedingly valuable, and Captain Cawson was no more unwilling +than any other English seaman to run a certain risk. Accordingly +the soldiers and passengers on board the Frenchman were sent below +and battened under hatches, and the crew was made to assist our men +in cutting away the rigging and splicing and setting up the weather +shrouds. The lighter sails were stripped off the foremast, the mate +thinking to bring her into port under mizzen and main sail, +together with all the fore and aft canvas that could be safely +set.</p> +<p>'Twas the work of several hours to get things shipshape, the +Dolphin meanwhile lying by to give us countenance and protection. +When all was trim and taut we set a course for our own shores, +following the Dolphin about three cables' lengths astern.</p> +<p>'Twas drawing towards sunset when she signalled to us that a +sail was in sight. This news caused much commotion among us, still +more when our own lookout cried that the vessel bearing towards us +under press of sail out of the west was beyond doubt a frigate, and +in all likelihood a Frenchman. I knew our case would be parlous if +indeed it was so, for neither the privateer nor the merchant barque +we had captured was armed in any wise to match a line-of-battle +ship. Moreover 'twas unlikely that in our partly crippled condition +we could out-sail the vessel: and when the mate, taking a look at +the stranger through his perspective glass, declared that she was +certainly French, our only hope was that darkness might shroud us +before she came within striking distance--a slender chance at the +best, for, though 'twas drawing towards dusk, the sky was +wonderfully clear.</p> +<p>We held on our course, there being nothing else for us to do. +The frigate loomed ever larger, and my heartbeats quickened as I +wondered what the event would be. I did not dream that we should +strike our flag as the Frenchman had done, and thought that we, +having two vessels against one, would at least make a fight of it. +But I was struck with mingled indignation and dismay when I saw the +Dolphin crowd on all sail and bear away northwards, leaving us to +our fate. I thought it a scurvy action on the part of Captain +Cawson, and Dilly could not persuade me that he could have done us +no good by remaining.</p> +<p>But the mate was not a whit discomposed. He swore a little, as +did the men, yet without any heat: indeed they joked among +themselves about the prison fare they would soon be starving on; +and when a shot from the frigate fell across our bows, the mate +merely spat out the quid he was chewing, and ordered the flag to be +hauled down. Ten minutes after, the frigate was on our weather +quarter, and dropping a boat, sent a crew aboard.</p> +<p>I was bitterly chagrined at this reversal of our fortunes, and +when the Frenchmen who had been our prisoners were released, I went +very sullenly with the rest into the boat that conveyed us to the +frigate. We were clapped under hatches, and confined in the hold, a +noisome close place, lit by a single oil lamp that stunk +horribly.</p> +<p>"Smite me if it bean't Doggy Trang!" said the mate when the +squat towsy-headed seaman who had conducted us below had left us. +"I seed him at Plymouth a year or two ago."</p> +<p>I thought he was referring to the seaman, but it turned out that +he meant the captain of the vessel, a young Frenchman named +Duguay-Trouin, who was known to our men as a daring and courageous +corsair. Two years before this, they told me, when commanding the +royal frigate La Diligente of thirty-six guns, he had run among a +squadron of six English vessels in a fog, and after a stout +resistance was forced to yield, not before a ball from the Monk had +laid him low. He was carried prisoner to Plymouth, whence he had +cleverly escaped one night by scaling a wall and putting off in a +little boat.</p> +<p>My companions soon accommodated themselves to their surroundings +and fell asleep; but I was in too great a ferment to take matters +so equably. I had no love for the buccaneers who had kidnapped me +at Bristowe, to be sure: but my English pride was hurt at our +capture by the French, and I quailed at the prospect of a long +imprisonment in France. Surely, thought I, I must have been born +under an unlucky star, for misfortune has dogged me ever since I +left my native town.</p> +<p>The old seaman brought us some food by and by. He knew a little +English, and in answer to a question from the mate explained that +his captain was now hotly chasing the vessel which had run away, +and if he caught it, the dogs of English would be sorry they ever +showed their noses off the French coast. The captain being +Duguay-Trouin, we knew that if it came to an action his ship would +be well handled, and we had noticed that she carried far heavier +metal than our own vessel. But the Dolphin had got a good start of +her, and we did not suppose it possible that she could be +overtaken.</p> +<p>I had never spent a more uncomfortable night than those hours in +the hold. I could not sleep; the light went out; and in the +darkness rats scurried hither and thither, and I had to keep my +legs and arms in motion to ward them off. There was no glimmer of +light from the outside, and it was only when the seaman again +appeared with food that we knew morning had dawned. He told us with +a grin that our vessel was fast being overhauled, and assured us +that she had certainly made her last privateering voyage under the +English flag. The mate cursed him vigorously, rather from habit +than from ill temper, and the seaman shut us in, leaving us once +more in total darkness.</p> +<p>My fellow prisoners talked among themselves, using language that +made me shudder. I rested my head on my hands, stopping my ears and +giving myself up to a dismal reverie. From this I was suddenly +startled by a dull report overhead, and a slight trembling of the +vessel.</p> +<p>"Ads my life!" cried the mate: "they've caught her."</p> +<p>"Maybe 'tis another vessel," said one of the men.</p> +<p>"Shut your mouth!" was the reply, "and list for an answer."</p> +<p>In a few moments there came a muffled report through the +timbers.</p> +<p>"There's to be a fight, sure enough," said the mate, "though +what the captain can be a-thinkin' of beats me altogether."</p> +<p>"I would do the same," I said, "and so would any Englishman +worth his salt."</p> +<p>"Then you'd be as big a fool as he is," was the blunt +retort.</p> +<p>It was a tantalizing position to be in. Here we were, boxed up +in the darkness, condemned to listen to a duel of firing at long +range, without any means of knowing what its effects were, hoping +that our countrymen would win, yet aware that if the vessels came +to close quarters a shot might plunge among us and send us all into +eternity. We could tell that the vessel was racing through the +water at a great rate, but, to judge by the reports that reached +our ears, the distance between the combatants was not diminishing. +The alternation of shots continued for some time; then suddenly the +ship swung round with a violence that threw us all in a heap, and +caused me to bump my head hard against the wall.</p> +<p>"Helm's hard up," said the mate, "she's going to try a +broadside."</p> +<p>And in a few seconds there was a thunderous roar above, and a +shock that made the vessel stagger. There was no reply save a +single shock, from which I judged that the Dolphin was holding her +course; and it was clear that the broadside had done little or no +damage, for the ship again swung round, and the duel of single +shots began again. But we could tell that the vessels were now +nearer to each other, and after a time we heard a series of dull +reports, followed by a thud or two and the sound of rending and +tearing woodwork above and around. 'Twas a broadside from the +Dolphin. But before we had time to rejoice at the success of our +comrades, or to hope that their shots had brought down enough of +the French ship's spars to disable her, the vessel shook again +under a terrific discharge of her ordnance, and we, knowing how +vastly superior was her armament to that of our own ship, were in +no little anxiety as to the effect of this second broadside at +shorter range. Another and another broadside followed from each +combatant: and then came to our ears from the deck above a great +yell of triumph. My heart sank within me; the mate let out a volley +of oaths; 'twas impossible to mistake the meaning of that shrill +cry.</p> +<p>The cannonading ceased. For a time that seemed endless there was +silence, save for a shout now and then, and a thud that might be +caused by the work of replacing or repairing an injured spar. +Suddenly the hatch above was lifted, raised, and when our eyes +became accustomed to the light we saw men swarming down the ladder +into the hold. A French seaman among them relit the lamp, and we +recognized the faces of some of our comrades on the Dolphin. Among +the first I saw old Dilly, and behind him came Cyrus Vetch, his +countenance black with rage. As soon as he was among us he launched +out into bitter complaints at being herded with common seamen--he +who by right and courtesy ought to have been classed with the +officers and allowed the hospitality of a cabin.</p> +<p>"'Tis infamous," he cried; "'tis a scandal to treat a gentleman +with such indignity. Duguay-Trouin was not so served when he was +brought prisoner to Plymouth."</p> +<p>"Stow your jab!" cried the mate angrily. "Ain't we good enough +for you? What's a land lubber like you doing here at all? We ain't +aboard the Dolphin now, I'll let ye know, and here we're all equal, +and smite my eye, if you complains of your company, and gives +honest seamen any more of your paw-wawing, 'ware timbers is what I +say to you, my gemman, or I'll rake you fore and aft."</p> +<p>From which it may be concluded that Vetch was by no means a +favorite with the crew of the Dolphin.</p> +<h2>Chapter <a name="Ch14" id="Ch14">14</a>: Harmony And Some +Discord.</h2> +<p>From Dilly I learned that the Dolphin had suffered severely in +the engagement. A third of the crew had been killed or wounded: +Captain Cawson himself was dead. The survivors had been divided, +some being left in the Dolphin, the remainder being brought to the +Francois; among these were the more severely wounded, who were +tended with much humanity in the sick bay.</p> +<p>Now that the chase and the fight were over, we were allowed on +deck a few at a time, a boon for which I was very grateful. I was +surprised at the youth of our captor, the renowned Duguay-Trouin. +He looked little older than myself, and was in fact, as I +afterwards discovered, but twenty-three years of age.</p> +<p>His youthful appearance somewhat heartened me. Here was a man +(so ran my thought) but little my senior, yet he had already won a +great name for daring and courage; he had been captured and +imprisoned, but had escaped, and was now again active in his +vocation. Other men as well as I had their mischances and +surmounted them: why should not I? Thus it happened that when, a +few days later, we arrived at the French port of St. Malo, and were +handed over to the authorities of the prison there, I was not so +depressed in spirits as I had expected to be.</p> +<p>This was fortunate, for the lot to which we were condemned was +miserable in the extreme. We had wretched quarters, foul and +unhealthy; some five hundred prisoners, most of them captured in +merchant vessels, were herded in a space not large enough for the +comfortable habitation of half that number. In my heart I fully +sympathized with Vetch's objection to being classed among the +seamen, for they were in the main a sorry lot, filthy in their +habits and base minded. Some, like old Dilly, were of a higher +type, and these consorted together as much as possible.</p> +<p>The conditions at St. Malo were so had that I was not sorry +when, after some few weeks there, a great number of us were marched +out under an armed guard to a castle about fifteen miles to the +southeast. A very woebegone battalion we must have looked as we +tramped to our new quarters--many of us suffering from prison +fever, all more or less in rags, and half starved. The change was +due to no compassion on the part of the authorities, but to an +alarm in the town. A sloop had come in, it appeared, with news that +an attack was intended against the port by no other than Benbow, +and it was feared that the prisoners might seize this opportunity +for a mutiny. I did not learn this until after we had reached our +new prison; it came out through one of our jailers, a talkative +fellow who liked to air his little English, otherwise I should not +have felt so much pleased at the change of quarters; though even if +Benbow had assaulted the town and we prisoners had risen, it was +improbable that we could have found a means of escaping to him.</p> +<p>The new prison was, as I have said, a castle, or to speak more +precisely, the ruins of one. It had once been a place of +considerable dimensions and of great strength; but it was now far +gone towards demolition. The outer walls still stood, completely +encircled by a moat, the only entrance being by way of the +drawbridge which, to judge by its moss-grown edges, had not been +raised for many a day. Marching over it, and through an archway, we +found ourselves in the courtyard, a large area roughly square in +shape, and open to the sky.</p> +<p>At the farther end, built against the wall in the intervals +between three round towers, a kind of wooden barracks had been +erected for our accommodation, the only habitable portion of the +castle being the keep, flanking the entrance, and this was devoted +to our guardians. Our barracks was in two stories, the lower being +intended for use by day, the upper, which was reached by a ladder, +containing our sleeping apartments. The rooms on the ground were +lit by windows opening into the courtyard; the sleeping rooms only +by narrow gratings in the wooden wall. I did not learn all this at +once, of course; but I have set it down here for convenience +sake.</p> +<p>On arriving at the castle we were marshaled in the courtyard, +and taken into the keep one by one. There, with the aid of the +loquacious sergeant as interpreter, we gave our names, ages, and +descriptions to the commandant, a sour-visaged fellow, who entered +the particulars in a book. Then we were severally assigned our +sleeping quarters, and I found myself one of a squad of ten, none +of whom was known to me with the exception of Vetch and Dilly. +Vetch once more protested against being ranked with common seamen, +and demanded to be released on parole; but the commandant ordered +him gruffly to be silent, and he went away very sullen and +wrathful.</p> +<p>Our sleeping apartment, I found, was a small room at the +right-hand corner of the barracks--so small that I foresaw our +nights would not be comfortable. There were five truckle beds +ranged against the wall; 'twas clear that each of us would have a +bedfellow. The bedding consisted of a hard straw mattress and a +single woollen coverlet which, judging by its tenuity, had already +seen service with generations of sleepers. Luckily it was early +autumn; we should not need to dread the winter cold for some time +to come; and I was young and lighthearted enough to flatter myself +with the fancy that we should either be released as the sequel to +some terrible defeat of the French, or that we should find some way +of escape.</p> +<p>Being myself long and broad, I made matters even by choosing as +my bedfellow a little fellow named Joseph Runnles, lean as a rake, +and of a quiet and melancholy countenance, thinking that such an +one would not discommode me in either body or mind. My choice was +justified; he neither kicked nor snored, and was so reserved and +silent that I believe I did not exchange with him a dozen words a +week.</p> +<p>Our new quarters proved a deal less dreary than those we had +left at St. Malo. The weather was fine; there was ample elbow room +in the courtyard, and though we were closely watched by the guard +constantly set at the gate, we had our liberty during the day. At +night, when we repaired to our dormitories, the doors opening on +the courtyard were locked, and we could dully hear the tramping of +the sentry along the battlements above our heads.</p> +<p>In a few days we had settled down in our new life. Some of the +men passed all the daylight hours in throwing dice or playing games +of chance, not without frequent quarrels, which our guardians +ignored so long as they remained short of fighting. Others, more +industriously inclined, occupied themselves in fashioning toys from +wood supplied them, which were afterwards sold in neighboring +villages, the proceeds (after a very liberal commission had been +subtracted) being devoted to the purchase of additions to their +meagre fare.</p> +<p>As for me, the idea of escape was already beating in my mind, +and as a first step I resolved to pick up a knowledge of the French +tongue, of which I was almost wholly ignorant. Accordingly I lost +no opportunity of conversing with soldiers of the guard, with whom +I ingratiated myself by showing them some of the tricks of fence +taught me by Captain Galsworthy. The only work which all the +prisoners had to perform in turn was the drawing of water from a +well in the keep. The water of the moat, as I had seen when we +crossed it on entering, was covered with a green scum, the rivulet +which fed it not being of sufficient volume to keep it in +circulation.</p> +<p>A few days after our arrival I was laid low by a mild attack of +jail fever, of which I had doubtless brought the seeds from St. +Malo. I kept my bed for a couple of days, being tended with much +kindliness by a little old surgeon attached to the garrison. I +should not have mentioned this trifling sickness but that it +prevented me from witnessing the arrival of a fresh batch of +prisoners; so that when I descended on the third day into the +courtyard I was mightily surprised to see, at that very instant +carrying a bucket of water across from the keep, no other than my +old friend Joe Punchard.</p> +<p>"Joe!" I cried, beyond measure delighted at seeing a familiar +face.</p> +<p>Down went the bucket with a clatter upon the stones, and Joe +looked around as though scarce trusting his ears. Then seeing me he +waddled across, seized my hand, and shook it with a hearty goodwill +that was somewhat over vigorous for my enfeebled condition.</p> +<p>"Ods firkins, sir!" he cried, "my head spins like a whirligig. +How dost come here among these heathen Frenchies, and all the way +from Shrewsbury, too?"</p> +<p>Before I was halfway through my story, one of the soldiers ran +up and ordered Joe to fill his bucket again and wash out the lower +rooms.</p> +<p>"Ay, I'm a swab again, sure enough," says poor Joe, going off +ruefully to his task.</p> +<p>He was soon back, and when he had heard me through my account of +what had befallen me since I saw him last, he broke out into +vehement denunciation of Cyrus Vetch and all the race of Cluddes. +Vetch himself happening to pass at that moment, wearing the hangdog +look habitual to him since fate had made him a prisoner, Joe bursts +out:</p> +<p>"Ay, you may well look ashamed of yourself, you villain! Where's +that will, rogue? What have you done wi' 't?"</p> +<p>Vetch turned a shade paler, I thought. I had never said a word +to him about the loss of my father's will, and had no intention of +doing so, biding my time, and I was a little vexed that Joe in his +impetuous espousal of my cause had let the fellow know of our +suspicions. He halted a moment, then with a "What are you prating +about, turnip head?" he turned on his heel and walked away.</p> +<p>Joe, in a great rage, was for springing after him, but I caught +him by the arm and begged him to let the matter rest.</p> +<p>"Snatch my bowlines!" he cried, in a tone reminding me of +Captain Cawson; "he'd better 'ware of running across my course. If +I come athwart his hawser I'll turn him keel upwards, I will."</p> +<p>I diverted the current of his anger by asking him how he had +become a prisoner of the French.</p> +<p>"Why, in a deuced unlucky way," says he. "Captain Benbow--he's +now rear admiral, but will always be captain to me--he had a mind +to draw alongside that there place they call St. Malo, and cut out +a frigate of Doggy Trang he believed to be there, and he sent me +and some more by night to take the bearings of the harbor. We was +in a skiff, and a gale came on and beat us about all night and +split our sails and drove us ashore in the very teeth of a crew o' +Frenchies. There was a tight little scrimmage, I promise you, but +they were two to one, and grappled us close, and clapped a stopper +on our cable, hang 'em. They chained us together, the dogs, and +marched us into St. Malo with scarce a rag to our backs, and +yesterday they sent me and some more here."</p> +<p>"And right glad I am they did, Joe. But surely Captain Benbow +did not send you in charge of the party?"</p> +<p>"Well, no, if you put it so, he didn't. We was in command of +Lieutenant Curtis."</p> +<p>"And is he here, too?"</p> +<p>"No. He happened to have a pocketful o' money, and so they let +him sling his hammock in the town, where he could spend it. When it +is gone, belike they will send him to join us."</p> +<p>"And let us hope that we'll be gone as soon as his money, Joe. I +am mighty glad you are here; for if we put our heads together we +can surely find some way of getting free."</p> +<p>"Bless your eyes, don't I wish we may. Maybe there's a fate in +it, sir. Fate jined you and me when it made me set Vetch a-rolling +in the barrel, and 'tis fate has jined us all three here. Ay, +please God, sir, one day we'll slip our cables, clap on all canvas, +and steer for the north, though how, whereby, and by what means we +can do it beats Joe Punchard."</p> +<p>The companionship of Joe, at a time when I was weak from my +sickness, mightily cheered me, and we spent much of each day +together. Our longing to be free did but increase as the days +passed. The monotony of prison life fretted us, Joe perhaps less +than me, for his life had been harder than mine, and as the days +grew shorter, and the nipping cold of winter by degrees overtook +us, we began to know what real wretchedness is. By day we could +warm ourselves with exercise and active sports in the courtyard, +but at night we shivered under our thin coverlets, and I found +myself by and by wishing that my bedfellow Runnles had a little +more flesh on his bones, for a lean man is no comfort in bed on a +bitter night. Joe was not in my dormitory, or I should certainly +have bedded with him.</p> +<p>Above everything else, I think, the wretched food made us +unhappy. If a man be but well fed he can endure much hardship and +trouble, and I had never wanted in this respect. The prison food +was bad, ill cooked, and meagre; and though Joe, for one, might +have procured better if he had chosen to employ himself in his old +trade of coopering, he refused to do so after making one barrel, +the price of which, after the soldiers' commission had been +deducted, was something less than a fourth of what it would have +been in England.</p> +<p>"'Noint my block!" he cried, when the pitiful sum was placed in +his hand. "Dost think a Shrewsbury man 'll be done out of his dues +by a codger of a Frenchman what he don't vally no more than pork +slush or a stinking dogfish? Split my binnacle if I be!"</p> +<p>And he flung the money at the amazed Frenchman, and kept his +word to work at his old trade no more.</p> +<p>I think this sturdiness of his raised him somewhat in the +estimation of our jailers, and in spite of the opprobrious epithets +he applied to them (which to be sure they did not understand) he +was soon as popular with them as Vetch was the reverse. Joe was +blessed with a great fund of good humor, which withstood all +privation and restraint. He growled and groaned at being compelled +to take his turn in scouring the floors and other menial tasks, but +after emitting a stream of hot language, which ever appears to flow +very freely from the lips of sailor men, he went his way with great +cheerfulness. He joked with his fellow prisoners, and being of a +loquacious turn, had many things to tell them of the doings of his +hero, Captain Benbow.</p> +<p>Vetch, on the contrary, was what the Scriptures call a +"continual dropping." He kept himself apart, sulking the livelong +day, scarce ever speaking, and when he did speak using a tone which +the Grand Turk might employ towards a beggar. It was true enough +that the prisoners were inferior to him in quality, but, their lot +and circumstances being the same, it was decidedly a mistake to +make the others feel their inferiority, and, as I think, a mark of +ill breeding to boot. His few words were sneers, and he had a +contemptuous way of looking at a man that made one itch to thrash +him. At length he was thrashed, and very smartly, by a man in our +dormitory, and after that he was utterly ignored, by general +consent. It happened in this wise.</p> +<p>One bleak day of mud and rain, when we were driven by the +weather out of the courtyard into the lower rooms of the barracks, +and were sitting in doleful dumps, at a loss how to pass the time, +Joe Punchard cried out of a sudden:</p> +<p>"Come, souls, what's a spell of foul weather to men that have +sailed the salt seas! Haul forward your stools, mates, and we'll +have a concert and make all snug. I warrant some of you can troll a +ditty, though ye be too modest to own it; and not being plagued wi' +modesty myself, I'll heave anchor first."</p> +<p>I knew, nothing of Joe's musical powers, and it was with no +little surprise I discovered that he had an excellent voice of the +pitch they call barytone. He began:</p> +<pre> +Of all the lives, I ever say, +A pirate's be for I; +Hap what hap may he's allus gay +And drinks an' bungs his eye. +For his work he's never loath; +An' a-pleasurin' he will go; +Tho' sartin sure to be popt off, +Yo ho, with the rum below. +</pre> +<p>At the conclusion of the stanza his audience broke into loud +applause. And then, with a sheepish air that set me a-smiling, +Joseph Runnles, my bedfellow, the little silent man of whom I have +spoken, drew out of his pocket the parts of a flute, and putting +them together, set it to his lips and accompanied Joe through the +next stanza, picking up the tune with a facility that spoke well +for his musical ear.</p> +<pre> +In Bristowe I left Poll ashore, +Well stored wi' togs and gold; +An' off I goes to sea for more, +A-piratin' so bold. +An' wounded in the arm I got, +An' then a pretty blow; +Comes home I finds Poll flowed away. +Yo ho, with the rum below. +</pre> +<p>"Adad, brother," cries Joe, clapping the little man on the +shoulder, "why have you stowed away your noble talents so long +under hatches? I've sailed the seas for many a year; east, west, +north and south, as the saying is; Blacks, Indians, Moors, +Morattos, and Sepoys; but smite my timbers, never such a man of +music have I drawn alongside of before."</p> +<p>Runnles blushed like a girl, and said never a word, but blew the +moisture out of his flute, ready for the next stanza.</p> +<pre> +An' when my precious leg was lopt. +Just for a bit of fun, +I picks it up, on t'other hopt, +An' rammed it in a gun. +"What's that for?" cries out Salem Dick. +"What for, my jumpin' beau? +Why, to give the lubbers one more kick!" +Yo ho with the rum below. +</pre> +<p>By this time the other men had got the hang of the song, and +when Joe started the next stanza they joined in, trolling the tune +(they knew not the words as yet) in voices high and low, rough and +coarse for the most part, and with more heartiness than melody. +This happy thought of Joe's cured our dumps and put us all in a +good temper, and for the rest of that morning we sat singing songs, +and listening to the tootling of Runnles' flute, when the little +man could be prevailed on to treat us to a solo.</p> +<p>"You be mighty bashful for a sailor man," said Joe at the end of +the concert, "partickler as your name be Joe like mine, but we +won't let 'ee hide your talents any more, split my braces if we +will."</p> +<p>It was on the night of that day that Vetch got his thrashing. We +had gone early to our dormitory because of the rain, and being +unable to sleep for the cold, one of the men suggested that Runnles +should give us a tune.</p> +<p>"'Tis comfortin' to the spirits," said the man, a big fellow +known to us as the bosun: his name was Peter Wiggett.</p> +<p>Runnles, evidently gratified at this mark of appreciation, put +his flute together and began to pipe the tune of Mr. Ackroyd's +famous song of the fight in '92 when Admiral Russell beat the +French. This, to be sure, was rather inspiriting than soothing, and +thus perhaps there was a shadow of excuse for Vetch when he called +out from under his coverlet (he lay in the next bed):</p> +<p>"Cease that squealing, hang you, and let a man get to +sleep."</p> +<p>"Belay there!" shouted the bosun.</p> +<p>"Pipe away, Runnles, and we'll love you, my hearty."</p> +<p>Runnles struck up again, but he had not gone far (it was to the +line, "To meet the gallant Russell in combat on the deep") when the +fluting suddenly ceased, and we heard a cry that was certainly a +squeal. Vetch had got out of bed in the dark and, snatching the +flute from Runnles' hand, caught him by the throat. I sprang up +from Runnles' side, but the bosun from the bed beyond was before +me.</p> +<p>"Avast, you lubber!" he cries, flinging himself on Vetch; "I +thought we should grapple one day: now I'll bring you up by the +head, you swine."</p> +<p>And with that he took Vetch with the left hand, and belabored +him with the right until the poor wretch fairly howled for mercy. +Then he threw him on to his bed (with some damage, I fear, to +Dilly, who shared it), and bade Runnles play up: but the little man +was so much upset at the turn affairs had taken that he declared +his lips were too dry to blow a note, and indeed it was several +days before he could be prevailed on to flute again.</p> +<h2>Chapter <a name="Ch15" id="Ch15">15</a>: The Bass Viol.</h2> +<p>Where one leads, others are sure to follow. It was wonderful how +many of the prisoners discovered a talent for music after Punchard +and Runnles had thus led the way. Our jailers encouraged this +pastime; it was not merely harmless in itself, but it had a +quietening effect on the temper of the men, and the squabbles and +brawls among them notably diminished. One of the Frenchmen +unearthed an old fiddle, and though one of its strings was wanting, +a man named Ben Tolliday contrived to scrape very passable melody +out of it. Old John Dilly announced that he had played the cornet +in his youth, and before very long an instrument was found for him, +and after a few days' practice (during which we had to suffer a +variety of discordant and ear-splitting noises) he recovered +something of his former skill. An old drum with a very loose +membrane was found in the lumber room of the keep, and this the +bosun appropriated, though being quite destitute of a sense of +rhythm he made but an indifferent performer. Some of the men +fashioned original instruments for themselves, one of these, a +mouth organ, being a real triumph of ingenuity.</p> +<p>I, alas, had no singing voice, and was totally ignorant of +music; but Joe kindly informed me that any fool could play the +bones, and made two pairs of castanets for me out of beef bones +supplied by the soldiers (we had no joints ourselves, but only a +bullock's cheek now and then) so that I too was able to bear my +part in the concerts which now became of daily occurrence.</p> +<p>The soldiers of the guard often came and listened to our +performances, and even the sour-faced commandant once condescended +to form part of our audience, and smiled broadly when Dilly, who +was a Devon man, sang with much expressive pantomime the pleasant +ditty of Widdicombe Fair, though the Frenchman did not understand a +word of it.</p> +<p>This condescension on the part of the commandant emboldened me +to proffer a request which I had been meditating for some days. I +had by no means given up the hope of escaping from the castle, but +the more I thought of it, the less likely it appeared that I could +succeed without assistance. Of course, Joe Punchard should +accompany me, and when I talked the matter over with him, neither +of us had the heart to scheme for our own freedom without regard to +those of our fellow prisoners with whom we had become more closely +connected through our musical interests.</p> +<p>"There is old John Dilly," I said one day, when we were +discussing the subject, "he was good to me aboard the Dolphin; I +shouldn't like to leave him behind."</p> +<p>"True," says Punchard, "and Runnles is a quiet, good soul; +besides his name is Joe."</p> +<p>"And the bosun, he's as strong as an ox, and might be a useful +man."</p> +<p>"And Tolliday, he's for ever sighing about Molly, his +sweetheart; 'twould make two folks happy (maybe) if he got away +among us."</p> +<p>Thus we ran over the list of our friends very seriously, though +it tickled my sense of humor when I remembered that we had not as +yet the ghost of a notion how this escape we talked of was to be +contrived. But having thus selected our partners in the attempt we +were resolved to make some day, we decided that it would be a step +in the right direction if we all shared the same dormitory. We +might then talk over the matter without the danger of it being +blabbed among the whole body of prisoners.</p> +<p>Accordingly I took advantage of the commandant's gracious +appearance among our audience to ask him (having now picked up +enough French to make myself understood) to allow all the members +of the band to sleep together, explaining that we should attain to +greater efficiency if, after the lower doors were locked for the +night, we could practice for an hour or so together before the sun +went down. His grim face relaxed into a smile at the serious manner +in which we took our diversion, and he readily granted the +permission we desired. By this change we got rid of Vetch, who was +glad enough to leave us, I doubt not.</p> +<p>The first step having thus been gained, I began to devote myself +earnestly to the problem of escape. I did not make light of the +difficulties. The only entrance to the castle precincts was, as I +have said, the gateway at the end of the drawbridge, and this was +so stoutly guarded that escape in daylight was impossible. At night +we were locked in the dormitory nearly thirty feet above ground, +with a thick stone wall between us and freedom, and supposing we +could make a hole in the wall, which seemed unlikely, there was +still the moat to be reckoned with. It was not only too far below +for any one to dive into it with safety, but it was, as I had +learned from the soldiers, choked with mud to within a very little +of the surface, so that I could not but doubt whether it were +possible even to swim across. But I did not despair of crossing it +if we could only get down: that was the difficulty, and for long +tedious weeks it seemed to me insuperable.</p> +<p>Before we had hit upon a plan, we were thrown into a great +excitement by the disappearance of Vetch. I had missed him for a +day or two from the courtyard, but thought little of it, supposing +that he was confined to his dormitory by a touch of fever, as +happened not infrequently among the prisoners. But on Punchard's +remarking one day that he believed Vetch was malingering, it came +out that he had not been seen by his roommates for nearly a +week.</p> +<p>Was it possible that while we had been merely thinking of +escape, Vetch had found a means of escaping? It seemed impossible, +and when I was having my daily conversation with the soldiers of +the guard, I asked point blank what had become of him. They laughed +and chuckled, and amused themselves for some time by giving all +manner of fantastic explanations, which improved my knowledge of +French, but were mightily vexatious. At last I made out, from hints +and half statements, that the commandant had been discreetly +inquiring among some of the prisoners for a man who was well +acquainted with the river Avon. Since these inquiries ceased and +Vetch disappeared about the same time, I was free to conclude that +in Vetch the commandant had found his man. Had he purchased his +freedom at the price of treason to his country? Were the French +meditating an attack on Bristowe? These were questions I could not +answer; but you may be sure the knowledge that Vetch was gone acted +as a whip to my determination, and I was more than ever resolved to +find some way of leaving these walls behind.</p> +<p>We had concluded, Punchard and I, that our only course must be +to pierce the castle wall and let ourselves down to the moat by +means of a rope. The latter portion of this scheme being manifestly +the more likely, we decided to secure our rope first. This was +easier said than done. Our coverlets were of such thin and rotten +material, we should need to tear up several of them before, even +carefully knotted, they would serve our purpose, and we could not +risk the detection that would surely follow if any of them were +missed by our guards. When I went next to take my turn at drawing +water from the well I carefully examined the rope by which the +bucket was let down, thinking it might be possible to cut this one +night at an hour when its loss would not be discovered till next +day and the birds had flown. But a close inspection showed that it +was very rotten; evidently it had seen long service; and while it +was still strong enough to stand the strain of a bucketful of +water, I could not flatter myself it would safely bear my weight, +to say nothing of the bosun, who was a deal heavier.</p> +<p>But since a rope we must have, I pleased myself with the fancy +that if I should succeed in procuring that it might be taken as a +good augury for success in the more difficult feat, the piercing of +the wall. Could we make a rope, I wondered? We had a fair quantity +of bast, in the mats that formed the only covering of the floor of +our barracks, but not near enough to form a rope sufficiently stout +to bear the weight of even the lightest of us; besides the tearing +up of the mats could not fail to be discovered.</p> +<p>Racking my brains for some means of overcoming the difficulty, I +suddenly bethought myself of trying a ruse. I said nothing of my +intention to Punchard (to the others I had as yet not breathed a +word of our purpose) but the next time I went to the well I took a +knife with me, and, choosing a portion of the rope where it was +much frayed, I carefully sawed through one or two of the strands +with the blunt edge. The result was that when I was drawing the +full bucket up, the rope snapped, the bucket fell to the bottom +with a clatter, and I (to make the accident more convincing) +toppled over on my back. Up came one of the guard, and rated me +soundly for my clumsiness, employing a succession of abusive terms +which I stored in my memory for use in case of need.</p> +<p>I picked myself up slowly, rubbing my back, and, putting on the +most innocent air in the world, I pointed to the frayed rope and +asked whether my corrector could expect such a thing as that to +last for ever. The man grumbled a good deal, but the condition of +the rope admitted no answer to my question, and I had the +satisfaction next day of seeing a brand new rope attached to a +brand new bucket. I even had the pleasure of using it for the first +time, for the old rope having broken when I was on duty, I was +condemned to the punishment of drawing water for a week afterwards, +an extension of my task which I bore with wonderful +cheerfulness.</p> +<p>When I told Punchard of what I had done he laughed with great +delight, but immediately became very sober.</p> +<p>"'Tis all no use, sir," says he gloomily. "For why? I can't +swim."</p> +<p>This was a difficulty I had not foreseen. How is it, I wonder, +that so many men who go down to the sea in ships do not master that +most useful art--the very first, one would think, that should +engage their attention? 'Twas true, the depth of water above the +mud in the moat was so little that even the best swimmer would be +at a bad pass; but I hoped that with the coming of the spring rains +this would be remedied. Yet if Punchard and any of the others were +unable to swim, the moat would be impassable were it dredged to the +bottom; and since we must descend the rope singly, and the water +came right up to the wall, I could not see for the life of me how +this disability could be got over.</p> +<p>Finding our purpose thus stopped in this direction (though but +for a time, for my resolution was in nowise weakened), I began to +devote myself earnestly to what I had felt all along was the +crux--the breaking through the wall. So deeply was I preoccupied +with this baffling problem that I fear I clattered my bones but +half heartedly in our musical concerts. Yet it was during one of +these concerts that some good genie flashed upon my invention a +plan which promised (if it could be carried out) to solve the very +difficulty I had almost given up as insoluble. I say it was a good +genie that suggested the idea to me, for, looking back upon it, I +can account for it in no other way.</p> +<p>I was watching Tolliday sawing away at his fiddle, and marveling +(being ignorant of music) at the loud tones which he produced from +so small an instrument. 'Twas clear that the hollow belly of the +fiddle had some part in the effect, and then I remembered the big +bass viols I had seen used in the church at home, and reflected +that the larger the instrument the deeper and more powerful the +tones.</p> +<p>And here came in the genie to supply the link which led to the +formation of my plan. In my mind's eye I saw a big hollow vessel +shaped like a bass viol floating on the water of the moat, and Joe +Punchard clinging to it, and I wished with all my heart that one of +our jailers would discover such an instrument, and hand it to us +for the use of our band. 'Twas but a step from wishing to devising. +We had no bass viol; could we not make one? No one would oppose us; +the band was highly popular with the garrison, and I was sure that +they would willingly provide us with material for the construction +of yet another instrument.</p> +<p>Accordingly, next morning I suggested that we should ask the +commandant to give us some planks of wood with which to make an +instrument of a new model. The men were amused at the notion, never +suspecting that I had any other design than to enrich the harmony +of our ensemble. 'Twould be good fun, they agreed, though they had +great doubt (as I had myself) whether our unskilled workmanship +would produce anything but a useless monstrosity so far as music +was concerned. They were willing to try, however, the attempt would +help us to kill time; and the commandant proving perfectly +agreeable to humor us, we gut the planks, borrowed some tools from +the soldiers, and set to work.</p> +<p>The next following days saw half a dozen of us busily employed +in the courtyard in knocking together a long shallow box, in the +upper side of which we pierced S-shaped holes like those of the +fiddle, with a notched bridge at about one-third of its length for +holding four strings, and wooden screws at the other end for +stretching them taut. Joe Punchard, good fellow, was the most +ardent of the artificers, plying the tools with a dexterity born of +his work for master cooper Matthew Mark years before. We got from +the soldiers, who showed a great interest in our task, cords of +different thickness, and several lengths of iron wire which we +twisted together somewhat after the manner of the thickest string +of the fiddle. We then stretched this and three cords over the +bridge on the top of the box, screwed them to a high tension, and +plucked them to see if they emitted notes that could be called +musical.</p> +<p>The result surpassed my expectations. Tolliday, our fiddler, +declared that the notes were true music, though to be sure not very +resonant, and he undertook to tune the strings in fifths, so that +it might be able to take a proper part in our next symphony. Having +no bow with which to scrape the strings, he said that they could +only be strummed with the finger and thumb, and when he offered to +teach one of us thus to handle it, there were many candidates for +the place, which in the end fell to a man named Winslow. The men +were all mightily pleased with the success of our work, and I was +secretly delighted, not with the instrument as a producer of music, +but at knowing that we had a box which might serve those of us who +could not swim as a raft.</p> +<p>We had now at command (if we could secretly purloin it) a rope +to let us down, and a raft to ferry us over the moat, but we had +still to find a means of getting beyond the wall, and to this I +bent all my energy of mind. In this, too, I took Joe Punchard into +consultation, and we discussed all kinds of plans. With the sentry +on guard throughout the night in the courtyard there was no hope of +escape by the gate and drawbridge. There was no opening in the +wall. The only possible means of exit was to cut a hole in it, and +this would be a matter of great toil, the wall being, as some one +had told us, ten feet thick. It consisted, so far as we could tell +from the inside, of solid blocks of stone cemented together, and +when, at an odd moment when no one was looking, I tried to scrape +away some of the cement between two of the stones, I found that it +was almost as hard as the stone itself.</p> +<p>To cut through ten feet of such solid material was a task that +might have caused any one to despair. Still, it was the only course +open to us, and I have never known any task too hard for patience +and determination. Joe and I decided that we must gradually scrape +away the cement around one of the blocks until we could remove this +altogether, and then work at the next one, and the next, until we +had pierced right through to the open air.</p> +<p>Apart from the toilsomeness of the task, there were risks to be +feared and provided against. First; one or another of the soldiers +inspected our dormitory every day. This inspection, 'tis true, had +become somewhat perfunctory, the man being content, as a rule, to +mount the ladder until his head was a foot or two above the level +of the floor, throw a hasty glance around, and descend again. The +second risk was more serious. Since we could hear at night the +tramp of the sentry going his round of the battlements, it was +probable that, however quietly we might work, the sentry would hear +the sound of scraping as he passed above. If the wall had been +wainscotted, he might suppose such sounds to be caused by the +gnawing of mice; but there was no likelihood of mice making their +habitat in a thick stone wall. Further, even if we should so +contrive that our task of scraping was interrupted when the sentry +passed, there was still the danger that the sound might attract the +attention of the men in the adjoining dormitory. If they should get +any suspicion of what was toward, it would soon be common talk +among the whole body of prisoners, and some whisper of it would +certainly reach the ears of the guard.</p> +<p>In order to lessen this risk, Joe and I decided to begin our +work at a stone measuring three feet by two, in the right-hand +corner of the dormitory, farthest removed from the partition +dividing us from the next, and a foot or two above the floor, so +that a bed could be pushed against the wall and hide all signs of +our operations in case a sudden visit of inspection was made.</p> +<p>These preliminaries having been settled by Joe and myself, the +time was come for taking our roommates into our confidence. I did +not disguise from myself that we were staking a great deal on their +loyalty, and even more on their silence, for the slightest whisper +of the plot outside our own little company would be fatal. There +were ten of us bandsmen altogether. At first I thought of speaking +to the men individually, and thus testing their courage and +enterprise. But on reflection I decided that what was most +requisite to our success was a corporate spirit, which could be +best engendered by opening the matter to them as a body. +Accordingly, one evening, when we were assembled in the dormitory +for a practice, I took the fateful plunge.</p> +<p>I am not an orator, and I shall not set down here the words in +which I addressed them. Suffice it to say that they listened very +attentively, not at first perceiving the full drift of my meaning, +so careful was I to feel my way with them. They held me in some +special consideration, which I no doubt owed partly to Joe +Punchard, who had told them something of my story, and when at +length I declared plainly our intention to escape, asked them if +they would join hands with us, and impressed on them the necessity +of maintaining silence about it, they one and all promised that +never a word should pass their lips.</p> +<p>As to the scheme itself, when I unfolded its details, they were +somewhat dubious, and, strangely enough, the most enthusiastic in +its favor was little Runnles, the melancholy flute player, and the +most doubtful was the bosun, whose physical courage was equal to +anything, but who was daunted by what appealed more particularly to +the moral qualities of patience and endurance. He dwelt +lugubriously on the difficulties I have already mentioned, and +shook his head when I combated his objections; but he agreed to +throw in his lot with the rest of us, and said that if we once got +clear of the walls, and there was any fighting to do, he would +break any Frenchman's head as soon as look at him.</p> +<p>Nothing remained now but to begin operations, and I soon found +that the demands upon our patience would be even more exacting than +I had supposed. We divided our company of ten into five watches, +each to take a spell of two hours' work. One night, as soon as all +was quiet, Joe and I set to work, he with a chisel which he had +used in making our new instrument, I with my clasp knife. Very +gently, so as to avoid noise, we began to scrape away at the mortar +between the block of stone we had selected for removal and the one +below it.</p> +<p>Runnles hit upon a capital way of warning us of the approach of +the sentry within earshot. He tied a string to Joe's leg, and gave +it a tug when he heard the tramp of footsteps above. Then we +desisted for a minute or two, resuming our work when the footsteps +had died away.</p> +<p>At the end of our two hours' spell we were disappointed at the +little we had been able to do. Two small heaps of dust lay at the +foot of the wall, but the impression on the hard mortar or cement +had been but slight, and I was appalled to think of the weeks that +must elapse before we had cut completely round the stone. But I +professed myself well satisfied with the start we had made, and we +handed over our tools to Dilly and Tolliday, the next couple, with +encouraging words.</p> +<h2>Chapter <a name="Ch16" id="Ch16">16</a>: Across The Moat.</h2> +<p>It would be tedious to chronicle the stages of our progress, the +hopes and fears, the anxieties and suspense, which in turn laid +hold of me. Night by night for a week, in pitch darkness and bitter +cold, we scraped away the cement, carrying away in the morning in +our pockets the dust that fell, and disposing of it in the +sweepings of the courtyard.</p> +<p>Once we had a great scare. In the dead time of night we heard +footsteps, and voices in the room below our dormitory, and gave all +up for lost. We stole into our beds, and lay in that painful state +of shortened breath and quickened pulse which the expectation of +ill induces. But by and by the voices ceased; we heard the closing +of the door below; whatever their errand had been (and we never +knew it) the men of the guard had returned to their quarters, and +after a few minutes' pause we were again out of bed and at our +work.</p> +<p>At the end of a week it happened as I had feared. The men's +patience gave out. The bosun was the first to yield. After his two +hours' spell of labor he rose from the cramped position it entailed +and swore he would do no more. The men whose turn it was to follow +refused to get out of bed, and Joe and I, who, having worked our +spell were fast asleep, knew nothing of the mutiny until the +morning. Then, though I was nigh despairing, I affected +cheerfulness, said that we had all been working too hard, and +declared for a couple of nights' holiday.</p> +<p>I did not blame or expostulate, and the wisdom of my course was +vindicated on the third night, when, without a word being said, the +bosun and Runnles took up their tools and set to work again. I +learned afterwards that Runnles had employed himself during the two +days in quietly encouraging the others, and I think it was the +persistence of the little man that shamed them into +perseverance.</p> +<p>Night by night for three weeks we toiled on, and then were +bountifully rewarded. We had scraped away the cement between the +stone we had selected and those around it, and by prying it with +our chisel and one or two other tools we had now procured, we +gradually forced it inwards and at length lifted it out and laid it +on the floor. It was the middle of the night, but all the men were +awake, and in the excitement of the occasion the bosun uttered a +shout of triumph, cursing himself immediately afterwards for his +folly. The sentry above stopped, and by and by a soldier came into +the room below and up the ladder and demanded what was the matter. +Luckily I had the presence of mind (and by this time sufficiency of +French) to make answer pat.</p> +<p>"'Tis the big man in a nightmare," I said with a laugh, +"dreaming he heads a boarding party."</p> +<p>"Mad dream!" says the Frenchman with a chuckle, and went down +again without entering the room.</p> +<p>We longed for daylight to reveal the full extent of our success, +yet dared not wait for it, for the stone was heavy, and it would +take some time to replace it, and since we were always visited soon +after daybreak we feared to be intruded on before we had put it +back and removed the traces of our work. So we set it again in its +place and for the rest of the night slept the sound sleep of +contentment.</p> +<p>But this success spurred me on to devise some means of easing +the work yet to be done. The stone was two feet broad; if the wall +was ten feet thick there were four more like it still to be +removed, and at the same rate it would be three months before we +could tunnel through to the air. And thinking of this my heart +fell, for there was not room in the cavity left by the stone for +two men to work abreast, so that it might indeed be four months +before we saw the end of our toil. I determined, therefore, by some +means or other to procure a light, by whose aid I could explore the +hole and see if the next stone was cemented with the same care.</p> +<p>It chanced that that day we had for dinner a very fat piece of +beef. I took advantage of this to pocket some lumps of fat, +intending to make a candle with it and a wick composed of some +twisted threads from my shirt. The difficulty was to kindle the +candle when made, for none of us had a tinder box, though we had +steel in our chisel and could easily break a piece of stone from +the slab we had loosened.</p> +<p>Tolliday was equal to this, however. He pretended that one of +the screws of his fiddle had swelled, so that it would not turn +freely in the hole, and he got us to ask one of the soldiers to +lend him his tinder box, so that he might make a fire of shavings +and heat a skewer red hot, with which to burn away the hole. All +unsuspicious, the man lent him the box, which, when it was returned +to him had somewhat less tinder in it than before.</p> +<p>That night, and during the remaining weeks of our work, we had a +candle. We screened the light very carefully, you may be sure, so +that it should not shine through the grating in the wall on the +courtyard, and attract the soldiers' notice.</p> +<p>The stone having been removed, I crawled into the opening, +holding the candle, and could scarcely check a cry of joy as I +perceived that our task would henceforth be much lighter than I had +supposed. At the end of the hole, instead of another stone cemented +like the first, as I expected, there was a mass of rubble. I could +not doubt that the whole of the interior of the wall consisted of +this material, and that we should encounter no more blocks of stone +until we came to the outer layer of the wall.</p> +<p>It was easy to understand now why castles deemed impregnable +were sometimes battered down. A thickness of ten feet of stone +might withstand any bombardment, but once the outer stones were +pierced, the lighter material would offer but little resistance to +cannon shot.</p> +<p>That was an afterthought, however; my reflection at the moment +was that liberty was nearer to us by several weeks. Being +acquainted with my discovery, my comrades made no ado when I +suggested that we should now remove another of the stones of the +inner wall, so that we might more easily get at the rubble. Filled +with a new spirit of cheerfulness, they worked with such ardor that +in ten nights we were able to lay a second stone alongside of the +first.</p> +<p>But we were now confronted with a new difficulty. It had been +easy enough to dispose of the cement dust: it was quite another +thing to get rid of the vast quantity of small stones and pieces of +brick which now had to be removed. Further, if we cleared all the +rubble from the middle of the wall between us and the outside, +there would be no support for the slabs of the battlement above, +and however firmly they were cemented, it was not improbable that +they would sink in and betray us.</p> +<p>The latter predicament we could but ignore for the present. For +the disposal of the rubble, after some thought I hit upon a plan +that proved entirely successful.</p> +<p>When all was quiet one night, Joe and I descended the ladder +which led from our dormitory to the room below, and lifted, after +some trouble, one of the planks of the floor. As I had hoped, it +was not laid immediately on the ground; a space of two feet deep +had been left. Into this hole night by night we cast the rubble we +scooped out from the wall, carefully replacing the plank when we +had done. We moved always with bare feet, carrying the stuff in our +pillow cases. When I consider how many slight accidents might have +marred our work and utterly undone us, I can not but think that we +were in some sort watched over by Providence. Our life aboard ship +had made us sure footed; but that we were able to work for weeks +without betraying ourselves by a sound or the neglect of some +precaution I ascribe to something higher than ourselves.</p> +<p>To come to an end of this part of my story, after several weeks' +work at the rubble we once more encountered stone. Before attacking +this, we waited for a night or two. We no longer had any fear of +the slabs of the battlement falling; the cement was clearly strong +enough to bear the weight of the passing sentry; but I had some +apprehension that as he tramped along the man might discover the +hollowness below him by the ringing of his feet on the stones. But +two nights sufficed to banish this fear also, and then we started +eagerly on the last portion of our task.</p> +<p>The flight of time passes almost unnoticed when the moments are +well filled. Winter had given place to spring, and spring was now +merging into summer. We had no almanac, and kept no account of the +days; it was by the lengthening daylight and shortening darkness +and the new warmth in the air that we knew summer was at hand. The +long nights of winter would perhaps have been more favorable to our +escape, but, on the other hand, we should suffer more from +exposure, and moreover, I fancy no man is ever so brave in cold +weather as in warm. We prisoners, at any rate, worked now with more +zest than ever, heartened by the knowledge that if we did win to +freedom, we should find ourselves in a pleasant, sunny world.</p> +<p>One night when Runnles and the bosun were at work, the chisel of +the former met with no further obstacle. Enlarging the hole he had +made, he set his eye to it, and whispered to the bosun to blow out +the candle. Then he crawled back into the room and told me in his +quiet way that he had seen the stars. Before morning the cement +round a stone somewhat larger than the one we first removed had +been scraped away, or pushed out into the moat, and we knew that +when we had hauled the stone back through the tunnel into the room +we should have made a hole large enough for the biggest of us to +pass through.</p> +<p>My fears for the success of our enterprise were never greater +than at this moment when the way seemed open. The men were in so +wild a state of excitement that I was consumed with anxiety lest +their demeanor should arouse suspicion among our guardians. Before +I went down to the courtyard I spoke to them very earnestly, +begging them to keep a watch on themselves, and not betray by word, +look or sign that anything had happened to break the monotony of +our life.</p> +<p>They obeyed my injunctions almost too well, for a more silent, +morose, hangdog set of fellows could never have been seen; they +provoked jests from the prisoners of the other dormitories, who +declared that sure their music had made them all melancholy.</p> +<p>"It must be tonight, Joe," I said, when, our morning tasks being +done, he and I went apart from the rest for a little private talk. +"If we delay it, I cannot answer for their behavior."</p> +<p>"That is all very true, sir," said Joe; "but I can not see how +we are to manage it. There's a hole in the wall, to be sure, and a +new rope on the windlass of the well: but how we be going to get +the rope where 'tis needed is more than I can guess."</p> +<p>"Don't you think that by tonight our drum will want washing?" I +said.</p> +<p>He looked at me, clearly puzzled at what seemed a sudden change +of subject.</p> +<p>"'Tis very dirty, to be sure; but washing it won't make it sound +no better, I reckon."</p> +<p>"I rather think it will," I replied, and then I told him what I +had in mind.</p> +<p>"'Tis a main risky trick, sir," he said dubiously. "If they +should happen to want another bucketful of water we're lost +men."</p> +<p>"We must risk something, Joe," I answered, "and fortune has so +well befriended us hitherto that I can't think she will balk us +now."</p> +<p>But I own that my anxieties increased as the day wore on, and my +melancholy countenance was doubtless a good match with the faces of +my comrades. When one of the other prisoners twitted me on my +lugubrious mien, I had an inspiration.</p> +<p>"We are saving our cheerfulness for the concert tonight," I +said. "'Twill be the best we have ever given, and we shall never +give a better."</p> +<p>And for the rest of the day there was a great buzz of talk among +the men about the announcement I had made, and a great deal of +laughter at our mournful preparation for a cheerful +entertainment.</p> +<p>Late in the afternoon, when water drawing had ended for the day, +I went to one of the soldiers and asked if I might be allowed to +wash our big drum.</p> +<p>"Why, 'twill spoil it," he cried. "You'll get no sound out of a +wet skin."</p> +<p>"I shall only wash one side," I replied, "and it will give a +thicker sound than the dry one, and so add to the variety of the +piece we are going to play."</p> +<p>"Well, wash it then," he said, and went off grinning to tell his +comrades of this latest whimsy.</p> +<p>I fetched the drum from the corner of the room where it lay, and +carried it to the well within the keep. The members of the band +were in the secret, and I had asked them to hold the attention of +the other prisoners while I set about my task. The well was +situated in a somewhat gloomy corner, and, there being none of the +garrison at hand, I was able to accomplish my purpose unobserved +and without interference. Having drawn up a bucketful of water, I +unhooked the bucket, unwound the rope until there were but a few +feet still left upon the windlass, then cut it, made a gash in the +side of the drum, and coiled the lower and longer portion of the +rope in the interior of the instrument. Then I tied the bucket to +what remained of the rope, and lowered it into the well, where it +hung only a few feet from the surface, but quite out of sight in +the darkness. This done, I carried the drum across the yard, +turning its broken side away from the soldiers, who stood smoking +against the wall, and who laughed when they saw the water dripping +from the instrument upon the flagstones.</p> +<p>The prisoners were all grouped in a ring about Joe Punchard, who +was amusing them with a strange dance of his own invention. He bent +his knees till he was almost sitting on the ground, and in that +position danced a sort of hornpipe--a feat that must have imposed a +terrible strain upon his inwards, but which he seemed to perform +with consummate ease. The men were so intent upon his antics that I +passed them by unnoticed, and gained the lower room of the shed, +where I whipped the rope out of the drum and ran with it up into +the dormitory, hiding it under one of the beds. I was down again in +a minute, and then, tearing the membrane jaggedly to disguise the +fact that it had been cut, I went out into the yard, and when Joe +had finished announced with an air of vexation that I had unluckily +made a hole in the drum. At this my fellow bandsmen abused me with +a fine show of anger, the bosun in particular storming at me with a +violence at which I had much ado not to smile.</p> +<p>The other men laughed, and made fun of our mishap, which boded +ill for the success of our concert. But when we had eaten our +evening meal, we got our instruments and played until the sun went +down, with a gusto which certainly we had never shown before. For +the nonce I gave up the castanets to the bosun, and beat the drum +myself, thumping it on its sound side joyously. The soldiers +gathered round and gave us very hearty applause; and when Runnles, +to conclude the program, played them on his flute the air of <i>Au +clair de lune</i>, which he had picked up from one of them, they +cheered him to the echo.</p> +<p>I hoped that there was nothing ominous in the choice of this old +song to end our concert. Moonlight would be fatal to our +enterprise; and I was quite ignorant whether the moon rose early or +late. But we had gone so far that our attempt must be made this +very night, for with the morning the cutting of the rope would +without doubt be discovered; the alarm would be given, and the +ensuing search would bring to light not merely the severed rope, +but our operations upon the wall.</p> +<p>We went up into our dormitory, taking with us our instruments as +usual, among them the bass viol of our invention. This was to serve +as our raft. We waited for several hours with feelings painfully +tense. None of us was inclined to talk; my nine comrades were, I +doubt not, wondering as anxiously as I myself what the issue of our +attempt would be.</p> +<p>When all was quiet, the strongest of them removed the stone at +the inner end of the tunnel, and set it down with many precautions +on the floor. Then Runnles, being a little man, crawled to the +other end and looped the rope about the loosened stone there. This +we hauled inwards an inch at a time, stopping after every pull to +listen. It seemed endless work to drag it into the room, but at +last it was done, and we set the stone alongside the other.</p> +<p>Our way was now clear. I had insisted on being the first to +descend, though Joe Punchard and two other men volunteered for that +office, pleading that they were mariners of longer standing than I, +and therefore fitter for the climbing work. But this I would by no +means agree to--the suggestion and the plan being mine, it was meet +that I should be the first to face what perils it might involve. +Accordingly, I first crawled through the tunnel to see whether the +aspect of the sky favored an immediate descent, and, being +reassured on that point, I went back into the room to make the +final preparations.</p> +<p>We stripped a plank from one of the truckle beds and placed it +across the opening, one end of the rope being knotted about its +middle; the knots were firm, you may be sure, as none but sailors +can make them. Then, taking the other end of the rope, I went to +the outward end and lowered it very gently towards the moat, +knowing that it would not be seen in the darkness by the sentry on +the battlements above even if he chanced to look over, and to that +he would have no temptation.</p> +<p>There was a good deal of doubt among us as to whether the rope +was long enough for our purpose. The bosun, who had crawled after +me, whispered he was sure it was too short. And when I had let it +down to its full length and drawn it up again, as yard after yard +it came dry through my fingers I began to fear that the bosun was +right. But at last the rope left a slimy wetness upon my hands, and +I rejoiced to find that two or three yards of it had fallen into +the water.</p> +<p>Our next step was to draw the rope wholly into the dormitory and +fasten its wet end to the bass viol. On the top of this, it will be +remembered, there were two S-shaped openings which we had cut to +make it serviceable as a sound board. These Joe had now covered +over with the broken skin of the drum, to make the box water tight. +We pushed it through the tunnel, and I let it down into the moat, +very slowly, so that it might not strike the wall and draw the +sentry's attention. When the rope was paid out to its full length I +wrapped a coil of bast about my shoulders, and, having suspended +from my neck a short plank from the head of the bed, I bade the men +in a whisper to remember the further plan we had arranged, and made +my way down the rope--a feat that offered no difficulty to a seaman +even so little practiced as I.</p> +<p>Coming safely to our musical raft, I was not long in discovering +it to be a very cranky thing, so that I had to keep my hold of the +rope in order to maintain my balance. But in a short time I was +able to defeat the raft's attempts to turn turtle, and then, +kneeling on it, still gripping the rope, I looked anxiously for +signs that the attention of the sentry on the battlements had been +awakened. But I heard his footsteps approach and recede at the same +measured pace; 'twas clear he suspected nothing; and without more +delay I began to work the raft towards the far side of the moat, +using the short plank I had brought with me as a paddle. So that no +sound of splashing might rise to betray us, at every stroke I dug +the paddle into the mud, which, as I had suspected, came to within +a little of the surface; indeed, the depth of water was barely +sufficient to float the raft, with my weight on it.</p> +<p>A most unsavory odor resulted from the stirring of the mud; but +a greater inconvenience was the tendency of the raft to lurch. +Holding on to the rope with one hand, I instinctively pulled upon +it to maintain my equilibrium when I felt myself toppling, with the +result that the raft moved backward, and I had to begin my punting +again. Fortunately, the width of the moat was little more than +thrice the length of my crazy craft, in spite of whose instability +I succeeded in reaching the opposite side.</p> +<p>Here, however, I found that my difficulties were by no means +over. The water was low in the moat, and the bank, perfectly free +from vegetation, rose almost vertically to a height of six or eight +feet. On a moonlit night I must have been seen if the sentry had +glanced in my direction; dark as it was, I feared it was not so +dark but that my moving shape might be descried. I waited: not +hearing the sentry's footsteps, I began to fear the worst; but +finding after a time that no alarm had been given, and that all was +still about me, I first fastened the coil of bast I had brought on +my shoulders to the end of the rope where it was knotted about the +raft, and then began to clamber up the bank, somewhat incommoded by +having to keep a hold of the bast with one hand.</p> +<p>Careful as I was, I yet dislodged one or two clods of earth as I +climbed, which fell with a dull splash into the water. I went cold +with apprehension, and clung to the face of the bank, not daring to +make a movement. There were no fowl upon the moat; the splash I had +made was louder than any frog could have made; surely the +unaccustomed sound must this time have caught the sentry's ear! But +all was silent; maybe he was asleep; and in another few moments I +gained the top of the bank, breathless, rather, I suspect, from +excitement than exertion.</p> +<p>It seemed a very long time since I had left my comrades above: +doubtless it had seemed even longer to them. So, after the briefest +of pauses to recover my breath, I gave three sharp tugs upon the +bast line, which were immediately answered by three similar tugs: +this was the signal I had arranged with Joe. The tension on the +line was relaxed; Joe, hauling at the rope, was drawing the raft +gently back across the moat to its former position at the foot of +the wall. There was a short interval; then I knew from the jerking +of the bast line that a man was descending the rope, and when he +was almost level with me I saw his form very dimly. When I learned +from the cessation of the jerks that he was safe on the raft, I +hauled in my line, ferried the man across, and, leaning over, gave +him a helping hand up the bank. It was little Runnles.</p> +<p>"I've got my flute, sir," he whispered with strange +inconsequence as he came to my side.</p> +<p>"Lie on the ground and don't stir," I whispered back.</p> +<p>Again I gave three tugs, and the same sequence of events ensued. +One by one the men came down the rope, crossed the moat on the +raft, and joined me on the bank. We had no difficulty with any of +them but the bosun, whose massy frame so much depressed the raft +that it took the united exertions of six of us to haul it through +the upper layer of mud.</p> +<p>Joe Punchard came last of all. When with his arrival our little +party of ten was complete, we crawled on hands and knees one by one +to the shelter of a thicket that stood some fifty yards away, and +then consulted in whispers how we were to shape our course.</p> +<h2>Chapter <a name="Ch17" id="Ch17">17</a>: Exchanges.</h2> +<p>I have been many a time surprised to observe the strange +volatility of sailormen. They will pass in an instant from jollity +to woe, and, when just snatched from the jaws of death, will give +the rein to jests and sportiveness as if life were nothing but a +perpetual holiday. Some of my comrades were perfectly hilarious, +and began to talk and laugh as freely as they might in the +forecastle, far from a hostile shore. I had to warn them very +earnestly against so imperiling the safety of us all; but Joe +Punchard's admonitions were more effective than mine, for in a +harsh whisper he roundly abused them, threatening with many +offensive terms to leave them to their fate if they did not +instantly cease and obey me as their captain.</p> +<p>Their intelligence being penetrated with some notion of the +exceeding danger of our situation, the noisy ones kept silence and +agreed to follow my behests. This threw on me a task of great +hazard and responsibility, for we were strangers in a strange land, +and I had no knowledge of our whereabouts, nor a clearly defined +plan of action. Gathering them in a knot about me, so that all +could hear my lowest whisper, I put to them the situation as I +conceived it.</p> +<p>"By God's mercy we have succeeded thus far," I said, "but the +greatest of our dangers lie still before us. I know nothing of this +country, nor does any of us, and in a few hours day will dawn, our +escape will be discovered, and there will be a hue and cry after us +for miles around. What we want to do is to make the coast and +borrow a boat in which we may set sail for England."</p> +<p>"Ay, ay," was the general grunt.</p> +<p>"Ay, indeed," I went on, "but we know not in what direction the +coast lies, nor would it be safe for us to attempt to reach it yet. +When our absence is known, the Frenchmen will assuredly suspect +that the coast will be our aim, and they will have it watched for +miles, so that even if we found a boat and got to sea (in which we +might fail), we should certainly be espied and chased and caught. +What we must do, as it seems to me, is to strike into the country +and find a hiding place where we may lie until the first alarm has +passed, and then endeavor by some means to learn of a secluded +fishing hamlet whither we may steal our way by night. Can you +suggest a better plan?"</p> +<p>For a brief space there was silence; then the bosun said:</p> +<p>"If we can not tell the way to the coast, neither can we know if +we be going inland, and so we may stumble into the very danger we +ought to avoid."</p> +<p>"There is the north star above us," I replied, "and by going +south it would appear that we shall go away from the sea. I +propose, then, that we turn our backs on the star and march +southward, trusting to find some wood or perchance some ruin where +we may lurk a day or two."</p> +<p>"And our bellies empty," groaned Tolliday.</p> +<p>"Let us hope not," I said. "We may come upon some fruit gardens +where we can find enough to keep us from starvation. But if we must +fast, then I warrant we, being Englishmen, can endure our pangs for +a day. Time is passing; 'tis gone midnight, if I guess right, and +since move we must, I speak for moving at once."</p> +<p>No other course suggesting itself, we set off, and, having the +good luck to strike a road, we marched along in dogged silence for +what must have been a couple of hours. We passed but one house, and +that was in total darkness, and if any person in it had been awake, +our passage would not have been heard, for we were all barefooted +but three, myself and two others.</p> +<p>After pausing a while to rest, we set off again, and tramped on +until there was a hint of daybreak in the sky. Then, being utterly +weary (for none of us had enjoyed a full night's sleep for months), +we looked about for some spot where we might rest without danger. +We found ourselves between open fields, somewhat cut up by low +stone dykes, but with no buildings or copses that offered even a +temporary shelter. We had perforce to continue on our way, and +about half a mile farther on our eyes were gladdened by the sight +of a large, low, dismantled farmhouse lying somewhat back from the +road. It appeared at first to be a total ruin, and bore the marks +of fire upon its blackened walls: but on entering we discovered one +room that had some portion of a roof over it, and, better still, a +quantity of straw spread about the floor. We were gathering this up +to make rough beds of it, when we perceived a trap door in the +floor, and it occurred to me that if it led down to a dry cellar, +such as were not uncommon in farmhouses in England, this would +prove a more secure refuge than the room on a level with the +road.</p> +<p>Lifting the trap door, I found that it was even as I hoped. The +cellar beneath was large, and dimly illuminated through a grating +let into the wall just above the level of the ground. I perceived, +too, that it had a door, so that in the unlikely event of our +re-entrance by the trap door being prevented, we could still escape +into the open. There was straw also in the cellar, and it did not +take us many seconds to decide that here we would lay down our +tired bodies and gain some sleep. My purpose was, after resting, to +go exploring alone, trusting to my knowledge of the French tongue +to procure some food and also to learn something of the lie of the +land, for there must assuredly be a habitation somewhere in the +neighborhood.</p> +<p>We all descended into the cellar, closing the trap door after +us, and gladly stretched our limbs upon the straw. It did not +appear necessary to keep a watch. The farm had clearly not been +inhabited for many years, and there was no reason to fear that our +rest would be disturbed. Even when the pursuit of us should be +begun, it was in the highest degree unlikely that it would tend in +this direction. The road was hard after a period of dry weather, +and we had left no foot tracks to betray us. But as a precaution I +went out by the cellar door, ascended a short flight of steps and +made my way to the upper room again, where I spread some straw on +the trap door, to hide it from any chance visitor. Then I returned +to the cellar. Our fatigue was so great that in a few moments we +were all asleep.</p> +<p>I was awakened by a touch on my arm. I sat bolt upright in an +instant. Runnles was leaning over me, with his finger at his lips. +The other men were already awake, and seeing, I suppose, a look of +inquiry on my face, Runnles whispered:</p> +<p>"I wakened them first, 'cos they was snoring."</p> +<p>And then I became aware that it was precisely the unexpected +that had happened. There were people in the room above. I heard +footsteps and voices, and then felt no little alarm when another +sound reached my ears--a sound that I could not mistake. It was the +sound of muskets being stacked.</p> +<p>We looked at one another in mute dismay. Had our pursuers hit +upon our tracks at once? It seemed scarcely credible. Yet for a +minute or two I waited in a kind of paralysis, expecting the trap +door to open and a posse of armed soldiers to descend. My anxiety +on this score soon vanished, however, for I heard a heavy thump on +the trap door above, and guessed that either something had been +thrown upon it or that one of the intruders had unwittingly chosen +it for his seat. This, with the previous stacking of the arms, +seeming to indicate that the visitors intended to make some stay, +and had no suspicion of our presence.</p> +<p>I determined to set my fears finally at rest (and, I must own, +also to satisfy my curiosity) by stealing out and taking a peep at +them, if they had left the door open. Whispering my comrades to +remain perfectly silent, I slipped off my boots, quickly opened the +door, and went very cautiously round to the front part of the +house.</p> +<p>The first object that caught my eyes was a horse standing +tethered in what had been the ruins of a barn adjoining the +farmhouse. Creeping up to the door, which had been left ajar, I +peeped in, and saw a party of French soldiers seated on the floor, +eating bread and sausages, and drinking from little tin cans. My +mouth watered at the sight of this food after more than twelve +hours of fasting, but I was not conscious of this till afterwards. +The party consisted of seven men. One, somewhat apart from the rest +(it was he who had sat himself on the trap door), was clearly an +officer. He was a tall, lean man of some forty years; he had +unbuttoned his coat and laid his hat, in which there was a white +cockade, beside him. At a respectful distance from him sat the +others of the party.</p> +<p>For some time they ate their meal in silence, the men, I +suppose, not daring to converse in the presence of their captain. +But by and by the officer, his hunger being some whit appeased, +unbent a little from his dignity and addressed a stout little +sergeant among the party.</p> +<p>"It is twelve years since I was here before, Jules," he said, +and there was a noticeable air of condescension in his tone; it was +as though he did the sergeant a mighty favor in speaking at +all.</p> +<p>"Yes, monsieur," said the sergeant, as if humbly inviting him to +continue.</p> +<p>"Yes, twelve years ago," the officer repeated. "I have reason, +truly, to know it again. Those were the days of the Conversions, +Jules. You don't know what the Conversions were? I will tell you. +There were cursed Huguenots in the country then, Jules, bad +citizens, unruly rascals every one of them, and our good king +commanded that they should instantly return to the true faith. Some +of them were obstinate, and they, see you, had to be converted. We +called it conversion by lodgings, and, my faith, it was excellent +sport. They quartered some of us on any household that was +unwilling to obey the king, and there we remained until they saw +the error of their ways.</p> +<p>"My faith! some were hard to convert. The owner of this place, +for instance. We were here for a month, and never lived better in +our lives. The fool! He had a pretty daughter, too, and I fell in +love with her. The farmer objected, and one day had the insolence +to strike me. That was treason, of course, and the least we could +do, especially as he was so obstinate in the matter of his +conversion, was to burn his farm. He shot one of my men while we +were at the work, and--well, we hanged him. That was twelve years +ago."</p> +<p>The sergeant laughed. I, who had heard something from my father +of King Lewis' treatment of his Huguenot subjects--of the +Dragonnade, as it was called, and the sufferings of the poor people +at the hands of the brutal soldiery--I, who knew of this, was +shocked at the callous levity of the captain's speech; and I could +have struck the fat, foolish face of the sergeant for his +chuckle.</p> +<p>"What fools men are!" the captain went on. "Who would have +supposed that these rascals of deserters would make for the very +place where they would most readily be discovered! But all these +peasants are simpletons. If you, now, were to desert, Jules, you +would not return to Meaux, would you? You are a townsman, and have +more sense. But these peasants--bah! cattle, no more."</p> +<p>I thought the sergeant's laugh at this rang a trifle hollow. He +was not a soft-hearted man in appearance, but perhaps he had some +fellow feeling for poor men dragged from their work at the plough +to serve in the army of the Grand Monarque. His next words +surprised me, for I had not understood the captain's reference to +deserters.</p> +<p>"Shall we give them something to eat, <i>mon capitaine</i>?" he +asked.</p> +<p>"Decidedly not," said the officer with an oath. "They have led +us a pretty dance, and what's the good of food to men about to be +shot!"</p> +<p>"But they may fall from exhaustion before we reach Rennes," +suggested the sergeant, "and that may cause delay. They have had +nothing for near twelve hours, <i>mon capitaine</i>, and marching +best part of the time."</p> +<p>"Well, give them a crust," said the captain, lazily throwing +himself back on the straw; "but it is waste, sheer waste."</p> +<p>The sergeant rose and, taking some scraps of food, crossed the +room and disappeared from my sight. I knew now that the deserters +of whom they had spoken were actually in the place with them, and +found myself pitying the fate of men who had had the ill luck to +fall into the hands of so coldly brutal an officer as this +captain.</p> +<p>Then I turned about with a start, having the strange feeling-- +for I heard nothing--that someone was moving behind me. It was +Runnles. He came towards me stealthily, wearing that meek, shy look +of his, and told me in a whisper that Joe Punchard had sent him to +see what had become of me. At the sight of him a fantastic notion +buzzed into my head. I caught him by the sleeve and whispered +eagerly in his ear, his eyes becoming two round O's with excitement +as he listened. He stole away again, and I turned once more to my +business of eavesdropping.</p> +<p>"They eat like pigs," I heard the captain say to the sergeant, +who had returned to his lair on the straw. "These peasants never +lose the ill manners bred in them. And those English dogs who have +escaped from prison--how do I know they are peasants, too, +Jules?"</p> +<p>"I can not tell, <i>mon capitaine</i>," says the sergeant.</p> +<p>"Why, because you may be sure they have done a foolish thing, +like these deserters of ours. They are seamen; depend upon it, they +have made straight for the coast, and we shall soon hear that they +have been taken."</p> +<p>I could not help smiling at the ingenuousness of the captain's +reasoning.</p> +<p>"My faith!" he went on, "I wish we were going from Rennes to St. +Malo instead of from St. Malo to Rennes. I should have loved to +join in the hunt for the rascals, and I doubt not you, Jules, would +be glad enough to get some portion of the reward offered for their +capture. Ah, well! the others will have the luck; but I would give +something to see those English dogs when--"</p> +<p>And here I pushed wide the door.</p> +<p>"Am I permitted to enter, messieurs?" I said in my best French, +and giving the captain a pleasant smile. Lying at full length with +his head on his arms, he could not clearly see me. The men stared +at me, but did not move nor speak, waiting dutifully for their +officer. He raised himself on his elbow.</p> +<p>"Who are you?" he asks, looking me up and down from my bare feet +to my unkempt head.</p> +<p>"I, monsieur," said I steadily, though my heart was thumping at +a furious rate--"I, monsieur, am one of the English dogs--at your +service."</p> +<p>This announcement was sufficiently startling to account for the +temporary paralysis that seemed to have fallen on the party. They +stared at me, speechless. During that moment I had thrown a rapid +glance to my left. The three deserters were lying against the wall; +between them and me were the stacked muskets of the soldiers.</p> +<p>While the men were still fixed in their astonishment, I sprang +three paces to the left, caught up the muskets in both arms, and +dashed towards the door. That released them from the spell; the men +jumped to their feet and rushed after me. What happened to the +captain I learned afterwards from Joe. He suddenly found himself +heaved up into the air: four brawny arms had shoved up the trap +door on which he was lying, my dash for the door having been the +signal I had communicated to them through Runnles. When the officer +came sprawling down on the straw again, some feet away from his +former position, he was pounced on by Joe and the bosun, who made +short work of tying him up with his own sword strap.</p> +<p>Meanwhile the rest of my comrades had run out of the cellar +door, and joined me just in time to receive the charge of the six +Frenchmen who had followed me from the house. Fortunately for us, +what with surprise and haste, the Frenchmen had not drawn their +swords, so that the fight that ensued beneath the ruined wall of +the farm was waged on fairly even terms. And when it comes to a +contest in which nature's weapons are employed, I never yet met +combatants to match sturdy English tars. There were six Frenchmen, +and my comrades (Joe and the bosun being busy with the captain) +numbered seven, but of these Dilly was old and Runnles was small, +and, coming up in the rear of the rest, they two had no part in the +fight. Nor had I, for when they engaged my arms were full of the +muskets; and when I had laid these on the ground I saw that one of +the Frenchmen, evidently foreseeing how the matter must end, left +his fellows and ran fleetly towards the horse, which was looking +with serene indifference at the scene. I sprinted after him; he had +only a few yards' start, and knew that he was pursued, for he +swerved out of the direction in which he was running, seeing, no +doubt, that he would not have time to untether the horse before I +was upon him. He turned aside, leapt a low dyke into a field, and +picked up his heels so nimbly that, though I was pretty quick of +foot, I was by no means sure of my power to overtake him.</p> +<p>But he had left me the horse. Quickly untethering it, I mounted, +and set off after the runaway. And then my practice in +cross-country riding about Shrewsbury served me well; I did not +hesitate to set the beast at the dykes that divided the fields; he +took them gamely, and after five minutes of as mad a steeplechase +as I ever enjoyed I came up with the fugitive. He sprang aside, +drew his sword, and seemed to be for showing fight: but when I +wheeled the horse and threatened to ride him down he saw that the +game was up, and, sullenly surrendering his sword, marched back +before me to the farm.</p> +<p>Then I found that my comrades had already finished the business. +They had hauled the Frenchmen back into the room where their +captain lay, screeching abuse at Joe and the bosun, who smiled at +him encouragingly. The Frenchmen's faces bore marks of punishment; +several of them had signs of war upon their sleeves, which they had +used to stanch their noses. So loudly did the captain vituperate me +that I had to ask Joe to silence him; it was necessary for us to +hold a council of war, and quiet discourse was impossible while the +Frenchman raved.</p> +<p>Joe chose a way as effective as it was simple. He caught up a +handful of straw and stuffed it between the officer's teeth.</p> +<p>And now some of the circumstances reminded me of the similar +mischance that had befallen me on the Bristowe road. There also the +scene had passed in a ruined building strewn with straw. And the +recollection of the indignity I had suffered at the hands of Topper +and his fellows, coupled with the sight of the three deserters +lying manacled and open-mouthed against the wall, gave me an idea +that pleased me mightily. I had once changed clothes against my +will; why should not <i>Monsieur le Capitaine</i> learn humility in +the same way? He was about my height: his clothes would certainly +fit me better than Job the poacher's had done; and whereas my +former change had been for the worse, the change I contemplated +should turn out very much for the better, and so the whirligig of +time would have his revenges.</p> +<p>I told my comrades what I had in mind.</p> +<p>"All very well for you, sir," said the bosun bluntly, "but what +about us tars?"</p> +<p>"Why, some of you can slip into the Frenchmen's clothes," I +replied. "You won't get a fit, I fear, bosun; you are overgrown" (I +smiled as the words others had used about me came unbidden to my +lips); "but the sergeant there is very much Joe Punchard's figure, +and five of you can make shift, I daresay. You would make quite a +pretty squad of Frenchmen, and show a little more brawn."</p> +<p>"But what's the good, sir?" objected Tolliday. "We can't talk a +word of the lingo, and if your idea be to march through the country +till we can find a boat, bless my buttons if we can do it, 'cos the +first cuss I say will be the ruin of us."</p> +<p>"I haven't told you all my plan yet," I said. "But first I must +speak to these poor fellows here: they are deserters and were on +the way to Rennes to be shot.</p> +<p>"Take 'em outside, Joe."</p> +<p>The plan I had in mind when seizing the Frenchmen was somewhat +hazy, but it was becoming clearer every moment, and, being spiced +with hazard, it appealed to all that was adventurous in my +nature.</p> +<p>When I had the deserters out of earshot of their late guards, I +asked them if they wished to regain their freedom, knowing well +what their answer would be.</p> +<p>"Well," said I, "if I set you free now it may do you no good. +You have been caught once and may be caught again. But if you throw +in your lot with us there is a chance for you. We are English +prisoners who have escaped: join us, and we will try to take you to +England."</p> +<p>They demurred to this. They did not want to go to England, where +they would be friendless and might starve. They would rather remain +in their own country, among their own kin.</p> +<p>"But there is a France overseas," I said. "From England you may +perhaps sail by and by for Quebec, where you would be among your +own countrymen, and run little risk of being recognized. If you +stay here you will sooner or later be captured again and shot. A +new land is the place for you."</p> +<p>They discussed this suggestion among themselves, and at length +agreed to make the attempt. I then returned to my comrades, and +explained to them more fully my design. It was nothing less than to +personate the French captain, and to lead my party across country +just as he had been doing. The three deserters would exchange their +peasant rags for the uniforms of three of the French soldiers, and +three of my comrades would wear the uniforms of the rest. I hoped +that with courage and address and circumspection we might contrive +to keep up the imposture long enough to accomplish our ends.</p> +<p>My comrades, however, looked at the matter in a different +light.</p> +<p>"'Tis all very fine," said the bosun gloomily, "but what about +the lingo, sir? We may dress up as much as you like, but nohow can +we twist our tongues to the jabber of these Frenchies, and I could +no more march a score of miles without using my clapper than I +could steer without a rudder."</p> +<p>"Then you will have to be wounded in the jaw," I said, "and Joe +will tie it up so that you can't open your mouth. We must pretend +that we had a desperate fight before we captured the deserters. We +must be very careful; I don't make light of the difficulties before +us, but we shouldn't be worth the name of English tars if we didn't +make the best use of this opportunity that Providence has offered +us."</p> +<p>"But what about the rest of us?" said Tolliday. "There bean't +enough uniforms to go round."</p> +<p>"Why," I said, with a sudden inspiration, "you shall be just +what you are, English seamen who have escaped prison. I shall give +out that as we were escorting our deserters we discovered you +skulking in a barn, and brought you along with us."</p> +<p>My comrades were aghast at this, but I pointed out that my plan +would solve the language difficulty, and that if it succeeded in +one part it might succeed in all, whereas if it failed they would +be none the worse off. They admitted that this was reasonable, and +the humor of the situation suddenly striking them, they began to +enjoy it as an excellent joke.</p> +<p>And then Runnles suggested a difficulty which had not occurred +to me: it may seem a mark of self-conceit, but it was really mere +thoughtlessness. He pointed out that though I spoke French well +(little Runnles was a man of tact!), yet it would not deceive a +native. He was undoubtedly right, and the suggestion staggered me. +Hoping to be reassured, I asked one of the deserters whether I +might pass as a Frenchman, and I own I felt deeply chagrined when, +with a shrug, he confessed that I would not. But one of his +comrades here broke in.</p> +<p>"Pardon, monsieur," he said, "what matters it? That brute of a +captain is only a German Swiss; there are plenty such in the king's +army; and your French is as good as his."</p> +<p>My spirits rose at this, and having told my comrades what he had +said, I determined to lose no more time in putting my plan into +execution. The changes of clothes were quickly made, not without +some struggles on the part of our victims, and a vast deal of +violent language from the captain, whom Joe again half choked with +straw. We soon had him and his men rigged up, gagged and manacled +as deserters; we borrowed (without leave) kerchiefs of various +colors which the Frenchmen had about them, and of them made +bandages for those who were to pass as wounded. Joe donned the +sergeant's clothes, and the bosun those of the largest of the +company, though they were a sad misfit.</p> +<p>It struck us that we should make the imposture more complete if +we got a cart in which to convey our wounded men, so when the +preparations were otherwise complete I, attired as the French +captain, mounted his horse and, accompanied by two of the quondam +deserters (now appearing quite respectable infantrymen), set off to +find a farm where in the name of King Lewis I might demand what we +needed. We had to go some three miles before we came to a likely +looking farmhouse, and there, assuming an authoritative and +hectoring manner quite foreign to my amiable disposition, I secured +a wagon and two horses, for which I gave the farmer a formal +receipt.</p> +<p>The sight of his dairy reminded me that I was hungry, and I +added to my requisition a good store of food, for which I knew my +comrades would bless me. For driver I picked out the stupidest +looking yokel I could find among the farmer's men, and then we +returned to the ruined farmhouse in triumph and not a little haste, +for I was eager to set my teeth in the bread and cheese we were +conveying.</p> +<h2>Chapter <a name="Ch18" id="Ch18">18</a>: In The Name Of King +Lewis.</h2> +<p>While we were appeasing our appetites, I got from the deserters +an inkling of our locality. They had been marching, as I knew, from +St. Malo to Rennes, but instead of keeping to the highroad through +Combourg, they had taken a short cut that saved several miles. It +passed through several hamlets, some of which, they said, could be +avoided; but there were others which we must take on our way, and +it was in these that we should be put to the test.</p> +<p>I asked the men if they knew of any spot on the coast where we +might find a boat to convey us across the Channel, and after +consulting together they decided that the only likely place was the +little fishing town of Cancale, about ten miles east of St. Malo. +It had a harbor on the Bay of St. Michel, whence the luggers sailed +forth a little before sunset. I would rather have chosen a smaller +place, and one more distant from our late prison, but the men +assured me that there was no other so easily accessible, or so +likely to furnish the boat we needed; so I determined to put all to +the hazard and make for Cancale. It was, as nearly as they could +tell, about five and twenty miles from our present position, so +that we could not hope to reach it before night, and we had to +reconcile ourselves to the prospect of another day's march across +country on the morrow.</p> +<p>We set off, a strange company indeed. One of the deserters led +the way; behind him went the cart containing the French captain and +his men, now passing as deserters, and all gagged; then came seven +of my comrades with their hands tied, the other two deserters +marching one on each side of them; and the rear was brought up by +the bosun, Joe and myself, and the two men being attired as French +soldiers and having their heads bandaged, their supposed wounds +being sufficient to account for their silence if they were +addressed.</p> +<p>Having plenty of time before us, we chose devious and little +frequented roads, the deserters who led us being fortunately +familiar with the district. We avoided the villages when we could, +but towards evening came to a hamlet which it was impossible to +shun, since only through it could we gain a ford at a stream that +crossed our route.</p> +<p>The appearance of a party of soldiers aroused great interest +among the villagers. They came about us, asking who we were and +whither we were going. They were greatly excited when they learned +that we were escorting deserters and recaptured English prisoners. +The real deserters told a glib story of the furious fight they had +had with the villains (pointing to the unhappy officer and his +men). The villagers threw up their hands with shrill exclamations +at this moving recital, and, going up to the cart, gazen +open-mouthed and not without a secret sympathy at the prostrate +forms.</p> +<p>Then they asked why the deserters were gagged. At this I took up +the tale, explaining that they were desperate characters, and had +used such terrible language against his sacred majesty the king +that, as a loyal officer, I had sworn they should not speak again +until they were safely jailed in St. Malo. The captain's face was +distorted with rage as he listened to this libel: he flung his +manacled hands about and made frantic efforts to speak, which Joe's +gag was too thoroughly fixed to allow.</p> +<p>"<i>Voila</i>!" said I, with a dramatic gesture; and the simple +villagers, taking the officer's writhings and gnashings as so much +evidence of his desperate wickedness, poured imprecations upon him +for his impiety, and declared that no punishment was too great for +him. The poor people had, I daresay, no great reason themselves for +loving their monarch, but they were anxious that their own loyalty +should be above suspicion.</p> +<p>About the English prisoners they expressed their sentiments +without disguise. The English were their natural enemies, and they +hurled such abuse at my comrades that I felt some anxiety lest +these should cast off their cords (which were by no means closely +tied) and take summary vengeance on their revilers. Fortunately +their patience endured the strain, being aided by their ignorance +of the precise meaning of the opprobrious terms applied to +them.</p> +<p>The peasants told us we had come far out of the direct road to +St. Malo, and pressed us to stay the night in their village. But +this I would by no means consent to, for I was on thorns already +lest something should mar our plot, and was keeping a wary eye on +our wagoner, who, though slow-witted, was clearly in a state of +great uneasiness. Professing, then, that having missed our way we +must needs hurry on to make up for lost time, I listened patiently +to the minute and befogging directions given us for finding the St. +Malo road and ordered my party to march. But when we had gone some +few miles out of the village, and darkness was settling down, I +called a halt, and we rested till daylight in a field, taking it in +turns to watch.</p> +<p>During the night I talked long with Joe Punchard about our +course. The good fellow was very uneasy, fearing that when it came +to negotiating for a boat our scheme would break down.</p> +<p>"Pluck up heart, Joe," I said. "I own we are running a desperate +hazard, but so far we have had good luck, and 'tis a case of +grasping the nettle boldly."</p> +<p>"But what reason can we give for hiring a boat, sir? If this +Cancale is but ten miles from St. Malo we can not say we are +sailing thither; 'twould be quicker to go by road."</p> +<p>"Then we'll change our destination, Joe. We may do what we +please in this country in the name of the king, and provided there +be no soldiers in Cancale we have but to put on an impudent +assurance to weather through safely."</p> +<p>I asked the deserters what other port besides St. Malo we might +give out to be our destination, and learning that Cherbourg was +some sixty or seventy miles to the northward, and by that much +nearer home, I determined to make that our aim. This involved +another difficulty, for the authorities in Cancale might reasonably +say that the prisoners having escaped from near St. Malo, should be +entrusted to them to convey back to their prison. But 'tis no good +meeting troubles halfway, and I resolutely kept my thought from +dwelling on the manifold dangers that bestrewed our path to +liberty.</p> +<p>We so contrived our march next day that we arrived at the +outskirts of Cancale late in the afternoon, but with time enough, +as I hoped, to set sail before night. When I beheld the size of the +place my heart sank. I had imagined it to be little more than a +village; but found it a regular town (though small for that), its +little red-tiled houses clustering thick upon a height overlooking +a bay. We had already met and exchanged speech with some of the +townsfolk, and to retreat now might awaken suspicion. There was +nothing for it but to adventure boldly, and I made up my mind to +this the more readily because I had caught a glimpse of half a +dozen fishing smacks lying in the little harbor, and a larger +vessel of perhaps fifty tons moored to the jetty.</p> +<p>With a word to my comrades to be alert and ready for anything +that might happen, I led the way at a quick pace into the town. I +had grave misgivings when I noticed that the streets were <i>en +fete</i>, flags flying at the windows, and people gossiping in +knots at the corners. But we had certainly come too far to retreat, +so I boldly accosted a red-capped fisherman and demanded to be led +to the <i>mairie</i>.</p> +<p>As I walked along beside him I asked what was the occasion of +the festal appearance of the town, and learned with a disagreeable +shock that no other than the redoubtable Duguay-Trouin had that day +put into the harbor on the vessel that lay at the jetty.</p> +<p>"A notable visitor, truly," I said, feeling that I had run into +a hornet's nest. "But surely that small vessel is not Monsieur +Duguay-Trouin's own ship, in which he works such havoc among the +English."</p> +<p>"To be sure, monsieur," said the man, "that is an English prize. +His own ship lies in the offing there, towards the point; it draws +too much water to come into our harbor. And there is another prize +out there too: a big vessel, filled, so they say, with a valuable +cargo. Oh! without doubt Monsieur Duguay-Trouin is a hero, and the +English tremble at his name."</p> +<p>"And why has he honored your little town with a visit?" I +asked.</p> +<p>"Why, <i>Monsieur le Capitaine</i>, it is because the English +admiral Benbow appeared off St. Malo this morning with four great +ships, and so Monsieur Duguay-Trouin could not carry his prize +there, and indeed had to make all sail to escape."</p> +<p>Here was news indeed! It revived my drooping spirits; surely +there must be a providence in the proximity of Benbow. But I +devoutly hoped I should not encounter Duguay-Trouin. It was +scarcely probable that he would recognize me in my new attire, +having paid scant attention to me when I was among the prisoners on +his deck, but I trembled to think of the risk we all ran.</p> +<p>"Here is the <i>mairie</i>," said my guide, stopping at a house +above which a flag was flying.</p> +<p>I thanked him, and whispering Punchard to keep an eye on the +Frenchmen, and especially on the wagoner, I stepped boldly in and +confronted the <i>maire</i>, a little man with a cocked hat over +his gray wig.</p> +<p>"Good evening, monsieur," I said pleasantly.</p> +<p>The <i>maire</i> rose from his seat and returned my +greeting.</p> +<p>"I am taking some deserters to Cherbourg, monsieur," I +continued, "and I must beg of you to provide me tomorrow with a +smack to convey them thither."</p> +<p>For the moment I said nothing about the prisoners.</p> +<p>"A smack, monsieur!" said the <i>maire</i>. "But it is foolish. +Does not monsieur know that four English warships are in the +neighborhood? Monsieur would run great risk of being captured. I +would recommend that monsieur march to Cherbourg; he would then go +quite safely."</p> +<p>"That is perfectly true, monsieur," I said pleasantly', "but it +is a long and wearisome road; my men are already greatly fatigued +by their march from Rennes. The passage by sea would be much easier +and more comfortable, and moreover cheaper, and it is the duty of +all good Frenchmen to save his majesty expense."</p> +<p>I could see that the <i>maire</i> was nettled. His reluctance to +accede to my demand was due, not so much to his fears for our +safety--for Benbow had higher game to fly at than a fishing +vessel--as to his indisposition to provision us for the voyage. +Maybe he had had some experience of the same sort before, and knew +that, whatever receipts might be given him for commodities +supplied, he had little chance of being reimbursed for such +services rendered to King Lewis. No doubt it was some recent +soreness that prompted his reply to my remark about all good +Frenchmen.</p> +<p>"To judge by his accent," he said, with a hint of a sneer, +"monsieur is not a Frenchman himself."</p> +<p>At this I affected to be mightily huffed. Laying my hand on my +sword, and knitting my brows to a frown, I replied:</p> +<p>"His majesty has honored me with a commission. No doubt if +<i>Monsieur le Maire</i> has any serious objections--"</p> +<p>"Pardon, <i>Monsieur le Capitaine</i>," the <i>maire</i> +hastened to say, alarmed at my tone. "I was only concerned for +monsieur's safety. Certainly he shall have a smack, equipped as +befits the servants of his majesty."</p> +<p>"That is well spoken, monsieur," I said. "Is it true, may I ask, +that Monsieur Duguay-Trouin is in your town?"</p> +<p>"Not at this moment, monsieur."</p> +<p>I thrilled with relief at this.</p> +<p>"He has gone half a league eastward to the chateau of Monsieur +le duc de Portorson, having already sent a message to St. Malo to +acquaint the admiral that he was forced to put in here by the +appearance of the English warships."</p> +<p>"And did he not fear that in his absence the English might swoop +down upon his vessel and the prizes he has captured?" I asked.</p> +<p>"They are hidden behind the point, monsieur. Besides, the +highest part of our town commands a view of forty miles of sea, and +we have placed a man there who will fire a musket if a strange sail +appears."</p> +<p>"Then I hope that we shall after all make our voyage to +Cherbourg in safety," I said with an air of satisfaction. "And now, +will monsieur be good enough to select the smack?"</p> +<p>Before he could answer, a man who had just cantered up on +horseback entered and said:</p> +<p>"<i>Monsieur le Maire</i>, Monsieur Duguay-Trouin is supping +with <i>Monsieur le Duc</i>. Will monsieur kindly acquaint the +lieutenant in charge of the brig at the jetty, and say that +Monsieur Duguay-Trouin will return before dark?"</p> +<p>"Can not you take the message yourself?" said the <i>maire</i>, +whose temper I fear, had been ruffled by his interview with me.</p> +<p>The man explained that he had been bidden to ride on without +delay to St. Malo; Monsieur Duguay-Trouin, he believed, was +concerting a plan to entrap the English vessels, and it was of +particular importance that the letter he bore should reach the +admiral early. The <i>maire</i> then agreed to have the message +conveyed to the lieutenant on the brig, and the horseman took his +leave.</p> +<p>During their short conversation, which I only partly heard, my +brain was whirling with a wild dance of notions the messenger's +tidings had suggested. When he had gone, I turned to the +<i>maire</i>.</p> +<p>"Monsieur," I said. "I think there is much soundness in the +advice you gave me just now. It will probably be safer for us to go +to Cherbourg by land. In that case, however, I must request you to +billet us for the night."</p> +<p>"Assuredly, monsieur," said the little man, delighted at the +turn affairs had taken. "Of how many does your party consist?"</p> +<p>"Of seven deserters and five soldiers."</p> +<p>"A dozen," said the <i>maire</i>, rubbing his chin. "I fear I +shall have to ask some of my fellow townsmen to share in billeting +you."</p> +<p>"It is not to be heard of," I said, guessing that he wished to +distribute the expense.</p> +<p>Not that I should have had any objection to that; but that it +was necessary to the design I had suddenly conceived that we should +be all together.</p> +<p>"It will not be safe," I continued. "The deserters are desperate +fellows, and will need careful guarding. Besides, I have had the +good luck to capture some English prisoners who had escaped, and +they are too precious to be allowed out of my sight. My men must +take turns at watching during the night; if there were an outbreak, +it would not easily be quelled if we were separated."</p> +<p>The <i>maire</i> had pricked up his ears at the mention of the +prisoners.</p> +<p>"Prisoners, monsieur!" he exclaimed. "You said nothing of them. +We have heard about them, and there is a reward offered for their +capture. If monsieur would deign to give us part of the +reward--"</p> +<p>"We will talk of that again, monsieur," I said. "I am in haste +to get to Cherbourg with the deserters; I can trust you, no doubt, +to guard the prisoners well until an escort can be sent for them +from St. Malo. In consideration of that, no doubt--"</p> +<p>I broke off expressively, and the <i>maire</i> doubtless +regarded his share of the reward as secure, for he raised no more +objections. He accompanied me to the door, looked contemptuously at +my comrades (who were in a great state of anxiety, I can assure +you, knowing nothing of what I had in mind), and then went on to +the wagon where the supposed deserters were lying. On seeing him +the captain started up and with many contortions struggled to +speak.</p> +<p>"Why are they gagged, monsieur?" asked the <i>maire</i>.</p> +<p>I repeated the explanation I had already given.</p> +<p>"Terrible!" said the <i>maire</i>, and the captain grew purple +in the face.</p> +<p>"You perceive I could not allow my men's ears to be defiled by +the language of such a ruffian," I remarked.</p> +<p>"Perfectly, monsieur. Ah, <i>scilerat</i>!" he cried, shaking +his fist at the infuriate officer, and pouring out upon him a +torrent of loyal abuse which I find it impossible to translate.</p> +<p>Then he turned to the bosun, and asked him how he had come by +his wound. The bosun was quick-witted enough to take my cue, and, +pointing to the captain, whose reputation as the most violent of +the deserters was clearly established, he made through his bandages +a series of grunts and roars which proved to the <i>maire</i>'s +satisfaction that his jaw was very seriously damaged. And last of +all inspecting my comrades, who stood aside with trouble in their +faces, he bestowed on them sundry offensive epithets which I was +thankful they did not understand, for otherwise I am sure they +would have forgotten their part and endangered everything by +administering a castigation.</p> +<p>The <i>maire</i> arranged to billet us all. Having seen my +double set of prisoners securely locked up, and the deserters with +Joe and the bosun accommodated in a room hard by, I offered to +convey Monsieur Duguay-Trouin's message myself to his lieutenant, +saying that I should be charmed to make the acquaintance of the +deputy of so renowned a seaman. The <i>maire</i> took this as a +great mark of condescension. Accordingly I went down to the jetty, +not far below the <i>maire</i>'s house, and accosting the officer +in charge, a rough-spun seaman, I gave him the message, and then +bantered him in a tone of good humor.</p> +<p>"So the English have been too much for you this time, +lieutenant," I said. "It is Benbow, they say; a terrible fire +eater, is he not?"</p> +<p>"Bah!" exclaimed the Frenchman. "Let him beware. He is no match +for Duguay-Trouin, and we'll beat him again as we have done before, +never fear."</p> +<p>"But they say he is bottling up St. Malo," I said.</p> +<p>"So he is," he replied with a laugh: "and while he is bottling +up St. Malo we shall slip by to Havre; trust Duguay for that."</p> +<p>I asked him how the prizes had been captured, and he launched +forth into a long and vainglorious account (why must the French +always boast of their successes?). I affected to be greatly +impressed by his tale of daring, and invited him to sup with me, so +that I might hear more of his adventures at length. As I had +guessed, he replied, regretfully, that he could not leave the +vessel.</p> +<p>"I am not to be balked," I said. "I have set my heart upon it: +one does not get every day the opportunity of hearing of these +glorious exploits at first hand. If you cannot come to supper, then +supper shall come to you. Monsieur Duguay-Trouin would not object, +I presume, to my bringing a little entertainment on board."</p> +<p>"My faith, no," replied the officer, taking this as a high +compliment. "I shall be charmed. I only regret that I cannot invite +you, monsieur, but our cook, together with all the crew but four, +is on shore for a spell, and I have no means of providing a repast +worthy of a gallant captain."</p> +<p>I returned in haste to the <i>maire</i>, and informed the +<i>maire</i> that I should share my supper with the lieutenant, who +had not enjoyed a meal fit for a Frenchman for three weeks. The +<i>maire</i> could raise no reasonable objection, though I doubt +not, being economical, he grudged this extra demand upon his +hospitality. As for me, I had no scruples at getting, at the King's +expense, the best meal possible at such short notice.</p> +<p>While it was preparing, I explained my design to Joe and the +bosun. They assented to it with enthusiasm; it was one that +mightily pleased them as sailormen; and appealed as much to their +sense of humor as to their love of daring.</p> +<p>When the supper was ready, I told off two of the three +deserters, with Joe and the bosun, to carry it down to the brig on +tables made of boards, each laid on two muskets. The lieutenant +received me with open arms, and led me immediately to the captain's +cabin. Having placed the viands on the table, the two deserters +returned to the deck, to fraternize with the French crew. The other +two I kept, ostensibly to wait at table; and I remarked to the +lieutenant on their willingness to do their duty in spite of their +wounds, of which I gave him a brief explanation.</p> +<p>It was already becoming dusk; we had no time to lose if my +design was to succeed, for with the imminent arrival of +Duguay-Trouin our fate was sealed.</p> +<h2>Chapter <a name="Ch19" id="Ch19">19</a>: I Fight +Duguay-Trouin.</h2> +<p>I had brought wine on board, but before a bottle was opened I +said, with a wink at the lieutenant:</p> +<p>"I fear this wine of the country will taste somewhat thin after +English rum, monsieur."</p> +<p>"We have a great quantity of it in the hold, monsieur," he said +laughing, "and with your leave I will order my men to broach a +cask."</p> +<p>He shouted his command to the men on deck. Instantly Joe, who +was behind him, threw his arm round the officer's neck, thrust a +gag into his mouth, and with the bosun's aid deftly tied his arms +and legs together. Then all three of us ran up the companion way. +In obedience to the lieutenant's command two of the men had gone +forward and were descending through the open hatchway into the +hold. While the deserters held the rest of the men in talk, the +bosun strolled carelessly after the two, and as soon as they had +disappeared, quietly clapped on the hatch and battened it down. +Meanwhile Joe and I joined the group at the bulwarks, without +awakening suspicion among the crew. At a signal from me the men +tripped them up, and in another two minutes they were lying gagged +and bound on the deck.</p> +<p>It was scarcely ten minutes since we came on board, and we had +done everything without the least noise to alarm the town. Then, +leaving the deserters to guard the ship, I returned in all haste +with the others to the <i>maire</i>.</p> +<p>"What shall we do with our prisoners, Joe?" I asked, as we +hurried along.</p> +<p>"Leave 'em locked up, sir, and lock the <i>maire</i> up with +them in case of accidents."</p> +<p>"But I think we will bring the captain and the sergeant," I +said. "You see, they have got our clothes."</p> +<p>"But these are better, sir," he replied, "and you make a rare +fine captain, smite my timbers if you don't."</p> +<p>"Still, we will bring them; a taste of prison may do the +captain, at any rate, a world of good."</p> +<p>And so, when we got to the <i>mairie</i>, I unlocked the door +where the prisoners were confined, told my comrades in a few words +what had happened, and bade them go forth into the street, when Joe +and the bosun had loosed their bands and hasten to the harbor.</p> +<p>The <i>maire</i>, learning that I had returned, had followed me +in, and hearing these words of English, and seeing Joe and the +bosun untying the cords, he cried to me to know what I was about. +The bosun instantly laid hands on him and began to truss him up. He +gave one shout of alarm, which Joe deftly checked with a gag made +of the bandage he had stripped from his head, and then he was laid +on the floor beside the Frenchmen. Then we seized the captain and +sergeant, and having locked the door again, marched them among us +at a brisk pace to the harbor and on to the brig.</p> +<p>"Now, man, we have no time to lose," I said, as we stepped +aboard. "'Tis nearly dark, and Doggy-Trang, as you call him, may +return any minute. Luckily the tide is fast ebbing.</p> +<p>"Cast off, Joe; Bosun, run up the sail. And we are only just in +time. Here they come."</p> +<p>And indeed we had escaped only by the skin of our teeth, for I +saw a number of French seamen coming down the streets and a +horseman behind them. No doubt it was Duguay-Trouin himself, and +his coming had caused his men to turn out of the cabarets. The brig +was already moving from the jetty; the practised hands of my +comrades were at work with the sails; and as the vessel slipped +away quickly on the ebbing tide, from sheer lightheartedness and +pleasure at the success of our trick they made the welkin ring with +their cheers.</p> +<p>I was as hilarious as they. The Frenchmen were crowding on the +jetty, shouting, cursing, actually screaming to us to come back. I +mounted the bulwarks, and, clinging to the shrouds, took off my hat +(or rather the captain's) and waved it gaily towards Duguay-Trouin, +who, having dismounted, had pushed through his men, and was +evidently angrily demanding an explanation of the extraordinary +scene he had arrived in time to witness. The townsfolk and fishers +were flocking down now in great numbers; the shouting increased to +a veritable pandemonium, and as we scudded away farther and farther +into the growing darkness I heard the scurrying of feet on the +cobble stones and the creaking of blocks as the sails were run up +on the smacks in the harbor.</p> +<p>They were going to pursue us, then! I laughed aloud. With nine +good English tars aboard an English brig I thought I could snap my +fingers at Duguay-Trouin in a smack.</p> +<p>But there was one danger, which, after the flush of jubilation +had died down, I was quick to appreciate. Duguay-Trouin's privateer +was lying off the point a few miles northward, and if, in answer to +a signal, she were to join in the chase, I saw that our chances of +getting away were small enough. Even as the thought struck me, two +musket shots were fired from the harbor. These were doubtless a +signal, but they could scarcely convey any real information: the +capture of the brig at its moorings was too unlikely a thing to +have been provided against. But the shots would set the privateer +on the alert, and we must run no risks of encountering her. So, +instead of running straight out into the channel, we stood away up +the coast, keeping the brig close-hauled. She proved somewhat slow +in working to windward, but we were now almost totally enveloped in +darkness, and by hugging the shore were not so likely to be +descried from the privateer as if we ran out to sea.</p> +<p>Unluckily this gave the pursuers some advantage of us. Looking +in our wake, I by and by discerned three smacks in full chase, and +perceived that they were steadily overhauling us. The brig carried +a brass gun, and I thought it well to get her ready for use, though +I was determined not to fire save in extremity, since the flash +would apprise the privateer of our direction and bring her on our +track. But the distance between us and the leading smack grew less +and less, and knowing that we dare not allow them to close in upon +us (for doubtless their crews vastly outnumbered ours and would +overpower us if they got the chance to board), I at length, when +our enemy was within about half a cable's length of us, called to +the bosun to fire, aiming to hull her just below water line.</p> +<p>He set his match to the touch hole, and the round shot flew +forth. I could not tell whether the smack was hit or not, but 'twas +clear that she had suffered little or no damage, for she came on as +fast as ever. The bosun reloaded in all haste, and fired again when +she could not have been above fifty yards distant. This time I knew +the shot had struck her, but she still came on, and as she was now +below our line of fire I feared it would come to push of pike after +all. But a moment or two afterwards I rejoiced to see that she was +losing way: our shot had gone home. The other two smacks overtook +her, and then began a dropping fire of musketry from all three.</p> +<p>Clearly it was no longer expedient to hull them merely. Their +speed was so much superior to the brig's that even if we hit one or +other of them they might close in before their pace was much +checked by the inrush of water. Loath as I was to spill blood, I +bade the bosun now load the gun with grape, and my qualms were +banished when I heard cries of pain, and learned that Runnles and +another had been hit by musket shots. The smack that was leading +was coming up directly in our wake.</p> +<p>"Give it her, Bosun!" I cried.</p> +<p>"She shall have it," he answered, and immediately she was swept +by the grape shot from stem to stern, yells and execrations telling +that the bosun had not aimed in vain. She at once paid off before +the wind: 'twas clear the steersman had been hit; and before +another man could take his place and bring her head round the smack +behind crashed into her.</p> +<p>I had good hope that the chase was now ended, and we might go +rejoicing on our way to the white shores of England. But I was +reckoning without Duguay-Trouin. For a few moments we drew away +from our pursuers; but then I saw that the third smack had cleared +herself from the one she had run into and was again sailing swiftly +in our wake, having apparently suffered no injury. The bosun had +already re-charged the gun with grape, but when he fired, at a +range which forbade the possibility of missing, there were only one +or two cries instead of the chorus we had heard before.</p> +<p>"Burst me if they be not lying down in the bottom," said Joe, +standing at my side, "and the shot have passed clean over +them."</p> +<p>"And 'tis no good firing again," I said. "We can't depress the +gun enough to hull her or hit the men, and the shot will only cut +holes in the rigging. Would we had tried round shot and brought +down her mast."</p> +<p>"'Tis all hands to repel boarders now," returned Joe, "and +there'll be a few broken heads afore we are done."</p> +<p>Runnles meanwhile had had the good sense and the ready wit to +load three muskets apiece from the ship's armory. We each of us +took one, having the other two in reserve at our feet. The smack +came on bravely, and I could now see that her deck was swarming +with men. She had deflected somewhat from her straight course, and +was coming up on our larboard quarter, whither we hastened to meet +the attempt to board us. In another minute the vessels touched, and +a few shots were fired from the smack, but without damage to us, +for the impact had set her rocking, so that 'twas impossible for +the Frenchmen to take good aim. Next moment they threw grapnels +into our rigging, and the vessels were locked together.</p> +<p>The whole of our company, save Dilly at the wheel, was spread +along the bulwarks, and at my word twelve muskets sped their slugs +among the men endeavoring to swarm up our side. There were cries +and groans enough now, and not merely from the enemy, for while the +foremost of them was attempting to board, others beyond fired at +us, and I knew from the bosun's bellow of rage that he for one had +been hit. We snatched up a second musket each, but before we could +turn to fire them, three of the Frenchmen had gained a footing on +our deck.</p> +<p>Making a rush for these, we shoved them by main force back over +the side, only just in time to meet another group who had scrambled +up. It was no longer possible to fire. We clubbed our muskets and +dealt about us lustily, cheers and yells and groans mingling in a +babel the like of which I had never heard before. I reckoned that +there were at least three Frenchmen to every one of us, and +Duguay-Trouin was with them; I heard his voice shouting +encouragement. 'Twas lucky that their deck was lower than ours, for +if we had been level I doubt not we had soon been overpowered by +the weight of numbers. But they, being below us, and crowded to +boot, could not use their superiority to advantage, and though they +did what mortal men might to get at us, we beat them back time +after time.</p> +<p>Joe, beside me, was a host in himself. 'Twas clear fighting and +not coopering was the trade he was born to; he cut and thrust and +jabbed and smote with his musket, and more than once drove a +Frenchman backward by mere shoving with his mighty shoulders, +breathing hard, shouting loving farewells to the men he heaved into +the smack or the sea, some of them, I fear, never to fight again. +But in truth we all fought with might and main; we knew how much +depended on the issue.</p> +<p>And let no Englishman ever despise the French as an enemy, as +'tis the fashion with some vainglorious folk to do. I have fought +them, and I know, and I say they are gallant fighters, and as brave +as men can be.</p> +<p>How long the light continued I could not tell; but all at once, +as it seemed to me, the enemy disappeared; there was no one in +front of me to hit.</p> +<p>"Fling off the grappling irons," I shouted, and in a trice we +disengaged them and cast them back whence they came. The two +vessels broke apart, and though ere we had left the smack behind, a +volley of bullets fell among us, hitting three of our men, and +giving me a burning wound in the leg, the fight was over. We hailed +our victory with a true English cheer, and I own I felt no little +pride in having worsted so renowned a captain as Duguay-Trouin.</p> +<p>But I was by no means sure that we were wholly out of peril. The +sound of firing must have been heard for miles around, and we could +not tell but that Duguay-Trouin's own vessel, and maybe others, +too, were making sail towards us. Dilly had now set the course of +the vessel due north, but the wind was against us, and we had still +many hours to sail before we gained the open Channel. A big red +moon was peering above the horizon, and (having stanched my wound +and done what was possible for my comrades who were hurt, none +seriously, thank God!) I looked anxiously for signs of vessels.</p> +<p>By and by, as the light increased with the whitening moon, I did +indeed behold a large vessel under full sail beating towards us, +and I made no doubt 'twas Duguay-Trouin's privateer. The bosun said +her course would bring her athwart ours, and I felt how barren our +late victory would prove if she came to grips with us. 'Twas clear +she was outsailing us, and the seasoned mariners among my comrades +foretold that in a couple of hours we should be at her mercy.</p> +<p>We had spread all the canvas we could carry, and could only wait +and hope. I sat on a coil of rope, suffering much pain from my +wound, and trembling with anxiety as I watched the vessel drawing +nearer and nearer. A shifting of the wind helped us to mend our +pace a little; two hours, three hours, four hours passed, and still +the enemy had not come within range of us. And then, as day began +to dawn, I gave up hope, foreseeing a speedy end to the chase and +an enforced surrender.</p> +<p>But a cry from Runnles, who had gone aloft, raised my drooping +spirits.</p> +<p>"Four sail, sir, on the larboard bow," he shouted.</p> +<p>I sprang up (forgetting my wounded leg), and looked eagerly +across the sea. By and by I discovered four vessels of a large size +bearing down upon us from the west. Whether friend or foe I could +not tell until I saw the privateer change her course and at last +head directly back towards the shore. Then a great shout of +thankfulness broke from the throats of us tired men. We could no +longer doubt that these were English ships, and we were alive with +excitement when we saw two of them part from the others and go in +chase of the privateer. Would they catch her? We forgot our fatigue +and wounds, so fascinated were we in watching the pursuit, and the +other two vessels were within hailing distance of us almost before +we were aware. English colors were now flying at our masthead, and +a voice through a speaking trumpet called to know who we were.</p> +<p>"The brig Polly of Southampton," roared the bosun in reply, "run +a-truant from Doggy-Trang. And who be you?</p> +<p>"Ads bobs, sir," he added in a breath to me, "there be a white +flag at her fore topmast."</p> +<p>"What's that mean?" I asked.</p> +<p>But I had my answer from the other vessel.</p> +<p>"The frigate Gloucester, with Admiral Benbow aboard."</p> +<p>And then Joe Punchard danced a pirouette ('twas a comical sight, +he being so bandy), and shouted:</p> +<p>"'Tis my captain, my captain, dash my bowlines and +binnacle."</p> +<p>And he caught the arm of one of the deserters, and danced him +round the deck till he was dizzy.</p> +<h2>Chapter <a name="Ch20" id="Ch20">20</a>: The King's +Commission.</h2> +<p>I have had many happy moments in my life, but none happier, I do +think, than when Admiral Benbow clapped me on the shoulder and +cried, in his big quarterdeck voice:</p> +<p>"Why, my lad, we must have you a middy, and you shall serve the +King."</p> +<p>I was in the admiral's own cabin on the Gloucester, whither I +had been taken when my wound was dressed. Mr. Benbow and the +captain were both there, and to them I had to tell my story, from +the time of my setting forth from Shrewsbury to the late fight with +Duguay-Trouin. Some little concernments of my own (the fight with +Topper in the barn, and my rescue of Mistress Lucy on the highroad) +I kept to myself, but the rest of my adventures I related as I have +set them down here, though, to be sure, more shortly. The officers +found much entertainment in my narrative, and in particular they +were mightily tickled at the notion of escaped prisoners capturing +themselves. The admiral was good enough to speak in high praise of +my doings (far beyond my deserts), and then he told me that though +he could not himself make a midshipman without a warrant from a +higher power, he would use his interest in my behoof, and had no +doubt that all would fall out as I most ardently desired.</p> +<p>I had to wear my leg in a sling for a week or more, but then I +got about as nimbly as ever. In all but name I was a junior +midshipman, for the admiral said I must learn betimes the duties of +the rank which was to be mine as soon as he could compass it. And I +set about doing so with zest, for I was now turned eighteen, and +there were boys in my mess four years younger who were veterans in +seamanship and ship drill compared with me.</p> +<p>My messmates welcomed me with much kindness; while I was laid up +of my wound they had heard of my adventures from Joe Punchard, who +was a prime favorite aboard; and they all declared they wished they +had had my luck, though they agreed with me when I reminded them +that a nine months' imprisonment was after all a long price to pay. +They told me I should certainly get a good share of prize money for +the recapture of the Polly of Southampton, and probably also for +the other prize of Duguay-Trouin's that was retaken. The two +frigates sent in chase of the privateer had failed to come up with +her, but they had seized the prize lying off the point, which +proved to be an Indiaman richly laden.</p> +<p>The knowledge that I should soon have some money of my own was +very grateful to me, and I felt a natural elation of spirits at the +wonderful change that had come over my fortunes.</p> +<p>I hoped that while I was on the admiral's ship I should see and +take my part in a good set battle between our squadron and the +French; but in this I was disappointed. Admiral Benbow was on his +way to Dunkirk, to lie in wait for the French admiral Du Bart and +pursue him if he should put to sea. We cruised off the port for +upwards of a month without any encounter with the enemy; and when +at last, towards the end of August, we gave chase to some of their +vessels which had slipped out, we failed to overtake any of them +save a small privateer of ten guns, which struck her colors on the +first demand we made.</p> +<p>And then in September we learned that peace was proclaimed. The +treaty about whose terms the diplomatists had been wrangling for +seven or eight months had at last been signed at Ryswick, and the +war was at an end. But none of the officers believed that the peace +would endure. 'Twas impossible, they said, that Dutch William would +ever be a friend of French Lewis, and they prognosticated that the +lifelong struggle between the two kings would yet be fought out to +a bitter end.</p> +<p>Regarding war, as did all lads of my age, rather as a stage for +the display of gallantry and prowess than as the dreadful scourge +it really is, I wished for nothing better than that I should soon +have an opportunity of serving under the brave admiral. He was +already a hero to me, and not to me only. All the world knows of +his courage and daring and skill, but only those who were closely +connected with him know the full worth of that great-hearted man. +The sailors loved him. He would go and sit down with them in the +foc'sle, chatting with them rather like a brother than a high +officer, yet without loss of dignity or respect. Bravery and +seamanship he rated at their true value, whether in peer or +peasant; but he never could abide the fops and fine gentlemen who +thought they became officers merely by donning epaulets. With them +he had no patience, and in consequence he was as much hated as +loved. The tars were his to a man: but the officers were either his +dear friends or his bitter foes.</p> +<p>Towards the end of September we ran into Portsmouth harbor, and +the ships were then paid off. I learned that some time must elapse +before the prize money was distributed: but being eager to get back +to Shrewsbury and see my good friend and especially to acquaint +Captain Galsworthy with my wondrous good fortune, I was glad to +accept the advance of twenty pounds which the admiral offered me +when I told him of my wish. I spent five pounds in buying a +befitting suit of clothes, devoting much care to the cloth and the +cut. The admiral laughed when I went to take leave of him, and +jokingly said that he hoped I was not going to shame him by turning +into a beau and a lady-killer.</p> +<p>"I smoke you, by gad!" he cried with another laugh, when to my +confusion I felt my cheeks go warm.</p> +<p>And the truth of it is I had determined to pay a visit to Mr. +Allardyce on my way home, and the wish to cut a different figure +from that in which I had first appeared to the ladies of his family +had entered not a little into the consideration of my new garments. +Why do I say "the ladies"? Let me be honest and say 'twas Mistress +Lucy I had in my mind.</p> +<p>There was no question of tramping to Shrewsbury afoot. I took +passage to Bristowe in a coasting vessel, and there, after having a +chat with old Woodrow (who told me that his friend Captain Reddaway +had sworn to shew me a rope's end for deceiving him if I ever came +athwart his hawser), I booked a seat in the new diligence that ran +between Bristowe and Worcester, and there indulged myself in the +luxury of a postchaise for the journey to the Hall. And I warrant +you I was as proud as a peacock when the chaise swung in at the +gate, and rattled up the drive to the door.</p> +<p>'Twas Susan who opened it. She stared at me for a moment, then +burst out a-giggling, and left me standing while she rushed into +the house with a cry of "Measter, here be Joe come back, dressed +like a lord!"</p> +<p>"The deuce he is!" came the answering roar, and down came Mr. +Allardyce, pipe in hand, with his wife and Mistress Lucy close +behind him.</p> +<p>"How d'ye do, sir?" says I, advancing, feeling my face glow with +pleasure at seeing my kind friends again as much as any other +emotion, I am sure.</p> +<p>"Come back for a job, Joe?" cries Mr. Allardyce, gripping my +hand heartily. "Ah! you impostor! We know all about you, you young +dog, don't we, madam? Joe! Humph!"</p> +<p>"You can't shorten it like that, sir," said I, laughing, and +giving a hand to the ladies in turn.</p> +<p>And I don't know whether 'twas due to the suit of clothes, but +certainly I felt, as I shook hands with Mistress Lucy, none of the +shamefaced awkwardness that had overcome me when I stood before her +in rags and she called me "poor man."</p> +<p>They had me into the room where I had begged work of Mr. +Allardyce, and despatched Susan (still giggling) to bespeak a meal +of Martha the cook.</p> +<p>"And you must give an account of yourself, Mr. Bold," says Mr. +Allardyce, putting out a chair for me and pushing a pipe into my +hand.</p> +<p>"With all my heart, sir," said I, "but first will you please +enlighten me as to how you know my name?"</p> +<p>"Why we learned it a month after you left us," he replied. +"'Twas Roger found it out.</p> +<p>"He is not here, hang it!" he said, his face falling a little. +"We could not keep him at home after you had gone, and now he's +carrying an ensign in the foot regiment of General Webb.</p> +<p>"Well, 'twas he found out all about you. Having set his heart on +going into the army, he must needs go into Shrewsbury to take +lessons in fencing from a Captain Galsworthy he had heard of. And +it appears that during his very first bout with the captain he +tried a <i>botte</i> that you had taught him. The captain drops his +point, and stares a moment, and then cries 'Ads my life! The only +man in the world that knows that <i>botte</i> besides myself is +Humphrey Bold. Where in the name of Beelzebub did you learn it?' +And so it all came out, and the whole story of the villainous +doings of those Cluddes and Lawyer Vetch--"</p> +<p>"Stay, sir," I interrupted; "Mr. Vetch is a very dear friend of +mine, and I would lay my life he is innocent of any share of the +trickery that lost me my father's lands."</p> +<p>"Maybe, maybe: I know the story of the will," said Mr. +Allardyce. "Roger was wild with excitement when he came back, and +nothing would satisfy him but that he must go to Bristowe and see +if he could learn any news of you. But he could learn nothing, +and--"</p> +<p>"My dear," says Mistress Allardyce at this point, "you are +keeping us waiting so long. Lucy and I want to hear Mr. Bold."</p> +<p>"That's an extinguisher," cries he with a jolly laugh.</p> +<p>"Light my pipe, Lucy, my dear; it will last a good half hour, +and maybe that will be long enough for Mr. Bold's story."</p> +<p>But in truth he had smoked another couple of pipes before I had +finished, and gave no heed to Susan when she appeared at the door +and said that my meal was ready. I have heard that a speaker's +eloquence depends much upon his hearers and the bond of sympathy +betwixt him and them, and sure I spoke with a freedom that +surprised me. Certainly no man was ever better favored in his +audience; Mr. Allardyce let his pipe go out more than once. And the +ladies hung on my words, Mistress Lucy sitting forward in her +chair, her lips parted, her eyes kindling, and a ruddy glow +suffusing her cheeks. The room rang with Mr. Allardyce's laughter +when I described our march across country with the gagged +Frenchmen, and I vow I could almost hear the beating of Mistress +Lucy's heart as I told of our fight with Duguay-Trouin.</p> +<p>When I had ended my tale, Mr. Allardyce tugged at the bell rope, +crying:</p> +<p>"Egad, we must drink the health of Mr. Midshipman Bold," and +when Susan appeared, with surprising celerity (I believe the minx +had been listening at the door) he roared at her for keeping me +waiting so long a-fasting.</p> +<p>"And what do you think of that, Lucy?" he cries, turning to his +niece. "Didst ever hear such a tale of ups and downs and derring +do?"</p> +<p>"I <i>love</i> Joe Punchard," said Mistress Lucy, and that set +her uncle a-laughing again, though I confess it somewhat mystified +me.</p> +<p>My kind friends insisted that I should stay the night with them, +and we sat up talking to a late hour. I longed to ask how things +stood in the matter of the guardianship of Mistress Lucy, but the +subject was ignored by tacit consent so long as the ladies were in +the room. When they had retired, however, Mr. Allardyce drew his +chair alongside of mine, and said:</p> +<p>"Humphrey, I am worried out of my life. We are almost in a state +of siege here. Ever since that attempt at kidnapping Lucy that you +so happily frustrated I have never felt easy about her. She never +goes forth unattended now: those morning rides are at an end. I +have taken two more menservants to act as special guard for her, +and they two, or myself and one of them, always accompany her, with +well primed pistols, I warrant you. Men have been seen at various +times lurking about here, and I have taken pains to track them, and +went so far as to commit one of them for loitering with intent to +commit a felony. But I had no proof, and an attorney fellow in +Shrewsbury named Moggridge threatened me with all sorts of pains +and penalties if I did not at once release the villain."</p> +<p>"But what does the law say to it, sir?" I asked.</p> +<p>"The law is uncommon slow to say anything, confound it! My +lawyer in Bridgenorth was at first all for an accommodation, as he +called it; he wanted me to make terms with that rogue Cludde, and a +host of letters passed between him and Moggridge, who is Cludde's +attorney. But that failed; of course it did, since I wouldn't give +way, and now my man has filed a bill in chancery to make Lucy a +ward of court, with me as her guardian. The other side is opposing, +and the case will not come on till next sessions and maybe not +then. My man says we are bound to win, the court, as he declares, +being very jealous of the rights of minors, especially where +property is concerned. But meanwhile we live in constant fear of +the girl being carried off, and if they once get her there will be +precious little chance of getting her back."</p> +<p>"Can we not imprison Dick Cludde for the former attempt?" I +suggested. "Now that I am back I could give evidence against +him."</p> +<p>"He is away with his ship, and will be careful, you may be sure, +not to show his nose again in these parts while there is any +danger."</p> +<p>"But the other fellow, Vetch--has he been seen hereabouts? I +have often wondered what became of him after he left prison."</p> +<p>"What is he like?"</p> +<p>"A tall, thin, weasel-faced fellow, with a sour look."</p> +<p>"No, I have not seen or heard of him."</p> +<p>"If I could hear of his whereabouts I would have him arrested +for his complicity in my kidnapping. I own I should feel more +secure of Mistress Lucy's safety if I knew he was laid by the +heels. Could you give me a warrant, sir, which I could execute if +ever I met him?"</p> +<p>"I will certainly do so, though I doubt if he'll ever give you +the opportunity. Villains of his stamp are uncommonly clever in +running to earth. But you shall have the warrant."</p> +<p>"I shall see his uncle tomorrow," I said. "May I mention +Mistress Lucy's affairs to him? He was accounted a good lawyer +until that unhappy business of my father's will, and as he has no +reason to love the Cluddes, or his nephew either, I am sure he +would give the best advice he knows."</p> +<p>"Do so, by all means; 'twill be some comfort to know that my man +is taking the right course."</p> +<p>We sat till near midnight, and Mr. Allardyce recovered something +of his usual good spirits before I rose to say good night. As he +shook hands with me he broke into a sudden laugh.</p> +<p>"Egad!" he cried, "I had forgot to ask you whether you still +have that crown piece you were so loath to part with."</p> +<p>"Indeed I have," I said, laughing too. "It is slung about my +neck, and there it will remain until I return it with interest to +Dick Cludde."</p> +<p>"Dick Cludde!" says he. "What! is he concerned in that, +too?"</p> +<p>And then I told him what I had hitherto kept to myself--that +incident upon the road when Cludde flung the coin at me.</p> +<p>"On my life, Humphrey," he said, "I should not care to have you +for an enemy."</p> +<p>And then we parted.</p> +<p>I left next morning, promising to see my friends as often as +possible before I received the summons which I hoped for from +Admiral Benbow. Mr. Allardyce lent me one of his horses, which he +was kind enough to place at my service while I remained at home. In +my breast pocket I carried a warrant in due form for the arrest of +Cyrus Vetch.</p> +<p>There was a great surprise awaiting me at Shrewsbury. I asked +the little maid who answered my knock at Mr. Vetch's door for +Mistress Pennyquick, and felt some astonishment that the door had +not been opened by the good dame herself, for she had no maid when +I left her, doing all the housework herself. The girl stared at +me.</p> +<p>"Is Mistress Pennyquick within?" I repeated.</p> +<p>"No, sir: but would you like to see Mistress Vetch?"</p> +<p>I was minded to refuse, and thought of going on to Mr. Vetch's +offices where I knew I should find him at this time of day. I felt +a certain annoyance at Mr. Vetch marrying ('twas unreasonable, I +admit), and wondered whether poor old Becky had been dismissed, or +was dead. But while I stood hesitating, I heard the well-remembered +voice from the interior of the house--"Tell the man the coffee is +not fit to drink, and if I have any more of it I'll say goodby to +Mr. Huggins and see if Mr. Martin can serve me better."</p> +<p>"What, Becky!" I cried; "d'you think I'm a grocer's boy after +all?"</p> +<p>There was a scream, and my old friend came flying towards me, +her cap (with lilac trimmings) shaken askew by her haste.</p> +<p>"Oh, my boy!" she cried, flinging her arms about me. "Drat the +girl!</p> +<p>"How many times have I told you to ask visitors into the +parlor!</p> +<p>"Oh, my dear, precious boy!"</p> +<p>"'Tis not her fault," I said, giving the good creature an +answering hug; "I asked for Mistress Pennyquick."</p> +<p>"Which my name is Vetch, and has been for six months come +Saturday. He would have it so, though I told him Vetch wasn't a +name to my taste. But there! What was a poor lone widow to do? A +lawyer have got such a tongue!"</p> +<p>"You look ten years younger, Becky," I said.</p> +<p>"I feel it, Humphrey," she said solemnly, and then bade the maid +set wine and biscuits in the parlor, and never to forget to ask a +gentleman in instead of keeping him at the door, gaping like a +ninny!</p> +<p>Of course I had to tell my story to her, and again to Mr. Vetch +when he came home to dinner. The lawyer looked much the same as +when I left him, save that he was certainly neater in his dress. He +was delighted to see me, and when he heard of the good fortune that +had befallen me in gaining the interest of Mr. Benbow he declared +that I had taken a load off his mind, for he had always been +oppressed with the fear that the loss of the will had ruined me. +His business, I was glad to hear, was a trifle better than when I +was with him, though it would never be what it had been.</p> +<p>"Fiddlesticks!" said his wife. "You have no spirit, Mr. Vetch, +and what you would be if I didn't keep you up, the Lord alone +knows."</p> +<p>I will not dwell on my visit to Captain Galsworthy. He was +looking older, I thought: but after I had told him my adventures, +nothing would satisfy him but that we should have a bout with the +foils. I was careful to let the good old man get the better of me, +and when we had finished he shook his head and declared that my +skill had declined.</p> +<p>"But we'll get it back, we'll get it back," he said. "You must +come to me for half an hour every day, and we'll soon rub off the +rust."</p> +<p>He told me of the six months' lessons he had given Roger +Allardyce, and foretold a creditable career for that young soldier, +not so much for any sign of military aptitude in him (though the +captain owned he had the making of a good swordsman) as because he +had doggedly refused to say anything about me. He knew, I suppose, +that I should not wish the tale of my mischances to be told by any +lips but my own, and could not have pleased the captain more than +by declining to answer his questions. I never knew a man nicer than +Captain Galsworthy on the point of honor.</p> +<p>I remained about a month in Shrewsbury, seeing old friends, +among them Nelly Hind and Mistress Punchard, whom I rejoiced with +news of their brother and son, and paying many visits to my newer +friends at the Hall. I was able to assure Mr. Allardyce that the +procedure of his lawyer had the full approval of Mr. Vetch, who was +careful to say, when giving his opinion, that it was given in a +private capacity and without prejudice to his brother in the +profession.</p> +<p>One day I received through the post a letter with a great red +seal. I tore it open eagerly, and could scarcely believe in my good +fortune when I saw it was nothing less than a lieutenant's +commission in the King's navy, accompanied by an order to join my +ship the Falmouth, Captain Samuel Vincent, at Portsmouth, as soon +as might be. I had not expected to be rated higher than a +midshipman, though when I had mentioned that to Mistress Vetch, she +tossed her head and declared she had looked for nothing else.</p> +<p>"Midshipmen, as I have heard tell," she said, "are but little +boys fresh from their nurses' apron strings, and the King had the +good sense to know that you are too tall for any such +childishness."</p> +<p>"I don't suppose the King knows anything about me," I said +laughing.</p> +<p>"That I will never believe; the King knows everything," said the +simple creature.</p> +<p>You may be sure I rode off at once with my great news to the +Hall, and received very hearty congratulations there. But I could +see that Mr. Allardyce was in some perturbation of mind, and by and +by he took me aside and said:</p> +<p>"That weasel-faced rascal you spoke of was seen about here +yesterday, Humphrey. One of my men told me that he saw such a man +as you described in close talk with a low innkeeper in Morville. I +have not acquainted the ladies; 'tis no use alarming them; but I +don't like it, my boy."</p> +<p>This was a mighty disconcerting piece of news, especially now +that I was on the point of going away for I knew not how long. +While I remained within close call I flattered myself on being an +efficient protector of Mistress Lucy, and I had that warrant always +in my pocket to use against Cyrus Vetch if ever I set eyes on him. +And now I would willingly have resigned my commission, dearly as I +prized it, if I could have found any reasonable ground for +remaining to defend her still. But I knew 'twas impossible, if for +no other reason, because I was little more than a pauper, having +indeed only enough of my twenty pounds left to carry me to +Portsmouth. So I could only fume inwardly, and long that war might +break out again, and that I might capture many of the enemy's +vessels, and win heaps of money and early promotion to the rank of +post captain, and return with my laurels thick upon me to lay all +at Lucy's feet. You may smile at such ambitions in a youngster; but +can you truly say you have not dreamed such dreams yourself?</p> +<p>'Twas with a full heart I set off in the dusk of evening to ride +back to Shrewsbury. I rode slowly, my mind being filled with +forebodings, and I was only roused from my preoccupation by the +sudden appearance of a horseman at the turning of a byroad leading +from Bridgenorth. He was riding rapidly, and we both reined up at +the same moment to avoid a collision. And at that moment my heart +leapt with furious exultation as, in the fading light, I recognized +my old enemy, and my friends', Cyrus Vetch.</p> +<p>"Hold, you villain!" I cried, pulling my horse against his and +drawing my sword. "I have you now, and you will come into +Shrewsbury with me."</p> +<p>Fear struggled with anger in his face. He was in no mind to show +himself in Shrewsbury, where there was that matter of his uncle's +cash box to answer for, to say nothing of a matter more nearly +concerning me. But he could not pass me, and seeing that there was +no other way out of it he whips out his sword and deals a savage +cut at me. I easily parried the stroke, and not being disposed to +spare him, I ran my own weapon under his guard (he having no skill +in sword play), and through the fleshy part of his right arm, so +that he cried out with the pain, his sword dropping to the +ground.</p> +<p>"Now, sirrah," says I, "you will ride before me into Shrewsbury, +to which you have been overlong a stranger."</p> +<p>"I will not," he cries, with a scream of rage. "'Who are you to +order my goings?"</p> +<p>"No matter as to that: we will see where the right lies when we +get to the town. And since I have no wish to cheat the hangman, I +will tie my kerchief round your arm."</p> +<p>He raged and swore at me as I made the bandage, but was +helpless, and soon I had him riding at a foot pace in front of me, +he knowing very well that he could not escape, wounded as he was, +without risk of being thrown from his horse.</p> +<p>I had a comfortable sense of satisfaction as I rode behind him, +my eyes fixed on his back. He had much to answer for, and any one +of his crimes would send him to the plantations. Then I remembered +that he was Lawyer Vetch's nephew, and thought of the good old +man's grief when he should see his flesh and blood in the felon's +dock. And the idea came to me that by merely holding over him the +threat of punishment for his undoubted villainies we might draw +from him a confession of what we only suspected--his theft of my +father's will. I did not reflect for the moment that Mr. Allardyce +would have something to say in that matter, and already saw myself +reinstated in my father's property (though I meant to cleave to my +new profession), when suddenly I noticed that Vetch was swaying in +the saddle. Thinking him overcome with faintness from his wound, I +cantered up to assist him, but just as I reached him he suddenly +pulled his horse across the road, and I saw a pistol in his left +hand. While I was ruminating he had quickly unbuttoned the +holsters, which I had stupidly neglected to examine.</p> +<p>Immediately I wrenched my horse aside. The sudden pull caused it +to rear, and the poor beast received the shot intended for me, and +fell to the ground. I was up in an instant, but Vetch was already +galloping madly away, leaving me by the side of Mr. Allardyce's +dying horse.</p> +<p>To pursue the fellow afoot would be but a fool's errand. The +spot at which this mischance happened being about a mile from +Oldbury, my best plan seemed to be to ride thither and hire a horse +at the inn and then ride back to the Hall and acquaint Mr. +Allardyce with what had befallen me. This I did, and found my +friend much less vexed at the loss of his horse (though 'twas a +noble animal) than at the escape of Vetch. He sent off a man at +once to Bridgenorth to ask his lawyer to raise a hue and cry after +the fugitive, and promised to take like measures in Shrewsbury. I +spoke of it to the town authorities and to Captain Galsworthy, and +since I was leaving on the morrow, he agreed to enlist some of his +old pupils in the business, who would ride here and there about the +neighborhood and try to track Vetch down. And thus, having done all +I could, I set off next day once more for Bristowe, to take ship +for Portsmouth.</p> +<h2>Chapter <a name="Ch21" id="Ch21">21</a>: I Meet Dick +Cludde.</h2> +<p>Captain Samuel Vincent gave me a reception warm indeed, but not +in the way of kindness. After making me repeat my name, he asked me +under what captain I had served as a midshipman, and when I said +that I had never been a midshipman, and was proceeding to explain +the manner of my appointment he cut me short.</p> +<p>"Not a midshipman!" he cried, running together all three +syllables of the word. "You bin to school, I s'pose?"</p> +<p>"Yes, indeed," I said, "at Shrewsbury."</p> +<p>"Now hark to me," he cries, again interrupting me. "I never went +to no school, and I hain't got no philosophies nor any other +useless cargoes in my hold, nor Mr. Benbow neither; and if ever you +say a word against Mr. Benbow you'll wish you wasn't Humphrey, nor +Bold, 'cos you'll wish as how you'd never bin born. I bid you good +mornin'."</p> +<p>I left him, in a fine heat of resentment, thinking that a few +years at Shrewsbury school might have improved both his language +and his manners. But when I came to know him better, and to +understand the motive of his rough address to me, I forgave the +bluff seaman heartily. He was a keen partisan in the feud that then +divided the navy, the one faction being for Benbow, the other +against him; and being ignorant of my antecedents, he supposed from +my not having been a midshipman that I was one of the fine +gentlemen who were foisted on the King's service by their high +connections and despised plain seamen of the Benbow school. I might +have undeceived him very soon had I so pleased, but I thought it +best to win his approval by the manner in which I performed my +duties, leaving the other matter to time. As it happened, my +fidelity to Mr. Benbow was shown very clearly before long.</p> +<p>'Twould be a dull story to relate the trivial incidents of my +first year of service in the navy. I spent five months at sea, and +seven on shore, and Captain Vincent being a martinet. I had to work +hard for my pay of four shillings a day (on shore it was cut down +to two shillings). My diligence in studying navigation pleased him; +and when a little affair in which I had been concerned came to his +ears, he took me, in a sense, to his heart.</p> +<p>I had gone one day with Lieutenant Venables, of our ship, into a +coffee house in Portsmouth, whither the officers of the fleet much +resorted. The first man I set eyes on was Dick Cludde, who was, as +I learned afterwards, a lieutenant of the Defiance, which had +lately come into port. With him was his captain ('twas the Captain +Kirkby I had seen in the inn at Harley), also Captain Cooper Wade, +of the Greenwich, Captain Hudson of the Pendennis, and a number of +junior officers.</p> +<p>Cludde greeted me with a puzzled stare; 'twas clear he had not +heard of the change in my fortunes, and maybe believed me to be +still scouring the cook's slush pans aboard the Dolphin privateer. +I saw him turn to Lieutenant Simpson, of the Pendennis, who knew +me, and guessed by the quick glance Simpson gave me that Cludde had +asked him concerning my appearance there.</p> +<p>Venables and I sat down to our coffee, and 'twas not long before +we knew, by the loud voices of the others, that they had laced +theirs with rum, or maybe were pretty well filled with wine to +begin with. And, as it always happened when officers of the fleet +met together, they were soon hot upon the subject of Mr. Benbow, +his rough manners, his rustic speech, and his outrageous lack of +respect for his betters. After a little of this talk Venables says +to me:</p> +<p>"Come, Bold, we are better away from this."</p> +<p>"You are right," says I, and we both rose and put on our +hats.</p> +<p>Cludde saw the action, and, taking courage I suppose from the +presence of his boon fellows, he said, in a tone loud enough to +reach my ears:</p> +<p>"That's one of his doings. Simpson tells me that that fellow is +a lieutenant on the Falmouth, through Benbow's interest; he comes +from my town Shrewsbury, and a year or two ago was a charity brat, +with scarce a coat to his back."</p> +<p>At this I swung round and took a pace or two towards the table +where Cludde was seated. Though I had much ado to curb my anger, I +said quietly:</p> +<p>"If that is true, Cludde, you know who is the cause of it."</p> +<p>"I did not speak to you, sirrah," says he.</p> +<p>"But I speak to you," I said. "You may say what you please about +me; I will settle my account with you in good time; but I advise +you not to say too much about Mr. Benbow, who is not here to answer +for himself."</p> +<p>"Oho, you sneak out of it that way, do you?" says he. "I'll say +what I please about Mr. Benbow without asking leave of you or any +man. Benbow is a low-born scut--can you deny it? Wasn't his father +a tanner, and don't his sister keep a coffee shop?"</p> +<p>"And what then?"</p> +<p>"What then? Why, this: that he ain't fit to be in the company of +gentlemen," and then he told a foul story of Benbow which angered +me past all endurance.</p> +<p>I strode up to him, and before I could be prevented I planted my +fist in his face with such force that he toppled backwards over his +chair and came to the floor.</p> +<p>"Now you can swallow that lie," I cried, standing with clenched +fists over him.</p> +<p>I was now in the midst of a great hubbub; the officers had +started from their chairs, shouting and cursing, some of them +helping Cludde to his feet.</p> +<p>"You will answer for this, sir," says Captain Kirkby.</p> +<p>"With all my heart," I said. "Mr. Venables will meet Mr. +Cludde's man and make the arrangements."</p> +<p>And with that I went from the house.</p> +<p>I ever regarded dueling as a barbarous and foolish way of +settling a quarrel. If men must fight, let them use their fists, +and so be quit of it for a bloody nose and a few bruises. But I +could not avoid the duel with Cludde without suffering the +imputation of cowardice, and when Venables came after me and said +that he had arranged with Simpson that we should meet next morning +at daybreak on the Southsea Common and settle the matter with +rapiers, I was quite content. 'Tis true that ere the day was over I +regretted in cool blood that things had come to this pass; but I +could not think I was in the wrong, and believing myself more than +a match for Cludde in swordsmanship I resolved to disarm him +quickly, when his friends would no doubt declare him satisfied.</p> +<p>In the chill of dawn we met within sound of the surf, and having +stripped to our shirts, faced each other with the length of our two +swords between. Cludde was three or four inches shorter than I, but +well made and muscular, and in mere strength I daresay there was +little to choose between us. But after a pass or two I knew (and +the knowledge surprised me not a little), that I had no mean +swordsman to deal with. His riposte came quick upon my lunge; he +had a very agile wrist; 'twas clear he had had much practice in a +good school; and being determined not to do him a serious injury I +put myself at some disadvantage and had much ado to avoid his +point. He was beset by no such scruples, I could see, and would +willingly have taken my life, which made my task all the +harder.</p> +<p>Finding him thus proficient in all the ordinary tricks of sword +play, I saw myself in a difficulty. I had no doubt that I could +bring things to a speedy end by employing the special <i>botte</i> +which Captain Galsworthy had taught me; and if we had been fencing +for sport I should already have used it to disarm my adversary. But +fighting as we were (at least, as he was) in deadly earnest, I +could not be sure that my <i>botte</i> would not be too successful, +and that, instead of merely striking his sword from his hand, I +should not run him through. The caution I displayed was mistaken by +him (and by his friends also, I suspect) for weakness, and gaining +courage therefrom, he pressed me so hard that, unless I had gone +instantly to the extremity I wished to avoid, I could not have +parried the thrust which pinked me in the shoulder.</p> +<p>"He is hit!" cried Venables, running between us.</p> +<p>"You are now satisfied, Mr. Cludde?"</p> +<p>"If Mr. Bold will apologize," says Simpson, after a glance at +his principal.</p> +<p>"I am ready when Mr. Cludde is," I said bluntly.</p> +<p>Certainly I would not apologize; besides, I was annoyed to think +that, through my own forbearance, the fellow had drawn blood +(though 'twas but a scratch). And so we set-to again.</p> +<p>This time I no longer pursued the same purely defensive tactics, +and before many passes had been exchanged I saw an opening for my +<i>botte</i>, took instant advantage of it, and sent his sword +spinning from his hand. Cludde was too good a swordsman to be +ignorant that I had purposely spared him, and I saw by the look in +his eyes that he knew it and would fight no more.</p> +<p>"Mr. Cludde is now satisfied, I presume?" said Venables, at a +look from me.</p> +<p>The contest was of course over. At that moment I own I felt +tempted to take Cludde's crown piece from the string whereon it +hung about my neck, and return it to him; but as a second thought +showed me that to do so would be in a manner to heap humiliation on +a beaten enemy, I forbore, conscious at the same time of an inward +assurance that I should yet find a fitting time for that act of +restoration.</p> +<p>The duel was much talked of among the officers of the fleet, and +when Captain Vincent heard of it he, as I have said, took me to his +heart. By it I was sealed of the tribe of Benbow, and became, in my +worthy captain's eyes, one of the elect.</p> +<p>In October of the year 1698 we were stirred to excitement by the +news that Mr. Benbow had been ordered to take a squadron to the +West Indies, and there was much eager speculation among us as to +the vessels which would have the good fortune to sail with him. I +hoped with all my heart that the Falmouth would be one of them, for +I was weary of the humdrum life of idling on shore or aimless +sailing up and down the channel. The admiral's was a peaceful +mission, and no fighting was expected, but I felt a great curiosity +to behold new scenes. To my vast delight, when the admiral came +down from London, Captain Vincent told me that the Falmouth was to +be one of a squadron of four, the others being the Gloucester, the +Dunkirk (both fourth rates of forty-eight guns), and a small French +prize called the Germoon.</p> +<p>We set sail on the 29th of November, touched at Madeira to take +in wine and other stores in which that bounteous isle is prolific, +and after a tranquil voyage reached Barbados on the 27th of +February. We proceeded to Mevis and the Leeward Islands, and +steering our course thence to the continent, made the highland of +St. Martha, and so to Cartagena, where we obliged the governor to +deliver up two or three English merchant ships which they had +seized at the time of the hapless Scotch settlement at Darien. +Thence we stood away for Jamaica.</p> +<p>Joe Punchard (who was on board the Gloucester, having returned +to his old vocation of body servant to Mr. Benbow) had prepared me, +in a measure, before we left Portsmouth, for the wondrous beauty of +these western isles, but I might say, as the Queen of Sheba said of +the glory and grandeur of King Solomon, that "the half had not been +told." I was struck dumb with admiration as we threaded our way +through a narrow channel between irregular reefs lying off the +harbor of Port Royal. The spacious harbor itself was a noble sight, +but the background was even more picturesque--the light, +two-storied houses with their piazzas painted green and white, the +varying hues of the gardens, filled with palms and cocoanut trees, +and the lofty minarets of the Blue Mountains, towering to a great +height behind. Such scenes were a new thing to my untraveled eyes, +they were in very truth the revelation of a new world to me.</p> +<p>Our arrival was the occasion of great festivity; all the +inhabitants of Spanish Town, the capital, from the governor +downward, were lavish in their hospitality; and for some days it +was one round of balls and banquets, to which we came with unjaded +appetites and vigor after our long voyage. And I warrant you that +the officers of Collingwood's regiment then in garrison were soon +mighty jealous, for the ladies of the place, English and Creole +alike, preferred us naval men to them as partners. I confess I +nearly lost my heart a dozen times, and the thirteenth might have +been fatal, only it chanced that her name being Lucetta reminded me +of a certain Mistress Lucy at home in England, whom the others had, +so to speak, elbowed out of my recollection. My wandering fancy +being thus recalled to her, I remembered that her estates were in +Jamaica, and she had lived here during all her childhood, and then +I was for seeking out the house, and assuring myself that her +interests were being well guarded.</p> +<p>But I learned that her estates lay on the north side of the +island, two good days' journey distant. They were being managed by +a careful Scotchman named McTavish, who sent large and regular +consignments of sugar and tobacco to the port for shipment to +England. I would have gone a thousand miles to see Mistress Lucy, +but had no interest in the excellent McTavish, and so I remained in +Spanish Town.</p> +<p>After a week or two of high revelry, the admiral, yielding to +the entreaties of the governor and merchants, sailed to Puerto +Bello to demand satisfaction of the Spaniards for several +depredations which they had committed on their ships, goods, and +men. We had but a rough answer from the admiral of the Barlovento +fleet, he alleging that whatever the Spaniards had done had merely +been in reprisal for similar doings of the Scotch settlers on +Darien, and he could not be persuaded that the Scotch and English +were two separate nations, and as often (in those times) enemies as +friends. But after several messages he assured us at length that if +we would retire from before the fort, our demands should be +satisfied. This was an instance of the notorious perfidy of the +Spaniards, for after our departure, notwithstanding their solemn +promises, nothing was effected.</p> +<p>We returned to Port Royal the 15th of May, where, having +intelligence that the insolent pirate Captain Kidd was hovering on +the coast, Mr. Benbow went in quest of him, unluckily without +success. After that we spent several months in cruising among the +West Indian islands, and receiving then orders to return home, Mr. +Benbow, leaving the Germoon for the service of the governor of +Jamaica, set sail for New England, our squadron being increased by +three other king's ships which happened to be then in Port Royal +harbor. When we had made Havana, the admiral, thinking the Falmouth +too weak to be trusted in the dangerous seas about the New England +coast, ordered Captain Vincent to return in her to England, and we +sailed into Portsmouth harbor towards the end of August, two years, +all but three months, since our departure.</p> +<p>I stayed there but long enough to replenish my wardrobe and to +draw my prize money, which, added to what I had left of my pay, +amounted to the respectable sum of four hundred pounds, and then, +having leave from my captain, I set off once more for +Shrewsbury.</p> +<p>As before, I broke my journey at the Hall, to see my good +friends the Allardyces, and especially to give to Mistress Lucy +some kind messages entrusted to me by old friends of hers in +Jamaica.</p> +<p>They were rejoiced to see me; Mistress Lucy was greatly +interested to learn that I had but lately come from scenes she knew +so well, and we talked for a long time about friends and +acquaintances of hers whom I had met. And when I was alone with Mr. +Allardyce I did not fail to inquire how things stood in the matter +of her guardianship. He told me that no more had been seen of +Vetch, and indeed the espionage upon the house had ceased, Sir +Richard being resolved apparently to abide the issue of the action +at law. The bill in chancery had been filed; answers had been put +in by Mr. Moggridge on behalf of Sir Richard; and Mr. Allardyce +hoped that the proceedings might drag along for a couple of years, +when Mistress Lucy would be of age and her own mistress. And so +'twas with a light heart that I went on to Shrewsbury, to tickle +the ears of my old friends there with the tale of my +wanderings.</p> +<h2>Chapter <a name="Ch22" id="Ch22">22</a>: I Walk Into A +Snare.</h2> +<p>Cruising on shore is a flat and sorry business to a man who has +obeyed the call of the sea, and I was glad enough when, soon after +Christmas, I was summoned to rejoin my ship. There were already +whispers that war was like to break out again ere long between +England and France, owing to the machinations of King Lewis, who +had procured from the king of Spain on his death bed a will +appointing the Duke of Anjou to succeed him. 'Twas not to be +expected that our good King William, having striven all his life to +prevent Europe from being swallowed up by King Lewis, would tamely +submit to see a great kingdom like that of Spain disappear into +that ravenous maw; and when the new parliament met in February, +1701, it was significant that their first resolution was "to +support His Majesty and take such effectual measures as may best +conduce to the interest and safety of England." There was a +widespread suspicion that the French proposed to invade our shores +from Dunkirk, and Admiral Benbow, who was then commanding in The +Downs, was ordered to use his utmost diligence to frustrate any +such design.</p> +<p>In common with every officer in the fleet I hoped that the +French would take the sea, so that we might have the pleasure of +thrashing them. But in this we were disappointed: I suppose they +were deterred by the knowledge that the channel was swarming with +our ships; for, besides Admiral Benbow off Dunkirk, there was Sir +George Rooke in The Downs, and Sir Cloudesley with six and forty +vessels at Spithead. Whatever be the reason, we saw nothing to +alarm us; and toward the middle of August Admiral Benbow was +ordered to proceed once more to the West Indian station, with two +third rates and eight fourth rates. The French and Spanish both had +large fleets in the Indies, and 'twas to secure our possessions +against attacks in case war should be declared, that Admiral Benbow +was sent out again.</p> +<p>Since it was not expected that we should set sail for several +weeks, I obtained leave from my captain to go to Shrewsbury and +take farewell of my friends. With war imminent, and the possibility +that I might never return; I should not have been happy without +seeing them once again and leaving with their blessing. You may be +sure I took the Hall in my way, for having been almost wholly at +sea since my last visit, I had not heard anything from the family, +and I was anxious to know whether the chancery case had yet been +settled. Mr. Allardyce was not at home when I rode up to the door; +but I was taken to Mistress Allardyce, who astonished me beyond +measure by bursting into tears when she saw me.</p> +<p>"Good heavens, ma'am!" I cried, imagining all kinds of ill, +"what is amiss?"</p> +<p>"Oh, Mr. Bold," says the good lady, "I am so glad to see you. We +are in such trouble."</p> +<p>"Have the Cluddes got her?" I asked, Mistress Lucy being +uppermost in my thoughts.</p> +<p>"No, it is not so bad as that, though I fear that will be the +end of it. But she has left us, and I tremble to think of the poor +child so far away, and among strangers."</p> +<p>"Among strangers! Pray, ma'am, explain," I said, glad enough +that my first fear was unfounded, but marveling much at what had +happened.</p> +<p>"She left us six months ago," Mrs. Allardyce went on. "She has +gone back to Jamaica."</p> +<p>"To Jamaica!" I said. "What on earth induced her to do that, +ma'am?"</p> +<p>"'Twas that dreadful law case, Mr. Bold. The squire lost the +day. I do not understand it myself, he will explain it all to you +when he comes home: he has indeed gone to Bridgenorth this very day +to see his lawyer about it. Oh, Mr. Bold, I am so distressed! If I +only knew she was safe I could bear the separation so much +better."</p> +<p>"I do not think you need be uneasy on that score," I said. "She +has friends in Jamaica, as you know; the people there are all very +kind; and you may be sure they will see to her happiness."</p> +<p>"I am so glad to hear that," said the lady. "After all, she is +no longer a child; she is twenty now, Mr. Bold, and has a will of +her own, and great self reliance. We had one letter from her, to +say that she had arrived safely; that was three months ago: I +suppose there has not been time to receive another."</p> +<p>"There has been time, certainly," I replied, with some +misgivings. "Vessels leave Port Royal every week. But her estate is +situate a long way from the port, and maybe it is not convenient to +send letters often."</p> +<p>"'Tis the absence of letters that makes the squire so uneasy. +But for his being unwilling to leave me, I am sure he would have +sailed to Jamaica himself to make sure that all is well. He dotes +on Lucy. 'Tis a thousand pities that Roger's military duties will +not permit of his going out. Do you think that Jamaica is a healthy +place to live in, Mr. Bold?"</p> +<p>We were still talking when Mr. Allardyce returned. He was +heartily glad to see me, and at once poured out his tale of +trouble. The Court of Chancery, it appeared, had made Miss Lucy a +ward, but instead of appointing Mr. Allardyce to be her guardian, +it had given that office to Sir Richard Cludde, her paternal uncle. +Mr. Allardyce spoke of the judge with the most bitter obloquy; he +was a cross-grained, dried-up old mummy, said the squire, without a +drop of good red blood in his veins.</p> +<p>"He was prejudiced against us from the beginning, and when our +counsel said that Lucy herself entreated to be placed formally +under my guardianship the old wretch refused to listen, and said +that girls were better seen and not heard. I suppose he has a +nagging wife, and serve him right!"</p> +<p>"And there is no appeal?" I asked.</p> +<p>"Oh, the wretch said we might appeal if we pleased, but +meanwhile 'twas the order of the court that Lucy should pass under +Cludde's guardianship. But he had not reckoned with Lucy. While I +was in London about the miserable business she was with Mistress +Allardyce at Bath, where madam had gone to take the waters. 'Twas +lucky Cludde did not know that, for as soon as the decision was +made, he posted off with the decree in his pocket, making no doubt +that he would seize her here and carry her off in triumph. Ha! ha! +you should hear Giles tell how he raved and cursed when he found +she was not here. He demanded to know where she was, but not a man +or maid would tell him; I've raised their wages all round. +Meanwhile I had posted to Bath, and no sooner does Lucy hear what +has happened than she jumps up and cries: 'I'll not have him for +guardian for all the judges in the country. Uncle, I'll go back to +Jamaica; please find me a ship at once.' Egad, I like spirit in a +woman.</p> +<p>"Well, being only a stone's throw, you may say, from Bristowe, +it was no long matter to arrange as she wished. I own I was loath +to let her go, but 'twas clear that Cludde would get hold of her if +she remained in the country, and there was no better way to avoid +that. ''Twill not be for long, uncle,' she says when I bid her +good-by. 'In a few months I shall be of age, and then I can snap my +fingers at the Lord Chancellor himself.' And that's one +consolation, Humphrey; she will be of age before the year's +out."</p> +<p>"But will not Sir Richard go after her?"</p> +<p>"Not he. He doesn't know--at least I hope not--where she is. And +he's crippled with the gout, and made it ten times worse by rushing +across country in such desperate haste in the wettest month I've +known for a score of years. He came in his coach to see me, and +couldn't stir out of it, his foot being so swathed in flannel. He +roared himself purple, threatening me with imprisonment for +contempt of court and what not, but I laughed in his face, and told +him that Lucy was a Cludde already, and would change her name for a +better one when the time came. That hit him on the raw, Humphrey my +boy; he went away fuming, and I don't think he will drive over to +see me again."</p> +<p>And then, being somewhat cheered by this recollection of his +victory over Sir Richard, he asked me how I had been faring. When +he learned that I was about to sail for the West Indies again, he +gave a gleeful chuckle.</p> +<p>"I wish you luck, my boy," he cried, slapping me on the back, +"both in love and war."</p> +<p>"Sir!" said I, conscious of flushed cheeks.</p> +<p>"Give Lucy my love," he said, "and remember, my lad, that 'tis a +very serious matter to marry a ward of court."</p> +<p>And then he chuckled and laughed again. Seeing that I had never +so much as hinted that any such idea as he suggested had entered my +head, I was somewhat taken aback by the old gentleman's +perspicacity; for if the truth must be told (and it will out, +sooner or later) I had quite resolved in my own mind that as soon +as I attained captain's rank, and had gained some store of prize +money, as I had no doubt I should do, I would endeavor to settle +Dick Cludde's hash so far as his matrimonial project was +concerned.</p> +<p>"I will warn off all trespassers, sir," I said soberly in reply +to Mr. Allardyce's remark, and my answer seemed to give him great +delight.</p> +<p>Having said my farewells to my friends in Shrewsbury also, I +hastened back to my ship. We set sail in the last week of August, +being escorted down the channel by Sir George Rooke and Sir John +Munden with a large fleet. On the second of September we left Sir +George off Scilly, and on the twenty-eighth made St. Mary's, one of +the Azores, and remained there some eight days, during which Mr. +Benbow (who was now promoted vice admiral) called his flag officers +and captains together on board the Breda, his flagship, and +communicated to them his instructions. The junior officers and some +of the men were allowed to go in detachments for a few hours on +shore, and it was on one of these trips that I heard a piece of +news that interested me deeply.</p> +<p>I was strolling along with Mr. Venables when we encountered Joe +Punchard and a group of men from the Breda. Seeing me, he touched +his cap, and begged that he might have a few words with me in +private. I went aside with him, and he began:</p> +<p>"That there young lady, sir--wasn't she kin to Dick Cludde--Mr. +Lieutenant Cludde, begging his pardon?" (I had told Joe how 'twas +Mistress Lucy had saved me from a horse whipping when first I +appeared at the Hall.)</p> +<p>"To be sure, Joe," I replied, "she is his cousin."</p> +<p>"That be bad, sir," says he, "and 'twill be worse, by all +accounts."</p> +<p>"What do 'you mean?" I asked.</p> +<p>"Why, sir, one of the men yonder be Jonathan Tubbs, Captain +Kirkby his man, and he was just a-telling of us how Mr. Cludde, +when he's in his cups (which is pretty often) tells a bragging yarn +as how there's a mighty pretty girl out in Jamaicy a-waitin' to be +spliced as soon as he comes to port; and she's a cousin of his, +with a fine property; and he'll invite all the officers of his ship +to the wedding and take 'em teal shooting next day, and--"</p> +<p>"That's enough, Joe," I said. "You had better go and tell your +friend Jonathan Tubbs not to repeat things he hears when he's on +duty."</p> +<p>Joe instantly touched his cap, begged my pardon, and walked +away. I must have worn a very sober countenance when I rejoined Mr. +Venables, for he looked at me oddly, and asked if I had had bad +news. I evaded the question, and he did not press me. It was indeed +bad news in this respect; that 'twas clear the Cluddes knew of +Mistress Lucy's whereabouts. Indeed, for all I knew, Sir Richard +himself might have got well of his gout and made the voyage to +secure his ward. It wanted but a few months to her coming of age, +and while I knew that Dick could not wed her during her minority, I +saw that the very shortness of the time left would make the Cluddes +eager to get her under their influence. I had never met Dick since +that duel of ours on Southsea Common, having deliberately avoided +him; but I said to to myself that I would certainly meet him when +we arrived in Jamaica and make it clear to him that he would +interfere with Mistress Lucy at his peril.</p> +<p>Much as I loved the sea, I now wished heartily that the voyage +was over. But I had to curb my impatience. 'Twas the third of +November when we arrived at Barbados; we made Martinica on the +eighth, and next day came to anchor in Prince Rupert's Bay, on the +northwest end of Dominica, where we supplied ourselves with water +and other refreshments. Thence we sailed to Mevis, and proceeding +to Jamaica, arrived there on the fifth of December, and anchored in +Port Royal harbor.</p> +<p>I immediately got leave from my captain to go ashore, and +inquired of the harbor master whether one Sir Richard Cludde had +lately come to the island. My worst fear was relieved when I +learned that it was not so, but I could not rest until I had +satisfied myself of Mistress Lucy's well being, so I hired a horse +and rode out to Spanish Town, being well nigh choked, I remember, +with the dust my steed's hoofs raised from the sandy road.</p> +<p>And here I had news that gave me the greater shock, for that it +was utterly unexpected. I made my inquiries from a merchant with +whom I had struck up a friendship during my former visit (he was +indeed the father of the Lucetta I have spoken of) and he told me +that Mistress Lucy was certainly living on her estate on the north +side of the island, but added that 'twould not be hers much longer, +for 'twas coming into the market by order of her guardian. This was +surprising enough, and I asked to whom the instructions to this +effect had been committed. My friend then said that they had been +brought from England some months before by a lawyer named Vetch, +who was armed with a power of attorney.</p> +<p>"Cyrus Vetch?" I cried, not doubting it, but overcome with sheer +amazement.</p> +<p>"His name is Cyrus, I believe," replied my friend. "He stayed +here a few days, and made himself very pleasant, though I can't say +I took to him myself."</p> +<p>"He is a thorough-paced villain," I said. "Is he still in the +town?"</p> +<p>"No, he is at Penolver." (This was the name of the Cludde +estate.) "He is a masterful fellow, too; he dismissed old McTavish, +who has stewarded the estate since Mr. Cludde's death; the poor old +fellow feels it very sorely, for though he is a pretty warm man, +like most of his countrymen here, he won't take no other +stewardship, though he could have one for the asking, but moons +about here in idleness."</p> +<p>"Does Mistress Lucy write to her friends here?" I asked.</p> +<p>"No, and they are displeased at her silence; but I suppose she +thinks it scarce worth while to write when she will soon be here in +person. She will, of course, return to England when the estate is +sold, and is to make a match with her guardian's son, so they say. +My word! he'll be a lucky fellow."</p> +<p>This news of Vetch's presence was staggering. As Sir Richard's +attorney he had, I supposed, full power to administer the estate, +or to sell it if he pleased; but I thought it a monstrous +proceeding if he did this without Mistress Lucy's consent. I had no +belief in his honesty, and suspected that he would take a pretty +picking of the purchase money for himself. The absence of letters +from Mistress Lucy was disquieting. The presence of the man who had +been Cludde's companion in the abduction must be obnoxious to her, +and it seemed strange that she had not written to her friends in +Spanish Town, and had allowed the report of a projected marriage +with Cludde to pass unchecked.</p> +<p>A notion that she might be under some constraint put me in a +ferment, and I resolved to ride to Penolver and see for myself how +matters stood, and to let Vetch know that, even though I could not +dispute his legal status, he would at least have me to reckon with +if he subjected Lucy to any annoyance or duress.</p> +<p>Returning to the port, I begged leave of Captain Vincent to go +for a few days' visit to a friend on the north side of the island, +not acquainting him with any particulars, because I felt that +Mistress Lucy would not like her affairs discussed. He demurred at +first, saying that we could not tell when we might have to put to +sea; but on my reminding him that the work of refitting and +cleaning after the voyage would take some time, and promising to +return within a week, he yielded.</p> +<p>I set off early next morning, being provided by my merchant +friend, Mr. Gurney, with a trusty companion and guide in the person +of a smiling negro. At first I had purposed to ride alone, but my +friend said that, while I had only to follow the direct road for +about half my journey, which could take me through the well-settled +parish of St. John, afterwards I should run great risk of losing my +way in the cockpit country, maybe stumbling upon a settlement of +wild maroons, or stepping into one of the impassable sink holes +whose grass-grown surface gives no warning of the treacherous chasm +below.</p> +<p>We rode till eleven o'clock, when the air became too hot for +comfortable traveling, and entered a rest house kept by a black +friend of my companion. He met us at the door, his face shining +with heat and good temper.</p> +<p>"Good mornin', Massa; hope I see you well," says he. "Hi, Jacob, +where you bin dis long time?"</p> +<p>He led the way most obsequiously into a large room with a sanded +floor. It was cool and dark after the outside air, being shaded +with green jalousies at the windows. I sat down, glad to escape +from the heat, and Jacob went off with the host to enjoy a chat and +prepare me a meal. Drowsy with the warmth, I was half dozing when a +rough voice aroused me with a start.</p> +<p>"Mornin', yer honor."</p> +<p>My eyes being now accustomed to the dim light, I saw a man +seated at a table at the farther end of the room. He was a burly +fellow, with a look of the sea dog about him.</p> +<p>"Good morning," I replied.</p> +<p>"Ridin' far, yer honor?" said the man again.</p> +<p>"Massa Humf'y Bold ridin' jest as far as Missus Cludde's at +Penolver," said my guide, coming at this moment into the room with +a plate of jams and part of a fowl. "Massa Bold a king's officer, +and don't want do no talk wiv common man. Me do talk for +massa."</p> +<p>I laughed at the negro's officiousness, which the man did not +appear to resent. He said nothing more to me, and I soon knew by +his snores that he had fallen asleep.</p> +<p>After a light meal and a long rest, we set off again, and came +at dark to another humble roadside hostelry, where I was glad to +put up for the night. I had not yet gone to sleep when I heard the +trot-trot of a horse, and wondered a little, as the sound died away +in the distance, who could be riding so late. A brilliant moon was +shining, and I thought that perhaps I had done better if I too had +pursued my journey through the night, and rested during the day. +But it was too late to think of that now; I was very tired, and +with the faint sounds of the trotting horse still in my ears I fell +asleep, not awaking till the sun was an hour or two above the +horizon.</p> +<p>'Twas towards evening next day when, after riding through a wild +hilly country, densely clad with tropical vegetation, amid which +the only road was a horse track, my guide told me we were +approaching our journey's end. The road broadened, and by and by +ran between large fields of pasture land. Then we came beneath a +thick grove, and were jogging along carelessly, when my horse +suddenly stumbled and went down with so violent a shock that I was +jerked from the saddle. Before I could get upon my feet, rough +hands seized me, in a trice cords were lashed round me with a +dexterity that identified my captors as seamen, and I was forthwith +hauled along at the heels of as villainous a crew as I had ever +seen. And I knew from sundry moans and howls behind me that Jacob +had been dealt with in like manner.</p> +<h2>Chapter <a name="Ch23" id="Ch23">23</a>: Uncle Moses.</h2> +<p>Since my former kidnapping at Bristowe I had learned that 'tis +mere folly to fly into a rage and rail at fate or your enemies. So, +affecting a cheerful tone, I said:</p> +<p>"Why, sure this is scurvy treatment to deal out to a king's +officer, my friends."</p> +<p>"No friends of yourn," replied one of the men.</p> +<p>Another laughed and said: "Strap me if we ha'n't caught a tolly, +mates."</p> +<p>"Tolly," as I learned afterwards, was the cant name by which +king's officers were known to the buccaneers. The fact that I was +an officer, of which they had apparently been ignorant, seemed to +give the men much pleasure. Some of them, no doubt, had once been +king's men, and knew without any telling the gravity of their +offense. I wasted no more words on them. They took me to a wooden +shanty standing by itself, tied me to a staple in the wall, shut +and padlocked the door, and went away.</p> +<p>Left to myself, I sought for some explanation of this new +addition to the catalogue of my mischances. What were buccaneers +doing on this estate? Had they quitted for the nonce their usual +work of snapping up cargo ships? Had they made a raid upon the +house and served Vetch as they had served me? I had no pity for +him, but the thought of the sore straits in which Mistress Lucy +might be filled me with disquiet and alarm.</p> +<p>And then another explanation flashed into my mind. Was it +possible that the men had been hired by Vetch himself in pursuance +of some villainous scheme for keeping Mistress Lucy in his power? I +thought of this until it became a conviction. Mistress Lucy's +friends in Spanish Town were surprised and hurt at the absence of +news from her; her silence must be due to Vetch. His motive was not +far to seek. Cludde had been boasting of the bride awaiting him in +Jamaica; I could not doubt that Vetch was holding her in durance +until Cludde should arrive, and, her minority having expired, she +could be cajoled or forced into a marriage with him. It was +essential to the success of this piece of villainy that she should +be kept from communication with her friends, and nothing was more +natural than that Vetch should hire a gang of buccaneers to assist +him in accomplishing his end. I marveled at his audacity, and +burned with rage at my utter helplessness.</p> +<p>It did not occur to me at first that Vetch would know who it was +that his hirelings had entrapped. I supposed that he had +established a system of ambushing, so that whoever should arrive at +the place might be prevented, if need were, from having speech with +Mistress Lucy and learning of the restraint in which she was held. +But on considering this matter further I doubted whether even Vetch +would have dared to go this length, for if people came from Spanish +Town and did not return, it would certainly be suspected that +something was wrong, and I could scarcely believe that no notice +would have been taken of it by the authorities, civil or military. +This made my capture the more surprising, for while I did not doubt +that Vetch, if he had heard of my coming, would not scruple to lay +by the heels one who had defeated him in his former design on +Mistress Lucy. I was at a loss to understand how the identity of +his visitor could have become known to him.</p> +<p>I lay awake all night, plagued by the heat and the multitudinous +insects, but still more by my anxieties. In the morning I heard +footsteps approaching, and the door being thrown open, I saw that +my visitor was Vetch himself.</p> +<p>"So 'tis indeed Mr. Humphrey Bold," he said, with a grin of +malice. "I scarce believed in my good fortune. I did not expect to +be honored by a visit from Mr. Humphrey Bold."</p> +<p>I knew not what to say to the insolent wretch who stood smiling +there; 'twas clear that he had expected me, which was very +puzzling, since none but my friend Mr. Gurney in Spanish Town and +Captain Vincent knew of my errand. Then all at once I remembered +the seaman in the hostelry, and my guide's telling him my name, and +the horseman riding by at night; 'twas clear to me now that the man +was a spy of Vetch's, kept on the road for this very purpose of +riding ahead of a visitor and giving intimation of his +approach.</p> +<p>"I need not say," continued Vetch, "how charmed I am to see one +who is endeared to me by many old associations."</p> +<p>"You villain!" I cried, finding my tongue now that I had light +upon his doings. "You have had many lucky escapes, but by heaven +you shall not escape this time."</p> +<p>"Escape!" he said, opening his eyes in feigned astonishment. +"'Tis you who will not escape again!"</p> +<p>"You will release me," I said.</p> +<p>"In my own good time," he answered. "A hothead like you will +benefit by a period of quiet meditation."</p> +<p>"You will release me at once," I said. "You dare not keep me +here. There are those in Spanish Town and Port Royal who know where +I have come: they will seek me if I do not return to the ship +within the expected time, and then you will find a halter round +your neck, Cyrus Vetch."</p> +<p>"Not at all," he said with a bland smile. "A messenger will +leave here tomorrow with a letter saying that my old friend and +schoolfellow, Humphrey Bold, is sick with a fever. He will have +every attention, and a report of his condition shall be sent to his +captain--Captain Vincent, is it not? I fear Mr. Bold may not have +recovered before the fleet sails; it is likely that he may be very +ill indeed; 'tis possible he may die! And Captain Vincent shall +know how tenderly he was nursed--yes, by Mistress Lucy +Cludde--"</p> +<p>"Don't name her name, you hound!" I cried hotly, stung at last +into fury.</p> +<p>"Gently, Mr. Bold," said he; "you will but aggravate your +distemper. Mistress Lucy Cludde will nurse you--in my letter; and +your captain will think it most natural and commendable seeing that +you are her guest, and that it may be regarded there is some slight +relationship between you. And if you should happily recover, why, +she may herself accompany you to port and restore you to your +comrades. But that will not be till I please."</p> +<p>I cried out on him as a scoundrel, though vexed with myself for +such mere windiness of utterance. The truth is, want of sleep and +the discomforts of the night were like to throw me into a real +fever, and the dismay I felt at this possibility helped me to pull +myself together. When I spoke again 'twas calmly, without heat.</p> +<p>"You are playing a fool's game," I said. "You are exceeding your +rights as representative of Sir Richard Cludde, and you may be sure +you will be called to a heavy account if you deal wrongfully with +the estate or its owner. Pull up before it is too late; there are +sundry things against you in England that will not dispose the +courts to show you mercy."</p> +<p>"Hark to him!" cries Vetch with an evil sneer. "He turns +preacher! You fool! Who are you to foist yourself into the concerns +of your betters--a fellow only saved from the gutter by charity! +While the girl is a minor I will deal with this estate as I please; +and when she comes of age, then--"</p> +<p>He paused, an inscrutable look upon his face.</p> +<p>"Then Humphrey Bold may go hang," he said, and with a smile that +made me feel wondrous uneasy he shut the door upon me and +departed.</p> +<p>Of all the mischances I had suffered, this was, I thought, the +most afflicting. In the others it was only myself that was +concerned, and a man who sets out to conquer fortune must expect +his share of buffets by the way. But my own ill hap was as nothing +compared with the dangers I felt to be hovering about Mistress +Lucy, and to know myself helpless when she was in sore need was as +a crushing weight upon my heart.</p> +<p>I was not left long to my reflections. Presently Vetch returned +with two villainous-looking ruffians, seamen by their build, who at +his orders bound my hands behind me and then conveyed me across a +stretch of pasture land to a wooden house that stood in the angle +of a field. They took me up a flight of steps on to a veranda, +through one room into another, furnished with a table, a chair, and +a bed, and there left me.</p> +<p>"I warn you once more," I said to Vetch before he went. "You are +dealing with a king's officer, and if you think this outrage will +go unpunished you are mistaken, and very grievously. And I tell +you, Vetch, that if Mistress Lucy suffer a jot at your hands, +either in herself, or in her property, you shall hang for it, as +sure as my name is Humphrey Bold."</p> +<p>He smiled, swept me a bow and was gone.</p> +<p>The chamber in which I was left was an inner apartment, such as +are common in the houses in Jamaica, enclosed by other rooms, to +defend it from the heat. It had but one door, and was illuminated +by a little window high up in the partition wall. Escape was +impossible save through the door, and I knew by the sound of voices +from without that the two men had been stationed there to keep +guard over me. They brought me some food by and by, one of them +carrying it into the room, the other standing at the door with a +musket in his hand, and I perceived that he had a hanger at his +belt. To attempt to overpower them and escape would be madness; but +I thought it might not be impossible to prevail on them by means of +a bribe to help me, and with that ultimate design I resolved to +open friendly communications with them.</p> +<p>"What house is this?" I said.</p> +<p>"Look 'ee, master, drink your bumbo and say nought," he +growled.</p> +<p>"Come, come," I said pleasantly, "you are a tar, as any one can +see, and as good a seaman, I doubt not, as ever slept upon +foc's'le. Two years ago I was a swab myself--"</p> +<p>"Splutter and oons!" cried the man, interrupting me, "who be you +a-calling swab, I'd like to know!"</p> +<p>"No offense," I said, "I was just going to tell you of the fun +we had, my mates and I, when we were prisoners in France, and how +we escaped and had a running fight with Duguay-Trouin--"</p> +<p>"That's a good un!" he cried.</p> +<p>"Hark to him, Jack: says he had a fight with Doggy Trang."</p> +<p>"Let's hear about it," cries the man he had called Jack.</p> +<p>Whereupon I launched out into the story of our escape, made them +laugh heartily by my description of our dealings with the French +captain, and so brought them, as I thought, to a more reasonable +temper.</p> +<p>"And now, seeing that we're in a manner shipmates, you won't +refuse to answer a simple question, I'm sure," I said. "What house +is this?"</p> +<p>"No harm in that, Bill," says Jack. "'Tis the house of the +second overseer of this 'ere plantation, and much good may it do +you to know it."</p> +<p>Having thus broken the ice, I succeeded, before I had finished +my meal, in drawing sundry other information out of them. I learned +that the place of my imprisonment was some two miles from Mistress +Lucy's house, being situate at the extreme verge of the sugar +plantation. The men knew nothing about Mistress Lucy, or of what +went on at the house, having recently been brought up by Vetch, +along with a dozen or more shipmates, from a brig belonging to +their employer that now lay in a cove on the north of the island +some ten miles away. They made no bones about acknowledging that +they had formed part of the crew of a buccaneer vessel and had been +hired by Vetch for a month's service on shore, which suited them +very well, since they had nothing to do, good pay, and were given a +liberal allowance of bumbo, which was, I discovered, a concoction +of rum and water, sugar and nutmeg.</p> +<p>"Well, now," says I, thinking the time had come for my proposal, +"I don't ask you what pay you are getting, but whatever it is, I +will double it if you'll let me loose, and help me to get down to +Spanish Town."</p> +<p>"Come up, now!" says Bill, "d'ye think to gammon us? We know +what a lieutenant's wages is, we do, and 'twould take a dozen of +you together to pay us enough for that there job."</p> +<p>"And you shall have it," I said.</p> +<p>"Ay, and a dose of irons into the bargain," said the man. "No, +no; we don't want no lobsters up from Spanish Town; not if we know +it.</p> +<p>"Besides, we knows what king's officers be, don't we, Jack?</p> +<p>"We've bin on king's ships, Lord love you, and we knows where +the pay goes to. Once you get to Spanish Town you'd forget all +about us; we've bin done like that afore."</p> +<p>And then what must I do but produce a handful of silver and show +it them as earnest of my promise. I could not have done a stupider +thing. At the sight of the money the men fell upon me, and emptied +my pocket (despite my resistance) of every stiver it contained; so +that I was now, as once before in my life, bare of everything save +my clothes and Cludde's crown piece, which was hidden under my +shirt. Then, with many a chuckle, the scoundrels left me, to +meditate on the exceeding folly of trying to make terms with +buccaneers.</p> +<p>So three days passed. I was never allowed to quit my room; Jack +and Bill guarded it by day, two other men by night. I became more +and more miserable and anxious. I could get no news from my +jailers, nor did I ever see the overseer in whose house I was; and +I suffered from a constant dread that Vetch's plans, whatever they +were, were maturing, and that it would soon be too late for any +intervention.</p> +<p>On the third night of my imprisonment in the overseer's house +(the fourth since my arrival) I was very restless. My enforced +inactivity, and the lack of fresh air, were producing the natural +effect; every night I slept less, waking frequently, to toss and +heave until I sank again into a troubled slumber.</p> +<p>In one of these intervals, I heard a scratching sound--just such +a sound as a mouse makes behind the wainscot. I had not noticed it +before, and it caused me nothing but irritation now, for when a man +is wakeful, such sounds, however slight they may be, become +magnified to his overstrung nerves. I endured the sound for a time; +then shooed to scare the gnawing animal away. But it did not desist +for an instant, and at last, vexed beyond measure, I got out of +bed, groped my way to the spot whence I thought the sound proceeded +(it seemed to come from the floor) and stamped heavily on the +boards.</p> +<p>My action was heard by the men outside the door, and one of them +cried out angrily to know what I was about.</p> +<p>"'Tis a wretched mouse will not let me sleep," I replied.</p> +<p>"And what can you expect, you fool, when your room's over an +empty stable?" he said. "Curse me! what a fresh-water fair-weather +fowl you be!"</p> +<p>The scratching having ceased, I went back to bed. But in a few +moments it recommenced, at what seemed to be a spot nearer to me, +and, marveling somewhat at the persistence of the beast (for a +mouse is easily scared), I covered my head, and so endeavored to +shut out the annoyance.</p> +<p>I think I must have dozed again, for suddenly I found myself +sitting bolt upright, straining my ears as a man does when he is +suddenly wakened from sleep and is not sure whether 'twas by an +actual sound or by a sound heard in dream. And in a moment my doubt +was resolved; assuredly I heard a sound, and 'twas like a human +voice, but muffled. I listened intently; it appeared to come from +beneath me. While I was wondering who could have chosen the stable +as a place for conversation in the dead of night I could have sworn +(though half-believing it must be an hallucination) that I beard my +own name. In a trice I was out of bed, and groping my way under it, +my hand struck against something projecting from the floor, and at +the same moment I heard distinctly, and as it were in my very ear, +a low whisper, "Massa Bold, Massa Bold!"</p> +<p>"Who is there?" I whispered in return, and, clutching the thing +my hand had touched, I felt it move.</p> +<p>I tightened my grasp upon it; it was round, and as I discovered +by laying my other hand upon its top, hollow. Struck by a sudden +thought I bent my face down, and whispered again into the hole, +"Who is there?" afterwards turning my ear upon it.</p> +<p>"Massa Bold, lill Missy sends a letter."</p> +<p>The words came clearly up the tube.</p> +<p>"Me poke it up," said the voice again.</p> +<p>I withdrew my ear, and waited in a tense breathlessness of +amazement. Then I heard a slight rustling, and placing my hand on +the tube, I felt a small piece of paper thrust against it. Grasping +this, all my frame thrilling with excitement, I whispered +again:</p> +<p>"Who are you?"</p> +<p>"Me Uncle Moses," said the voice. "Good night, sah; come again +tomorrow."</p> +<p>And then all was silent.</p> +<p>Picture if you can my state of mind as I crept back into my bed +and lay down again, the precious note in my hand. I was trembling +with happiness: Lucy knew of my presence, and had written to me. +And yet I was doomed to lie in a tantalizing impatience until the +dawn should give me leave to read her message. I had no more sleep +that night, wonderment, conjecture, pleasure, hope, setting up a +whirl in my brain.</p> +<p>As soon as there was the faintest tremor in the darkness I sat +up and, unfolding the paper, sought vainly to decipher it. Never +had time seemed so long to me as I waited for the oncoming of the +beneficent light of day. And at last, lifting the paper almost to +my eyes, I was able to make out the words.</p> +<p>'Twas in French, and I blessed the chance which enabled me to +understand it, and the woman's wit that had prompted Lucy to choose +this disguise. She said she had learned of what had happened +through the gossip of the servants; the man who had heard my name +in the rest house had mentioned it. She told me that she was +virtually a prisoner. She knew not what Vetch intended (she did not +name him, but wrote of him as <i>cet homme mechant</i>), but she +was kept under strict surveillance; her movements were dogged; and +though she had three times endeavored to make her escape along with +the old nurse who had accompanied her from England, she had always +been prevented, and those who had assisted her had been terribly +punished. Uncle Moses, her father's bodyservant, who was devoted to +her, had been whipped almost to death, and she dared make no +further attempt, for the sake of the poor black people.</p> +<p>Dick Cludde had come up from Spanish Town, she told me, and +crushing down her repugnance to meet him, she had besought him to +interpose. He had seemed troubled, and had gone away, as she +thought, to plead with Vetch, but she had not seen him again. It +was after that that she had heard of my imprisonment. She thanked +me for coming to help her; she knew that was my purpose; had I not +helped her before? and she prayed that I might find some means of +escaping, so that I might take her away and save her from the +wicked man who had her in his power.</p> +<p>I ground my teeth as I read all this, and vowed that if I could +but get free I would wreak a vengeance on Vetch that he would not +easily forget. But the knowledge of my impotence wrought me to a +pitch of fury that for a time almost bereft me of my senses, and I +could only rage and fume in desperate misery. My guardians, when +they came in to attend to my wants, seemed to be conscious of my +state of mind; they eyed me with suspicion, and the man at the door +took up his musket ostentatiously, though neither said a word to +me.</p> +<p>After a time my passion subsided, and with recovered calmness I +saw that my only chance of doing anything for Lucy depended on my +patience and self restraint. I waited eagerly for night. The negro +had said that he would come again, and this could only mean that +Lucy had some hope of our being able between us to devise some +means of escape. The man ran a great risk; if the buccaneers heard +us speaking they would discover him, and then all hope would be +lost. Fervently as I longed to hear his voice again, I was consumed +with anxiety lest he should come too soon, or that by some +accident, some incautious movement, he might reveal his +presence.</p> +<p>The day passed and when I went to bed I lay in restless +impatience, straining my ears to catch the slightest whisper, and +starting up several times in the belief that I heard him. At last, +when all was silent save for the heavy breathing of the men outside +the door, I caught the faint sound made by the pushing of the tube +(a length of sugar cane, as I afterwards learned) through the hole +he had bored in the double floor. I stole noiselessly out of bed, +and crept cautiously to the place beneath it.</p> +<p>"Is that you, Moses?" I whispered.</p> +<p>"Yes, massa, me's here."</p> +<p>"Is Mistress Lucy well?"</p> +<p>"Welly miserable, sah. Missy say Massa Bold take care; she say +'God bless Massa.'"</p> +<p>Inwardly I blessed her for her thought of me; then I said:</p> +<p>"We must both be careful, Moses. Now, I must escape from this, +and you must help me."</p> +<p>"Yes, Massa, me want to help, but dere is no way for po' Uncle +Moses."</p> +<p>"We must find a way; we must," I said in a fierce whisper. +"Could you come up and help me if I burst open the door? Are you +strong? Could you knock a man down?"</p> +<p>"Me plenty strong, sah, but what good dat? Massa might get away, +but what den?"</p> +<p>"Why, we could get among the trees in the darkness, and you +could lead me to the road, and perhaps find me a horse, so that I +could ride to Spanish Town."</p> +<p>"No, no, sah, me berry much 'fraid in dark, sah. Me shake like +leaf now, sah; but in forest, wiv de bugaboos, me melt all away to +water."</p> +<p>I had heard of the dread with which the negroes regarded the +bugaboos, the evil spirits of the woods, and knew that there was +but a poor chance of escaping if my guide were in a state of panic +terror. Moses had shown unusual courage in coming alone in the +darkness to the stable beneath me, and there was a tremor in his +voice which showed that even now but little was wanted to make him +go howling away. I thought it best not to risk so inopportune and +fatal a calamity, so I bade him go away and come again next night, +by which time I hoped to have been able to think out a plan that +offered reasonable prospects of success.</p> +<h2>Chapter <a name="Ch24" id="Ch24">24</a>: I Make A Bid For +Liberty.</h2> +<p>I slept heavily when Uncle Moses had gone, making up for my +wakefulness the night before; and next day I was more composed in +mind, and readier to take thought. Ignorant as I was of the +plantation and the country round, I saw that to escape in the night +without a guide would be to court disaster, and a timorous guide +like Uncle Moses, with his fear of the bugaboos, might lead me to +my undoing. Therefore my flight must be contrived by day. The door +of my chamber was opened three times, when the guards brought me +food, and 'twas possible that, with the negro making a diversion +outside, I might seize such an occasion to fell one of the men and +evade the other. But this plan scarce promised success, for the +house was situate in the sugar plantation, and doubtless many +negroes would be at work, and the overseer would be at hand, with +possibly others of the piratical dogs whom Vetch had brought up +from the coast.</p> +<p>There was one period of the day, however, when few people, if +any, would be astir, and that was the middle part from eleven till +about three, when work ceased, everybody seeking shelter from the +heat. I could reckon on my guards being sleepy and sluggish then; +and, moreover, seeing that during several days I had given them no +trouble, they would be quite unprepared for any violent outbreak. +True, my door was always locked, but looking at it, I did not doubt +that if I threw myself upon it with all my strength it would give +way. And if Uncle Moses had the courage at the same time to tackle +the men, there was a chance that we might seize their arms and make +good our escape before they had recovered from their surprise. At +any rate, I saw nothing better.</p> +<p>Being resolved on this first step, I had to consider the next. +What should I do if I escaped? Should I endeavor to make my way to +Spanish Town and return with a force of tars, or of soldiers from +Collingwood's regiment then in garrison, sufficient to deal with +Vetch's desperadoes? This idea I soon dismissed. I felt that time +was of the greatest moment. I did not know the exact date of +Mistress Lucy's coming of age, but 'twas very clear that it was not +far distant; it might be, indeed, within a few days, and I had such +a belief in Vetch's villainy that I feared he might force Lucy into +a marriage with Cludde the very moment she was free from the +authority of the Chancery Court. Cludde had arrived, I remembered, +and was perhaps still at the house awaiting the day of Lucy's +enfranchisement, and I clenched my fists at the thought.</p> +<p>It would take me a full day on a swift horse to reach Spanish +Town, even if I rode at peril of sunstroke through the hot hours, +and another day, perhaps two or three, to return with assistance; +and it was in the highest degree unlikely, first that I should be +able to get a horse, and if I did, to ride the whole length of the +estate without being intercepted. And further, supposing all +happened as favorably as I could wish, at the news of my flight +Vetch would without question carry off Mistress Lucy to the brig +that lay on the coast, and would sail to England or elsewhere, +secure in the knowledge that I could not pursue him.</p> +<p>I can relate the course of my reasoning in cold blood now, but +on that day of anxious pondering every other consideration was +outweighed by the feeling that I must not go far from Mistress +Lucy. And so I resolved that if I got free I would ask Uncle Moses +to lead me to some spot near by, difficult of access, where I might +lurk while concerting some means of assisting her. It passed my wit +to conceive of any plan that promised success; but certainly I +could do nothing while a prisoner, and to be free was my one +consuming desire.</p> +<p>How impatiently I waited for the dark needs no telling. And some +words I overheard pass between my jailors, as they talked over +their supper, drove me to such a state of desperation that I had +almost there and then dashed myself against the door and ruined +everything.</p> +<p>"'Twill be summat new for Parson Jim," says Jack.</p> +<p>"Ay, 'tis many a year since he tied a knot o' that sort," +replied the other.</p> +<p>"D'ye reckon he can tie it safe and proper, seeing he bean't no +more a parson?" asked Jack.</p> +<p>"Never you fear," says Bill; "once a parson always a parson, as +I've heard tell. 'Tis no matter he's a swab and a tosspot like you +and me, only worse, and fit for nothing but a Newgate galley; he'll +read the words o' the book, if so be he's sober enough to see 'em +(though to be sure his talk is always most pious when he's drunk), +and they'll be lawful man and wife, same as if they'd bin spliced +by the Pope of Rome himself."</p> +<p>This wrought me into a very fever of apprehension. I could only +guess who Parson Jim might be; the buccaneers gathered all manner +of strange recruits; it was enough that there was talk of a +marriage, and I was sick with dread lest after all I should be too +late. And when at last I heard the welcome rustle below me, the +first words I spoke through the tube were an anxious inquiry for +Lucy's welfare.</p> +<p>"Missy lots better now, sah," replied the negro, and with the +vanity of youth I inferred that she was better for the knowledge +that I was near.</p> +<p>"Is Mr. Cludde at the house?" I asked.</p> +<p>"No, sah; Massa Cludde gone yesterday."</p> +<p>That was good news, at any rate, for I supposed him to have +returned to Spanish Town, perhaps to make preparations for his +wedding, and it must be four or five days at earliest before he +could be back.</p> +<p>"And when is Mistress Lucy's birthday?" I asked.</p> +<p>"Missy's bufday Friday, Massa, but oughter be Fursday."</p> +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> +<p>"Missy keep bufday one day after proper time, sah, cos her +muvver die on proper bufday, and Massa and Missy too sorry to be +jolly dat day, sah."</p> +<p>"Does Mr. Vetch know that?" I asked, with no little anxiety, for +'twas Tuesday night, and if Vetch knew that Lucy came of age on +Thursday the time was perilously short.</p> +<p>"No, sah; Massa Vetch t'ink de proper bufday be Friday, and he +hab told all de black people dey shall get drunk Saturday, 'cos +dere will be wedding in de house."</p> +<p>There was confirmation of the suspicion my jailors' talk had +bred in me. I lost no time now in imparting my plan to the negro. +He gave a low groan when I had finished.</p> +<p>"What's the matter?" I said. "Are you afraid?"</p> +<p>"Yes, Massa, I am 'fraid. S'pose we get away, dere be dogs at +the big house, and dey will let 'em loose on us and follow on +horseback. We shall be cotched, and dat will be de last of po' +Uncle Moses."</p> +<p>This was a staggering blow, and I own I felt for the moment an +utter despair. In the depths of the forest land, could we but gain +it, we might elude the search of men, but not the unerring scent of +bloodhounds.</p> +<p>"Are there horses we could make off with?" I said at length.</p> +<p>"No, Massa; all de horses but two at de big house be gwine to +take sugar to de coast tomorrow, and dose two are kept for Missy +and Massa Vetch."</p> +<p>This had an element of comfort in it, for if we could not find +horses for ourselves, neither could our pursuers, save these two, +which might not be at hand, and I did not doubt we could outstrip +any man on foot. I pointed this out to the negro, and when he +replied that we had still to reckon with the dogs, I tried to +hearten him by showing that some time must elapse before the beasts +could be fetched from their kennel and put upon the scent. And then +I asked him whether slaves had never run away from the estate +without being caught.</p> +<p>"Not when old Massa was alive, nor yet when Massa McTavish was +de boss; but some did run 'way when Massa Vetch come, and dey was +not cotched."</p> +<p>"Well, then, why should not we do the same? Do you know where +they hid?"</p> +<p>"In de swamp six mile 'way," he said.</p> +<p>"Yes, dat is it," he added, with a new eagerness in his tone, +"we will run to de swamp. I never thought of Massa going where de +niggers go. De dogs will not run on de swamp 'cos dey 'fraid of +being drownded."</p> +<p>"Then how can we?" I asked, wondering.</p> +<p>"I know all about dat, Massa," he said. "De slaves what run way +dey wear swamp shoes. I make some for massa and me, and den if we +get dere befo' de dogs cotch us, we shall be safe."</p> +<p>I was getting desperately uneasy lest our whispered +conversation, which had lengthened itself out, should be heard by +my jailors. So I now brought it to an end by reminding Uncle Moses +of the part he was to play on the morrow and giving him a message +to Mistress Lucy.</p> +<p>"Tell her that with God's help I shall be free tomorrow, and beg +her to shut herself in her room, and see no one. If mortal man can +save her, she shall be saved."</p> +<p>And ere I went to sleep I prayed very fervently that all might +be well with us and her.</p> +<p>When morning broke, I was conscious of a great agitation of +mind, which I schooled myself to hide from the eyes of my guards, +forcing myself to eat the breakfast for which I had no appetite. It +would have eased me to pace up and down my room, but I forbore even +from this, so that no restlessness might provoke their curiosity or +suspicion. I sat for hours on my bed, awaiting the time for our +attempt. The men brought me my midday meal: one of them made a +brutal remark on my pallor; and then the door was shut, and they +settled themselves to their usual siesta.</p> +<p>'Twas about an hour later when I heard the tube pushed up +through the hole in the floor. Uncle Moses was below. The critical +moment for which I had been longing was come, and my limbs trembled +uncontrollably, as they had not done since the time when I saw my +first sea fight on the deck of the Dolphin. As we had arranged, I +allowed time for the negro to mount the steps and come through the +veranda into the room adjoining. Then, gathering my strength, I +took three strides across my chamber and dashed my right shoulder +against the door. It flew outwards with a crash, the force of my +impact being such that the lock tore a great piece out of the +jamb.</p> +<p>I rushed blindly into the next room, and lost a few moments in +the endeavor to grasp the scene. But my jailors lost more, for the +crash had wakened them from a sound sleep and, seamen though they +were, the event was so sudden and unexpected that they were taken +perfectly aback, and were still looking about them in a dazed +bewilderment when Uncle Moses and I threw ourselves upon them. We +got them just as they were staggering to their feet. A blow from my +fist sent one spinning against the wall; at the same moment the +negro, whom I had barely yet seen, caught the other man by the +middle and, by a feat of strength which amazed me, hurled him +through the doorway into the room I had just quitted. I hoped they +were stunned; we could not wait to see, and we had no means of +binding them.</p> +<p>The noise must have awakened everybody in the house; indeed, I +heard shouts from the rear; no doubt the overseer, and the two +buccaneers who had been on guard during the night, would in a few +moments be upon the scene. Snatching up the men's muskets and +bandoliers that lay on a bench against the wall, we dashed into the +veranda, sprang down the steps, and made off across the +plantation.</p> +<p>We had not run a hundred yards when we heard a bellow behind us, +and, turning, I saw a man at the head of the steps lighting the +match for his musket. I was pleased at this, for it would give us +another hundred yards' start before he could fire. The muskets of +these days can not boast of great precision, but those of fifty +years ago were infinitely more cumbersome and clumsy, so that I did +not fear he would hit us, unless by some unlucky chance. And +indeed, when his weapon flashed, we were quite two hundred and +fifty yards away, and the slug went very wide. He would have done +better, I thought, to pursue us at once on foot.</p> +<p>But as we sped on side by side, I heard a great horn blast that +seemed to set the welkin ablaze. 'Twas the signal that a slave had +run away, and I could not doubt that Vetch would immediately +suspect what had actually happened. Before long, beyond question, +he would be hot upon our traces.</p> +<p>"How far to the forest?" I asked of the negro.</p> +<p>"More'n a mile, massa," he replied.</p> +<p>And then, as I ran, I looked more closely at the man whom fate +had made my comrade in this desperate adventure. He was an older +man than I had expected; very powerfully made, as his cast of the +buccaneer had proved; but his hair was white, and, short as was the +distance we had run, I could see that he would soon be laboring for +breath. But it was two miles to the big house, as he had called +Mistress Lucy's abode, and I did not despair of reaching the edge +of forest land before Vetch could make up on us, even if he started +the very moment he heard the alarm. If once we gained the forest, +we might perhaps blind our trail in a stream, and so gain time +enough for our further flight to the swamp.</p> +<p>We were running on a broad track that divided the sugar +plantation, and here and there negro laborers who had been roused +from their noontide sleep by the horn blast and the shot rose up to +see what was afoot. None of them offered to interfere. They stared +at us for the most part in silence, one or two of the older people +crying out that it was Uncle Moses on the run, and wondering at his +companion being a white man.</p> +<p>I took little note of them, for I was already anxious on behalf +of the old negro. We had six miles to go; could he hold out? 'Twas +two miles from the big house to the house we had left; a horseman +could cover the distance in little longer than it would take us to +reach the forest; and then we should have but one mile start in a +race of six. The odds were heavily against even me, in strong and +lusty youth; how much more heavily against Uncle Moses, who was +perhaps three times my age!</p> +<p>Already I was slackening my pace to keep with him. And we were +cumbered with the muskets we had seized--heavy weapons, and, when I +came to think of it, likely to prove of little use to us, for we +could not pause in the race to light matches, nor, once they were +discharged, should we have time to recharge them. Yet I dared not +suggest we should fling them down; they were our only weapons save +for a knife that Uncle Moses carried at his belt, and perchance if +it came to a fight at close quarters we could wield them with some +effect as clubs. So we pounded on, saying never a word, I +husbanding my breath, the negro panting hard.</p> +<p>We came to the edge of the forest land bordering the estate, and +when we had plunged into it for some little distance Moses was fain +to stop to recover his wind.</p> +<p>"Dey hab not started yet, massa," he gasped.</p> +<p>"How do you know?" I asked.</p> +<p>"'Cos dere is no sound of de dogs," he replied.</p> +<p>"Should we hear them three miles away?"</p> +<p>"Oh, yes, massa; de wind carry de sound miles and miles."</p> +<p>"We have luck on our side, then. Can you run again?"</p> +<p>"Yes, massa. Po' Uncle Moses hain't no chicken now, but he +hain't done yet."</p> +<p>And then we set off again through the forest, at a more moderate +pace now, for the way ran no longer clear. The word "forest" to a +stay-at-home means a tract of soft, springy turf, with tall trees +and pleasant glades and clumps of bracken that shelter rabbits and +other small creatures of the woodland. But the forest of the West +Indies bears to our English forest the relation of a giant to a +dwarf. The fronds of the bracken grow to feet where we have inches; +weeds that with us would shelter a mouse would there oonceal an +elephant, and a creeping plant which in England would delay a man +only while he kicked its tendrils aside grows in Jamaica to such a +strength and tanglement that it would obstruct the passage of a +troop of horse.</p> +<p>This was somewhat in our favor. We could run where horses might +not. But I took little comfort from this, for where we went the +dogs would certainly follow. And we had not gone above a mile, as I +reckoned, when the howling sound came to our ears--a deep-toned +baying, faint and mellow, stealing through the umbrageous foliage +like the horns of some fairy host. The hounds had found our +scent.</p> +<p>Uncle Moses groaned. Doubtless he knew full well the fate of +unhappy slaves who had been recaptured in flight. He quickened his +strides for some yards, then, stopping, he held his hand to his +side and begged me to go on alone.</p> +<p>"But I can not," I said. "I do not know the way; and besides, I +will not leave you. Give me your musket. We have still a good +start, and after you have rested a little you will be able to run +again."</p> +<p>I took his musket, and when we set off again we were lucky to +come upon a stream swirling athwart our track. We stepped into this +and walked through the water for some distance, until we had, as I +thought, effectually blinded our trail. And no doubt it was so, but +Uncle Moses told me that it would only delay our pursuers for a +little; they knew the direction of the haven for which we were +making, and even if the dogs were at fault the horsemen would still +press on. We wasted no more time in deflecting from our course for +any such vain manoeuvers, but ran straight on.</p> +<p>Alas! the old man's strength was failing. He staggered, and but +for my arm would have fallen. I think his collapse was due partly +to terror, for the baying of the hounds was growing upon our ears; +the pursuers were gaining fast upon us. I had perforce to wait +patiently until the poor negro had somewhat recovered, and +meanwhile the deep-mouthed baying sounded ever nearer, and the +precious minutes were fleeting by. When we set off once more 'twas +at little above a walking pace, and every moment I dreaded the +appearance of the pursuers at our heels. And I noticed with alarm +that the forest was thinning; apparently we should soon reach open +country, and lose what little advantage we had in being out of our +enemy's sight.</p> +<p>I asked anxiously whether 'twould not be better for us to turn +aside into the thickets and try to hide; peradventure the dogs and +the horsemen would go past. But the negro said 'twould be useless; +we could not deceive the dogs, and we should be no safer than rats +in a barn.</p> +<p>We had come to the end of what would in England be called a +glen--a narrow gorge, with shelving banks rising to the height of +some ninety feet, and overgrown with shrubs and creeping plants. No +doubt in the rainy season 'twas the bed of a torrent; the bottom +was sandy and pebbly, and hard to the feet. We had gone but a +little way along it when Uncle Moses sank down, and, looking at his +livid face, his panting nostrils and starting eyes, I feared that +the hand of death was upon him. 'Twas clear that he was utterly +spent; he could not even stagger to the farther end of the gorge; +and with the bitter pangs of despair I heard the fierce baying of +the hounds, and had almost resigned myself to the inevitable +end.</p> +<p>I glanced round to see whether the pursuers were in sight. I +saw, not them, but something which flashed a wild hope through me. +Some little distance back a tree hung over the sandy bottom, its +roots partially laid bare by the washing of the stream which had +now disappeared. The trunk was inclined at a sharp angle; but +little force would be needed, I thought, to topple it over until it +lay athwart the path which the pursuers must follow. Its foliage +was thick, and though I did not flatter myself 'twould put an end +to the pursuit, I thought it might serve as a check, and enable +Uncle Moses to gain strength enough for a last attempt.</p> +<p>Dropping the muskets by the negro's side, I ran down the gorge, +scrambled up the bank to the base of the tree, and swarmed along +the trunk to the farthest extremity. It was a tall tree, of a kind +I did not know, and my weight upon its tapering top must have +exerted a considerable force upon its loosened lower end. Catching +a branch that seemed strong enough to bear me, I dropped with a +jerk. There was a movement of the trunk, and I heard a wrenching +sound below, but the roots still held fast. I climbed up again with +the quickness I had learned at sea, and again threw myself +down.</p> +<p>This time I produced the effect I desired; the roots gave way, +and in a moment I found myself on the ground, somewhat scratched +and bruised, but sound of bone and limb. The fallen tree lay full +across the gorge, its foliage completely filling the space, save +for a narrow gap between it and the ground, through which a man or +a dog might crawl, but not a horse.</p> +<p>I ran back to Uncle Moses, lifted him to his feet, and, +assisting him with one hand, the muskets clasped in the other, I +led him up the gorge with what haste I might. We had gone but a +little way when I heard the shouts of men mingled with the baying +of the hounds, and immediately afterwards these latter forced their +way beneath the tree and ran with lolling tongues towards us. +Knowing nothing of the ways of bloodhounds, I expected the two dogs +would fly at our throats like foxhounds at a fox, and I loosed the +negro's arm and stood with musket upraised to defend myself and +him. But to my surprise Uncle Moses called to them by name, and +they answered him with a bark and fawned on him.</p> +<p>"Dey won't hurt us," he said. "Dey hab done their work; dey lub +po' Uncle Moses."</p> +<p>"Will they come with us?" I asked, with wondering delight.</p> +<p>"Dey will do anyt'ing for Uncle Moses," he replied.</p> +<p>"Then let us get away into the forest again as soon as we can, +and take them with us. How far is the swamp now?"</p> +<p>"'Bout a mile, Massa."</p> +<p>"Come, then; we may have time to get to it before the men can +overtake us. They cannot get their horses over the tree."</p> +<p>And we made off, the dogs accompanying us willingly, in spite of +the cries and calls of the baffled horsemen on the other side of +the tree. Issuing from the gorge, we struck into the forest, and +heard our pursuers cursing us and the dogs as they tried to follow +us. By the help of my arm Uncle Moses managed to struggle along, +and after about a quarter of an hour we came to the edge of the +swamp.</p> +<p>Then he took from his back, where they had been strapped, two +pairs of shoes in shape similar to those which our trappers in +America adopted from the Indians for marching over snow, but +slighter and shorter. These we donned, the negro showing me how to +fasten mine, and then we stepped on to the morass, the oozy red +soil squelching beneath our feet. The hounds came with us for a few +yards, but, the ground becoming softer the farther we went from the +edge, they halted, whined as though loath to part from friends, and +then ran back to meet Vetch and one of his buccaneers, who stood +helpless at the brink. They fired at us, but we were already out of +range, and with the sound of their execrations still in our ears we +trudged slowly but steadily towards the other side of the +swamp.</p> +<h2>Chapter <a name="Ch25" id="Ch25">25</a>: I Spend Cludde's Crown +Piece.</h2> +<p>Thankful as I was for my wondrous escape, my mind still misgave +me, both as to our own ultimate safety and as to what might befall +Mistress Lucy. I did not know the extent of the swamp, and maybe +Vetch and his companion would go back for their horses and, +circling round it, circumvent us. Uncle Moses relieved my fears on +this score, telling me that, while the swamp was little more than +half a mile across, it stretched laterally for several miles, and +we should reach the haven whither we were making long before the +swiftest horses could complete the circuit.</p> +<p>On the other point, the well being of Mistress Lucy, he could +give me no reassurance. 'Twas Wednesday: she came of age tomorrow; +even if Vetch was not aware of this, but believed that Friday, the +day of her birthday celebrations, was the actual birthday, it gave +us terribly little time to concert any movements on her behalf. And +so my joy of having recovered my freedom was tempered by +uneasiness.</p> +<p>It was heavy going across this sagging morass. Uncle Moses told +me that we were in no danger of sinking into it so long as we took +short and rapid steps; but we were both mightily fatigued, and my +feet as I lifted them seemed heavy as lead. The negro was in far +worse case than I, and had I not grasped him firmly by the arm and +fairly pulled him along, I think he would never have gained the +other side. Towards the middle the surface of the swamp was nothing +but liquid ooze, and once or twice, in spite of our swamp shoes, we +sank in it up to the ankles. But at length we reached more solid +ground; then Uncle Moses said we must strike off to the right, and +after a tramp of two miles or thereabouts we should come to a +well-concealed spot where he had no doubt we should find fugitives +of his color.</p> +<p>As we neared the place he put his fingers to his mouth and blew +a whistle of three quick notes that reminded me of the piping of a +thrush. And immediately I started back: a black man had risen +almost from beneath our feet. So well hidden was he in a +low-growing bush that we might have passed within a yard of him and +been none the wiser. I perceived that he carried a long knife in +his hand.</p> +<p>"Hi, Sam!" said Uncle Moses, stepping in advance of me.</p> +<p>I stood leaning on one of the muskets while the two men spoke +together in tones too low to reach my ears. But I knew from his +gestures and his manner of looking at me that the stranger was +loath to comply with the request Uncle Moses was putting to him. +His demeanor said, as plainly as words, that he distrusted me; I +was a white man, and doubtless the poor runagate had too much +reason to regard all white men as his enemies. But Uncle Moses took +him by the arm and appeared to plead with him; and by and by the +man left us and went away.</p> +<p>"Him gone to ask his brudders if we may go where dey are," said +Uncle Moses, coming to my side.</p> +<p>Then he flung himself on the ground and lay at full length upon +his face, with his arms outstretched in an attitude of utter +prostration. I sat down by him, clasping my knees, and mused with +down-bent head.</p> +<p>After what seemed a long while the negro returned and told us +that we might accompany him. He led us back toward the swamp, +threading his way through the rank vegetation along an invisible +path that wound about like the coils of a snake in most bewildering +wise. But it was firm to the tread, and his bare feet had no need +of swamp shoes. Finally we came to a little island copse slightly +above the general level, and there, well screened from view, we +found a group of about a dozen negroes. They had constructed for +themselves little huts of grass and branches of trees, and in the +midst a pot was boiling on a fire of sticks. They cried a greeting +to Uncle Moses, and I was not a little amazed when one of them came +grinning up to me and said:</p> +<p>"Massa Bold, we bofe free now. Huh! dat debbil nebber cotch us +no mo'."</p> +<p>'Twas Jacob, the man who had escorted me from Spanish Town and +been captured with me. He told me that he had been put to work in +the plantation, but had run away on the second day, along with +another man.</p> +<p>"Dat him ober dere," he said, pointing to a burly, +pleasant-featured negro who was in close conversation with Moses. +"Dat Noah! Ah! he hab drefful time--pufeckly drefful, 'cos he help +Missy."</p> +<p>"What did he do?" I asked, feeling a most friendly disposition +towards a man who had done anything for Lucy.</p> +<p>"She want to run away, too," he said; "ebery one want to run +away. She got on horse, and Noah was leading her round about, but +dey cotched him, and den, oh, lor', didn't dey jest beat him!</p> +<p>"Say, Noah, show Massa Bold your po' back."</p> +<p>The man left Uncle Moses, and, coming to me, turned about (he +was naked to the waist) and displayed to my sickened gaze a score +of long, raw wounds upon his back. They had begun to heal; I +learned that his companions had anointed them with grease, and +plastered them with leaves from a plant that grew abundantly in the +forest.</p> +<p>"Dat is what Massa Vetch do," he said with a dark look, "and his +friend he look on and cry to him to gib me mo'. He say, teach me a +lesson, and I learn it--oh, yes, I learn it. And now I show how to +teach lesson back."</p> +<p>His pleasant face was darkened with a glare of utter +savagery.</p> +<p>"Black man can teach jest as good as white. Come 'long o' me, +massa; I show massa somet'ing."</p> +<p>Wondering, I followed him past the huts, through the copse, into +a little clearing, when I saw a white man stripped to the shirt and +tightly bound to a tree.</p> +<p>"Dat is him!" cried Noah excitedly. "Dat is de white debbil what +say gib me mo'. I teach him lesson: he nebber want no mo'."</p> +<p>His tone already sent a shiver through me, but as he went on to +explain the nature of the lesson he intended, I shuddered with +horror.</p> +<p>"Dis berry night we burn him up!" he cried. "Massa Bold see? We +tie him up to de bough of de tree, and we light a lill fire, jest a +lill one, and first it warm his feet, and den it get bigger, and +creep up and up, and bimeby it come to his head, and den he burn +all up. Oh, yes; dat is a proper lesson for white debbils to +learn!"</p> +<p>"You will not do anything so horrible!" I murmured.</p> +<p>"Hobbible! Hain't my back hobbible? He laugh when he see ole +whip come whisk! whisk! on my po' back; well, den, I laugh when I +see de fire go creep, creep, and when I hear him holler. Oh, yes, +it will be a proper lesson, no mistake 'bout it."</p> +<p>And then the poor bound wretch, whose head was hanging forward +as though he were already <i>in extremis</i>, lifted his eyes and +saw me.</p> +<p>"Bold! Humphrey Bold!" he shrieked in a harsh, gasping whisper. +"Save me! Save me from these monsters!"</p> +<p>I started forward, scarce believing my eyes. In the pinched, +haggard features of the man who was lashed to the tree I recognized +my old enemy, my whilom schoolfellow, Dick Cludde.</p> +<p>"Save me! Save me!" he cried again and again.</p> +<p>"For God's sake, loose him!" I cried, turning to the negro.</p> +<p>God knows Cludde had done me harm enough; but for the working of +a gracious Providence he had ruined my life; but all remembrance of +this fled from me as I beheld his pitiful plight and mortal terror, +and heard his altered voice screaming for mercy.</p> +<p>"I know him; he was once a friend of mine," I cried, and God +forgive me the lie. "Let him go; don't torture him any longer."</p> +<p>Noah laughed in my face.</p> +<p>"What for me let him go?" he said. "'Cos he is a white man? He +is a white debbil; he shall hab his lesson."</p> +<p>"But it is murder. You would not murder him?"</p> +<p>"And he murder me! De whip cut me twenty times, and if I die, +what den? Noah is only a black man: it is not murder to kill a +black man! Dey kill me: I lib for teach him lesson."</p> +<p>"Let him go," I cried, "and I will give you money--twenty +dollars."</p> +<p>"No!"</p> +<p>"Thirty--forty dollars!"</p> +<p>"No!"</p> +<p>"Forty dollars is a great big lot," said Uncle Moses, who had +joined us and saw my desperate eagerness to save the man.</p> +<p>"No!" said Noah again, his mouth tightening with inflexible +determination.</p> +<p>"Uncle Moses," I said, "can't you bend him? I will give anything +if he will but spare the man. I am a king's officer; you know that +what I promise I will do; and he is your mistress' cousin."</p> +<p>"Noah, my son," said the old negro, "listen to Massa. S'pose you +burn de white man, what good to you? He die, oh course, and nebber +can do nuffin' to black mans no mo'; but you will only be pleased a +lill tiny while, and if you let him go you gwine hab dollars what +will last long, long time."</p> +<p>"No!" returned Noah. "I will teach him lesson, and be pleased +for ebber and ebber."</p> +<p>And he walked away and began to gather up some sticks and carry +them to the tree where Cludde, utterly exhausted, seemed to have +fainted away.</p> +<p>I asked Moses what sum would purchase Noah's freedom, ready to +spend my last penny to prevent the hideous scene for which +preparation was being made. He told me five hundred dollars, and I +bade him go to Noah and promise that the money should be his as +soon as I got back to Spanish Town. He returned downcast from his +mission.</p> +<p>"He say dat is all talk," he said. "It is for bimeby, but he +want rebenge now; black man don't fink nuffin' ob bimeby."</p> +<p>"But can't we give him something now as earnest of what is to +come? There are our muskets; they will be useful to him, and are +worth some dollars; offer them to him, and assure him on the word +of an Englishman that he shall have the price of his freedom as +soon as ever I can get back to my friends."</p> +<p>He went away with this message, but came back again +unsuccessful.</p> +<p>"He say hab plenty guns, and what good guns widout any powder +and shots? He hain't got no powder; de guns hain't worth more'n old +sticks. Hain't Massa got no money? If he seed de look of silver, +now, dat would be somet'ing 'spectable."</p> +<p>But my pockets were empty; all my money had been taken by the +buccaneers. And then, with a start of recollection, I remembered +the crown piece that hung by a riband about my neck, and with the +thought a flash of inspiration shot through my mind. I ran forward +to the spot where Noah was already heaping the sticks for the fire, +and, tearing open my shirt, I displayed the silver coin.</p> +<p>"Look, Noah," I cried, "you shall have this, and five hundred +dollars beside by and by. Listen while I tell you about it."</p> +<p>And then I told how, ever since I had worn that coin about my +neck, I had had the best of good fortune. It had brought me +friends, and raised me from a lowly position. I had been imprisoned +and escaped; I had been shot at, without scathe. I had gained what +I prized most in all the world. I fear I exaggerated; certainly I +had never before ascribed any talismanic power to the coin which I +had kept for no other purpose than to humiliate the man who had +humiliated me. But in this extremity I saw the possibility of +working on the negro's superstitious mind, and I would have racked +my invention to give the piece the most marvelous virtues under +heaven.</p> +<p>But I had said enough. With a stare of wonderment Noah took the +coin in his hand, turned it over, examined it, handled it as though +it was a sacred object. I lifted the string from my neck.</p> +<p>"There, take it; 'tis yours," I said, handing it to him, and +then, by a happy afterthought, I myself slipped it over the negro's +head. He saw the white coin lying on his dusky breast, a smile +overspread his face, most wondrously obliterating all the lines of +malice and hate; and then, turning swiftly, he went to the tree, +with me at his heels, and cut the cords.</p> +<p>Cludde fell fainting into my arms, and as I laid him on the +ground and begged for water (not a drop had passed his lips for +thirty-six hours), I wondered whether he would ever know how I had +paid the stored-up interest I had vowed to pay.</p> +<h2>Chapter <a name="Ch26" id="Ch26">26</a>: We Hold A Council Of +War.</h2> +<p>For some time I was in doubt whether the agonies Cludde had +suffered would not prove fatal. He lay long unconscious, and when +his eyes at last opened he shrieked aloud, with so wild a look in +his eyes that I feared his reason was gone. But I, who had not left +his side since he was loosed from the tree, spoke to him quietly, +assuring him that he was safe, and gave him water to drink, and by +and by he was soothed to quietude and slept like a tired child. And +then I lay beside him, worn out with the stress and agitations of +this long day, and together (strange chance!) we who had been +mortal enemies found repose on the bosom of mother earth.</p> +<p>Night came down upon us, and the stars were blinking in the dark +vault above when we awoke. Uncle Moses brought us food--birds the +negroes had snared and roasted, and root plants they had grubbed +up; and as we ate we talked.</p> +<p>"Bold," said Cludde huskily, "you've returned good for evil. You +don't want my thanks; you hate me."</p> +<p>"I wonder if I do," I said, and pondering the matter, I came to +the conclusion that I rather despised than hated him; but I did not +tell him so. "How did you come to this strait?" I asked him.</p> +<p>"I came up to see Lucy, and happened to arrive just after that +nigger had been caught. Vetch was flogging him, told me he was an +insolent and lazy scoundrel, and I agreed he ought to be taught a +lesson--"</p> +<p>"Even if it killed him," I interrupted.</p> +<p>"Why, he's only a black fellow," said Cludde.</p> +<p>"And black fellows are flesh and blood, like you and me."</p> +<p>"But they haven't our feelings; come now, you won't say +that?"</p> +<p>I would not argue with: him, and he went on--"I came to the +house, and Lucy refused to see me. I hated you then, Bold; Vetch +told me that you had been up, and I guessed you had put a spoke in +my wheel."</p> +<p>"I never saw Mistress Lucy," I said.</p> +<p>"What? Why, Vetch told me that you had proposed to her, and been +sent away with a flea in your ear."</p> +<p>"That was a lie. But go on: I will tell you about myself +presently."</p> +<p>"Well, I plucked up courage to go to the house again, and this +time I was admitted and saw Lucy, and by heaven, Bold, I had no +inkling of what had been going on."</p> +<p>"You might have guessed, knowing Vetch, whom your own father had +sent out here," I said.</p> +<p>"But not for this," he said eagerly. "I beg you to believe me, +Bold. I know there is much against me, but after that business at +the turnpike I told Vetch I would countenance no more tricks of +that sort--though I own I helped to arrange your kidnapping at +Bristowe."</p> +<p>"'Twas an insult to Mistress Lucy to send Vetch out here," I +said, refusing to compromise on this matter. "But go on, let me +hear how you came to this."</p> +<p>"Lucy told me what tricks Vetch had been playing, and begged me +to help her to get away from him, and burst into tears, and I can't +stand a woman's tears. I sought Vetch, and I told him that he had +gone too far, and bade him remember that, whether she married me or +not, she is my cousin, and I wouldn't have her worried.</p> +<p>"'You've got my father's power of attorney,' I said to him, 'but +that don't authorize you to do what you are doing.'</p> +<p>"And then the scoundrel rounded on me, and asked me with his +infernal sneer what I thought he had come out to Jamaica for, and +then, by heaven, Bold, he said that he was going to marry Lucy +himself!"</p> +<p>At this I broke into a shout of laughter, the idea seemed so +ridiculous; but my mirth gave place to a hot fit of anger when I +remembered that the fellow had Lucy in his power.</p> +<p>"I laughed, too," said Cludde, "but 'tis no laughing matter. The +villain has a parson to his hand--a besotted Cambridge fellow who +has sunk to buccaneering with the pretty crew Vetch has about him. +I said I'd see him hanged first; I've been sick of the fellow this +long time; and then he threatened me, and in his blazing temper +told me about the will which he stole--"</p> +<p>"You didn't know it?" I cried, astonished.</p> +<p>"Why, I'm not a saint, Bold," he said, "but I'm not so bad as +that. Vetch told Sir Richard that his uncle had burned the will +among some old papers by mistake, and was afraid to confess it, but +he tells me now 'twas he stole it and hid it, and says that if I +attempt to interfere with him he'll produce it and turn us out of +our property--which is yours, Bold; and swear that he stole it at +Sir Richard's request. And then I called him a villain to his face, +and said I would go instantly back to Spanish Town and proclaim him +for the scoundrel he is, and he laughed and said I should never get +there alive.</p> +<p>"But his horse was standing by; he had just come in from riding; +and before he knew what I was about I was in the saddle and +galloped off. In my hurry I took the wrong road. The horse carried +me into the forest and stumbled over a root, and down I went, and +lay dazed for a time, and when I got up I wandered about, utterly +lost, and fell among these niggers. You know the rest."</p> +<p>I fell silent, thinking of Vetch's villainy, and of the +extremity of peril in which Lucy lay. That she would willingly wed +him I did not for a moment believe; but in her helpless position I +feared what she might be compelled to do under constraint.</p> +<p>"I know we have treated you very ill," said Cludde.</p> +<p>"I was not thinking of that," I said, interrupting him. "You can +make amends, Cludde."</p> +<p>"And I will, Bold, on my honor I will, as soon as ever we get +back to England."</p> +<p>"Before then," I said. "'Twill be too late then. You must help +me to save Mistress Lucy."</p> +<p>"But what can we do? Her birthday is on Friday--"</p> +<p>"On Friday?" I said, to test his knowledge.</p> +<p>"Yes, Vetch told me so. She will be of age then, and even +supposing we could escape his people we could not get to Spanish +Town and back in time. I only wish we could do something. I would +give a great deal to see Vetch get his deserts."</p> +<p>"We must get help from Spanish Town: we must do something +ourselves--you and I and the niggers. We must attack the +house."</p> +<p>"'Tis impossible. He has a score of cut-throat ruffians in his +pay."</p> +<p>"At the house?"</p> +<p>"A dozen or so at the house, the rest about the plantations and +on the road, to guard against surprise from Spanish Town or any of +the settlements."</p> +<p>"Will you help me loyally, if I can find some means of rescuing +Lucy?" I asked, for Cludde's attitude to me was so altered that I +was not without suspicion of his sincerity.</p> +<p>"With all my heart; but we can do nothing."</p> +<p>"At present I see no way," I sorrowfully admitted; "but help her +we must. Good heavens! Can we leave her at his mercy, and not make +an effort on her behalf? We may fail, but let us at least do what +men may do."</p> +<p>Then Cludde made me tell him what had happened to me. He fell +asleep before I had finished my story, but I lay for long hours +pondering this baffling problem, and wishing that I had Joe +Punchard and my messmates of the Dolphin instead of negroes, whom I +could scarce trust. 'Twas clear, as Cludde had said, that we were +no match for the ruffians whom Vetch had about him; in open fight +we should be worsted, and maybe hasten the very catastrophe I +dreaded. Even if we should attempt a surprise by night I could not +hope for success, for the least check would turn the negroes into a +pack of howling cowards. We could only succeed by a ruse, and +though I cudgelled my brains until all my thoughts were in a whirl +I could invent no plan which had the least promise.</p> +<p>And it was Wednesday night! If we had not rescued Mistress Lucy +within forty-eight hours I had a strong presentiment that 'twould +be too late.</p> +<p>I sank at last into a sleep of sheer exhaustion. When I awoke, +day had dawned, and with the return to consciousness there came a +sudden recollection of something told me by Uncle Moses--something +that explained the fact that only two horsemen had ridden in +pursuit of us. All the horses of the estate had been employed in +conveying sugar to Dry Harbor. They had been gone a day; when would +they return?</p> +<p>I sprang up in haste to get an answer to this question; for on +it depended the chances of a plot which had flashed upon my mind. +Uncle Moses told me that, if the usual course were followed, the +wagons would return on Friday, either empty, or with loads of salt +fish, which formed the staple of the negro's food. I asked what men +would accompany the convoy, and learned that the wagoners were +negroes, and that one or two white men would be in charge.</p> +<p>This information threw a ray of hope upon my dark forebodings. +If we could but win to a position where the returning convoy might +be intercepted, I made no doubt we could overpower the white +men--overseers of the plantations; as to the negro drivers, I held +them of little account. There was one possible danger: that the +customary escort might be augmented by some of Vetch's buccaneers. +But I saw no likelihood of this, for however careful Vetch might be +in his watch over Mistress Lucy, he would have no reason to be +specially vigilant over the conduct of the ordinary operations of +the estate.</p> +<p>The question was, could we by any means come unobserved at a +place where the wagons could be intercepted? I put it to Uncle +Moses, who answered me readily enough, not seeing the drift of it. +If we crossed the swamp, and retraced our way through the forest, +we could skirt the whole length of the plantation without fear of +being discovered until we arrived within a very short distance of +the road to Spanish Town. We should then have to cross the road in +the open, but having crossed it, we should come in less than a +furlong to another clump of woodland, and passing through this, +avoiding the plantain groves which filled that portion of the +estate, we should reach the rough track leading to Dry Harbor, at a +point about three miles from the big house. 'Twas a round in all of +some twenty-five miles, and, as Uncle Moses assured me, if we were +reasonably cautious we should run no risks save at the crossing of +the road.</p> +<p>In great elation of spirit I now took into consultation Cludde +with Uncle Moses, Noah, and Jacob, all of whom I felt I could +trust, because all had suffered. I told them what I proposed, and +whether it was the story I had told of the wondrous good fortune +that had befallen me through the crown piece, or whether their own +native courage and their thirst for revenge influenced them, I know +not; but certain it is that the negroes agreed at once to follow my +lead.</p> +<p>Considering then how the rest of my party should be made up, I +decided, with the assent of Uncle Moses, to take only two more men, +these being all who had fled from the Cludde estate. I thought it +better that none but those who had a personal interest in the +welfare of Mistress Lucy, and who had reason to deplore the iron +rule of Vetch, should be enlisted in the enterprise. The sixth and +seventh members of the expedition having been brought into the +council, we talked over the details of the scheme so far as we +could foresee them. My general plan was to surprise the convoy, to +conceal ourselves--myself and Cludde--in one of the wagons, and, +thus gaining the house unsuspected, to steal our way in and then +act as chance might order.</p> +<p>Since we knew not how we might be taxed if we should succeed in +reaching the house, and a march of twenty-five miles in the heat of +the day would greatly impair our energies, we decided to set off at +once (this being Thursday), and spend the night in the forest at a +spot not far distant from the road. The negroes by themselves would +never have consented to this plan, so great was their dread of +bugaboos, but they derived courage from the companionship of white +men, and, to stiffen their resolution, I told them how, when +wearing the crown piece about my neck, I had escaped by night with +nine companions from a place with stone walls ten feet thick. This +impressed them greatly--Noah in particular; and in the evening, +when we halted for our bivouac in the forest, he came to me holding +the string on which the coin was suspended, and put it into my +hand, saying:</p> +<p>"Dis white man's duppy. Massa hab it dis time; Massa got through +stone wall, get through anything. Den I hab it again when Massa +done wid it."</p> +<p>I smiled and was hesitating whether to sling it round my neck or +to give it back when Cludde asked me what was the meaning of this +strange talk. As I did not answer at once, Uncle Moses broke +in.</p> +<p>"Massa gib dat silver so dat you not be burned, sah. Noah will +hab eber so much more bimeby, 'nuff to buy him free, sah."</p> +<p>Cludde looked at me inquiringly.</p> +<p>"'Tis true, Cludde," I said. "I had to buy you off."</p> +<p>"But I don't understand," he said. "A crown piece?"</p> +<p>"Oh!" said I, feeling a little uneasy lest he should probe this +matter of the crown piece too far, "the negro has the mind of a +child. The price of his freedom is five hundred dollars: he +wouldn't take my word for that sum, but the sight of a coin was +enough."</p> +<p>"But you told me the buccaneers stripped you of your money," he +said, with a look of puzzlement.</p> +<p>"So they did, but I happened to have this crown piece slung +about my neck under my shirt, and it escaped their attention."</p> +<p>"Egad, I should never have believed you were superstitious," he +said with a laugh, and I laughed back, glad enough that I had +escaped further interrogation.</p> +<p>I returned the coin to Noah, assuring him that I had no further +need of it, and he went away well pleased, assured of the +protection of the white man's duppy--the token of the good spirits +which he venerates as much as he fears the bugaboos.</p> +<p>I was not to get off after all. When we lay side by side on the +grass, Cludde was for a long time silent; then he said abruptly, +with a keen look at me:</p> +<p>"Bold, do you remember I flung a crown piece at you when I +passed you on the Worcester road years ago!"</p> +<p>"I believe you did," said I, prevaricating.</p> +<p>"Is that the coin?"</p> +<p>"Why, Cludde," says I, "there are thousands of crown pieces in +the world."</p> +<p>"Is it?" he persisted.</p> +<p>"Why should you suppose it is?" I said.</p> +<p>"Why did you keep it? Come, I must know."</p> +<p>"Oh, confound you, Cludde," I said, "why don't you let me go to +sleep?"</p> +<p>"You had some design in keeping that coin," he said; "I want to +know what it was."</p> +<p>"Well, if you insist," I said, "I meant to keep it until I could +return it to you with interest. But Fate, you see, has found a +better use for it."</p> +<p>"Bold," says he, after a silence, "you're a good fellow and a +generous--"</p> +<p>"Belay there, Cludde," I said, anxious to cut him short, "we'll +cry quits over all the past. <i>Intus si recte ne labora</i>--you +remember the old school motto. We're friends, and all we have to +worry about now is how to dish Cyrus Vetch; and as we shall be none +the worse for a long sleep, I'll take first watch, and wake you +when you've had three or four hours."</p> +<p>And with a grip of hands we closed the enmity of a dozen +years.</p> +<h2>Chapter <a name="Ch27" id="Ch27">27</a>: Some Successes And A +Rebuff.</h2> +<p>We lay all next day in the forest, maintaining an irksome +silence, and continually on our guard against intrusion. Uncle +Moses told me that the wagons would not leave Dry Harbor on their +return journey until the heat of the day was past--a circumstance +which favored our design. The spot we had determined on for the +ambush was five miles from our lurking place, and we should have +cover all the way save where we must needs cross the road. When the +time came for our setting forth, I went myself to the edge of the +woodland to spy out and see if the coast was clear. Not a soul was +in sight; we were at the portion of the estate which was given over +to pasture; if it had been sugar land we must have inevitably met +negro laborers.</p> +<p>I was about to return and acquaint the others that we might +safely start when I heard a trotting horse, and from my place of +concealment among the trees, I soon afterwards saw a horseman +appear from the direction of Spanish Town and ride by towards the +big house two miles or more away. He was beyond doubt one of +Vetch's gang: 'twas impossible to mistake the thick ungainly +figure, and the exceedingly nautical way he had of sitting his +horse. 'Twas lucky indeed that we had not already begun the +crossing, for he must have seen us, the road being straight: and +for that same reason I deemed it well to delay a little, lest he +should chance to look back. And so 'twas a good half hour later +when, nothing further having happened to give us pause, we ran in a +compact body for the edge of the forest, crossed the road and a +long stretch of grass land, and arrived at the clump I have before +mentioned, where we stood a little while to recover breath.</p> +<p>And then we were amazed to hear the sound of singing--amazed, +for it was not the uncouth singing of negroes (who in happy +circumstances delight to uplift their voices in psalms) nor yet the +boisterous untuneable roaring of rough seamen, like Vetch's +buccaneers, but a most melodious and pleasing sound, which put me +in mind (and Cludde also) of the madrigal singers of our good town +of Shrewsbury. And as it drew nearer there seemed to be a something +familiar in the tone, though being quite without ear for music, as +I have confessed, I could not tell whether it was a known tune or +not.</p> +<p>With one consent, we had waited, held, I suppose, by the same +feeling of wonderment and curiosity. The sound continually +approached; 'twas from the direction of Spanish Town; and from our +vantage ground we should soon see the singer as he passed along the +road. But before he came within sight, the words of the song came +distinctly to my ears, and though I knew not one tune from another, +I started with a thrill of delight.</p> +<pre> +"What's that for?" cries out Salem Dick. +"What for, my jumping beau? +Why, to give the lubbers one more kick!" +Yo ho, with the rum below. +</pre> +<p>Thus rang the voice, and there ambled into view Joe Punchard, +perched upon a mule, and on mules behind him two negroes, their +countenances shining, their teeth flashing, with a happy smile.</p> +<p>"Joe!" I cried, in defiance of all caution.</p> +<p>"Ahoy ho!" he cried in return, pulling up his mule. "Who be that +a-calling of Joe?"</p> +<p>I broke away from Cludde's detaining arm, and ran to my old +friend.</p> +<p>"Ahoy ho!" he shouted jovially when he saw me; but when I put my +fingers to my lips he dismounted clumsily, and met me with the +whispered question, "What be in the wind, Master Bold?"</p> +<p>I could not have taken ten minutes to possess him with the +necessary facts, so rapidly did I tell the gist of my story.</p> +<p>"Bless my buttons!" he ejaculated, "I reckoned there was +somewhat amiss. When I heard talk of you being ill, I was most +desperate uneasy, knowing you was in the latitude o' Vetch. And I +said so to my captain, and begged him to let me fetch a course this +way to make sure as you weren't run aground or wrecked on a sunken +reef. My captain he laughs and says you'd steered clear so often +that he'd no fears of you not coming safe to port; but seeing I was +set on it, he give me leave, and to make things reg'lar, as he +said, he told me being in these parts to keep an eye lifting for +the buccaneers as are said to be somewheres on this coast. And sink +my timbers, it do seem as how I'm on a rare voyage of +discovery!"</p> +<p>I told him quickly of the purpose I had in view, and he at once +volunteered to join our party. But this I could not allow. I had no +doubt that the horseman whom I had previously seen riding to the +house was carrying thither news of his approach, as my own arrival +had been heralded. He would be expected, and if he did not appear +Vetch would be suspicious, and might despatch men in search of him, +and the footprints of his mule would bring them upon our track. I +urged him to go forward with his guides to the house, where it was +possible, if they left him free, that he might prove a useful +auxiliary if our ruse succeeded. To this he readily agreed, +declaring he would anchor at Vetch's door, and would not slip his +cable until I came up on his quarter. And he clambered to the +saddle again, called to the negroes to come on astern, and set +forth again towards the house, and as I rejoined my party among the +trees I heard his jolly voice ringing out:</p> +<pre> +"I 'llow this crazy hull o' mine +At sea has had its share; +Marooned three times an' wounded nine, +An' blowed up in the air." +</pre> +<p>We had wasted some eight or ten minutes on this interview, and +'twas high time to speed on our journey if we were to reach the +place of ambush before the convoy. As we marched, I told Cludde the +purport of my talk with Joe, and he agreed that the course I had +insisted on was the right one, though he feared Punchard would have +a sorry time when he came within the clutches of the man who bore a +long-standing grudge against him. I confess that I had clean +forgotten the matter of the barrel rolling, and being now reminded +of it, felt greatly concerned at having sent poor Joe into the very +jaws of danger, but 'tis idle to repent, and I could only hope that +we should get to the house in time to prevent any irremediable +harm.</p> +<p>'Twas nigh five o'clock when we came to the copse fringing the +road (a rough cart track) from the coast.</p> +<p>Noah went out stealthily to inspect the road for traces of the +convoy, and told us that we were in time; the wagons had not yet +come up. We waited patiently, and I took advantage of the interval +to repeat the instructions I had previously given to the negroes. +About half an hour after our arrival we heard a creaking in the +distance, and soon the convoy came in sight--three six-horsed +wagons, with two negroes in each, and two overseers on horseback, +carrying long whips, and riding side by side in the rear. These two +Cludde and I marked for our own, leaving the negroes to deal with +the men of their color. We two separated from the rest of the +party, so that the attack might be made on the whole line at the +same moment.</p> +<p>When we came opposite to the two riders, I gave a shrill +whistle, and with Cludde at my side dashed from among the trees. So +sudden and unexpected was the assault that the overseers had no +time to defend themselves. Cludde and I hauled them from their +saddles and held them fast while two of the negroes brought from +the wagons ropes wherewith to bind them. The negro drivers let +forth a yell and dropped their reins when the rest of our party +sprang out from the copse. The convoy halted and Uncle Moses in a +very little time made the drivers understand that they must either +do what we bade them or be trussed up and left in the woods. With +night approaching this latter alternative had too many terrors to +make it acceptable, and the men professed themselves willing to +render utter obedience, the more readily in that Vetch and his gang +of desperadoes were well hated by all the hands upon the +estate.</p> +<p>One of them, who Uncle Moses told me, was a bad character, we +bound and placed with the overseers in one of the wagons, which we +then drew into the copse out of sight from the road.</p> +<p>Cludde and I deliberated for a moment whether we should mount +the overseers' horses and ride on with the wagons. But we decided +not to tempt fate. Before we reached the big house we should have +to pass that of the principal overseer of the estate, and though +the sky was already dusking, and it would be dark before we +arrived, there were many chances that we might be seen by the +buccaneers or others as we came within the bounds, and being in our +officers' habiliments we should be marked and the alarm given. So +we resolved to get into the first wagon, and cover ourselves with +the sacking it contained as soon as we came to the borders of the +plantations. Uncle Moses seated himself beside the driver of the +first wagon, Noah on the second, and the rest of our party got into +this wagon and likewise hid under sacking.</p> +<p>The stables, as I had learned from Uncle Moses, lay beyond the +big house, so that our driving by would awaken no suspicion. In +order that we might gain the further advantage of darkness, Uncle +Moses drove slowly, and there was but a glimmer of twilight when we +reached the house of the overseer. He had heard the rumbling of our +wheels, and was standing at his gate as we came up. Seeing only the +wagons and no horsemen, he cried out to know where the rest were. +The negro beside Uncle Moses (who shrank back to escape +recognition) made ready answer that the third wagon had broken +down, and would come on presently with the overseers. The white man +rapped out an oath, declaring (with what truth I know not) that the +cursed wagon was always breaking down, and we drove past. Two of +the buccaneers were smoking at the gates of the big house when we +came up, and they hailed us in rough sailor fashion, but showed no +curiosity; the work of the estate was no concern of theirs.</p> +<p>Uncle Moses had told me that there would certainly be a number +of the buccaneers in the kitchen of the big house, where they took +their supper and often sat far into the night drinking and dicing. +As we drew near, indeed, I heard through the sack that covered me +('twas very sticky and fraught with the cloying smell of sugar) +loud sounds of merriment proceeding from the house. Instead of +driving past in the direction of the stables, the negro, obeying +his instructions, pulled up his horses when the wagons came +opposite the kitchen door.</p> +<p>I did not need Uncle Moses' call to know that the moment had +arrived. Flinging off the sack that smothered us, Cludde and I +sprang from the wagon, our companions doing likewise, and we burst +headlong into the kitchen.</p> +<p>The merry sounds that we had heard were explained, but in an +unforeseen way. In the middle of the room sat Joe Punchard, tied to +a chair. Around him were half a dozen of Vetch's villainous crew +engaged in the pleasant sport of baiting their prisoner. At the +moment of our entrance they were rubbing the dregs of molasses into +his red hair. I learned afterwards from him that he had been seized +on approaching the house, and, Vetch being absent at the time, had +been carried into the kitchen for a preliminary inquisition. They +knew, doubtless on the information of the horseman I had seen, that +he was a seaman from a king's ship, and charged him with having +come to spy on them, shrewdly hitting the mark, though they could +hardly have believed in their accusation, seeing that he had +approached quite openly with no companions but a brace of negroes. +He had suffered many indignities before we arrived, and he +confessed to me that, though he had endured many a buffeting in the +first years of his life at sea, he had never spent so distressful a +couple of hours as those when the buccaneers put him to the +question.</p> +<p>They were, I say, rubbing a filthy black semi-fluid into his +hair at the moment when Cludde and I, with our negroes behind, made +a sudden irruption into the kitchen. We had our muskets with us, +and seizing mine by the barrel, I brought the stock down on the +head of the fellow nearest me, and he dropped heavily to the floor. +Springing past him, I cut Joe's cords with my knife, and then +turned to assist my companions in the fight that was raging. The +five buccaneers were sturdy villains, and after the first shock of +surprise they were more than a match for Cludde and the negroes. +One had wrested the musket from Cludde's hand, and now had his arms +about his body, endeavoring to throw him. The rest had drawn their +hangers and were pressing hard upon the negroes, who made play with +their knives, but were not equal to their opponents.</p> +<p>The entrance of Joe and myself into the fray, however, turned +the tide of battle in our favor. Joe had caught up the chair to +which he had been bound, and wielded it like a flail, with every +swing of it breaking a head or snapping an arm. And my musket took +a heavy toll. The room rang with the din of battle--the shouts of +the men, the whoops of the negroes, the clashing of our weapons. +For half a minute it was perfect pandemonium; then finding the odds +hopelessly against them, the two buccaneers who were not by this +time on the floor dashed through the open door and fled, pursued by +the negroes, who had no doubt long scores to pay off against +them.</p> +<p>In the midst of the uproar I had not lost sight for a moment of +the main purpose of my errand, and as soon as I saw that the issue +of the fight was decided I called Uncle Moses to my side and asked +him eagerly to lead me to his mistress' sitting room. We went along +a passage and up a flight of stairs to the floor above, coming then +to another corridor which was in darkness.</p> +<p>"Missy's room at de end," said the negro.</p> +<p>With beating heart I hurried along behind him, and we came to an +open door. I knocked upon it, and entered. The room was dark, but +the window was open, and the jalousies not having been closed it +was possible to see that no one was there.</p> +<p>"Missy gone to bed," said Moses; "de bedroom is just dar."</p> +<p>He pointed to a closed door in the wall. Loath as I was to +disturb Mistress Lucy, I was still more anxious that she should +know of my presence; so I went to the door and rapped briskly upon +it. There was no answer. I rapped again, more loudly, but still +without result. She was either fast asleep or--and the thought +struck me with a chill--she was no longer there.</p> +<p>"Where is Mr. Vetch's room ?" I asked, beset by a great +anxiety.</p> +<p>"I show Massa," replied Uncle Moses.</p> +<p>He led me from the room, and along a passage that branched from +the other. There was a thread of light beneath a door at the +end.</p> +<p>"Dat is Massa Vetch's room," said the negro.</p> +<p>I went to it and tried the handle. The door was locked. I +thumped upon it with my fist, and was answered with a curse.</p> +<p>"Settle your drunken quarrels yourselves," cried the +well-remembered voice. "What is it to me if you break each other's +skulls?"</p> +<p>Clearly he had heard the uproar and taken it to be a brawl among +the buccaneers. 'Twas like Vetch to shut himself aloof from the +disputes of his hirelings; he was ever careful of his skin. +Affecting a harsh and surly voice I cried that the quarrel was over +and asked him to open the door: I had news from Spanish Town. +Another oath saluted me; then I heard the sound of movements +within, and the door was thrown open.</p> +<p>Instantly I sprang in, the negro at my heels; he closed the door +behind me; and I stood once more face to face with Cyrus Vetch.</p> +<p>His sallow cheeks blanched when lie saw me. No doubt 'twas the +apparition he least expected. He whips out his sword and springs +back to have space to cut at me; but I parried the stroke with my +musket, and he skipped back and entrenched himself behind the +table. I own that I could have cheerfully slain him there and then +but for my anxiety concerning Mistress Lucy's whereabouts. There +was Vetch, glaring at me from behind the table, upon which, as I +now saw, there were books and money, and two lighted candles.</p> +<p>"You have no right here," said Vetch, and his voice was +unsteady, "breaking into my house--"</p> +<p>"Your house!" I replied. "And as for right, I have the right of +every honest man to catch a villain and present him to the +hangman."</p> +<p>"Mind your words, sir," cries the fellow, and I saw by his +manner that he was desperately anxious to gain time. "I warn you I +am steward of this estate by virtue of authority deputed to me by +Sir Richard Cludde, the guardian appointed by the Court of +Chancery."</p> +<p>"Your stewardship and Sir Richard's guardianship ended +yesterday," I said curtly.</p> +<p>"You mistake," says he, beginning to recover himself, "I tell +you again that this is an unwarrantable intrusion, and you stand +there at your peril."</p> +<p>"Stuff!" I cried impatiently. "'Tis you who are an intruder, a +trespasser; you are in this house against the will of the owner, +who is now of full age. But I won't bandy words with you about +that. You and I have other accounts to settle, Cyrus Vetch, and if +you do not yield at once, I swear I will show you no mercy."</p> +<p>I advanced towards the table, and Vetch lifted his sword as +though to defend himself. But his courage failed him, and indeed +his was a hopeless case if it came to a tussle, as he very well +knew. Incontinently he dropped his sword point, and with a shrug of +the shoulders, said:</p> +<p>"I will not fight a couple of bullies. I yield now, but let me +tell you, Humphrey Bold, the law will have something to say to +this."</p> +<p>"It will indeed," I said grimly. "Hand over your sword."</p> +<p>He took it by the blade; I placed my musket against the table +and reached forward to take the hilt, but with a sudden swift +movement he swept the candles to the floor and the room was in +total darkness. I sprang forward, but before I could vault over the +obstructing table Vetch had dashed through a door behind him that +opened on to the veranda. I was after him in an instant, and he +escaped me by no more than an arm's length. He had leapt over the +rail of the veranda, and I halted for a moment, supposing that he +must at least twist his ankles after a fall of some fifteen feet. +But I was amazed to see him swarming down one of the pillars that +supported the veranda.</p> +<p>I followed him in desperate haste, but the fellow was always +very light and nimble, and the fear of death lent him a marvelous +new agility. My heavier frame was slower in descending; yet I could +not have been much more than fifteen seconds behind him; but he had +vanished. There were bushes and palms growing to within a few feet +of the house. I ran among them, but could not hear his footsteps, +nor had I any means of judging of the direction of his flight. Mad +with disappointment, I rushed blindly on, and in a moment collided +with a man, whom seizing, I knew by the howl he emitted, no less +than by the feel of his bare skin, that I had laid hands on a +negro.</p> +<p>"Which way did he run?" I cried, shaking the man in my hot +impatience.</p> +<p>"Oh, Massa, I dunno nuffin'," said the trembling wretch.</p> +<p>I hurled him aside and sped off again, very soon encountering +other negroes, who in spite of their dread of the dark, had been +drawn from their huts, I doubt not, by the noise of the +altercation.</p> +<p>"Where is your mistress?" I asked one of them.</p> +<p>He could tell me nothing. I asked the same question of another +man whom I met within a few yards.</p> +<p>"I see Missy going to Massa Wilkins' house," he said. "Two men +take her."</p> +<p>Wilkins was, I knew, the name of the principal overseer. Uncle +Moses coming up with me, I bade him lead me at once to Mr. Wilkins' +house. We ran on as fast as our legs could carry us, the other +negroes shuffling along behind, uttering cries and yells which +angered me beyond endurance. We had come some distance in the wrong +direction, and I fumed in vain and bitter rage at the loss of +time.</p> +<p>Coming into the road that led to the house I heard the sound of +galloping horses, and though I continued to run until I was +breathless and dripping with sweat I knew I was too late. The thud +of the hoofs grew fainter and fainter. Without doubt Vetch had +seized Mistress Lucy, and was hurrying her away; the villain had +baffled me; Lucy, snatched from me, was hopelessly beyond my +reach.</p> +<h2>Chapter <a name="Ch28" id="Ch28">28</a>: I Cut The Enemy's +Cables.</h2> +<p>At the door of the overseer's house stood Patty, Mistress Lucy's +old nurse, wringing her hands and weeping bitterly. She told me +through her tears that Vetch had set Lucy before him on his own +horse, and that he was accompanied by two of his desperadoes. I +broke away from her as she was imploring me to save her "dear +lamb," as she called her mistress, and ran back in the direction of +the big house to find a horse and lead a pursuit.</p> +<p>The whole place was in commotion. All the negro workers on the +estate seemed to have flocked together, many of them carrying +flares which threw a lurid glow upon the scene. Before I reached +the house I was met by Cludde and Punchard, who had laid the +captured buccaneers in pound. I rapidly acquainted them with what +had happened, and was going on to the stables to find horses when +one of the negroes told me that there was none there, the only +saddle horses being those which were now carrying Vetch and his +companions to the coast. But the wagons were still where we had +left them; in the excitement of the past half hour they had been +forgotten. The horses were draught horses, and did not promise good +speed, but we had no others; and I cried to the men to unyoke the +teams, while I ran to the kitchen for a weapon.</p> +<p>I seized a couple of the buccaneers' cutlasses, and hastening +back, gave one to Cludde. We had no time for saddling up; throwing +ourselves on the horses' bare backs, we set off with Punchard and +Uncle Moses along the road, urging the beasts to a pace which I +feared they could not long keep up.</p> +<p>As we drew near to the place of our ambush I remembered the +overseers we had left tied up there in the wood, and their horses +which we had tethered. Bidding Punchard and the negroes ride on, I +flung myself from the back of my sweating steed, ran into the wood, +and soon returned with the saddle horses. Within three minutes of +our halt Cludde and I were galloping on, at a pace which soon +outstripped our more heavily mounted companions. Vetch had had but +ten or fifteen minutes' start of us, and his horse carrying a +double burden, I hoped we should overtake him before he could +convey Mistress Lucy aboard his brig.</p> +<p>Luckily the moon had risen, and was throwing a light, dim but +sufficient, upon the track. Birds clattered out of the trees as we +sped past; wild creatures of the wood, terrified at the unwonted +disturbance of the night, scurried across our path. In spite of the +moonlight, and because of the deep shadows it cast, we narrowly +escaped being dashed from our horses by low-hanging branches of the +trees on either side.</p> +<p>So we raced on for mile after mile without pause or mitigation +of our pace. The track wound about in baffling curves, so that we +could see but a little distance ahead. Once or twice I thought I +caught a glimpse of moving objects before us, but 'twas but a trick +of the moonlight. We dared not stop to listen for sounds of the +fugitives; I felt that every second was of vital import, and 'twas +not until we had come into a stretch of country clear of trees, our +horses' hoofs falling silently on the soft turf, that we caught the +faint rustle of the sea. I knew not how far distant it was; sounds +carry far and are deceptive at night; we smote the flanks of our +horses and rode as for a wager.</p> +<p>Suddenly a shrill whistle cut the air.</p> +<p>"A signal!" I said to Cludde, riding at my side. "Are they +calling assistance?"</p> +<p>"'Tis a call for a boat, without doubt," he replied. "They have +got to the shore."</p> +<p>Sick with fear that we were too late, I pressed my horse forward +at a mad and reckless gallop, outpacing Cludde altogether. We were +now again among trees, and, having come out of the moonlight, I +could not at first see more than a yard or two ahead. But on a +sudden the dim track before me was wholly blotted out by a dark +figure. It loomed larger as I approached, and my heart leapt with +the hope that it was Vetch's overburdened horse dropping behind. +The rider could not escape; there was a bank on either side of the +track. I was within a dozen yards of him when he reined up as if to +dismount and seek the shelter of the woodland, and then I perceived +with distress that whoever it might be it was not Vetch; the horse +had no second burden.</p> +<p>Next moment there was a flash and a roar; a bullet grazed my +arm; finding himself closer pressed than he thought, the fellow had +turned in his saddle and fired at me. He uttered an oath when he +saw me riding towards him unchecked. I was level with him, I drew +my horse alongside; and raising my cutlass above my left shoulder I +brought it down with a swinging cut upon the man. With a cry he +toppled from his saddle, and I shot past, in a headlong rush +towards the now thunderous rumbling of the sea.</p> +<p>'Twas but a few moments afterwards that I found myself falling +as it seemed into space. In my heedless and impetuous course I had +come unawares to the edge of a cliff. My horse fell, flinging me +clean over his crupper. I had given myself up for lost when I was +suddenly caught as by outstretched arms, in the entangling foliage +of a shrub, and as I lay there, dazed, I heard a sickening thud far +below me, and guessed that no such friendly obstacle had saved my +poor horse from death.</p> +<p>Barring the shock, and a few scratches, I was unhurt, and with +great thankfulness of heart for my merciful deliverance I crawled +carefully out of the shrub, and set to scrambling up the steep +slope to the top. There I met Cludde pale and shaking with horror. +My involuntary cry as I fell had warned him. He reined up in time +to escape my mishap, and hearing shortly afterwards the thud as the +horse came to the bottom, he believed that I must be a mangled +corpse.</p> +<p>"Too late!" he gasped, clutching me by the arm and pointing down +to the sea.</p> +<p>Clear in the moonlight lay the dark shape of a brig with bare +yards. At that very moment a boat was drawing in under her quarter, +and as we stood helpless there we saw a cradle let down over the +side, a form placed in it and hoisted to the deck, and then the +boat's crew mounting one by one.</p> +<p>'Twas not until Uncle Moses came up with Joe that we found the +circuitous path by which Vetch had reached the shore. We raced +down, but Vetch, you may be sure, had left no boat in which we +might follow him. We came upon his horse, quietly cropping the +plants that grew at the foot of the cliff. The moon shining +seawards, we were in shadow, so that had Vetch been looking from +the brig, he would not have seen me as I raged up and down in +impotent fury, nor my companions as they sat themselves down, +troubled, like myself, but not with the same yearning.</p> +<p>My grief and rage bereft me for a time of all power of thought. +All that I was conscious of was the fact that Lucy was gone, +irrevocably, as I feared. But by and by order returned to my +confused and gloomy mind, and, observing suddenly that the tide was +running in, and that the breeze was blowing inshore, I felt a +springing of hope within me.</p> +<p>'Twas clear that the brig could not put to sea against both wind +and tide; she must lie where she was for several hours; was it +possible that even now something might be done to rescue Mistress +Lucy? Could we by some means win to the brig and snatch her from +the villainous hands that held her captive? I dashed back to my +companions and put this throbbing question to them. They shook +their heads; we had no boat to convey us to the vessel, nor if we +had could we have overcome the crew by main force. Uncle Moses said +that there were some fifteen or twenty men aboard, well armed; she +carried three brass guns; whereas we were but four, unarmed save +for our two cutlasses. And even supposing our party were ten times +as large, we could do nothing without means of transport; and the +buccaneers could bring their guns to bear upon us if we exposed +ourselves to their view, and with the turn of the tide could mock +us and sail away.</p> +<p>But on a sudden a thought came to me. Might we not at least +render the departure of the brig impossible? Though with any force +we might gather 'twas hopeless to think of capturing her, if we +could but strand her we should at any rate gain time, and maybe +bargain with Vetch for the release of the lady. He would know that +he had put himself beyond the pale of mercy if he should be caught, +his hope of gaining the estate must be dead; we might work on his +fears and the fears of the men with him, and secure our object by +paying them a price.</p> +<p>I took Cludde with me to the top of the cliff to gain a clearer +view of the vessel's position. Keeping in shadow, we saw that she +lay some little way out in a narrow bay overhung by cliffs, the +seaward end appearing closed, owing to a bend in the shore. The +tide was fast coming in; the wind, which at the foot of the cliffs +had seemed but a light breeze, was blowing strong at our +altitude.</p> +<p>"Cludde," I said, "I am going to cut the cables."</p> +<p>"'Tis madness!" he replied, in an accent of amazement and +protest. "You would be sure to be seen in the moonlight."</p> +<p>"The moon is sinking," I answered. "'Twill be down behind the +cliffs in an hour."</p> +<p>"But the sharks! These waters are infested with them."</p> +<p>"'Tis the only way," I said with resolution, "and sharks or no +sharks I must make the attempt. With the wind and tide the brig, if +I can but cut her cables, will drift up the bay and run on the +shoals, and then 'twill be impossible to get her off for some +hours."</p> +<p>"You cannot cut the cables unperceived. When they feel her +riding free they will suspect the cause, and you're a dead +man."</p> +<p>"I must take my chance. 'Twill be dark soon, and maybe luck, +that has been against me so long, will turn with the tide. I am +going to do it, Cludde, and as we have an hour or so before the +moon goes down, come with me along the cliff to find the most +convenient spot for the venture."</p> +<p>We went along together, and had walked but a few yards when we +came near to breaking our necks. A part of the cliffs had fallen, +leaving a wide gap, and coming suddenly to this, we barely escaped +plunging headlong down. The long slope was strewn with great +numbers of stones small and large. We managed to scramble down the +one steep side, and up the other, without having to go a long way +round, and came at length opposite the brig, and saw by the manner +of her rocking that she rode on two anchors, one from the bows and +the other from the stern. There were several men on deck; we heard +their voices and laughter. I thought of Mistress Lucy doubtless +imprisoned in the cabin, and vowed that before many hours were past +she should be free, if mortal wit and mortal arm could achieve +it.</p> +<p>We settled on a place for me to take the water--a little beyond +the brig, where the cliff dipped low. With all my heart I hoped the +tide would not turn before the moon went down. We did not care to +leave the spot and return to the others, lest when I came again I +should lose my way in the darkness and come to some mishap. But +while we were waiting on the cliff edge for the setting of the moon +I bethought me that our company would be none the worse for +strengthening, for if the brig were stranded as I hoped, some means +might perchance be found (though I knew not what) of gaining +possession of her. So I sent Cludde back to Uncle Moses to bid him +ride back to the house and bring up, afoot or on horseback, a great +force of the negroes of the estate, with whatever arms they could +find. I reckoned (but wrongly, as it proved) that curiosity, the +courage of numbers, and their common hatred of Vetch, would +outweigh their dread of bugaboos, and bring them at once.</p> +<p>When Cludde had departed on this errand, I sat by the edge of +the cliff, waiting with scant patience for the slow sinking moon to +disappear. At last it was gone; all around was darkness and +silence, save for the washing of the tide and the rustling of the +trees in the wind. I stripped off my coat, left it with my cutlass +on the grass, and, taking my knife between my teeth, crept into the +water and struck out towards the brig. I swam silently; indeed, I +had little need to exert myself, for the tide carried me in the +direction I would go. And so, with a few minutes, I came safely +under the vessel's side.</p> +<p>I heard voices on the deck above me, and though I could not +catch what was said, I distinguished Vetch's clear, high-pitched +tones. Doubtless the crew were keeping a careful watch on the +shore, but very likely they had heard the crashing of my horse when +he fell, and Vetch might be flattering himself that the beast and I +had shared the same fate and that he would set eyes on me no more. +I waited but long enough to be sure there was no uneasiness among +the crew; then, with much pains to avoid splashing, I crept close +along by the hull until I found the fore cable.</p> +<p>When considering my plan on the shore, I had to decide which of +the two cables to attempt first. The vessel lay with her head to +the sea. If I cut the cable over the stern, the tide running in, +the position of the brig would alter so slightly as not to be at +once perceived, and I might have time to deal with the other cable +before anyone was aware of it. On the other hand, supposing I were +by some unlucky chance espied, the cutting of the second cable +would be beyond possibility, and no harm done. Whereas, if I began +with the fore cable, the brig would swing round immediately, and +the movement could not escape the notice of the crew, however +heedless, and if they looked over the side they might spy me and so +defeat my full purpose. Yet it seemed that by adopting the latter +course I could not fail utterly; with the fore rope cut the vessel +might drag the other anchor, so that, indeed, it might not be +necessary to cut the second rope at all. The risk to me was perhaps +greater, but so would be the success; accordingly I had decided to +begin my work under the bow of the vessel.</p> +<p>Winding my legs about the part of the rope that was in the +water, I began to saw gently with my knife at the part above me, +only my head and shoulders showing above the surface. The tide and +the sea breeze put some strain on the cable, but every now and +again it slackened as the bow sank with the long rocking of the +vessel.</p> +<p>This set me thinking. If the rope snapped when it was taut, +those on board would feel the spring of it, and I should be without +doubt discovered before I could sever the other: whereas, if the +severance was made when the rope was slack, there would be no +shock, and the men would be aware of nothing until the vessel swung +round on the tide. I so timed my knife work, therefore, that the +last strand was cut through when the bow was dipping. The moment it +was done I sank down to the water level, and after waiting a moment +to see in what direction the vessel would swing, I went wholly +under, and swam along in the opposite direction towards the stern, +keeping as close to the hull as was safe.</p> +<p>When I came up for breath, I heard a great uproar on board. The +crew were flocking to the bows to see what had happened to the +anchor. Meanwhile with a few more strokes I reached the other rope, +and was hacking away at it steadily when I heard one cry out that +the cable was cut, and immediately afterwards the voice of Vetch as +he rushed out of the roundhouse. I felt pretty secure in the +darkness under the stern sheets, but the strain upon the cable here +was much greater now that the other was gone, and when I cut it +through the vessel gave a jump, I heard oaths and a great scurry of +feet on deck and some one let down a flare to discover the +perpetrator of the mischief.</p> +<p>You may be sure I dived under water as quickly as might be, but +not before I was descried, and my head had barely disappeared when +a heavy object fell with a great splash within a few inches of it. +I swam along like a fish beneath the surface, making towards the +shore; but when for the sake of my lungs I had perforce to come up, +a perfect fusillade spattered all around me, and it seemed a +miracle I was not hit. I swam on; the tide was bearing the vessel +away from me; the flare lit but a narrow space of water, and I +doubt whether my head could now be seen and made a target. Though I +heard the muskets roaring and slugs plopping into the water, not +one of them touched me, and in a minute or two I gained the beach, +pretty breathless, but marvelously content.</p> +<p>As I shook the water from me I heard lusty swearing from the +deck of the drifting vessel, and from the tone of some of the +voices guessed that the lookout was in very hot water. And amid the +deeper voices of the buccaneers Vetch's shriller tone was quite +audible to me, as he shouted for someone to drop a kedge anchor +over the side and stop the cursed drifting. This was done, but I +was in no fears for the result, for under the force of wind and +tide combined there was a considerable way on the brig, which no +light anchor would avail to check. And in a few minutes I knew for +certain that I was right.</p> +<p>There came a great shout: "She's aground!" and the dark shape, +which I could now barely distinguish from where I stood, ceased to +move.</p> +<p>Satisfied that for a time at least I had prevented Vetch from +putting to sea, I clambered up the cliff and set off to rejoin my +companions, not venturing to go back for my coat, lest I should +lose my way in the dark. They had been eagerly watching the issue +of my device, the success of which pleased them mightily. Cludde +made me strip off my dripping garments, declaring that if I stood +in them (the night being chilly) I should catch my death of +cold.</p> +<p>"That's all very well," I said; "but I shall be colder still +stark naked."</p> +<p>"You must just run about and slap yourself," cries Joe; "Mr. +Cludde and me can help--me particler, my name being so. And it +won't be for long, 'cos when that black Moses went off to do your +bidding (he was a bit scared of some foolishness he called +bugaboos), I told him to bring clothes and blankets from the house, +knowing that the likes o' that wouldn't have come into your own +noddle."</p> +<p>"True, it did not," I confessed. "I am lucky in having an old +mariner like you to look after me."</p> +<p>"Ay, and there be old mariners aboard that brig, too. See, they +bin and dropped a couple of boats out, to tow her off."</p> +<p>This gave me a start, and I watched with great anxiety the +efforts of the buccaneers to haul their vessel off the shoals. She +was not more than fifty yards from the cliff where we were +standing, which somewhat overhung the bay, and from our elevated +position we could see clearly what was going on. I suppose it was a +full hour before they gave up the attempt, and 'twas clear that +having failed a good many more hours must pass before 'twould be +possible to float her, for the tide, which had been at the flood +when she ran aground, was now ebbing, and Vetch could not (any more +than King Canute) command that.</p> +<p>I think if I had been Vetch, with so much at stake (for if we +got the better of him, be sure there would soon be a halter about +his neck)--I think if I had been in his place, with nigh a score of +stalwart daredevils at my beck, all armed and trained to desperate +deeds, I should have waded ashore wi' 'em and made some effort to +run us down. He must have known that there could be but two or +three of us, and with a little manoeuvering and stealth there was a +chance that he might have got upon us and done us mischief.</p> +<p>But Vetch, as has more than once appeared, was never a fellow to +run into jeopardy; and our very weakness, I doubt not, persuaded +him that he had nothing to fear in way of assault, and need only +bide for the next flood to carry him out beyond our reach.</p> +<p>Many times during that night I thought of Mistress Lucy, and +wondered whether she, below decks, had guessed from the movement of +the vessel, and the commotion and uproar, that we were still +working for her behoof. She told me afterwards that, having locked +herself in the cabin, she was in a stupor of grief, and felt, when +the vessel moved (believing that it was putting out to sea) that +nothing could save her now. But when she heard the shouts and the +firing, a wild hope sprang up within her; she was possessed with a +strong assurance that something was being attempted for her sake, +and she clasped her hands and prayed that it might have a happy +issue.</p> +<h2>Chapter <a name="Ch29" id="Ch29">29</a>: We Bombard The +Brig.</h2> +<p>'Twas not very long before Uncle Moses was back, bringing +welcome blankets, in which I rolled myself while my clothes were +drying at a fire Joe kindled in the wood. The old negro said that +we could not expect any reinforcements before daybreak, the people +being quite unwilling to march during the night so far from their +homes. He had brought back with him, however, Noah and Jacob on +horseback, and indeed I suspected that without them even Uncle +Moses himself would not have conquered his dread of the bugaboos +and faced the night journey a second time.</p> +<p>Some three hours after daybreak the dusky recruits came dropping +in with weapons of all sorts--firelocks, knives, bludgeons--and +with food, of which I for one was mighty glad, being sharp set +after my swimming and a cold night. The negroes made a great +clamour as their numbers increased--there were soon pretty nearly a +hundred of them, all the able-bodied men on the estate and a fair +sprinkling of women, too. 'Twas hopeless, the noise being so great, +to expect that Vetch would not get a shrewd notion of the size of +our force, and I saw no reason for attempting to conceal it; +indeed, I nourished a secret hope that, being a coward at heart, he +would be daunted at sight of us, and yield up Mistress Lucy on +terms. But this hope soon took wing.</p> +<p>The tide had now left the brig high and dry on the sand. She had +heeled over, but not enough to make it possible for her crew to use +their brass guns against the negroes who crowded the top of the +cliff. They made some attempt to train the guns, but desisted when +they saw that the utmost elevation would reach no higher than +halfway up. But the cliff top was well within range of their +muskets, as one unfortunate negro, approaching the edge too closely +found to his cost. A shot struck him on the leg, and he ran howling +back, causing his companions to scuttle like rabbits into the +woodland.</p> +<p>We had discussed during the night what course we should follow +in the morning, but without arriving at any conclusion. I hoped +that we should find ourselves in a state to make an organized +assault on the brig and carry it by main force; but this idea was +speedily dashed when I came to take stock of our forces and +armament. We had but eight muskets among us; I counted more than +twenty buccaneers on the sloping deck of the brig. Though we so +greatly outnumbered them I saw that a direct assault could not +succeed. From the vantage of the deck they would have us at their +mercy; and though fifty disciplined men, even unarmed, might +perhaps swarm up and overcome them by sheer weight of numbers, I +believed that the negroes would have no stomach for so desperate an +undertaking.</p> +<p>And my former gloom and trouble of mind descended upon me, when +I saw the tide begin to creep up again. Unless we could do +something before the flood the buccaneers would without doubt get +the vessel off, for she had not sufficient way on when she struck +to run her deep into the sand, and they had only to jettison a part +of her cargo to float her.</p> +<p>I walked apart with Cludde and Punchard, all three of us at our +wit's end. With only eight muskets we could not fire fast enough to +keep the deck clear of men, and our store of ammunition was scanty; +further, I doubted whether the negroes were sufficiently practised +with firearms to make good marksmen. It seemed that we should ere +long see the buccaneer vessel slipping out of our reach.</p> +<p>'Twas a chance act of Joe Punchard that drew me out of my +heaviness, and set my wits a-jump. We were walking along the +cliffs, and came to that gap I have before mentioned, where Cludde +and I had nearly broke our necks the night before.</p> +<p>"'T'ud ha' saved a deal o' trouble if that there barrel had +rolled a bit further," says Joe, and he picks up a stone and shies +it out to sea, for the mere easement of his temper. My eyes +followed the flight of the stone idly, but when it flopped into the +water a notion came to me which I was quick to impart.</p> +<p>"By Jupiter, Cludde," I cried, "we'll bombard 'em!"</p> +<p>He stared at me as though he feared my wits were astray, but +when I pointed to the innumerable stones strewing the cliff side, +from boulders of great size to nuggets no bigger than an apple, and +showed how easy 'twould be for our negroes to cast them on to the +very deck of the brig, his face changed, and I saw a light in his +eyes that reminded me of the time when he was one of the +ringleaders in the prankish tricks of the Shrewsbury Mohocks. Then +all at once he fell sober again.</p> +<p>"But what's the good," he said. "We can clear the deck, 'tis +true; but be never a whit the nearer to capturing the vessel."</p> +<p>"I don't know that," said I. "If we clear the deck they go down +below; if they go down below they will not be able to keep so good +a lookout upon us; and while the niggers are stoning the deck we +may get a chance to creep up and be among 'em before they know +it."</p> +<p>"But they would see us from the portholes," he persisted.</p> +<p>"True, if we are fools enough to approach 'em broadside," I +said. "The bow is pointing shorewards; if we make for a point +exactly opposite and go in single file in a line with the vessel's +keel, they will not see us unless they put their heads clean out of +the portholes and look down and aslant, and they will not do that +with the chance of getting a broken skull."</p> +<p>"Smite my timbers," cries Joe, "'tis a pretty ploy, and would +tickle my captain mightily. We'll do it, sir, and all I wish is +that the niggers can aim straight."</p> +<p>We lost no time in putting things in trim for the venture, and +indeed 'twould not be long before the tide washed the brig and +rendered the attack I proposed impossible. Gathering the negroes, +we set them to collect stones of a fair size (but not too big, for +I did not wish to break holes in the deck with jeopardy to Mistress +Lucy), and pile them up so as to be handy. And since I have ever +believed that folk, whether black or white, work more willingly if +they see the aim and purpose of their toil, I told them as they set +about the task what our intent was. It pleased them, and they +worked with a will, being indeed childishly eager to begin the +bombardment before the time was ripe.</p> +<p>When a sufficiency of missiles had been collected, I ranged the +negroes along the cliff so that, while they could see the brig, +they could scarcely be seen from it. They were stupid enough to be +sure; from what I saw of negroes then and since I cannot but think +they are no better than children in intelligence; and in their +eagerness to begin this merry sport, as they regarded it, they went +a deal too near the edge of the cliff and exposed too large a +portion of their bodies.</p> +<p>There was nothing for it but to place them in position +ourselves, which I did, Cludde and Joe assisting (the latter with +some roughness of handling and of speech), and we marked out a line +for them beyond which we forbade them to advance. Then, all being +ready I gave the word. Instantly some three score stones, none less +than a pound in weight, hurtled down, many of them falling on to +the sand, a dozen, maybe, finding the deck, and two or three +striking the buccaneers.</p> +<p>There was a roar from below, which the negroes answered with a +wild whoop, and then a dozen muskets flashed, and the slugs +whistled over our heads or embedded themselves in the cliff. +Another shower of stones fell, a greater proportion this time +hitting the mark, which filled the simple negroes with such joy +that they pressed forward in full view from the ship, many of them +exposing the whole upper half of their bodies.</p> +<p>What ensued taught them a lesson. A second fusillade burst from +the vessel; two of the negroes fell with howls of pain; the rest +scurried back in dismay, and some few took to their heels and fled +squealing into the woods. I called them back and rated them soundly +for disobeying orders, and then we placed them again in a secure +position and the bombardment recommenced.</p> +<p>I reckoned that within a minute or two five hundred stones had +been hurled from the cliff, and though many more fell upon the sand +than upon the deck I saw that the effect was answering my hopes. +Some of the crew retreated to the lee side of the masts; others +crouched under the guns, whence they fired their muskets, slowly +and with difficulty, doing us no harm; others again took refuge by +the break of the poop, and in the round house and the +forecastle.</p> +<p>One man with great boldness tried to climb the rigging to the +cross-trees, no doubt with intent to get a better aim. But he +instantly became the target for a perfect hurricane of stones, and +he dropped to the deck and crawled painfully away. In a few minutes +not a man was to be seen.</p> +<p>Bidding the negroes continue to throw, but not so rapidly, I lay +down on the cliff top and took a good look at the vessel. So far as +I could discover, no one was so posted as to be able to see below +the level of the deck and I deemed that the time had come to +attempt the second and more hazardous part of my plan. Leaving +Uncle Moses to superintend the activities of the main body of +negroes, I crept down the gap with Cludde, Punchard and a score of +the men who possessed arms of a sort, and came (not without some +perilous stumbles) to the sea line, immediately opposite to the bow +of the brig. Then those of us who had muskets lit our matches, and +I set forward across the sand, bending almost double, and making +straight for the figurehead, the others close behind me in single +file. Stones were still falling from the cliff, and I was in fear, +as we approached the vessel, lest some of the negroes should be hit +and betray us with a cry. But we arrived beneath the bow without +this mishap and undiscovered, and crept round to the larboard side, +where we were sheltered by the intervening hull.</p> +<p>We made for the cable to which the kedge anchor was attached, +and I began to swarm up, any sound that I may have made being +smothered by the clatter of stones on the planks of the deck. I +gained the poop without being seen, but immediately afterwards I +heard a yell from the roundhouse, and the men who had sheltered +there began to pour out.</p> +<p>But having seen the uselessness of their fusillade against the +cliff they had allowed their matches to go out, so that I was for +the moment safe from musket shot. When I fired and brought down the +first man, the rest hesitated, and seeing my companions clambering +up behind me they scuttled back into the roundhouse again. The +instant Joe Punchard reached the deck he swung round one of the +brass guns to command the roundhouse. It was already loaded, as the +buccaneers knew, and Joe cried out that he would send them all to +Davy Jones if they showed their noses outside the door.</p> +<p>The shower of stones had now ceased, and the men who had gone +below were swarming up to meet this unlooked-for boarding party. +Cludde and I, with our negroes, were upon them before they had time +to collect their wits. And then ensued as pretty a bit of close +fighting as ever I was engaged in. We laid about us right lustily +with our clubbed muskets, and I will say for the black men that +they were not a whit less doughty than the white. Our first success +had, I suppose, given them confidence; and Noah, with his firm +belief in the virtue of the talisman slung about his neck, threw +himself into the very forefront of the struggle, dodging the +cutlasses of the buccaneers with great agility, and slipping in +under their guard with shrewd thrusts of his knife.</p> +<p>They still outnumbered us, I think (for you may be sure I was +too busy to count them); but they were disheartened, no doubt, as +any men would be, at this rude and sudden onslaught on their +security, and with their comrades cooped up under the menace of the +guns they fought without the confidence that goes so far to win +victory. Moreover, they lacked leadership. The master of the brig, +as I afterwards discovered, was in the roundhouse, and Vetch (in +this equal to himself) was not to be seen, having ever a tender +regard for the safety of his skin. And so, after some few minutes +of it, the buccaneers turned tail and fled for their lives into the +forecastle, where they barricaded themselves.</p> +<p>Leaving Cludde to keep an eye on them, I rushed down the +companion to find Vetch and to assure Mistress Lucy that her +troubles were at an end. And there was Vetch, trying to batter down +the door of the cabin in which she had locked herself. His design, +I guessed, was to seize her and use her to extort terms from us. He +had the advantage of me in that I was coming from the full daylight +into the dimness of below decks, and before I had reached the +ladder foot he fired his pistol at me, the bullet striking my +thigh. I fell to the floor; he sprang over my body and up the +steps; I cried out to Cludde to seize him, and to Mistress Lucy +that the fight was over, and then all things became a blank to +me.</p> +<p>When I came to myself, I knew by the lazy rocking of the vessel +that it was once more afloat; I was lying on a bench beneath a +porthole, and when I turned my head to see more particularly where +I was, Mistress Lucy came towards me, her eyes shining with +kindness.</p> +<p>"Mistress Lucy!" I cried, trying to rise, but wincing at an +exquisite pain in my leg.</p> +<p>"Don't move," she said. "The surgeon said you were to lie quite +still."</p> +<p>"The surgeon!" I repeated, scarce believing I had heard +aright.</p> +<p>"Yes, you are surprised," she said with a smile; "but that is +not the strangest of the many strange things that have happened of +late. One of the crew of this vessel was once a surgeon; he took +his degrees in Edinburgh, he told me--"</p> +<p>"And that's true," said a harsh voice, and there entered the +cabin one of the buccaneers--a big bottle-nosed fellow, with a face +of purple hue. "And how are ye the noo, Mister?"</p> +<p>"Mighty shaky!" I said. "What is wrong with me?"</p> +<p>"A bit wound in the dexter femur," he said, "within a hair's +breadth like o' your femoral artery and kingdom come.</p> +<p>"But ye'll do fine," he added, feeling my pulse. "Man, ye've +good blood in your veins, and me having a good hand at the cutting, +we'll verra soon have ye on your two feet again; and the lassie +will no like be fashed at that, I'm thinkin'."</p> +<p>"I am to thank you then for cutting out the bullet," I said, and +then, remembering how I had come by it, I cried: "Have they got +that villain?"</p> +<p>"Meanin' Vetch?" says the man. "Hoots! Ye'll no catch him; he's +a slithery man, yon. He was up and awa' before he could be stoppit, +with a wheen o' yelling niggers after him. Aweel, I'm no that sorry +mysel', for he wasna just what ye would call a gentleman."</p> +<p>I suppose that something of what I was thinking showed in my +face, for the Scotchman continued:</p> +<p>"I had naething against him as an employer, ye ken; he was sound +wi' the siller; but his dealin' wi' sic a bonny lassie kind o' +affrontit me, and I'm well enough pleased ye got the better of him +in that regard. I mind o' the time when I had a wee-bit lassie +mysel'."</p> +<p>And then the besotted fellow began to weep, and comforted +himself with a long pull from a flask he took from his pocket. +'Twas plain that the drink had been his undoing, and indeed, before +I parted company with him in Port Royal some days later, he told me +with maudlin tears the story of his declension from surgeon on a +king's ship to buccaneer, and preached me many an impressive sermon +on the text of the bottle.</p> +<p>Mistress Lucy had withdrawn while we were talking, and Sandy +MacLeod, as he was named, dressed my wound again with a hand as +tender as a woman's. And then Joe Punchard came down to see me, +Cludde remaining on deck to keep an eye on the crew. Vetch had +sprung overboard, and run fleetly as a deer to the shore, and +though the negroes on the cliff sped after him with yells, they had +a round of half a mile to go over rough ground, and could not catch +him. I would fain have him in my power, so that he might receive +his desserts at the hands of a jury, and be deprived at least of +further opportunities of mischief, but my vexation at his escape +was solaced by the knowledge that Mistress Lucy's safety was +secure.</p> +<p>I talked things over with Joe, and we decided to sail the brig +round the coast to Port Royal, and hand Mistress Lucy over to her +friends in Spanish Town. The management of her estate gave us some +concern. It could not be left without a responsible head, and the +overseers, being, as I learned from her, men whom Vetch had put in +when he dismissed McTavish and the other white men whom he had +found there on his arrival, were scarcely to be trusted.</p> +<p>As the result of a consultation with Mistress Lucy, she asked +Cludde (who had begged and received her forgiveness) to return to +Penolver and take charge until we should have had time to reengage +McTavish and send him up from Spanish Town. Mistress Lucy being now +of age, Vetch's brief authority had come to an end, and I supposed +that he would make his way to Dry Harbor and take ship to England. +I could imagine the rage of Sir Richard when his emissary should +return and report the total failure of his scheme. 'Twould sort +with his violent and overbearing character to make Vetch a +scapegoat (a man in the wrong must ever have someone to kick); and +I wondered to what new villainy Cyrus would turn for his +livelihood.</p> +<p>We had some trouble with the buccaneers when I told them they +would be required to work the brig to Port Royal. They felt a very +natural reluctance to come within reach of the merchants and +shipmen who had suffered from their depredations. But I took it +upon myself to promise them good pay and immunity from arrest, +provided they joined a king's ship forthwith, and being seconded by +Sandy MacLeod the surgeon, who had much influence with his +comrades, I brought them to acquiesce. And so, having bade farewell +to Cludde and the friendly negroes, Uncle Moses and Noah (Jacob +would accompany me), we waited a few hours until the old nurse +Patty had been sent up from the house and then we unfurled our +sails to a favoring wind, and in the course of three days made the +harbor of Port Royal.</p> +<p>During the voyage I saw almost nothing of Mistress Lucy. My +wound kept me to my cabin; she did not often stir from hers, and +'twas Patty who bestowed on me the ministrations that are so +pleasant to a sick man. I own I was somewhat disappointed in this +matter. 'Twas nothing that Mistress Lucy had not uttered a word of +thanks to me for what I had done for her (she was much more affable +with Joe Punchard); her refraining spared me embarrassment, for a +man of my nature is ill at ease under any demonstration of +gratitude; but there were many other things we might have talked +about, and the mere sight of her would have been a comfort. But, as +I say, she saw me but seldom, and spoke very little, and I felt a +spasm of jealousy when I learned that she spent hours on deck +chatting with Punchard, who for his part, when he came to see me, +spoke of her with all the adoration of a worshipper.</p> +<p>And when, on arriving at Port Royal, I was carried ashore, and +Mistress Lucy came and took leave of me, she said nothing but a +mere "Goodby, Mr. Bold," though to be sure she looked on me with +wondrous kindness.</p> +<p>And when she was gone I could not forbear heaving a monstrous +sigh at the thought that she was now a lady of great property, +whereas I was but a second lieutenant, poor on eighty pounds a +year.</p> +<h2>Chapter <a name="Ch30" id="Ch30">30</a>: The Six Days' +Battle.</h2> +<p>My wound kept me laid up for a fortnight, and hobbling for +another, so that I was unluckily prevented from accompanying my +captain in a little expedition in which he gained much credit and a +goodly portion of prize money. The Falmouth was sent by Admiral +Benbow, with the Ruby and the Experiment, to cruise off the Petit +Guavas. 'Twas the middle of May when they returned (with four +prizes, one a very rich ship), and meanwhile things had happened +which mitigated my disappointment.</p> +<p>We learned in April from Rear Admiral Whetstone, who had joined +the vice admiral, of the death of King William and the accession of +the Princess Anne, and knowing how much the new queen was under the +influence of the Earl of Marlborough's lady, we had little doubt +that England would soon be at war with France. A few days before my +ship returned to port we had advice of the rupture between the two +countries, and when Captain Vincent informed the admiral that +Monsieur Chateau-Renaud was at the Havana, with six and twenty +men-of-war, waiting for the great treasure fleet from Santa Cruz, +we looked forward with lively anticipation to the imminent +conflict.</p> +<p>And it chancing that one of the second lieutenants of the +flagship was sick, Mr. Benbow with great kindness appointed me, +being now perfectly recovered, to fill his room. I parted with +regret from Captain Vincent, whom I esteemed a better commander +than Captain Fogg, of the Breda, but I was greatly delighted at the +prospect of serving under Mr. Benbow's eye, and in hardly less +degree at being on the same ship as Joe Punchard, who had returned +to his duty as the admiral's servant.</p> +<p>It was nigh two months before the vice admiral hoisted his flag +and set sail. In the interim he had despatched Rear Admiral +Whetstone to intercept Monsieur du Casse, who, as he was informed, +was expected at Port Louis, at the west end of Hispaniola, with +four men-of-war, to destroy our trade for negroes. At length +sailing orders were given to the fleet, and on the evening before +we departed we attended a grand entertainment given by the new +governor, Brigadier General Selwyn, who had arrived towards the +latter end of January.</p> +<p>All the important people of the colony accepted the governor's +invitation, and among them was Mistress Lucy. I had seen her many +times since I had recovered of my wound, and, I own, was somewhat +piqued at her conduct towards me, for though always perfectly kind, +she was no more cordial to me than to a score of my fellow +officers. Indeed, if any one was favored more than another, it was +Dick Cludde, who had, since his breach with Vetch, cast off his bad +habits, and appeared to be on an excellent footing with his +cousin.</p> +<p>I had always thought him a lubber, and the good qualities he now +showed annoyed (I am ashamed to say) as much as they surprised me. +'Twas clear that he was humbly paying his court to the lady, and +feeling myself debarred by my poverty from entering the lists +against him, I could but stand aside and fume at his greater +advantages. Lucy danced much with him at the governor's ball; she +was so beset by would-be partners that when I, who had somewhat +morosely hung back, approached her to ask her for a place on her +card, she hummed, and pursed her lips, and said she feared I was +too late, and then, with a pretty air of relenting, announced that +she could give me one dance towards the end.</p> +<p>I was standing, gloomily watching her dance with Cludde, when I +felt a tap on my arm, and saw Mistress Lucetta Gurney (whom I have +before mentioned) smiling up at me from behind her fan.</p> +<p>"Why these black looks, Mr. Bold?" says she.</p> +<p>"Because you have not favored me with a dance, Mistress +Lucetta," said I, with a very low bow.</p> +<p>"Fie, Mr. Bold," cries she, "when did you ask me?"</p> +<p>"I ask you now," I said, and with that I took her under my arm +and strode among the dancers with so fierce and determined an air +(as Mistress Lucetta told me) that, being more than common tall, I +was much observed and humorously criticized by the company. I +suppose I carried the same fierceness into my dancing, for after +footing it for the space of a minute, Mistress Lucetta begged me to +stop, saying she had no fancy for dancing with a whirlwind.</p> +<p>"Take me to a seat, Mr. Bold. I am going to talk to you," she +said.</p> +<p>And talk to me she did, in a way that mightily surprised me.</p> +<p>"Do you think I don't see through you, Mr. Bold?" she said. "You +are most desperately jealous of Mr. Cludde; you know you are; and +of every other man in the room; and you show it, which is a very, +very silly thing to do. Oh, don't speak; you would only tell me +stories. Listen to me. Lucy is a dear friend of mine, and I know +all about everything. You are a disgrace to your name, sir."</p> +<p>"Why, what have I done?" I asked, amazed at the sternness she +had suddenly thrown into her voice. And she burst into a ripple of +laughter.</p> +<p>"I do think you are the stupidest man alive," she said. "Is not +your name Bold, and are you not timid, and backward, and humble, +and despondent, and a great big baby! Why, Lucy thinks the world of +you; she is never tired of hearing that red-haired man Punchard +talk of you; and yet you are glum, and scowl at her, and glower at +the men who are cheerful and try to amuse her, and whom she doesn't +care a button for. Oh, Mr. Bold, 'tis you who ought to change your +name, for to be sure you will never persuade her to change +hers."</p> +<p>"But Dick Cludde!" I stammered, taken aback by this plain +speaking.</p> +<p>"Is going to dance with me, sir," she said, springing up as, the +dance being over, Dick came to claim her for the next.</p> +<p>I wandered into the governor's beautiful garden, and, pacing up +and down, pondered what the lively Lucetta had said. Was it true +that Lucy did not care a button for the men who courted her so +assiduously? Was Lucetta seeking to make a fool of me? Did Lucy's +apparent indifference mask another feeling? My thoughts made a +flying circle of perplexity and I could not anywise come at a +resolution.</p> +<p>And then I remembered again how far above me Lucy was in worldly +position, and how I had nothing, barring a few hundred pounds of +prize money and my paltry eighty pounds (or less) a year. What had +I to offer her? And besides this, I felt a scruple (even supposing +my chances were not hopeless), against seeking to engage her while +she was so far from the relatives whose advice she would naturally +seek. 'Twould savor much of fortune hunting, I thought, if I sought +her hand so close upon her coming of age.</p> +<p>The upshot of my meditations was that I must cleave to my former +resolve, and wait at least until I should have been promoted to +captain's rank, and then seek her at her uncle's house and put my +fate to the hazard.</p> +<p>Whether my resolution would have survived a dance with her I +know not. When I went back to the hall to claim her I found I was +too late: she was dancing with a young popinjay of Collingwood's +regiment. I watched them gloomily, in high dudgeons, though 'twas +my own fault, and I did not even get an opportunity of bidding her +farewell.</p> +<p>Next day ('twas the eleventh of July) we sailed out of Port +Royal, amid salvos of artillery, the merchant ships in the harbour +being all dressed with flags. The Breda, in which I was now +serving, led the van, and the squadron consisted, besides another +third-rate, of six fourth-rates, a fireship, a bomb vessel, a +tender and a sloop. Mr. Benbow designed to join Rear Admiral +Whetstone, but we were soon spoken by the Colchester, from which we +learned that Monsieur du Casse was expected at Leogane, and making +for that place, we arrived on the twenty-seventh.</p> +<p>We saw several ships at anchor near the town, and one of them +being under sail, we pursued her, and found her to be a man-of-war +of fifty guns. She did not stay to try conclusions with us, but ran +ashore, and then her captain, to prevent her from falling into our +hands, blew her up. Next morning we had the good fortune to capture +with ease three other French ships and to sink a fourth; and +perceiving that a vessel of eighteen guns was being hauled inshore +under the guns of the fort, the admiral sent the boat in, which +burned her to the ground, and brought off some other ships with +wine and stores aboard.</p> +<p>We came next day before Petit Guavas, and saw three or four +small ships in the harbor called the Cul, which was so strong by +its natural position, and so well defended, that Mr. Benbow thought +it not advisable to run any risk there for vessels of little value. +We continued for three days in the bay, and sailed from thence for +Cape Donna Maria, on the west side of Hispaniola, where we learned +that Monsieur du Casse was gone to Cartagena. 'Twas clear that the +Frenchman was in no mind to encounter us, and there was a good deal +of grumbling among our men at the wild goose chase on which we +appeared to be engaged.</p> +<p>Falling in with Rear Admiral Whetstone, who had taken three +ships of the enemy, Mr. Benbow despatched him back to Jamaica to +look to the safety of that island, being resolved himself to cruise +about until he should come in touch with the fleet of Monsieur du +Casse.</p> +<p>On the tenth of August we left Cape Donna Maria, the Breda being +accompanied by the Defiance (of which Captain Kirkby was commander, +and Dick Cludde first lieutenant), the Falmouth (with my friend +Captain Vincent), the Ruby, the Greenwich, the Pendennis and the +Windsor. Early in the morning of the twenty-ninth we came over +against the coast of Santa Martha, and espied ten ships sailing +under topsails westward along the shore, and soon perceived them to +be the French. Four of them were great vessels of sixty or seventy +guns.</p> +<p>Some of our ships being three or four miles astern, Mr. Benbow +flew the signal for action, and went on under easy sail so that the +others might come up with us. He had disposed his line of battle +with the flagship in the center, the Defiance at the extreme left, +and the Falmouth at the extreme right.</p> +<p>On board the Breda we were all desperately eager for the fight, +and I could not watch without admiration the coolness with which +Mr. Benbow made his disposition, and the particular order and +cheerfulness that prevailed among the men. Our consorts were long +in coming up, and I observed the admiral to grow very uneasy as he +watched them through his perspective glass. He bit his lips, and +frowned, and at last broke out into indignant speech, especially +against the Defiance and the Windsor, which were making but little +haste to come into their stations.</p> +<p>He was ever a man of quick temper, and his habit of speaking his +mind freely accounted in some measure for his unpopularity with +some of his captains. But to my mind he was fully justified in the +bitterness with which he now spoke of Captain Kirkby of the +Defiance and Captain Constable of the Windsor. Evening was drawing +on, and though the enemy was stronger than we, both in numbers and +armament, Mr. Benbow made no doubt we should give a good account of +ourselves if only the captains would loyally support him.</p> +<p>At length, to bring on an engagement before night, the admiral +ran alongside of the enemy, being to windward, and steering large, +not intending to attack before the Defiance was abreast of the +headmost ship. But before this was done the Falmouth opened the +fight by firing on a great Dutch-built ship in the rear, and the +Windsor and the Defiance immediately did likewise, though they had +not arrived at the appointed stations. Cursing with vexation at +this violation of orders, the admiral saw himself forced to open +fire upon the nearest French ship, which had already given us a +harmless broadside.</p> +<p>And then to our amazement we saw the Defiance and the Windsor, +though they had received but two or three broadsides apiece (in one +of which Dick Cludde got a severe hurt) luff out of gunshot, so +that the two sternmost ships of the French were free to lay upon +the Breda. I think I never saw a man in such a passion of anger as +Mr. Benbow was then. He mingled hot reproaches of the erring +captains with words of cheer to our gunners, and though we were the +target for three of the enemy's ships, he bade Captain Fogg keep us +in touch with them and swore that he would fight the whole squadron +single-handed.</p> +<p>'Twas four o'clock before the action became general, so sluggish +were our vessels in coming into line, and the firing continued till +nightfall, by which time we on the Breda had suffered severely. We +kept the French company all night, and during the night watches the +admiral, believing that if he led himself on both tacks the +captains for very shame could not fail to follow his example, +altered the line of battle accordingly, the Defiance coming next to +the Breda. At daybreak the Breda was near the enemy, but only the +Ruby was up with us, the rest of the squadron lying three, four, +and five miles astern, and there was little wind. We were within +gunshot of the French, but they were civil enough not to fire, and +indeed 'twas clear as the day went on that they were not eager to +fight us, for on a sea breeze coming up they got into a line and +made what sail they could.</p> +<p>One ship set off with the Ruby in pursuit, plying our chase guns +on them till night; but the other ships again delayed to come up +with us, and we were left to keep the enemy company.</p> +<p>Next morning at daylight we found ourselves on the quarter of +the second ship of the enemy's squadron, within point-blank shot, +the Ruby being ahead of us. The French ships fired at the Ruby, +which returned their fire; and the two French vessels which were +ahead fell off, and there being little wind, brought their guns to +bear on our consort. Mr. Benbow gave orders that we should send our +broadside upon the ship that first began, which our gunners did +with such right good will that they brought her masts and rigging +tumbling down, and shattered her so that she had to lower her boats +to tow her away. But the Ruby had suffered in no less a degree, and +the admiral ordered Captain Fogg to lay by her and send his boats +to tow her off.</p> +<p>This action had lasted for nigh two hours, during which the +Defiance and Windsor had come abreast of the rear French ship and +though within point-blank range had never fired one gun at her. The +admiral ground his teeth and swore he would court martial the +captains when we came to port. Meanwhile a gale had sprung up, and +the enemy again made all sail, and we set off in chase. At two in +the afternoon we got abreast of two of the stern-most of the +enemy's ships off the mouth of the Rio Grande, and in hopes to +disable them in their masts and rigging we began to fire on them, +as did some of our vessels astern; but the Frenchmen, seeing the +Breda so ill supported, paid no heed to any other, but pointed +wholly at us, doing much hurt to our rigging, and maiming some of +our men.</p> +<p>After the fight had continued upwards of two hours, the +Frenchmen drew off out of gunshot, and we made what sail we could +after them, but they used all possible shifts to evade fighting, +our men shouting after them derisively as cowardly curs. Darkness +put a stop to the pursuit, but again we hugged the enemy all night, +hoping that next day would see the conclusion of this long-drawn +battle.</p> +<p>When the third morning dawned, we spied the enemy about a mile +and a half ahead. Of our ships the half-crippled Ruby was nearest, +the Falmouth next; the rest were but indifferently near, the +Greenwich indeed lying full three leagues astern, though the +admiral had never struck his signal for battle night or day.</p> +<p>For many hours the wind blew easterly, but at three in the +afternoon it shifted to the south and gave the enemy the weather +gauge. In tacking we fetched within gunshot of the sternmost of +them, and for half an hour or so we kept up a brisk bombardment; +but our line was still much out of order, and some of our ships +being even now three miles astern, nothing more could be done.</p> +<p>And so another day passed. The other vessels had not come within +speaking distance of us, and it seemed that all hope of bringing +the enemy to a decisive engagement must be abandoned.</p> +<p>The dawn of the fourth morning found the Frenchmen six miles +ahead, and one less in number, for the great Dutch ship had +separated from the squadron and was out of sight. The Defiance and +Windsor, ever the most dilatory of our vessels, were at this time +four miles astern. About ten o'clock, the wind then blowing east +nor'-east, but very variable, the enemy tacked, and the admiral +fetched within range of two of them, giving them his broadside and +receiving from them many shrewd knocks. Then, tacking also, he +pursued them with what speed he might, and about noon contrived to +cut off from their line a small English ship, the Ann galley, which +they had taken off Lisbon.</p> +<p>This small success cheered our drooping spirits a little; but a +complete victory seemed further off than ever, for the Ruby proved +to be so disabled that the admiral ordered her to return to Port +Royal, so that we had five ships against the enemy's nine. During +the day our vessels drew somewhat closer to us, the Falmouth being +the foremost, and we gained some four miles upon the enemy by +sunset.</p> +<p>Ever since we had first sighted the Frenchmen, Mr. Benbow had +snatched but a few hours' sleep each night, and was becoming worn +out for want of rest and for bitter mortification at the ill +conduct of his captains. 'Tis true the enemy had shown no +disposition to stand, and the light winds had not favored the +overhauling of them, and I was very sure that in the case of +Captain Vincent, at any rate, 'twas sheer ill luck that prevented +him from giving the admiral support. But I had other ideas of the +behavior of the captains of the vessels that hung back most. +Captain Kirkby of the Defiance and Captain Wade of the Greenwich I +knew to be of the anti-Benbow party, and though I had not the same +knowledge of Captain Constable of the Windsor and Captain Hudson of +the Pendennis, I suspected that they were infected by the same +blight, for I could not believe that officers of the English navy +could be arrant cowards.</p> +<p>On the night of the twenty-fourth I had the middle watch. +Towards two o'clock Joe Punchard came to me, smoking a pipe, and +looking more miserable than I had ever seen him.</p> +<p>"Twill break my captain's heart if we have another day of it," +he says gloomily. "He looks five years older than he did when we +left Port Royal. He can't sleep, and if he do fall into a doze he +starts up like a child out of a bad dream. He swears he will court +martial the captains, every man jack of them, when we get to port, +but that won't win us the battle, and he has set his heart on +giving the Frenchmen a drubbing. And he's took a notion that he'll +never get through alive, which is so uncommon unlike him, being +mostly so cheery, that it gives me the dumps bad."</p> +<p>I was saying what I could to cheer the good fellow when the +lookout cries he sees a sail ahead. The admiral rushes out of his +cabin and orders the drums to beat to quarters. In an instant, as +it seemed, the decks were full of men. 'Twas a clear night, with +very little wind, and we could see one of the French ships within +hail of us. We gave her a tremendous broadside from all three decks +at once, with double shot, round below, and round and partridge +aloft. She returned it hotly, striking down many of our good +fellows; I myself narrowly escaped one of the shot, which hit a man +at my side, carrying away his right arm clear from the +shoulder.</p> +<p>We kept up the duel of firing for near an hour, and then I heard +a great cry go up that the admiral was wounded, and by and by Joe +comes to me with tears streaming down his cheeks, and says that the +admiral's right leg was shattered to pieces by a chain shot, and he +was carried below. But while he was still talking to me we heard a +great shout and there was Mr. Benbow being hoisted in his cradle on +to the quarterdeck, and crying out "Good cheer, my hearties! The +Frenchmen have given me a knock, but we've got 'em now and by God! +we'll beat 'em!"</p> +<p>And then they cheered him again, and he, sitting in his cradle, +making nothing of his dreadful pain, gave orders and shouted +encouragement for a good three hours.</p> +<p>When the morning light showed us the ship we had been fighting, +she appeared a mere ruin; her main yard down and shot to pieces, +her fore-topsail yard shot away, her mizzen mast by the board, all +her rigging gone, and her sides bored through and through with our +double-headed shot. And near by us stood my old ship the Falmouth, +which in the darkness had assisted us very much in crippling this +great vessel of seventy guns, the sternmost of the French +squadron.</p> +<p>Soon afterwards we saw the other ships of the enemy bearing down +upon us before a strong easterly wind; at the same time the +Windsor, Pendennis and Greenwich, ahead of the enemy, ran to +leeward of the disabled ship, gave her their broadsides ('twas like +flogging a dead horse), and then stood to the southward. Whereupon +up comes the Defiance, and passes like the others; and while we +were still in our amazement at this sudden bravery, the battered +ship fired twenty of her guns at the Defiance, whereupon she ports +her helm a-weather and runs away right before the wind, lowering +both her topsails without any regard to the signal for battle.</p> +<p>This was more than our men could stomach; breaking all +discipline, they pursued the coward ship with groans and curses. I +glanced at the admiral, sitting erect on the quarter deck, and his +pale face was drawn with a look of utter despair.</p> +<p>The enemy, seeing our other two ships stand to the southward, +clearly expected them to tack, for they brought to with their heads +to the northward, preparing to meet their fire. But when they +perceived that our dastard captains had no such intent, but were +beyond doubt running away, they bore down upon the Breda and ran +between us and the disabled ship, firing all their guns, shooting +away our main-topsail yard, and shattering our rigging.</p> +<p>"For God's sake, Mr. Fogg," cried the admiral, "fire a couple of +shots at those villains ahead and mind them of their duty!"</p> +<p>This the captain did, but the others took not the least notice +of his signal. He stamped and swore like a madman, and I went hot +with shame to think of what opinion the Frenchmen must have of us. +And with our rigging all shot away we had to lay by and look at +them as they brought to, remanned their own shattered ship, and +took her in tow. Sure never did English admiral before or since +suffer such undeserved humiliation.</p> +<p>Our men set to work diligently to refit the vessel, and this +being done by ten o'clock, Mr. Benbow ordered the captain to pursue +the enemy, who was then about three miles distant, and to leeward, +having the disabled ship in tow, and steering northeast, the wind +being sou'-sou'west. We made all the sail we could, the battle +signal always flying at the fore; and the enemy, taking +encouragement from the behavior of some of our captains, now showed +the first signs of waiting for us. Whereupon the admiral ordered +Captain Fogg to send to the other captains and bid them keep their +line and behave themselves like men.</p> +<p>And when our boat returned from this errand there was Captain +Kirkby in it. He came aboard the Breda and went up to the admiral, +who never left the quarterdeck. There were high words between them; +I learned afterwards that Captain Kirkby pressed Mr. Benbow very +earnestly to desist from any further engagement, alleging that he +had tried the enemy's strength with little success for six days +together.</p> +<p>"And whose fault is that, sir?" roared the admiral.</p> +<p>Then, with difficulty curbing his anger, he bade Captain Fogg +signal to the other captains to come aboard, so that he might know +whether they were all of the same mind as that craven.</p> +<p>They obeyed this signal with wondrous alacrity. They came +aboard, and for two mortal hours the admiral, racked and almost +fainting with pain, reasoned, expostulated, pleaded, showed them +that now they had the fairest opportunity of success, seeing that +our ships were all in good condition, and only eight men killed in +all the squadron save those the Breda had lost; that we had plenty +of ammunition; that three or four of the enemy's ships had suffered +injury and one was quite disabled and in tow. 'Twas all in vain. +The most of them concurred with Captain Kirkby's opinion, that it +was undesirable to continue the fight, nor could any reasoning turn +them. And then they put their names to a paper, formally giving +their opinion, and (though I did not know this till afterwards) +Captain Fogg and my own old commander, Captain Vincent, signed with +the rest.</p> +<p>After this there was no more to be done. If the admiral had been +unwounded I believe he would have stood out against them all and +fought the enemy single-handed: but he had no assurance of being in +a fit state to direct the battle; 'twas clear the captains had no +mind to fight; and rather than imperil the whole squadron and let +the French boast of a victory he resolved to venture no further. +And so we let the enemy depart unmolested, and returned to +Jamaica.</p> +<p>On the way I had the privilege of some talk with the admiral. +Deeply mortified as he was at his own ill success, his personal +grief was outweighed by his sense of the national disappointment +which must attend the frustration of his design.</p> +<p>"And 'tis my last fight, Bold," he said to me. "I shall not live +to meet the French again, and 'tis a sore trial to me to go out of +the world a failure."</p> +<p>"You are not a failure, sir," I said. "'Tis those rascally +captains who have failed and are disgraced forever; and be sure our +people will do you justice."</p> +<p>"You think so?" he said, with a pleased look. "'Twas King +William that called me 'honest Benbow,' and if I keep that name +with the country I am content. I may die before we make Port Royal; +if I do, you will take my love to Nelly, my lad?"</p> +<p>"I will indeed, sir, but I hope for better things," I said. +"There be good surgeons in Spanish Town, who will use all of their +skill to preserve a life so valuable to the country."</p> +<p>"We shall see," he replied. "This plaguey leg will have to come +off; maybe I shall return home with a wooden leg and stump about as +port admiral somewhere!</p> +<p>"At any rate, I hope I shall live long enough to see you a +captain. You have done well, my lad, and there will be a few +vacancies, I warrant you, when the court martial has done with +those villains."</p> +<p>Before we reached Port Royal a French boat overtook us with a +letter to the admiral from Monsieur du Casse, who, being a brave +man, felt for the distress of his brave foe.</p> +<p>"Sir" (he wrote), "I had little hope on Monday last but to have +supped in your cabin, but it pleased God to order it otherwise; I +am thankful for it. As for those cowardly captains who deserted +you, hang them up, for by God, they deserve it."</p> +<p>Our return to harbor was a melancholy affair. There was +universal rage against the unworthy captains, and universal grief +at the plight of the admiral. His broken leg was taken off, an +operation which he bore with wonderful fortitude, and being of a +robust constitution, he gave the surgeons at first good hopes of +recovery. From his sick bed he issued a commission to Rear Admiral +Whetstone to hold a court martial for the trial of the four +captains whom he accused of cowardice, breach of order, and neglect +of duty; and of Captains Fogg and Vincent on the minor charge of +signing the paper against engaging the French.</p> +<p>The trial began on the eighth of October. Among the officers who +gave evidence (much against his will) against Captain Kirkby was +Dick Cludde, who was carried wounded before the court. Kirkby and +Captain Wade of the Greenwich were found guilty on all the charges +and sentenced to be shot. Captain Constable was cleared of +cowardice, but convicted on the other counts, and he was cashiered +from her Majesty's service, with imprisonment during her pleasure. +Captain Hudson of the Pendennis was lucky, as I thought, in dying +before the trial which must have branded him with indelible +disgrace.</p> +<p>As for my old friend Captain Vincent, and my new commander, +Captain Fogg, they alleged in their defense that they had signed +the paper only because they feared if we engaged the enemy, that +the other captains would wholly desert and leave the Breda and the +Falmouth to their fate; and Mr. Benbow himself testifying to their +great courage and gallant behavior in the battle, the court was +satisfied with suspending them from their employment in the queen's +service. The sentences were not executed at once, it being decided +that the officers (except Vincent and Fogg) should be carried to +England to await the pleasure of the queen's consort, Prince George +of Denmark, who as Lord High Admiral had the power to ratify or +quash the decrees of the court martial.</p> +<p>I was not myself present at the trial of these officers. On +arriving in the harbor, the admiral was informed that, taking +advantage of his absence, a buccaneer vessel had appeared off the +north coast, and was doing much damage among the merchant shipping. +Many planters who had suffered in their property had sent requests +to the governor to take immediate action against the buccaneers, +which he was unable to do until Mr. Benbow's return, Rear Admiral +Whetstone not thinking himself justified in diminishing his own +squadron with risk to the general safety of the island.</p> +<p>But on the day before the court martial was to meet Mr. Benbow +sent for me, and ordered me to cruise along the north shore in +search of the pirate vessel. He did not give me a ship of war for +this purpose, thinking that this would only serve to warn the +buccaneers, who no doubt had spies in the principal ports. But the +brig in which we had brought Mistress Lucy being still in the +harbor, the admiral instructed me to fit her out as a trader, and +send her to sea with a dummy captain and a skeleton crew, and then +to join her secretly with some thirty picked men from the queen's +ships.</p> +<p>This mark of his confidence gave me very great pleasure, and I +set about my preparations with zeal, being busy with them during +the days of the trial. Knowing how strongly attached I was to Joe +Punchard, Mr. Benbow insisted that he should accompany me, +declaring with only too much truth that he himself had little need +of Punchard's services while he was fixed to his bed.</p> +<p>I had, of course, paid a visit to Mistress Lucy immediately on +reaching port. She took me very severely to task for leaving the +port without a word of farewell, and seemed to find it a demerit in +me that I had returned without a wound, praising Dick Cludde very +warmly for the part he had taken in the fight. I answered with some +heat that if I was not wounded 'twas from no shirking of duty, and +I would have desired nothing better than that we should board one +of the French vessels; 'twas no pleasure for a man to stand idle on +deck while guns were shot off. And being now wrought to a certain +degree of anger, I reminded her that I had given proof that I was +no coward, and hoped the queen would not show herself so ungrateful +to those who served her well as some other ladies I could name.</p> +<p>This outburst (foreign to my wonted mildness of temper) brought +a color to her cheeks and a gleam to her eyes, and in quite a +changed voice she said:</p> +<p>"Indeed, and I am not ungrateful, Mr. Bold."</p> +<p>And then I craved her pardon (for which, as I learned, Mistress +Lucetta Gurney called me a fool), and inquired how her own affairs +were prospering.</p> +<p>Mr. McTavish, she told me, had gone back to her estate as +steward, she heard from him every week, and he gave excellent +reports of the plantations. I asked her whether anything had been +heard of Vetch, and whether any vessel conveying her produce from +Dry Harbor had been molested by the buccaneers. She said she had no +news of either the one or the other, and I inclined to believe that +Vetch had accepted his defeat and vanished out of her life for +ever. When I told her of the commission intrusted to me by Mr. +Benbow she looked a little troubled, and besought me to have a care +of myself--a departure from her former indifference that surprised +me. I could only answer that I would not court danger, and that as +for taking care of myself I must do my duty and leave the rest to +Providence.</p> +<p>Long afterwards I learned that she sent privately for Joe +Punchard, and extorted from him a solemn promise that he would +watch over me day and night, see that I did not take a chill or +expose myself to danger, and bring me back unscathed, on pain of +her lasting displeasure.</p> +<p>"I had to promise," said Joe when I taxed him with it. "I +couldn't help it. I would ha' sworn black was white, the mistress +have got that way with her. Thinks I to myself, 'Mr. Bold beant a +baby, nor I beant a nurse; but I'll commit black perjury to make +her happy,' and so I would, sir."</p> +<p>And having taken my leave of her, and of Mr. Benbow, and Cludde, +and other my friends, I left the harbor in a boat at sunset on +October twelfth and joined the brig off Bull Bay, where she had +lain awaiting me.</p> +<h2>Chapter <a name="Ch31" id="Ch31">31</a>: The Cockpit.</h2> +<p>The brig, whose name was the Tartar (a very fitting name for one +that had been a privateer) was manned with thirty able seamen whom +I had myself been permitted to pick from the man-of-war's men in +the harbor. As lieutenant I had a quartermaster named Fincham, a +very excellent officer. We sailed with a fair wind until we reached +Port Antonio on the northeast side of the island, but then the wind +fell contrary, and we had to beat up along the north coast at a +creeping pace that vexed me sorely.</p> +<p>We did not expect to have any news of the buccaneers until we +had fetched past Orange Bay, but from thence onwards I knew that we +should have to search every inlet save those that had an anchorage +for large vessels; and our slow progress was the more vexing +because I feared that the buccaneers might get wind of Mr. Benbow's +return and sheer off. I hoped they would not do this, for I was +burning to justify the admiral's confidence in me by bringing the +pirate craft into harbor.</p> +<p>One morning, when we had been a week at sea, we sighted a wreck +on a small island off Blowing Point; the islet has since totally +disappeared in one of the volcanic disturbances that afflict those +latitudes. We drew in towards the derelict, and then spied a man on +deck waving his shirt very energetically to attract our notice. I +sent Fincham with a boat's crew to bring him off, and learned from +him when he came aboard that he was the sole survivor of the barque +Susan Maria, which was set upon a week before by a buccaneer vessel +and carried to this islet, where she had been plundered and burned, +many of her crew being killed, the rest taken away to be sold to +the Spanish planters in Hispaniola. The man had been left for dead +on the deck, but he had come out of his swoon, and had since +supported himself on some moldy cheese and biscuits which the +buccaneers had not deemed worth taking when they stripped the +vessel.</p> +<p>He told me that the buccaneer vessel was a light brig carrying +six guns and a crew of at least sixty men of all nations, her +captain being a Frenchman. She had sailed away to the westward. I +had little doubt that this was the very vessel I had been sent in +search of, and though she was stronger than I supposed, I was hot +set to find her and see for myself whether we might not attempt to +put a stop to her mischievous career.</p> +<p>We lay becalmed for the rest of that day, but a light easterly +breeze springing up towards morning, we clapped on all sail and +worked steadily along the coast. I examined the chart very +carefully for likely anchorages, and used my perspective glass +constantly; but we saw no sign of the pirate, nor indeed of any +vessel, all that day.</p> +<p>Towards dusk we approached the entrance of the cove whence I had +sailed the brig of which I was now in command. We heaved to behind +a headland about two miles to the east of it, out of view of any +vessel which might be in the cove or at the mouth, and waited for +darkness. I had no reason to suppose that the pirate lay within the +cove, though 'twas likely enough; but it behooved us to go as +cautiously as if we knew she was there for certain. Considering her +strength, if it should come to a fight, 'twas clearly good tactics +to choose my own time and manner of attacking her.</p> +<p>About the end of the second dog watch I lowered a boat, and with +Joe Punchard and half a dozen picked men, together with the sailor +we had rescued, set off with muffled oars up the cove to +reconnoiter, leaving Fincham in charge of the brig. The moon was +rising, but there was a deep shadow beneath the cliffs, and by +keeping well within this I trusted to escape observation. The cove +was about two miles long, and after rowing half the distance I +caught sight of a dark shape before me, as nearly as I could judge, +almost at the same spot as my brig when I cut her cable. We drew a +little closer, till we could see every spar clear in the moonlight, +and the man of the Susan Maria told me that the vessel was beyond +doubt the pirate of which we were in search. We lay on our oars for +a while watching her, and listening for sounds from her deck, but +hearing nothing, and judging that her captain would feel perfectly +secure, I thought that all things favored an attempt to cut her out +that night.</p> +<p>We pulled back to the brig and immediately prepared two boats +for the expedition. I selected twenty-four men for the job, leaving +ten to guard the brig. 'Twas a question whether Fincham or Punchard +should be placed in charge of the second boat, but Joe pleaded so +hard to have a hand in the venture (animated as much by his love of +action as by his promise to Mistress Lucy, of which I as yet knew +nothing) that I decided to leave Fincham in command of the vessel. +If the buccaneers numbered sixty, as I had been told, we had heavy +odds against us; but with the advantage of surprise I hoped that +our twenty-four picked men would prove equal to more than twice +their number of a mixed lot who had nothing but their common crimes +to hind them together.</p> +<p>'Twas about four in the morning, under a waning moon, when we +again came within sight of the enemy's vessel. We rowed dead slow +in order to avoid noise, and had come within half a cable's length +of her, and I was on the point of ordering my men to give way for a +dash, when I was surprised to hear voices from the deck, and the +creaking of davit blocks. 'Twas clear the buccaneers were letting +down a boat. I whispered my men to ship oars, and waited with no +little anxiety.</p> +<p>Had our approach been discovered? I could not think so, for the +most confident enemy would scarcely throw away their advantage of +position by seeking us out under the shadow of the cliffs when they +might securely await our attack and surprise us in turn. Then what +could they be about? I could just see the boat as it was lowered +over the side, and then immediately afterwards a second boat +followed, and men crowded into both and pulled away for the shore. +They came full into the moon's rays, I saw them land, cross the +beach, and disappear.</p> +<p>My first thought was that the vessel was delivered into our +hands. I reckoned that the boats had carried close on forty men; +those who were left would be no match for my tars; it seemed that +my task was made miraculously easy. But then, reflecting that the +buccaneers must have some errand on shore, it flashed upon me that +their destination was Penolver, and their object to plunder the +house and estate. There could be no other explanation of their +quitting their vessel at this dead time of night.</p> +<p>And here I felt a conflict between duty and inclination. The +latter prompted me to make off at once after the landing party and +do what might be done to save Lucy's property. But my orders were +to deal with the buccaneers, and I felt that I should not be +justified in interfering on behalf of a private person, however +dear to me, until my first duty was fulfilled.</p> +<p>It was a question then whether I should first attack the ship or +capture the boats on the strand. To accomplish the latter we should +have to overpower the men who had no doubt been left in charge, and +there would certainly be some noise that would alarm the men on +board the vessel, so that although the possession of the boats +would cut off the return of those who had landed, it would also +make the capture of the brig far more difficult. On all grounds it +seemed better to wait until the landing party had gone too far to +return in time to help their comrades, and then cut out the ship. +When that was in our hands I should be free to go ashore and set +off in pursuit of the ruffians who, I was convinced, were marching +for Lucy's house.</p> +<p>Ordering my men to put me alongside Punchard's boat, I arranged +with him the manner of our attack. I would make for the larboard, +he for the starboard side, and we would board as nearly as possible +at the same moment. This being settled I whispered the word to go, +and the two boats crept along the shore in shadow as silently as we +could until we came directly opposite the enemy's vessel. Then I, +having the tiller of the leading boat, brought her round and +steered her straight for the ship. 'Twas scarce to be hoped, in +spite of our muffled oars, that our approach should be wholly +unheard; and we were no more than ten fathoms distant when the +alarm was given. There was not sufficient way on the boat, the tide +being between flood and ebb, to bring us quite to the vessel, but +after a few more strokes I ordered the men to ship oars and seize +their arms, and we came under the brig's counter just in time to +escape a volley from the deck.</p> +<p>We swarmed up, half a 'dozen of us together, the men shouting +and cursing as Jack tars will, and met with a very warm reception. +The enemy was assembled in full force to beat us back, the watch +below having had time to tumble up, though to be sure they were +half dazed with sleep, and maybe drink. If they had been wide-awake +I will not answer for it that we should not have been repulsed; +even as it was, several of my crew were driven headlong back into +the boat and the sea. But the rest gained a footing on deck, and I +warrant you they kept it. We were at too close quarters to fire; +'twas a brief hand-to-hand encounter with cutlasses and clubbed +muskets, and what with the clashing of the weapons and the cries of +the men we made a great din and hurly burly.</p> +<p>But the enemy had lost their sole chance of success when they +failed to dislodge us before Joe's men arrived. 'Twas but a minute +before his boat came round the bows to the starboard side, and then +the crew swarmed up, with Joe at their head, and fell upon the rear +of our assailants. Thus hemmed in between our two parties the +buccaneers saw 'twas vain to contend longer. They flung down their +arms and cried (in many tongues) for quarter; and within five +minutes of our first setting foot on deck we had them securely +battened down below.</p> +<p>And now having accomplished, by fortune's favor, my first duty, +I resolved to make all speed after the fellows who had landed, +hoping fervently that the noise of our engagement had not reached +their ears and put them on their guard. There was hot work before +us, I well knew, if they numbered forty, as I had reason to +believe. I could not leave the brig wholly unguarded; yet I was +loath to diminish my own little company; in the end I decided to +leave a boatswain's mate in command of a party of five (three who +had had a ducking and two who had received slight hurts in the +fight) and to take Joe and the other eighteen hot-foot to +Penolver.</p> +<p>I had left instructions with Fincham on our brig to sail into +the inlet in the morning to support us, and I told the boatswain's +mate to communicate with her as soon as she appeared. Thus I had no +anxiety about the security of the prize and the prisoners during my +absence.</p> +<p>These arrangements made, we set off for the shore, taking two of +the six men to row back to the brig the boats from which the +buccaneers had landed, which we found hauled up on the beach, but +no one in charge of them. Either they had been left unattended +because the leader had no fears for their safety, or the men set to +watch had taken alarm from our doings on the brig and had decamped. +I hoped they had not gone ahead of us to warn their fellows, which +indeed did not seem very likely, for they would be loath to venture +alone into a strange country. If the buccaneers had had warning of +what was happening behind them and hastened back, or if we should +miss them and they returned to the cove before us, they would at +any rate be unable to recapture their vessel, lacking their +boats.</p> +<p>I reckoned that 'twas near two hours since the main body of the +buccaneers had departed; by this time they must be three parts of +the way to the house, if that was their goal; so we set off at a +great pace to follow them up. The sun was not yet risen, though the +darkness was lifting; and the air being cool, we could march +without discomfort.</p> +<p>We had not gone very far, and had come to where the track runs +between thin clumps of trees, when Joe Punchard suddenly left my +side and darted into the woodland. His bandiness was no check upon +his running. In a few seconds he was back, shoving before him a +seaman much larger than himself, having one hand upon his neck and +the other grasping his arm behind his back. He thus propelled the +man towards us at a quick trot, crying out to me:</p> +<p>"Here be one of the villains, sir, and I reckon 'twill be well +to make him speak."</p> +<p>Without slackening our pace I made the captive walk by my side +and questioned him. He had been left, as I suspected, in charge of +the boats, alone, and at the noise of our assault he had run up the +path, intending to overtake his comrades and give them warning of +what was happening. But being out of his element, his heart failed +him when he came into the wild wooded country, and he had been +skulking behind the trees when Joe espied him. He was a +Frenchman.</p> +<p>I learned from him that some weeks before, his vessel had been +joined by an Englishman, who had proposed to his captain an +expedition to an estate some ten miles inland. The captain had been +at first reluctant to undertake the expedition; 'twas work for +landsmen, he said, not for sea dogs, and having heard rumors of a +buccaneer brig having been captured in that very cove by a horde of +negroes led by a white man, he was loath to leave his vessel. But +the Englishman had worked upon his fellow countrymen among the +buccaneers by tales of large sums of money lying in the house in +question; he had been steward of the estate, he said, and had been +forced to leave behind the hoard he had gathered, on being attacked +by a villainous enemy that coveted his wealth. But it was too +securely hidden to have been discovered by the interloper.</p> +<p>These compatriots of his had insisted on the captain holding a +council of the whole crew, at which the proposal was put to the +vote and carried; and the captain's last objections were overcome +by the promise of a quarter of the hidden money, the Englishman to +have a quarter, and the remainder to be divided among the crew.</p> +<p>My suspicion being so fully borne out, I forced the pace, for +though I foresaw a tough fight, my men were all sturdy fellows, who +were not like to feel any distress after a march of but ten miles. +I only half believed the story of hidden gold. The produce of the +estate would generally, I thought, be paid for, not in specie, but +in bills of exchange, which would be in the hands of duly appointed +agents at the port. It seemed more likely that Vetch had some other +motive: what, I could not guess. But whatever his design might be, +I counted myself very lucky in having come to the neighborhood in +time to frustrate it.</p> +<p>When we came within a mile of the estate we saw a dense cloud of +smoke rising into the air at the spot where, as I judged, the house +stood. This seemed to confirm my suspicion; Vetch was indulging his +venomous spite by burning the residence of Mistress Lucy. We sprang +forward at the double, and coming in sight of the house, I saw with +relief that it was yet intact, the smoke arising from the +outbuildings, which were already almost burned to the ground. Then +we heard musket shots, and as we drew nearer loud shouts. The +plantations were utterly deserted, there was not a negro visible of +whom we might ask what was toward; so we skirmished forward to a +place among the trees where the front of the house was in full +view.</p> +<p>The veranda was packed with men, and around them smoke was +swirling, but the smoke of musketry, not of a conflagration. Some +were firing at the shuttered windows, others hacking with axes at +the doors and walls. 'Twas clear that the attack had only just +begun, for the light timbers of the house could not long have +withstood the tremendous battering they were now receiving. It +amazed me that the assailants had met with any resistance at all; +McTavish and his overseers must be men of mettle to attempt to hold +the house against such odds. Even in the few seconds I allowed +myself to observe them I saw two or three of the buccaneers fall, +shot, I had no doubt, by the defenders within. But mingled with the +yells of rage there now arose a cry of triumph; a panel of one of +the doors had given way under the fierce strokes of an ax wielded +by a man whom I knew by some instinct to be the captain. 'Twas +manifest that we had come but just in time.</p> +<p>Calling to my men to follow me closely, I led them at the double +straight across the open grassy space that separated us from the +house. The buccaneers were so intent upon their work, and the noise +was so deafening, that they were not aware of us until we came +within a few yards of the veranda. Then a great shout of warning +was raised by those of the men who, having been wounded, had fallen +out of the fight. Some of the storming party swung round, caught +sight of us, and rushed to the head of the steps leading to the +veranda as we reached the foot. Luckily for us they had discharged +their muskets, whereas my men had theirs loaded, and had lit their +matches during the few moments we had waited at the edge of the +copse.</p> +<p>Knowing ourselves outnumbered by at least two to one, I cried to +my men to halt and fire. Several of the foremost of the buccaneers +fell, but those behind had not been hit, and when I gave the order +to rush up the steps they stood in close array with clubbed muskets +to meet us.</p> +<p>The next few moments were filled with such a wild commotion that +'twould be vain to try to describe all that happened. Joe Punchard, +seeing that it was impossible for all of us to mount by the steps, +had with great readiness of wit called off half a dozen men, and +they were now scrambling up the pillars supporting the veranda. +Finding my ascent blocked by the crowd, I slipped over the +balustrade, and, taking advantage of my great height, leapt at the +rail of the veranda and began to haul myself up.</p> +<p>At that desperate moment I saw one of the buccaneers with his +musket uplifted, preparing to bring it down with crushing force +upon me, and caught sight of Vetch behind him sword in hand. I +thought my end was come, for I had not yet secured my footing, and +was powerless to protect myself. But suddenly there was a deafening +report from the room beyond; the buccaneer pitched forward on to +the rail, his musket falling from his hand. My life was saved by +the man's body lurching against me, for being between Vetch and me, +he prevented my old enemy from using his sword arm.</p> +<p>With a desperate heave I threw the buccaneer against Vetch, and +in a trice was over the rail and on the veranda. Vetch's face was +fixed with terror, as, drawing my sword, I rushed at him. There was +no escape for him now; his slipperiness could not serve him; and I +will do him this justice, that, finding himself driven into a +corner, he stood against me and fought with a courage of frenzy. +But he was no swordsman; with a few simple passes I disarmed him, +and flinging his sword over the rail I caught him by the neck and +arm and held him fast.</p> +<p>Meanwhile the resistance of his hirelings had been broken. My +sturdy men had forced their way up the steps or climbed up the +pillars, not without loss, and the defenders in the room behind +firing a succession of shots, the buccaneers had scattered to right +and left to escape being taken in front and rear at once. Their +ranks being thus weakened my men pressed upon them with redoubled +vehemence. I caught sight of Joe Punchard in the melee, his red +head a flaming battle signal, wielding an iron belaying pin, every +swing of it leaving the enemy one man the less.</p> +<p>The buccaneer captain, with the furious courage for which the +West Indian freebooters have ever been notable, threw himself +wherever the fight was thickest, striving to stay the rout, with +cutlass in one hand and pistol in the other. He hurled his pistol +at Joe, but he saw the movement and nimbly ducked, to the +discomfiture of the man behind him, who received the weapon full in +his chest (Joe being short) and staggered back in a heap against +the rail. Joe was erect again in time to catch the captain's +cutlass on his belaying pin, which it struck with such force as to +be shivered to splinters. Ere the captain had time to spring back, +a half swing from Joe's formidable weapon caught him on the neck, +and he fell like a bullock under the pole ax.</p> +<p>This was the signal for a general stampede. With their leader +gone the buccaneers could not rally, and every man sought how best +to save his skin. Some tumbled down the steps, others swung +themselves over the rail and dropped to the ground, and as they +rushed this way and that to find safety, they were pursued not +merely by my men, but by crowds of yelling negroes, who had emerged +from their concealment with wondrous rapidity when they saw the +tide of battle turn against the buccaneers, and were now ready +enough to join in the shouting.</p> +<p>The veranda being clear of the enemy, the half-battered door was +thrown open, and to my amazement Dick Cludde came towards me with +Mr. McTavish, three overseers, Uncle Moses, and Noah, all with +smoking muskets in their hands. A bare word of greeting passed +between us, for Noah, seeing Vetch helpless in my grasp, sprang +forward with a shout of savage joy and but for my intervention +would have plunged his knife into the wretched man. Fending him +off, I pushed Vetch into the room, and shut the door, keeping out +all but McTavish and Cludde.</p> +<p>Vetch was pale and discomposed, his lips twitching, his eyes +ranging restlessly between Cludde and me. I felt no pity for +him.</p> +<p>"This man," I said to McTavish, "led his ruffians here under +promise of a share in a large sum of money they would find. Is +there any truth in it?"</p> +<p>"There is no that much money here at this present time," replied +McTavish, "but when I came back to the estate a while ago and +looked into matters, I couldna just make out where two thousand +pounds had gone. 'Twas in specie, too, for I happened to know that +the coin had been sent up from Spanish Town--a verra large sum to +keep in an up-country house."</p> +<p>"Where is that money?" I asked, turning to Vetch.</p> +<p>He was more composed now, and his wonted look of alertness had +returned.</p> +<p>"Let me understand," says Vetch. "You accuse me of--"</p> +<p>"Of appropriating money that did not belong to you," I said, +filling up his pause.</p> +<p>"A serious accusation," he said, drawing his brows together. +"And when did this appropriation take place?"</p> +<p>"We are not playing a game," I said impatiently. "Where is the +money which you stole, and which you used as a lure for your +ruffians?"</p> +<p>"We are not playing a game, as you say," he replied, becoming +more and more collected as I waxed hotter. "You accuse me of +stealing, I answer, when did I steal, and what are your +proofs?"</p> +<p>"You heard what Mr. McTavish said," I replied, with difficulty +curbing my anger. "Two thousand pounds are not accounted for; you +were here when the money was received; it disappeared during the +time you held Mr. McTavish's place; you bring your desperadoes here +to secure it. 'Tis useless fencing with us."</p> +<p>"During the time I held Mr. McTavish's place," he repeated +musingly. "That was for several months last year, until the day +when the owner of this property came of age--the day when Mr. +Humphrey Bold by trickery gained access to this house and +threatened my life. Has it gone from your recollection that I held +Mr. McTavish's place in right of a power of attorney from the legal +guardian of the estate, and that whatever I may have done I was +empowered to do? Does it not occur to you that the money you charge +me with stealing was appropriated to the payment of the men whom I +felt impelled to engage for the defense of this property against +the unlawful designs of Mr. Humphrey Bold?</p> +<p>"You will bear me out, Mr. Cludde, when I remind you that the +owner of the estate had fled from her lawfully-appointed guardian, +aided and abetted in her flight, I doubt not, by this upstart +himself. I am ready to account for my administration of the +property to Sir Richard Cludde, and to no one else, and I say you +have no right to call in question anything I may have done in his +name."</p> +<p>The fellow's impudence fairly took my breath away. For some +moments I could do nothing but look at him, and he returned my gaze +without blinking, the old sneer playing about his lips. The brazen +coolness with which he ignored his recent attack on the house and +sought to put me in the wrong filled me with sheer amazement. I +began to wonder again whether, after all, the tale he had told to +the buccaneers was a lie, and he had come back to the house with no +further design than to wreak his spite upon it.</p> +<p>And yet this could hardly be, for he could easily have set fire +to it, and then the question flashed upon my mind suddenly, why had +he pressed home the attack on this particular room, when all the +rest of the house lay open to him? Did not that point to the +probability that the money he had spoken of was actually here, in +this room?</p> +<p>'Twas vain to bandy more words with the fellow. I called in Joe +Punchard and one of my seamen, and bade them take him to the +kitchen and tie him up. He flushed and bit his lip when I gave this +order, but he saw 'twas folly to resist. When he had gone I told +the others what I had been thinking, and suggested that we should +search the room. A bureau stood against the wall; this was the only +article of furniture in which money could be secured, and Mr. +McTavish, who used it constantly, assured me that there was but a +small sum in one of its drawers, which he had himself placed +there.</p> +<p>We looked around in perplexity. The walls were of wood, not of +lath and plaster, so that there were no nooks and crannies in which +he could have bestowed his hoard. The floor also was of single +planking, forming the roof of the room below. There seemed no +possible place of concealment here. Could there be any spot on the +veranda that might have served his purpose?</p> +<p>I went out; the veranda was empty, the men who had been injured +(and some who were dead) having been removed. If my reasoning was +correct, the hiding place must be on the inner side, otherwise the +assailants could have obtained what they came to seek without +attacking the room. We looked carefully along the base of the wall +where it met the floor of the veranda at first in vain.</p> +<p>But just as I was almost prepared to give up the search and try +elsewhere I noticed that at one spot the nails of the flooring +seemed newer than at other parts. Calling to Cludde, with his +assistance I prized up one of the boards, and the secret was +instantly revealed. The board rested on one of the broad wooden +pillars supporting the veranda. A hole had been cut down the center +of the pillar, and there lay the missing money--doubloons and +silver dollars.</p> +<p>Leaving McTavish to gather them up and count them, Cludde and I +went down to the kitchen. Vetch was tied to a chair (as Joe had +been tied months before), and Joe was sitting over against him, +with a cutlass on his knees. I told Vetch briefly that the money +was found.</p> +<p>Even now his bravado did not desert him. He repeated we had no +right to call in question any action of his and that none but Sir +Richard could claim an account of his stewardship. I did not reply, +as I might have done, that the money, being found in the house +after Mistress Lucy had come of age, was patently hers, and in +attempting to recover it he was no better than a common +housebreaker. I bade Punchard collect our men in readiness to march +back to the brig, and strictly charged him that he should have +every care of Vetch on the way.</p> +<p>Then I saw a shadow of fear cross the villain's face. He knew +that to brazen it out longer would avail him nothing, and 'twas his +inward vision of the hangman, I doubt not, that caused him to go +white to the lips.</p> +<p>Cludde went from the room to gather his few possessions in +preparation for our despatch. Vetch struggled with himself for a +moment, then said huskily:</p> +<p>"Bold, you must let me go. I will make it worth your while. Your +father's will--is not destroyed; let me go--and I will tell you +where it is."</p> +<p>"I will make no terms with you," I said.</p> +<p>"But what do you gain by refusing?" he cried. "You are only a +lieutenant; promotion is slow; money would help you on. You have +your revenge on me--and lose your property, for I vow I will tell +you nothing unless you let me go."</p> +<p>"I would not let you go for a king's ransom," I said. "The +wrongs you have done me are nothing; but for your villainy I should +not be a king's officer today. I could almost forgive you. But +nothing in the world could persuade me to forget the wrongs you +have done to a helpless woman--the indignities you put upon her, +the villainous designs you harbored against her. No, you have done +your rascally work--you shall take your wages."</p> +<p>He said no more then, but presently, when Cludde returned he +made an appeal to him.</p> +<p>"Dick," he said, "you and I are bound by long friendship--"</p> +<p>"Which you have killed," said Cludde, interrupting him.</p> +<p>"But you will not forget all the past--our school days, the +merry times we had then and after, all I have done with you, and +for you. For a dozen years we were as close as brothers; you won't +turn against me now?"</p> +<p>"I know, but--Lucy--'twas unpardonable," Cludde stammered in +great discomfort. "I'm not spotless--done things I am ashamed +of--but you carried things too far--you wanted to force her to +marry you--"</p> +<p>"And do you think she will marry you now, you fool?" cried +Vetch, with a flash of his old fiery temper.</p> +<p>"I could wish her to wed a better man," says poor Cludde.</p> +<p>"Even so good as Mr. Humphrey Bold," says Vetch with a +sneer.</p> +<p>Cludde looked at me. If he intended to say anything 'twas +prevented by the entrance of Joe Punchard with news that all was +ready.</p> +<p>"Bring him along," I said, glancing towards Vetch.</p> +<p>Joe unstrapped his legs, leaving his arms still bound, and they +followed us from the room.</p> +<p>We set off on our seaward march, having just time to regain the +brig before the day became oppressive. We took with us, as +prisoners, such of the buccaneers as had been caught; what became +of the rest I never knew. Vetch marched with them, amid a guard of +our men.</p> +<p>On the way I learned from Cludde how it happened that he was at +the house at a time when, but for him, the buccaneers' attack might +have been successful before I came on the scene. Being convalescent +from his wound, and learning that Mistress Lucy wished to consult +Mr. McTavish about selling the estate (for she had determined to +carry through the negotiations begun by Vetch), he had offered to +carry a message to the steward, intending to remain at the house +for a few days for change of air. He had seized the opportunity +also of bringing to Uncle Moses and Noah charters of freedom from +their mistress, in reward for their services to her and to hers. +Cludde insisted on her accepting from him the five hundred dollars +which I had promised Noah for his life, and she handed it back as a +present for the negro.</p> +<p>We were talking about all these strange things that had +happened, when suddenly we heard a commotion at the head of the +column. Running hastily forward, I saw Punchard and several of my +men rushing at full speed across a tract of scrubby land in pursuit +of Vetch. He had persuaded the buccaneer beside him, whose hands +had not been bound, to cut his bonds.</p> +<p>I joined in the chase; Cludde hung back; I think that after all +he would not have been ill pleased, for old friendship's sake, if +Vetch had got away. Vetch had had but a few yards' start, but he +was a swift runner, and I doubted much whether any of us could +overtake him. We could not bring him down with a shot, for my men, +though their muskets were loaded, had not kindled their matches, so +that before they could fire he was out of range. Foremost of the +pursuers was Joe, bounding along like a deer, furious (as he +afterwards told me) because he regarded the escape as due to his +own negligence.</p> +<p>We had raced on for maybe half a mile, and still had not +lessened the distance between us and the fugitive, when I suddenly +saw him sink above his ankles into the earth. He uttered a terrible +shriek; the man running beside me, who knew something of the +country, cried out "A cockpit!" in accents of horror and stopped +short. But the agonizing cries of the poor wretch who was sinking +inch by inch into the horrible hole whose treacherous surface had +beguiled him were more than I could endure. 'Twas not a death for +the foulest villain on earth. Heedless of the warning shouts of my +crew, I dashed forward, hoping to reach Vetch in time to rescue him +ere he was sucked under.</p> +<p>To venture directly on the spot where he was sinking would, I +knew, be certain death to me. But when I reached the edge of the +cockpit I flung myself on my face, thinking with my outstretched +arms to seize him. He turned his head and saw me. To this day I +shudder as I see again the anguish, the mute imploring entreaty, +that spoke out of his ghastly features.</p> +<p>I could not reach him.</p> +<p>I crawled forward, and my hands began to sink. Joe Punchard +behind was shouting to recall me. Vetch was up to his shoulders. +Half my body was on solid ground, and with a prayer on my lips I +was edging forward inch by inch to make one final effort, when I +felt my feet held fast; I was hauled back with great violence, just +as Vetch, with a scream that rang in my ears and ran through my +dreams for weeks afterwards and haunts me still, disappeared +forever.</p> +<h2>Chapter <a name="Ch32" id="Ch32">32</a>: I Become Bold.</h2> +<p>The flags were at half mast when we sailed into Port Royal +Harbor, with the pirate brig in our wake; and my dark foreboding +was confirmed by the first news we had when we stepped ashore. +Admiral Benbow was dead. Sturdy fighter as he was, he had contended +gallantly for near a month against the fever that ensued upon the +amputation of his leg, but 'twas not Heaven's will that he should +live for further service to his country. In the presence of Death, +the great leveler, all detraction is hushed, all enmities are +extinguished; and even some who had thwarted and criticized the +admiral sincerely deplored his loss. He had won no great victories, +done nothing to dazzle the eyes of men; but I make bold to say +that, in the long roll of England's worthies no name will ever +shine more brilliantly to a seaman's eyes than that of honest John +Benbow.</p> +<p>Rear Admiral Whetstone, to whom the command of the West Indian +squadron fell, was pleased to compliment me on my dealings with the +buccaneers, and appointed me first lieutenant of the British +frigate on which the officers under sentence of the court martial +were to be conveyed to England.</p> +<p>When we sailed out of Port Royal (you may be sure I had Joe +Punchard with me), we acted as convoy to a large merchant brig, +richly laden with produce of the island, and with a freight more +precious to me in the person of Mistress Lucy. She had not waited +for the completion of the business connected with the sale of her +estate, having perfect confidence in the integrity of Mr. McTavish, +who would remit the price to her in due course. From a mercenary +point of view the time was not well chosen for the disposal of her +property, values always diminishing in time of war. But the island +was associated for her now with so many unpleasant incidents that +she was glad to sever the last tie that bound her to it and return +to her happy life with the Allardyces.</p> +<p>'Twas a bleak day in December when we sailed into Plymouth +Sound. As soon as we had spoken the port a boat put off hearing a +paper sealed with the seal of Prince George, the Lord High Admiral. +And there fell to my captain a duty which sure no man could have +performed without compunction. I was truly thankful no such +dreadful task was ever mine. The prince ordered that the sentence +of the court martial should be executed upon those two unhappy +captains, Kirkby and Wade, on the deck of the vessel, with a full +muster of the crew. When they were drawn up in lines according to +rank, the whole ship's company, from the lieutenants and master's +mates down to the grommet and the boy; the captain, pale as death +but in a firm voice, gave the word of command at which, with one +volley of muskets, the souls of those two cravens and traitors were +sped into eternity. Their crimes were flagrant, the sentence was +most just; but I hope and pray no Englishman will ever do the like +again.</p> +<p>The same papers contained news of a more agreeable nature. +Considering the high terms in which Mr. Benbow had spoken of +Captains Fogg and Vincent, and the recommendation he made on their +behalf, the prince was pleased to command that the sentence of +suspension should be remitted, and that they should be again +employed in the Queen's service. I was sorry that I could not be +present when this good news was conveyed to them; they had remained +in Jamaica, and did not learn of the prince's clemency for several +months. I never saw Captain Fogg again; but I had the pleasure to +serve with Captain Vincent seven years later, when we each +commanded a vessel in Admiral Baker's squadron that cruised about +the Irish coasts in search of Duguay-Trouin. He retired from the +service soon afterwards, and lived for twenty years longer in much +contentment. 'Tis sixteen years (so fast does time fly) since I was +bid to his funeral.</p> +<p>We continued to Portsmouth, where, the ship being paid off, I +hastened with Mistress Lucy, her faithful nurse and Joe, to be in +time to keep Christmas at Shrewsbury. My good friends Squire +Allardyce and his lady were in the seventh heaven of delight when I +restored Mistress Lucy once more to their arms, and overwhelmed me +with their praises when they heard from her a full recital of what +they were pleased to call my heroic deeds on her behalf. In truth I +think there was little of the heroic in anything I had done, but +just my plain duty, and what any man of honor would have attempted +for any woman in like circumstances.</p> +<p>The squire made a comical grimace when (after the ladies had +disappeared) I expressed this opinion.</p> +<p>"Ads bobs!" he cried, "what are young fellows made of nowadays! +Have you spirit for nothing but fighting the French, Mr. Humphrey +Bold? I could have sworn there would be a Mistress Bold by this +time."</p> +<p>I reminded him that I was as yet only a lieutenant on eighty +pounds a year (though I looked for my captain's commission when +Prince George should have had time to overlook Admiral Whetstone's +report).</p> +<p>"But hasn't Lucy enough for you both and a large family to +boot?--though to be sure she made a precious bad bargain over that +estate of hers. D'you want her to be snapped up under your very +nose? Why, young Cludde will have her yet, if he has turned out +such a paragon as you would make it appear."</p> +<p>But I corrected him on this point, for on our journey to the +Hall Mistress Lucy told me (what had been a secret hitherto) that +Dick Cludde and Lucetta Gurney would one day make a match of it. In +the end the old gentleman pished and pshawed and called me a young +fool, but I learned from Mistress Allardyce afterwards that in the +bosom of his family he laid this also to my credit.</p> +<p>I stayed at the Hall one night, as did Joe Punchard (who, +between Susan and the cook, spent a merry evening, and made Giles +turn black with jealousy), and then set off with him to see my +older friends in Shrewsbury. Mr. Vetch and his good lady welcomed +me right royally. They were in excellent health, Mistress Vetch +fine in a new magenta-colored cap, and I was right glad to learn +that the lawyer's practice had grown quite to its former +prosperity, and that he was spoken of as mayor for the next year. +(This honor, however, he did not attain to, the election falling on +Mr. William Bowlder the tanner.)</p> +<p>I warrant you I had to tell over my adventures until my tongue +was aweary, my wits being sore put to it, moreover, to avoid the +mention of Cyrus, for I was resolved that the lawyer's declining +years should not be vexed by the knowledge of his nephew's villainy +and dreadful end. But Fate was against me in this. I had strictly +charged Joe Punchard to keep silence on all that pertained to Cyrus +Vetch; but having his pockets well lined, and being of a generous +and social disposition, he made a great feast on Christmas eve, to +which he invited certain friends of his mother, Nelly Hind among +them, and some who had been 'prentices at the same time as +himself.</p> +<p>And in the height of their entertainment, good ale flowing very +freely, Joe, usually the most abstemious of tars, was a little +overtaken by the liquor he had drunk, and, with no other object +than to heighten my reputation, must needs tell how I had ventured +into the jaws of death (so he put it) to save the man of all others +who had done me the most ill. And next day Nelly Hind meets +Mistress Vetch at the church door and pours the whole tale into her +ears; and by and by Joe comes himself with a very doleful +countenance and begs Mistress Vetch not to let her husband know, +and very humbly asks my pardon, vowing not to drink more than a +quart in future even though the Queen should bid him do +otherwise.</p> +<p>But Mistress Vetch bore an old grudge against Cyrus for the +tricks he had played on me, and the trouble he had brought on the +lawyer, forgetting, good soul, that but for this same trouble she +would still have been (so far as one can tell), Becky Pennyquick +and a widow. She declared to me that she would not have the matter +hidden up, quoting against me the Bible text that says a candle is +not put under a bushel, but set on a candlestick to give light to +the whole house. And so that the light might dazzle as many as +possible, she invited a dozen neighbors to dinner on Boxing Day and +sprung the story on poor Mr. Vetch as he sat at the head of his own +table. ('Tis marvelous what strange ineptitudes mar the characters +of excellent good folk.)</p> +<p>Luckily our good friend Captain Galsworthy was among the guests. +He ever treated poor Becky with a sort of good-humored tolerance, +and now, perceiving the shadow that crossed the lawyer's face, he +broke in upon the dame's loquacity with a tremendous tirade against +the captains who had behaved so treacherously towards Mr. Benbow +(the story of whose last fight he had already drunk in from my +lips).</p> +<p>"How can you wonder at it," he cried, "when you remember the +covetous spirit that overspread the kingdom before Dutch William +came to rule us--when men perfectly scrambled for the revenues of +the crown, and made their private fortunes out of the nation's +treasure! 'Tis a matter of years, ay, generations, to undo all the +mischief that springs from such corruption; and when money, oftener +than merit, gained admission to a command, no wonder that such +scoundrels as Wade and Kirkby were trusted with our men-of-war.</p> +<p>"By God, sir!--" and here he raised his clenched fist, no doubt +to bang upon the table; but being seated at the corner, very close +to the wall (the party being a large one for the room), he drove +his elbow clean through a wooden panel beside the fireplace. He +swung back, full of consternation and remorse.</p> +<p>"And now see what you have done, with your profanity and all!" +cries Mistress Vetch, her cap sidling upon her head as she shook it +with vexation. "You was always a violent man; 'tis no thanks to you +that poor Humphrey hasn't been killed over and over again, for +'twas you and no one else as taught him to fight. And who'll pay +the bill for your breakages? That's what I say!"</p> +<p>Mr. Vetch did his best to soothe his angry spouse; I fear he +suffered a good deal at times from her unmannerliness, though to be +sure she was an excellent housewife and had a heart of gold. And +Captain Galsworthy, saying never a word in reply to her outbreak, +rubbed his elbow and said with a rueful smile:</p> +<p>"'Tis assault and battery, Vetch; I'm sorry: but I wonder why +they call it the funny bone!"</p> +<p>Mistress Vetch would, I am sure, have given her views on this +question had not Mr. Pinhorn, the surgeon, who was at the other +side of the corner from the captain, suddenly called out:</p> +<p>"I say, Vetch, I fear you'll have to choose another receptacle +for your secret documents."</p> +<p>"He has no secrets from me, I would have you know!" cries +Mistress Vetch in high indignation, not knowing in the least what +had occasioned his remark.</p> +<p>"I don't doubt it, madam," said Mr. Pinhorn, with a comical +twist of the mouth; "but maybe he stowed that paper there before +you and he was made one."</p> +<p>He pointed to the hole made by Captain Galsworthy's elbow, and +there, sure enough, was the white end of a folded paper +showing.</p> +<p>"Dear me," says Mr. Vetch, getting up from his seat. "I knew +nothing of it."</p> +<p>He goes to the broken panel, brings out the paper, and as he +looked at it turned so ghastly pale that Mr. Pinhorn clutched a +decanter of brandy and began to pour some of it into a glass. We +were all struck silent with wonderment; even Mistress Vetch being +tongue tied. Then Mr. Vetch turned to me and, holding out the paper +with trembling hand, tears standing in his eyes, said:</p> +<p>"God be thanked for all His mercies!"</p> +<p>'Twas my father's will, dusty, gnawed at the edges, but +indubitably the will which had disappeared seven years before. +Remembering the hiding place in which Cyrus had secreted the money +at Penolver, it was no mystery to me that he should have fashioned +a similar receptacle for the will he had purloined.</p> +<p>There is no need to tell of the congratulations showered upon +me; My hand was wrung by my kind neighbors until it tingled with +numbness. Mistress Vetch fell into hysterics--mercilessly ignored +by Mr. Pinhorn. And as for Captain Galsworthy, he seemed incapable +of doing anything but repeat his question, chuckling aloud "Can +anyone tell me why 'tis called the funny bone?"</p> +<p>The party soon broke up, to carry the news far and wide through +Shrewsbury. And I, after an affecting five minutes with the lawyer, +suddenly stuffed the paper in my pocket, flung on my hat, and ran +out with furious haste to saddle my horse. Mistress Vetch came to +the door as I mounted.</p> +<p>"Mind you speak the villain plain," she cried.</p> +<p>I laughed joyfully and galloped away up Pride Hill. The tale of +my discovery had already got abroad; the people came to their doors +and cheered me, and some little fellows of the school stood in the +middle of the road and waved their caps and shouted "Huzzay for +Captain Bold!"</p> +<p>But I did not ride straight on towards the Wem Road and Cludde +Court, as Becky had supposed I intended. I turned into Dogpole, +rode helter skelter down Wyle Cop in the very course where Joe's +barrel had rolled, and never drew rein until I came to the door of +the Hall. 'Twas opened to me by Roger, home from following the +campaign in Flanders--a strapping fine fellow, near as tall as +myself.</p> +<p>"Gad, but your horse is in a sweat!" he said by way of greeting. +(We laughed at it afterwards.).</p> +<p>"Where is Lucy?" I said.</p> +<p>He stared at me for a moment, then burst into a hearty roar.</p> +<p>"Up you go," says he, clapping me on the back. "Egad, and I'll +go and find the squire."</p> +<p>That is more than forty years ago. My hand is weary with +writing: why should I tell you more? There is indeed little more to +tell, for from that time, thank God, there have been no mischances +in my life. Yet maybe those who have read my story patiently hereto +(if any there be) may like to have it rounded off--<i>totus, teres, +et rotundus</i>.</p> +<p>A few weeks after I regained possession of my little property +Sir Richard Cludde died--of gout and other diseases, said Mr. +Pinhorn; Mistress Vetch said of rage. His estate had been much +impoverished, and his widow was now left almost penniless. She was +my father's sister, and, my own lot being happy, I could not endure +to think of her in penury and distress. So I made her a small +allowance through Mr. Vetch (and I can vouch for it this was a +secret his wife never knew) --sufficient to keep her from want. She +never saw me, made me no acknowledgment, and to the day of her +death maintained, in the little house she took next St. Michael's +Church, the haughty bearing which had always won her such +dislike.</p> +<p>Lucy and I were married on St. Valentine's day in the year 1703. +Less than three months afterwards I was appointed to command the +Pegasus, a third-rate of forty-eight guns, and ordered to the +Mediterranean with Admiral Sir Cloudesly Shovel. From that time +until I retired in the year 1713 I was almost continuously on +service, having but brief intervals to spend with my wife. I was at +the taking of Gibraltar by Sir George Rooke (which we have yet in +possession, and may we ever keep it), and in the famous sea fight +off Velez Malaga in 1704; next year I entered Barcelona with Sir +Stafford Fairborn; in brief, I had a share (though humble) in many +of our notable transactions at sea during those memorable years +when we fought King Lewis.</p> +<p>But when peace was concluded in the year 1713, both Mr. and Mrs. +Allardyce being then dead, I thought it was high time I settled +down at home, especially as there were two sturdy boys growing up +to plague their mother. Accordingly I retired with the rank of +captain and a considerable fortune. We purchased the estate of +Cludde Court and made great additions to it, and our boys every day +rode into Shrewsbury to school, and did it more credit than their +father.</p> +<p>Captain Galsworthy was a frequent visitor, and though he was +past eighty, insisted on giving our boys their first lessons with +the singlestick. He died in the year '15, leaving fragrant memories +to us who loved him.</p> +<p>Joe Punchard is with me still. He regarded Lucy's injunctions as +binding on him for life, and clave to me all through my naval +career, though he lost a leg at the taking of Port Mahon in 1708. +He retired when I did, and came to Cludde Court as our lodge +keeper, where he would entrance my boys with sea songs and his +tales of p what he had gone through on sea and land with me and +with Admiral Benbow, whom he ever cherished as a matchless captain. +His own naval career, he says, began with a wooden barrel and ended +with a wooden leg, and sometimes, over his pipe, he shakes his head +and declares that I had all the chances, he all the mischances. But +he is gone seventy years of age, and is apt to be a little +forgetful.</p> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HUMPHREY BOLD***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 16049-h.txt or 16049-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/0/4/16049">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/0/4/16049</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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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: Humphrey Bold + A Story of the Times of Benbow + + +Author: Herbert Strang + + + +Release Date: June 13, 2005 [eBook #16049] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HUMPHREY BOLD*** + + +E-text prepared by Martin Robb + + + +HUMPHREY BOLD + +A Story of the Time of Benbow + +by + +HERBERT STRANG + +1909 + + + + + + + +CONTENTS + +Chapter 1: The Wyle Cop. +Chapter 2: Joe Breaks His Indentures. +Chapter 3: I Meet The Mohocks. +Chapter 4: Captain John Benbow. +Chapter 5: I Lose My Best Friend. +Chapter 6: I Take Articles. +Chapter 7: A Crown Piece. +Chapter 8: I Fall Among Thieves. +Chapter 9: Good Samaritans. +Chapter 10: The Shuttered Coach. +Chapter 11: I Hold A Turnpike. +Chapter 12: I Come To Bristowe--And Leave Unwillingly. +Chapter 13: Duguay-Trouin. +Chapter 14: Harmony And Some Discord. +Chapter 15: The Bass Viol. +Chapter 16: Across The Moat. +Chapter 17: Exchanges. +Chapter 18: In The Name Of King Lewis. +Chapter 19: I Fight Duguay-Trouin. +Chapter 20: The King's Commission. +Chapter 21: I Meet Dick Cludde. +Chapter 22: I Walk Into A Snare. +Chapter 23: Uncle Moses. +Chapter 24: I Make A Bid For Liberty. +Chapter 25: I Spend Cludde's Crown Piece. +Chapter 26: We Hold A Council Of War. +Chapter 27: Some Successes And A Rebuff. +Chapter 28: I Cut The Enemy's Cables. +Chapter 29: We Bombard The Brig. +Chapter 30: The Six Days' Battle. +Chapter 31: The Cockpit. +Chapter 32: I Become Bold. + + + + +Chapter 1: The Wyle Cop. + + +'Tis said that as a man declines towards old age his mind dwells +ever more and more on the events of his childhood. Whether that be +true of all men or not, certain it is that my memory of things that +happened fifty years ago is very clear and bright, and the little +incidents of my boyhood are more to me, because they touch me more +nearly, than such great matters as the late rebellion against His +Majesty King George, whom God preserve. + +Especially does my thought run back to a day, fifty-six years ago +this very summer, when by mere chance, as it would appear to men's +eyes, my fortunes became linked with those of Joe Punchard, who is +now at this moment, I warrant, smoking his pipe in the lodge at my +park gates. I was eleven years old, a thin slip of a boy, small for +my age, and giving no promise, to be sure, of my present stature +and girth. The neighbors shook their heads sometimes as they looked +at me, and wondered why Mr. John Ellery, if he must adopt a boy--a +strange thing, they thought, for a bachelor to do--did not choose +one of a sturdier make than poor little Humphrey Bold. They even +joked about my name, averring that names assuredly must go by +contraries, for I was Bold by name, and timid by nature. The joke +seemed to me, even then, a very poor one, for a boy must have the +name he is born with, and I have known very delicate and +white-handed folk of the name of Smith. + +Mr. Ellery, a bachelor, as I have said, adopted me when my own +father and mother died, which happened when I was still an infant +and, mercifully, too young to understand my loss. My father, as I +called him, was a substantial yeoman whose farm and holding lay +some three miles on the English side of Shrewsbury. He was well on +in years when he adopted me, and dwells in my memory as a strong, +silent man who, when his day's work was done, would sit in the +inglenook with a book upon his knees. This taste for reading marked +him out from the neighboring farmers, with whom, indeed, he had +little in common in any way, so that he was rather respected than +liked by them. But he was wonderfully kind to me, and if my love +for him was qualified with awe, it was from reverence, and not from +fear. + +My frail appearance, on which the neighbors jested, caused my +father to look on me sometimes with an anxious eye, and he would +question the housekeeper and the maids about my appetite, and +whether I slept well o' nights. On these matters he need not have +had any concern, since I ate four hearty meals a day, with perhaps +an apple or a hunk of bread in between; while as for sleeping, +Mistress Pennyquick was wont to declare, five out of the seven +mornings in the week, when she woke me, that she knew I would sleep +my brains away. This prediction scarcely troubled me, and since the +motherly creature never disturbed me until I had slept a good nine +hours by the clock, I do not think she was really distressed on +this score. + +Until I reached my eleventh birthday I did not go to school, being +taught to read and write and cipher by my father himself. But one +day he set me before him on his horse and rode into Shrewsbury, +where, after a solemn interview with Mr. Lloyd, the master, I was +put into the accidence class at King Edward's famous school. As we +rode back, I remember that my father, who was generally so silent, +talked to me more than ever before, about school, and work, and the +great men who had been in past time pupils in the same school, +notably Sir Phillip Sidney. And from that day I used to trudge +every morning, barring holidays, into the town, and say my hic, +haec, hoc as well, I verily believe, as the rest of my schoolfellows. + +But with the opening of my school days I began to know what misery +was. My lessons gave me little trouble, and the masters were kind +enough; but among the boys there were two who, before long, kept me +in a constant state of terror. They were older than I by some four +or five years, and in school I never saw them; but outside they +used to waylay me, tormenting me in many ingenious ways. Looking +back now I see that much of my terror was needless. They seldom +ill-treated me in act; but knowing, I suppose, that the imagination +is often very apprehensive in weakly bodies like mine, they took a +delight in threatening me, conjuring up all manner of imaginary +horrors, and so working on me that my sleep was disturbed by +hideous nightmares. I told nobody of what I suffered, and when +Mistress Pennyquick noticed that I was pale and heavy-eyed +sometimes in the morning, she did but suppose it was due to a +closer application to books than I had known formerly, and +forthwith increased my daily allowance of milk. + +My father, if he had known of these doings, would doubtless have +taken strong measures to put a stop to them, for the older, though +not the worse, of the two bullies was a nephew of his own. His +sister was married to Sir Richard Cludde, of a notable family whose +seat lay north of Shrewsbury, towards Wem, and it was his only son, +named Richard after his father, who made one of this precious +couple of harriers. There was little coming and going between the +houses of the two families, for Mr. Ellery had not approved his +sister's match, Sir Richard's character being not of the best, and +heartily disliked the fine-lady airs which she put on when she +became wife of a baronet; while she on her side resented her +brother's cold looks, and nourished a special grievance against him +when he adopted me and announced that he would name me his heir. I +make no doubt that she gave tongue to her feeling in the hearing of +her son Dick, for among the many taunts which he and his boon +fellow Cyrus Vetch cast at me was that I was what they pleased to +call a "charity child." + +I have mentioned Cyrus Vetch. If I feared Dick Cludde, I both +feared and hated his companion. Cyrus was the son of a well-to-do +merchant of the town--a man little in stature, but stout, and +wondrous big in self esteem. He was the owner of much property, +already one of the twelve aldermen, and ambitious, folk said, to +arrive at the highest dignity a citizen of Shrewsbury could attain +and wear the chain of mayor about his bulldog neck. He doted on his +son, who certainly did not take after his father so far as looks +went, for he was a tall, lanky fellow with a sallow face, the +alderman's countenance being as red as raw beef. + +Hating Cyrus as I did, and not without cause, as will be seen +hereafter, I may be a trifle unjust in my recollection of him; but +I seem to see again a weasel face, with a pair of little restless +cunning eyes, and lips that were shaped to a perpetual sneer. As to +the sharpness of his tongue I know my memory does not play me +false: Dick Cludde's taunts bruised, but Cyrus Vetch's stung. + +I had been less than a year at the school when an event happened +which had a great bearing on my future life. It was in the autumn +of the year 1690. I left afternoon school, and walked up Castle +Street, intending to turn down by St. Mary's Church as I was wont +to do, and make my way by Dogpole and Wyle Cop to English Bridge +and so home. But just as I came to the corner I spied Cludde and +Vetch waiting for me, as they sometimes did, at the back end of the +church. To avoid them, I went on till I came to the corner of +Dogpole and Pride Hill, hoping thereby to escape. But Cyrus Vetch's +keen eyes had seen me, and when I came to the turning by Colam's, +the vintner's, there were my two tormentors, posted right in my +path. + +"Aha, young Bold!" says Cyrus, clutching me roughly by the arm, "so +you thought to give us the slip, did you?" + +I could not deny it, and said nothing. + +"Hark 'ee, young Bold," Cyrus went on, "you're to bring us tomorrow +morning a good dozen of old Ellery's apples, d'you hear?" + +"A good dozen, young Bold," says Cludde, with the precision of an +echo. + +"Let me go, please, Vetch," I said, endeavoring to wrench my arm +away. + +"Not so fast, bun face," says he, giving my arm a twist. "You'd +best promise, or it will be the worse for you. Now say after me, +'I, Humphrey Bold, adopted brat of John Ellery'--Speak up now!" +"Please let me go, Vetch," said I, wriggling in his grasp. + +"You won't, eh? You're an obstinate pig, eh? You defy us, eh?" and +with every question the bully twisted my arm till I almost screamed +with the pain. + +"Don't be a ninny," says Cludde. "What's a few apples! Why, old +Ellery's trees are loaded with 'em." + +Vetch's grip somewhat relaxed while Cludde was speaking, and, +seizing the opportunity, I wrenched my arm away with a sudden +movement and took to my heels. Being thin and light of foot, I was +a fleet runner, and though they immediately set off in pursuit, I +gained on them for a few yards, and had some hope of distancing +them altogether. But just as I came to where Dogpole runs into Wyle +Cop, a stitch in the side, which often seized me at inconvenient +times, forced me to slacken speed. Seeing this, they quickened +their pace, and in a few moments they would have had me at their +mercy. + +But in that predicament I heard Joe Punchard whistling, through the +open door of the shop where he did 'prentice work for old Matthew +Mark, the cooper. I knew Joe well; he had often brought barrels to +our farm, and once or twice on my way home from school I had gone +into the shop and watched him at his work. + +Now, as a fox when the hounds are in full cry behind him will run +for shelter into any likely place that offers, so I, hard pressed +as I was, rushed panting into the shop, too breathless at first to +explain my need. + +"Hallo! What's this!" cried Joe, who was just rolling down his +sleeves before closing work for the day. "What be the matter, +Master Bold? You be all of a sweat and puffing like to burst." + +"They're after me! Keep 'em off, Joe!" I gasped. + +"After you, be they! Some of your schoolmates worriting of you, eh? +Don't be afeared, lad. I be just going home, and I'll see you safe +to Bridge. + +"Ah! there they be," he added, as my pursuers appeared in the +doorway. + +"Good afternoon to you, and what might you be pleased to want?" + +"Out of the road, Joe Punchard!" cries Cludde, walking into the +shop. "I'll teach that little beast to run away." + +And he came forward to where I stood, sheltering myself behind +Joe's thick-set body. + +"Bide a minute," says Joe, lurching so as to shield me. "What ha' +Master Bold bin doin' to you?" + +"What's that to you?" says Cyrus Vetch, edging round him on the +other side. "He's a young sneak, that's what he is, and wants a +good basting, and he'll get it, too." + +"Not so fast now," says Joe, sticking out his elbows to broaden +himself. "I know you, Master Vetch, and 'tis my belief you and +Master Cludde are just nought but a brace of bullies, and you ought +to be ashamed of yourselves, Master Cludde in particular, seeing as +the little lad be your own cousin." + +"You shut your mouth, Joe Punchard!" shouts Cludde in a passion. +"He my cousin, indeed!--the mean little charity brat!" + +"And a blubbering baby, too!" says Vetch, "cries before he is +hurt." + +"'Tis not much good crying after," says Joe with a chuckle, before +I could protest that I was not crying; I always did hate a +blubbering boy. + +"Now you two boys be off," Joe went on. "I'm going home, and I'll +see to it you don't bait Master Bold no more this side of the +Bridge. And what's more, I tell you this: that if I cotch you two +great chaps worriting the boy again, I'll take and leather you, +both of you, and that's flat." + +"Try it, bandy-legs," said Vetch with a sneer. "We'll do as we +please, and if you dare to lay a hand on either of us, I'll--I'll--" + +"What'll you do, then?" says Joe, who all this while had been +spreading himself in front of me. "What'll you do then? D'you think +I care a farden what you'll do? You'd better behave pretty, Master +Vetch, or 'twill be worse for you, my young cockchafer." + +At this the two boys backed a little, and Joe, thinking them +daunted by his threatening mien, turned to take down the key of the +shop from its nail on the wall. But he had no sooner left my side +than Vetch sprang forward, and catching me by the arm, gave it a +cunning twist that, in spite of myself, made me shriek with pain. +Joe was round in an instant, and made for my tormentor, who with +Cludde ran towards the door. But in their endeavor to escape they +impeded each other: Vetch tripped, and before he could recover his +footing Joe had him in an iron grip, and began to shake him as I +had many times seen our terrier shake a rat he had caught in the +barn. + +"Let me go!" yells Cyrus. "Help, Dick! Kick his shins!" + +But Cludde, though a big fellow enough, was never over ready to put +his head in chancery. He stood in the street, shaking his fist, and +writhing his face into terrible grimaces at me. + +"Let me go!" cries Vetch again. + +"You young viper!" says Joe, shaking him still. "You'll misuse the +little lad before my face, will you? And squeal like a pig to be +let go, will you? + +"Aha! You shall go," he says with a sudden laugh. "Dash me if +'twere not made o' purpose." + +Joe Punchard, I have forgotten to mention, was short of stature, +standing no more than five feet three. But he was very thick-set and +heavily made, with massive arms and legs, the latter somewhat bowed, +making him appear even shorter than he was. It was these legs of his, +together with his big round head and shock of reddish hair, that +inspired some genius of the school with a couplet which was often +chanted by the boys when they caught sight of Joe in the street. It ran: + +O, pi, rho, bandy-legged Joe, +Turnip and carrots wherever you go. + +But bandy-legged as he was, Joe had the great strength which I have +often observed to accompany that defect of nature. So it was with +exceeding ease he lifted Cyrus Vetch, for all his struggles, with +one hand, and dropped him into a barrel that stood, newly finished, +against the wall--a barrel of such noble height that Vetch quite +disappeared within it. Then, trundling it upon its edge, as draymen +do with casks of beer, he brought it to the street, laid it +sidelong, and set it rolling. + +Now the Wyle Cop at Shrewsbury, as you may know, is a street that +winds steeply down to the English Bridge over the Severn. Had it +been straight, the bias of the barrel would doubtless have soon +carried it to the side, and Joe Punchard might have risen in course +of time to the status of a master cooper in his native town. But +when I went to the door to see what was happening, there was the +barrel in full career, following the curve of the street, and +gathering speed with every yard. Joe stood with arms akimbo, +smiling broadly. Cludde was racing after the barrel, shouting for +someone to stop it. + +If I had not already been in such mortal terror of the consequences +of Joe's mad freak, I should have laughed to see the wayfarers as +they skipped out of the course of the runagate, not one of them +aware as yet that it held human contents, nor guessing that the end +might be more than broken staves. + +By this time Joe himself had come to a sense of his recklessness. +He gripped me by the hand, and dragged me down the hill at so +fierce a pace that in half a minute all the breath was out of my +body. I wondered what he purposed doing, for the barrel was now out +of sight past the bend, and could scarce have been overtaken by the +wearer of the seven league boots. But as we turned into the +straight again, just by Andrew Cruddle, the saddler's, we again +espied the terrible barrel, rolling with many bumps towards the +head of the bridge. + +And then I verily believe that my heart for some seconds ceased to +beat, and I am sure that Joe shared my dismay, for he tightened the +grip of his great strong hand upon my puny one until I could have +sworn it was crushed to a pulp. At the bridge head were two +gentlemen, who had to all appearance been engaged in chatting, for +one still sat on the parapet, while the other stood within a foot +or two of him. They were not talking now, but gazing at the barrel +rolling down towards them, and the one who was seated wore the +trace of a smile upon his face. + +But the other--Heaven knows what terror seized me when my eyes +lighted upon him: it was none other than Joshua Vetch, the father +of the boy who, as I feared, was being churned to a jelly; and he +stood full in the path of the barrel. + +Mr. Vetch, as I have said, was a small but corpulent man, and stood +very upright, with a slight backward inclination, to balance, I +suppose, the exceeding greatness of his rotundity. His countenance +habitually expressed disapproval, and his shaggy brows were drawn +down now in an angry frown. I perceived that he said something to +his companion, and then I saw no more for a while, a mist seeming +to gather before my eyes. + +When I regained possession of my faculties, dreading what might +have happened, I found myself on the skirts of a group of five or +six, and heard the loud voice of Mr. Vetch bellowing forth words +which, for modesty's sake, I forbid my pen to write. He was not +dead, then, I thought, nor even hurt, or assuredly he would not +have had the strength to curse with such vigor. But what of Cyrus? + +"I'll have the law on the villain! Run for a potticary! D'you hear, +you gaping jackass? Run for Mr. Pinhorn and bid him come here!" + +And then followed a string of oaths like to those I had heard +before. The group parted hastily, and out came Dick Cludde, with a +face as white as milk, and sped up the town as fast as his long +legs would carry him. No doubt he was the "gaping jackass" whom Mr. +Vetch had so addressed in his fury. + +Pushing my way through the townsmen who had gathered, and whose +numbers were swelled every moment by the afflux of aproned grocers, +and potboys, and 'prentices, and others from the streets, I saw +Cyrus laid on his back by the parapet, white and still, his father +pacing heavily up and down, and his friend Captain Galsworthy +fending off the prying onlookers with his cane. + +"I'll thrash the villain to a pulp! I'll send him to the +plantations, I will! I'll break every bone in his body!" + +So Mr. Vetch roared and, much as I disliked him, I could not but +feel a certain compassion, too, for all the world knew how he doted +on his son. I looked around for Joe Punchard, to see whether he was +in hearing of these threats, but he was not among the crowd. + +By and by came Mr. Pinhorn, the surgeon, and some while after him +four lads bearing a stretcher, upon which the unconscious form of +my enemy was conveyed slowly up the town to Mr. Vetch's house on +Pride Hill. I followed on the edge of the crowd until I saw the +doors close upon the bearers, and then I betook myself home, in +sore distress at the fate in store for my friend Joe Punchard, and +in some terror lest I should share it, the mad freak of which he +was guilty having been performed on my behalf. + + + +Chapter 2: Joe Breaks His Indentures. + + +It was so much later than my usual hour for returning from school +that I was not surprised to see Mistress Pennyquick at the gate of +our farm, shading her eyes against the westering sun as she looked +for me up the road. I endeavored to compose my countenance so as to +betray no sign of the excitement through which I had passed; but +the attempt failed lamentably, and when the good creature began to +question me, I burst into tears. This was so rare an occurrence +with me that she was mightily concerned and adjured me to tell all, +promising that if I had done wrong she would shield me from my +father's anger. And when in answer to this I told her what Joe +Punchard had done to Cyrus Vetch, and the terrible things I had +heard the alderman threaten against him, she laughed and said I was +too tender hearted for a boy, and Joe Punchard would be none the +worse for a basting, and a deal more to the same tune, which almost +broke through my determination to say nothing of what had caused +the mischief; for, after all, Dick Cludde and Cyrus Vetch were my +schoolfellows, and, in my day; for one boy to tell on another was +the unpardonable sin. + +My father came in soon after, and when he heard so much of the +story as I had told Mistress Pennyquick he drew his fingers through +his beard and said in his quiet way: "To be sure, barrels were not +made for that kind of vetch!" + +And then we sat down to supper. We had hardly begun when there came +a smart rap on the door, and, with the freedom of our country +manners, in walked a visitor. My heart gave a jump when I saw it +was none other than Captain Galsworthy, the gentleman with whom Mr. +Vetch had been in converse at the bridge. + +We knew the captain well; he was, in a way, one of the notable +persons of our town. We boys looked on him with a vast admiration +and reverence, not so much for his title--for there are captains +and captains, and I have known some who have done little in the +matter of feats of arms--as because he bore on his lean and rugged +countenance marks which no one could mistake. A deep scar seamed +his right temple, and on one of his cheeks were several little +black pits which we believed to be the marks of bullets. He spoke +but rarely of his own doings, and until he came to Shrewsbury a few +years before this he had been a stranger to the town: but it was +commonly reported that he had been in the service of the Czar of +Muscovy, and since that potentate was ever unwilling that any +officer who had once served him should leave him (save by death or +hanging), it was supposed that the captain had made his escape. He +lived alone in a little cottage on the Wem road, and, not being too +plentifully endowed with this world's goods, he eked out his +competency by giving lessons in fencing, both with singlesticks and +swords. + +Well, in comes the captain, cocking a twinkling eye at me, lays on +the table the cane without which he never went abroad, and, placing +a chair for himself at the table, says: + +"'Tis to be hoped we are not in for a ten years' Trojan war, Master +Humphrey." + +Though I understood nothing of his meaning, I knew he made reference +to the recent escapade, and I felt mightily uncomfortable. My father +looked from one to the other, but did not break his silence. + +"They haven't put you to the Iliads yet, I suppose," says the +captain, helping himself to a mug of our home-brewed cider, "but +you know, neighbor Ellery, 'twas an apple that set the Greeks and +Trojans by the ears, and 'tis apples, or rather the want of 'em, +that is like to put discord between some of our families +hereabout." + +"You speak in riddles, Captain," says my father at last; "and why +are you eying Humphrey in that quizzical way?" + +"Why, bless my soul, don't you know? I thought it had been half +over the county by this." + +"I know that that 'prentice lad Punchard hath half-killed young +Vetch, and richly deserves what he will no doubt get tomorrow." + +"And is that all? Have you told only half your story, Humphrey?" + +This direct question made me still more uncomfortable, especially +as my father's eyes were sternly bent upon me. He hated lies, and +half truths still more, and I could see that he was dimly +suspecting me of a complicity in Joe Punchard's action to which I +had not confessed. But Captain Galsworthy was a shrewd old man, and +he saw at once how the matter stood. + +"No peaching, eh, lad?" he said kindly. "I've an inquisitive turn +of mind, and after that performance with the barrel--and it was a +monstrous comical sight, Ellery, to see the little alderman skip +out of the way when the barrel made straight for his shins, but not +so funny when he pulls at the shock head sticking out and finds it +belongs to his own son--after that performance, I say, I caught +young Dick Cludde by the ear, and made him tell me the story. And +it begins with apples--like this excellent cider of yours, Ellery." + +He quaffed a deep draught and leaned back in his chair, giving me +another friendly wink. The captain was ever somewhat long winded +over his stories, and I could see that my father was growing +impatient; but he sat back in his chair with his hands upon the +arms and said never a word. + +"Young Cludde and Cyrus Vetch, it seems, have a sweet tooth for +your apples, Ellery," said the captain, "and Cludde told me with a +fine indignation that Humphrey flatly refused to fill his pockets +for their behoof. They were proceeding to enforce their +requisition, I gather, when the boy broke from them, and, finding +himself hard pressed by and by, took refuge behind Joe Punchard's +bandy legs. And Joe must needs take up the cudgels on behalf of the +oppressed, and chose an original way of punishing the oppressor. +And thus the rolling of the barrel is explained." + +At this Mistress Pennyquick broke out into vehement denunciation of +the two boys, but my father silenced her. Quietly he began to +question me: he would take no denial, and drew out of me bit by bit +the whole story of the bullying I had suffered from those two of my +schoolfellows. + +And then he was more angry than I had seen him ever before. He +smote the arm of the chair with his great fist, and vowed he would +not have me ill used; and though he said but little, and never once +raised his voice, I knew by the set of his lips and the gleam of +his eye that it would go hard with anyone who baited me again. Then +the captain made a proposition for which I have been thankful all +my life long. + +"The moral of it is, Ellery, that Humphrey must be a pupil of mine. + +"Give me your arm, boy. + +"Ah!" says he, feeling the muscle, which was soft enough, no doubt, +seeing that I was only eleven and had never done anything about the +farm. "We must alter that. Let him come to me twice a week, Ellery, +and he shall learn the arts of self defense, first with nature's +own weapons, for boxing I take to be the true foundation of all +bodily exercise, and afterwards, when he is a little grown, the +more delicate science of swordsmanship, which demands bodily +strength and wits, and to which the other is but a prelude. And I +warrant you, if he have the right stuff in him, that by the time +the schoolmaster has done with him he shall be able to hold his own +against any man, and will need no succors from Joe Punchard or +anyone else." + +Hereupon Mistress Pennyquick set up a cry about the wickedness of +teaching little boys to fight, and the state she would be in if I +was some day brought home mangled and disfigured, and a great deal +more to the same effect. The captain tapped the table until she had +finished, and then, with a fine courtly bow, he said: + +"Spoken like a woman, ma'am. Humphrey will suffer hard knocks, to +be sure; yes, please God, he shall have many a black eye, and many +a bloody nose, and we shall make a man of him, ma'am: a gentleman +he is already." + +"Yes, to be sure," says the simple creature, "and his mother was a +born lady, and--" + +"Tuts, ma'am," the captain here interrupted. "I was not alluding to +his pedigree. The boy has suffered torment for months without +breathing a word of it to betray his schoolfellows; from that I +deduce that he has the spirit of a gentleman, and I want no further +proof." + +"'Tis time the boy was abed," says my father. "Run away, lad." + +I got up at once to go, guessing that my father wished to have some +private talk with Captain Galsworthy. My ears were tingling, I +confess, with his praise of me, and my heart throbbed with delight +and pride at the thought of being the captain's pupil. I could not +sleep for thinking of it. I imagined all manner of scenes in which +I should some day figure, and saw myself already holding off five +enemies at once with my flashing sword. These visions haunted my +dreams when at last I slept, and it was after a bout of especial +fierceness that I found myself lying awake, in a great heat and +breathlessness. + +And then I was aware of an actual sound--a sound which no doubt had +entered into my dreams as the clash of arms. It was a soft and +regular tapping, a ghostly sound to hear at dead of night, and like +to scare a boy of quick imagination. I lay for some moments in a +state bordering on panic, unable to think, much less to act. + +Tap, tap, tap--so it went on, like the ticking of the great clock +on the stairs, only louder and more substantial. It ceased, and I +held my breath, wondering whether I should hear it again. Then it +recommenced, and I was about to spring from my bed and run to tell +Mistress Pennyquick when a sudden thought held me: What would +Captain Galsworthy think if he knew I had fled from a sound? Would +he regard me as the right stuff of which to make a man? + +The captain's good opinion was worth so much to me now that I +crushed down my fears and sat up in bed (yet keeping a tight clutch +upon the blanket), and tried to use my reason. + +The tapping, I reflected, must be caused by some person or thing. A +ghost is a spirit, and insubstantial, and I had never heard that +the ghost which some of the townsfolk (chiefly servant maids) had +seen in St. Alkmund's Churchyard had done more at any time than +glide silently among the tombs. And even as I decided that the +sound must have a natural cause, I had startling confirmation of my +conclusion in a new sound--nothing else than a sneeze, sudden, and +short, and stifled. The tapping ceased, and while I was still +trying to collect my wits I heard a groan, and immediately +afterwards a voice calling my name, and then a new tapping, only +quicker. + +It was now clear to me that some one was at my window, though, +seeing that my room was some twenty feet above the ground, I was at +a loss to imagine how the tapper had mounted there. + +My fears now being merged in surprise, I got out of bed, stole to +the window, and pulled the blind an inch aside. + +"Master Bold! Master Bold!" came the voice again, and, venturing a +little more, I put my head between the blind and the window, and +saw a dark form against the clear summer sky. + +"Master Bold, 'tis me, Joe Punchard," said the voice in a whisper. +"Canst let me in, lad, without making a noise?" + +Without more ado I lifted the sash gradually, for it was heavy and +creaked, and I feared to rouse the household. When it was high +enough for Joe's bulky form to pass through he clambered over the +sill, and stood in my room. + +"How did you get up, Joe?" I asked in a whisper. + +"Got a ladder from the rick yard, lad. I bin tapping for nigh half +an hour, I reckon. You be one of the seven sleepers, for sure." + +"But what do you want, Joe? You can't stay here, you know." + +"Nor don't want to. I be come to tell you, lad, I be going away." + +"Going away, Joe?" + +"Yes. No one knows it but you, and I wouldn't ha' telled you only +the old mother will be in a rare taking when she finds me gone, and +I want you to tell her as I've come to no harm." + +"But why, Joe?" + +"Vetch--that's why. 'Tis no place for me now, lad. He bin cursing +and swearing he'll send me to the plantations for that business +with the barrel, and he'll keep his word. And so I be going to run +for it." + +"But where, Joe? And what about your 'dentures?" + +"That's where it is: my 'dentures must go too. If I be catched, +there's a flogging and prison for that. But I don't mean to be +catched. Before the sun's up I'll be on my way to Bristowe." + +"That's ever so far." + +"So 'tis, but not further than a pair of legs can walk." + +"And will you get a place with a cooper there?" + +"No, no; no more coopering for me; I be done with barrels for good +and all. I be going to sea." + +"To sea! What ever made you think of such a thing?" + +"One thing and another. And I won't be the first, not even from +such an upland place as Shrewsbury. Why, haven't we heard Mistress +Hind tell time and again how her brother John Benbow ran away to +sea nigh upon thirty years ago?" + +"True, and so did Sam Blevins, and hasn't been heard of since, +Joe." + +"Well, if Vetch ships me to the plantations you may be sure no more +will be heard of Joe Punchard, so 'tis as broad as 'tis long." + +"'Tis all my fault, Joe. If I hadn't run into the shop this +wouldn't have happened, and you'd have worked out your 'dentures, +and maybe risen to be a partner with Mr. Mark. I wish I had let +them catch me, Joe, I do." + +"Now don't you take on, Master Humphrey. As for partners, I be sick +of making barrels for other folks' beer, that's the truth, and by +what I've heard there's riches to be picked up in the Indies, and +many a sea captain is a deal better off than Matthew Mark. And I'm +set on trying it, lad, the more so as, by long and short, I dursn't +stay in Shrewsbury no longer. So you'll be so good as go and see +the old mother tomorrow, and tell her I be gone to sea, and I'll +send her home silks, and satins, and diamonds, too, maybe, and I'll +come home some day rich as creases, as I heard parson say once." + +"I hope you will, Joe. Will you write to me and tell me how you are +getting on?" + +"Bless your life, I can do no more than make my mark. But maybe +I'll light on some scholard who'll write down out of my mouth, and +I'll make him limn a barrel on the paper, and then you'll know for +sure 'tis me." + +This conversation had proceeded in whispers, but Joe's whisper was +sonorous, and I was in some fear lest Mistress Pennyquick, whose +room was hard by, should hear the rumble and take alarm. Yet I +could not refrain from keeping him while I told of the matter so +near my heart--the offer of Captain Galsworthy to take me as a +pupil. Joe listened very sympathetically. + +"'Tis an ill wind blows no one good," he said. "That there barrel +makes a sailor of me; maybe 'tis to make a sojer of you." + +"And what of Cyrus Vetch?" I could not help saying. + +"Ah! Cyrus Vetch!" muttered Joe, looking troubled. "I be afeared +'twill make him a downright enemy to you, lad. But you'll grow, and +captain will learn you how to ply your fists, and when it comes to +a fight, mind of my fighting name, and punch hard." + +Then, having promised to see his mother and do what I could to +console her, I wrung his hand and wished him well, and he climbed +out again by the window, and in the starlight I watched him carry +the ladder across the yard; and then with a final wave of the hand +he vanished into the night. + + + +Chapter 3: I Meet The Mohocks. + + +At breakfast I said nothing of Joe's midnight visit, reckoning that +it would not be long before the news of his flight got abroad. It +was indeed the subject of a great buzz of talk among my +schoolfellows, who flocked about me as I walked down Castle Street, +demanding to hear the full story from my own lips. I could tell +them nothing that they did not know, save only my leave-taking with +Joe Punchard, which, of course, I had resolved to keep very close. +I learned from them that Cyrus was abed, and like to stay there, +said Mr. Pinhorn, for a week or more. His father was in a desperate +rage, and had sent horsemen along all the roads in pursuit of the +runaway, and I had some fear that my good friend would be caught +and brought back to receive his punishment. + +However, nothing had been heard of him by the time school was over, +so that I had great hopes that he had got himself clean away. I +went to see his mother as I had promised, and said what I could to +comfort her; but the good woman was mightily upset, and declared in +a passion of weeping that she was sure she would never see her Joe +again. + +That evening at supper my father was even more quiet than his wont. +Mistress Pennyquick told me afterwards that he had been to see his +sister Lady Cludde and her husband at Cludde Court, and given them +a piece of his mind. What passed between them I know not, but I do +know that my father never set foot in Cludde Court again, nor did +his sister come any more to the farm, even when her brother lay +a-dying. His visit had this good effect, however, that I suffered +no more bullying at the hands of Dick Cludde or Cyrus Vetch. Dick +eyed me with a malignant scowl whenever he met me, and as for +Cyrus, who did not come back to school for a good ten days, he +looked over my head as though I did not exist, which gave me no +discomfort, you may be sure. At the end of that year they were both +taken from school, Cludde going to Cambridge, and Vetch to assist +his father, who was a grain merchant in a substantial way, as all +Shrewsbury supposed. + +It would be a tedious matter were I to tell all the little +happenings of the next few years. Whether it was due to my constant +exercise under Captain Galsworthy's tuition, I know not, but +certainly, from that very summer, I grew at an amazing rate, +shooting up until I was as tall as boys three or four years older, +yet hardening at the same time. Twice a week regularly I betook +myself to the captain's little cottage on the Wem road, and spent +an hour with him in mastering the principles and practice of what +he called the noble arts of self defense. He was pleased to say +that I was quick of eye and nimble of body, and, being on my side +very eager to learn, I was speedily in his good books, and he +seemed to take a special pleasure in teaching me. + +At first I found our bouts at fisticuffs a severe tax. The captain, +though well on in years, was still hale and active, and, being tall +and spare, he had a great advantage of me. With the long reach of +his arms he could pummel me without giving me the least chance of +reprisal, and many's the day I crawled home after our encounters +bruised and sore, provoking indignant remonstrances from Mistress +Pennyquick. But I refused to let her coddle me, and as my appetite +never failed, and I throve amazingly, the good woman at last ceased +to lament, and, as I discovered, was wont behind my back to vaunt +my growing manliness. + +By the time I was fifteen I was as tall as the captain himself, and +then my share of bruises ceased to be so disproportionate. In +skill, whether with the fists or the foils, he was always vastly my +superior; indeed, to this day I have never met his equal. But I had +youth on my side, and sometimes the old man at the end of a +particularly arduous bout would sigh, and wish he were younger by a +score of years. + +No one could have been more generous in encouragement and praise. +It would have amused an onlooker, I am sure, to see him, when I had +had the good fortune to tap claret, mopping the injured feature and +all the time maintaining a flow of complimentary remarks. + +"Capital, my lad!"--after fifty years I can hear him still--"on my +life, a neat one, Humphrey; I shall make something of you yet, my +boy." + +And then we fall to it again, and, being somewhat overconfident, +perhaps, after my success, I fail a little in my guard, and the +captain sees his opportunity and lands me such a series of +staggerers that I see a thousand stars, and there am I dabbing my +nose while he cries again: "Capital, my lad! A Roland for an +Oliver! And now we'll wash away the sanguinary traces of our combat +and allay our noble rage with a mug of cider." + +And thus, giving and receiving hard knocks, we continued to be the +best of friends. + +These years brought changes in their train. One day Joshua Vetch, +Cyrus' father, died suddenly of an apoplectic fit, brought on, folk +said, by disappointment at Mr. Adderton the draper being elected +mayor over his head. And then it was found that, so far from being +wealthy as was supposed, he had been for years living beyond his +means, being ably assisted in his expenditure by Cyrus. His affairs +were in great disorder; Cyrus himself was totally unprovided for, +and but for his uncle, John Vetch, a reputable attorney of our +town, who took pity on him, and gave him articles, God knows what +would have become of him. + +At this change of fortune I could not but remember how, years +before, he had sneered at me as a "charity brat." I fancy he +remembered it too, for when I met him face to face one day, as I +returned from school, coming out of his uncle's office, he flushed +deeply and then gave me such a look of hatred that I felt uneasy +for days after. + +Cyrus had never borne a good name in Shrewsbury, and after his +father's death he seemed to grow reckless. Dick Cludde was still at +college, though I never heard that he did any good there, and in +the vacations he and Cyrus consorted much together, and became in +fact the ringleaders of a wild set whose doings were a scandal in +Shrewsbury for many a day. Cludde, it seemed, had made a jaunt to +London with other young bloods at the end of the term in the +December of this year 1694, to see the great pageant of Queen +Mary's funeral. + +The adventure did him no good, for when he returned to Shrewsbury +he formed, with Vetch and others of his kidney, a gang in imitation +of the Mohocks, as they were called--the band of dissolute young +ruffians who then infested London, wrenching off knockers, +molesting women in the streets, pinking sober citizens, and +tumbling the old watchmen into the gutters. Our streets at night +became the scene of riotous exploits of this kind, and our watch, +being old and feeble men, were quite unable to cope with the +rioters, so that decent folk began to be afraid to stir abroad +after dark. Though they disguised themselves for these forays, it +was shrewdly suspected who they were; but they escaped actual +detection, and indeed, they were held in such terror by the +townsfolk that no one durst move against them openly, for fear of +what might come of it. + +Things grew to such a height that one Saturday the mayor, with half +a dozen aldermen, walked out to the little cottage on the Wem Road, +and besought Captain Galsworthy's aid. The captain and I chanced to +be in the thick of an encounter with the foils, and neither of us +heard the rap on the door which announced the visitors. A gust of +air when the door was opened apprised us that we had onlookers at +our sport; but the captain's eyes never left mine until with a +dexterous turn of the wrist, which I had long envied and sought in +vain to copy, he sent my foil flying to the end of the room. + +"Capital, capital!" cried he, removing his mask and wiping his +heated brow. + +"Good morning, Mr. Mayor," he added; "we have kept you waiting, I +fear; but we were just approaching the critical moment: the issue +was doubtful, and there is little satisfaction in a drawn battle. + +"Your looks are portentous, gentlemen: is this a visit of state, +may I ask?" + +Whereupon the mayor, an honest little draper, made a speech which I +am sure he had diligently conned over beforehand. He passed from a +recital of the woes under which Shrewsbury suffered to a most +flattering eulogium of the captain's prowess, to which my good +friend listened with an air of approval that amused me mightily. +And then the mayor came to the point, and in the name of the +corporation and all decent citizens of Shrewsbury besought the +captain to suppress the disturbers of their peace. + +"Hum! ha!" said the captain, rubbing his nose reflectively. "I am +an old man, Mr. Mayor: methinks this is work for younger blood than +mine." + +"No, no!" cried the company in chorus. + +"We seed tha knock the steel from the hand of Master Bold there as +'twere a knitting needle," says the mayor, whose speech was as +broad as his figure. + +"Well, well," says the captain, "I'll think of it, my friends. You +do me great honor, and I thank you for your visit." + +The captain and I talked over the matter between ourselves, and the +upshot of our consultation was that we got together a little band +of his former pupils, and for several nights in succession we +perambulated the streets of Shrewsbury from the English to the +Welsh Bridge and from the Castle to the Quarry, with naked swords +and a martial air. But we had our exercise for nothing. The town +was as quiet as a graveyard, and the only disturber of the peace +that engaged our attention was poor Tom Jessopp, the drayman, who, +one night, having drunk more old October than was good for him, +encountered us as he was staggering home down Shoplatch, and +invited us, first to wet our whistles, and, on our declining, to +fight him for a pint. We escorted him home and put him to bed, not +without some difficulties and inconveniences, and that was the +first and last of our adventures, the captain declaring that to +deal with topers was no work for a man of honor. + +The very night after our company was thus dissolved the mayor was +knocked down at the foot of Swan Hill by the Town Wall, gagged and +trussed, and laid upon his own doorstep, where he was found by the +maidservant in the morning, having wrought himself to the verge of +apoplexy by his struggles to rid himself of his bonds. He besought +the captain with tears of outraged dignity to resume his +guardianship of the town; but the old warrior merely rubbed his +nose and spoke of rheumatism. + +The outrages occurred only at intervals, and ceased altogether +during the college terms, when Dick Cludde was absent, so that we +were not far wrong in our inference that he was the fount and +origin of the deeds of lawlessness. The townsfolk, you may be sure, +did not love him; nor did the high and mighty airs Sir Richard and +my lady chose to assume in their dealings with the citizens win +them many friends; so that when it became known, about the time +when Dick left Cambridge finally, without a degree, that his father +had suffered serious reverses of fortune in his adventures in +oversea trade, there were few who felt anything but satisfaction. + +At this time I was midway in my seventeenth year--a big strapping +fellow standing five feet ten, having quite outgrown the delicacy +of my childhood. I was high up in the school, on good terms with +the masters, though my Latin and Greek was never considerable: on +better terms with the boys, for, I must own, my inclinations were +rather towards baseball and quoits than towards the nice +discrimination of longs and shorts. I had developed in particular +an amazing strength of arm, which stood me in good stead in +wrestling bouts, and led to my being counted two in our tugs of +war. It was this same strength, I fancy, that made my schoolfellows +chary of provoking me to wrath, for which I was somewhat sorry, +having always loved a fight. + +During these years no tidings came to us of Joe Punchard. His poor +mother, who earned a living by washing for some of our Shrewsbury +folk, feared the worst from his long silence. But Mistress Nelly +Hind, who kept a coffee shop in Raven Street, called Mistress +Punchard a croaker and bade her be of good cheer, for she had +neither seen nor directly heard from her brother John Benbow for +twenty years; yet he was alive and well, and captain of a king's +ship, if rumor were not a false, lying jade. + +"Not that your Joe will ever rise to such a height," she added. + +"Sure he's a better boy than ever your John was," said Mistress +Punchard, up in arms for her offspring. + +"John's legs are as straight as the bed post," retorted his sister, +and then the two women began a war of words, in the midst of which, +having drunk my dish of coffee, I slipped away. + +I rarely speculated on my future, and my father never spoke of it. +We took it for granted that I should succeed him in his little +property, and during the school holidays I sometimes accompanied +him to market, and learned to handle samples of grain and to +discuss the points of his fat cattle. + +It was when I was approaching the end of my seventeenth year that I +began to think of the future more nearly. My father had suffered +long--though Mistress Pennyquick and I had known nothing of it, he +being so reticent--from a disease which nowadays physicians call +angina pectoris, a disease that grips a man by the chest, as 'twere +his breastbones are ground together, with breathlessness and +exquisite pain. As he grew older, the attacks recurred more +frequently and with greater violence, and after one of them, the +first I had seen with my own eyes, he sent for Mr. Vetch, the +attorney, and was closeted with him a great while in his room. +Mistress Pennyquick's face was very grave when she spoke to me +about it afterwards. + +"'Tis a bad sign when a man sends for his lawyer, Humphrey," she +said. "I can't abide 'un, for they always make me think of my +latter end. Your father have made his will, I'll be bound, and I +wish he spoke more free of things. But there, 'tis always the way; +empty barrels make the most noise, as the saying is, and I will +groan with the toothache while the poor master will suffer his +agonies without a word." + +One night as we were sitting reading, my father had an attack which +terrified us. All at once, without a moment's warning, he dropped +his book, and stood up, bending forward, his face blue, his eyes +almost starting from his head. We hastened to him, but he motioned +us away, and then Mistress Pennyquick bade me ride for Mr. Pinhorn. +I snatched my cap, and, knowing that with my long legs I could +reach the town by the fields more quickly than on horseback by the +road, I did not stay to saddle Jerry, but set off at full speed +across five-acre, vaulted the gate into the spinney, and so on till +I gained the bridge, by which time I was blowing like a furnace. + +It was dark, being October, and though I knew every yard of our +ground, I marvel now to think how I escaped breaking my leg in a +ditch or coming to some other mishap. I raced on to Raven Street, +where Mr. Pinhorn lived, and by good luck found him just alighting +at the door from his nag. I told him my errand in gasps; the good +surgeon understood without much telling, and he leaped again into +the saddle (his foot never having left the stirrup) and galloped +away. + +My knees shook so violently with the exertions I had made that I +would fain have rested awhile before returning. But the thought +that my father might die in my absence struck me with a chill, and +I set off at a swinging stride after the surgeon. + +I had gone but a few yards, however, when ahead of me, by the light +of a flickering oil lamp, hanging from a bracket before one of the +houses, I saw a group of some five or six, youths by their build, +gathered about a doorway. Immediately afterwards I heard from the +same spot a harsh sound as of rending wood, followed by guffaws of +laughter. The party then moved quickly on for a few paces, and +again came to a halt at a doorway, whence in a few seconds the same +sound reached my ears. + +Passing the door at which I had first seen them, I noticed that +where the knocker should have been there was nothing but a few bent +nails and a splintered panel. After former experiences my suspicion +scarce needed this confirmation: without doubt these were our +Shrewsbury Mohocks, out for a night's frolic. I had never before +seen them at their diversions, my patrolling of the streets with +Captain Galsworthy having been a mere parade, as I have related, +and now I was in no mood to encounter them, having the trouble of +my father's illness on my mind. But I perceived that they were +engaged in wreaking their knavery upon the sign board of Nelly +Hind, and my blood waxed hot at the thought of the poor woman's +distress, and my fingers itched to strike a blow on her behalf. + +Strong as I was, I knew 'twould be mere folly to attempt +single-handed to engage half a dozen, and I was thinking of running +quickly to some of the members of the Captain's disbanded force and +enlisting their help when the situation was changed by the arrival +of old Ben Ivimey, the feeblest of the ancient watchmen to whom the +peace of Shrewsbury was confided. He was past sixty and stone deaf, +and his bent old figure, with a lantern in one hand and a staff in +the other, came round the corner all unsuspecting what was in store +for him. + +The Mohocks, intent upon their mischief, did not observe the coming +of the watchman. He was a little man, but must have been of some +mettle in his day, for, perceiving what is afoot, he toddles up in +his odd headlong gait, and laying his hand on the arm of one of the +roisterers, formally arrests him in the name of the mayor. + +The fellow swings round at the touch, and bursts into a roar of +laughter. He was masked, as were all his companions; but I knew him +by his make to be Cyrus Vetch. Well, he laughs, and shakes off the +watchman's feeble grasp, and springing back, draws his sword; and +in another instant there was old Ben, the center of the group, +skipping this way and that to avoid their sword points, protesting, +threatening, appealing, escaping one merely to run upon another. + +I will say this for them, that they intended to do him no harm; +their lunges were sportive and not in earnest; but diverting as the +sport was to them, it was the very contrary to the old man, whose +cries proclaimed that he thought his last hour was come. + +All this happened in the space of a few moments. I was unwilling to +leave old Ben to the mercy of his tormentors while I ran for +assistance, as I was intending; yet it was clear I could do nothing +alone. + +"John Kynaston," thinks I, "lives only a couple of hundred yards +away: he and I together might account for the ruffians." + +I was just turning to make my way to Kynaston's house, when a cry +of pain from the old man drove out all considerations of prudence. +In dodging one of that ring of steel points it would appear that he +had stumbled full upon another, and the weapon, by accident or +otherwise, had pierced his arm. My blood was up; I clean forgot my +design of running for help. I had no weapon with me, but, hastily +scanning the dim-lit street for a something to wield, my foot +kicked an object in the gutter. In a trice I had seized it in both +hands, barely conscious of its weight. Then I ran with it the few +yards that separated me from the scuffle, and, lifting my weapon +above my head, hurled it at the nearest of the group. There was a +sound of fury from the fellow at whom I had aimed, and from the two +beyond him--a sound muffled and all but inarticulate, for the +missile which had fallen like a bolt among them was a large wooden +bin filled with household refuse, and placed in the gutter for the +coming of the early morning scavenger. + + + +Chapter 4: Captain John Benbow. + + +Our Mohocks suffered some discomfort, I fear, as the contents of +the bin hurtled upon them. Household refuse hath, to be sure, no +sweetness of savor; and the shower of bones, eggshells, cabbage +stalks, potato parings, rinds of bacon, and what not, with a +plentiful admixture of white wood ash, served to stay their +activity in deeds, though I must own it did but enhance the fury of +their tongues. But the diversion gave me a breathing space in which +I drew old Ben within the shadow of a doorway and took his staff +from his fainting hands--not without resistance on his part, for +the mettlesome old fellow refused to yield up his insignia until I +brought my face within an inch of his dim eyes, and he recognized +me for a friend. + +"Spring your rattle, man!" I cried, and then to the din of curses +and roars for vengeance there was added the sharp crackle of his +alarm signal. + +By this time the leaders of the rioters had rubbed the dust from +their eyes and came towards me, the foremost of them, Cyrus Vetch, +shouting to his comrades to spit me like a toad. He had recognized +me, and sprang towards the doorway where I stood with staff aslant, +the trembling watchman still whirling his rattle behind. Mad with +rage he cut at me with his sword, which bit deep into the staff, by +that very fact becoming for a brief moment useless. + +Before Vetch could recover his weapon, I had withdrawn mine, and +lunging fair upon him, I dealt him a thrust that sent him spinning +halfway across the street. But I was now beset by his comrades, who +made at me from both sides of the porch, but for whose shelter I +should in all likelihood have been overborne. + +They had some sense of fair play, however. They returned their +swords to the scabbards, and were for trusting to their fists +alone. I contrived to give one of them a smart tap on the crown +before they came to close quarters; but ere I could recover myself +they were upon me, the staff was wrenched from my grasp, and I was +as hard put to it as a stag bayed by hounds. I made what play I +could with my fists, and got home at least one blow for two; but +the odds were too heavy against me, and when at length a fellow as +big as myself slipped round to my back and gripped me hard by the +neck, all my struggles did not avail to prevent my being shoved and +pulled and hustled out into the middle of the street. + +Vetch had picked himself up, and now came running towards me in a +frenzy. In his rage he had plucked off his mask, revealing his +distorted features to all the good folk who, I doubt not, by this +time had their heads out at their windows, viewing the scene from a +secure altitude. + +"Out of the way, Mytton!" he screamed, his voice shrill with +passion. "Out of the way, I say; I will crop his ears, the cur!" + +Burt Mytton, the fellow who had me by the neck, and some others of +the band, were not for pushing things to such extremities. They +closed about to protect me, and even Dick Cludde caught Vetch's arm +and expostulated with him. Another meanwhile had snatched old +Ivimey's rattle from him, and ever and anon amid the din I caught +the sound of his quavering voice calling, "Help for the watch! O my +sakes! O my bones!" + +Then a cry arose: + +"To the river! Give 'em a ducking!" and in another moment there we +were, myself and Ivimey, being lugged at a quick scuffle down the +street towards the Severn. There was no hope of escape, and I had +resigned myself to the imminent bath, when at a turn in the narrow +roadway we found the path blocked by two pedestrians. + +With Mytton's hand forcing my head downwards I did not at first see +them, but I heard a loud voice call, "Hold, rascals!" breaking in +upon the watchman's feeble cry, "O my sakes! Help for the watch!" + +"Out of the way!" cried Vetch; but the next moment I heard a +clatter of steel upon the cobbles; and guessed that the stranger +had struck my enemy's sword from his hand. Then my neck was +released, and looking up I saw my captor himself captive in the +grip of a tall man in riding cloak and high boots, while Vetch was +struggling with a short, thick-set fellow who had his arms about +the other's body. + +Bullies are ever cowards at heart, and the rest of the band, +finding the tables thus turned upon them, had taken to their heels +and disappeared into the night. + +"Let me go, hound!" yelled Vetch, and at the answer I started with +a thrill of pleasure. + +"Let ye go! Not for all the aldermen in the country. 'Twas your +tricks drove me out of Shrewsbury, and seemingly ye're at 'em +still. You ha'nt learnt your lesson, Master Vetch; more fool you." + +It was Joe Punchard's voice. If I had doubted it I should have been +assured by a word that fell from his companion. + +"Haul him to the watch house, Joe. I'll bring this fellow!" + +"And the bag, Captain?" says Joe. + +"Give it to this long fellow," says the other, with a hard look at +me. + +And I found a large bag thrust into my arms, which Joe had been +carrying and had dropped on the road at the encounter. + +By this time a crowd had assembled, the good folk who had been +craning their necks at the windows having swarmed out, now that the +danger was past. And as we thronged up the street a score of voices +poured into the ears of the man Joe had called "captain" the full +tale of the Mohocks' doings. + +I walked among them, shouldering the bag. I perceived that Joe had +not recognized me, which was not to be wondered at, seeing that +when he last saw me I was a pale slip of a boy, whereas now I was a +tall brawny youth with cheeks the color of a ripe russet. And Joe +himself was not quite the 'prentice lad I had known. His legs +indeed were no less bowed than of yore; nor was his hair less red; +but the round face appeared rounder than ever by reason of a thick +fringe of whiskers. His body had filled out, and he moved with a +rolling gait that caused him to usurp more than one man's share of +the narrow street. + +When we had laid the two ruffians safely in ward, the captain said +to Joe: + +"Now we'll go visit Nelly, and 'gad, my limbs yearn for bed, Joe. +This fellow can still carry the bag; 'tis worth a groat." + +I grinned, and stepping alongside of Joe, whose head did not reach +much above my elbow, I looked down on him, and said: + +"Don't you know me, Joe?" + +His start of surprise set me a-smiling. His round face, somewhat +more weatherbeaten than when I saw it last, expressed amazement, +incredulity, and half a dozen more emotions in turn. + +"Bless my soul!" he cried. "Sure 'tis little Humphrey Bold, growed +mountain high. Give me the bag, sir; God forbid you should bear a +load for Joe Punchard." + +"No, no," I replied. "I'll earn my groat, now I've begun. And right +glad I am to see you, Joe; I had thought never to look on your face +again." + +"And would not, but for my dear captain," says he. + +"Captain, 'tis Master Bold, the boy I told ye of. 'Twas him I saved +from the hands of Cyrus Vetch the last day I was at home, and sure +'tis a wonderful thing that the very night of homecoming we save +him again. Vetch needs another turn in the barrel, methinks. I +wonder if my old master has one that will hold his long carcass. + +"But look 'ee, Master Humphrey, this be Captain Benbow, Mistress +Nelly's brother, and my dear master. Oh, I've a deal to tell 'ee +of, and a deal to hear, I warrant me. Is my old mother yet alive, +sir?" + +"Yes, and hale and hearty, Joe, though she has well-nigh given up +hope of the silks and satins you promised her." + +"Bless her heart, she shall have 'em now. We have rid from +Bristowe, sir, the captain and me, and we stayed but to put up our +horses at the Bull and Gate, where I left my bag filled with good +store of things for the old woman. Won't she open her eyes! Won't +she thank Heaven for bandy-legged Joe!" + +We had now reached the door of Mistress Hind's house, and as I set +down the bag a great oath burst from Captain Benbow's lips. + +"Split me!" says he, eying the splintered panel and the gap where +the knocker had been. "Had I those villains on deck they should +have a supper of rope's end, I warrant you." + +His voice was rough, and his tongue had a keen Shropshire tang, +which indeed it never lost, giving thereby evidence to confute +those who afterwards claimed for him kinship with a noble family. +In truth Benbow was the son of an honest tanner of our town, and +took no shame of his origin: his greatness was above such pettiness +of spirit. He had run away to sea at an early age, and for some +years lived a hard life before the mast. But his native merits in +time triumphed over adverse fortune, and before he was thirty he +became master and in a good measure owner of a frigate which he +called The Benbow. + +It is said, I know not with what truth, that his fortunes date from +an adventure that befell him in the year 1686. In the Benbow +frigate he was attacked by a sallee rover, who boarded him, but was +beaten off with the loss of thirteen men. Benbow (I tell the tale +as I heard it) cut off their heads and threw them into pickle. When +he landed at Cadiz, he brought them on shore in a sack, and on +being challenged by the custom house officers as importing +contraband goods, he threw them on the table with, "Gentlemen, if +you like 'em, they are at your service." + +This saying so tickled the humor of the king of Spain that he +recommended Benbow to our King James, and thus led to his promotion +in our Royal Navy. The captain was now somewhat above forty years +old, straight but slight in build, not ill looking, save that his +nose was a trifle over big--a defect not uncommon, I have remarked, +among great commanders. + +Well, as I said, we had arrived at Mistress Hind's door, and the +captain was in a great rage at the havoc wrought by Vetch and his +crew. He rapped on the door with the hilt of his sword, and out +pops Mistress Nelly's head from the window above ('twas in a +night-cap), and she screams: + +"Out upon you, you vagabones! You've done mischief enough for one +night, drat you, and if ye be not gone inside of half a minute I'll +empty the slops on ye, that I will." + +Benbow laughed. + +"The family spirit!" he says under his breath to Joe. "Speak to +her; don't tell her I'm here." + +"Oh, Mistress Hind," says Joe in a mournful voice, "here's a +welcome to a poor worn-out old mariner as you used to befriend." + +"Who in the world are ye?" she asks. + +"Who but Joe Punchard, ma'am, that went away for rolling a barrel, +and has been a-rolling ever since." + +"Ay, now I know your voice. Back like a bad penny, are ye? Come and +see me tomorrow; I'm abed now." + +"But I've brought a friend with me--another poor old mariner"--with +a wink at Benbow--"who wants a night's lodging." + +"Can he pay?" asks Mistress Hind. + +"To be sure: his pockets are full of pieces of eight and other +sound coin." + +"Then I'll come down to you; but ye must bide a minute or two till +I throw a few things on, for I'd die rather than show myself to a +mariner in my night rail." + +Benbow laughed again. + +"'Tis twenty years or more since I saw Nell," he said, "but I'd +know her tongue in any company." + +And now the remembrance of my father's illness, which the +subsequent excitements had driven from my mind, returned with a +sudden force that made me take a hasty leave of the two travelers, +though both asked me to wait and drink a dish of coffee with them. +So I did not see the meeting of brother and sister, but learned +from Joe next day the manner of it. + +Mistress Hind did not recognize the captain, never having seen him +from a boy, until, sitting at table with a dish of coffee before +him, and she standing over him, bidding him haste that she might +return to bed--sitting thus, I say, he took up the dish and began +to blow into it to cool it, as children do. + +"Why," says Mistress Hind, "tha blows it round and round to make +little waves, just like my brother John." + +"Nelly!" says the captain, setting the dish down. + +"And there they were," said Joe in telling me the story, "in each +other's arms, and when she'd done drying her eyes she says, + +"'John, and I needn't ha' minded about the night rail!'" + +It was nigh eleven o'clock when I got home--a very late hour in our +parts, and Mistress Pennyquick was in a great to-do, imagining all +kinds of evil that might have befallen me. Mr. Pinhorn had remained +with my father a long time, she said; he was now asleep and was not +to be disturbed. I was myself fairly tired out, and fell asleep the +instant my head touched the pillow. + + + +Chapter 5: I Lose My Best Friend. + + +There was a crowded courthouse next day when Ralph Mytton and Cyrus +Vetch were brought before the Mayor and charged with breach of the +peace and malicious damage to the property of lieges. It was the +first time that the Mohocks had been caught in the act, and their +being well connected added a spice to the event. + +The two prisoners bore themselves very differently. Mytton, a +nephew of the member of Parliament, assumed an air of bravado, +smiled and winked at his friends in court, evidently trusting to +his high connections to get him off lightly. Vetch, on the other +hand, was sullen and morose, never lifting his eyes from the floor +except when I was giving my evidence, and then he threw me a glance +in which I read, as clearly as in a book, the threat of venomous +hate. Both he and Mytton were very heavily fined, and the Mayor was +good enough to compliment me on the part I had played. + +As we were leaving the court, a tipstaff came up to Joe Punchard, +and formally arrested him as a runaway 'prentice; at the instance, +I doubt not, of Vetch himself. But the matter ended in a triumph +for Joe, for Captain Benbow accompanied him before the Mayor and +declared that as a mariner in the King's navy he was immune from +civil action. Whether the plea was good in law I know not. The +Mayor did not know either, and the clerk, to judge by his +countenance, was in an equal state of puzzlement. But Benbow was +clearly not a man to be trifled with, and Joe had certainly had a +part in bringing the Mohocks to book, and for one reason or another +he was given the benefit of the doubt. When he left the court he +was mightily cheered by a mob of 'prentices among the crowd, and +would have accepted the invitations to drink pressed upon him but +for the peremptory orders of his captain, who was no wine bibber +himself, being therein unlike many of the navy men of his time. + +The fines levied on Mytton and Vetch were the least part of their +punishment. The incident of the dust bin brought on them open +ridicule; they became the laughingstock of Shrewsbury. The school +wag, who afterwards became famous for his elegant Greek verses at +Cambridge, pilloried them in a lampoon which the whole town got by +heart, and for days afterwards they could not show their faces +without being greeted by some lines from it by every small boy who +thought himself beyond their reach. It began, I remember: + +Come list me sing a famous battle, +A dustbin and a watchman's rattle; +The hero he was nominate Cyrus, +The scene was Shrewsbury, not Epirus. + +The rhymester introduced all the characters; for instance: + +Another who the dust has bitten +Was a brawny putt by name Ralph Mytton; +And Richard Cludde, a Cambridge lubber, +He ran away home to his mam to blubber; + +and so the doggerel went on, chronicling the details (more or less +imaginary) of the fight, the entrance of Mr. Benbow and Punchard on +the scene: + +And Nelly Hind's bashed portal closes +On bandy legs and Roman noses; + +and ending thus: + +Carmen concludo sine mora: +"Intus si recte ne labora," + +which being the school motto (dragged in by the hair of the head, +so to speak), pleased Mr. Lloyd, the master, mightily. + +The rage of the persons chiefly concerned knew no bounds, and this +good came of it, that the Mohocks troubled Shrewsbury streets no +more. + +Captain Benbow, and with him Joe Punchard, stayed but a few days in +the town. They had come on a flying visit in an interval of the war +against the French on the high seas, and very proud we were that +the captain, one of ourselves, was winning himself a name for +prowess and gallantry in his country's service. + +Before he departed, however, I got from Joe a relation of what had +befallen him since the night he stole away. He arrived in Bristowe +footsore and ragged, and there came nigh to starving before he +found employment. One shipmaster swore his hair was too red: it +would serve for a beacon to French privateers; another, that he was +too bandy: his legs would never grip the rigging if he essayed to +go aloft. But at length he obtained a berth on a tobacco ship +trading to Virginia, and suffered great torture both from the sea +and from the harsh and brutal ship's officers. He made other +voyages, to the Guinea coast, the Indies, and elsewhere, and one +fine day, being paid off at Southampton, he chanced to hear that +Captain Benbow was in port, and making himself known to that +officer as a fellow townsman, he was taken by him to be his +servant, and had never left him since. + +"And have you pickled any pirates' heads?" I asked, remembering the +story, and bethinking me of the silver-mounted cup possessed by Mr. +Ridley, the captain's brother-in-law, which was said to have once +covered the head of a sallee rover. + +"Pickled fiddlesticks!" says Joe. "Dunnat believe every mariner's +tale you hear, Master Humphrey." + +And then he proceeded to tell me a fearful and wonderful tale of a +sea serpent, and was mightily offended when I said it was all my +eye. + +Joe went away with his captain after a few days, and I own I envied +him, and for the first time felt a secret discontent in the +prospect of a life among pigs and poultry, a feeling which was +heightened when Dick Cludde soon afterwards departed with a +commission from His Majesty. Dick was a lubber and, I believed +then, though I had afterwards proof to the contrary, a coward; and +matching myself against him I knew I would do the king's navy more +credit than he. But I kept my thought to myself--and next day made +a sad bungle, I remember, of my construe of Thucydides' account of +the sea fight at Salamis. + +So months passed away. I saw with grave concern that my father was +ailing more and more. The attacks of his terrible disease came more +frequently, and Mr. Pinhorn owned that he could do him no good. He +bore his pain with wonderful fortitude, never suffering a complaint +to pass his lips. Many a time in after years I recalled his noble +courage, which helped me to bear the lesser sufferings which fell +to my lot. He seemed to know that his end was approaching, and one +day called me to his private room and talked to me with a kindness +that brought a lump into my throat. + +Much of what he said is too sacred to be set down here; I can +truthfully say that his assurance of having made ample provision +for me seemed of little moment beside his earnest loving counsel, +which made the deeper impression because he had so rarely spoken in +that strain. + +The end came suddenly, and with a shock that stunned me, for all I +was so well prepared for it. A few brief moments of dreadful agony, +and the good man who had been more than a father to me was no more. +Never once during his long illness had his sister Lady Cludde +visited him; neither she nor her husband accompanied his remains to +the grave: and when we had left him in the churchyard of St. Mary +and returned to the house, I was roused for a little from my stupor +by the sight of Sir Richard among those assembled to hear Mr. Vetch +read the will. + +A great wave of anger surged within me when I saw him sitting in my +father's chair, his fat hands folded upon his paunch, and his +bleared eyes rolling a quizzing glance round upon the little +company. So enraged was I that I took little heed of Mr. Vetch at +the table, and heard nothing of what he said as he drew from his +pocket a long paper sealed and tied with tape. No doubt I watched +him untie the knots and break the seal, and spread the document on +the table before him; no doubt I heard his cry of amazement, and +saw Sir Richard and the few friends of my father who were present +rise from their seats and crowd about him; but I remained listless +in my place until a shriek from Mistress Pennyquick woke me to a +sense that something was amiss. Then I heard Sir Richard say, in +his loud blustrous tones: + +"Then my lady inherits?" + +"Not so fast, not so fast, Sir Richard," said Mr. Vetch in a tone +of great perturbation. "She is, it is true, the heir-at-law, but +our departed friend left his house, messuage, farm and all its +appurtenances to his adopted son Humphrey Bold, with an annuity of +fifty pounds per annum to his faithful housekeeper Rebecca +Pennyquick: I took down his instructions with his own hand, and +engrossed the will myself. + +"There is some mistake, gentlemen, something inexplicable. I must +ask you, in all fairness, to postpone your judgment of the matter +until I have made search in my office. Never in my forty years' +experience has so untoward a thing happened, and I must beg of you +to give me time to solve the mystery." + +"I will wait on you tomorrow, Mr. Attorney," says Sir Richard. +"Meanwhile I claim this property for my Lady Cludde." + +And with that he takes his hat and stick and marches from the room. + +The neighbors followed him, giving me commiserating glances, one or +two of them shaking me by the hand and speaking words of +condolence. Mr. Vetch remained for a time staring at the paper +before him; then he folded it and came to me. + +"Some devilish prank," he said hurriedly. "Never fear, my lad; all +will come right. I will see you tomorrow, my boy." + +And then he too went, leaving me alone with Mistress Pennyquick, +who had done nothing for some while but sob and rock herself to and +fro on her chair. + +"That wicked man!" she moaned. "But he will be punished--he will be +punished, Humphrey. What does the good Book say about them that +despoil widows and orphans? Oh, my poor master!" + +"What is it, Becky?" I asked, with but little curiosity for her +answer. + +"'Tis the doing of that wicked man and his wife! I know it is," the +poor creature sobbed. "And they wouldn't come near the poor soul +when he was in his agony. And now they want to rob us--to rob you, +my poor boy, and me who served him faithful these twenty year. God +will punish him!" + +"But what have they done, then?" I asked again. + +"Done! Lord knows what they haven't done. I knew summat would +happen when I saw Mr. Vetch come to your poor father a while +ago--you mind, I told you so. Lawyers are all no good, that's my +belief. Don't tell me Mr. Vetch didn't know what he was a-carrying. +He's in league with the wretches, I know he is, for all his mazed +look. Don't tell me he didn't know the paper was as white as the +underside of a fleece. Fleece is the very word for it: he's fleeced +us, sure enough, and I'll come on the parish, and you'll be a +beggar, and they unnatural wretches will wallow in their pride, +and--oh! I can't abear it, I can't abear it!" + +And the poor creature burst into a passion of weeping, so that it +was some time before I could learn the cause of her distress. It +was amazing enough. When Mr. Vetch unfolded the document which he +believed to be my father's will, the paper inside was as clean as +when it came from the scrivener's. There was not a single mark upon +it. + + + +Chapter 6: I Take Articles. + + +We were at breakfast next morning, Mistress Pennyquick and I, when +Captain Galsworthy, after a herald tap on the door, walked into the +room. + +"What's this cock-and-bull story that's running over the town?" he +cried without circumstance. + +Before I could reply, Mistress Pennyquick began to pour out her +tale of woe, roundly accusing Sir Richard Cludde and Lawyer Vetch +of conspiring to defraud me of my rights. + +"I haven't slept a wink the whole night through, sir," says the +poor soul, "and I've wetted six--no, 'tis seven handkerchers till +they're like clouts from the washtub, and I can hardly see out o' +my eyes, and--" + +"Stuff and nonsense and a fiddlestick end!" cries the captain +angrily, "dry your eyes, woman. Of all God's creatures a sniveling +woman is the worst. Vetch has been wool gathering: + +"Quandoque dormitat Homerus--eh, Humphrey?-- + +"Which means, ma'am, that you sometimes catch a weasel asleep. +Depend on't, he engrossed the wrong docket, and by this time has +discovered the true will in one of his moldy boxes. Gad, it'll ruin +him, though--if his nephew has not done it already. A family lawyer +can't afford to be caught napping. + +"Put on your cap, Humphrey: we'll go and look into things and hint +that we must change our attorney." + +So he and I set off together. But, early as it was, Sir Richard +Cludde had been before us. When we entered Mr. Vetch's office, +there was the burly knight with his hand on the door, flinging a +parting word at the lawyer, who sat behind his desk with his wig +awry, the picture of harassment and woe. Sir Richard gave a curt +nod to the captain, but vouchsafed me not a glance. + +"You understand, Mr. Attorney?" he said. "The present occupants +will vacate the premises within a week, and you will bring me the +keys." + +Then he strode away, banging the door after him. The captain +whistled. + +"Sits the wind--the whirlwind, I might say-in that quarter? Where's +the will, Vetch?" + +"I would give my right hand to know," said the lawyer. "There is +Mr. Ellery's box"--he indicated a case of black tin with the name +John Ellery printed in white letters on its side; "'twas there I +laid it, with the title deeds and other documents. I searched it +through yesterday. I spent half the night in ransacking every other +box in the room, all to no purpose." + +"You did not lay it aside when you had drawn it and afterwards +engross a blank paper like folded, think you?" + +"Sir, 'tis impossible. I drew the will at a sitting: it was not a +long one; folded, engrossed, and tied it with my own hands. Nothing +short of witchcraft could undo my handiwork." + +"Or your nephew," snapped the captain. "He is the boon fellow of +young Cludde; 'tis the Cluddes who gain by the disappearance, and +mightily glad they will be of the property if all is true that's +said of Sir Richard's affairs. Where's your nephew, Vetch?" + +"At home and abed, Captain, suffering from a catarrh. I did ask him +if he knew aught of the matter, and he laughed and denied it, +reminding me that I had never trusted him with the keys. He is +wild, I own, sir; heady and self willed, a sore trial to me +sometimes; but he is of my name, and that name is honorable in +Shrewsbury." + +"'Tut, man, nobody but a fool would suspect you of evil dealing, +and if your nephew had a hand in this it might be nought but a +boyish prank, though a deuced indecent one. But now to the +practical question: in the absence of the will, how does Humphrey +stand?" + +I shall never forget the poor lawyer's look of misery when this +question was put to him, sharp as a pistol shot. He bent his quill +in his hand till it cracked; he fidgeted on his stool; he began a +sentence three times and left it unfinished. + +"In a word," says the captain, who was ever for directness, "he is +a pauper?" + +The lawyer bowed his head, but said never a word. Captain +Galsworthy began to drum on the table with his fingers, as his +manner was when perturbed. I sat silent, still too much under the +shadow of my great loss to comprehend the full bearing of his +words. + +"Did you put it to Cludde?" he asked suddenly. + +"I did, sir, with all the force of which I was capable. I begged +him to acquiesce in the known wishes of our friend, to accept the +draft of the will--here it is--taken 'down by myself from his lips. +Sir Richard looked at it, pished and pshawed, said he had never +held John Ellery's wits in much account, and declared that my +instructions were a clear proof of his feeble mindedness. When I +protested that I had never known a man with a clearer head or of +sounder sense he bellowed at me: what, did I think it sound sense +to will away to a stranger property that had been in the family for +generations? + +"'No stranger,' I said, 'indeed, by marriage a kinsman of your own, +Sir Richard.' + +"'No kinsman of mine!' he said, 'nor of my lady's neither. When I +married Susan Ellery I did not wed her brother, nor any beggar's +brat'--those were his words, sir--'any beggar's brat he was fool +enough to keep off the parish. If you had the will I'd dispute it +against all the attorneys in England.' + +"He is a hard man, Captain. He demands possession in a week." + +"And your draft has no value in law?" + +"Not a whit, I am sorry to say." + +"Then devil take the law," the captain snapped out. + +"Hang me, I'll go myself and see Cludde and tell him what I think +of him." + +"Not for me, Captain," said I, feeling my face burn. "I'll take +nothing from Sir Richard Cludde, beggar's brat as I am." + +"You won't be a fool, Humphrey," said the captain. "Half a loaf is +better than no bread, and if I don't wring an allowance out of the +rogue, I'm a Dutchman." + +The captain would have his way, in spite of my protestation. But he +returned from his visit to Cludde Court in a towering passion. The +knight refused point blank to acknowledge any claim upon him, and +swore that if Mistress Pennyquick and I were not out of the house +by the day he named, he would come with bailiffs and constables and +fling us out neck and crop. + +Captain Galsworthy was more concerned than I was at the failure of +his well-meant intervention. In my ignorance of the world, and how +hardly it uses those who have nothing, I did not foresee, as my +wise old friend did, the arduous course I was to follow, nor the +many buffets in store for me, but thought, like many lads before +and since, that with the equipment of health and strength I could +ride a tilt against circumstance. Youth is green and unknowing, as +Mr. Dryden hath it, and sure 'tis a mercy. + +Before the day was out, we had a piece of news that confirmed the +captain's suggestion as to the disappearance of the will. Cyrus +Vetch had vanished, together with the contents of his uncle's cash +box. When Mr. Vetch went home to his dinner, he found the cash box +broken open, and Cyrus gone. I could not doubt now that 'twas my +old enemy had wreaked on me the vengeance that had smouldered in +his breast ever since Joe Punchard sent him down Wyle Cop in the +barrel, and was fanned into a flame by my action on the night of +the adventure in Raven Street. Mistress Pennyquick was firm in her +belief that the Cluddes were party to the crime, but that I could +not credit then, and never will. + +Mr. Vetch himself came to see me the next day. The poor old man was +quite broken down. He humbly begged my forgiveness for the trouble +he had brought upon me, for so he chose to regard it; and he +confessed to me, what I am sure he never revealed to a living soul +beside, that Cyrus had been for years a thorn in his flesh. He was +a spendthrift and a gambler, and had bled his uncle many a time to +discharge what he called his debts of honor. This drain upon the +lawyer, together with losses he had sustained in the failure of +Chamberlain's Land Bank scheme--that monstrous attempt of the +Tories to set up a rival to the Bank of England--had brought him to +the verge of ruin, and with tears in his eyes he expressed to me +his fear that the matter of my father's will would bring him into +such ill repute that the Shrewsbury folk would no longer trust him +and would give their business into other hands. + +This set me a-thinking, and during the week I was allowed to remain +in the old farmhouse I turned over in my mind a plan which, I own, +mightily pleased me. It was clear that I must do something for +myself. I had never had any great liking for farming work, and now +that the position of a yeoman on my own land was denied me I was +not inclined to accept service on the land of another. Mr. Lloyd, +the master of the school, when I went to take leave of him, was +kind enough to say that he would use his interest to obtain for me +a servitorship at Oxford or a sizarship at Cambridge, which would +put me in the way of making a livelihood as a tutor or perhaps as a +parson. But I was not in the mind to be any more subsistent on +charity, even of this modified sort, nor had I indeed any hope of +achieving excellence in the classical tongues, so I thanked him, +but declined his offer. + +The idea that had entered my noddle was that I might join Mr. +Vetch, and do something in the practice of law to make amends for +the ill fortune which, unwittingly and indirectly, I had been the +means of bringing upon him. When I had made up my mind, I mooted +the project to Captain Galsworthy, who laughed at it as quixotic, +but confessed that he saw no better course open to me. + +"I had liever you took up a more active trade--one in which you +could put to use the sciences you have learned of me," said the old +warrior. "But that would take you from Shrewsbury, to be sure, and +I should miss our little bouts, Humphrey boy. And when you come to +think of it, a man needn't be the worse lawyer for a passable +dexterity with the small sword." + +Mr. Vetch was quite overcome when I set my proposal before him. He +embraced it eagerly, drew out my articles at once, and swore that I +would be his salvation. And as I must needs have somewhere to live, +he insisted on my taking up my abode with him; he had a roomy +house, he said, and I need not occupy Cyrus' chamber unless I +pleased. + +"But what about poor old Becky?" I said. "She is really harder hit +by this unlucky affair than I, and 't would break her heart to go +to the poor house." + +"Let her come, too," said Mr. Vetch. "My housekeeper is leaving me; +the fates are conspiring in our favor, you see. Let her come and +mother us both, and I will give her twenty pounds a year." + +I had as yet broken nothing of my designs to Mistress Pennyquick, +foreseeing trouble in that quarter. It was pitiful to see her, who +had been such a bustling housewife, sitting the greater part of the +day with her hands in her lap, or dabbing the tears from her eyes, +and to hear her melancholy plaints, which grew the more frequent as +the time drew nearer for leaving the old house. After concluding my +arrangement with Mr. Vetch I went back to the farmhouse, flung my +cap into a chair, and, sitting across the corner of the table, +said: + +"Only two days more, Becky." + +"And what will become of us I don't know," says the old woman. +"'Tis the poor house for me, and water gruel, and I've had my +rasher regular for forty year. And as for you, my poor lamb, never +did I think I'd live to see you put on an apron, and say 'What d'ye +lack, Madam?' to stuck-up folks as'll look on ye as so much dirt." + +"What's this talk of aprons?" says I, laughing. + +"How can ye laugh?" she says, the tears rolling down her cheeks. +"Beggars can't be choosers, and ye'll have to ask Mr. Huggins to +have pity on ye and take ye into his shop, and ye'll tie up sugar +and coffee for Susan Cludde belike, and--oh, deary me!" + +"Nonsense, Becky," says I. "I shan't have that pleasure. I'm going +to join Mr. Vetch." + +"What!" she shrieks. + +"'Tis true. Mr. Vetch has given me my articles, and instead of +tying up coffee and sugar I shall tie deeds and conveyances and +become a most respectable lawyer." + +"Oh! 'twill kill me!" she moans. "Of all the dreadful news I ever +heard! And wi' Lawyer Vetch, too; the man as devours widows' houses +and makes away with good men's wills! I wish I were in my grave, I +do!" + +"Wouldn't you rather be with me, Becky?" I said, smiling at her. + +"'Tis cruel to talk so," she cried, sobbing. "How can I be with +'ee? What you get from Lawyer Vetch won't keep two--if you get +anything at all. They say his nephew has ruined him--the wretch! +Indeed, if you ask me, I say you'll get more from Mr. Huggins than +from the lawyer. You'll have enough to do to keep yourself, without +being saddled with a poor, forlorn old widow woman." + +"But won't you come? I am going to live with Mr. Vetch." + +"Live with the devil!" she screamed, lifting her hands with a +gesture of utter despair. "It is downright wicked of you, +Humphrey--and your poor father not a week in the grave. Sure the +end of the world be coming, when the leopard and the kid shall lie +down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox." + +"And donkeys won't bray, I suppose," says I. "There, I don't mean +you, Becky, though you are an old goose. Mr. Vetch wants a +housekeeper, and you are to come with me and mother us both, he +says, and he'll give you twenty pounds a year." + +The good creature's look sent me into a fit of laughter. She stared +solemnly at me for a while through her tears, saying never a word. +Then the drooping corners of her mouth lifted; she folded her hands +across her plump person and said: + +"Your father only gave me eighteen, Humphrey: are you sure 'twas +twenty the lawyer said?" + +"Quite sure. The devil isn't as black as he's painted, eh Becky?" + +"Ah! you never know a man till yon've lived with him. Pennyquick +was--but there, he's gone, poor soul, as we all must, and tis ill +work saying anything against one as can't answer ye back: not that +Pennyquick was ever much of a hand at that, poor soul!" + +I heard no more vilification of Mr. Vetch. Becky recovered her old +activity with surprising ease, and went about the house collecting +such personal belongings of her own and mine as the lawyer told us +we might remove without question. He himself came to the house on +our last day, and made an inventory of the articles we removed, and +having seen these safely bestowed in a pannier on the back of Ben +Ivimey's son, who came to carry them away, we shut the doors of the +old place, Mr. Vetch pocketed the keys, and we set off for the +town. + +Mistress Pennyquick shed a plenitude of tears, and I had a +monstrous lump in my throat that threatened to choke me if I tried +to speak. With a discretion that raised him mightily in Becky's +esteem, Mr. Vetch fell behind, leaving us two together; and so with +full hearts we took the road, going into our new life hand in hand. + + + +Chapter 7: A Crown Piece. + + +This turn in our affairs was a nine days' wonder in Shrewsbury. And +whether it was that some chord of sympathy was touched in our +townsfolk, or that Mr. Vetch worsted his only rival, Mr. Moggridge, +in a case of breach of covenant that was tried at the next assizes, +I know not; but certain it is that my friend's business took a leap +upward from that very time. Clients flocked to him; he soon had to +employ an additional clerk; and Mistress Pennyquick, who was twice +as tyrannical as before on the strength of her extra two pounds a +year, declared privately to me one day that she wished for nothing +now but that she might live to see me a partner with Mr. Vetch, in +a house of my own, with a sensible wife and five pretty children. + +But I have come to believe that as an Ethiopian can not change his +skin, nor a leopard his spots, so a man can not alter the bent of +mind he was born with, nor follow any course with success but the +one to which his nature calls. I entered Mr. Vetch's office with +the best will in the world to please him, and to master the +principles of legal practice and procedure; but I found it hard to +reconcile myself to the atmosphere of a stuffy room filled with +musty tomes, and to the unvarying round of desk work--copying from +morning to night agreements, deeds and other documents bristling +with a jargon unintelligible to me. + +I soon tired of freehold and copyhold tenure, of manorial rights +and customs, and the hundred and one legal fictions connected with +actions at law and bills in chancery that constitute the routine of +an attorney's profession. I yearned to breathe an ampler air; and +when one day I saw Dick Cludde, returned home on leave, strutting +past with Mytton and other boon companions, in all the bravery of +cocked hat, laced coat and buckled shoes, I flung down my pen and +donned my cap, and set off, with bitter rage and envy in my heart, +to pour out my soul to my constant friend, Captain Galsworthy. + +"Halt!" cried the captain, when I was in the midst of a tirade. +"We'll have a bout." + +And forthwith we donned the gloves, and for a full quarter of an +hour we sparred, he with the cool mastery that never deserted him, +I with a blind rage and fury which had its natural end. In the +third round I aimed a blow at my adversary's neck with my right +hand, but failing in my reach, he returned it full swing with his +left, and dealt me such a staggerer on my cheekbone that down I +went like a ninepin and measured my length on the floor. + +"Capital!" says the captain, sitting down (the old fellow was +puffing not a little). "Capital! That was a settler, eh, my boy? +Now you can get up and talk sense." + +I got up, rubbing my cheek, and grinning a rueful smile, as the +captain told me. We remained long in talk; never had my old friend +been wiser or more kindly. He listened to me with patience as I +told him--quietly, for he had fairly knocked my rage out of me--how +desperately sick I was of my occupation, and how I longed to +stretch my limbs and do something. + +"I knew it, my boy," he said. "I had seen it coming. I understand +it. Haven't I been through it myself? I was bred for commerce: you +might as well have harnessed a pig. One day--I was younger than +you-I took French leave and a crown piece and trudged to London. I +enlisted in old Noll's army, shipped to Flanders and served under +Lockhart--he was a man, sir!--at the siege of Cambrai, deserted +when the campaign was at an end, and roamed over half Europe; took +service with the Emperor; fought with the Swedes against the Poles, +and the Poles against the Swedes; fell in with Patrick Gordon, and +was beguiled by him to Muscovy; and should have been with the Czar +Peter at this day if he hadn't called me a fool when he was sober; +we paid no heed to what he called us when he was drunk. + +"Ah! I see your eyes glistening, you young dog. You were never born +to be tied up with red tape." + +This brief account of his life, and he never told me more, had +indeed set my heart leaping. What would I not give, I thought, to +see what he had seen, and do what he had done! + +"But now to be practical," said the captain. "You want to go: very +well, go. But you won't sneak off like Cyrus Vetch; you can't go +with a commission like young Cludde. How much money have you got?" + +"A few guineas I have saved." + +"Well, keep them; you may be in a tight place some day, and find +'em handy. You have a hankering for the sea, you say. Then tramp to +Bristowe, as your champion Joe Punchard did, and hitch on to John +Benbow if you can find him. He'll work you hard, if all that's said +about him is true; but he'll either make you or break you. That's +my advice." + +Advice that jumps with one's own inclinations hath ever a +comfortable appearance of soundness. I told the captain that he had +hit on the very scheme I had proposed to myself, adding, however, +that I had thought to go a-horseback. + +"A-horseback!" he cried. "What want you with a horse? You don't own +a horse, and to hire one you would expend all your guineas and have +nothing to feed either him or yourself. No, go on your shanks; +there's a world of knowledge to be gained by footing it on the open +road." + +And so we settled that Captain Galsworthy should himself come to +our house on Pride Hill and break the news to my good friends +there. They were both downcast when they heard it, Mr. Vetch more +than Mistress Pennyquick, which somewhat surprised me. He plied me +with innumerable reasons for remaining with him, spoke of the long +miles I should have to trudge before I reached the port, described +the perils of the road, even foresaw that I should be arrested as a +vagrant and clapped into jail! He conjured up dismal pictures of +the seafaring life, and waxed quite eloquent in drawing a contrast +between the bare windswept deck and the cosy fireside, the dangers +from storm and pirates and the serenity of our quiet town. And then +the captain broke in upon his speech with a great laugh. + +"Gad, Mr. Attorney, you have o'ershot your bolt," he cried. "Mark +you the sparkle in the boy's eyes and the catch in his breath? The +bogies you raise are beacons to him. D'you think to frighten him as +you would a girl? Spare your breath, man, to cool your porridge; +what fellow of spirit would be deterred from a life of action by +your vision of slippers and a basin of gruel?" + +And indeed the lawyer's eloquence fell on deaf ears; or rather, as +the captain said, all his reasons did but whet my eagerness until I +fairly tingled with the imagined delight of matching myself against +the hostility of the elements and man. And so he at last desisted, +and gave a grudging compliance to my purpose; and Mistress +Pennyquick concluded the discussion with a shot at Captain +Galsworthy. + +"This is all along o' you, Captain," she cried. "This is what comes +of teaching little boys to fight. I knew years ago 't'ud have a bad +end, and I told his poor father so, and I'm sure I hope you are +satisfied." + +"Abundantly, ma'am," says the captain, bobbing her a bow. "My pupil +does me credit, and will do me more." + +My preparations were soon made; indeed, I had nothing to prepare +save a few garments, which poor Becky blessed with a copious +baptism of tears. Then, one fine spring morning, when the buds on +tree and hedge were bursting and the air was full of song, I set +off on my long journey. Captain Galsworthy accompanied me for a few +miles on the road--across English Bridge, past our old farmhouse +(now held by a tenant of Sir Richard Cludde's), through the +beautiful vale of Severn, till at Cressage my way led me southward +from the river. Then he held me fast by the hand and looked me in +the face. + +"God bless you, Humphrey," he said. "Live clean, and--and--hit +straight from the shoulder, my boy." + +And then he turned away--not before I had seen a film of moisture +gather in his eyes. + +Now I was fairly started on my travels--in a customary suit of +plain gray homespun, with worsted hose, knit for me by Mistress +Pennyquick, a pair of stout shoes, a round hat, and a stout staff +in my hand. I carried a few extra garments in a knapsack strapped +to my back, and my few guineas were safely stowed in a wallet +beneath my belt. + +For a mile or two after leaving the captain I was in as black a fit +of the dumps as ever beset a man. I was but halfway through my +eighteenth year, and had as yet never gone more than ten miles from +my native town, nor slept a night away from home. 'Tis true, no +close ties of blood now bound me to Shrewsbury, but it held dear +memories and kind friends, and I felt a natural heart sickness at +thus cutting myself adrift from all and ranging forth alone into +the great unknown world. But healthy youth can not long lie under +such an oppression; my low spirits lasted just so long as it took +me to gain the crest of the hill towards Harley, and when I had +turned and taken a parting look behind--at the fields in their +fresh green, and the spires of Shrewsbury beyond, and the Severn +winding like a bright ribbon through the vale--when I had fed my +eyes on this charming scene, and breathed a prayer that in good +time I should behold it again, I set my face once more to the +south, and stepped briskly down the slope that hid my home from +sight and stood as the dividing line between my past and my future. +And as I trudged on between the bright hedgerows, and heard the +song of birds all about me, and felt the warm sunbeams on my face, +I began to exult in my youth and strength, and the words of a song +from one of my father's play books came to my mind, and I hummed +them aloud: + +A merry heart goes all the day, +A sad tires in a mile a. + +About half a mile out of Harley, the road makes a long ascent to +the market town of Much Wenlock. I was pretty warm by the time I +arrived there, and mighty hungry, so I repaired to the inn where my +father was wont to eat on market days, and where I had several +times been with him, and ordered a dinner of bread and cheese and +ale. The innkeeper, Mr. Appleby, was not a little surprised to see +me, and was fairly staggered when I told him I was off to Bristowe +to seek my fortune. To the stay-at-home folk of the countryside +Bristowe was as distant as Brazil, and he would have heard that I +was starting for the ends of the earth with but little more +amazement. + +"Betsy," he called through the half-open door into the little +parlor behind, "here be young Master Bold a setting off to +Bristowe." + +"Bless us!" cried his wife, bustling out, and bringing with her an +odor of roast meat that somewhat slacked my appetite for bread and +cheese. "Deary me! You doesn't say so now! Well, to be sure! 'Tis a +fearsome long way, by all accounts; but there, you be growed a +great big chap, Master Bold, and I'm sure I wish 'ee good luck. +Come away in, sir, dinner's just off the jack, and me and my man +'ud be main proud if you'd eat a morsel with us afore ye goes." + +I was nothing loath, and found the roast of mutton a deal more to +my liking than the frugal fare I had ordered. I was still but +halfway through my second helping when there came through the door +a great clatter of hoofs from the street, and then a loud voice +crying "Appleby! here, sirrah, stir your stumps!" with an oath or +two by way of seasoning. + +My host got up in a hurry and ran to the outer door, and I laid +down my knife and fork, and I think my cheeks must have gone a +trifle pale, for Mistress Appleby asked me anxiously what was +amiss. I hastened to reassure her, but begged her to close the door +into the inn place which her husband had left open. She wonderingly +complied, but was enlightened a moment afterwards, when she saw +Dick Cludde swagger in, followed by the two naval captains whom his +lady mother had been entertaining. + +"I understand your feeling, sir," said the good wife. "'Tis a sin +and a shame ye lost the farm, which was yours by right; but doan't +'ee let 'em spoil your dinner; I can't abear mutton half, cold." + +A more important matter, however, than the cooling of my mutton was +troubling me. I had heard Cludde call for wine and dice, from which +it was clear that he did not intend to leave yet awhile. There was +no way out except by going through the inn taproom, and I was not +inclined to face Dick Cludde there, for he would of a certainty +make some sneering or belittling remark, and my temper being not of +the meekest I feared things might come to a brawl. Not that I cared +a fig's end for Cludde, or feared any ill result from a personal +encounter; but I knew the inn was a property of Sir Richard's, who +would speedily find a new tenant if Dick got a broken head there. + +There was nothing for it but to stay where I was, and bear with +what patience I might the interruption to my scarcely begun +journey. So I sat in my chair, and even through the closed door +could hear the loud voices of the naval men and the rattle of the +dice on the board. They called often for more wine, and grew more +and more boisterous as their potations lengthened, giving me a hope +that they would by and by be so fuddled as to make it possible for +me to escape unrecognized. But this hope was soon dashed. + +"Let's have another bottle!" cried one of the three; his speech was +very thick. "Let's have another." + +"No, no," said another. "You've had enough, Kirkby; and Cludde +there is half asleep already." + +"Ads bobs, Walton," returned the man addressed as Kirkby, "are you +growing like Benbow? No wine, no gentlemen! What's things comm' to, +I say, when a fellow like Benbow, no gentleman"--(he pronounced it +"gemman")--"flies his flag on a king's ship!" + +And then, being perfectly tipsy, he launched out into violent abuse +of Joe Punchard's captain, who was, it is true, a rough and ready +seaman, and, I must own, somewhat uncouth in his manners. From his +words I learned that Kirkby had been a lieutenant on Benbow's ship, +and was deeply incensed that any one who was not a "gemman" should +have had the right to give him orders. For a full half hour he +inveighed against that brave man, the head and front of whose +offense appeared to be that he rated bravery more highly than +blood, and seamanship than breeding, and often took sides with the +tars against their officers. + +"Why, what d'ye think of this now?" cried Kirkby. "'Twas on +Portsmouth Hard, and a dirty old apple woman shoved her basket +under my nose and begged me to buy, and wouldn't be denied, and +followed me whining up the road, and out of all patience I turns +round and tips up her basket, and all the apples roll into the mud. +A tar who was smoking against the wall says something under his +breath and begins to gather up the apples. 'Leave that, sirrah!' +says I. He begs my pardon and goes on as before. + +"I up with my cane and was laying on for his insolence when Benbow +roars out ('twas under the window of his inn) 'What be you a-doin' +of?' That's how he speaks. 'What be you a-doin' of?' says he. + +"'I'm a-teachin' of him manners,' says I. + +"'I'll teach you manners,' he roars, and orders me back to my ship, +and humiliates a gemman before a lout with hair as red as fire and +legs that made a circle." + +"Why, sure 'twas Joe Punchard," cries Cludde, "a fellow that near +killed a friend o' mine," and he breaks into the old School +distich-- + +"O, pi, rho, bandy-legged Joe, +Turnip and carrots wherever you go." + +and the others screamed with maudlin laughter. + +"I know who was the gemman," whispers Mistress Appleby, who had +heard it all. + +Shortly afterwards, being in high good humor after vindicating +their quality as gentlemen, the three called for their reckoning +and went round to the stables to see to their horses. I seized the +opportunity to make my escape, taking leave very heartily of my +kind host and hostess. I was not sorry to get upon the road again, +having purposed to cover at least twenty-five or thirty miles +before night. It was downhill now, and I was swinging along at a +good pace when I heard horses behind me and saw, with annoyance, +that I might not escape unnoticed, after all. Cludde and his +companions were cantering down the hill, at the risk of mishap, for +naval officers are notoriously bad horsemen, and one of them-- +Kirkby, I doubt not--was swaying in his saddle. I stepped down to +the side of a brook which skirted the road, hoping they would pass +me by; but my lanky body was not one to escape remark, and Kirkby +himself as he came up threw a jest at my height. Cludde gave me a +glance, and a malicious smile sat upon his face. + +"Poor beggar!" he said in an undertone, but loud enough for me to +hear, and he flung me a coin, which struck my arm and rolled to the +brink of the brook. In a trice I was up the bank, hot with a mad +rage to come to grips with the fellow. But he had anticipated the +movement, and setting spurs to his horse was beyond my reach. I +disdained to pursue him; indeed it would have been vain; I could +but stomach the affront. But I was not yet seasoned to petty +slights, and in my bitterness of spirit I sat down on the grassy +bank and for a while gave the rein to my feelings, brooding moodily +on my wrongs. Then I chanced to spy the coin which he had flung to +me as a man might fling a bone to a dog. I picked it up: it was a +crown piece. For a moment I was tempted to pitch it into the brook; +but on a sudden impulse I bestowed it in a little inner pocket +apart from the rest of my money. + +"There it is, Dick Cludde," I muttered between my teeth, "and there +it shall remain until the day when I return it you, with interest." + +After that I felt more composed, and walked on with a lightened +heart. + + + +Chapter 8: I Fall Among Thieves. + + +For some time past the sky had been clouding over, and the wind +blowing up with a threat of rain. Before long it began to fall in a +steady drizzle, and I saw that if I would not be drenched to the +skin I must renounce my purpose of completing thirty miles, and +seek a shelter for the night. Coming to a small hamlet of two or +three cottages, I inquired of a laboring man whom I saw entering +one, how far I must go to find an inn. He told me that there was +one a mile or so on, just before coming to Morville, and thanking +him, I hastened on my way. + +But before I had gone a mile I espied a ruined barn in a field by +the roadside, and being already tired and little inclined to +encounter strangers, I turned into it to see if it would afford me +sufficient protection against the weather. The interior was cosier +than the outward aspect promised, and finding a quantity of clean +hay at one end, I stripped off my coat, set down my knapsack for a +pillow, and, rolling myself in the hay, was soon fast asleep. + +I was roused while it was still dark by the sound of voices. Being +wide awake in an instant, I had sufficient presence of mind to +avoid betraying my whereabouts by a rustling among the hay, and lay +and listened, wondering who the intruders might be, and fearing +lest they should approach my end of the barn to seek a couch for +the remainder of the night. But they made no movement in my +direction, and before many minutes had passed I understood by their +voices that they were three, and gathered from their talk that they +were poachers who had been plying their stealthy trade in the +coverts of a neighboring park, and had turned into the barn, which +they evidently knew well, for a brief rest before making for their +homes at Bridgenorth. + +I hoped that they would leave before daylight, without discovering +me; but just as the sparrows on the roof were twittering a greeting +to the dawn, as ill luck would have it, one of the men spied my +coat, spread on staddles against the wall to dry. He uttered a +sharp exclamation, and called to his comrades. I heard them come in +my direction, and guessed by their silence that they were looking +warily around for the owner of the coat. But they did not see me, +being completely covered by the hay; and, remarking that it looked +a "rare good coat," one of them put his hand into all the pockets +in turn, and from the inner one fetched out Cludde's crown piece. + +"A silver crown, Jo," he says. + +"Bite it," said another. + +"Good as gold," returned the first. "This be rare luck." + +Now, if I had been a few years older and more expert in dealing +with men, I should doubtless have parleyed with the fellows; but in +the heat of youth and inexperience, indignant at the freedom with +which they were handling my belongings, I sprang out of the hay, +made for the man who held the coat, and peremptorily called on him +to drop it. + +His answer was a sudden well-planted blow which sent me +incontinently backward into the hay from which I had risen. I was +up in an instant, and then began a struggle, short and decisive. +The three men were all shorter than I, but thick-set and powerfully +made, and struggle as I might I soon had to own myself beaten, and +was borne to the floor, one holding my head, another my feet, and +the third discommoding me very much by sitting on my middle. + +"What be you a-doing here?" says the man called Job. + +"I might ask you the same question," I replied, again choosing the +wrong method of dealing with them. + +"You might, but you wouldn't get no answer," was the grim retort. +"You've heard what we've a-said?" the fellow went on. + +I replied that I had heard it all. The men joined in a chorus of +oaths, and then began to discuss among themselves what they should +do with me, with a freedom and a disregard of any view I might hold +on the matter which in other circumstances I might have found +amusing. + +"If we lets him go," said the man called Job, "he peaches, sure +enough, and then 'tis the collar for us all," by which I understood +he meant the hangman's noose. "If we don't let him go we must +ayther take him with us or tie him up, and then belike his friends +will find him, and 'twill be the same end for us." + +"Rest easy on both points," I said, having recovered somewhat of my +composure. "I won't peach, and I have no friends within twenty +miles." + +"'S truth?" said the man. + +"It is quite true," I replied. + +Whereat they burst into a guffaw, and I knew that I had made +another mistake. + +"He bain't over ripe," said the man on my middle. + +"True, he was born young," said Job. "Well, now, I'm a gemman, I +am, and fair exchange is no robbery, and as I've took a fancy for +this 'ere coat, being a trifle newer nor mine, I'll chop with you; +me being a trifle older nor you makes all square, I reckon. Bill, +what about the breeches?" + +"To be sure, Job, mine be worn thin; I'll have measter's breeches." + +"And what's for me?" growled the man at my feet. + +"There's only the shirt and the boots left," said Job, "for bein' +gemmen we can't let him go bare. You take the boots, Topper." + +And having thus apportioned my habiliments, they proceeded to +divest me of boots and breeches, threatening to knock me on the +head if I made any resistance. In stripping me they came upon the +wallet in which my precious guineas were stowed. Job opened it in a +twinkling, and I had the mortification of seeing all the money I +possessed divided among these three ruffians. + +When the exchange of clothing had been effected, I found myself +attired in a dirty, greasy coat much too small for me, my arms +protruding far beyond the sleeves, a pair of grimy patched leather +smalls, that left an inch or two of bare flesh above my stockings, +and boots that, rent and battered though they were, cramped my feet +terribly. + +"How we have overgrowed!" quoth Job with a leer. + +The others laughed; then suddenly the man called Topper looked at +Job with a frown and said: + +"Fair's fair; that there silver crown--I want a bit of that, Job." + +This set them squabbling, though they kept a wary eye on me all the +time. In the end they decided to settle the ownership of the coin +by the arbitrament of chance. Job first spun it; Bill called +"heads" and lost. At the second spin Topper called "tails," and was +about to pocket the crown when I made a suggestion. + +"Gentlemen," I said, in a conciliatory tone which I ought to have +adopted before, "I value that crown piece more highly than all the +guineas you have appropriated. 'Tis clear you are sportsmen"--I +glanced at the hares that lay on the floor, the booty of their +night's depredations. "I make you an offer which as sportsmen you +will not refuse. Let Mr. Topper and me fight it out, man to man, +and the coin go to the winner." + +"Spoke like a man; what dost say, Topper?" said Job. + +"Done!" says Topper, forthwith flinging off his coat, and rolling +up his shirt sleeves. + +It was clear that I was incurring a risk, for the muscles of his +arms stood up like great globes; but if I could not match him in +strength, I hoped at least to have some little advantage of him in +science, thanks to the lessons of my good friend Captain +Galsworthy. I pulled off my coat, or rather Job's, starting a seam +as I did so, and then, the other two men standing between us and +the door, Topper and I began our bout. + +I could see that he, as well as his companions, expected to win an +easy victory. But when at the end of the first round, we stopped at +Job's call for a breather, neither of us had got home more than a +few body blows, and Topper was patently chagrined, more especially +as the others could not forbear twitting him. He began the second +round with an impetuosity that kept me wholly on the defensive, and +pressed me so hard that I gave back and failed to counter a blow +that sent me spinning on to the hay behind. This afforded the +others much satisfaction, and at the call of time, they encouraged +Topper with a cry to give me a settler and have done with it. + +But this was his undoing. He came at me with the same ferocity as +before, and, confident of a speedy victory, gave me an opening of +which I was quick to take advantage. In a trice I was within his +guard; I dealt him a right-hander with all my force; he staggered, +and before he could recover, a left-hander got him on the point of +the chin, and over he went with a thud on to the floor. + +His companions bent over him in consternation. At that moment I +could have made my escape, I doubt not, had I chosen to dash for +the door, and indeed, I was on the point of doing so when I was +stayed by some feeling that it would be hardly becoming to take +flight then. Besides, the coin for which I had fought was still in +the fallen man's pocket. + +He got up by and by, somewhat dazed and rubbing his head. He +glowered at me for a moment, then flung the crown towards me with a +curse. + +"Who said he was green?" he muttered, allowing Job to help him on +with his coat. + +"He's a viper," said Job consolingly. "We won't tell no one, +Topper." + +It was light by this time, and Bill remarked that they had best be +getting back to Bridgenorth, or they would find folk astir. They +looked at me with some hesitation; then Job said: + +"We're a-going to make you fast, my bawcock, and don't make no +mistake. Ads bobs, if ye come to Bridgenorth Fair we'll find some +'un to down you, strike me if we don't." + +They bound my legs and arms with withes that are used for tying +trusses of hay, and left me. + +I felt some natural satisfaction in the issue of this fight; but it +made poor amends for the loss of my clothes and my guineas. Luckily +my knapsack, hidden in the hay, had escaped the poachers' +observation; and the recovery of Dick Cludde's crown piece gave me +a good deal of pleasure. + +The moment the poachers were gone, I began to try to free myself +from my bonds, but it was only after much painful wriggling and +straining that I at length released my hands. My clasp knife had +departed with my breeches; Bill's pockets were empty; but after +some search, crawling about the barn, I discovered a broken slate +wherewith to cut the fastenings of my feet. And then, when I stood +upright, and with leisure for thought became fully aware of the +sorry figure I cut, in foul garments a world too small for me, I +was nigh overwhelmed with a feeling of despair, and was almost +ready to wait until nightfall, and slink back by byways to +Shrewsbury. But after a while I got the better of this heartsickness, +and, rating myself for a poltroon, I strapped on my knapsack and +issued forth from the barn, doggedly resolved to pursue my journey. + +It was many an hour since I had eaten, and, once more in the open +air, my stomach cried out for breakfast. When a man has never had +to want for food, it is with a disagreeable shock he realizes that +he must be hungry. True, I had the crown piece, and before the sun +had mounted I was sore tempted to spend it; but the vow I had +inwardly made to keep it for its owner, together with a shame-faced +reluctance to appear in my present condition before a fellow man, +helped me for a time to bear my hunger. Yet I knew that I could not +go long without food, and it would soon become imperative that I +should pocket my pride and either change the crown or seek some +means of earning enough to buy myself a meal. + +For a time I trudged through the fields, avoiding the public eye. +Coming at length to a road, which I took to be the highroad, I set +off along it, stiffening my resolution to ask for a job at the +first village I reached. But just as a row of cottages came in +sight, and I was considering in what terms to make my request, a +parson and a lady on horseback turned into the road from a by-lane, +and when they had passed I heard a ripple of laughter from the +lady, no doubt in response to some jest from her companion on my +ridiculous appearance. + +This set my blood a-boiling; I flung away in a rage, leapt a stile +into a field, and felt that I would rather starve than ask +assistance of a living soul. I sat down beneath a hedge, utterly +woebegone, and chewed the bitter cud of my misfortunes until for +sheer weariness I fell asleep. + +When I awoke, the sun, which had shone brilliantly all day, was +already sloping to the west. My rage was gone now, and I cursed +myself for a fool. A pretty spirit I had shown indeed! What was I +good for if I could not bear a little ridicule? + +"Let 'em laugh, and go hang!" I cried, and up I sprang, resolved to +accost the first person I met, whoever it might be, and at any rate +earn a crust. + +I walked along the field, took a long draught from a clear brook +that crossed it, and coming into the road, spied a large house +lying some way back amid trees. True to my resolve, I made towards +it, entered an iron gate that stood open, and was marching up the +broad gravel walk leading to the house when I was checked by a +voice. + +"Hi, you fellow, what do you want here?" + +I turned, and saw a well-dressed boy of about my own age coming out +of a shrubbery into the walk. I stopped, feeling a certain +awkwardness, and stood before him, looking sheepish enough, no +doubt. He eyed me for a moment; then burst out a-laughing. + +"You have no business here; get you gone, fellow," he said, when he +had recovered. + +I gulped down the wrath that rose in me, and said quietly: + +"I was but on my way to ask if I might do something to earn a meal +and a night's lodging." + +He looked at me curiously, perceiving that in mode of speech I was +somewhat different from the low tramp I looked. But youth is often +impatient and hard; my appearance consorted so little with my +tongue that he had much excuse for regarding me as a ne'er-do-well, +the less deserving of pity because he probably owed his plight to +vicious courses. + +"There's the poorhouse for tramps, and the lock-up for rascals," he +added. "Be off with you!" + +"Pardon me, sir," said I, as quietly as before, "I have eaten +nothing for thirty hours or longer, and if you would but give me +speech with the master of the house, I doubt not he would allow me +milk and bread, for which I would willingly do a turn of work in +the morning." + +"D'you hear me, sirrah!" cries the boy. "You're a poacher if the +truth were known. We want no lazy louts here, and if you're not +outside the gates instantly I vow I'll set the dogs on to you." + +And with that he came up to me and gave me a shove with his +shoulder. He had courage, for he was smaller than I. 'Twas the +spirit that prompts a gentleman, however puny, to despise the +churl, however big. + +His words I had borne patiently enough, but I could endure no more. +Wrenching myself away, I dealt him a buffet that stretched him flat +on the ground. + +This scene had passed within a few paces of the gate, and I had +been so preoccupied that I had not heard the clatter of an +approaching horse, and in consequence was taken utterly aback when +a loud voice behind me cried, "What's this? What's this?" and +immediately afterwards the lash of a whip fell smartly on my back, +causing me to spring round in a heat of indignation. A gentleman +had just ridden in at the gate, and, taking in the situation at a +glance, had begun the chastisement which he had much reason to +suppose I deserved. + +What with my hunger, the boy's insults, and the sting of the lash, +I was now roused to as high a pitch of fury as I had ever in my +life reached. I had taken a step towards the horse, to drag the +rider from his saddle, and he had raised the whip once more to +strike, when a voice from the direction of the house caused us both +to pause. + +"Don't, uncle; oh, please don't!" + +Involuntarily I turned, and saw a young girl flying down the path, +her long unloosed black hair streaming behind her. She came to us +with flushed cheeks, and breathless with running. + +"It was all Roger's fault," she cried. "I saw it, heard it all. The +poor man is starving and wanted to work for food, and Roger was +rude to him." + +Her uncle looked at her, and at me, and at the boy, who had risen +from the ground, wearing a sullen and crestfallen look. + +"Is that the right of it, Roger?" asked the gentleman. + +"He said so, sir," he replied, "but he looks such a villainous +tramp, and you know what lies they tell--why, look here!" He +stooped and picked something from the ground. "He said he was +hungry, and look at this!" + +He held up my crown piece, which in the violence of my movements, I +suppose, had sprung out of my tattered garment. I felt my cheeks +flush hotly, and was stricken dumb in the face of this mute +evidence giving me the lie. The girl gazed at me for a moment; +then, her lip curling with disdain, she turned her back and walked +up the path towards the house. + +"Well, rascal?" said the gentleman sternly. + +"It is mine, truly," I said. "But--" + +"Go fetch the men," he said to the boy. + +"As sure as I'm alive I'll commit you for a rogue and vagabond, for +mendicancy and assault." + +He drew his horse across the gate so that I could not escape, while +the boy hastened to the house. + +"You are a magistrate, sir," I ventured to say, "and sure 'tis not +your custom to condemn your prisoners unheard." + +"Adzooks, you teach me my duty?" he cried in a rage. "You insolent +scoundrel!" + +I held my peace, and in a few moments the boy returned, with two +stablemen. + +"Take this fellow to the coach house," said their master. + +"I'll go where you please," I cried hotly, "but if those men lay a +finger on me I'll crack their skulls for them." + +My height and my fierce aspect so well promised that I could +perform my threat that the men held off and eyed their master +dubiously. + +"Lead on, Roger!" he cried with an oath, too much incensed for +further speech. + +The boy led the way. I followed, the two stablemen stepping behind +me, but at a reasonable distance, and the horseman brought up the +rear. Thus in procession we went round the house to the back; I +entered the coach house, and the gentleman having dismounted, came +in after me, and commanded me to give an account of myself. + + + +Chapter 9: Good Samaritans. + + +During the short passage to the coach house I had been trying to +consider my course: but my state of famishment and the agitation +into which I had been thrown had bereft me of all power of +consecutive thought; so that when the gentleman called upon me, in +no gentle tones, to give an account of myself, I stood like a stock +fish before him. Then I was amazed to feel my legs giving way under +me; I stretched forth my arms in an instinctive attempt to steady +myself, and, clutching at empty air, fell heavily forward on to the +stone floor. + +When I came to myself, I saw a kind, motherly face bending over me, +and was aware of a hot taste in my mouth. + +"Are you better now?" said the lady, in tones the like of which I +had seldom heard. + +I smiled, and she held a spoon to my lips, and I swallowed its +contents--a mixture of rum and milk, I think--as obediently as a +baby. + +"Poor boy! he must have been starving," said the lady. + +"And what right had a fellow to be starving with a crown piece in +his pocket?" said the gentleman behind. + +"He will explain by and by," replied the lady. "He must not be +vexed tonight, James. I have made up a bed in the loft, and Martha +is preparing some food. + +"Can you walk, my poor boy?" she asked me. + +"I am quite well, ma'am," I said, staggering to my feet. "I don't +know what came over me." + +She told me that I had fainted, which surprised me mightily, though +when I came to reflect it was not much to be wondered at, seeing +that never in my life before had I been for more than four hours +without food. + +"The gentleman asked me to explain--" I began, remembering what had +preceded my fall. + +"Never mind about that now," said the lady. "You will go to bed, +and when you have had some food you will sleep, and you can tell my +husband all about it in the morning." + +And then she directed the two stablemen who were standing at the +door to help me up the ladder into the loft of the coach house. A +bed, spread with linen as good as ever I lay on, was arranged at +one end; and, dropping on to this, I was asleep immediately. They +told me next morning that the mistress had herself brought up the +posset which her servant had prepared; but, finding me in such deep +slumber, had carried it away again, saying that sleep was as good +as food to me then. + +The sunlight, streaming in at the little window above my bed, +wakened me early. I was at first perplexed at my unfamiliar +surroundings, but, recollecting at length the happenings of the +previous day, I got up and descended the stairs. At the door of the +coach house one of the men I had already seen was swilling the +wheel of a big coach with pails of water, whistling the while. He +grinned when he saw me, and said: + +"Mistress said you was to go straight to kitchen when you waked, +and fill your stomick." + +"I am mighty hungry, to be sure, but I should like to wash first," +I replied. + +"Why, you do look 'mazing grimy," he said with another grin. "Do ye +feel better this marnin'? You went into a faint like as I never did +see--a real female faint it was. I reckon as how you be overgrowed, +young man." + +"Where shall I find the pump?" I asked, restive under this +reference to my unhappy attire. + +"Ho, Giles!" he called, "take the young man to the poomp." + +At this cry, Giles, in whom I recognized the second man whose skull +I had threatened to crack, appeared from round the corner of the +coach house. His face also wore a grin. + +"Ay, true now, you do want the poomp," he said. "Come, and I'll +show 'ee. It do make a young feller weak-like when he overgrows his +strength. There was my sister Jane's Billy, to be sure, shot up +like a weed, he did, was for ever falling into fits, and a bit soft +in his noddle, too, poor soul. + +"Here's the poomp; be 'ee strong enough to draw for yourself, think +'ee, or shall I do it for 'ee?" + +I was strongly tempted to catch the fellow by the middle and give +him a back throw which would enlighten him as to my physical +aptitude; but I forbore, and allowed him to pump for me, which he +did with great willingness, discoursing the while on the +infirmities of all his kin. Refreshed by my ablutions, I was +nothing loath to follow him to the kitchen, where a red-faced +little dumpling of a cook set before me such a breakfast as would +have made Mistress Pennyquick stare. + +"Eat away," she said, setting her arms akimbo and eying me up and +down as I ravenously began my meal. "Lawks! I don't wonder ye +fainted if 'tis true, as they say, that ye hadn't had bite or sup +for a week. You've a big body to keep a-goin', to be sure; +overgrowed your strength seemingly. The likes of me don't faint." + +And at this Susan the housemaid, who had just come in, giggled, and +put her hand over her mouth, and I felt as if my ears had rims of +fire. Would they never have done with their personal allusions? +Mentally I cursed Job and Bill and Topper very heartily, and as +heartily wished that my inches were a little less. + +Luckily I was not born without a certain sense of humor. It had +deserted me under stress of what I had gone through during the last +two days, but when my cavities had been well filled with Martha's +excellent viands, I was suddenly able to see myself as I must +appear to others, and I astonished the servants by laying down my +knife and fork, leaning back in my chair, and emitting a long +ripple of laughter. + +"Goodness alive!" exclaimed Martha. "Giles said a' was a natural, +and I believe a' spoke true." + +"No, no," I spluttered. "My noddle's sound enough. I think; 'tis +only that--that I'm overgrown!" + +And with that I laughed again, and my merriment was infectious, for +the round little cook laughed until she dropped exhausted into a +chair, and the housemaid uttered shrill little titters from behind +her hands, bending forward at each explosion, opening her hands to +take a peep at me, and then "going off," as they say, again. + +In the midst of this hilarity there sounded suddenly a jangling and +creaking of wires in the neighborhood of the ceiling, followed by a +clang. + +"Measter's bell!" cried Susan, and, smoothing her apron, and +settling her countenance to a wonderful demureness and sobriety, +the little rascal tripped away. She was back in a minute. + +"Measter wants to see tha," she said. + +I got up and followed her from the room and up the stairs, +comfortable in body and mind, for sure, I thought, such +cheerfulness was of good augury: the master of such happy servants +could not be a very terrible man. Susan showed me into a large and +well-furnished room, where, though it was summer time, a big fire +was crackling merrily in the grate. On one side of it sat the +master in a deep chair, smoking a pipe of tobacco; on the other the +kind mistress was knitting. She smiled at me as I approached, and I +knew that she was not thinking of my strange garb. The master +hummed and hawed, as if in embarrassment how to address me; then, +in a jovial tone intended to set me at my ease he said: + +"Had a good breakfast?" + +I assured him that I had never made such a meal in my life. + +"That's right. Now, we want you to tell us your story in your own +way; but mind, no beating about the bush." + +I had already resolved to tell just so much as was necessary, +without naming names, so I began: + +"I was on my way to Bristowe, sir, and two nights ago, being +overtaken by the rain, I sought shelter in a decayed barn near the +roadside, and slept among some hay. Before morning three men came +in whom I soon discovered from their speech to be poachers. They +found me, robbed me of my money--not a vast sum--and forced me to +exchange garments with them." + +Here the flicker of a smile crossed the gentleman's face. + +"They left me tied hand and foot, and when I released myself I was +in such a taking at the scarecrow figure I must cut that I shunned +the sight of men, and kept to the fields. But I had not eaten since +noon of the day of my misadventure, and, being desperately hungry, +I entered your gate to beg a meal, purposing to pay for it by some +service for you." + +"Hum! What then of this crown piece which you confessed was yours? +Why need ye starve with that in your pocket?" + +"To that, sir, I have no answer, save that I would not spend it +till the last extremity." + +"Hum! How old are you?" + +"Somewhat past seventeen, sir." + +"Just the age of our Roger," said the lady. + +"And what's your name?" + +At this I hesitated. I could not be more than thirty miles from +Shrewsbury, and if I told my name perchance it might travel back, +and I was in no mind to have my mischances retailed in the town. +The gentleman saw my hesitation. + +"Well, well," he said, "no matter for that. You have run away, eh?" + +"No, sir. I have no relatives, and I came with full consent of my +friends." + +"And what think you to do at Bristowe? Have you friends there?" + +"No, sir. I purposed to find employment on a ship." + +"The old story!" quoth the gentleman with a grunt. Then, with a +shrewd look at me, he said: "Contra mercator, novem jactantibus +austris." + +"Militia est potior," I said, capping his tag from Flaccus' first +satire, without reflecting whereto he was luring me. + +"I knew it!" he cried, waving his pipe triumphantly at his wife. +"And you haven't run away from school?" + +"Indeed I have not, sir. I left school some months ago." + +The lady smiled at his crestfallen look. It was plain that, in +talking over myself and my situation, he had declared with the +positiveness which I found was part of his character, that I had +fallen into some trouble at school and fled the consequences. + +There was a brief silence; then he said: + +"You spoke of work. What can you do?" + +"Little enough, sir," I replied. "But I lived for some years on a +farm, and could do something in that kind." + +Husband and wife glanced at each other, and the gentleman said: + +"Well, well, go downstairs now; presently I will send for you +again." + +I went down, and found my way, by the back of the house, the door +standing open, into the garden. I had not taken more than half a +dozen paces down the middle path when a big dog of the retriever +kind came barking towards me. Stooping down, I patted his head and +tickled his ears, a thing which all animals love, and then went on, +the dog trotting by my side in most friendly wise. + +And at a turn of the walk I came without warning upon the girl who +had interposed to save me from a thrashing and had then gone +scornfully away, thinking me a liar. The consciousness of my +ridiculous appearance rushed upon me in a flood, and, having but +small experience of womankind save as represented by Mistress +Pennyquick and our maids, I must stand stock still, red to the +roots of my hair. + +The girl had been walking towards me, swinging by its riband a +garden hat, for the air was hot. The dog ran to her, with a bark +that might have been of reassurance. She stopped, and, with a +pretty shyness far short of embarrassment, said: + +"Are you better now, poor man?" + +I mumbled something, I know not what, and she smiled and passed on. + +Then I felt I would have given anything to live that moment again. + +"Dolt! Fool! Jackass!" I called myself. "What a baby she must think +me! 'Poor man!' she said. Good heavens! Does she think I am forty?" + +And thus fuming at my tongue-tied awkwardness, I went along the +path. + +I walked up and down for some time, and was still pacing along with +my back to the house, when I heard a light footstep behind me, and +for a foolish moment fancied it was the girl whose aspect and kind +words had lately put me in such a commotion. But on turning about, +I felt relief and disappointment mingled (the disappointment was, I +think, the greater) to see that it was only Susan. + +"Measter wants tha," she said. + +I stepped along in silence beside her, she taking three steps for +my one, and giggling to sicken a man. + +"Tha'lt never get a sweetheart," she said by and by. + +"Oh! and why not?" I asked. + +"'Cos tha'rt such a great big feller," she said. + +"What in the name of all that's wonderful has that to do with it?" + +The minx looked archly up into my face. + +"Tha'rt too high for a maid to kiss," says she. + +To this I made no answer, being no whit inclined to bandy words +with this pert young housemaid. And so we came to the house. + +"We have been considering your case," said the master, when I again +stood before him. "Are you still set on going to Bristowe?" + +"Truly, sir, I have seen nought to change my mind." + +"You know you are miles out of your road?" + +"'Tis through coming over the fields," I said. + +"Well, if you are bent upon it, I will furnish you with money +enough to take you there, and trust to you to repay me in good +time." + +"'Tis good of you, sir," I said, guessing, and not wrongly, I +think, at whose persuasion he made that offer. + +Then I was silent. The name "charity brat," bestowed on me years +before by Cyrus Vetch, still rankled in my soul, and though, now +that I look back upon it, there was nothing that need have wounded +my pride in accepting the proffered loan, I was loath to be +beholden to any man. Maybe my feeling on this point was complicated +with another of which I was as yet hardly conscious; but certain it +is that, after standing silent for a brief space, I said suddenly: + +"I thank you heartily, sir, but I had liever earn the money." + +"Pish, lad!" cried the gentleman. "'Tis easy to see you are not of +laboring rank, and as for the money, I shall not break if I never +see it again." + +That was the worst argument he could have devised. My pride was up +in arms now, in good sooth, and I said firmly: + +"With your leave, sir, I will earn what money I need." + +"Didst ever see such an obstinate youth?" said he testily, turning +to his wife. "Well, as you will. I warrant you will soon sing +another tune. Go and see my steward, one of the men will take you +to him, and tell him what you know of husbandry; 'tis no more, I +warrant, than you have learned out of Vergil's Georgics. + +"Stay," he added, as I turned to go, "we must have a name for you. +You can not be a mere cipher in my estate books." + +"Call me Joe, sir," I said, he thinking me of my friend Punchard. + +"Joseph in the house of bondage," says he with a laugh, "Well, Joe +it shall be." + +I was some paces towards the door when remembrance came to me. + +"May I have my crown piece, sir?" I said, turning back. + +"God bless the boy! Here, take it; 'tis the same that jumped from +your pocket. And now I bethink me, those poachers' tatters sit very +ill on your long carcass. + +"We must find something better suited to his frame, mistress." + +"We will have, a clothier from Bridgenorth," said the lady. + +"I trust you will be very happy with us the short while you stay, +Joe," she added with her gentle smile, and I went from the room +with my heart very warm towards her. + + + +Chapter 10: The Shuttered Coach. + + +Thus I entered on a period which I look back upon, after fifty +years, as one of the happiest in my life. The steward, Mr. Johnson, +an active, silent man, employed me alternately in practical work +upon the estate--felling trees, repairing fences, and so. +forth--and in keeping his books, for which latter duty my service +with Mr. Vetch had in some sort fitted me. For a week I saw nothing +of my master, and caught but fugitive glimpses of the members of +his family. I suspected, and rightly, as it turned out, that he was +deliberately keeping out of my way, but receiving careful reports +of me from Mr. Johnson. + +His name, I learned, was James Allardyce, and his rank was +something above that of a yeoman. He was choleric in temper and +hasty in judgment, but the soul of kindness and generosity, and the +servants loved him. The boy I had felled was his only son, just +home from the school at Rugby; and his niece, Mistress Lucy, as +everyone called her, had but lately become a member of his +household. She was an orphan. Her father had been a planter with +large estates in Jamaica, and on his death she had been brought to +England at his wish by an old nurse, and delivered into the care of +her mother's brother. She had another uncle, it was said--a squire, +her father's brother, who lived somewhat north of Shrewsbury. 'Twas +Susan who told me this; she was a chatterbox, and would have talked +all day to me had I not discouraged her, and then she said I gave +myself airs. + +But it was from Roger Allardyce I learned things so surprising that +I wonder I did not betray myself. About a week after I came to the +Hall (so the house was called) I was returning early one morning +from bathing in a stream that crossed the estate, when I met the +boy face to face. He was striding along, whistling, with his towel +over his shoulder, and gave me a look aslant as he passed, then +halted and called after me: "I say, Joe!" + +I turned at once, and knew that he bore me no malice for the blow I +had dealt him at our first meeting. + +"I say," he repeated, "how did you manage to keep your crown piece +when those poacher fellows bagged your money?" + +I could not forbear smiling at this blunt manner of holding out the +olive branch. I told him of my fight with the man called Topper. + +"Wish I had seen it," he said, laughing heartily. "And I wish it +had happened a day or two before, for if you had been settled here +then you could have plied your fists to some better purpose." + +I asked him to explain. + +"Why, a lubber of a fellow rode over from Shrewsbury; he's a cousin +of mine, more's the pity, and a king's officer, by George! There +were two other officers with him, and they had been drinking, and +they insisted on coming in, and stayed ever so long playing the +fool. Father was in Bridgenorth, and Giles with him, and the other +men were not at hand, and we had to put up with their tomfoolery, +which soon drove mother and Lucy from the room: but if you had been +there we could have contrived to fling them out between us." + +"I would have done my best," I said. + +"How is the water?" he asked. + +"Fresh, with a wholesome sting," I replied, and then, giving me a +friendly nod, he went on to his bath. + +Here was strange news, I thought, as I returned to the house. I +could have no doubt that the obnoxious visitors were Dick Cludde +and his friends: for it was hardly possible that three other king's +officers should have ridden out of Shrewsbury in this direction on +the same day. If Cludde had come once he might come again, and +should he catch sight of me my story would not only be known to my +employer, but would be spread all over Shrewsbury--a thing I could +not contemplate with satisfaction. It crossed my mind that 'twould +be safer to leave Mr. Allardyce and seek employment with some other +yeoman; but from this course two reasons deterred me: first, the +liking I had taken for him and his family; second, an obstinate +reluctance to allow Dick Cludde in any way to alter my plans. It +would not be difficult, I reflected, for one in my humble position +to avoid him should he come to the house, and if I needs must meet +him, I should even welcome the occasion for bundling him out neck +and crop if he proved a troublesome visitor. + +My resolution was strengthened a few days afterwards. Since the +morning when Roger Allardyce had first addressed me, a friendship +had sprung up between us, with a rapidity only possible to boys. We +bathed together of mornings; he would come and chat to me when I +was at my work; and the hours of work being over, he would lug me +into a little outhouse he kept as his own, and show me his +treasures--guns, and fishing tackle, a breastplate worn by his +grandfather in the Civil War, an oak-apple from the tree in which +King Charles had hidden after the battle of Worcester. He treated +me as his equal, and once, when I alluded to my dependent position, +his curiosity, which with excellent well-bred delicacy he kept in +check, got the better of him, and he begged me to tell him all +about myself, swearing never to reveal it to a soul. But I cleaved +to my determination; all I would tell him was what he knew already, +that I was a penniless orphan bent on making my way in the world. + +Well, one evening, when I returned from my work in the fields, I +found him waiting for me with excitement plainly writ on his open +face. He dragged me to his outhouse, and having shut the door, +said: + +"I say, Joe, there's a storm brewing, and we may need your fists. +You remember I told you about my cousin riding over from +Shrewsbury? Well, his father came today--Sir Richard Cludde, a big +red-faced bully of a man. He's Lucy's uncle, you know; her father +was his brother, and they quarreled, and hadn't seen each other for +twenty years. But now he declares that he is Lucy's legal guardian; +his brother died suddenly and left no will, and he came today to +claim her as his ward. Father wouldn't hear of it; but told him +Lucy had been brought here by the express command of her father, +and he refused to give her up. The squire was in a terrible rage: +'tis said he has fallen on evil times, and is set on getting a hold +on Lucy's property in Jamaica, and making a match between her and +his son Dick--the lubber I told you of. There was an angry scene +'twixt him and father, you could have heard him roaring all over +the house, and he went away in a towering passion, swearing that +we'd not heard the last of it, and he'd go to law, and he'd beat us +even though it cost him his last penny, and more to the same +effect. Father makes light of it, but I know he is uneasy: he has +been several times of late to see his lawyer in Bridgenorth, and +'tis by no means clear how the law will decide. There will be +trouble, for Sir Richard is an obstinate man, and I'm glad you are +here, for we are not going to let Lucy leave us, and if he comes +one day to take her by force we'll make a fight for it, Joe. And +I'll tell you what: you must teach me how to use my fists. Shall we +begin now, Joe?" + +I smiled at his eagerness, and though I was tired after my day's +work I would not disappoint him, but stripped off my coat, and then +and there began his instruction in what my old friend the captain +called the noble art of self defense. He proved an apt pupil, and I +a conscientious teacher, pleasing myself with the thought that by +making him expert in boxing I was maybe gathering interest on Dick +Cludde's crown piece. And being then of the age when romantic ideas +get some hold upon a boy's mind, I flattered myself also that by +staying on at the Hall I became in some sort a defender of fair +Lucy Cludde, who was far too good, I vowed, for that pudding-headed +lubber Dick. + +After this Roger and I became faster friends than ever. We had +constant sparring matches and some practice also with singlestick +and foils; and Mr. Johnson would let me off sometimes of an +afternoon to go a-fishing with the boy. Before I had been a month +at the Hall there were few likely streams for miles around that I +did not know. All this time I had seen very little of the other +members of the family. Mr. Allardyce was putting me to probation, +inquiring of my diligence from Mr. Johnson, and hearing somewhat of +me from his son. As for Mistress Lucy, I deliberately avoided her. +I had cut anything but an heroic figure at our two meetings, and +though I was ready to engage in mortal fray as her champion, the +recollection of my abashment before her caused me to hold aloof. +She and Roger would sometimes go riding together, and I thought +with a bitter envy that, but for the misfortune that had befallen +me, I might have made one of the party, though in truth I +remembered, a moment afterwards, that but for this same misfortune +I should very likely never have seen her. + +Thus matters went on for upwards of a month. My wages, which I had +scrupulously saved, amounted to something above twenty-five +shillings--enough to pay my way to Bristowe. There was no reason +why I should remain longer at the Hall, and indeed I was beginning +to grow restive under my servitude, light as it was, and to think +more and more eagerly of my interrupted purpose. One day, +therefore, I sought an interview with Mr. Allardyce, and told him +that having now enough money for my needs I wished to leave his +service and set forth on my way. He laughed and said: + +"I wondered how long 'twould go on. You are still bent upon your +travels, then?" + +I assured him that such was the case, thanked him for his kindness, +and asked to be allowed to go on the following Monday: it was then +Friday. + +"Well, Joe," says he, "I won't stay you. Mr. Johnson has given me +good reports of you, and as for Roger, he is never tired of singing +your praises. According to him, you are a past master in exercises +of arms, and I confess I had hopes you would give up your scheme +and return to your friends and take the position you were clearly +bred for: then Roger and you might have been companions still. But +'twas not to be; very well; on Monday we shall bid you our adieux, +and we shall look to see you someday when you have made a name for +yourself--which to be sure will not be Joe." + +I was up early next morning, and was going off for my customary +swim when, on crossing a stile, I saw a figure draw back into a +coppice bounding the field. Thinking it was Roger who had been +before me, I called to him, but receiving no answer, and wondering +who could be abroad at that early hour--for the men of the estate +were engaged in their duties elsewhere--I sprang down and strode +off to the coppice, moved by some little curiosity. But though I +walked to and fro among the trees for some time, I saw no one, and +concluding that it was probably some poacher returning home from +his night's work I went on to the bathing place, resolved to give a +hint to Mr. Johnson. + +Roger joined me presently, with a glum face. + +"Oh, I say, Joe," he said, "this is deuced bad news. Father says +you are leaving us on Monday." + +"Yes, I have been here long enough," I said. + +"Of course, I didn't expect you to work here forever, but I did +think you would change your mind and remain friends with me." + +"We shall always be friends, you and I, I hope," I said, "but it +will be on a different footing. I could not work here forever, as +you say: and if I mean to do anything in the world 'tis time I set +about it. Maybe five years hence I shall return, and you will not +be ashamed to own me for a friend." + +"Ashamed! When was I ever ashamed? Why, we think a world of you, +father and mother and Lucy, too. When father told us last night, +they were sorry, yet glad, too, I own. Mother said she was sure you +would get on, and I know you will, but all the same I wish you were +not going. I say, tell me your real name, and if you have a bother +with your people I'll go and see them, I swear I will, and persuade +'em to forgive you." + +How surprised he would have been, I thought, if I had told him that +the people whom I had not wronged, but who had done me wrong, were +relatives of his own! But I would not tell him, and when we had +finished our swim and were returning to the house, he declared that +he also would leave home; there was no fun in being a yeoman, he +said: and if a fellow like Dick Cludde could be an officer in the +king's navy, so could he--or in the army, and he would persuade his +father to let him go, by George he would! And he asked me to write +to him, so that he might know where to find me when his great plan +came to execution. + +On Monday morning at half-past seven, after a good breakfast, I was +at the gate, girt and equipped for my journey. The poachers' +garments had, of course, long been discarded, and I was clad in the +suit of serviceable homespun obtained for me from Bridgenorth in +the first days of my service, and now but little the worse for +wear. All the family was at the gate to bid me farewell, even +Mistress Lucy, in her riding habit, for she was wont to go for an +hour's canter on fine mornings, before breakfast at half-past +eight. The adieux were said; all wished me well; Mr. Allardyce, as +a parting shot, said that I should always find a job on his estate +if I fell in with more poachers, or if my fortunes at Bristowe did +not turn out to my liking; and then, my heart warm with their +kindness, I set off up the road. + +Six or seven miles lay between me and the highroad to Bristowe +through Worcester and Gloucester, but I knew of a short cut four +miles from the Hall, which would bring me into the road at the +turnpike at Deuxhill, some way farther south, and save a good three +miles of the road. I had learned of this short cut in the course of +my fishing expeditions with Roger; it was the nearest way to the +Borle Brook, where our angling had ever the best success--a narrow +track striking off to the right, very rutty and rough, bordered by +hedges, and uphill but not steep. + +I had tramped three miles or more, at a good pace, when I heard +galloping horses behind me, and the rumble of wheels. Turning +about, I saw a coach drawn by three horses, with a postilion on the +leader, approaching at a great rate, jolting and swaying in a +manner that bespoke desperate haste. + +I stood aside to let it pass, holding my nose against the whirling +dust cloud it raised, and giving it but a glance as it rattled by. +The shutters were up; I could not see whether it held anybody; and +when it had passed I again took the middle of the road, wondering +idly what necessity there might be for so great speed. Only a +minute or two afterwards I heard a light patter close at my heels, +and looking back without stopping, I was surprised to see the big +black retriever which belonged to Mistress Lucy, and with which, +since my first meeting with him in the garden, I had been on +friendly terms. The dog uttered a low bark when he recognized me, +fawned upon me, and then set off running ahead. I noticed now that +the beast left a thin trail of blood on the ground. He had not run +far when he stopped, turned round, and barked as if to invite me +on, not waiting, however, to see whether I responded. + +For a moment I was too much taken up with wondering by what mishap +the dog had been wounded to connect his appearance, and his evident +wish to urge me on, with the coach that had lately passed. But then +the connection struck upon me in a flash, and I began to run with +all my might. The dog had doubtless accompanied his mistress on her +morning ride; he could only have been wounded in defending her; she +must have been waylaid, and, thought linking itself with thought, I +guessed that Sir Richard Cludde had taken this means of asserting +his claim to her guardianship, and the man I had seen in the +coppice a few days before was an emissary of his. Without a doubt +she was now a prisoner in the coach, being carried against her will +to Shrewsbury. + +The road here ran steeply downhill, and the coach was out of sight +round a bend. Without pausing to consider the chances of overtaking +it, I leapt rather than ran forward, soon outstripping the dog, +which had done his best, poor beast, but was now well-nigh +exhausted. I flung away my staff, that encumbered me, and tore +headlong down the hill, till, coming to the bend, where the road +sloped upwards, I caught sight once more of the coach, no more than +half a mile ahead of me. This surprised me, for neither the ascent +nor my speed could account for its nearness, and I wondered, as I +pounded after it, whether I had after all been mistaken. + +But the matter was explained when I came to the inn that stood at +the point where my short cut branched off. I saw wheel tracks to +the right, crossed by similar tracks back again to the road, and I +guessed that the postilion had intended to drive his horses down +the byroad, but having found it too rough or too narrow had been +compelled to return, even at the cost of loss of time in backing. + +My heart leapt with exultation; the kidnappers were not making for +Shrewsbury after all; they purposed driving southward, with what +design I could not guess, nor did I stop to consider, for in a +twinkling I saw a possibility of intercepting them. Dashing into +the inn, much to the amazement of the innkeeper, who had sometimes +served Roger and me with a pot of ale as we returned from fishing, +I told him my suspicions in quick, breathless gasps, and bade him +send to Mr. Allardyce for assistance, and to follow me, if he +could, along the byroad to Deuxhill. The man was not too +quick-witted, and I could have beaten him for his slowness to +comprehend the urgency of the affair. But some glimmering of it +dawning upon him, he promised to borrow a horse from Farmer Grubb +close by, he having none of his own, and to send a messenger back +to the Hall. Without further parley I left him, and set off along +the byroad, scarce giving a glance to the poor dog limping +painfully towards the inn. + + + +Chapter 11: I Hold A Turnpike. + + +Could I reach the turnpike in time? I wondered. I had lost perhaps +three minutes at the inn. The coach must already have reached the +crossroads, and was now, without doubt, speeding southward on a +course parallel with my own, but downhill, whereas the byroad, +though shorter, was for the most part uphill, and so rough that I +risked spraining my ankle on a stone or in a rut. + +And even supposing I gained the turnpike before the coach, would +the keeper be persuaded to close his gates against a three-horsed +vehicle on the highway? I knew the man, and luckily had done him a +slight service which perchance he would be willing to repay. Once, +when Roger and I had gone to the Borle Brook to fish, we came upon +a little girl some five years old sitting by the brink, weeping +bitterly. One foot was bare, her little shoe was floating down the +stream, she had lost herself, and was so frightened that it was +long before we could make out from her sobbing answers to our +questions that she was daughter to the turnpike man. Then Roger +rescued her shoe, and I set her aloft on my shoulder, to her great +contentment, and she was laughing merrily when we reached the +turnpike, and gave her into the hands of her distracted mother. +Remembering this, I raced on at my best speed, resolved, if only I +arrived in time, to turn this little incident to account. + +It did but add to my anxiety that the highroad was nowhere visible +to me as I ran, so that I could not measure my progress with that +of the coach, but was forced to go on at the same break-neck pace, +not daring to moderate it in any degree. And I could almost have +cried with vexation when that plaguey stitch in the side seized me, +and I had to stand a while to recover my breath. Then I raced on +again, desperately anxious to make up for the lost time. My work +upon the Hall estate, and my exercise with Roger, had kept my body +in good condition: yet to run for four miles or more at a stretch +with the mind in a ferment would tax any man, and by the time I +came in sight of the turnpike I was fairly overdone, dripping with +sweat--'twas a sunny day in July--and trembling in every limb. + +And then I heard, or fancied I heard, the rattle of the coach on my +left, and I picked up my heels and scampered along the last +half-mile at a pace which, in other circumstances, I should have +deemed impossible, the loose stones flying from beneath my feet. + +I emerged upon the highroad, threw a glance over my left shoulder, +and gave a great gasp of relief when I spied the coach plunging +down the road, but nearly a mile distant. I had had no clear notion +of what I was going to do beyond attempting to keep the gate +closed, and now I realized with a sinking heart that, even if I +should succeed therein, the coach could scarcely be delayed long +enough for help to arrive. But certainly that was the first step, +and I dashed straight into the keeper's cottage, the door of which +stood open, and found Mistress Peabody, his wife, paring potatoes +at the table, her little girl by her side. + +"Where is Peabody?" I blurted out. + +"Sakes alive!" cried the woman, "but you did give me a start. +Whatever be amiss?" + +What more I said I know not, but at my demand that she should +refuse to open the gate for the coming coach the poor bewildered +soul dropped her potatoes and declared she could never do it; +'twould cause terrible trouble with Peabody, and maybe bring about +his dismissal by the justices, and where he was she did not know, +and she had told him many a time he would get into a coil if he +left his duty and went so often to the King William a-fuddling +himself with-- + +"For God's sake, woman," I broke in, exasperated, "take the child +into the garden and leave it to me." + +I fairly pushed her out at the back door, the little girl clinging +to her skirts, terrified at my appearance and the fierceness of my +words. I shut the door upon them, whipped the key of the gate from +its nail on the wall, flung it into the pan of water among the +potatoes, and then, a desperate expedient coming into my mind, +sauntered leisurely out of the front door, picking up as I passed a +stick of wood from among a heap with which the child had been +playing on the floor. + +I climbed the gate, and sat upon the topmost bar, with my feet on +the third. Then, having pulled the broad brim of my hat down over +my eyes, I took out my clasp knife (it had been given me a few days +before by Roger as a memento) and began to whittle the stick, +whistling a doleful tune. + +The coach was by this time within a hundred yards of me. + +"Gate! gate!" shouted the postilion, but I paid no heed. There was +now a man on the box; I suppose he had been picked up at the +crossroads. He joined his cry to the postilion's, and together they +roared "Gate!" with many imprecations of the kind that men who deal +with horses have at command. + +But I still went on whittling my stick, not without some feeling of +insecurity, for the coach was approaching at a furious speed, and +it seemed impossible that the postilion could draw up in time to +prevent the horses from dashing themselves against the barrier. He +accomplished that feat, however, and the leading horse came to a +standstill within little more than a foot of me; I could feel its +hot breath on my hand. Like the other two, it was covered with +foam, and their sides were heaving like a bellows. + +"Gate!" roared the postilion, looking in at the open door, and +receiving no reply he turned his head towards me and demanded with +an oath to know where the turnpike keeper was. + +"He bin gone out," I said, in the broadest Shropshire accent I +could muster. + +"The mischief he is! Who be in charge of the gate then?" + +Sputtering with wrath the postilion cursed me and demanded to know +what I meant by sitting a-top when travelers wished to pass +through. I assumed the vacant grin that rustics wear, and said: + +"The toll be tuppence, measter." + +"Here it is," says the man, flinging the coins on the ground, "and +be hanged to you." + +I descended from my perch (the man abusing me for my slowness), +picked up the money, and went into the cottage as if to get the +key. + +"Be quick about it," roared the postilion after me. + +"Coming, measter," I replied, sitting on the table, out of his +sight. In a little he cried to me again: + +"What be doin' of? Stir your stumps, I say." + +"Coming, measter," says I, knocking my knife against the potato pan +to signify bustle. The man's language grew more and more violent as +the minutes passed and still I did not reappear, until, having +consumed as much time as I thought becoming, I went to the doorway, +and said, in the manner of stating a simple fact of no importance, + +"Key binna hangin' on nail, measter. The nail be proper plaace for +it: can ya tell me where to look?" + +My drawling tone seemed to incense the man to the verge of +apoplexy. Hurling abuse at me, he ended with a threat to horsewhip +me within an inch of my life if I did not instantly find the key +and open the gate. At this I shrank back, putting up my hands to +guard my head with great affectation of terror, and withdrew once +more into the cottage. As I did so, I heard the shutters on the far +side of the coach let down, and a voice demanding the reason of the +delay. + +"The pudding-headed scut cannot find the key, sir." + +"Tell him," said the voice in a louder tone (and I tingled as I +recognized it)--"tell him that if he keeps us waiting another +minute we will break the gate down." + +I laughed inwardly at this foolish threat. The gate was a stout +barrier, that would do more damage than it could receive from any +attempt of theirs. + +"Bring out the key, rascal," roared the postilion again. + +"An' you please, measter," says I, appearing in the doorway, "I be +afeared the key bin lost." + +Then the man on the box scrambled down, and ran into the cottage. +With him I hunted in every nook and corner of the room, and there +being no sign of the key we went out, and to the other side of the +coach, and there I heard the coach door open, and the voice cried: + +"Hold the leader, Jabez; and you, Tom, go to the wheelers' heads. +I'll blow in the cursed lock with my pistol." + +Slipping back so that I might not be seen, I peeped through the +window and saw Cyrus Vetch, pistol in hand, moving towards the +gate. Here I was in a wretched quandary. I glanced anxiously up the +road: there was never a sign of Mr. Allardyce or any other pursuer. +To blow in the lock would be the work of a second: then nothing I +could do would prevent the coach from passing through and getting +clean away. + +I was ready to despair when a possible means of checkmate flashed +into my mind. Vetch was within a yard of the gate; his two men were +at the horses' heads, to hold them when the report of the pistol +came; their eyes were fixed on their master. As lightly as I could +(my boots being heavy, as the long service required of them +demanded) I darted through the doorway, my right hand clasping my +knife, hid behind my back. Running to the side of the horse nearest +me I set to a-hacking with all my strength at the leathern trace. +Thank Heaven my knife was new and unblunted! But I had not +succeeded in cutting the leather through when the pistol cracked +and the lock burst. The startled horses immediately began to rear +and plunge, so violently that the single man at the wheelers' heads +could not hold them. Vetch ran to assist him; none of them had +noticed that the violence of the horses' straining had completed my +unfinished work: the trace snapped in two. + +Pulling itself free the horse swung round, and plunged more +violently than before, keeping the man Tom employed and serving +also to screen me from view. Now was my opportunity. I wrenched +open the shuttered door, and saw a man leaning with his body out of +the other door, watching the movements of Vetch. And between us, +shrinking back on the seat, was Mistress Lucy. She turned her head +as I pulled the door open, and holding on to it to preserve my +balance, for the coach was being swerved this way and that by the +frantic horses, I whispered: + +"'Tis I, Mistress Lucy: jump out!" + +And quick as thought--'tis a blessing when a woman's wits are +keen--she made one spring for the roadway, by a hair's breadth +eluding the grasp of Dick Cludde, who had turned about at my +whisper. I caught the girl as she touched the ground, and, pulling +her away from the wheel, just in time to save her foot from being +crushed by it, I seized her hand, and dragged her--willing +captive!--towards the doorway. I pushed her into the cottage, with +a roughness for which I afterwards asked her pardon, and hastened +in after her. + +Before I could close and bolt the door I heard a crash and a cry of +pain, and caught a glimpse of Cludde, who, in leaping from the +coach, had fallen awry and lay sprawling in the dust. Then I shut +him from sight and ran to the other door, by which Mistress Peabody +had gone into the garden. This I slammed and barred, dashing +afterwards to the window to do the like with it. Luckily it was +already fastened, and I was hastily drawing the shutters over it, +when Vetch, his face livid with passion, came up to it, drove his +pistol through the glass, and threatened to shoot me if I did not +instantly unbolt the door. + +I have always had reason to thank Heaven that my brain is quickest +and my resolution most cool at the moments of greatest stress. +Vetch had fired his pistol through the lock of the turnpike gate; +being busy with the horse he had certainly not had time to recharge +it, nor to get another; so I thought that I might safely defy him. +Whispering to Mistress Lucy to find some hiding place in the +cottage out of view from the window, I stood with my hand on the +shutter, and said: + +"What will you do if I yield?" + +The answer was the heavy pistol, hurled straight at my head. It +struck my temple and fell with a crash to the floor. I gave back a +little, half stunned by the blow, and Vetch seized that moment to +smash another pane of the window, preparing to leap on the sill and +into the room, But I had sufficient strength to anticipate him. +Throwing my whole weight on the shutter I drove it into its place, +taking a certain pleasure in the knowledge that I had at least +bruised the fellow's knuckles. Then I dropped the bar into its +socket, and in the half darkness called to Mistress Lucy that all +was well. + +Immediately there began a heavy battering on the door, but not so +heavy but that through it I heard Cludde order his men to splice +the broken trace. 'Twas lucky it was so, for had all four of them +come with one mind to force my frail defences, the brief siege +would, I fear, have had but a sorry end. The door was a stout one, +and finding it resisted their blows, Vetch and Cludde soon +desisted, and I supposed that they had withdrawn altogether. But +after a short interval, a violent crash on the back door, which was +of much slighter timber, warned me that I must still be prepared to +fight against heavy odds. + +I looked round for Mistress Lucy: she was standing beside an oaken +clothes press, the largest article of furniture in the room. + +"Help will come, I hope," I said to her; "if not, I can keep them +at bay, and I will." + +A moment after I had spoken, I heard a shout from the road. The +blows upon the door ceased; I caught the sound of scurrying feet, +and running to the window, I unbarred the shutter and opened it so +that I might glance out. The coach was moving: the postilion was in +the saddle, the other man was on the box. It passed through the +gate: the horses were lashed to a gallop, and the equipage +disappeared down the road in a cloud of dust. Flinging the shutter +wide, I craned my neck out of the broken panes and looked in the +other direction. Not half a mile away three horsemen were pressing +a gallop towards us. + +"You are safe," I said, turning to the girl. + +She came eagerly to my side, and in another minute the +horsemen--the innkeeper and two men whom I did not know--leapt from +their saddles when I hailed them, and came to ask if all was well. + + + +Chapter 12: I Come To Bristowe--And Leave Unwillingly. + + +The presence of the innkeeper and his friends--a neighboring farmer +and one of his sons: another son had ridden to acquaint Mr. +Allardyce at the Hall of the kidnapping--relieved me of a certain +embarrassment I felt, now that the stress and excitement were over. +As yet Mistress Lucy had spoken scarce a word; but she had looked +at me with great kindness, and I knew that she was but waiting for +an opportunity to thank me for the service I had rendered her. With +the shy awkwardness of my age I wished to avoid this, and so I +willingly related to the innkeeper all that had occurred, and had +barely ended when Peabody came back in haste from Glazeley, where I +fear he had been fuddling himself as his wife had suggested. To him +the story had to be told over again, I meanwhile itching to get +away before Mr. Allardyce could arrive. + +When I announced my determination to proceed at once on my journey +there was a great outcry from the men: would I not wait and see the +Squire and be suitably rewarded? Mistress Lucy herself, who had +remained in the cottage while we conversed outside, came to the +door at this point of our discussion, and with bright color in her +cheeks beckoned me and asked whether I would not stay until her +uncle's arrival. But my mind was made up. + +"You are in safe hands," I said, "and I have far to go." + +"I shall not forget what you have done for me--Joe," she said, and +for the second time gave me her little hand. I could say nothing, +but when I was once more upon the road I thought of her kind look +and manner, and glowed with a deep contentment. + +I had not walked above a mile when I heard a galloping horse behind +me, and Roger's clear voice calling me by name. I halted, and he +sprang from the saddle and caught me by the hand. + +"By George! 'twas mighty fine of you, Joe," he cried, with kindling +eyes. "I'll break Dick Cludde's head for him, I will, if ever I see +him again. Who was the other villain? Lucy says there were two." + +"'Twas--" I began, but suddenly bit my lip; if I named Cyrus Vetch +my own secret, which I had so carefully guarded, would soon be +known, and I was resolved (maybe without reason) that they should +not know me as Humphrey Bold until I had done somewhat to win +credit for the name. "'Twas a long weasel-faced fellow," I said, +after so slight a pause that it escaped Roger's perception. + +"And weasels are vermin," cried Roger, "and he has killed Lucy's +dog! But come, Joe, what nonsense is this! Father insists that you +shall come back; he declares this trudging to Bristowe is sheer +fooling, and had already got half a dozen fine schemes in his head +for you. Mount behind me, man: the mare will carry you though you +are a monster; come back and we'll be sworn brothers." + +I confess the boy's generosity touched me, and the offer was +tempting; but I steeled my soul against it, and, strange as it may +seem, 'twas the remembrance of Mistress Lucy that put an end to all +wavering. Once I had had no higher aim than to win Captain +Galsworthy's praise; now I felt--but dimly--that I would endure the +toils of Hercules to win a lady's favor. 'Twas the budding of young +love within me--and I never knew that a lad was any the worse for +it. + +So I thanked Roger as warmly as I might, but held to my purpose +against all his reasons. The boy was impulsive and quick tempered, +and finding me obdurate after ten minutes' battery of argument, he +flung away in a huff, got up into the saddle, and bidding me go +hang for an obstinate mule he galloped back to the turnpike. + +And so I set my face once more for the south. Missing my staff, +which I had thrown away in my haste, I cut myself a large hazel +switch from a copse by the roadside, promising myself a stouter +weapon when I should arrive at a town. + +My heart was light: had I not begun to pay Dick Cludde interest on +his crown piece? I was inexpressibly glad that I had been able to +defeat his outrageous scheme, and thinking of this, I wondered why +he had driven southward instead of to his father's house beyond +Shrewsbury. My conjecture was that, knowing what a hue and cry Mr. +Allardyce would raise if he believed his niece had been conveyed +thither, the Cluddes had arranged to remove her to a distance until +the legal matter then pending should have been decided in their +favor. I remembered hearing Dick once speak of some relatives at +Worcester, and in all likelihood that had been his destination. + +To have encountered me within so few miles of Shrewsbury must have +mightily surprised him. He had known of my intention in setting +out; 'twas common talk in Shrewsbury; and, having passed me at +Harley near two months before this, must have supposed (if he +thought of me at all) that I had long since reached my destination. +What he would infer now I did not trouble to consider, and as he +was to have rejoined his ship about this time, I did not expect any +news of my adventure would be carried back to Shrewsbury. It +crossed my mind that he might possibly seek to waylay me on the +road and take vengeance for his discomfiture, but reflecting that +he would scarcely suppose my journey, interrupted for so long, +would be resumed at once, I was in nowise disquieted; only I +resolved again to buy a stout cudgel, to have a weapon in case of +need. + +By noon I arrived at Bewdley, where, being mighty hungry, I made a +good dinner of beef and cabbage at an inn. When I started again, I +had the good luck to get a lift in a farmer's gig, which carried me +for several miles, so that I reached Worcester without difficulty +that night. After a sound sleep at the Ram's Head I sallied out, +bought a fine staff of knobby oak at a shop in the High Street, and +after viewing the outside of the cathedral (the doors were not yet +open), a building that surpassed in beauty anything that I had +before seen, I set off for Gloucester. + +No mischance, nor indeed any incident of note, befell me during the +remainder of my journey. I passed the next night in a wagon, +swaddled in a load of fresh mown hay, the driver with rustic +friendliness inviting me to keep him company on his dark journey. +On the third night after my departure from the Hall I trudged, +weary and footsore, into Bristowe, and sought a bed at the White +Hart in Old Market Street, this tavern having been recommended to +me by the friendly hay-cart man. + +Next day, when I went out to view the city of which I had heard so +much, I was struck with wonderment, not merely at its size, wherein +it dwarfed Shrewsbury and all the towns through which I had passed, +but at its noise and bustle. Shrewsbury was a sleepy old town, +where life went on very placidly from day to day, and the sight of +these busy, though narrow, streets with their many fine buildings +and their swarms of people, the dogs drawing little carts of +merchandise, the river with its bridges, the floating basin with +many tall ships, the quays thronged with sailors and lightermen, +filled me not only with wonder, but with a sense of loneliness and +insignificance. + +Among all these folk, intent upon their various occupations, what +place was there for me, I wondered? I got in the way of a line of +men on the quay side carrying large bales which I presumed had been +unloaded from a ship there moored. One of them hustled me violently +aside, another made a coarse jest upon me, and, raw and +inexperienced as I was, bewildered by the strangeness of it all, I +felt a sinking at the heart, and questioned for the first time +whether I had been wise in forsaking the scenes I knew and +venturing unbefriended into this outpost of the great world. + +I was standing apart, gazing at the shipping, when an old, +weather-beaten sailor, smoking a black pipe, came up and accosted +me. + +"Lost your bearings, matey?" he said in a very hoarse voice, which +yet had a tone of friendliness. + +No doubt I looked foolish, for I knew no more than the dead what he +meant. + +"Lor' bless you," he went on, "I knows all about it. 'Tis fifty +year since I made a course for that 'ere port from Selwood way, and +I stood like a stuck pig--like as you be standing now. Be you out +o' Zummerzet, like me?" + +I told him I came from Shrewsbury. + +"Never heard tell of it," he said, "but seemingly they grow high in +those parts. And what made ye steer for Bristowe, if I might ask?" + +Mr. Vetch had warned me against confiding in strangers; but there +was something so honest in the old seaman's look that I, who have +rarely been wrong in my instinctive judgment of men, determined to +trust him, and told him so much of my story as I thought necessary. + +The result was that he took me under his wing, so to speak. He +spent the whole morning with me, explaining to me the differences +in build and rig between the vessels lying there, telling me a +great deal about the duties of a seaman and the ways of life at +sea. He counseled me very earnestly to give up my design and seek +an employment on shore. + +"Sea life bean't for the likes of you," he said. "I don't know +nothing about lawyers, saving them as they call sea lawyers, and +they're rogues; but you'd better be a land lawyer than go to sea. +'Tis all very well for them as begin as officers, but for the men +the life bean't fit for a dog. Aboard ship you'd meet some very +rough company--very rough indeed. I don't pretend to be better nor +most, but there be some terrible bad ones at sea. Of course it +depends mostly on the skipper, but even where the skipper's a good +'un--and there be good and bad--he can't have his eyes everywhere, +and I've knowed youngsters so bad used on board that they'd sooner +ha' bin dead. Not but what you mightn't stand a chance, being a big +fellow of your inches." + +What the old fellow said did not in the least shake my resolution. +The only effect of it was to turn my inclination rather in favor of +the merchant service than the king's navy, to which I had inclined +hitherto. In a king's ship I might certainly share in some +fighting, which has ever great attractions to a healthy boy; but +then I should have little chance of seeing the world unless +specially favored by circumstances, for the ship might be kept +cruising about, looking for the French who never came. Whereas in a +merchant ship I might see India, and even China, and my new friend +told me fine stories of the fortunes to be made in those distant +parts by the lucky ones, besides which I felt a longing to see +strange and far-off lands and peoples for the mere pleasure of it. +To take service with an East Indiaman most hit my fancy, and when +the sailor told me that London and Southampton were the ports for +the East India trade, I began to think of working my passage to one +or the other of them. + +John Woodrow, as he was named, advised me not to be in a hurry, and +when I explained that my little stock of money would be exhausted +in a few days by the charges at the inn where I had put up, he +recommended me to a widow living towards Clifton, who would give me +board and lodging for a more modest sum. My anxieties on this score +being removed, I resolved to follow Woodrow's advice, and not be in +too great haste to take my first plunge. He promised to let me know +of any decent skipper who might be sailing to Southampton or London +if, when I had had a few days to think things over, my mind +remained the same. + +Next day a great king's ship of three decks came into the river, +and I passed the whole morning in gazing at her, watching what went +on upon her deck, and the boatloads of mariners that came ashore +from her, envying the officers, and wavering in my design to join a +merchant vessel. The vessel was named, as I found, the Sans Pareil, +and though I had little French (the dead tongues being most thought +of at Shrewsbury), I knew the words meant "the matchless," and +certainly she outdid all the other ships around her. + +The only vessel, indeed, that any way approached her was a large +brig which, as my friend Woodrow had told me the day before, was a +privateer that was being fitted out by certain gentlemen and +merchants of Bristowe for work against the French. The Bristowe +merchants had suffered great losses from the depredations made on +their ships by French corsairs. Many a vessel loaded with a rich +freight of sugar, or tobacco, or other produce of the colonies, had +fallen a prey to the enemy, who swooped out of St. Malo or Brest, +as Woodrow said, and snapped up our barques almost within sight of +their harbor. 'Twas not to be wondered at that those who had +suffered in this way should make reprisals. + +The Sans Pareil had such a fascination for me (never having seen a +king's ship before) that I was only awakened to the passage of time +by the crying out of my stomach. I had promised Mistress Perry, the +widow with whom I had taken up my abode, that I would return +punctually at noon for my dinner, and now the church clocks (no +less than my hunger) told me it was long past that hour. She would +be mightily vexed, and the joint would be burned black, and I +neither wished to offend her nor to eat cinders. So I now hurried +away as fast as my legs would carry me, and soon came to the +footpath leading to Clifton. + +As I turned the corner by Jacob's Well, I stepped hastily aside to +avoid a man who was coming fast in the opposite direction. He also +moved at the same moment, and, as I have often known to happen at +such sudden encounters, the very movements made to prevent the +collision brought it about. We both moved to the same side, and +jostled each other, and I, being the more weighty of the two, gave +him a tough shoulder and well nigh upset him. + +"Clumsy h--" he was beginning, but he got no further, and 'twas +well he did not, for if he had uttered the word "hound" that had +all but come to his lips he would scarce have gone on his way +without my mark upon him. But he did not say it, being indeed +startled out of his self possession. No doubt he had as little +expected to see me as I to see him: it was Cyrus Vetch. + +We both turned after jostling each other. The impulse seized me to +take him by the neck and drub him for his rascally dealing with +Mistress Lucy--and to settle at the same time some little private +scores of my own. But he was in truth so pitiful a creature, and +looked so scared, that I let him alone; besides I felt that I might +one day have a greater account to pay off, to which settlement Dick +Cludde must be a party. + +He on his side, to judge by his pale cheeks, expected a rude +handling, and when he found that I made no movement towards him, a +look of relief crossed his countenance, followed by an expression +which at the moment I was unable to fathom. Then, as by mutual +consent, and without having exchanged a word, we turned our backs +on each other and went our several ways. + +As I expected, the joint of beef was done to shreds, and Widow +Perry rated me soundly for being so late, asking me whether I +expected her dog to keep turning the jack till doomsday. ('Twas a +strange custom of the Bristowe housewives to employ dogs for +turning their roasting jacks). With all humility I expressed +contrition, and vowed amendment, and I kept my word. While I ate my +dinner my thoughts were busy with my late encounter with Vetch, and +I wondered what he was about in Bristowe, and whether Dick Cludde +was still with him. I did not doubt they were in a desperate rage +with me, and if they should be here together I was pretty sure they +would take some means of avenging themselves; but confident of my +strength and my skill of fence the prospect gave me rather a +pleasant expectancy than any alarm. + +So three days passed--days which I spent for the most part with +Woodrow the old mariner, plying him with questions innumerable +about shipping and life at sea, and learning many things by my own +observation. I saw no more of Vetch, nor did anything give me cause +of uneasiness. On the second day Mistress Perry, indeed, threatened +a slight discomfort by wishing me to share my room with a new +lodger she had just taken; but she gave in when I flatly refused to +bed with a stranger, and grumblingly accommodated the man--a +rough-looking sea dog--in a little closet off the stairs. + +On the third afternoon, when I returned to the quay after my +dinner, Woodrow told me he had found a skipper who would sail for +Southampton at the end of the week, and was willing to take me as +ship's boy. He assured me that I could hope for nothing better to +begin with, and the voyage would be long enough for me to try my +sea legs, and, as he believed, to cure me of my fancy for a sea +life. I was to visit the skipper at the Angel tavern that evening, +and if he liked my figurehead, as Woodrow put it, the matter could +be settled there and then. + +Accordingly, about seven o'clock, I met Woodrow at the corner of +the Bridge, by the Leather Hall, and accompanied him to the Angel +in Redcliffe Street, where he presented me to his friend, Captain +Reddaway. After the usual jocose allusions to my height, to which I +was now fairly inured, the skipper asked me a great many questions +about navigation, feigned a vast surprise at my ignorance, and +supplied the answers himself, to impress me, I suppose, with his +own stores of knowledge. + +Then the two mariners settled down over their pipes and beer to a +conversation in which I was not expected to take a part; indeed, it +consisted chiefly of reminiscences of voyages they had made +together, and, though entertaining enough at first, by and by +became insufferably tedious. For politeness' sake they included me +in the conversation from time to time by waving their pipes at me, +and I did not like to risk hurting the feelings of my new employer +by showing how wearied I was, or by leaving them; so that it was +not till near ten o'clock that I managed to escape, and then only +because they had both fallen asleep. + +The night was warm, and my lungs being filled with the reek of +their strong tobacco I determined to walk down by the river before +returning to my lodging, in the hope of getting a breath of fresh +air blowing in from the sea. The river side was deserted and +silent; the lights of the vessels at anchor increased the darkness +around; and I was walking slowly along, wondering which of the +lamps hung on Captain Reddaway's vessel, when suddenly I found +myself surrounded by a group of men who seemed to have sprung from +nowhere. Before I knew what was happening, much less make any +movement of defence, I was being dragged by rough hands to the edge +of the quay. I shouted lustily for help, only to receive a crack on +the head from one of the men, while another clapped his hand across +my mouth. I wriggled desperately, tripped up one fellow, and used +my feet to some purpose on the shins of another; but there were so +many of them that I was soon overpowered, and was quite helpless in +their hands when they lugged me down the steps into a boat that lay +moored below. + +Throwing me into the bottom they pulled off; in a few minutes they +came under the quarter of a large vessel in midstream; I was hauled +up the side, and, more or less dazed with my rough handling, heard +without understanding a loud voice giving orders. In two minutes I +was lying bound hand and foot in the fore part of the vessel, and +there I remained, exposed to the open sky, until morning dawned. + + + +Chapter 13: Duguay-Trouin. + + +'Twas little sleep I got that night, my body smarting with the ill +usage I had suffered, and my mind in a ferment of rage and dismay. +This was the third and the worst mischance that had befallen me +since I left Shrewsbury, and no one would blame me overmuch, +perhaps, had I given way to utter despair. Old Woodrow had told me +stories about such tricks of kidnapping, but, just as when we hear +a parson denouncing sin we are apt to apply it to our neighbor and +not ourselves, so I had never dreamed that I myself might be the +victim of such an outrage. And remembering what Woodrow had said, I +broke out into a sweat of apprehension, for I knew that I could not +have been impressed as a mariner to serve aboard a privateer, as +was often done; only tried mariners were seized with that intent, +and certainly no one would wish to teach a raw landsman his duties +on a vessel engaged in such a perilous and desperate business. + +I could only conclude, then, that the design in kidnapping me was +to ship me to the American or West Indian plantations, whither +every year hundreds of poor wretches were sent to a dismal slavery. +Woodrow had pointed out to me one day in the street a high +magistrate of the city, who had made great wealth in the sugar +trade, and did not disdain to add to it by selling flesh and blood. + +My imagination racked with this fear, I lay sleepless, save for +brief intervals of restless dozing. Soon after dawn I heard +movements about the ship, and by and by some of the sailors came +and looked at me, making all manner of jests in language fouler +than I had ever heard. The features of one of them seemed familiar +to me, though at first I could not recall place or time when I had +seen him before. But after a while, as I watched him, I recognized +him in spite of some change in his garb: it was the lodger whom +Mistress Perry had wished to place in my room. + +My kidnapping was then, I thought, a carefully arranged plan, and I +remembered that before leaving the house I had told Mistress Perry +in the man's hearing where I was going, and that I might return +somewhat late. He had doubtless lodged there to spy on me, and I +was sore tempted to speak to the fellow and ask him how much he had +got for the dirty job. + +But an hour or two afterwards I had fuller enlightenment as to my +plight. The master of the vessel came aboard; he had spent the +night ashore; and his foot no sooner touched the deck than he +stepped to where I lay, and ordered one of the men to loose my +bonds and stand me on my feet. And as I rose, staggering, I saw +behind him the grinning faces of Cyrus Vetch and Dick Cludde. The +meaning of it all flashed upon me; this was their revenge; and the +knowledge heated me to such a fury that I leapt forward and, before +I could be stopped, dealt Vetch a buffet that sent him spinning +against the foremast. Cludde, ever chicken-hearted, turned pale, +expecting a like handling, but he was spared, for the master cried +to his men to seize me, and I was in a minute again pinioned and +laid where I had been before. + +"Hot as pepper," says the master, with a grin to Vetch. + +"Yes," I cried, with an impetuous rage I could not check, "and +'twill be hot for you some day. You've no right to bring me here +against my will, and I demand to be set free." + +"Too-rol-loo-rol!" hummed the master, smirking again. "What a +bantam cock have ye brought me here, Mr. Cludde?" + +"He was a desperate fellow at school, Captain," said Cludde. "Why, +when he was only eleven he pretty nearly murdered my friend Vetch +here." + +"Split my snatch block, you don't say so! We shall have to watch +the weather with him aboard." + +"D'you hear?" I cried, incensed beyond bearing. "Let me free, or I +promise you you shall suffer for it, and those curs too." + +"Didst ever see such a brimstone galley! I'll soon bring you to +your bearings," and with that he gave me a cuff on the head which +made me dizzy. + +He left me then with the others, and soon afterwards I saw Cludde +go over the side, taking farewell of the captain, and, to my +surprise, of Vetch also. Still more astonished was I when, the +order being given to throw off, the vessel dropped down with the +tide, having Vetch still aboard. We made the mouth of the river, +and stood out to sea; it was clear that my old enemy and I were to +be shipmates, though I could not guess the purpose of his crossing +the ocean. + +During the ship's slow beating out I had had leisure to look about +me, and I now knew that I was aboard the Dolphin, the privateer +whose fitting out I had watched from the quayside. Despite my sorry +situation I felt a stirring of interest and excitement; a privateer +would scarce put to sea for nothing, and the thought that ere many +days were passed I might be in the midst of a sea fight helped to +drive my grievances from my mind. Withal I was puzzled: if slavery +was not to be my lot, what had my enemies gained? + +But I was soon, in sooth, in no state either to feed my imagination +or to nurse my wrongs. The unaccustomed motion of the vessel +produced on me the effect which but few escape; and we were no +sooner fairly out in the Channel than I turned sick, and suffered +the more severely, as I was told afterwards, because I had had no +food for upwards of fifteen hours. For a whole day I lay in +helpless misery: but then Captain Cawson (so he was named) himself +came to me, hauled me to my feet, and with an oath bade me go and +scrub the floor of the cook's galley. At the time I thought him a +monster of brutality, driving me to my death; but I soon learned +that nothing prolongs sea sickness, or indeed any sickness, so much +as brooding on it, and the activity thus forced upon me had some +part, I doubt not, in hastening my recovery. + +From that time I was the ship's drudge. At everybody's beck and +call, I was employed from morning till night in all kinds of menial +offices. It was a hard life, and the treatment meted out to me was +rough; but having got the better of my first rage and indignation, +I resolved to make the best of my situation and to show no +sullenness; besides I honestly wished to learn all that I could of +a sailor's duty, and felt some little amusement in thinking that, +if my enemies had sought this way of crushing me, they had very +much mistaken their man. My activity and strength of limb stood me +in good stead and won me a certain rough respect from officers and +men, together with the real goodwill of a few of the better +disposed among them. + +After a day or two one old salt, named John Dilly, took me in a +manner under his wing, and I made shift with his guidance to bear +my part in shortening and letting out sail. Fortunately the weather +was mild, and the early days of my apprenticeship were not so +terrible as they might have been had the vessel encountered the +storms that are commonly experienced in those seas, and especially +in the Bay of Biscay, in which we beat about for nigh a week in the +hope of sighting a Frenchman. + +From John Dilly I learned that Vetch's position on board was that +of purser, he having been introduced to the captain by Dick Cludde. +Vetch attempted no active measures of hostility against me; indeed, +he kept religiously out of my way, fearing maybe that I might seize +an opportunity to settle accounts with him. Sometimes I saw him +grin with malicious pleasure when he caught sight of me tarring +ropes or engaged in some other arduous or unsavory task; but I +never gratified him by giving sign of resentment or humiliation. + +I had to take my watch with the rest of the crew. One morning, some +ten days after leaving Bristowe, the captain came on deck at two +bells and ordered me to the mizzen cross-trees to keep a sharp +lookout, at the same time sending Dilly to the fore cross-trees. It +was his practice, I had learned, to give a money bounty to the +first man who sighted an enemy if the discovery resulted in a +capture, and I was eager to win the prize, not more for its own +sake than as a means of standing well with the captain. + +The sun rose over the hills of France as I sat at my post. For a +time I was entranced with the beauty of the sight, watching the +changing hues of the sky, as pink turned to gold, and gold merged +into the heavenly blue. But the morning air was chilly, and what +with the cold and my cramped position I was longing for release +when my eye was suddenly caught by what resembled the wing of a +bird on the horizon about west-southwest. Was it the sail of a +ship, I wondered, roused to excitement, or merely a cloud? Had old +Dilly observed it? + +I durst not cry out lest I were mistaken; but, straining my eyes, +in the course of a few minutes I made out the speck to be beyond +doubt the royals of a distant ship. + +"Sail ho!" I cried with all my might. + +"Where away?" shouts the captain, and when I answered "About +west-sou'-west," he went to the companion way, reached for his +perspective glass, and, mounting the rigging, climbed as high as +the royal yard. + +He took a long look through the glass, and then, shutting it up +with a snap, he cries: + +"You're right, my lad, smite my taffrail if you're not. She's a +Frenchman, sure enough, and the bounty's yours if it comes to a +battering and grappling. I'm a man of my word, I am." + +The stranger was yet a good way off, and the captain, instead of +altering the brig's course and standing in pursuit, shouted to the +men to brace the yards round, and, the wind being due north, headed +straight for Bordeaux, whither the vessel was to all appearance +making. At the same time he hoisted French colors at the mizzen, +and then ordered one of the anchors to be dropped over the stern +and about fifty fathom of cable to be paid out, the meaning of +which I did not understand till Dilly explained that 'twas to check +the way on the brig and allow the stranger to overhaul us. Then he +cried to us to lie flat on the deck and keep out of sight, and he +sent one of the best hands to the wheel, wearing a red cap, which +was, Dilly told me, to make him look like a Frencher. + +There was only a light six-knot breeze, and Dilly said that the +anchor dragging astern took quite two knots off our speed, so that +in the course of an hour the stranger came clearly into view. She +was a big barque, deep in the water, and the men chuckled as they +peeped at her, for 'twas clear she was full of cargo. Every sail +was set, alow and aloft, and she came on steadily at a good rate, +not altering her course a point, from which 'twas plain she had as +yet no suspicions of us. + +I noticed that a buoy had been fixed to the end of the cable +inboard. + +"What's that for?" I asked Dilly, who lay at my side. + +"'Tis ready to be flung over," he replied, "so as to mark the +position of our cable when it is sent by the board. We'll come back +for it anon." + +When the vessel was about a mile distant, our captain gave the +order to fling the cable overboard, then shouted: + +"Hard up, wear ship." + +We sprang to the braces, the ship spun round, and there we were on +the starboard tack heading straight for the stranger. 'Twas clear +then that she thought something was amiss, for she tried to put +about and run for it; but being greatly hampered by her stern sails +and the press of canvas she was carrying, by the time she had come +round we had gained a good quarter mile upon her. The wind had +freshened, and in some ten minutes our captain gave the order to +haul the tarpaulin off Long Tom, the biggest of eight guns we +carried, and give the Frenchman a pill. The gun was already loaded, +and Bill Garland, the best shot aboard, of whose skill I had heard +not a little from his messmates, laid it carefully and took aim, +and then for a minute I could see nothing for the cloud of smoke. I +sprang up in my excitement; 'twas the first shot I had ever seen +fired, and the roar of it made me tingle and throb. But old Dilly +pulled me down. + +"Not so fast, long shanks," he said. "Our turn's a-coming." + +"Did he hit her?" I asked, dropping down beside him. + +"Clean through the mizzen topsail," he replied, "but done no more +harm than blowing your nose." + +The gun was reloaded, and Bill was about to fire again when the +captain sang out to him to wait a little, for we were sailing two +feet to the Frenchman's one, and drawing rapidly within point-blank +range. + +"He's loaded with chain shot this time," said Dilly, "and that's a +terrible creature for clearing a deck or cutting up rigging. If +Bill have got his eye we'll see summat according." + +The gun spoke, and when the smoke had cleared we saw that the shot +had cut through the Frenchman's mizzen and main weather rigging, +bringing down the top masts with all their hamper of sails. Even to +my inexperienced eye it was clear that the barque was crippled and +lay at our mercy. She still kept her flag flying, however, and as +we drew nearer we could see a throng of soldiers upon her decks, +she being without doubt a transport returning from the French +possessions in the West Indies. She fired a shot or two at us, but +they fell short, her ordnance plainly being no match for ours, so +we had nothing to do but heave to and rake her at our pleasure. +After a couple of broadsides that made havoc on her decks, she +suddenly struck her flag, and of our crew I was perhaps the only +one who did not cheer, for it seemed to me that none but a craven +would have yielded so easily, and I was longing for the excitement +of boarding. We ran up to windward of her, and Captain Cawson, +keeping the port broadside trained on her in case of treachery, +sent an armed boat's crew in charge of the first mate to take +possession of her. + +I was not among those who were told off for this duty, but the +fever of adventure had got such a hold upon me that I was hungry to +take a share in what was toward. So I contrived to slip into the +boat at the last moment, at some peril of a ducking, and mounted +the Frenchman's deck with the rest. Then I wished that I had not +been so impetuous, for the sight that met my eye was more terrible +than anything I had ever imagined, and explained the surrender. +Scores of wounded and dying men were strewn over the decks; their +groans and piteous looks turned my heart sick. But such sights were +no new thing to the rest of the crew. They set to work with amazing +coolness to clear the decks, and get the vessel into trim, our +captain having ordered the mate to rig jury masts, under which he +hoped to sail the prize to England. + +This seemed to me, I own, an enterprise of much danger, for we were +near the French coast, and might easily fall in with a French +frigate, or even a squadron of the enemy's vessels. But the prize +was exceedingly valuable, and Captain Cawson was no more unwilling +than any other English seaman to run a certain risk. Accordingly +the soldiers and passengers on board the Frenchman were sent below +and battened under hatches, and the crew was made to assist our men +in cutting away the rigging and splicing and setting up the weather +shrouds. The lighter sails were stripped off the foremast, the mate +thinking to bring her into port under mizzen and main sail, +together with all the fore and aft canvas that could be safely set. + +'Twas the work of several hours to get things shipshape, the +Dolphin meanwhile lying by to give us countenance and protection. +When all was trim and taut we set a course for our own shores, +following the Dolphin about three cables' lengths astern. + +'Twas drawing towards sunset when she signalled to us that a sail +was in sight. This news caused much commotion among us, still more +when our own lookout cried that the vessel bearing towards us under +press of sail out of the west was beyond doubt a frigate, and in +all likelihood a Frenchman. I knew our case would be parlous if +indeed it was so, for neither the privateer nor the merchant barque +we had captured was armed in any wise to match a line-of-battle +ship. Moreover 'twas unlikely that in our partly crippled condition +we could out-sail the vessel: and when the mate, taking a look at +the stranger through his perspective glass, declared that she was +certainly French, our only hope was that darkness might shroud us +before she came within striking distance--a slender chance at the +best, for, though 'twas drawing towards dusk, the sky was +wonderfully clear. + +We held on our course, there being nothing else for us to do. The +frigate loomed ever larger, and my heartbeats quickened as I +wondered what the event would be. I did not dream that we should +strike our flag as the Frenchman had done, and thought that we, +having two vessels against one, would at least make a fight of it. +But I was struck with mingled indignation and dismay when I saw the +Dolphin crowd on all sail and bear away northwards, leaving us to +our fate. I thought it a scurvy action on the part of Captain +Cawson, and Dilly could not persuade me that he could have done us +no good by remaining. + +But the mate was not a whit discomposed. He swore a little, as did +the men, yet without any heat: indeed they joked among themselves +about the prison fare they would soon be starving on; and when a +shot from the frigate fell across our bows, the mate merely spat +out the quid he was chewing, and ordered the flag to be hauled +down. Ten minutes after, the frigate was on our weather quarter, +and dropping a boat, sent a crew aboard. + +I was bitterly chagrined at this reversal of our fortunes, and when +the Frenchmen who had been our prisoners were released, I went very +sullenly with the rest into the boat that conveyed us to the +frigate. We were clapped under hatches, and confined in the hold, a +noisome close place, lit by a single oil lamp that stunk horribly. + +"Smite me if it bean't Doggy Trang!" said the mate when the squat +towsy-headed seaman who had conducted us below had left us. "I seed +him at Plymouth a year or two ago." + +I thought he was referring to the seaman, but it turned out that he +meant the captain of the vessel, a young Frenchman named +Duguay-Trouin, who was known to our men as a daring and courageous +corsair. Two years before this, they told me, when commanding the +royal frigate La Diligente of thirty-six guns, he had run among a +squadron of six English vessels in a fog, and after a stout +resistance was forced to yield, not before a ball from the Monk had +laid him low. He was carried prisoner to Plymouth, whence he had +cleverly escaped one night by scaling a wall and putting off in a +little boat. + +My companions soon accommodated themselves to their surroundings +and fell asleep; but I was in too great a ferment to take matters +so equably. I had no love for the buccaneers who had kidnapped me +at Bristowe, to be sure: but my English pride was hurt at our +capture by the French, and I quailed at the prospect of a long +imprisonment in France. Surely, thought I, I must have been born +under an unlucky star, for misfortune has dogged me ever since I +left my native town. + +The old seaman brought us some food by and by. He knew a little +English, and in answer to a question from the mate explained that +his captain was now hotly chasing the vessel which had run away, +and if he caught it, the dogs of English would be sorry they ever +showed their noses off the French coast. The captain being +Duguay-Trouin, we knew that if it came to an action his ship would +be well handled, and we had noticed that she carried far heavier +metal than our own vessel. But the Dolphin had got a good start of +her, and we did not suppose it possible that she could be +overtaken. + +I had never spent a more uncomfortable night than those hours in +the hold. I could not sleep; the light went out; and in the +darkness rats scurried hither and thither, and I had to keep my +legs and arms in motion to ward them off. There was no glimmer of +light from the outside, and it was only when the seaman again +appeared with food that we knew morning had dawned. He told us with +a grin that our vessel was fast being overhauled, and assured us +that she had certainly made her last privateering voyage under the +English flag. The mate cursed him vigorously, rather from habit +than from ill temper, and the seaman shut us in, leaving us once +more in total darkness. + +My fellow prisoners talked among themselves, using language that +made me shudder. I rested my head on my hands, stopping my ears and +giving myself up to a dismal reverie. From this I was suddenly +startled by a dull report overhead, and a slight trembling of the +vessel. + +"Ads my life!" cried the mate: "they've caught her." + +"Maybe 'tis another vessel," said one of the men. + +"Shut your mouth!" was the reply, "and list for an answer." + +In a few moments there came a muffled report through the timbers. + +"There's to be a fight, sure enough," said the mate, "though what +the captain can be a-thinkin' of beats me altogether." + +"I would do the same," I said, "and so would any Englishman worth +his salt." + +"Then you'd be as big a fool as he is," was the blunt retort. + +It was a tantalizing position to be in. Here we were, boxed up in +the darkness, condemned to listen to a duel of firing at long +range, without any means of knowing what its effects were, hoping +that our countrymen would win, yet aware that if the vessels came +to close quarters a shot might plunge among us and send us all into +eternity. We could tell that the vessel was racing through the +water at a great rate, but, to judge by the reports that reached +our ears, the distance between the combatants was not diminishing. +The alternation of shots continued for some time; then suddenly the +ship swung round with a violence that threw us all in a heap, and +caused me to bump my head hard against the wall. + +"Helm's hard up," said the mate, "she's going to try a broadside." + +And in a few seconds there was a thunderous roar above, and a shock +that made the vessel stagger. There was no reply save a single +shock, from which I judged that the Dolphin was holding her course; +and it was clear that the broadside had done little or no damage, +for the ship again swung round, and the duel of single shots began +again. But we could tell that the vessels were now nearer to each +other, and after a time we heard a series of dull reports, followed +by a thud or two and the sound of rending and tearing woodwork +above and around. 'Twas a broadside from the Dolphin. But before we +had time to rejoice at the success of our comrades, or to hope that +their shots had brought down enough of the French ship's spars to +disable her, the vessel shook again under a terrific discharge of +her ordnance, and we, knowing how vastly superior was her armament +to that of our own ship, were in no little anxiety as to the effect +of this second broadside at shorter range. Another and another +broadside followed from each combatant: and then came to our ears +from the deck above a great yell of triumph. My heart sank within +me; the mate let out a volley of oaths; 'twas impossible to mistake +the meaning of that shrill cry. + +The cannonading ceased. For a time that seemed endless there was +silence, save for a shout now and then, and a thud that might be +caused by the work of replacing or repairing an injured spar. +Suddenly the hatch above was lifted, raised, and when our eyes +became accustomed to the light we saw men swarming down the ladder +into the hold. A French seaman among them relit the lamp, and we +recognized the faces of some of our comrades on the Dolphin. Among +the first I saw old Dilly, and behind him came Cyrus Vetch, his +countenance black with rage. As soon as he was among us he launched +out into bitter complaints at being herded with common seamen--he +who by right and courtesy ought to have been classed with the +officers and allowed the hospitality of a cabin. + +"'Tis infamous," he cried; "'tis a scandal to treat a gentleman +with such indignity. Duguay-Trouin was not so served when he was +brought prisoner to Plymouth." + +"Stow your jab!" cried the mate angrily. "Ain't we good enough for +you? What's a land lubber like you doing here at all? We ain't +aboard the Dolphin now, I'll let ye know, and here we're all equal, +and smite my eye, if you complains of your company, and gives +honest seamen any more of your paw-wawing, 'ware timbers is what I +say to you, my gemman, or I'll rake you fore and aft." + +From which it may be concluded that Vetch was by no means a +favorite with the crew of the Dolphin. + + + +Chapter 14: Harmony And Some Discord. + + +From Dilly I learned that the Dolphin had suffered severely in the +engagement. A third of the crew had been killed or wounded: Captain +Cawson himself was dead. The survivors had been divided, some being +left in the Dolphin, the remainder being brought to the Francois; +among these were the more severely wounded, who were tended with +much humanity in the sick bay. + +Now that the chase and the fight were over, we were allowed on deck +a few at a time, a boon for which I was very grateful. I was +surprised at the youth of our captor, the renowned Duguay-Trouin. +He looked little older than myself, and was in fact, as I +afterwards discovered, but twenty-three years of age. + +His youthful appearance somewhat heartened me. Here was a man (so +ran my thought) but little my senior, yet he had already won a +great name for daring and courage; he had been captured and +imprisoned, but had escaped, and was now again active in his +vocation. Other men as well as I had their mischances and +surmounted them: why should not I? Thus it happened that when, a +few days later, we arrived at the French port of St. Malo, and were +handed over to the authorities of the prison there, I was not so +depressed in spirits as I had expected to be. + +This was fortunate, for the lot to which we were condemned was +miserable in the extreme. We had wretched quarters, foul and +unhealthy; some five hundred prisoners, most of them captured in +merchant vessels, were herded in a space not large enough for the +comfortable habitation of half that number. In my heart I fully +sympathized with Vetch's objection to being classed among the +seamen, for they were in the main a sorry lot, filthy in their +habits and base minded. Some, like old Dilly, were of a higher +type, and these consorted together as much as possible. + +The conditions at St. Malo were so had that I was not sorry when, +after some few weeks there, a great number of us were marched out +under an armed guard to a castle about fifteen miles to the +southeast. A very woebegone battalion we must have looked as we +tramped to our new quarters--many of us suffering from prison +fever, all more or less in rags, and half starved. The change was +due to no compassion on the part of the authorities, but to an +alarm in the town. A sloop had come in, it appeared, with news that +an attack was intended against the port by no other than Benbow, +and it was feared that the prisoners might seize this opportunity +for a mutiny. I did not learn this until after we had reached our +new prison; it came out through one of our jailers, a talkative +fellow who liked to air his little English, otherwise I should not +have felt so much pleased at the change of quarters; though even if +Benbow had assaulted the town and we prisoners had risen, it was +improbable that we could have found a means of escaping to him. + +The new prison was, as I have said, a castle, or to speak more +precisely, the ruins of one. It had once been a place of +considerable dimensions and of great strength; but it was now far +gone towards demolition. The outer walls still stood, completely +encircled by a moat, the only entrance being by way of the +drawbridge which, to judge by its moss-grown edges, had not been +raised for many a day. Marching over it, and through an archway, we +found ourselves in the courtyard, a large area roughly square in +shape, and open to the sky. + +At the farther end, built against the wall in the intervals between +three round towers, a kind of wooden barracks had been erected for +our accommodation, the only habitable portion of the castle being +the keep, flanking the entrance, and this was devoted to our +guardians. Our barracks was in two stories, the lower being +intended for use by day, the upper, which was reached by a ladder, +containing our sleeping apartments. The rooms on the ground were +lit by windows opening into the courtyard; the sleeping rooms only +by narrow gratings in the wooden wall. I did not learn all this at +once, of course; but I have set it down here for convenience sake. + +On arriving at the castle we were marshaled in the courtyard, and +taken into the keep one by one. There, with the aid of the +loquacious sergeant as interpreter, we gave our names, ages, and +descriptions to the commandant, a sour-visaged fellow, who entered +the particulars in a book. Then we were severally assigned our +sleeping quarters, and I found myself one of a squad of ten, none +of whom was known to me with the exception of Vetch and Dilly. +Vetch once more protested against being ranked with common seamen, +and demanded to be released on parole; but the commandant ordered +him gruffly to be silent, and he went away very sullen and +wrathful. + +Our sleeping apartment, I found, was a small room at the right-hand +corner of the barracks--so small that I foresaw our nights would +not be comfortable. There were five truckle beds ranged against the +wall; 'twas clear that each of us would have a bedfellow. The +bedding consisted of a hard straw mattress and a single woollen +coverlet which, judging by its tenuity, had already seen service +with generations of sleepers. Luckily it was early autumn; we +should not need to dread the winter cold for some time to come; and +I was young and lighthearted enough to flatter myself with the +fancy that we should either be released as the sequel to some +terrible defeat of the French, or that we should find some way of +escape. + +Being myself long and broad, I made matters even by choosing as my +bedfellow a little fellow named Joseph Runnles, lean as a rake, and +of a quiet and melancholy countenance, thinking that such an one +would not discommode me in either body or mind. My choice was +justified; he neither kicked nor snored, and was so reserved and +silent that I believe I did not exchange with him a dozen words a +week. + +Our new quarters proved a deal less dreary than those we had left +at St. Malo. The weather was fine; there was ample elbow room in +the courtyard, and though we were closely watched by the guard +constantly set at the gate, we had our liberty during the day. At +night, when we repaired to our dormitories, the doors opening on +the courtyard were locked, and we could dully hear the tramping of +the sentry along the battlements above our heads. + +In a few days we had settled down in our new life. Some of the men +passed all the daylight hours in throwing dice or playing games of +chance, not without frequent quarrels, which our guardians ignored +so long as they remained short of fighting. Others, more +industriously inclined, occupied themselves in fashioning toys from +wood supplied them, which were afterwards sold in neighboring +villages, the proceeds (after a very liberal commission had been +subtracted) being devoted to the purchase of additions to their +meagre fare. + +As for me, the idea of escape was already beating in my mind, and +as a first step I resolved to pick up a knowledge of the French +tongue, of which I was almost wholly ignorant. Accordingly I lost +no opportunity of conversing with soldiers of the guard, with whom +I ingratiated myself by showing them some of the tricks of fence +taught me by Captain Galsworthy. The only work which all the +prisoners had to perform in turn was the drawing of water from a +well in the keep. The water of the moat, as I had seen when we +crossed it on entering, was covered with a green scum, the rivulet +which fed it not being of sufficient volume to keep it in +circulation. + +A few days after our arrival I was laid low by a mild attack of +jail fever, of which I had doubtless brought the seeds from St. +Malo. I kept my bed for a couple of days, being tended with much +kindliness by a little old surgeon attached to the garrison. I +should not have mentioned this trifling sickness but that it +prevented me from witnessing the arrival of a fresh batch of +prisoners; so that when I descended on the third day into the +courtyard I was mightily surprised to see, at that very instant +carrying a bucket of water across from the keep, no other than my +old friend Joe Punchard. + +"Joe!" I cried, beyond measure delighted at seeing a familiar face. + +Down went the bucket with a clatter upon the stones, and Joe looked +around as though scarce trusting his ears. Then seeing me he +waddled across, seized my hand, and shook it with a hearty goodwill +that was somewhat over vigorous for my enfeebled condition. + +"Ods firkins, sir!" he cried, "my head spins like a whirligig. How +dost come here among these heathen Frenchies, and all the way from +Shrewsbury, too?" + +Before I was halfway through my story, one of the soldiers ran up +and ordered Joe to fill his bucket again and wash out the lower +rooms. + +"Ay, I'm a swab again, sure enough," says poor Joe, going off +ruefully to his task. + +He was soon back, and when he had heard me through my account of +what had befallen me since I saw him last, he broke out into +vehement denunciation of Cyrus Vetch and all the race of Cluddes. +Vetch himself happening to pass at that moment, wearing the hangdog +look habitual to him since fate had made him a prisoner, Joe bursts +out: + +"Ay, you may well look ashamed of yourself, you villain! Where's +that will, rogue? What have you done wi' 't?" + +Vetch turned a shade paler, I thought. I had never said a word to +him about the loss of my father's will, and had no intention of +doing so, biding my time, and I was a little vexed that Joe in his +impetuous espousal of my cause had let the fellow know of our +suspicions. He halted a moment, then with a "What are you prating +about, turnip head?" he turned on his heel and walked away. + +Joe, in a great rage, was for springing after him, but I caught him +by the arm and begged him to let the matter rest. + +"Snatch my bowlines!" he cried, in a tone reminding me of Captain +Cawson; "he'd better 'ware of running across my course. If I come +athwart his hawser I'll turn him keel upwards, I will." + +I diverted the current of his anger by asking him how he had become +a prisoner of the French. + +"Why, in a deuced unlucky way," says he. "Captain Benbow--he's now +rear admiral, but will always be captain to me--he had a mind to +draw alongside that there place they call St. Malo, and cut out a +frigate of Doggy Trang he believed to be there, and he sent me and +some more by night to take the bearings of the harbor. We was in a +skiff, and a gale came on and beat us about all night and split our +sails and drove us ashore in the very teeth of a crew o' Frenchies. +There was a tight little scrimmage, I promise you, but they were +two to one, and grappled us close, and clapped a stopper on our +cable, hang 'em. They chained us together, the dogs, and marched us +into St. Malo with scarce a rag to our backs, and yesterday they +sent me and some more here." + +"And right glad I am they did, Joe. But surely Captain Benbow did +not send you in charge of the party?" + +"Well, no, if you put it so, he didn't. We was in command of +Lieutenant Curtis." + +"And is he here, too?" + +"No. He happened to have a pocketful o' money, and so they let him +sling his hammock in the town, where he could spend it. When it is +gone, belike they will send him to join us." + +"And let us hope that we'll be gone as soon as his money, Joe. I am +mighty glad you are here; for if we put our heads together we can +surely find some way of getting free." + +"Bless your eyes, don't I wish we may. Maybe there's a fate in it, +sir. Fate jined you and me when it made me set Vetch a-rolling in +the barrel, and 'tis fate has jined us all three here. Ay, please +God, sir, one day we'll slip our cables, clap on all canvas, and +steer for the north, though how, whereby, and by what means we can +do it beats Joe Punchard." + +The companionship of Joe, at a time when I was weak from my +sickness, mightily cheered me, and we spent much of each day +together. Our longing to be free did but increase as the days +passed. The monotony of prison life fretted us, Joe perhaps less +than me, for his life had been harder than mine, and as the days +grew shorter, and the nipping cold of winter by degrees overtook +us, we began to know what real wretchedness is. By day we could +warm ourselves with exercise and active sports in the courtyard, +but at night we shivered under our thin coverlets, and I found +myself by and by wishing that my bedfellow Runnles had a little +more flesh on his bones, for a lean man is no comfort in bed on a +bitter night. Joe was not in my dormitory, or I should certainly +have bedded with him. + +Above everything else, I think, the wretched food made us unhappy. +If a man be but well fed he can endure much hardship and trouble, +and I had never wanted in this respect. The prison food was bad, +ill cooked, and meagre; and though Joe, for one, might have +procured better if he had chosen to employ himself in his old trade +of coopering, he refused to do so after making one barrel, the +price of which, after the soldiers' commission had been deducted, +was something less than a fourth of what it would have been in +England. + +"'Noint my block!" he cried, when the pitiful sum was placed in his +hand. "Dost think a Shrewsbury man 'll be done out of his dues by a +codger of a Frenchman what he don't vally no more than pork slush +or a stinking dogfish? Split my binnacle if I be!" + +And he flung the money at the amazed Frenchman, and kept his word +to work at his old trade no more. + +I think this sturdiness of his raised him somewhat in the +estimation of our jailers, and in spite of the opprobrious epithets +he applied to them (which to be sure they did not understand) he +was soon as popular with them as Vetch was the reverse. Joe was +blessed with a great fund of good humor, which withstood all +privation and restraint. He growled and groaned at being compelled +to take his turn in scouring the floors and other menial tasks, but +after emitting a stream of hot language, which ever appears to flow +very freely from the lips of sailor men, he went his way with great +cheerfulness. He joked with his fellow prisoners, and being of a +loquacious turn, had many things to tell them of the doings of his +hero, Captain Benbow. + +Vetch, on the contrary, was what the Scriptures call a "continual +dropping." He kept himself apart, sulking the livelong day, scarce +ever speaking, and when he did speak using a tone which the Grand +Turk might employ towards a beggar. It was true enough that the +prisoners were inferior to him in quality, but, their lot and +circumstances being the same, it was decidedly a mistake to make +the others feel their inferiority, and, as I think, a mark of ill +breeding to boot. His few words were sneers, and he had a +contemptuous way of looking at a man that made one itch to thrash +him. At length he was thrashed, and very smartly, by a man in our +dormitory, and after that he was utterly ignored, by general +consent. It happened in this wise. + +One bleak day of mud and rain, when we were driven by the weather +out of the courtyard into the lower rooms of the barracks, and were +sitting in doleful dumps, at a loss how to pass the time, Joe +Punchard cried out of a sudden: + +"Come, souls, what's a spell of foul weather to men that have +sailed the salt seas! Haul forward your stools, mates, and we'll +have a concert and make all snug. I warrant some of you can troll a +ditty, though ye be too modest to own it; and not being plagued wi' +modesty myself, I'll heave anchor first." + +I knew, nothing of Joe's musical powers, and it was with no little +surprise I discovered that he had an excellent voice of the pitch +they call barytone. He began: + +Of all the lives, I ever say, +A pirate's be for I; +Hap what hap may he's allus gay +And drinks an' bungs his eye. +For his work he's never loath; +An' a-pleasurin' he will go; +Tho' sartin sure to be popt off, +Yo ho, with the rum below. + +At the conclusion of the stanza his audience broke into loud +applause. And then, with a sheepish air that set me a-smiling, +Joseph Runnles, my bedfellow, the little silent man of whom I have +spoken, drew out of his pocket the parts of a flute, and putting +them together, set it to his lips and accompanied Joe through the +next stanza, picking up the tune with a facility that spoke well +for his musical ear. + +In Bristowe I left Poll ashore, +Well stored wi' togs and gold; +An' off I goes to sea for more, +A-piratin' so bold. +An' wounded in the arm I got, +An' then a pretty blow; +Comes home I finds Poll flowed away. +Yo ho, with the rum below. + +"Adad, brother," cries Joe, clapping the little man on the +shoulder, "why have you stowed away your noble talents so long +under hatches? I've sailed the seas for many a year; east, west, +north and south, as the saying is; Blacks, Indians, Moors, +Morattos, and Sepoys; but smite my timbers, never such a man of +music have I drawn alongside of before." + +Runnles blushed like a girl, and said never a word, but blew the +moisture out of his flute, ready for the next stanza. + +An' when my precious leg was lopt. +Just for a bit of fun, +I picks it up, on t'other hopt, +An' rammed it in a gun. +"What's that for?" cries out Salem Dick. +"What for, my jumpin' beau? +Why, to give the lubbers one more kick!" +Yo ho with the rum below. + +By this time the other men had got the hang of the song, and when +Joe started the next stanza they joined in, trolling the tune (they +knew not the words as yet) in voices high and low, rough and coarse +for the most part, and with more heartiness than melody. This happy +thought of Joe's cured our dumps and put us all in a good temper, +and for the rest of that morning we sat singing songs, and +listening to the tootling of Runnles' flute, when the little man +could be prevailed on to treat us to a solo. + +"You be mighty bashful for a sailor man," said Joe at the end of +the concert, "partickler as your name be Joe like mine, but we +won't let 'ee hide your talents any more, split my braces if we +will." + +It was on the night of that day that Vetch got his thrashing. We +had gone early to our dormitory because of the rain, and being +unable to sleep for the cold, one of the men suggested that Runnles +should give us a tune. + +"'Tis comfortin' to the spirits," said the man, a big fellow known +to us as the bosun: his name was Peter Wiggett. + +Runnles, evidently gratified at this mark of appreciation, put his +flute together and began to pipe the tune of Mr. Ackroyd's famous +song of the fight in '92 when Admiral Russell beat the French. +This, to be sure, was rather inspiriting than soothing, and thus +perhaps there was a shadow of excuse for Vetch when he called out +from under his coverlet (he lay in the next bed): + +"Cease that squealing, hang you, and let a man get to sleep." + +"Belay there!" shouted the bosun. + +"Pipe away, Runnles, and we'll love you, my hearty." + +Runnles struck up again, but he had not gone far (it was to the +line, "To meet the gallant Russell in combat on the deep") when the +fluting suddenly ceased, and we heard a cry that was certainly a +squeal. Vetch had got out of bed in the dark and, snatching the +flute from Runnles' hand, caught him by the throat. I sprang up +from Runnles' side, but the bosun from the bed beyond was before +me. + +"Avast, you lubber!" he cries, flinging himself on Vetch; "I +thought we should grapple one day: now I'll bring you up by the +head, you swine." + +And with that he took Vetch with the left hand, and belabored him +with the right until the poor wretch fairly howled for mercy. Then +he threw him on to his bed (with some damage, I fear, to Dilly, who +shared it), and bade Runnles play up: but the little man was so +much upset at the turn affairs had taken that he declared his lips +were too dry to blow a note, and indeed it was several days before +he could be prevailed on to flute again. + + + +Chapter 15: The Bass Viol. + + +Where one leads, others are sure to follow. It was wonderful how +many of the prisoners discovered a talent for music after Punchard +and Runnles had thus led the way. Our jailers encouraged this +pastime; it was not merely harmless in itself, but it had a +quietening effect on the temper of the men, and the squabbles and +brawls among them notably diminished. One of the Frenchmen +unearthed an old fiddle, and though one of its strings was wanting, +a man named Ben Tolliday contrived to scrape very passable melody +out of it. Old John Dilly announced that he had played the cornet +in his youth, and before very long an instrument was found for him, +and after a few days' practice (during which we had to suffer a +variety of discordant and ear-splitting noises) he recovered +something of his former skill. An old drum with a very loose +membrane was found in the lumber room of the keep, and this the +bosun appropriated, though being quite destitute of a sense of +rhythm he made but an indifferent performer. Some of the men +fashioned original instruments for themselves, one of these, a +mouth organ, being a real triumph of ingenuity. + +I, alas, had no singing voice, and was totally ignorant of music; +but Joe kindly informed me that any fool could play the bones, and +made two pairs of castanets for me out of beef bones supplied by +the soldiers (we had no joints ourselves, but only a bullock's +cheek now and then) so that I too was able to bear my part in the +concerts which now became of daily occurrence. + +The soldiers of the guard often came and listened to our +performances, and even the sour-faced commandant once condescended +to form part of our audience, and smiled broadly when Dilly, who +was a Devon man, sang with much expressive pantomime the pleasant +ditty of Widdicombe Fair, though the Frenchman did not understand a +word of it. + +This condescension on the part of the commandant emboldened me to +proffer a request which I had been meditating for some days. I had +by no means given up the hope of escaping from the castle, but the +more I thought of it, the less likely it appeared that I could +succeed without assistance. Of course, Joe Punchard should +accompany me, and when I talked the matter over with him, neither +of us had the heart to scheme for our own freedom without regard to +those of our fellow prisoners with whom we had become more closely +connected through our musical interests. + +"There is old John Dilly," I said one day, when we were discussing +the subject, "he was good to me aboard the Dolphin; I shouldn't +like to leave him behind." + +"True," says Punchard, "and Runnles is a quiet, good soul; besides +his name is Joe." + +"And the bosun, he's as strong as an ox, and might be a useful +man." + +"And Tolliday, he's for ever sighing about Molly, his sweetheart; +'twould make two folks happy (maybe) if he got away among us." + +Thus we ran over the list of our friends very seriously, though it +tickled my sense of humor when I remembered that we had not as yet +the ghost of a notion how this escape we talked of was to be +contrived. But having thus selected our partners in the attempt we +were resolved to make some day, we decided that it would be a step +in the right direction if we all shared the same dormitory. We +might then talk over the matter without the danger of it being +blabbed among the whole body of prisoners. + +Accordingly I took advantage of the commandant's gracious +appearance among our audience to ask him (having now picked up +enough French to make myself understood) to allow all the members +of the band to sleep together, explaining that we should attain to +greater efficiency if, after the lower doors were locked for the +night, we could practice for an hour or so together before the sun +went down. His grim face relaxed into a smile at the serious manner +in which we took our diversion, and he readily granted the +permission we desired. By this change we got rid of Vetch, who was +glad enough to leave us, I doubt not. + +The first step having thus been gained, I began to devote myself +earnestly to the problem of escape. I did not make light of the +difficulties. The only entrance to the castle precincts was, as I +have said, the gateway at the end of the drawbridge, and this was +so stoutly guarded that escape in daylight was impossible. At night +we were locked in the dormitory nearly thirty feet above ground, +with a thick stone wall between us and freedom, and supposing we +could make a hole in the wall, which seemed unlikely, there was +still the moat to be reckoned with. It was not only too far below +for any one to dive into it with safety, but it was, as I had +learned from the soldiers, choked with mud to within a very little +of the surface, so that I could not but doubt whether it were +possible even to swim across. But I did not despair of crossing it +if we could only get down: that was the difficulty, and for long +tedious weeks it seemed to me insuperable. + +Before we had hit upon a plan, we were thrown into a great +excitement by the disappearance of Vetch. I had missed him for a +day or two from the courtyard, but thought little of it, supposing +that he was confined to his dormitory by a touch of fever, as +happened not infrequently among the prisoners. But on Punchard's +remarking one day that he believed Vetch was malingering, it came +out that he had not been seen by his roommates for nearly a week. + +Was it possible that while we had been merely thinking of escape, +Vetch had found a means of escaping? It seemed impossible, and when +I was having my daily conversation with the soldiers of the guard, +I asked point blank what had become of him. They laughed and +chuckled, and amused themselves for some time by giving all manner +of fantastic explanations, which improved my knowledge of French, +but were mightily vexatious. At last I made out, from hints and +half statements, that the commandant had been discreetly inquiring +among some of the prisoners for a man who was well acquainted with +the river Avon. Since these inquiries ceased and Vetch disappeared +about the same time, I was free to conclude that in Vetch the +commandant had found his man. Had he purchased his freedom at the +price of treason to his country? Were the French meditating an +attack on Bristowe? These were questions I could not answer; but +you may be sure the knowledge that Vetch was gone acted as a whip +to my determination, and I was more than ever resolved to find some +way of leaving these walls behind. + +We had concluded, Punchard and I, that our only course must be to +pierce the castle wall and let ourselves down to the moat by means +of a rope. The latter portion of this scheme being manifestly the +more likely, we decided to secure our rope first. This was easier +said than done. Our coverlets were of such thin and rotten +material, we should need to tear up several of them before, even +carefully knotted, they would serve our purpose, and we could not +risk the detection that would surely follow if any of them were +missed by our guards. When I went next to take my turn at drawing +water from the well I carefully examined the rope by which the +bucket was let down, thinking it might be possible to cut this one +night at an hour when its loss would not be discovered till next +day and the birds had flown. But a close inspection showed that it +was very rotten; evidently it had seen long service; and while it +was still strong enough to stand the strain of a bucketful of +water, I could not flatter myself it would safely bear my weight, +to say nothing of the bosun, who was a deal heavier. + +But since a rope we must have, I pleased myself with the fancy that +if I should succeed in procuring that it might be taken as a good +augury for success in the more difficult feat, the piercing of the +wall. Could we make a rope, I wondered? We had a fair quantity of +bast, in the mats that formed the only covering of the floor of our +barracks, but not near enough to form a rope sufficiently stout to +bear the weight of even the lightest of us; besides the tearing up +of the mats could not fail to be discovered. + +Racking my brains for some means of overcoming the difficulty, I +suddenly bethought myself of trying a ruse. I said nothing of my +intention to Punchard (to the others I had as yet not breathed a +word of our purpose) but the next time I went to the well I took a +knife with me, and, choosing a portion of the rope where it was +much frayed, I carefully sawed through one or two of the strands +with the blunt edge. The result was that when I was drawing the +full bucket up, the rope snapped, the bucket fell to the bottom +with a clatter, and I (to make the accident more convincing) +toppled over on my back. Up came one of the guard, and rated me +soundly for my clumsiness, employing a succession of abusive terms +which I stored in my memory for use in case of need. + +I picked myself up slowly, rubbing my back, and, putting on the +most innocent air in the world, I pointed to the frayed rope and +asked whether my corrector could expect such a thing as that to +last for ever. The man grumbled a good deal, but the condition of +the rope admitted no answer to my question, and I had the +satisfaction next day of seeing a brand new rope attached to a +brand new bucket. I even had the pleasure of using it for the first +time, for the old rope having broken when I was on duty, I was +condemned to the punishment of drawing water for a week afterwards, +an extension of my task which I bore with wonderful cheerfulness. + +When I told Punchard of what I had done he laughed with great +delight, but immediately became very sober. + +"'Tis all no use, sir," says he gloomily. "For why? I can't swim." + +This was a difficulty I had not foreseen. How is it, I wonder, that +so many men who go down to the sea in ships do not master that most +useful art--the very first, one would think, that should engage +their attention? 'Twas true, the depth of water above the mud in +the moat was so little that even the best swimmer would be at a bad +pass; but I hoped that with the coming of the spring rains this +would be remedied. Yet if Punchard and any of the others were +unable to swim, the moat would be impassable were it dredged to the +bottom; and since we must descend the rope singly, and the water +came right up to the wall, I could not see for the life of me how +this disability could be got over. + +Finding our purpose thus stopped in this direction (though but for +a time, for my resolution was in nowise weakened), I began to +devote myself earnestly to what I had felt all along was the +crux--the breaking through the wall. So deeply was I preoccupied +with this baffling problem that I fear I clattered my bones but +half heartedly in our musical concerts. Yet it was during one of +these concerts that some good genie flashed upon my invention a +plan which promised (if it could be carried out) to solve the very +difficulty I had almost given up as insoluble. I say it was a good +genie that suggested the idea to me, for, looking back upon it, I +can account for it in no other way. + +I was watching Tolliday sawing away at his fiddle, and marveling +(being ignorant of music) at the loud tones which he produced from +so small an instrument. 'Twas clear that the hollow belly of the +fiddle had some part in the effect, and then I remembered the big +bass viols I had seen used in the church at home, and reflected +that the larger the instrument the deeper and more powerful the +tones. + +And here came in the genie to supply the link which led to the +formation of my plan. In my mind's eye I saw a big hollow vessel +shaped like a bass viol floating on the water of the moat, and Joe +Punchard clinging to it, and I wished with all my heart that one of +our jailers would discover such an instrument, and hand it to us +for the use of our band. 'Twas but a step from wishing to devising. +We had no bass viol; could we not make one? No one would oppose us; +the band was highly popular with the garrison, and I was sure that +they would willingly provide us with material for the construction +of yet another instrument. + +Accordingly, next morning I suggested that we should ask the +commandant to give us some planks of wood with which to make an +instrument of a new model. The men were amused at the notion, never +suspecting that I had any other design than to enrich the harmony +of our ensemble. 'Twould be good fun, they agreed, though they had +great doubt (as I had myself) whether our unskilled workmanship +would produce anything but a useless monstrosity so far as music +was concerned. They were willing to try, however, the attempt would +help us to kill time; and the commandant proving perfectly +agreeable to humor us, we gut the planks, borrowed some tools from +the soldiers, and set to work. + +The next following days saw half a dozen of us busily employed in +the courtyard in knocking together a long shallow box, in the upper +side of which we pierced S-shaped holes like those of the fiddle, +with a notched bridge at about one-third of its length for holding +four strings, and wooden screws at the other end for stretching +them taut. Joe Punchard, good fellow, was the most ardent of the +artificers, plying the tools with a dexterity born of his work for +master cooper Matthew Mark years before. We got from the soldiers, +who showed a great interest in our task, cords of different +thickness, and several lengths of iron wire which we twisted +together somewhat after the manner of the thickest string of the +fiddle. We then stretched this and three cords over the bridge on +the top of the box, screwed them to a high tension, and plucked +them to see if they emitted notes that could be called musical. + +The result surpassed my expectations. Tolliday, our fiddler, +declared that the notes were true music, though to be sure not very +resonant, and he undertook to tune the strings in fifths, so that +it might be able to take a proper part in our next symphony. Having +no bow with which to scrape the strings, he said that they could +only be strummed with the finger and thumb, and when he offered to +teach one of us thus to handle it, there were many candidates for +the place, which in the end fell to a man named Winslow. The men +were all mightily pleased with the success of our work, and I was +secretly delighted, not with the instrument as a producer of music, +but at knowing that we had a box which might serve those of us who +could not swim as a raft. + +We had now at command (if we could secretly purloin it) a rope to +let us down, and a raft to ferry us over the moat, but we had still +to find a means of getting beyond the wall, and to this I bent all +my energy of mind. In this, too, I took Joe Punchard into +consultation, and we discussed all kinds of plans. With the sentry +on guard throughout the night in the courtyard there was no hope of +escape by the gate and drawbridge. There was no opening in the +wall. The only possible means of exit was to cut a hole in it, and +this would be a matter of great toil, the wall being, as some one +had told us, ten feet thick. It consisted, so far as we could tell +from the inside, of solid blocks of stone cemented together, and +when, at an odd moment when no one was looking, I tried to scrape +away some of the cement between two of the stones, I found that it +was almost as hard as the stone itself. + +To cut through ten feet of such solid material was a task that +might have caused any one to despair. Still, it was the only course +open to us, and I have never known any task too hard for patience +and determination. Joe and I decided that we must gradually scrape +away the cement around one of the blocks until we could remove this +altogether, and then work at the next one, and the next, until we +had pierced right through to the open air. + +Apart from the toilsomeness of the task, there were risks to be +feared and provided against. First; one or another of the soldiers +inspected our dormitory every day. This inspection, 'tis true, had +become somewhat perfunctory, the man being content, as a rule, to +mount the ladder until his head was a foot or two above the level +of the floor, throw a hasty glance around, and descend again. The +second risk was more serious. Since we could hear at night the +tramp of the sentry going his round of the battlements, it was +probable that, however quietly we might work, the sentry would hear +the sound of scraping as he passed above. If the wall had been +wainscotted, he might suppose such sounds to be caused by the +gnawing of mice; but there was no likelihood of mice making their +habitat in a thick stone wall. Further, even if we should so +contrive that our task of scraping was interrupted when the sentry +passed, there was still the danger that the sound might attract the +attention of the men in the adjoining dormitory. If they should get +any suspicion of what was toward, it would soon be common talk +among the whole body of prisoners, and some whisper of it would +certainly reach the ears of the guard. + +In order to lessen this risk, Joe and I decided to begin our work +at a stone measuring three feet by two, in the right-hand corner of +the dormitory, farthest removed from the partition dividing us from +the next, and a foot or two above the floor, so that a bed could be +pushed against the wall and hide all signs of our operations in +case a sudden visit of inspection was made. + +These preliminaries having been settled by Joe and myself, the time +was come for taking our roommates into our confidence. I did not +disguise from myself that we were staking a great deal on their +loyalty, and even more on their silence, for the slightest whisper +of the plot outside our own little company would be fatal. There +were ten of us bandsmen altogether. At first I thought of speaking +to the men individually, and thus testing their courage and +enterprise. But on reflection I decided that what was most +requisite to our success was a corporate spirit, which could be +best engendered by opening the matter to them as a body. +Accordingly, one evening, when we were assembled in the dormitory +for a practice, I took the fateful plunge. + +I am not an orator, and I shall not set down here the words in +which I addressed them. Suffice it to say that they listened very +attentively, not at first perceiving the full drift of my meaning, +so careful was I to feel my way with them. They held me in some +special consideration, which I no doubt owed partly to Joe +Punchard, who had told them something of my story, and when at +length I declared plainly our intention to escape, asked them if +they would join hands with us, and impressed on them the necessity +of maintaining silence about it, they one and all promised that +never a word should pass their lips. + +As to the scheme itself, when I unfolded its details, they were +somewhat dubious, and, strangely enough, the most enthusiastic in +its favor was little Runnles, the melancholy flute player, and the +most doubtful was the bosun, whose physical courage was equal to +anything, but who was daunted by what appealed more particularly to +the moral qualities of patience and endurance. He dwelt +lugubriously on the difficulties I have already mentioned, and +shook his head when I combated his objections; but he agreed to +throw in his lot with the rest of us, and said that if we once got +clear of the walls, and there was any fighting to do, he would +break any Frenchman's head as soon as look at him. + +Nothing remained now but to begin operations, and I soon found that +the demands upon our patience would be even more exacting than I +had supposed. We divided our company of ten into five watches, each +to take a spell of two hours' work. One night, as soon as all was +quiet, Joe and I set to work, he with a chisel which he had used in +making our new instrument, I with my clasp knife. Very gently, so +as to avoid noise, we began to scrape away at the mortar between +the block of stone we had selected for removal and the one below +it. + +Runnles hit upon a capital way of warning us of the approach of the +sentry within earshot. He tied a string to Joe's leg, and gave it a +tug when he heard the tramp of footsteps above. Then we desisted +for a minute or two, resuming our work when the footsteps had died +away. + +At the end of our two hours' spell we were disappointed at the +little we had been able to do. Two small heaps of dust lay at the +foot of the wall, but the impression on the hard mortar or cement +had been but slight, and I was appalled to think of the weeks that +must elapse before we had cut completely round the stone. But I +professed myself well satisfied with the start we had made, and we +handed over our tools to Dilly and Tolliday, the next couple, with +encouraging words. + + + +Chapter 16: Across The Moat. + + +It would be tedious to chronicle the stages of our progress, the +hopes and fears, the anxieties and suspense, which in turn laid +hold of me. Night by night for a week, in pitch darkness and bitter +cold, we scraped away the cement, carrying away in the morning in +our pockets the dust that fell, and disposing of it in the +sweepings of the courtyard. + +Once we had a great scare. In the dead time of night we heard +footsteps, and voices in the room below our dormitory, and gave all +up for lost. We stole into our beds, and lay in that painful state +of shortened breath and quickened pulse which the expectation of +ill induces. But by and by the voices ceased; we heard the closing +of the door below; whatever their errand had been (and we never +knew it) the men of the guard had returned to their quarters, and +after a few minutes' pause we were again out of bed and at our +work. + +At the end of a week it happened as I had feared. The men's +patience gave out. The bosun was the first to yield. After his two +hours' spell of labor he rose from the cramped position it entailed +and swore he would do no more. The men whose turn it was to follow +refused to get out of bed, and Joe and I, who, having worked our +spell were fast asleep, knew nothing of the mutiny until the +morning. Then, though I was nigh despairing, I affected +cheerfulness, said that we had all been working too hard, and +declared for a couple of nights' holiday. + +I did not blame or expostulate, and the wisdom of my course was +vindicated on the third night, when, without a word being said, the +bosun and Runnles took up their tools and set to work again. I +learned afterwards that Runnles had employed himself during the two +days in quietly encouraging the others, and I think it was the +persistence of the little man that shamed them into perseverance. + +Night by night for three weeks we toiled on, and then were +bountifully rewarded. We had scraped away the cement between the +stone we had selected and those around it, and by prying it with +our chisel and one or two other tools we had now procured, we +gradually forced it inwards and at length lifted it out and laid it +on the floor. It was the middle of the night, but all the men were +awake, and in the excitement of the occasion the bosun uttered a +shout of triumph, cursing himself immediately afterwards for his +folly. The sentry above stopped, and by and by a soldier came into +the room below and up the ladder and demanded what was the matter. +Luckily I had the presence of mind (and by this time sufficiency of +French) to make answer pat. + +"'Tis the big man in a nightmare," I said with a laugh, "dreaming +he heads a boarding party." + +"Mad dream!" says the Frenchman with a chuckle, and went down again +without entering the room. + +We longed for daylight to reveal the full extent of our success, +yet dared not wait for it, for the stone was heavy, and it would +take some time to replace it, and since we were always visited soon +after daybreak we feared to be intruded on before we had put it +back and removed the traces of our work. So we set it again in its +place and for the rest of the night slept the sound sleep of +contentment. + +But this success spurred me on to devise some means of easing the +work yet to be done. The stone was two feet broad; if the wall was +ten feet thick there were four more like it still to be removed, +and at the same rate it would be three months before we could +tunnel through to the air. And thinking of this my heart fell, for +there was not room in the cavity left by the stone for two men to +work abreast, so that it might indeed be four months before we saw +the end of our toil. I determined, therefore, by some means or +other to procure a light, by whose aid I could explore the hole and +see if the next stone was cemented with the same care. + +It chanced that that day we had for dinner a very fat piece of +beef. I took advantage of this to pocket some lumps of fat, +intending to make a candle with it and a wick composed of some +twisted threads from my shirt. The difficulty was to kindle the +candle when made, for none of us had a tinder box, though we had +steel in our chisel and could easily break a piece of stone from +the slab we had loosened. + +Tolliday was equal to this, however. He pretended that one of the +screws of his fiddle had swelled, so that it would not turn freely +in the hole, and he got us to ask one of the soldiers to lend him +his tinder box, so that he might make a fire of shavings and heat a +skewer red hot, with which to burn away the hole. All unsuspicious, +the man lent him the box, which, when it was returned to him had +somewhat less tinder in it than before. + +That night, and during the remaining weeks of our work, we had a +candle. We screened the light very carefully, you may be sure, so +that it should not shine through the grating in the wall on the +courtyard, and attract the soldiers' notice. + +The stone having been removed, I crawled into the opening, holding +the candle, and could scarcely check a cry of joy as I perceived +that our task would henceforth be much lighter than I had supposed. +At the end of the hole, instead of another stone cemented like the +first, as I expected, there was a mass of rubble. I could not doubt +that the whole of the interior of the wall consisted of this +material, and that we should encounter no more blocks of stone +until we came to the outer layer of the wall. + +It was easy to understand now why castles deemed impregnable were +sometimes battered down. A thickness of ten feet of stone might +withstand any bombardment, but once the outer stones were pierced, +the lighter material would offer but little resistance to cannon +shot. + +That was an afterthought, however; my reflection at the moment was +that liberty was nearer to us by several weeks. Being acquainted +with my discovery, my comrades made no ado when I suggested that we +should now remove another of the stones of the inner wall, so that +we might more easily get at the rubble. Filled with a new spirit of +cheerfulness, they worked with such ardor that in ten nights we +were able to lay a second stone alongside of the first. + +But we were now confronted with a new difficulty. It had been easy +enough to dispose of the cement dust: it was quite another thing to +get rid of the vast quantity of small stones and pieces of brick +which now had to be removed. Further, if we cleared all the rubble +from the middle of the wall between us and the outside, there would +be no support for the slabs of the battlement above, and however +firmly they were cemented, it was not improbable that they would +sink in and betray us. + +The latter predicament we could but ignore for the present. For the +disposal of the rubble, after some thought I hit upon a plan that +proved entirely successful. + +When all was quiet one night, Joe and I descended the ladder which +led from our dormitory to the room below, and lifted, after some +trouble, one of the planks of the floor. As I had hoped, it was not +laid immediately on the ground; a space of two feet deep had been +left. Into this hole night by night we cast the rubble we scooped +out from the wall, carefully replacing the plank when we had done. +We moved always with bare feet, carrying the stuff in our pillow +cases. When I consider how many slight accidents might have marred +our work and utterly undone us, I can not but think that we were in +some sort watched over by Providence. Our life aboard ship had made +us sure footed; but that we were able to work for weeks without +betraying ourselves by a sound or the neglect of some precaution I +ascribe to something higher than ourselves. + +To come to an end of this part of my story, after several weeks' +work at the rubble we once more encountered stone. Before attacking +this, we waited for a night or two. We no longer had any fear of +the slabs of the battlement falling; the cement was clearly strong +enough to bear the weight of the passing sentry; but I had some +apprehension that as he tramped along the man might discover the +hollowness below him by the ringing of his feet on the stones. But +two nights sufficed to banish this fear also, and then we started +eagerly on the last portion of our task. + +The flight of time passes almost unnoticed when the moments are +well filled. Winter had given place to spring, and spring was now +merging into summer. We had no almanac, and kept no account of the +days; it was by the lengthening daylight and shortening darkness +and the new warmth in the air that we knew summer was at hand. The +long nights of winter would perhaps have been more favorable to our +escape, but, on the other hand, we should suffer more from +exposure, and moreover, I fancy no man is ever so brave in cold +weather as in warm. We prisoners, at any rate, worked now with more +zest than ever, heartened by the knowledge that if we did win to +freedom, we should find ourselves in a pleasant, sunny world. + +One night when Runnles and the bosun were at work, the chisel of +the former met with no further obstacle. Enlarging the hole he had +made, he set his eye to it, and whispered to the bosun to blow out +the candle. Then he crawled back into the room and told me in his +quiet way that he had seen the stars. Before morning the cement +round a stone somewhat larger than the one we first removed had +been scraped away, or pushed out into the moat, and we knew that +when we had hauled the stone back through the tunnel into the room +we should have made a hole large enough for the biggest of us to +pass through. + +My fears for the success of our enterprise were never greater than +at this moment when the way seemed open. The men were in so wild a +state of excitement that I was consumed with anxiety lest their +demeanor should arouse suspicion among our guardians. Before I went +down to the courtyard I spoke to them very earnestly, begging them +to keep a watch on themselves, and not betray by word, look or sign +that anything had happened to break the monotony of our life. + +They obeyed my injunctions almost too well, for a more silent, +morose, hangdog set of fellows could never have been seen; they +provoked jests from the prisoners of the other dormitories, who +declared that sure their music had made them all melancholy. + +"It must be tonight, Joe," I said, when, our morning tasks being +done, he and I went apart from the rest for a little private talk. +"If we delay it, I cannot answer for their behavior." + +"That is all very true, sir," said Joe; "but I can not see how we +are to manage it. There's a hole in the wall, to be sure, and a new +rope on the windlass of the well: but how we be going to get the +rope where 'tis needed is more than I can guess." + +"Don't you think that by tonight our drum will want washing?" I +said. + +He looked at me, clearly puzzled at what seemed a sudden change of +subject. + +"'Tis very dirty, to be sure; but washing it won't make it sound no +better, I reckon." + +"I rather think it will," I replied, and then I told him what I had +in mind. + +"'Tis a main risky trick, sir," he said dubiously. "If they should +happen to want another bucketful of water we're lost men." + +"We must risk something, Joe," I answered, "and fortune has so well +befriended us hitherto that I can't think she will balk us now." + +But I own that my anxieties increased as the day wore on, and my +melancholy countenance was doubtless a good match with the faces of +my comrades. When one of the other prisoners twitted me on my +lugubrious mien, I had an inspiration. + +"We are saving our cheerfulness for the concert tonight," I said. +"'Twill be the best we have ever given, and we shall never give a +better." + +And for the rest of the day there was a great buzz of talk among +the men about the announcement I had made, and a great deal of +laughter at our mournful preparation for a cheerful entertainment. + +Late in the afternoon, when water drawing had ended for the day, I +went to one of the soldiers and asked if I might be allowed to wash +our big drum. + +"Why, 'twill spoil it," he cried. "You'll get no sound out of a wet +skin." + +"I shall only wash one side," I replied, "and it will give a +thicker sound than the dry one, and so add to the variety of the +piece we are going to play." + +"Well, wash it then," he said, and went off grinning to tell his +comrades of this latest whimsy. + +I fetched the drum from the corner of the room where it lay, and +carried it to the well within the keep. The members of the band +were in the secret, and I had asked them to hold the attention of +the other prisoners while I set about my task. The well was +situated in a somewhat gloomy corner, and, there being none of the +garrison at hand, I was able to accomplish my purpose unobserved +and without interference. Having drawn up a bucketful of water, I +unhooked the bucket, unwound the rope until there were but a few +feet still left upon the windlass, then cut it, made a gash in the +side of the drum, and coiled the lower and longer portion of the +rope in the interior of the instrument. Then I tied the bucket to +what remained of the rope, and lowered it into the well, where it +hung only a few feet from the surface, but quite out of sight in +the darkness. This done, I carried the drum across the yard, +turning its broken side away from the soldiers, who stood smoking +against the wall, and who laughed when they saw the water dripping +from the instrument upon the flagstones. + +The prisoners were all grouped in a ring about Joe Punchard, who +was amusing them with a strange dance of his own invention. He bent +his knees till he was almost sitting on the ground, and in that +position danced a sort of hornpipe--a feat that must have imposed a +terrible strain upon his inwards, but which he seemed to perform +with consummate ease. The men were so intent upon his antics that I +passed them by unnoticed, and gained the lower room of the shed, +where I whipped the rope out of the drum and ran with it up into +the dormitory, hiding it under one of the beds. I was down again in +a minute, and then, tearing the membrane jaggedly to disguise the +fact that it had been cut, I went out into the yard, and when Joe +had finished announced with an air of vexation that I had unluckily +made a hole in the drum. At this my fellow bandsmen abused me with +a fine show of anger, the bosun in particular storming at me with a +violence at which I had much ado not to smile. + +The other men laughed, and made fun of our mishap, which boded ill +for the success of our concert. But when we had eaten our evening +meal, we got our instruments and played until the sun went down, +with a gusto which certainly we had never shown before. For the +nonce I gave up the castanets to the bosun, and beat the drum +myself, thumping it on its sound side joyously. The soldiers +gathered round and gave us very hearty applause; and when Runnles, +to conclude the program, played them on his flute the air of Au +clair de lune, which he had picked up from one of them, they +cheered him to the echo. + +I hoped that there was nothing ominous in the choice of this old +song to end our concert. Moonlight would be fatal to our +enterprise; and I was quite ignorant whether the moon rose early or +late. But we had gone so far that our attempt must be made this +very night, for with the morning the cutting of the rope would +without doubt be discovered; the alarm would be given, and the +ensuing search would bring to light not merely the severed rope, +but our operations upon the wall. + +We went up into our dormitory, taking with us our instruments as +usual, among them the bass viol of our invention. This was to serve +as our raft. We waited for several hours with feelings painfully +tense. None of us was inclined to talk; my nine comrades were, I +doubt not, wondering as anxiously as I myself what the issue of our +attempt would be. + +When all was quiet, the strongest of them removed the stone at the +inner end of the tunnel, and set it down with many precautions on +the floor. Then Runnles, being a little man, crawled to the other +end and looped the rope about the loosened stone there. This we +hauled inwards an inch at a time, stopping after every pull to +listen. It seemed endless work to drag it into the room, but at +last it was done, and we set the stone alongside the other. + +Our way was now clear. I had insisted on being the first to +descend, though Joe Punchard and two other men volunteered for that +office, pleading that they were mariners of longer standing than I, +and therefore fitter for the climbing work. But this I would by no +means agree to--the suggestion and the plan being mine, it was meet +that I should be the first to face what perils it might involve. +Accordingly, I first crawled through the tunnel to see whether the +aspect of the sky favored an immediate descent, and, being +reassured on that point, I went back into the room to make the +final preparations. + +We stripped a plank from one of the truckle beds and placed it +across the opening, one end of the rope being knotted about its +middle; the knots were firm, you may be sure, as none but sailors +can make them. Then, taking the other end of the rope, I went to +the outward end and lowered it very gently towards the moat, +knowing that it would not be seen in the darkness by the sentry on +the battlements above even if he chanced to look over, and to that +he would have no temptation. + +There was a good deal of doubt among us as to whether the rope was +long enough for our purpose. The bosun, who had crawled after me, +whispered he was sure it was too short. And when I had let it down +to its full length and drawn it up again, as yard after yard it +came dry through my fingers I began to fear that the bosun was +right. But at last the rope left a slimy wetness upon my hands, and +I rejoiced to find that two or three yards of it had fallen into +the water. + +Our next step was to draw the rope wholly into the dormitory and +fasten its wet end to the bass viol. On the top of this, it will be +remembered, there were two S-shaped openings which we had cut to +make it serviceable as a sound board. These Joe had now covered +over with the broken skin of the drum, to make the box water tight. +We pushed it through the tunnel, and I let it down into the moat, +very slowly, so that it might not strike the wall and draw the +sentry's attention. When the rope was paid out to its full length I +wrapped a coil of bast about my shoulders, and, having suspended +from my neck a short plank from the head of the bed, I bade the men +in a whisper to remember the further plan we had arranged, and made +my way down the rope--a feat that offered no difficulty to a seaman +even so little practiced as I. + +Coming safely to our musical raft, I was not long in discovering it +to be a very cranky thing, so that I had to keep my hold of the +rope in order to maintain my balance. But in a short time I was +able to defeat the raft's attempts to turn turtle, and then, +kneeling on it, still gripping the rope, I looked anxiously for +signs that the attention of the sentry on the battlements had been +awakened. But I heard his footsteps approach and recede at the same +measured pace; 'twas clear he suspected nothing; and without more +delay I began to work the raft towards the far side of the moat, +using the short plank I had brought with me as a paddle. So that no +sound of splashing might rise to betray us, at every stroke I dug +the paddle into the mud, which, as I had suspected, came to within +a little of the surface; indeed, the depth of water was barely +sufficient to float the raft, with my weight on it. + +A most unsavory odor resulted from the stirring of the mud; but a +greater inconvenience was the tendency of the raft to lurch. +Holding on to the rope with one hand, I instinctively pulled upon +it to maintain my equilibrium when I felt myself toppling, with the +result that the raft moved backward, and I had to begin my punting +again. Fortunately, the width of the moat was little more than +thrice the length of my crazy craft, in spite of whose instability +I succeeded in reaching the opposite side. + +Here, however, I found that my difficulties were by no means over. +The water was low in the moat, and the bank, perfectly free from +vegetation, rose almost vertically to a height of six or eight +feet. On a moonlit night I must have been seen if the sentry had +glanced in my direction; dark as it was, I feared it was not so +dark but that my moving shape might be descried. I waited: not +hearing the sentry's footsteps, I began to fear the worst; but +finding after a time that no alarm had been given, and that all was +still about me, I first fastened the coil of bast I had brought on +my shoulders to the end of the rope where it was knotted about the +raft, and then began to clamber up the bank, somewhat incommoded by +having to keep a hold of the bast with one hand. + +Careful as I was, I yet dislodged one or two clods of earth as I +climbed, which fell with a dull splash into the water. I went cold +with apprehension, and clung to the face of the bank, not daring to +make a movement. There were no fowl upon the moat; the splash I had +made was louder than any frog could have made; surely the +unaccustomed sound must this time have caught the sentry's ear! But +all was silent; maybe he was asleep; and in another few moments I +gained the top of the bank, breathless, rather, I suspect, from +excitement than exertion. + +It seemed a very long time since I had left my comrades above: +doubtless it had seemed even longer to them. So, after the briefest +of pauses to recover my breath, I gave three sharp tugs upon the +bast line, which were immediately answered by three similar tugs: +this was the signal I had arranged with Joe. The tension on the +line was relaxed; Joe, hauling at the rope, was drawing the raft +gently back across the moat to its former position at the foot of +the wall. There was a short interval; then I knew from the jerking +of the bast line that a man was descending the rope, and when he +was almost level with me I saw his form very dimly. When I learned +from the cessation of the jerks that he was safe on the raft, I +hauled in my line, ferried the man across, and, leaning over, gave +him a helping hand up the bank. It was little Runnles. + +"I've got my flute, sir," he whispered with strange inconsequence +as he came to my side. + +"Lie on the ground and don't stir," I whispered back. + +Again I gave three tugs, and the same sequence of events ensued. +One by one the men came down the rope, crossed the moat on the +raft, and joined me on the bank. We had no difficulty with any of +them but the bosun, whose massy frame so much depressed the raft +that it took the united exertions of six of us to haul it through +the upper layer of mud. + +Joe Punchard came last of all. When with his arrival our little +party of ten was complete, we crawled on hands and knees one by one +to the shelter of a thicket that stood some fifty yards away, and +then consulted in whispers how we were to shape our course. + + + +Chapter 17: Exchanges. + + +I have been many a time surprised to observe the strange volatility +of sailormen. They will pass in an instant from jollity to woe, +and, when just snatched from the jaws of death, will give the rein +to jests and sportiveness as if life were nothing but a perpetual +holiday. Some of my comrades were perfectly hilarious, and began to +talk and laugh as freely as they might in the forecastle, far from +a hostile shore. I had to warn them very earnestly against so +imperiling the safety of us all; but Joe Punchard's admonitions +were more effective than mine, for in a harsh whisper he roundly +abused them, threatening with many offensive terms to leave them to +their fate if they did not instantly cease and obey me as their +captain. + +Their intelligence being penetrated with some notion of the +exceeding danger of our situation, the noisy ones kept silence and +agreed to follow my behests. This threw on me a task of great +hazard and responsibility, for we were strangers in a strange land, +and I had no knowledge of our whereabouts, nor a clearly defined +plan of action. Gathering them in a knot about me, so that all +could hear my lowest whisper, I put to them the situation as I +conceived it. + +"By God's mercy we have succeeded thus far," I said, "but the +greatest of our dangers lie still before us. I know nothing of this +country, nor does any of us, and in a few hours day will dawn, our +escape will be discovered, and there will be a hue and cry after us +for miles around. What we want to do is to make the coast and +borrow a boat in which we may set sail for England." + +"Ay, ay," was the general grunt. + +"Ay, indeed," I went on, "but we know not in what direction the +coast lies, nor would it be safe for us to attempt to reach it yet. +When our absence is known, the Frenchmen will assuredly suspect +that the coast will be our aim, and they will have it watched for +miles, so that even if we found a boat and got to sea (in which we +might fail), we should certainly be espied and chased and caught. +What we must do, as it seems to me, is to strike into the country +and find a hiding place where we may lie until the first alarm has +passed, and then endeavor by some means to learn of a secluded +fishing hamlet whither we may steal our way by night. Can you +suggest a better plan?" + +For a brief space there was silence; then the bosun said: + +"If we can not tell the way to the coast, neither can we know if we +be going inland, and so we may stumble into the very danger we +ought to avoid." + +"There is the north star above us," I replied, "and by going south +it would appear that we shall go away from the sea. I propose, +then, that we turn our backs on the star and march southward, +trusting to find some wood or perchance some ruin where we may lurk +a day or two." + +"And our bellies empty," groaned Tolliday. + +"Let us hope not," I said. "We may come upon some fruit gardens +where we can find enough to keep us from starvation. But if we must +fast, then I warrant we, being Englishmen, can endure our pangs for +a day. Time is passing; 'tis gone midnight, if I guess right, and +since move we must, I speak for moving at once." + +No other course suggesting itself, we set off, and, having the good +luck to strike a road, we marched along in dogged silence for what +must have been a couple of hours. We passed but one house, and that +was in total darkness, and if any person in it had been awake, our +passage would not have been heard, for we were all barefooted but +three, myself and two others. + +After pausing a while to rest, we set off again, and tramped on +until there was a hint of daybreak in the sky. Then, being utterly +weary (for none of us had enjoyed a full night's sleep for months), +we looked about for some spot where we might rest without danger. +We found ourselves between open fields, somewhat cut up by low +stone dykes, but with no buildings or copses that offered even a +temporary shelter. We had perforce to continue on our way, and +about half a mile farther on our eyes were gladdened by the sight +of a large, low, dismantled farmhouse lying somewhat back from the +road. It appeared at first to be a total ruin, and bore the marks +of fire upon its blackened walls: but on entering we discovered one +room that had some portion of a roof over it, and, better still, a +quantity of straw spread about the floor. We were gathering this up +to make rough beds of it, when we perceived a trap door in the +floor, and it occurred to me that if it led down to a dry cellar, +such as were not uncommon in farmhouses in England, this would +prove a more secure refuge than the room on a level with the road. + +Lifting the trap door, I found that it was even as I hoped. The +cellar beneath was large, and dimly illuminated through a grating +let into the wall just above the level of the ground. I perceived, +too, that it had a door, so that in the unlikely event of our +re-entrance by the trap door being prevented, we could still escape +into the open. There was straw also in the cellar, and it did not +take us many seconds to decide that here we would lay down our +tired bodies and gain some sleep. My purpose was, after resting, to +go exploring alone, trusting to my knowledge of the French tongue +to procure some food and also to learn something of the lie of the +land, for there must assuredly be a habitation somewhere in the +neighborhood. + +We all descended into the cellar, closing the trap door after us, +and gladly stretched our limbs upon the straw. It did not appear +necessary to keep a watch. The farm had clearly not been inhabited +for many years, and there was no reason to fear that our rest would +be disturbed. Even when the pursuit of us should be begun, it was +in the highest degree unlikely that it would tend in this +direction. The road was hard after a period of dry weather, and we +had left no foot tracks to betray us. But as a precaution I went +out by the cellar door, ascended a short flight of steps and made +my way to the upper room again, where I spread some straw on the +trap door, to hide it from any chance visitor. Then I returned to +the cellar. Our fatigue was so great that in a few moments we were +all asleep. + +I was awakened by a touch on my arm. I sat bolt upright in an +instant. Runnles was leaning over me, with his finger at his lips. +The other men were already awake, and seeing, I suppose, a look of +inquiry on my face, Runnles whispered: + +"I wakened them first, 'cos they was snoring." + +And then I became aware that it was precisely the unexpected that +had happened. There were people in the room above. I heard +footsteps and voices, and then felt no little alarm when another +sound reached my ears--a sound that I could not mistake. It was the +sound of muskets being stacked. + +We looked at one another in mute dismay. Had our pursuers hit upon +our tracks at once? It seemed scarcely credible. Yet for a minute +or two I waited in a kind of paralysis, expecting the trap door to +open and a posse of armed soldiers to descend. My anxiety on this +score soon vanished, however, for I heard a heavy thump on the trap +door above, and guessed that either something had been thrown upon +it or that one of the intruders had unwittingly chosen it for his +seat. This, with the previous stacking of the arms, seeming to +indicate that the visitors intended to make some stay, and had no +suspicion of our presence. + +I determined to set my fears finally at rest (and, I must own, also +to satisfy my curiosity) by stealing out and taking a peep at them, +if they had left the door open. Whispering my comrades to remain +perfectly silent, I slipped off my boots, quickly opened the door, +and went very cautiously round to the front part of the house. + +The first object that caught my eyes was a horse standing tethered +in what had been the ruins of a barn adjoining the farmhouse. +Creeping up to the door, which had been left ajar, I peeped in, and +saw a party of French soldiers seated on the floor, eating bread +and sausages, and drinking from little tin cans. My mouth watered +at the sight of this food after more than twelve hours of fasting, +but I was not conscious of this till afterwards. The party +consisted of seven men. One, somewhat apart from the rest (it was +he who had sat himself on the trap door), was clearly an officer. +He was a tall, lean man of some forty years; he had unbuttoned his +coat and laid his hat, in which there was a white cockade, beside +him. At a respectful distance from him sat the others of the party. + +For some time they ate their meal in silence, the men, I suppose, +not daring to converse in the presence of their captain. But by and +by the officer, his hunger being some whit appeased, unbent a +little from his dignity and addressed a stout little sergeant among +the party. + +"It is twelve years since I was here before, Jules," he said, and +there was a noticeable air of condescension in his tone; it was as +though he did the sergeant a mighty favor in speaking at all. + +"Yes, monsieur," said the sergeant, as if humbly inviting him to +continue. + +"Yes, twelve years ago," the officer repeated. "I have reason, +truly, to know it again. Those were the days of the Conversions, +Jules. You don't know what the Conversions were? I will tell you. +There were cursed Huguenots in the country then, Jules, bad +citizens, unruly rascals every one of them, and our good king +commanded that they should instantly return to the true faith. Some +of them were obstinate, and they, see you, had to be converted. We +called it conversion by lodgings, and, my faith, it was excellent +sport. They quartered some of us on any household that was +unwilling to obey the king, and there we remained until they saw +the error of their ways. + +"My faith! some were hard to convert. The owner of this place, for +instance. We were here for a month, and never lived better in our +lives. The fool! He had a pretty daughter, too, and I fell in love +with her. The farmer objected, and one day had the insolence to +strike me. That was treason, of course, and the least we could do, +especially as he was so obstinate in the matter of his conversion, +was to burn his farm. He shot one of my men while we were at the +work, and--well, we hanged him. That was twelve years ago." + +The sergeant laughed. I, who had heard something from my father of +King Lewis' treatment of his Huguenot subjects--of the Dragonnade, +as it was called, and the sufferings of the poor people at the +hands of the brutal soldiery--I, who knew of this, was shocked at +the callous levity of the captain's speech; and I could have struck +the fat, foolish face of the sergeant for his chuckle. + +"What fools men are!" the captain went on. "Who would have supposed +that these rascals of deserters would make for the very place where +they would most readily be discovered! But all these peasants are +simpletons. If you, now, were to desert, Jules, you would not +return to Meaux, would you? You are a townsman, and have more +sense. But these peasants--bah! cattle, no more." + +I thought the sergeant's laugh at this rang a trifle hollow. He was +not a soft-hearted man in appearance, but perhaps he had some +fellow feeling for poor men dragged from their work at the plough +to serve in the army of the Grand Monarque. His next words +surprised me, for I had not understood the captain's reference to +deserters. + +"Shall we give them something to eat, mon capitaine?" he asked. + +"Decidedly not," said the officer with an oath. "They have led us a +pretty dance, and what's the good of food to men about to be shot!" + +"But they may fall from exhaustion before we reach Rennes," +suggested the sergeant, "and that may cause delay. They have had +nothing for near twelve hours, mon capitaine, and marching best +part of the time." + +"Well, give them a crust," said the captain, lazily throwing +himself back on the straw; "but it is waste, sheer waste." + +The sergeant rose and, taking some scraps of food, crossed the room +and disappeared from my sight. I knew now that the deserters of +whom they had spoken were actually in the place with them, and +found myself pitying the fate of men who had had the ill luck to +fall into the hands of so coldly brutal an officer as this captain. + +Then I turned about with a start, having the strange feeling--for +I heard nothing--that someone was moving behind me. It was Runnles. +He came towards me stealthily, wearing that meek, shy look of his, +and told me in a whisper that Joe Punchard had sent him to see what +had become of me. At the sight of him a fantastic notion buzzed +into my head. I caught him by the sleeve and whispered eagerly in +his ear, his eyes becoming two round O's with excitement as he +listened. He stole away again, and I turned once more to my +business of eavesdropping. + +"They eat like pigs," I heard the captain say to the sergeant, who +had returned to his lair on the straw. "These peasants never lose +the ill manners bred in them. And those English dogs who have +escaped from prison--how do I know they are peasants, too, Jules?" + +"I can not tell, mon capitaine," says the sergeant. + +"Why, because you may be sure they have done a foolish thing, like +these deserters of ours. They are seamen; depend upon it, they have +made straight for the coast, and we shall soon hear that they have +been taken." + +I could not help smiling at the ingenuousness of the captain's +reasoning. + +"My faith!" he went on, "I wish we were going from Rennes to St. +Malo instead of from St. Malo to Rennes. I should have loved to +join in the hunt for the rascals, and I doubt not you, Jules, would +be glad enough to get some portion of the reward offered for their +capture. Ah, well! the others will have the luck; but I would give +something to see those English dogs when--" + +And here I pushed wide the door. + +"Am I permitted to enter, messieurs?" I said in my best French, and +giving the captain a pleasant smile. Lying at full length with his +head on his arms, he could not clearly see me. The men stared at +me, but did not move nor speak, waiting dutifully for their +officer. He raised himself on his elbow. + +"Who are you?" he asks, looking me up and down from my bare feet to +my unkempt head. + +"I, monsieur," said I steadily, though my heart was thumping at a +furious rate--"I, monsieur, am one of the English dogs--at your +service." + +This announcement was sufficiently startling to account for the +temporary paralysis that seemed to have fallen on the party. They +stared at me, speechless. During that moment I had thrown a rapid +glance to my left. The three deserters were lying against the wall; +between them and me were the stacked muskets of the soldiers. + +While the men were still fixed in their astonishment, I sprang +three paces to the left, caught up the muskets in both arms, and +dashed towards the door. That released them from the spell; the men +jumped to their feet and rushed after me. What happened to the +captain I learned afterwards from Joe. He suddenly found himself +heaved up into the air: four brawny arms had shoved up the trap +door on which he was lying, my dash for the door having been the +signal I had communicated to them through Runnles. When the officer +came sprawling down on the straw again, some feet away from his +former position, he was pounced on by Joe and the bosun, who made +short work of tying him up with his own sword strap. + +Meanwhile the rest of my comrades had run out of the cellar door, +and joined me just in time to receive the charge of the six +Frenchmen who had followed me from the house. Fortunately for us, +what with surprise and haste, the Frenchmen had not drawn their +swords, so that the fight that ensued beneath the ruined wall of +the farm was waged on fairly even terms. And when it comes to a +contest in which nature's weapons are employed, I never yet met +combatants to match sturdy English tars. There were six Frenchmen, +and my comrades (Joe and the bosun being busy with the captain) +numbered seven, but of these Dilly was old and Runnles was small, +and, coming up in the rear of the rest, they two had no part in the +fight. Nor had I, for when they engaged my arms were full of the +muskets; and when I had laid these on the ground I saw that one of +the Frenchmen, evidently foreseeing how the matter must end, left +his fellows and ran fleetly towards the horse, which was looking +with serene indifference at the scene. I sprinted after him; he had +only a few yards' start, and knew that he was pursued, for he +swerved out of the direction in which he was running, seeing, no +doubt, that he would not have time to untether the horse before I +was upon him. He turned aside, leapt a low dyke into a field, and +picked up his heels so nimbly that, though I was pretty quick of +foot, I was by no means sure of my power to overtake him. + +But he had left me the horse. Quickly untethering it, I mounted, and +set off after the runaway. And then my practice in cross-country +riding about Shrewsbury served me well; I did not hesitate to set +the beast at the dykes that divided the fields; he took them gamely, +and after five minutes of as mad a steeplechase as I ever enjoyed +I came up with the fugitive. He sprang aside, drew his sword, and +seemed to be for showing fight: but when I wheeled the horse and +threatened to ride him down he saw that the game was up, and, sullenly +surrendering his sword, marched back before me to the farm. + +Then I found that my comrades had already finished the business. +They had hauled the Frenchmen back into the room where their +captain lay, screeching abuse at Joe and the bosun, who smiled at +him encouragingly. The Frenchmen's faces bore marks of punishment; +several of them had signs of war upon their sleeves, which they had +used to stanch their noses. So loudly did the captain vituperate me +that I had to ask Joe to silence him; it was necessary for us to +hold a council of war, and quiet discourse was impossible while the +Frenchman raved. + +Joe chose a way as effective as it was simple. He caught up a +handful of straw and stuffed it between the officer's teeth. + +And now some of the circumstances reminded me of the similar +mischance that had befallen me on the Bristowe road. There also the +scene had passed in a ruined building strewn with straw. And the +recollection of the indignity I had suffered at the hands of Topper +and his fellows, coupled with the sight of the three deserters +lying manacled and open-mouthed against the wall, gave me an idea +that pleased me mightily. I had once changed clothes against my +will; why should not Monsieur le Capitaine learn humility in the +same way? He was about my height: his clothes would certainly fit +me better than Job the poacher's had done; and whereas my former +change had been for the worse, the change I contemplated should +turn out very much for the better, and so the whirligig of time +would have his revenges. + +I told my comrades what I had in mind. + +"All very well for you, sir," said the bosun bluntly, "but what +about us tars?" + +"Why, some of you can slip into the Frenchmen's clothes," I +replied. "You won't get a fit, I fear, bosun; you are overgrown" (I +smiled as the words others had used about me came unbidden to my +lips); "but the sergeant there is very much Joe Punchard's figure, +and five of you can make shift, I daresay. You would make quite a +pretty squad of Frenchmen, and show a little more brawn." + +"But what's the good, sir?" objected Tolliday. "We can't talk a +word of the lingo, and if your idea be to march through the country +till we can find a boat, bless my buttons if we can do it, 'cos the +first cuss I say will be the ruin of us." + +"I haven't told you all my plan yet," I said. "But first I must +speak to these poor fellows here: they are deserters and were on +the way to Rennes to be shot. + +"Take 'em outside, Joe." + +The plan I had in mind when seizing the Frenchmen was somewhat +hazy, but it was becoming clearer every moment, and, being spiced +with hazard, it appealed to all that was adventurous in my nature. + +When I had the deserters out of earshot of their late guards, I +asked them if they wished to regain their freedom, knowing well +what their answer would be. + +"Well," said I, "if I set you free now it may do you no good. You +have been caught once and may be caught again. But if you throw in +your lot with us there is a chance for you. We are English +prisoners who have escaped: join us, and we will try to take you to +England." + +They demurred to this. They did not want to go to England, where +they would be friendless and might starve. They would rather remain +in their own country, among their own kin. + +"But there is a France overseas," I said. "From England you may +perhaps sail by and by for Quebec, where you would be among your +own countrymen, and run little risk of being recognized. If you +stay here you will sooner or later be captured again and shot. A +new land is the place for you." + +They discussed this suggestion among themselves, and at length +agreed to make the attempt. I then returned to my comrades, and +explained to them more fully my design. It was nothing less than to +personate the French captain, and to lead my party across country +just as he had been doing. The three deserters would exchange their +peasant rags for the uniforms of three of the French soldiers, and +three of my comrades would wear the uniforms of the rest. I hoped +that with courage and address and circumspection we might contrive +to keep up the imposture long enough to accomplish our ends. + +My comrades, however, looked at the matter in a different light. + +"'Tis all very fine," said the bosun gloomily, "but what about the +lingo, sir? We may dress up as much as you like, but nohow can we +twist our tongues to the jabber of these Frenchies, and I could no +more march a score of miles without using my clapper than I could +steer without a rudder." + +"Then you will have to be wounded in the jaw," I said, "and Joe +will tie it up so that you can't open your mouth. We must pretend +that we had a desperate fight before we captured the deserters. We +must be very careful; I don't make light of the difficulties before +us, but we shouldn't be worth the name of English tars if we didn't +make the best use of this opportunity that Providence has offered +us." + +"But what about the rest of us?" said Tolliday. "There bean't +enough uniforms to go round." + +"Why," I said, with a sudden inspiration, "you shall be just what +you are, English seamen who have escaped prison. I shall give out +that as we were escorting our deserters we discovered you skulking +in a barn, and brought you along with us." + +My comrades were aghast at this, but I pointed out that my plan +would solve the language difficulty, and that if it succeeded in +one part it might succeed in all, whereas if it failed they would +be none the worse off. They admitted that this was reasonable, and +the humor of the situation suddenly striking them, they began to +enjoy it as an excellent joke. + +And then Runnles suggested a difficulty which had not occurred to +me: it may seem a mark of self-conceit, but it was really mere +thoughtlessness. He pointed out that though I spoke French well +(little Runnles was a man of tact!), yet it would not deceive a +native. He was undoubtedly right, and the suggestion staggered me. +Hoping to be reassured, I asked one of the deserters whether I +might pass as a Frenchman, and I own I felt deeply chagrined when, +with a shrug, he confessed that I would not. But one of his +comrades here broke in. + +"Pardon, monsieur," he said, "what matters it? That brute of a +captain is only a German Swiss; there are plenty such in the king's +army; and your French is as good as his." + +My spirits rose at this, and having told my comrades what he had +said, I determined to lose no more time in putting my plan into +execution. The changes of clothes were quickly made, not without +some struggles on the part of our victims, and a vast deal of +violent language from the captain, whom Joe again half choked with +straw. We soon had him and his men rigged up, gagged and manacled +as deserters; we borrowed (without leave) kerchiefs of various +colors which the Frenchmen had about them, and of them made +bandages for those who were to pass as wounded. Joe donned the +sergeant's clothes, and the bosun those of the largest of the +company, though they were a sad misfit. + +It struck us that we should make the imposture more complete if we +got a cart in which to convey our wounded men, so when the +preparations were otherwise complete I, attired as the French +captain, mounted his horse and, accompanied by two of the quondam +deserters (now appearing quite respectable infantrymen), set off to +find a farm where in the name of King Lewis I might demand what we +needed. We had to go some three miles before we came to a likely +looking farmhouse, and there, assuming an authoritative and +hectoring manner quite foreign to my amiable disposition, I secured +a wagon and two horses, for which I gave the farmer a formal +receipt. + +The sight of his dairy reminded me that I was hungry, and I added +to my requisition a good store of food, for which I knew my +comrades would bless me. For driver I picked out the stupidest +looking yokel I could find among the farmer's men, and then we +returned to the ruined farmhouse in triumph and not a little haste, +for I was eager to set my teeth in the bread and cheese we were +conveying. + + + +Chapter 18: In The Name Of King Lewis. + + +While we were appeasing our appetites, I got from the deserters an +inkling of our locality. They had been marching, as I knew, from +St. Malo to Rennes, but instead of keeping to the highroad through +Combourg, they had taken a short cut that saved several miles. It +passed through several hamlets, some of which, they said, could be +avoided; but there were others which we must take on our way, and +it was in these that we should be put to the test. + +I asked the men if they knew of any spot on the coast where we +might find a boat to convey us across the Channel, and after +consulting together they decided that the only likely place was the +little fishing town of Cancale, about ten miles east of St. Malo. +It had a harbor on the Bay of St. Michel, whence the luggers sailed +forth a little before sunset. I would rather have chosen a smaller +place, and one more distant from our late prison, but the men +assured me that there was no other so easily accessible, or so +likely to furnish the boat we needed; so I determined to put all to +the hazard and make for Cancale. It was, as nearly as they could +tell, about five and twenty miles from our present position, so +that we could not hope to reach it before night, and we had to +reconcile ourselves to the prospect of another day's march across +country on the morrow. + +We set off, a strange company indeed. One of the deserters led the +way; behind him went the cart containing the French captain and his +men, now passing as deserters, and all gagged; then came seven of +my comrades with their hands tied, the other two deserters marching +one on each side of them; and the rear was brought up by the bosun, +Joe and myself, and the two men being attired as French soldiers +and having their heads bandaged, their supposed wounds being +sufficient to account for their silence if they were addressed. + +Having plenty of time before us, we chose devious and little +frequented roads, the deserters who led us being fortunately +familiar with the district. We avoided the villages when we could, +but towards evening came to a hamlet which it was impossible to +shun, since only through it could we gain a ford at a stream that +crossed our route. + +The appearance of a party of soldiers aroused great interest among +the villagers. They came about us, asking who we were and whither +we were going. They were greatly excited when they learned that we +were escorting deserters and recaptured English prisoners. The real +deserters told a glib story of the furious fight they had had with +the villains (pointing to the unhappy officer and his men). The +villagers threw up their hands with shrill exclamations at this +moving recital, and, going up to the cart, gazen open-mouthed and +not without a secret sympathy at the prostrate forms. + +Then they asked why the deserters were gagged. At this I took up +the tale, explaining that they were desperate characters, and had +used such terrible language against his sacred majesty the king +that, as a loyal officer, I had sworn they should not speak again +until they were safely jailed in St. Malo. The captain's face was +distorted with rage as he listened to this libel: he flung his +manacled hands about and made frantic efforts to speak, which Joe's +gag was too thoroughly fixed to allow. + +"Voila!" said I, with a dramatic gesture; and the simple villagers, +taking the officer's writhings and gnashings as so much evidence of +his desperate wickedness, poured imprecations upon him for his +impiety, and declared that no punishment was too great for him. The +poor people had, I daresay, no great reason themselves for loving +their monarch, but they were anxious that their own loyalty should +be above suspicion. + +About the English prisoners they expressed their sentiments without +disguise. The English were their natural enemies, and they hurled +such abuse at my comrades that I felt some anxiety lest these +should cast off their cords (which were by no means closely tied) +and take summary vengeance on their revilers. Fortunately their +patience endured the strain, being aided by their ignorance of the +precise meaning of the opprobrious terms applied to them. + +The peasants told us we had come far out of the direct road to St. +Malo, and pressed us to stay the night in their village. But this I +would by no means consent to, for I was on thorns already lest +something should mar our plot, and was keeping a wary eye on our +wagoner, who, though slow-witted, was clearly in a state of great +uneasiness. Professing, then, that having missed our way we must +needs hurry on to make up for lost time, I listened patiently to +the minute and befogging directions given us for finding the St. +Malo road and ordered my party to march. But when we had gone some +few miles out of the village, and darkness was settling down, I +called a halt, and we rested till daylight in a field, taking it in +turns to watch. + +During the night I talked long with Joe Punchard about our course. +The good fellow was very uneasy, fearing that when it came to +negotiating for a boat our scheme would break down. + +"Pluck up heart, Joe," I said. "I own we are running a desperate +hazard, but so far we have had good luck, and 'tis a case of +grasping the nettle boldly." + +"But what reason can we give for hiring a boat, sir? If this +Cancale is but ten miles from St. Malo we can not say we are +sailing thither; 'twould be quicker to go by road." + +"Then we'll change our destination, Joe. We may do what we please +in this country in the name of the king, and provided there be no +soldiers in Cancale we have but to put on an impudent assurance to +weather through safely." + +I asked the deserters what other port besides St. Malo we might +give out to be our destination, and learning that Cherbourg was +some sixty or seventy miles to the northward, and by that much +nearer home, I determined to make that our aim. This involved +another difficulty, for the authorities in Cancale might reasonably +say that the prisoners having escaped from near St. Malo, should be +entrusted to them to convey back to their prison. But 'tis no good +meeting troubles halfway, and I resolutely kept my thought from +dwelling on the manifold dangers that bestrewed our path to +liberty. + +We so contrived our march next day that we arrived at the outskirts +of Cancale late in the afternoon, but with time enough, as I hoped, +to set sail before night. When I beheld the size of the place my +heart sank. I had imagined it to be little more than a village; but +found it a regular town (though small for that), its little +red-tiled houses clustering thick upon a height overlooking a bay. +We had already met and exchanged speech with some of the townsfolk, +and to retreat now might awaken suspicion. There was nothing for it +but to adventure boldly, and I made up my mind to this the more +readily because I had caught a glimpse of half a dozen fishing +smacks lying in the little harbor, and a larger vessel of perhaps +fifty tons moored to the jetty. + +With a word to my comrades to be alert and ready for anything that +might happen, I led the way at a quick pace into the town. I had +grave misgivings when I noticed that the streets were en fete, +flags flying at the windows, and people gossiping in knots at the +corners. But we had certainly come too far to retreat, so I boldly +accosted a red-capped fisherman and demanded to be led to the +mairie. + +As I walked along beside him I asked what was the occasion of the +festal appearance of the town, and learned with a disagreeable +shock that no other than the redoubtable Duguay-Trouin had that day +put into the harbor on the vessel that lay at the jetty. + +"A notable visitor, truly," I said, feeling that I had run into a +hornet's nest. "But surely that small vessel is not Monsieur +Duguay-Trouin's own ship, in which he works such havoc among the +English." + +"To be sure, monsieur," said the man, "that is an English prize. +His own ship lies in the offing there, towards the point; it draws +too much water to come into our harbor. And there is another prize +out there too: a big vessel, filled, so they say, with a valuable +cargo. Oh! without doubt Monsieur Duguay-Trouin is a hero, and the +English tremble at his name." + +"And why has he honored your little town with a visit?" I asked. + +"Why, Monsieur le Capitaine, it is because the English admiral +Benbow appeared off St. Malo this morning with four great ships, +and so Monsieur Duguay-Trouin could not carry his prize there, and +indeed had to make all sail to escape." + +Here was news indeed! It revived my drooping spirits; surely there +must be a providence in the proximity of Benbow. But I devoutly +hoped I should not encounter Duguay-Trouin. It was scarcely +probable that he would recognize me in my new attire, having paid +scant attention to me when I was among the prisoners on his deck, +but I trembled to think of the risk we all ran. + +"Here is the mairie," said my guide, stopping at a house above +which a flag was flying. + +I thanked him, and whispering Punchard to keep an eye on the +Frenchmen, and especially on the wagoner, I stepped boldly in and +confronted the maire, a little man with a cocked hat over his gray +wig. + +"Good evening, monsieur," I said pleasantly. + +The maire rose from his seat and returned my greeting. + +"I am taking some deserters to Cherbourg, monsieur," I continued, +"and I must beg of you to provide me tomorrow with a smack to +convey them thither." + +For the moment I said nothing about the prisoners. + +"A smack, monsieur!" said the maire. "But it is foolish. Does not +monsieur know that four English warships are in the neighborhood? +Monsieur would run great risk of being captured. I would recommend +that monsieur march to Cherbourg; he would then go quite safely." + +"That is perfectly true, monsieur," I said pleasantly', "but it is +a long and wearisome road; my men are already greatly fatigued by +their march from Rennes. The passage by sea would be much easier +and more comfortable, and moreover cheaper, and it is the duty of +all good Frenchmen to save his majesty expense." + +I could see that the maire was nettled. His reluctance to accede to +my demand was due, not so much to his fears for our safety--for +Benbow had higher game to fly at than a fishing vessel--as to his +indisposition to provision us for the voyage. Maybe he had had some +experience of the same sort before, and knew that, whatever +receipts might be given him for commodities supplied, he had little +chance of being reimbursed for such services rendered to King +Lewis. No doubt it was some recent soreness that prompted his reply +to my remark about all good Frenchmen. + +"To judge by his accent," he said, with a hint of a sneer, +"monsieur is not a Frenchman himself." + +At this I affected to be mightily huffed. Laying my hand on my +sword, and knitting my brows to a frown, I replied: + +"His majesty has honored me with a commission. No doubt if Monsieur +le Maire has any serious objections--" + +"Pardon, Monsieur le Capitaine," the maire hastened to say, alarmed +at my tone. "I was only concerned for monsieur's safety. Certainly +he shall have a smack, equipped as befits the servants of his +majesty." + +"That is well spoken, monsieur," I said. "Is it true, may I ask, +that Monsieur Duguay-Trouin is in your town?" + +"Not at this moment, monsieur." + +I thrilled with relief at this. + +"He has gone half a league eastward to the chateau of Monsieur le +duc de Portorson, having already sent a message to St. Malo to +acquaint the admiral that he was forced to put in here by the +appearance of the English warships." + +"And did he not fear that in his absence the English might swoop +down upon his vessel and the prizes he has captured?" I asked. + +"They are hidden behind the point, monsieur. Besides, the highest +part of our town commands a view of forty miles of sea, and we have +placed a man there who will fire a musket if a strange sail +appears." + +"Then I hope that we shall after all make our voyage to Cherbourg +in safety," I said with an air of satisfaction. "And now, will +monsieur be good enough to select the smack?" + +Before he could answer, a man who had just cantered up on horseback +entered and said: + +"Monsieur le Maire, Monsieur Duguay-Trouin is supping with Monsieur +le Duc. Will monsieur kindly acquaint the lieutenant in charge of +the brig at the jetty, and say that Monsieur Duguay-Trouin will +return before dark?" + +"Can not you take the message yourself?" said the maire, whose +temper I fear, had been ruffled by his interview with me. + +The man explained that he had been bidden to ride on without delay +to St. Malo; Monsieur Duguay-Trouin, he believed, was concerting a +plan to entrap the English vessels, and it was of particular +importance that the letter he bore should reach the admiral early. +The maire then agreed to have the message conveyed to the +lieutenant on the brig, and the horseman took his leave. + +During their short conversation, which I only partly heard, my +brain was whirling with a wild dance of notions the messenger's +tidings had suggested. When he had gone, I turned to the maire. + +"Monsieur," I said. "I think there is much soundness in the advice +you gave me just now. It will probably be safer for us to go to +Cherbourg by land. In that case, however, I must request you to +billet us for the night." + +"Assuredly, monsieur," said the little man, delighted at the turn +affairs had taken. "Of how many does your party consist?" + +"Of seven deserters and five soldiers." + +"A dozen," said the maire, rubbing his chin. "I fear I shall have +to ask some of my fellow townsmen to share in billeting you." + +"It is not to be heard of," I said, guessing that he wished to +distribute the expense. + +Not that I should have had any objection to that; but that it was +necessary to the design I had suddenly conceived that we should be +all together. + +"It will not be safe," I continued. "The deserters are desperate +fellows, and will need careful guarding. Besides, I have had the +good luck to capture some English prisoners who had escaped, and +they are too precious to be allowed out of my sight. My men must +take turns at watching during the night; if there were an outbreak, +it would not easily be quelled if we were separated." + +The maire had pricked up his ears at the mention of the prisoners. + +"Prisoners, monsieur!" he exclaimed. "You said nothing of them. We +have heard about them, and there is a reward offered for their +capture. If monsieur would deign to give us part of the reward--" + +"We will talk of that again, monsieur," I said. "I am in haste to +get to Cherbourg with the deserters; I can trust you, no doubt, to +guard the prisoners well until an escort can be sent for them from +St. Malo. In consideration of that, no doubt--" + +I broke off expressively, and the maire doubtless regarded his +share of the reward as secure, for he raised no more objections. He +accompanied me to the door, looked contemptuously at my comrades +(who were in a great state of anxiety, I can assure you, knowing +nothing of what I had in mind), and then went on to the wagon where +the supposed deserters were lying. On seeing him the captain +started up and with many contortions struggled to speak. + +"Why are they gagged, monsieur?" asked the maire. + +I repeated the explanation I had already given. + +"Terrible!" said the maire, and the captain grew purple in the +face. + +"You perceive I could not allow my men's ears to be defiled by the +language of such a ruffian," I remarked. + +"Perfectly, monsieur. Ah, scilerat!" he cried, shaking his fist at +the infuriate officer, and pouring out upon him a torrent of loyal +abuse which I find it impossible to translate. + +Then he turned to the bosun, and asked him how he had come by his +wound. The bosun was quick-witted enough to take my cue, and, +pointing to the captain, whose reputation as the most violent of +the deserters was clearly established, he made through his bandages +a series of grunts and roars which proved to the maire's +satisfaction that his jaw was very seriously damaged. And last of +all inspecting my comrades, who stood aside with trouble in their +faces, he bestowed on them sundry offensive epithets which I was +thankful they did not understand, for otherwise I am sure they +would have forgotten their part and endangered everything by +administering a castigation. + +The maire arranged to billet us all. Having seen my double set of +prisoners securely locked up, and the deserters with Joe and the +bosun accommodated in a room hard by, I offered to convey Monsieur +Duguay-Trouin's message myself to his lieutenant, saying that I +should be charmed to make the acquaintance of the deputy of so +renowned a seaman. The maire took this as a great mark of +condescension. Accordingly I went down to the jetty, not far below +the maire's house, and accosting the officer in charge, a +rough-spun seaman, I gave him the message, and then bantered him in +a tone of good humor. + +"So the English have been too much for you this time, lieutenant," +I said. "It is Benbow, they say; a terrible fire eater, is he not?" + +"Bah!" exclaimed the Frenchman. "Let him beware. He is no match for +Duguay-Trouin, and we'll beat him again as we have done before, +never fear." + +"But they say he is bottling up St. Malo," I said. + +"So he is," he replied with a laugh: "and while he is bottling up +St. Malo we shall slip by to Havre; trust Duguay for that." + +I asked him how the prizes had been captured, and he launched forth +into a long and vainglorious account (why must the French always +boast of their successes?). I affected to be greatly impressed by +his tale of daring, and invited him to sup with me, so that I might +hear more of his adventures at length. As I had guessed, he +replied, regretfully, that he could not leave the vessel. + +"I am not to be balked," I said. "I have set my heart upon it: one +does not get every day the opportunity of hearing of these glorious +exploits at first hand. If you cannot come to supper, then supper +shall come to you. Monsieur Duguay-Trouin would not object, I +presume, to my bringing a little entertainment on board." + +"My faith, no," replied the officer, taking this as a high +compliment. "I shall be charmed. I only regret that I cannot invite +you, monsieur, but our cook, together with all the crew but four, +is on shore for a spell, and I have no means of providing a repast +worthy of a gallant captain." + +I returned in haste to the maire, and informed the maire that I +should share my supper with the lieutenant, who had not enjoyed a +meal fit for a Frenchman for three weeks. The maire could raise no +reasonable objection, though I doubt not, being economical, he +grudged this extra demand upon his hospitality. As for me, I had no +scruples at getting, at the King's expense, the best meal possible +at such short notice. + +While it was preparing, I explained my design to Joe and the bosun. +They assented to it with enthusiasm; it was one that mightily +pleased them as sailormen; and appealed as much to their sense of +humor as to their love of daring. + +When the supper was ready, I told off two of the three deserters, +with Joe and the bosun, to carry it down to the brig on tables made +of boards, each laid on two muskets. The lieutenant received me +with open arms, and led me immediately to the captain's cabin. +Having placed the viands on the table, the two deserters returned +to the deck, to fraternize with the French crew. The other two I +kept, ostensibly to wait at table; and I remarked to the lieutenant +on their willingness to do their duty in spite of their wounds, of +which I gave him a brief explanation. + +It was already becoming dusk; we had no time to lose if my design +was to succeed, for with the imminent arrival of Duguay-Trouin our +fate was sealed. + + + +Chapter 19: I Fight Duguay-Trouin. + + +I had brought wine on board, but before a bottle was opened I said, +with a wink at the lieutenant: + +"I fear this wine of the country will taste somewhat thin after +English rum, monsieur." + +"We have a great quantity of it in the hold, monsieur," he said +laughing, "and with your leave I will order my men to broach a +cask." + +He shouted his command to the men on deck. Instantly Joe, who was +behind him, threw his arm round the officer's neck, thrust a gag +into his mouth, and with the bosun's aid deftly tied his arms and +legs together. Then all three of us ran up the companion way. In +obedience to the lieutenant's command two of the men had gone +forward and were descending through the open hatchway into the +hold. While the deserters held the rest of the men in talk, the +bosun strolled carelessly after the two, and as soon as they had +disappeared, quietly clapped on the hatch and battened it down. +Meanwhile Joe and I joined the group at the bulwarks, without +awakening suspicion among the crew. At a signal from me the men +tripped them up, and in another two minutes they were lying gagged +and bound on the deck. + +It was scarcely ten minutes since we came on board, and we had done +everything without the least noise to alarm the town. Then, leaving +the deserters to guard the ship, I returned in all haste with the +others to the maire. + +"What shall we do with our prisoners, Joe?" I asked, as we hurried +along. + +"Leave 'em locked up, sir, and lock the maire up with them in case +of accidents." + +"But I think we will bring the captain and the sergeant," I said. +"You see, they have got our clothes." + +"But these are better, sir," he replied, "and you make a rare fine +captain, smite my timbers if you don't." + +"Still, we will bring them; a taste of prison may do the captain, +at any rate, a world of good." + +And so, when we got to the mairie, I unlocked the door where the +prisoners were confined, told my comrades in a few words what had +happened, and bade them go forth into the street, when Joe and the +bosun had loosed their bands and hasten to the harbor. + +The maire, learning that I had returned, had followed me in, and +hearing these words of English, and seeing Joe and the bosun +untying the cords, he cried to me to know what I was about. The +bosun instantly laid hands on him and began to truss him up. He +gave one shout of alarm, which Joe deftly checked with a gag made +of the bandage he had stripped from his head, and then he was laid +on the floor beside the Frenchmen. Then we seized the captain and +sergeant, and having locked the door again, marched them among us +at a brisk pace to the harbor and on to the brig. + +"Now, man, we have no time to lose," I said, as we stepped aboard. +"'Tis nearly dark, and Doggy-Trang, as you call him, may return any +minute. Luckily the tide is fast ebbing. + +"Cast off, Joe; Bosun, run up the sail. And we are only just in +time. Here they come." + +And indeed we had escaped only by the skin of our teeth, for I saw +a number of French seamen coming down the streets and a horseman +behind them. No doubt it was Duguay-Trouin himself, and his coming +had caused his men to turn out of the cabarets. The brig was +already moving from the jetty; the practised hands of my comrades +were at work with the sails; and as the vessel slipped away quickly +on the ebbing tide, from sheer lightheartedness and pleasure at the +success of our trick they made the welkin ring with their cheers. + +I was as hilarious as they. The Frenchmen were crowding on the +jetty, shouting, cursing, actually screaming to us to come back. I +mounted the bulwarks, and, clinging to the shrouds, took off my hat +(or rather the captain's) and waved it gaily towards Duguay-Trouin, +who, having dismounted, had pushed through his men, and was +evidently angrily demanding an explanation of the extraordinary +scene he had arrived in time to witness. The townsfolk and fishers +were flocking down now in great numbers; the shouting increased to +a veritable pandemonium, and as we scudded away farther and farther +into the growing darkness I heard the scurrying of feet on the +cobble stones and the creaking of blocks as the sails were run up +on the smacks in the harbor. + +They were going to pursue us, then! I laughed aloud. With nine good +English tars aboard an English brig I thought I could snap my +fingers at Duguay-Trouin in a smack. + +But there was one danger, which, after the flush of jubilation had +died down, I was quick to appreciate. Duguay-Trouin's privateer was +lying off the point a few miles northward, and if, in answer to a +signal, she were to join in the chase, I saw that our chances of +getting away were small enough. Even as the thought struck me, two +musket shots were fired from the harbor. These were doubtless a +signal, but they could scarcely convey any real information: the +capture of the brig at its moorings was too unlikely a thing to +have been provided against. But the shots would set the privateer +on the alert, and we must run no risks of encountering her. So, +instead of running straight out into the channel, we stood away up +the coast, keeping the brig close-hauled. She proved somewhat slow +in working to windward, but we were now almost totally enveloped in +darkness, and by hugging the shore were not so likely to be +descried from the privateer as if we ran out to sea. + +Unluckily this gave the pursuers some advantage of us. Looking in +our wake, I by and by discerned three smacks in full chase, and +perceived that they were steadily overhauling us. The brig carried +a brass gun, and I thought it well to get her ready for use, though +I was determined not to fire save in extremity, since the flash +would apprise the privateer of our direction and bring her on our +track. But the distance between us and the leading smack grew less +and less, and knowing that we dare not allow them to close in upon +us (for doubtless their crews vastly outnumbered ours and would +overpower us if they got the chance to board), I at length, when +our enemy was within about half a cable's length of us, called to +the bosun to fire, aiming to hull her just below water line. + +He set his match to the touch hole, and the round shot flew forth. +I could not tell whether the smack was hit or not, but 'twas clear +that she had suffered little or no damage, for she came on as fast +as ever. The bosun reloaded in all haste, and fired again when she +could not have been above fifty yards distant. This time I knew the +shot had struck her, but she still came on, and as she was now +below our line of fire I feared it would come to push of pike after +all. But a moment or two afterwards I rejoiced to see that she was +losing way: our shot had gone home. The other two smacks overtook +her, and then began a dropping fire of musketry from all three. + +Clearly it was no longer expedient to hull them merely. Their speed +was so much superior to the brig's that even if we hit one or other +of them they might close in before their pace was much checked by +the inrush of water. Loath as I was to spill blood, I bade the +bosun now load the gun with grape, and my qualms were banished when +I heard cries of pain, and learned that Runnles and another had +been hit by musket shots. The smack that was leading was coming up +directly in our wake. + +"Give it her, Bosun!" I cried. + +"She shall have it," he answered, and immediately she was swept by +the grape shot from stem to stern, yells and execrations telling +that the bosun had not aimed in vain. She at once paid off before +the wind: 'twas clear the steersman had been hit; and before +another man could take his place and bring her head round the smack +behind crashed into her. + +I had good hope that the chase was now ended, and we might go +rejoicing on our way to the white shores of England. But I was +reckoning without Duguay-Trouin. For a few moments we drew away +from our pursuers; but then I saw that the third smack had cleared +herself from the one she had run into and was again sailing swiftly +in our wake, having apparently suffered no injury. The bosun had +already re-charged the gun with grape, but when he fired, at a +range which forbade the possibility of missing, there were only one +or two cries instead of the chorus we had heard before. + +"Burst me if they be not lying down in the bottom," said Joe, +standing at my side, "and the shot have passed clean over them." + +"And 'tis no good firing again," I said. "We can't depress the gun +enough to hull her or hit the men, and the shot will only cut holes +in the rigging. Would we had tried round shot and brought down her +mast." + +"'Tis all hands to repel boarders now," returned Joe, "and there'll +be a few broken heads afore we are done." + +Runnles meanwhile had had the good sense and the ready wit to load +three muskets apiece from the ship's armory. We each of us took +one, having the other two in reserve at our feet. The smack came on +bravely, and I could now see that her deck was swarming with men. +She had deflected somewhat from her straight course, and was coming +up on our larboard quarter, whither we hastened to meet the attempt +to board us. In another minute the vessels touched, and a few shots +were fired from the smack, but without damage to us, for the impact +had set her rocking, so that 'twas impossible for the Frenchmen to +take good aim. Next moment they threw grapnels into our rigging, +and the vessels were locked together. + +The whole of our company, save Dilly at the wheel, was spread along +the bulwarks, and at my word twelve muskets sped their slugs among +the men endeavoring to swarm up our side. There were cries and +groans enough now, and not merely from the enemy, for while the +foremost of them was attempting to board, others beyond fired at +us, and I knew from the bosun's bellow of rage that he for one had +been hit. We snatched up a second musket each, but before we could +turn to fire them, three of the Frenchmen had gained a footing on +our deck. + +Making a rush for these, we shoved them by main force back over the +side, only just in time to meet another group who had scrambled up. +It was no longer possible to fire. We clubbed our muskets and dealt +about us lustily, cheers and yells and groans mingling in a babel +the like of which I had never heard before. I reckoned that there +were at least three Frenchmen to every one of us, and Duguay-Trouin +was with them; I heard his voice shouting encouragement. 'Twas +lucky that their deck was lower than ours, for if we had been level +I doubt not we had soon been overpowered by the weight of numbers. +But they, being below us, and crowded to boot, could not use their +superiority to advantage, and though they did what mortal men might +to get at us, we beat them back time after time. + +Joe, beside me, was a host in himself. 'Twas clear fighting and not +coopering was the trade he was born to; he cut and thrust and +jabbed and smote with his musket, and more than once drove a +Frenchman backward by mere shoving with his mighty shoulders, +breathing hard, shouting loving farewells to the men he heaved into +the smack or the sea, some of them, I fear, never to fight again. +But in truth we all fought with might and main; we knew how much +depended on the issue. + +And let no Englishman ever despise the French as an enemy, as 'tis +the fashion with some vainglorious folk to do. I have fought them, +and I know, and I say they are gallant fighters, and as brave as +men can be. + +How long the light continued I could not tell; but all at once, as +it seemed to me, the enemy disappeared; there was no one in front +of me to hit. + +"Fling off the grappling irons," I shouted, and in a trice we +disengaged them and cast them back whence they came. The two +vessels broke apart, and though ere we had left the smack behind, a +volley of bullets fell among us, hitting three of our men, and +giving me a burning wound in the leg, the fight was over. We hailed +our victory with a true English cheer, and I own I felt no little +pride in having worsted so renowned a captain as Duguay-Trouin. + +But I was by no means sure that we were wholly out of peril. The +sound of firing must have been heard for miles around, and we could +not tell but that Duguay-Trouin's own vessel, and maybe others, +too, were making sail towards us. Dilly had now set the course of +the vessel due north, but the wind was against us, and we had still +many hours to sail before we gained the open Channel. A big red +moon was peering above the horizon, and (having stanched my wound +and done what was possible for my comrades who were hurt, none +seriously, thank God!) I looked anxiously for signs of vessels. + +By and by, as the light increased with the whitening moon, I did +indeed behold a large vessel under full sail beating towards us, +and I made no doubt 'twas Duguay-Trouin's privateer. The bosun said +her course would bring her athwart ours, and I felt how barren our +late victory would prove if she came to grips with us. 'Twas clear +she was outsailing us, and the seasoned mariners among my comrades +foretold that in a couple of hours we should be at her mercy. + +We had spread all the canvas we could carry, and could only wait +and hope. I sat on a coil of rope, suffering much pain from my +wound, and trembling with anxiety as I watched the vessel drawing +nearer and nearer. A shifting of the wind helped us to mend our +pace a little; two hours, three hours, four hours passed, and still +the enemy had not come within range of us. And then, as day began +to dawn, I gave up hope, foreseeing a speedy end to the chase and +an enforced surrender. + +But a cry from Runnles, who had gone aloft, raised my drooping +spirits. + +"Four sail, sir, on the larboard bow," he shouted. + +I sprang up (forgetting my wounded leg), and looked eagerly across +the sea. By and by I discovered four vessels of a large size +bearing down upon us from the west. Whether friend or foe I could +not tell until I saw the privateer change her course and at last +head directly back towards the shore. Then a great shout of +thankfulness broke from the throats of us tired men. We could no +longer doubt that these were English ships, and we were alive with +excitement when we saw two of them part from the others and go in +chase of the privateer. Would they catch her? We forgot our fatigue +and wounds, so fascinated were we in watching the pursuit, and the +other two vessels were within hailing distance of us almost before +we were aware. English colors were now flying at our masthead, and +a voice through a speaking trumpet called to know who we were. + +"The brig Polly of Southampton," roared the bosun in reply, "run +a-truant from Doggy-Trang. And who be you? + +"Ads bobs, sir," he added in a breath to me, "there be a white flag +at her fore topmast." + +"What's that mean?" I asked. + +But I had my answer from the other vessel. + +"The frigate Gloucester, with Admiral Benbow aboard." + +And then Joe Punchard danced a pirouette ('twas a comical sight, he +being so bandy), and shouted: + +"'Tis my captain, my captain, dash my bowlines and binnacle." + +And he caught the arm of one of the deserters, and danced him round +the deck till he was dizzy. + + + +Chapter 20: The King's Commission. + + +I have had many happy moments in my life, but none happier, I do +think, than when Admiral Benbow clapped me on the shoulder and +cried, in his big quarterdeck voice: + +"Why, my lad, we must have you a middy, and you shall serve the +King." + +I was in the admiral's own cabin on the Gloucester, whither I had +been taken when my wound was dressed. Mr. Benbow and the captain +were both there, and to them I had to tell my story, from the time +of my setting forth from Shrewsbury to the late fight with +Duguay-Trouin. Some little concernments of my own (the fight with +Topper in the barn, and my rescue of Mistress Lucy on the highroad) +I kept to myself, but the rest of my adventures I related as I have +set them down here, though, to be sure, more shortly. The officers +found much entertainment in my narrative, and in particular they +were mightily tickled at the notion of escaped prisoners capturing +themselves. The admiral was good enough to speak in high praise of +my doings (far beyond my deserts), and then he told me that though +he could not himself make a midshipman without a warrant from a +higher power, he would use his interest in my behoof, and had no +doubt that all would fall out as I most ardently desired. + +I had to wear my leg in a sling for a week or more, but then I got +about as nimbly as ever. In all but name I was a junior midshipman, +for the admiral said I must learn betimes the duties of the rank +which was to be mine as soon as he could compass it. And I set +about doing so with zest, for I was now turned eighteen, and there +were boys in my mess four years younger who were veterans in +seamanship and ship drill compared with me. + +My messmates welcomed me with much kindness; while I was laid up of +my wound they had heard of my adventures from Joe Punchard, who was +a prime favorite aboard; and they all declared they wished they had +had my luck, though they agreed with me when I reminded them that a +nine months' imprisonment was after all a long price to pay. They +told me I should certainly get a good share of prize money for the +recapture of the Polly of Southampton, and probably also for the +other prize of Duguay-Trouin's that was retaken. The two frigates +sent in chase of the privateer had failed to come up with her, but +they had seized the prize lying off the point, which proved to be +an Indiaman richly laden. + +The knowledge that I should soon have some money of my own was very +grateful to me, and I felt a natural elation of spirits at the +wonderful change that had come over my fortunes. + +I hoped that while I was on the admiral's ship I should see and +take my part in a good set battle between our squadron and the +French; but in this I was disappointed. Admiral Benbow was on his +way to Dunkirk, to lie in wait for the French admiral Du Bart and +pursue him if he should put to sea. We cruised off the port for +upwards of a month without any encounter with the enemy; and when +at last, towards the end of August, we gave chase to some of their +vessels which had slipped out, we failed to overtake any of them +save a small privateer of ten guns, which struck her colors on the +first demand we made. + +And then in September we learned that peace was proclaimed. The +treaty about whose terms the diplomatists had been wrangling for +seven or eight months had at last been signed at Ryswick, and the +war was at an end. But none of the officers believed that the peace +would endure. 'Twas impossible, they said, that Dutch William would +ever be a friend of French Lewis, and they prognosticated that the +lifelong struggle between the two kings would yet be fought out to +a bitter end. + +Regarding war, as did all lads of my age, rather as a stage for the +display of gallantry and prowess than as the dreadful scourge it +really is, I wished for nothing better than that I should soon have +an opportunity of serving under the brave admiral. He was already a +hero to me, and not to me only. All the world knows of his courage +and daring and skill, but only those who were closely connected +with him know the full worth of that great-hearted man. The sailors +loved him. He would go and sit down with them in the foc'sle, +chatting with them rather like a brother than a high officer, yet +without loss of dignity or respect. Bravery and seamanship he rated +at their true value, whether in peer or peasant; but he never could +abide the fops and fine gentlemen who thought they became officers +merely by donning epaulets. With them he had no patience, and in +consequence he was as much hated as loved. The tars were his to a +man: but the officers were either his dear friends or his bitter +foes. + +Towards the end of September we ran into Portsmouth harbor, and the +ships were then paid off. I learned that some time must elapse +before the prize money was distributed: but being eager to get back +to Shrewsbury and see my good friend and especially to acquaint +Captain Galsworthy with my wondrous good fortune, I was glad to +accept the advance of twenty pounds which the admiral offered me +when I told him of my wish. I spent five pounds in buying a +befitting suit of clothes, devoting much care to the cloth and the +cut. The admiral laughed when I went to take leave of him, and +jokingly said that he hoped I was not going to shame him by turning +into a beau and a lady-killer. + +"I smoke you, by gad!" he cried with another laugh, when to my +confusion I felt my cheeks go warm. + +And the truth of it is I had determined to pay a visit to Mr. +Allardyce on my way home, and the wish to cut a different figure +from that in which I had first appeared to the ladies of his family +had entered not a little into the consideration of my new garments. +Why do I say "the ladies"? Let me be honest and say 'twas Mistress +Lucy I had in my mind. + +There was no question of tramping to Shrewsbury afoot. I took +passage to Bristowe in a coasting vessel, and there, after having a +chat with old Woodrow (who told me that his friend Captain Reddaway +had sworn to shew me a rope's end for deceiving him if I ever came +athwart his hawser), I booked a seat in the new diligence that ran +between Bristowe and Worcester, and there indulged myself in the +luxury of a postchaise for the journey to the Hall. And I warrant +you I was as proud as a peacock when the chaise swung in at the +gate, and rattled up the drive to the door. + +'Twas Susan who opened it. She stared at me for a moment, then +burst out a-giggling, and left me standing while she rushed into +the house with a cry of "Measter, here be Joe come back, dressed +like a lord!" + +"The deuce he is!" came the answering roar, and down came Mr. +Allardyce, pipe in hand, with his wife and Mistress Lucy close +behind him. + +"How d'ye do, sir?" says I, advancing, feeling my face glow with +pleasure at seeing my kind friends again as much as any other +emotion, I am sure. + +"Come back for a job, Joe?" cries Mr. Allardyce, gripping my hand +heartily. "Ah! you impostor! We know all about you, you young dog, +don't we, madam? Joe! Humph!" + +"You can't shorten it like that, sir," said I, laughing, and giving +a hand to the ladies in turn. + +And I don't know whether 'twas due to the suit of clothes, but +certainly I felt, as I shook hands with Mistress Lucy, none of the +shamefaced awkwardness that had overcome me when I stood before her +in rags and she called me "poor man." + +They had me into the room where I had begged work of Mr. Allardyce, +and despatched Susan (still giggling) to bespeak a meal of Martha +the cook. + +"And you must give an account of yourself, Mr. Bold," says Mr. +Allardyce, putting out a chair for me and pushing a pipe into my +hand. + +"With all my heart, sir," said I, "but first will you please +enlighten me as to how you know my name?" + +"Why we learned it a month after you left us," he replied. "'Twas +Roger found it out. + +"He is not here, hang it!" he said, his face falling a little. "We +could not keep him at home after you had gone, and now he's +carrying an ensign in the foot regiment of General Webb. + +"Well, 'twas he found out all about you. Having set his heart on +going into the army, he must needs go into Shrewsbury to take +lessons in fencing from a Captain Galsworthy he had heard of. And +it appears that during his very first bout with the captain he +tried a botte that you had taught him. The captain drops his point, +and stares a moment, and then cries 'Ads my life! The only man in +the world that knows that botte besides myself is Humphrey Bold. +Where in the name of Beelzebub did you learn it?' And so it all +came out, and the whole story of the villainous doings of those +Cluddes and Lawyer Vetch--" + +"Stay, sir," I interrupted; "Mr. Vetch is a very dear friend of +mine, and I would lay my life he is innocent of any share of the +trickery that lost me my father's lands." + +"Maybe, maybe: I know the story of the will," said Mr. Allardyce. +"Roger was wild with excitement when he came back, and nothing +would satisfy him but that he must go to Bristowe and see if he +could learn any news of you. But he could learn nothing, and--" + +"My dear," says Mistress Allardyce at this point, "you are keeping +us waiting so long. Lucy and I want to hear Mr. Bold." + +"That's an extinguisher," cries he with a jolly laugh. + +"Light my pipe, Lucy, my dear; it will last a good half hour, and +maybe that will be long enough for Mr. Bold's story." + +But in truth he had smoked another couple of pipes before I had +finished, and gave no heed to Susan when she appeared at the door +and said that my meal was ready. I have heard that a speaker's +eloquence depends much upon his hearers and the bond of sympathy +betwixt him and them, and sure I spoke with a freedom that +surprised me. Certainly no man was ever better favored in his +audience; Mr. Allardyce let his pipe go out more than once. And the +ladies hung on my words, Mistress Lucy sitting forward in her +chair, her lips parted, her eyes kindling, and a ruddy glow +suffusing her cheeks. The room rang with Mr. Allardyce's laughter +when I described our march across country with the gagged +Frenchmen, and I vow I could almost hear the beating of Mistress +Lucy's heart as I told of our fight with Duguay-Trouin. + +When I had ended my tale, Mr. Allardyce tugged at the bell rope, +crying: + +"Egad, we must drink the health of Mr. Midshipman Bold," and when +Susan appeared, with surprising celerity (I believe the minx had +been listening at the door) he roared at her for keeping me waiting +so long a-fasting. + +"And what do you think of that, Lucy?" he cries, turning to his +niece. "Didst ever hear such a tale of ups and downs and derring +do?" + +"I love Joe Punchard," said Mistress Lucy, and that set her uncle +a-laughing again, though I confess it somewhat mystified me. + +My kind friends insisted that I should stay the night with them, +and we sat up talking to a late hour. I longed to ask how things +stood in the matter of the guardianship of Mistress Lucy, but the +subject was ignored by tacit consent so long as the ladies were in +the room. When they had retired, however, Mr. Allardyce drew his +chair alongside of mine, and said: + +"Humphrey, I am worried out of my life. We are almost in a state of +siege here. Ever since that attempt at kidnapping Lucy that you so +happily frustrated I have never felt easy about her. She never goes +forth unattended now: those morning rides are at an end. I have +taken two more menservants to act as special guard for her, and +they two, or myself and one of them, always accompany her, with +well primed pistols, I warrant you. Men have been seen at various +times lurking about here, and I have taken pains to track them, and +went so far as to commit one of them for loitering with intent to +commit a felony. But I had no proof, and an attorney fellow in +Shrewsbury named Moggridge threatened me with all sorts of pains +and penalties if I did not at once release the villain." + +"But what does the law say to it, sir?" I asked. + +"The law is uncommon slow to say anything, confound it! My lawyer +in Bridgenorth was at first all for an accommodation, as he called +it; he wanted me to make terms with that rogue Cludde, and a host +of letters passed between him and Moggridge, who is Cludde's +attorney. But that failed; of course it did, since I wouldn't give +way, and now my man has filed a bill in chancery to make Lucy a +ward of court, with me as her guardian. The other side is opposing, +and the case will not come on till next sessions and maybe not +then. My man says we are bound to win, the court, as he declares, +being very jealous of the rights of minors, especially where +property is concerned. But meanwhile we live in constant fear of +the girl being carried off, and if they once get her there will be +precious little chance of getting her back." + +"Can we not imprison Dick Cludde for the former attempt?" I +suggested. "Now that I am back I could give evidence against him." + +"He is away with his ship, and will be careful, you may be sure, +not to show his nose again in these parts while there is any +danger." + +"But the other fellow, Vetch--has he been seen hereabouts? I have +often wondered what became of him after he left prison." + +"What is he like?" + +"A tall, thin, weasel-faced fellow, with a sour look." + +"No, I have not seen or heard of him." + +"If I could hear of his whereabouts I would have him arrested for +his complicity in my kidnapping. I own I should feel more secure of +Mistress Lucy's safety if I knew he was laid by the heels. Could +you give me a warrant, sir, which I could execute if ever I met +him?" + +"I will certainly do so, though I doubt if he'll ever give you the +opportunity. Villains of his stamp are uncommonly clever in running +to earth. But you shall have the warrant." + +"I shall see his uncle tomorrow," I said. "May I mention Mistress +Lucy's affairs to him? He was accounted a good lawyer until that +unhappy business of my father's will, and as he has no reason to +love the Cluddes, or his nephew either, I am sure he would give the +best advice he knows." + +"Do so, by all means; 'twill be some comfort to know that my man is +taking the right course." + +We sat till near midnight, and Mr. Allardyce recovered something of +his usual good spirits before I rose to say good night. As he shook +hands with me he broke into a sudden laugh. + +"Egad!" he cried, "I had forgot to ask you whether you still have +that crown piece you were so loath to part with." + +"Indeed I have," I said, laughing too. "It is slung about my neck, +and there it will remain until I return it with interest to Dick +Cludde." + +"Dick Cludde!" says he. "What! is he concerned in that, too?" + +And then I told him what I had hitherto kept to myself--that +incident upon the road when Cludde flung the coin at me. + +"On my life, Humphrey," he said, "I should not care to have you for +an enemy." + +And then we parted. + +I left next morning, promising to see my friends as often as +possible before I received the summons which I hoped for from +Admiral Benbow. Mr. Allardyce lent me one of his horses, which he +was kind enough to place at my service while I remained at home. In +my breast pocket I carried a warrant in due form for the arrest of +Cyrus Vetch. + +There was a great surprise awaiting me at Shrewsbury. I asked the +little maid who answered my knock at Mr. Vetch's door for Mistress +Pennyquick, and felt some astonishment that the door had not been +opened by the good dame herself, for she had no maid when I left +her, doing all the housework herself. The girl stared at me. + +"Is Mistress Pennyquick within?" I repeated. + +"No, sir: but would you like to see Mistress Vetch?" + +I was minded to refuse, and thought of going on to Mr. Vetch's +offices where I knew I should find him at this time of day. I felt +a certain annoyance at Mr. Vetch marrying ('twas unreasonable, I +admit), and wondered whether poor old Becky had been dismissed, or +was dead. But while I stood hesitating, I heard the well-remembered +voice from the interior of the house--"Tell the man the coffee is +not fit to drink, and if I have any more of it I'll say goodby to +Mr. Huggins and see if Mr. Martin can serve me better." + +"What, Becky!" I cried; "d'you think I'm a grocer's boy after all?" + +There was a scream, and my old friend came flying towards me, her +cap (with lilac trimmings) shaken askew by her haste. + +"Oh, my boy!" she cried, flinging her arms about me. "Drat the +girl! + +"How many times have I told you to ask visitors into the parlor! + +"Oh, my dear, precious boy!" + +"'Tis not her fault," I said, giving the good creature an answering +hug; "I asked for Mistress Pennyquick." + +"Which my name is Vetch, and has been for six months come Saturday. +He would have it so, though I told him Vetch wasn't a name to my +taste. But there! What was a poor lone widow to do? A lawyer have +got such a tongue!" + +"You look ten years younger, Becky," I said. + +"I feel it, Humphrey," she said solemnly, and then bade the maid +set wine and biscuits in the parlor, and never to forget to ask a +gentleman in instead of keeping him at the door, gaping like a +ninny! + +Of course I had to tell my story to her, and again to Mr. Vetch +when he came home to dinner. The lawyer looked much the same as +when I left him, save that he was certainly neater in his dress. He +was delighted to see me, and when he heard of the good fortune that +had befallen me in gaining the interest of Mr. Benbow he declared +that I had taken a load off his mind, for he had always been +oppressed with the fear that the loss of the will had ruined me. +His business, I was glad to hear, was a trifle better than when I +was with him, though it would never be what it had been. + +"Fiddlesticks!" said his wife. "You have no spirit, Mr. Vetch, and +what you would be if I didn't keep you up, the Lord alone knows." + +I will not dwell on my visit to Captain Galsworthy. He was looking +older, I thought: but after I had told him my adventures, nothing +would satisfy him but that we should have a bout with the foils. I +was careful to let the good old man get the better of me, and when +we had finished he shook his head and declared that my skill had +declined. + +"But we'll get it back, we'll get it back," he said. "You must come +to me for half an hour every day, and we'll soon rub off the rust." + +He told me of the six months' lessons he had given Roger Allardyce, +and foretold a creditable career for that young soldier, not so +much for any sign of military aptitude in him (though the captain +owned he had the making of a good swordsman) as because he had +doggedly refused to say anything about me. He knew, I suppose, that +I should not wish the tale of my mischances to be told by any lips +but my own, and could not have pleased the captain more than by +declining to answer his questions. I never knew a man nicer than +Captain Galsworthy on the point of honor. + +I remained about a month in Shrewsbury, seeing old friends, among +them Nelly Hind and Mistress Punchard, whom I rejoiced with news of +their brother and son, and paying many visits to my newer friends +at the Hall. I was able to assure Mr. Allardyce that the procedure +of his lawyer had the full approval of Mr. Vetch, who was careful +to say, when giving his opinion, that it was given in a private +capacity and without prejudice to his brother in the profession. + +One day I received through the post a letter with a great red seal. +I tore it open eagerly, and could scarcely believe in my good +fortune when I saw it was nothing less than a lieutenant's +commission in the King's navy, accompanied by an order to join my +ship the Falmouth, Captain Samuel Vincent, at Portsmouth, as soon +as might be. I had not expected to be rated higher than a +midshipman, though when I had mentioned that to Mistress Vetch, she +tossed her head and declared she had looked for nothing else. + +"Midshipmen, as I have heard tell," she said, "are but little boys +fresh from their nurses' apron strings, and the King had the good +sense to know that you are too tall for any such childishness." + +"I don't suppose the King knows anything about me," I said +laughing. + +"That I will never believe; the King knows everything," said the +simple creature. + +You may be sure I rode off at once with my great news to the Hall, +and received very hearty congratulations there. But I could see +that Mr. Allardyce was in some perturbation of mind, and by and by +he took me aside and said: + +"That weasel-faced rascal you spoke of was seen about here +yesterday, Humphrey. One of my men told me that he saw such a man +as you described in close talk with a low innkeeper in Morville. I +have not acquainted the ladies; 'tis no use alarming them; but I +don't like it, my boy." + +This was a mighty disconcerting piece of news, especially now that +I was on the point of going away for I knew not how long. While I +remained within close call I flattered myself on being an efficient +protector of Mistress Lucy, and I had that warrant always in my +pocket to use against Cyrus Vetch if ever I set eyes on him. And +now I would willingly have resigned my commission, dearly as I +prized it, if I could have found any reasonable ground for +remaining to defend her still. But I knew 'twas impossible, if for +no other reason, because I was little more than a pauper, having +indeed only enough of my twenty pounds left to carry me to +Portsmouth. So I could only fume inwardly, and long that war might +break out again, and that I might capture many of the enemy's +vessels, and win heaps of money and early promotion to the rank of +post captain, and return with my laurels thick upon me to lay all +at Lucy's feet. You may smile at such ambitions in a youngster; but +can you truly say you have not dreamed such dreams yourself? + +'Twas with a full heart I set off in the dusk of evening to ride +back to Shrewsbury. I rode slowly, my mind being filled with +forebodings, and I was only roused from my preoccupation by the +sudden appearance of a horseman at the turning of a byroad leading +from Bridgenorth. He was riding rapidly, and we both reined up at +the same moment to avoid a collision. And at that moment my heart +leapt with furious exultation as, in the fading light, I recognized +my old enemy, and my friends', Cyrus Vetch. + +"Hold, you villain!" I cried, pulling my horse against his and +drawing my sword. "I have you now, and you will come into +Shrewsbury with me." + +Fear struggled with anger in his face. He was in no mind to show +himself in Shrewsbury, where there was that matter of his uncle's +cash box to answer for, to say nothing of a matter more nearly +concerning me. But he could not pass me, and seeing that there was +no other way out of it he whips out his sword and deals a savage +cut at me. I easily parried the stroke, and not being disposed to +spare him, I ran my own weapon under his guard (he having no skill +in sword play), and through the fleshy part of his right arm, so +that he cried out with the pain, his sword dropping to the ground. + +"Now, sirrah," says I, "you will ride before me into Shrewsbury, to +which you have been overlong a stranger." + +"I will not," he cries, with a scream of rage. "'Who are you to +order my goings?" + +"No matter as to that: we will see where the right lies when we get +to the town. And since I have no wish to cheat the hangman, I will +tie my kerchief round your arm." + +He raged and swore at me as I made the bandage, but was helpless, +and soon I had him riding at a foot pace in front of me, he knowing +very well that he could not escape, wounded as he was, without risk +of being thrown from his horse. + +I had a comfortable sense of satisfaction as I rode behind him, my +eyes fixed on his back. He had much to answer for, and any one of +his crimes would send him to the plantations. Then I remembered +that he was Lawyer Vetch's nephew, and thought of the good old +man's grief when he should see his flesh and blood in the felon's +dock. And the idea came to me that by merely holding over him the +threat of punishment for his undoubted villainies we might draw +from him a confession of what we only suspected--his theft of my +father's will. I did not reflect for the moment that Mr. Allardyce +would have something to say in that matter, and already saw myself +reinstated in my father's property (though I meant to cleave to my +new profession), when suddenly I noticed that Vetch was swaying in +the saddle. Thinking him overcome with faintness from his wound, I +cantered up to assist him, but just as I reached him he suddenly +pulled his horse across the road, and I saw a pistol in his left +hand. While I was ruminating he had quickly unbuttoned the +holsters, which I had stupidly neglected to examine. + +Immediately I wrenched my horse aside. The sudden pull caused it to +rear, and the poor beast received the shot intended for me, and +fell to the ground. I was up in an instant, but Vetch was already +galloping madly away, leaving me by the side of Mr. Allardyce's +dying horse. + +To pursue the fellow afoot would be but a fool's errand. The spot +at which this mischance happened being about a mile from Oldbury, +my best plan seemed to be to ride thither and hire a horse at the +inn and then ride back to the Hall and acquaint Mr. Allardyce with +what had befallen me. This I did, and found my friend much less +vexed at the loss of his horse (though 'twas a noble animal) than +at the escape of Vetch. He sent off a man at once to Bridgenorth to +ask his lawyer to raise a hue and cry after the fugitive, and +promised to take like measures in Shrewsbury. I spoke of it to the +town authorities and to Captain Galsworthy, and since I was leaving +on the morrow, he agreed to enlist some of his old pupils in the +business, who would ride here and there about the neighborhood and +try to track Vetch down. And thus, having done all I could, I set +off next day once more for Bristowe, to take ship for Portsmouth. + + + +Chapter 21: I Meet Dick Cludde. + + +Captain Samuel Vincent gave me a reception warm indeed, but not in +the way of kindness. After making me repeat my name, he asked me +under what captain I had served as a midshipman, and when I said +that I had never been a midshipman, and was proceeding to explain +the manner of my appointment he cut me short. + +"Not a midshipman!" he cried, running together all three syllables +of the word. "You bin to school, I s'pose?" + +"Yes, indeed," I said, "at Shrewsbury." + +"Now hark to me," he cries, again interrupting me. "I never went to +no school, and I hain't got no philosophies nor any other useless +cargoes in my hold, nor Mr. Benbow neither; and if ever you say a +word against Mr. Benbow you'll wish you wasn't Humphrey, nor Bold, +'cos you'll wish as how you'd never bin born. I bid you good +mornin'." + +I left him, in a fine heat of resentment, thinking that a few years +at Shrewsbury school might have improved both his language and his +manners. But when I came to know him better, and to understand the +motive of his rough address to me, I forgave the bluff seaman +heartily. He was a keen partisan in the feud that then divided the +navy, the one faction being for Benbow, the other against him; and +being ignorant of my antecedents, he supposed from my not having +been a midshipman that I was one of the fine gentlemen who were +foisted on the King's service by their high connections and +despised plain seamen of the Benbow school. I might have undeceived +him very soon had I so pleased, but I thought it best to win his +approval by the manner in which I performed my duties, leaving the +other matter to time. As it happened, my fidelity to Mr. Benbow was +shown very clearly before long. + +'Twould be a dull story to relate the trivial incidents of my first +year of service in the navy. I spent five months at sea, and seven +on shore, and Captain Vincent being a martinet. I had to work hard +for my pay of four shillings a day (on shore it was cut down to two +shillings). My diligence in studying navigation pleased him; and +when a little affair in which I had been concerned came to his +ears, he took me, in a sense, to his heart. + +I had gone one day with Lieutenant Venables, of our ship, into a +coffee house in Portsmouth, whither the officers of the fleet much +resorted. The first man I set eyes on was Dick Cludde, who was, as +I learned afterwards, a lieutenant of the Defiance, which had +lately come into port. With him was his captain ('twas the Captain +Kirkby I had seen in the inn at Harley), also Captain Cooper Wade, +of the Greenwich, Captain Hudson of the Pendennis, and a number of +junior officers. + +Cludde greeted me with a puzzled stare; 'twas clear he had not +heard of the change in my fortunes, and maybe believed me to be +still scouring the cook's slush pans aboard the Dolphin privateer. +I saw him turn to Lieutenant Simpson, of the Pendennis, who knew +me, and guessed by the quick glance Simpson gave me that Cludde had +asked him concerning my appearance there. + +Venables and I sat down to our coffee, and 'twas not long before we +knew, by the loud voices of the others, that they had laced theirs +with rum, or maybe were pretty well filled with wine to begin with. +And, as it always happened when officers of the fleet met together, +they were soon hot upon the subject of Mr. Benbow, his rough +manners, his rustic speech, and his outrageous lack of respect for +his betters. After a little of this talk Venables says to me: + +"Come, Bold, we are better away from this." + +"You are right," says I, and we both rose and put on our hats. + +Cludde saw the action, and, taking courage I suppose from the +presence of his boon fellows, he said, in a tone loud enough to +reach my ears: + +"That's one of his doings. Simpson tells me that that fellow is a +lieutenant on the Falmouth, through Benbow's interest; he comes +from my town Shrewsbury, and a year or two ago was a charity brat, +with scarce a coat to his back." + +At this I swung round and took a pace or two towards the table +where Cludde was seated. Though I had much ado to curb my anger, I +said quietly: + +"If that is true, Cludde, you know who is the cause of it." + +"I did not speak to you, sirrah," says he. + +"But I speak to you," I said. "You may say what you please about +me; I will settle my account with you in good time; but I advise +you not to say too much about Mr. Benbow, who is not here to answer +for himself." + +"Oho, you sneak out of it that way, do you?" says he. "I'll say +what I please about Mr. Benbow without asking leave of you or any +man. Benbow is a low-born scut--can you deny it? Wasn't his father +a tanner, and don't his sister keep a coffee shop?" + +"And what then?" + +"What then? Why, this: that he ain't fit to be in the company of +gentlemen," and then he told a foul story of Benbow which angered +me past all endurance. + +I strode up to him, and before I could be prevented I planted my +fist in his face with such force that he toppled backwards over his +chair and came to the floor. + +"Now you can swallow that lie," I cried, standing with clenched +fists over him. + +I was now in the midst of a great hubbub; the officers had started +from their chairs, shouting and cursing, some of them helping +Cludde to his feet. + +"You will answer for this, sir," says Captain Kirkby. + +"With all my heart," I said. "Mr. Venables will meet Mr. Cludde's +man and make the arrangements." + +And with that I went from the house. + +I ever regarded dueling as a barbarous and foolish way of settling +a quarrel. If men must fight, let them use their fists, and so be +quit of it for a bloody nose and a few bruises. But I could not +avoid the duel with Cludde without suffering the imputation of +cowardice, and when Venables came after me and said that he had +arranged with Simpson that we should meet next morning at daybreak +on the Southsea Common and settle the matter with rapiers, I was +quite content. 'Tis true that ere the day was over I regretted in +cool blood that things had come to this pass; but I could not think +I was in the wrong, and believing myself more than a match for +Cludde in swordsmanship I resolved to disarm him quickly, when his +friends would no doubt declare him satisfied. + +In the chill of dawn we met within sound of the surf, and having +stripped to our shirts, faced each other with the length of our two +swords between. Cludde was three or four inches shorter than I, but +well made and muscular, and in mere strength I daresay there was +little to choose between us. But after a pass or two I knew (and +the knowledge surprised me not a little), that I had no mean +swordsman to deal with. His riposte came quick upon my lunge; he +had a very agile wrist; 'twas clear he had had much practice in a +good school; and being determined not to do him a serious injury I +put myself at some disadvantage and had much ado to avoid his +point. He was beset by no such scruples, I could see, and would +willingly have taken my life, which made my task all the harder. + +Finding him thus proficient in all the ordinary tricks of sword +play, I saw myself in a difficulty. I had no doubt that I could +bring things to a speedy end by employing the special botte which +Captain Galsworthy had taught me; and if we had been fencing for +sport I should already have used it to disarm my adversary. But +fighting as we were (at least, as he was) in deadly earnest, I +could not be sure that my botte would not be too successful, and +that, instead of merely striking his sword from his hand, I should +not run him through. The caution I displayed was mistaken by him +(and by his friends also, I suspect) for weakness, and gaining +courage therefrom, he pressed me so hard that, unless I had gone +instantly to the extremity I wished to avoid, I could not have +parried the thrust which pinked me in the shoulder. + +"He is hit!" cried Venables, running between us. + +"You are now satisfied, Mr. Cludde?" + +"If Mr. Bold will apologize," says Simpson, after a glance at his +principal. + +"I am ready when Mr. Cludde is," I said bluntly. + +Certainly I would not apologize; besides, I was annoyed to think +that, through my own forbearance, the fellow had drawn blood +(though 'twas but a scratch). And so we set-to again. + +This time I no longer pursued the same purely defensive tactics, +and before many passes had been exchanged I saw an opening for my +botte, took instant advantage of it, and sent his sword spinning +from his hand. Cludde was too good a swordsman to be ignorant that +I had purposely spared him, and I saw by the look in his eyes that +he knew it and would fight no more. + +"Mr. Cludde is now satisfied, I presume?" said Venables, at a look +from me. + +The contest was of course over. At that moment I own I felt tempted +to take Cludde's crown piece from the string whereon it hung about +my neck, and return it to him; but as a second thought showed me +that to do so would be in a manner to heap humiliation on a beaten +enemy, I forbore, conscious at the same time of an inward assurance +that I should yet find a fitting time for that act of restoration. + +The duel was much talked of among the officers of the fleet, and +when Captain Vincent heard of it he, as I have said, took me to his +heart. By it I was sealed of the tribe of Benbow, and became, in my +worthy captain's eyes, one of the elect. + +In October of the year 1698 we were stirred to excitement by the +news that Mr. Benbow had been ordered to take a squadron to the +West Indies, and there was much eager speculation among us as to +the vessels which would have the good fortune to sail with him. I +hoped with all my heart that the Falmouth would be one of them, for +I was weary of the humdrum life of idling on shore or aimless +sailing up and down the channel. The admiral's was a peaceful +mission, and no fighting was expected, but I felt a great curiosity +to behold new scenes. To my vast delight, when the admiral came +down from London, Captain Vincent told me that the Falmouth was to +be one of a squadron of four, the others being the Gloucester, the +Dunkirk (both fourth rates of forty-eight guns), and a small French +prize called the Germoon. + +We set sail on the 29th of November, touched at Madeira to take in +wine and other stores in which that bounteous isle is prolific, and +after a tranquil voyage reached Barbados on the 27th of February. +We proceeded to Mevis and the Leeward Islands, and steering our +course thence to the continent, made the highland of St. Martha, +and so to Cartagena, where we obliged the governor to deliver up +two or three English merchant ships which they had seized at the +time of the hapless Scotch settlement at Darien. Thence we stood +away for Jamaica. + +Joe Punchard (who was on board the Gloucester, having returned to +his old vocation of body servant to Mr. Benbow) had prepared me, in +a measure, before we left Portsmouth, for the wondrous beauty of +these western isles, but I might say, as the Queen of Sheba said of +the glory and grandeur of King Solomon, that "the half had not been +told." I was struck dumb with admiration as we threaded our way +through a narrow channel between irregular reefs lying off the +harbor of Port Royal. The spacious harbor itself was a noble sight, +but the background was even more picturesque--the light, +two-storied houses with their piazzas painted green and white, the +varying hues of the gardens, filled with palms and cocoanut trees, +and the lofty minarets of the Blue Mountains, towering to a great +height behind. Such scenes were a new thing to my untraveled eyes, +they were in very truth the revelation of a new world to me. + +Our arrival was the occasion of great festivity; all the +inhabitants of Spanish Town, the capital, from the governor +downward, were lavish in their hospitality; and for some days it +was one round of balls and banquets, to which we came with unjaded +appetites and vigor after our long voyage. And I warrant you that +the officers of Collingwood's regiment then in garrison were soon +mighty jealous, for the ladies of the place, English and Creole +alike, preferred us naval men to them as partners. I confess I +nearly lost my heart a dozen times, and the thirteenth might have +been fatal, only it chanced that her name being Lucetta reminded me +of a certain Mistress Lucy at home in England, whom the others had, +so to speak, elbowed out of my recollection. My wandering fancy +being thus recalled to her, I remembered that her estates were in +Jamaica, and she had lived here during all her childhood, and then +I was for seeking out the house, and assuring myself that her +interests were being well guarded. + +But I learned that her estates lay on the north side of the island, +two good days' journey distant. They were being managed by a +careful Scotchman named McTavish, who sent large and regular +consignments of sugar and tobacco to the port for shipment to +England. I would have gone a thousand miles to see Mistress Lucy, +but had no interest in the excellent McTavish, and so I remained in +Spanish Town. + +After a week or two of high revelry, the admiral, yielding to the +entreaties of the governor and merchants, sailed to Puerto Bello to +demand satisfaction of the Spaniards for several depredations which +they had committed on their ships, goods, and men. We had but a +rough answer from the admiral of the Barlovento fleet, he alleging +that whatever the Spaniards had done had merely been in reprisal +for similar doings of the Scotch settlers on Darien, and he could +not be persuaded that the Scotch and English were two separate +nations, and as often (in those times) enemies as friends. But +after several messages he assured us at length that if we would +retire from before the fort, our demands should be satisfied. This +was an instance of the notorious perfidy of the Spaniards, for +after our departure, notwithstanding their solemn promises, nothing +was effected. + +We returned to Port Royal the 15th of May, where, having +intelligence that the insolent pirate Captain Kidd was hovering on +the coast, Mr. Benbow went in quest of him, unluckily without +success. After that we spent several months in cruising among the +West Indian islands, and receiving then orders to return home, Mr. +Benbow, leaving the Germoon for the service of the governor of +Jamaica, set sail for New England, our squadron being increased by +three other king's ships which happened to be then in Port Royal +harbor. When we had made Havana, the admiral, thinking the Falmouth +too weak to be trusted in the dangerous seas about the New England +coast, ordered Captain Vincent to return in her to England, and we +sailed into Portsmouth harbor towards the end of August, two years, +all but three months, since our departure. + +I stayed there but long enough to replenish my wardrobe and to draw +my prize money, which, added to what I had left of my pay, amounted +to the respectable sum of four hundred pounds, and then, having +leave from my captain, I set off once more for Shrewsbury. + +As before, I broke my journey at the Hall, to see my good friends +the Allardyces, and especially to give to Mistress Lucy some kind +messages entrusted to me by old friends of hers in Jamaica. + +They were rejoiced to see me; Mistress Lucy was greatly interested +to learn that I had but lately come from scenes she knew so well, +and we talked for a long time about friends and acquaintances of +hers whom I had met. And when I was alone with Mr. Allardyce I did +not fail to inquire how things stood in the matter of her +guardianship. He told me that no more had been seen of Vetch, and +indeed the espionage upon the house had ceased, Sir Richard being +resolved apparently to abide the issue of the action at law. The +bill in chancery had been filed; answers had been put in by Mr. +Moggridge on behalf of Sir Richard; and Mr. Allardyce hoped that +the proceedings might drag along for a couple of years, when +Mistress Lucy would be of age and her own mistress. And so 'twas +with a light heart that I went on to Shrewsbury, to tickle the ears +of my old friends there with the tale of my wanderings. + + + +Chapter 22: I Walk Into A Snare. + + +Cruising on shore is a flat and sorry business to a man who has +obeyed the call of the sea, and I was glad enough when, soon after +Christmas, I was summoned to rejoin my ship. There were already +whispers that war was like to break out again ere long between +England and France, owing to the machinations of King Lewis, who +had procured from the king of Spain on his death bed a will +appointing the Duke of Anjou to succeed him. 'Twas not to be +expected that our good King William, having striven all his life to +prevent Europe from being swallowed up by King Lewis, would tamely +submit to see a great kingdom like that of Spain disappear into +that ravenous maw; and when the new parliament met in February, +1701, it was significant that their first resolution was "to +support His Majesty and take such effectual measures as may best +conduce to the interest and safety of England." There was a +widespread suspicion that the French proposed to invade our shores +from Dunkirk, and Admiral Benbow, who was then commanding in The +Downs, was ordered to use his utmost diligence to frustrate any +such design. + +In common with every officer in the fleet I hoped that the French +would take the sea, so that we might have the pleasure of thrashing +them. But in this we were disappointed: I suppose they were +deterred by the knowledge that the channel was swarming with our +ships; for, besides Admiral Benbow off Dunkirk, there was Sir +George Rooke in The Downs, and Sir Cloudesley with six and forty +vessels at Spithead. Whatever be the reason, we saw nothing to +alarm us; and toward the middle of August Admiral Benbow was +ordered to proceed once more to the West Indian station, with two +third rates and eight fourth rates. The French and Spanish both had +large fleets in the Indies, and 'twas to secure our possessions +against attacks in case war should be declared, that Admiral Benbow +was sent out again. + +Since it was not expected that we should set sail for several +weeks, I obtained leave from my captain to go to Shrewsbury and +take farewell of my friends. With war imminent, and the possibility +that I might never return; I should not have been happy without +seeing them once again and leaving with their blessing. You may be +sure I took the Hall in my way, for having been almost wholly at +sea since my last visit, I had not heard anything from the family, +and I was anxious to know whether the chancery case had yet been +settled. Mr. Allardyce was not at home when I rode up to the door; +but I was taken to Mistress Allardyce, who astonished me beyond +measure by bursting into tears when she saw me. + +"Good heavens, ma'am!" I cried, imagining all kinds of ill, "what +is amiss?" + +"Oh, Mr. Bold," says the good lady, "I am so glad to see you. We +are in such trouble." + +"Have the Cluddes got her?" I asked, Mistress Lucy being uppermost +in my thoughts. + +"No, it is not so bad as that, though I fear that will be the end +of it. But she has left us, and I tremble to think of the poor +child so far away, and among strangers." + +"Among strangers! Pray, ma'am, explain," I said, glad enough that +my first fear was unfounded, but marveling much at what had +happened. + +"She left us six months ago," Mrs. Allardyce went on. "She has gone +back to Jamaica." + +"To Jamaica!" I said. "What on earth induced her to do that, +ma'am?" + +"'Twas that dreadful law case, Mr. Bold. The squire lost the day. I +do not understand it myself, he will explain it all to you when he +comes home: he has indeed gone to Bridgenorth this very day to see +his lawyer about it. Oh, Mr. Bold, I am so distressed! If I only +knew she was safe I could bear the separation so much better." + +"I do not think you need be uneasy on that score," I said. "She has +friends in Jamaica, as you know; the people there are all very +kind; and you may be sure they will see to her happiness." + +"I am so glad to hear that," said the lady. "After all, she is no +longer a child; she is twenty now, Mr. Bold, and has a will of her +own, and great self reliance. We had one letter from her, to say +that she had arrived safely; that was three months ago: I suppose +there has not been time to receive another." + +"There has been time, certainly," I replied, with some misgivings. +"Vessels leave Port Royal every week. But her estate is situate a +long way from the port, and maybe it is not convenient to send +letters often." + +"'Tis the absence of letters that makes the squire so uneasy. But +for his being unwilling to leave me, I am sure he would have sailed +to Jamaica himself to make sure that all is well. He dotes on Lucy. +'Tis a thousand pities that Roger's military duties will not permit +of his going out. Do you think that Jamaica is a healthy place to +live in, Mr. Bold?" + +We were still talking when Mr. Allardyce returned. He was heartily +glad to see me, and at once poured out his tale of trouble. The +Court of Chancery, it appeared, had made Miss Lucy a ward, but +instead of appointing Mr. Allardyce to be her guardian, it had +given that office to Sir Richard Cludde, her paternal uncle. Mr. +Allardyce spoke of the judge with the most bitter obloquy; he was a +cross-grained, dried-up old mummy, said the squire, without a drop +of good red blood in his veins. + +"He was prejudiced against us from the beginning, and when our +counsel said that Lucy herself entreated to be placed formally +under my guardianship the old wretch refused to listen, and said +that girls were better seen and not heard. I suppose he has a +nagging wife, and serve him right!" + +"And there is no appeal?" I asked. + +"Oh, the wretch said we might appeal if we pleased, but meanwhile +'twas the order of the court that Lucy should pass under Cludde's +guardianship. But he had not reckoned with Lucy. While I was in +London about the miserable business she was with Mistress Allardyce +at Bath, where madam had gone to take the waters. 'Twas lucky +Cludde did not know that, for as soon as the decision was made, he +posted off with the decree in his pocket, making no doubt that he +would seize her here and carry her off in triumph. Ha! ha! you +should hear Giles tell how he raved and cursed when he found she +was not here. He demanded to know where she was, but not a man or +maid would tell him; I've raised their wages all round. Meanwhile I +had posted to Bath, and no sooner does Lucy hear what has happened +than she jumps up and cries: 'I'll not have him for guardian for +all the judges in the country. Uncle, I'll go back to Jamaica; +please find me a ship at once.' Egad, I like spirit in a woman. + +"Well, being only a stone's throw, you may say, from Bristowe, it +was no long matter to arrange as she wished. I own I was loath to +let her go, but 'twas clear that Cludde would get hold of her if +she remained in the country, and there was no better way to avoid +that. ''Twill not be for long, uncle,' she says when I bid her +good-by. 'In a few months I shall be of age, and then I can snap my +fingers at the Lord Chancellor himself.' And that's one +consolation, Humphrey; she will be of age before the year's out." + +"But will not Sir Richard go after her?" + +"Not he. He doesn't know--at least I hope not--where she is. And +he's crippled with the gout, and made it ten times worse by rushing +across country in such desperate haste in the wettest month I've +known for a score of years. He came in his coach to see me, and +couldn't stir out of it, his foot being so swathed in flannel. He +roared himself purple, threatening me with imprisonment for +contempt of court and what not, but I laughed in his face, and told +him that Lucy was a Cludde already, and would change her name for a +better one when the time came. That hit him on the raw, Humphrey my +boy; he went away fuming, and I don't think he will drive over to +see me again." + +And then, being somewhat cheered by this recollection of his +victory over Sir Richard, he asked me how I had been faring. When +he learned that I was about to sail for the West Indies again, he +gave a gleeful chuckle. + +"I wish you luck, my boy," he cried, slapping me on the back, "both +in love and war." + +"Sir!" said I, conscious of flushed cheeks. + +"Give Lucy my love," he said, "and remember, my lad, that 'tis a +very serious matter to marry a ward of court." + +And then he chuckled and laughed again. Seeing that I had never so +much as hinted that any such idea as he suggested had entered my +head, I was somewhat taken aback by the old gentleman's +perspicacity; for if the truth must be told (and it will out, +sooner or later) I had quite resolved in my own mind that as soon +as I attained captain's rank, and had gained some store of prize +money, as I had no doubt I should do, I would endeavor to settle +Dick Cludde's hash so far as his matrimonial project was concerned. + +"I will warn off all trespassers, sir," I said soberly in reply to +Mr. Allardyce's remark, and my answer seemed to give him great +delight. + +Having said my farewells to my friends in Shrewsbury also, I +hastened back to my ship. We set sail in the last week of August, +being escorted down the channel by Sir George Rooke and Sir John +Munden with a large fleet. On the second of September we left Sir +George off Scilly, and on the twenty-eighth made St. Mary's, one of +the Azores, and remained there some eight days, during which Mr. +Benbow (who was now promoted vice admiral) called his flag officers +and captains together on board the Breda, his flagship, and +communicated to them his instructions. The junior officers and some +of the men were allowed to go in detachments for a few hours on +shore, and it was on one of these trips that I heard a piece of +news that interested me deeply. + +I was strolling along with Mr. Venables when we encountered Joe +Punchard and a group of men from the Breda. Seeing me, he touched +his cap, and begged that he might have a few words with me in +private. I went aside with him, and he began: + +"That there young lady, sir--wasn't she kin to Dick Cludde--Mr. +Lieutenant Cludde, begging his pardon?" (I had told Joe how 'twas +Mistress Lucy had saved me from a horse whipping when first I +appeared at the Hall.) + +"To be sure, Joe," I replied, "she is his cousin." + +"That be bad, sir," says he, "and 'twill be worse, by all +accounts." + +"What do 'you mean?" I asked. + +"Why, sir, one of the men yonder be Jonathan Tubbs, Captain Kirkby +his man, and he was just a-telling of us how Mr. Cludde, when he's +in his cups (which is pretty often) tells a bragging yarn as how +there's a mighty pretty girl out in Jamaicy a-waitin' to be spliced +as soon as he comes to port; and she's a cousin of his, with a fine +property; and he'll invite all the officers of his ship to the +wedding and take 'em teal shooting next day, and--" + +"That's enough, Joe," I said. "You had better go and tell your +friend Jonathan Tubbs not to repeat things he hears when he's on +duty." + +Joe instantly touched his cap, begged my pardon, and walked away. I +must have worn a very sober countenance when I rejoined Mr. +Venables, for he looked at me oddly, and asked if I had had bad +news. I evaded the question, and he did not press me. It was indeed +bad news in this respect; that 'twas clear the Cluddes knew of +Mistress Lucy's whereabouts. Indeed, for all I knew, Sir Richard +himself might have got well of his gout and made the voyage to +secure his ward. It wanted but a few months to her coming of age, +and while I knew that Dick could not wed her during her minority, I +saw that the very shortness of the time left would make the Cluddes +eager to get her under their influence. I had never met Dick since +that duel of ours on Southsea Common, having deliberately avoided +him; but I said to to myself that I would certainly meet him when +we arrived in Jamaica and make it clear to him that he would +interfere with Mistress Lucy at his peril. + +Much as I loved the sea, I now wished heartily that the voyage was +over. But I had to curb my impatience. 'Twas the third of November +when we arrived at Barbados; we made Martinica on the eighth, and +next day came to anchor in Prince Rupert's Bay, on the northwest +end of Dominica, where we supplied ourselves with water and other +refreshments. Thence we sailed to Mevis, and proceeding to Jamaica, +arrived there on the fifth of December, and anchored in Port Royal +harbor. + +I immediately got leave from my captain to go ashore, and inquired +of the harbor master whether one Sir Richard Cludde had lately come +to the island. My worst fear was relieved when I learned that it +was not so, but I could not rest until I had satisfied myself of +Mistress Lucy's well being, so I hired a horse and rode out to +Spanish Town, being well nigh choked, I remember, with the dust my +steed's hoofs raised from the sandy road. + +And here I had news that gave me the greater shock, for that it was +utterly unexpected. I made my inquiries from a merchant with whom I +had struck up a friendship during my former visit (he was indeed +the father of the Lucetta I have spoken of) and he told me that +Mistress Lucy was certainly living on her estate on the north side +of the island, but added that 'twould not be hers much longer, for +'twas coming into the market by order of her guardian. This was +surprising enough, and I asked to whom the instructions to this +effect had been committed. My friend then said that they had been +brought from England some months before by a lawyer named Vetch, +who was armed with a power of attorney. + +"Cyrus Vetch?" I cried, not doubting it, but overcome with sheer +amazement. + +"His name is Cyrus, I believe," replied my friend. "He stayed here +a few days, and made himself very pleasant, though I can't say I +took to him myself." + +"He is a thorough-paced villain," I said. "Is he still in the +town?" + +"No, he is at Penolver." (This was the name of the Cludde estate.) +"He is a masterful fellow, too; he dismissed old McTavish, who has +stewarded the estate since Mr. Cludde's death; the poor old fellow +feels it very sorely, for though he is a pretty warm man, like most +of his countrymen here, he won't take no other stewardship, though +he could have one for the asking, but moons about here in +idleness." + +"Does Mistress Lucy write to her friends here?" I asked. + +"No, and they are displeased at her silence; but I suppose she +thinks it scarce worth while to write when she will soon be here in +person. She will, of course, return to England when the estate is +sold, and is to make a match with her guardian's son, so they say. +My word! he'll be a lucky fellow." + +This news of Vetch's presence was staggering. As Sir Richard's +attorney he had, I supposed, full power to administer the estate, +or to sell it if he pleased; but I thought it a monstrous +proceeding if he did this without Mistress Lucy's consent. I had no +belief in his honesty, and suspected that he would take a pretty +picking of the purchase money for himself. The absence of letters +from Mistress Lucy was disquieting. The presence of the man who had +been Cludde's companion in the abduction must be obnoxious to her, +and it seemed strange that she had not written to her friends in +Spanish Town, and had allowed the report of a projected marriage +with Cludde to pass unchecked. + +A notion that she might be under some constraint put me in a +ferment, and I resolved to ride to Penolver and see for myself how +matters stood, and to let Vetch know that, even though I could not +dispute his legal status, he would at least have me to reckon with +if he subjected Lucy to any annoyance or duress. + +Returning to the port, I begged leave of Captain Vincent to go for +a few days' visit to a friend on the north side of the island, not +acquainting him with any particulars, because I felt that Mistress +Lucy would not like her affairs discussed. He demurred at first, +saying that we could not tell when we might have to put to sea; but +on my reminding him that the work of refitting and cleaning after +the voyage would take some time, and promising to return within a +week, he yielded. + +I set off early next morning, being provided by my merchant friend, +Mr. Gurney, with a trusty companion and guide in the person of a +smiling negro. At first I had purposed to ride alone, but my friend +said that, while I had only to follow the direct road for about +half my journey, which could take me through the well-settled +parish of St. John, afterwards I should run great risk of losing my +way in the cockpit country, maybe stumbling upon a settlement of +wild maroons, or stepping into one of the impassable sink holes +whose grass-grown surface gives no warning of the treacherous chasm +below. + +We rode till eleven o'clock, when the air became too hot for +comfortable traveling, and entered a rest house kept by a black +friend of my companion. He met us at the door, his face shining +with heat and good temper. + +"Good mornin', Massa; hope I see you well," says he. "Hi, Jacob, +where you bin dis long time?" + +He led the way most obsequiously into a large room with a sanded +floor. It was cool and dark after the outside air, being shaded +with green jalousies at the windows. I sat down, glad to escape +from the heat, and Jacob went off with the host to enjoy a chat and +prepare me a meal. Drowsy with the warmth, I was half dozing when a +rough voice aroused me with a start. + +"Mornin', yer honor." + +My eyes being now accustomed to the dim light, I saw a man seated +at a table at the farther end of the room. He was a burly fellow, +with a look of the sea dog about him. + +"Good morning," I replied. + +"Ridin' far, yer honor?" said the man again. + +"Massa Humf'y Bold ridin' jest as far as Missus Cludde's at +Penolver," said my guide, coming at this moment into the room with +a plate of jams and part of a fowl. "Massa Bold a king's officer, +and don't want do no talk wiv common man. Me do talk for massa." + +I laughed at the negro's officiousness, which the man did not +appear to resent. He said nothing more to me, and I soon knew by +his snores that he had fallen asleep. + +After a light meal and a long rest, we set off again, and came at +dark to another humble roadside hostelry, where I was glad to put +up for the night. I had not yet gone to sleep when I heard the +trot-trot of a horse, and wondered a little, as the sound died away +in the distance, who could be riding so late. A brilliant moon was +shining, and I thought that perhaps I had done better if I too had +pursued my journey through the night, and rested during the day. +But it was too late to think of that now; I was very tired, and +with the faint sounds of the trotting horse still in my ears I fell +asleep, not awaking till the sun was an hour or two above the +horizon. + +'Twas towards evening next day when, after riding through a wild +hilly country, densely clad with tropical vegetation, amid which +the only road was a horse track, my guide told me we were +approaching our journey's end. The road broadened, and by and by +ran between large fields of pasture land. Then we came beneath a +thick grove, and were jogging along carelessly, when my horse +suddenly stumbled and went down with so violent a shock that I was +jerked from the saddle. Before I could get upon my feet, rough +hands seized me, in a trice cords were lashed round me with a +dexterity that identified my captors as seamen, and I was forthwith +hauled along at the heels of as villainous a crew as I had ever +seen. And I knew from sundry moans and howls behind me that Jacob +had been dealt with in like manner. + + + +Chapter 23: Uncle Moses. + + +Since my former kidnapping at Bristowe I had learned that 'tis mere +folly to fly into a rage and rail at fate or your enemies. So, +affecting a cheerful tone, I said: + +"Why, sure this is scurvy treatment to deal out to a king's +officer, my friends." + +"No friends of yourn," replied one of the men. + +Another laughed and said: "Strap me if we ha'n't caught a tolly, +mates." + +"Tolly," as I learned afterwards, was the cant name by which king's +officers were known to the buccaneers. The fact that I was an +officer, of which they had apparently been ignorant, seemed to give +the men much pleasure. Some of them, no doubt, had once been king's +men, and knew without any telling the gravity of their offense. I +wasted no more words on them. They took me to a wooden shanty +standing by itself, tied me to a staple in the wall, shut and +padlocked the door, and went away. + +Left to myself, I sought for some explanation of this new addition +to the catalogue of my mischances. What were buccaneers doing on +this estate? Had they quitted for the nonce their usual work of +snapping up cargo ships? Had they made a raid upon the house and +served Vetch as they had served me? I had no pity for him, but the +thought of the sore straits in which Mistress Lucy might be filled +me with disquiet and alarm. + +And then another explanation flashed into my mind. Was it possible +that the men had been hired by Vetch himself in pursuance of some +villainous scheme for keeping Mistress Lucy in his power? I thought +of this until it became a conviction. Mistress Lucy's friends in +Spanish Town were surprised and hurt at the absence of news from +her; her silence must be due to Vetch. His motive was not far to +seek. Cludde had been boasting of the bride awaiting him in +Jamaica; I could not doubt that Vetch was holding her in durance +until Cludde should arrive, and, her minority having expired, she +could be cajoled or forced into a marriage with him. It was +essential to the success of this piece of villainy that she should +be kept from communication with her friends, and nothing was more +natural than that Vetch should hire a gang of buccaneers to assist +him in accomplishing his end. I marveled at his audacity, and +burned with rage at my utter helplessness. + +It did not occur to me at first that Vetch would know who it was +that his hirelings had entrapped. I supposed that he had +established a system of ambushing, so that whoever should arrive at +the place might be prevented, if need were, from having speech with +Mistress Lucy and learning of the restraint in which she was held. +But on considering this matter further I doubted whether even Vetch +would have dared to go this length, for if people came from Spanish +Town and did not return, it would certainly be suspected that +something was wrong, and I could scarcely believe that no notice +would have been taken of it by the authorities, civil or military. +This made my capture the more surprising, for while I did not doubt +that Vetch, if he had heard of my coming, would not scruple to lay +by the heels one who had defeated him in his former design on +Mistress Lucy. I was at a loss to understand how the identity of +his visitor could have become known to him. + +I lay awake all night, plagued by the heat and the multitudinous +insects, but still more by my anxieties. In the morning I heard +footsteps approaching, and the door being thrown open, I saw that +my visitor was Vetch himself. + +"So 'tis indeed Mr. Humphrey Bold," he said, with a grin of malice. +"I scarce believed in my good fortune. I did not expect to be +honored by a visit from Mr. Humphrey Bold." + +I knew not what to say to the insolent wretch who stood smiling +there; 'twas clear that he had expected me, which was very +puzzling, since none but my friend Mr. Gurney in Spanish Town and +Captain Vincent knew of my errand. Then all at once I remembered +the seaman in the hostelry, and my guide's telling him my name, and +the horseman riding by at night; 'twas clear to me now that the man +was a spy of Vetch's, kept on the road for this very purpose of +riding ahead of a visitor and giving intimation of his approach. + +"I need not say," continued Vetch, "how charmed I am to see one who +is endeared to me by many old associations." + +"You villain!" I cried, finding my tongue now that I had light upon +his doings. "You have had many lucky escapes, but by heaven you +shall not escape this time." + +"Escape!" he said, opening his eyes in feigned astonishment. "'Tis +you who will not escape again!" + +"You will release me," I said. + +"In my own good time," he answered. "A hothead like you will +benefit by a period of quiet meditation." + +"You will release me at once," I said. "You dare not keep me here. +There are those in Spanish Town and Port Royal who know where I +have come: they will seek me if I do not return to the ship within +the expected time, and then you will find a halter round your neck, +Cyrus Vetch." + +"Not at all," he said with a bland smile. "A messenger will leave +here tomorrow with a letter saying that my old friend and +schoolfellow, Humphrey Bold, is sick with a fever. He will have +every attention, and a report of his condition shall be sent to his +captain--Captain Vincent, is it not? I fear Mr. Bold may not have +recovered before the fleet sails; it is likely that he may be very +ill indeed; 'tis possible he may die! And Captain Vincent shall +know how tenderly he was nursed--yes, by Mistress Lucy Cludde--" + +"Don't name her name, you hound!" I cried hotly, stung at last into +fury. + +"Gently, Mr. Bold," said he; "you will but aggravate your +distemper. Mistress Lucy Cludde will nurse you--in my letter; and +your captain will think it most natural and commendable seeing that +you are her guest, and that it may be regarded there is some slight +relationship between you. And if you should happily recover, why, +she may herself accompany you to port and restore you to your +comrades. But that will not be till I please." + +I cried out on him as a scoundrel, though vexed with myself for +such mere windiness of utterance. The truth is, want of sleep and +the discomforts of the night were like to throw me into a real +fever, and the dismay I felt at this possibility helped me to pull +myself together. When I spoke again 'twas calmly, without heat. + +"You are playing a fool's game," I said. "You are exceeding your +rights as representative of Sir Richard Cludde, and you may be sure +you will be called to a heavy account if you deal wrongfully with +the estate or its owner. Pull up before it is too late; there are +sundry things against you in England that will not dispose the +courts to show you mercy." + +"Hark to him!" cries Vetch with an evil sneer. "He turns preacher! +You fool! Who are you to foist yourself into the concerns of your +betters--a fellow only saved from the gutter by charity! While the +girl is a minor I will deal with this estate as I please; and when +she comes of age, then--" + +He paused, an inscrutable look upon his face. + +"Then Humphrey Bold may go hang," he said, and with a smile that +made me feel wondrous uneasy he shut the door upon me and departed. + +Of all the mischances I had suffered, this was, I thought, the most +afflicting. In the others it was only myself that was concerned, +and a man who sets out to conquer fortune must expect his share of +buffets by the way. But my own ill hap was as nothing compared with +the dangers I felt to be hovering about Mistress Lucy, and to know +myself helpless when she was in sore need was as a crushing weight +upon my heart. + +I was not left long to my reflections. Presently Vetch returned +with two villainous-looking ruffians, seamen by their build, who at +his orders bound my hands behind me and then conveyed me across a +stretch of pasture land to a wooden house that stood in the angle +of a field. They took me up a flight of steps on to a veranda, +through one room into another, furnished with a table, a chair, and +a bed, and there left me. + +"I warn you once more," I said to Vetch before he went. "You are +dealing with a king's officer, and if you think this outrage will +go unpunished you are mistaken, and very grievously. And I tell +you, Vetch, that if Mistress Lucy suffer a jot at your hands, +either in herself, or in her property, you shall hang for it, as +sure as my name is Humphrey Bold." + +He smiled, swept me a bow and was gone. + +The chamber in which I was left was an inner apartment, such as are +common in the houses in Jamaica, enclosed by other rooms, to defend +it from the heat. It had but one door, and was illuminated by a +little window high up in the partition wall. Escape was impossible +save through the door, and I knew by the sound of voices from +without that the two men had been stationed there to keep guard +over me. They brought me some food by and by, one of them carrying +it into the room, the other standing at the door with a musket in +his hand, and I perceived that he had a hanger at his belt. To +attempt to overpower them and escape would be madness; but I +thought it might not be impossible to prevail on them by means of a +bribe to help me, and with that ultimate design I resolved to open +friendly communications with them. + +"What house is this?" I said. + +"Look 'ee, master, drink your bumbo and say nought," he growled. + +"Come, come," I said pleasantly, "you are a tar, as any one can +see, and as good a seaman, I doubt not, as ever slept upon +foc's'le. Two years ago I was a swab myself--" + +"Splutter and oons!" cried the man, interrupting me, "who be you +a-calling swab, I'd like to know!" + +"No offense," I said, "I was just going to tell you of the fun we +had, my mates and I, when we were prisoners in France, and how we +escaped and had a running fight with Duguay-Trouin--" + +"That's a good un!" he cried. + +"Hark to him, Jack: says he had a fight with Doggy Trang." + +"Let's hear about it," cries the man he had called Jack. + +Whereupon I launched out into the story of our escape, made them +laugh heartily by my description of our dealings with the French +captain, and so brought them, as I thought, to a more reasonable +temper. + +"And now, seeing that we're in a manner shipmates, you won't refuse +to answer a simple question, I'm sure," I said. "What house is +this?" + +"No harm in that, Bill," says Jack. "'Tis the house of the second +overseer of this 'ere plantation, and much good may it do you to +know it." + +Having thus broken the ice, I succeeded, before I had finished my +meal, in drawing sundry other information out of them. I learned +that the place of my imprisonment was some two miles from Mistress +Lucy's house, being situate at the extreme verge of the sugar +plantation. The men knew nothing about Mistress Lucy, or of what +went on at the house, having recently been brought up by Vetch, +along with a dozen or more shipmates, from a brig belonging to +their employer that now lay in a cove on the north of the island +some ten miles away. They made no bones about acknowledging that +they had formed part of the crew of a buccaneer vessel and had been +hired by Vetch for a month's service on shore, which suited them +very well, since they had nothing to do, good pay, and were given a +liberal allowance of bumbo, which was, I discovered, a concoction +of rum and water, sugar and nutmeg. + +"Well, now," says I, thinking the time had come for my proposal, "I +don't ask you what pay you are getting, but whatever it is, I will +double it if you'll let me loose, and help me to get down to +Spanish Town." + +"Come up, now!" says Bill, "d'ye think to gammon us? We know what a +lieutenant's wages is, we do, and 'twould take a dozen of you +together to pay us enough for that there job." + +"And you shall have it," I said. + +"Ay, and a dose of irons into the bargain," said the man. "No, no; +we don't want no lobsters up from Spanish Town; not if we know it. + +"Besides, we knows what king's officers be, don't we, Jack? + +"We've bin on king's ships, Lord love you, and we knows where the +pay goes to. Once you get to Spanish Town you'd forget all about +us; we've bin done like that afore." + +And then what must I do but produce a handful of silver and show it +them as earnest of my promise. I could not have done a stupider +thing. At the sight of the money the men fell upon me, and emptied +my pocket (despite my resistance) of every stiver it contained; so +that I was now, as once before in my life, bare of everything save +my clothes and Cludde's crown piece, which was hidden under my +shirt. Then, with many a chuckle, the scoundrels left me, to +meditate on the exceeding folly of trying to make terms with +buccaneers. + +So three days passed. I was never allowed to quit my room; Jack and +Bill guarded it by day, two other men by night. I became more and +more miserable and anxious. I could get no news from my jailers, +nor did I ever see the overseer in whose house I was; and I +suffered from a constant dread that Vetch's plans, whatever they +were, were maturing, and that it would soon be too late for any +intervention. + +On the third night of my imprisonment in the overseer's house (the +fourth since my arrival) I was very restless. My enforced +inactivity, and the lack of fresh air, were producing the natural +effect; every night I slept less, waking frequently, to toss and +heave until I sank again into a troubled slumber. + +In one of these intervals, I heard a scratching sound--just such a +sound as a mouse makes behind the wainscot. I had not noticed it +before, and it caused me nothing but irritation now, for when a man +is wakeful, such sounds, however slight they may be, become +magnified to his overstrung nerves. I endured the sound for a time; +then shooed to scare the gnawing animal away. But it did not desist +for an instant, and at last, vexed beyond measure, I got out of +bed, groped my way to the spot whence I thought the sound proceeded +(it seemed to come from the floor) and stamped heavily on the +boards. + +My action was heard by the men outside the door, and one of them +cried out angrily to know what I was about. + +"'Tis a wretched mouse will not let me sleep," I replied. + +"And what can you expect, you fool, when your room's over an empty +stable?" he said. "Curse me! what a fresh-water fair-weather fowl +you be!" + +The scratching having ceased, I went back to bed. But in a few +moments it recommenced, at what seemed to be a spot nearer to me, +and, marveling somewhat at the persistence of the beast (for a +mouse is easily scared), I covered my head, and so endeavored to +shut out the annoyance. + +I think I must have dozed again, for suddenly I found myself +sitting bolt upright, straining my ears as a man does when he is +suddenly wakened from sleep and is not sure whether 'twas by an +actual sound or by a sound heard in dream. And in a moment my doubt +was resolved; assuredly I heard a sound, and 'twas like a human +voice, but muffled. I listened intently; it appeared to come from +beneath me. While I was wondering who could have chosen the stable +as a place for conversation in the dead of night I could have sworn +(though half-believing it must be an hallucination) that I beard my +own name. In a trice I was out of bed, and groping my way under it, +my hand struck against something projecting from the floor, and at +the same moment I heard distinctly, and as it were in my very ear, +a low whisper, "Massa Bold, Massa Bold!" + +"Who is there?" I whispered in return, and, clutching the thing my +hand had touched, I felt it move. + +I tightened my grasp upon it; it was round, and as I discovered by +laying my other hand upon its top, hollow. Struck by a sudden +thought I bent my face down, and whispered again into the hole, +"Who is there?" afterwards turning my ear upon it. + +"Massa Bold, lill Missy sends a letter." + +The words came clearly up the tube. + +"Me poke it up," said the voice again. + +I withdrew my ear, and waited in a tense breathlessness of +amazement. Then I heard a slight rustling, and placing my hand on +the tube, I felt a small piece of paper thrust against it. Grasping +this, all my frame thrilling with excitement, I whispered again: + +"Who are you?" + +"Me Uncle Moses," said the voice. "Good night, sah; come again +tomorrow." + +And then all was silent. + +Picture if you can my state of mind as I crept back into my bed and +lay down again, the precious note in my hand. I was trembling with +happiness: Lucy knew of my presence, and had written to me. And yet +I was doomed to lie in a tantalizing impatience until the dawn +should give me leave to read her message. I had no more sleep that +night, wonderment, conjecture, pleasure, hope, setting up a whirl +in my brain. + +As soon as there was the faintest tremor in the darkness I sat up +and, unfolding the paper, sought vainly to decipher it. Never had +time seemed so long to me as I waited for the oncoming of the +beneficent light of day. And at last, lifting the paper almost to +my eyes, I was able to make out the words. + +'Twas in French, and I blessed the chance which enabled me to +understand it, and the woman's wit that had prompted Lucy to choose +this disguise. She said she had learned of what had happened +through the gossip of the servants; the man who had heard my name +in the rest house had mentioned it. She told me that she was +virtually a prisoner. She knew not what Vetch intended (she did not +name him, but wrote of him as cet homme mechant), but she was kept +under strict surveillance; her movements were dogged; and though +she had three times endeavored to make her escape along with the +old nurse who had accompanied her from England, she had always been +prevented, and those who had assisted her had been terribly +punished. Uncle Moses, her father's bodyservant, who was devoted to +her, had been whipped almost to death, and she dared make no +further attempt, for the sake of the poor black people. + +Dick Cludde had come up from Spanish Town, she told me, and +crushing down her repugnance to meet him, she had besought him to +interpose. He had seemed troubled, and had gone away, as she +thought, to plead with Vetch, but she had not seen him again. It +was after that that she had heard of my imprisonment. She thanked +me for coming to help her; she knew that was my purpose; had I not +helped her before? and she prayed that I might find some means of +escaping, so that I might take her away and save her from the +wicked man who had her in his power. + +I ground my teeth as I read all this, and vowed that if I could but +get free I would wreak a vengeance on Vetch that he would not +easily forget. But the knowledge of my impotence wrought me to a +pitch of fury that for a time almost bereft me of my senses, and I +could only rage and fume in desperate misery. My guardians, when +they came in to attend to my wants, seemed to be conscious of my +state of mind; they eyed me with suspicion, and the man at the door +took up his musket ostentatiously, though neither said a word to +me. + +After a time my passion subsided, and with recovered calmness I saw +that my only chance of doing anything for Lucy depended on my +patience and self restraint. I waited eagerly for night. The negro +had said that he would come again, and this could only mean that +Lucy had some hope of our being able between us to devise some +means of escape. The man ran a great risk; if the buccaneers heard +us speaking they would discover him, and then all hope would be +lost. Fervently as I longed to hear his voice again, I was consumed +with anxiety lest he should come too soon, or that by some +accident, some incautious movement, he might reveal his presence. + +The day passed and when I went to bed I lay in restless impatience, +straining my ears to catch the slightest whisper, and starting up +several times in the belief that I heard him. At last, when all was +silent save for the heavy breathing of the men outside the door, I +caught the faint sound made by the pushing of the tube (a length of +sugar cane, as I afterwards learned) through the hole he had bored +in the double floor. I stole noiselessly out of bed, and crept +cautiously to the place beneath it. + +"Is that you, Moses?" I whispered. + +"Yes, massa, me's here." + +"Is Mistress Lucy well?" + +"Welly miserable, sah. Missy say Massa Bold take care; she say 'God +bless Massa.'" + +Inwardly I blessed her for her thought of me; then I said: + +"We must both be careful, Moses. Now, I must escape from this, and +you must help me." + +"Yes, Massa, me want to help, but dere is no way for po' Uncle +Moses." + +"We must find a way; we must," I said in a fierce whisper. "Could +you come up and help me if I burst open the door? Are you strong? +Could you knock a man down?" + +"Me plenty strong, sah, but what good dat? Massa might get away, +but what den?" + +"Why, we could get among the trees in the darkness, and you could +lead me to the road, and perhaps find me a horse, so that I could +ride to Spanish Town." + +"No, no, sah, me berry much 'fraid in dark, sah. Me shake like leaf +now, sah; but in forest, wiv de bugaboos, me melt all away to +water." + +I had heard of the dread with which the negroes regarded the +bugaboos, the evil spirits of the woods, and knew that there was +but a poor chance of escaping if my guide were in a state of panic +terror. Moses had shown unusual courage in coming alone in the +darkness to the stable beneath me, and there was a tremor in his +voice which showed that even now but little was wanted to make him +go howling away. I thought it best not to risk so inopportune and +fatal a calamity, so I bade him go away and come again next night, +by which time I hoped to have been able to think out a plan that +offered reasonable prospects of success. + + + +Chapter 24: I Make A Bid For Liberty. + + +I slept heavily when Uncle Moses had gone, making up for my +wakefulness the night before; and next day I was more composed in +mind, and readier to take thought. Ignorant as I was of the +plantation and the country round, I saw that to escape in the night +without a guide would be to court disaster, and a timorous guide +like Uncle Moses, with his fear of the bugaboos, might lead me to +my undoing. Therefore my flight must be contrived by day. The door +of my chamber was opened three times, when the guards brought me +food, and 'twas possible that, with the negro making a diversion +outside, I might seize such an occasion to fell one of the men and +evade the other. But this plan scarce promised success, for the +house was situate in the sugar plantation, and doubtless many +negroes would be at work, and the overseer would be at hand, with +possibly others of the piratical dogs whom Vetch had brought up +from the coast. + +There was one period of the day, however, when few people, if any, +would be astir, and that was the middle part from eleven till about +three, when work ceased, everybody seeking shelter from the heat. I +could reckon on my guards being sleepy and sluggish then; and, +moreover, seeing that during several days I had given them no +trouble, they would be quite unprepared for any violent outbreak. +True, my door was always locked, but looking at it, I did not doubt +that if I threw myself upon it with all my strength it would give +way. And if Uncle Moses had the courage at the same time to tackle +the men, there was a chance that we might seize their arms and make +good our escape before they had recovered from their surprise. At +any rate, I saw nothing better. + +Being resolved on this first step, I had to consider the next. What +should I do if I escaped? Should I endeavor to make my way to +Spanish Town and return with a force of tars, or of soldiers from +Collingwood's regiment then in garrison, sufficient to deal with +Vetch's desperadoes? This idea I soon dismissed. I felt that time +was of the greatest moment. I did not know the exact date of +Mistress Lucy's coming of age, but 'twas very clear that it was not +far distant; it might be, indeed, within a few days, and I had such +a belief in Vetch's villainy that I feared he might force Lucy into +a marriage with Cludde the very moment she was free from the +authority of the Chancery Court. Cludde had arrived, I remembered, +and was perhaps still at the house awaiting the day of Lucy's +enfranchisement, and I clenched my fists at the thought. + +It would take me a full day on a swift horse to reach Spanish Town, +even if I rode at peril of sunstroke through the hot hours, and +another day, perhaps two or three, to return with assistance; and +it was in the highest degree unlikely, first that I should be able +to get a horse, and if I did, to ride the whole length of the +estate without being intercepted. And further, supposing all +happened as favorably as I could wish, at the news of my flight +Vetch would without question carry off Mistress Lucy to the brig +that lay on the coast, and would sail to England or elsewhere, +secure in the knowledge that I could not pursue him. + +I can relate the course of my reasoning in cold blood now, but on +that day of anxious pondering every other consideration was +outweighed by the feeling that I must not go far from Mistress +Lucy. And so I resolved that if I got free I would ask Uncle Moses +to lead me to some spot near by, difficult of access, where I might +lurk while concerting some means of assisting her. It passed my wit +to conceive of any plan that promised success; but certainly I +could do nothing while a prisoner, and to be free was my one +consuming desire. + +How impatiently I waited for the dark needs no telling. And some +words I overheard pass between my jailors, as they talked over +their supper, drove me to such a state of desperation that I had +almost there and then dashed myself against the door and ruined +everything. + +"'Twill be summat new for Parson Jim," says Jack. + +"Ay, 'tis many a year since he tied a knot o' that sort," replied +the other. + +"D'ye reckon he can tie it safe and proper, seeing he bean't no +more a parson?" asked Jack. + +"Never you fear," says Bill; "once a parson always a parson, as +I've heard tell. 'Tis no matter he's a swab and a tosspot like you +and me, only worse, and fit for nothing but a Newgate galley; he'll +read the words o' the book, if so be he's sober enough to see 'em +(though to be sure his talk is always most pious when he's drunk), +and they'll be lawful man and wife, same as if they'd bin spliced +by the Pope of Rome himself." + +This wrought me into a very fever of apprehension. I could only +guess who Parson Jim might be; the buccaneers gathered all manner +of strange recruits; it was enough that there was talk of a +marriage, and I was sick with dread lest after all I should be too +late. And when at last I heard the welcome rustle below me, the +first words I spoke through the tube were an anxious inquiry for +Lucy's welfare. + +"Missy lots better now, sah," replied the negro, and with the +vanity of youth I inferred that she was better for the knowledge +that I was near. + +"Is Mr. Cludde at the house?" I asked. + +"No, sah; Massa Cludde gone yesterday." + +That was good news, at any rate, for I supposed him to have +returned to Spanish Town, perhaps to make preparations for his +wedding, and it must be four or five days at earliest before he +could be back. + +"And when is Mistress Lucy's birthday?" I asked. + +"Missy's bufday Friday, Massa, but oughter be Fursday." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Missy keep bufday one day after proper time, sah, cos her muvver +die on proper bufday, and Massa and Missy too sorry to be jolly dat +day, sah." + +"Does Mr. Vetch know that?" I asked, with no little anxiety, for +'twas Tuesday night, and if Vetch knew that Lucy came of age on +Thursday the time was perilously short. + +"No, sah; Massa Vetch t'ink de proper bufday be Friday, and he hab +told all de black people dey shall get drunk Saturday, 'cos dere +will be wedding in de house." + +There was confirmation of the suspicion my jailors' talk had bred +in me. I lost no time now in imparting my plan to the negro. He +gave a low groan when I had finished. + +"What's the matter?" I said. "Are you afraid?" + +"Yes, Massa, I am 'fraid. S'pose we get away, dere be dogs at the +big house, and dey will let 'em loose on us and follow on +horseback. We shall be cotched, and dat will be de last of po' +Uncle Moses." + +This was a staggering blow, and I own I felt for the moment an +utter despair. In the depths of the forest land, could we but gain +it, we might elude the search of men, but not the unerring scent of +bloodhounds. + +"Are there horses we could make off with?" I said at length. + +"No, Massa; all de horses but two at de big house be gwine to take +sugar to de coast tomorrow, and dose two are kept for Missy and +Massa Vetch." + +This had an element of comfort in it, for if we could not find +horses for ourselves, neither could our pursuers, save these two, +which might not be at hand, and I did not doubt we could outstrip +any man on foot. I pointed this out to the negro, and when he +replied that we had still to reckon with the dogs, I tried to +hearten him by showing that some time must elapse before the beasts +could be fetched from their kennel and put upon the scent. And then +I asked him whether slaves had never run away from the estate +without being caught. + +"Not when old Massa was alive, nor yet when Massa McTavish was de +boss; but some did run 'way when Massa Vetch come, and dey was not +cotched." + +"Well, then, why should not we do the same? Do you know where they +hid?" + +"In de swamp six mile 'way," he said. + +"Yes, dat is it," he added, with a new eagerness in his tone, "we +will run to de swamp. I never thought of Massa going where de +niggers go. De dogs will not run on de swamp 'cos dey 'fraid of +being drownded." + +"Then how can we?" I asked, wondering. + +"I know all about dat, Massa," he said. "De slaves what run way dey +wear swamp shoes. I make some for massa and me, and den if we get +dere befo' de dogs cotch us, we shall be safe." + +I was getting desperately uneasy lest our whispered conversation, +which had lengthened itself out, should be heard by my jailors. So +I now brought it to an end by reminding Uncle Moses of the part he +was to play on the morrow and giving him a message to Mistress +Lucy. + +"Tell her that with God's help I shall be free tomorrow, and beg +her to shut herself in her room, and see no one. If mortal man can +save her, she shall be saved." + +And ere I went to sleep I prayed very fervently that all might be +well with us and her. + +When morning broke, I was conscious of a great agitation of mind, +which I schooled myself to hide from the eyes of my guards, forcing +myself to eat the breakfast for which I had no appetite. It would +have eased me to pace up and down my room, but I forbore even from +this, so that no restlessness might provoke their curiosity or +suspicion. I sat for hours on my bed, awaiting the time for our +attempt. The men brought me my midday meal: one of them made a +brutal remark on my pallor; and then the door was shut, and they +settled themselves to their usual siesta. + +'Twas about an hour later when I heard the tube pushed up through +the hole in the floor. Uncle Moses was below. The critical moment +for which I had been longing was come, and my limbs trembled +uncontrollably, as they had not done since the time when I saw my +first sea fight on the deck of the Dolphin. As we had arranged, I +allowed time for the negro to mount the steps and come through the +veranda into the room adjoining. Then, gathering my strength, I +took three strides across my chamber and dashed my right shoulder +against the door. It flew outwards with a crash, the force of my +impact being such that the lock tore a great piece out of the jamb. + +I rushed blindly into the next room, and lost a few moments in the +endeavor to grasp the scene. But my jailors lost more, for the +crash had wakened them from a sound sleep and, seamen though they +were, the event was so sudden and unexpected that they were taken +perfectly aback, and were still looking about them in a dazed +bewilderment when Uncle Moses and I threw ourselves upon them. We +got them just as they were staggering to their feet. A blow from my +fist sent one spinning against the wall; at the same moment the +negro, whom I had barely yet seen, caught the other man by the +middle and, by a feat of strength which amazed me, hurled him +through the doorway into the room I had just quitted. I hoped they +were stunned; we could not wait to see, and we had no means of +binding them. + +The noise must have awakened everybody in the house; indeed, I +heard shouts from the rear; no doubt the overseer, and the two +buccaneers who had been on guard during the night, would in a few +moments be upon the scene. Snatching up the men's muskets and +bandoliers that lay on a bench against the wall, we dashed into the +veranda, sprang down the steps, and made off across the plantation. + +We had not run a hundred yards when we heard a bellow behind us, +and, turning, I saw a man at the head of the steps lighting the +match for his musket. I was pleased at this, for it would give us +another hundred yards' start before he could fire. The muskets of +these days can not boast of great precision, but those of fifty +years ago were infinitely more cumbersome and clumsy, so that I did +not fear he would hit us, unless by some unlucky chance. And +indeed, when his weapon flashed, we were quite two hundred and +fifty yards away, and the slug went very wide. He would have done +better, I thought, to pursue us at once on foot. + +But as we sped on side by side, I heard a great horn blast that +seemed to set the welkin ablaze. 'Twas the signal that a slave had +run away, and I could not doubt that Vetch would immediately +suspect what had actually happened. Before long, beyond question, +he would be hot upon our traces. + +"How far to the forest?" I asked of the negro. + +"More'n a mile, massa," he replied. + +And then, as I ran, I looked more closely at the man whom fate had +made my comrade in this desperate adventure. He was an older man +than I had expected; very powerfully made, as his cast of the +buccaneer had proved; but his hair was white, and, short as was the +distance we had run, I could see that he would soon be laboring for +breath. But it was two miles to the big house, as he had called +Mistress Lucy's abode, and I did not despair of reaching the edge +of forest land before Vetch could make up on us, even if he started +the very moment he heard the alarm. If once we gained the forest, +we might perhaps blind our trail in a stream, and so gain time +enough for our further flight to the swamp. + +We were running on a broad track that divided the sugar plantation, +and here and there negro laborers who had been roused from their +noontide sleep by the horn blast and the shot rose up to see what +was afoot. None of them offered to interfere. They stared at us for +the most part in silence, one or two of the older people crying out +that it was Uncle Moses on the run, and wondering at his companion +being a white man. + +I took little note of them, for I was already anxious on behalf of +the old negro. We had six miles to go; could he hold out? 'Twas two +miles from the big house to the house we had left; a horseman could +cover the distance in little longer than it would take us to reach +the forest; and then we should have but one mile start in a race of +six. The odds were heavily against even me, in strong and lusty +youth; how much more heavily against Uncle Moses, who was perhaps +three times my age! + +Already I was slackening my pace to keep with him. And we were +cumbered with the muskets we had seized--heavy weapons, and, when I +came to think of it, likely to prove of little use to us, for we +could not pause in the race to light matches, nor, once they were +discharged, should we have time to recharge them. Yet I dared not +suggest we should fling them down; they were our only weapons save +for a knife that Uncle Moses carried at his belt, and perchance if +it came to a fight at close quarters we could wield them with some +effect as clubs. So we pounded on, saying never a word, I +husbanding my breath, the negro panting hard. + +We came to the edge of the forest land bordering the estate, and +when we had plunged into it for some little distance Moses was fain +to stop to recover his wind. + +"Dey hab not started yet, massa," he gasped. + +"How do you know?" I asked. + +"'Cos dere is no sound of de dogs," he replied. + +"Should we hear them three miles away?" + +"Oh, yes, massa; de wind carry de sound miles and miles." + +"We have luck on our side, then. Can you run again?" + +"Yes, massa. Po' Uncle Moses hain't no chicken now, but he hain't +done yet." + +And then we set off again through the forest, at a more moderate +pace now, for the way ran no longer clear. The word "forest" to a +stay-at-home means a tract of soft, springy turf, with tall trees +and pleasant glades and clumps of bracken that shelter rabbits and +other small creatures of the woodland. But the forest of the West +Indies bears to our English forest the relation of a giant to a +dwarf. The fronds of the bracken grow to feet where we have inches; +weeds that with us would shelter a mouse would there oonceal an +elephant, and a creeping plant which in England would delay a man +only while he kicked its tendrils aside grows in Jamaica to such a +strength and tanglement that it would obstruct the passage of a +troop of horse. + +This was somewhat in our favor. We could run where horses might +not. But I took little comfort from this, for where we went the +dogs would certainly follow. And we had not gone above a mile, as I +reckoned, when the howling sound came to our ears--a deep-toned +baying, faint and mellow, stealing through the umbrageous foliage +like the horns of some fairy host. The hounds had found our scent. + +Uncle Moses groaned. Doubtless he knew full well the fate of +unhappy slaves who had been recaptured in flight. He quickened his +strides for some yards, then, stopping, he held his hand to his +side and begged me to go on alone. + +"But I can not," I said. "I do not know the way; and besides, I +will not leave you. Give me your musket. We have still a good +start, and after you have rested a little you will be able to run +again." + +I took his musket, and when we set off again we were lucky to come +upon a stream swirling athwart our track. We stepped into this and +walked through the water for some distance, until we had, as I +thought, effectually blinded our trail. And no doubt it was so, but +Uncle Moses told me that it would only delay our pursuers for a +little; they knew the direction of the haven for which we were +making, and even if the dogs were at fault the horsemen would still +press on. We wasted no more time in deflecting from our course for +any such vain manoeuvers, but ran straight on. + +Alas! the old man's strength was failing. He staggered, and but for +my arm would have fallen. I think his collapse was due partly to +terror, for the baying of the hounds was growing upon our ears; the +pursuers were gaining fast upon us. I had perforce to wait +patiently until the poor negro had somewhat recovered, and +meanwhile the deep-mouthed baying sounded ever nearer, and the +precious minutes were fleeting by. When we set off once more 'twas +at little above a walking pace, and every moment I dreaded the +appearance of the pursuers at our heels. And I noticed with alarm +that the forest was thinning; apparently we should soon reach open +country, and lose what little advantage we had in being out of our +enemy's sight. + +I asked anxiously whether 'twould not be better for us to turn +aside into the thickets and try to hide; peradventure the dogs and +the horsemen would go past. But the negro said 'twould be useless; +we could not deceive the dogs, and we should be no safer than rats +in a barn. + +We had come to the end of what would in England be called a glen--a +narrow gorge, with shelving banks rising to the height of some +ninety feet, and overgrown with shrubs and creeping plants. No +doubt in the rainy season 'twas the bed of a torrent; the bottom +was sandy and pebbly, and hard to the feet. We had gone but a +little way along it when Uncle Moses sank down, and, looking at his +livid face, his panting nostrils and starting eyes, I feared that +the hand of death was upon him. 'Twas clear that he was utterly +spent; he could not even stagger to the farther end of the gorge; +and with the bitter pangs of despair I heard the fierce baying of +the hounds, and had almost resigned myself to the inevitable end. + +I glanced round to see whether the pursuers were in sight. I saw, +not them, but something which flashed a wild hope through me. Some +little distance back a tree hung over the sandy bottom, its roots +partially laid bare by the washing of the stream which had now +disappeared. The trunk was inclined at a sharp angle; but little +force would be needed, I thought, to topple it over until it lay +athwart the path which the pursuers must follow. Its foliage was +thick, and though I did not flatter myself 'twould put an end to +the pursuit, I thought it might serve as a check, and enable Uncle +Moses to gain strength enough for a last attempt. + +Dropping the muskets by the negro's side, I ran down the gorge, +scrambled up the bank to the base of the tree, and swarmed along +the trunk to the farthest extremity. It was a tall tree, of a kind +I did not know, and my weight upon its tapering top must have +exerted a considerable force upon its loosened lower end. Catching +a branch that seemed strong enough to bear me, I dropped with a +jerk. There was a movement of the trunk, and I heard a wrenching +sound below, but the roots still held fast. I climbed up again with +the quickness I had learned at sea, and again threw myself down. + +This time I produced the effect I desired; the roots gave way, and +in a moment I found myself on the ground, somewhat scratched and +bruised, but sound of bone and limb. The fallen tree lay full +across the gorge, its foliage completely filling the space, save +for a narrow gap between it and the ground, through which a man or +a dog might crawl, but not a horse. + +I ran back to Uncle Moses, lifted him to his feet, and, assisting +him with one hand, the muskets clasped in the other, I led him up +the gorge with what haste I might. We had gone but a little way +when I heard the shouts of men mingled with the baying of the +hounds, and immediately afterwards these latter forced their way +beneath the tree and ran with lolling tongues towards us. Knowing +nothing of the ways of bloodhounds, I expected the two dogs would +fly at our throats like foxhounds at a fox, and I loosed the +negro's arm and stood with musket upraised to defend myself and +him. But to my surprise Uncle Moses called to them by name, and +they answered him with a bark and fawned on him. + +"Dey won't hurt us," he said. "Dey hab done their work; dey lub po' +Uncle Moses." + +"Will they come with us?" I asked, with wondering delight. + +"Dey will do anyt'ing for Uncle Moses," he replied. + +"Then let us get away into the forest again as soon as we can, and +take them with us. How far is the swamp now?" + +"'Bout a mile, Massa." + +"Come, then; we may have time to get to it before the men can +overtake us. They cannot get their horses over the tree." + +And we made off, the dogs accompanying us willingly, in spite of +the cries and calls of the baffled horsemen on the other side of +the tree. Issuing from the gorge, we struck into the forest, and +heard our pursuers cursing us and the dogs as they tried to follow +us. By the help of my arm Uncle Moses managed to struggle along, +and after about a quarter of an hour we came to the edge of the +swamp. + +Then he took from his back, where they had been strapped, two pairs +of shoes in shape similar to those which our trappers in America +adopted from the Indians for marching over snow, but slighter and +shorter. These we donned, the negro showing me how to fasten mine, +and then we stepped on to the morass, the oozy red soil squelching +beneath our feet. The hounds came with us for a few yards, but, the +ground becoming softer the farther we went from the edge, they +halted, whined as though loath to part from friends, and then ran +back to meet Vetch and one of his buccaneers, who stood helpless at +the brink. They fired at us, but we were already out of range, and +with the sound of their execrations still in our ears we trudged +slowly but steadily towards the other side of the swamp. + + + +Chapter 25: I Spend Cludde's Crown Piece. + + +Thankful as I was for my wondrous escape, my mind still misgave me, +both as to our own ultimate safety and as to what might befall +Mistress Lucy. I did not know the extent of the swamp, and maybe +Vetch and his companion would go back for their horses and, +circling round it, circumvent us. Uncle Moses relieved my fears on +this score, telling me that, while the swamp was little more than +half a mile across, it stretched laterally for several miles, and +we should reach the haven whither we were making long before the +swiftest horses could complete the circuit. + +On the other point, the well being of Mistress Lucy, he could give +me no reassurance. 'Twas Wednesday: she came of age tomorrow; even +if Vetch was not aware of this, but believed that Friday, the day +of her birthday celebrations, was the actual birthday, it gave us +terribly little time to concert any movements on her behalf. And so +my joy of having recovered my freedom was tempered by uneasiness. + +It was heavy going across this sagging morass. Uncle Moses told me +that we were in no danger of sinking into it so long as we took +short and rapid steps; but we were both mightily fatigued, and my +feet as I lifted them seemed heavy as lead. The negro was in far +worse case than I, and had I not grasped him firmly by the arm and +fairly pulled him along, I think he would never have gained the +other side. Towards the middle the surface of the swamp was nothing +but liquid ooze, and once or twice, in spite of our swamp shoes, we +sank in it up to the ankles. But at length we reached more solid +ground; then Uncle Moses said we must strike off to the right, and +after a tramp of two miles or thereabouts we should come to a +well-concealed spot where he had no doubt we should find fugitives +of his color. + +As we neared the place he put his fingers to his mouth and blew a +whistle of three quick notes that reminded me of the piping of a +thrush. And immediately I started back: a black man had risen +almost from beneath our feet. So well hidden was he in a +low-growing bush that we might have passed within a yard of him and +been none the wiser. I perceived that he carried a long knife in +his hand. + +"Hi, Sam!" said Uncle Moses, stepping in advance of me. + +I stood leaning on one of the muskets while the two men spoke +together in tones too low to reach my ears. But I knew from his +gestures and his manner of looking at me that the stranger was +loath to comply with the request Uncle Moses was putting to him. +His demeanor said, as plainly as words, that he distrusted me; I +was a white man, and doubtless the poor runagate had too much +reason to regard all white men as his enemies. But Uncle Moses took +him by the arm and appeared to plead with him; and by and by the +man left us and went away. + +"Him gone to ask his brudders if we may go where dey are," said +Uncle Moses, coming to my side. + +Then he flung himself on the ground and lay at full length upon his +face, with his arms outstretched in an attitude of utter +prostration. I sat down by him, clasping my knees, and mused with +down-bent head. + +After what seemed a long while the negro returned and told us that +we might accompany him. He led us back toward the swamp, threading +his way through the rank vegetation along an invisible path that +wound about like the coils of a snake in most bewildering wise. But +it was firm to the tread, and his bare feet had no need of swamp +shoes. Finally we came to a little island copse slightly above the +general level, and there, well screened from view, we found a group +of about a dozen negroes. They had constructed for themselves +little huts of grass and branches of trees, and in the midst a pot +was boiling on a fire of sticks. They cried a greeting to Uncle +Moses, and I was not a little amazed when one of them came grinning +up to me and said: + +"Massa Bold, we bofe free now. Huh! dat debbil nebber cotch us no +mo'." + +'Twas Jacob, the man who had escorted me from Spanish Town and been +captured with me. He told me that he had been put to work in the +plantation, but had run away on the second day, along with another +man. + +"Dat him ober dere," he said, pointing to a burly, +pleasant-featured negro who was in close conversation with Moses. +"Dat Noah! Ah! he hab drefful time--pufeckly drefful, 'cos he help +Missy." + +"What did he do?" I asked, feeling a most friendly disposition +towards a man who had done anything for Lucy. + +"She want to run away, too," he said; "ebery one want to run away. +She got on horse, and Noah was leading her round about, but dey +cotched him, and den, oh, lor', didn't dey jest beat him! + +"Say, Noah, show Massa Bold your po' back." + +The man left Uncle Moses, and, coming to me, turned about (he was +naked to the waist) and displayed to my sickened gaze a score of +long, raw wounds upon his back. They had begun to heal; I learned +that his companions had anointed them with grease, and plastered +them with leaves from a plant that grew abundantly in the forest. + +"Dat is what Massa Vetch do," he said with a dark look, "and his +friend he look on and cry to him to gib me mo'. He say, teach me a +lesson, and I learn it--oh, yes, I learn it. And now I show how to +teach lesson back." + +His pleasant face was darkened with a glare of utter savagery. + +"Black man can teach jest as good as white. Come 'long o' me, +massa; I show massa somet'ing." + +Wondering, I followed him past the huts, through the copse, into a +little clearing, when I saw a white man stripped to the shirt and +tightly bound to a tree. + +"Dat is him!" cried Noah excitedly. "Dat is de white debbil what +say gib me mo'. I teach him lesson: he nebber want no mo'." + +His tone already sent a shiver through me, but as he went on to +explain the nature of the lesson he intended, I shuddered with +horror. + +"Dis berry night we burn him up!" he cried. "Massa Bold see? We tie +him up to de bough of de tree, and we light a lill fire, jest a +lill one, and first it warm his feet, and den it get bigger, and +creep up and up, and bimeby it come to his head, and den he burn +all up. Oh, yes; dat is a proper lesson for white debbils to +learn!" + +"You will not do anything so horrible!" I murmured. + +"Hobbible! Hain't my back hobbible? He laugh when he see ole whip +come whisk! whisk! on my po' back; well, den, I laugh when I see de +fire go creep, creep, and when I hear him holler. Oh, yes, it will +be a proper lesson, no mistake 'bout it." + +And then the poor bound wretch, whose head was hanging forward as +though he were already in extremis, lifted his eyes and saw me. + +"Bold! Humphrey Bold!" he shrieked in a harsh, gasping whisper. +"Save me! Save me from these monsters!" + +I started forward, scarce believing my eyes. In the pinched, +haggard features of the man who was lashed to the tree I recognized +my old enemy, my whilom schoolfellow, Dick Cludde. + +"Save me! Save me!" he cried again and again. + +"For God's sake, loose him!" I cried, turning to the negro. + +God knows Cludde had done me harm enough; but for the working of a +gracious Providence he had ruined my life; but all remembrance of +this fled from me as I beheld his pitiful plight and mortal terror, +and heard his altered voice screaming for mercy. + +"I know him; he was once a friend of mine," I cried, and God +forgive me the lie. "Let him go; don't torture him any longer." + +Noah laughed in my face. + +"What for me let him go?" he said. "'Cos he is a white man? He is a +white debbil; he shall hab his lesson." + +"But it is murder. You would not murder him?" + +"And he murder me! De whip cut me twenty times, and if I die, what +den? Noah is only a black man: it is not murder to kill a black +man! Dey kill me: I lib for teach him lesson." + +"Let him go," I cried, "and I will give you money--twenty dollars." + +"No!" + +"Thirty--forty dollars!" + +"No!" + +"Forty dollars is a great big lot," said Uncle Moses, who had +joined us and saw my desperate eagerness to save the man. + +"No!" said Noah again, his mouth tightening with inflexible +determination. + +"Uncle Moses," I said, "can't you bend him? I will give anything if +he will but spare the man. I am a king's officer; you know that +what I promise I will do; and he is your mistress' cousin." + +"Noah, my son," said the old negro, "listen to Massa. S'pose you +burn de white man, what good to you? He die, oh course, and nebber +can do nuffin' to black mans no mo'; but you will only be pleased a +lill tiny while, and if you let him go you gwine hab dollars what +will last long, long time." + +"No!" returned Noah. "I will teach him lesson, and be pleased for +ebber and ebber." + +And he walked away and began to gather up some sticks and carry +them to the tree where Cludde, utterly exhausted, seemed to have +fainted away. + +I asked Moses what sum would purchase Noah's freedom, ready to +spend my last penny to prevent the hideous scene for which +preparation was being made. He told me five hundred dollars, and I +bade him go to Noah and promise that the money should be his as +soon as I got back to Spanish Town. He returned downcast from his +mission. + +"He say dat is all talk," he said. "It is for bimeby, but he want +rebenge now; black man don't fink nuffin' ob bimeby." + +"But can't we give him something now as earnest of what is to come? +There are our muskets; they will be useful to him, and are worth +some dollars; offer them to him, and assure him on the word of an +Englishman that he shall have the price of his freedom as soon as +ever I can get back to my friends." + +He went away with this message, but came back again unsuccessful. + +"He say hab plenty guns, and what good guns widout any powder and +shots? He hain't got no powder; de guns hain't worth more'n old +sticks. Hain't Massa got no money? If he seed de look of silver, +now, dat would be somet'ing 'spectable." + +But my pockets were empty; all my money had been taken by the +buccaneers. And then, with a start of recollection, I remembered +the crown piece that hung by a riband about my neck, and with the +thought a flash of inspiration shot through my mind. I ran forward +to the spot where Noah was already heaping the sticks for the fire, +and, tearing open my shirt, I displayed the silver coin. + +"Look, Noah," I cried, "you shall have this, and five hundred +dollars beside by and by. Listen while I tell you about it." + +And then I told how, ever since I had worn that coin about my neck, +I had had the best of good fortune. It had brought me friends, and +raised me from a lowly position. I had been imprisoned and escaped; +I had been shot at, without scathe. I had gained what I prized most +in all the world. I fear I exaggerated; certainly I had never +before ascribed any talismanic power to the coin which I had kept +for no other purpose than to humiliate the man who had humiliated +me. But in this extremity I saw the possibility of working on the +negro's superstitious mind, and I would have racked my invention to +give the piece the most marvelous virtues under heaven. + +But I had said enough. With a stare of wonderment Noah took the +coin in his hand, turned it over, examined it, handled it as though +it was a sacred object. I lifted the string from my neck. + +"There, take it; 'tis yours," I said, handing it to him, and then, +by a happy afterthought, I myself slipped it over the negro's head. +He saw the white coin lying on his dusky breast, a smile overspread +his face, most wondrously obliterating all the lines of malice and +hate; and then, turning swiftly, he went to the tree, with me at +his heels, and cut the cords. + +Cludde fell fainting into my arms, and as I laid him on the ground +and begged for water (not a drop had passed his lips for thirty-six +hours), I wondered whether he would ever know how I had paid the +stored-up interest I had vowed to pay. + + + +Chapter 26: We Hold A Council Of War. + + +For some time I was in doubt whether the agonies Cludde had +suffered would not prove fatal. He lay long unconscious, and when +his eyes at last opened he shrieked aloud, with so wild a look in +his eyes that I feared his reason was gone. But I, who had not left +his side since he was loosed from the tree, spoke to him quietly, +assuring him that he was safe, and gave him water to drink, and by +and by he was soothed to quietude and slept like a tired child. And +then I lay beside him, worn out with the stress and agitations of +this long day, and together (strange chance!) we who had been +mortal enemies found repose on the bosom of mother earth. + +Night came down upon us, and the stars were blinking in the dark +vault above when we awoke. Uncle Moses brought us food--birds the +negroes had snared and roasted, and root plants they had grubbed +up; and as we ate we talked. + +"Bold," said Cludde huskily, "you've returned good for evil. You +don't want my thanks; you hate me." + +"I wonder if I do," I said, and pondering the matter, I came to the +conclusion that I rather despised than hated him; but I did not +tell him so. "How did you come to this strait?" I asked him. + +"I came up to see Lucy, and happened to arrive just after that +nigger had been caught. Vetch was flogging him, told me he was an +insolent and lazy scoundrel, and I agreed he ought to be taught a +lesson--" + +"Even if it killed him," I interrupted. + +"Why, he's only a black fellow," said Cludde. + +"And black fellows are flesh and blood, like you and me." + +"But they haven't our feelings; come now, you won't say that?" + +I would not argue with: him, and he went on--"I came to the house, +and Lucy refused to see me. I hated you then, Bold; Vetch told me +that you had been up, and I guessed you had put a spoke in my +wheel." + +"I never saw Mistress Lucy," I said. + +"What? Why, Vetch told me that you had proposed to her, and been +sent away with a flea in your ear." + +"That was a lie. But go on: I will tell you about myself +presently." + +"Well, I plucked up courage to go to the house again, and this time +I was admitted and saw Lucy, and by heaven, Bold, I had no inkling +of what had been going on." + +"You might have guessed, knowing Vetch, whom your own father had +sent out here," I said. + +"But not for this," he said eagerly. "I beg you to believe me, +Bold. I know there is much against me, but after that business at +the turnpike I told Vetch I would countenance no more tricks of +that sort--though I own I helped to arrange your kidnapping at +Bristowe." + +"'Twas an insult to Mistress Lucy to send Vetch out here," I said, +refusing to compromise on this matter. "But go on, let me hear how +you came to this." + +"Lucy told me what tricks Vetch had been playing, and begged me to +help her to get away from him, and burst into tears, and I can't +stand a woman's tears. I sought Vetch, and I told him that he had +gone too far, and bade him remember that, whether she married me or +not, she is my cousin, and I wouldn't have her worried. + +"'You've got my father's power of attorney,' I said to him, 'but +that don't authorize you to do what you are doing.' + +"And then the scoundrel rounded on me, and asked me with his +infernal sneer what I thought he had come out to Jamaica for, and +then, by heaven, Bold, he said that he was going to marry Lucy +himself!" + +At this I broke into a shout of laughter, the idea seemed so +ridiculous; but my mirth gave place to a hot fit of anger when I +remembered that the fellow had Lucy in his power. + +"I laughed, too," said Cludde, "but 'tis no laughing matter. The +villain has a parson to his hand--a besotted Cambridge fellow who +has sunk to buccaneering with the pretty crew Vetch has about him. +I said I'd see him hanged first; I've been sick of the fellow this +long time; and then he threatened me, and in his blazing temper +told me about the will which he stole--" + +"You didn't know it?" I cried, astonished. + +"Why, I'm not a saint, Bold," he said, "but I'm not so bad as that. +Vetch told Sir Richard that his uncle had burned the will among +some old papers by mistake, and was afraid to confess it, but he +tells me now 'twas he stole it and hid it, and says that if I +attempt to interfere with him he'll produce it and turn us out of +our property--which is yours, Bold; and swear that he stole it at +Sir Richard's request. And then I called him a villain to his face, +and said I would go instantly back to Spanish Town and proclaim him +for the scoundrel he is, and he laughed and said I should never get +there alive. + +"But his horse was standing by; he had just come in from riding; +and before he knew what I was about I was in the saddle and +galloped off. In my hurry I took the wrong road. The horse carried +me into the forest and stumbled over a root, and down I went, and +lay dazed for a time, and when I got up I wandered about, utterly +lost, and fell among these niggers. You know the rest." + +I fell silent, thinking of Vetch's villainy, and of the extremity +of peril in which Lucy lay. That she would willingly wed him I did +not for a moment believe; but in her helpless position I feared +what she might be compelled to do under constraint. + +"I know we have treated you very ill," said Cludde. + +"I was not thinking of that," I said, interrupting him. "You can +make amends, Cludde." + +"And I will, Bold, on my honor I will, as soon as ever we get back +to England." + +"Before then," I said. "'Twill be too late then. You must help me +to save Mistress Lucy." + +"But what can we do? Her birthday is on Friday--" + +"On Friday?" I said, to test his knowledge. + +"Yes, Vetch told me so. She will be of age then, and even supposing +we could escape his people we could not get to Spanish Town and +back in time. I only wish we could do something. I would give a +great deal to see Vetch get his deserts." + +"We must get help from Spanish Town: we must do something +ourselves--you and I and the niggers. We must attack the house." + +"'Tis impossible. He has a score of cut-throat ruffians in his +pay." + +"At the house?" + +"A dozen or so at the house, the rest about the plantations and on +the road, to guard against surprise from Spanish Town or any of the +settlements." + +"Will you help me loyally, if I can find some means of rescuing +Lucy?" I asked, for Cludde's attitude to me was so altered that I +was not without suspicion of his sincerity. + +"With all my heart; but we can do nothing." + +"At present I see no way," I sorrowfully admitted; "but help her we +must. Good heavens! Can we leave her at his mercy, and not make an +effort on her behalf? We may fail, but let us at least do what men +may do." + +Then Cludde made me tell him what had happened to me. He fell +asleep before I had finished my story, but I lay for long hours +pondering this baffling problem, and wishing that I had Joe +Punchard and my messmates of the Dolphin instead of negroes, whom I +could scarce trust. 'Twas clear, as Cludde had said, that we were +no match for the ruffians whom Vetch had about him; in open fight +we should be worsted, and maybe hasten the very catastrophe I +dreaded. Even if we should attempt a surprise by night I could not +hope for success, for the least check would turn the negroes into a +pack of howling cowards. We could only succeed by a ruse, and +though I cudgelled my brains until all my thoughts were in a whirl +I could invent no plan which had the least promise. + +And it was Wednesday night! If we had not rescued Mistress Lucy +within forty-eight hours I had a strong presentiment that 'twould +be too late. + +I sank at last into a sleep of sheer exhaustion. When I awoke, day +had dawned, and with the return to consciousness there came a +sudden recollection of something told me by Uncle Moses--something +that explained the fact that only two horsemen had ridden in +pursuit of us. All the horses of the estate had been employed in +conveying sugar to Dry Harbor. They had been gone a day; when would +they return? + +I sprang up in haste to get an answer to this question; for on it +depended the chances of a plot which had flashed upon my mind. +Uncle Moses told me that, if the usual course were followed, the +wagons would return on Friday, either empty, or with loads of salt +fish, which formed the staple of the negro's food. I asked what men +would accompany the convoy, and learned that the wagoners were +negroes, and that one or two white men would be in charge. + +This information threw a ray of hope upon my dark forebodings. If +we could but win to a position where the returning convoy might be +intercepted, I made no doubt we could overpower the white +men--overseers of the plantations; as to the negro drivers, I held +them of little account. There was one possible danger: that the +customary escort might be augmented by some of Vetch's buccaneers. +But I saw no likelihood of this, for however careful Vetch might be +in his watch over Mistress Lucy, he would have no reason to be +specially vigilant over the conduct of the ordinary operations of +the estate. + +The question was, could we by any means come unobserved at a place +where the wagons could be intercepted? I put it to Uncle Moses, who +answered me readily enough, not seeing the drift of it. If we +crossed the swamp, and retraced our way through the forest, we +could skirt the whole length of the plantation without fear of +being discovered until we arrived within a very short distance of +the road to Spanish Town. We should then have to cross the road in +the open, but having crossed it, we should come in less than a +furlong to another clump of woodland, and passing through this, +avoiding the plantain groves which filled that portion of the +estate, we should reach the rough track leading to Dry Harbor, at a +point about three miles from the big house. 'Twas a round in all of +some twenty-five miles, and, as Uncle Moses assured me, if we were +reasonably cautious we should run no risks save at the crossing of +the road. + +In great elation of spirit I now took into consultation Cludde with +Uncle Moses, Noah, and Jacob, all of whom I felt I could trust, +because all had suffered. I told them what I proposed, and whether +it was the story I had told of the wondrous good fortune that had +befallen me through the crown piece, or whether their own native +courage and their thirst for revenge influenced them, I know not; +but certain it is that the negroes agreed at once to follow my +lead. + +Considering then how the rest of my party should be made up, I +decided, with the assent of Uncle Moses, to take only two more men, +these being all who had fled from the Cludde estate. I thought it +better that none but those who had a personal interest in the +welfare of Mistress Lucy, and who had reason to deplore the iron +rule of Vetch, should be enlisted in the enterprise. The sixth and +seventh members of the expedition having been brought into the +council, we talked over the details of the scheme so far as we +could foresee them. My general plan was to surprise the convoy, to +conceal ourselves--myself and Cludde--in one of the wagons, and, +thus gaining the house unsuspected, to steal our way in and then +act as chance might order. + +Since we knew not how we might be taxed if we should succeed in +reaching the house, and a march of twenty-five miles in the heat of +the day would greatly impair our energies, we decided to set off at +once (this being Thursday), and spend the night in the forest at a +spot not far distant from the road. The negroes by themselves would +never have consented to this plan, so great was their dread of +bugaboos, but they derived courage from the companionship of white +men, and, to stiffen their resolution, I told them how, when +wearing the crown piece about my neck, I had escaped by night with +nine companions from a place with stone walls ten feet thick. This +impressed them greatly--Noah in particular; and in the evening, +when we halted for our bivouac in the forest, he came to me holding +the string on which the coin was suspended, and put it into my +hand, saying: + +"Dis white man's duppy. Massa hab it dis time; Massa got through +stone wall, get through anything. Den I hab it again when Massa +done wid it." + +I smiled and was hesitating whether to sling it round my neck or to +give it back when Cludde asked me what was the meaning of this +strange talk. As I did not answer at once, Uncle Moses broke in. + +"Massa gib dat silver so dat you not be burned, sah. Noah will hab +eber so much more bimeby, 'nuff to buy him free, sah." + +Cludde looked at me inquiringly. + +"'Tis true, Cludde," I said. "I had to buy you off." + +"But I don't understand," he said. "A crown piece?" + +"Oh!" said I, feeling a little uneasy lest he should probe this +matter of the crown piece too far, "the negro has the mind of a +child. The price of his freedom is five hundred dollars: he +wouldn't take my word for that sum, but the sight of a coin was +enough." + +"But you told me the buccaneers stripped you of your money," he +said, with a look of puzzlement. + +"So they did, but I happened to have this crown piece slung about +my neck under my shirt, and it escaped their attention." + +"Egad, I should never have believed you were superstitious," he +said with a laugh, and I laughed back, glad enough that I had +escaped further interrogation. + +I returned the coin to Noah, assuring him that I had no further +need of it, and he went away well pleased, assured of the +protection of the white man's duppy--the token of the good spirits +which he venerates as much as he fears the bugaboos. + +I was not to get off after all. When we lay side by side on the +grass, Cludde was for a long time silent; then he said abruptly, +with a keen look at me: + +"Bold, do you remember I flung a crown piece at you when I passed +you on the Worcester road years ago!" + +"I believe you did," said I, prevaricating. + +"Is that the coin?" + +"Why, Cludde," says I, "there are thousands of crown pieces in the +world." + +"Is it?" he persisted. + +"Why should you suppose it is?" I said. + +"Why did you keep it? Come, I must know." + +"Oh, confound you, Cludde," I said, "why don't you let me go to +sleep?" + +"You had some design in keeping that coin," he said; "I want to +know what it was." + +"Well, if you insist," I said, "I meant to keep it until I could +return it to you with interest. But Fate, you see, has found a +better use for it." + +"Bold," says he, after a silence, "you're a good fellow and a +generous--" + +"Belay there, Cludde," I said, anxious to cut him short, "we'll cry +quits over all the past. Intus si recte ne labora--you remember the +old school motto. We're friends, and all we have to worry about now +is how to dish Cyrus Vetch; and as we shall be none the worse for a +long sleep, I'll take first watch, and wake you when you've had +three or four hours." + +And with a grip of hands we closed the enmity of a dozen years. + + + +Chapter 27: Some Successes And A Rebuff. + + +We lay all next day in the forest, maintaining an irksome silence, +and continually on our guard against intrusion. Uncle Moses told me +that the wagons would not leave Dry Harbor on their return journey +until the heat of the day was past--a circumstance which favored +our design. The spot we had determined on for the ambush was five +miles from our lurking place, and we should have cover all the way +save where we must needs cross the road. When the time came for our +setting forth, I went myself to the edge of the woodland to spy out +and see if the coast was clear. Not a soul was in sight; we were at +the portion of the estate which was given over to pasture; if it +had been sugar land we must have inevitably met negro laborers. + +I was about to return and acquaint the others that we might safely +start when I heard a trotting horse, and from my place of +concealment among the trees, I soon afterwards saw a horseman +appear from the direction of Spanish Town and ride by towards the +big house two miles or more away. He was beyond doubt one of +Vetch's gang: 'twas impossible to mistake the thick ungainly +figure, and the exceedingly nautical way he had of sitting his +horse. 'Twas lucky indeed that we had not already begun the +crossing, for he must have seen us, the road being straight: and +for that same reason I deemed it well to delay a little, lest he +should chance to look back. And so 'twas a good half hour later +when, nothing further having happened to give us pause, we ran in a +compact body for the edge of the forest, crossed the road and a +long stretch of grass land, and arrived at the clump I have before +mentioned, where we stood a little while to recover breath. + +And then we were amazed to hear the sound of singing--amazed, for +it was not the uncouth singing of negroes (who in happy +circumstances delight to uplift their voices in psalms) nor yet the +boisterous untuneable roaring of rough seamen, like Vetch's +buccaneers, but a most melodious and pleasing sound, which put me +in mind (and Cludde also) of the madrigal singers of our good town +of Shrewsbury. And as it drew nearer there seemed to be a something +familiar in the tone, though being quite without ear for music, as +I have confessed, I could not tell whether it was a known tune or +not. + +With one consent, we had waited, held, I suppose, by the same +feeling of wonderment and curiosity. The sound continually +approached; 'twas from the direction of Spanish Town; and from our +vantage ground we should soon see the singer as he passed along the +road. But before he came within sight, the words of the song came +distinctly to my ears, and though I knew not one tune from another, +I started with a thrill of delight. + +"What's that for?" cries out Salem Dick. +"What for, my jumping beau? +Why, to give the lubbers one more kick!" +Yo ho, with the rum below. + +Thus rang the voice, and there ambled into view Joe Punchard, +perched upon a mule, and on mules behind him two negroes, their +countenances shining, their teeth flashing, with a happy smile. + +"Joe!" I cried, in defiance of all caution. + +"Ahoy ho!" he cried in return, pulling up his mule. "Who be that +a-calling of Joe?" + +I broke away from Cludde's detaining arm, and ran to my old friend. + +"Ahoy ho!" he shouted jovially when he saw me; but when I put my +fingers to my lips he dismounted clumsily, and met me with the +whispered question, "What be in the wind, Master Bold?" + +I could not have taken ten minutes to possess him with the +necessary facts, so rapidly did I tell the gist of my story. + +"Bless my buttons!" he ejaculated, "I reckoned there was somewhat +amiss. When I heard talk of you being ill, I was most desperate +uneasy, knowing you was in the latitude o' Vetch. And I said so to +my captain, and begged him to let me fetch a course this way to +make sure as you weren't run aground or wrecked on a sunken reef. +My captain he laughs and says you'd steered clear so often that +he'd no fears of you not coming safe to port; but seeing I was set +on it, he give me leave, and to make things reg'lar, as he said, he +told me being in these parts to keep an eye lifting for the +buccaneers as are said to be somewheres on this coast. And sink my +timbers, it do seem as how I'm on a rare voyage of discovery!" + +I told him quickly of the purpose I had in view, and he at once +volunteered to join our party. But this I could not allow. I had no +doubt that the horseman whom I had previously seen riding to the +house was carrying thither news of his approach, as my own arrival +had been heralded. He would be expected, and if he did not appear +Vetch would be suspicious, and might despatch men in search of him, +and the footprints of his mule would bring them upon our track. I +urged him to go forward with his guides to the house, where it was +possible, if they left him free, that he might prove a useful +auxiliary if our ruse succeeded. To this he readily agreed, +declaring he would anchor at Vetch's door, and would not slip his +cable until I came up on his quarter. And he clambered to the +saddle again, called to the negroes to come on astern, and set +forth again towards the house, and as I rejoined my party among the +trees I heard his jolly voice ringing out: + +"I 'llow this crazy hull o' mine +At sea has had its share; +Marooned three times an' wounded nine, +An' blowed up in the air." + +We had wasted some eight or ten minutes on this interview, and +'twas high time to speed on our journey if we were to reach the +place of ambush before the convoy. As we marched, I told Cludde the +purport of my talk with Joe, and he agreed that the course I had +insisted on was the right one, though he feared Punchard would have +a sorry time when he came within the clutches of the man who bore a +long-standing grudge against him. I confess that I had clean +forgotten the matter of the barrel rolling, and being now reminded +of it, felt greatly concerned at having sent poor Joe into the very +jaws of danger, but 'tis idle to repent, and I could only hope that +we should get to the house in time to prevent any irremediable +harm. + +'Twas nigh five o'clock when we came to the copse fringing the road +(a rough cart track) from the coast. + +Noah went out stealthily to inspect the road for traces of the +convoy, and told us that we were in time; the wagons had not yet +come up. We waited patiently, and I took advantage of the interval +to repeat the instructions I had previously given to the negroes. +About half an hour after our arrival we heard a creaking in the +distance, and soon the convoy came in sight--three six-horsed +wagons, with two negroes in each, and two overseers on horseback, +carrying long whips, and riding side by side in the rear. These two +Cludde and I marked for our own, leaving the negroes to deal with +the men of their color. We two separated from the rest of the +party, so that the attack might be made on the whole line at the +same moment. + +When we came opposite to the two riders, I gave a shrill whistle, +and with Cludde at my side dashed from among the trees. So sudden +and unexpected was the assault that the overseers had no time to +defend themselves. Cludde and I hauled them from their saddles and +held them fast while two of the negroes brought from the wagons +ropes wherewith to bind them. The negro drivers let forth a yell +and dropped their reins when the rest of our party sprang out from +the copse. The convoy halted and Uncle Moses in a very little time +made the drivers understand that they must either do what we bade +them or be trussed up and left in the woods. With night approaching +this latter alternative had too many terrors to make it acceptable, +and the men professed themselves willing to render utter obedience, +the more readily in that Vetch and his gang of desperadoes were +well hated by all the hands upon the estate. + +One of them, who Uncle Moses told me, was a bad character, we bound +and placed with the overseers in one of the wagons, which we then +drew into the copse out of sight from the road. + +Cludde and I deliberated for a moment whether we should mount the +overseers' horses and ride on with the wagons. But we decided not +to tempt fate. Before we reached the big house we should have to +pass that of the principal overseer of the estate, and though the +sky was already dusking, and it would be dark before we arrived, +there were many chances that we might be seen by the buccaneers or +others as we came within the bounds, and being in our officers' +habiliments we should be marked and the alarm given. So we resolved +to get into the first wagon, and cover ourselves with the sacking +it contained as soon as we came to the borders of the plantations. +Uncle Moses seated himself beside the driver of the first wagon, +Noah on the second, and the rest of our party got into this wagon +and likewise hid under sacking. + +The stables, as I had learned from Uncle Moses, lay beyond the big +house, so that our driving by would awaken no suspicion. In order +that we might gain the further advantage of darkness, Uncle Moses +drove slowly, and there was but a glimmer of twilight when we +reached the house of the overseer. He had heard the rumbling of our +wheels, and was standing at his gate as we came up. Seeing only the +wagons and no horsemen, he cried out to know where the rest were. +The negro beside Uncle Moses (who shrank back to escape +recognition) made ready answer that the third wagon had broken +down, and would come on presently with the overseers. The white man +rapped out an oath, declaring (with what truth I know not) that the +cursed wagon was always breaking down, and we drove past. Two of +the buccaneers were smoking at the gates of the big house when we +came up, and they hailed us in rough sailor fashion, but showed no +curiosity; the work of the estate was no concern of theirs. + +Uncle Moses had told me that there would certainly be a number of +the buccaneers in the kitchen of the big house, where they took +their supper and often sat far into the night drinking and dicing. +As we drew near, indeed, I heard through the sack that covered me +('twas very sticky and fraught with the cloying smell of sugar) +loud sounds of merriment proceeding from the house. Instead of +driving past in the direction of the stables, the negro, obeying +his instructions, pulled up his horses when the wagons came +opposite the kitchen door. + +I did not need Uncle Moses' call to know that the moment had +arrived. Flinging off the sack that smothered us, Cludde and I +sprang from the wagon, our companions doing likewise, and we burst +headlong into the kitchen. + +The merry sounds that we had heard were explained, but in an +unforeseen way. In the middle of the room sat Joe Punchard, tied to +a chair. Around him were half a dozen of Vetch's villainous crew +engaged in the pleasant sport of baiting their prisoner. At the +moment of our entrance they were rubbing the dregs of molasses into +his red hair. I learned afterwards from him that he had been seized +on approaching the house, and, Vetch being absent at the time, had +been carried into the kitchen for a preliminary inquisition. They +knew, doubtless on the information of the horseman I had seen, that +he was a seaman from a king's ship, and charged him with having +come to spy on them, shrewdly hitting the mark, though they could +hardly have believed in their accusation, seeing that he had +approached quite openly with no companions but a brace of negroes. +He had suffered many indignities before we arrived, and he +confessed to me that, though he had endured many a buffeting in the +first years of his life at sea, he had never spent so distressful a +couple of hours as those when the buccaneers put him to the +question. + +They were, I say, rubbing a filthy black semi-fluid into his hair +at the moment when Cludde and I, with our negroes behind, made a +sudden irruption into the kitchen. We had our muskets with us, and +seizing mine by the barrel, I brought the stock down on the head of +the fellow nearest me, and he dropped heavily to the floor. +Springing past him, I cut Joe's cords with my knife, and then +turned to assist my companions in the fight that was raging. The +five buccaneers were sturdy villains, and after the first shock of +surprise they were more than a match for Cludde and the negroes. +One had wrested the musket from Cludde's hand, and now had his arms +about his body, endeavoring to throw him. The rest had drawn their +hangers and were pressing hard upon the negroes, who made play with +their knives, but were not equal to their opponents. + +The entrance of Joe and myself into the fray, however, turned the +tide of battle in our favor. Joe had caught up the chair to which +he had been bound, and wielded it like a flail, with every swing of +it breaking a head or snapping an arm. And my musket took a heavy +toll. The room rang with the din of battle--the shouts of the men, +the whoops of the negroes, the clashing of our weapons. For half a +minute it was perfect pandemonium; then finding the odds hopelessly +against them, the two buccaneers who were not by this time on the +floor dashed through the open door and fled, pursued by the +negroes, who had no doubt long scores to pay off against them. + +In the midst of the uproar I had not lost sight for a moment of the +main purpose of my errand, and as soon as I saw that the issue of +the fight was decided I called Uncle Moses to my side and asked him +eagerly to lead me to his mistress' sitting room. We went along a +passage and up a flight of stairs to the floor above, coming then +to another corridor which was in darkness. + +"Missy's room at de end," said the negro. + +With beating heart I hurried along behind him, and we came to an +open door. I knocked upon it, and entered. The room was dark, but +the window was open, and the jalousies not having been closed it +was possible to see that no one was there. + +"Missy gone to bed," said Moses; "de bedroom is just dar." + +He pointed to a closed door in the wall. Loath as I was to disturb +Mistress Lucy, I was still more anxious that she should know of my +presence; so I went to the door and rapped briskly upon it. There +was no answer. I rapped again, more loudly, but still without +result. She was either fast asleep or--and the thought struck me +with a chill--she was no longer there. + +"Where is Mr. Vetch's room ?" I asked, beset by a great anxiety. + +"I show Massa," replied Uncle Moses. + +He led me from the room, and along a passage that branched from the +other. There was a thread of light beneath a door at the end. + +"Dat is Massa Vetch's room," said the negro. + +I went to it and tried the handle. The door was locked. I thumped +upon it with my fist, and was answered with a curse. + +"Settle your drunken quarrels yourselves," cried the +well-remembered voice. "What is it to me if you break each other's +skulls?" + +Clearly he had heard the uproar and taken it to be a brawl among +the buccaneers. 'Twas like Vetch to shut himself aloof from the +disputes of his hirelings; he was ever careful of his skin. +Affecting a harsh and surly voice I cried that the quarrel was over +and asked him to open the door: I had news from Spanish Town. +Another oath saluted me; then I heard the sound of movements +within, and the door was thrown open. + +Instantly I sprang in, the negro at my heels; he closed the door +behind me; and I stood once more face to face with Cyrus Vetch. + +His sallow cheeks blanched when lie saw me. No doubt 'twas the +apparition he least expected. He whips out his sword and springs +back to have space to cut at me; but I parried the stroke with my +musket, and he skipped back and entrenched himself behind the +table. I own that I could have cheerfully slain him there and then +but for my anxiety concerning Mistress Lucy's whereabouts. There +was Vetch, glaring at me from behind the table, upon which, as I +now saw, there were books and money, and two lighted candles. + +"You have no right here," said Vetch, and his voice was unsteady, +"breaking into my house--" + +"Your house!" I replied. "And as for right, I have the right of +every honest man to catch a villain and present him to the +hangman." + +"Mind your words, sir," cries the fellow, and I saw by his manner +that he was desperately anxious to gain time. "I warn you I am +steward of this estate by virtue of authority deputed to me by Sir +Richard Cludde, the guardian appointed by the Court of Chancery." + +"Your stewardship and Sir Richard's guardianship ended yesterday," +I said curtly. + +"You mistake," says he, beginning to recover himself, "I tell you +again that this is an unwarrantable intrusion, and you stand there +at your peril." + +"Stuff!" I cried impatiently. "'Tis you who are an intruder, a +trespasser; you are in this house against the will of the owner, +who is now of full age. But I won't bandy words with you about +that. You and I have other accounts to settle, Cyrus Vetch, and if +you do not yield at once, I swear I will show you no mercy." + +I advanced towards the table, and Vetch lifted his sword as though +to defend himself. But his courage failed him, and indeed his was a +hopeless case if it came to a tussle, as he very well knew. +Incontinently he dropped his sword point, and with a shrug of the +shoulders, said: + +"I will not fight a couple of bullies. I yield now, but let me tell +you, Humphrey Bold, the law will have something to say to this." + +"It will indeed," I said grimly. "Hand over your sword." + +He took it by the blade; I placed my musket against the table and +reached forward to take the hilt, but with a sudden swift movement +he swept the candles to the floor and the room was in total +darkness. I sprang forward, but before I could vault over the +obstructing table Vetch had dashed through a door behind him that +opened on to the veranda. I was after him in an instant, and he +escaped me by no more than an arm's length. He had leapt over the +rail of the veranda, and I halted for a moment, supposing that he +must at least twist his ankles after a fall of some fifteen feet. +But I was amazed to see him swarming down one of the pillars that +supported the veranda. + +I followed him in desperate haste, but the fellow was always very +light and nimble, and the fear of death lent him a marvelous new +agility. My heavier frame was slower in descending; yet I could not +have been much more than fifteen seconds behind him; but he had +vanished. There were bushes and palms growing to within a few feet +of the house. I ran among them, but could not hear his footsteps, +nor had I any means of judging of the direction of his flight. Mad +with disappointment, I rushed blindly on, and in a moment collided +with a man, whom seizing, I knew by the howl he emitted, no less +than by the feel of his bare skin, that I had laid hands on a +negro. + +"Which way did he run?" I cried, shaking the man in my hot +impatience. + +"Oh, Massa, I dunno nuffin'," said the trembling wretch. + +I hurled him aside and sped off again, very soon encountering other +negroes, who in spite of their dread of the dark, had been drawn +from their huts, I doubt not, by the noise of the altercation. + +"Where is your mistress?" I asked one of them. + +He could tell me nothing. I asked the same question of another man +whom I met within a few yards. + +"I see Missy going to Massa Wilkins' house," he said. "Two men take +her." + +Wilkins was, I knew, the name of the principal overseer. Uncle +Moses coming up with me, I bade him lead me at once to Mr. Wilkins' +house. We ran on as fast as our legs could carry us, the other +negroes shuffling along behind, uttering cries and yells which +angered me beyond endurance. We had come some distance in the wrong +direction, and I fumed in vain and bitter rage at the loss of time. + +Coming into the road that led to the house I heard the sound of +galloping horses, and though I continued to run until I was +breathless and dripping with sweat I knew I was too late. The thud +of the hoofs grew fainter and fainter. Without doubt Vetch had +seized Mistress Lucy, and was hurrying her away; the villain had +baffled me; Lucy, snatched from me, was hopelessly beyond my reach. + + + +Chapter 28: I Cut The Enemy's Cables. + + +At the door of the overseer's house stood Patty, Mistress Lucy's +old nurse, wringing her hands and weeping bitterly. She told me +through her tears that Vetch had set Lucy before him on his own +horse, and that he was accompanied by two of his desperadoes. I +broke away from her as she was imploring me to save her "dear +lamb," as she called her mistress, and ran back in the direction of +the big house to find a horse and lead a pursuit. + +The whole place was in commotion. All the negro workers on the +estate seemed to have flocked together, many of them carrying +flares which threw a lurid glow upon the scene. Before I reached +the house I was met by Cludde and Punchard, who had laid the +captured buccaneers in pound. I rapidly acquainted them with what +had happened, and was going on to the stables to find horses when +one of the negroes told me that there was none there, the only +saddle horses being those which were now carrying Vetch and his +companions to the coast. But the wagons were still where we had +left them; in the excitement of the past half hour they had been +forgotten. The horses were draught horses, and did not promise good +speed, but we had no others; and I cried to the men to unyoke the +teams, while I ran to the kitchen for a weapon. + +I seized a couple of the buccaneers' cutlasses, and hastening back, +gave one to Cludde. We had no time for saddling up; throwing +ourselves on the horses' bare backs, we set off with Punchard and +Uncle Moses along the road, urging the beasts to a pace which I +feared they could not long keep up. + +As we drew near to the place of our ambush I remembered the +overseers we had left tied up there in the wood, and their horses +which we had tethered. Bidding Punchard and the negroes ride on, I +flung myself from the back of my sweating steed, ran into the wood, +and soon returned with the saddle horses. Within three minutes of +our halt Cludde and I were galloping on, at a pace which soon +outstripped our more heavily mounted companions. Vetch had had but +ten or fifteen minutes' start of us, and his horse carrying a +double burden, I hoped we should overtake him before he could +convey Mistress Lucy aboard his brig. + +Luckily the moon had risen, and was throwing a light, dim but +sufficient, upon the track. Birds clattered out of the trees as we +sped past; wild creatures of the wood, terrified at the unwonted +disturbance of the night, scurried across our path. In spite of the +moonlight, and because of the deep shadows it cast, we narrowly +escaped being dashed from our horses by low-hanging branches of the +trees on either side. + +So we raced on for mile after mile without pause or mitigation of +our pace. The track wound about in baffling curves, so that we +could see but a little distance ahead. Once or twice I thought I +caught a glimpse of moving objects before us, but 'twas but a trick +of the moonlight. We dared not stop to listen for sounds of the +fugitives; I felt that every second was of vital import, and 'twas +not until we had come into a stretch of country clear of trees, our +horses' hoofs falling silently on the soft turf, that we caught the +faint rustle of the sea. I knew not how far distant it was; sounds +carry far and are deceptive at night; we smote the flanks of our +horses and rode as for a wager. + +Suddenly a shrill whistle cut the air. + +"A signal!" I said to Cludde, riding at my side. "Are they calling +assistance?" + +"'Tis a call for a boat, without doubt," he replied. "They have got +to the shore." + +Sick with fear that we were too late, I pressed my horse forward at +a mad and reckless gallop, outpacing Cludde altogether. We were now +again among trees, and, having come out of the moonlight, I could +not at first see more than a yard or two ahead. But on a sudden the +dim track before me was wholly blotted out by a dark figure. It +loomed larger as I approached, and my heart leapt with the hope +that it was Vetch's overburdened horse dropping behind. The rider +could not escape; there was a bank on either side of the track. I +was within a dozen yards of him when he reined up as if to dismount +and seek the shelter of the woodland, and then I perceived with +distress that whoever it might be it was not Vetch; the horse had +no second burden. + +Next moment there was a flash and a roar; a bullet grazed my arm; +finding himself closer pressed than he thought, the fellow had +turned in his saddle and fired at me. He uttered an oath when he +saw me riding towards him unchecked. I was level with him, I drew +my horse alongside; and raising my cutlass above my left shoulder I +brought it down with a swinging cut upon the man. With a cry he +toppled from his saddle, and I shot past, in a headlong rush +towards the now thunderous rumbling of the sea. + +'Twas but a few moments afterwards that I found myself falling as +it seemed into space. In my heedless and impetuous course I had +come unawares to the edge of a cliff. My horse fell, flinging me +clean over his crupper. I had given myself up for lost when I was +suddenly caught as by outstretched arms, in the entangling foliage +of a shrub, and as I lay there, dazed, I heard a sickening thud far +below me, and guessed that no such friendly obstacle had saved my +poor horse from death. + +Barring the shock, and a few scratches, I was unhurt, and with +great thankfulness of heart for my merciful deliverance I crawled +carefully out of the shrub, and set to scrambling up the steep +slope to the top. There I met Cludde pale and shaking with horror. +My involuntary cry as I fell had warned him. He reined up in time +to escape my mishap, and hearing shortly afterwards the thud as the +horse came to the bottom, he believed that I must be a mangled +corpse. + +"Too late!" he gasped, clutching me by the arm and pointing down to +the sea. + +Clear in the moonlight lay the dark shape of a brig with bare +yards. At that very moment a boat was drawing in under her quarter, +and as we stood helpless there we saw a cradle let down over the +side, a form placed in it and hoisted to the deck, and then the +boat's crew mounting one by one. + +'Twas not until Uncle Moses came up with Joe that we found the +circuitous path by which Vetch had reached the shore. We raced +down, but Vetch, you may be sure, had left no boat in which we +might follow him. We came upon his horse, quietly cropping the +plants that grew at the foot of the cliff. The moon shining +seawards, we were in shadow, so that had Vetch been looking from +the brig, he would not have seen me as I raged up and down in +impotent fury, nor my companions as they sat themselves down, +troubled, like myself, but not with the same yearning. + +My grief and rage bereft me for a time of all power of thought. All +that I was conscious of was the fact that Lucy was gone, +irrevocably, as I feared. But by and by order returned to my +confused and gloomy mind, and, observing suddenly that the tide was +running in, and that the breeze was blowing inshore, I felt a +springing of hope within me. + +'Twas clear that the brig could not put to sea against both wind +and tide; she must lie where she was for several hours; was it +possible that even now something might be done to rescue Mistress +Lucy? Could we by some means win to the brig and snatch her from +the villainous hands that held her captive? I dashed back to my +companions and put this throbbing question to them. They shook +their heads; we had no boat to convey us to the vessel, nor if we +had could we have overcome the crew by main force. Uncle Moses said +that there were some fifteen or twenty men aboard, well armed; she +carried three brass guns; whereas we were but four, unarmed save +for our two cutlasses. And even supposing our party were ten times +as large, we could do nothing without means of transport; and the +buccaneers could bring their guns to bear upon us if we exposed +ourselves to their view, and with the turn of the tide could mock +us and sail away. + +But on a sudden a thought came to me. Might we not at least render +the departure of the brig impossible? Though with any force we +might gather 'twas hopeless to think of capturing her, if we could +but strand her we should at any rate gain time, and maybe bargain +with Vetch for the release of the lady. He would know that he had +put himself beyond the pale of mercy if he should be caught, his +hope of gaining the estate must be dead; we might work on his fears +and the fears of the men with him, and secure our object by paying +them a price. + +I took Cludde with me to the top of the cliff to gain a clearer +view of the vessel's position. Keeping in shadow, we saw that she +lay some little way out in a narrow bay overhung by cliffs, the +seaward end appearing closed, owing to a bend in the shore. The +tide was fast coming in; the wind, which at the foot of the cliffs +had seemed but a light breeze, was blowing strong at our altitude. + +"Cludde," I said, "I am going to cut the cables." + +"'Tis madness!" he replied, in an accent of amazement and protest. +"You would be sure to be seen in the moonlight." + +"The moon is sinking," I answered. "'Twill be down behind the +cliffs in an hour." + +"But the sharks! These waters are infested with them." + +"'Tis the only way," I said with resolution, "and sharks or no +sharks I must make the attempt. With the wind and tide the brig, if +I can but cut her cables, will drift up the bay and run on the +shoals, and then 'twill be impossible to get her off for some +hours." + +"You cannot cut the cables unperceived. When they feel her riding +free they will suspect the cause, and you're a dead man." + +"I must take my chance. 'Twill be dark soon, and maybe luck, that +has been against me so long, will turn with the tide. I am going to +do it, Cludde, and as we have an hour or so before the moon goes +down, come with me along the cliff to find the most convenient spot +for the venture." + +We went along together, and had walked but a few yards when we came +near to breaking our necks. A part of the cliffs had fallen, +leaving a wide gap, and coming suddenly to this, we barely escaped +plunging headlong down. The long slope was strewn with great +numbers of stones small and large. We managed to scramble down the +one steep side, and up the other, without having to go a long way +round, and came at length opposite the brig, and saw by the manner +of her rocking that she rode on two anchors, one from the bows and +the other from the stern. There were several men on deck; we heard +their voices and laughter. I thought of Mistress Lucy doubtless +imprisoned in the cabin, and vowed that before many hours were past +she should be free, if mortal wit and mortal arm could achieve it. + +We settled on a place for me to take the water--a little beyond the +brig, where the cliff dipped low. With all my heart I hoped the +tide would not turn before the moon went down. We did not care to +leave the spot and return to the others, lest when I came again I +should lose my way in the darkness and come to some mishap. But +while we were waiting on the cliff edge for the setting of the moon +I bethought me that our company would be none the worse for +strengthening, for if the brig were stranded as I hoped, some means +might perchance be found (though I knew not what) of gaining +possession of her. So I sent Cludde back to Uncle Moses to bid him +ride back to the house and bring up, afoot or on horseback, a great +force of the negroes of the estate, with whatever arms they could +find. I reckoned (but wrongly, as it proved) that curiosity, the +courage of numbers, and their common hatred of Vetch, would +outweigh their dread of bugaboos, and bring them at once. + +When Cludde had departed on this errand, I sat by the edge of the +cliff, waiting with scant patience for the slow sinking moon to +disappear. At last it was gone; all around was darkness and +silence, save for the washing of the tide and the rustling of the +trees in the wind. I stripped off my coat, left it with my cutlass +on the grass, and, taking my knife between my teeth, crept into the +water and struck out towards the brig. I swam silently; indeed, I +had little need to exert myself, for the tide carried me in the +direction I would go. And so, with a few minutes, I came safely +under the vessel's side. + +I heard voices on the deck above me, and though I could not catch +what was said, I distinguished Vetch's clear, high-pitched tones. +Doubtless the crew were keeping a careful watch on the shore, but +very likely they had heard the crashing of my horse when he fell, +and Vetch might be flattering himself that the beast and I had +shared the same fate and that he would set eyes on me no more. I +waited but long enough to be sure there was no uneasiness among the +crew; then, with much pains to avoid splashing, I crept close along +by the hull until I found the fore cable. + +When considering my plan on the shore, I had to decide which of the +two cables to attempt first. The vessel lay with her head to the +sea. If I cut the cable over the stern, the tide running in, the +position of the brig would alter so slightly as not to be at once +perceived, and I might have time to deal with the other cable +before anyone was aware of it. On the other hand, supposing I were +by some unlucky chance espied, the cutting of the second cable +would be beyond possibility, and no harm done. Whereas, if I began +with the fore cable, the brig would swing round immediately, and +the movement could not escape the notice of the crew, however +heedless, and if they looked over the side they might spy me and so +defeat my full purpose. Yet it seemed that by adopting the latter +course I could not fail utterly; with the fore rope cut the vessel +might drag the other anchor, so that, indeed, it might not be +necessary to cut the second rope at all. The risk to me was perhaps +greater, but so would be the success; accordingly I had decided to +begin my work under the bow of the vessel. + +Winding my legs about the part of the rope that was in the water, I +began to saw gently with my knife at the part above me, only my +head and shoulders showing above the surface. The tide and the sea +breeze put some strain on the cable, but every now and again it +slackened as the bow sank with the long rocking of the vessel. + +This set me thinking. If the rope snapped when it was taut, those +on board would feel the spring of it, and I should be without doubt +discovered before I could sever the other: whereas, if the +severance was made when the rope was slack, there would be no +shock, and the men would be aware of nothing until the vessel swung +round on the tide. I so timed my knife work, therefore, that the +last strand was cut through when the bow was dipping. The moment it +was done I sank down to the water level, and after waiting a moment +to see in what direction the vessel would swing, I went wholly +under, and swam along in the opposite direction towards the stern, +keeping as close to the hull as was safe. + +When I came up for breath, I heard a great uproar on board. The +crew were flocking to the bows to see what had happened to the +anchor. Meanwhile with a few more strokes I reached the other rope, +and was hacking away at it steadily when I heard one cry out that +the cable was cut, and immediately afterwards the voice of Vetch as +he rushed out of the roundhouse. I felt pretty secure in the +darkness under the stern sheets, but the strain upon the cable here +was much greater now that the other was gone, and when I cut it +through the vessel gave a jump, I heard oaths and a great scurry of +feet on deck and some one let down a flare to discover the +perpetrator of the mischief. + +You may be sure I dived under water as quickly as might be, but not +before I was descried, and my head had barely disappeared when a +heavy object fell with a great splash within a few inches of it. I +swam along like a fish beneath the surface, making towards the +shore; but when for the sake of my lungs I had perforce to come up, +a perfect fusillade spattered all around me, and it seemed a +miracle I was not hit. I swam on; the tide was bearing the vessel +away from me; the flare lit but a narrow space of water, and I +doubt whether my head could now be seen and made a target. Though I +heard the muskets roaring and slugs plopping into the water, not +one of them touched me, and in a minute or two I gained the beach, +pretty breathless, but marvelously content. + +As I shook the water from me I heard lusty swearing from the deck +of the drifting vessel, and from the tone of some of the voices +guessed that the lookout was in very hot water. And amid the deeper +voices of the buccaneers Vetch's shriller tone was quite audible to +me, as he shouted for someone to drop a kedge anchor over the side +and stop the cursed drifting. This was done, but I was in no fears +for the result, for under the force of wind and tide combined there +was a considerable way on the brig, which no light anchor would +avail to check. And in a few minutes I knew for certain that I was +right. + +There came a great shout: "She's aground!" and the dark shape, +which I could now barely distinguish from where I stood, ceased to +move. + +Satisfied that for a time at least I had prevented Vetch from +putting to sea, I clambered up the cliff and set off to rejoin my +companions, not venturing to go back for my coat, lest I should +lose my way in the dark. They had been eagerly watching the issue +of my device, the success of which pleased them mightily. Cludde +made me strip off my dripping garments, declaring that if I stood +in them (the night being chilly) I should catch my death of cold. + +"That's all very well," I said; "but I shall be colder still stark +naked." + +"You must just run about and slap yourself," cries Joe; "Mr. Cludde +and me can help--me particler, my name being so. And it won't be +for long, 'cos when that black Moses went off to do your bidding +(he was a bit scared of some foolishness he called bugaboos), I +told him to bring clothes and blankets from the house, knowing that +the likes o' that wouldn't have come into your own noddle." + +"True, it did not," I confessed. "I am lucky in having an old +mariner like you to look after me." + +"Ay, and there be old mariners aboard that brig, too. See, they bin +and dropped a couple of boats out, to tow her off." + +This gave me a start, and I watched with great anxiety the efforts +of the buccaneers to haul their vessel off the shoals. She was not +more than fifty yards from the cliff where we were standing, which +somewhat overhung the bay, and from our elevated position we could +see clearly what was going on. I suppose it was a full hour before +they gave up the attempt, and 'twas clear that having failed a good +many more hours must pass before 'twould be possible to float her, +for the tide, which had been at the flood when she ran aground, was +now ebbing, and Vetch could not (any more than King Canute) command +that. + +I think if I had been Vetch, with so much at stake (for if we got +the better of him, be sure there would soon be a halter about his +neck)--I think if I had been in his place, with nigh a score of +stalwart daredevils at my beck, all armed and trained to desperate +deeds, I should have waded ashore wi' 'em and made some effort to +run us down. He must have known that there could be but two or +three of us, and with a little manoeuvering and stealth there was a +chance that he might have got upon us and done us mischief. + +But Vetch, as has more than once appeared, was never a fellow to +run into jeopardy; and our very weakness, I doubt not, persuaded +him that he had nothing to fear in way of assault, and need only +bide for the next flood to carry him out beyond our reach. + +Many times during that night I thought of Mistress Lucy, and +wondered whether she, below decks, had guessed from the movement of +the vessel, and the commotion and uproar, that we were still +working for her behoof. She told me afterwards that, having locked +herself in the cabin, she was in a stupor of grief, and felt, when +the vessel moved (believing that it was putting out to sea) that +nothing could save her now. But when she heard the shouts and the +firing, a wild hope sprang up within her; she was possessed with a +strong assurance that something was being attempted for her sake, +and she clasped her hands and prayed that it might have a happy +issue. + + + +Chapter 29: We Bombard The Brig. + + +'Twas not very long before Uncle Moses was back, bringing welcome +blankets, in which I rolled myself while my clothes were drying at +a fire Joe kindled in the wood. The old negro said that we could +not expect any reinforcements before daybreak, the people being +quite unwilling to march during the night so far from their homes. +He had brought back with him, however, Noah and Jacob on horseback, +and indeed I suspected that without them even Uncle Moses himself +would not have conquered his dread of the bugaboos and faced the +night journey a second time. + +Some three hours after daybreak the dusky recruits came dropping in +with weapons of all sorts--firelocks, knives, bludgeons--and with +food, of which I for one was mighty glad, being sharp set after my +swimming and a cold night. The negroes made a great clamour as +their numbers increased--there were soon pretty nearly a hundred of +them, all the able-bodied men on the estate and a fair sprinkling +of women, too. 'Twas hopeless, the noise being so great, to expect +that Vetch would not get a shrewd notion of the size of our force, +and I saw no reason for attempting to conceal it; indeed, I +nourished a secret hope that, being a coward at heart, he would be +daunted at sight of us, and yield up Mistress Lucy on terms. But +this hope soon took wing. + +The tide had now left the brig high and dry on the sand. She had +heeled over, but not enough to make it possible for her crew to use +their brass guns against the negroes who crowded the top of the +cliff. They made some attempt to train the guns, but desisted when +they saw that the utmost elevation would reach no higher than +halfway up. But the cliff top was well within range of their +muskets, as one unfortunate negro, approaching the edge too closely +found to his cost. A shot struck him on the leg, and he ran howling +back, causing his companions to scuttle like rabbits into the +woodland. + +We had discussed during the night what course we should follow in +the morning, but without arriving at any conclusion. I hoped that +we should find ourselves in a state to make an organized assault on +the brig and carry it by main force; but this idea was speedily +dashed when I came to take stock of our forces and armament. We had +but eight muskets among us; I counted more than twenty buccaneers +on the sloping deck of the brig. Though we so greatly outnumbered +them I saw that a direct assault could not succeed. From the +vantage of the deck they would have us at their mercy; and though +fifty disciplined men, even unarmed, might perhaps swarm up and +overcome them by sheer weight of numbers, I believed that the +negroes would have no stomach for so desperate an undertaking. + +And my former gloom and trouble of mind descended upon me, when I +saw the tide begin to creep up again. Unless we could do something +before the flood the buccaneers would without doubt get the vessel +off, for she had not sufficient way on when she struck to run her +deep into the sand, and they had only to jettison a part of her +cargo to float her. + +I walked apart with Cludde and Punchard, all three of us at our +wit's end. With only eight muskets we could not fire fast enough to +keep the deck clear of men, and our store of ammunition was scanty; +further, I doubted whether the negroes were sufficiently practised +with firearms to make good marksmen. It seemed that we should ere +long see the buccaneer vessel slipping out of our reach. + +'Twas a chance act of Joe Punchard that drew me out of my +heaviness, and set my wits a-jump. We were walking along the +cliffs, and came to that gap I have before mentioned, where Cludde +and I had nearly broke our necks the night before. + +"'T'ud ha' saved a deal o' trouble if that there barrel had rolled +a bit further," says Joe, and he picks up a stone and shies it out +to sea, for the mere easement of his temper. My eyes followed the +flight of the stone idly, but when it flopped into the water a +notion came to me which I was quick to impart. + +"By Jupiter, Cludde," I cried, "we'll bombard 'em!" + +He stared at me as though he feared my wits were astray, but when I +pointed to the innumerable stones strewing the cliff side, from +boulders of great size to nuggets no bigger than an apple, and +showed how easy 'twould be for our negroes to cast them on to the +very deck of the brig, his face changed, and I saw a light in his +eyes that reminded me of the time when he was one of the +ringleaders in the prankish tricks of the Shrewsbury Mohocks. Then +all at once he fell sober again. + +"But what's the good," he said. "We can clear the deck, 'tis true; +but be never a whit the nearer to capturing the vessel." + +"I don't know that," said I. "If we clear the deck they go down +below; if they go down below they will not be able to keep so good +a lookout upon us; and while the niggers are stoning the deck we +may get a chance to creep up and be among 'em before they know it." + +"But they would see us from the portholes," he persisted. + +"True, if we are fools enough to approach 'em broadside," I said. +"The bow is pointing shorewards; if we make for a point exactly +opposite and go in single file in a line with the vessel's keel, +they will not see us unless they put their heads clean out of the +portholes and look down and aslant, and they will not do that with +the chance of getting a broken skull." + +"Smite my timbers," cries Joe, "'tis a pretty ploy, and would +tickle my captain mightily. We'll do it, sir, and all I wish is +that the niggers can aim straight." + +We lost no time in putting things in trim for the venture, and +indeed 'twould not be long before the tide washed the brig and +rendered the attack I proposed impossible. Gathering the negroes, +we set them to collect stones of a fair size (but not too big, for +I did not wish to break holes in the deck with jeopardy to Mistress +Lucy), and pile them up so as to be handy. And since I have ever +believed that folk, whether black or white, work more willingly if +they see the aim and purpose of their toil, I told them as they set +about the task what our intent was. It pleased them, and they +worked with a will, being indeed childishly eager to begin the +bombardment before the time was ripe. + +When a sufficiency of missiles had been collected, I ranged the +negroes along the cliff so that, while they could see the brig, +they could scarcely be seen from it. They were stupid enough to be +sure; from what I saw of negroes then and since I cannot but think +they are no better than children in intelligence; and in their +eagerness to begin this merry sport, as they regarded it, they went +a deal too near the edge of the cliff and exposed too large a +portion of their bodies. + +There was nothing for it but to place them in position ourselves, +which I did, Cludde and Joe assisting (the latter with some +roughness of handling and of speech), and we marked out a line for +them beyond which we forbade them to advance. Then, all being ready +I gave the word. Instantly some three score stones, none less than +a pound in weight, hurtled down, many of them falling on to the +sand, a dozen, maybe, finding the deck, and two or three striking +the buccaneers. + +There was a roar from below, which the negroes answered with a wild +whoop, and then a dozen muskets flashed, and the slugs whistled +over our heads or embedded themselves in the cliff. Another shower +of stones fell, a greater proportion this time hitting the mark, +which filled the simple negroes with such joy that they pressed +forward in full view from the ship, many of them exposing the whole +upper half of their bodies. + +What ensued taught them a lesson. A second fusillade burst from the +vessel; two of the negroes fell with howls of pain; the rest +scurried back in dismay, and some few took to their heels and fled +squealing into the woods. I called them back and rated them soundly +for disobeying orders, and then we placed them again in a secure +position and the bombardment recommenced. + +I reckoned that within a minute or two five hundred stones had been +hurled from the cliff, and though many more fell upon the sand than +upon the deck I saw that the effect was answering my hopes. Some of +the crew retreated to the lee side of the masts; others crouched +under the guns, whence they fired their muskets, slowly and with +difficulty, doing us no harm; others again took refuge by the break +of the poop, and in the round house and the forecastle. + +One man with great boldness tried to climb the rigging to the +cross-trees, no doubt with intent to get a better aim. But he +instantly became the target for a perfect hurricane of stones, and +he dropped to the deck and crawled painfully away. In a few minutes +not a man was to be seen. + +Bidding the negroes continue to throw, but not so rapidly, I lay +down on the cliff top and took a good look at the vessel. So far as +I could discover, no one was so posted as to be able to see below +the level of the deck and I deemed that the time had come to +attempt the second and more hazardous part of my plan. Leaving +Uncle Moses to superintend the activities of the main body of +negroes, I crept down the gap with Cludde, Punchard and a score of +the men who possessed arms of a sort, and came (not without some +perilous stumbles) to the sea line, immediately opposite to the bow +of the brig. Then those of us who had muskets lit our matches, and +I set forward across the sand, bending almost double, and making +straight for the figurehead, the others close behind me in single +file. Stones were still falling from the cliff, and I was in fear, +as we approached the vessel, lest some of the negroes should be hit +and betray us with a cry. But we arrived beneath the bow without +this mishap and undiscovered, and crept round to the larboard side, +where we were sheltered by the intervening hull. + +We made for the cable to which the kedge anchor was attached, and I +began to swarm up, any sound that I may have made being smothered +by the clatter of stones on the planks of the deck. I gained the +poop without being seen, but immediately afterwards I heard a yell +from the roundhouse, and the men who had sheltered there began to +pour out. + +But having seen the uselessness of their fusillade against the +cliff they had allowed their matches to go out, so that I was for +the moment safe from musket shot. When I fired and brought down the +first man, the rest hesitated, and seeing my companions clambering +up behind me they scuttled back into the roundhouse again. The +instant Joe Punchard reached the deck he swung round one of the +brass guns to command the roundhouse. It was already loaded, as the +buccaneers knew, and Joe cried out that he would send them all to +Davy Jones if they showed their noses outside the door. + +The shower of stones had now ceased, and the men who had gone below +were swarming up to meet this unlooked-for boarding party. Cludde +and I, with our negroes, were upon them before they had time to +collect their wits. And then ensued as pretty a bit of close +fighting as ever I was engaged in. We laid about us right lustily +with our clubbed muskets, and I will say for the black men that +they were not a whit less doughty than the white. Our first success +had, I suppose, given them confidence; and Noah, with his firm +belief in the virtue of the talisman slung about his neck, threw +himself into the very forefront of the struggle, dodging the +cutlasses of the buccaneers with great agility, and slipping in +under their guard with shrewd thrusts of his knife. + +They still outnumbered us, I think (for you may be sure I was too +busy to count them); but they were disheartened, no doubt, as any +men would be, at this rude and sudden onslaught on their security, +and with their comrades cooped up under the menace of the guns they +fought without the confidence that goes so far to win victory. +Moreover, they lacked leadership. The master of the brig, as I +afterwards discovered, was in the roundhouse, and Vetch (in this +equal to himself) was not to be seen, having ever a tender regard +for the safety of his skin. And so, after some few minutes of it, +the buccaneers turned tail and fled for their lives into the +forecastle, where they barricaded themselves. + +Leaving Cludde to keep an eye on them, I rushed down the companion +to find Vetch and to assure Mistress Lucy that her troubles were at +an end. And there was Vetch, trying to batter down the door of the +cabin in which she had locked herself. His design, I guessed, was +to seize her and use her to extort terms from us. He had the +advantage of me in that I was coming from the full daylight into +the dimness of below decks, and before I had reached the ladder +foot he fired his pistol at me, the bullet striking my thigh. I +fell to the floor; he sprang over my body and up the steps; I cried +out to Cludde to seize him, and to Mistress Lucy that the fight was +over, and then all things became a blank to me. + +When I came to myself, I knew by the lazy rocking of the vessel +that it was once more afloat; I was lying on a bench beneath a +porthole, and when I turned my head to see more particularly where +I was, Mistress Lucy came towards me, her eyes shining with +kindness. + +"Mistress Lucy!" I cried, trying to rise, but wincing at an +exquisite pain in my leg. + +"Don't move," she said. "The surgeon said you were to lie quite +still." + +"The surgeon!" I repeated, scarce believing I had heard aright. + +"Yes, you are surprised," she said with a smile; "but that is not +the strangest of the many strange things that have happened of +late. One of the crew of this vessel was once a surgeon; he took +his degrees in Edinburgh, he told me--" + +"And that's true," said a harsh voice, and there entered the cabin +one of the buccaneers--a big bottle-nosed fellow, with a face of +purple hue. "And how are ye the noo, Mister?" + +"Mighty shaky!" I said. "What is wrong with me?" + +"A bit wound in the dexter femur," he said, "within a hair's +breadth like o' your femoral artery and kingdom come. + +"But ye'll do fine," he added, feeling my pulse. "Man, ye've good +blood in your veins, and me having a good hand at the cutting, +we'll verra soon have ye on your two feet again; and the lassie +will no like be fashed at that, I'm thinkin'." + +"I am to thank you then for cutting out the bullet," I said, and +then, remembering how I had come by it, I cried: "Have they got +that villain?" + +"Meanin' Vetch?" says the man. "Hoots! Ye'll no catch him; he's a +slithery man, yon. He was up and awa' before he could be stoppit, +with a wheen o' yelling niggers after him. Aweel, I'm no that sorry +mysel', for he wasna just what ye would call a gentleman." + +I suppose that something of what I was thinking showed in my face, +for the Scotchman continued: + +"I had naething against him as an employer, ye ken; he was sound +wi' the siller; but his dealin' wi' sic a bonny lassie kind o' +affrontit me, and I'm well enough pleased ye got the better of him +in that regard. I mind o' the time when I had a wee-bit lassie +mysel'." + +And then the besotted fellow began to weep, and comforted himself +with a long pull from a flask he took from his pocket. 'Twas plain +that the drink had been his undoing, and indeed, before I parted +company with him in Port Royal some days later, he told me with +maudlin tears the story of his declension from surgeon on a king's +ship to buccaneer, and preached me many an impressive sermon on the +text of the bottle. + +Mistress Lucy had withdrawn while we were talking, and Sandy +MacLeod, as he was named, dressed my wound again with a hand as +tender as a woman's. And then Joe Punchard came down to see me, +Cludde remaining on deck to keep an eye on the crew. Vetch had +sprung overboard, and run fleetly as a deer to the shore, and +though the negroes on the cliff sped after him with yells, they had +a round of half a mile to go over rough ground, and could not catch +him. I would fain have him in my power, so that he might receive +his desserts at the hands of a jury, and be deprived at least of +further opportunities of mischief, but my vexation at his escape +was solaced by the knowledge that Mistress Lucy's safety was +secure. + +I talked things over with Joe, and we decided to sail the brig +round the coast to Port Royal, and hand Mistress Lucy over to her +friends in Spanish Town. The management of her estate gave us some +concern. It could not be left without a responsible head, and the +overseers, being, as I learned from her, men whom Vetch had put in +when he dismissed McTavish and the other white men whom he had +found there on his arrival, were scarcely to be trusted. + +As the result of a consultation with Mistress Lucy, she asked +Cludde (who had begged and received her forgiveness) to return to +Penolver and take charge until we should have had time to reengage +McTavish and send him up from Spanish Town. Mistress Lucy being now +of age, Vetch's brief authority had come to an end, and I supposed +that he would make his way to Dry Harbor and take ship to England. +I could imagine the rage of Sir Richard when his emissary should +return and report the total failure of his scheme. 'Twould sort +with his violent and overbearing character to make Vetch a +scapegoat (a man in the wrong must ever have someone to kick); and +I wondered to what new villainy Cyrus would turn for his +livelihood. + +We had some trouble with the buccaneers when I told them they would +be required to work the brig to Port Royal. They felt a very +natural reluctance to come within reach of the merchants and +shipmen who had suffered from their depredations. But I took it +upon myself to promise them good pay and immunity from arrest, +provided they joined a king's ship forthwith, and being seconded by +Sandy MacLeod the surgeon, who had much influence with his +comrades, I brought them to acquiesce. And so, having bade farewell +to Cludde and the friendly negroes, Uncle Moses and Noah (Jacob +would accompany me), we waited a few hours until the old nurse +Patty had been sent up from the house and then we unfurled our +sails to a favoring wind, and in the course of three days made the +harbor of Port Royal. + +During the voyage I saw almost nothing of Mistress Lucy. My wound +kept me to my cabin; she did not often stir from hers, and 'twas +Patty who bestowed on me the ministrations that are so pleasant to +a sick man. I own I was somewhat disappointed in this matter. 'Twas +nothing that Mistress Lucy had not uttered a word of thanks to me +for what I had done for her (she was much more affable with Joe +Punchard); her refraining spared me embarrassment, for a man of my +nature is ill at ease under any demonstration of gratitude; but +there were many other things we might have talked about, and the +mere sight of her would have been a comfort. But, as I say, she saw +me but seldom, and spoke very little, and I felt a spasm of +jealousy when I learned that she spent hours on deck chatting with +Punchard, who for his part, when he came to see me, spoke of her +with all the adoration of a worshipper. + +And when, on arriving at Port Royal, I was carried ashore, and +Mistress Lucy came and took leave of me, she said nothing but a +mere "Goodby, Mr. Bold," though to be sure she looked on me with +wondrous kindness. + +And when she was gone I could not forbear heaving a monstrous sigh +at the thought that she was now a lady of great property, whereas I +was but a second lieutenant, poor on eighty pounds a year. + + + +Chapter 30: The Six Days' Battle. + + +My wound kept me laid up for a fortnight, and hobbling for another, +so that I was unluckily prevented from accompanying my captain in a +little expedition in which he gained much credit and a goodly +portion of prize money. The Falmouth was sent by Admiral Benbow, +with the Ruby and the Experiment, to cruise off the Petit Guavas. +'Twas the middle of May when they returned (with four prizes, one a +very rich ship), and meanwhile things had happened which mitigated +my disappointment. + +We learned in April from Rear Admiral Whetstone, who had joined the +vice admiral, of the death of King William and the accession of the +Princess Anne, and knowing how much the new queen was under the +influence of the Earl of Marlborough's lady, we had little doubt +that England would soon be at war with France. A few days before my +ship returned to port we had advice of the rupture between the two +countries, and when Captain Vincent informed the admiral that +Monsieur Chateau-Renaud was at the Havana, with six and twenty +men-of-war, waiting for the great treasure fleet from Santa Cruz, +we looked forward with lively anticipation to the imminent +conflict. + +And it chancing that one of the second lieutenants of the flagship +was sick, Mr. Benbow with great kindness appointed me, being now +perfectly recovered, to fill his room. I parted with regret from +Captain Vincent, whom I esteemed a better commander than Captain +Fogg, of the Breda, but I was greatly delighted at the prospect of +serving under Mr. Benbow's eye, and in hardly less degree at being +on the same ship as Joe Punchard, who had returned to his duty as +the admiral's servant. + +It was nigh two months before the vice admiral hoisted his flag and +set sail. In the interim he had despatched Rear Admiral Whetstone +to intercept Monsieur du Casse, who, as he was informed, was +expected at Port Louis, at the west end of Hispaniola, with four +men-of-war, to destroy our trade for negroes. At length sailing +orders were given to the fleet, and on the evening before we +departed we attended a grand entertainment given by the new +governor, Brigadier General Selwyn, who had arrived towards the +latter end of January. + +All the important people of the colony accepted the governor's +invitation, and among them was Mistress Lucy. I had seen her many +times since I had recovered of my wound, and, I own, was somewhat +piqued at her conduct towards me, for though always perfectly kind, +she was no more cordial to me than to a score of my fellow +officers. Indeed, if any one was favored more than another, it was +Dick Cludde, who had, since his breach with Vetch, cast off his bad +habits, and appeared to be on an excellent footing with his cousin. + +I had always thought him a lubber, and the good qualities he now +showed annoyed (I am ashamed to say) as much as they surprised me. +'Twas clear that he was humbly paying his court to the lady, and +feeling myself debarred by my poverty from entering the lists +against him, I could but stand aside and fume at his greater +advantages. Lucy danced much with him at the governor's ball; she +was so beset by would-be partners that when I, who had somewhat +morosely hung back, approached her to ask her for a place on her +card, she hummed, and pursed her lips, and said she feared I was +too late, and then, with a pretty air of relenting, announced that +she could give me one dance towards the end. + +I was standing, gloomily watching her dance with Cludde, when I +felt a tap on my arm, and saw Mistress Lucetta Gurney (whom I have +before mentioned) smiling up at me from behind her fan. + +"Why these black looks, Mr. Bold?" says she. + +"Because you have not favored me with a dance, Mistress Lucetta," +said I, with a very low bow. + +"Fie, Mr. Bold," cries she, "when did you ask me?" + +"I ask you now," I said, and with that I took her under my arm and +strode among the dancers with so fierce and determined an air (as +Mistress Lucetta told me) that, being more than common tall, I was +much observed and humorously criticized by the company. I suppose I +carried the same fierceness into my dancing, for after footing it +for the space of a minute, Mistress Lucetta begged me to stop, +saying she had no fancy for dancing with a whirlwind. + +"Take me to a seat, Mr. Bold. I am going to talk to you," she said. + +And talk to me she did, in a way that mightily surprised me. + +"Do you think I don't see through you, Mr. Bold?" she said. "You +are most desperately jealous of Mr. Cludde; you know you are; and +of every other man in the room; and you show it, which is a very, +very silly thing to do. Oh, don't speak; you would only tell me +stories. Listen to me. Lucy is a dear friend of mine, and I know +all about everything. You are a disgrace to your name, sir." + +"Why, what have I done?" I asked, amazed at the sternness she had +suddenly thrown into her voice. And she burst into a ripple of +laughter. + +"I do think you are the stupidest man alive," she said. "Is not +your name Bold, and are you not timid, and backward, and humble, +and despondent, and a great big baby! Why, Lucy thinks the world of +you; she is never tired of hearing that red-haired man Punchard +talk of you; and yet you are glum, and scowl at her, and glower at +the men who are cheerful and try to amuse her, and whom she doesn't +care a button for. Oh, Mr. Bold, 'tis you who ought to change your +name, for to be sure you will never persuade her to change hers." + +"But Dick Cludde!" I stammered, taken aback by this plain speaking. + +"Is going to dance with me, sir," she said, springing up as, the +dance being over, Dick came to claim her for the next. + +I wandered into the governor's beautiful garden, and, pacing up and +down, pondered what the lively Lucetta had said. Was it true that +Lucy did not care a button for the men who courted her so +assiduously? Was Lucetta seeking to make a fool of me? Did Lucy's +apparent indifference mask another feeling? My thoughts made a +flying circle of perplexity and I could not anywise come at a +resolution. + +And then I remembered again how far above me Lucy was in worldly +position, and how I had nothing, barring a few hundred pounds of +prize money and my paltry eighty pounds (or less) a year. What had +I to offer her? And besides this, I felt a scruple (even supposing +my chances were not hopeless), against seeking to engage her while +she was so far from the relatives whose advice she would naturally +seek. 'Twould savor much of fortune hunting, I thought, if I sought +her hand so close upon her coming of age. + +The upshot of my meditations was that I must cleave to my former +resolve, and wait at least until I should have been promoted to +captain's rank, and then seek her at her uncle's house and put my +fate to the hazard. + +Whether my resolution would have survived a dance with her I know +not. When I went back to the hall to claim her I found I was too +late: she was dancing with a young popinjay of Collingwood's +regiment. I watched them gloomily, in high dudgeons, though 'twas +my own fault, and I did not even get an opportunity of bidding her +farewell. + +Next day ('twas the eleventh of July) we sailed out of Port Royal, +amid salvos of artillery, the merchant ships in the harbour being +all dressed with flags. The Breda, in which I was now serving, led +the van, and the squadron consisted, besides another third-rate, of +six fourth-rates, a fireship, a bomb vessel, a tender and a sloop. +Mr. Benbow designed to join Rear Admiral Whetstone, but we were +soon spoken by the Colchester, from which we learned that Monsieur +du Casse was expected at Leogane, and making for that place, we +arrived on the twenty-seventh. + +We saw several ships at anchor near the town, and one of them being +under sail, we pursued her, and found her to be a man-of-war of +fifty guns. She did not stay to try conclusions with us, but ran +ashore, and then her captain, to prevent her from falling into our +hands, blew her up. Next morning we had the good fortune to capture +with ease three other French ships and to sink a fourth; and +perceiving that a vessel of eighteen guns was being hauled inshore +under the guns of the fort, the admiral sent the boat in, which +burned her to the ground, and brought off some other ships with +wine and stores aboard. + +We came next day before Petit Guavas, and saw three or four small +ships in the harbor called the Cul, which was so strong by its +natural position, and so well defended, that Mr. Benbow thought it +not advisable to run any risk there for vessels of little value. We +continued for three days in the bay, and sailed from thence for +Cape Donna Maria, on the west side of Hispaniola, where we learned +that Monsieur du Casse was gone to Cartagena. 'Twas clear that the +Frenchman was in no mind to encounter us, and there was a good deal +of grumbling among our men at the wild goose chase on which we +appeared to be engaged. + +Falling in with Rear Admiral Whetstone, who had taken three ships +of the enemy, Mr. Benbow despatched him back to Jamaica to look to +the safety of that island, being resolved himself to cruise about +until he should come in touch with the fleet of Monsieur du Casse. + +On the tenth of August we left Cape Donna Maria, the Breda being +accompanied by the Defiance (of which Captain Kirkby was commander, +and Dick Cludde first lieutenant), the Falmouth (with my friend +Captain Vincent), the Ruby, the Greenwich, the Pendennis and the +Windsor. Early in the morning of the twenty-ninth we came over +against the coast of Santa Martha, and espied ten ships sailing +under topsails westward along the shore, and soon perceived them to +be the French. Four of them were great vessels of sixty or seventy +guns. + +Some of our ships being three or four miles astern, Mr. Benbow flew +the signal for action, and went on under easy sail so that the +others might come up with us. He had disposed his line of battle +with the flagship in the center, the Defiance at the extreme left, +and the Falmouth at the extreme right. + +On board the Breda we were all desperately eager for the fight, and +I could not watch without admiration the coolness with which Mr. +Benbow made his disposition, and the particular order and +cheerfulness that prevailed among the men. Our consorts were long +in coming up, and I observed the admiral to grow very uneasy as he +watched them through his perspective glass. He bit his lips, and +frowned, and at last broke out into indignant speech, especially +against the Defiance and the Windsor, which were making but little +haste to come into their stations. + +He was ever a man of quick temper, and his habit of speaking his +mind freely accounted in some measure for his unpopularity with +some of his captains. But to my mind he was fully justified in the +bitterness with which he now spoke of Captain Kirkby of the +Defiance and Captain Constable of the Windsor. Evening was drawing +on, and though the enemy was stronger than we, both in numbers and +armament, Mr. Benbow made no doubt we should give a good account of +ourselves if only the captains would loyally support him. + +At length, to bring on an engagement before night, the admiral ran +alongside of the enemy, being to windward, and steering large, not +intending to attack before the Defiance was abreast of the headmost +ship. But before this was done the Falmouth opened the fight by +firing on a great Dutch-built ship in the rear, and the Windsor and +the Defiance immediately did likewise, though they had not arrived +at the appointed stations. Cursing with vexation at this violation +of orders, the admiral saw himself forced to open fire upon the +nearest French ship, which had already given us a harmless +broadside. + +And then to our amazement we saw the Defiance and the Windsor, +though they had received but two or three broadsides apiece (in one +of which Dick Cludde got a severe hurt) luff out of gunshot, so +that the two sternmost ships of the French were free to lay upon +the Breda. I think I never saw a man in such a passion of anger as +Mr. Benbow was then. He mingled hot reproaches of the erring +captains with words of cheer to our gunners, and though we were the +target for three of the enemy's ships, he bade Captain Fogg keep us +in touch with them and swore that he would fight the whole squadron +single-handed. + +'Twas four o'clock before the action became general, so sluggish +were our vessels in coming into line, and the firing continued till +nightfall, by which time we on the Breda had suffered severely. We +kept the French company all night, and during the night watches the +admiral, believing that if he led himself on both tacks the +captains for very shame could not fail to follow his example, +altered the line of battle accordingly, the Defiance coming next to +the Breda. At daybreak the Breda was near the enemy, but only the +Ruby was up with us, the rest of the squadron lying three, four, +and five miles astern, and there was little wind. We were within +gunshot of the French, but they were civil enough not to fire, and +indeed 'twas clear as the day went on that they were not eager to +fight us, for on a sea breeze coming up they got into a line and +made what sail they could. + +One ship set off with the Ruby in pursuit, plying our chase guns on +them till night; but the other ships again delayed to come up with +us, and we were left to keep the enemy company. + +Next morning at daylight we found ourselves on the quarter of the +second ship of the enemy's squadron, within point-blank shot, the +Ruby being ahead of us. The French ships fired at the Ruby, which +returned their fire; and the two French vessels which were ahead +fell off, and there being little wind, brought their guns to bear +on our consort. Mr. Benbow gave orders that we should send our +broadside upon the ship that first began, which our gunners did +with such right good will that they brought her masts and rigging +tumbling down, and shattered her so that she had to lower her boats +to tow her away. But the Ruby had suffered in no less a degree, and +the admiral ordered Captain Fogg to lay by her and send his boats +to tow her off. + +This action had lasted for nigh two hours, during which the +Defiance and Windsor had come abreast of the rear French ship and +though within point-blank range had never fired one gun at her. The +admiral ground his teeth and swore he would court martial the +captains when we came to port. Meanwhile a gale had sprung up, and +the enemy again made all sail, and we set off in chase. At two in +the afternoon we got abreast of two of the stern-most of the +enemy's ships off the mouth of the Rio Grande, and in hopes to +disable them in their masts and rigging we began to fire on them, +as did some of our vessels astern; but the Frenchmen, seeing the +Breda so ill supported, paid no heed to any other, but pointed +wholly at us, doing much hurt to our rigging, and maiming some of +our men. + +After the fight had continued upwards of two hours, the Frenchmen +drew off out of gunshot, and we made what sail we could after them, +but they used all possible shifts to evade fighting, our men +shouting after them derisively as cowardly curs. Darkness put a +stop to the pursuit, but again we hugged the enemy all night, +hoping that next day would see the conclusion of this long-drawn +battle. + +When the third morning dawned, we spied the enemy about a mile and +a half ahead. Of our ships the half-crippled Ruby was nearest, the +Falmouth next; the rest were but indifferently near, the Greenwich +indeed lying full three leagues astern, though the admiral had +never struck his signal for battle night or day. + +For many hours the wind blew easterly, but at three in the +afternoon it shifted to the south and gave the enemy the weather +gauge. In tacking we fetched within gunshot of the sternmost of +them, and for half an hour or so we kept up a brisk bombardment; +but our line was still much out of order, and some of our ships +being even now three miles astern, nothing more could be done. + +And so another day passed. The other vessels had not come within +speaking distance of us, and it seemed that all hope of bringing +the enemy to a decisive engagement must be abandoned. + +The dawn of the fourth morning found the Frenchmen six miles ahead, +and one less in number, for the great Dutch ship had separated from +the squadron and was out of sight. The Defiance and Windsor, ever +the most dilatory of our vessels, were at this time four miles +astern. About ten o'clock, the wind then blowing east nor'-east, +but very variable, the enemy tacked, and the admiral fetched within +range of two of them, giving them his broadside and receiving from +them many shrewd knocks. Then, tacking also, he pursued them with +what speed he might, and about noon contrived to cut off from their +line a small English ship, the Ann galley, which they had taken off +Lisbon. + +This small success cheered our drooping spirits a little; but a +complete victory seemed further off than ever, for the Ruby proved +to be so disabled that the admiral ordered her to return to Port +Royal, so that we had five ships against the enemy's nine. During +the day our vessels drew somewhat closer to us, the Falmouth being +the foremost, and we gained some four miles upon the enemy by +sunset. + +Ever since we had first sighted the Frenchmen, Mr. Benbow had +snatched but a few hours' sleep each night, and was becoming worn +out for want of rest and for bitter mortification at the ill +conduct of his captains. 'Tis true the enemy had shown no +disposition to stand, and the light winds had not favored the +overhauling of them, and I was very sure that in the case of +Captain Vincent, at any rate, 'twas sheer ill luck that prevented +him from giving the admiral support. But I had other ideas of the +behavior of the captains of the vessels that hung back most. +Captain Kirkby of the Defiance and Captain Wade of the Greenwich I +knew to be of the anti-Benbow party, and though I had not the same +knowledge of Captain Constable of the Windsor and Captain Hudson of +the Pendennis, I suspected that they were infected by the same +blight, for I could not believe that officers of the English navy +could be arrant cowards. + +On the night of the twenty-fourth I had the middle watch. Towards +two o'clock Joe Punchard came to me, smoking a pipe, and looking +more miserable than I had ever seen him. + +"Twill break my captain's heart if we have another day of it," he +says gloomily. "He looks five years older than he did when we left +Port Royal. He can't sleep, and if he do fall into a doze he starts +up like a child out of a bad dream. He swears he will court martial +the captains, every man jack of them, when we get to port, but that +won't win us the battle, and he has set his heart on giving the +Frenchmen a drubbing. And he's took a notion that he'll never get +through alive, which is so uncommon unlike him, being mostly so +cheery, that it gives me the dumps bad." + +I was saying what I could to cheer the good fellow when the lookout +cries he sees a sail ahead. The admiral rushes out of his cabin and +orders the drums to beat to quarters. In an instant, as it seemed, +the decks were full of men. 'Twas a clear night, with very little +wind, and we could see one of the French ships within hail of us. +We gave her a tremendous broadside from all three decks at once, +with double shot, round below, and round and partridge aloft. She +returned it hotly, striking down many of our good fellows; I myself +narrowly escaped one of the shot, which hit a man at my side, +carrying away his right arm clear from the shoulder. + +We kept up the duel of firing for near an hour, and then I heard a +great cry go up that the admiral was wounded, and by and by Joe +comes to me with tears streaming down his cheeks, and says that the +admiral's right leg was shattered to pieces by a chain shot, and he +was carried below. But while he was still talking to me we heard a +great shout and there was Mr. Benbow being hoisted in his cradle on +to the quarterdeck, and crying out "Good cheer, my hearties! The +Frenchmen have given me a knock, but we've got 'em now and by God! +we'll beat 'em!" + +And then they cheered him again, and he, sitting in his cradle, +making nothing of his dreadful pain, gave orders and shouted +encouragement for a good three hours. + +When the morning light showed us the ship we had been fighting, she +appeared a mere ruin; her main yard down and shot to pieces, her +fore-topsail yard shot away, her mizzen mast by the board, all her +rigging gone, and her sides bored through and through with our +double-headed shot. And near by us stood my old ship the Falmouth, +which in the darkness had assisted us very much in crippling this +great vessel of seventy guns, the sternmost of the French squadron. + +Soon afterwards we saw the other ships of the enemy bearing down +upon us before a strong easterly wind; at the same time the +Windsor, Pendennis and Greenwich, ahead of the enemy, ran to +leeward of the disabled ship, gave her their broadsides ('twas like +flogging a dead horse), and then stood to the southward. Whereupon +up comes the Defiance, and passes like the others; and while we +were still in our amazement at this sudden bravery, the battered +ship fired twenty of her guns at the Defiance, whereupon she ports +her helm a-weather and runs away right before the wind, lowering +both her topsails without any regard to the signal for battle. + +This was more than our men could stomach; breaking all discipline, +they pursued the coward ship with groans and curses. I glanced at +the admiral, sitting erect on the quarter deck, and his pale face +was drawn with a look of utter despair. + +The enemy, seeing our other two ships stand to the southward, +clearly expected them to tack, for they brought to with their heads +to the northward, preparing to meet their fire. But when they +perceived that our dastard captains had no such intent, but were +beyond doubt running away, they bore down upon the Breda and ran +between us and the disabled ship, firing all their guns, shooting +away our main-topsail yard, and shattering our rigging. + +"For God's sake, Mr. Fogg," cried the admiral, "fire a couple of +shots at those villains ahead and mind them of their duty!" + +This the captain did, but the others took not the least notice of +his signal. He stamped and swore like a madman, and I went hot with +shame to think of what opinion the Frenchmen must have of us. And +with our rigging all shot away we had to lay by and look at them as +they brought to, remanned their own shattered ship, and took her in +tow. Sure never did English admiral before or since suffer such +undeserved humiliation. + +Our men set to work diligently to refit the vessel, and this being +done by ten o'clock, Mr. Benbow ordered the captain to pursue the +enemy, who was then about three miles distant, and to leeward, +having the disabled ship in tow, and steering northeast, the wind +being sou'-sou'west. We made all the sail we could, the battle +signal always flying at the fore; and the enemy, taking +encouragement from the behavior of some of our captains, now showed +the first signs of waiting for us. Whereupon the admiral ordered +Captain Fogg to send to the other captains and bid them keep their +line and behave themselves like men. + +And when our boat returned from this errand there was Captain +Kirkby in it. He came aboard the Breda and went up to the admiral, +who never left the quarterdeck. There were high words between them; +I learned afterwards that Captain Kirkby pressed Mr. Benbow very +earnestly to desist from any further engagement, alleging that he +had tried the enemy's strength with little success for six days +together. + +"And whose fault is that, sir?" roared the admiral. + +Then, with difficulty curbing his anger, he bade Captain Fogg +signal to the other captains to come aboard, so that he might know +whether they were all of the same mind as that craven. + +They obeyed this signal with wondrous alacrity. They came aboard, +and for two mortal hours the admiral, racked and almost fainting +with pain, reasoned, expostulated, pleaded, showed them that now +they had the fairest opportunity of success, seeing that our ships +were all in good condition, and only eight men killed in all the +squadron save those the Breda had lost; that we had plenty of +ammunition; that three or four of the enemy's ships had suffered +injury and one was quite disabled and in tow. 'Twas all in vain. +The most of them concurred with Captain Kirkby's opinion, that it +was undesirable to continue the fight, nor could any reasoning turn +them. And then they put their names to a paper, formally giving +their opinion, and (though I did not know this till afterwards) +Captain Fogg and my own old commander, Captain Vincent, signed with +the rest. + +After this there was no more to be done. If the admiral had been +unwounded I believe he would have stood out against them all and +fought the enemy single-handed: but he had no assurance of being in +a fit state to direct the battle; 'twas clear the captains had no +mind to fight; and rather than imperil the whole squadron and let +the French boast of a victory he resolved to venture no further. +And so we let the enemy depart unmolested, and returned to Jamaica. + +On the way I had the privilege of some talk with the admiral. +Deeply mortified as he was at his own ill success, his personal +grief was outweighed by his sense of the national disappointment +which must attend the frustration of his design. + +"And 'tis my last fight, Bold," he said to me. "I shall not live to +meet the French again, and 'tis a sore trial to me to go out of the +world a failure." + +"You are not a failure, sir," I said. "'Tis those rascally captains +who have failed and are disgraced forever; and be sure our people +will do you justice." + +"You think so?" he said, with a pleased look. "'Twas King William +that called me 'honest Benbow,' and if I keep that name with the +country I am content. I may die before we make Port Royal; if I do, +you will take my love to Nelly, my lad?" + +"I will indeed, sir, but I hope for better things," I said. "There +be good surgeons in Spanish Town, who will use all of their skill +to preserve a life so valuable to the country." + +"We shall see," he replied. "This plaguey leg will have to come +off; maybe I shall return home with a wooden leg and stump about as +port admiral somewhere! + +"At any rate, I hope I shall live long enough to see you a captain. +You have done well, my lad, and there will be a few vacancies, I +warrant you, when the court martial has done with those villains." + +Before we reached Port Royal a French boat overtook us with a +letter to the admiral from Monsieur du Casse, who, being a brave +man, felt for the distress of his brave foe. + +"Sir" (he wrote), "I had little hope on Monday last but to have +supped in your cabin, but it pleased God to order it otherwise; I +am thankful for it. As for those cowardly captains who deserted +you, hang them up, for by God, they deserve it." + +Our return to harbor was a melancholy affair. There was universal +rage against the unworthy captains, and universal grief at the +plight of the admiral. His broken leg was taken off, an operation +which he bore with wonderful fortitude, and being of a robust +constitution, he gave the surgeons at first good hopes of recovery. +From his sick bed he issued a commission to Rear Admiral Whetstone +to hold a court martial for the trial of the four captains whom he +accused of cowardice, breach of order, and neglect of duty; and of +Captains Fogg and Vincent on the minor charge of signing the paper +against engaging the French. + +The trial began on the eighth of October. Among the officers who +gave evidence (much against his will) against Captain Kirkby was +Dick Cludde, who was carried wounded before the court. Kirkby and +Captain Wade of the Greenwich were found guilty on all the charges +and sentenced to be shot. Captain Constable was cleared of +cowardice, but convicted on the other counts, and he was cashiered +from her Majesty's service, with imprisonment during her pleasure. +Captain Hudson of the Pendennis was lucky, as I thought, in dying +before the trial which must have branded him with indelible +disgrace. + +As for my old friend Captain Vincent, and my new commander, Captain +Fogg, they alleged in their defense that they had signed the paper +only because they feared if we engaged the enemy, that the other +captains would wholly desert and leave the Breda and the Falmouth +to their fate; and Mr. Benbow himself testifying to their great +courage and gallant behavior in the battle, the court was satisfied +with suspending them from their employment in the queen's service. +The sentences were not executed at once, it being decided that the +officers (except Vincent and Fogg) should be carried to England to +await the pleasure of the queen's consort, Prince George of +Denmark, who as Lord High Admiral had the power to ratify or quash +the decrees of the court martial. + +I was not myself present at the trial of these officers. On +arriving in the harbor, the admiral was informed that, taking +advantage of his absence, a buccaneer vessel had appeared off the +north coast, and was doing much damage among the merchant shipping. +Many planters who had suffered in their property had sent requests +to the governor to take immediate action against the buccaneers, +which he was unable to do until Mr. Benbow's return, Rear Admiral +Whetstone not thinking himself justified in diminishing his own +squadron with risk to the general safety of the island. + +But on the day before the court martial was to meet Mr. Benbow sent +for me, and ordered me to cruise along the north shore in search of +the pirate vessel. He did not give me a ship of war for this +purpose, thinking that this would only serve to warn the +buccaneers, who no doubt had spies in the principal ports. But the +brig in which we had brought Mistress Lucy being still in the +harbor, the admiral instructed me to fit her out as a trader, and +send her to sea with a dummy captain and a skeleton crew, and then +to join her secretly with some thirty picked men from the queen's +ships. + +This mark of his confidence gave me very great pleasure, and I set +about my preparations with zeal, being busy with them during the +days of the trial. Knowing how strongly attached I was to Joe +Punchard, Mr. Benbow insisted that he should accompany me, +declaring with only too much truth that he himself had little need +of Punchard's services while he was fixed to his bed. + +I had, of course, paid a visit to Mistress Lucy immediately on +reaching port. She took me very severely to task for leaving the +port without a word of farewell, and seemed to find it a demerit in +me that I had returned without a wound, praising Dick Cludde very +warmly for the part he had taken in the fight. I answered with some +heat that if I was not wounded 'twas from no shirking of duty, and +I would have desired nothing better than that we should board one +of the French vessels; 'twas no pleasure for a man to stand idle on +deck while guns were shot off. And being now wrought to a certain +degree of anger, I reminded her that I had given proof that I was +no coward, and hoped the queen would not show herself so ungrateful +to those who served her well as some other ladies I could name. + +This outburst (foreign to my wonted mildness of temper) brought a +color to her cheeks and a gleam to her eyes, and in quite a changed +voice she said: + +"Indeed, and I am not ungrateful, Mr. Bold." + +And then I craved her pardon (for which, as I learned, Mistress +Lucetta Gurney called me a fool), and inquired how her own affairs +were prospering. + +Mr. McTavish, she told me, had gone back to her estate as steward, +she heard from him every week, and he gave excellent reports of the +plantations. I asked her whether anything had been heard of Vetch, +and whether any vessel conveying her produce from Dry Harbor had +been molested by the buccaneers. She said she had no news of either +the one or the other, and I inclined to believe that Vetch had +accepted his defeat and vanished out of her life for ever. When I +told her of the commission intrusted to me by Mr. Benbow she looked +a little troubled, and besought me to have a care of myself--a +departure from her former indifference that surprised me. I could +only answer that I would not court danger, and that as for taking +care of myself I must do my duty and leave the rest to Providence. + +Long afterwards I learned that she sent privately for Joe Punchard, +and extorted from him a solemn promise that he would watch over me +day and night, see that I did not take a chill or expose myself to +danger, and bring me back unscathed, on pain of her lasting +displeasure. + +"I had to promise," said Joe when I taxed him with it. "I couldn't +help it. I would ha' sworn black was white, the mistress have got +that way with her. Thinks I to myself, 'Mr. Bold beant a baby, nor +I beant a nurse; but I'll commit black perjury to make her happy,' +and so I would, sir." + +And having taken my leave of her, and of Mr. Benbow, and Cludde, +and other my friends, I left the harbor in a boat at sunset on +October twelfth and joined the brig off Bull Bay, where she had +lain awaiting me. + + + +Chapter 31: The Cockpit. + + +The brig, whose name was the Tartar (a very fitting name for one +that had been a privateer) was manned with thirty able seamen whom +I had myself been permitted to pick from the man-of-war's men in +the harbor. As lieutenant I had a quartermaster named Fincham, a +very excellent officer. We sailed with a fair wind until we reached +Port Antonio on the northeast side of the island, but then the wind +fell contrary, and we had to beat up along the north coast at a +creeping pace that vexed me sorely. + +We did not expect to have any news of the buccaneers until we had +fetched past Orange Bay, but from thence onwards I knew that we +should have to search every inlet save those that had an anchorage +for large vessels; and our slow progress was the more vexing +because I feared that the buccaneers might get wind of Mr. Benbow's +return and sheer off. I hoped they would not do this, for I was +burning to justify the admiral's confidence in me by bringing the +pirate craft into harbor. + +One morning, when we had been a week at sea, we sighted a wreck on +a small island off Blowing Point; the islet has since totally +disappeared in one of the volcanic disturbances that afflict those +latitudes. We drew in towards the derelict, and then spied a man on +deck waving his shirt very energetically to attract our notice. I +sent Fincham with a boat's crew to bring him off, and learned from +him when he came aboard that he was the sole survivor of the barque +Susan Maria, which was set upon a week before by a buccaneer vessel +and carried to this islet, where she had been plundered and burned, +many of her crew being killed, the rest taken away to be sold to +the Spanish planters in Hispaniola. The man had been left for dead +on the deck, but he had come out of his swoon, and had since +supported himself on some moldy cheese and biscuits which the +buccaneers had not deemed worth taking when they stripped the +vessel. + +He told me that the buccaneer vessel was a light brig carrying six +guns and a crew of at least sixty men of all nations, her captain +being a Frenchman. She had sailed away to the westward. I had +little doubt that this was the very vessel I had been sent in +search of, and though she was stronger than I supposed, I was hot +set to find her and see for myself whether we might not attempt to +put a stop to her mischievous career. + +We lay becalmed for the rest of that day, but a light easterly +breeze springing up towards morning, we clapped on all sail and +worked steadily along the coast. I examined the chart very +carefully for likely anchorages, and used my perspective glass +constantly; but we saw no sign of the pirate, nor indeed of any +vessel, all that day. + +Towards dusk we approached the entrance of the cove whence I had +sailed the brig of which I was now in command. We heaved to behind +a headland about two miles to the east of it, out of view of any +vessel which might be in the cove or at the mouth, and waited for +darkness. I had no reason to suppose that the pirate lay within the +cove, though 'twas likely enough; but it behooved us to go as +cautiously as if we knew she was there for certain. Considering her +strength, if it should come to a fight, 'twas clearly good tactics +to choose my own time and manner of attacking her. + +About the end of the second dog watch I lowered a boat, and with +Joe Punchard and half a dozen picked men, together with the sailor +we had rescued, set off with muffled oars up the cove to +reconnoiter, leaving Fincham in charge of the brig. The moon was +rising, but there was a deep shadow beneath the cliffs, and by +keeping well within this I trusted to escape observation. The cove +was about two miles long, and after rowing half the distance I +caught sight of a dark shape before me, as nearly as I could judge, +almost at the same spot as my brig when I cut her cable. We drew a +little closer, till we could see every spar clear in the moonlight, +and the man of the Susan Maria told me that the vessel was beyond +doubt the pirate of which we were in search. We lay on our oars for +a while watching her, and listening for sounds from her deck, but +hearing nothing, and judging that her captain would feel perfectly +secure, I thought that all things favored an attempt to cut her out +that night. + +We pulled back to the brig and immediately prepared two boats for +the expedition. I selected twenty-four men for the job, leaving ten +to guard the brig. 'Twas a question whether Fincham or Punchard +should be placed in charge of the second boat, but Joe pleaded so +hard to have a hand in the venture (animated as much by his love of +action as by his promise to Mistress Lucy, of which I as yet knew +nothing) that I decided to leave Fincham in command of the vessel. +If the buccaneers numbered sixty, as I had been told, we had heavy +odds against us; but with the advantage of surprise I hoped that +our twenty-four picked men would prove equal to more than twice +their number of a mixed lot who had nothing but their common crimes +to hind them together. + +'Twas about four in the morning, under a waning moon, when we again +came within sight of the enemy's vessel. We rowed dead slow in +order to avoid noise, and had come within half a cable's length of +her, and I was on the point of ordering my men to give way for a +dash, when I was surprised to hear voices from the deck, and the +creaking of davit blocks. 'Twas clear the buccaneers were letting +down a boat. I whispered my men to ship oars, and waited with no +little anxiety. + +Had our approach been discovered? I could not think so, for the +most confident enemy would scarcely throw away their advantage of +position by seeking us out under the shadow of the cliffs when they +might securely await our attack and surprise us in turn. Then what +could they be about? I could just see the boat as it was lowered +over the side, and then immediately afterwards a second boat +followed, and men crowded into both and pulled away for the shore. +They came full into the moon's rays, I saw them land, cross the +beach, and disappear. + +My first thought was that the vessel was delivered into our hands. +I reckoned that the boats had carried close on forty men; those who +were left would be no match for my tars; it seemed that my task was +made miraculously easy. But then, reflecting that the buccaneers +must have some errand on shore, it flashed upon me that their +destination was Penolver, and their object to plunder the house and +estate. There could be no other explanation of their quitting their +vessel at this dead time of night. + +And here I felt a conflict between duty and inclination. The latter +prompted me to make off at once after the landing party and do what +might be done to save Lucy's property. But my orders were to deal +with the buccaneers, and I felt that I should not be justified in +interfering on behalf of a private person, however dear to me, +until my first duty was fulfilled. + +It was a question then whether I should first attack the ship or +capture the boats on the strand. To accomplish the latter we should +have to overpower the men who had no doubt been left in charge, and +there would certainly be some noise that would alarm the men on +board the vessel, so that although the possession of the boats +would cut off the return of those who had landed, it would also +make the capture of the brig far more difficult. On all grounds it +seemed better to wait until the landing party had gone too far to +return in time to help their comrades, and then cut out the ship. +When that was in our hands I should be free to go ashore and set +off in pursuit of the ruffians who, I was convinced, were marching +for Lucy's house. + +Ordering my men to put me alongside Punchard's boat, I arranged +with him the manner of our attack. I would make for the larboard, +he for the starboard side, and we would board as nearly as possible +at the same moment. This being settled I whispered the word to go, +and the two boats crept along the shore in shadow as silently as we +could until we came directly opposite the enemy's vessel. Then I, +having the tiller of the leading boat, brought her round and +steered her straight for the ship. 'Twas scarce to be hoped, in +spite of our muffled oars, that our approach should be wholly +unheard; and we were no more than ten fathoms distant when the +alarm was given. There was not sufficient way on the boat, the tide +being between flood and ebb, to bring us quite to the vessel, but +after a few more strokes I ordered the men to ship oars and seize +their arms, and we came under the brig's counter just in time to +escape a volley from the deck. + +We swarmed up, half a 'dozen of us together, the men shouting and +cursing as Jack tars will, and met with a very warm reception. The +enemy was assembled in full force to beat us back, the watch below +having had time to tumble up, though to be sure they were half +dazed with sleep, and maybe drink. If they had been wide-awake I +will not answer for it that we should not have been repulsed; even +as it was, several of my crew were driven headlong back into the +boat and the sea. But the rest gained a footing on deck, and I +warrant you they kept it. We were at too close quarters to fire; +'twas a brief hand-to-hand encounter with cutlasses and clubbed +muskets, and what with the clashing of the weapons and the cries of +the men we made a great din and hurly burly. + +But the enemy had lost their sole chance of success when they +failed to dislodge us before Joe's men arrived. 'Twas but a minute +before his boat came round the bows to the starboard side, and then +the crew swarmed up, with Joe at their head, and fell upon the rear +of our assailants. Thus hemmed in between our two parties the +buccaneers saw 'twas vain to contend longer. They flung down their +arms and cried (in many tongues) for quarter; and within five +minutes of our first setting foot on deck we had them securely +battened down below. + +And now having accomplished, by fortune's favor, my first duty, I +resolved to make all speed after the fellows who had landed, hoping +fervently that the noise of our engagement had not reached their +ears and put them on their guard. There was hot work before us, I +well knew, if they numbered forty, as I had reason to believe. I +could not leave the brig wholly unguarded; yet I was loath to +diminish my own little company; in the end I decided to leave a +boatswain's mate in command of a party of five (three who had had a +ducking and two who had received slight hurts in the fight) and to +take Joe and the other eighteen hot-foot to Penolver. + +I had left instructions with Fincham on our brig to sail into the +inlet in the morning to support us, and I told the boatswain's mate +to communicate with her as soon as she appeared. Thus I had no +anxiety about the security of the prize and the prisoners during my +absence. + +These arrangements made, we set off for the shore, taking two of +the six men to row back to the brig the boats from which the +buccaneers had landed, which we found hauled up on the beach, but +no one in charge of them. Either they had been left unattended +because the leader had no fears for their safety, or the men set to +watch had taken alarm from our doings on the brig and had decamped. +I hoped they had not gone ahead of us to warn their fellows, which +indeed did not seem very likely, for they would be loath to venture +alone into a strange country. If the buccaneers had had warning of +what was happening behind them and hastened back, or if we should +miss them and they returned to the cove before us, they would at +any rate be unable to recapture their vessel, lacking their boats. + +I reckoned that 'twas near two hours since the main body of the +buccaneers had departed; by this time they must be three parts of +the way to the house, if that was their goal; so we set off at a +great pace to follow them up. The sun was not yet risen, though the +darkness was lifting; and the air being cool, we could march +without discomfort. + +We had not gone very far, and had come to where the track runs +between thin clumps of trees, when Joe Punchard suddenly left my +side and darted into the woodland. His bandiness was no check upon +his running. In a few seconds he was back, shoving before him a +seaman much larger than himself, having one hand upon his neck and +the other grasping his arm behind his back. He thus propelled the +man towards us at a quick trot, crying out to me: + +"Here be one of the villains, sir, and I reckon 'twill be well to +make him speak." + +Without slackening our pace I made the captive walk by my side and +questioned him. He had been left, as I suspected, in charge of the +boats, alone, and at the noise of our assault he had run up the +path, intending to overtake his comrades and give them warning of +what was happening. But being out of his element, his heart failed +him when he came into the wild wooded country, and he had been +skulking behind the trees when Joe espied him. He was a Frenchman. + +I learned from him that some weeks before, his vessel had been +joined by an Englishman, who had proposed to his captain an +expedition to an estate some ten miles inland. The captain had been +at first reluctant to undertake the expedition; 'twas work for +landsmen, he said, not for sea dogs, and having heard rumors of a +buccaneer brig having been captured in that very cove by a horde of +negroes led by a white man, he was loath to leave his vessel. But +the Englishman had worked upon his fellow countrymen among the +buccaneers by tales of large sums of money lying in the house in +question; he had been steward of the estate, he said, and had been +forced to leave behind the hoard he had gathered, on being attacked +by a villainous enemy that coveted his wealth. But it was too +securely hidden to have been discovered by the interloper. + +These compatriots of his had insisted on the captain holding a +council of the whole crew, at which the proposal was put to the +vote and carried; and the captain's last objections were overcome +by the promise of a quarter of the hidden money, the Englishman to +have a quarter, and the remainder to be divided among the crew. + +My suspicion being so fully borne out, I forced the pace, for +though I foresaw a tough fight, my men were all sturdy fellows, who +were not like to feel any distress after a march of but ten miles. +I only half believed the story of hidden gold. The produce of the +estate would generally, I thought, be paid for, not in specie, but +in bills of exchange, which would be in the hands of duly appointed +agents at the port. It seemed more likely that Vetch had some other +motive: what, I could not guess. But whatever his design might be, +I counted myself very lucky in having come to the neighborhood in +time to frustrate it. + +When we came within a mile of the estate we saw a dense cloud of +smoke rising into the air at the spot where, as I judged, the house +stood. This seemed to confirm my suspicion; Vetch was indulging his +venomous spite by burning the residence of Mistress Lucy. We sprang +forward at the double, and coming in sight of the house, I saw with +relief that it was yet intact, the smoke arising from the +outbuildings, which were already almost burned to the ground. Then +we heard musket shots, and as we drew nearer loud shouts. The +plantations were utterly deserted, there was not a negro visible of +whom we might ask what was toward; so we skirmished forward to a +place among the trees where the front of the house was in full +view. + +The veranda was packed with men, and around them smoke was +swirling, but the smoke of musketry, not of a conflagration. Some +were firing at the shuttered windows, others hacking with axes at +the doors and walls. 'Twas clear that the attack had only just +begun, for the light timbers of the house could not long have +withstood the tremendous battering they were now receiving. It +amazed me that the assailants had met with any resistance at all; +McTavish and his overseers must be men of mettle to attempt to hold +the house against such odds. Even in the few seconds I allowed +myself to observe them I saw two or three of the buccaneers fall, +shot, I had no doubt, by the defenders within. But mingled with the +yells of rage there now arose a cry of triumph; a panel of one of +the doors had given way under the fierce strokes of an ax wielded +by a man whom I knew by some instinct to be the captain. 'Twas +manifest that we had come but just in time. + +Calling to my men to follow me closely, I led them at the double +straight across the open grassy space that separated us from the +house. The buccaneers were so intent upon their work, and the noise +was so deafening, that they were not aware of us until we came +within a few yards of the veranda. Then a great shout of warning +was raised by those of the men who, having been wounded, had fallen +out of the fight. Some of the storming party swung round, caught +sight of us, and rushed to the head of the steps leading to the +veranda as we reached the foot. Luckily for us they had discharged +their muskets, whereas my men had theirs loaded, and had lit their +matches during the few moments we had waited at the edge of the +copse. + +Knowing ourselves outnumbered by at least two to one, I cried to my +men to halt and fire. Several of the foremost of the buccaneers +fell, but those behind had not been hit, and when I gave the order +to rush up the steps they stood in close array with clubbed muskets +to meet us. + +The next few moments were filled with such a wild commotion that +'twould be vain to try to describe all that happened. Joe Punchard, +seeing that it was impossible for all of us to mount by the steps, +had with great readiness of wit called off half a dozen men, and +they were now scrambling up the pillars supporting the veranda. +Finding my ascent blocked by the crowd, I slipped over the +balustrade, and, taking advantage of my great height, leapt at the +rail of the veranda and began to haul myself up. + +At that desperate moment I saw one of the buccaneers with his +musket uplifted, preparing to bring it down with crushing force +upon me, and caught sight of Vetch behind him sword in hand. I +thought my end was come, for I had not yet secured my footing, and +was powerless to protect myself. But suddenly there was a deafening +report from the room beyond; the buccaneer pitched forward on to +the rail, his musket falling from his hand. My life was saved by +the man's body lurching against me, for being between Vetch and me, +he prevented my old enemy from using his sword arm. + +With a desperate heave I threw the buccaneer against Vetch, and in +a trice was over the rail and on the veranda. Vetch's face was +fixed with terror, as, drawing my sword, I rushed at him. There was +no escape for him now; his slipperiness could not serve him; and I +will do him this justice, that, finding himself driven into a +corner, he stood against me and fought with a courage of frenzy. +But he was no swordsman; with a few simple passes I disarmed him, +and flinging his sword over the rail I caught him by the neck and +arm and held him fast. + +Meanwhile the resistance of his hirelings had been broken. My +sturdy men had forced their way up the steps or climbed up the +pillars, not without loss, and the defenders in the room behind +firing a succession of shots, the buccaneers had scattered to right +and left to escape being taken in front and rear at once. Their +ranks being thus weakened my men pressed upon them with redoubled +vehemence. I caught sight of Joe Punchard in the melee, his red +head a flaming battle signal, wielding an iron belaying pin, every +swing of it leaving the enemy one man the less. + +The buccaneer captain, with the furious courage for which the West +Indian freebooters have ever been notable, threw himself wherever +the fight was thickest, striving to stay the rout, with cutlass in +one hand and pistol in the other. He hurled his pistol at Joe, but +he saw the movement and nimbly ducked, to the discomfiture of the +man behind him, who received the weapon full in his chest (Joe +being short) and staggered back in a heap against the rail. Joe was +erect again in time to catch the captain's cutlass on his belaying +pin, which it struck with such force as to be shivered to +splinters. Ere the captain had time to spring back, a half swing +from Joe's formidable weapon caught him on the neck, and he fell +like a bullock under the pole ax. + +This was the signal for a general stampede. With their leader gone +the buccaneers could not rally, and every man sought how best to +save his skin. Some tumbled down the steps, others swung themselves +over the rail and dropped to the ground, and as they rushed this +way and that to find safety, they were pursued not merely by my +men, but by crowds of yelling negroes, who had emerged from their +concealment with wondrous rapidity when they saw the tide of battle +turn against the buccaneers, and were now ready enough to join in +the shouting. + +The veranda being clear of the enemy, the half-battered door was +thrown open, and to my amazement Dick Cludde came towards me with +Mr. McTavish, three overseers, Uncle Moses, and Noah, all with +smoking muskets in their hands. A bare word of greeting passed +between us, for Noah, seeing Vetch helpless in my grasp, sprang +forward with a shout of savage joy and but for my intervention +would have plunged his knife into the wretched man. Fending him +off, I pushed Vetch into the room, and shut the door, keeping out +all but McTavish and Cludde. + +Vetch was pale and discomposed, his lips twitching, his eyes +ranging restlessly between Cludde and me. I felt no pity for him. + +"This man," I said to McTavish, "led his ruffians here under +promise of a share in a large sum of money they would find. Is +there any truth in it?" + +"There is no that much money here at this present time," replied +McTavish, "but when I came back to the estate a while ago and +looked into matters, I couldna just make out where two thousand +pounds had gone. 'Twas in specie, too, for I happened to know that +the coin had been sent up from Spanish Town--a verra large sum to +keep in an up-country house." + +"Where is that money?" I asked, turning to Vetch. + +He was more composed now, and his wonted look of alertness had +returned. + +"Let me understand," says Vetch. "You accuse me of--" + +"Of appropriating money that did not belong to you," I said, +filling up his pause. + +"A serious accusation," he said, drawing his brows together. "And +when did this appropriation take place?" + +"We are not playing a game," I said impatiently. "Where is the +money which you stole, and which you used as a lure for your +ruffians?" + +"We are not playing a game, as you say," he replied, becoming more +and more collected as I waxed hotter. "You accuse me of stealing, I +answer, when did I steal, and what are your proofs?" + +"You heard what Mr. McTavish said," I replied, with difficulty +curbing my anger. "Two thousand pounds are not accounted for; you +were here when the money was received; it disappeared during the +time you held Mr. McTavish's place; you bring your desperadoes here +to secure it. 'Tis useless fencing with us." + +"During the time I held Mr. McTavish's place," he repeated +musingly. "That was for several months last year, until the day +when the owner of this property came of age--the day when Mr. +Humphrey Bold by trickery gained access to this house and +threatened my life. Has it gone from your recollection that I held +Mr. McTavish's place in right of a power of attorney from the legal +guardian of the estate, and that whatever I may have done I was +empowered to do? Does it not occur to you that the money you charge +me with stealing was appropriated to the payment of the men whom I +felt impelled to engage for the defense of this property against +the unlawful designs of Mr. Humphrey Bold? + +"You will bear me out, Mr. Cludde, when I remind you that the owner +of the estate had fled from her lawfully-appointed guardian, aided +and abetted in her flight, I doubt not, by this upstart himself. I +am ready to account for my administration of the property to Sir +Richard Cludde, and to no one else, and I say you have no right to +call in question anything I may have done in his name." + +The fellow's impudence fairly took my breath away. For some moments +I could do nothing but look at him, and he returned my gaze without +blinking, the old sneer playing about his lips. The brazen coolness +with which he ignored his recent attack on the house and sought to +put me in the wrong filled me with sheer amazement. I began to +wonder again whether, after all, the tale he had told to the +buccaneers was a lie, and he had come back to the house with no +further design than to wreak his spite upon it. + +And yet this could hardly be, for he could easily have set fire to +it, and then the question flashed upon my mind suddenly, why had he +pressed home the attack on this particular room, when all the rest +of the house lay open to him? Did not that point to the probability +that the money he had spoken of was actually here, in this room? + +'Twas vain to bandy more words with the fellow. I called in Joe +Punchard and one of my seamen, and bade them take him to the +kitchen and tie him up. He flushed and bit his lip when I gave this +order, but he saw 'twas folly to resist. When he had gone I told +the others what I had been thinking, and suggested that we should +search the room. A bureau stood against the wall; this was the only +article of furniture in which money could be secured, and Mr. +McTavish, who used it constantly, assured me that there was but a +small sum in one of its drawers, which he had himself placed there. + +We looked around in perplexity. The walls were of wood, not of lath +and plaster, so that there were no nooks and crannies in which he +could have bestowed his hoard. The floor also was of single +planking, forming the roof of the room below. There seemed no +possible place of concealment here. Could there be any spot on the +veranda that might have served his purpose? + +I went out; the veranda was empty, the men who had been injured +(and some who were dead) having been removed. If my reasoning was +correct, the hiding place must be on the inner side, otherwise the +assailants could have obtained what they came to seek without +attacking the room. We looked carefully along the base of the wall +where it met the floor of the veranda at first in vain. + +But just as I was almost prepared to give up the search and try +elsewhere I noticed that at one spot the nails of the flooring +seemed newer than at other parts. Calling to Cludde, with his +assistance I prized up one of the boards, and the secret was +instantly revealed. The board rested on one of the broad wooden +pillars supporting the veranda. A hole had been cut down the center +of the pillar, and there lay the missing money--doubloons and +silver dollars. + +Leaving McTavish to gather them up and count them, Cludde and I +went down to the kitchen. Vetch was tied to a chair (as Joe had +been tied months before), and Joe was sitting over against him, +with a cutlass on his knees. I told Vetch briefly that the money +was found. + +Even now his bravado did not desert him. He repeated we had no +right to call in question any action of his and that none but Sir +Richard could claim an account of his stewardship. I did not reply, +as I might have done, that the money, being found in the house +after Mistress Lucy had come of age, was patently hers, and in +attempting to recover it he was no better than a common +housebreaker. I bade Punchard collect our men in readiness to march +back to the brig, and strictly charged him that he should have +every care of Vetch on the way. + +Then I saw a shadow of fear cross the villain's face. He knew that +to brazen it out longer would avail him nothing, and 'twas his +inward vision of the hangman, I doubt not, that caused him to go +white to the lips. + +Cludde went from the room to gather his few possessions in +preparation for our despatch. Vetch struggled with himself for a +moment, then said huskily: + +"Bold, you must let me go. I will make it worth your while. Your +father's will--is not destroyed; let me go--and I will tell you +where it is." + +"I will make no terms with you," I said. + +"But what do you gain by refusing?" he cried. "You are only a +lieutenant; promotion is slow; money would help you on. You have +your revenge on me--and lose your property, for I vow I will tell +you nothing unless you let me go." + +"I would not let you go for a king's ransom," I said. "The wrongs +you have done me are nothing; but for your villainy I should not be +a king's officer today. I could almost forgive you. But nothing in +the world could persuade me to forget the wrongs you have done to a +helpless woman--the indignities you put upon her, the villainous +designs you harbored against her. No, you have done your rascally +work--you shall take your wages." + +He said no more then, but presently, when Cludde returned he made +an appeal to him. + +"Dick," he said, "you and I are bound by long friendship--" + +"Which you have killed," said Cludde, interrupting him. + +"But you will not forget all the past--our school days, the merry +times we had then and after, all I have done with you, and for you. +For a dozen years we were as close as brothers; you won't turn +against me now?" + +"I know, but--Lucy--'twas unpardonable," Cludde stammered in great +discomfort. "I'm not spotless--done things I am ashamed of--but you +carried things too far--you wanted to force her to marry you--" + +"And do you think she will marry you now, you fool?" cried Vetch, +with a flash of his old fiery temper. + +"I could wish her to wed a better man," says poor Cludde. + +"Even so good as Mr. Humphrey Bold," says Vetch with a sneer. + +Cludde looked at me. If he intended to say anything 'twas prevented +by the entrance of Joe Punchard with news that all was ready. + +"Bring him along," I said, glancing towards Vetch. + +Joe unstrapped his legs, leaving his arms still bound, and they +followed us from the room. + +We set off on our seaward march, having just time to regain the +brig before the day became oppressive. We took with us, as +prisoners, such of the buccaneers as had been caught; what became +of the rest I never knew. Vetch marched with them, amid a guard of +our men. + +On the way I learned from Cludde how it happened that he was at the +house at a time when, but for him, the buccaneers' attack might +have been successful before I came on the scene. Being convalescent +from his wound, and learning that Mistress Lucy wished to consult +Mr. McTavish about selling the estate (for she had determined to +carry through the negotiations begun by Vetch), he had offered to +carry a message to the steward, intending to remain at the house +for a few days for change of air. He had seized the opportunity +also of bringing to Uncle Moses and Noah charters of freedom from +their mistress, in reward for their services to her and to hers. +Cludde insisted on her accepting from him the five hundred dollars +which I had promised Noah for his life, and she handed it back as a +present for the negro. + +We were talking about all these strange things that had happened, +when suddenly we heard a commotion at the head of the column. +Running hastily forward, I saw Punchard and several of my men +rushing at full speed across a tract of scrubby land in pursuit of +Vetch. He had persuaded the buccaneer beside him, whose hands had +not been bound, to cut his bonds. + +I joined in the chase; Cludde hung back; I think that after all he +would not have been ill pleased, for old friendship's sake, if +Vetch had got away. Vetch had had but a few yards' start, but he +was a swift runner, and I doubted much whether any of us could +overtake him. We could not bring him down with a shot, for my men, +though their muskets were loaded, had not kindled their matches, so +that before they could fire he was out of range. Foremost of the +pursuers was Joe, bounding along like a deer, furious (as he +afterwards told me) because he regarded the escape as due to his +own negligence. + +We had raced on for maybe half a mile, and still had not lessened +the distance between us and the fugitive, when I suddenly saw him +sink above his ankles into the earth. He uttered a terrible shriek; +the man running beside me, who knew something of the country, cried +out "A cockpit!" in accents of horror and stopped short. But the +agonizing cries of the poor wretch who was sinking inch by inch +into the horrible hole whose treacherous surface had beguiled him +were more than I could endure. 'Twas not a death for the foulest +villain on earth. Heedless of the warning shouts of my crew, I +dashed forward, hoping to reach Vetch in time to rescue him ere he +was sucked under. + +To venture directly on the spot where he was sinking would, I knew, +be certain death to me. But when I reached the edge of the cockpit +I flung myself on my face, thinking with my outstretched arms to +seize him. He turned his head and saw me. To this day I shudder as +I see again the anguish, the mute imploring entreaty, that spoke +out of his ghastly features. + +I could not reach him. + +I crawled forward, and my hands began to sink. Joe Punchard behind +was shouting to recall me. Vetch was up to his shoulders. Half my +body was on solid ground, and with a prayer on my lips I was edging +forward inch by inch to make one final effort, when I felt my feet +held fast; I was hauled back with great violence, just as Vetch, +with a scream that rang in my ears and ran through my dreams for +weeks afterwards and haunts me still, disappeared forever. + + + +Chapter 32: I Become Bold. + + +The flags were at half mast when we sailed into Port Royal Harbor, +with the pirate brig in our wake; and my dark foreboding was +confirmed by the first news we had when we stepped ashore. Admiral +Benbow was dead. Sturdy fighter as he was, he had contended +gallantly for near a month against the fever that ensued upon the +amputation of his leg, but 'twas not Heaven's will that he should +live for further service to his country. In the presence of Death, +the great leveler, all detraction is hushed, all enmities are +extinguished; and even some who had thwarted and criticized the +admiral sincerely deplored his loss. He had won no great victories, +done nothing to dazzle the eyes of men; but I make bold to say +that, in the long roll of England's worthies no name will ever +shine more brilliantly to a seaman's eyes than that of honest John +Benbow. + +Rear Admiral Whetstone, to whom the command of the West Indian +squadron fell, was pleased to compliment me on my dealings with the +buccaneers, and appointed me first lieutenant of the British +frigate on which the officers under sentence of the court martial +were to be conveyed to England. + +When we sailed out of Port Royal (you may be sure I had Joe +Punchard with me), we acted as convoy to a large merchant brig, +richly laden with produce of the island, and with a freight more +precious to me in the person of Mistress Lucy. She had not waited +for the completion of the business connected with the sale of her +estate, having perfect confidence in the integrity of Mr. McTavish, +who would remit the price to her in due course. From a mercenary +point of view the time was not well chosen for the disposal of her +property, values always diminishing in time of war. But the island +was associated for her now with so many unpleasant incidents that +she was glad to sever the last tie that bound her to it and return +to her happy life with the Allardyces. + +'Twas a bleak day in December when we sailed into Plymouth Sound. +As soon as we had spoken the port a boat put off hearing a paper +sealed with the seal of Prince George, the Lord High Admiral. And +there fell to my captain a duty which sure no man could have +performed without compunction. I was truly thankful no such +dreadful task was ever mine. The prince ordered that the sentence +of the court martial should be executed upon those two unhappy +captains, Kirkby and Wade, on the deck of the vessel, with a full +muster of the crew. When they were drawn up in lines according to +rank, the whole ship's company, from the lieutenants and master's +mates down to the grommet and the boy; the captain, pale as death +but in a firm voice, gave the word of command at which, with one +volley of muskets, the souls of those two cravens and traitors were +sped into eternity. Their crimes were flagrant, the sentence was +most just; but I hope and pray no Englishman will ever do the like +again. + +The same papers contained news of a more agreeable nature. +Considering the high terms in which Mr. Benbow had spoken of +Captains Fogg and Vincent, and the recommendation he made on their +behalf, the prince was pleased to command that the sentence of +suspension should be remitted, and that they should be again +employed in the Queen's service. I was sorry that I could not be +present when this good news was conveyed to them; they had remained +in Jamaica, and did not learn of the prince's clemency for several +months. I never saw Captain Fogg again; but I had the pleasure to +serve with Captain Vincent seven years later, when we each +commanded a vessel in Admiral Baker's squadron that cruised about +the Irish coasts in search of Duguay-Trouin. He retired from the +service soon afterwards, and lived for twenty years longer in much +contentment. 'Tis sixteen years (so fast does time fly) since I was +bid to his funeral. + +We continued to Portsmouth, where, the ship being paid off, I +hastened with Mistress Lucy, her faithful nurse and Joe, to be in +time to keep Christmas at Shrewsbury. My good friends Squire +Allardyce and his lady were in the seventh heaven of delight when I +restored Mistress Lucy once more to their arms, and overwhelmed me +with their praises when they heard from her a full recital of what +they were pleased to call my heroic deeds on her behalf. In truth I +think there was little of the heroic in anything I had done, but +just my plain duty, and what any man of honor would have attempted +for any woman in like circumstances. + +The squire made a comical grimace when (after the ladies had +disappeared) I expressed this opinion. + +"Ads bobs!" he cried, "what are young fellows made of nowadays! +Have you spirit for nothing but fighting the French, Mr. Humphrey +Bold? I could have sworn there would be a Mistress Bold by this +time." + +I reminded him that I was as yet only a lieutenant on eighty pounds +a year (though I looked for my captain's commission when Prince +George should have had time to overlook Admiral Whetstone's +report). + +"But hasn't Lucy enough for you both and a large family to +boot?--though to be sure she made a precious bad bargain over that +estate of hers. D'you want her to be snapped up under your very +nose? Why, young Cludde will have her yet, if he has turned out +such a paragon as you would make it appear." + +But I corrected him on this point, for on our journey to the Hall +Mistress Lucy told me (what had been a secret hitherto) that Dick +Cludde and Lucetta Gurney would one day make a match of it. In the +end the old gentleman pished and pshawed and called me a young +fool, but I learned from Mistress Allardyce afterwards that in the +bosom of his family he laid this also to my credit. + +I stayed at the Hall one night, as did Joe Punchard (who, between +Susan and the cook, spent a merry evening, and made Giles turn +black with jealousy), and then set off with him to see my older +friends in Shrewsbury. Mr. Vetch and his good lady welcomed me +right royally. They were in excellent health, Mistress Vetch fine +in a new magenta-colored cap, and I was right glad to learn that +the lawyer's practice had grown quite to its former prosperity, and +that he was spoken of as mayor for the next year. (This honor, +however, he did not attain to, the election falling on Mr. William +Bowlder the tanner.) + +I warrant you I had to tell over my adventures until my tongue was +aweary, my wits being sore put to it, moreover, to avoid the +mention of Cyrus, for I was resolved that the lawyer's declining +years should not be vexed by the knowledge of his nephew's villainy +and dreadful end. But Fate was against me in this. I had strictly +charged Joe Punchard to keep silence on all that pertained to Cyrus +Vetch; but having his pockets well lined, and being of a generous +and social disposition, he made a great feast on Christmas eve, to +which he invited certain friends of his mother, Nelly Hind among +them, and some who had been 'prentices at the same time as himself. + +And in the height of their entertainment, good ale flowing very +freely, Joe, usually the most abstemious of tars, was a little +overtaken by the liquor he had drunk, and, with no other object +than to heighten my reputation, must needs tell how I had ventured +into the jaws of death (so he put it) to save the man of all others +who had done me the most ill. And next day Nelly Hind meets +Mistress Vetch at the church door and pours the whole tale into her +ears; and by and by Joe comes himself with a very doleful +countenance and begs Mistress Vetch not to let her husband know, +and very humbly asks my pardon, vowing not to drink more than a +quart in future even though the Queen should bid him do otherwise. + +But Mistress Vetch bore an old grudge against Cyrus for the tricks +he had played on me, and the trouble he had brought on the lawyer, +forgetting, good soul, that but for this same trouble she would +still have been (so far as one can tell), Becky Pennyquick and a +widow. She declared to me that she would not have the matter hidden +up, quoting against me the Bible text that says a candle is not put +under a bushel, but set on a candlestick to give light to the whole +house. And so that the light might dazzle as many as possible, she +invited a dozen neighbors to dinner on Boxing Day and sprung the +story on poor Mr. Vetch as he sat at the head of his own table. +('Tis marvelous what strange ineptitudes mar the characters of +excellent good folk.) + +Luckily our good friend Captain Galsworthy was among the guests. He +ever treated poor Becky with a sort of good-humored tolerance, and +now, perceiving the shadow that crossed the lawyer's face, he broke +in upon the dame's loquacity with a tremendous tirade against the +captains who had behaved so treacherously towards Mr. Benbow (the +story of whose last fight he had already drunk in from my lips). + +"How can you wonder at it," he cried, "when you remember the +covetous spirit that overspread the kingdom before Dutch William +came to rule us--when men perfectly scrambled for the revenues of +the crown, and made their private fortunes out of the nation's +treasure! 'Tis a matter of years, ay, generations, to undo all the +mischief that springs from such corruption; and when money, oftener +than merit, gained admission to a command, no wonder that such +scoundrels as Wade and Kirkby were trusted with our men-of-war. + +"By God, sir!--" and here he raised his clenched fist, no doubt to +bang upon the table; but being seated at the corner, very close to +the wall (the party being a large one for the room), he drove his +elbow clean through a wooden panel beside the fireplace. He swung +back, full of consternation and remorse. + +"And now see what you have done, with your profanity and all!" +cries Mistress Vetch, her cap sidling upon her head as she shook it +with vexation. "You was always a violent man; 'tis no thanks to you +that poor Humphrey hasn't been killed over and over again, for +'twas you and no one else as taught him to fight. And who'll pay +the bill for your breakages? That's what I say!" + +Mr. Vetch did his best to soothe his angry spouse; I fear he +suffered a good deal at times from her unmannerliness, though to be +sure she was an excellent housewife and had a heart of gold. And +Captain Galsworthy, saying never a word in reply to her outbreak, +rubbed his elbow and said with a rueful smile: + +"'Tis assault and battery, Vetch; I'm sorry: but I wonder why they +call it the funny bone!" + +Mistress Vetch would, I am sure, have given her views on this +question had not Mr. Pinhorn, the surgeon, who was at the other +side of the corner from the captain, suddenly called out: + +"I say, Vetch, I fear you'll have to choose another receptacle for +your secret documents." + +"He has no secrets from me, I would have you know!" cries Mistress +Vetch in high indignation, not knowing in the least what had +occasioned his remark. + +"I don't doubt it, madam," said Mr. Pinhorn, with a comical twist +of the mouth; "but maybe he stowed that paper there before you and +he was made one." + +He pointed to the hole made by Captain Galsworthy's elbow, and +there, sure enough, was the white end of a folded paper showing. + +"Dear me," says Mr. Vetch, getting up from his seat. "I knew +nothing of it." + +He goes to the broken panel, brings out the paper, and as he looked +at it turned so ghastly pale that Mr. Pinhorn clutched a decanter +of brandy and began to pour some of it into a glass. We were all +struck silent with wonderment; even Mistress Vetch being tongue +tied. Then Mr. Vetch turned to me and, holding out the paper with +trembling hand, tears standing in his eyes, said: + +"God be thanked for all His mercies!" + +'Twas my father's will, dusty, gnawed at the edges, but indubitably +the will which had disappeared seven years before. Remembering the +hiding place in which Cyrus had secreted the money at Penolver, it +was no mystery to me that he should have fashioned a similar +receptacle for the will he had purloined. + +There is no need to tell of the congratulations showered upon me; +My hand was wrung by my kind neighbors until it tingled with +numbness. Mistress Vetch fell into hysterics--mercilessly ignored +by Mr. Pinhorn. And as for Captain Galsworthy, he seemed incapable +of doing anything but repeat his question, chuckling aloud "Can +anyone tell me why 'tis called the funny bone?" + +The party soon broke up, to carry the news far and wide through +Shrewsbury. And I, after an affecting five minutes with the lawyer, +suddenly stuffed the paper in my pocket, flung on my hat, and ran +out with furious haste to saddle my horse. Mistress Vetch came to +the door as I mounted. + +"Mind you speak the villain plain," she cried. + +I laughed joyfully and galloped away up Pride Hill. The tale of my +discovery had already got abroad; the people came to their doors +and cheered me, and some little fellows of the school stood in the +middle of the road and waved their caps and shouted "Huzzay for +Captain Bold!" + +But I did not ride straight on towards the Wem Road and Cludde +Court, as Becky had supposed I intended. I turned into Dogpole, +rode helter skelter down Wyle Cop in the very course where Joe's +barrel had rolled, and never drew rein until I came to the door of +the Hall. 'Twas opened to me by Roger, home from following the +campaign in Flanders--a strapping fine fellow, near as tall as +myself. + +"Gad, but your horse is in a sweat!" he said by way of greeting. +(We laughed at it afterwards.). + +"Where is Lucy?" I said. + +He stared at me for a moment, then burst into a hearty roar. + +"Up you go," says he, clapping me on the back. "Egad, and I'll go +and find the squire." + +That is more than forty years ago. My hand is weary with writing: +why should I tell you more? There is indeed little more to tell, +for from that time, thank God, there have been no mischances in my +life. Yet maybe those who have read my story patiently hereto (if +any there be) may like to have it rounded off--totus, teres, et +rotundus. + +A few weeks after I regained possession of my little property Sir +Richard Cludde died--of gout and other diseases, said Mr. Pinhorn; +Mistress Vetch said of rage. His estate had been much impoverished, +and his widow was now left almost penniless. She was my father's +sister, and, my own lot being happy, I could not endure to think of +her in penury and distress. So I made her a small allowance through +Mr. Vetch (and I can vouch for it this was a secret his wife never +knew)--sufficient to keep her from want. She never saw me, made me +no acknowledgment, and to the day of her death maintained, in the +little house she took next St. Michael's Church, the haughty +bearing which had always won her such dislike. + +Lucy and I were married on St. Valentine's day in the year 1703. +Less than three months afterwards I was appointed to command the +Pegasus, a third-rate of forty-eight guns, and ordered to the +Mediterranean with Admiral Sir Cloudesly Shovel. From that time +until I retired in the year 1713 I was almost continuously on +service, having but brief intervals to spend with my wife. I was at +the taking of Gibraltar by Sir George Rooke (which we have yet in +possession, and may we ever keep it), and in the famous sea fight +off Velez Malaga in 1704; next year I entered Barcelona with Sir +Stafford Fairborn; in brief, I had a share (though humble) in many +of our notable transactions at sea during those memorable years +when we fought King Lewis. + +But when peace was concluded in the year 1713, both Mr. and Mrs. +Allardyce being then dead, I thought it was high time I settled +down at home, especially as there were two sturdy boys growing up +to plague their mother. Accordingly I retired with the rank of +captain and a considerable fortune. We purchased the estate of +Cludde Court and made great additions to it, and our boys every day +rode into Shrewsbury to school, and did it more credit than their +father. + +Captain Galsworthy was a frequent visitor, and though he was past +eighty, insisted on giving our boys their first lessons with the +singlestick. He died in the year '15, leaving fragrant memories to +us who loved him. + +Joe Punchard is with me still. He regarded Lucy's injunctions as +binding on him for life, and clave to me all through my naval +career, though he lost a leg at the taking of Port Mahon in 1708. +He retired when I did, and came to Cludde Court as our lodge +keeper, where he would entrance my boys with sea songs and his +tales of p what he had gone through on sea and land with me and +with Admiral Benbow, whom he ever cherished as a matchless captain. +His own naval career, he says, began with a wooden barrel and ended +with a wooden leg, and sometimes, over his pipe, he shakes his head +and declares that I had all the chances, he all the mischances. But +he is gone seventy years of age, and is apt to be a little +forgetful. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HUMPHREY BOLD*** + + +******* This file should be named 16049.txt or 16049.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/0/4/16049 + + + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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