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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Humphrey Bold, by Herbert Strang
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: 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***
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