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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18750-h.zip b/18750-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..60cf958 --- /dev/null +++ b/18750-h.zip diff --git a/18750-h/18750-h.htm b/18750-h/18750-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3abeb5e --- /dev/null +++ b/18750-h/18750-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6383 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Wandering Heath, by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch</title> +<style type="text/css"> + body {background:#fdfdfd; + color:black; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + font-size: medium; + margin-top:100px; + margin-left:12%; + margin-right:12%; + text-align:justify; } + h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; } + p {text-indent: 4%; } + p.noindent {text-indent: 0%; } + hr.full { width: 100%; + height: 5px; } + hr.narrow { width: 40%; + text-align: center; } + blockquote.footnote { font-size: small; } + .caption { font-size: small; + font-weight: bold; } + .center { text-align: center; } + .ind2 {margin-left: 2em; } + .ind4 {margin-left: 4em; } + .ind10 {margin-left: 10em; } + .large {font-size: large; } + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre { font-size: 75%; } +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Wandering Heath, by Sir Arthur Thomas +Quiller-Couch</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Wandering Heath</p> +<p>Author: Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch</p> +<p>Release Date: July 3, 2006 [eBook #18750]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WANDERING HEATH***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Lionel Sear</h3></center><br><br> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>WANDERING HEATH.</h2> + +<h4>By</h4> +<h2>Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch.</h2> +<br> +<br> + +<h5>1895</h5> +<h5>This etext prepared from a reprint of a version published in 1895.</h5> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p> +The stories in this volume made their first appearance in England as +follows: "The Roll-Call of the Reef" in <i>The Idler</i>; "The Looe +Die-hards" in <i>The Illustrated London News</i>, where it was entitled "The Power o' Music"; "Jetsom" and "The Bishop of Eucalyptus" in <i>The Pall Mall Magazine</i>"; "Visitors at the Gunnel Rock" in <i>The Strand Magazine</i>; "Flowing Source" in <i>The Woman at Home</i>; and the rest, with one exception, in the friendly pages of <i>The Speaker</i>.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> +<center> +<br> +<table><tr><td> + +<table cellpadding="2"> + +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"> </td><td><a href="#1">PROLOGUE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"> </td><td><a href="#2">THE ROLL-CALL OF THE REEF.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"> </td><td><a href="#3">THE LOOE DIE-HARDS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"> </td><td><a +href="#4">MY GRANDFATHER, HENDRY WATTY.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"> </td><td><a href="#5">JETSOM.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"> </td><td><a href="#6">WRESTLERS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"> </td><td><a href="#7">THE BISHOP OF EUCALYPTUS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"> </td><td><a href="#8">WIDDERSHINS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"> </td><td><a href="#9">VISITORS AT THE GUNNEL ROCK.</a></td></tr> +</table> + +</td></tr></table> +</center> +<br> +<br> + +<h3>LETTERS FROM TROY--</h3> +<center> +<table><tr><td> + +<table cellpadding="2"> + +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"> </td><td><a href="#10">THE FIRST PARISH MEETING.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"> </td><td><a href="#11">THE SIMPLE SHEPHERD.</a></td></tr> +</table> + +</td></tr></table> +</center> +<br> +<br> + +<h3>LEGENDS--</h3> +<center> +<table><tr><td> + +<table cellpadding="2"> + +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"> </td><td><a href="#12">THE LEGEND OF SIR DINAR.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"> </td><td><a href="#13">"FLOWING SOURCE".</a></td></tr> +</table> + +</td></tr></table> +</center> +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>EXPERIMENTS--</h3> +<center> +<table><tr><td> + +<table cellpadding="2"> + +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"> </td><td><a href="#14">A YOUNG MAN'S DIARY.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"> </td><td><a href="#15">THE CAPTAIN FROM BATH.</a></td></tr> +</table> + +</td></tr></table> +</center> + + + + + +<br><br><br> +<p><a name="1"></a> </p> +<h3>PROLOGUE.</h3> +<br> +<p> +"What is the use of it?" the Poet demanded peevishly—it was New +Year's Day in the morning. "People don't read my poetry when I have +gone to the trouble of writing it!"</p> + +<p>"The more shame to them," said his wife.</p> + +<p>"But, my dear, you know you never read it yourself."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is altogether different. Besides you <i>are</i> improving, are +you not?" She asked it a trifle anxiously, but the question set him +off at once.</p> + +<p>"In twenty years' time—" he began eagerly.</p> + +<p>"—The boy will be at college." She laid down her needle and +embroidery and, gazing into the fire, let her hands lie idle in her +lap.</p> + +<p>"You might think of me."</p> + +<p>"I thought," she answered, "you were doing that."</p> + +<p>"Of yourself, then."</p> + +<p>"In twenty years' time—" She broke off with the faintest possible +sigh.</p> + +<p>The Poet jumped up and went to his writing-desk. "That reminds me," +he said, and produced a folded scrap of paper. "I wrote it last +night. It's a sort of a little New Year's present—you need not read +it, you know."</p> + +<p>"But I will": and she took the paper and read—</p><br><br> + +<h3>UPON NEW YEAR'S EVE</h3> +<blockquote><blockquote> +<p class="noindent">Now winds of winter glue<br> +<span class ="ind2">Their tears upon the thorn,</span><br> + And earth has voices few,<br> +<span class ="ind2">And those forlorn.</span><br><br> + + And 'tis our solemn night<br> +<span class ="ind2">When maidens sand the porch,</span><br> + And play at Jack's Alight<br> +<span class ="ind2">With burning torch,</span><br><br> + + Or cards, or Kiss i' the Ring—<br> +<span class ="ind2">While ashen faggots blaze,</span><br> + And late wassailers sing<br> +<span class ="ind2">In miry ways.</span><br><br> + + Then, dear my wife, be blithe<br> +<span class ="ind2">To bid the New Year hail</span><br> + And welcome—plough, drill, scythe,<br> +<span class ="ind2">And jolly flail.</span><br><br> + + For though the snows he'll shake<br> +<span class ="ind2">Of winter from his head,</span><br> + To settle, flake by flake,<br> +<span class ="ind2">On ours instead;</span><br><br> + + Yet we be wreathed green<br> +<span class ="ind2">Beyond his blight or chill,</span><br> + Who kissed at seventeen<br> +<span class ="ind2">And worship still.</span><br><br> + + We know not what he'll bring:<br> +<span class ="ind2">But this we know to-night—</span><br> + He doth prepare the Spring<br> +<span class ="ind2">For our delight.</span><br><br> + + With birds he'll comfort us,<br> +<span class ="ind2">With blossoms, balms, and bees,</span><br> + With brooks, and odorous<br> +<span class ="ind2">Wild breath o' the breeze.</span><br><br> + + Come then, O festal prime!<br> +<span class ="ind2">With sweets thy bosom fill,</span><br> + And dance it, dripping thyme,<br> +<span class ="ind2">On Lantick hill.</span><br><br> + + West wind, awake! and comb<br> +<span class ="ind2">Our garden, blade from blade—</span><br> + We, in our little home,<br> +<span class ="ind2">Sit unafraid.</span><br></p> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>—"Why, I quite like it!" said she.</p> + + +<br><br> +<p><a name="2"></a> </p> +<h3>THE ROLL-CALL OF THE REEF.</h3> +<br> + +<p> +"Yes, sir," said my host the quarryman, reaching down the relics from +their hook in the wall over the chimney-piece; "they've hung there +all my time, and most of my father's. The women won't touch 'em; +they're afraid of the story. So here they'll dangle, and gather dust +and smoke, till another tenant comes and tosses 'em out o' doors for +rubbish. Whew! 'tis coarse weather."</p> + +<p>He went to the door, opened it, and stood studying the gale that + beat upon his cottage-front, straight from the Manacle Reef. +The rain drove past him into the kitchen, aslant like threads of gold +silk in the shine of the wreckwood fire. Meanwhile by the same +firelight I examined the relics on my knee. The metal of each was +tarnished out of knowledge. But the trumpet was evidently an old +cavalry trumpet, and the threads of its parti-coloured sling, though +frayed and dusty, still hung together. Around the side-drum, beneath +its cracked brown varnish, I could hardly trace a royal coat-of-arms, +and a legend running—<i>Per Mare per Terram</i>—the motto of the +Marines. Its parchment, though coloured and scented with wood-smoke, +was limp and mildewed; and I began to tighten up the straps—under +which the drumsticks had been loosely thrust—with the idle purpose +of trying if some music might be got out of the old drum yet.</p> + +<p>But as I turned it on my knee, I found the drum attached to the +trumpet-sling by a curious barrel-shaped padlock, and paused to +examine this. The body of the lock was composed of half a dozen +brass rings, set accurately edge to edge; and, rubbing the brass with +my thumb, I saw that each of the six had a series of letters engraved +around it.</p> + +<p>I knew the trick of it, I thought. Here was one of those +word-padlocks, once so common; only to be opened by getting the rings +to spell a certain word, which the dealer confides to you.</p> + +<p>My host shut and barred the door, and came back to the hearth.</p> + +<p>"'Twas just such a wind—east by south—that brought in what you've +got between your hands. Back in the year 'nine it was; my father has +told me the tale a score o' times. You're twisting round the rings, +I see. But you'll never guess the word. Parson Kendall, he made the +word, and locked down a couple o' ghosts in their graves with it; and +when his time came, he went to his own grave and took the word with +him."</p> + +<p>"Whose ghosts, Matthew?"</p> + +<p>"You want the story, I see, sir. My father could tell it better than +I can. He was a young man in the year 'nine, unmarried at the time, +and living in this very cottage just as I be. That's how he came to +get mixed up with the tale."</p> + +<p>He took a chair, lit a short pipe, and unfolded the story in a low +musing voice, with his eyes fixed on the dancing violet flames.</p> + +<p>"Yes, he'd ha' been about thirty year old in January, of the year +'nine. The storm got up in the night o' the twenty-first o' that +month. My father was dressed and out long before daylight; he never +was one to 'bide in bed, let be that the gale by this time was pretty +near lifting the thatch over his head. Besides which, he'd fenced a +small 'taty-patch that winter, down by Lowland Point, and he wanted +to see if it stood the night's work. He took the path across +Gunner's Meadow—where they buried most of the bodies afterwards. +The wind was right in his teeth at the time, and once on the way +(he's told me this often) a great strip of ore-weed came flying +through the darkness and fetched him a slap on the cheek like a cold +hand. But he made shift pretty well till he got to Lowland, and then +had to drop upon his hands and knees and crawl, digging his fingers +every now and then into the shingle to hold on, for he declared to me +that the stones, some of them as big as a man's head, kept rolling +and driving past till it seemed the whole foreshore was moving +westward under him. The fence was gone, of course; not a stick left +to show where it stood; so that, when first he came to the place, he +thought he must have missed his bearings. My father, sir, was a very +religious man; and if he reckoned the end of the world was at hand— +there in the great wind and night, among the moving stones—you may +believe he was certain of it when he heard a gun fired, and, with +the same, saw a flame shoot up out of the darkness to windward, +making a sudden fierce light in all the place about. All he could +find to think or say was, 'The Second Coming—The Second Coming! +The Bridegroom cometh, and the wicked He will toss like a ball into a +large country!' and being already upon his knees, he just bowed his +head and 'bided, saying this over and over.</p> + +<p>"But by'm-by, between two squalls, he made bold to lift his head and +look, and then by the light—a bluish colour 'twas—he saw all the +coast clear away to Manacle Point, and off the Manacles, in the thick +of the weather, a sloop-of-war with top-gallants housed, driving +stern foremost towards the reef. It was she, of course, that was +burning the flare. My father could see the white streak and the +ports of her quite plain as she rose to it, a little outside the +breakers, and he guessed easy enough that her captain had just +managed to wear ship, and was trying to force her nose to the sea +with the help of her small bower anchor and the scrap or two of +canvas that hadn't yet been blown out of her. But while he looked, +she fell off, giving her broadside to it foot by foot, and drifting +back on the breakers around Carn du and the Varses. The rocks lie so +thick thereabouts, that 'twas a toss up which she struck first; at +any rate, my father couldn't tell at the time, for just then the +flare died down and went out.</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, he turned then in the dark and started back for Coverack +to cry the dismal tidings—though well knowing ship and crew to be +past any hope; and as he turned, the wind lifted him and tossed him +forward 'like a ball,' as he'd been saying, and homeward along the +foreshore. As you know, 'tis ugly work, even by daylight, picking +your way among the stones there, and my father was prettily knocked +about at first in the dark. But by this 'twas nearer seven than six +o'clock, and the day spreading. By the time he reached North Corner, +a man could see to read print; hows'ever, he looked neither out to +sea nor towards Coverack, but headed straight for the first cottage— +the same that stands above North Corner to-day. A man named Billy +Ede lived there then, and when my father burst into the kitchen +bawling, 'Wreck! wreck!' he saw Billy Ede's wife, Ann, standing there +in her clogs, with a shawl over her head, and her clothes wringing +wet.</p> + +<p>"'Save the chap!' says Billy Ede's wife, Ann. 'What d' 'ee mean by +crying stale fish at that rate?'</p> + +<p>"'But 'tis a wreck, I tell 'ee. I've a-zeed 'n!'</p> + +<p>"'Why, so 'tis,' says she, 'and I've a-zeed 'n too; and so has +everyone with an eye in his head.'</p> + +<p>"And with that she pointed straight over my father's shoulder, and he +turned; and there, close under Dolor Point, at the end of Coverack +town, he saw <i>another</i> wreck washing, and the point black with +people, like emmets, running to and fro in the morning light. +While he stood staring at her, he heard a trumpet sounded on board, +the notes coming in little jerks, like a bird rising against the +wind; but faintly, of course, because of the distance and the gale +blowing—though this had dropped a little.</p> + +<p>"'She's a transport,' said Billy Ede's wife, Ann, 'and full of horse +soldiers, fine long men. When she struck they must ha' pitched the +hosses over first to lighten the ship, for a score of dead hosses had +washed in afore I left, half an hour back. An' three or four +soldiers, too—fine long corpses in white breeches and jackets of +blue and gold. I held the lantern to one. Such a straight young +man!'</p> + +<p>"My father asked her about the trumpeting.</p> + +<p>"'That's the queerest bit of all. She was burnin' a light when me +an' my man joined the crowd down there. All her masts had gone; +whether they carried away, or were cut away to ease her, I don't +rightly know. Anyway, there she lay 'pon the rocks with her decks +bare. Her keelson was broke under her and her bottom sagged and +stove, and she had just settled down like a sitting hen—just the +leastest list to starboard; but a man could stand there easy. +They had rigged up ropes across her, from bulwark to bulwark, an' +beside these the men were mustered, holding on like grim death +whenever the sea made a clean breach over them, an' standing up like +heroes as soon as it passed. The captain an' the officers were +clinging to the rail of the quarter-deck, all in their golden +uniforms, waiting for the end as if 'twas King George they expected. +There was no way to help, for she lay right beyond cast of line, +though our folk tried it fifty times. And beside them clung a +trumpeter, a whacking big man, an' between the heavy seas he would +lift his trumpet with one hand, and blow a call; and every time he +blew, the men gave a cheer. There' (she says)'—hark 'ee now—there +he goes agen! But you won't hear no cheering any more, for few are +left to cheer, and their voices weak. Bitter cold the wind is, and I +reckon it numbs their grip o' the ropes, for they were dropping off +fast with every sea when my man sent me home to get his breakfast. +<i>Another</i> wreck, you say? Well, there's no hope for the tender +dears, if 'tis the Manacles. You'd better run down and help yonder; +though 'tis little help that any man can give. Not one came in alive +while I was there. The tide's flowing, an' she won't hold together +another hour, they say.'</p> + +<p>"Well, sure enough, the end was coming fast when my father got down +to the point. Six men had been cast up alive, or just breathing—a +seaman and five troopers. The seaman was the only one that had +breath to speak; and while they were carrying him into the town, the +word went round that the ship's name was the <i>Despatch</i>, transport, +homeward bound from Corunna, with a detachment of the 7th Hussars, +that had been fighting out there with Sir John Moore. The seas had +rolled her farther over by this time, and given her decks a pretty +sharp slope; but a dozen men still held on, seven by the ropes near +the ship's waist, a couple near the break of the poop, and three on +the quarter-deck. Of these three my father made out one to be the +skipper; close by him clung an officer in full regimentals—his name, +they heard after, was Captain Duncanfield; and last came the tall +trumpeter; and if you'll believe me, the fellow was making shift +there, at the very last, to blow '<i>God Save the King</i>.' What's more, +he got to '<i>Send us victorious</i>' before an extra big sea came +bursting across and washed them off the deck—every man but one of +the pair beneath the poop—and <i>he</i> dropped his hold before the next +wave; being stunned, I reckon. The others went out of sight at once, +but the trumpeter—being, as I said, a powerful man as well as a +tough swimmer—rose like a duck, rode out a couple of breakers, and +came in on the crest of the third. The folks looked to see him broke +like an egg at their feet; but when the smother cleared, there he +was, lying face downward on a ledge below them; and one of the men +that happened to have a rope round him—I forget the fellow's name, +if I ever heard it—jumped down and grabbed him by the ankle as he +began to slip back. Before the next big sea, the pair were hauled +high enough to be out of harm, and another heave brought them up to +grass. Quick work; but master trumpeter wasn't quite dead; nothing +worse than a cracked head and three staved ribs. In twenty minutes or so they had him in bed, with the doctor to tend him."</p> + +<p> +"Now was the time—nothing being left alive upon the transport—for +my father to tell of the sloop he'd seen driving upon the Manacles. +And when he got a hearing, though the most were set upon salvage, +and believed a wreck in the hand, so to say, to be worth half a dozen +they couldn't see, a good few volunteered to start off with him and +have a look. They crossed Lowland Point; no ship to be seen on the +Manacles, nor anywhere upon the sea. One or two was for calling my +father a liar. 'Wait till we come to Dean Point,' said he. +Sure enough, on the far side of Dean Point, they found the sloop's +mainmast washing about with half a dozen men lashed to it—men +in red jackets—every mother's son drowned and staring; and a little +farther on, just under the Dean, three or four bodies cast up on the +shore, one of them a small drummer-boy, side-drum and all; and, near +by, part of a ship's gig, with 'H.M.S. <i>Primrose</i>' cut on the +stern-board. From this point on, the shore was littered thick with +wreckage and dead bodies—the most of them Marines in uniform; and in +Godrevy Cove, in particular, a heap of furniture from the captain's +cabin, and amongst it a water-tight box, not much damaged, and full +of papers; by which, when it came to be examined next day, the wreck +was easily made out to be the <i>Primrose</i>, of eighteen guns, outward +bound from Portsmouth, with a fleet of transports for the Spanish +War—thirty sail, I've heard, but I've never heard what became of +them. Being handled by merchant skippers, no doubt they rode out the +gale and reached the Tagus safe and sound. Not but what the captain +of the <i>Primrose</i> (Mein was his name) did quite right to try and +club-haul his vessel when he found himself under the land: only he +never ought to have got there if he took proper soundings. But it's +easy talking.</p> + +<p>"The <i>Primrose</i>, sir, was a handsome vessel—for her size, one of the +handsomest in the King's service—and newly fitted out at Plymouth +Dock. So the boys had brave pickings from her in the way of +brass-work, ship's instruments, and the like, let alone some barrels +of stores not much spoiled. They loaded themselves with as much as +they could carry, and started for home, meaning to make a second +journey before the preventive men got wind of their doings and came +to spoil the fun. But as my father was passing back under the Dean, +he happened to take a look over his shoulder at the bodies there. +'Hullo,' says he, and dropped his gear: 'I do believe there's a leg +moving!' And, running fore, he stooped over the small drummer-boy +that I told you about. The poor little chap was lying there, with +his face a mass of bruises and his eyes closed: but he had shifted +one leg an inch or two, and was still breathing. So my father pulled +out a knife and cut him free from his drum—that was lashed on to him +with a double turn of Manilla rope—and took him up and carried him +along here, to this very room that we're sitting in. He lost a good +deal by this, for when he went back to fetch his bundle the +preventive men had got hold of it, and were thick as thieves along +the foreshore; so that 'twas only by paying one or two to look the +other way that he picked up anything worth carrying off: which you'll +allow to be hard, seeing that he was the first man to give news of +the wreck."</p> + +<p>"Well, the inquiry was held, of course, and my father gave evidence; +and for the rest they had to trust to the sloop's papers: for not a +soul was saved besides the drummer-boy, and he was raving in a fever, +brought on by the cold and the fright. And the seamen and the five +troopers gave evidence about the loss of the <i>Despatch</i>. The tall +trumpeter, too, whose ribs were healing, came forward and kissed the +Book; but somehow his head had been hurt in coming ashore, and he +talked foolish-like, and 'twas easy seen he would never be a proper +man again. The others were taken up to Plymouth, and so went their +ways; but the trumpeter stayed on in Coverack; and King George, +finding he was fit for nothing, sent him down a trifle of a pension +after a while—enough to keep him in board and lodging, with a bit of +tobacco over.</p> + +<p>"Now the first time that this man—William Tallifer, he called +himself—met with the drummer-boy, was about a fortnight after +the little chap had bettered enough to be allowed a short walk out of +doors, which he took, if you please, in full regimentals. +There never was a soldier so proud of his dress. His own suit had +shrunk a brave bit with the salt water; but into ordinary frock an' +corduroys he declared he would not get—not if he had to go naked the +rest of his life; so my father, being a good-natured man and handy +with the needle, turned to and repaired damages with a piece or two +of scarlet cloth cut from the jacket of one of the drowned Marines. +Well, the poor little chap chanced to be standing, in this rig-out, +down by the gate of Gunner's Meadow, where they had buried two score +and over of his comrades. The morning was a fine one, early in March +month; and along came the cracked trumpeter, likewise taking a +stroll.</p> + +<p>"'Hullo!' says he; 'good mornin'! And what might you be doin' here?'</p> + +<p>"'I was a-wishin',' says the boy, 'I had a pair o' drum-sticks. +Our lads were buried yonder without so much as a drum tapped or a +musket fired; and that's not Christian burial for British soldiers.'</p> + +<p>"'Phut!' says the trumpeter, and spat on the ground; 'a parcel of +Marines!'</p> + +<p>"The boy eyed him a second or so, and answered up: 'If I'd a tab of +turf handy, I'd bung it at your mouth, you greasy cavalryman, and +learn you to speak respectful of your betters. The Marines are the +handiest body of men in the service.'</p> + +<p>"The trumpeter looked down on him from the height of six foot two, +and asked: 'Did they die well?'</p> + +<p>"'They died very well. There was a lot of running to and fro at +first, and some of the men began to cry, and a few to strip off their +clothes. But when the ship fell off for the last time, Captain Mein +turned and said something to Major Griffiths, the commanding officer +on board, and the Major called out to me to beat to quarters. +It might have been for a wedding, he sang it out so cheerful. +We'd had word already that 'twas to be parade order, and the men fell +in as trim and decent as if they were going to church. One or two +even tried to shave at the last moment. The Major wore his medals. +One of the seamen, seeing I had hard work to keep the drum steady— +the sling being a bit loose for me and the wind what you remember— +lashed it tight with a piece of rope; and that saved my life +afterwards, a drum being as good as a cork until 'tis stove. I kept +beating away until every man was on deck; and then the Major formed +them up and told them to die like British soldiers, and the chaplain +read a prayer or two—the boys standin' all the while like rocks, +each man's courage keeping up the others'. The chaplain was in the +middle of a prayer when she struck. In ten minutes she was gone. +That was how they died, cavalryman.'</p> + +<p>"'And that was very well done, drummer of the Marines. What's your +name?'</p> + +<p>"'John Christian.'</p> + +<p>"'Mine is William George Tallifer, trumpeter, of the 7th Light +Dragoons—the Queen's Own. I played "<i>God Save the King</i>" while our +men were drowning. Captain Duncanfield told me to sound a call or +two, to put them in heart; but that matter of "<i>God Save the King</i>" +was a notion of my own. I won't say anything to hurt the feelings of +a Marine, even if he's not much over five-foot tall; but the Queen's +Own Hussars is a tearin' fine regiment. As between horse and foot, +'tis a question o' which gets the chance. All the way from Sahagun +to Corunna 'twas we that took and gave the knocks—at Mayorga and +Rueda, and Bennyventy.' (The reason, sir, I can speak the names so +pat is that my father learnt 'em by heart afterwards from the +trumpeter, who was always talking about Mayorga and Rueda and +Bennyventy.) 'We made the rear-guard, under General Paget, and drove +the French every time; and all the infantry did was to sit about in +wine-shops till we whipped 'em out, an' steal an' straggle an' play +the tom-fool in general. And when it came to a stand-up fight at +Corunna, 'twas the horse, or the best part of it, that had to stay +sea-sick aboard the transports, an' watch the infantry in the thick +o' the caper. Very well they behaved, too; 'specially the 4th +Regiment, an' the 42nd Highlanders an' the Dirty Half-Hundred. +Oh, ay; they're decent regiments, all three. But the Queen's Own +Hussars is a tearin' fine regiment. So you played on your drum when +the ship was goin' down? Drummer John Christian, I'll have to get +you a new pair o' drum-sticks for that.'</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, it appears that the very next day the trumpeter marched +into Helston, and got a carpenter there to turn him a pair of +box-wood drum-sticks for the boy. And this was the beginning of one +of the most curious friendships you ever heard tell of. Nothing +delighted the pair more than to borrow a boat off my father and pull +out to the rocks where the <i>Primrose</i> and the <i>Despatch</i> had struck +and sunk; and on still days 'twas pretty to hear them out there off +the Manacles, the drummer playing his tattoo—for they always took +their music with them—and the trumpeter practising calls, and making +his trumpet speak like an angel. But if the weather turned roughish, +they'd be walking together and talking; leastwise, the youngster +listened while the other discoursed about Sir John's campaign in +Spain and Portugal, telling how each little skirmish befell; and of +Sir John himself, and General Baird and General Paget, and Colonel +Vivian, his own commanding officer, and what kind of men they were; +and of the last bloody stand-up at Corunna, and so forth, as if +neither could have enough.</p> + +<p>"But all this had to come to an end in the late summer; for the boy, +John Christian, being now well and strong again, must go up to +Plymouth to report himself. 'Twas his own wish (for I believe King +George had forgotten all about him), but his friend wouldn't hold him +back. As for the trumpeter, my father had made an arrangement to +take him on as a lodger as soon as the boy left; and on the morning +fixed for the start, he was up at the door here by five o'clock, with +his trumpet slung by his side, and all the rest of his kit in a small +valise. A Monday morning it was, and after breakfast he had fixed to +walk with the boy some way on the road towards Helston, where the +coach started. My father left them at breakfast together, and went +out to meat the pig, and do a few odd morning jobs of that sort. +When he came back, the boy was still at table, and the trumpeter +standing here by the chimney-place with the drum and trumpet in his +hands, hitched together just as they be at this moment.</p> + +<p>"'Look at this,' he says to my father, showing him the lock; +'I picked it up off a starving brass-worker in Lisbon, and it is not +one of your common locks that one word of six letters will open at +any time. There's <i>janius</i> in this lock; for you've only to make the +rings spell any six-letter word you please, and snap down the lock +upon that, and never a soul can open it—not the maker, even—until +somebody comes along that knows the word you snapped it on. +Now, Johnny here's goin', and he leaves his drum behind him; for, +though he can make pretty music on it, the parchment sags in wet +weather, by reason of the sea-water getting at it; an' if he carries +it to Plymouth, they'll only condemn it and give him another. +And, as for me, I shan't have the heart to put lip to the trumpet any +more when Johnny's gone. So we've chosen a word together, and locked +'em together upon that; and, by your leave, I'll hang 'em here +together on the hook over your fireplace. Maybe Johnny'll come back; +maybe not. Maybe, if he comes, I'll be dead an' gone, an' he'll take +'em apart an' try their music for old sake's sake. But if he never +comes, nobody can separate 'em; for nobody beside knows the word. +And if you marry and have sons, you can tell 'em that here are tied +together the souls of Johnny Christian, drummer of the Marines, and +William George Tallifer, once trumpeter of the Queen's Own Hussars. +Amen.'</p> + +<p>"With that he hung the two instruments 'pon the hook there; and the +boy stood up and thanked my father and shook hands; and the pair went +forth of the door, towards Helston.</p> + +<p>"Somewhere on the road they took leave of one another; but nobody saw +the parting, nor heard what was said between them. About three in +the afternoon the trumpeter came walking back over the hill; and by +the time my father came home from the fishing, the cottage was tidied +up and the tea ready, and the whole place shining like a new pin. +From that time for five years he lodged here with my father, looking +after the house and tilling the garden; and all the while he was +steadily failing, the hurt in his head spreading, in a manner, to his +limbs. My father watched the feebleness growing on him, but said +nothing. And from first to last neither spake a word about the +drummer, John Christian; nor did any letter reach them, nor word of +his doings.</p> + +<p>"The rest of the tale you'm free to believe, sir, or not, as you +please. It stands upon my father's words, and he always declared he +was ready to kiss the Book upon it before judge and jury. He said, +too, that he never had the wit to make up such a yarn; and he defied +anyone to explain about the lock, in particular, by any other tale. +But you shall judge for yourself.</p> + +<p>"My father said that about three o'clock in the morning, April +fourteenth of the year 'fourteen, he and William Tallifer were +sitting here, just as you and I, sir, are sitting now. My father had +put on his clothes a few minutes before, and was mending his spiller +by the light of the horn lantern, meaning to set off before daylight +to haul the trammel. The trumpeter hadn't been to bed at all. +Towards the last he mostly spent his nights (and his days, too) +dozing in the elbow-chair where you sit at this minute. He was +dozing then (my father said), with his chin dropped forward on his +chest, when a knock sounded upon the door, and the door opened, and +in walked an upright young man in scarlet regimentals.</p> + +<p>"He had grown a brave bit, and his face was the colour of wood-ashes; +but it was the drummer, John Christian. Only his uniform was +different from the one he used to wear, and the figures '38' shone in +brass upon his collar.</p> + +<p>"The drummer walked past my father as if he never saw him, and stood +by the elbow-chair and said:</p> + +<p>"'Trumpeter, trumpeter, are you one with me?' + +"And the trumpeter just lifted the lids of his eyes, and answered, +'How should I not be one with you, drummer Johnny—Johnny boy? +The men are patient. 'Till you come, I count; while you march, I +mark time; until the discharge comes.'</p> + +<p>"'The discharge has come to-night,' said the drummer, 'and the word +is Corunna no longer'; and stepping to the chimney-place, he unhooked +the drum and trumpet, and began to twist the brass rings of the lock, +spelling the word aloud, so—C-O-R-U-N-A. When he had fixed the last +letter, the padlock opened in his hand.</p> + +<p>"'Did you know, trumpeter, that when I came to Plymouth they put me +into a line regiment?'</p> + +<p>"'The 38th is a good regiment,' answered the old Hussar, still in his +dull voice. 'I went back with them from Sahagun to Corunna. +At Corunna they stood in General Fraser's division, on the right. +They behaved well.'</p> + +<p>"'But I'd fain see the Marines again,' says the drummer, handing him +the trumpet; 'and you—you shall call once more for the Queen's Own. +Matthew,' he says, suddenly, turning on my father—and when he +turned, my father saw for the first time that his scarlet jacket had +a round hole by the breast-bone, and that the blood was welling +there—'Matthew, we shall want your boat.'</p> + +<p>"Then my father rose on his legs like a man in a dream, while they +two slung on, the one his drum, and t'other his trumpet. He took the +lantern, and went quaking before them down to the shore, and they +breathed heavily behind him; and they stepped into his boat, and my +father pushed off.</p> + +<p>"'Row you first for Dolor Point,' says the drummer. So my father +rowed them out past the white houses of Coverack to Dolor Point, and +there, at a word, lay on his oars. And the trumpeter, William +Tallifer, put his trumpet to his mouth and sounded the <i>Revelly</i>. +The music of it was like rivers running.</p> + +<p>"'They will follow,' said the drummer. 'Matthew, pull you now for +the Manacles.'</p> + +<p>"So my father pulled for the Manacles, and came to an easy close +outside Carn du. And the drummer took his sticks and beat a tattoo, +there by the edge of the reef; and the music of it was like a rolling +chariot.</p> + +<p>"'That will do,' says he, breaking off; 'they will follow. Pull now +for the shore under Gunner's Meadow.'</p> + +<p>"Then my father pulled for the shore, and ran his boat in under +Gunner's Meadow. And they stepped out, all three, and walked up to +the meadow. By the gate the drummer halted and began his tattoo +again, looking out towards the darkness over the sea.</p> + +<p>"And while the drum beat, and my father held his breath, there came +up out of the sea and the darkness a troop of many men, horse and +foot, and formed up among the graves; and others rose out of the +graves and formed up—drowned Marines with bleached faces, and pale +Hussars riding their horses, all lean and shadowy. There was no +clatter of hoofs or accoutrements, my father said, but a soft sound +all the while, like the beating of a bird's wing, and a black shadow +lying like a pool about the feet of all. The drummer stood upon a +little knoll just inside the gate, and beside him the tall trumpeter, +with hand on hip, watching them gather; and behind them both my +father, clinging to the gate. When no more came, the drummer stopped +playing, and said, 'Call the roll.'</p> + +<p>"Then the trumpeter stepped towards the end man of the rank and +called, 'Troop-Sergeant-Major Thomas Irons!' and the man in a thin +voice answered 'Here!'</p> + +<p>"'Troop-Sergeant-Major Thomas Irons, how is it with you?'</p> + +<p>"The man answered, 'How should it be with me? When I was young, I +betrayed a girl; and when I was grown, I betrayed a friend; and for +these things I must pay. But I died as a man ought. God save the +King!'</p> + +<p>"The trumpeter called to the next man, 'Trooper Henry Buckingham!' +and the next man answered, 'Here!'</p> + +<p>"'Trooper Henry Buckingham, how is it with you?'</p> + +<p>"'How should it be with me? I was a drunkard, and I stole, and in +Lugo, in a wine-shop, I knifed a man. But I died as a man should. +God save the King!'</p> + +<p>"So the trumpeter went down the line; and when he had finished, the +drummer took it up, hailing the dead Marines in their order. +Each man answered to his name, and each man ended with 'God save the +King!' When all were hailed, the drummer stepped back to his mound, +and called:</p> + +<p>"'It is well. You are content, and we are content to join you. +Wait yet a little while.'</p> + +<p>"With this he turned and ordered my father to pick up the lantern, +and lead the way back. As my father picked it up, he heard the ranks +of dead men cheer and call, 'God save the King!' all together, and +saw them waver and fade back into the dark, like a breath fading off +a pane.</p> + +<p>"But when they came back here to the kitchen, and my father set the +lantern down, it seemed they'd both forgot about him. For the +drummer turned in the lantern-light—and my father could see the +blood still welling out of the hole in his breast—and took the +trumpet-sling from around the other's neck, and locked drum and +trumpet together again, choosing the letters on the lock very +carefully. While he did this he said:</p> + +<p>"'The word is no more Corunna, but Bayonne. As you left out an "n" +in Corunna, so must I leave out an "n" in Bayonne.' And before +snapping the padlock, he spelt out the word slowly—'B-A-Y-O-N-E.' +After that, he used no more speech; but turned and hung the two +instruments back on the hook; and then took the trumpeter by the arm; +and the pair walked out into the darkness, glancing neither to right +nor left.</p> + +<p>"My father was on the point of following, when he heard a sort of +sigh behind him; and there, sitting in the elbow-chair, was the +very trumpeter he had just seen walk out by the door! If my father's +heart jumped before, you may believe it jumped quicker now. +But after a bit, he went up to the man asleep in the chair, and put a +hand upon him. It was the trumpeter in flesh and blood that he +touched; but though the flesh was warm, the trumpeter was dead.</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, they buried him three days after; and at first my father +was minded to say nothing about his dream (as he thought it). +But the day after the funeral, he met Parson Kendall coming from +Helston market: and the parson called out: 'Have 'ee heard the news +the coach brought down this mornin'?' 'What news?' says my father. +'Why, that peace is agreed upon.' 'None too soon,' says my father. +'Not soon enough for our poor lads at Bayonne,' the parson answered. +'Bayonne!' cries my father, with a jump. 'Why, yes'; and the parson +told him all about a great sally the French had made on the night of +April 13th. 'Do you happen to know if the 38th Regiment was +engaged?' my father asked. 'Come, now,' said Parson Kendall, +'I didn't know you was so well up in the campaign. But, as it +happens, I <i>do</i> know that the 38th was engaged, for 'twas they that +held a cottage and stopped the French advance.'</p> + +<p>"Still my father held his tongue; and when, a week later, he walked +into Helston and bought a <i>Mercury</i> off the Sherborne rider, and got +the landlord of the 'Angel' to spell out the list of killed and +wounded, sure enough, there among the killed was Drummer John +Christian, of the 38th Foot.</p> + +<p>"After this, there was nothing for a religious man but to make a +clean breast. So my father went up to Parson Kendall and told the +whole story. The parson listened, and put a question or two, and +then asked:</p> + +<p>"'Have you tried to open the lock since that night?'</p> + +<p>"'I han't dared to touch it,' says my father.</p> + +<p>"'Then come along and try.' When the parson came to the cottage here, +he took the things off the hook and tried the lock. 'Did he say +"<i>Bayonne</i>"? The word has seven letters.'</p> + +<p>"'Not if you spell it with one "n" as <i>he</i> did,' says my father.</p> + +<p>"The parson spelt it out—B-A-Y-O-N-E. 'Whew!' says he, for the lock +had fallen open in his hand.</p> + +<p>"He stood considering it a moment, and then he says,' I tell you +what. I shouldn't blab this all round the parish, if I was you. +You won't get no credit for truth-telling, and a miracle's wasted on +a set of fools. But if you like, I'll shut down the lock again upon +a holy word that no one but me shall know, and neither drummer nor +trumpeter, dead nor alive, shall frighten the secret out of me.'</p> + +<p>"'I wish to gracious you would, parson,' said my father.</p> + +<p>"The parson chose the holy word there and then, and shut the lock +back upon it, and hung the drum and trumpet back in their place. +He is gone long since, taking the word with him. And till the lock +is broken by force, nobody will ever separate those twain."</p> + +<br><br> +<p><a name="3"></a> </p> +<h3>THE LOOE DIE-HARDS.</h3> +<br> +<p> +Captain Pond, of the East and West Looe Volunteer Artillery +(familiarly known as the Looe Die-hards), put his air-cushion to his +lips and blew. This gave his face a very choleric and martial +expression.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, above his suffused and distended cheeks his eyes +preserved a pensive melancholy as they dwelt upon his Die-hards +gathered in the rain below him on the long-shore, or Church-end, +wall. At this date (November 3, 1809) the company numbered seventy, +besides Captain Pond and his two subalterns; and of this force four +were out in the boat just now, mooring the practice-mark—a barrel +with a small red flag stuck on top; one, the bugler, had been sent up +the hill to the nine-pounder battery, to watch and sound a call as +soon as the target was ready; a sixth, Sergeant Fugler, lay at home +in bed, with the senior lieutenant (who happened also to be the local +doctor) in attendance. Captain Pond clapped a thumb over the orifice +of his air-cushion, and heaved a sigh as he thought of Sergeant +Fugler. The remaining sixty-four Die-hards, with their firelocks +under their great-coats, and their collars turned up against the +rain, lounged by the embrasures of the shore-wall, and gossiped +dejectedly, or eyed in silence the blurred boat bobbing up and down +in the grey blur of the sea.</p> + +<p>"Such coarse weather I hardly remember to have met with for years," +said Uncle Israel Spettigew, a cheerful sexagenarian who ranked as +efficient on the strength of his remarkable eyesight, which was +keener than most boys'. "The sweep from over to Polperro was +cleanin' my chimbley this mornin', and he told me in his humorous way +that with all this rain 'tis so much as he can do to keep his face +dirty—hee-hee!"</p> + +<p>Nobody smiled. "If you let yourself give way to the enjoyment of +little things like that," observed a younger gunner gloomily, "one o' +these days you'll find yourself in a better land like the snuff of a +candle. 'Tis a year since the Company's been allowed to move in +double time, and all because you can't manage a step o' thirty-six +inches 'ithout getting the palpitations."</p> + +<p>"Well-a-well, 'tis but for a brief while longer—a few fleeting +weeks, an' us Die-hards shall be as though we had never been. So why +not be cheerful? For my part, I mind back in 'seventy-nine, when the +fleets o' France an' Spain assembled an' come up agen' us—sixty-six +sail o' the line, my sonnies, besides frigates an' corvettes to the +amount o' twenty-five or thirty, all as plain as the nose on your +face: an' the alarm guns goin', up to Plymouth, an' the signals +hoisted at Maker Tower—a bloody flag at the pole an' two blue 'uns +at the outriggers. Four days they laid to, an' I mind the first time +I seed mun, from this very place as it might be where we'm standin' +at this moment, I said 'Well, 'tis all over with East Looe this +time!' I said: 'an' when 'tis over, 'tis over, as Joan said by her +weddin'.' An' then I spoke them verses by royal Solomon—Wisdom two, +six to nine. 'Let us fill oursel's wi' costly wine an' ointments,' +I said: 'an' let no flower o' the spring pass by us. Let us crown +oursel's wi' rosebuds, afore they be withered: let none of us go +without his due part of our voluptuousness'—"</p> + +<p>"Why, you old adage, that's what Solomon makes th' <i>ungodly</i> say!" +interrupted young Gunner Oke, who had recently been appointed parish +clerk, and happened to know.</p> + +<p>"As it happens," Uncle Issy retorted, with sudden dignity—"as it +happens, I <i>was</i> ungodly in them days. The time I'm talkin' about +was August 'seventy-nine; an' if I don't mistake, your father an' +mother, John Oke, were courtin' just then, an' 'most too shy to +confide in each other about havin' a parish clerk for a son."</p> + +<p>"Times hev' marvellously altered in the meanwhile, to be sure," put +in Sergeant Pengelly of the "Sloop" Inn.</p> + +<p>"Well, then," Uncle Issy continued, without pressing his triumph, +"''Tis all over with East Looe,' I said, 'an' this is a black day for +King Gearge,' an' then I spoke them verses o' Solomon. 'Let none of +us,' I said, 'go without his due part of our voluptuousness'; and +with that I went home and dined on tatties an' bacon. It hardly +seems a thing to be believed at this distance o' time, but I never +relished tatties an' bacon better in my life than that day—an' yet +not meanin' the laste disrespect to King Gearge. Disrespect? If his +Majesty only knew it, he've no better friend in the world than Israel +Spettigew. God save the King!"</p> + +<p>And with this Uncle Issy pulled off his cap and waved it round his +head, thereby shedding a <i>moulinet</i> of raindrops full in the faces +of his comrades around.</p> + +<p>This was observed by Captain Pond, standing on the platform above, +beside Thundering Meg, the big 24-pounder, which with four +18-pounders on the shore-wall formed the lower defences of the haven.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Clogg," he called to his junior lieutenant, "tell Gunner +Spettigew to put on his hat at once. Ask him what he means by taking +his death and disgracing the company."</p> + +<p>The junior lieutenant—a small farmer from Talland parish—touched +his cap, spread his hand suddenly over his face and sneezed.</p> + +<p>"Hullo! You've got a cold."</p> + +<p>"No, sir. I often sneezes like that, and no reason for it whatever."</p> + +<p>"I've never noticed it before."</p> + +<p>"No, sir. I keeps it under so well as I can. A great deal can be +done sometimes by pressing your thumb on the upper lip."</p> + +<p>"Ah, well! So long as it's not a cold—" returned the Captain, and +broke off to arrange his air-cushion over the depressed muzzle of +Thundering Meg. Hereupon he took his seat, adjusted the lapels of +his great-coat over his knees, and gave way to gloomy reflection.</p> + +<p>Sergeant Fugler was at the bottom of it. Sergeant Fugler, the best +marksman in the Company, was a hard drinker, with a hobnailed liver. +He lay now in bed with that hobnailed liver, and the Doctor said it +was only a question of days. But why should this so extraordinarily +discompose Captain Pond, who had no particular affection for Fugler, +and knew, besides, that all men—and especially hard drinkers—are +mortal?</p> + +<p>The answer is that the East and West Looe Volunteer Artillery was no +ordinary Company. When, on the 16th of May, 1803, King George told +his faithful subjects, who had been expecting the announcement for +some time, that the Treaty of Amiens was no better than waste paper, +public feeling in the two Looes rose to a very painful pitch. +The inhabitants used to assemble before the post-office, to hear the +French bulletins read out; and though it was generally concluded that +they held much falsehood, yet everybody felt misfortune in the air. +Rumours flew about that a diversion would be made by sending an army +into the Duchy to draw the troops thither while the invaders directed +their main strength upon London. Quiet villagers, therefore, dwelt +for the while in a constant apprehension, fearing to go to bed lest +they should awake at the sound of the trumpet, or in the midst of the +French troops; scarcely venturing beyond sight of home lest, +returning, they should find the homestead smoking and desolate. +Each man had laid down the plan he should pursue. Some were to drive +off the cattle, others to fire the corn. While the men worked in the +fields, their womankind—young maids and grandmothers, and all that +could be spared from domestic work—encamped above the cliffs, +wearing red cloaks to scare the Frenchmen, and by night kept big +bonfires burning continually. Amid this painful disquietude of the +public mind "the great and united Spirit of the British People armed +itself for the support of their ancient Glory and Independence +against the unprincipled Ambition of the French Government." +In other words, the Volunteer movement began. In the Duchy alone no +less than 8,362 men enrolled themselves in thirty Companies of foot, +horse, and artillery, as well out of enthusiasm as to escape the +general levy that seemed probable—so mixed are all human actions.</p> + +<p>Of these the Looe Company was neither the greatest nor the least. +It had neither the numerical strength of the Royal Stannary Artillery +(1,115 men and officers) nor the numerical eccentricity of the St. +Germans Cavalry, which consisted of forty troopers, all told, and +eleven officers, and hunted the fox thrice a week during the winter +months under Lord Eliot, Captain and M.F.H. The Looe Volunteers, +however, started well in the matter of dress, which consisted of a +dark-blue coat and pantaloons, with red facings and yellow wings and +tassels, and a white waistcoat. The officers' sword-hilts were +adorned with prodigious red and blue tassels, and the blade of +Captain Pond's, in particular, bore the inscription, "<i>My Life's +Blood for the Two Looes!</i>"—a legend which we must admit to be +touching, even while we reflect that the purpose of the weapon was +not to draw its owner's life-blood.</p> + +<p>As a matter of mere history, this devoted blade had drawn nobody's +blood; since, in the six years that followed their enlistment, the +Looe Die-hards had never been given an opportunity for a brush with +their country's hereditary foes. How, then, did they acquire their +proud title?</p> + +<p>It was the Doctor's discovery; and perhaps, in the beginning, +professional pride may have had something to do with it; but his +enthusiasm was quickly caught up by Captain Pond and communicated to +the entire Company.</p> + +<p>"Has it ever occurred to you, Pond," the Doctor began, one evening in +the late summer of 1808, as the two strolled homeward from parade, +"to reflect on the rate of mortality in this Company of yours? +Have you considered that in all these five years since their +establishment not a single man has died?"</p> + +<p>"Why the deuce should he?"</p> + +<p>"But look here: I've worked it out on paper, and the mean age of your +men is thirty-four years, or some five years more than the mean age +of the entire population of East and West Looe. You see, on the one +hand, you enlist no children, and on the other, you've enlisted +several men of ripe age, because you're accustomed to them and know +their ways—which is a great help in commanding a Company. But this +makes the case still more remarkable. Take any collection of +seventy souls the sum of whose ages, divided by seventy, shall be +thirty-four, and by all the laws of probability three, at least, +ought to die in the course of a year. I speak, for the moment, of +civilians. In the military profession," the Doctor continued, with +perfect seriousness, "especially in time of war, the death-rate will +be enormously heightened. But"—with a flourish of the hand— +"I waive that. I waive even the real, if uncertainly estimated, risk +of handling, twice or thrice a week and without timidity or +particular caution, the combustibles and explosives supplied us by +Government. And still I say that we might with equanimity have +beheld our ranks thinned during these five years by the loss of +fifteen men. And we have not lost a single one! It is wonderful!"</p> + +<p>"War is a fearful thing," commented Captain Pond, whose mind moved +less nimbly than the Doctor's.</p> + +<p>"Dash it all, Pond! Can't you see that I'm putting the argument on a +<i>peace</i> footing? I tell you that in five years of <i>peace</i> any +ordinary Company of the same size would have lost at least fifteen +men."</p> + +<p>"Then all I can say is that peace is a fearful thing, too."</p> + +<p>"But don't you see that at this moment you're commanding the most +remarkable Company in the Duchy, if not in the whole of England?"</p> + +<p>"I do," answered Captain Pond, flushing. "It's a responsibility, +though. It makes a man feel proud; but, all the same, I almost wish +you hadn't told me."</p> + +<p>Indeed at first the weight of his responsibility counteracted the +Captain's natural elation. It lifted, however, at the next +Corporation dinner, when the Doctor made public announcement of his +discovery in a glowing speech, supporting his rhetoric by extracts +from a handful of statistics and calculations, and ending, +"Gentlemen, we know the motto of the East and West Looe Volunteer +Artillery to be '<i>Never Say Die!</i>' but seeing, after five years' +trial of them, that they never <i>do</i> die, what man (I ask) will not +rejoice to belong to such a Company? What man would not be proud <i>to +command it</i>?"</p> + +<p>After this, could Captain Pond lag behind? His health was drunk + amid thunders of applause. He rose: he cast timidity to the winds: +he spoke, and while he spoke, wondered at his own enthusiasm. +Scarcely had he made an end before his fellow-townsmen caught him off +his feet and carried him shoulder high through the town by the light +of torches. There were many aching heads in the two Looes next +morning; but nobody died: and from that night Captain Pond's Company +wore the name of "The Die-hards."</p> + +<p>All went well at first; for the autumn closed mildly. But with +November came a spell of north-easterly gales, breeding bronchial +discomfort among the aged; and Black Care began to dog the Commander. +He caught himself regretting the admission of so many gunners of +riper years, although the majority of these had served in His +Majesty's Navy, and were by consequence the best marksmen. +They weathered the winter, however; and a slight epidemic of +whooping-cough, which broke out in the early spring, affected none of +the Die-hards except the small bugler, and he took it in the mildest +form. The men, following the Doctor's lead, began to talk more +boastfully than ever. Only the Captain shook his head, and his eyes +wore a wistful look, as though he listened continually for the +footsteps of Nemesis—as, indeed, he did. The strain was breaking +him. And in August, when word came from headquarters that, all +danger of invasion being now at an end, the Looe Volunteer Artillery +would be disbanded at the close of the year, he tried in vain to +grieve. A year ago he would have wept in secret over the news. +Now he went about with a solemn face and a bounding heart. A few +months more and then—</p> + +<p>And then, almost within sight of goal, Sergeant Fugler had broken +down. Everyone knew that Fugler drank prodigiously; but so had his +father and grandfather, and each of them had reached eighty. +The fellow had always carried his liquor well enough, too. +Captain Pond looked upon it almost as a betrayal.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what folks' constitutions are coming to in these days," +he kept muttering, on this morning of November the 3rd, as he sat on +the muzzle of Thundering Meg and dangled his legs.</p> + +<p>And then, glancing up, he saw the Doctor coming from the town along +the shore-wall, and read evil news at once. For many of the +Die-hards stopped the Doctor to question him, and stood gloomy as he +passed on. It was popularly said in the two Looes, that "if the +Doctor gave a man up, that man might as well curl up his toes then +and there."</p> + +<p>Catching sight of his Captain on the platform, the Doctor bent his +steps thither, and they were slow and inelastic.</p> + +<p>"Tell me the worst," said Captain Pond.</p> + +<p>"The worst is that he's no better; no, the worst of all is that he +knows he's no better. My friend, between ourselves, it's only a +question of a day or two."</p> + +<p>Silence followed for half a minute, the two officers avoiding each +other's eyes.</p> + +<p>"He has a curious wish," the Doctor resumed, still with his face +averted and his gaze directed on the dull outline of Looe Island, a +mile away. "He says he knows he's disgracing the Company: but he's +anxious, all the same, to have a military funeral: says if you can +promise this, he'll feel in a way that he's forgiven."</p> + +<p>"He shall have it, of course."</p> + +<p>"Ah, but that's not all. You remember, a couple of years back, when +they had us down to Pendennis Castle for a week's drill, there was a +funeral of a Sergeant-Major in the Loyal Meneage; and how the band +played a sort of burial tune ahead of the body? Well, Fugler asked +me if you couldn't manage this Dead March, as he calls it, as well. +He can whistle the tune if you want to know it. It seems it made a +great impression on him."</p> + +<p>"Then the man must be wandering! How the dickens can we manage a +Dead March without a band?—and we haven't even a fife and drum!"</p> + +<p>"That's what I told him. I suppose we couldn't do anything with the +church musicians."</p> + +<p>"There's only one man in the Company who belongs to the gallery, and +that's Uncle Issy Spettigew: and he plays the bass-viol. I doubt if +you can play the Dead March on a bass-viol, and I'm morally certain +you can't play it and walk with it too. I suppose we can't borrow a +band from another Company?"</p> + +<p>"What, and be the mock of the Duchy?—after all our pride! I fancy I +see you going over to Troy and asking Browne for the loan of his +band. 'Hullo!' he'd say, 'I thought you never had such a thing as a +funeral over at Looe!' I can hear the fellow chuckle. But I wish +something could be done, all the same. A trifle of pomp would draw +folks' attention off our disappointment."</p> + +<p>Captain Pond sighed and rose from the gun; for the bugle was sounding +from the upper battery.</p> + +<p>"Fall in, gentlemen, if you please!" he shouted. His politeness in +addressing his Company might be envied even by the "Blues."</p> + +<p>The Doctor formed them up and told them off along the sea-wall, as if +for inspection. "Or-der arms!" "Fix bayonets!" "Shoul-der arms!" +Then with a glance of inquiry at his Captain, who had fallen into a +brown study, "Rear rank, take open order!"</p> + +<p>"No, no," interposed the Captain, waking up and taking a guess at the +sun's altitude in the grey heavens. "We're late this morning: better +march 'em up to the battery at once."</p> + +<p>Then, quickly re-forming them, he gave the word, "By the left! +Quick march!" and the Die-hards swung steadily up the hill towards +the platform where the four nine-pounders grinned defiance to the +ships of France.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, this battery stood out of reach of harm, with +the compensating disadvantage of being able to inflict none. +The reef below would infallibly wreck any ship that tried to approach +within the point-blank range of some 270 yards, and its extreme range +of ten times that distance was no protection to the haven, which lay +round a sharp corner of the cliff. But the engineer's blunder was +never a check upon the alacrity of the Die-hards, who cleaned, +loaded, rammed home, primed, sighted, and blazed away with the +precision of clockwork and the ardour of Britons, as though aware +that the true strength of a nation lay not so much in the +construction of her fortresses as in the spirit of her sons.</p> + +<p>Captain Pond halted, re-formed his men upon the platform, and, +drawing a key from his pocket, ordered Lieutenant Clogg to the +store-hut, with Uncle Issy in attendance, to serve our the +ammunition, rammers, sponges, water-buckets, etc.</p> + +<p>"But the door's unlocked, sir," announced the lieutenant, with +something like dismay.</p> + +<p>"Unlocked!" echoed the Doctor.</p> + +<p>The Captain blushed.</p> + +<p>"I could have sworn, Doctor, I turned the key in the lock before +leaving last Thursday. I think my head must be going. I've been +sleeping badly of late—it's this worry about Fugler. However, I +don't suppose anybody—"</p> + +<p>A yell interrupted him. It came from Uncle Issy, who had entered the +store-hut, and now emerged from it as if projected from a gun.</p> + +<p>"THE FRENCH! THE FRENCH!"</p> + +<p>For two terrible seconds the Die-hards eyed one another. +Then someone in the rear rank whispered, "An ambush!" The two ranks +began to waver—to melt. Uncle Issy, with head down and shoulders +arched, was already stumbling down the slope towards the town. +In another ten seconds the whole Company would be at his heels.</p> + +<p>The Doctor saved their reputation. He was as pale as the rest; but a +hasty remembrance of the cubic capacity of the store-hut told him +that the number of Frenchmen in ambush there could hardly be more +than half a dozen.</p> + +<p>"Halt!" he shouted; and Captain Pond shouted "Halt!" too, adding, +"There'll be heaps of time to run when we find out what's the +matter."</p> + +<p>The Die-hards hung, still wavering, upon the edge of the platform.</p> + +<p>"For my part," the Doctor declared, "I don't believe there's anybody +inside."</p> + +<p>"But there <i>is</i>, Doctor! for I saw him myself just as Uncle Issy +called out," said the second lieutenant.</p> + +<p>"Was it only <i>one</i> man that you saw?" demanded Captain Pond.</p> + +<p>"That's all. You see, it was this way: Uncle Issy stepped fore, with +me a couple of paces behind him thinking of nothing so little as +bloodshed and danger. If you'll believe me, these things was the +very last in my thoughts. Uncle Issy rolls aside the powder-cask, +and what do I behold but a man ducking down behind it! 'He's firing +the powder,' thinks I, 'and here endeth William George Clogg!' +So I shut my eyes, not willing to see my gay life whisked away in +little portions; though I feared it must come. And then I felt Uncle +Issy flee past me like the wind. But I kept my eyes tight till I +heard the Doctor here saying there wasn't anybody inside. If you ask +me what I think about the whole matter, I say, putting one thing with +another, that 'tis most likely some poor chap taking shelter from the +rain."</p> + +<p>Captain Pond unsheathed his sword and advanced to the door of the +hut. "Whoever you be," he called aloud and firmly, "you've got no +business there; so come out of it, in the name of King George!"</p> + +<p>At once there appeared in the doorway a little round-headed man in +tattered and mud-soiled garments of blue cloth. His hair and beard +were alike short, black, and stubbly; his eyes large and feverish, +his features smeared with powder and a trifle pinched and pale. +In his left hand he carried a small bundle, wrapped in a knotted blue +kerchief: his right he waved submissively towards Captain Pond.</p> + +<p>"See now," he began, "I give up. I am taken. Look you."</p> + +<p>"I think you must be a Frenchman," said Captain Pond.</p> + +<p>"Right. It is war: you have taken a Frenchman. Yes?"</p> + +<p>"A spy?" the Captain demanded more severely.</p> + +<p>"An escaped prisoner, more like," suggested the Doctor; "broken out +of Dartmoor, and hiding there for a chance to slip across."</p> + +<p>"Monsieur le Lieutenant has guessed," the little man answered, +turning affably to the Doctor. "A spy? No. It is not on purpose +that I find me near your fortifications—oh, not a bit! A prisoner +more like, as Monsieur says. It is three days that I was a prisoner, +and now look here, a prisoner again. Alas! will Monsieur le +Capitaine do me the honour to confide the name of his corps so +gallant?"</p> + +<p>"The Two Looes."</p> + +<p>"<i>La Toulouse!</i> But it is singular that we also have a Toulouse—"</p> + +<p>"Hey?" broke in Second Lieutenant Clogg.</p> + +<p>"I assure Monsieur that I say the truth."</p> + +<p>"Well, go on; only it don't sound natural."</p> + +<p>"Not that I have seen it"—("Ha!" commented Mr. Clogg)—"for it lies +in the south, and I am from the north: Jean Alphonse Marie Trinquier, +instructor of music, Rue de la Madeleine quatr '-vingt-neuf, Dieppe."</p> + +<p>"Instructor of music?" echoed Captain Pond and the Doctor quickly and +simultaneously, and their eyes met.</p> + +<p>"And <i>Directeur des Fetes Periodiques</i> to the Municipality of Dieppe. +All the Sundays, you comprehend, upon the sands—<i>poum poum!</i> while +the citizens <i>se promenent sur la plage</i>. But all is not gay in this +world. Last winter a terrible misfortune befell me. I lost my +wife—my adored Philomene. I was desolated, inconsolable. For two +months I could not take up my <i>cornet-a-piston</i>. Always when I +blew—pouf!—the tears came also. Ah, what memories! Hippolyte, my— +what you call it—my <i>beau-frere</i>, came to me and said, 'Jean +Alphonse, you must forget.' I say, 'Hippolyte, you ask that which is +impossible.' 'I will teach you,' says Hippolyte: 'To-morrow night I +sail for Jersey, and from Jersey I cross to Dartmouth, in England, +and you shall come with me.' Hippolyte made his living by what you +call the Free Trade. This was far down the coast for him, but he +said the business with Rye and Deal was too dangerous for a time. +Next night we sailed. It was his last voyage. With the morning the +wind changed, and we drove into a fog. When we could see again, +<i>peste!</i>—there was an English frigate. She sent down her cutter and +took the rest of us; but not Hippolyte—poor Hippolyte was shot in +the spine of his back. Him they cast into the sea, but the rest of +us they take to Plymouth, and then the War Prison on the moor. +This was in May, and there I rest until three days ago. Then I break +out—<i>je me sauve</i>. How? It is my affair: for I foresee, Messieurs, +I shall now have to do it over again. I am <i>sot</i>. I gain the coast +here at night. I am weary, <i>je n'en puis plus</i>. I find this +<i>cassine</i> here: the door is open: I enter <i>pour faire un petit +somme</i>. Before day I will creep down to the shore. A comrade in the +prison said to me, 'Go to Looe. I know a good Cornishman there—'"</p> + +<p>"And you overslept yourself," Captain Paul briskly interrupted, alert +as ever to protect the credit of his Company. He was aware that +several of the Die-hards, in extra-military hours, took an occasional +trip across to Guernsey: and Guernsey is a good deal more than +half-way to France.</p> + +<p>"The point is," observed the Doctor, "that you play the cornet."</p> + +<p>"It is certain that I do so, monsieur; but how that can be the +point—"</p> + +<p>"And instruct in music?"</p> + +<p>"Decidedly!"</p> + +<p>"Do you know the Dead March?"</p> + +<p>M. Trinquier was unfeignedly bewildered.</p> + +<p>Said Captain Pond: "Listen while I explain. You are my prisoner, +and it becomes my duty to send you back to Dartmoor under escort. +But you are exhausted; and notwithstanding my detestation of that +infernal tyrant, your master, I am a humane man. At all events, I'm +not going to expose two of my Die-hards to the risks of a tramp to +Dartmoor just now—I wouldn't turn out a dog in such weather. +It remains a question what I am to do with you in the meanwhile. +I propose that you give me your parole that you will make no attempt +to escape, let us say, for a month: and on receiving it I will at +once escort you to my house, and see that you are suitably clothed, +fed, and entertained."</p> + +<p>"I give it willingly, M. le Capitaine. But how am I to thank you?"</p> + +<p>"By playing the Dead March upon the <i>cornet-a-piston</i> and teaching +others to do the like."</p> + +<p>"That seems a singular way of showing one's gratitude. But why the +Dead March, monsieur? And, excuse me, there is more than one Dead +March. I myself, <i>par exemple</i>, composed one to the memory of my +adored Philomene but a week before Hippolyte came with his so sad +proposition."</p> + +<p>"I doubt if that will do. You see," said Captain Pond, lifting his +voice for the benefit of the Die-hards, who by this time were quite +as sorely puzzled as their prisoner, "we are about to bury one of our +Company, Sergeant Fugler—"</p> + +<p>"Ah! he is dead?"</p> + +<p>"He is dying," Captain Pond pursued, the more quickly since he now +guessed, not without reason, that Fugler was the "good Cornishman" to +whose door M. Trinquier had been directed. "He is dying of a +hobnailed liver. It is his wish to have the Dead March played at his +burying."</p> + +<p>"He whistled the tune over to me," said the Doctor; "but plague take +me if I can whistle it to you. I've no ear: but I'd know it again if +I heard it. Dismal isn't the word for it."</p> + +<p>"It will be Handel. I am sure it will be Handel—the Dead March in +his <i>Saul</i>."</p> + +<p>"In his what?"</p> + +<p>"In his oratorio of <i>Saul</i>. Listen—<i>poum, poum, prrr, poum</i>—"</p> + +<p>"Be dashed, but you've got it!" cried the Doctor, delighted; "though +you do give it a sort of foreign accent. But I daresay that won't be +so noticeable on the key-bugle."</p> + +<p>"But about this key-bugle, monsieur? And the other instruments?—not +to mention the players."</p> + +<p>"I've been thinking of that," said Captain Pond. "There's Butcher +Tregaskis has a key-bugle. He plays 'Rule Britannia' upon it when he +goes round with the suet. He'll lend you that till we can get one +down from Plymouth. A drum, too, you shall have. Hockaday's trader +calls here to-morrow on her way to Plymouth; she shall bring both +instruments back with her. Then we have the church musicians—Peter +Tweedy, first fiddle; Matthew John Ede, second ditto; Thomas +Tripconey, scorpion—"</p> + +<p>"Serpent," the Doctor corrected.</p> + +<p>"Well, it's a filthy thing to look at, anyway. Israel Spettigew, +bass-viol; William Henry Phippin, flute; and William Henry Phippin's +eldest boy Archelaus to tap the triangle at the right moment. +That boy, sir, will play the triangle almost as well as a man grown."</p> + +<p>"Then, monsieur, take me to your house. Give me a little food and +drink, pen, ink, and paper, and in three hours you shall have <i>la +partition</i>."</p> + +<p>Said the Doctor, "That's all very well, Pond, but the church +musicianers can't march with their music, as you told me just now."</p> + +<p>"I've thought of that, too. We'll have Miller Penrose's covered +three-horse waggon to march ahead of the coffin. Hang it in black +and go slow, and all the musicianers can sit around inside and play +away as merry as grigs."</p> + +<p>"The cover'll give the music a sort of muffly sound; but that," +Lieutenant Clogg suggested, "will be all the more fitty for a +funeral."</p> + +<p>"So it will, Clogg; so it will. But we're wasting time. I suppose +you won't object, sir, to be marched down to my house by the Company? +It's the regular thing in case of taking a prisoner, and you'll be +left to yourself as soon as you get to my door."</p> + +<p>"Not at all," said M. Trinquier amiably.</p> + +<p>"Then, gentlemen, fall in! The practice is put off. And when you +get home, mind you change your stockings, all of you. We're in +luck's way this morning, but that's no reason for recklessness."</p> + +<p>So M. Trinquier, sometime Director of Periodical Festivities to the +Municipality of Dieppe, was marched down into East Looe, to the +wonder and delight of the inhabitants, who had just recovered from +the shock of Gunner Spettigew's false alarm, and were in a condition +to be pleased with trifles. As the Company tramped along the street, +Captain Pond pointed out the Town Hall to his prisoner.</p> + +<p>"That will be the most convenient place to hold your practices. +And that is Fugler's house, just opposite."</p> + +<p>"But we cannot practise without making a noise."</p> + +<p>"I hope not, indeed. Didn't I promise you a big drum?"</p> + +<p>"But in that case the sick man will hear. It will disturb his last +moments."</p> + +<p>"Confound the fellow, he can't have everything! If he'd asked for +peace and quiet, he should have had it. But he didn't: he asked for +a Dead March. Don't trouble about Fugler. He's not an unreasonable +man. The only question is, if the Doctor here can keep him going +until you're perfect with the tune."</p> + +<p>And this was the question upon which the men of Looe, and especially +the Die-hards, hung breathless for the next few days. M. Trinquier +produced his score; the musicianers came forward eagerly; Miller +Penrose promised his waggon; the big drum arrived from Plymouth in +the trader <i>Good Intent</i>, and was discharged upon the quay amid +enthusiasm. The same afternoon, at four o'clock, M. Trinquier +opened his first practice in the Town Hall, by playing over the air +of the "Dead Marching Soul"—(to this the popular mouth had converted +the name)—upon his cornet, just to give his pupils a general notion +of it.</p> + +<p>The day had been a fine one, with just that suspicion of frost in the +air which indicates winter on the warm south-western coast. +While the musicians were assembling the Doctor stepped across the +street to see how the invalid would take it. Fugler—a +sharp-featured man of about fifty, good-looking, with blue eyes and a +tinge of red in his hair—lay on his bed with his mouth firmly set +and his eyes resting, wistfully almost, on the last wintry sunbeam +that floated in by the geraniums on the window-ledge. He had not +heard the news. For five days now he expected nothing but the end, +and lay and waited for it stoically and with calm good temper.</p> + +<p>The Doctor took a seat by the bed-side, and put a question or two. +They were answered by Mrs. Fugler, who moved about the small room +quietly, removing, dusting and replacing the china ornaments on the +chimneypiece. The sick man lay still, with his eyes upon the +sunbeam.</p> + +<p>And then very quietly and distinctly the notes of M. Trinquier's +key-bugle rose outside on the frosty air.</p> + +<p>The sick man started, and made as if to raise himself on his elbow, +but quickly sank back again—perhaps from weakness, perhaps because +he caught the Doctor's eye and the Doctor's reassuring nod. While he +lay back and listened, a faint flush crept into his face, as though +the blood ran quicker in his weak limbs; and his blue eyes took a new +light altogether.</p> + +<p>"That's the tune, hey?" the Doctor asked.</p> + +<p>"That's the tune."</p> + +<p>"Dismal, ain't it?"</p> + +<p>"Ay, it's that." His fingers were beating time on the counterpane.</p> + +<p>"That's our new bandmaster. He's got to teach it to the rest, and +you've got to hold out till they pick it up. Whew! I'd no idea music +could be so dismal."</p> + +<p>"Hush 'ee, Doctor, do! till he've a-done. 'Tis like rain on +blossom." The last notes fell. "Go you down, Doctor, and say my +duty and will he please play it over once more, and Fugler'll gi'e +'em a run for their money."</p> + +<p>The Doctor went back to the Town Hall and delivered this <i>encore</i>, +and M. Trinquier played his solo again; and in the middle of it Mr. +Fugler dropped off into an easy sleep.</p> + +<p>After this the musicians met every evening, Sundays and weekdays, and +by the third evening the Doctor was able to predict with confidence +that Fugler would last out. Indeed, the patient was strong enough to +be propped up into a sitting posture during the hour of practice, and +not only listened with pleasure to the concerted piece, but beat time +with his fingers while each separate instrument went over its part, +delivering, at the close of each performance, his opinion of it to +Mrs. Fugler or the Doctor: "Tripconey's breath's failin'. He don't +do no sort o' justice by that sarpint." Or: "There's Uncle Issy +agen! He always do come to grief juss there! I reckon a man of +sixty-odd ought to give up the bass-viol. He ha'n't got the +agility."</p> + +<p>On the fifth evening Mrs. Fugler was sent across to the Town Hall to +ask why the triangle had as yet no share in the performance, and to +suggest that William Henry Phippin's eldest boy, Archelaus, played +that instrument "to the life." M. Trinquier replied that it was +unusual to seek the aid of the triangle in rendering the Dead March +in <i>Saul</i>. Mr. Fugler sent back word that, "if you came to <i>that</i>, +the whole thing was unusual, from start to finish." To this M. +Trinquier discovered no answer; and the triangle was included, to the +extreme delight of Archelaus Phippin, whose young life had been +clouded for a week past.</p> + +<p>On the sixth evening, Mr. Fugler announced a sudden fancy to "touch +pipe."</p> + +<p>"Hey?" said the Doctor, opening his eyes.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to tetch pipe. An' let me light the brimstone mysel'. +I likes to see the little blue flame turn yellow, a-dancin' on the +baccy."</p> + +<p>"Get 'n his pipe and baccy, missis," the Doctor commanded. "He may +kill himself clean-off now: the band'll be ready by the funeral, +anyway."</p> + +<p>On the three following evenings Mr. Fugler sat up and smoked during +band practice, the Doctor observing him with a new interest. +The tenth day, the Doctor was called away to attend a child-birth at +Downderry. At the conclusion of the cornet solo, with which M. +Trinquier regularly opened practice, the sick man said—</p> + +<p>"Wife, get me out my clothes."</p> + +<p>"WHAT!"</p> + +<p>"Get me out my clothes."</p> + +<p>"You're mad! It'll be your death."</p> + +<p>"I don't care: the band's ready. Uncle Issy got his part perfect +las' night, an' that's more'n I ever prayed to hear. Get me out my +clothes an' help me downstairs."</p> + +<p>The Doctor was far away. Mrs. Fugler was forced to give in. +Weeping, and with shaking hands, she dressed him and helped him to +the foot of the stairs, where she threw open the parlour door.</p> + +<p>"No," he said, "I'm not goin' in there. I'll be steppin' across to +the Town Hall. Gi'e me your arm."</p> + +<p>Thomas Tripconey was rehearsing upon the serpent when the door of the +Town Hall opened: and the music he made died away in a wail, as of a +dog whose foot has been trodden on. William Henry Phippin's eldest +son Archelaus cast his triangle down and shrieked "Ghosts, ghosts!" +Uncle Issy cowered behind his bass-viol and put a hand over his eyes. +M. Trinquier spun round to face the intruder, baton in one hand, +cornet in the other.</p> + +<p>"Thank 'ee, friends," said Mr. Fugler, dropping into a seat by the +door, and catching breath: "you've got it very suent. 'Tis a +beautiful tune: an' I'm ha'f ashamed to tell 'ee that I bain't +a-goin' to die, this time."</p> + +<p>Nor did he.</p> + +<p> +The East and West Looe Volunteer Artillery was disbanded a few weeks +later, on the last day of the year 1809. The Corporations of the Two +Boroughs entertained the heroes that evening to a complimentary +banquet in the East Looe Town Hall, and Sergeant Fugler had recovered +sufficiently to attend, though not to partake. The Doctor made a +speech over him, proving him by statistics to be the most wonderful +member of the most wonderful corps in the world. The Doctor granted, +however—at such a moment the Company could make concessions—that +the Die-hards had been singularly fortunate in the one foeman whom +they had been called upon to face. Had it not been for a gentleman +of France the death-roll of the Company had assuredly not stood at +zero. He, their surgeon, readily admitted this, and gave them a +toast, "The Power of Music," associating with this the name of +Monsieur Jean Alphonse Marie Trinquier, Director of Periodic +Festivities to the Municipality of Dieppe. The toast was drunk with +acclamation. M. Trinquier responded, expressing his confident belief +that two so gallant nations as England and France could not long be +restrained from flinging down their own arms and rushing into each +other's. And then followed Captain Pond, who, having moved his +audience to tears, pronounced the Looe Die-hards disbanded. +Thereupon, with a gesture full of tragic inspiration, he cast his +naked blade upon the board. As it clanged amid the dishes and +glasses, M. Trinquier lifted his arms, and the band crashed out the +"Dead Marching Soul," following it with "God Save the King" as the +clock announced midnight and the birth of the New Year.</p> + +<p>"But hallo?" exclaimed Captain Pond, sinking back in his chair, and +turning towards M. Trinquier. "I had clean forgot that you are our +prisoner, and should be sent back to Dartmoor! And now the Company +is disbanded, and I have no one to send as escort."</p> + +<p>"Monsieur also forgets that my parole expired a fortnight since, and +that my service from that hour has been a service of love!"</p> + +<p>M. Trinquier did not return to Dartmoor. For it happened, one dark +night early in the following February, that Mr. Fugler (now restored +to health) set sail for the island of Guernsey upon a matter of +business. And on the morrow the music-master of Dieppe had become +but a pleasing memory to the inhabitants of the Two Looes.</p> + +<p>And now, should you take up Mr. Thomas Bond's <i>History of East and +West Looe</i>, and read of the Looe Volunteers that "not a single man of +the Company died during the six years, which is certainly very +remarkable," you will be not utterly incredulous; for you will know +how it came about. Still, when one comes to reflect, it does seem an +odd boast for a company of warriors.</p> + + +<br><br> +<p><a name="4"></a> </p> +<h3>MY GRANDFATHER, HENDRY WATTY.</h3> +<br> + +<h4>A DROLL.</h4> + +<p>'Tis the nicest miss in the world that I was born grandson of my own +father's father, and not of another man altogether. Hendry Watty was +the name of my grandfather that might have been; and he always +maintained that to all intents and purposes he <i>was</i> my grandfather, +and made me call him so—'twas such a narrow shave. I don't mind +telling you about it. 'Tis a curious tale, too.</p> + +<p> +My grandfather, Hendry Watty, bet four gallons of eggy-hot that he +would row out to the Shivering Grounds, all in the dead waste of the +night, and haul a trammel there. To find the Shivering Grounds by +night, you get the Gull Rock in a line with Tregamenna and pull out +till you open the light on St. Anthony's Point; but everybody gives +the place a wide berth because Archelaus Rowett's lugger foundered +there, one time, with six hands on board; and they say that at night +you can hear the drowned men hailing their names. But my grandfather +was the boldest man in Port Loe, and said he didn't care. So one +Christmas Eve by daylight he and his mates went out and tilled the +trammel; and then they came back and spent the fore-part of the +evening over the eggy-hot, down to Oliver's tiddly-wink, to keep my +grandfather's spirits up and also to show that the bet was made in +earnest.</p> + +<p>'Twas past eleven o'clock when they left Oliver's and walked down to +the cove to see my grandfather off. He has told me since that he +didn't feel afraid at all, but very friendly in mind, especially +towards William John Dunn, who was walking on his right hand. +This puzzled him at the first, for as a rule he didn't think much of +William John Dunn. But now he shook hands with him several times, +and just as he was stepping into the boat he says, "You'll take care +of Mary Polly, while I'm away." Mary Polly Polsue was my +grandfather's sweetheart at that time. But why he should have spoken +as if he was bound on a long voyage he never could tell; he used to +set it down to fate.</p> + +<p>"I will," said William John Dunn; and then they gave a cheer and +pushed my grandfather off, and he lit his pipe and away he rowed all +into the dead waste of the night. He rowed and rowed, all in the +dead waste of the night; and he got the Gull Rock in a line with +Tregamenna windows; and still he was rowing, when to his great +surprise he heard a voice calling:</p> + +<p>"<i>Hendry Watty! Hendry Watty!</i>"</p> + +<p>I told you my grandfather was the boldest man in Port Loe. But he +dropped his two paddles now, and made the five signs of Penitence. +For who could it be calling him out here in the dead waste and middle +of the night?</p> + +<p>"Hendry Watty! Hendry Watty! <i>drop me a line</i>."</p> + +<p>My grandfather kept his fishing-lines in a little skivet under the +stern-sheets. But not a trace of bait had he on board. If he had, +he was too much a-tremble to bait a hook.</p> + +<p>"HENDRY WATTY! HENDRY WATTY! <i>drop me a line, or I'll know why!</i>"</p> + +<p>My poor grandfather by this had picked up his paddles again, and was +rowing like mad to get quit of the neighbourhood, when something or +somebody gave three knocks—<i>thump, thump, thump!</i>—on the bottom of +the boat, just as you would knock on a door. The third thump fetched +Hendry Watty upright on his legs. He had no more heart for +disobeying, but having bitten his pipe-stem in half by this time—his +teeth chattered so—he baited his hook with the broken bit and +flung it overboard, letting the line run out in the stern-notch. +Not halfway had it run before he felt a long pull on it, like the +sucking of a dog-fish.</p> + +<p>"<i>Hendry Watty! Hendry Watty! pull me in</i>."</p> + +<p>Hendry Watty pulled in hand over fist; and in came the lead +sinker over the notch, and still the line was heavy; be pulled and +he pulled, and next, all out of the dead waste of the night, came +two white hands, like a washerwoman's, and gripped hold of the +stern-board; and on the left of these two hands, on the little +finger, was a silver ring, sunk very deep in the flesh. If this was +bad, worse was the face that followed—a great white parboiled face, +with the hair and whiskers all stuck with chips of wood and seaweed. +And if this was bad for anybody, it was worse for my grandfather, who +had known Archelaus Rowett before he was drowned out on the Shivering +Grounds, six years before.</p> + +<p>Archelaus Rowett climbed in over the stern, pulled the hook with the +bit of pipe-stem out of his cheek, sat down in the stern-sheets, +shook a small crayfish out of his whiskers, and said very coolly—</p> + +<p>"If you should come across my wife—"</p> + +<p>That was all my grandfather stayed to hear. At the sound of +Archelaus's voice he fetched a yell, jumped clean over the side of +the boat and swam for dear life. He swam and swam, till by the bit +of the moon he saw the Gull Rock close ahead. There were lashin's of +rats on the Gull Rock, as he knew: but he was a good deal surprised +at the way they were behaving: for they sat in a row at the water's +edge and fished, with their tails let down into the sea for +fishing-lines: and their eyes were like garnets burning as they +looked at my grandfather over their shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Hendry Watty! Hendry Watty! You can't land here—you're disturbing +the pollack."</p> + +<p>"Bejimbers! I wouldn' do that for the world," says my grandfather: so +off he pushes and swims for the mainland. This was a long job, and +'twas as much as he could do to reach Kibberick beach, where he fell +on his face and hands among the stones, and there lay, taking breath.</p> + +<p>The breath was hardly back in his body, before he heard footsteps, +and along the beach came a woman, and passed close by to him. He lay +very quiet, and as she came near he saw 'twas Sarah Rowett, that used +to be Archelaus's wife, but had married another man since. She was +knitting as she went by, and did not seem to notice my grandfather: +but he heard her say to herself, "The hour is come, and the man is +come."</p> + +<p>He had scarcely begun to wonder over this, when he spied a ball of +worsted yarn beside him that Sarah had dropped. 'Twas the ball she +was knitting from, and a line of worsted stretched after her along +the beach. Hendry Watty picked up the ball and followed the thread +on tiptoe. In less than a minute he came near enough to watch what +she was doing: and what she did was worth watching. First she +gathered wreckwood and straw, and struck flint over touchwood and +teened a fire. Then she unravelled her knitting: twisted her end of +the yarn between finger and thumb—like a cobbler twisting a +wax-end—and cast the end up towards the sky. It made Hendry Watty +stare when the thread, instead of falling back to the ground, +remained hanging, just as if 'twas fastened to something up above; +but it made him stare more when Sarah Rowett began to climb up it, +and away up till nothing could be seen of her but her ankles dangling +out of the dead waste and middle of the night.</p> + +<p>"HENDRY WATTY! HENDRY WATTY!"</p> + +<p>It wasn't Sarah calling, but a voice far away out to sea.</p> + +<p>"HENDRY WATTY! HENDRY WATTY! <i>send me a line</i>."</p> + +<p>My grandfather was wondering what to do, when Sarah speaks down very +sharp to him, out of the dark:</p> + +<p>"Hendry Watty! Where's the rocket apparatus? Can't you hear the +poor fellow asking for a line?"</p> + +<p>"I do," says my grandfather, who was beginning to lose his temper; +"and do you think, ma'am, that I carry a Boxer's rocket in my +trousers pocket?"</p> + +<p>"I think you have a ball of worsted in your hand," says she. +"Throw it as far as you can."</p> + +<p>So my grandfather threw the ball out into the dead waste and middle +of the night. He didn't see where it pitched, or how far it went.</p> + +<p>"Right it is," says the woman aloft. "'Tis easy seen you're a +hurler. But what shall us do for a cradle? Hendry Watty! Hendry +Watty!"</p> + +<p>"Ma'am to <i>you</i>," says my grandfather.</p> + +<p>"If you've the common feelings of a gentleman, I'll ask you kindly to +turn your back; I'm going to take off my stocking."</p> + +<p>So my grandfather stared the other way very politely; and when he was +told he might look again, he saw she had tied the stocking to the +line and was running it out like a cradle into the dead waste of the +night.</p> + +<p>"Hendry Watty! Hendry Watty! Look out below!"</p> + +<p>Before he could answer, plump! a man's leg came tumbling past his ear +and scattered the ashes right and left.</p> + +<p>"Hendry Watty! Hendry Watty! Look out below!"</p> + +<p>This time 'twas a great white arm and hand, with a silver ring sunk +tight in the flesh of the little finger.</p> + +<p>"Hendry Watty! Hendry Watty! Warm them limbs!"</p> + +<p>My grandfather picked them up and was warming them before the fire, +when down came tumbling a great round head and bounced twice and lay +in the firelight, staring up at him. And whose head was it but +Archelaus Rowett's, that he'd run away from once already, that night?</p> + +<p>"Hendry Watty! Hendry Watty! Look out below!"</p> + +<p>This time 'twas another leg, and my grandfather was just about to lay +hands on it, when the woman called down:</p> + +<p>"Hendry Watty! catch it quick! It's my own leg I've thrown down by +mistake!"</p> + +<p>The leg struck the ground and bounced high, and Hendry Watty made a +leap after it.…</p> + +<p> +And I reckon it's asleep he must have been: for what he caught was +not Mrs. Rowett's leg, but the jib-boom of a deep-laden brigantine +that was running him down in the dark. And as he sprang for it, his +boat was crushed by the brigantine's fore-foot and went down under +his very boot-soles. At the same time he let out a yell, and two or +three of the crew ran forward and hoisted him up to the bowsprit and +in on deck, safe and sound.</p> + +<p>But the brigantine happened to be outward-bound for the River Plate; +so that, what with one thing and another, 'twas eleven good months +before my grandfather landed again at Port Loe. And who should be +the first man he sees standing above the cove but William John Dunn?</p> + +<p>"I'm very glad to see you," says William John Dunn.</p> + +<p>"Thank you kindly," answers my grandfather; "and how's Mary Polly?"</p> + +<p>"Why, as for that," he says, "she took so much looking after, that I +couldn't feel I was keeping her properly under my eye till I married +her, last June month."</p> + +<p>"You was always one to over-do things," said my grandfather.</p> + +<p>"But if you was alive an' well, why didn' you drop us a line?"</p> + +<p>Now when it came to talk about "dropping a line" my grandfather +fairly lost his temper. So he struck William John Dunn on the nose— +a thing he had never been known to do before—and William John Dunn +hit him back, and the neighbours had to separate them. And next day, +William John Dunn took out a summons against him.</p> + +<p>Well, the case was tried before the magistrates: and my grandfather +told his story from the beginning, quite straightforward, just as +I've told it to you. And the magistrates decided that, taking one +thing with another, he'd had a great deal of provocation, and fined +him five shillings. And there the matter ended. But now you know +the reason why I'm William John Dunn's grandson instead of Hendry +Watty's.</p> + + +<br><br> +<p><a name="5"></a> </p> +<h3>JETSOM.</h3> +<br> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<p class = "noindent"> + Where Gerennius' beacon stands<br> + High above Pendower sands;<br> + Where, about the windy Nare,<br> + Foxes breed and falcons pair;<br> + Where the gannet dries a wing<br> + Wet with fishy harvesting,<br> + And the cormorants resort,<br> + Flapping slowly from their sport<br> + With the fat Atlantic shoal,<br> + Homeward to Tregeagle's Hole—<br> + Walking there, the other day,<br> + In a bight within a bay,<br> + I espied amid the rocks,<br> + Bruis'd and jamm'd, the daintiest box,<br> + That the waves had flung and left<br> + High upon an ivied cleft.<br> + Striped it was with white and red,<br> + Satin-lined and carpeted,<br> + Hung with bells, and shaped withal<br> + Like the queer, fantastical<br> + Chinese temples you'll have seen<br> + Pictured upon white Nankin,<br> + Where, assembled in effective<br> + Head-dresses and odd perspective,<br> + Tiny dames and mandarins<br> + Expiate their egg-shell sins<br> + By reclining on their drumsticks,<br> + Waving fans and burning gum-sticks.<br> + Land of poppy and pekoe!<br> + Could thy sacred artists know—<br> + Could they distantly conjecture<br> + How we use their architecture,<br> + Ousting the indignant Joss<br> + For a pampered Flirt or Floss,<br> + Poodle, Blenheim, Skye, Maltese,<br> + Lapped in purple and proud ease—<br> + They might read their god's reproof<br> + Here on blister'd wall and roof;<br> + Scaling lacquer, dinted bells,<br> + Floor befoul'd of weed and shells,<br> + Where, as erst the tabid Curse<br> + Brooded over Pelops' hearse,<br> + Squats the sea-cow, keeping house,<br> + Sibylline, gelatinous.<br> + <span class = "ind2">Where is Carlo? Tell, O tell,</span><br> + Echo, from this fluted shell,<br> + In whose concave ear the tides<br> + Murmur what the main confides<br> + Of his compass'd treacheries!<br> + What of Carlo? Did the breeze<br> + Madden to a gale while he,<br> + Curl'd and cushion'd cosily,<br> + Mixed in dreams its angry breathings<br> + With the tinkle of the tea-things<br> + In his mistress' cabin laid?<br> + —Nor dyspeptic, nor dismay'd,<br> + Drowning in a gentle snore<br> + All the menace of the shore<br> + Thunder'd from the surf a-lee.<br> + Near and nearer horribly,—<br> + Scamper of affrighted feet,<br> + Voices cursing sail and sheet,<br> + While the tall ship shook in irons—<br> + All the peril that environs<br> + Vessels 'twixt the wind and rock<br> + Clawing—driving? Did the shock,<br> + As the sunk reef split her back,<br> + First arouse him? Did the crack<br> + Widen swiftly and deposit<br> + Him in homeless night?<br> + <span class = "ind10"> Or was it,</span><br> + Not when wave or wind assail'd,<br> + But in waters dumb and veil'd,<br> + That a looming shape uprist<br> + Sudden from the Channel mist,<br> + And with crashing, rending bows<br> + Woke him, in his padded house,<br> + To a world of alter'd features?<br> + Were these panic-ridden creatures<br> + They who, but an hour agone,<br> + Ran with biscuit, ran with bone,<br> + Ran with meats in lordly dishes,<br> + To anticipate his wishes?<br> + But an hour agone! And now how<br> + Vain his once compelling bow-wow!<br> + Little dogs are highly treasured,<br> + Petted, patted, pamper'd, pleasured:<br> + But when ships go down in fogs,<br> + No one thinks of little dogs.<br><br> + + Ah, but how dost fare, I wonder,<br> + Now thine Argo splits asunder,<br> + Pouring on the wasteful sea<br> + All her precious bales, and thee?<br> + Little use is now to rave,<br> + Calling god or saint to save;<br> + Little use, if choked with salt, a<br> + Prayer to holy John of Malta.<br> + Patron John, he hears thee not.<br> + Or, perchance, in dusky grot<br> + Pale Persephone, repining<br> + For the fields that still are shining,<br> + Shining in her sleepless brain,<br> + Calling "Back! come back again!"<br> + Fain of playmate, fain of pet—<br> + Any drug to slay regret,<br> + Hath from hell upcast an eye<br> + On thy fatal symmetry;<br> + And beguiled her sooty lord<br> + With his brother to accord<br> + For this black betrayal.<br> + Else Nereus in his car of shells<br> + Long ago had cleft the waters<br> + With his natatory daughters<br> + To the rescue: or Poseidon<br> + Sent a fish for thee to ride on—<br> + Such a steed as erst Arion<br> + Reached the mainland high and dry on.<br> + Steed appeareth none, nor pilot!<br> + Little dog, if it be thy lot<br> + To essay the dismal track<br> + Where Odysseus half hung back,<br> + How wilt thou conciliate<br> + That grim mastiff by the gate?<br> + Sure, 'twill puzzle thee to fawn<br> + On his muzzles three that yawn<br> + Antrous; or to find, poor dunce,<br> + Grace in his six eyes at once—<br> + Those red eyes of Cerberus.<br><br> + + Daughters of Oceanus,<br> + Save our darling from this hap!<br> + Arethusa, spread thy lap,<br> + Catch him, and with pinky hands<br> + Bear him to the coral sands,<br> + Where thy sisters sit in school<br> + Carding the Milesian wool:—<br> + Clio, Spio, Beroe,<br> + Opis and Phyllodoce,—<br> + Pass by these, and also pass<br> + Yellow-haired Lycorias;<br> + Pass Ligea, shrill of song—<br> + All the dear surrounding throng;<br> + Lay him at Cyrene's feet<br> + There, where all the rivers meet:<br> + In their waters crystalline<br> + Bathe him clean of weed and brine,<br> + Comb him, wipe his pretty eyes,<br> + Then to Zeus who rules the skies<br> + Call, assembling in a round<br> + Every fish that can be found—<br> + Whale and merman, lobster, cod,<br> + Tittlebat and demigod:—<br> + "Lord of all the Universe,<br> + We, thy finny pensioners,<br> + Sue thee for the little life<br> + Hurried hence by Hades' wife.<br> + Sooner than she call him her dog,<br> + Change, O change him to a mer-dog!<br> + Re-inspire the vital spark;<br> + Bid him wag his tail and bark,<br> + Bark for joy to wag a tail<br> + Bright with many a flashing scale;<br> + Bid his locks refulgent twine,<br> + Hyacinthian, hyaline;<br> + Bid him gambol, bid him follow<br> + Blithely to the mermen's 'holloa!'<br> + When they call the deep-sea calves<br> + Home with wreathed univalves.<br> + Softly shall he sleep to-night,<br> + Curled on couch of stalagmite,<br> + Soft and sound, if slightly moister<br> + Than the shell-protected oyster.<br> + Grant us this, Omnipotent,<br> + And to Hera shall be sent<br> + One black pearl, but of a size<br> + That shall turn her rivals' eyes<br> + Greener than the greenest snake<br> + Fed in meadow-grass, and make<br> + All Olympus run agog—<br> + Grant for this our darling dog!"<br><br> + + Musing thus, the other day,<br> + In a bight within a bay,<br> + I'd a sudden thought that yet some<br> + Purpose for this piece of jetsom<br> + Might be found; and straight supplied it.<br> + On the turf I knelt beside it,<br> + Disengaged it from the boulders,<br> + Hoisted it upon my shoulders,<br> + Bore it home, and, with a few<br> + Tin-tacks and a pot of glue,<br> + Mended it, affix'd a ledge;<br> + Set it by the elder-hedge;<br> + And in May, with horn and kettle,<br> + Coax'd a swarm of bees to settle.<br> + Here around me now they hum;<br> + And in autumn should you come<br> + Westward to my Cornish home,<br> + There'll be honey in the comb—<br> + Honey that, with clotted cream<br> + (Though I win not your esteem<br> + As a bard), will prove me wise,<br> + In that, of the double prize<br> + Sent by Hermes from the sea, I've<br> + Sold the song and kept the bee-hive.</p> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<br><br> +<p><a name="6"></a> </p> +<h3>WRESTLERS.</h3> +<br> + +<p> +As Boutigo's Van (officially styled the "Vivid") slackened its +already inconsiderable pace at the top of the street, to slide +precipitately down into Troy upon a heated skid, the one outside +passenger began to stare about him with the air of a man who compares +present impressions with old memories. His eyes travelled down the +inclined plane of slate roofs, glistening in a bright interval +between two showers, to the masts which rocked slowly by the quays, +and from thence to the silver bar of sea beyond the harbour's mouth, +where the outline of Battery Point wavered unsteadily in the dazzle +of sky and water. He sniffed the fragrance of pilchards cooking and +the fumes of pitch blown from the ship-builders' yards; and scanned +with some curiosity the men and women who drew aside into doorways to +let the van pass.</p> + +<p>He was a powerfully made man of about sixty-five, with a solemn, +hard-set face. The upper lip was clean-shaven and the chin decorated +with a square, grizzled beard—a mode of wearing the hair that gave +prominence to the ugly lines of the mouth. He wore a Sunday-best +suit and a silk hat. He carried a blue band-box on his knees, and +his enormous hands were spread over the cover. Boutigo, who held the +reins beside him, seemed, in comparison with this mighty passenger, +but a trivial accessory of his own vehicle.</p> + +<p>"Where did you say William Dendle lives?" asked the big man, as the +van swung round a sharp corner and came to a halt under the signboard +of "The Lugger."</p> + +<p>"Straight on for maybe quarter of a mile—turn down a court to the +right, facin' the toll-house. You'll see his sign, 'W. Dendle, Block +and Pump Manufacturer.' There's a flight o' steps leadin' 'ee slap +into his workshop."</p> + +<p>The passenger set his band-box down on the cobbles between his ankles +and counted out the fare.</p> + +<p>"I'll be goin' back to-night. Is there any reduction on a return +journey?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir; 'tisn' the rule, an' us can't begin to cheapen the fee wi' +a man o' your inches."</p> + +<p>The stranger apparently disliked levity. He stared at Boutigo, +picked up his band-box, and strode down the street without more +words.</p> + +<p> +By the red and yellow board opposite the tollhouse he paused for a +moment or two in the sunshine, as if to rehearse the speech with +which he meant to open his business. A woman passed him with a child +in her arms, and turned her head to stare. The stranger looked up +and caught her eye.</p> + +<p>"That's Dendle's shop down the steps," she said, somewhat confused at +being caught.</p> + +<p>"Thank you: I know."</p> + +<p>He turned in at the doorway and began to descend. The noise of +persistent hammering echoed within the workshop at his feet. + A workman came out into the yard, carrying a plank.</p> + +<p>"Is William Dendle here?"</p> + +<p>The man looked up and pointed at the quay-door, which stood open, +with threads of light wavering over its surface. Beyond it, against +an oblong of green water, rocked a small yacht's mast.</p> + +<p>"He's down on the yacht there. Shall I say you want en?"</p> + +<p>"No." The stranger stepped to the quay-door and looked down the +ladder. On the deck below him stood a man about his own age and +proportions, fitting a block. His flannel shirt hung loosely about a +magnificent pair of shoulders, and was tucked up at the sleeves, +about the bulge of his huge forearms. He wore no cap, and as he +stooped the light wind puffed back his hair, which was grey and fine.</p> + +<p>"Hi, there—William Dendle!"</p> + +<p>"Hullo!" The man looked up quickly.</p> + +<p>"Can you spare a word? Don't trouble to come up—I'll climb down to +you."</p> + +<p>He went down the ladder carefully, hugging the band-box in his left +arm.</p> + +<p>"You disremember me, I dessay," he began, as he stood on the yacht's +deck.</p> + +<p>"Well, I do, to be sure. Oughtn't to, though, come to look on your +size."</p> + +<p>"Samuel Badgery's my name. You an' me had a hitch to wrestlin', +once, over to Tregarrick feast."</p> + +<p>"Why, o' course. I mind your features now, though 'tis forty years +since. We was standards there an' met i' the last round, an' I got +the wust o't. Terrible hard you pitched me, to be sure: but your +sweetheart was a-watchin' 'ee—hey?—wi' her blue eyes."</p> + +<p>Samuel Badgery sat down on deck, with a leg on either side of the +band-box.</p> + +<p>"Iss: she was there, as you say. An' she married me that day month. +How do you know her eyes were blue?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I dunno. Young men takes notice o' these trifles."</p> + +<p>"She died last week."</p> + +<p>"Indeed? Pore soul!"</p> + +<p>"An' she left you this by her will. 'Twas hers to leave, for I gave +it to her, mysel', when that day's wrestlin' was over."</p> + +<p>He removed the lid of the band-box and pulled out two parcels wrapped +in a pile of tissue-paper. After removing sheet upon sheet of this +paper he held up two glittering objects in the sunshine. The one was +a silver mug: the other a leather belt with an elaborate silver +buckle.</p> + +<p>William Dendle wore a puzzled and somewhat uneasy look.</p> + +<p>"I reckon she saw how disapp'inted I was that day," he said. After a +pause he added, "Women brood over such things, I b'lieve: for years, +I'm told. 'Tis their unsearchable natur'."</p> + +<p>"William Dendle, I wish you'd speak truth."</p> + +<p>"What have I said that's false?"</p> + +<p>"Nuthin': an' you've said nuthin' that's true. I charge 'ee to tell +me the facts about that hitch of our'n."</p> + +<p>"You're a hard man, Sam Badgery. I hope, though, you've been soft to +your wife. I mind—if you <i>must</i> have the tale—how you played very +rough that day. There was a slim young chap—Nathan Oke, his name +was—that stood up to you i' the second round. He wasn' ha'f your +match: you might ha' pitched en flat-handed. An' yet you must needs +give en the 'flyin' mare.' Your maid's face turned lily-white as he +dropped. Two of his ribs went <i>cr-rk!</i> and his collar-bone—you +could hear it right across the ring. I looked at her—she was close +beside me—an' saw the tears come: that's how I know the colour of +her eyes. Then there was that small blacksmith—you dropped en slap +on the tail of his spine. I wondered if you knew the mortal pain o' +bein' flung that way, an' I swore to mysel' that if we met i' the +last round, you should taste it.</p> + +<p>"Well, we met, as you know. When I was stripped, an' the folks made +way for me to step into the ring, I saw her face again. 'Twas whiter +than ever, an' her eyes went over me in a kind o' terror. I reckon +it dawned on her that I might hurt you: but I didn' pay her much heed +at the time, for I lusted after the prize, an' I got savage. You was +standin' ready for me, wi' the sticklers about you, an' I looked you +up an' down—a brave figure of a man. You'd longer arms than me, an' +two inches to spare in height; prettier shoulders, too, I'd never +clapp'd eyes on. But I guessed myself a trifle the deeper, an' a +trifle the cleaner i' the matter o' loins an' quarters: an' I +promised that I'd outlast 'ee.</p> + +<p>"You got the sun an' the best hitch, an' after a rough an' tumble +piece o' work, we went down togither, you remember—no fair back. +The second hitch was just about equal; an' I gripped up the sackin' +round your shoulders, an' creamed it into the back o' your neck, an' +held you off, an' meant to keep you off till you was weak. Ten good +minnits I laboured with 'ee by the stickler's watch, an' you heaved +an' levered in vain, till I heard your breath alter its pace, an' +felt the strength tricklin' out o' you, an' knew 'ee for a done man. +'Now,' thinks I, 'half a minnit more, an' you shall learn how the +blacksmith felt.' I glanced up over your shoulder for a moment at the +folks i' the ring: an' who should my eye light on but your girl?</p> + +<p>"I hadn't got a sweetheart then, an' I've never had one since—never +saw another woman who could ha' looked what she looked. I was +condemned a single man there on the spot: an', what's more, I was +condemned to lose the belt. There was that 'pon her face that no man +is good enow to cause; an' there was suthin I wanted to see instead— +just for a moment—that I could ha' given forty silver mugs to fetch +up.</p> + +<p>"An' I looked at her over your shoulders wi' a kind o' question i' my +face, an' I <i>did</i> fetch it up. The next moment, you had your chance +and cast me flat. When I came round—for you were always an ugly +player, Sam Badgery—an' the folks was consolin' me, I gave a look in +her direction: but she had no eyes for me at all. She was usin' all +her dear deceit to make 'ee think you was a hero. So home I went, +an' never set eyes 'pon her agen. That's the tale; an' I didn't want +to tell it. But we'm old gaffers both by this time, an' I couldn' +make this here belt meet round my middle, if I wanted to."</p> + +<p>Sam Badgery straightened his upper lip.</p> + +<p>"No. I got a call from the Lord a year after we was married, and +gave up wrestlin'. My poor wife found grace about the same time, an' +since then we've been preachers of the Word togither for nigh on +forty years. If our work had lain in Cornwall, I'd have sought you +out an' wrestled with you again—not in the flesh, but in the spirit. +Man, I'd have shown you the Kingdom of Heaven!"</p> + +<p>"Thank 'ee," answered Dendle; "but I got a glimpse o't once—from +your wife."</p> + +<p>The other stared, failing to understand this speech. What puzzled +him always annoyed him. He set down the cup and belt on the yacht's +deck, shook hands abruptly, and hurried back to the inn, where +already Boutigo was harnessing for the return journey.</p> + + +<br><br> +<p><a name="7"></a> </p> +<h3>THE BISHOP OF EUCALYPTUS.</h3> +<br> + +<h4>A DOCTOR'S STORY.</h4> + +<p>"<i>O toiling hands of mortals! O unwearied feet, travelling ye know +not whither! Soon, soon, it seems to you, you must come forth on +some conspicuous hill-top, and but a little way further, against the +setting sun, descry the spires of El Dorado. Little do ye know your +own blessedness; for to travel hopefully is a better thing than to +arrive, and the true success is to labour</i>."—R. L. Stevenson.</p> + +<p>"Eucalyptus lies on the eastern slope of the Rockies. It will be +fourteen years back this autumn that the coach dropped me there, +somewhere about nine in the evening, and Hewson, who was waiting, +took me straight to his red-pine house, high up among the foot-hills. +The front of it hung over the edge of a waterfall, down which Hewson +sent his logs with a pleasing certainty of their reaching Eucalyptus +sooner or later; and right at the back the pines climbed away up to +the snow-line. You remember the story of Daniel O'Rourke; how an +eagle carried him up to the moon, and how he found it as smooth as an +egg-plum, with just a reaping-hook sticking out of its side to grip +hold of? Hewson's veranda reminded me of that reaping-hook; and, as +a matter of fact, the cliff was so deeply undercut that a plummet, if +it could be let through between your heels, would drop clean into the +basin below the fall.</p> + +<p>"The house was none of Hewson's building. Hewson was a bachelor, and +could have made shift with a two-roomed cabin for himself and his +men. He had taken the place over from a New Englander, who had made +his pile by running the lumbering business up here and a saw-mill +down in the valley at the same time. The place seemed dog-cheap at +the time; but after a while it began to dawn upon Hewson that the +Yankee had the better of the deal. Eucalyptus had not come up to +early promise. In fact, it was slipping back and down the hill with +a run. Already five out of its seven big saw-mills were idle and +rotting. Its original architect had sunk to a blue-faced and +lachrymose bar-loafer, and the roll of plans which he carried about +with him—with their unrealised boulevards, churches, municipal +buildings, and band-kiosks—had passed into a dismal standing joke. +Hewson was even now deliberating whether to throw up the game or toss +good money after bad by buying up a saw-mill and running it as his +predecessor had done.</p> + +<p>"'It's like a curse,' he explained to me at breakfast next morning. +'The place is afflicted like one of those unfortunate South Sea +potentates, who flourish up to the age of fourteen and then cypher +out, and not a soul to know why. First of all, there's the +lumbering. Well, here's the timber all right; only Bellefont, +farther down the valley, has cut us out. Then we had the cinnabar +mines—you may see them along the slope to northward, right over the +west end of the town. They went well for about sixteen months; and +then came the stampede. A joker in the <i>Bellefont Sentinel</i> wrote +that the miners up in Eucalyptus were complaining of the +'insufficiency of exits'; and he wasn't far out. Last there were the +'Temperate Airs and Reinvigorating Pine-odours of America's Peerless +Sanatorium. <i>Come and behold: Come and be healed!</i>' The promoters +billed that last cursed jingle up and down the States till as far +south as Mexico it became the pet formula for an invitation to drink. +Well, for three years we averaged something like a couple of hundred +invalids, and doctors in fair proportion; and I never heard that +either did badly. It was an error of judgment, perhaps, to start our +municipal works with a costly Necropolis, or rather the gateway of +one; two marble pillars, if you please—the only stonework in +Eucalyptus to this day—with 'Campo' on one side and 'Santo' on the +other. No healthy-minded person would be scared by this. But the +invalids complained that we'd made the feature too salient; and the +architect has gone ever since by the name of 'Huz-and-Buz,' bestowed +on him by some wag who meant 'Jachin and Boaz,' but hadn't Scripture +enough to know it. Anyhow the temperate airs and pine-odours are a +frost. There's nobody, I fancy, living at Eucalyptus just now for +the benefit of his health, and I believe that at this moment you're +the only doctor within twenty miles of the place.'</p> + +<p>"'Well,' said I, 'I'll step down this morning anyway, and take a +look.'</p> + +<p>"'You can saddle the brown horse whenever you like. You were too +sleepy to take note of it last night, but you came up here by a track +fit for a lady's pony-carriage. My predecessor engineered it to +connect his two places of business. In its way, it's the most +palatial thing in the Rockies—two long legs with a short tack +between, gentle all the way—and it brings you out by the Necropolis +gate. You can hitch the horse up there.'"</p> + +<p> +"By ten o'clock I had saddled the brown horse, and was walking him +down the track at an easy pace. Hewson had omitted to praise its +beauty. Pine-needles lay underfoot as thick and soft as a Persian +carpet; and what with the pine-tops arching and almost meeting +overhead, and the red trunks raying out left and right into aisles as +I went by, and the shafts of light breaking the greenish gloom here +and there with glimpses of aching white snowfields high above, 'twas +like walking in a big cathedral with bits of the real heaven shining +through the roof. The river ran west for a while from Cornice House, +and then tacked north-east with a sudden bend round the base of the +foot-hills; and since my track formed a sort of rough hypotenuse to +this angle, I heard the voice of the rapids die away and almost +cease, and then begin again to whisper and murmur, until, as I came +within a mile or so of Eucalyptus, they were loud at my feet, though +still unseen. I am not a devout man, but I can take off my hat now +and then; and all the way that morning a couple of sentences were +ring-dinging in my head: 'Lift up your hearts! We lift them up unto +the Lord!' You know where they come from, I dare say.</p> + +<p>"By and by the track took a sharp and steep trend down hill, then a +curve; the trees on my right seemed to drop away; and we found +ourselves on the edge of a steep bluff overhanging the valley, the +whole eastern slope of which broke full into sight in that instant, +from the river tumbling below—by sticking out a leg I could see it +shining through my stirrup—to the rocky <i>aretes</i> and smoothed-out +snowfields round the peaks. It made a big spectacle, and I suppose I +must have stared at it till my eyes were dazzled, for, on turning +again to follow the track, which at once dived among the pines and +into the dusk again, I did not observe, until quite close upon her, a +woman coming towards me.</p> + +<p>"And yet she was not rigged out to escape notice. She had on a +scarlet Garibaldi, a striped red-and-white skirt, bunched up behind +into an immense polonaise, and high-heeled shoes that tilted her far +forward. She wore no hat, but carried a scarlet sunshade over her +shoulder. Her hair, in a towsled chignon, was golden, or rather had +been dyed to that colour; her face was painted; and she was glaringly +drunk.</p> + +<p>"This sudden apparition shook me down with a jerk; and I suppose the +sight of me had something of the same effect on the woman, who +staggered to the side of the track, and, plumping down amid her +flounces, beckoned me feebly with her sunshade. I pulled up, and +asked what I could do for her.</p> + +<p>"'You're the doctor?' she said slowly, with a tight hold on her +pronunciation.</p> + +<p>"'That's so.'</p> + +<p>"'From Cornice House?'</p> + +<p>"I nodded.</p> + +<p>"She nodded back. 'That's so. Oh, dear, dear! <i>you</i> said that. +I can't help it. I'm drunk, and it's no use pretending!'</p> + +<p>"She fell to wringing her hands, and the tears began to run from her +bistred eyes.</p> + +<p>"'Now, see here, Mrs.—Miss—'</p> + +<p>"'Floncemorency.'</p> + +<p>"'Miss Florence Montmorency?' I hazarded as a translation.</p> + +<p>"'That's so. Formerly of the Haughty Coal.'</p> + +<p>"'I beg your pardon? Ah!… of the Haute Ecole?'</p> + +<p>"'That's so: '<i>questrienne</i>.'</p> + +<p>"'Well, you'll take my advice, and return home at once and put +yourself to bed.'</p> + +<p>"'Don't you worry about me. It's the Bishop you've got to prescribe +for. I allowed I'd reach Cornice House and fetch you down, if it +took my last breath. Pete Stroebel at the drug store told me this +morning that Mr. Hewson had a doctor come to stop with him, so I +started right along.' + +"'And how far did you calculate to reach in those shoes?'</p> + +<p>"'I didn't calculate at all; I just started along. If the shoes had +hurt, I'd have kicked them off and gone without, or maybe crawled.'</p> + +<p>"'Very good,' said I. 'Now, before we go any farther, will you +kindly tell me who the Bishop is?'</p> + +<p>"'He's a young man, and he boards with me. See here, mister,' she +went on, pulling herself together and speaking low and earnest, 'he's +good; he's good right through: you've got to make up your mind to +that. And he's powerful sick. But what you've got to lay hold of is +that he's good. The house is No. 67, West fifteenth Street, which +is pretty easy to find, seeing it's the only street in Eucalyptus. +The rest haven't got beyond paper, and old Huz-and-Buz totes them +round in his pocket, which isn't good for their growth.'</p> + +<p>"'Won't you take me there?'</p> + +<p>"'Not to-day. I guess I've got to sit here till I feel better. +Another thing is, you'll be doing me a kindness if you don't let on +to the Bishop that you found me in this—this state. He never saw me +like this: he's good, I tell you. And he'd be sick and sorry if he +knew. I'm just mad with myself, too; but I swear I never meant to be +like this to-day. I just took a dose to fix me up for the journey; +but ever since I've been holding off from the whisky the least drop +gets into my walk. You didn't happen to notice a spring anywhere +hereabouts, did you? There used to be one that ran right across the +track.'</p> + +<p>"'I passed it about a hundred yards back.'</p> + +<p>"I dismounted and led her to the spring, where she knelt and bathed +her face in the water, cold from the melting snowfields above. +Then she pulled out a small handkerchief, edged with cheap lace, and +fell to dabbing her eyes.</p> + +<p>"'Hullo!' she cried, breaking off sharply.</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' I answered, 'you had forgotten that. But another wash will +take it all off, and, if you'll forgive my saying so, you won't look +any the worse. After that you shall soak my handkerchief and bandage +it round your forehead till you feel better. Here, let me help.'</p> + +<p>"'Thank you,' she said, as I tied the knot. 'And now hurry along, +please. Sixty-seven, West Fifteenth Street. I'll be waiting here +with your handkerchief.'</p> + +<p>"I mounted and rode on. At the end of half a mile the track began to +dip more steeply, and finally emerged by a big clearing and the two +marble pillars of which Hewson had spoken; and here I tethered the +brown horse, and had a look around before walking down into +Eucalyptus. Within the clearing a few groups of Norfolk pines had +been left to stand, and between these were burial lots marked out and +numbered, with here and there a painted wooden cross; but the +inhabitants of this acre were few enough. Behind and above the +'Necropolis' the hill rose steeply; and there, high up, were traces +of the disused cinnabar mines—patches of orange-coloured earth +thrusting out among the pines.</p> + +<p>"The road below the cemetery ran abruptly down for a bit, then heaved +itself over a green knoll and descended upon what I may call a very +big and flat meadow beside the river. It was here that Eucalyptus +stood; and from the knoll, which was really the beginning of the +town, I had my first good view of it—one long street of low wooden +houses running eastward to the river's brink, where a few decayed +mills and wharves straggled to north and south—a T, or headless +cross, will give you roughly the shape of the settlement. From the +knoll you looked straight along the main street; with a field-gun you +could have swept it clean from end to end, and, what's more, you +wouldn't have hurt a soul. The place was dead empty—not so much as +a cur to sit on the sidewalk—and the only hint of life was the +laughing and banjo-playing indoors. You could hear that plain +enough. Every second house in the place was a saloon, and every +saloon seemed to have a billiard-table and a banjo player. I never +heard anything like it. I should say, if you divided the population +into four parts, that two of these were playing billiards, one +tum-tumming 'Hey, Juliana' on the banjo, and the remaining fourth +looking on and drinking whisky, and occasionally taking part in the +chorus. All the way down the sidewalk I had these two sounds—the +<i>click, click</i> of the balls and the <i>thrum, thrum, tinkle, tinkle</i> of +'Juliana'—ahead of me; and left silence in my wake, as the +inhabitants dropped their occupations and sauntered out to stare at +'the Last Invalid,' which was the name promptly coined for me by the +disheartened but still humorous promoters of America's Peerless +Sanatorium.</p> + +<p>"You don't know 'Juliana'—neither tune nor words? Nor did I when I +set foot in Eucalyptus; but I lived on pretty close terms with it for +the next two months, and it ended by clearing me out of the +neighbourhood. It was a sort of nigger camp-meeting song, and a +hybrid at that. It went something like this:"</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<p class = "noindent">'O, de lost ell-an'-yard is a-huntin' fer de morn'—</p> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>The lost ell-and-yard is Orion's sword and belt, +I may tell you—</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<p class = "noindent"><span class = "ind2">'Hey, Juliana, Juli-he-hi-holy!</span><br> + An' my soul's done sicken fer de Hallelujah horn,<br> +<span class = "ind2">Hey, Juliana, Juli-he-hi-ho!</span><br> +<span class = "ind4">Was it weary there,</span><br> +<span class = "ind4">In de wilderness?</span><br> + Was it weary-y-y, 'way down in Goshen?<br><br> + + 'O, de children shibber by de Jordan's flow—<br> +<span class = "ind2">Hey, Juliana, Juli-he-hi-holy!</span><br> + An' it's time fer Gaberl to shake hisself an' blow,<br> +<span class = "ind2">Hey, Juliana, Juli-he-hi-ho!</span><br> +<span class = "ind4">For it's weary here</span><br> +<span class = "ind4">In de wilderness;</span><br> + Oh, it's weary-y-y, 'way down in Goshen!'</p> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>That was the sort of stuff, and it had any number of verses. +I never heard the end of them. Also there were variants—most of +them unfit for publication. The tune had swept up the valley like an +epidemic disease: and, after a while, it astonished no dweller in +Eucalyptus to find his waking thoughts and his whole daily converse +jigging to it. But the new-comer was naturally a bit startled to +hear the same strain put up from a score of houses as he walked down +the street.</p> + +<p>"I found the house, No. 67, easily; and knocked. It looked neat +enough, with a fence in front and some pots of flowers in a little +balcony over the porch, and clean muslin curtains to the windows. +The fence and house-front were painted a bright blue, but not +entirely; for here and there appeared patches of green daubed over +the blue, much as if a child had been around experimenting with a +paint-pot.</p> + +<p>"'Open the door and come upstairs, please,' said an English voice +right overhead. And, looking up, I saw a slim young man in a +minister's black suit standing among the flower-pots and smiling down +at me. I saw, of course, that this must be my patient; and I knew +his complaint too. Even at that distance anyone could see he was +pretty far gone in consumption.</p> + +<p>"As I climbed the stairs he came in from the porch and met me on +the landing, at the door of Miss Montmorency's best parlour— +a spick-and-span apartment containing a cottage piano, some gilded +furniture of the Second Empire fashion, a gaudy lithograph or two, +and a carpet that had to be seen to be believed.</p> + +<p>"'I had better explain,' said I, 'that this is a professional visit. +I met Miss Montmorency just outside the town, and have her orders to +call. I am a medical man.'</p> + +<p>"Still smiling pleasantly, he took my hand and shook it.</p> + +<p>"'Miss Montmorency is so very thoughtful,' he said; then, touching +his chest lightly, 'It's true I have some trouble here— +constitutional, I'm afraid; but I have suffered from it, more or +less, ever since I was fourteen, and it doesn't frighten me. +There is really no call for your kind offices; nothing beyond a +general weakness, which has detained me here in Eucalyptus longer +than I intended. But Miss Montmorency, seeing my impatience, has +jumped to the belief that I am seriously ill.' Here he smiled again. +'She is the soul of kindness,' he added.</p> + +<p>"I looked into his prominent and rather nervous eyes. They were as +innocent as a child's. Of course there was nothing unusual in his +hopefulness, which is common enough in cases of phthisis— +symptomatic, in fact; and, of course, I did not discourage him.</p> + +<p>"'You have work waiting for you? Some definite post?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"He answered with remarkable dignity; he looked a mere boy too.</p> + +<p>"'I am a minister of the gospel, as you guess by my coat: to be +precise, a Congregational minister. At least, I passed through a +Congregational training college in England. But nice distinctions of +doctrine will be of little moment in the work before me. No, I have +no definite post awaiting me—that is, I have not received a call +from any particular congregation, nor do I expect one. The harvest +is over there, across the mountains; and the labourers are never too +many.'</p> + +<p>"It was singular in my experience; but this young man contrived to +speak like a book without being at all offensive.</p> + +<p>"'I was sent out to America,' he went on, 'mainly for my health's +sake; and the voyage did wonders for me. Of course I picked up a lot +of information on the way and in New York. It was there I first +heard of the awful wickedness of the Pacific Slope, the utter, +abandoned godlessness of the mining camps throughout the golden and +silver states. I had letters of introduction to one or two New +England families—sober, religious people—and the stories they told +of the Far West were simply appalling. It was then that my call came +to me. It came one night—But all this has nothing to do with my +health.'</p> + +<p>"'It interests me,' said I.</p> + +<p>"'It does one good to talk, if you're sure you mean that,' he went +on, with a happy laugh. Then, with sudden gravity: 'It came one +night—the clear voice of God calling me. I was asleep; but it woke +me, and I sat up in bed with the voice still ringing in my ears like +a bugle calling. I knew from that moment that my work lay out West. +I saw that my very illness had been, in God's hands, a means to lead +me nearer to it. As soon as ever I was strong enough, I started; and +you may think me fanciful, sir, but I can tell you that, as sure as I +sit here, every step of the way has been smoothed for me by the +Divine hand. The people have been so kind all the way (for I am a +poor man); and I have other signs—other assurances—'</p> + +<p>"He broke off, hesitated, and resumed his sentence at the beginning:</p> + +<p>"'The people have been so kind. I think the Americans must be the +kindest people in the world; and good too. I cannot believe that all +the wickedness they talk of out yonder can come from anything but +ignorance of the Word. I am certain it cannot. And that encourages +me mightily. Why, down in Bellefont they told me that Eucalyptus +here was a little nest of iniquity; they spoke of it as of some City +of the Plain. And what have I found? Well, the people are indeed as +sheep without a shepherd; and who can wonder, seeing that there is +not a single House of Prayer kept open in the municipality? There is +a great deal of coarse levity, and even profanity of speech, and, I +fear, much immoderate drinking; but these are the effects of +blindness rather than of wickedness. From the heavier sins—from +what I may call actual, conscious vice—Eucalyptus is singularly +free. Miss Montmorency, indeed, tells me that in her experience +(which, of course, is that of a single lady, and therefore +restricted) the moral tone of the town is surprisingly healthy. +You understand that I give her judgment no more than its due weight. +Still, Miss Montmorency has lived here three years; and for a single +lady (and, I may add, the only lady in the place) to pass three years +in it entirely unmolested—'</p> + +<p>"This was too much; and I interrupted him almost at random—</p> + +<p>"'You remind me of the purpose of my call. I hope, if only to +satisfy Miss Montmorency, you won't mind my sounding your chest and +putting a few questions to you.'</p> + +<p>"Seeing that I had already pulled out my stethoscope, he gave way, +feebly protesting that it was not worth my trouble. The examination +merely assured me of that which I knew already—that this young man's +days were numbered, and the numbers growing small. I need not say I +kept this to myself.</p> + +<p>"'You must let me call again to-morrow,' said I. 'I've a small +medicine chest up at the Cornice House, and you want a tonic badly.'</p> + +<p>"Upon this he began, with a confused look and a slight stammer: +'Do you know—I'm afraid you will think it rude, but I didn't mean it +for rudeness—really. Your visit has given me great pleasure—'</p> + +<p>"It flashed on me that he had called himself 'a poor man.'</p> + +<p>"'I wasn't proposing to doctor you,' I put in; and it was a shameless +lie. 'You may take the tonic or not; it won't do much harm, anyway. +But a gentle walk every day among the pines here—the very gentlest, +nothing to overtax your strength—will do more for you than any +drugs. But if you will let me call, pretty often, and have a talk— +I'm an Englishman, you know, and an English voice is good to hear—'</p> + +<p>"His face lit up at once. 'Ah, if you would!' said he; and we shook +hands."</p> + +<p> +"As I closed the front door and stepped out upon the sidewalk, a tall +man lounged across to me from the doorway of a saloon across the +road—a lumberer, by his dress. He wore a large soft hat, a striped +flannel shirt open at the neck, a broad leathern belt, and muddy +trousers tucked into muddy wading-boots. His appearance was +picturesque enough without help from his dress. He had a mighty +length of arm and breadth of shoulders; a handsome, but thin and +almost delicately fair, face, with blue eyes, and a surprisingly +well-kept beard. The colour of this beard and of his hair—which he +wore pretty long—was a light auburn. Just now the folds of his +raiment were full of moist sawdust; and as he came he brought the +scent of the pine-woods with him.</p> + +<p>"'How's the Bishop?' asked this giant, jerking his head towards the +little balcony of No. 67.</p> + +<p>"Before I could hit on a discreet answer, he followed the question up +with another:</p> + +<p>"'What'll you take?'</p> + +<p>"I saw that he had something to say, and allowed him to lead the way +to a saloon a little way down the road. 'Simpson's Pioneers' +Symposium' was the legend above the door. A small, pimply-faced man +in seedy black—whom I guessed at once, and correctly, to be +'Huz-and-Buz'—lounged by the bar inside; and across the counter the +bar-keeper had his banjo slung, and was gently strumming the +accompaniment of 'Hey, Juliana!'</p> + +<p>"'Put that down,' commanded my new acquaintance; and then, turning to +Huz-and-Buz, 'Git!'</p> + +<p>"The architect raised the brim of his hat to me, bowed servilely, and +left.</p> + +<p>"'Short or long?'</p> + +<p>"I said I would take a short drink.</p> + +<p>"'A brandy sour?'</p> + +<p>"'A 'brandy sour' will suit me.'</p> + +<p>"He kept his eye for a moment on the bar-tender, who began to bustle +around with the bottles and glasses; then turned upon me.</p> + +<p>"'Now, then.'</p> + +<p>"'About the Bishop, as you call him?'</p> + +<p>"He nodded.</p> + +<p>"'Well, you're not to tell him so; but he's going to die.'</p> + +<p>"'Quick?'</p> + +<p>"'I think so.'</p> + +<p>"He nodded. 'I knew that,' he said, and was silent for a minute; +then resumed, 'No; he won't be told. We take an interest in that +young man.'</p> + +<p>"'Meaning by 'we'?'</p> + +<p>"'The citizens of Eucalyptus as a body. My name's William Anderson: +Captain Bill they call me. I was one of the first settlers in +Eucalyptus. I've seen it high, and I've seen it low. And I'm going +to be the last man to quit; that's the captain's place. And when I +say this or that is public opinion in Eucalyptus, it's got to be. +I drink to your health, Doctor.'</p> + +<p>"'Thank you,' said I. 'Then I may count on your silence? The poor +chap is so powerfully set on crossing the Rockies and getting to +close quarters with some real wickedness, that to tell him the truth +might shorten the few days he has left.'</p> + +<p>"Captain Bill smiled grimly.</p> + +<p>"'Wickedness? Lord love you! <i>He</i> couldn't see any. He'd go through +'Frisco, and out at the far end, without so much as guessing the +place had a seamy side to it. His innocence,' pursued the captain, +'is unusual. I guess that's why we're taking so much care of him. +But I must say you've been spry.'</p> + +<p>"'Upon my word, I can't at this moment make head or tail of the +business. I met Miss Montmorency on the road—'</p> + +<p>"'I guess she was looking like a Montmorency, too. Flyheel Flo is +her name hereabouts; alluding to her former profession of +circus-rider. Perhaps I'd better put the facts straight for you.'</p> + +<p>"'I wish you would.'</p> + +<p>"'Well, it'll be about two months back that the Bishop came to +Eucalyptus. We were most of us here in Simpson's bar when the coach +drove up at nine o'clock—same time as it dropped you last night—and +we loafed out to have a look. There was only one passenger got down; +and he seemed of no account—a weedy-looking youngster with a small +valise—looked like he might have come to be bartender to one of the +small saloons. It was dark out there, you understand: nothing to see +by but the lamps of the coach and the light of the doorway; besides +which the fellow was pretty well muffled up in a heavy coat and +wraps. Anyway he didn't seem worth a second look; so when the coach +moved on we just sauntered back here, and I don't reckon there was a +man in the room knew he'd followed us till he lifted up that reedy +voice of his. 'Gentlemen,' he piped out, 'would some one of you be +kind enough to direct me to a nice, comfortable lodging?' +Old Huz-and-Buz was drinking here with his back to the door. +'Great Caesar's ghost!' he called out, dropping his glass, 'what 'n +thunder's that?' 'Gentlemen,' pipes up the young man again, 'I am a +stranger, this moment arrived by the coach; and it would be a real +kindness to direct me to a comfortable lodging." By this time he'd +unwound the muffler about his neck and unbuttoned his outer wraps +generally, and we saw he was rigged out in genuine sky-pilot's +uniform. We hadn't seen one of that profession in Eucalyptus for +more'n two years. 'I'm afraid, your reverence,' says one of the +boys, mimicking the poor lad's talk, 'I'm afraid the accommodation of +this camp will hardly reach up to your style. I guess what <i>you</i> +want is a cosy little nook with a brass knocker and a nice motherly +woman to look after you. You oughter have sent the municipality word +you was coming.' 'Thank you,' answers the poor boy, as serious as +can be; 'of course I shall be glad of such comforts, but I assure you +they are not indispensable. I'm an old campaigner,' he says, drawing +himself up to his poor little height and smiling proud-like. I tell +you, that knocked the wind out of our sails. It was too big to laugh +at. We just stuck for half a minute and looked at him, till the +mischief put it into old Huz-and-Buz's head to cackle out, +'Better send him right along to Flyheel Flo!' This put up a laugh, +and I saw in half a minute that the proposition had caught on. +It struck me as sort of funny, too, at the time. So I steps forward +and says, 'I know a lady who'd likely take you in and fix you up +comfortable. This kind of thing ain't exactly in her line; but no +doubt she'll put herself out to oblige a minister, specially if you +take her a letter of introduction from me. Miss Florence +Montmorency's her name, and she lives at No. 67 along the street +here. Here, pass along the ink-bottle and a pen,' I says (for, +barring Huz-and-Buz, I was about the only sinner present that hadn't +forgotten how to spell); and inside of five minutes I'd fixed up the +letter to Flo, and a dandy document it was! He took it and thanked +me like as if it was a school prize; and I guess 'twas then it began +to break in on me that we'd been playing it pretty low on the +innocent. However, Pete caught up his valise, and two or three of us +saw him along to Flo's door, and waited out on the sidewalk while he +knocked. At the second knock Flo came down and let him in. I saw +him lift his hat, and heard him begin with 'I believe I am addressing +Miss Montmorency'; and what Flo was making ready to say in answer I'd +give a dollar at this moment to know. But she looked over his +shoulder, and with the tail of her eye glimpsed us outside, and +wasn't going to show her hand before the boys. So quick as thought +she pulls the youngster in, with his valise, and shuts the door.</p> + +<p>"'Well, <i>sir</i>, we cooled our heels outside there for a spell, but +nothing occurred. So at last we made tracks back here to the saloon, +owning to ourselves that Flo didn't need to be taught how to receive +a surprise party. 'But,' says I, 'you'll have the minister back here +before long; and I anticipate he'll ask questions.' I'd hardly said +the words before the door flung open behind me. It wasn't the +youngster, though, but Flo herself; and a flaming rage she was in. +'See here, boys,' she begins, 'this is a dirty game, and you'd better +be ashamed of yourselves! I'm ashamed of you, Bill, anyway,' she +says, tossing me back my letter; and then, turning short round on +Huz-and-Buz, 'If old Iniquity, here, started the racket, it's nateral +to him: he had a decent woman once for his wife, <i>and beat her</i>. +But there's others of you oughter know that your same reasons for +thinking light of a woman are reasons against driving the joke too +hard.' 'You're right, Flo,' says I, 'and I beg your pardon.' +'I dunno that I'll grant it,' she says. 'Lord knows,' she says, +'It ain't for any of us here to be heaving dirt at each other; but I +will say you oughter be feeling mean, the way you've served that +young man. Why, boys,' she says, opening her eyes wide, like as if +'twas a thing unheard of, 'he's <i>good</i>! And oh, boys, he's sick, +too!' 'Is he so?' I says; 'I feel cheap.' 'You oughter,' says she. +'What's to be done?' says I. 'Well, the first thing,' she says, +'that you've got to do is to come right along and paint my fence'; +then, seeing I looked a bit puzzled—'Some of you boys have taken the +liberty to write up some pretty free compliments about my premises; +and as the most of you was born before spelling-bees came in fashion, +I don't want my new boarder to come down to-morrow and form his own +opinion about your education.' Well, sir, we went off in a party and +knocked up old Peter, and got a pot of paint, and titivated No. 67 by +the light of a couple of lanterns; and the Bishop—as we came to call +him—sleeping the sleep of the just upstairs all the time. +<i>Un</i>fortunately, Peter had made a mistake and given us green paint +instead of blue, and by that light none of us could tell the +difference; so I guess the Bishop next morning allowed that Miss +Montmorency had ideas of her own on 'mural decoration,' as +Huz-and-Buz calls it. When we got the job fixed, Flo steps inside +the gate, and says she, looking over it, 'Boys, I'm grateful. +And now I'm going to play a lone hand, and I look to you not to +interfere. Good night.' From that day to this, sir, she's kept +straight, and held off the drink in a manner you wouldn't credit. +The Bishop, he thinks her an angel on earth; and to see them +promenading down the sidewalk arm-in-arm of an afternoon is as good +as a dime exhibition. I'm bound to own the boys act up. You wait +till you see her pass, and the way the hats fly off. Old Huz-and-Buz +came pretty near to getting lynched the first week, for playing the +smarty and drawling out as they went by, 'Miss Montmorency, I +believe?' to imitate the way in which the Bishop introduced himself. +I guess he won't be humorous again for a considerable spell. +And now, Doctor, I hope I've put the facts straight for you?'</p> + +<p>"'You have,' I answered, draining my glass; 'and they do several +people credit.'</p> + +<p>"'Wait a bit. You haven't heard what I'm coming to. That young man +is poor.'</p> + +<p>"'So I gather.'</p> + +<p>"'And I'm speaking now in the name of the boys. There was a meeting +held just now, while you were dropping your card on the Bishop; and +I'm to tell you, as deputy, that trouble ain't to be spared over him. +It's a hopeless case; but you hear—trouble ain't to be spared; and +the municipality foots the—'</p> + +<p>"'Hold hard, there,' I broke in; and told him how the land lay. +When I'd done he held out a huge but well-shaped hand, palm upwards.</p> + +<p>"'Put it there,' he said.</p> + +<p>"We shook hands, and walked together (still to the strain of +'Juliana') as far as the Necropolis gate. I observed that several +citizens appeared at the doors of the saloons along our route, and +looked inquiringly at Captain Bill, who answered in each case with a +wink.</p> + +<p>"'That passes you,' he explained, 'for the freedom of Eucalyptus +City, as you'd say at home. When you want it, you've only to come +and fetch it—in a pail. You're among friends.'</p> + +<p>"He backed up this assurance by shaking my hand a second time, and +with great fervour. And so we parted.</p> + +<p>"As I neared the spring on my homeward road I saw Miss Montmorency +standing beside the track, awaiting me. She looked decidedly better, +and handed me back my handkerchief, almost dry and neatly folded.</p> + +<p>"'And how did you find him?' she asked.</p> + +<p>"I told her.</p> + +<p>"'We allowed it was that—the boys and I. We allowed he wouldn't +last out the fall. Did you meet any of the boys?'</p> + +<p>"'I've been having a short drink and a long talk with Captain Bill.'</p> + +<p>"She nodded her head, breaking off to clap both palms to her temples.</p> + +<p>"'My! It does ache! I'm powerful glad you seen Bill. Now you know +the worst o' me and we can start fair. I allowed, first along, that +I play this hand alone; but now you've got to help. Now and then I +catch myself weakening. It's dreadful choky, sitting by the hour and +filling up that poor innocent with lies. And the eyes of him!' +(she stamped her foot): 'I could whip his father and mother for +having no more sense than to let him start. Doctor, you'll have to +help.'"</p> + +<p> +"I rode down to Eucalyptus again next morning and found the Bishop +seated and talking with Miss Montmorency in the gaudy little parlour.</p> + +<p>"'We were just going out for a walk together,' he explained, as we +shook hands.</p> + +<p>"'And now you'll just have to walk out with the Doctor instead; and +serve you right for talking foolishness.' She moved towards the +door.</p> + +<p>"'Doctor,' he said, 'I wish you would make her listen. I feel much +better to-day—altogether a different man. If this improvement +continues, I shall start in a week at the farthest. And I was trying +to tell her—Doctor, you can have no notion of her goodness. +'I was a stranger and she took me in'—'</p> + +<p>"Miss Montmorency, with her hand on the door, turned sharply round at +this, and shot a queer sort of look at me. I thought she was going +to speak; but she didn't.</p> + +<p>"'Excuse me,' I said to the Bishop, as the door closed, 'but that's +your Bible, I take it, on the table yonder. May I have it for a +moment?'</p> + +<p>"I picked it up and followed Miss Montmorency, whom I found just +outside on the landing.</p> + +<p>"'What's the meaning of it?' she demanded, very low and fierce.</p> + +<p>"'I guessed that text had jerked you a bit. No, I haven't given you +away. He was talking out of the Bible.' I found the place for her. +'You'd better take it to your room and read the whole passage,' said +I, and went back to the parlour.</p> + +<p>"'I have lent your Bible to Miss Montmorency,' I said.</p> + +<p>"The Bishop seemed lost in thought, but made no remark until we were +outside the house and starting for our short walk. Then he laid a +hand on my arm. 'Forgive me,' he said; 'I had no idea you were +earnest in these matters.'</p> + +<p>"I was for putting in a disclaimer, but he went on:</p> + +<p>"'She has a soul to save—a very precious soul. Mark you, if works +could save a soul, hers would be secure. And I have thought +sometimes God cannot judge her harshly; for consider of how much +value the life of one such woman must be in such a community as this! +You should observe how the men respect her. And yet we have the +divine assurance that works without grace are naught; and her +carelessness on sacred matters is appalling. If, when I am gone'— +and it struck me sharply that not only the western mountains but the +cemetery gate lay in the direction of his nod, and that the gate lay +nearer—'if you could speak to her now and then—ah, you can hardly +guess how it would rejoice me some day when I return, bearing'—and +his voice sank here—'bearing, please God, my sheaves with me!'</p> + +<p>"'But why,' I urged, 'go farther, when work like this lies at your +hand?'</p> + +<p>"'I have thought of that; but only for a moment. It may sound +presumptuous to you; I am very young; but there is bigger work for me +ahead, and I am called. I cannot argue about this. I <i>know</i>. +I have a sign. Look up at the mountain, yonder—high up, above the +quicksilver mines. Do you see those bright lights flashing?'</p> + +<p>"Sure enough, above the disused works a line of sparkling lights led +the eye upwards to the snow-fields, as if traced in diamonds. +The phenomenon was certainly astonishing, and I couldn't account for +it.</p> + +<p>"'You see it? Ah! but you didn't observe it till I spoke. Nobody +does. Miss Montmorency, when I pointed it out, declared that in all +the time she has lived here she never once noticed it. Yet the first +night I came here I saw it. My window looks westward, and I pulled +the curtain aside for a moment before getting into bed. It had been +dark as pitch when the coach dropped me; but now the moon was up, +over opposite; and the first thing my eyes lit on was this line of +lights reaching up the mountain. When I woke, next morning, it was +still there, flashing in the sun. I think it was at breakfast, when +I asked Miss Montmorency about it, and found she'd never remarked it, +that it first came into my head 'twas meant for me. Anyhow, the +idea's fixed there now, and I can't get away from it. I've asked +many people, and there's not one can explain it, or has ever remarked +it till I pointed it out.'</p> + +<p>"His hand trembled on his stick, and a fit of coughing shook him. +While we stood still I heard a banjo in a saloon across the road +tinkle its long descent into the chorus of 'Juliana'—"</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<p class = "noindent"> +<span class = "ind4">'Was it weary there</span><br> +<span class = "ind4"> In the wilderness?</span><br> + Was it weary-y-y, 'way down in Goshen?'</p> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>The chorus came roaring out and across the street; ceased; and the +banjo slid into the next verse.</p> + +<p>"'I wish they wouldn't,' said the Bishop, taking the handkerchief +from his lips and speaking (as I thought) rather peevishly.</p> + +<p>"'It's a weariful tune.'</p> + +<p>"'Is it? Now I don't know anything about music. It's the words that +make me feel wisht.'</p> + +<p>"'And now,' said I, 'you've eased my soul of the curiosity that has +been vexing it for twenty-four hours. Your voice told you were +English; but there was something in it besides—something almost +rubbed out, if I may say so, by your training for the ministry. +I was wondering what part of England you hailed from, and I meant to +find out without asking. You'll observe that as yet I don't even +know your name. But Cornwall's your birthplace.'</p> + +<p>"'I suppose,' he answered, smiling, 'you've only heard me called +'the Bishop.' Yes, you're quite right. I come from the north of +Cornwall—from Port Isaac; and my name's Penno—John Penno. +I used to be laughed at for it at the Training College, and for my +Cornish talk. They said it would be a hindrance to me in the +ministry, so I worked hard to overcome it.'</p> + +<p>"'I know Port Isaac. At least, I once spent a couple of days there.'</p> + +<p>"'Ah?' He turned on me eagerly—with a sob, almost. 'You will have +seen my folks, maybe? My father's a fisherman there—Hezekiah +Penno—Old Ki, he's always called: everyone knows him.'</p> + +<p>"I shook my head. 'The only fisherman I knew at all was called +Tregay. He took me out after the pollack one day in his boat, the +<i>Little Mercy</i>.'</p> + +<p>"'That will be my mother's brother Israel. He named the boat after a +sister of mine. She's grown up now and married, and settled at St. +Columb. This is wonderful! And how was Israel wearing when you saw +him?'</p> + +<p>"'You have later news of him than I can give. I am speaking of ten +years ago.'</p> + +<p>"His face fell pathetically; but he contrived a rueful little laugh +as he answered: 'And I must have been a boy of nine at the time, and +playing about Portissick Street, no doubt! Never mind. It's good, +anyway, to speak of home to you; for you've <i>seen</i> it, you know!'</p> + +<p>"He said this with his eyes fixed on the flashing mountain; and, as +he finished, he sighed."</p> + +<p> +"During the next three or four days—for a relapse followed his +rally, and he had to give up all thought of departing immediately—I +talked much with the Bishop; and I think that each talk added to my +respect and wonder. In the first place, though I had read in a good +many poetry books of maidens who walked through all manner of +deadliness unhurt—Una and the lion, you know, and the rest of them— +I hadn't imagined that kind or amount of innocence in a young man. +But what startled me even more was the size of his ambitions. +'Bishop'—<i>in partibus infidelium</i> with a vengeance—was too small a +title for him. 'Twas a Peter the Hermit's part, or a Savonarola's, +or Whitefield's at least, he was going to play all along the Pacific +Slope; and his outfit no more than a small Bible and the strength of +a mouse. And with all this the poor boy was just wearying for home, +and every small fibre in his sick heart pulling him back while he +fixed his eyes on the lights up the mountain and stiffened his back +and talked about putting a hand to the plough and not turning back.</p> + +<p>"'Hewson,' I said one morning, as we were breakfasting at the Cornice +House, 'what's the cause of those curious lights up by the cinnabar +mines, over Eucalyptus?'</p> + +<p>"'Lights?' said he, 'what lights? I never heard of any.'</p> + +<p>"'Well, it's something that flashes, anyway—a regular line of it.'</p> + +<p>"'I'll tell you what it's <i>not</i>; and that's quicksilver,' Hewson +answered.</p> + +<p>"On my way down to Eucalyptus early that morning, I hitched my horse +up to the Necropolis gate and determined to explore the secret of the +lights before visiting the Bishop. The track towards the cinnabar +works was pretty easy to follow, first along; but when I had climbed +some four or five hundred feet it grew fainter, and was lost at +length under the pine-needles. Luckily some hand had notched a tree +here and there, and these guided me to the dry bed of a torrent, on +the far side of which the track reappeared, and continued pretty +plain for the rest of the journey, though broken in several places by +the rains. I had missed my way three times at the most; but it took +me three-quarters of an hour to reach the lowest of the works, and +another twenty minutes to get into anything like clear country. +At length, on the edge of a steep depression that widened and +shallowed as it neared the valley, I got a fair look up the slope. +So far I had met nothing to account for the lights—nothing at all, +in fact, but the broken spade-handles, old boots, empty meat-cans, +and other refuse of the miners' camps; but every now and then I would +catch a glimpse of the hillside high overhead: and always those +lights were flashing there, though in varying numbers. Now, having a +clear view, I found to my dismay that they had shrunk to one. It was +like a story in the <i>Arabian Nights</i>. I swore, though, that I would +not be cheated of this last chance. The flashing object, whatever it +was, lay some two hundred yards above me on the slope; and I +approached cautiously, with my eyes fixed on it, much like a child +hunting grasshoppers in a hay-field. I was less than ten paces from +it when the light suddenly vanished, and five paces more knocked the +bottom out of the mystery. The object was a battered and empty +meat-can.</p> + +<p>"I had passed a hundred such, at least, on my way. The camps had +lain pretty close to the track, and the rains descending upon their +refuse heaps had washed the labels off these cans, that now, as sun +and moon rose and passed over the mountain side, flashed moving +signals down to Eucalyptus in the valley—signals of failure and +desolation. And these had been the Bishop's pillar of fire in the +wilderness!"</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<p class = "noindent"> +<span class = "ind4">'Was it weary, then,</span><br> +<span class = "ind4">In the wilderness?'…</span><br></p> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>"I turned and went down the track.</p> + +<p>"At the Necropolis gate I found Captain Bill standing, with a heavy +and puzzled face, beside my horse.</p> + +<p>"'I was stepping up to Cornice House; but found your nag here, and +concluded to wait. I've been waiting the best part of an hour. +What in thunder have you been doing with yourself?'</p> + +<p>"'Prospecting,' said I. 'What's the news? Anything wrong with the +Bishop?'</p> + +<p>"'There's nothing wrong with him; and won't be, any more. He broke a +blood-vessel in the night. Flo looked in early this morning, and +found him sleeping, as she thought. An hour later she took him a cup +of tea, and was putting it down on the table by the bed, when she saw +blood on the pillow. She's powerful upset.'</p> + +<p>"Two days later—the morning of the funeral—I met Captain Bill at +the entrance of the town. He held the Bishop's small morocco-bound +Bible in his hand; but for excellent reasons had made no change in +his work-day attire.</p> + +<p>"'You're attending, of course?' was his greeting. 'Say, would you +like to conduct? It lay between me and Huz-'n-Buz, and he was for +tossing up; but I allowed he was altogether too hoary a sinner. +So we made him chief mourner instead, along with Flo—the more by +token that he's the only citizen with a black coat to his back. +As for Flo, she's got to attend in colours, having cut up her only +black gown to nail on the casket for a covering. Foolishness, of +course; but she was set on it. But see here, you've only to say the +word, and I'll resign to you.'</p> + +<p>"I declined, and suggested that for two reasons he was the man to +conduct the service: first, as the most prominent inhabitant of +Eucalyptus; and secondly, as having made himself in a way responsible +for the Bishop from the first.</p> + +<p>"'As you like,' said he.' I told him, that first night, that I'd see +him through; and I will.'</p> + +<p>"He eyed the Bible dubiously. 'It's pretty small print,' he added. +'I suppose it's all good, now?'</p> + +<p>"'If you mean that you're going to open the book and read away from +the first full-stop you happen to light on—'</p> + +<p>"'That's what I'd planned. You don't suppose, do you, I've had time +since Tuesday to read all this through and skim off the cream?'</p> + +<p>"'Then you'd better let me pick out a chapter for you.'</p> + +<p>"As I took the Bible something fluttered from it to the ground. +Captain Bill stooped and picked it up.</p> + +<p>"'That's pretty, too,' he said, handing it to me.</p> + +<p>"It was a little bookmarker, worked in silk, with one pink rose, the +initials M. P. (for Mercy Penno, no doubt), and under these the +favourite lines that small West-country children in England embroider +on their samplers:"</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<p class = "noindent"><span class = "ind4">'Rose leaves smell</span><br> +<span class = "ind4">When roses thrive:</span><br> +<span class = "ind4">Here's my work</span><br> +<span class = "ind4">When I'm alive.</span><br> +<span class = "ind4">Rose leaves smell</span><br> +<span class = "ind4">When shrunk and shred:</span><br> +<span class = "ind4">Here's my work</span><br> +<span class = "ind4">When I'm dead.'</span><br></p> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>I turned to the fifteenth chapter of the first Epistle to the +Corinthians: showed the captain where to begin; and laid the +bookmarker opposite the place.</p> + +<p>"We walked a few paces together as far as the green knoll that +I have described as overhanging Eucalyptus, and there I halted to +wait for the funeral, while Captain Bill went on to the Necropolis +to make sure that the grave was ready and all arrangements complete. +The procession was not due to start for another quarter of an hour, +so I found a comfortable boulder and sat down to smoke a pipe. +Right under me stretched the deserted main street, and in the +hush of the morning—it was just the middle of the Indian summer, +and the air all sunny and soft—I could hear the billiard balls +click-click-clicking as usual, and the players' voices breaking in at +intervals, and the banjoes tinkling away down the street from saloon +to saloon. These and the distant chatter of the river were all the +sounds; and the river's chatter seemed hardly so persistent and +monotonous as the voices of the saloons and the unceasing question—"</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<p class = "noindent"><span class = "ind4">'Was it weary there</span><br> +<span class = "ind4">In the wilderness?</span><br> + Was it weary-y-y, 'way down in Goshen?'</p> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>"Suddenly, far down the street, there was a stir, and from the door +of No. 67 half a dozen men came staggering out into the sunshine +under a black coffin, which they carried shoulder high; and behind +came two figures only—those of Miss Montmorency and the architect— +arm in arm. The bearers wheeled round, got into step after one or +two attempts, and the procession advanced.</p> + +<p>"And I observed, as it advanced, that a hush came slowly with it, +closing on the click of the balls and the strumming of the banjoes, +as from saloon after saloon the players stepped out and fell in at +the tail of the procession. Gradually these noises were penned into +the three or four saloons immediately beneath me; and then these, +too, were silenced, and the mourners began to climb the hill.</p> + +<p>"I did not attend the funeral after all. I rose and stood hat in +hand as it climbed past—the coffin, the one woman, and the many men. +It was grotesque enough. Flo had on the same outrageous costume she +had worn at our first meeting; but a look at the black drapery of the +coffin sanctified <i>that</i>. One mourner, in pure absence of mind, had +brought along his billiard-cue as a walking-stick; and every now and +then would step out of the ranks and distribute whacks among the five +or six dogs that frisked alongside the procession. But I read on +every face the consciousness that Eucalyptus was doing its duty.</p> + +<p>"So they climbed past and up to the Necropolis, and filed in between +its two pillars. I could see among the pines a group or two +standing, with bent heads, and Captain Bill towering beside the +grave; at times I heard his voice lifted, but could not catch the +words. Down in the town for a while all was silent as death. +Then in a saloon below some boy—left behind, no doubt, to look after +the house—took up a banjo and began to pick out slowly and with one +finger the tune of ''Way down upon the Suwanee River,' and as it went +I fitted the words to it:"</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<p class = "noindent">'All the world is sad and dreary<br> +<span class = "ind2">Everywhere I roam,</span><br> + Oh, brudders, how my heart grows weary…'</p> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>"The tune ceased. The only sound now came from a robin, hunting +about the turf and now and then breaking out into an impatient +twitter.</p> + +<p>"The silence was broken at length by the footsteps of the mourners +returning. They went down the hill almost as decorously as they had +gone up. Flo stepped aside and came towards me.</p> + +<p>"'Let me stay beside you for a bit. I can't go back there—yet.'</p> + +<p>"This was all she said; and we stood there side by side for minutes. +Soon the tinkle of a banjo came up to us, and a pair of billiard +balls clicked; then a second banjo joined in; and gradually, as the +stream of citizens trickled back and spread, so like a stream the +sound of clicking billiard balls and tinkling banjoes trickled back +and spread along the main street of Eucalyptus City."</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<span class = "ind4">'Was it weary there,</span><br> +<span class = "ind4">In de wilderness?…'</span><br> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>"Flo looked at me and put out a hand; but drew it back before I could +take it. And so, without another word, she went down the hill."</p> + + +<br><br> +<p><a name="8"></a> </p> +<h3>WIDDERSHINS.</h3> +<br> + +<h4>A DROLL.</h4> + +<p>Once upon a time there was a small farmer living in Wendron parish, +not far from the church-town. 'Thaniel Teague was his name. +This Teague happened to walk into Helston on a Furry-day, when the +Mayor and townspeople dance through the streets to the Furry-tune. +In the evening there was a grand ball given at the Angel Hotel, and +the landlord very kindly allowed Teague—who had stopped too late as +it was—to look in through the door and watch the gentry dance the +Lancers.</p> + +<p>Teague thought he had never seen anything so heavenly. What with one +hindrance and another 'twas past midnight before he reached home, and +then nothing would do for him but he must have his wife and six +children out upon the floor in their night-clothes, practising the +Grand Chain while he sang—</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<span class = "ind4">Out of my stony griefs</span><br> +<span class = "ind4">Bethel I'll raise!</span><br> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>The seventh child, the babby, they set down in the middle of the +floor, like a nine-pin. And the worst of it was, the poor mite +twisted his eyes so, trying to follow his mammy round and round, that +he grew up with a cast from that hour.</p> + +<p>'Tis of this child—Joby he was called—that I am going to tell you. +Barring the cast, he grew up a very straight lad, and in due time +began to think upon marrying. His father's house faced south, and as +it came easier to him to look north-west than any other direction, he +chose a wife from Gwinear parish. His elder brothers had gone off to +sea for their living, and his sister had married a mine-captain: so +when the old people died, Joby took over the farm and worked it, and +did very well.</p> + +<p>Joby's wife was very fond of him, though of course she didn't like +that cast in his looks: and in many ways 'twas inconvenient too. +If the poor man ever put hand on plough to draw a straight furrow, +round to the north 'twould work as sure as a compass-needle. +She consulted the doctors about it, and they did no good. Then she +thought about consulting a conjurer; but being a timorous woman as +well as not over-wise, she put it off for a while.</p> + +<p>Now, there was a little fellow living over to Penryn in those +times, Tommy Warne by name, that gave out he knew how to conjure. +Folks believed in him more than he did himself: for, to tell truth, +he was a lazy shammick, who liked most ways of getting a living +better than hard work. Still, he was generally made pretty welcome +at the farm-houses round, for he could turn a hand to anything and +always kept the maids laughing in the kitchen. One morning he +dropped in on Farmer Joby and asked for a job to earn his dinner; and +Joby gave him some straw to spin for thatching. By dinner-time Tom +had spun two bundles of such very large size that the farmer rubbed +his chin when he looked at them.</p> + +<p>"Why," says he, "I always thought you a liar—I did indeed. But now +I believe you can conjure, sure enough."</p> + +<p>As for Mrs. Joby, she was so much pleased that, though she felt +certain the devil must have had a hand in it, she gave Tom an extra +helping of pudding for dinner.</p> + +<p>Some time after this, Farmer Joby missed a pair of pack-saddles. +Search and ask as he might, he couldn't find out who had stolen them, +or what had become of them.</p> + +<p>"Tommy Warne's a clever fellow," he said at last. "I must see if he +can tell me anything." So he walked over to Penryn on purpose.</p> + +<p>Tommy was in his doorway smoking when Farmer Joby came down the +street. "So you'm after they pack-saddles," said he.</p> + +<p>"Why, how ever did you know?"</p> + +<p>"That's my business. Will it do if you find 'em after harvest?"</p> + +<p>"To be sure 'twill. I only want to know where they be."</p> + +<p>"Very well, then; after harvest they'll be found."</p> + +<p>Home the farmer went. Sure enough, after harvest, he went to unwind +Tommy's two big bundles of straw-rope for thatching the mow, and in +the middle of each was one of his missing pack-saddles.</p> + +<p>"Well, now," said Joby's wife, "that fellow must have a real gift of +conjurin'! I wonder, my dear, you don't go and consult him about that +there cross-eye of yours."</p> + +<p>"I will, then," said Joby; and he walked over to Penryn again the +very next market-day.</p> + +<p>"'Cure your eyes,' is it?" said Tommy Warne. "Why, to be sure I can. +Why didn't you ax me afore? I thought you <i>liked</i> squintin'."</p> + +<p>"I don't, then; I hate it."</p> + +<p>"Very well; you shall see straight this very night if you do what I +tell you. Go home and tell your wife to make your bed on the roof of +the four-poster; and she must make it widdershins, turnin' bed-tie +and all against the sun, and puttin' the pillow where the feet come +as a rule. That's all."</p> + +<p>"Fancy my never thinkin' of anything so simple as that!" said Joby. +He went home and told his wife. She made his bed on the roof of the +four-poster, and widdershins, as he ordered; and they slept that +night, the wife as usual, and Joby up close to the rafters.</p> + +<p>But scarcely had Joby closed an eye before there came a rousing knock +at the door, and in walked Joby's eldest brother, the sea-captain, +that he hadn't seen for years.</p> + +<p>"Get up, Joby, and come along with me if you want that eye of yours +mended."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Sam, it's curin' very easy and nice, and I hope you won't +disturb me."</p> + +<p>"If 'tis Tommy Warne's cure you're trying, why then I'm part of it; +so you'd best get up quickly."</p> + +<p>"Aw, that's another matter, though you might have said so at first. +I'd no notion you and Tommy was hand-'n-glove."</p> + +<p>Joby rose up and followed his brother out of doors. He had nothing +on but his night-shirt, but his brother seemed in a hurry, and he +didn't like to object.</p> + +<p>They set their faces to the road and they walked and walked, neither +saying a word, till they came to Penryn. There was a fair going on +in the town; swing-boats and shooting-galleries and lillybanger +standings, and naphtha lamps flaming, and in the middle of all, a +great whirly-go-round, with striped horses and boats, and a +steam-organ playing "Yankee Doodle." As soon as they started Joby +saw that the whole thing was going around widdershins; and his +brother stood up under the naphtha-lamp and pulled out a sextant and +began to take observations.</p> + +<p>"What's the latitude?" asked Joby. He felt that he ought to say +something to his brother, after being parted all these years.</p> + +<p>"Decimal nothing to speak of," answered Sam.</p> + +<p>"Then we ought to be nearing the Line," said Joby. He hadn't noticed +the change, but now he saw that the boat they sat in was floating on +the sea, and that Sam had stuck his walking-stick out over the stern +and was steering.</p> + +<p>"What's the longitude?" asked Joby.</p> + +<p>"That doesn't concern us."</p> + +<p>"'Tis west o' Grinnidge, I suppose?" Joby knew very little about +navigation, and wanted to make the most of it.</p> + +<p>"West o' Penryn," said Sam, very sharp and short. "'Twasn' Grinnidge +Fair we started from."</p> + +<p>But presently he sings out "Here we are!" and Joby saw a white line, +like a popping-crease, painted across the blue sea ahead of them. +First he thought 'twas paint, and then he thought 'twas catgut, for +when the keel of their boat scraped over it, it sang like a bird.</p> + +<p>"That was the Equator," said Sam. "Now let's see if your eyes be any +better."</p> + +<p>But when Joby tried them, what was his disappointment to find the +cast as bad as ever?—only now they were slewing right the other way, +towards the South Pole.</p> + +<p>"I never thought well of this cure from the first," declared Sam. +"For my part, I'm sick and tired of the whole business!" And with +that he bounced up from the thwart and hailed a passing shark and +walked down its throat in a huff, leaving Joby all alone on the wide +sea.</p> + +<p>"There's nice brotherly behaviour for you!" said Joby to himself. +"Lucky he left his walking-stick behind. The best thing I can do is +to steer along close to the Equator, and then I know where I am."</p> + +<p>So he steered along close to the Line, and by and by he saw something +shining in the distance. When he came nearer, 'twas a great gilt +fowl stuck there with its beak to the Line and its wings sprawled +out. And when he came close, 'twas no other than the cock belonging +to the tower of his own parish church of Wendron!</p> + +<p>"Well!" said Joby, "one has to travel to find out how small the world +is. And what might you be doin' here, naybour?"</p> + +<p>"Is that you, Joby Teague? Then I'll thank you to do me a good turn. +I came here in a witch-ship last night, and the crew put this spell +upon me because I wouldn't pay my footing to cross the Line. +A nice lot, to try and steal the gilt off a church weather-cock! +'Tis ridiculous," said he, "but I can't get loose for the life o' +me!"</p> + +<p>"Why, that's as easy as ABC," said Joby. "You'll find it in any book +of parlour amusements. You take a fowl, put its beak to the floor, +and draw a chalk line away from it, right and left—"</p> + +<p>Joby wetted his thumb, smudged out a bit of the Equator on each side +of the cock's nose, and the bird stood up and shook himself.</p> + +<p>"And now is there anything I can do for you, Joby Teague?"</p> + +<p>"To be sure there is. I'm getting completely tired of this boat: and +if you can give me a lift, I'll take it as a favour."</p> + +<p>"No favour at all. Where shall we go visit?—the Antipodes?"</p> + +<p>"No, thank you," said Toby. "I've heard tell they get up an' do +their business when we honest folks be in our beds: and that kind o' +person I never could trust. Squint or no squint, Wendron's Wendron, +and that's where I'm comfortable."</p> + +<p>"Well, it's no use loitering here, or we may get into trouble for +what we've done to the Equator. Climb on my back," said the bird, +"and home we go!"</p> + +<p>It seemed no more than a flap of the wings, and Joby found himself on +his friend's back on one of the pinnacles of Wendron Church and +looking down on his own farm.</p> + +<p>"Thankin' you kindly, soce, and now I think I'll be goin'," said he.</p> + +<p>"Not till I've cured your eyesight, Joby," said the polite bird.</p> + +<p>Joby by this time was wishing his eyesight to botheration; but before +he could say a word, a breeze came about the pinnacles, and he was +spinning around on the cock's back—spinning around widdershins— +clutching the bird's neck and holding his breath.</p> + +<p>"And now," the cock said, as they came to a standstill again, +"I think you can see a hole in a ladder as well as any man."</p> + +<p>Just then the bells in the tower below them began to ring merrily.</p> + +<p>Said Joby, "What's that for, I wonder?"</p> + +<p>"It looks to me," said the cock, "as if your wife was gettin' married +again."</p> + +<p>Sure enough, while the bells rang, Joby saw the door of his own house +open, and his own wife come stepping towards the church, leaning on a +man's arm. And who should that man be but Tommy Warne?</p> + +<p>"And to think I've lived fifteen years with that woman, and never +lifted my hand to her!"</p> + +<p>Said the bird, "The wedding is fixed for eleven o'clock, and 'tis on +the stroke now. If I was you, Joby, I'd climb down and put back the +church clock."</p> + +<p>"And so I would, if I knew how to get to it."</p> + +<p>"You've but to slide down my leg to the parapet: and from the parapet +you can jump right on to the string-course under the clock."</p> + +<p>Joby slid down the bird's leg, and jumped on to the ledge. He had +never before noticed a clock in Wendron Church tower; but there one +was, staring him in the face.</p> + +<p>"Now," cried his friend, "catch hold of the minute-hand and turn!" +Joby did so—"Widdershins!" screamed the bird: "faster! faster!" +Joby whizzed back the minute-hand with all his might.</p> + +<p> +"Aie, ul—ul—oo! Lemme go! 'Tis my arm you're pullin' off!" +'Twas his own wife's voice in his own four-poster. Joby had slid +down the bed-post and caught hold of her arm, and was workin' it +round like mad from right to left.</p> + +<p>"I ax your pardon, my dear. I was thinkin' you was another man's +bride."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, I must say you wasn't behavin' like it," said she.</p> + +<p>But when she got up and lit a candle, she was pleased enough. +For Joby's eyes were as straight as yours or mine. And straight they +have been ever since.</p> + + +<br><br> +<p><a name="9"></a> </p> +<h3>VISITORS AT THE GUNNEL ROCK.</h3> +<br><br> +<h4>A LIGHTSHIP IDYLL.</h4> + +<p>When first the Trinity Brothers put a light out yonder by the Gunnel +Rocks, it was just a trifling makeshift affair for the time—none of +your proper lightships with a crew of twelve or fourteen hands; and +my father and I used to tend it, taking turn and turn with two other +fellows from the Islands. I'm talking of old days. The rule then— +they have altered it since—was two months afloat and two ashore; and +all the time we tossed out there on duty, not a soul would we see to +speak to except when the Trinity boat put off with stores for us and +news of what was doing in the world. This would be about once a +fortnight in fair weather; but through the winter time it was oftener +a month, and provisions ran low enough, now and then, to make us +anxious. "Was the life dreary?" Well, you couldn't call it gay; +but, you see, it didn't kill me.</p> + +<p>For the first week I thought the motion would drive me crazy—up and +down, up and down, in that everlasting ground-swell—although I had +been at the fishing all my life, and knew what it meant to lie-to in +any ordinary sea. But after ten days or so I got not to mind it. +And then there was the open air. It was different with the poor +fellows on the Lighthouse, eighteen miles to seaward of us, to the +south-west. They drew better pay than ours, by a trifle; but they +were landsmen, to start with; and cooped in that narrow tower at +night, with the shutters closed and the whole building rocking like a +tree, it's no wonder their nerves wore out. Four or five days of it +have been known to finish a man; and in those times a lighthouse- +keeper had three months of duty straight away, and only a fortnight +on shore. Now he gets only a fortnight out there, and six weeks to +recover in. With all that, they're mostly fit to start at their own +shadow when the boat takes them off.</p> + +<p>But on the lightship we fared tolerably. To begin with, we had the +lantern to attend to. You'd be surprised how much employment that +gives a man—cleaning, polishing, and trimming. And my father, +though particular to a scratch on the reflector, or the smallest +crust of salt on the glass, was a restful, cheerful sort of a man to +bide with. Not talkative, you understand—no light-keeper in the +world was ever talkative—but with a power of silence that was more +comforting than speech. And out there, too, we found all sorts of +little friendly things to watch and think over. Sometimes a school +of porpoises; or a line of little murrs flying; or a sail far to the +south, making for the Channel. And sometimes, towards evening, the +fishing-boats would come out and drop anchor a mile and a half to +south'ard, down sail, and hang out their riding lights; and we knew +that they took their mark from us, and that gave a sociable feeling.</p> + +<p>On clear afternoons, too, by swarming up the mast just beneath the +cage, I could see the Islands away in the east, with the sun on their +cliffs; and home wasn't so far off, after all. The town itself, +which lay low down on the shore, we could never spy, but glimpsed the +lights of it now and then, after sunset. These always flickered a +great deal, because of the waves, like little hills of water, bobbing +between them and us. And always we had the Lighthouse for company. +In daytime, through the glass, we could watch the keepers walking +about in the iron gallery round the top: and all night through there +it was beckoning to us with its three white flashes every minute. +No, we weren't exactly gay out there, and sometimes we made wild +weather of it. Yet we did pretty well; except for the fogs, when our +arms ached with keeping the gong going.</p> + +<p>But if we were comfortable then, you should have seen us at the end +of our two months, when the boat came off with the relief, and took +us on shore. John and Robert Pendlurian were the names of the +relief; brothers they were, oldsters of about fifty-five and fifty; +and John Pendlurian, the elder, a widow-man same as my father, but +with a daughter at home. Living in the Islands, of course I'd known +Bathsheba ever since we'd sat in infant-school; and what more natural +than to ask after her health, along with the other news? But Old +John got to look sly and wink at my father when we came to this +question, out of the hundred others. And the other two would take it +up and wink back solemn as mummers. I never lost my temper with the +old idiots: 'twasn't worth while.</p> + +<p>But the treat of all was to set foot on the quay-steps, and the +people crowding round and shaking your hand and chattering; and +everything ashore going on just as you'd left it, and you not wishing +it other, and everybody glad to see you all the same; and the smell +of the gardens and the stinking fish at the quay-corner—you might +choose between them, but home was in both; and the nets drying; and +to be out of oilskins and walking to meeting-house on the Sunday, and +standing up there with the congregation, all singing in company, +and the women taking stock of you till the newness wore off; and the +tea-drinking, and Band of Hopes, and courants, and dances. +We had all the luck of these; for the two Pendlurians, being up in +years and easily satisfied so long as they were left quiet, were +willing to take their holidays in the dull months, beginning with +February and March. And so I had April and May, when a man can +always be happy ashore; and August and September, which is the best +of the fishing and all the harvest and harvest games; and again, +December and January, with the courants and geesy-dancing, and carols +and wassail-singing. Early one December, when he came to relieve us, +Old John said to me in a haphazard way, "It's all very well for me +and Robert, my lad; for us two can take equal comfort in singin' +'<i>Star o' Bethl'em</i>' ashore or afloat; but I reckon 'tis somebody's +place to see that Bathsheba don't miss any of the season's joy an' +dancin' on our account."</p> + +<p>Now, Bathsheba had an unmarried aunt—Aunt Hessy Pendlurian we called +her—that used to take her to all the parties and courants when Old +John was away at sea. So she wasn't likely to miss any of the fun, +bein' able to foot it as clever as any girl in the Islands. She had +the love of it, too—foot and waist and eyes all a-dancing, and body +and blood all a-tingle as soon as ever the fiddle spoke. Maybe this +same speech of Old John's set me thinking. Or, maybe I'd been +thinking already—what with their May-game hints and the loneliness +out there. Anyway, I dangled pretty close on Bathsheba's heels all +that Christmas. She was comely—you understand—very comely and +tall, with dark blood, and eyes that put you in mind of a light +shining steady upon dark water. And good as gold. She's dead and +gone these twelve years—rest her soul! But (praise God for her!) +I've never married another woman nor wanted to.</p> + +<p>There, I've as good as told you already! When the time came and I +asked her if she liked me, she said she liked no man half so well: +and that being as it should be, the next thing was to put up the +banns. There wasn't time that holiday: like a fool, I had been +dilly-dallying too long, though I believe now I might have asked her +a month before. So the wedding was held in the April following, my +father going out to the Gunnel for a couple of days, so that Old John +might be ashore to give his daughter away. The most I mind of the +wedding was the wonder of beholding the old chap there in a +long-tailed coat, having never seen him for years but in his +oilskins.</p> + +<p>Well, the rest of that year seemed pretty much like all the others, +except that coming home was better than ever. But when Christmas +went by, and February came and our turn to be out again on the +Gunnel, I went with a dismal feeling I hadn't known before. +For Bathsheba was drawing near her time, and the sorrow was that she +must go through it without me. She had walked down to the quay with +us, to see us off; and all the way she chatted and laughed with my +father as cheerful as cheerful—but never letting her eyes rest on +me, I noticed, and I saw what that meant; and when it came to +goodbye, there was more in the tightening of her arms about me than +I'd ever read in it before.</p> + +<p>The old man, I reckon, had a wisht time with me, the next two or +three weeks; but, by the mercy of God, the weather behaved furious +all the while, leaving a man no time to mope. 'Twas busy all, and +busy enough, to keep a clear light inside the lantern, and warm souls +inside our bodies. All through February it blew hard and cold from +the north and north-west, and though we lay in the very mouth of the +Gulf Stream, for ten days together there wasn't a halliard we could +touch with the naked hand, nor a cloth nor handful of cotton-waste +but had to be thawed at the stove before using. Then, with the +beginning of March, the wind tacked round to south-west, and stuck +there, blowing big guns, and raising a swell that was something +cruel. It was one of these gales that tore away the bell from the +lighthouse, though hung just over a hundred feet above water-level. +As for us, I wonder now how the little boat held by its two-ton +anchors, even with three hundred fathom of chain cable to bear the +strain and jerk of it; but with the spindrift whipping our faces, and +the hail cutting them, we didn't seem to have time to think of +<i>that</i>. Bathsheba thought of it, though, in her bed at home—as I've +heard since—and lay awake more than one night thinking of it.</p> + +<p>But the third week in March the weather moderated; and soon the sun +came out and I began to think. On the second afternoon of the fair +weather I climbed up under the cage and saw the Islands for the first +time; and coming down, I said to my father:</p> + +<p>"Suppose that Bathsheba is dead!"</p> + +<p>We hadn't said more than a word or two to each other for a week; +indeed, till yesterday we had to shout in each other's ear to be +heard at all. My father filled a pipe and said, "Don't be a fool."</p> + +<p>"I see your hand shaking," said I.</p> + +<p>Said he, "That's with the cold. At my age the cold takes a while to +leave a man's extremities."</p> + +<p>"But," I went on in an obstinate way, "suppose she is dead?"</p> + +<p>My father answered, "She is a well-built woman. The Lord is good."</p> + +<p>Not another word than this could I get from him. That evening—the +wind now coming easy from the south, and the swell gone down in a +wonderful way—as I was boiling water for the tea, we saw a dozen +fishing-boats standing out from the Islands. They ran down to within +two miles of us and then hove-to. The nets went out, and the sails +came down, and by and by through the glass I could spy the smoke +coming up from their cuddy-stoves.</p> + +<p>"They might have brought news," I cried out, "even if 'tis sorrow!"</p> + +<p>"Maybe there was no news to bring."</p> + +<p>"'Twould have been neighbourly, then, to run down and say so."</p> + +<p>"And run into the current here, I suppose? With a chance of the wind +falling light at any moment?"</p> + +<p>I don't know if this satisfied my father: but I know that he meant it +to satisfy me, which it was pretty far from doing. Before daylight +the boats hoisted sail again, and were well under the Islands and out +of sight by breakfast-time.</p> + +<p>After this, for a whole long week I reckon I did little more than +pace the ship to and fro; a fisherman's walk, as they say—three +steps and overboard. I took the three steps and wished I was +overboard. My father watched me queerly all the while; but we said +no word to each other, not even at meals.</p> + +<p>It was the eighth day after the fishing-boats left us, and about four +in the afternoon, that we saw a brown sail standing towards us from +the Islands, and my father set down the glass, resting it on the +gunwale, and said:</p> + +<p>"That's Old John's boat."</p> + +<p>I took the glass from him, and was putting it to my eye; but had to +set it down and turn my back. I couldn't wait there with my eye on +the boat; so I crossed to the other side of the ship and stood +staring at the Lighthouse away on the sky-line, and whispered: +"Come quickly!" But the wind had moved a couple of points to the +east and then fallen very light, and the boat must creep towards us +close-hauled. After a long while my father spoke again:</p> + +<p>"That will be Old John steerin' her. I reckoned so: he've got her +jib shakin'—that's it: sail her close till she strikes the +tide-race, and that'll fetch her down, wind or no wind. Halloa!— +Lad, lad! 'tis all right! See there, that bit o' red ensign run up +to the gaff!"</p> + +<p>"Why should that mean aught?" asked I.</p> + +<p>"Would he trouble to hoist bunting if he had no news? Would it be +there, close under the peak, if the news was bad?—and she his own +daughter, his only flesh!"</p> + +<p>It may have been twenty minutes later that Old John felt the Gunnel +current, and, staying the cutter round, came down fast on us with the +wind behind his beam. My father hailed to him once and twice, and +the second time he must have heard. But, without answering, he ran +forward and took in his foresail. And then I saw an arm and a little +hand reached up to take hold of the tiller; and my heart gave a great +jump.</p> + +<p>It was she, my wife Bathsheba, laid there by the stern-sheets on a +spare-sail, with a bundle of oilskins to cushion her. With one hand +she steered the boat up into the wind as Old John lowered sail and +they fell alongside: and with the other she held a small bundle close +against her breast.</p> + +<p>"Such a whackin' boy I never see in my life!"—These were Old John's +first words, and he shouted them. "Born only yestiddy week, an' she +ought to be abed: an' so I've been tellin' her ever since she dragged +me out 'pon this wildy-go errand!"</p> + +<p>But Bathsheba, as I lifted her over the lightship's side, said no +more than "Oh, Tom!"—and let me hold her, with her forehead pressed +close against me. And the others kept very quiet, and everything was +quiet about us, until she jumped back on a sudden and found all her +speech in a flood.</p> + +<p>"Tom," she said, "you're crushin' him, you great, awkward man!" And +she turned back the shawl and snatched the handkerchief off the +baby's face—a queer-looking face it was, too. "Be all babies as +queer as that?" thought I. Lucky I didn't say it, though. +"There, my blessed, my handsome! Look, my tender! Eh, Tom, but he +kicks my side all to bruises; my merryun, my giant! Look up at your +father, and you his very image!" That was pretty stiff. "I +declare," she says, "he's lookin' about an' takin' stock of +everything"—and that was pretty stiff, too. "So like a man; all for +the sea and the boats! Tom, dear, father will tell you that all the +way on the water he was as good as gold; and, on shore before that, +kicking and fisting—all for the sea and the boats; the man of him! +Hold him, dear, but be careful! A Sunday's child, too—</p> + +<p> 'Sunday's child is full of grace…'</p> + +<p>And—the awkward you are! Here, give him back to me: but feel how +far down in his clothes the feet of him reach. Extraordinar'! +Aun' Hessy mounted a chair and climbed 'pon the chest o' drawers with +him, before takin' him downstairs; so that he'll go up in the world, +an' not down."</p> + +<p>"If he wants to try both," said I, "he'd best follow his father and +grandfathers, and live 'pon a lightship."</p> + +<p>"So this is how you live, Tom; and you, father; and you, +father-in-law!" She moved about examining everything—the lantern, +the fog-signals and life-buoys, the cooking-stove, bunks and +store-cupboards. "To think that here you live, all the menkind +belongin' to me, and I never to have seen it! All the menkind did I +say, my rogue! And was I forgettin' you—you—you?" Kisses here, of +course: and then she held the youngster up to look at his face in the +light. "Ah, heart of me, will you grow up too to live in a lightship +and leave a poor woman at home to weary for you in her trouble? +Rogue, rogue, what poor woman have I done this to, bringing you into +the world to be her torture and her joy?"</p> + +<p>"Dear," says I, "you're weak yet. Sit down by me and rest awhile +before the time comes to go back."</p> + +<p>"But I'm not going back yet awhile. Your son, sir, and I are goin' +to spend the night aboard."</p> + +<p>"Halloa!" I said, and looked towards Old John, who had made fast +astern of us and run a line out to one of the anchor-buoys.</p> + +<p>"'Tisn't allowed, o' course," he muttered, looking in turn and rather +sheepishly towards my father. "But once in a way—'tis all +Bathsheba's notion, and you mustn' ask <i>me</i>," he wound up.</p> + +<p>"'Once in a way'!" cried Bathsheba. "And is it twice in a way that a +woman comes to a man and lays his first child in his arms?"</p> + +<p>My father had been studying the sunset and the sky to windward; and +now he answered Old John:</p> + +<p>"'Tis once in a way, sure enough, that a boat can lay alongside the +Gunnel. But the wind's falling, and the night'll be warm. I reckon +if you stay in the boat, Old John, she'll ride pretty comfortable; +and I'll give the word to cast off at the leastest sign."</p> + +<p>"Once in a way"—ah, sirs, it isn't twice in a way there comes such a +night as that was! We lit the light at sunset, and hoisted it, and +made tea, talking like children all the while; and my father the +biggest child of all. Old John had his share passed out to him, and +ate it alone out there in the boat; and, there being a lack of cups, +Bathsheba and I drank out of the same, and scalded our lips, and must +kiss to make them well. Foolishness? Dear, dear, I suppose so. +And the jokes we had, calling out to Old John as the darkness fell, +and wishing him "Good night!" "Ou, aye; I hear 'ee," was all he +answered. After we'd eaten our tea and washed up, I showed Bathsheba +how to crawl into her bunk, and passed in the baby and laid it in her +arms, and so left her, telling her to rest and sleep. But by and by, +as I was keeping watch, she came out, declaring the place stifled +her. So I pulled out a mattress and blankets and strewed a bed for +her out under the sky, and sat down beside her, watching while she +suckled the child. She had him wrapped up so that the two dark eyes +of him only could be seen, staring up from the breast to the great +bright lantern above him. The moon was in her last quarter, and +would not rise till close upon dawn; and the night pitchy dark around +us, with a very few stars. In less than a minute Bathsheba gave a +start and laid a hand on my arm.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Tom, what was that?"</p> + +<p>"Look up," said I. "'Tis the birds flying about the light."</p> + +<p>For, of course, our light always drew the sea-birds, especially on +dull nights, and 'twas long since we had grown used to the sound of +their beating and flapping, and took no notice of it. A moment after +I spoke one came dashing against the rigging, and we heard him tumble +into the sea; and then one broke his neck against the cage overhead +and tumbled dead at our feet. Bathsheba shivered as I tossed him +overboard.</p> + +<p>"Is it always like this?" she whispered. "I thought 'twas only at +the cost of a silly woman's fears that you saved men's lives out +here."</p> + +<p>"Well," said I, "this is something more than usual, to be sure."</p> + +<p>For, looking up into the circle of light, we could see now at least a +hundred birds flying round and round, and in half an hour's time +there must have been many hundreds. Their white breasts were like a +snowstorm; and soon they began to fall thick upon deck. They were +not all sea-birds, either.</p> + +<p>"Halloa!" said I, "what's the day of the month?"</p> + +<p>"The nineteenth of March."</p> + +<p>"Here's a wheatear, then," I said. "In a couple of weeks we shall +have the swallows; and, a couple of weeks after, a cuckoo, maybe. +So you see that even out here by the Gunnel we know when spring comes +along."</p> + +<p>And I began to hum the old song that children sang in the Islands:</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<p class = "noindent">The cuckoo is a pretty bird,<br> +<span class = "ind2">He sings as he flies:</span><br> + He brings us good tidings.<br> +<span class = "ind2">He tells us no lies:</span><br> + He sucks the sweet flow-ers<br> +<span class = "ind2">For to make his voice clear,</span><br> + And when he says "Cuckoo!"<br> +<span class = "ind2">The summer is near.</span><br></p> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>Bathsheba's eyes were wet for the poor birds, but she took up the +song, crooning it soft-like, and persuading the child to sleep:</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<p class = "noindent">O, meeting is a pleasure,<br> +<span class = "ind2">But parting is grief,</span><br> + An inconstant lover<br> +<span class = "ind2">Is worse than a thief;</span><br> + For a thief at the worst<br> +<span class = "ind2">Will take all that I have;</span><br> + But an inconstant lover<br> +<span class = "ind2">Sends me to my grave.</span><br></p> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>Her hand stole into mine as the boy's eyes closed, and clasped my +fingers, entreating me in silence to look and admire him. Our own +eyes met over him, and I saw by the lantern-light the happy blush +rise and spread over neck and chin and forehead. The flapping of the +birds overhead had almost died away, and we lay still, watching the +lighthouse flash, far down in the empty darkness.</p> + +<p>By and by the clasp of her hand slackened. A star shot down the sky, +and I turned. Her eyelids, too, had drooped, and her breath came and +went as softly and regularly as the Atlantic swell around us. And my +child slept in her arms.</p> + +<p>Day was breaking before the first cry awoke her. My father had the +breakfast ready, and Old John sang out to hurry. A fair wind went +with them to the Islands—a light south-wester. As the boat dropped +out of sight, I turned and drew a deep breath of it. It was full of +the taste of flowers, and I knew that spring was already at hand, and +coming up that way.</p> + + +<br><br> +<h3>LETTERS FROM TROY.</h3> +<br> + +<h4>ADDRESSED TO RASSELAS, PRINCE OF ABBYSSINIA.</h4> +<br><br> + +<p><a name="10"></a> </p> +<h3>I.—THE FIRST PARISH MEETING.</h3> +<br> + +<p> Troy Town, + 5 December, 1894.</p> + +<p>My Dear Prince,—I feel sure that you, as a sympathetic student of +western politics and manners, must be impatient to hear about our +first Parish Meeting in Troy; and so I am catching the earliest post +to inform you that from a convivial point of view the whole +proceedings were in the highest degree successful. And if +Self-Government by the People can provide a success of the kind in +that dull season when people as a rule are saving up for Christmas, I +hardly think our Chairman stretched a point last night when he said, +"This evening will leave its mark on the history of England." Indeed, +some inkling of this must have guided us when we met, a few days +before, and agreed to postpone our usual Tuesday evening +Carol-practice in order to give the New Era a fair start. And I am +told this morning that the near approach of the sacred season had a +sensibly pacific influence upon the counsels of our neighbours at +Treneglos. The parishioners there are mostly dairy-farmers, and +party feeling runs high. But while eggs fetch 2d. apiece (as they +do, towards Christmas) there will always be a disposition to give +even the most unmarketable specimens the benefit of any doubt.</p> + +<p>We were at first a good deal annoyed on finding that the Act allowed +Troy but eleven Parish Councillors. We have never had less than +sixty-five on our Regatta Committee, and we had believed Local +Self-Government to be at least as important as a Regatta. We argued +this out at some length last night, and the Chairman—Lawyer Thoms— +admitted that we had reason on our side. But his instructions were +definite, and he could not (as he vivaciously put it) fly in the face +of the Queen and two Houses of Parliament. We saw that his regret +was sincere, and so contented ourselves with handing in seventy-two +nomination papers for the eleven places, just to mark our sense of +the iniquity of the thing.</p> + +<p>In another matter we worked round the intention of the Act more +successfully. We have never been able to understand why the Liberal +party in the House of Commons should object to Local Self-Government +taking place in public-houses. The objection implies a distrust of +the people. And it so happens that down here we always take a glass +of grog before inaugurating an era; we should as soon think of +praetermitting this as of launching a ship without cracking a bottle +on her stem. So we asked the Chairman, and finding there was no law +to prevent us, we ordered in half a dozen trays from the "King of +Prussia," across the way. The Vicar, who is a particular man about +his food and drink, pulled out a pocket Vesuvius and a bottle of +methylated spirit, and boiled his kettle in the ante-room.</p> + +<p>Well, there we were sitting in the Town Hall, as merry as grigs, +each man with his pipe and glass, and ready for any amount of +Self-Government. And the Chairman stood up and briefly explained the +business of the meeting. He said the Parish Councils Act was the +logical result of Magna Charta, and would have the effect of making +us all citizens of our own parish; and that as the expense of this +would come upon the rates, we should endeavour to use our hardly won +enfranchisement with moderation. "We had met to choose eleven good +men and true to administer the parish business for the coming year, +or to nominate as many good men and true as we pleased. If more than +eleven were nominated"—this was foolishness, for he could see there +was hardly a man in the room that hadn't a nomination paper in his +hand—"he would ask for a show of hands, and any candidate defeated +upon this might demand a poll. He hoped we would vote in no spirit +of sectarian or partisan bitterness, but as impartial citizens +jealous only for the common weal; at the same time he was not in +favour of letting down the Squire, Sir Felix Felix-Williams, too +easily."</p> + +<p>So we handed up our nomination papers, and while the Chairman and +overseers were checking them off by the register, Old Pilot James got +upon his legs.</p> + +<p>He said that as long as he could remember—man and boy—he had +always practised carols in that very Town Hall upon the first +Tuesday in December. The Vicar—as soon as he had done boiling the +kettle in the next room—would come in and confirm his words. +The practices were held on the first Tuesday in December, and on each +successive Tuesday until St. Thomas's Day, when they had one extra. +If St. Thomas's Day fell on a Tuesday, then the extra practice would +be on Wednesday. He had received no notice of the change.</p> + +<p>Thomas Rabling rose and explained that at a meeting held last +Saturday, the singers had agreed to postpone the first practice in +view of Local Self-Government. Mr. James had been present and had +not objected.</p> + +<p>George William Oke—a blockmaker, who had never sung a carol or +attended a practice in his life—stood up and said, rather +unnecessarily, that this was the first <i>he'd</i> heard of it.</p> + +<p>Old Pilot James, answering Mr. Rabling, admitted that he might have +been present at the meeting on Saturday. But he was deaf, as +everybody knew—and Mr. Rabling no less than the rest—and hadn't +heard a word of what was said. If he had, he should have objected. +But, deaf or not deaf, he still took a delight in singing; and, if +only as a matter of principle, he was going to sing, "<i>God rest you +merry, gentlemen</i>," then and there. He was an old man, and they +might turn him out if they liked; but he warned them it would be +brutal, and might lead to a summons.</p> + +<p>Well, the Chairman was making a long business of the nomination +papers: so just to pass the time we let the old man sing. It seemed +churlish, too, not to join in the chorus; and by and by the whole +meeting was singing with a will. We sang "<i>Tidings of Comfort and +Joy</i>," and "<i>I saw Three Ships</i>," and the <i>Cherry-tree Carol</i>, and +"<i>Dives and Lazarus</i>." We had come to that verse where Dives is +carried off to sit on the serpent's knee, when the Chairman rose and +said that only five of the nomination papers were spoilt, and he +declared sixty-seven ladies and gentlemen to be duly nominated.</p> + +<p>We all pricked up our ears at the word "ladies." However, there +turned out to be one lady only; and when the Chairman read out her +name, her husband—a naval pensioner, William Carclew—stood up and +explained that he had only meant it for a joke upon the old woman, +just to give her a start, and he hoped it would go no farther. +This seemed fair and natural enough; but the Chairman said if Mrs. +Carclew wished to withdraw her name she had better do so at once by +word of mouth. So Carclew had to run home and fetch her. While he +was gone we finished "<i>Dives and Lazarus</i>."</p> + +<p>In five minutes' time back came Carclew, followed by Mrs. Carclew, +who announced—in a rich brogue—that since her man had conspired to +put this fool's trick upon her, why now she would stand, begob! +"Arrah now, people, people, and a gay man he'll look houlding the +babby, while I'm afther superinthendin' the Parush!" So the +Chairman declared her duly nominated. It will surprise me if she +does not head the poll on the 17th.</p> + +<p>The Chairman now invited us to interrogate the candidates, if we +wished. By this time we were getting pretty well into the way of +Self-Government, and all enjoying it amazingly. Of course our lady +candidate, Mrs. Carclew, had the first few questions; but these were +mostly jocular and domestic, and I am bound to say the lady gave as +good as was brought. The only sensible question came from Old Pilot +James, who asked if she believed in the ballot. For his part he had +never given a vote for anybody since Forster brought in the ballot in +'seventy-one. He favoured peace and quiet; and he liked to walk up +to the hustings and give his vote, and hear 'em say, "Well done!" or +"You '—' old scoundrel!" as the case might be. He didn't mind being +called "a '—' old scoundrel," provided it was said to him by a +gentleman who weighed his words. Since Forster brought in the ballot +he had always gone to the poll regular. He always took his paper and +wrote opposite the names: "<i>Shan't say a word. Got my living to get. +Yours obediently, Matthias James</i>"—and would advise everybody else +to do the same.</p> + +<p>After him, Renatus Hansombody, carpenter, rose at the back of the +hall and announced that he had a question to put to the Doctor. +The Doctor, by the way, is one of the most popular of the candidates.</p> + +<p>"I should like," said Mr. Hansombody, "to ask the Doctor if he will +kindly explain to the company Clauses 5, 6, and 13 of the new Act?"</p> + +<p>The Chairman protested that this would occupy more time than the +meeting had to spare.</p> + +<p>"In that case," said Mr. Hansombody, "I will confine myself to a test +question. The Act provides that the Chairman of a Parish Meeting is +to be elected by the Meeting. Now suppose the votes for two +gentlemen are equal. In such a case what would the Doctor advise? +For until you have a Chairman elected, there is no Chairman to give a +casting vote."</p> + +<p>The Doctor thought that, since we had long ago elected a Chairman by +acclamation, the question was superfluous.</p> + +<p>"And you call him a straightforward man!" Mr. Hansombody exclaimed, +turning round on the Meeting. "What I say is, are we to have +pusillanimity in our first Parish Council? What I say is, that a +gentleman who gives a working man such an answer to such a +question—"</p> + +<p>At this point the door opened and a shrill voice asked, +"Is Hansombody here?"</p> + +<p>"I am here," said Hansombody, "to expose impostors!"</p> + +<p>"Because if so, he must please come home at once. Mrs. Hansombody's +cryin'-out!"</p> + +<p>"I always said," remarked Old Pilot James, "that this cussed Act +would scare half the women in the Parish before their time."</p> + +<p>"Beggin' your pard'n, Doctor," began his denouncer lamely.</p> + +<p>"Not at all, not at all," said the Doctor. "We must keep these +matters altogether outside the sphere of party politics." +(<i>Loud cheering</i>.)</p> + +<p>"Then I'll have to ask you to step along with me."</p> + +<p>The two political opponents picked up their hats, and left the room +together.</p> + +<p>The Chairman rose as the door closed behind them. "I think," he +said, "this should be a lesson to us to accept the Act in the spirit +in which it was given. If nobody else wishes to ask a question, I +will now take a show of hands: but I warn you all it'll be a dreary +business."</p> + +<p>At this, the first hint of tedium, the company rose, drained their +glasses, and made for the door, leaving the sixty-six remaining +candidates to vote for themselves.</p> + +<p> +"Well," Mr. Rabling said to me, as we stood in the street; "so far, +this here Parish Meeting might be like any other Parish Meeting in +the Kingdom!"</p> + +<p>I doubted, but did not contradict him.</p> + +<p>"There's one thing," he added; "Ironmonger Loveday has laid in a +whole stock of sixpenny fire-balloons for to-night: and there isn't a +breath of wind. His boy's very clever with the scissors and paste: +and he've a-stuck a tissue-paper text on each—'Success to the +Charter of our Liberties,' and 'Rule Britannia' and 'God Speed the +Plough'; and nothing more than the sixpence charged."</p> + +<p> +Simple, egregious, delectable town! As I leaned out last night, +watching the young moon and smoking the last pipe before bed-time, a +dozen of these gay balloons rose from the waterside and drifted on +the faint north wind, seaward, past my window. Another dozen +followed, and another, until from one point and another of the dark +shore a hundred balloons soared over the water, challenging the +stars.</p> + + +<br><br> +<p><a name="11"></a> </p> +<h3>II.—THE SIMPLE SHEPHERD.</h3> +<br> + +<p> + Troy Town, + 29 January, 1895.</p> + +<p>"And then, as he set the bowl of goat's milk on the board, that +simple Tyrolean turned to me with a magnificent sweep of the hand, +and exclaimed—"</p> + +<p>Ah, my dear Prince, if you could only tell me what he exclaimed, you +would restore a whole parish to its natural slumbers. For indeed he +is playing the deuce with our nights, here in Troy, that guileless +Tyrolean.</p> + +<p>How trivial are the immediate causes of great events! On New Year's +Day our excellent Vicar, having bought himself a Whitaker's Almanack +for 1895, presented his last year's copy to the Working Men's Reading +Room. In itself you would have thought this action of the Vicar's +signified no more than a generous desire to keep his parishioners +abreast of the times. In effect it inaugurated the Great Temperance +Movement in Troy—a social revolution of which we are only now, after +four long weeks, beginning to see the end.</p> + +<p>You must not, of course, suppose that we had never heard of +temperance before. No, Prince, we do not live so far from Abyssinia +as all <i>that</i>. In a general way we understood it to be a good thing, +and upon that ground (optimists that we are) believed its ultimate +success to be but a question of time. But I think I may say we never +regarded it as a pressing question—such as the reform of the House +of Lords, for instance. The general impression (I call it no more) +was that we should all be temperate sooner or later; possibly as the +next step after espousing our Deceased Wife's Sister.</p> + +<p>Well, our Vicar laid his copy of the 1894 almanack on the +reading-room table at 11.30 a.m., or thereabouts, looked over the +local papers for a few minutes, and left the building at ten minutes +to noon. I get this information from Matthias James, our respected +pilot, who happened to be in the room, reading the <i>Shipping +Gazette</i>. It is confirmed by Mr. Hansombody and four or five other +members. At noon precisely, Mr. Rabling (our gasman and an earnest +Methodist) came in. His eye, as it wandered round in search of an +unoccupied newspaper, was arrested by the scarlet and green binding +of Whitaker. He picked the book up, opened it casually, and read:</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<p class = "noindent">The proof gallons of spirits distilled during the year ending + March 31st, 1893, were 10,691,576 in England, 20,107,077 in + Scotland, and 13,615,668 in Ireland.…</p> +</blockquote></blockquote> + + +<p>He tells me he was on the point of closing the book as a voluptuous +work of fiction, when a second and even more dazzling paragraph took +his eye.</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<p class = "noindent"> The beer charged with duty in the United Kingdom was 32,104,320 + barrels, 532,047 barrels of which were exported on drawback, + leaving 31,572,283 barrels for home consumption. There were + also 38,580 barrels of beer, and 1,653 barrels of spruce + imported from abroad.</p> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>And again:</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<p class = "noindent"> The spirits "retained for home consumption" in the year were:— + rum, 4,268,438 gallons; brandy, 2,668,499 gallons; "other + sorts," 824,078 gallons. The home consumption of tobacco in the + year reached the total of 63,765,053 lbs. Though the tobacco + duty was reduced by 4d. a lb. in 1887-8, the annual yield + averages 1,336,240 pounds sterling more than it was ten years + ago. Smuggling still continues.…</p> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>Mr. Rabling was declaiming aloud by this time, and when he read out +about the smuggling, one or two of his audience gazed up at the +ceiling and agreed that the fellow had some of his facts right. +Old Pilot James added that the book could hardly be a work of +fiction, since the Vicar had left it on the table, and the Vicar was +not one to scatter lies except upon due deliberation.</p> + +<p>Mr. Rabling left the room and walked straight up to the Vicarage, and +the Vicar assured him that the Customs Returns were almost as +accurate as if they had been prepared under a Conservative +Government. You must excuse these details, Prince. They are really +essential to the story.</p> + +<p>At 12.55 Mr. Rabling (after a hasty dinner) handed across the counter +of the post-office a telegram addressed to his religious +superintendent at Plymouth. The message ran:</p> + +<p> "Here anual consumption of beer over three milion barls. + Greatly distresd, Rabling."</p> + +<p>The telegraph clerk kindly corrected all the errors of spelling in +the above, save one, which escaped him. By "here" Mr. Rabling had +intended "hear" (<i>scilicet</i> "I hear," or "we hear"). The answer +arrived from Plymouth within an hour.</p> + +<p>"Am sending missionary next train."</p> + +<p>Thus our Temperance movement began. The missionary arrived before +set of sun, borrowed a chair from Mr. Rabling, carried it down to the +town quay and mounted it. A number of children at once gathered +round, in the belief that the stranger intended a tumbling +performance. The missionary eyed them and began, "Ah, if I can once +get hold of you tender little ones—" an infelicitous opening, which +scattered them yelling, convinced that the Bogey-man had come for +them at last. Upon this he changed his tone and called "O Gomorrah!" +aloud several times in a rich baritone voice, which fetched quite a +little crowd of elders around him from the reading-room, the +fish-market, the "King of Prussia" Inn, and other purlieus of the +quay.</p> + +<p>Then the missionary gave us a most eloquent and inspiriting address, +in the course of which he mentioned that if all the beer annually +consumed in England were placed in bottles, and the bottles piled on +one another, it would reach within five hundred miles of the moon. +He asked us if this were not an intolerable state of things and a +disgrace to our boasted civilisation? Of course, there could be no +two questions about it. We are not unreasonable, down in Troy. +We only want a truth to be brought home to us. The missionary said +that if only a man would deny himself his morning glass, in eight +months he could buy himself a harmonium, besides being better in mind +and body. And he wound up by inviting us to attend a meeting in the +Town Hall that evening.</p> + +<p>Well, at the evening performance he made us all feel so uncomfortable +that, as soon as it was over, we held an informal gathering in the +bar of the "King of Prussia," and decided that temperance must be +given a fair trial. The missionary had laid particular stress on the +necessity of taking the rising generation and taking them early. +So we decided to try it first upon the children, and see how it +worked.</p> + +<p>The missionary was delighted with our zeal. (Our zeal has often +surprised and delighted strangers.) And he helped with a will. +Early next morning he organised what he called a "Little Drops of +Water League," and a juvenile branch of the Independent Order of Good +Templars, entitled the "Deeds not Words Lodge of Tiny Knights of +Abstinence." Each of these had its insignia. He sent us down the +patterns as soon as he returned to Plymouth, and within a week the +drapers' shops were full of little scarves and ribbons—white and +gold for the girls, pink and silver for the boys. By this time there +wasn't a child under fourteen but had taken the pledge; and as for +narrow blue ribbon, it could not be supplied fast enough. I heard +talk, too, of a juvenile fife-and-drum band; and the mothers had +already begun stitching banners for the processions. I tell you it +was pleasant, over a pipe and glass, to watch all these preparations, +and think how much better the world would be when the rising +generation came to take our places.</p> + +<p>But, of course, no popular movement ever took root in our town +without a "tea-drink" or some such public function. And you may +judge of our delight when, on applying to the Vicar, we heard that he +had been talking to the Squire, Sir Felix Felix-Williams, and Sir +Felix would gladly preside. Sir Felix suggested the following +programme—(1) A Public Lecture in the Town Hall, with a Magic +Lantern to exhibit the results of excessive drinking. The missionary +would lecture, and Sir Felix would take the chair. (2) The lecture +over, the children were to form outside in procession and march up +behind the Town Band to Sir Felix's great covered tennis-court, where +tea would be spread.</p> + +<p>I have mentioned the Magic Lantern and the Town Band, and must say a +word here on each. When the late Government set aside a sum of money +for Technical Instruction throughout the country, Sir Felix, who, as +our chief landlord, may be supposed to know best what we need, +decided that we needed to learn drawing. His idea was, by means of a +magic lantern, to throw the model upon a screen for the class to +copy; and in the heat of his enthusiasm he purchased two magic +lanterns at 25 pounds apiece before consulting the drawing-master, +who pointed out that a drawing-lesson, to be thorough, must be +conducted in a certain amount of light, whereas a magic lantern is +only effective in a dark room. So Sir Felix was left with two very +handsome lanterns on his hands, and burned for an opportunity of +turning them to account. Hence his alacrity in suggesting a lecture.</p> + +<p>As for the Town Band, it was started last autumn with a view to +rendering our little town more attractive than ever to summer +visitors. The bandsmen have practised sedulously through the winter, +and are making great strides; but—if fault must be found—I am sorry +that our bandmaster, Mr. Patrick Sullivan (an Irishman), left the +purchase and selection of the music to his brother, who lives in +London and plays the piccolo at one of the music-halls. The result— +but you shall hear.</p> + +<p>Punctually at 3.30 p.m. last Wednesday, Sir Felix drove down to the +Town Hall in his brougham. The body of the Hall was already packed, +and the missionary busy on the platform with his lanterns and white +sheet. Mr. Rabling and an assistant stood ready to close the +shutters and turn up the gas at the proper moment. The band waited +outside; and as Sir Felix alighted, mounted the steps and entered the +hall, bowing to right and left with the air of a real patriarch, the +musicians crashed out the tune of—</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<span class = "ind4">They all take after me,</span><br> +<span class = "ind4">Take whisky in their tea.…</span><br> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>Fortunately no one associated the tune with its words. Sir Felix +mounted the platform; and after sipping a little water (such was our +thoroughness that a glassful stood ready for each speaker), began to +introduce the lecturer, whose name he mispronounced. The missionary +was called Stubbs; and by what mnemonic process Sir Felix converted +this into Westmacott I have never been able to guess. However, for +purposes of introduction that afternoon Westmacott he was and +Westmacott he remained. Now Sir Felix, though not a very old man, +has a rambling habit of speech, and tends in public discourse to +forget alike the thread of his argument and the lapse of time. +Conceive then our delight on his announcing that he would confine +himself to a brief anecdote.</p> + +<p>"The beauty of temperance," said Sir Felix, "was once brought home to +me very forcibly in rather peculiar circumstances. Many years ago I +was travelling afoot in the Tyrol, and chancing to pass by a +shepherd's cottage, turned aside to inquire my way. The good people +of the house, with native hospitality, pressed me to tarry an hour +and partake of their mid-day meal. I acceded. The fare, as you may +suppose, was simple. There was no intoxicating liquor. But never +shall I forget the gesture or the words of that simple shepherd as he +placed a bowl of goat's milk before me on the board. His words—a +short sentence only—left such an impression on my mind that to this +day I never seat myself at table without repeating them to myself. +Three times a day for over thirty years I have repeated those words +and seen in imagination the magnificent gesture which accompanied +them. The words of my simple shepherd were—"</p> + +<p>(Here Sir Felix reproduced the simple shepherd's magnificent gesture, +and paused.)</p> + +<p>"And then," he pursued, "as he set the bowl of goat's milk on the +board, that simple Tyrolean turned to me with a magnificent sweep of +the hand"—gesture repeated—"and exclaimed—"</p> + +<p>Here followed a prolonged pause, and it slowly dawned upon the +audience that by a pardonable trick of memory Sir Felix was for the +moment unable to recall the words he had repeated thrice a day for +the last thirty years.</p> + +<p>The situation was awkward. At the back of the platform Mr. Rabling +rose to it. He had once a tenor voice of moderate calibre which he +was used to exert publicly in the days of Penny Readings. And the +word "Tyrolean" now suggested to him a national song which had long +reposed in his musical cabinet at home. He leaned forward, screened +his mouth with one hand and whispered—</p> + +<p>"Sir Felix—"</p> + +<p>"Hey?" Sir Felix whipped round.</p> + +<p>"Did a' say" (with sudden and piercing jodel) "<i>Lul-ul-i-e-tee! +Lul-ul-i-ee! Lul-ul</i>—"</p> + +<p>Sir Felix stamped his foot; and I think we all felt glad for Rabling +at that moment that he held his cottage on a ninety-nine years' +lease. But the lecture was spoilt before it began. The missionary +piled his statistics to the moon, and turned down the gas, and showed +us "The Child: What will he become?" But we took no interest in that +question. The question for us was, What exactly did that simple +Tyrolese shepherd say to Sir Felix? And that is just what we have +been asking each other for a week past.</p> + +<p>Sir Felix recovered himself towards the close of the address, and at +the close acknowledged our vote of thanks in a pleasant little +speech—in which, however, his Tyrolean friend was not so much as +alluded to. It was pretty, too, to see the Little Knights of +Abstinence afterwards, with their sashes and banners, marching uphill +after the band, like so many children of Hamelin after the Pied +Piper. Only, my dear Prince, what tune do you think the band was +playing? Why—</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<span class = "ind4">Come where the booze is cheaper,</span><br> +<span class = "ind4">Come where the pints hold more…!</span><br> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>The missionary, I am told, is already beginning to talk as if we +disappointed him. But this was certain to befall a man of one idea +in a place of so many varied interests.</p> + + +<br><br> +<h3>LEGENDS.</h3> + +<br><br> +<p><a name="12"></a> </p> + +<h3>I.—THE LEGEND OF SIR DINAR.</h3> +<br> + +<p> +A puff of north-east wind shot over the hill, detached a late +December leaf from the sycamore on its summit, and swooped like a +wave upon the roofs and chimney-stacks below. It caught the smoke +midway in the chimneys, drove it back with showers of soot and +wood-ash, and set the townsmen sneezing who lingered by their hearths +to read the morning newspaper. Its strength broken, it fell prone +upon the main street, scattering its fine dust into fan-shaped +figures, then died away in eddies towards the south. Among these +eddies the sycamore leaf danced and twirled, now running along the +ground upon its edge, now whisked up to the level of the first-storey +windows. A nurse, holding up a three-year-old child behind the pane, +pointed after the leaf—</p> + +<p>"Look—there goes Sir Dinar!"</p> + +<p> +Sir Dinar was the youngest son and the comeliest of King Geraint, who +had left Arthur's Court for his own western castle of Dingerein in +Roseland, where Portscatho now stands, and was buried, when his time +came, over the Nare, in his golden boat with his silver oars beside +him. To fill his siege at the Round Table he sent, in the lad's +sixteenth year, this Dinar, who in two years was made knight by King +Arthur, and in the third was turned into an old man before he had +achieved a single deed of note.</p> + +<p>For on the fifth day after he was made knight, and upon the Feast of +Pentecost, there began the great quest of the Sancgrael, which took +Sir Lancelot from the Court, Sir Perceval, Sir Bors, Sir Gawaine, Sir +Galahad, and all the flower of the famous brotherhood. And because, +after their going, it was all sad cheer at Camelot, and heavy, empty +days, Sir Dinar took two of his best friends aside, both young +knights, Sir Galhaltin and Sir Ozanna le Coeur Hardi, and spoke to +them of riding from the Court by stealth. "For," he said, "we have +many days before us, and no villainy upon our consciences, and +besides are eager. Who knows, then, but we may achieve this +adventure of the Sancgrael?" These listened and imparted it to +another, Sir Sentrail: and the four rode forth secretly one morning +before the dawn, and set their faces towards the north-east wind.</p> + +<p>The day of their departure was that next after Christmas, the same +being the Feast of Saint Stephen the Martyr. And as they rode +through a thick wood, it came into Sir Dinar's mind that upon this +day it was right to kill any bird that flew, in remembrance that when +Saint Stephen had all but escaped from the soldiers who guarded him, +a small bird had sung in their ears and awakened them. By this, the +sky was growing white with the morning, but nothing yet clear to the +sight: and while they pressed forward under the naked boughs, their +horses' hoofs crackling the frosted undergrowth, Sir Dinar was aware +of a bird's wing ruffling ahead, and let fly a bolt without warning +his companions; who had forgotten what morning it was, and drew rein +for a moment. But pressing forward again, they came upon a gerfalcon +lying, with long lunes tangled about his feet and through his breast +the hole that Sir Dinar's bolt had made. While they stooped over +this bird the sun rose and shone between the tree-trunks, and lifting +their heads they saw a green glade before them, and in the midst of +the glade three pavilions set, each of red sendal, that shone in the +morning. In the first pavilion slept seven knights, and in the +second a score of damsels, but by the door of the third stood a lady, +fair and tall, in a robe of samite, who, as they drew near to accost +her, inquired of them—</p> + +<p>"Which of you has slain my gerfalcon?"</p> + +<p>And when Sir Dinar confessed and began to make his excuse, "Silly +knight!" said she, "who couldst not guess that my falcon, too, was +abroad to avenge the blessed Stephen. Or dost think that it was a +hawk, of all birds, that sang a melody in the ears of his guards?"</p> + +<p>With that she laughed, as if pacified, and asked of their affairs; +and being told that they rode in search of the Sancgrael, she laughed +again, saying—</p> + +<p>"Silly knights all, that seek it before you be bearded! For three of +you must faint and die on the quest, and you, sir," turning to Sir +Dinar, "must many times long to die, yet never reach nearer by a +foot."</p> + +<p>"Let it be as God will," answered Sir Dinar. "But hast thou any +tidings, to guide us?"</p> + +<p>"I have heard," said she, "that it was seen latest in the land of +Gore, beyond Trent Water." And with her white finger she pointed +down a narrow glade that led to the north-west. So they thanked her +and pricked on, none guessing that she herself was King Urience' +wife, of Gore, and none other than Queen Morgan le Fay, the famous +enchantress, who for loss of her gerfalcon was lightly sending Sir +Dinar to his ruin.</p> + +<p>So all that day they rode, two and two, in the strait alley that she +had pointed out; and by her enchantments she made the winter trees to +move with them, serried close on either hand, so that, though the +four knights wist nothing of it, they advanced not a furlong for all +their haste. But towards nightfall there appeared close ahead a +blaze of windows lit and then a tall castle with dim towers soaring +up and shaking to the din of minstrelsy. And finding a great company +about the doors, they lit down from their horses and stepped into the +great hall, Sir Dinar leading them. For a while their eyes were +dazed, seeing that sconces flared along the walls and the place was +full of knights and damsels brightly clad, and the floor shone. +But while they were yet blinking, a band of maidens came and +unbuckled their arms and cast a shining cloak upon each; which was +hardly done when a lady came towards them out of the throng, and +though she was truly the Queen Morgan le Fay, they knew her not at +all, for by her necromancy she had altered her countenance.</p> + +<p>"Come, dance," said she, "for in an instant the musicians will +begin."</p> + +<p>The other three knights tarried awhile, being weary with riding; but +Sir Dinar stepped forward and caught the hand of a damsel, and she, +as she gave it, looked in his eyes and laughed. She was dressed all +in scarlet, with scarlet shoes, and her hair lay on her shoulders +like waves of burnished gold. As Sir Dinar set his arm about her, +with a crash the merry music began; and floating out with him into +the dance, her scarlet shoes twinkling and her tossed hair shaking +spices under his nostrils, she leaned back a little on his arm and +laughed again.</p> + +<p>Sir Galhaltin was leaning by the doorway, and he heard her laugh and +saw her feet twinkle like blood-red moths, and he called to Sir +Dinar. But Sir Dinar heard only the brassy music, nor did any of the +dancers turn their heads, though Sir Galhaltin called a second time +and more loudly. Then Sir Sentrail and Sir Ozanna also began to +call, fearing they knew not what for their comrade. But the guests +still drifted by as they were clouds, and Sir Dinar, with the red +blood showing beneath the down on his cheeks, smiled always and +whirled with the woman upon his arm.</p> + +<p>By and by he began to pant, and would have rested: but she denied +him.</p> + +<p>"For a moment only," he said, "because I have ridden far to-day."</p> + +<p>But "No" she said, and hung a little more heavily upon his arm, and +still the music went on. And now, gating upon her, he was +frightened; for it seemed she was growing older under his eyes, with +deep lines sinking into her face, and the flesh of her neck and bosom +shrivelling up, so that the skin hung loose and gathered in wrinkles. +And now he heard the voices of his companions calling about the door, +and would have cast off the sorceress and run to them. But when he +tried, his arm was welded around her waist, nor could he stay his +feet.</p> + +<p>The three knights now, seeing the sweat upon his white face and the +looks he cast towards them, would have broken in and freed him: but +they, too, were by enchantment held there in the doorway. So, with +their eyes starting, they must needs stay there and watch; and while +they stood the boards became as molten brass under Sir Dinar's feet, +and the hag slowly withered in his embrace; and still the music +played, and the other dancers cast him never a look as he whirled +round and round again. But at length, with never a stay in the +music, his partner's feet trailed heavily, and, bending forward, she +shook her white locks clear of her gaunt eyes, and laughed a third +time, bringing her lips close to his. And the poison of death was in +her lips as she set them upon his mouth. With that kiss there was a +crash. The lights went out, and the music died away in a wail: and +the three knights by the door were caught away suddenly and stunned +by a great wind.</p> + +<p> +Awaking, they found themselves lying in the glade where they had come +upon the three red pavilions. Their horses were cropping at the +turf, beside them, and Sir Dinar's horse stood in sight, a little way +off. But Sir Dinar was already deep in the forest, twirling and +spinning among the rotten leaves, and on his arm hung a corrupting +corpse. For a whole day they sought him and found him not (for he +heard nothing of their shouts), and towards evening mounted and rode +forward after the Sancgrael; on which quest they died, all three, +each in his turn.</p> + +<p>But Sir Dinar remained, and twirled and skipped till the body he held +was a skeleton; and still he twirled, till it dropped away piecemeal; +and yet again, till it was but a stain of dust on his ragged sleeve. +Before this his hair was white and his face wizened with age.</p> + +<p>But on a day a knight in white armour came riding through the forest, +leaning somewhat heavily on his saddle-bow: and was aware of an old +decrepit man that ran towards him, jigging and capering as if for +gladness, yet caught him by the stirrup and looked up with rheumy +tears in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"In God's name, who art thou?" asked the knight. He, too, was past +his youth; but his face shone with a marvellous glory.</p> + +<p>"I am young Sir Dinar, that was made a knight of the Round Table but +five days before Pentecost. And I know thee. Thou art Sir Galahad, +who shouldst win the Sancgrael: therefore by Christ's power rid me of +this enchantment."</p> + +<p>"I have not won it yet," Sir Galahad answered, sighing. "Yet, poor +comrade, I may do something for thee, though I cannot stay thy +dancing."</p> + +<p>So he stretched out his hand and touched Sir Dinar: and by his touch +Sir Dinar became a withered leaf of the wood. And when mothers and +nurses see him dancing before the wind, they tell this story of him +to their children.</p> + + +<br><br> +<p><a name="13"></a> </p> +<h3>II.—"FLOWING SOURCE."</h3> +<br> + +<p> +Master Simon's inn, the "Flowing Source"—"Good Entertainment for Man +and Beast"—leant over the riverside by the ferry, a mile and a half +above Ponteglos town. The fresh water of Cuckoo River met the salt +Channel tide right under its windows, by the wooden ladder where +Master Simon chained his ferry-boat. Fourteen miles inland, a brown +trout-stream singing down from the moors, plunged over a ledge of +rock into the cool depths of Cuckoo Valley. Thenceforward it ran by +beds of sundew, water-mint and asphodel, under woods so steeply +converging that the traveller upon the ridges heard it as the trickle +of water in a cavern. But just above Master Simon's inn the valley +widened out into arable and grey pasture land, and the river, too, +widened and grew deep enough to float up vessels of small tonnage at +the spring tides. In summer, from the bow-window of his coffee-room, +Master Simon could follow its course down through the meadows to the +church-tower of Ponteglos and the shipping congregated there about +the wharves, and watch in the middle distance the sails of a barge or +shallow trading-ketch moving among the haymakers. But from November +to March, when the floods were out, the "Flowing Source" stood above +an inland sea, with a haystack or two for lesser islets. Then the +river's course could be told only by a line of stakes on which the +wild fowl rested. The meadows were covered. Only a few clumps of +reed rose above the clapping water and shook in the northerly gales. +And then, when no guests came for weeks together, and the salt spray +crusted the panes so thickly that looking abroad became a weariness +of the spirit, Master Simon would reach down his long gun from the +chimney-piece and polish it, and having pulled on his wading-boots +and wrapped a large woollen comforter round his throat and another +round his head, would summon his tap-boy, unmoor the ferry-boat, and +go duck-shooting. For in winter birds innumerable haunt the +riverside here—wild duck, snipe, teal, and widgeon; curlews, +fieldfares, and plovers, both green and golden; rooks, starlings, +little white-rumped sandpipers; herons from the upper woods and gulls +from seaward. Master Simon had fine sport in the short days, and the +inn might take care of itself, which it was perfectly well able to +do. Its foundations rested on sunken piles of magnificent girth—"as +stout as myself," said Master Simon modestly—and on these it stood +so high that even the great flood of 'fifty-nine had overlapped the +kitchen threshold but once, at the top of a spring tide with a +north-westerly gale behind it; and then had retreated within the +hour. "It didn't put the fire out," boasted Master Simon.</p> + +<p>He was proud of his inn, and for some very good reasons. To begin +with, you would not find another such building if you searched +England for a year. It consisted almost wholly of wood; but of such +wood! The story went that on a blowing afternoon, in the late autumn +of 1588, two Spanish galleons from the Great Armada—they had been +driven right around Cape Wrath—came trailing up the estuary and took +ground just above Ponteglos. Their crews landed and marched inland, +and never returned. Some say the Cornishmen cut them off and slew +them. For my part, I think it more likely that these foreigners +found hospitality, and very wisely determined to settle in the +country. Certain it is, you will find in the upland farms over +Cuckoo Valley a race of folks with olive complexions, black curling +hair and beards, and Southern names—Santo, Hugo, Jago, Bennett, +Jose.…</p> + +<p>At all events, the Spanyers (Spaniards) never came back to their +galleons, which lay in the ooze by the marsh meadows until the very +birds forgot to fear them, and built in their rigging. By the Roles +d'Oleron—which were, in effect, the maritime laws of that period— +all wrecks or wreckage belonged to the Crown when neither an owner +nor an heir of a late owner could be found for it. But in those days +the king's law travelled lamely through Cornwall; so that when, in +1605, these galleons were put up to auction and sold by the Lord of +the Manor—who happened to be High Sheriff—nobody inquired very +closely where the money went. It is more to the point that the +timber of them was bought by one Master Blaise—never mind the +surname; he was an ancestor of Master Simon's, and a well-to-do +wool-comber of Ponteglos.</p> + +<p>This Master Blaise already rented the ferry-rights by Flowing Source, +and certain rights of fishery above and below; and having a younger +son to provide for, he conceived the happy notion of this hostelry +beside the river. For ground-rent he agreed to carry each Michaelmas +to the Lord of the Manor one penny in a silk purse; and the lord's +bailiff, on bringing the receipt, was to take annually of Master +Blaise and his heirs one jack of ale of the October brewing and one +smoke-cured salmon of not less than fifteen pounds' weight. +These conditions having been duly signed, in the year 1606 Master +Blaise laid the foundations of his inn upon the timbers of one +galleon and set up the elm keelson of the other for his roof-tree. +Its stout ribs, curving outwards and downwards from this magnificent +balk, supported the carvel-built roof, so that the upper half of the +building appeared—and indeed was—a large inverted hull, decorated +with dormer windows, brick chimneys, and a round pigeon-house +surmounted by a gilded vane. The windows he took ready-made from the +Spaniard's bulging stern-works. And for signboard he hung out, +between two bulging poop-lanterns, a large bituminous painting on +panel, that had been found on board the larger galleon, and was +supposed to represent the features of her patron, Saint Nicholas +Prodaneli. But the site of the building had always been known as +Flowing Source, and by this name and no other Master Blaise's inn was +called for over two hundred years.</p> + +<p>By this time its timber roof had clothed itself with moss upon the +north side, and on the west the whole framework inclined over the +river, as though the timbers of the old galleon regretted their +proper element and strained towards it tenderly, quietly, +persistently. But careful patching and repairing had kept the +building to all appearance as stout as ever; and any doubts of its +stability were dispelled in a moment by a glance at Master Simon, the +landlord. Master Simon's age by parish register fell short of forty, +but he looked at least ten years older: a slow man with a promising +stomach and a very satisfactory balance at the bank; a notable +breeder of pigeons and fisher of eels. He could also brew strong +ale, and knew exactly how salmon should be broiled. He had heard +that the world revolves, and decided to stand still and let it come +round to him. Certainly a considerable number of its inhabitants +found their way to the "Flowing Source" sooner or later. Marketers +crossed the ferry and paused for a morning drink. In the cool of the +day quiet citizens rambled up from Ponteglos with rod and line, or +brought their families by boat on the high evening tide to eat cream +and junket, and sit afterwards on the benches by the inn-door, +watching the fish rise and listening to the song of the young people +some way up stream. Painters came, too, and sketched the old inn, +and sometimes stayed for a week, having tasted the salmon. +Pigeon-breeders dropped in and smoked long pipes in the kitchen with +Master Simon, and slowly matured bets and matches. And once or twice +in the summer months a company of pilgrims would arrive—queer +literary men in velveteen coats, who examined all the rooms and +furniture as though they meant to make a bid for the inn complete; +who talked with outlandish tongues and ordered expensive dinners, and +usually paid for them next morning, rather to Master Simon's +surprise. It appeared that there had been once, in the time of +Master Simon's grandfather, a certain pot-boy at the "Flowing Source" +who ran off into the world and became a great poet; and these +pilgrimages were made in his honour. Master Simon found this story +somehow very creditable to himself, and came in time to take +almost as much pride in it as in his pigeons and broiled salmon. +Regularly after dinner on these occasions he would exhibit an old +pewter pint-pot to the pilgrims, and draw their attention to the +following verse, scratched upon it—as he asserted—by the poet's own +hand:</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<p class = "noindent">Who buys beef buys bones,<br> + Who buys land buys stones,<br> + Who buys eggs buys shels,<br> + But who buys ale buys nothing els.<br></p> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>And the pilgrims feigned credulity according as they valued Master +Simon's opinion of their intelligence.</p> + +<p>But most welcome of all were the merchant-captains from Ponteglos, +among whom custom had made it a point of honour to report themselves +at the "Flowing Source" within twenty-four hours after dropping +anchor by Ponteglos Quay. When or why or how the custom arose nobody +was old enough to remember; but a master mariner would as soon have +thought of sailing without log or leadline as of putting in and out +of Ponteglos without tasting Master Simon's ale—"calling for +orders," as they put it. Master Simon had never climbed a sea-going +ship except to shake hands with a friend and wish him good passage +and return to shore with the pilot; but the teak walls of his parlour +were lined with charts of such very remote parts of the globe, and +his shelves with such a quantity of foreign china and marine +curiosities, and he spoke so familiarly of Galapagos, Batavia, Cape +Verde, the Horn, the Straits of Magellan, and so forth, and would +bring his telescope so knowingly to bear on the gilt weathercock over +Ponteglos church tower, that until you knew the truth you would have +sworn half his life had been spent on the quarter-deck. And while +the sea-captains—serious men, attired in blue cloth, wearing rings +in their ears—sat and smoked canaster and other queer tobaccos in +painted china pipes, and talked of countries whose very names +conjured up visions of parrots, and carved idols, and sharks, and +brown natives in flashing canoes, Master Simon would put a shrewd +question or two and wag his head over the answers as a man who hears +just what he expected. And sometimes towards the close of the +sitting, if he knew his company very well, he would reward them with +his favourite and only song, "The Golden Vanitee":</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<p class = "noindent">A ship I have got in the North Countree,<br> + And I had her christened the Golden Vanitee;<br> + O, I fear she's been taken by a Spanish Gal-a-lee,<br> +<span class = "ind2">As she sailed by the Lowlands low!</span><br></p> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>In some hazy way he had persuaded himself that the Spanish galleon of +the ballad was the very ship whose timbers over-arched him and his +audience; and for the moment, being himself inverted (so to speak) by +the potency of his own singing, he blew out his chest and straddled +out his thick calves and screwed up his eyes, quite as if his +roof-tree were right-side-up once more in blue water, and he on deck +beside the weather-rail. But the mood began to pass as soon as he +bolted the front door behind his guests, and Ann the cook poured him +out his last cup of mulled ale and withdrew with the saucepan. +And another noon would find him seated under his leaning house-front, +his eyes half-closed, his attention divided between the whisper of +the tide and the murmur in the pigeon-cotes overhead, his body at +ease and his soul content. His was a happy life—or had been, but +for two crumpled rose-leaves.</p> + +<p>To begin with, there were those confounded pot-boys. It puzzled +Master Simon almost as much as it annoyed him; he paid fair wages and +passed for a good employer; but he could not keep a pot-boy for +twelve months. As a matter of fact, I know the river to have been +the bottom of the mischief—the river, and perhaps the talk of the +ship-captains. It might satisfy Master Simon to sit and watch the +salmon passing up in autumn towards their spawning beds, and rubbing, +as they went, their scales against his landing-stage to clear them of +the sea-lice; to watch them and their young passing seaward in the +early spring; to watch and wait and spread his nets in the due +season. But for the youngsters this running water was a constant +lure—the song of it and the dimple on it. It coaxed them, as it +coaxed the old galleon, to lean over and listen. And the moment that +listening became intolerable, they were off. Only one of them—the +poet before mentioned—had ever expressed any desire to return and +revisit—</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<p class = "noindent">The shining levels and the dazzled wave<br> + Emerging from his covert, errant long,<br> + In solitude descending by a vale<br> + Lost between uplands, where the harvesters<br> + Pause in the swathe, shading their eyes to watch<br> + Some barge or schooner stealing up from sea;<br> + Themselves in sunset, she a twilit ghost<br> + Parting the twilit woods . .<br><br> + +<span class = "ind10">Ah, loving God!</span><br> + Grant, in the end, this world may slip away<br> + With whisper of that water by the bows<br> + Of such a bark, bearing me home—thy stars<br> + Breaking the gloom like kingfishers, thy heights<br> + Golden with wheat, thy waiting angels there<br> + Wearing the dear rough faces of my kin!<br></p> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>I doubt if he meant it, any more than Virgil meant his "<i>flumina amem +silvasque inglorius</i>." At any rate, the public knew what was due to +itself, and when the time came, gave the man a handsome funeral in +Westminster Abbey. Among his pall-bearers walked the Prime Minister, +the Commander-in-Chief, the President of the Royal Academy of Arts, +and (as representing rural life) the Chief Secretary of Foreign +Affairs.</p> + +<p>What else disturbed the placid current of Master Simon's cogitations? +Why, this: he was the last of his race, and unmarried.</p> + +<p>For himself, he had no inclination to marry. But sometimes, as he +shaved his chin of a morning, the reflection in his round mirror +would suggest another. Was he not neglecting a public duty?</p> + +<p>Now there dwelt down at Ponteglos a Mistress Prudence Waddilove, a +widow, who kept the "Pandora's Box" Inn on the quay—a very tidy +business. Master Simon had known her long before she married the +late Waddilove; had indeed sat on the same form with her in + infants' school—she being by two years his junior, but always a +trifle quicker of wit. He attended her husband's funeral in a +neighbourly way, and, a week later, put on his black suit again and +went down—still in a neighbourly way—to offer his condolence. +Mistress Prudence received him in the best parlour, which smelt damp +and chilly in comparison with the little room behind the bar. +Master Simon remarked that she must be finding it lonely. +Whereupon she wept.</p> + +<p>Master Simon suggested that he, for his part, had tried +pigeon-breeding, and found that it alleviated solitude in a wonderful +manner. "There's my tumblers. If you like, I'll bring you down a +pair. They're pretty to watch. Of course, a husband is different—"</p> + +<p>"Of course," Mistress Prudence assented, her grief too recent to +allow a smile even at the picture of the late Waddilove (a man of +full habit) cleaving the air with frequent somersaults. She added, +not quite inconsequently:</p> + +<p>"He is an angel."</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Master Simon, in his turn.</p> + +<p>"But I think," she went on, quite inconsequently, "I would rather +have a pair of carriers."</p> + +<p>"Now, why in the world?" wondered Master Simon. He kept carrier +pigeons, to be sure. He kept pigeons of every sort—tumblers, +pouters, carriers, Belgians, dragons… the subdivisions, when you +came to them, were endless. But the carriers were by no means his +show-birds. He kept them mainly for the convenience of Ann the cook. +Ann had a cunning eye for a pigeon, and sometimes ventured a trifle +of her savings on a match; and though in his masculine pride he never +consulted her, Master Simon always felt more confident on hearing +that Ann had put money on his bird. Now, when a match took place at +some distant town or flying-ground, Ann would naturally be anxious to +learn the result as quickly as possible; and Master Simon, finding +that the suspense affected her cookery, had fallen into the habit of +taking a hamper of carriers to all distant meetings and speeding them +back to "Flowing Source" with tidings of his fortune. Apart from +this office—which they performed well enough—he took no special +pride in them. The offer of a pair of his pet tumblers, worth their +weight in gold, had cost him an effort; and when Mistress Prudence, +ordinarily a clear-headed woman, declared that she preferred +carriers, she could hardly have astonished him more by asking for a +pair of stock-doves.</p> + +<p>"Oh, certainly," he answered, and went home and thought it over. +Women were a puzzle; but he had a dim notion that if he could lay +hand on the reason why Mistress Prudence preferred ordinary carriers +to prize tumblers, he would hold the key to some of the secrets of +the sex. He thought it over for three days, during which he smoked +more tobacco than was good for him. At about four o'clock in the +afternoon of the third day, a smile enlarged his face. He set down +his pipe, smacked his thigh, stood up, sat down again, and began to +laugh. He laughed slowly and deliberately—not loudly—for the +greater part of that evening, and woke up twice in the night and +shook the bedclothes into long waves with his mirth.</p> + +<p>Next morning he took two carriers from the cote, shut them in a +hamper, and rowed down to Ponteglos with his gift. But Mrs. +Waddilove was not at home. She had started early by van for +Tregarrick (said the waitress at the "Pandora's Box") on business +connected with her husband's will. "No hurry at all," said Master +Simon. He slipped a handful of Indian corn under the lid, and left +the hamper "with his respects."</p> + +<p>Then he rowed home, and spent the next two days after his wont; the +only observable difference being the position of his garden chair. +It stood as a rule under the shadow of the broad eaves, but now +Master Simon ordered the tap-boy to carry it out and set it by a +rustic table close to the river's brink, whence, as he smoked, he +could keep comfortable watch upon the pigeon-cote.</p> + +<p>"You'll catch a sunstroke," said Ann the cook. "I hope you're not +beginning to forget how to take care of yourself."</p> + +<p>"Well, I hope so too," Master Simon answered; but he did not budge.</p> + +<p>On the morning of the third day, however, he saw that which made him +step indoors and mount to the attic under the cote. Having opened +with much caution a trap-door in the roof, he slipped an arm out and +captured a carrier pigeon.</p> + +<p>The bird carried a note folded small and bound under its wing with a +thread of silk. Master Simon opened the note and read:</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<span class = "ind4"><i>If you loves me as I loves you,</i></span><br> +<span class = "ind4"><i>No knife can cut our loves in two.</i></span><br> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>He had prepared himself for a hearty chuckle; but he broke out with a +profuse perspiration instead. "Oh, this is hustling a man!" he +ingeminated, staring round the empty attic like a rabbit seeking a +convenient hole. "Not three weeks buried!" he added, with another +groan, and began to loosen his neck-cloth.</p> + +<p>While thus engaged, he heard a flutter above the trap-door, and a +second pigeon alighted, with a second note, also bound with a silken +thread.</p> + +<p>"Lor-a-mercy!" gasped Master Simon.</p> + +<p>But the second note was written in a different hand, and ran as +follows:</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<p class = "noindent">"<i>I could die of shame. It was all that hussy of a girl. She did it +for a joke. I'll joke her. But what will you be thinking?—P. W.</i>"</p> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p> +Master Simon rowed down to Ponteglos that very afternoon, and the two +carriers went back with him. Happiness seemed to have shaken its +wings and quite departed from "Pandora's Box"; but a twinkle of +something not entirely unlike hope lurked in the corners of the +waitress's eyes—albeit their lids were red and swollen—as she +ushered Master Simon into the best parlour.</p> + +<p>"What can you be thinking of me?" began the widow. <i>Her</i> eyes were +red and swollen, too.</p> + +<p>"I've brought back the pigeons."</p> + +<p>"I can never bear the sight of them again!"</p> + +<p>"You might begin different, you know," suggested Master Simon, +affably. "Some little message about the weather, for instance. +Have you given that girl warning to leave?"</p> + +<p>"You see, I'm so lonely here…"</p> + +<p> +Some three months after this, and on an exceptionally fine morning in +September, Master Simon put Harmony, his celebrated almond hen, into +her travelling hamper, and marched over to the crossroads to take +coach for Illogan, in the mining district, where the matches for the +championship cup were to be flown that year.</p> + +<p>Now Ann the cook had ventured no less than five pounds upon Harmony. +Five pounds represented a half of her annual wage, and a trifle less +than half of her annual savings. Therefore she spent the greater +part of the following afternoon at her window, gazing westward in no +small perturbation of spirit.</p> + +<p>It wanted a few minutes to five when a carrier pigeon came travelling +across the zenith, shot downwards suddenly, and alighted on the roof. +Ann climbed to the trap-door and put out a hand. The bird was +preening his feathers, and allowed himself to be taken easily.</p> + +<p>In circumstances less agitating Ann had not failed to observe that +the thread about the messenger's wing was not of the kind that Master +Simon used. But her eyes opened wide as they fell on the +handwriting, and still wider as she read:</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<p class = "noindent">"<i>It is all for the best, perhaps. If only people have not begun to +talk</i>.—Prudence."</p> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>A second messenger arrived towards evening with word of Harmony's +success. But the news hardly relaxed Ann's brow, which kept a +pensive contraction even when her master arrived next evening and +poured out her winnings on the table from the silver challenge cup.</p> + +<p>She wore this frown at intervals for a fortnight, and all the while +maintained an unusual silence which puzzled Master Simon. Then one +morning he heard her in the kitchen scolding the tap-boy with all her +pristine heartiness. That night, after mulling her master's ale, she +turned at the door, saucepan in hand, and coughed to attract +attention.</p> + +<p>"Well, Ann; what is it?"</p> + +<p>"You've been philanderin'."</p> + +<p>"Hey! Upon my word, Ann—"</p> + +<p>Ann produced the Widow Waddilove's note and flattened it out under +Master Simon's eyes. And Master Simon blushed painfully.</p> + +<p>"Are you goin' to marry the woman?" Ann demanded.</p> + +<p>"I think not."</p> + +<p>"I reckon you will."</p> + +<p>"Well, you see, there has been a hitch. She won't leave the +'Pandora's Box,' and I'm not going to budge from 'Flowing Source.' +If a woman won't put herself out to that extent—Besides, she cooks +no better than you."</p> + +<p>"Not so well. You wasn't thinking, by any chance, o' marrying <i>me</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Ann, you're perfectly brazen! Well, no; to tell you the plain +truth, I wasn't."</p> + +<p>"That's all right; because I've gone and promised myself to a young +farmer up the valley."</p> + +<p>"What's his name?"</p> + +<p>"I shan't tell you; for the reason that I've a second to fall back +on, if I find on acquaintance that the first won't do. But first or +second, I'll marry one or t'other at the month-end, and so I give you +notice."</p> + +<p>Master Simon sighed. "Well! well! I must get on as best I can with +Tom for a while." Tom was the tap-boy.</p> + +<p>"Tom's going, too. I bullied him so this morning that he means to +give notice to-morrow; that is, if he don't save himself the trouble +by running off to sea."</p> + +<p>"The twelfth in five years!" ejaculated Master Simon, stopping his +pipe viciously.</p> + +<p>"And small blame to them! Married man or mariner—that's what a boy +is born for. Better dare wreck or wedlock than sit here and talk +about both. Take my advice, master, and marry the widow!"</p> + +<p> +Ann carried out her own matrimonial programme, at any rate, with +spirit and determination. Finding the first young farmer +satisfactory, she espoused him at the end of the month, and turned +her back on "Flowing Source." And Tom the tap-boy fulfilled her +prophecy and ran away to sea. And the old inn leaned after him until +its timbers creaked. And the autumn floods rose and covered the +meadows.</p> + +<p>Master Simon sat and smoked, and made his own bed, and accomplished +some execrable cookery in the intervals of oiling his duck-gun. +Even duck-shooting becomes a weariness when a man has to manage gun +and punt single-handed. One afternoon he abandoned the sport in an +exceedingly bad temper, and pulled up to the jaws of Cuckoo Valley. +Here he landed, and after an hour's trudge in the marshy bottoms had +the luck to knock over two couple of woodcock.</p> + +<p>He rowed back with his spoil, and was making fast to the ferry steps, +when a thought struck him. He shipped the paddles again, and pulled +down to Ponteglos. The short day was closing, and already a young +moon glimmered on the floods.</p> + +<p> +The woodcock were cooked to a turn; juicier birds never reclined on +toast. The waitress removed the cloth and returned with a kettle; +retired and returned again with a short-necked bottle, a glass and +spoon, sugar, a nutmeg, and a lemon; retired with a twinkle in her +eye.</p> + +<p>"To fortify you!" said Mistress Prudence, rubbing a lump of sugar +gently on the lemon-rind.</p> + +<p>"The night air," Master Simon murmured.</p> + +<p>"—Against the damp house you're going back to," the lady corrected.</p> + +<p>"You talk without giving it a trial."</p> + +<p>"As you talk, in your parlour, of deep-sea voyages."</p> + +<p>"As a ship's captain you would respect me perhaps?"</p> + +<p>"No, for you haven't the head. But I should like your pluck. +If I saw you setting off for sea in earnest, I would run out and give +you a chance to steer a woman instead of a ship. You would find her +safer."</p> + +<p>Master Simon emptied his glass, rose, and wound his great comforter +about his neck. The widow saw him to the door.</p> + +<p>"You're a very obstinate woman," he said.</p> + +<p>And with this he unmoored his boat and rowed resolutely homewards. +A strong wind came piping down on the back of a strong tide, and +Master Simon arched his shoulders against it.</p> + +<p>"Married man or mariner!" it piped, as he rounded the first bend.</p> + +<p>"I know my own mind, I believe," said Master Simon to himself. +"There's as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it; and for +salmon, 'Flowing Source' will beat Christchurch any day, I've always +maintained."</p> + +<p>"Married man or mariner!" piped the wind in the words of Ann the +cook.</p> + +<p>Master Simon pulled his left paddle hard and rounded the second bend.</p> + +<p>"Married man or mar—"</p> + +<p>Crash!</p> + +<p>His heels flew up and his head struck the bottom-boards. Then, in a +moment, the boat was gone, and a rush of water sang in his ears and +choked him. He saw a black shadow overhanging, and clutched at it.</p> + +<p> +Mistress Prudence stood in her doorway on the quay, as Master Simon +had left her. In the room above, the waitress blew out her candle, +drew up the blind, and opened her window to the moonlight.</p> + +<p>"Selina!" the mistress called.</p> + +<p>Selina thrust out her head.</p> + +<p>"What's that coming down the river?"</p> + +<p>A black, unshapely mass was moving swiftly down towards the quay.</p> + +<p>"I think 'tis a haystack," Selina whispered, and then, "Lord save us +all, there's a man on it!"</p> + +<p>"A man?" cried the widow, shrilly. "What man?"</p> + +<p>A voice answered the question, calling for help out of the river—a +voice that she knew.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" she called back.</p> + +<p>"I think," quavered Master Simon, "I think 'tis the roof o' 'Flowing +Source'!"</p> + +<p>Mistress Prudence ran down the quay steps, cast off the first boat +that lay handy, and pulled towards the dark mass sweeping seaward. +As it crossed ahead of her bows, she dropped the paddles, ran to the +painter, and flung it forward with all her might.</p> + +<p> +The "Pandora's Box" Inn stands on Ponteglos Quay to this day. And +all that is left of "Flowing Source" hangs on the wall of its best +parlour—four dark oak timbers forming a frame around a portrait, the +portrait of a woman of middle age and comfortable countenance. +In the right-hand top corner of the picture, in letters of faded +gold, runs the legend—VXOR BONA INSTAR NAVIS.</p> + + +<br><br> +<h3>EXPERIMENTS.</h3> +<br><br> + + +<p><a name="14"></a> </p> +<h3>I.—A YOUNG MAN'S DIARY.</h3> +<br> + +<p> +<i>Monday, Sept. 7th</i>, 189-. I am one year old to-day.</p> + +<p>I imagine that most people regard their first birthday as something +of an event; a harvest-home of innocence, touched with I know not how +delicate a bloom of virginal anticipation; of emotion too volatile +for analysis, or perhaps eluding analysis by its very simplicity. +But whatever point the festival might have had for me was rudely +destroyed by my parents, who chose this day for jolting me back to +London in a railway-carriage. We have just arrived home from +Newquay, Cornwall, where we have been spending the summer holidays +for the sake of my health, as papa has not scrupled to blurt out, +once or twice, in my presence.</p> + +<p>There is a strain of coarseness in papa; or perhaps I should say—for +the impression it leaves is primarily negative, as of something +<i>manque</i>—an incompleteness in the sensitive equipment. As yet it +can hardly be said to embarrass me; though I foresee a time when I +shall have to apologise for it to strangers. There is nothing absurd +in this. If a man may take pride in his ancestry, why may he not +apologise for his papa? My papa will be forgiven, for he is so +splendidly virile! He left our compartment at Bristol and did not +return again until the train stopped at Swindon for him to eat a bun. +In the interval, mamma took me from nurse and endeavoured to hush me +by singing—</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<span class = "ind4"><i>Father's gone a-hunting.</i></span>… +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>Which was untrue, for he had lit a pipe and withdrawn to a smoking +compartment. My nurse—an egregious female—had previously remarked, +"The dear child <i>do</i> take such notice of the puff-puff!" As a matter +of fact, I took no interest in the locomotive; but I had observed it +sufficiently to be sure that it offered no facilities for hunting. +A few months ago I might have accepted the explanation: for our +family has affinity with what is vulgarly termed the upper class, and +my father inherits its crude and primitive instincts; among them a +passion for the chase. His appearance, as he returned to our +compartment, oppressed me for the hundredth time with a sense of its +superabundant and even riotous vitality. His cheeks were glowing, +and his whiskers sprouted like cabbages on either side of his +otherwise clean-shaven face. An indefinable flavour of the sea +mingled with the odour of tobacco which he diffused about the +carriage. It seemed as if the virile breezes of that shaggy Cornish +coast still blew about him; and I felt again that constriction of the +chest from which I had suffered during the past month.</p> + +<p>After all, it is good to be back in London! Newquay, with its +obvious picturesqueness, its violent colouring, its sands, rocks, +breakers and by-laws regulating the costume of bathers, merely +exasperated my nerves. How far more subtle the appeal of these grey +and dun-coloured opacities, these tent-cloths of fog pressed out into +uncouth, dumbly pathetic shapes by the struggle for existence that +seethes below it always—always! Decidedly I must begin to-morrow to +practise walking. It seems a necessary step towards acquainting +myself with the inner life of these inchoate millions, which must be +well worth knowing. Papa, on arriving at our door, plunged into an +altercation with a cab-tout. What a man! And yet sometimes I could +find it in my heart to envy his robustness, his buoyancy. A Huntley +and Palmer's Nursery Biscuit in a little hot water has somewhat +quieted my nerves, which suffered cruelly during the scene. +I believe I shall sleep to-night.</p> + +<p><i>Tuesday, 8th</i>. The beginning of <i>Sturm und Drang</i>; I am learning to +walk. Moreover I have surprised in myself, during the day, a +tendency to fall in love with my nurse. On the pretence that walking +might give me bandy legs she caught me up and pressed me to her +bosom. We have no affinities; indeed, beyond cleanliness and a +certain unreasoning honesty, she can be said to possess no attributes +at all. I am convinced that a serious affection for her could only +flourish on an intellectual atrophy; and yet for a while I abandoned +myself. We went out into the bright streets together, and it was +delicious to be propelled by her strong arms. We halted, on our way +to Kensington Gardens, to listen to a German band. The voluptuous +waltz-music affected me strangely, and I was sorry that, owing to my +position in the vehicle, her face was hidden from me. In the midst +of my ecstasy, a square object on wheels came round the street +corner. It was painted a bright vermilion and bore the initials of +K.V.—"Kytherea Victrix!" I cried in my heart; but as it passed, at a +slow pace, it rained a flood of tears upon the dusty road-way. +For some time after I sat in a strange calm, but with a sensation in +the region of the diaphragm as if I had received a severe blow; and +in truth I had. But the shock was salutary, and by the time that +nurse and I were seated together by the Round Pond, I was able to +listen to her talk without a quiver of the eyelids. Poor soul! +What malefic jest of Fate led her to select the story of +Georgie-Porgie?</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<span class = "ind4"><i>Georgie-Porgie, pudding and pie.…</i></span> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>It is as irrelevant as life itself.</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<span class = "ind4"><i>Georgie-Porgie, pudding and pie,</i></span><br> +<span class = "ind4"><i>Kissed the girls and made them cry.…</i></span><br> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>Why pudding? Why pie? Why—if you ask this—why <i>any</i> realism? +These concrete accidents solidify a thin and abstract love-story for +our human comprehension. Or are they, perchance, symbolical? +Georgie-Porgie's promises, like pie-crust, were made to be broken. +He—</p> + +<blockquote><blockquote> +<span class = "ind4"><i>Kissed the girls and made them cry.</i></span><br> +<span class = "ind4"><i>When the girls came out to play,</i></span><br> +<span class = "ind4"><i>Georgie-Porgie ran away.</i></span><br> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>—Simple solution of the difficulty! And I am already learning to +walk! Poor woman!</p> + +<p><i>Wednesday, 9th</i>. I am troubled whenever I reflect on the subject of +heredity. It terrifies me to think that I may grow up to resemble +papa. Mamma, too, is hardly less a savage: she wore diamonds in her +hair when she came up to the nursery, late last night, to look at me. +She believed that I was asleep; but I wasn't, and I never in my life +felt so sorry that I couldn't speak. The appalling barbarism of +those trinkets! I got out of the cradle and rocked myself to sleep.</p> + +<p>It is raining this afternoon—the sky weeping like a Corot—and +I am forced to stay indoors and affect an interest in Noah and his +ark! Nurse's father came up and accosted her in the Gardens this +morning. He is one of the Submerged Tenth, and extremely +interesting. On the threat of running off with me and pitching me +neck and crop into the Round Pond, he extracted half a crown from +her. She gave him the coin docilely. I found myself almost hoping +that he would raise his price, that I might discover how much the +poor creature was ready to sacrifice for my sake. She is looking +pale this afternoon; but this may be because I cried half the night +and kept her awake. The fact is, I was cutting a tooth. I have +given up learning to walk; but have some idea of trying somnambulism +instead.</p> + +<p><i>Thursday, 10th</i>. To-day I was spanked for the first time. When I +have stopped crying, I mean to analyse my sensations. Sometimes, in +Kensington Gardens, I feel like a boy who is never growing up. . .</p> + + +<br><br> +<p><a name="15"></a> </p> +<h3>II.—THE CAPTAIN FROM BATH.</h3> + +<h4>Extract from the Memoirs of GABRIEL FOOT, Highwayman.</h4> + +<p>Our plan of attack upon Nanscarne House was a simple one.</p> + +<p>The old baronet, Sir Harry Dinnis, took a just pride in his +silver-ware. Some of it dated from Elizabeth: for Sir Harry's +great-great-grandfather, as the unhappy alternative of melting it +down for King Charles, had taken arms against his Majesty and come +out of the troubles of those times with wealth and credit.</p> + +<p>The house, too, was Elizabethan, shaped like the letter L, and, like +that letter, facing eastward. The longer arm, which looked down the +steep slope of the park, contained the entrance-hall, chapel, +dining-hall, principal living-rooms, and kitchens.</p> + +<p>The ground-floor of the other (and to us more important) arm was +taken up by the housekeeper's rooms, audit-room and various offices, +the butler's bedroom, and the strong-room, where the plate lay. +On the upper floor a long gallery full of pictures ran from end to +end, with a line of doors on the southern side, all opening into +bedrooms, except one which led to the back-stairs.</p> + +<p>Now, properly speaking, the strong-room was no strong-room at all. +It had an ordinary deal door and an ordinary country-made lock. +But in some ways it was very strong indeed. The only approach to it +on the ground-floor lay through the butler's bedroom, of which you +might call it but a cupboard. It had no window, and could not +therefore be attacked from outside. The very small amount of light +that entered it filtered through a pane of glass in the wall of the +back-staircase, which ran up close behind.</p> + +<p>I have said enough, I hope, for any reflective man to draw the +conclusion that, since we desired no unpleasantness with the butler +(a man between fifty and sixty, and notoriously incorruptible), our +only plan was to make an entrance upstairs by the long window at the +end of the picture gallery or corridor—whichever you choose to call +it—descend the back-stairs, remove the pane of glass from the wall, +and gain the strong-room through the opening.</p> + +<p>The house was dark from end to end, and the stable clock had just +chimed the quarter after midnight, when I went up the ladder. +I never looked for much carefulness in this honest country household, +but I did expect to spend twenty minutes on the heavy lead-work of +the lower panes, and it seemed as good as a miracle to find the +lattice unlatched and opening to the first gentle pull. I pressed it +back; hitched it under a stem of ivy that the wind might not slam it +after me; and, signalling down to Jimmy at the foot of the ladder to +wait for my report, pulled myself over the sill and dropped softly +into the gallery.</p> + +<p>And then somebody stepped quickly from behind the heavy window +curtain, reached out, shut the lattice smartly behind me, and said +composedly—</p> + +<p>"Show a light, Jenkins, and let us have a look at the gentleman."</p> + +<p>Though it concerned my neck, I was taken too quickly aback to stir; +but stood like a stuck pig, while the butler fumbled with his +tinder-box.</p> + +<p>"Light <i>all</i> the candles!"</p> + +<p>"If it please you, Sir Harry," Jenkins answered, puffing at the +tinder.</p> + +<p>The first thing I saw by the blue light of the brimstone match was +the barrel of old Sir Harry's pistol glimmering about six inches from +my nose. On my left stood a long-legged footman, also with a pistol. +But all this, though discomposing, was no more than I had begun to +expect. What really startled me, as old Jenkins lit the candles, was +the sight of two women standing a few paces off, beneath a tall +picture of a gentleman with a big lace collar. One of them, a short +woman with a bunchy shape, I recognised for the housekeeper. +The other I guessed as quickly to be Sir Harry's daughter, Mistress +Kate—a tall and slender young lady, dark-haired, and handsome as any +man could wish. She was wrapped in a long travelling-cloak, the hood +of which fell a little off her shoulders, allowing a glimpse of white +satin. A train of white satin reached below the cloak, and coiled +about her pretty feet.</p> + +<p>Now, the change from darkness to very bright light—for Jenkins went +down the gallery lighting candle after candle, as if for a big +reception—made us all wink a bit. And excitement would account for +the white of the young lady's cheeks—I dare say I had turned pretty +pale myself. But it did not seem to me to account for the look of +sheer blank astonishment—no, it was more than this; a wild kind of +wonder would be nearer the mark—that came into her eyes and stayed +there. And I didn't quite see why she should put a hand suddenly +against the wainscot, and from sickly white go red as fire and then +back to white again. If they were sitting up for housebreakers, I +was decidedly a better-looking one than they had any right to expect. +The eyes of the others were fastened on me. I was the only one to +take note of the girl's behaviour: and I declare I spared a second +from the consideration of my own case to wonder what the deuce was +the matter with her.</p> + +<p>"Well, upon my soul!" cried Sir Harry, with something between a laugh +and a sniff of disgust; and the footman on the other side of me +echoed it with a silly cackle. "He certainly doesn't look as if he +came from Bath!"</p> + +<p>"Sir," I expostulated—for when events seem likely to prove +overwhelming, I usually find myself clutching at my original +respectability—"Sir, although the force of circumstances has brought +me thus low, I am by birth and education a gentleman. Having told +you this, I trust that you will remember it, even in the heat of your +natural resentment."</p> + +<p>"You speak almost as prettily as you write," he answered scornfully, +pulling a letter from his pocket.</p> + +<p>"This is beyond me," thought I; for of course I knew it could be no +letter of mine. Besides, a glance told me that I had never set eyes +on the paper or handwriting before. I think my next remark showed +self-possession. "Would you be kind enough to explain?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"I rather think that should be your business," said he; and faith, I +allowed the justice of that contention, awkward though it was. But +he went on, "It astonishes you, I dare say, to see this letter in my +hand?"</p> + +<p>It did. I acknowledged as much with a bow.</p> + +<p>He began to read in an affected mimicking voice, "<i>My ever-loved +Kate, since your worthy but wrong-headed father</i>—"</p> + +<p>"Father!" It sounded like an echo. It came from the young lady, +who had sprung forward indignantly, and was holding out a hand for +the letter. "The servants! Have you not degraded me enough?" +She stamped her foot.</p> + +<p>The old gentleman folded up the letter again, and gave it into her +hand with a cold bow. She was handing it to me—Oh, the unfathomable +depth of woman!—when he interfered.</p> + +<p>"For your own delectation if you will, miss; but as your protector I +must ask you not to give it back."</p> + +<p>He turned towards me again. As he did so, I caught over his +shoulder, or fancied I caught, a glance from Miss Kate that was at +once a warning and an appeal. The next moment her eyes were bent +shamefast upon the floor. I began to divine.</p> + +<p>Said I, "If that's a sample of your manner towards your daughter, +even you, in your cooler moments, can hardly wonder that she chooses +another protector."</p> + +<p>"Protector!" he repeated, lifting his eyebrows; and that infernal +footman cackled again.</p> + +<p>"If you can't behave with common politeness to a lady," I put in +smartly, "you might at least exhibit enough of rude intelligence to +lay hold of an argument that's as plain as the nose on your face!"</p> + +<p>"Gently, my good sir!" said he. "Do you know that, if I choose, I +can march you off to jail for a common housebreaker?"</p> + +<p>I should think I did know it—a plaguy sight better than he!</p> + +<p>"To begin with," he went on, "you look like one, for all the world."</p> + +<p>This was sailing too close for my liking.</p> + +<p>"Old gentleman," said I, "you are wearisomely dull. Possibly I had +better explain at length. To be frank, then, I had counted, in case +of failure, to avoid all scandal to your daughter's name. I had +hoped (you will excuse me) to have carried her off and evaded you +until I could present myself as her husband. If baffled in this, I +proposed to make my escape as a common burglar surprised upon your +premises. It seems to me," I wound up, including the three servants +with an indignant sweep of the arm, "that you might well have +emulated my delicacy! As it is, I must trouble you to recognise it."</p> + +<p>"Heaven send," I added to myself, "that the real inamorato keeps his +bungling foot out of this till I get clear!" And I reflected with +much comfort that he was hardly likely to make an attempt upon +premises so brilliantly lit up.</p> + +<p>"In justice to my daughter's taste," replied Sir Harry, "I am willing +to believe you looked something less like a jail-bird when she met +you in the Pump Room at Bath. You have fine clothes in your +portmanteau no doubt, and I sincerely trust they make all the +difference to your appearance. But a fine suit is no expensive +outfit for the capture of an heiress. You may be the commonest of +adventurers. How do I know, even, what right you have to the name +you carry?"</p> + +<p>If he didn't, it was still more certain that I didn't. Indeed he +had a conspicuous advantage over me in knowing what that name was. +This very painful difficulty had hardly presented itself, however, +before the girl's wit smoothed it away. She spoke up,—looking as +innocent as an angel, too.</p> + +<p>"Captain Fitzroy Pilkington could add no lustre to his name, father, +by giving it to me. His family is as good as our own, and his name +is one to be proud of."</p> + +<p>"So it is, my dear," thought I, "if I can only remember it. So it's +Captain Fitzroy Pilkington I am—and from Bath. Decidedly I should +have taken some time in guessing it."</p> + +<p>"I suppose, sir, I may take it for granted you have not brought your +credentials here to-night?" said the old boy, with a grim smile.</p> + +<p>It was lucky he had not thought of searching my pockets for them.</p> + +<p>"Scarcely, sir," I answered, smiling too and catching his mood; and +then thought I would play a bold card for freedom. "Come, come, +sir," I said; "I have tried to deceive you, and you have enjoyed a +very adequate revenge. Do not prolong this interview to the point of +inflicting torture on two hearts whose only crime is that of loving +too ardently. You have your daughter. Suffer me to return to the +inn in the village, and in the morning I will call on you with my +credentials and humbly ask for her hand. If, on due examination of +my history and circumstances, you see fit to refuse me—why then you +make two lovers miserable: but I give you my word—the word of a +Fitzroy Pilkington—that I will respect that decision. 'Parcius +junctas quatiam fenestras': or, rather, I will discontinue the +practice altogether."</p> + +<p>"William," said Sir Harry, shortly, to the footman, "show Mr. +Pilkington to the door. Will you take your ladder away with you, +sir, or will you call for it to-morrow?"</p> + +<p>"To-morrow will do," I said, airily, and stepping across to Mistress +Kate I took her hand and raised it as if for a kiss. Her fingers +gave mine an appreciative squeeze.</p> + +<p>"But who in the world are you?" she whispered.</p> + +<p>"I think," said I, bending over her hand, "I have fairly earned the +right to withhold that."</p> + +<p>Sir Harry bowed a stiff good night to me, and William, the footman, +took a candle and led the way along the gallery and down the great +staircase to the front door. While he undid the chain and bolts I +was thinking that he would be all the better for a kick; and as he +drew aside to let me pass I took him quickly by the collar, spun him +round, and gave him one. A flight of a dozen steps led down from the +front door, and he pitched clean to the bottom. Running down after, +I skipped over his prostrate body and walked briskly away in the +darkness, whistling and feeling better.</p> + +<p>I went round the end of the gallery wing, just to satisfy myself that +Jimmy had got away with the ladder, and then I struck across the +plantation in the direction of the village. The June day was +breaking before I turned out of the woods into the high road, and +already the mowers were out and tramping to their work. But in the +porchway of the village inn—called the "Well-diggers' Arms"— +whatever they may be—I surprised a cockneyfied groom in the act of +kissing a maiden who, having a milk-pail in either hand, could not be +expected to resist.</p> + +<p>"H'm," said I to the man, "I am sorry to appear inopportunely, but I +have a message for your master."</p> + +<p>The maiden fled. "And who the doose may you be?" asked the groom, +eyeing me up and down.</p> + +<p>"I think," I answered, "it will be enough for you that I come from +Nanscarne. You were late there. Oh, yes," I went on sharply, for +fellows of this class have a knack of irritating me, "and I have a +message for your master which I'll trouble you to deliver when he +comes down to breakfast. You will tell him, if you please, that Sir +Harry was expecting him last night, and the lights he saw lit in the +long gallery were there for his reception. You won't forget?"</p> + +<p>"Who sent you here?" the fellow asked.</p> + +<p>"On second thoughts," I continued, "you had better go in and wake +Captain Fitzroy Pilkington up at once. He will pardon you when he +has my message, for Sir Harry's temper is notoriously impatient."</p> + +<p>And with that I turned and left him, for it was high time to find +out how Jimmy had been faring. The past night's experience must +have given him a shock, and I reckoned to give him another. +I wasn't disappointed either. I walked leisurably down the village +street, then crossed the hedge and doubled back on the high moors. +At length, drawing near the old gravel-pit, where we had fixed to +meet in case of separation, I dropped on all-fours and so came up to +the edge and gave a whistle.</p> + +<p>Jimmy was sitting with his back to me, and about to cut a hunch of +bread to eat with his cold bacon for breakfast. Instead, he cut his +thumb, and jumped up, singing out—</p> + +<p>"S'help me, but I never looked to see you again outside o' the dock!"</p> + +<p>"No more you did," said I; and climbing down and sitting on a +gravel-heap beside him, I told him all the story.</p> + +<p>"And now, Jimmy," I wound up, "you must guess what I'm going to do."</p> + +<p>"I don't need to," said he. "I know."</p> + +<p>"I wager you don't."</p> + +<p>"I wager I do."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, I'm going back. Was that what you guessed?"</p> + +<p>"I think you will not."</p> + +<p>"Ah, but I will," said I. "I swore by the blood of a Fitzroy +Pilkington I'd be back in the morning, and I can't retreat from so +tremendous an oath as that. Back I mean to go. As for the real +Captain—if Captain he is—I fancy I've scared him out of this +neighbourhood for some time to come. And as for the credentials, I +fancy, at my time of life, I should be able to write my own +commendation. I believe the old boy has a sneaking good-will towards +me. I can't answer for the girl; but I can answer that she'll hold +her tongue for a while, at all events. This life doesn't become a +man of my education and natural ability. And the risk is worth +running."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't, if I were you," says he, very drily.</p> + +<p>"And why not?"</p> + +<p>"Well, you see, when I heard the noise last night, and all the place +grew light as it did, I was just starting to run for dear life, till +it struck me that if the folks meant to go searching for me they +wouldn't begin by lighting the picture-gallery from end to end. +So I drew close under shadow of the wall and waited, ready to run at +any moment. But after a while, finding that nothing happened, I grew +curious and crept up after you and looked in through the window, very +cautious. A nice fix you seemed to be in; but old Jenkins was there. +And while Jenkins was there—"</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I should have thought you might have guessed. The bolt of his +bedroom window wasn't hard to force, nor the lock of the small room. +Being single-handed, I had to pick and choose what to carry off. +But if you'll look under the bracken yonder you'll own I know my way +among silver-ware."</p> + +<p>I looked at him for a moment, and then lay gently back on the turf +and laughed till I was tired of laughing.</p> +<br> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WANDERING HEATH***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 18750-h.txt or 18750-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/7/5/18750">http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/7/5/18750</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Wandering Heath + + +Author: Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch + + + +Release Date: July 3, 2006 [eBook #18750] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WANDERING HEATH*** + + +E-text prepared by Lionel Sear + + + +WANDERING HEATH. + +by + +ARTHUR THOMAS QUILLER-COUCH. + +1895 +This e-text was prepared from a reprint of a version published in 1895. + + + + + + + +The stories in this volume made their first appearance in England as +follows: "The Roll-Call of the Reef" in _The Idler_; "The Looe +Die-hards" in _The Illustrated London News_, where it was entitled +"The Power o' Music"; "Jetsom" and "The Bishop of Eucalyptus" in _The +Pall Mall Magazine_; "Visitors at the Gunnel Rock" in _The Strand +Magazine_; "Flowing Source" in _The Woman at Home_; and the rest, +with one exception, in the friendly pages of _The Speaker_. + + + +CONTENTS. + + PROLOGUE. + + THE ROLL-CALL OF THE REEF. + + THE LOOE DIE-HARDS. + + MY GRANDFATHER, HENDRY WATTY. + + JETSOM. + + WRESTLERS. + + THE BISHOP OF EUCALYPTUS. + + WIDDERSHINS. + + VISITORS AT THE GUNNEL ROCK. + + LETTERS FROM TROY-- + + I. THE FIRST PARISH MEETING. + II. THE SIMPLE SHEPHERD. + + LEGENDS-- + + I. THE LEGEND OF SIR DINAR. + II. "FLOWING SOURCE". + + EXPERIMENTS-- + + I. A YOUNG MAN'S DIARY. + II. THE CAPTAIN FROM BATH. + + + +PROLOGUE. + + +"What is the use of it?" the Poet demanded peevishly--it was New +Year's Day in the morning. "People don't read my poetry when I have +gone to the trouble of writing it!" + +"The more shame to them," said his wife. + +"But, my dear, you know you never read it yourself." + +"Oh, that is altogether different. Besides you _are_ improving, are +you not?" She asked it a trifle anxiously, but the question set him +off at once. + +"In twenty years' time--" he began eagerly. + +"--The boy will be at college." She laid down her needle and +embroidery and, gazing into the fire, let her hands lie idle in her +lap. + +"You might think of me." + +"I thought," she answered, "you were doing that." + +"Of yourself, then." + +"In twenty years' time--" She broke off with the faintest possible +sigh. + +The Poet jumped up and went to his writing-desk. "That reminds me," +he said, and produced a folded scrap of paper. "I wrote it last +night. It's a sort of a little New Year's present--you need not read +it, you know." + +"But I will": and she took the paper and read-- + + UPON NEW YEAR'S EVE + + Now winds of winter glue + Their tears upon the thorn, + And earth has voices few, + And those forlorn. + + And 'tis our solemn night + When maidens sand the porch, + And play at Jack's Alight + With burning torch, + + Or cards, or Kiss i' the Ring-- + While ashen faggots blaze, + And late wassailers sing + In miry ways. + + Then, dear my wife, be blithe + To bid the New Year hail + And welcome--plough, drill, scythe, + And jolly flail. + + For though the snows he'll shake + Of winter from his head, + To settle, flake by flake, + On ours instead; + + Yet we be wreathed green + Beyond his blight or chill, + Who kissed at seventeen + And worship still. + + We know not what he'll bring: + But this we know to-night-- + He doth prepare the Spring + For our delight. + + With birds he'll comfort us, + With blossoms, balms, and bees, + With brooks, and odorous + Wild breath o' the breeze. + + Come then, O festal prime! + With sweets thy bosom fill, + And dance it, dripping thyme, + On Lantick hill. + + West wind, awake! and comb + Our garden, blade from blade-- + We, in our little home, + Sit unafraid. + +--"Why, I quite like it!" said she. + + + +THE ROLL-CALL OF THE REEF. + + +"Yes, sir," said my host the quarryman, reaching down the relics from +their hook in the wall over the chimney-piece; "they've hung there +all my time, and most of my father's. The women won't touch 'em; +they're afraid of the story. So here they'll dangle, and gather dust +and smoke, till another tenant comes and tosses 'em out o' doors for +rubbish. Whew! 'tis coarse weather." + +He went to the door, opened it, and stood studying the gale that + beat upon his cottage-front, straight from the Manacle Reef. +The rain drove past him into the kitchen, aslant like threads of gold +silk in the shine of the wreckwood fire. Meanwhile by the same +firelight I examined the relics on my knee. The metal of each was +tarnished out of knowledge. But the trumpet was evidently an old +cavalry trumpet, and the threads of its parti-coloured sling, though +frayed and dusty, still hung together. Around the side-drum, beneath +its cracked brown varnish, I could hardly trace a royal coat-of-arms, +and a legend running--_Per Mare per Terram_--the motto of the +Marines. Its parchment, though coloured and scented with wood-smoke, +was limp and mildewed; and I began to tighten up the straps--under +which the drumsticks had been loosely thrust--with the idle purpose +of trying if some music might be got out of the old drum yet. + +But as I turned it on my knee, I found the drum attached to the +trumpet-sling by a curious barrel-shaped padlock, and paused to +examine this. The body of the lock was composed of half a dozen +brass rings, set accurately edge to edge; and, rubbing the brass with +my thumb, I saw that each of the six had a series of letters engraved +around it. + +I knew the trick of it, I thought. Here was one of those +word-padlocks, once so common; only to be opened by getting the rings +to spell a certain word, which the dealer confides to you. + +My host shut and barred the door, and came back to the hearth. + +"'Twas just such a wind--east by south--that brought in what you've +got between your hands. Back in the year 'nine it was; my father has +told me the tale a score o' times. You're twisting round the rings, +I see. But you'll never guess the word. Parson Kendall, he made the +word, and locked down a couple o' ghosts in their graves with it; and +when his time came, he went to his own grave and took the word with +him." + +"Whose ghosts, Matthew?" + +"You want the story, I see, sir. My father could tell it better than +I can. He was a young man in the year 'nine, unmarried at the time, +and living in this very cottage just as I be. That's how he came to +get mixed up with the tale." + +He took a chair, lit a short pipe, and unfolded the story in a low +musing voice, with his eyes fixed on the dancing violet flames. + +"Yes, he'd ha' been about thirty year old in January, of the year +'nine. The storm got up in the night o' the twenty-first o' that +month. My father was dressed and out long before daylight; he never +was one to 'bide in bed, let be that the gale by this time was pretty +near lifting the thatch over his head. Besides which, he'd fenced a +small 'taty-patch that winter, down by Lowland Point, and he wanted +to see if it stood the night's work. He took the path across +Gunner's Meadow--where they buried most of the bodies afterwards. +The wind was right in his teeth at the time, and once on the way +(he's told me this often) a great strip of ore-weed came flying +through the darkness and fetched him a slap on the cheek like a cold +hand. But he made shift pretty well till he got to Lowland, and then +had to drop upon his hands and knees and crawl, digging his fingers +every now and then into the shingle to hold on, for he declared to me +that the stones, some of them as big as a man's head, kept rolling +and driving past till it seemed the whole foreshore was moving +westward under him. The fence was gone, of course; not a stick left +to show where it stood; so that, when first he came to the place, he +thought he must have missed his bearings. My father, sir, was a very +religious man; and if he reckoned the end of the world was at hand-- +there in the great wind and night, among the moving stones--you may +believe he was certain of it when he heard a gun fired, and, with +the same, saw a flame shoot up out of the darkness to windward, +making a sudden fierce light in all the place about. All he could +find to think or say was, 'The Second Coming--The Second Coming! +The Bridegroom cometh, and the wicked He will toss like a ball into a +large country!' and being already upon his knees, he just bowed his +head and 'bided, saying this over and over. + +"But by'm-by, between two squalls, he made bold to lift his head and +look, and then by the light--a bluish colour 'twas--he saw all the +coast clear away to Manacle Point, and off the Manacles, in the thick +of the weather, a sloop-of-war with top-gallants housed, driving +stern foremost towards the reef. It was she, of course, that was +burning the flare. My father could see the white streak and the +ports of her quite plain as she rose to it, a little outside the +breakers, and he guessed easy enough that her captain had just +managed to wear ship, and was trying to force her nose to the sea +with the help of her small bower anchor and the scrap or two of +canvas that hadn't yet been blown out of her. But while he looked, +she fell off, giving her broadside to it foot by foot, and drifting +back on the breakers around Carn du and the Varses. The rocks lie so +thick thereabouts, that 'twas a toss up which she struck first; at +any rate, my father couldn't tell at the time, for just then the +flare died down and went out. + +"Well, sir, he turned then in the dark and started back for Coverack +to cry the dismal tidings--though well knowing ship and crew to be +past any hope; and as he turned, the wind lifted him and tossed him +forward 'like a ball,' as he'd been saying, and homeward along the +foreshore. As you know, 'tis ugly work, even by daylight, picking +your way among the stones there, and my father was prettily knocked +about at first in the dark. But by this 'twas nearer seven than six +o'clock, and the day spreading. By the time he reached North Corner, +a man could see to read print; hows'ever, he looked neither out to +sea nor towards Coverack, but headed straight for the first cottage-- +the same that stands above North Corner to-day. A man named Billy +Ede lived there then, and when my father burst into the kitchen +bawling, 'Wreck! wreck!' he saw Billy Ede's wife, Ann, standing there +in her clogs, with a shawl over her head, and her clothes wringing +wet. + +"'Save the chap!' says Billy Ede's wife, Ann. 'What d' 'ee mean by +crying stale fish at that rate?' + +"'But 'tis a wreck, I tell 'ee. I've a-zeed 'n!' + +"'Why, so 'tis,' says she, 'and I've a-zeed 'n too; and so has +everyone with an eye in his head.' + +"And with that she pointed straight over my father's shoulder, and he +turned; and there, close under Dolor Point, at the end of Coverack +town, he saw _another_ wreck washing, and the point black with +people, like emmets, running to and fro in the morning light. +While he stood staring at her, he heard a trumpet sounded on board, +the notes coming in little jerks, like a bird rising against the +wind; but faintly, of course, because of the distance and the gale +blowing--though this had dropped a little. + +"'She's a transport,' said Billy Ede's wife, Ann, 'and full of horse +soldiers, fine long men. When she struck they must ha' pitched the +hosses over first to lighten the ship, for a score of dead hosses had +washed in afore I left, half an hour back. An' three or four +soldiers, too--fine long corpses in white breeches and jackets of +blue and gold. I held the lantern to one. Such a straight young +man!' + +"My father asked her about the trumpeting. + +"'That's the queerest bit of all. She was burnin' a light when me +an' my man joined the crowd down there. All her masts had gone; +whether they carried away, or were cut away to ease her, I don't +rightly know. Anyway, there she lay 'pon the rocks with her decks +bare. Her keelson was broke under her and her bottom sagged and +stove, and she had just settled down like a sitting hen--just the +leastest list to starboard; but a man could stand there easy. +They had rigged up ropes across her, from bulwark to bulwark, an' +beside these the men were mustered, holding on like grim death +whenever the sea made a clean breach over them, an' standing up like +heroes as soon as it passed. The captain an' the officers were +clinging to the rail of the quarter-deck, all in their golden +uniforms, waiting for the end as if 'twas King George they expected. +There was no way to help, for she lay right beyond cast of line, +though our folk tried it fifty times. And beside them clung a +trumpeter, a whacking big man, an' between the heavy seas he would +lift his trumpet with one hand, and blow a call; and every time he +blew, the men gave a cheer. There' (she says)'--hark 'ee now--there +he goes agen! But you won't hear no cheering any more, for few are +left to cheer, and their voices weak. Bitter cold the wind is, and I +reckon it numbs their grip o' the ropes, for they were dropping off +fast with every sea when my man sent me home to get his breakfast. +_Another_ wreck, you say? Well, there's no hope for the tender +dears, if 'tis the Manacles. You'd better run down and help yonder; +though 'tis little help that any man can give. Not one came in alive +while I was there. The tide's flowing, an' she won't hold together +another hour, they say.' + +"Well, sure enough, the end was coming fast when my father got down +to the point. Six men had been cast up alive, or just breathing--a +seaman and five troopers. The seaman was the only one that had +breath to speak; and while they were carrying him into the town, the +word went round that the ship's name was the _Despatch_, transport, +homeward bound from Corunna, with a detachment of the 7th Hussars, +that had been fighting out there with Sir John Moore. The seas had +rolled her farther over by this time, and given her decks a pretty +sharp slope; but a dozen men still held on, seven by the ropes near +the ship's waist, a couple near the break of the poop, and three on +the quarter-deck. Of these three my father made out one to be the +skipper; close by him clung an officer in full regimentals--his name, +they heard after, was Captain Duncanfield; and last came the tall +trumpeter; and if you'll believe me, the fellow was making shift +there, at the very last, to blow '_God Save the King_.' What's more, +he got to '_Send us victorious_' before an extra big sea came +bursting across and washed them off the deck--every man but one of +the pair beneath the poop--and _he_ dropped his hold before the next +wave; being stunned, I reckon. The others went out of sight at once, +but the trumpeter--being, as I said, a powerful man as well as a +tough swimmer--rose like a duck, rode out a couple of breakers, and +came in on the crest of the third. The folks looked to see him broke +like an egg at their feet; but when the smother cleared, there he +was, lying face downward on a ledge below them; and one of the men +that happened to have a rope round him--I forget the fellow's name, +if I ever heard it--jumped down and grabbed him by the ankle as he +began to slip back. Before the next big sea, the pair were hauled +high enough to be out of harm, and another heave brought them up to +grass. Quick work; but master trumpeter wasn't quite dead; nothing +worse than a cracked head and three staved ribs. In twenty minutes +or so they had him in bed, with the doctor to tend him." + + +"Now was the time--nothing being left alive upon the transport--for +my father to tell of the sloop he'd seen driving upon the Manacles. +And when he got a hearing, though the most were set upon salvage, +and believed a wreck in the hand, so to say, to be worth half a dozen +they couldn't see, a good few volunteered to start off with him and +have a look. They crossed Lowland Point; no ship to be seen on the +Manacles, nor anywhere upon the sea. One or two was for calling my +father a liar. 'Wait till we come to Dean Point,' said he. +Sure enough, on the far side of Dean Point, they found the sloop's +mainmast washing about with half a dozen men lashed to it--men +in red jackets--every mother's son drowned and staring; and a little +farther on, just under the Dean, three or four bodies cast up on the +shore, one of them a small drummer-boy, side-drum and all; and, near +by, part of a ship's gig, with 'H.M.S. _Primrose_' cut on the +stern-board. From this point on, the shore was littered thick with +wreckage and dead bodies--the most of them Marines in uniform; and in +Godrevy Cove, in particular, a heap of furniture from the captain's +cabin, and amongst it a water-tight box, not much damaged, and full +of papers; by which, when it came to be examined next day, the wreck +was easily made out to be the _Primrose_, of eighteen guns, outward +bound from Portsmouth, with a fleet of transports for the Spanish +War--thirty sail, I've heard, but I've never heard what became of +them. Being handled by merchant skippers, no doubt they rode out the +gale and reached the Tagus safe and sound. Not but what the captain +of the _Primrose_ (Mein was his name) did quite right to try and +club-haul his vessel when he found himself under the land: only he +never ought to have got there if he took proper soundings. But it's +easy talking. + +"The _Primrose_, sir, was a handsome vessel--for her size, one of the +handsomest in the King's service--and newly fitted out at Plymouth +Dock. So the boys had brave pickings from her in the way of +brass-work, ship's instruments, and the like, let alone some barrels +of stores not much spoiled. They loaded themselves with as much as +they could carry, and started for home, meaning to make a second +journey before the preventive men got wind of their doings and came +to spoil the fun. But as my father was passing back under the Dean, +he happened to take a look over his shoulder at the bodies there. +'Hullo,' says he, and dropped his gear: 'I do believe there's a leg +moving!' And, running fore, he stooped over the small drummer-boy +that I told you about. The poor little chap was lying there, with +his face a mass of bruises and his eyes closed: but he had shifted +one leg an inch or two, and was still breathing. So my father pulled +out a knife and cut him free from his drum--that was lashed on to him +with a double turn of Manilla rope--and took him up and carried him +along here, to this very room that we're sitting in. He lost a good +deal by this, for when he went back to fetch his bundle the +preventive men had got hold of it, and were thick as thieves along +the foreshore; so that 'twas only by paying one or two to look the +other way that he picked up anything worth carrying off: which you'll +allow to be hard, seeing that he was the first man to give news of +the wreck." + +"Well, the inquiry was held, of course, and my father gave evidence; +and for the rest they had to trust to the sloop's papers: for not a +soul was saved besides the drummer-boy, and he was raving in a fever, +brought on by the cold and the fright. And the seamen and the five +troopers gave evidence about the loss of the _Despatch_. The tall +trumpeter, too, whose ribs were healing, came forward and kissed the +Book; but somehow his head had been hurt in coming ashore, and he +talked foolish-like, and 'twas easy seen he would never be a proper +man again. The others were taken up to Plymouth, and so went their +ways; but the trumpeter stayed on in Coverack; and King George, +finding he was fit for nothing, sent him down a trifle of a pension +after a while--enough to keep him in board and lodging, with a bit of +tobacco over. + +"Now the first time that this man--William Tallifer, he called +himself--met with the drummer-boy, was about a fortnight after +the little chap had bettered enough to be allowed a short walk out of +doors, which he took, if you please, in full regimentals. +There never was a soldier so proud of his dress. His own suit had +shrunk a brave bit with the salt water; but into ordinary frock an' +corduroys he declared he would not get--not if he had to go naked the +rest of his life; so my father, being a good-natured man and handy +with the needle, turned to and repaired damages with a piece or two +of scarlet cloth cut from the jacket of one of the drowned Marines. +Well, the poor little chap chanced to be standing, in this rig-out, +down by the gate of Gunner's Meadow, where they had buried two score +and over of his comrades. The morning was a fine one, early in March +month; and along came the cracked trumpeter, likewise taking a +stroll. + +"'Hullo!' says he; 'good mornin'! And what might you be doin' here?' + +"'I was a-wishin',' says the boy, 'I had a pair o' drum-sticks. +Our lads were buried yonder without so much as a drum tapped or a +musket fired; and that's not Christian burial for British soldiers.' + +"'Phut!' says the trumpeter, and spat on the ground; 'a parcel of +Marines!' + +"The boy eyed him a second or so, and answered up: 'If I'd a tab of +turf handy, I'd bung it at your mouth, you greasy cavalryman, and +learn you to speak respectful of your betters. The Marines are the +handiest body of men in the service.' + +"The trumpeter looked down on him from the height of six foot two, +and asked: 'Did they die well?' + +"'They died very well. There was a lot of running to and fro at +first, and some of the men began to cry, and a few to strip off their +clothes. But when the ship fell off for the last time, Captain Mein +turned and said something to Major Griffiths, the commanding officer +on board, and the Major called out to me to beat to quarters. +It might have been for a wedding, he sang it out so cheerful. +We'd had word already that 'twas to be parade order, and the men fell +in as trim and decent as if they were going to church. One or two +even tried to shave at the last moment. The Major wore his medals. +One of the seamen, seeing I had hard work to keep the drum steady-- +the sling being a bit loose for me and the wind what you remember-- +lashed it tight with a piece of rope; and that saved my life +afterwards, a drum being as good as a cork until 'tis stove. I kept +beating away until every man was on deck; and then the Major formed +them up and told them to die like British soldiers, and the chaplain +read a prayer or two--the boys standin' all the while like rocks, +each man's courage keeping up the others'. The chaplain was in the +middle of a prayer when she struck. In ten minutes she was gone. +That was how they died, cavalryman.' + +"'And that was very well done, drummer of the Marines. What's your +name?' + +"'John Christian.' + +"'Mine is William George Tallifer, trumpeter, of the 7th Light +Dragoons--the Queen's Own. I played "_God Save the King_" while our +men were drowning. Captain Duncanfield told me to sound a call or +two, to put them in heart; but that matter of "_God Save the King_" +was a notion of my own. I won't say anything to hurt the feelings of +a Marine, even if he's not much over five-foot tall; but the Queen's +Own Hussars is a tearin' fine regiment. As between horse and foot, +'tis a question o' which gets the chance. All the way from Sahagun +to Corunna 'twas we that took and gave the knocks--at Mayorga and +Rueda, and Bennyventy.' (The reason, sir, I can speak the names so +pat is that my father learnt 'em by heart afterwards from the +trumpeter, who was always talking about Mayorga and Rueda and +Bennyventy.) 'We made the rear-guard, under General Paget, and drove +the French every time; and all the infantry did was to sit about in +wine-shops till we whipped 'em out, an' steal an' straggle an' play +the tom-fool in general. And when it came to a stand-up fight at +Corunna, 'twas the horse, or the best part of it, that had to stay +sea-sick aboard the transports, an' watch the infantry in the thick +o' the caper. Very well they behaved, too; 'specially the 4th +Regiment, an' the 42nd Highlanders an' the Dirty Half-Hundred. +Oh, ay; they're decent regiments, all three. But the Queen's Own +Hussars is a tearin' fine regiment. So you played on your drum when +the ship was goin' down? Drummer John Christian, I'll have to get +you a new pair o' drum-sticks for that.' + +"Well, sir, it appears that the very next day the trumpeter marched +into Helston, and got a carpenter there to turn him a pair of +box-wood drum-sticks for the boy. And this was the beginning of one +of the most curious friendships you ever heard tell of. Nothing +delighted the pair more than to borrow a boat off my father and pull +out to the rocks where the _Primrose_ and the _Despatch_ had struck +and sunk; and on still days 'twas pretty to hear them out there off +the Manacles, the drummer playing his tattoo--for they always took +their music with them--and the trumpeter practising calls, and making +his trumpet speak like an angel. But if the weather turned roughish, +they'd be walking together and talking; leastwise, the youngster +listened while the other discoursed about Sir John's campaign in +Spain and Portugal, telling how each little skirmish befell; and of +Sir John himself, and General Baird and General Paget, and Colonel +Vivian, his own commanding officer, and what kind of men they were; +and of the last bloody stand-up at Corunna, and so forth, as if +neither could have enough. + +"But all this had to come to an end in the late summer; for the boy, +John Christian, being now well and strong again, must go up to +Plymouth to report himself. 'Twas his own wish (for I believe King +George had forgotten all about him), but his friend wouldn't hold him +back. As for the trumpeter, my father had made an arrangement to +take him on as a lodger as soon as the boy left; and on the morning +fixed for the start, he was up at the door here by five o'clock, with +his trumpet slung by his side, and all the rest of his kit in a small +valise. A Monday morning it was, and after breakfast he had fixed to +walk with the boy some way on the road towards Helston, where the +coach started. My father left them at breakfast together, and went +out to meat the pig, and do a few odd morning jobs of that sort. +When he came back, the boy was still at table, and the trumpeter +standing here by the chimney-place with the drum and trumpet in his +hands, hitched together just as they be at this moment. + +"'Look at this,' he says to my father, showing him the lock; +'I picked it up off a starving brass-worker in Lisbon, and it is not +one of your common locks that one word of six letters will open at +any time. There's _janius_ in this lock; for you've only to make the +rings spell any six-letter word you please, and snap down the lock +upon that, and never a soul can open it--not the maker, even--until +somebody comes along that knows the word you snapped it on. +Now, Johnny here's goin', and he leaves his drum behind him; for, +though he can make pretty music on it, the parchment sags in wet +weather, by reason of the sea-water getting at it; an' if he carries +it to Plymouth, they'll only condemn it and give him another. +And, as for me, I shan't have the heart to put lip to the trumpet any +more when Johnny's gone. So we've chosen a word together, and locked +'em together upon that; and, by your leave, I'll hang 'em here +together on the hook over your fireplace. Maybe Johnny'll come back; +maybe not. Maybe, if he comes, I'll be dead an' gone, an' he'll take +'em apart an' try their music for old sake's sake. But if he never +comes, nobody can separate 'em; for nobody beside knows the word. +And if you marry and have sons, you can tell 'em that here are tied +together the souls of Johnny Christian, drummer of the Marines, and +William George Tallifer, once trumpeter of the Queen's Own Hussars. +Amen.' + +"With that he hung the two instruments 'pon the hook there; and the +boy stood up and thanked my father and shook hands; and the pair went +forth of the door, towards Helston. + +"Somewhere on the road they took leave of one another; but nobody saw +the parting, nor heard what was said between them. About three in +the afternoon the trumpeter came walking back over the hill; and by +the time my father came home from the fishing, the cottage was tidied +up and the tea ready, and the whole place shining like a new pin. +From that time for five years he lodged here with my father, looking +after the house and tilling the garden; and all the while he was +steadily failing, the hurt in his head spreading, in a manner, to his +limbs. My father watched the feebleness growing on him, but said +nothing. And from first to last neither spake a word about the +drummer, John Christian; nor did any letter reach them, nor word of +his doings. + +"The rest of the tale you'm free to believe, sir, or not, as you +please. It stands upon my father's words, and he always declared he +was ready to kiss the Book upon it before judge and jury. He said, +too, that he never had the wit to make up such a yarn; and he defied +anyone to explain about the lock, in particular, by any other tale. +But you shall judge for yourself. + +"My father said that about three o'clock in the morning, April +fourteenth of the year 'fourteen, he and William Tallifer were +sitting here, just as you and I, sir, are sitting now. My father had +put on his clothes a few minutes before, and was mending his spiller +by the light of the horn lantern, meaning to set off before daylight +to haul the trammel. The trumpeter hadn't been to bed at all. +Towards the last he mostly spent his nights (and his days, too) +dozing in the elbow-chair where you sit at this minute. He was +dozing then (my father said), with his chin dropped forward on his +chest, when a knock sounded upon the door, and the door opened, and +in walked an upright young man in scarlet regimentals. + +"He had grown a brave bit, and his face was the colour of wood-ashes; +but it was the drummer, John Christian. Only his uniform was +different from the one he used to wear, and the figures '38' shone in +brass upon his collar. + +"The drummer walked past my father as if he never saw him, and stood +by the elbow-chair and said: + +"'Trumpeter, trumpeter, are you one with me?' + +"And the trumpeter just lifted the lids of his eyes, and answered, +'How should I not be one with you, drummer Johnny--Johnny boy? +The men are patient. 'Till you come, I count; while you march, I +mark time; until the discharge comes.' + +"'The discharge has come to-night,' said the drummer, 'and the word +is Corunna no longer'; and stepping to the chimney-place, he unhooked +the drum and trumpet, and began to twist the brass rings of the lock, +spelling the word aloud, so--C-O-R-U-N-A. When he had fixed the last +letter, the padlock opened in his hand. + +"'Did you know, trumpeter, that when I came to Plymouth they put me +into a line regiment?' + +"'The 38th is a good regiment,' answered the old Hussar, still in his +dull voice. 'I went back with them from Sahagun to Corunna. +At Corunna they stood in General Fraser's division, on the right. +They behaved well.' + +"'But I'd fain see the Marines again,' says the drummer, handing him +the trumpet; 'and you--you shall call once more for the Queen's Own. +Matthew,' he says, suddenly, turning on my father--and when he +turned, my father saw for the first time that his scarlet jacket had +a round hole by the breast-bone, and that the blood was welling +there--'Matthew, we shall want your boat.' + +"Then my father rose on his legs like a man in a dream, while they +two slung on, the one his drum, and t'other his trumpet. He took the +lantern, and went quaking before them down to the shore, and they +breathed heavily behind him; and they stepped into his boat, and my +father pushed off. + +"'Row you first for Dolor Point,' says the drummer. So my father +rowed them out past the white houses of Coverack to Dolor Point, and +there, at a word, lay on his oars. And the trumpeter, William +Tallifer, put his trumpet to his mouth and sounded the _Revelly_. +The music of it was like rivers running. + +"'They will follow,' said the drummer. 'Matthew, pull you now for +the Manacles.' + +"So my father pulled for the Manacles, and came to an easy close +outside Carn du. And the drummer took his sticks and beat a tattoo, +there by the edge of the reef; and the music of it was like a rolling +chariot. + +"'That will do,' says he, breaking off; 'they will follow. Pull now +for the shore under Gunner's Meadow.' + +"Then my father pulled for the shore, and ran his boat in under +Gunner's Meadow. And they stepped out, all three, and walked up to +the meadow. By the gate the drummer halted and began his tattoo +again, looking out towards the darkness over the sea. + +"And while the drum beat, and my father held his breath, there came +up out of the sea and the darkness a troop of many men, horse and +foot, and formed up among the graves; and others rose out of the +graves and formed up--drowned Marines with bleached faces, and pale +Hussars riding their horses, all lean and shadowy. There was no +clatter of hoofs or accoutrements, my father said, but a soft sound +all the while, like the beating of a bird's wing, and a black shadow +lying like a pool about the feet of all. The drummer stood upon a +little knoll just inside the gate, and beside him the tall trumpeter, +with hand on hip, watching them gather; and behind them both my +father, clinging to the gate. When no more came, the drummer stopped +playing, and said, 'Call the roll.' + +"Then the trumpeter stepped towards the end man of the rank and +called, 'Troop-Sergeant-Major Thomas Irons!' and the man in a thin +voice answered 'Here!' + +"'Troop-Sergeant-Major Thomas Irons, how is it with you?' + +"The man answered, 'How should it be with me? When I was young, I +betrayed a girl; and when I was grown, I betrayed a friend; and for +these things I must pay. But I died as a man ought. God save the +King!' + +"The trumpeter called to the next man, 'Trooper Henry Buckingham!' +and the next man answered, 'Here!' + +"'Trooper Henry Buckingham, how is it with you?' + +"'How should it be with me? I was a drunkard, and I stole, and in +Lugo, in a wine-shop, I knifed a man. But I died as a man should. +God save the King!' + +"So the trumpeter went down the line; and when he had finished, the +drummer took it up, hailing the dead Marines in their order. +Each man answered to his name, and each man ended with 'God save the +King!' When all were hailed, the drummer stepped back to his mound, +and called: + +"'It is well. You are content, and we are content to join you. +Wait yet a little while.' + +"With this he turned and ordered my father to pick up the lantern, +and lead the way back. As my father picked it up, he heard the ranks +of dead men cheer and call, 'God save the King!' all together, and +saw them waver and fade back into the dark, like a breath fading off +a pane. + +"But when they came back here to the kitchen, and my father set the +lantern down, it seemed they'd both forgot about him. For the +drummer turned in the lantern-light--and my father could see the +blood still welling out of the hole in his breast--and took the +trumpet-sling from around the other's neck, and locked drum and +trumpet together again, choosing the letters on the lock very +carefully. While he did this he said: + +"'The word is no more Corunna, but Bayonne. As you left out an 'n' +in Corunna, so must I leave out an 'n' in Bayonne.' And before +snapping the padlock, he spelt out the word slowly--'B-A-Y-O-N-E.' +After that, he used no more speech; but turned and hung the two +instruments back on the hook; and then took the trumpeter by the arm; +and the pair walked out into the darkness, glancing neither to right +nor left. + +"My father was on the point of following, when he heard a sort of +sigh behind him; and there, sitting in the elbow-chair, was the +very trumpeter he had just seen walk out by the door! If my father's +heart jumped before, you may believe it jumped quicker now. +But after a bit, he went up to the man asleep in the chair, and put a +hand upon him. It was the trumpeter in flesh and blood that he +touched; but though the flesh was warm, the trumpeter was dead. + +"Well, sir, they buried him three days after; and at first my father +was minded to say nothing about his dream (as he thought it). +But the day after the funeral, he met Parson Kendall coming from +Helston market: and the parson called out: 'Have 'ee heard the news +the coach brought down this mornin'?' 'What news?' says my father. +'Why, that peace is agreed upon.' 'None too soon,' says my father. +'Not soon enough for our poor lads at Bayonne,' the parson answered. +'Bayonne!' cries my father, with a jump. 'Why, yes'; and the parson +told him all about a great sally the French had made on the night of +April 13th. 'Do you happen to know if the 38th Regiment was +engaged?' my father asked. 'Come, now,' said Parson Kendall, +'I didn't know you was so well up in the campaign. But, as it +happens, I _do_ know that the 38th was engaged, for 'twas they that +held a cottage and stopped the French advance.' + +"Still my father held his tongue; and when, a week later, he walked +into Helston and bought a _Mercury_ off the Sherborne rider, and got +the landlord of the 'Angel' to spell out the list of killed and +wounded, sure enough, there among the killed was Drummer John +Christian, of the 38th Foot. + +"After this, there was nothing for a religious man but to make a +clean breast. So my father went up to Parson Kendall and told the +whole story. The parson listened, and put a question or two, and +then asked: + +"'Have you tried to open the lock since that night?' + +"'I han't dared to touch it,' says my father. + +"'Then come along and try.' When the parson came to the cottage here, +he took the things off the hook and tried the lock. 'Did he say +'_Bayonne_'? The word has seven letters.' + +"'Not if you spell it with one 'n' as _he_ did,' says my father. + +"The parson spelt it out--B-A-Y-O-N-E. 'Whew!' says he, for the lock +had fallen open in his hand. + +"He stood considering it a moment, and then he says,' I tell you +what. I shouldn't blab this all round the parish, if I was you. +You won't get no credit for truth-telling, and a miracle's wasted on +a set of fools. But if you like, I'll shut down the lock again upon +a holy word that no one but me shall know, and neither drummer nor +trumpeter, dead nor alive, shall frighten the secret out of me.' + +"'I wish to gracious you would, parson,' said my father. + +"The parson chose the holy word there and then, and shut the lock +back upon it, and hung the drum and trumpet back in their place. +He is gone long since, taking the word with him. And till the lock +is broken by force, nobody will ever separate those twain." + + + +THE LOOE DIE-HARDS. + + +Captain Pond, of the East and West Looe Volunteer Artillery +(familiarly known as the Looe Die-hards), put his air-cushion to his +lips and blew. This gave his face a very choleric and martial +expression. + +Nevertheless, above his suffused and distended cheeks his eyes +preserved a pensive melancholy as they dwelt upon his Die-hards +gathered in the rain below him on the long-shore, or Church-end, +wall. At this date (November 3, 1809) the company numbered seventy, +besides Captain Pond and his two subalterns; and of this force four +were out in the boat just now, mooring the practice-mark--a barrel +with a small red flag stuck on top; one, the bugler, had been sent up +the hill to the nine-pounder battery, to watch and sound a call as +soon as the target was ready; a sixth, Sergeant Fugler, lay at home +in bed, with the senior lieutenant (who happened also to be the local +doctor) in attendance. Captain Pond clapped a thumb over the orifice +of his air-cushion, and heaved a sigh as he thought of Sergeant +Fugler. The remaining sixty-four Die-hards, with their firelocks +under their great-coats, and their collars turned up against the +rain, lounged by the embrasures of the shore-wall, and gossiped +dejectedly, or eyed in silence the blurred boat bobbing up and down +in the grey blur of the sea. + +"Such coarse weather I hardly remember to have met with for years," +said Uncle Israel Spettigew, a cheerful sexagenarian who ranked as +efficient on the strength of his remarkable eyesight, which was +keener than most boys'. "The sweep from over to Polperro was +cleanin' my chimbley this mornin', and he told me in his humorous way +that with all this rain 'tis so much as he can do to keep his face +dirty--hee-hee!" + +Nobody smiled. "If you let yourself give way to the enjoyment of +little things like that," observed a younger gunner gloomily, "one o' +these days you'll find yourself in a better land like the snuff of a +candle. 'Tis a year since the Company's been allowed to move in +double time, and all because you can't manage a step o' thirty-six +inches 'ithout getting the palpitations." + +"Well-a-well, 'tis but for a brief while longer--a few fleeting +weeks, an' us Die-hards shall be as though we had never been. So why +not be cheerful? For my part, I mind back in 'seventy-nine, when the +fleets o' France an' Spain assembled an' come up agen' us--sixty-six +sail o' the line, my sonnies, besides frigates an' corvettes to the +amount o' twenty-five or thirty, all as plain as the nose on your +face: an' the alarm guns goin', up to Plymouth, an' the signals +hoisted at Maker Tower--a bloody flag at the pole an' two blue 'uns +at the outriggers. Four days they laid to, an' I mind the first time +I seed mun, from this very place as it might be where we'm standin' +at this moment, I said 'Well, 'tis all over with East Looe this +time!' I said: 'an' when 'tis over, 'tis over, as Joan said by her +weddin'.' An' then I spoke them verses by royal Solomon--Wisdom two, +six to nine. 'Let us fill oursel's wi' costly wine an' ointments,' +I said: 'an' let no flower o' the spring pass by us. Let us crown +oursel's wi' rosebuds, afore they be withered: let none of us go +without his due part of our voluptuousness'--" + +"Why, you old adage, that's what Solomon makes th' _ungodly_ say!" +interrupted young Gunner Oke, who had recently been appointed parish +clerk, and happened to know. + +"As it happens," Uncle Issy retorted, with sudden dignity--"as it +happens, I _was_ ungodly in them days. The time I'm talkin' about +was August 'seventy-nine; an' if I don't mistake, your father an' +mother, John Oke, were courtin' just then, an' 'most too shy to +confide in each other about havin' a parish clerk for a son." + +"Times hev' marvellously altered in the meanwhile, to be sure," put +in Sergeant Pengelly of the "Sloop" Inn. + +"Well, then," Uncle Issy continued, without pressing his triumph, +"''Tis all over with East Looe,' I said, 'an' this is a black day for +King Gearge,' an' then I spoke them verses o' Solomon. 'Let none of +us,' I said, 'go without his due part of our voluptuousness'; and +with that I went home and dined on tatties an' bacon. It hardly +seems a thing to be believed at this distance o' time, but I never +relished tatties an' bacon better in my life than that day--an' yet +not meanin' the laste disrespect to King Gearge. Disrespect? If his +Majesty only knew it, he've no better friend in the world than Israel +Spettigew. God save the King!" + +And with this Uncle Issy pulled off his cap and waved it round his +head, thereby shedding a _moulinet_ of raindrops full in the faces +of his comrades around. + +This was observed by Captain Pond, standing on the platform above, +beside Thundering Meg, the big 24-pounder, which with four +18-pounders on the shore-wall formed the lower defences of the haven. + +"Mr. Clogg," he called to his junior lieutenant, "tell Gunner +Spettigew to put on his hat at once. Ask him what he means by taking +his death and disgracing the company." + +The junior lieutenant--a small farmer from Talland parish--touched +his cap, spread his hand suddenly over his face and sneezed. + +"Hullo! You've got a cold." + +"No, sir. I often sneezes like that, and no reason for it whatever." + +"I've never noticed it before." + +"No, sir. I keeps it under so well as I can. A great deal can be +done sometimes by pressing your thumb on the upper lip." + +"Ah, well! So long as it's not a cold--" returned the Captain, and +broke off to arrange his air-cushion over the depressed muzzle of +Thundering Meg. Hereupon he took his seat, adjusted the lapels of +his great-coat over his knees, and gave way to gloomy reflection. + +Sergeant Fugler was at the bottom of it. Sergeant Fugler, the best +marksman in the Company, was a hard drinker, with a hobnailed liver. +He lay now in bed with that hobnailed liver, and the Doctor said it +was only a question of days. But why should this so extraordinarily +discompose Captain Pond, who had no particular affection for Fugler, +and knew, besides, that all men--and especially hard drinkers--are +mortal? + +The answer is that the East and West Looe Volunteer Artillery was no +ordinary Company. When, on the 16th of May, 1803, King George told +his faithful subjects, who had been expecting the announcement for +some time, that the Treaty of Amiens was no better than waste paper, +public feeling in the two Looes rose to a very painful pitch. +The inhabitants used to assemble before the post-office, to hear the +French bulletins read out; and though it was generally concluded that +they held much falsehood, yet everybody felt misfortune in the air. +Rumours flew about that a diversion would be made by sending an army +into the Duchy to draw the troops thither while the invaders directed +their main strength upon London. Quiet villagers, therefore, dwelt +for the while in a constant apprehension, fearing to go to bed lest +they should awake at the sound of the trumpet, or in the midst of the +French troops; scarcely venturing beyond sight of home lest, +returning, they should find the homestead smoking and desolate. +Each man had laid down the plan he should pursue. Some were to drive +off the cattle, others to fire the corn. While the men worked in the +fields, their womankind--young maids and grandmothers, and all that +could be spared from domestic work--encamped above the cliffs, +wearing red cloaks to scare the Frenchmen, and by night kept big +bonfires burning continually. Amid this painful disquietude of the +public mind "the great and united Spirit of the British People armed +itself for the support of their ancient Glory and Independence +against the unprincipled Ambition of the French Government." +In other words, the Volunteer movement began. In the Duchy alone no +less than 8,362 men enrolled themselves in thirty Companies of foot, +horse, and artillery, as well out of enthusiasm as to escape the +general levy that seemed probable--so mixed are all human actions. + +Of these the Looe Company was neither the greatest nor the least. +It had neither the numerical strength of the Royal Stannary Artillery +(1,115 men and officers) nor the numerical eccentricity of the St. +Germans Cavalry, which consisted of forty troopers, all told, and +eleven officers, and hunted the fox thrice a week during the winter +months under Lord Eliot, Captain and M.F.H. The Looe Volunteers, +however, started well in the matter of dress, which consisted of a +dark-blue coat and pantaloons, with red facings and yellow wings and +tassels, and a white waistcoat. The officers' sword-hilts were +adorned with prodigious red and blue tassels, and the blade of +Captain Pond's, in particular, bore the inscription, "_My Life's +Blood for the Two Looes!_"--a legend which we must admit to be +touching, even while we reflect that the purpose of the weapon was +not to draw its owner's life-blood. + +As a matter of mere history, this devoted blade had drawn nobody's +blood; since, in the six years that followed their enlistment, the +Looe Die-hards had never been given an opportunity for a brush with +their country's hereditary foes. How, then, did they acquire their +proud title? + +It was the Doctor's discovery; and perhaps, in the beginning, +professional pride may have had something to do with it; but his +enthusiasm was quickly caught up by Captain Pond and communicated to +the entire Company. + +"Has it ever occurred to you, Pond," the Doctor began, one evening in +the late summer of 1808, as the two strolled homeward from parade, +"to reflect on the rate of mortality in this Company of yours? +Have you considered that in all these five years since their +establishment not a single man has died?" + +"Why the deuce should he?" + +"But look here: I've worked it out on paper, and the mean age of your +men is thirty-four years, or some five years more than the mean age +of the entire population of East and West Looe. You see, on the one +hand, you enlist no children, and on the other, you've enlisted +several men of ripe age, because you're accustomed to them and know +their ways--which is a great help in commanding a Company. But this +makes the case still more remarkable. Take any collection of +seventy souls the sum of whose ages, divided by seventy, shall be +thirty-four, and by all the laws of probability three, at least, +ought to die in the course of a year. I speak, for the moment, of +civilians. In the military profession," the Doctor continued, with +perfect seriousness, "especially in time of war, the death-rate will +be enormously heightened. But"--with a flourish of the hand-- +"I waive that. I waive even the real, if uncertainly estimated, risk +of handling, twice or thrice a week and without timidity or +particular caution, the combustibles and explosives supplied us by +Government. And still I say that we might with equanimity have +beheld our ranks thinned during these five years by the loss of +fifteen men. And we have not lost a single one! It is wonderful!" + +"War is a fearful thing," commented Captain Pond, whose mind moved +less nimbly than the Doctor's. + +"Dash it all, Pond! Can't you see that I'm putting the argument on a +_peace_ footing? I tell you that in five years of _peace_ any +ordinary Company of the same size would have lost at least fifteen +men." + +"Then all I can say is that peace is a fearful thing, too." + +"But don't you see that at this moment you're commanding the most +remarkable Company in the Duchy, if not in the whole of England?" + +"I do," answered Captain Pond, flushing. "It's a responsibility, +though. It makes a man feel proud; but, all the same, I almost wish +you hadn't told me." + +Indeed at first the weight of his responsibility counteracted the +Captain's natural elation. It lifted, however, at the next +Corporation dinner, when the Doctor made public announcement of his +discovery in a glowing speech, supporting his rhetoric by extracts +from a handful of statistics and calculations, and ending, +"Gentlemen, we know the motto of the East and West Looe Volunteer +Artillery to be '_Never Say Die!_' but seeing, after five years' +trial of them, that they never _do_ die, what man (I ask) will not +rejoice to belong to such a Company? What man would not be proud _to +command it_?" + +After this, could Captain Pond lag behind? His health was drunk + amid thunders of applause. He rose: he cast timidity to the winds: +he spoke, and while he spoke, wondered at his own enthusiasm. +Scarcely had he made an end before his fellow-townsmen caught him off +his feet and carried him shoulder high through the town by the light +of torches. There were many aching heads in the two Looes next +morning; but nobody died: and from that night Captain Pond's Company +wore the name of "The Die-hards." + +All went well at first; for the autumn closed mildly. But with +November came a spell of north-easterly gales, breeding bronchial +discomfort among the aged; and Black Care began to dog the Commander. +He caught himself regretting the admission of so many gunners of +riper years, although the majority of these had served in His +Majesty's Navy, and were by consequence the best marksmen. +They weathered the winter, however; and a slight epidemic of +whooping-cough, which broke out in the early spring, affected none of +the Die-hards except the small bugler, and he took it in the mildest +form. The men, following the Doctor's lead, began to talk more +boastfully than ever. Only the Captain shook his head, and his eyes +wore a wistful look, as though he listened continually for the +footsteps of Nemesis--as, indeed, he did. The strain was breaking +him. And in August, when word came from headquarters that, all +danger of invasion being now at an end, the Looe Volunteer Artillery +would be disbanded at the close of the year, he tried in vain to +grieve. A year ago he would have wept in secret over the news. +Now he went about with a solemn face and a bounding heart. A few +months more and then-- + +And then, almost within sight of goal, Sergeant Fugler had broken +down. Everyone knew that Fugler drank prodigiously; but so had his +father and grandfather, and each of them had reached eighty. +The fellow had always carried his liquor well enough, too. +Captain Pond looked upon it almost as a betrayal. + +"I don't know what folks' constitutions are coming to in these days," +he kept muttering, on this morning of November the 3rd, as he sat on +the muzzle of Thundering Meg and dangled his legs. + +And then, glancing up, he saw the Doctor coming from the town along +the shore-wall, and read evil news at once. For many of the +Die-hards stopped the Doctor to question him, and stood gloomy as he +passed on. It was popularly said in the two Looes, that "if the +Doctor gave a man up, that man might as well curl up his toes then +and there." + +Catching sight of his Captain on the platform, the Doctor bent his +steps thither, and they were slow and inelastic. + +"Tell me the worst," said Captain Pond. + +"The worst is that he's no better; no, the worst of all is that he +knows he's no better. My friend, between ourselves, it's only a +question of a day or two." + +Silence followed for half a minute, the two officers avoiding each +other's eyes. + +"He has a curious wish," the Doctor resumed, still with his face +averted and his gaze directed on the dull outline of Looe Island, a +mile away. "He says he knows he's disgracing the Company: but he's +anxious, all the same, to have a military funeral: says if you can +promise this, he'll feel in a way that he's forgiven." + +"He shall have it, of course." + +"Ah, but that's not all. You remember, a couple of years back, when +they had us down to Pendennis Castle for a week's drill, there was a +funeral of a Sergeant-Major in the Loyal Meneage; and how the band +played a sort of burial tune ahead of the body? Well, Fugler asked +me if you couldn't manage this Dead March, as he calls it, as well. +He can whistle the tune if you want to know it. It seems it made a +great impression on him." + +"Then the man must be wandering! How the dickens can we manage a +Dead March without a band?--and we haven't even a fife and drum!" + +"That's what I told him. I suppose we couldn't do anything with the +church musicians." + +"There's only one man in the Company who belongs to the gallery, and +that's Uncle Issy Spettigew: and he plays the bass-viol. I doubt if +you can play the Dead March on a bass-viol, and I'm morally certain +you can't play it and walk with it too. I suppose we can't borrow a +band from another Company?" + +"What, and be the mock of the Duchy?--after all our pride! I fancy I +see you going over to Troy and asking Browne for the loan of his +band. 'Hullo!' he'd say, 'I thought you never had such a thing as a +funeral over at Looe!' I can hear the fellow chuckle. But I wish +something could be done, all the same. A trifle of pomp would draw +folks' attention off our disappointment." + +Captain Pond sighed and rose from the gun; for the bugle was sounding +from the upper battery. + +"Fall in, gentlemen, if you please!" he shouted. His politeness in +addressing his Company might be envied even by the "Blues." + +The Doctor formed them up and told them off along the sea-wall, as if +for inspection. "Or-der arms!" "Fix bayonets!" "Shoul-der arms!" +Then with a glance of inquiry at his Captain, who had fallen into a +brown study, "Rear rank, take open order!" + +"No, no," interposed the Captain, waking up and taking a guess at the +sun's altitude in the grey heavens. "We're late this morning: better +march 'em up to the battery at once." + +Then, quickly re-forming them, he gave the word, "By the left! +Quick march!" and the Die-hards swung steadily up the hill towards +the platform where the four nine-pounders grinned defiance to the +ships of France. + +As a matter of fact, this battery stood out of reach of harm, with +the compensating disadvantage of being able to inflict none. +The reef below would infallibly wreck any ship that tried to approach +within the point-blank range of some 270 yards, and its extreme range +of ten times that distance was no protection to the haven, which lay +round a sharp corner of the cliff. But the engineer's blunder was +never a check upon the alacrity of the Die-hards, who cleaned, +loaded, rammed home, primed, sighted, and blazed away with the +precision of clockwork and the ardour of Britons, as though aware +that the true strength of a nation lay not so much in the +construction of her fortresses as in the spirit of her sons. + +Captain Pond halted, re-formed his men upon the platform, and, +drawing a key from his pocket, ordered Lieutenant Clogg to the +store-hut, with Uncle Issy in attendance, to serve our the +ammunition, rammers, sponges, water-buckets, etc. + +"But the door's unlocked, sir," announced the lieutenant, with +something like dismay. + +"Unlocked!" echoed the Doctor. + +The Captain blushed. + +"I could have sworn, Doctor, I turned the key in the lock before +leaving last Thursday. I think my head must be going. I've been +sleeping badly of late--it's this worry about Fugler. However, I +don't suppose anybody--" + +A yell interrupted him. It came from Uncle Issy, who had entered the +store-hut, and now emerged from it as if projected from a gun. + +"THE FRENCH! THE FRENCH!" + +For two terrible seconds the Die-hards eyed one another. +Then someone in the rear rank whispered, "An ambush!" The two ranks +began to waver--to melt. Uncle Issy, with head down and shoulders +arched, was already stumbling down the slope towards the town. +In another ten seconds the whole Company would be at his heels. + +The Doctor saved their reputation. He was as pale as the rest; but a +hasty remembrance of the cubic capacity of the store-hut told him +that the number of Frenchmen in ambush there could hardly be more +than half a dozen. + +"Halt!" he shouted; and Captain Pond shouted "Halt!" too, adding, +"There'll be heaps of time to run when we find out what's the +matter." + +The Die-hards hung, still wavering, upon the edge of the platform. + +"For my part," the Doctor declared, "I don't believe there's anybody +inside." + +"But there _is_, Doctor! for I saw him myself just as Uncle Issy +called out," said the second lieutenant. + +"Was it only _one_ man that you saw?" demanded Captain Pond. + +"That's all. You see, it was this way: Uncle Issy stepped fore, with +me a couple of paces behind him thinking of nothing so little as +bloodshed and danger. If you'll believe me, these things was the +very last in my thoughts. Uncle Issy rolls aside the powder-cask, +and what do I behold but a man ducking down behind it! 'He's firing +the powder,' thinks I, 'and here endeth William George Clogg!' +So I shut my eyes, not willing to see my gay life whisked away in +little portions; though I feared it must come. And then I felt Uncle +Issy flee past me like the wind. But I kept my eyes tight till I +heard the Doctor here saying there wasn't anybody inside. If you ask +me what I think about the whole matter, I say, putting one thing with +another, that 'tis most likely some poor chap taking shelter from the +rain." + +Captain Pond unsheathed his sword and advanced to the door of the +hut. "Whoever you be," he called aloud and firmly, "you've got no +business there; so come out of it, in the name of King George!" + +At once there appeared in the doorway a little round-headed man in +tattered and mud-soiled garments of blue cloth. His hair and beard +were alike short, black, and stubbly; his eyes large and feverish, +his features smeared with powder and a trifle pinched and pale. +In his left hand he carried a small bundle, wrapped in a knotted blue +kerchief: his right he waved submissively towards Captain Pond. + +"See now," he began, "I give up. I am taken. Look you." + +"I think you must be a Frenchman," said Captain Pond. + +"Right. It is war: you have taken a Frenchman. Yes?" + +"A spy?" the Captain demanded more severely. + +"An escaped prisoner, more like," suggested the Doctor; "broken out +of Dartmoor, and hiding there for a chance to slip across." + +"Monsieur le Lieutenant has guessed," the little man answered, +turning affably to the Doctor. "A spy? No. It is not on purpose +that I find me near your fortifications--oh, not a bit! A prisoner +more like, as Monsieur says. It is three days that I was a prisoner, +and now look here, a prisoner again. Alas! will Monsieur le +Capitaine do me the honour to confide the name of his corps so +gallant?" + +"The Two Looes." + +"_La Toulouse!_ But it is singular that we also have a Toulouse--" + +"Hey?" broke in Second Lieutenant Clogg. + +"I assure Monsieur that I say the truth." + +"Well, go on; only it don't sound natural." + +"Not that I have seen it"--("Ha!" commented Mr. Clogg)--"for it lies +in the south, and I am from the north: Jean Alphonse Marie Trinquier, +instructor of music, Rue de la Madeleine quatr '-vingt-neuf, Dieppe." + +"Instructor of music?" echoed Captain Pond and the Doctor quickly and +simultaneously, and their eyes met. + +"And _Directeur des Fetes Periodiques_ to the Municipality of Dieppe. +All the Sundays, you comprehend, upon the sands--_poum poum!_ while +the citizens _se promenent sur la plage_. But all is not gay in this +world. Last winter a terrible misfortune befell me. I lost my +wife--my adored Philomene. I was desolated, inconsolable. For two +months I could not take up my _cornet-a-piston_. Always when I +blew--pouf!--the tears came also. Ah, what memories! Hippolyte, my-- +what you call it--my _beau-frere_, came to me and said, 'Jean +Alphonse, you must forget.' I say, 'Hippolyte, you ask that which is +impossible.' 'I will teach you,' says Hippolyte: 'To-morrow night I +sail for Jersey, and from Jersey I cross to Dartmouth, in England, +and you shall come with me.' Hippolyte made his living by what you +call the Free Trade. This was far down the coast for him, but he +said the business with Rye and Deal was too dangerous for a time. +Next night we sailed. It was his last voyage. With the morning the +wind changed, and we drove into a fog. When we could see again, +_peste!_--there was an English frigate. She sent down her cutter and +took the rest of us; but not Hippolyte--poor Hippolyte was shot in +the spine of his back. Him they cast into the sea, but the rest of +us they take to Plymouth, and then the War Prison on the moor. +This was in May, and there I rest until three days ago. Then I break +out--_je me sauve_. How? It is my affair: for I foresee, Messieurs, +I shall now have to do it over again. I am _sot_. I gain the coast +here at night. I am weary, _je n'en puis plus_. I find this +_cassine_ here: the door is open: I enter _pour faire un petit +somme_. Before day I will creep down to the shore. A comrade in the +prison said to me, 'Go to Looe. I know a good Cornishman there--'" + +"And you overslept yourself," Captain Paul briskly interrupted, alert +as ever to protect the credit of his Company. He was aware that +several of the Die-hards, in extra-military hours, took an occasional +trip across to Guernsey: and Guernsey is a good deal more than +half-way to France. + +"The point is," observed the Doctor, "that you play the cornet." + +"It is certain that I do so, monsieur; but how that can be the +point--" + +"And instruct in music?" + +"Decidedly!" + +"Do you know the Dead March?" + +M. Trinquier was unfeignedly bewildered. + +Said Captain Pond: "Listen while I explain. You are my prisoner, +and it becomes my duty to send you back to Dartmoor under escort. +But you are exhausted; and notwithstanding my detestation of that +infernal tyrant, your master, I am a humane man. At all events, I'm +not going to expose two of my Die-hards to the risks of a tramp to +Dartmoor just now--I wouldn't turn out a dog in such weather. +It remains a question what I am to do with you in the meanwhile. +I propose that you give me your parole that you will make no attempt +to escape, let us say, for a month: and on receiving it I will at +once escort you to my house, and see that you are suitably clothed, +fed, and entertained." + +"I give it willingly, M. le Capitaine. But how am I to thank you?" + +"By playing the Dead March upon the _cornet-a-piston_ and teaching +others to do the like." + +"That seems a singular way of showing one's gratitude. But why the +Dead March, monsieur? And, excuse me, there is more than one Dead +March. I myself, _par exemple_, composed one to the memory of my +adored Philomene but a week before Hippolyte came with his so sad +proposition." + +"I doubt if that will do. You see," said Captain Pond, lifting his +voice for the benefit of the Die-hards, who by this time were quite +as sorely puzzled as their prisoner, "we are about to bury one of our +Company, Sergeant Fugler--" + +"Ah! he is dead?" + +"He is dying," Captain Pond pursued, the more quickly since he now +guessed, not without reason, that Fugler was the "good Cornishman" to +whose door M. Trinquier had been directed. "He is dying of a +hobnailed liver. It is his wish to have the Dead March played at his +burying." + +"He whistled the tune over to me," said the Doctor; "but plague take +me if I can whistle it to you. I've no ear: but I'd know it again if +I heard it. Dismal isn't the word for it." + +"It will be Handel. I am sure it will be Handel--the Dead March in +his _Saul_." + +"In his what?" + +"In his oratorio of _Saul_. Listen--_poum, poum, prrr, poum_--" + +"Be dashed, but you've got it!" cried the Doctor, delighted; "though +you do give it a sort of foreign accent. But I daresay that won't be +so noticeable on the key-bugle." + +"But about this key-bugle, monsieur? And the other instruments?--not +to mention the players." + +"I've been thinking of that," said Captain Pond. "There's Butcher +Tregaskis has a key-bugle. He plays 'Rule Britannia' upon it when he +goes round with the suet. He'll lend you that till we can get one +down from Plymouth. A drum, too, you shall have. Hockaday's trader +calls here to-morrow on her way to Plymouth; she shall bring both +instruments back with her. Then we have the church musicians--Peter +Tweedy, first fiddle; Matthew John Ede, second ditto; Thomas +Tripconey, scorpion--" + +"Serpent," the Doctor corrected. + +"Well, it's a filthy thing to look at, anyway. Israel Spettigew, +bass-viol; William Henry Phippin, flute; and William Henry Phippin's +eldest boy Archelaus to tap the triangle at the right moment. +That boy, sir, will play the triangle almost as well as a man grown." + +"Then, monsieur, take me to your house. Give me a little food and +drink, pen, ink, and paper, and in three hours you shall have _la +partition_." + +Said the Doctor, "That's all very well, Pond, but the church +musicianers can't march with their music, as you told me just now." + +"I've thought of that, too. We'll have Miller Penrose's covered +three-horse waggon to march ahead of the coffin. Hang it in black +and go slow, and all the musicianers can sit around inside and play +away as merry as grigs." + +"The cover'll give the music a sort of muffly sound; but that," +Lieutenant Clogg suggested, "will be all the more fitty for a +funeral." + +"So it will, Clogg; so it will. But we're wasting time. I suppose +you won't object, sir, to be marched down to my house by the Company? +It's the regular thing in case of taking a prisoner, and you'll be +left to yourself as soon as you get to my door." + +"Not at all," said M. Trinquier amiably. + +"Then, gentlemen, fall in! The practice is put off. And when you +get home, mind you change your stockings, all of you. We're in +luck's way this morning, but that's no reason for recklessness." + +So M. Trinquier, sometime Director of Periodical Festivities to the +Municipality of Dieppe, was marched down into East Looe, to the +wonder and delight of the inhabitants, who had just recovered from +the shock of Gunner Spettigew's false alarm, and were in a condition +to be pleased with trifles. As the Company tramped along the street, +Captain Pond pointed out the Town Hall to his prisoner. + +"That will be the most convenient place to hold your practices. +And that is Fugler's house, just opposite." + +"But we cannot practise without making a noise." + +"I hope not, indeed. Didn't I promise you a big drum?" + +"But in that case the sick man will hear. It will disturb his last +moments." + +"Confound the fellow, he can't have everything! If he'd asked for +peace and quiet, he should have had it. But he didn't: he asked for +a Dead March. Don't trouble about Fugler. He's not an unreasonable +man. The only question is, if the Doctor here can keep him going +until you're perfect with the tune." + +And this was the question upon which the men of Looe, and especially +the Die-hards, hung breathless for the next few days. M. Trinquier +produced his score; the musicianers came forward eagerly; Miller +Penrose promised his waggon; the big drum arrived from Plymouth in +the trader _Good Intent_, and was discharged upon the quay amid +enthusiasm. The same afternoon, at four o'clock, M. Trinquier +opened his first practice in the Town Hall, by playing over the air +of the "Dead Marching Soul"--(to this the popular mouth had converted +the name)--upon his cornet, just to give his pupils a general notion +of it. + +The day had been a fine one, with just that suspicion of frost in the +air which indicates winter on the warm south-western coast. +While the musicians were assembling the Doctor stepped across the +street to see how the invalid would take it. Fugler--a +sharp-featured man of about fifty, good-looking, with blue eyes and a +tinge of red in his hair--lay on his bed with his mouth firmly set +and his eyes resting, wistfully almost, on the last wintry sunbeam +that floated in by the geraniums on the window-ledge. He had not +heard the news. For five days now he expected nothing but the end, +and lay and waited for it stoically and with calm good temper. + +The Doctor took a seat by the bed-side, and put a question or two. +They were answered by Mrs. Fugler, who moved about the small room +quietly, removing, dusting and replacing the china ornaments on the +chimneypiece. The sick man lay still, with his eyes upon the +sunbeam. + +And then very quietly and distinctly the notes of M. Trinquier's +key-bugle rose outside on the frosty air. + +The sick man started, and made as if to raise himself on his elbow, +but quickly sank back again--perhaps from weakness, perhaps because +he caught the Doctor's eye and the Doctor's reassuring nod. While he +lay back and listened, a faint flush crept into his face, as though +the blood ran quicker in his weak limbs; and his blue eyes took a new +light altogether. + +"That's the tune, hey?" the Doctor asked. + +"That's the tune." + +"Dismal, ain't it?" + +"Ay, it's that." His fingers were beating time on the counterpane. + +"That's our new bandmaster. He's got to teach it to the rest, and +you've got to hold out till they pick it up. Whew! I'd no idea music +could be so dismal." + +"Hush 'ee, Doctor, do! till he've a-done. 'Tis like rain on +blossom." The last notes fell. "Go you down, Doctor, and say my +duty and will he please play it over once more, and Fugler'll gi'e +'em a run for their money." + +The Doctor went back to the Town Hall and delivered this _encore_, +and M. Trinquier played his solo again; and in the middle of it Mr. +Fugler dropped off into an easy sleep. + +After this the musicians met every evening, Sundays and weekdays, and +by the third evening the Doctor was able to predict with confidence +that Fugler would last out. Indeed, the patient was strong enough to +be propped up into a sitting posture during the hour of practice, and +not only listened with pleasure to the concerted piece, but beat time +with his fingers while each separate instrument went over its part, +delivering, at the close of each performance, his opinion of it to +Mrs. Fugler or the Doctor: "Tripconey's breath's failin'. He don't +do no sort o' justice by that sarpint." Or: "There's Uncle Issy +agen! He always do come to grief juss there! I reckon a man of +sixty-odd ought to give up the bass-viol. He ha'n't got the +agility." + +On the fifth evening Mrs. Fugler was sent across to the Town Hall to +ask why the triangle had as yet no share in the performance, and to +suggest that William Henry Phippin's eldest boy, Archelaus, played +that instrument "to the life." M. Trinquier replied that it was +unusual to seek the aid of the triangle in rendering the Dead March +in _Saul_. Mr. Fugler sent back word that, "if you came to _that_, +the whole thing was unusual, from start to finish." To this M. +Trinquier discovered no answer; and the triangle was included, to the +extreme delight of Archelaus Phippin, whose young life had been +clouded for a week past. + +On the sixth evening, Mr. Fugler announced a sudden fancy to "touch +pipe." + +"Hey?" said the Doctor, opening his eyes. + +"I'd like to tetch pipe. An' let me light the brimstone mysel'. +I likes to see the little blue flame turn yellow, a-dancin' on the +baccy." + +"Get 'n his pipe and baccy, missis," the Doctor commanded. "He may +kill himself clean-off now: the band'll be ready by the funeral, +anyway." + +On the three following evenings Mr. Fugler sat up and smoked during +band practice, the Doctor observing him with a new interest. +The tenth day, the Doctor was called away to attend a child-birth at +Downderry. At the conclusion of the cornet solo, with which M. +Trinquier regularly opened practice, the sick man said-- + +"Wife, get me out my clothes." + +"WHAT!" + +"Get me out my clothes." + +"You're mad! It'll be your death." + +"I don't care: the band's ready. Uncle Issy got his part perfect +las' night, an' that's more'n I ever prayed to hear. Get me out my +clothes an' help me downstairs." + +The Doctor was far away. Mrs. Fugler was forced to give in. +Weeping, and with shaking hands, she dressed him and helped him to +the foot of the stairs, where she threw open the parlour door. + +"No," he said, "I'm not goin' in there. I'll be steppin' across to +the Town Hall. Gi'e me your arm." + +Thomas Tripconey was rehearsing upon the serpent when the door of the +Town Hall opened: and the music he made died away in a wail, as of a +dog whose foot has been trodden on. William Henry Phippin's eldest +son Archelaus cast his triangle down and shrieked "Ghosts, ghosts!" +Uncle Issy cowered behind his bass-viol and put a hand over his eyes. +M. Trinquier spun round to face the intruder, baton in one hand, +cornet in the other. + +"Thank 'ee, friends," said Mr. Fugler, dropping into a seat by the +door, and catching breath: "you've got it very suent. 'Tis a +beautiful tune: an' I'm ha'f ashamed to tell 'ee that I bain't +a-goin' to die, this time." + +Nor did he. + + +The East and West Looe Volunteer Artillery was disbanded a few weeks +later, on the last day of the year 1809. The Corporations of the Two +Boroughs entertained the heroes that evening to a complimentary +banquet in the East Looe Town Hall, and Sergeant Fugler had recovered +sufficiently to attend, though not to partake. The Doctor made a +speech over him, proving him by statistics to be the most wonderful +member of the most wonderful corps in the world. The Doctor granted, +however--at such a moment the Company could make concessions--that +the Die-hards had been singularly fortunate in the one foeman whom +they had been called upon to face. Had it not been for a gentleman +of France the death-roll of the Company had assuredly not stood at +zero. He, their surgeon, readily admitted this, and gave them a +toast, "The Power of Music," associating with this the name of +Monsieur Jean Alphonse Marie Trinquier, Director of Periodic +Festivities to the Municipality of Dieppe. The toast was drunk with +acclamation. M. Trinquier responded, expressing his confident belief +that two so gallant nations as England and France could not long be +restrained from flinging down their own arms and rushing into each +other's. And then followed Captain Pond, who, having moved his +audience to tears, pronounced the Looe Die-hards disbanded. +Thereupon, with a gesture full of tragic inspiration, he cast his +naked blade upon the board. As it clanged amid the dishes and +glasses, M. Trinquier lifted his arms, and the band crashed out the +"Dead Marching Soul," following it with "God Save the King" as the +clock announced midnight and the birth of the New Year. + +"But hallo?" exclaimed Captain Pond, sinking back in his chair, and +turning towards M. Trinquier. "I had clean forgot that you are our +prisoner, and should be sent back to Dartmoor! And now the Company +is disbanded, and I have no one to send as escort." + +"Monsieur also forgets that my parole expired a fortnight since, and +that my service from that hour has been a service of love!" + +M. Trinquier did not return to Dartmoor. For it happened, one dark +night early in the following February, that Mr. Fugler (now restored +to health) set sail for the island of Guernsey upon a matter of +business. And on the morrow the music-master of Dieppe had become +but a pleasing memory to the inhabitants of the Two Looes. + +And now, should you take up Mr. Thomas Bond's _History of East and +West Looe_, and read of the Looe Volunteers that "not a single man of +the Company died during the six years, which is certainly very +remarkable," you will be not utterly incredulous; for you will know +how it came about. Still, when one comes to reflect, it does seem an +odd boast for a company of warriors. + + + +MY GRANDFATHER, HENDRY WATTY. + + +A DROLL. + +'Tis the nicest miss in the world that I was born grandson of my own +father's father, and not of another man altogether. Hendry Watty was +the name of my grandfather that might have been; and he always +maintained that to all intents and purposes he _was_ my grandfather, +and made me call him so--'twas such a narrow shave. I don't mind +telling you about it. 'Tis a curious tale, too. + + +My grandfather, Hendry Watty, bet four gallons of eggy-hot that he +would row out to the Shivering Grounds, all in the dead waste of the +night, and haul a trammel there. To find the Shivering Grounds by +night, you get the Gull Rock in a line with Tregamenna and pull out +till you open the light on St. Anthony's Point; but everybody gives +the place a wide berth because Archelaus Rowett's lugger foundered +there, one time, with six hands on board; and they say that at night +you can hear the drowned men hailing their names. But my grandfather +was the boldest man in Port Loe, and said he didn't care. So one +Christmas Eve by daylight he and his mates went out and tilled the +trammel; and then they came back and spent the fore-part of the +evening over the eggy-hot, down to Oliver's tiddly-wink, to keep my +grandfather's spirits up and also to show that the bet was made in +earnest. + +'Twas past eleven o'clock when they left Oliver's and walked down to +the cove to see my grandfather off. He has told me since that he +didn't feel afraid at all, but very friendly in mind, especially +towards William John Dunn, who was walking on his right hand. +This puzzled him at the first, for as a rule he didn't think much of +William John Dunn. But now he shook hands with him several times, +and just as he was stepping into the boat he says, "You'll take care +of Mary Polly, while I'm away." Mary Polly Polsue was my +grandfather's sweetheart at that time. But why he should have spoken +as if he was bound on a long voyage he never could tell; he used to +set it down to fate. + +"I will," said William John Dunn; and then they gave a cheer and +pushed my grandfather off, and he lit his pipe and away he rowed all +into the dead waste of the night. He rowed and rowed, all in the +dead waste of the night; and he got the Gull Rock in a line with +Tregamenna windows; and still he was rowing, when to his great +surprise he heard a voice calling: + +"_Hendry Watty! Hendry Watty!_" + +I told you my grandfather was the boldest man in Port Loe. But he +dropped his two paddles now, and made the five signs of Penitence. +For who could it be calling him out here in the dead waste and middle +of the night? + +"Hendry Watty! Hendry Watty! _drop me a line_." + +My grandfather kept his fishing-lines in a little skivet under the +stern-sheets. But not a trace of bait had he on board. If he had, +he was too much a-tremble to bait a hook. + +"HENDRY WATTY! HENDRY WATTY! _drop me a line, or I'll know why!_" + +My poor grandfather by this had picked up his paddles again, and was +rowing like mad to get quit of the neighbourhood, when something or +somebody gave three knocks--_thump, thump, thump!_--on the bottom of +the boat, just as you would knock on a door. The third thump fetched +Hendry Watty upright on his legs. He had no more heart for +disobeying, but having bitten his pipe-stem in half by this time--his +teeth chattered so--he baited his hook with the broken bit and +flung it overboard, letting the line run out in the stern-notch. +Not halfway had it run before he felt a long pull on it, like the +sucking of a dog-fish. + +"_Hendry Watty! Hendry Watty! pull me in_." + +Hendry Watty pulled in hand over fist; and in came the lead +sinker over the notch, and still the line was heavy; be pulled and +he pulled, and next, all out of the dead waste of the night, came +two white hands, like a washerwoman's, and gripped hold of the +stern-board; and on the left of these two hands, on the little +finger, was a silver ring, sunk very deep in the flesh. If this was +bad, worse was the face that followed--a great white parboiled face, +with the hair and whiskers all stuck with chips of wood and seaweed. +And if this was bad for anybody, it was worse for my grandfather, who +had known Archelaus Rowett before he was drowned out on the Shivering +Grounds, six years before. + +Archelaus Rowett climbed in over the stern, pulled the hook with the +bit of pipe-stem out of his cheek, sat down in the stern-sheets, +shook a small crayfish out of his whiskers, and said very coolly-- + +"If you should come across my wife--" + +That was all my grandfather stayed to hear. At the sound of +Archelaus's voice he fetched a yell, jumped clean over the side of +the boat and swam for dear life. He swam and swam, till by the bit +of the moon he saw the Gull Rock close ahead. There were lashin's of +rats on the Gull Rock, as he knew: but he was a good deal surprised +at the way they were behaving: for they sat in a row at the water's +edge and fished, with their tails let down into the sea for +fishing-lines: and their eyes were like garnets burning as they +looked at my grandfather over their shoulders. + +"Hendry Watty! Hendry Watty! You can't land here--you're disturbing +the pollack." + +"Bejimbers! I wouldn' do that for the world," says my grandfather: so +off he pushes and swims for the mainland. This was a long job, and +'twas as much as he could do to reach Kibberick beach, where he fell +on his face and hands among the stones, and there lay, taking breath. + +The breath was hardly back in his body, before he heard footsteps, +and along the beach came a woman, and passed close by to him. He lay +very quiet, and as she came near he saw 'twas Sarah Rowett, that used +to be Archelaus's wife, but had married another man since. She was +knitting as she went by, and did not seem to notice my grandfather: +but he heard her say to herself, "The hour is come, and the man is +come." + +He had scarcely begun to wonder over this, when he spied a ball of +worsted yarn beside him that Sarah had dropped. 'Twas the ball she +was knitting from, and a line of worsted stretched after her along +the beach. Hendry Watty picked up the ball and followed the thread +on tiptoe. In less than a minute he came near enough to watch what +she was doing: and what she did was worth watching. First she +gathered wreckwood and straw, and struck flint over touchwood and +teened a fire. Then she unravelled her knitting: twisted her end of +the yarn between finger and thumb--like a cobbler twisting a +wax-end--and cast the end up towards the sky. It made Hendry Watty +stare when the thread, instead of falling back to the ground, +remained hanging, just as if 'twas fastened to something up above; +but it made him stare more when Sarah Rowett began to climb up it, +and away up till nothing could be seen of her but her ankles dangling +out of the dead waste and middle of the night. + +"HENDRY WATTY! HENDRY WATTY!" + +It wasn't Sarah calling, but a voice far away out to sea. + +"HENDRY WATTY! HENDRY WATTY! _send me a line_." + +My grandfather was wondering what to do, when Sarah speaks down very +sharp to him, out of the dark: + +"Hendry Watty! Where's the rocket apparatus? Can't you hear the +poor fellow asking for a line?" + +"I do," says my grandfather, who was beginning to lose his temper; +"and do you think, ma'am, that I carry a Boxer's rocket in my +trousers pocket?" + +"I think you have a ball of worsted in your hand," says she. +"Throw it as far as you can." + +So my grandfather threw the ball out into the dead waste and middle +of the night. He didn't see where it pitched, or how far it went. + +"Right it is," says the woman aloft. "'Tis easy seen you're a +hurler. But what shall us do for a cradle? Hendry Watty! Hendry +Watty!" + +"Ma'am to _you_," says my grandfather. + +"If you've the common feelings of a gentleman, I'll ask you kindly to +turn your back; I'm going to take off my stocking." + +So my grandfather stared the other way very politely; and when he was +told he might look again, he saw she had tied the stocking to the +line and was running it out like a cradle into the dead waste of the +night. + +"Hendry Watty! Hendry Watty! Look out below!" + +Before he could answer, plump! a man's leg came tumbling past his ear +and scattered the ashes right and left. + +"Hendry Watty! Hendry Watty! Look out below!" + +This time 'twas a great white arm and hand, with a silver ring sunk +tight in the flesh of the little finger. + +"Hendry Watty! Hendry Watty! Warm them limbs!" + +My grandfather picked them up and was warming them before the fire, +when down came tumbling a great round head and bounced twice and lay +in the firelight, staring up at him. And whose head was it but +Archelaus Rowett's, that he'd run away from once already, that night? + +"Hendry Watty! Hendry Watty! Look out below!" + +This time 'twas another leg, and my grandfather was just about to lay +hands on it, when the woman called down: + +"Hendry Watty! catch it quick! It's my own leg I've thrown down by +mistake!" + +The leg struck the ground and bounced high, and Hendry Watty made a +leap after it. . . . + + +And I reckon it's asleep he must have been: for what he caught was +not Mrs. Rowett's leg, but the jib-boom of a deep-laden brigantine +that was running him down in the dark. And as he sprang for it, his +boat was crushed by the brigantine's fore-foot and went down under +his very boot-soles. At the same time he let out a yell, and two or +three of the crew ran forward and hoisted him up to the bowsprit and +in on deck, safe and sound. + +But the brigantine happened to be outward-bound for the River Plate; +so that, what with one thing and another, 'twas eleven good months +before my grandfather landed again at Port Loe. And who should be +the first man he sees standing above the cove but William John Dunn? + +"I'm very glad to see you," says William John Dunn. + +"Thank you kindly," answers my grandfather; "and how's Mary Polly?" + +"Why, as for that," he says, "she took so much looking after, that I +couldn't feel I was keeping her properly under my eye till I married +her, last June month." + +"You was always one to over-do things," said my grandfather. + +"But if you was alive an' well, why didn' you drop us a line?" + +Now when it came to talk about "dropping a line" my grandfather +fairly lost his temper. So he struck William John Dunn on the nose-- +a thing he had never been known to do before--and William John Dunn +hit him back, and the neighbours had to separate them. And next day, +William John Dunn took out a summons against him. + +Well, the case was tried before the magistrates: and my grandfather +told his story from the beginning, quite straightforward, just as +I've told it to you. And the magistrates decided that, taking one +thing with another, he'd had a great deal of provocation, and fined +him five shillings. And there the matter ended. But now you know +the reason why I'm William John Dunn's grandson instead of Hendry +Watty's. + + + +JETSOM. + + + Where Gerennius' beacon stands + High above Pendower sands; + Where, about the windy Nare, + Foxes breed and falcons pair; + Where the gannet dries a wing + Wet with fishy harvesting, + And the cormorants resort, + Flapping slowly from their sport + With the fat Atlantic shoal, + Homeward to Tregeagle's Hole-- + Walking there, the other day, + In a bight within a bay, + I espied amid the rocks, + Bruis'd and jamm'd, the daintiest box, + That the waves had flung and left + High upon an ivied cleft. + Striped it was with white and red, + Satin-lined and carpeted, + Hung with bells, and shaped withal + Like the queer, fantastical + Chinese temples you'll have seen + Pictured upon white Nankin, + Where, assembled in effective + Head-dresses and odd perspective, + Tiny dames and mandarins + Expiate their egg-shell sins + By reclining on their drumsticks, + Waving fans and burning gum-sticks. + Land of poppy and pekoe! + Could thy sacred artists know-- + Could they distantly conjecture + How we use their architecture, + Ousting the indignant Joss + For a pampered Flirt or Floss, + Poodle, Blenheim, Skye, Maltese, + Lapped in purple and proud ease-- + They might read their god's reproof + Here on blister'd wall and roof; + Scaling lacquer, dinted bells, + Floor befoul'd of weed and shells, + Where, as erst the tabid Curse + Brooded over Pelops' hearse, + Squats the sea-cow, keeping house, + Sibylline, gelatinous. + Where is Carlo? Tell, O tell, + Echo, from this fluted shell, + In whose concave ear the tides + Murmur what the main confides + Of his compass'd treacheries! + What of Carlo? Did the breeze + Madden to a gale while he, + Curl'd and cushion'd cosily, + Mixed in dreams its angry breathings + With the tinkle of the tea-things + In his mistress' cabin laid? + --Nor dyspeptic, nor dismay'd, + Drowning in a gentle snore + All the menace of the shore + Thunder'd from the surf a-lee. + Near and nearer horribly,-- + Scamper of affrighted feet, + Voices cursing sail and sheet, + While the tall ship shook in irons-- + All the peril that environs + Vessels 'twixt the wind and rock + Clawing--driving? Did the shock, + As the sunk reef split her back, + First arouse him? Did the crack + Widen swiftly and deposit + Him in homeless night? + Or was it, + Not when wave or wind assail'd, + But in waters dumb and veil'd, + That a looming shape uprist + Sudden from the Channel mist, + And with crashing, rending bows + Woke him, in his padded house, + To a world of alter'd features? + Were these panic-ridden creatures + They who, but an hour agone, + Ran with biscuit, ran with bone, + Ran with meats in lordly dishes, + To anticipate his wishes? + But an hour agone! And now how + Vain his once compelling bow-wow! + Little dogs are highly treasured, + Petted, patted, pamper'd, pleasured: + But when ships go down in fogs, + No one thinks of little dogs. + + Ah, but how dost fare, I wonder, + Now thine Argo splits asunder, + Pouring on the wasteful sea + All her precious bales, and thee? + Little use is now to rave, + Calling god or saint to save; + Little use, if choked with salt, a + Prayer to holy John of Malta. + Patron John, he hears thee not. + Or, perchance, in dusky grot + Pale Persephone, repining + For the fields that still are shining, + Shining in her sleepless brain, + Calling "Back! come back again!" + Fain of playmate, fain of pet-- + Any drug to slay regret, + Hath from hell upcast an eye + On thy fatal symmetry; + And beguiled her sooty lord + With his brother to accord + For this black betrayal. + Else Nereus in his car of shells + Long ago had cleft the waters + With his natatory daughters + To the rescue: or Poseidon + Sent a fish for thee to ride on-- + Such a steed as erst Arion + Reached the mainland high and dry on. + Steed appeareth none, nor pilot! + Little dog, if it be thy lot + To essay the dismal track + Where Odysseus half hung back, + How wilt thou conciliate + That grim mastiff by the gate? + Sure, 'twill puzzle thee to fawn + On his muzzles three that yawn + Antrous; or to find, poor dunce, + Grace in his six eyes at once-- + Those red eyes of Cerberus. + + Daughters of Oceanus, + Save our darling from this hap! + Arethusa, spread thy lap, + Catch him, and with pinky hands + Bear him to the coral sands, + Where thy sisters sit in school + Carding the Milesian wool:-- + Clio, Spio, Beroe, + Opis and Phyllodoce,-- + Pass by these, and also pass + Yellow-haired Lycorias; + Pass Ligea, shrill of song-- + All the dear surrounding throng; + Lay him at Cyrene's feet + There, where all the rivers meet: + In their waters crystalline + Bathe him clean of weed and brine, + Comb him, wipe his pretty eyes, + Then to Zeus who rules the skies + Call, assembling in a round + Every fish that can be found-- + Whale and merman, lobster, cod, + Tittlebat and demigod:-- + "Lord of all the Universe, + We, thy finny pensioners, + Sue thee for the little life + Hurried hence by Hades' wife. + Sooner than she call him her dog, + Change, O change him to a mer-dog! + Re-inspire the vital spark; + Bid him wag his tail and bark, + Bark for joy to wag a tail + Bright with many a flashing scale; + Bid his locks refulgent twine, + Hyacinthian, hyaline; + Bid him gambol, bid him follow + Blithely to the mermen's 'holloa!' + When they call the deep-sea calves + Home with wreathed univalves. + Softly shall he sleep to-night, + Curled on couch of stalagmite, + Soft and sound, if slightly moister + Than the shell-protected oyster. + Grant us this, Omnipotent, + And to Hera shall be sent + One black pearl, but of a size + That shall turn her rivals' eyes + Greener than the greenest snake + Fed in meadow-grass, and make + All Olympus run agog-- + Grant for this our darling dog!" + + Musing thus, the other day, + In a bight within a bay, + I'd a sudden thought that yet some + Purpose for this piece of jetsom + Might be found; and straight supplied it. + On the turf I knelt beside it, + Disengaged it from the boulders, + Hoisted it upon my shoulders, + Bore it home, and, with a few + Tin-tacks and a pot of glue, + Mended it, affix'd a ledge; + Set it by the elder-hedge; + And in May, with horn and kettle, + Coax'd a swarm of bees to settle. + Here around me now they hum; + And in autumn should you come + Westward to my Cornish home, + There'll be honey in the comb-- + Honey that, with clotted cream + (Though I win not your esteem + As a bard), will prove me wise, + In that, of the double prize + Sent by Hermes from the sea, I've + Sold the song and kept the bee-hive. + + + +WRESTLERS. + + +As Boutigo's Van (officially styled the "Vivid") slackened its +already inconsiderable pace at the top of the street, to slide +precipitately down into Troy upon a heated skid, the one outside +passenger began to stare about him with the air of a man who compares +present impressions with old memories. His eyes travelled down the +inclined plane of slate roofs, glistening in a bright interval +between two showers, to the masts which rocked slowly by the quays, +and from thence to the silver bar of sea beyond the harbour's mouth, +where the outline of Battery Point wavered unsteadily in the dazzle +of sky and water. He sniffed the fragrance of pilchards cooking and +the fumes of pitch blown from the ship-builders' yards; and scanned +with some curiosity the men and women who drew aside into doorways to +let the van pass. + +He was a powerfully made man of about sixty-five, with a solemn, +hard-set face. The upper lip was clean-shaven and the chin decorated +with a square, grizzled beard--a mode of wearing the hair that gave +prominence to the ugly lines of the mouth. He wore a Sunday-best +suit and a silk hat. He carried a blue band-box on his knees, and +his enormous hands were spread over the cover. Boutigo, who held the +reins beside him, seemed, in comparison with this mighty passenger, +but a trivial accessory of his own vehicle. + +"Where did you say William Dendle lives?" asked the big man, as the +van swung round a sharp corner and came to a halt under the signboard +of "The Lugger." + +"Straight on for maybe quarter of a mile--turn down a court to the +right, facin' the toll-house. You'll see his sign, 'W. Dendle, Block +and Pump Manufacturer.' There's a flight o' steps leadin' 'ee slap +into his workshop." + +The passenger set his band-box down on the cobbles between his ankles +and counted out the fare. + +"I'll be goin' back to-night. Is there any reduction on a return +journey?" + +"No, sir; 'tisn' the rule, an' us can't begin to cheapen the fee wi' +a man o' your inches." + +The stranger apparently disliked levity. He stared at Boutigo, +picked up his band-box, and strode down the street without more +words. + + +By the red and yellow board opposite the tollhouse he paused for a +moment or two in the sunshine, as if to rehearse the speech with +which he meant to open his business. A woman passed him with a child +in her arms, and turned her head to stare. The stranger looked up +and caught her eye. + +"That's Dendle's shop down the steps," she said, somewhat confused at +being caught. + +"Thank you: I know." + +He turned in at the doorway and began to descend. The noise of +persistent hammering echoed within the workshop at his feet. + A workman came out into the yard, carrying a plank. + +"Is William Dendle here?" + +The man looked up and pointed at the quay-door, which stood open, +with threads of light wavering over its surface. Beyond it, against +an oblong of green water, rocked a small yacht's mast. + +"He's down on the yacht there. Shall I say you want en?" + +"No." The stranger stepped to the quay-door and looked down the +ladder. On the deck below him stood a man about his own age and +proportions, fitting a block. His flannel shirt hung loosely about a +magnificent pair of shoulders, and was tucked up at the sleeves, +about the bulge of his huge forearms. He wore no cap, and as he +stooped the light wind puffed back his hair, which was grey and fine. + +"Hi, there--William Dendle!" + +"Hullo!" The man looked up quickly. + +"Can you spare a word? Don't trouble to come up--I'll climb down to +you." + +He went down the ladder carefully, hugging the band-box in his left +arm. + +"You disremember me, I dessay," he began, as he stood on the yacht's +deck. + +"Well, I do, to be sure. Oughtn't to, though, come to look on your +size." + +"Samuel Badgery's my name. You an' me had a hitch to wrestlin', +once, over to Tregarrick feast." + +"Why, o' course. I mind your features now, though 'tis forty years +since. We was standards there an' met i' the last round, an' I got +the wust o't. Terrible hard you pitched me, to be sure: but your +sweetheart was a-watchin' 'ee--hey?--wi' her blue eyes." + +Samuel Badgery sat down on deck, with a leg on either side of the +band-box. + +"Iss: she was there, as you say. An' she married me that day month. +How do you know her eyes were blue?" + +"Oh, I dunno. Young men takes notice o' these trifles." + +"She died last week." + +"Indeed? Pore soul!" + +"An' she left you this by her will. 'Twas hers to leave, for I gave +it to her, mysel', when that day's wrestlin' was over." + +He removed the lid of the band-box and pulled out two parcels wrapped +in a pile of tissue-paper. After removing sheet upon sheet of this +paper he held up two glittering objects in the sunshine. The one was +a silver mug: the other a leather belt with an elaborate silver +buckle. + +William Dendle wore a puzzled and somewhat uneasy look. + +"I reckon she saw how disapp'inted I was that day," he said. After a +pause he added, "Women brood over such things, I b'lieve: for years, +I'm told. 'Tis their unsearchable natur'." + +"William Dendle, I wish you'd speak truth." + +"What have I said that's false?" + +"Nuthin': an' you've said nuthin' that's true. I charge 'ee to tell +me the facts about that hitch of our'n." + +"You're a hard man, Sam Badgery. I hope, though, you've been soft to +your wife. I mind--if you _must_ have the tale--how you played very +rough that day. There was a slim young chap--Nathan Oke, his name +was--that stood up to you i' the second round. He wasn' ha'f your +match: you might ha' pitched en flat-handed. An' yet you must needs +give en the 'flyin' mare.' Your maid's face turned lily-white as he +dropped. Two of his ribs went _cr-rk!_ and his collar-bone--you +could hear it right across the ring. I looked at her--she was close +beside me--an' saw the tears come: that's how I know the colour of +her eyes. Then there was that small blacksmith--you dropped en slap +on the tail of his spine. I wondered if you knew the mortal pain o' +bein' flung that way, an' I swore to mysel' that if we met i' the +last round, you should taste it. + +"Well, we met, as you know. When I was stripped, an' the folks made +way for me to step into the ring, I saw her face again. 'Twas whiter +than ever, an' her eyes went over me in a kind o' terror. I reckon +it dawned on her that I might hurt you: but I didn' pay her much heed +at the time, for I lusted after the prize, an' I got savage. You was +standin' ready for me, wi' the sticklers about you, an' I looked you +up an' down--a brave figure of a man. You'd longer arms than me, an' +two inches to spare in height; prettier shoulders, too, I'd never +clapp'd eyes on. But I guessed myself a trifle the deeper, an' a +trifle the cleaner i' the matter o' loins an' quarters: an' I +promised that I'd outlast 'ee. + +"You got the sun an' the best hitch, an' after a rough an' tumble +piece o' work, we went down togither, you remember--no fair back. +The second hitch was just about equal; an' I gripped up the sackin' +round your shoulders, an' creamed it into the back o' your neck, an' +held you off, an' meant to keep you off till you was weak. Ten good +minnits I laboured with 'ee by the stickler's watch, an' you heaved +an' levered in vain, till I heard your breath alter its pace, an' +felt the strength tricklin' out o' you, an' knew 'ee for a done man. +'Now,' thinks I, 'half a minnit more, an' you shall learn how the +blacksmith felt.' I glanced up over your shoulder for a moment at the +folks i' the ring: an' who should my eye light on but your girl? + +"I hadn't got a sweetheart then, an' I've never had one since--never +saw another woman who could ha' looked what she looked. I was +condemned a single man there on the spot: an', what's more, I was +condemned to lose the belt. There was that 'pon her face that no man +is good enow to cause; an' there was suthin I wanted to see instead-- +just for a moment--that I could ha' given forty silver mugs to fetch +up. + +"An' I looked at her over your shoulders wi' a kind o' question i' my +face, an' I _did_ fetch it up. The next moment, you had your chance +and cast me flat. When I came round--for you were always an ugly +player, Sam Badgery--an' the folks was consolin' me, I gave a look in +her direction: but she had no eyes for me at all. She was usin' all +her dear deceit to make 'ee think you was a hero. So home I went, +an' never set eyes 'pon her agen. That's the tale; an' I didn't want +to tell it. But we'm old gaffers both by this time, an' I couldn' +make this here belt meet round my middle, if I wanted to." + +Sam Badgery straightened his upper lip. + +"No. I got a call from the Lord a year after we was married, and +gave up wrestlin'. My poor wife found grace about the same time, an' +since then we've been preachers of the Word togither for nigh on +forty years. If our work had lain in Cornwall, I'd have sought you +out an' wrestled with you again--not in the flesh, but in the spirit. +Man, I'd have shown you the Kingdom of Heaven!" + +"Thank 'ee," answered Dendle; "but I got a glimpse o't once--from +your wife." + +The other stared, failing to understand this speech. What puzzled +him always annoyed him. He set down the cup and belt on the yacht's +deck, shook hands abruptly, and hurried back to the inn, where +already Boutigo was harnessing for the return journey. + + + +THE BISHOP OF EUCALYPTUS. + + +A DOCTOR'S STORY. + +"_O toiling hands of mortals! O unwearied feet, travelling ye know +not whither! Soon, soon, it seems to you, you must come forth on +some conspicuous hill-top, and but a little way further, against the +setting sun, descry the spires of El Dorado. Little do ye know your +own blessedness; for to travel hopefully is a better thing than to +arrive, and the true success is to labour_."--R. L. Stevenson. + +"Eucalyptus lies on the eastern slope of the Rockies. It will be +fourteen years back this autumn that the coach dropped me there, +somewhere about nine in the evening, and Hewson, who was waiting, +took me straight to his red-pine house, high up among the foot-hills. +The front of it hung over the edge of a waterfall, down which Hewson +sent his logs with a pleasing certainty of their reaching Eucalyptus +sooner or later; and right at the back the pines climbed away up to +the snow-line. You remember the story of Daniel O'Rourke; how an +eagle carried him up to the moon, and how he found it as smooth as an +egg-plum, with just a reaping-hook sticking out of its side to grip +hold of? Hewson's veranda reminded me of that reaping-hook; and, as +a matter of fact, the cliff was so deeply undercut that a plummet, if +it could be let through between your heels, would drop clean into the +basin below the fall. + +"The house was none of Hewson's building. Hewson was a bachelor, and +could have made shift with a two-roomed cabin for himself and his +men. He had taken the place over from a New Englander, who had made +his pile by running the lumbering business up here and a saw-mill +down in the valley at the same time. The place seemed dog-cheap at +the time; but after a while it began to dawn upon Hewson that the +Yankee had the better of the deal. Eucalyptus had not come up to +early promise. In fact, it was slipping back and down the hill with +a run. Already five out of its seven big saw-mills were idle and +rotting. Its original architect had sunk to a blue-faced and +lachrymose bar-loafer, and the roll of plans which he carried about +with him--with their unrealised boulevards, churches, municipal +buildings, and band-kiosks--had passed into a dismal standing joke. +Hewson was even now deliberating whether to throw up the game or toss +good money after bad by buying up a saw-mill and running it as his +predecessor had done. + +"'It's like a curse,' he explained to me at breakfast next morning. +'The place is afflicted like one of those unfortunate South Sea +potentates, who flourish up to the age of fourteen and then cypher +out, and not a soul to know why. First of all, there's the +lumbering. Well, here's the timber all right; only Bellefont, +farther down the valley, has cut us out. Then we had the cinnabar +mines--you may see them along the slope to northward, right over the +west end of the town. They went well for about sixteen months; and +then came the stampede. A joker in the _Bellefont Sentinel_ wrote +that the miners up in Eucalyptus were complaining of the +'insufficiency of exits'; and he wasn't far out. Last there were the +'Temperate Airs and Reinvigorating Pine-odours of America's Peerless +Sanatorium. _Come and behold: Come and be healed!_' The promoters +billed that last cursed jingle up and down the States till as far +south as Mexico it became the pet formula for an invitation to drink. +Well, for three years we averaged something like a couple of hundred +invalids, and doctors in fair proportion; and I never heard that +either did badly. It was an error of judgment, perhaps, to start our +municipal works with a costly Necropolis, or rather the gateway of +one; two marble pillars, if you please--the only stonework in +Eucalyptus to this day--with 'Campo' on one side and 'Santo' on the +other. No healthy-minded person would be scared by this. But the +invalids complained that we'd made the feature too salient; and the +architect has gone ever since by the name of 'Huz-and-Buz,' bestowed +on him by some wag who meant 'Jachin and Boaz,' but hadn't Scripture +enough to know it. Anyhow the temperate airs and pine-odours are a +frost. There's nobody, I fancy, living at Eucalyptus just now for +the benefit of his health, and I believe that at this moment you're +the only doctor within twenty miles of the place.' + +"'Well,' said I, 'I'll step down this morning anyway, and take a +look.' + +"'You can saddle the brown horse whenever you like. You were too +sleepy to take note of it last night, but you came up here by a track +fit for a lady's pony-carriage. My predecessor engineered it to +connect his two places of business. In its way, it's the most +palatial thing in the Rockies--two long legs with a short tack +between, gentle all the way--and it brings you out by the Necropolis +gate. You can hitch the horse up there.'" + + +"By ten o'clock I had saddled the brown horse, and was walking him +down the track at an easy pace. Hewson had omitted to praise its +beauty. Pine-needles lay underfoot as thick and soft as a Persian +carpet; and what with the pine-tops arching and almost meeting +overhead, and the red trunks raying out left and right into aisles as +I went by, and the shafts of light breaking the greenish gloom here +and there with glimpses of aching white snowfields high above, 'twas +like walking in a big cathedral with bits of the real heaven shining +through the roof. The river ran west for a while from Cornice House, +and then tacked north-east with a sudden bend round the base of the +foot-hills; and since my track formed a sort of rough hypotenuse to +this angle, I heard the voice of the rapids die away and almost +cease, and then begin again to whisper and murmur, until, as I came +within a mile or so of Eucalyptus, they were loud at my feet, though +still unseen. I am not a devout man, but I can take off my hat now +and then; and all the way that morning a couple of sentences were +ring-dinging in my head: 'Lift up your hearts! We lift them up unto +the Lord!' You know where they come from, I dare say. + +"By and by the track took a sharp and steep trend down hill, then a +curve; the trees on my right seemed to drop away; and we found +ourselves on the edge of a steep bluff overhanging the valley, the +whole eastern slope of which broke full into sight in that instant, +from the river tumbling below--by sticking out a leg I could see it +shining through my stirrup--to the rocky _aretes_ and smoothed-out +snowfields round the peaks. It made a big spectacle, and I suppose I +must have stared at it till my eyes were dazzled, for, on turning +again to follow the track, which at once dived among the pines and +into the dusk again, I did not observe, until quite close upon her, a +woman coming towards me. + +"And yet she was not rigged out to escape notice. She had on a +scarlet Garibaldi, a striped red-and-white skirt, bunched up behind +into an immense polonaise, and high-heeled shoes that tilted her far +forward. She wore no hat, but carried a scarlet sunshade over her +shoulder. Her hair, in a towsled chignon, was golden, or rather had +been dyed to that colour; her face was painted; and she was glaringly +drunk. + +"This sudden apparition shook me down with a jerk; and I suppose the +sight of me had something of the same effect on the woman, who +staggered to the side of the track, and, plumping down amid her +flounces, beckoned me feebly with her sunshade. I pulled up, and +asked what I could do for her. + +"'You're the doctor?' she said slowly, with a tight hold on her +pronunciation. + +"'That's so.' + +"'From Cornice House?' + +"I nodded. + +"She nodded back. 'That's so. Oh, dear, dear! _you_ said that. +I can't help it. I'm drunk, and it's no use pretending!' + +"She fell to wringing her hands, and the tears began to run from her +bistred eyes. + +"'Now, see here, Mrs.--Miss--' + +"'Floncemorency.' + +"'Miss Florence Montmorency?' I hazarded as a translation. + +"'That's so. Formerly of the Haughty Coal.' + +"'I beg your pardon? Ah! . . . of the Haute Ecole?' + +"'That's so: '_questrienne_.' + +"'Well, you'll take my advice, and return home at once and put +yourself to bed.' + +"'Don't you worry about me. It's the Bishop you've got to prescribe +for. I allowed I'd reach Cornice House and fetch you down, if it +took my last breath. Pete Stroebel at the drug store told me this +morning that Mr. Hewson had a doctor come to stop with him, so I +started right along.' + +"'And how far did you calculate to reach in those shoes?' + +"'I didn't calculate at all; I just started along. If the shoes had +hurt, I'd have kicked them off and gone without, or maybe crawled.' + +"'Very good,' said I. 'Now, before we go any farther, will you +kindly tell me who the Bishop is?' + +"'He's a young man, and he boards with me. See here, mister,' she +went on, pulling herself together and speaking low and earnest, 'he's +good; he's good right through: you've got to make up your mind to +that. And he's powerful sick. But what you've got to lay hold of is +that he's good. The house is No. 67, West fifteenth Street, which +is pretty easy to find, seeing it's the only street in Eucalyptus. +The rest haven't got beyond paper, and old Huz-and-Buz totes them +round in his pocket, which isn't good for their growth.' + +"'Won't you take me there?' + +"'Not to-day. I guess I've got to sit here till I feel better. +Another thing is, you'll be doing me a kindness if you don't let on +to the Bishop that you found me in this--this state. He never saw me +like this: he's good, I tell you. And he'd be sick and sorry if he +knew. I'm just mad with myself, too; but I swear I never meant to be +like this to-day. I just took a dose to fix me up for the journey; +but ever since I've been holding off from the whisky the least drop +gets into my walk. You didn't happen to notice a spring anywhere +hereabouts, did you? There used to be one that ran right across the +track.' + +"'I passed it about a hundred yards back.' + +"I dismounted and led her to the spring, where she knelt and bathed +her face in the water, cold from the melting snowfields above. +Then she pulled out a small handkerchief, edged with cheap lace, and +fell to dabbing her eyes. + +"'Hullo!' she cried, breaking off sharply. + +"'Yes,' I answered, 'you had forgotten that. But another wash will +take it all off, and, if you'll forgive my saying so, you won't look +any the worse. After that you shall soak my handkerchief and bandage +it round your forehead till you feel better. Here, let me help.' + +"'Thank you,' she said, as I tied the knot. 'And now hurry along, +please. Sixty-seven, West Fifteenth Street. I'll be waiting here +with your handkerchief.' + +"I mounted and rode on. At the end of half a mile the track began to +dip more steeply, and finally emerged by a big clearing and the two +marble pillars of which Hewson had spoken; and here I tethered the +brown horse, and had a look around before walking down into +Eucalyptus. Within the clearing a few groups of Norfolk pines had +been left to stand, and between these were burial lots marked out and +numbered, with here and there a painted wooden cross; but the +inhabitants of this acre were few enough. Behind and above the +'Necropolis' the hill rose steeply; and there, high up, were traces +of the disused cinnabar mines--patches of orange-coloured earth +thrusting out among the pines. + +"The road below the cemetery ran abruptly down for a bit, then heaved +itself over a green knoll and descended upon what I may call a very +big and flat meadow beside the river. It was here that Eucalyptus +stood; and from the knoll, which was really the beginning of the +town, I had my first good view of it--one long street of low wooden +houses running eastward to the river's brink, where a few decayed +mills and wharves straggled to north and south--a T, or headless +cross, will give you roughly the shape of the settlement. From the +knoll you looked straight along the main street; with a field-gun you +could have swept it clean from end to end, and, what's more, you +wouldn't have hurt a soul. The place was dead empty--not so much as +a cur to sit on the sidewalk--and the only hint of life was the +laughing and banjo-playing indoors. You could hear that plain +enough. Every second house in the place was a saloon, and every +saloon seemed to have a billiard-table and a banjo player. I never +heard anything like it. I should say, if you divided the population +into four parts, that two of these were playing billiards, one +tum-tumming 'Hey, Juliana' on the banjo, and the remaining fourth +looking on and drinking whisky, and occasionally taking part in the +chorus. All the way down the sidewalk I had these two sounds--the +_click, click_ of the balls and the _thrum, thrum, tinkle, tinkle_ of +'Juliana'--ahead of me; and left silence in my wake, as the +inhabitants dropped their occupations and sauntered out to stare at +'the Last Invalid,' which was the name promptly coined for me by the +disheartened but still humorous promoters of America's Peerless +Sanatorium. + +"You don't know 'Juliana'--neither tune nor words? Nor did I when I +set foot in Eucalyptus; but I lived on pretty close terms with it for +the next two months, and it ended by clearing me out of the +neighbourhood. It was a sort of nigger camp-meeting song, and a +hybrid at that. It went something like this:" + + 'O, de lost ell-an'-yard is a-huntin' fer de morn'-- + +The lost ell-and-yard is Orion's sword and belt, I may tell you-- + + 'Hey, Juliana, Juli-he-hi-holy! + An' my soul's done sicken fer de Hallelujah horn, + Hey, Juliana, Juli-he-hi-ho! + Was it weary there, + In de wilderness? + Was it weary-y-y, 'way down in Goshen? + + 'O, de children shibber by de Jordan's flow-- + Hey, Juliana, Juli-he-hi-holy! + An' it's time fer Gaberl to shake hisself an' blow, + Hey, Juliana, Juli-he-hi-ho! + For it's weary here + In de wilderness; + Oh, it's weary-y-y, 'way down in Goshen!' + +That was the sort of stuff, and it had any number of verses. +I never heard the end of them. Also there were variants--most of +them unfit for publication. The tune had swept up the valley like an +epidemic disease: and, after a while, it astonished no dweller in +Eucalyptus to find his waking thoughts and his whole daily converse +jigging to it. But the new-comer was naturally a bit startled to +hear the same strain put up from a score of houses as he walked down +the street. + +"I found the house, No. 67, easily; and knocked. It looked neat +enough, with a fence in front and some pots of flowers in a little +balcony over the porch, and clean muslin curtains to the windows. +The fence and house-front were painted a bright blue, but not +entirely; for here and there appeared patches of green daubed over +the blue, much as if a child had been around experimenting with a +paint-pot. + +"'Open the door and come upstairs, please,' said an English voice +right overhead. And, looking up, I saw a slim young man in a +minister's black suit standing among the flower-pots and smiling down +at me. I saw, of course, that this must be my patient; and I knew +his complaint too. Even at that distance anyone could see he was +pretty far gone in consumption. + +"As I climbed the stairs he came in from the porch and met me on +the landing, at the door of Miss Montmorency's best parlour-- +a spick-and-span apartment containing a cottage piano, some gilded +furniture of the Second Empire fashion, a gaudy lithograph or two, +and a carpet that had to be seen to be believed. + +"'I had better explain,' said I, 'that this is a professional visit. +I met Miss Montmorency just outside the town, and have her orders to +call. I am a medical man.' + +"Still smiling pleasantly, he took my hand and shook it. + +"'Miss Montmorency is so very thoughtful,' he said; then, touching +his chest lightly, 'It's true I have some trouble here-- +constitutional, I'm afraid; but I have suffered from it, more or +less, ever since I was fourteen, and it doesn't frighten me. +There is really no call for your kind offices; nothing beyond a +general weakness, which has detained me here in Eucalyptus longer +than I intended. But Miss Montmorency, seeing my impatience, has +jumped to the belief that I am seriously ill.' Here he smiled again. +'She is the soul of kindness,' he added. + +"I looked into his prominent and rather nervous eyes. They were as +innocent as a child's. Of course there was nothing unusual in his +hopefulness, which is common enough in cases of phthisis-- +symptomatic, in fact; and, of course, I did not discourage him. + +"'You have work waiting for you? Some definite post?' I asked. + +"He answered with remarkable dignity; he looked a mere boy too. + +"'I am a minister of the gospel, as you guess by my coat: to be +precise, a Congregational minister. At least, I passed through a +Congregational training college in England. But nice distinctions of +doctrine will be of little moment in the work before me. No, I have +no definite post awaiting me--that is, I have not received a call +from any particular congregation, nor do I expect one. The harvest +is over there, across the mountains; and the labourers are never too +many.' + +"It was singular in my experience; but this young man contrived to +speak like a book without being at all offensive. + +"'I was sent out to America,' he went on, 'mainly for my health's +sake; and the voyage did wonders for me. Of course I picked up a lot +of information on the way and in New York. It was there I first +heard of the awful wickedness of the Pacific Slope, the utter, +abandoned godlessness of the mining camps throughout the golden and +silver states. I had letters of introduction to one or two New +England families--sober, religious people--and the stories they told +of the Far West were simply appalling. It was then that my call came +to me. It came one night--But all this has nothing to do with my +health.' + +"'It interests me,' said I. + +"'It does one good to talk, if you're sure you mean that,' he went +on, with a happy laugh. Then, with sudden gravity: 'It came one +night--the clear voice of God calling me. I was asleep; but it woke +me, and I sat up in bed with the voice still ringing in my ears like +a bugle calling. I knew from that moment that my work lay out West. +I saw that my very illness had been, in God's hands, a means to lead +me nearer to it. As soon as ever I was strong enough, I started; and +you may think me fanciful, sir, but I can tell you that, as sure as I +sit here, every step of the way has been smoothed for me by the +Divine hand. The people have been so kind all the way (for I am a +poor man); and I have other signs--other assurances--' + +"He broke off, hesitated, and resumed his sentence at the beginning: + +"'The people have been so kind. I think the Americans must be the +kindest people in the world; and good too. I cannot believe that all +the wickedness they talk of out yonder can come from anything but +ignorance of the Word. I am certain it cannot. And that encourages +me mightily. Why, down in Bellefont they told me that Eucalyptus +here was a little nest of iniquity; they spoke of it as of some City +of the Plain. And what have I found? Well, the people are indeed as +sheep without a shepherd; and who can wonder, seeing that there is +not a single House of Prayer kept open in the municipality? There is +a great deal of coarse levity, and even profanity of speech, and, I +fear, much immoderate drinking; but these are the effects of +blindness rather than of wickedness. From the heavier sins--from +what I may call actual, conscious vice--Eucalyptus is singularly +free. Miss Montmorency, indeed, tells me that in her experience +(which, of course, is that of a single lady, and therefore +restricted) the moral tone of the town is surprisingly healthy. +You understand that I give her judgment no more than its due weight. +Still, Miss Montmorency has lived here three years; and for a single +lady (and, I may add, the only lady in the place) to pass three years +in it entirely unmolested--' + +"This was too much; and I interrupted him almost at random-- + +"'You remind me of the purpose of my call. I hope, if only to +satisfy Miss Montmorency, you won't mind my sounding your chest and +putting a few questions to you.' + +"Seeing that I had already pulled out my stethoscope, he gave way, +feebly protesting that it was not worth my trouble. The examination +merely assured me of that which I knew already--that this young man's +days were numbered, and the numbers growing small. I need not say I +kept this to myself. + +"'You must let me call again to-morrow,' said I. 'I've a small +medicine chest up at the Cornice House, and you want a tonic badly.' + +"Upon this he began, with a confused look and a slight stammer: +'Do you know--I'm afraid you will think it rude, but I didn't mean it +for rudeness--really. Your visit has given me great pleasure--' + +"It flashed on me that he had called himself 'a poor man.' + +"'I wasn't proposing to doctor you,' I put in; and it was a shameless +lie. 'You may take the tonic or not; it won't do much harm, anyway. +But a gentle walk every day among the pines here--the very gentlest, +nothing to overtax your strength--will do more for you than any +drugs. But if you will let me call, pretty often, and have a talk-- +I'm an Englishman, you know, and an English voice is good to hear--' + +"His face lit up at once. 'Ah, if you would!' said he; and we shook +hands." + + +"As I closed the front door and stepped out upon the sidewalk, a tall +man lounged across to me from the doorway of a saloon across the +road--a lumberer, by his dress. He wore a large soft hat, a striped +flannel shirt open at the neck, a broad leathern belt, and muddy +trousers tucked into muddy wading-boots. His appearance was +picturesque enough without help from his dress. He had a mighty +length of arm and breadth of shoulders; a handsome, but thin and +almost delicately fair, face, with blue eyes, and a surprisingly +well-kept beard. The colour of this beard and of his hair--which he +wore pretty long--was a light auburn. Just now the folds of his +raiment were full of moist sawdust; and as he came he brought the +scent of the pine-woods with him. + +"'How's the Bishop?' asked this giant, jerking his head towards the +little balcony of No. 67. + +"Before I could hit on a discreet answer, he followed the question up +with another: + +"'What'll you take?' + +"I saw that he had something to say, and allowed him to lead the way +to a saloon a little way down the road. 'Simpson's Pioneers' +Symposium' was the legend above the door. A small, pimply-faced man +in seedy black--whom I guessed at once, and correctly, to be +'Huz-and-Buz'--lounged by the bar inside; and across the counter the +bar-keeper had his banjo slung, and was gently strumming the +accompaniment of 'Hey, Juliana!' + +"'Put that down,' commanded my new acquaintance; and then, turning to +Huz-and-Buz, 'Git!' + +"The architect raised the brim of his hat to me, bowed servilely, and +left. + +"'Short or long?' + +"I said I would take a short drink. + +"'A brandy sour?' + +"'A 'brandy sour' will suit me.' + +"He kept his eye for a moment on the bar-tender, who began to bustle +around with the bottles and glasses; then turned upon me. + +"'Now, then.' + +"'About the Bishop, as you call him?' + +"He nodded. + +"'Well, you're not to tell him so; but he's going to die.' + +"'Quick?' + +"'I think so.' + +"He nodded. 'I knew that,' he said, and was silent for a minute; +then resumed, 'No; he won't be told. We take an interest in that +young man.' + +"'Meaning by 'we'?' + +"'The citizens of Eucalyptus as a body. My name's William Anderson: +Captain Bill they call me. I was one of the first settlers in +Eucalyptus. I've seen it high, and I've seen it low. And I'm going +to be the last man to quit; that's the captain's place. And when I +say this or that is public opinion in Eucalyptus, it's got to be. +I drink to your health, Doctor.' + +"'Thank you,' said I. 'Then I may count on your silence? The poor +chap is so powerfully set on crossing the Rockies and getting to +close quarters with some real wickedness, that to tell him the truth +might shorten the few days he has left.' + +"Captain Bill smiled grimly. + +"'Wickedness? Lord love you! _He_ couldn't see any. He'd go through +'Frisco, and out at the far end, without so much as guessing the +place had a seamy side to it. His innocence,' pursued the captain, +'is unusual. I guess that's why we're taking so much care of him. +But I must say you've been spry.' + +"'Upon my word, I can't at this moment make head or tail of the +business. I met Miss Montmorency on the road--' + +"'I guess she was looking like a Montmorency, too. Flyheel Flo is +her name hereabouts; alluding to her former profession of +circus-rider. Perhaps I'd better put the facts straight for you.' + +"'I wish you would.' + +"'Well, it'll be about two months back that the Bishop came to +Eucalyptus. We were most of us here in Simpson's bar when the coach +drove up at nine o'clock--same time as it dropped you last night--and +we loafed out to have a look. There was only one passenger got down; +and he seemed of no account--a weedy-looking youngster with a small +valise--looked like he might have come to be bartender to one of the +small saloons. It was dark out there, you understand: nothing to see +by but the lamps of the coach and the light of the doorway; besides +which the fellow was pretty well muffled up in a heavy coat and +wraps. Anyway he didn't seem worth a second look; so when the coach +moved on we just sauntered back here, and I don't reckon there was a +man in the room knew he'd followed us till he lifted up that reedy +voice of his. 'Gentlemen,' he piped out, 'would some one of you be +kind enough to direct me to a nice, comfortable lodging?' +Old Huz-and-Buz was drinking here with his back to the door. +'Great Caesar's ghost!' he called out, dropping his glass, 'what 'n +thunder's that?' 'Gentlemen,' pipes up the young man again, 'I am a +stranger, this moment arrived by the coach; and it would be a real +kindness to direct me to a comfortable lodging." By this time he'd +unwound the muffler about his neck and unbuttoned his outer wraps +generally, and we saw he was rigged out in genuine sky-pilot's +uniform. We hadn't seen one of that profession in Eucalyptus for +more'n two years. 'I'm afraid, your reverence,' says one of the +boys, mimicking the poor lad's talk, 'I'm afraid the accommodation of +this camp will hardly reach up to your style. I guess what _you_ +want is a cosy little nook with a brass knocker and a nice motherly +woman to look after you. You oughter have sent the municipality word +you was coming.' 'Thank you,' answers the poor boy, as serious as +can be; 'of course I shall be glad of such comforts, but I assure you +they are not indispensable. I'm an old campaigner,' he says, drawing +himself up to his poor little height and smiling proud-like. I tell +you, that knocked the wind out of our sails. It was too big to laugh +at. We just stuck for half a minute and looked at him, till the +mischief put it into old Huz-and-Buz's head to cackle out, +'Better send him right along to Flyheel Flo!' This put up a laugh, +and I saw in half a minute that the proposition had caught on. +It struck me as sort of funny, too, at the time. So I steps forward +and says, 'I know a lady who'd likely take you in and fix you up +comfortable. This kind of thing ain't exactly in her line; but no +doubt she'll put herself out to oblige a minister, specially if you +take her a letter of introduction from me. Miss Florence +Montmorency's her name, and she lives at No. 67 along the street +here. Here, pass along the ink-bottle and a pen,' I says (for, +barring Huz-and-Buz, I was about the only sinner present that hadn't +forgotten how to spell); and inside of five minutes I'd fixed up the +letter to Flo, and a dandy document it was! He took it and thanked +me like as if it was a school prize; and I guess 'twas then it began +to break in on me that we'd been playing it pretty low on the +innocent. However, Pete caught up his valise, and two or three of us +saw him along to Flo's door, and waited out on the sidewalk while he +knocked. At the second knock Flo came down and let him in. I saw +him lift his hat, and heard him begin with 'I believe I am addressing +Miss Montmorency'; and what Flo was making ready to say in answer I'd +give a dollar at this moment to know. But she looked over his +shoulder, and with the tail of her eye glimpsed us outside, and +wasn't going to show her hand before the boys. So quick as thought +she pulls the youngster in, with his valise, and shuts the door. + +"'Well, _sir_, we cooled our heels outside there for a spell, but +nothing occurred. So at last we made tracks back here to the saloon, +owning to ourselves that Flo didn't need to be taught how to receive +a surprise party. 'But,' says I, 'you'll have the minister back here +before long; and I anticipate he'll ask questions.' I'd hardly said +the words before the door flung open behind me. It wasn't the +youngster, though, but Flo herself; and a flaming rage she was in. +'See here, boys,' she begins, 'this is a dirty game, and you'd better +be ashamed of yourselves! I'm ashamed of you, Bill, anyway,' she +says, tossing me back my letter; and then, turning short round on +Huz-and-Buz, 'If old Iniquity, here, started the racket, it's nateral +to him: he had a decent woman once for his wife, _and beat her_. +But there's others of you oughter know that your same reasons for +thinking light of a woman are reasons against driving the joke too +hard.' 'You're right, Flo,' says I, 'and I beg your pardon.' +'I dunno that I'll grant it,' she says. 'Lord knows,' she says, +'It ain't for any of us here to be heaving dirt at each other; but I +will say you oughter be feeling mean, the way you've served that +young man. Why, boys,' she says, opening her eyes wide, like as if +'twas a thing unheard of, 'he's _good_! And oh, boys, he's sick, +too!' 'Is he so?' I says; 'I feel cheap.' 'You oughter,' says she. +'What's to be done?' says I. 'Well, the first thing,' she says, +'that you've got to do is to come right along and paint my fence'; +then, seeing I looked a bit puzzled--'Some of you boys have taken the +liberty to write up some pretty free compliments about my premises; +and as the most of you was born before spelling-bees came in fashion, +I don't want my new boarder to come down to-morrow and form his own +opinion about your education.' Well, sir, we went off in a party and +knocked up old Peter, and got a pot of paint, and titivated No. 67 by +the light of a couple of lanterns; and the Bishop--as we came to call +him--sleeping the sleep of the just upstairs all the time. +_Un_fortunately, Peter had made a mistake and given us green paint +instead of blue, and by that light none of us could tell the +difference; so I guess the Bishop next morning allowed that Miss +Montmorency had ideas of her own on 'mural decoration,' as +Huz-and-Buz calls it. When we got the job fixed, Flo steps inside +the gate, and says she, looking over it, 'Boys, I'm grateful. +And now I'm going to play a lone hand, and I look to you not to +interfere. Good night.' From that day to this, sir, she's kept +straight, and held off the drink in a manner you wouldn't credit. +The Bishop, he thinks her an angel on earth; and to see them +promenading down the sidewalk arm-in-arm of an afternoon is as good +as a dime exhibition. I'm bound to own the boys act up. You wait +till you see her pass, and the way the hats fly off. Old Huz-and-Buz +came pretty near to getting lynched the first week, for playing the +smarty and drawling out as they went by, 'Miss Montmorency, I +believe?' to imitate the way in which the Bishop introduced himself. +I guess he won't be humorous again for a considerable spell. +And now, Doctor, I hope I've put the facts straight for you?' + +"'You have,' I answered, draining my glass; 'and they do several +people credit.' + +"'Wait a bit. You haven't heard what I'm coming to. That young man +is poor.' + +"'So I gather.' + +"'And I'm speaking now in the name of the boys. There was a meeting +held just now, while you were dropping your card on the Bishop; and +I'm to tell you, as deputy, that trouble ain't to be spared over him. +It's a hopeless case; but you hear--trouble ain't to be spared; and +the municipality foots the--' + +"'Hold hard, there,' I broke in; and told him how the land lay. +When I'd done he held out a huge but well-shaped hand, palm upwards. + +"'Put it there,' he said. + +"We shook hands, and walked together (still to the strain of +'Juliana') as far as the Necropolis gate. I observed that several +citizens appeared at the doors of the saloons along our route, and +looked inquiringly at Captain Bill, who answered in each case with a +wink. + +"'That passes you,' he explained, 'for the freedom of Eucalyptus +City, as you'd say at home. When you want it, you've only to come +and fetch it--in a pail. You're among friends.' + +"He backed up this assurance by shaking my hand a second time, and +with great fervour. And so we parted. + +"As I neared the spring on my homeward road I saw Miss Montmorency +standing beside the track, awaiting me. She looked decidedly better, +and handed me back my handkerchief, almost dry and neatly folded. + +"'And how did you find him?' she asked. + +"I told her. + +"'We allowed it was that--the boys and I. We allowed he wouldn't +last out the fall. Did you meet any of the boys?' + +"'I've been having a short drink and a long talk with Captain Bill.' + +"She nodded her head, breaking off to clap both palms to her temples. + +"'My! It does ache! I'm powerful glad you seen Bill. Now you know +the worst o' me and we can start fair. I allowed, first along, that +I play this hand alone; but now you've got to help. Now and then I +catch myself weakening. It's dreadful choky, sitting by the hour and +filling up that poor innocent with lies. And the eyes of him!' +(she stamped her foot): 'I could whip his father and mother for +having no more sense than to let him start. Doctor, you'll have to +help.'" + + +"I rode down to Eucalyptus again next morning and found the Bishop +seated and talking with Miss Montmorency in the gaudy little parlour. + +"'We were just going out for a walk together,' he explained, as we +shook hands. + +"'And now you'll just have to walk out with the Doctor instead; and +serve you right for talking foolishness.' She moved towards the +door. + +"'Doctor,' he said, 'I wish you would make her listen. I feel much +better to-day--altogether a different man. If this improvement +continues, I shall start in a week at the farthest. And I was trying +to tell her--Doctor, you can have no notion of her goodness. +'I was a stranger and she took me in'--' + +"Miss Montmorency, with her hand on the door, turned sharply round at +this, and shot a queer sort of look at me. I thought she was going +to speak; but she didn't. + +"'Excuse me,' I said to the Bishop, as the door closed, 'but that's +your Bible, I take it, on the table yonder. May I have it for a +moment?' + +"I picked it up and followed Miss Montmorency, whom I found just +outside on the landing. + +"'What's the meaning of it?' she demanded, very low and fierce. + +"'I guessed that text had jerked you a bit. No, I haven't given you +away. He was talking out of the Bible.' I found the place for her. +'You'd better take it to your room and read the whole passage,' said +I, and went back to the parlour. + +"'I have lent your Bible to Miss Montmorency,' I said. + +"The Bishop seemed lost in thought, but made no remark until we were +outside the house and starting for our short walk. Then he laid a +hand on my arm. 'Forgive me,' he said; 'I had no idea you were +earnest in these matters.' + +"I was for putting in a disclaimer, but he went on: + +"'She has a soul to save--a very precious soul. Mark you, if works +could save a soul, hers would be secure. And I have thought +sometimes God cannot judge her harshly; for consider of how much +value the life of one such woman must be in such a community as this! +You should observe how the men respect her. And yet we have the +divine assurance that works without grace are naught; and her +carelessness on sacred matters is appalling. If, when I am gone'-- +and it struck me sharply that not only the western mountains but the +cemetery gate lay in the direction of his nod, and that the gate lay +nearer--'if you could speak to her now and then--ah, you can hardly +guess how it would rejoice me some day when I return, bearing'--and +his voice sank here--'bearing, please God, my sheaves with me!' + +"'But why,' I urged, 'go farther, when work like this lies at your +hand?' + +"'I have thought of that; but only for a moment. It may sound +presumptuous to you; I am very young; but there is bigger work for me +ahead, and I am called. I cannot argue about this. I _know_. +I have a sign. Look up at the mountain, yonder--high up, above the +quicksilver mines. Do you see those bright lights flashing?' + +"Sure enough, above the disused works a line of sparkling lights led +the eye upwards to the snow-fields, as if traced in diamonds. +The phenomenon was certainly astonishing, and I couldn't account for +it. + +"'You see it? Ah! but you didn't observe it till I spoke. Nobody +does. Miss Montmorency, when I pointed it out, declared that in all +the time she has lived here she never once noticed it. Yet the first +night I came here I saw it. My window looks westward, and I pulled +the curtain aside for a moment before getting into bed. It had been +dark as pitch when the coach dropped me; but now the moon was up, +over opposite; and the first thing my eyes lit on was this line of +lights reaching up the mountain. When I woke, next morning, it was +still there, flashing in the sun. I think it was at breakfast, when +I asked Miss Montmorency about it, and found she'd never remarked it, +that it first came into my head 'twas meant for me. Anyhow, the +idea's fixed there now, and I can't get away from it. I've asked +many people, and there's not one can explain it, or has ever remarked +it till I pointed it out.' + +"His hand trembled on his stick, and a fit of coughing shook him. +While we stood still I heard a banjo in a saloon across the road +tinkle its long descent into the chorus of 'Juliana'--" + + 'Was it weary there + In the wilderness? + Was it weary-y-y, 'way down in Goshen?' + +The chorus came roaring out and across the street; ceased; and the +banjo slid into the next verse. + +"'I wish they wouldn't,' said the Bishop, taking the handkerchief +from his lips and speaking (as I thought) rather peevishly. + +"'It's a weariful tune.' + +"'Is it? Now I don't know anything about music. It's the words that +make me feel wisht.' + +"'And now,' said I, 'you've eased my soul of the curiosity that has +been vexing it for twenty-four hours. Your voice told you were +English; but there was something in it besides--something almost +rubbed out, if I may say so, by your training for the ministry. +I was wondering what part of England you hailed from, and I meant to +find out without asking. You'll observe that as yet I don't even +know your name. But Cornwall's your birthplace.' + +"'I suppose,' he answered, smiling, 'you've only heard me called +'the Bishop.' Yes, you're quite right. I come from the north of +Cornwall--from Port Isaac; and my name's Penno--John Penno. +I used to be laughed at for it at the Training College, and for my +Cornish talk. They said it would be a hindrance to me in the +ministry, so I worked hard to overcome it.' + +"'I know Port Isaac. At least, I once spent a couple of days there.' + +"'Ah?' He turned on me eagerly--with a sob, almost. 'You will have +seen my folks, maybe? My father's a fisherman there--Hezekiah +Penno--Old Ki, he's always called: everyone knows him.' + +"I shook my head. 'The only fisherman I knew at all was called +Tregay. He took me out after the pollack one day in his boat, the +_Little Mercy_.' + +"'That will be my mother's brother Israel. He named the boat after a +sister of mine. She's grown up now and married, and settled at St. +Columb. This is wonderful! And how was Israel wearing when you saw +him?' + +"'You have later news of him than I can give. I am speaking of ten +years ago.' + +"His face fell pathetically; but he contrived a rueful little laugh +as he answered: 'And I must have been a boy of nine at the time, and +playing about Portissick Street, no doubt! Never mind. It's good, +anyway, to speak of home to you; for you've _seen_ it, you know!' + +"He said this with his eyes fixed on the flashing mountain; and, as +he finished, he sighed." + + +"During the next three or four days--for a relapse followed his +rally, and he had to give up all thought of departing immediately--I +talked much with the Bishop; and I think that each talk added to my +respect and wonder. In the first place, though I had read in a good +many poetry books of maidens who walked through all manner of +deadliness unhurt--Una and the lion, you know, and the rest of them-- +I hadn't imagined that kind or amount of innocence in a young man. +But what startled me even more was the size of his ambitions. +'Bishop'--_in partibus infidelium_ with a vengeance--was too small a +title for him. 'Twas a Peter the Hermit's part, or a Savonarola's, +or Whitefield's at least, he was going to play all along the Pacific +Slope; and his outfit no more than a small Bible and the strength of +a mouse. And with all this the poor boy was just wearying for home, +and every small fibre in his sick heart pulling him back while he +fixed his eyes on the lights up the mountain and stiffened his back +and talked about putting a hand to the plough and not turning back. + +"'Hewson,' I said one morning, as we were breakfasting at the Cornice +House, 'what's the cause of those curious lights up by the cinnabar +mines, over Eucalyptus?' + +"'Lights?' said he, 'what lights? I never heard of any.' + +"'Well, it's something that flashes, anyway--a regular line of it.' + +"'I'll tell you what it's _not_; and that's quicksilver,' Hewson +answered. + +"On my way down to Eucalyptus early that morning, I hitched my horse +up to the Necropolis gate and determined to explore the secret of the +lights before visiting the Bishop. The track towards the cinnabar +works was pretty easy to follow, first along; but when I had climbed +some four or five hundred feet it grew fainter, and was lost at +length under the pine-needles. Luckily some hand had notched a tree +here and there, and these guided me to the dry bed of a torrent, on +the far side of which the track reappeared, and continued pretty +plain for the rest of the journey, though broken in several places by +the rains. I had missed my way three times at the most; but it took +me three-quarters of an hour to reach the lowest of the works, and +another twenty minutes to get into anything like clear country. +At length, on the edge of a steep depression that widened and +shallowed as it neared the valley, I got a fair look up the slope. +So far I had met nothing to account for the lights--nothing at all, +in fact, but the broken spade-handles, old boots, empty meat-cans, +and other refuse of the miners' camps; but every now and then I would +catch a glimpse of the hillside high overhead: and always those +lights were flashing there, though in varying numbers. Now, having a +clear view, I found to my dismay that they had shrunk to one. It was +like a story in the _Arabian Nights_. I swore, though, that I would +not be cheated of this last chance. The flashing object, whatever it +was, lay some two hundred yards above me on the slope; and I +approached cautiously, with my eyes fixed on it, much like a child +hunting grasshoppers in a hay-field. I was less than ten paces from +it when the light suddenly vanished, and five paces more knocked the +bottom out of the mystery. The object was a battered and empty +meat-can. + +"I had passed a hundred such, at least, on my way. The camps had +lain pretty close to the track, and the rains descending upon their +refuse heaps had washed the labels off these cans, that now, as sun +and moon rose and passed over the mountain side, flashed moving +signals down to Eucalyptus in the valley--signals of failure and +desolation. And these had been the Bishop's pillar of fire in the +wilderness!" + + 'Was it weary, then, + In the wilderness?' . . . + +"I turned and went down the track. + +"At the Necropolis gate I found Captain Bill standing, with a heavy +and puzzled face, beside my horse. + +"'I was stepping up to Cornice House; but found your nag here, and +concluded to wait. I've been waiting the best part of an hour. +What in thunder have you been doing with yourself?' + +"'Prospecting,' said I. 'What's the news? Anything wrong with the +Bishop?' + +"'There's nothing wrong with him; and won't be, any more. He broke a +blood-vessel in the night. Flo looked in early this morning, and +found him sleeping, as she thought. An hour later she took him a cup +of tea, and was putting it down on the table by the bed, when she saw +blood on the pillow. She's powerful upset.' + +"Two days later--the morning of the funeral--I met Captain Bill at +the entrance of the town. He held the Bishop's small morocco-bound +Bible in his hand; but for excellent reasons had made no change in +his work-day attire. + +"'You're attending, of course?' was his greeting. 'Say, would you +like to conduct? It lay between me and Huz-'n-Buz, and he was for +tossing up; but I allowed he was altogether too hoary a sinner. +So we made him chief mourner instead, along with Flo--the more by +token that he's the only citizen with a black coat to his back. +As for Flo, she's got to attend in colours, having cut up her only +black gown to nail on the casket for a covering. Foolishness, of +course; but she was set on it. But see here, you've only to say the +word, and I'll resign to you.' + +"I declined, and suggested that for two reasons he was the man to +conduct the service: first, as the most prominent inhabitant of +Eucalyptus; and secondly, as having made himself in a way responsible +for the Bishop from the first. + +"'As you like,' said he.' I told him, that first night, that I'd see +him through; and I will.' + +"He eyed the Bible dubiously. 'It's pretty small print,' he added. +'I suppose it's all good, now?' + +"'If you mean that you're going to open the book and read away from +the first full-stop you happen to light on--' + +"'That's what I'd planned. You don't suppose, do you, I've had time +since Tuesday to read all this through and skim off the cream?' + +"'Then you'd better let me pick out a chapter for you.' + +"As I took the Bible something fluttered from it to the ground. +Captain Bill stooped and picked it up. + +"'That's pretty, too,' he said, handing it to me. + +"It was a little bookmarker, worked in silk, with one pink rose, the +initials M. P. (for Mercy Penno, no doubt), and under these the +favourite lines that small West-country children in England embroider +on their samplers:" + + 'Rose leaves smell + When roses thrive: + Here's my work + When I'm alive. + Rose leaves smell + When shrunk and shred: + Here's my work + When I'm dead.' + +I turned to the fifteenth chapter of the first Epistle to the +Corinthians: showed the captain where to begin; and laid the +bookmarker opposite the place. + +"We walked a few paces together as far as the green knoll that +I have described as overhanging Eucalyptus, and there I halted to +wait for the funeral, while Captain Bill went on to the Necropolis +to make sure that the grave was ready and all arrangements complete. +The procession was not due to start for another quarter of an hour, +so I found a comfortable boulder and sat down to smoke a pipe. +Right under me stretched the deserted main street, and in the +hush of the morning--it was just the middle of the Indian summer, +and the air all sunny and soft--I could hear the billiard balls +click-click-clicking as usual, and the players' voices breaking in at +intervals, and the banjoes tinkling away down the street from saloon +to saloon. These and the distant chatter of the river were all the +sounds; and the river's chatter seemed hardly so persistent and +monotonous as the voices of the saloons and the unceasing question--" + + 'Was it weary there + In the wilderness? + Was it weary-y-y, 'way down in Goshen?' + +"Suddenly, far down the street, there was a stir, and from the door +of No. 67 half a dozen men came staggering out into the sunshine +under a black coffin, which they carried shoulder high; and behind +came two figures only--those of Miss Montmorency and the architect-- +arm in arm. The bearers wheeled round, got into step after one or +two attempts, and the procession advanced. + +"And I observed, as it advanced, that a hush came slowly with it, +closing on the click of the balls and the strumming of the banjoes, +as from saloon after saloon the players stepped out and fell in at +the tail of the procession. Gradually these noises were penned into +the three or four saloons immediately beneath me; and then these, +too, were silenced, and the mourners began to climb the hill. + +"I did not attend the funeral after all. I rose and stood hat in +hand as it climbed past--the coffin, the one woman, and the many men. +It was grotesque enough. Flo had on the same outrageous costume she +had worn at our first meeting; but a look at the black drapery of the +coffin sanctified _that_. One mourner, in pure absence of mind, had +brought along his billiard-cue as a walking-stick; and every now and +then would step out of the ranks and distribute whacks among the five +or six dogs that frisked alongside the procession. But I read on +every face the consciousness that Eucalyptus was doing its duty. + +"So they climbed past and up to the Necropolis, and filed in between +its two pillars. I could see among the pines a group or two +standing, with bent heads, and Captain Bill towering beside the +grave; at times I heard his voice lifted, but could not catch the +words. Down in the town for a while all was silent as death. +Then in a saloon below some boy--left behind, no doubt, to look after +the house--took up a banjo and began to pick out slowly and with one +finger the tune of ''Way down upon the Suwanee River,' and as it went +I fitted the words to it:" + + 'All the world is sad and dreary + Everywhere I roam, + Oh, brudders, how my heart grows weary . . .' + +"The tune ceased. The only sound now came from a robin, hunting +about the turf and now and then breaking out into an impatient +twitter. + +"The silence was broken at length by the footsteps of the mourners +returning. They went down the hill almost as decorously as they had +gone up. Flo stepped aside and came towards me. + +"'Let me stay beside you for a bit. I can't go back there--yet.' + +"This was all she said; and we stood there side by side for minutes. +Soon the tinkle of a banjo came up to us, and a pair of billiard +balls clicked; then a second banjo joined in; and gradually, as the +stream of citizens trickled back and spread, so like a stream the +sound of clicking billiard balls and tinkling banjoes trickled back +and spread along the main street of Eucalyptus City." + + 'Was it weary there, + In de wilderness? . . .' + +"Flo looked at me and put out a hand; but drew it back before I could +take it. And so, without another word, she went down the hill." + + + +WIDDERSHINS. + + +A DROLL. + +Once upon a time there was a small farmer living in Wendron parish, +not far from the church-town. 'Thaniel Teague was his name. +This Teague happened to walk into Helston on a Furry-day, when the +Mayor and townspeople dance through the streets to the Furry-tune. +In the evening there was a grand ball given at the Angel Hotel, and +the landlord very kindly allowed Teague--who had stopped too late as +it was--to look in through the door and watch the gentry dance the +Lancers. + +Teague thought he had never seen anything so heavenly. What with one +hindrance and another 'twas past midnight before he reached home, and +then nothing would do for him but he must have his wife and six +children out upon the floor in their night-clothes, practising the +Grand Chain while he sang-- + + Out of my stony griefs + Bethel I'll raise! + +The seventh child, the babby, they set down in the middle of the +floor, like a nine-pin. And the worst of it was, the poor mite +twisted his eyes so, trying to follow his mammy round and round, that +he grew up with a cast from that hour. + +'Tis of this child--Joby he was called--that I am going to tell you. +Barring the cast, he grew up a very straight lad, and in due time +began to think upon marrying. His father's house faced south, and as +it came easier to him to look north-west than any other direction, he +chose a wife from Gwinear parish. His elder brothers had gone off to +sea for their living, and his sister had married a mine-captain: so +when the old people died, Joby took over the farm and worked it, and +did very well. + +Joby's wife was very fond of him, though of course she didn't like +that cast in his looks: and in many ways 'twas inconvenient too. +If the poor man ever put hand on plough to draw a straight furrow, +round to the north 'twould work as sure as a compass-needle. +She consulted the doctors about it, and they did no good. Then she +thought about consulting a conjurer; but being a timorous woman as +well as not over-wise, she put it off for a while. + +Now, there was a little fellow living over to Penryn in those +times, Tommy Warne by name, that gave out he knew how to conjure. +Folks believed in him more than he did himself: for, to tell truth, +he was a lazy shammick, who liked most ways of getting a living +better than hard work. Still, he was generally made pretty welcome +at the farm-houses round, for he could turn a hand to anything and +always kept the maids laughing in the kitchen. One morning he +dropped in on Farmer Joby and asked for a job to earn his dinner; and +Joby gave him some straw to spin for thatching. By dinner-time Tom +had spun two bundles of such very large size that the farmer rubbed +his chin when he looked at them. + +"Why," says he, "I always thought you a liar--I did indeed. But now +I believe you can conjure, sure enough." + +As for Mrs. Joby, she was so much pleased that, though she felt +certain the devil must have had a hand in it, she gave Tom an extra +helping of pudding for dinner. + +Some time after this, Farmer Joby missed a pair of pack-saddles. +Search and ask as he might, he couldn't find out who had stolen them, +or what had become of them. + +"Tommy Warne's a clever fellow," he said at last. "I must see if he +can tell me anything." So he walked over to Penryn on purpose. + +Tommy was in his doorway smoking when Farmer Joby came down the +street. "So you'm after they pack-saddles," said he. + +"Why, how ever did you know?" + +"That's my business. Will it do if you find 'em after harvest?" + +"To be sure 'twill. I only want to know where they be." + +"Very well, then; after harvest they'll be found." + +Home the farmer went. Sure enough, after harvest, he went to unwind +Tommy's two big bundles of straw-rope for thatching the mow, and in +the middle of each was one of his missing pack-saddles. + +"Well, now," said Joby's wife, "that fellow must have a real gift of +conjurin'! I wonder, my dear, you don't go and consult him about that +there cross-eye of yours." + +"I will, then," said Joby; and he walked over to Penryn again the +very next market-day. + +"'Cure your eyes,' is it?" said Tommy Warne. "Why, to be sure I can. +Why didn't you ax me afore? I thought you _liked_ squintin'." + +"I don't, then; I hate it." + +"Very well; you shall see straight this very night if you do what I +tell you. Go home and tell your wife to make your bed on the roof of +the four-poster; and she must make it widdershins, turnin' bed-tie +and all against the sun, and puttin' the pillow where the feet come +as a rule. That's all." + +"Fancy my never thinkin' of anything so simple as that!" said Joby. +He went home and told his wife. She made his bed on the roof of the +four-poster, and widdershins, as he ordered; and they slept that +night, the wife as usual, and Joby up close to the rafters. + +But scarcely had Joby closed an eye before there came a rousing knock +at the door, and in walked Joby's eldest brother, the sea-captain, +that he hadn't seen for years. + +"Get up, Joby, and come along with me if you want that eye of yours +mended." + +"Thank you, Sam, it's curin' very easy and nice, and I hope you won't +disturb me." + +"If 'tis Tommy Warne's cure you're trying, why then I'm part of it; +so you'd best get up quickly." + +"Aw, that's another matter, though you might have said so at first. +I'd no notion you and Tommy was hand-'n-glove." + +Joby rose up and followed his brother out of doors. He had nothing +on but his night-shirt, but his brother seemed in a hurry, and he +didn't like to object. + +They set their faces to the road and they walked and walked, neither +saying a word, till they came to Penryn. There was a fair going on +in the town; swing-boats and shooting-galleries and lillybanger +standings, and naphtha lamps flaming, and in the middle of all, a +great whirly-go-round, with striped horses and boats, and a +steam-organ playing "Yankee Doodle." As soon as they started Joby +saw that the whole thing was going around widdershins; and his +brother stood up under the naphtha-lamp and pulled out a sextant and +began to take observations. + +"What's the latitude?" asked Joby. He felt that he ought to say +something to his brother, after being parted all these years. + +"Decimal nothing to speak of," answered Sam. + +"Then we ought to be nearing the Line," said Joby. He hadn't noticed +the change, but now he saw that the boat they sat in was floating on +the sea, and that Sam had stuck his walking-stick out over the stern +and was steering. + +"What's the longitude?" asked Joby. + +"That doesn't concern us." + +"'Tis west o' Grinnidge, I suppose?" Joby knew very little about +navigation, and wanted to make the most of it. + +"West o' Penryn," said Sam, very sharp and short. "'Twasn' Grinnidge +Fair we started from." + +But presently he sings out "Here we are!" and Joby saw a white line, +like a popping-crease, painted across the blue sea ahead of them. +First he thought 'twas paint, and then he thought 'twas catgut, for +when the keel of their boat scraped over it, it sang like a bird. + +"That was the Equator," said Sam. "Now let's see if your eyes be any +better." + +But when Joby tried them, what was his disappointment to find the +cast as bad as ever?--only now they were slewing right the other way, +towards the South Pole. + +"I never thought well of this cure from the first," declared Sam. +"For my part, I'm sick and tired of the whole business!" And with +that he bounced up from the thwart and hailed a passing shark and +walked down its throat in a huff, leaving Joby all alone on the wide +sea. + +"There's nice brotherly behaviour for you!" said Joby to himself. +"Lucky he left his walking-stick behind. The best thing I can do is +to steer along close to the Equator, and then I know where I am." + +So he steered along close to the Line, and by and by he saw something +shining in the distance. When he came nearer, 'twas a great gilt +fowl stuck there with its beak to the Line and its wings sprawled +out. And when he came close, 'twas no other than the cock belonging +to the tower of his own parish church of Wendron! + +"Well!" said Joby, "one has to travel to find out how small the world +is. And what might you be doin' here, naybour?" + +"Is that you, Joby Teague? Then I'll thank you to do me a good turn. +I came here in a witch-ship last night, and the crew put this spell +upon me because I wouldn't pay my footing to cross the Line. +A nice lot, to try and steal the gilt off a church weather-cock! +'Tis ridiculous," said he, "but I can't get loose for the life o' +me!" + +"Why, that's as easy as ABC," said Joby. "You'll find it in any book +of parlour amusements. You take a fowl, put its beak to the floor, +and draw a chalk line away from it, right and left--" + +Joby wetted his thumb, smudged out a bit of the Equator on each side +of the cock's nose, and the bird stood up and shook himself. + +"And now is there anything I can do for you, Joby Teague?" + +"To be sure there is. I'm getting completely tired of this boat: and +if you can give me a lift, I'll take it as a favour." + +"No favour at all. Where shall we go visit?--the Antipodes?" + +"No, thank you," said Toby. "I've heard tell they get up an' do +their business when we honest folks be in our beds: and that kind o' +person I never could trust. Squint or no squint, Wendron's Wendron, +and that's where I'm comfortable." + +"Well, it's no use loitering here, or we may get into trouble for +what we've done to the Equator. Climb on my back," said the bird, +"and home we go!" + +It seemed no more than a flap of the wings, and Joby found himself on +his friend's back on one of the pinnacles of Wendron Church and +looking down on his own farm. + +"Thankin' you kindly, soce, and now I think I'll be goin'," said he. + +"Not till I've cured your eyesight, Joby," said the polite bird. + +Joby by this time was wishing his eyesight to botheration; but before +he could say a word, a breeze came about the pinnacles, and he was +spinning around on the cock's back--spinning around widdershins-- +clutching the bird's neck and holding his breath. + +"And now," the cock said, as they came to a standstill again, +"I think you can see a hole in a ladder as well as any man." + +Just then the bells in the tower below them began to ring merrily. + +Said Joby, "What's that for, I wonder?" + +"It looks to me," said the cock, "as if your wife was gettin' married +again." + +Sure enough, while the bells rang, Joby saw the door of his own house +open, and his own wife come stepping towards the church, leaning on a +man's arm. And who should that man be but Tommy Warne? + +"And to think I've lived fifteen years with that woman, and never +lifted my hand to her!" + +Said the bird, "The wedding is fixed for eleven o'clock, and 'tis on +the stroke now. If I was you, Joby, I'd climb down and put back the +church clock." + +"And so I would, if I knew how to get to it." + +"You've but to slide down my leg to the parapet: and from the parapet +you can jump right on to the string-course under the clock." + +Joby slid down the bird's leg, and jumped on to the ledge. He had +never before noticed a clock in Wendron Church tower; but there one +was, staring him in the face. + +"Now," cried his friend, "catch hold of the minute-hand and turn!" +Joby did so--"Widdershins!" screamed the bird: "faster! faster!" +Joby whizzed back the minute-hand with all his might. + + +"Aie, ul--ul--oo! Lemme go! 'Tis my arm you're pullin' off!" +'Twas his own wife's voice in his own four-poster. Joby had slid +down the bed-post and caught hold of her arm, and was workin' it +round like mad from right to left. + +"I ax your pardon, my dear. I was thinkin' you was another man's +bride." + +"Indeed, I must say you wasn't behavin' like it," said she. + +But when she got up and lit a candle, she was pleased enough. +For Joby's eyes were as straight as yours or mine. And straight they +have been ever since. + + + +VISITORS AT THE GUNNEL ROCK. + + +A LIGHTSHIP IDYLL. + +When first the Trinity Brothers put a light out yonder by the Gunnel +Rocks, it was just a trifling makeshift affair for the time--none of +your proper lightships with a crew of twelve or fourteen hands; and +my father and I used to tend it, taking turn and turn with two other +fellows from the Islands. I'm talking of old days. The rule then-- +they have altered it since--was two months afloat and two ashore; and +all the time we tossed out there on duty, not a soul would we see to +speak to except when the Trinity boat put off with stores for us and +news of what was doing in the world. This would be about once a +fortnight in fair weather; but through the winter time it was oftener +a month, and provisions ran low enough, now and then, to make us +anxious. "Was the life dreary?" Well, you couldn't call it gay; +but, you see, it didn't kill me. + +For the first week I thought the motion would drive me crazy--up and +down, up and down, in that everlasting ground-swell--although I had +been at the fishing all my life, and knew what it meant to lie-to in +any ordinary sea. But after ten days or so I got not to mind it. +And then there was the open air. It was different with the poor +fellows on the Lighthouse, eighteen miles to seaward of us, to the +south-west. They drew better pay than ours, by a trifle; but they +were landsmen, to start with; and cooped in that narrow tower at +night, with the shutters closed and the whole building rocking +like a tree, it's no wonder their nerves wore out. Four or five days +of it have been known to finish a man; and in those times a +lighthouse-keeper had three months of duty straight away, and only a +fortnight on shore. Now he gets only a fortnight out there, and six +weeks to recover in. With all that, they're mostly fit to start at +their own shadow when the boat takes them off. + +But on the lightship we fared tolerably. To begin with, we had the +lantern to attend to. You'd be surprised how much employment that +gives a man--cleaning, polishing, and trimming. And my father, +though particular to a scratch on the reflector, or the smallest +crust of salt on the glass, was a restful, cheerful sort of a man to +bide with. Not talkative, you understand--no light-keeper in the +world was ever talkative--but with a power of silence that was more +comforting than speech. And out there, too, we found all sorts of +little friendly things to watch and think over. Sometimes a school +of porpoises; or a line of little murrs flying; or a sail far to the +south, making for the Channel. And sometimes, towards evening, the +fishing-boats would come out and drop anchor a mile and a half to +south'ard, down sail, and hang out their riding lights; and we knew +that they took their mark from us, and that gave a sociable feeling. + +On clear afternoons, too, by swarming up the mast just beneath the +cage, I could see the Islands away in the east, with the sun on their +cliffs; and home wasn't so far off, after all. The town itself, +which lay low down on the shore, we could never spy, but glimpsed the +lights of it now and then, after sunset. These always flickered a +great deal, because of the waves, like little hills of water, bobbing +between them and us. And always we had the Lighthouse for company. +In daytime, through the glass, we could watch the keepers walking +about in the iron gallery round the top: and all night through there +it was beckoning to us with its three white flashes every minute. +No, we weren't exactly gay out there, and sometimes we made wild +weather of it. Yet we did pretty well; except for the fogs, when our +arms ached with keeping the gong going. + +But if we were comfortable then, you should have seen us at the end +of our two months, when the boat came off with the relief, and took +us on shore. John and Robert Pendlurian were the names of the +relief; brothers they were, oldsters of about fifty-five and fifty; +and John Pendlurian, the elder, a widow-man same as my father, but +with a daughter at home. Living in the Islands, of course I'd known +Bathsheba ever since we'd sat in infant-school; and what more natural +than to ask after her health, along with the other news? But Old +John got to look sly and wink at my father when we came to this +question, out of the hundred others. And the other two would take it +up and wink back solemn as mummers. I never lost my temper with the +old idiots: 'twasn't worth while. + +But the treat of all was to set foot on the quay-steps, and the +people crowding round and shaking your hand and chattering; and +everything ashore going on just as you'd left it, and you not wishing +it other, and everybody glad to see you all the same; and the smell +of the gardens and the stinking fish at the quay-corner--you might +choose between them, but home was in both; and the nets drying; and +to be out of oilskins and walking to meeting-house on the Sunday, and +standing up there with the congregation, all singing in company, +and the women taking stock of you till the newness wore off; and the +tea-drinking, and Band of Hopes, and courants, and dances. +We had all the luck of these; for the two Pendlurians, being up in +years and easily satisfied so long as they were left quiet, were +willing to take their holidays in the dull months, beginning with +February and March. And so I had April and May, when a man can +always be happy ashore; and August and September, which is the best +of the fishing and all the harvest and harvest games; and again, +December and January, with the courants and geesy-dancing, and carols +and wassail-singing. Early one December, when he came to relieve us, +Old John said to me in a haphazard way, "It's all very well for me +and Robert, my lad; for us two can take equal comfort in singin' +'_Star o' Bethl'em_' ashore or afloat; but I reckon 'tis somebody's +place to see that Bathsheba don't miss any of the season's joy an' +dancin' on our account." + +Now, Bathsheba had an unmarried aunt--Aunt Hessy Pendlurian we called +her--that used to take her to all the parties and courants when Old +John was away at sea. So she wasn't likely to miss any of the fun, +bein' able to foot it as clever as any girl in the Islands. She had +the love of it, too--foot and waist and eyes all a-dancing, and body +and blood all a-tingle as soon as ever the fiddle spoke. Maybe this +same speech of Old John's set me thinking. Or, maybe I'd been +thinking already--what with their May-game hints and the loneliness +out there. Anyway, I dangled pretty close on Bathsheba's heels all +that Christmas. She was comely--you understand--very comely and +tall, with dark blood, and eyes that put you in mind of a light +shining steady upon dark water. And good as gold. She's dead and +gone these twelve years--rest her soul! But (praise God for her!) +I've never married another woman nor wanted to. + +There, I've as good as told you already! When the time came and I +asked her if she liked me, she said she liked no man half so well: +and that being as it should be, the next thing was to put up the +banns. There wasn't time that holiday: like a fool, I had been +dilly-dallying too long, though I believe now I might have asked her +a month before. So the wedding was held in the April following, my +father going out to the Gunnel for a couple of days, so that Old John +might be ashore to give his daughter away. The most I mind of the +wedding was the wonder of beholding the old chap there in a +long-tailed coat, having never seen him for years but in his +oilskins. + +Well, the rest of that year seemed pretty much like all the others, +except that coming home was better than ever. But when Christmas +went by, and February came and our turn to be out again on the +Gunnel, I went with a dismal feeling I hadn't known before. +For Bathsheba was drawing near her time, and the sorrow was that she +must go through it without me. She had walked down to the quay with +us, to see us off; and all the way she chatted and laughed with my +father as cheerful as cheerful--but never letting her eyes rest on +me, I noticed, and I saw what that meant; and when it came to +goodbye, there was more in the tightening of her arms about me than +I'd ever read in it before. + +The old man, I reckon, had a wisht time with me, the next two or +three weeks; but, by the mercy of God, the weather behaved furious +all the while, leaving a man no time to mope. 'Twas busy all, and +busy enough, to keep a clear light inside the lantern, and warm souls +inside our bodies. All through February it blew hard and cold from +the north and north-west, and though we lay in the very mouth of the +Gulf Stream, for ten days together there wasn't a halliard we could +touch with the naked hand, nor a cloth nor handful of cotton-waste +but had to be thawed at the stove before using. Then, with the +beginning of March, the wind tacked round to south-west, and stuck +there, blowing big guns, and raising a swell that was something +cruel. It was one of these gales that tore away the bell from the +lighthouse, though hung just over a hundred feet above water-level. +As for us, I wonder now how the little boat held by its two-ton +anchors, even with three hundred fathom of chain cable to bear the +strain and jerk of it; but with the spindrift whipping our faces, and +the hail cutting them, we didn't seem to have time to think of +_that_. Bathsheba thought of it, though, in her bed at home--as I've +heard since--and lay awake more than one night thinking of it. + +But the third week in March the weather moderated; and soon the sun +came out and I began to think. On the second afternoon of the fair +weather I climbed up under the cage and saw the Islands for the first +time; and coming down, I said to my father: + +"Suppose that Bathsheba is dead!" + +We hadn't said more than a word or two to each other for a week; +indeed, till yesterday we had to shout in each other's ear to be +heard at all. My father filled a pipe and said, "Don't be a fool." + +"I see your hand shaking," said I. + +Said he, "That's with the cold. At my age the cold takes a while to +leave a man's extremities." + +"But," I went on in an obstinate way, "suppose she is dead?" + +My father answered, "She is a well-built woman. The Lord is good." + +Not another word than this could I get from him. That evening--the +wind now coming easy from the south, and the swell gone down in a +wonderful way--as I was boiling water for the tea, we saw a dozen +fishing-boats standing out from the Islands. They ran down to within +two miles of us and then hove-to. The nets went out, and the sails +came down, and by and by through the glass I could spy the smoke +coming up from their cuddy-stoves. + +"They might have brought news," I cried out, "even if 'tis sorrow!" + +"Maybe there was no news to bring." + +"'Twould have been neighbourly, then, to run down and say so." + +"And run into the current here, I suppose? With a chance of the wind +falling light at any moment?" + +I don't know if this satisfied my father: but I know that he meant it +to satisfy me, which it was pretty far from doing. Before daylight +the boats hoisted sail again, and were well under the Islands and out +of sight by breakfast-time. + +After this, for a whole long week I reckon I did little more than +pace the ship to and fro; a fisherman's walk, as they say--three +steps and overboard. I took the three steps and wished I was +overboard. My father watched me queerly all the while; but we said +no word to each other, not even at meals. + +It was the eighth day after the fishing-boats left us, and about four +in the afternoon, that we saw a brown sail standing towards us from +the Islands, and my father set down the glass, resting it on the +gunwale, and said: + +"That's Old John's boat." + +I took the glass from him, and was putting it to my eye; but had to +set it down and turn my back. I couldn't wait there with my eye on +the boat; so I crossed to the other side of the ship and stood +staring at the Lighthouse away on the sky-line, and whispered: +"Come quickly!" But the wind had moved a couple of points to the +east and then fallen very light, and the boat must creep towards us +close-hauled. After a long while my father spoke again: + +"That will be Old John steerin' her. I reckoned so: he've got her +jib shakin'--that's it: sail her close till she strikes the +tide-race, and that'll fetch her down, wind or no wind. Halloa!-- +Lad, lad! 'tis all right! See there, that bit o' red ensign run up +to the gaff!" + +"Why should that mean aught?" asked I. + +"Would he trouble to hoist bunting if he had no news? Would it be +there, close under the peak, if the news was bad?--and she his own +daughter, his only flesh!" + +It may have been twenty minutes later that Old John felt the Gunnel +current, and, staying the cutter round, came down fast on us with the +wind behind his beam. My father hailed to him once and twice, and +the second time he must have heard. But, without answering, he ran +forward and took in his foresail. And then I saw an arm and a little +hand reached up to take hold of the tiller; and my heart gave a great +jump. + +It was she, my wife Bathsheba, laid there by the stern-sheets on a +spare-sail, with a bundle of oilskins to cushion her. With one hand +she steered the boat up into the wind as Old John lowered sail and +they fell alongside: and with the other she held a small bundle close +against her breast. + +"Such a whackin' boy I never see in my life!"--These were Old John's +first words, and he shouted them. "Born only yestiddy week, an' she +ought to be abed: an' so I've been tellin' her ever since she dragged +me out 'pon this wildy-go errand!" + +But Bathsheba, as I lifted her over the lightship's side, said no +more than "Oh, Tom!"--and let me hold her, with her forehead pressed +close against me. And the others kept very quiet, and everything was +quiet about us, until she jumped back on a sudden and found all her +speech in a flood. + +"Tom," she said, "you're crushin' him, you great, awkward man!" And +she turned back the shawl and snatched the handkerchief off the +baby's face--a queer-looking face it was, too. "Be all babies as +queer as that?" thought I. Lucky I didn't say it, though. +"There, my blessed, my handsome! Look, my tender! Eh, Tom, but he +kicks my side all to bruises; my merryun, my giant! Look up at your +father, and you his very image!" That was pretty stiff. "I +declare," she says, "he's lookin' about an' takin' stock of +everything"--and that was pretty stiff, too. "So like a man; all for +the sea and the boats! Tom, dear, father will tell you that all the +way on the water he was as good as gold; and, on shore before that, +kicking and fisting--all for the sea and the boats; the man of him! +Hold him, dear, but be careful! A Sunday's child, too-- + + 'Sunday's child is full of grace . . .' + +And--the awkward you are! Here, give him back to me: but feel how +far down in his clothes the feet of him reach. Extraordinar'! +Aun' Hessy mounted a chair and climbed 'pon the chest o' drawers with +him, before takin' him downstairs; so that he'll go up in the world, +an' not down." + +"If he wants to try both," said I, "he'd best follow his father and +grandfathers, and live 'pon a lightship." + +"So this is how you live, Tom; and you, father; and you, +father-in-law!" She moved about examining everything--the lantern, +the fog-signals and life-buoys, the cooking-stove, bunks and +store-cupboards. "To think that here you live, all the menkind +belongin' to me, and I never to have seen it! All the menkind did I +say, my rogue! And was I forgettin' you--you--you?" Kisses here, of +course: and then she held the youngster up to look at his face in the +light. "Ah, heart of me, will you grow up too to live in a lightship +and leave a poor woman at home to weary for you in her trouble? +Rogue, rogue, what poor woman have I done this to, bringing you into +the world to be her torture and her joy?" + +"Dear," says I, "you're weak yet. Sit down by me and rest awhile +before the time comes to go back." + +"But I'm not going back yet awhile. Your son, sir, and I are goin' +to spend the night aboard." + +"Halloa!" I said, and looked towards Old John, who had made fast +astern of us and run a line out to one of the anchor-buoys. + +"'Tisn't allowed, o' course," he muttered, looking in turn and rather +sheepishly towards my father. "But once in a way--'tis all +Bathsheba's notion, and you mustn' ask _me_," he wound up. + +"'Once in a way'!" cried Bathsheba. "And is it twice in a way that a +woman comes to a man and lays his first child in his arms?" + +My father had been studying the sunset and the sky to windward; and +now he answered Old John: + +"'Tis once in a way, sure enough, that a boat can lay alongside the +Gunnel. But the wind's falling, and the night'll be warm. I reckon +if you stay in the boat, Old John, she'll ride pretty comfortable; +and I'll give the word to cast off at the leastest sign." + +"Once in a way"--ah, sirs, it isn't twice in a way there comes such a +night as that was! We lit the light at sunset, and hoisted it, and +made tea, talking like children all the while; and my father the +biggest child of all. Old John had his share passed out to him, and +ate it alone out there in the boat; and, there being a lack of cups, +Bathsheba and I drank out of the same, and scalded our lips, and must +kiss to make them well. Foolishness? Dear, dear, I suppose so. +And the jokes we had, calling out to Old John as the darkness fell, +and wishing him "Good night!" "Ou, aye; I hear 'ee," was all he +answered. After we'd eaten our tea and washed up, I showed Bathsheba +how to crawl into her bunk, and passed in the baby and laid it in her +arms, and so left her, telling her to rest and sleep. But by and by, +as I was keeping watch, she came out, declaring the place stifled +her. So I pulled out a mattress and blankets and strewed a bed for +her out under the sky, and sat down beside her, watching while she +suckled the child. She had him wrapped up so that the two dark eyes +of him only could be seen, staring up from the breast to the great +bright lantern above him. The moon was in her last quarter, and +would not rise till close upon dawn; and the night pitchy dark around +us, with a very few stars. In less than a minute Bathsheba gave a +start and laid a hand on my arm. + +"Oh, Tom, what was that?" + +"Look up," said I. "'Tis the birds flying about the light." + +For, of course, our light always drew the sea-birds, especially on +dull nights, and 'twas long since we had grown used to the sound of +their beating and flapping, and took no notice of it. A moment after +I spoke one came dashing against the rigging, and we heard him tumble +into the sea; and then one broke his neck against the cage overhead +and tumbled dead at our feet. Bathsheba shivered as I tossed him +overboard. + +"Is it always like this?" she whispered. "I thought 'twas only at +the cost of a silly woman's fears that you saved men's lives out +here." + +"Well," said I, "this is something more than usual, to be sure." + +For, looking up into the circle of light, we could see now at least a +hundred birds flying round and round, and in half an hour's time +there must have been many hundreds. Their white breasts were like a +snowstorm; and soon they began to fall thick upon deck. They were +not all sea-birds, either. + +"Halloa!" said I, "what's the day of the month?" + +"The nineteenth of March." + +"Here's a wheatear, then," I said. "In a couple of weeks we shall +have the swallows; and, a couple of weeks after, a cuckoo, maybe. +So you see that even out here by the Gunnel we know when spring comes +along." + +And I began to hum the old song that children sang in the Islands: + + The cuckoo is a pretty bird, + He sings as he flies: + He brings us good tidings. + He tells us no lies: + He sucks the sweet flow-ers + For to make his voice clear, + And when he says "Cuckoo!" + The summer is near. + +Bathsheba's eyes were wet for the poor birds, but she took up the +song, crooning it soft-like, and persuading the child to sleep: + + O, meeting is a pleasure, + But parting is grief, + An inconstant lover + Is worse than a thief; + For a thief at the worst + Will take all that I have; + But an inconstant lover + Sends me to my grave. + +Her hand stole into mine as the boy's eyes closed, and clasped my +fingers, entreating me in silence to look and admire him. Our own +eyes met over him, and I saw by the lantern-light the happy blush +rise and spread over neck and chin and forehead. The flapping of the +birds overhead had almost died away, and we lay still, watching the +lighthouse flash, far down in the empty darkness. + +By and by the clasp of her hand slackened. A star shot down the sky, +and I turned. Her eyelids, too, had drooped, and her breath came and +went as softly and regularly as the Atlantic swell around us. And my +child slept in her arms. + +Day was breaking before the first cry awoke her. My father had the +breakfast ready, and Old John sang out to hurry. A fair wind went +with them to the Islands--a light south-wester. As the boat dropped +out of sight, I turned and drew a deep breath of it. It was full of +the taste of flowers, and I knew that spring was already at hand, and +coming up that way. + + + +LETTERS FROM TROY. + +ADDRESSED TO RASSELAS, PRINCE OF ABBYSSINIA. + + +I.--THE FIRST PARISH MEETING. + + Troy Town, + 5 December, 1894. + +My Dear Prince,--I feel sure that you, as a sympathetic student of +western politics and manners, must be impatient to hear about our +first Parish Meeting in Troy; and so I am catching the earliest post +to inform you that from a convivial point of view the whole +proceedings were in the highest degree successful. And if +Self-Government by the People can provide a success of the kind in +that dull season when people as a rule are saving up for Christmas, I +hardly think our Chairman stretched a point last night when he said, +"This evening will leave its mark on the history of England." Indeed, +some inkling of this must have guided us when we met, a few days +before, and agreed to postpone our usual Tuesday evening +Carol-practice in order to give the New Era a fair start. And I am +told this morning that the near approach of the sacred season had a +sensibly pacific influence upon the counsels of our neighbours at +Treneglos. The parishioners there are mostly dairy-farmers, and +party feeling runs high. But while eggs fetch 2d. apiece (as they +do, towards Christmas) there will always be a disposition to give +even the most unmarketable specimens the benefit of any doubt. + +We were at first a good deal annoyed on finding that the Act allowed +Troy but eleven Parish Councillors. We have never had less than +sixty-five on our Regatta Committee, and we had believed Local +Self-Government to be at least as important as a Regatta. We argued +this out at some length last night, and the Chairman--Lawyer Thoms-- +admitted that we had reason on our side. But his instructions were +definite, and he could not (as he vivaciously put it) fly in the face +of the Queen and two Houses of Parliament. We saw that his regret +was sincere, and so contented ourselves with handing in seventy-two +nomination papers for the eleven places, just to mark our sense of +the iniquity of the thing. + +In another matter we worked round the intention of the Act more +successfully. We have never been able to understand why the Liberal +party in the House of Commons should object to Local Self-Government +taking place in public-houses. The objection implies a distrust of +the people. And it so happens that down here we always take a glass +of grog before inaugurating an era; we should as soon think of +praetermitting this as of launching a ship without cracking a bottle +on her stem. So we asked the Chairman, and finding there was no law +to prevent us, we ordered in half a dozen trays from the "King of +Prussia," across the way. The Vicar, who is a particular man about +his food and drink, pulled out a pocket Vesuvius and a bottle of +methylated spirit, and boiled his kettle in the ante-room. + +Well, there we were sitting in the Town Hall, as merry as grigs, +each man with his pipe and glass, and ready for any amount of +Self-Government. And the Chairman stood up and briefly explained the +business of the meeting. He said the Parish Councils Act was the +logical result of Magna Charta, and would have the effect of making +us all citizens of our own parish; and that as the expense of this +would come upon the rates, we should endeavour to use our hardly won +enfranchisement with moderation. "We had met to choose eleven good +men and true to administer the parish business for the coming year, +or to nominate as many good men and true as we pleased. If more than +eleven were nominated"--this was foolishness, for he could see there +was hardly a man in the room that hadn't a nomination paper in his +hand--"he would ask for a show of hands, and any candidate defeated +upon this might demand a poll. He hoped we would vote in no spirit +of sectarian or partisan bitterness, but as impartial citizens +jealous only for the common weal; at the same time he was not in +favour of letting down the Squire, Sir Felix Felix-Williams, too +easily." + +So we handed up our nomination papers, and while the Chairman and +overseers were checking them off by the register, Old Pilot James got +upon his legs. + +He said that as long as he could remember--man and boy--he had +always practised carols in that very Town Hall upon the first +Tuesday in December. The Vicar--as soon as he had done boiling the +kettle in the next room--would come in and confirm his words. +The practices were held on the first Tuesday in December, and on each +successive Tuesday until St. Thomas's Day, when they had one extra. +If St. Thomas's Day fell on a Tuesday, then the extra practice would +be on Wednesday. He had received no notice of the change. + +Thomas Rabling rose and explained that at a meeting held last +Saturday, the singers had agreed to postpone the first practice in +view of Local Self-Government. Mr. James had been present and had +not objected. + +George William Oke--a blockmaker, who had never sung a carol or +attended a practice in his life--stood up and said, rather +unnecessarily, that this was the first _he'd_ heard of it. + +Old Pilot James, answering Mr. Rabling, admitted that he might have +been present at the meeting on Saturday. But he was deaf, as +everybody knew--and Mr. Rabling no less than the rest--and hadn't +heard a word of what was said. If he had, he should have objected. +But, deaf or not deaf, he still took a delight in singing; and, if +only as a matter of principle, he was going to sing, "_God rest you +merry, gentlemen_," then and there. He was an old man, and they +might turn him out if they liked; but he warned them it would be +brutal, and might lead to a summons. + +Well, the Chairman was making a long business of the nomination +papers: so just to pass the time we let the old man sing. It seemed +churlish, too, not to join in the chorus; and by and by the whole +meeting was singing with a will. We sang "_Tidings of Comfort and +Joy_," and "_I saw Three Ships_," and the _Cherry-tree Carol_, and +"_Dives and Lazarus_." We had come to that verse where Dives is +carried off to sit on the serpent's knee, when the Chairman rose and +said that only five of the nomination papers were spoilt, and he +declared sixty-seven ladies and gentlemen to be duly nominated. + +We all pricked up our ears at the word "ladies." However, there +turned out to be one lady only; and when the Chairman read out her +name, her husband--a naval pensioner, William Carclew--stood up and +explained that he had only meant it for a joke upon the old woman, +just to give her a start, and he hoped it would go no farther. +This seemed fair and natural enough; but the Chairman said if Mrs. +Carclew wished to withdraw her name she had better do so at once by +word of mouth. So Carclew had to run home and fetch her. While he +was gone we finished "_Dives and Lazarus_." + +In five minutes' time back came Carclew, followed by Mrs. Carclew, +who announced--in a rich brogue--that since her man had conspired to +put this fool's trick upon her, why now she would stand, begob! +"Arrah now, people, people, and a gay man he'll look houlding the +babby, while I'm afther superinthendin' the Parush!" So the +Chairman declared her duly nominated. It will surprise me if she +does not head the poll on the 17th. + +The Chairman now invited us to interrogate the candidates, if we +wished. By this time we were getting pretty well into the way of +Self-Government, and all enjoying it amazingly. Of course our lady +candidate, Mrs. Carclew, had the first few questions; but these were +mostly jocular and domestic, and I am bound to say the lady gave as +good as was brought. The only sensible question came from Old Pilot +James, who asked if she believed in the ballot. For his part he had +never given a vote for anybody since Forster brought in the ballot in +'seventy-one. He favoured peace and quiet; and he liked to walk up +to the hustings and give his vote, and hear 'em say, "Well done!" or +"You '--' old scoundrel!" as the case might be. He didn't mind being +called "a '--' old scoundrel," provided it was said to him by a +gentleman who weighed his words. Since Forster brought in the ballot +he had always gone to the poll regular. He always took his paper and +wrote opposite the names: "_Shan't say a word. Got my living to get. +Yours obediently, Matthias James_"--and would advise everybody else +to do the same. + +After him, Renatus Hansombody, carpenter, rose at the back of the +hall and announced that he had a question to put to the Doctor. +The Doctor, by the way, is one of the most popular of the candidates. + +"I should like," said Mr. Hansombody, "to ask the Doctor if he will +kindly explain to the company Clauses 5, 6, and 13 of the new Act?" + +The Chairman protested that this would occupy more time than the +meeting had to spare. + +"In that case," said Mr. Hansombody, "I will confine myself to a test +question. The Act provides that the Chairman of a Parish Meeting is +to be elected by the Meeting. Now suppose the votes for two +gentlemen are equal. In such a case what would the Doctor advise? +For until you have a Chairman elected, there is no Chairman to give a +casting vote." + +The Doctor thought that, since we had long ago elected a Chairman by +acclamation, the question was superfluous. + +"And you call him a straightforward man!" Mr. Hansombody exclaimed, +turning round on the Meeting. "What I say is, are we to have +pusillanimity in our first Parish Council? What I say is, that a +gentleman who gives a working man such an answer to such a +question--" + +At this point the door opened and a shrill voice asked, +"Is Hansombody here?" + +"I am here," said Hansombody, "to expose impostors!" + +"Because if so, he must please come home at once. Mrs. Hansombody's +cryin'-out!" + +"I always said," remarked Old Pilot James, "that this cussed Act +would scare half the women in the Parish before their time." + +"Beggin' your pard'n, Doctor," began his denouncer lamely. + +"Not at all, not at all," said the Doctor. "We must keep these +matters altogether outside the sphere of party politics." +(_Loud cheering_.) + +"Then I'll have to ask you to step along with me." + +The two political opponents picked up their hats, and left the room +together. + +The Chairman rose as the door closed behind them. "I think," he +said, "this should be a lesson to us to accept the Act in the spirit +in which it was given. If nobody else wishes to ask a question, I +will now take a show of hands: but I warn you all it'll be a dreary +business." + +At this, the first hint of tedium, the company rose, drained their +glasses, and made for the door, leaving the sixty-six remaining +candidates to vote for themselves. + + +"Well," Mr. Rabling said to me, as we stood in the street; "so far, +this here Parish Meeting might be like any other Parish Meeting in +the Kingdom!" + +I doubted, but did not contradict him. + +"There's one thing," he added; "Ironmonger Loveday has laid in a +whole stock of sixpenny fire-balloons for to-night: and there isn't a +breath of wind. His boy's very clever with the scissors and paste: +and he've a-stuck a tissue-paper text on each--'Success to the +Charter of our Liberties,' and 'Rule Britannia' and 'God Speed the +Plough'; and nothing more than the sixpence charged." + + +Simple, egregious, delectable town! As I leaned out last night, +watching the young moon and smoking the last pipe before bed-time, a +dozen of these gay balloons rose from the waterside and drifted on +the faint north wind, seaward, past my window. Another dozen +followed, and another, until from one point and another of the dark +shore a hundred balloons soared over the water, challenging the +stars. + + + +II.--THE SIMPLE SHEPHERD. + + + Troy Town, + 29 January, 1895. + +"And then, as he set the bowl of goat's milk on the board, that +simple Tyrolean turned to me with a magnificent sweep of the hand, +and exclaimed--" + +Ah, my dear Prince, if you could only tell me what he exclaimed, you +would restore a whole parish to its natural slumbers. For indeed he +is playing the deuce with our nights, here in Troy, that guileless +Tyrolean. + +How trivial are the immediate causes of great events! On New Year's +Day our excellent Vicar, having bought himself a Whitaker's Almanack +for 1895, presented his last year's copy to the Working Men's Reading +Room. In itself you would have thought this action of the Vicar's +signified no more than a generous desire to keep his parishioners +abreast of the times. In effect it inaugurated the Great Temperance +Movement in Troy--a social revolution of which we are only now, after +four long weeks, beginning to see the end. + +You must not, of course, suppose that we had never heard of +temperance before. No, Prince, we do not live so far from Abyssinia +as all _that_. In a general way we understood it to be a good thing, +and upon that ground (optimists that we are) believed its ultimate +success to be but a question of time. But I think I may say we never +regarded it as a pressing question--such as the reform of the House +of Lords, for instance. The general impression (I call it no more) +was that we should all be temperate sooner or later; possibly as the +next step after espousing our Deceased Wife's Sister. + +Well, our Vicar laid his copy of the 1894 almanack on the +reading-room table at 11.30 a.m., or thereabouts, looked over the +local papers for a few minutes, and left the building at ten minutes +to noon. I get this information from Matthias James, our respected +pilot, who happened to be in the room, reading the _Shipping +Gazette_. It is confirmed by Mr. Hansombody and four or five other +members. At noon precisely, Mr. Rabling (our gasman and an earnest +Methodist) came in. His eye, as it wandered round in search of an +unoccupied newspaper, was arrested by the scarlet and green binding +of Whitaker. He picked the book up, opened it casually, and read: + + The proof gallons of spirits distilled during the year ending + March 31st, 1893, were 10,691,576 in England, 20,107,077 in + Scotland, and 13,615,668 in Ireland. . . . + +He tells me he was on the point of closing the book as a voluptuous +work of fiction, when a second and even more dazzling paragraph took +his eye. + + The beer charged with duty in the United Kingdom was 32,104,320 + barrels, 532,047 barrels of which were exported on drawback, + leaving 31,572,283 barrels for home consumption. There were + also 38,580 barrels of beer, and 1,653 barrels of spruce + imported from abroad. + +And again: + + The spirits "retained for home consumption" in the year were:-- + rum, 4,268,438 gallons; brandy, 2,668,499 gallons; "other + sorts," 824,078 gallons. The home consumption of tobacco in the + year reached the total of 63,765,053 lbs. Though the tobacco + duty was reduced by 4d. a lb. in 1887-8, the annual yield + averages 1,336,240 pounds sterling more than it was ten years + ago. Smuggling still continues. . . . + +Mr. Rabling was declaiming aloud by this time, and when he read out +about the smuggling, one or two of his audience gazed up at the +ceiling and agreed that the fellow had some of his facts right. +Old Pilot James added that the book could hardly be a work of +fiction, since the Vicar had left it on the table, and the Vicar was +not one to scatter lies except upon due deliberation. + +Mr. Rabling left the room and walked straight up to the Vicarage, and +the Vicar assured him that the Customs Returns were almost as +accurate as if they had been prepared under a Conservative +Government. You must excuse these details, Prince. They are really +essential to the story. + +At 12.55 Mr. Rabling (after a hasty dinner) handed across the counter +of the post-office a telegram addressed to his religious +superintendent at Plymouth. The message ran: + + "Here anual consumption of beer over three milion barls. + Greatly distresd, Rabling." + +The telegraph clerk kindly corrected all the errors of spelling in +the above, save one, which escaped him. By "here" Mr. Rabling had +intended "hear" (_scilicet_ "I hear," or "we hear"). The answer +arrived from Plymouth within an hour. + +"Am sending missionary next train." + +Thus our Temperance movement began. The missionary arrived before +set of sun, borrowed a chair from Mr. Rabling, carried it down to the +town quay and mounted it. A number of children at once gathered +round, in the belief that the stranger intended a tumbling +performance. The missionary eyed them and began, "Ah, if I can once +get hold of you tender little ones--" an infelicitous opening, which +scattered them yelling, convinced that the Bogey-man had come for +them at last. Upon this he changed his tone and called "O Gomorrah!" +aloud several times in a rich baritone voice, which fetched quite a +little crowd of elders around him from the reading-room, the +fish-market, the "King of Prussia" Inn, and other purlieus of the +quay. + +Then the missionary gave us a most eloquent and inspiriting address, +in the course of which he mentioned that if all the beer annually +consumed in England were placed in bottles, and the bottles piled on +one another, it would reach within five hundred miles of the moon. +He asked us if this were not an intolerable state of things and a +disgrace to our boasted civilisation? Of course, there could be no +two questions about it. We are not unreasonable, down in Troy. +We only want a truth to be brought home to us. The missionary said +that if only a man would deny himself his morning glass, in eight +months he could buy himself a harmonium, besides being better in mind +and body. And he wound up by inviting us to attend a meeting in the +Town Hall that evening. + +Well, at the evening performance he made us all feel so uncomfortable +that, as soon as it was over, we held an informal gathering in the +bar of the "King of Prussia," and decided that temperance must be +given a fair trial. The missionary had laid particular stress on the +necessity of taking the rising generation and taking them early. +So we decided to try it first upon the children, and see how it +worked. + +The missionary was delighted with our zeal. (Our zeal has often +surprised and delighted strangers.) And he helped with a will. +Early next morning he organised what he called a "Little Drops of +Water League," and a juvenile branch of the Independent Order of Good +Templars, entitled the "Deeds not Words Lodge of Tiny Knights of +Abstinence." Each of these had its insignia. He sent us down the +patterns as soon as he returned to Plymouth, and within a week the +drapers' shops were full of little scarves and ribbons--white and +gold for the girls, pink and silver for the boys. By this time there +wasn't a child under fourteen but had taken the pledge; and as for +narrow blue ribbon, it could not be supplied fast enough. I heard +talk, too, of a juvenile fife-and-drum band; and the mothers had +already begun stitching banners for the processions. I tell you it +was pleasant, over a pipe and glass, to watch all these preparations, +and think how much better the world would be when the rising +generation came to take our places. + +But, of course, no popular movement ever took root in our town +without a "tea-drink" or some such public function. And you may +judge of our delight when, on applying to the Vicar, we heard that he +had been talking to the Squire, Sir Felix Felix-Williams, and Sir +Felix would gladly preside. Sir Felix suggested the following +programme--(1) A Public Lecture in the Town Hall, with a Magic +Lantern to exhibit the results of excessive drinking. The missionary +would lecture, and Sir Felix would take the chair. (2) The lecture +over, the children were to form outside in procession and march up +behind the Town Band to Sir Felix's great covered tennis-court, where +tea would be spread. + +I have mentioned the Magic Lantern and the Town Band, and must say a +word here on each. When the late Government set aside a sum of money +for Technical Instruction throughout the country, Sir Felix, who, as +our chief landlord, may be supposed to know best what we need, +decided that we needed to learn drawing. His idea was, by means of a +magic lantern, to throw the model upon a screen for the class to +copy; and in the heat of his enthusiasm he purchased two magic +lanterns at 25 pounds apiece before consulting the drawing-master, +who pointed out that a drawing-lesson, to be thorough, must be +conducted in a certain amount of light, whereas a magic lantern is +only effective in a dark room. So Sir Felix was left with two very +handsome lanterns on his hands, and burned for an opportunity of +turning them to account. Hence his alacrity in suggesting a lecture. + +As for the Town Band, it was started last autumn with a view to +rendering our little town more attractive than ever to summer +visitors. The bandsmen have practised sedulously through the winter, +and are making great strides; but--if fault must be found--I am sorry +that our bandmaster, Mr. Patrick Sullivan (an Irishman), left the +purchase and selection of the music to his brother, who lives in +London and plays the piccolo at one of the music-halls. The result-- +but you shall hear. + +Punctually at 3.30 p.m. last Wednesday, Sir Felix drove down to the +Town Hall in his brougham. The body of the Hall was already packed, +and the missionary busy on the platform with his lanterns and white +sheet. Mr. Rabling and an assistant stood ready to close the +shutters and turn up the gas at the proper moment. The band waited +outside; and as Sir Felix alighted, mounted the steps and entered the +hall, bowing to right and left with the air of a real patriarch, the +musicians crashed out the tune of-- + + They all take after me, + Take whisky in their tea. . . . + +Fortunately no one associated the tune with its words. Sir Felix +mounted the platform; and after sipping a little water (such was our +thoroughness that a glassful stood ready for each speaker), began to +introduce the lecturer, whose name he mispronounced. The missionary +was called Stubbs; and by what mnemonic process Sir Felix converted +this into Westmacott I have never been able to guess. However, for +purposes of introduction that afternoon Westmacott he was and +Westmacott he remained. Now Sir Felix, though not a very old man, +has a rambling habit of speech, and tends in public discourse to +forget alike the thread of his argument and the lapse of time. +Conceive then our delight on his announcing that he would confine +himself to a brief anecdote. + +"The beauty of temperance," said Sir Felix, "was once brought home to +me very forcibly in rather peculiar circumstances. Many years ago I +was travelling afoot in the Tyrol, and chancing to pass by a +shepherd's cottage, turned aside to inquire my way. The good people +of the house, with native hospitality, pressed me to tarry an hour +and partake of their mid-day meal. I acceded. The fare, as you may +suppose, was simple. There was no intoxicating liquor. But never +shall I forget the gesture or the words of that simple shepherd as he +placed a bowl of goat's milk before me on the board. His words--a +short sentence only--left such an impression on my mind that to this +day I never seat myself at table without repeating them to myself. +Three times a day for over thirty years I have repeated those words +and seen in imagination the magnificent gesture which accompanied +them. The words of my simple shepherd were--" + +(Here Sir Felix reproduced the simple shepherd's magnificent gesture, +and paused.) + +"And then," he pursued, "as he set the bowl of goat's milk on the +board, that simple Tyrolean turned to me with a magnificent sweep of +the hand"--gesture repeated--"and exclaimed--" + +Here followed a prolonged pause, and it slowly dawned upon the +audience that by a pardonable trick of memory Sir Felix was for the +moment unable to recall the words he had repeated thrice a day for +the last thirty years. + +The situation was awkward. At the back of the platform Mr. Rabling +rose to it. He had once a tenor voice of moderate calibre which he +was used to exert publicly in the days of Penny Readings. And the +word "Tyrolean" now suggested to him a national song which had long +reposed in his musical cabinet at home. He leaned forward, screened +his mouth with one hand and whispered-- + +"Sir Felix--" + +"Hey?" Sir Felix whipped round. + +"Did a' say" (with sudden and piercing jodel) "_Lul-ul-i-e-tee! +Lul-ul-i-ee! Lul-ul_--" + +Sir Felix stamped his foot; and I think we all felt glad for Rabling +at that moment that he held his cottage on a ninety-nine years' +lease. But the lecture was spoilt before it began. The missionary +piled his statistics to the moon, and turned down the gas, and showed +us "The Child: What will he become?" But we took no interest in that +question. The question for us was, What exactly did that simple +Tyrolese shepherd say to Sir Felix? And that is just what we have +been asking each other for a week past. + +Sir Felix recovered himself towards the close of the address, and at +the close acknowledged our vote of thanks in a pleasant little +speech--in which, however, his Tyrolean friend was not so much as +alluded to. It was pretty, too, to see the Little Knights of +Abstinence afterwards, with their sashes and banners, marching uphill +after the band, like so many children of Hamelin after the Pied +Piper. Only, my dear Prince, what tune do you think the band was +playing? Why-- + + Come where the booze is cheaper, + Come where the pints hold more . . .! + +The missionary, I am told, is already beginning to talk as if we +disappointed him. But this was certain to befall a man of one idea +in a place of so many varied interests. + + + +LEGENDS. + + + +I.--THE LEGEND OF SIR DINAR. + + +A puff of north-east wind shot over the hill, detached a late +December leaf from the sycamore on its summit, and swooped like a +wave upon the roofs and chimney-stacks below. It caught the smoke +midway in the chimneys, drove it back with showers of soot and +wood-ash, and set the townsmen sneezing who lingered by their hearths +to read the morning newspaper. Its strength broken, it fell prone +upon the main street, scattering its fine dust into fan-shaped +figures, then died away in eddies towards the south. Among these +eddies the sycamore leaf danced and twirled, now running along the +ground upon its edge, now whisked up to the level of the first-storey +windows. A nurse, holding up a three-year-old child behind the pane, +pointed after the leaf-- + +"Look--there goes Sir Dinar!" + + +Sir Dinar was the youngest son and the comeliest of King Geraint, who +had left Arthur's Court for his own western castle of Dingerein in +Roseland, where Portscatho now stands, and was buried, when his time +came, over the Nare, in his golden boat with his silver oars beside +him. To fill his siege at the Round Table he sent, in the lad's +sixteenth year, this Dinar, who in two years was made knight by King +Arthur, and in the third was turned into an old man before he had +achieved a single deed of note. + +For on the fifth day after he was made knight, and upon the Feast of +Pentecost, there began the great quest of the Sancgrael, which took +Sir Lancelot from the Court, Sir Perceval, Sir Bors, Sir Gawaine, Sir +Galahad, and all the flower of the famous brotherhood. And because, +after their going, it was all sad cheer at Camelot, and heavy, empty +days, Sir Dinar took two of his best friends aside, both young +knights, Sir Galhaltin and Sir Ozanna le Coeur Hardi, and spoke to +them of riding from the Court by stealth. "For," he said, "we have +many days before us, and no villainy upon our consciences, and +besides are eager. Who knows, then, but we may achieve this +adventure of the Sancgrael?" These listened and imparted it to +another, Sir Sentrail: and the four rode forth secretly one morning +before the dawn, and set their faces towards the north-east wind. + +The day of their departure was that next after Christmas, the same +being the Feast of Saint Stephen the Martyr. And as they rode +through a thick wood, it came into Sir Dinar's mind that upon this +day it was right to kill any bird that flew, in remembrance that when +Saint Stephen had all but escaped from the soldiers who guarded him, +a small bird had sung in their ears and awakened them. By this, the +sky was growing white with the morning, but nothing yet clear to the +sight: and while they pressed forward under the naked boughs, their +horses' hoofs crackling the frosted undergrowth, Sir Dinar was aware +of a bird's wing ruffling ahead, and let fly a bolt without warning +his companions; who had forgotten what morning it was, and drew rein +for a moment. But pressing forward again, they came upon a gerfalcon +lying, with long lunes tangled about his feet and through his breast +the hole that Sir Dinar's bolt had made. While they stooped over +this bird the sun rose and shone between the tree-trunks, and lifting +their heads they saw a green glade before them, and in the midst of +the glade three pavilions set, each of red sendal, that shone in the +morning. In the first pavilion slept seven knights, and in the +second a score of damsels, but by the door of the third stood a lady, +fair and tall, in a robe of samite, who, as they drew near to accost +her, inquired of them-- + +"Which of you has slain my gerfalcon?" + +And when Sir Dinar confessed and began to make his excuse, "Silly +knight!" said she, "who couldst not guess that my falcon, too, was +abroad to avenge the blessed Stephen. Or dost think that it was a +hawk, of all birds, that sang a melody in the ears of his guards?" + +With that she laughed, as if pacified, and asked of their affairs; +and being told that they rode in search of the Sancgrael, she laughed +again, saying-- + +"Silly knights all, that seek it before you be bearded! For three of +you must faint and die on the quest, and you, sir," turning to Sir +Dinar, "must many times long to die, yet never reach nearer by a +foot." + +"Let it be as God will," answered Sir Dinar. "But hast thou any +tidings, to guide us?" + +"I have heard," said she, "that it was seen latest in the land of +Gore, beyond Trent Water." And with her white finger she pointed +down a narrow glade that led to the north-west. So they thanked her +and pricked on, none guessing that she herself was King Urience' +wife, of Gore, and none other than Queen Morgan le Fay, the famous +enchantress, who for loss of her gerfalcon was lightly sending Sir +Dinar to his ruin. + +So all that day they rode, two and two, in the strait alley that she +had pointed out; and by her enchantments she made the winter trees to +move with them, serried close on either hand, so that, though the +four knights wist nothing of it, they advanced not a furlong for all +their haste. But towards nightfall there appeared close ahead a +blaze of windows lit and then a tall castle with dim towers soaring +up and shaking to the din of minstrelsy. And finding a great company +about the doors, they lit down from their horses and stepped into the +great hall, Sir Dinar leading them. For a while their eyes were +dazed, seeing that sconces flared along the walls and the place was +full of knights and damsels brightly clad, and the floor shone. +But while they were yet blinking, a band of maidens came and +unbuckled their arms and cast a shining cloak upon each; which was +hardly done when a lady came towards them out of the throng, and +though she was truly the Queen Morgan le Fay, they knew her not at +all, for by her necromancy she had altered her countenance. + +"Come, dance," said she, "for in an instant the musicians will +begin." + +The other three knights tarried awhile, being weary with riding; but +Sir Dinar stepped forward and caught the hand of a damsel, and she, +as she gave it, looked in his eyes and laughed. She was dressed all +in scarlet, with scarlet shoes, and her hair lay on her shoulders +like waves of burnished gold. As Sir Dinar set his arm about her, +with a crash the merry music began; and floating out with him into +the dance, her scarlet shoes twinkling and her tossed hair shaking +spices under his nostrils, she leaned back a little on his arm and +laughed again. + +Sir Galhaltin was leaning by the doorway, and he heard her laugh and +saw her feet twinkle like blood-red moths, and he called to Sir +Dinar. But Sir Dinar heard only the brassy music, nor did any of the +dancers turn their heads, though Sir Galhaltin called a second time +and more loudly. Then Sir Sentrail and Sir Ozanna also began to +call, fearing they knew not what for their comrade. But the guests +still drifted by as they were clouds, and Sir Dinar, with the red +blood showing beneath the down on his cheeks, smiled always and +whirled with the woman upon his arm. + +By and by he began to pant, and would have rested: but she denied +him. + +"For a moment only," he said, "because I have ridden far to-day." + +But "No" she said, and hung a little more heavily upon his arm, and +still the music went on. And now, gating upon her, he was +frightened; for it seemed she was growing older under his eyes, with +deep lines sinking into her face, and the flesh of her neck and bosom +shrivelling up, so that the skin hung loose and gathered in wrinkles. +And now he heard the voices of his companions calling about the door, +and would have cast off the sorceress and run to them. But when he +tried, his arm was welded around her waist, nor could he stay his +feet. + +The three knights now, seeing the sweat upon his white face and the +looks he cast towards them, would have broken in and freed him: but +they, too, were by enchantment held there in the doorway. So, with +their eyes starting, they must needs stay there and watch; and while +they stood the boards became as molten brass under Sir Dinar's feet, +and the hag slowly withered in his embrace; and still the music +played, and the other dancers cast him never a look as he whirled +round and round again. But at length, with never a stay in the +music, his partner's feet trailed heavily, and, bending forward, she +shook her white locks clear of her gaunt eyes, and laughed a third +time, bringing her lips close to his. And the poison of death was in +her lips as she set them upon his mouth. With that kiss there was a +crash. The lights went out, and the music died away in a wail: and +the three knights by the door were caught away suddenly and stunned +by a great wind. + + +Awaking, they found themselves lying in the glade where they had come +upon the three red pavilions. Their horses were cropping at the +turf, beside them, and Sir Dinar's horse stood in sight, a little way +off. But Sir Dinar was already deep in the forest, twirling and +spinning among the rotten leaves, and on his arm hung a corrupting +corpse. For a whole day they sought him and found him not (for he +heard nothing of their shouts), and towards evening mounted and rode +forward after the Sancgrael; on which quest they died, all three, +each in his turn. + +But Sir Dinar remained, and twirled and skipped till the body he held +was a skeleton; and still he twirled, till it dropped away piecemeal; +and yet again, till it was but a stain of dust on his ragged sleeve. +Before this his hair was white and his face wizened with age. + +But on a day a knight in white armour came riding through the forest, +leaning somewhat heavily on his saddle-bow: and was aware of an old +decrepit man that ran towards him, jigging and capering as if for +gladness, yet caught him by the stirrup and looked up with rheumy +tears in his eyes. + +"In God's name, who art thou?" asked the knight. He, too, was past +his youth; but his face shone with a marvellous glory. + +"I am young Sir Dinar, that was made a knight of the Round Table but +five days before Pentecost. And I know thee. Thou art Sir Galahad, +who shouldst win the Sancgrael: therefore by Christ's power rid me of +this enchantment." + +"I have not won it yet," Sir Galahad answered, sighing. "Yet, poor +comrade, I may do something for thee, though I cannot stay thy +dancing." + +So he stretched out his hand and touched Sir Dinar: and by his touch +Sir Dinar became a withered leaf of the wood. And when mothers and +nurses see him dancing before the wind, they tell this story of him +to their children. + + + +II.--"FLOWING SOURCE." + + +Master Simon's inn, the "Flowing Source"--"Good Entertainment for Man +and Beast"--leant over the riverside by the ferry, a mile and a half +above Ponteglos town. The fresh water of Cuckoo River met the salt +Channel tide right under its windows, by the wooden ladder where +Master Simon chained his ferry-boat. Fourteen miles inland, a brown +trout-stream singing down from the moors, plunged over a ledge of +rock into the cool depths of Cuckoo Valley. Thenceforward it ran by +beds of sundew, water-mint and asphodel, under woods so steeply +converging that the traveller upon the ridges heard it as the trickle +of water in a cavern. But just above Master Simon's inn the valley +widened out into arable and grey pasture land, and the river, too, +widened and grew deep enough to float up vessels of small tonnage at +the spring tides. In summer, from the bow-window of his coffee-room, +Master Simon could follow its course down through the meadows to the +church-tower of Ponteglos and the shipping congregated there about +the wharves, and watch in the middle distance the sails of a barge or +shallow trading-ketch moving among the haymakers. But from November +to March, when the floods were out, the "Flowing Source" stood above +an inland sea, with a haystack or two for lesser islets. Then the +river's course could be told only by a line of stakes on which the +wild fowl rested. The meadows were covered. Only a few clumps of +reed rose above the clapping water and shook in the northerly gales. +And then, when no guests came for weeks together, and the salt spray +crusted the panes so thickly that looking abroad became a weariness +of the spirit, Master Simon would reach down his long gun from the +chimney-piece and polish it, and having pulled on his wading-boots +and wrapped a large woollen comforter round his throat and another +round his head, would summon his tap-boy, unmoor the ferry-boat, and +go duck-shooting. For in winter birds innumerable haunt the +riverside here--wild duck, snipe, teal, and widgeon; curlews, +fieldfares, and plovers, both green and golden; rooks, starlings, +little white-rumped sandpipers; herons from the upper woods and gulls +from seaward. Master Simon had fine sport in the short days, and the +inn might take care of itself, which it was perfectly well able to +do. Its foundations rested on sunken piles of magnificent girth--"as +stout as myself," said Master Simon modestly--and on these it stood +so high that even the great flood of 'fifty-nine had overlapped the +kitchen threshold but once, at the top of a spring tide with a +north-westerly gale behind it; and then had retreated within the +hour. "It didn't put the fire out," boasted Master Simon. + +He was proud of his inn, and for some very good reasons. To begin +with, you would not find another such building if you searched +England for a year. It consisted almost wholly of wood; but of such +wood! The story went that on a blowing afternoon, in the late autumn +of 1588, two Spanish galleons from the Great Armada--they had been +driven right around Cape Wrath--came trailing up the estuary and took +ground just above Ponteglos. Their crews landed and marched inland, +and never returned. Some say the Cornishmen cut them off and slew +them. For my part, I think it more likely that these foreigners +found hospitality, and very wisely determined to settle in the +country. Certain it is, you will find in the upland farms over +Cuckoo Valley a race of folks with olive complexions, black curling +hair and beards, and Southern names--Santo, Hugo, Jago, Bennett, +Jose. . . . + +At all events, the Spanyers (Spaniards) never came back to their +galleons, which lay in the ooze by the marsh meadows until the very +birds forgot to fear them, and built in their rigging. By the Roles +d'Oleron--which were, in effect, the maritime laws of that period-- +all wrecks or wreckage belonged to the Crown when neither an owner +nor an heir of a late owner could be found for it. But in those days +the king's law travelled lamely through Cornwall; so that when, in +1605, these galleons were put up to auction and sold by the Lord of +the Manor--who happened to be High Sheriff--nobody inquired very +closely where the money went. It is more to the point that the +timber of them was bought by one Master Blaise--never mind the +surname; he was an ancestor of Master Simon's, and a well-to-do +wool-comber of Ponteglos. + +This Master Blaise already rented the ferry-rights by Flowing Source, +and certain rights of fishery above and below; and having a younger +son to provide for, he conceived the happy notion of this hostelry +beside the river. For ground-rent he agreed to carry each Michaelmas +to the Lord of the Manor one penny in a silk purse; and the lord's +bailiff, on bringing the receipt, was to take annually of Master +Blaise and his heirs one jack of ale of the October brewing and one +smoke-cured salmon of not less than fifteen pounds' weight. +These conditions having been duly signed, in the year 1606 Master +Blaise laid the foundations of his inn upon the timbers of one +galleon and set up the elm keelson of the other for his roof-tree. +Its stout ribs, curving outwards and downwards from this magnificent +balk, supported the carvel-built roof, so that the upper half of the +building appeared--and indeed was--a large inverted hull, decorated +with dormer windows, brick chimneys, and a round pigeon-house +surmounted by a gilded vane. The windows he took ready-made from the +Spaniard's bulging stern-works. And for signboard he hung out, +between two bulging poop-lanterns, a large bituminous painting on +panel, that had been found on board the larger galleon, and was +supposed to represent the features of her patron, Saint Nicholas +Prodaneli. But the site of the building had always been known as +Flowing Source, and by this name and no other Master Blaise's inn was +called for over two hundred years. + +By this time its timber roof had clothed itself with moss upon the +north side, and on the west the whole framework inclined over the +river, as though the timbers of the old galleon regretted their +proper element and strained towards it tenderly, quietly, +persistently. But careful patching and repairing had kept the +building to all appearance as stout as ever; and any doubts of its +stability were dispelled in a moment by a glance at Master Simon, the +landlord. Master Simon's age by parish register fell short of forty, +but he looked at least ten years older: a slow man with a promising +stomach and a very satisfactory balance at the bank; a notable +breeder of pigeons and fisher of eels. He could also brew strong +ale, and knew exactly how salmon should be broiled. He had heard +that the world revolves, and decided to stand still and let it come +round to him. Certainly a considerable number of its inhabitants +found their way to the "Flowing Source" sooner or later. Marketers +crossed the ferry and paused for a morning drink. In the cool of the +day quiet citizens rambled up from Ponteglos with rod and line, or +brought their families by boat on the high evening tide to eat cream +and junket, and sit afterwards on the benches by the inn-door, +watching the fish rise and listening to the song of the young people +some way up stream. Painters came, too, and sketched the old inn, +and sometimes stayed for a week, having tasted the salmon. +Pigeon-breeders dropped in and smoked long pipes in the kitchen with +Master Simon, and slowly matured bets and matches. And once or twice +in the summer months a company of pilgrims would arrive--queer +literary men in velveteen coats, who examined all the rooms and +furniture as though they meant to make a bid for the inn complete; +who talked with outlandish tongues and ordered expensive dinners, and +usually paid for them next morning, rather to Master Simon's +surprise. It appeared that there had been once, in the time of +Master Simon's grandfather, a certain pot-boy at the "Flowing Source" +who ran off into the world and became a great poet; and these +pilgrimages were made in his honour. Master Simon found this story +somehow very creditable to himself, and came in time to take +almost as much pride in it as in his pigeons and broiled salmon. +Regularly after dinner on these occasions he would exhibit an old +pewter pint-pot to the pilgrims, and draw their attention to the +following verse, scratched upon it--as he asserted--by the poet's own +hand: + + Who buys beef buys bones, + Who buys land buys stones, + Who buys eggs buys shels, + But who buys ale buys nothing els. + +And the pilgrims feigned credulity according as they valued Master +Simon's opinion of their intelligence. + +But most welcome of all were the merchant-captains from Ponteglos, +among whom custom had made it a point of honour to report themselves +at the "Flowing Source" within twenty-four hours after dropping +anchor by Ponteglos Quay. When or why or how the custom arose nobody +was old enough to remember; but a master mariner would as soon have +thought of sailing without log or leadline as of putting in and out +of Ponteglos without tasting Master Simon's ale--"calling for +orders," as they put it. Master Simon had never climbed a sea-going +ship except to shake hands with a friend and wish him good passage +and return to shore with the pilot; but the teak walls of his parlour +were lined with charts of such very remote parts of the globe, and +his shelves with such a quantity of foreign china and marine +curiosities, and he spoke so familiarly of Galapagos, Batavia, Cape +Verde, the Horn, the Straits of Magellan, and so forth, and would +bring his telescope so knowingly to bear on the gilt weathercock over +Ponteglos church tower, that until you knew the truth you would have +sworn half his life had been spent on the quarter-deck. And while +the sea-captains--serious men, attired in blue cloth, wearing rings +in their ears--sat and smoked canaster and other queer tobaccos in +painted china pipes, and talked of countries whose very names +conjured up visions of parrots, and carved idols, and sharks, and +brown natives in flashing canoes, Master Simon would put a shrewd +question or two and wag his head over the answers as a man who hears +just what he expected. And sometimes towards the close of the +sitting, if he knew his company very well, he would reward them with +his favourite and only song, "The Golden Vanitee": + + A ship I have got in the North Countree, + And I had her christened the Golden Vanitee; + O, I fear she's been taken by a Spanish Gal-a-lee, + As she sailed by the Lowlands low! + +In some hazy way he had persuaded himself that the Spanish galleon of +the ballad was the very ship whose timbers over-arched him and his +audience; and for the moment, being himself inverted (so to speak) by +the potency of his own singing, he blew out his chest and straddled +out his thick calves and screwed up his eyes, quite as if his +roof-tree were right-side-up once more in blue water, and he on deck +beside the weather-rail. But the mood began to pass as soon as he +bolted the front door behind his guests, and Ann the cook poured him +out his last cup of mulled ale and withdrew with the saucepan. +And another noon would find him seated under his leaning house-front, +his eyes half-closed, his attention divided between the whisper of +the tide and the murmur in the pigeon-cotes overhead, his body at +ease and his soul content. His was a happy life--or had been, but +for two crumpled rose-leaves. + +To begin with, there were those confounded pot-boys. It puzzled +Master Simon almost as much as it annoyed him; he paid fair wages and +passed for a good employer; but he could not keep a pot-boy for +twelve months. As a matter of fact, I know the river to have been +the bottom of the mischief--the river, and perhaps the talk of the +ship-captains. It might satisfy Master Simon to sit and watch the +salmon passing up in autumn towards their spawning beds, and rubbing, +as they went, their scales against his landing-stage to clear them of +the sea-lice; to watch them and their young passing seaward in the +early spring; to watch and wait and spread his nets in the due +season. But for the youngsters this running water was a constant +lure--the song of it and the dimple on it. It coaxed them, as it +coaxed the old galleon, to lean over and listen. And the moment that +listening became intolerable, they were off. Only one of them--the +poet before mentioned--had ever expressed any desire to return and +revisit-- + + The shining levels and the dazzled wave + Emerging from his covert, errant long, + In solitude descending by a vale + Lost between uplands, where the harvesters + Pause in the swathe, shading their eyes to watch + Some barge or schooner stealing up from sea; + Themselves in sunset, she a twilit ghost + Parting the twilit woods . . + + Ah, loving God! + Grant, in the end, this world may slip away + With whisper of that water by the bows + Of such a bark, bearing me home--thy stars + Breaking the gloom like kingfishers, thy heights + Golden with wheat, thy waiting angels there + Wearing the dear rough faces of my kin! + +I doubt if he meant it, any more than Virgil meant his "_flumina amem +silvasque inglorius_." At any rate, the public knew what was due to +itself, and when the time came, gave the man a handsome funeral in +Westminster Abbey. Among his pall-bearers walked the Prime Minister, +the Commander-in-Chief, the President of the Royal Academy of Arts, +and (as representing rural life) the Chief Secretary of Foreign +Affairs. + +What else disturbed the placid current of Master Simon's cogitations? +Why, this: he was the last of his race, and unmarried. + +For himself, he had no inclination to marry. But sometimes, as he +shaved his chin of a morning, the reflection in his round mirror +would suggest another. Was he not neglecting a public duty? + +Now there dwelt down at Ponteglos a Mistress Prudence Waddilove, a +widow, who kept the "Pandora's Box" Inn on the quay--a very tidy +business. Master Simon had known her long before she married the +late Waddilove; had indeed sat on the same form with her in + infants' school--she being by two years his junior, but always a +trifle quicker of wit. He attended her husband's funeral in a +neighbourly way, and, a week later, put on his black suit again and +went down--still in a neighbourly way--to offer his condolence. +Mistress Prudence received him in the best parlour, which smelt damp +and chilly in comparison with the little room behind the bar. +Master Simon remarked that she must be finding it lonely. +Whereupon she wept. + +Master Simon suggested that he, for his part, had tried +pigeon-breeding, and found that it alleviated solitude in a wonderful +manner. "There's my tumblers. If you like, I'll bring you down a +pair. They're pretty to watch. Of course, a husband is different--" + +"Of course," Mistress Prudence assented, her grief too recent to +allow a smile even at the picture of the late Waddilove (a man of +full habit) cleaving the air with frequent somersaults. She added, +not quite inconsequently: + +"He is an angel." + +"Of course," said Master Simon, in his turn. + +"But I think," she went on, quite inconsequently, "I would rather +have a pair of carriers." + +"Now, why in the world?" wondered Master Simon. He kept carrier +pigeons, to be sure. He kept pigeons of every sort--tumblers, +pouters, carriers, Belgians, dragons . . . the subdivisions, when you +came to them, were endless. But the carriers were by no means his +show-birds. He kept them mainly for the convenience of Ann the cook. +Ann had a cunning eye for a pigeon, and sometimes ventured a trifle +of her savings on a match; and though in his masculine pride he never +consulted her, Master Simon always felt more confident on hearing +that Ann had put money on his bird. Now, when a match took place at +some distant town or flying-ground, Ann would naturally be anxious to +learn the result as quickly as possible; and Master Simon, finding +that the suspense affected her cookery, had fallen into the habit of +taking a hamper of carriers to all distant meetings and speeding them +back to "Flowing Source" with tidings of his fortune. Apart from +this office--which they performed well enough--he took no special +pride in them. The offer of a pair of his pet tumblers, worth their +weight in gold, had cost him an effort; and when Mistress Prudence, +ordinarily a clear-headed woman, declared that she preferred +carriers, she could hardly have astonished him more by asking for a +pair of stock-doves. + +"Oh, certainly," he answered, and went home and thought it over. +Women were a puzzle; but he had a dim notion that if he could lay +hand on the reason why Mistress Prudence preferred ordinary carriers +to prize tumblers, he would hold the key to some of the secrets of +the sex. He thought it over for three days, during which he smoked +more tobacco than was good for him. At about four o'clock in the +afternoon of the third day, a smile enlarged his face. He set down +his pipe, smacked his thigh, stood up, sat down again, and began to +laugh. He laughed slowly and deliberately--not loudly--for the +greater part of that evening, and woke up twice in the night and +shook the bedclothes into long waves with his mirth. + +Next morning he took two carriers from the cote, shut them in a +hamper, and rowed down to Ponteglos with his gift. But Mrs. +Waddilove was not at home. She had started early by van for +Tregarrick (said the waitress at the "Pandora's Box") on business +connected with her husband's will. "No hurry at all," said Master +Simon. He slipped a handful of Indian corn under the lid, and left +the hamper "with his respects." + +Then he rowed home, and spent the next two days after his wont; the +only observable difference being the position of his garden chair. +It stood as a rule under the shadow of the broad eaves, but now +Master Simon ordered the tap-boy to carry it out and set it by a +rustic table close to the river's brink, whence, as he smoked, he +could keep comfortable watch upon the pigeon-cote. + +"You'll catch a sunstroke," said Ann the cook. "I hope you're not +beginning to forget how to take care of yourself." + +"Well, I hope so too," Master Simon answered; but he did not budge. + +On the morning of the third day, however, he saw that which made him +step indoors and mount to the attic under the cote. Having opened +with much caution a trap-door in the roof, he slipped an arm out and +captured a carrier pigeon. + +The bird carried a note folded small and bound under its wing with a +thread of silk. Master Simon opened the note and read: + + If you loves me as I loves you, + No knife can cut our loves in two. + +He had prepared himself for a hearty chuckle; but he broke out with a +profuse perspiration instead. "Oh, this is hustling a man!" he +ingeminated, staring round the empty attic like a rabbit seeking a +convenient hole. "Not three weeks buried!" he added, with another +groan, and began to loosen his neck-cloth. + +While thus engaged, he heard a flutter above the trap-door, and a +second pigeon alighted, with a second note, also bound with a silken +thread. + +"Lor-a-mercy!" gasped Master Simon. + +But the second note was written in a different hand, and ran as +follows: + +"_I could die of shame. It was all that hussy of a girl. She did it +for a joke. I'll joke her. But what will you be thinking?--P. W._" + + +Master Simon rowed down to Ponteglos that very afternoon, and the two +carriers went back with him. Happiness seemed to have shaken its +wings and quite departed from "Pandora's Box"; but a twinkle of +something not entirely unlike hope lurked in the corners of the +waitress's eyes--albeit their lids were red and swollen--as she +ushered Master Simon into the best parlour. + +"What can you be thinking of me?" began the widow. _Her_ eyes were +red and swollen, too. + +"I've brought back the pigeons." + +"I can never bear the sight of them again!" + +"You might begin different, you know," suggested Master Simon, +affably. "Some little message about the weather, for instance. +Have you given that girl warning to leave?" + +"You see, I'm so lonely here . . ." + + +Some three months after this, and on an exceptionally fine morning in +September, Master Simon put Harmony, his celebrated almond hen, into +her travelling hamper, and marched over to the crossroads to take +coach for Illogan, in the mining district, where the matches for the +championship cup were to be flown that year. + +Now Ann the cook had ventured no less than five pounds upon Harmony. +Five pounds represented a half of her annual wage, and a trifle less +than half of her annual savings. Therefore she spent the greater +part of the following afternoon at her window, gazing westward in no +small perturbation of spirit. + +It wanted a few minutes to five when a carrier pigeon came travelling +across the zenith, shot downwards suddenly, and alighted on the roof. +Ann climbed to the trap-door and put out a hand. The bird was +preening his feathers, and allowed himself to be taken easily. + +In circumstances less agitating Ann had not failed to observe that +the thread about the messenger's wing was not of the kind that Master +Simon used. But her eyes opened wide as they fell on the +handwriting, and still wider as she read: + +"_It is all for the best, perhaps. If only people have not begun to +talk_.--Prudence." + +A second messenger arrived towards evening with word of Harmony's +success. But the news hardly relaxed Ann's brow, which kept a +pensive contraction even when her master arrived next evening and +poured out her winnings on the table from the silver challenge cup. + +She wore this frown at intervals for a fortnight, and all the while +maintained an unusual silence which puzzled Master Simon. Then one +morning he heard her in the kitchen scolding the tap-boy with all her +pristine heartiness. That night, after mulling her master's ale, she +turned at the door, saucepan in hand, and coughed to attract +attention. + +"Well, Ann; what is it?" + +"You've been philanderin'." + +"Hey! Upon my word, Ann--" + +Ann produced the Widow Waddilove's note and flattened it out under +Master Simon's eyes. And Master Simon blushed painfully. + +"Are you goin' to marry the woman?" Ann demanded. + +"I think not." + +"I reckon you will." + +"Well, you see, there has been a hitch. She won't leave the +'Pandora's Box,' and I'm not going to budge from 'Flowing Source.' +If a woman won't put herself out to that extent--Besides, she cooks +no better than you." + +"Not so well. You wasn't thinking, by any chance, o' marrying _me_?" + +"Ann, you're perfectly brazen! Well, no; to tell you the plain +truth, I wasn't." + +"That's all right; because I've gone and promised myself to a young +farmer up the valley." + +"What's his name?" + +"I shan't tell you; for the reason that I've a second to fall back +on, if I find on acquaintance that the first won't do. But first or +second, I'll marry one or t'other at the month-end, and so I give you +notice." + +Master Simon sighed. "Well! well! I must get on as best I can with +Tom for a while." Tom was the tap-boy. + +"Tom's going, too. I bullied him so this morning that he means to +give notice to-morrow; that is, if he don't save himself the trouble +by running off to sea." + +"The twelfth in five years!" ejaculated Master Simon, stopping his +pipe viciously. + +"And small blame to them! Married man or mariner--that's what a boy +is born for. Better dare wreck or wedlock than sit here and talk +about both. Take my advice, master, and marry the widow!" + + +Ann carried out her own matrimonial programme, at any rate, with +spirit and determination. Finding the first young farmer +satisfactory, she espoused him at the end of the month, and turned +her back on "Flowing Source." And Tom the tap-boy fulfilled her +prophecy and ran away to sea. And the old inn leaned after him until +its timbers creaked. And the autumn floods rose and covered the +meadows. + +Master Simon sat and smoked, and made his own bed, and accomplished +some execrable cookery in the intervals of oiling his duck-gun. +Even duck-shooting becomes a weariness when a man has to manage gun +and punt single-handed. One afternoon he abandoned the sport in an +exceedingly bad temper, and pulled up to the jaws of Cuckoo Valley. +Here he landed, and after an hour's trudge in the marshy bottoms had +the luck to knock over two couple of woodcock. + +He rowed back with his spoil, and was making fast to the ferry steps, +when a thought struck him. He shipped the paddles again, and pulled +down to Ponteglos. The short day was closing, and already a young +moon glimmered on the floods. + + +The woodcock were cooked to a turn; juicier birds never reclined on +toast. The waitress removed the cloth and returned with a kettle; +retired and returned again with a short-necked bottle, a glass and +spoon, sugar, a nutmeg, and a lemon; retired with a twinkle in her +eye. + +"To fortify you!" said Mistress Prudence, rubbing a lump of sugar +gently on the lemon-rind. + +"The night air," Master Simon murmured. + +"--Against the damp house you're going back to," the lady corrected. + +"You talk without giving it a trial." + +"As you talk, in your parlour, of deep-sea voyages." + +"As a ship's captain you would respect me perhaps?" + +"No, for you haven't the head. But I should like your pluck. +If I saw you setting off for sea in earnest, I would run out and give +you a chance to steer a woman instead of a ship. You would find her +safer." + +Master Simon emptied his glass, rose, and wound his great comforter +about his neck. The widow saw him to the door. + +"You're a very obstinate woman," he said. + +And with this he unmoored his boat and rowed resolutely homewards. +A strong wind came piping down on the back of a strong tide, and +Master Simon arched his shoulders against it. + +"Married man or mariner!" it piped, as he rounded the first bend. + +"I know my own mind, I believe," said Master Simon to himself. +"There's as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it; and for +salmon, 'Flowing Source' will beat Christchurch any day, I've always +maintained." + +"Married man or mariner!" piped the wind in the words of Ann the +cook. + +Master Simon pulled his left paddle hard and rounded the second bend. + +"Married man or mar--" + +Crash! + +His heels flew up and his head struck the bottom-boards. Then, in a +moment, the boat was gone, and a rush of water sang in his ears and +choked him. He saw a black shadow overhanging, and clutched at it. + + +Mistress Prudence stood in her doorway on the quay, as Master Simon +had left her. In the room above, the waitress blew out her candle, +drew up the blind, and opened her window to the moonlight. + +"Selina!" the mistress called. + +Selina thrust out her head. + +"What's that coming down the river?" + +A black, unshapely mass was moving swiftly down towards the quay. + +"I think 'tis a haystack," Selina whispered, and then, "Lord save us +all, there's a man on it!" + +"A man?" cried the widow, shrilly. "What man?" + +A voice answered the question, calling for help out of the river--a +voice that she knew. + +"What is it?" she called back. + +"I think," quavered Master Simon, "I think 'tis the roof o' 'Flowing +Source'!" + +Mistress Prudence ran down the quay steps, cast off the first boat +that lay handy, and pulled towards the dark mass sweeping seaward. +As it crossed ahead of her bows, she dropped the paddles, ran to the +painter, and flung it forward with all her might. + + +The "Pandora's Box" Inn stands on Ponteglos Quay to this day. And +all that is left of "Flowing Source" hangs on the wall of its best +parlour--four dark oak timbers forming a frame around a portrait, the +portrait of a woman of middle age and comfortable countenance. +In the right-hand top corner of the picture, in letters of faded +gold, runs the legend--VXOR BONA INSTAR NAVIS. + + + +EXPERIMENTS. + + + +I.--A YOUNG MAN'S DIARY. + + +_Monday, Sept. 7th_, 189-. I am one year old to-day. + +I imagine that most people regard their first birthday as something +of an event; a harvest-home of innocence, touched with I know not how +delicate a bloom of virginal anticipation; of emotion too volatile +for analysis, or perhaps eluding analysis by its very simplicity. +But whatever point the festival might have had for me was rudely +destroyed by my parents, who chose this day for jolting me back to +London in a railway-carriage. We have just arrived home from +Newquay, Cornwall, where we have been spending the summer holidays +for the sake of my health, as papa has not scrupled to blurt out, +once or twice, in my presence. + +There is a strain of coarseness in papa; or perhaps I should say--for +the impression it leaves is primarily negative, as of something +_manque_--an incompleteness in the sensitive equipment. As yet it +can hardly be said to embarrass me; though I foresee a time when I +shall have to apologise for it to strangers. There is nothing absurd +in this. If a man may take pride in his ancestry, why may he not +apologise for his papa? My papa will be forgiven, for he is so +splendidly virile! He left our compartment at Bristol and did not +return again until the train stopped at Swindon for him to eat a bun. +In the interval, mamma took me from nurse and endeavoured to hush me +by singing-- + + Father's gone a-hunting. . . . + +Which was untrue, for he had lit a pipe and withdrawn to a smoking +compartment. My nurse--an egregious female--had previously remarked, +"The dear child _do_ take such notice of the puff-puff!" As a matter +of fact, I took no interest in the locomotive; but I had observed it +sufficiently to be sure that it offered no facilities for hunting. +A few months ago I might have accepted the explanation: for our +family has affinity with what is vulgarly termed the upper class, and +my father inherits its crude and primitive instincts; among them a +passion for the chase. His appearance, as he returned to our +compartment, oppressed me for the hundredth time with a sense of its +superabundant and even riotous vitality. His cheeks were glowing, +and his whiskers sprouted like cabbages on either side of his +otherwise clean-shaven face. An indefinable flavour of the sea +mingled with the odour of tobacco which he diffused about the +carriage. It seemed as if the virile breezes of that shaggy Cornish +coast still blew about him; and I felt again that constriction of the +chest from which I had suffered during the past month. + +After all, it is good to be back in London! Newquay, with its +obvious picturesqueness, its violent colouring, its sands, rocks, +breakers and by-laws regulating the costume of bathers, merely +exasperated my nerves. How far more subtle the appeal of these grey +and dun-coloured opacities, these tent-cloths of fog pressed out into +uncouth, dumbly pathetic shapes by the struggle for existence that +seethes below it always--always! Decidedly I must begin to-morrow to +practise walking. It seems a necessary step towards acquainting +myself with the inner life of these inchoate millions, which must be +well worth knowing. Papa, on arriving at our door, plunged into an +altercation with a cab-tout. What a man! And yet sometimes I could +find it in my heart to envy his robustness, his buoyancy. A Huntley +and Palmer's Nursery Biscuit in a little hot water has somewhat +quieted my nerves, which suffered cruelly during the scene. +I believe I shall sleep to-night. + +_Tuesday, 8th_. The beginning of _Sturm und Drang_; I am learning to +walk. Moreover I have surprised in myself, during the day, a +tendency to fall in love with my nurse. On the pretence that walking +might give me bandy legs she caught me up and pressed me to her +bosom. We have no affinities; indeed, beyond cleanliness and a +certain unreasoning honesty, she can be said to possess no attributes +at all. I am convinced that a serious affection for her could only +flourish on an intellectual atrophy; and yet for a while I abandoned +myself. We went out into the bright streets together, and it was +delicious to be propelled by her strong arms. We halted, on our way +to Kensington Gardens, to listen to a German band. The voluptuous +waltz-music affected me strangely, and I was sorry that, owing to my +position in the vehicle, her face was hidden from me. In the midst +of my ecstasy, a square object on wheels came round the street +corner. It was painted a bright vermilion and bore the initials of +K.V.--"Kytherea Victrix!" I cried in my heart; but as it passed, at a +slow pace, it rained a flood of tears upon the dusty road-way. +For some time after I sat in a strange calm, but with a sensation in +the region of the diaphragm as if I had received a severe blow; and +in truth I had. But the shock was salutary, and by the time that +nurse and I were seated together by the Round Pond, I was able to +listen to her talk without a quiver of the eyelids. Poor soul! +What malefic jest of Fate led her to select the story of +Georgie-Porgie? + + Georgie-Porgie, pudding and pie. . . . + +It is as irrelevant as life itself. + + Georgie-Porgie, pudding and pie, + Kissed the girls and made them cry. . . . + +Why pudding? Why pie? Why--if you ask this--why _any_ realism? +These concrete accidents solidify a thin and abstract love-story for +our human comprehension. Or are they, perchance, symbolical? +Georgie-Porgie's promises, like pie-crust, were made to be broken. +He-- + + Kissed the girls and made them cry. + When the girls came out to play, + Georgie-Porgie ran away. + +--Simple solution of the difficulty! And I am already learning to +walk! Poor woman! + +_Wednesday, 9th_. I am troubled whenever I reflect on the subject of +heredity. It terrifies me to think that I may grow up to resemble +papa. Mamma, too, is hardly less a savage: she wore diamonds in her +hair when she came up to the nursery, late last night, to look at me. +She believed that I was asleep; but I wasn't, and I never in my life +felt so sorry that I couldn't speak. The appalling barbarism of +those trinkets! I got out of the cradle and rocked myself to sleep. + +It is raining this afternoon--the sky weeping like a Corot--and +I am forced to stay indoors and affect an interest in Noah and his +ark! Nurse's father came up and accosted her in the Gardens this +morning. He is one of the Submerged Tenth, and extremely +interesting. On the threat of running off with me and pitching me +neck and crop into the Round Pond, he extracted half a crown from +her. She gave him the coin docilely. I found myself almost hoping +that he would raise his price, that I might discover how much the +poor creature was ready to sacrifice for my sake. She is looking +pale this afternoon; but this may be because I cried half the night +and kept her awake. The fact is, I was cutting a tooth. I have +given up learning to walk; but have some idea of trying somnambulism +instead. + +_Thursday, 10th_. To-day I was spanked for the first time. When I +have stopped crying, I mean to analyse my sensations. Sometimes, in +Kensington Gardens, I feel like a boy who is never growing up. . . + + + +II.--THE CAPTAIN FROM BATH. + + +Extract from the Memoirs of GABRIEL FOOT, Highwayman. + +Our plan of attack upon Nanscarne House was a simple one. + +The old baronet, Sir Harry Dinnis, took a just pride in his +silver-ware. Some of it dated from Elizabeth: for Sir Harry's +great-great-grandfather, as the unhappy alternative of melting it +down for King Charles, had taken arms against his Majesty and come +out of the troubles of those times with wealth and credit. + +The house, too, was Elizabethan, shaped like the letter L, and, like +that letter, facing eastward. The longer arm, which looked down the +steep slope of the park, contained the entrance-hall, chapel, +dining-hall, principal living-rooms, and kitchens. + +The ground-floor of the other (and to us more important) arm was +taken up by the housekeeper's rooms, audit-room and various offices, +the butler's bedroom, and the strong-room, where the plate lay. +On the upper floor a long gallery full of pictures ran from end to +end, with a line of doors on the southern side, all opening into +bedrooms, except one which led to the back-stairs. + +Now, properly speaking, the strong-room was no strong-room at all. +It had an ordinary deal door and an ordinary country-made lock. +But in some ways it was very strong indeed. The only approach to it +on the ground-floor lay through the butler's bedroom, of which you +might call it but a cupboard. It had no window, and could not +therefore be attacked from outside. The very small amount of light +that entered it filtered through a pane of glass in the wall of the +back-staircase, which ran up close behind. + +I have said enough, I hope, for any reflective man to draw the +conclusion that, since we desired no unpleasantness with the butler +(a man between fifty and sixty, and notoriously incorruptible), our +only plan was to make an entrance upstairs by the long window at the +end of the picture gallery or corridor--whichever you choose to call +it--descend the back-stairs, remove the pane of glass from the wall, +and gain the strong-room through the opening. + +The house was dark from end to end, and the stable clock had just +chimed the quarter after midnight, when I went up the ladder. +I never looked for much carefulness in this honest country household, +but I did expect to spend twenty minutes on the heavy lead-work of +the lower panes, and it seemed as good as a miracle to find the +lattice unlatched and opening to the first gentle pull. I pressed it +back; hitched it under a stem of ivy that the wind might not slam it +after me; and, signalling down to Jimmy at the foot of the ladder to +wait for my report, pulled myself over the sill and dropped softly +into the gallery. + +And then somebody stepped quickly from behind the heavy window +curtain, reached out, shut the lattice smartly behind me, and said +composedly-- + +"Show a light, Jenkins, and let us have a look at the gentleman." + +Though it concerned my neck, I was taken too quickly aback to stir; +but stood like a stuck pig, while the butler fumbled with his +tinder-box. + +"Light _all_ the candles!" + +"If it please you, Sir Harry," Jenkins answered, puffing at the +tinder. + +The first thing I saw by the blue light of the brimstone match was +the barrel of old Sir Harry's pistol glimmering about six inches from +my nose. On my left stood a long-legged footman, also with a pistol. +But all this, though discomposing, was no more than I had begun to +expect. What really startled me, as old Jenkins lit the candles, was +the sight of two women standing a few paces off, beneath a tall +picture of a gentleman with a big lace collar. One of them, a short +woman with a bunchy shape, I recognised for the housekeeper. +The other I guessed as quickly to be Sir Harry's daughter, Mistress +Kate--a tall and slender young lady, dark-haired, and handsome as any +man could wish. She was wrapped in a long travelling-cloak, the hood +of which fell a little off her shoulders, allowing a glimpse of white +satin. A train of white satin reached below the cloak, and coiled +about her pretty feet. + +Now, the change from darkness to very bright light--for Jenkins went +down the gallery lighting candle after candle, as if for a big +reception--made us all wink a bit. And excitement would account for +the white of the young lady's cheeks--I dare say I had turned pretty +pale myself. But it did not seem to me to account for the look of +sheer blank astonishment--no, it was more than this; a wild kind of +wonder would be nearer the mark--that came into her eyes and stayed +there. And I didn't quite see why she should put a hand suddenly +against the wainscot, and from sickly white go red as fire and then +back to white again. If they were sitting up for housebreakers, I +was decidedly a better-looking one than they had any right to expect. +The eyes of the others were fastened on me. I was the only one to +take note of the girl's behaviour: and I declare I spared a second +from the consideration of my own case to wonder what the deuce was +the matter with her. + +"Well, upon my soul!" cried Sir Harry, with something between a laugh +and a sniff of disgust; and the footman on the other side of me +echoed it with a silly cackle. "He certainly doesn't look as if he +came from Bath!" + +"Sir," I expostulated--for when events seem likely to prove +overwhelming, I usually find myself clutching at my original +respectability--"Sir, although the force of circumstances has brought +me thus low, I am by birth and education a gentleman. Having told +you this, I trust that you will remember it, even in the heat of your +natural resentment." + +"You speak almost as prettily as you write," he answered scornfully, +pulling a letter from his pocket. + +"This is beyond me," thought I; for of course I knew it could be no +letter of mine. Besides, a glance told me that I had never set eyes +on the paper or handwriting before. I think my next remark showed +self-possession. "Would you be kind enough to explain?" I asked. + +"I rather think that should be your business," said he; and faith, I +allowed the justice of that contention, awkward though it was. But +he went on, "It astonishes you, I dare say, to see this letter in my +hand?" + +It did. I acknowledged as much with a bow. + +He began to read in an affected mimicking voice, "_My ever-loved +Kate, since your worthy but wrong-headed father_--" + +"Father!" It sounded like an echo. It came from the young lady, +who had sprung forward indignantly, and was holding out a hand for +the letter. "The servants! Have you not degraded me enough?" +She stamped her foot. + +The old gentleman folded up the letter again, and gave it into her +hand with a cold bow. She was handing it to me--Oh, the unfathomable +depth of woman!--when he interfered. + +"For your own delectation if you will, miss; but as your protector I +must ask you not to give it back." + +He turned towards me again. As he did so, I caught over his +shoulder, or fancied I caught, a glance from Miss Kate that was at +once a warning and an appeal. The next moment her eyes were bent +shamefast upon the floor. I began to divine. + +Said I, "If that's a sample of your manner towards your daughter, +even you, in your cooler moments, can hardly wonder that she chooses +another protector." + +"Protector!" he repeated, lifting his eyebrows; and that infernal +footman cackled again. + +"If you can't behave with common politeness to a lady," I put in +smartly, "you might at least exhibit enough of rude intelligence to +lay hold of an argument that's as plain as the nose on your face!" + +"Gently, my good sir!" said he. "Do you know that, if I choose, I +can march you off to jail for a common housebreaker?" + +I should think I did know it--a plaguy sight better than he! + +"To begin with," he went on, "you look like one, for all the world." + +This was sailing too close for my liking. + +"Old gentleman," said I, "you are wearisomely dull. Possibly I had +better explain at length. To be frank, then, I had counted, in case +of failure, to avoid all scandal to your daughter's name. I had +hoped (you will excuse me) to have carried her off and evaded you +until I could present myself as her husband. If baffled in this, I +proposed to make my escape as a common burglar surprised upon your +premises. It seems to me," I wound up, including the three servants +with an indignant sweep of the arm, "that you might well have +emulated my delicacy! As it is, I must trouble you to recognise it." + +"Heaven send," I added to myself, "that the real inamorato keeps his +bungling foot out of this till I get clear!" And I reflected with +much comfort that he was hardly likely to make an attempt upon +premises so brilliantly lit up. + +"In justice to my daughter's taste," replied Sir Harry, "I am willing +to believe you looked something less like a jail-bird when she met +you in the Pump Room at Bath. You have fine clothes in your +portmanteau no doubt, and I sincerely trust they make all the +difference to your appearance. But a fine suit is no expensive +outfit for the capture of an heiress. You may be the commonest of +adventurers. How do I know, even, what right you have to the name +you carry?" + +If he didn't, it was still more certain that I didn't. Indeed he +had a conspicuous advantage over me in knowing what that name was. +This very painful difficulty had hardly presented itself, however, +before the girl's wit smoothed it away. She spoke up,--looking as +innocent as an angel, too. + +"Captain Fitzroy Pilkington could add no lustre to his name, father, +by giving it to me. His family is as good as our own, and his name +is one to be proud of." + +"So it is, my dear," thought I, "if I can only remember it. So it's +Captain Fitzroy Pilkington I am--and from Bath. Decidedly I should +have taken some time in guessing it." + +"I suppose, sir, I may take it for granted you have not brought your +credentials here to-night?" said the old boy, with a grim smile. + +It was lucky he had not thought of searching my pockets for them. + +"Scarcely, sir," I answered, smiling too and catching his mood; and +then thought I would play a bold card for freedom. "Come, come, +sir," I said; "I have tried to deceive you, and you have enjoyed a +very adequate revenge. Do not prolong this interview to the point of +inflicting torture on two hearts whose only crime is that of loving +too ardently. You have your daughter. Suffer me to return to the +inn in the village, and in the morning I will call on you with my +credentials and humbly ask for her hand. If, on due examination of +my history and circumstances, you see fit to refuse me--why then you +make two lovers miserable: but I give you my word--the word of a +Fitzroy Pilkington--that I will respect that decision. 'Parcius +junctas quatiam fenestras': or, rather, I will discontinue the +practice altogether." + +"William," said Sir Harry, shortly, to the footman, "show Mr. +Pilkington to the door. Will you take your ladder away with you, +sir, or will you call for it to-morrow?" + +"To-morrow will do," I said, airily, and stepping across to Mistress +Kate I took her hand and raised it as if for a kiss. Her fingers +gave mine an appreciative squeeze. + +"But who in the world are you?" she whispered. + +"I think," said I, bending over her hand, "I have fairly earned the +right to withhold that." + +Sir Harry bowed a stiff good night to me, and William, the footman, +took a candle and led the way along the gallery and down the great +staircase to the front door. While he undid the chain and bolts I +was thinking that he would be all the better for a kick; and as he +drew aside to let me pass I took him quickly by the collar, spun him +round, and gave him one. A flight of a dozen steps led down from the +front door, and he pitched clean to the bottom. Running down after, +I skipped over his prostrate body and walked briskly away in the +darkness, whistling and feeling better. + +I went round the end of the gallery wing, just to satisfy myself that +Jimmy had got away with the ladder, and then I struck across the +plantation in the direction of the village. The June day was +breaking before I turned out of the woods into the high road, and +already the mowers were out and tramping to their work. But in the +porchway of the village inn--called the "Well-diggers' Arms"-- +whatever they may be--I surprised a cockneyfied groom in the act of +kissing a maiden who, having a milk-pail in either hand, could not be +expected to resist. + +"H'm," said I to the man, "I am sorry to appear inopportunely, but I +have a message for your master." + +The maiden fled. "And who the doose may you be?" asked the groom, +eyeing me up and down. + +"I think," I answered, "it will be enough for you that I come from +Nanscarne. You were late there. Oh, yes," I went on sharply, for +fellows of this class have a knack of irritating me, "and I have a +message for your master which I'll trouble you to deliver when he +comes down to breakfast. You will tell him, if you please, that Sir +Harry was expecting him last night, and the lights he saw lit in the +long gallery were there for his reception. You won't forget?" + +"Who sent you here?" the fellow asked. + +"On second thoughts," I continued, "you had better go in and wake +Captain Fitzroy Pilkington up at once. He will pardon you when he +has my message, for Sir Harry's temper is notoriously impatient." + +And with that I turned and left him, for it was high time to find +out how Jimmy had been faring. The past night's experience must +have given him a shock, and I reckoned to give him another. +I wasn't disappointed either. I walked leisurably down the village +street, then crossed the hedge and doubled back on the high moors. +At length, drawing near the old gravel-pit, where we had fixed to +meet in case of separation, I dropped on all-fours and so came up to +the edge and gave a whistle. + +Jimmy was sitting with his back to me, and about to cut a hunch of +bread to eat with his cold bacon for breakfast. Instead, he cut his +thumb, and jumped up, singing out-- + +"S'help me, but I never looked to see you again outside o' the dock!" + +"No more you did," said I; and climbing down and sitting on a +gravel-heap beside him, I told him all the story. + +"And now, Jimmy," I wound up, "you must guess what I'm going to do." + +"I don't need to," said he. "I know." + +"I wager you don't." + +"I wager I do." + +"Well, then, I'm going back. Was that what you guessed?" + +"I think you will not." + +"Ah, but I will," said I. "I swore by the blood of a Fitzroy +Pilkington I'd be back in the morning, and I can't retreat from so +tremendous an oath as that. Back I mean to go. As for the real +Captain--if Captain he is--I fancy I've scared him out of this +neighbourhood for some time to come. And as for the credentials, I +fancy, at my time of life, I should be able to write my own +commendation. I believe the old boy has a sneaking good-will towards +me. I can't answer for the girl; but I can answer that she'll hold +her tongue for a while, at all events. This life doesn't become a +man of my education and natural ability. And the risk is worth +running." + +"I wouldn't, if I were you," says he, very drily. + +"And why not?" + +"Well, you see, when I heard the noise last night, and all the place +grew light as it did, I was just starting to run for dear life, till +it struck me that if the folks meant to go searching for me they +wouldn't begin by lighting the picture-gallery from end to end. +So I drew close under shadow of the wall and waited, ready to run at +any moment. But after a while, finding that nothing happened, I grew +curious and crept up after you and looked in through the window, very +cautious. A nice fix you seemed to be in; but old Jenkins was there. +And while Jenkins was there--" + +"Well?" + +"Well, I should have thought you might have guessed. The bolt of his +bedroom window wasn't hard to force, nor the lock of the small room. +Being single-handed, I had to pick and choose what to carry off. +But if you'll look under the bracken yonder you'll own I know my way +among silver-ware." + +I looked at him for a moment, and then lay gently back on the turf +and laughed till I was tired of laughing. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WANDERING HEATH*** + + +******* This file should be named 18750.txt or 18750.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/7/5/18750 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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