diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26057-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 443538 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26057-h/26057-h.htm | 6698 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26057-h/images/i001.jpg | bin | 0 -> 31953 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26057-h/images/i001centermedallion.jpg | bin | 0 -> 3293 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26057-h/images/i004.jpg | bin | 0 -> 36814 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26057-h/images/i039.jpg | bin | 0 -> 39479 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26057-h/images/i099.jpg | bin | 0 -> 36341 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26057-h/images/i131.jpg | bin | 0 -> 35177 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26057-h/images/i143.jpg | bin | 0 -> 36978 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26057-h/images/i173.jpg | bin | 0 -> 38832 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26057-h/images/i249.jpg | bin | 0 -> 41223 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26057.txt | 6572 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26057.zip | bin | 0 -> 135919 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
16 files changed, 13286 insertions, 0 deletions
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/26057-h.zip b/26057-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d307f50 --- /dev/null +++ b/26057-h.zip diff --git a/26057-h/26057-h.htm b/26057-h/26057-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c4a6162 --- /dev/null +++ b/26057-h/26057-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6698 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Marjorie, by Justin Huntly Mccarthy. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1 {text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + color: #8B0000; + } + + h2,h3,h4 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + h2.variant {text-align: center; color:#8B0000; clear: both;} + h3.variant {text-align: center; color:#8B0000; clear: both;} + + hr.large {width: 65%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + + td {vertical-align: top;} + + div.centered {text-align:center;} /*work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ + div.centered table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; text-align:left;} /* work around for IE problem part 2 */ + + div.wrap_area { position: relative; } + div.wrap_area img { position: relative; } + div.wrap_area p, h1, h2, h3, h4 { position: relative; } + div.shape_wrap div { float: none; clear: both; } + + /* div.wrap_area img { opacity: .5; filter: alpha(opacity=50); } */ + div.shape_wrap div { border: 1px solid #f0f; visibility: hidden; } + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .ispace {margin-top: 2em;} + .jpg {border: solid 2px;} + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + .right {margin-left: 5em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Marjorie, by Justin Huntly McCarthy + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Marjorie + +Author: Justin Huntly McCarthy + +Release Date: July 16, 2008 [EBook #26057] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARJORIE *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="wrap_area"><div class="figcenter" style="width: 386px"> +<img src="images/i001.jpg" class="ispace" width="386" height="640" alt="page border" title="" /> + + <div class="shape_wrap"> + <div style="width: 200px; height: 10px; margin-top: -39em;"></div> + </div> + +<h1>MARJORIE</h1> + +<h4>BY</h4> + +<h2 class="variant">Justin Huntly McCarthy</h2> + +<p class="center"><i>Author of</i> “IF I WERE KING”</p> + +<p class="right"><i>Oh Marjorie, my world’s delight</i><br /> +<i>Your yellow hair is angel-bright,</i><br /> +<i>Your eyes are angel-blue.</i><br /> +<i>I thought, and think, the sweetest sight</i><br /> +<i>Between the morning and the night</i><br /> +<i>Is just the sight of you.</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 76px;"> +<img src="images/i001centermedallion.jpg" width="76" height="100" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<h3>New York</h3> + +<h3 class="variant">R. H. RUSSELL</h3> + +<h4>1903</h4> + + <div class="shape_wrap"> + <div style="width: 200px; height: 10px; margin-bottom: 0.5em;"></div> + </div> +</div></div> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="large" /> +<h3><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1903, by R. H. Russell</span></h3> + +<h4>First Impression, March, 1903 </h4> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 318px;"> +<img src="images/i004.jpg" width="318" height="400" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h3>To</h3> + +<h3>ANTHONY HOPE</h3> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="CONTENTS"> + +<tr> +<td align="right">CHAP.</td> +<td align="left"> </td> +<td align="right">PAGE</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">I.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">My Apology</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#MARJORIE">1</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">II.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Lancelot Amber</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">7</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">III.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Alehouse by the River</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">15</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">IV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Maid Called Barbara</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">29</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">V.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Lancelot Leaves</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">38</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">VI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Gentleman in Blue</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">54</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">VII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Captain Marmaduke’s Plan</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">62</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">VIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Company at the Noble Rose</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">68</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">IX.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Talk in the Dolphin</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">72</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">X.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">She Comes Down the Stairs</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">81</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Feast of the Gods</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">87</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Mr. Davies’s Gifts</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">91</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">To the Sea</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">100</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XIV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Sea Life</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">105</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Utopia Ho!</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">113</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XVI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">I Make a Discovery</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">117</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XVII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Visitation</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">126</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XVIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Night and Morning</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">134</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XIX.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">How Some of us Got to the Island</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">145</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XX.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Bad Night</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">155</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Rafts</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">163</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">We Lose Cornelys Jensen</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">168</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">We Get to the Island</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">179</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXIV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Fair Island</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">190</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Story from the Sea</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">205</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXVI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Business Begins</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">214</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXVII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">An Ill Tale</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">232</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXVIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">We Defy Jensen</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">241</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXIX.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Attack at Last</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">249</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXX.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Our Flag Comes Down</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">261</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXXI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Piece of Diplomacy</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">268</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXXII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Sea Gives Up its Quick</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">280</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXXIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Last of the Ship</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">290</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="MARJORIE" id="MARJORIE"></a>MARJORIE</h2> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>MY APOLOGY</h3> + +<p>What I have written may seem to some, who have never tossed an hour on +salt water, nor, indeed, tramped far afield on dry land, to be +astounding, and well-nigh beyond belief. But it is all true none the +less, though I found it easier to live through than to set down. I +believe that nothing is harder than to tell a plain tale plainly and +with precision. Twenty times since I began this narrative I have damned +ink and paper heartily after the swearing fashion of the sea, and have +wished myself back again in my perils rather than have to write about +them.</p> + +<p>I was born in Sendennis, in Sussex, and my earliest memories are full of +the sound and colour and smell of the sea. It was above all things my +parents’ wish that I should live a landsman’s life. But <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>I was mad for +the sea from the first days that I can call to mind.</p> + +<p>My parents were people of substance in a way—did well with a mercer’s +shop in the Main Street, and were much looked up to by their neighbours. +My mother always would have it that I came through my father of gentle +lineage. Indeed, the name I bore, the name of Crowninshield, was not the +kind of name that one associates usually with a mercer’s business and +with the path in life along which my father and mother walked with +content. There certainly had been old families of Crowninshields in +Sussex and elsewhere, and some of them had bustled in the big wars. +There may be plenty of Crowninshields still left for aught I know or +care, for I never troubled my head much about my possible ancestors who +carried on a field gules an Eastern crown or. I may confess, however, +that in later years, when my fortune had bettered, I assumed those armes +parlantes, if only as a brave device wherewith to seal a letter. Anyway, +Crowninshield is my name, with Raphael prefixed, a name my mother fell +upon in conning her Bible for a holiname for me. So, if my arms are but +canting heraldry, I carry the name of an archangel to better them. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p><p>I was an only son, and my parents spoilt me. They had some fancy in +their heads that I was a weakling, and needed care, though I had the +strength of a colt and the health a sea-coast lad should have, so they +did not send me to a school. Yet, because they set a store by +book-learning—which may have its uses, though it never charmed me—I +had some schooling at home in reading, writing, and ciphering. My father +sought to instil into me an admiration for the dignity of trade, because +he wished me to become a merchant in time, with mayhap the Mayoralty in +perspective. I liked the shop when I was little, and thought it a famous +place to play in, lurking down behind its dark counter as in a robbers’ +den, and seeing through the open door of the parlour at the back of the +shop my mother knitting at her window and the green trees of the garden. +I liked, too, the folds of sober cloth and coloured prints, and the +faces of folk when they came in to buy or cheapen. Even the jangle of +the bell that clattered at the shop door when we put it to at meal times +pleased my ears, and has sounded there many times since and softly in +places thousands of miles away from the Main Street. I do not know how +or why, but the cling-clang of that bell always stirred strange fancies +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>in my mind, and strange things appeared quite possible. Whenever the +bell went tinkle I began to wonder who it was outside, and whether by +chance they wanted me, and what they might want of me. But the caller +was never better than some neighbour, who needed a button or a needle.</p> + +<p>The great event of my childhood was my father’s gift to me of an English +version of Monsieur Galland’s book, ‘The Arabian Nights’ +Entertainments.’ Then the tinkle of the shop bell assumed a new +significance. Might not Haroun al Raschid himself, with Giafar, his +vizier, and Mesrour, his man, follow its cracked summons, or some +terrible withered creature whom I, and I only, knew to be a genie in +disguise, come in to catch me by the shoulder and sink with me through +the floor?</p> + +<p>Those were delicious terrors. But what I most learnt from that book was +an unconquerable love for travel and an unconquerable stretching to the +sea. When I read in my book of Sinbad and his Seven Voyages I would +think of the sea that lay so near me, and wish that I were waiting for a +wind in a boat with painted hull and sails like snow and my name +somewhere in great gold letters. I would wander down to the quays and +watch the shipping and the seamen, and wonder whence they came and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>where they went, and if any one of them had a roc’s egg on board. I was +very free for a child in those days, for my parents, still fretting on +my delicacy, rarely crossed me; and, indeed, I was tame enough, partly +from keeping such quiet, and well content to be by myself for the hour +together.</p> + +<p>But, when I had lived in this wise until I was nearly fifteen, my father +and my mother agreed that I needed more book-learning; and, since they +were still loath to send me to school, they thought of Mr. Davies, the +bookseller, of Cliff Street. He was a man of learning. His business was +steady. He had leisure, and was never pressed for a penny, or even for a +guinea. It was agreed that I should go every day for a couple of +afternoon hours, to sit with him and ply my book, and become a famous +scholar. Poor Mr. Davies! he never got his will of me in that way, and +yet he bore me no grudge, though it filled him with disappointment at +first.</p> + +<p>There was a vast deal of importance for me, though I did not dream it at +the time, about my going to take my lessons of Mr. Davies, of Cliff +Street. For if I had not gone I should never have got that tincture of +Latin which still clings to me, and which a world of winds and waters +has not blown or washed from my wits; nor, which is far <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>more important, +should I ever have chanced upon Lancelot Amber; and if I had not chanced +upon Lancelot Amber I should have lost the best friend man ever had in +this world, and missed seeing the world’s fairest woman. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>LANCELOT AMBER</h3> + +<p>Mr. Davies was a wisp of a man, with a taste for snuff and for +snuff-coloured garments, and for books in snuffy bindings. His book-shop +in Cliff Street was a dingy place enough, with a smell of leather and +paste about it, and if you stirred a book you brought enough snuffy dust +into the air to make you sneeze for ten minutes. But his own room, which +was above the shop, was blithe enough, and it was there I had my +lessons. Mr. Davies kept a piping bullfinch in it, and a linnet, and +there was a little window garden on the sill, where tulips bloomed in +their season, and under a glass case there was a plaster model of the +Arch of Titus in Rome, of which he was exceedingly proud, and which I +thought very pretty, and at one time longed to have.</p> + +<p>Mr. Davies was a smooth and decent scholar, and when he was dreamy he +would shove his scratch back from his forehead and shut his eyes and +recite <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>Homer or Virgil by the page together, while Lancelot and I +listened open-mouthed, and I wondered what pleasure he got out of all +that rigmarole. The heroes of Homer and of Virgil seemed to me very +bloodless, boneless creatures after my kings and wizards out of Mr. +Galland’s book; even Ulysses, who was a thrifty, shifty fellow enough, +with some touch of the sea-captain in him, was not a patch upon my hero, +Sindbad of Bagdad, from whose tale I believe the Greek fellow stole half +his fancies, and those the better half.</p> + +<p>I remember still clearly the very first afternoon when I presented +myself at Mr. Davies’s shop in Cliff Street. He told me I was very +welcome, assured me that on that day I crossed the threshold of the +Muses’ Temple, shook me warmly by the hand, and then, all of a sudden, +as if recollecting himself, told me to greet my class-fellow. A lad of +about mine own age came from the window and held out his hand, and the +lad was Lancelot Amber.</p> + +<p>I have seen many gracious sights in my time, but only one so gracious as +that sudden flash of Lancelot Amber upon my boyish vision. As he came +forward with the afternoon sunlight strong upon him he looked like some +militant saint. There is a St. George in our church, and there is a St. +Michael <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>too, both splendid in coat-armour and terrible with swords, but +neither of them has ever seemed to me half so heroic or half so saintly +as the boy Lancelot did that morning in Mr. Davies’s parlour. He was +tall of his years, with fair hair curling about his head as I have since +seen hair curling in some of the old Pagan statue-work.</p> + +<p>The boy came forward and shook hands with me in friendly fashion, with a +friend’s grip of the fingers. I gave him the squeeze again, and we both +stood for a moment looking at each other silently, as dogs over-eye one +another on a first meeting. How little it entered into either of our +brains that moment of the times that we should stand together, and the +places and the trials and perils that we should endure together. We were +only two lads standing there in a snug first-floor room, where yellow +parrots sprawled on the painted wall, and a mild-mannered gentleman with +a russet wig motioned us to sit down.</p> + +<p>Our life ran in current for long enough. We sat together at Mr. Davies’s +feet—I am speaking metaphorically, for in reality we sat opposite to +him—and we thumbed our Cordery and our Nepos together, and made such +progress as our natures and our application permitted. Mine, to be +honest, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>was little enough, for I hated my grammar cordially.</p> + +<p>Lancelot was not like me in this, any more than in bodily favour; he was +keen of wit and quick of memory; he was quick in learning, yet as modest +as he was clever, for he never sought in any way to lord it over me +because I, poor dunce, was not of such nimble parts as himself.</p> + +<p>It was the hardest task in the world for me to keep my eyes and my fancy +upon the pages of my book. My eyes were always straying from the print, +first to the painted parrots on the walls, and then, by natural +succession, to the window. Once there, my fancy would put on free wings, +and my thoughts would stray joyously off among the salt marshes, where +the pools shone in the sunlight and a sweet air blew. Or I would stand +upon the downs and look along the curve of cliffs, and note the ships +sailing round the promontory, and the flashes of the sea beyond, and +feel in fancy the breeze blowing through my hair, and puffing away all +the nonsense I had been poring over in the room.</p> + +<p>At such times I would quite forget myself, and sit staring into vacancy, +till Mr. Davies, lifting his nose from his volume, would note my absence +and call on me by name, and thump his desk, and startle <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>me with some +question on the matter we were supposed to have in hand. A mighty +matter, truly, the name of some emperor or the date of some +campaign—matter infinitely less real than the name of the ship that was +leaving the harbour or the sunlight on the incoming sail. And I would +answer at random and amiss, and earn reproof. Yet there were things +which I knew well enough, too, and could have given him shrewd and +precise answers concerning them.</p> + +<p>Lancelot Amber was never much my companion away from Mr. Davies’s room. +His father, whose name he perpetuated, had been a simple, gentle +gentleman and scholar who had married, as one of his kin counted it, +beneath him, because he had married the woman he loved. The woman he +loved was indeed of humble birth, but she made him a fair wife and a +good, and she bore him two children, boy Lancelot and girl Marjorie, and +died for the life of the lass. Her death, so I learned, was the doom of +Lancelot Amber the elder, and there were two babes left in the wood of +the world, with, like the children in the ballad, such claims upon two +uncles as blood might urge and pity supplement. These two uncles, as +Lancelot imagined them to me, were men of vastly different stuff and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>spirit, as you may sometimes find such flaming contrasts in families. +The elder, Marmaduke Amber, used the sea, and was, it seems, as fine a +florid piece of sea flesh as an island’s king could wish to welcome. His +brother, Nathaniel, had been a city merchant, piling up moneys in the +Levant trade, and now lived in a fine house out in the swelling country +beyond Sendennis, with a fine sea-view. Him I had seen once or twice; a +lean monkey creature with a wrinkled walnut of a face and bright, unkind +eyes. He was all for leaving the boy of three and the girl of two to the +small mercies of some charity school, but the mariner brother gathered +the two forlornlings to his great heart, and with him they had lived and +thriven ever since. Now it seems Captain Marmaduke was on a voyage to +the Bermudas and taking the maid with him, while the boy, to better his +schooling and strengthen his body with sea air, was sent to Sendennis to +stay with his other uncle, Nathaniel Amber, now, to all appearance, +reconciled to the existence of his young relative. This uncle, as I +gathered, did not at first approve overmuch of Lancelot taking lessons +in common with a single mercer’s son, but Mr. Davies, I believe, spoke +so well of me that the arrangement was allowed to hold. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p><p>But after lesson hours were done Lancelot had always to go back to his +uncle’s, and though I walked part of the way, or all the way, with him +most days of the week, I was never bidden inside those doors. Lancelot +told me that he had more than once besought leave to bring me in, but +that the old gentleman was obdurate. So, save in those hours of study in +the parrot-papered room, I saw but little of Lancelot.</p> + +<p>I never expected to be asked inside the doors of the great house where +Lancelot’s days were passed, and I did not feel any injustice in the +matter. I was only a mercer’s son, while Lancelot derived of gentlefolk, +and it never entered into my mind to question the existing order of +things, or to wish to force my way into places where I was not wanted. +Excellent gentlemen on the other side of the Atlantic have made very +different opinions popular from the opinions that prevailed with me in +my youth. Indeed, I myself have now been long used to associate with the +great folk of the earth, and have found them in all essential matters +very much like other men. I have had the honour of including more than +one king amongst my acquaintances, and have liked some and not liked +others, just as if they were plain Tom or Harry. But in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>the days of my +youth I should have as soon expected to be welcomed at St. James’s as to +be welcomed in the great house where Lancelot’s uncle lived. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>THE ALEHOUSE BY THE RIVER.</h3> + +<p>Three years after I went to learn under Mr. Davies, of Cliff Street, my +father died.</p> + +<p>I remember with a kind of terror still, through all these years, when +death of every kind has been so familiar to me, how the news of that +death came upon me. I had no realisation of what death meant till then. +I had heard of people dying, of course; had watched the black +processions creeping, plumed and solemn, along the streets to the +churchyard; had noted how in any circle of friends now one and now +another falls away and returns to earth. I knew that all must die, that +I must die myself, as I knew a lesson got by heart which has little +meaning to the unawakened ear. But now it came on me with such a +stabbing knowledge that for a little while I was almost crazy with the +grief and the fear.</p> + +<p>But the sorrow, like all sorrows, lessened with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>time. There was my +mother to cheer; there was my schooling to keep; there was the shop to +look after.</p> + +<p>My father had thriven well enough to lay by a small store, but my mother +kept the shop on, partly for the sake of my father, whose pride it was, +partly because it gave her something to occupy her widowed life, and +partly because, as Mr. Davies pointed out to her, there would be a +business all ready for me when I was old enough to step into it. In the +meantime my life was simple enough. When I was not taking my schooling +with Lancelot I was tending the shop with mother; and when I was doing +neither of these things I was free to wander about the town much as I +pleased.</p> + +<p>Our town was of a tidy size, running well back from the sea up a gentle +and uneven acclivity, which made all the streets that stemmed from the +border slightly steep, and some of them exceedingly so. Upon the coast +line, naturally enough, lay the busiest part of the hive; a comely +stretch of ample docks and decent wharves along the frontage of the +town, and, straggling out along the horns of the harbour, a maze of +poorer streets, fringed at the waterside with boozing-kens, low inns, +sailors’ lodging-houses, and crimperies of all kinds. There <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>were +ticklish places for decent folk to be found in lying to right and left +of the solemn old town—aye, and within ten minutes’ walk of the solemn +old market-square, where the effigy of Sir William Wallet, the goodly +and godly Mayor of many years back, smiled upon the stalls of the +hucksters and the fine front of the town-hall. If you strayed but a +little way from the core of the town you came into narrow, kinkled +streets, where nets were stretched across from window to window drying; +and if you persevered you came, by cobbly declivities, to the bay shore, +and to all the odd places that lay along it, and all the odd people that +dwelt therein.</p> + +<p>Of course, with the inevitable perversity of boyhood, it was this +degenerate quarter of the town which delighted me. I cared nothing, I am +sorry to say, for the fine-fronted town-hall, nor for the solemn effigy +of Sir William Wallet. I had not the least desire ever to be a +functionary of importance in the building, ever to earn the smug +immortality of such a statue. I am sorry to say the places I cared for +were those same low-lived, straggling, squalid, dangerous regions which +hung at one end of respectable little Sendennis like dirty lace upon a +demure petticoat. In the early days of my acquaintance with those +regions I must confess that I entered <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>them with a certain degree of +fear and trembling; but after a while that feeling soon wore off, when I +found that no one wanted to do me any harm. Indeed, the dwellers in +those parts were generally too much occupied in drinking themselves +drunk and sleeping themselves sober to note an unremarkable lad like me. +As for their holiday time, they passed it so largely in quarrelling +savagely, and occasionally murderously, amongst themselves that they had +scant leisure to pay any heed to me. For the rest, these Sendennis slums +were not conspicuously evil. You will find just the same places in any +seaport town, great or little, in the kingdom. But there was one spot in +Sendennis which I do not think that it would be easy to match in any +other town, although, perhaps to say this may be but a flash of +provincial pride on my part.</p> + +<p>A good way from the town, and yet before the river fairly widens into an +estuary, there stood a certain hostel, or inn, which it was my joy and +my sorrow to haunt. It stood by the water’s edge in a kind of little +garden of its own; a dreary place, where a few sickly plants tried to +hold their own against neglect and the splashings of rinsed glasses. +There was a wooden terrace at the back of this place—the back +overlooked the river, while the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>front was on the by-road—and here the +habitual revellers, the haunters, whose scored crosses lent the creaking +shutters an unnatural whiteness over their weather-beaten surface, dark +with age and dirt, loved to linger of a summer evening, and ply the +noggin and fill the pipe.</p> + +<p>There was an old fiddler, a kind of Orpheus of the slums, who would +sometimes creep in there and take his post in a corner and begin to +play, happy if the mad lads threw him halfpence, or thrust a +half-drained tankard under his tearful old nose: happy, too, if they did +not—as they often did—toss the cannikin at him out of mere lightness +of heart and drunkenness of wit. He used to play the quaintest old +tunes, odd border-side ballad airs, that seemed to go apace with blithe +country weddings and decent pastoral merry-makings of all kinds, and to +be strangely out of suits with that brotherhood of rakehells, smugglers, +and desperadoes who gambled and drank, and swore and quarrelled, while +the poor old fellow worked his catgut.</p> + +<p>Lord, Lord, how the memory of it all comes back upon me while I write! I +have but to close my eyes, and my fancy brings me back to that alehouse +by the river, to a summer’s eve with its golden shafts falling on the +dingy woodwork and lending it a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>pathetic glory, upon the shining space +of dwindled water in the middle of its banks of glistening mud, and +there in the corner the pinched old rogue in his ragged bodygear +scraping away at ‘Barbara Allen,’ or ‘When first I saw thy face,’ or +‘The Bailiff’s Daughter of Islington,’ while the leering rascals in the +pilot coats and the flap-eared caps huddled together over their filthy +tables, and swigged their strong drink and thumbed their greasy cards +and swore horribly in all the lingoes of Babel.</p> + +<p>One such summer evening surges up before me with a crimson smear across +its sunlight. There was a Low Country fellow there, waist deep in +schnapps, and a Finlander sucking strong beer like a hog. Meinheer and +the Finn came to words and blows, and I, who was sitting astride of the +railing staring, heard a shrill scream from the old man and a rattle as +he dropped his fiddle, and then a flash and a red rain of blood on the +table as my Finn fell with a knife in him, the Hollander’s knife, +smartly pegged in between the left breast and the shoulder. I declare +that, even in my excitement at that first sight of blood drawn in feud, +my boyish thought was half divided between the drunken quarrel and the +poor old fiddler, all hunched together on the ground and sobbing +dry-eyed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>in a kind of ecstasy of fear and horror. I heard afterwards +that he had a son knifed to his death in a seaman’s brawl, and never got +over it. As for the Finn, they took him home and kept it dark, and he +recovered, and may be living yet for all I know to the contrary, and a +perfect pattern to the folk in Finland.</p> + +<p>That inn had a name, stranger I have never heard; and a sign, stranger I +have never seen; though I have wandered far and seen more than old +Ulysses in the school-book ever dreamt of. It was called the Skull and +Spectacles; and if its name was at once horrible and laughable, its sign +was more devilish still. For instead of any painted board, swinging +pleasantly on fair days and creaking lustily on foul, there stood out +over the inn door a kind of bracket, and on that bracket stood a human +skull, so parched and darkened by wind and weather that it looked more +fearful than even a <i>caput mortuum</i> has a right to look.</p> + +<p>On the nose of this grisly reminder of our mortality some wag—or so I +suppose, but perhaps he was a cynic—had stuck a great pair of glassless +barnacles or goggles. It was a loathly conceit, and yet it added vastly +to the favour of the inn in the minds of those wildings that haunted it. +Must I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>add that it did so in mine too, who should have known better? If +it had not been for the fascination of that sign, perhaps I might have +kept better company, and never done what I did do, and never written +this history.</p> + +<p>When first I happened upon the Skull and Spectacles it attracted me at +once. Its situation, in the middle of that wilderness of mouldering +wharves, decaying gardens, and tumble-down cottages, was in itself an +invitation to the eye. Then the devilish mockery of its sign was an +allurement. It looked like some fantastical tavern in a dream, and not a +thing of real timber.</p> + +<p>The oddness of the place tickled my adventurous palate, the +loathsomeness of the sign gripped me hardly by the heart and made my +blood run icily for an instant. Who does not recall to mind moments and +places when he seems to have stepped out of the real living world into +some grey, uncanny land of dreams, where the very air is thick and +haunted with some quality of unknown fear and unknown oppression? So it +seemed to me when I first saw the Skull and Spectacles with its +death’s-head smirking welcome and the river mud oozing about its +timbers. But the place piqued me while it frightened me, and I pulled my +courage together <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>like a coat, buttoned it metaphorically about me, and +entered.</p> + +<p>Like many another enterprise upon which we enter with a beating heart, +the preface was infinitely more alarming than the succeeding matter. +There was no one in the bar-parlour when I entered save a sailor, who +was sleeping a drunken, stertorous sleep in a corner. From the private +parlour beyond, when I entered, a man came out, a burly seafaring man, +who asked me shortly, but not uncivilly, what I wanted. I called for a +jug of ale. He brought it to me without a word, together with a hunch of +bread, set them before me, and left me alone again, going into his +snuggery at the back, and drawing the door after him jealously.</p> + +<p>I sat there for some little time, sipping my ale and munching my +bread—and indeed the ale was excellent; I have never tasted better—and +looking at the grimy wall, greasy with the rubbings of many heads and +shoulders, scrawled all over with sums, whose addition seemed to have +mightily perplexed the taproom arithmeticians, and defiled with +inscriptions of a foul, loose-witted, waterside lubricity that made me +blush and feel qualmish. But I found a furtive enjoyment in the odd +place, and the snoring sailor, and the low plashing of the estuary +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>against the decaying timbers, and the silence of solitude all around.</p> + +<p>Presently the door was pushed open; but before anyone could come in I +was made to jump from my seat in a kind of terror, for a voice sang out +sharply just above my head and startled me prodigiously.</p> + +<p>‘Kiss me—kiss me—kiss me—kiss me!’ the strange voice screamed out. +‘Kiss me on the lips and eyes and throat! kiss me on the breast! kiss +me—kiss me—kiss me!’</p> + +<p>I turned up my eyes and noted above my head what I had not seen +before—a cage swinging from the rafters, and in it a small green +parrot, with fiery eyes that glowed like blazing rubies.</p> + +<p>It went rattling on at an amazing rate, adjuring its hearers to kiss it +on all parts of the body with a verbal frankness that was appalling, and +with a distinctness which even pricked the misty senses of the +slumberer, who peevishly turned in his sleep and stuttered out a curse +at me to keep still.</p> + +<p>As the human voice called me back from my contemplation of that infernal +old bird my lowered eyes looked on the doorway. The door was wide open, +and a girl stood framed in the gap, gazing at me. Lord, how the blood +rushed into my face with wonder and delight, for I thought then that I +had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>never seen anything before so beautiful! Indeed, I think now that +of that kind of beauty she was as perfect as a woman could wish to be, +or a man could wish to have her. She smiled a little into my crimson, +spell-bound face, wished me good-morning pleasantly, gave a kind of +little whistle of recognition to the bird, who never left off screaming +and yelling his vociferous desire for kisses, and then, swinging the +door behind her, crossed the floor, and, passing into the parlour, +disappeared from my gaze.</p> + +<p>Immediately the parrot’s clamour came to a dead pause. The semi-wakened +sailor dropped into his sodden snooze again, and all was quiet. I waited +for some little time with my eyes on the parlour door, but it did not +open again; and as no one came in from outside, and I needed no more +either of drink or victual, I felt that I must needs be trudging. So I +drained my can to the black eyes of my beauty, clucked at the parrot, +who merely swung one crimson eye round as if he were taking aim and +glared ferociously, signed a farewell to the parlour door, and passed +out into the world again. The Skull and Spectacles had gained a devoted +customer.</p> + +<p>Ah, me! I went there a world of times after <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>that. I am afraid my poor +mother thought me a sad rogue, for I would slip away from the shop for a +whole afternoon together, on the plea of needing a walk; but my walk +always led me to that terrible inn. I soon became a familiar figure to +its ill-favoured master and his beautiful niece. The landlord of the +Skull and Spectacles had been a seaman in his youth, and told tales of +the sea to guests who paid their score. He had a cadet brother who was a +seaman still, and who drifted out of longshore knowledge for great gaps +of time, and came back again liker to mahogany than he had been before, +a thought more abundant in blasphemy, and a great deal richer in gold +pieces with the heads of every king in Christendom stamped upon them.</p> + +<p>It was this wanderer’s daughter who made the place my paradise. She was +a tall, largely made girl, of a dark favour, with eyes of black fire, +and with a warm, Spanish kind of skin, olive-toned with rich reds under, +and the whitest, wonderfullest teeth, and a bush of black hair that was +a marvel. She would let it down often enough, and it hung about her body +till it reached the back of her knees. Lord knows who her mother was. I +never knew, and she said she never knew. Her father brought her home +much as he had brought the parrot home, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>but I could never think other +than that she was the child of some Spanish woman he had wooed, and, it +is to be hoped, wedded, though I doubt if he were of that temper, on his +travels in the South Americas.</p> + +<p>A very curious thing it was to watch that girl go in and out among the +scoundrelly patrons of the Skull and Spectacles, listening to their +devil’s chatter in all the lingoes of earth, and yet in a kind of +fashion keeping them at a distance. She would bandy jokes with them of +the coarsest kind, and yet there was not a man of all the following who +would dare to lay a rude hand on her or even to force a kiss from her +against her will. Every man who clinked his can at that hostelry knew +well enough that her father, when he was ashore, or her uncle, when the +other was afloat, would think nothing of knifing any man who insulted +her.</p> + +<p>I need hardly say that my association with the Skull and Spectacles +greatly increased in me my longing for the adventurous life. The men who +frequented the inn had one and all the most marvellous tales to tell. +Their tales were not always commendable; they were tales of pirates, of +buccaneers, of fortunes made in evil wise and spent in evil fashion. But +it was not so much the particulars as the generalities of their talk +that delighted me. I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>loved to hear of islands where the cocoa trees +grew, and where parrots of every hue under heaven squealed and screamed +in the tropic heat; where girls as graceful as goddesses and as yellow +as guineas wore robes of flaming feathers and sang lullabies in soft, +impossible tongues; lands of coral and ivory and all the glories of the +earth, where life was full of golden possibilities and a world away from +the drab respectability of a mercer’s life in grey Sendennis.</p> + +<p>I grew hungrier and thirstier for travel day after day. I had heard of +seamen in a shipwrecked craft suffering agonies of thirst and being +taunted by the fields of water all about them, to drink of which was +madness and death. I felt somewhat as if I were in like case, for there +I lived always in the neighbourhood, always in the companionship of the +sea and of seafaring folk, and yet I was doomed to dwell at home and +dance attendance upon the tinkling of the shop bell. But my word was my +word all the same, and my love for my mother, I am glad to think, was +greater after all than my longing to see far lands. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>A MAID CALLED BARBARA</h3> + +<p>I suppose the Skull and Spectacles was not quite the best place in the +world for a lad of my age, and perhaps for some lads it might have been +fruitful of evil. But I found then, and have found all through my life, +an infinite deal of entertainment in studying the ways and humours of +all kinds of fellowships, without of necessity accommodating myself to +the morals or the manners of the company. I have been very happy with +gipsies on a common, though I never poisoned a pig or coped a nag. I +have mixed much with sailors of all kinds, than whom no better +fellows—the best of them, and that is the greater part—exist on earth, +and no worse the worse; and yet I think I have not been stained with all +the soils of the sea. I have been with pirates, and thieves, and +soldiers of fortune, and gentlemen of blood, and highway robbers; and +once I supped with a hangman—off boiled rabbit and tripe, an excellent +alliance in a dish—and all this without <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>being myself either pirate, +highwayman, or yet hangman. It is not always a man’s company, but mostly +a man’s mind, that makes him what he is or is not. If a man is going to +be a pitiful fellow and sorry knave, I am afraid you will not save him +by the companionship of a synod of bishops; nor will you spoil a fine +fellow if he occasionally rubs shoulders with rogues and vagabonds.</p> + +<p>The girl at the Skull and Spectacles was kind to me, partly, perhaps, +because I differed somewhat from the ordinary ruck of customers of the +Skull and Spectacles. Had it been known that that crazy, villainous old +alehouse contained such a pearl, I make no doubt that the favour of the +place would have gone up, and its customers improved in outward seeming, +if not in inward merits or morals. The gallants of the town—for we had +our gallants even in that tranquil seaport—would have been assailed by +a thirst that naught save Nantz and schnapps and strong ale of the Skull +and Spectacles could assuage, and the gentlemen of the Chisholm Hunt +would have discovered that the only way after a run with the harriers +was through the vilest part of the town and among the oozy timbers of +the wharves which formed the kingdom of the Skull and Spectacles. </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 347px;"> +<img src="images/i039.jpg" class="ispace jpg" width="347" height="500" alt="She Had Always a Pleasant Smile for Me When I Came" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“<span class="smcap">She Had Always a Pleasant Smile for Me When I Came.</span>”</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p><p>But few of the townspeople knew of the Skull and Spectacles. It never +thought to stretch its custom into the higher walks of life. It throve +on its own clients, its high-booted, thick-bearded, shaggy-coated +seamen, whose dealings with the sea were more in the way of smuggling, +buccaneering, scuttling, and marooning than in honest merchandise or the +service of the King. These sea-wolves liked the place famously, and +would have grievously resented the intrusion of the laced waistcoats of +the provincial dandies or the scarlet jackets of the Chisholm Hunt. So +the Skull and Spectacles went its own way, and a very queer way, too, +unheeded and unheeding.</p> + +<p>How the girl and I got to be so friendly I scarcely know. It is like +enough that I thought we were more friendly than we really were, and +that the girl took my boyish homage with more indifference than I +guessed for. She had always a pleasant smile for me when I came, and she +was always ready to pass a pleasant word or two with me, even on the +days when the business in the place was at its heaviest, and when the +room was choking fit to burst with the shag-haired sea-fellows.</p> + +<p>But there were times, too, better times for me, or worse, it may be, +when the Skull and Spectacles was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>almost deserted; when all its wonted +customers were away smuggling, or buccaneering, or cutting throats, or +crimping, or following whatever was their special occupation in life.</p> + +<p>In such lonely times the girl was willing enough to spend half an hour +or more in speech with me. Of course, I fell in love with her, like the +donkey that I was, and worshipped the rotting boards of the Skull and +Spectacles because she was pleased to walk upon them. Her speech was all +of strange lands, and it fed my frenzy as dry wood feeds a fire. Her +people were all sea-people, her talk was all sea-talk, her words were +all sea-words. It was a strange rapture to me to sit and listen while +she spoke of the things that were dearest to my heart and to watch her +while she spoke. Then I used to feel a wild, foolish longing, which I +had never the courage to carry out, to tell her how beautiful she +was—as if she needed to be told that by me!—and how madly I loved her. +All of which I very profoundly thought and believed, but all of +which—for I was a shy lad with women-kind—I kept very devoutly to +myself.</p> + +<p>I wonder if the girl had any idea of my devotion. I thought she had; I +felt sure that my love must be as patent to her as it was to myself, and +that she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>must needs prize it a little. I believe, indeed, that I never +talked to her very much during those happy times when she would come out +on to the creaking terrace and speak to me of the things which she never +seemed to weary of—the sea, and ships, and seamen. As for me, who would +not have wearied of any theme that gave her pleasure, had it even been +books and lessons, I was overjoyed that my sea longings could help me on +with her.</p> + +<p>Then her black eyes would follow the river’s course to where the estuary +widened to the sea, and search the horizon and point out to me the sails +that starred it here and there, and sometimes say with a laugh: ‘Perhaps +one of those is my ship.’</p> + +<p>But when I asked her what was her ship she would smile and shake her +head and say nothing; and once, when I asked her if it was her father’s +ship, she laughed loudly and said yes, it was her father’s ship she +longed for.</p> + +<p>So late spring slipped into early summer; and, as the year grew kinder, +so every day my boy’s heart grew hotter with its first foolish passion. +Somewhere about the middle of June, as I knew, her birthday was; and in +view of that saint’s day of my calendar I had hoarded my poor pocket +money to buy her a little toy from the jeweller in the Main <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>Street, +whose show seemed to me more opulent than the treasures of Aladdin.</p> + +<p>The day found me all of a tremble. I had sat up half the night looking +at my token and kissing it a thousand times. It was a little locket that +was fashioned like a heart, and on the one side her name was engraved, +and on the other mine, for I thought by this to show what I dared not +say.</p> + +<p>It was early when I stole from our shop, little less than ten, and I +calculated that I would look in at Mr. Davies’s on my way back and make +some excuse for my truancy, and so be back in time for noonday dinner; +and I knew if I were a little late my mother would forgive me. Lord, how +I ran along the quays! I seemed to fly, and yet the road seemed endless. +As I ran I noted that some new ships had entered the night before, and +men on the wharves were busy unloading, and sailors were lounging round +with that foreign air which Jack always has after a cruise.</p> + +<p>When I got to the Skull and Spectacles the landlord was standing before +his door smoking. As he saw me he nodded, and when I asked for Barbara, +saying I had a message for her, he told me she was upstairs, and added +something which I did not stay to hear. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p><p>I bounded up the crazy stairs with a beating heart. I was all on fire +with excitement at the thought of offering her a gift; my blood seemed +to be turned to quicksilver, and to race through its channels with a +feverish swiftness.</p> + +<p>There was a gallery at the head of the stairs, a gallery on to which +looked the doors of the guest-rooms of the inn—rooms where bearded men +from over sea sometimes passed a night when they were uncertain where to +journey next, or when they were too much pleased with the liquor of the +Skull and Spectacles to leave it before morning.</p> + +<p>As I swung round the stairs into the gallery I thought for a moment that +it was empty, as it lay before me dark and uninviting. Then from the far +end came the sound of voices, laughter, and laughing expostulation—this +last in a woman’s voice that I knew too well. While I stood staring, not +understanding, and bewildered by a sudden and wholly meaningless alarm, +one of the doors at the end of the gallery that was just ajar swung +open, and Barbara slipped from it, laughing, breathless, with tumbled +hair and crimson cheeks. A man sprang after her and caught her, +unreluctant, in his arms.</p> + +<p>I see the scene now as vividly as I saw it then with my despairing +boyish eyes. The great strong <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>man had his arms close about her; her +dark hair was all about her face and over her shoulders as she flung her +head back to meet the great red mouth that was seeking hers. I have seen +since pictures of satyrs embracing nymphs, and whenever I see them I +cannot stay a shudder running through me as I think of that dim, +creaking gallery and the dishevelled girl and the strong man and the +tearful, trembling lad who beheld their passion.</p> + +<p>I suppose a painter would have admired the group they made; she with her +body eagerly flung forward and her beautiful face all on fire with warm +animal emotion; he, big and amber-bearded, his great mouth crushed +against hers as if he wanted to absorb her life, and his arms about her +pliant body, at once yielding and resisting in its reckless disarray. +But I was not a painter—only a longshore mooncalf—and my eyes swam and +my tongue swelled till I thought it would stick between my teeth as +those of poor rogues do on the gallows, and I was chickenish enough to +wish to blubber. And while I stood there, stockish and stupid, the pair +became aware of me. I do not think I made any noise, but their eyes +dropped from each other and turned on me, and the man scowled a little, +without loosening his hold, but the woman, no whit troubled, flung one +arm <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>away from her lover’s neck and held out her hand to me, with a +laugh, and greeted me merrily.</p> + +<p>‘Why, it’s little Raphael!’ she said, laughing the words into the yellow +beard of the sea-thief who clipped her, and again she nodded at me, in +no ways discomposed by the strangeness of her position. But I, poor +fool, could not bear it, and I turned and ran down the stairs as if the +Devil himself were after me. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>LANCELOT LEAVES</h3> + +<p>There was a place upon the downs to which it was often my special +delight to betake me—a kind of hollow dip between two humps of hills, +where a lad might lie warm in the windiest weather and look straight out +upon the sea, shining with calm or shaggy with storm, and feel quite as +if he were alone in the world. To this place I now sped half +unconsciously, my face, I make no doubt, scarlet with passion and shame, +and my eyes well-nigh blinded with sudden up-springing of tears. How I +got to my hollow I do not know, but I ran and ran and ran, with my blood +tingling, heedless of all the world, until at last I found myself +tumbling down over its ridged wall or rampart of hummocks and dropping, +with a choking moan, flat on my face in an agony of despair.</p> + +<p>There I lay in the long grasses, sobbing as if my heart would break. +Indeed, I thought that it was breaking; that life was over for me; that +sunrise <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>and sunset and the glory of the stars had no further part to +play for me; and that all that was left for me was to die, and be put +into a corner somewhere and speedily forgotten.</p> + +<p>Troops of bitter thoughts came surging up over my brain. My mood of mind +and state of body were alike incomprehensible and terrible to me. It was +a very real agony, that fierce awakening to the realities of life, to +love and passion, and blinding jealousy and despair, and all the rest of +the torments that walk in the train of a boy’s first love. I wallowed +there a long time, making a great mark in the soft grasses, as if I +sought to measure myself for an untimely grave. The strong afternoon sun +drove on his way westward, and still I lay there, writhing and +whimpering, and wondering, perhaps, a little inwardly that the sky did +not fall in and crush me and the wicked world altogether.</p> + +<p>A boy’s mind is a turbulent place enough, and stuffed pretty often with +a legion of wicked thoughts, which take possession of his fancy long +before evil words and evil deeds have struck up their alliance. Yet even +the most foul-mouthed boy thinks, I believe, nobly, or with a kind of +nobility, of his first love, and a clean-hearted lad offers her a kind +of bewildering worship. I was a clean-hearted <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>lad, and I had worshipped +Barbara; and now my worship was over and done with, and I made sure that +my heart was broken.</p> + +<p>I do not know how long I lay there, with whirling brain and bursting +heart, but presently I felt the touch of a hand on my shoulder. I had +heard no one coming, and under ordinary conditions I might have been a +thought startled by the unexpected companionship; but just now I was too +wretched for any other emotion, and I merely lay passive and +indifferent.</p> + +<p>The hand declined with a firmer pressure and gently shook my shoulder, +and then a voice—Lancelot Amber’s voice—called softly to me asking me +what I was doing there and what ailed me. I always loved Lancelot’s +voice: it seemed to vary as swiftly as wind over water with every +thought, and to run along all the chords of speech with the perfection +of music in a dream. Whenever I read that saying of St. Paul’s about the +tongue of men and of angels I am reminded of Lancelot’s voice, and I +feel convinced that of such is the language of the courts of heaven, and +that if St. Paul had talked like Lancelot he would have won the most +sceptical. The sound of his voice soothed me then, as far as it was +possible for anything to soothe me, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>and I shifted slightly to one side +and looked up at him furtively and crossly, my poor face all blubbered +with tears and smeared with mire where I had lain grovelling.</p> + +<p>Bit by bit I told him my story. I was in the temper for a confession, +and ready to tell my tale to anyone with wit enough to coax it from me. +Perhaps it did not seem so much of a tale in the telling, though to my +mind it was then as terrible as the end of the world itself and the +unloosening of the great deep.</p> + +<p>So I hunched myself up on my left elbow, and, staring drearily at +Lancelot through my tears, I whimpered out my sorrows; and he listened +with a smileless face.</p> + +<p>When I had done, and my quavering broke off with a sob, he was silent +for a while, looking straight before him beyond the meadow edges into +the yellowing sky. Then he turned and looked at me with a brotherly pity +that was soothing to my troubled senses, and he spoke to me with a +softness of voice that seemed in tune with the dying day and my drooping +spirits.</p> + +<p>‘After all,’ he said, ‘you have not lost much, Raphael. She is but a +light o’ love, and you were built for a better mate.’ </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p><p>Truly, though I scarcely noted it at the time, it was gracious and +quick-witted of him to assume that I was of a lover’s age with the great +lass of the Skull and Spectacles, and unconsciously it tickled my torn +vanity. But part of his speech angered me, and I took fire like tinder.</p> + +<p>Swinging myself round on my elbow, I glanced savagely into Lancelot’s +face of compassion.</p> + +<p>‘You lie!’ I growled, ‘you lie! She is a queen among women, and there is +no man in all the world worthy of her!’</p> + +<p>Then—for I saw him smile a little—I struck out at him. I am thankful +to think that I was too wild and weary to strike either true or hard, +and my foolish hand just grazed his cheek and touched his shoulder as he +stooped; and then, turning away again, I fell into a fresh storm of +sobbing. Lancelot remained by my side, gently indifferent to my fury, +gently tender with my sorrow. After a while he turned me round +reluctant, and looked very gravely into my tear-stained face. We were +but a brace of lads, each on the edge of life, and as I look back on +that page of my history I cannot help but shudder at the contrast +between us, I bellowing like a gaby at the ache of my first +calf-love—and yet indeed I was hurt, and hardly—and he so sweet and +restrained <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>and sane, weighing the world so wisely in his young hands.</p> + +<p>‘I am very sorry for you, Raphael,’ he said, and his voice was so clear +and strong that for the moment it comforted me as a cordial will comfort +a sick man, against my will. ‘I am very sorry for you, and because of my +sorrow for you and because of my love for you I will give you a gift +that I would part with to no other in the world. Women are not all +alike, and therefore I will give you a talisman to help you to think +well of women.’</p> + +<p>I suppose it would have diverted an elder to hear him, so slim and +simple, discoursing so sweetly and reasonably on a theme on which few of +us at the fag end of our days are ever able to utter one sensible +syllable, but Lancelot always seemed to me wise beyond his time, so I +listened, although dully enough and I fear sullenly. He slipped his hand +into his breast and drew forth a small object which he held shut in his +hand while he again discoursed to me.</p> + +<p>‘What I am going to give you, Raphael, is the little picture of a lass +who is in my eyes a thing of Heaven’s best making. For loyalty, honour, +courage, truth, faith, she is an unmatchable maid. I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>have known her all +the days of my life and never found a flaw in her.’</p> + +<p>Then he opened his hand and I saw that it held a picture, an oval +miniature in a fine gold frame. My mind was all on fire for the black +eyes of piratical Barbara and my blood was tingling to a gipsy tune, but +as I stared at the image in my comrade’s palm my mind was arrested and +my fancy for the instant fixed. For it showed the face of a girl, a +child of Lancelot’s age or a little under, and through my tears I could +perceive the sweetness of the countenance and its likeness to my friend +in the fair hair and the fine eyes.</p> + +<p>‘This is my sister, this is Marjorie,’ Lancelot said slowly. ‘She has +the truest soul, the noblest heart in all the world. I think it will +help you to have it and to look on it from time to time, as it always +helps me when I am away from her.’</p> + +<p>As he spoke he pushed the picture gently into my unresisting fingers and +closed them over it. ‘My sister Marjorie is a wonderful girl,’ he said, +with a bright smile. He was silent for a little while as if musing upon +her and then his tender thoughts returned to me.</p> + +<p>‘Come away, Raphael,’ he said. ‘Let us be going home. The hour is late, +and your mother <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>may be anxious; and you have her still, whatever else +you may have lost.’</p> + +<p>The grace of his voice conquered me. I rose at the word, staggering a +little as I gained my feet, for passion and grief had torn me like +devils, and I was faint and bewildered. He slipped his arm into mine and +led me away, supporting me as carefully as if I were a woman whom his +solicitude was aiding. We exchanged no word together as we went along +the downs and through the fields. As we came to the town, however, he +paused by the last stile and spoke to me.</p> + +<p>‘Dear heart!’ he said, ‘but I am sorry for all this—more sorry than I +can say; for I am going away to-morrow.’</p> + +<p>The words shook me from myself and my apathy. I gazed in wonder and +alarm into his face.</p> + +<p>‘I am going away,’ he said, ‘and that’s how I chanced to find you. For I +waited in vain for you at Mr. Davies’s, and sought you at your home and +found you missing; and then I thought of this old burrow of yours, and +here, as good luck would have it, I found you.’</p> + +<p>I could only gasp out ‘Going away?’ in a great amazement.</p> + +<p>‘I must go away,’ he said. ‘My uncle that was at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>sea is in London, with +Marjorie, and has sent for me. He needs me, and I am so much beholden to +him that I should have to go, even if I were not bound to him by blood +and duty, and indeed I long to see my Marjorie.’</p> + +<p>‘How long will you be away?’ I gasped.</p> + +<p>‘I do not know,’ he answered; ‘but it is only a little world after all, +and we shall meet again some time, and soon, be sure of that. If not, +why, then this parting was well made.’</p> + +<p>This last was a quotation from one of his poets and play-makers, as I +found afterwards, for the words stuck in my memory, and I happened on +them later in a printed book. But indeed I did not think the parting was +well made at all, and I shook my head dismally, for I knew he only said +so to cheer me.</p> + +<p>He laughed and tossed his brown locks. ‘London is not the end of the +world,’ he said. ‘I hope to go further afield than that before I die. +But near or far, summer or winter, town or country, we are friends for +ever. No distance can divide, no time untie our friendship.’</p> + +<p>Here he wrung me by the hand, and I, with this new sorrow on top of the +old—that was new but two hours ago—could only sob and say: ‘O +Lancelot!’ <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>and tremble. I suppose I looked giddy, as if I were about to +faint, for he caught me in his strong arms and propped me up a minute.</p> + +<p>‘Come, come!’ he said; ‘take heart. To-day is not to-morrow yet. I will +go in with you to your mother’s and spend an hour with you before I say +good-bye.’</p> + +<p>Then he gently led me by the arm, and we went into the town and along +the evening streets till we came to the little shop, and there at the +door we found my mother, looking anxious.</p> + +<p>Lancelot made my excuses, saying that he had kept me, and telling my +mother of his speedy departure. My mother, who loved Lancelot, was +almost as grieved as I. But he, in his bright way, cheered us; he came +in, and would take supper with us; and though it was a doleful meal, he +went on as if it were a merry one, talking and laughing, and telling us +tales of the great city and its wonders, and all he hoped to see and do +there.</p> + +<p>And so a sad hour went by, and then he rose and said he must go and give +a hand to the packing of his belongings, for he was leaving by the early +coach and would not have a moment in the morning. And then he kissed my +mother and kissed me, and went away and left us both crying. There were +tears in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>his own eyes as he stepped out into the summer twilight, but +he turned to look back at us, and waved his hat and called out good-bye +with a firm voice.</p> + +<p>A sullen blackness settled down upon me after Lancelot’s departure. I +was minded to rise early in the morning to see him off by the coach, but +I was so tired with crying and complaining that when I fell asleep I +slept like a log, and did not wake until the morning sun was high and +the coach had been long gone. Well, it was all the better, I told myself +savagely. He had gone out of my life for good, and I should see no more +of him. I had lost in the same hour my love and my friend. I would make +up my mind to be lonely and pay no heed. As for the picture he gave me, +what good to me was the face of that fair girl? Lancelot’s sister +Marjorie was a gentlewoman, born and bred, as my lost Lancelot was a +gentleman. What could she or he really have to do with the mercerman in +the dull little Sussex town? Marjorie had a beautiful face, if the +limner did not lie—and indeed he did not—and I could well believe that +as lovely a soul as Lancelot lauded shone through those candid eyes. But +again, what was it to me and my yardwand? So I hid the picture away in a +little sweet-scented cedar-wood box that I had, and resolved to forget +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>Lancelot and Lancelot’s sister, and everything else in the world except +my blighted youth and my blighted hopes.</p> + +<p>I reasoned as a boy reasons who thinks that the world has come to an end +for him after his first check, and who has no knowledge as yet of the +medicine of time. My mother had but a vexatious life of it with me, for +I was silent and melancholy; and though I never, indeed, offended her by +uncivil word or deed, yet the sight of my dreary visage must have been a +sore trial to her, and the glum despondency with which I accepted all +her efforts to cheer me from my humours must have wrung her heart.</p> + +<p>Poor dear! She thought, I believe, that it was only grief for Lancelot +which touched me so; and once, after some days of my ill-temper, she +asked me if I would like to run up to London and see my friend. But I +shook my head. I had made up my mind to have done with everything; to +stay on there to the end, morosely resigned to my lot.</p> + +<p>To make myself more sure in isolation I even took the letter which came +from Lancelot but a few days after his departure, in which he told me +where his uncle’s house was, and bade me write to him there, and burnt +it in the flame of a candle. As I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>tossed the charred paper out into the +street I thought to myself that now indeed I was alone and free to be +miserable in my own way. And I was miserable, and made my poor mother +miserable; and acted like the selfish dog I was, like the selfish dog +that every lad is under the venom of a first love-pang.</p> + +<p>I went no more to the Skull and Spectacles; I saw my beautiful tyrant no +more. One day I drifted along in the familiar direction, came to the +point where I could see the evil-favoured inn standing alone in the +dreary waste, hesitated for a moment, and then, as the image of the girl +in the sailor’s arms surged up before my mind, I turned and ran back as +hard as I could into the town.</p> + +<p>But if I went that way no more, I drifted about in other ways helplessly +and foolishly enough.</p> + +<p>I would spend hours upon hours mooning among the downs and on the +cliffs, and sometimes I would sit on some bulkhead by the quays and look +at the big ships, and wish myself on board one of them and sailing into +the sunset. Love for my mother kept me from going to the devil, but my +love for her was not strong enough to put a brave face upon my trouble, +and I was not man enough to do my best to make her life light for her.</p> + +<p>But no trouble of this kind does endure for ever, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>and by the end of a +year the poison had in a great degree spent itself, and with my recovery +from my love-ache there grew up in my mind a disdain of my behaviour. As +I saw my mother’s visage peaked with pity I grew to be heartily ashamed +of myself, and to resolve honestly and earnestly to make amends. I +disliked tending shop more bitterly than ever. But there was the shop, +and it was dear to my mother’s heart; and so I buckled to, if not with a +will, at least with the semblance of a will, and did my best to become +as good a mercer as another.</p> + +<p>Two things, however, I would not do. I would not enter into +correspondence with Lancelot, and I would not go any more to Master +Davies’s house. Lancelot wrote again and yet again to me. But I served +the second letter as I had served the first, and the third as I had +served the second. I did, indeed, scrawl some few lines of reply to this +last letter, bidding him somewhat bluntly to leave me in peace; that my +bed had been made for me, and that I must needs lie upon it, and that I +did not wish to be vexed in my slumber. It was a rude and foolish +letter, I make no doubt; but I wrote it with a decent purpose enough, +for I was desperately afraid that I could not hold to my resolutions and +to my way of life if I kept in communication with Lancelot, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>was +haunted by the thoughts of his more fortunate stars. Lancelot wrote back +to me with his invariable sweetness and gentleness, saying that he hoped +time would make me amends; and after that I heard no more from him, and +he seemed to have passed out of my life for good and all.</p> + +<p>As for Mr. Davies, he too seemed to belong to the old life from which I +had cut myself adrift, and so I went to his shop no more; and as he was +a home-keeping bookworm, he but seldom stirred abroad. And thus, though +we dwelt in the same town, I may fairly say that I never saw him from +month’s end to month’s end.</p> + +<p>The days slip by swiftly in an unnoticeable kind of way in a town like +Sendennis. It was but a sluggish place, for all its sea-bustle, in the +days that now lie far behind me. Our shop lay in the quietest part of +the town, and we took no note of time. Ours was a grey, lonely life. We +had friends, of course, whose names and ways I have long since +forgotten, but we saw little of them, partly because my mother learnt +after a while that I hated all company, and would take no part in any of +the junketings of our neighbours.</p> + +<p>I might have made an apt mercer in time, but I do not know, and I do not +love to linger over the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>two years I spent in the trial. For though I +did my duty fairly well, both by my mother and by the shop, and though +my love-ache had dulled almost to nothing, my passion to go abroad was +as hot as ever, and I thought it a shame that my twenty years had no +better business, and my life no other aim, than to wear out its strength +behind a counter. Let those two years go by.</p> + +<p>One evening I was sitting with my mother in the little parlour behind +the shop, she knitting, I think, or sewing—I am not sure which—and I +with my legs thrust out before me and my hands in my pockets, outwardly +idling and inwardly cursing at my destiny. Every now and then my mother +glanced at me over the edge of her work and sighed; but it may have +been, and I hope it was, because she found her task a difficult one.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the bell at the front door tinkled. In my younger days I used +to fancy that every ring of that same cracked bell brought some message +from the outer world for me. Well, here was the message at last, though +I never dreamt of it, but just sat stupidly, with my fingers touching my +pocket seams. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>THE GENTLEMAN IN BLUE</h3> + +<p>My mother glanced up from her work at me. I knew that her look asked me +if I had heard the bell, and if I would not go to the door in answer; +and, though I felt lazy, I was not base enough to ignore that appeal. So +I lurched up from my chair and swung through the little shop and flung +the door wide open, a thought angrily, for I had been deep in my brown +study and was stupidly irritated at being jarred from it.</p> + +<p>I half expected, so far as I expected anything, to see some familiar +neighbour, with the familiar demand for a twist of tape or a case of +needles, so that I confess to being not a little surprised and even +startled by what my eyes did rest upon. The doorway framed a wholesome +picture of a middle-aged comely gentleman.</p> + +<p>I see the stranger now in my mind’s eye as I saw him then with my bodily +vision—a stoutly made, well set-up man of a trifle above the middle +height, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>in a full-skirted blue coat; a gold-laced hat upon his powder, +and a gold-headed cane in his hand. The florid face was friendly, and +shrewd too, lined all over its freshness with little lines of experience +and wisdom and knowledge of the world, and two honest blue eyes shone +straight at me from beneath bold black eyebrows.</p> + +<p>It was certainly a most unfamiliar figure in the framework of our shop +door, and I stood and stared at it, somewhat unmannerly, for a space of +several seconds. After a while, finding that I still barred his way and +said nothing, the stranger smiled very good-humouredly; and as he smiled +I saw that his teeth were large and white and sound.</p> + +<p>‘Well, young sir,’ he said pleasantly, ‘are you Master Raphael +Crowninshield?’</p> + +<p>I told him that was my name.</p> + +<p>‘Then I should like to exchange a word or two with you,’ he said; ‘can +we be private within?’</p> + +<p>I answered him that there was no one inside but my mother, and I begged +him to step into the little parlour.</p> + +<p>The stout gentleman nodded. ‘Your mother?’ he said. ‘Very good; I shall +be delighted to have the honour of making madam’s acquaintance: bring me +to her.’ </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p><p>I led the way across the shop and up the two low steps into the little +parlour, where my mother, who had heard every word of this dialogue, had +laid aside her sewing, and now rose as the stranger approached and +dropped him a curtsey.</p> + +<p>‘Be seated, madam, I beg,’ said the stranger. ‘I have a word or two to +say to your son hereby, but first’—here he paused and addressed himself +to me—‘prithee, lad, step to the door a moment and wait till I call for +you. Your mother and I have our gossip to get over.’</p> + +<p>There was something so commanding in the kindliness of the stranger’s +manner and voice that I made no hesitation about obeying him; so I +promptly rose and made for the shop, drawing close the door of the +parlour behind me.</p> + +<p>I stood awhile at the outer door, looking listlessly into the street, +and wondering what the blue gentleman could have to say to my mother and +to me. Even now I can recall the whole scene distinctly, the windy High +Street, with its gleams of broken sunlight on the drying cobbles—for it +had rained a little about noon, and the black clouds were only now +sailing away towards the west and leaving blue and white sky behind +them. I can see again the signs and names of the shops opposite, can +even <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>recall noting a girl leaning out of a window and a birdcage in an +attic.</p> + +<p>When the door of the parlour behind me opened for the blue-coated +gentleman I noted that my mother stood with a pale face and her hands +folded. He beckoned me to him and clapped his hand on my shoulder, and +though he laid it there gentle enough, I felt that it could be as heavy +as the paw of a bear.</p> + +<p>‘My lad,’ he said, gazing steadily into my face with his china-blue +eyes, ‘your good mother and I have been talking over some plans of mine, +and I think I have induced her to see the advantage of my proposals. Am +I right or am I wrong in assuming you have stowed away in your body a +certain longing for the wide world?’</p> + +<p>I suppose my eyes brightened before my lips moved, for he cut me short +with: ‘There, that’s all right; never waste a word when a wink will do. +Now, am I right or am I wrong in supposing that you have a good friend +whose name is Lancelot Amber?’</p> + +<p>I was determined that I would speak this time, and I almost shouted in +my eagerness to say ‘Yes.’</p> + +<p>‘That will be a good voice in a hurricane,’ the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>blue gentleman said +approvingly. Then he began again, with the same formula, which I suppose +pleased his palate.</p> + +<p>‘Am I right or am I wrong in assuming that he has told you of a certain +old sea-dog of an uncle of his whose name is Marmaduke Amber?’</p> + +<p>I nodded energetically, for after his comment I thought it best to hold +my tongue.</p> + +<p>‘Very good. Now, am I right or am I wrong in supposing that you feel +pretty sure at this moment that you are looking upon that same old +sea-dog, Marmaduke Amber?’</p> + +<p>This time I smiled in good earnest at his fantastic fashion of +self-introduction, observing which the blue gentleman swayed me +backwards and forwards several times with his right hand, and I felt +that if I had been an oak of the forest he would have swayed me just as +easily, while he said with a kind of approbative chuckle: ‘That’s +right—a very good lad; that’s right—a very smart lad.’ Then he +suddenly lifted his hand, and I, unprepared for the removal of my prop, +staggered against the counter, while he put another question.</p> + +<p>‘And what do you think Marmaduke Amber wants with you?’</p> + +<p>I shook my head, and said I could not guess. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p><p>‘Why, to make a man of you, to be sure,’ the gentleman answered. ‘You +are spoiling here in this hen-coop. Now, Lancelot loves you like a +brother, and I love Lancelot like a father, and I am quite prepared to +take you to my heart for Lancelot’s sake, for he is scarce likely to be +deceived in you. You must know that I am going to embark upon a certain +enterprise—of which more hereafter. Now, the long and the short of it +is that Lancelot is coming with me, and he wants to know, and I want to +know, if you will come too?’</p> + +<p>‘If I would come too!’</p> + +<p>My heart seemed to stand still for joy at the very thought. Why, here +was the chance I was longing for, dreaming of, day and night; here was a +great ship waiting to carry me on that wrinkled highway of my boyish +ambition; here was the change from the little life of a little town into +the great perils and brave existence of the sea; here was a good-bye to +love and sorrow, and the putting on of manhood and manly purposes!</p> + +<p>Would I not come! My lips trembled with delight and my speech faltered, +and then I glanced at my mother. She was very pale and sad, and at the +sight my joy turned to sorrow. She saw the change on my face, and she +said, very quietly and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>resolutely: ‘I have given my consent, my dear +son, to your going hence. Perhaps it is for the best.’</p> + +<p>‘Mother,’ I said, turning towards her with a choking voice, +‘indeed—indeed it is for the best. I should only mope here and fret, +and come to no good, and give you no pride in me at all. I must go away; +it will not be for long; and when I come back I shall have forgotten my +follies and learnt wisdom.’ Lord, how easy we think it in our youth to +learn wisdom! ‘And you will be proud to see me, and love me better than +ever, for I shall deserve it better.’</p> + +<p>Then my mother wrung her hands together and sighed, and tried to speak, +but she could not; and she turned away from us and moved further back +into the room. I made a step forward, but the stranger caught me by the +shoulder, and swinging me round, guided me to the door; and at the door +we stood in silence together for some seconds, staring out into the +street.</p> + +<p>‘Have patience, lad,’ he whispered into my ear; ‘it is a good woman’s +weakness, and it will pass soon. She knows and I know that it is best +for you to go.’</p> + +<p>I could say nothing, for my heart was too full with the joy of going and +with grief for my <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>mother’s grief. But I felt in my soul that I must go, +or else I should never come to any good in this world, which, after all, +would break my mother’s heart more surely and sadly.</p> + +<p>Presently we heard her voice, a little trembling, call on Mr. Amber by +his name, and we went slowly back together. Already, as I stood by that +stalwart gentleman and timed my step to his stride, I began to feel as +if I had known him all my life, and had loved him as we love some dear +kin.</p> + +<p>I do not know how I can quite express what I then felt, and felt ever +after, in his company—a kind of exultation, such as martial music stirs +in any manly bosom, or as we draw in from the breath of some brave +ballad. It would be impossible, surely, to feel aught but courageous in +such cheerful, valiant, self-reliant fellowship. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>CAPTAIN MARMADUKE’S PLAN</h3> + +<p>Seated in the back parlour, with his chair tilted slightly back, Captain +Marmaduke Amber set forth his scheme to us—perhaps I should say to me, +for my mother had heard it all, or most of it, already, and paid, I +fancy, but little heed to its repetition. For all the attention I paid, +I gained, I fear me, but a very vague idea of Captain Marmaduke’s +purpose. I was far too excited to think of anything clearly beyond the +fact that I was actually going a-travelling, and that the jovial +gentleman with the ruddy face and the china-blue eyes was my good angel. +Still, I gathered that Captain Amber would be a colonist—a +gentleman-adventurer; after a new fashion, and not for his own ends.</p> + +<p>It was, indeed, a kind of Utopia which Captain Amber dreamt of founding +in a far corner of the world, beneath the Southern Cross. The Captain +had taken it into his gallant head that the old world was growing too +small and its ways too evil for its <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>people, and that much might be done +in the way of the regeneration of human society under softer +surroundings and beneath purer skies. His hope, his belief, was that if +a colony of earnest human beings were to be founded, established upon +true principles of justice and of virtue, it might set an example which +would spread and spread until at last it should regenerate the earth.</p> + +<p>It was a noble scheme indeed, prompted by a kindly and honourable +nature, and I must say that it sounded very well as the periods swelled +from Captain Amber’s lips. For Captain Amber was a scholar and a +gentleman as well as a man of action, and he spoke and wrote with a +certain florid grace that suited him well, and that impressed me at the +time very profoundly. It seemed to me that Captain Amber was not merely +one of the noblest of men—which indeed he was, as I was to learn often +and often afterwards—but also one of the wisest, and that his scheme of +colonisation was the scheme of a statesman and a philosopher.</p> + +<p>How precisely the thing was to be done, and why Captain Marmaduke seemed +so confident of finding a new Garden of Eden or Earthly Paradise at the +other end of the world, I did not rightly comprehend then; nor, indeed, +have I striven much <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>to comprehend since. But I gathered this much—that +Captain Marmaduke had retired from the service to carry out his fancy; +that he had bought land of the Dutch in the Indies; that he had plenty +of money at his command; and that the enterprise was all at his charges. +One thing was quite certain—Captain Marmaduke had got a ship, and a +good one too, now riding at anchor in Sendennis harbour; and in +Sendennis Captain Marmaduke only meant to stay long enough to get +together a few more folk to complete his company and his colony. I was +to come along, not as a colonist, unless I chose, but as a kind of +companion to Lancelot, to learn all the tricks of the sailor’s trade, +and to return when Captain Marmaduke, having fairly established his +colony, set out on his return voyage.</p> + +<p>For it seemed that if I had forgotten, or seemed to have forgotten, +Lancelot, he had not forgotten me, but had carried me in his thoughts +through all the months that had grown to years since last we met. Thus, +when Captain Amber first began to carry out his dream of a colony, +Lancelot begged him to give me a share in the adventure. For Lancelot +remembered well my hunger and thirst for travel, and had sworn to help +me to my heart’s <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>desire. And it seemed to him that in this enterprise +of his uncle’s lurked my chance of seeing a little of the world.</p> + +<p>Captain Amber, who loved Lancelot better than any being in the world +save one, promised that if I were willing, and seemed a lad of spirit, I +should go along with Lancelot and himself to help build the colony at +the butt end of the world. As the ship was to sail from Sendennis—that +being Captain Amber’s native place—he promised Lancelot that he would +seek me out, and see if I pleased him, and if the plan pleased me. And +I, on fire with the thought of getting away from Sendennis and feeling +the width of the world—all I wanted to know was how soon we might be +starting.</p> + +<p>‘A fortnight is our longest delay,’ the Captain said; ‘we sail sooner if +we can. Report yourself to me to-morrow morning between eleven and noon. +You will find me at the Noble Rose. You know where that is, I suppose?’</p> + +<p>Now, as the Noble Rose was the first inn in Sendennis, and one that the +town was proud of, I naturally knew of its whereabouts, though I was not +so well acquainted with it as with a certain other and more ill-favoured +hostelry that shall be nameless. The Noble Rose was in favour with the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>country gentry and the gentlemen of the Chisholm Hunt, and it would +scarcely have welcomed a tradesman’s son within its walls as readily as +the rapscallion Skull and Spectacles did. But I felt that I should be +welcomed anywhere as the friend of Captain Marmaduke Amber, for as a +friend I already began to regard him. So I assured him that I would duly +present myself to him at the Noble Rose on the morrow, between eleven of +the clock and noon.</p> + +<p>‘That’s right, lad,’ he said; and then, turning to my mother, he took +her worn hand in his strong one, and, to my surprise and pleasure, +kissed it with a reverential courtesy, as if she had been a Court lady.</p> + +<p>As Captain Marmaduke turned to go I caught at his hand.</p> + +<p>‘Where is Lancelot?’ I asked; ‘is he here in Sendennis?’ For in the +midst of all the joy and wonder of this sea business my heart was on +fire to see that face again.</p> + +<p>Captain Marmaduke laughed.</p> + +<p>‘If he were in Sendennis at this hour he would be here, I make no doubt. +He is in London, looking after one or two matters which methought he +could manage better than I could. But he will be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>here in good time, and +it is time for me to be off. Remember, my lad, to-morrow,’ and with a +bow for my mother and a bear’s grip for me he passed outside the shop, +leaving my mother and me staring at each other in great amazement. But +for all my amazement the main thought in my mind was of a certain +picture of a girl’s face that lay, shrined in a cedar-wood box, hidden +away in my room upstairs. And so it happened that though my lips were +busy with the name of Lancelot my brain was busy with the name of +Marjorie. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>THE COMPANY AT THE NOBLE ROSE</h3> + +<p>The next morning I was up betimes; indeed, I do not think that I slept +very much that night, and such sleep as I did have was of a disturbed +sort, peopled with wild sea-dreams of all kinds. In my impatience it +seemed to me as if the time would never come for me to keep my +appointment with Captain Marmaduke; but then, as ever, the hands of the +clock went round their appointed circle, and at half-past eleven I was +at my destination. The Noble Rose stood in the market square. It was a +fine place enough, or seemed so to my eyes then, with its pillared +portal and its great bow-windows at each side, where the gentlemen of +quality loved to sit of fine evenings drinking their ale or their +brandy, and watching the world go by.</p> + +<p>In the left-hand window as I came up I saw that the Captain was sitting, +and as I came up he saw me and beckoned me to come inside.</p> + +<p>With a beating heart I entered the inn hall, and was making for the +Captain’s room when a servant barred my way. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p><p>‘Now then, where are you posting to?’ he asked, with an insolent +good-humour. ‘This is a private room, and holds private company.’</p> + +<p>‘I know that,’ I answered, ‘but it holds a friend of mine, whom I want +to see and who wants to see me.’</p> + +<p>The man laughed rudely. ‘Very likely,’ he said, ‘that the company in the +Dolphin are friends of yours,’ and then, as I was still pressing +forward, he put out his hand as if to stay me.</p> + +<p>This angered me; and taking the knave by the collar, I swung him aside +so briskly that he went staggering across the hall and brought up +ruefully humped against a settle. Before he could come at me again the +door of the Dolphin opened, and Captain Marmaduke appeared upon the +threshold. He looked in some astonishment from the rogue scowling on the +settle to me flushed with anger.</p> + +<p>‘Heyday, lad,’ he said, ‘are you having a bout of fisticuffs to keep +your hand in?’</p> + +<p>‘This fellow,’ I said, ‘tried to hinder me from entering yonder room, +and I did but push him aside out of my path.’</p> + +<p>‘Hum!’ said Captain Marmaduke, ‘’twas a lusty push, and cleared your +course, certainly. Well, well, I like you the better, lad, for not being +lightly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>balked in your business.’ And therewith he led me into the +Dolphin.</p> + +<p>There was a sea-coal fire in the grate, for the day was raw and the glow +welcome. Beside the fire an elderly gentleman sat in an arm-chair. He +had a black silk skull-cap on his head, and his face was wrinkled and +his eyes were bright, and his face, now turned upon me, showed harsh. I +knew of course that he was Lancelot’s other uncle, he who would never +suffer that I should set foot within his gates. Indeed, his face in many +points resembled that of his brother—as much as an ugly face can +resemble a fair one. There was a likeness in the forehead and there was +a likeness in the eyes, which were something of the same china-blue +colour, though of a lighter shade, and with only cold unkindness there +instead of the genial kindness of the Captain’s.</p> + +<p>A man stood on the other side of the open fireplace, a man of about +forty-five, of something over the middle height and marvellously +well-built. He was clad in what, though it was not distinctly a seaman’s +habit, yet suggested the ways of the sea, and there was a kind of +foppishness about his rig which set me wondering, for I was used to a +slovenly squalor or a slovenly bravery in the sailors I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>knew most of. +He was a handsome fellow, with dark curling hair and dark eyes, and a +dark skin that seemed Italian.</p> + +<p>I have heard men say that there is no art to read the mind’s complexion +in the face. These fellows pretend that your villain is often +smooth-faced as well as smooth-tongued, and pleases the eye to the +benefit of his mischievous ends. Whereas, on the other hand, many an +honest fellow is damned for a scoundrel because with the nature of an +angel he has the mask of a fiend. In which two fancies I have no belief. +A rogue is a rogue all the world over, and flies his flag in his face +for those who can read the bunting. He may flatter the light eye or the +cold eye, but the warm gaze will find some lurking line by the lip, some +wryness of feature, some twist of the devil’s fingers in his face, to +betray him. And as for an honest man looking like a rogue, the thing is +impossible. I have seen no small matter of marvels in my time—even, as +I think, the great sea serpent himself, though this is not the time and +place to record it—but I have never seen the marvel of a good man with +a bad man’s face, and it was my first and last impression that the face +of Cornelys Jensen was the face of a rogue. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>THE TALK IN THE DOLPHIN</h3> + +<p>Captain Marmaduke presented me to the two men, while his hand still +rested on my shoulder.</p> + +<p>‘Brother,’ he said, ‘this is Master Ralph Crowninshield, of whom you +have often heard from Lancelot.’</p> + +<p>‘Aye,’ said the old man, looking at me without any salutation. ‘Aye, I +have heard of him from Lancelot.’</p> + +<p>Captain Marmaduke now turned towards the other man, who had never taken +his eyes off me since I entered the room.</p> + +<p>‘Cornelys Jensen, here is Master Ralph Crowninshield, your shipmate that +is to be.’</p> + +<p>Cornelys Jensen came across the room in a couple of swinging strides and +held out his hand to me. Something in his carriage reminded me of +certain play-actors who had come to the town once. This man carried +himself like a stage king. We clasped hands, and he spoke. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p><p>‘Salutation, shipmate.’</p> + +<p>Then we unclasped, and he returned to his post by the fireplace with the +same exaggeration of action as before.</p> + +<p>The old man broke a short silence. ‘Well, Marmaduke, why have you +brought this boy here?’</p> + +<p>The Captain motioned me to a seat, which I took, and sat back himself in +his former place.</p> + +<p>‘Because the boy is going with me, and I thought that you might have +something to say to him before he went.’</p> + +<p>‘Something to say to him?’</p> + +<p>The old man repeated the words like a sneer, then he faced on me again +and addressed me with an unmoving face.</p> + +<p>‘Yes, I have something to say to you. Young man, you are going on a +fool’s errand.’</p> + +<p>Captain Marmaduke laughed a little at this, but I could see that he was +not pleased.</p> + +<p>‘Come, brother, don’t say that,’ he said.</p> + +<p>‘But I do say it,’ the old gentleman repeated. ‘A fool’s errand it is, +and a fool’s errand it will be called; and it shall not be said of +Nathaniel Amber that he saw his brother make a fool of himself without +telling him his mind.’ </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p><p>‘I can always trust you for that, Nathaniel,’ said the Captain gravely. +The old man went on without heeding the interruption.</p> + +<p>‘A fool’s errand I call it, and shall always call it. What a plague! can +a man find moneys and a tall ship and stout fellows, and set them to no +better use than to found a Fool’s Paradise with them at the heel of the +world? Ships were made for traffic and shipmen for trade, and not for +such whimsies.’</p> + +<p>The Captain frowned, but he said nothing, and tapped the toes of his +crossed boots with his malacca. But Cornelys Jensen, advancing forward, +put in his word.</p> + +<p>‘Saving your presence, Master Nathaniel,’ he said, ‘but is not this a +most honourable and commendable enterprise? What better thing could a +gallant gentleman do than to found such a brotherhood of honest hearts +and honest hands as Captain Marmaduke here proposes?’</p> + +<p>The frown faded from the Captain’s face, and a pleased flush deepened +its warm colour. It is a curious thing that men of his kidney—men with +an unerring eye for a good man—have often a poor eye for a rogue. It +amazed me to see my Captain so pleased at the praisings of Cornelys +Jensen. But <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>I was to find out later that he was the easiest man in the +world to deceive.</p> + +<p>‘Spoken like a man, Cornelys; spoken like a true man,’ he said.</p> + +<p>‘I must ever speak my mind,’ said Cornelys Jensen. ‘I may be a rough +sea-fellow, but if I have a thing to say I must needs spit it out, +whether it please or pain. And I say roundly here, in your honour’s +presence, that I think this to be a noble venture, and that I have +never, since first I saw salt water, prepared for any cruise with so +much pleasure.’</p> + +<p>Which was indeed true, but not as he intended my Captain to take it, and +as my Captain did take it.</p> + +<p>‘Well,’ grumbled Nathaniel, ‘you are a pair of fools, both of you,’ and +as he spoke he glanced from one to the other with those little shrewd +eyes of his, looking at my Captain first and then at Cornelys.</p> + +<p>Young as I was, and fresh to the reading of the faces of crafty men, I +thought that the look in his eyes—for his face changed not at all—was +very different when they rested on the brown face of Cornelys Jensen +than when they looked on the florid visage of my good patron. He glanced +with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>contempt upon his kinsman, but I did not see contempt in the gaze +he fixed upon Cornelys, who returned his gaze with a steady, unabashed +stare.</p> + +<p>‘Yes,’ the old man went on, ‘you are a pair of fools, and a fool and his +money is a pithy proverb, and true enough of one of you. But it is well +sometimes to treat a fool according to his folly, and so, if you are +really determined upon this adventure——’</p> + +<p>He paused, and looked again at the Captain and again at Cornelys Jensen.</p> + +<p>Cornelys Jensen remained perfectly unmoved. The Captain’s face grew a +shade redder.</p> + +<p>‘I am,’ he said shortly.</p> + +<p>‘Very well, then,’ said the old gentleman; ‘as you are my brother, I +must needs humour you. You shall have the moneys you need——’</p> + +<p>‘Now that’s talking,’ interrupted the Captain.</p> + +<p>‘Although I know it is a foolhardy thing for me to do.’</p> + +<p>‘You get good enough security, it seems to me,’ said the Captain, a +thought gruffly.</p> + +<p>‘Maybe I do,’ said Nathaniel, ‘and maybe I do not. Maybe I have a fancy +for my fine guineas, and do not care to part with them, however good the +security may be.’ </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p><p>‘Lord, how you chop and change!’ said the Captain. ‘Act like a plain +man, brother. Will you or will you not?’</p> + +<p>‘I have said that I will,’ said Nathaniel slowly.</p> + +<p>I could see that for some reason it amused him to irritate his brother +by his reluctance and by his slow speech. The ancient knave knew it for +the surest way to spur him to the enterprise.</p> + +<p>‘When can I have the money?’ asked the Captain.</p> + +<p>‘Not to-day,’ said Nathaniel slowly, ‘nor yet to-morrow.’</p> + +<p>‘Why not to-morrow? It would serve me well to-morrow.’</p> + +<p>‘Very well,’ said Nathaniel with a sigh; ‘to-morrow it shall be, though +you do jostle me vilely.’</p> + +<p>‘Man alive! I want to be off to sea,’ said the Captain.</p> + +<p>‘The sooner we are off the better,’ interpolated Jensen; and once again +I noted that Nathaniel shot a swift glance at him through his +half-closed lids.</p> + +<p>‘You are bustling fellows, you that follow the sea life,’ said +Nathaniel. ‘Well, it shall be to-morrow, and I will have all the papers +made ready and the money in fat bags, and you will have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>nothing to do +but to sign the one and to pocket the other. And now I must be jogging.’</p> + +<p>The Captain made no show of staying him. Nathaniel moved towards the +door slowly, weighing up upon his crutched stick.</p> + +<p>‘Farewell, Marmaduke!’ he said. He took the Captain’s hand, but soon +parted with it.</p> + +<p>Then he looked at me.</p> + +<p>‘Good-day, young fellow,’ he said. ‘Do not forget that I told you you +went on a fool’s errand.’</p> + +<p>I drew aside to make way for him, and he left the room without a look or +a word for Cornelys Jensen. In another minute I saw him through the +window hobbling along the street.</p> + +<p>He looked malignant enough, but I did not know then how malignant a +thing he was. I was ever a weak wretch at figures and business and +finance, but it was made plain to me later that Master Nathaniel had so +handled Master Marmaduke in this matter of the lending of moneys, that +if by any chance anything grave were to happen to Master Marmaduke and +to the lad Lancelot and the lass Marjorie all that belonged to Captain +Marmaduke would swell the wealth of his brother. And here were Captain +Marmaduke and Lancelot and Marjorie all going to sea together and going +in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>company of Cornelys Jensen. And I know now that Master Nathaniel +knew Cornelys Jensen very well. But I did not know it then or dream it +as I turned from the window and looked at the handsome rascal, who +seemed agog to be going.</p> + +<p>‘Shall you need me longer, Captain?’ Jensen asked. ‘There is much to do +which should be doing.’</p> + +<p>‘Nay,’ said the Captain, ‘you are free, for me. I know that there is +much to do, and I know that you are the man to do it. But I shall see +you in the evening.’</p> + +<p>Jensen saluted the Captain, nodded to me, and strode out of the room. +Then the Captain sat me down and talked for some twenty minutes of his +plan and his hope. If I did not understand much, I felt that I was a +fortunate fellow to be in such a glorious enterprise. I wish I had been +more mindful of all that he said, but my mind was ever somewhat of a +sieve for long speeches, and the dear gentleman spoke at length.</p> + +<p>Presently he consulted his watch.</p> + +<p>‘The coach should be in soon,’ he said. ‘Let us go forth and await it.’</p> + +<p>We went out of the Dolphin together into the hall, and there we came to +a halt, for he had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>thought upon some new point in his undertaking, and +he began to hold forth to me upon that.</p> + +<p>I can see the whole place now—the dark oak walls, the dark oak stairs, +and my Captain’s blue coat and scarlet face making a brave bit of colour +in the sombre place. The Noble Rose is gone long since, but that hall +lives in my memory for a thing that just then happened. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>SHE COMES DOWN THE STAIRS</h3> + +<p>From the hall of the Noble Rose sprang an oak staircase, and at this +instant a girl began to descend the stairs. She was quite young—a tall +slip of a thing, who scarcely seemed nineteen—and she had hair of a +yellow that looked as if it loved the sun, and her eyes were of a softer +blue than my friend’s. I knew that at last I looked on Marjorie, +Lancelot’s Marjorie, the maid whose very picture had seemed farther from +me than the farthest star. Her face was fresh, as of one who has enjoyed +liberally the open air, and not sat mewed within four walls like a town +miss. I noted, too, that her steps as she came down the stairs were not +taken mincingly, as school-girls are wont to walk, but with decision, +like a boy.</p> + +<p>Indeed, though she was a beautiful girl, and soon to make a beautiful +woman, there was a quality of manliness in her which pleased me much +then and more thereafter. There is a play I have seen acted in which a +girl goes to live in a wood in a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>man’s habit. I have thought since that +she of the play must have showed like this girl, and indeed I speak but +what I know when I say that man’s apparel became her bravely. Now, as +she came down the stairs she was clad in some kind of flowered gown of +blue and white which set off her fair loveliness divinely. She carried +some yellow flowers at her girdle; they were Lent lilies, as I believe.</p> + +<p>This apparition distracting my attention from the Captain’s words, he +wheeled round upon his heel and learnt the cause of my inattention. +Immediately he smiled and called to the maiden.</p> + +<p>‘Come here, niece; I have found you a new friend.’</p> + +<p>She came forward, smiling to him, and then looked at me with an +expression of the sweetest gravity in the world. Surely there never was +such a girl in the world since the sun first shone on maidens.</p> + +<p>‘Lass,’ said the Captain, ‘this is our new friend. His name is Raphael +Crowninshield, but, because I think he has more of the man in him than +of the archangel, I mean to call him Ralph.’</p> + +<p>The girl held out her hand to me in a way that reminded me much of +Lancelot. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p><p>As I took her hand I felt that my face was flaming like the sun in a +sea-fog—no less round and no less red. I was timid with girls, for I +knew but few, and after my misfortune I had shunned those few most +carefully. She was not shy herself, though, and she did not seem to note +my shyness—or, if she did, it gave her no pleasure to note it, as it +would have given many less gracious maidens. Her hand was not very +small, but it was finely fashioned—a noble hand, like my Captain’s and +like Lancelot’s; a hand that gave a true grasp; a hand that it was a +pleasure to hold.</p> + +<p>‘Shall I call you Ralph or Raphael?’ she said.</p> + +<p>My face grew hotter, and I stammered foolishly as I answered her that I +begged she would call me by what name she pleased, but that if it +pleased my Captain to call me Ralph, then Ralph I was ready to be.</p> + +<p>‘Well and good, Ralph,’ she said.</p> + +<p>We had parted hands by this time, but I was still staring at her, full +of wonder.</p> + +<p>‘This boy,’ said the Captain, ‘goes with us in the Royal Christopher. We +will find our New World together. He is a good fellow, and should make a +good sailor in time.’</p> + +<p>As the Captain spoke of me and the girl looked <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>at me I felt hotter and +more foolish, and could think of nothing to say. But even if I could +have thought of anything to say I had no time to say it in, for there +came an interruption which ended my embarrassment; a horn sounded +loudly, and every soul in Sendennis knew that the coach was in.</p> + +<p>In a moment everything was changed. The Captain took his hand from my +shoulder; the girl took her gaze from my face. There was a clatter of +wheels, a trampling of horses’ hoofs. The coach had drawn up in front of +the inn door. We three—my Captain, the girl, and myself—ran across the +hall and out on the portico. There was the usual crowd about the newly +arrived coach; but there was only one person in the crowd for whom we +looked, and him we soon found.</p> + +<p>A lithe figure in a buff travelling coat swung off the box-seat, and +Lancelot was with us again. He had an arm around the girl’s neck, and +kissed her with no heed of the people; he had a hand clasped between the +two hands of the Captain, who squeezed his fingers fondly. Then he +looked at me, and leaving his kindred he caught both my hands in both +his, while his joy shone in his eyes.</p> + +<p>‘Raphael, my old Raphael, is it you?’ he said; ‘but my heart is glad of +this.’ </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p><p>I wrung his hands. I could scarcely speak for happiness at seeing him +again.</p> + +<p>‘You must not call him Raphael any more,’ the girl said demurely. ‘He is +to be Ralph now, for all of us, so my uncle says.’</p> + +<p>‘Is that so?’ said Lancelot, looking up at the Captain. ‘Well, we must +obey orders, and indeed I would rather have Ralph than Raphael. ’Tis +less of an outlandish name.’</p> + +<p>Then we all laughed, and we all came back into the hall of the inn +together.</p> + +<p>I watched Lancelot with wonder and with pride. He had grown amazingly in +the years since I had seen him, and carried himself like a man. He was +handsomer than ever I thought, and liker to our island’s patron saint. +As he stripped off his travelling coat and stood up in the neat habit of +a well-to-do town gentleman, he looked such a cavalier as no woman but +would wish for a lover, no man but desire for a friend.</p> + +<p>‘Lads and lass,’ said Captain Amber, ‘it will soon be time to dine. We +have waited dinner for this scapegrace’—and he pinched Lancelot’s +ear—‘so get the dust of travel off as quickly as may be, and we will +sit down with good appetite.’</p> + +<p>At these words I made to go away, for I did not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>dream that I was to be +of the party; but the Captain, seeing my action, caught me by the arm.</p> + +<p>‘Nay, Ralph,’ he said, ‘you must stay and dine with us. You are one of +us now, and Lancelot must not lose you on this first day of fair +meeting.’</p> + +<p>I was indeed glad to accept, for Lancelot’s sake. But there was another +reason in my heart which made me glad also, and that reason was that I +should see the girl again who was my Captain’s darling, the sister whom +Lancelot had kissed.</p> + +<p>So I said that I would come gladly, if so be that I had time to run home +and tell my mother, lest she might be keeping dinner for me.</p> + +<p>‘That’s right, lad, that’s right. Ever think of the feelings of others.’</p> + +<p>My Captain was always full of moral counsels and maxims of good conduct, +but they came from him as naturally as his breath, and his own life was +so honourable that there was nothing sanctimonious in his way or his +words.</p> + +<p>As I was about to start he begged me to assure my mother that if she +would join them at table he would consider it an honour. I thanked him +with tears in my eyes, and saluting them all I left the inn quickly, +with the last sweet smile of that girl’s burning in my memory. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>A FEAST OF THE GODS</h3> + +<p>I sped through the streets to our house as swiftly, I am sure, as that +ancient messenger of the Pagan gods—he that had the wings tied to his +feet that he might travel the faster. My dear mother was rejoiced at the +Captain’s kindness, but she would by no means hear of coming with me. +She bade me return with speed, that I might not keep the company +waiting, and to thank the Captain for her with all my heart for his +kindness and condescension.</p> + +<p>When I got back to the Noble Rose I found our little company all +assembled in the Dolphin. No one stayed my entrance this time, for +though the same fellow that I had tussled with before saw me enter he +made no objection this time, and even saluted me in a loutish manner; +for I was the Captain’s friend, and as such claimed respect.</p> + +<p>Lancelot was leaning against the mantelpiece, and Marjorie and my +Captain were sitting by plying <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>him with questions and listening eagerly +to his answers. Lancelot had drawn off his travelling boots and spruced +himself, and looked a comely fellow. When I entered he broke off in what +he was saying to clasp my hand again, while the Captain rang for dinner, +expressing as he did so the civilest regrets at my mother’s absence. +Then we all sat to table and dined together in the pleasantest +good-fellowship.</p> + +<p>Never shall I forget that dinner, not if I live to be a hundred—which +is not unlikely, for I come of a long-lived race by my mother’s side, +and winds and waters have so toughened me that I ought to last with the +best of my ancestors. There was a Latin tag Mr. Davies used to tease me +with about the Feasts of the Gods. Feasts of the Gods, forsooth! They +could not compare, I’ll dare wager, with that repast in the Dolphin Room +of the Noble Rose, on that crisp spring day when I and the world were +younger.</p> + +<p>I might well be excused, a raw provincial lad, if I did feel shyish in +the presence of such gentlefolk. But they were such true gentlefolk that +it was impossible for long not to feel at ease in their society. So when +I learnt that Lancelot had not changed one whit in his love for me, and +when I found that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>not +the Captain alone, but his beautiful niece too, did everything to +make me feel happy and at home—why, it would have been churlish of me +not to have aided their gentleness by making myself as agreeable as +might be.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 347px;"> +<img src="images/i099.jpg" width="347" class="ispace jpg" height="500" alt="“He Broke Off in What He Was Saying To Clasp My Hand.”" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“He Broke Off in What He Was Saying To Clasp My Hand.”</span> +</div> + +<p>The Captain had so much to say of his scheme or dream, and we were so +content to listen like good children, that we did not rise from table +till nigh three o’clock. It was such a happy dream, and so feelingly +depicted by the Captain, that it never occurred to me for a moment to +doubt in any wise its feasibility, or to feel aught but sure that I was +engaged in the greatest undertaking wherein man had ever shared. When we +did part at last, on the understanding that I was to attend upon the +Captain daily, I shook hands with Marjorie as with an old friend. I was +for shaking hands with Lancelot, too, but he would not hear of it. He +would walk home with me, he said; he could not lose me so soon after +finding me again. So we issued out of the Noble Rose together, +arm-in-arm, in very happy mind.</p> + +<p>We walked for a few paces in silence, the sweet silence that often falls +upon long-parted friends when their hearts are too full for parley. Then +Lancelot asked me suddenly ‘Is she not wonderful?’ <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>and I could answer +no more than ‘indeed,’ for she seemed to me the most wonderful creature +the world had ever seen, which opinion I entertain and cherish to this +very day and hour.</p> + +<p>‘Is she not better than her picture in little?’ he questioned, and again +I had no more to say than ‘indeed,’ though I would have liked to find +other words for my thoughts. By this time we had come to the way where I +should turn to my home, but here Lancelot would needs have it that we +should go and visit Mr. Davies’s shop in the High Street. I must say +that this resolve somewhat smote my conscience, for it was many a long +day since I had crossed Mr. Davies’s threshold; but I would not say +Lancelot nay, and so we went our ways to the High Street and Mr. +Davies’s shop. And indeed I am glad we did so. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>MR. DAVIES’S GIFTS</h3> + +<p>Mr. Davies did not seem at all surprised to see us when we entered, and +he turned round and faced us.</p> + +<p>The poor little man had lived so long among his musty books that the +real world had become as it were a kind of dream to him, wherein people +came like shadows and people went like shadows, and where still the +battered battalions of his books abided with him.</p> + +<p>But he seemed very well pleased to see us, and shook us both warmly by +the hands and called us by our right names, without confounding either +of us with the other, and had us into his little back parlour and +pressed strong waters upon us, all very hospitably.</p> + +<p>Of the strong waters Lancelot and I would have none, for in those days I +never touched them, nor did Lancelot. I never drank aught headier than +ale in the time when I used to frequent the Skull <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>and Spectacles, and +as for Lancelot, who was a gentleman born and used to French wines, he +had no relish for more ardent liquors. Then he begged we would have a +dish of tea, of which he had been given a little present, he said, of +late; and as it would have cut him to the heart if we had refused all +his proffers, we sat while he bustled about at his brew, and then we all +sipped the hot stuff out of porcelain cups and chatted away as if the +world had grown younger.</p> + +<p>Mr. Davies was full of curiosity about our departure and the Captain’s +purpose, and did not weary of putting questions to us, or rather to +Lancelot, for he soon found that I knew but little of our business +beyond the name of the ship. To be sure, I do not think that Lancelot +really knew much more about it than I did, but he could talk as I never +could talk, and he made it all seem mighty grand and venturesome and +heroic to the little bookseller.</p> + +<p>When we rose Mr. Davies rose with us and followed us into the shop, when +he insisted that each of us should have a book for a keepsake. He groped +along his shelves, and after a little while turned to us with a couple +of volumes under his arm. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p><p>Mr. Davies addressed Lancelot very gravely as he handed him one of the +volumes.</p> + +<p>‘Master Lancelot,’ he said, ‘in giving you that book I bestow upon you +what is worth more than a king’s ransom—yea, more than gold of Ophir +and peacocks and ivory from Tarshish, and pearls of Tyre and purple of +Sidon. It is John Florio’s rendering of the Essays of Michael of +Montaigne, and there is no better book in the world, of the books that +men have made for men, the books that have no breath of the speech of +angels in them. Here may a man learn to be brave, equable, temperate, +patient, to look life—aye, and the end of life—squarely in the face, +to make the most and best of his earthly portion. Take it, Master +Lancelot; it is the good book of a good and wise gentleman, and in days +long off, when I am no more, you may remember my name because of this my +gift and be grateful.’</p> + +<p>Then he turned to me and handed me the other book that he had been +hugging under his arm.</p> + +<p>‘For you, my dear young friend,’ he said, ‘I have chosen a work of +another temper. You have no bookish habit, but you have a gallant +spirit, and so I will give you a gallant book.’</p> + +<p>He opened the volume, which was a quarto, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>read from its title-page +in his thin, piping voice, that always reminded me somewhat of his own +old bullfinch.</p> + +<p>‘A New, Short, and Easy Method of Fencing; or, the Art of the Broad and +Small Sword, Rectified and Compendiz’d, wherein the practice of these +two weapons is reduced to so few and general Rules that any Person of +indifferent Capacity and ordinary Agility of Body may in a very short +time attain to not only a sufficient Knowledge of the Theory of this +art, but also to a considerable adroitness in practice, either for the +Defence of his life upon a just occasion, or preservation of his +Reputation and Honour in any Accidental Scuffle or Trifling Quarrel. By +Sir William Hope of Balcomie, Baronet, late Deputy-Governor of the +Castle of Edinburgh.’</p> + +<p>I should not have carried such a string of words in my memory merely +from hearing Mr. Davies say them over once. But they and the book they +spoke of became very familiar to me afterwards, and I know it and its +title by root of heart.</p> + +<p>Lancelot thanked him for us both in well-chosen words, such as I should +never have found if I had cudgelled my brains for a fortnight.</p> + +<p>Then we wrung Mr. Davies’s hands again, and he wished us God-speed, and +we came out again <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>into the open street, where the day had now well +darkened down.</p> + +<p>As we walked along the High Street with our books under our arms +Lancelot gave me many particulars concerning his uncle’s scheme and his +means for furthering it.</p> + +<p>It would appear that Captain Marmaduke had for some time cherished the +notion of an ideal colony. The thought came originally into his head, so +Lancelot fancied, from his study of such books as the ‘Republic’ of +Plato and the ‘Utopia’ of Sir Thomas More, works I had then never heard +of, and have found no occasion since that time to study. But, as I +gathered from Lancelot, they were volumes that treated of ideal +commonwealths.</p> + +<p>Captain Amber’s first idea, it appeared, was to establish his little +following in one of His Majesty’s American colonies. But while he was in +the Low Countries he had heard much of those new lands at the end of the +world, wherein the Dutch are so much interested, and it seems that the +Dutch Government, in gratitude to him for some services rendered, were +willing to make him a concession of land wherein to try his venture. At +least I think, as well as I can remember, that this was so; I know <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>that +somehow or other the Dutch Government was mixed up in the matter.</p> + +<p>What further resolved Captain Amber to go so far afield was, it seems, +the friendship he had formed while at Leyden with Cornelys Jensen. This +Jensen was a fellow of mixed parentage, a Dutch father and an English +mother, who had followed the sea all his life, and knew, it seemed, very +intimately those parts of the world whereto Captain Amber’s thoughts +were turned.</p> + +<p>Jensen was such a plausible fellow, and professed to be so enraptured +with Captain Amber’s enterprise, that the Captain’s heart was quite won +by the fellow, and from that time out he and Cornelys Jensen were hand +and glove together in the matter. Very valuable Jensen proved, according +to the Captain; full of experience, expeditious, and a rare hand at the +picking up of stout fellows for a crew. I found that Lancelot did not +hold him in such high regard as his uncle did, but that out of respect +for Captain Amber’s judgment he held his peace.</p> + +<p>As for the Captain’s brother Nathaniel, his whole share in the +enterprise consisted in the advancing of moneys, on those ungentle terms +I have recorded, upon the broad lands and valuables which made my +Captain a man of much worldly gear. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p><p>Lancelot brought me to my door, we still talking of this and of that.</p> + +<p>Lancelot came within for a little while and kissed my mother, who hung +on his neck for a moment and then cried a little softly, while Lancelot +spoke to her with those words of grave encouragement which seemed beyond +his years. Then he wished us good-night, and I saw him to the door, and +stood watching his tall form stepping briskly up the street in the clear +starlight.</p> + +<p>The girl I spoke of but now, she in the play-book who lived like a man +in the greenwood, says—or bears witness that another said—that none +ever loved who loved not at first sight. This was true in my case. For +that unhappy business with the girl Barbara, though it was love sure +enough, was not such gracious love as that day entered into me and has +ever since dwelt with me.</p> + +<p>Of course I had much to tell my mother and she listened, as interested +as a child in a fairy tale to all that had been said and done in the +Noble Rose. But most of all she seemed surprised to hear that a girl was +going to sea with us. She questioned me suddenly when I had made an end +of my story:</p> + +<p>‘What do you think of this maid Marjorie, Raphael?’ </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p><p>I felt at the mention of her name that the blood ran red in my face and +I was glad to think that the light in the room was not bright enough to +betray me, for I felt shy and angry at my shyness and knew that my +cheeks flamed for both reasons. But I tried to say unconcernedly that +truly Captain Amber was much blessed in such a niece and Lancelot in +such a sister. Yet while I answered I felt both hot and cold, as I have +felt since with the ague in the Spanish Islands.</p> + +<p>We spoke no more of Marjorie that evening but at night I lay long hours +awake thinking of her, and when at last I fell asleep I slipped into +dreams of her, with her yellow hair, and the yellow flowers in her +girdle and the kindness of Heaven in her steadfast eyes.</p> + +<p>There are many kinds of love in the world, as there are many kinds of +men and many kinds of women, but my love for Marjorie Amber was of the +best kind that a man can feel, and it made a man of me.</p> + +<p>I have lived a wild life and a vagrant life, I know; but, anyway, my way +of life has been a clean way. I have never been a brawler nor a sot, and +I have never struck a man to his hurt unless when peril forced me. I +have never fought in wantonness <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>or bad blood, but only out of some +necessity that would not be said nay to. And, indeed, there have been +times when I have let a man live to my own risk. So I hope when my ghost +meets elsewhere with the ghosts of my enemies that they will offer me +their shadowy fingers in proof that they bear me no malice and are aware +that all was done according to honourable warfare. There is the blood of +no vindictive death upon my fingers. What blood there is was blood spilt +honestly, in a gentlemanly way, in a soldierly way; and there is a +blessed Blood that will cleanse me of its stain.</p> + +<p>That I can make this boast I owe in all thankfulness to two women. To my +mother first, and then to the girl who came to me at the very turn of my +life. If I can say truthfully that year in and year out my life has been +a fairly creditable one for a man that has followed fortune by sea and +by land the Recording Angel must even set it down to the credit of +Marjorie. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>TO THE SEA</h3> + +<p>From that out the days ran by with a marvellous swiftness. There was +much to do daily; in my humble way I had to get my sea-gear ready, which +kept my dear mother busy; and every day I was with Captain Marmaduke and +Lancelot and Marjorie, and every day we all worked hard to get ready for +the great voyage and to bring our odd brotherhood together.</p> + +<p>It certainly was a strange fellowship which Captain Amber had gathered +together to sail the seas in the Royal Christopher.</p> + +<p>Most of them were quiet folk of the farming favour, well set up, +earnest, with patient faces. There were men who had been old soldiers; +there were men who had served with Captain Amber. These were to be the +backbone of his colony. Some brought wives, some sisters; altogether we +had our share of women on board, about a dozen in all, including the +woman whose care it was to wait upon the Captain’s niece. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p><p>But I did not see a great deal of them, for they lay aft, and it was my +Captain’s pleasure that I should dwell in his part of the ship; and he +himself, though he carried them to a new world and to warmer stars, did +not mingle much with them on shipboard. For my Captain had his notion of +rank and place, as a man-at-arms should have. He passed his wont in +admitting me to his intimacy, and that was for Lancelot’s sake.</p> + +<p>As for the hands, the finding of them had been, it would seem, chiefly +entrusted to the hands of Cornelys Jensen. I saw nothing of them until +the day we sailed. What I saw of them then gave me no great pleasure, +for several reasons. Many of them were fine-looking fellows enough. All +were stalwart, sea-tested, skilled at their work; most seemed jovial of +blood and ready to tackle their work cheerily. Some of them were known +to me by sight and even by name, for Cornelys Jensen had culled them +from the sea-dogs and sea-devils who drank and diced at the Skull and +Spectacles. That was not much; many good seamen were familiars of the +Skull and Spectacles. But what I misliked in them was the regard they +seemed to pay to the deeds and words of Cornelys Jensen. It was but +natural, indeed, that they should pay him regard, seeing that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>he was +the second in command after Captain Amber. But it seemed to me then, or +perhaps I imagine—judging by the light of later times—that it seemed +to me then that their behaviour showed that they looked upon Jensen +rather than my Captain as the centre of authority in the ship. Certainly +most of them were more of the kidney of Cornelys Jensen than of +Marmaduke Amber.</p> + +<p>I ventured to break something of my thought to Captain Amber, but he +laughed at me for my pains, saying that Jensen was a proper man and very +trustworthy, and a man with a better eye for a good seaman than any +other man in the kingdom. So I had no more to say, and Cornelys Jensen +went his own way and collected his own following unhindered.</p> + +<p>Whatever I might think of the crew, there was but one thought for the +ship. A finer than the Royal Christopher at that time I had never seen +of her kind and size. She was a large ship of the corvette kind, with +something of the carack and something of the polacca about her. We boast +greatly of our progress in the art of putting tall ships together, and, +if we go on at the rate at which, according to some among us, we are +going, Heaven only knows where it will end, or with what kind of marine +monsters we shall people the great deep. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>But I cannot think that we +have done or ever shall do much better in shipbuilding than we did in +the days when I was young.</p> + +<p>The hands of the clock wheeled in their circle, and the day came when +all was ready and we were to sail.</p> + +<p>I was leaning over the side, looking at the downs and the town where I +had lived all my life, and which, perhaps, I might never see again. My +mother was by my side, and we were talking together as people talk who +love each other when a parting is at hand. All of a sudden I became +aware of a boat that was pulling across the water in the direction of +our ship. It contained a man and a woman, and when it came alongside I +saw who the man and the woman were, and saw that they were known to me; +and for a moment my heart stood still, and I make no doubt that my face +flushed and paled. For the woman was that girl Barbara who had made the +Skull and Spectacles so dear and so dreadful to me, and the man was that +red-bearded fellow who had clipped her closely in his arms on the day +when I went there for the last time. The man who was rowing the boat was +none other than the landlord of the Skull and Spectacles, Barbara’s +uncle. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p><p>I drew back before they had noticed me, and I drew my mother away with +me. The pair came on board, but I kept my back turned, and they went aft +without noting me. It would seem as if Cornelys Jensen had been but +waiting for them to set sail, for now he gave the order that all should +leave the ship who were not sailing with her. Then there was such +sobbings and embracings and hand-claspings ere the relatives and friends +who were staying on shore got down the side into the craft that was +waiting for them. My mother and I parted somehow, and I saw her safely +into the dinghy which I had chartered for her benefit, handled by a +waterside fellow whom I knew well for a steady oar.</p> + +<p>Everything then seemed to happen with the quickness of a dream. One +moment I seemed to see her sitting in the stern of the boat, waving her +handkerchief to me; then next there came a rush of tears, that blotted +out everything, my mother and the town and all; the next, as it seemed +to me, though of course the interval was longer, we were cutting the +water with a fair wind, and the downs and the cliffs seemed to be racing +away from us. The Royal Christopher had set sail for its haven at the +other end of the world. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>THE SEA LIFE</h3> + +<p>The fair weather with which we were favoured during the early part of +our voyage made the time very delightful and very instructive to me. +Indeed, I learnt more during those happy weeks of matters that are +proper for a man to know than I had even guessed at in the whole course +of my life. For the Captain, who was an accomplished swordsman, and +Lancelot, who was a promising pupil, were at great pains to teach me the +use both of the small sword and the broadsword, at which they exercised +me daily upon the deck. Captain Amber had a great regard for Sir William +Hope of Balcomie’s book, wherein I made my daily study, and he or +Lancelot would make me practise all that I read.</p> + +<p>I was ever apt at picking up all things wherein strength and skill +counted for more than book-learning, and I am glad to think that they +found me an apt pupil. Indeed, before we had got half-way on our journey +I was almost as pretty a swordsman <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>as Lancelot, and the Captain used +often to declare that in time I should be better than he himself was. +But this, of course, he said only to encourage me, for indeed I think I +have never seen a better master of his weapon than Captain Amber, and +neither I nor Lancelot ever came near him in that art.</p> + +<p>Captain Amber was my teacher in other things than swordcraft. He set +himself with a patience that knew no limit to make me learn such things +as are useful in the sea life, and indeed he found me an apter pupil +than poor Mr. Davies had ever been able to make of me. He was himself +versed in the mathematical sciences, in navigation, in astronomy, +dialling, gauging, gunnery, fortification, the use of the globes, the +projection of the sphere upon any circle, and many another matter +essential for the complete sailor, soldier, or navigator and adventurer +of any kind.</p> + +<p>He instructed me further in matters military, for, as he said, a stout +man should be able to serve God and his King as well by land as by sea. +So he put me through a rare course of martial education, discoursing to +me very learnedly on the principles of fortification as they are +expounded by the ingenious Monsieur Vauban, and showing me, in the plans +of many and great towns, both French and German, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>to what perfection +their defence may be carried. He showed me how to handle a musket and a +pike, and the manage of the half-pike joined to the musket, and +instructed me in the drilling of troops and in the forming of a brigade +after the Swedish method, for which he had a particular affection.</p> + +<p>He harangued me much upon the uses of artillery, illustrating what he +said by the example of the ship’s cannon, until I felt that I should +only need a little practice to become a master gunner. And he set forth +to me by precept—for here he had no chance of example—drill of cavalry +and the importance of that arm in war, and promised me that I should +learn to ride when we had reached our Arcadia.</p> + +<p>In all these exercises Lancelot, whose cabin I shared, took his part. He +knew so much more than I did that I feel very sure that my companionship +in these studies was but a drag upon him. Yet he never betrayed the +least impatience with me or with my more sluggish method of acquiring +knowledge. Now, as always, he was my true friend. If every day taught me +more to admire Captain Marmaduke, every day bade me the more and more to +congratulate myself upon being blessed with such a comrade as Lancelot.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p><p>Nevertheless, the best part of the business was the presence of +Marjorie. She was a true child of the sea. She loved it as if she had +been such a mermaiden as old poets fable. She had sailed with her uncle +ever since she was a little girl. She was as good a sailor as her +brother, and took foul weather as gallantly as fair. For it was not all +smooth sailing, for all our luck. There were squalls and there were +storms; but the Royal Christopher rode the billows bravely, and Marjorie +faced the storm as fearlessly as the oldest hand on board.</p> + +<p>There was one wild night, when we rose and fell in a fury of wind. She +must needs be on deck, so I fastened her to one of the masts with a rope +and held on next to her while we watched the war of the elements. The +rain was strong, and it soaked all the clothes on her body to a pulp; +and her long hair floated on the wind, and sometimes flapped across my +face and made my blood tingle. She stuck to her post like a man—or, let +me say in her honour, like a woman—watching the strife, and every now +and then she would put her lips close to my ear—for the screaming of +the wind whistled away all words that were not so spoken—and would bid +me note some wonder of sky or water. For by this time we were great +friends, Marjorie and I, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>she always treated me as if I were some +kinsman of her house instead of what I was, a poor adventurer in the +dawn of his first adventure. She liked me I knew from the start because +Lancelot liked me, and because she trusted in Lancelot with the same +implicit faith that he addressed to her. And where she liked she liked +wholly, as a generous man might, giving her friendship freely in the +firm clasp of her hand, in the keen, even greeting of her eyes. It was a +strange grace for me to share in that wonderful fellowship of brother +and sister, and I joyed in my fortune and shut my mind against any +thought of the sorrow that might come to me from such sweet intercourse. +For I knew from the first as I have said that I loved her, and I knew, +too, that it would be about as reasonable to fall in love with a star or +a dream. Those gentry who write verses, find, as I believe, a kind of +bitter satisfaction in recording their pains in rhyme, but for me there +was no such solace. Yet on that driving night, in that high wind, I +would have rejoiced to be apprenticed to the poets’ guild and skilled to +make some use that might please her of the dumb thoughts that troubled +me. As it was it was she who seemed to speak with the speech of angels +and I who listened mumchance. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p><p>She had the rarest gifts and graces for gladdening our voyage. She could +sing, and she could play a guitarra that she had brought from Spain; and +often of fair evenings, when we sat out on the deck, she would sing to +us ballads in Spanish and French, and then for me, who was unlettered, +she would sing old English ditties, such as ‘Barbara Allen’ and ‘When +first I saw your face,’ and many canzonets from out of Mr. William +Shakespeare’s plays, which she always held in high esteem, and I would +sit and listen in a rapture.</p> + +<p>Once, a long while after, when that Spanish tongue had become as +familiar to me as it was then unfamiliar, I remember falling into a +brawl with a stout fellow in Spain, and getting, as luck would have it, +the better of the business, and being within half a mind of ramming my +knife into his throat; for my blood was up, and the fellow had meant to +kill me if he had had the chance. But even as I made to strike, he, +looking up at me, and as cool as if I were doing him a favour, began to +sing very softly to himself just one of those very Spanish songs that +Marjorie used to sing of summer evenings on the deck of the Royal +Christopher. And as he sang so, waiting death, in that instant all my +rage vanished, and I put aside my weapon and held <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>out my hand to him, +and asked his forgiveness and asked his friendship. The man looked +amazed, as well he might; and it was lucky for me that he did not seize +the chance to stab me unawares. But he did not, and we shook hands and +parted, and he went his ways never witting that he owed his life to the +fairest woman in the whole wide world—at least, that I have ever seen, +and I have seen many and many in my time.</p> + +<p>There were two on that ship with whom I did not wish to have any +dealings, namely, Barbara and the red-bearded man, Hatchett by name, who +was now her husband. However, I saw but little of them, for they kept to +their own part of the ship.</p> + +<p>Barbara knew me again, of course, and we saluted each other when we met, +as it was of course inevitable that we should meet on board ship. But we +did not meet often, and I was glad to find that I felt no pang when the +rare meetings did take place. That folly had wholly gone. There—I have +written those words, but I have no sooner written than I repent them. It +is not a folly for a boy to be honestly in love, as I was in love with +Barbara. I was silly, if you please—a moon-struck, calf-loving idiot, +if you like—but in all that hot noon of my madness there never was an +unclean thought in my <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>mind nor an unclean prompting of the body. +However, all that was past and done with. My liver was washed clean of +that passion; it had not left a spot upon my heart. I have only loved +two women in all my life, and when the second love came into my life +that first fancy was dead and buried, and no other fancy has ever for a +moment arisen to trouble my happiness. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>UTOPIA HO!</h3> + +<p>I have purposely left out of these pages the record of the voyage. One +such voyage is much like another, and though it was all new to me it +would not be new to others. I might like to dwell again upon the first +land we made, the Island of St. Jago, where we had civil entertainment +of a Portuguese gentleman and of a negro Romish priest, with a merry +heart and merry heels. My mother would have loved to go marketing in +that place, for I bought no less than one hundred sweet oranges for half +a paper of pins, and five fat hens for the other half of the paper. I +could talk of our becalms and our storms and our crossing the Line, and +of our trouble with the travado-wind. But as I do not wish to weary with +the repetition of an oft-told tale, I will say no more of our voyage +until we came to the Cape which is so happily named of Good Hope. It was +a very wonderful voyage for me; it would not seem a very wonderful +voyage to others, who have either made it themselves or who know out of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>book knowledge all and more than all that I could tell them. But I may +say that I was a very different lad when we came to the Cape from the +lad who had got on board of the Royal Christopher so many months +earlier. I was but a pale-faced boy when I sailed, only a landsman, and +no great figure as a landsman. But when we came to the Cape I was so +coloured by the winds and the suns and the open life that my face and +hands were well-nigh of the tint of burnished copper. I had always been +a fairly strong lad; but now my strength was multiplied many times, and, +thanks to my dear master, my skill to use that strength was marvellously +advanced. Which proved to be of infinite service to me and others better +than myself by-and-by.</p> + +<p>We stayed some little time at Cape Town; how long now I do not closely +remember, but, as I think, a matter of four weeks or more. For the +Captain had some old friends amongst the Dutch colony, and there were +certain matters of revictualling the ship to be thought of, and Lancelot +longed for a little shooting and hunting. For my part, I was by no means +loth to tread the soil again, for, though I love the sea dearly, I have +no hatred for firm earth as other seamen have, but look upon myself as a +kind of amphibious animal, and like the land and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>the water impartially. +And there was a great joy and wonder to me to see a new country and a +new town—I, who knew of no other town than Sendennis, and knew no more +of London than of Grand Cairo, or of the capital of the Mogul. I +remember that we stayed some days under the roof of a leading Dutch +merchant of the place, who entertained us very handsomely, and that his +brother, who was a somewhat younger man than he, and who spoke our +English tongue well, took Lancelot and me many times a-shooting and +a-fishing, and that we had some rare and savage sport. For the town is +but a small one, and there is excellent sport to be had well-nigh at its +back doors, as it were. I should have loved dearly to have wandered +inward far inland towards the great mountains, for I heard wonderful +tales, both from the Dutchmen and their black men, of treasures that the +bowels of these mountains were said to hold. Of course that was out of +the question, with the Royal Christopher waiting for her fate; but the +tales fired me with memories of those Eastern tales that I have told you +of, and I longed to out-rival Master Sindbad.</p> + +<p>I cannot conscientiously affirm that I was sorry to leave Cape Town, and +the wines that the Dutch settlers made, and the amazing Hottentots, and +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>other marvels of that my first experience of strange distant +countries. We were all the better for our rest, Marjorie and Captain +Amber, Lancelot, the colonists, the crew, and, in a word, all our +fellowship. But we were all eager to be on the way again, for very +different reasons. Captain Amber, because he was keen to place his foot +upon his Land of Promise; Lancelot, because he wished what his uncle +wished; Marjorie, because she wished to be with Lancelot; I myself, much +out of eager, restless curiosity for new places and new adventures. For +I was so simple in those days that the mere crossing of the seas seemed +to me to be an adventure, a thing that I came later to regard as no more +adventurous than the hiring of a hackney-coach. But in my heart I knew +that the main reason for my bliss in boarding the Royal Christopher lay +in the closer intimacy it gave me with maid Marjorie. In the little +kingdom of the ship, where all in a sense were friends and adventurers +together, there was less than on land to remind me that for me to dream +myself her lover went far to prove me lunatic. So I was blithe to be +afloat again. As for Cornelys Jensen, we were to learn soon enough in +what direction lay his pleasure to be ploughing the high seas again. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>I MAKE A DISCOVERY</h3> + +<p>I have been brief with our adventure so far, because it only began to be +adventurous after we had left the Cape leagues behind us. Up to that +time, though the voyage was full of wonders for me, it was but one +voyage with another for those who use the sea. But when the adventure +did begin it began briskly, and having once made a beginning it did not +make an end for long enough, nor without great changes of fortune. Yet +it began, as a big business often does begin, in a very little matter. +One night, somewhat late, Captain Amber wished for a word with Jensen. +Yet, as it was not the Dutchman’s watch, and he might be sleeping, +Captain Amber bade me go to his cabin—for Jensen, being a man of +consideration upon the ship, had a cabin to himself—to see if he were +stirring, commanding me, however, if he were resting, not to arouse him. +Jensen’s cabin lay amidships, and as I proceeded warily because of the +Captain’s caution, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>I came to it quietly and listened at the door before +lifting my finger to knock. As I did so I noticed that the door was not +fastened. Whoever had drawn it to had not latched it, and it lay open +just a chink, through which a line of light showed from within. Thinking +that if I peeped through this chink I might learn if Jensen were astir +or no, I put my eye to it and saw what I saw.</p> + +<p>The cabin was not a very large one, and though the lamp that swung from +the ceiling gave forth but a dim light, yet it was enough to enable me +to see very clearly all that there was to see. At the first blush, +indeed, there seemed to be nothing out of the way to witness. At the +further end of the cabin two men were sitting at a table together, with +a chart before them. Nearer to me, and in front of the men, a woman +stood, and held up for their inspection a piece of needlework. The two +men were Cornelys Jensen and William Hatchett; the woman was Barbara +Hatchett. It might have made a very pleasing example of domestic peace +but for one queer fact, which notably altered its character.</p> + +<p>The needlework at which women are wont to labour is nine times out of +ten white work or brightly-coloured work. Women are like the best +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>kind of birds, and love snowy plumage or feathers that are bravely +tinted. But the work with which Barbara Hatchett was occupied was +neither white nor coloured, but black—the deepest, darkest black. Now +there was no cause as yet, thank Heaven! for man or woman to mourn on +board of the Royal Christopher, and there was no need for Mistress +Barbara to deal with mourning. So I marvelled, but even as I marvelled I +noted, as she shifted her position slightly and shook out the black +stuff over her knees, that it was not all and only black. There was +white work in it too, a kind of patch or pattern of white work in the +midst which I could not make out, for the stuff was still bunched up in +the woman’s hands. But now, as I watched, I saw her shake it out over +her knees for the others to view, and I saw that the thing she displayed +was a large square of black worsted, and that in the centre were sewn +some pieces of white material into a very curious semblance. For that +semblance was none other than the likeness of a grinning human skull, +with two cross-bones beneath it—just such an effigy as I had seen many +times on the tombstones in the churchyard at Sendennis.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 348px;"> +<img src="images/i131.jpg" class="ispace jpg" width="348" height="500" alt="“Held Up for Their Inspection a Piece of Needlework.”" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“Held Up for Their Inspection a Piece of Needlework.”</span> +</div> + +<p>It was not, however, of the tombstones at Sendennis that I thought just +then. No; that ugly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>image in the girl’s fingers carried my fancy back +to the place where I had first seen her—to the hostelry of the Skull +and Spectacles—and I fancied somehow, I scarce knew why, that the work +of Barbara’s fingers had some connection with her father’s inn. Only for +a second or so did I think this, but in honest truth that was my first, +my immediate belief, and it brought me no thought of fear, no thought of +danger with it. I was only conscious of wondering vaguely to what +service this sad piece of handicraft could be put, when suddenly, in a +flash, my intelligence took fire, and I knew what was intended; and I +felt my knees give way and my heart stand still with horror.</p> + +<p>The thing I was looking at, the ill-favoured thing that was hanging from +my old love’s hand, was none other than a flag of evil omen—a pirate’s +flag, the barbarous piece of bunting that they call the Jolly Roger. +There could be no doubt of that—no doubt whatever. I had heard of that +flag and read of it, and now I was looking at it with my own eyes; and a +light seemed to be let in upon my mind, and I trembled at the terror it +brought with it. That piece of handicraft meant murder; meant outrage; +meant violence of all kinds to those that were so dear to me—to those +who were all unconscious <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>of their imminent doom. For I was as sure now +as if those three had told it to me with their own lips that I had come +upon a conspiracy.</p> + +<p>The red-haired ruffian and the black-haired ruffian were in a tale +together; their purpose was to seize the poor Royal Christopher that +sailed on so gentle an errand and make her a pirate ship, with that +devil’s ensign flying at her forepeak. My soul sickened in my body at +the thought of the women-kind at the mercy of these desperadoes. There +was one name ever in my heart, and as I thought of that name I shivered +as if the summer night had suddenly been frozen. I believe that if I had +had a brace of pistols with me I should have taken my chance of sending +those two villains out of the world with a bullet apiece, so clearly did +their malignity betray itself to my observation. But I was unarmed, and +even if I had been I might have missed my aim—though this I do not +think likely, in that narrow place, and with my determination steadying +my hand—and, moreover, I had no notion as to how many of the ship’s +crew were sworn to share in the villainy. Besides, I have never killed a +man in cold blood in my life, and on that night so long ago I had never +lifted hand and weapon against any man, and had only once in my life +seen blood spilt <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>murderously. But I stayed there, with my heart +drumming against my ribs and my breath coming in gasps that seemed to me +to shake the ship’s bulk, staring hard at the two men and the woman with +her work.</p> + +<p>She held out the banner at arm’s length, and looked down at it lovingly, +as women are wont to look at any piece of needlework that they have +taken pains over with pleasure in the pains. I had seen women smile over +their work many and many a time—good women that have worked for their +kin, mothers that have laboured to fashion some bit of bodygear for a +cherished child—and I have always thought that the smile upon their +faces was very sweet to see. But in this case there was the same smile +upon the woman’s face as she looked upon her unholy handiwork, and there +was something terrible in the contrast between that look of housewifely +satisfaction and the job upon which it was bestowed. Many an evil sight +have I seen, but never, as I think, anything so evil as this sight of +that beautiful face smiling over the edge of that hideous thing, the +living radiant visage above that effigy of death. The black flag covered +her like a pall, ominously.</p> + +<p>‘Well,’ she said, ‘is it well done?’ </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p><p>She spoke in a low tone, but I could hear what she said quite well where +I crouched.</p> + +<p>Cornelys Jensen nodded his head approvingly.</p> + +<p>The red-bearded man spoke. ‘Time it was done, too, and that we should be +setting to work. I am sick of this waiting.’</p> + +<p>‘Patience, my good fellow, patience,’ said Cornelys Jensen. ‘All in good +time. Trust Cornelys Jensen to know the time to act. The fiddle is +tuned, friend. I shall know when to play the jig.’</p> + +<p>‘My feet ache for the dancing,’ the red beard growled. Barbara laughed; +dropping her hands, she drew the black flag close to her, so that it +fell all in folds about her body and draped her from throat to toe. Her +beauty laughed triumphantly at the pair from its sable setting.</p> + +<p>‘Put that thing away,’ said Jensen. ‘You have done your work bravely, +Mistress Hatchett, and Bill may be well proud of you.’</p> + +<p>He clapped his hand as he spoke on Red Beard’s shoulder, and the fool’s +face flushed with pleasure.</p> + +<p>Barbara laughed, and slowly folded the flag up square by square into a +small compass. Jensen took it from her when she had finished and put it +into a locker, which he closed with a key that he took from his pocket.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p><p>I began to find my position rather perilous. It was high time for me to +take my departure, before the conspirators became aware of my +whereabouts. It would not trouble either of the men a jot to ram a knife +into my ribs and to jerk me overboard ere the life was out of me. And +then what would become of my dear ones, and of all the honest folk on +board, with no one to warn them of their peril?</p> + +<p>I drew back very cautiously, creeping along the passage and holding my +breath, stepping as gingerly as a cat on eggs, for fear of making any +sound that should betray me. As I crept along I kept asking myself what +I was to do. The first course that came to my mind was to go to Captain +Marmaduke and tell him of what I had seen. But then, again, I did not +know, and he did not know, how many there were of crew or company tarred +with Jensen’s brush, and I asked myself whether it would not first be +more prudent to consult with Lancelot. For I knew that with Captain +Marmaduke the first thing he would do would be to accuse Jensen to his +face, without taking any steps to countermine him, and then we should +have the hornets’ nest about our ears with a vengeance.</p> + +<p>But while I was creeping along in the dark, straining my ears for every +sound that might suggest <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>that Jensen or Hatchett were following me, and +while my poor mind was anxiously debating as to the course I ought to +pursue, that came to pass which settled the question in the most +unexpected manner. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>A VISITATION</h3> + +<p>My agitations were harshly interrupted. There came a crash out of the +silence, and before I could even ask myself what it meant I was flung +forward and my legs were taken from under me. I pitched on to a coil of +rope, luckily for me, or I might have come to worse hurt, and I had my +hands extended, which in a measure broke the force of my fall. But I +rapped my head smartly against the wall of the passage—never had I more +reason in my life to be grateful for the thickness of my skull—and for +a few moments I lay there in the darkness, dizzy—indeed, almost +stunned—and scarcely realising that there was the most horrible +grinding noise going on beneath me, and that the ship seemed to be +screaming in every timber. I could have only lain there for a few +seconds, for no human clamour had mingled with the sound of the ship’s +agony when I staggered to my feet. My head was aching furiously, and my +right wrist was numb from the fall, but my senses had now come back to +me, and I knew <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>that some great calamity had befallen the ship. In +desperation I pulled myself together and ran with all speed, heedless of +the darkness, to the end of the passage where the ladder was, and so up +it and on to the deck.</p> + +<p>The weather was fair, and a moon like a wheel made everything as visible +as if it were daytime. The decks shone silver and the sky was as blue as +I have ever seen it; but the sea, as far as eye could reach, appeared to +be wholly covered with a white froth, which rose and fell with the waves +like a counterpane of lace upon a sleeper. All that there was to see I +saw in a single glance; in another second the deck was full of people.</p> + +<p>Captain Marmaduke came on deck clad only in his shirt and breeches, and +Lancelot was by his side a moment after in like habit. At first the +sailors rushed hither and thither in alarm and confusion, but Cornelys +Jensen brought them to order in a few moments, while Hatchett and half a +dozen of the men proceeded to reassure the passengers and to keep them +from crowding on to the deck. All this happened in shorter time than I +can take to set it down, and yet after a fashion, too, it seemed +endless.</p> + +<p>Captain Marmaduke rushed up to the watch and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>caught him by the +shoulder. ‘What have you done?’ he said; ‘you have lost the ship!’</p> + +<p>The man shook himself away from the Captain’s hand.</p> + +<p>‘It was no fault of mine,’ he said between his teeth. ‘I took all the +care I could. I saw all this froth at a distance, and I asked the +steersman what it was, and he told me that it was but the sea showing +white under the light of the moon.’</p> + +<p>Captain Marmaduke gave a little groan of despair.</p> + +<p>‘What is to be done?’ he asked. ‘Where are we?’</p> + +<p>‘God only knows where we are,’ the man answered, still in that sullen, +shamefaced way. ‘But for sure we are fast upon a bank that I never heard +tell of ere this night.’</p> + +<p>As they were thus talking, and all around were full of consternation, I +saw that Marjorie had come up from below and was standing very still by +the companion head. She had flung a great cloak on over her night-rail, +and though her face was pale in the moonlight she was as calm as if she +were in church. When I came nigh her she asked me, in a low, firm voice, +what had happened.</p> + +<p>I told her all that I knew—how the ship had by +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>mischance run on some bank through the whiteness of the moonlight +misleading the steersman. With another woman, maybe, I should have +striven to make as light as possible of the matter, but with Marjorie I +knew that there was no such need. I told her all that had chanced and of +the peril we were in, as I should have done to a man.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 340px;"> +<img src="images/i143.jpg" class="ispace jpg" width="340" height="500" alt="“She Had Flung a Great Cloak on.”" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“She Had Flung a Great Cloak on.”</span> +</div> + +<p>When I had done speaking she said very quietly: ‘Is there any hope for +the ship?’</p> + +<p>I shook my head. ‘I am very much afraid——’ I began.</p> + +<p>She interrupted me with a little sigh, and stepped forward to where +Captain Marmaduke stood giving his orders very composedly. Lancelot was +busy with Jensen in reassuring the women-folk and getting the men-folk +into order. I must say that they all behaved very well. With many of the +men, old soldiers and sailors as they were, it was natural enough to +carry themselves with coolness in time of peril, but the women showed no +less bravely. This, indeed, was largely due to the example set them by +Barbara Hatchett, who acted all through that wild hour as a sailor’s +daughter and a sailor’s wife should act. Her composure and her loud, +commanding voice and encouraging manner did wonders in soothing the +women-kind, and in putting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>out of their heads the foolish thoughts +which lead to foolish actions.</p> + +<p>Marjorie went up to Lancelot and laid her hand upon his sleeve. He +looked at her with the smile he always gave when he greeted her, and he +spoke to her as he might have spoken if he and she had been standing +together on the downs of Sendennis instead of on that nameless reef in +that nameless danger.</p> + +<p>‘Well, dear,’ he said, ‘what is it?’</p> + +<p>‘What do you wish me to do?’ she asked.</p> + +<p>‘Comfort the women-folk, dear,’ he answered. Then, catching sight as the +wind moved her cloak of her night-rail, he added quickly: ‘Run down and +dress first.’</p> + +<p>‘Is there truly time?’</p> + +<p>‘Aye, aye, time and to spare. We may float the ship yet, God willing. Do +as I bid you.’</p> + +<p>She lingered for a moment, and said softly:</p> + +<p>‘If anything should happen, let me be next you at the last.’</p> + +<p>I was standing near enough to hear, and the tears came into my eyes. +Lancelot caught his sister’s hand and pressed it as he would have +pressed the hand of a comrade. Then she turned away and slipped silently +below. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p><p>I am glad to remember that good order prevailed in the face of our +common peril. Our colonists, men and women, kept very quiet, and the +sailors, under Cornelys Jensen, acted with untiring zeal. I must say to +his credit that Jensen proved a cool hand in the midst of a misfortune +which must have come as a special misfortune to himself. It is a curious +fact, and I know not how to account for it, unless by the smart knock on +my head and the confusion of events that followed upon it, but all +memory of what I had seen and heard In Jensen’s cabin had slipped from +my mind. No—I will not say all memory. While I watched him working, and +while I worked with him, my head—which still ached sorely after my +tumble—was troubled, besides its own pain, with the pain of groping +after a recollection. I knew that there was something in my mind which +concerned Cornelys Jensen, something which I wanted to recall, something +which I ought to recall, something which I could not for the life of me +recall. What with my fall, and the danger to the ship, and the strain of +the toil to meet that danger, that page of my memory was folded over, +and I could not turn it back. I have heard of like cases and even +stranger; of men forgetting their own names and very identity after some +such accident <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>as mine. All I had forgotten was the evil scene in +Jensen’s cabin, the three evil schemers, their evil flag.</p> + +<p>I was a pretty skilled seaman now, thanks to my Captain’s patience and +my own eagerness, and I was able to lend a hand at the work with the +best. The first thing we did was to throw the lead, and sorry +information it yielded us. For we found that we had forty-eight feet of +water before the vessel and much less behind her. It was then proposed +that we should throw our cannon overboard, in the hope that when our +ship was lightened of so much heavy metal she might by good hap be +brought to float again. I remember as well as yesterday the face of +Cornelys Jensen when this determination was arrived at. He saw that it +must be done, but the necessity pricked him bitterly. ‘There’s no help +for it,’ he said aloud to Hatchett, with a sigh. Captain Marmaduke took +the expression, as I afterwards learnt, as one of pity for him and his +ship and her gear of war. But it set me racking my tired brain again for +that lost knowledge about Jensen which would have made his meaning plain +to me.</p> + +<p>It was further decided to let fall an anchor, but while the men were +employed upon this piece of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>work the conditions under which we toiled +changed greatly for the worse. Black clouds came creeping up all round +the sky, which blotted out the moonlight and changed all that white foam +into curdling ink, and with the coming of these clouds the wind began to +rise, at first little and moaningly, like a child in pain, and then +suddenly very loudly indeed, until it grew to a great storm, that +brought with it sheets of the most merciless rain that I had then ever +witnessed. Now, indeed, we were in dismal case, wrapped up as we were in +all the horrors of darkness, of rain and of wind, which added not merely +a gloom to our situation, but vastly increased danger. For our ship, +surrounded as she was with rocks and shoals, though she might have lain +quiet enough while the sea was calm, now before the fury of the waves +kept continually striking, and I could see that the fear of every man +was that she would shortly go to pieces. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>THE NIGHT AND MORNING</h3> + +<p>It seemed such a heart-breaking thing to be hitched in that place, so +immovable, while the seas were slapping us and the wind so foully +misbehaving, that I declare I could have wept for bitterness of spirit. +But it was no time for weeping; we had other guesswork on hand, and we +buckled to our work with a will. We agreed that the straightest course +open to us was to cut away the mainmast, and this we promptly set about +doing. There are few sadder sights in the world than to see stout +fellows striving with all their strength to hew down the mainmast of a +goodly ship. The fall of a great tree in a forest preaches its sermon, +but not with half the poignancy of a noble mast which men who love their +vessel are compelled to cast overboard. As the axes rose and fell it +seemed to me as if their every stroke dealt me a hurt at the heart. As +the white wood flew it would not have surprised me <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>if blood had +followed upon the blow—as I have read the like concerning a tree in +some old tale—so dear was the ship to me. A man’s first ship is like a +man’s first love, and grips him hard, and he parts from neither without +agony. When at last our purpose was accomplished, and the mast swayed to +its fall, I could have sat me down and blubbered like a baby.</p> + +<p>And yet in another moment, so strange is the ordering of human affairs +and so much irony is there in the lessons of life, we who were all ready +to weep for the loss of our mainmast would have been only too glad to +say good-bye to it. For while its fall augmented the shock, and made us +in worse case that way, we were not lightened of it for all our pains, +for it was so entangled with the rigging that we could not for all our +efforts get it overboard. We were now in sheer desperation, for it did +not seem as if we could ever get our ship free, but must needs bide +there in our agony until she broke and gave us all to the waters. But a +little after there came a gleam of hope, for the furious wind and rain +abated, and finally fell away altogether, and at last the longest night +I had ever known came to an end, and the dawn came creeping up to the +sky as I had often seen it come creeping when I awakened early <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>lying on +my bed in Sendennis. Oh, the joy to hail the daylight again, and yet +what a terrible condition of things the daylight showed to us! There was +our ship stuck fast on the bank; there was her deck all encumbered with +the fallen mast and the twisted ropes and the riven sails. Every man’s +face was as white as a dish, and there was fear in every man’s eyes. Nor +was it longer possible to pacify all the women-folk or the children, now +that the daylight showed them the full extent of their disaster, and +every now and then they would break forth into cries or fits of sobbing +which were pitiful to hear. Marjorie did much to calm their terrors, as +did Barbara Hatchett, both of whom showed very brave and calm; and, +indeed, the only pleasing memory of all that time of terror is the +thought of those two women, the one in all the pride of her dark beauty, +the other in all the glory of her fair loveliness, moving about like +ministering angels amongst all those people whom the sudden peril of +death had made so fearful and so helpless. The beautiful woman and the +beautiful maid—none on board had braver hearts than they!</p> + +<p>You may imagine with what eagerness we scanned the sea for any sight of +land. But though Captain Amber searched the whole horizon with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>his +spy-glass, we could find nothing better than an island which lay off +from us at a distance of about two leagues, and what seemed to be a +smaller island, which lay further from us. This did not offer any great +promise of refuge to us, but as it was apparently the only hope we had +we all strove to make the best of it, and to pretend to be greatly +rejoiced at the sight of even so much land.</p> + +<p>Captain Amber immediately ordered Hatchett to man one of the ship’s +boats and to make for those islands to examine them, a task that now +presented no difficulty, for the wind had fallen away and the sea was +smooth as it had been turbulent. I would fain have gone with the boat +for the sake of the change, for I was sick at heart of the moaning and +the groaning of the poor wretches on board, but Captain Amber did not +send me, and I had no right to volunteer; and, besides, I was still +troubled by a confused sense of something that I had to tell him; some +danger that I was instinctively seeking to ward off from him—and from +her.</p> + +<p>There was something piteous in the sight of that single boat creeping +slowly across the sea towards those distant islands, and I watched it as +it grew smaller and smaller, until it was little more than a mere speck +upon the waters. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p><p>Everything depended for us upon the fortunes of that boat, upon the +tidings that it might bring back to us. I am proud to say that my +thoughts went out across that sea to the home where my mother was, who +prayed day and night for her boy’s safety, and that my lips repeated +that prayer she had taught me while I supplicated Heaven with all +humility of heart, if it were His will, to bring us out of that peril.</p> + +<p>We spent the time during the boat’s absence in clearing the decks as +well as we might, in renewing our efforts to pacify our women-kind, and +in fresh attempts, which, however, were unavailing, to get our mast +overboard. Captain Amber had gathered together those of his men who were +old soldiers, and, having addressed them in a stirring speech, which +made my blood beat more warmly, he set them to various tasks in +preparation for what now appeared to be inevitable—our leaving the +ship. The brave fellows behaved as obediently as if they had been on +parade, as courageously as if they had been going into action. They were +picked men of fine mettle, and they were yet to be tested by severer +tests, and to stand the test well.</p> + +<p>At about nine o’clock or a little later the boat returned. We could see +it, of course, a long way <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>off, as it made its course towards us, but +none of those on board made any sign to us, which we took, and rightly, +too, to be a sign of no great cheer. Then our hopes, which had begun to +run a little higher, ebbed away again, and we waited in silence for the +boat to come alongside and for Hatchett to climb on board and to make +his report to Captain Marmaduke. This he did in private, Captain +Marmaduke taking him a little apart, while we all looked on and hungered +for the news.</p> + +<p>We had not long to wait, and when it came it was not so bad as we had +feared, if it was not so good as some of us had hoped for.</p> + +<p>Captain Amber came forward to the middle of the deck, where everybody +was assembled waiting for the tidings.</p> + +<p>‘Friends and companions,’ he said, ‘our explorers report that yonder +island is far from inhospitable. It is not covered by the sea at high +water, as we feared at first; it is much larger than it seems to us at +this distance; there will be ample room for us all during the short time +that we may have to abide there before we sight a ship. I must indeed +admit to you that the coast is both rocky and full of shoals, and that +the landing thereupon will not be without its difficulties, and even its +dangers, but we came <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>out prepared to face difficulties and dangers if +needs were, and these shall not dismay us. As for the further island, we +may learn of that later.’</p> + +<p>He looked very gallant as he said all this, standing there with the +morning sunlight shining upon his brave face and upon his fine coat—for +by this time he was fully habited and in his best, as beseemeth the +leader of an expedition when about to disembark upon an unfamiliar +shore. All around him had listened in silence while he spoke, but now, +at the close, some of the soldier-fellows set up a kind of cheer in +answer to his speech. It was not very much of a cheer, but it was better +than nothing in our dismal case. It served to set our bloods tingling a +little, so Lancelot and I caught it up, and kept it up too, with the +whole strength of our lungs, till the example spread, and soon we had +every man on deck huzzaing his best, while Cornelys Jensen and Hatchett +swung their caps and lifted their voices with the best. It was a strange +sound, that hearty British cheer ringing out through that lonely air; it +was a strange sight, all those stout fellows marshalled as best they +might on the sloping deck and fanning their scanty hopes into a flame +with shouting, while the ruined mast, thrust over the side, pointed +curiously enough straight in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>the direction of those islands whose +hospitable qualities we were soon to try.</p> + +<p>It was soon decided, after a brief conference between Captain Amber and +Cornelys Jensen, that we should transfer our company as fast as might be +to the near island, for there was no knowing when the smooth weather +might shift again and how long our Royal Christopher would hold together +if the waves, which were now lapping against its sides, grew angrier. It +was resolved that the most pressing business was to send on shore at +once the women and children and such sick people as we had on board, for +these, as was but natural, were the most troublesome for us to deal with +in our difficulty, being timorous and noisy with their fears, and +setting a bad example.</p> + +<p>So when it was about ten of the clock, or maybe later, for the time +slipped by rapidly, we got loose our shallop and our skiff and lowered +them into the water, and got most of the women and the children and the +sick folk into them and sent them off, poor creatures, across the waste +of waters to the islands. Barbara Hatchett went with them, for her +firmness and courage served rarely to keep them quiet and inspire them +with some little fortitude. As for Marjorie, she would by no means leave +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>ship so long as Lancelot was on board, so she stayed with us, at +which I could not help in my heart being glad, in spite of the danger +that there was to everyone who stuck by the ship.</p> + +<p>While these first boat loads were away we on board made efforts for the +provisioning of our new home, getting up the bread and such viands as we +could, and packing them in as portable a manner as might be for the next +journey. But by this time unhappily we began to be threatened by a fresh +trouble. No sooner were we free from the women-folk and the children, +whose presence had hampered us so sorely, than a far more pressing +vexation came upon us. For certain of the sailors, who up to this point +had behaved well enough, suddenly flung aside their good behaviour. They +had got at the wine, of which, unhappily, in the first confusion of our +mischance no care had been taken, and many of them were roaring drunk, +and capable of doing little service beyond shouting and cursing at one +another. When Cornelys Jensen saw this he did his best to prevent them, +and though some of them were too sullen to obey him, he did at last +contrive with threats and oaths to keep such of the sailors as were +still sober away from the liquor. By this time Lancelot, facing the new +danger, got from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>his uncle the key of the storeroom where the arms were +kept, and served out weapons to all those on board who had been soldiers +and who loved Captain Amber. A pretty body of men they made, each with a +musket on his shoulder, a hanger by his side, and a brace of pistols in +his belt. They were all reliable men—many of them, indeed, had +experienced religion, and had in them something of the old Covenanting +spirit, which had worked such wonders under General Cromwell.</p> + +<p>I could see that Cornelys Jensen was very ill-pleased with this act on +our part, but he could say nothing, for the thing was done before he +could say or do aught to prevent it, and very fortunate it was that we +had done so betimes, for now Captain Marmaduke had under him a body of +sober, disciplined, well-armed men, who would obey him and stand by him +to the last extremity. I myself had slung a hanger by my side and thrust +a brace of pistols into my girdle, and I believe that I well-nigh +rejoiced in the peril which gave me the chance to carry those weapons +and to make, as I fancied, so brave a show. Lancelot armed himself too +in like fashion, for he served as second in command of our little troop +under Captain Amber. For my part, I held no rank indeed in the little +army, but I looked <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>upon myself as a kind of <i>aide-de-camp</i> to my +Captain.</p> + +<p>With half a dozen of those men we gathered together all the cases of +wine that had been brought out and placed them back in the spirit room, +over which we mounted two men as guard. It was idle to try and lock the +door, for the lock had been shattered, possibly when we ran aground, and +would not hold. But we locked the door of the room where our weapons and +ammunition were, and placed another guard there.</p> + +<p>I think many of the sailors were mightily annoyed at this action of +ours, and gladly would have resented it. But there was nothing they +could do just then, and though Cornelys Jensen was more savage than any +of them, he wore a smooth face, and kept them in check by his authority. +Though we did not dream of it then, it was a mighty blessing for us, +that same shipwreck, for if it had not come about just when it did worse +would have happened. As matters now stood, our little party—for it was +becoming pretty plain that there were two parties in the ship—was +well-armed, while the sailors had no other weapons than their knives. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>HOW SOME OF US GOT TO THE ISLAND</h3> + +<p>But between our need for watchfulness and the drunkenness of many of the +crew the time slipped away without our doing as much as we should have +done under happier conditions. Thanks to the confusion that their +wantonness had caused, we did but make three trips in all to the island +in that day, in which three trips we managed to send over about fifty +persons, with some twenty barrels of bread and a few casks of water. Had +we been wiser we should have sent more water, for we could not tell how +distressed we might become for want of it on the shore if we did not +find any spring of fair water on the island. However, I am recording +what we did, and not what we ought to have done, and I can assure my +friends that if ever they find themselves in such straits as we were in +that night and day they will have reason to be thankful if they manage +to keep all their wits about them, and to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>conduct their affairs with +the same wisdom that they, as I make no doubt, display in less pressing +hours. For myself, my wits were still wool-gathering, still were +striving to remember something which for the life of me I could not +manage to remember.</p> + +<p>It was well-nigh evening, and twilight was making the distant land +indistinct, when Hatchett came back from the last of those three voyages +with very unpleasant tidings—that it was no use for us to send over any +more provisions to the island, as those who had been disembarked there +were only wasting that which they had already received. Indeed, Hatchett +painted a gloomy picture of the conduct of those colonists who were now +on shore, declaring that they had cast all discipline and decorum to the +winds, and that they needed stern treatment if they were to be prevented +from breaking out into open mutiny.</p> + +<p>There were, of course, a great variety of folk among our colonists, and +many of them were weak and foolish creatures enough, as there always +will be weak and foolish creatures in any community of human beings +until the human race grows into perfection, as some philosophers +maintain that it will. Now, it certainly was precisely this element in +our <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>little society that had been shipped off to the island, for, with +the women and children, it was the men who were most womanlike in their +noise, or most childlike in their fears, whose safety we had first +ensured. From what our Captain knew of these people, well-meaning enough +under ordinary conditions, but timorous and foolish under conditions +such as we now were in, he guessed that disorganisation and disturbance +might be likely enough. Therefore he resolved, and his resolve was +approved both by Hatchett and by Jensen, that he would go over himself +to the island and restore order among the malcontents.</p> + +<p>Now I will confess that when I heard of this my heart sank, for I took +it for granted that Marjorie would go with Captain Marmaduke, and indeed +it seemed only right that she should go rather than remain upon the +Royal Christopher with only a parcel of rough men aboard her, and those +rough men sorely divided in purpose, and each division mistrustful of +the other. All through those long hours of shipwreck sorrow my spirits +had been cheered by the sight of her beauty and the example of her calm. +She weathered the calamity with the bravest temper; never cast down, +never assuming a false elation, but bearing herself in all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>just as a +true man would like the woman he loved to bear herself in stress and +peril. I have read of a maid in France ages back who raised armies to +drive my ancestors out of her fatherland and I think that maid must have +looked as my maid did and had the same blessed grace to inspire courage +and love and service.</p> + +<p>So when I thought that Marjorie was about to quit the ship I felt such a +sudden wrench at my heart as made me feel sick and dizzy, like a man +about to faint. The water came into my eyes with the saltness of the +sea, and words without meaning—words of pain, and grief, and +longing—seemed to seek a form at my lips and then to perish without a +breath. But at last, with an effort, I shook myself free of my stupor. I +might never see her again, I told myself; this might be our latest +parting, there on that wretched deck, in that crowd of faces painted +with fear and fury, with the sullen sea about us which would so soon +divide us. Come what might come of it, I swore that I would say my say +and not carry the regret of a fool’s silence to my grave. For though my +heart seemed to beat like the drums of a dozen garrisons, I made my way +across the slippery deck to where the girl stood, for the moment alone, +with the wind flapping her hair <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>about and blowing her gown against her. +She was looking out at the island when I came close, and there was so +much noise aboard and beyond that she did not hear my coming till I +stood beside her, and called her name into her ear. Then she turned her +pale face to me, and small blame to her to look pale in those terrors; +but her eyes had all their brightness, and there was no sign of fear in +them or on her lips. I thought her more beautiful than ever as she stood +there, so calm in all that savage scene of ruin, so brave at a time when +stout men shook with fear.</p> + +<p>‘Marjorie,’ I said, ‘I want to tell you something. I hope in God’s mercy +that we may meet again, but God alone knows if we ever shall. And so I +want to tell you that, whatever happens to me, sick or well, in danger +or out of it, I am your servant, and that your name will be in my heart +to the end.’</p> + +<p>She had heard me in quiet, but there was a wonder in her face as she +listened to the words I stumbled over. In fear to be misunderstood, I +spoke again in an agony.</p> + +<p>‘Marjorie,’ I said, ‘dear Marjorie, I should never have dared to tell +you but for this hour. But I may never see you again, and I love you.’</p> + +<p>And then I lost command of myself and my <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>words, and begged her +incoherently to forgive me, and to think kind thoughts of me if this +were indeed farewell. She was silent for a moment, and there came no +change over her face. Then she said softly:</p> + +<p>‘Why do you tell me this now? Is there some new danger?’</p> + +<p>I stared at her in wonder.</p> + +<p>‘Marjorie,’ I cried, ‘Marjorie, are you not going to leave the ship?’ +She shook her head.</p> + +<p>‘I stay with Lancelot,’ she answered quietly. ‘It is an old promise +between us. Where he is I abide. That is our compact.’</p> + +<p>I cannot find any words for the fulness of joy that flooded my heart as +Marjorie spoke. I would still be near her; the ruined ship remain a +sacred dwelling. But in my error I had blundered, overbold, and I tried +to explain confusedly.</p> + +<p>‘Marjorie,’ I said, ‘I thought you were going and I dared to tell you +the truth. It is the truth indeed, but I should not have told it.’</p> + +<p>She held out her hand to me with a kind smile as I clasped it.</p> + +<p>‘We are good friends,’ she said. ‘You and I and Lancelot. Let us +remember nothing but that, that we are good friends, we three. I always +think <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>well of you; always deserve that I shall think well of you. Be +always brave and good and God bless you!’</p> + +<p>She let go my hand as she spoke and I turned away and left her, stirred +by a thousand joys and fears and wonders.</p> + +<p>By this time Captain Amber had made all his preparations, albeit with no +small reluctance, to quit the ship. He picked out some ten of his men +from those that had served him of old and that were now equipped as men +of war. Then he formally entrusted to Lancelot the ship and the lives of +all aboard her. Marjorie, who now came to him, he kissed very tenderly, +making no attempt to urge her to accompany him. He knew the two so well +and their love and loyalty each to the other. Then he took me by the +hand and bade me serve Lancelot as I would serve him, which I faithfully +and gladly promised to do, and so he went over the side into the skiff, +with his men and Hatchett, and the sailors that were handling the skiff, +and made his way towards the island.</p> + +<p>It was now that a thing came to pass which relieved my mind of a care +only to increase our anxieties. When the skiff was a little way from the +ship my Captain, looking back to where we lay, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>drew from his pocket his +kerchief, which was a big and brightly-coloured kerchief, such as men +love who follow the sea, and waved it in our direction as a signal of +farewell, and, no doubt, of encouragement. Now, I cannot quite tell the +train of thought which the sight of that action aroused in my mind, but +I think that it was something after this fashion. The waving of that +kerchief reminded me of the waving of a flag, and the moment that the +word flag came into my mind I suddenly remembered what it was that I had +been trying to remember through all those weary hours. As in a mirror I +saw again the interior of Jensen’s cabin and the beautiful face of +Barbara, smiling as she stooped over her hideous standard. I saw again +that vile black flag, and as the picture painted itself upon my brain +the consciousness of our peril came upon me in all its strength.</p> + +<p>Without a doubt, the first thing to do was to tell Lancelot what I knew. +It was too late now to tell the Captain. Even if he were not too far to +see and understand such signals as we might make to him to return, it +would not do to let Jensen and the rest of the crew know that we had +fathomed their treachery. So I argued the matter to myself. It was +certain that Jensen had no notion that I was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>any sharer in his dark +secret, for though I could read in his face his dislike, I could see +there no distrust of us. The first thing to be done was to break the bad +news to Lancelot.</p> + +<p>I drew Lancelot aside and told him what I had seen. At first he was +amazed and incredulous; amazed because I had not warned Captain Amber +before, and incredulous because, when I explained my forgetfulness +through my fall and the hurt to my head, he would needs have it that I +imagined the whole matter. But I was so confident in my tale that I +shook his disbelief—at least, so far that he declared himself willing +to take all possible precautions.</p> + +<p>As matters stood we seemed to be in the better case. We had +well-trained, well-armed men on our side; we had the supply of arms and +ammunition in our care and under our guard; if the sailors were more +numerous than we, they were practically unarmed. It was clear to both +Lancelot and myself that the shipwreck, which had seemed so great a +misfortune, was really the means of averting a more terrible calamity. +We could not doubt that the intention of Jensen and his accomplices had +been to seize the ship suddenly, taking us unawares when we were asleep, +cutting most of our throats, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>very likely, and, after seizing upon the +supply of arms, overawing such of the colonists and others as should be +unwilling to convert the noble Royal Christopher into a pirate ship. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>A BAD NIGHT</h3> + +<p>Now our Captain had not been very long gone when the fair weather proved +as fitful as a woman’s mood, and the smiling skies grew sullen. That +same moaning of the wind which we had heard with such terror on the +preceding evening began to be heard again, and its sound struck a chill +into all our hearts. The evening sky waxed darker, and the water that +had been placable all day grew mutinous and mounted into waves—not very +mighty waves, indeed, but big enough to make us all fearsome for the +safety of our ship, for where the Royal Christopher was, perched upon +that bank of ill omen, the force of the water was always greatest in any +agitation, and there was ever present to our minds the chance that she +might go to pieces before some sudden onslaught of the sea. In the face +of that common peril we all forgot our watchfulness of each other, and +Jensen and the sailors worked as earnestly to do all they could for the +safety of our vessel <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>as on our side Lancelot and I and the stout +fellows under our command worked.</p> + +<p>It was in all this trouble and hubbub that Marjorie showed herself to be +the gallantest girl in the world. She was resolved to stay with +Lancelot, but she was no less resolved to hamper him not at all by her +presence. So when I came at dusk to the Captain’s cabin to consult with +Lancelot, who had shifted his quarters thither, I found his sister with +him, but very changed in outward seeming. For she had slipped on a +sea-suit of Lancelot’s and her limbs were hid in a pair of seaman’s +boots and her fair hair coiled out of sight under a seaman’s cap, and in +this sea change she made the fairest lad in the world and might have +been my Lancelot’s brother to a hasty eye. She had a mind, she said, to +play the man till fortune mended, and vowed to take her share of work +with the best of us. At which Lancelot smiled sweetly and commended her +wisdom in changing her rig, and as for me I would have adored her more +than before, had that been possible, to find her so adaptable to danger. +But there was little for her to do save to encourage us with her +comradeship, and that she did bravely through it all, acting as any boy +messmate might, and taking her place so naturally and simply in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>those +hours of trial that it was not until later that I thought how +strangely and how rarely she carried herself and how quietly she played +her part.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 345px;"> +<img src="images/i173.jpg" class="ispace jpg" width="345" height="500" alt="“Her Fair Hair was Coiled Out of Sight Under a Seaman’s Cap.”" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“Her Fair Hair was Coiled Out of Sight Under a Seaman’s Cap.”</span> +</div> + +<p>I shall never forget that terrible night on board the ship, with the +waves smacking our poor sides, that groaned at every blow, and the wind +moaning through the ruined rigging in a kind of sobbing way, as if all +the elements were joining in a requiem for our foredoomed lives. There +was never a moment when we could be sure that the next might not be our +last; never a moment when we could not tell that the next wave might not +sweep the ship with riven timbers into hopeless wreck, and plunge us +poor wretches into the stormy seas to struggle for a few seconds +desperately and unavailingly for our lives.</p> + +<p>Through all that dismal night there was but little for us to do, and so +I passed a portion of my time in the cabin fortifying my heart with the +perusal of the book Mr. Davies gave me. I did not on that night neglect +the thoughts of religion. Indeed, if I had been of a mind to, which +Heaven be praised I was not, I could not have very well done so. For +among our people there was a reverend man, one Mr. Ephraim Ebrow, whom +extreme poverty had tempted to accompany Captain Amber’s <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>party, and +this excellent man was at all times ready to deliver an exhortation, or +to favour us with readings from the Holy Book. He was truly one of the +Church Militant, and came of an old fanatique stock, and in moments of +danger he was as gallant and as calm as any seasoned adventurer. He had +a very fine voice, and it was no slight pleasure to hear him put up a +prayer, or deliver a sermon, or read out chapters of the Scriptures in +the authorised version. He himself, because he was no mean scholar, was +wont to search the Scriptures from a Hebrew copy which he always carried +with him. On this night he read to us many portions of the Scriptures, +and got us to pray with him, and did many things of the kind that went +to stay our alarm and strengthen our trust in the merciful wisdom of +Providence. But that I found balm in the Holy Word was no reason why I +should not find courage also from the plain words of a plain swordsman. +So I read in my book by the light of a ship’s lantern, and tried to give +my thoughts to the exercise of weapons.</p> + +<p>While I was reading thus in the cabin the door swung ajar, for ever +since the accident the furniture of the ship was all put out of gear. +Presently I heard the tramping of feet along the passage, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>then the +door was pushed open and Cornelys Jensen stood in the doorway and stared +at me. I lifted my eyes and stared back at him.</p> + +<p>‘This is a wise way of passing the time,’ he said with a sneer. +‘Book-learning, forsooth, when the ship may go to pieces every instant.’</p> + +<p>The tone of his voice galled me, and I answered him angrily, perchance +rashly.</p> + +<p>‘I am no bookman,’ I said. ‘But there is nothing to do at this hour, and +I feel no need for sleep.’ For we had divided the night in watches, but +I was wakeful as a hare that is being chased, and could not close my +eyes to any purpose.</p> + +<p>‘Nay,’ said I, ‘there are worse things than reading a good book. Where +is your black flag, Master Jensen?’</p> + +<p>You should have seen how, just for a moment, he glared at me. He was +armed, of course, and I think at that moment that he was sorely minded +to take my life. But I had a pistol on the table, and my hand lay on the +pistol, and the muzzle pointed across the table very straightly in the +direction of Cornelys Jensen. Then the angry look fell away from his +face, and he broke into long, low laughter, moving his head slowly up +and down, and fixing me very keenly with his bright eyes. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p><p>‘You are a smart lad,’ he said at last. ‘What the plague have you to do +with my black flag?’</p> + +<p>‘What have you to do with it were a question more to the point,’ I +answered him, and I make no doubt now that in speaking as I did I was +doing a very foolish thing. But I was only a boy, and inexperienced, and +indeed all my life I have been given to blurting out things that mayhap +I had better have kept to myself.</p> + +<p>He laughed again.</p> + +<p>‘Nay,’ he said, ‘it is one of my most treasured possessions. I hauled it +down with mine own hands from a pirate ship in my youth, when we +captured the bark of that nefarious sea rover Captain Anthony. I have +carried it with me for luck ever since, and it has always brought me +luck—always till now.’ Then he nodded his head again slowly twice or +thrice. ‘I will give it to you if you wish, Master Ralph,’ he said; ‘I +will give it to you for luck.’</p> + +<p>‘I do not want it,’ I said angrily, being somewhat confused with the +turn things had taken. ‘I am not superstitious for luck.’</p> + +<p>Which indeed was not true, for I never met a seaman yet who was not +superstitious; but I was wrathful, and I knew not what to say. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p><p>‘Very well,’ he said, ‘very well. But you are welcome to it if you +wish.’</p> + +<p>Then he went out of the cabin without another word and drew the door +behind him. I sat still for some seconds listening to the sound of his +departing footstep.</p> + +<p>Now I was bitterly vexed with myself. I had done a vain thing. I had put +Jensen upon his guard by showing him that I knew something at least of +his purposes, and I had put it into his power to offer a very ready +explanation of suspicious circumstances. Indeed, how was I to know that +what he said was not true? There was nothing whatever on the face of it +unlikely, and if he told such a story to Captain Marmaduke, why, it was +ten chances to one that Captain Marmaduke would implicitly believe in +him. For there was no doubt about it, Captain Marmaduke had a great +regard for Cornelys Jensen.</p> + +<p>There was nothing for it but to tell Lancelot of what Jensen had said, +and I did this with all dispatch. My statement had at least the effect +of convincing Lancelot that I had in very fact seen what I had described +to him about the flag. But I could see that Jensen’s explanation had its +effect upon him very much as I felt sure that it would have its effect +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>upon Captain Marmaduke. Lancelot had nothing like the same regard for +Jensen that his uncle had, but I knew that he did follow his uncle’s +lead in trusting him.</p> + +<p>‘You see, Ralph,’ he said to me, ‘this is a very likely story. Jensen is +an old sailor. My uncle has told me a thousand times that he has served +against pirates in his youth. What more natural than that he should +preserve such a trophy of his prowess as the captured flag of some such +villain as that same Captain Anthony, of whom I have often heard? But we +will be watchful none the less, and well on our guard.’</p> + +<p>I could see that Lancelot did not share my fears as regarded Jensen, +although he was troubled by the mutinous carriage of certain of the +crew. I know that I was very apprehensive and unhappy, and that it +seemed to me as if that night would never end. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>RAFTS</h3> + +<p>When the day did break at last it brought no great degree of comfort +with it. We were surrounded by a yellow, yeasty sea, and the air was so +thick that the islands on which our lives depended seemed but shapeless +shadows in the distance. Still the wind had abated somewhat, but the +swell was very strong, and we were without any means of attempting to +leave the vessel.</p> + +<p>When it was quite morning, and the sky cleared a little, we saw the +skiff, with the Captain on board, beating about on the water and trying +to make for us. But in this he was not able to succeed, for the waves +were running so high that it would have been quite impossible either to +bring the skiff alongside or to get on board our vessel if he had done +so. We could see the Captain standing up in the bows of the boat and +signalling to us, and it made our hearts sick to be able to see him and +to be unable to know what he wanted or what we ought to do.</p> + +<p>At this moment one of the men—he was the ship’s carpenter, and a +decent, honest sort of fellow—said <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>that he was a very good swimmer, +and that he thought he could reach the skiff in that way. He was so very +confident of his own powers that though we were somewhat unwilling to +let him risk his life, he did in the end prevail upon Lancelot to let +him make the attempt.</p> + +<p>The man stripped and was into the sea in a moment, fighting bravely with +the billows that buffeted him. It was a good sight to see him slowly +forging his way through that yellow, clapping water; it is always a good +sight to see a strong man or a brave man doing a daring thing for the +sake of other people. We watched his body as he swam; he was but a +common man, but his skin seemed as white as a woman’s in that foul +spume, and his black hair, which he wore long, streamed in a rail upon +the water as a woman’s might. But I do not think the woman ever lived +who could swim as that man swam.</p> + +<p>We watched him grow smaller and smaller, and most of us prayed for him +silently as he fought his way through the waters. At last we saw that he +had reached the skiff, and we could see that he was being pulled over +the side. Then there came a long interval—oh, how long it seemed to us, +as we watched the leaping waves and the distant skiff <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>that leaped upon +them, and wondered if the man’s strength would carry him back again to +us! By-and-by—it was not really such a very long time, but it seemed +like centuries—Lancelot, who was looking through his spy-glass, said +that the man was going over the skiff’s side again. Then we all held our +breaths and waited.</p> + +<p>So it was; the fellow was swimming steadily back to us. It was plain +enough to see that he was sorely fatigued, and that he was husbanding +his strength, but every stroke that he gave was a steady stroke and a +true stroke, and every stroke brought him a bit nearer to where we lay. +And at last his black head was looking up at us beneath our hull, and in +another second he had caught a rope and was on the deck again, dripping +like a dog, and hard pushed for lack of breath.</p> + +<p>Lancelot gave him a measure of rum with his own hands, and by-and-by his +wind came back to him, and he found his voice to speak as he struggled +into his clothes.</p> + +<p>What he had to tell was not very cheering. He had given Captain Amber a +faithful picture of our perils and our privations, and Captain Amber had +made answer that he was sorry for us with all his heart, and only wished +that he was in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>danger with us. Which we knew very well to be true, +though, indeed, the good gentleman was in scarcely less danger himself.</p> + +<p>His orders to us were that we should with all speed construct rafts by +tying together the planks of which we had abundance, and that we should +embark upon these rafts and so try to make the shallop and the skiff, +which would bear us in safety to the islands.</p> + +<p>It was not tempting to make rafts and trust them and ourselves upon them +to the sea that was churning and creaming beneath us, but it seemed to +be well-nigh the only thing to do, and it was the Captain’s orders, and +we prepared to set to work and execute his commands. But we had scarce +begun to tie a couple of planks together before it was plain that our +labour would be in vain. For even while the man had been telling his +tale the weather had grown much rougher, and we could see that the skiff +was unable to remain longer near to us, but had to turn back for her own +safety to the islands. I felt very sure that Captain Amber must be in +anguish, having thus to leave us, his dear Lancelot and some seventy of +his sailors and followers, on board a vessel that might cease to be a +vessel at any moment. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p><p>Now we were in very desperate straits indeed, and some of us seemed +tempted to give ourselves over to despair. If it had not been for the +steadiness of those that were under Lancelot, I feel sure that the most +part of the sailors would have paid no further heed to Jensen’s +counsels, but would have incontinently drunk themselves into stupor or +madness, and so perished miserably.</p> + +<p>But our men, if they were resigned to their fate, were resolved to meet +it like Christians and stout fellows, and as we were the well-armed +party the others had, sullenly enough, to fall in with our wishes. And +Lancelot’s wishes were that all hands should employ themselves still in +the making of those rafts, so that if the weather did mend we should be +able to take advantage of the improvement ere it shifted again. Though +the water was beating up in great waves all about us, we were so tightly +fixed upon our bank that we were well-nigh immovable, and it was +possible for us to work pretty patiently and persistently through all +the dirty weather. But though we worked hard and well, it took up the +fag-end of that day and the whole of the next to get our two rafts ready +for the sea, which was by that time more ready for them, as the storm +had again abated. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<h3>WE LOSE CORNELYS JENSEN</h3> + +<p>It was on the night when we had well-nigh finished our two rafts that a +very unexpected thing happened—a thing which I took at the time to be a +piece of good fortune, but which, as it happened, proved to be a +misfortune for some of us. The unexpected event was, namely, that we +lost Cornelys Jensen; and this was the way in which the thing came +about.</p> + +<p>The nights during that spell of foul weather were very dark and +moonless, not because there was no moon, though she was now waning into +her last quarter, but because of the quantity of clouds that muffled up +the face of the heavens and hid the moon and the stars from us. But we +made shift as well as we could, working hard all the time that the +daylight lasted, and giving up the night to the rest we were all in such +sore need of. Of course, the usual discipline of the ship was preserved, +the usual watches set, and all observed exactly as if <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>Captain Amber +himself had been aboard, for, though the Royal Christopher was sadly +shaken, she was still uninjured as to her inward parts, and we were all +able to sleep under cover and out of the way of wind or weather.</p> + +<p>On the night before the weather mended, although it was not my watch and +I was below in my cabin, I found that I could not sleep. The air was +close and oppressive, full of a heat that heralded, though I did not +know it, the coming of a spell of fine weather. I was feverish and +distressed of body, and tossed for long enough in my hammock, trying +very hard to get to sleep; but, though I was tired as a dog, the grace +of sleep would not come to me. At last, in very desperation, I resolved +to continue the struggle no longer. If I could not sleep I could not, +and there was an end of it. I would go on deck and get there a little +air to cool my hot body.</p> + +<p>So up on deck I went and looked about me. All was quiet, all was dark. +Here and there a ship’s lanthorn made a star in the gloom; the ship +seemed like a black rock rising out of blackness. I could hear the tread +of the watch; I could hear the noisy lapping of the water. There was no +wind, there was no moon; the air seemed to be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>thick and choking. I felt +scarcely more refreshed than I had been in my cabin, but as I had come +up I thought that I might as well stay up for a bit and have the benefit +of whatever air there was. So I made my way cautiously in the darkness +to the side of the vessel, and, leaning upon the bulwark, looked out +over the sea, and fell to thinking of Marjorie and of my love for her +and all its hopelessness.</p> + +<p>Presently I heard voices. Those who spoke drew nearer and nearer to me, +and I soon recognised the speakers as Lancelot and Cornelys Jensen. At +the spot where I was standing a great pile of boxes and water barrels +had been raised for transfer to the rafts, and I, being on the one side +of this pile, was invisible to them as they approached, and would have +been passed unnoticed had the night been brighter than it was. I could +almost hear what they were saying; I am certain that I heard Jensen +utter my name.</p> + +<p>I came out of the shadow, or rather out of my corner—for it was all +shadow alike—and called out Lancelot’s name. Lancelot called back to +me, and then I heard Jensen wish him good-night and turn and tramp +heavily down the stairs that led below. He seemed to tramp very heavily, +heavier <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>than was his wont, for he was a light, alert man, even when his +biggest sea-boots were on him, as I make no doubt they now were. +Lancelot joined me, and I drew him with me into the place where I had +been standing, after first casting a glance around the deck to see that +no one was within hearing. All seemed deserted, save for the distant +walk of the watch. We leaned over the bulwark together and began to +talk.</p> + +<p>I asked him what Jensen had been saying to him. He told me that Cornelys +had come to him and expressed great surprise and anger at the doubts +which he believed, from my manner and from some words that I had +uttered, I entertained of him. It seemed that he had said again to +Lancelot what he had said to me about the flag; that he insisted that +there was no mystery at all about the matter, but that he was proud of +its possession and superstitious as to its luck, and that he never was +willingly parted from it. At the same time he offered to give it +Lancelot, as he had already offered to give it me, if Lancelot was +minded or wishful to take possession of it; an offer which Lancelot had +refused.</p> + +<p>I could see from Lancelot’s manner that he was largely convinced of the +integrity of Jensen, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>I must confess that Jensen’s conduct had given +him grounds for confidence, and that I had very little in the way of +reasonable argument to shake that confidence. Still, I made bold to be +somewhat importunate with Lancelot. When he spoke of his uncle’s trust +in Jensen’s integrity, when he urged the value of Jensen’s services to +us on the voyage, and the way in which he had kept the sailors under +control at the first symptom of mutiny, I had, it must be confessed, +little to say in reply that could seriously damage Jensen’s character. +But I was so thoroughly convinced of the man’s treachery that I argued +hotly, and it may be that as I grew hot I raised my voice a trifle, +which is a way of mine; and, indeed, my voice is never a good whispering +voice. I entreated Lancelot, at all events, to have a very watchful eye +upon Jensen, and I urged that on the first symptom of anything in the +least like double-dealing he should place Jensen under arrest.</p> + +<p>Lancelot listened to me very patiently. He was impressed by my +earnestness, and at last promised that he would scrutinise Jensen’s +actions very narrowly, and that if he saw anything that was at all +suspicious in his demeanour he would immediately take steps to render +him harmless. At this I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>pressed Lancelot’s hand warmly, and was about +to leave him and go below when I fancied that I heard steps stealing +away from us very softly, from the other side of the pile of barrels and +boxes by which we stood. I whipped out of my corner and round the pile +in an instant, but there was no one there, and I could neither see nor +hear anything suspicious. Lancelot declared that I was as suspicious as +an old maid of her neighbour’s hens. I echoed his laughter as well as I +could, but I went below again with a heavy heart, for I was oppressed +with a sense of danger which I dreaded the more because it seemed to +lurk in darkness. I had laid me down again with no very great hope of +sleep, but I had no sooner laid my head upon its pillow than I fell into +a most uneasy slumber, in which all my apprehensions and all our perils +seemed to be multiplied and magnified a hundredfold. A nightmare terror +brooded upon my breast. Suddenly I imagined, in the swift changes of my +dream, that we were sinking, and that the vessel was going to pieces +with great crashes. I awoke with a start, to find that the noises of my +dream were being continued into my waking life. The deck above was noisy +with trampling feet and confused cries. For a moment I sat up, dizzy +with surprise, and unable <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>to realise whether I was awake or asleep. +Then I pulled my wits together, and was on deck in a trice.</p> + +<p>I caught hold of a sailor who was hurrying rapidly by, and asked him +what was the matter. He answered me that there was a man overboard, and +that they were doing all they could to save him by casting over the side +spars and timbers that would float, in the hope that he might be able to +catch one of them. The deck was all confusion, men running hither and +thither, and some hanging over the bulwarks and peering into the +darkness, in the vain hope of catching a glimpse of their drowning +comrade. We had not a boat to lower, save only the little dinghy, which +would not have lived a minute in such a sea.</p> + +<p>When I found somebody who could tell me what had happened this was what +I learnt. A man had fallen overboard; the watch had heard the splash as +the body fell into the water, and a wild cry that followed upon the +splash; a sailor had shouted out his warning of ‘Man overboard!’ and the +cry had roused the whole ship. Up to this point nobody seemed to have +any idea who the missing man was, but when Lancelot, who was immediately +on deck, though he had but just gone to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>lie down, had commanded +silence, and the men were gathered about him on the deck, the sailor who +had first made the alarm was found and questioned. This sailor said that +he saw a man standing at the vessel’s side at a place where, when the +mast fell, the bulwark had been torn away and had left a gaping wound in +the ship’s railings; that as he, surprised at seeing a man there, came +nearer to try and ascertain what he was doing, the man staggered, flung +up his arms—here the man who was narrating these things to us flung up +his hands in imitation—and then went over the side with a great splash +and a great cry. He believed that the man was none other than Cornelys +Jensen.</p> + +<p>When Lancelot and I heard the name of Cornelys Jensen upon the man’s +lips we looked involuntarily at each other, and I make certain that we +both grew pale. That the man of whom we had been talking not an hour +before in such different terms should have thus suddenly been taken out +of our lives came like a shock to us both. Further investigation +confirmed the accuracy of the man’s statement. The roll was called over, +and every man answered to his name except Cornelys Jensen. His cabin was +at once searched, but he was not in it, and it was evident that he had +made no attempt <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>to sleep there that night, for his hammock was +undisturbed. On the table lay a folded sheet of paper, which Lancelot +took up and opened. It contained only these words: ‘Your doubts have +driven me to despair.’ These words had apparently been followed by some +other words, the beginning of a fresh sentence, but, whatever they were, +they were so scrawled over with the pen that their meaning was as +effectually blotted out as if they had never been written.</p> + +<p>Of course, all efforts to rescue the unhappy man were unavailing. There +was really nothing that we could do save to cast pieces of spar and +plank overboard in the faint hope that some one of them might come in +the drowning man’s way and enable him to keep afloat till daylight, if +by any chance his purpose of self-slaughter—for so it seemed to me—had +changed with his souse into the water. The night was pitchy black, and +the waves were running a tremendous pace, so that there really seemed to +be little likelihood of the strongest swimmer keeping himself long +afloat; but we did our best and hoped our hardest, even those of us who, +like myself, disliked and distrusted Cornelys Jensen profoundly.</p> + +<p>Though Lancelot said little to Marjorie beyond <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>the bare news of what +had happened I could see that he took the disappearance of Jensen and +that little scrawl we found in his cabin badly to heart. He was +convinced at once that Jensen had committed suicide, driven thereto by +the suspicions that we had formed of him; and, indeed, though I tried to +console Lancelot as well as I could, it did look very like it, and I +must confess that I felt a little guilty. For though I still thought +that the grounds upon which I had formed my suspicions of the man were +reasonable grounds, and justified all my apprehensions, still I could +not resist an uncomfortable feeling that perhaps, after all, I might +have misjudged the man, and that in any case I was the instrument—the +unwitting instrument, but still the instrument none the less—of sending +a fellow-creature before his Maker with the stigma of self-slaughter +upon his soul. So certainly Lancelot and I passed a very unhappy night, +what there was left of it; and when the dawn came we scanned the sea +anxiously in the faint hope that we might see something of the missing +man. But, though the sea was far quieter than it had been for many +hours, there was no trace of any floating body upon it, and it became +only too clear to our minds that, for some cause or other, Cornelys +Jensen had indeed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>killed himself. I could only imagine that the man was +really crazed, although we did not dream of such a thing, and that the +perils and privations through which we had passed, and against which he +seemed to bear such a bold front, had in fact completed the unhinging of +his wits, and that my accusations, acting upon a weakened mind, had +driven him in his frenzy to destroy himself. To be quite candid, though +I was sufficiently sorry for the man, I was still dogged enough in my +own opinion of his character as to think that, if it was the will of +Providence that he should so perish, at all events the Royal Christopher +was no loser by his loss. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<h3>WE GET TO THE ISLAND</h3> + +<p>Even if we had lost a better man than Jensen it would have been our duty +none the less to work hard the next day to get our rafts ready and fit +for sea. Very few men are indispensable to their fellows, and certainly, +as far as making the rafts was concerned, it would have been far more +serious if Abraham Janes, the carpenter, had taken it into his head to +throw himself overboard than that Cornelys Jensen had taken it into his +head to do so. Yet, in a manner, too, we missed Cornelys Jensen. He was +an able man, full of all kinds of knowledge, and he had a domineering +way with the seamen which they seemed to recognise and to obey +unflinchingly. These fellows, for the most part, took the tidings of his +death very indifferently. Some of them seemed to miss him as a trained +dog might miss his master. Some, again, seemed scarcely to miss him at +all. One or two, and especially the fellow who saw the death and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>the +manner of it, seemed to take the matter very greatly to heart, and to go +about with a sad brow and a sullen eye in consequence.</p> + +<p>As for Lancelot and myself, I must say that we soon grew to accept his +loss with composure. There was so much to do that there would have been +little time for a greater grief than either of us could honestly wear. +The weather was mending hourly, and the rafts were making rapid +progress. By the end of that day they were finished and ready for the +sea.</p> + +<p>By this time, so strange are the chops and changes of the weather in +that part of the world, the sea and sky were as gentle as on a summer’s +day. I have heard the phrase ‘as smooth as a mill-pond’ applied to salt +water many a thousand times, but never, indeed, with so much truth as if +it had been applied to the ocean that day. It lay all around us, one +tranquillity of blue, and above it the heavens were domed with an azure +fretted here and there with fleeces of clouds, even as the water was +fretted here and there with laces of foam. In the clear air we could see +the islands ahead of us sharply dark against the sky, and as we watched +them our longing to be at them, to tread dry land again, was so great as +to be almost unbearable. Those who <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>have lived on shore all their lives +can form little or no idea of the way in which the thoughts of a man who +is tasting the terrors of shipwreck for the first time turn to a visible +land, and how they burn within him for longing to walk upon turf or +highway once again in his jeopardised life.</p> + +<p>Now, the rafts that we had constructed were by no means ill-fashioned. +That ship’s carpenter, Abraham Janes, was a man of great parts in his +trade. I never in my life saw a handier man at his tools or a defter at +devices of all kinds. The poor old Royal Christopher had timber enough +and to spare for the planks that were to make our rafts, and we had a +great plenty of idle rope aboard in the rigging wherewith our fallen +mast was entangled. So there was no lack of material, and when our men +saw that there was really and truly a prospect of escape there was no +lack of willing hands to work. So by the end of the time I have already +specified we had two large and serviceable rafts ready to try their +fortunes upon the ocean that was now so tempting in its calm.</p> + +<p>It was a matter of some little surprise to us who were on board the ship +that with the calm weather Captain Amber made no further attempt to come +out to us. But there was no sign of a sail upon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>the water, although we +watched it eagerly through the spy-glass; and we were sorely puzzled to +imagine what could have happened to our leader, for that he could be +forgetful of or indifferent to our danger it was impossible to believe.</p> + +<p>The rafts being now ready and the weather so propitious, nothing was +left for us but to commit them, with ourselves and all our belongings, +to the water, in the hope of making the shore with them. They were each +of them capable of holding our whole number and a quantity of such +stores as were left on board. These latter, therefore, divided into two +equal parts, we proceeded to put upon the rafts as quickly as we could, +together with as many barrels of water as we had. Each of the rafts +carried a stout mast and sail, and in the absence of any wind could be +propelled slowly over such a smooth water as that which now lay around +us by means of oars. The stores and water barrels we adjusted in such a +way as to preserve as nicely as might be the balance of the rafts.</p> + +<p>We effected the transfer of our stores and provisions with very little +difficulty, and embarked all our party, also without any difficulty +whatever. In obedience to Lancelot’s resolution, which he had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>privately +communicated to me beforehand, we divided our forces into two parties. +That is to say, half of the sailors were set on each raft, and with each +raft half of our armed men; for though we had little or no apprehension +now that there would be any trouble with the sailors, we still deemed it +best to let them see very plainly that we were and meant to be the +masters. I went on the one raft, Lancelot—and of course Marjorie with +him—upon the other, and when all was ready we pushed away from the +Royal Christopher and trusted ourselves and our fortunes to our new +equipages.</p> + +<p>There was happily little danger, even little difficulty, about the +enterprise. The rafts were well made; they rode on the waters like +corks. What little wind there was blew towards the islands, and the sea +was as placid as a lake, so that the men could use their big oars easily +enough. It was indeed slow work to paddle these great rafts along, but +it was quite unadventurous, so that I have little or nothing to record +of note concerning our journey. Little by little the Royal Christopher +grew smaller and smaller behind us, with her great mast sticking out so +sadly over her side; little by little the island loomed larger and +larger on our view. At last, after a couple of hours that were the most +pleasurable <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>we had passed for many days, we came close to the island, +and could see that the colonists were all crowded together upon the +beach, waiting to receive us.</p> + +<p>The island was very large, rocky, and thickly wooded, and the coast was +rocky too, and the water very shoaly, which made me understand how +difficult landing must have been in the stormy weather. But now, with +the sea so fair and the weather so fine, we had little or no difficulty +in getting ashore, and with the eager assistance of the colonists were +soon able to effect the landing of all our stores and belongings.</p> + +<p>Our first great surprise on our arrival was to see no sight of Captain +Amber amongst those who were gathered upon the beach to receive us. But +his absence was soon explained in reply to our anxious inquiries. It +seemed that a great spirit of discontent prevailed among the colonists +upon that island, and that they upbraided Captain Amber very bitterly +for being the cause of their misfortunes: as is the way with +weak-spirited creatures, who have not the heart to bear a common +misfortune courageously. To make a long story short, they insisted that +he must needs endeavour to find some means of rescue for them by getting +into the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>sea track and persuading some ship to come to their aid and +take them from the island; which certainly was a disconsolate place +enough, especially for people who were always ready to make a poor mouth +over everything that did not please them. As the sailors who were with +Captain Amber sided with the colonists in this matter, he had no choice +but to consent; and as his vessel was fairly sea-worthy, he and his +people had departed, in the hope of meeting some ship to bring all +succour. Captain Marmaduke was, it seems, most loath to depart while we +were in such a plight on board of the Royal Christopher; but there was +no help for it, for his men were almost in open mutiny, and would have +carried him on board would he or no. So he had sailed away and the +colonists were all hopeful, in their silly, simple way, that he would +soon return in a great ship and carry them to a land as lovely as a +dream, where all their wishes would be fulfilled for the asking, and +where each man would have his bellyful of good things without the +working for it. For that was, it seems, the notion most of these fellows +had in their heads of poor Captain Amber’s Utopia.</p> + +<p>I had begun to perceive by this time that a very large number of those +that had come out with Captain <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>Amber aboard of the Royal Christopher +were but weak-spirited creatures, and such as might be called +fair-weather friends. So long as all was going well and there was a +prospect before them of a prosperous future and everything they wanted, +they were supple enough and loud to laud the good gentleman who was +conveying them to comfort. But with the break in our luck their praises +and their patience went in a whiff, and they showed themselves to be +such a parcel of wrong-headed, grumbling, disheartened and dispiriting +knaves as ever helped to shake a good man’s courage. They were as ready +to imprecate Captain Amber now as they had been to load him with praises +before, and in this they were supported by all the worser sort—and +these were the greater part—among the sailors that had stayed with the +colonists. But with Lancelot’s arrival upon the island he soon put a +stop to all loudly expressed grumbling—or at least to all grumbling +that was loudly expressed in his hearing. There were some good fellows +amongst the colonists, and the old soldiers were staunch and sturdy +fellows, who adored Captain Amber, and Lancelot after him. So, as we had +these with us, we made the grumblers keep civil tongues in their heads, +aye and work too to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>bettering of our conditions. The first party +had made themselves some huts and now we made more for ourselves who +were new-comers, with tents of a kind out of sail-cloth that we had +brought from the ship, and for Lancelot a large double hut covered with +some of this same cloth for him and Marjorie to dwell in. And, Lord! +what a joy it was to see how Marjorie bestirred herself making herself +as good a lieutenant to Lancelot as Captain’s heart could desire. But we +were all so busy that in those hours on that island I seldom had speech +with her, for my care was chiefly with those discontented and weaklings +who were so eager to complain and make mischief.</p> + +<p>It seemed to me then that the best man of all that pack was the woman +Barbara Hatchett. For while the colonists were making poor mouths over +their plight and piping as querulously as sparrows after rain, and while +the sailors were for the most part sour and sullen, Barbara took her lot +with cheerfulness, and had smiles and smooth words for everybody and +everything. She had even smiles and smooth words with me, who had +exchanged no speech with her beyond forced greeting for this many a day. +For she came up to me laughing once, at a time when I stood alone and +was, indeed, thinking <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>of Marjorie who was busy in her hut at some task +that Lancelot had set her. Barbara began to banter with me in a way that +seemed strange with her, saying that I was fickle like all my sex, that +I was sighing for fair hair now, who had doted on black locks a few +years ago, and much more idle talk to the same want of purpose. At last +she asked me bluntly if I had loved her once, and when I answered yes, +she asked me if I loved her still, now that she was a married woman; and +without giving me time to answer she said that she had a kindness for +me, and would do me a good turn yet for the sake of old days when she +came to be queen.</p> + +<p>I was vexed with her for the vanity and importunity of her mirth, and to +stop her words I asked her bluntly if she had ever seen a black flag. +But my question had no effect to disconcert her gaiety.</p> + +<p>‘You mean the black flag of poor Jensen?’ she said; and when I nodded +she began to pity Jensen for his belief in his trophy, which, after all, +had brought him no more luck than a sea grave; and then she went on with +shrillish laughter to tell me that she had begged it of him to give her +to make into a petticoat, ‘For it would have made a bonny petticoat, +would it not?’ she said suddenly, coming <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>to a sharp end and looking me +earnestly in the face.</p> + +<p>I was at a loss what to say, being so flustered by her carriage and her +words, which seemed to make it plain to me that I had sorely misjudged +the dead man. But I said nothing, and moved a little way from her; and +she, seeing my disinclination, laughed again, and then ‘God blessed’ me +with a vehemence and earnestness that, as I thought, meant me more harm +than good. But after that she turned and went back to the rest of the +women, and I could see her going from one to the other, soothing and +comforting them, and showing them how to make the best of their bitter +commons on the island. And as I watched her I wondered; but I had little +time for watching or for wondering. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + +<h3>FAIR ISLAND</h3> + +<p>For the nonce I will make bold to leave Captain Marmaduke sailing the +seas and to occupy myself solely with the fate of those who were +encamped on the island, and chiefly of Marjorie and Lancelot and thereby +myself who had the good fortune to be with them to the end of the +enterprise. And, oh, as I think of Marjorie in those days it is ever +with fresh wonder and delight and infinite gratitude to Heaven for the +privilege to have seen her. She seemed just a boy with boys, she with +Lancelot and me, and she wore her boyish weed with a simple +straightforward ease that made it somehow seem the most right and +natural thing in the world. But that was ever her way; whatever she did +seemed fit and good, and that not merely to my eyes who loved her, but, +as I think, to most. And she was very helpful in mind and body, always +eager to bear her share in any work that was toward, and in council +advising wisely without assertion. It might seem at first blush a +handicap for adventurers to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>have a girl on their hands, but we did not +find it so, only always, save for the peril in which the maid was, a +gain and blessing. And so to our fortunes. You must know that from the +further coast of our island—the further from our wreck, I mean—we +could discern the outlines of other islands, the nearest of which +appeared to be within but a few hours’ sail. It was plain, therefore, +that we were, very fortunately for us, cast away in the neighbourhood of +a considerable archipelago, and that we had every reason on the whole to +rejoice at our condition instead of bewailing it.</p> + +<p>Now, though the island we were on was in many ways fair and commodious, +we were not without confidence that another island, which lay a little +further off, as it might be a couple of hours’ sail, would serve us even +in better stead, and at least we resolved to explore it. So Lancelot and +Marjorie and I, with some thirty of our own men, resolved to cross over +in the shallop boat which had conveyed the first party to the island +while the weather was still fair, taking with us a great plenty of arms +and implements, canvas and abundance of provisions, as well as a +quantity of lights and fireworks, which we had saved from the ship, and +which Lancelot thought might be useful for many <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>purposes. It was agreed +between us and the colonists that if we found the new island better than +the old we were to make great bonfires, the smoke of which could not +fail to be seen from the first island, or Early Island, as we came to +call it. This they should take as a signal to come with all speed to the +new camping-ground.</p> + +<p>You must not think it strange that we set out upon this expedition +thoughtlessly and leaving the other folk unprotected. For, in the first +place, there were a goodly number of the colonists—as many in number as +the sailors; and, in the second place, the sailors were not so +well-armed as many of the colonists were, having nothing but their +knives and a few axes. Furthermore, as Cornelys Jensen was not among +them, and as it seemed most unlikely that the purpose, if purpose he +had, would hold with his fellows now that there was, as it were, no ship +to seize, we felt that there could be no danger to our companions in +leaving them while we went on our voyage of exploration. So you will +please to bear in mind how matters now stood. There was Captain +Marmaduke in the skiff, who had sailed away from us to seek succour for +us all. There was on the island with which we had first made +acquaintance the majority of our colonists—men, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>women and children, +together with the greater part of the sailors—under the authority of +Hatchett. There were, further, Lancelot and Marjorie and myself and our +thirty men, who had gone off in the shallop to explore the adjacent +islands in the hope of finding a better resting-place for our whole +party. As for Cornelys Jensen, I took him to be at the bottom of the +sea.</p> + +<p>We had arranged that during our absence the administration of the colony +should be vested in a council, of whom the Reverend Mr. Ebrow was one +and Hatchett another, for, as the leading man among sailors, he could +not be overlooked, and I mistrusted him no more now that Jensen was +gone. Certain of the soldierly men and two or three of the most +cool-headed amongst the colonists made up the total of this council, +whose only task would be to apportion the fair share of labour to each +man in making the island as habitable a place as might be till our +return. For, after all, it was by no means certain that we should have +better luck with the near island, and in any case it was well to be +prepared for all emergencies.</p> + +<p>It was late on the second day of our arrival at the island that Lancelot +and Marjorie and I with our companions set off on our expedition. We +followed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>the coast-line of our island a long while, keeping a +sufficiently wide berth for fear of the shoals. When we had half +circumnavigated it there lay ahead of us the island for which we were +making. It lay a good way off, and, as the day was very fine and still, +it seemed nearer to us than it proved to be. As far as we could judge at +that distance, it seemed to be a very much larger island than the one +which we had just left; and so indeed it proved to be.</p> + +<p>The shallop was a serviceable vessel, and ran bravely before the wind on +the calm sea. Had the wind been fully in our favour we should have made +the island for which we were steering within the hour; but it blew +slightly across our course, compelling us to tack and change our course +often, so that it was a good two hours before we were close to our goal. +When we came close enough we saw that the island seemed in all respects +to be a more delectable spot than that island on which chance had first +cast us. There was a fine natural bay, with a strand of a fine, white, +and sparkling sand such as recalled to me the aspect of many of the +little bays and creeks in the coast beyond Sendennis, and in the +recollection brought the tears into my mouth, not into my eyes. From +this strand we <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>could see that the land ran up in a gentle elevation +that was very thickly wooded. Beyond this again rose in undulating +succession several high hills, that might almost be regarded as little +mountains, and these also seemed to be densely clothed with trees. +Marjorie declared that the place looked in its soft greenness and the +clean whiteness of its shore a kind of Earthly Paradise, and indeed our +hearts went out to it. I found afterwards, from conversation with my +companions, that every man of us felt convinced on our first close sight +of Fair Island, as we afterwards called it, that we should find there +abundance of water and all things that we needed which could reasonably +be hoped for.</p> + +<p>We came, after a little coasting, to a small and sheltered creek, into +which it was quite easy to carry our vessel. The creek ran some little +way inland, with deep water for some distance, so here we beached the +shallop and got off and looked about us.</p> + +<p>Although by this time the day was grown somewhat old, we were determined +to do at least a measure of exploring then and there, and ascertain +some, at least, of the resources of our new territory. There was, of +course, the possibility that we might meet with wild animals or with +still wilder savages, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>but we did not feel very much alarm about either +possibility. For we were a fairly large party; we were all well-armed, +and well capable of using our weapons. Each of us carried pistols and a +hanger, Marjorie with the rest, she being as skilful in their use as any +lad of her age might be. For my own part I always wore in my coat pocket +a little pistol Lancelot had given me, that looked like a toy, but was a +marvel of mechanism and precision. Weaponed as we were, we had come, +moreover, into that kind of confidence which comes to those who have +just passed unscathed through grave peril, a confidence which is, as it +were, a second wind of courage.</p> + +<p>It would not do, of course, to leave our boat unprotected, so it was +necessary to tell off by lot a certain number of our men to stay with it +and guard it. All the men were so eager for exploration that those upon +whom the lots fell to remain behind with the shallop made rather wry +faces; but Lancelot cheered them by telling them that theirs was a +position to the full as honourable as that of explorers, and that in any +case those who looked after the boat one day should be relieved and go +with the exploring party on the next day, turn and turn about. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p><p>This satisfied them, and they settled down to their duty in content. It +was agreed upon that in case of any danger or any attack, whether by +savages or by wild beasts—for in those parts of the world there might +well be monstrous and warlike creatures—they were to make an alarm by +blowing upon a horn which we had with us, and by firing a shot. It was +to be their task while we were away to prepare a fire for our evening +meal. We had our supply of provisions and of water with us, but those of +us who were to explore had very good hopes that we should bring back to +the skiff not merely the good news that we had found water, but also +something in the way of food for our supper. Lancelot, for one, +expressed his confidence that there must be game of various kinds in so +thickly a wooded place, and when Lancelot expressed an opinion I and the +others with me always listened to it like Gospel.</p> + +<p>Luckily for us, we soon found one and then another spring of fresh +water. But it took us a matter of three days to explore that island +thoroughly, for it was very hilly, and in many parts the woods were +well-nigh impenetrable in spite of our axes. Most of the trees and +shrubs had at this time either blossoms or berries on them, red, white, +and yellow, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>that filled the air with sweet and pungent odours. It was a +large island, and on the other side of the ridge of hills which rose up +so sharply from the place where we first landed the land stretched +almost level for a considerable distance before it dropped again in low +cliffs to the sea. Part of this plain was grass-grown land, not unlike +English down land, but in other parts the grass grew in great tufts as +big as a bush, intermixed with much heath, such as we have on our +commons in England; part of it was thickly grown with all manner of +bright flowers and creeping plants, that knotted themselves together in +such an entanglement that it was very hard to cut a path. We had need to +go carefully here, for suspicion of snakes. We found no sign of savage +wild beasts, though of harmless ones there were plenty, some of which +made very good meat. As for savages, we saw none; and as far as we could +make out we were the only human beings upon the island. Yet Lancelot, +who was wonderfully quick at noting things, thought that he detected +signs here and there which went to show that we were not the first men +who had ever explored it. There were few land fowls—only eagles of the +larger sort, but five or six sorts of small birds. There were waterfowl +in abundance <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>of many varieties, with shellfish to our hands, and good +fish for the fishing, so between the sea and the land we were in no fear +of want of victual, which cheered us very greatly.</p> + +<p>We had rigged up some rough tents with our canvas, one apart for +Marjorie and one for me and Lancelot, and half a dozen for our men, and +altogether our condition had fair show of comfort, and to me indeed +seemed full of felicity.</p> + +<p>Until we had thoroughly explored the island we did not deem it wise to +make our promised communication with the former island. But as soon as +we had pretty well seen all that there was to be seen, we thought that, +the time still being fair, we could scarcely do better than get our +fellow-adventurers over. Our men were therefore set to work collecting +as large a quantity of fuel as might be, and in clearing a path to the +summit of the nearest hill, from which we might set off our bonfire to +the best advantage.</p> + +<p>Our men were all dispersed about the island busy at this business, and +Marjorie was in her tent, taking at her brother’s entreaty the rest she +would never have allowed herself. It was a very hot day, and Lancelot +and I, who had been collecting firewood on the near slope of the hill, +but a few yards <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>from the creek where our craft was beached, were lying +down for a brief rest under a tree and talking together of old times. +The sight of a small gaudy parrot, of which there was an abundance in +the island, had sent our memories back to that parlour of Mr. Davies’s +where we had first met, and where there were parrots on the wall, and so +we chatted very pleasantly.</p> + +<p>By-and-by our talk flagged a little, for we grew drowsy with the heat, +and our eyes closed and we fell into dozes, from which we would lazily +wake up to enjoy the warm air and the bright sunlight and the vivid +colours of everything about us, sea and sky and trees and flowers and +grasses.</p> + +<p>I remember very well musing as I lay there upon the strangeness of +disposition which leads men to pine out their lives in the mean air of +smoky cities, with all their hardship and their unloveliness, when the +world has so many brave places only waiting for bold spirits to come and +dwell therein. Boylike, I had forgotten all the perils which I had +undergone before ever I came to Fair Island. I was only conscious of the +delicious appearance of the place, of our good fortune in finding so +fair a haven; and if only Captain Marmaduke and my mother had been with +us I think I could have been very well <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>content to pass the remainder of +my days upon that island, which seemed to me to the full as enchanted as +any I had read of in the Arabian tales.</p> + +<p>I had dropped into a kind of sleep, in which I dreamt that I was Sindbad +the Sailor, when I was awakened by a light step and the sound of a soft +voice. I looked up and saw that Marjorie was bending over Lancelot, who +was sitting up by me. She held him by the arm and pointed out across the +sea.</p> + +<p>‘Don’t you see something out there?’ she asked, speaking quite low, as +she always did when excited by anything.</p> + +<p>Lancelot and I followed the direction of her gaze and her outstretched +finger, and discerned very far away upon the sea a small black object. +It lay between us and the island we had left, but somewhat to the right +of it.</p> + +<p>‘What is it?’ I asked.</p> + +<p>‘That’s just what I want to know,’ said Marjorie. ‘How if it should be +savages?’</p> + +<p>The very thought was disquieting. We had grown so secure that we had +almost forgotten the possibility of such dangers; but now, at Marjorie’s +words, the possibilities came clearly back to me. Captain Marmaduke had +told us many a time <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>stories about savages and their war canoes and +their barbarous weapons, and it was very likely indeed that what we saw +was a boat filled with such creatures creeping across the sea to attack +us.</p> + +<p>It moved very slowly across the smooth waters, and there was a strong +bright sun, which played upon the surface of the water very dazzlingly, +which added to our difficulty in understanding the floating object. But +as it came slowly nearer we saw that it must be some kind of vessel, for +we distinguished what was clearly a mast with a sail, though, as there +was very little wind that morning, the sail hung idly by the mast. A +little later we were able to be sure that what we saw was a kind of +raft, with, as I have said, a mast and sail, but that its propulsion +came from some human beings who were aboard it, and who were causing its +slow progress with oars. By this time I had got out a spy-glass from our +tent; and then Lancelot gave a cry of amazement, for he recognised in +the new-comers certain of those colonists our companions whom we had +left behind on the hither island. There were five of them on board, all +of whom Lancelot named to us, and as he named them, Marjorie and I, +looking through the glass in turns, were able to recognise them too. +By-and-by they saw us too, for one of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>them stood up on the raft, and +stripping off his shirt waved it feebly in the air as a signal to us, a +signal which we immediately answered by waving our kerchiefs. It takes a +long time to tell, but the thing itself took longer to happen, for it +must have been fully an hour after we first noted the raft before it +came close to the shore of our island.</p> + +<p>As soon as it was within a couple of boats’ lengths Lancelot and I, in +our impatience and our anxiety to aid, ran into the water, which was +shallow there, for the beach sloped gently, and was not waist high when +we reached the voyagers, so that we had no fear of sharks. The +new-comers were huddled together on as rudely fashioned a raft as it had +ever been my lot to see, and had it not been for the astonishing +tranquillity of the sea it is hard to believe that they could have made +a hundred yards without coming to pieces. They all leaped into the water +now, and between us we ran the crazy raft on to the beach, Lancelot and +I doing the most part of the work, for the poor wretches that had been +on board of her seemed to be sorely exhausted and scarcely able to speak +as they splashed and staggered through the shallow water to the shore, +where Marjorie was waiting anxiously for us.</p> + +<p>They did speak, however, when once they were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>safely on dry land and had +taken each a sip from our water-bottles, for all their throats were +parched and swollen with thirst. It was a terrible tale which they had +to tell, and it made us shiver and grow sick while they told it. I will +tell it again now, not, indeed, in their words, which were wild, +rambling, and disconnected, but in my own words, making as plain a tale +of it as I can, for indeed it needs no skill to exaggerate the horror of +it. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2> + +<h3>THE STORY FROM THE SEA</h3> + +<p>In few words, it came to this. The sailors on the island had proved +themselves to be as bloody villains as had ever fed the gallows. They +had taken the unhappy colonists by surprise and had massacred them, all +but the women and the children. As for the women—poor things!—it would +have been better for them if they had been killed with the others, but +their lives were spared for greater sorrows. Those who told us that tale +were all that were left, they said, of the unhappy company. They had +escaped by mere chance to the woods, and had fashioned with their axes +the rough raft and oars which had conducted them at last to us and to +temporary safety.</p> + +<p>This was their first raw story. Horrid as it was it took a stronger +horror when one of the men shouted a curse at Cornelys Jensen.</p> + +<p>‘Cornelys Jensen!’ I cried. ‘Cornelys Jensen—Cornelys Jensen is dead, +and the seas have swallowed him.’ </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p><p>The man who had uttered his name gave a great groan.</p> + +<p>‘Would to Heaven they had,’ he said. ‘But Heaven has not been so +merciful. That tiger still lives and lusts for blood.’</p> + +<p>Marjorie and Lancelot and I glanced at each other in amazement, and the +same thought crossed all our minds—that fear and grief had crazed the +unhappy man who was speaking to us. But he, reading something of our +thoughts in our eyes, turned to his fellows for confirmation, and +confirmation they readily gave. Cornelys Jensen was alive. Cornelys +Jensen was on the island. Cornelys Jensen was the instigator of the +massacre, the bloodiest actor in the bloody work.</p> + +<p>Here was indeed amazing tidings, and we cried to know more, but the men +had no more to tell. They had no knowledge of how Cornelys Jensen made +his appearance upon the island; all they knew was that he did appear, +and that his appearance was the signal for a display of weapons on the +part of the sailors on his side and the massacre of all the unhappy +wretches who were not inclined to his piratical purposes. The colonists +seemed to have made no sort of stand for their lives. Indeed, it would +appear that they were taken quite unawares, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>and that the most were +struck down before they had time to act in their own defence. As for the +miserable wretches who told us this tale, they had fled to the woods +when the wicked business began, and the murderers either lost count of +them or imagined that they must perish miserably of famine in the +forest. Indeed, they must have so perished if it had not occurred to one +of them, who had his wits a little more about him than the others, to +suggest the manufacture of a raft, whereby they might make the attempt +to reach the island, where, as they guessed, we, with our well-armed +fellows, were safely settled. ‘For,’ as the man argued, ‘we risk death +either way. If we stop here we must either perish among these trees for +lack of sustenance or must creep back to the piratical camp with little +other hope than a stroke from a hanger, or tempt the seas in the hope of +friends and safety.’ So they fashioned a raft as well as they could out +of a number of fallen trees, which they fastened together with natural +ropes made of the long creeping plants that abounded, and that were as +tough and as endurable as ever was rope that was weaved out of honest +hemp. They found enough timber for their craft among the fallen tree +trunks, and they had the less difficulty in their work that one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>of +their number was Janes, who had his saw in his belt at the moment of +their flight to the woods.</p> + +<p>Long before they finished telling their tale our men, who were scattered +abroad in the woods, came tumbling down to us at the sound of the horn, +that Lancelot wound to summon them, and gathered in horror around their +unhappy comrades. As for me, I was so amazed at the news that Cornelys +Jensen was alive that I stood for awhile like one stunned, and could say +nothing, but only stare at those pale faces and wonder dumbly. When +after awhile the power of speech did return to me I strove with many +questions to find out how Jensen was thus restored to life and to evil +deeds, but as to that they none of them knew anything. If the marvel of +Jensen’s reappearance was the greatest marvel, marvel only second to it +was how the sailors who obeyed him came to have weapons for their +business. As to that, again, the fugitives could give no help. The +sailors had arms, every man of them, muskets and pistols and cutlasses, +and had used them with deadly effect. It was all a mystery that made our +senses sick to think upon.</p> + +<p>Of one thing the fugitives were very positive—that Jensen and his +murderers would very soon make a descent upon our island, in the hope of +surprising <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>us unawares and killing us. For now they were very numerous, +and at least as well-armed as we were, and would make very formidable +enemies. The only wonder was that they had not already attempted it, but +the men believed that the villains were so engrossed in a swinish orgie +after their triumph as to be heedless of time or prudence. So here were +we—but thirty-two men in all, not counting these fugitives—and with +one woman, though so brave an one—in urgent peril. It was fortunate for +us all that in Lancelot’s youth there was an alliance of courage with +skill which would have done credit to a general of fifty. I was not much +in those days in the way of giving advice, but I was strong and active, +and ready to obey Lancelot in all things, which was what was most wanted +of me in that juncture. We had every reason to be confident in the +fidelity and courage of the men who were with us, and our confidence was +not misplaced.</p> + +<p>The first thing to be done was to settle the fugitives in the utmost +comfort we could afford them. We put them to rest in one of our tents we +had built, and gave to each of them a taste of strong waters, after +which we urged them to sleep if they could, adding, to encourage them in +that effort, that the sooner their bodies were refreshed by rest <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>and +food the better they would be able to bear their part in resisting the +common enemy. This argument had great weight with the men, who were very +willing to be of help, but too hopelessly worn out just then to be of +the smallest aid to us or the smallest obstacle to our enemies. Indeed, +the poor fellows were so broken with fear and suffering that I think +they would have slept if they had heard that Cornelys Jensen, with all +his pack, had landed upon the island. As it was, in a very few minutes +all of them were lying in a row and sleeping soundly. I could almost +have wept as I looked upon them lying there so quiet and so miserable, +and thought of all the high hopes with which they had entered upon the +adventure that had proved so disastrous for them and so fatal for so +many of their companions.</p> + +<p>Having thus disposed of them, our next course was to take such steps as +we could towards strengthening our position. To begin with, we hauled +our boat further up the creek than she now was, for it would be a +terrible misfortune to us if anything were to happen to her, seeing that +on her depended any chance we had of leaving the island if we were so +far pushed as to have to make the attempt. Our position was not an easy +one to attack as it stood, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>coming, as the attack must, from the island +we had left, for of an attack in our rear we had no danger. Even if +Cornelys Jensen were able to get to the back of our island, it would +take him an intolerable time to make his way through the well-nigh +impenetrable woods that lay between us. On our front we felt confident +that the attack would come, and we felt further confident that, even if +it was made with the full force of ruffians that Jensen had at his +command, we ought to be able to repulse it, and to prevent the +scoundrels from effecting a landing. For though the news that they were +thoroughly equipped with the weapons and munitions of war was wofully +disheartening news, still, as we were well-armed ourselves, it did not +altogether discourage us. They might be very well two to one, but two to +one is no such great odds when the larger party has to effect a landing +upon an open place held by resolute men and well weaponed.</p> + +<p>It was, in Lancelot’s judgment, our first duty to erect a sort of fort +or stockade upon the beach, wherein we could take shelter if we were +really hard pressed, and wherein we could store for greater safety our +stores and ammunition from our skiff. We had set up several huts along +the shore of the creek for habitation and for storage of our goods. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>But +they would have offered no protection in case of an attack, being but +mere shells hurriedly put together, and intended merely as temporary +shelters from possible foul weather. Lancelot’s scheme was to enclose +all these buildings in a strong wall, and to connect that fort by +another wall with the spot at which our skiff was beached.</p> + +<p>There was no great difficulty in the construction of such a stockade in +itself. Timber enough and to spare was to be had for the chopping, and +we had thirty odd pairs of arms and sufficient axes to make that a +matter of no difficulty. Nor was there any difficulty as regards the +building of such a fort, for Lancelot’s knowledge of military matters +made him quite capable of planning it out according to the most approved +methods of fortification.</p> + +<p>We set to work upon the stockade at once, and soon were chopping away +for dear life, even Marjorie wielding a light axe, and wielding it well. +Many hands, it is said, make light work, and there were enough of us to +make the business move pretty quickly. Choosing trees with trunks of a +middling thickness, we soon had a great quantity cut down and made of +the length that was needed. These we proceeded to set up in the places +that Lancelot had marked out, but first we dug deep trenches in the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>ground so as to ensure their being firmly established, Marjorie taking +her share of the spade work with a will. We had not done very much +before Abraham Janes, the carpenter, came out of the hut and joined us. +He declared that he was now well refreshed, and that he wished to bear +his part in the labour; and indeed we were very glad to let him do so, +because he was an exceedingly skilful workman, and very ready with the +use of saw and hatchet. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI</h2> + +<h3>THE BUSINESS BEGINS</h3> + +<p>With toil we set up the front of our stockade and a portion of the sides +of the parallelogram. It was all loopholed for our musketry, and was +firm and strong, being carefully stiffened behind by cross beams and +shored up with buttresses of big logs in a manner that, if not +thoroughly workmanlike, was at least satisfactory from the point of +strength, which was just then our main consideration. Our palisade was +about double the height of a man, and in the centres, both front and +back, there was a gate, that was held in its place when shut by heavy +bars of wood which fitted into holes cut to receive them.</p> + +<p>Ere set of sun we had our outworks completed, and found ourselves the +possessors of a very creditable stockade, which under ordinary +conditions ought, if properly manned and well supplied with ammunition, +to resist the attack of a very much greater number than the defending +party. It was still in our mind to run out a palisade that should +connect our stronghold with the place where the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>skiff lay, but it was +too late, and we were now too exhausted to think of that, for we had +worked at our task ever since we had got the alarm, and it was really +impossible for us to do more in that work.</p> + +<p>But before we rested we conveyed from our boat all our stores and all +our arms and ammunition—of which latter, indeed, we had no great +quantity, a matter which we had not heeded before, but which now gave us +great trouble. We brought in abundance of water, and we had ample +provisions, which the island itself had in chief part offered to us, so +that we could hold our own very well for a time in case it came to a +siege. Our hope, however, was that we might be able to prevent the +pirates from effecting a landing at all.</p> + +<p>When we went to seek rest for the night we took care to set good guard +and to keep strict watch, for a night attack was possible, if it was not +very likely.</p> + +<p>Though we were all very tired, both bodily and mentally, by reason of +the labour of our hands and the strain upon our minds, I do not think +that any of us found sleep very easy to come at first. I only know that +I lay on my back and stared up at the stars—for the night was too hot +to sleep under cover—for long enough. At last I fell asleep, and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>through sleep into a fitful feverish dream, which chopped and changed +from one place and subject to another; but at last it settled down into +one decided dream—and that was a good dream, for it was a dream of +Marjorie. It seemed that I was walking with her along the downs beyond +Sendennis, not far from that place where Lancelot found me blubbering in +years gone by, and that I was telling her that I loved her, and that she +let me hold her hand while I told her, which showed that she was not +averse to my tale, and that when I had done she turned and looked me +full in the face, and there was love—love for me—in her eyes.</p> + +<p>Then I awoke suddenly and found it was full day, and that Marjorie was +bending over me. For the moment I did not recollect where I was, and +stared in surprise at the great wooden paling by which we were +surrounded. Then recollection of the whole situation came back to me in +a flash, and I leapt to my feet.</p> + +<p>All around me the men were making preparations for the morning meal, or +were engaged in looking to their weapons, testing the sharpness of a +cutlass or seeing to the priming of a matchlock. The big door of the +stronghold was open, and through it I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>could see the white beach and the +sea-edge, where Lancelot stood scanning the horizon with the spy-glass. +The sun was very bright, and I could hear the parrots screaming away in +the woods behind us.</p> + +<p>‘Come outside, Ralph,’ said Marjorie. ‘I want to speak with you.’</p> + +<p>We went out together through the gate into the open, and walked slowly a +little way in the direction of the sea. Both of us looked, naturally +enough, to that island where our enemies lay. Presently we halted and +stood in silence a few minutes, and then Marjorie spoke.</p> + +<p>‘Ralph,’ she said quietly, ‘you are my friend, I believe.’</p> + +<p>I had it in my heart to cry wild words to her; to tell her again that I +loved her then and for ever, but though the words tingled on my lips +they never took life and sound. For Marjorie was looking at me so +steadfastly and sadly with a strange gravity in the angel-blue of her +eyes that I could not speak what she might not wish to hear. So I simply +nodded my head and held out my hand and caught hers and clasped it +close.</p> + +<p>‘Ralph,’ she said again. ‘We fight for the right, but right is not +always might, and our enemies may overpower us. If they do—’ here I +thought <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>she paled a little, but her voice was as firm as ever—‘if they +do, I want you to promise me one promise.’</p> + +<p>I suppose the look in my face assured her that there was nothing she +could ask of me that I would not obey, for she went on without waiting +for me to speak:</p> + +<p>‘I have the right to ask you because of some words you once said to me, +words which I remember. If the worst comes you must kill me. Hush’—for +I gave a groan as she spoke.</p> + +<p>‘That must be. I have heard enough to know that I must not live if our +enemies triumph. If I were alone I should kill myself; if you were not +here I should have to ask Lancelot, but you are here and I would rather +it happened by your hand.’</p> + +<p>It was strange to stand on that quiet shore by that quiet sea and look +into that beautiful face and listen to that beautiful voice and hear it +utter such words. But my heart thrilled with a wild pride at her prayer.</p> + +<p>‘I will do your bidding,’ I said, and she answered ‘I thank you.’ We +might have been talking of nothing in particular so even were our voices +and so simple was our speech. I pressed her hand and let it go. Then, +swiftly, she came a little nearer <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>and took my face in her dear hands +and kissed me on the forehead, and there are no words in the world sweet +enough or sacred enough to interpret my thoughts in that moment. Then +she moved away and made to go towards Lancelot, but even as she did so I +saw him turn and run towards us along the beach. As soon as he joined us +he bade Marjorie go to our hut and blow the horn to bring our people +together. After that she was to wait in her own shelter till he came for +her. She obeyed him unquestioningly, as she always did in those days of +danger, and for a moment Lancelot and I were alone.</p> + +<p>‘Here they come,’ he said very tranquilly. ‘See for yourself.’ And he +handed the spy-glass to me.</p> + +<p>As I put it to my eye he added: ‘I can’t understand where they get their +rig from.’</p> + +<p>Neither could I. As I looked through the glass I could see that two +boats were coming slowly towards us, and that each boat was full of men. +It was surprising enough to see them coming in boats, but it was not +that which had chiefly surprised either Lancelot or me. Our wonder was +caused by the fact that all the men in the boats were clad in scarlet +coats, scarlet coats that looked very bright and clean and new. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p><p>‘Can these be our men at all?’ I asked of Lancelot in amazement. I could +not for the life of me conceive what other men they could be, but the +sight of all those scarlet coats filled me with astonishment.</p> + +<p>Lancelot took the spy-glass from me again without replying, and looked +long and patiently at the approaching boats.</p> + +<p>‘Yes,’ he said at last, ‘they are our men sure enough, for I see the +face of Jensen among them. But how on earth has he contrived to deck out +all his gang of rascals in the likeness of soldiers?’ He paused for a +moment; then added thoughtfully: ‘’Tis our Providence that the Royal +Christopher lost her cannon. Yonder stronghold would be no better than +so much pasteboard against a couple of the ship’s guns.’</p> + +<p>We had no time for further converse. The sound of the horn had rallied +our party, and soon the whole of our men were gathered about us, staring +over the sea at those two moving blots of scarlet. I cast an anxious +glance at the face of each man of our little party, and when I had +finished I did not feel anxious any more. I could see by the face of +every man that he meant to fight and to fight his best. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p><p>Lancelot lost no time in getting the men into order and in arranging +exactly what was to be done. It was curious, perhaps, although I did not +think it curious then, that these men should have accepted so +unquestioningly Lancelot’s command over them. But they were old +soldiers, who had promised to obey Captain Amber, and he had himself +devolved his command upon Lancelot. And so, until Lancelot went stark +staring mad, which he was not in the least likely to do, they were +perfectly prepared to obey him.</p> + +<p>I should not be adhering to the spirit of truthfulness which I have +observed in setting down these my early experiences if I did not confess +that I faced the fact of coming conflict with very mingled emotions. +This was the very first time that I had ever seen human beings about to +close in bloody strife. Here I found myself standing up with arms in my +hands, ready to take away the life of a fellow-creature—to take away +the lives of several fellow-creatures, if needs must. Moreover, I knew +very well that there were plenty of chances of my getting knocked on the +head in this my first scrimmage, and I trembled a little +inwardly—though not, as I believe, outwardly—at the thought of my +promise to Marjorie. And yet even with that thought a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>new courage came +into my heart. For I immediately resolved that, come what might, I would +endeavour to carry myself in such a manner as Marjorie would have me +carry myself, namely, as an honest man should, fighting to the best of +his ability for what he believed to be the right cause, and not making +too much of a fuss about it. And that resolve nerved me better than a +dram of spirits would have done, and I set aside the flask from which I +had been on the point to help myself.</p> + +<p>I do not know if Lancelot felt like that in any degree, and I never +presumed to question him on the point afterwards, as there are some +topics upon which gentlemen cannot approach each other, however great +the degree of intimacy may be between them. But he certainly carried +himself as composedly as if we were standing in a ball-room before the +dancing began. It is true that he had been brought up to understand the +military life and the use of arms, and he had seen a battle fought in +the Low Countries, and had fought a duel himself in France with some +uncivil fellow. He never looked handsomer, brighter, more gallant than +then, and his faded sea-clothes became him as well as the richest gala +suit or finest uniform that courtier or soldier ever wore. He had an +exquisite neatness <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>of his person ever, and had contrived every day upon +that island to shave himself, so that while most of his fellows bore +bristling beards, and my own chin was as raspy as a hedgehog, he might +have presented himself at the Court of St. James’s, so spruce was his +appearance.</p> + +<p>When all was ready Lancelot drew up his men very soldierly and made them +a little speech. He bade them bear in mind that the men who were about +to attack us were not merely our own enemies, but the King’s; and not +merely the King’s enemies, but Heaven’s, because, being pirates, they +sinned against the laws of Heaven as well as the laws of earth. He bade +them be sure that they need look for no mercy from such fellows, and +that therefore it behoved every man of them to fight his best, both for +his own sake and for the sake of his companions; but also he conjured +them, if the victory went with them, not to forget that even those +pirates were made in God’s image, albeit vilely perverted, and that it +was our duty as Christians and as soldiers to show them more mercy than +they would deal out to us. He ended by reminding them that they were +Englishmen, and that a portion of England’s honour and glory depended +upon the way in which they carried themselves that day. To all of which +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>they listened attentively, every man standing steady as if on parade.</p> + +<p>When Lancelot had quite finished he pulled off his hat and swung it in +the air, calling upon them to huzza for the King.</p> + +<p>Then there went up from our band such a cheer as did my heart good. The +island rang for the first time in its life to the huzzaing with which +those stout fellows greeted the name of the King. Again and yet again +their voices shook the silence with that manly music, and I, while I +shouted as loud as the rest of them, glowed with pride to think that +courage and loyalty were the same all the world over. Nothing has ever +made me prouder than the courage of that knot of men about to engage in +a doubtful conflict in a nameless place with a gang of devils, and +gallantly cheering for their King before beginning it.</p> + +<p>Those men in scarlet must have heard that cheer and been not a little +amazed by it. I dare say that by this time Cornelys Jensen had seen us +through his spy-glass. If so, how he must have cursed at our readiness +and at the sight of our stockade!</p> + +<p>It was decided by Lancelot that the first thing to do was to prevent the +pirates from landing. If they succeeded by untoward chance in effecting +a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>landing, then all of us who were lucky enough to be left alive were +to retreat with all speed to the stronghold and fasten ourselves in +there. To this end the gate was left open, and in the charge of two men, +whose duty it would be to swing it to and bolt it the moment the last of +our men had got inside. A few men were left inside the stockade, +including the fugitives, to whom we had given arms. The main body of our +men were drawn up along the beach, with their muskets ready. Between +these and the stockade a few men were thrown out to cover our retreat, +if retreat there had to be.</p> + +<p>It was anxious work to watch the advance of those two boats with their +scarlet crews over that tranquil tropic sea. The water was smooth, as it +had been now for days, and their coming was steady and measured. As had +been the case ever since we made Fair Island, there was almost no wind, +so that their sails were of little service, but their rowing was +excellent, as the rowing of good seamen always is. And, villains though +they were, those underlings of Jensen’s were admirable sailors.</p> + +<p>When they were quite near we could recognise the faces of the fellows in +the two boats. Cornelys Jensen was in the first boat, and he was dressed +out <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>as sumptuously as any general of our army on a field day. For +though every man jack of them in the two boats was blazing in scarlet, +and though that scarlet cloth was additionally splendid with gold lace, +the cloth and the cut of Jensen’s coat were finer and better than those +of the others, and it was adorned and laced with far greater profusion. +With his dark face and evil expression he looked, to my mind, in all his +finery more like my lady’s monkey in holiday array than man, pirate, or +devil, although he was indeed all three.</p> + +<p>Every man in those two boats was decked out in scarlet cloth and gold +lace—except one. Every man in those two boats was heavily armed with +muskets, pistols and cutlasses—except one. The exception was a man who +sat by the side of Jensen. He was clad in black, and his face was very +pale, and there was an ugly gash of a raw wound across his forehead. I +could see that his hands were tied behind him, and in the wantonness of +power Jensen had laid his own bare hanger across the prisoner’s knees. I +knew the captive at once. He was the Reverend Mr. Ebrow, who had so +strengthened us by his exhortation during our peril on board the Royal +Christopher.</p> + +<p>When Lancelot saw whom they had with them <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>and the way that those +villains treated their captive I noted that his face paled, and that +there came a look into his eyes which I had not often seen there, but +which meant no good for Jensen and his scum if Lancelot got the top of +them. For Lancelot was a staunch Churchman and a respecter of ministers +of God’s Word, and as loyal to his religion as he was to his King.</p> + +<p>There was one face which I missed out of those boatloads of blackguards, +a face which I had very confidently expected to find most prominent +amongst them. When I missed it in the first boat I made sure that I +should find it in the second, and probably in the place of command; but +it was not there either, very much to my surprise. At that crisis in our +affairs, at that instant of peril to my life, I was for the moment most +perturbed, or at least most puzzled by the fact that I could not find +this familiar face among the collection of scarlet-coated scoundrels who +were creeping in upon us.</p> + +<p>The face that I was looking for was a face that would have gone well +enough too with a scarlet coat, for it was a scarlet face in itself. I +looked for that red-haired face which I had seen for the first time +leering at me over Barbara’s shoulders on the last day that ever I set +foot within the Skull and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>Spectacles. I was looking for the face of +Jensen’s partner in treason—Hatchett.</p> + +<p>By this time our enemies had come to within perhaps ten boats’ lengths +of Fair Island. All this time they had kept silence, and all this while +we had kept silence also. But now, as if Lancelot had made up his mind +exactly at what point he would take it upon him to act, we assumed the +defensive. For Lancelot gave the command to make ready and to present +our pieces, and his words came from his lips as clearly and as +composedly as if he were only directing some drilling on an English +green. In a moment all our muskets were at the shoulder, while Lancelot +called out to the pirates that if they rowed another inch nearer he +would give the order to fire. Our men were steady men, and, though I am +sure that more than one of them was longing to empty his piece into the +boats, all remained as motionless as if on parade.</p> + +<p>The pirate boats came to a dead stop, and I could see that all the men +who were not busy with the oars were gripping their guns. But Jensen +kept them down with a gesture. Then, as the boats were steady, he rose +to his feet and waved a white handkerchief in sign that he wished for +parley. It was part of the foppishness of the fellow that the +handkerchief <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>was edged with lace, like a woman’s or a grandee’s.</p> + +<p>Lancelot called out to him to know what he wanted. Jensen shouted back +that he wished to parley with us. Lancelot promptly made answer that he +needed no parley, that he knew him and his crew for traitors, murderers, +and pirates, with whom he would have no dealings save by arms.</p> + +<p>At those bold words of his we could see that the fellows in the scarlet +coats were furious, and we could guess from their gestures that many of +them were urging Jensen to attack us at once, thinking, no doubt, that +they might return our fire and, being able to effect a landing before we +could reload, might cut us to pieces.</p> + +<p>But, whatever their purposes were, Jensen restrained them, and it was a +marvel to see the ease with which he ruled those savages. He again +addressed himself to Lancelot, warning him that it would be for his +peace and the peace of those who were with him to come to some +understanding with the invaders. And at last, having spoken some time +without shaking Lancelot’s resolve, Jensen asked if he would at least +receive an envoy upon the island.</p> + +<p>Lancelot was about to refuse again when something crossed his mind, and +he shouted back to Jensen <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>to know whom he would send. Jensen, who had +probably divined his thoughts, clapped his hand upon the shoulder of +that prisoner of his who sat by his side all in black, and called out to +Lancelot that he proposed to send the parson as his envoy. To this +Lancelot agreed, but I saw that he looked anxious, for it crossed his +mind, as he afterwards told me, that this proposition might merely serve +as an excuse for the pirate boats to come close, and so give them a +better chance of attacking us. However, the pirates made no such +attempt. It may be that Jensen, who was quick of wit, guessed Lancelot’s +thought. The boats remained where they were. We saw the reverend +gentleman stand up. One of Jensen’s fellows untied his hands, and then +without more ado Jensen caught the poor man up by his waistband and +straightway flung him into the sea.</p> + +<p>A cry of anger broke from Lancelot’s lips when he saw this, for he +feared that the man might drown. But he was a fair swimmer, and the +distance was not so great, so within a few seconds of his plunge he +found his depth and came wading towards us with the water up to his +middle, looking as wretched as a wet rat, while all the rogues in the +boats laughed loud and long at the figure he cut. </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 345px;"> +<img src="images/i249.jpg" class="ispace jpg" width="345" height="500" alt="“Lancelot Rushed Forward Into the Water.”" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“Lancelot Rushed Forward Into the Water.”</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span></p><p>Lancelot rushed forward into the water to give him his hand, and so drew +the poor fellow on to the dry land and amongst us again.</p> + +<p>The first thing he did was to assure us—which was indeed hardly +necessary, considering his cloth and his character—that he was in no +wise leagued with the pirates, but simply and solely a prisoner at their +mercy, whose life they had preserved that he might be of use to them as +a hostage.</p> + +<p>Lancelot called out to the pirate boats to withdraw further back, which +they did after he had passed his word that he would confer with them +again in a quarter of an hour, after he had heard what their envoy had +to say. When they had withdrawn out of gunshot, their scarlet suits +glowing like two patches of blood on the water, then Lancelot, still +bidding our line to be on guard against any surprise, withdrew with me +and the clergyman and two or three of our friends a little way up the +beach. And there we called upon Mr. Ebrow to tell us all that he had to +tell. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII</h2> + +<h3>AN ILL TALE</h3> + +<p>It was an ill tale which he had to tell, and he told it awkwardly, for +he was not a little confused and put about, both by his wound and by his +treatment at the hands of those people. We gave him somewhat to eat and +drink, and he munched and sipped between sentences, for he had not fared +well with the pirates. We would have given him a change of raiment, too, +after his ducking, but this he refused stiffly, saying that he was well +enough as he was, and that a wetting would not hurt him. And he was +indeed a strong, tough man.</p> + +<p>Much of what he had to tell us we knew, of course, already—of the +appearance of Jensen on the island, of the attack upon the colonists and +the massacre of the most part of them. He himself had got his cut over +the head in the fight, a cut that knocked him senseless, so that by the +time he came to again the business was over and the pirates were masters +of the island. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p><p>But he was able to tell us the thing we most wanted to know, the thing +which the fugitives could give us no inkling of, and that was how it +came to pass that Jensen, whom we all deemed dead and drowned, should +have come so calamitously to life again.</p> + +<p>It was, it seemed, in this wise. Jensen, who united a madman’s cunning +to a bad man’s daring, saw that my suspicions of him might prove fatal +to his plans. Those plans had indeed been, as I had guessed, to seize +the Royal Christopher and make a pirate ship of her, with himself for +her captain; and to that end he had manned the ship with men upon whom +he could rely, many of whom had been pirates before, all of whom were +willing to go to any lengths for the sake of plunder and pleasure. But +so long as our party were suspicious of him, and had arms in readiness +to shoot him and his down at the first show of treachery, it was plain +to a simpler man that his precious scheme stood every chance of coming +to smoke.</p> + +<p>He guessed, therefore, that if we could be led to believe that he was +dead and done with our suspicions would be lulled, and he would be left +with a fair field to carry out his plan. To that end he devised a scheme +to befool us, and, having primed his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>party as to his purpose, he +carried it out with all success.</p> + +<p>It was no man’s body that went overboard on that night, but merely a +mighty beam of wood that one of Jensen’s confederates cast over the +vessel’s side just before he raised the cry of ‘Man overboard!’ Jensen +himself was snugly concealed in the innermost parts of the ship, where +he lay close, laughing in his sleeve at us and our credulity. After we +left he came out of his hole and made his way to Early Island, as agreed +upon with his companions, who, on his arrival, butchered the most of the +colonists.</p> + +<p>One mystery was disposed of. So was the other mystery—how Jensen and +his men came to be so well-armed and so gaily attired. When our +expedition was preparing, Captain Marmaduke commissioned Jensen to buy a +store of all manner of agricultural and household implements and +utensils for the use of the young colony. Now, as such gear was not +likely to be of service to Jensen in his piracies, he was at pains to +serve his own ends while he pretended to obey the Captain’s commands.</p> + +<p>He had therefore made up and committed to the hold a quantity of cases +which professed to contain what the Captain had commanded. But never a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>spade or pick, never a roasting-jack or flat-iron, never a string of +beads or a mirror for barter with natives was to be found in all those +boxes. If our colony had ever by any chance arrived at their goal they +would have found themselves in sore straits for the means of tilling the +earth and of cooking their food.</p> + +<p>The boxes contained instead a great quantity of arms, such as muskets +and pistols and cutlasses, together with abundance of ammunition in the +shape of powder, bullets and shot. Others of those boxes contained +goodlier gear, for Jensen was a vain rogue as well as a clever rogue, +and dearly loved brave colours about him and to make a gaudy show. I +believe that it was a passion for power and the pomp that accompanies +power more than anything else which drove him to be a pirate, and that +if he could have been, say, a great Minister of State, who is, after +all, often only another kind of pirate, he might have carried himself +very well and been looked upon by the world at large as a very decent, +public-spirited sort of fellow. I have known men in high office with +just such passion for display and dominion as Jensen, and I do not think +that there is much to choose between him and them in that regard. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p><p>So sundry of those lying boxes were loaded with gay clothing, such as +those scarlet coats with which we had now made acquaintance, and which +were fashioned on the pattern of those of the bodyguard of His Majesty, +only much more flauntingly tricked out with gold lace and gilded +buttons. It added a shade of darkness to the treachery of this scoundrel +that he should thus presume to parade himself in a parody of such a +uniform.</p> + +<p>But besides all this there was yet another secret which those same false +coffers concealed. He had dealings with shipbuilders at Haarlem, who +were noted for their ingenuity and address, and this firm had built for +him two large skiffs, which were made in such a fashion that the major +part of them could be taken to pieces and the whole packed away in a +small space with safety and convenience for his purpose. These vessels +were as easily put together as taken to pieces, and were as serviceable +a kind of boat as ever vessel carried. And so there was the rascal well +prepared to make sure of our ship.</p> + +<p>It makes my heart bleed now, after all these years, to think how the +fellow deceived my dear patron, and how the Royal Christopher went +sailing the seas with that secret in her womb, and that we all walked +those decks night after night and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>day after day, and never suspected +the treason that lay beneath our feet.</p> + +<p>But we never did suspect it, and when the time came for us to leave the +ship in a hurry we had little thought in our minds of taking +agricultural implements or household gear or articles of barter with us. +So they lay there snugly in the hold, and Jensen with them, and Jensen +was busy and happy in his wicked way in getting at them, and in laughing +as he did so over our folly in being deceived by him.</p> + +<p>It seems that after the departure of Lancelot and our little party +certain of the sailors, as agreed upon beforehand, made their way back +to the ship, and in the dead of night transported the greater quantity +of the weapons and ammunition. They put the skiffs together, too, and +lowered them over the side. The camp had gone to rest when Jensen, +shrieking like a fiend, leaped from his concealment among the trees and +gave the signal for attack. The butchery was brief. The few men who were +armed found that their weapons had been rendered useless, but even if +their murderers had not taken that precaution their victims could have +made no sort of a stand. They were taken by surprise. The horrible cries +that the pirates made as they rushed from their ambush helped to +dishearten the colonists, for they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>took those noises for the war-cries +of savages, and they yielded to the panic. A very few escaped from the +slaughter, and hid themselves in the woods in the centre of the island. +The manner of their escape I have already related. It seemed from what +the parson now told us that Jensen made little effort to pursue them, +feeling confident that they must perish miserably from hunger and +thirst, if not from wild beasts, in the jungle.</p> + +<p>The first use Jensen made of his triumph was to bring over to the island +from the wreck everything that he believed to be needful for the comfort +and adornment of his person and the persons of his following. All the +arms and ammunition that his malign thoughtfulness had provided, all the +fine clothes that he had hidden away, all the store of wines and strong +waters that still remained upon the ship were carefully disembarked and +brought to Early Island. He dressed himself and his followers up in the +smart clothes that we had seen, called himself king of the island, made +his companions take a solemn oath of allegiance to him and sign it with +their blood, and then they all gave themselves up to an orgie.</p> + +<p>For, bad as all this was to tell and to listen to, there was still worse +to be told and heard. To <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>treachery and bloodshed were added treachery +and lust. The cup of Jensen’s iniquity was more than full. It ran over +and was spilt upon the ground, crying out to Heaven for vengeance.</p> + +<p>There were, as you know, women among our colonists—not many, but still +some, the wives of some of the settlers, the daughters and sisters of +others. None of these were hurt when Jensen and his fellow-fiends made +their attack—none of them, unhappily for themselves, were killed. My +cheeks blazed with shame and wrath as I listened to what the parson had +to say, and if Jensen had been before me I would have been rejoiced to +pistol him with my own hand.</p> + +<p>The women were parcelled out among the men as the best part of their +booty. There was not a wickeder place on God’s earth at that hour than +the island, and its sins, as I thought, should be blotted out by a +thunderbolt from Heaven.</p> + +<p>Yet there is something still worse to come, as I take it. In all this +infamy Jensen reserved for himself the privilege of a deeper degree of +infamy. For he told Hatchett, it seems, that he must give up Barbara, +and when Hatchett laughed in his face Jensen shot him dead where he +stood and took her by force. Such was the terror the man inspired that +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>no one of all his fellows presumed to avenge Hatchett, or even to +protest against the manner of his death. As for the woman, as for +Barbara, she was a strong woman, and she loved Hatchett with all her +heart, and she fought, I believe, hard. But if she was strong, Jensen +was stronger, and merciless. He had everything his own way at the +island; he had his arts of taming people, and the parson told me that he +had tamed Barbara.</p> + +<p>I have had to set these wrongs down here for the sake of truth, and to +justify our final deeds against Jensen and his gang. I have set them +down as barely and as briefly as possible, for there are some things so +terrible that they scarcely bear the telling. I cannot be more +particular; the whole bad business was hideous in the extreme, with all +the hideousness that could come from a mind like Jensen’s—a mind +begotten of the Bottomless Pit.</p> + +<p>But in all my sorrow I was grateful to Heaven that Marjorie had not been +left upon that other island. Better for her to die here by the hand of +the man who loved her than to have been on that island at the mercy of +such men. Thank God, thank God, thank God! I said to myself again and +again. I could say nothing more, I could think nothing more, only thank +God, thank God! </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2> + +<h3>WE DEFY JENSEN</h3> + +<p>That unhappy Barbara! Her sin had found her out indeed. She was a wicked +woman, for she had been part and parcel in the treason, she had been +hand and glove with the traitors. But she did not mean such wickedness +to the women-folk, and she did what she had done for her husband’s sake, +thinking that he would be a pirate king and she his consort. This was +what she meant when she had called herself a queen. With such falsehoods +had Jensen stuffed the ears of the man and his wife, snaring them to +their fate. As I had loved her once, so I pitied her now. She had shared +in a great crime, but it would be hard to shape a greater penalty for +her sin.</p> + +<p>By the time that the parson had finished his story we who were listening +to him felt dismal, and we looked at each other grimly.</p> + +<p>‘What is the first thing to be done?’ Lancelot said softly, more to +himself than as really asking any advice upon the matter from us. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p><p>‘Fire a volley upon those devils when they draw near, and so rid the +earth of them,’ I suggested.</p> + +<p>Lancelot shook his head.</p> + +<p>‘They are under the protection of a flag of truce——’ he began, when I +interrupted him hotly.</p> + +<p>‘What right,’ I raged at him, ‘what right have such devils to the +consideration of honourable warfare and of honourable men?’</p> + +<p>Lancelot sighed.</p> + +<p>‘None whatever; but that does not change us from being honourable men +and from carrying on our contest according to the rules of honourable +warfare. They are devils, ruffians, what you will, but we—we are +gentlemen, and we have passed our word. We cannot go back from that.’</p> + +<p>I know very well that I blushed a fiery red, from rage against our enemy +and shame at Lancelot’s reproof. But I said nothing, and Mr. Ebrow +spoke.</p> + +<p>‘Mr. Amber,’ he said, clasping Lancelot’s hand as he spoke, ‘you are in +the right, in the very right, as a Christian soldier and a Christian +gentleman. Their hour will come without our anticipating it.’ And then +he wrung my hand warmly, in token that he understood my feelings too, +and did not overmuch blame me. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p><p>‘One thing at least is certain,’ said Lancelot. ‘You must not return to +the mercies of those villains.’</p> + +<p>Mr. Ebrow drew himself stiffly up. He was wet and weary, and the ugly +cut on his forehead did not add to the charm of his rugged face, but +just at that moment he seemed handsome.</p> + +<p>‘Mr. Amber,’ he said, ‘I passed my word to those men that I would return +after I had given you their message, and I will keep my word.’</p> + +<p>‘But,’ said Lancelot, ‘they will kill you!’</p> + +<p>‘It is possible,’ said the man of God calmly. ‘It is very probable. But +I have in my mind the conduct of the Roman Regulus. Should I, who am a +minister of Christ, be less nice in my honour than a Pagan?’</p> + +<p>‘Nay, but if we were to restrain you by force?’ asked Lancelot.</p> + +<p>‘Mr. Amber,’ Ebrow answered, ‘it was your duty just now to administer a +reproof to your friend; I hope you will not force me to reprove you in +your turn. I have given my word, and there is an end of it; and if you +were to hold me by the strong hand I should think you more worthy to +consort with those pirates than with me.’ </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p><p>It was now Lancelot’s turn to blush. Then he gripped Mr. Ebrow’s hand.</p> + +<p>‘I beg your pardon,’ he said, and there were tears in his eyes as he +spoke. ‘You have taught me a noble lesson.’</p> + +<p>Mr. Ebrow seemed as if he would be going, but I stayed him.</p> + +<p>‘Reverend sir,’ said I, ‘may I make so bold as to ask what is this +message that you have to deliver to us?’</p> + +<p>For, as a matter of fact, we had so plied him with questions, and he had +been so busy in answering us, that he had not as yet delivered to us the +pirates’ message, of which he was the spokesman.</p> + +<p>There came a spot of colour on his grey jaws as I spoke.</p> + +<p>‘True. I fear I make but a poor intermediary,’ he said. ‘The pirates +propose, in the first place, that you make common cause with them, and +recognise the authority of Cornelys Jensen as your captain, in the which +case Cornelys Jensen guarantees you your share of the spoiling of the +Royal Christopher, and in future a fitting proportion of whatever +profits may come from their enterprises.’ </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p><p>‘I suppose you do not expect us to consider that proposition?’ said +Lancelot.</p> + +<p>Mr. Ebrow almost smiled.</p> + +<p>‘No, indeed,’ he said, ‘and I do but discharge my promise in repeating +it to you. I must tell you too that he added that he was wishful to make +your sister his wife.’</p> + +<p>There came into Lancelot’s eyes the ugliest look I ever saw there, and +for myself I know not how I looked, I know only how I felt, and I will +not put my feelings into words. I suppose Mr. Ebrow understood us and +our silence, for he went on with his embassy. ‘In the second place, +then, they call upon you to swear that you will take no part against +them, and will, on the contrary, do your endeavour to protect them in +case they should be attacked by other forces.’</p> + +<p>‘That also needs no consideration,’ said Lancelot.</p> + +<p>Mr. Ebrow nodded.</p> + +<p>‘Of course not, of course not. Then, in the third place, they call upon +you to throw down your weapons and to surrender yourselves to them as +prisoners of war, in which case they pledge themselves to respect your +lives and preserve you all as hostages for their own safety.’ </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span></p><p>‘And if we refuse even this offer,’ Lancelot asked, ‘what is to happen +then?’</p> + +<p>‘In that case,’ said Mr. Ebrow, ‘they declare war against you; they will +give you no quarter——’</p> + +<p>‘Let them wait till they are asked!’ I broke in; but Lancelot rested his +hand restrainingly upon my arm.</p> + +<p>‘As for the matter of quarter,’ he said, ‘it may prove in the end more +our business to give it than to seek for it. Quarter we may indeed give +in this sense, that even those villains shall not be killed in cold +blood if they are willing to surrender. But every man that we take +prisoner shall most assuredly be tried for his life for piracy and +murder upon the high seas. Will you be so good as to tell those men from +me that if they at once surrender the person of Cornelys Jensen and +their own weapons they shall be treated humanely, kept in decent +confinement, and shall have the benefit of their conduct when the time +for trial comes? But this offer will not hold good after to-day, and if +they attempt again to approach the island they shall be fired upon.’</p> + +<p>‘Well and good, sir,’ said Mr. Ebrow. ‘Have you anything more to say, +for my masters did but <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>give me a quarter of an hour, and I feel sure +that my time must be expired by now?’</p> + +<p>‘Only this,’ answered Lancelot, ‘that if they want to fly their black +flag over this island they must come and take it from us.’</p> + +<p>I never saw Lancelot look more gallant, with courage and hope in his +mien, and the soft wind fretting his hair. But the brightness faded away +from his face a moment after as he added:</p> + +<p>‘It grieves me to heart, sir, that you have to return to those +ruffians.’</p> + +<p>Mr. Ebrow extended his hand to Lancelot with a wintry smile.</p> + +<p>‘It is my duty. I do but follow my Master’s orders, to do all in His +Name and for His glory.’</p> + +<p>He wrung Lancelot’s hand and mine, and the hand of every man in our +troop. He gave us his blessing, and then, turning, walked with erect +head to the sea.</p> + +<p>As soon as the pirates saw him coming they rowed their boat a little +nearer in, when they rested on their oars, while we stood to our guns +and the parson waded steadily out into the deeper water.</p> + +<p>When he reached their boat they dragged him on board roughly, and we +could see from their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>gestures and his that he was telling them the +result of the interview with us.</p> + +<p>The telling did not seem to give any great satisfaction to the villains, +and least of all to Jensen, for he struck the parson a heavy blow in the +face with his clenched hand that felled him, tumbling down among the +rowers. Then Jensen turned and shook his fist in our direction, and +shouted out something that we could not hear because of the distance and +the slight wind.</p> + +<p>It seemed to me as if for a moment Jensen had a mind to order his boats +to advance and try to effect a landing, and I wished this in my heart, +for I was eager to come to blows with the villains, and confident that +we should prove a match for them.</p> + +<p>But it would seem as if discretion were to prevail with them, in which, +indeed, they were wise, for to attempt to land even a more numerous +force in the face of our well-armed men would have been rash and a rough +business. We saw the boats sweep round and row rapidly away, and we +watched those scarlet coats dwindle into red spots in the distance. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX</h2> + +<h3>THE ATTACK AT LAST</h3> + +<p>In what I am going to tell there will be little of Marjorie for a while, +for sorely against her will we refused to rank her as a fighting man and +made her keep within shelter, though busy in many ways making ready for +the inevitable attack.</p> + +<p>Nothing happened on the next day or the next to disturb our quiet and +the beauty of the weather. For all that was evident to the contrary we +might very well have been the sole inhabitants of that archipelago, the +sole children of those seas, with Marjorie for our queen.</p> + +<p>We did not hope, however, nor indeed did we wish, that we had heard the +last of our enemies. There was a moment even when Lancelot considered +the feasibility of our making an attack upon Early Island in the hope of +rescuing some of the captives. But the plan was only suggested to be +dismissed. For every argument which told against their attempting to +make an attack upon us told <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>with ten times greater force against our +making an attack upon them. They outnumbered us; they were perhaps +better armed. The odds were too heavily against us. But our hearts burnt +within us at the thought of the captives.</p> + +<p>We had evidently come in for one of those spells of fine weather which +in those regions so often follow upon such a storm as had proved the +undoing of the Royal Christopher. If the conditions had been different +our lives would have been sufficiently enviable. Fair Island deserves +its name; we had summer, food and water; so far as material comfort +went, all was well with us.</p> + +<p>But mere material comfort could not cheer us much. We were in peril +ourselves; we were yet more concerned for the peril of Captain Amber, of +whose fortunes and whose whereabouts we knew absolutely nothing. If he +failed to meet a ship he was to return to Early Island. What might not +be his fate? To diminish in some degree the chance of this catastrophe, +we resolved to erect some signal on the highest point of Fair Island, in +the hope that it would have the result of attracting his attention and +leading him to suppose that the whole of the ship’s company were settled +down there.</p> + +<p>There was no difficulty in the making of such <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>a signal. We had a flag +with us in the boat, and all that it was necessary to do was to fix it +to the summit of one of the tall trees that crowned the hill which +sprang from the centre of Fair Island. In a few hours the flag was +flying gallantly enough from its primitive flag-staff, a sufficiently +conspicuous object even with a gentle breeze to serve, as we hoped, our +turn.</p> + +<p>In the two days that followed upon the visit of the pirates we were busy +victualling the stockade and supplying it with water, looking to our +arms and ammunition, and, which was of first importance, in building a +strong fence, loopholed like the stockade. This fence or wall led down +to where our boat lay, and enabled us to protect it from any attempt of +the pirates to carry it off or to destroy it. In work of this kind the +eight-and-forty hours passed away as swiftly as if they had been but so +many minutes.</p> + +<p>On the afternoon of the third day all our preparations were completed, +and I was convinced that within that stockade our scanty force could +keep the pirates at bay for a month of Sundays, so long as they did not +succeed in getting sufficiently close to employ fire as a means of +forcing an entrance. But though I felt cheered I noticed that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>there was +no corresponding cheerfulness in Lancelot’s face. He never looked +despondent, but he looked dissatisfied.</p> + +<p>I drew him aside and asked what troubled him.</p> + +<p>‘The moon troubles me,’ he answered.</p> + +<p>‘The moon!’ I said in astonishment.</p> + +<p>‘Yes,’ he answered, ‘the moon—or rather, the absence of the moon. Last +night was the moon’s last night, and to-night we shall be in darkness +after sunset. It is under cover of that darkness that, some time or +another, to-night or another night, sooner or later, the pirates will +make an attempt to land. For you may be sure that they have not +forgotten us, and that they would be glad enough to pull down yonder +flag.’</p> + +<p>I felt in my heart that what Lancelot said was true enough, but I tried +to put a bold face upon it.</p> + +<p>‘After all,’ I said, ‘the darkness will be as bad for them as it is for +us.’</p> + +<p>‘No,’ Lancelot said; ‘they can steer well enough by the stars. If I +thought that they could get round to the back of the island and fall +upon us that way, I should feel that we were in a very bad case indeed. +But of that I have no fear. There is no place for landing in that part, +and if there were they would find it hard enough to force their way +through the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>woods. No, no; they will come as they came before.’</p> + +<p>I asked him what he thought was the best thing to do. He replied that +the only thing was to keep a very sharp look-out, and to fight hard if +it came to fighting, a pithy sentence, which seemed to me to sum up the +whole art of war—at least, so far as we were concerned who dwelt on +Fair Island. To make assurance doubly sure, however, Lancelot did during +the day place a man by the flag-staff, from which point, as the hill ran +up into a high peak, he would be able to sweep the sea in all +directions. With regard to the night, Lancelot showed me how fortunate +it was that he had brought the fireworks with us, as, at a pinch, in the +darkness, we could get a gleam of light for a minute by firing them.</p> + +<p>I was getting so unstrung by all these alarms and watchings that I began +to wish that the pirates would come once for all that we might have done +with them. For I had confidence in our side and the certainty of its +winning which was scarcely logical, maybe, but which, after all, I think +is a great deal better than feeling suspicious of the strength of one’s +own side or speculative as to the merits of one’s own cause.</p> + +<p>How often afterward, in other places and amid <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>perils as great, or +indeed ten times greater, have I remembered that night with all its +agony of expectation!</p> + +<p>The main part of our little garrison was ensconced in the stockade and +sleeping, or seeking to sleep, for every man of us knew well enough that +he needed to have all his energies when the struggle came, and that the +more rest he got beforehand the better the fighting trim he would be in +afterward.</p> + +<p>We had sentinels posted at different points along that portion of the +coast where landing was possible, and though we had been grateful to it +before for being such an easy place to land upon, we could almost have +wished in our hearts now that it had been less easy of access.</p> + +<p>In front of the stockade, but some considerable distance from it, and on +the sloping land that was nigh to the beach, we had thrown up a kind of +intrenchment, behind which we could kneel and fire, and under whose +cover we hoped to be able to make a good account of assailants. I was on +guard here at night, and I paced up and down in front of it thinking of +all the chances that had happened since I sailed in the Royal +Christopher; and I pleased myself by recalling every word that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>Marjorie +had said to me, or in thinking of all the words that I should like to +say to her.</p> + +<p>Suddenly my thoughts were brought from heaven to earth by a sound as of +a splash in the water. It might have been but a sweep of a sea-bird’s +wing as it stooped and wheeled in its flight over the sea, but it set my +pulses tingling and all my senses straining to hear more and to see +something.</p> + +<p>The sea that lay so little away from me was all swallowed up in +darkness. I could see nothing to cause me alarm. The quiet of the night +seemed to breathe a deep peace that invited only to thoughts of sleep. +But I was as wide awake as a startled hare, and I listened with all my +ears and peered into the blackness. Was it my heated fancy, I asked +myself, or did I indeed hear faint sounds coming to me from where the +sea lay?</p> + +<p>I whistled softly a note something like our English starling’s—a signal +that had been agreed upon between Lancelot and me. In a very few seconds +he was at my side.</p> + +<p>As I told him of my suspicions Lancelot peered into the darkness, +listening very carefully, and now both he and I felt certain that we +could hear sounds, indistinct but regular, coming from the sea. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p><p>‘They are doing what I thought they would,’ Lancelot whispered to me. +Lancelot’s voice had this rare quality, that when he whispered every +syllable was as clear as if he were crying from the housetops. ‘They +have chosen this dark night to attack us, and they are rowing with +muffled oars. We must do our best to give them a wild welcome. It is +well we have those fireworks; they will serve our turn now.’</p> + +<p>He slipped away from my side and was swallowed up in the darkness. But +he soon came back to my side.</p> + +<p>‘All is ready,’ he said.</p> + +<p>He had been from man to man, and now every one was at his post. The bulk +of our little body crouched down behind the breastwork while four men +were stationed by the open gates of the stockade to allow us to make our +retreat there. Those who were behind the breastwork knew that when +Lancelot gave the word they were to fire in the direction of the sea. +Lancelot had his lights ready, and we waited anxiously for the flare.</p> + +<p>The seconds seemed to lengthen out into centuries as we lay there, +listening to those sounds growing louder, though even at their loudest +they might very well have escaped notice if one were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>not watching for +them. At last they came to an end altogether, and we could just catch a +sound as of a succession of soft splashes in the water.</p> + +<p>Lancelot whispered close to my ear: ‘They are getting out in the shallow +water to draw their boats in. We shall have a look at them in an +instant.’</p> + +<p>While I held my breath I was conscious that Lancelot was busy with his +flint and steel. His was a sure hand and a firm stroke. I could hear the +click as he struck stone and metal together; there was a gleam of fire +as the fuse caught, and then in another instant one of his fireworks +rose in a blaze of brightness. It only lasted for the space of a couple +of seconds, but in that space of time it showed us all that we had to +see and much more than we wished to see.</p> + +<p>As our meteor soared in the air the space in front of us was lit with a +light as clear as the light of dawn, though in colour it was more like +that of the moon—at least, as I have seen her rays represented often +enough since in stage plays. Before us the sea rippled gently against +the sand, and in the shallows we saw the pirates as clearly as we had +seen them on the day when they first came to the island. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p><p>There were now three boatloads of them, and the boats were more fully +manned than before. Many of the men were still in the boats, but the +greater part were in the water, barelegged, and were stealthily urging +the boats ashore. They were doing the work quietly, and made little +noise. It was the strangest sight I had ever seen, this sight of those +men in their scarlet coats, that looked so glaring in that blue light, +with their gleaming weapons, all moving towards us with murder in their +minds.</p> + +<p>In their amazement at the flame the pirates paused for an instant, and +in that instant Lancelot gave the order we itched for.</p> + +<p>‘Fire!’</p> + +<p>Then the silence was shattered by the discharge of our pieces in a +steady volley. All the island rang with the report, and at that very +instant the rocket on its home curve faded and went out with a kind of +wink, and darkness swallowed us all up again.</p> + +<p>But what darkness! The darkness had been still; now it was full of +noises. The echo of the report of our volley rang about us; from the +woods came clamour, the screaming and chattering of wakened birds, and +we could even hear the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>brushing of their wings as they flew from tree +to tree in their terror. But in front of us the sounds were the most +terrible of all; the splashing of bodies falling into the water, the +shrieks of wounded men, the howls and curses of the astonished and +infuriated enemy. We could not tell what hurt we had done, but it must +have been grave, for we had fired at close range, and we were all good +marksmen.</p> + +<p>But we could not hope that we had crippled our invaders, or done much +toward equalising our forces. For, as it had seemed in that moment of +illumination, we were outnumbered by well-nigh two to one.</p> + +<p>There was no need to fire another light; it was impossible that we could +hope to hold our own in the open, and our enemies would be upon us +before we had time to reload, so there was nothing for it but to retreat +to the stockade with all speed.</p> + +<p>Lancelot gave the order, and in another instant we were racing for the +stockade, bending low as we ran, for the pirates had begun to fire in +our direction. But their firing was wild, and it hit none of us; and it +stopped as suddenly as it began, for they soon perceived that it was +idle waste of powder and ball in shooting into the darkness. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p><p>Luckily for us, we knew every inch of our territory by heart, and could +make our way well enough to the stockade in the gloom, while we could +hear the pirates behind splashing and stumbling as they landed.</p> + +<p>But as they were taken aback by the suddenness of our assault and its +result, they were not eager to advance into the night, and, as I +guessed, waited awhile after landing from their boats.</p> + +<p>As for us, we did not pause until we had passed, every one of us, +between the gates of our stockade, and heard them close behind us, and +the bar fall into its place. The first thing I saw in the dim light was +the face of Marjorie, fair in its pale patience. She had a pistol in her +hand, and I knew why she held it. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX</h2> + +<h3>OUR FLAG COMES DOWN</h3> + +<p>We lay still inside our fortalice for awhile, listening, as well as the +throbbing of our pulses would allow, to try and hear what our invaders +were doing.</p> + +<p>We could hear the sound of their voices down on the beach, and the +splashing they made in the water as they dragged their dead or wounded +comrades out of the water and hauled their boats close up to the shore. +But beyond this we heard nothing, though the air was so still, now that +the screaming of the birds had died away, that we felt sure that we must +hear the sound of any advance in force.</p> + +<p>Lancelot whispered to me that it was possible that they might put off +their assault until daybreak. They were in this predicament, that if +they lit any of the lights which we made no doubt they carried, in order +to ascertain the plight that they were in, they would make themselves +the targets for our <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>muskets. But the one thing certain was that, under +the control of a man like Jensen, they would most certainly not rest +till they tried to get the better of us.</p> + +<p>That Jensen himself was not among the disabled we felt confident, for +Lancelot, who had a fine ear, averred that he could distinguish the +sound of Jensen’s voice down on the beach, which afterward proved to be +so, for Jensen, unable to distinguish in the darkness the amount of +injury that his army had sustained, was calling over from memory the +name of each man of his gang. Every pirate who answered to his name +stated the nature of his wounds, if he had any. Those who made no answer +Jensen counted for lost, and of these latter there were no less than +three.</p> + +<p>There was something terrible in the sense of a darkness that was +swarming with enemies. We were not wholly in obscurity inside our +enclosure, for we had a couple of the boat’s lanterns, which shed enough +light to enable us to see each other, and to look to our weapons, +without allowing any appreciable light to escape between the timbers of +our fortification. Soon all our muskets were loaded again. Lancelot +appointed one of the men who came to us on the raft, and who was still +too <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>weak for active service, as a loader of guns, that in case of +attack we could keep up a steady firing. Happily for us, our supply of +ammunition was tolerably large.</p> + +<p>For some time, however, we were left in peace. The blackness upon which +the pirates had counted as an advantage had proved their bane. So there +was nothing for them to do but to wait with what patience they could for +the dawn.</p> + +<p>The dawn did come at last, and I never watched its coming with more +anxiety. Often and often in those days when I believed myself to be +fathom-deep in love I used to lie awake on my bed and watch the dawn +filling the sky, and find in its sadness a kind of solace for mine own. +For a sick spirit there is always something sad about the breaking of +the day. Perhaps, if I had been like those who know the knack of verses, +I should have worked off my ill-humours in rhyme, and slept better in +consequence, and greeted the dawn with joy. Wonder rather than joy was +in my mind on this morning as the sky took colour and the woods stirred +with the chatter of the birds. For the pirates had disappeared! Their +boats lay against the beach, but there was, as it seemed to us at first, +no visible sign of their masters. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p><p>We soon discovered their whereabouts, however. They had groped, under +cover of night, to the woods, and we soon had tokens of their presence. +For by-and-by we could hear them moving in the wood, and could catch the +gleam of their scarlet coats and the shine upon their weapons.</p> + +<p>In the wood they were certainly safe from us, if also we were, though in +less measure, safe from them. As I have said, the wooded hill ran at a +sharp incline at some distance from the place where we had set up our +stockade, so we were not commanded from above, and, no matter how high +the pirates climbed, they could not do us a mischief in that way by +firing down on to us.</p> + +<p>They did climb high, but with another purpose, for presently we saw, +with rage in our eyes and hearts, one bit of business they were bent on. +Our flag fluttered down like a wounded bird, and it made me mad to think +that it was being hauled down by those rascals, and that we had no art +to prevent them.</p> + +<p>Could we do nothing? I asked Lancelot impatiently. Could we not make a +sortie and destroy the boats that lay down there all undefended? But +Lancelot shook his head. The way to the sea was doubtless covered by our +enemies in the wood. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>We should only volunteer for targets if we +attempted to stir outside our stockade. There was nothing for it but to +wait.</p> + +<p>I think that it must have enraged the pirates to find us so well +protected that there was no means of taking us unawares or of creeping +in upon us from the rear. With the daylight they essayed to hurt us by +firing from the hill; but from the lie of the ground their shots did us +no harm, either passing over our heads or striking the wall of our +stronghold and knocking off a shower of splinters, but doing no further +damage. We, on the contrary, were able to retaliate, firing through our +loopholes up the slope at the red jackets in the woods, and with this +much effect, that soon the scarlet rascals ceased to show themselves, +and kept well under cover. We felt very snug where we were, and fit to +stand a siege for just so long as our victuals and water held out. Then, +if the pirates remained upon the island, famine would compel us to a +sortie in the hope of clearing them from the woods, an adventure in +which our chances of success seemed to kick the balance.</p> + +<p>But it did not come to that. About an hour before noon those of us who +were at the loopholes saw the shine of a scarlet coat among the trees on +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>the nearest slope, but before there was time to aim a musket something +white fluttered above it. It was, as it proved, but a handkerchief tied +to a ramrod, but it was a flag of truce for all that, and a flag of +truce is respected by gentlemen of honour, whoever carries it.</p> + +<p>When the white flag had fluttered long enough for him who held it to +make sure that it must have been seen by us, the bearer came out from +the cover of the wood and walked boldly down the slope. For all the +distance the sharp-sighted among us knew him at once for Cornelys +Jensen, and it came into my mind that perhaps Lancelot might refuse to +accept him as an emissary. Lancelot, however, said nothing, but stood +quietly waiting while the man came nearer. But when he came within pitch +of voice Lancelot called out to him to come to a halt.</p> + +<p>Jensen stopped at once and waited till Lancelot again called out to him +to ask what he wanted. Jensen replied that he came under the protection +of a flag of truce; that he wished to come to terms with Captain +Amber—for so he called him—if it were by any means possible; that he +was alone and unarmed, and trusted himself to our honour. Thereupon +Lancelot called back to him to come <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>nearer, and he would hear what he +had to say. We had driven some great nails that we had with us into one +of the posts of our wall to serve as a kind of ladder, and by these +nails Lancelot lifted himself to the top of the palisade, and sat there +waiting for Jensen’s approach. I begged him not to expose himself, but +he answered that there was no danger, so long as Jensen remained within +short range of half a dozen of our guns, that the fellows in the woods +would make himself a target. And so he sat there as coolly as if he were +in an ingle, whistling ‘Tyburn Tree’ softly to himself as Jensen drew +near. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI</h2> + +<h3>A PIECE OF DIPLOMACY</h3> + +<p>When Jensen was within a few feet of the stockade he halted, and saluted +Lancelot with a formal gravity that seemed grotesque under the +circumstances. I will do the rascal this justice, that he looked well +enough in his splendid coat, though his carriage was too +fantastical—more of the stage player than the soldier. Lancelot, +looking down at the fellow without returning his salutation, asked him +what he wanted.</p> + +<p>‘Come, Captain Amber,’ said Jensen boldly, ‘you know what I want very +well. I want to come to terms. Surely two men of the world like us ought +to be able to make terms, Captain Amber.’</p> + +<p>‘I do not carry the title of Captain,’ Lancelot answered, ‘and I have no +more in common with you than mere life. My only terms are the +unconditional surrender of yourself and your accomplices. In their case +some allowance may be made. In yours—none!’ </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span></p><p>Jensen shrugged his shoulders and smiled with affability at Lancelot’s +menaces.</p> + +<p>‘The young cock cackles louder than the old cock ever crowed,’ he said; +but he said it more good-humouredly than sneeringly, and it was evident +that he was more than willing to propitiate Lancelot. ‘We ought to make +terms, for we are both at a loose end here, and might at least agree not +to annoy each other. For you see, Lieutenant—if you will take that +title—that as you judge you shall be judged. If you have no terms for +us we will have no terms for you.’</p> + +<p>It was a proof of his own vanity that he thus thrust a title upon +Lancelot, thinking to please him, for when Lancelot, calling him by his +surname, told him again that he had no terms to make with him, he drew +himself up with an offended air and said:</p> + +<p>‘I call myself Captain Jensen, if you please.’</p> + +<p>‘It does not please me,’ Lancelot retorted, ‘to call you anything but a +pirate and a rogue. Go back to your brother rogues at once!’</p> + +<p>To my surprise, Jensen kept his temper, and seemed only hurt instead of +angry at Lancelot’s attack.</p> + +<p>‘Hot words,’ he said quietly, ‘hot words. Upon my honour, you do me +wrong, Lieutenant Amber, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>for I persist in respecting the courtesies of +war. I wish with all my heart that we could agree, but if we cannot we +cannot, and there’s an end of it. But there is another matter I wish to +speak about.’ He paused, as if waiting for permission, and when Lancelot +bade him be brief, he went on: ‘We have one among us who is more +inclined to your party than to mine. I mean your reverend friend Parson +Ebrow.’</p> + +<p>For my part I was glad to hear that the poor man was still alive, for I +feared that the pirates had killed him after their first attempt. But I +saw Lancelot’s face flush with anger, and his voice shook as he called +out that if any harm came to Mr. Ebrow he would hold every man of the +gang responsible for his life.</p> + +<p>‘Harm has come to him already,’ Jensen answered; ‘but not from us, but +from you, his friends. He was hurt in the boats last night by your +fire.’</p> + +<p>At this Lancelot gave a groan, and we all felt sick and sorry, while +Jensen, who knew that we could hear, though he could only see Lancelot, +smiled compassionately.</p> + +<p>‘Do not be alarmed,’ he said. ‘The godly man is not mortally wounded. +Only his face, which was always far from comely, has not been bettered +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>by a shot that travelled across the side of the left cheek from jaw to +ear. Now, another man in my place, Lieutenant, knowing the store you set +by the parson, might very well use him to drive a bargain with you. He +is no friend of ours, and the use upon him of a little torture might +induce you to think better of the terms you deny.’</p> + +<p>Lancelot grew pale, and he made as if he would speak, but Jensen delayed +him with a wave of the arm.</p> + +<p>‘Pray let me conclude, Lieutenant Amber,’ he went on. ‘Another man, +having such a hostage, might use him pretty roughly. But I am not of +that kidney. I want to fight fair. The reverend gentleman is no use to +me. We want no chaplain. He is a friend of yours, and if we win the day +some of you will be glad of his ghostly offices. But he is in our way, +and I cannot answer for the temper of my people if he exhorts us any +more. So I shall be heartily obliged if you will take him off our hands +and relieve me of the responsibility of his presence.’</p> + +<p>I had listened to this, as you may believe, in some amazement, and +Lancelot seemed no less surprised. ‘What do you mean?’ he asked; and +Jensen answered him: </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p><p>‘I mean what I say. You can have your parson. Two of my men, with this +flag, will bring him down, for the poor gentleman is too feeble to walk +alone from loss of blood, and leave him in your charge. After that we +will send no more messages, but fight it out as well as we can till one +or other wins the day.’</p> + +<p>He took off his hat as he spoke and made Lancelot a bow; and this time +Lancelot returned his salutation.</p> + +<p>‘I can only thank you for your offer,’ Lancelot said, ‘and accept it +gladly. If I cannot change my terms, at least be assured that this +charity shall be remembered to your credit.’</p> + +<p>‘I ask no more,’ Jensen replied; ‘and you shall have your man within the +half-hour.’</p> + +<p>With that he clapped his hat proudly upon his head again, and turning on +his heel marched away in a swaggering fashion, while Lancelot slipped +down again into the shelter of the house. In a few minutes Jensen’s red +coat had disappeared among the trees, and then we all turned and stared +at each other.</p> + +<p>‘The devil is not so black as he is painted, after all,’ Lancelot said +to me, ‘if there is a leaven of good in Cornelys Jensen. But I shall be +heartily <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>glad to have Mr. Ebrow among us, for if the worst come it will +be better to perish with us than to lie at their mercy.’</p> + +<p>I did not altogether relish Lancelot’s talk about our perishing, for I +had got it into my head that we were more than a match for the pirates, +with all their threats and all their truculence, and my friend’s +readiness to face the possibility of being victims instead of victors +dashed my spirits. But I thought of Marjorie, and felt that we must win +or—and then my thoughts grew faint and failed me, but not my promise +and my resolve.</p> + +<p>We had not waited very long after Jensen’s departure when we saw signs +of the fulfilment of his promise. Three men came out of the wood where +he had entered, two in scarlet and one in black. We could see that the +two men in scarlet were supporting the man in black, who seemed to be +almost unable to move, and as the three drew nearer we could see, at +first with a spy-glass and soon without, that he in the middle had his +face all bound about with bloody cloths. At this sight all our hearts +grew hot with anger and pity, and there was not one of us that did not +long to be the first to reach out a helping hand to the parson. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>We +could see, as the group came nearer, that Jensen’s men were not handling +their captive very tenderly. Though his limbs seemed so weak that his +feet trailed on the ground, they made shift to drag him along at a walk +that was almost a trot, as if their only thought was to be rid as soon +as possible of their burden, whose moanings we could now plainly hear as +he was jerked forward by his escort. It seemed such a shocking thing +that a man so good and of so good a calling should be thus maltreated +that, to speak for myself, it called for all my sense of the obligations +of a white flag to stay me from sending a bullet in the direction of his +cowardly companions. I could see that Lancelot was as much angered as I, +by the pallor of his face and the way in which he clenched his hands.</p> + +<p>However, in a few seconds more the pirates had hauled their helpless +prisoner to within a few feet of our fortress. Then, to the increase of +our indignation, they flung him forward with brutal oaths, so that he +fell grovelling on his injured face just in front of our doorway, and +while he lay prone one of the ruffians dealt him a kick which made him +groan like a dog. After they had done this the two red-jackets drew back +a few paces and waited, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>according to the agreement, laughing the while +at the plight of the clergyman.</p> + +<p>In a moment, obedient to a word from Lancelot, a dozen hands lifted the +beam and swung the door back. Lancelot sprang forward, followed hard by +me, to succour our unhappy friend; and between us we lifted him from the +ground, though with some effort, for he seemed quite helpless and +senseless with his ill-treatment and the fall, and unable to give us the +least aid in supporting him. Jensen’s two brutes jeered at us for our +pains, bidding us mind our sermon-grinder and the like, with many +expletives that I shall not set down. Indeed, their speech and behaviour +so discredited their mission that it would have jeopardised their +safety, for all their flag of truce, with a commander of less +punctiliousness than Lancelot. But he, without paying heed to their +mutterings, propped the prisoner up stoutly, and carried him, huddled +and trailing, toward the stockade. As we moved him he moaned feebly, and +kept up this moaning as we carried him inside the stockade and drew him +toward the most sheltered corner to lay him down.</p> + +<p>My heart bled for the parson in his weakness, with his head all swathed +in bloody bandages, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>I shuddered to think what his face would be +like when we took off those coverings. I turned to pile some coats +together for him to rest upon, but I was still looking at him as he hung +helpless against Lancelot, when, in a breath, before my astounded eyes, +the limp form stiffened, and Mr. Ebrow, stiff and strong, flung himself +upon Marjorie and caught her in his arms. Quickly though the act was +done, I still had time to think that Mr. Ebrow’s calamities had turned +his brain, and to feel vexation at the increase to our difficulties with +a mad-man in our midst. In the next instant I saw that Mr. Ebrow was +squatting on the ground behind Marjorie, sheltered by her body, which he +held pinioned to his with his left arm, while his right hand held a +pistol close to her forehead. Then a voice that was not the voice of Mr. +Ebrow called out that Marjorie was his prisoner, and that if any man +moved to rescue her he would blow the girl’s brains out. And the voice +that made these threats was the voice of Cornelys Jensen!</p> + +<p>I cannot tell you how astounded we were at this sudden turn in our +fortunes. Our garrison, taken by surprise, had left their posts every +man, and stood together at one end of our parallelogram. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>Lancelot stood +still and white as a statue. I leant against the wall and gasped for +breath like a man struck silly. Marjorie lay perfectly still in the +grasp of her enemy, and Jensen’s eyes between the bandages seemed to +survey the whole scene with a savage sense of mastery. He was so well +protected where he crouched by Marjorie’s body that no one dared to +fire, or, indeed, for the moment, to do anything but stare in +stupefaction. The stroke was so sudden, the change so unexpected, the +dash so bold, that we were at a disadvantage, and for a space no one +moved.</p> + +<p>In a loud voice Jensen called upon every man to throw down his weapons, +swearing furiously that if they did not do so he would kill Marjorie. +Marjorie, on her part, though she could not free herself from Jensen’s +hold—for Jensen had the clasp and the hold of a bear—cried out to them +bravely to do their duty, and defend the place, and pay no heed to her. +But the men were not of that temper; they were at a loss; they feared +Jensen, and this display of his daring unnerved them. They stood idly in +a mass, while I, from where I stood, could see through the open door, to +which no one else paid any heed, Jensen’s men coming out of the wood, +with only a few hundred yards of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>level ground between them and us. I +was cumbered, as I told you, with some sea-coats, that I had caught up +to make a couch for Mr. Ebrow, and as I held them to me with my left +arm, they almost covered me from neck to knee. Now, in my pocket I +carried the little pistol that Lancelot had given me, and in my first +moment of surprise my right hand had involuntarily sought it out. Now, I +was not much of a shot, and yet in a moment I made my mind up what I +would do. I would, under cover of the coats, which I clutched to me, +fire my piece through my pocket at Jensen, trusting to God to straighten +the aim and guide the bullet. In that moment I took all the chances. If +I hit Jensen, who was somewhat exposed to me where I stood, all would be +well. If I missed him and he at once killed Marjorie, or if, missing +him, I myself wounded or killed Marjorie, I knew that at least I should +be doing as Marjorie would have me do, and in either of these cases we +could despatch Jensen and have up our barricade again before help would +come to him. All this takes time to tell, but took no time in the +thinking, and my finger was upon the trigger when, in the providence of +God, something happened which altered every purpose—Jensen’s and the +others’, and mine. There came <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>a great crash through the air loud as +immediate thunder, with a noise that seemed to shake heaven above and +earth below us. Every one of us in that narrow place knew it for the +roar of a ship’s gun. </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII</h2> + +<h3>THE SEA GIVES UP ITS QUICK</h3> + +<p>The clatter of that reverberation altered in a trice the whole +conditions of our game. Jensen, in his surprise, looked up for a moment, +and in that moment I had flung myself upon him, and his pistol, going +off, spent its bullet harmlessly in the skies. In another second he had +knocked me to the ground with a force that nearly stunned me; but before +he could use another weapon twenty hands were upon him, and twenty +weapons would have ended him but for Lancelot’s command to take him +alive. In a trice we had flung our door in its place and swung the beam +across, and there we were, none the worse for our adventure, with the +chief of our enemies fast prisoner in our hands. Already the pirates +were scouring back into the woods, and though certain of our men had the +presence of mind to empty their muskets after them, and bring down the +two rogues who had carried the sham Ebrow <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>to us, most of us were +occupied in peering through the loopholes on the other side of the +fortress at a blessed sight. Not half a mile away rode the ship that had +fired the shot; the smoke of the discharge was still in the air about +her. She was a frigate, and she flew the Dutch flag.</p> + +<p>You may imagine with what a rapture we saw that frigate and that flag. +It could only mean succour, and we were sick at heart to think that we +had no flag with us to fly in answer. But we waited and watched with +beating hearts behind our walls, and presently we could see that a boat +was lowered and that men came over the side and filled it, and then it +began to make for Fair Island as fast as stroke of oar could carry it. +With a cry of joy Lancelot thrust his spy-glass into my hand, crying out +to me that Captain Amber was on board the boat. And so indeed he was, +for I had no sooner clapped the glass to my eye than there I saw him, +sitting in the stern in his brave blue coat, and at the sight of him my +heart gave a great leap for joy. We opened our seaward gate at once, and +in a moment Marjorie and Lancelot and I were racing to the strand, +followed by half a dozen others, leaving the stockade well guarded, and +orders to shoot Jensen on the first sign of any return of the pirates +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>from the woods. Though, indeed, we felt pretty sure that they would +make no further attempt against us, having lost their leader, and being +now menaced by this new and unexpected peril.</p> + +<p>As the boat drew nearer shore Lancelot tied a handkerchief to the point +of his cutlass and waved it in the air, and at sight of it the figure in +blue in the stern raised his hat, and the men rowing, seeing him do +this, raised a lusty cheer, and pulled with a warmer will than ever, so +that in a few more minutes their keel grated on the sand.</p> + +<p>Captain Amber leaped out of the boat like a boy, splashing through the +water to join us, while the Dutch seamen hauled the boat up and stared +at us stolidly. Captain Amber clasped Marjorie’s hand and murmured to +himself ‘Thank God!’ while tears stood in his china-blue eyes, and were +answered, for the first time that I ever saw them there, by tears in +Marjorie’s. Next he embraced Lancelot, and then he turned to me and +wrung my hand with the same heartiness as on that first day in +Sendennis, and it seemed to me for the moment as if that strand and +island and all those leagues of land and water had ceased to be, and I +were back again in the windy High Street, with my mother’s shop-bell +tinkling. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span></p><p>Only for a moment, however. There was no time for day-dreams. Hurriedly +we told Captain Amber all that we had to tell. Much of the ugly story we +found that he knew, and how he knew you shall learn later. Our immediate +duty was to secure the pirates who were still at large on the island, +and this proved an easy business. For the Dutch commander, who claimed +the authority of his nation for all that region, sent one of his men +with a flag of truce, accompanied by one of us for interpreter, to let +them know that if they did not surrender unconditionally he would first +bombard the wood in which they sheltered, and then land a party of men, +who would cut down any survivors without mercy. As there was no help for +it, the pirates did surrender. They came out of the woods, a sorry gang, +and laid down their arms, and with the help of the Dutchmen, who lent us +irons, we soon had the whole band manacled and helpless.</p> + +<p>So there was an end of this most nefarious mutiny. With Cornelys Jensen +fast in fetters the heart of the business would have been broken even +without help from the sea. There was no man of all the others who was at +all his peer, either for villainy or for enterprise and daring. Even if +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>there had been, the pirates would have had no great chance, while, as +it was, their case had no hope in it, and they succumbed to their fate +in a kind of sullen apathy. Honest men had triumphed over rogues once +more in the swing of the world’s story, as I am heartily glad to believe +that in the long run they always have done and always will do, until the +day when rogues and righteous meet for the last time.</p> + +<p>We soon heard of all that had happened to Captain Marmaduke after he +left the Royal Christopher—or rather, after he had been forced to put +forth from Early Island. It had been Captain Marmaduke’s intention to +make for Batavia, in the certainty of finding ships and succour there. +By the good fortune of the fair weather, his course, if slow by reason +of the little wind, was untroubled; and by happy chance, ere he had come +to the end, he sighted the Dutch frigate, and spoke her. The Dutch +captain consented to carry Captain Amber back to the wreck. On their +arrival at Early Island they found the place in the possession of a few +half-drunken mutineers, who were soon overpowered, and they learnt the +tale of Jensen’s treachery from the lips of the captive women. It was +then that they sailed for Fair Island, with the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span>women and prisoners on +board, and arrived just in time to serve us the best turn in the world.</p> + +<p>There was nothing for us now to do but to ship off our prisoners to +Batavia in the frigate, where they would be dealt with by Dutch justice, +and be hanged with all decorum, in accordance with the laws of civilised +States. We were to go with the frigate ourselves, for at Batavia it was +our Captain’s resolve to buy him a new ship and so turn home to his own +people and his own country, and try his hand no more at colonies, which +was indeed the wisest thing he could do. Let me say here that to our +great satisfaction we found Mr. Ebrow in the woods, tied nearly naked to +a tree, alive and well, if very weak; but without a complaint on his +lips or in his heart.</p> + +<p>I was one of the earliest to go aboard the frigate, and the first sight +I saw on her decks was a group of women huddled together in all the +seeming of despair. These were the victims of the pirates’ lust, and as +they sat together they would wail now and then in a way that was pitiful +to hear. But there was one woman who sat a little apart from the others +and held her head high, and this woman was Barbara Hatchett. I scarce +knew if I should approach her or no, but when she saw me, which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>was the +moment I came aboard, she made me a sign with her head, and I at once +went up to her. All the warm colour had gone out of her dark face, and +the fire had faded from her dark eyes, but she was still very beautiful +in her misery, and she carried herself grandly, like a ruined queen. As +I looked at her my mind went back to that first day I ever saw her and +was bewitched by her, and then to that other day when I found her in the +sea-fellow’s arms and thought the way of the world was ended. And for +the sake of my old love and my old sorrow my heart was racked for her, +and I could have cried as I had cried that day upon the downs. But there +were no tears in the woman’s eyes, and as I came she stood up and held +out her hand to me with an air of pride; and I am glad to think that I +had the grace to kiss it and to kneel as I kissed it.</p> + +<p>‘Well, Ralph,’ she said, ‘this is a queer meeting for old friends and +old flames. We did not think of this in the days when we watched the sea +and waited for my ship.’</p> + +<p>I could say nothing, but she went on, and her voice was quite steady:</p> + +<p>‘This is a grand ship, but it is not my ship. My <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>ship came in and my +ship went out, and the devil took it and my heart’s desire and me.’</p> + +<p>She was silent for a moment, and then she asked me what the boats were +bringing from the island. I told her that they were conveying the +prisoners aboard to be carried to trial at Batavia. She heard me with a +changeless face, as she looked across the sea where the ship’s boats +were making their way to the ship, and after awhile she asked me if I +thought that we were bound to forgive our enemies and those who had used +us evilly.</p> + +<p>I was at a loss what to answer, but I stammered out somewhat to the +effect that such was our Christian duty. The words stuck a little in my +throat, for I did not feel in a forgiving mood at that moment.</p> + +<p>‘So Mr. Ebrow tells us,’ she went on softly. Mr. Ebrow had been sent on +board at once, and had immediately devoted himself, sick and weak though +he was, to ministrations among the unhappy women. ‘So Mr. Ebrow says, +and he is a good man, and ought to know best. Shall I forgive, Ralph, +shall I forgive?’</p> + +<p>There was to me something infinitely touching in the way in which she +spoke to me, as if she felt <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>she had a claim upon me—the claim that a +sister might have upon a brother.</p> + +<p>I told her that Mr. Ebrow, being a man of God, was a better guide and +counsellor than I, but that forgiveness was a noble charity. Indeed, I +was at a loss what to say, with my heart so wrung.</p> + +<p>‘Well, well,’ she said, ‘let us forgive and forget,’ and—for there was +no restraint upon the movements of the woman—she moved toward the side, +where they were lifting the manacled prisoners on board. Jensen was in +the first batch, but not the first to be brought on board, and he +carried himself sullenly, with his eyes cast down, and seemed to notice +nothing as he was brought up on the deck. The prisoners were so securely +bound that no especial guard was placed over them during the process of +taking them from the boats, and so, before I was aware of it, Barbara +had slipped by me and between the Dutch sailors, and was by Jensen’s +side. For the moment I thought that she had come to carry out her +promise of forgiveness; but Jensen lifted his face, and I saw it, and +saw that it was writhed with a great horror and a great fear. And then I +saw her lift her hand, and saw a knife in her hand, and the next moment +she had driven it once and twice into his breast by the heart, and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>Jensen dropped like a log, and his blood ran over the deck. Then she +turned to me, and her face was as red as fire, and she cried out, +‘Forgive and forget!’ and so drove the knife into her own body and fell +in her turn. It was all done so swiftly that there was no time for +anyone to lift a hand to interfere, and when we came to lift them up +they were both dead. This was the end of that beautiful woman, and this +the end of Cornelys Jensen. He should have lived to be hanged; it was +too good a death for him to die by her hand; but I can understand how it +seemed to her hot blood and her wronged womanhood that she could only +wash out her shame by shedding her wronger’s blood. May Heaven have +mercy upon her! </p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII</h2> + +<h3>THE LAST OF THE SHIP</h3> + +<p>It was many a weary month before we saw Sendennis again, but we did see +it again. For Captain Marmaduke was so dashed by the untoward results of +his benevolence and the failure of his scheme that he saw nothing better +to do than to turn homeward, after mending his fortunes by the sale of +the greater part of his Dutch plantations. A portion, however, he set +apart and made over as a settlement for the remnant of the colonists, +who, having got so far, had no mind to turn back, and as an asylum for +the wretched women. With the aid of the Dutchmen we got the Royal +Christopher off her reef and made shift to tow her into harbourage at +Batavia, and there Captain Amber sold her and bought another vessel, +wherein we made the best of our way back to England, with no further +adventures to speak of. At Sendennis I had the joy to find my mother +alive and well, and the wonder to find that my birth-place seemed to +have grown smaller in my absence, but was otherwise unchanged. </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p><p>And at Sendennis the best thing happened to me that can happen to any +man in the world. For one morning, soon after our home-coming, I prayed +Marjorie to walk with me a little ways, and she consented, and we went +together outside the town and into the free sweet country. We fared till +we came to that place where Lancelot once had found me, drowned in +folly, and there I showed Marjorie the picture that Lancelot had given +me, the picture of her younger self. And somehow as she took it from my +hands and looked at it there came a little tremor to her lips and my +soul found words for me to speak. I told her again that I loved her, +that I should love her to the end of my days. I do not remember all I +said; I dare say my words would show blunderingly enough on plain paper, +but she listened to them quietly, looking at the sea with steady eyes. +When I had done she stood still for a little, and then answered, and I +remember every word she said.</p> + +<p>‘We are young, you and I, but I do not believe we are changeable. I feel +very sure that you have spoken the truth to me; be very sure that I am +speaking the truth to you. I love you!’</p> + +<p>And so for the first time our lips met and the glory came into my life. +I sailed the seas and made <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span>my fortune and married my heart’s desire, +and we roved the world together year after year, and always the glory +staying with me in all its morning brightness.</p> + +<p>All my life long I have hated parting from friends, parting from +familiar faces and familiar places. Yet by the course which it has +pleased Providence to give to my life it has been my lot to have many +partings, both with well-loved men and women and with well-loved lands +and dwellings. It is the plague of the wandering life, pleasant as it is +in so many things, that it does of necessity mean the clasping of so +many hands in parting, that it does of necessity mean the saying of so +many farewells. Yet, after all, parting is the penalty of man for his +transgression, and the most stay-at-home, lie-by-the-fire fellow has his +share with the rest. Thus the philosopher by temperament, like my Lord +Chesterfield, takes his friendships and even his loves upon an easy +covenant, and the religious accept in resignation, and the rest shift as +best they can. And so I hold out my hand and wish you good luck and +God-speed!</p> + +<h4>THE END</h4> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Transcriber’s Note</span></h3> + +<p>Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters’ errors; otherwise every +effort has been made to be true to the author’s words and intent.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Marjorie, by Justin Huntly McCarthy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARJORIE *** + +***** This file should be named 26057-h.htm or 26057-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/0/5/26057/ + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/26057-h/images/i001.jpg b/26057-h/images/i001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1fda67e --- /dev/null +++ b/26057-h/images/i001.jpg diff --git a/26057-h/images/i001centermedallion.jpg b/26057-h/images/i001centermedallion.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..74c481d --- /dev/null +++ b/26057-h/images/i001centermedallion.jpg diff --git a/26057-h/images/i004.jpg b/26057-h/images/i004.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3696c71 --- /dev/null +++ b/26057-h/images/i004.jpg diff --git a/26057-h/images/i039.jpg b/26057-h/images/i039.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6353a38 --- /dev/null +++ b/26057-h/images/i039.jpg diff --git a/26057-h/images/i099.jpg b/26057-h/images/i099.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e466911 --- /dev/null +++ b/26057-h/images/i099.jpg diff --git a/26057-h/images/i131.jpg b/26057-h/images/i131.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2b79c6c --- /dev/null +++ b/26057-h/images/i131.jpg diff --git a/26057-h/images/i143.jpg b/26057-h/images/i143.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d66ad70 --- /dev/null +++ b/26057-h/images/i143.jpg diff --git a/26057-h/images/i173.jpg b/26057-h/images/i173.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c6902d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/26057-h/images/i173.jpg diff --git a/26057-h/images/i249.jpg b/26057-h/images/i249.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8682cd4 --- /dev/null +++ b/26057-h/images/i249.jpg diff --git a/26057.txt b/26057.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..930143a --- /dev/null +++ b/26057.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6572 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Marjorie, by Justin Huntly McCarthy + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Marjorie + +Author: Justin Huntly McCarthy + +Release Date: July 16, 2008 [EBook #26057] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARJORIE *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + +MARJORIE + +BY + +Justin Huntly McCarthy + +_Author of_ "IF I WERE KING" + + _Oh Marjorie, my world's delight + Your yellow hair is angel-bright, + Your eyes are angel-blue. + I thought, and think, the sweetest sight + Between the morning and the night + Is just the sight of you._ + +New York + +R. H. RUSSELL + +1903 + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY R. H. RUSSELL + + +First Impression, March, 1903 + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +To + +ANTHONY HOPE + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. MY APOLOGY 1 + + II. LANCELOT AMBER 7 + + III. THE ALEHOUSE BY THE RIVER 15 + + IV. A MAID CALLED BARBARA 29 + + V. LANCELOT LEAVES 38 + + VI. THE GENTLEMAN IN BLUE 54 + + VII. CAPTAIN MARMADUKE'S PLAN 62 + + VIII. THE COMPANY AT THE NOBLE ROSE 68 + + IX. THE TALK IN THE DOLPHIN 72 + + X. SHE COMES DOWN THE STAIRS 81 + + XI. A FEAST OF THE GODS 87 + + XII. MR. DAVIES'S GIFTS 91 + + XIII. TO THE SEA 100 + + XIV. THE SEA LIFE 105 + + XV. UTOPIA HO! 113 + + XVI. I MAKE A DISCOVERY 117 + + XVII. A VISITATION 126 + + XVIII. THE NIGHT AND MORNING 134 + + XIX. HOW SOME OF US GOT TO THE ISLAND 145 + + XX. A BAD NIGHT 155 + + XXI. RAFTS 163 + + XXII. WE LOSE CORNELYS JENSEN 168 + + XXIII. WE GET TO THE ISLAND 179 + + XXIV. FAIR ISLAND 190 + + XXV. THE STORY FROM THE SEA 205 + + XXVI. THE BUSINESS BEGINS 214 + + XXVII. AN ILL TALE 232 + + XXVIII. WE DEFY JENSEN 241 + + XXIX. THE ATTACK AT LAST 249 + + XXX. OUR FLAG COMES DOWN 261 + + XXXI. A PIECE OF DIPLOMACY 268 + + XXXII. THE SEA GIVES UP ITS QUICK 280 + + XXXIII. THE LAST OF THE SHIP 290 + + + + +MARJORIE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +MY APOLOGY + + +What I have written may seem to some, who have never tossed an hour +on salt water, nor, indeed, tramped far afield on dry land, to be +astounding, and well-nigh beyond belief. But it is all true none the +less, though I found it easier to live through than to set down. I +believe that nothing is harder than to tell a plain tale plainly and +with precision. Twenty times since I began this narrative I have damned +ink and paper heartily after the swearing fashion of the sea, and have +wished myself back again in my perils rather than have to write about +them. + +I was born in Sendennis, in Sussex, and my earliest memories are full +of the sound and colour and smell of the sea. It was above all things +my parents' wish that I should live a landsman's life. But I was mad +for the sea from the first days that I can call to mind. + +My parents were people of substance in a way--did well with a mercer's +shop in the Main Street, and were much looked up to by their neighbours. +My mother always would have it that I came through my father of gentle +lineage. Indeed, the name I bore, the name of Crowninshield, was not the +kind of name that one associates usually with a mercer's business and +with the path in life along which my father and mother walked with +content. There certainly had been old families of Crowninshields in +Sussex and elsewhere, and some of them had bustled in the big wars. +There may be plenty of Crowninshields still left for aught I know or +care, for I never troubled my head much about my possible ancestors who +carried on a field gules an Eastern crown or. I may confess, however, +that in later years, when my fortune had bettered, I assumed those armes +parlantes, if only as a brave device wherewith to seal a letter. Anyway, +Crowninshield is my name, with Raphael prefixed, a name my mother fell +upon in conning her Bible for a holiname for me. So, if my arms are but +canting heraldry, I carry the name of an archangel to better them. + +I was an only son, and my parents spoilt me. They had some fancy in +their heads that I was a weakling, and needed care, though I had the +strength of a colt and the health a sea-coast lad should have, so +they did not send me to a school. Yet, because they set a store by +book-learning--which may have its uses, though it never charmed me--I +had some schooling at home in reading, writing, and ciphering. My father +sought to instil into me an admiration for the dignity of trade, because +he wished me to become a merchant in time, with mayhap the Mayoralty in +perspective. I liked the shop when I was little, and thought it a famous +place to play in, lurking down behind its dark counter as in a robbers' +den, and seeing through the open door of the parlour at the back of the +shop my mother knitting at her window and the green trees of the garden. +I liked, too, the folds of sober cloth and coloured prints, and the +faces of folk when they came in to buy or cheapen. Even the jangle of +the bell that clattered at the shop door when we put it to at meal times +pleased my ears, and has sounded there many times since and softly in +places thousands of miles away from the Main Street. I do not know how +or why, but the cling-clang of that bell always stirred strange fancies +in my mind, and strange things appeared quite possible. Whenever the +bell went tinkle I began to wonder who it was outside, and whether by +chance they wanted me, and what they might want of me. But the caller +was never better than some neighbour, who needed a button or a needle. + +The great event of my childhood was my father's gift to me of an +English version of Monsieur Galland's book, 'The Arabian Nights' +Entertainments.' Then the tinkle of the shop bell assumed a new +significance. Might not Haroun al Raschid himself, with Giafar, his +vizier, and Mesrour, his man, follow its cracked summons, or some +terrible withered creature whom I, and I only, knew to be a genie in +disguise, come in to catch me by the shoulder and sink with me through +the floor? + +Those were delicious terrors. But what I most learnt from that book was +an unconquerable love for travel and an unconquerable stretching to the +sea. When I read in my book of Sinbad and his Seven Voyages I would +think of the sea that lay so near me, and wish that I were waiting for a +wind in a boat with painted hull and sails like snow and my name +somewhere in great gold letters. I would wander down to the quays and +watch the shipping and the seamen, and wonder whence they came and +where they went, and if any one of them had a roc's egg on board. I was +very free for a child in those days, for my parents, still fretting on +my delicacy, rarely crossed me; and, indeed, I was tame enough, partly +from keeping such quiet, and well content to be by myself for the hour +together. + +But, when I had lived in this wise until I was nearly fifteen, my father +and my mother agreed that I needed more book-learning; and, since they +were still loath to send me to school, they thought of Mr. Davies, the +bookseller, of Cliff Street. He was a man of learning. His business was +steady. He had leisure, and was never pressed for a penny, or even for a +guinea. It was agreed that I should go every day for a couple of +afternoon hours, to sit with him and ply my book, and become a famous +scholar. Poor Mr. Davies! he never got his will of me in that way, and +yet he bore me no grudge, though it filled him with disappointment at +first. + +There was a vast deal of importance for me, though I did not dream it at +the time, about my going to take my lessons of Mr. Davies, of Cliff +Street. For if I had not gone I should never have got that tincture of +Latin which still clings to me, and which a world of winds and waters +has not blown or washed from my wits; nor, which is far more important, +should I ever have chanced upon Lancelot Amber; and if I had not chanced +upon Lancelot Amber I should have lost the best friend man ever had in +this world, and missed seeing the world's fairest woman. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +LANCELOT AMBER + + +Mr. Davies was a wisp of a man, with a taste for snuff and for +snuff-coloured garments, and for books in snuffy bindings. His book-shop +in Cliff Street was a dingy place enough, with a smell of leather and +paste about it, and if you stirred a book you brought enough snuffy dust +into the air to make you sneeze for ten minutes. But his own room, which +was above the shop, was blithe enough, and it was there I had my +lessons. Mr. Davies kept a piping bullfinch in it, and a linnet, and +there was a little window garden on the sill, where tulips bloomed in +their season, and under a glass case there was a plaster model of the +Arch of Titus in Rome, of which he was exceedingly proud, and which I +thought very pretty, and at one time longed to have. + +Mr. Davies was a smooth and decent scholar, and when he was dreamy he +would shove his scratch back from his forehead and shut his eyes and +recite Homer or Virgil by the page together, while Lancelot and I +listened open-mouthed, and I wondered what pleasure he got out of all +that rigmarole. The heroes of Homer and of Virgil seemed to me very +bloodless, boneless creatures after my kings and wizards out of Mr. +Galland's book; even Ulysses, who was a thrifty, shifty fellow enough, +with some touch of the sea-captain in him, was not a patch upon my hero, +Sindbad of Bagdad, from whose tale I believe the Greek fellow stole half +his fancies, and those the better half. + +I remember still clearly the very first afternoon when I presented +myself at Mr. Davies's shop in Cliff Street. He told me I was very +welcome, assured me that on that day I crossed the threshold of the +Muses' Temple, shook me warmly by the hand, and then, all of a sudden, +as if recollecting himself, told me to greet my class-fellow. A lad of +about mine own age came from the window and held out his hand, and the +lad was Lancelot Amber. + +I have seen many gracious sights in my time, but only one so gracious as +that sudden flash of Lancelot Amber upon my boyish vision. As he came +forward with the afternoon sunlight strong upon him he looked like some +militant saint. There is a St. George in our church, and there is a St. +Michael too, both splendid in coat-armour and terrible with swords, but +neither of them has ever seemed to me half so heroic or half so saintly +as the boy Lancelot did that morning in Mr. Davies's parlour. He was +tall of his years, with fair hair curling about his head as I have since +seen hair curling in some of the old Pagan statue-work. + +The boy came forward and shook hands with me in friendly fashion, with a +friend's grip of the fingers. I gave him the squeeze again, and we both +stood for a moment looking at each other silently, as dogs over-eye one +another on a first meeting. How little it entered into either of our +brains that moment of the times that we should stand together, and the +places and the trials and perils that we should endure together. We were +only two lads standing there in a snug first-floor room, where yellow +parrots sprawled on the painted wall, and a mild-mannered gentleman with +a russet wig motioned us to sit down. + +Our life ran in current for long enough. We sat together at Mr. Davies's +feet--I am speaking metaphorically, for in reality we sat opposite to +him--and we thumbed our Cordery and our Nepos together, and made such +progress as our natures and our application permitted. Mine, to be +honest, was little enough, for I hated my grammar cordially. + +Lancelot was not like me in this, any more than in bodily favour; he was +keen of wit and quick of memory; he was quick in learning, yet as modest +as he was clever, for he never sought in any way to lord it over me +because I, poor dunce, was not of such nimble parts as himself. + +It was the hardest task in the world for me to keep my eyes and my fancy +upon the pages of my book. My eyes were always straying from the print, +first to the painted parrots on the walls, and then, by natural +succession, to the window. Once there, my fancy would put on free wings, +and my thoughts would stray joyously off among the salt marshes, where +the pools shone in the sunlight and a sweet air blew. Or I would stand +upon the downs and look along the curve of cliffs, and note the ships +sailing round the promontory, and the flashes of the sea beyond, and +feel in fancy the breeze blowing through my hair, and puffing away all +the nonsense I had been poring over in the room. + +At such times I would quite forget myself, and sit staring into vacancy, +till Mr. Davies, lifting his nose from his volume, would note my absence +and call on me by name, and thump his desk, and startle me with some +question on the matter we were supposed to have in hand. A mighty +matter, truly, the name of some emperor or the date of some +campaign--matter infinitely less real than the name of the ship that +was leaving the harbour or the sunlight on the incoming sail. And I +would answer at random and amiss, and earn reproof. Yet there were +things which I knew well enough, too, and could have given him shrewd +and precise answers concerning them. + +Lancelot Amber was never much my companion away from Mr. Davies's room. +His father, whose name he perpetuated, had been a simple, gentle +gentleman and scholar who had married, as one of his kin counted it, +beneath him, because he had married the woman he loved. The woman he +loved was indeed of humble birth, but she made him a fair wife and a +good, and she bore him two children, boy Lancelot and girl Marjorie, and +died for the life of the lass. Her death, so I learned, was the doom of +Lancelot Amber the elder, and there were two babes left in the wood of +the world, with, like the children in the ballad, such claims upon two +uncles as blood might urge and pity supplement. These two uncles, as +Lancelot imagined them to me, were men of vastly different stuff and +spirit, as you may sometimes find such flaming contrasts in families. +The elder, Marmaduke Amber, used the sea, and was, it seems, as fine a +florid piece of sea flesh as an island's king could wish to welcome. His +brother, Nathaniel, had been a city merchant, piling up moneys in the +Levant trade, and now lived in a fine house out in the swelling country +beyond Sendennis, with a fine sea-view. Him I had seen once or twice; a +lean monkey creature with a wrinkled walnut of a face and bright, unkind +eyes. He was all for leaving the boy of three and the girl of two to the +small mercies of some charity school, but the mariner brother gathered +the two forlornlings to his great heart, and with him they had lived and +thriven ever since. Now it seems Captain Marmaduke was on a voyage to +the Bermudas and taking the maid with him, while the boy, to better his +schooling and strengthen his body with sea air, was sent to Sendennis to +stay with his other uncle, Nathaniel Amber, now, to all appearance, +reconciled to the existence of his young relative. This uncle, as I +gathered, did not at first approve overmuch of Lancelot taking lessons +in common with a single mercer's son, but Mr. Davies, I believe, spoke +so well of me that the arrangement was allowed to hold. + +But after lesson hours were done Lancelot had always to go back to his +uncle's, and though I walked part of the way, or all the way, with him +most days of the week, I was never bidden inside those doors. Lancelot +told me that he had more than once besought leave to bring me in, but +that the old gentleman was obdurate. So, save in those hours of study in +the parrot-papered room, I saw but little of Lancelot. + +I never expected to be asked inside the doors of the great house where +Lancelot's days were passed, and I did not feel any injustice in the +matter. I was only a mercer's son, while Lancelot derived of gentlefolk, +and it never entered into my mind to question the existing order of +things, or to wish to force my way into places where I was not wanted. +Excellent gentlemen on the other side of the Atlantic have made very +different opinions popular from the opinions that prevailed with me in +my youth. Indeed, I myself have now been long used to associate with the +great folk of the earth, and have found them in all essential matters +very much like other men. I have had the honour of including more than +one king amongst my acquaintances, and have liked some and not liked +others, just as if they were plain Tom or Harry. But in the days of my +youth I should have as soon expected to be welcomed at St. James's as to +be welcomed in the great house where Lancelot's uncle lived. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE ALEHOUSE BY THE RIVER. + + +Three years after I went to learn under Mr. Davies, of Cliff Street, my +father died. + +I remember with a kind of terror still, through all these years, when +death of every kind has been so familiar to me, how the news of that +death came upon me. I had no realisation of what death meant till then. +I had heard of people dying, of course; had watched the black +processions creeping, plumed and solemn, along the streets to the +churchyard; had noted how in any circle of friends now one and now +another falls away and returns to earth. I knew that all must die, that +I must die myself, as I knew a lesson got by heart which has little +meaning to the unawakened ear. But now it came on me with such a +stabbing knowledge that for a little while I was almost crazy with the +grief and the fear. + +But the sorrow, like all sorrows, lessened with time. There was my +mother to cheer; there was my schooling to keep; there was the shop to +look after. + +My father had thriven well enough to lay by a small store, but my mother +kept the shop on, partly for the sake of my father, whose pride it was, +partly because it gave her something to occupy her widowed life, and +partly because, as Mr. Davies pointed out to her, there would be a +business all ready for me when I was old enough to step into it. In the +meantime my life was simple enough. When I was not taking my schooling +with Lancelot I was tending the shop with mother; and when I was doing +neither of these things I was free to wander about the town much as I +pleased. + +Our town was of a tidy size, running well back from the sea up a gentle +and uneven acclivity, which made all the streets that stemmed from the +border slightly steep, and some of them exceedingly so. Upon the coast +line, naturally enough, lay the busiest part of the hive; a comely +stretch of ample docks and decent wharves along the frontage of the +town, and, straggling out along the horns of the harbour, a maze of +poorer streets, fringed at the waterside with boozing-kens, low inns, +sailors' lodging-houses, and crimperies of all kinds. There were +ticklish places for decent folk to be found in lying to right and left +of the solemn old town--aye, and within ten minutes' walk of the solemn +old market-square, where the effigy of Sir William Wallet, the goodly +and godly Mayor of many years back, smiled upon the stalls of the +hucksters and the fine front of the town-hall. If you strayed but a +little way from the core of the town you came into narrow, kinkled +streets, where nets were stretched across from window to window drying; +and if you persevered you came, by cobbly declivities, to the bay shore, +and to all the odd places that lay along it, and all the odd people that +dwelt therein. + +Of course, with the inevitable perversity of boyhood, it was this +degenerate quarter of the town which delighted me. I cared nothing, I am +sorry to say, for the fine-fronted town-hall, nor for the solemn effigy +of Sir William Wallet. I had not the least desire ever to be a +functionary of importance in the building, ever to earn the smug +immortality of such a statue. I am sorry to say the places I cared for +were those same low-lived, straggling, squalid, dangerous regions which +hung at one end of respectable little Sendennis like dirty lace upon a +demure petticoat. In the early days of my acquaintance with those +regions I must confess that I entered them with a certain degree of +fear and trembling; but after a while that feeling soon wore off, when I +found that no one wanted to do me any harm. Indeed, the dwellers in +those parts were generally too much occupied in drinking themselves +drunk and sleeping themselves sober to note an unremarkable lad like me. +As for their holiday time, they passed it so largely in quarrelling +savagely, and occasionally murderously, amongst themselves that they had +scant leisure to pay any heed to me. For the rest, these Sendennis slums +were not conspicuously evil. You will find just the same places in any +seaport town, great or little, in the kingdom. But there was one spot in +Sendennis which I do not think that it would be easy to match in any +other town, although, perhaps to say this may be but a flash of +provincial pride on my part. + +A good way from the town, and yet before the river fairly widens into an +estuary, there stood a certain hostel, or inn, which it was my joy and +my sorrow to haunt. It stood by the water's edge in a kind of little +garden of its own; a dreary place, where a few sickly plants tried to +hold their own against neglect and the splashings of rinsed glasses. +There was a wooden terrace at the back of this place--the back +overlooked the river, while the front was on the by-road--and here the +habitual revellers, the haunters, whose scored crosses lent the creaking +shutters an unnatural whiteness over their weather-beaten surface, dark +with age and dirt, loved to linger of a summer evening, and ply the +noggin and fill the pipe. + +There was an old fiddler, a kind of Orpheus of the slums, who would +sometimes creep in there and take his post in a corner and begin to +play, happy if the mad lads threw him halfpence, or thrust a +half-drained tankard under his tearful old nose: happy, too, if they did +not--as they often did--toss the cannikin at him out of mere lightness +of heart and drunkenness of wit. He used to play the quaintest old +tunes, odd border-side ballad airs, that seemed to go apace with blithe +country weddings and decent pastoral merry-makings of all kinds, and to +be strangely out of suits with that brotherhood of rakehells, smugglers, +and desperadoes who gambled and drank, and swore and quarrelled, while +the poor old fellow worked his catgut. + +Lord, Lord, how the memory of it all comes back upon me while I write! I +have but to close my eyes, and my fancy brings me back to that alehouse +by the river, to a summer's eve with its golden shafts falling on the +dingy woodwork and lending it a pathetic glory, upon the shining space +of dwindled water in the middle of its banks of glistening mud, and +there in the corner the pinched old rogue in his ragged bodygear +scraping away at 'Barbara Allen,' or 'When first I saw thy face,' or +'The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington,' while the leering rascals in the +pilot coats and the flap-eared caps huddled together over their filthy +tables, and swigged their strong drink and thumbed their greasy cards +and swore horribly in all the lingoes of Babel. + +One such summer evening surges up before me with a crimson smear across +its sunlight. There was a Low Country fellow there, waist deep in +schnapps, and a Finlander sucking strong beer like a hog. Meinheer and +the Finn came to words and blows, and I, who was sitting astride of the +railing staring, heard a shrill scream from the old man and a rattle as +he dropped his fiddle, and then a flash and a red rain of blood on the +table as my Finn fell with a knife in him, the Hollander's knife, +smartly pegged in between the left breast and the shoulder. I declare +that, even in my excitement at that first sight of blood drawn in feud, +my boyish thought was half divided between the drunken quarrel and the +poor old fiddler, all hunched together on the ground and sobbing +dry-eyed in a kind of ecstasy of fear and horror. I heard afterwards +that he had a son knifed to his death in a seaman's brawl, and never got +over it. As for the Finn, they took him home and kept it dark, and he +recovered, and may be living yet for all I know to the contrary, and a +perfect pattern to the folk in Finland. + +That inn had a name, stranger I have never heard; and a sign, stranger I +have never seen; though I have wandered far and seen more than old +Ulysses in the school-book ever dreamt of. It was called the Skull and +Spectacles; and if its name was at once horrible and laughable, its sign +was more devilish still. For instead of any painted board, swinging +pleasantly on fair days and creaking lustily on foul, there stood out +over the inn door a kind of bracket, and on that bracket stood a human +skull, so parched and darkened by wind and weather that it looked more +fearful than even a _caput mortuum_ has a right to look. + +On the nose of this grisly reminder of our mortality some wag--or so I +suppose, but perhaps he was a cynic--had stuck a great pair of glassless +barnacles or goggles. It was a loathly conceit, and yet it added vastly +to the favour of the inn in the minds of those wildings that haunted it. +Must I add that it did so in mine too, who should have known better? If +it had not been for the fascination of that sign, perhaps I might have +kept better company, and never done what I did do, and never written +this history. + +When first I happened upon the Skull and Spectacles it attracted me at +once. Its situation, in the middle of that wilderness of mouldering +wharves, decaying gardens, and tumble-down cottages, was in itself an +invitation to the eye. Then the devilish mockery of its sign was an +allurement. It looked like some fantastical tavern in a dream, and not a +thing of real timber. + +The oddness of the place tickled my adventurous palate, the +loathsomeness of the sign gripped me hardly by the heart and made my +blood run icily for an instant. Who does not recall to mind moments and +places when he seems to have stepped out of the real living world into +some grey, uncanny land of dreams, where the very air is thick and +haunted with some quality of unknown fear and unknown oppression? So it +seemed to me when I first saw the Skull and Spectacles with its +death's-head smirking welcome and the river mud oozing about its +timbers. But the place piqued me while it frightened me, and I pulled my +courage together like a coat, buttoned it metaphorically about me, and +entered. + +Like many another enterprise upon which we enter with a beating heart, +the preface was infinitely more alarming than the succeeding matter. +There was no one in the bar-parlour when I entered save a sailor, who +was sleeping a drunken, stertorous sleep in a corner. From the private +parlour beyond, when I entered, a man came out, a burly seafaring man, +who asked me shortly, but not uncivilly, what I wanted. I called for a +jug of ale. He brought it to me without a word, together with a hunch of +bread, set them before me, and left me alone again, going into his +snuggery at the back, and drawing the door after him jealously. + +I sat there for some little time, sipping my ale and munching my +bread--and indeed the ale was excellent; I have never tasted better--and +looking at the grimy wall, greasy with the rubbings of many heads and +shoulders, scrawled all over with sums, whose addition seemed to have +mightily perplexed the taproom arithmeticians, and defiled with +inscriptions of a foul, loose-witted, waterside lubricity that made me +blush and feel qualmish. But I found a furtive enjoyment in the odd +place, and the snoring sailor, and the low plashing of the estuary +against the decaying timbers, and the silence of solitude all around. + +Presently the door was pushed open; but before anyone could come in I +was made to jump from my seat in a kind of terror, for a voice sang out +sharply just above my head and startled me prodigiously. + +'Kiss me--kiss me--kiss me--kiss me!' the strange voice screamed out. +'Kiss me on the lips and eyes and throat! kiss me on the breast! kiss +me--kiss me--kiss me!' + +I turned up my eyes and noted above my head what I had not seen +before--a cage swinging from the rafters, and in it a small green +parrot, with fiery eyes that glowed like blazing rubies. + +It went rattling on at an amazing rate, adjuring its hearers to kiss it +on all parts of the body with a verbal frankness that was appalling, and +with a distinctness which even pricked the misty senses of the +slumberer, who peevishly turned in his sleep and stuttered out a curse +at me to keep still. + +As the human voice called me back from my contemplation of that infernal +old bird my lowered eyes looked on the doorway. The door was wide open, +and a girl stood framed in the gap, gazing at me. Lord, how the blood +rushed into my face with wonder and delight, for I thought then that I +had never seen anything before so beautiful! Indeed, I think now that +of that kind of beauty she was as perfect as a woman could wish to be, +or a man could wish to have her. She smiled a little into my crimson, +spell-bound face, wished me good-morning pleasantly, gave a kind of +little whistle of recognition to the bird, who never left off screaming +and yelling his vociferous desire for kisses, and then, swinging the +door behind her, crossed the floor, and, passing into the parlour, +disappeared from my gaze. + +Immediately the parrot's clamour came to a dead pause. The semi-wakened +sailor dropped into his sodden snooze again, and all was quiet. I waited +for some little time with my eyes on the parlour door, but it did not +open again; and as no one came in from outside, and I needed no more +either of drink or victual, I felt that I must needs be trudging. So I +drained my can to the black eyes of my beauty, clucked at the parrot, +who merely swung one crimson eye round as if he were taking aim and +glared ferociously, signed a farewell to the parlour door, and passed +out into the world again. The Skull and Spectacles had gained a devoted +customer. + +Ah, me! I went there a world of times after that. I am afraid my poor +mother thought me a sad rogue, for I would slip away from the shop for a +whole afternoon together, on the plea of needing a walk; but my walk +always led me to that terrible inn. I soon became a familiar figure to +its ill-favoured master and his beautiful niece. The landlord of the +Skull and Spectacles had been a seaman in his youth, and told tales of +the sea to guests who paid their score. He had a cadet brother who was a +seaman still, and who drifted out of longshore knowledge for great gaps +of time, and came back again liker to mahogany than he had been before, +a thought more abundant in blasphemy, and a great deal richer in gold +pieces with the heads of every king in Christendom stamped upon them. + +It was this wanderer's daughter who made the place my paradise. She was +a tall, largely made girl, of a dark favour, with eyes of black fire, +and with a warm, Spanish kind of skin, olive-toned with rich reds under, +and the whitest, wonderfullest teeth, and a bush of black hair that was +a marvel. She would let it down often enough, and it hung about her body +till it reached the back of her knees. Lord knows who her mother was. I +never knew, and she said she never knew. Her father brought her home +much as he had brought the parrot home, but I could never think other +than that she was the child of some Spanish woman he had wooed, and, it +is to be hoped, wedded, though I doubt if he were of that temper, on his +travels in the South Americas. + +A very curious thing it was to watch that girl go in and out among the +scoundrelly patrons of the Skull and Spectacles, listening to their +devil's chatter in all the lingoes of earth, and yet in a kind of +fashion keeping them at a distance. She would bandy jokes with them of +the coarsest kind, and yet there was not a man of all the following who +would dare to lay a rude hand on her or even to force a kiss from her +against her will. Every man who clinked his can at that hostelry knew +well enough that her father, when he was ashore, or her uncle, when the +other was afloat, would think nothing of knifing any man who insulted +her. + +I need hardly say that my association with the Skull and Spectacles +greatly increased in me my longing for the adventurous life. The men who +frequented the inn had one and all the most marvellous tales to tell. +Their tales were not always commendable; they were tales of pirates, of +buccaneers, of fortunes made in evil wise and spent in evil fashion. But +it was not so much the particulars as the generalities of their talk +that delighted me. I loved to hear of islands where the cocoa trees +grew, and where parrots of every hue under heaven squealed and screamed +in the tropic heat; where girls as graceful as goddesses and as yellow +as guineas wore robes of flaming feathers and sang lullabies in soft, +impossible tongues; lands of coral and ivory and all the glories of the +earth, where life was full of golden possibilities and a world away from +the drab respectability of a mercer's life in grey Sendennis. + +I grew hungrier and thirstier for travel day after day. I had heard of +seamen in a shipwrecked craft suffering agonies of thirst and being +taunted by the fields of water all about them, to drink of which was +madness and death. I felt somewhat as if I were in like case, for there +I lived always in the neighbourhood, always in the companionship of the +sea and of seafaring folk, and yet I was doomed to dwell at home and +dance attendance upon the tinkling of the shop bell. But my word was my +word all the same, and my love for my mother, I am glad to think, was +greater after all than my longing to see far lands. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A MAID CALLED BARBARA + + +I suppose the Skull and Spectacles was not quite the best place in the +world for a lad of my age, and perhaps for some lads it might have been +fruitful of evil. But I found then, and have found all through my life, +an infinite deal of entertainment in studying the ways and humours of +all kinds of fellowships, without of necessity accommodating myself to +the morals or the manners of the company. I have been very happy with +gipsies on a common, though I never poisoned a pig or coped a nag. I +have mixed much with sailors of all kinds, than whom no better +fellows--the best of them, and that is the greater part--exist on earth, +and no worse the worse; and yet I think I have not been stained with all +the soils of the sea. I have been with pirates, and thieves, and +soldiers of fortune, and gentlemen of blood, and highway robbers; and +once I supped with a hangman--off boiled rabbit and tripe, an excellent +alliance in a dish--and all this without being myself either pirate, +highwayman, or yet hangman. It is not always a man's company, but mostly +a man's mind, that makes him what he is or is not. If a man is going to +be a pitiful fellow and sorry knave, I am afraid you will not save him +by the companionship of a synod of bishops; nor will you spoil a fine +fellow if he occasionally rubs shoulders with rogues and vagabonds. + +The girl at the Skull and Spectacles was kind to me, partly, perhaps, +because I differed somewhat from the ordinary ruck of customers of the +Skull and Spectacles. Had it been known that that crazy, villainous old +alehouse contained such a pearl, I make no doubt that the favour of the +place would have gone up, and its customers improved in outward seeming, +if not in inward merits or morals. The gallants of the town--for we had +our gallants even in that tranquil seaport--would have been assailed by +a thirst that naught save Nantz and schnapps and strong ale of the Skull +and Spectacles could assuage, and the gentlemen of the Chisholm Hunt +would have discovered that the only way after a run with the harriers +was through the vilest part of the town and among the oozy timbers of +the wharves which formed the kingdom of the Skull and Spectacles. + +[Illustration: "SHE HAD ALWAYS A PLEASANT SMILE FOR ME WHEN I CAME."] + +But few of the townspeople knew of the Skull and Spectacles. It never +thought to stretch its custom into the higher walks of life. It throve +on its own clients, its high-booted, thick-bearded, shaggy-coated +seamen, whose dealings with the sea were more in the way of smuggling, +buccaneering, scuttling, and marooning than in honest merchandise or the +service of the King. These sea-wolves liked the place famously, and +would have grievously resented the intrusion of the laced waistcoats of +the provincial dandies or the scarlet jackets of the Chisholm Hunt. So +the Skull and Spectacles went its own way, and a very queer way, too, +unheeded and unheeding. + +How the girl and I got to be so friendly I scarcely know. It is like +enough that I thought we were more friendly than we really were, and +that the girl took my boyish homage with more indifference than I +guessed for. She had always a pleasant smile for me when I came, and she +was always ready to pass a pleasant word or two with me, even on the +days when the business in the place was at its heaviest, and when the +room was choking fit to burst with the shag-haired sea-fellows. + +But there were times, too, better times for me, or worse, it may be, +when the Skull and Spectacles was almost deserted; when all its wonted +customers were away smuggling, or buccaneering, or cutting throats, or +crimping, or following whatever was their special occupation in life. + +In such lonely times the girl was willing enough to spend half an hour +or more in speech with me. Of course, I fell in love with her, like the +donkey that I was, and worshipped the rotting boards of the Skull and +Spectacles because she was pleased to walk upon them. Her speech was all +of strange lands, and it fed my frenzy as dry wood feeds a fire. Her +people were all sea-people, her talk was all sea-talk, her words were +all sea-words. It was a strange rapture to me to sit and listen while +she spoke of the things that were dearest to my heart and to watch her +while she spoke. Then I used to feel a wild, foolish longing, which I +had never the courage to carry out, to tell her how beautiful she +was--as if she needed to be told that by me!--and how madly I loved her. +All of which I very profoundly thought and believed, but all of +which--for I was a shy lad with women-kind--I kept very devoutly to +myself. + +I wonder if the girl had any idea of my devotion. I thought she had; I +felt sure that my love must be as patent to her as it was to myself, and +that she must needs prize it a little. I believe, indeed, that I never +talked to her very much during those happy times when she would come out +on to the creaking terrace and speak to me of the things which she never +seemed to weary of--the sea, and ships, and seamen. As for me, who would +not have wearied of any theme that gave her pleasure, had it even been +books and lessons, I was overjoyed that my sea longings could help me on +with her. + +Then her black eyes would follow the river's course to where the estuary +widened to the sea, and search the horizon and point out to me the sails +that starred it here and there, and sometimes say with a laugh: 'Perhaps +one of those is my ship.' + +But when I asked her what was her ship she would smile and shake her +head and say nothing; and once, when I asked her if it was her father's +ship, she laughed loudly and said yes, it was her father's ship she +longed for. + +So late spring slipped into early summer; and, as the year grew kinder, +so every day my boy's heart grew hotter with its first foolish passion. +Somewhere about the middle of June, as I knew, her birthday was; and in +view of that saint's day of my calendar I had hoarded my poor pocket +money to buy her a little toy from the jeweller in the Main Street, +whose show seemed to me more opulent than the treasures of Aladdin. + +The day found me all of a tremble. I had sat up half the night looking +at my token and kissing it a thousand times. It was a little locket that +was fashioned like a heart, and on the one side her name was engraved, +and on the other mine, for I thought by this to show what I dared not +say. + +It was early when I stole from our shop, little less than ten, and I +calculated that I would look in at Mr. Davies's on my way back and make +some excuse for my truancy, and so be back in time for noonday dinner; +and I knew if I were a little late my mother would forgive me. Lord, how +I ran along the quays! I seemed to fly, and yet the road seemed endless. +As I ran I noted that some new ships had entered the night before, and +men on the wharves were busy unloading, and sailors were lounging round +with that foreign air which Jack always has after a cruise. + +When I got to the Skull and Spectacles the landlord was standing before +his door smoking. As he saw me he nodded, and when I asked for Barbara, +saying I had a message for her, he told me she was upstairs, and added +something which I did not stay to hear. + +I bounded up the crazy stairs with a beating heart. I was all on fire +with excitement at the thought of offering her a gift; my blood seemed +to be turned to quicksilver, and to race through its channels with a +feverish swiftness. + +There was a gallery at the head of the stairs, a gallery on to which +looked the doors of the guest-rooms of the inn--rooms where bearded men +from over sea sometimes passed a night when they were uncertain where to +journey next, or when they were too much pleased with the liquor of the +Skull and Spectacles to leave it before morning. + +As I swung round the stairs into the gallery I thought for a moment that +it was empty, as it lay before me dark and uninviting. Then from the far +end came the sound of voices, laughter, and laughing expostulation--this +last in a woman's voice that I knew too well. While I stood staring, not +understanding, and bewildered by a sudden and wholly meaningless alarm, +one of the doors at the end of the gallery that was just ajar swung +open, and Barbara slipped from it, laughing, breathless, with tumbled +hair and crimson cheeks. A man sprang after her and caught her, +unreluctant, in his arms. + +I see the scene now as vividly as I saw it then with my despairing +boyish eyes. The great strong man had his arms close about her; her +dark hair was all about her face and over her shoulders as she flung her +head back to meet the great red mouth that was seeking hers. I have seen +since pictures of satyrs embracing nymphs, and whenever I see them I +cannot stay a shudder running through me as I think of that dim, +creaking gallery and the dishevelled girl and the strong man and the +tearful, trembling lad who beheld their passion. + +I suppose a painter would have admired the group they made; she with her +body eagerly flung forward and her beautiful face all on fire with warm +animal emotion; he, big and amber-bearded, his great mouth crushed +against hers as if he wanted to absorb her life, and his arms about her +pliant body, at once yielding and resisting in its reckless disarray. +But I was not a painter--only a longshore mooncalf--and my eyes swam and +my tongue swelled till I thought it would stick between my teeth as +those of poor rogues do on the gallows, and I was chickenish enough to +wish to blubber. And while I stood there, stockish and stupid, the pair +became aware of me. I do not think I made any noise, but their eyes +dropped from each other and turned on me, and the man scowled a little, +without loosening his hold, but the woman, no whit troubled, flung one +arm away from her lover's neck and held out her hand to me, with a +laugh, and greeted me merrily. + +'Why, it's little Raphael!' she said, laughing the words into the yellow +beard of the sea-thief who clipped her, and again she nodded at me, in +no ways discomposed by the strangeness of her position. But I, poor +fool, could not bear it, and I turned and ran down the stairs as if the +Devil himself were after me. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +LANCELOT LEAVES + + +There was a place upon the downs to which it was often my special +delight to betake me--a kind of hollow dip between two humps of hills, +where a lad might lie warm in the windiest weather and look straight out +upon the sea, shining with calm or shaggy with storm, and feel quite as +if he were alone in the world. To this place I now sped half +unconsciously, my face, I make no doubt, scarlet with passion and shame, +and my eyes well-nigh blinded with sudden up-springing of tears. How I +got to my hollow I do not know, but I ran and ran and ran, with my blood +tingling, heedless of all the world, until at last I found myself +tumbling down over its ridged wall or rampart of hummocks and dropping, +with a choking moan, flat on my face in an agony of despair. + +There I lay in the long grasses, sobbing as if my heart would break. +Indeed, I thought that it was breaking; that life was over for me; that +sunrise and sunset and the glory of the stars had no further part to +play for me; and that all that was left for me was to die, and be put +into a corner somewhere and speedily forgotten. + +Troops of bitter thoughts came surging up over my brain. My mood of mind +and state of body were alike incomprehensible and terrible to me. It was +a very real agony, that fierce awakening to the realities of life, to +love and passion, and blinding jealousy and despair, and all the rest of +the torments that walk in the train of a boy's first love. I wallowed +there a long time, making a great mark in the soft grasses, as if I +sought to measure myself for an untimely grave. The strong afternoon sun +drove on his way westward, and still I lay there, writhing and +whimpering, and wondering, perhaps, a little inwardly that the sky did +not fall in and crush me and the wicked world altogether. + +A boy's mind is a turbulent place enough, and stuffed pretty often with +a legion of wicked thoughts, which take possession of his fancy long +before evil words and evil deeds have struck up their alliance. Yet even +the most foul-mouthed boy thinks, I believe, nobly, or with a kind of +nobility, of his first love, and a clean-hearted lad offers her a kind +of bewildering worship. I was a clean-hearted lad, and I had worshipped +Barbara; and now my worship was over and done with, and I made sure that +my heart was broken. + +I do not know how long I lay there, with whirling brain and bursting +heart, but presently I felt the touch of a hand on my shoulder. I had +heard no one coming, and under ordinary conditions I might have been a +thought startled by the unexpected companionship; but just now I was too +wretched for any other emotion, and I merely lay passive and +indifferent. + +The hand declined with a firmer pressure and gently shook my shoulder, +and then a voice--Lancelot Amber's voice--called softly to me asking me +what I was doing there and what ailed me. I always loved Lancelot's +voice: it seemed to vary as swiftly as wind over water with every +thought, and to run along all the chords of speech with the perfection +of music in a dream. Whenever I read that saying of St. Paul's about the +tongue of men and of angels I am reminded of Lancelot's voice, and I +feel convinced that of such is the language of the courts of heaven, and +that if St. Paul had talked like Lancelot he would have won the most +sceptical. The sound of his voice soothed me then, as far as it was +possible for anything to soothe me, and I shifted slightly to one side +and looked up at him furtively and crossly, my poor face all blubbered +with tears and smeared with mire where I had lain grovelling. + +Bit by bit I told him my story. I was in the temper for a confession, +and ready to tell my tale to anyone with wit enough to coax it from me. +Perhaps it did not seem so much of a tale in the telling, though to my +mind it was then as terrible as the end of the world itself and the +unloosening of the great deep. + +So I hunched myself up on my left elbow, and, staring drearily at +Lancelot through my tears, I whimpered out my sorrows; and he listened +with a smileless face. + +When I had done, and my quavering broke off with a sob, he was silent +for a while, looking straight before him beyond the meadow edges into +the yellowing sky. Then he turned and looked at me with a brotherly pity +that was soothing to my troubled senses, and he spoke to me with a +softness of voice that seemed in tune with the dying day and my drooping +spirits. + +'After all,' he said, 'you have not lost much, Raphael. She is but a +light o' love, and you were built for a better mate.' + +Truly, though I scarcely noted it at the time, it was gracious and +quick-witted of him to assume that I was of a lover's age with the great +lass of the Skull and Spectacles, and unconsciously it tickled my torn +vanity. But part of his speech angered me, and I took fire like tinder. + +Swinging myself round on my elbow, I glanced savagely into Lancelot's +face of compassion. + +'You lie!' I growled, 'you lie! She is a queen among women, and there is +no man in all the world worthy of her!' + +Then--for I saw him smile a little--I struck out at him. I am thankful +to think that I was too wild and weary to strike either true or hard, +and my foolish hand just grazed his cheek and touched his shoulder as he +stooped; and then, turning away again, I fell into a fresh storm of +sobbing. Lancelot remained by my side, gently indifferent to my fury, +gently tender with my sorrow. After a while he turned me round +reluctant, and looked very gravely into my tear-stained face. We were +but a brace of lads, each on the edge of life, and as I look back on +that page of my history I cannot help but shudder at the contrast +between us, I bellowing like a gaby at the ache of my first +calf-love--and yet indeed I was hurt, and hardly--and he so sweet and +restrained and sane, weighing the world so wisely in his young hands. + +'I am very sorry for you, Raphael,' he said, and his voice was so clear +and strong that for the moment it comforted me as a cordial will comfort +a sick man, against my will. 'I am very sorry for you, and because of my +sorrow for you and because of my love for you I will give you a gift +that I would part with to no other in the world. Women are not all +alike, and therefore I will give you a talisman to help you to think +well of women.' + +I suppose it would have diverted an elder to hear him, so slim and +simple, discoursing so sweetly and reasonably on a theme on which few of +us at the fag end of our days are ever able to utter one sensible +syllable, but Lancelot always seemed to me wise beyond his time, so I +listened, although dully enough and I fear sullenly. He slipped his hand +into his breast and drew forth a small object which he held shut in his +hand while he again discoursed to me. + +'What I am going to give you, Raphael, is the little picture of a lass +who is in my eyes a thing of Heaven's best making. For loyalty, honour, +courage, truth, faith, she is an unmatchable maid. I have known her all +the days of my life and never found a flaw in her.' + +Then he opened his hand and I saw that it held a picture, an oval +miniature in a fine gold frame. My mind was all on fire for the black +eyes of piratical Barbara and my blood was tingling to a gipsy tune, but +as I stared at the image in my comrade's palm my mind was arrested and +my fancy for the instant fixed. For it showed the face of a girl, a +child of Lancelot's age or a little under, and through my tears I could +perceive the sweetness of the countenance and its likeness to my friend +in the fair hair and the fine eyes. + +'This is my sister, this is Marjorie,' Lancelot said slowly. 'She has +the truest soul, the noblest heart in all the world. I think it will +help you to have it and to look on it from time to time, as it always +helps me when I am away from her.' + +As he spoke he pushed the picture gently into my unresisting fingers and +closed them over it. 'My sister Marjorie is a wonderful girl,' he said, +with a bright smile. He was silent for a little while as if musing upon +her and then his tender thoughts returned to me. + +'Come away, Raphael,' he said. 'Let us be going home. The hour is late, +and your mother may be anxious; and you have her still, whatever else +you may have lost.' + +The grace of his voice conquered me. I rose at the word, staggering a +little as I gained my feet, for passion and grief had torn me like +devils, and I was faint and bewildered. He slipped his arm into mine and +led me away, supporting me as carefully as if I were a woman whom his +solicitude was aiding. We exchanged no word together as we went along +the downs and through the fields. As we came to the town, however, he +paused by the last stile and spoke to me. + +'Dear heart!' he said, 'but I am sorry for all this--more sorry than I +can say; for I am going away to-morrow.' + +The words shook me from myself and my apathy. I gazed in wonder and +alarm into his face. + +'I am going away,' he said, 'and that's how I chanced to find you. For I +waited in vain for you at Mr. Davies's, and sought you at your home and +found you missing; and then I thought of this old burrow of yours, and +here, as good luck would have it, I found you.' + +I could only gasp out 'Going away?' in a great amazement. + +'I must go away,' he said. 'My uncle that was at sea is in London, with +Marjorie, and has sent for me. He needs me, and I am so much beholden to +him that I should have to go, even if I were not bound to him by blood +and duty, and indeed I long to see my Marjorie.' + +'How long will you be away?' I gasped. + +'I do not know,' he answered; 'but it is only a little world after all, +and we shall meet again some time, and soon, be sure of that. If not, +why, then this parting was well made.' + +This last was a quotation from one of his poets and play-makers, as I +found afterwards, for the words stuck in my memory, and I happened on +them later in a printed book. But indeed I did not think the parting was +well made at all, and I shook my head dismally, for I knew he only said +so to cheer me. + +He laughed and tossed his brown locks. 'London is not the end of the +world,' he said. 'I hope to go further afield than that before I die. +But near or far, summer or winter, town or country, we are friends for +ever. No distance can divide, no time untie our friendship.' + +Here he wrung me by the hand, and I, with this new sorrow on top of the +old--that was new but two hours ago--could only sob and say: 'O +Lancelot!' and tremble. I suppose I looked giddy, as if I were about to +faint, for he caught me in his strong arms and propped me up a minute. + +'Come, come!' he said; 'take heart. To-day is not to-morrow yet. I will +go in with you to your mother's and spend an hour with you before I say +good-bye.' + +Then he gently led me by the arm, and we went into the town and along +the evening streets till we came to the little shop, and there at the +door we found my mother, looking anxious. + +Lancelot made my excuses, saying that he had kept me, and telling my +mother of his speedy departure. My mother, who loved Lancelot, was +almost as grieved as I. But he, in his bright way, cheered us; he came +in, and would take supper with us; and though it was a doleful meal, he +went on as if it were a merry one, talking and laughing, and telling us +tales of the great city and its wonders, and all he hoped to see and do +there. + +And so a sad hour went by, and then he rose and said he must go and give +a hand to the packing of his belongings, for he was leaving by the early +coach and would not have a moment in the morning. And then he kissed my +mother and kissed me, and went away and left us both crying. There were +tears in his own eyes as he stepped out into the summer twilight, but +he turned to look back at us, and waved his hat and called out good-bye +with a firm voice. + +A sullen blackness settled down upon me after Lancelot's departure. I +was minded to rise early in the morning to see him off by the coach, but +I was so tired with crying and complaining that when I fell asleep I +slept like a log, and did not wake until the morning sun was high and +the coach had been long gone. Well, it was all the better, I told myself +savagely. He had gone out of my life for good, and I should see no more +of him. I had lost in the same hour my love and my friend. I would make +up my mind to be lonely and pay no heed. As for the picture he gave me, +what good to me was the face of that fair girl? Lancelot's sister +Marjorie was a gentlewoman, born and bred, as my lost Lancelot was a +gentleman. What could she or he really have to do with the mercerman in +the dull little Sussex town? Marjorie had a beautiful face, if the +limner did not lie--and indeed he did not--and I could well believe that +as lovely a soul as Lancelot lauded shone through those candid eyes. But +again, what was it to me and my yardwand? So I hid the picture away in a +little sweet-scented cedar-wood box that I had, and resolved to forget +Lancelot and Lancelot's sister, and everything else in the world except +my blighted youth and my blighted hopes. + +I reasoned as a boy reasons who thinks that the world has come to an end +for him after his first check, and who has no knowledge as yet of the +medicine of time. My mother had but a vexatious life of it with me, for +I was silent and melancholy; and though I never, indeed, offended her by +uncivil word or deed, yet the sight of my dreary visage must have been a +sore trial to her, and the glum despondency with which I accepted all +her efforts to cheer me from my humours must have wrung her heart. + +Poor dear! She thought, I believe, that it was only grief for Lancelot +which touched me so; and once, after some days of my ill-temper, she +asked me if I would like to run up to London and see my friend. But I +shook my head. I had made up my mind to have done with everything; to +stay on there to the end, morosely resigned to my lot. + +To make myself more sure in isolation I even took the letter which came +from Lancelot but a few days after his departure, in which he told me +where his uncle's house was, and bade me write to him there, and burnt +it in the flame of a candle. As I tossed the charred paper out into the +street I thought to myself that now indeed I was alone and free to be +miserable in my own way. And I was miserable, and made my poor mother +miserable; and acted like the selfish dog I was, like the selfish dog +that every lad is under the venom of a first love-pang. + +I went no more to the Skull and Spectacles; I saw my beautiful tyrant no +more. One day I drifted along in the familiar direction, came to the +point where I could see the evil-favoured inn standing alone in the +dreary waste, hesitated for a moment, and then, as the image of the girl +in the sailor's arms surged up before my mind, I turned and ran back as +hard as I could into the town. + +But if I went that way no more, I drifted about in other ways helplessly +and foolishly enough. + +I would spend hours upon hours mooning among the downs and on the +cliffs, and sometimes I would sit on some bulkhead by the quays and look +at the big ships, and wish myself on board one of them and sailing into +the sunset. Love for my mother kept me from going to the devil, but my +love for her was not strong enough to put a brave face upon my trouble, +and I was not man enough to do my best to make her life light for her. + +But no trouble of this kind does endure for ever, and by the end of a +year the poison had in a great degree spent itself, and with my recovery +from my love-ache there grew up in my mind a disdain of my behaviour. As +I saw my mother's visage peaked with pity I grew to be heartily ashamed +of myself, and to resolve honestly and earnestly to make amends. I +disliked tending shop more bitterly than ever. But there was the shop, +and it was dear to my mother's heart; and so I buckled to, if not with a +will, at least with the semblance of a will, and did my best to become +as good a mercer as another. + +Two things, however, I would not do. I would not enter into +correspondence with Lancelot, and I would not go any more to Master +Davies's house. Lancelot wrote again and yet again to me. But I served +the second letter as I had served the first, and the third as I had +served the second. I did, indeed, scrawl some few lines of reply to this +last letter, bidding him somewhat bluntly to leave me in peace; that my +bed had been made for me, and that I must needs lie upon it, and that I +did not wish to be vexed in my slumber. It was a rude and foolish +letter, I make no doubt; but I wrote it with a decent purpose enough, +for I was desperately afraid that I could not hold to my resolutions and +to my way of life if I kept in communication with Lancelot, and was +haunted by the thoughts of his more fortunate stars. Lancelot wrote back +to me with his invariable sweetness and gentleness, saying that he hoped +time would make me amends; and after that I heard no more from him, and +he seemed to have passed out of my life for good and all. + +As for Mr. Davies, he too seemed to belong to the old life from which I +had cut myself adrift, and so I went to his shop no more; and as he was +a home-keeping bookworm, he but seldom stirred abroad. And thus, though +we dwelt in the same town, I may fairly say that I never saw him from +month's end to month's end. + +The days slip by swiftly in an unnoticeable kind of way in a town like +Sendennis. It was but a sluggish place, for all its sea-bustle, in the +days that now lie far behind me. Our shop lay in the quietest part of +the town, and we took no note of time. Ours was a grey, lonely life. We +had friends, of course, whose names and ways I have long since +forgotten, but we saw little of them, partly because my mother learnt +after a while that I hated all company, and would take no part in any of +the junketings of our neighbours. + +I might have made an apt mercer in time, but I do not know, and I do not +love to linger over the two years I spent in the trial. For though I +did my duty fairly well, both by my mother and by the shop, and though +my love-ache had dulled almost to nothing, my passion to go abroad was +as hot as ever, and I thought it a shame that my twenty years had no +better business, and my life no other aim, than to wear out its strength +behind a counter. Let those two years go by. + +One evening I was sitting with my mother in the little parlour behind +the shop, she knitting, I think, or sewing--I am not sure which--and I +with my legs thrust out before me and my hands in my pockets, outwardly +idling and inwardly cursing at my destiny. Every now and then my mother +glanced at me over the edge of her work and sighed; but it may have +been, and I hope it was, because she found her task a difficult one. + +Suddenly the bell at the front door tinkled. In my younger days I used +to fancy that every ring of that same cracked bell brought some message +from the outer world for me. Well, here was the message at last, though +I never dreamt of it, but just sat stupidly, with my fingers touching my +pocket seams. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE GENTLEMAN IN BLUE + + +My mother glanced up from her work at me. I knew that her look asked me +if I had heard the bell, and if I would not go to the door in answer; +and, though I felt lazy, I was not base enough to ignore that appeal. So +I lurched up from my chair and swung through the little shop and flung +the door wide open, a thought angrily, for I had been deep in my brown +study and was stupidly irritated at being jarred from it. + +I half expected, so far as I expected anything, to see some familiar +neighbour, with the familiar demand for a twist of tape or a case of +needles, so that I confess to being not a little surprised and even +startled by what my eyes did rest upon. The doorway framed a wholesome +picture of a middle-aged comely gentleman. + +I see the stranger now in my mind's eye as I saw him then with my bodily +vision--a stoutly made, well set-up man of a trifle above the middle +height, in a full-skirted blue coat; a gold-laced hat upon his powder, +and a gold-headed cane in his hand. The florid face was friendly, and +shrewd too, lined all over its freshness with little lines of experience +and wisdom and knowledge of the world, and two honest blue eyes shone +straight at me from beneath bold black eyebrows. + +It was certainly a most unfamiliar figure in the framework of our shop +door, and I stood and stared at it, somewhat unmannerly, for a space of +several seconds. After a while, finding that I still barred his way and +said nothing, the stranger smiled very good-humouredly; and as he smiled +I saw that his teeth were large and white and sound. + +'Well, young sir,' he said pleasantly, 'are you Master Raphael +Crowninshield?' + +I told him that was my name. + +'Then I should like to exchange a word or two with you,' he said; 'can +we be private within?' + +I answered him that there was no one inside but my mother, and I begged +him to step into the little parlour. + +The stout gentleman nodded. 'Your mother?' he said. 'Very good; I shall +be delighted to have the honour of making madam's acquaintance: bring me +to her.' + +I led the way across the shop and up the two low steps into the little +parlour, where my mother, who had heard every word of this dialogue, had +laid aside her sewing, and now rose as the stranger approached and +dropped him a curtsey. + +'Be seated, madam, I beg,' said the stranger. 'I have a word or two to +say to your son hereby, but first'--here he paused and addressed himself +to me--'prithee, lad, step to the door a moment and wait till I call for +you. Your mother and I have our gossip to get over.' + +There was something so commanding in the kindliness of the stranger's +manner and voice that I made no hesitation about obeying him; so I +promptly rose and made for the shop, drawing close the door of the +parlour behind me. + +I stood awhile at the outer door, looking listlessly into the street, +and wondering what the blue gentleman could have to say to my mother and +to me. Even now I can recall the whole scene distinctly, the windy High +Street, with its gleams of broken sunlight on the drying cobbles--for it +had rained a little about noon, and the black clouds were only now +sailing away towards the west and leaving blue and white sky behind +them. I can see again the signs and names of the shops opposite, can +even recall noting a girl leaning out of a window and a birdcage in an +attic. + +When the door of the parlour behind me opened for the blue-coated +gentleman I noted that my mother stood with a pale face and her hands +folded. He beckoned me to him and clapped his hand on my shoulder, and +though he laid it there gentle enough, I felt that it could be as heavy +as the paw of a bear. + +'My lad,' he said, gazing steadily into my face with his china-blue +eyes, 'your good mother and I have been talking over some plans of mine, +and I think I have induced her to see the advantage of my proposals. Am +I right or am I wrong in assuming you have stowed away in your body a +certain longing for the wide world?' + +I suppose my eyes brightened before my lips moved, for he cut me short +with: 'There, that's all right; never waste a word when a wink will do. +Now, am I right or am I wrong in supposing that you have a good friend +whose name is Lancelot Amber?' + +I was determined that I would speak this time, and I almost shouted in +my eagerness to say 'Yes.' + +'That will be a good voice in a hurricane,' the blue gentleman said +approvingly. Then he began again, with the same formula, which I suppose +pleased his palate. + +'Am I right or am I wrong in assuming that he has told you of a certain +old sea-dog of an uncle of his whose name is Marmaduke Amber?' + +I nodded energetically, for after his comment I thought it best to hold +my tongue. + +'Very good. Now, am I right or am I wrong in supposing that you feel +pretty sure at this moment that you are looking upon that same old +sea-dog, Marmaduke Amber?' + +This time I smiled in good earnest at his fantastic fashion of +self-introduction, observing which the blue gentleman swayed me +backwards and forwards several times with his right hand, and I felt +that if I had been an oak of the forest he would have swayed me just as +easily, while he said with a kind of approbative chuckle: 'That's +right--a very good lad; that's right--a very smart lad.' Then he +suddenly lifted his hand, and I, unprepared for the removal of my prop, +staggered against the counter, while he put another question. + +'And what do you think Marmaduke Amber wants with you?' + +I shook my head, and said I could not guess. + +'Why, to make a man of you, to be sure,' the gentleman answered. 'You +are spoiling here in this hen-coop. Now, Lancelot loves you like a +brother, and I love Lancelot like a father, and I am quite prepared to +take you to my heart for Lancelot's sake, for he is scarce likely to be +deceived in you. You must know that I am going to embark upon a certain +enterprise--of which more hereafter. Now, the long and the short of it +is that Lancelot is coming with me, and he wants to know, and I want to +know, if you will come too?' + +'If I would come too!' + +My heart seemed to stand still for joy at the very thought. Why, here +was the chance I was longing for, dreaming of, day and night; here was a +great ship waiting to carry me on that wrinkled highway of my boyish +ambition; here was the change from the little life of a little town into +the great perils and brave existence of the sea; here was a good-bye to +love and sorrow, and the putting on of manhood and manly purposes! + +Would I not come! My lips trembled with delight and my speech faltered, +and then I glanced at my mother. She was very pale and sad, and at the +sight my joy turned to sorrow. She saw the change on my face, and she +said, very quietly and resolutely: 'I have given my consent, my dear +son, to your going hence. Perhaps it is for the best.' + +'Mother,' I said, turning towards her with a choking voice, +'indeed--indeed it is for the best. I should only mope here and fret, +and come to no good, and give you no pride in me at all. I must go away; +it will not be for long; and when I come back I shall have forgotten my +follies and learnt wisdom.' Lord, how easy we think it in our youth to +learn wisdom! 'And you will be proud to see me, and love me better than +ever, for I shall deserve it better.' + +Then my mother wrung her hands together and sighed, and tried to speak, +but she could not; and she turned away from us and moved further back +into the room. I made a step forward, but the stranger caught me by the +shoulder, and swinging me round, guided me to the door; and at the door +we stood in silence together for some seconds, staring out into the +street. + +'Have patience, lad,' he whispered into my ear; 'it is a good woman's +weakness, and it will pass soon. She knows and I know that it is best +for you to go.' + +I could say nothing, for my heart was too full with the joy of going and +with grief for my mother's grief. But I felt in my soul that I must go, +or else I should never come to any good in this world, which, after all, +would break my mother's heart more surely and sadly. + +Presently we heard her voice, a little trembling, call on Mr. Amber by +his name, and we went slowly back together. Already, as I stood by that +stalwart gentleman and timed my step to his stride, I began to feel as +if I had known him all my life, and had loved him as we love some dear +kin. + +I do not know how I can quite express what I then felt, and felt ever +after, in his company--a kind of exultation, such as martial music stirs +in any manly bosom, or as we draw in from the breath of some brave +ballad. It would be impossible, surely, to feel aught but courageous in +such cheerful, valiant, self-reliant fellowship. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +CAPTAIN MARMADUKE'S PLAN + + +Seated in the back parlour, with his chair tilted slightly back, Captain +Marmaduke Amber set forth his scheme to us--perhaps I should say to me, +for my mother had heard it all, or most of it, already, and paid, I +fancy, but little heed to its repetition. For all the attention I paid, +I gained, I fear me, but a very vague idea of Captain Marmaduke's +purpose. I was far too excited to think of anything clearly beyond the +fact that I was actually going a-travelling, and that the jovial +gentleman with the ruddy face and the china-blue eyes was my good angel. +Still, I gathered that Captain Amber would be a colonist--a +gentleman-adventurer; after a new fashion, and not for his own ends. + +It was, indeed, a kind of Utopia which Captain Amber dreamt of founding +in a far corner of the world, beneath the Southern Cross. The Captain +had taken it into his gallant head that the old world was growing too +small and its ways too evil for its people, and that much might be done +in the way of the regeneration of human society under softer +surroundings and beneath purer skies. His hope, his belief, was that if +a colony of earnest human beings were to be founded, established upon +true principles of justice and of virtue, it might set an example which +would spread and spread until at last it should regenerate the earth. + +It was a noble scheme indeed, prompted by a kindly and honourable +nature, and I must say that it sounded very well as the periods swelled +from Captain Amber's lips. For Captain Amber was a scholar and a +gentleman as well as a man of action, and he spoke and wrote with a +certain florid grace that suited him well, and that impressed me at the +time very profoundly. It seemed to me that Captain Amber was not merely +one of the noblest of men--which indeed he was, as I was to learn often +and often afterwards--but also one of the wisest, and that his scheme of +colonisation was the scheme of a statesman and a philosopher. + +How precisely the thing was to be done, and why Captain Marmaduke seemed +so confident of finding a new Garden of Eden or Earthly Paradise at the +other end of the world, I did not rightly comprehend then; nor, indeed, +have I striven much to comprehend since. But I gathered this much--that +Captain Marmaduke had retired from the service to carry out his fancy; +that he had bought land of the Dutch in the Indies; that he had plenty +of money at his command; and that the enterprise was all at his charges. +One thing was quite certain--Captain Marmaduke had got a ship, and a +good one too, now riding at anchor in Sendennis harbour; and in +Sendennis Captain Marmaduke only meant to stay long enough to get +together a few more folk to complete his company and his colony. I was +to come along, not as a colonist, unless I chose, but as a kind of +companion to Lancelot, to learn all the tricks of the sailor's trade, +and to return when Captain Marmaduke, having fairly established his +colony, set out on his return voyage. + +For it seemed that if I had forgotten, or seemed to have forgotten, +Lancelot, he had not forgotten me, but had carried me in his thoughts +through all the months that had grown to years since last we met. Thus, +when Captain Amber first began to carry out his dream of a colony, +Lancelot begged him to give me a share in the adventure. For Lancelot +remembered well my hunger and thirst for travel, and had sworn to help +me to my heart's desire. And it seemed to him that in this enterprise +of his uncle's lurked my chance of seeing a little of the world. + +Captain Amber, who loved Lancelot better than any being in the world +save one, promised that if I were willing, and seemed a lad of spirit, I +should go along with Lancelot and himself to help build the colony at +the butt end of the world. As the ship was to sail from Sendennis--that +being Captain Amber's native place--he promised Lancelot that he would +seek me out, and see if I pleased him, and if the plan pleased me. And +I, on fire with the thought of getting away from Sendennis and feeling +the width of the world--all I wanted to know was how soon we might be +starting. + +'A fortnight is our longest delay,' the Captain said; 'we sail sooner if +we can. Report yourself to me to-morrow morning between eleven and noon. +You will find me at the Noble Rose. You know where that is, I suppose?' + +Now, as the Noble Rose was the first inn in Sendennis, and one that the +town was proud of, I naturally knew of its whereabouts, though I was not +so well acquainted with it as with a certain other and more ill-favoured +hostelry that shall be nameless. The Noble Rose was in favour with the +country gentry and the gentlemen of the Chisholm Hunt, and it would +scarcely have welcomed a tradesman's son within its walls as readily as +the rapscallion Skull and Spectacles did. But I felt that I should be +welcomed anywhere as the friend of Captain Marmaduke Amber, for as a +friend I already began to regard him. So I assured him that I would duly +present myself to him at the Noble Rose on the morrow, between eleven of +the clock and noon. + +'That's right, lad,' he said; and then, turning to my mother, he took +her worn hand in his strong one, and, to my surprise and pleasure, +kissed it with a reverential courtesy, as if she had been a Court lady. + +As Captain Marmaduke turned to go I caught at his hand. + +'Where is Lancelot?' I asked; 'is he here in Sendennis?' For in the +midst of all the joy and wonder of this sea business my heart was on +fire to see that face again. + +Captain Marmaduke laughed. + +'If he were in Sendennis at this hour he would be here, I make no doubt. +He is in London, looking after one or two matters which methought he +could manage better than I could. But he will be here in good time, and +it is time for me to be off. Remember, my lad, to-morrow,' and with a +bow for my mother and a bear's grip for me he passed outside the shop, +leaving my mother and me staring at each other in great amazement. But +for all my amazement the main thought in my mind was of a certain +picture of a girl's face that lay, shrined in a cedar-wood box, hidden +away in my room upstairs. And so it happened that though my lips were +busy with the name of Lancelot my brain was busy with the name of +Marjorie. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE COMPANY AT THE NOBLE ROSE + + +The next morning I was up betimes; indeed, I do not think that I slept +very much that night, and such sleep as I did have was of a disturbed +sort, peopled with wild sea-dreams of all kinds. In my impatience it +seemed to me as if the time would never come for me to keep my +appointment with Captain Marmaduke; but then, as ever, the hands of the +clock went round their appointed circle, and at half-past eleven I was +at my destination. The Noble Rose stood in the market square. It was a +fine place enough, or seemed so to my eyes then, with its pillared +portal and its great bow-windows at each side, where the gentlemen of +quality loved to sit of fine evenings drinking their ale or their +brandy, and watching the world go by. + +In the left-hand window as I came up I saw that the Captain was sitting, +and as I came up he saw me and beckoned me to come inside. + +With a beating heart I entered the inn hall, and was making for the +Captain's room when a servant barred my way. + +'Now then, where are you posting to?' he asked, with an insolent +good-humour. 'This is a private room, and holds private company.' + +'I know that,' I answered, 'but it holds a friend of mine, whom I want +to see and who wants to see me.' + +The man laughed rudely. 'Very likely,' he said, 'that the company in the +Dolphin are friends of yours,' and then, as I was still pressing +forward, he put out his hand as if to stay me. + +This angered me; and taking the knave by the collar, I swung him aside +so briskly that he went staggering across the hall and brought up +ruefully humped against a settle. Before he could come at me again the +door of the Dolphin opened, and Captain Marmaduke appeared upon the +threshold. He looked in some astonishment from the rogue scowling on the +settle to me flushed with anger. + +'Heyday, lad,' he said, 'are you having a bout of fisticuffs to keep +your hand in?' + +'This fellow,' I said, 'tried to hinder me from entering yonder room, +and I did but push him aside out of my path.' + +'Hum!' said Captain Marmaduke, ''twas a lusty push, and cleared your +course, certainly. Well, well, I like you the better, lad, for not being +lightly balked in your business.' And therewith he led me into the +Dolphin. + +There was a sea-coal fire in the grate, for the day was raw and the glow +welcome. Beside the fire an elderly gentleman sat in an arm-chair. He +had a black silk skull-cap on his head, and his face was wrinkled and +his eyes were bright, and his face, now turned upon me, showed harsh. I +knew of course that he was Lancelot's other uncle, he who would never +suffer that I should set foot within his gates. Indeed, his face in many +points resembled that of his brother--as much as an ugly face can +resemble a fair one. There was a likeness in the forehead and there was +a likeness in the eyes, which were something of the same china-blue +colour, though of a lighter shade, and with only cold unkindness there +instead of the genial kindness of the Captain's. + +A man stood on the other side of the open fireplace, a man of about +forty-five, of something over the middle height and marvellously +well-built. He was clad in what, though it was not distinctly a seaman's +habit, yet suggested the ways of the sea, and there was a kind of +foppishness about his rig which set me wondering, for I was used to a +slovenly squalor or a slovenly bravery in the sailors I knew most of. +He was a handsome fellow, with dark curling hair and dark eyes, and a +dark skin that seemed Italian. + +I have heard men say that there is no art to read the mind's complexion +in the face. These fellows pretend that your villain is often +smooth-faced as well as smooth-tongued, and pleases the eye to the +benefit of his mischievous ends. Whereas, on the other hand, many an +honest fellow is damned for a scoundrel because with the nature of an +angel he has the mask of a fiend. In which two fancies I have no belief. +A rogue is a rogue all the world over, and flies his flag in his face +for those who can read the bunting. He may flatter the light eye or the +cold eye, but the warm gaze will find some lurking line by the lip, some +wryness of feature, some twist of the devil's fingers in his face, to +betray him. And as for an honest man looking like a rogue, the thing is +impossible. I have seen no small matter of marvels in my time--even, as +I think, the great sea serpent himself, though this is not the time and +place to record it--but I have never seen the marvel of a good man with +a bad man's face, and it was my first and last impression that the face +of Cornelys Jensen was the face of a rogue. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE TALK IN THE DOLPHIN + + +Captain Marmaduke presented me to the two men, while his hand still +rested on my shoulder. + +'Brother,' he said, 'this is Master Ralph Crowninshield, of whom you +have often heard from Lancelot.' + +'Aye,' said the old man, looking at me without any salutation. 'Aye, I +have heard of him from Lancelot.' + +Captain Marmaduke now turned towards the other man, who had never taken +his eyes off me since I entered the room. + +'Cornelys Jensen, here is Master Ralph Crowninshield, your shipmate that +is to be.' + +Cornelys Jensen came across the room in a couple of swinging strides and +held out his hand to me. Something in his carriage reminded me of +certain play-actors who had come to the town once. This man carried +himself like a stage king. We clasped hands, and he spoke. + +'Salutation, shipmate.' + +Then we unclasped, and he returned to his post by the fireplace with the +same exaggeration of action as before. + +The old man broke a short silence. 'Well, Marmaduke, why have you +brought this boy here?' + +The Captain motioned me to a seat, which I took, and sat back himself in +his former place. + +'Because the boy is going with me, and I thought that you might have +something to say to him before he went.' + +'Something to say to him?' + +The old man repeated the words like a sneer, then he faced on me again +and addressed me with an unmoving face. + +'Yes, I have something to say to you. Young man, you are going on a +fool's errand.' + +Captain Marmaduke laughed a little at this, but I could see that he was +not pleased. + +'Come, brother, don't say that,' he said. + +'But I do say it,' the old gentleman repeated. 'A fool's errand it is, +and a fool's errand it will be called; and it shall not be said of +Nathaniel Amber that he saw his brother make a fool of himself without +telling him his mind.' + +'I can always trust you for that, Nathaniel,' said the Captain gravely. +The old man went on without heeding the interruption. + +'A fool's errand I call it, and shall always call it. What a plague! can +a man find moneys and a tall ship and stout fellows, and set them to no +better use than to found a Fool's Paradise with them at the heel of the +world? Ships were made for traffic and shipmen for trade, and not for +such whimsies.' + +The Captain frowned, but he said nothing, and tapped the toes of his +crossed boots with his malacca. But Cornelys Jensen, advancing forward, +put in his word. + +'Saving your presence, Master Nathaniel,' he said, 'but is not this a +most honourable and commendable enterprise? What better thing could a +gallant gentleman do than to found such a brotherhood of honest hearts +and honest hands as Captain Marmaduke here proposes?' + +The frown faded from the Captain's face, and a pleased flush deepened +its warm colour. It is a curious thing that men of his kidney--men with +an unerring eye for a good man--have often a poor eye for a rogue. It +amazed me to see my Captain so pleased at the praisings of Cornelys +Jensen. But I was to find out later that he was the easiest man in the +world to deceive. + +'Spoken like a man, Cornelys; spoken like a true man,' he said. + +'I must ever speak my mind,' said Cornelys Jensen. 'I may be a rough +sea-fellow, but if I have a thing to say I must needs spit it out, +whether it please or pain. And I say roundly here, in your honour's +presence, that I think this to be a noble venture, and that I have +never, since first I saw salt water, prepared for any cruise with so +much pleasure.' + +Which was indeed true, but not as he intended my Captain to take it, and +as my Captain did take it. + +'Well,' grumbled Nathaniel, 'you are a pair of fools, both of you,' and +as he spoke he glanced from one to the other with those little shrewd +eyes of his, looking at my Captain first and then at Cornelys. + +Young as I was, and fresh to the reading of the faces of crafty men, I +thought that the look in his eyes--for his face changed not at all--was +very different when they rested on the brown face of Cornelys Jensen +than when they looked on the florid visage of my good patron. He glanced +with contempt upon his kinsman, but I did not see contempt in the gaze +he fixed upon Cornelys, who returned his gaze with a steady, unabashed +stare. + +'Yes,' the old man went on, 'you are a pair of fools, and a fool and his +money is a pithy proverb, and true enough of one of you. But it is well +sometimes to treat a fool according to his folly, and so, if you are +really determined upon this adventure----' + +He paused, and looked again at the Captain and again at Cornelys Jensen. + +Cornelys Jensen remained perfectly unmoved. The Captain's face grew a +shade redder. + +'I am,' he said shortly. + +'Very well, then,' said the old gentleman; 'as you are my brother, I +must needs humour you. You shall have the moneys you need----' + +'Now that's talking,' interrupted the Captain. + +'Although I know it is a foolhardy thing for me to do.' + +'You get good enough security, it seems to me,' said the Captain, a +thought gruffly. + +'Maybe I do,' said Nathaniel, 'and maybe I do not. Maybe I have a fancy +for my fine guineas, and do not care to part with them, however good the +security may be.' + +'Lord, how you chop and change!' said the Captain. 'Act like a plain +man, brother. Will you or will you not?' + +'I have said that I will,' said Nathaniel slowly. + +I could see that for some reason it amused him to irritate his brother +by his reluctance and by his slow speech. The ancient knave knew it for +the surest way to spur him to the enterprise. + +'When can I have the money?' asked the Captain. + +'Not to-day,' said Nathaniel slowly, 'nor yet to-morrow.' + +'Why not to-morrow? It would serve me well to-morrow.' + +'Very well,' said Nathaniel with a sigh; 'to-morrow it shall be, though +you do jostle me vilely.' + +'Man alive! I want to be off to sea,' said the Captain. + +'The sooner we are off the better,' interpolated Jensen; and once again +I noted that Nathaniel shot a swift glance at him through his +half-closed lids. + +'You are bustling fellows, you that follow the sea life,' said +Nathaniel. 'Well, it shall be to-morrow, and I will have all the papers +made ready and the money in fat bags, and you will have nothing to do +but to sign the one and to pocket the other. And now I must be jogging.' + +The Captain made no show of staying him. Nathaniel moved towards the +door slowly, weighing up upon his crutched stick. + +'Farewell, Marmaduke!' he said. He took the Captain's hand, but soon +parted with it. + +Then he looked at me. + +'Good-day, young fellow,' he said. 'Do not forget that I told you you +went on a fool's errand.' + +I drew aside to make way for him, and he left the room without a look or +a word for Cornelys Jensen. In another minute I saw him through the +window hobbling along the street. + +He looked malignant enough, but I did not know then how malignant a +thing he was. I was ever a weak wretch at figures and business and +finance, but it was made plain to me later that Master Nathaniel had so +handled Master Marmaduke in this matter of the lending of moneys, that +if by any chance anything grave were to happen to Master Marmaduke and +to the lad Lancelot and the lass Marjorie all that belonged to Captain +Marmaduke would swell the wealth of his brother. And here were Captain +Marmaduke and Lancelot and Marjorie all going to sea together and going +in company of Cornelys Jensen. And I know now that Master Nathaniel +knew Cornelys Jensen very well. But I did not know it then or dream it +as I turned from the window and looked at the handsome rascal, who +seemed agog to be going. + +'Shall you need me longer, Captain?' Jensen asked. 'There is much to do +which should be doing.' + +'Nay,' said the Captain, 'you are free, for me. I know that there is +much to do, and I know that you are the man to do it. But I shall see +you in the evening.' + +Jensen saluted the Captain, nodded to me, and strode out of the room. +Then the Captain sat me down and talked for some twenty minutes of his +plan and his hope. If I did not understand much, I felt that I was a +fortunate fellow to be in such a glorious enterprise. I wish I had been +more mindful of all that he said, but my mind was ever somewhat of a +sieve for long speeches, and the dear gentleman spoke at length. + +Presently he consulted his watch. + +'The coach should be in soon,' he said. 'Let us go forth and await it.' + +We went out of the Dolphin together into the hall, and there we came to +a halt, for he had thought upon some new point in his undertaking, and +he began to hold forth to me upon that. + +I can see the whole place now--the dark oak walls, the dark oak stairs, +and my Captain's blue coat and scarlet face making a brave bit of colour +in the sombre place. The Noble Rose is gone long since, but that hall +lives in my memory for a thing that just then happened. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +SHE COMES DOWN THE STAIRS + + +From the hall of the Noble Rose sprang an oak staircase, and at this +instant a girl began to descend the stairs. She was quite young--a tall +slip of a thing, who scarcely seemed nineteen--and she had hair of a +yellow that looked as if it loved the sun, and her eyes were of a softer +blue than my friend's. I knew that at last I looked on Marjorie, +Lancelot's Marjorie, the maid whose very picture had seemed farther from +me than the farthest star. Her face was fresh, as of one who has enjoyed +liberally the open air, and not sat mewed within four walls like a town +miss. I noted, too, that her steps as she came down the stairs were not +taken mincingly, as school-girls are wont to walk, but with decision, +like a boy. + +Indeed, though she was a beautiful girl, and soon to make a beautiful +woman, there was a quality of manliness in her which pleased me much +then and more thereafter. There is a play I have seen acted in which a +girl goes to live in a wood in a man's habit. I have thought since that +she of the play must have showed like this girl, and indeed I speak but +what I know when I say that man's apparel became her bravely. Now, as +she came down the stairs she was clad in some kind of flowered gown of +blue and white which set off her fair loveliness divinely. She carried +some yellow flowers at her girdle; they were Lent lilies, as I believe. + +This apparition distracting my attention from the Captain's words, he +wheeled round upon his heel and learnt the cause of my inattention. +Immediately he smiled and called to the maiden. + +'Come here, niece; I have found you a new friend.' + +She came forward, smiling to him, and then looked at me with an +expression of the sweetest gravity in the world. Surely there never was +such a girl in the world since the sun first shone on maidens. + +'Lass,' said the Captain, 'this is our new friend. His name is Raphael +Crowninshield, but, because I think he has more of the man in him than +of the archangel, I mean to call him Ralph.' + +The girl held out her hand to me in a way that reminded me much of +Lancelot. + +As I took her hand I felt that my face was flaming like the sun in a +sea-fog--no less round and no less red. I was timid with girls, for I +knew but few, and after my misfortune I had shunned those few most +carefully. She was not shy herself, though, and she did not seem to note +my shyness--or, if she did, it gave her no pleasure to note it, as it +would have given many less gracious maidens. Her hand was not very +small, but it was finely fashioned--a noble hand, like my Captain's and +like Lancelot's; a hand that gave a true grasp; a hand that it was a +pleasure to hold. + +'Shall I call you Ralph or Raphael?' she said. + +My face grew hotter, and I stammered foolishly as I answered her that I +begged she would call me by what name she pleased, but that if it +pleased my Captain to call me Ralph, then Ralph I was ready to be. + +'Well and good, Ralph,' she said. + +We had parted hands by this time, but I was still staring at her, full +of wonder. + +'This boy,' said the Captain, 'goes with us in the Royal Christopher. We +will find our New World together. He is a good fellow, and should make a +good sailor in time.' + +As the Captain spoke of me and the girl looked at me I felt hotter and +more foolish, and could think of nothing to say. But even if I could +have thought of anything to say I had no time to say it in, for there +came an interruption which ended my embarrassment; a horn sounded +loudly, and every soul in Sendennis knew that the coach was in. + +In a moment everything was changed. The Captain took his hand from my +shoulder; the girl took her gaze from my face. There was a clatter of +wheels, a trampling of horses' hoofs. The coach had drawn up in front of +the inn door. We three--my Captain, the girl, and myself--ran across the +hall and out on the portico. There was the usual crowd about the newly +arrived coach; but there was only one person in the crowd for whom we +looked, and him we soon found. + +A lithe figure in a buff travelling coat swung off the box-seat, and +Lancelot was with us again. He had an arm around the girl's neck, and +kissed her with no heed of the people; he had a hand clasped between the +two hands of the Captain, who squeezed his fingers fondly. Then he +looked at me, and leaving his kindred he caught both my hands in both +his, while his joy shone in his eyes. + +'Raphael, my old Raphael, is it you?' he said; 'but my heart is glad of +this.' + +I wrung his hands. I could scarcely speak for happiness at seeing him +again. + +'You must not call him Raphael any more,' the girl said demurely. 'He is +to be Ralph now, for all of us, so my uncle says.' + +'Is that so?' said Lancelot, looking up at the Captain. 'Well, we must +obey orders, and indeed I would rather have Ralph than Raphael. 'Tis +less of an outlandish name.' + +Then we all laughed, and we all came back into the hall of the inn +together. + +I watched Lancelot with wonder and with pride. He had grown amazingly in +the years since I had seen him, and carried himself like a man. He was +handsomer than ever I thought, and liker to our island's patron saint. +As he stripped off his travelling coat and stood up in the neat habit of +a well-to-do town gentleman, he looked such a cavalier as no woman but +would wish for a lover, no man but desire for a friend. + +'Lads and lass,' said Captain Amber, 'it will soon be time to dine. We +have waited dinner for this scapegrace'--and he pinched Lancelot's +ear--'so get the dust of travel off as quickly as may be, and we will +sit down with good appetite.' + +At these words I made to go away, for I did not dream that I was to be +of the party; but the Captain, seeing my action, caught me by the arm. + +'Nay, Ralph,' he said, 'you must stay and dine with us. You are one of +us now, and Lancelot must not lose you on this first day of fair +meeting.' + +I was indeed glad to accept, for Lancelot's sake. But there was another +reason in my heart which made me glad also, and that reason was that I +should see the girl again who was my Captain's darling, the sister whom +Lancelot had kissed. + +So I said that I would come gladly, if so be that I had time to run home +and tell my mother, lest she might be keeping dinner for me. + +'That's right, lad, that's right. Ever think of the feelings of others.' + +My Captain was always full of moral counsels and maxims of good conduct, +but they came from him as naturally as his breath, and his own life was +so honourable that there was nothing sanctimonious in his way or his +words. + +As I was about to start he begged me to assure my mother that if she +would join them at table he would consider it an honour. I thanked him +with tears in my eyes, and saluting them all I left the inn quickly, +with the last sweet smile of that girl's burning in my memory. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A FEAST OF THE GODS + + +I sped through the streets to our house as swiftly, I am sure, as that +ancient messenger of the Pagan gods--he that had the wings tied to his +feet that he might travel the faster. My dear mother was rejoiced at the +Captain's kindness, but she would by no means hear of coming with me. +She bade me return with speed, that I might not keep the company +waiting, and to thank the Captain for her with all my heart for his +kindness and condescension. + +When I got back to the Noble Rose I found our little company all +assembled in the Dolphin. No one stayed my entrance this time, for +though the same fellow that I had tussled with before saw me enter he +made no objection this time, and even saluted me in a loutish manner; +for I was the Captain's friend, and as such claimed respect. + +Lancelot was leaning against the mantelpiece, and Marjorie and my +Captain were sitting by plying him with questions and listening eagerly +to his answers. Lancelot had drawn off his travelling boots and spruced +himself, and looked a comely fellow. When I entered he broke off in what +he was saying to clasp my hand again, while the Captain rang for dinner, +expressing as he did so the civilest regrets at my mother's absence. +Then we all sat to table and dined together in the pleasantest +good-fellowship. + +Never shall I forget that dinner, not if I live to be a hundred--which +is not unlikely, for I come of a long-lived race by my mother's side, +and winds and waters have so toughened me that I ought to last with the +best of my ancestors. There was a Latin tag Mr. Davies used to tease me +with about the Feasts of the Gods. Feasts of the Gods, forsooth! They +could not compare, I'll dare wager, with that repast in the Dolphin Room +of the Noble Rose, on that crisp spring day when I and the world were +younger. + +I might well be excused, a raw provincial lad, if I did feel shyish in +the presence of such gentlefolk. But they were such true gentlefolk that +it was impossible for long not to feel at ease in their society. So when +I learnt that Lancelot had not changed one whit in his love for me, and +when I found that not the Captain alone, but his beautiful niece too, +did everything to make me feel happy and at home--why, it would have +been churlish of me not to have aided their gentleness by making myself +as agreeable as might be. + +[Illustration: "HE BROKE OFF IN WHAT HE WAS SAYING TO CLASP MY HAND."] + +The Captain had so much to say of his scheme or dream, and we were so +content to listen like good children, that we did not rise from table +till nigh three o'clock. It was such a happy dream, and so feelingly +depicted by the Captain, that it never occurred to me for a moment to +doubt in any wise its feasibility, or to feel aught but sure that I was +engaged in the greatest undertaking wherein man had ever shared. When we +did part at last, on the understanding that I was to attend upon the +Captain daily, I shook hands with Marjorie as with an old friend. I was +for shaking hands with Lancelot, too, but he would not hear of it. He +would walk home with me, he said; he could not lose me so soon after +finding me again. So we issued out of the Noble Rose together, +arm-in-arm, in very happy mind. + +We walked for a few paces in silence, the sweet silence that often falls +upon long-parted friends when their hearts are too full for parley. Then +Lancelot asked me suddenly 'Is she not wonderful?' and I could answer +no more than 'indeed,' for she seemed to me the most wonderful creature +the world had ever seen, which opinion I entertain and cherish to this +very day and hour. + +'Is she not better than her picture in little?' he questioned, and again +I had no more to say than 'indeed,' though I would have liked to find +other words for my thoughts. By this time we had come to the way where I +should turn to my home, but here Lancelot would needs have it that we +should go and visit Mr. Davies's shop in the High Street. I must say +that this resolve somewhat smote my conscience, for it was many a long +day since I had crossed Mr. Davies's threshold; but I would not say +Lancelot nay, and so we went our ways to the High Street and Mr. +Davies's shop. And indeed I am glad we did so. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +MR. DAVIES'S GIFTS + + +Mr. Davies did not seem at all surprised to see us when we entered, and +he turned round and faced us. + +The poor little man had lived so long among his musty books that the +real world had become as it were a kind of dream to him, wherein people +came like shadows and people went like shadows, and where still the +battered battalions of his books abided with him. + +But he seemed very well pleased to see us, and shook us both warmly by +the hands and called us by our right names, without confounding either +of us with the other, and had us into his little back parlour and +pressed strong waters upon us, all very hospitably. + +Of the strong waters Lancelot and I would have none, for in those days I +never touched them, nor did Lancelot. I never drank aught headier than +ale in the time when I used to frequent the Skull and Spectacles, and +as for Lancelot, who was a gentleman born and used to French wines, he +had no relish for more ardent liquors. Then he begged we would have a +dish of tea, of which he had been given a little present, he said, of +late; and as it would have cut him to the heart if we had refused all +his proffers, we sat while he bustled about at his brew, and then we all +sipped the hot stuff out of porcelain cups and chatted away as if the +world had grown younger. + +Mr. Davies was full of curiosity about our departure and the Captain's +purpose, and did not weary of putting questions to us, or rather to +Lancelot, for he soon found that I knew but little of our business +beyond the name of the ship. To be sure, I do not think that Lancelot +really knew much more about it than I did, but he could talk as I never +could talk, and he made it all seem mighty grand and venturesome and +heroic to the little bookseller. + +When we rose Mr. Davies rose with us and followed us into the shop, when +he insisted that each of us should have a book for a keepsake. He groped +along his shelves, and after a little while turned to us with a couple +of volumes under his arm. + +Mr. Davies addressed Lancelot very gravely as he handed him one of the +volumes. + +'Master Lancelot,' he said, 'in giving you that book I bestow upon you +what is worth more than a king's ransom--yea, more than gold of Ophir +and peacocks and ivory from Tarshish, and pearls of Tyre and purple of +Sidon. It is John Florio's rendering of the Essays of Michael of +Montaigne, and there is no better book in the world, of the books that +men have made for men, the books that have no breath of the speech of +angels in them. Here may a man learn to be brave, equable, temperate, +patient, to look life--aye, and the end of life--squarely in the face, +to make the most and best of his earthly portion. Take it, Master +Lancelot; it is the good book of a good and wise gentleman, and in days +long off, when I am no more, you may remember my name because of this my +gift and be grateful.' + +Then he turned to me and handed me the other book that he had been +hugging under his arm. + +'For you, my dear young friend,' he said, 'I have chosen a work of +another temper. You have no bookish habit, but you have a gallant +spirit, and so I will give you a gallant book.' + +He opened the volume, which was a quarto, and read from its title-page +in his thin, piping voice, that always reminded me somewhat of his own +old bullfinch. + +'A New, Short, and Easy Method of Fencing; or, the Art of the Broad and +Small Sword, Rectified and Compendiz'd, wherein the practice of these +two weapons is reduced to so few and general Rules that any Person of +indifferent Capacity and ordinary Agility of Body may in a very short +time attain to not only a sufficient Knowledge of the Theory of this +art, but also to a considerable adroitness in practice, either for the +Defence of his life upon a just occasion, or preservation of his +Reputation and Honour in any Accidental Scuffle or Trifling Quarrel. By +Sir William Hope of Balcomie, Baronet, late Deputy-Governor of the +Castle of Edinburgh.' + +I should not have carried such a string of words in my memory merely +from hearing Mr. Davies say them over once. But they and the book they +spoke of became very familiar to me afterwards, and I know it and its +title by root of heart. + +Lancelot thanked him for us both in well-chosen words, such as I should +never have found if I had cudgelled my brains for a fortnight. + +Then we wrung Mr. Davies's hands again, and he wished us God-speed, and +we came out again into the open street, where the day had now well +darkened down. + +As we walked along the High Street with our books under our arms +Lancelot gave me many particulars concerning his uncle's scheme and his +means for furthering it. + +It would appear that Captain Marmaduke had for some time cherished the +notion of an ideal colony. The thought came originally into his head, so +Lancelot fancied, from his study of such books as the 'Republic' of +Plato and the 'Utopia' of Sir Thomas More, works I had then never heard +of, and have found no occasion since that time to study. But, as I +gathered from Lancelot, they were volumes that treated of ideal +commonwealths. + +Captain Amber's first idea, it appeared, was to establish his little +following in one of His Majesty's American colonies. But while he was in +the Low Countries he had heard much of those new lands at the end of the +world, wherein the Dutch are so much interested, and it seems that the +Dutch Government, in gratitude to him for some services rendered, were +willing to make him a concession of land wherein to try his venture. At +least I think, as well as I can remember, that this was so; I know that +somehow or other the Dutch Government was mixed up in the matter. + +What further resolved Captain Amber to go so far afield was, it seems, +the friendship he had formed while at Leyden with Cornelys Jensen. This +Jensen was a fellow of mixed parentage, a Dutch father and an English +mother, who had followed the sea all his life, and knew, it seemed, very +intimately those parts of the world whereto Captain Amber's thoughts +were turned. + +Jensen was such a plausible fellow, and professed to be so enraptured +with Captain Amber's enterprise, that the Captain's heart was quite won +by the fellow, and from that time out he and Cornelys Jensen were hand +and glove together in the matter. Very valuable Jensen proved, according +to the Captain; full of experience, expeditious, and a rare hand at the +picking up of stout fellows for a crew. I found that Lancelot did not +hold him in such high regard as his uncle did, but that out of respect +for Captain Amber's judgment he held his peace. + +As for the Captain's brother Nathaniel, his whole share in the +enterprise consisted in the advancing of moneys, on those ungentle terms +I have recorded, upon the broad lands and valuables which made my +Captain a man of much worldly gear. + +Lancelot brought me to my door, we still talking of this and of that. + +Lancelot came within for a little while and kissed my mother, who hung +on his neck for a moment and then cried a little softly, while Lancelot +spoke to her with those words of grave encouragement which seemed beyond +his years. Then he wished us good-night, and I saw him to the door, and +stood watching his tall form stepping briskly up the street in the clear +starlight. + +The girl I spoke of but now, she in the play-book who lived like a man +in the greenwood, says--or bears witness that another said--that none +ever loved who loved not at first sight. This was true in my case. For +that unhappy business with the girl Barbara, though it was love sure +enough, was not such gracious love as that day entered into me and has +ever since dwelt with me. + +Of course I had much to tell my mother and she listened, as interested +as a child in a fairy tale to all that had been said and done in the +Noble Rose. But most of all she seemed surprised to hear that a girl was +going to sea with us. She questioned me suddenly when I had made an end +of my story: + +'What do you think of this maid Marjorie, Raphael?' + +I felt at the mention of her name that the blood ran red in my face and +I was glad to think that the light in the room was not bright enough to +betray me, for I felt shy and angry at my shyness and knew that my +cheeks flamed for both reasons. But I tried to say unconcernedly that +truly Captain Amber was much blessed in such a niece and Lancelot in +such a sister. Yet while I answered I felt both hot and cold, as I have +felt since with the ague in the Spanish Islands. + +We spoke no more of Marjorie that evening but at night I lay long hours +awake thinking of her, and when at last I fell asleep I slipped into +dreams of her, with her yellow hair, and the yellow flowers in her +girdle and the kindness of Heaven in her steadfast eyes. + +There are many kinds of love in the world, as there are many kinds of +men and many kinds of women, but my love for Marjorie Amber was of the +best kind that a man can feel, and it made a man of me. + +I have lived a wild life and a vagrant life, I know; but, anyway, my way +of life has been a clean way. I have never been a brawler nor a sot, and +I have never struck a man to his hurt unless when peril forced me. I +have never fought in wantonness or bad blood, but only out of some +necessity that would not be said nay to. And, indeed, there have been +times when I have let a man live to my own risk. So I hope when my ghost +meets elsewhere with the ghosts of my enemies that they will offer me +their shadowy fingers in proof that they bear me no malice and are aware +that all was done according to honourable warfare. There is the blood of +no vindictive death upon my fingers. What blood there is was blood spilt +honestly, in a gentlemanly way, in a soldierly way; and there is a +blessed Blood that will cleanse me of its stain. + +That I can make this boast I owe in all thankfulness to two women. To my +mother first, and then to the girl who came to me at the very turn of my +life. If I can say truthfully that year in and year out my life has been +a fairly creditable one for a man that has followed fortune by sea and +by land the Recording Angel must even set it down to the credit of +Marjorie. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +TO THE SEA + + +From that out the days ran by with a marvellous swiftness. There was +much to do daily; in my humble way I had to get my sea-gear ready, which +kept my dear mother busy; and every day I was with Captain Marmaduke and +Lancelot and Marjorie, and every day we all worked hard to get ready for +the great voyage and to bring our odd brotherhood together. + +It certainly was a strange fellowship which Captain Amber had gathered +together to sail the seas in the Royal Christopher. + +Most of them were quiet folk of the farming favour, well set up, +earnest, with patient faces. There were men who had been old soldiers; +there were men who had served with Captain Amber. These were to be the +backbone of his colony. Some brought wives, some sisters; altogether we +had our share of women on board, about a dozen in all, including the +woman whose care it was to wait upon the Captain's niece. + +But I did not see a great deal of them, for they lay aft, and it was my +Captain's pleasure that I should dwell in his part of the ship; and he +himself, though he carried them to a new world and to warmer stars, did +not mingle much with them on shipboard. For my Captain had his notion of +rank and place, as a man-at-arms should have. He passed his wont in +admitting me to his intimacy, and that was for Lancelot's sake. + +As for the hands, the finding of them had been, it would seem, chiefly +entrusted to the hands of Cornelys Jensen. I saw nothing of them until +the day we sailed. What I saw of them then gave me no great pleasure, +for several reasons. Many of them were fine-looking fellows enough. All +were stalwart, sea-tested, skilled at their work; most seemed jovial of +blood and ready to tackle their work cheerily. Some of them were known +to me by sight and even by name, for Cornelys Jensen had culled them +from the sea-dogs and sea-devils who drank and diced at the Skull and +Spectacles. That was not much; many good seamen were familiars of the +Skull and Spectacles. But what I misliked in them was the regard they +seemed to pay to the deeds and words of Cornelys Jensen. It was but +natural, indeed, that they should pay him regard, seeing that he was +the second in command after Captain Amber. But it seemed to me then, or +perhaps I imagine--judging by the light of later times--that it seemed +to me then that their behaviour showed that they looked upon Jensen +rather than my Captain as the centre of authority in the ship. Certainly +most of them were more of the kidney of Cornelys Jensen than of +Marmaduke Amber. + +I ventured to break something of my thought to Captain Amber, but he +laughed at me for my pains, saying that Jensen was a proper man and very +trustworthy, and a man with a better eye for a good seaman than any +other man in the kingdom. So I had no more to say, and Cornelys Jensen +went his own way and collected his own following unhindered. + +Whatever I might think of the crew, there was but one thought for the +ship. A finer than the Royal Christopher at that time I had never seen +of her kind and size. She was a large ship of the corvette kind, with +something of the carack and something of the polacca about her. We boast +greatly of our progress in the art of putting tall ships together, and, +if we go on at the rate at which, according to some among us, we are +going, Heaven only knows where it will end, or with what kind of marine +monsters we shall people the great deep. But I cannot think that we +have done or ever shall do much better in shipbuilding than we did in +the days when I was young. + +The hands of the clock wheeled in their circle, and the day came when +all was ready and we were to sail. + +I was leaning over the side, looking at the downs and the town where I +had lived all my life, and which, perhaps, I might never see again. My +mother was by my side, and we were talking together as people talk who +love each other when a parting is at hand. All of a sudden I became +aware of a boat that was pulling across the water in the direction of +our ship. It contained a man and a woman, and when it came alongside I +saw who the man and the woman were, and saw that they were known to me; +and for a moment my heart stood still, and I make no doubt that my face +flushed and paled. For the woman was that girl Barbara who had made the +Skull and Spectacles so dear and so dreadful to me, and the man was that +red-bearded fellow who had clipped her closely in his arms on the day +when I went there for the last time. The man who was rowing the boat was +none other than the landlord of the Skull and Spectacles, Barbara's +uncle. + +I drew back before they had noticed me, and I drew my mother away with +me. The pair came on board, but I kept my back turned, and they went aft +without noting me. It would seem as if Cornelys Jensen had been but +waiting for them to set sail, for now he gave the order that all should +leave the ship who were not sailing with her. Then there was such +sobbings and embracings and hand-claspings ere the relatives and friends +who were staying on shore got down the side into the craft that was +waiting for them. My mother and I parted somehow, and I saw her safely +into the dinghy which I had chartered for her benefit, handled by a +waterside fellow whom I knew well for a steady oar. + +Everything then seemed to happen with the quickness of a dream. One +moment I seemed to see her sitting in the stern of the boat, waving her +handkerchief to me; then next there came a rush of tears, that blotted +out everything, my mother and the town and all; the next, as it seemed +to me, though of course the interval was longer, we were cutting the +water with a fair wind, and the downs and the cliffs seemed to be racing +away from us. The Royal Christopher had set sail for its haven at the +other end of the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE SEA LIFE + + +The fair weather with which we were favoured during the early part of +our voyage made the time very delightful and very instructive to me. +Indeed, I learnt more during those happy weeks of matters that are +proper for a man to know than I had even guessed at in the whole course +of my life. For the Captain, who was an accomplished swordsman, and +Lancelot, who was a promising pupil, were at great pains to teach me the +use both of the small sword and the broadsword, at which they exercised +me daily upon the deck. Captain Amber had a great regard for Sir William +Hope of Balcomie's book, wherein I made my daily study, and he or +Lancelot would make me practise all that I read. + +I was ever apt at picking up all things wherein strength and skill +counted for more than book-learning, and I am glad to think that they +found me an apt pupil. Indeed, before we had got half-way on our journey +I was almost as pretty a swordsman as Lancelot, and the Captain used +often to declare that in time I should be better than he himself was. +But this, of course, he said only to encourage me, for indeed I think I +have never seen a better master of his weapon than Captain Amber, and +neither I nor Lancelot ever came near him in that art. + +Captain Amber was my teacher in other things than swordcraft. He set +himself with a patience that knew no limit to make me learn such things +as are useful in the sea life, and indeed he found me an apter pupil +than poor Mr. Davies had ever been able to make of me. He was himself +versed in the mathematical sciences, in navigation, in astronomy, +dialling, gauging, gunnery, fortification, the use of the globes, the +projection of the sphere upon any circle, and many another matter +essential for the complete sailor, soldier, or navigator and adventurer +of any kind. + +He instructed me further in matters military, for, as he said, a stout +man should be able to serve God and his King as well by land as by sea. +So he put me through a rare course of martial education, discoursing to +me very learnedly on the principles of fortification as they are +expounded by the ingenious Monsieur Vauban, and showing me, in the plans +of many and great towns, both French and German, to what perfection +their defence may be carried. He showed me how to handle a musket and a +pike, and the manage of the half-pike joined to the musket, and +instructed me in the drilling of troops and in the forming of a brigade +after the Swedish method, for which he had a particular affection. + +He harangued me much upon the uses of artillery, illustrating what he +said by the example of the ship's cannon, until I felt that I should +only need a little practice to become a master gunner. And he set forth +to me by precept--for here he had no chance of example--drill of cavalry +and the importance of that arm in war, and promised me that I should +learn to ride when we had reached our Arcadia. + +In all these exercises Lancelot, whose cabin I shared, took his part. He +knew so much more than I did that I feel very sure that my companionship +in these studies was but a drag upon him. Yet he never betrayed the +least impatience with me or with my more sluggish method of acquiring +knowledge. Now, as always, he was my true friend. If every day taught me +more to admire Captain Marmaduke, every day bade me the more and more to +congratulate myself upon being blessed with such a comrade as Lancelot. + +Nevertheless, the best part of the business was the presence of +Marjorie. She was a true child of the sea. She loved it as if she had +been such a mermaiden as old poets fable. She had sailed with her uncle +ever since she was a little girl. She was as good a sailor as her +brother, and took foul weather as gallantly as fair. For it was not all +smooth sailing, for all our luck. There were squalls and there were +storms; but the Royal Christopher rode the billows bravely, and Marjorie +faced the storm as fearlessly as the oldest hand on board. + +There was one wild night, when we rose and fell in a fury of wind. She +must needs be on deck, so I fastened her to one of the masts with a rope +and held on next to her while we watched the war of the elements. The +rain was strong, and it soaked all the clothes on her body to a pulp; +and her long hair floated on the wind, and sometimes flapped across my +face and made my blood tingle. She stuck to her post like a man--or, let +me say in her honour, like a woman--watching the strife, and every now +and then she would put her lips close to my ear--for the screaming of +the wind whistled away all words that were not so spoken--and would bid +me note some wonder of sky or water. For by this time we were great +friends, Marjorie and I, and she always treated me as if I were some +kinsman of her house instead of what I was, a poor adventurer in the +dawn of his first adventure. She liked me I knew from the start because +Lancelot liked me, and because she trusted in Lancelot with the same +implicit faith that he addressed to her. And where she liked she liked +wholly, as a generous man might, giving her friendship freely in the +firm clasp of her hand, in the keen, even greeting of her eyes. It was a +strange grace for me to share in that wonderful fellowship of brother +and sister, and I joyed in my fortune and shut my mind against any +thought of the sorrow that might come to me from such sweet intercourse. +For I knew from the first as I have said that I loved her, and I knew, +too, that it would be about as reasonable to fall in love with a star or +a dream. Those gentry who write verses, find, as I believe, a kind of +bitter satisfaction in recording their pains in rhyme, but for me there +was no such solace. Yet on that driving night, in that high wind, I +would have rejoiced to be apprenticed to the poets' guild and skilled to +make some use that might please her of the dumb thoughts that troubled +me. As it was it was she who seemed to speak with the speech of angels +and I who listened mumchance. + +She had the rarest gifts and graces for gladdening our voyage. She could +sing, and she could play a guitarra that she had brought from Spain; and +often of fair evenings, when we sat out on the deck, she would sing to +us ballads in Spanish and French, and then for me, who was unlettered, +she would sing old English ditties, such as 'Barbara Allen' and 'When +first I saw your face,' and many canzonets from out of Mr. William +Shakespeare's plays, which she always held in high esteem, and I would +sit and listen in a rapture. + +Once, a long while after, when that Spanish tongue had become as +familiar to me as it was then unfamiliar, I remember falling into a +brawl with a stout fellow in Spain, and getting, as luck would have it, +the better of the business, and being within half a mind of ramming my +knife into his throat; for my blood was up, and the fellow had meant to +kill me if he had had the chance. But even as I made to strike, he, +looking up at me, and as cool as if I were doing him a favour, began to +sing very softly to himself just one of those very Spanish songs that +Marjorie used to sing of summer evenings on the deck of the Royal +Christopher. And as he sang so, waiting death, in that instant all my +rage vanished, and I put aside my weapon and held out my hand to him, +and asked his forgiveness and asked his friendship. The man looked +amazed, as well he might; and it was lucky for me that he did not seize +the chance to stab me unawares. But he did not, and we shook hands and +parted, and he went his ways never witting that he owed his life to the +fairest woman in the whole wide world--at least, that I have ever seen, +and I have seen many and many in my time. + +There were two on that ship with whom I did not wish to have any +dealings, namely, Barbara and the red-bearded man, Hatchett by name, +who was now her husband. However, I saw but little of them, for they +kept to their own part of the ship. + +Barbara knew me again, of course, and we saluted each other when we met, +as it was of course inevitable that we should meet on board ship. But we +did not meet often, and I was glad to find that I felt no pang when the +rare meetings did take place. That folly had wholly gone. There--I have +written those words, but I have no sooner written than I repent them. It +is not a folly for a boy to be honestly in love, as I was in love with +Barbara. I was silly, if you please--a moon-struck, calf-loving idiot, +if you like--but in all that hot noon of my madness there never was an +unclean thought in my mind nor an unclean prompting of the body. +However, all that was past and done with. My liver was washed clean of +that passion; it had not left a spot upon my heart. I have only loved +two women in all my life, and when the second love came into my life +that first fancy was dead and buried, and no other fancy has ever for a +moment arisen to trouble my happiness. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +UTOPIA HO! + + +I have purposely left out of these pages the record of the voyage. One +such voyage is much like another, and though it was all new to me it +would not be new to others. I might like to dwell again upon the first +land we made, the Island of St. Jago, where we had civil entertainment +of a Portuguese gentleman and of a negro Romish priest, with a merry +heart and merry heels. My mother would have loved to go marketing in +that place, for I bought no less than one hundred sweet oranges for half +a paper of pins, and five fat hens for the other half of the paper. I +could talk of our becalms and our storms and our crossing the Line, and +of our trouble with the travado-wind. But as I do not wish to weary with +the repetition of an oft-told tale, I will say no more of our voyage +until we came to the Cape which is so happily named of Good Hope. It was +a very wonderful voyage for me; it would not seem a very wonderful +voyage to others, who have either made it themselves or who know out of +book knowledge all and more than all that I could tell them. But I may +say that I was a very different lad when we came to the Cape from the +lad who had got on board of the Royal Christopher so many months +earlier. I was but a pale-faced boy when I sailed, only a landsman, and +no great figure as a landsman. But when we came to the Cape I was so +coloured by the winds and the suns and the open life that my face and +hands were well-nigh of the tint of burnished copper. I had always been +a fairly strong lad; but now my strength was multiplied many times, and, +thanks to my dear master, my skill to use that strength was marvellously +advanced. Which proved to be of infinite service to me and others better +than myself by-and-by. + +We stayed some little time at Cape Town; how long now I do not closely +remember, but, as I think, a matter of four weeks or more. For the +Captain had some old friends amongst the Dutch colony, and there were +certain matters of revictualling the ship to be thought of, and Lancelot +longed for a little shooting and hunting. For my part, I was by no means +loth to tread the soil again, for, though I love the sea dearly, I have +no hatred for firm earth as other seamen have, but look upon myself as a +kind of amphibious animal, and like the land and the water impartially. +And there was a great joy and wonder to me to see a new country and a +new town--I, who knew of no other town than Sendennis, and knew no more +of London than of Grand Cairo, or of the capital of the Mogul. I +remember that we stayed some days under the roof of a leading Dutch +merchant of the place, who entertained us very handsomely, and that his +brother, who was a somewhat younger man than he, and who spoke our +English tongue well, took Lancelot and me many times a-shooting and +a-fishing, and that we had some rare and savage sport. For the town is +but a small one, and there is excellent sport to be had well-nigh at its +back doors, as it were. I should have loved dearly to have wandered +inward far inland towards the great mountains, for I heard wonderful +tales, both from the Dutchmen and their black men, of treasures that the +bowels of these mountains were said to hold. Of course that was out of +the question, with the Royal Christopher waiting for her fate; but the +tales fired me with memories of those Eastern tales that I have told you +of, and I longed to out-rival Master Sindbad. + +I cannot conscientiously affirm that I was sorry to leave Cape Town, and +the wines that the Dutch settlers made, and the amazing Hottentots, and +the other marvels of that my first experience of strange distant +countries. We were all the better for our rest, Marjorie and Captain +Amber, Lancelot, the colonists, the crew, and, in a word, all our +fellowship. But we were all eager to be on the way again, for very +different reasons. Captain Amber, because he was keen to place his foot +upon his Land of Promise; Lancelot, because he wished what his uncle +wished; Marjorie, because she wished to be with Lancelot; I myself, much +out of eager, restless curiosity for new places and new adventures. For +I was so simple in those days that the mere crossing of the seas seemed +to me to be an adventure, a thing that I came later to regard as no more +adventurous than the hiring of a hackney-coach. But in my heart I knew +that the main reason for my bliss in boarding the Royal Christopher lay +in the closer intimacy it gave me with maid Marjorie. In the little +kingdom of the ship, where all in a sense were friends and adventurers +together, there was less than on land to remind me that for me to dream +myself her lover went far to prove me lunatic. So I was blithe to be +afloat again. As for Cornelys Jensen, we were to learn soon enough in +what direction lay his pleasure to be ploughing the high seas again. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +I MAKE A DISCOVERY + + +I have been brief with our adventure so far, because it only began to be +adventurous after we had left the Cape leagues behind us. Up to that +time, though the voyage was full of wonders for me, it was but one +voyage with another for those who use the sea. But when the adventure +did begin it began briskly, and having once made a beginning it did not +make an end for long enough, nor without great changes of fortune. Yet +it began, as a big business often does begin, in a very little matter. +One night, somewhat late, Captain Amber wished for a word with Jensen. +Yet, as it was not the Dutchman's watch, and he might be sleeping, +Captain Amber bade me go to his cabin--for Jensen, being a man of +consideration upon the ship, had a cabin to himself--to see if he were +stirring, commanding me, however, if he were resting, not to arouse him. +Jensen's cabin lay amidships, and as I proceeded warily because of the +Captain's caution, I came to it quietly and listened at the door before +lifting my finger to knock. As I did so I noticed that the door was not +fastened. Whoever had drawn it to had not latched it, and it lay open +just a chink, through which a line of light showed from within. Thinking +that if I peeped through this chink I might learn if Jensen were astir +or no, I put my eye to it and saw what I saw. + +The cabin was not a very large one, and though the lamp that swung from +the ceiling gave forth but a dim light, yet it was enough to enable me +to see very clearly all that there was to see. At the first blush, +indeed, there seemed to be nothing out of the way to witness. At the +further end of the cabin two men were sitting at a table together, with +a chart before them. Nearer to me, and in front of the men, a woman +stood, and held up for their inspection a piece of needlework. The two +men were Cornelys Jensen and William Hatchett; the woman was Barbara +Hatchett. It might have made a very pleasing example of domestic peace +but for one queer fact, which notably altered its character. + +The needlework at which women are wont to labour is nine times out of +ten white work or brightly-coloured work. Women are like the best +kind of birds, and love snowy plumage or feathers that are bravely +tinted. But the work with which Barbara Hatchett was occupied was +neither white nor coloured, but black--the deepest, darkest black. Now +there was no cause as yet, thank Heaven! for man or woman to mourn on +board of the Royal Christopher, and there was no need for Mistress +Barbara to deal with mourning. So I marvelled, but even as I marvelled I +noted, as she shifted her position slightly and shook out the black +stuff over her knees, that it was not all and only black. There was +white work in it too, a kind of patch or pattern of white work in the +midst which I could not make out, for the stuff was still bunched up in +the woman's hands. But now, as I watched, I saw her shake it out over +her knees for the others to view, and I saw that the thing she displayed +was a large square of black worsted, and that in the centre were sewn +some pieces of white material into a very curious semblance. For that +semblance was none other than the likeness of a grinning human skull, +with two cross-bones beneath it--just such an effigy as I had seen many +times on the tombstones in the churchyard at Sendennis. + +[Illustration: "HELD UP FOR THEIR INSPECTION A PIECE OF NEEDLEWORK."] + +It was not, however, of the tombstones at Sendennis that I thought just +then. No; that ugly image in the girl's fingers carried my fancy back +to the place where I had first seen her--to the hostelry of the Skull +and Spectacles--and I fancied somehow, I scarce knew why, that the work +of Barbara's fingers had some connection with her father's inn. Only for +a second or so did I think this, but in honest truth that was my first, +my immediate belief, and it brought me no thought of fear, no thought of +danger with it. I was only conscious of wondering vaguely to what +service this sad piece of handicraft could be put, when suddenly, in a +flash, my intelligence took fire, and I knew what was intended; and I +felt my knees give way and my heart stand still with horror. + +The thing I was looking at, the ill-favoured thing that was hanging from +my old love's hand, was none other than a flag of evil omen--a pirate's +flag, the barbarous piece of bunting that they call the Jolly Roger. +There could be no doubt of that--no doubt whatever. I had heard of that +flag and read of it, and now I was looking at it with my own eyes; and a +light seemed to be let in upon my mind, and I trembled at the terror it +brought with it. That piece of handicraft meant murder; meant outrage; +meant violence of all kinds to those that were so dear to me--to those +who were all unconscious of their imminent doom. For I was as sure now +as if those three had told it to me with their own lips that I had come +upon a conspiracy. + +The red-haired ruffian and the black-haired ruffian were in a tale +together; their purpose was to seize the poor Royal Christopher that +sailed on so gentle an errand and make her a pirate ship, with that +devil's ensign flying at her forepeak. My soul sickened in my body at +the thought of the women-kind at the mercy of these desperadoes. There +was one name ever in my heart, and as I thought of that name I shivered +as if the summer night had suddenly been frozen. I believe that if I had +had a brace of pistols with me I should have taken my chance of sending +those two villains out of the world with a bullet apiece, so clearly did +their malignity betray itself to my observation. But I was unarmed, and +even if I had been I might have missed my aim--though this I do not +think likely, in that narrow place, and with my determination steadying +my hand--and, moreover, I had no notion as to how many of the ship's +crew were sworn to share in the villainy. Besides, I have never killed a +man in cold blood in my life, and on that night so long ago I had never +lifted hand and weapon against any man, and had only once in my life +seen blood spilt murderously. But I stayed there, with my heart +drumming against my ribs and my breath coming in gasps that seemed to me +to shake the ship's bulk, staring hard at the two men and the woman with +her work. + +She held out the banner at arm's length, and looked down at it lovingly, +as women are wont to look at any piece of needlework that they have +taken pains over with pleasure in the pains. I had seen women smile over +their work many and many a time--good women that have worked for their +kin, mothers that have laboured to fashion some bit of bodygear for a +cherished child--and I have always thought that the smile upon their +faces was very sweet to see. But in this case there was the same smile +upon the woman's face as she looked upon her unholy handiwork, and there +was something terrible in the contrast between that look of housewifely +satisfaction and the job upon which it was bestowed. Many an evil sight +have I seen, but never, as I think, anything so evil as this sight of +that beautiful face smiling over the edge of that hideous thing, the +living radiant visage above that effigy of death. The black flag covered +her like a pall, ominously. + +'Well,' she said, 'is it well done?' + +She spoke in a low tone, but I could hear what she said quite well where +I crouched. + +Cornelys Jensen nodded his head approvingly. + +The red-bearded man spoke. 'Time it was done, too, and that we should be +setting to work. I am sick of this waiting.' + +'Patience, my good fellow, patience,' said Cornelys Jensen. 'All in good +time. Trust Cornelys Jensen to know the time to act. The fiddle is +tuned, friend. I shall know when to play the jig.' + +'My feet ache for the dancing,' the red beard growled. Barbara laughed; +dropping her hands, she drew the black flag close to her, so that it +fell all in folds about her body and draped her from throat to toe. Her +beauty laughed triumphantly at the pair from its sable setting. + +'Put that thing away,' said Jensen. 'You have done your work bravely, +Mistress Hatchett, and Bill may be well proud of you.' + +He clapped his hand as he spoke on Red Beard's shoulder, and the fool's +face flushed with pleasure. + +Barbara laughed, and slowly folded the flag up square by square into a +small compass. Jensen took it from her when she had finished and put it +into a locker, which he closed with a key that he took from his pocket. + +I began to find my position rather perilous. It was high time for me to +take my departure, before the conspirators became aware of my +whereabouts. It would not trouble either of the men a jot to ram a knife +into my ribs and to jerk me overboard ere the life was out of me. And +then what would become of my dear ones, and of all the honest folk on +board, with no one to warn them of their peril? + +I drew back very cautiously, creeping along the passage and holding my +breath, stepping as gingerly as a cat on eggs, for fear of making any +sound that should betray me. As I crept along I kept asking myself what +I was to do. The first course that came to my mind was to go to Captain +Marmaduke and tell him of what I had seen. But then, again, I did not +know, and he did not know, how many there were of crew or company tarred +with Jensen's brush, and I asked myself whether it would not first be +more prudent to consult with Lancelot. For I knew that with Captain +Marmaduke the first thing he would do would be to accuse Jensen to his +face, without taking any steps to countermine him, and then we should +have the hornets' nest about our ears with a vengeance. + +But while I was creeping along in the dark, straining my ears for every +sound that might suggest that Jensen or Hatchett were following me, and +while my poor mind was anxiously debating as to the course I ought to +pursue, that came to pass which settled the question in the most +unexpected manner. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A VISITATION + + +My agitations were harshly interrupted. There came a crash out of the +silence, and before I could even ask myself what it meant I was flung +forward and my legs were taken from under me. I pitched on to a coil of +rope, luckily for me, or I might have come to worse hurt, and I had my +hands extended, which in a measure broke the force of my fall. But I +rapped my head smartly against the wall of the passage--never had I more +reason in my life to be grateful for the thickness of my skull--and for +a few moments I lay there in the darkness, dizzy--indeed, almost +stunned--and scarcely realising that there was the most horrible +grinding noise going on beneath me, and that the ship seemed to be +screaming in every timber. I could have only lain there for a few +seconds, for no human clamour had mingled with the sound of the ship's +agony when I staggered to my feet. My head was aching furiously, and my +right wrist was numb from the fall, but my senses had now come back to +me, and I knew that some great calamity had befallen the ship. In +desperation I pulled myself together and ran with all speed, heedless of +the darkness, to the end of the passage where the ladder was, and so up +it and on to the deck. + +The weather was fair, and a moon like a wheel made everything as visible +as if it were daytime. The decks shone silver and the sky was as blue as +I have ever seen it; but the sea, as far as eye could reach, appeared to +be wholly covered with a white froth, which rose and fell with the waves +like a counterpane of lace upon a sleeper. All that there was to see I +saw in a single glance; in another second the deck was full of people. + +Captain Marmaduke came on deck clad only in his shirt and breeches, and +Lancelot was by his side a moment after in like habit. At first the +sailors rushed hither and thither in alarm and confusion, but Cornelys +Jensen brought them to order in a few moments, while Hatchett and half a +dozen of the men proceeded to reassure the passengers and to keep them +from crowding on to the deck. All this happened in shorter time than I +can take to set it down, and yet after a fashion, too, it seemed +endless. + +Captain Marmaduke rushed up to the watch and caught him by the +shoulder. 'What have you done?' he said; 'you have lost the ship!' + +The man shook himself away from the Captain's hand. + +'It was no fault of mine,' he said between his teeth. 'I took all the +care I could. I saw all this froth at a distance, and I asked the +steersman what it was, and he told me that it was but the sea showing +white under the light of the moon.' + +Captain Marmaduke gave a little groan of despair. + +'What is to be done?' he asked. 'Where are we?' + +'God only knows where we are,' the man answered, still in that sullen, +shamefaced way. 'But for sure we are fast upon a bank that I never heard +tell of ere this night.' + +As they were thus talking, and all around were full of consternation, I +saw that Marjorie had come up from below and was standing very still by +the companion head. She had flung a great cloak on over her night-rail, +and though her face was pale in the moonlight she was as calm as if she +were in church. When I came nigh her she asked me, in a low, firm voice, +what had happened. + +I told her all that I knew--how the ship had by mischance run on some +bank through the whiteness of the moonlight misleading the steersman. +With another woman, maybe, I should have striven to make as light as +possible of the matter, but with Marjorie I knew that there was no such +need. I told her all that had chanced and of the peril we were in, as I +should have done to a man. + +[Illustration: "SHE HAD FLUNG A GREAT CLOAK ON."] + +When I had done speaking she said very quietly: 'Is there any hope for +the ship?' + +I shook my head. 'I am very much afraid----' I began. + +She interrupted me with a little sigh, and stepped forward to where +Captain Marmaduke stood giving his orders very composedly. Lancelot was +busy with Jensen in reassuring the women-folk and getting the men-folk +into order. I must say that they all behaved very well. With many of the +men, old soldiers and sailors as they were, it was natural enough to +carry themselves with coolness in time of peril, but the women showed no +less bravely. This, indeed, was largely due to the example set them by +Barbara Hatchett, who acted all through that wild hour as a sailor's +daughter and a sailor's wife should act. Her composure and her loud, +commanding voice and encouraging manner did wonders in soothing the +women-kind, and in putting out of their heads the foolish thoughts +which lead to foolish actions. + +Marjorie went up to Lancelot and laid her hand upon his sleeve. He +looked at her with the smile he always gave when he greeted her, and he +spoke to her as he might have spoken if he and she had been standing +together on the downs of Sendennis instead of on that nameless reef in +that nameless danger. + +'Well, dear,' he said, 'what is it?' + +'What do you wish me to do?' she asked. + +'Comfort the women-folk, dear,' he answered. Then, catching sight as the +wind moved her cloak of her night-rail, he added quickly: 'Run down and +dress first.' + +'Is there truly time?' + +'Aye, aye, time and to spare. We may float the ship yet, God willing. Do +as I bid you.' + +She lingered for a moment, and said softly: + +'If anything should happen, let me be next you at the last.' + +I was standing near enough to hear, and the tears came into my eyes. +Lancelot caught his sister's hand and pressed it as he would have +pressed the hand of a comrade. Then she turned away and slipped silently +below. + +I am glad to remember that good order prevailed in the face of our +common peril. Our colonists, men and women, kept very quiet, and the +sailors, under Cornelys Jensen, acted with untiring zeal. I must say to +his credit that Jensen proved a cool hand in the midst of a misfortune +which must have come as a special misfortune to himself. It is a curious +fact, and I know not how to account for it, unless by the smart knock on +my head and the confusion of events that followed upon it, but all +memory of what I had seen and heard In Jensen's cabin had slipped from +my mind. No--I will not say all memory. While I watched him working, and +while I worked with him, my head--which still ached sorely after my +tumble--was troubled, besides its own pain, with the pain of groping +after a recollection. I knew that there was something in my mind which +concerned Cornelys Jensen, something which I wanted to recall, something +which I ought to recall, something which I could not for the life of me +recall. What with my fall, and the danger to the ship, and the strain of +the toil to meet that danger, that page of my memory was folded over, +and I could not turn it back. I have heard of like cases and even +stranger; of men forgetting their own names and very identity after some +such accident as mine. All I had forgotten was the evil scene in +Jensen's cabin, the three evil schemers, their evil flag. + +I was a pretty skilled seaman now, thanks to my Captain's patience and +my own eagerness, and I was able to lend a hand at the work with the +best. The first thing we did was to throw the lead, and sorry +information it yielded us. For we found that we had forty-eight feet of +water before the vessel and much less behind her. It was then proposed +that we should throw our cannon overboard, in the hope that when our +ship was lightened of so much heavy metal she might by good hap be +brought to float again. I remember as well as yesterday the face of +Cornelys Jensen when this determination was arrived at. He saw that it +must be done, but the necessity pricked him bitterly. 'There's no help +for it,' he said aloud to Hatchett, with a sigh. Captain Marmaduke took +the expression, as I afterwards learnt, as one of pity for him and his +ship and her gear of war. But it set me racking my tired brain again for +that lost knowledge about Jensen which would have made his meaning plain +to me. + +It was further decided to let fall an anchor, but while the men were +employed upon this piece of work the conditions under which we toiled +changed greatly for the worse. Black clouds came creeping up all round +the sky, which blotted out the moonlight and changed all that white foam +into curdling ink, and with the coming of these clouds the wind began to +rise, at first little and moaningly, like a child in pain, and then +suddenly very loudly indeed, until it grew to a great storm, that +brought with it sheets of the most merciless rain that I had then ever +witnessed. Now, indeed, we were in dismal case, wrapped up as we were in +all the horrors of darkness, of rain and of wind, which added not merely +a gloom to our situation, but vastly increased danger. For our ship, +surrounded as she was with rocks and shoals, though she might have lain +quiet enough while the sea was calm, now before the fury of the waves +kept continually striking, and I could see that the fear of every man +was that she would shortly go to pieces. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE NIGHT AND MORNING + + +It seemed such a heart-breaking thing to be hitched in that place, so +immovable, while the seas were slapping us and the wind so foully +misbehaving, that I declare I could have wept for bitterness of spirit. +But it was no time for weeping; we had other guesswork on hand, and we +buckled to our work with a will. We agreed that the straightest course +open to us was to cut away the mainmast, and this we promptly set about +doing. There are few sadder sights in the world than to see stout +fellows striving with all their strength to hew down the mainmast of a +goodly ship. The fall of a great tree in a forest preaches its sermon, +but not with half the poignancy of a noble mast which men who love their +vessel are compelled to cast overboard. As the axes rose and fell it +seemed to me as if their every stroke dealt me a hurt at the heart. As +the white wood flew it would not have surprised me if blood had +followed upon the blow--as I have read the like concerning a tree in +some old tale--so dear was the ship to me. A man's first ship is like a +man's first love, and grips him hard, and he parts from neither without +agony. When at last our purpose was accomplished, and the mast swayed to +its fall, I could have sat me down and blubbered like a baby. + +And yet in another moment, so strange is the ordering of human affairs +and so much irony is there in the lessons of life, we who were all ready +to weep for the loss of our mainmast would have been only too glad to +say good-bye to it. For while its fall augmented the shock, and made us +in worse case that way, we were not lightened of it for all our pains, +for it was so entangled with the rigging that we could not for all our +efforts get it overboard. We were now in sheer desperation, for it did +not seem as if we could ever get our ship free, but must needs bide +there in our agony until she broke and gave us all to the waters. But a +little after there came a gleam of hope, for the furious wind and rain +abated, and finally fell away altogether, and at last the longest night +I had ever known came to an end, and the dawn came creeping up to the +sky as I had often seen it come creeping when I awakened early lying on +my bed in Sendennis. Oh, the joy to hail the daylight again, and yet +what a terrible condition of things the daylight showed to us! There was +our ship stuck fast on the bank; there was her deck all encumbered with +the fallen mast and the twisted ropes and the riven sails. Every man's +face was as white as a dish, and there was fear in every man's eyes. Nor +was it longer possible to pacify all the women-folk or the children, now +that the daylight showed them the full extent of their disaster, and +every now and then they would break forth into cries or fits of sobbing +which were pitiful to hear. Marjorie did much to calm their terrors, as +did Barbara Hatchett, both of whom showed very brave and calm; and, +indeed, the only pleasing memory of all that time of terror is the +thought of those two women, the one in all the pride of her dark beauty, +the other in all the glory of her fair loveliness, moving about like +ministering angels amongst all those people whom the sudden peril of +death had made so fearful and so helpless. The beautiful woman and the +beautiful maid--none on board had braver hearts than they! + +You may imagine with what eagerness we scanned the sea for any sight of +land. But though Captain Amber searched the whole horizon with his +spy-glass, we could find nothing better than an island which lay off +from us at a distance of about two leagues, and what seemed to be a +smaller island, which lay further from us. This did not offer any great +promise of refuge to us, but as it was apparently the only hope we had +we all strove to make the best of it, and to pretend to be greatly +rejoiced at the sight of even so much land. + +Captain Amber immediately ordered Hatchett to man one of the ship's +boats and to make for those islands to examine them, a task that now +presented no difficulty, for the wind had fallen away and the sea was +smooth as it had been turbulent. I would fain have gone with the boat +for the sake of the change, for I was sick at heart of the moaning and +the groaning of the poor wretches on board, but Captain Amber did not +send me, and I had no right to volunteer; and, besides, I was still +troubled by a confused sense of something that I had to tell him; some +danger that I was instinctively seeking to ward off from him--and from +her. + +There was something piteous in the sight of that single boat creeping +slowly across the sea towards those distant islands, and I watched it as +it grew smaller and smaller, until it was little more than a mere speck +upon the waters. + +Everything depended for us upon the fortunes of that boat, upon the +tidings that it might bring back to us. I am proud to say that my +thoughts went out across that sea to the home where my mother was, who +prayed day and night for her boy's safety, and that my lips repeated +that prayer she had taught me while I supplicated Heaven with all +humility of heart, if it were His will, to bring us out of that peril. + +We spent the time during the boat's absence in clearing the decks as +well as we might, in renewing our efforts to pacify our women-kind, and +in fresh attempts, which, however, were unavailing, to get our mast +overboard. Captain Amber had gathered together those of his men who were +old soldiers, and, having addressed them in a stirring speech, which +made my blood beat more warmly, he set them to various tasks in +preparation for what now appeared to be inevitable--our leaving the +ship. The brave fellows behaved as obediently as if they had been on +parade, as courageously as if they had been going into action. They were +picked men of fine mettle, and they were yet to be tested by severer +tests, and to stand the test well. + +At about nine o'clock or a little later the boat returned. We could see +it, of course, a long way off, as it made its course towards us, but +none of those on board made any sign to us, which we took, and rightly, +too, to be a sign of no great cheer. Then our hopes, which had begun to +run a little higher, ebbed away again, and we waited in silence for the +boat to come alongside and for Hatchett to climb on board and to make +his report to Captain Marmaduke. This he did in private, Captain +Marmaduke taking him a little apart, while we all looked on and hungered +for the news. + +We had not long to wait, and when it came it was not so bad as we had +feared, if it was not so good as some of us had hoped for. + +Captain Amber came forward to the middle of the deck, where everybody +was assembled waiting for the tidings. + +'Friends and companions,' he said, 'our explorers report that yonder +island is far from inhospitable. It is not covered by the sea at high +water, as we feared at first; it is much larger than it seems to us at +this distance; there will be ample room for us all during the short time +that we may have to abide there before we sight a ship. I must indeed +admit to you that the coast is both rocky and full of shoals, and that +the landing thereupon will not be without its difficulties, and even its +dangers, but we came out prepared to face difficulties and dangers if +needs were, and these shall not dismay us. As for the further island, we +may learn of that later.' + +He looked very gallant as he said all this, standing there with the +morning sunlight shining upon his brave face and upon his fine coat--for +by this time he was fully habited and in his best, as beseemeth the +leader of an expedition when about to disembark upon an unfamiliar +shore. All around him had listened in silence while he spoke, but now, +at the close, some of the soldier-fellows set up a kind of cheer in +answer to his speech. It was not very much of a cheer, but it was better +than nothing in our dismal case. It served to set our bloods tingling a +little, so Lancelot and I caught it up, and kept it up too, with the +whole strength of our lungs, till the example spread, and soon we had +every man on deck huzzaing his best, while Cornelys Jensen and Hatchett +swung their caps and lifted their voices with the best. It was a strange +sound, that hearty British cheer ringing out through that lonely air; it +was a strange sight, all those stout fellows marshalled as best they +might on the sloping deck and fanning their scanty hopes into a flame +with shouting, while the ruined mast, thrust over the side, pointed +curiously enough straight in the direction of those islands whose +hospitable qualities we were soon to try. + +It was soon decided, after a brief conference between Captain Amber and +Cornelys Jensen, that we should transfer our company as fast as might be +to the near island, for there was no knowing when the smooth weather +might shift again and how long our Royal Christopher would hold together +if the waves, which were now lapping against its sides, grew angrier. It +was resolved that the most pressing business was to send on shore at +once the women and children and such sick people as we had on board, for +these, as was but natural, were the most troublesome for us to deal with +in our difficulty, being timorous and noisy with their fears, and +setting a bad example. + +So when it was about ten of the clock, or maybe later, for the time +slipped by rapidly, we got loose our shallop and our skiff and lowered +them into the water, and got most of the women and the children and the +sick folk into them and sent them off, poor creatures, across the waste +of waters to the islands. Barbara Hatchett went with them, for her +firmness and courage served rarely to keep them quiet and inspire them +with some little fortitude. As for Marjorie, she would by no means leave +the ship so long as Lancelot was on board, so she stayed with us, at +which I could not help in my heart being glad, in spite of the danger +that there was to everyone who stuck by the ship. + +While these first boat loads were away we on board made efforts for the +provisioning of our new home, getting up the bread and such viands as we +could, and packing them in as portable a manner as might be for the next +journey. But by this time unhappily we began to be threatened by a fresh +trouble. No sooner were we free from the women-folk and the children, +whose presence had hampered us so sorely, than a far more pressing +vexation came upon us. For certain of the sailors, who up to this point +had behaved well enough, suddenly flung aside their good behaviour. They +had got at the wine, of which, unhappily, in the first confusion of our +mischance no care had been taken, and many of them were roaring drunk, +and capable of doing little service beyond shouting and cursing at one +another. When Cornelys Jensen saw this he did his best to prevent them, +and though some of them were too sullen to obey him, he did at last +contrive with threats and oaths to keep such of the sailors as were +still sober away from the liquor. By this time Lancelot, facing the new +danger, got from his uncle the key of the storeroom where the arms were +kept, and served out weapons to all those on board who had been soldiers +and who loved Captain Amber. A pretty body of men they made, each with a +musket on his shoulder, a hanger by his side, and a brace of pistols in +his belt. They were all reliable men--many of them, indeed, had +experienced religion, and had in them something of the old Covenanting +spirit, which had worked such wonders under General Cromwell. + +I could see that Cornelys Jensen was very ill-pleased with this act on +our part, but he could say nothing, for the thing was done before he +could say or do aught to prevent it, and very fortunate it was that we +had done so betimes, for now Captain Marmaduke had under him a body of +sober, disciplined, well-armed men, who would obey him and stand by him +to the last extremity. I myself had slung a hanger by my side and thrust +a brace of pistols into my girdle, and I believe that I well-nigh +rejoiced in the peril which gave me the chance to carry those weapons +and to make, as I fancied, so brave a show. Lancelot armed himself too +in like fashion, for he served as second in command of our little troop +under Captain Amber. For my part, I held no rank indeed in the little +army, but I looked upon myself as a kind of _aide-de-camp_ to my +Captain. + +With half a dozen of those men we gathered together all the cases of +wine that had been brought out and placed them back in the spirit room, +over which we mounted two men as guard. It was idle to try and lock the +door, for the lock had been shattered, possibly when we ran aground, and +would not hold. But we locked the door of the room where our weapons and +ammunition were, and placed another guard there. + +I think many of the sailors were mightily annoyed at this action of +ours, and gladly would have resented it. But there was nothing they +could do just then, and though Cornelys Jensen was more savage than any +of them, he wore a smooth face, and kept them in check by his authority. +Though we did not dream of it then, it was a mighty blessing for us, +that same shipwreck, for if it had not come about just when it did worse +would have happened. As matters now stood, our little party--for it was +becoming pretty plain that there were two parties in the ship--was +well-armed, while the sailors had no other weapons than their knives. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +HOW SOME OF US GOT TO THE ISLAND + + +But between our need for watchfulness and the drunkenness of many of the +crew the time slipped away without our doing as much as we should have +done under happier conditions. Thanks to the confusion that their +wantonness had caused, we did but make three trips in all to the island +in that day, in which three trips we managed to send over about fifty +persons, with some twenty barrels of bread and a few casks of water. Had +we been wiser we should have sent more water, for we could not tell how +distressed we might become for want of it on the shore if we did not +find any spring of fair water on the island. However, I am recording +what we did, and not what we ought to have done, and I can assure my +friends that if ever they find themselves in such straits as we were in +that night and day they will have reason to be thankful if they manage +to keep all their wits about them, and to conduct their affairs with +the same wisdom that they, as I make no doubt, display in less pressing +hours. For myself, my wits were still wool-gathering, still were +striving to remember something which for the life of me I could not +manage to remember. + +It was well-nigh evening, and twilight was making the distant land +indistinct, when Hatchett came back from the last of those three voyages +with very unpleasant tidings--that it was no use for us to send over any +more provisions to the island, as those who had been disembarked there +were only wasting that which they had already received. Indeed, Hatchett +painted a gloomy picture of the conduct of those colonists who were now +on shore, declaring that they had cast all discipline and decorum to the +winds, and that they needed stern treatment if they were to be prevented +from breaking out into open mutiny. + +There were, of course, a great variety of folk among our colonists, and +many of them were weak and foolish creatures enough, as there always +will be weak and foolish creatures in any community of human beings +until the human race grows into perfection, as some philosophers +maintain that it will. Now, it certainly was precisely this element in +our little society that had been shipped off to the island, for, with +the women and children, it was the men who were most womanlike in their +noise, or most childlike in their fears, whose safety we had first +ensured. From what our Captain knew of these people, well-meaning enough +under ordinary conditions, but timorous and foolish under conditions +such as we now were in, he guessed that disorganisation and disturbance +might be likely enough. Therefore he resolved, and his resolve was +approved both by Hatchett and by Jensen, that he would go over himself +to the island and restore order among the malcontents. + +Now I will confess that when I heard of this my heart sank, for I took +it for granted that Marjorie would go with Captain Marmaduke, and indeed +it seemed only right that she should go rather than remain upon the +Royal Christopher with only a parcel of rough men aboard her, and those +rough men sorely divided in purpose, and each division mistrustful of +the other. All through those long hours of shipwreck sorrow my spirits +had been cheered by the sight of her beauty and the example of her calm. +She weathered the calamity with the bravest temper; never cast down, +never assuming a false elation, but bearing herself in all just as a +true man would like the woman he loved to bear herself in stress and +peril. I have read of a maid in France ages back who raised armies to +drive my ancestors out of her fatherland and I think that maid must have +looked as my maid did and had the same blessed grace to inspire courage +and love and service. + +So when I thought that Marjorie was about to quit the ship I felt such a +sudden wrench at my heart as made me feel sick and dizzy, like a man +about to faint. The water came into my eyes with the saltness of the +sea, and words without meaning--words of pain, and grief, and +longing--seemed to seek a form at my lips and then to perish without a +breath. But at last, with an effort, I shook myself free of my stupor. I +might never see her again, I told myself; this might be our latest +parting, there on that wretched deck, in that crowd of faces painted +with fear and fury, with the sullen sea about us which would so soon +divide us. Come what might come of it, I swore that I would say my say +and not carry the regret of a fool's silence to my grave. For though my +heart seemed to beat like the drums of a dozen garrisons, I made my way +across the slippery deck to where the girl stood, for the moment alone, +with the wind flapping her hair about and blowing her gown against her. +She was looking out at the island when I came close, and there was so +much noise aboard and beyond that she did not hear my coming till I +stood beside her, and called her name into her ear. Then she turned her +pale face to me, and small blame to her to look pale in those terrors; +but her eyes had all their brightness, and there was no sign of fear in +them or on her lips. I thought her more beautiful than ever as she stood +there, so calm in all that savage scene of ruin, so brave at a time when +stout men shook with fear. + +'Marjorie,' I said, 'I want to tell you something. I hope in God's mercy +that we may meet again, but God alone knows if we ever shall. And so I +want to tell you that, whatever happens to me, sick or well, in danger +or out of it, I am your servant, and that your name will be in my heart +to the end.' + +She had heard me in quiet, but there was a wonder in her face as she +listened to the words I stumbled over. In fear to be misunderstood, I +spoke again in an agony. + +'Marjorie,' I said, 'dear Marjorie, I should never have dared to tell +you but for this hour. But I may never see you again, and I love you.' + +And then I lost command of myself and my words, and begged her +incoherently to forgive me, and to think kind thoughts of me if this +were indeed farewell. She was silent for a moment, and there came no +change over her face. Then she said softly: + +'Why do you tell me this now? Is there some new danger?' + +I stared at her in wonder. + +'Marjorie,' I cried, 'Marjorie, are you not going to leave the ship?' +She shook her head. + +'I stay with Lancelot,' she answered quietly. 'It is an old promise +between us. Where he is I abide. That is our compact.' + +I cannot find any words for the fulness of joy that flooded my heart as +Marjorie spoke. I would still be near her; the ruined ship remain a +sacred dwelling. But in my error I had blundered, overbold, and I tried +to explain confusedly. + +'Marjorie,' I said, 'I thought you were going and I dared to tell you +the truth. It is the truth indeed, but I should not have told it.' + +She held out her hand to me with a kind smile as I clasped it. + +'We are good friends,' she said. 'You and I and Lancelot. Let us +remember nothing but that, that we are good friends, we three. I always +think well of you; always deserve that I shall think well of you. Be +always brave and good and God bless you!' + +She let go my hand as she spoke and I turned away and left her, stirred +by a thousand joys and fears and wonders. + +By this time Captain Amber had made all his preparations, albeit with no +small reluctance, to quit the ship. He picked out some ten of his men +from those that had served him of old and that were now equipped as men +of war. Then he formally entrusted to Lancelot the ship and the lives of +all aboard her. Marjorie, who now came to him, he kissed very tenderly, +making no attempt to urge her to accompany him. He knew the two so well +and their love and loyalty each to the other. Then he took me by the +hand and bade me serve Lancelot as I would serve him, which I faithfully +and gladly promised to do, and so he went over the side into the skiff, +with his men and Hatchett, and the sailors that were handling the skiff, +and made his way towards the island. + +It was now that a thing came to pass which relieved my mind of a care +only to increase our anxieties. When the skiff was a little way from the +ship my Captain, looking back to where we lay, drew from his pocket his +kerchief, which was a big and brightly-coloured kerchief, such as men +love who follow the sea, and waved it in our direction as a signal of +farewell, and, no doubt, of encouragement. Now, I cannot quite tell the +train of thought which the sight of that action aroused in my mind, but +I think that it was something after this fashion. The waving of that +kerchief reminded me of the waving of a flag, and the moment that the +word flag came into my mind I suddenly remembered what it was that I had +been trying to remember through all those weary hours. As in a mirror I +saw again the interior of Jensen's cabin and the beautiful face of +Barbara, smiling as she stooped over her hideous standard. I saw again +that vile black flag, and as the picture painted itself upon my brain +the consciousness of our peril came upon me in all its strength. + +Without a doubt, the first thing to do was to tell Lancelot what I knew. +It was too late now to tell the Captain. Even if he were not too far to +see and understand such signals as we might make to him to return, it +would not do to let Jensen and the rest of the crew know that we had +fathomed their treachery. So I argued the matter to myself. It was +certain that Jensen had no notion that I was any sharer in his dark +secret, for though I could read in his face his dislike, I could see +there no distrust of us. The first thing to be done was to break the bad +news to Lancelot. + +I drew Lancelot aside and told him what I had seen. At first he was +amazed and incredulous; amazed because I had not warned Captain Amber +before, and incredulous because, when I explained my forgetfulness +through my fall and the hurt to my head, he would needs have it that I +imagined the whole matter. But I was so confident in my tale that I +shook his disbelief--at least, so far that he declared himself willing +to take all possible precautions. + +As matters stood we seemed to be in the better case. We had +well-trained, well-armed men on our side; we had the supply of arms and +ammunition in our care and under our guard; if the sailors were more +numerous than we, they were practically unarmed. It was clear to both +Lancelot and myself that the shipwreck, which had seemed so great a +misfortune, was really the means of averting a more terrible calamity. +We could not doubt that the intention of Jensen and his accomplices had +been to seize the ship suddenly, taking us unawares when we were asleep, +cutting most of our throats, very likely, and, after seizing upon the +supply of arms, overawing such of the colonists and others as should be +unwilling to convert the noble Royal Christopher into a pirate ship. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A BAD NIGHT + + +Now our Captain had not been very long gone when the fair weather proved +as fitful as a woman's mood, and the smiling skies grew sullen. That +same moaning of the wind which we had heard with such terror on the +preceding evening began to be heard again, and its sound struck a chill +into all our hearts. The evening sky waxed darker, and the water that +had been placable all day grew mutinous and mounted into waves--not very +mighty waves, indeed, but big enough to make us all fearsome for the +safety of our ship, for where the Royal Christopher was, perched upon +that bank of ill omen, the force of the water was always greatest in any +agitation, and there was ever present to our minds the chance that she +might go to pieces before some sudden onslaught of the sea. In the face +of that common peril we all forgot our watchfulness of each other, and +Jensen and the sailors worked as earnestly to do all they could for the +safety of our vessel as on our side Lancelot and I and the stout +fellows under our command worked. + +It was in all this trouble and hubbub that Marjorie showed herself to be +the gallantest girl in the world. She was resolved to stay with +Lancelot, but she was no less resolved to hamper him not at all by her +presence. So when I came at dusk to the Captain's cabin to consult with +Lancelot, who had shifted his quarters thither, I found his sister with +him, but very changed in outward seeming. For she had slipped on a +sea-suit of Lancelot's and her limbs were hid in a pair of seaman's +boots and her fair hair coiled out of sight under a seaman's cap, and in +this sea change she made the fairest lad in the world and might have +been my Lancelot's brother to a hasty eye. She had a mind, she said, to +play the man till fortune mended, and vowed to take her share of work +with the best of us. At which Lancelot smiled sweetly and commended her +wisdom in changing her rig, and as for me I would have adored her more +than before, had that been possible, to find her so adaptable to danger. +But there was little for her to do save to encourage us with her +comradeship, and that she did bravely through it all, acting as any boy +messmate might, and taking her place so naturally and simply in those +hours of trial that it was not until later that I thought how strangely +and how rarely she carried herself and how quietly she played her part. + +[Illustration: "HER FAIR HAIR WAS COILED OUT OF SIGHT UNDER A SEAMAN'S +CAP."] + +I shall never forget that terrible night on board the ship, with the +waves smacking our poor sides, that groaned at every blow, and the wind +moaning through the ruined rigging in a kind of sobbing way, as if all +the elements were joining in a requiem for our foredoomed lives. There +was never a moment when we could be sure that the next might not be our +last; never a moment when we could not tell that the next wave might not +sweep the ship with riven timbers into hopeless wreck, and plunge us +poor wretches into the stormy seas to struggle for a few seconds +desperately and unavailingly for our lives. + +Through all that dismal night there was but little for us to do, and so +I passed a portion of my time in the cabin fortifying my heart with the +perusal of the book Mr. Davies gave me. I did not on that night neglect +the thoughts of religion. Indeed, if I had been of a mind to, which +Heaven be praised I was not, I could not have very well done so. For +among our people there was a reverend man, one Mr. Ephraim Ebrow, whom +extreme poverty had tempted to accompany Captain Amber's party, and +this excellent man was at all times ready to deliver an exhortation, or +to favour us with readings from the Holy Book. He was truly one of the +Church Militant, and came of an old fanatique stock, and in moments of +danger he was as gallant and as calm as any seasoned adventurer. He had +a very fine voice, and it was no slight pleasure to hear him put up a +prayer, or deliver a sermon, or read out chapters of the Scriptures in +the authorised version. He himself, because he was no mean scholar, was +wont to search the Scriptures from a Hebrew copy which he always carried +with him. On this night he read to us many portions of the Scriptures, +and got us to pray with him, and did many things of the kind that went +to stay our alarm and strengthen our trust in the merciful wisdom of +Providence. But that I found balm in the Holy Word was no reason why I +should not find courage also from the plain words of a plain swordsman. +So I read in my book by the light of a ship's lantern, and tried to give +my thoughts to the exercise of weapons. + +While I was reading thus in the cabin the door swung ajar, for ever +since the accident the furniture of the ship was all put out of gear. +Presently I heard the tramping of feet along the passage, and then the +door was pushed open and Cornelys Jensen stood in the doorway and stared +at me. I lifted my eyes and stared back at him. + +'This is a wise way of passing the time,' he said with a sneer. +'Book-learning, forsooth, when the ship may go to pieces every instant.' + +The tone of his voice galled me, and I answered him angrily, perchance +rashly. + +'I am no bookman,' I said. 'But there is nothing to do at this hour, and +I feel no need for sleep.' For we had divided the night in watches, but +I was wakeful as a hare that is being chased, and could not close my +eyes to any purpose. + +'Nay,' said I, 'there are worse things than reading a good book. Where +is your black flag, Master Jensen?' + +You should have seen how, just for a moment, he glared at me. He was +armed, of course, and I think at that moment that he was sorely minded +to take my life. But I had a pistol on the table, and my hand lay on the +pistol, and the muzzle pointed across the table very straightly in the +direction of Cornelys Jensen. Then the angry look fell away from his +face, and he broke into long, low laughter, moving his head slowly up +and down, and fixing me very keenly with his bright eyes. + +'You are a smart lad,' he said at last. 'What the plague have you to do +with my black flag?' + +'What have you to do with it were a question more to the point,' I +answered him, and I make no doubt now that in speaking as I did I was +doing a very foolish thing. But I was only a boy, and inexperienced, and +indeed all my life I have been given to blurting out things that mayhap +I had better have kept to myself. + +He laughed again. + +'Nay,' he said, 'it is one of my most treasured possessions. I hauled it +down with mine own hands from a pirate ship in my youth, when we +captured the bark of that nefarious sea rover Captain Anthony. I have +carried it with me for luck ever since, and it has always brought me +luck--always till now.' Then he nodded his head again slowly twice or +thrice. 'I will give it to you if you wish, Master Ralph,' he said; 'I +will give it to you for luck.' + +'I do not want it,' I said angrily, being somewhat confused with the +turn things had taken. 'I am not superstitious for luck.' + +Which indeed was not true, for I never met a seaman yet who was not +superstitious; but I was wrathful, and I knew not what to say. + +'Very well,' he said, 'very well. But you are welcome to it if you +wish.' + +Then he went out of the cabin without another word and drew the door +behind him. I sat still for some seconds listening to the sound of his +departing footstep. + +Now I was bitterly vexed with myself. I had done a vain thing. I had put +Jensen upon his guard by showing him that I knew something at least of +his purposes, and I had put it into his power to offer a very ready +explanation of suspicious circumstances. Indeed, how was I to know that +what he said was not true? There was nothing whatever on the face of it +unlikely, and if he told such a story to Captain Marmaduke, why, it was +ten chances to one that Captain Marmaduke would implicitly believe in +him. For there was no doubt about it, Captain Marmaduke had a great +regard for Cornelys Jensen. + +There was nothing for it but to tell Lancelot of what Jensen had said, +and I did this with all dispatch. My statement had at least the effect +of convincing Lancelot that I had in very fact seen what I had described +to him about the flag. But I could see that Jensen's explanation had its +effect upon him very much as I felt sure that it would have its effect +upon Captain Marmaduke. Lancelot had nothing like the same regard for +Jensen that his uncle had, but I knew that he did follow his uncle's +lead in trusting him. + +'You see, Ralph,' he said to me, 'this is a very likely story. Jensen is +an old sailor. My uncle has told me a thousand times that he has served +against pirates in his youth. What more natural than that he should +preserve such a trophy of his prowess as the captured flag of some such +villain as that same Captain Anthony, of whom I have often heard? But we +will be watchful none the less, and well on our guard.' + +I could see that Lancelot did not share my fears as regarded Jensen, +although he was troubled by the mutinous carriage of certain of the +crew. I know that I was very apprehensive and unhappy, and that it +seemed to me as if that night would never end. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +RAFTS + + +When the day did break at last it brought no great degree of comfort +with it. We were surrounded by a yellow, yeasty sea, and the air was so +thick that the islands on which our lives depended seemed but shapeless +shadows in the distance. Still the wind had abated somewhat, but the +swell was very strong, and we were without any means of attempting to +leave the vessel. + +When it was quite morning, and the sky cleared a little, we saw the +skiff, with the Captain on board, beating about on the water and trying +to make for us. But in this he was not able to succeed, for the waves +were running so high that it would have been quite impossible either to +bring the skiff alongside or to get on board our vessel if he had done +so. We could see the Captain standing up in the bows of the boat and +signalling to us, and it made our hearts sick to be able to see him and +to be unable to know what he wanted or what we ought to do. + +At this moment one of the men--he was the ship's carpenter, and a +decent, honest sort of fellow--said that he was a very good swimmer, +and that he thought he could reach the skiff in that way. He was so very +confident of his own powers that though we were somewhat unwilling to +let him risk his life, he did in the end prevail upon Lancelot to let +him make the attempt. + +The man stripped and was into the sea in a moment, fighting bravely with +the billows that buffeted him. It was a good sight to see him slowly +forging his way through that yellow, clapping water; it is always a good +sight to see a strong man or a brave man doing a daring thing for the +sake of other people. We watched his body as he swam; he was but a +common man, but his skin seemed as white as a woman's in that foul +spume, and his black hair, which he wore long, streamed in a rail upon +the water as a woman's might. But I do not think the woman ever lived +who could swim as that man swam. + +We watched him grow smaller and smaller, and most of us prayed for him +silently as he fought his way through the waters. At last we saw that he +had reached the skiff, and we could see that he was being pulled over +the side. Then there came a long interval--oh, how long it seemed to us, +as we watched the leaping waves and the distant skiff that leaped upon +them, and wondered if the man's strength would carry him back again to +us! By-and-by--it was not really such a very long time, but it seemed +like centuries--Lancelot, who was looking through his spy-glass, said +that the man was going over the skiff's side again. Then we all held our +breaths and waited. + +So it was; the fellow was swimming steadily back to us. It was plain +enough to see that he was sorely fatigued, and that he was husbanding +his strength, but every stroke that he gave was a steady stroke and a +true stroke, and every stroke brought him a bit nearer to where we lay. +And at last his black head was looking up at us beneath our hull, and in +another second he had caught a rope and was on the deck again, dripping +like a dog, and hard pushed for lack of breath. + +Lancelot gave him a measure of rum with his own hands, and by-and-by his +wind came back to him, and he found his voice to speak as he struggled +into his clothes. + +What he had to tell was not very cheering. He had given Captain Amber a +faithful picture of our perils and our privations, and Captain Amber had +made answer that he was sorry for us with all his heart, and only wished +that he was in the danger with us. Which we knew very well to be true, +though, indeed, the good gentleman was in scarcely less danger himself. + +His orders to us were that we should with all speed construct rafts by +tying together the planks of which we had abundance, and that we should +embark upon these rafts and so try to make the shallop and the skiff, +which would bear us in safety to the islands. + +It was not tempting to make rafts and trust them and ourselves upon them +to the sea that was churning and creaming beneath us, but it seemed to +be well-nigh the only thing to do, and it was the Captain's orders, and +we prepared to set to work and execute his commands. But we had scarce +begun to tie a couple of planks together before it was plain that our +labour would be in vain. For even while the man had been telling his +tale the weather had grown much rougher, and we could see that the skiff +was unable to remain longer near to us, but had to turn back for her own +safety to the islands. I felt very sure that Captain Amber must be in +anguish, having thus to leave us, his dear Lancelot and some seventy of +his sailors and followers, on board a vessel that might cease to be a +vessel at any moment. + +Now we were in very desperate straits indeed, and some of us seemed +tempted to give ourselves over to despair. If it had not been for the +steadiness of those that were under Lancelot, I feel sure that the most +part of the sailors would have paid no further heed to Jensen's +counsels, but would have incontinently drunk themselves into stupor or +madness, and so perished miserably. + +But our men, if they were resigned to their fate, were resolved to meet +it like Christians and stout fellows, and as we were the well-armed +party the others had, sullenly enough, to fall in with our wishes. And +Lancelot's wishes were that all hands should employ themselves still in +the making of those rafts, so that if the weather did mend we should be +able to take advantage of the improvement ere it shifted again. Though +the water was beating up in great waves all about us, we were so tightly +fixed upon our bank that we were well-nigh immovable, and it was +possible for us to work pretty patiently and persistently through all +the dirty weather. But though we worked hard and well, it took up the +fag-end of that day and the whole of the next to get our two rafts ready +for the sea, which was by that time more ready for them, as the storm +had again abated. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +WE LOSE CORNELYS JENSEN + + +It was on the night when we had well-nigh finished our two rafts that a +very unexpected thing happened--a thing which I took at the time to be a +piece of good fortune, but which, as it happened, proved to be a +misfortune for some of us. The unexpected event was, namely, that we +lost Cornelys Jensen; and this was the way in which the thing came +about. + +The nights during that spell of foul weather were very dark and +moonless, not because there was no moon, though she was now waning into +her last quarter, but because of the quantity of clouds that muffled up +the face of the heavens and hid the moon and the stars from us. But we +made shift as well as we could, working hard all the time that the +daylight lasted, and giving up the night to the rest we were all in such +sore need of. Of course, the usual discipline of the ship was preserved, +the usual watches set, and all observed exactly as if Captain Amber +himself had been aboard, for, though the Royal Christopher was sadly +shaken, she was still uninjured as to her inward parts, and we were all +able to sleep under cover and out of the way of wind or weather. + +On the night before the weather mended, although it was not my watch and +I was below in my cabin, I found that I could not sleep. The air was +close and oppressive, full of a heat that heralded, though I did not +know it, the coming of a spell of fine weather. I was feverish and +distressed of body, and tossed for long enough in my hammock, trying +very hard to get to sleep; but, though I was tired as a dog, the grace +of sleep would not come to me. At last, in very desperation, I resolved +to continue the struggle no longer. If I could not sleep I could not, +and there was an end of it. I would go on deck and get there a little +air to cool my hot body. + +So up on deck I went and looked about me. All was quiet, all was dark. +Here and there a ship's lanthorn made a star in the gloom; the ship +seemed like a black rock rising out of blackness. I could hear the tread +of the watch; I could hear the noisy lapping of the water. There was no +wind, there was no moon; the air seemed to be thick and choking. I felt +scarcely more refreshed than I had been in my cabin, but as I had come +up I thought that I might as well stay up for a bit and have the benefit +of whatever air there was. So I made my way cautiously in the darkness +to the side of the vessel, and, leaning upon the bulwark, looked out +over the sea, and fell to thinking of Marjorie and of my love for her +and all its hopelessness. + +Presently I heard voices. Those who spoke drew nearer and nearer to me, +and I soon recognised the speakers as Lancelot and Cornelys Jensen. At +the spot where I was standing a great pile of boxes and water barrels +had been raised for transfer to the rafts, and I, being on the one side +of this pile, was invisible to them as they approached, and would have +been passed unnoticed had the night been brighter than it was. I could +almost hear what they were saying; I am certain that I heard Jensen +utter my name. + +I came out of the shadow, or rather out of my corner--for it was all +shadow alike--and called out Lancelot's name. Lancelot called back to +me, and then I heard Jensen wish him good-night and turn and tramp +heavily down the stairs that led below. He seemed to tramp very heavily, +heavier than was his wont, for he was a light, alert man, even when his +biggest sea-boots were on him, as I make no doubt they now were. +Lancelot joined me, and I drew him with me into the place where I had +been standing, after first casting a glance around the deck to see that +no one was within hearing. All seemed deserted, save for the distant +walk of the watch. We leaned over the bulwark together and began to +talk. + +I asked him what Jensen had been saying to him. He told me that Cornelys +had come to him and expressed great surprise and anger at the doubts +which he believed, from my manner and from some words that I had +uttered, I entertained of him. It seemed that he had said again to +Lancelot what he had said to me about the flag; that he insisted that +there was no mystery at all about the matter, but that he was proud of +its possession and superstitious as to its luck, and that he never was +willingly parted from it. At the same time he offered to give it +Lancelot, as he had already offered to give it me, if Lancelot was +minded or wishful to take possession of it; an offer which Lancelot had +refused. + +I could see from Lancelot's manner that he was largely convinced of the +integrity of Jensen, and I must confess that Jensen's conduct had given +him grounds for confidence, and that I had very little in the way of +reasonable argument to shake that confidence. Still, I made bold to be +somewhat importunate with Lancelot. When he spoke of his uncle's trust +in Jensen's integrity, when he urged the value of Jensen's services to +us on the voyage, and the way in which he had kept the sailors under +control at the first symptom of mutiny, I had, it must be confessed, +little to say in reply that could seriously damage Jensen's character. +But I was so thoroughly convinced of the man's treachery that I argued +hotly, and it may be that as I grew hot I raised my voice a trifle, +which is a way of mine; and, indeed, my voice is never a good whispering +voice. I entreated Lancelot, at all events, to have a very watchful eye +upon Jensen, and I urged that on the first symptom of anything in the +least like double-dealing he should place Jensen under arrest. + +Lancelot listened to me very patiently. He was impressed by my +earnestness, and at last promised that he would scrutinise Jensen's +actions very narrowly, and that if he saw anything that was at all +suspicious in his demeanour he would immediately take steps to render +him harmless. At this I pressed Lancelot's hand warmly, and was about +to leave him and go below when I fancied that I heard steps stealing +away from us very softly, from the other side of the pile of barrels and +boxes by which we stood. I whipped out of my corner and round the pile +in an instant, but there was no one there, and I could neither see nor +hear anything suspicious. Lancelot declared that I was as suspicious as +an old maid of her neighbour's hens. I echoed his laughter as well as I +could, but I went below again with a heavy heart, for I was oppressed +with a sense of danger which I dreaded the more because it seemed to +lurk in darkness. I had laid me down again with no very great hope of +sleep, but I had no sooner laid my head upon its pillow than I fell into +a most uneasy slumber, in which all my apprehensions and all our perils +seemed to be multiplied and magnified a hundredfold. A nightmare terror +brooded upon my breast. Suddenly I imagined, in the swift changes of my +dream, that we were sinking, and that the vessel was going to pieces +with great crashes. I awoke with a start, to find that the noises of my +dream were being continued into my waking life. The deck above was noisy +with trampling feet and confused cries. For a moment I sat up, dizzy +with surprise, and unable to realise whether I was awake or asleep. +Then I pulled my wits together, and was on deck in a trice. + +I caught hold of a sailor who was hurrying rapidly by, and asked him +what was the matter. He answered me that there was a man overboard, and +that they were doing all they could to save him by casting over the side +spars and timbers that would float, in the hope that he might be able to +catch one of them. The deck was all confusion, men running hither and +thither, and some hanging over the bulwarks and peering into the +darkness, in the vain hope of catching a glimpse of their drowning +comrade. We had not a boat to lower, save only the little dinghy, which +would not have lived a minute in such a sea. + +When I found somebody who could tell me what had happened this was what +I learnt. A man had fallen overboard; the watch had heard the splash as +the body fell into the water, and a wild cry that followed upon the +splash; a sailor had shouted out his warning of 'Man overboard!' and the +cry had roused the whole ship. Up to this point nobody seemed to have +any idea who the missing man was, but when Lancelot, who was immediately +on deck, though he had but just gone to lie down, had commanded +silence, and the men were gathered about him on the deck, the sailor who +had first made the alarm was found and questioned. This sailor said that +he saw a man standing at the vessel's side at a place where, when the +mast fell, the bulwark had been torn away and had left a gaping wound in +the ship's railings; that as he, surprised at seeing a man there, came +nearer to try and ascertain what he was doing, the man staggered, flung +up his arms--here the man who was narrating these things to us flung up +his hands in imitation--and then went over the side with a great splash +and a great cry. He believed that the man was none other than Cornelys +Jensen. + +When Lancelot and I heard the name of Cornelys Jensen upon the man's +lips we looked involuntarily at each other, and I make certain that we +both grew pale. That the man of whom we had been talking not an hour +before in such different terms should have thus suddenly been taken out +of our lives came like a shock to us both. Further investigation +confirmed the accuracy of the man's statement. The roll was called over, +and every man answered to his name except Cornelys Jensen. His cabin was +at once searched, but he was not in it, and it was evident that he had +made no attempt to sleep there that night, for his hammock was +undisturbed. On the table lay a folded sheet of paper, which Lancelot +took up and opened. It contained only these words: 'Your doubts have +driven me to despair.' These words had apparently been followed by some +other words, the beginning of a fresh sentence, but, whatever they were, +they were so scrawled over with the pen that their meaning was as +effectually blotted out as if they had never been written. + +Of course, all efforts to rescue the unhappy man were unavailing. There +was really nothing that we could do save to cast pieces of spar and +plank overboard in the faint hope that some one of them might come in +the drowning man's way and enable him to keep afloat till daylight, if +by any chance his purpose of self-slaughter--for so it seemed to me--had +changed with his souse into the water. The night was pitchy black, and +the waves were running a tremendous pace, so that there really seemed to +be little likelihood of the strongest swimmer keeping himself long +afloat; but we did our best and hoped our hardest, even those of us who, +like myself, disliked and distrusted Cornelys Jensen profoundly. + +Though Lancelot said little to Marjorie beyond the bare news of what +had happened I could see that he took the disappearance of Jensen and +that little scrawl we found in his cabin badly to heart. He was +convinced at once that Jensen had committed suicide, driven thereto by +the suspicions that we had formed of him; and, indeed, though I tried to +console Lancelot as well as I could, it did look very like it, and I +must confess that I felt a little guilty. For though I still thought +that the grounds upon which I had formed my suspicions of the man were +reasonable grounds, and justified all my apprehensions, still I could +not resist an uncomfortable feeling that perhaps, after all, I might +have misjudged the man, and that in any case I was the instrument--the +unwitting instrument, but still the instrument none the less--of sending +a fellow-creature before his Maker with the stigma of self-slaughter +upon his soul. So certainly Lancelot and I passed a very unhappy night, +what there was left of it; and when the dawn came we scanned the sea +anxiously in the faint hope that we might see something of the missing +man. But, though the sea was far quieter than it had been for many +hours, there was no trace of any floating body upon it, and it became +only too clear to our minds that, for some cause or other, Cornelys +Jensen had indeed killed himself. I could only imagine that the man was +really crazed, although we did not dream of such a thing, and that the +perils and privations through which we had passed, and against which he +seemed to bear such a bold front, had in fact completed the unhinging of +his wits, and that my accusations, acting upon a weakened mind, had +driven him in his frenzy to destroy himself. To be quite candid, though +I was sufficiently sorry for the man, I was still dogged enough in my +own opinion of his character as to think that, if it was the will of +Providence that he should so perish, at all events the Royal Christopher +was no loser by his loss. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +WE GET TO THE ISLAND + + +Even if we had lost a better man than Jensen it would have been our duty +none the less to work hard the next day to get our rafts ready and fit +for sea. Very few men are indispensable to their fellows, and certainly, +as far as making the rafts was concerned, it would have been far more +serious if Abraham Janes, the carpenter, had taken it into his head to +throw himself overboard than that Cornelys Jensen had taken it into his +head to do so. Yet, in a manner, too, we missed Cornelys Jensen. He was +an able man, full of all kinds of knowledge, and he had a domineering +way with the seamen which they seemed to recognise and to obey +unflinchingly. These fellows, for the most part, took the tidings of his +death very indifferently. Some of them seemed to miss him as a trained +dog might miss his master. Some, again, seemed scarcely to miss him at +all. One or two, and especially the fellow who saw the death and the +manner of it, seemed to take the matter very greatly to heart, and to go +about with a sad brow and a sullen eye in consequence. + +As for Lancelot and myself, I must say that we soon grew to accept his +loss with composure. There was so much to do that there would have been +little time for a greater grief than either of us could honestly wear. +The weather was mending hourly, and the rafts were making rapid +progress. By the end of that day they were finished and ready for the +sea. + +By this time, so strange are the chops and changes of the weather in +that part of the world, the sea and sky were as gentle as on a summer's +day. I have heard the phrase 'as smooth as a mill-pond' applied to salt +water many a thousand times, but never, indeed, with so much truth as if +it had been applied to the ocean that day. It lay all around us, one +tranquillity of blue, and above it the heavens were domed with an azure +fretted here and there with fleeces of clouds, even as the water was +fretted here and there with laces of foam. In the clear air we could see +the islands ahead of us sharply dark against the sky, and as we watched +them our longing to be at them, to tread dry land again, was so great as +to be almost unbearable. Those who have lived on shore all their lives +can form little or no idea of the way in which the thoughts of a man who +is tasting the terrors of shipwreck for the first time turn to a visible +land, and how they burn within him for longing to walk upon turf or +highway once again in his jeopardised life. + +Now, the rafts that we had constructed were by no means ill-fashioned. +That ship's carpenter, Abraham Janes, was a man of great parts in his +trade. I never in my life saw a handier man at his tools or a defter at +devices of all kinds. The poor old Royal Christopher had timber enough +and to spare for the planks that were to make our rafts, and we had a +great plenty of idle rope aboard in the rigging wherewith our fallen +mast was entangled. So there was no lack of material, and when our men +saw that there was really and truly a prospect of escape there was no +lack of willing hands to work. So by the end of the time I have already +specified we had two large and serviceable rafts ready to try their +fortunes upon the ocean that was now so tempting in its calm. + +It was a matter of some little surprise to us who were on board the ship +that with the calm weather Captain Amber made no further attempt to come +out to us. But there was no sign of a sail upon the water, although we +watched it eagerly through the spy-glass; and we were sorely puzzled to +imagine what could have happened to our leader, for that he could be +forgetful of or indifferent to our danger it was impossible to believe. + +The rafts being now ready and the weather so propitious, nothing was +left for us but to commit them, with ourselves and all our belongings, +to the water, in the hope of making the shore with them. They were each +of them capable of holding our whole number and a quantity of such +stores as were left on board. These latter, therefore, divided into two +equal parts, we proceeded to put upon the rafts as quickly as we could, +together with as many barrels of water as we had. Each of the rafts +carried a stout mast and sail, and in the absence of any wind could be +propelled slowly over such a smooth water as that which now lay around +us by means of oars. The stores and water barrels we adjusted in such a +way as to preserve as nicely as might be the balance of the rafts. + +We effected the transfer of our stores and provisions with very little +difficulty, and embarked all our party, also without any difficulty +whatever. In obedience to Lancelot's resolution, which he had privately +communicated to me beforehand, we divided our forces into two parties. +That is to say, half of the sailors were set on each raft, and with each +raft half of our armed men; for though we had little or no apprehension +now that there would be any trouble with the sailors, we still deemed it +best to let them see very plainly that we were and meant to be the +masters. I went on the one raft, Lancelot--and of course Marjorie with +him--upon the other, and when all was ready we pushed away from the +Royal Christopher and trusted ourselves and our fortunes to our new +equipages. + +There was happily little danger, even little difficulty, about the +enterprise. The rafts were well made; they rode on the waters like +corks. What little wind there was blew towards the islands, and the sea +was as placid as a lake, so that the men could use their big oars easily +enough. It was indeed slow work to paddle these great rafts along, but +it was quite unadventurous, so that I have little or nothing to record +of note concerning our journey. Little by little the Royal Christopher +grew smaller and smaller behind us, with her great mast sticking out so +sadly over her side; little by little the island loomed larger and +larger on our view. At last, after a couple of hours that were the most +pleasurable we had passed for many days, we came close to the island, +and could see that the colonists were all crowded together upon the +beach, waiting to receive us. + +The island was very large, rocky, and thickly wooded, and the coast was +rocky too, and the water very shoaly, which made me understand how +difficult landing must have been in the stormy weather. But now, with +the sea so fair and the weather so fine, we had little or no difficulty +in getting ashore, and with the eager assistance of the colonists were +soon able to effect the landing of all our stores and belongings. + +Our first great surprise on our arrival was to see no sight of Captain +Amber amongst those who were gathered upon the beach to receive us. But +his absence was soon explained in reply to our anxious inquiries. It +seemed that a great spirit of discontent prevailed among the colonists +upon that island, and that they upbraided Captain Amber very bitterly +for being the cause of their misfortunes: as is the way with +weak-spirited creatures, who have not the heart to bear a common +misfortune courageously. To make a long story short, they insisted that +he must needs endeavour to find some means of rescue for them by getting +into the sea track and persuading some ship to come to their aid and +take them from the island; which certainly was a disconsolate place +enough, especially for people who were always ready to make a poor mouth +over everything that did not please them. As the sailors who were with +Captain Amber sided with the colonists in this matter, he had no choice +but to consent; and as his vessel was fairly sea-worthy, he and his +people had departed, in the hope of meeting some ship to bring all +succour. Captain Marmaduke was, it seems, most loath to depart while we +were in such a plight on board of the Royal Christopher; but there was +no help for it, for his men were almost in open mutiny, and would have +carried him on board would he or no. So he had sailed away and the +colonists were all hopeful, in their silly, simple way, that he would +soon return in a great ship and carry them to a land as lovely as a +dream, where all their wishes would be fulfilled for the asking, and +where each man would have his bellyful of good things without the +working for it. For that was, it seems, the notion most of these fellows +had in their heads of poor Captain Amber's Utopia. + +I had begun to perceive by this time that a very large number of those +that had come out with Captain Amber aboard of the Royal Christopher +were but weak-spirited creatures, and such as might be called +fair-weather friends. So long as all was going well and there was a +prospect before them of a prosperous future and everything they wanted, +they were supple enough and loud to laud the good gentleman who was +conveying them to comfort. But with the break in our luck their praises +and their patience went in a whiff, and they showed themselves to be +such a parcel of wrong-headed, grumbling, disheartened and dispiriting +knaves as ever helped to shake a good man's courage. They were as ready +to imprecate Captain Amber now as they had been to load him with praises +before, and in this they were supported by all the worser sort--and +these were the greater part--among the sailors that had stayed with the +colonists. But with Lancelot's arrival upon the island he soon put a +stop to all loudly expressed grumbling--or at least to all grumbling +that was loudly expressed in his hearing. There were some good fellows +amongst the colonists, and the old soldiers were staunch and sturdy +fellows, who adored Captain Amber, and Lancelot after him. So, as we had +these with us, we made the grumblers keep civil tongues in their heads, +aye and work too to the bettering of our conditions. The first party +had made themselves some huts and now we made more for ourselves who +were new-comers, with tents of a kind out of sail-cloth that we had +brought from the ship, and for Lancelot a large double hut covered with +some of this same cloth for him and Marjorie to dwell in. And, Lord! +what a joy it was to see how Marjorie bestirred herself making herself +as good a lieutenant to Lancelot as Captain's heart could desire. But we +were all so busy that in those hours on that island I seldom had speech +with her, for my care was chiefly with those discontented and weaklings +who were so eager to complain and make mischief. + +It seemed to me then that the best man of all that pack was the woman +Barbara Hatchett. For while the colonists were making poor mouths over +their plight and piping as querulously as sparrows after rain, and while +the sailors were for the most part sour and sullen, Barbara took her lot +with cheerfulness, and had smiles and smooth words for everybody and +everything. She had even smiles and smooth words with me, who had +exchanged no speech with her beyond forced greeting for this many a day. +For she came up to me laughing once, at a time when I stood alone and +was, indeed, thinking of Marjorie who was busy in her hut at some task +that Lancelot had set her. Barbara began to banter with me in a way that +seemed strange with her, saying that I was fickle like all my sex, that +I was sighing for fair hair now, who had doted on black locks a few +years ago, and much more idle talk to the same want of purpose. At last +she asked me bluntly if I had loved her once, and when I answered yes, +she asked me if I loved her still, now that she was a married woman; and +without giving me time to answer she said that she had a kindness for +me, and would do me a good turn yet for the sake of old days when she +came to be queen. + +I was vexed with her for the vanity and importunity of her mirth, and to +stop her words I asked her bluntly if she had ever seen a black flag. +But my question had no effect to disconcert her gaiety. + +'You mean the black flag of poor Jensen?' she said; and when I nodded +she began to pity Jensen for his belief in his trophy, which, after all, +had brought him no more luck than a sea grave; and then she went on with +shrillish laughter to tell me that she had begged it of him to give her +to make into a petticoat, 'For it would have made a bonny petticoat, +would it not?' she said suddenly, coming to a sharp end and looking me +earnestly in the face. + +I was at a loss what to say, being so flustered by her carriage and her +words, which seemed to make it plain to me that I had sorely misjudged +the dead man. But I said nothing, and moved a little way from her; and +she, seeing my disinclination, laughed again, and then 'God blessed' me +with a vehemence and earnestness that, as I thought, meant me more harm +than good. But after that she turned and went back to the rest of the +women, and I could see her going from one to the other, soothing and +comforting them, and showing them how to make the best of their bitter +commons on the island. And as I watched her I wondered; but I had little +time for watching or for wondering. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +FAIR ISLAND + + +For the nonce I will make bold to leave Captain Marmaduke sailing the +seas and to occupy myself solely with the fate of those who were +encamped on the island, and chiefly of Marjorie and Lancelot and thereby +myself who had the good fortune to be with them to the end of the +enterprise. And, oh, as I think of Marjorie in those days it is ever +with fresh wonder and delight and infinite gratitude to Heaven for the +privilege to have seen her. She seemed just a boy with boys, she with +Lancelot and me, and she wore her boyish weed with a simple +straightforward ease that made it somehow seem the most right and +natural thing in the world. But that was ever her way; whatever she did +seemed fit and good, and that not merely to my eyes who loved her, but, +as I think, to most. And she was very helpful in mind and body, always +eager to bear her share in any work that was toward, and in council +advising wisely without assertion. It might seem at first blush a +handicap for adventurers to have a girl on their hands, but we did not +find it so, only always, save for the peril in which the maid was, a +gain and blessing. And so to our fortunes. You must know that from the +further coast of our island--the further from our wreck, I mean--we +could discern the outlines of other islands, the nearest of which +appeared to be within but a few hours' sail. It was plain, therefore, +that we were, very fortunately for us, cast away in the neighbourhood of +a considerable archipelago, and that we had every reason on the whole to +rejoice at our condition instead of bewailing it. + +Now, though the island we were on was in many ways fair and commodious, +we were not without confidence that another island, which lay a little +further off, as it might be a couple of hours' sail, would serve us even +in better stead, and at least we resolved to explore it. So Lancelot and +Marjorie and I, with some thirty of our own men, resolved to cross over +in the shallop boat which had conveyed the first party to the island +while the weather was still fair, taking with us a great plenty of arms +and implements, canvas and abundance of provisions, as well as a +quantity of lights and fireworks, which we had saved from the ship, and +which Lancelot thought might be useful for many purposes. It was agreed +between us and the colonists that if we found the new island better than +the old we were to make great bonfires, the smoke of which could not +fail to be seen from the first island, or Early Island, as we came to +call it. This they should take as a signal to come with all speed to the +new camping-ground. + +You must not think it strange that we set out upon this expedition +thoughtlessly and leaving the other folk unprotected. For, in the first +place, there were a goodly number of the colonists--as many in number as +the sailors; and, in the second place, the sailors were not so +well-armed as many of the colonists were, having nothing but their +knives and a few axes. Furthermore, as Cornelys Jensen was not among +them, and as it seemed most unlikely that the purpose, if purpose he +had, would hold with his fellows now that there was, as it were, no ship +to seize, we felt that there could be no danger to our companions in +leaving them while we went on our voyage of exploration. So you will +please to bear in mind how matters now stood. There was Captain +Marmaduke in the skiff, who had sailed away from us to seek succour for +us all. There was on the island with which we had first made +acquaintance the majority of our colonists--men, women and children, +together with the greater part of the sailors--under the authority of +Hatchett. There were, further, Lancelot and Marjorie and myself and our +thirty men, who had gone off in the shallop to explore the adjacent +islands in the hope of finding a better resting-place for our whole +party. As for Cornelys Jensen, I took him to be at the bottom of the +sea. + +We had arranged that during our absence the administration of the colony +should be vested in a council, of whom the Reverend Mr. Ebrow was one +and Hatchett another, for, as the leading man among sailors, he could +not be overlooked, and I mistrusted him no more now that Jensen was +gone. Certain of the soldierly men and two or three of the most +cool-headed amongst the colonists made up the total of this council, +whose only task would be to apportion the fair share of labour to each +man in making the island as habitable a place as might be till our +return. For, after all, it was by no means certain that we should have +better luck with the near island, and in any case it was well to be +prepared for all emergencies. + +It was late on the second day of our arrival at the island that Lancelot +and Marjorie and I with our companions set off on our expedition. We +followed the coast-line of our island a long while, keeping a +sufficiently wide berth for fear of the shoals. When we had half +circumnavigated it there lay ahead of us the island for which we were +making. It lay a good way off, and, as the day was very fine and still, +it seemed nearer to us than it proved to be. As far as we could judge at +that distance, it seemed to be a very much larger island than the one +which we had just left; and so indeed it proved to be. + +The shallop was a serviceable vessel, and ran bravely before the wind on +the calm sea. Had the wind been fully in our favour we should have made +the island for which we were steering within the hour; but it blew +slightly across our course, compelling us to tack and change our course +often, so that it was a good two hours before we were close to our goal. +When we came close enough we saw that the island seemed in all respects +to be a more delectable spot than that island on which chance had first +cast us. There was a fine natural bay, with a strand of a fine, white, +and sparkling sand such as recalled to me the aspect of many of the +little bays and creeks in the coast beyond Sendennis, and in the +recollection brought the tears into my mouth, not into my eyes. From +this strand we could see that the land ran up in a gentle elevation +that was very thickly wooded. Beyond this again rose in undulating +succession several high hills, that might almost be regarded as little +mountains, and these also seemed to be densely clothed with trees. +Marjorie declared that the place looked in its soft greenness and the +clean whiteness of its shore a kind of Earthly Paradise, and indeed our +hearts went out to it. I found afterwards, from conversation with my +companions, that every man of us felt convinced on our first close sight +of Fair Island, as we afterwards called it, that we should find there +abundance of water and all things that we needed which could reasonably +be hoped for. + +We came, after a little coasting, to a small and sheltered creek, into +which it was quite easy to carry our vessel. The creek ran some little +way inland, with deep water for some distance, so here we beached the +shallop and got off and looked about us. + +Although by this time the day was grown somewhat old, we were determined +to do at least a measure of exploring then and there, and ascertain +some, at least, of the resources of our new territory. There was, of +course, the possibility that we might meet with wild animals or with +still wilder savages, but we did not feel very much alarm about either +possibility. For we were a fairly large party; we were all well-armed, +and well capable of using our weapons. Each of us carried pistols and a +hanger, Marjorie with the rest, she being as skilful in their use as any +lad of her age might be. For my own part I always wore in my coat pocket +a little pistol Lancelot had given me, that looked like a toy, but was a +marvel of mechanism and precision. Weaponed as we were, we had come, +moreover, into that kind of confidence which comes to those who have +just passed unscathed through grave peril, a confidence which is, as it +were, a second wind of courage. + +It would not do, of course, to leave our boat unprotected, so it was +necessary to tell off by lot a certain number of our men to stay with it +and guard it. All the men were so eager for exploration that those upon +whom the lots fell to remain behind with the shallop made rather wry +faces; but Lancelot cheered them by telling them that theirs was a +position to the full as honourable as that of explorers, and that in any +case those who looked after the boat one day should be relieved and go +with the exploring party on the next day, turn and turn about. + +This satisfied them, and they settled down to their duty in content. It +was agreed upon that in case of any danger or any attack, whether by +savages or by wild beasts--for in those parts of the world there might +well be monstrous and warlike creatures--they were to make an alarm by +blowing upon a horn which we had with us, and by firing a shot. It was +to be their task while we were away to prepare a fire for our evening +meal. We had our supply of provisions and of water with us, but those of +us who were to explore had very good hopes that we should bring back to +the skiff not merely the good news that we had found water, but also +something in the way of food for our supper. Lancelot, for one, +expressed his confidence that there must be game of various kinds in so +thickly a wooded place, and when Lancelot expressed an opinion I and the +others with me always listened to it like Gospel. + +Luckily for us, we soon found one and then another spring of fresh +water. But it took us a matter of three days to explore that island +thoroughly, for it was very hilly, and in many parts the woods were +well-nigh impenetrable in spite of our axes. Most of the trees and +shrubs had at this time either blossoms or berries on them, red, white, +and yellow, that filled the air with sweet and pungent odours. It was a +large island, and on the other side of the ridge of hills which rose up +so sharply from the place where we first landed the land stretched +almost level for a considerable distance before it dropped again in low +cliffs to the sea. Part of this plain was grass-grown land, not unlike +English down land, but in other parts the grass grew in great tufts as +big as a bush, intermixed with much heath, such as we have on our +commons in England; part of it was thickly grown with all manner of +bright flowers and creeping plants, that knotted themselves together in +such an entanglement that it was very hard to cut a path. We had need to +go carefully here, for suspicion of snakes. We found no sign of savage +wild beasts, though of harmless ones there were plenty, some of which +made very good meat. As for savages, we saw none; and as far as we could +make out we were the only human beings upon the island. Yet Lancelot, +who was wonderfully quick at noting things, thought that he detected +signs here and there which went to show that we were not the first men +who had ever explored it. There were few land fowls--only eagles of the +larger sort, but five or six sorts of small birds. There were waterfowl +in abundance of many varieties, with shellfish to our hands, and good +fish for the fishing, so between the sea and the land we were in no fear +of want of victual, which cheered us very greatly. + +We had rigged up some rough tents with our canvas, one apart for +Marjorie and one for me and Lancelot, and half a dozen for our men, and +altogether our condition had fair show of comfort, and to me indeed +seemed full of felicity. + +Until we had thoroughly explored the island we did not deem it wise to +make our promised communication with the former island. But as soon as +we had pretty well seen all that there was to be seen, we thought that, +the time still being fair, we could scarcely do better than get our +fellow-adventurers over. Our men were therefore set to work collecting +as large a quantity of fuel as might be, and in clearing a path to the +summit of the nearest hill, from which we might set off our bonfire to +the best advantage. + +Our men were all dispersed about the island busy at this business, and +Marjorie was in her tent, taking at her brother's entreaty the rest she +would never have allowed herself. It was a very hot day, and Lancelot +and I, who had been collecting firewood on the near slope of the hill, +but a few yards from the creek where our craft was beached, were lying +down for a brief rest under a tree and talking together of old times. +The sight of a small gaudy parrot, of which there was an abundance in +the island, had sent our memories back to that parlour of Mr. Davies's +where we had first met, and where there were parrots on the wall, and so +we chatted very pleasantly. + +By-and-by our talk flagged a little, for we grew drowsy with the heat, +and our eyes closed and we fell into dozes, from which we would lazily +wake up to enjoy the warm air and the bright sunlight and the vivid +colours of everything about us, sea and sky and trees and flowers and +grasses. + +I remember very well musing as I lay there upon the strangeness of +disposition which leads men to pine out their lives in the mean air of +smoky cities, with all their hardship and their unloveliness, when the +world has so many brave places only waiting for bold spirits to come and +dwell therein. Boylike, I had forgotten all the perils which I had +undergone before ever I came to Fair Island. I was only conscious of the +delicious appearance of the place, of our good fortune in finding so +fair a haven; and if only Captain Marmaduke and my mother had been with +us I think I could have been very well content to pass the remainder of +my days upon that island, which seemed to me to the full as enchanted as +any I had read of in the Arabian tales. + +I had dropped into a kind of sleep, in which I dreamt that I was Sindbad +the Sailor, when I was awakened by a light step and the sound of a soft +voice. I looked up and saw that Marjorie was bending over Lancelot, who +was sitting up by me. She held him by the arm and pointed out across the +sea. + +'Don't you see something out there?' she asked, speaking quite low, as +she always did when excited by anything. + +Lancelot and I followed the direction of her gaze and her outstretched +finger, and discerned very far away upon the sea a small black object. +It lay between us and the island we had left, but somewhat to the right +of it. + +'What is it?' I asked. + +'That's just what I want to know,' said Marjorie. 'How if it should be +savages?' + +The very thought was disquieting. We had grown so secure that we had +almost forgotten the possibility of such dangers; but now, at Marjorie's +words, the possibilities came clearly back to me. Captain Marmaduke had +told us many a time stories about savages and their war canoes and +their barbarous weapons, and it was very likely indeed that what we saw +was a boat filled with such creatures creeping across the sea to attack +us. + +It moved very slowly across the smooth waters, and there was a strong +bright sun, which played upon the surface of the water very dazzlingly, +which added to our difficulty in understanding the floating object. But +as it came slowly nearer we saw that it must be some kind of vessel, for +we distinguished what was clearly a mast with a sail, though, as there +was very little wind that morning, the sail hung idly by the mast. A +little later we were able to be sure that what we saw was a kind of +raft, with, as I have said, a mast and sail, but that its propulsion +came from some human beings who were aboard it, and who were causing its +slow progress with oars. By this time I had got out a spy-glass from our +tent; and then Lancelot gave a cry of amazement, for he recognised in +the new-comers certain of those colonists our companions whom we had +left behind on the hither island. There were five of them on board, all +of whom Lancelot named to us, and as he named them, Marjorie and I, +looking through the glass in turns, were able to recognise them too. +By-and-by they saw us too, for one of them stood up on the raft, and +stripping off his shirt waved it feebly in the air as a signal to us, a +signal which we immediately answered by waving our kerchiefs. It takes a +long time to tell, but the thing itself took longer to happen, for it +must have been fully an hour after we first noted the raft before it +came close to the shore of our island. + +As soon as it was within a couple of boats' lengths Lancelot and I, in +our impatience and our anxiety to aid, ran into the water, which was +shallow there, for the beach sloped gently, and was not waist high when +we reached the voyagers, so that we had no fear of sharks. The +new-comers were huddled together on as rudely fashioned a raft as it had +ever been my lot to see, and had it not been for the astonishing +tranquillity of the sea it is hard to believe that they could have made +a hundred yards without coming to pieces. They all leaped into the water +now, and between us we ran the crazy raft on to the beach, Lancelot and +I doing the most part of the work, for the poor wretches that had been +on board of her seemed to be sorely exhausted and scarcely able to speak +as they splashed and staggered through the shallow water to the shore, +where Marjorie was waiting anxiously for us. + +They did speak, however, when once they were safely on dry land and had +taken each a sip from our water-bottles, for all their throats were +parched and swollen with thirst. It was a terrible tale which they had +to tell, and it made us shiver and grow sick while they told it. I will +tell it again now, not, indeed, in their words, which were wild, +rambling, and disconnected, but in my own words, making as plain a tale +of it as I can, for indeed it needs no skill to exaggerate the horror of +it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE STORY FROM THE SEA + + +In few words, it came to this. The sailors on the island had proved +themselves to be as bloody villains as had ever fed the gallows. They +had taken the unhappy colonists by surprise and had massacred them, all +but the women and the children. As for the women--poor things!--it would +have been better for them if they had been killed with the others, but +their lives were spared for greater sorrows. Those who told us that tale +were all that were left, they said, of the unhappy company. They had +escaped by mere chance to the woods, and had fashioned with their axes +the rough raft and oars which had conducted them at last to us and to +temporary safety. + +This was their first raw story. Horrid as it was it took a stronger +horror when one of the men shouted a curse at Cornelys Jensen. + +'Cornelys Jensen!' I cried. 'Cornelys Jensen--Cornelys Jensen is dead, +and the seas have swallowed him.' + +The man who had uttered his name gave a great groan. + +'Would to Heaven they had,' he said. 'But Heaven has not been so +merciful. That tiger still lives and lusts for blood.' + +Marjorie and Lancelot and I glanced at each other in amazement, and the +same thought crossed all our minds--that fear and grief had crazed the +unhappy man who was speaking to us. But he, reading something of our +thoughts in our eyes, turned to his fellows for confirmation, and +confirmation they readily gave. Cornelys Jensen was alive. Cornelys +Jensen was on the island. Cornelys Jensen was the instigator of the +massacre, the bloodiest actor in the bloody work. + +Here was indeed amazing tidings, and we cried to know more, but the men +had no more to tell. They had no knowledge of how Cornelys Jensen made +his appearance upon the island; all they knew was that he did appear, +and that his appearance was the signal for a display of weapons on the +part of the sailors on his side and the massacre of all the unhappy +wretches who were not inclined to his piratical purposes. The colonists +seemed to have made no sort of stand for their lives. Indeed, it would +appear that they were taken quite unawares, and that the most were +struck down before they had time to act in their own defence. As for the +miserable wretches who told us this tale, they had fled to the woods +when the wicked business began, and the murderers either lost count of +them or imagined that they must perish miserably of famine in the +forest. Indeed, they must have so perished if it had not occurred to one +of them, who had his wits a little more about him than the others, to +suggest the manufacture of a raft, whereby they might make the attempt +to reach the island, where, as they guessed, we, with our well-armed +fellows, were safely settled. 'For,' as the man argued, 'we risk death +either way. If we stop here we must either perish among these trees for +lack of sustenance or must creep back to the piratical camp with little +other hope than a stroke from a hanger, or tempt the seas in the hope of +friends and safety.' So they fashioned a raft as well as they could out +of a number of fallen trees, which they fastened together with natural +ropes made of the long creeping plants that abounded, and that were as +tough and as endurable as ever was rope that was weaved out of honest +hemp. They found enough timber for their craft among the fallen tree +trunks, and they had the less difficulty in their work that one of +their number was Janes, who had his saw in his belt at the moment of +their flight to the woods. + +Long before they finished telling their tale our men, who were scattered +abroad in the woods, came tumbling down to us at the sound of the horn, +that Lancelot wound to summon them, and gathered in horror around their +unhappy comrades. As for me, I was so amazed at the news that Cornelys +Jensen was alive that I stood for awhile like one stunned, and could say +nothing, but only stare at those pale faces and wonder dumbly. When +after awhile the power of speech did return to me I strove with many +questions to find out how Jensen was thus restored to life and to evil +deeds, but as to that they none of them knew anything. If the marvel of +Jensen's reappearance was the greatest marvel, marvel only second to it +was how the sailors who obeyed him came to have weapons for their +business. As to that, again, the fugitives could give no help. The +sailors had arms, every man of them, muskets and pistols and cutlasses, +and had used them with deadly effect. It was all a mystery that made our +senses sick to think upon. + +Of one thing the fugitives were very positive--that Jensen and his +murderers would very soon make a descent upon our island, in the hope of +surprising us unawares and killing us. For now they were very numerous, +and at least as well-armed as we were, and would make very formidable +enemies. The only wonder was that they had not already attempted it, but +the men believed that the villains were so engrossed in a swinish orgie +after their triumph as to be heedless of time or prudence. So here were +we--but thirty-two men in all, not counting these fugitives--and with +one woman, though so brave an one--in urgent peril. It was fortunate for +us all that in Lancelot's youth there was an alliance of courage with +skill which would have done credit to a general of fifty. I was not much +in those days in the way of giving advice, but I was strong and active, +and ready to obey Lancelot in all things, which was what was most wanted +of me in that juncture. We had every reason to be confident in the +fidelity and courage of the men who were with us, and our confidence was +not misplaced. + +The first thing to be done was to settle the fugitives in the utmost +comfort we could afford them. We put them to rest in one of our tents we +had built, and gave to each of them a taste of strong waters, after +which we urged them to sleep if they could, adding, to encourage them in +that effort, that the sooner their bodies were refreshed by rest and +food the better they would be able to bear their part in resisting the +common enemy. This argument had great weight with the men, who were very +willing to be of help, but too hopelessly worn out just then to be of +the smallest aid to us or the smallest obstacle to our enemies. Indeed, +the poor fellows were so broken with fear and suffering that I think +they would have slept if they had heard that Cornelys Jensen, with all +his pack, had landed upon the island. As it was, in a very few minutes +all of them were lying in a row and sleeping soundly. I could almost +have wept as I looked upon them lying there so quiet and so miserable, +and thought of all the high hopes with which they had entered upon the +adventure that had proved so disastrous for them and so fatal for so +many of their companions. + +Having thus disposed of them, our next course was to take such steps as +we could towards strengthening our position. To begin with, we hauled +our boat further up the creek than she now was, for it would be a +terrible misfortune to us if anything were to happen to her, seeing that +on her depended any chance we had of leaving the island if we were so +far pushed as to have to make the attempt. Our position was not an easy +one to attack as it stood, coming, as the attack must, from the island +we had left, for of an attack in our rear we had no danger. Even if +Cornelys Jensen were able to get to the back of our island, it would +take him an intolerable time to make his way through the well-nigh +impenetrable woods that lay between us. On our front we felt confident +that the attack would come, and we felt further confident that, even if +it was made with the full force of ruffians that Jensen had at his +command, we ought to be able to repulse it, and to prevent the +scoundrels from effecting a landing. For though the news that they were +thoroughly equipped with the weapons and munitions of war was wofully +disheartening news, still, as we were well-armed ourselves, it did not +altogether discourage us. They might be very well two to one, but two to +one is no such great odds when the larger party has to effect a landing +upon an open place held by resolute men and well weaponed. + +It was, in Lancelot's judgment, our first duty to erect a sort of fort +or stockade upon the beach, wherein we could take shelter if we were +really hard pressed, and wherein we could store for greater safety our +stores and ammunition from our skiff. We had set up several huts along +the shore of the creek for habitation and for storage of our goods. But +they would have offered no protection in case of an attack, being but +mere shells hurriedly put together, and intended merely as temporary +shelters from possible foul weather. Lancelot's scheme was to enclose +all these buildings in a strong wall, and to connect that fort by +another wall with the spot at which our skiff was beached. + +There was no great difficulty in the construction of such a stockade in +itself. Timber enough and to spare was to be had for the chopping, and +we had thirty odd pairs of arms and sufficient axes to make that a +matter of no difficulty. Nor was there any difficulty as regards the +building of such a fort, for Lancelot's knowledge of military matters +made him quite capable of planning it out according to the most approved +methods of fortification. + +We set to work upon the stockade at once, and soon were chopping away +for dear life, even Marjorie wielding a light axe, and wielding it well. +Many hands, it is said, make light work, and there were enough of us to +make the business move pretty quickly. Choosing trees with trunks of a +middling thickness, we soon had a great quantity cut down and made of +the length that was needed. These we proceeded to set up in the places +that Lancelot had marked out, but first we dug deep trenches in the +ground so as to ensure their being firmly established, Marjorie taking +her share of the spade work with a will. We had not done very much +before Abraham Janes, the carpenter, came out of the hut and joined us. +He declared that he was now well refreshed, and that he wished to bear +his part in the labour; and indeed we were very glad to let him do so, +because he was an exceedingly skilful workman, and very ready with the +use of saw and hatchet. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE BUSINESS BEGINS + + +With toil we set up the front of our stockade and a portion of the sides +of the parallelogram. It was all loopholed for our musketry, and was +firm and strong, being carefully stiffened behind by cross beams and +shored up with buttresses of big logs in a manner that, if not +thoroughly workmanlike, was at least satisfactory from the point of +strength, which was just then our main consideration. Our palisade was +about double the height of a man, and in the centres, both front and +back, there was a gate, that was held in its place when shut by heavy +bars of wood which fitted into holes cut to receive them. + +Ere set of sun we had our outworks completed, and found ourselves the +possessors of a very creditable stockade, which under ordinary +conditions ought, if properly manned and well supplied with ammunition, +to resist the attack of a very much greater number than the defending +party. It was still in our mind to run out a palisade that should +connect our stronghold with the place where the skiff lay, but it was +too late, and we were now too exhausted to think of that, for we had +worked at our task ever since we had got the alarm, and it was really +impossible for us to do more in that work. + +But before we rested we conveyed from our boat all our stores and all +our arms and ammunition--of which latter, indeed, we had no great +quantity, a matter which we had not heeded before, but which now gave us +great trouble. We brought in abundance of water, and we had ample +provisions, which the island itself had in chief part offered to us, so +that we could hold our own very well for a time in case it came to a +siege. Our hope, however, was that we might be able to prevent the +pirates from effecting a landing at all. + +When we went to seek rest for the night we took care to set good guard +and to keep strict watch, for a night attack was possible, if it was not +very likely. + +Though we were all very tired, both bodily and mentally, by reason of +the labour of our hands and the strain upon our minds, I do not think +that any of us found sleep very easy to come at first. I only know that +I lay on my back and stared up at the stars--for the night was too hot +to sleep under cover--for long enough. At last I fell asleep, and +through sleep into a fitful feverish dream, which chopped and changed +from one place and subject to another; but at last it settled down into +one decided dream--and that was a good dream, for it was a dream of +Marjorie. It seemed that I was walking with her along the downs beyond +Sendennis, not far from that place where Lancelot found me blubbering in +years gone by, and that I was telling her that I loved her, and that she +let me hold her hand while I told her, which showed that she was not +averse to my tale, and that when I had done she turned and looked me +full in the face, and there was love--love for me--in her eyes. + +Then I awoke suddenly and found it was full day, and that Marjorie was +bending over me. For the moment I did not recollect where I was, and +stared in surprise at the great wooden paling by which we were +surrounded. Then recollection of the whole situation came back to me in +a flash, and I leapt to my feet. + +All around me the men were making preparations for the morning meal, or +were engaged in looking to their weapons, testing the sharpness of a +cutlass or seeing to the priming of a matchlock. The big door of the +stronghold was open, and through it I could see the white beach and the +sea-edge, where Lancelot stood scanning the horizon with the spy-glass. +The sun was very bright, and I could hear the parrots screaming away in +the woods behind us. + +'Come outside, Ralph,' said Marjorie. 'I want to speak with you.' + +We went out together through the gate into the open, and walked slowly a +little way in the direction of the sea. Both of us looked, naturally +enough, to that island where our enemies lay. Presently we halted and +stood in silence a few minutes, and then Marjorie spoke. + +'Ralph,' she said quietly, 'you are my friend, I believe.' + +I had it in my heart to cry wild words to her; to tell her again that I +loved her then and for ever, but though the words tingled on my lips +they never took life and sound. For Marjorie was looking at me so +steadfastly and sadly with a strange gravity in the angel-blue of her +eyes that I could not speak what she might not wish to hear. So I simply +nodded my head and held out my hand and caught hers and clasped it +close. + +'Ralph,' she said again. 'We fight for the right, but right is not +always might, and our enemies may overpower us. If they do--' here I +thought she paled a little, but her voice was as firm as ever--'if they +do, I want you to promise me one promise.' + +I suppose the look in my face assured her that there was nothing she +could ask of me that I would not obey, for she went on without waiting +for me to speak: + +'I have the right to ask you because of some words you once said to me, +words which I remember. If the worst comes you must kill me. Hush'--for +I gave a groan as she spoke. + +'That must be. I have heard enough to know that I must not live if our +enemies triumph. If I were alone I should kill myself; if you were not +here I should have to ask Lancelot, but you are here and I would rather +it happened by your hand.' + +It was strange to stand on that quiet shore by that quiet sea and look +into that beautiful face and listen to that beautiful voice and hear it +utter such words. But my heart thrilled with a wild pride at her prayer. + +'I will do your bidding,' I said, and she answered 'I thank you.' We +might have been talking of nothing in particular so even were our voices +and so simple was our speech. I pressed her hand and let it go. Then, +swiftly, she came a little nearer and took my face in her dear hands +and kissed me on the forehead, and there are no words in the world sweet +enough or sacred enough to interpret my thoughts in that moment. Then +she moved away and made to go towards Lancelot, but even as she did so I +saw him turn and run towards us along the beach. As soon as he joined us +he bade Marjorie go to our hut and blow the horn to bring our people +together. After that she was to wait in her own shelter till he came for +her. She obeyed him unquestioningly, as she always did in those days of +danger, and for a moment Lancelot and I were alone. + +'Here they come,' he said very tranquilly. 'See for yourself.' And he +handed the spy-glass to me. + +As I put it to my eye he added: 'I can't understand where they get their +rig from.' + +Neither could I. As I looked through the glass I could see that two +boats were coming slowly towards us, and that each boat was full of men. +It was surprising enough to see them coming in boats, but it was not +that which had chiefly surprised either Lancelot or me. Our wonder was +caused by the fact that all the men in the boats were clad in scarlet +coats, scarlet coats that looked very bright and clean and new. + +'Can these be our men at all?' I asked of Lancelot in amazement. I could +not for the life of me conceive what other men they could be, but the +sight of all those scarlet coats filled me with astonishment. + +Lancelot took the spy-glass from me again without replying, and looked +long and patiently at the approaching boats. + +'Yes,' he said at last, 'they are our men sure enough, for I see the +face of Jensen among them. But how on earth has he contrived to deck out +all his gang of rascals in the likeness of soldiers?' He paused for a +moment; then added thoughtfully: ''Tis our Providence that the Royal +Christopher lost her cannon. Yonder stronghold would be no better than +so much pasteboard against a couple of the ship's guns.' + +We had no time for further converse. The sound of the horn had rallied +our party, and soon the whole of our men were gathered about us, staring +over the sea at those two moving blots of scarlet. I cast an anxious +glance at the face of each man of our little party, and when I had +finished I did not feel anxious any more. I could see by the face of +every man that he meant to fight and to fight his best. + +Lancelot lost no time in getting the men into order and in arranging +exactly what was to be done. It was curious, perhaps, although I did +not think it curious then, that these men should have accepted so +unquestioningly Lancelot's command over them. But they were old +soldiers, who had promised to obey Captain Amber, and he had himself +devolved his command upon Lancelot. And so, until Lancelot went stark +staring mad, which he was not in the least likely to do, they were +perfectly prepared to obey him. + +I should not be adhering to the spirit of truthfulness which I have +observed in setting down these my early experiences if I did not confess +that I faced the fact of coming conflict with very mingled emotions. +This was the very first time that I had ever seen human beings about +to close in bloody strife. Here I found myself standing up with arms +in my hands, ready to take away the life of a fellow-creature--to take +away the lives of several fellow-creatures, if needs must. Moreover, I +knew very well that there were plenty of chances of my getting knocked +on the head in this my first scrimmage, and I trembled a little +inwardly--though not, as I believe, outwardly--at the thought of my +promise to Marjorie. And yet even with that thought a new courage came +into my heart. For I immediately resolved that, come what might, I would +endeavour to carry myself in such a manner as Marjorie would have me +carry myself, namely, as an honest man should, fighting to the best of +his ability for what he believed to be the right cause, and not making +too much of a fuss about it. And that resolve nerved me better than a +dram of spirits would have done, and I set aside the flask from which I +had been on the point to help myself. + +I do not know if Lancelot felt like that in any degree, and I never +presumed to question him on the point afterwards, as there are some +topics upon which gentlemen cannot approach each other, however great +the degree of intimacy may be between them. But he certainly carried +himself as composedly as if we were standing in a ball-room before the +dancing began. It is true that he had been brought up to understand the +military life and the use of arms, and he had seen a battle fought in +the Low Countries, and had fought a duel himself in France with some +uncivil fellow. He never looked handsomer, brighter, more gallant than +then, and his faded sea-clothes became him as well as the richest gala +suit or finest uniform that courtier or soldier ever wore. He had an +exquisite neatness of his person ever, and had contrived every day upon +that island to shave himself, so that while most of his fellows bore +bristling beards, and my own chin was as raspy as a hedgehog, he might +have presented himself at the Court of St. James's, so spruce was his +appearance. + +When all was ready Lancelot drew up his men very soldierly and made them +a little speech. He bade them bear in mind that the men who were about +to attack us were not merely our own enemies, but the King's; and not +merely the King's enemies, but Heaven's, because, being pirates, they +sinned against the laws of Heaven as well as the laws of earth. He bade +them be sure that they need look for no mercy from such fellows, and +that therefore it behoved every man of them to fight his best, both for +his own sake and for the sake of his companions; but also he conjured +them, if the victory went with them, not to forget that even those +pirates were made in God's image, albeit vilely perverted, and that it +was our duty as Christians and as soldiers to show them more mercy than +they would deal out to us. He ended by reminding them that they were +Englishmen, and that a portion of England's honour and glory depended +upon the way in which they carried themselves that day. To all of which +they listened attentively, every man standing steady as if on parade. + +When Lancelot had quite finished he pulled off his hat and swung it in +the air, calling upon them to huzza for the King. + +Then there went up from our band such a cheer as did my heart good. The +island rang for the first time in its life to the huzzaing with which +those stout fellows greeted the name of the King. Again and yet again +their voices shook the silence with that manly music, and I, while I +shouted as loud as the rest of them, glowed with pride to think that +courage and loyalty were the same all the world over. Nothing has ever +made me prouder than the courage of that knot of men about to engage in +a doubtful conflict in a nameless place with a gang of devils, and +gallantly cheering for their King before beginning it. + +Those men in scarlet must have heard that cheer and been not a little +amazed by it. I dare say that by this time Cornelys Jensen had seen us +through his spy-glass. If so, how he must have cursed at our readiness +and at the sight of our stockade! + +It was decided by Lancelot that the first thing to do was to prevent the +pirates from landing. If they succeeded by untoward chance in effecting +a landing, then all of us who were lucky enough to be left alive were +to retreat with all speed to the stronghold and fasten ourselves in +there. To this end the gate was left open, and in the charge of two men, +whose duty it would be to swing it to and bolt it the moment the last of +our men had got inside. A few men were left inside the stockade, +including the fugitives, to whom we had given arms. The main body of our +men were drawn up along the beach, with their muskets ready. Between +these and the stockade a few men were thrown out to cover our retreat, +if retreat there had to be. + +It was anxious work to watch the advance of those two boats with their +scarlet crews over that tranquil tropic sea. The water was smooth, as it +had been now for days, and their coming was steady and measured. As had +been the case ever since we made Fair Island, there was almost no wind, +so that their sails were of little service, but their rowing was +excellent, as the rowing of good seamen always is. And, villains though +they were, those underlings of Jensen's were admirable sailors. + +When they were quite near we could recognise the faces of the fellows in +the two boats. Cornelys Jensen was in the first boat, and he was dressed +out as sumptuously as any general of our army on a field day. For +though every man jack of them in the two boats was blazing in scarlet, +and though that scarlet cloth was additionally splendid with gold lace, +the cloth and the cut of Jensen's coat were finer and better than those +of the others, and it was adorned and laced with far greater profusion. +With his dark face and evil expression he looked, to my mind, in all his +finery more like my lady's monkey in holiday array than man, pirate, or +devil, although he was indeed all three. + +Every man in those two boats was decked out in scarlet cloth and gold +lace--except one. Every man in those two boats was heavily armed with +muskets, pistols and cutlasses--except one. The exception was a man who +sat by the side of Jensen. He was clad in black, and his face was very +pale, and there was an ugly gash of a raw wound across his forehead. I +could see that his hands were tied behind him, and in the wantonness of +power Jensen had laid his own bare hanger across the prisoner's knees. I +knew the captive at once. He was the Reverend Mr. Ebrow, who had so +strengthened us by his exhortation during our peril on board the Royal +Christopher. + +When Lancelot saw whom they had with them and the way that those +villains treated their captive I noted that his face paled, and that +there came a look into his eyes which I had not often seen there, but +which meant no good for Jensen and his scum if Lancelot got the top of +them. For Lancelot was a staunch Churchman and a respecter of ministers +of God's Word, and as loyal to his religion as he was to his King. + +There was one face which I missed out of those boatloads of blackguards, +a face which I had very confidently expected to find most prominent +amongst them. When I missed it in the first boat I made sure that I +should find it in the second, and probably in the place of command; but +it was not there either, very much to my surprise. At that crisis in our +affairs, at that instant of peril to my life, I was for the moment most +perturbed, or at least most puzzled by the fact that I could not find +this familiar face among the collection of scarlet-coated scoundrels who +were creeping in upon us. + +The face that I was looking for was a face that would have gone well +enough too with a scarlet coat, for it was a scarlet face in itself. I +looked for that red-haired face which I had seen for the first time +leering at me over Barbara's shoulders on the last day that ever I set +foot within the Skull and Spectacles. I was looking for the face of +Jensen's partner in treason--Hatchett. + +By this time our enemies had come to within perhaps ten boats' lengths +of Fair Island. All this time they had kept silence, and all this while +we had kept silence also. But now, as if Lancelot had made up his mind +exactly at what point he would take it upon him to act, we assumed the +defensive. For Lancelot gave the command to make ready and to present +our pieces, and his words came from his lips as clearly and as +composedly as if he were only directing some drilling on an English +green. In a moment all our muskets were at the shoulder, while Lancelot +called out to the pirates that if they rowed another inch nearer he +would give the order to fire. Our men were steady men, and, though I am +sure that more than one of them was longing to empty his piece into the +boats, all remained as motionless as if on parade. + +The pirate boats came to a dead stop, and I could see that all the men +who were not busy with the oars were gripping their guns. But Jensen +kept them down with a gesture. Then, as the boats were steady, he rose +to his feet and waved a white handkerchief in sign that he wished for +parley. It was part of the foppishness of the fellow that the +handkerchief was edged with lace, like a woman's or a grandee's. + +Lancelot called out to him to know what he wanted. Jensen shouted back +that he wished to parley with us. Lancelot promptly made answer that he +needed no parley, that he knew him and his crew for traitors, murderers, +and pirates, with whom he would have no dealings save by arms. + +At those bold words of his we could see that the fellows in the scarlet +coats were furious, and we could guess from their gestures that many of +them were urging Jensen to attack us at once, thinking, no doubt, that +they might return our fire and, being able to effect a landing before we +could reload, might cut us to pieces. + +But, whatever their purposes were, Jensen restrained them, and it was a +marvel to see the ease with which he ruled those savages. He again +addressed himself to Lancelot, warning him that it would be for his +peace and the peace of those who were with him to come to some +understanding with the invaders. And at last, having spoken some time +without shaking Lancelot's resolve, Jensen asked if he would at least +receive an envoy upon the island. + +Lancelot was about to refuse again when something crossed his mind, and +he shouted back to Jensen to know whom he would send. Jensen, who had +probably divined his thoughts, clapped his hand upon the shoulder of +that prisoner of his who sat by his side all in black, and called out to +Lancelot that he proposed to send the parson as his envoy. To this +Lancelot agreed, but I saw that he looked anxious, for it crossed his +mind, as he afterwards told me, that this proposition might merely serve +as an excuse for the pirate boats to come close, and so give them a +better chance of attacking us. However, the pirates made no such +attempt. It may be that Jensen, who was quick of wit, guessed Lancelot's +thought. The boats remained where they were. We saw the reverend +gentleman stand up. One of Jensen's fellows untied his hands, and then +without more ado Jensen caught the poor man up by his waistband and +straightway flung him into the sea. + +A cry of anger broke from Lancelot's lips when he saw this, for he +feared that the man might drown. But he was a fair swimmer, and the +distance was not so great, so within a few seconds of his plunge he +found his depth and came wading towards us with the water up to his +middle, looking as wretched as a wet rat, while all the rogues in the +boats laughed loud and long at the figure he cut. + +[Illustration: "LANCELOT RUSHED FORWARD INTO THE WATER."] + +Lancelot rushed forward into the water to give him his hand, and so drew +the poor fellow on to the dry land and amongst us again. + +The first thing he did was to assure us--which was indeed hardly +necessary, considering his cloth and his character--that he was in no +wise leagued with the pirates, but simply and solely a prisoner at their +mercy, whose life they had preserved that he might be of use to them as +a hostage. + +Lancelot called out to the pirate boats to withdraw further back, which +they did after he had passed his word that he would confer with them +again in a quarter of an hour, after he had heard what their envoy had +to say. When they had withdrawn out of gunshot, their scarlet suits +glowing like two patches of blood on the water, then Lancelot, still +bidding our line to be on guard against any surprise, withdrew with me +and the clergyman and two or three of our friends a little way up the +beach. And there we called upon Mr. Ebrow to tell us all that he had to +tell. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +AN ILL TALE + + +It was an ill tale which he had to tell, and he told it awkwardly, for +he was not a little confused and put about, both by his wound and by his +treatment at the hands of those people. We gave him somewhat to eat and +drink, and he munched and sipped between sentences, for he had not fared +well with the pirates. We would have given him a change of raiment, too, +after his ducking, but this he refused stiffly, saying that he was well +enough as he was, and that a wetting would not hurt him. And he was +indeed a strong, tough man. + +Much of what he had to tell us we knew, of course, already--of the +appearance of Jensen on the island, of the attack upon the colonists and +the massacre of the most part of them. He himself had got his cut over +the head in the fight, a cut that knocked him senseless, so that by the +time he came to again the business was over and the pirates were masters +of the island. + +But he was able to tell us the thing we most wanted to know, the thing +which the fugitives could give us no inkling of, and that was how it +came to pass that Jensen, whom we all deemed dead and drowned, should +have come so calamitously to life again. + +It was, it seemed, in this wise. Jensen, who united a madman's cunning +to a bad man's daring, saw that my suspicions of him might prove fatal +to his plans. Those plans had indeed been, as I had guessed, to seize +the Royal Christopher and make a pirate ship of her, with himself for +her captain; and to that end he had manned the ship with men upon whom +he could rely, many of whom had been pirates before, all of whom were +willing to go to any lengths for the sake of plunder and pleasure. But +so long as our party were suspicious of him, and had arms in readiness +to shoot him and his down at the first show of treachery, it was plain +to a simpler man that his precious scheme stood every chance of coming +to smoke. + +He guessed, therefore, that if we could be led to believe that he was +dead and done with our suspicions would be lulled, and he would be left +with a fair field to carry out his plan. To that end he devised a scheme +to befool us, and, having primed his party as to his purpose, he +carried it out with all success. + +It was no man's body that went overboard on that night, but merely a +mighty beam of wood that one of Jensen's confederates cast over the +vessel's side just before he raised the cry of 'Man overboard!' Jensen +himself was snugly concealed in the innermost parts of the ship, where +he lay close, laughing in his sleeve at us and our credulity. After we +left he came out of his hole and made his way to Early Island, as agreed +upon with his companions, who, on his arrival, butchered the most of the +colonists. + +One mystery was disposed of. So was the other mystery--how Jensen and +his men came to be so well-armed and so gaily attired. When our +expedition was preparing, Captain Marmaduke commissioned Jensen to buy a +store of all manner of agricultural and household implements and +utensils for the use of the young colony. Now, as such gear was not +likely to be of service to Jensen in his piracies, he was at pains to +serve his own ends while he pretended to obey the Captain's commands. + +He had therefore made up and committed to the hold a quantity of cases +which professed to contain what the Captain had commanded. But never a +spade or pick, never a roasting-jack or flat-iron, never a string of +beads or a mirror for barter with natives was to be found in all those +boxes. If our colony had ever by any chance arrived at their goal they +would have found themselves in sore straits for the means of tilling the +earth and of cooking their food. + +The boxes contained instead a great quantity of arms, such as muskets +and pistols and cutlasses, together with abundance of ammunition in the +shape of powder, bullets and shot. Others of those boxes contained +goodlier gear, for Jensen was a vain rogue as well as a clever rogue, +and dearly loved brave colours about him and to make a gaudy show. I +believe that it was a passion for power and the pomp that accompanies +power more than anything else which drove him to be a pirate, and that +if he could have been, say, a great Minister of State, who is, after +all, often only another kind of pirate, he might have carried himself +very well and been looked upon by the world at large as a very decent, +public-spirited sort of fellow. I have known men in high office with +just such passion for display and dominion as Jensen, and I do not think +that there is much to choose between him and them in that regard. + +So sundry of those lying boxes were loaded with gay clothing, such as +those scarlet coats with which we had now made acquaintance, and which +were fashioned on the pattern of those of the bodyguard of His Majesty, +only much more flauntingly tricked out with gold lace and gilded +buttons. It added a shade of darkness to the treachery of this scoundrel +that he should thus presume to parade himself in a parody of such a +uniform. + +But besides all this there was yet another secret which those same false +coffers concealed. He had dealings with shipbuilders at Haarlem, who +were noted for their ingenuity and address, and this firm had built for +him two large skiffs, which were made in such a fashion that the major +part of them could be taken to pieces and the whole packed away in a +small space with safety and convenience for his purpose. These vessels +were as easily put together as taken to pieces, and were as serviceable +a kind of boat as ever vessel carried. And so there was the rascal well +prepared to make sure of our ship. + +It makes my heart bleed now, after all these years, to think how the +fellow deceived my dear patron, and how the Royal Christopher went +sailing the seas with that secret in her womb, and that we all walked +those decks night after night and day after day, and never suspected +the treason that lay beneath our feet. + +But we never did suspect it, and when the time came for us to leave the +ship in a hurry we had little thought in our minds of taking +agricultural implements or household gear or articles of barter with us. +So they lay there snugly in the hold, and Jensen with them, and Jensen +was busy and happy in his wicked way in getting at them, and in laughing +as he did so over our folly in being deceived by him. + +It seems that after the departure of Lancelot and our little party +certain of the sailors, as agreed upon beforehand, made their way back +to the ship, and in the dead of night transported the greater quantity +of the weapons and ammunition. They put the skiffs together, too, and +lowered them over the side. The camp had gone to rest when Jensen, +shrieking like a fiend, leaped from his concealment among the trees and +gave the signal for attack. The butchery was brief. The few men who were +armed found that their weapons had been rendered useless, but even if +their murderers had not taken that precaution their victims could have +made no sort of a stand. They were taken by surprise. The horrible cries +that the pirates made as they rushed from their ambush helped to +dishearten the colonists, for they took those noises for the war-cries +of savages, and they yielded to the panic. A very few escaped from the +slaughter, and hid themselves in the woods in the centre of the island. +The manner of their escape I have already related. It seemed from what +the parson now told us that Jensen made little effort to pursue them, +feeling confident that they must perish miserably from hunger and +thirst, if not from wild beasts, in the jungle. + +The first use Jensen made of his triumph was to bring over to the island +from the wreck everything that he believed to be needful for the comfort +and adornment of his person and the persons of his following. All the +arms and ammunition that his malign thoughtfulness had provided, all the +fine clothes that he had hidden away, all the store of wines and strong +waters that still remained upon the ship were carefully disembarked and +brought to Early Island. He dressed himself and his followers up in the +smart clothes that we had seen, called himself king of the island, made +his companions take a solemn oath of allegiance to him and sign it with +their blood, and then they all gave themselves up to an orgie. + +For, bad as all this was to tell and to listen to, there was still worse +to be told and heard. To treachery and bloodshed were added treachery +and lust. The cup of Jensen's iniquity was more than full. It ran over +and was spilt upon the ground, crying out to Heaven for vengeance. + +There were, as you know, women among our colonists--not many, but still +some, the wives of some of the settlers, the daughters and sisters of +others. None of these were hurt when Jensen and his fellow-fiends made +their attack--none of them, unhappily for themselves, were killed. My +cheeks blazed with shame and wrath as I listened to what the parson had +to say, and if Jensen had been before me I would have been rejoiced to +pistol him with my own hand. + +The women were parcelled out among the men as the best part of their +booty. There was not a wickeder place on God's earth at that hour than +the island, and its sins, as I thought, should be blotted out by a +thunderbolt from Heaven. + +Yet there is something still worse to come, as I take it. In all this +infamy Jensen reserved for himself the privilege of a deeper degree of +infamy. For he told Hatchett, it seems, that he must give up Barbara, +and when Hatchett laughed in his face Jensen shot him dead where he +stood and took her by force. Such was the terror the man inspired that +no one of all his fellows presumed to avenge Hatchett, or even to +protest against the manner of his death. As for the woman, as for +Barbara, she was a strong woman, and she loved Hatchett with all her +heart, and she fought, I believe, hard. But if she was strong, Jensen +was stronger, and merciless. He had everything his own way at the +island; he had his arts of taming people, and the parson told me that he +had tamed Barbara. + +I have had to set these wrongs down here for the sake of truth, and to +justify our final deeds against Jensen and his gang. I have set them +down as barely and as briefly as possible, for there are some things so +terrible that they scarcely bear the telling. I cannot be more +particular; the whole bad business was hideous in the extreme, with all +the hideousness that could come from a mind like Jensen's--a mind +begotten of the Bottomless Pit. + +But in all my sorrow I was grateful to Heaven that Marjorie had not been +left upon that other island. Better for her to die here by the hand of +the man who loved her than to have been on that island at the mercy of +such men. Thank God, thank God, thank God! I said to myself again and +again. I could say nothing more, I could think nothing more, only thank +God, thank God! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +WE DEFY JENSEN + + +That unhappy Barbara! Her sin had found her out indeed. She was a wicked +woman, for she had been part and parcel in the treason, she had been +hand and glove with the traitors. But she did not mean such wickedness +to the women-folk, and she did what she had done for her husband's sake, +thinking that he would be a pirate king and she his consort. This was +what she meant when she had called herself a queen. With such falsehoods +had Jensen stuffed the ears of the man and his wife, snaring them to +their fate. As I had loved her once, so I pitied her now. She had shared +in a great crime, but it would be hard to shape a greater penalty for +her sin. + +By the time that the parson had finished his story we who were listening +to him felt dismal, and we looked at each other grimly. + +'What is the first thing to be done?' Lancelot said softly, more to +himself than as really asking any advice upon the matter from us. + +'Fire a volley upon those devils when they draw near, and so rid the +earth of them,' I suggested. + +Lancelot shook his head. + +'They are under the protection of a flag of truce----' he began, when I +interrupted him hotly. + +'What right,' I raged at him, 'what right have such devils to the +consideration of honourable warfare and of honourable men?' + +Lancelot sighed. + +'None whatever; but that does not change us from being honourable men +and from carrying on our contest according to the rules of honourable +warfare. They are devils, ruffians, what you will, but we--we are +gentlemen, and we have passed our word. We cannot go back from that.' + +I know very well that I blushed a fiery red, from rage against our enemy +and shame at Lancelot's reproof. But I said nothing, and Mr. Ebrow +spoke. + +'Mr. Amber,' he said, clasping Lancelot's hand as he spoke, 'you are in +the right, in the very right, as a Christian soldier and a Christian +gentleman. Their hour will come without our anticipating it.' And then +he wrung my hand warmly, in token that he understood my feelings too, +and did not overmuch blame me. + +'One thing at least is certain,' said Lancelot. 'You must not return to +the mercies of those villains.' + +Mr. Ebrow drew himself stiffly up. He was wet and weary, and the ugly +cut on his forehead did not add to the charm of his rugged face, but +just at that moment he seemed handsome. + +'Mr. Amber,' he said, 'I passed my word to those men that I would return +after I had given you their message, and I will keep my word.' + +'But,' said Lancelot, 'they will kill you!' + +'It is possible,' said the man of God calmly. 'It is very probable. But +I have in my mind the conduct of the Roman Regulus. Should I, who am a +minister of Christ, be less nice in my honour than a Pagan?' + +'Nay, but if we were to restrain you by force?' asked Lancelot. + +'Mr. Amber,' Ebrow answered, 'it was your duty just now to administer a +reproof to your friend; I hope you will not force me to reprove you in +your turn. I have given my word, and there is an end of it; and if you +were to hold me by the strong hand I should think you more worthy to +consort with those pirates than with me.' + +It was now Lancelot's turn to blush. Then he gripped Mr. Ebrow's hand. + +'I beg your pardon,' he said, and there were tears in his eyes as he +spoke. 'You have taught me a noble lesson.' + +Mr. Ebrow seemed as if he would be going, but I stayed him. + +'Reverend sir,' said I, 'may I make so bold as to ask what is this +message that you have to deliver to us?' + +For, as a matter of fact, we had so plied him with questions, and he had +been so busy in answering us, that he had not as yet delivered to us the +pirates' message, of which he was the spokesman. + +There came a spot of colour on his grey jaws as I spoke. + +'True. I fear I make but a poor intermediary,' he said. 'The pirates +propose, in the first place, that you make common cause with them, and +recognise the authority of Cornelys Jensen as your captain, in the which +case Cornelys Jensen guarantees you your share of the spoiling of the +Royal Christopher, and in future a fitting proportion of whatever +profits may come from their enterprises.' + +'I suppose you do not expect us to consider that proposition?' said +Lancelot. + +Mr. Ebrow almost smiled. + +'No, indeed,' he said, 'and I do but discharge my promise in repeating +it to you. I must tell you too that he added that he was wishful to make +your sister his wife.' + +There came into Lancelot's eyes the ugliest look I ever saw there, and +for myself I know not how I looked, I know only how I felt, and I will +not put my feelings into words. I suppose Mr. Ebrow understood us and +our silence, for he went on with his embassy. 'In the second place, +then, they call upon you to swear that you will take no part against +them, and will, on the contrary, do your endeavour to protect them in +case they should be attacked by other forces.' + +'That also needs no consideration,' said Lancelot. + +Mr. Ebrow nodded. + +'Of course not, of course not. Then, in the third place, they call upon +you to throw down your weapons and to surrender yourselves to them as +prisoners of war, in which case they pledge themselves to respect your +lives and preserve you all as hostages for their own safety.' + +'And if we refuse even this offer,' Lancelot asked, 'what is to happen +then?' + +'In that case,' said Mr. Ebrow, 'they declare war against you; they will +give you no quarter----' + +'Let them wait till they are asked!' I broke in; but Lancelot rested his +hand restrainingly upon my arm. + +'As for the matter of quarter,' he said, 'it may prove in the end more +our business to give it than to seek for it. Quarter we may indeed give +in this sense, that even those villains shall not be killed in cold +blood if they are willing to surrender. But every man that we take +prisoner shall most assuredly be tried for his life for piracy and +murder upon the high seas. Will you be so good as to tell those men from +me that if they at once surrender the person of Cornelys Jensen and +their own weapons they shall be treated humanely, kept in decent +confinement, and shall have the benefit of their conduct when the time +for trial comes? But this offer will not hold good after to-day, and if +they attempt again to approach the island they shall be fired upon.' + +'Well and good, sir,' said Mr. Ebrow. 'Have you anything more to say, +for my masters did but give me a quarter of an hour, and I feel sure +that my time must be expired by now?' + +'Only this,' answered Lancelot, 'that if they want to fly their black +flag over this island they must come and take it from us.' + +I never saw Lancelot look more gallant, with courage and hope in his +mien, and the soft wind fretting his hair. But the brightness faded away +from his face a moment after as he added: + +'It grieves me to heart, sir, that you have to return to those +ruffians.' + +Mr. Ebrow extended his hand to Lancelot with a wintry smile. + +'It is my duty. I do but follow my Master's orders, to do all in His +Name and for His glory.' + +He wrung Lancelot's hand and mine, and the hand of every man in our +troop. He gave us his blessing, and then, turning, walked with erect +head to the sea. + +As soon as the pirates saw him coming they rowed their boat a little +nearer in, when they rested on their oars, while we stood to our guns +and the parson waded steadily out into the deeper water. + +When he reached their boat they dragged him on board roughly, and we +could see from their gestures and his that he was telling them the +result of the interview with us. + +The telling did not seem to give any great satisfaction to the villains, +and least of all to Jensen, for he struck the parson a heavy blow in the +face with his clenched hand that felled him, tumbling down among the +rowers. Then Jensen turned and shook his fist in our direction, and +shouted out something that we could not hear because of the distance and +the slight wind. + +It seemed to me as if for a moment Jensen had a mind to order his boats +to advance and try to effect a landing, and I wished this in my heart, +for I was eager to come to blows with the villains, and confident that +we should prove a match for them. + +But it would seem as if discretion were to prevail with them, in which, +indeed, they were wise, for to attempt to land even a more numerous +force in the face of our well-armed men would have been rash and a rough +business. We saw the boats sweep round and row rapidly away, and we +watched those scarlet coats dwindle into red spots in the distance. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE ATTACK AT LAST + + +In what I am going to tell there will be little of Marjorie for a while, +for sorely against her will we refused to rank her as a fighting man and +made her keep within shelter, though busy in many ways making ready for +the inevitable attack. + +Nothing happened on the next day or the next to disturb our quiet and +the beauty of the weather. For all that was evident to the contrary we +might very well have been the sole inhabitants of that archipelago, the +sole children of those seas, with Marjorie for our queen. + +We did not hope, however, nor indeed did we wish, that we had heard the +last of our enemies. There was a moment even when Lancelot considered +the feasibility of our making an attack upon Early Island in the hope of +rescuing some of the captives. But the plan was only suggested to be +dismissed. For every argument which told against their attempting to +make an attack upon us told with ten times greater force against our +making an attack upon them. They outnumbered us; they were perhaps +better armed. The odds were too heavily against us. But our hearts burnt +within us at the thought of the captives. + +We had evidently come in for one of those spells of fine weather which +in those regions so often follow upon such a storm as had proved the +undoing of the Royal Christopher. If the conditions had been different +our lives would have been sufficiently enviable. Fair Island deserves +its name; we had summer, food and water; so far as material comfort +went, all was well with us. + +But mere material comfort could not cheer us much. We were in peril +ourselves; we were yet more concerned for the peril of Captain Amber, of +whose fortunes and whose whereabouts we knew absolutely nothing. If he +failed to meet a ship he was to return to Early Island. What might not +be his fate? To diminish in some degree the chance of this catastrophe, +we resolved to erect some signal on the highest point of Fair Island, in +the hope that it would have the result of attracting his attention and +leading him to suppose that the whole of the ship's company were settled +down there. + +There was no difficulty in the making of such a signal. We had a flag +with us in the boat, and all that it was necessary to do was to fix it +to the summit of one of the tall trees that crowned the hill which +sprang from the centre of Fair Island. In a few hours the flag was +flying gallantly enough from its primitive flag-staff, a sufficiently +conspicuous object even with a gentle breeze to serve, as we hoped, our +turn. + +In the two days that followed upon the visit of the pirates we were busy +victualling the stockade and supplying it with water, looking to our +arms and ammunition, and, which was of first importance, in building a +strong fence, loopholed like the stockade. This fence or wall led down +to where our boat lay, and enabled us to protect it from any attempt of +the pirates to carry it off or to destroy it. In work of this kind the +eight-and-forty hours passed away as swiftly as if they had been but so +many minutes. + +On the afternoon of the third day all our preparations were completed, +and I was convinced that within that stockade our scanty force could +keep the pirates at bay for a month of Sundays, so long as they did not +succeed in getting sufficiently close to employ fire as a means of +forcing an entrance. But though I felt cheered I noticed that there was +no corresponding cheerfulness in Lancelot's face. He never looked +despondent, but he looked dissatisfied. + +I drew him aside and asked what troubled him. + +'The moon troubles me,' he answered. + +'The moon!' I said in astonishment. + +'Yes,' he answered, 'the moon--or rather, the absence of the moon. Last +night was the moon's last night, and to-night we shall be in darkness +after sunset. It is under cover of that darkness that, some time or +another, to-night or another night, sooner or later, the pirates will +make an attempt to land. For you may be sure that they have not +forgotten us, and that they would be glad enough to pull down yonder +flag.' + +I felt in my heart that what Lancelot said was true enough, but I tried +to put a bold face upon it. + +'After all,' I said, 'the darkness will be as bad for them as it is for +us.' + +'No,' Lancelot said; 'they can steer well enough by the stars. If I +thought that they could get round to the back of the island and fall +upon us that way, I should feel that we were in a very bad case indeed. +But of that I have no fear. There is no place for landing in that part, +and if there were they would find it hard enough to force their way +through the woods. No, no; they will come as they came before.' + +I asked him what he thought was the best thing to do. He replied that +the only thing was to keep a very sharp look-out, and to fight hard if +it came to fighting, a pithy sentence, which seemed to me to sum up the +whole art of war--at least, so far as we were concerned who dwelt on +Fair Island. To make assurance doubly sure, however, Lancelot did during +the day place a man by the flag-staff, from which point, as the hill ran +up into a high peak, he would be able to sweep the sea in all +directions. With regard to the night, Lancelot showed me how fortunate +it was that he had brought the fireworks with us, as, at a pinch, in the +darkness, we could get a gleam of light for a minute by firing them. + +I was getting so unstrung by all these alarms and watchings that I began +to wish that the pirates would come once for all that we might have done +with them. For I had confidence in our side and the certainty of its +winning which was scarcely logical, maybe, but which, after all, I think +is a great deal better than feeling suspicious of the strength of one's +own side or speculative as to the merits of one's own cause. + +How often afterward, in other places and amid perils as great, or +indeed ten times greater, have I remembered that night with all its +agony of expectation! + +The main part of our little garrison was ensconced in the stockade and +sleeping, or seeking to sleep, for every man of us knew well enough that +he needed to have all his energies when the struggle came, and that the +more rest he got beforehand the better the fighting trim he would be in +afterward. + +We had sentinels posted at different points along that portion of the +coast where landing was possible, and though we had been grateful to it +before for being such an easy place to land upon, we could almost have +wished in our hearts now that it had been less easy of access. + +In front of the stockade, but some considerable distance from it, and on +the sloping land that was nigh to the beach, we had thrown up a kind of +intrenchment, behind which we could kneel and fire, and under whose +cover we hoped to be able to make a good account of assailants. I was on +guard here at night, and I paced up and down in front of it thinking of +all the chances that had happened since I sailed in the Royal +Christopher; and I pleased myself by recalling every word that Marjorie +had said to me, or in thinking of all the words that I should like to +say to her. + +Suddenly my thoughts were brought from heaven to earth by a sound as of +a splash in the water. It might have been but a sweep of a sea-bird's +wing as it stooped and wheeled in its flight over the sea, but it set my +pulses tingling and all my senses straining to hear more and to see +something. + +The sea that lay so little away from me was all swallowed up in +darkness. I could see nothing to cause me alarm. The quiet of the night +seemed to breathe a deep peace that invited only to thoughts of sleep. +But I was as wide awake as a startled hare, and I listened with all my +ears and peered into the blackness. Was it my heated fancy, I asked +myself, or did I indeed hear faint sounds coming to me from where the +sea lay? + +I whistled softly a note something like our English starling's--a signal +that had been agreed upon between Lancelot and me. In a very few seconds +he was at my side. + +As I told him of my suspicions Lancelot peered into the darkness, +listening very carefully, and now both he and I felt certain that we +could hear sounds, indistinct but regular, coming from the sea. + +'They are doing what I thought they would,' Lancelot whispered to me. +Lancelot's voice had this rare quality, that when he whispered every +syllable was as clear as if he were crying from the housetops. 'They +have chosen this dark night to attack us, and they are rowing with +muffled oars. We must do our best to give them a wild welcome. It is +well we have those fireworks; they will serve our turn now.' + +He slipped away from my side and was swallowed up in the darkness. But +he soon came back to my side. + +'All is ready,' he said. + +He had been from man to man, and now every one was at his post. The bulk +of our little body crouched down behind the breastwork while four men +were stationed by the open gates of the stockade to allow us to make our +retreat there. Those who were behind the breastwork knew that when +Lancelot gave the word they were to fire in the direction of the sea. +Lancelot had his lights ready, and we waited anxiously for the flare. + +The seconds seemed to lengthen out into centuries as we lay there, +listening to those sounds growing louder, though even at their loudest +they might very well have escaped notice if one were not watching for +them. At last they came to an end altogether, and we could just catch a +sound as of a succession of soft splashes in the water. + +Lancelot whispered close to my ear: 'They are getting out in the shallow +water to draw their boats in. We shall have a look at them in an +instant.' + +While I held my breath I was conscious that Lancelot was busy with his +flint and steel. His was a sure hand and a firm stroke. I could hear the +click as he struck stone and metal together; there was a gleam of fire +as the fuse caught, and then in another instant one of his fireworks +rose in a blaze of brightness. It only lasted for the space of a couple +of seconds, but in that space of time it showed us all that we had to +see and much more than we wished to see. + +As our meteor soared in the air the space in front of us was lit with a +light as clear as the light of dawn, though in colour it was more like +that of the moon--at least, as I have seen her rays represented often +enough since in stage plays. Before us the sea rippled gently against +the sand, and in the shallows we saw the pirates as clearly as we had +seen them on the day when they first came to the island. + +There were now three boatloads of them, and the boats were more fully +manned than before. Many of the men were still in the boats, but the +greater part were in the water, barelegged, and were stealthily urging +the boats ashore. They were doing the work quietly, and made little +noise. It was the strangest sight I had ever seen, this sight of those +men in their scarlet coats, that looked so glaring in that blue light, +with their gleaming weapons, all moving towards us with murder in their +minds. + +In their amazement at the flame the pirates paused for an instant, and +in that instant Lancelot gave the order we itched for. + +'Fire!' + +Then the silence was shattered by the discharge of our pieces in a +steady volley. All the island rang with the report, and at that very +instant the rocket on its home curve faded and went out with a kind of +wink, and darkness swallowed us all up again. + +But what darkness! The darkness had been still; now it was full of +noises. The echo of the report of our volley rang about us; from the +woods came clamour, the screaming and chattering of wakened birds, and +we could even hear the brushing of their wings as they flew from tree +to tree in their terror. But in front of us the sounds were the most +terrible of all; the splashing of bodies falling into the water, the +shrieks of wounded men, the howls and curses of the astonished and +infuriated enemy. We could not tell what hurt we had done, but it must +have been grave, for we had fired at close range, and we were all good +marksmen. + +But we could not hope that we had crippled our invaders, or done much +toward equalising our forces. For, as it had seemed in that moment of +illumination, we were outnumbered by well-nigh two to one. + +There was no need to fire another light; it was impossible that we could +hope to hold our own in the open, and our enemies would be upon us +before we had time to reload, so there was nothing for it but to retreat +to the stockade with all speed. + +Lancelot gave the order, and in another instant we were racing for the +stockade, bending low as we ran, for the pirates had begun to fire in +our direction. But their firing was wild, and it hit none of us; and it +stopped as suddenly as it began, for they soon perceived that it was +idle waste of powder and ball in shooting into the darkness. + +Luckily for us, we knew every inch of our territory by heart, and could +make our way well enough to the stockade in the gloom, while we could +hear the pirates behind splashing and stumbling as they landed. + +But as they were taken aback by the suddenness of our assault and its +result, they were not eager to advance into the night, and, as I +guessed, waited awhile after landing from their boats. + +As for us, we did not pause until we had passed, every one of us, +between the gates of our stockade, and heard them close behind us, and +the bar fall into its place. The first thing I saw in the dim light was +the face of Marjorie, fair in its pale patience. She had a pistol in her +hand, and I knew why she held it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +OUR FLAG COMES DOWN + + +We lay still inside our fortalice for awhile, listening, as well as the +throbbing of our pulses would allow, to try and hear what our invaders +were doing. + +We could hear the sound of their voices down on the beach, and the +splashing they made in the water as they dragged their dead or wounded +comrades out of the water and hauled their boats close up to the shore. +But beyond this we heard nothing, though the air was so still, now that +the screaming of the birds had died away, that we felt sure that we must +hear the sound of any advance in force. + +Lancelot whispered to me that it was possible that they might put off +their assault until daybreak. They were in this predicament, that if +they lit any of the lights which we made no doubt they carried, in order +to ascertain the plight that they were in, they would make themselves +the targets for our muskets. But the one thing certain was that, under +the control of a man like Jensen, they would most certainly not rest +till they tried to get the better of us. + +That Jensen himself was not among the disabled we felt confident, for +Lancelot, who had a fine ear, averred that he could distinguish the +sound of Jensen's voice down on the beach, which afterward proved to be +so, for Jensen, unable to distinguish in the darkness the amount of +injury that his army had sustained, was calling over from memory the +name of each man of his gang. Every pirate who answered to his name +stated the nature of his wounds, if he had any. Those who made no answer +Jensen counted for lost, and of these latter there were no less than +three. + +There was something terrible in the sense of a darkness that was +swarming with enemies. We were not wholly in obscurity inside our +enclosure, for we had a couple of the boat's lanterns, which shed enough +light to enable us to see each other, and to look to our weapons, +without allowing any appreciable light to escape between the timbers of +our fortification. Soon all our muskets were loaded again. Lancelot +appointed one of the men who came to us on the raft, and who was still +too weak for active service, as a loader of guns, that in case of +attack we could keep up a steady firing. Happily for us, our supply of +ammunition was tolerably large. + +For some time, however, we were left in peace. The blackness upon which +the pirates had counted as an advantage had proved their bane. So there +was nothing for them to do but to wait with what patience they could for +the dawn. + +The dawn did come at last, and I never watched its coming with more +anxiety. Often and often in those days when I believed myself to be +fathom-deep in love I used to lie awake on my bed and watch the dawn +filling the sky, and find in its sadness a kind of solace for mine own. +For a sick spirit there is always something sad about the breaking of +the day. Perhaps, if I had been like those who know the knack of verses, +I should have worked off my ill-humours in rhyme, and slept better in +consequence, and greeted the dawn with joy. Wonder rather than joy was +in my mind on this morning as the sky took colour and the woods stirred +with the chatter of the birds. For the pirates had disappeared! Their +boats lay against the beach, but there was, as it seemed to us at first, +no visible sign of their masters. + +We soon discovered their whereabouts, however. They had groped, under +cover of night, to the woods, and we soon had tokens of their presence. +For by-and-by we could hear them moving in the wood, and could catch the +gleam of their scarlet coats and the shine upon their weapons. + +In the wood they were certainly safe from us, if also we were, though in +less measure, safe from them. As I have said, the wooded hill ran at a +sharp incline at some distance from the place where we had set up our +stockade, so we were not commanded from above, and, no matter how high +the pirates climbed, they could not do us a mischief in that way by +firing down on to us. + +They did climb high, but with another purpose, for presently we saw, +with rage in our eyes and hearts, one bit of business they were bent on. +Our flag fluttered down like a wounded bird, and it made me mad to think +that it was being hauled down by those rascals, and that we had no art +to prevent them. + +Could we do nothing? I asked Lancelot impatiently. Could we not make a +sortie and destroy the boats that lay down there all undefended? But +Lancelot shook his head. The way to the sea was doubtless covered by our +enemies in the wood. We should only volunteer for targets if we +attempted to stir outside our stockade. There was nothing for it but to +wait. + +I think that it must have enraged the pirates to find us so well +protected that there was no means of taking us unawares or of creeping +in upon us from the rear. With the daylight they essayed to hurt us by +firing from the hill; but from the lie of the ground their shots did us +no harm, either passing over our heads or striking the wall of our +stronghold and knocking off a shower of splinters, but doing no further +damage. We, on the contrary, were able to retaliate, firing through our +loopholes up the slope at the red jackets in the woods, and with this +much effect, that soon the scarlet rascals ceased to show themselves, +and kept well under cover. We felt very snug where we were, and fit to +stand a siege for just so long as our victuals and water held out. Then, +if the pirates remained upon the island, famine would compel us to a +sortie in the hope of clearing them from the woods, an adventure in +which our chances of success seemed to kick the balance. + +But it did not come to that. About an hour before noon those of us who +were at the loopholes saw the shine of a scarlet coat among the trees on +the nearest slope, but before there was time to aim a musket something +white fluttered above it. It was, as it proved, but a handkerchief tied +to a ramrod, but it was a flag of truce for all that, and a flag of +truce is respected by gentlemen of honour, whoever carries it. + +When the white flag had fluttered long enough for him who held it to +make sure that it must have been seen by us, the bearer came out from +the cover of the wood and walked boldly down the slope. For all the +distance the sharp-sighted among us knew him at once for Cornelys +Jensen, and it came into my mind that perhaps Lancelot might refuse to +accept him as an emissary. Lancelot, however, said nothing, but stood +quietly waiting while the man came nearer. But when he came within pitch +of voice Lancelot called out to him to come to a halt. + +Jensen stopped at once and waited till Lancelot again called out to him +to ask what he wanted. Jensen replied that he came under the protection +of a flag of truce; that he wished to come to terms with Captain +Amber--for so he called him--if it were by any means possible; that he +was alone and unarmed, and trusted himself to our honour. Thereupon +Lancelot called back to him to come nearer, and he would hear what he +had to say. We had driven some great nails that we had with us into one +of the posts of our wall to serve as a kind of ladder, and by these +nails Lancelot lifted himself to the top of the palisade, and sat there +waiting for Jensen's approach. I begged him not to expose himself, but +he answered that there was no danger, so long as Jensen remained within +short range of half a dozen of our guns, that the fellows in the woods +would make himself a target. And so he sat there as coolly as if he were +in an ingle, whistling 'Tyburn Tree' softly to himself as Jensen drew +near. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +A PIECE OF DIPLOMACY + + +When Jensen was within a few feet of the stockade he halted, and +saluted Lancelot with a formal gravity that seemed grotesque under +the circumstances. I will do the rascal this justice, that he looked +well enough in his splendid coat, though his carriage was too +fantastical--more of the stage player than the soldier. Lancelot, +looking down at the fellow without returning his salutation, asked him +what he wanted. + +'Come, Captain Amber,' said Jensen boldly, 'you know what I want very +well. I want to come to terms. Surely two men of the world like us ought +to be able to make terms, Captain Amber.' + +'I do not carry the title of Captain,' Lancelot answered, 'and I have +no more in common with you than mere life. My only terms are the +unconditional surrender of yourself and your accomplices. In their +case some allowance may be made. In yours--none!' + +Jensen shrugged his shoulders and smiled with affability at Lancelot's +menaces. + +'The young cock cackles louder than the old cock ever crowed,' he said; +but he said it more good-humouredly than sneeringly, and it was evident +that he was more than willing to propitiate Lancelot. 'We ought to make +terms, for we are both at a loose end here, and might at least agree not +to annoy each other. For you see, Lieutenant--if you will take that +title--that as you judge you shall be judged. If you have no terms for +us we will have no terms for you.' + +It was a proof of his own vanity that he thus thrust a title upon +Lancelot, thinking to please him, for when Lancelot, calling him by his +surname, told him again that he had no terms to make with him, he drew +himself up with an offended air and said: + +'I call myself Captain Jensen, if you please.' + +'It does not please me,' Lancelot retorted, 'to call you anything but a +pirate and a rogue. Go back to your brother rogues at once!' + +To my surprise, Jensen kept his temper, and seemed only hurt instead of +angry at Lancelot's attack. + +'Hot words,' he said quietly, 'hot words. Upon my honour, you do me +wrong, Lieutenant Amber, for I persist in respecting the courtesies of +war. I wish with all my heart that we could agree, but if we cannot we +cannot, and there's an end of it. But there is another matter I wish to +speak about.' He paused, as if waiting for permission, and when Lancelot +bade him be brief, he went on: 'We have one among us who is more +inclined to your party than to mine. I mean your reverend friend Parson +Ebrow.' + +For my part I was glad to hear that the poor man was still alive, for I +feared that the pirates had killed him after their first attempt. But I +saw Lancelot's face flush with anger, and his voice shook as he called +out that if any harm came to Mr. Ebrow he would hold every man of the +gang responsible for his life. + +'Harm has come to him already,' Jensen answered; 'but not from us, but +from you, his friends. He was hurt in the boats last night by your +fire.' + +At this Lancelot gave a groan, and we all felt sick and sorry, while +Jensen, who knew that we could hear, though he could only see Lancelot, +smiled compassionately. + +'Do not be alarmed,' he said. 'The godly man is not mortally wounded. +Only his face, which was always far from comely, has not been bettered +by a shot that travelled across the side of the left cheek from jaw to +ear. Now, another man in my place, Lieutenant, knowing the store you set +by the parson, might very well use him to drive a bargain with you. He +is no friend of ours, and the use upon him of a little torture might +induce you to think better of the terms you deny.' + +Lancelot grew pale, and he made as if he would speak, but Jensen delayed +him with a wave of the arm. + +'Pray let me conclude, Lieutenant Amber,' he went on. 'Another man, +having such a hostage, might use him pretty roughly. But I am not of +that kidney. I want to fight fair. The reverend gentleman is no use to +me. We want no chaplain. He is a friend of yours, and if we win the day +some of you will be glad of his ghostly offices. But he is in our way, +and I cannot answer for the temper of my people if he exhorts us any +more. So I shall be heartily obliged if you will take him off our hands +and relieve me of the responsibility of his presence.' + +I had listened to this, as you may believe, in some amazement, and +Lancelot seemed no less surprised. 'What do you mean?' he asked; and +Jensen answered him: + +'I mean what I say. You can have your parson. Two of my men, with this +flag, will bring him down, for the poor gentleman is too feeble to walk +alone from loss of blood, and leave him in your charge. After that we +will send no more messages, but fight it out as well as we can till one +or other wins the day.' + +He took off his hat as he spoke and made Lancelot a bow; and this time +Lancelot returned his salutation. + +'I can only thank you for your offer,' Lancelot said, 'and accept it +gladly. If I cannot change my terms, at least be assured that this +charity shall be remembered to your credit.' + +'I ask no more,' Jensen replied; 'and you shall have your man within the +half-hour.' + +With that he clapped his hat proudly upon his head again, and turning on +his heel marched away in a swaggering fashion, while Lancelot slipped +down again into the shelter of the house. In a few minutes Jensen's red +coat had disappeared among the trees, and then we all turned and stared +at each other. + +'The devil is not so black as he is painted, after all,' Lancelot said +to me, 'if there is a leaven of good in Cornelys Jensen. But I shall be +heartily glad to have Mr. Ebrow among us, for if the worst come it will +be better to perish with us than to lie at their mercy.' + +I did not altogether relish Lancelot's talk about our perishing, for +I had got it into my head that we were more than a match for the +pirates, with all their threats and all their truculence, and my +friend's readiness to face the possibility of being victims instead +of victors dashed my spirits. But I thought of Marjorie, and felt that +we must win or--and then my thoughts grew faint and failed me, but not +my promise and my resolve. + +We had not waited very long after Jensen's departure when we saw signs +of the fulfilment of his promise. Three men came out of the wood where +he had entered, two in scarlet and one in black. We could see that the +two men in scarlet were supporting the man in black, who seemed to be +almost unable to move, and as the three drew nearer we could see, at +first with a spy-glass and soon without, that he in the middle had his +face all bound about with bloody cloths. At this sight all our hearts +grew hot with anger and pity, and there was not one of us that did not +long to be the first to reach out a helping hand to the parson. We +could see, as the group came nearer, that Jensen's men were not handling +their captive very tenderly. Though his limbs seemed so weak that his +feet trailed on the ground, they made shift to drag him along at a walk +that was almost a trot, as if their only thought was to be rid as soon +as possible of their burden, whose moanings we could now plainly hear as +he was jerked forward by his escort. It seemed such a shocking thing +that a man so good and of so good a calling should be thus maltreated +that, to speak for myself, it called for all my sense of the obligations +of a white flag to stay me from sending a bullet in the direction of his +cowardly companions. I could see that Lancelot was as much angered as I, +by the pallor of his face and the way in which he clenched his hands. + +However, in a few seconds more the pirates had hauled their helpless +prisoner to within a few feet of our fortress. Then, to the increase of +our indignation, they flung him forward with brutal oaths, so that he +fell grovelling on his injured face just in front of our doorway, and +while he lay prone one of the ruffians dealt him a kick which made him +groan like a dog. After they had done this the two red-jackets drew back +a few paces and waited, according to the agreement, laughing the while +at the plight of the clergyman. + +In a moment, obedient to a word from Lancelot, a dozen hands lifted +the beam and swung the door back. Lancelot sprang forward, followed hard +by me, to succour our unhappy friend; and between us we lifted him from +the ground, though with some effort, for he seemed quite helpless and +senseless with his ill-treatment and the fall, and unable to give us +the least aid in supporting him. Jensen's two brutes jeered at us for +our pains, bidding us mind our sermon-grinder and the like, with many +expletives that I shall not set down. Indeed, their speech and behaviour +so discredited their mission that it would have jeopardised their +safety, for all their flag of truce, with a commander of less +punctiliousness than Lancelot. But he, without paying heed to their +mutterings, propped the prisoner up stoutly, and carried him, huddled +and trailing, toward the stockade. As we moved him he moaned feebly, +and kept up this moaning as we carried him inside the stockade and drew +him toward the most sheltered corner to lay him down. + +My heart bled for the parson in his weakness, with his head all swathed +in bloody bandages, and I shuddered to think what his face would be +like when we took off those coverings. I turned to pile some coats +together for him to rest upon, but I was still looking at him as he hung +helpless against Lancelot, when, in a breath, before my astounded eyes, +the limp form stiffened, and Mr. Ebrow, stiff and strong, flung himself +upon Marjorie and caught her in his arms. Quickly though the act was +done, I still had time to think that Mr. Ebrow's calamities had turned +his brain, and to feel vexation at the increase to our difficulties with +a mad-man in our midst. In the next instant I saw that Mr. Ebrow was +squatting on the ground behind Marjorie, sheltered by her body, which he +held pinioned to his with his left arm, while his right hand held a +pistol close to her forehead. Then a voice that was not the voice of Mr. +Ebrow called out that Marjorie was his prisoner, and that if any man +moved to rescue her he would blow the girl's brains out. And the voice +that made these threats was the voice of Cornelys Jensen! + +I cannot tell you how astounded we were at this sudden turn in our +fortunes. Our garrison, taken by surprise, had left their posts every +man, and stood together at one end of our parallelogram. Lancelot stood +still and white as a statue. I leant against the wall and gasped for +breath like a man struck silly. Marjorie lay perfectly still in the +grasp of her enemy, and Jensen's eyes between the bandages seemed to +survey the whole scene with a savage sense of mastery. He was so well +protected where he crouched by Marjorie's body that no one dared to +fire, or, indeed, for the moment, to do anything but stare in +stupefaction. The stroke was so sudden, the change so unexpected, the +dash so bold, that we were at a disadvantage, and for a space no one +moved. + +In a loud voice Jensen called upon every man to throw down his weapons, +swearing furiously that if they did not do so he would kill Marjorie. +Marjorie, on her part, though she could not free herself from Jensen's +hold--for Jensen had the clasp and the hold of a bear--cried out to them +bravely to do their duty, and defend the place, and pay no heed to her. +But the men were not of that temper; they were at a loss; they feared +Jensen, and this display of his daring unnerved them. They stood idly in +a mass, while I, from where I stood, could see through the open door, to +which no one else paid any heed, Jensen's men coming out of the wood, +with only a few hundred yards of level ground between them and us. I +was cumbered, as I told you, with some sea-coats, that I had caught up +to make a couch for Mr. Ebrow, and as I held them to me with my left +arm, they almost covered me from neck to knee. Now, in my pocket I +carried the little pistol that Lancelot had given me, and in my first +moment of surprise my right hand had involuntarily sought it out. Now, I +was not much of a shot, and yet in a moment I made my mind up what I +would do. I would, under cover of the coats, which I clutched to me, +fire my piece through my pocket at Jensen, trusting to God to straighten +the aim and guide the bullet. In that moment I took all the chances. If +I hit Jensen, who was somewhat exposed to me where I stood, all would be +well. If I missed him and he at once killed Marjorie, or if, missing +him, I myself wounded or killed Marjorie, I knew that at least I should +be doing as Marjorie would have me do, and in either of these cases we +could despatch Jensen and have up our barricade again before help would +come to him. All this takes time to tell, but took no time in the +thinking, and my finger was upon the trigger when, in the providence of +God, something happened which altered every purpose--Jensen's and the +others', and mine. There came a great crash through the air loud as +immediate thunder, with a noise that seemed to shake heaven above and +earth below us. Every one of us in that narrow place knew it for the +roar of a ship's gun. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THE SEA GIVES UP ITS QUICK + + +The clatter of that reverberation altered in a trice the whole +conditions of our game. Jensen, in his surprise, looked up for a moment, +and in that moment I had flung myself upon him, and his pistol, going +off, spent its bullet harmlessly in the skies. In another second he had +knocked me to the ground with a force that nearly stunned me; but before +he could use another weapon twenty hands were upon him, and twenty +weapons would have ended him but for Lancelot's command to take him +alive. In a trice we had flung our door in its place and swung the beam +across, and there we were, none the worse for our adventure, with the +chief of our enemies fast prisoner in our hands. Already the pirates +were scouring back into the woods, and though certain of our men had the +presence of mind to empty their muskets after them, and bring down the +two rogues who had carried the sham Ebrow to us, most of us were +occupied in peering through the loopholes on the other side of the +fortress at a blessed sight. Not half a mile away rode the ship that had +fired the shot; the smoke of the discharge was still in the air about +her. She was a frigate, and she flew the Dutch flag. + +You may imagine with what a rapture we saw that frigate and that flag. +It could only mean succour, and we were sick at heart to think that we +had no flag with us to fly in answer. But we waited and watched with +beating hearts behind our walls, and presently we could see that a boat +was lowered and that men came over the side and filled it, and then it +began to make for Fair Island as fast as stroke of oar could carry it. +With a cry of joy Lancelot thrust his spy-glass into my hand, crying out +to me that Captain Amber was on board the boat. And so indeed he was, +for I had no sooner clapped the glass to my eye than there I saw him, +sitting in the stern in his brave blue coat, and at the sight of him my +heart gave a great leap for joy. We opened our seaward gate at once, and +in a moment Marjorie and Lancelot and I were racing to the strand, +followed by half a dozen others, leaving the stockade well guarded, and +orders to shoot Jensen on the first sign of any return of the pirates +from the woods. Though, indeed, we felt pretty sure that they would +make no further attempt against us, having lost their leader, and being +now menaced by this new and unexpected peril. + +As the boat drew nearer shore Lancelot tied a handkerchief to the point +of his cutlass and waved it in the air, and at sight of it the figure in +blue in the stern raised his hat, and the men rowing, seeing him do +this, raised a lusty cheer, and pulled with a warmer will than ever, so +that in a few more minutes their keel grated on the sand. + +Captain Amber leaped out of the boat like a boy, splashing through the +water to join us, while the Dutch seamen hauled the boat up and stared +at us stolidly. Captain Amber clasped Marjorie's hand and murmured to +himself 'Thank God!' while tears stood in his china-blue eyes, and were +answered, for the first time that I ever saw them there, by tears in +Marjorie's. Next he embraced Lancelot, and then he turned to me and +wrung my hand with the same heartiness as on that first day in +Sendennis, and it seemed to me for the moment as if that strand and +island and all those leagues of land and water had ceased to be, and I +were back again in the windy High Street, with my mother's shop-bell +tinkling. + +Only for a moment, however. There was no time for day-dreams. Hurriedly +we told Captain Amber all that we had to tell. Much of the ugly story we +found that he knew, and how he knew you shall learn later. Our immediate +duty was to secure the pirates who were still at large on the island, +and this proved an easy business. For the Dutch commander, who claimed +the authority of his nation for all that region, sent one of his men +with a flag of truce, accompanied by one of us for interpreter, to let +them know that if they did not surrender unconditionally he would first +bombard the wood in which they sheltered, and then land a party of men, +who would cut down any survivors without mercy. As there was no help for +it, the pirates did surrender. They came out of the woods, a sorry gang, +and laid down their arms, and with the help of the Dutchmen, who lent us +irons, we soon had the whole band manacled and helpless. + +So there was an end of this most nefarious mutiny. With Cornelys Jensen +fast in fetters the heart of the business would have been broken even +without help from the sea. There was no man of all the others who was at +all his peer, either for villainy or for enterprise and daring. Even if +there had been, the pirates would have had no great chance, while, as +it was, their case had no hope in it, and they succumbed to their fate +in a kind of sullen apathy. Honest men had triumphed over rogues once +more in the swing of the world's story, as I am heartily glad to believe +that in the long run they always have done and always will do, until the +day when rogues and righteous meet for the last time. + +We soon heard of all that had happened to Captain Marmaduke after he +left the Royal Christopher--or rather, after he had been forced to put +forth from Early Island. It had been Captain Marmaduke's intention to +make for Batavia, in the certainty of finding ships and succour there. +By the good fortune of the fair weather, his course, if slow by reason +of the little wind, was untroubled; and by happy chance, ere he had come +to the end, he sighted the Dutch frigate, and spoke her. The Dutch +captain consented to carry Captain Amber back to the wreck. On their +arrival at Early Island they found the place in the possession of a few +half-drunken mutineers, who were soon overpowered, and they learnt the +tale of Jensen's treachery from the lips of the captive women. It was +then that they sailed for Fair Island, with the women and prisoners on +board, and arrived just in time to serve us the best turn in the world. + +There was nothing for us now to do but to ship off our prisoners to +Batavia in the frigate, where they would be dealt with by Dutch justice, +and be hanged with all decorum, in accordance with the laws of civilised +States. We were to go with the frigate ourselves, for at Batavia it was +our Captain's resolve to buy him a new ship and so turn home to his own +people and his own country, and try his hand no more at colonies, which +was indeed the wisest thing he could do. Let me say here that to our +great satisfaction we found Mr. Ebrow in the woods, tied nearly naked to +a tree, alive and well, if very weak; but without a complaint on his +lips or in his heart. + +I was one of the earliest to go aboard the frigate, and the first sight +I saw on her decks was a group of women huddled together in all the +seeming of despair. These were the victims of the pirates' lust, and as +they sat together they would wail now and then in a way that was pitiful +to hear. But there was one woman who sat a little apart from the others +and held her head high, and this woman was Barbara Hatchett. I scarce +knew if I should approach her or no, but when she saw me, which was the +moment I came aboard, she made me a sign with her head, and I at once +went up to her. All the warm colour had gone out of her dark face, and +the fire had faded from her dark eyes, but she was still very beautiful +in her misery, and she carried herself grandly, like a ruined queen. As +I looked at her my mind went back to that first day I ever saw her and +was bewitched by her, and then to that other day when I found her in the +sea-fellow's arms and thought the way of the world was ended. And for +the sake of my old love and my old sorrow my heart was racked for her, +and I could have cried as I had cried that day upon the downs. But there +were no tears in the woman's eyes, and as I came she stood up and held +out her hand to me with an air of pride; and I am glad to think that I +had the grace to kiss it and to kneel as I kissed it. + +'Well, Ralph,' she said, 'this is a queer meeting for old friends and +old flames. We did not think of this in the days when we watched the sea +and waited for my ship.' + +I could say nothing, but she went on, and her voice was quite steady: + +'This is a grand ship, but it is not my ship. My ship came in and my +ship went out, and the devil took it and my heart's desire and me.' + +She was silent for a moment, and then she asked me what the boats were +bringing from the island. I told her that they were conveying the +prisoners aboard to be carried to trial at Batavia. She heard me with a +changeless face, as she looked across the sea where the ship's boats +were making their way to the ship, and after awhile she asked me if I +thought that we were bound to forgive our enemies and those who had used +us evilly. + +I was at a loss what to answer, but I stammered out somewhat to the +effect that such was our Christian duty. The words stuck a little in my +throat, for I did not feel in a forgiving mood at that moment. + +'So Mr. Ebrow tells us,' she went on softly. Mr. Ebrow had been sent on +board at once, and had immediately devoted himself, sick and weak though +he was, to ministrations among the unhappy women. 'So Mr. Ebrow says, +and he is a good man, and ought to know best. Shall I forgive, Ralph, +shall I forgive?' + +There was to me something infinitely touching in the way in which she +spoke to me, as if she felt she had a claim upon me--the claim that a +sister might have upon a brother. + +I told her that Mr. Ebrow, being a man of God, was a better guide and +counsellor than I, but that forgiveness was a noble charity. Indeed, I +was at a loss what to say, with my heart so wrung. + +'Well, well,' she said, 'let us forgive and forget,' and--for there was +no restraint upon the movements of the woman--she moved toward the side, +where they were lifting the manacled prisoners on board. Jensen was in +the first batch, but not the first to be brought on board, and he +carried himself sullenly, with his eyes cast down, and seemed to notice +nothing as he was brought up on the deck. The prisoners were so securely +bound that no especial guard was placed over them during the process of +taking them from the boats, and so, before I was aware of it, Barbara +had slipped by me and between the Dutch sailors, and was by Jensen's +side. For the moment I thought that she had come to carry out her +promise of forgiveness; but Jensen lifted his face, and I saw it, and +saw that it was writhed with a great horror and a great fear. And then I +saw her lift her hand, and saw a knife in her hand, and the next moment +she had driven it once and twice into his breast by the heart, and +Jensen dropped like a log, and his blood ran over the deck. Then she +turned to me, and her face was as red as fire, and she cried out, +'Forgive and forget!' and so drove the knife into her own body and fell +in her turn. It was all done so swiftly that there was no time for +anyone to lift a hand to interfere, and when we came to lift them up +they were both dead. This was the end of that beautiful woman, and this +the end of Cornelys Jensen. He should have lived to be hanged; it was +too good a death for him to die by her hand; but I can understand how it +seemed to her hot blood and her wronged womanhood that she could only +wash out her shame by shedding her wronger's blood. May Heaven have +mercy upon her! + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE LAST OF THE SHIP + + +It was many a weary month before we saw Sendennis again, but we did see +it again. For Captain Marmaduke was so dashed by the untoward results of +his benevolence and the failure of his scheme that he saw nothing better +to do than to turn homeward, after mending his fortunes by the sale of +the greater part of his Dutch plantations. A portion, however, he set +apart and made over as a settlement for the remnant of the colonists, +who, having got so far, had no mind to turn back, and as an asylum for +the wretched women. With the aid of the Dutchmen we got the Royal +Christopher off her reef and made shift to tow her into harbourage at +Batavia, and there Captain Amber sold her and bought another vessel, +wherein we made the best of our way back to England, with no further +adventures to speak of. At Sendennis I had the joy to find my mother +alive and well, and the wonder to find that my birth-place seemed to +have grown smaller in my absence, but was otherwise unchanged. + +And at Sendennis the best thing happened to me that can happen to any +man in the world. For one morning, soon after our home-coming, I prayed +Marjorie to walk with me a little ways, and she consented, and we went +together outside the town and into the free sweet country. We fared till +we came to that place where Lancelot once had found me, drowned in +folly, and there I showed Marjorie the picture that Lancelot had given +me, the picture of her younger self. And somehow as she took it from my +hands and looked at it there came a little tremor to her lips and my +soul found words for me to speak. I told her again that I loved her, +that I should love her to the end of my days. I do not remember all I +said; I dare say my words would show blunderingly enough on plain paper, +but she listened to them quietly, looking at the sea with steady eyes. +When I had done she stood still for a little, and then answered, and I +remember every word she said. + +'We are young, you and I, but I do not believe we are changeable. I feel +very sure that you have spoken the truth to me; be very sure that I am +speaking the truth to you. I love you!' + +And so for the first time our lips met and the glory came into my life. +I sailed the seas and made my fortune and married my heart's desire, +and we roved the world together year after year, and always the glory +staying with me in all its morning brightness. + +All my life long I have hated parting from friends, parting from +familiar faces and familiar places. Yet by the course which it has +pleased Providence to give to my life it has been my lot to have many +partings, both with well-loved men and women and with well-loved lands +and dwellings. It is the plague of the wandering life, pleasant as it is +in so many things, that it does of necessity mean the clasping of so +many hands in parting, that it does of necessity mean the saying of so +many farewells. Yet, after all, parting is the penalty of man for his +transgression, and the most stay-at-home, lie-by-the-fire fellow has his +share with the rest. Thus the philosopher by temperament, like my Lord +Chesterfield, takes his friendships and even his loves upon an easy +covenant, and the religious accept in resignation, and the rest shift as +best they can. And so I hold out my hand and wish you good luck and +God-speed! + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Marjorie, by Justin Huntly McCarthy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARJORIE *** + +***** This file should be named 26057.txt or 26057.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/0/5/26057/ + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/26057.zip b/26057.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..aca8f10 --- /dev/null +++ b/26057.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec31a7a --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #26057 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26057) |
