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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Red True Story Book, by Various, Edited
+by Andrew Lang, Illustrated by Henry J. Ford
+
+
+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: The Red True Story Book
+
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Andrew Lang
+
+Release Date: December 23, 2008 [eBook #27603]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RED TRUE STORY BOOK***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Chris Curnow, Lindy Walsh, Emmy, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+ file which includes the original illustrations.
+ See 27603-h.htm or 27603-h.zip:
+ (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/6/0/27603/27603-h/27603-h.htm)
+ or
+ (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/6/0/27603/27603-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+THE RED TRUE STORY BOOK
+
+ * * * * *
+
+WORKS BY ANDREW LANG.
+
+ COCK LANE AND COMMON SENSE: a Series of Papers
+ Crown 8vo. 6_s._ 6_d._ _net._
+
+
+ BAN and ARRIERE BAN: a Rally of Fugitive Rhymes.
+ Crown 8vo. 5_s._ _net._
+
+
+ ST. ANDREWS. With 8 Plates and 24 Illustrations in
+ the Text by T. Hodge. 8vo. 15_s._ _net._
+
+
+ HOMER AND THE EPIC. Crown 8vo. 9_s._ _net._
+
+
+ CUSTOM AND MYTH: Studies of Early Usage and
+ Belief. With 15 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 3_s._
+ 6_d._
+
+
+ BALLADS OF BOOKS. Edited by ANDREW LANG. Fcp. 8vo.
+ 6_s._
+
+
+ LETTERS TO DEAD AUTHORS. Fcp. 8vo. 2_s._ 6_d._
+ _net._
+
+
+ BOOKS AND BOOKMEN. With 2 Coloured Plates and 17
+ Illustrations. Fcp. 8vo. 2_s._ 6_d._ _net._
+
+
+ OLD FRIENDS. Fcp. 8vo. 2_s._ 6_d._ _net._
+
+
+ LETTERS ON LITERATURE. Fcp. 8vo. 2_s._ 6_d._
+ _net._
+
+
+ GRASS OF PARNASSUS. Fcp. 8vo. 2_s._ 6_d._ _net._
+
+
+ ANGLING SKETCHES. With 3 Etchings and numerous
+ Illustrations by W. G. Burn-Murdoch. Crown 8vo.
+ 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+
+ THE BLUE FAIRY BOOK. Edited by ANDREW LANG. With
+ 134 Illustrations by H. J. Ford and G. P. Jacomb
+ Hood. Crown 8vo. 6_s._
+
+
+ THE RED FAIRY BOOK. Edited by ANDREW LANG. With
+ 100 Illustrations by H. J. Ford and Lancelot
+ Speed. Crown 8vo. 6_s._
+
+
+ THE GREEN FAIRY BOOK. Edited by ANDREW LANG. With
+ 99 Illustrations by H. J. Ford. Crown 8vo. 6_s._
+
+
+ THE YELLOW FAIRY BOOK. Edited by ANDREW LANG. With
+ 104 Illustrations by H. J. Ford. Crown 8vo. 6_s._
+
+
+ THE BLUE POETRY BOOK. Edited by ANDREW LANG. With
+ 100 Illustrations by H. J. Ford and Lancelot
+ Speed. Crown 8vo. 6_s._
+
+ SCHOOL EDITION, without Illustrations. Fcp. 8vo.
+ 2_s._ 6_d._
+
+ SPECIAL EDITION, printed on Indian paper. With
+ Notes, but without Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 7_s._
+ 6_d._
+
+
+ THE TRUE STORY BOOK. Edited by ANDREW LANG. With
+ 66 Illustrations by H. J. Ford, Lucien Davis,
+ Lancelot Speed, and L. Bogle. Crown 8vo. 6_s._
+
+
+ LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO.
+ London and New York.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+
+[Illustration: 'IN THE BORGHESE GARDENS PRACTISED THAT ROYAL GAME OF
+GOLF.']
+
+
+THE RED TRUE STORY BOOK
+
+Edited by
+
+ANDREW LANG
+
+[Illustration]
+
+With Numerous Illustrations by Henry J. Ford
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+London
+Longmans, Green, and Co.
+and New York
+1895
+
+All rights reserved
+
+
+
+
+_INTRODUCTION_
+
+
+_The Red True Story Book_ needs no long Introduction. The Editor, in
+presenting _The Blue True Story Book_, apologised for offering tales so
+much less thrilling and romantic than the legends of the Fairies, but he
+added that even real facts were, sometimes, curious and interesting.
+Next year he promises something quite as true as History, and quite as
+entertaining as Fairies!
+
+For this book, Mr. Rider Haggard has kindly prepared a narrative of
+'Wilson's Last Fight,' by aid of conversations with Mr. Burnham, the
+gallant American scout. But Mr. Haggard found, while writing his
+chapter, that Mr. Burnham had already told the story in an 'Interview'
+published by the _Westminster Gazette_. The courtesy of the proprietor
+of that journal, and of Mr. Burnham, has permitted Mr. Haggard to
+incorporate the already printed narrative with his own matter.
+
+'The Life and Death of Joan the Maid' is by the Editor, who has used M.
+Quicherat's _Proces_ (five volumes, published for the Historical Society
+of France), with M. Quicherat's other researches. He has also used M.
+Wallon's Biography, the works of Father Ayroles, S.J., the _Jeanne d'Arc
+a Domremy_ of M. Simeon Luce, the works of M. Sepet, of Michelet, of
+Henri Martin, and, generally, all printed documents to which he has had
+access. Of unprinted contemporary matter perhaps none is known to exist,
+except the Venetian Correspondence, now being prepared for publication
+by Father Ayroles.
+
+'How the Bass was held for King James' is by the Editor, mainly from
+Blackadder's _Life_.
+
+'The Crowning of Ines de Castro' is by Mrs. Lang, from Schaefer.
+'Orthon,' from Froissart, 'Gustavus Vasa,' 'Monsieur de Bayard's Duel'
+(Brantome), are by the same lady; also 'Gaston de Foix,' from Froissart,
+and 'The White Man,' from Mile. Aisse's Letters.
+
+Mrs. McCunn has told the story of the Prince's Scottish Campaign, from
+the contemporary histories of the Rising of 1745, contemporary tracts,
+_The Lyon in Mourning_, Chambers, Scott, Maxwell of Kirkconnel, and
+other sources.
+
+The short Sagas are translated from the Icelandic by the Rev. W. C.
+Green, translator of _Egil Skalagrim's Saga_.
+
+Mr. S. R. Crockett, Author of _The Raiders_, told the tales of 'The Bull
+of Earlstoun' and 'Grisell Baillie.'
+
+Miss May Kendall and Mrs. Bovill are responsible for the seafarings and
+shipwrecks; the Australian adventures are by Mrs. Bovill.
+
+Miss Minnie Wright compiled 'The Conquest of Peru,' from Prescott's
+celebrated History.
+
+Miss Agnes Repplier, that famed essayist of America, wrote the tale of
+Molly Pitcher.
+
+'The Adventures of General Marbot' are from the translation of his
+Autobiography by Mr. Butler.
+
+With this information the Editor leaves the book to children, assuring
+them that the stories are _true_, except perhaps that queer tale of
+'Orthon'; and some of the Sagas also may have been a little altered from
+the real facts before the Icelanders became familiar with writing.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+ PAGE
+
+ _Wilson's Last Fight_ 1
+
+ _The Life and Death of Joan the Maid_ 19
+
+ _How the Bass was held for King James_ 92
+
+ _The Crowning of Ines de Castro_ 99
+
+ _The Story of Orthon_ 105
+
+ _How Gustavus Vasa won his Kingdom_ 114
+
+ _Monsieur de Bayard's Duel_ 122
+
+ _Story of Gudbrand of the Dales_ 125
+
+ _Sir Richard Grenville_ 132
+
+ _The Story of Molly Pitcher_ 137
+
+ _The Voyages, Dangerous Adventures, and Imminent Escapes of
+ Captain Richard Falconer_ 141
+
+ _Marbot's March_ 150
+
+ _Eylau. The Mare Lisette_ 162
+
+ _How Marbot crossed the Danube_ 175
+
+ _The piteous Death of Gaston, Son of the Count of Foix_ 186
+
+ _Rolf Stake_ 191
+
+ _The Wreck of the 'Wager'_ 195
+
+ _Peter Williamson_ 213
+
+ _A Wonderful Voyage_ 226
+
+ _The Pitcairn Islanders_ 238
+
+ _A Relation of three years' Suffering of Robert Everard
+ upon the Island of Assada, near Madagascar, in
+ a Voyage to India, in the year 1686_ 247
+
+ _The Fight at Svolder Island_ 252
+
+ _The Death of Hacon the Good_ 261
+
+ _Prince Charlie's War_ 265
+
+ _The Burke and Wills Exploring Expedition_ 324
+
+ _The Story of Emund_ 346
+
+ _The Man in White_ 354
+
+ _The Adventures of 'the Bull of Earlstoun'_ 358
+
+ _The Story of Grisell Baillie's Sheep's Head_ 366
+
+ _The Conquest of Peru_ 371
+
+
+
+
+_LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS_
+
+
+_PLATES_
+
+ _'In the Borghese gardens practised that royal
+ game of golf'_ _Frontispiece_
+
+ _Just as his arm was poised I fired_ _To face p._ 10
+
+ _Joan in church_ " 24
+
+ _Joan rides to Chinon_ " 38
+
+ _Joan tells the King his secret_ " 42
+
+ _The English Archers betrayed by the Stag_ " 64
+
+ _The Coronation of Charles VII_ " 68
+
+ _'Instantly a gust of wind blew her off the rock
+ into the sea'_ " 92
+
+ _'One man . . . stalked about the deck and
+ flourished a cutlass . . . shouting that he
+ was "king of the country"'_ " 196
+
+ _The Indian threatens Peter Williamson_ " 214
+
+ _'Another party of Indians arrived, bringing
+ twenty scalps and three prisoners'_ " 218
+
+ _The savages attack the boat_ " 230
+
+ _'The madman dwelt alone'_ " 242
+
+ _King Olaf leaps overboard_ " 256
+
+ _'In the Borghese gardens practised that royal
+ game of golf_ " 266
+
+ _'I will, though not another man in the
+ Highlands should draw a sword'_ " 272
+
+ _'He galloped up the streets of Edinburgh
+ shouting, "Victory! Victory!"'_ " 294
+
+ _Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo Huaco, the
+ Children of the Sun, come from Lake
+ Titicaca to govern and civilise the
+ tribes of Peru_ " 374
+
+ _In one cave the soldiers found vases of
+ pure gold, etc._ " 412
+
+
+
+
+_WOODCUTS IN TEXT_
+
+
+ PAGE
+
+ _One of them lifted his assegai_ 17
+
+ _'The Fairy Tree'_ 20
+
+ _Joan hears the Voice_ 28
+
+ _Robert thinks Joan crazed_ 34
+
+ _'Sir, this is ill done of you'_ 37
+
+ _'In a better language than yours,' said Joan_ 46
+
+ _'Lead him to the Cross!' cried she_ 50
+
+ _'Then spurred she her horse . . . and put out the flame'_ 53
+
+ _Joan is wounded by the arrow_ 57
+
+ _'Now arose a dispute among the captains'_ 61
+
+ _One Englishman at least died well_ 63
+
+ _Joan challenges the English to sally forth_ 73
+
+ _'Go she would not till she had taken that town'_ 79
+
+ _Joan Captured_ 83
+
+ _Joan at Beaurevoir_ 85
+
+ _'The burned Joan the Maid'_ 89
+
+ _The Bass attacked by the frigates_ 97
+
+ _Ines pleads for her life_ 101
+
+ _'I will send you a champion whom you will fear more than
+ you fear me'_ 107
+
+ _Orthon's last appearance_ 112
+
+ _Gustavus leaves school for good!_ 115
+
+ _'Lazy loon! Have you no work to do?'_ 119
+
+ _'Surrender, Don Alonzo, or you are a dead man!'_ 123
+
+ _'In the following night Gudbrand dreamed a dream'_ 127
+
+ _The destruction of the idol_ 130
+
+ _'Still he cried to his men, "Fight on, fight on!"'_ 134
+
+ _Molly takes her husband's place_ 139
+
+ _'As we approached we saw the pirate sinking'_ 143
+
+ _Falconer knocks down a bird_ 145
+
+ _Falconer returns to his companions_ 148
+
+ _'Then, drawing their swords, they dashed at the rest'_ 152
+
+ _Marbot's fight with the Carabineers in the alley_ 157
+
+ _Lisette catches the thief in the stable_ 164
+
+ _'I regarded myself as a horseman who is trying to win a
+ steeplechase'_ 166
+
+ _Lisette carries off the Russian officer_ 169
+
+ _'Guided by the transport man he reached me and found me
+ living'_ 172
+
+ _'"I will go, sir," I cried'_ 177
+
+ _'We had to saw the rope'_ 182
+
+ _'The Count leaped up, a knife in his hand'_ 188
+
+ _Gaston in prison_ 189
+
+ _'But now here sits in the high seat a thin stake'_ 192
+
+ _'He fleeth not the flame
+ Who leapeth o'er the same'_ 193
+
+ _The Captain shoots Mr. Cozens_ 202
+
+ _Mr. Hamilton's fight with the sea-lion_ 205
+
+ _The Cacique fires off the gun_ 208
+
+ _Byron rides past the turnpikes_ 211
+
+ _The captain guarded by the mutineers_ 228
+
+ _The Pitcairn islanders on board the English frigate_ 239
+
+ _Old John Adams teaches the children_ 245
+
+ _Death of the supercargo_ 248
+
+ _'None will now deny that "Long Snake" sails by'_ 255
+
+ _Hacon casts his shield away_ 263
+
+ _'Go, sir, to your general; tell him what you have
+ seen . . .'_ 276
+
+ _Escape of the Duke of Perth_ 281
+
+ _'In many a panelled parlour'_ 284
+
+ _'Och no! she be relieved'_ 287
+
+ _Mrs. Murray of Broughton distributes cockades to the
+ crowd_ 289
+
+ _James More wounded at Prestonpans_ 293
+
+ _Crossing Shap Fell_ 301
+
+ _'Many had their broadswords and dirks sharpened'_ 304
+
+ _'The Prince caught him by the hair'_ 307
+
+ _The poor boy fell, mortally wounded_ 311
+
+ _The 'Rout of Moy'_ 315
+
+ _The end of Culloden_ 322
+
+ _'The advance party of eight started on October 29'_ 327
+
+ _Golah is abandoned_ 332
+
+ _'King, they are gone!'_ 337
+
+ _Death of Burke_ 342
+
+ _Besse introduced to the Man in White_ 355
+
+ _'Saw reflected in the mirror the white figure'_ 356
+
+ _'Sometimes he would find a party searching for him quite
+ close at hand'_ 360
+
+ _Alexander Gordon wood-chopping in the disguise of a
+ labourer_ 362
+
+ _Grisell brings the sheep's head to her father in the
+ vault_ 367
+
+ _A Peruvian postman_ 381
+
+ _Almagro wounded in the eye_ 387
+
+ _Many of the Spaniards were killed by the snakes and
+ alligators_ 389
+
+ _Amazement of the Indians at seeing a cavalier fall from
+ his horse_ 391
+
+ _Pizarro sees llamas for the first time_ 393
+
+ _The cavalier displays his horsemanship before Atahuallpa_ 401
+
+ _The friar urges Pizarro to attack the Peruvians_ 404
+
+ _The Spaniards destroy the idol at Pachacamac_ 407
+
+
+
+
+_WILSON'S LAST FIGHT_
+
+'They were men whose fathers were men'
+
+
+TO make it clear how Major Wilson and his companions came to die on the
+banks of the Shangani on December 4, 1893, it will be necessary, very
+briefly, to sketch the events which led to the war between the English
+settlers in Mashonaland in South Africa and the Matabele tribe, an
+offshoot of the Zulu race.
+
+In October 1889, at the instance of Mr. Cecil Rhodes and others
+interested, the Chartered Company of British South Africa was
+incorporated, with the sanction of Her Majesty's Government.
+
+In 1890 Mashonaland was occupied, a vast and fertile territory nominally
+under the rule of Lobengula, king of the Matabele, which had been ceded
+by him to the representatives of the Company in return for certain
+valuable considerations. It is, however, an easier task for savage kings
+to sign concessions than to ensure that such concessions will be
+respected by their subjects, especially when those 'Subjects' are
+warriors by nature, tradition, and practice, as in the present case, and
+organised into regiments, kept from year to year in perfect efficiency
+and readiness for attack. Whatever may have been Lobengula's private
+wishes and opinions, it soon became evident that the gathering of the
+white men upon their borders, and in a country which they claimed by
+right of conquest if they did not occupy it, was most distasteful to the
+more warlike sections of the Matabele.
+
+Mashonaland takes its name from the Mashona tribes who inhabit it, a
+peaceful and, speaking by comparison, an industrious race, whom, ever
+since they first settled in the neighbourhood, it had been the custom of
+the subjects of Lobengula and of his predecessor, Mosilikatze, 'the
+lion,' to attack with every cruelty conceivable, raiding their cattle,
+slaughtering their men, and sweeping their maidens and young children
+into captivity. Terrified, half exterminated indeed, as they were by
+these constant and unprovoked onslaughts, the Mashonas welcomed with
+delight the occupation of their country by white men, and thankfully
+placed themselves under the protection of the Chartered Company.
+
+The Matabele regiments, however, took a different view of the question,
+for now their favourite sport was gone: they could no longer practise
+rapine and murder, at least in this direction, whenever the spirit moved
+them. Presently the force of habit overcame their fear of the white men
+and their respect for treaties, and towards the end of 1891 the chief
+Lomaghondi, who lived under the protection of the Company, was killed by
+them. Thereon Dr. Jameson, the Administrator of Mashonaland,
+remonstrated with Lobengula, who expressed regret, saying that the
+incident had happened by mistake.
+
+This repudiation notwithstanding, an impi, or armed body of savages,
+again crossed the border in 1892, and raided in the Victoria district.
+Encouraged by the success of these proceedings, in July 1893 Lobengula
+sent a picked company to harry in the neighbourhood of Victoria itself,
+writing to Dr. Jameson that he made no excuse for so doing, claiming as
+he did the right to raid when, where, and whom he chose. The 'indunas,'
+or captains, in command of this force were instructed not to kill white
+men, but to fall particularly upon those tribes who were in their
+employ. On July 9, 1893, and the following days came the climax, for
+then the impi began to slaughter every Mashona whom they could find.
+Many of these unfortunates were butchered in the presence of their
+masters, who were bidden to 'stand upon one side as the time of the
+white men had not yet come.'
+
+Seeing that it was necessary to take action, Dr. Jameson summoned the
+head indunas of the impi, and ordered them to cross the border within an
+hour or to suffer the consequences of their disobedience. The majority
+obeyed, and those who defied him were attacked by Captain Lendy and a
+small force while in the act of raiding a kraal, some of them being
+killed and the rest driven away.
+
+From this moment war became inevitable, for the question lay between the
+breaking of the power of Lobengula and the evacuation of Mashonaland.
+Into the details of that war it is not proposed to enter; they are
+outside the scope of this narrative. It is enough to say that it was one
+of the most brilliant and successful ever carried out by Englishmen.
+The odds against the little force of a thousand or twelve hundred white
+men who invaded Matabeleland were almost overwhelming, and when it is
+remembered that the Imperial troops did not succeed in their contest
+against Cetywayo, the Zulu king, until nearly as many soldiers were
+massed in the country as there were able-bodied Zulus left to oppose
+them, the brilliancy of the achievement of these colonists led by a
+civilian, Dr. Jameson, can be estimated. The Matabele were beaten in two
+pitched battles: that of the Shangani on October 25, and that of the
+Imbembezi on November 1. They fought bravely, even with desperation, but
+their valour was broken by the skill and the cool courage of the white
+man. Those terrible engines of war, the Maxim guns and the Hotchkiss
+shells, contributed largely to our success on these occasions. The
+Matabele, brave as they were, could not face the incessant fire of the
+Maxims, and as to the Hotchkiss they developed a curious superstition.
+Seeing that men fell dead in all directions after the explosion of a
+shell, they came to believe that as it burst out of each missile numbers
+of tiny and invisible imps ran forth carrying death and destruction to
+the white men's foes, and thus it happened that to their minds moral
+terrors were added to the physical dangers of warfare. So strong was
+this belief among them, indeed, that whenever a shell struck they would
+turn and fire at it in the hope that thus they might destroy the 'live
+devils' who dwelt within it.
+
+After these battles Lobengula, having first set fire to it, fled from
+his chief place, Buluwayo, which was occupied by the white men within a
+month of the commencement of the campaign.
+
+In reply to a letter sent to him by Dr. Jameson, demanding his surrender
+and guaranteeing his safety, Lobengula wrote that he 'would come in.'
+
+The promised period of two days' grace having gone by, however, and
+there being no sign of his appearance, a force was despatched from
+Buluwayo to follow and capture him. This force, which was under the
+leadership of Major Patrick W. Forbes, consisted of ninety men of the
+Salisbury Column, with Captains Heany and Spreckley and a mule Maxim gun
+under Lieutenant Biscoe, R.N.; sixty men of the Victoria Column
+commanded by Major Wilson, with a horse Maxim under Captain Lendy; sixty
+men of the Tuli Column, and ninety men of the Bechuanaland Border
+Police, commanded by Captain Raaf, C.M.G., accompanied by two horse
+Maxims and a mule seven-pounder, commanded by Captain Tancred.
+
+The column, which started on or about November 14, took with it food
+for three days only, carried by natives, and a hundred rounds of
+ammunition per man. After several days' journeying northward the patrol
+reached the Bubye River, where dissensions arose between Captain Raaf
+and Major Forbes, the former being of opinion, rightly enough as the
+issue showed, that the mission was too dangerous to be pursued by a
+small body of men without supplies of food, and having no reserve of
+ammunition and no means of carrying the wounded. The upshot was that
+Major Forbes decided to return, but was prevented from doing so by a
+letter received from Dr. Jameson, stating that he was sending forward a
+reinforcement of dismounted men under Captain Napier with food,
+ammunition, and wagons, also sixteen mounted men under Captain Borrow.
+The force then proceeded to a deserted Mission Station known as Shiloh.
+On November 25 the column, three hundred strong and carrying with it
+three-quarter rations for twelve days, took up the King's wagon spoor
+about one mile from Shiloh, and followed it through much discomfort,
+caused by the constant rain and the lack of roads, till, on December S,
+a point was reached on the Shangani River, N.N.W. of Shiloh and distant
+from it about eighty miles.
+
+On November 29, however, Major Forbes, finding that he could make small
+progress with the wagons, sent them away, and proceeded with the best
+mounted men and two Maxims only, so that the actual force which reached
+the Shangani on the 3rd consisted of about one hundred and sixty men and
+a couple of machine guns.
+
+At this time the information in possession of the leaders of the column
+was to the effect that the King was just in front of them across the
+river, accompanied only by a few of his followers. Under these
+circumstances Major Forbes instructed Major Wilson and eighteen men to
+go forward and reconnoitre along Lobengula's spoor; the understanding
+seeming to have been that the party was to return by sundown, but that
+if it did not return it was, if necessary, to be supported by the whole
+column. With this patrol went Mr. Burnham, the American scout, one of
+the three surviving white men who were eye-witnesses of that eventful
+night's work, which ended so tragically at dawn.
+
+What followed is best told as he narrated it by word of mouth to the
+compiler of this true story, and to a reporter of the 'Westminster
+Gazette,' the editor of which paper has courteously given permission for
+the reproduction of the interview. Indeed, it would be difficult to tell
+it so well in words other than Mr. Burnham's own.
+
+[Illustration: Sketch of Route of the Wilson Patrol and of the Scouts'
+ride back to Major Forbes _Drawn from memory by Mr. Burnham_
+
+N.B. _Supposed distance of King's Wagons from Forbes Camp 5 Miles,
+windings by the Spoor might be a little more._]
+
+'In the afternoon of December 8,' says Mr. Burnham, 'I was scouting
+ahead of the column with Colenbrander, when in a strip of bush we lit on
+two Matabele boys driving some cattle, one of whom we caught and brought
+in. He was a plucky boy, and when threatened he just looked us sullenly
+in the face. He turned out to be a sort of grandson or grand-nephew of
+Lobengula himself. He said the King's camp was just ahead, and the King
+himself near, with very few men, and these sick, and that he wanted to
+give himself up. He represented that the King had been back to this
+place that very day to get help because his wagons were stuck in a bog.
+The column pushed on through the strip of bush, and there, near by, was
+the King's camp--quite deserted. We searched the huts, and in one lay a
+Maholi slave-boy, fast asleep. (The Maholis are the slaves of the
+Matabele.) We pulled him out, and were questioning him, when the other
+boy, the sulky Matabele, caught his eye, and gave him a ferocious look,
+shouting across to him to take care what he told.
+
+'The slave-boy agreed with the others that the King had only left this
+camp the day before; but as it was getting dark, Major Forbes decided to
+reconnoitre before going on with the column. I learnt of the decision to
+send forward Major Wilson and fifteen men on the best horses when I got
+my orders to accompany them, and, along with Bayne, to do their
+scouting. My horse was exhausted with the work he had done already; I
+told Major Forbes, and he at once gave me his. It was a young horse,
+rather skittish, but strong and fairly fresh by comparison.
+
+'Ingram, my fellow-scout, remained with the column, and so got some
+hours' rest; thanks to which he was able not only to do his part of
+tracking for the twenty men afterwards sent on to us through the bush at
+night, but also, when he and I got through after the smash, to do the
+long and dangerous ride down country to Buluwayo with the despatches--a
+ride on which he was accompanied by Lynch.
+
+'So we set off along the wagon track, while the main body of the column
+went into laager.
+
+'Close to the river the track turned and led down stream along the west
+bank. Two miles down was a drift' (they call a fordable dip a drift in
+South Africa), 'and here the track crossed the Shangani. We splashed
+through, and the first thing we scouts knew on the other side was that
+we were riding into the middle of a lot of Matabele among some scherms,
+or temporary shelters. There were men, and some women and children. The
+men were armed. We put a bold face on it, and gave out the usual
+announcement that we did not want to kill anybody, but must have the
+King. The natives seemed surprised and undecided; presently, as Major
+Wilson and the rest of the patrol joined us, one of them volunteered to
+come along with us and guide us to the King. He was only just ahead, the
+man said. How many men were with him? we asked. The man put up his
+little finger--dividing it up, so. Five fingers mean an impi; part of
+the little finger, like that, should mean fifty to one hundred men.
+Wilson said to me, "Go on ahead, taking that man beside your saddle;
+cover him, fire if necessary, but don't you let him slip."
+
+'So we started off again at a trot, for the light was failing, the man
+running beside my horse, and I keeping a sharp eye on him. The track led
+through some thick bush. We passed several scherms. Five miles from the
+river we came to a long narrow vlei [a vlei is a shallow valley,
+generally with water in it], which lay across our path. It was now
+getting quite dark. Coming out of the bush on the near edge of the vlei,
+before going down into it, I saw fires lit, and scherms and figures
+showing dark against the fires right along the opposite edge of the
+vlei. We skirted the vlei to our left, got round the end of it, and at
+once rode through a lot of scherms containing hundreds of people. As we
+went, Captain Napier shouted the message about the King wherever there
+was a big group of people. We passed scherm after scherm, and still more
+Matabele, more fires, and on we rode. Instead of the natives having been
+scattering from the King, they had been gathering. But it was too late
+to turn. We were hard upon our prize, and it was understood among the
+Wilson patrol that they were going to bring the King in if man could do
+it. The natives were astonished: they thought the whole column was on
+them: men jumped up, and ran hither and thither, rifle in hand. We went
+on without stopping, and as we passed more and more men came running
+after us. Some of them were crowding on the rearmost men, so Wilson told
+off three fellows to "keep those niggers back." They turned, and kept
+the people in check. At last, nearly at the other end of the vlei,
+having passed five sets of scherms, we came upon what seemed to be the
+King's wagons, standing in a kind of enclosure, with a saddled white
+horse tethered by it. Just before this, in the crowd and hurry, my man
+slipped away, and I had to report to Wilson that I had lost him. Of
+course it would not have done to fire. One shot would have been the
+match in the powder magazine. We had ridden into the middle of the
+Matabele nation.
+
+'At this enclosure we halted and sang out again, making a special appeal
+to the King and those about him. No answer came. All was silence. A few
+drops of rain fell. Then it lightened, and by the flashes we could just
+see men getting ready to fire on us, and Napier shouted to Wilson,
+"Major, they are about to attack." I at the same-time saw them closing
+in on us rapidly from the right. The next thing to this fifth scherm was
+some thick bush; the order was given to get into that, and in a moment
+we were out of sight there. One minute after hearing us shout, the
+natives with the wagons must have been unable to see a sign of us. Just
+then it came on to rain heavily; the sky, already cloudy, got black as
+ink; the night fell so dark that you could not see your hand before
+you.
+
+'We could not stay the night where we were, for we were so close that
+they would hear our horses' bits. So it was decided to work down into
+the vlei, creep along close to the other edge of it to the end we first
+came round, farthest from the King's camp, and there spend the night.
+This, like all the other moves, was taken after consultation with the
+officers, several of whom were experienced Kaffir campaigners. It was
+rough going; we were unable to see our way, now splashing through the
+little dongas that ran down into the belly of the vlei, now working
+round them, through bush and soft bottoms. At the far end, in a clump of
+thick bush, we dismounted, and Wilson sent off Captain Napier, with a
+man of his called Robinson, and the Victoria scout, Bayne, to go back
+along the wagon-track to the column, report how things stood, and bring
+the column on, with the Maxims, as sharp as possible. Wilson told
+Captain Napier to tell Forbes if the bush bothered the Maxim carriages
+to abandon them and put the guns on horses, but to bring the Maxims
+without fail. We all understood--and we thought the message was
+this--that if we were caught there at dawn without the Maxims we were
+done for. On the other hand was the chance of capturing the King and
+ending the campaign at a stroke.
+
+'The spot we had selected to stop in until the arrival of Forbes was a
+clump of heavy bush not far from the King's spoor--and yet so far from
+the Kaffir camps that they could not hear us if we kept quiet. We
+dismounted, and on counting it was found that three of the men were
+missing. They were Hofmeyer, Bradburn and Colquhoun. Somewhere in
+winding through the bush from the King's wagons to our present position
+these men were lost. Not a difficult thing, for we only spoke in
+whispers, and, save for the occasional click of a horse's hoof, we could
+pass within ten feet of each other and not be aware of it.
+
+'Wilson came to me and said, "Burnham, can you follow back along the
+vlei where we've just come?" I doubted it very much as it was black and
+raining; I had no coat, having been sent after the patrol immediately I
+came in from firing the King's huts, and although it was December, or
+midsummer south of the line, the rain chilled my fingers. Wilson said,
+"Come, I must have those men back." I told him I should need some one to
+lead my horse so as to feel the tracks made in the ground by our horses.
+He replied, "I will go with you. I want to see how you American fellows
+work."
+
+'Wilson was no bad hand at tracking himself, and I was put on my mettle
+at once. We began, and I was flurried at first, and did not seem to get
+on to it somehow; but in a few minutes I picked up the spoor and hung to
+it.
+
+'So we started off together, Wilson and I, in the dark. It was hard
+work, for one could see nothing; one had to feel for the traces with
+one's fingers. Creeping along, at last we stood close to the wagons,
+where the patrol had first retreated into the bush.
+
+'"If we only had the force here now," said Wilson, "we would soon
+finish."
+
+'But there was still no sign of the three men, so there was nothing for
+it but to shout. Retreating into the vlei in front of the King's camp,
+we stood calling and cooeying for them, long and low at first, then
+louder. Of course there was a great stir along the lines of the native
+scherms, for they did not know what to make of it. We heard afterwards
+that the natives were greatly alarmed as the white men seemed to be
+everywhere at once, and the indunas went about quieting the men, and
+saying "Do you think the white men are on you, children? Don't you know
+a wolf's howl when you hear it?"
+
+'After calling for a bit, we heard an answering call away down the vlei,
+and the darkness favouring us, the lost men soon came up and we arrived
+at the clump of bushes where the patrol was stationed. We all lay down
+in the mud to rest, for we were tired out. It had left off raining, but
+it was a miserable night, and the hungry horses had been under saddle,
+some of them twenty hours, and were quite done.
+
+'So we waited for the column.
+
+'During the night we could hear natives moving across into the bush
+which lay between us and the river. We heard the branches as they pushed
+through. After a while Wilson asked me if I could go a little way around
+our position and find out what the Kaffirs were doing. I always think he
+heard something, but he did not say so. I slipped out and on our right
+heard the swirl of boughs and the splash of feet. Circling round for a
+little time I came on more Kaffirs. I got so close to them I could touch
+them as they passed, but it was impossible to say how many there were,
+it was so dark. This I reported to Wilson. Raising his head on his hand
+he asked me a few questions, and made the remark that if the column
+failed to come up before daylight, "we are in a hard hole," and told me
+to go out on the King's spoor and watch for Forbes, so that by no
+possibility should he pass us in the darkness. It was now, I should
+judge, 1 A.M. on the 4th of December.
+
+[Illustration: 'JUST AS HIS ARM WAS POISED I FIRED']
+
+'I went, and for a long, long time I heard only the dropping of the rain
+from the leaves and now and then a dog barking in the scherms, but at
+last, just as it got grey in the east, I heard a noise, and placing my
+ear close to the ground, made it out to be the tramp of horses. I ran
+back to Wilson and said "The column is here."
+
+'We all led our horses out to the King's spoor. I saw the form of a man
+tracking. It was Ingram. I gave him a low whistle; he came up, and
+behind him rode--not the column, not the Maxims, but just twenty men
+under Captain Borrow. It was a terrible moment--"_If_ we were caught
+there at dawn"--and already it was getting lighter every minute.
+
+'One of us asked "Where is the column?" to which the reply was, "You see
+all there are of us." We answered, "Then you are only so many more men
+to die."
+
+'Wilson went aside with Borrow, and there was earnest talk for a few
+moments. Presently all the officers' horses' heads were together; and
+Captain Judd said in my hearing, "Well, this is the end." And Kurten
+said quite quietly, "We shall never get out of this."
+
+'Then Wilson put it to the officers whether we should try and break
+through the impis which were now forming up between us and the river, or
+whether we would go for the King and sell our lives in trying to get
+hold of him. The final decision was for this latter.
+
+'So we set off and walked along the vlei back to the King's wagons. It
+was quite light now and they saw us from the scherms all the way, but
+they just looked at us and we at them, and so we went along. We walked
+because the horses hadn't a canter in them, and there was no hurry
+anyway.
+
+'At the wagons we halted and shouted out again about not wanting to kill
+anyone. There was a pause, and then came shouts and a volley. Afterwards
+it was said that somebody answered, "If you don't want to kill, we do."
+My horse jumped away to the right at the volley, and took me almost into
+the arms of some natives who came running from that side. A big induna
+blazed at me, missed me, and then fumbled at his belt for another
+cartridge. It was not a proper bandolier he had on, and I saw him trying
+to pluck out the cartridge instead of easing it up from below with
+his finger. As I got my horse steady and threw my rifle down to cover
+him, he suddenly let the cartridge be and lifted an assegai. Waiting to
+make sure of my aim, just as his arm was poised I fired and hit him in
+the chest; he dropped. All happened in a moment. Then we retreated.
+Seeing two horses down, Wilson shouted to somebody to cut off the saddle
+pockets which carried extra ammunition. Ingram picked up one of the
+dismounted men behind him, Captain Fitzgerald the other. The most
+ammunition anyone had, by the way, was a hundred and ten rounds. There
+was some very stiff fighting for a few minutes, the natives having the
+best of the position; indeed they might have wiped us out but for their
+stupid habit of firing on the run, as they charged. Wilson ordered us to
+retire down the vlei; some hundred yards further on we came to an
+ant-heap and took our second position on that, and held it for some
+time. Wilson jumped on the top of the ant-heap and shouted--"Every man
+pick his nigger." There was no random firing, I would be covering a man
+when he dropped to somebody's rifle, and I had to choose another.
+
+'Now _we_ had the best of the position. The Matabele came on furiously
+down the open. Soon we were firing at two hundred yards and less; and
+the turned-up shields began to lie pretty thick over the ground. It got
+too hot for them; they broke and took cover in the bush. We fired about
+twenty rounds per man at this ant-heap. Then the position was flanked by
+heavy reinforcements from among the timbers; several more horses were
+knocked out and we had to quit. We retreated in close order into the
+bush on the opposite side of the vlei--the other side from the scherms.
+We went slowly on account of the disabled men and horses.
+
+'There was a lull, and Wilson rode up to me and asked if I thought I
+could rush through to the main column. A scout on a good horse might
+succeed, of course, where the patrol as a whole would not stand a
+chance. It was a forlorn hope, but I thought it was only a question of
+here or there, and I said I'd try, asking for a man to be sent with me.
+A man called Gooding said he was willing to come, and I picked Ingram
+also because we had been through many adventures together, and I thought
+we might as well see this last one through together.
+
+'So we started, and we had not gone five hundred yards when we came upon
+the horn of an impi closing in from the river. We saw the leading men,
+and they saw us and fired. As they did so I swerved my horse sharp to
+the left, and shouting to the others, "Now for it!" we thrust the
+horses through the bush at their best pace. A bullet whizzed past my
+eye, and leaves, cut by the firing, pattered down on us; but as usual
+the natives fired too high.
+
+'So we rode along, seeing men, and being fired at continually, but
+outstripping the enemy. The peculiar chant of an advancing impi, like a
+long, monotonous baying or growling, was loud in our ears, together with
+the noise they make drumming on their hide shields with the assegai--you
+must hear an army making those sounds to realise them. As soon as we got
+where the bush was thinner, we shook off the niggers who were pressing
+us, and, coming to a bit of hard ground, we turned on our tracks and hid
+in some thick bush. We did this more than once and stood quiet,
+listening to the noise they made beating about for us on all sides. Of
+course we knew that scores of them must have run gradually back upon the
+river to cut us off, so we doubled and waited, getting so near again to
+the patrol that once during the firing which we heard thickening back
+there, the spent bullets pattered around us. Those waiting moments were
+bad. We heard firing soon from the other side of the river too, and
+didn't know but that the column was being wiped out as well as the
+patrol.
+
+'At last, after no end of doubling and hiding and riding in a triple
+loop, and making use of every device known to a scout for destroying a
+spoor--it took us about three hours and a half to cover as many
+miles--we reached the river, and found it a yellow flood two hundred
+yards broad. In the way African rivers have, the stream, four feet
+across last night, had risen from the rain. We did not think our horses
+could swim it, utterly tired as they now were; but we were just playing
+the game through, so we decided to try. With their heads and ours barely
+above the water, swimming and drifting, we got across and crawled out on
+the other side. Then for the first time, I remember, the idea struck me
+that we might come through it after all, and with that the desire of
+life came passionately back upon me.
+
+We topped the bank, and there, five hundred yards in front to the left,
+stood several hundred Matabele! They stared at us in utter surprise,
+wondering, I suppose, if we were the advance guard of some entirely new
+reinforcement. In desperation we walked our horses quietly along in
+front of them, paying no attention to them. We had gone some distance
+like this, and nobody followed behind, till at last one man took a shot
+at us; and with that a lot more of them began to blaze away. Almost at
+the same moment Ingram caught sight of horses only four or five hundred
+yards distant; so the column still existed--and there it was. We took
+the last gallop out of our horses then, and--well, in a few minutes I
+was falling out of the saddle, and saying to Forbes: "It's all over; we
+are the last of that party!" Forbes only said, "Well, tell nobody else
+till we are through with our own fight," and next minute we were just
+firing away along with the others, helping to beat off the attack on the
+column.'
+
+Here Mr. Burnham's narrative ends.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+What happened to Wilson and his gallant companions, and the exact manner
+of their end after Burnham and his two comrades left them, is known only
+through the reports of natives who took part in the fight. This,
+however, is certain: since the immortal company of Greeks died at
+Thermopylae, few, if any, such stands have been made in the face of
+inevitable death. They knew what the issue must be; for them there was
+no possibility of escape; the sun shone upon them for the last time, and
+for the last time the air of heaven blew upon their brows. Around them,
+thousand upon thousand, were massed their relentless foes, the bush
+echoed with war-cries, and from behind every tree and stone a ceaseless
+fire was poured upon their circle. But these four-and-thirty men never
+wavered, never showed a sign of fear. Taking shelter behind the boles of
+trees, or the bodies of their dead horses, they answered the fire shot
+for shot, coolly, with perfect aim, without haste or hurry.
+
+The bush around told this tale of them in after days, for the bark of
+every tree was scored with bullets, showing that wherever an enemy had
+exposed his head there a ball had been sent to seek him. Also there was
+another testimony--that of the bones of the dead Matabele, the majority
+of whom had clearly fallen shot through the brain. The natives
+themselves state that for every white man who died upon that day, there
+perished at least ten of their own people, picked off, be it remembered,
+singly as they chanced to expose themselves. Nor did the enemy waste
+life needlessly, for their general ordered up the King's elephant
+hunters, trained shots, every one of them, to compete with the white
+man's fire.
+
+For two long hours or more that fight went on. Now and again a man was
+killed, and now and again a man was wounded, but the wounded still
+continued to load the rifles that they could not fire, handing them to
+those of their companions who were as yet unhurt. At some period during
+the fray, so say the Matabele, the white men began to 'sing.' What is
+meant by the singing we can never know, but probably they cheered aloud
+after repelling a rash of the enemy. At length their fire grew faint and
+infrequent, till by degrees it flickered away, for men were lacking to
+handle the rifles. One was left, however, who stood alone and erect in
+the ring of the dead, no longer attempting to defend himself, either
+because he was weak with wounds, or because his ammunition was
+exhausted. There he stood silent and solitary, presenting one of the
+most pathetic yet splendid sights told of in the generation that he
+adorned. There was no more firing now, but the natives stole out of
+their cover and came up to the man quietly, peering at him half afraid.
+Then one of them lifted his assegai and drove it through his breast.
+Still he did not fall; so the soldier drew out the spear and, retreating
+a few yards, he hurled it at him, transfixing him. Now, very slowly,
+making no sound, the white man sank forward upon his face, and so lay
+still.
+
+There seems to be little doubt but that this man was none other than
+Major Allan Wilson, the commander of the patrol. Native reports of his
+stature and appearance suggest this, but there is a stronger piece of
+evidence. The Matabele told Mr. Burnham who repeated it to the present
+writer, that this man wore a hat of a certain shape and size, fastened
+up at the side in a peculiar fashion; a hat similar to that which Mr.
+Burnham wore himself. Now, these hats were of American make, and Major
+Wilson was the only man in that party who possessed one of them, for Mr.
+Burnham himself had looped it up for him in the American style, if
+indeed he had not presented it to him.
+
+The tragedy seemed to be finished, but it was not so, for as the natives
+stood and stared at the fallen white men, from among the dead a man rose
+up, to all appearance unharmed, holding in each hand a revolver, or a
+'little Maxim' as they described it. Having gained his feet he walked
+slowly and apparently aimlessly away towards an ant-heap that stood at
+some distance. At the sight the natives began to fire again, scores, and
+even hundreds, of shots being aimed at him, but, as it chanced, none of
+them struck him. Seeing that he remained untouched amidst this hail of
+lead, they cried out that he was 'tagati,' or magic-guarded, but the
+indunas ordered them to continue their fire. They did so, and a bullet
+passing through his hips, the Englishman fell down paralysed. Then
+finding that he could not turn they ran round him and stabbed him, and
+he died firing with either hand back over his shoulders at the
+slaughterers behind him.
+
+So perished the last of the Wilson patrol. He seems to have been
+Alexander Hay Robertson--at least Mr. Burnham believes that it was he,
+and for this reason. Robertson, he says, was the only man of the party
+who had grey hair, and at a little distance from the other skeletons was
+found a skull to which grey hair still adhered.
+
+[Illustration: 'One of them lifted his assegai']
+
+It is the custom among savages of the Zulu and kindred races, for
+reasons of superstition, to rip open and mutilate the bodies of enemies
+killed in war, but on this occasion the Matabele general, having
+surveyed the dead, issued an order: 'Let them be,' he said; 'they were
+men who died like men, men whose fathers were men.'
+
+No finer epitaph could be composed in memory of Wilson and his comrades.
+In truth the fame of this death of theirs has spread far and wide
+throughout the native races of Southern Africa, and Englishmen
+everywhere reap the benefit of its glory. They also who lie low, they
+reap the benefit of it, for their story is immortal, and it will be
+told hundreds of years hence when it matters no more to them whether
+they died by shot and steel on the banks of the Shangani, or elsewhere
+in age and sickness. At least through the fatal storm of war they have
+attained to peace and honour, and there within the circle of the ruins
+of Zimbabwe they sleep their sleep, envied of some and revered by all.
+Surely it is no small thing to have attained to such a death, and
+England may be proud of her sons who won it.
+
+
+
+
+_THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JOAN THE MAID_
+
+
+I
+
+THE FAIRIES' TREE
+
+FOUR hundred and seventy years ago, the children of Domremy, a little
+village near the Meuse, on the borders of France and Lorraine, used to
+meet and dance and sing beneath a beautiful beech-tree, 'lovely as a
+lily.' They called it 'The Fairy Tree,' or 'The Good Ladies' Lodge,'
+meaning the fairies by the words 'Good Ladies.' Among these children was
+one named Jeanne (born 1412), the daughter of an honest farmer, Jacques
+d'Arc. Jeanne sang more than she danced, and though she carried garlands
+like the other boys and girls, and hung them on the boughs of the
+Fairies' Tree, she liked better to take the flowers into the parish
+church, and lay them on the altars of St. Margaret and St. Catherine. It
+was said among the villagers that Jeanne's godmother had once seen the
+fairies dancing; but though some of the older people believed in the
+Good Ladies, it does not seem that Jeanne and the other children had
+faith in them or thought much about them. They only went to the tree and
+to a neighbouring fairy well to eat cakes and laugh and play. Yet these
+fairies were destined to be fatal to Jeanne d'Arc, JOAN THE MAIDEN, and
+her innocent childish sports were to bring her to the stake and the
+death by fire. For she was that famed Jeanne la Pucelle, the bravest,
+kindest, best, and wisest of women, whose tale is the saddest, the most
+wonderful, and the most glorious page in the history of the world. It is
+a page which no good Englishman and no true Frenchman can read without
+sorrow and bitter shame, for the English burned Joan with the help of
+bad Frenchmen, and the French of her party did not pay a _sou_, or write
+a line, or strike a stroke to save her. But the Scottish, at least, have
+no share in the disgrace. The Scottish archers fought on Joan's side;
+the only portrait of herself that Joan ever saw belonged to a Scottish
+man-at-arms; their historians praised her as she deserved; and a
+Scottish priest from Fife stood by her to the end.[1]
+
+To understand Joan's history it is necessary to say, first, how we come
+to know so much about one who died so many years ago, and, next, to
+learn how her country chanced to be so wretched before Joan came to
+deliver it and to give her life for France.
+
+[Illustration: 'The Fairy Tree']
+
+We know so much about her, not from poets and writers of books who lived
+in her day, but because she was tried by French priests (1431), and all
+her answers on everything that she ever did in all her life were written
+down in Latin. These answers fill most of a large volume. Then, twenty
+years later (1550-1556), when the English had been driven out of
+France, the French king collected learned doctors, who examined
+witnesses from all parts of the country, men and women who had known
+Joan as a child, and in the wars, and in prison, and they heard her case
+again, and destroyed the former unjust judgment. The answers of these
+witnesses fill two volumes, and thus we have all the Maid's history,
+written during her life, or not long after her death, and sworn to on
+oath. We might expect that the evidence of her friends, after they had
+time to understand her, and perhaps were tempted to overpraise her,
+would show us a picture different from that given in the trial by her
+mortal enemies. But though the earlier account, put forth by her foes,
+reads like a description by the Scribes and Pharisees of the trial of
+Our Lord, yet the character of Joan was so noble that the versions by
+her friends and her enemies practically agree in her honour. Her
+advocates cannot make us admire her more than we must admire her in the
+answers which she gave to her accusers. The records of these two trials,
+then, with letters and poems and histories written at the time, or very
+little later, give us all our information about Joan of Arc.
+
+Next, as to 'the great pitifulness that was in France' before Joan of
+Arc came to deliver her country, the causes of the misery are long to
+tell and not easy to remember. To put it shortly, in Joan's childhood
+France was under a mad king, Charles VI., and was torn to pieces by two
+factions, the party of Burgundy and the party of Armagnac. The English
+took advantage of these disputes, and overran the land. France was not
+so much one country, divided by parties, as a loose knot of states,
+small and great, with different interests, obeying greedy and selfish
+chiefs rather than the king. Joan cared only for her country, not for a
+part of it. She fought not for Orleans, or Anjou, or Britanny, or
+Lorraine, but for France. In fact, she made France a nation again.
+Before she appeared everywhere was murder, revenge, robbery, burning of
+towns, slaughter of peaceful people, wretchedness, and despair. It was
+to redeem France from this ruin that Joan came, just when, in 1429, the
+English were besieging Orleans. Had they taken the strong city of
+Orleans, they could have overrun all southern and central France, and
+would have driven the natural king of France, Charles the Dauphin, into
+exile. From this ruin Joan saved her country; but if you wish to know
+more exactly how matters stood, and who the people were with whom Joan
+had to do, you must read what follows. If not, you can 'skip' to Chapter
+III.
+
+
+II
+
+A PAGE OF HISTORY
+
+AS you know, Edward III. had made an unjust claim to the French crown,
+and, with the Black Prince, had supported it by the victories of Crecy
+and Poictiers. But Edward died, and the Black Prince died, and his son,
+Richard II., was the friend of France, and married a French princess.
+Richard, too, was done to death, but Henry IV., who succeeded him, had
+so much work on his hands in England that he left France alone. Yet
+France was wretched, because when the wise Charles V. died in 1380, he
+left two children, Charles the Dauphin, and his brother, Louis of
+Orleans. They were only little boys, and the Dauphin became weak-minded;
+moreover, they were both in the hands of their uncles. The best of these
+relations, Philip, Duke of Burgundy, died in 1404. His son, John the
+Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, was the enemy of his own cousin, Louis of
+Orleans, brother of the Dauphin Charles, who was now king, under the
+title of Charles VI. John the Fearless had Louis of Orleans murdered,
+yet Paris, the capital of France, was on the side of the murderer. He
+was opposed by the Count of Armagnac. Now, the two parties of Armagnac
+and Burgundy divided France; the Armagnacs professing to be on the side
+of Charles the Dauphin. They robbed, burned, and murdered on all sides.
+Meanwhile, in England, Henry V. had succeeded to his father, and the
+weakness of France gave him a chance to assert his unjust claim to its
+throne. He defeated the French at Agincourt in 1415, he carried the Duke
+of Orleans a prisoner to London, he took Rouen, and overran Normandy.
+The French now attempted to make peace among themselves. The Duke of
+Burgundy had the mad Charles VI. in his power. The Dauphin was with the
+opposite faction of Armagnac. But, if the Dauphin and the Duke of
+Burgundy became friends, the Armagnacs would lose all their importance.
+The power would be with the Duke of Burgundy. The Armagnacs, therefore,
+treacherously murdered the duke, in the name of the Dauphin, at a
+meeting on the Bridge of Montereau (1419). The son of the duke, Philip
+the Good, now became Duke of Burgundy, and was determined to revenge his
+murdered father. He therefore made friends with Henry V. and the
+English. The English being now so strong in the Burgundian alliance,
+their terms were accepted in the Peace of Troyes (1420). The Dauphin was
+to be shut out from succeeding to the French crown, and was called a
+Pretender. Henry V. married the Dauphin's sister Catherine, and when the
+mad Charles VI. died, Henry and Catherine were to be King and Queen of
+England and France. Meantime, Henry V. was to punish the Dauphin and the
+Armagnacs. But Henry V. died first, and, soon after, the mad Charles
+died. Who, then, was to be King of France? The Armagnacs held for the
+Dauphin, the rightful heir. The English, of course, and the Burgundians,
+were for Henry VI., a baby of ten months old. He, like other princes,
+had uncles, one of them, the Duke of Gloucester, managed affairs in
+England; another, the Duke of Bedford, the Regent, was to keep down
+France. The English possessed Paris and the North; the Dauphin retained
+the Centre of France, and much of the South, holding his court at
+Bourges. It is needless to say that the uncles of the baby Henry VI.,
+the Dukes of Gloucester and Bedford, were soon on bad terms, and their
+disputes made matters easier for the Dauphin. He lost two great battles,
+however, Crevant and Verneuil, where his Scottish allies were cut to
+pieces. The hearts of good Frenchmen were with him, but he was indolent,
+selfish, good-humoured, and governed by a fat, foolish favourite, La
+Tremouille. The Duke of Bedford now succeeded in patching up the
+quarrels among the English, and then it was determined (but not by
+Bedford's advice) to cross the Loire, to invade Southern France, to
+crush the Dauphin, and to conquer the whole country. But, before he
+could do all this, Bedford had to take the strong city of Orleans, on
+the Loire. And against the walls of Orleans the tide of English victory
+was broken, for there the flag of England went down before the peasant
+girl who had danced below the Fairy Tree of Domremy, before Joan the
+Maiden.
+
+
+III
+
+THE CHILDHOOD OF JOAN THE MAIDEN
+
+THE English were besieging Orleans; Joan the Maid drove them from its
+walls. How did it happen that a girl of seventeen, who could neither
+read nor write, became the greatest general on the side of France? How
+did a woman defeat the hardy English soldiers who were used to chase the
+French before them like sheep?
+
+[Illustration: JOAN IN CHURCH]
+
+We must say that France could only be saved by a miracle, and by a
+miracle she was saved. This is a mystery; we cannot understand it. Joan
+the Maiden was not as other men and women are. But, as a little girl,
+she was a child among children, though better, kinder, stronger than the
+rest, and, poor herself, she was always good and helpful to those who
+were poorer still.
+
+Joan's parents were not indigent; they had lands and cattle, and a
+little money laid by in case of need. Her father was, at one time,
+_doyen_, or head-man, of Domremy. Their house was hard by the church,
+and was in the part of the hamlet where the people were better off, and
+had more freedom and privileges than many of their neighbours. They were
+devoted to the Royal House of France, which protected them from the
+tyranny of lords and earls further east. As they lived in a village
+under the patronage of St. Remigius, they were much interested in Reims,
+his town, where the kings of France were crowned, and were anointed with
+Holy Oil, which was believed to have been brought in a sacred bottle by
+an angel.
+
+In the Middle Ages, the king was not regarded as really king till this
+holy oil had been poured on his head. Thus we shall see, later, how
+anxious Joan was that Charles VII., then the Dauphin, should be crowned
+and anointed in Reims, though it was still in the possession of the
+English. It is also necessary to remember that Joan had once an elder
+sister named Catherine, whom she loved dearly. Catherine died, and
+perhaps affection for her made Joan more fond of bringing flowers to the
+altar of her namesake, St. Catherine, and of praying often to that
+saint.
+
+Joan was brought up by her parents, as she told her judges, to be
+industrious, to sew and spin. She did not fear to match herself at
+spinning and sewing, she said, against any woman in Rouen. When very
+young she sometimes went to the fields to watch the cattle, like the
+goose-girl in the fairy tale. As she grew older, she worked in the
+house, she did not any longer watch sheep and cattle. But the times were
+dangerous, and, when there was an alarm of soldiers or robbers in the
+neighbourhood, she sometimes helped to drive the flock into a fortified
+island, or peninsula, for which her father was responsible, in the river
+near her home. She learned her creed, she said, from her mother. Twenty
+years after her death, her neighbours, who remembered her, described her
+as she was when a child. Jean Morin said that she was a good industrious
+girl, but that she would often be praying in church when her father and
+mother did not know it. Beatrix Estellin, an old widow of eighty, said
+Joan was a good girl. When Domremy was burned, Joan would go to church
+at Greux, 'and there was not a better girl in the two towns.' A
+priest, who had known her, called her 'a good, simple, well-behaved
+girl.' Jean Waterin, when he was a boy, had seen Joan in the fields;
+'and when they were all playing together, she would go apart, and pray
+to God, as he thought, and he and the others used to laugh at her. She
+was good and simple, and often in churches and holy places. And when she
+heard the church bell ring, she would kneel down in the fields.' She
+used to bribe the sexton to ring the bells (a duty which he rather
+neglected) with presents of knitted wool.
+
+All those who had seen Joan told the same tale: she was always kind,
+simple, industrious, pious, and yet merry and fond of playing with the
+others round the Fairy Tree. They say that the singing birds came to
+her, and nestled in her breast.[2]
+
+Thus, as far as anyone could tell, Joan was a child like other children,
+but more serious and more religious. One of her friends, a girl called
+Mengette, whose cottage was next to that of Joan's father, said: 'Joan
+was so pious that we other children told her she was too good.'
+
+In peaceful times Joan would have lived and married and died and been
+forgotten. But the times were evil. The two parties of Burgundy and
+Armagnac divided town from town and village from village. It was as in
+the days of the Douglas Wars in Scotland, when the very children took
+sides for Queen Mary and King James, and fought each other in the
+streets. Domremy was for the Armagnacs--that is, against the English and
+for the Dauphin, the son of the mad Charles VI. But at Maxey, on the
+Meuse, a village near Domremy, the people were all for Burgundy and the
+English. The boys of Domremy would go out and fight the Maxey boys with
+fists and sticks and stones. Joan did not remember having taken part in
+those battles, but she had often seen her brothers and the Domremy boys
+come home all bruised and bleeding.
+
+
+THE RAID OF DOMREMY
+
+[Illustration: Joan hears the Voice]
+
+Once Joan saw more of war than these schoolboy bickers. It was in 1425,
+when she was a girl of thirteen. There was a kind of robber chief on the
+English side, a man named Henri d'Orly, from Savoy, who dwelt in the
+castle of Doulevant. There he and his band of armed men lived and drank
+and plundered far and near. One day there galloped into Domremy a
+squadron of spearmen, who rode through the fields driving together the
+cattle of the villagers, among them the cows of Joan's father. The
+country people could make no resistance; they were glad enough if their
+houses were not burned. So off rode Henri d'Orly's men, driving the
+cattle with their spear-points along the track to the castle of
+Doulevant. But cows are not fast travellers, and when the robbers had
+reached a little village called Dommartin le France they rested, and
+went to the tavern to make merry. But by this time a lady, Madame
+d'Ogevillier, had sent in all haste to the Count de Vaudemont to tell
+him how the villagers of Domremy had been ruined. So he called his
+squire, Barthelemy de Clefmont, and bade him summon his spears and mount
+and ride. It reminds us of the old Scottish ballad, where Jamie Telfer
+of the Fair Dodhead has seen all his cattle driven out of his stalls by
+the English; and he runs to Branxholme and warns the water, and they
+with Harden pursue the English, defeat them, and recover Telfer's kye,
+with a great spoil out of England. Just so Barthelemy de Clefmont, with
+seven or eight lances, galloped down the path to Dommartin le France.
+There they found the cattle, and d'Orly's men fled like cowards. So
+Barthelemy with his comrades was returning very joyously, when Henri
+d'Orly rode up with a troop of horse and followed hard after Barthelemy.
+He was wounded by a lance, but he cut his way through d'Orly's men, and
+also brought the cattle back safely--a very gallant deed of arms. We may
+fancy the delight of the villagers when 'the kye cam' hame.' It may have
+been now that an event happened, of which Joan does not tell us herself,
+but which was reported by the king's seneschal, in June 1429, when Joan
+had just begun her wonderful career. The children of the village, says
+the seneschal, were running races and leaping in wild joy about the
+fields; possibly their gladness was caused by the unexpected rescue of
+their cattle. Joan ran so much more fleetly than the rest, and leaped so
+far, that the children believed she actually _flew_, and they told her
+so! Tired and breathless, 'out of herself,' says the seneschal, she
+paused, and in that moment she heard a Voice, but saw no man; the Voice
+bade her go home, because her mother had need of her. And when she came
+home the Voice said many things to her about the great deeds which God
+bade her do for France. We shall later hear Joan's own account of how
+her visions and Voices first came to her.[3]
+
+Three years later there was an alarm, and the Domremy people fled to
+Neufchateau, Joan going with her parents. Afterwards her enemies tried
+to prove that she had been a servant at an inn in Neufchateau, had lived
+roughly with grooms and soldiers, and had learned to ride. But this was
+absolutely untrue. An ordinary child would have thought little of war
+and of the sorrows of her country in the flowery fields of Domremy and
+Vaucouleurs; but Joan always thought of the miseries of _France la
+belle_, fair France, and prayed for her country and her king. A great
+road, on the lines of an old Roman way, passed near Domremy, so Joan
+would hear all the miserable news from travellers. Probably she showed
+what was in her mind, for her father dreamed that she 'had gone off with
+soldiers,' and this dream struck him so much, that he told his sons that
+he, or they, must drown Joan if she so disgraced herself. For many girls
+of bad character, lazy and rude, followed the soldiers, as they always
+have done, and always will. Joan's father thought that his dream meant
+that Joan would be like these women. It would be interesting to know
+whether he was in the habit of dreaming true dreams. For Joan, his
+child, dreamed when wide awake, dreamed dreams immortal, which brought
+her to her glory and her doom.
+
+
+THE CALLING OF JOAN THE MAID
+
+When Joan was between twelve and thirteen, a wonderful thing befell her.
+We have already heard one account of it, written when Joan was in the
+first flower of her triumph, by the seneschal of the King of France. A
+Voice spoke to her and prophesied of what she was to do. But about all
+these marvellous things it is more safe to attend to what Joan always
+said herself. She told the same story both to friends and foes; to the
+learned men who, by her king's desire, examined her at Poictiers, before
+she went to war (April 1429); and to her deadly foes at Rouen. No man
+can read her answers to them and doubt that she spoke what she believed.
+And she died for this belief. Unluckily the book that was kept of what
+she said at Poictiers is lost. Before her enemies at Rouen there were
+many things which she did not think it right to say. On one point, after
+for long refusing to speak, she told her foes a kind of parable, which
+we must not take as part of her real story.
+
+When Joan was between twelve and thirteen (1424), so she swore, 'a
+_Voice came to her from God for her guidance_, but when first it came,
+she was in great fear. And it came, that Voice, about noonday, in the
+summer season, she being in her father's garden. And Joan had not fasted
+the day before that, but was fasting when the Voice came.[4] And she
+heard the Voice on her right side, towards the church, and rarely did
+she hear it but she also saw a great light.' These are her very words.
+They asked her if she heard these Voices there, in the hall of judgment,
+and she answered, 'If I were in a wood, I should well hear these Voices
+coming to me.' The Voices at first only told her 'to be a good girl, and
+go to church.' She thought it was a holy Voice, and that it came from
+God; and the third time she heard it she knew it was the voice of an
+angel. The Voice told her of 'the great pity there was in France,' and
+that one day she must go into France and help the country. She had
+visions with the Voices; visions first of St. Michael, and then of St.
+Catherine and St. Margaret.[5] She hated telling her hypocritical judges
+anything about these heavenly visions, but it seems that she really
+believed in their appearance, believed that she had embraced the knees
+of St. Margaret and St. Catherine, and she did reverence to them when
+they came to her. 'I saw them with my bodily eyes, as I see you,' she
+said to her judges, 'and when they departed from me I wept, and well I
+wished that they had taken me with them.'
+
+What are we to think about these visions and these Voices which were
+with Joan to her death?
+
+Some have thought that she was mad; others that she only told the story
+to win a hearing and make herself important; or, again, that a trick was
+played on her to win her aid. The last idea is impossible. The French
+Court did not want her. The second, as everyone will admit who reads
+Joan's answers, and follows her step by step from childhood to victory,
+to captivity, to death, is also impossible. She was as truthful as she
+was brave and wise. But was she partially insane? It is certain that mad
+people do hear voices which are not real, and believe that they come to
+them from without. But these mad voices say mad things. Now, Joan's
+Voices never said anything but what was wise beyond her own wisdom, and
+right and true. She governed almost all her actions by their advice.
+When she disobeyed 'her counsel,' as she called it, the result was evil,
+and once, as we shall see, was ruinous. Again, Joan was not only
+healthy, but wonderfully strong, ready, and nimble. In all her converse
+with princes and priests and warriors, she spoke and acted like one born
+in their own rank. In mind, as in body, she was a marvel, none such has
+ever been known. It is impossible, then, to say that she was mad.
+
+In the whole history of the world, as far as we know it, there is only
+one example like that of Joan of Arc. Mad folk hear voices; starved
+nuns, living always with their thoughts bent on heaven, women of feeble
+body, accustomed to faints and to fits, have heard voices and seen
+visions. Some of them have been very good women; none have been strong,
+good riders, skilled in arms, able to march all day long with little
+food, and to draw the arrow from their own wound and mount horse and
+charge again, like Joan of Arc. Only one great man, strong, brave, wise,
+and healthy, has been attended by a Voice, which taught him what to do,
+or rather what _not_ to do. That man was Socrates, the most hardy
+soldier, the most unwearied in the march, and the wisest man of Greece.
+Socrates was put to death for this Voice of his, on the charge of
+'bringing in new gods.' Joan of Arc died for her Voices, because her
+enemies argued that she was no saint, but a witch! These two, the old
+philosopher and the untaught peasant girl of nineteen, stand alone in
+the endless generations of men, alone in goodness, wisdom, courage,
+strength, combined with a mysterious and fatal gift. More than this it
+is now forbidden to us to know. But, when we remember that such a being
+as Joan of Arc has only appeared once since time began, and _that_ once
+just when France seemed lost beyond all hope, we need not wonder at
+those who say that France was saved by no common good fortune and happy
+chance, but by the will of Heaven.[6]
+
+In one respect, Joan's conduct after these Voices and visions began, was
+perhaps, as regarded herself, unfortunate. She did not speak of them to
+her parents, nor tell about them to the priest when she confessed. Her
+enemies were thus able to say, later, that they could not have been holy
+visions or Voices, otherwise she would not have concealed them from her
+father, her mother, and the priest, to whom she was bound to tell
+everything, and from whom she should have sought advice. Thus, long
+afterwards, St. Theresa had visions, and, in obedience to her priest,
+she at first distrusted these, as perhaps a delusion of evil, or a
+temptation of spiritual pride. Joan, however, was afraid that her
+father would interfere with her mission, and prevent her from going to
+the king. She believed that she must not be 'disobedient to the heavenly
+vision.'
+
+
+HOW JOAN THE MAID WENT TO VAUCOULEURS
+
+It was in 1424 that the Voices first came to Joan the Maid. The years
+went on, bringing more and more sorrow to France. In 1428 only a very
+few small towns in the east still held out for the Dauphin, and these
+were surrounded on every side by enemies. Meanwhile the Voices came more
+frequently, urging Joan to go into France, and help her country. She
+asked how she, a girl, who could not ride or use sword and lance, could
+be of any help? Rather would she stay at home and spin beside her dear
+mother. At the same time she was encouraged by one of the vague old
+prophecies which were as common in France as in Scotland. A legend ran
+'that France was to be saved by a Maiden from the Oak Wood,' and there
+was an Oak Wood, _le bois chenu_, near Domremy. Some such prophecy had
+an influence on Joan, and probably helped people to believe in her. The
+Voices, moreover, instantly and often commanded her to go to
+Vaucouleurs, a neighbouring town which was loyal, and there meet Robert
+de Baudricourt, who was captain of the French garrison. Now, Robert de
+Baudricourt was not what is called a romantic person. Though little over
+thirty, he had already married, one after the other, two rich widows. He
+was a gallant soldier, but a plain practical man, very careful of his
+own interest, and cunning enough to hold his own among his many enemies,
+English, Burgundian, and Lorrainers. It was to him that Joan must go, a
+country girl to a great noble, and tell him that she, and she alone,
+could save France! Joan knew what manner of man Robert de Baudricourt
+was, for her father had been obliged to visit him, and speak for the
+people of Domremy when they were oppressed. She could hardly hope that
+he would listen to her, and it was with a heavy heart that she found a
+good reason for leaving home to visit Vaucouleurs. Joan had a cousin, a
+niece of her mother's, who was married to one Durand Lassois, at Burey
+en Vaux, a village near Vaucouleurs. This cousin invited Joan to visit
+her for a week. At the end of that time she spoke to her cousin's
+husband. There was an old saying, as we saw, that France would be
+rescued by a Maid, and she, as she told Lassois, was that Maid. Lassois
+listened, and, whatever he may have thought of her chances, he led her
+to Robert de Baudricourt.
+
+Joan came, on May 18, 1423, in her simple red dress, and walked straight
+up to the captain among his men. She knew him, she said, by what her
+Voices had told her, but she may also have heard him described by her
+father. She told him that the Dauphin must keep quiet, and risk no
+battle, for before the middle of Lent next year (1429) God would send
+him succour. She added that the kingdom belonged, not to the Dauphin,
+but to her Master, who willed that the Dauphin should be crowned, and
+she herself would lead him to Reims, to be anointed with the holy oil.
+
+[Illustration: Robert thinks Joan crazed]
+
+'And who is your Master?' said Robert.
+
+'The King of Heaven!'
+
+Robert, very naturally, thought that Joan was crazed, and shrugged his
+shoulders. He bluntly told Lassois to box her ears, and take her back to
+her father. So she had to go home; but here new troubles awaited her.
+The enemy came down on Domremy and burned it; Joan and her family fled
+to Neufchateau, where they stayed for a few days. It was perhaps about
+this time that a young man declared that Joan had promised to marry him,
+and he actually brought her before a court of justice, to make her
+fulfil her promise.
+
+Joan was beautiful, well-shaped, dark-haired, and charming in her
+manner.
+
+We have a letter which two young knights, Andre and Guy de Laval, wrote
+to their mother in the following year. 'The Maid was armed from neck to
+heel,' they say, 'but unhelmeted; she carried a lance in her hand.
+Afterwards, when we lighted down from our horses at Selles, I went to
+her lodging to see her, and she called for wine for me, saying she would
+soon make me drink wine in Paris' (then held by the English), 'and,
+indeed, she seems a thing wholly divine, both to look on her and to hear
+her sweet voice.'
+
+It is no wonder that the young man of Domremy wanted to marry Joan; but
+she had given no promise, and he lost his foolish law-suit. She and her
+parents soon went back to Domremy.[7]
+
+
+HOW JOAN THE MAID WENT AGAIN TO VAUCOULEURS
+
+In Domremy they found that the enemy had ruined everything. Their cattle
+were safe, for they had been driven to Neufchateau, but when Joan looked
+from her father's garden to the church, she saw nothing but a heap of
+smoking ruins. She had to go to say her prayers now at the church of
+Greux. These things only made her feel more deeply the sorrows of her
+country. The time was drawing near when she had prophesied that the
+Dauphin was to receive help from heaven--namely, in the Lent of 1429. On
+that year the season was held more than commonly sacred, for Good Friday
+and the Annunciation fell on the same day. So, early in January, 1429,
+Joan the Maid turned her back on Domremy, which she was never to see
+again. Her cousin Lassois came and asked leave for Joan to visit him
+again; she said good-bye to her father and mother, and to her friend
+Mengette, but to her dearest friend Hauvette she did not even say
+good-bye, for she could not bear it. She went to her cousin's house at
+Burey, and there she stayed for six weeks, hearing bad news of the
+siege of Orleans by the English. Meanwhile, Robert de Baudricourt, in
+Vaucouleurs, was not easy in his mind, for he was likely to lose the
+protection of Rene of Anjou, the Duc de Bar, who was on the point of
+joining the English. Thus Robert may have been more inclined to listen
+to Joan than when he bade her cousin box her ears and take her back to
+her father. A squire named Jean de Nouillompont met Joan one day.
+
+'Well, my lass,' said he, 'is our king to be driven from France, and are
+we all to become English?'
+
+'I have come here,' said Joan, 'to bid Robert de Baudricourt lead me to
+the king, but he will not listen to me. And yet to the king I must go,
+even if I walk my legs down to the knees; for none in all the
+world--king, nor duke, nor the King of Scotland's daughter--can save
+France, but myself only. _Certes_, I would rather stay and spin with my
+poor mother, for to fight is not my calling; but I must go and I must
+fight, for so my Lord will have it.'
+
+'And who is your Lord?' said Jean de Nouillompont.
+
+'He is God,' said the Maiden.
+
+'Then, so help me God, I shall take you to the king,' said Jean, putting
+her hands in his. 'When do we start?'
+
+'To-day is better than to-morrow,' said the Maid.
+
+Joan was now staying in Vaucouleurs with Catherine le Royer. One day, as
+she and Catherine were sitting at their spinning-wheels, who should come
+in but Robert de Baudricourt with the _cure_ of the town. Robert had
+fancied that perhaps Joan was a witch! He told the priest to perform
+some rite of the Church over her, so that if she were a witch she would
+be obliged to run away. But when the words were spoken, Joan threw
+herself at the knees of the priest, saying, 'Sir, this is ill done of
+you, for you have heard my confession and know that I am not a witch.'
+
+Robert was now half disposed to send her to the king and let her take
+her chance. But days dragged on, and when Joan was not working she would
+be on her knees in the crypt or underground chapel of the Chapel Royal
+in Vaucouleurs. Twenty-seven years later a chorister boy told how he
+often saw her praying there for France. Now people began to hear of
+Joan, and the Duke of Lorraine asked her to visit him at Nancy, where
+she bade him lead a better life. He is said to have given her a horse
+and some money. On February 12 the story goes that she went to Robert de
+Baudricourt.
+
+'You delay too long,' she said. 'On this very day, at Orleans, the
+gentle Dauphin has lost a battle.'
+
+[Illustration: 'Sir, this is ill done of you']
+
+This was, in fact, the Battle of Herrings, so called because the English
+defeated and cut off a French and Scottish force which attacked them as
+they were bringing herrings into camp for provisions in Lent. If this
+tale is true, Joan cannot have known of the battle by any common means;
+but though it is vouched for by the king's secretary, Joan has told us
+nothing about it herself.[8]
+
+[Illustration: JOAN RIDES TO CHINON]
+
+Now the people of Vaucouleurs bought clothes for Joan to wear on her
+journey to the Dauphin. They were such clothes as men wear--doublet,
+hose, surcoat, boots, and spurs--and Robert de Baudricourt gave Joan a
+sword.
+
+In the end this man's dress, which henceforth she always wore, proved
+the ruin of Joan. Her enemies, the English and false French, made it one
+of their chief charges against her that she dressed, as they chose to
+say, immodestly. It is not very clear how she came to wear men's
+garments. Jean de Nouillompont, her first friend, asked her if she would
+go to the king (a ten days' journey on horseback) dressed as she was, in
+her red frock. She answered 'that she would gladly have a man's dress,'
+which he says that he provided. Her reason was that she would have to be
+living alone among men-at-arms, and she thought that it was more modest
+to wear armour like the rest. Also her favourite saint, St. Margaret,
+had done this once when in danger. St. Marina had worn a monk's clothes
+when obliged to live in a monastery. The same thing is told of St.
+Eugenia.[9] Besides, in all the romances of chivalry, and the favourite
+poems of knights and ladies, we find fair maidens fighting in arms like
+men, or travelling dressed as pages, and nobody ever thought the worse
+of them. Therefore this foolish charge of the English against Joan the
+Maid was a mere piece of cruel hypocrisy.
+
+
+HOW JOAN THE MAID RODE TO CHINON
+
+On February 23, 1429, the gate of the little castle of Vaucouleurs, 'the
+Gate of France,' which is still standing, was thrown open. Seven
+travellers rode out, among them two squires, Jean de Nouillompont and
+Bertrand de Poulengy, with their attendants, and Joan the Maid. 'Go, and
+let what will come of it come!' said Robert de Baudricourt. He did not
+expect much to come of it. It was a long journey--they were eleven days
+on the road--and a dangerous. But Joan laughed at danger. 'God will
+clear my path to the king, for to this end I was born.' Often they rode
+by night, stopping at monasteries when they could. Sometimes they slept
+out under the sky. Though she was so young and so beautiful, with the
+happiness of her long desire in her eyes, and the glory of her future
+shining on her, these two young gentlemen never dreamed of paying their
+court to her and making love, as in romances they do, for they
+regarded her 'as if she had been an angel.' 'They were in awe of her,'
+they said, long afterwards, long after the angels had taken Joan to be
+with their company in heaven. And all the knights who had seen her said
+the same. Dunois and d'Aulon and the beautiful Duc d'Alencon, '_le beau
+Duc_' as Joan called him, they all said that she was 'a thing enskied
+and sainted.' So on they rode, six men and a maid, through a country
+full of English and Burgundian soldiery. There were four rivers to
+cross, Marne, Aube, Seine, and Yonne, and the rivers were 'great and
+mickle o' spate,' running red with the rains from bank to bank, so that
+they could not ford the streams, but must go by unfriendly towns, where
+alone there were bridges. Joan would have liked to stay and go to church
+in every town, but this might not be. However, she heard mass thrice at
+the church of her favourite saint, Catherine de Fierbois, between Loches
+and Chinon, in a friendly country. And a strange thing happened later in
+that church.
+
+From Fierbois Joan made some clerk write to the king that she was coming
+to help him, and that she would know him among all his men. Probably it
+was here that she wrote to beg her parents' pardon, and they forgave
+her, she says. Meanwhile news reached the people then besieged in
+Orleans that a marvellous Maiden was riding to their rescue. On March 6
+Joan arrived in Chinon, where for two or three days the king's advisers
+would not let him see her. At last they yielded, and she went straight
+up to him, and when he denied that he was the king, she told him that
+she knew well who he was.
+
+'There is the king,' said Charles, pointing to a richly dressed noble.
+
+'No, fair sire. You are he!'
+
+Still, it was not easy to believe. Joan stayed at Chinon in the house of
+a noble lady. The young Duc d'Alencon was on her side from the first,
+bewitched by her noble horsemanship, which she had never learned. Great
+people came to see her, but, when she was alone, she wept and prayed.
+The king sent messengers to inquire about her at Domremy, but time was
+going on, and Orleans was not relieved.
+
+
+HOW JOAN THE MAID SHOWED A SIGN TO THE KING
+
+[Illustration: JOAN TELLS THE KING HIS SECRET]
+
+Joan was weary of being asked questions. One day she went to Charles and
+said, 'Gentle Dauphin, why do you delay to believe me? I tell you that
+God has taken pity on you and your people, at the prayer of St. Louis
+and St. Charlemagne. And I will tell you, by your leave, something
+which will show you that you should believe me.'
+
+Then she told him secretly something which, as he said, none could know
+but God and himself. A few months later, in July, a man about the court
+wrote a letter, in which he declares that none knows what Joan told the
+king, but he was plainly as glad as if something had been revealed to
+him by the Holy Spirit. We have three witnesses of this, one of them is
+the famous Dunois, to whom the king himself told what happened.
+
+What did Joan say to the king, and what was the sign? About this her
+enemies later examined her ten times. She told them from the very first
+that she would never let them know; that, if they made her speak, what
+she spoke would not be the truth. At last she told them a kind of
+parable about an angel and a crown, which neither was nor was meant to
+be taken as true. It was the king's secret, and Joan kept it.
+
+We learn the secret in this way. There was a man named Pierre Sala in
+the service of Louis XI. and Charles VIII. of France. In his youth,
+Pierre Sala used to hunt with M. de Boisy, who, in his youth, had been
+gentleman of the bedchamber to Charles VII., Joan's king. To de Boisy
+Charles VII. told the secret, and de Boisy told it to Pierre Sala. At
+this time of his misfortunes (1429), when his treasurer had only four
+crowns in his coffers, Charles went into his oratory to pray alone, and
+he made his prayer to God secretly, not aloud, but in his mind.
+
+Now, what Joan told the king was the secret prayer which he had made in
+his own heart when alone. And, ten years later, when Joan was long dead,
+an impostor went about saying that _she_ was the Maid, who had come to
+life again. She was brought to Charles, who said, 'Maiden, my Maid, you
+are welcome back again if you can tell me the secret that is between you
+and me.' But the false Maid, falling on her knees, confessed all her
+treason.
+
+This is the story of the sign given to the king, which is not the least
+strange of the things done by Joan the Maid. But there is a thing
+stranger yet, though not so rare.
+
+The king to whom Joan brought this wonderful message, the king whom she
+loved so loyally, and for whom she died, spoiled all her plans. He, with
+his political advisers, prevented her from driving the English quite out
+of France. These favourites, men like the fat La Tremouille, found their
+profit in dawdling and delaying, as politicians generally do. Thus, in
+our own time, they hung off and on, till our soldiers were too late
+to rescue Gordon from the Arabs. Thus, in Joan's time, she had literally
+to goad them into action, to drag them on by constant prayers and tears.
+They were lazy, comfortable, cowardly, disbelieving; in their hearts
+they hated the Maid, who put them to so much trouble. As for Charles, to
+whom the Maid was so loyal, had he been a man like the Black Prince, or
+even like Prince Charlie, Joan would have led him into Paris before
+summer was ended. 'I shall only last one year and little more,' she
+often said to the king. The Duc d'Alencon heard her,[10] and much of that
+precious year was wasted. Charles, to tell the truth, never really
+believed in her; he never quite trusted her; he never led a charge by
+her side; and, in the end, he shamefully deserted her, and left the Maid
+to her doom.
+
+
+HOW JOAN THE MAID WAS EXAMINED AT POICTIERS
+
+Weeks had passed, and Joan had never yet seen a blow struck in war. She
+used to exercise herself in horsemanship, and knightly sports of
+tilting, and it is wonderful that a peasant girl became, at once, one of
+the best riders among the chivalry of France. The young Duc d'Alencon,
+lately come from captivity in England, saw how gallantly she rode, and
+gave her a horse. He and his wife were her friends from the first, when
+the politicians and advisers were against her. But, indeed, whatever the
+Maid attempted, she did better than others, at once, without teaching or
+practice. It was now determined that Joan should be taken to Poictiers,
+and examined before all the learned men, bishops, doctors, and higher
+clergy who still were on the side of France. There was good reason for
+this delay. It was plain to all, friends and foes, that the wonderful
+Maid was not like other men and women, with her Voices, her visions, her
+prophecies, and her powers. All agreed that she had some strange help
+given to her; but who gave it? This aid must come, people thought then,
+either from heaven or hell--either from God and his saints, or from the
+devil and his angels. Now, if any doubt could be thrown on the source
+whence Joan's aid came, the English might argue (as of course they did),
+that she was a witch and a heretic. If she was a heretic and a witch,
+then her king was involved in her wickedness, and so he might be legally
+shut out from his kingdom. It was necessary, therefore, that Joan should
+be examined by learned men. They must find out whether she had always
+been good, and a true believer, and whether her Voices always agreed in
+everything with the teachings of the Church. Otherwise her angels must
+be devils in disguise. For these reasons Joan was carried to Poictiers.
+During three long weeks the learned men asked her questions, and, no
+doubt, they wearied her terribly. But they said it was wonderful how
+wisely this girl, who 'did not know A from B,' replied to their puzzling
+inquiries. She told the story of her visions, of the command laid upon
+her to rescue Orleans. Said Guillaume Aymeri, 'You ask for men-at-arms,
+and you say that God will have the English to leave France and go home.
+If that is true, no men-at-arms are needed; God's pleasure can drive the
+English out of the land.'
+
+[Illustration: 'In a better language than _yours_,' said Joan]
+
+'In God's name,' said the Maid, 'the men-at-arms will fight, and God
+will give the victory.' Then came the learned Seguin; 'a right sour man
+was he,' said those who knew him.
+
+Seguin was a Limousin, and the Limousins spoke in a queer accent at
+which the other French were always laughing.
+
+'In what language do your Voices speak?' asked he.
+
+'In a better language than _yours_,' said Joan, and the bishops smiled
+at the country quip.
+
+'We may not believe in you,' said Seguin, 'unless you show us a sign.'
+
+'I did not come to Poictiers to work miracles,' said Joan; 'take me to
+Orleans, and I shall show you the signs that I am sent to do.' And show
+them she did.
+
+Joan never pretended to work miracles. Though, in that age, people
+easily believed in miracles, it is curious that none worth mentioning
+were invented about Joan in her own time. She knew things in some
+strange way sometimes, but the real miracle was her extraordinary
+wisdom, genius, courage, and power of enduring hardship.
+
+At last, after examining witnesses from Domremy, and the Queen of Sicily
+and other great ladies to whom Joan was entrusted, the clergy found
+nothing in her but 'goodness, humility, frank maidenhood, piety,
+honesty, and simplicity.' As for her wearing a man's dress, the
+Archbishop of Embrun said to the king, 'It is more becoming to do these
+things in man's gear, since they have to be done amongst men.'
+
+The king therefore made up his mind at last. Jean and Pierre, Joan's
+brothers, were to ride with her to Orleans; her old friends, her first
+friends, Jean de Nouillompont and Bertrand de Poulengy, had never left
+her. She was given a squire, Jean d'Aulon, a very good man, and a page,
+Louis de Coutes, and a chaplain. The king gave Joan armour and horses,
+and offered her a sword. But her Voices told her that, behind the altar
+of St. Catherine de Fierbois, where she heard mass on her way to Chinon,
+there was an old sword, with five crosses on the blade, buried in the
+earth. That sword she was to wear. A man whom Joan did not know, and had
+never seen, was sent from Tours, and found the sword in the place which
+she described. The sword was cleaned of rust, and the king gave her two
+sheaths, one of velvet, one of cloth of gold, but Joan had a leather
+sheath made for use in war. She also commanded a banner to be made, with
+the Lilies of France on a white field. There was also a picture of God,
+holding the round world, and two angels at the sides, with the sacred
+words, JHESU MARIA. On another flag was the Annunciation, the Virgin
+holding a lily, and the angel coming to her. In battle, when she led a
+charge, Joan always carried her standard, that she might not be able to
+use her sword. She wished to kill nobody, and said 'she loved her
+banner forty times more than her sword.' Joan afterwards broke St.
+Catherine's sword, when slapping a girl (who richly deserved to be
+slapped) with the flat of the blade. Her enemies, at her trial, wished
+to prove that her flag was a kind of magical talisman, but Joan had no
+belief in anything of that kind. What she believed in was God, her
+Voices, and her just cause. When once it was settled that she was to
+lead an army to relieve Orleans, she showed her faith by writing a
+letter addressed to the King of England; Bedford, the Regent; and the
+English generals at Orleans. This letter was sent from Blois, late in
+April. It began JHESU MARIA. Joan had no ill-will against the English.
+She bade them leave France, 'and if you are reasonable, you yet may ride
+in the Maid's company, where the French will do the fairest feat of arms
+that ever yet was done for Christentie.' Probably she had in her mind
+some Crusade. But, before France and England can march together, 'do ye
+justice to the King of Heaven and the Blood Royal of France. Yield to
+the Maid the keys of all the good towns which ye have taken and assailed
+in France.' If they did not yield to the Maid and the king, she will
+come on them to their sorrow. 'Duke of Bedford, the Maid prays and
+entreats you not to work your own destruction!'
+
+[Illustration: ORLEANS
+
+Showing the position of the English forts when Joan arrived.]
+
+We may imagine how the English laughed and swore when they received this
+letter. They threw the heralds of the Maid into prison, and threatened
+to burn them as heretics. From the very first, the English promised to
+burn Joan as a witch and a heretic. This fate was always before her
+eyes. But she went where her Voices called her.
+
+
+HOW JOAN THE MAID RODE TO RELIEVE ORLEANS
+
+At last the men-at-arms who were to accompany Joan were ready. She rode
+at their head, as Andre de Laval and Guy de Laval saw her, and described
+her in a letter to their mother. She was armed in white armour, but
+unhelmeted, a little axe in her hand, riding a great black charger, that
+reared at the door of her lodging and would not let her mount.
+
+[Illustration: 'Lead him to the Cross!' cried she]
+
+'"Lead him to the Cross!" cried she, for a Cross stood on the roadside,
+by the church. There he stood as if he had been stone, and she mounted.
+Then she turned to the church, and said, in her girlish voice, "You
+priests and churchmen, make prayers and processions to God." Then she
+cried, "Forwards, Forwards!" and on she rode, a pretty page carrying her
+banner, and with her little axe in her hand.' And so Joan went to
+war.[11] She led, she says, ten or twelve thousand soldiers.[12] Among the
+other generals were Xaintrailles and La Hire. Joan made her soldiers
+confess themselves; as for La Hire, a brave rough soldier, she forbade
+him to swear, as he used to do, but, for his weakness, she permitted him
+to say, _By my baton!_ This army was to defend a great convoy of
+provisions, of which the people of Orleans stood in sore need. Since
+November they had been besieged, and now it was late April. The people
+in Orleans were not yet starving, but food came in slowly, and in small
+quantities. From the first the citizens had behaved well; a Scottish
+priest describes their noble conduct. They had burned all the outlying
+suburbs, beyond the wall, that they might not give shelter to the
+English. They had plenty of cannon, which carried large rough stone
+balls, and usually did little harm. But a gun was fired, it is said by a
+small boy, which killed Salisbury, the English general, as he looked out
+of an arrow-slit in a fort that the English had taken.
+
+The French general-in-chief was the famous Dunois, then called the
+Bastard of Orleans. On the English side was the brave Talbot, who fought
+under arms for sixty years, and died fighting when he was over eighty.
+There were also Suffolk, Pole, and Glasdale, whom the French called
+'Classidas.' The English had not soldiers enough to surround and take so
+large a town, of 30,000 people, in ordinary war. But as Dunois said,
+'two hundred English could then beat a thousand French'--that is, as the
+French were before the coming of the Maid.
+
+The position of Orleans was this; it may be most easily understood from
+the map.
+
+Looking _down_ the river Loire, Orleans lies on your right hand. It had
+strong walls in an irregular square; it had towers on the wall, and a
+bridge of many arches crossing to the left side of the river. At the
+further end of this bridge were a fort and rampart called Les Tourelles,
+and this fort had already been taken by the English, so that no French
+army could cross the bridge to help Orleans. Indeed, the bridge was
+broken. The rampart and the fort of Les Tourelles were guarded by
+another strong work, called Les Augustins. All round the outside of the
+town, on the right bank, the English had built strong redoubts, which
+they called _bastilles_. 'Paris' was the bastille which blocked the road
+from Paris, 'London' and 'Rouen' were bastilles on the western side, but
+on the east, above the town, and on the Orleans bank of the Loire, the
+English had only one bastille, St. Loup. Now, as Joan's army mustered at
+Blois, south of Orleans, further down the river, she might march on the
+_left_ side of the river, cross it by boats above Orleans, and enter the
+town where the English were weakest and had only one fort, St. Loup. Or
+she might march up the _right_ bank, and attack the English where they
+were strongest, and had many bastilles. The Voices bade the Maid act on
+the boldest plan, and enter Orleans where the English were strongest, on
+the right bank of the river. The English would not move, said the
+Voices. She was certain that they would not even sally out against her.
+But Dunois in Orleans, and the generals with the Maid, thought this plan
+very perilous, as, indeed, it was. They therefore deceived her, caused
+her to think that Orleans was on the _left_ bank of the Loire, and led
+her thither. When she arrived, she saw that they had not played her
+fair, that the river lay between her and the town, and the strongest
+force of the enemy.
+
+The most astonishing thing about Joan is that, though she had never yet
+seen a sword-stroke dealt in anger, she understood the great operations
+of war better than seasoned generals. It was not only that she, like old
+Bluecher, always cried _Forwards!_ Audacity, to fight on every chance,
+carries men far in battle. Prince Charlie, who was no great general, saw
+that, and while his flag went forward he never lost a fight. But Joan
+'was most expert in war,' said the Duc d'Alencon, 'both with the lance
+and in massing an army, and arraying battle, and in the management of
+artillery. For all men marvelled how far-sighted and prudent she was in
+war, as if she had been a captain of thirty years' standing, and, above
+all, in the service of the artillery, for in that she was right well
+skilled.'[13]
+
+This girl of seventeen saw that, if a large convoy of provisions was to
+be thrown into a besieged town, the worst way was to try to ferry the
+supplies across a river under the enemy's fire. But Dunois and the other
+generals had brought her to this pass, and the Maid was sore
+ill-pleased. Now we shall see what happened, as it is reported in the
+very words of Dunois, the French general in Orleans. Joan had been
+brought, as we said, to the wrong bank of the Loire; it ran between her
+and the town where she would be. The wind was blowing in her teeth;
+boats could not cross with the troops and provisions. There she sat her
+horse and chafed till Dunois came out and crossed the Loire to meet her.
+This is what he says about Joan and her conduct.
+
+
+HOW JOAN THE MAID ENTERED ORLEANS
+
+They were on the wrong side of the Loire, opposite St. Loup, where the
+English held a strong fort.[14] 'I did not think, and the other generals
+did not think,' says Dunois, 'that the men-at-arms with the Maid were a
+strong enough force to bring the provisions into the town. Above all, it
+was difficult to get boats and ferry over the supplies, for both wind
+and stream were dead against us. Then Joan spoke to me thus:
+
+[Illustration: 'Then spurred she her horse . . . and put out the flame']
+
+'"Are you the Bastard of Orleans?"
+
+'"That am I, and glad of your coming."
+
+'"Is it you who gave counsel that I should come hither by that bank of
+the stream, and not go straight where Talbot and the English are?"
+
+'"I myself, and others wiser than I, gave that advice, and we think it
+the better way and the surer."
+
+'"In God's name, the counsel of our God is wiser and surer than yours.
+You thought to deceive me, and you have deceived yourselves, for I bring
+you a better rescue than ever shall come to soldier or city--that is,
+the help of the King of Heaven. . . ."
+
+'Then instantly, and as it were in one moment, the wind changed that had
+been dead against us, and had hindered the boats from carrying the
+provisions into Orleans, and the sails filled.'
+
+Dunois now wished Joan to cross by boat and enter the town, but her army
+could not cross, and she was loth to leave them, lest they fell into
+sin, for she had made them all confess at Blois. However, the army
+returned to Blois, to cross by the bridge there, and come upon the
+Orleans bank, as Joan had intended from the first. Then Joan crossed in
+the boat, holding in her hand the lily standard. So she and La Hire and
+Dunois rode into Orleans, where the people crowded round her, blessing
+her, and trying to kiss her hand. Night had fallen, there were torches
+flaring in the wind, and, as the people thronged about her, a torch set
+fire to the fringe of her banner. 'Then spurred she her horse, and
+turned him gracefully and put out the flame, as if she had long followed
+the wars, which the men-at-arms beheld with wonder, and the folk of
+Orleans.' So they led her with great joy to the Regnart Gate, and the
+house of Jacques Boucher, treasurer of the Duke of Orleans, and there
+was she gladly received, with her two brothers and her gentlemen, her
+old friends, Nouillompont and Poulengy.
+
+Next day, without leave from Joan, La Hire led a sally against the
+English, fought bravely, but failed, and Joan wished once more to bid
+the English go in peace. The English, of course, did not obey her
+summons, and it is said that they answered with wicked words which made
+her weep. For she wept readily, and blushed when she was moved. In her
+anger she went to a rampart, and, crying aloud, bade the English begone;
+but they repeated their insults, and threatened yet again to burn her.
+Next day (May 1), Dunois went off to bring the troops from Blois, and
+Joan rode round and inspected the English position. They made no attempt
+to take her. A superstitious fear of her 'witchcraft' had already fallen
+on them; they had lost heart and soon lost all. On May 4 the army
+returned from Blois. Joan rode out to meet them, priests marched in
+procession, singing hymns, but the English never stirred. They were
+expecting fresh troops under Fastolf. 'If you do not let me know when
+Fastolf comes,' cried the Maid merrily to Dunois, 'I will have your head
+cut off.' But for some reason, probably because they did not wish her to
+run risk, they did not tell Joan when the next fight began. She had just
+lain down to sleep when she leaped up with a noise, wakening her squire.
+'My Voices tell me,' she said, 'that I must go against the English, but
+whether to their forts or against Fastolf I know not.'
+
+There was a cry in the street; Joan armed herself; her page came in.
+
+'Wretched boy!' she said. 'French blood is flowing, and you never told
+me!'
+
+In a moment she was in the street, the page handed to her the lily flag
+from the upper window. Followed by her squire, d'Aulon, she galloped to
+the Burgundy Gate. They met wounded men. 'Never do I see French blood
+but my hair stands up on my head,' said Joan. She rode out of the gate
+to the English fort of St. Loup, which the Orleans men were attacking.
+Joan leaped into the fosse, under fire, holding her banner, and cheering
+on her men. St. Loup was taken by the French, in spite of a gallant
+defence, and Joan wept for the dead English, fearing that they had died
+unconfessed. Next day was Ascension Day. Joan, thinking 'the better the
+day the better the deed,' was for fighting. There was no battle, but she
+again summoned the English to withdraw, and again was insulted, and
+wept.
+
+The French generals now conceived a plan to make a feint, or a sham
+attack, on the English forts where they were strongest, on the Orleans
+side of the river. The English on the left side would cross to help
+their countrymen, and then the French would take the forts beyond the
+bridge. Thus they would have a free path across the river, and would
+easily get supplies, and weary out the English. They only told Joan of
+the first part of their plan, but she saw that they were deceiving her.
+When the plan was explained she agreed to it, her one wish was to strike
+swiftly and strongly. However, they did not carry out the plan, they
+only assailed the forts on the left bank.
+
+The French attacked the English fort of Les Augustins, beyond the river,
+but suddenly they fled to their bridge of boats; while the English
+sallied out, yelling their insults at Joan. She turned, she gathered a
+few men, and charged. The English ran before her like sheep; she planted
+her banner again in the ditch. The French hurried back to her, a great
+Englishman, who guarded the breach, was shot; two French knights leaped
+in, the others followed, and the English took refuge in the redoubt of
+Les Tourelles, their strong fort at the bridge-head.
+
+The Maid returned to Orleans, and, though it was a Friday, and she
+always fasted on Fridays, she was so weary that she ate some supper. A
+bit of bread, her page reports, was all that she usually ate. Now the
+generals sent to Joan and said that enough had been done. They had food,
+and could wait for another army from the king. 'You have been with your
+council,' she said, 'I have been with mine. The wisdom of God is greater
+than yours. Rise early to-morrow, do better than your best, keep close
+by me; for to-morrow have I much to do, and more than ever yet I did,
+and to-morrow shall my blood flow from a wound above my breast.'[15]
+
+Joan had always said at Chinon that she would be wounded at Orleans.
+From a letter by a Flemish ambassador, written three weeks before the
+event happened, we know that this is true.[16]
+
+Next morning Joan's host had got a fine fish for breakfast. 'Keep it
+till evening, and I will bring you a God-damn' (an Englishman) 'to eat
+his share,' said the Maid, 'and I will return by the bridge;' which was
+broken.
+
+The generals did not wish to attack the bridge-tower, but Joan paid them
+no attention. They were glad enough to follow, lest she took the fort
+without them.
+
+[Illustration: Joan is wounded by the arrow]
+
+About half-past six in the morning the fight began. The French and
+Scottish leaped into the fosse, they set ladders against the walls, they
+reached the battlements, and were struck down by English swords and
+axes. Cannon-balls and great stones and arrows rained on them. 'Fight
+on!' cried the Maid; 'the place is ours.' At one o'clock she set a
+ladder against the wall with her own hands, but was deeply wounded by an
+arrow, which pierced clean through between neck and shoulder. Joan wept,
+but seizing the arrow with her own hands she dragged it out. The
+men-at-arms wished to say magic spells over the wound to 'charm' it, but
+this the Maid forbade as witchcraft. 'Yet,' says Dunois, 'she did not
+withdraw from the battle, nor took any medicine for the wound; and the
+onslaught lasted from morning till eight at night, so that there was no
+hope of victory. Then I desired that the army should go back to the
+town, but the Maid came to me and bade me wait a little longer. Next she
+mounted her horse and rode into a vineyard, and there prayed for the
+space of seven minutes or eight. Then she returned, took her banner, and
+stood on the brink of the fosse. The English trembled when they saw her,
+but our men returned to the charge and met with no resistance. The
+English fled or were slain, and Glasdale, who had insulted the Maid,
+was drowned' (by the burning of the drawbridge between the redoubt and
+Les Tourelles. The Maid in vain besought him, with tears, to surrender
+and be ransomed), 'and we returned gladly into Orleans.' The people of
+Orleans had a great share in this victory. Seeing the English hard
+pressed, they laid long beams across the broken arches of the bridge,
+and charged by this perilous way. The triumph was even more that of the
+citizens than of the army. Homer tells us how Achilles, alone and
+unarmed, stood by the fosse and shouted, and how all the Trojans fled.
+But here was a greater marvel; and the sight of the wounded girl, bowed
+beneath the weight of her banner, frighted stouter hearts than those of
+the men of Troy.
+
+Joan returned, as she had prophesied, by the bridge, but she did not
+make her supper off the fish: she took a little bread dipped in wine and
+water, her wound was dressed, and she slept. Next day the English drew
+up their men in line of battle. The French went out to meet them, and
+would have begun the attack. Joan said that God would not have them
+fight.
+
+'If the English attack, we shall defeat them; we are to let them go in
+peace if they will.'
+
+Mass was then said before the French army.
+
+When the rite was done, Joan asked: 'Do they face us, or have they
+turned their backs?'
+
+It was the English backs that the French saw that day: Talbot's men were
+in full retreat on Meun.
+
+From that hour May 8 is kept a holiday at Orleans in honour of Joan the
+Maiden. Never was there such a deliverance. In a week the Maid had
+driven a strong army, full of courage and well led, out of forts like
+Les Tourelles. The Duc d'Alencon visited it, and said that with a few
+men-at-arms he would have felt certain of holding it for a week against
+any strength however great. But Joan not only gave the French her
+spirit: her extraordinary courage in leading a new charge after so
+terrible a wound, 'six inches deep,' says d'Alencon, made the English
+think that they were fighting a force not of this world. And that is
+exactly what they were doing.
+
+
+HOW JOAN THE MAID TOOK JARGEAU FROM THE ENGLISH
+
+The Maid had shown her sign, as she promised; she had rescued Orleans.
+Her next desire was to lead Charles to Reims, through a country
+occupied by the English, and to have him anointed there with the holy
+oil. Till this was done she could only regard him as Dauphin--king,
+indeed, by blood, but not by consecration.
+
+After all that Joan had accomplished, the king and his advisers might
+have believed in her. She went to the castle of Loches, where Charles
+was: he received her kindly, but still he did not seem eager to go to
+Reims. It was a dangerous adventure, for which he and his favourites
+like La Tremouille had no taste. It seems that more learned men were
+asked to give their opinion. Was it safe and wise to obey the Maid? On
+May 14, only six days after the relief of Orleans, the famous Gerson
+wrote down his ideas. He believed in the Maid. The king had already
+trusted her without fear of being laughed at; she and the generals did
+not rely on the saints alone, but on courage, prudence, and skill. Even
+if, by ill fortune, she were to fail on a later day, the fault would not
+be hers, but would be God's punishment of French ingratitude. 'Let us
+not harm, by our unbelief or injustice, the help which God has given us
+so wonderfully.' Unhappily the French, or at least the Court, were
+unbelieving, ungrateful, unjust to Joan, and so she came to die, leaving
+her work half done. The Archbishop of Embrun said that Joan should
+always be consulted in great matters, as her wisdom was of God. And as
+long as the French took this advice they did well; when they distrusted
+and neglected the Maid they failed, and were defeated and dishonoured.
+Councils were now held at Tours, and time was wasted as usual. As usual,
+Joan was impatient. With Dunois, who tells the story, she went to see
+Charles at the castle of Loches. Some nobles and clergy were with him;
+Joan entered, knelt, and embraced his knees.
+
+'Noble Dauphin,' she said, 'do not hold so many councils, and such weary
+ones, but come to Reims and receive the crown.'
+
+Harcourt asked her if her Voices, or 'counsel' (as she called it) gave
+this advice.
+
+She blushed and said: 'I know what you mean, and will tell you gladly.'
+
+The king asked her if she wished to speak before so many people.
+
+Yes, she would speak. When they doubted her she prayed, 'and then she
+heard a Voice saying to her:
+
+'"_Fille De, va, va, va, je serai a ton aide, va!_"'[17]
+
+'And when she heard this Voice she was right glad, and wished that she
+could always be as she was then; and as she spoke,' says Dunois, 'she
+rejoiced strangely, lifting her eyes to heaven.' And still she repeated:
+'I will last for only one year, or little more; use me while you may.'
+
+Joan stirred the politicians at last. They would go to Reims, but could
+they leave behind them English garrisons in Jargeau, where Suffolk
+commanded, in Meun, where Talbot was, and in other strong places?
+Already, without Joan, the French had attacked Jargeau, after the rescue
+of Orleans, and had failed. Joan agreed to assail Jargeau. Her army was
+led by the 'fair duke,' d'Alencon. He had but lately come from prison in
+England, and his young wife was afraid to let him go to war. 'Madame,'
+said Joan, 'I will bring him back safe, and even better than he is now.'
+We shall see how she saved his life. It was now that Guy and Andre de
+Laval saw her, and wrote the description of her black horse and white
+armour. They followed with her gladly, believing that with her glory was
+to be won.
+
+Let us tell what followed in the words of the Duc d'Alencon.
+
+[Illustration: 'Now arose a dispute among the captains']
+
+'We were about six hundred lances, who wished to go against the town of
+Jargeau, then held by the English. That night we slept in a wood, and
+next day came Dunois and Florence d'Illiers and some other captains.
+When we were all met we were about twelve hundred lances; and now arose
+a dispute among the captains, some thinking that we should attack the
+city, others not so, for they said that the English were very strong,
+and had many men.[18] Seeing this difference, Jeanne bade us have no fear
+of any numbers, nor doubt about attacking the English, because God was
+guiding us. She herself would rather be herding sheep than fighting, if
+she were not certain that God was with us. Thereon we rode to Jargeau,
+meaning to occupy the outlying houses, and there pass the night; but the
+English knew of our approach, and drove in our skirmishers. Seeing this,
+Jeanne took her banner and went to the front, bidding our men be in good
+heart. And they did so much that they held the suburbs of Jargeau that
+night. . . . Next morning we got ready our artillery, and brought guns
+up against the town. After some days a council was held, and I, with
+others, was ill content with La Hire, who was said to have parleyed with
+Lord Suffolk. La Hire was sent for, and came. Then it was decided to
+storm the town, and the heralds cried, "To the attack!" and Jeanne said
+to me, "Forward, gentle duke." I thought it was too early, but she said,
+"Doubt not; the hour is come when God pleases. Ah, gentle duke, are you
+afraid? Know you not that I promised your wife to bring you back safe
+and sound?" as indeed she had said. As the onslaught was given, Jeanne
+bade me leave the place where I stood, "or yonder gun," pointing to one
+on the walls, "will slay you." Then I withdrew, and a little later de
+Lude was slain in that very place. And I feared greatly, considering the
+prophecy of the Maid. Then we both went together to the onslaught; and
+Suffolk cried for a parley, but no man marked him, and we pressed on.
+Jeanne was climbing a ladder, banner in hand, when her flag was struck
+by a stone, and she also was struck on her head, but her light helmet
+saved her. She leaped up again, crying, "Friends, friends, on, on! Our
+Lord has condemned the English. They are ours; be of good heart." In
+that moment Jargeau was taken, and the English fled to the bridges, we
+following, and more than eleven hundred of them were slain.'
+
+One Englishman at least died well. He stood up on the battlements, and
+dashed down the ladders till he was shot by a famous marksman of
+Lorraine.
+
+Suffolk and his brother were taken prisoners. According to one account,
+written at the time, Suffolk surrendered to the Maid, as 'the most
+valiant woman in the world.' And thus the Maid stormed Jargeau.
+
+
+HOW THE MAID DEFEATED THE ENGLISH AT PATHAY, AND OF THE STRANGE GUIDE
+
+The French slew some of their prisoners at Jargeau. Once Joan saw a
+man-at-arms strike down a prisoner. She leaped from her horse, and laid
+the wounded Englishman's head on her breast, consoling him, and bade a
+priest come and hear his confession. Cruel and cowardly deeds are done
+in all wars, but when was there ever such a general as the Maid, to
+comfort the dying?
+
+From Jargeau the Maid rode back to Orleans, where the people could not
+look on her enough, and made great festival. Many men came in to fight
+under her flag, among them Richemont, who had been on bad terms with
+Charles, the uncrowned king. Then Joan took the bridge-fort at Meun,
+which the English held; next she drove the English at Beaugency into the
+citadel, and out of the town.
+
+[Illustration: One Englishman at least died well]
+
+As to what happened next, we have the story of Wavrin, who was fighting
+on the English side under Fastolf.[19] The garrison of the English in
+Beaugency, he says, did not know whether to hold out or to yield. Talbot
+reported all this to Bedford, at Paris, and large forces were sent to
+relieve Beaugency. Wavrin rode with his captain, Fastolf, to Senville,
+where Talbot joined them, and a council was held. Fastolf said that the
+English had lost heart, and that Beaugency should be left to its fate,
+while the rest held out in strong places and waited for reinforcements.
+But Talbot cried that, if he had only his own people, he would fight
+the French, with the help of God and St. George. Next morning Fastolf
+repeated what he had said, and declared that they would lose all King
+Henry had won, But Talbot was for fighting. So they marched to a place
+between Meun and Beaugency, and drew up in order of battle. The French
+saw them, and occupied a strong position on a little hill. The English
+then got ready, and invited the French to come down and fight on the
+plain. But Joan was not so chivalrous as James IV. at Flodden.
+
+[Illustration: THE ENGLISH ARCHERS BETRAYED BY THE STAG]
+
+'Go you to bed to-night, for it is late; to-morrow, so please God and
+Our Lady, we will see you at close quarters.'
+
+The English then rode to Meun, and cannonaded the bridge-fort, which was
+held by the French. They hoped to take the bridge, cross it, march to
+Beaugency, and relieve the besieged there. But that very night Beaugency
+surrendered to the Maid! She then bade her army march on the English,
+who were retreating to Paris as soon as they heard how Beaugency had
+yielded. But how was the Maid to find the English? 'Ride forward,' she
+cried, 'and you shall have a sure guide.' They had a guide, and a
+strange one.
+
+The English were marching towards Paris, near Pathay, when their
+_eclaireurs_ (who beat the country on all sides) came in with the news
+that the French were following. But the French knew not where the
+English were, because the deserted and desolate country was overgrown
+with wood.
+
+Talbot decided to do what the English did at Crecy, where they won so
+glorious a victory. He lined the hedges in a narrow way with five
+hundred archers of his best, and he sent a galloper to bring thither the
+rest of his army. On came the French, not seeing the English in ambush.
+In a few minutes they would have been shot down, and choked the pass
+with dying men and horses. But now was the moment for the strange guide.
+
+A stag was driven from cover by the French, and ran blindly among the
+ambushed English bowmen. Not knowing that the French were so near, and
+being archers from Robin Hood's country, who loved a deer, they raised a
+shout, and probably many an arrow flew at the stag. The French
+_eclaireurs_ heard the cry, they saw the English, and hurried back with
+the news.
+
+'Forward!' cried the Maid; 'if they were hung to the clouds we have
+them. To-day the gentle king will gain such a victory as never yet did
+he win.'[20]
+
+The French dashed into the pass before Talbot had secured it. Fastolf
+galloped up, but the English thought that he was in flight; the captain
+of the advanced guard turned his horse about and made off. Talbot was
+taken, Fastolf fled, 'making more sorrow than ever yet did man.' The
+French won a great victory. They needed their spurs, as the Maid had
+told them that they would, to follow their flying foes. The English lost
+some 3,000 men. In the evening Talbot, as a prisoner, was presented to
+the Duc d'Alencon.
+
+'You did not expect this in the morning?' said the duke.
+
+'Fortune of war!' said Talbot.
+
+So ended the day of Pathay, and the adventure of the Strange Guide.
+
+
+HOW THE MAID HAD THE KING CROWNED AT REIMS
+
+Here are the exploits which the Maid and the loyal French did in one
+week. She took Jargeau on June 11; on June 15 she seized the bridge of
+Meun; Beaugency yielded to her on June 17; on June 18 she defeated the
+English army at Pathay. Now sieges were long affairs in those days, as
+they are even to-day, when cannon are so much more powerful than they
+were in Joan's time. Her success seemed a miracle to the world.
+
+This miracle, like all miracles, was wrought by faith. Joan believed in
+herself, in her country, and in God. It was not by visions and by
+knowing things strangely that she conquered, but by courage, by strength
+(on one occasion she never put off her armour for six days and six
+nights), and by inspiring the French with the sight of her valour.
+Without her visions, indeed, she would never have gone to war. She often
+said so. But, being at war, her word was 'Help yourselves, and God will
+help you.' Who could be lazy or a coward when a girl set such an
+example?
+
+The King of France and his favourites could be indolent and cowards. Had
+Charles VII. been such a man as Charles Stuart was in 1745, his foot
+would have been in the stirrup, and his lance in rest. In three months
+the English would have been driven into the sea. But the king loitered
+about the castles of the Loire with his favourite, La Tremouille, and
+his adviser, the Archbishop of Reims. They wasted the one year of Joan.
+There were jealousies against the Constable de Richemont of Brittany who
+had come with all his lances to follow the lily flag. If once Charles
+were king indeed and the English driven out, La Tremouille would cease
+to be powerful. This dastard sacrificed the Maid in the end, as he was
+ready to sacrifice France to his own private advantage.
+
+[Illustration: THE CORONATION OF CHARLES VII]
+
+At last, with difficulty, Charles was brought to visit Reims, and
+consent to be crowned like his ancestors. Seeing that he was never
+likely to move, Joan left the town where he was and went off into the
+country. This retreat brought Charles to his senses. The towns which he
+passed by yielded to him; Joan went and summoned each. 'Now she was with
+the king in the centre, now with the rearguard, now with the van.' The
+town of Troyes, where there was an English garrison, did not wish to
+yield. There was a council in the king's army: they said they could not
+take the place.
+
+'In two days it shall be yours, by force or by good will,' said the
+Maid.
+
+'Six days will do,' said the chancellor, 'if you are sure you speak
+truth.'
+
+Joan made ready for an attack. She was calling 'Forward!' when the town
+surrendered. Reims, after some doubts, yielded also, on July 16, and all
+the people, with shouts of '_Noel!_' welcomed the king. On July 17 the
+king was crowned and anointed with the Holy Oil by that very Archbishop
+of Reims who always opposed Joan. The Twelve Peers of France were not
+all present--some were on the English side--but Joan stood by Charles,
+her banner in her hand. 'It bore the brunt, and deserved to share the
+renown,' she said later to her accusers.
+
+When the ceremony was ended, and the Dauphin Charles was a crowned and
+anointed king, the Maid knelt weeping at his feet.
+
+'Gentle king,' she said, 'now is accomplished the will of God, who
+desired that you should come to Reims to be consecrated, and to prove
+that you are the true king and the kingdom is yours.'
+
+Then all the knights wept for joy.
+
+The king bade Joan choose her reward. Already horses, rich armour,
+jewelled daggers, had been given to her. These, adding to the beauty and
+glory of her aspect, had made men follow her more gladly, and for that
+she valued them. She, too, made gifts to noble ladies, and gave much to
+the poor. She only wanted money to wage the war with, not for herself.
+Her family was made noble; on their shield, between two lilies, a sword
+upholds the crown. Her father was at Reims, and saw her in her glory.
+What reward, then, was Joan to choose? She chose nothing for herself,
+but that her native village of Domremy should be free from taxes. This
+news her father carried home from the splendid scene at Reims.
+
+Would that we could leave the Maiden here, with Orleans saved, and her
+king crowned! Would that she, who wept when her saints left her in her
+visions, and who longed to follow them, could have been carried by them
+to their Paradise!
+
+But Joan had another task; she was to be foiled by the cowardice of her
+king; she was to be captured, possibly by treachery; she was to be tried
+with the most cruel injustice; she was to die by fire; and was to set,
+through months of agony, such an example of wisdom, courage, and loyal
+honour as never was shown by man.
+
+Did Joan look forward to her end, did she know that her days were
+numbered? On the journey to Reims she met some Domremy people at
+Chalons, and told them that she 'feared nothing but treachery.' Perhaps
+she already suspected the political enemies, the Archbishop of Reims and
+La Tremouille, who were to spoil her mission.
+
+As they went from Reims after the coronation, Dunois and the archbishop
+were riding by her rein. The people cheered and cried _Noel_.
+
+'They are a good people,' said Joan. 'Never saw I any more joyous at the
+coming of their king. Ah, would that I might be so happy when I end my
+days as to be buried here!'
+
+Said the archbishop:
+
+'Oh, Jeanne, in what place do you hope to die?'
+
+Then she said:
+
+'Where it pleases God; for I know not that hour, nor that place, more
+than ye do. But would to God, my maker, that now I might depart, and lay
+down my arms, and help my father and mother, and keep their sheep with
+my brothers and my sister, who would rejoice to see me!'[21]
+
+Some writers have reported Joan's words as if she meant that she wished
+the king to let her go home and leave the wars. In their opinion Joan
+was only acting under heavenly direction till the consecration of
+Charles. Afterwards, like Hal of the Wynd, she was 'fighting for her own
+hand,' they think, and therefore she did not succeed. But from the first
+Joan threatened to drive the English quite out of France, and she also
+hoped to bring the Duc d'Orleans home from captivity in England. If her
+Voices had told her _not_ to go on after the coronation, she would
+probably have said so at her trial, when she mentioned one or two acts
+of disobedience to her Voices. Again, had she been anxious to go home,
+Charles VII. and his advisers would have been only too glad to let her
+go. They did not wish her to lead them into dangerous places, and they
+hated obeying her commands.
+
+Some French authors have, very naturally, wished to believe that the
+Maid could make no error, and could not fail; they therefore draw a line
+between what she did up to the day of Reims, and what she did
+afterwards. They hold that she was divinely led till the coronation, and
+not later. But it is difficult to agree with them here. As we saw,
+Gerson told the French that by injustice and ingratitude they might
+hinder the success of the Maid. His advice was a prophecy.
+
+
+IV
+
+HOW THE MAID RODE TO PARIS
+
+WHAT was to be done after the crowning of the king? Bedford, the regent
+for the child Henry VI., expected to see Joan under the walls of Paris.
+He was waiting for the troops which the Cardinal of Winchester had
+collected in England as a crusading army against the Hussite heretics, a
+kind of Protestants who were giving trouble. Bedford induced Winchester
+to bring his men to France, but they had not arrived. The Duke of
+Burgundy, the head of the great French party which opposed Charles, had
+been invited by the Maid to Reims. Again she wrote to him: 'Make a firm,
+good peace with the King of France,' she said; 'forgive each other with
+kind hearts'--for the Duke's father had been murdered by the friends of
+Charles. 'I pray and implore you, with joined hands, fight not against
+France. Great pity it would be of the great battle and bloodshed if your
+men come against us.'
+
+The Duke of Burgundy, far from listening to Joan's prayer, left Paris
+and went to raise men for the English. Meanwhile Charles was going from
+town to town, and all received him gladly. But Joan soon began to see
+that, instead of marching west from Reims to Paris, the army was being
+led south-west towards the Loire. There the king would be safe among his
+dear castles, where he could live indoors, 'in wretched little rooms,'
+and take his ease. Thus Bedford was able to throw 5,000 men of
+Winchester's into Paris, and even dared to come out and hunt for the
+French king. The French should have struck at Paris at once as Joan
+desired. The delays were excused, because the Duke of Burgundy had
+promised to surrender Paris in a fortnight. But this he did merely to
+gain time. Joan knew this, and said there would be no peace but at the
+lance-point.
+
+[Illustration: Joan challenges the English to sally forth]
+
+Here we get the best account of what happened from Perceval de Cagny, a
+knight in the household of the Duc d'Alencon. He wrote his book in
+1436, only five years after Joan was burned, and he spoke of what he
+knew well, as a follower of Joan's friend, 'the fair duke.' The French
+and English armies kept watching each other, and there were skirmishes
+near Senlis. On August 15 the Maid and d'Alencon hoped for a battle. But
+the English had fortified their position in the night with ditches,
+palisades, and a 'laager' of wagons. Come out they would not, so Joan
+rode up to their fortification, standard in hand, struck the palisade,
+and challenged them to sally forth. She even offered to let them march
+out and draw themselves up in line of battle. La Tremouille thought this
+a fine opportunity of distinguishing himself. He rode into the skirmish,
+his horse fell with him, but, by evil luck, he was rescued. We do not
+hear that La Tremouille risked himself again.[22] The Maid stayed on the
+field all night, and next day made a retreat, hoping to draw the English
+out of their fort. But they were too wary, and went back to Paris.
+
+More towns came in to Charles. Beauvais yielded, and the Bishop of
+Beauvais, Pierre Cauchon, had to fly to the English. He revenged himself
+by managing Joan's trial and having her burned. Compiegne, an important
+place north of Paris, yielded, and was handed to Guillaume de Flavy as
+governor. In rescuing this fatal place later, Joan was taken prisoner.
+Now the fortnight was over, after which the Duke of Burgundy was to
+surrender Paris. But he did nothing of the kind, and there were more
+'long weary councils,' and a truce was arranged with Burgundy till
+Christmas. But the Maid was weary of words. She called the Duc d'Alencon
+and said: 'My fair duke, array your men, for, by my staff, I would fain
+see Paris more closely than I have seen it yet.'
+
+On August 23 the Maid and d'Alencon left the king at Compiegne and rode
+to St. Denis, where were the tombs of the kings of France. 'And when the
+king heard that they were at St. Denis, he came, very sore against his
+will, as far as Senlis, and it seems that his advisers were contrary to
+the will of the Maid, of the Duc d'Alencon, and of their company.'
+
+The great captains, Dunois, Xaintrailles, d'Alencon, were soldiers, and
+the king's advisers and favourites were clergymen, like the Archbishop
+of Reims, or indolent men of peace, like La Tremouille. They declared,
+after the Maid was captured, that she 'took too much on herself,' and
+they were glad of her fall. But she had shown that nobody but herself
+and her soldiers and captains were of any use to France.
+
+The king was afraid to go near Paris, but Bedford was afraid to stay in
+the town. He went to Rouen, the strongest English hold in Normandy,
+leaving the Burgundian army and 2,000 English in Paris.
+
+Every day the Maid and d'Alencon rode from St. Denis and insulted the
+gates of Paris, and observed the best places for an attack in force. And
+still Charles dallied and delayed, still the main army did not come up.
+Meanwhile Paris was strengthened by the English and Burgundians. The
+people of the city were told that Charles intended to plunder the place
+and utterly destroy it, 'which is difficult to believe,' says the Clerk
+of Parliament, who was in the city at that time.[23] It was 'difficult to
+believe,' but the Paris people believed it, and, far from rising for
+their king and country, they were rather in arms against the Maid. They
+had no wish to fall in a general massacre, as the English and
+Burgundians falsely told them would be their fate.
+
+Thus the delay of the king gave the English time to make Paris almost
+impregnable, and to frighten the people, who, had Charles marched
+straight from Reims, would have yielded as Reims did.
+
+D'Alencon kept going to Senlis urging Charles to come up with the main
+army. He went on September 1--the king promised to start next day.
+D'Alencon returned to the Maid, the king still loitered. At last
+d'Alencon brought him to St. Denis on September 7, and there was a
+skirmish that day.
+
+
+HOW THE MAID WAS WOUNDED IN ATTACKING PARIS, AND HOW THE KING WOULD NOT
+LET THE ASSAULT BEGIN AGAIN
+
+In all descriptions of battles different accounts are given, each man
+telling what he himself saw, or what he remembers. As to the assault on
+Paris on September 8, the Maid herself said a few words at her trial.
+Her Voices had neither commanded her to attack nor to abstain from
+attacking. Her opinion was that the captains and leaders on her side
+only meant to skirmish in force, and to do deeds of chivalry. But her
+own intention was to press onwards, and, by her example, to make the
+army follow her. It was thus that she took Les Tourelles at Orleans.
+This account scarcely agrees with what we read in the book of Perceval
+de Cagny, who was with his lord, the Duc d'Alencon. He says that about
+eight on the morning of September 8, the day of Our Lady, the army set
+forth; some were to storm the town; another division was to remain under
+cover and protect the former if a sally was made by the English. The
+Maid, the Marshal de Rais, and De Gaucourt led the attack on the Porte
+St. Honore.[24] Standard in hand, the Maid leaped into the fosse near the
+pig market. 'The assault was long and fierce, and it was marvel to hear
+the noise of cannons and culverins from the walls, and to see the clouds
+of arrows. Few of those in the fosse with the Maid were struck, though
+many others on horse and foot were wounded with arrows and stone
+cannon-balls, but by God's grace and the Maid's good fortune, there was
+none of them but could return to camp unhelped. The assault lasted from
+noon till dusk, say eight in the evening. After sunset the Maid was
+struck by a crossbow bolt in the thigh; and, after she was hurt, she
+cried but the louder that all should attack, and that the place was
+taken. But as night had now fallen, and she was wounded, and the
+men-at-arms were weary with the long attack, De Gaucourt and others came
+and found her, and, against her will, brought her forth from the fosse.
+And so ended that onslaught. But right sad she was to leave, and said,
+"By my baton, the place would have been taken." They put her on
+horseback, and led her to her quarters, and all the rest of the king's
+company who that day had come from St. Denis.'
+
+So Cagny tells the story. He was, we may believe, with d'Alencon and the
+party covering the attack. Jean Chartier, who was living at the time,
+adds that the Maid did not know that the inner moats were full of water.
+When she reached the water, she had faggots and other things thrown in
+to fill up a passage. At nightfall she would not retreat, and at last
+d'Alencon came and forced her to return. The Clerk of Parliament, who,
+of course, was within the walls, says that the attack lasted till ten or
+eleven o'clock at night, and that, in Paris, there was a cry that all
+was lost.
+
+Joan behaved as gallantly as she did at Les Tourelles. Though wounded
+she was still pressing on, still encouraging her men, but she was not
+followed. She was not only always eager to attack, but she never lost
+heart, she never lost grip. An army of men as brave as Joan would have
+been invincible.
+
+'Next day,' says Cagny, 'in spite of her wound, she was first in the
+field. She went to d'Alencon and bade him sound the trumpets for the
+charge. D'Alencon and the other captains were of the same mind as the
+Maid, and Montmorency with sixty gentlemen and many lances came in,
+though he had been on the English side before. So they began to march on
+Paris, but the king sent messengers, the Duc de Bar, and the Comte de
+Clermont, and compelled the Maid and the captains to return to St.
+Denis. Right sorry were they, yet they must obey the king. They hoped to
+take Paris from the other side, by a bridge which the Duc d'Alencon had
+made across the Seine. But the king knew the duke's and the Maid's
+design, and caused the bridge to be broken down, and a council was held,
+and the king desired to depart and go to the Loire, to the great grief
+of the Maid. When she saw that they would go, she dedicated her armour,
+and hung it up before the statue of Our Lady at St. Denis, and so right
+sadly went away in company with the king. And thus were broken the will
+of the Maid and the army of the king.'
+
+The politicians had triumphed. They had thwarted the Maid, they had made
+her promise to take Paris of no avail. They had destroyed the confidence
+of men in the banner that had never gone back. Now they might take their
+ease, now they might loiter in the gardens of the Loire. The Maid had
+failed, by their design, and by their cowardice. The treachery that she,
+who feared nothing else, had long dreaded, was accomplished now. 'The
+will of the Maid and the army of the king were broken.'[25]
+
+
+HOW THE MAID AND HER FAIR DUKE WERE SEPARATED FROM EACH OTHER
+
+The king now went from one pleasant tower on the Loire to another,
+taking the Maid with him. Meanwhile, the English took and plundered some
+of the cities which had yielded to Charles, and they carried off the
+Maid's armour from the chapel in Saint Denis, where she had dedicated
+it, 'because _Saint Denis!_ is the cry of France.' Her Voices had bidden
+her stay at Saint Denis, but this she was not permitted to do, and now
+she must hear daily how the loyal towns that she had won were plundered
+by the English. The French garrisons also began to rob, as they had
+done before she came. There was 'great pity in France' again, and all
+her work seemed wasted. The Duc d'Alencon went to his own place of
+Beaumont, but he returned, and offered to lead an army against the
+English in Normandy, if the Maid might march with him. Then he would
+have had followers in plenty, for the people had not wholly lost faith.
+'But La Tremouille, and Gaucourt, and the Archbishop of Reims, who
+managed the king and the war, would not consent, nor suffer the Maid and
+the duke to be together, nor ever again might they meet.' So says Cagny,
+and he adds that the Maid loved the fair duke above other men, 'and did
+for him what she would do for no other.' She had saved his life at
+Jargeau, but where was the duke when Joan was a prisoner? We do not
+know, but we may believe that he, at least, would have helped her if he
+could. They were separated by the jealousy of cowards, who feared that
+the duke might win too much renown and become too powerful.
+
+
+HOW MARVELLOUSLY THE MAID TOOK SAINT-PIERRE-LE-MOUSTIER
+
+Even the banks of Loire, where the king loved to be, were not free from
+the English. They held La Charite and Saint-Pierre-le-Moustier. Joan
+wanted to return to Paris, but the council sent her to take La Charite
+and Saint-Pierre-le-Moustier. This town she attacked first. Her squire,
+a gentleman named d'Aulon, was with her, and described what he saw.
+'When they had besieged the place for some time, an assault was
+commanded, but, for the great strength of the forts and the numbers of
+the enemy, the French were forced to give way. At that hour, I who speak
+was wounded by an arrow in the heel, and could not stand or walk without
+crutches. But I saw the Maid holding her ground with a handful of men,
+and, fearing ill might come of it, I mounted a horse and rode to her,
+asking what she was doing there alone, and why she did not retreat like
+the others. She took the _salade_ from her head, and answered that she
+was not alone, but had in her company fifty thousand of her people; and
+that go she would not till she had taken that town.
+
+'But, whatever she said, I saw that she had with her but four men or
+five, as others also saw, wherefore I bade her retreat. Then she
+commanded me to have faggots brought, and planks to bridge fosses. And,
+as she spoke to me, she cried in a loud voice, "All of you, bring
+faggots to fill the fosse." And this was done, whereat I greatly
+marvelled, and instantly that town was taken by assault with no great
+resistance. And all that the Maid did seemed to me rather deeds divine
+than natural, and it was impossible that so young a maid should do such
+deeds without the will and guidance of Our Lord.'
+
+[Illustration: 'Go she would not till she had taken that town']
+
+This was the last great feat of arms wrought by the Maid. As at Les
+Tourelles she won by sheer dint of faith and courage, and so might she
+have done at Paris, but for the king. At this town the soldiers wished
+to steal the sacred things in the church, and the goods laid up there.
+'But the Maid right manfully forbade and hindered them, nor ever would
+she permit any to plunder.' So says Reginald Thierry, who was with her
+at this siege. Once a Scottish man-at-arms let her know that her dinner
+was made of a stolen calf, and she was very angry, wishing to strike
+that Scot. He came from a land where 'lifting cattle' was thought rather
+a creditable action.
+
+
+HOW THE MAID WAITED WEARILY AT COURT
+
+From her latest siege the Maid rode to attack La Charite. But, though
+the towns helped her as well as they might with money and food, her
+force was too small, and was too ill provided with everything, for the
+king did not send supplies. She raised the siege and departed in great
+displeasure. The king was not unkind, he ennobled her and her family,
+and permitted the dignity to descend through daughters as well as sons;
+no one else was ever so honoured. Her brothers called themselves Du Lys,
+from the lilies of their crest, but Joan kept her name and her old
+banner. She was trailed after the Court from place to place; for three
+weeks she stayed with a lady who describes her as very devout and
+constantly in church. People said to Joan that it was easy for her to be
+brave, as she knew she would not be slain, but she answered that she had
+no more assurance of safety than any one of them. Thinking her already a
+saint, people brought her things to touch.
+
+'Touch them yourselves,' she said; 'your touch is as good as mine.'
+
+She wore a little cheap ring, which her father and mother had given her,
+inscribed JHESU MARIA, and she believed that with this ring she had
+touched the body of St. Catherine. But she was humble, and thought
+herself no saint, though surely there never was a better. She gave great
+alms, saying that she was sent to help the poor and needy. Such was the
+Maid in peace.
+
+
+HOW THE MAID MET AN IMPOSTOR
+
+There was a certain woman named Catherine de la Rochelle, who gave out
+that she had visions. A beautiful lady, dressed in cloth of gold, came
+to her by night, and told her who had hidden treasures. These she
+offered to discover that there might be money for the wars, which Joan
+needed sorely. A certain preacher, named Brother Richard, wished to make
+use of this pretender, but Joan said that she must first herself see the
+fair lady in cloth of gold. So she sat up with Catherine till midnight,
+and then fell asleep, when the lady appeared, so Catherine said. Joan
+slept next day, and watched all the following night. Of course the fair
+lady never came. Joan bade Catherine go back to her family; she needed
+money for the war, but not money got by false pretences. So she told the
+king that the whole story was mere folly. This woman afterwards lied
+against the Maid when she was a prisoner.
+
+
+HOW THE MAID'S VOICES PROPHESIED OF HER TAKING
+
+Winter melted into spring; the truce with Burgundy was prolonged, but
+the Burgundians fought under English colours. The king did nothing, but
+in Normandy La Hire rode in arms to the gates of Rouen. Paris became
+doubtfully loyal to the English. The Maid could be idle no longer.
+Without a word to the king she rode to Lagny, 'for there they had fought
+bravely against the English.' These men were Scots, under Sir Hugh
+Kennedy. In mid-April she was at Melun. There 'she heard her Voices
+almost every day, and many a time they told her that she would presently
+be taken prisoner.' Her year was over, and as the Voices prophesied her
+wound at Orleans, now they prophesied her captivity. She prayed that she
+might die as soon as she was taken, without the long sorrow of
+imprisonment. Then her Voices told her to bear graciously whatever
+befell her, for so it must be. But they told her not the hour of her
+captivity. 'If she had known the hour she would not then have gone to
+war. And often she prayed them to tell her of that hour, but they did
+not answer.'
+
+These words are Joan's. She spoke them to her judges at Rouen.
+
+Among all her brave deeds this was the bravest. Whatever the source of
+her Voices was, she believed in what they said. She rode to fight with
+far worse than death under shield before her eyes, knowing certainly
+that her English foes would take her, they who had often threatened to
+burn her.
+
+
+HOW THE MAID TOOK FRANQUET D'ARRAS
+
+There was in these parts a robber chief on the Burgundian side named
+Franquet d'Arras. The Maid had been sent, as she said, to help the poor
+who were oppressed by these brigands. Hearing that Franquet, with three
+or four hundred men-at-arms, was near Lagny-sur-Marne, the Maid rode out
+to seek him with four hundred French and Scots. The fight is described
+in one way by Monstrelet, in another by Cagny and Joan herself.
+Monstrelet, being a Burgundian writer, says that Franquet made a gallant
+resistance till he was overwhelmed by numbers, as the Maid called out
+the garrison of Lagny. Cagny says that Franquet's force was greater than
+that of the Maid who took him. However this may be, Franquet was a
+knight, and so should have been kept prisoner till he paid his ransom.
+Monstrelet tells us that Joan had his head cut off. She herself told
+her judges that Franquet confessed to being a traitor, robber, and
+murderer; that the magistrates of Senlis and Lagny claimed him as a
+criminal; that she tried to exchange him for a prisoner of her own
+party, but that her man died, that Franquet had a fair trial, and that
+then she allowed justice to take its course. She was asked if she paid
+money to the captor of Franquet.
+
+'I am not treasurer of France, to pay such moneys,' she answered
+haughtily.
+
+Probably Franquet deserved to die, but a trial by his enemies was not
+likely to be a fair trial.
+
+At Lagny the Maid left a gentler memory. She was very fond of children,
+and had a girl's love of babies. A boy of three days old was dying or
+seemed dead, and the girls of Lagny carried it to the statue of Our Lady
+in their church, and there prayed over it. For three days, ever since
+its birth, the baby had lain in a trance without sign of life, so that
+they dared not christen it. 'It was black as my doublet,' said Joan at
+her trial, where she wore mourning. Joan knelt with the other girls and
+prayed; colour came back into the child's face, it gasped thrice, was
+baptised, then died, and was buried in holy ground. So Joan said at her
+trial. She claimed no share in this good fortune, and never pretended
+that she worked miracles.
+
+
+HOW THE MAID FOUGHT HER LAST FIGHT
+
+The name of Joan was now such a terror to the English that men deserted
+rather than face her in arms. At this time the truce with Burgundy
+ended, and the duke openly set out to besiege the strong town of
+Compiegne, held by de Flavy for France. Joan hurried to Compiegne,
+whence she made two expeditions which were defeated by treachery.
+Perhaps she thought of this, perhaps of the future, when in the church
+of Compiegne she declared one day to a crowd of children whom she loved
+that she knew she was sold and betrayed. Old men who had heard her told
+this tale long afterwards.
+
+Burgundy had invested Compiegne, when Joan, with four hundred men, rode
+into the town secretly at dawn. That day Joan led a sally against the
+Burgundians. Her Voices told her nothing, good or bad, she says. The
+Burgundians were encamped at Margny and at Clairoix, the English at
+Venette, villages on a plain near the walls. Joan crossed the bridge on
+a grey charger, in a surcoat of crimson silk, rode through the redoubt
+beyond the bridge, and attacked the Burgundians. Flavy in the town was
+to prevent the English from attacking her in the rear. He had boats on
+the river to secure Joan's retreat if necessary.
+
+[Illustration: Joan captured]
+
+Joan swept through Margny, driving the Burgundians before her; the
+garrison of Clairoix came to their help; the battle was doubtful.
+Meanwhile the English came up; they could not have reached the
+Burgundians, to aid them, but some of the Maid's men, seeing the
+English standards, fled. The English followed them under the walls of
+Compiegne; the gate of the redoubt was closed to prevent the English
+from entering with the runaways. Like Hector under Troy, the Maid was
+shut out from the town which she came to save.
+
+Joan was with her own foremost line when the rear fled. They told her of
+her danger, she heeded not. For the last time rang out in that girlish
+voice: '_Allez avant! Forward, they are ours!_'
+
+Her men seized her bridle and turned her horse's head about. The English
+held the entrance from the causeway; Joan and a few men (her brother was
+one of them) were driven into a corner of the outer wall. A rush was
+made at Joan. 'Yield I yield! give your faith to me!' each man cried.
+
+'I have given my faith to Another,' she said, 'and I will keep my oath.'
+
+Her enemies confess that on this day Joan did great feats of arms,
+covering the rear of her force when they had to fly.
+
+Some French historians hold that the gates were closed by treason that
+the Maid might be taken. We may hope that this was not so; the commander
+of Compiegne held his town successfully for the king, and was rescued by
+Joan's friend, the brave Pothon de Xaintrailles.
+
+
+HOW THE MAID LEAPED FROM THE TOWER OF BEAUREVOIR
+
+The sad story that is still to tell shall be shortly told. There is no
+word nor deed of the Maid's, in captivity as in victory, that is not to
+her immortal honour. But the sight of the wickedness of men, their
+cowardice, cruelty, greed, ingratitude, is not a thing to linger over.
+
+The Maid, as a prisoner of the Bastard of Wandomme, himself a man of
+Jean de Luxembourg, was led to Margny, where the Burgundian and English
+captains rejoiced over her. They had her at last, the girl who had
+driven them from fort and field. Luxembourg claimed her and carried her
+to Beaulieu. Not a French lance was laid in rest to rescue her; not a
+sou did the king send to ransom her. Where were Dunois and d'Alencon,
+Xaintrailles and La Hire? The bold Buccleugh, who carried Kinmont Willie
+out of Carlisle Castle, would not have left the Maid unrescued at
+Beaulieu. 'What is there that a man does _not_ dare?' he said to the
+angry Queen Elizabeth. But Dunois, d'Alencon, Xaintrailles, La Hire,
+dared all things. Something which we do not know of must have held
+these heroes back, and, being ignorant, it does not become us to blame
+them.
+
+Joan was the very spirit of chivalry, but in that age of chivalry she
+was shamefully deserted. As a prisoner of war she should properly have
+been held to ransom. But, within two days of her capture, the
+Vicar-General of the Inquisition in France claimed her as a heretic and
+a witch. The English knights let the priests and the University of Paris
+judge and burn the girl whom they seldom dared to face in war. The
+English were glad enough to use French priests and doctors who would
+sell themselves to the task of condemning and burning their maiden
+enemy. She was the enemy of the English, and they did actually believe
+in witchcraft. The English were hideously cruel and superstitious: we
+may leave the French to judge Jean de Luxembourg, who sold the girl to
+England; Charles, who moved not a finger to help her; Bishop Cauchon and
+the University of Paris, who judged her lawlessly and condemned her to
+the stake; and the Archbishop of Reims, who said that she had deserved
+her fall. There is dishonour in plenty; let these false Frenchmen of her
+time divide their shares among themselves.
+
+From Beaulieu, where she lay from May to August, Luxembourg carried his
+precious prize to Beaurevoir, near Cambrai, further from the French
+armies. He need not have been alarmed, not a French sword was drawn to
+help the Maid. At Beaurevoir, Joan was kindly treated by the ladies of
+the Castle. These ladies alone upheld the honour of the great name of
+France. They knelt and wept before Jean de Luxembourg, imploring him not
+to sell Joan to Burgundy, who sold her again to England. May their names
+ever be honoured! One of the gentlemen of the place, on the other hand,
+was rude to Joan, as he confessed thirty years later.
+
+Joan was now kept in a high tower at Beaurevoir, and was allowed to walk
+on the leads. She knew she was sold to England, she had heard that the
+people of Compiegne were to be massacred. She would rather die than fall
+into English hands, 'rather give her soul to God, than her body to the
+English.' But she hoped to escape and relieve Compiegne. She, therefore,
+prayed for counsel to her Saints; might she leap from the top of the
+tower? Would they not bear her up in their hands? St. Catherine bade her
+not to leap; God would help her and the people of Compiegne.
+
+Then, for the first time as far as we know, the Maid wilfully disobeyed
+her Voices. She leaped from the tower. They found her, not wounded, not
+a limb was broken, but stunned. She knew not what had happened; they
+told her she had leaped down. For three days she could not eat, 'yet was
+she comforted by St. Catherine, who bade her confess and seek pardon of
+God, and told her that, without fail, they of Compiegne should be
+relieved before Martinmas.' This prophecy was fulfilled. Joan was more
+troubled about Compiegne, than about her own coming doom. She was
+already sold to the English, like a sheep to the slaughter; they bought
+their French bishop Cauchon, he summoned his shavelings, the doctors of
+the University and of the Inquisition.
+
+[Illustration: Joan at Beaurevoir]
+
+The chivalry of England locked up the Maid in an iron cage at Rouen. The
+rest was easy to men of whom all, or almost all, were the slaves of
+superstition, fear, and greed. They were men like ourselves, and no
+worse, if perhaps no better, but their especial sins and temptations
+were those to which few of us are inclined. We, like Charles, are very
+capable of deserting, or at least of delaying to rescue, our bravest and
+best, like Gordon in Khartoum. But, as we are not afraid of witches, we
+do not cage and burn girls of nineteen. If we were as ignorant as our
+ancestors on this point, no doubt we should be as cowardly and cruel.
+
+
+V
+
+HOW THE MAID WAS TRIED AND CONDEMNED, AND HOW BRAVELY SHE DIED
+
+ABOUT the trial and the death of the Maid, I have not the heart to write
+a long story. Some points are to be remembered. The person who conducted
+the trial, itself illegal, was her deadly enemy, the false Frenchman,
+the Bishop of Beauvais, Cauchon, whom she and her men had turned out of
+his bishoprick. It is most unjust and unheard of, that any one should be
+tried by a judge who is his private enemy. Next, Joan was kept in strong
+irons day and night, and she, the most modest of maidens, was always
+guarded by five brutal English soldiers of the lowest rank. Again, she
+was not allowed to receive the Holy Communion as she desired with tears.
+Thus weakened by long captivity and ill usage, she, an untaught girl,
+was questioned repeatedly for three months, by the most cunning and
+learned doctors in law of the Paris University. Often many spoke at
+once, to perplex her mind. But Joan always showed a wisdom which
+confounded them, and which is at least as extraordinary as her skill in
+war. She would never swear an oath to answer _all_ their questions.
+About herself, and all matters bearing on her own conduct, she would
+answer. About the king and the secrets of the king, she would not
+answer. If they forced her to reply about these things, she frankly
+said, she would not tell them the truth. The whole object of the trial
+was to prove that she dealt with powers of evil, and that her king had
+been crowned and aided by the devil. Her examiners, therefore, attacked
+her day by day, in public and in her dungeon, with questions about these
+visions which she held sacred, and could only speak of with a blush
+among her friends. Had she answered (as a lawyer said at the time), '_it
+seemed to me_ I saw a saint,' no man could have condemned her. Probably
+she did not know this, for she was not allowed to have an advocate of
+her own party, and she, a lonely girl, was opposed to the keenest and
+most learned lawyers of France. But she maintained that she certainly
+did see, hear, and touch her Saints, and that they came to her by the
+will of God. This was called blasphemy and witchcraft. And now came in
+the fatal Fairies! She was accused of dealing with devils under the Tree
+of Domremy.
+
+Most was made of her refusal to wear woman's dress. For this she seems
+to have had two reasons; first, that to give up her old dress would have
+been to acknowledge that her mission was ended; next, for reasons of
+modesty, she being alone in prison among ruffianly men. She would wear
+woman's dress if they would let her take the Holy Communion, but this
+they refused. To these points she was constant, she would not deny her
+visions; she would not say one word against her king, 'the noblest
+Christian in the world' she called him, who had deserted her. She would
+not wear woman's dress in prison. We must remember that, as she was
+being tried by churchmen, she should have been, as she often prayed to
+be, in a prison of the church, attended by women. They set a spy on her,
+a caitiff priest named L'Oyseleur, who pretended to be her friend, and
+who betrayed her. The English soldiers were allowed to bully, threaten,
+and frighten away every one who gave her any advice. They took her to
+the torture-chamber, and threatened her with torture, but from this even
+these priests shrunk, except a few more cruel and cowardly than the
+rest. Finally, they put her up in public, opposite a pile of wood ready
+for burning, and then set a priest to preach at her. All through her
+trial, her Voices bade her 'answer boldly,' in three months she would
+give her last answer, in three months 'she would be free with great
+victory, and come into the Kingdom of Paradise.' In three months from
+the first day of her trial she went free through the gate of fire.
+Boldly she answered, and wisely. She would submit the truth of her
+visions to the Church, that is, to God, and the Pope. But she would
+_not_ submit them to 'the Church,' if that meant the clergy round her.
+At last, in fear of the fire, and the stake before her, and on promise
+of being taken to a kindlier prison among women, and released from
+chains, she promised to 'abjure,' to renounce her visions, and submit to
+the Church, that is to Cauchon, and her other priestly enemies. Some
+little note on paper she now signed with a cross, and repeated 'with a
+smile,' poor child, a short form of words. By some trick this signature
+was changed for a long document, in which she was made to confess all
+her visions false. It is certain that she did not understand her words
+in this sense.
+
+Cauchon had triumphed. The blame of heresy and witchcraft was cast on
+Joan, and on her king as an accomplice. But the English were not
+satisfied; they made an uproar, they threatened Cauchon, for Joan's life
+was to be spared. She was to be in prison all her days, on bread and
+water, but, while she lived, they dared scarcely stir against the
+French. They were soon satisfied.
+
+Joan's prison was not changed. There soon came news that she had put on
+man's dress again. The judges went to her. She told them (they say),
+that she put on this dress of her own free will. In confession, later,
+she told her priest that she had been refused any other dress, and had
+been brutally treated both by the soldiers and by an English lord. In
+self-defence, she dressed in the only attire within her reach. In any
+case, the promises made to her had been broken. The judge asked her if
+her Voices had been with her again?
+
+[Illustration: 'They burned Joan the Maid']
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'What did they say?'
+
+'God told me by the voices of St. Catherine and St. Margaret of the
+great sorrow of my treason, when I abjured to save my life; that I was
+damning myself for my life's sake.'
+
+'Do you believe the Voices come from St. Margaret and St. Catherine?'
+
+'Yes, and that they are from God.'
+
+She added that she had never meant to deny this, had not understood that
+she had denied it.
+
+All was over now; she was a 'relapsed heretic.'
+
+The judges said that they visited Joan again on the morning of her
+death, and that she withdrew her belief in her Voices; or, at least,
+left it to the Church to decide whether they were good or bad, while she
+still maintained that they were _real_. She had expected release, and,
+for the first time, had been disappointed. At the stake she understood
+her Voices: they had foretold her martyrdom, 'great victory' over
+herself, and her entry into rest. But the document of the judges is not
+signed by the clerks, as all such documents must be. One of them,
+Manchon, who had not been present, was asked to sign it; he refused.
+Another, Taquel, is said to have been present, but he did not sign. The
+story is, therefore, worth nothing.
+
+Enough. They burned Joan the Maid. She did not suffer long. Her eyes
+were fixed on a cross which a priest, Martin L'Advenu, held up before
+her. She maintained, he says, to her dying moment, the truth of her
+Voices. With a great cry of JESUS! she gave up her breath, and her pure
+soul was with God.
+
+Even the English wept, even a secretary of the English king said that
+they had burned a Saint. One of the three great crimes of the world's
+history had been committed, and, of the three, this was the most
+cowardly and cruel. It profited the English not at all. 'Though they
+ceased not to be brave,' says Patrick Abercromby, a Scot,[26] 'yet they
+were almost on all occasions defeated, and within the short space of
+twenty-two years, lost not only all the conquests made by them in little
+less than a hundred, but also the inheritances which they had enjoyed
+for above three centuries bypast. It is not my part to follow them, as
+the French and my countrymen did, from town to town, and from province
+to province; I take much more pleasure in relating the glories than the
+disgraces of England.'
+
+This disgrace the English must, and do, most sorrowfully confess, and,
+that it may never be forgotten while the civilised world stands, there
+lives, among the plays of Shakspeare, whether he wrote or did not write
+it, that first part of 'Henry VI.,' which may pair with the yet more
+abominable poem of the Frenchman, Voltaire.
+
+Twenty years after her death, as we saw, Charles VII., in his own
+interest, induced the Pope and the Inquisition, to try the case of Joan
+over again. It was as certain that the clergy would find her innocent,
+now, as that they would find her guilty before. But, happily, they
+collected the evidence of most of the living people who had known her.
+Thus we have heard from the Domremy peasants how good she was as a
+child, from Dunois, d'Alencon, d'Aulon, how she was beautiful,
+courteous, and brave, from Isambart and L'Advenu, how nobly she died,
+and how she never made one complaint, but forgave all her enemies
+freely. All these old Latin documents were collected, edited, and
+printed, in 1849, by Monsieur Jules Quicherat, a long and noble labour.
+After the publication of this book, there has been, and can be, no doubt
+about the perfect goodness of Joan of Arc. The English long believed
+silly stories against her, as a bad woman, stories which were not even
+mentioned by her judges. The very French, at different times, have
+mocked at her memory, in ignorance and disbelief. They said she was a
+tool of politicians, who, on the other hand, never wanted her, or that
+she was crazy. Men mixed up with her glorious history the adventures of
+the false Maid, who pretended to be Joan come again, and people doubted
+as to whether she really died at Rouen. In modern times, some wiseacres
+have called the strongest and healthiest of women 'hysterical,' which is
+their way of accounting for her Voices. But now, thanks mainly to
+Monsieur Quicherat, and other learned Frenchmen, the world, if it
+chooses, may know Joan as she was; the stainless Maid, the bravest,
+gentlest, kindest, and wisest woman who ever lived. Her country people,
+in her lifetime, called her 'the greatest of Saints, after the Blessed
+Virgin,' and, at least, she is the greatest concerning whose deeds and
+noble sufferings history preserves a record. And her Voices we leave to
+Him who alone knows all truth.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] This unnamed monk of Dunfermline describes Joan as 'a maid worthy to
+be remembered, who caused the recovery of the kingdom of France from the
+hands of the tyrant Henry, King of England. This maid I saw and knew,
+and was with her in her conquests and sieges, ever present with her in
+her life and at her end.' The monk proposed to write Joan's history;
+unhappily his manuscript ends in the middle of a sentence. The French
+historians, as was natural, say next to nothing of their Scottish
+allies. See Quicherat, _Proces_, v. 339; and _The Book of Pluscarden_,
+edited by Mr. Felix Skene.
+
+[2] M. Quicherat thinks that this is a mere fairy tale, but the author
+has sometimes seen wild birds (a lark, kingfisher, robin, and finch)
+come to men, who certainly had none of the charm of Joan of Arc. A
+thoughtful child, sitting alone, and very still, might find birds alight
+on her in a friendly way, as has happened to the author. If she fed
+them, so much the better.
+
+[3] See M. Simeon Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc in Domremy_.
+
+[4] Here we follow Father Ayroles's correction of Quicherat's reading of
+the manuscripts.
+
+[5] The Voice and vision of St. Michael alarmed her at first. In 1425
+the French had defeated the English by sea, under Mount St. Michael, the
+only fortress in Normandy which never yielded to England. Consequently
+St. Michael was in high esteem as the patron of France, and, of all
+saints, he was most likely to be in Joan's mind. (See Simeon Luce,
+_Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_.) On the other hand, Father Ayroles correctly
+argues that Joan first heard the Voices the year before the victory near
+Mount St. Michael.
+
+[6] M. Quicherat distinguishes three strange kinds of power in Joan.
+These are the power of seeing at a distance, the power of learning the
+secret thoughts of men, and the power of foretelling future events. Of
+each class 'one example at least rests on evidence so solid, that it
+cannot be rejected without rejecting the whole basis of the history.' He
+merely states facts, which he makes no attempt to explain. _Apercus
+Nouveaux_, p. 61.
+
+[7] The date of this affair and that of the flight to Neufchateau are
+uncertain.
+
+[8] It occurs in the _Chronique de la Pucelle_, by Cousinot de
+Montreuil, at that time the king's secretary, and elsewhere.
+
+[9] Theod. de Leliis, _Proces_, ii. 42.
+
+[10] _Proces_, iii. 99.
+
+[11] This description is a few weeks later than the start from Blois.
+
+[12] This estimate was probably incorrect; 3,500 was more like the
+actual number.
+
+[13] _Proces_, iii. 100.
+
+[14] _Proces_, iii. pp. 5, 6, 7. They were 'near Saint Loup,' he says,
+'on the _right_ bank of the Loire above Orleans.' But (p. 7) he says
+that after their conversation he and Joan crossed to the right from the
+left bank. At all events they were some six miles higher up the river
+than Orleans.
+
+[15] Following Pasquerel, her priest. _Proces_, iii, 109.
+
+[16] Quicherat, _Nouveaux Apercus_, p. 76.
+
+[17] 'Daughter of God, go on, and I will help thee.'
+
+[18] Sir Walter Scott reckons that there were five men to each 'lance';
+perhaps four men is more usually the right number.
+
+[19] In _Proces_, iv. 414.
+
+[20] D'Alencon, _Proces_, iii. 98.
+
+[21] Dunois. _Proces_, iii. 14.
+
+[22] Journal du Siege. _Proces_, iv. 195. As it stands, this authority
+is thirty years later than the events.
+
+[23] This man was Clement de Fauquemberque. When he recorded the relief
+of Orleans, he drew on the margin of his paper a little fancy sketch of
+Joan, with long hair, a woman's dress, a sword, and a banner with the
+monogram of Jesus. This sketch still exists. (_Proces_, iv. 451.)
+
+[24] This was not far from the present Theatre Francais. The statue of
+the Maid, on horseback, is near the place where she was wounded.
+
+[25] Paris, as the Clerk of Parliament wrote in his note-book, could
+only be taken by blockade. It was a far larger city than Orleans, and we
+see how long the English, in the height of courage and confidence, were
+delayed by Orleans. But the Maid did not know the word 'impossible.'
+Properly supported, she could probably have taken Paris by assault; at
+the least she would not have left it while she lived.
+
+[26] In 1715.
+
+
+
+
+_HOW THE BASS WAS HELD FOR KING JAMES_
+
+
+[Illustration: 'INSTANTLY A GUST OF WIND BLEW HER OFF THE ROCK INTO THE
+SEA']
+
+THE Bass Rock is a steep black mass of stone, standing about two miles
+out to sea, off the coast of Berwickshire. The sheer cliffs, straight as
+a wall, are some four hundred feet in height. At the top there is a
+sloping grassy shelf, on which a few sheep are kept, but the chief
+inhabitants of the rock are innumerable hosts of sea-birds. Far up the
+rock, two hundred years ago, was a fortress, with twenty cannons and a
+small garrison. As a boat can only touch at the little island in very
+fine weather, the fortress was considered by the Government of Charles
+II. an excellent prison for Covenanters. There was a house for the
+governor, and a chapel where powder was kept, but where no clergyman
+officiated. As the covenanting prisoners were nearly all ministers, and
+a few of them prophets, it was thought, no doubt, that they could attend
+to their own devotions for themselves. They passed a good deal of their
+time in singing psalms. One prisoner looked into the cell of another
+late at night, and saw a shining white figure with him, which was taken
+for an angel by the spectator. Another prisoner, a celebrated preacher,
+named Peden, once told a merry girl that a 'sudden surprising judgment
+was waiting for her,' and instantly a gust of wind blew her off the rock
+into the sea. The Covenanters, one of whom had shot at the Archbishop of
+St. Andrews, and hit the Bishop of Orkney, were very harshly treated.
+'They were obliged to drink the twopenny ale of the governor's brewing,
+scarcely worth a half-penny the pint,' an inconvenience which they
+probably shared with the garrison. They were sometimes actually
+compelled to make their own beds, a cruel hardship, when their servants
+had been dismissed, probably for plotting their escape. They had few
+pleasures except writing accounts of their sufferings, and books on
+religion; or studying Greek and Hebrew.
+
+When King James II. was driven from his throne, in 1688, by the Prince
+of Orange, these sufferers found release, they being on the Orange side.
+But the castle of the Bass did not yield to William till 1690; it was
+held for King James by Charles Maitland till his ammunition and stores
+were exhausted. The Whigs, who were now in power, used the Bass for a
+prison, as their enemies had done, and four Cavalier prisoners were shut
+up in the cold, smoky, unwholesome jail, just as the Covenanters had
+been before. These men, Middleton, Halyburton, Roy, and Dunbar, all of
+them young, had been in arms for King James, and were taken when his
+Majesty's forces were surprised and defeated by Livingstone at Cromdale
+Haugh. Middleton was a lieutenant; his friends were junior in rank, and
+were only ensigns.
+
+These four lads did not devote their leisure to the composition of
+religious treatises, nor to the learning of Latin and Greek. On the
+other hand they reckoned it more worthy of their profession to turn the
+Whig garrison out of the Bass, and to hold it for King James. For three
+years they held it against all comers, and the Royal flag, driven out of
+England and Scotland, still floated over this little rock in the North
+Sea.
+
+This is how the Four took the Bass. They observed that when coals were
+landed all the garrison except three or four soldiers went down to the
+rocky platform where there was a crane for raising goods. When they
+went, they locked three of the four gates on the narrow rocky staircase
+behind them.
+
+On June 15, 1691, the soldiers went on this duty, leaving, to guard the
+Cavaliers, La Fosse, the sergeant, Swan, the gunner, and one soldier.
+These men were overpowered, or won over, by Middleton, Roy, Dunbar, and
+Halyburton, who then trained a gun on the garrison below, and asked them
+whether they would retire peacefully, or fight? They preferred to sail
+away in the coal vessel, and very foolish they must have felt, when they
+carried to the Whigs in Edinburgh the news that four men had turned them
+out of an impregnable castle, and held it for King James.
+
+Next night young Crawford of Ardmillan, with his servant and two Irish
+sailors, seized a long-boat on the beach, sailed over, and joined the
+brave little garrison of the Bass. Crawford had been lurking in disguise
+for some time, and the two Irishmen had escaped from prison in
+Edinburgh, and were not particularly well disposed to the government of
+William.
+
+When the news reached King James, in France, he sent a ship, laden with
+provisions and stores of all kinds, and two boats, one of them carrying
+two light guns. The Whigs established a force on the shore opposite, and
+their boats cruised about to intercept supplies, but in this they
+failed, the Cavaliers being too quick and artful to be caught easily.
+
+On August 15, however, the enemy seized the large boat at night. Now
+Ardmillan and Middleton were absent in search of supplies, and, being
+without their leader, Roy and Dunbar thought of surrendering. But just
+as they were about signing articles of surrender, Middleton returned
+with a large boat and plenty of provisions, and he ran his boat under
+the guns of his fort, whence he laughed at the enemies of his king.
+Dunbar, however, who was on shore engaged in the business of the
+surrender, was held as a prisoner. The Whigs were not much nearer taking
+the Bass. On September 3 they sent a sergeant and a drummer to offer a
+free pardon to the Cavaliers. They were allowed to land on the rock, but
+Middleton merely laughed at the promise of a free pardon, and he kept
+the sergeant and drummer, whom he afterwards released. A Danish ship,
+sailing between the Bass and shore, had a gun fired across her bows, and
+was made prize of; they took out everything that they needed, and then
+let her go.
+
+The Cavaliers lived a gay life: they had sheep on the Bass, plenty of
+water, meat, biscuits, beer and wine. Cruising in their boats they
+captured several ships, supplied themselves with what they wanted, and
+held the ships themselves to ransom. When food ran short they made raids
+on the shore, lifted cattle, and, generally, made war support war.
+
+The government of the Prince of Orange was driven beyond its patience,
+and vowed that the Bass should be taken, if it cost all the revenue of
+the country. But Middleton had plenty of powder, he had carefully
+collected more than five hundred balls fired at his fort by the English,
+and he calmly awaited the arrival of hostile men-of-war. The 'Sheerness'
+(Captain Roope) and the 'London Merchant' (Captain Orton) were sent with
+orders to bombard the Bass and destroy the fort. After two days of heavy
+firing, these vessels had lost a number of men, their rigging was cut to
+pieces, and the ships were so damaged that they were glad to slink off
+to harbour.
+
+A close watch was now set, the 'Lion' (Captain Burd), a dogger of six
+guns, and a long-boat cruised constantly in the neighbourhood. Captain
+Burd is described as 'a facetious and intelligent man,' and a brave
+officer, but his intelligence and courage were no match for Middleton.
+In August 1693 a French frigate of twelve guns sailed under the Bass and
+landed supplies. But the Cavaliers were so few that they had to borrow
+ten French sailors to help in the landing of the provisions. At this
+moment the 'Lion' bore down on the French vessel, which was obliged to
+cut her cables to avoid being run down. The garrison of the Bass was
+thus left with ten more mouths to feed, and with only the small supplies
+that had been landed. They were soon reduced to two ounces of raw rusk
+dough for each man, every day. Halyburton was caught and condemned to be
+hanged, and a Mr. Trotter, who had helped the Cavaliers, was actually
+hanged on shore, within sight of the Bass. Middleton fired a shot and
+scattered the crowd, but that did not save poor Trotter.
+
+[Illustration: The Bass attacked by the frigates]
+
+Middleton had now only a few pounds of meal left. He therefore sent in a
+flag of truce, and announced that he would surrender, but upon his own
+terms. Very good terms they were. Envoys were dispatched by the Whigs:
+Middleton gave them an excellent luncheon out of provisions kept for the
+purpose, and choice French wines. He had also set coats and caps on the
+muzzles of guns, above, on the rocks, so that the Whig envoys believed
+he had plenty of men, and no scarcity of provisions. Their lordships
+returned, and told the Privy Council that the Bass was in every respect
+well provisioned and well manned. Middleton's terms were, therefore,
+gladly accepted.
+
+He got a full pardon for every one then in the garrison, and for every
+one who had ever been in it (including Halyburton, now under sentence,
+of death), 'and none hereafter shall call them to account.' They were to
+depart with all the honours of war, with swords and baggage, in their
+own boat. They were to be at liberty to come or go, whenever they
+pleased, till May 15, 1694; and a ship, properly supplied, was to be
+ready to carry them to France, if they preferred to join Dundee's
+gallant officers in the French service. Finally, _all their expenses
+were to be paid_! The 'aliment' formerly granted to them, and unpaid
+when they seized the Bass, was to be handed over to them. On these terms
+Middleton took leave of the fortress which he could not have held for a
+week longer. There have been greater deeds of arms, but there never was
+one so boyish, so gallant, and so gay.
+
+
+
+
+_THE CROWNING OF INES DE CASTRO_
+
+
+ABOUT the year 1340, when Edward III. was King of England, a young
+Spanish lady set out from Castile on the long journey to the Court of
+Portugal. She was the only daughter of John Manuel, Duke of Villena, a
+very rich and powerful noble, much dreaded by the King of Castile for
+his boldness and restlessness. Not many years before he had suddenly
+left his post as Warden of the French Marches, to fight against the
+Moors in the province of Murcia, and though the King was very angry at
+his conduct, he did not dare to punish him, for fear that in some way he
+himself would suffer. Villena's daughter Constance had passed much of
+her time at the Castilian Court, where she lived in the state that was
+expected of a great lady of those days, but when the treaty was made
+which decided that she was to marry Dom Pedro, Crown Prince of Portugal,
+her household was increased, and special attendants appointed to do
+honour to her rank.
+
+Now among the ladies chosen to form part of Constance's court, was a
+distant cousin of her own, the beautiful and charming Ines de Castro.
+Like Henry II. at the sight of Fair Rosamond, the young Dom Pedro, who
+was not more than twenty years of age, fell passionately in love with
+her. He did all in his power to hide his feelings from his bride, the
+Infanta Constance, but did not succeed, and in a few years she died, it
+was said of grief at her husband's coldness, after giving birth to the
+Infant, Dom Fernando (1345). After her death, Dom Pedro's father King
+Alfonso was anxious that he should marry again, but he refused all the
+brides proposed for him, and people whispered among themselves that he
+was already secretly wedded to Ines de Castro. Time went on, and they
+had four children, but Ines preferred to live quietly in a convent in
+the country, and never took her place as Dom Pedro's wife. Still,
+however secluded she might be, large numbers of her fellow Castilians,
+weary of the yoke of their own King, Pedro the Cruel, flocked into
+Portugal, and looked to her for protection, which Dom Pedro for her sake
+always gave them, and chief among these foreign favourites were Ines'
+two brothers, Fernando and Alvaro Perez de Castro. This state of things
+was very bitter to the old Portuguese courtiers, who complained to the
+King that in future the country would only be governed by Spaniards.
+These rumours grew so loud that in time they even reached the ears of
+the Queen, and she, with the Archbishop of Braga, gave Dom Pedro solemn
+warning that some plot was assuredly forming which would end in his
+ruin. But Dom Pedro, naturally fearless, had faith in his father's
+goodwill towards him, and looked on these kindly warnings as mere empty
+threats, so proceeded gaily on his path. Thus in silence was prepared
+the bloody deed.
+
+When the courtiers thought all was ready they went in a deputation to
+Alfonso IV., and pointed out what might be expected in the future if
+Ines de Castro was allowed to remain the fountainhead for honours and
+employments to all her countrymen who were attracted to Portugal by the
+hopes of better pay. They enlarged on the fact that the national laws
+and customs would be changed, and Portugal become a mere province of
+Spain; worse than all, that the life of the Infant Dom Fernando was
+endangered, as upon the death of the King, the Castros would naturally
+desire to secure the succession to the children of Ines. If Ines were
+only out of the way, Dom Pedro would forget her, and consent to make a
+suitable marriage. So things went on, working together for the end of
+Ines.
+
+At last the King set forth, surrounded by many of his great nobles and
+high officials, for Coimbra, a small town in which was situated the
+Convent of Santa Clara, where Ines de Castro quietly dwelt, with her
+three surviving children. On seeing the sudden arrival of Alfonso with
+this great company of armed knights, the soul of Ines shrank with a
+horrible fear. She could not fly, as every avenue was closed, and Dom
+Pedro was away on the chase, as the nobles very well knew. Pale as an
+image of death, Ines clasped her children in her arms, and flung herself
+at the feet of the King. 'My lord,' she cried, 'have I given you cause
+to wish my death? Your son is the Prince; I can refuse him nothing. Have
+pity on me, wife as I am. Kill me not without reason. And if you have no
+compassion left for me, find a place in your heart for your
+grandchildren, who are of your own blood.'
+
+The innocence and beauty of the unfortunate woman, who indeed had harmed
+no one, moved the King, and he withdrew to think better what should be
+done. But the envy and hatred of the courtiers would not suffer Ines to
+triumph, and again they brought forward their evil counsels.
+
+[Illustration: Ines pleads for her life]
+
+'Do what you will,' at length said the King. And they did it.
+
+A nameless pain filled the soul of Dom Pedro when on his return he
+stood before the bloody corpse of Ines, whom he had loved so well. But
+soon another feeling took possession of him, which shut out everything
+else--the desire to revenge himself on her murderers. Hastily calling
+together the brothers of Ines and some followers who were attached to
+his person, he took counsel with them, and then collecting all the
+men-at-arms within his reach, he fell upon the neighbouring provinces
+and executed a fearful vengeance, both with fire and sword, upon the
+innocent inhabitants. How long this rage for devastation might have
+lasted cannot be told, but Dom Pedro was at length brought to a better
+mind by Goncalo Pereira, Archbishop of Braga, who, by the help of the
+Queen, succeeded in establishing peace between father and son.
+
+So a parchment deed was drawn up between the King and the Infant, in
+which Dom Pedro undertook to pardon all who had been engaged in the
+murder of Ines, and Alfonso promised to forgive those who had taken his
+son's side, and borne arms against himself. And for his part Dom Pedro
+vowed to perform the duties of a faithful vassal, and to banish from his
+presence all turbulent and restless spirits. So peace was made.
+
+Two years had hardly passed after this event before King Alfonso lay on
+his death-bed in Lisbon, and then, thinking over what would happen when
+he was dead, the feeling gradually came over him that in spite of Dom
+Pedro's solemn oath the murderers of Ines would not be safe from his
+revenge. Therefore he sent for the three knights, Diogo Lopez Pacheco,
+Alvaro Goncalves, and Pedro Coelho, who had counselled him to do the
+dreadful deed and had themselves struck the blow, and bade them leave
+their property and all they had, and fly while there was yet time to
+foreign lands for refuge. The knights saw the wisdom of the advice, and
+sought shelter in Castile. Then Alfonso prepared himself to die, the
+murder of Ines lying heavy on his soul in his last days (1357).
+
+King Pedro was thirty-seven years old when he ascended the throne, and
+his first care was to secure peace to his kingdom. To this end he sent
+several embassies to the King of Castile, who made a compact with
+Alfonso 'to be the friend of his friends, and the enemy of his enemies.'
+The results of this treaty may be easily guessed at. The King of
+Portugal engaged to send back to Castile all who had fled to his
+dominions from the tyranny of Pedro the Cruel, the ally of the Black
+Prince, and was to receive in return the murderers of Ines, two of whom
+he put to a horrible death. The third, Pacheco, was more fortunate. A
+beggar to whom he had been accustomed to give alms discovered his
+danger, and hastened to warn the knight, who was away from the city on a
+hunting expedition. By his advice Pacheco changed clothes with the
+beggar, and made his way through Aragon to the borders of France, where
+he took refuge with Henry of Trastamara, half-brother of the King of
+Castile. Here he remained, a poor knight without friends or property,
+till the year 1367, when on his death-bed the King of Portugal suddenly
+remembered that when dying the other two knights had sworn that Pacheco
+was guiltless of the murder of Ines, and ordered his son to recall him
+from exile and to restore all his possessions. Which Dom Fernando
+joyfully did.
+
+That, however, happened several years after the time we are speaking of,
+when Dom Pedro had only just ascended the throne. Having satisfied his
+feelings of revenge against the murderers of Ines, a nobler desire
+filled his heart. He resolved that she who had been so ill-spoken of
+during her life, and had died such a shameful death, should be
+acknowledged openly as his wife and queen before his Court and his
+people. So he assembled all the great nobles and officers, and, laying
+his hand on the sacred books, swore solemnly that seven years before he
+had taken Ines de Castro to wife, and had lived with her in happiness
+till her death, but that through dread of his father the marriage had
+been kept secret; and he commanded the Lord High Chamberlain to prepare
+a deed recording his oath. And in case there should still be some who
+did not believe, three days later the Bishop of Guarda and the Keeper of
+the King's Wardrobe bore witness before the great lords gathered
+together in Coimbra that they themselves had been present at the secret
+marriage, which had taken place at Braganza, in the royal apartments,
+according to the rites of the Church.
+
+This solemn function being over, the last act in the history of Ines was
+begun. By command of the King her body was taken from the convent of
+Santa Clara, where it had lain in peace for many years, and was clad in
+royal garments: a crown was placed on her head and a sceptre in her
+hand, and she was seated on a throne for the subjects, who during her
+life had despised her, to kneel and kiss the hem of her robe. One by one
+the knights and the nobles and the great officers of the Crown did
+homage to the dead woman, and when all had bowed before what was left of
+the beautiful Ines they placed her in a splendid coffin, which was borne
+by knights over the seven leagues that lay between Coimbra and
+Alcobaca, the royal burying-place of the Portuguese. In this magnificent
+cloister a tomb had been prepared carved in white marble, and at the
+head stood a statue of Ines in the pride of her beauty, crowned a queen.
+Bishops and soldiers, nobles and peasants, lined the road to watch the
+coffin pass, and thousands with lighted torches followed the dead woman
+to her resting place, till the whole long road from Coimbra to Alcobaca
+was lit up with brightness. So, solemnly, Ines de Castro was laid in her
+grave, and the honours which had been denied her in life were heaped
+around her tomb.[27]
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[27] Schaefer's _Geschichte von Portugal_.
+
+
+
+
+_THE STORY OF ORTHON_
+
+ [There may be some who doubt whether the following
+ story is in all respects perfectly true. It is
+ taken, however, from a history book, the
+ 'Chronicle of Jean Froissart,' who wrote about the
+ wars of the Black Prince.]
+
+
+GREAT marvel it is to think and consider of a thing that I will tell
+you, and that was told to me in the house of the Comte de Foix at
+Orthez, by him who gave me to know concerning the battle of Juberot. And
+I will tell you of this matter, what it was, for since the Squire told
+me this tale, whereof you shall presently have knowledge, certes I have
+thought over it a hundred times, and shall think as long as I live.
+
+'Certain it is,' quoth the Squire, 'that the day after the fight at
+Juberot the Comte de Foix knew of it, whereat men marvelled much how
+this might be. And all day, on the Sunday and the Monday and the Tuesday
+following, he made in his castle of Orthez such dull and simple cheer
+that none could drag a word out of him. All these three days he would
+not leave his chamber, nor speak to knight or squire, howsoever near him
+they might be. And when it came to Tuesday at evening, he called his
+brother, Sir Ernault Guillaume, and said to him in a low voice:
+
+'"Our men have fought, whereat I am grieved; for that has befallen them
+of their journey which I told them before they set out."
+
+'Sir Ernault, who is a right wise knight and of good counsel, knowing
+well the manner and ways of his brother the Count, held his peace for a
+little while. Then the Count, willing to show his heart, and weary of
+his long sadness, spoke again, and louder than before, saying:
+
+'"By God, Sir Ernault, it is as I tell you, and shortly we shall have
+news; for never did the land of Bearn lose so much in one day--no, not
+these hundred years--as it has lost this time in Portugal."
+
+'Many knights and squires standing round who heard the Count noted these
+words, and in ten days learned the truth from them who had been in the
+fight, and who brought tidings, first to the Court, and afterwards to
+all who would hear them, of what befell at Juberot. Thereby was the
+Count's grief renewed, and that of all in the country who had lost
+brothers and fathers, sons and friends, in the fray.'
+
+'Marry!' said I to the Squire, who was telling me his tale, 'and how
+could the Count know or guess what befell? Gladly would I learn this.'
+
+'By my faith,' said the Squire, 'he knew it well, as appeared.'
+
+'Is he a prophet, or has he messengers who ride at night with the wind?
+Some art he must have.'
+
+Then the Squire began to laugh.
+
+'Truly he must learn by some way of necromancy; we know not here truly
+how he does it, save by phantasies.'
+
+'Ah, good sir, of these fancies prithee tell me, and I will be grateful.
+If it is a matter to keep silent, silent will I keep it, and never,
+while I am in this country, will I open my mouth thereon.'
+
+'I pray you do not, for I would not that any should know I had spoken.
+Yet others talk of it quietly when they are among their friends.'
+
+Thereon he drew me apart into a corner of the castle chapel, and then
+began his tale, and spoke thus:
+
+'It may be twenty years since there reigned here a baron named Raymond,
+lord of Corasse, a town and castle seven leagues from Orthez. Now, the
+lord of Corasse, at the time of which I speak, held a plea at Avignon
+before the Pope against a clerk of Catalonia who laid claim to the
+tithes of his town, the said clerk belonging to a powerful order, and
+claiming the right of the tithes of Corasse, which, indeed, amounted to
+a yearly sum of one hundred florins. This right he set forth and proved
+before all men, for in his judgment, given in the Consistory General,
+Pope Urban V. declared that the clerk had won his case, and that the
+Chevalier had no ground for his claim. The sentence once delivered,
+letters were given to the clerk enabling him to take possession, and he
+rode so hard that in a very short time he reached Bearn, and by virtue
+of the papal bull appropriated the tithes. The Sieur de Corasse was
+right wroth with the clerk and his doings, and came to him and said:
+
+[Illustration: 'I will send you a champion whom you will fear more than
+you fear me']
+
+'"Master Martin, or Master Pierre, or whatever your name may be, do you
+think that I am going to give up my rights just because of those letters
+of yours? I scarce fancy you are bold enough to lay hands on property of
+mine, for you will risk your life in the doing. Go elsewhere to seek a
+benefice, for of my rights you shall have none, and this I tell you,
+once and for all."
+
+'The mind of the clerk misgave him, for he knew that the Chevalier cared
+not for men's lives, and he dared not persevere. So he dropped his
+claims, and betook himself to his own country or to Avignon. And when
+the moment had come that he was to depart, he entered into the presence
+of the Sieur de Corasse, and said:
+
+'"Sir, it is by force and not by right that you lay hands on the
+property of the Church, of which you make such ill-use. In this land you
+are stronger than I, but know that as soon as I may I will send you a
+champion whom you will fear more than you fear me."
+
+'The Sieur de Corasse, who did not heed his words, replied:
+
+'"Go, do as you will; I fear you as little alive as dead. For all your
+talk, I will never give up my rights."
+
+'Thus parted the clerk and the Sieur de Corasse, and the clerk returned
+to his own country, but whether that was Avignon or Catalonia I know
+not. But he did not forget what he had told the Sieur de Corasse when he
+bade him farewell; for three months after, when he expected it least,
+there came to the castle of Corasse, while the Chevalier was quietly
+sleeping, certain invisible messengers, who began to throw about all
+that was in the castle, till it seemed as if, truly, nothing would be
+left standing. The Chevalier heard it all, but he said nought, for he
+would not be thought a coward, and indeed he had courage enough for any
+adventure that might befall.
+
+'These sounds of falling weights continued for a long space, then ceased
+suddenly.
+
+'When the morning came, the servants all assembled, and their lord
+having arisen from bed they came to him and said, "Sir, have you also
+heard that which we have heard this night?" And the Sieur de Corasse hid
+it in his heart and answered, "No; what have you heard?" And they told
+him how that all the furniture was thrown down, and all the kitchen pots
+had been broken. But he began to laugh, and said it was a dream, and
+that the wind had caused it. "Ah no," sighed his wife; "I also have
+heard."
+
+'When the next night arrived, the noise-makers arrived too, and made
+more disturbance than before, and gave great knocks at the doors, and
+likewise at the windows of the Sieur de Corasse. And the Chevalier
+leaped out of his bed and demanded, "Who is it that rocks my bed at this
+hour of the night?".
+
+'And answer was made him, "That which I am, I am."
+
+'Then asked the Chevalier, "By whom are you sent here?"
+
+'"By the clerk of Catalonia, to whom you have done great wrong, for you
+have taken from him his rights and his heritage. Hence you will never be
+suffered to dwell in peace till you have given him what is his due, and
+he is content."
+
+'"And you, who are so faithful a messenger," inquired the Chevalier,
+"what is your name?"
+
+'"They call me Orthon."
+
+'"Orthon," said the knight, "the service of a clerk is worth nothing,
+and if you trust him, he will work you ill. Leave me in peace, I pray
+you, and take service with me, and I shall be grateful."
+
+'Now, the knight was pleasing to Orthon, so he answered, "Is this truly
+your will?"
+
+'"Yes," replied the Sieur de Corasse. "Do no ill unto those that dwell
+here, and I will cherish you, and we shall be as one."
+
+'"No," spoke Orthon. "I have no power save to wake you and others, and
+to disturb you when you fain would sleep."
+
+'"Do as I say," said the Chevalier; "we shall agree well, if only you
+will abandon this wicked clerk. With him there is nothing but pain, and
+if you serve me----"
+
+'"Since it is your will," replied Orthon, "it is mine also."
+
+'The Sieur de Corasse pleased Orthon so much that he came often to see
+him in his sleep, and pulled away his pillow or gave great knocks
+against the window of the room where he lay. And when the Chevalier was
+awakened he would exclaim, "Let me sleep, I pray you, Orthon!"
+
+'"Not so," said Orthon; "I have news to give you."
+
+"And what news will you give me? Whence come you?"
+
+'Then said Orthon, "I come from England, or Germany, or Hungary, or some
+other country, which I left, yesterday, and such-and-such things have
+happened."
+
+'Thus it was that the Sieur de Corasse knew so much when he went into
+the world; and this trick he kept up for five or six years. But in the
+end he could not keep silence, and made it known to the Comte de Foix in
+the way I shall tell you.
+
+'The first year, whenever the Sieur de Corasse came into the presence of
+the Count at Ortais or elsewhere, he would say to him: "Monseigneur,
+such-and-such a thing has happened in England, or in Scotland, or in
+Germany, or in Flanders, or in Brabant, or in some other country," and
+the Comte de Foix marvelled greatly at these things. But one day he
+pressed the Sieur de Corasse so hard that the knight told him how it was
+he knew all that passed in the world and who told him. When the Comte de
+Foix knew the truth of the matter, his heart leapt with joy, and he
+said: "Sieur de Corasse, bind him to you in love. I would I had such a
+messenger. He costs you nothing, and knows all that passes throughout
+the world."
+
+'"Monseigneur," said the Chevalier, "thus will I do."
+
+'Thus the Sieur de Corasse was served by Orthon, and that for long. I
+know not if Orthon had more than one master, but certain it is that
+every week he came, twice or thrice during the night, to tell to the
+Sieur de Corasse the news of all the countries that he had visited,
+which the Sieur wrote at once to the Comte de Foix, who was of all men
+most joyed in news from other lands. One day when the Sieur de Corasse
+was with the Comte de Foix, the talk fell upon Orthon, and suddenly the
+Count inquired, "Sieur de Corasse, have you never seen your messenger?"
+
+'He answered, "No, by my faith, Monseigneur, and I have never even asked
+to."
+
+'"Well," he replied, "it is very strange. If he had been as friendly to
+me as he is to you, I should long ago have begged him to show me who and
+what he is. And I pray that you will do all you can, so that I may know
+of what fashion he may be. You tell me that his speech is Gascon, such
+as yours or mine."
+
+'"By my faith," said the Sieur de Corasse, "it is only the truth. His
+Gascon is as good as the best; and, since you advise it, I will spare
+myself no trouble to see what he is like."
+
+'Two or three nights after came Orthon, and finding the Sieur de Corasse
+sleeping soundly, he pulled the pillow, so as to wake him. So the Sieur
+de Corasse awoke with a start and inquired, "Who is there?"
+
+'He answered, "I am Orthon."
+
+'"And whence do you come?"
+
+'"From Prague in Bohemia. The Emperor of Rome is dead."
+
+'"And when did he die?"
+
+'"The day before yesterday."
+
+'"And how far is it from Prague to this?"
+
+'"How far?" he answered. "Why, it is sixty days' journey."
+
+'"And you have come so quickly?"
+
+'"But, by my faith, I travel more quickly than the wind."
+
+'"And have you wings?"
+
+'"By my faith, no."
+
+'"How, then, do you fly so fast?"
+
+'Said Orthon, "That does not concern you."
+
+'"No," he replied; "but I would gladly see of what form you are."
+
+'Said Orthon, "My form does not concern you. Content you with what I
+tell you and that my news is true."
+
+'"Now, as I live," cried the Sieur de Corasse, "I should love you better
+if I had but seen you."
+
+'Said Orthon, "Since you have such burning desire to see me, the first
+thing you behold to-morrow morning on getting out of bed will be I."
+
+'"It is enough," answered the Sieur de Corasse. "Go. I take leave of you
+for this night."
+
+'When the day dawned, the Sieur de Corasse arose from his bed, but his
+wife was filled with such dread of meeting Orthon that she feigned to be
+ill, and protested she would lie abed all day; for she said, "Suppose I
+were to see him?"
+
+'"Now," cried the Sieur de Corasse, "see what I do," and he jumped from
+his bed and sat upon the edge, and looked about for Orthon; but he saw
+nothing. Then he threw back the windows so that he could note more
+clearly all that was in the room, but again he saw nought of which he
+could say, "That is Orthon."
+
+'The day passed and night came. Hardly had the Sieur de Corasse climbed
+up into his bed than Orthon arrived, and began to talk to him, as his
+custom was.
+
+'"Go to, go to," said the Sieur de Corasse; "you are but a bungler. You
+promised to show yourself to me yesterday, and you never appeared."
+
+'"Never appeared," said he. "But I did, by my faith."
+
+'"You did not."
+
+'"And did you see nothing," said Orthon, "when you leapt from your bed?"
+
+'The Sieur de Corasse thought for a little; then he answered. "Yes," he
+replied; "as I was sitting on my bed and thinking of you, I noticed two
+long straws on the floor twisting about and playing together."
+
+'"That was I," said Orthon. "That was the form I had taken upon me."
+
+'Said the Sieur de Corasse: "That is not enough. You must take another
+form, so that I may see you and know you."
+
+'"You ask so much that I shall become weary of you and you will lose
+me," replied Orthon.
+
+'"You will never become weary of me and I shall never lose you,"
+answered the Sieur de Corasse; "if only I see you once, I shall be
+content."
+
+'"So be it," said Orthon; "to-morrow you shall see me, and take notice
+that the first thing you see as you leave your room will be I."
+
+[Illustration: Orthon's last appearance]
+
+'"It is enough," spoke the Sieur de Corasse; "and now go, for I fain
+would sleep."
+
+'So Orthon went; and when it was the third hour next morning[28] the
+Sieur de Corasse rose and dressed as was his custom, and, leaving his
+chamber, came out into a gallery that looked into the central court of
+the castle. He glanced down, and the first thing he saw was a sow,
+larger than any he had ever beheld, but so thin that it seemed nothing
+but skin and bone. The Sieur de Corasse was troubled at the sight of the
+pig, and said to his servants: "Set on the dogs, and let them chase out
+that sow."
+
+'The varlets departed and loosened the dogs, and urged them to attack
+the sow, which uttered a great cry and looked at the Sieur de Corasse,
+who stood leaning against one of the posts of his chamber. They saw her
+no more, for she vanished, and no man could tell whither she had gone.
+
+'Then the Sieur de Corasse entered into his room, pondering deeply, for
+he remembered the words of Orthon and said to himself: "I fear me that I
+have seen my messenger. I repent me that I have set my dogs upon him,
+and the more that perhaps he will never visit me again, for he has told
+me, not once but many times, that if I angered him he would depart from
+me."
+
+'And in this he said well; for Orthon came no more to the castle of
+Corasse, and in less than a year its lord himself was dead.'
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[28] Six o'clock.
+
+
+
+
+HOW GUSTAVUS VASA WON HIS KINGDOM
+
+
+NEARLY four hundred years ago, on May 12, 1496, Gustavus Vasa was born
+in an old house in Sweden. His father was a noble of a well-known
+Swedish family, and his mother could claim as her sister one of the
+bravest and most unfortunate women of her time. Now, it was the custom
+in those days that both boys and girls should be sent when very young to
+the house of some great lord to be taught their duties as pages or
+ladies-in-waiting, and to be trained in all sorts of accomplishments. So
+when Gustavus Vasa had reached the age of six or seven, he was taken
+away from all his brothers and sisters and placed in the household of
+his uncle by marriage, whose name was Sten Sture. At that time Sweden
+had had no king of her own for a hundred years, when the kingdom had
+become united with Norway and Denmark in the reign of Queen Margaret by
+a treaty that is known in history as the Union of Calmar (1397). As long
+as Queen Margaret lived the three kingdoms were well-governed and happy;
+but her successors were by no means as wise as she, and at the period we
+are writing of the Danish stewards of King Hans and his son, Christian
+II., oppressed and ill-treated the Swedes in every possible way, and
+Sten Sture, regent though he was, had no power to protect them. From
+time to time the Danish kings came over to Sweden to look after their
+own interests, and on one of these visits King Hans saw little Gustavus
+Vasa at the house of Sten Sture in Stockholm. He is said to have taken
+notice of the boy, and to have exclaimed grimly that Gustavus would be a
+great man if he lived; and the Regent, thinking that the less attention
+the King paid to his unwilling subjects the safer their heads would be,
+at once sent the boy back to his father.
+
+[Illustration: Gustavus leaves school for good!]
+
+For some years Gustavus lived at home and had a merry time, learning to
+shoot by hitting a mark with his arrows before he was allowed any
+breakfast, and roaming all over the woods in his little coat of scarlet
+cloth. At thirteen he was sent for a time to school at Upsala, where he
+learned music as well as other things, and even taught himself to make
+musical instruments. One day, however, the Danish schoolmaster spoke
+scornfully of the Swedes, and Gustavus, dashing the sword which he
+carried through the book before him, vowed vengeance on all Danes, and
+walked out of the school for good.
+
+As far as we know, Gustavus probably remained with his father for the
+next few years, and we next hear of him in 1514 at the Court of Sten
+Sture the younger. Already he had obtained a reputation among his
+friends both for boldness and caution, and though so young had learned
+experience by carefully watching all that was going on around him. His
+enemies, too, even the wicked Archbishop Trolle of Upsala, had begun to
+fear him without knowing exactly why, and he had already made a name for
+himself by his courage at the Swedish victory of Brankyrka, when the
+standard was borne by Gustavus through the thickest of the fight. This
+battle dashed to the ground the King's hopes of getting Sten Sture, the
+Regent, into his power by fair means, so he tried treachery to persuade
+the Swede to enter his ship. But the men of Stockholm saw through his
+wiles and declined this proposal, and the King was driven to offer the
+Swedes a meeting in a church, on condition that Gustavus Vasa and five
+other distinguished nobles should be sent first on board as hostages.
+This was agreed to; but no sooner had the young men put off in their
+boat than a large Danish vessel cut off their retreat, and they were at
+once carried off to Denmark as prisoners.
+
+For one moment it seemed likely that Gustavus would be hanged, and
+Sweden remain in slavery for many years longer, and indeed, if his life
+was spared, it was only because Christian thought it might be to his own
+advantage. Still, spared it was, and the young man was delivered to the
+care of a distant relation in Jutland, who was to forfeit 400l. in case
+of his escape. Here things were made as pleasant to him as possible, and
+he was allowed to hunt and shoot, though always attended by keepers.
+
+One day, after he had behaved with such prudence that his keepers had
+almost given up watching him, he managed, while strolling in the great
+park, to give them the slip, and to hide himself where there was no
+chance of anyone finding him. He contrived somehow to get hold of a
+pilgrim's dress; then that of a cattle-driver, and in this disguise he
+made his way to the free city of Luebeck, and threw himself on the mercy
+of the burgomaster or mayor. By this time his enemies were on his track,
+and his noble gaoler, Sir Eric Bauer, claimed him as an escaped
+prisoner. But the people of Luebeck, who at that moment had a trade
+quarrel with Denmark, declared that the fugitive was not a prisoner who
+had broken his parole, but a hostage who had been carried off by
+treachery, and refused to give him up, though perhaps their own interest
+had more to do with their steadfastness than right and justice. As it
+was, Gustavus was held fast in Luebeck for eight months before they would
+let him go, and it was not until May 1520 that he crossed the Baltic in
+a little fishing-smack, and sailed for Stockholm, then besieged by
+Danish ships and defended by the widow of the Regent. But finding the
+town closely invested, he made for Calmar, and after a short stay in the
+castle he found his way into the heart of the country, learning sadly at
+every step how the worst enemies of Sweden were the Swedes themselves,
+who betrayed each other to their Danish foes for jealousy and gold. Like
+Prince Charlie, however, he was soon to find faithful hearts among his
+countrymen, and for every traitor there were at least a hundred who were
+true. While hiding on his father's property, he sent some of his tenants
+to Stockholm, to find out the state of affairs there. The news they
+brought was terrible. A fearful massacre, known in history as the Blood
+Bath, had taken place by order of the King. Citizens, bishops, nobles,
+and even servants had been executed in the public market, and the King's
+thirst for blood was not satisfied until some hundreds of Swedes had
+laid down their lives. Among those who fell on the first day was the
+father of Gustavus Vasa, who is said to have indignantly rejected the
+pardon offered him by the King for his fidelity to his country. 'No,' he
+exclaimed; 'let me die with all these honest men.' So he died, and his
+son-in-law after him, and his wife, her mother, sister, and three
+daughters were thrown into prison, where some of them were starved to
+death. To crown all, a price was set on the head of Gustavus.
+
+On hearing this last news Gustavus resolved to take refuge in the
+province of Dalecarlia, and to trust to the loyalty of the peasants. By
+this time it was the end of November (1520), and the snow lay thick upon
+the ground; but this was rather in his favour, as his enemies would be
+less likely to pursue him. So he cut his hair short and put on the dress
+of a peasant, which in those days consisted of a short, thick jacket,
+breeches with huge buttons, and a low soft hat. Then he bought an axe
+and plunged into the forest. Here he soon made a friend for life in a
+very tall, strong woodcutter, known to his neighbours by the name of the
+'Bear-slayer.' This woodcutter was employed by a rich man, Petersen by
+name, who had a large property near by, and had been at school with
+Gustavus Vasa at Upsala. But hearing that Danish spies were lurking
+around, Gustavus would not confide even in him, but patiently did what
+work was given him like a common servant. An accident betrayed him. A
+maid-servant happened one day to see the golden collar that Gustavus
+wore next his skin, and told her master. Petersen then recognised his
+old schoolfellow; but knowing that he would lose his own head if he gave
+him shelter, he advised the young noble to leave his hiding-place, and
+take shelter with another old friend, Arendt, who had once served under
+him. Here he was received with open arms; but this hospitality only
+concealed treachery, for his old comrade had formed a close friendship
+with the Danish stewards who ruled the land, and only wanted an
+opportunity to deliver Gustavus up to them. However, he was careful not
+to let his guest see anything of his plan, and even pretended to share
+his schemes for ridding the country of the enemy. So he hid Gustavus in
+an attic, where he assured him he would be perfectly safe, and left him,
+saying he would go round to all the neighbouring estates to enlist
+soldiers for their cause. But of course he was only going to give
+information about Gustavus, and to gain the reward.
+
+Now, it was only an accident that prevented his treachery being
+successful. The first man he applied to, though a friend to the Danes,
+scorned to take a mean advantage of anyone, and told the traitor to go
+elsewhere.
+
+Furiously angry, but greedy and determined as ever, the traitor set
+forth for the house of the Danish steward who lived nearest, well
+knowing that from him he would receive nothing but gratitude.
+
+But the traitor's wife happened to be standing at her own door as her
+husband drove by, and guessed what had occurred and where he was going.
+She was an honest woman, who despised all that was base and underhand,
+so she stole out to one of her servants whom she could trust, and
+ordered him to make ready a sledge, for he would have to go on a
+journey. Then, in order that no one should know of Gustavus's escape
+until it was too late to overtake him, she let him down out of the
+window into the sledge, which drove off at once, across a frozen lake
+and past the copper-mines of Fahlun, to a little village at the far end,
+where Gustavus left his deliverer, giving him a beautiful silver dagger
+as a parting gift.
+
+[Illustration: 'Lazy loon! Have you no work to do?']
+
+Sheltered by one person after another, and escaping many dangers on the
+way, Gustavus found himself at last in the cottage of one of the royal
+foresters, where he received a hospitable welcome from the man and his
+wife. But unknown to himself, Danish spies had been for some time on his
+track, and no sooner had Gustavus sat down to warm his tired limbs
+before the fire where the forester's wife was baking bread, than they
+entered and inquired if Gustavus Vasa had been seen to pass that way.
+Another moment and they might have become curious about the stranger
+sitting at the hearth, when the woman hastily turned round, and struck
+him on the shoulder with the huge spoon she held in her hand. 'Lazy
+loon!' she cried. 'Have you no work to do? Off with you at once and see
+to your threshing.' The Danes only saw before them a common Swedish
+servant bullied by his mistress, and it never entered their heads to ask
+any questions; so once again Gustavus was saved.
+
+Next day the forester hid him under a load of hay, and prepared to drive
+him through the forest to the houses of some friends--foresters like
+himself--who lived in a distant village. But Gustavus was not to reach
+even this place without undergoing a danger different from those he had
+met with before; for while they were jogging peacefully along the road
+they came across one of the numerous parties of Danes who were for ever
+scouring the country, and on seeing the cart a man stepped up, and
+thrust through the hay with his spear. Gustavus, though wounded, managed
+not to cry out, but reached, faint with loss of blood, his next
+resting-place.
+
+After spending several days hidden among the boughs of a fir-tree, till
+the Danes began to think that their information must be false and
+Gustavus be looked for elsewhere, the fugitive was guided by one peasant
+after another through the forests till he found himself at the head of a
+large lake, and in the centre of many thickly-peopled villages. Here he
+assembled the dwellers in the country round, and spoke to them in the
+churchyard, telling of the wrongs that Sweden had suffered and of her
+children that had been slain. The peasants were moved by his words, but
+they did not wish to plunge into a war till they were sure of being
+successful, so they told Gustavus that they must find out something more
+before they took arms; meantime he was driven to seek a fresh
+hiding-place.
+
+Gustavus was terribly dejected at the downfall of his hopes, for he had
+thought, with the help of the peasants, to raise at once the standard of
+rebellion; still he saw that flight was the only chance just now, and
+Norway seemed his best refuge. However, some fresh acts of tyranny on
+the part of their Danish masters did what Gustavus's own words had
+failed to do, and suddenly the peasants took their resolve and sent for
+Gustavus to be their leader.
+
+The messengers found him at the foot of the Dovre-Fjeld Mountains
+between Norway and Sweden, and he joyfully returned with them, rousing
+the people as he went, till at last he had got together a force that far
+outnumbered the army which was sent to meet it.
+
+Gustavus was not present at the first battle, which was fought on the
+banks of the Dale River, for he was travelling about preaching a rising
+among the Swedes of the distant provinces, but he arrived just after, to
+find that the peasants had gained an overwhelming victory. The fruits of
+this first victory were far-reaching. It gave the people confidence,
+thousands flocked to serve under Gustavus's banner, and within a few
+months the whole country, excepting Stockholm and Calmar, was in his
+hands. Then the nobles, in gratitude to their deliverer, sought to
+proclaim him king, but this he refused as long as a single Swedish
+castle remained beneath the Danish yoke, so for two more years he ruled
+Sweden under the title of Lord Protector. Then in 1523, when Stockholm
+and Calmar at last surrendered, Gustavus Vasa was crowned king.[1]
+
+[Illustration: 1 Chapman's _History of Gustavus Vasa_.]
+
+
+
+
+MONSIEUR DE BAYARD'S DUEL
+
+
+NOW, when Monsieur de Bayard was fighting in the kingdom of Naples, he
+made prisoner a valiant Spanish captain, Don Alonzo de Soto-Mayor by
+name, who, not liking his situation, complained of the treatment he
+received, which he said was unworthy of his dignity as a knight. This
+was, however, quite absurd, and against all reason, for, as all the
+world knows, there never was a man more courteous than Monsieur de
+Bayard. At length, Monsieur de Bayard, wearied with the continued
+grumblings of the Spaniard, sent him a challenge. This was at once
+accepted, whether the duel should be fought on foot or on horseback, for
+Don Alonzo refused to withdraw anything that he had said of the French
+knight.
+
+When the day arrived, Monsieur de la Palisse, accompanied by two hundred
+gentlemen, appeared on the ground, escorting their champion Monsieur de
+Bayard, mounted on a beautiful horse, and dressed all in white, as a
+mark of humility, the old chronicler tells us. But Don Alonzo, to whom
+belonged the choice of arms, declared that he preferred to fight on
+foot, because (he pretended) he was not so skilful a horseman as
+Monsieur de Bayard, but really because he knew that his adversary had
+that day an attack of malarial fever, and he hoped to find him weakened,
+and so to get the better of him. Monsieur de la Palisse and Bayard's
+other supporters advised him, from the fact of his fever, to excuse
+himself, and to insist on fighting on horseback; but Monsieur de Bayard,
+who had never trembled before any man, would make no difficulties, and
+agreed to everything, which astonished Don Alonzo greatly, as he had
+expected a refusal. An enclosure was formed by a few large stones piled
+roughly one on another. Monsieur de Bayard placed himself at one end of
+the ground, accompanied by several brave captains, who all began to
+offer up prayers for their champion. Don Alonzo and his friends took up
+a position at the other end, and sent Bayard the weapons that they had
+chosen--namely, a short sword and a poignard, with a gorget and coat of
+mail. Monsieur de Bayard did not trouble himself enough about the matter
+to raise any objection. For second he had an old brother-at-arms,
+Bel-Arbre by name, and for keeper of the ground Monsieur de la Palisse,
+who was very well skilled in all these things. The Spaniard also chose a
+second and a keeper of the ground. So when the combatants had taken
+their places, they both sank on their knees and prayed to God; but
+Monsieur de Bayard fell on his face and kissed the earth, then, rising,
+made the sign of the cross, and went straight for his enemy, as calmly,
+says the old chronicler, as if he were in a palace, and leading out a
+lady to the dance.
+
+[Illustration: 'Surrender, Don Alonzo, or you are a dead man!']
+
+Don Alonzo on his side came forward to meet him, and asked, 'Senor
+Bayardo, what do you want of me?' He answered, 'To defend my honour,'
+and without more words drew near; and each thrust hard with the sword,
+Don Alonzo getting a slight wound on his face. After that, they thrust
+at each other many times more, without touching. Monsieur de Bayard soon
+discovered the ruse of his adversary, who no sooner delivered his
+thrusts than he at once covered his face so that no hurt could be done
+him; and he bethought himself of a way to meet it. So, the moment Don
+Alonzo raised his arm to give a thrust, Monsieur de Bayard also raised
+his; but he kept his sword in the air, without striking a blow, and when
+his enemy's weapon had passed harmlessly by him, he could strike where
+he chose, and gave such a fearful blow at the throat that, in spite of
+the thickness of the gorget, the sword entered to the depth of four
+whole fingers, and he could not pull it out. Don Alonzo, feeling that he
+had got his death-blow, dropped his sword and grasped Monsieur de Bayard
+round the body, and thus wrestling they both fell to the ground. But
+Monsieur de Bayard, quick to see and to do, seized his sword, and,
+holding it to the nostrils of his enemy, he cried, 'Surrender, Don
+Alonzo, or you are a dead man;' but he got no answer, for Don Alonzo was
+dead already. Then his second, Don Diego de Guignonnes, came forward and
+said, 'Senor Bayardo, you have conquered him,' which everyone could see
+for himself. But Monsieur de Bayard was much grieved, for, says the
+chronicler, he would have given a hundred thousand crowns, if he had had
+them, to have made Don Alonzo surrender. Still, he was grateful to God
+for having given him the victory, and gave thanks, and, kneeling down,
+kissed the earth three times. And after the body of Don Alonzo was
+carried from the ground, he said to the second, 'Don Diego, my lord,
+have I done enough?' And Don Diego answered sadly, 'Enough and too much,
+Senor Bayardo, for the honour of Spain.' 'You know,' said Monsieur de
+Bayard, 'that as the victor the body is mine to do as I will, but I
+yield it to you; and truly, I would that, my honour satisfied, it had
+fallen out otherwise.' So the Spaniards bore away their champion with
+sobs and tears, and the French led off the conqueror with shouts of joy,
+and the noise of trumpets and clarions, to the tent of Monsieur de la
+Palisse, after which Monsieur de Bayard went straight to the church to
+give thanks in that he had gained the victory. Thus it happened to the
+greater renown of Monsieur de Bayard, who was esteemed not only by the
+French, his countrymen, but by the Spaniards of the kingdom of Naples,
+to be a peerless knight, who had no equal look where you may.[29]
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[29] Brantome.
+
+
+
+
+_STORY OF GUDBRAND OF THE DALES_[30]
+
+
+THERE was a man named Gudbrand of the Dales, who was as good as king
+over the Dales though he had but the title of duke. He had one son, of
+whom this story makes mention. Now when Gudbrand heard that King Olaf
+was come to Loa and was compelling men to receive Christianity, he cut
+the war-arrow and summoned all the dalesmen to meet him at the village
+called Houndthorpe. Thither came they all in countless numbers, for the
+lake Logr lies near, and they could come by water as well as by land.
+
+There Gudbrand held an assembly with them, and said: 'There is a man
+come to Loa named Olaf; he would fain offer us a faith other than we had
+before, and break all our gods in sunder. And he says that he has a God
+far greater and mightier. A wonder it is that the earth does not burst
+in sunder beneath him who dares to say such things; a wonder that our
+gods let him any longer walk thereon. And I expect that if we carry Thor
+out of our temple, wherein he stands and hath alway helped us, and he
+see Olaf and his men, then will Olaf's God and Olaf himself and all his
+men melt away and come to nought.'
+
+At this they all at once shouted loud, and said that Olaf should never
+escape alive if he came to meet them. 'Never will he dare to go further
+south by the Dales,' said they. Then they appointed seven hundred men to
+go and reconnoitre northwards to Breida. This force was commanded by
+Gudbrand's son, then eighteen years old, and many other men of renown
+with him; and they came to the village called Hof and were there for
+three nights, where they were joined by much people who had fled from
+Lesja Loa and Vagi, not being willing to submit to Christianity.
+
+But King Olaf and Bishop Sigurd, after appointing teachers of religion
+at Loa and Vagi, crossed over the channel between Vagi and the land and
+came to Sil, and were there for the night; and they heard the tidings
+that a large force was before them. And the people of the country who
+were at Breida heard of the King's movements, and prepared for battle
+against him. But when the King rose in the morn, then he clad him for
+war, and marched south by Silfield, nor stayed till he came to Breida,
+where he saw a large army arrayed for battle.
+
+Then the King set his men in array and rode himself before them, and,
+addressing the country-folk, bade them embrace Christianity.
+
+They answered: 'Thou wilt have other work to do to-day than to mock us.'
+
+And they shouted a war-shout and smote their shields with their weapons.
+Then the King's men ran forward and hurled their spears; but the
+country-folk turned and fled, few of them standing their ground.
+Gudbrand's son was there taken prisoner; but King Olaf gave him quarter
+and kept him near himself. Three nights the King was there. Then spake
+he with Gudbrand's son, saying: 'Go thou back now to thy father and tell
+him that I shall come there soon.'
+
+Whereupon he went back home and told his father the ill tidings, how
+they had met the King and fought with him; 'but our people all fled at
+the very first,' said he, 'and I was taken prisoner. The King gave me
+quarter, and bade me go and tell thee that he would come here soon. Now
+have we left no more than two hundred men out of that force with which
+we met him, and I advise thee, father, not to fight with that man.'
+
+'One may hear,' said Gudbrand, 'that all vigour is beaten out of thee.
+Ill luck went with thee, and long will thy journey be spoken of. Thou
+believest at once those mad fancies which that man brings who hath
+wrought foul shame on thee and thine.'
+
+In the following night Gudbrand dreamed a dream. A man came to him, a
+shining one, from whom went forth great terror. And thus he spake: 'Thy
+son went not on a path of victory against King Olaf; and far worse wilt
+thou fare if thou resolvest to do battle with the King, for thou wilt
+fall, thyself and all thy people, and thee and thine will wolves tug and
+ravens rend.'
+
+Much afraid was Gudbrand at this terror, and told it to Thord
+Fat-paunch, a chief man of the Dales.
+
+He answered: 'Just the same vision appeared to me.'
+
+And on the morrow they bade the trumpet-blast summon an assembly, and
+said that they thought it good counsel to hold a conference with that
+man who came from the north with new doctrine, and to learn what proofs
+he could bring.
+
+After this Gudbrand said to his son: 'Thou shalt go to the King who
+spared thy life, and twelve men shall go with thee.' And so it was done.
+
+[Illustration: 'In the following night Gudbrand dreamed a dream']
+
+And they came to the King and told him their errand--that the
+country-folk would fain hold a conference with him, and would have a
+truce between them. The King liked that well, and they settled it so by
+a treaty between them till the appointed meeting should be; and this
+done they went back and told Gudbrand and Thord of the truce. The King
+then went to the village called Lidsstadir, and stayed there five
+nights. Then he went to meet the country-folk, and held a conference
+with them; but the day was very wet.
+
+As soon as the conference was met, the King stood up and said that the
+dwellers in Lesja Loa and Vagi had accepted Christianity and broken down
+their heathen house of worship, and now believed in the true God who
+made heaven and earth and knew all things. Then the King sat down; but
+Gudbrand answered:
+
+'We know not of whom thou speakest. Thou callest him God whom neither
+thou seest nor anyone else. But we have that god who may be seen every
+day, though he is not out to-day because the weather is wet: and
+terrible will he seem to you, and great fear will, I expect, strike your
+hearts if he come into our assembly. But since thou sayest that your God
+is so powerful, then let Him cause that to-morrow the weather be cloudy
+but without rain, and meet we here again.'
+
+Thereafter the King went home to his lodging, and with him Gudbrand's
+son as a hostage, while the King gave them another man in exchange. In
+the evening the King asked Gudbrand's son how their god was made. He
+said that he was fashioned to represent Thor: he had a hammer in his
+hand, and was tall of stature, hollow within, and there was a pedestal
+under him on which he stood when out-of-doors; nor was there lack of
+gold and silver upon him. Four loaves of bread were brought to him every
+day, and flesh-meat therewith. After this talk they went to bed. But the
+King was awake all night and at his prayers.
+
+With dawn of day the King went to mass, then to meat, then to the
+assembly. And the weather was just what Gudbrand had bargained for. Then
+stood up the bishop in his gown, with mitre on head and crozier in hand;
+and he spoke of the faith before the country-folk, and told of the many
+miracles which God had wrought, and brought his speech to an eloquent
+conclusion.
+
+Then answered Thord Fat-paunch: 'Plenty of words has that horned one who
+holds a staff in his hand crooked at the top like a wether's horn. But
+seeing that you, my good fellows, claim that your God works so many
+miracles, bespeak of Him for to-morrow that He let it be bright
+sunshine; and meet we then, and do one of the twain, either agree on
+this matter or do battle.'
+
+And with that they broke up the assembly for the time.
+
+There was a man with King Olaf named Kolbein Strong; he was from the
+Firths by kin. He had ever this gear, that he was girded with a sword,
+and had a large cudgel or club in his hand. The King bade Kolbein be
+close to him on the morrow. And then he said to his men:
+
+'Go ye to-night where the country-folk's ships are, and bore holes in
+them all, and drive away from their farm-buildings their yoke-horses.'
+And they did so.
+
+But the King spent the night in prayer, praying God that He would solve
+this difficulty of His goodness and mercy. And when service times were
+over (and that was towards daybreak) then went he to the assembly. When
+he came there but few of the country-folk had come. But soon they saw a
+great multitude coming to the assembly; and they bare among them a huge
+image of a man, all glittering with gold and silver; which when those
+who were already at the assembly saw, they all leapt up and bowed before
+this monster. Then was it set up in the middle of the place of assembly:
+on the one side sat the folk of the country, on the other the King and
+his men.
+
+Then up stood Gudbrand of the Dales and spake: 'Where is now thy God, O
+King? Methinks now He boweth His beard full low; and, as I think, less
+is now thy bragging and that of the horned one whom ye call bishop, and
+who sits beside thee yea, less than it was yesterday. For now is come
+our god who rules all, and he looks at you with keen glance, and I see
+that ye are now full of fear and hardly dare to lift your eyes. Lay down
+now your superstition and believe in our god, who holds all your counsel
+in his hand.' And so his words were ended.
+
+The King spake with Kolbein Strong, so that the country-folk knew it
+not: 'If it so chance while I am speaking that they look away from their
+god, then strike him the strongest blow thou canst with thy club.'
+
+Then the King stood up and spake: 'Plenty of words hast thou spoken to
+us this morning. Thou thinkest it strange that thou canst not see our
+God; but we expect that He will soon come to us. Thou goest about to
+terrify us with thy god, who is blind and deaf and can neither help
+himself nor others, and can in no way leave his place unless he be
+carried; and I expect now that evil is close upon him. Nay, look now and
+see toward the east, there goeth now our God with great light.'
+
+Just then up sprang the sun, and toward the sun looked the country-folk
+all. But in that moment Kolbein dealt such a blow on their god that he
+burst all asunder, and thereout leapt rats as big as cats, and vipers
+and snakes.
+
+[Illustration: The destruction of the idol]
+
+But the country-folk fled in terror, some to their ships, which when
+they launched, the water poured in and filled them, nor could they so
+get away, and some who ran for their horses found them not. Then the
+King had them called back and said he would fain speak with them;
+whereupon the country-folk turned back and assembled.
+
+Then the King stood up and spake.
+
+'I know not,' said he, 'what means this tumult and rushing about that ye
+make. But now may well be seen what power your god has, whom ye load
+with gold and silver, meat and food, and now ye see what creatures have
+enjoyed all this--rats and snakes, vipers and toads. And worse are they
+who believe in such things, and will not quit their folly. Take ye your
+gold and jewels that are here now on the field and carry them home to
+your wives, and never put them again on stocks or stones. But now there
+are two choices for us: that you accept Christianity or do battle with
+me to-day. And may those win victory to whom it is willed by the God in
+whom we believe.'
+
+Then stood up Gudbrand of the Dales and spake: 'Much scathe have we
+gotten now in our god; but, as he cannot help himself, we will now
+believe in the God in whom thou believest.' And so they all accepted
+Christianity.
+
+Then did the bishop baptize Gudbrand and his son. King Olaf and Bishop
+Sigurd left religious teachers there, and they parted friends who before
+were foes. And Gudbrand had a church built there in the Dales.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[30] From the Saga of King Olaf the Holy, or St. Olaf.
+
+
+
+
+SIR RICHARD GRENVILLE
+
+
+SIR RICHARD GRENVILLE, of Bideford, in Devon, was one of the most noted
+admirals in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Although he had large estates,
+and was very rich, he liked better to go abroad to the new countries
+just then discovered, or to fight for his country, than to stay at home.
+
+From his wonderful courage and determination never to fly from an enemy,
+however great the odds might be against him, he had the good fortune to
+win glory in the most glorious sea-fight that has ever been fought.
+
+In 1591 he was vice-admiral of a small fleet consisting of six line of
+battle ships, six victuallers, and two or three pinnaces, under the
+command of Lord Thomas Howard. In the month of August in that year, they
+lay at anchor off the island of Flores, where they had put in for a
+fresh supply of water, and to take in ballast, as well as to refresh the
+crew, for many of them were sick.
+
+Half of the crew of Grenville's ship were disabled and were on shore,
+when news was brought that a Spanish Armada, consisting of fifty-three
+ships, was near at hand.
+
+When the admiral heard it, knowing himself to be at a disadvantage, he
+instantly signalled to the rest of the fleet to cut or weigh their
+anchors and to follow him out to sea.
+
+All the commanders obeyed his summons but Sir Richard Grenville, whose
+duty as vice-admiral was to follow at the rear of the fleet; he also
+waited until his men who were on shore could rejoin him.
+
+Meanwhile he had everything set in readiness to fight, and all the sick
+were carried to the lower hold.
+
+The rest of the English ships were far away, hull down on the horizon,
+and the Spaniards, who had come up under cover of the island, were
+already bearing down in two divisions on his weatherbow before the
+'Revenge' was ready to sail. Then the master and others, seeing the
+hopelessness of their case, begged Sir Richard to trust to the good
+sailing of his ship, 'to cut his maine saile and cast about, and to
+follow the admiral.'
+
+But Sir Richard flew into a terrible passion, and swore he would hang
+any man who should then show himself to be a coward. 'That he would
+rather choose to dye than to dishonour himselfe, his countrie, and her
+maiestie's shippe.'
+
+He boldly told his men that he feared no enemy, that he would yet pass
+through the squadron and _force_ them to give him way.
+
+Then were the hundred men on the 'Revenge' who were able to fight and to
+work the ship, fired with the spirit of their commander, and they sailed
+out to meet the foe with a cheer.
+
+All went well for a little time, and the 'Revenge' poured a broadside
+into those ships of the enemy that she passed. But presently a great
+ship named 'San Felipe' loomed over her path and took the wind out of
+her sails, so that she could no longer answer to her helm.
+
+While she lay thus helplessly, all her sails of a sudden slack and
+sweeping the yards, she fired her lower tier, charged with crossbar
+shot, into the 'San Felipe.' Then the unwieldy galleon of a thousand and
+five hundred tons, which bristled with cannon from stem to stern, had
+good reason to repent her of her temerity, and 'shifted herselfe with
+all dilligence from her sides, utterly misliking her entertainment.' It
+is said she foundered shortly afterwards.
+
+Meanwhile four more Spanish vessels had come up alongside the 'Revenge,'
+and lay two on her larboard and two on her starboard. Then a hand to
+hand fight began in terrible earnest. As those soldiers in the ships
+alongside were repulsed or thrown back into the sea, yet were their
+places filled with more men from the galleons around, who brought fresh
+ammunition and arms. The Spanish ships were filled with soldiers, in
+some were two hundred besides mariners, in some five hundred, in others
+eight hundred.
+
+'And a dozen times we shook 'em off as a dog that shakes his ears when
+he leaps from the water to the land.'
+
+Grenville was severely hurt at the beginning of the fight, but he paid
+no heed to his wound, and stayed on the upper decks to cheer and
+encourage his men. Two of the Spanish ships were sunk by his side, yet
+two more came in their places, and ever and ever more as their need
+might be.
+
+Darkness fell upon the scene, and through the silence the musketry fire
+crackled unceasingly, and the heavy artillery boomed from time to time
+across the sea. About an hour before midnight Grenville was shot in the
+body, and while his wound was being dressed, the surgeon who attended
+him was killed, and at the same time Grenville was shot again in the
+head.
+
+Still he cried to his men, 'Fight on, fight on!'
+
+[Illustration: 'Still he cried to his men, "Fight on, fight on!"']
+
+Before dawn the Spaniards, weary of the fight that had raged for fifteen
+hours, that had cost them fifteen ships and fifteen hundred men, had
+drawn off to a little distance, and lay around her in a ring.
+
+Daylight discovered the little 'Revenge' a mere water-logged hulk, with
+rigging and tackle shot away, her masts overboard, her upper works
+riddled, her pikes broken, all her powder spent, and forty of her best
+men slain.
+
+The glow that heralded sunrise shot over the sky and stained the placid
+waters beneath to crimson. In this sea of blood the wreck lay, her decks
+ruddy with the stain of blood sacrificed for honour.
+
+She lay alone at the mercy of the waves, and unable to move save by
+their rise and fall, alone with her wounded and dying and her dead to
+whom could come no help.
+
+Then Sir Richard Grenville called for the master gunner, whom he knew to
+be both brave and trusty, and told him to sink the ship, so that the
+Spaniards might have no glory in their conquest. He besought his sailors
+to trust themselves to the mercy of God, and not to the mercy of men,
+telling them that for the honour of their country the greater glory
+would be theirs if they would consent to die with him.
+
+The gunner and many others cried, 'Ay, ay, sir,' and consented to the
+sinking of the ship.
+
+But the captain and master would not agree to it: they told Sir Richard
+that the Spanish admiral would be glad to listen to a composition, as
+themselves were willing to do. Moreover there were still some men left
+who were not mortally wounded, and who might yet live to do their
+country good service. They told him too that the Spaniard could never
+glory in having taken the ship, for she had six feet of water in the
+hold already, as well as three leaks from shot under water, that could
+not be stopped to resist a heavy sea.
+
+But Sir Richard would not listen to any of their reasoning. Meanwhile
+the master had gone to the general of the Armada, Don Alfonso Baffan,
+who, knowing Grenville's determination to fight to the last, was afraid
+to send any of his men on board the 'Revenge' again, lest they should be
+blown up or sink on board of her.
+
+The general yielded that 'all their lives should be saved, the companie
+sent for England, and the better sorte to pay such reasonable ransome as
+their estate would beare, and in the meane season to be free from galley
+or imprisonment.'
+
+After the men had heard what the captain said they became unwilling to
+die, and with these honourable terms for surrender they drew back from
+Sir Richard and the master gunner. 'The maister gunner, finding himselfe
+prevented and maistered by the greater number, would have slaine
+himselfe with a sword had he not beene by force withhold and locked into
+his cabben.'
+
+Then the Spanish general sent to the 'Revenge' to bring Sir Richard to
+his own ship; for he greatly admired his wonderful courage.
+
+Sir Richard told him they might do what they chose with his body, for he
+did not care for it; and as he was being carried from his ship in a
+fainting state, he asked those of his men near him to pray for him.
+
+He only lived for three days after this, but was treated with the
+greatest courtesy and kindness by the Spaniards. He did not speak again
+until he was dying, when he said:
+
+'Here am I, Richard Grenville, with a joyful and quiet mind, for that I
+have ended my life as a true soldier ought to do, that hath fought for
+his country, Queen, religion, and honour. Whereby my soul most joyfully
+departeth out of this body, and shall always leave behind it an
+everlasting fame of a valiant and true soldier, that hath done his dutie
+as he was bound to do.'
+
+
+
+
+_THE STORY OF MOLLY PITCHER_
+
+
+IT is a strange and interesting thing to see how history repeats itself
+in a series of noble and picturesque incidents which are so much alike
+that they might be easily mistaken for one another. Perhaps in the years
+to come they will be mistaken for one another, and then those learned
+scholars who love to deny all the things that are worth believing will
+say, as they say now of William Tell and the apple: 'Whenever an event
+is represented as happening in different countries and among different
+nations, we may be sure that it never happened at all.' Yet to Spain
+belongs Augustina, the Maid of Saragossa; to England, brave Mary Ambree;
+and to America, Molly Pitcher, the stout-hearted heroine of Monmouth;
+and these three women won for themselves honour and renown by the same
+valorous exploits. Augustina is the most to be envied, for her praises
+have been sung by a great poet; Mary Ambree has a noble ballad to
+perpetuate her fame; Molly Pitcher is still without the tribute of a
+verse to remind her countrymen occasionally of her splendid courage in
+the field.
+
+The Spanish girl was of humble birth, young, poor, and very handsome.
+When Saragossa was besieged by the French during the Peninsular War, she
+carried food every afternoon to the soldiers who were defending the
+batteries. One day the attack was so fierce, and the fire so deadly,
+that by the gate of Portillo not a single man was left alive to repulse
+the terrible enemy. When Augustina reached the spot with her basket of
+coarse and scanty provisions, she saw the last gunner fall bleeding on
+the walls. Not for an instant did she hesitate; but springing over a
+pile of dead bodies, she snatched the match from his stiffening fingers
+and fired the gun herself. Then calling on her countrymen to rally their
+broken ranks, she led them back so unflinchingly to the charge that the
+French were driven from the gate they had so nearly captured, and the
+honour of Spain was saved. When the siege was lifted and the city free
+a pension was settled on Augustina, together with the daily pay of an
+artilleryman, and she was permitted to wear upon her sleeve an
+embroidered shield bearing the arms of Saragossa. Lord Byron, in his
+poem 'Childe Harold,' has described her beauty her heroism, and the
+desperate courage with which she defended the breach:
+
+ 'Who can avenge so well a leader's fall?
+ What maid retrieve when man's flushed hope is lost!
+ Who hang so fiercely on the flying Gaul,
+ Foiled by a woman's hand before a battered wall?'
+
+For the story of Mary Ambree we must leave the chroniclers--who to their
+own loss and shame never mention her at all--and take refuge with the
+poets. From them we learn all we need to know, and it is quickly told.
+Her lover was slain treacherously in the war between Spain and Holland,
+the English being then allies of the Dutch; and, vowing to avenge his
+death, she put on his armour and marched to the siege of Ghent, where
+she fought with reckless courage on its walls. Fortune favours the
+brave, and wherever the maiden turned her arms the enemy was repulsed,
+until at last the gallant Spanish soldiers vied with the English in
+admiration of this valorous foe:
+
+ 'If England doth yield such brave lassies as thee.
+ Full well may she conquer, faire Mary Ambree.'
+
+Even the Great Prince of Parma desired to see this dauntless young girl,
+and finding her as chaste as she was courageous and beautiful, he
+permitted her to sail for home without any molestation from his army.
+
+ 'Then to her own country she back did returne,
+ Still holding the foes of faire England in scorne;
+ Therefore English captaines of every degree
+ Sing forth the brave valours of Mary Ambree.'
+
+[Illustration: Molly takes her husband's place]
+
+And now for Molly Pitcher, who, unsung and almost unremembered, should
+nevertheless share in the honours heaped so liberally upon the Spanish
+and English heroines. 'A red-haired, freckled-faced young Irishwoman,'
+without beauty and without distinction, she was the newly-wedded wife of
+an artilleryman in Washington's little army. On June 28, 1778, was
+fought the battle of Monmouth, famous for the admirable tactics by which
+Washington regained the advantages lost through the negligence of
+General Charles Lee, and also for the splendid charge and gallant death
+of Captain Moneton, an officer of the English grenadiers. It was a
+Sunday morning, close and sultry. As the day advanced, the soldiers on
+both sides suffered terribly from that fierce, unrelenting heat in which
+America rivals India. The thermometer stood at 96 in the shade. Men fell
+dead in their ranks without a wound, smitten by sunstroke, and the sight
+of them filled their comrades with dismay. Molly Pitcher, regardless of
+everything save the anguish of the sweltering, thirsty troops, carried
+buckets of water from a neighbouring spring, and passed them along the
+line. Back and forward she trudged, this strong, brave, patient young
+woman, while the sweat poured down her freckled face, and her bare arms
+blistered in the sun. She was a long time in reaching her husband--so
+many soldiers begged for drink as she toiled by--but at last she saw
+him, parched, grimy, spent with heat, and she quickened her lagging
+steps. Then suddenly a ball whizzed past, and he fell dead by the side
+of his gun before ever the coveted water had touched his blackened lips.
+Molly dropped her bucket, and for one dazed moment stood staring at the
+bleeding corpse. Only for a moment, for, amid the turmoil of battle, she
+heard the order given to drag her husband's cannon from the field. The
+words roused her to life and purpose. She seized the rammer from the
+trodden grass, and hurried to the gunner's post. There was nothing
+strange in the work to her. She was too well versed in the ways of war
+for either ignorance or alarm. Strong, skilful, and fearless, she stood
+by the weapon and directed its deadly fire until the fall of Moneton
+turned the tide of victory. The British troops under Clinton were beaten
+back after a desperate struggle, the Americans took possession of the
+field, and the battle of Monmouth was won.
+
+On the following day, poor Molly, no longer a furious Amazon, but a
+sad-faced widow, with swollen eyes, and a scanty bit of crape pinned on
+her broad young bosom, was presented to Washington, and received a
+sergeant's commission with half-pay for life. It is said that the French
+officers, then fighting for the freedom of the colonies, that is,
+against the English, were so delighted with her courage that they added
+to this reward a cocked hat full of gold pieces, and christened her 'La
+Capitaine.' What befell her in after-years has never been told. She
+lived and died obscurely, and her name has well-nigh been forgotten in
+the land she served. But the memory of brave deeds can never wholly
+perish, and Molly Pitcher has won for herself a little niche in the
+temple of Fame, where her companions are fair Mary Ambree and the
+dauntless Maid of Saragossa.
+
+
+
+
+_THE VOYAGES, DANGEROUS ADVENTURES, AND IMMINENT ESCAPES OF CAPTAIN
+RICHARD FALCONER_[31]
+
+
+I WAS born at a town called Bruton, in Somersetshire, and my parents
+were well-to-do people. My mother died when I was very young; my father,
+who had been a great traveller in his days, often told me of his
+adventures, which gave me a strong desire for a roving life. I used to
+beg my father to let me go to sea with some captain of his acquaintance;
+but he only warned me solemnly against the dangers to which sailors were
+exposed, and told me I should soon wish to be at home again.
+
+But at last, through my father's misfortunes, my wish was gratified, for
+he was robbed of a large sum of money, and found himself unable to
+provide for me as he wished. Disaster followed disaster till he was
+compelled to recommend to me the very life he had warned me against. I
+left him for Bristol, carrying with me a letter he had written to a
+captain there, begging him to give me all the help in his power, and
+never saw him again. But Captain Pultney, his friend, welcomed me like a
+son, and before long got me a berth on the 'Albion' frigate, in which I
+set sail for Jamaica on May 2, 1699.
+
+When we were in the Bay of Biscay a terrible storm came on; the billows
+ran mountains high, and our vessel was the sport of the waves. A ship
+that had overtaken and followed us the day before seemed to be in yet
+worse distress, and signalled to us for aid; but we could not get very
+near them without danger to ourselves. We sent out our long-boat, with
+two of our men; but the rope that held her to the ship broke with the
+violence of the waves, and she was carried away, nor did we ever hear
+what became of our unhappy comrades. Very soon, in spite of the labour
+of the crew, the vessel we were trying to help went down, and out of
+fifty-four men, only four were saved who had the good fortune to catch
+the ropes we threw out to them. When they told us their story, however,
+we could not help wondering at the escape we had had, for the lost ship
+belonged to a pirate, who had only been waiting till the storm was over
+to attack us, and the men we had saved had, according to their own
+account, been compelled against their will to serve the pirates.
+
+Very soon the storm abated, and we continued our voyage. It was not long
+before we had another adventure with pirates, and the next time they
+caught us at midnight, and, hailing us, commanded us to come on board
+their ship with our captain. We answered that we had no boat, and asked
+them to wait till the morning. At this, the pirate captain threatened to
+sink us, and therewith fired a gun at our vessel.
+
+But we, being on our guard, had already mustered our guns and our
+forces, thirty-eight men, counting the passengers, who were as ready to
+fight as any of us. So we sent them back a broadside, which surprised
+them and did them some damage. Then we tacked about, and with six of our
+guns raked the enemy fore and aft; but we were answered very quickly
+with a broadside that killed two of our men and wounded a third.
+Presently they boarded us with about fourscore men, and we found all our
+resistance idle, for they drove us into the forecastle, where we managed
+to barricade ourselves, and threatened to turn our own guns against us
+if we did not surrender immediately. But our captain being resolute,
+ordered us to fire on them with our small-arms. Now close to our
+steerage was a large cistern lined with tin, where several cartridges of
+powder happened to be; and, happily for us, in the tumult of the firing
+this powder took fire, and blew part of the quarter-deck and at least
+thirty of the enemy into the air. On this we sallied out, and drove the
+rest into their own vessel again with our cutlasses, killing several.
+But, alas! with the explosion and the breach of the quarter-deck our
+powder-room was quite blocked up, and we had to go on fighting with what
+powder we had by us. Fight we did, nevertheless, for at least four
+hours, when dawn broke, and to our great joy we saw another ship not far
+away, and distinguished English colours. At this sight we gave a great
+shout and fired our small-arms again; but our enemies very quickly cut
+away their grappling irons, and did their best to make off. Their
+rigging, however, was so shattered that they could not hoist sail, and
+in the meantime up came the English ship, and without so much as hailing
+the pirate, poured a broadside into her. Then followed a desperate
+fight. As for us, we steered off, to clear away the lumber from our
+powder-room, as we had nothing left to charge our guns with. In
+half-an-hour we had loaded again, and returned to the fight; but as we
+approached we saw the pirate sinking. The English ship had torn a hole
+in her between wind and water, so that she sank in an instant, and only
+eight men were saved. They told us that their captain was a pirate from
+Guadaloupe, and when they sank they had not more than twenty men left
+out of a hundred and fifty. On board our ship seven sailors and two
+passengers were killed, while the Guernsey frigate that rescued us had
+lost sixteen men and three wounded.
+
+[Illustration: 'As we approached we saw the pirate sinking']
+
+I need now relate no more of our adventures on the voyage till I come to
+a very sad one which befell me in October. We were sailing towards
+Jamaica, and one day I went into the boat astern which had been hoisted
+overboard in the morning to look after a wreck we had seen on the water.
+I pulled a book out of my pocket and sat reading in the boat; but before
+I was aware, a storm began to rise, so that I could not get up the ship
+side as usual, but called for the ladder of ropes in order to get back
+that way. Now, whether the ladder was not properly fastened above, or
+whether, being seldom used, it broke through rottenness, I cannot tell,
+but down I fell into the sea, and though, as I heard afterwards, the
+ship tacked about to take me up, I lost sight of it in the dusk of the
+evening and the gathering storm.
+
+Now my condition was terrible. I was forced to drive with the wind and
+current, and after having kept myself above water for about four hours,
+as near as I could guess in my fright, I felt my feet touch ground every
+now and then, and at last a great wave flung me upon the sand. It was
+quite dark, and I knew not what to do; but I got up and walked as well
+as my tired limbs would carry me. For I could discover no trace of firm
+land, and supposed I was on some sandbank which the sea would overflow
+at high tide. But by-and-by I had to sit down out of sheer exhaustion,
+though I only looked for death. All my sins came before me, and I prayed
+earnestly, and at last recovered calm and courage.
+
+In spite of all my efforts to keep awake, I fell fast asleep before dawn
+came.
+
+In the morning I was amazed to find myself among four or five very low
+sandy islands, all separated half-a-mile or more, as I guessed, by the
+sea. With that I became more cheerful, and walked about to see if I
+could find anything eatable. To my grief I found nothing but a few eggs,
+that I was obliged to eat raw, and this almost made me wish that the sea
+had engulfed me rather than thrown me on this desert island, which
+seemed to me inhabited only by rats and several kinds of birds.
+
+A few bushes grew upon it, and under these I had to shelter at night,
+but though I searched through the island, I could not find a drop of
+fresh water. Nor could I have continued to live, having only the eggs I
+found, if I had not succeeded in knocking down some birds with a stick,
+which made me a grand banquet. This gave me heart to try to make a fire
+after the fashion of the blacks by rubbing two sticks together, and I
+managed to do this after a while, and cooked my birds on the fire I had
+lit.
+
+That night came a great storm, with the reddest lightning I had ever
+seen, and rain that drenched me through. But in the morning I had the
+joy of finding several pools of rain-water; and this put it into my mind
+to make a kind of well, that I might keep a supply of water by me.
+
+With my hands and a stick I dug a hollow place, large enough to hold a
+hogshead of water, and when it was dug I paved it with stones, and,
+getting in, stamped them down hard, and beat the sides close with my
+stick so that the well would hold water a long time. But how to get it
+there was a difficulty, till by soaking my shirt, which was pretty fine,
+in water, I found that I could make it fairly water-tight, and with this
+holland bucket carry two gallons at a time, which only leaked out about
+a pint in two hundred yards. By this contrivance, in two days I had
+filled my well.
+
+[Illustration: Falconer knocks down a bird]
+
+I next made myself a cupboard of earth by mixing water with it; but
+unhappily it lasted only four days, the sun drying it so fast that it
+cracked.
+
+I had a small Ovid, printed by Elzevir, which fortunately I had put in
+my pocket as I was going up the ladder of ropes. This was a great
+solace, for I could entertain myself with it under a bush till I fell
+asleep. Moreover, I had good health, though at first I was troubled with
+headache for want of my hat, which I had lost in the water. But I made
+myself a wooden cap of green sprigs, and lined it with one of the
+sleeves of my shirt.
+
+The island I was upon seemed about two miles round, and perfectly
+deserted. Often did I wish to have companions in my misfortune, and
+even--Heaven forgive me!--hoped for a wreck. I fancied that if I stayed
+there long alone I should lose the power of speech, so I talked aloud,
+asked myself questions, and answered them. If anybody had been by to
+hear they would certainly have thought me bewitched, I used to ask
+myself such odd questions!
+
+But one morning a violent storm arose, which continued till noon, when I
+caught sight of a ship labouring with the waves. At last, with the fury
+of the tempest, it was completely thrown out of the water upon the
+shore, a quarter of a mile from the place where I was watching. I ran to
+see if there was anyone I could help, and found four men, all who were
+in the vessel, trying to save what they could out of her. When I came up
+and hailed them in English they were mightily surprised, and asked me
+how I came there. I told them my story, and they were greatly distressed
+for themselves as well as for me, since they found there was no hope of
+getting their vessel off the sands; so we began to bemoan each other's
+misfortunes. But I must confess that I was never more rejoiced in my
+whole life, for they had on board plenty of everything for a
+twelvemonth, and nothing spoiled. We worked as hard as we could, and got
+out whatever would be useful to us before night. Then, taking off the
+sails, we built a tent big enough to hold twenty men, and now I thought
+myself in a palace.
+
+The names of my four companions were Thomas Randal, Richard White,
+William Musgrave, and Ralph Middleton. When we had been together some
+time we began to be very easy, and to wait contentedly till we should
+get out of this strait. But at last it came into our minds that a
+determined effort might free us, and at once we set to work to clear the
+sand from the ship. We laboured at the task for sixteen days, resting
+only on Sundays, and by that time we had thrown up the sand on each
+side, making a passage for our vessel right to the surface of the water
+where it was lowest. We next got poles to put under the vessel to launch
+her out, and resolved on the day following, God willing, to thrust her
+into the water. But we were prevented by the illness of Mr. Randal, who
+had been the guide and counsellor of our whole party. It soon became
+evident that he could not recover, and the week after he died.
+
+After this we succeeded in launching our vessel, but again a terrible
+misfortune happened. We had made the ship fast with two anchors the
+night before we intended to begin our voyage, and my companions resolved
+to stay on shore, while I, as for some nights had been my custom, slept
+on board.
+
+I rested very contentedly, and in the morning went on deck ready to call
+my companions. To my horror the sea surrounded the vessel; there was not
+a glimpse of land! The shock was so terrible that I fell down on the
+deck unconscious. How long I continued so I know not, but when I came to
+myself a little reflection told me what had happened. A hurricane had
+risen and torn away the vessel while I slept heavily, for the night
+before we had all drunk too freely, and my remorse was the more bitter
+for remembering Mr. Randal, the good man whose warnings, had he lived,
+would have prevented this misfortune.
+
+But fate was kinder to me than I deserved. For a fortnight I was tossed
+upon the sea without discovering land, and with only the company of the
+dog that had been poor Mr. Randal's. But three days later I saw land
+right ahead, to my great joy, though joy was not unmixed with fear, as I
+did not know into whose hands I might fall. It was on January 30 that I
+reached the bay and town of Campeche, where I was met by two canoes,
+with a Spaniard and six Indians, who, on learning something of my story,
+I speaking in broken French, which the Spaniard understood, immediately
+took me on shore to the Governor. He, on hearing of my arrival, sent for
+me where he sat at dinner, and received me with the utmost kindness.
+
+These generous Spaniards not only feasted me while I remained there, but
+soon collected among themselves money enough to fit out my vessel ready
+to go and rescue my poor companions left on the desert island. On
+February 15 we sailed from Campeche Bay, after I, having nothing else to
+give, had offered my Ovid to the Governor. He took it kindly, saying
+that he should prize it very highly, not only for its own sake, but in
+memory of my misfortunes.
+
+Fifteen days after we reached the island, and found my three companions,
+but in a miserable condition. For they were left without provisions and
+with hardly any fresh water, every necessary being on board the ship;
+and when we arrived they had been five days without eating or drinking,
+and were too weak to crawl in search of food. But now, for the time
+being, their misfortunes were ended, and I cannot describe the joy with
+which they welcomed us after having almost despaired of any human help.
+
+[Illustration: Falconer returns to his companions]
+
+We soon set out again in the Spanish ship, and by-and-by, not without a
+number of adventures on the way, we reached Jamaica, where I met with my
+old shipmates, who were very much surprised to see me, thinking that I
+had been lost in the sea many months ago. The ship had hung lights out
+for several hours that I might know where to swim, but all to no
+purpose, as I could see nothing through the darkness of the storm. I
+found that the captain was very ill, and went to visit him on shore. He
+told me that he did not expect to live long, and was glad I had come to
+take charge of the ship, which would have sailed before if he had been
+fit to command her. A week after he died, entrusting me with the
+management of his affairs, and messages to his wife, who lived at
+Bristol.
+
+We set sail for England on June 1, 1700, and on August 21 we discovered
+the Land's End. How rejoiced I was to see England once more, let them
+judge that have escaped so many perils as I had done. My first task when
+I reached Bristol was to inquire for my father; but a bitter
+disappointment awaited me. He was dead, broken down before his time by
+grief and misfortune. I could not bear to stay on shore, where
+everything reminded me of him, and, for all my delight in coming back to
+England, it was not long before I set sail again in quest of fresh
+adventures.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[31] London, 1720.
+
+
+
+
+_MARBOT'S MARCH_
+
+
+I HAVE now [says General Marbot, speaking of his Spanish campaign]
+reached one of the most terrible experiences of my military career.
+Marshal Lannes had just won a great victory, and the next day, after
+having received the reports of the generals, he wrote his despatch for
+one of our officers to take to the Emperor. Napoleon's practice was to
+give a step to the officer who brought him the news of an important
+success, and the marshals on their side entrusted such tasks to officers
+for whose speedy promotion they were anxious. It was a form of
+recommendation which Napoleon never failed to recognise. Marshal Lannes
+did me the honour of appointing me to carry the news of the victory of
+Tudela, and I could indulge the hope of being major before long. But,
+alas! I had yet much blood to lose before I reached that rank.
+
+The high road from Bayonne to Madrid by Vittoria, Miranda del Ebro,
+Burgos, and Aranda forks off at Miranda from that leading to Saragossa
+by Logrono. A road from Tudela to Aranda across the mountains about
+Soria forms the third side of a great triangle. While Lannes was
+reaching Tudela the Emperor had advanced from Burgos to Aranda. It was,
+therefore, much shorter for me to go from Tudela to Aranda than by way
+of Miranda del Ebro. The latter road, however, had the advantage of
+being covered by the French armies; while the other, no doubt, would be
+full of Spanish fugitives who had taken refuge after Tudela in the
+mountains. The Emperor, however, had informed Lannes that he was sending
+Ney's corps direct from Aranda to Tudela; so thinking Ney to be at no
+great distance, and that an advanced force which he had pushed on the
+day after the battle to get touch of him at Taragona would secure me
+from attack as far as Aranda, Lannes ordered me to take the shortest
+road. I may frankly admit that if I had had my choice I should have
+preferred to make the round by Miranda and Burgos; but the marshal's
+orders were positive, and how could I express any fear for my own
+person in the presence of a man who knew no more fear for others than he
+did for himself?
+
+The duties of marshal's aide-de-camp in Spain were terrible. During the
+revolutionary wars the generals had couriers paid by the state to carry
+their despatches; but the Emperor, finding that these men were not
+capable of giving any intelligible account of what they had seen, did
+away with them, and ordered that in future despatches should be carried
+by aides-de-camp. This was all very well as long as we were at war among
+the good Germans, to whom it never occurred to attack a French
+messenger; but the Spaniards waged fierce war against them. This was of
+great advantage to the insurgents, for the contents of our despatches
+informed them of the movements of our armies. I do not think I am
+exaggerating when I say that more than two hundred staff officers were
+killed or captured during the Peninsular War. One may regret the death
+of an ordinary courier, but it is less serious than the loss of a
+promising officer, who, moreover, is exposed to the risks of the
+battlefield in addition to those of a posting journey. A great number of
+vigorous men well skilled in their business begged to be allowed to do
+this duty, but the Emperor never consented.
+
+Just as I was starting from Tudela, Major Saint-Mars hazarded a remark
+intended to dissuade Lannes from sending me over the mountains. The
+marshal, however, answered, 'Oh, he will meet Ney's advance guard
+to-night, and find troops echelonned all the way to the Emperor's
+head-quarters.' This was too decided for any opposition, so I left
+Tudela November 4, at nightfall, with a detachment of cavalry, and got
+without any trouble as far as Taragona, at the foot of the mountains. In
+this little town I found Lannes' advance guard. The officer in command,
+hearing nothing of Ney, had pushed an infantry post six leagues forward
+towards Agreda. But as this body was detached from its supports, it had
+been ordered to fall back on Taragona if the night passed without Ney's
+scouts appearing.
+
+[Illustration: 'Then, drawing their swords, they clashed at the rest']
+
+After Taragona there is no more high road. The way lies entirely over
+mountain paths covered with stones and splinters of rock. The officer
+commanding our advanced guard had, therefore, only infantry and a score
+of hussars of the 2nd (Chamborant) Regiment. He gave me a troop horse
+and two orderlies, and I went on my way in brilliant moonlight. When we
+had gone two or three leagues we heard several musket-shots, and
+bullets whistled close past us. We could not see the marksmen, who were
+hidden among the rocks. A little farther on we found the corpses of two
+French infantry soldiers, recently killed. They were entirely stripped,
+but their shakoes were near them, by the numbers on which I could see
+that they belonged to one of the regiments in Ney's corps. Some little
+distance farther we saw a horrible sight. A young officer of the 10th
+Mounted Chasseurs, still wearing his uniform, was nailed by his hands
+and feet, head downwards, to a barn door. A small fire had been lighted
+beneath him. Happily, his tortures had been ended by death; but as the
+blood was still flowing from his wounds, it was clear that the murderers
+were not far off. I drew my sword; my two hussars handled their
+carbines. It was just as well that we were on our guard, for a few
+moments later seven or eight Spaniards, two of them mounted, fired upon
+us from behind a bush. We were none of us wounded, and my two hussars
+replied to the fire, and killed each his man. Then, drawing their
+swords, they dashed at the rest. I should have been very glad to follow
+them, but my horse had lost a shoe among the stones and was limping, so
+that I could not get him into a gallop. I was the more vexed because I
+feared that the hussars might let themselves be carried away in the
+pursuit and get killed in some ambush. I called them for five minutes;
+then I heard the voice of one of them saying, in a strong Alsatian
+accent, 'Ah! you thieves! you don't know the Chamborant Hussars yet. You
+shall see that they mean business.' My troopers had knocked over two
+more Spaniards, a Capuchin mounted on the horse of the poor lieutenant,
+whose haversack he had put over his own neck, and a peasant on a mule,
+with the clothes of the slaughtered soldiers on his back. It was quite
+clear that we had got the murderers. The Emperor had given strict orders
+that every Spanish civilian taken in arms should be shot on the spot;
+and, moreover, what could we do with these two brigands, who were
+already seriously wounded, and who had just killed three Frenchmen so
+barbarously? I moved on, therefore, so as not to witness the execution,
+and the hussars shot the monk and the peasant, repeating, 'Ah, you don't
+know the Chamborant!' I could not understand how an officer and two
+privates of Ney's corps could be so near Taragona when their regiments
+had not come that way; but most probably they had been captured
+elsewhere, and were being taken to Saragossa, when their escort learned
+the defeat of their countrymen at Tudela, and massacred their prisoners
+in revenge for it.
+
+After this not very encouraging start I continued my journey. We had
+gone for some hours, when we saw a bivouac fire of the detachment
+belonging to the advance guard which I had left at Taragona. The
+sub-lieutenant in command, having no tidings of Ney, was prepared to
+return to Taragona at daybreak, in pursuance of his orders. He knew that
+we were barely two leagues from Agreda, but did not know of which side
+that town was in possession. This was perplexing for me. The infantry
+detachment would return in a few hours, and if I went back with it, when
+it might be that in another league I should fall in with Ney's column, I
+should be giving a poor display of courage, and laying myself open to
+reproach from Lannes. On the other hand, if Ney was still a day or two's
+march away, it was almost certain that I should be murdered by the
+peasants of the mountains or by fugitive soldiers. What was more, I had
+to travel alone, for my two brave hussars had orders to return to
+Taragona when we had found the infantry detachment. No matter; I
+determined to push on; but then came the difficulty of finding a mount.
+There was no farm or village in this deserted place where I could
+procure a horse. That which I was riding was dead lame; and even if the
+hussars had been able, without incurring severe punishment, to lend me
+one of theirs, theirs were much fatigued. The horse that had belonged to
+the officer of chasseurs had received a bullet in the thigh during the
+fighting. There was only the peasant's mule left. This was a handsome
+beast, and, according to the laws of war, belonged to the two hussars,
+who, no doubt, reckoned on selling her when they got back to the army.
+Still the good fellows made no demur about lending her to me, and put my
+saddle on her back. But the infernal beast, more accustomed to the pack
+than to the saddle, was so restive that directly I tried to get her away
+from the group of horses and make her go alone she fell to kicking,
+until I had to choose between being sent over a precipice and
+dismounting.
+
+So I decided to set out on foot. After I had taken farewell of the
+infantry officer, this excellent young man, M. Tassin by name--he had
+been a friend of my poor brother Felix at the military school--came
+running after me, and said that he could not bear to let me thus expose
+myself all alone, and that though he had no orders, and his men were raw
+recruits, with little experience in war, he must send one with me, so
+that I might at least have a musket and some cartridges in case of an
+attack. We agreed that I should send the man back with Ney's corps; and
+I went off, with the soldier accompanying me. He was a slow-speaking
+Norman, with plenty of slyness under an appearance of good nature. The
+Normans are for the most part brave, as I learnt when I commanded the
+23rd Chasseurs, where I had five or six hundred of them. Still, in order
+to know how far I could rely on my follower, I chatted with him as we
+went along, and asked if he would stand his ground if we were attacked.
+He said neither yes nor no, but answered, 'Well, sir, we shall see.'
+Whence I inferred that when the moment of danger arrived my new
+companion was not unlikely to go and see how things were getting on in
+the rear.
+
+The moon had just set, and as yet daylight had not appeared. It was
+pitch-dark, and at every step we stumbled over the great stones with
+which these mountain paths are covered. It was an unpleasant situation,
+but I hoped soon to come upon Ney's troops, and the fact of having seen
+the bodies of soldiers belonging to his corps increased the hope. So I
+went steadily on, listening for diversion to the Norman's stories of
+his country. Dawn appeared at last, and I saw the first houses of a
+large village. It was Agreda. I was alarmed at finding no outposts, for
+it showed that not only did no troops of the marshal's occupy the place,
+but that his army corps must be at least half a day further on. The map
+showed no village within five or six leagues of Agreda, and it was
+impossible that the regiments could be quartered in the mountains, far
+from any inhabited place. So I kept on my guard, and before going any
+farther reconnoitred the position.
+
+Agreda stands in a rather broad valley. It is built at the foot of a
+lofty hill, deeply escarped on both sides. The southern slope, which
+reaches the village, is planted with large vineyards. The ridge is rough
+and rocky, and the northern slope covered with thick coppice, a torrent
+flowing at the foot. Beyond are seen lofty mountains, uncultivated and
+uninhabited. The principal street of Agreda runs through the whole
+length of the place, with narrow lanes leading to the vineyards opening
+into it. As I entered the village I had these lanes and the vineyards on
+my right. This is important to the understanding of my story.
+
+Everybody was asleep in Agreda; the moment was favourable for going
+through it. Besides, I had some hope--feeble, it is true--that when I
+reached the farther end I might perhaps see the fires of Marshal Ney's
+advance guard. So I went forward, sword in hand, bidding my soldier cock
+his musket. The main street was covered with a thick bed of damp leaves,
+which the people placed there to make manure; so that our footsteps made
+no sound, of which I was glad. I walked in the middle of the street,
+with the soldier on my right; but, finding himself no doubt in a too
+conspicuous position, he gradually sheered off to the houses, keeping
+close to the walls so that he might be less visible in case of an
+attack, or better placed for reaching one of the lanes which open into
+the country. This showed me how little I could rely on the man; but I
+made no remark to him. The day was beginning to break. We passed the
+whole of the main street without meeting any one. Just as I was
+congratulating myself on reaching the last houses of the village, I
+found myself at twenty-five paces' distance, face to face with four
+Royal Spanish Carabineers on horseback with drawn swords. Under any
+other circumstances I might have taken them for French gendarmes, their
+uniforms being exactly similar, but the gendarmes never march with the
+extreme advanced guard. These men, therefore, could not belong to Ney's
+corps, and I at once perceived they were the enemy. In a moment I faced
+about, but just as I had turned round to the direction from which I had
+come I saw a blade flash six inches from my face. I threw my head
+sharply back, but nevertheless got a severe sabre-cut on the forehead,
+of which I carry the scar over my left eyebrow to this day. The man who
+had wounded me was the corporal of the carabineers, who, having left his
+four troopers outside the village, had according to military practice
+gone forward to reconnoitre. That I had not met him was probably due to
+the fact that he had been in some side lane, while I had passed through
+the main street. He was now coming back through the street to rejoin his
+troopers, when, seeing me, he had come up noiselessly over a layer of
+leaves and was just going to cleave my head from behind, when, by
+turning round, I presented to him my face and received his blow on my
+forehead. At the same moment the four carabineers, who seeing that their
+corporal was all ready for me had not stirred, trotted up to join him,
+and all five dashed upon me. I ran mechanically towards the houses on
+the right in order to get my back against a wall; but by good luck I
+found, two paces off, one of the steep and narrow lanes, which went up
+to the vineyards. The soldier had already reached it. I flew up there
+too with the five carabineers after me; but at any rate they could not
+attack me all at once, for there was only room for one horse to pass.
+The brigadier went in front; the other four filed after him. My
+position, although not as unfavourable as it would have been in the
+street, where I should have been surrounded, still remained alarming;
+the blood flowing freely from my wound had in a moment covered my left
+eye, with which I could not see at all, and I felt that it was coming
+towards my right eye, so that I was compelled by fear of getting blinded
+to keep my head bent over the left shoulder so as to bring the blood to
+that side. I could not staunch it, being obliged to defend myself
+against the corporal, who was cutting at me heavily. I parried as well
+as I could, going up backwards all the time. After getting rid of my
+scabbard and my busby, the weight of which hampered me, not daring to
+turn my head for fear of losing sight of my adversary, whose sword was
+crossed with mine, I told the light infantry man, whom I believed to be
+behind me, to place his musket on my shoulder, and fire at the Spanish
+corporal. Seeing no barrel, however, I leapt a pace back and turned my
+head quickly. Lo and behold, there was my scoundrel of a Norman soldier
+flying up the hill as fast as his legs would carry him. The corporal
+thereupon attacked with redoubled vigour, and, seeing that he could not
+reach me, made his horse rear so that his feet struck me more than once
+on the breast. Luckily, as the ground went on rising the horse had no
+good hold with his hind legs, and every time that he came down again I
+landed a sword cut on his nose with such effect that the animal
+presently refused to rear at me any more. Then the brigadier, losing his
+temper, called out to the trooper behind him, 'Take your carbine: I will
+stoop down, and you can aim at the Frenchman over my shoulders.' I saw
+that this order was my death-signal; but as in order to execute it the
+trooper had to sheathe his sword and unhook his carbine, while all this
+time the corporal never ceased thrusting at me, leaning right over his
+horse's neck, I determined on a desperate action, which would be either
+my salvation or my ruin. Keeping my eye fixed on the Spaniard, and
+seeing in his that he was on the point of again stooping over his horse
+to reach me, I did not move until the very instant when he was lowering
+the upper part of his body towards me; then I took a pace to the right,
+and leaning quickly over to that side, I avoided my adversary's blow,
+and plunged half my sword-blade into his left flank. With a fearful yell
+the corporal fell back on the croup of his horse; he would probably have
+fallen to the ground if the trooper behind him had not caught him in his
+arms. My rapid movement in stooping had caused the despatch which I was
+carrying to fall out of the pocket of my pelisse. I picked it up
+quickly, and at once hastened to the end of the lane where the vines
+began. There I turned round and saw the carabineers busy round their
+wounded corporal, and apparently much embarrassed with him and with
+their horses in the steep and narrow passage.
+
+[Illustration: Marbot's fight with the Carabineers in the alley]
+
+This fight took less time than I have taken to relate it. Finding myself
+rid, at least for the moment, of my enemies, I went through the vines
+and reached the edge of the hill. Then I considered that it would be
+impossible for me to accomplish my errand and reach the Emperor at
+Aranda. I resolved, therefore, to return to Marshal Lannes, regaining
+first the place where I had left M. Tassin and his picket of infantry. I
+did not hope to find them still there; but at any rate the army which I
+had left the day before was in that direction. I looked for my soldier
+in vain, but I saw something that was of more use to me--a spring of
+clear water. I halted there a moment, and, tearing off a corner of my
+shirt, I made a compress which I fastened over my wound with my
+handkerchief. The blood spurting from my forehead had stained the
+despatches which I held in my hand, but I was too much occupied with my
+awkward position to mind that.
+
+The agitations of the past night, my long walk over the stony paths in
+boots and spurs, the fight in which I had just been engaged, the pain in
+my head, and the loss of blood had exhausted my strength. I had taken no
+food since leaving Tudela, and here I had nothing but water to refresh
+myself with. I drank long draughts of it, and should have rested longer
+by the spring had I not perceived three of the Spanish carabineers
+riding out of Agreda and coming towards me through the vines. If they
+had been sharp enough to dismount and take off their long boots, they
+would probably have succeeded in reaching me; but their horses, unable
+to pass between the vine stocks, ascended the steep and rocky paths with
+difficulty. Indeed, when they reached the upper end of the vineyards
+they found themselves brought up by the great rocks, on the top of which
+I had taken refuge, and unable to climb any farther. Then the troopers,
+passing along the bottom of the rocks, marched parallel with me a long
+musket-shot off. They called to me to surrender, saying that as soldiers
+they would treat me as a prisoner of war, while if the peasants caught
+me I should infallibly be murdered. This reasoning was sound, and I
+admit that if I had not been charged with despatches for the Emperor, I
+was so exhausted that I should perhaps have surrendered.
+
+However, wishing to preserve to the best of my ability the precious
+charge which had been entrusted to me, I marched on without answering.
+Then the three troopers, taking their carbines, opened fire upon me.
+Their bullets struck the rocks at my feet but none touched me, the
+distance being too great for a correct aim. I was alarmed, not at the
+fire, but at the notion that the reports would probably attract the
+peasants who would be going to their work in the morning, and I quite
+expected to be attacked by these fierce mountaineers. My presentiment
+seemed to be verified, for I perceived some fifteen men half a league
+away in the valley advancing towards me at a run. They held in their
+hands something that flashed in the sun. I made no doubt that they were
+peasants armed with their spades, and that it was the iron of these that
+shone thus. I gave myself up for lost, and in my despair I was on the
+point of letting myself slide down over the rocks on the north side of
+the hill to the torrent, crossing it as best I could, and hiding myself
+in some chasm of the great mountains which arose on the farther side of
+the gorge. Then, if I was not discovered, and if I still had the
+strength, I should set out when night came in the direction of Taragona.
+
+This plan, though offering many chances of failure, was my last hope.
+Just as I was about to put it into execution, I perceived that the three
+carabineers had given up firing on me, and gone forward to reconnoitre
+the group which I had taken for peasants. At their approach the iron
+instruments which I had taken for spades or mattocks were lowered, and I
+had the inexpressible joy of seeing a volley fired at the Spanish
+carabineers. Instantly turning, they took flight towards Agreda, as it
+seemed, with two of their number wounded. 'The newcomers, then, are
+French!' I exclaimed. 'Here goes to meet them!' and, regaining a little
+strength from the joy of being delivered, I descended, leaning on my
+sword. The French had caught sight of me; they climbed the hill, and I
+found myself in the arms of the brave Lieutenant Tassin.
+
+This providential rescue had come about as follows. The soldier who had
+deserted me while I was engaged with the carabineers in the streets of
+Agreda had quickly reached the vines; thence, leaping across the vine
+stocks, ditches, rocks, and hedges, he had very quickly run the distance
+which lay between him and the place where we had left M. Tassin's
+picket. The detachment was on the point of starting for Taragona, and
+was eating its soup, when my Norman came up all out of breath. Not
+wishing, however, to lose a mouthful, he seated himself by a cooking-pot
+and began to make a very tranquil breakfast, without saying a word about
+what had happened at Agreda. By great good luck he was noticed by M.
+Tassin, who, surprised at seeing him returned, asked him where he had
+quitted the officer whom he had been told off to escort. 'Good Lord,
+sir,' replied the Norman, 'I left him in that big village with his head
+half split open, and fighting with Spanish troopers, and they were
+cutting away at him with their swords like anything.' At these words
+Lieutenant Tassin ordered his detachment to arms, picked the fifteen
+most active, and went off at the double towards Agreda. The little troop
+had gone some way when they heard shots, and inferred from them that I
+was still alive but in urgent need of succour. Stimulated by the hope of
+saving me, the brave fellows doubled their pace, and finally perceived
+me on the ridge of the hill, serving as a mark for three Spanish
+troopers.
+
+M. Tassin and his men were tired, and I was at the end of my strength.
+We halted, therefore, for a little, and meanwhile you may imagine that I
+expressed my warmest gratitude to the lieutenant and his men, who were
+almost as glad as I was. We returned to the bivouac where M. Tassin had
+left the rest of his people. The _cantiniere_ of the company was there
+with her mule carrying two skins of wine, bread, and ham. I bought the
+lot and gave them to the soldiers, and we breakfasted, as I was very
+glad to do, the two hussars whom I had left there the night before
+sharing in the meal. One of these mounted the monk's mule and lent me
+his horse, and so we set out for Taragona. I was in horrible pain,
+because the blood had hardened over my wound. At Taragona I rejoined
+Lannes' advance guard: the general in command had my wound dressed, and
+gave me a horse and an escort of two hussars. I reached Tudela at
+midnight, and was at once received by the marshal, who, though ill
+himself, seemed much touched by my misfortune. It was necessary,
+however, that the despatch about the battle of Tudela should be promptly
+forwarded to the Emperor, who must be impatiently awaiting news from the
+army on the Ebro. Enlightened by what had befallen me in the mountains,
+the marshal consented that the officer bearing it should go by Miranda
+and Burgos, where the presence of French troops on the roads made the
+way perfectly safe. I should have liked very much to be the bearer, but
+I was in such pain and so tired that it would have been physically
+impossible for me to ride hard. The marshal therefore entrusted the duty
+to his brother-in-law, Major Gueheneuc. I handed him the despatches
+stained with my blood. Major Saint-Mars, the secretary, wished to
+re-copy them and change the envelope. 'No, no,' cried the marshal, 'the
+Emperor ought to see how valiantly Captain Marbot has defended them.' So
+he sent off the packet just as it was, adding a note to explain the
+reason of the delay, eulogising me, and asking for a reward to
+Lieutenant Tassin and his men, who had hastened so zealously to my
+succour, without reckoning the danger to which they might have been
+exposed if the enemy had been in force.
+
+The Emperor did, as a matter of fact, a little while after, grant the
+Cross both to M. Tassin and to his sergeant, and a gratuity of 100
+francs to each of the men who had accompanied them. As for the Norman
+soldier, he was tried by court martial for deserting his post in the
+presence of the enemy, and condemned to drag a shot for two years, and
+to finish his time of service in a pioneer company.
+
+
+
+
+_EYLAU. THE MARE LISETTE_
+
+
+GENERAL MARBOT, one of Napoleon's most distinguished soldiers, thus
+describes his adventures at the battle of Eylau. 'To enable you to
+understand my story, I must go back to the autumn of 1805, when the
+officers of the Grand Army, among their preparations for the battle of
+Austerlitz, were completing their outfits. I had two good horses, the
+third, for whom I was looking, my charger, was to be better still. It
+was a difficult thing to find, for though horses were far less dear than
+now, their price was pretty high, and I had not much money; but chance
+served me admirably. I met a learned German, Herr von Aister, whom I had
+known when he was a professor at Soreze. He had become tutor to the
+children of a rich Swiss banker, M. Scherer, established at Paris in
+partnership with M. Finguerlin. He informed me that M. Finguerlin, a
+wealthy man, living in fine style, had a large stud, in the first rank
+of which figured a lovely mare, called Lisette, easy in her paces, as
+light as a deer, and so well broken that a child could lead her. But
+this mare, when she was ridden, had a terrible fault, and fortunately a
+rare one: she bit like a bulldog, and furiously attacked people whom she
+disliked, which decided M. Finguerlin to sell her. She was bought for
+Mme. de Lauriston whose husband, one of the Emperor's aides-de-camp, had
+written to her to get his campaigning outfit ready. When selling the
+mare M. Finguerlin had forgotten to mention her fault, and that very
+evening a groom was found disembowelled at her feet. Mme. de Lauriston,
+reasonably alarmed, brought an action to cancel the bargain; not only
+did she get her verdict, but, in order to prevent further disasters, the
+police ordered that a written statement should be placed in Lisette's
+stall to inform purchasers of her ferocity, and that any bargain with
+regard to her should be void unless the purchaser declared in writing
+that his attention had been called to the notice. You may suppose that
+with such a character as this the mare was not easy to dispose of, and
+thus Herr von Aister informed me that her owner had decided to let her
+go for what anyone would give. I offered 1,000 francs, and M. Finguerlin
+delivered Lisette to me, though she had cost him 5,000. This animal gave
+me a good deal of trouble for some months. It took four or five men to
+saddle her, and you could only bridle her by covering her eyes and
+fastening all four legs; but once you were on her back, you found her a
+really incomparable mount.
+
+'However, since while in my possession she had already bitten several
+people, and had not spared me, I was thinking of parting with her. But I
+had meanwhile engaged in my service Francis Woirland, a man who was
+afraid of nothing, and he, before going near Lisette, whose bad
+character had been mentioned to him, armed himself with a good hot roast
+leg of mutton. When the animal flew at him to bite him, he held out the
+mutton; she seized it in her teeth, and burning her gums, palate, and
+tongue, gave a scream, let the mutton drop, and from that moment was
+perfectly submissive to Woirland, and did not venture to attack him
+again. I employed the same method with a like result. Lisette became as
+docile as a dog, and allowed me and my servant to approach her freely.
+She even became a little more tractable towards the stablemen of the
+staff, whom she saw every day, but woe to the strangers who passed near
+her! I could quote twenty instances of her ferocity, but I will confine
+myself to one. While Marshal Augereau was staying at the chateau of
+Bellevue, near Berlin, the servants of the staff, having observed that
+when they went to dinner someone stole the sacks of corn that were left
+in the stable, got Woirland to unfasten Lisette and leave her near the
+door. The thief arrived, slipped into the stable, and was in the act of
+carrying off a sack, when the mare seized him by the nape of the neck,
+dragged him into the middle of the yard, and trampled on him till she
+broke two of his ribs. At the shrieks of the thief people ran up, but
+Lisette would not let him go till my servant and I compelled her, for in
+her fury she would have flown at anyone else. She had become still more
+vicious ever since the Saxon hussar officer, of whom I have told you,
+had treacherously laid open her shoulder with a sabre-cut on the
+battlefield of Jena.
+
+'Such was the mare which I was riding at Eylau at the moment when the
+fragments of Augereau's army corps, shattered by a hail of musketry and
+cannon-balls, were trying to rally near the great cemetery. You will
+remember how the 14th of the line had remained alone on a hillock,
+which it could not quit except by the Emperor's order. The snow had
+ceased for the moment; we could see how the intrepid regiment,
+surrounded by the enemy, was waving its eagle in the air to show that it
+still held its ground and asked for support. The Emperor, touched by the
+grand devotion of these brave men, resolved to try to save them, and
+ordered Augereau to send an officer to them with orders to leave the
+hillock, form a small square, and make their way towards us, while a
+brigade of cavalry should march in their direction and assist their
+efforts. This was before Murat's great charge. It was almost impossible
+to carry out the Emperor's wishes, because a swarm of Cossacks was
+between us and the 14th, and it was clear that any officer who was sent
+towards the unfortunate regiment would be killed or captured before he
+could get to it. But the order was positive, and the marshal had to
+comply.
+
+[Illustration: Lisette catches the thief in the stable]
+
+'It was customary in the Imperial army for the aides-de-camp to place
+themselves in file a few paces from their general, and for the one who
+was in front to go on duty first: then, when he had performed his
+mission, to return and place himself last, in order that each might
+carry orders in his turn, and dangers might be shared equally. A brave
+captain of engineers named Froissard, who, though not an aide-de-camp,
+was on the marshal's staff, happened to be nearest to him, and was
+bidden to carry the order to the 14th. M. Froissard galloped off; we
+lost sight of him in the midst of the Cossacks, and never saw him again
+nor heard what had become of him. The marshal, seeing that the 14th did
+not move, sent an officer named David; he had the same fate as
+Froissard: we never heard of him again. Probably both were killed and
+stripped, and could not be recognised among the many corpses which
+covered the ground. For the third time the marshal called, "The officer
+for duty." It was my turn.
+
+'Seeing the son of his old friend, and I venture to say his favourite
+aide-de-camp, come up, the kind marshal's face changed and his eyes
+filled with tears, for he could not hide from himself that he was
+sending me to almost certain death. But the Emperor must be obeyed. I
+was a soldier; it was impossible to make one of my comrades go in my
+place, nor would I have allowed it; it would have been disgracing me. So
+I dashed off. But though ready to sacrifice my life I felt bound to take
+all necessary precautions to save it. I had observed that the two
+officers who went before me had gone with swords drawn, which led me to
+think that they had purposed to defend themselves against any Cossacks
+who might attack them on the way. Such defence, I thought, was
+ill-considered, since it must have compelled them to halt in order to
+fight a multitude of enemies, who would overwhelm them in the end. So I
+went otherwise to work, and leaving my sword in the scabbard, I regarded
+myself as a horseman who is trying to win a steeplechase, and goes as
+quickly as possible and by the shortest line towards the appointed goal,
+without troubling himself with what is to right or left of his path.
+Now, as my goal was the hillock occupied by the 14th, I resolved to get
+there without taking any notice of the Cossacks, whom in thought I
+abolished. This plan answered perfectly. Lisette, lighter than a swallow
+and flying rather than running, devoured the intervening space, leaping
+the piles of dead men and horses, the ditches, the broken gun-carriages,
+the half-extinguished bivouac fires. Thousands of Cossacks swarmed over
+the plain. The first who saw me acted like sportsmen who, when beating,
+start a hare, and announce its presence to each other by shouts of "Your
+side! Your side!" but none of the Cossacks tried to stop me, first, on
+account of the extreme rapidity of my pace, and also probably because,
+their numbers being so great, each thought that I could not avoid his
+comrades farther on; so that I escaped them all, and reached the 14th
+regiment without either myself or my excellent mare having received the
+slightest scratch.
+
+[Illustration: 'I regarded myself as a horseman who is trying to win a
+steeplechase']
+
+'I found the 14th formed in square on the top of the hillock, but as the
+slope was very slight the enemy's cavalry had been able to deliver
+several charges. These had been vigorously repulsed, and the French
+regiment was surrounded by a circle of dead horses and dragoons, which
+formed a kind of rampart, making the position by this time almost
+inaccessible to cavalry; as I found, for in spite of the aid of our
+men, I had much difficulty in passing over this horrible entrenchment.
+At last I was in the square. Since Colonel Savary's death at the passage
+of the Wkra, the 14th had been commanded by a major. While I imparted to
+this officer, under a hail of balls, the order to quit his position and
+try to rejoin his corps, he pointed out to me that the enemy's artillery
+had been firing on the 14th for an hour, and had caused it such loss
+that the handful of soldiers which remained would inevitably be
+exterminated as they went down into the plain, and that, moreover, there
+would not be time to prepare to execute such a movement, since a Russian
+column was marching on him, and was not more than a hundred paces away.
+"I see no means of saving the regiment," said the major; "return to the
+Emperor, bid him farewell from the 14th of the line, which has
+faithfully executed his orders, and bear to him the eagle which he gave
+us, and which we can defend no longer: it would add too much to the pain
+of death to see it fall into the hands of the enemy." Then the major
+handed me his eagle, saluted for the last time by the glorious fragment
+of the intrepid regiment with cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" they were
+going to die for him. It was the _Caesar morituri te salutant_ of
+Tacitus,[32] but in this case the cry was uttered by heroes. The infantry
+eagles were very heavy, and their weight was increased by a stout oak
+pole on the top of which they were fixed. The length of the pole
+embarrassed me much, and as the stick without the eagle could not
+constitute a trophy for the enemy, I resolved with the major's consent
+to break it and only carry off the eagle. But at the moment when I was
+leaning forward from my saddle in order to get a better purchase to
+separate the eagle from the pole, one of the numerous cannon-balls which
+the Russians were sending at us went through the hinder peak of my hat,
+less than an inch from my head. The shock was all the more terrible
+since my hat, being fastened on by a strong leather strap under the
+chin, offered more resistance to the blow. I seemed to be blotted out of
+existence, but I did not fall from my horse; blood flowed from my nose,
+my ears, and even my eyes; nevertheless I still could hear and see, and
+I preserved all my intellectual faculties, although my limbs were
+paralysed to such an extent that I could not move a single finger.
+
+'Meanwhile the column of Russian infantry which we had just perceived
+was mounting the hill; they were grenadiers wearing mitre-shaped caps
+with metal ornaments. Soaked with spirits, and in vastly superior
+numbers, these men hurled themselves furiously on the feeble remains of
+the unfortunate 14th, whose soldiers had for several days been living
+only on potatoes and melted snow; that day they had not had time to
+prepare even this wretched meal. Still our brave Frenchmen made a
+valiant defence with their bayonets, and when the square had been
+broken, they held together in groups and sustained the unequal fight for
+a long time.
+
+'During this terrible struggle several of our men, in order not to be
+struck from behind, set their backs against my mare's flanks, she,
+contrary to her practice, remaining perfectly quiet. If I had been able
+to move I should have urged her forward to get away from this field of
+slaughter. But it was absolutely impossible for me to press my legs so
+as to make the animal I rode understand my wish. My position was the
+more frightful since, as I have said, I retained the power of sight and
+thought. Not only were they fighting all round me, which exposed me to
+bayonet-thrusts, but a Russian officer with a hideous countenance kept
+making efforts to run me through. As the crowd of combatants prevented
+him from reaching me, he pointed me out to the soldiers around him, and
+they, taking me for the commander of the French, as I was the only
+mounted man, kept firing at me over their comrades' heads, so that
+bullets were constantly whistling past my ear. One of them would
+certainly have taken away the small amount of life that was still in me
+had not a terrible incident led to my escape from the _melee_.
+
+[Illustration: Lisette carries off the Russian officer]
+
+'Among the Frenchmen who had got their flanks against my mare's near
+flank was a quartermaster-sergeant, whom I knew from having frequently
+seen him at the marshal's, making copies for him of the "morning
+states." This man, having been attacked and wounded by several of the
+enemy, fell under Lisette's belly, and was seizing my leg to pull
+himself up, when a Russian grenadier, too drunk to stand steady, wishing
+to finish him by a thrust in the breast, lost his balance, and the point
+of his bayonet went astray into my cloak, which at that moment was
+puffed out by the wind. Seeing that I did not fall, the Russian left the
+sergeant and aimed a great number of blows at me. These were at first
+fruitless, but one at last reached me, piercing my left arm, and I felt
+with a kind of horrible pleasure my blood flowing hot. The Russian
+grenadier with redoubled fury made another thrust at me, but, stumbling
+with the force which he put into it, drove his bayonet into my mare's
+thigh. Her ferocious instincts being restored by the pain, she sprang at
+the Russian, and at one mouthful tore off his nose, lips, eyebrows, and
+all the skin of his face, making of him a living death's-head, dripping
+with blood. Then hurling herself with fury among the combatants, kicking
+and biting, Lisette upset everything that she met on her road. The
+officer who had made so many attempts to strike me tried to hold her by
+the bridle; she seized him by his belly, and carrying him off with ease,
+she bore him out of the crush to the foot of the hillock, where, having
+torn out his entrails and mashed his body under her feet, she left him
+dying on the snow. Then, taking the road by which she had come, she made
+her way at full gallop towards the cemetery of Eylau. Thanks to the
+hussar's saddle on which I was sitting, I kept my seat. But a new danger
+awaited me. The snow had begun to fall again, and great flakes obscured
+the daylight when, having arrived close to Eylau, I found myself in
+front of a battalion of the Old Guard, who, unable to see clearly at a
+distance, took me for an enemy's officer leading a charge of cavalry.
+The whole battalion at once opened fire on me; my cloak and my saddle
+were riddled, but I was not wounded nor was my mare. She continued her
+rapid course, and went through the three ranks of the battalion as
+easily as a snake through a hedge. But this last spurt had exhausted
+Lisette's strength; she had lost much blood, for one of the large veins
+in her thigh had been divided, and the poor animal collapsed suddenly
+and fell on one side, rolling me over on the other.
+
+'Stretched on the snow among the piles of dead and dying, unable to move
+in any way, I gradually and without pain lost consciousness. I felt as
+if I was being gently rocked to sleep. At last I fainted quite away
+without being revived by the mighty clatter which Murat's ninety
+squadrons advancing to the charge must have made in passing close to me
+and perhaps over me. I judge that my swoon lasted four hours, and when I
+came to my senses I found myself in this horrible position. I was
+completely naked, having nothing on but my hat and my right boot. A man
+of the transport corps, thinking me dead, had stripped me in the usual
+fashion, and wishing to pull off the only boot that remained, was
+dragging me by one leg with his foot against my body. The jerks which
+the man gave me no doubt had restored me to my senses. I succeeded in
+sitting up and spitting out the clots of blood from my throat. The shock
+caused by the wind of the ball had produced such an extravasation of
+blood, that my face, shoulders, and chest were black, while the rest of
+my body was stained red by the blood from my wound. My hat and my hair
+were full of bloodstained snow, and as I rolled my haggard eyes I must
+have been horrible to see. Anyhow, the transport man looked the other
+way, and went off with my property without my being able to say a single
+word to him, so utterly prostrate was I. But I had recovered my mental
+faculties, and my thoughts turned towards God and my mother.
+
+'The setting sun cast some feeble rays through the clouds. I took what I
+believed to be a last farewell of it. "If," thought I, "I had only not
+been stripped, some one of the numerous people who pass near me would
+notice the gold lace on my pelisse, and, recognising that I am a
+marshal's aide-de-camp, would perhaps have carried me to the ambulance.
+But seeing me naked, they do not distinguish me from the corpses with
+which I am surrounded, and, indeed, there soon will be no difference
+between them and me. I cannot call help, and the approaching night will
+take away all hope of succour. The cold is increasing: shall I be able
+to bear it till to-morrow, seeing that I feel my naked limbs stiffening
+already?" So I made up my mind to die, for if I had been saved by a
+miracle in the midst of the terrible _melee_ between the Russians and
+the 14th, could I expect that there would be a second miracle to extract
+me from my present horrible position? The second miracle did take place
+in the following manner. Marshal Augereau had a valet named Pierre
+Dannel, a very intelligent and very faithful fellow, but somewhat given
+to arguing. Now it happened during our stay at La Houssaye that Dannel,
+having answered his master, got dismissed. In despair, he begged me to
+plead for him. This I did so zealously that I succeeded in getting him
+taken back into favour. From that time the valet had been devotedly
+attached to me. The outfit having been all left behind at Landsberg, he
+had started all out of his own head on the day of battle to bring
+provisions to his master. He had placed these in a very light waggon
+which could go everywhere, and contained the articles which the marshal
+most frequently required. This little waggon was driven by a soldier
+belonging to the same company of the transport corps as the man who had
+just stripped me. This latter, with my property in his hands, passed
+near the waggon, which was standing at the side of the cemetery, and,
+recognising the driver, his old comrade, he hailed him, and showed him
+the splendid booty which he had just taken from a dead man.
+
+'Now you must know that when we were in cantonments on the Vistula the
+marshal happened to send Dannel to Warsaw for provisions, and I
+commissioned him to get the trimming of black astrachan taken from my
+pelisse, and have it replaced by grey, this having recently been adopted
+by Prince Berthier's aides-de-camp, who set the fashion in the army. Up
+to now, I was the only one of Augereau's officers who had grey
+astrachan. Dannel, who was present when the transport man made his
+display, quickly recognised my pelisse, which made him look more closely
+at the other effects of the alleged dead man. Among these he found my
+watch, which had belonged to my father and was marked with his cypher.
+The valet had no longer any doubt that I had been killed, and while
+deploring my loss, he wished to see me for the last time. Guided by the
+transport man he reached me and found me living. Great was the joy of
+this worthy man, to whom I certainly owed my life. He made haste to
+fetch my servant and some orderlies, and had me carried to a barn, where
+he rubbed my body with rum. Meanwhile someone went to fetch Dr. Raymond,
+who came at length, dressed the wound in my arm, and declared that the
+release of blood due to it would be the saving of me.
+
+[Illustration: 'Guided by the transport man he reached me and found me
+living']
+
+'My brother and my comrades were quickly round me; something was given
+to the transport soldier who had taken my clothes, which he returned
+very willingly, but as they were saturated with water and with blood,
+Marshal Augereau had me wrapped in things belonging to himself. The
+Emperor had given the marshal leave to go to Landsberg, but as his wound
+forbad him to ride, his aides-de-camp had procured a sledge, on which
+the body of a carriage had been placed. The marshal, who could not make
+up his mind to leave me, had me fastened up beside him, for I was too
+weak to sit upright.
+
+'Before I was removed from the field of battle I had seen my poor
+Lisette near me. The cold had caused the blood from her wound to clot,
+and prevented the loss from being too great. The creature had got on to
+her legs and was eating the straw which the soldiers had used the night
+before for their bivouacs. My servant, who was very fond of Lisette, had
+noticed her when he was helping to remove me, and cutting up into
+bandages the shirt and hood of a dead soldier, he wrapped her leg with
+them, and thus made her able to walk to Landsberg. The officer in
+command of the small garrison there had had the forethought to get
+quarters ready for the wounded, so the staff found places in a large and
+good inn.
+
+'In this way, instead of passing the night without help, stretched naked
+on the snow, I lay on a good bed surrounded by the attention of my
+brother, my comrades, and the kind Dr. Raymond. The doctor had been
+obliged to cut off the boot which the transport man had not been able to
+pull off, and which had become all the more difficult to remove owing to
+the swelling of my foot. You will see presently that this very nearly
+cost me my leg, and perhaps my life.
+
+'We stayed thirty-six hours at Landsberg. This rest, and the good care
+taken of me, restored me to the use of speech and senses, and when on
+the second day after the battle Marshal Augereau started for Warsaw I
+was able to be carried in the sledge. The journey lasted eight days.
+Gradually I recovered strength, but as strength returned I began to feel
+a sensation of icy cold in my right foot. At Warsaw I was lodged in the
+house that had been taken for the marshal, which suited me the better
+that I was not able to leave my bed. Yet the wound in my arm was doing
+well, the extravasated blood was becoming absorbed, my skin was
+recovering its natural colour. The doctor knew not to what he could
+ascribe my inability to rise, till, hearing me complaining of my leg, he
+examined it, and found that my foot was gangrened. An accident of my
+early days was the cause of this new trouble. At Soreze I had my right
+foot wounded by the unbuttoned foil of a schoolfellow with whom I was
+fencing. It seemed that the muscles of the part had become sensitive,
+and had suffered much from cold while I was lying unconscious on the
+field of Eylau; thence had resulted a swelling which explained the
+difficulty experienced by the soldier in dragging off my right boot. The
+foot was frost-bitten, and as it had not been treated in time, gangrene
+had appeared in the site of the old wound from the foil. The place was
+covered with an eschar as large as a five-franc piece. The doctor
+turned pale when he saw the foot: then, making four servants hold me,
+and taking his knife, he lifted the eschar, and dug the mortified flesh
+from my foot just as one cuts the damaged part out of an apple. The pain
+was great, but I did not complain. It was otherwise, however, when the
+knife reached the living flesh, and laid bare the muscles and bones till
+one could see them moving. Then the doctor, standing on a chair, soaked
+a sponge in hot sweetened wine, and let it fall drop by drop into the
+hole which he had just dug in my foot. The pain became unbearable.
+Still, for eight days I had to undergo this torture morning and evening,
+but my leg was saved.
+
+'Nowadays, when promotions and decorations are bestowed so lavishly,
+some reward would certainly be given to an officer who had braved danger
+as I had done in reaching the 14th regiment; but under the Empire a
+devoted act of that kind was thought so natural that I did not receive
+the cross, nor did it ever occur to me to ask for it. A long rest having
+been ordered for the cure of Marshal Augereau's wound, the Emperor wrote
+to bid him return for treatment to France, and sent to Italy for
+Massena, to whom my brother, Bro, and several of my comrades were
+attached. Augereau took me with him, as well as Dr. Raymond and his
+secretary. I had to be lifted in and out of the carriage; otherwise I
+found my health coming back as I got away from those icy regions towards
+a milder climate. My mare passed the winter in the stables of M. de
+Launay, head of the forage department. Our road lay through Silesia. So
+long as we were in that horrible Poland, it required twelve, sometimes
+sixteen, horses to draw the carriage at a walk through the bogs and
+quagmires; but in Germany we found at length civilisation and real
+roads.
+
+'After a halt at Dresden, and ten or twelve days' stay at Frankfort, we
+reached Paris about March 15. I walked very lame, wore my arm in a
+sling, and still felt the terrible shaking caused by the wind of the
+cannon-ball; but the joy of seeing my mother again, and her kind care of
+me, together with the sweet influences of the spring, completed my cure.
+Before leaving Warsaw I had meant to throw away the hat which the ball
+had pierced, but the marshal kept it as a curiosity and gave it to my
+mother. It still exists in my possession, and should be kept as a family
+relic.'
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[32] As a matter of fact, Suetonius, 'The destined to die salute thee.'
+
+
+
+
+_HOW MARBOT CROSSED THE DANUBE_
+
+
+AFTER crossing the Traun, burning the bridge at Mauthhausen, and passing
+the Enns, the army advanced to Moelk, without knowing what had become of
+General Hiller. Some spies assured us that the archduke had crossed the
+Danube and joined him, and that we should on the morrow meet the whole
+Austrian army, strongly posted in front of Saint-Polten. In that case,
+we must make ready to fight a great battle; but if it were otherwise, we
+had to march quickly on Vienna in order to get there before the enemy
+could reach it by the other bank. For want of positive information the
+Emperor was very undecided. The question to be solved was, Had General
+Hiller crossed the Danube, or was he still in front of us, masked by a
+swarm of light cavalry, which, always flying, never let us get near
+enough to take a prisoner from whom one might get some enlightenment?
+
+Still knowing nothing for certain, we reached, on May 7, the pretty
+little town of Moelk, standing on the bank of the Danube, and overhung by
+an immense rock, on the summit of which rises a Benedictine convent,
+said to be the finest and richest in Christendom. From the rooms of the
+monastery a wide view is obtained over both banks of the Danube. There
+the Emperor and many marshals, including Lannes, took up their quarters,
+while our staff lodged with the parish priest. Much rain had fallen
+during the week, and it had not ceased for twenty-four hours, and still
+was falling, so that the Danube and its tributaries were over their
+banks. That night, as my comrades and I, delighted at being sheltered
+from the bad weather, were having a merry supper with the parson, a
+jolly fellow, who gave us an excellent meal, the aide-de-camp on duty
+with the marshal came to tell me that I was wanted, and must go up to
+the convent that moment. I was so comfortable where I was that I found
+it annoying to have to leave a good supper and good quarters to go and
+get wet again, had but I to obey.
+
+All the passages and lower rooms of the monastery were full of soldiers,
+forgetting the fatigues of the previous days in the monks' good wine. On
+reaching the dwelling-rooms, I saw that I had been sent for about some
+serious matter, for generals, chamberlains, orderly officers, said to me
+repeatedly, 'The Emperor has sent for you.' Some added, 'It is probably
+to give you your commission as major.' This I did not believe, for I did
+not think I was yet of sufficient importance to the sovereign for him to
+send for me at such an hour to give me my commission with his own hands.
+I was shown into a vast and handsome gallery, with a balcony looking
+over the Danube; there I found the Emperor at dinner with several
+marshals and the abbot of the convent, who has the title of bishop. On
+seeing me, the Emperor left the table, and went towards the balcony,
+followed by Lannes. I heard him say in a low tone, 'The execution of
+this plan is almost impossible; it would be sending a brave officer for
+no purpose to almost certain death.' 'He will go, sir,' replied the
+marshal; 'I am certain he will go, at any rate we can but propose it to
+him.' Then, taking me by the hand, the marshal opened the window of the
+balcony over the Danube. The river at this moment, trebled in volume by
+the strong flood, was nearly a league wide; it was lashed by a fierce
+wind, and we could hear the waves roaring. It was pitch-dark, and the
+rain fell in torrents, but we could see on the other side a long line of
+bivouac fires. Napoleon, Marshal Lannes, and I, being alone on the
+balcony, the marshal said, 'On the other side of the river, you see an
+Austrian camp. Now, the Emperor is keenly desirous to know whether
+General Hiller's corps is there, or still on this bank. In order to make
+sure he wants a stout-hearted man, bold enough to cross the Danube, and
+bring away some soldier of the enemy's, and I have assured him that you
+will go.' Then Napoleon said to me, 'Take notice that I am not giving
+you an order; I am only expressing a wish. I am aware that the
+enterprise is as dangerous as it can be, and you can decline it without
+any fear of displeasing me. Go, and think it over for a few moments in
+the next room; come back and tell us frankly your decision.'
+
+I admit that when I heard Marshal Lannes' proposal I had broken out all
+over in a cold sweat; but at the same moment, a feeling, which I cannot
+define, but in which a love of glory and of my country was mingled,
+perhaps, with a noble pride, raised my ardour to the highest point, and
+I said to myself, 'The Emperor has here an army of 150,000 devoted
+warriors, besides 25,000 men of his guard, all selected from the
+bravest. He is surrounded with aides-de-camp and orderly officers, and
+yet when an expedition is on foot, requiring intelligence no less than
+boldness, it is I whom the Emperor and Marshal Lannes choose.' 'I will
+go, sir,' I cried without hesitation. 'I will go; and if I perish, I
+leave my mother to your Majesty's care.' The Emperor pulled my ear to
+mark his satisfaction; the marshal shook my hand, 'I was quite right to
+tell your Majesty that he would go. There's what you may call a brave
+soldier.'
+
+[Illustration: '"I will go, sir," I cried']
+
+My expedition being thus decided on, I had to think about the means of
+executing it. The Emperor called General Bertrand, his aide-de-camp,
+General Dorsenne, of the guard, and the commandant of the imperial
+head-quarters, and ordered them to put at my disposal whatever I might
+require. At my request an infantry picket went into the town to find the
+burgomaster, the syndic of the boatmen, and five of his best hands. A
+corporal and five grenadiers of the old guard who could all speak
+German, and had still to earn their decoration, were also summoned, and
+voluntarily agreed to go with me. The Emperor had them brought in first,
+and promised that on their return they should receive the Cross at once.
+The brave men replied by a 'Vive l'Empereur!' and went to get ready. As
+for the five boatmen, on its being explained to them through the
+interpreter that they had to take a boat across the Danube, they fell on
+their knees and began to weep. The syndic declared that they might just
+as well be shot at once, as sent to certain death. The expedition was
+absolutely impossible, not only from the strength of the current, but
+because the tributaries had brought into the Danube a great quantity of
+fir trees recently cut down in the mountains, which could not be avoided
+in the dark, and would certainly come against the boat and sink it.
+Besides, how could one land on the opposite bank among willows which
+would scuttle the boat, and with a flood of unknown extent? The syndic
+concluded, then, that the operation was physically impossible. In vain
+did the Emperor tempt them with an offer of 6,000 francs per man; even
+this could not persuade them, though, as they said, they were poor
+boatmen with families, and this sum would be a fortune to them. But, as
+I have already said, some lives must be sacrificed to save those of the
+greater number, and the knowledge of this makes commanders sometimes
+pitiless. The Emperor was inflexible, and the grenadiers received orders
+to take the poor men, whether they would or not, and we went down to the
+town.
+
+The corporal who had been assigned to me was an intelligent man. Taking
+him for my interpreter, I charged him as we went along to tell the
+syndic of the boatmen that as he had got to come along with us, he had
+better in his own interest show us his best boat, and point out
+everything that we should require for her fitting. The poor man obeyed;
+so we got an excellent vessel, and we took all that we wanted from the
+others. We had two anchors, but as I did not think we should be able to
+make use of them, I had sewn to the end of each cable a piece of canvas
+with a large stone wrapped in it. I had seen in the south of France the
+fishermen use an apparatus of this kind to hold their boats by throwing
+the cord over the willows at the water's edge. I put on a cap, the
+grenadiers took their forage caps, we had provisions, ropes, axes, saws,
+a ladder,--everything, in short, which I could think of to take.
+
+Our preparations ended, I was going to give the signal to start, when
+the five boatmen implored me with tears to let the soldiers escort them
+to their houses, to take perhaps the last farewell of their wives and
+children; but, fearing that a tender scene of this kind would further
+reduce their small stock of courage, I refused. Then the syndic said,
+'Well, as we have only a short time to live, allow us five minutes to
+commend our souls to God, and do you do the same, for you also are going
+to your death.' They all fell on their knees, the grenadiers and I
+following their example, which seemed to please the worthy people much.
+When their prayer was over, I gave each man a glass of the monks'
+excellent wine, and we pushed out into the stream.
+
+I had bidden the grenadiers follow in silence all the orders of the
+syndic who was steering; the current was too strong for us to cross over
+straight from Moelk: we went up, therefore, along the bank under sail for
+more than a league, and although the wind and the waves made the boat
+jump, this part was accomplished without accident. But when the time
+came to take to our oars and row out from the land, the mast, on being
+lowered, fell over to one side, and the sail, dragging in the water,
+offered a strong resistance to the current and nearly capsized us. The
+master ordered the ropes to be cut and the masts to be sent overboard:
+but the boatmen, losing their heads, began to pray without stirring.
+Then the corporal, drawing his sword, said, 'You can pray and work too;
+obey at once, or I will kill you.' Compelled to choose between possible
+and certain death, the poor fellows took up their hatchets, and with the
+help of the grenadiers, the mast was promptly cut away and sent
+floating. It was high time, for hardly were we free from this dangerous
+burden when we felt a fearful shock. A pine-stem borne down by the
+stream had struck the boat. We all shuddered, but luckily the planks
+were not driven in this time. Would the boat, however, resist more
+shocks of this kind? We could not see the stems, and only knew that they
+were near by the heavier tumble of the waves. Several touched us, but no
+serious accident resulted. Meantime the current bore us along, and as
+our oars could make very little way against it to give us the necessary
+slant, I feared for a moment that it would sweep us below the enemy's
+camp, and that my expedition would fail. By dint of hard rowing,
+however, we had got three-quarters of the way over, when I saw an
+immense black mass looming over the water. Then a sharp scratching was
+heard, branches caught us in the face, and the boat stopped. To our
+questions the owner replied that we were on an island covered with
+willows and poplars, of which the flood had nearly reached the top. We
+had to grope about with our hatchets to clear a passage through the
+branches, and when we had succeeded in passing the obstacle, we found
+the stream much less furious than in the middle of the river, and
+finally reached the left bank in front of the Austrian camp. This shore
+was bordered with very thick trees, which, overhanging the bank like a
+dome, made the approach difficult no doubt, but at the same time
+concealed our boat from the camp. The whole shore was lighted up by the
+bivouac fires, while we remained in the shadow thrown by the branches of
+the willows. I let the boat float downwards, looking for a suitable
+landing-place. Presently I perceived that a sloping path had been made
+down the bank by the enemy to allow the men and horses to get to the
+water. The corporal adroitly threw into the willows one of the stones
+that I had made ready, the cord caught in a tree, and the boat brought
+up against the land a foot or two from the slope. It must have been just
+about midnight. The Austrians, having the swollen Danube between them
+and the French, felt themselves so secure that except the sentry the
+whole camp was asleep.
+
+It is usual in war for the guns and the sentinels always to face towards
+the enemy, however far off he may be. A battery placed in advance of the
+camp was therefore turned towards the river, and sentries were walking
+on the top of the bank. The trees prevented them from seeing the extreme
+edge, while from the boat I could see through the branches a great part
+of the bivouac. So far my mission had been more successful than I had
+ventured to hope, but in order to make the success complete I had to
+bring away a prisoner, and to execute such an operation fifty paces away
+from several thousand enemies, whom a single cry would rouse, seemed
+very difficult. Still, I had to do something. I made the five sailors
+lie down at the bottom of the boat under guard of two grenadiers,
+another grenadier I posted at the bow of the boat which was close to the
+bank, and myself disembarked, sword in hand, followed by the corporal
+and two grenadiers. The boat was a few feet from dry land; we had to
+walk in the water, but at last we were on the slope. We went up, and I
+was making ready to rush on the nearest sentry, disarm him, gag him, and
+drag him off to the boat, when the ring of metal and the sound of
+singing in a low voice fell on my ears. A man, carrying a great tin
+pail, was coming to draw water, humming a song as he went; we quickly
+went down again to the river to hide under the branches, and as the
+Austrian stooped to fill his pail my grenadiers seized him by the
+throat, put a handkerchief full of wet sand over his mouth, and placing
+their sword-points against his body threatened him with death if he
+resisted or uttered a sound. Utterly bewildered, the man obeyed, and let
+us take him to the boat; we hoisted him into the hands of the grenadiers
+posted there, who made him lie down beside the sailors. While this
+Austrian was lying captured, I saw by his clothes that he was not
+strictly speaking a soldier, but an officer's servant. I should have
+preferred to catch a combatant, who could have given me more precise
+information; but I was going to content myself with this capture for
+want of a better, when I saw at top of the slope two soldiers carrying a
+cauldron between them, on a pole. They were only a few paces off. It was
+impossible for us to re-embark without being seen. I therefore signed to
+my grenadiers to hide themselves again, and as soon as the two Austrians
+stooped to fill their vessel, powerful arms seized them from behind, and
+plunged their heads under water. We had to stupefy them a little, since
+they had their swords, and I feared that they might resist. Then they
+were picked up in turn, their mouths covered with a handkerchief full of
+sand, and sword-points against their breasts constrained them to follow
+us. They were shipped as the servant had been, and my men and I got on
+board again.
+
+[Illustration: 'We had to saw the rope']
+
+So far all had gone well. I made the sailors get up and take their oars,
+and ordered the corporal to cast loose the rope which held us to the
+bank. It was, however, so wet, and the knot had been drawn so tight by
+the force of the stream, that it was impossible to unfasten. We had to
+saw the rope, which took us some minutes. Meanwhile, the rope, shaking
+with our efforts, imparted its movement to the branches of the willow
+round which it was wrapped, and the rustling became loud enough to
+attract the notice of the sentry. He drew near, unable to see the boat,
+but perceiving that the agitation of the branches increased, he called
+out, 'Who goes there?' No answer. Further challenge from the sentry. We
+held our tongues, and worked away. I was in deadly fear; after facing so
+many dangers, it would have been too cruel if we were wrecked in sight
+of port. At last, the rope was cut and the boat pushed off. But hardly
+was it clear of the overhanging willows than the light of the bivouac
+fires made it visible to the sentry, who, shouting, 'To arms,' fired at
+us. No one was hit but at the sound the whole camp was astir in a
+moment, and the gunners, whose pieces were ready loaded and trained on
+the river, honoured my boat with some cannon-shots. At the report my
+heart leapt for joy, for I knew that the Emperor and marshal would hear
+it. I turned my eyes towards the convent, with its lighted windows, of
+which I had, in spite of the distance, never lost sight. Probably all
+were open at this moment, but in one only could I perceive any increase
+of brilliancy; it was the great balcony window, which was as large as
+the doorway of a church, and sent from afar a flood of light over the
+stream. Evidently it had just been opened at the thunder of the cannon,
+and I said to myself, 'The Emperor and the marshals are doubtless on the
+balcony; they know that I have reached the enemy's camp, and are making
+vows for my safe return.' This thought raised my courage, and I heeded
+the cannon-balls not a bit. Indeed, they were not very dangerous, for
+the stream swept us along at such a pace that the gunners could not aim
+with any accuracy, and we must have been very unlucky to get hit. One
+shot would have done for us, but all fell harmless into the Danube. Soon
+I was out of range, and could reckon a successful issue to my
+enterprise. Still, all danger was not yet at an end; We had still to
+cross among the floating pine-stems, and more than once we struck on
+submerged islands, and were delayed by the branches of the poplars. At
+last we reached the right bank, more than two leagues below Moelk, and a
+new terror assailed me. I could see bivouac fires, and had no means of
+learning whether they belonged to a French regiment. The enemy had
+troops on both banks, and I knew that on the right bank Marshal Lannes'
+outposts were not far from Moelk, facing an Austrian corps, posted at
+Saint-Polten.
+
+Our army would doubtless go forward at daybreak, but was it already
+occupying this place? And were the fires that I saw those of friends or
+enemies? I was afraid that the current had taken me too far down, but
+the problem was solved by French cavalry trumpets sounding the reveille.
+Our uncertainty being at an end, we rowed with all our strength to the
+shore, where in the dawning light we could see a village. As we drew
+near, the report of a carbine was heard, and a bullet whistled by our
+ears. It was evident that the French sentries took us for a hostile
+crew. I had not foreseen this possibility, and hardly knew how we were
+to succeed in getting recognised, till the happy thought struck me of
+making my six grenadiers shout, 'Vive l'Empereur Napoleon!' This was, of
+course, no certain evidence that we were French, but it would attract
+the attention of the officers, who would have no fear of our small
+numbers, and would no doubt prevent the men from firing on us before
+they knew whether we were French or Austrians. A few moments later I
+came ashore, and I was received by Colonel Gautrin and the 9th Hussars,
+forming part of Lannes' division. If we had landed half a league lower
+down we should have tumbled into the enemy's pickets. The colonel lent
+me a horse, and gave me several wagons, in which I placed the
+grenadiers, the boatmen, and the prisoners, and the little cavalcade
+went off towards Moelk. As we went along, the corporal, at my orders,
+questioned the three Austrians, and I learnt with satisfaction that the
+camp whence I had brought them away belonged to the very division,
+General Killer's, the position of which the Emperor was so anxious to
+learn. There was, therefore, no further doubt that that general had
+joined the archduke on the other side of the Danube. There was no
+longer any question of a battle on the road which we held, and Napoleon,
+having only the enemy's cavalry in front of him, could in perfect safety
+push his troops forward towards Vienna, from which we were but three
+easy marches distant. With this information I galloped forward, in order
+to bring it to the Emperor with the least possible delay.
+
+When I reached the gate of the monastery, it was broad day. I found the
+approach blocked by the whole population of the little town of Moelk, and
+heard among the crowd the cries of the wives, children, and friends of
+the sailors whom I had carried off. In a moment I was surrounded by
+them, and was able to calm their anxiety by saying, in very bad German,
+'Your friends are alive, and you will see them in a few moments.' A
+great cry of joy went up from the crowd, bringing out the officer in
+command of the guard at the gate. On seeing me he ran off in pursuance
+of orders to warn the aides-de-camp to let the Emperor know of my
+return. In an instant the whole palace was up. The good Marshal Lannes
+came to me, embraced me cordially, and carried me straight off to the
+Emperor, crying out, 'Here he is, sir; I knew he would come back. He has
+brought three prisoners from General Hiller's division.' Napoleon
+received me warmly, and though I was wet and muddy all over, he laid his
+hand on my shoulder, and did not forget to give his greatest sign of
+satisfaction by pinching my ear. I leave you to imagine how I was
+questioned! The Emperor wanted to know every incident of the adventure
+in detail, and when I had finished my story said, 'I am very well
+pleased with you, "Major" Marbot.' These words were equivalent to a
+commission, and my joy was full. At that moment, a chamberlain announced
+that breakfast was served, and as I was calculating on having to wait in
+the gallery until the Emperor had finished, he pointed with his finger
+towards the dining-room, and said, 'You will breakfast with me.' As this
+honour had never been paid to any officer of my rank, I was the more
+flattered. During breakfast I learnt that the Emperor and the marshal
+had not been to bed all night, and that when they heard the cannon on
+the opposite bank they had all rushed on to the balcony. The Emperor
+made me tell again the way in which I had surprised the three prisoners,
+and laughed much at the fright and surprise which they must have felt.
+
+At last, the arrival of the wagons was announced, but they had much
+difficulty in making their way through the crowd, so eager were the
+people to see the boatmen. Napoleon, thinking this very natural, gave
+orders to open the gates, and let everybody come into the court. Soon
+after, the grenadiers, the boatmen, and the prisoners were led into the
+gallery. The Emperor, through his interpreter, first questioned the
+three Austrian soldiers, and learning with satisfaction that not only
+General Hiller's corps, but the whole of the archduke's army, were on
+the other bank, he told Berthier to give the order for the troops to
+march at once on Saint-Polten. Then, calling up the corporal and the
+five soldiers, he fastened the Cross on their breast, appointed them
+knights of the Empire, and gave them an annuity of 1,200 francs apiece.
+All the veterans wept for joy. Next came the boatmen's turn. The Emperor
+told them that, as the danger they had run was a good deal more than he
+had expected, it was only fair that he should increase their reward; so,
+instead of the 6,000 francs promised, 12,000 in gold were given to them
+on the spot. Nothing could express their delight; they kissed the hands
+of the Emperor and all present, crying, 'Now we are rich!' Napoleon
+laughingly asked the syndic if he would go the same journey for the same
+price the next night. But the man answered that, having escaped by
+miracle what seemed certain death, he would not undertake such a journey
+again even if his lordship, the abbot of Moelk, would give him the
+monastery and all its possessions. The boatmen withdrew, blessing the
+generosity of the French Emperor, and the grenadiers, eager to show off
+their decoration before their comrades, were about to go off with their
+three prisoners, when Napoleon perceived that the Austrian servant was
+weeping bitterly. He reassured him as to his safety, but the poor lad
+replied, sobbing, that he knew the French treated their prisoners well,
+but that, as he had on him a belt, containing nearly all his captain's
+money, he was afraid that the officer would accuse him of deserting in
+order to rob him, and he was heart-broken at the thought. Touched by the
+worthy fellow's distress, the Emperor told him that he was free, and as
+soon as we were before Vienna, he would be passed through the outposts,
+and be able to return to his master. Then, taking a rouleau of 1,000
+francs, he put it in the man's hand, saying, 'One must honour goodness
+wherever it is shown.' Lastly, the Emperor gave some pieces of gold to
+each of the other two prisoners, and ordered that they too should be
+sent back to the Austrian outposts, so that they might forget the fright
+which we had caused them, and that it might not be said that any
+soldiers, even enemies, had spoken to the Emperor of the French without
+receiving some benefit.
+
+
+
+
+_THE PITEOUS DEATH OF GASTON, SON OF THE COUNT OF FOIX_
+
+
+MORE than five hundred years ago, on St. Catherine's Day, 1388, Master
+Jean Froissart, a priest of Hainault, rode into the little town of
+Orthez. He was in search of information about battles and tournaments,
+for he was writing his famous 'History and Chronicle.' To get news of
+all kinds he rode gaily about, with a white greyhound in a leash, and
+carrying a novel which he had begun for the entertainment of ladies and
+princes. Arriving at Orthez (where, long afterwards, the Duke of
+Wellington fought the French on the borders of Spain), Master Froissart
+alighted at the hotel with the sign of the Moon. Meanwhile a knight who
+had travelled with Froissart went up to the castle, and paid his court
+to Gaston Phoebus, Count of Foix. He found the Count in the gallery of
+the palace just after dinner, for this prince always went to bed at
+midday and took supper at midnight. He was a great and powerful noble,
+of stately and beautiful presence, though now he was nearly sixty years
+old. A wise knight he was, bold in enterprise, and of good counsel.
+Never did he suffer any unbeliever in his company, and he was very
+pious, every day making many and long prayers, and giving alms to the
+poor folk at his gate. He took much delight in minstrelsy, and at his
+midnight supper songs and virelays were chanted to him. Till about three
+o'clock in the morning he listened while Master Froissart read aloud his
+poems, tales, or histories, while the courtiers yawned, no doubt, and
+wished for bedtime. But it was the good Count's manner to turn night
+into day. He was sometimes melancholy, and, as is told in the story of
+Orthon, men believed that he saw and knew events far distant, but in
+what manner none could tell. This great prince dwelt at peace while the
+wars of France, England, Portugal, and Spain raged outside his
+dominions. Rich, powerful, handsome, and deeply religious, he seemed to
+have everything that could make him happy, but he had no son and heir;
+his lands, on his death, would go to a distant cousin. Nor did the lady
+his wife live with the Count of Foix. Concerning this, and the early
+death of the Count's one son, Gaston, Master Froissart was very curious,
+but he found that people did not care to speak of the matter. At length
+an old squire told him the story of the death of Gaston.
+
+The Countess of Foix was the sister of the King of Navarre, and between
+the Count her husband, and the King her brother, a quarrel arose on a
+question of money. The Count therefore sent his wife to her brother at
+Pampeluna, that she might arrange the matter; but the end of it was that
+she stayed in Navarre, and did not return to her lord. Meanwhile her son
+Gaston grew up at Orthez, and married a daughter of the Count of
+Armagnac, being now a lad of sixteen, a good squire, and in all things
+very like his father. He had a desire to see his mother, and so rode
+into Navarre, hoping to bring home his mother, the Countess of Foix. But
+she would not leave Navarre for all that he could say, and the day came
+when he and the young squires of his company must return. Then the King
+of Navarre led him apart into a secret chamber, and there gave him a
+little purse. Now the purse was full of a powder of such sort that no
+living creature could taste of it and live, but must die without remedy.
+
+'Gaston, fair nephew,' said the King, 'you see how your father, the
+Count, holds your mother in bitter hate--a sore grief to me and to you
+also. Now to change all this, and bring your father and mother back to
+their ancient love, you must watch your chance and sprinkle a little of
+this powder on any food that your father is about to eat, taking good
+care that no man sees you. And the powder is a charm so strong that your
+father, as soon as he has tasted it, will desire nothing so much as to
+be friends with your mother again, and never will they leave each other.
+But you must take heed that no man knows of this purpose, or all is
+lost.'
+
+The young Count, believing, in his innocence, what his uncle said, made
+answer that he would gladly do as he was bidden. Then he rode back to
+Orthez, and showed his father all the presents and jewels that had been
+given to him in Navarre, except the little purse.
+
+Now it was the custom of the young Count to be much in the company of
+his brother by another mother, and, as they played together one day,
+this boy, named Yvain, caught hold of the little purse which Gaston
+wore about his neck under his coat, and asked him what it was. But
+Gaston made no answer. Three days later the lads quarrelled over a
+stroke at tennis, and Gaston struck Yvain a blow. Yvain ran weeping to
+his father, the Count, who asked what ailed him.
+
+[Illustration: 'The Count leaped up, a knife in his hand']
+
+'Gaston struck me,' said he, 'but it is Gaston, not I, who deserves a
+blow.'
+
+'What has he done?' asked the Count.
+
+'Ever since he came from his mother's in Navarre he carries about his
+neck a little purse full of a powder. But I only know that he says you
+and his mother will soon be good friends once more.'
+
+'Ha!' cried the Count, 'do you be silent.'
+
+That day at dinner, as Gaston served the meats, for this was his duty,
+the Count called to him, seized his coat, opened it, and, with his
+knife, cut the purse from the boy's neck. Gaston said no word, but grew
+pale and trembled. The Count opened the purse, spread the powder on a
+piece of bread, and threw it to a dog. No sooner had the dog eaten the
+bread than his eyes turned round, and he fell dead.
+
+[Illustration: Gaston in prison]
+
+The Count leaped up, a knife in his hand, and would have slain his son
+as a traitor, but the knights and esquires, kneeling, prayed him to hold
+his hand.
+
+'Perchance,' said they, 'Gaston knew not the nature of that which was in
+the purse, and is guiltless in this matter.'
+
+'So be it,' said the Count. 'Hold him prisoner in the tower at your own
+peril.'
+
+Then he seized all the companions and friends of Gaston, for they must
+have known, he said, that his son carried a purse secretly. Fifteen of
+the fairest and noblest of the boys he put to death with horrible
+tortures, but they knew nothing and could tell nothing. Then he called
+together all his nobles and bishops, and told them that Gaston also must
+die. But they prayed for his life, because they loved him dearly, and he
+was the heir of all the Count's lands. So the Count decided to keep
+Gaston in prison for some months, and then send him to travel for two or
+three years. The Pope sent a cardinal to the Count, bidding him spare
+Gaston, but, before the Cardinal reached Orthez, Gaston was dead.
+
+One day the servant who took meat and drink into the boy's dark dungeon
+saw that he had not tasted food for many days. All the dishes lay full
+of mouldering meat in a row along the wall. Then the servant ran and
+warned the Count that Gaston was starving himself to death. The Count
+was trimming his nails with a little knife, and he sped in great anger
+to the dungeon.
+
+'Traitor, why dost thou not eat?' he cried, dealt the boy a cuff, and
+rushed out again, and so went to his chamber.
+
+But the point of the little knife, which was in his hand, had cut a vein
+in Gaston's neck, and, being weak with hunger and grief, Gaston died,
+for the vein could not be staunched. Then the Count made great lament,
+and had his head shaven, and wore mourning for many days.
+
+Thus it chanced that the Count of Foix lived without an heir, turning
+night into day, praying much, and listening to minstrels, giving alms,
+and hearkening to strange messages of death and war that were borne to
+him how no man knew. And his brother, Pierre, was a good knight and wise
+by day, yet at night madness fell on him, and he raved, beating the air
+with a naked sword. And this had been his manner ever since he fought
+with and slew a huge bear on the hills. Now when his wife saw that bear
+brought home dead she fainted, and in three days she fled with her
+children, and came back no more. For her father had once pursued that
+bear, which cried to him: 'Thou huntest me who wish thee no harm, but
+thou shalt die an ill death.' He then left off pursuing the bear; but
+the Count's brother slew the beast on another day, and thereafter he
+went mad in the night, though by day he was wise enough.
+
+These tales were told to Master Froissart by the old squire at Orthez.
+
+
+
+
+_ROLF STAKE_[33]
+
+
+There was once a king in Denmark named Rolf Stake; right famous is he
+among the kings of yore, foremost for liberality, daring, and courtesy.
+Of his courtesy one proof celebrated in story is this.
+
+A poor little boy named Vogg came into King Rolf's hall: the King was
+then young and slender of build. Vogg went near and looked up at him.
+Then said the King: 'What wouldst thou say, boy, that thou lookest at me
+so?'
+
+Vogg answered: 'When I was at home, I heard tell that King Rolf at
+Hleidr was the tallest man in Northland; but now here sits in the high
+seat a thin stake, and they call him their king.'
+
+Then answered the King: 'Thou, boy, hast given me a name to be known
+by--Rolf Stake to wit. 'Tis custom to follow a naming with a gift. But
+now I see that thou hast not with the naming any gift to give me such as
+would beseem me to accept, wherefore he of us who hath must give to the
+other.' With that the King drew a gold ring from his own hand and gave
+it to him.
+
+Then said Vogg: 'Blessed above all kings be thou who givest! And by this
+vow I bind me to be that man's bane who shall be thine.'
+
+Then said the King with a laugh: 'With small gain is Vogg fain.'
+
+Further, this proof is told of Rolf Stake's daring.
+
+There ruled over Upsala a king named Adils, who had to wife Yrsa, Rolf
+Stake's mother. He was at war with Ali, the king who then ruled Norway.
+They appointed to meet in battle upon the ice of the lake called Venir.
+King Adils sent a message to Rolf Stake, his stepson, that he should
+come to help him, and promised pay to all his force so long as they
+should be on the campaign, but the King himself was to receive for his
+own three costly things from Sweden, whatsoever he should choose. King
+Rolf could not go himself by reason of a war that he had against the
+Saxons; but he sent to Adils his twelve Berserks, of whom were Bodvar
+Bjarki, Hjalti Stoutheart, Whiteserk Bold, Vott, Vidseti, and the
+brothers Svipdag and Beigud.
+
+In the battle then fought fell King Ali and a great part of his host.
+And King Adils took from the dead prince the helmet Battleboar and his
+horse Raven. Then the Berserks of Rolf Stake asked for their wage, three
+pounds of gold apiece; and further they asked to carry to Rolf Stake
+those costly things which they in his behalf should choose. These were
+the helmet Battleboar, and the corslet Finnsleif, which no weapon could
+pierce, and the gold ring called Sviagriss, an heirloom from Adils'
+forefathers. But the King denied them all the costly things, nor did he
+even pay their wage.
+
+[Illustration: 'But now here sits in the high seat a thin stake']
+
+The Berserks went away ill-content with their lot, and told Rolf Stake
+what had been done.
+
+At once he started for Upsala, and when he came with his ships into the
+river Fyri he then rode to Upsala, and with him his twelve Berserks,
+without any truce guaranteed. Yrsa, his mother, welcomed him, and led
+him, not to the King's hall, but to a lodging. There fires were lighted
+for them and ale given them to drink.
+
+ [Illustration:
+ 'He fleeth not the flame
+ Who leapeth o'er the same']
+
+Then some men of King Adils came in and threw billets of wood on the
+fire, and made such a blaze that it scorched the clothes of Rolf's
+company. And they said: 'Is it true that Rolf Stake and his Berserks
+flee neither fire nor iron?' Then up leapt Rolf and all his twelve, and
+he crying,
+
+ 'Heap we yet higher
+ Adils' house-fire,'
+
+took his shield and cast it on the fire, and leapt thereover, crying yet
+again,
+
+ 'He fleeth not the flame
+ Who leapeth o'er the same.'
+
+Likewise one after the other did all his men. Then they seized those who
+had heaped up the fire, and cast them thereon.
+
+And now came Yrsa and gave to Rolf Stake a deer's horn filled with gold,
+and therewith the ring Sviagriss, and bade them ride away to their
+fleet. They leapt on their horses and rode down to Fyris-field. Soon
+they saw that King Adils rode after them with his force fully armed,
+purposing to slay them. Whereupon Rolf Stake, plunging his right hand
+into the horn, took of the gold and sowed it all over the path. But when
+the Swedes saw that, they leapt from their saddles and gathered each
+what he could get; but King Adils bade them ride on, and himself rode at
+speed. Slungnir his horse was named, of all horses the fleetest.
+
+Then Rolf Stake, when he saw that King Adils rode near him, took the
+ring Sviagriss and threw it to him, and bade him accept the gift. King
+Adils rode to the ring, and lifting it on his lowered spear-point slid
+it up along the shaft. Then did Rolf Stake turn him back, and, seeing
+how he louted low, cried: 'Now have I made Sweden's greatest grovel
+swine-wise.'
+
+So they parted.
+
+For this reason gold is by poets called 'the seed of Stake' or 'of
+Fyris-field.'
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[33] From Snorri's _Edda_, cap. 44.
+
+
+
+
+_THE WRECK OF THE 'WAGER'_
+
+
+THE Honourable John Byron, grandfather of the poet, was a celebrated
+British Admiral who in almost all his voyages fell in with such rough
+weather that his sailors nicknamed him 'Foul-weather Jack.'
+
+When he was seventeen years old he served as midshipman in the 'Wager,'
+a vessel attached to the squadron under the command of Commodore Anson
+which sailed out to the Spanish Settlements in the Pacific in 1740.
+
+From the set-out the expedition was unfortunate. Almost all the ships
+were ill-fitted and ill-provisioned for so long a voyage. Moreover they
+were delayed until long after the proper season for their departure was
+past, which was regarded by the soldiers and sailors as an evil omen.
+This neglect affected the 'Wager' more than any other ship, as she was
+an old East Indiaman, and had been bought into the service for the
+voyage, and fitted out for it as a man-of-war.
+
+Besides this, when under sail she listed to one side, as she was
+top-laden with heavy military gear and stores for the use of the other
+vessels, while the lower holds were filled with light merchandise for
+bartering with the Indians.
+
+Her crew were men who had been pressed on their return from long
+voyages, and the marines a small troop of invalids from the Chelsea
+Hospital, who were all alike very miserably depressed at the prospect of
+the long voyage which lay before them.
+
+Even Captain Kid, under whose command the 'Wager' sailed out of port,
+when on his death-bed shortly after, foretold her ill-success.
+
+Upon his death Captain Cheap took command, and was able to keep with the
+squadron until they were about to enter the Straits la Marie, where the
+wind shifted to the south, and with the turn of the tide the 'Wager'
+was separated from the other ships, and very narrowly escaped being
+wrecked off Staten Island.
+
+[Illustration: 'ONE MAN . . . STALKED ABOUT THE DECK AND FLOURISHED A
+CUTLASS . . . SHOUTING THAT HE WAS "KING OF THE COUNTRY"']
+
+However, she regained her station with the rest of the fleet until a few
+days later, when they were caught by a deep roll of a hollow sea, and
+lost their mizzen mast, and all the windward chain plates were broken.
+
+They tried to rig up a substitute for the mizzen mast, but failed, as
+hard westerly gales set in with a tremendous short chopping swell, which
+raised the waves to a mountainous height, while from time to time a
+heavy sea broke over the ship. The boats on the davits were cast from
+their lashings, and filled with water, and the ship in all parts was
+soon in a most shattered and crazy state.
+
+They had now lost sight of the squadron, and from the numbers of birds,
+and the drifting seaweed in the waters, they found they were being borne
+on to a lee shore. The heavy clouds that lowered above them, or the
+blinding sleet and snow, hid the sun and prevented the officers from
+taking sights; and at night no moon or stars by which they could steer
+their course were visible in the wild gloom through which they tossed.
+
+When the officers at last found they were out of their bearings, they
+tried to persuade the captain to alter the course, but this he refused
+to do, as he believed he was making directly for the Island of Socoro,
+which was the place arranged for the squadron to meet, and whence it was
+intended they should make their first attack upon the Spaniards.
+
+At this time, when all but twelve men on the 'Wager' were disabled by
+fatigue or sickness, there loomed against the dull clouds a yet heavier
+cloud, which was that of mountainous masses of land. Then Captain Cheap
+at last realised their danger, and gave orders to wear ship to the
+southward, hoping that they might crowd her off the land.
+
+But the fury of the gale increased as night fell upon them, while to add
+to their dismay, as each sail was set with infinite labour, it was set
+only to be blown or rent immediately from the yard.
+
+At four o'clock in the morning the ship struck, then again for the
+second time more violently; and presently she lay helpless on her beam
+ends--while the sea every now and then broke over her.
+
+Everyone who could move rushed to the quarter-deck, but those who were
+dying of scurvy and who could not leave their hammocks were drowned in
+them.
+
+In the uncertain light of dawn they could see nothing around them but
+leaden breakers from whose foam-crested manes the wind swept the
+blinding spray. The ship lay in this terrible plight for some little
+time, while every soul on board counted each moment as his last.
+
+In this scene of wild disorder the men lost all reason and restraint,
+some gave themselves up to death like logs, and were rolled hither and
+thither with each jerk and roll of the shivering ship.
+
+One man in the exaltation of his despair stalked about the deck, and
+flourished a cutlass over his head, and struck at anyone who came near
+him with it--meanwhile shouting that he was the 'king of the country.'
+
+Another, and a brave man, was so overcome by the fury of the seething
+waters, that he tried to throw himself from the rails at the
+quarter-deck, and to end in death a scene he felt too shocking to look
+upon.
+
+The man at the helm still kept his post, though both rudder and tiller
+had been carried away; and applied himself to his duty with the same
+respect and coolness as though the ship were in the greatest safety.
+
+Then Mr. Jones, the mate, spoke to the men, saying, 'My friends! have
+you never seen a ship amongst breakers before? Lend a hand, boys, and
+lay on to the sheets and braces. I have no fear but that we shall stick
+her near enough to the land to save our lives.'
+
+Although he said these gallant words without hope of saving a single
+soul, he gave courage to many of the men, and they set to work in
+earnest.
+
+They steered as best they could by the sheets and braces, and presently
+ran her in between an opening in the breakers, and soon found themselves
+wedged fast between two great rocks.
+
+With the break of day the weather cleared sufficiently to give them a
+glimpse of the land. They then set to work to get out the boats. The
+first one that was launched was so overladen by those anxious to save
+themselves, that they were almost swamped before they reached the shore.
+
+On the day before the ship was wrecked, the captain had had his shoulder
+dislocated by a fall, and was lying in his berth when John Byron, whose
+duty it was to keep him informed of all that passed on deck, went to ask
+if he would not like to land. But the captain refused to leave the ship
+until everyone else had gone.
+
+Throughout the ship, the scene was now greatly changed. The men who but
+a few moments before had been on their knees praying for mercy, when
+they found themselves not in immediate danger, became very riotous,
+rushed to the cabins and stores, and broke open every chest and box they
+could find, as well as casks of wine and brandy. And by drinking it some
+of them were rendered so helpless that they were drowned on board by the
+seas that continually swept over them.
+
+The boatswain and five other men refused to leave the ship while there
+was any liquor to be got; then at last the captain consented to be
+helped from his bed, and to be taken on shore.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Although they were thankful to escape from the wreck, when they reached
+the land they found themselves in a scene desolate enough to quell the
+bravest soul.
+
+The bay in which they had been cast away was open to the full force of
+the ocean, and was formed by rocky headlands and cliffs with here and
+there a stretch of beach, while rising abruptly from the sea a
+rock-bound steep frowned above them, which they afterwards named Mount
+Misery. Stretching back from the beach lay stagnant lagoons and dreary
+flats of morass and swamp, the edges of which were drained by the roots
+of heavy forest trees whose impenetrable gloom clothed the intervening
+country and hillsides.
+
+And out before them in the tempestuous waters the wreck lay, from whose
+stores must come their only present chance of life.
+
+With nightfall presently at hand, though they were cold and wet and
+hungry, they had to try to find a shelter, and at last chanced upon an
+Indian hut at a little distance from the beach. Into this poor refuge
+the men packed themselves in a voluntary imprisonment, while, to add to
+their distress, they were afraid of being attacked by Indians.
+
+One of the officers died in this miserable place during the night, and
+of those left outside who were unable from want of room to press in, two
+more perished from cold.
+
+The next morning found them cramped with starvation and cold, with no
+food but some fragments of biscuit, a solitary seagull someone had
+killed, and the stalks of wild celery that grew upon the beach. This
+they made into soup, and served as far as it would go to the hundred and
+forty men who clamoured for food.
+
+The men who had remained on the wreck were now anxious to be brought on
+shore, and repeatedly made signals to that effect; but the sea was
+running high and it was not possible at once to set out to their relief.
+In their rage at the delay they fired one of the quarter-deck guns upon
+the camp, while on board they destroyed everything they could lay hands
+on. In his brutality and greed for spoil, a man named James Mitchell
+murdered one of their number. When at last they were brought to land
+they came dressed in laced clothes and officers' suits which they had
+put on over their own dirty clothes.
+
+These men Captain Cheap instantly had stripped of their finery and arms,
+and enforced the most strict discipline upon them and all the crew.
+
+In a few days they had a shelter made with boats turned keel upwards,
+and placed on props, while the sides were lined with canvas and boughs.
+
+Then followed five weary months, during which these hunger-driven men
+roamed the wretched island rocks both night and day, searching for
+shell-fish for food--men who were even thankful at the times when they
+were able to kill and eat the carrion crows that fed upon the flesh of
+their drowned comrades cast up by the tide. Some Indians surprised them
+by a visit, and stayed for several days, and with them they were able to
+barter cloth and beads for some dogs, and these they killed and ate.
+
+The Indians were very short and black, and had long coarse hair that
+hung over their faces, and were almost without clothing of any kind.
+
+The shipwrecked men grew more and more discontented as the months went
+by, and several of them threatened to take the life of the captain,
+whose strict discipline and guard over the stores made them very angry.
+
+James Mitchell, who had murdered a man on the wreck, and had since
+committed another murder on Mount Misery, where his victim was found
+shockingly stabbed and mangled, was amongst this set. They had
+determined to leave the others, and on the night before their departure
+had placed a barrel of gunpowder close to the captain's hut, intending
+to blow it up, but were dissuaded from doing this by one of their
+number. After wandering about the island for some time they went up one
+of the lagoons on a punt they had made, and were never heard of again.
+
+Captain Cheap was very jealous of his authority, and hasty in suspecting
+both officers and men of a desire to mutiny, and this suspicion on his
+part led to the unfortunate shooting by him of a midshipman named Mr.
+Cozens, whom he heard one day disputing with the purser as to the
+disposal of some stores he was at the time receiving from the wreck. The
+captain already had a personal dislike to Mr. Cozens, and hearing high
+words immediately rushed out of his hut and shot him. Mr. Cozens did not
+die until several days after, but the captain would not allow him to be
+attended to by the surgeon, or to have any care from the other men,
+though they begged to be allowed to carry him to their tent, but ordered
+that he should be left upon the ground, under a bit of canvas thrown
+over some bushes, until he died. This inhumanity on the part of Captain
+Cheap much embittered the men against him.
+
+[Illustration: The Captain shoots Mr. Cozens]
+
+Their numbers were now lessened, chiefly by famine, to one hundred
+souls; the weather was still tempestuous and rainy, and the difficulty
+of finding food daily increased.
+
+They had saved the long-boat from the wreck, and about this time John
+Bulkely, who had been a gunner on the 'Wager,' formed a plan of trying
+to make the voyage home through the Straits of Magellan. The plan was
+proposed to the captain, and though he thought it wiser to pretend to
+fall in with it, he had no intention of doing so. And when Bulkely and
+his followers suggested that there should be some restrictions on his
+command, or that at least he should do nothing without consulting his
+officers, the captain refused to consent to this; whereupon they
+imprisoned him, intending to take him to England on the charge of having
+murdered Mr. Cozens.
+
+But when the boats were ready for sailing they found there would not be
+enough room for everybody. So the captain, Mr. Hamilton, and the doctor
+were left on the island.
+
+John Byron did not know they were going to do this until the last
+moment. There were eighty-one men who left the island, who were
+distributed in the long-boat, the cutter, and the barge.
+
+After they had been out about two days it was thought necessary to send
+back to the old station for some spare canvas. John Byron was sent back
+with the barge on this errand. When he was well away from the long-boat
+he told those with him he did not mean to return, but to rejoin Captain
+Cheap; and they agreed to do so too.
+
+Although they were welcomed by those left on the island, there was
+little food for so many mouths, as almost everything had been carried
+off by the voyagers, and for a considerable time they were forced to
+live upon a kind of seaweed called slaugh, which with the stalks of wild
+celery they fried in the tallow of some candles they had saved.
+
+This poor food reduced them to a terrible condition of weakness.
+
+At last a really fair day broke upon them, when they went out to the
+remains of the wreck, and had the good fortune to hook up out of the
+bottom, three casks of beef which they brought safely to shore. The good
+food gave them renewed strength and energy, and again they became very
+anxious to leave the island.
+
+Accordingly they launched both boats on December 15. The captain,
+Lieutenant Hamilton, and John Byron were in the barge with nine men, and
+Mr. Campbell in the yawl with six. And thus they set out on their
+journey northward.
+
+Then followed weary days, during which they rowed over high seas, and
+weary nights of exposure and cold, when they landed on some barren shore
+for rest and to wait for daylight.
+
+On Christmas Eve they found themselves tossing on a wide bay, and
+unable by the force of the currents to double the rocky headlands that
+lay in front of them. Unable, too, by the fury of the breakers to make
+the land or to find harbour, they were forced to lie outside all that
+night upon their oars.
+
+They were so hungry then that they ate their shoes, which were made of
+raw sealskin.
+
+On Christmas Day some of them landed, and had the good fortune to kill a
+seal. Though the two men who were left in each boat to take care of it
+could see their companions on shore eating seal, they were unable to
+have any themselves, as again when night came on the wind blew very
+hard, and the mighty breakers beat with pulse-like regularity on the
+shore.
+
+John Byron, who had fallen into a comfortless sleep in the boat, was
+suddenly awakened by a shriek, and saw the yawl turned bottom upwards
+and go down.
+
+One man was drowned, the other was thrown up by the breakers on the
+beach and saved by the people there.
+
+At this place Mr. Hamilton, who was with the shore party, shot at a
+large sea-lion, which he hit with two balls; and when the brute
+presently charged at him with open mouth, he thrust his bayonet down its
+throat, as well as a great part of the barrel of his gun. But the
+sea-lion bit this in two with the greatest ease, and in spite of all its
+wounds, and all other efforts to kill it, got away.
+
+As they had lost the yawl there was not enough of room to take all the
+men away from this place, therefore four of the marines agreed to remain
+and to try to make their way on foot to a more habitable country.
+
+The captain gave them guns and food, and as the boat put off, they stood
+upon the beach and gave three cheers, and shouted 'God bless the King.'
+
+The others made another attempt to double the cape, but the wind, the
+sea, and currents were too strong for them, and again they failed. So
+disheartened were they now, that caring little for life, they agreed to
+return to their original station on Wager's Island, and to end their
+days in miserable existence there.
+
+They went back to the place where they had left the four marines in
+order to try to get some seal for their return passage and to take these
+men back with them, but when they searched all traces of them had gone.
+
+It was here that the surgeon found in a curious cave the bodies of
+several Indians that were stretched out on a kind of platform. The
+flesh on the bodies had become perfectly dry and hard, and it was
+thought that it must be the kind of burial given to the great men or
+Caciques of the Indians.
+
+After a terrible journey back to Wager's Island they reached it alive,
+though again worn out by hunger and fatigue.
+
+The first thing they did on reaching their old station was to bury the
+corpse of the man who had been murdered on Mount Misery by James
+Mitchell, for the men thought that all their misfortunes had arisen from
+the neglect of this proper duty to the dead, and they were sure that the
+restless spirit of this person haunted the waters around them at night,
+as they heard strange and unearthly cries from the sea. And one night,
+in bright moonlight, they saw and heard something which looked like a
+human being swimming near the shore.
+
+[Illustration: Mr. Hamilton's fight with the sea-lion]
+
+Inconsistent as this may seem, they were soon so terribly driven by
+hunger that the last dreadful suggestion for food was beginning to be
+whispered amongst them, when fortunately some Indians from the island of
+Chiloc appeared. It was supposed they had heard of the wreck from those
+first Indians who had visited them, and had come to collect old iron
+and nails, which they value very much.
+
+They were able to persuade the Cacique, who was a Christian named
+Martini, to promise to show them the safest and best way to some of the
+Spanish Settlements. Once more the barge was launched, with the fifteen
+souls on board who now remained on the island of the shipwrecked crew.
+
+They followed their Indian guide by day for some time, during which
+their sufferings were so terrible that it was no unusual thing for one
+of their number to fall back dying from the oars, meanwhile beseeching
+his comrades for two or three mouthfuls of food which they had not.
+
+Captain Cheap, who was always well provided with seal by the Indians,
+again showed how regardless he could be of the sufferings of others, and
+often though he could have relieved his men by giving up a small portion
+of his own food when he heard their heartrending appeals for it, let
+them die at their posts unheedful of their want and misery.
+
+They were rather taken in by their Christian Indian Martini. He made
+them row the heavy barge a very long way up a river and then deserted
+them for several days. They found he wished to secure the barge here,
+which was to be a part of his reward, and which was too heavy to be
+carried over the rocks of the headlands in the way they carried their
+own canoes--and by which they escaped the heavy seas that ran round
+those places.
+
+However, the Cacique returned again, and after a time he consented to
+take the captain with John Byron to row his canoe on to another part of
+the coast where there were more Indians.
+
+They reached this camp late one evening, and while the captain was at
+once taken by Martini to a wigwam, Byron was left outside to shift for
+himself as best he could. He was so exhausted that all he could do was
+to creep into the shelter of a wigwam, and chance what fate might bring
+him.
+
+These wigwams were built of branches of trees placed in a circle, which
+are bound at the top by a kind of creeper called supple-jack. The frame
+of the wigwam is covered with boughs and bark. The fire is lit in the
+very centre, round which the Indians lie. As there is no outlet for the
+smoke, it is not a very comfortable place to sleep in.
+
+There were only two Indian women in the wigwam into which John Byron
+crept, who were very astonished to see him. However, they were kind to
+him and made up a good fire, and presently, when he made them understand
+that he was hungry, they gave him some fish to eat. But when he had
+finished it he was still so hungry that he made signs for more. Then
+they went out into the night, taking their dogs with them, and came back
+in an hour or two shivering and with water dripping from their hair.
+They had caught two more fish, which after they had cooked slightly they
+gave him to eat.
+
+These people live only on what they can take from the sea, and train
+their dogs to dive for fish and their women for sea-eggs. While
+collecting these the women stay under water a wonderfully long time;
+they have really the hardest work to do, as they have to provide food
+for their husbands and children. They are not allowed to touch any food
+themselves until the husband is satisfied, when he gives them a very
+small portion, generally that which he does not care to eat himself.
+
+Martini then told them that they would have to return in the canoe by
+which they had come to their companions, and that the Indians they were
+leaving would join them in a few days, after which they would all set
+out together on the journey northwards. They found Mr. Elliot, the
+surgeon, very ill, and Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Campbell were almost
+starved, having had only a few sea-eggs to eat since they had left.
+
+About the middle of March they re-embarked with the other Indians, and
+soon afterwards Mr. Elliot died. He had been one of the strongest of the
+party, and one of the most useful and self-denying, and had never spared
+himself in trying to provide food for the others. He was also one of the
+best shots of the party.
+
+Most of them were now reduced to rags and without shoes, and when they
+had to cross the stony headlands and swamps, and to carry heavy burdens,
+their feet were often terribly torn.
+
+The Cacique had now become a very hard master to all but the captain,
+and forced them to row like galley slaves when they were in the boats.
+Indeed, the captain seemed to encourage the Indian in this conduct. He
+had become more selfish and cunning in keeping all the food he could lay
+hands on for himself, and was accustomed to sleep with his head pillowed
+on a dirty piece of canvas in which he wrapped portions of seal or
+sea-eggs. Thorough cleanliness had become an impossibility to them: they
+were now terribly emaciated and covered by vermin. The captain
+particularly was a most shocking sight. His legs had become tremendously
+swelled, probably from the disease known as 'beri-beri,' while his body
+was almost a skeleton, his beard had grown very long, and his face was
+covered with train oil and dirt.
+
+When at last they were within a few miles of the island of Chiloc, they
+found they had to cross a most dangerous bay. After waiting for two days
+for fair weather they started, although the Cacique even then seemed
+terrified, and there was every reason for it, as the sea ran so strong
+and their boat was most crazy, the bottom plank having opened, and
+ceaseless bailing had to be carried on all the time. It was early in
+June when they reached this place.
+
+[Illustration: The Cacique fires off the gun]
+
+Directly the Cacique landed he buried all the things he had brought from
+the wreck, for he knew that the Spaniards would take everything from
+him.
+
+That same evening, as they drew near to a settlement of Chiloc Indians
+the Cacique asked them to load their one remaining gun with the last
+charge of powder, and to show him how to fire it off. Holding the gun
+as far away from his head as he could he fired, and fell back into the
+bottom of the canoe.
+
+When the Chiloc Indians found out who they were, they brought fish and
+potatoes for them to eat, and this was the nicest meal they had had for
+more than a year.
+
+These Indians are very strong and nice-looking people; they are
+extremely neat in their dress. The men wear what is called a puncho,
+which is a square piece of cloth in stripes of different colours, with a
+slit in the centre wide enough to put their heads through, and it hangs
+from their shoulders.
+
+After a little time the shipwrecked men were sent on by these people to
+the Spaniards at Castro. There they were met by a number of soldiers,
+with three or four officers, who surrounded them fiercely as though they
+were a most formidable enemy instead of the four poor helpless creatures
+left of the fifteen men that had set out from Wager's Island.
+
+Though they had had much better food since they had been with the kindly
+Indians, they were so weak that they could hardly walk up the hill to
+the shed in which they were to be lodged.
+
+Numbers of people came to look at them in this place, as though they
+were wild beasts or curiosities; and when they heard they had been
+starved for more than a year, they brought quantities of chicken and all
+kinds of good things for them to eat.
+
+John Byron then began to feel more comfortable. He was always ready to
+make a meal, and used to carry food in his pockets so that he need not
+wait a second for it if he felt hungry. Even the captain owned that he
+ate so much that he felt quite ashamed of himself.
+
+In a little time an old Jesuit priest came to see them. He did not come
+because he was sorry for them, but because he had heard from the Indian
+Cacique that they had things of great value about them. The priest began
+by producing a bottle of brandy, and gave them all some to open their
+hearts.
+
+Captain Cheap told him he had nothing, not remembering that Martini had
+seen his gold repeater watch; but at the same time he said that Mr.
+Campbell had a silver watch, which he at once ordered him to make a
+present of to the priest.
+
+Soon after the Spanish governor sent for them to be brought to Chaco,
+where they were very well treated by the people. Whilst here John Byron
+was asked to marry the niece of a very rich old priest.
+
+The lady made the suggestion through her uncle, saying that first she
+wished him to be converted, and then he might marry her.
+
+When the old priest made the offer, he took John Byron into a room where
+there were several large chests full of clothes. Taking from one of them
+a large piece of linen, he told him it should be made up into shirts for
+him at once if he would marry the lady.
+
+The thought of new shirts was a great temptation to John Byron, as he
+had only the one in which he had lived ever since he had been wrecked.
+
+However, he denied himself this luxury, and excused himself for not
+being able to accept the honour of the lady's hand.
+
+On _this_ occasion he managed to speak Spanish sufficiently well to make
+himself understood.
+
+In January 1742 they were sent on to Valparaiso as English prisoners.
+Only Captain Cheap and Mr. Campbell were recognised as officers, as they
+had saved their commissions, and they were sent to St. Jago, while John
+Byron and Mr. Hamilton were kept in prison. However, when they were
+released they were permitted to rejoin the others at St. Jago, and found
+them living with a Scotch physician named Don Patricio Gedd.
+
+When Dr. Gedd heard of the four English prisoners, he had begged the
+President to allow them to live at his house.
+
+This was granted, and during the two years they lived there with him, he
+treated them most hospitably, and would hear of no return being made for
+his kindness.
+
+Mr. Campbell changed his religion while they were at St. Jago, and left
+his companions.
+
+At the end of two years the President sent for them, and told them that
+they were at liberty to leave the country in a French ship bound for
+Spain.
+
+Accordingly, in the end of December 1744, they sailed in the frigate
+bound for Conception, where she was to join three more French ships that
+were homeward bound.
+
+On October 27 they reached Cape Ortegal, and after lying at anchor there
+for several days they were taken to Landernan, where they lived on
+parole for three months, until an order came from the Court of Spain to
+allow them to return home by the first ship that sailed. After arranging
+with the captain of a Dutch lugger to land them at Dover they embarked
+in her and had a very uncomfortable passage.
+
+[Illustration: Byron rides past the turnpikes]
+
+When they got well up Channel they found the Dutchman had no intention
+of landing them at Dover, as he was making his way up off the coast of
+France. In the midst of their indignation at this breach of faith, an
+English man-of-war appeared to windward, and bore down upon them. This
+was the 'Squirrel,' commanded by Captain Masterton. He at once sent them
+off in one of his cutters, and they arrived at Dover that afternoon.
+
+They agreed to start for London the next morning. Captain Cheap and Mr.
+Hamilton were to drive in a post-chaise, and John Byron was to ride. But
+when they came to divide the little money they had left, it was found
+there would be barely enough to pay for horses. There was not a farthing
+left for John Byron to buy any food he might want on the way, nothing
+even to pay for the turnpikes. However, he boldly cheated these by
+riding as hard as he could through them all, and paid no attention to
+the shouts of the men when they tried to stop him. The want of food he
+had to put up with.
+
+When he got to the Borough he took a coach and drove to Marlborough
+Street, where his people had lived before he left England. But when he
+came to the house he found it shut up. He had been away for five years,
+and had not heard a word from home all that time, therefore he was at a
+loss to know what to do for a few minutes until he remembered a linen
+draper's shop near by which his family had used. He drove there, and
+told them who he was. They paid his coachman for him, and told him that
+his sister was married to Lord Carlisle, and was living in Soho Square.
+
+He went at once to her house; but the porter would not admit him for a
+long time. He was strangely dressed; half in Spanish, and half in French
+clothing, and besides, he wore very large and very mud-bespattered
+boots. The porter was about to shut the door in his face when John Byron
+persuaded him to let him in.
+
+Then at last his troubles were over. His sister was delighted to see
+him, and at once gave him money with which to buy new clothes. And until
+he looked like an Englishman again, he did not feel he had come to the
+end of all the strange scenes and adventures that he had experienced for
+more than five years.
+
+
+
+
+_PETER WILLIAMSON_[34]
+
+
+I WAS born in Hirulay, in the county of Aberdeen. My parents, though not
+rich, were respectable, and so long as I was under their care all went
+well with me. Unhappily, I was sent to stay with an aunt at Aberdeen,
+where, at eight years old, when playing on the quay, I was noticed as a
+strong, active little fellow by two men belonging to a vessel in the
+harbour. Now this vessel was in the employ of certain merchants of
+Aberdeen, who used her for the villainous purpose of kidnapping--that
+is, stealing young children from their parents, and selling them as
+slaves in the plantations abroad.
+
+These impious monsters, marking me out for their prey, tempted me on
+board the ship, which I had no sooner entered than they led me between
+the decks to some other boys whom they had kidnapped in like manner. Not
+understanding what a fate was in store for me, I passed the time in
+childish amusement with the other lads in the steerage, for we were
+never allowed to go on deck while the vessel stayed in the harbour,
+which it did till they had imprisoned as many luckless boys as they
+needed.
+
+Then the ship set sail for America. I cannot remember much of the
+voyage, being a mere child at the time, but I shall never forget what
+happened when it was nearly ended. We had reached the American coast
+when a hard gale of wind sprang up from the south-east, and about
+midnight the ship struck on a sandbank off Cape May, near Delaware. To
+the terror of all on board, it was soon almost full of water. The boat
+was then hoisted out, and the captain and his fellow-villains, the crew,
+got into it, leaving me and my deluded companions, as they supposed, to
+perish. The cries, shrieks, and tears of a throng of children had no
+effect on these merciless wretches.
+
+But happily for us the wind abated, and the ship being on a sandbank,
+which did not give way to let her deeper, we lay here till morning, when
+the captain, unwilling to lose all his cargo, sent some of the crew in a
+boat to the ship's side to bring us ashore. A sort of camp was made, and
+here we stayed till we were taken in by a vessel bound to Philadelphia.
+
+[Illustration: THE INDIAN THREATENS PETER WILLIAMSON]
+
+At Philadelphia people soon came to buy us. We were sold for 16_l._
+apiece. I never knew what became of my unhappy companions, but I was
+sold for seven years to one of my countrymen, Hugh Wilson, who in his
+youth had suffered the same fate as myself in being kidnapped from his
+home.
+
+Happy was my lot in falling into his power, for he was a humane, worthy
+man. Having no children of his own, and pitying my sad condition, he
+took great care of me till I was fit for business, and at twelve years
+old set me about little things till I could manage harder work.
+Meanwhile, seeing my fellow-servants often reading and writing, I felt a
+strong desire to learn, and told my master that I should be glad to
+serve a year longer than the bond obliged me if he would let me go to
+school. To this he readily agreed, and I went every winter for five
+years, also learning as much as I could from my fellow-servants.
+
+With this good master I stayed till I was seventeen years old, when he
+died, leaving me a sum of money, about 120_l._ sterling, his best horse,
+and all his wearing apparel.
+
+I now maintained myself by working about the country, for anyone who
+would employ me, for nearly seven years, when I determined to settle
+down. I applied to the daughter of a prosperous planter, and found my
+suit was acceptable both to her and her father, so we married. My
+father-in-law wishing to establish us comfortably, gave me a tract of
+land which lay, unhappily for me, as it has since proved, on the
+frontiers of Pennsylvania. It contained about two hundred acres, with a
+good house and barn.
+
+I was now happy in my home with a good wife; but my peace did not last
+long, for about 1754 the Indians in the French interest, who had
+formerly been very troublesome in our province, began to renew their old
+practices. Even many of the Indians whom we supposed to be in the
+English interest joined the plundering bands; it was no wonder, for the
+French did their utmost, to win them over, promising to pay 15_l._ for
+every scalp of an Englishman!
+
+Hardly a day passed but some unhappy family fell a victim to French
+bribery and savage cruelty. As for me, though now in comfortable
+circumstances, with an affectionate and amiable wife, it was not long
+before I suddenly became the most pitiable of mankind. I can never bear
+to think of the last time I saw my dear wife, on the fatal 2nd of
+October, 1754. That day she had left home to visit some of her
+relations, and, no one being in the house but myself, I stayed up later
+than usual, expecting her return. How great was my terror when, at
+eleven o'clock at night, I heard the dismal war-whoop of the savages,
+and, flying to the window, saw a band of them outside, about twelve in
+number.
+
+They made several attempts to get in, and I asked them what they wanted.
+They paid no attention, but went on beating at the door, trying to get
+it open. Then, having my gun loaded in my hand, I threatened them with
+death if they would not go away. But one of them, who could speak a
+little English, called out in return that if I did not come out they
+would burn me alive in the house. They told me further--what I had
+already found out--that they were no friends to the English, but that if
+I would surrender myself prisoner they would not kill me.
+
+My horror was beyond all words. I could not depend on the promises of
+such creatures, but I must either accept their offer or be burnt alive.
+Accordingly I went out of my house with my gun in my hand, not knowing
+what I did or that I still held it. Immediately, like so many tigers,
+they rushed on me and disarmed me. Having me now completely in their
+power, the merciless villains bound me to a tree near the door, and then
+went into the house and plundered what they could. Numbers of things
+which they were unable to carry away were set fire to with the house and
+consumed before my eyes. Then they set fire to my barn, stable, and
+outhouses, where I had about two hundred bushels of wheat, and cows,
+sheep, and horses. My agony as I watched all this havoc it is impossible
+to describe.
+
+When the terrible business was over, one of the monsters came to me, a
+tomahawk in his hand, threatening me with a cruel death if I would not
+consent to go with them. I was forced to agree, promising to do all that
+was in my power for them, and trusting to Providence to deliver me out
+of their hands. On this they untied me, and gave me a great load to
+carry on my back, under which I travelled all that night with them, full
+of the most terrible fear lest my unhappy wife should likewise have
+fallen into their clutches. At daybreak my master ordered me to lay down
+my load, when, tying my hands round a tree with a small cord, they
+forced the blood out of my finger ends. They then kindled a fire near
+the tree to which I was bound, which redoubled my agony, for I thought
+they were going to sacrifice me there.
+
+[Illustration: 'ANOTHER PARTY OF INDIANS ARRIVED, BRINGING TWENTY SCALPS
+AND THREE PRISONERS']
+
+When the fire was made, they danced round me after their manner, with
+all kinds of antics, whooping and crying out in the most horrible
+fashion. Then they took the burning coals and sticks, flaming with fire
+at the ends; and held them near my face, head, hands and feet, with
+fiendish delight, at the same time threatening to burn me entirely if I
+called out or made the least noise. So, tortured as I was, I could make
+no sign of distress but shedding silent tears, which, when they saw,
+they took fresh coals, and held them near my eyes, telling me my face
+was wet, and they would dry it for me. I have often wondered how I
+endured these tortures; but at last they were satisfied, and sat down
+round the fire and roasted the meat which they had brought from my
+dwelling!
+
+When they had prepared it they offered some to me, and though it may be
+imagined that I had not much heart to eat, I was forced to seem pleased,
+lest if I refused it they should again begin to torture me. What I could
+not eat I contrived to get between the bark and the tree--my foes having
+unbound my hands till they supposed I had eaten all they gave me. But
+then they bound me as before, and so I continued all day. When the sun
+was set they put out the fire, and covered the ashes with leaves, as is
+their custom, that the white people may find no signs of their having
+been there.
+
+Travelling thence, by the river, for about six miles, I being loaded
+heavily, we reached a spot near the Blue Hills, where the savages hid
+their plunder under logs of wood. Thence, shocking to relate, they went
+to a neighbouring house, that of Jacob Snider, his wife, five children,
+and a young man, a servant. They soon forced their way into the unhappy
+man's dwelling, slew the whole family, and set fire to the house.
+
+The servant's life was spared for a time, since they thought he might be
+of use to them, and forthwith loaded him with plunder. But he could not
+bear the cruel treatment that we suffered; and though I tried to console
+him with a hope of deliverance, he continued to sob and moan. One of the
+savages, seeing this, instantly came up, struck him to the ground, and
+slew him.
+
+The family of John Adams next suffered. All were here put to death
+except Adams himself, a good old man, whom they loaded with plunder, and
+day after day continued to treat with the most shocking cruelty,
+painting him all over with various colours, plucking the white hairs
+from his beard, and telling him he was a fool for living so long, and
+many other tortures which he bore with wonderful composure, praying to
+God.
+
+One night after he had been tortured, when he and I were sitting
+together, pitying each other's misfortunes, another party of Indians
+arrived, bringing twenty scalps and three prisoners, who gave us
+terrible accounts of what tragedies had passed in their parts, on which
+I cannot bear to dwell.
+
+These three prisoners contrived to escape, but unhappily, not knowing
+the country, they were recaptured and brought back. They were then all
+put to death, with terrible tortures.
+
+A great snow now falling, the savages began to be afraid that the white
+people would follow their tracks upon it and find out their skulking
+retreats, and this caused them to make their way to their winter
+quarters, about two hundred miles further from any plantations or
+English inhabitants. There, after a long and tedious journey, in which I
+was almost starved, I arrived with this villainous crew. The place where
+we had to stay, in their tongue, was called Alamingo, and there I found
+a number of wigwams full of Indian women and children. Dancing, singing,
+and shooting were their general amusements, and they told what successes
+they had had in their expeditions, in which I found myself part of their
+theme. The severity of the cold increasing, they stripped me of my own
+clothes and gave me what they usually wear themselves--a blanket, a
+piece of coarse cloth, and a pair of shoes made of deer-skin.
+
+The better sort of Indians have shirts of the finest linen they can get;
+and with these some wear ruffles, but they never put them on till they
+have painted them different colours, and do not take them off to wash,
+but wear them till they fall into pieces. They are very proud, and
+delight in trinkets, such as silver plates round their wrists and necks,
+with several strings of _wampum_, which is made of cotton, interwoven
+with pebbles, cockle-shells, &c. From their ears and noses they have
+rings and beads, which hang dangling an inch or two.
+
+The hair of their heads is managed in different ways: some pluck out and
+destroy all except a lock hanging from the crown of the head, which they
+interweave with wampum and feathers. But the women wear it very long,
+twisted down their backs, with beads, feathers, and wampum, and on their
+heads they carry little coronets of brass or copper.
+
+No people have a greater love of liberty or affection for their
+relations, yet they are the most revengeful race on earth, and inhumanly
+cruel. They generally avoid open fighting in war, yet they are brave
+when taken, enduring death or torture with wonderful courage. Nor would
+they at any time commit such outrages as they do, if they were not
+tempted by drink and money by those who call themselves civilised.
+
+At Alamingo I was kept nearly two months, till the snow was off the
+ground--a long time to be among such creatures! I was too far from any
+plantations or white people to try to escape; besides, the bitter cold
+made my limbs quite benumbed. But I contrived to defend myself more or
+less against the weather by building a little wigwam with the bark of
+the trees, covering it with earth, which made it resemble a cave, and
+keeping a good fire always near the door.
+
+Seeing me outwardly submissive, the savages sometimes gave me a little
+meat, but my chief food was Indian corn. Having liberty to go about was,
+indeed, more than I had expected; but they knew well it was impossible
+for me to escape.
+
+At length they prepared for another expedition against the planters and
+white people, but before they set out they were joined by many other
+Indians from Fort Duquesne, well stored with powder and ball that they
+had received from the French.
+
+As soon as the snow was quite gone, so that no trace of their footsteps
+could be found, they set out on their journey towards Pennsylvania, to
+the number of nearly a hundred and fifty. Their wives and children were
+left behind in the wigwams. My duty was to carry whatever they entrusted
+to me; but they never gave me a gun. For several days we were almost
+famished for want of proper provisions: I had nothing but a few stalks
+of Indian corn, which I was glad to eat dry, and the Indians themselves
+did not fare much better.
+
+When we again reached the Blue Hills, a council of war was held, and we
+agreed to divide into companies of about twenty men each, after which
+every captain marched with his party where he thought proper. I still
+belonged to my old masters, but was left behind on the mountains with
+ten Indians, to stay till the rest returned, as they did not think it
+safe to carry me nearer to the plantations.
+
+Here being left, I began to meditate on my escape, for I knew the
+country round very well, having often hunted there. The third day after
+the great body of the Indians quitted us my keepers visited the
+mountains in search of game, leaving me bound in such a way that I could
+not get free. When they returned at night they unbound me, and we all
+sat down to supper together, feasting on two polecats which they had
+killed. Then, being greatly tired with their day's excursion, they lay
+down to rest as usual.
+
+Seeing them apparently fast asleep, I tried different ways of finding
+out whether it was a pretence to see what I should do. But after making
+a noise and walking about, sometimes touching them with my feet, I found
+that they really slept. My heart exulted at the hope of freedom, but it
+sank again when I thought how easily I might be recaptured. I resolved,
+if possible, to get one of their guns, and if discovered to die in
+self-defence rather than be taken; and I tried several times to take one
+from under their heads, where they always secure them. But in vain; I
+could not have done so without rousing them.
+
+So, trusting myself to the divine protection, I set out defenceless.
+Such was my terror, however, that at first I halted every four or five
+yards, looking fearfully towards the spot where I had left the Indians,
+lest they should wake and miss me. But when I was about two hundred
+yards off I mended my pace, and made all the haste I could to the foot
+of the mountains.
+
+Suddenly I was struck with the greatest terror and dismay, hearing
+behind me the fearful cries and howlings of the savages, far worse than
+the roaring of lions or the shrieking of hyaenas; and I knew that they
+had missed me. The more my dread increased the faster I hurried, scarce
+knowing where I trod, sometimes falling and bruising myself, cutting my
+feet against the stones, yet, faint and maimed as I was, rushing on
+through the woods. I fled till daybreak, then crept into a hollow tree,
+where I lay concealed, thanking God for so far having favoured my
+escape. I had nothing to eat but a little corn.
+
+But my repose did not last long, for in a few hours I heard the voices
+of the savages near the tree in which I was hid threatening me with what
+they would do if they caught me, which I already guessed too well.
+However, at last they left the spot where I heard them, and I stayed in
+my shelter the rest of that day without any fresh alarms.
+
+At night I ventured out again, trembling at every bush I passed, and
+thinking each twig that touched me a savage. The next day I concealed
+myself in the same manner, and at night travelled forward, keeping off
+the main road, used by the Indians, as much as possible, which made my
+journey far longer, and more painful than I can express.
+
+But how shall I describe my terror when, on the fourth night, a party of
+Indians lying round a small fire which I had not seen, hearing the
+rustling I made among the leaves, started from the ground, seizing their
+arms, and ran out into the wood? I did not know in my agony of fear
+whether to stand still or rush on. I expected nothing but a terrible
+death; but at that very moment a troop of swine made towards the place
+where the savages were. They, seeing the hogs, guessed that their alarm
+had been caused by them, and returned merrily to their fire and lay down
+to sleep again. As soon as this happened I pursued my way more
+cautiously and silently, but in a cold perspiration with terror at the
+peril I had just escaped. Bruised, cut, and shaken, I still held on my
+path till break of day, when I lay down under a huge log, and slept
+undisturbed till noon. Then, getting up, I climbed a great hill, and,
+scanning the country round, I saw, to my unspeakable joy, some
+habitations of white people, about ten miles distant.
+
+My pleasure was somewhat damped by not being able to get among them that
+night. But they were too far off; therefore, when evening fell, I again
+commended myself to Heaven, and lay down, utterly exhausted. In the
+morning, as soon as I woke, I made towards the nearest of the cleared
+lands which I had seen the day before; and that afternoon I reached the
+house of John Bull, an old acquaintance. I knocked at the door, and his
+wife, who opened it, seeing me in such a frightful condition, flew from
+me like lightning, screaming, into the house.
+
+This alarmed the whole family, who immediately seized their arms, and I
+was soon greeted by the master with his gun in his hand. But when I made
+myself known--for at first he took me for an Indian--he and all his
+family welcomed me with great joy at finding me alive; since they had
+been told I was murdered by the savages some months ago.
+
+No longer able to bear up, I fainted and fell to the ground. When they
+had recovered me, seeing my weak and famished state, they gave me some
+food, but let me at first partake of it very sparingly. Then for two
+days and nights they made me welcome, and did their utmost to bring back
+my strength, with the kindest hospitality. Finding myself once more able
+to ride, I borrowed a horse and some clothes of these good people, and
+set out for my father-in-law's house in Chester county, about a hundred
+and forty miles away. I reached it on January 4, 1755; but none of the
+family could believe their eyes when they saw me, having lost all hope
+on hearing that I had fallen a prey to the Indians.
+
+They received me with great joy; but when I asked for my dear wife I
+found she had been dead two months, and this fatal news greatly lessened
+the delight I felt at my deliverance.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[34] Glasgow, 1758. Written by himself.
+
+
+
+
+_A WONDERFUL VOYAGE_
+
+
+THIS is a story of a man who, when in command of his ships and when
+everything went prosperously with him, was so overbearing and cruel that
+some of his men, in desperation at the treatment they received, mutinied
+against him. But the story shows another side of his character in
+adversity which it is impossible not to admire.
+
+In 1787 Captain Bligh was sent from England to Otaheite in charge of the
+'Bounty,' a ship which had been specially fitted out to carry young
+plants of the breadfruit tree, for transplantation to the West Indies.
+
+'The breadfruit grows on a spreading tree, about the size of a large
+apple tree; the fruit is round, and has a thick tough rind. It is
+gathered when it is full-grown, and while it is still green and hard; it
+is then baked in an oven until the rind is black and scorched. This is
+scraped off, and the inside is soft and white like the crumb of a penny
+loaf.'
+
+The Otaheitans use no other bread but the fruit kind. It is, therefore,
+little wonder that the West Indian planters were anxious to grow this
+valuable fruit in their own islands, as, if it flourished there, food
+would be provided with little trouble for their servants and slaves.
+
+In the passage to Otaheite, Captain Bligh had several disturbances with
+his men. He had an extremely irritable temper, and would often fly into
+a passion and make most terrible accusations, and use most terrible
+language to his officers and sailors.
+
+On one occasion he ordered the crew to eat some decayed pumpkins,
+instead of their allowance of cheese, which he said they had stolen from
+the ship's stores.
+
+The pumpkin was to be given to the men at the rate of one pound of
+pumpkin to two pounds of biscuits.
+
+The men did not like accepting the substitute on these terms. When the
+captain heard this, he was infuriated, and ordered the first man of
+each mess to be called by name, at the same time saying to them, 'I'll
+see who will dare refuse the pumpkin or anything else I may order to be
+served out.' Then, after swearing at them in a shocking way, he ended by
+saying, 'I'll make you eat grass, or anything else you can catch before
+I have done with you,' and threatened to flog the first man who dared to
+complain again.
+
+While they were at Otaheite several of the sailors were flogged for
+small offences, or without reason, and on the other hand, during the
+seven months they stayed at the island, both officers and men were
+allowed to spend a great deal of time on shore, and were given the
+greatest possible liberty.
+
+Therefore, when the breadfruit plants were collected, and they weighed
+anchor on April 4 in 1787, it is not unlikely they were loth to return
+to the strict discipline of the ship, and to leave an island so lovely,
+and where it was possible to live in the greatest luxury without any
+kind of labour.
+
+From the time they sailed until April 27, Christian, the third officer,
+had been in constant hot water with Captain Bligh. On the afternoon of
+that day, when the captain came on deck, he missed some cocoanuts that
+had been heaped up between the guns. He said at once that they had been
+stolen, and that it could not have happened without the officers knowing
+of it. When they told him they had not seen any of the crew touch them,
+he cried, 'Then you must have taken them yourselves!' After this he
+questioned them separately; when he came to Christian, he answered, 'I
+do not know, sir, but I hope you do not think me so mean as to be guilty
+of stealing yours.'
+
+The captain swore terribly, and said, 'You must have stolen them from
+me, or you would be able to give a better account of them!' He turned to
+the others with much more abuse, and saying, 'D--n you! you scoundrels,
+you are all thieves alike, and combine with the men to rob me. I suppose
+you'll steal my yams next, but I'll sweat you for it, you rascals! I'll
+make half of you jump overboard before you get through Endeavour
+Straits!'
+
+Then he turned to the clerk, giving the order to 'stop the villains'
+grog, and to give them but half a pound of yams to-morrow: if they steal
+_them_, I'll reduce them to a quarter.'
+
+That night Christian, who was hardly less passionate and resentful than
+the captain, told two of the midshipmen, Stewart and Hayward, that he
+intended to leave the ship on a raft, as he could no longer endure the
+captain's suspicion and insults. He was very angry and excited, and
+made some preparations for carrying out his plan, though these had to be
+done with the greatest secrecy and care.
+
+It was his duty to take the morning watch, which is from four to eight
+o'clock, and this time he thought would he a good opportunity to make
+his escape. He had only just fallen into a restless slumber when he was
+called to take his turn.
+
+[Illustration: The captain guarded by the mutineers]
+
+He got up with his brain still alert with the sense of injury and wrong,
+and most curiously alive to seize any opportunity which might lead to an
+escape from so galling a service.
+
+On reaching the deck, he found the mate of the watch had fallen asleep,
+and that the other midshipman was not to be seen.
+
+Then he made a sudden determination to seize the ship, and rushing down
+the gangway ladder, whispered his intention to Matthew Quintal and Isaac
+Martin, seamen, both of whom had been flogged. They readily agreed to
+join him, and several others of the watch were found to be quite as
+willing.
+
+Someone went to the armourer for the keys of the arm chest, telling him
+they wanted to fire at a shark alongside.
+
+Christian then armed those men whom he thought he could trust, and
+putting a guard at the officers' cabins, went himself with three other
+men to the captain's cabin.
+
+It was just before sunrise when they dragged him from his bed, and tying
+his hands behind his back, threatened him with instant death if he
+should call for help or offer any kind of resistance. He was taken up to
+the quarter deck in his nightclothes, and made to stand against the
+mizzen mast with four men to guard him.
+
+Christian then gave orders to lower the boat in which he intended to
+cast them adrift, and one by one the men were allowed to come up the
+hatchways, and made to go over the side of the ship into it. Meanwhile
+no heed was given to the remonstrances, reasoning, and prayers of the
+captain, saving threats of death unless he was quiet.
+
+Some twine, canvas, sails, a small cask of water, and a quadrant and
+compass were put into the boat, also some bread and a small quantity of
+rum and wines. When this was done the officers were brought up one by
+one and forced over the side. There was a great deal of rough joking at
+the captain's expense, who was still made to stand by the mizzen-mast,
+and much bad language was used by everybody.
+
+When all the officers were out of the ship, Christian said, 'Come,
+Captain Bligh, your officers and men are now in the boat, and you must
+go with them; if you make the least resistance you will be instantly put
+to death.'
+
+He was lowered over the side with his hands still fastened behind his
+back, and directly after the boat was veered astern with a rope.
+
+Someone with a little pity for them threw in some pieces of pork and
+some clothes, as well as two or three cutlasses; these were the only
+arms given.
+
+There were altogether nineteen men in this pitiful strait. Although much
+of the conduct of the mutineers is easily understood with regard to the
+captain, the wholesale crime of thrusting so many innocent persons out
+on to the mercy of the winds and waves, or out to the death from hunger
+and thirst which they must have believed would inevitably overtake them,
+is incomprehensible.
+
+As the 'Bounty' sailed away, leaving them to their fate, those in the
+boat cast anxious looks to the captain as wondering what should then be
+done. At a time when his mind must have been full of the injury he had
+received, and the loss of his ship at a moment when his plans were so
+flourishing and he had every reason to congratulate himself as to the
+ultimate success of the undertaking, it is much in his favour that he
+seems to have realised their unfortunate position and to have been
+determined to make the best of it.
+
+[Illustration: THE SAVAGES ATTACK THE BOAT]
+
+His first care was to see how much food they had. On examining it they
+found there was a hundred and fifty pounds of bread, thirty-two pounds
+of pork, six quarts of rum, six bottles of wine, and twenty-eight
+gallons of water.
+
+As they were so near Tofoa they determined to put in there for a supply
+of breadfruit and water, so that they might keep their other provisions.
+But after rowing along the coast for some time, they only discovered
+some cocoanut trees on the top of a stony cliff, against which the sea
+beat furiously. After several attempts they succeeded in getting about
+twenty nuts. The second day they failed to get anything at all.
+
+However, some natives came down to the boat and made inquiries about the
+ship; but the captain unfortunately told the men to say she had been
+lost, and that only they were saved.
+
+This proved most disastrous; for the treacherous natives, finding they
+were defenceless, at first brought them presents of breadfruit,
+plantains and cocoanuts, rendering them all more hopeful and cheerful by
+their kindness. But towards night their numbers increased in a most
+alarming manner, and soon the whole beach was lined by them.
+
+Presently they began knocking stones together, by which the men knew
+they intended to make an attack upon them. They made haste to get all
+the things into the boat, and all but one, named John Norton, succeeded
+in reaching it. The natives rushed upon this poor man and stoned him to
+death.
+
+Those in the boat put to sea with all haste, but were again terribly
+alarmed to find themselves followed by natives in canoes from which they
+renewed the attack.
+
+Many of the sailors were a good deal hurt by stones, and they had no
+means at all with which to protect themselves. At last they threw some
+clothes overboard; these tempted the enemy to stop to pick them up, and
+as soon as night came on they gave up the chase and returned to the
+shore.
+
+All the men now begged Captain Bligh to take them towards England; but
+he told them there could be no hope of relief until they reached Timor,
+a distance of full twelve hundred leagues; and that, if they wished to
+reach it, they would have to content themselves with one ounce of
+bread and a quarter of a pint of water a day. They all readily agreed to
+this allowance of food, and made a most solemn oath not to depart from
+their promise to be satisfied with the small quantity. This was about
+May 2. After the compact was made, the boat was put in order, the men
+divided into watches, and they bore away under a reefed lug-foresail.
+
+A fiery sun rose on the 3rd, which is commonly a sign of rough weather,
+and filled the almost hopeless derelicts with a new terror.
+
+In an hour or two it blew very hard, and the sea ran so high that their
+sail was becalmed between the waves; they did not dare to set it when on
+the top of the sea, for the water rushed in over the stern of the boat,
+and they were obliged to bale with all their might.
+
+The bread was in bags, and in the greatest danger of being spoiled by
+the wet. They were obliged to throw some rope and the spare sails
+overboard, as well as all the clothes but what they wore, to lighten the
+boat, then the carpenter's tool-chest was cleared and the bread put into
+it.
+
+They were all very wet and cold, and a teaspoonful of rum was served to
+each man, with a quarter of a breadfruit which was so bad that it could
+hardly be eaten; but the captain was determined at all risks to keep to
+the compact they had entered into, and to make their provisions last
+eight weeks.
+
+In the afternoon the sea ran even higher, and at night it became very
+cold; but still they did not dare to leave off baling for an instant,
+though their legs and arms were numb with fatigue and wet.
+
+In the morning a teaspoonful of rum was served to all, and five small
+cocoanuts divided for their dinner, and everyone was satisfied.
+
+When the gale had subsided they examined the bread, and found a great
+deal of it had become mouldy and rotten; but even this was carefully
+kept and used. The boat was now near some islands, but they were afraid
+to go on shore, as the natives might attack them; while being in sight
+of land, where they might replenish their poor stock of provisions and
+rest themselves, added to their misery. One morning they hooked a fish,
+and were overjoyed at their good fortune; but in trying to get it into
+the boat it was lost, and again they had to content themselves with the
+damaged bread and small allowance of water for their supper.
+
+They were dreadfully cramped for room, and were obliged to manage so
+that half their number should lie down in the bottom of the boat or upon
+a chest, while the others sat up and kept watch: their limbs became so
+stiff from being constantly wet, and from want of space to stretch them
+in, that after a few hours' sleep they were hardly able to move.
+
+About May 7 they passed what the captain supposed must be the Fiji
+Islands, and two large canoes put off and followed them for some time,
+but in the afternoon they gave up the chase. It rained heavily that day,
+and everyone in the boat did his best to catch some water, and they
+succeeded in increasing their stock to thirty-four gallons, besides
+having had enough to drink for the first time since they had been east
+adrift; but the rain made them very cold and miserable, and as they had
+no dry things their shiverings were terrible.
+
+The next morning they had an ounce and a half of pork, a teaspoonful of
+rum, half a pint of cocoanut milk, and an ounce of bread for breakfast,
+which was quite a large meal for them. The rum, though (or because) in
+such small quantities, is said to have been of the greatest service to
+them.
+
+Through fifteen weary days and nights of ceaseless rain they toiled,
+sometimes through fierce storms of thunder and lightning, and before
+terrific seas lashed into foam and fury by swift and sudden squalls,
+with only their miserable pittance of bread and water to keep body and
+soul together. Now and then a little rum was given after any extra
+fatigue of baling, but only at the times set apart for meals.
+
+In this rain and storm the little sleep they got only added to their
+discomfort, save for the brief forgetfulness it brought; for they had to
+lie down in water in the bottom of the boat, and with no covering but
+the streaming clouds above them.
+
+The captain then advised them to wring their clothes through sea-water,
+which they found made them feel much warmer for a time.
+
+On May 17 everyone was ill and complaining of great pain, and begging
+for more food; but the captain refused to increase their allowance,
+though he gave them all a small quantity of rum.
+
+Until the 24th they flew before the wild seas that swept over stem and
+stern of their boat, and kept them constantly baling.
+
+Some of them now looked more than half dead from starvation, but no one
+suffered from thirst, as they had absorbed so much water through the
+skin.
+
+A fine morning dawned on the 25th, when they saw the sun for the first
+time for fifteen days, and were able to eat their scanty allowance in
+more comfort and warmth. In the afternoon there were numbers of birds
+called boobies and noddies near, which are never seen far from land.
+
+The captain took this opportunity to look at the state of their bread,
+and found if they did not exceed their allowance there was enough to
+last for twenty-nine days, when they hoped to reach Timor. That
+afternoon some noddies came so near the boat that one was caught. These
+birds are about the size of a small pigeon; it was divided into eighteen
+parts and given by lot. The men were much amused when they saw the beak
+and claws fall to the lot of the captain. The bird was eaten, bones and
+all, with bread and water, for dinner.
+
+Now they were in calmer seas they were overtaken by a new trouble. The
+heat of the sun became so great that many of them were overcome by
+faintness, and lay in the bottom of the boat in an apathetic state all
+day, only rousing themselves towards evening, when the catching of birds
+was attempted.
+
+On the morning of the 28th the sound of breakers could be heard plainly;
+they had reached the Great Barrier Beef, which runs up much of the east
+coast of Australia.
+
+After some little time a passage nearly a quarter of a mile in width was
+discovered through the reef, and they were carried by a strong current
+into the peaceful waters which lie within the Barrier.
+
+For a little time they were so overjoyed that their past troubles were
+forgotten. The dull blue-grey lines of the mainland, with its white
+patches of glaring sandhills, could be seen in the distance, and that
+afternoon they landed on an island.
+
+They found the rocks around it were covered with oysters and huge clams,
+which could easily be got at low tide. Some of their party sent out to
+reconnoitre returned greatly pleased at having found plenty of fresh
+water.
+
+A fire was made by help of a small magnifying-glass. Among the things
+thrown into the boat from the ship was a small copper pot; and thus with
+a mixture of oysters, bread, and pork a stew was made, and everyone had
+plenty to eat.
+
+The day after they landed was the 29th of May, the anniversary of the
+restoration of King Charles II., and as the captain thought it applied
+to their own renewed health and strength, he named it Restoration
+Island.
+
+After a few days' rest, which did much to revive the men, and when they
+had filled all their vessels with water and had gathered a large supply
+of oysters, they were ready to go on again.
+
+As they were about to start everybody was ordered to attend prayers, and
+as they were embarking about twenty naked savages came running and
+shouting towards them, each carrying a long barbed spear, but the
+English made all haste to put to sea.
+
+For several days they sailed over the lake-like stillness of the Barrier
+reef-bound waters, and past the bold desolations of the Queensland
+coast, every headland and bay there bearing the names Cook gave them
+only a few years before, and which still tell us by that nomenclature
+each its own story of disappointment and hope.
+
+Still making way to the north, they passed many more islands and keys,
+the onward passage growing hot and hotter, until on June 3, when they
+doubled Cape York, the peninsula which is all but unique in its
+northward bend, they were again in the open sea.
+
+By this time many of them were ill with malaria, then for the first time
+some of the wine which they had with them was used.
+
+But the little boat still bravely made its way with its crew, whose
+faces were so hollow and ghastly that they looked like a crew of
+spectres, sailing beneath the scorching sun that beat down from the pale
+blue of the cloudless sky upon a sea hardly less blue in its greater
+depths. Only the hope that they would soon reach Timor seemed to rouse
+them from a state of babbling delirium or fitful slumber.
+
+On the 11th the captain told them they had passed the meridian of the
+east of Timor; and at three o'clock on the next morning they sighted the
+land.
+
+It was on Sunday, June 14, when they arrived at Company Bay, and were
+received with every kindness by the people.
+
+Thus ended one of the most remarkable voyages that has ever been made.
+They had been sent out with provisions only sufficient for their number
+for _five_ days, and Captain Bligh had, by his careful calculation, and
+determination to give each man only that equal portion they had agreed
+to accept, made it last for _fifty_ days, during which time they had
+come three thousand six hundred and eighteen nautical miles.
+
+There had been days when the men were so hunger-driven that they had
+besought him with pitiful prayers for more to eat, and when it was his
+painful duty to refuse it; and times, as they passed those islands where
+plentiful food could be got, when he had to turn a deaf ear to their
+longings to land. He had to endure the need of food, the cramped
+position, the uneasy slumber, as did his men; as well as the more
+perfect knowledge of their dangers. There had been days and nights while
+he worked out their bearings when he had to be propped up as he took the
+stars or sun.
+
+It was, therefore, Captain Bligh's good seamanship, his strict
+discipline and fairness in the method of giving food and wine to those
+who were sick, that enabled them to land at Timor with the whole of
+their number alive, with the exception of the one man who was stoned to
+death by the savages at Tofoa.
+
+
+
+
+_THE PITCAIRN ISLANDERS_
+
+
+IT will be remembered that nothing had been heard of the 'Bounty' since
+she was seen off Point Venus on the morning of September 22, 1789.
+
+In 1809, just twenty years after, when Captain Folger, of the American
+ship 'Topaz,' landed at Pitcairn Island, one of the most remote of the
+islands in the Pacific, he found there a solitary Englishman and five
+Otaheitan women and nineteen children. The man, who gave his name as
+Alexander Smith, said he was the only remaining person of the nine who
+had escaped in the 'Bounty.'
+
+Although this information was given to the Admiralty shortly after, it
+was not until the year 1814, when the 'Briton,' under the command of Sir
+Thomas Staines, and the 'Tagus,' under that of Captain Pipon, were
+cruising in the Pacific, that one day on which the ships were sailing in
+the same direction about six leagues apart, both commanders were greatly
+surprised to see an island in lat. 24 deg. 40' and long. 130 deg. 24' W.
+
+They were puzzled to know what it could be, as Pitcairn Island (named
+after a son of Major Pitcairn who was lost in the 'Aurora'), the only
+one known in the neighbourhood, was marked on their charts as in long.
+133 deg. 24' W., more than three degrees out.
+
+They thought they had made a new discovery, and as they ran in for the
+land they were astonished to see some neatly-built huts surrounded by
+gardens and plantations.
+
+Some people were seen coming down the cliff with canoes on their
+shoulders. Presently one was launched and made off through the heavy
+surf towards the ships. They were more surprised than ever when one of
+the young men in it cried out in English as they came alongside, 'Won't
+you heave us a rope, now?'
+
+He sprang up the side of the ship swiftly. When on deck he told Sir
+Thomas Staines and Captain Pipon, when they asked him who he was, that
+his name was Thursday October Christian, and that he was the son of the
+late Fletcher Christian by an Otaheitan mother; that he was the first
+born on the island, and his name was given him as he had been born on a
+Thursday in October. He was now twenty-four years of age, and had a fine
+muscular figure, dark hair, and a brownish complexion, and 'in his
+good-natured and benevolent countenance he had all the features of an
+honest English face.' He wore no clothing except a small piece of cloth
+about his loins and a straw hat trimmed with cock's feathers. He spoke
+English correctly and pleasantly both as to grammar and pronunciation.
+He also told them he was married to a woman much older than himself, one
+of those who had come with his father from Otaheite. His companion was a
+fine boy of about seventeen or eighteen years, named George Young, son
+of Young the midshipman.
+
+[Illustration: The Pitcairn islanders on board the English frigate]
+
+The islanders were much surprised at the many things new to them in the
+ship, at the guns, and everything around them. They were greatly
+entertained at the sight of a little dog. 'Oh, what a pretty little
+thing it is!' exclaimed Young. 'I know it is a dog, for I have heard of
+such an animal.'
+
+The young men told the captains of many of the events that had happened
+among the first settlers; but said that John Adams, now an old man,
+could tell them much more. He was the only surviving Englishman that
+came away in the 'Bounty,' and at that time he was called Alexander
+Smith.
+
+The captains determined to go on shore to see Adams, and to hear from
+him the true story of Christian's fate, and of that of his companions.
+
+Adams, who had been concealed since the arrival of the ships, when he
+found that the two captains had landed and were not armed, and that they
+did not intend to take him prisoner, came to the beach to meet them, and
+brought his wife with him, who was a very old woman and nearly blind.
+
+After so many years the sight of the King's uniform no doubt brought
+back the scene of the 'Bounty' to Adams, for at first he was very
+nervous and ill at ease.
+
+However, when Sir Thomas Staines assured him they were not there with
+any intention of taking him away, that they were not even aware that
+such a person as himself existed, he regained confidence, and then told
+them he had taken the name of John Adams since the sole care of the
+women and children on the island had fallen upon him. He pretended he
+had not taken any great share in the mutiny, that he was sick in bed
+when it took place, and that he had been roused up and compelled to take
+a musket in his hand. He said he was now ready and willing to go back to
+England in one of the ships.
+
+When the islanders heard him say this, all the women and children wept
+bitterly, and the young men stood motionless and absorbed in grief. When
+the officers again assured them that he should on no account be
+molested, the people were overcome with joy and gratitude. Adams then
+told them of the fate of the 'Bounty' and of the rest of the mutineers.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+It is easy to suppose that when Christian sailed for the last time from
+Otaheite his mind was full of misgiving; that he bitterly repented the
+rash act by which the ship had fallen into his hands and by which in all
+probability nineteen men had lost their lives, and also the wrecked and
+criminal lives of his followers. The picture of the derelict crew in
+their little boat was ever in his mind as he had last seen them watching
+with despairing eyes their ship sail away; and again as distance blurred
+all form, and it lay a blot on the sunny waters, immediately before it
+was hidden by the horizon line.
+
+That blot became ever blacker and heavier to his mental vision as one by
+one his projects failed. A sullen and morose outcast for ever from
+civilisation, he sailed out into the unknown seas with his little band
+of desperate followers, to find if possible some solitary island, some
+unknown spot, where they might be lost for ever from the world.
+
+Curiously, the place which he pictured, the object for which he sought,
+was soon after given to him to find.
+
+Its steep cliffs rise from the sea precipitously, and beyond and above
+them a ridge of rocky hills runs from north to south, from which, again,
+two mountainous peaks of a thousand feet and more in height stand up
+like sentinels.
+
+At a little distance from the coast-line a white wall of surf lashes
+itself into fury, and breaks everlastingly over the hidden reefs that
+raise so formidable a guard around the island as to render safe landing
+impossible save only at particular places and times.
+
+Encouraged by this forbidding coast-line, after they had sailed all
+round the island they effected a landing, and finding it uninhabited,
+they decided to make it their home. The 'Bounty' was run into an inlet
+between the cliffs, and after she had been dismantled and her materials
+used for building houses, in 1790 they burnt her, as they feared she
+might attract the notice of any ship that should chance to pass.
+
+The first thing they did after their arrival was to divide the land into
+nine equal parts, giving none to the Otaheitan men, who it is said had
+been carried off from their own island by force. At first they were
+kindly treated by the white men; but afterwards they made them their
+slaves.
+
+When they had been on the island a few weeks Christian became more
+gloomy and taciturn, and his conduct to the others grew more overbearing
+and unreasonable day by day.
+
+Fear entered into his soul, and he looked with dislike and suspicion
+upon all around him, shunned their companionship and sought a place
+where he could be alone with his dark thoughts. Up at the extreme end of
+the ridge of hills that runs across the island the almost inaccessible
+cave may still be seen to which he carried a store of provisions and
+ammunition, and thus shut himself off from the others, and with only the
+sound of the roaring breakers as they beat on the shore below to disturb
+his solitude, the madman dwelt alone with his terrible history of the
+past.
+
+[Illustration: 'THE MADMAN DWELT ALONE']
+
+One story is that in a fit of maniacal insanity he flung himself over
+the rocks into the sea. Another that he was shot by one of the mutineers
+whilst digging in a plantation.
+
+The accounts are contradictory. But whether from suicide or murder, his
+death happened within a year after he landed at Pitcairn Island.
+
+For about two years, while they all worked at the building of the houses
+and at cultivating the ground, the Otaheitan men toiled without a
+murmur. But when Williams, who had lost his wife, insisted that he would
+take one of theirs or leave the island in one of the 'Bounty's' boats,
+the other Englishmen, who did not want to part with him, compelled one
+of the Otaheitans to give his wife to him.
+
+From this time the Otaheitans became discontented, until the man whose
+wife had been taken away was murdered in the woods; then things went on
+more quietly for a year or two longer, when two of the most desperate
+and cruel of the mutineers, Quintal and M'Koy, at last drove them to
+form a plot to destroy their oppressors. A day was fixed by them to
+attack and put to death all the Englishmen when they were at work in the
+yam plots.
+
+They killed Martin and Brown, one with a maul, the other with a musket,
+while Adams made his escape, though he was wounded in the shoulder by a
+bullet.
+
+Young, who was a great favourite with the women, was hidden by them
+during the attack, while M'Koy and Quintal fled to the woods.
+
+That night all the native men were murdered by the widows of the
+Europeans. This happened in 1793. From that time till 1798 the colonists
+went on quietly, until M'Koy, who had once been employed in a Scotch
+distillery, and had for some time been making experiments on the _ti_
+root, succeeded in extracting from it an intoxicating liquor.
+
+After this Quintal also gave his whole time to making the spirit, and in
+consequence the two men were constantly drunk, and in one of his fits of
+delirium M'Koy threw himself from a cliff, and was instantly killed.
+Quintal became more and more unmanageable, and frequently threatened
+to destroy Adams and Young--who, knowing that he would carry out his
+threat, determined to kill him. This they did by felling him with an axe
+as they would an ox.
+
+Thus it was that at last only two men were left on the island, Adams and
+Young. The latter, who was of a quiet and studious nature, resolved to
+have prayers every morning and evening, and regular services on Sunday,
+and to teach the children, of whom there were nineteen, several of them
+then being between the ages of seven and nine years. Young, however, did
+not live long, but died of asthma about a year after the murder of
+Quintal.
+
+[Illustration: Old John Adams teaches the children]
+
+In their beautiful island of the sea, where the lordly banyans grow, and
+where the feathery cocoanut palms stand boldly along the cliffs, or here
+and there fringe the rocky beach--for in this temperate climate just
+without the tropics there are but few trees and vegetables that will not
+grow--there, unknown for many years to the world, and far away from its
+busy jar and fret, the simple and kindly natures that these children of
+Pitcairn Island must have inherited from their Otaheitan mothers were
+trained to an almost perfect sense of duty and piety by old John Adams.
+
+With a Bible and Prayer-book to aid him he persevered with his
+self-imposed task. It was a task that must often have cost him much
+labour and patient study, for though he could read he was not able to
+write until he was a very old man.
+
+Though in the eyes of the law his crime can never be wiped out, in the
+eyes of humanity, his sincere repentance and long and tender devotion to
+his charge--a charge that ended only on the day of his death--will for
+ever render the last of the mutineers a character to be remembered with
+admiration and respect.
+
+
+
+
+_A RELATION OF THREE YEARS' SUFFERING OF ROBERT EVERARD UPON THE ISLAND
+OF ASSADA, NEAR MADAGASCAR, IN A VOYAGE TO INDIA, IN THE YEAR 1686_[35]
+
+
+WHEN I was a boy, my father, Mr. William Everard, apprenticed me to the
+captain of a ship bound for Bombay in India, and thence to Madagascar,
+for blacks. I left London on August 5, 1686, and after different
+adventures on the voyage, of which I need not here speak, our ship
+reached Madagascar.
+
+The King of Madagascar received us kindly enough, and promised in about
+a month to furnish the captain with as many negroes as he desired. This
+satisfied us very well, and, mooring the ship, we stayed some days,
+trading with the negroes for rice and hens and bananas.
+
+Now one day the supercargo and six of the men and myself went ashore,
+taking guns and powder, and knives and scissors to trade with, and the
+ship's dog went with us. And, carrying our chest of goods to the house
+of one of the natives, we traded, and the negroes brought us such things
+as they had in exchange.
+
+But presently we heard a great noise, and a crowd began to gather, so
+that we thought the King was coming. But, alas! we soon found that the
+people of the town had risen against us, and ten or twelve broke in with
+their lances, and killed five of the boat's crew and the man who took
+care of the boat! The supercargo, running out of the house to get to the
+King, was thrust through by one of these murderous natives, and died
+immediately. I myself, being knocked down by the fall of the others, lay
+among the dead like one dead.
+
+When the blacks took them up, however, they saw I was alive, and did not
+kill me in cold blood, but carried me to the King's house, which was
+just by the house where they had killed our men, whose bodies I saw
+them carrying down to fling into the sea as I looked out at the King's
+door.
+
+He bade me sit down, and ordered the women to bring me some boiled rice
+on a plantain leaf, but in my terrible condition I could not eat. At
+night the King's men showed me my lodging in a small hut among the
+slaves, where I remained till the morning.
+
+[Illustration: Death of the supercargo]
+
+That morning our ship sailed. All the night as she lay there she had
+kept firing her great guns, and one shot came into the middle of the
+King's house, and went through it.
+
+But when she had sailed I saw some of the blacks with bottles of wine
+taken out of the great cabin, which I myself had filled the morning I
+went ashore. They had also the captain's sword and the ship's compass,
+and some great pieces of the flag tied round their waists. So I asked
+those negroes who understood a little English if they had killed any on
+board. They said 'Yes,' and told me that the blacks in a canoe that went
+to our ship to trade had lances hidden, and fell upon the captain and
+the mate, who suspected nothing, and killed them and some others of our
+men, but the rest had time to arm themselves, and so drove the blacks
+away.
+
+I asked them also why they killed our men, and they told the King, who
+answered that an English ship had been before, and played the rogue with
+them, and killed some of the natives, and they had therefore taken
+revenge.
+
+After this the King went to visit his towns, and bid me go along with
+him; and I went first to one place and then another, to be shown to the
+people. But the women when they saw me shrieked and ran away in a
+fright--never having seen a white man, and thinking I was a spirit.
+
+Then the King and his army went to the other side of the island, and
+carried me with them and our dog, and there he began mustering together
+a greater army, taking more men out of every town he visited. As soon as
+the women saw the King and his army coming, they got their sticks and
+came dancing for joy. And when he came into a town a mat was laid on the
+ground for him to sit on. When he sat down the wife of the chief of the
+town came out with some white stuff upon a stone, and dipped her finger
+in it, and put one spot on the King's forehead, and one on each cheek,
+and one on his chin; and so they did to his four wives who went with
+him. Then, when the women had done spotting them, the captain of the
+town and all his men came before the King, some with great calabashes
+full of liquor, and he bid the captain get his men ready to go along
+with the army, which was done in a day's time. Thus he went from town to
+town.
+
+The dog belonging to our ship went too, and when he saw any hogs, he ran
+and barked at them till the negroes came and killed them with their
+lances. And sometimes he would fetch a young pig and bring it to me.
+
+It was six or seven weeks before they reached the town of the enemy, and
+rushed into it, firing and striking with their lances, and killing or
+taking prisoners all who did not run away. Then marching further up the
+country they met with the enemy's whole army; and for about a month they
+fought with them day after day, our side nearly always getting the
+better of it.
+
+When as many prisoners had been taken as the King needed for slaves, we
+marched back again through the towns, and the people brought great
+parcels of rice made up in plantain leaves, and pots of boiled fish for
+the King and his men to eat with their rice. They used to sit four, and
+six, or eight together; they also gave me some by myself, on a plantain
+leaf. This they did at every town where the King came. But as I was
+coming back with them I was taken lightheaded, so that sometimes I fell
+down, and could not stir without extreme pain.
+
+About a week after we reached our own town the King asked me if I could
+make powder. I told him 'No;' he then asked if I could make shot. I said
+'Yes;' and he told his men to fetch some lead, and clay for the moulds,
+and as well as I could I made three or four hundred shot. The King was
+pleased with these, and while I was making them I had victuals given me,
+and some of their best drink.
+
+But afterwards the King bid me go about the island with some of his men
+to find flint stones; and when I could find none he took no more notice
+of me, but turned me out of his house, and would not let me come into it
+any more. Then I had to seek for my own food to save myself from being
+starved, and it pleased God that I found such food as the natives
+eat--yams and potatoes, which I dug out of the earth with a piece of
+sharp stone, having neither knife nor any other tool. And I made fire as
+the natives did, rubbing together two pieces of stick, and roasted my
+yams, and gathered bananas and oranges and other fruit. Then sometimes I
+caught fish with a small, sharp-pointed stick, and crabs, and now and
+then a turtle. I also found turtles' eggs. I used to keep yams and
+potatoes by me to serve five or six days, and when they were gone I
+hunted for more.
+
+My lodging was under a tree on the hard ground, where I slept for two
+years and nine months and sometimes in the year it would rain for three
+months together, or only become fine for an hour or so--yet for all that
+I lay under the tree still. I always had a fire on each side of me to
+keep me warm, because I had no covering but the branches and leaves of
+the tree. Sometimes in the night I crept outside the cottage of one of
+the natives for shelter, but I was forced to be gone before they were up
+for fear they would do me harm.
+
+When I wanted water I went almost a mile for a drink, and had nothing to
+bring back a little water in to keep by me and drink whenever I was
+thirsty. Also, I had to see that there were no blacks near the water,
+lest they should set upon me.
+
+Two years after I had come to the country I suffered terrible pain with
+sores that broke out upon me, but finding some honey in a rock by the
+seaside, I made a kind of salve which gave me a little ease. But now the
+time of my worst distress was drawing to an end.
+
+For when I had been three years in the island there came Arabs to buy
+negroes, and I pleaded with them to take me away, telling them how it
+was that I, an English boy, was left in this condition. Then the chief
+merchant of the Arabs said he could not carry me away without the King's
+leave, for it would spoil their trade; but he would try to get me clear,
+and as long as the Arabian vessel lay there I might come to his house
+and get food and drink.
+
+About six weeks after the merchant sent for me, and told me he had
+bought me of the King for twenty dollars, and that he would carry me to
+my own country people again.
+
+The ship lay there about ten weeks, and when they had got all their
+negroes we sailed from Madagascar. But all the history of my voyaging
+with the Arabs, who treated me with much kindness, and sold me at last
+to Englishmen, would be too long to relate. When I first saw my own
+countrymen I had forgotten English, so that I could only speak to them
+in the language of Madagascar; but by the time I had been among them six
+or seven days my English came back, and I could tell them my story.
+
+At last I was taken on board an English ship called the 'Diana,' and,
+sailing in this, I reached Yarmouth and afterwards Blackwall, where I
+met my father, to the great joy of us both. Thus I conclude my
+narrative, with humble thanks to God for His wonderful preservation of
+me through so many hardships and dangers.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[35] Taken from the Churchill Collection, 1732. Written by himself.
+
+
+
+
+_THE FIGHT AT SVOLDER ISLAND_ (A.D. 1000)
+
+
+OLAF TRYGGVASON, King of Norway, had sailed with a large fleet eastwards
+to Wendland, passing through the Danish king's dominion without his
+goodwill, and was now returning thence. He sailed with a light breeze
+and fair weather for Denmark, the smaller ships going before, and the
+larger ships following behind because they needed more wind.
+
+At an island off Wendland were gathered many great chiefs: the island is
+called Svolder. In this fleet was Sweyn, King of the Danes, who had many
+charges against King Olaf--one being that Olaf had taken to wife Sweyn's
+sister without his leave; another that he had established himself in
+Norway, a land tributary to Sweyn and subdued by King Harold his father.
+Earl Sigvaldi was there with the Danish king because he was his earl.
+And in this combined fleet was a mighty chief, Olaf the Swede, King of
+the Swedes, who deemed he had to avenge on King Olaf of Norway great
+dishonour; for he had broken betrothals with, and smitten with his
+glove, Olaf the Swede's mother. This same woman Sigridr Sweyn, the
+Danish king, had now to wife, and she was strongly urging on Sweyn to do
+King Olaf hurt or dishonour. With this fleet, too, was Earl Eric,
+Hacon's son, who deemed he had very great charges against King Olaf and
+his men, because they had been present at the slaying of his father,
+Earl Hacon, and had driven out of the land all his sons; and Olaf had
+established himself in the kingdom afterwards.
+
+These chiefs had an overwhelming host, and lay in a harbour on the inner
+side of the island; but King Olaf's ships were sailing past outside, and
+the chiefs were on the high ground of the island, and saw where the
+fleet was sailing from the east. They saw that the small craft sailed in
+front.
+
+Soon they saw a ship large and splendid. Then said King Sweyn: 'Get we
+to our ships with all speed; there sails Long Snake from the east.'
+
+Answered Earl Eric: 'Bide we awhile, sire; they have more big ships than
+Long Snake alone.'
+
+And so it was. This ship belonged to Styrkar of Gimsa.
+
+Now saw they yet another ship, large and well-equipped, a ship with a
+figure-head.
+
+Said King Sweyn: 'Now here will be sailing Long Snake; and take we heed
+that we be not too late in meeting them.'
+
+Then answered Earl Eric: 'That will not be Long Snake; few of their big
+ships have passed as yet; there are many more to come.'
+
+And it was even as the Earl said.
+
+Now sailed a ship with striped sails, a long-ship built for speed, and
+much larger than the others that had gone by. And when King Sweyn saw
+that this ship had no figure-head on her, then stood he up and said,
+laughing the while: 'Olaf Tryggvason is afraid now; he dares not to sail
+with his dragon's head; go we and attack him.'
+
+Answered then Earl Eric: 'That is not Olaf Tryggvason. I know the ship,
+for I have often seen it; it belongs to Erling Skjalgsson. And 'tis
+better that we go astern of him to this battle. Brave wights are on
+board there, as we shall surely know if we meet Olaf Tryggvason. Better
+is a gap in the King's fleet than a ship thus well-manned.'
+
+Then said Olaf, the Swedish king, to the Earl: 'We ought not to fear
+joining battle with Olaf, though he have many ships. And it is great
+shame and disgrace for men to hear in other lands, if we lie by with an
+overwhelming host while he sails the high road of the seas outside.'
+
+Earl Eric answered: 'Sire, let this swift long-ship pass if she will. I
+can tell you good tidings: that Olaf Tryggvason has not sailed by us,
+and this day you will have the chance of fighting with him. There are
+here now many chiefs, and I expect of this bout that we shall all have
+plenty of work.'
+
+Still they said, when this long-ship and many craft had gone by: 'That
+must have been Long Snake. And Earl Eric,' said the Danes, 'will never
+fight to avenge his father if he do not so now.'
+
+The Earl answered much in wrath, and said that the Danes would not be
+found less loath to fight than himself and his men.
+
+They waited not long ere three ships came sailing, whereof one, by far
+the largest, bore a golden dragon's head. Then all said that the Earl
+had spoken truth, and there now was Long Snake.
+
+Earl Eric answered: 'That is not Long Snake.' But he bade them attack if
+they would.
+
+And at once Sigvaldi took his long-ship and rowed out to the ships,
+holding up a white shield; they, on the other hand, lowered their sails
+and waited. But that large ship was the Crane, steered by Thorkell
+Dydrill, the King's kinsman. They asked of Sigvaldi what tidings he had
+to tell them. He declared he could tell them tidings of Sweyn, the
+Danish king, which it were right Olaf Tryggvason should know--he was
+setting a snare for him if he were not on his guard. Then Thorkell and
+his men let their ship float, and waited for the King.
+
+Then saw King Sweyn four ships of great size sailing, and one by far the
+largest, and on it a dragon's head conspicuous, all of gold. And they
+all at once said: 'A wondrous big ship and a beautiful one is the Long
+Snake. There will be no long-ship in the world to match her for beauty,
+and much glory is there in causing to be made such a treasure.'
+
+Then said Sweyn, the Danish king, out loud: 'The Long Snake shall bear
+me; I shall steer it this evening before set of sun.'
+
+Whereat Earl Eric said, but so that few men heard: 'Though Olaf
+Tryggvason had no more ships than may now be seen, never will Danish
+king steer this ship if they two and their forces have dealings
+together.'
+
+Sigvaldi, when he saw where the ships were sailing, bade Thorkell
+Dydrill draw his ship under the island; but Thorkell said the wind sat
+better for them to sail out at sea than to keep under the land with
+large ships and light breeze. But they gathered them under the island,
+these last four, because they saw some of their ships rowing under the
+island, and suspected that there might be some new tidings; so they
+tacked and stood in close to the island, and lowered their sails and
+took to their oars. The large ship of this group was named Short Snake.
+
+And now the chiefs saw three very large ships sailing, and a fourth last
+of all. Then said Earl Eric to King Sweyn and to Olaf, the Swedish king:
+'Now stand ye up and to your ships; none will now deny that Long Snake
+sails by, and there ye may meet Olaf Tryggvason.'
+
+Whereat silence fell on the chiefs, and none spake; and great fear was
+on the crews, and many a one there dreaded his bane.
+
+Olaf Tryggvason saw where his men had laid them under the island, and,
+feeling sure that they must have heard some tidings, he also turned
+these ships inwards to the island, and they lowered sail. Earl Sigvaldi
+steered his ship inwards along the island to meet the fleet of the other
+kings that was coming out from the harbour inside. Therefore sang
+Stefnir about Sigvaldi, the foul traitor who drew Tryggvason into a
+trap.
+
+[Illustration: 'None will now deny that "Long Snake" sails by']
+
+Sweyn, the Danish king, and Olaf, the Swedish king, and Earl Eric had
+made this agreement between them, that, if they slew Olaf Tryggvason, he
+of them who should be nearest at the time should own the ship and all
+the share of booty taken in the battle; but of the realm of the Norse
+king they should each have a third.
+
+Then saw Olaf Tryggvason and all his men that they were betrayed, for lo
+the whole sea about them was covered with ships; but Olaf had a small
+force, as his fleet had sailed on before him. And now lay in his place
+each one of those three chiefs, Sweyn, King of Danes, with his force;
+Olaf, King of Swedes, with his host; while in the third place Earl Eric
+set his men in array.
+
+[Illustration: KING OLAF LEAPS OVERBOARD]
+
+Then talked with King Olaf a wise man, Thorkell Dydrill, and said: 'Here
+are overwhelming odds to fight against. Hoist we our sails, and sail we
+after our fleet out to sea; for in no man is it cowardice to know his
+own measure.'
+
+King Olaf answered with loud voice: 'Bind we our ships together with
+ropes, and let men don their war apparel and draw their swords; my men
+must not think of flight.'
+
+And Olaf Tryggvason asked his men: 'Who is chief over this force that
+lies here nearest to us?'
+
+They answered:
+
+'We think it be Sweyn, King of Danes.'
+
+Then said King Olaf: 'We need not fear that force; never did Danes win
+victory in battle when fighting on shipboard against Norsemen.'
+
+Again asked King Olaf: 'Who lies there out beyond with so many ships?'
+
+He was told that it was Olaf Ericsson, King of Swedes.
+
+Then answered King Olaf: 'We need not fear Swedish horse-eaters;[36] they
+will be more eager to lick up what is in their sacrificial bowls than to
+board Long Snake under our weapons.'
+
+And yet again asked King Olaf Tryggvason: 'Who owns those large ships
+that lie out beyond the other squadrons?'
+
+He was told that it was Earl Eric, Hacon's son, with the Iron Earn, of
+all ships the largest.
+
+Then said King Olaf: 'Many high-born men are arrayed against us in that
+host, and with that force we may expect a stubborn battle: they are
+Norsemen as are we, and have often seen bloody swords and exchange of
+blows, and they will think they meet their match in us, as in truth they
+do.'
+
+So these four chiefs, two kings and two earls, joined battle with Olaf
+Tryggvason. Sigvaldi indeed took little part in the fight, but Skuli
+Thorsteinsson in his short poem says that Sigvaldi was there. Very sharp
+and bloody was this contest, and the Danes fell most because they were
+nearest the Norsemen. Soon they did not hold their ground, but withdrew
+out of shot range; and this fleet, as Olaf had said, came off with no
+glory. But none the less the battle raged fierce and long, and numbers
+fell on either side--of the Swedes, however, most--till it came about
+that Olaf the Swede saw this to be the best counsel for himself and his
+fleet, to make as if they shunned the fight. And so he bade his ships
+drop away sternwards; and then Earl Eric lay broadside on.
+
+King Olaf Tryggvason had laid the Long Snake between Short Snake and the
+Crane, and the smallest ships outside them. But Earl Eric, as each of
+these was disabled, caused it to be cut away, and pressed on to those
+that were behind. Now, when the small ships of King Olaf were cleared,
+the men leapt from them and went up on the larger ships. There was in
+this bout much loss of life in either party; but ever, as men fell in
+Earl Eric's ships, others took their place, Swedes and Danes; whereas
+none took the place of the men who fell on Olaf's side. All his ships
+were cleared presently except Long Snake; this held out because it was
+highest inboard and best manned. And while there were men to do so, they
+had gone thither aboard, and though some of the crew had perished, the
+ship had maintained its full numbers. But when Short Snake and Crane
+were disabled, then Earl Eric had them cut away, and thereafter Iron Ram
+lay broadside to broadside with Long Snake.
+
+This battle was so stubborn as to stir wonder, first for the brave
+attack, but still more for the defence. When ships made at the Snake
+from all sides yet the defenders so hasted to meet them that they even
+stepped over the bulwarks into the sea and sank with their weapons,
+heedless of all else save, as in a land fight, to press ever forwards.
+
+The men fell there first in the ship's waist, where the board was
+lowest, while forward about the prow and aft in the space next the poop
+they held out longest. And when Earl Eric saw that the Snake was
+defenceless amidships he boarded it with fifteen men. But when Wolf the
+Red and other forecastlemen saw that, then they advanced from the
+forecastle and charged so fiercely on where the Earl was that he had to
+fall back to his ship. And when he came on board the Ram the Earl roused
+his men to attack bravely; and they boarded the Snake a second time with
+a large force.
+
+By this time Wolf and all the forecastlemen had come to the poop, and
+all the foreship was disabled, Earl Eric's force attacking King Olaf's
+on every side. Earl Eric with his men then charged aft on the space next
+the poop, and a stubborn resistance was there. King Olaf had been all
+that day on the poop of the Snake; he bare a golden shield and helm,
+heavy ring-mail, strong so that nought could pierce it, though 'tis
+said that there was no stint of missiles showered on the poop, for all
+men knew the King, as his armour was easily recognised and he stood high
+on the stern-castle. And by him stood Kolbjorn, his marshal, clad in
+armour like to the King's.
+
+Now, this battle went as might be looked for when brave men on both
+sides met: those lost who were fewer in numbers. And when all King
+Olaf's force had fallen, then leapt he overboard himself, holding his
+shield above his head; and so did Kolbjorn, his marshal, but his shield
+was under him on the sea, and he could not manage to dive, wherefore the
+men who were in the small ships took him, but he received quarter from
+the Earl. And after this all leapt overboard who yet lived; but most of
+these were wounded, and those who received quarter were taken as they
+swam: these were Thorkell Netja, Karlshead, Thorstein, and Einar
+Bowstring-shaker.
+
+But after the battle was ended Earl Eric took for his own Long Snake and
+the other ships of King Olaf, and the weapons of many men who had
+wielded them manfully to the death.
+
+Most famous has been this battle in Northland; first by reason of the
+brave defence, next for the attack and victory, wherein that ship was
+overcome on the deep sea which all had deemed invincible, but chiefly
+because there fell a chief famous beyond any of the Danish tongue. So
+greatly did men admire King Olaf and seek his friendship, that many
+would not hear of his being dead, but declared that he was yet alive in
+Wendland or in the south region. And about that many stories have been
+made.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[36] The Swedes were still heathens, and ate horses, meat then forbidden
+to Christians.
+
+
+
+
+_THE DEATH OF HACON THE GOOD_ (A.D. 961)
+
+ [Eric Bloodaxe, Harold Fairhair's favourite son,
+ ruled Norway for a year or so after his father's
+ death. Then he and his queen Gunnhilda became so
+ hated by the people that they welcomed as king his
+ brother Hacon, who returned from England, where he
+ had been brought up. Eric was forced to flee. For
+ some time he was in Northumberland; he fell in the
+ west while freebooting, about A.D. 950. Gunnhilda
+ and her sons went to Denmark; they made many
+ attempts to recover Norway; the issue of the last
+ is here told.]
+
+
+KING HACON, Athelstan's foster-son, long ruled over Norway; but in the
+latter part of his life Eric's sons came to Norway, and strove with him
+for the kingdom. They had battles together, wherein Hacon ever won the
+victory. The last battle was fought in Hordaland, on Stord Island, at
+Fitjar: there Hacon won the victory, but also got his death-wound.
+
+And this battle came about in this wise. Gunnhilda's sons sailed
+northward from Denmark, taking the outer way, nor came they to land
+oftener than for men to get knowledge of their goings, while they also
+got knowledge of the public banquets given to King Hacon. They had ships
+well-found in men and weapons; and in their company was a mighty viking
+named Eyvind Skreyja; he was a brother of Queen Gunnhilda.
+
+Hacon was at a banquet at Fitjar on Stord Island when they came thither;
+but he and all his men were unaware of their coming till the ships were
+sailing up from the south and had now gotten close to the island. King
+Hacon was even then sitting at table.
+
+Now came a rumour to the King's guard that ships were seen sailing;
+wherefore some who were keenest of sight went out to look. And each said
+to his fellows that this would be an enemy, and each bade other to tell
+the King; but for this task none was found save Eyvind Finnsson, who was
+nicknamed Skald-spoiler.
+
+He went in before the King, and spake thus: 'Fleeting hour is short,
+sire, but meal-time long.'
+
+Said the King: 'Skald, what news?'
+
+Eyvind answered:
+
+ 'Vengers ('tis said) of Bloodaxe crave
+ The battle-shock of belted glaive;
+ Our sitting-time is done.
+ Hard task, but 'tis thine honour, King,
+ I seek, who here war tidings bring.
+ Arm swiftly, every one!'
+
+Then answered the King: 'Eyvind, thou art a brave wight and a wise; thou
+wouldst not tell war tidings unless they were true.' Whereupon all said
+that this was true, that ships were sailing that way, and within short
+space of the island. And at once the tables were taken up, and the King
+went out to see the fleet.
+
+But when he had seen it he called to him his counsellors, and asked what
+should be done.
+
+'Here be sailing many ships from the south: we have a force small but
+goodly. Now, I wish not to lead my best friends into overwhelming
+danger; but surely would be willing to flee, if wise men should not deem
+that this were great shame or folly.'
+
+Then made answer each to other that everyone would rather fall dead
+across his fellow than flee before Danes.
+
+Whereat the King said: 'Well spoken for heroes as ye are! And let each
+take his weapons, nor care how many Danes there be to one Norseman.'
+
+Thereafter the King took his shield, and donned his coat of ring-mail,
+and girded him with the sword Millstone-biter, and set a golden helm on
+his head. Then did he marshal his force, putting together his bodyguard
+and the guests of the feast.
+
+Gunnhilda's sons now came up on land, and they likewise marshalled their
+force, and it was by far the larger. The day was hot and sunny; so King
+Hacon slipped off his mail coat and raised his helm, and egged on his
+men to the onset laughing, and thus cheered his warriors by his blithe
+bearing. Then the fight began, and it was most stubborn. When the
+missiles were all thrown, King Hacon drew sword and stood in front under
+the banner, and hewed right and left; never did he miss, or, if he
+missed his man, the sword bit another.
+
+Eyvind Skreyja went fiercely forward in the battle, challenging the
+Norsemen's courage. And chiefly pressed he on where Hacon's banner was,
+crying, 'Where is the Norsemen's king? Why doth he hide him? Why dares
+he not come forth and show himself? Who can point me to him?'
+
+[Illustration: Hacon casts his shield away]
+
+Then answered King Hacon: 'Hold thou on forward, if thou wilt find the
+Norsemen's king.'
+
+And Hacon cast his shield by his side, and gripped his sword's mid-hilt
+with both hands, and ran forth from under the banner.
+
+But Thoralf Skumsson said, 'Suffer me, sire, to go against Eyvind.'
+
+The King answered: 'Me he wished to find; wherefore me he shall first
+meet.' But when the King came where Eyvind was, he hewed on either side
+of him, and then, with Millstone-biter in both hands, hewed at Eyvind's
+head, and clove him through helm and head right down to the shoulders.
+
+This battle was not good for men weak in strength, weapons, or courage.
+Nor was it long after the fall of Eyvind Skreyja ere the whole Danish
+force turned and fled to their ships. Great numbers fell on the side of
+Eric's sons; but they themselves escaped.
+
+King Hacon's men followed them far that day, and slew all whom they
+might; but the King bade his swift ship be launched, and rowed
+northwards along the coast, meaning to seek his house at Alrekstead, for
+he had gotten a wound by an arrow that pierced his arm while he drove
+before him the flying foe. And he lost so much blood that he swooned
+away. And when he came to the place called Hacon's Stone (it was where
+he was born), there he stayed for the night, bidding his land tent be
+set up and himself be carried ashore.
+
+And as soon as King Hacon knew that his wound was mortal, he called to
+him his counsellors, and talked at large with his friends about those
+things that had been done in his days. And of this he then repented,
+that he had done much against God and Christian men's laws during his
+rule.
+
+His friends offered to convey his body westwards to England, and bury it
+there in Church ground.
+
+But the King answered: 'Of this I am not worthy; I lived as heathen men
+live, so, too, shall ye bury me.'
+
+He bewailed the quarrels of himself and his kin; and having but one
+daughter, a child, and no son, he sent a letter to Gunnhilda's sons,
+wherein it was written that he gave to his kinsman Harold Grayfell his
+guard and his kingdom.
+
+After this King Hacon died: he had ruled Norway for twenty-six years. He
+was mourned both by friends and foes. As Eyvind Skald-spoiler says:
+
+ 'The King is born in blessed day
+ Such love who gains:
+ Of his fair age ever and aye
+ Good fame remains.'
+
+His men carried his body to Soeheim in North Hordaland, and raised a
+mound over it.
+
+
+
+
+_PRINCE CHARLIE'S WAR_
+
+
+I
+
+THE BOYHOOD OF PRINCE CHARLIE
+
+IN 1734 the city of Gaeta, in the kingdom of Naples, was held by an
+Austrian force, and was besieged by a mixed army of French, Walloons,
+Spaniards, and Italians, commanded by the Duke of Liria. Don Carlos, a
+Spanish prince, was doing his best, by their aid, to conquer the kingdom
+of Naples for himself. There is now no kingdom of Naples: there are no
+Austrian forces in Italy, and there is certainly, in all the armies of
+Europe, no such officer as was fighting under the Duke of Liria. This
+officer, in the uniform of a general of artillery, was a slim,
+fair-haired, blue-eyed boy of thirteen. He seemed to take a pleasure in
+the sound of the balls that rained about the trenches. When the Duke of
+Liria's quarters had been destroyed by five cannon shots, this very
+young officer was seen to enter the house, and the duke entreated, but
+scarcely commanded, him to leave. The boy might be heard shouting to the
+men of his very mixed force in all their various languages. He was the
+darling of the camp, and the favourite of the men, for his courage and
+pleasant manners.
+
+This pretty boy with a taste for danger, Charles Edward Stuart, was
+called by his friends 'the Prince of Wales.' He was, indeed, the eldest
+son of James VIII. of Scotland and Third of England, known to his
+enemies as 'the Pretender.' James, again, was the son of James II., and
+was a mere baby when, in 1688, his father fled from England before the
+Prince of Orange.
+
+The child (the son of James II.) grew up in France: he charged the
+English armies in Flanders, and fought not without distinction. He
+invaded Scotland in 1715, where he failed, and now, for many years, he
+had lived in Rome, a pensioner of the Pope. James was an unfortunate
+prince, but is so far to be praised that he would not change his creed
+to win a crown. He was a devout Catholic--his enemies said 'a bigoted
+Papist'--he was the child of bad luck from his cradle; he had borne many
+disappointments, and he was never the man to win back a kingdom by the
+sword. He had married a Polish princess, of the gallant House of
+Sobieski, and at Gaeta his eldest son, though only a boy, showed that he
+had the courage of the Sobieskis and the charm of the Stuarts. The spies
+of the English Government confessed that the boy was more dangerous than
+the man, Prince Charles than King James.
+
+[Illustration: 'IN THE BORGHESE GARDENS PRACTISED THAT ROYAL GAME OF
+GOLF']
+
+While Charles, at Gaeta, was learning the art of war, and causing his
+cousin, the Duke of Liria, to pass some of the uneasiest moments of his
+life, at home in Rome his younger brother Henry, Duke of York, aged
+nine, was so indignant with his parents for not allowing him to go to
+the war with his brother, that he flung away his little sword in a
+temper. From their cradle these boys had thought and heard of little
+else but the past glories of their race; it was the dream of their lives
+to be restored to their own country. In all he did, the thought was
+always uppermost with Charles. On the way from Gaeta to Naples, leaning
+over the ship's side, the young Prince lost his hat; immediately a boat
+was lowered in the hope of saving it, but Charles stopped the sailors,
+saying with a peculiar smile, 'I shall be obliged before long to go and
+fetch myself a hat in England.'
+
+Every thought, every study, every sport that occupied the next few years
+of Charles' life in Rome, had the same end, namely, preparing himself in
+every way for the task of regaining his kingdom. Long days of rowing on
+the lake of Albano, and boar-hunting at Cisterna, made him strong and
+active. He would often make marches in shoes without stockings,
+hardening his feet for the part he played afterwards on many a long
+tramp in the Highlands. Instead of enjoying the ordinary effeminate
+pleasures of the Roman nobility, he shot and hunted; and in the Borghese
+Gardens practised that royal game of golf, which his ancestors had
+played long before on the links at St. Andrews and the North Inch of
+Perth. His more serious studies were, perhaps, less ardently pursued.
+Though no prince ever used a sword more gallantly and to more purpose,
+it cannot be denied that he habitually spelled it 'sord,' and though no
+son ever wrote more dutiful and affectionate letters to a father, he
+seldom got nearer the correct spelling of his parent's name than 'Gems.
+In lonely parts of Rome the handsome lad and his melancholy father might
+often have been seen talking eagerly and confidentially, planning,
+and for ever planning, that long-talked-of descent upon their lost
+kingdom.
+
+If his thoughts turned constantly to Britain, many hearts in that
+country were thinking of him with anxious prayers and hopes. In England,
+in out-of-the-way manor-houses and parsonages, old-fashioned,
+high-church squires and clergymen still secretly toasted the exiled
+family. But in the fifty years that had passed since the Revolution, men
+had got used to peace and the blessings of a settled government.
+Jacobitism in England was a sentiment, hereditary in certain Tory
+families; it was not a passion to stir the hearts of the people and
+engage them in civil strife. It was very different with the Scots. The
+Stuarts were, after all, their old race of kings; once they were removed
+and unfortunate, their tyranny was forgotten, and the old national
+feeling centred round them. The pride of the people had suffered at the
+Union (1707); the old Scots nobility felt that they had lost in
+importance; the people resented the enforcement of new taxes. The
+Presbyterians of the trading classes were Whigs; but the persecuted
+Episcopalians and Catholics, with the mob of Edinburgh, were for 'the
+auld Stuarts back again.' This feeling against the present Government
+and attachment to the exiled family were especially strong among the
+fierce and faithful people of the Highlands. Among families of
+distinction, like the Camerons of Lochiel, the Oliphants of Gask, and
+many others, Jacobitism formed part of the religion of gallant,
+simple-minded gentlemen and of high-spirited, devoted women. In many a
+sheiling and farmhouse old broadswords and muskets, well-hidden from the
+keen eye of the Government soldiers, were carefully cherished against
+the brave day when 'the king should have his own again.'
+
+In 1744 that day seemed to have dawned to which Charles had all his life
+been looking forward. France, at war with England, was preparing an
+invasion of that country, and was glad enough to use the claims of the
+Stuarts for her own purposes. A fleet was actually on the point of
+starting, and Charles, in the highest spirits, was already on shipboard,
+but the English admiral was alert. A storm worked havoc among the French
+ships, and it suited the French Government to give up the expedition.
+Desperate with disappointment, Charles proposed to his father's friend,
+the exiled Lord Marischall, to sail for Scotland by himself in a
+herring-boat, and was hurt and indignant when the old soldier refused to
+sanction such an audacious plan.
+
+Charles had seen enough of hanging about foreign courts and depending
+on their wavoring policy; he was determined to strike a blow for
+himself. In Paris he was surrounded by restless spirits like his own;
+Scots and Irish officers in the French service, and heart-broken exiles
+like old Tullibardine, eager for any chance that would restore them to
+their own country. Even prudent men of business lent themselves to
+Charles's plans. His bankers in Paris advanced him 180,000 livres for
+the purchase of arms, and of two Scottish merchants at Nantes, Walsh and
+Routledge, one undertook to convey him to Scotland in a brig of eighteen
+guns, the 'Doutelle,' while the other chartered a French man-of-war, the
+'Elizabeth,' to be the convoy, and to carry arms and ammunition. To
+provide these Charles had pawned his jewels, jewels which 'on _this_
+side I could only wear with a very sad heart,' he wrote to his father;
+for the same purpose he would gladly have pawned his shirt. On June 22
+he started from the mouth of the Loire in all haste and secrecy, only
+writing for his father's blessing and sanction when he knew it would be
+too late for any attempt to be made to stop him. The companions of his
+voyage were the old Marquis of Tullibardine, who had been deprived of
+his dukedom of Athol in the '15; the Prince's tutor and cousin, Sir
+Thomas Sheridan, a rather injudicious Irishman; two other Irishmen in
+the French and Spanish services; Kelly, a young English divine; and
+Aeneas Macdonald, a banker in Paris, and younger brother of the chieftain
+Macdonald of Kinloch Moidart, a prudent young man, who saw himself
+involved in the Prince's cause very much against his will and better
+judgment.
+
+
+II
+
+PRINCE CHARLIE'S LANDING
+
+ENGLAND and France being at war at this time, the Channel was constantly
+swept by English men-of-war. The 'Doutelle' and her convoy were hardly
+four days out before the 'Elizabeth' was attacked by an English frigate,
+the 'Lion.' Knowing _who_ it was he had on board, Walsh, the prudent
+master of the 'Doutelle,' would by no means consent to join in the fray,
+and sheered off to the north in spite of the commands and remonstrances
+of the Prince. The unfortunate 'Elizabeth' was so much disabled that she
+had to return to Brest, taking with her most of the arms and ammunition
+for the expedition. At night the 'Doutelle' sailed without a light and
+kept well out to sea, and so escaped further molestation. The first
+land they sighted was the south end of the Long Island. Gazing with
+eager eyes on the Promised Land, old Lord Tullibardine was the first to
+notice a large Hebridean eagle which flew above the ship as they
+approached. 'Sir,' he said, 'it is a good omen; the king of birds has
+come to welcome your royal highness to Scotland.'
+
+Charles had need of all happy auguries, for on his arrival in Scotland
+things did not seem very hopeful. With his usual rash confidence he had
+very much exaggerated the eagerness of his friends and supporters to
+welcome him in whatever guise he might come. Never had fallen kings more
+faithful and unselfish friends than had the exiled Stuarts in the
+Highland chiefs and Jacobite lairds of Scotland, but even they were
+hardly prepared to risk life and property with a certainty of failure
+and defeat. Let the Prince appear with 5,000 French soldiers and French
+money and arms, and they would gather round him with alacrity, but they
+were prudent men and knew too well the strength of the existing
+Government to think that they could overturn it unaided.
+
+The first man to tell the Prince this unwelcome truth was Macdonald of
+Boisdale, to whom he sent a message as soon as he landed in Uist. This
+Boisdale was brother of the old Clanranald, chief of the loyal clan
+Macdonald of Clanranald. If these, his stoutest friends, hesitated to
+join his expedition Charles should have felt that his cause was
+desperate indeed. But his mind was made up with all the daring of his
+five-and-twenty years, and all the ill-fated obstinacy of his race. For
+hours he argued with the old Highlander as the ship glided over the
+waters of the Minch. He enumerated the friends he could count on, among
+them the two most powerful chiefs of the North, Macdonald of Sleat, and
+the Macleod. 'They have both declared for the existing Government,' was
+the sad reply. Before taking leave of the Prince, Boisdale again urged
+his returning 'home.' 'I am come _home_,' replied Charles passionately,
+'and can entertain no notion of returning. I am persuaded that my
+faithful Highlanders will stand by me.'
+
+[Illustration: 'I WILL, THOUGH NOT ANOTHER MAN IN THE HIGHLANDS SHOULD
+DRAW A SWORD']
+
+On July 19 the 'Doutelle' cast anchor in Loch na-Nuagh, in the country
+of the loyal Macdonalds. The first thing Charles did was to send a
+letter to the young Clanranald to beg his immediate presence. The next
+day four of the chief men of the clan waited on Charles, Clanranald,
+Kinloch Moidart, Glenaladale, and another who has left us a lively
+picture of the meeting. For three hours, in a private interview,
+Clanranald tried in vain to dissuade the Prince. Then Charles--still
+preserving his incognito--appeared among the assembled gentlemen on
+deck. 'At his first appearance I found my heart swell to my very throat
+'writes the honest gentleman who narrates the story. His emotion was
+fully shared by a younger brother of Kinloch Moidart's who stood on deck
+silent from youth and modesty, but with his whole heart looking out of
+his eyes. His brother and the other chiefs walked up and down the deck
+arguing and remonstrating with Charles, proving the hopelessness of the
+undertaking. As he listened to their talk the boy's colour came and
+went, his hand involuntarily tightened on his sword. Charles caught
+sight of the eager young face, and, turning suddenly towards him cried,
+'Will _you_ not assist me?' 'I will, I will; though not another man in
+the Highlands should draw a sword, I will die for you.' Indeed, years
+after all had failed, young Clanranald prepared a new rising, and had
+9,000 stand of arms concealed in the caves of Moidart.
+
+The boy's words were like flint to tinder. Before they left the ship the
+hesitating chieftains had pledged themselves to risk property,
+influence, freedom, and life itself in the Prince's cause. These gallant
+Macdonalds were now willing to run all risks in receiving the Prince
+even before a single other clan had declared for him. Old Macdonald of
+Boisdale entertained Charles as an honoured guest in his bare but
+hospitable Highland house. All the people of the district crowded to see
+him as he sat at dinner. The young Prince delighted all present by his
+geniality and the interest he showed in everything Highland, and when he
+insisted on learning enough Gaelic to propose the king's health in their
+native language, the hearts of the simple and affectionate people were
+completely gained.
+
+Meanwhile young Clanranald had gone to Skye to try and persuade Macleod
+and Sir Alexander Macdonald to join the Prince. It was all in vain;
+these two powerful chiefs were too deeply committed to the Government.
+Next to these two, the most influential man in the Highlands was Cameron
+of Locheil. Indeed, such was the respect felt by all his neighbours for
+his gentle and chivalrous character, that there was no one whose example
+would carry such weight. It was all-important to gain him to the cause.
+No one saw more clearly than Locheil the hopelessness of the
+undertaking, no one was more unwilling to lead his clansmen to what he
+knew was certain destruction. He would see the Prince, he said, and warn
+him of the danger and entreat him to return. 'Write to him,' urged
+Locheil's brother, 'but do not see him. I know you better than you know
+yourself. If this Prince once sets eyes on you he will make you do
+whatever he pleases.' It was but too true a prophecy. When all argument
+had failed to move Locheil's prudent resolution, Charles exclaimed
+passionately, 'In a few days, with a few friends, I will raise the Royal
+Standard and proclaim to the people of Britain that Charles Stuart is
+come over to claim the crown of his ancestors, to win it or perish in
+the attempt. Locheil, who, my father has often told me, was our firmest
+friend, may stay at home and learn from the newspapers the fate of his
+Prince.' It was more than the proud, warm heart of the chief could
+stand. 'No,' he cried with emotion, 'I will share the fate of my Prince,
+and so shall every man over whom nature and fortune has given me any
+power.'
+
+Even before the Royal Standard was raised an unexpected success crowned
+the rebel arms. The Government had troops stationed both at Fort
+Augustus and Fort William. The latter being in the heart of the
+disaffected district, the commanding officer at Fort Augustus despatched
+two companies of newly-raised men to its assistance. This body, under a
+Captain Scott, was approaching the narrow bridge which crossed the Spean
+some seven miles from Fort William; all at once a body of Highlanders
+appeared, occupying the bridge and barring further passage. Had the
+troops plucked up courage enough to advance they would have found only
+some dozen Macdonalds; but the wild sound of the pipes, the yells of the
+Highlanders, and their constant movement which gave the effect of a
+large body, struck terror into the hearts of the recruits; they wavered
+and fell back, and their officer, though himself a brave man, had to
+order a retreat. But the sound of firing had attracted other bodies of
+Macdonalds and Camerons in the neighbourhood. All at once the steep,
+rough hillside seemed alive with armed Highlanders; from rock and bush
+they sprung up, startling the echoes by their wild shouts. In vain the
+disordered troops hurried along the road and rushed across the isthmus
+to the further side of the lakes; there a new party of Macdonalds, led
+by Keppoch, met them in front, and the whole body surrendered with
+hardly a blow struck. They were carried prisoners to Locheil's house,
+Achnacarry. In default of medical aid, the wounded captain was sent to
+Fort William, in that spirit of generous courtesy which characterised
+all Charles's behaviour to his defeated enemies.
+
+[Illustration: 'Go, sir, to your general; tell him what you have
+seen. . . .']
+
+On August 19 the Royal Standard was raised at Glenfinnan, a deep rocky
+valley between Loch Eil and Loch Sheil, where the Prince's monument now
+stands. Charles, with a small body of Macdonalds, was the first to
+arrive, early in the morning. He and his men rowed up the long narrow
+Loch Sheil. The valley was solitary--not a far-off bagpipe broke the
+silence, not a figure appeared against the skyline of the hills. With
+sickening anxiety the small party waited, while the minutes dragged out
+their weary length. At last, when suspense was strained to the utmost,
+about two in the afternoon, a sound of pipes was heard, and a body of
+Camerons under Lochiel appeared over the hill, bringing with them the
+prisoners made at the Bridge of Spean. Others followed: Stewarts of
+Appin, Macdonalds of Glencoe and Keppoch, till at least 1,500 were
+present. Then the honoured veteran of the party, old Tullibardine,
+advanced in solemn silence and unfurled the royal banner, with the motto
+_Tandem Triumphans_. As its folds of white, blue, and red silk blew out
+on the hill breeze, huzzas rent the air, and the sky was darkened by the
+bonnets that were flung up. An English officer, a prisoner taken at
+Spean, stood by, an unwilling spectator of the scene. 'Go, sir,' cried
+the Prince in exultation, 'go to your general; tell him what you have
+seen, and say that I am coming to give him battle.'
+
+
+III
+
+THE MARCH SOUTH
+
+FOR a full month Prince Charles had been in Scotland. During that time a
+body of men, amounting to a small army, had collected round him; his
+manifestoes had been scattered all over the country (some were even
+printed in Edinburgh), and yet the Government had taken no steps to
+oppose him. News travelled slowly from the Highlands; it was August 9
+before any _certain_ account of the Prince's landing was received in
+Edinburgh. One bad fruit of the Union was that Scotch questions had to
+be settled in London, and London was three days further away. Moreover,
+at that greater distance, men had more difficulty in realising the
+gravity of the situation. Conflicting rumours distracted the authorities
+in Edinburgh; now it was declared that the Prince had landed with 10,000
+French soldiers, at another time men ridiculed the idea of his getting a
+single man to rise for him. Those who knew the country best took the
+matter most seriously. The question of defence was not an easy one. At
+that time almost all the available British troops were in Flanders,
+fighting the French; the soldiers that were left in Scotland were either
+old veterans, fit only for garrison duty, newly raised companies whose
+mettle was untried, or local militias which were not to be trusted in
+all cases. If the great lords who had raised and who commanded them
+chose to declare for the Stuarts, they would carry their men with them.
+
+The commander-in-chief, Sir John Cope, was not the man to meet so sudden
+and so peculiar a crisis. He had nothing of a real general's love of
+responsibility and power of decision. To escape blame and to conduct a
+campaign according to the laws of war was all the old campaigner cared
+for. When it was decided that he was to march with all the available
+forces in Scotland into the Highlands he willingly obeyed, little
+guessing what a campaign in the Highlands meant. Almost at once it was
+found that it would be impossible to provide food for horses as well as
+men. So the dragoons under Colonel Gardiner were left at Stirling. We
+shall hear of them again. But his 1,500 infantry were weighted heavily
+enough; a small herd of black cattle followed the army to provide them
+with food, and more than 100 horses carried bread and biscuit. Confident
+that the loyal clans would come in hundreds to join his standard, Cope
+carried 700 stand of arms. By the time he reached Crieff, however, not a
+single volunteer had come in, and the stand of arms was sent back. Cope
+followed one of the great military roads which led straight to Fort
+Augustus, and had been made thirty years before by General Wade. Now
+across that road, some ten miles short of the fort, lies a high
+precipitous hill, called Corryarack. Up this mountain wall the road is
+carried in seventeen sharp zigzags; so steep is it that the country
+people call it the 'Devil's Staircase.' Any army holding the top of the
+pass would have an ascending enemy at its mercy, let alone an army of
+Highlanders, accustomed to skulk behind rock and shrub, and skilled to
+rush down the most rugged hillsides with the swiftness and
+surefootedness of deer.
+
+While still some miles distant, Cope learned that the Highlanders were
+already in possession of Corryarack. The rumour was premature, but it
+thoroughly alarmed the English general. He dared not attempt the ascent;
+to return south was against his orders. A council of war, hastily
+summoned, gave him the advice he wished for, and on the 28th the army
+had turned aside and was in full retreat on Inverness.
+
+Meanwhile, the Prince's army was pressing forward to meet Cope. The
+swiftest-footed soldiers that ever took the field, the Highlanders were
+also the least heavily-weighted. A bag of oatmeal on his back supplied
+each man's need, Charles himself burned his baggage and marched at the
+head of his men as light of foot and as stout of heart as the best of
+them. On the morning of the 27th they were to ascend Corryarack. The
+Prince was in the highest spirits. As he laced his Highland brogues he
+cried, 'Before I take these off I shall have fought with Mr. Cope!'
+Breathless the Highland army reached the top of the hill; they had
+gained _that_ point of vantage. Eagerly they looked down the zigzags on
+the further side; to their amazement not a man was to be seen, their
+road lay open before them! When they learned from deserters the course
+Cope's army had taken, they were as much disappointed as triumphant.
+
+A body of Highlanders was despatched to try and take the barracks at
+Ruthven, where twelve soldiers, under a certain Sergeant Molloy, held
+the fort for the Government. This man showed a spirit very different
+from that of his superior officer's. This is his own straightforward
+account of the attack and repulse:
+
+ 'Noble General,--They summoned me to surrender,
+ but I told him I was too old a soldier to part
+ with so strong a place without bloody noses. They
+ offered me honourable terms of marching out bag
+ and baggage, which I refused. They threatened to
+ hang me and my party. I said I would take my
+ chance. They set fire to the sally-port which I
+ extinguished; and failing therein, went off asking
+ leave to take their dead man, which I granted.'
+
+Honour to Molloy, whatever the colour of his cockade!
+
+Though unsuccessful at Ruthven, some members of this party, before
+rejoining the Prince's army at Dalwhinnie, made an important capture.
+Macpherson of Cluny was one of the most distinguished chiefs in the
+Highlands, ruling his clan with a firm hand, and repressing all thieving
+amongst them. As captain of an independent company, he held King
+George's commission; his honour kept him faithful to the Government, but
+his whole heart was on the other side. He was taken prisoner in his own
+house by a party 'hardly big enough to take a cow,' and once a prisoner
+in the Highland army, it was no difficult task to persuade him to take
+service with the Prince.
+
+The army now descended into the district of Athol. With curious emotion
+old Tullibardine approached his own house of Blair from which he had
+been banished thirty years before. The brother who held his titles and
+properties fled before the Highland army, and the noble old exile had
+the joy of entertaining his Prince in his own halls. The Perthshire
+lairds were almost all Jacobites. Here at Blair, and later at Perth,
+gentlemen and their following flocked to join the Prince.
+
+One of the most important of these was Tullibardine's brother, Lord
+George Murray, an old soldier who had been 'out in the '15.' He had real
+genius for generalship, and moreover understood the Highlanders and
+their peculiar mode of warfare. He was no courtier, and unfortunately
+his blunt, hot-tempered, plain speaking sometimes ruffled the Prince,
+too much accustomed to the complacency of his Irish followers. But all
+that was to come later. On the march south there were no signs of
+divided counsels. The command of the army was gladly confided to Lord
+George.
+
+Another important adherent who joined at this time was the Duke of
+Perth, a far less able man than Lord George, but endeared to all his
+friends by his gentleness and courage and modesty. Brought up in France
+by a Catholic mother, he was an ardent Jacobite, and the first man to be
+suspected by the authorities. As soon as the news spread that the Prince
+had landed in the West, the Government sent an officer to arrest the
+young duke. There was a peculiar treachery in the way this was
+attempted. The officer, a Mr. Campbell of Inverawe, invited himself to
+dinner at Drummond Castle, and, after being hospitably entertained,
+produced his warrant. The duke retained his presence of mind, appeared
+to acquiesce, and, with habitual courtesy, bowed his guest first out of
+the room; then suddenly shut the door, turned the key and made his
+escape through an ante-room, a backstairs, and a window, out into the
+grounds. Creeping from tree to tree he made his way to a paddock where
+he found a horse, without a saddle but with a halter. He mounted, and
+the animal galloped off. In this fashion he reached the house of a
+friend, where he lay hid till the time he joined the Prince.
+
+[Illustration: Escape of the Duke of Perth]
+
+No Jacobite family had a nobler record of services rendered to the
+Stuarts than the Oliphants of Gask. The laird had been 'out in the '15,'
+and had suffered accordingly, but he did not hesitate a moment to run
+the same risks in the '45. He brought with him to Blair his
+high-spirited boy, young Lawrence, who records his loyal enthusiasm in a
+journal full of fine feeling and bad spelling! Indeed, one may say that
+bad spelling was, like the 'white rose,' a badge of the Jacobite party.
+Mistress Margaret Oliphant, who with her mother and sisters donned the
+white cockade and waited on their beloved Prince at her aunt's, Lady
+Nairne's, house, also kept a journal wherein she regrets in ill-spelt,
+fervent words that being 'only a woman' she cannot carry the Prince's
+banner. This amiable and honourable family were much loved among their
+own people. 'Oliphant is king to us' was a by-word among retainers who
+had lived on their land for generations. But at this crisis the shrewd,
+prosperous Perthshire farmers refused to follow their landlord on such a
+desperate expedition. Deeply mortified and indignant, the generous,
+hot-tempered old laird forbade his tenants to gather in the harvest
+which that year was early and abundant. As Charles rode through the Gask
+fields he noticed the corn hanging over-ripe and asked the cause. As
+soon as he was told, he jumped from his horse, cut a few blades with
+his sword and, in his gracious princely way, exclaimed 'There, _I_ have
+broken the inhibition! Now every man may gather in his own.' It was acts
+like this that gained the hearts of gentle and simple alike, and explain
+that passionate affection for Charles that remained with many to the end
+of their days as part of their religion. The strength of this feeling
+still touches our hearts in many a Jacobite song. 'I pu'ed my bonnet
+ower my eyne, For weel I loued Prince Charlie,' and the yearning
+refrain, 'Better loued ye canna be, Wull ye no come back again?' On the
+3rd Charles entered Perth, at the head of a body of troops, in a
+handsome suit of tartan, but with his last guinea in his pocket!
+However, requisitions levied on Perth and the neighbouring towns did
+much to supply his exchequer, and it was with an army increased in
+numbers and importance, as well as far better organised--thanks to Lord
+G. Murray--that Charles a week later continued his route to Edinburgh.
+Having no artillery the Highland army avoided Stirling, crossed the
+Forth at the Fords of Frew entirely unopposed, and marched to
+Linlithgow, where they expected to fight with Gardiner's dragoons. That
+body however did not await their arrival, but withdrew to Corstorphine,
+a village two miles from Edinburgh.
+
+The next halt of the Prince's army was at Kirkliston. In the
+neighbourhood lay the house of New Liston, the seat of Lord Stair, whose
+father was so deeply and disgracefully implicated in the massacre of
+Glencoe. It was remembered that a grandson of the murdered Macdonald was
+in the army with the men of his clan. Fearing that they would seize this
+opportunity of avenging their cruel wrong, the general proposed placing
+a guard round the house. Macdonald hearing this proposal, went at once
+to the Prince. 'It is right,' he said, 'that a guard should be placed
+round the house of New Liston, but that guard must be furnished by the
+Macdonalds of Glencoe. If they are not thought worthy of this trust they
+are not fit to bear arms in your Royal Highness' cause, and I must
+withdraw them from your standard.' The passion for revenge may be strong
+in the heart of the Highlander, but the love of honour and the sense of
+loyalty are stronger still. The Macdonalds, as we shall see, carried
+their habit of taking their own way to a fatal extent.
+
+
+IV
+
+EDINBURGH
+
+MEANWHILE nothing could exceed the panic that had taken possession of
+the town of Edinburgh. The question of the hour was, could the city be
+defended _at all_, and if so, could it, in case of siege, hold out till
+Cope might be expected with his troops? That dilatory general, finding
+nothing to do in the North, was returning to Edinburgh by sea, and might
+be looked for any day. There could be no question of the strength of the
+Castle. It was armed and garrisoned, and no army without large guns need
+attempt to attack it. But with the town it was different. The old town
+of Edinburgh, as everybody knows, is built along the narrow ridge of a
+hill running from the hollow of Holyrood, in constant ascent, up to the
+Castle rock. On each side narrow wynds and lanes descend down steep
+slopes, on the south side to the Grassmarket and the Cowgate, on the
+north--at the time of which we write--the sides of the city sloped down
+to a lake called the Norloch, a strong position, had the city been
+properly fortified. More than two hundred years before, in the desolate
+and anxious days that followed Flodden, the magistrates of the city,
+hourly expecting to be invaded, had hastily built a high wall round the
+whole city as it then was. For the time the defence was sufficient. But
+the wall had been built without reference to artillery, it had neither
+towers nor embrasures for mounting cannons. It was simply a very high,
+solid, park wall, as may be seen to this day by the curious who care to
+visit the last remnants of it, in an out-of-the-way corner near the
+Grassmarket.
+
+If the material defences were weak, the human defenders were weaker
+still. The regular soldiers were needed for the Castle; Hamilton's
+dragoons, stationed at Leith, were of no use in the defence of a city,
+the town guard was merely a body of rather inefficient policemen, the
+trained bands mere ornamental volunteers who shut their eyes if they had
+to let off a firearm in honour of the king's birthday. As soon as it
+seemed certain that the Highland army was approaching Edinburgh,
+preparations, frantic but spasmodic, were made to put the city in a
+state of defence.
+
+The patriotic and spirited Maclaurin, professor of mathematics, alone
+and unaided, tried to mount cannons on the wall, but not with much
+success. The city determined to raise a regiment of volunteers; funds
+were not lacking; it was more difficult to find the men. Even when
+companies were formed, their ardour was not very great. Rumour and
+ignorance had exaggerated the numbers and fierceness of the Highland
+army; quiet citizens, drawn from desk or shop, might well shrink from
+encountering them in the field. Parties were divided in the town; the
+Prince had many secret friends among the citizens. In back parlours of
+taverns 'douce writers,' and advocates of Jacobite sympathies, discussed
+the situation with secret triumph; in many a panelled parlour high up in
+those wonderful old closes, spirited old Jacobite ladies recalled the
+adventures of the '15, and bright-eyed young ones busied themselves
+making knots of white satin. 'One-third of the men are Jacobite,' writes
+a Whig citizen, 'and two-thirds of the ladies.'
+
+On Saturday, 14th, the news reached Edinburgh that the Prince had
+arrived at Linlithgow, and that Gardiner had retired on Corstorphine, a
+village two miles from Edinburgh. Consternation was general; advice was
+sought from the law officers of the Crown, and it was found that they
+had all retired to Dunbar. The Provost was not above suspicion. His
+surname was Stuart; no Scotsman could believe that he really meant to
+oppose the chief of his name.
+
+[Illustration: 'In many a panelled parlour']
+
+On Sunday, as the townsfolk were at church about eleven o'clock, the
+firebell rang out its note of alarm, scattering the congregation into
+the streets. It was the signal for the mustering of the volunteers. The
+officer in command at the Castle was sending the dragoons from Leith to
+reinforce Gardiner at Corstorphine, and the volunteers were ordered to
+accompany them. They were standing in rank in the High Street, when the
+dragoons rattled up the Canongate at a hard trot; as they passed they
+saluted their brothers in arms with drawn swords and loud huzzas, then
+swept down the West Bow and out at the West Port. For a moment military
+ardour seized the volunteers, but the lamentations and tears of their
+wives and children soon softened their mood again. A group of Jacobite
+ladies in a balcony mocked and derided the civic warriors, but had
+finally to close their windows to prevent stones being hurled at them.
+
+One of the volunteer companies was composed of University students.
+Among them was, doubtless, more than one stout young heart, eager for
+fame and fighting, but most were more at home with their books than
+their broadswords. 'Oh, Mr. Hew, Mr. Hew,' whispered one youth to his
+comrade, 'does not this remind you of the passage in Livy where the Gens
+of the Fabii marched out of the city, and the matrons and maids of Rome
+were weeping and wringing their hands?' 'Hold your tongue,' said Mr.
+Hew, affecting a braver spirit, 'you'll discourage the men.' 'Recollect
+the end, Mr. Hew,' persisted his trembling comrade; '_they all perished
+to a man!_' This was not destined to be the fate of the Edinburgh
+volunteers. On the march down the West Bow, one by one they stole off,
+up the narrow wynds and doorways, till by the time they reached the West
+Port, only the student corps remained, and even its ranks were sadly
+thinned. The remnant were easily persuaded that their lives were too
+precious to their country to be rashly thrown away, and quietly marched
+back to the college yards.
+
+There was no alarm that night. At one o'clock the Provost, accompanied
+by a few of the city guard, carrying a lantern before him, visited the
+outposts and found all at their places. In the narrow streets of
+Edinburgh the people were accustomed to transact all their business out
+of doors. Next morning (Monday, 16th), the streets were already crowded
+at an early hour with an anxious, vociferous crowd. At 10 o'clock a man
+arrived with a message from the Prince, which he incautiously proclaimed
+in the street. If the town would surrender it should be favourably
+treated; if it resisted it must expect to be dealt with according to the
+usages of war. Greatly alarmed, the people clamoured for a meeting, but
+the Provost refused; he trusted to the dragoons to defend the city. A
+little after noon, the citizens looking across from the Castle and the
+northern windows of their houses, saw the dragoons in retreat from
+Coltbridge As they watched the moving figures, the pace quickened and
+became a regular flight; by the time the dragoons were opposite the city
+on the other side of the Norloch, they were running like hares. They
+made at first for their barracks at Leith, but the distance still
+seemed too short between them and the terrifying Highlanders; they never
+drew rein till they had reached Prestonpans, nor did they rest there
+longer than an hour or two, but galloped on, and were at Dunbar before
+nightfall. And yet they had not exchanged a blow with their foes! At the
+first sight of a reconnoitring party of horsemen, panic had seized them
+and they had fled. This was the celebrated 'Canter of Coltbridge.'
+
+The effect on the city was disturbing in the extreme. A tumultuous
+meeting was held in the council chamber, the volunteers were drawn up in
+the streets. As they stood uncertain what to do a man on horseback--it
+was never known who he was--galloped up the Bow, and as he passed along
+the ranks, shouted 'The Highlanders are coming, sixteen thousand
+strong.'
+
+It was too much for the volunteers, they marched up to the Castle and
+gave in their arms! Meanwhile, a packet was handed into the council
+chamber signed C. P., and offering the same terms as in the morning,
+only adding that the town must open its gates by two o'clock next
+morning. The cry was unanimous to surrender, but to gain time deputies
+were sent to the Prince at Gray's Mill, two miles from Edinburgh, to ask
+for further delay. Hardly had the deputies gone when, in through the
+opposite gate galloped a messenger from Dunbar, to say that Cope had
+landed there with his troops. Opinion now swung round the other way, and
+men's courage rose to the point of _speaking_ about resistance. The
+deputies returned at ten at night; Charles, they said, was inexorable
+and stuck to his conditions. To cause a delay, a new set of deputies
+were sent forth at a very late hour, and went out by the West Bow _in a
+hackney coach_.
+
+[Illustration: 'Och no! she be relieved']
+
+To gain time, and then steal another march on Cope, was even more
+important to the Prince than to his enemies. There were weak points in
+the wall that might be attacked. The chief gate of the city, the
+Netherbow, lay midway up the High Street, dividing the real borough of
+Edinburgh from the Canongate; on each side of this gate the wall
+descended sharply down hill, running along Leith Wynd on the north side
+and St. Mary's Wynd on the south. The houses of the latter--Edinburgh
+houses numbering their ten or twelve stories--were actually built on to
+the wall. By entering one of these, active and determined men might
+clear the wall by a fire of musketry from the upper windows, and then
+make an escalade. Another weak point was at the foot of Leith Wynd,
+where the wall met the Norloch. About midnight Locheil and five hundred
+of his men started to make a night attack. They were guided by Mr.
+Murray of Broughton (the Prince's secretary, afterwards a traitor), who
+had been a student in Edinburgh and knew the town well. To avoid chance
+shots from the guns of the Castle, they made a wide circle round the
+town, but so still was the night that across the city they could hear
+the watches called in the distant fortress. Swift and silent as Red
+Indians, the Highlanders marched in the shadow cast by the high, dark
+houses of the suburbs without arousing the sleeping inmates. They could
+see cannons on the walls, but no sentinels were visible. They determined
+to try fraud before resorting to force. Twenty Camerons placed
+themselves in hiding on each side of the gate, sixty stood in the dark
+recess of the Wynd, the rest were at the bottom of the slope. One of the
+number, disguised as the servant of an English officer of dragoons,
+knocked loudly at the gate, demanding admission. The watch refused to
+open and threatened to fire. So this stratagem was not successful.
+Already the dawn was beginning to break, and a council was held among
+the leaders of the band in low hurried whispers. They were deliberating
+whether they should not retreat, when all at once a heavy rumbling
+noise from within the city broke the silence of the night. The hackney
+coach before mentioned had deposited its load of deputies at the council
+chamber and was returning to its stable-yard in the Canongate. A word to
+the watchmen within and the gates swung on their heavy hinges. In rushed
+the body of Camerons, secured the bewildered watchmen, and in a few
+minutes had seized the city guard-house and disarmed the soldiers. Then
+they struck up the wild pibroch 'We'll awa' to Sheriffmuir to haud the
+Whigs in order,' and startled citizens rushing to their windows saw in
+the dim twilight the streets filled with plaids and bonnets. The
+conquerors visited all the outposts as quietly as if they were troops
+relieving guard. A citizen strolling along by the wall early next
+morning found a Highland soldier astride on one of the cannons, 'Surely
+you are not the same soldiers who were here yesterday?' 'Och no!' was
+the answer with a grave twinkle, 'she be relieved.'
+
+At noon Prince Charles rode to Holyrood by way of Arthur's Seat and
+Salisbury Crags. He was on foot as he approached the ancient home of his
+race, but the large and enthusiastic crowd which came out to meet him
+pressed so closely upon him in their eagerness to kiss his hand, that he
+had to mount a horse, and rode the last half mile between the Duke of
+Perth and Lord Elcho. A gallant young figure he must have appeared at
+that moment--tall and straight and fresh-coloured, in a tartan coat and
+blue bonnet, with the cross of St. Andrew on his breast. As he was about
+to enter the old palace of Holyrood, out of the crowd stepped the noble
+and venerable figure of Mr. Hepburn of Keith. He drew his sword, and,
+holding it aloft, with grave enthusiasm marshalled the Prince up the
+stairs. It was surely a good omen; no man in Scotland bore a higher
+character for learning, goodness, and patriotism than Mr. Hepburn; he
+was hardly less respected by the Whigs than the Jacobites.
+
+That same afternoon, at the old Cross in the High Street, with pomp of
+heralds and men-at-arms, James VIII. was proclaimed king, and his son's
+commission as regent was read aloud to the listening crowd. Loud huzzas
+almost drowned the wild music of the bagpipes, the Highlanders in
+triumph let off their pieces in the air, and from every window in the
+high houses on each side ladies fluttered their white handkerchiefs.
+Beside the Cross, beautiful Mrs. Murray of Broughton sat on horseback, a
+drawn sword in one hand, while with the other she distributed white
+cockades to the crowd. Even grave Whig statesmen like the Lord
+President Forbes were disturbed by the enthusiastic Jacobitism that
+possessed all the Scotch ladies. More than one followed the example of
+the high-spirited Miss Lumsden, who let her lover clearly understand
+that she would have nothing more to say to him unless he took up arms
+for the Prince, and doubtless more young gallants than Robert Strange
+joined the rebels for no better reason than their ladies' command.
+
+[Illustration: Mrs. Murray of Broughton distributes cockades to the
+crowd]
+
+A ball was given at Holyrood that same evening, and surrounded by all
+that was bravest and most beautiful and brilliant in Scottish society,
+it was no wonder that Charles felt that this was but the beginning of a
+larger and more complete triumph.
+
+
+V
+
+PRESTONPANS
+
+IN less than a month Prince Charles had marched through a kingdom, and
+gained a capital, but he felt his triumph insecure till he had met his
+enemies in fair fight. Nor were his followers less eager for battle. In
+a council of war held at Holyrood, Charles declared his intention of
+leading the army against Cope, and of charging in person at its head.
+_That_, however, the chiefs would not hear of; the Prince's life was
+all-important to their cause, and must not be rashly exposed to danger.
+The arms that the Edinburgh trained bands had used to so little
+purpose--about a thousand muskets--had fallen into the hands of their
+enemies; but even with this addition, the Highland soldiers were
+insufficiently accoutred. The gentlemen, who marched in the front ranks,
+were, it is true, completely armed with broadsword, musket, pistol, and
+dirk, but in the rank and file many an unkempt, half-clothed, ill-fed
+cateran carried merely a bill-hook or scytheblade fixed into a long
+pole. It was the swiftness and splendid daring of their onset that made
+these ill-armed, untrained clansmen the equals or more than the equals
+of the regular army that opposed them.
+
+In the meantime Cope, with his army of 2,000 foot, reinforced by the
+fugitive dragoons, some 600 men under Gardiner, were marching from
+Dunbar. Gardiner, as brave a soldier as he was a good and devout
+Christian, was full of foreboding. The 'canter of Coltbridge' had broken
+his heart; a 'most foul flight,' he called it, and added, to a friend
+who tried to comfort him, that there were not ten men in his troop whom
+he could trust not to run away at the first fire. No such misgiving
+seems to have disturbed Sir John Cope. On Friday the 20th the Hanoverian
+army reached Prestonpans, and formed its ranks on a plain between the
+sea on the north and the ridge of Carberry Hill on the south. The road
+from Edinburgh to Haddington passed through this plain, and the simple
+old general argued that the advancing army would be sure to take the
+easiest road. Fortunately Lord George Murray knew better where the
+peculiar strength of the Highlanders lay.
+
+Early on Friday morning the Prince's army broke up from their camp at
+Duddingstone. Charles himself was the first man on the field. As the
+troops began their march, he drew his sword and cried: 'Gentlemen, I
+have thrown away the scabbard;' high-spirited words which found an echo
+in the hearts of all the brave men present.
+
+The army marched in column, three abreast, the various clans holding
+together under their own chiefs. Two miles short of Prestonpans Lord
+George learned the position of Cope's army, and at once led his
+light-footed soldiers up the slopes that commanded the plain. The
+English general was hourly expecting to see his enemies approach from
+the west by the road, and he was fully prepared to meet them at that
+point. At two in the afternoon, to his amazement, they suddenly appeared
+from the south, marching over the ridge of the hill.
+
+The Hanoverian soldiers had enough spirit to receive them with cheers,
+to which the Highlanders responded by wild yells. They longed ardently
+to sweep down the slope and give instant battle, but the nature of the
+ground made this impossible even to a Highland army. Intersecting the
+hillside were high stone walls, which would have to be scaled under a
+hot fire from below, and at the bottom was a swamp, a wide ditch, and a
+high hedge. A certain gentleman in the Prince's army--Mr. Ker of
+Gordon--rode over the ground on his pony to examine its possibilities.
+He went to work as coolly as if he were on the hunting-field, making
+breaches in the wall and leading his pony through, in spite of a
+dropping fire from the Hanoverians. He reported that to charge over such
+ground was impossible. The Highlanders were bitterly disappointed; their
+one fear was that Cope should again slip away under cover of darkness.
+To prevent this Lord Nairne and 600 Perthshire men were sent to guard
+the road to Edinburgh. Seeing that nothing more could be done that
+night, both armies settled down to rest; General Cope lay in comfort at
+Cockenzie, Prince Charles on the field; a bundle of peastraw served for
+his pillow; a long white cloak thrown over his plaid for a covering.
+
+Among the volunteers who had recently joined the Prince was an East
+Lothian laird called Anderson. He had often shot over the fields about
+Prestonpans. During the night he suddenly remembered a path which led
+from the heights, down through the morass on to the plain, slightly to
+the east of Cope's army. He sought out Lord George and told him of this
+path, and he, struck with the possibility of making immediate use of the
+information, took him without delay to the Prince. Charles was alert on
+the instant, entered into the plan proposed, and the next moment the
+word of command was passed along the sleeping lines. A few moments later
+the whole army was moving along the ridge in the dim starlight. But here
+a difficulty occurred. At Bannockburn, and in all great battles
+afterwards, except Killiekrankie, the Macdonalds had held the place of
+honour on the right wing of the army. They claimed that position now
+with haughty tenacity. The other clans, equally brave and equally proud,
+disputed the claim. It was decided to draw lots to settle the question.
+Lots were drawn, and the place of honour fell to the Camerons and
+Stewarts. An ominous cloud gathered on the brows of the Macdonald
+chiefs, but Locheil, as sagacious as he was courteous, induced the other
+chiefs to waive their right, and, well content, the clan Macdonald
+marched on in the van.
+
+Up on the hill the sky was clear, but a thick white mist covered the
+plain. Under cover of this the Highlanders passed the morass in the one
+fordable place. In the darkness the Prince missed a stepping-stone and
+slipped into the bog, but recovered so quickly that no one had time to
+draw a bad omen from the accident. A Hanoverian dragoon, standing
+sentinel near this point, heard the march of the soldiers while they
+were still invisible in the dusk, and galloped off to give the alarm,
+but not before the Highland army was free from the swamp and had formed
+in two lines on the plain. Macdonalds and Camerons and Stewarts were in
+the first line; behind, at a distance of fifty yards, the Perthshiremen
+and other regiments led by Charles himself.
+
+Learning that the enemy was now approaching from the east side of the
+plain, Cope drew up his men to face their approach. In the centre was
+the infantry--the steadiest body in his army--on his left, near the sea
+and opposite the Macdonalds, Hamilton's dragoons, on the right, the
+other dragoons under Gardiner, and in front of these the battery of six
+cannon. This should have been a formidable weapon against the
+Highlanders, who, unfamiliar with artillery, had an almost superstitious
+fear of the big guns, but they were merely manned by half-a-dozen feeble
+old sailors. There was a brief pause as the two armies stood opposite
+each other in the sea of mist. The Highlanders muttered a short prayer,
+drew their bonnets down on their eyes, and moved forward at a smart
+pace. At that moment a wind rose from the sea and rolled away the
+curtain of mist from between the two armies. In front of them the
+Highlanders saw their enemy drawn up like a hedge of steel. With wild
+yells they came on, their march quickening to a run, each clan charging
+in a close compact body headed by its own chief. Even while they rushed
+on, as resistless as a torrent, each man fired his musket deliberately
+and with deadly aim, then flung it away and swept on, brandishing his
+broadsword. A body of Stewarts and Camerons actually stormed the
+battery, rushing straight on the muzzles of the guns. The old men who
+had them in charge had fled at the first sight of the Highlanders; even
+the brave Colonel Whiteford, who alone and unassisted stood to his guns,
+had to yield to their furious onset. Gardiner's dragoons standing
+behind the battery were next seized by the panic; they made one
+miserable attempt to advance, halted, and then wheeling round, dashed
+wildly in every direction. Nor could Hamilton's dragoons on the other
+wing stand the heavy rolling fire of the advancing Macdonalds. Mad with
+terror, man and horse fled in blind confusion, some backwards,
+confounding their own ranks, some along the shore, some actually through
+the ranks of the enemy.
+
+[Illustration: James More wounded at Prestonpans]
+
+Only the infantry in the centre stood firm and received the onset of the
+Highlanders with a steady fire. A small band of Macgregors, armed only
+with scytheblades, charged against this hedge of musketry. This curious
+weapon was invented by James More, a son of Rob Roy Macgregor. He was
+the leader of this party, and fell, pierced by five bullets. With
+undaunted courage he raised himself on his elbow, and shouted, 'Look ye,
+my lads, I'm not dead; by Heaven I shall see if any of you does not do
+his duty.' In that wild charge, none of the clansmen failed to 'do his
+duty.' Heedless of the rain of bullets, they rushed to close quarters
+with the Hanoverian infantry, who, deserted by the dragoons, were now
+attacked on both sides as well as in front. A few stood firm, and the
+gallant Colonel Gardiner put himself at their head. A blow from a
+scytheblade in the hands of a gigantic Macgregor ended his life, and
+spared him the shame and sorrow of another defeat. The Park walls at
+their back prevented the infantry from seeking ignoble security in
+flight, after the fashion of the dragoons, and they were forced to lay
+down their weapons and beg for quarter. Some 400 of them fell, struck
+down by the broadswords and dirks of their enemy, more than 700 were
+taken prisoners, and only a few hundreds escaped.
+
+[Illustration: 'HE GALLOPED UP THE STREETS OF EDINBURGH SHOUTING,
+"VICTORY! VICTORY!"']
+
+The battle was won in less than five minutes. Charles himself commanded
+the second column, which was only fifty yards behind the first, but, by
+the time he arrived on the scene of action, there was nothing left to be
+done. Nothing, that is, in securing the victory, but Charles at once
+occupied himself in stopping the carnage and protecting the wounded and
+prisoners. 'Sir,' cried one of his staff, riding up to him, 'there are
+your enemies at your feet.' 'They are my father's subjects,' answered
+Charles sadly, turning away.
+
+In vain did Sir John Cope and the Earl of Home try to rally the
+dragoons. Holding pistols to the men's heads, they succeeded in
+collecting a body in a field near Clement's Wells, and tried to form a
+squadron; but the sound of a pistol-shot renewed the panic and off they
+started again at the gallop. There was nothing for it but for the
+officers to put themselves at the head of as many fugitives as they
+could collect, and conduct the flight. Hardly did they draw rein till
+they were safe at Berwick. There the unfortunate general was received by
+Lord Mark Ker with the well-known sarcasm--'Sir, I believe you are the
+first general in Europe who has brought the first news of his own
+defeat.'[37]
+
+In the meantime, the wounded they had left on the field were being
+kindly cared for by the victorious army. Charles despatched a messenger
+to bring medical aid--an errand not without danger to a single horseman
+on roads covered with straggling bodies of dragoons. But the adventure
+just suited the gallant spirit of young Lawrence Oliphant. At Tranent
+the sight of him and his servant at their heels sent off a body of
+dragoons at the gallop. Single fugitives he disarmed and dismounted,
+sending the horses back to the Prince by the hands of country lads.
+Once he had to discharge his pistol after a servant and pony, but for
+the most part the terrified soldiers yielded at a word.
+
+Entering the Netherbow, he galloped up the streets of Edinburgh
+shouting, 'Victory! victory!' From every window in the High Street and
+Luckenbows white caps looked out, while the streets were crowded with
+eager citizens, and joyful hurrahs were heard on every side. At Lucky
+Wilson's, in the Lawn Market, the young gentleman alighted, called for
+breakfast, and sent for the magistrates to deliver his orders that the
+gates were to be closed against any fugitive dragoons. Hat in hand, the
+magistrates waited on the Prince's aide-de-camp, but at that moment the
+cry arose that dragoons and soldiers were coming up the street. Up jumps
+Mr. Oliphant and out into the street, faces eight or nine dragoons, and
+commands them to dismount in the Prince's name. This the craven
+Hanoverians were quite prepared to do. Only one presented his piece at
+the young officer. Mr. Oliphant snapped his pistol at him, forgetting
+that it was empty. Immediately half a dozen shots were fired at him, but
+so wildly that none did him any harm beyond shattering his buckle, and
+he retreated hastily up one of the dark steep lanes that led into a
+close.
+
+The commander of the Castle refused to admit the fugitives, threatened
+even to fire on them as deserters, and they had to gallop out at the
+West Port and on to Stirling. Another of the Prince's officers,
+Colquhoun Grant, drove a party of dragoons before him all the way into
+Edinburgh, and stuck his bloody dirk into the Castle gates as a
+defiance.
+
+Sadder was the fate of another Perthshire gentleman, as young and as
+daring as Lawrence Oliphant. David Thriepland, with a couple of
+servants, had followed the dragoons for two miles from the field; they
+had fled before him, but, coming to a halt, they discovered that their
+pursuers numbered no more than three. They turned on them and cut them
+down with their swords. Many years afterwards, when the grass was rank
+and green on Mr. Thriepland's grave, a child named Walter Scott, sitting
+on it, heard the story from an old lady who had herself seen the death
+of the young soldier.
+
+The next day (Sunday) the Prince held his triumphant entry up the High
+Street of Edinburgh. Clan after clan marched past, with waving plaids
+and brandished weapons; the wild music of the pipes sounded as full of
+menace as of triumph. From every window in the dark, high houses on
+each side, fair faces looked down, each adorned with the white cockade.
+In their excitement the Highlanders let off their pieces into the air.
+By an unfortunate accident one musket thus fired happened to be loaded,
+and the bullet grazed the temple of a Jacobite lady, Miss Nairne,
+inflicting a slight wound. 'Thank God that this happened to _me_, whose
+opinions are so well known,' cried the high-spirited girl. 'Had a Whig
+lady been wounded, it might have been thought that the deed had been
+intentional.'[38]
+
+
+VI
+
+THE MARCH TO DERBY
+
+A SUCCESSFUL army, especially an insurgent army, should never pause in
+its onward march. If Prince Charles could have followed the flying
+dragoons over the Border into England he would have found no
+preparations made to resist him in the Northern counties. Even after the
+King and Government were alarmed by the news of the battle of Preston, a
+full month was allowed to pass before an army under General Wade arrived
+at Newcastle on the 29th of October. Dutch, Hessian, and English troops
+were ordered home from Flanders and regiments were raised in the
+country, though at first no one seems to have seriously believed in
+anything so daring as an invasion of England by Prince Charles and his
+Highlanders.
+
+So far there had come no word of encouragement from the English
+Jacobites. Still, Charles never doubted but that they would hasten to
+join him as soon as he crossed the Border. On the very morrow of
+Prestonpans he sent messengers to those whom he considered his friends
+in England, telling of his success and bidding them be ready to join
+him. In the meantime he waited in Edinburgh till his army should be
+large and formidable enough to undertake the march South. After the
+battle numbers of his soldiers had deserted. According to their custom,
+as soon as any clansman had secured as much booty as he could
+conveniently carry, he started off home to his mountains to deposit his
+spoil. A stalwart Highlander was seen staggering along the streets of
+Edinburgh with a pier glass on his back, and ragged boys belonging to
+the army adorned themselves with gold-laced hats, or any odd finery they
+could pick up.
+
+Many new adherents flocked to join the Prince. Among these was the
+simple-minded old Lord Pitsligo. He commanded a body of horse, though at
+his age he could hardly bear the fatigues of a campaign. In
+Aberdeenshire--always Jacobite and Episcopalian--Lord Lewis Gordon
+collected a large force; in Perthshire Lord Ogilvy raised his clan,
+though neither of these arrived in time to join the march South. Even a
+Highland army could not start in mid-winter to march through a hostile
+country without any preparations. Tents and shoes were provided by the
+city of Edinburgh, and all the horses in the neighbourhood were pressed
+for the Prince's service.
+
+On the first day of November the army, numbering 6,000 men, started for
+the Border. Lord George led one division, carrying the supplies by
+Moffat and Annandale to the West Border. Charles himself commanded the
+other division. They pretended to be moving on Newcastle, marched down
+Tweedside and then turned suddenly westward and reached England through
+Liddesdale.
+
+On the 8th they crossed the Border. The men unsheathed their swords and
+raised a great shout. Unfortunately, as he drew his claymore, Locheil
+wounded his hand, and his men, seeing the blood flow, declared it to be
+a bad omen.
+
+But fortune still seemed to follow the arms of the Adventurer. Carlisle
+was the first strong town on the English Border, and though
+insufficiently garrisoned, was both walled and defended by a Castle. The
+mayor, a vain-glorious fellow, was ambitious of being the first man to
+stay the victorious army, and published a proclamation saying that he
+was not 'Patterson, a Scotchman, but Pattieson, a true-hearted
+Englishman, who would defend his town against all comers.'
+
+A false report that Wade was advancing from the West made Charles turn
+aside and advance to Brampton in the hope of meeting him, but the roads
+were rough, the weather was wild and cold, the Hanoverian general was
+old, and again, as at Corryarack, Charles prepared to meet an enemy that
+never appeared.
+
+In the meantime a division of the army had returned to Carlisle and was
+laying siege to it with great vigour. Lord George Murray and the Duke of
+Perth worked in the trenches in their shirt sleeves. The sound of
+bullets in their ears, the sight of formidable preparations for an
+assault, were too much for the mayor and his citizens; on the 13th, the
+'true-hearted Englishmen' hung out a white flag, and the Prince's army
+marched in and took possession. It was another success, as sudden and
+complete as any of the former ones. But there were ominous signs even
+at this happy moment. The command of the siege of Carlisle had been
+given to the Duke of Perth, and Lord George Murray, the older and abler
+general, resented the slight. He sent in his resignation of the command
+of the forces, but with proud magnanimity offered to serve as a
+volunteer. Charles accepted the resignation, but the idea of losing the
+one general of any experience they had, created consternation among the
+chiefs. The crisis would have become serious but for the generous good
+sense and modesty of the Duke of Perth, who sent in his resignation also
+to the Prince. A more ominous fact was that they had been almost a week
+in England and no one had declared for them. Charles refused to let
+anything damp his hopefulness. Lancashire was the stronghold of
+Jacobitism. Once in Lancashire, gentlemen and their following would
+flock to join him.
+
+The road between Carlisle and Preston lies over bare, stony heights, an
+inhospitable country in the short, bleak days and long nights of
+November. Charles shared every hardship with his soldiers. He had a
+carriage but he never used it, and it was chiefly occupied by Lord
+Pitsligo. With his target on his shoulder he marched alongside of the
+soldiers, keeping up with their rapid pace, and talking to them in his
+scanty Gaelic. He seldom dined, had one good meal at night, lay down
+with his clothes on, and was up again at four next morning. No wonder
+that the Highlanders were proud of 'a Prince who could eat a dry crust,
+sleep on pease-straw, dine in four minutes, and win a battle in five.'
+Once going over Shap Fell he was so overcome by drowsiness and cold that
+he had to keep hold of one of the Ogilvies by the shoulderbelt and
+walked some miles half asleep. Another time the sole of his boot was
+quite worn out, and at the next village he got the blacksmith to nail a
+thin iron plate to the boot. 'I think you are the first that ever shod
+the son of a king,' he said, laughing as he paid the man.
+
+Still entire silence on the part of the English Jacobites. The people in
+the villages and towns through which they passed looked on the uncouth
+strangers with ill-concealed aversion and fear. Once going to his
+quarters in some small town the 'gentle Locheil' found that the good
+woman of the house had hidden her children in a cupboard, having heard
+that the Highlanders were cannibals and ate children!
+
+The town of Preston was a place of ill omen to the superstitious
+Highlanders. There, thirty years before, their countrymen had been
+disastrously defeated. They had a presentiment that they too would
+never get beyond that point. To destroy this fear, Lord George Murray
+marched half his army across the river and encamped on the further side.
+
+[Illustration: Crossing Shap Fell]
+
+Manchester was the next halting-place, and there the prospects were
+rather brighter. An enterprising Sergeant Dickson hurried on in front of
+the army with a girl and a drummer boy at his side. He marched about the
+streets recruiting, and managed to raise some score of recruits. In
+Manchester society there was a certain Jacobite element; on Sunday the
+church showed a crowd of ladies in tartan cloaks and white cockades, and
+a nonjuring clergyman preached in favour of the Prince's cause. Among
+the officers who commanded the handful of men calling itself the
+Manchester Regiment, were three brothers of the name of Deacon, whose
+father, a nonjuring clergyman, devoted them all gladly to the cause.
+Another, Syddel, a wig-maker, had as a lad of eleven seen his father
+executed as a Jacobite in the '15, and had vowed undying vengeance
+against the house of Hanover. Manchester was the only place in England
+that had shown any zeal in the Prince's cause, and it only contributed
+some few hundred men and 3,000_l._ of money.
+
+The situation seemed grave to the leaders of the Prince's army. He
+himself refused to recognise any other fact than that every day brought
+him nearer to London. On October 31 the army left Manchester. At
+Stockport they crossed the Mersey, the Prince wading up to the middle.
+Here occurred a very touching incident. A few Cheshire gentlemen met
+Charles at this point, and with them came an aged lady, Mrs. Skyring. As
+a child she remembered her mother lifting her up to see Charles II. land
+at Dover. Her parents were devoted Cavaliers, and despite the
+ingratitude of the royal family, loyalty was an hereditary passion with
+their daughter. For years she had laid aside half her income and had
+sent it to the exiled family, only concealing the name of the donor, as
+being of no interest to them. Now, she had sold all her jewels and
+plate, and brought the money in a purse as an offering to Charles. With
+dim eyes, feeble hands, and feelings too strong for her frail body, she
+clasped Charles's hand, and gazing at his face said, 'Lord, now lettest
+Thou Thy servant depart in peace.'
+
+The Highland forces were in the very centre of England and had not yet
+encountered an enemy, but now they were menaced on two sides. General
+Wade--'Grandmother Wade' the Jacobite soldiers called him--by slow
+marches through Yorkshire had arrived within three days' march of them
+on one side, while, far more formidable, in front of them at Stafford
+lay the Duke of Cumberland with 10,000 men. He was a brave leader, and
+the troops under him were seasoned and experienced. At last the English
+Government had wakened up to the seriousness of the danger which they
+had made light of as long as it only affected Scotland. When news came
+that the Scots had got beyond Manchester, a most unmanly panic prevailed
+in London. Shops were shut, there was a run on the Bank, it has even
+been asserted that George II. himself had many of his valuables removed
+on to yachts in the Thames, and held himself in readiness to fly at any
+moment.
+
+The Duke of Cumberland and his forces were the only obstacle between the
+Prince's army and London. Lord George Murray, with his usual sagacity,
+determined to slip past this enemy also, as he had already slipped past
+Wade. While the Prince, with one division of the army, marched straight
+for Derby, he himself led the remaining troops apparently to meet the
+Duke of Cumberland. That able general fell into the snare and marched up
+his men to meet the Highlanders at Congleton. Then Lord George broke up
+his camp at midnight (of December 2), and, marching across country in
+the darkness, joined the Prince at Leek, a day's journey short of Derby.
+By this clever stratagem the Highland army got a start of at least a
+day's march on their way to London.
+
+On the 4th, the Highland army entered Derby, marching in all day in
+detachments. Here Charles learned the good news from Scotland that Lord
+John Drummond had landed at Montrose with 1,000 French soldiers and
+supplies of money and arms. Never had fortune seemed to shine more
+brightly on the young Prince. He was sure now of French assistance, he
+shut his eyes to the fact that the English people were either hostile or
+indifferent; if it came to a battle he was confident that hundreds of
+the enemy would desert to his standard. The road to London and to a
+throne lay open before him! That night at mess he seriously discussed
+how he should enter London in triumph. Should it be in Highland or
+English dress? On horseback or on foot? Did he notice, one wonders, that
+his gay anticipations were received in ominous silence by the chiefs? At
+least the private soldiers of his army shared his hopes. On the
+afternoon of the 5th many had their broadswords and dirks sharpened, and
+some partook of the Sacrament in the churches. They all felt that a
+battle was imminent.
+
+Next morning a council of war was held. Charles was eager to arrange for
+an immediate advance on London. Success seemed to lie within his grasp.
+Lord George Murray rose as spokesman for the rest. He urged immediate
+retreat to Scotland! Two armies lay one on either hand, a third was
+being collected to defend London. Against 30,000 men what could 5,000
+avail? He had no faith in a French invasion, he was convinced that
+nothing was to be looked for from the English Jacobites. 'Rather than go
+back, I would I were twenty feet underground,' Charles cried in
+passionate disappointment. He argued, he commanded, he implored; the
+chiefs were inexorable, and it was decided that the retreat should begin
+next morning before daybreak. This decision broke the Prince's heart and
+quenched his spirit; never again did his buoyant courage put life into
+his whole army. Next morning he rose sullen and enraged, and marched in
+gloomy silence in the rear.
+
+All the private soldiers and many of the officers believed that they
+were being led against the Duke of Cumberland. When returning daylight
+showed that they were retreating by the same road on which they had
+marched so hopefully two days before, they were filled with grief and
+rage. 'Would God,' writes a certain brave Macdonald, 'we had pushed on
+though we had all been cut to pieces, when we were in a condition for
+fighting and doing honour to our noble Prince and the glorious cause we
+had taken in hand.' The distrust caused in the Prince's mind by Lord
+George's action had, later, the most fatal effect.
+
+[Illustration: 'Many had their broadswords and dirks sharpened']
+
+
+VII
+
+THE RETREAT
+
+NEVER, perhaps, in any history was there a march more mournful than that
+of the Highland army from Derby. These soldiers had never known defeat,
+and yet there they were, in full retreat through a hostile country. So
+secret and rapid were their movements that they had gained two full
+days' march before the Duke of Cumberland had any certain news of their
+retreat. Though he started at once in pursuit, mounting a body of
+infantry on horses that they might keep up with the cavalry, and though
+all were fresh and in good condition, it was not till the 18th that he
+overtook the Prince's army in the wilds of Cumberland. Lord George
+Murray, looking upon himself as responsible for the safety of the army,
+had sent on the first division under the Prince, and himself brought up
+the rear with the baggage and artillery. In the hilly country of the
+North of England, it was no light task to travel with heavy baggage. The
+big wagons could not be dragged up the steep ill-made roads, and the
+country people were sullenly unwilling to lend their carts. The general
+was reduced to paying sixpence for every cannon ball that could be
+carried up the hills. The Prince was already at Penrith on the 17th, but
+Lord George had been obliged to stop six miles short of that point.
+Marching before daybreak on the 18th, he reached a village called
+Clifton as the sun rose. A body of horsemen stood guarding the village;
+the Highlanders, exhilarated at meeting a foe again, cast their plaids
+and rushed forward. On this the Hanoverians--a mere body of local
+yeomanry--fled. Among a few stragglers who were taken prisoner was a
+footman of the Duke of Cumberland, who told his captors that his master
+with 4,000 cavalry was following close behind them. Lord George resolved
+to make a stand, knowing that nothing would be more fatal than allowing
+the dragoons to fall suddenly on his troops when they had their backs
+turned. He had a body of Macdonalds and another of Stuarts with him; he
+found also some two hundred Macphersons, under their brave commander
+Cluny, guarding a bridge close to the village. The high road here ran
+between a wall on one side, and fields enclosed by high hedges and
+ditches on the other. On either side he could thus place his soldiers
+under cover. As evening fell he learned that the Hanoverian soldiers
+were drawn up on the moor, about a mile distant. He sent some of his men
+to a point where they should be partly visible to the enemy over a
+hedge; these he caused to pass and repass, so as to give a delusive idea
+of numbers. When the night fell the Highland soldiers were drawn up
+along the wall on the road, and in the enclosures behind the hedges;
+Lord George and Cluny stood with drawn swords on the highway. Every man
+stood at his post on the alert, in the breathless silence. Though the
+moon was up, the night was cloudy and dark, but in a fitful gleam the
+watchful general saw dark forms approaching in a mass behind a hedge. In
+a rapid whisper he asked Cluny what was to be done. 'I will charge sword
+in hand if you order me,' came the reply, prompt and cheery. A volley
+from the advancing troops decided the question. 'There is no time to be
+lost; we must charge,' cried Lord George, and raising the Highland war
+cry, 'Claymore, Claymore,' he was the first to dash through the hedge
+(he lost his hat and wig among the thorns, and fought the rest of the
+night bareheaded!). The dragoons were forced back on to the moor, while
+another body of horse was similarly driven back along the high road by
+the Stuarts and Macdonells of Glengarry. About a dozen Highlanders,
+following too eagerly in pursuit, were killed on this moor, but the loss
+on the other side was far greater. Nor did the Duke of Cumberland again
+attack the retreating enemy; he had learned, like the other generals
+before him, the meaning of a Highland onset.[39]
+
+A small garrison of Highlanders had been left in Carlisle, but these
+rejoined the main army as it passed through the town. There was an
+unwillingness among the soldiers to hold a fort that was bound to be
+taken by the enemy. Finally the Manchester regiment consented to remain,
+probably arguing, in the words of one of the English volunteers, that
+they 'might as well be hanged in England as starved in Scotland.'
+
+The Esk was at this time in flood, running turbid and swift. But the
+Highlanders have a peculiar way of crossing deep rivers. They stand
+shoulder to shoulder, with their arms linked, and so pass in a
+continuous chain across. As Charles was fording the stream on horseback,
+one man was swept away from the rest and was being rapidly carried down.
+The Prince caught him by the hair, shouting in Gaelic, 'Cohear, cohear!'
+'Help, help!'
+
+They were now again on Scottish ground, and the question was, whither
+were they to go next? Edinburgh, immediately after the Prince's
+departure, had gladly reverted to her Whig allegiance. She was
+garrisoned and defended; any return thither was practically out of the
+question. It was resolved that the army should retire to the Highlands
+through the West country.
+
+Dumfries, in the centre of the Covenanting district, had always been
+hostile to the Stuarts. Two months before, when the Highland army
+marched south, some of her citizens had despoiled them of tents and
+baggage. To revenge this injury, Charles marched to Dumfries and levied
+a large fine on the town. The Provost, Mr. Carson, was noted for his
+hostility to the Jacobites. He was warned that his house was to be
+burned, though the threat was not carried out. He had a little daughter
+of six years old at the time; when she was quite an old lady she told
+Sir Walter Scott that she remembered being carried out of the house in
+the arms of a Highland officer. She begged him to point out the
+_Pretender_ to her. This he consented to do, after the little girl had
+solemnly promised always to call him the _Prince_ in future.
+
+[Illustration: 'The Prince caught him by the hair']
+
+An army which had been on the road continuously for more than two winter
+months, generally presents a sufficiently dilapidated appearance; still
+more must this have been the case with the Highland army, ill-clad and
+ill-shod to begin with. The soldiers--hardly more than 4,000 now--who on
+Christmas day marched into Glasgow, had scarcely a whole pair of boots
+or a complete suit of tartans among them. This rich and important town
+was even more hostile than Dumfries to the Jacobites, but it was
+necessity more than revenge that forced the Prince to levy a heavy sum
+on the citizens, and exact besides 12,000 shirts, 6,000 pairs of
+stockings, and 6,000 pairs of shoes.
+
+At Stirling, whither the Prince next led his army, the prospects were
+much brighter. Here he was joined by the men raised in Aberdeenshire
+under Lord Lewis Gordon, Lord Strathallan's Perthshire regiment, and the
+French troops under Lord John Drummond. The whole number of his army
+must have amounted to not much less than 9,000 men.
+
+The Duke of Cumberland had given up the pursuit of the Highland army
+after Carlisle; an alarm of a French invasion having sent him hurrying
+back to London. In his stead General Hawley had been sent down to
+Scotland and was now in Edinburgh at the head of 8,000 men. He was an
+officer trained in the Duke of Cumberland's school, severe to his
+soldiers and relentlessly cruel to his enemies. A vain and boastful man,
+he looked with contempt on the Highland army, in spite of the experience
+of General Cope. On the 16th he marched out of Edinburgh with all his
+men, anticipating an easy victory. Lord George Murray was at Linlithgow,
+and slowly retreated before the enemy, but not before he had obtained
+full information of their numbers and movements. On the nights of
+January 15 and 16, the two armies lay only seven miles apart, the
+Prince's at Bannockburn and General Hawley's at Falkirk. From the one
+camp the lights of the other were visible. The Highland army kept on the
+alert, expecting every hour to be attacked.
+
+All the day of the 16th they waited, but there was no movement on the
+part of the English forces. On the 17th the Prince's horse reconnoitred
+and reported perfect inactivity in Hawley's camp. The infatuated general
+thought so lightly of the enemy that he was giving himself up to
+amusement.
+
+The fair and witty Lady Kilmarnock lived in the neighbourhood at
+Callender House. Her husband was with the Prince, and she secretly
+favoured the same cause. By skilful flattery and hospitality, she so
+fascinated the English general that he recklessly spent his days in her
+company, forgetful of the enemy and entirely neglectful of his soldiers.
+
+Charles knew that the strength of his army lay in its power of attack,
+and so resolved to take the offensive. The high road between Bannockburn
+and Falkirk runs in a straight line in front of an old and decaying
+forest called Torwood. Along this road, in the face of the English camp,
+marched Lord John Drummond, displaying all the colours in the army, and
+making a brave show with the cavalry and two regiments. Their advance
+was only a feint. The main body of the army skirted round to the south
+of the wood, then marched across broken country--hidden at first by the
+trees and later by the inequalities of the ground--till they got to the
+back of a ridge called Falkirk Muir, which overlooked the English camp.
+Their object was to gain the top of this ridge before the enemy, and
+then to repeat the manoeuvres of Prestonpans.
+
+Meanwhile, the English soldiers were all unconscious, and their general
+was enjoying himself at Callender House. At eleven o'clock General
+Huske, the second in command, saw Lord John Drummond's advance, and sent
+an urgent message to his superior officer. He, however, refused to take
+alarm, sent a message that the men might put on their accoutrements, and
+sat down to dinner with his fascinating hostess. At two o'clock, General
+Huske, looking anxiously through his spy-glass, saw the bulk of the
+Highland army sweeping round to the back of the ridge.
+
+A messenger was instantly despatched to Callender House. At last Hawley
+was aroused to the imminence of the danger. Leaving the dinner table, he
+leaped on his horse and arrived in the camp at a gallop, breathless and
+bare-headed. He trusted to the rapidity of his cavalry to redeem the
+day. He placed himself at the head of the dragoons, and up the ridge
+they rode at a smart trot. It was a race for the top. The dragoons on
+their horses were the first to arrive, and stood in their ranks on the
+edge of the hill. From the opposite side came the Highlanders in three
+lines; first the clans (the Macdonalds, of course, on the right), then
+the Aberdeenshire and Perthshire regiments, lastly cavalry and Lord John
+Drummond's Frenchmen. Undismayed, nay, rather exhilarated by the sight
+of the three regiments of dragoons drawn up to receive them, they
+advanced at a rapid pace. The dragoons, drawing their sabres, rode on at
+full trot to charge the Highlanders. With the steadiness of old
+soldiers, the clans came on in their ranks, till within ten yards of the
+enemy. Then Lord George gave the signal by presenting his own piece, and
+at once a withering volley broke the ranks of the dragoons. About 400
+fell under this deadly fire and the rest fled, fled as wildly and
+ingloriously as their fellows had done at Coltbridge or Prestonpans. A
+wild storm of rain dashing straight in their faces during the attack
+added to the confusion and helplessness of the dragoons. The right and
+centre of Hawley's infantry were at the same instant driven back by the
+other clans, Camerons and Stewarts and Macphersons. The victory would
+have been complete but for the good behaviour of three regiments at the
+right of Hawley's army, Price's, Ligonier's, and Barrel's. From a point
+of vantage on the edge of a ravine they poured such a steady fire on the
+left wing of the Highlanders, that they drove them back and forced them
+to fly in confusion. Had the victorious Macdonalds only attacked these
+three steady regiments, the Highland army would have been victorious all
+along the line. Unfortunately they had followed their natural instinct
+instead of the word of command, and flinging away their guns, were
+pursuing the fugitive dragoons down the ridge. The flight of the
+Hanoverians was so sudden that it caused suspicion of an ambush. The
+Prince was lost in the darkness and rain. The pipers had thrown their
+pipes to their boys, had gone in with the claymore, and could not sound
+the rally. It was not a complete victory for Charles, but it was a
+sufficiently complete defeat for General Hawley, who lost his guns. The
+camp at Falkirk was abandoned after the tents had been set on fire, and
+the general with his dismayed and confused followers retired first to
+Linlithgow and then to Edinburgh. Hawley tried to make light of his
+defeat and to explain it away, though to Cumberland he said that his
+heart was broken; but the news of the battle spread consternation all
+over England, and it was felt that no one but the Duke of Cumberland was
+fit to deal with such a stubborn and daring enemy.
+
+The Prince's army did not reap so much advantage from their victory as
+might have been expected; their forces were in too great confusion to
+pursue the English general, and on the morrow of the battle many
+deserted to their own homes, carrying off their booty. A more serious
+loss was the defection of the clan Glengarry. The day after the battle a
+young Macdonald, a private soldier of Clanranald's company, was
+withdrawing the charge from a gun he had taken on the field. He had
+abstracted the bullet, and, to clean the barrel, fired off the piece.
+Unfortunately it had been double loaded, and the remaining bullet struck
+Glengarry's second son, Aeneas, who was in the street at the time. The
+poor boy fell, mortally wounded, in the arms of his comrades, begging
+with his last breath that no vengeance should be exacted for what was
+purely accidental. It was asking too much from the feelings of the
+clansmen. They indignantly demanded that blood should atone for blood.
+Clanranald would gladly have saved his clansman, but dared not risk a
+feud which would have weakened the Prince's cause. So another young life
+as innocent as the first was sacrificed to clan jealousy. The young
+man's own father was the first to fire on his son, to make sure that
+death should be instantaneous. Young Glengarry was buried with all
+military honours, Charles himself being chief mourner; but nothing could
+appease the angry pride of the clan, and the greater part of them
+returned to their mountains without taking any leave.
+
+[Illustration: The poor boy fell, mortally wounded]
+
+
+VIII
+
+IN THE HIGHLANDS
+
+ON January 30 the Duke of Cumberland arrived in Edinburgh. His reception
+was a curious parody of Charles's brilliant entry four months before.
+The fickle mob cheered the one as well as the other; the Duke occupied
+the very room at Holyrood that had been Charles's; where the one had
+danced with Jacobite beauties, the other held a reception of Whig
+ladies. Both were fighting their father's battle; both were young men of
+five-and-twenty. But here likeness gives way to contrast; Charles was
+graceful in person, and of dignified and attractive presence; his
+cousin, Cumberland, was already stout and unwieldy, and his coarse and
+cruel nature had traced unpleasant lines on his face. He was a poor
+general but a man of undoubted courage. Yet he had none of that high
+sense of personal honour that we associate with a good soldier. In
+Edinburgh he found many of the English officers who had been taken
+prisoner at Prestonpans. They had been left at large on giving their
+word not to bear arms against the Prince. Cumberland declared that this
+'parole' or promise was not binding, and ordered them to return to their
+regiments. A small number--it is right that we should know and honour
+their names--Sir Peter Halket, Mr. Ross, Captain Lucy Scott, and
+Lieutenants Farquharson and Cumming, thereupon sent in their
+resignations, saying that the Duke was master of their commissions but
+not of their honour.
+
+On the 30th the Duke and his soldiers were at Linlithgow, and hoped to
+engage the Highland army next day near Falkirk. But on the next day's
+march they learned from straggling Highlanders that the enemy had
+already retired beyond the Forth. They had been engaged in a futile
+siege of Stirling Castle. The distant sound of an explosion which was
+heard about midday on the 1st, proved to be the blowing up of the powder
+magazine, the last act of the Highlanders before withdrawing from
+Stirling. This second, sudden retreat was as bitter to the Prince as the
+return from Derby. After the battle at Falkirk he looked forward eagerly
+and confidently to fighting Cumberland on the same ground. But there was
+discontent and dissension in the camp. Since Derby the Prince had held
+no councils, and consulted with no one but Secretary Murray and his
+Irish officers. The chiefs were dispirited and deeply hurt, and, as
+usual, the numbers dwindled daily from desertion. In the midst of his
+plans for the coming battle, Charles was overwhelmed by a resolution on
+the part of the chiefs to break up the camp and to retire without delay
+to the Highlands. Again he saw his hopes suddenly destroyed, again he
+had to yield with silent rage and bitter disappointment.
+
+The plan of the chiefs was to withdraw on Inverness, there to attack
+Lord Loudon (who held the fort for King George); to rest and recruit,
+each clan in its own country, till in the spring they could take the
+field again with a fresher and larger army. Lord George Murray led one
+division by the east coast and Aberdeen, to the rendezvous near
+Inverness, Charles led the other by General Wade's road through Badenoch
+and Athol. Cumberland with his heavy troops and baggage could not
+overtake the light-footed Highlanders; by the time he reached Perth he
+was six days' march behind them. He sent old Sir Andrew Agnew to
+garrison the house of Blair, and other small companies to occupy all the
+chief houses in Athol. He himself retired with the main body to
+Aberdeen, and there waited for milder weather.
+
+In the neighbourhood of Inverness lies the country of the Mackintoshes.
+The laird of that ilk was a poor-spirited, stupid man. It was his simple
+political creed that that king was the right one who was willing and
+able 'to give a half-guinea to-day and another to-morrow.' That was
+probably the pay he drew as officer in one of King George's Highland
+companies. Of a very different spirit was his wife. Lady Mackintosh was
+a Farquharson of Invercauld; in her husband's absence she raised a body
+of mixed Farquharsons and Mackintoshes, several hundred strong, for the
+Prince. These she commanded herself, riding at their head in a tartan
+habit with pistols at her saddle. Her soldiers called her 'Colonel
+Anne.' Once in a fray between her irregular troops and the militia, her
+husband was taken prisoner and brought before his own wife. She received
+him with a military salute, 'Your servant, captain;' to which he replied
+equally shortly, 'Your servant, colonel.'
+
+This high-spirited woman received Charles as her guest on February 16 at
+the castle of Moy, twelve miles from Inverness.
+
+Having learnt that Charles was staying there with a small guard, Lord
+Loudon conceived the bold plan of capturing the Prince, and so putting
+an end to the war once for all. On Sunday the 16th, at nightfall, he
+started with 1,500 men with all secrecy and despatch. Still the secret
+had oozed out, and the dowager Lady Mackintosh sent a boy to warn her
+daughter-in-law and the Prince. The boy was both faithful and sagacious.
+Finding the high road already full of soldiers, he skulked in a ditch
+till they were past, then, by secret ways, over moor and moss, running
+at the top of his pace, he sped on, till, faint and exhausted, he
+reached the house at five o'clock in the morning, and panted out the
+news that Loudon's men were not a mile away! The Prince was instantly
+aroused, and in a few minutes was out of the house and off to join
+Lochiel not more than a mile distant. As it happened, Lord Loudon's
+troops had already been foiled and driven back by a bold manoeuvre of
+some of 'Colonel Anne's' men. A blacksmith with some half-dozen men--two
+pipers amongst them--were patrolling the woods near the high road, when
+in the dim morning twilight they saw a large body of the enemy
+approaching. They separated, planted themselves at intervals under
+cover, fired rapidly and simultaneously, shouted the war cries of the
+various clans, Lochiel, Keppoch, Glengarry, while the pipers blew up
+their pipes furiously behind. The advancing soldiers were seized with
+panic, and flying wildly back, upset the ranks of the rear and filled
+them with the same consternation. The 'Rout of Moy' was hardly more
+creditable to the Hanoverian arms than the 'Canter of Coltbridge.' In
+this affair only one man fall, MacRimmon, the hereditary piper of the
+Macleods. Before leaving Skye he had prophesied his own death in the
+lament, 'Macleod shall return, but MacRimmon shall never.'
+
+The next day, February 18, Charles, at the head of a body of troops,
+marched out to besiege Inverness. He found that town already evacuated:
+Lord Loudon had too little faith in his men to venture another meeting
+with the enemy. Two days later Fort George also fell into the Prince's
+hands.
+
+During the next six weeks the Highland army was employed in detachments
+against the enemies who surrounded them on all sides. Lord John Drummond
+took Fort Augustus, Lochiel and others besieged--but in vain--the more
+strongly defended Fort William. Lord Cromarty pursued Lord Loudon into
+Sutherland. But the most notable and gallant feat of arms was performed
+by Lord George Murray. He marched a body of his own Athol men, and
+another of Macphersons under Cluny--700 men in all--down into his native
+district of Athol. At nightfall they started from Dalwhinnie, before
+midnight they were at Dalnaspidal, no one but the two leaders having any
+idea of the object of the expedition. It was the middle of March; at
+that season they might count on five hours of darkness before daybreak.
+It was then explained to the men that they were to break up into some
+thirty small companies, and each was to march to attack one of the
+English garrisons placed in all the considerable houses in the
+neighbourhood. It was necessary that each place should be attacked at
+the same time, that the alarm might not spread. By daybreak all were to
+reassemble at the Falls of Bruar, within a mile or two of Castle Blair.
+One after the other the small parties moved off swiftly and silently in
+the darkness, one marching some ten miles off to the house of Faskally,
+others attacking Lude, Kinnachin, Blairfettie, and many other houses
+where the English garrisons were sleeping in security. Meanwhile Lord
+George and Cluny, with five-and-twenty men and a few elderly gentlemen,
+went straight to the Falls of Bruar. In the grey of the morning a man
+from the village of Blair came up hastily with the news that Sir Andrew
+Agnew had got the alarm, and with several hundred men was scouring the
+neighbourhood and was now advancing towards the Falls! Lord George might
+easily have escaped up the pass, but if he failed to be at the
+rendezvous, each small body as it came in would be surrounded and
+overpowered by the enemy. The skilful general employed precisely the
+same ruse as had been so successful at the Rout of Moy.
+
+[Illustration: The 'Rout of Moy']
+
+He put his followers behind a turf wall at distant intervals, displayed
+the colours in a conspicuous place, and placed his pipers to advantage.
+As Sir Andrew came in sight, the sun rose, and was flashed back by
+brandished broadswords behind the turf wall. All along the line plaids
+seemed to be waving, and heads appeared and disappeared as if a large
+body of men were behind; while the pipes blew up a clamorous pibroch,
+and thirty men shouted for three hundred. Sir Andrew fell into the
+snare, and promptly marched his men back again. One by one the other
+parties came in: some thirty houses had yielded to them, and they
+brought three hundred prisoners with them.
+
+After this success Lord George actually attempted to take the House of
+Blair. It was a hopeless enterprise; the walls of the house were seven
+feet thick, and Lord George had only two small cannons. 'I daresay the
+man's mad, knocking down his own brother's house,' said the stout old
+commander, Sir Andrew, watching how little effect the shot had on the
+walls. Lord George sent to Charles for reinforcements when it began to
+seem probable that he could reduce the garrison by famine, but Charles,
+embittered and resentful, and full of unjust suspicion against his
+general, refused any help, and on March 31 Lord George had to abandon
+the siege and withdraw his men. The Prince's suspicions, though unjust,
+were not unnatural. Lord George had twice advised retreat, where
+audacity was the only way to success.
+
+
+IX
+
+CULLODEN
+
+IN the meantime the weeks were rolling on. The grey April of the North,
+if it brought little warmth, was at least lengthening the daylight, and
+melting the snow from the hills, and lowering the floods that had made
+the rivers impassable. Since the middle of February the Duke of
+Cumberland and his army of at least eight thousand men--horse and
+infantry--had been living at free quarters in Aberdeen. He bullied the
+inhabitants, but he made careful provision for his army. English ships
+keeping along the coast were ready to supply both stores and ammunition
+as soon as the forces should move. With the savage content of a wild
+animal that knows that his prey cannot escape, the duke was in no hurry
+to force on an engagement till the weather should be more favourable.
+
+To the Highland army every week's delay was a loss. Many of the clansmen
+had scattered to their homes in search of subsistence, for funds were
+falling lower and lower at Inverness. Fortune was treating Charles
+harshly at this time. Supplies had been sent once and again from France,
+but the ships that had brought them had either fallen into the enemy's
+hands, or had been obliged to return with their errand unaccomplished.
+His soldiers had now to be paid in meal, and that in insufficient
+quantities. There was thus discontent in the ranks, and among the chiefs
+there was a growing feeling of discouragement. Charles treated with
+reserve and suspicion the men who were risking property and life for his
+cause, and consulted only with Secretary Murray and his Irish officers.
+
+On April 8 the Duke of Cumberland began his march from Aberdeen. Between
+the two armies lay the river Spey, always deep and rapid, almost
+impassable when the floods were out. A vigilant body of men commanding
+the fords from either bank would have any army at its mercy that might
+try to cross the stream under fire. Along the west bank Lord John
+Drummond and his men had built a long, low barrack of turf and stone.
+From this point of vantage they had hoped to pour their fire on the
+Hanoverian soldiers in mid-stream, but the vigilant Duke of Cumberland
+had powerful cannons in reserve on the opposite bank, and Lord John and
+his soldiers drew off before the enemy got across.
+
+On Monday the 15th this retreating party arrived at Inverness, bringing
+the news that the Duke was already at Nairne, and would probably next
+day approach to give battle. Prince Charles was in the highest spirits
+at the news. In the streets of Inverness the pipers blew the gatherings
+of the various clans, the drums beat, and with colours flying the whole
+army marched out of the town and encamped on the plain of Culloden.
+
+The Prince expected to be attacked next morning, Tuesday the 16th, and
+at six o'clock the soldiers were drawn up in order of battle. There was
+an ominous falling away in numbers. The Macphersons with Cluny had
+scattered to their homes in distant Badenoch; the Frasers were also
+absent. [Neither of these brave and faithful clans was present at the
+battle the next day.] The Keppoch Macdonalds and some other detachments
+only came in next morning.
+
+By the most fatal mismanagement no provision had been made for feeding
+the soldiers that day, though there was meal and to spare at Inverness.
+A small loaf of the driest and coarsest bread was served out to each
+man. By the afternoon, the starving soldiers had broken their ranks and
+were scattering in search of food. Lord Elcho had reconnoitred in the
+direction of Nairne, twelve miles off, and reported that the English
+army would not move that day; they were resting in their camp and
+celebrating their commander's birthday. Charles called a council of war
+at three in the afternoon. Lord George Murray gave the daring counsel
+that instead of waiting to be attacked they should march through the
+night to Nairne, and while it was still dark surprise and overwhelm the
+sleeping enemy. By dividing the Highland forces before reaching Nairne
+they might attack the camp in front and rear at the same moment; no gun
+was to be fired which might spread the alarm; the Highlanders were to
+fall on with dirk and broadsword. The Prince had meant to propose this
+very plan: he leaped up and embraced Lord George. It was a dangerous
+scheme; but with daring, swiftfooted, enterprising men it did not seem
+impossible. Yes! but with men faint and dispirited by hunger? At the
+review that morning the army had numbered about 7,000 men, but hardly
+more than half that number assembled in the evening on the field, the
+rest were still scattered in search of food. By eight o'clock it was
+dark enough to start. The attack on the enemy's camp was timed for two
+in the morning, six hours was thus allowed for covering the twelve
+miles. The army was to march in three columns, the clans first in two
+divisions, Lochiel and Lord George at the head with 30 of the
+Mackintoshes as guides. The Prince himself commanded the third column,
+the Lowland troops, and the French and Irish regiments. The utmost
+secrecy was necessary; the men marched in dead silence. Not only did
+they avoid the high roads, but wherever a light showed the presence of a
+house or sheiling they had to make a wide circuit round it. The ground
+they had to go over was rough and uneven; every now and then the men
+splashed into unexpected bogs or stumbled over hidden stones. Add to
+this that the night was unusually dark. Instead of marching in three
+clear divisions, the columns got mixed in the darkness and mutually kept
+each other back. Soon the light-footed clansmen got ahead of the Lowland
+and French and Irish regiments unused to such heavy walking. Every few
+minutes messengers from the rear harassed the leaders of the van by
+begging them to march more slowly. It was a cruel task to restrain the
+pace while the precious hours of darkness were slipping past. At
+Kilravock House the van halted. This was the point where it was
+arranged that the army was to divide, one part marching straight on the
+English camp, the other crossing the river so as to fall on the enemy
+from the opposite side. The rear had fallen far behind, and there was
+more than one wide gap between the various troops. The Duke of Perth
+galloped up from behind and told Lord George that it was necessary that
+the van should wait till the others came up; other officers reported
+that the men were dropping out of their ranks, and falling asleep by the
+roadside. Watches were now consulted. It was already two o'clock and
+there were still four miles to be covered. Some of the officers begged
+that, at all risks, the march might be continued. As they stood
+consulting an aide-de-camp rode up from the rear saying that the Prince
+desired to go forward, but was prepared to yield to Lord George's
+judgment. Just then through the darkness there came from the distance
+the rolling of drums! All chance of surprising the English camp was at
+an end. With a heavy heart Lord George gave the order to march back.
+This affair increased the Prince's suspicions of Lord George, which were
+fostered by his Irishry.
+
+In the growing light the retreat was far more rapid than the advance had
+been. It was shortly after five that the army found themselves in their
+old quarters at Culloden. Many fell down where they stood, overpowered
+with sleep; others dispersed in search of food. Charles himself and his
+chief officers found nothing to eat and drink at Culloden House but a
+little dry bread and whisky. Instead of holding a council of war, each
+man lay down to sleep where he could, on table or floor.
+
+But the sleep they were able to snatch was but short. At about eight a
+patrol coming in declared that the Duke of Cumberland was already
+advancing, his main body was within four miles, his horse even nearer.
+
+In the utmost haste the chiefs and officers of the Highland army tried
+to collect their men. Many had straggled off as far as Inverness, many
+were still overpowered with sleep; all were faint for lack of food. When
+the ranks were arrayed in order of battle, their numbers only amounted
+to 5,000 men. They were drawn up on the open plain; on the right, high
+turf walls, enclosing a narrow field, protected their flank (though, as
+it proved, quite ineffectually), on their left lay Culloden House. In
+spite of hunger and fatigue, the old fighting instinct was so strong in
+the clans that they took up their positions in the first line with all
+their old fire and enthusiasm, _all but the Macdonalds_. By
+extraordinary mismanagement the clans Glengarry, Keppoch, and
+Clanranald--they who had so nobly led the right wing at Prestonpans and
+Falkirk--were placed on the left. It was a slight that bitterly hurt
+their pride; it was also, to their superstitious minds, a fatal omen.
+Who was the cause of the blunder? This does not seem to be certainly
+known. On the right, where the Macdonalds should have been, were the
+Athol men, the Camerons, the Stewarts of Appin, Macleans, Mackintoshes,
+and other smaller clans, each led by their own chiefs, and all commanded
+by Lord George. At the extremities of the two wings the guns were
+placed, four on each side, the only artillery on the Prince's side. The
+second line consisted of the French, Irish, and Lowland regiments. The
+Prince and his guards occupied a knoll at the rear, from which the whole
+action of the fight was visible. His horse was later covered with mud
+from the cannon balls striking the wet moor, and a man was killed behind
+him. By one o'clock the Hanoverian army was drawn up within five hundred
+paces of their enemies. The fifteen regiments of foot were placed in
+three lines, so arranged that the gaps in the first line were covered by
+the centres of the regiments in the second line. Between each regiment
+in the first line two powerful cannons were placed, and the three bodies
+of horse were drawn up, flanking either wing. The men were fresh, well
+fed, confident in their general, and eager to retrieve the dishonour of
+Prestonpans and Falkirk.
+
+A little after one, the day clouded over, and a strong north-easterly
+wind drove sudden showers of sleet in the faces of the Highland army.
+They were the first to open fire, but their guns were small, and the
+firing ill-directed; the balls went over the heads of the enemy and did
+little harm. Then the great guns on the other side poured out the return
+fire, raking the ranks of the Highlanders, clearing great gaps, and
+carrying destruction even into the second line. For half an hour the
+Highlanders stood exposed to this fire while comrade after comrade fell
+at their side. It was all they could do to keep their ranks; their
+white, drawn faces and kindling eyes spoke of the hunger for revenge
+that possessed their hearts. Lord George was about to give the word to
+charge, when the Mackintoshes impatiently rushed forward, and the whole
+of the centre and left wing followed them. On they dashed blindly,
+through the smoke and snow and rattling bullets. So irresistible was the
+onset that they actually swept through two regiments in the first line,
+though almost all the chiefs and front rank men had fallen in the
+charge. The regiment in the second rank--Sempill's--was drawn up three
+deep--the first rank kneeling, the third upright--all with bayonets
+fixed. They received the onrushing Highlanders with a sharp fire. This
+brought the clansmen to a halt, a few were forced back, more perished,
+flinging themselves against the bayonets. Their bodies were afterwards
+found in heaps three or four deep.
+
+While the right and centre perished in this wild charge, the Macdonalds
+on the left remained sullenly in their ranks, rage and angry pride in
+their souls. In vain the Duke of Perth urged them to charge. 'Your
+courage,' he cried, 'will turn the left into the right, and I will
+henceforth call myself Macdonald.'
+
+In vain Keppoch, with some of his kin, charged alone. 'My God! have the
+children of my tribe forsaken me?' he cried, looking back to where his
+clansmen stood stubborn and motionless. The stout old heart was broken
+by this dishonour. A few minutes later he fell pierced by many bullets.
+
+In the meantime the second line had been thrown into confusion. A
+detachment of the Hanoverians--the Campbells, in fact--had broken down
+the turf walls on the Prince's right. Through the gaps thus made, there
+rode a body of dragoons, who fell on the rear and flanks of the Lowland
+and French regiments, and scattered them in flight. Gillie MacBane held
+a breach with the claymore, and slew fourteen men before he fell. But
+the day was lost. All that courage, and pride, and devotion, and fierce
+hate could do had been done, and in vain.
+
+Charles had, up to the last, looked for victory. He offered to lead on
+the second line in person; but his officers told him that Highlanders
+would never return to such a charge. Two Irish officers dragged at his
+reins; his army was a flying mob, and so he left his latest field,
+unless, as was said, he fought at Laffen as a volunteer, when the Scots
+Brigade nearly captured Cumberland. He had been eager to give up
+Holyrood to the wounded of Prestonpans; _his_ wounded were left to die,
+or were stabbed on the field. He had refused to punish fanatics who
+tried to murder him; his faithful followers were tortured to extract
+information which they never gave. He lost a throne, but he won hearts,
+and, while poetry lives and romance endures, the Prince Charles of the
+Forty-Five has a crown more imperishable than gold. This was the ending
+of that Jacobite cause, for which men had fought and died, for which
+women had been content to lose homes and husbands and sons.
+
+It was the end of that gifted race of Stuart kings who, for three
+centuries and more of varying fortunes, had worn the crown of Scotland.
+
+[Illustration: The end of Culloden]
+
+But it was not the end of the romance of the Highland clans. Crushed
+down, scattered, and cruelly treated as these were in the years that
+followed Culloden, nothing could break their fiery spirit nor kill their
+native aptitude for war. In the service of that very government which
+had dealt so harshly with them, they were to play a part in the world's
+history, wider, nobler, and not less romantic than that of fiercely
+faithful adherents to a dying cause. The pages of that history have been
+written in imperishable deeds on the hot plains of India, in the
+mountain passes of Afghanistan, in Egypt, in the Peninsula, on the
+fields of Waterloo and Quatre Bras, and among the snows of the Crimea.
+And there may be other pages of this heroic history of the Highland
+regiments that our children and our children's children shall read with
+proud emotion in days that are to be.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[37] Others were Frederick the Great, and David Leslie!
+
+[38] In _Waverley_ this generous speech is attributed to Flora Macivor.
+
+[39] Readers of _Waverley_ will remember that in this fight Fergus
+Macivor was taken prisoner.
+
+
+
+
+_THE BURKE AND WILLS EXPLORING EXPEDITION_
+
+
+ON August 21, 1860, in the most lovely season of the year--that of early
+spring--the citizens of Melbourne crowded to the Royal Park to witness
+the departure of the most liberally equipped exploring party that had
+yet set out to penetrate the unknown regions of Australia. Their object
+was to cross the land from the South to the Northern Seas, a task which
+had never before been accomplished, as well as to add to the scientific
+knowledge of the interior.
+
+The expedition started under the leadership of Robert O'Hara Burke, who
+began his career as a cadet at Woolwich, but left at an early age to
+enter a regiment of Hussars in the Austrian service, in which he
+subsequently held a captaincy.
+
+When this regiment was disbanded, in 1848, he obtained an appointment in
+the Irish Constabulary, which he exchanged for the Police Force of
+Victoria in 1853, and in this he was at once made an inspector.
+
+A Mr. Landells, in charge of the camels, went as second in command, and
+William John Wills, an astronomer and surveyor, as third.
+
+Wills was the son of Dr. William Wills, and was born at Totnes, in
+Devonshire, in 1834; he was cousin to Lieutenant Le Viscomte, who
+perished with Sir John Franklin in the 'Erebus.'
+
+In 1852 the news of the wonderful gold discoveries induced him to try
+his fortune in Victoria; but he soon became attached to the staff of the
+Melbourne Observatory, where he remained until selected for the post of
+observer and surveyor to the exploring expedition.
+
+From the time that the expedition first took shape the names of these
+leaders were associated in the minds of the people with those of other
+brave men who had toiled to solve the mystery that lay out in the great
+thirsty wilderness of the interior. Some of them had tried, and,
+failing, had returned broken in health by the terrible privations they
+had met with. Others, having failed, had tried again; but the seasons
+and years had rolled on since, and had brought back no story of their
+fate.
+
+Therefore, as late in the afternoon Burke, mounted on a pretty grey,
+rode forth at the head of the caravan, cheer after cheer rang out from
+either side of the long lane formed by the thousands of sympathetic
+colonists who were eager to get a last glimpse of the adventurers.
+
+Immediately following the leader came a number of pack horses led by the
+European servants on foot; then Landells and Dr. Beckler mounted on
+camels; and in their train sepoys, leading two by two twenty-four
+camels, each heavily burdened with forage and provisions, and a mounted
+sepoy brought up the rear.
+
+At intervals after these several wagons rolled past, and finally when
+nearly dusk, Wills and Fergusson, the foreman, rode out to their first
+camping-ground at the village of Essendon, about seven miles distant.
+
+Before the evening star, following close the crescent moon, had dropped
+below the dark and distant hill range, the green near the church was
+crowded by the picturesque confusion of the camp.
+
+Above the fires of piled gum-tree bark and sticks rose soft plumes of
+white smoke that scented the air fragrantly, and the red light of the
+flames showed, as they would show many times again, the explorers' tents
+in vivid relief against the coming night.
+
+The horses and camels were unloaded and picketed, and the men sat at the
+openings of their tents eating their supper, or stood in groups talking
+to those anxious friends who had come out from Melbourne to say the last
+good speed, or to repeat fears, to which imagination often lent the
+wildest colouring, of perils that awaited the adventurers in the great
+unknown land.
+
+The wet weather which set in soon after their start made travelling very
+slow as they crossed Victoria, though at that time all seemed to go well
+with the party.
+
+On fine days Wills found he was able to write his journal and do much of
+his work whilst riding his camel; he sat behind the hump, and had his
+instruments packed in front of it; thus he only needed to stop when the
+bearings had to be carefully taken.
+
+They halted for several days at Swan Hill, which was their last
+resting-place before leaving the Colony. They were very hospitably
+entertained there by the people.
+
+This may have had something to do with the ill-content of some of the
+party when on the march again, as at Balranald, beyond the Murray, Burke
+found himself obliged to discharge the foreman, Fergusson.
+
+The plan of their route had to be changed here, as they were told that
+all along the Lower Darling, where they intended to travel, there was
+absolutely no food for their horses, but a plant called the Darling Pea,
+which made the animals that ate it mad.
+
+Burke was at this time constantly irritated by Landells refusing to
+allow the camels to travel the distance of a day's march, or to carry
+their proper burden; he was naturally full of anxiety to push on while
+the season was favourable, and impatient and hasty when anything
+occurred to hinder their progress.
+
+Landells insisted upon taking a quantity of rum for the use of the
+camels, as he had heard of an officer who took two camels through a two
+years' campaign in Cabul, the Punjab, and Scind by allowing them arrack.
+He had also been sowing dissension in the camp for some time; and, in
+short, the camels and the officer in charge of them seemed likely to
+disorganise the whole of the enterprise.
+
+Complaints were now continually reaching Burke from the managers of the
+sheep stations through which they passed, that their shearers had got
+drunk on some of the camels' rum, which had been obtained from the
+wagons. He therefore, at last, determined to leave the rum behind.
+Landells, of course, would not agree to this, and in the end sent in his
+resignation.
+
+In the course of the same day Dr. Beckler followed his example, giving
+as his reason that he did not like the manner in which Burke spoke to
+Landells, and that he did not consider the party safe without him to
+manage the camels. Burke did not, however, accept the Doctor's
+resignation.
+
+This happened shortly before they left Menindie, the last station of the
+settled districts, and it was impossible to find anyone to take
+Landells' place. Wills was, however, at once promoted to be second in
+charge.
+
+Burke now divided the expedition into two parts--one to act with him as
+an exploring party to test the safety of the route to Cooper's Creek,
+which was about four hundred miles farther on; the other to remain at
+Menindie with the heavy stores, under the care of Dr. Beckler, until
+arrangements were made to establish a permanent depot in the interior.
+
+The advance party of eight started on October 29, under the guidance of
+a man named Wright, who was said to have practical knowledge of the
+'back country.'
+
+[Illustration: 'The advance party of eight started on October 29']
+
+They were Burke, Wills, Brahe, Patten, M'Donough, King, Gray, and Dost
+Mahomet, with fifteen horses and sixteen camels.
+
+When this journey was made it was immediately after one of those
+wonderful seasons that transform these parts of Central Australia from
+a treeless and grassless desert to a land where the swelling plains that
+stretch from bound to bound of the horizon are as vast fields of
+ripening corn in their yellow summertide.
+
+Riding girth high through the lovely natural grass, from which the ripe
+seed scattered as they passed, or camping at night surrounded by it, the
+horses and camels improved in condition each day, and were never at a
+loss for water. Sometimes they found a sufficiency in a natural well or
+claypan; or again they struck for some creek towards the west or north,
+whose irregular curves were outlined on the plain by the gum-trees
+growing closely on its banks.
+
+Nowhere did they experience great difficulty or serious obstacle on
+their northward way, though sometimes, as they crossed the rough
+ironstone ranges which crop up now and then on this great and ever
+rising table-land, there was little feed, and the sharp stones cut the
+feet of the animals as they trod with faltering footsteps down the
+precipitous gulleys, out of which the floods had for ages torn a path.
+As they followed the dry bed of such a path leading to rich flats, they
+would come upon quiet pools deeply shaded by gums and marsh mallow, that
+had every appearance of being permanent.
+
+After they had been out ten days and had travelled over two hundred
+miles, Burke had formed so good an opinion of Wright that he made him
+third in charge, and sent him back to Menindie to replace Dr.
+Beckler--whose resignation was now accepted--in command of the portion
+of the expedition at that place. Wright took with him despatches to
+forward to Melbourne, and his instructions were to follow up the advance
+party with the heavy stores immediately.
+
+Burke now pushed on to Cooper's Creek; and though the last part of their
+journey led them over many of those tracts of country peculiar to
+Australia where red sandy ridges rise and fall for many miles in rigid
+uniformity, and are clothed for the most part in the monotonous grey of
+salt and cotton-bush leafage, yet they saw before them what has since
+proved to be one of the finest grazing lands in the world.
+
+Still, as they went on, though the creeks and watercourses were more
+frequent, everywhere they showed signs of rapid drying up.
+
+The party reached the Cooper on November 11, and after resting for a
+day, they set about preparing the depot. For about a fortnight from this
+point Burke or Wills made frequent short journeys to the north or
+north-east, to feel their way before starting for the northern coast.
+
+On one occasion Wills went out taking with him M'Donough and three
+camels, and when about ninety miles from the head camp he walked to a
+rising ground at some distance from where they intended to stop to make
+some observations, leaving M'Donough in charge of the camels and to
+prepare tea.
+
+On his return he found that the man had fallen asleep, and that the
+camels had gone. Night closing in almost directly prevented any search
+for the missing animals.
+
+Next morning nothing could be seen of them, though their tracks were
+followed for many miles, and though Wills went to some distant hills and
+searched the landscape on all sides with his field-glasses.
+
+With a temperature of 112 deg. in the shade, and the dazzling sun-rays
+beating from a pallid and cloudless sky, they started on their homeward
+walk of eighty miles, with only a little bread and a few johnny cakes to
+eat, each carrying as much water as he could.
+
+They feared to light a fire even at night, as it might have attracted
+the blacks; therefore they took it in turn to sleep and watch when the
+others rested; while the dingoes sneaked from their cover in the belts
+of scrub, and howled dismally around them.
+
+They reached the depot in three days, having found only one pool of
+stagnant water, from which they drank a great deal and refilled the
+goatskin bag.
+
+Wills was obliged to return afterwards with King to recover the saddles
+and things that were left when the camels strayed.
+
+For some time Wright had been expected to arrive with the caravan from
+Menindie; yet a whole month passed and he did not come.
+
+Burke who had now become very impatient at the loss of opportunity and
+time, determined to make a dash across the continent to the sea.
+
+He therefore left Brahe, a man who could travel by compass and
+observation, in charge at Cooper's Creek depot until Wright should
+arrive, giving him positive instructions to remain there until the
+return of the exploring party from the Gulf of Carpentaria, which he
+thought would be in about three or four months.
+
+Burke started northwards on December 16, in company with Wills, King,
+and Gray, taking with them six camels, one horse, and provisions for
+three months, while Brahe, three men, and a native were left at the
+Creek with the rest of the horses and camels.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+The expedition was now in three parts, and Wright, who perhaps knew more
+about the uncertainty of the seasons and the terrible consequences of
+drought than any of the party, still delayed leaving Menindie with his
+contingent, though he well knew that as the summer advanced the greater
+would be the difficulty to travel.
+
+He had become faint-hearted, and every day invented some new excuse for
+not leaving. One day it was that there were not enough camels and horses
+to carry the necessary provision; the next, that the country through
+which they must pass was infested by blacks; the next, that he waited
+for his appointment to be confirmed by the authorities at Melbourne; and
+all this time he knew that Burke depended solely upon him to keep up
+communication with the depot from the Darling.
+
+Finally he started at the end of January (summer in Australia), more
+than a month after his appointment was officially confirmed, and more
+than two months after his return from Menindie.
+
+For the first few days after Burke and Wills set off they followed up
+the creek, and though the banks were rugged and stony, there was plenty
+of grass and soft bush near. They soon fell in with a large tribe of
+blacks, the first they had seen, who followed them for some time, and
+constantly tried to entice them to their camp to dance. When they
+refused to go the natives became very troublesome, until they threatened
+to shoot them.
+
+They were fine-looking men, but easily frightened, and only carried as a
+means of defence a shield and a large kind of boomerang.
+
+The channel of the Creek was often quite dry for a great distance; then
+a chain of magnificent water-holes followed, from whose shady pools
+pelicans, black swans, and many species of duck flew up in flocks at the
+approach of the travellers.
+
+After a few days they reached what seemed to be the end of Cooper's
+Creek, and, steering a more north-easterly course, they journeyed for
+some time over great plains covered by dry grass-stalks or barren sandy
+ridges, on the steep sides of which grew scant tufts of porcupine grass;
+sometimes following the lines of a creek, or, again, travelling along
+the edge of a splendid lagoon that stretched its placid waters for miles
+over the monotonous landscape.
+
+Even the stony desert they found far from bad travelling ground, and but
+little different from much of what they had already crossed.
+
+Yet ever before them there, from the sunrise to its setting, the
+spectral illusive shapes of the mirage floated like restless spirit
+betwixt heaven and earth on the quivering heat-haze.
+
+On January 7 they crossed the Tropic of Capricorn, and their way beyond
+it soon began to improve.
+
+In the excitement of exploring fine country Burke rushed on with almost
+headlong feverishness, travelling in every available hour of the day,
+and often by night, even grudging the necessary time for food and rest.
+He walked with Wills in front, taking it in turn with him to steer by a
+pocket compass.
+
+Before they left each camp its number was cut deeply into the bark of
+some prominent tree. Wills kept the little record there is of their
+journey, and as they went it was the duty of King or Gray to blaze a
+tree to mark their route.
+
+They passed now over many miles of the richly grassed slopes of a
+beautiful open forest, intersected by frequent watercourses where the
+land trended gradually upward to the distant mountain-range. Sometimes
+they had to go out of their course in order to avoid the tangle of
+tropic jungle; but onward north by east they went, beneath the shade of
+heavy-fruited palms, their road again made difficult by the large and
+numerous anthills that give these northern latitudes so strange a
+solemnity and appearance of desolation.
+
+After leaving Cooper's Creek they often crossed the paths the blacks
+made for themselves, but had hitherto seen nothing of the natives. One
+day Golah, one of the camels (who were all now beginning to show great
+signs of fatigue), had gone down into the bed of a creek to drink, and
+could not be made to climb its steep sides again.
+
+After several unsuccessful attempts to get him up, they determined to
+try bringing him down until an easier ascent could be found. King
+thereupon went on alone with him, and had great difficulty in getting
+him through some of the deeper water-holes.
+
+But after going in this way for two or three miles they were forced to
+leave him behind, as it separated King from the rest of the party, and
+they found that a number of blacks were hiding in the box-trees on the
+banks, watching, and following them with stealthy footsteps.
+
+It now became a very difficult matter for the camels to travel as the
+heavy rains that had fallen made the land so wet and boggy that with
+every footstep they sank several inches into it.
+
+At Camp 119 Burke left them in charge of Gray and King, and walked on to
+the shores of Carpentaria with Wills, and took only the horse Billy to
+carry their provisions.
+
+[Illustration: Golah is abandoned]
+
+They followed the banks of a river which Burke named the Cloncurry. A
+few hundred yards below the camp Billy got bogged in a quicksand bank so
+deeply as to be unable to stir, and they had to undermine him on the
+creek side and pull him into the water. About five miles farther on he
+bogged again, and afterwards was so weak that he could hardly crawl.
+
+After floundering along in this way for some time they came upon a
+native path which led through a forest; following it, they reached a
+large patch of sandy ground where the blacks had been digging yams and
+had left numbers lying on the surface; and these the explorers were glad
+enough to eat.
+
+A little farther on they saw a black lying coiled round his camp fire,
+and by him squatted his lubra and piccaninny yabbering at a great rate.
+They stopped to take out their pistols in case of need before disturbing
+them; almost immediately the black got up to stretch his limbs, and
+presently saw the intruders.
+
+He stared at them for some time, as if he thought he must be dreaming,
+then, signing to the others, they all dropped on their haunches, and
+shuffled off in the quietest manner.
+
+Near their fire was a worley (native hut) large enough to shelter a
+dozen blacks; it was on the northern outskirt of the forest, and looked
+out across a marsh which is sometimes flooded by sea-water. Upon this
+were hundreds of wild geese, plover, and pelicans. After they crossed it
+they reached a channel through which the sea-water enters, and there
+passed three blacks, who silently and unasked pointed out the best way
+to go.
+
+Next day, Billy being completely tired, they short-hobbled and left him,
+going forward again at daybreak in the hope of at last reaching the open
+sea. After following the Flinders (this country had already been
+explored by Gregory) for about fifteen miles, and finding that the tide
+ebbed and flowed regularly, and that the water was quite salt, they
+decided to go back, having successfully accomplished one great object of
+their mission, by crossing the Australian continent from south to north.
+
+After rejoining Gray and King on February 13, the whole party began the
+return march. The incessant and heavy rains that had set in rendered
+travelling very difficult; but the provisions were running short, and it
+was necessary to try to get back to the depot without delay.
+
+The damp and suffocating heat that brooded in the air overpowered both
+man and beast, who were weak and weary from want of rest; and to breast
+the heavy rains and to swim the rapid creeks in flood well-nigh
+exhausted all their strength.
+
+Day after day they stumbled listlessly onward; while the poor camels,
+sweating, bleeding, and groaning from fear, had their feet at almost
+every step entangled by the climbing plants that clung to the rank
+grasses, which had rushed in magical growth to a height of eight or ten
+feet.
+
+If for a moment they went to windward of their camp fires they were
+maddened by swarms of mosquitoes, and everywhere were pestered by ants.
+
+Wonderful green and scarlet ants dropped upon them from the trees as
+they passed; from every log or stick gathered for the fires a new
+species crept; inch-long black or brown 'bulldogs' showed fight at them
+underfoot: midgets lurked in the cups of flowers; while the giant white
+ant ate its stealthy way in swarms through the sap of the forest trees
+from root to crown.
+
+Every night fierce storms of thunder crashed and crackled overhead, and
+the vivid lightning flaring across the heavens overpowered the
+moonlight.
+
+Gray, who had been ailing for some time, grew worse, though probably, as
+they were all in such evil plight, they did not think him really ill.
+
+One night Wills, returning to a camp to bring back some things that had
+been left, found him hiding behind a tree eating skilligolee. He
+explained he was suffering from dysentery, and had taken the flour
+without leave.
+
+It had already been noticed that the provisions disappeared in an
+unaccountable way; therefore Wills ordered him back to report himself to
+Burke. But Gray was afraid to tell, and got King to do so for him. When
+Burke heard of it, he was very angry, and flogged him.
+
+On March 20 they overhauled the packs, and left all they could do
+without behind, as the camels were so exhausted.
+
+Soon after this they were again beyond the line of rainfall, and once
+more toiling over the vast plains and endless stony rises of the
+interior.
+
+At the camp called Boocha's Rest they killed the camel Boocha, and spent
+the whole day cutting up and jerking the flesh--that is, removing all
+bone and fat and drying the lean parts in the sun; they also now made
+use of a plant called portulac as a vegetable, and found it very good,
+and a great addition to their food.
+
+For more than a week it had become very troublesome to get Gray to walk
+at all; he was still in such bad odour from his thieving that the rest
+of the party thought he pretended illness, and as they had to halt
+continually to wait for him when marching, he was always in mischief.
+
+The faithful Billy had to be sacrificed in the Stony Desert, as he was
+so reduced and knocked up that there seemed little chance of his
+reaching the other side; and another day was taken to cut up and jerk
+his flesh.
+
+At dawn on the fourth day before they reached the depot, when they were
+preparing to start they were shocked to find poor Gray was dying.
+
+His companions, full of remorse for bygone harshness, their better
+natures stirred to the depths of humanity by his pitiful case, knelt
+around to support him in those last moments as he lay stretched
+speechless on his desolate sand bed. Thus comforted, his fading eyes
+closed for ever as the red sun rose above the level plain.
+
+The party remained in camp that day to bury him, though they were so
+weak that they were hardly able to dig a grave in the sand sufficiently
+deep for the purpose.
+
+They had lived on the flesh of the worn-out horse for fifteen days, and
+once or twice were forced to camp without water. Though the sun was
+always hot, at night a gusty wind blew from the south with an edge like
+a razor, which made their fire so irregular as to be of little use to
+them. The sudden and cruel extremes of heat and cold racked the
+exhausted frames of the explorers with pain, and Burke and King were
+hardly able to walk. They pushed on, only sustained by the thought that
+but a few hours, a few miles, now separated them from the main party,
+where the first felicitations on the success of their exploit awaited
+them, and, what was of greater importance to men shattered by hardships
+and privation, wholesome food, fresh clothing, and the comfort of a
+properly organised camp.
+
+On the morning of April 21, with every impatient nerve strung to its
+utmost tension, and full of hope, they urged their two remaining camels
+forward for the last thirty miles; and Burke, who rode a little in
+advance of the others, shouted for joy when they struck Cooper's Creek
+at the exact spot where Brahe had been left in charge of the depot.
+
+'I think I see their tents,' he cried, and putting his weary camel to
+its best speed, he called out the names of the men he had left there.
+
+'There they are! There they are!' he shouted eagerly, and with a last
+spurt left the others far behind.
+
+When Wills and King reached the depot they saw Burke standing by the
+side of his camel in a deserted camp, _alone_.
+
+He was standing, lost in amazement, staring vacantly around. Signs of
+recent departure, of a final packing-up, everywhere met the eye: odd
+nails and horseshoes lay about, with other useful things that would not
+have been left had the occupants merely decamped to some other spot.
+Then, as one struck by some terrible blow, Burke reeled and fell to the
+ground, overcome by the revulsion of feeling from exultant hope to
+sudden despair.
+
+Wills, who had ever the greater control of himself, now walked in all
+directions to make a careful examination, followed at a little distance
+by King.
+
+Presently he stopped, and pointing to a tree, into the bark of which had
+been newly cut the words--
+
+ 'DIG.
+ 'April 21, 1861'
+
+he said:--
+
+'_King, they are gone!_ They have only gone to-day--there are the things
+they have left!'
+
+The two men immediately set to work to uncover the earth, and found a
+few inches below the surface a box containing provisions and a bottle.
+
+In the bottle was a note, which was taken to Burke at once, who read it
+aloud:--
+
+ 'Depot, Cooper's Creek,
+ 'April 21, 1861.
+
+ 'The depot party of the Victorian Exploring
+ Expedition leaves this camp to-day to return to
+ the Darling.
+
+ 'I intend to go S.E. from Camp 60, to get into our
+ old track near Bulloo. Two of my companions and
+ myself are quite well; the third--Patten--has been
+ unable to walk for the last eighteen days, as his
+ leg has been severely hurt when thrown by one of
+ the horses.
+
+ 'No person has been up here from the Darling.
+
+ 'We have six camels and twelve horses in good
+ working condition.
+
+ 'WILLIAM BRAHE.'
+
+When the leader had finished reading it, he turned to the others and
+asked if they would start next day to try to overtake Brahe's party.
+
+They replied that they could not. With the slightest exertion all felt
+the indescribable languor and terrible aching in back and legs that had
+proved fatal to poor Gray. And, indeed, it was as much as any one of
+them could do to crawl to the side of the creek for a billy of water.
+
+They were not long in getting out the stores Brahe had left, and in
+making themselves a good supper of oatmeal porridge and sugar.
+
+[Illustration: 'King, they are gone!']
+
+This and the excitement of their unexpected position did much to revive
+them. Burke presently decided to make for a station on the South
+Australian side which he believed was only one hundred and twenty miles
+from the Cooper. Both Wills and King wanted to follow down their old
+track to the Darling, but afterwards gave in to Burke's idea. Therefore
+it was arranged that after they had rested they would proceed by gentle
+stages towards the Mount Hopeless sheeprun.
+
+Accordingly, on the next day Burke wrote and deposited in the cache a
+letter giving a sketch of the exploration, and added the following
+postscript:
+
+'The camels cannot travel, and we cannot walk, or we should follow the
+other party. We shall move very slowly down the Creek.'
+
+The cache was again covered with earth, and left as they had found it,
+though nothing was added to the word 'Dig,' or to the date on the tree;
+which curious carelessness on the part of men accustomed to note every
+camping-ground in this way seems unaccountable.
+
+A few days after their return they started with the month's supply of
+provisions that had been left.
+
+They had every reason to hope, with the help of the camels, they might
+easily reach Mount Hopeless in time to preserve their lives and to reap
+the reward of their successful exertions.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+It will be remembered that when Burke formally appointed Brahe as
+officer in command of the depot until Wright should arrive, he was told
+to await his leader's return to Cooper's Creek, _or not to leave it
+until obliged by absolute necessity_. Day after day, week after week
+passed, and Wright, with the rest of the stores from Menindie, never
+came. It was more than four months since Burke's party went north, and
+every day for the last six weeks Brahe had looked out anxiously for
+their return.
+
+On one hand he was worried by Patten, who was dying, and who wanted to
+go back to the Darling for advice; on the other, by M'Donough's
+continually pouring into his ears the assurance that Burke would not
+return that way, but had doubtless by this time made for some port on
+the Queensland coast, and had returned to Melbourne by sea; and that if
+they stayed at the depot they would all get scurvy, and in the end die
+of starvation. Though they had sufficient provisions to keep them for
+another month, they decided to start on the morning of April 21, leaving
+the box of stores and the note hidden in the earth which the explorers
+found on their return.
+
+Following their former route towards the Darling, they fell in with
+Wright's party at Bulloo, where they had been stationary for several
+weeks, and where three of the men had died of scurvy.
+
+Brahe at once put himself under Wright's orders; but he did not rest
+until Wright consented to go to Cooper's Creek with him, so that before
+abandoning the expedition he might feel assured that the explorers had
+not returned.
+
+Wright and Brahe reached the depot on May 8, a fortnight after the
+others had left, and Brahe seeing nothing above ground in the camp to
+lead him to think anyone had been there, did not trouble to disturb the
+box which he had originally planted--as Wright suggested the blacks
+would be more likely to find it; therefore, running their horses several
+times over the spot, they completed by their thoughtless stupidity the
+most terrible blunder the explorers had begun.
+
+Wright and Brahe then rejoined the camp at Bulloo, when all moved back
+to Menindie, and reached that place on June 18.
+
+Brahe at once set off for Melbourne, and by this time everyone there
+seemed to be alive to the necessity of sending out to look for the
+explorers.
+
+Two steamers were despatched to the Gulf of Carpentaria, and a relief
+party, in charge of Alfred Howitt, up to the Cooper.
+
+From South Australia an organised expedition of twenty-six men, with
+McKinlay as leader, was already engaged in the search, as well as
+several smaller parties from the neighbouring colonies.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Burke, Wills, and King, much revived with the rest of a few days and the
+food they had found at the depot, left for Mount Hopeless, with the
+intention of following as nearly as possible the route taken by Gregory
+many years before.
+
+Shortly after their departure Landa, one of the camels, bogged at the
+side of a water-hole and sank rapidly, as the ground beneath was a
+bottomless quicksand; all their efforts to dig him out were useless, and
+they had to shoot him where he lay, and cut off what flesh they could
+get at to jerk.
+
+They made a fresh start next day with the last camel, Rajah, only loaded
+with the most useful and necessary articles; and each of the men now
+carried his own swag of bed and clothing.
+
+In addition to these misfortunes they had now to contend with the blast
+of drought that lay over the land; with the fiery sun, that streamed
+from cloudless skies, beneath which the very earth shrunk from itself in
+gaping fissures; with the wild night wind, that shrieked and skirled
+with devastating breath over the wilderness beneath the cold light of
+the crowding stars.
+
+For a few days they followed the Creek, but found that it split up into
+sandy channels which became rapidly smaller as they advanced, and sent
+off large billabongs (or backwaters) to the south, slightly changing the
+course of the Creek each time, until it disappeared altogether in a
+north-westerly direction. Burke and Wills went forward alone to
+reconnoitre, and found that the land as far as they could see stretched
+away in great earthy plains intersected by lines of trees and empty
+watercourses.
+
+Next day they retraced their steps to the last camp, and realised that
+their rations were rapidly diminishing and their boots and clothing
+falling to pieces.
+
+Rajah was very ill and on the point of dying, when Burke ordered him to
+be shot, his flesh being afterwards dried in the usual manner.
+
+Some friendly blacks, whom they amused by lighting fires with matches,
+gave them some fish and a kind of bread called nardoo.
+
+At various times they had tried to learn from the blacks how to procure
+the nardoo grain, which is the seed of a small clover-like plant, but
+had failed to make them understand what they wanted.
+
+Then Wills went out alone to look for it; but as he expected to find it
+growing on a tree, was of course unsuccessful, and the blacks had again
+moved off to some other branch of the Creek.
+
+The terrible fate of death from starvation awaited them if they could
+not obtain this knowledge, and for several days they all persevered with
+the search, until quite by chance King at last caught sight of some
+seeds which proved to be nardoo lying at the foot of a sandhill, and
+they soon found the plain beyond was black with it.
+
+With the reassurance that they could now support themselves they made
+another attempt to reach Mount Hopeless. Burke and King each carried a
+billy of water, and the last of the provisions was packed up in their
+swags; but after travelling for three days they found no water, and were
+forced to turn back to the Creek, at a point where--though they knew it
+not--scarce fifty miles remained to be accomplished, and just as Mount
+Hopeless would have appeared above the horizon had they continued their
+route for even another day.
+
+Wearily they retraced their footsteps to the water and to the prospect
+of existence. They at once set about collecting nardoo; two of them were
+employed in gathering it, while one stayed in camp to clean and crush
+it.
+
+In a few days Burke sent Wills back to the depot to bury the field-books
+of their journey north in the cache, and another letter to tell of their
+present condition.
+
+When Wills reached the spot he could see no trace of anyone having been
+there but natives, and that the hiding-place had not been touched.
+
+Having deposited the field-books and a note, with an account of their
+sufferings and a pitiful and useless appeal for food and clothing, he
+started back to rejoin Burke, terribly fatigued and weak from his long
+walk.
+
+It had taken him eleven days to cover the seventy miles to and fro, and
+he had had very little to eat.
+
+However, to his surprise, one morning, on his way back he heard a cooee
+from the opposite bank of the Creek, and saw Pitchery, the chief of the
+friendly blacks, beckoning to him to come to their camp. Pitchery made
+him sit down by a fire, upon which a large pile of fish was cooking.
+
+This he thought was to provide a breakfast for the half-dozen natives
+who sat around; but to his astonishment they made him eat the whole lot,
+while they sat by extracting the bones.
+
+Afterwards a supply of nardoo was given him; at which he ate until he
+could eat no more. The blacks then asked him to stay the night with
+them; but as he was anxious to rejoin Burke and King, he went on.
+
+In his absence Burke, while frying some fish that the natives had given
+him, had set fire to the mia-mia (a shelter made by the blacks of bushes
+and trees).
+
+It burnt so quickly that every remnant of their clothing was destroyed,
+and nothing saved but a gun.
+
+In a few days they all started back towards the depot, in the hope that
+they could live with the blacks; but they found they had again
+disappeared.
+
+On again next morning to another of the native camps; but, finding it
+empty, the wanderers took possession of the best mia-mia, and Wills and
+King were sent out to collect nardoo.
+
+This was now absolutely their only food, with the exception of two crows
+which King shot; he alone seemed to be uninjured by the nardoo. Wills
+had at last suddenly collapsed, and could only lie in the mia-mia, and
+philosophically contemplate the situation.
+
+He strongly advised Burke and King to leave him, as the only chance for
+the salvation of any one of them now was to find the blacks.
+
+Very reluctantly at last Burke consented to go; and after placing a
+large supply of nardoo, wood, and water within easy reach, Burke said
+again:
+
+'I will not leave you, Wills, under any other circumstance than that of
+your own wish.'
+
+And Wills, again repeating 'It is our only chance,' gave him a letter
+and his watch for his father.
+
+King had already buried the rest of the field-books near the mia-mia.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+The first day after they left Wills Burke was very weak, and complained
+sadly of great pain in his back and legs. Next day he was a little
+better, and walked for about two miles, then lay down and said he could
+go no farther.
+
+[Illustration: Death of Burke]
+
+King managed to get him up, but as he went he dropped his swag and threw
+away everything he had to carry.
+
+When they halted he said he felt much worse, and could not last many
+hours longer, and he gave his pocket-book to King, saying:--
+
+'I hope you will remain with me till I am quite dead--it is a comfort to
+know someone is by; but when I am dying, it is my wish that you should
+place the pistol in my right hand, and that you leave me unburied as I
+lie.'
+
+Doubtless he thought of King's weak state, and wished to spare him the
+labour of digging a grave.
+
+The last of the misfortunes that had followed the enterprise from the
+outset, misfortunes in many cases caused by the impatient zeal of its
+leader, was drawing to its close.
+
+Tortured by disappointment and despair, racked by starvation and
+disease, he lay in the desert dying.
+
+Flinging aside the last poor chance of succour, renouncing all hope that
+he might yet live to reap the reward of his brilliant dash across the
+continent, he met death
+
+ 'With the pistol clenched in his failing hand,
+ With the death mist spread o'er his fading eyes
+ He saw the sun go down on the sand,
+ And he slept--and never saw it rise.'
+
+King lingered near the spot for a few hours; but at last, feeling it to
+be useless, he went on up the Creek to look for the natives.
+
+In one of their deserted mia-mias he found a large store of the nardoo
+seed, and, carrying it with him, returned to Wills.
+
+On his way back he shot three crows. This addition to their food would,
+he felt, give them a chance of tiding over their difficulties until the
+blacks could again be found. But as he drew near the mia-mia where he
+and poor Burke had left Wills a few days before, and saw his lonely
+figure in the distance lying much as they had left him, a sudden fear
+came upon him.
+
+Hitherto the awful quiet of these desolate scenes had little impressed
+him, and now it came upon him heavily. The shrilling of a solitary
+locust somewhere in the gums, the brisk crackle of dry bark and twigs as
+he trod, the melancholy sighing of the wind-stirred leafage, offered him
+those inexplicable contrasts that give stress to silence.
+
+Anxious to escape thoughts so little comprehended, King hurried on, and
+essayed a feeble 'cooee' when a few yards from the sleeper. No answering
+sound or gesture greeted him.
+
+Wills had fallen peacefully asleep for ever.
+
+Footprints on the sand showed that the blacks had already been there,
+and after King had buried the corpse with sand and rushes as well as he
+was able, he started to follow their tracks.
+
+Feeling desperately lonely and ill, he went on, and as he went he shot
+some more crows. The blacks, hearing the report of the gun, came to meet
+him, and taking him to their camp gave him food.
+
+The next day they talked to him by signs, putting one finger in the
+ground and covering it with sand, at the same time pointing up the
+Creek, saying 'White fellow.'
+
+By this they meant that one white man was dead.
+
+King, by putting two fingers in the sand and covering them, made them
+understand that his second companion was also dead.
+
+Finding he was now quite alone, they seemed very sorry for him, and gave
+him plenty to eat. However, in a few days they became tired of him, and
+by signs told him they meant to go up the Creek, pointing in the
+opposite direction to show that that must be his way. But when he shot
+some more crows for them they were very pleased. One woman to whom he
+gave a part of a crow gave him a ball of nardoo, and, showing him a
+wound on her arm, intimated that she would give him more, but she was
+unable to pound it. When King saw the wound he boiled some water in his
+billy and bathed it. While the whole tribe sat round, watching and
+yabbering excitedly, he touched it with some lunar caustic; she shrieked
+and ran off, crying 'mokow! mokow!' (fire! fire!) She was, however, very
+grateful for his kindness, and from that time she and her husband
+provided him with food.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+About two months later the relief party reached the depot, where they
+found the letters and journals the explorers had placed in the cache.
+They at once set off down the Creek, in the hope still of finding Burke
+and Wills. They met a black who directed them to the native camp. Here
+they found King sitting alone in the mia-mia the natives had made for
+him, wasted and worn to a shadow, almost imbecile from the terrible
+hardships he had suffered.
+
+He turned his hopeless face upon the new-comers, staring vacantly at
+them, muttering indistinctly words which his lips refused to articulate.
+Only the remnants of his clothing marked him as a civilised being. The
+blacks who had fed him sat round to watch the meeting with most
+gratified and delighted expressions.
+
+Howitt waited for a few days to give King an opportunity of recovering
+his strength, that he might show them where the bodies of his
+unfortunate leaders lay, that the last sad duty to the dead might be
+performed before they left the place.
+
+Burke's body had been dragged a short distance from where it originally
+lay, and was partly eaten by the dingoes (wild dogs). The remains were
+carefully collected, wrapped in a Union Jack, and placed in a grave dug
+close to the spot.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+A few weeks later the citizens of Melbourne, once again aroused to
+extravagant enthusiasm, lined the streets through which the only
+survivor of the only Victorian Exploration Expedition was to pass.
+
+'Here he comes! Here he comes!' rang throughout the crowd as King was
+driven to the Town Hall to tell his narrative to the company assembled
+there.
+
+'There is a man!' shouted one--'There is a man who has lived in hell.'
+
+ * * * * *
+
+A few months later Howitt was again sent to Cooper's Creek to exhume the
+bodies of Burke and Wills and bring them to Melbourne. They were
+honoured by a public funeral, and a monument was erected to their
+memory--
+
+ 'A statue tall, on a pillar of stone,
+ Telling its story to great and small
+ Of the dust reclaimed from the sand-waste lone.'
+
+
+
+
+_THE STORY OF EMUND_ (A.D. 1020)
+
+
+THERE was a man named Emund of Skara; lawman in Western Gautland, and
+very wise and eloquent. Of high birth he was, had a numerous kin, and
+was very wealthy. Men deemed him cunning, and not very trusty. He passed
+for the man of most weight in West Gautland now that the Earl was gone
+away.
+
+At the time when Earl Rognvald left Gautland the Gauts held assemblies,
+and often murmured among themselves about what the Swedish king was
+intending. They heard that he was wroth with them for having made a
+friendship with Olaf, King of Norway, rather than quarrel. He also
+charged with crime those men who had accompanied his daughter Astridr to
+Norway's king. And some said that they should seek protection of the
+Norse king and offer him their service; while others were against this,
+and said that the West Gauts had no strength to maintain a quarrel
+against the Swedes, 'and the Norse king is far from us,' they said,
+'because the main power of his land is far: and this is the first thing
+we must do, send men to the Swedish king and try to make agreement with
+him; but if that cannot be done, then take we the other choice of
+seeking the protection of the Norse king.'
+
+So the landowners asked Emund to go on this mission, to which he
+assented, and went his way with thirty men, and came to East Gautland.
+There he had many kinsmen and friends, and was well received. He had
+there some talk with the wisest men about this difficulty, and they were
+quite agreed in thinking that what the King was doing with them was
+against use and law. Then Emund went on to Sweden, and there talked with
+many great men; and there too all were of the same mind. He then held on
+his way till he came on the evening of a day to Upsala. There they
+found them good lodging and passed the night. The next day Emund went
+before the King as he sat in council with many around him. Emund went up
+to the King, and bowed down before him, and greeted him. The King looked
+at him, returned his greeting, and asked him what tidings he brought.
+
+Emund answered: 'Little tidings are there with us Gauts. But this we
+deem a novelty: Atti the Silly in Vermaland went in the winter up to the
+forest with his snowshoes and bow; we call him a mighty hunter. On the
+fell he got such store of grey fur that he had filled his sledge with as
+much as he could manage to draw after him. He turned him homeward from
+the forest; but then he saw a squirrel in the wood, and shot at him and
+missed. Then was he wroth, and, loosing from him his sledge, he ran
+after the squirrel. But the squirrel went ever where the wood was
+thickest, sometimes near the tree roots, sometimes high among the
+boughs, and passed among the boughs from tree to tree. But when Atti
+shot at him, the arrow always flew above or below him, while the
+squirrel never went so that Atti could not see him. So eager was he in
+this chase that he crept after him for the whole day, but never could he
+get this squirrel. And when darkness came on, he lay down in the snow,
+as he was wont, and so passed the night; 'twas drifting weather. Next
+day Atti went to seek his sledge, but he never found it again; and so he
+went home. Such are my tidings, sire.'
+
+Said the King: 'Little tidings these, if there be no more to say.'
+
+Emund answered: 'Yet further a while ago happened this, which one may
+call tidings. Gauti Tofason went out with five warships by the river
+Gaut Elbe; but when he lay by the Eikr Isles, some Danes came there with
+five large merchant ships. Gauti and his company soon captured four of
+the merchant ships without losing a man, and took great store of wealth;
+but the fifth ship escaped out to sea by sailing. Gauti went after that
+one ship, and at first gained on it; but soon, as the wind freshened,
+the merchant ship went faster. They had got far out to sea, and Gauti
+wished to turn back; but a storm came on, and his ship was wrecked on an
+island, and all the wealth lost and the more part of the men. Meanwhile
+his comrades had had to stay at the Eikr Isles. Then attacked them
+fifteen Danish merchant ships, and slew them all, and took all the
+wealth which they had before gotten. Such was the end of this
+covetousness.'
+
+The King answered: 'Great tidings these, and worth telling; but what is
+thy errand hither?'
+
+Emund answered: 'I come, sire, to seek a solution in a difficulty where
+our law and Upsala law differ.'
+
+The King asked: 'What is it of which thou wouldst complain?'
+
+Emund answered: 'There were two men, nobly born, equal in family, but
+unequal in possessions and disposition. They quarrelled about lands, and
+each wrought harm on the other, and he wrought the more who was the more
+powerful, till their dispute was settled and judged at the general
+assembly. He who was the more powerful was condemned to pay; but at the
+first repayment he paid wildgoose for goose, little pig for old swine,
+and for a mark of gold he put down half a mark of gold, the other
+half-mark of clay and mould, and yet further threatened with rough
+treatment the man to whom he was paying this debt. What is thy judgment
+herein, sire?'
+
+The King answered: 'Let him pay in full what was adjudged, and to his
+King thrice that amount. And if it be not paid within the year, then let
+him go an outlaw from all his possessions, let half his wealth come into
+the King's treasury, and half to the man to whom he owed redress.'
+
+Emund appealed to all the greatest men there, and to the laws valid at
+Upsala Thing in witness of this decision. Then he saluted the King and
+went out. Other men brought their complaints before the King, and he sat
+long time over men's suits.
+
+But when the King came to table he asked where was lawman Emund.
+
+He was told that he was at home in his lodging.
+
+Then said the King: 'Go after him, he shall be my guest to-day.'
+
+Just then came in the viands, and afterwards players with harps and
+fiddles and other music, and then drink was served. The King was very
+merry, and had many great men as his guests, and thought no more of
+Emund. He drank for the rest of the day, and slept that night.
+
+But in the morning, when the King waked, then he bethought him of what
+Emund had talked of the day before. And so soon as he was dressed he had
+his wise men summoned to him. King Olaf had ever about him twelve of the
+wisest men; they sate with him over judgments and counselled him in
+difficulties; and that was no easy task, for while the King liked it ill
+if judgment was perverted, he yet would not hear any contradiction of
+himself. When they were met thus in council, the King took the word,
+and bade Emund be called thither.
+
+But the messenger came back and said: 'Sire, Emund the lawman rode away
+yesterday immediately after he had supped.'
+
+Then spake the King: 'Tell me this, noble lords, whereto pointed that
+law question of which Emund asked yesterday?'
+
+They answered: 'Sire, thou wilt have understood it, if it meant more
+than his mere words.'
+
+The King said: 'By those two nobly-born men of whom he told the story
+that they disputed, the one more powerful than the other, and each
+wrought the other harm, he meant me and Olaf Stout.'
+
+'It is even so, sire,' said they, 'as thou sayest.'
+
+The King went on: 'Judgment there was in our cause at the Upsala Thing.
+But what did that mean which he said about the under-payment, wildgoose
+for goose, little pig for old swine, half clay for gold?'
+
+Arnvid the Blind answered: 'Sire,' said he, 'very unlike are red gold
+and clay, but more different are king and thrall. Thou didst promise to
+Olaf Stout thy daughter Ingigerdr, who is of royal birth on both sides,
+and of Up-Swedish family, the highest in the North, for it derives from
+the gods themselves. But now King Olaf has gotten to wife Astridr. And
+though she is a king's child, yet her mother is a bondwoman and a
+Wendlander.'
+
+There were three brothers then in the council; Arnvid the Blind, whose
+sight was so dim that he could scarce bear arms, but he was very
+eloquent; the second was Thorvid the Stammerer, who could not speak more
+than two words together, he was most bold and sincere; the third was
+called Freyvid the Deaf, he was hard of hearing. These brothers were all
+powerful men, wealthy, of noble kin, prudent, and all were dear to the
+King.
+
+Then said King Olaf: 'What means that which Emund told of Atti the
+Silly?'
+
+None answered, but they looked at one another.
+
+Said the King, 'Speak now.'
+
+Then said Thorvid the Stammerer: 'Atti quarrelsome, covetous,
+ill-willed, silly, foolish.'
+
+Then asked the King, 'Against whom is aimed this cut?'
+
+Then answered Freyvid the Deaf: 'Sire, men will speak more openly, if
+that may be with thy permission.'
+
+Said the King: 'Speak now, Freyvid, with permission what thou wilt.'
+
+Freyvid then took the word: 'Thorvid my brother, who is called the
+wisest of us, calls the man Atti quarrelsome, silly, and foolish. He
+calls him so because, ill-content with peace, he hunts eagerly after
+small things, and yet gets them not, while for their sake he throws away
+great and good things. I am deaf, but now so many have spoken that I
+have been able to understand that men both great and small like it ill
+that thou, sire, keepest not thy word with the King of Norway. And still
+worse like they this: that thou makest of none effect the judgment of
+the General Assembly at Upsala. Thou hast no need to fear King of Norway
+or of Danes, nor anyone else, while the armies of Sweden will follow
+thee. But if the people of the land turn against thee with one consent,
+then we thy friends see no counsel that is sure to avail.'
+
+The King asked: 'Who are the leading men in this counsel to take the
+land from me?'
+
+Freyvid answered: 'All the Swedes wish to have old law and their full
+right. Look now, sire, how many of thy nobles sit in council here with
+thee. I think we be here but six whom thou callest thy counsellors; all
+the others have ridden away, and are gone into the provinces, and are
+holding meetings with the people of the land; and, to tell thee the
+truth, the war-arrow is cut, and sent round all the land, and a high
+court appointed. All we brothers have been asked to take part in this
+counsel, but not one of us will bear this name and be called traitor to
+his king, for our fathers were never such.'
+
+Then said the King: 'What expedient can we find? A great difficulty is
+upon us: give ye counsel, noble sirs, that I may keep the kingdom and my
+inheritance from my fathers; I wish not to contend against all the host
+of Sweden.'
+
+Arnvid the Blind answered: 'Sire, this seems to me good counsel: that
+thou ride down to Aros with such as will follow thee, take ship there,
+and go out to the lake; there appoint a meeting with the people. Behave
+not with hardness, but offer men law and land right; put down the
+war-arrow, it will not have gone far round the land in so short a time;
+send men of thine whom thou canst trust to meet those men who have this
+business in hand, and try if this tumult can be quieted.'
+
+The King said that he would accept this counsel. 'I will,' said he,
+'that ye brothers go on this mission, for I trust you best of my men.'
+
+Then said Thorvid the Stammerer: 'I will remain behind, but let thy son
+Jacob go; this is needful.'
+
+And Freyvid said: 'Let us do, sire, even as Thorvid says; he will not
+leave thee in this peril; but I and Arnvid will go.'
+
+So this counsel was followed. King Olaf went to his ships and stood out
+to the lake, and many men soon joined him there. But the brothers
+Freyvid and Arnvid rode out to Ullar-acre, taking with them Jacob, the
+King's son, but his going they kept secret. They soon got to know that
+there was a gathering and rush to arms, and the country people held
+meetings both by day and night.
+
+But when Freyvid and his party met their kinsmen and friends they said
+that they would join their company, and this offer all accepted
+joyfully.
+
+At once the deliberation was referred to the two brothers, and numbers
+followed them, yet all were at one in saying that they would no longer
+have Olaf king over them, and would not endure his breaches of law and
+his arrogance, for he would hear no man's cause, even though great
+chiefs told him the truth.
+
+But when Freyvid found the vehemence of the people, then he saw into
+what danger matters had come, and he held a meeting with the chiefs, and
+thus spoke before them: 'It seems to me that if this great measure is to
+be taken, to remove Olaf Ericsson from the kingdom, we Up-Swedes ought
+to have the ruling of it; it has always been so, that what the chiefs of
+the Up-Swedes have resolved among them, to this the other men of the
+land have listened. Our fathers needed not to receive advice from the
+West Gauts about their ruling of the land. Now are we not so degenerate
+that Emund need teach us counsel; I would have us bind our counsel
+together, kinsmen and friends.'
+
+To this all agreed, and thought it well said. After that the whole
+multitude of the people turned to join this union of the Up-Swedish
+chiefs; so then Freyvid and Arnvid became chiefs over the people. But
+when Emund found this, he guessed how the matter would end. So he went
+to meet these brothers, and they had a talk together; and Freyvid asked
+Emund: 'What mean ye to do if Olaf Ericsson is killed; what king will ye
+have?'
+
+Emund answered; 'Whosoever suits us best, whether of royal family or
+not.'
+
+Freyvid answered: 'We Up-Swedes will not that the kingdom in our days go
+out of the family who from father to son have long held it, while such
+good means may be taken to shun that as now can be. King Olaf has two
+sons, and we will have one of them for king. There is, however, a great
+difference between them; one is nobly born and Swedish on both sides,
+the other is a bondwoman's son and half Wendish.'
+
+At this decision there was great acclaim, and all would have Jacob for
+king.
+
+Then said Emund: 'You Up-Swedes have power to rule this for the time;
+but I warn you that hereafter some of those who will not hear now of
+anything else but that the kingdom of Sweden go in the royal line, will
+themselves live to consent that the kingdom pass into other families,
+and that will turn out better.'
+
+After this the brothers Freyvid and Arnvid caused Jacob the King's son
+to be led before the assembly, and there they gave him the title of
+king, and therewith the Swedes gave him the name Onund, and henceforth
+he was so called. He was then ten or twelve years old.
+
+Then King Onund took to him guards, and chose chiefs with such force of
+men about them as seemed needful; and he gave the common people of the
+land leave to go home. Thereafter messengers passed between the kings,
+and soon they met and made their agreement. Olaf was to be king over the
+land while he lived; he was to hold to peace and agreement with the King
+of Norway, as also with all those men who had been implicated in this
+counsel. Onund was also to be king, and have so much of the land as
+father and son might think fit; but was to be bound to follow the
+landowners if King Olaf did any of those things which they would not
+tolerate.
+
+After this messengers went to Norway to seek King Olaf with this errand,
+that he should come with a fleet to Konunga Hella (Kings' Stone) to meet
+the Swedish king, and that the Swedish king wished that they should
+there ratify their treaty. King Olaf was still, as before, desirous of
+peace, and came with his fleet as proposed. The Swedish king also came,
+and when father-in-law and son-in-law met, they bound them to agreement
+and peace. Olaf the Swedish king showed him affable and gentle.
+
+Thorstein the Learned says that there was in Hising a portion of land
+that had sometimes belonged to Norway, sometimes to Gautland. The kings
+agreed between them that for this possession they would casts lots with
+dice; he was to have it who should cast the higher throw. The Swedish
+king threw two sixes, and said that King Olaf need not cast.
+
+He answered, while shaking the dice in his hand: 'There are yet two
+sixes on the dice, and it is but a little thing for God to let them turn
+up.' He cast, and turned up two sixes. Then Olaf the Swedish king cast,
+and again two sixes. Then cast Olaf, King of Norway, and there was six
+on one die, but the other split in two, and there were then seven. So he
+got the portion of land. We have heard no more tidings of that meeting.
+The kings parted reconciled.
+
+
+
+
+_THE MAN IN WHITE_
+
+
+'A LITTLE while ago,' writes Mademoiselle Aisse, the Greek captive who
+was such a charming figure in Paris during the opening years of Louis
+XV.'s reign, 'a little while ago a strange thing happened here, which
+caused a great deal of talk. It cannot be more than six weeks since
+Besse the surgeon received a note, begging him to come without fail that
+afternoon at six o'clock to the Rue au Fer, near the Luxembourg Palace.
+Punctually at the hour named the surgeon arrived on the spot, where he
+found a man awaiting him. This man conducted the surgeon to a house a
+few steps further on, and motioning him to enter through the open door,
+promptly closed it, and remained himself outside. Besse was surprised to
+find himself alone, and wondered why he had been brought there; but he
+had not to wait long, for the housekeeper soon appeared, who informed
+him that he was expected, and that he was to go up to the first story.
+The surgeon did as he was told, and opened the door of an anteroom all
+hung with white. Here he was met by an elegant lackey, dressed also in
+white, frizzed and powdered, with his white hair tied in a bag wig,
+carrying two torches in his hand, who requested the bewildered doctor to
+wipe his shoes. Besse replied that this was quite unnecessary, as he had
+only just stepped out of his sedan chair and was not in the least muddy,
+but the lackey rejoined that everything in the house was so
+extraordinarily clean that it was impossible to be too careful.
+
+[Illustration: Besse introduced to the Man in White]
+
+'His shoes being wiped, Besse was next led into another room, hung with
+white like the first. A second lackey, in every respect similar to the
+other, made his appearance; again the doctor was forced to wipe his
+shoes, and for the third time he was conducted into a room, where
+carpets, chairs, sofas, and bed were all as white as snow. A tall figure
+dressed in a white dressing-gown and nightcap, and having its face
+covered by a white mask, sat by the fire. The moment this ghostly object
+perceived Besse, he observed, "My body is possessed by the devil," and
+then was silent. For three-quarters of an hour they remained thus, the
+white figure occupying himself with incessantly putting on and taking
+off six pairs of white gloves, which were placed on a white table beside
+him. The strangeness of the whole affair made Besse feel very
+uncomfortable, but when his eyes fell on a variety of firearms in one
+corner of the room he became so frightened that he was obliged to sit
+down, lest his legs should give way.
+
+[Illustration: 'Saw reflected in the mirror the white figure']
+
+'At last the dead silence grew more than he could bear, and he turned to
+the white figure and asked what they wanted of him, and begged that his
+orders might be given him as soon as possible, as his time belonged to
+the public and he was needed elsewhere. To this the white figure only
+answered coldly, "What does that matter, as long as you are well paid?"
+and again was silent. Another quarter of an hour passed, and then the
+white figure suddenly pulled one of the white bell-ropes. When the
+summons was answered by the two white lackeys, the figure desired them
+to bring some bandages, and commanded Besse to bleed him, and to take
+from him five pounds of blood. The surgeon, amazed at the quantity,
+inquired what doctor had ordered such extensive blood-letting. "I
+myself," replied the white figure. Besse felt that he was too much upset
+by all he had gone through to trust himself to bleed in the arm without
+great risk of injury, so he decided to perform the operation on the
+foot, which is far less dangerous. Hot water was brought, and the white
+phantom removed a pair of white thread stockings of wonderful beauty,
+then another and another, up to six, and took off a slipper of beaver
+lined with white. The leg and foot thus left bare were the prettiest in
+the world; and Besse began to think that the figure before him must be
+that of a woman. At the second basinful the patient showed signs of
+fainting, and Besse wished to loosen the mask, in order to give him more
+air. This was, however, prevented by the lackeys, who stretched him on
+the floor, and Besse bandaged the foot before the patient had recovered
+from his fainting fit. Directly he came to himself, the white figure
+ordered his bed to be warmed, and as soon as it was done he lay down in
+it. The servants left the room, and Besse, after feeling his pulse,
+walked over to the fireplace to clean his lancet, thinking all the while
+of his strange adventure. Suddenly he heard a noise behind him, and,
+turning his head, he saw reflected in the mirror the white figure coming
+hopping towards him. His heart sank with terror, but the figure only
+took five crowns from the chimneypiece, and handed them to him, asking
+at the same time if he would be satisfied with that payment. Trembling
+all over, Besse replied that he was. "Well, then, be off as fast as you
+can," was the rejoinder. Besse did not need to be told twice, but made
+the best of his way out. As before the lackeys were awaiting him with
+lights, and as they walked he noticed that they looked at each other and
+smiled. At length Besse, provoked at this behaviour, inquired what they
+were laughing at. "Ah, Monsieur," was their answer, "what cause have you
+to complain? Has anyone done you any harm, and have you not been well
+paid for your services?" So saying they conducted him to his chair, and
+truly thankful he was to be out of the house. He rapidly made up his
+mind to keep silence about his adventures, but the following day someone
+sent to inquire how he was feeling after having bled the Man in White.
+Besse saw that it was useless to make a mystery of the affair, and
+related exactly what had happened, and it soon came to the ears of the
+King. But who was the Man in White? Echo answers "Who?"'
+
+
+
+
+_THE ADVENTURES OF 'THE BULL OF EARLSTOUN'_
+
+
+THIS is the story of the life of Alexander Gordon, of Earlstoun in
+Galloway. Earlstoun is a bonny place, sitting above the waterside of the
+Ken in the fair strath of the Glenkens, in the Stewartry of
+Kirkcudbright. The grey tower stands ruinous and empty to-day, but once
+it was a pleasant dwelling, and dear to the hearts of those that had
+dwelt in it when they were in foreign lands or hiding out on the wild
+wide moors. It was the time when Charles II. wished to compel the most
+part of the people of Scotland to change their religion and worship as
+he bade them. Some obeyed the King; but most hated the new order of
+things, and cleaved in their hearts to their old ways and to their old
+ministers, who had been put out of their kirks and manses at the coming
+of the King. Many even set themselves to resist the King in open battle
+rather than obey him in the matter of their consciences. It was only in
+this that they were rebellious, for many of them had been active in
+bringing him again to the throne.
+
+Among those who thus went out to fight were William Gordon and his son
+Alexander. William Gordon was a grave, courteous, and venerable man, and
+his estate was one of the best in all the province of Galloway. Like
+nearly all the lairds in the south and west he was strongly of the
+Presbyterian party, and resolved to give up life and lands rather than
+his principles. Now the King was doubtless ill-advised, and his
+councillors did not take the kindly or the wise way with the people at
+this time; for a host of wild Highlanders had been turned into the land,
+who plundered in cotter's hut and laird's hall without much distinction
+between those that stood for the Covenants and those that held for the
+King. So in the year 1679 Galloway was very hot and angry, and many were
+ready to fight the King's forces wherever they could be met with.
+
+So, hearing news of a revolt in the West, William Gordon rode away,
+with many good riders at his back, to take his place in the ranks of the
+rebels. His son Alexander, whose story we are to tell, was there before
+him. The Covenanting army had gained one success in Drumclog, which gave
+them some hope, but at Bothwell Bridge their forces were utterly broken,
+largely through their own quarrels, by the Duke of Monmouth and the
+disciplined troops of the Government.
+
+Alexander Gordon had to flee from the field of Bothwell. He came home to
+Earlstoun alone, for his father had been met about six miles from the
+battle-field by a troop of horse, and as he refused to surrender, he was
+slain there and buried in the parish of Glassford.
+
+Immediately after Bothwell, Alexander Gordon was compelled to go into
+hiding with a price upon his head. Unlike his father, he was very
+ready-witted, free with his tongue, even boisterous upon occasion, and
+of very great bodily strength. These qualities stood him in good stead
+during the long period of his wandering and when lying in concealment
+among the hills.
+
+The day after Bothwell he was passing through the town of Hamilton, when
+he was recognised by an old retainer of the family.
+
+'Save us, Maister Alexander,' said the man, who remembered the ancient
+kindnesses of his family, 'do you not know that it is death for you to
+be found here?'
+
+So saying he made his young master dismount, and carried away all his
+horseman's gear and his arms, which he hid in a heap of field-manure
+behind the house. Then he took Earlstoun to his own house, and put upon
+him a long dress of his wife's. Hardly had he been clean-shaven, and
+arrayed in a clean white mutch (cap), when the troopers came clattering
+into the town. They had heard that he and some others of the prominent
+rebels had passed that way; and they went from door to door, knocking
+and asking, 'Saw ye anything of Sandy Gordon of Earlstoun?'
+
+So going from house to house they came to the door of the ancient Gordon
+retainer, and Earlstoun had hardly time to run to the corner and begin
+to rock the cradle with his foot before the soldiers came to ask the
+same question there. But they passed on without suspicion, only saying
+one to the other as they went out, 'My certes, Billy, but yon was a
+sturdy hizzie!'
+
+After that there was nothing but the heather and the mountain cave for
+Alexander Gordon for many a day. He had wealth of adventures, travelling
+by night, hiding and sleeping by day. Sometimes he would venture to the
+house of one who sympathised with the Covenanters, only to find that
+the troopers were already in possession. Sometimes, in utter weariness,
+he slept so long that when he awoke he would find a party searching for
+him quite close at hand; then there was nothing for it but to lie close
+like a hare in a covert till the danger passed by.
+
+Once when he came to his own house of Earlstoun he was only an hour or
+two there before the soldiers arrived to search for him. His wife had
+hardly time to stow him in a secret recess behind the ceiling of a room
+over the kitchen, in which place he abode several days, having his meals
+passed to him from above, and breathing through a crevice in the wall.
+
+[Illustration: 'Sometimes he would find a party searching for him quite
+close at hand']
+
+After this misadventure he was sometimes in Galloway and sometimes in
+Holland for three or four years. He might even have remained in the Low
+Countries, but his services were so necessary to his party in Scotland
+that he was repeatedly summoned to come over into Galloway and the West
+to take up the work of organising resistance to the Government.
+
+During most of this time the Tower of Earlstoun was a barracks of the
+soldiers, and it was only by watching his opportunity that Alexander
+Gordon could come home to see his wife, and put his hand upon his
+bairns' heads as they lay a-row in their cots. Yet come he sometimes
+did, especially when the soldiers of the garrison were away on duty in
+the more distant parts of Galloway. Then the wanderer would steal
+indoors in the gloaming, soft-footed like a thief, into his own house,
+and sit talking with his wife and an old retainer or two who were fit to
+be trusted with the secret. Yet while he sat there one was ever on the
+watch, and at the slightest signs of King's men in the neighbourhood
+Alexander Gordon rushed out and ran to the great oak tree, which you may
+see to this day standing in sadly-diminished glory in front of the great
+house of Earlstoun.
+
+Now it stands alone, all the trees of the forest having been cut away
+from around it during the subsequent poverty which fell upon the family.
+A rope ladder lay snugly concealed among the ivy that clad the trunk of
+the tree. Up this Alexander Gordon climbed. When he arrived at the top
+he pulled the ladder after him, and found himself upon an ingeniously
+constructed platform built with a shelter over it from the rain, high
+among the branchy tops of the great oak. His faithful wife, Jean
+Hamilton, could make signals to him out of one of the top windows of
+Earlstoun whether it was safe for him to approach the house, or whether
+he had better remain hidden among the leaves. If you go now to look for
+the tree, it is indeed plain and easy to be seen. But though now so
+shorn and lonely, there is no doubt that two hundred years ago it stood
+undistinguished among a thousand others that thronged the woodland about
+the Tower of Earlstoun.
+
+Often, in order to give Alexander Gordon a false sense of security, the
+garrison would be withdrawn for a week or two, and then in the middle of
+some mirky night or early in the morning twilight the house would be
+surrounded and the whole place ransacked in search of its absent master.
+
+On one occasion, the man who came running along the narrow river path
+from Dairy had hardly time to arouse Gordon before the dragoons were
+heard clattering down through the wood from the high-road. There was no
+time to gain the great oak in safety, where he had so often hid in time
+of need. All Alexander Gordon could do was to put on the rough jerkin of
+a labouring man, and set to cleaving firewood in the courtyard with the
+scolding assistance of a maid-servant. When the troopers entered to
+search for the master of the house, they heard the maid vehemently
+'flyting' the great hulking lout for his awkwardness, and threatening to
+'draw a stick across his back' if he did not work to a better tune.
+
+[Illustration: Alexander Gordon wood-chopping in the disguise of a
+labourer]
+
+The commander ordered him to drop his axe, and to point out the
+different rooms and hiding-places about the castle. Alexander Gordon did
+so with an air of indifference, as if hunting Whigs were much the same
+to him as cleaving firewood. He did his duty with a stupid unconcern
+which successfully imposed on the soldiers; and as soon as they allowed
+him to go, he fell to his wood-chopping with the same stolidity and
+rustic boorishness that had marked his conduct.
+
+Some of the officers came up to him and questioned him as to his
+master's hiding-place in the woods. But as to this he gave them no
+satisfaction.
+
+'My master,' he said, 'has no hiding-place that I know of. I always find
+him here when I have occasion to seek for him, and that is all I care
+about. But I am sure that if he thought you were seeking him he would
+immediately show himself to you, for that is ever his custom.'
+
+This was one of the answers with a double meaning that were so much in
+the fashion of the time and so characteristic of the people.
+
+On leaving, the commander of the troop said, 'Ye are a stupid kindly
+nowt, man. See that ye get no harm in such a rebel service.'
+
+Sometimes, however, searching waxed so hot and close that Gordon had to
+withdraw himself altogether out of Galloway and seek quieter parts of
+the country. On one occasion he was speeding up the Water of Ae when he
+found himself so weary that he was compelled to lie down under a bush of
+heather and rest before proceeding on his journey. It so chanced that a
+noted King's man, Dalyell of Glenae, was riding homewards over the moor.
+His horse started back in astonishment, having nearly stumbled over the
+body of a sleeping man. It was Alexander Gordon. Hearing the horse's
+feet he leaped up, and Dalyell called upon him to surrender. But that
+was no word to say to a Gordon of Earlstoun. Gordon instantly drew his
+sword, and, though unmounted, his lightness of foot on the heather and
+moss more than counterbalanced the advantages of the horseman, and the
+King's man found himself matched at all points; for the Laird of
+Earlstoun was in his day a famous sworder.
+
+Soon the Covenanter's sword seemed to wrap itself about Dalyell's blade
+and sent it twirling high in the air. In a little he found himself lying
+on the heather at the mercy of the man whom he had attacked. He asked
+for his life, and Alexander Gordon granted it to him, making him
+promise by his honour as a gentleman that whenever he had the fortune to
+approach a conventicle he would retire, if he saw a white flag elevated
+in a particular manner upon a flagstaff. This seemed but a little
+condition to weigh against a man's life, and Dalyell agreed.
+
+Now the Cavalier was an exceedingly honourable man and valued his spoken
+word. So on the occasion of a great conventicle at Mitchelslacks, in the
+parish of Closeburn, he permitted a great field meeting to disperse,
+drawing off his party in another direction, because the signal streaming
+from a staff told him that the man who had spared his life was amongst
+the company of worshippers.
+
+After this, the white signal was frequently used in the neighbourhood
+over which Dalyell's jurisdiction extended, and to the great credit of
+the Cavalier it is recorded that on no single occasion did he violate
+his plighted word, though he is said to have remarked bitterly that the
+Whig with whom he fought must have been the devil, 'for ever going to
+and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it.'
+
+But Alexander Gordon was too great a man in the affairs of the Praying
+Societies to escape altogether. He continually went and came from
+Holland, and some of the letters that he wrote from that country are
+still in existence. At last, in 1683, having received many letters and
+valuable papers for delivery to people in refuge in Holland, he went
+secretly to Newcastle, and agreed with the master of a ship for his
+voyage to the Low Countries. But just as the vessel was setting out from
+the mouth of the Tyne, it was accidentally stopped. Some watchers for
+fugitives came on board, and Earlstoun and his companion were
+challenged. Earlstoun, fearing the taking of his papers, threw the box
+that contained them overboard; but it floated, and was taken along with
+himself.
+
+Then began a long series of misfortunes for Alexander Gordon. He was
+five times tried, twice threatened with torture--which he escaped, in
+the judgment hall itself, by such an exhibition of his great strength as
+terrified his judges.[40] He simulated madness, foamed at the mouth, and
+finally tore up the benches in order to attack the judges with the
+fragments. He was sent first to the castle of Edinburgh and afterwards
+to the Bass, 'for a change of air' as the record quaintly says. Finally,
+he was despatched to Blackness Castle, where he remained close in hold
+till the revolution. Not till June 5, 1689, were his prison doors thrown
+open, but even then Alexander Gordon would not go till he had obtained
+signed documents from the governor and officials of the prison to the
+effect that he had never altered any of his opinions in order to gain
+privilege or release.
+
+Alexander Gordon returned to Earlstoun, and lived there quietly far into
+the next century, taking his share in local and county business with
+Grierson of Lag and others who had hunted him for years--which is a
+strange thing to think on, but one also very characteristic of those
+times.
+
+On account of his great strength and the power of his voice he was
+called 'the Bull of Earlstoun,' and it is said that when he was rebuking
+his servants, the bellowing of the Bull could plainly be heard in the
+clachan of Dalry, which is two miles away across hill and stream.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[40] See the story of 'How they held the Bass for King James.'
+
+
+
+
+_THE STORY OF GRISELL BAILLIE'S SHEEP'S HEAD_
+
+
+THE Lady Grisell Baillie, as she was called after her marriage, was the
+daughter of a very eminent Covenanter, Sir Patrick Hume of Polwarth.
+Grisell was born in 1665, and during all the years of her girlhood her
+father was seldom able to come home to his house of Polwarth, for fear
+of the officers of the Government seizing him. On one occasion he was
+taken and cast into prison in Dumbarton Castle for full fifteen months.
+Grisell was but a little girl at the time, but she had a wisdom and a
+quaint discretion beyond her years. Often she was entrusted with a
+letter to carry to him past the guard, and succeeded in the attempt
+where an elder person would certainly have been suspected and searched.
+
+When her father was set at liberty, it was not many weeks till the
+soldiers again came seeking him; for new troubles had arisen, and the
+suspicion of the King was against all men that were not active in his
+service.
+
+Parties of soldiers were continually searching the house in pursuit of
+him. But this occasioned no alarm to his family, for they all, with
+three exceptions, thought him far from home.
+
+Only Sir Patrick's wife, his little daughter Grisell, and a carpenter
+named James Winter were trusted with the secret. The servants were
+frequently put to the oath as to when they saw their master; but as they
+knew nothing, all passed off quite well.
+
+With James Winter's assistance the Lady Polwarth got a bed and
+bed-clothes carried in the night to the burying-place, a vault under the
+ground at Polwarth Church, a mile from the house. Here Sir Patrick was
+concealed a whole month, never venturing out. For all light he had only
+an open slit at one end, through which nobody could see what was below.
+
+To this lonely place little Grisell went every night by herself at
+midnight, to carry her father victuals and drink, and stayed with him
+as long as she could with a chance of returning home before the morning.
+Here in this dismal habitation did they often laugh heartily at the
+incidents of the day, for they were both of that cheerful disposition
+which is a continual feast.
+
+[Illustration: Grisell brings the sheep's head to her father in the
+vault]
+
+Grisell had ordinarily a terror of the churchyard, especially in the
+dark, for being but a girl, and having been frightened with nursery
+stories, she thought to see ghosts behind every tomb. But when she came
+to help her father, she had such anxious care for him that all fear of
+ghosts went away from her. She stumbled among the graves every night
+alone, being only in dread that the stirring of a leaf or the barking of
+a dog betokened the coming of a party of soldiers to carry away her
+father to his death. The minister's house was near the church. The first
+night she went, his dogs kept up such a barking that it put her in the
+utmost fear of a discovery. The next day the Lady Polwarth sent for the
+curate, and, on pretext of a mad dog, got him to send away all his dogs.
+A considerate curate, in sooth!
+
+There was great difficulty in getting victuals to carry to Sir Patrick
+without the servants, who were not in the secret, suspecting for what
+purpose they were taken. The only way that it could be done was for
+Grisell to slip things off her plate into her lap as they sat at dinner.
+
+Many a diverting story is told about this. Sir Patrick above all things
+was fond of sheep's head. One day while the children were eating their
+broth, Grisell had conveyed a whole sheep's head into her lap. Her
+brother Sandy (who was afterwards Lord Marchmont) looked up as soon as
+he had finished, and cried out with great astonishment, 'Mother, will ye
+look at our Grisell. While we have been supping our broth, she has eaten
+up the whole sheep's head!'
+
+For indeed she needed to be looked to in these circumstances. This
+occasioned great merriment when she told her father of it in his
+hiding-place at night. And he desired that the next time there was
+sheep's head Sandy should have a double share of it.
+
+His great comfort and constant entertainment while in this dreary abode
+(for he had no light to read by) was to repeat over and over to himself
+Buchanan's Latin Psalms. And to his dying day, nearly forty years after,
+he would give the book to his wife, and ask her to try him at any place
+to see if he minded his Psalms as well as he had done in the hiding-hole
+among the bones of his ancestors in Polwarth Kirkyard.
+
+After this, James Winter and the Lady Polwarth made a hole in the ground
+under a bed that drew out of a recess in the wall. They lifted the
+boards and took turns at digging out the earth, scratching it with their
+hands till they were all rough and bleeding, for only so could they
+prevent a noise being heard. Grisell and her mother helped James Winter
+to carry the earth in bags and sheets to the garden at the back. He then
+made a box bed at his own house, large enough for Sir Patrick to lie in,
+with bed and bed-clothes, and bored holes in the boards for air. But in
+spite of all this, the difficulty of their position was so great, and
+the danger so certainly increasing, that it was judged better that Sir
+Patrick should attempt to escape to Holland.
+
+It was necessary to tell the grieve, John Allen, who was so much
+astonished to hear that his master had been all the time about the
+house, that he fainted away. However, he made up willingly enough a
+story that he was going to Morpeth Fair to sell horses, and Sir Patrick
+having got forth from a window of the stables, they set out in the dark.
+Sir Patrick, being absent-minded, let his horse carry him whither it
+would, and in the morning found himself at Tweedside, far out of his
+way, at a place not fordable and without his servant.
+
+But this also was turned to good. For after waiting a while he found
+means to get over to the other side, where with great joy he met his
+servant. Then the grieve told him that he had never missed him till,
+looking about, he heard a great galloping of horses, and a party of
+soldiers who had just searched the house for Sir Patrick, surrounded him
+and strictly examined him. He looked about everywhere and could not see
+his master, for he was in much fear, thinking him to be close behind.
+But in this manner, by his own absent-mindedness, Sir Patrick was
+preserved, and so got safely first to London and afterwards to Holland.
+
+Thence Sir Patrick sent home for his wife and family. They came to him
+in a ship, and on the way had an adventure. The captain was a sordid and
+brutal man, and agreed with them and with several other people to give
+them a bed on the passage. So when there arose a dispute who would have
+the bed, the Lady Polwarth said nothing. But a gentleman coming to her
+said, 'Let them be doing. You will see how it will end.' So two of the
+other gentlewomen lay on the bed, the Lady Polwarth with Grisell and a
+little sister lying on the floor, with a cloak-bag of books she was
+taking to Sir Patrick for their only pillow.
+
+Then in came the captain, and first ate up all their provisions with a
+gluttony incredible. Then he said to the women in the bed, 'Turn out,
+turn out!' and laid himself down in place of them. But Providence was
+upsides with him, for a terrible storm came on, and he had to get up
+immediately and go out to try to save the ship. And so he got no more
+sleep that night, which pleased the gentlewomen greatly in spite of all
+their own fears and pains. They never saw more of him till they landed
+at the Brill. From that they set out on foot for Rotterdam with one of
+the gentlemen that had been kind to them on the crossing to Holland.
+
+It was a cold, wet, dirty night. Grisell's little sister, a girl not
+well able to walk, soon lost her shoes in the dirt. Whereupon the Lady
+Polwarth took her upon her back, the gentlemen carrying all their
+baggage, and Grisell going through the mire at her mother's side.
+
+At Rotterdam they found their eldest brother and Sir Patrick himself
+waiting to conduct them to Utrecht, where their house was. No sooner
+were they met again than they forgot everything, and felt nothing but
+happiness and contentment.
+
+And even after their happy and prosperous return to Scotland they looked
+back on these years in Holland, when they were so poor, and often knew
+not whence was to come the day's dinner, as the happiest and most
+delightful of their lives. Yet the years of Grisell Baillie's after-life
+were neither few nor evil.
+
+
+
+
+_THE CONQUEST OF PERU_
+
+
+THE YOUTH OF PIZARRO
+
+AT the time when the news of the conquest of Mexico by Cortes, and the
+report of its marvellous stores of treasure, were inflaming the minds of
+the men of Spain with an ardent desire for fresh discoveries, there
+happened to be living in the Spanish colony of Panama a man named
+Francisco Pizarro, to whose lot it fell to discover and conquer the
+great and flourishing empire of Peru. He was a distant kinsman of
+Hernando Cortes, but had from his childhood been neglected and left to
+make his living as best he might. He could neither read nor write, and
+had chiefly been employed as a swineherd near the city of Truxillo,
+where he was born. But as he grew older and heard the strange and
+fascinating stories of adventure in the New World which were daily more
+widely circulated, he took the first opportunity of escaping to Seville,
+from which port he, with other Spanish adventurers, embarked to seek
+their fortunes in the West, the town being at this time left almost
+entirely to the women, so great was the tide of emigration.
+Thenceforward he lived a stirring life. We hear of him in Hispaniola,
+and serving as lieutenant in a colonising expedition under Alonzo de
+Ojeda. After this he was associated with Vasco Nunez de Balboa in
+establishing a settlement at Darien, and from Balboa he may first have
+heard rumours of Peru itself, for it was to Balboa that an Indian chief
+had said concerning some gold which had been collected from the natives:
+'If this is what you prize so much that you are willing to leave your
+homes and risk even life itself for it, I can tell you of a land where
+they eat and drink out of golden vessels, and gold is as common as iron
+with you.' Later, Pizarro was sent to traffic with the natives on the
+Pacific side of the isthmus for gold and pearls, and presently from the
+south came Andagoya, bringing accounts of the wealth and grandeur of
+the countries which lay beyond, and also of the hardships and
+difficulties endured by the few navigators who had sailed in that
+direction. Thus the southern expeditions became a common subject of talk
+among the colonists of Panama.
+
+Pizarro does not at first seem to have shown any special interest in the
+matter, nor was he rich enough to do anything without assistance; but
+there were two people in the colony who were to help him. One of them
+was a soldier of fortune named Diego Almagro, an older man than Pizarro,
+who in his early life had been equally neglected; the other was a
+Spanish ecclesiastic, Hernando de Luque, a man of great prudence and
+worldly wisdom, who had, moreover, control of the necessary funds.
+Between these three, then, a compact was made, most of the money being
+supplied by De Luque, Pizarro taking command of the expedition, and
+Almagro undertaking the equipment of the ships. Only about a hundred men
+could be persuaded to join the explorers, and those but the idle
+hangers-on in the colony, who were eager to do anything to mend their
+fortunes. Everything being ready, Pizarro set sail with these in the
+larger of the two ships, in the month of November 1524, leaving Almagro
+to follow as soon as the second vessel could be fitted out. With such
+slender means did Pizarro begin his attack on a great people, and invade
+the mysterious empire of the Children of the Sun.
+
+
+THE EMPIRE OF THE INCAS
+
+At this time the Peruvian Empire stretched along the Pacific from about
+the second degree north to the thirty-seventh degree of south latitude;
+its breadth varied, but was nowhere very great. The country was most
+remarkable, and seemed peculiarly unfitted for cultivation. The great
+range of mountains ran parallel to the coast, sometimes in a single
+line, sometimes in two or three, either side by side or running
+obliquely to each other, broken here and there by the towering peaks of
+huge volcanoes, white with perpetual snows, and descending towards the
+coast in jagged cliffs and awful precipices. Between the rocks and the
+sea lay a narrow strip of sandy soil, where no rain ever fell, and which
+was insufficiently watered by the few scanty streams that flow down the
+western side of the Cordilleras. Nevertheless, by the patient industry
+of the Peruvians, these difficulties had all been overcome; by means of
+canals and subterranean aqueducts the waste places of the coast were
+watered and made fertile, the mountain sides were terraced and
+cultivated, every form of vegetation finding the climate suited to it
+at a different height, while over the snowy wastes above wandered the
+herds of llamas, or Peruvian sheep, under the care of their herdsmen.
+The Valley of Cuzco, the central region of Peru, was the cradle of their
+civilisation. According to tradition among the Peruvians, there had been
+a time, long past, when the land was held by many tribes, all plunged in
+barbarism, who worshipped every object in nature, made war as a pastime,
+and feasted upon the flesh of their slaughtered captives. The Sun, the
+great parent of mankind, pitying their degraded condition, sent two of
+his children, Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo Huaco, to govern and teach
+them. They bore with them as they advanced from the neighbourhood of
+Lake Titicaca a golden wedge, and were directed to take up their abode
+at the spot where this sacred emblem should sink easily into the ground.
+This happened in the Valley of Cuzco; the wedge of gold sank into the
+earth and disappeared for ever, and Manco Capac settled down to teach
+the men of the land the arts of agriculture, while Mama Ocllo showed the
+women how to weave and spin. Under these wise and benevolent rulers the
+community grew and spread, absorbing into itself the neighbouring
+tribes, and overrunning the whole tableland. The city of Cuzco was
+founded, and, under the successors of the Children of the Sun, became
+the capital of a great and flourishing monarchy. In the middle of the
+fifteenth century the famous Topa Inca Yupanqui led his armies across
+the terrible desert of Atacama, and, penetrating to the southern region
+of Chili, made the river Maule the boundary of his dominions, while his
+son, Huayna Capac, who succeeded him, pushed his conquests northward,
+and added the powerful kingdom of Quito to the empire of Peru. The city
+of Cuzco was the royal residence of the Incas, and also the 'Holy City,'
+for there stood the great Temple of the Sun, the most magnificent
+structure in the New World, to which came pilgrims from every corner of
+the empire.
+
+[Illustration: MANCO CAPAC AND MAMA OCLLO HUACO, THE CHILDREN OF THE
+SUN, COME FROM LAKE TITICACA TO GOVERN AND CIVILISE THE TRIBES OF PERU]
+
+Cuzco was defended on the north by a high hill, a spur of the
+Cordilleras, upon which was built a wonderful fortress of stone, with
+walls, towers, and subterranean galleries, the remains of which exist to
+this day and amaze the traveller by their size and solidity, some of the
+stones being thirty-eight feet long by eighteen broad, and six feet
+thick, and so exactly fitted together that, though no cement was used,
+it would be impossible to put the blade of a knife between them. As the
+Peruvians had neither machinery, beasts of burden, nor iron tools, and
+as the quarry from which these huge blocks were hewn lay forty-five
+miles from Cuzco, over river and ravine, it is easy to imagine the
+frightful labour which this building must have cost; indeed, it is said
+to have employed twenty thousand men for fifty years, and was, after
+all, but one of the many fortifications established by the Incas
+throughout their dominions. Their government was absolutely despotic,
+the sovereign being held so far above his subjects that even the
+proudest of the nobles only ventured into his presence barefooted, and
+carrying upon his shoulders a light burden in token of homage. The title
+of Inca was borne by all the nobility who were related to the king, or
+who, like himself, claimed descent from the Children of the Sun; but the
+crown passed from father to son, the heir being the eldest son of the
+'coya,' or queen. From his earliest years he was educated by the
+'amautas,' or wise men of the kingdom, in the ceremonial of their
+religion, as well as in military matters and all manly exercises, that
+he might be fitted to reign in his turn.
+
+At the age of sixteen the prince, with the young Inca nobles who had
+shared his studies, underwent a kind of public examination, their
+proficiency as warriors being tested by various athletic exercises and
+by mimic combats which, though fought with blunted weapons, generally
+resulted in wounds, and sometimes in death. During this trial, which
+lasted thirty days, the young prince fared no better than his comrades,
+wearing mean attire, going barefoot, and sleeping upon the ground--a
+mode of life which was supposed to give him sympathy with the destitute.
+At the end of that time, the candidates considered worthy of the honours
+of this barbaric chivalry were presented to the sovereign, who reminded
+them of the responsibilities of their birth and station, and exhorted
+them, as Children of the Sun, to imitate the glorious career of their
+ancestor. He then, as they knelt before him one by one, pierced their
+ears with a golden bodkin, which they continued to wear until the hole
+was made large enough to contain the enormous pendants worn by the
+Incas, which made the Spaniards call them 'Orejones.' Indeed, as one of
+the conquerors remarked, 'The larger the hole, the more of a gentleman,'
+and the sovereign wore so massive an ornament that the cartilage of his
+ear was distended by it nearly to the shoulder. After this ceremony the
+feet of the candidates were dressed in the sandals of the order, and
+girdles, and garlands of flowers were given them. The head of the prince
+was then encircled with a tasselled fringe of a yellow colour, which
+distinguished him as the heir apparent, and he at once received the
+homage of all the Inca nobility; and then the whole assembly
+proceeded to the great square of the capital, where with songs, dances,
+and other festivities the ceremony was brought to an end. After this the
+prince was deemed worthy to sit in the councils of his father, and to
+serve under distinguished generals in time of war, and finally himself
+to carry the rainbow banner of his house upon distant campaigns.
+
+The Inca lived with great pomp and show. His dress was of the finest
+vicuna wool, richly dyed, and ornamented with gold and jewels. Round his
+head was a many-coloured turban and a fringe like that worn by the
+prince, but of a scarlet colour, and placed upright in it were two
+feathers of a rare and curious bird called the coraquenque, which was
+found in a desert country among the mountains. It was death to take or
+destroy one of these birds; they were reserved exclusively to supply the
+king's headgear. In order to communicate with their people, the Incas
+were in the habit of making a stately progress through their land once
+in every few years. The litter in which they travelled was richly
+decorated with gold and emeralds, and surrounded by a numerous escort.
+The men who bore it on their shoulders were provided by two cities
+specially appointed for the purpose, and the service was no enviable
+one, since a fall was punished by death. Halts were made at the
+'tambos,' or inns regularly kept up by the Government along all the
+principal roads, and the people assembled all along the line, clearing
+stones from the road and strewing it with flowers, and vying with one
+another in carrying the baggage from village to village. Here and there
+the Inca halted to listen to the grievances of his subjects, or to
+decide points referred to him by the ordinary tribunals, and these spots
+were long held in reverence as consecrated by his presence. Everywhere
+the people flocked to catch a glimpse of their ruler, and to greet him
+with acclamations and blessings.
+
+The royal palaces were on a magnificent scale, and were scattered over
+all the provinces of the great empire. The buildings were low, covering
+a large space, the rooms not communicating with each other, but opening
+upon a common square. The walls were of stone rough hewn, and the roofs
+of rushes; but inside all was splendour. Gold, silver, and
+richly-coloured stuffs abounded, covering the walls, while in niches
+stood images of animals and plants curiously wrought in the precious
+metals. Even the commonest household utensils were of gold. The
+favourite residence of the Incas was the delicious valley of Yucay,
+about twelve miles from Cuzco; there they loved to retreat to enjoy
+their exquisite gardens, and luxurious baths replenished with clear
+water, which flowed through subterranean channels of silver into basins
+of gold. The gardens were full of flowers and plants, which flourished
+in this temperate climate of the tropics; but strangest of all were
+those borders which glowed with various forms of vegetable life,
+cunningly fashioned in gold and silver. Among these is specially
+recorded the beautiful Indian corn, its golden grain set off by broad
+silver leaves, and crowned with a light tassel of silver. But all the
+wealth displayed by the Inca belonged to himself alone. When he died,
+or, as they put it, 'was called home to the mansions of his father the
+Sun,' his palaces were abandoned, and all his treasures and possessions
+were suffered to remain as he left them, lest his soul should at any
+time return to its body, and require again the things it had used
+before. The body itself was skilfully embalmed and removed to the great
+Temple of the Sun at Cuzco, where were the bodies of all the former
+Incas and their queens, ranged in opposite files. Clothed in their
+accustomed attire, they sat in chairs of gold, their heads bent, their
+hands crossed upon their breasts, their dusky faces and black, or
+sometimes silver, hair retaining a perfectly natural look. On certain
+festivals they were brought out into the great square of Cuzco,
+invitations were issued in their names to all the nobles' and officers
+of the Court, and magnificent entertainments were held, when the display
+of plate, gold, and jewels was such as no other city in the world ever
+witnessed. The banquets were served by the retainers of the respective
+houses, and the same forms of courtly etiquette were used as if the
+living monarch had presided, instead of his mummy. The nobility of Peru
+consisted of two Orders--the Incas or relatives of the sovereign, and
+the Curacas, or chiefs of the conquered nations. The former enjoyed many
+privileges; they wore a peculiar dress, and spoke a peculiar dialect.
+Most of them lived at Court, sharing the counsels of the king, and
+dining at his table. They alone were admissible to the great offices of
+the priesthood, and had the command of armies and the government of
+distant provinces.
+
+The whole territory of the empire was divided into three parts: one for
+the Sun, another for the Inca, and the last for the people. The revenue
+from the lands assigned to the Sun supported the numerous priests, and
+provided for the maintenance of the temples and their costly
+ceremonial. The land of the people was parted equally among them, every
+man when he was married receiving enough to support himself and his
+wife, together with a house. An additional piece was granted for every
+child, the portion for a son being double that for a daughter. The
+division of the soil was renewed every year, and the possession of the
+tenant increased or diminished according to the number of his family.
+The country was wholly cultivated by the people. First the lands of the
+Sun were tilled; then those of the old or sick, the widow and orphan,
+and soldiers on active service; after this each man was free to attend
+to his own, though he was still obliged to help any neighbour who might
+require it. Lastly, they cultivated the land of the Inca. This was done
+with great ceremony by all the people in a body. At break of day they
+were called together, and men, women, and children appeared in their
+gayest apparel as if decked for some festival, and sang as they worked
+their popular ballads, which told the heroic deeds of the Inca. The
+flocks of llamas belonged exclusively to the Sun and the Inca, they were
+most carefully tended and managed, and their number was immense. Under
+the care of their shepherds they moved to different pastures according
+to the climate. Every year some were killed as sacrifices at the
+religious festivals or for the consumption of the Court, and at
+appointed seasons all were sheared and their wool stored in the public
+magazines. Thence it was given out to each family, and when the women
+had spun and woven enough coarse garments to supply their husbands and
+children they were required to labour for the Inca. Certain officers
+decided what was to be woven, gave out the requisite material, and saw
+that the work was faithfully done. In the lower and hotter regions
+cotton, given out in the same way, took the place of wool. Occupation
+was found for all, from the child of five years to the oldest woman who
+could hold a distaff. Idleness was held to be a crime in Peru, and was
+severely punished, while industry was publicly commended and rewarded.
+In the same way all the mines in the kingdom belonged to the Inca, and
+were worked for his benefit by men familiar with the service, and there
+were special commissioners whose duty it was to know the nature of the
+country and the capabilities of its inhabitants, so that whatever work
+was required, it might be given into competent hands, the different
+employments generally descending from father to son. All over the
+country stood spacious stone storehouses, divided between the Sun and
+the Inca, in which were laid up maize, coca, woollen and cotton stuffs,
+gold, silver, and copper, and beside these were yet others designed to
+supply the wants of the people in times of dearth. Thus in Peru, though
+no man who was not an Inca could become rich, all had enough to eat and
+to wear.
+
+To this day the ruins of temples, palaces, aqueducts, and, above all,
+the great roads, remain to bear witness to the industry of the
+Peruvians. Of these roads the most remarkable were two which ran from
+Quito to Cuzco, diverging again thence in the direction of Chili. One
+ran through the low lands by the sea, the other over the great plateau,
+through galleries cut for leagues from the living rock, over pathless
+sierras buried in snow. Rivers were crossed by filling up the ravines
+through which they flowed with solid masses of masonry which remain to
+this day, though the mountain torrents have in the course of ages worn
+themselves a passage through, leaving solid arches to span the valleys.
+Over some of the streams they constructed frail swinging bridges of
+osiers, which were woven into cables the thickness of a man's body.
+Several of these laid side by side were secured at either end to huge
+stone buttresses, and covered with planks. As these bridges were
+sometimes over two hundred feet long they dipped and oscillated
+frightfully over the rapidly-flowing stream far below, but the Peruvians
+crossed them fearlessly, and they are still used by the Spaniards. The
+wider and smoother rivers were crossed on 'balsas,' or rafts with sails.
+The whole length of this road was about two thousand miles, its breadth
+did not exceed twenty feet, and it was paved with heavy flags of
+freestone, in parts covered with a cement which time has made harder
+than stone itself. The construction of the lower road must have
+presented other difficulties. For the most part the causeway was raised
+on a high embankment of earth, with a wall of clay on either side. Trees
+and sweet-smelling shrubs were planted along the margin, and where the
+soil was so light and sandy as to prevent the road from being continued,
+huge piles were driven into the ground to mark the way. All along these
+highways the 'tambos,' or inns, were erected at a distance of ten or
+twelve miles from each other, and some of them were on an extensive
+scale, consisting of a fortress and barracks surrounded by a stone
+parapet. These were evidently intended as a shelter for the Imperial
+armies when on the march.
+
+[Illustration: A Peruvian postman]
+
+The communication throughout the country was by means of runners, each
+of whom carried the message entrusted to him with great swiftness for
+five miles, and then handed it over to another. These runners were
+specially trained to their work and wore a particular dress; their
+stations were small buildings erected five miles apart along all the
+roads. The messages might be verbal, or conveyed by means of the
+'quipus.' A quipu was a cord two feet long, composed of differently
+coloured threads twisted together, from which were hung a number of
+smaller threads, also differently coloured and tied in knots. Indeed,
+the word 'quipu' means 'a knot.' By means of the colours and the various
+knots the Peruvians expressed ideas--it was their method of writing--but
+the quipus were chiefly used for arithmetical purposes. In every
+district officers were stationed who were called 'keepers of the
+quipus'; their duty was to supply the Government with information as to
+the revenues, births, deaths, and marriages, number of population, and
+so on. These records--in skeins of many-coloured thread--were inspected
+at headquarters and carefully preserved, the whole collection
+constituting what might be call the national archives. In like manner
+the wise men recorded the history of the empire, and chronicled the
+great deeds of the reigning Inca or his ancestors. The Peruvians had
+some acquaintance with geography and astronomy, and showed a decided
+talent for theatrical exhibitions, but it was in agriculture that they
+really excelled. The mountains were regularly hewn into stone-faced
+terraces, varying in width from hundreds of acres at the base to a few
+feet near the snows. Water was conveyed in stone-built aqueducts for
+hundreds of miles, from some snow-fed lake in the mountains, fertilising
+all the dry and sandy places through which it passed. In some of the
+arid valleys they dug great pits twenty feet deep and more than an acre
+in extent, and, after carefully preparing the soil, planted grain or
+vegetables. Their method of ploughing was primitive indeed. Six or eight
+men were attached by ropes to a strong stake, to which was fastened a
+horizontal piece of wood upon which the ploughman might set his foot to
+force the sharp point into the earth as it was dragged along, while
+women followed after to break up the clods as they were turned.
+
+Much of the wealth of the country consisted in the huge flocks of llamas
+and alpacas, and the wild huanacos and vicunas which roamed freely over
+the frozen ranges of the Cordilleras. Once a year a great hunt took
+place under the superintendence of the Inca or some of his officers.
+Fifty or sixty thousand men encircled the part of the country that was
+to be hunted over, and drove all the wild animals by degrees towards
+some spacious plain. The beasts of prey they killed, and also the deer,
+the flesh of the latter being dried in strips and distributed among the
+people. This preparation, called 'charqui,' was the only animal food of
+the lower classes in Peru. The huanacos and vicunas were only captured
+and shorn, being afterwards allowed to escape and go back to their
+haunts among the mountains. No district was hunted over more than once
+in four years. The Peruvians showed great skill in weaving the vicuna
+wool into robes for the Inca and carpets and hangings for his palaces.
+The texture was as delicate as silk, and the brilliancy of the dyes
+unequalled even in Europe. They also were expert in the beautiful
+feather-work for which Mexico was famous, but they held it of less
+account than the Mexicans did. In spite of some chance resemblances in
+their customs, it seems certain that the Mexicans and Peruvians were
+unaware of each other's existence. They differed in nothing more utterly
+than in their treatment of the tribes they conquered. While the Mexicans
+kept them in subjection by force and cruelty, the Peruvians did
+everything they possibly could to make the conquered people one with the
+rest of the nation.
+
+
+RELIGION OF THE PERUVIANS
+
+In religion the Peruvians acknowledged one Supreme Being as creator and
+ruler of the universe, whom they called Pachacamac, or Viracocha. In all
+the land there was only one temple dedicated to him, and this had
+existed before the Incas began to rule. They also worshipped many other
+gods, but the Sun was held far above the rest. In every town and village
+were temples dedicated to him, and his worship was taught first of all
+to every conquered tribe. His temple at Cuzco was called 'the Place of
+Gold,' and the interior was a wonderful sight. On the western wall was a
+representation of the Sun-god, a human face surrounded by numberless
+rays of light. This was engraved upon a huge and massive plate of gold,
+thickly powdered with emeralds and other precious stones. The beams of
+the morning sun striking first upon this, and being reflected again upon
+all the plates and studs of burnished gold with which the walls and
+ceiling were entirely covered, lighted the whole temple with a more than
+natural radiance. Even the cornices were of gold, and outside the temple
+a broad belt of the precious metal was let into the stonework. Adjoining
+this building were several smaller chapels. One consecrated to the Moon,
+held next in reverence as the mother of the Incas, was decorated in an
+exactly similar way, but with silver instead of gold, those of the
+Stars, the Thunder and Lightning, and the Rainbow were equally beautiful
+and gorgeous. Every vessel used in the temple services was of gold or
+silver, and there were beside many figures of animals, and copies of
+plants and flowers The greatest Sun festival was called 'Raymi;' at it
+a llama was sacrificed, and from the appearance of its body the priest
+sought to read the future. A fire was then kindled by focussing the
+sun's rays with a mirror of polished metal upon a quantity of dried
+cotton, or when the sky was clouded over, by means of friction; but this
+was considered a bad omen. The sacred flame was entrusted to the care of
+the Virgins of the Sun, and if by any chance it went out it was
+considered to bode some great calamity to the nation. The festival ended
+with a great banquet to all the people, who were regaled upon the flesh
+of llamas, from the flocks of the Sun, while at the table of the Inca
+and his nobles were served fine cakes kneaded of maize flour by the
+Virgins of the Sun. These young maidens were chosen for their beauty
+from the families of the Curacas and inferior nobles, and brought up in
+the great convent-like establishments under the care of certain elderly
+matrons, who instructed them in their religious duties, and taught them
+to spin and embroider, and weave the vicuna wool for the temple hangings
+and for the use of the Inca. They were entirely cut off from their own
+people and from the world at large, only the Inca and the queen having
+the right to enter those sacred precincts. From them the brides of the
+Inca were chosen, for the law of the land allowed him to have as many
+wives as he pleased. They lived in his various palaces throughout the
+country, and at his death many of them sacrificed themselves willingly
+that they might accompany him into his new existence. In this wonderful
+monarchy each successive Inca seems to have been content with the policy
+of his father, to have carried out his schemes and continued his
+enterprises, so that the State moved steadily forward, as if under one
+hand, in its great career of civilisation and conquest.
+
+
+PIZARRO'S EXPEDITION
+
+This, then, was the country which Pizarro with a mere handful of
+followers had set out to discover and subdue. He had sailed at a most
+unfavourable time of year, for it was the rainy season, and the coast
+was swept by violent tempests. He steered first for the Puerto de Pinas,
+a headland which marked the limit of Andagoya's voyage. Passing this,
+Pizarro sailed up a little river and came to anchor, and then landed
+with his whole force to explore the country; but after most toilful
+wanderings in dismal swamps and steaming forests they were forced to
+return exhausted and half-starved to their vessel, and proceed again on
+their voyage to the southward. Now they met with a succession of
+terrific storms, their frail ship leaked, and their stock of food and
+water was nearly gone, two ears of Indian corn a day being all that
+could be allowed to each man. In this strait they were glad to turn back
+and anchor once more a few leagues from their first halting-place. But
+they soon found that they had gained very little; neither bird nor beast
+was to be seen in the forest, and they could not live upon the few
+unwholesome berries which were all the woods afforded. Pizarro felt that
+to give up at this juncture would be utter ruin. So to pacify his
+complaining followers he sent an officer back in the ship to the Isle of
+Pearls, which was only a few leagues from Panama, to lay in a fresh
+stock of provisions, while he himself with half the company made a
+further attempt to explore the country. For some time their efforts were
+vain; more than twenty men died from unwholesome food and the wretched
+climate, but at last they spied a distant opening in the woods, and
+Pizarro with a small party succeeded in reaching the clearing beyond it,
+where stood a small Indian village. The Spaniards rushed eagerly forward
+and seized upon such poor stores of food as the huts contained, while
+the astonished natives fled to the woods; but finding presently that no
+violence was offered to them they came back, and conversed with Pizarro
+as well as they could by signs. It was cheering to the adventurers to
+hear that these Indians also knew of a rich country lying to the
+southward, and to see that the large ornaments of clumsy workmanship
+which they wore were of gold. When after six weeks the ship returned,
+those on board were horrified at the wild and haggard faces of their
+comrades, so wasted were they by hunger and disease; but they soon
+revived, and, embarking once more, they joyfully left behind them the
+dismal scene of so much suffering, which they had named the Port of
+Famine. After a short run to the southward they again landed, and found
+another Indian settlement. The inhabitants fled, and the Spaniards
+secured a good store of maize and other food, and gold ornaments of
+considerable value; but they retreated to their ship in horror when they
+discovered human flesh roasting before a fire in one of the huts.
+
+Once more they set sail, and encountered a furious storm, which so
+shattered their vessel that they were glad to gain the shore at the
+first possible landing-place. There they found a considerable town, the
+inhabitants of which were a warlike race who speedily attacked them.
+After some fighting the Spaniards were victorious, but they had lost
+two of their number, and many were wounded. It was necessary that the
+ship should be sent back to Panama for repairs, but Pizarro did not
+consider that this place, which they had named Pueblo Quemado, would be
+a safe resting-place for those who were left behind; so he embarked
+again for Chicama, and when he was settled there his treasurer started
+for Panama with the gold that had been collected, and instructions to
+lay before Pedrarias, the governor, a full account of the expedition.
+Meanwhile Almagro had succeeded in equipping a small caravel, and
+started with about seventy men. He steered in the track of his comrade,
+and by a previously concerted signal of notches upon the trees he was
+able to recognise the places where Pizarro had landed. At Pueblo Quemado
+the Indians received him ill, though they did not venture beyond their
+palisades. This enraged Almagro, who stormed and took the place, driving
+the natives into the woods. He paid dearly for his victory, however, as
+a wound from a javelin deprived him of the sight of one eye. Pursuing
+his voyage, he discovered several new places upon the coast, and
+collected from them a considerable store of gold; but being anxious as
+to the fate of Pizarro, of whom he had lost all trace for some time, he
+turned back at the mouth of the San Juan River, and sailed straight to
+the Isle of Pearls. Here he gained tidings of his friend and proceeded
+at once to Chicama, where the two commanders at length met, and each
+recounted his adventures.
+
+[Illustration: Almagro wounded in the eye]
+
+After much consultation over what was next to be done, Pizarro decided
+to remain where he was while Almagro returned to Panama for fresh
+supplies, and so ended the first expedition. But when Almagro reached
+Panama he found the Governor anything but inclined to favour him and his
+schemes, and but for the influence of De Luque there would have been an
+end to their chance of discovering Peru. Fortunately, however, he was
+able to settle the difficulties with Pedrarias, who for about 2,500_l._
+gave up all claim to any of the treasures they might discover, and
+ceased to oppose their plans. A memorable contract was then entered into
+by Father De Luque, Pizarro, and Almagro, by which the two last solemnly
+bound themselves to pursue the undertaking until it was accomplished,
+all the lands, gold, jewels, or treasures of any kind that they might
+secure to be divided between the three, in consideration of the funds
+which De Luque was to provide for the enterprise. Should they fail
+altogether, he was to be repaid with every morsel of property they might
+possess. This being arranged, two vessels were bought, larger and
+stronger than the ones with which they had started before, and a greater
+supply of stores put on board, and then a proclamation was made of 'an
+expedition to Peru.' But the citizens of Panama showed no great
+readiness to join it, which was, perhaps, not surprising, seeing that of
+those who had volunteered before only three-fourths had returned, and
+those half-starved. However, in the end about one hundred and sixty men
+were mustered, with a few horses and a small supply of ammunition, of
+which there was probably very little to spare in the colony. The two
+captains, each in his own vessel, sailed once more, and this time having
+with them an experienced pilot named Ruiz, they stood boldly out to sea,
+steering direct for the San Juan River. This was reached without
+misadventure, and from the villages on its banks Pizarro secured a
+considerable store of gold and one or two natives. Much encouraged by
+this success, the two chiefs felt confident that if this rich spoil, so
+soon acquired, could be exhibited in Panama it would draw many
+adventurers to their standard, as a larger number of men was absolutely
+necessary to cope with the thickening population of the country. Almagro
+therefore took the treasure and went back for reinforcements. Pizarro
+landed to seek for a place of encampment, while Ruiz, with the second
+ship, sailed southward.
+
+Coasting along with fair winds he reached what is now called the Bay of
+St. Matthew, having seen by the way many densely-populated villages in a
+well-cultivated land. Here the people showed no signs of fear or
+hostility, but stood gazing upon the ship of the white men as it floated
+on the smooth waters of the bay, fancying it to be some mysterious being
+descended from the skies. Without waiting to undeceive them, Ruiz once
+more headed for the open sea, and was soon amazed to see what appeared
+to be a caravel of considerable size, advancing slowly, with one large
+sail hoisted. The old navigator was convinced that his was the first
+European vessel that had ever penetrated into these latitudes, and no
+Indian nation yet discovered was acquainted with the use of sails. But
+as he drew near he saw it was one of the huge rafts, called 'balsas,'
+made of logs and floored with reeds, with a clumsy rudder and movable
+keel of planks. Coming alongside, Ruiz found several Indians, themselves
+wearing rich ornaments, who were carrying articles of wrought gold and
+silver for traffic along the coast. But what attracted his attention
+even more was the woollen cloth of which their robes were made. It was
+of fine texture, dyed in brilliant colours, and embroidered with figures
+of birds and flowers. They also had a pair of balances for weighing the
+gold and silver--a thing unknown even in Mexico. From these Indians he
+learned that two of their number came from Tumbez, a Peruvian port
+further to the south; that their fields were full of large flocks of the
+animals from which the wool was obtained; and that in the palaces of
+their king gold and silver were as common as wood. Ruiz only half
+believed their report, but he took several of them on board to repeat
+the tale to his commander, and also to learn Castilian, that they might
+serve as interpreters. Without touching at any other port, Ruiz then
+sailed southward as far as Punta de Pasado, being the first European
+who, sailing in this direction, had crossed the equinoctial line, after
+which he returned to the place where he had left Pizarro.
+
+[Illustration: Many of the Spaniards were killed by the snakes and
+alligators]
+
+He did not reach it too soon. The little band had met with nothing but
+disaster. Instead of being able to reach the open country of which they
+had heard, they had been lost in dense forests of gigantic tropical
+vegetation. Hill rose behind hill, barring their progress, alternating
+with ravines of frightful depth. Monkeys chattered above their heads,
+hideous snakes and alligators infested the swamps. Many of the Spaniards
+were miserably killed by them, while others were waylaid by lurking
+natives, who on one occasion cut off fourteen men whose canoe had
+unhappily stranded on the bank of a stream. Their provisions gave out,
+and they could barely sustain life on the few cocoa-nuts or wild
+potatoes they found. On the shore life was even less tolerable, for the
+swarms of mosquitoes compelled the wretched wanderers to bury themselves
+up to their very faces in the sand. Worn-out with suffering, their one
+wish was to return to Panama. This was far from being the desire of
+Pizarro, and luckily for him at this crisis Ruiz returned, and very soon
+after Almagro sailed into port with a fresh supply of provisions and a
+band of eighty military adventurers, who had but lately come to Panama,
+and were burning to make their fortunes in the New World. The
+enthusiasm of these new recruits, and the relief of their own immediate
+miseries, speedily revived the spirits of Pizarro's men, and they
+eagerly called upon their commander to go forward; but the season of
+favouring winds was past, and it was only after many days of battling
+with fearful storms and contrary currents that they reached the Bay of
+St. Matthew, and anchored opposite the port of Tacamez. This was a large
+town, swarming with people who wore many ornaments of gold and jewels,
+for they belonged to the recently annexed province of Quito, and had not
+yet been forced to reserve all such things for the Inca, as the
+Peruvians did. Moreover, this part of the country was specially rich in
+gold, and through it flowed the River of Emeralds, so called from the
+quarries on its banks, from which quantities of those gems were dug. The
+Spaniards longed to possess themselves of all these treasures, but the
+natives were too numerous, and showed no fear of the white men. On the
+contrary, they were quite ready to attack them; and Pizarro, who had
+landed with some of his followers in the hope of a conference with the
+chiefs, found himself surrounded by at least ten thousand men, and would
+have fared but ill had not one of the cavaliers chanced to fall from his
+horse. This sudden division into two parts of what they had looked upon
+as one creature so astonished the Indians that they fell back, and left
+a way open for the Spaniards to regain their vessels. Here a council of
+war was held, and once again Almagro proposed to go back for more men
+while Pizarro waited in some safe spot. But the latter commander had
+grown rather weary of the part always assigned to him, and replied that
+it was all very well for Almagro, who passed his time sailing pleasantly
+to and fro, or living in plenty at Panama, but that for those who
+remained behind to starve in a poisonous climate it was quite another
+matter. Almagro retorted angrily that he was quite willing to be the one
+to stay if Pizarro declined, and the quarrel would soon have become
+serious had not Ruiz interposed. Almagro's plan was adopted, and the
+little island of Gallo, which they had lately passed, was chosen as
+Pizarro's headquarters.
+
+This decision caused great discontent among the men, who complained that
+they were being dragged to this obscure spot to die of hunger, and many
+of them wrote to their friends bewailing their deplorable condition, but
+Almagro did his best to seize all these letters, and only one escaped
+him. This was concealed in a ball of cotton sent as a present to the
+wife of the Governor; it was signed by several of the soldiers, and
+begged that a ship might be sent to rescue them from this dismal place
+before they all perished, and it warned others from joining the
+expedition. This letter fell into the Governor's hands, and caused great
+dismay in Panama. Almagro's men looked sufficiently haggard and dejected
+to make it generally believed that the few ill-fated survivors were
+being detained against their will by Pizarro, to end their days on his
+desolate island. The Governor was so enraged at the number of lives
+which this unsuccessful expedition had cost the colony, that he utterly
+refused the applications of Almagro and De Luque for further help, and
+sent off two ships, under a cavalier named Tafur, to bring back every
+Spaniard from Gallo.
+
+[Illustration: Amazement of the Indians at seeing a cavalier fall from
+his horse]
+
+Meanwhile Pizarro and his men were suffering great misery from the
+inclement weather, for the rainy season had set in, and for lack of
+proper food, such crabs and shell-fish as they could pick up along the
+shore being all that they had. Therefore the arrival of Tafur with two
+well-provisioned ships was greeted with rapture, and the only thought of
+the soldiers was to embark as soon as possible, and leave for ever that
+dismal island. But the ships had brought letters from Almagro and De
+Luque to Pizarro, imploring him to hold fast to his original purpose,
+and solemnly promising to send him the means for going forward in a
+short time.
+
+
+THE CHOICE OF PIZARRO
+
+For Pizarro a very little hope was enough, but knowing that he could
+probably influence such of his followers as he cared to retain more by
+example than by word, he merely announced his own purpose in the
+briefest way possible. Drawing his sword, he traced a line upon the sand
+from east to west.
+
+'Friends and comrades,' said he, turning to the south, 'on this side are
+toil, hunger, the drenching storm, desertion, and death; on that side
+ease and pleasure. There lies Peru with its riches, here Panama and its
+poverty. Choose each man what best becomes a brave Castilian. For my
+part I go to the south.'
+
+So saying he stepped across the line, followed by Ruiz, Pedro de Candia,
+and eleven others, and Tafur, after vainly trying to persuade them to
+return, reluctantly departed, leaving them part of his store of
+provisions. Ruiz sailed with him to help Almagro and De Luque in their
+preparations. Not long after Pizarro and his men constructed a raft, and
+transported themselves to an island which lay further north. It was
+uninhabited, and being partly covered with wood afforded more shelter.
+There was also plenty of good water, and pheasants and a species of hare
+were fairly numerous. The rain fell incessantly, and the Spaniards built
+rude huts to keep themselves dry, but from the swarms of venomous
+insects they could find no protection. Pizarro did all he could to keep
+up the spirits of his men in this dreary place. Morning prayers were
+duly said, the evening hymn chanted, the Church festivals carefully
+observed, and, above all, a keen look-out was kept across the ocean for
+the expected sail; but seven months had passed before one small vessel
+appeared. The Governor had at last allowed De Luque and Almagro to fit
+out this ship; but she carried no more men than were needed to work her,
+and Pizarro was commanded to report himself in Panama within six months,
+whatever might be happening.
+
+[Illustration: Pizarro sees llamas for the first time]
+
+Taking with him his faithful followers and the natives of Tumbez,
+Pizarro speedily embarked, and under the guidance of Ruiz sailed to the
+south for twenty days, and reached at length the Gulf of Guayaquil.
+Here the voyagers were abreast of some of the grandest heights of the
+Cordilleras. Far above them in the still air rose the snowy crests of
+Cotopaxi and Chimborazo, while only a narrow strip of green and fertile
+land lay between the mountains and the sea. Tumbez proved to be a large
+town, and the inhabitants received the Spaniards well, supplying them
+plentifully with fruit and vegetables, game and fish, and sending on
+board their ship a number of llamas, which Pizarro then saw for the
+first time. The 'little camel,' as the Spaniards called it, was an
+object of much interest to them, and they greatly admired its mixture of
+wool and hair, from which the beautiful native fabrics were woven. The
+Indians were much astonished to find two of their own countrymen on
+board the strange vessel, but through their favourable report of the
+harmless intentions of the Spaniards, and by their help as interpreters,
+Pizarro was able to collect much valuable information. At that time
+there happened to be an Inca noble in Tumbez, distinguished by his rich
+dress, the huge gold ornaments in his ears, and the deference paid him
+by the citizens. Pizarro received him on board his ship, showing him
+everything, and answering his numerous questions as well as he could. He
+also took the opportunity of asserting the lawful supremacy of the King
+of Spain over the empire of Peru, and of expounding some of the
+doctrines of his own religion, to all of which the chief listened in
+silence. Several parties of the Spaniards landed at different times, and
+came back with wondrous tales of all they had seen: the temples blazing
+with silver and gold, and the convent of the Virgins of the Sun, the
+gardens of which glowed with imitations of fruits and flowers in the
+same metals. The natives greatly admired one of the Spaniards, a man
+named Alonso de Molina, who was of fair complexion and wore a long
+beard. They even invited him to settle among them, promising him a
+beautiful wife; and on his homeward voyage Pizarro actually left him
+there, with one or two others, thinking that at some future time it
+might be useful to him that some of his own men should understand the
+Indian language. In return he took on board his ship several of the
+Peruvians, and one of them, named by the Spaniards Felipillo, played an
+important part in after-events.
+
+Having now learnt all he could, Pizarro pursued his voyage, touching at
+all the principal points as he coasted along, and being everywhere
+received by the people with kindness and much curiosity, for the news of
+the coming of the white men spread rapidly, and all were eager to see
+the 'Children of the Sun,' as they began to be called from their fair
+complexions, their shining armour, and their firearms, which were looked
+upon as thunderbolts.
+
+Having gone as far south as the port of Santa, and having heard enough
+to make the existence and position of the empire of Peru an absolute
+certainty, Pizarro turned and sailed to the northward, landing once or
+twice by the way, and being hospitably entertained by an Indian
+princess, and after an absence of more than eighteen months anchored
+again off Panama. Great was the joy caused by their arrival, for all
+supposed them to have perished; yet even now, in spite of all they had
+discovered, the Governor refused his aid, and the confederates, being by
+this time without funds, had no alternative but to apply directly to the
+King of Spain. The mission was entrusted to Pizarro, who set out in the
+spring of 1528, taking with him some of the natives, two or three
+llamas, and specimens of the cloth and of the gold and silver ornaments,
+to attest the truth of his wonderful story.
+
+
+PIZARRO GOES TO SPAIN AND RETURNS
+
+It would take too long to tell how Pizarro fared in his native country,
+but the matter ended in the King's being convinced of the importance of
+his discoveries, and bestowing many honours and rewards upon him. He was
+also empowered to conquer and take possession of Peru, and expressly
+enjoined to preserve the existing regulations for the government and
+protection of the Indians, and to take with him many priests to convert
+them. All being settled to Pizarro's satisfaction, he found time to
+revisit his own town, where, his fortunes having somewhat mended since
+he turned his back upon it, he found friends and eager followers, and
+among these his own four half-brothers, Hernando, Gonzalo, and Juan
+Pizarro, and Francisco de Alcantara. It was not without many
+difficulties that Francisco Pizarro got together the two hundred and
+fifty men he had agreed to raise, and escaped from the delays and
+intrigues of the Spanish Court; but it was done at last, and the
+adventurers in three vessels started from Seville, and after a
+prosperous voyage reached Nombre de Dios, and there met De Luque and
+Almagro. Disagreements speedily arose, for the latter naturally felt
+aggrieved that Pizarro should have secured for himself such an unfair
+share of the riches and honours as the King had bestowed on him without
+putting forward the claims of his comrade, and matters were made worse
+by the insolent way in which Hernando Pizarro treated the old soldier,
+whom he looked upon as an obstacle in the path of his brother. Matters
+got to such a pass that Almagro was actually preparing ships to
+prosecute the expedition on his own account, but De Luque at last
+succeeded in reconciling the two commanders--at least for the
+moment--and the united band started for the third time. Though the
+number of men in the three ships did not exceed one hundred and eighty,
+yet they had twenty-seven horses, and were now much better provided with
+arms and ammunition. Pizarro's intention was to steer for Tumbez, but
+the wind being contrary he anchored instead in the Bay of St. Matthew,
+where the troops disembarked and advanced along the coast, while the
+vessels proceeded in the same direction, keeping as close inshore as
+possible. When Pizarro and his men reached a town of some importance
+they rushed in upon it sword in hand, and the inhabitants, without
+offering any resistance, fled to the woods, leaving the invaders to
+rifle their dwellings, from which they collected an unexpectedly large
+store of gold, silver, and emeralds, some of the stones being of great
+size. Pizarro sent the treasure back to Panama in the ships, and
+continued his march, his soldiers suffering terribly in crossing the
+sandy wastes under the burning sun, which beat upon their iron mail or
+quilted cotton doublets till they were nearly suffocated. Here, too,
+they were attacked by a dreadful disease, terrible warts of great size
+breaking out upon them, of which several died. This plague, which was
+quite unknown before, attacked the natives also, spreading over the
+whole country. Everywhere as they advanced the Indians fled before them;
+the land was poor, and the Spaniards began to grumble and wish to
+retreat; but at this juncture one of the ships appeared, and the march
+along the coast was continued. Reaching the Gulf of Guayaquil, Pizarro
+persuaded the friendly natives of Tumbez to transport himself and his
+men to the island of Puna, where he encamped for the rainy season; but
+the islanders resented the presence of their enemies the men of Tumbez,
+a suspicion of treachery arose, and Pizarro allowed ten or twelve
+prisoners, men of Puna, to be massacred. Then the whole tribe fell upon
+the Spaniards and there was a great battle, in which the white men were
+victorious; but after this their position was a most uncomfortable one,
+the enemy being ever on the watch to cut off stragglers and destroy
+provisions, besides making night attacks upon the camp. Fortunately the
+other two ships came back at this juncture, bringing a hundred
+volunteers and some more horses, and with them Pizarro felt strong
+enough to cross to the mainland and resume his march. He had lately
+learned something of the state of affairs in the country, which he
+thought he might be able to turn to his own advantage. It seemed that
+the Inca Huayna Capac, who conquered Quito, had left three sons--Huascar
+the heir, the son of the Queen, Manco Capac his half-brother, and
+Atahuallpa, son of the Princess of Quito, who had been married to Huayna
+Capac after the conquest. To Atahuallpa the Inca at his death left the
+kingdom of Quito, enjoining him to live at peace with his brother
+Huascar, who succeeded to the empire of Peru. This happened about seven
+years before Pizarro reached Puna. For five years the brothers ruled
+their respective kingdoms without dispute. Huascar was of a gentle and
+peaceable disposition, but Atahuallpa was warlike, ambitious, and
+daring, and constantly endeavouring to enlarge his territory. His
+restless spirit at length excited alarm at Cuzco, and Huascar sent to
+remonstrate with him, and to require him to render homage for the
+kingdom of Quito. This at once provoked hostilities. A great battle took
+place at Ambato, in which Atahuallpa was victorious, and he marched on
+in the direction of Cuzco, carrying all before him, and only
+experiencing a slight check from the islanders of Puna. After more
+desperate encounters, in one of which Huascar was taken prisoner,
+Atahuallpa possessed himself of Cuzco, and, assuming the diadem of the
+Incas, received the homage of the whole country.
+
+But his triumph was not to be for long.
+
+We left Pizarro preparing to leave Puna and cross to Tumbez. His
+surprise when he did so was great, for he found only the ruins of what
+had been a flourishing town; moreover, some of his men were
+treacherously attacked by the natives, whom he had supposed to be quite
+friendly to him. The Spaniards were much disappointed, as they had
+looked forward confidently to securing the golden treasures of Tumbez of
+which they had heard so much; nor could Pizarro believe the explanation
+of this state of affairs given by the Curaca, who was caught lurking in
+the woods. However, it was his policy to remain friendly with the
+natives if possible, so no further notice was taken. No true account
+could be gathered of the fate of the two men who had been left there
+from the last expedition, though it was evident that both had perished.
+An Indian gave Pizarro a scroll left by one of them, upon which was
+written: 'Know, whoever you may be that may chance to set foot in this
+country, that it contains more silver and gold than there is iron in
+Biscay.' But when this was shown to the soldiers they only thought it
+was a device of their captain to give them fresh hope. Pizarro, seeing
+that nothing but incessant activity could keep down the rising spirit of
+discontent, now spent some weeks in exploring the country, and finally
+assembling all his men at a spot some thirty leagues south of Tumbez, he
+built there a considerable town, which he named San Miguel. The site
+afterwards proved to be unhealthy, and was abandoned for another on the
+banks of the river Piura, where a town still stands. Presently the news
+reached San Miguel that Atahuallpa was encamped within twelve days'
+journey, and Pizarro after much consideration resolved to present
+himself in his camp, trusting doubtless that when he got there
+circumstances would arise which he could turn to his own advantage.
+
+
+PIZARRO MARCHES TO MEET THE INCA
+
+Placing himself at the head of his troops, he struck boldly into the
+heart of the country, received everywhere by the natives with confiding
+hospitality. The Spaniards were careful to give no offence, being aware
+that their best chance of success lay in conciliating the people by whom
+they were surrounded. After five days' marching, Pizarro halted in a
+pleasant valley to rest his company, and finding that some few among
+them showed discontent and were unwilling to proceed, he called them all
+together, and told them that they had now reached a crisis which it
+would require all their courage to meet, and no man should go forward
+who had any misgivings as to the success of the expedition. He added
+that the garrison left in San Miguel was by no means as strong as he
+would like it to be, and that if any of them wished to return there
+instead of going forward with him they were quite free to do so, and
+their share in the profits of the expedition should be just the same as
+that of the men originally left there. Nine of the soldiers availed
+themselves of this permission to turn back, and having thus got rid of
+the elements of discontent, which might have become dangerous, Pizarro
+resumed his march, halting again at Zaran while he sent an officer
+forward to obtain more certain tidings of the position of Atahuallpa.
+After eight days the cavalier returned, bringing with him an envoy from
+the Inca, who bore a present for the Spanish commander, and invited him
+to visit Atahuallpa's camp among the mountains. Pizarro quite understood
+that the Inca's object was to learn the strength and condition of the
+white men, but he hospitably entertained his guest, giving him all the
+information he demanded by means of the two interpreters, who had by his
+forethought been taught Castilian, and were now of inestimable service.
+When the Peruvian departed, Pizarro presented him with a few trifling
+gifts, and bade him tell Atahuallpa that he would meet him as soon as
+possible. After sending an account of their proceedings back to San
+Miguel the adventurers continued their journey towards Caxamalca, and
+having crossed a deep and rapid river, fell in with some natives, who
+gave such contrary reports of Atahuallpa's position and intentions that
+Pizarro sent one of the Indians who accompanied him ostensibly to bear a
+friendly greeting to the Inca, but really to find out all he could of
+the state of affairs.
+
+After a further march of three days the little army reached the foot of
+the huge mountain barrier, and entered upon the labyrinth of passes
+which were to lead them to Atahuallpa's camp. The difficulties of the
+way were enough to have appalled the stoutest heart. The path was in
+many places so steep that the men had to dismount and scramble up as
+best they could, dragging their horses after them; often some huge crag
+so overhung the track that they could scarcely creep round the narrow
+ledge of rock, while a false step would have plunged them into a fearful
+precipice. In several of the passes huge stone fortresses had been
+built, and places abounded where a handful of men might have barred the
+way successfully against an army, but to the relief of the Spaniards
+they found all quiet and deserted, the only living things visible being
+an occasional condor or vicuna. Finding that their passage was not to be
+disputed, Pizarro, who had led the way with one detachment, encamped for
+the night, sending word back to his brother to bring up the remainder of
+the force without delay. Another toilful day brought him to the crest of
+the Cordillera, a bleak tract where the only vegetation was a dry,
+yellow grass which grew up to the snow-line. Here he was met by one of
+his Indian messengers, who reported that the path was clear, and an
+envoy from the Inca was on his way to the Castilian camp. Very soon the
+Peruvians appeared, bringing a welcome present of llamas and a message
+from their master, who desired to know when the Spaniards would reach
+Caxamalca, that he might provide suitably for their reception. The
+ambassador vaunted the power and the triumphs of Atahuallpa; but Pizarro
+was not to be outdone, and did not hesitate to declare that the Inca was
+as much inferior to the King of Spain as the petty chiefs of the country
+were to the Inca. After another march of two days the Spaniards began
+the descent of the eastern side of the Cordillera, meeting by the way
+another and more important envoy, and seven days later the valley of
+Caxamalca lay before them, the vapour of its hot springs rising in the
+still air, and the slope of the further hillside white with the tents of
+the Inca's encampment for a space of several miles--a sight which filled
+the Spaniards with a dismay they could hardly conceal. Putting on a bold
+front they marched into the town, which was quite deserted, but seemed
+large enough to hold ten thousand people, and then Pizarro despatched an
+embassy consisting of his brother Hernando, another cavalier, and
+thirty-five horsemen, to the camp of Atahuallpa. The party galloped
+along the causeway, and, fording a shallow stream, made their way
+through a guard of Indians to the open courtyard in the midst of which
+the Inca's pavilion stood. The buildings were covered with a shining
+plaster, both white and coloured, and there was a spacious stone
+reservoir in the courtyard, which remains to this day, and is called
+'The Inca's Bath.' The Court was filled with Indian nobles, and
+Atahuallpa himself sat upon a low stool, distinguished from the rest by
+the crimson fringe upon his forehead, which he had worn since the defeat
+of his brother Huascar. Hernando Pizarro rode up to him and, addressing
+him ceremoniously, informed him by the aid of Felipillo that he came as
+an ambassador from his brother to acquaint the Inca with the arrival of
+the white men in Caxamalca, and to explain that they were the subjects
+of a mighty prince across the waters, who, attracted by the report of
+his great victories, had come to offer their services, and to impart to
+him the doctrines of the true faith which they professed, and he brought
+an invitation from the general to beg Atahuallpa to visit them in their
+present quarters. To all this the Inca listened with his eyes fixed upon
+the ground, and answered never a word, but one of the nobles standing by
+said, 'It is well.' Hernando Pizarro then respectfully begged the Inca
+to speak to them himself and inform them of his pleasure, upon which
+Atahuallpa smiled faintly and replied: 'Tell your captain that I am
+keeping a fast, which will end to-morrow morning; I will then visit him.
+In the meantime let him occupy the public buildings on the square, and
+no other, till I come and order what shall be done.'
+
+
+PIZARRO AND THE INCA
+
+[Illustration: The cavalier displays his horsemanship before Atahuallpa]
+
+One of the cavaliers who was mounted upon a fiery steed, seeing that
+Atahuallpa looked at it with some interest, caused it to rear and
+curvet, and then dashed out over the plain in a wild gallop, and
+returning checked it in full career close beside the Inca. But the face
+of Atahuallpa never for an instant lost its marble composure, though
+several of his soldiers shrank back in manifest terror as the strange
+creature passed them; and it is said that they paid dearly for their
+timidity, as Atahuallpa caused them to be put to death for thus showing
+fear in the presence of the strangers. Wine was now brought, and offered
+to the Spaniards in golden goblets of extraordinary size, and then they
+took their leave and rode gloomily back to Caxamalca. Pizarro alone was
+not discouraged by the news they brought. He saw that matters had now
+come to a climax, and determined upon making a bold stroke. To encounter
+the Inca in the open field was manifestly impossible, but could his
+person be secured when he entered the city with comparatively few of his
+followers the rest might be intimidated, and all might yet be well. To
+this end, therefore, he laid his plans. The building in which the
+Spaniards were encamped occupied three sides of a square, and consisted
+of spacious halls opening upon it with wide doors. In these halls the
+general stationed his men, and there they were to remain under cover
+till the Inca should have entered the square, when at a given signal,
+the firing of a gun, they were to rush out uttering their battle-cries,
+and, putting the Peruvians to the sword, possess themselves of the
+person of Atahuallpa. After a quiet night and a careful inspection of
+their arms and equipments, the Spaniards took up their respective
+positions, but it was late in the day before a great stir was visible in
+the Peruvian camp. The Inca sent word to Pizarro that he was coming
+armed, as the Spaniards had come to him. To which the general replied
+that, come as he might, he would be received as a friend and a brother.
+At last the procession was seen approaching. First came a large body of
+attendants, sweeping every particle of rubbish from the road. Then high
+above the crowd the Inca appeared, carried in a gorgeous litter and
+surrounded by his nobles, who wore such quantities of golden ornaments
+that they blazed like the sun. The road was lined with Peruvian troops,
+who also covered the level meadows as far as the eye could reach. When
+the company had arrived within half a mile of the city gate Pizarro
+observed with dismay that they halted, and seemed to be preparing to
+encamp, and word was brought him that the Inca would enter the city on
+the following morning. This was far from suiting the general's plans;
+his men had been under arms since daylight, and to prolong the suspense
+at this critical moment would he felt be fatal. He returned an answer,
+therefore, to Atahuallpa, deprecating his change of purpose, and saying
+that everything was provided for his entertainment and he expected him
+that night to sup with him. This message turned the Inca from his
+purpose, his tents were struck again, and the procession re-formed. Only
+he sent Pizarro word that he should prefer to pass the night at
+Caxamalca, and so would bring into the town with him only a few unarmed
+men. It was near sunset when the Peruvians, chanting their triumphant
+songs, entered the city gate. According to their different ranks their
+robes were of various colours, some chequered in white and red, some
+pure white, while the guards and attendants of the Inca were
+distinguished by their gay blue uniform and the profusion of their
+ornaments. Atahuallpa sat in an open litter, lined with the brilliantly
+coloured plumes of tropical birds and studded with burnished plates of
+gold and silver. His dress was far richer than on the preceding evening;
+round his neck hung a collar of large and brilliant emeralds, and his
+short hair was decorated with golden ornaments. He was at this time
+about thirty years old, and was taller and stronger than most of his
+countrymen. His head was large, and he might have been called handsome
+but for his fierce and bloodshot eyes. His bearing was calm and
+dignified, and he gazed upon the multitudes about him like one
+accustomed to command. Not a Spaniard was to be seen as the procession,
+in admirable order, entered the great square of the building that had
+been assigned to them, and when the place was occupied by some six
+thousand of his people Atahuallpa halted, and asked, 'Where are the
+strangers?' Upon this Father Valverde, Pizarro's chaplain, came forward
+Bible in hand, and proceeded to expound to him the doctrines of his
+faith, declaring finally that the Pope had commissioned the Spanish
+Emperor to conquer and convert the inhabitants of the western world, and
+beseeching the Inca to embrace the Christian faith and acknowledge
+himself a tributary of the Emperor Charles, who would aid and protect
+him as a loyal vassal. The eyes of Atahuallpa flashed fire as he
+answered: 'I will be no man's tributary; I am greater than any prince
+upon earth. Your Emperor may be a great prince. I do not doubt it when I
+see that he has sent his subjects so far across the waters, and I am
+willing to hold him as a brother. As for the Pope of whom you speak, he
+must be crazy to talk of giving away countries which do not belong to
+him. For my faith, I will not change it. Your own God, you say, was put
+to death by the very men whom he created, but mine'--and here he pointed
+to the setting sun--'my god still lives in the heavens and looks down
+upon his children.' He then demanded of Valverde by what authority he
+had said these things. The friar pointed to the book he held. Atahuallpa
+took it, looked at it for an instant, and then threw it violently down,
+exclaiming: 'Tell your comrades they shall give an account of their
+doings in my land. I will not go from here till they have made me full
+satisfaction for all the wrongs they have committed.'
+
+The friar thereupon rushed to Pizarro crying: 'Do you not see that while
+we stand here wasting our breath in talking with this dog--full of pride
+as he is--the fields are filling with Indians? Set on at once; I absolve
+you.'
+
+Pizarro saw that the hour had come. He waved a white scarf, the fatal
+gun was fired, and from every opening the Spaniards poured into the
+great square, sword in hand, shouting their old battle-cry, 'St. Jago,
+and at them!' The Indians, unarmed, taken by surprise, stunned by the
+noise of the artillery, and blinded with smoke, knew not which way to
+fly. Nobles and soldiers were ruthlessly cut down, or trampled underfoot
+by the horses, the entrance to the square was choked with the fallen
+bodies of men, but the desperate struggles of the masses of natives
+driven together by their fierce assailants actually broke down the wall
+of clay and stone for a space of a hundred paces, through which the
+wretched fugitives endeavoured to reach the open country, hotly pursued
+by the cavalry and struck down in all directions.
+
+
+THE CAPTIVITY OF THE INCA
+
+[Illustration: The friar urges Pizarro to attack the Peruvians]
+
+Meanwhile, a desperate struggle was going on for the person of the Inca.
+His nobles surrounded and faithfully strove to defend him; as fast as
+one was cut down another took his place, and with their dying grasp they
+clung to the bridles of the cavaliers, trying to force them back.
+Atahuallpa sat as one stunned in his swaying litter, forced this way and
+that by the pressure of the throng. The Spaniards grew tired at last of
+the work of destruction, and, fearing that in the gathering darkness the
+Inca might after all escape them, they made an attempt to end the fray
+at once by taking his life. But Pizarro, seeing this, cried out in a
+mighty voice, 'Let no man who values his life strike at the Inca,' and,
+stretching out his arm to shield him, received a wound on the hand from
+one of his own men--the only wound received by any Spaniard in the
+action. The strife now became fiercer round the litter, and several of
+the nobles who bore it having been slain, it was overturned, and the
+Inca would have come violently to the ground had not Pizarro and some of
+his men caught him in their arms. A soldier instantly snatched the
+crimson fringe from his forehead, and the unhappy monarch was taken into
+the nearest building and carefully guarded. All attempt at resistance
+now ceased. The news of the Inca's fate spread over town and country,
+and the only thing which had held them together being gone, each man
+thought only of his own safety. The Spaniards pursued the fugitives till
+night fell and the sound of the trumpet recalled them to the square of
+Caxamalca. That night the Inca supped with Pizarro as he had said, while
+ten thousand of his faithful followers lay dead about the city.
+
+He seemed like one in a dream, not understanding the calamity that had
+fallen upon him. He even commended the adroit way in which the Spaniards
+had entrapped him, adding that since the landing of the white men he had
+been made aware of all their doings, but had felt sure of being easily
+able to overpower them as soon as he thought fit to do so, and had
+allowed them to reach Caxamalca unmolested because he desired to see
+them for himself, and to obtain possession of their arms and horses.
+This, at least, was the interpretation of what the Inca said given by
+Felipillo; but he was a malicious youth, who bore Atahuallpa no good
+will, and the Spaniards were only too ready to believe anything that
+seemed to justify their cruel deeds. Pizarro replied that the fate of
+the Inca was the lot that fell to all who resisted the white men, but he
+bade Atahuallpa take courage, for the Spaniards were a generous race,
+warring only against those who would not submit themselves. That same
+night the general reviewed his men, congratulating them upon the success
+of their stratagem, but warning them to be strictly upon their guard,
+since they were but a handful of strangers in the heart of a mighty
+kingdom, encompassed by foes who were deeply attached to their own
+sovereign. Next morning, the prisoners, of whom there were many in the
+camp, were employed in burying the dead and removing all traces of the
+massacre, while a troop of Spaniards was despatched to spoil the camp of
+Atahuallpa and scatter the remnant of the Peruvian forces. At noon this
+party returned, bringing the wives and attendants of the Inca, and a
+rich booty in gold, silver, emeralds, and other treasures, beside droves
+of llamas.
+
+Pizarro would now have liked to march directly upon the capital, but the
+distance was great and his force was small. So after sending a message
+to San Miguel for reinforcements, he set his men to work at rebuilding
+the walls of Caxamalca, and fitting up a church, in which mass was
+celebrated daily. Atahuallpa soon discovered that gold was what the
+Spaniards chiefly coveted, and he determined to try and buy his freedom,
+for he greatly feared that Huascar might win back his liberty and his
+kingdom if the news once reached him of his brother's captivity. So he
+one day promised Pizarro to fill with gold the room in which they stood,
+not merely covering the floor, but piling it up to a line drawn round
+the walls as high as he could reach, if he would in return set him free.
+The general hardly knew how to answer. All he had seen confirmed the
+rumours of the wealth of the country, and if it could be collected thus
+by the Inca's order, he might really hope to secure it, whereas if he
+trusted to being able to seize it for himself the chances were that most
+of it would disappear for ever, hidden by the natives beyond recovery.
+At all events he decided it would be safe to agree to Atahuallpa's
+proposal; when the gold was collected it would be time enough to think
+about setting the captive at liberty. The room to be filled was
+seventeen feet broad by twenty-two feet long, and the line upon the wall
+was drawn nine feet from the ground. A smaller room which adjoined it
+the Inca offered to fill with silver twice over, and he demanded two
+months' time to accomplish all this.
+
+As soon as the arrangement was made, Atahuallpa sent couriers to Cuzco
+and all the other chief places in the kingdom, with orders to strip the
+royal palaces of their treasures and send them without delay to
+Caxamalca. Meanwhile he lived in the Spanish quarters, treated with
+consideration, and allowed to see his subjects freely, but at the same
+time strictly guarded.
+
+
+THE INCA'S RANSOM
+
+[Illustration: The Spaniards destroy the idol at Pachacamac]
+
+The news of Atahuallpa's capture and the immense ransom he had offered
+soon reached the ears of Huascar, who was encouraged by the tidings to
+make vigorous efforts to regain his own liberty, and sent a message to
+the Spanish commander saying that he would pay a much larger ransom than
+that promised by Atahuallpa, who, never having lived in Cuzco, could not
+know the quantity of treasure there, or where it was stored. This was
+told to Atahuallpa, who also knew that Pizarro had said that Huascar
+should be brought to Caxamalca, that he himself might determine which of
+the two brothers had the better right to the sceptre of the Incas.
+Furiously jealous, and fearing that the decision would surely be in
+favour of the more docile Huascar, Atahuallpa ordered secretly that he
+should be put to death by his guards, and he was accordingly drowned in
+the river of Andamarca, declaring with his dying breath that the white
+men would avenge his murder, and that his rival would not long survive
+him. Week by week the treasure poured in from all quarters of the realm,
+borne on the shoulders of the Indian porters, and consisting mainly of
+massive pieces of plate, some of them weighing seventy-five pounds; but
+as the distances were great, and the progress necessarily slow, the
+Spaniards became impatient, and believed, or pretended to believe, that
+the Inca was planning some treachery, and wilfully delaying till he
+could arrange a general rising of the Peruvians against the white men.
+This charge the Inca indignantly denied, and to prove his good faith
+offered to give a safe-conduct to a party of Spaniards, that they might
+visit Cuzco for themselves and see that the work of collecting the
+treasure was really going on. Pizarro gladly accepted this offer, and
+three cavaliers started for the capital. Meanwhile, Hernando Pizarro
+with a small troop had set out to make sure that the country round was
+really quiet, and, finding that it was, he continued his march to the
+town of Pachacamac, to secure the treasures of its famous temple before
+they could be hidden by its priests. The city was a hundred leagues from
+Caxamalca, and the way lay across the tableland of the Cordilleras; but
+after weeks of severe labour the Spaniards reached it, and, breaking
+into the temple, in spite of the remonstrances of the priests, they
+dragged forth and destroyed the hideous idol it contained, and secured
+the greater part of the treasure of gold and jewels, though the priests,
+having had warning of his approach, had managed to conceal a good deal,
+some of which the Spaniards afterwards discovered buried in the
+surrounding land. The people, seeing that their god was unable to defend
+himself against the wonderful strangers, now came and tendered their
+homage, and Hernando Pizarro, hearing that one of the Inca's two great
+generals, a chief named Challcuchima, was lying with a considerable
+force in the town of Xanxa, resolved to march there and attack him in
+his own quarters. The road across the mountains was even rougher and
+more difficult than the one by which he had come, and, to add to his
+troubles, the shoes of the horses were all worn out, and they suffered
+severely on the rough and stony ground. Iron there was none, but silver
+and gold abounded, so Pizarro ordered the Indian smiths to make
+horseshoes of silver, with which the horses of the troop were shod. On
+reaching Xanxa the Spaniards found it a large and populous place, and
+the Indian general with five-and-thirty thousand men was encamped at a
+distance of a few miles; but, nothing daunted, Hernando Pizarro sent
+messages to him, and when he at last consented to an interview, informed
+him that the Inca demanded his presence in Caxamalca. Having been
+utterly bewildered since the capture of the Inca, and uncertain as to
+what course to take, Challcuchima obeyed at once, and accompanied by a
+numerous retinue journeyed back with the Spaniards. He was everywhere
+received by the natives with the deepest respect, yet he entered the
+presence of the Inca barefooted and with a burden laid upon his back,
+and kneeling before his master he kissed his hands and feet, exclaiming,
+'Would that I had been here! This would not then have happened.'
+
+Atahuallpa himself showed no emotion, only coldly bade him welcome: even
+in his present state of captivity he was immeasurably above the proudest
+of his vassals. The Spaniards still treated him with all respect, and
+with his own people he kept up his usual state and ceremony, being
+attended upon by his wives, while a number of Indian nobles waited
+always in the antechamber, but never entered his presence unless sent
+for, and then only with every mark of humility. His dress, which he
+often changed, was sometimes made of vicuna wool, sometimes of bats'
+skins, sleek as velvet. Nothing which he had worn could be used by
+another; when he laid it aside it was burned. To while away the time the
+Spaniards taught him to play chess, at which he became expert, spending
+upon it many of the tedious hours of his imprisonment. Soon after the
+return of Hernando Pizarro the three cavaliers came back from Cuzco.
+They had travelled six hundred miles in the greatest luxury, carried in
+litters by the natives, and received everywhere with awe and respect.
+Their accounts of the wealth of the capital confirmed all that Pizarro
+had heard, and though they had stayed a week there, they had not seen
+all. They had seen the royal mummies in their golden chairs, and had
+left them untouched by the Inca's orders; but they had caused the plates
+of pure gold to be stripped from the Temple of the Sun--seven hundred of
+them, compared in size to the lid of a chest ten or twelve inches wide.
+The cornice was so firmly embedded in the stonework that it defied their
+efforts to remove it. But they brought with them full two hundred loads
+of gold, beside much silver, all hastily collected, for the arrogant
+behaviour of the emissaries had greatly exasperated the people of Cuzco,
+who were glad to get rid of them as soon as possible. About this time
+Almagro reached San Miguel, having, after many difficulties, succeeded
+in collecting a few more adventurers, and heard with amazement of
+Pizarro's successes and of the change in his fortunes. In spite of the
+feelings of rivalry and distrust that existed between himself and his
+old comrade, Pizarro was delighted to hear of his arrival, as the
+additional troops he brought with him made it possible to go forward
+with the conquest of the country. So when Almagro reached Caxamalca in
+the middle of February 1533, he and his men were received with every
+mark of joy. Only Atahuallpa looked on sadly, seeing the chances of
+regaining his freedom, or maintaining it if he did regain it, lessened
+by the increased number of his enemies, and to add to his dejection a
+comet just then made its appearance in the heavens. As one had been
+seen shortly before the death of the Inca's father, Huayna Capac, he
+looked upon it as a warning of evil to come, and a dread of the future
+took possession of him.
+
+The Spaniards now began to clamour for a division of the gold which had
+been already collected: several of them were disposed to return home
+with the share that would fall to them, but by far the greater number
+only wished to make sure of the spoil and then hurry on to Cuzco, where
+they believed as much more awaited them. For various reasons Pizarro
+agreed to their demands; the gold--all but a few particularly beautiful
+specimens of the Indian goldsmith's work, which were sent to Castile as
+part of the royal fifth--was melted down into solid bars, and when
+weighed was found to be worth nearly three and a half millions of pounds
+sterling. This was divided amongst Pizarro and his men, the followers of
+Almagro not being considered to be entitled to a share, though a small
+sum was handed over to them to induce them to give up their claim. The
+division being completed, there seemed to be no further obstacle to
+their resuming active operations; but then the question arose what was
+to become of Atahuallpa, who was loudly demanding his freedom. He had
+not, indeed, paid the whole of his promised ransom; but an immense
+amount had been received, and it would have been more, as he urged, but
+for the impatience of the Spaniards. Pizarro, telling no one of the dark
+purposes he was brooding over in his own mind, issued a proclamation to
+the effect that the ransom was considered to be completely paid, but
+that the safety of the Spaniards required that the Inca should be held
+captive until they were still further reinforced. Soon rumours began to
+be spread, probably by Felipillo, who hated the Inca, that an immense
+army was mustering at Quito, and that thirty thousand Caribs, of whom
+the Spaniards had a peculiar horror, were on their way to join it. Both
+Atahuallpa and his general Challcuchima denied all knowledge of any
+rising, but their protestations of innocence did them little good. The
+soldiers clamoured against the unhappy Inca, and Pizarro, taking
+advantage of the temporary absence of some of the cavaliers who would
+have defended him, ordered him to be brought to instant trial. The
+evidence of Indian witnesses, as interpreted by Felipillo, sealed his
+doom, and in spite of the efforts of a few Spaniards he was found guilty
+by the majority on the charge, among other things, of having
+assassinated his brother Huascar and raised up insurrection against the
+Spaniards, and was sentenced to be burnt alive. When Atahuallpa was told
+of his approaching fate his courage gave way for a moment. 'What have I
+or my children done,' he said to Pizarro, 'that I should meet such a
+doom? And from your hands, too!--you who have met with nothing but
+friendship and kindness from my people, with whom I have shared my
+treasures, who have received nothing but benefits from my hands.' Then
+in most piteous tones he begged that his life might be spared, offering
+to answer for the safety of every Spaniard, and promising to pay double
+the ransom he had already given. But it was all of no avail. He was not,
+however, burnt to death; for at the last moment, on his consenting to
+abjure his own religion and be baptized, he was executed in the usual
+Spanish manner--by strangulation.
+
+A day or two after, the other cavaliers returned, and found Pizarro
+making a show of great sorrow for what had happened. They reproached and
+blamed him, saying that there was no truth in the story of
+treachery--all was quiet, and the people showed nothing but goodwill.
+Then Pizarro accused his treasurer and Father Valverde of having
+deceived him in the matter and brought about the catastrophe; and they
+in their turn exculpated themselves, and upbraided Pizarro as the only
+one responsible for the deed, and the quarrel was fierce between them.
+Meanwhile, the death of the Inca, whose power over his people had been
+so great, caused the breaking-up of all the ancient institutions. The
+Indians broke out into great excesses; villages were burnt and temples
+plundered; gold and silver acquired a new importance in their eyes, and
+were eagerly seized and hidden in caves and forests; the remote
+provinces threw off their allegiance to the Incas; the great captains at
+the head of distant armies set up for themselves--one named Ruminavi
+sought to detach Quito from the Peruvian Empire and assert its
+independence. Pizarro, still in Caxamalca, looked round for a successor
+to Atahuallpa, and chose his young brother Toparca, who was crowned with
+the usual ceremonies; and then the Spaniards set out for Cuzco, taking
+the new Inca with them, and after a toilful journey and more than one
+encounter with hostile natives reached Xanxa in safety. Here Pizarro
+remained for a time, sending one of his captains, named Hernando de
+Soto, forward with a small body of men to reconnoitre. This cavalier
+found villages burnt, bridges destroyed, and heavy rocks and trees
+placed in the path to impede his cavalry, and realised at length that
+the natives had risen to resistance. As he neared the Sierra of
+Vilcaconga he heard that a considerable body of Indians lay in wait for
+him in its dangerous passes; but though his men and horses were weary,
+he rashly determined to push on and pass it before nightfall if
+possible. No sooner had they fairly entered the narrow way than he was
+attacked by a multitude of armed warriors, who seemed to spring from
+every bush and cavern, and rushed down like a mountain torrent upon the
+Spaniards as they struggled up the steep and rocky pathway. Men and
+horses were overthrown, and it was only after a severe struggle that
+they succeeded in reaching a level spot upon which it was possible to
+face the enemy. Night fell while the issue of the fight was still
+uncertain, but fortunately Pizarro, when he heard of the unsettled state
+of the country, had despatched Almagro to the support of De Soto. He,
+hearing that there was the chance of a fight, had pushed on hastily, and
+now advanced under cover of the darkness, sounding his trumpets, which
+were joyfully answered by the bugles of De Soto.
+
+[Illustration: IN ONE CAVE THE SOLDIERS FOUND VASES OF PURE GOLD, ETC.]
+
+When morning broke and the Peruvians saw that their white enemies had
+been mysteriously reinforced in the night, they hastily retreated,
+leaving the passes open, and the two cavaliers continued their march
+through the mountains, and took up a secure position in the open country
+beyond, to await Pizarro. Their losses had not been very great, but they
+were quite unprepared to meet with any resistance; and as this seemed a
+well-organised attack, suspicion fell upon Challcuchima, who was accused
+by Pizarro of conspiring with Quizquiz, the other great general, against
+the young Inca, and was told that if he did not at once compel the
+Peruvians to lay down their arms he should be burnt alive. Challcuchima
+denied the charge, and declared that, captive as he was, he had no power
+to bring his countrymen to submission. Nevertheless, he was put in irons
+and strongly guarded. Unfortunately for him, the young Toparca died just
+at this time, and suspicion at once fell on the hapless general, who,
+after the mockery of a trial, was burnt to death as soon as Pizarro
+reached Almagro's camp--his own followers piling up the faggots. Soon
+after this Pizarro was surprised by a friendly visit from the young
+brother of Huascar, Manco Capac, and seeing that this prince was likely
+to be a useful instrument in his hands, Pizarro acknowledged his claim
+to be the Inca, and, keeping him with him, resumed the march to Cuzco,
+which they entered on November 15, 1533. The suburbs were thronged with
+people, who came from far and near to gaze upon the white faces and the
+shining armour of the 'Children of the Sun.' The Spaniards rode directly
+to the great square, and took up their quarters in the palaces of the
+Incas. They were greatly struck by the beauty and order of the city, and
+though Pizarro on entering it had issued an order that the dwellings of
+the inhabitants were not to be plundered or injured, the soldiers soon
+stripped the palaces and temples of the valuables they contained, even
+taking the golden ornaments of the royal mummies and rifling the
+Peruvian graves, which often contained precious treasures. Believing
+that the natives had buried their wealth, they put some of them to the
+torture, to induce them to disclose their hiding-places, and by seeking
+everywhere they occasionally stumbled upon mines of wealth. In one cave
+near the city the soldiers found a number of vases of pure gold,
+embossed with figures of animals, serpents, and locusts. Also there were
+four life-sized figures of llamas, and ten or twelve statues of women,
+some of gold and some of silver. The magazines were stored with robes of
+cotton and featherwork, gold sandals and slippers, and dresses composed
+entirely of beads of gold. The stores of grain and other food the
+conquerors utterly despised, though the time was to come when they would
+have been of far greater value to them than all the treasure. On the
+whole, the riches of the capital did not come up to the expectation of
+the Spaniards, but they had collected much plunder on the way to it,
+securing in one place ten bars of solid silver, each twenty feet in
+length, one foot in breadth, and two or three inches thick.
+
+The natural consequence followed the sudden acquisition of so much
+wealth. The soldiers, as soon as they had received their share,
+squandered it recklessly, or lost it over dice or cards. A man who had
+for his portion one of the great golden images of the Sun taken from the
+chief temple, lost it in a single night's gaming, whence came the
+proverb common to this day in Spain, 'He plays away the sun before
+sunrise.' Another effect of such a superfluity of gold and silver was
+the instant rise in the prices of all ordinary things, till gold and
+silver seemed to be the only things in Cuzco that were not wealth. Yet
+very few indeed of the Spaniards were wise enough to be contented and
+return to enjoy their spoils in their native country. After the division
+of the treasure, Pizarro's first care was to place the Inca Manco upon
+the throne, and demand for him the recognition of his countrymen. All
+the coronation ceremonies were duly observed. The people acquiesced
+readily, and there were the usual feastings and rejoicings, at which the
+royal mummies were paraded according to custom, decked with such
+ornaments as remained to them. Pizarro then organised a government for
+the city of Cuzco after the fashion of his own country, and turned the
+temples into churches and monasteries. He himself was henceforward
+styled the Governor. Having heard that Atahuallpa's general Quizquiz was
+stationed not far from Cuzco with a large force of the men of Quito,
+Pizarro sent Almagro and the Inca Manco to dislodge him, which they did
+after some sharp fighting. The general fled to the plains of Quito,
+where, after holding out gallantly for a long time, he was massacred by
+his own soldiers, weary of the ineffectual struggle.
+
+About this time, Don Pedro de Alvarado, with five hundred well-equipped
+men, landed at the Bay of Caraques and marched upon Quito, affecting to
+believe that it was a separate kingdom, and not part of that conquered
+by Pizarro. This Alvarado was the celebrated cavalier who had been with
+Cortes in the conquest of Mexico, and earned from the Aztecs the title
+of 'Tonatiuh,' or 'Child of the Sun.' He had been made Governor of
+Guatemala, but his avarice being aroused by the reports of Pizarro's
+conquests, he turned in the direction of Quito a large fleet which he
+had intended for the Spice Islands. The Governor was much disturbed by
+the news of his landing, but as matters turned out he need not have
+been, for Alvarado, having set out to cross the sierra in the direction
+of Quito, was deserted in the midst of the snowy passes by his Indian
+guide. His unhappy followers, fresh from the warm climate of Guatemala,
+were perished with the cold, and still further distressed by suffocating
+clouds of dust and ashes from the volcano of Cotopaxi. After days of
+incredible suffering they emerged at last, but leaving behind them at
+least a fourth of their number, beside two thousand Indians, who had
+died of cold and hunger. When, after all, he did reach Quito, he found
+it in the hands of Benalcazah, a cavalier who had been left by Pizarro
+at San Miguel, and who had deserted his post in order to take possession
+of Quito, tempted by the reports of the treasure it contained, which,
+however, he failed to find. Almagro, too, had reached the city before
+Alvarado got there; moreover, his men had heard so much of the riches of
+Cuzco that they were inclined to desert him and join Pizarro. On the
+whole, Alvarado judged it expedient to give up all claim to Quito, and
+for a sum of money which, though large, did not cover his expenses, to
+hand over to the Governor his fleet, forces, stores, and munitions. This
+being settled, he went to Pachacamac to meet Pizarro, who had left his
+brother Juan in charge of Cuzco, and was inspecting the defences of the
+coast. There being now no question of rivalry, the two cavaliers met in
+all courtesy, and Alvarado was hospitably entertained by the Governor,
+after which he sailed for Guatemala. Peru might now in a manner be
+considered as conquered; some of the tribes in the interior still held
+out, but an able officer had been told off to subdue them. Quito and
+Cuzco had submitted, the army of Atahuallpa had been beaten and
+dispersed, the Inca was the mere shadow of a king, ruled by the
+conqueror.
+
+The Governor now turned his attention to building a city which should be
+the capital of this new colonial empire. Cuzco lay too far inland, San
+Miguel too far to the north. Pizarro fixed upon a spot near the mouth of
+a wide river which flowed through the Valley of Rimac, and here soon
+arose what was then called the 'City of the Kings,' but is now known as
+Lima. Meanwhile, Hernando Pizarro returned to Castile with the royal
+fifth, as the Spanish Emperor's share of the treasure was called; he
+also took with him all the Spaniards who had had enough of the life of
+adventure and wished to settle in their native land to enjoy their
+ill-gotten spoils. Pizarro judged rightly that the sight of the gold
+would bring him ten recruits for every one who thus returned. And so it
+was, for when he again sailed for Peru it was at the head of the most
+numerous and the best-appointed fleet that had yet set out. But as so
+often happened, disaster pursued him, and only a broken remnant finally
+reached the Peruvian shore. Quarrels now arose between Almagro and
+Pizarro, the former claiming to be Governor of Cuzco; and when after
+many difficulties peace was again made, and Almagro, withdrawing his
+claim, had led his partisans off to conquer Chili, a new trouble began.
+The Inca Manco, under pretext of showing Hernando Pizarro a hidden
+treasure, managed to make his escape; the Peruvians flocked to his
+banner, and the party of Spaniards under Juan Pizarro who were sent out
+to recapture him returned to Cuzco weary and wounded after many
+unsuccessful struggles with the enemy, only to find the city closely
+surrounded by a mighty host of Indians. They were, however, allowed to
+enter the capital, and then began a terrible siege which lasted for more
+than five months. Day and night the Spaniards were harassed by showers
+of missiles. Sometimes the flights of burning arrows or red-hot stones
+wrapped in some inflammable substance would cause fearful fires in all
+quarters of the town at once; three times in one day did the flames
+attack the very building which sheltered the Spaniards, but fortunately
+they were extinguished without doing much harm. In vain did the
+besieged make desperate sallies; the Indians planted stakes to entangle
+their horses, and took the riders prisoners by means of the lasso, which
+they used with great skill. To add to their distress the great citadel
+which dominated the town had fallen into the hands of the enemy, and
+though after a gallant struggle it was retaken, yet it was at the cost
+of Juan Pizarro's life. As for the Inca noble who defended it, when he
+saw that the citadel must fall, he cast away his war-club, and, folding
+his mantle about him, threw himself headlong from the battlements.
+Famine now began to be felt sharply, and it added horror to the
+situation of the besieged when, after they had heard no tidings of their
+countrymen for months, the blood-stained heads of eight or ten Spaniards
+were one day rolled into the market place, leading them to believe that
+the rising of the Indians had been simultaneous all over the country,
+and that their friends were faring no better than themselves. Things
+were not, however, quite so desperate as they imagined, for Francisco
+Pizarro when attacked in the City of the Kings had sallied forth and
+inflicted such a severe chastisement upon the Peruvians that they
+afterwards kept their distance from him, contenting themselves with
+cutting off his communication with the interior. Several detachments of
+soldiers whom he sent to the relief of his brothers in Cuzco were,
+however, enticed by the natives into the mountain passes and there
+slain, as also were some solitary settlers on their own estates.
+
+At last, in the month of August, the Inca drew off his forces, and
+intrenching himself in Tambo, not far from Cuzco, with a considerable
+body of men, and posting another force to keep watch upon Cuzco and
+intercept supplies, he dismissed the remainder to the cultivation of
+their lands. The Spaniards thereupon made frequent forays, and on one
+occasion the starving soldiers joyfully secured two thousand Peruvian
+sheep, which saved them from hunger for a time. Once Pizarro desperately
+attacked Tambo itself, but was driven off with heavy loss, and hunted
+back ignominiously into Cuzco; but this was the last triumph of the
+Inca. Soon afterwards Almagro appeared upon the scene, and sent an
+embassy to the Inca, with whom he had formerly been friendly. Manco
+received him well, but his suspicions being aroused by a secret
+conference between Almagro's men and the Spaniards in Cuzco, he fell
+suddenly upon the former, and a great battle ensued in which the
+Peruvians were decidedly beaten and the power of the Inca was broken. He
+died some few years later, leaving the Spaniards still fighting among
+themselves for the possession of the country. Almagro after some years
+of strife and adventure was put to death by Hernando Pizarro when he was
+nearly seventy years old. His son, a gallant and well-beloved youth, who
+succeeded him, met the same fate in the same place--the great square of
+Cuzco--a few years later. Hernando himself suffered a long imprisonment
+in Spain for the murder of Almagro, with serene courage, and even lived
+some time after his release, being a hundred years old when he died.
+Gonzola Pizarro was beheaded in Peru, at the age of forty-two, for
+rebelling against the authority of the Spanish Emperor. Francisco
+Pizarro was murdered in his own house in the City of the Kings, in the
+month of June 1541, by the desperate adherents of the young Almagro, or
+the 'Men of Chili' as they were called, and was buried hastily and
+secretly by a few faithful servants in an obscure corner of the
+cathedral. Such was the miserable end of the conqueror of Peru. 'There
+was none even,' says an old chronicler, 'to cry "God forgive him!"'
+
+
+ PRINTED BY
+ SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
+ LONDON
+
+
+
+
+ * * * * *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Obvious punctuation errors corrected.
+
+Illustrations were moved outside of paragraphs. Due to this movement,
+some of the original page numbers in the list of illustrations may not
+match the actual location.
+
+Many and varied were the hyphenations in this text due to the different
+stories. Examples are: cocoa-nuts and cocoanuts, and head-quarters and
+headquarters. These variations were retained.
+
+Page 12, "36 " was changed to "362"
+
+Page 12, the final illustrations page number was obscurred. The number
+was added.
+
+Page 21, "litttle" changed to "little" (or very little later)
+
+Page 30, "bele" changed to "belle" (France la belle)
+
+Page 54, "gainst" changed to "against" (led a sally against)
+
+Page 87, Footnote, "litt e" changed to "little" (a little fancy)
+
+Page 270, "Kinlock-moidart" changed to "Kinloch Moidart" to match rest
+of usage in text. (Macdonald of Kinloch Moidart)
+
+Page 272, "thec aves" changed to "the caves" (in the caves of)
+
+Page 298, the second digit in "29th" was presumed as the number was only
+faintly visible on the original. (the 29th of October)
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RED TRUE STORY BOOK***
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