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diff --git a/35940-8.txt b/35940-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e090d06 --- /dev/null +++ b/35940-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10477 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Golden Galleon, by Robert Leighton + +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 Golden Galleon + BEING A NARRATIVE OF THE ADVENTURES OF MASTER GILBERT + OGLANDER, AND OF HOW, IN THE YEAR 1591, HE FOUGHT UNDER + THE GALLANT SIR + +Author: Robert Leighton + +Illustrator: William Rainey + +Release Date: April 23, 2011 [EBook #35940] +[Last updated: May 25, 2011] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN GALLEON *** + + + + +Produced by Barbara Watson, James Wright and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at +http://www.pgdpcanada.net + + + + + + + + + + The Golden Galleon + + + + + By ROBERT LEIGHTON + + _Crown 8vo._ _Cloth elegant._ _Illustrated_ + + + Olaf the Glorious + + A Historical Story of the Viking Age. 3_s._ + + "Is as good as anything of the kind we have met with. Mr. Leighton + more than holds his own with Rider Haggard and + Baring-Gould."--_Times._ + + + The Golden Galleon + +A Narrative of the Adventures of Master Gilbert Oglander in the Great + Sea-fight off Flores. 3_s._ + + "A well-constructed and lively historical romance."--_Spectator._ + + "The story itself is a capital one, but the chief merit lies in the + telling. It presents an excellent picture of life in England, both + on land and sea, in the days of Queen Elizabeth."--_Standard._ + + + The Wreck of the "Golden Fleece" + + A Story of a North Sea Fisher Boy. 3_s._ + + "Excellent in every respect, it contains every variety of incident. + The plot is very cleverly devised, and the types of the North Sea + sailors are capital."--_Times._ + + + London: BLACKIE & SON, Limited + + + + + [Illustration: A PERILOUS SITUATION] + + + + + The Golden Galleon + + BEING A NARRATIVE OF THE ADVENTURES + OF MASTER GILBERT OGLANDER, AND OF + HOW, IN THE YEAR 1591, HE FOUGHT UNDER + THE GALLANT SIR RICHARD GRENVILLE IN + THE GREAT SEA-FIGHT OFF FLORES, ON + BOARD HER MAJESTY'S SHIP _THE REVENGE_ + + BY + ROBERT LEIGHTON + + Author of + "The Pilots of Pomona" "Olaf the Glorious" "The Thirsty Sword" &c. + + + _ILLUSTRATED BY WILLIAM RAINEY R.I._ + + + BLACKIE AND SON LIMITED + LONDON GLASGOW AND BOMBAY + + + + + + PREFACE. + + +In this present amphibious story I have tried to represent some of the +conditions of life ashore and afloat in the glorious days of Queen +Elizabeth; but I must state, to begin with, that the only portion of the +narrative that is actually based upon historical fact is the account of +Lord Thomas Howard's expedition against the West Indian treasure-ships. +In this part of the story I have closely followed the original report of +the last fight of _The Revenge_, as it was written by Sir Walter Raleigh +some few weeks after the battle. + +My friend Commander C. N. Robinson tells me that Sir Richard Grenville's +disregard of Admiral Howard's instructions was, strictly speaking, a +breach of discipline. Whether or not this was the case need not here be +discussed. All that we need remember just now is that Sir Richard was +one of the bravest of the many brave men of his splendid time, and that, +undismayed by the almost certain prospect of defeat, he led a forlorn +hope, plunged into the glorious fray, and fought to the death with a +boldness which has never been excelled in all the course of our naval +history. + +Grenville was not a great admiral as Drake and Nelson were great, and +this most memorable action upon which his fame must always rest was not +an example of the supremest heroism, simply because his success or +failure involved no high or very noble principle. But the worst that can +be said of his daring exploit is that it was the Balaclava charge of the +Spanish war; at its best it was an example, and a very grand example, of +that British pluck and intrepidity which have ever been the +distinguishing characteristics of our fighting countrymen; and I shall +be glad if, in writing this story, I help in some measure to instil into +my young readers a fuller pride in the navy which has secured for +England her supremacy upon the seas. + + ROBERT LEIGHTON. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + Chap. Page + + I. Timothy Trollope, 11 + + II. The Young Heir of Modbury, 25 + + III. The Man with the Scarred Cheek, 39 + + IV. At the Sign of the Pestle and Mortar, 52 + + V. Rapiers to the Rescue, 65 + + VI. Table-talk at Modbury Manor, 84 + + VII. The Instinct of a Brute Dog, 102 + + VIII. The Old Buccaneer, 118 + + IX. Concerning a Stolen Letter, 138 + + X. A Rapier and a Riding Whip, 157 + + XI. The Affray on Polperro Beach, 175 + + XII. Baron Champernoun, 195 + + XIII. Outward Bound, 205 + + XIV. A Chain of Penance, 223 + + XV. In Search of the Plate Fleet, 232 + + XVI. The Green Light upon the Sea, 248 + + XVII. Sir Richard Grenville, 257 + + XVIII. Drusilla's Letter, 264 + + XIX. A Splendid Disobedience, 276 + + XX. The Last Fight of the "Revenge", 290 + + XXI. Prisoners and Captives, 311 + + XXII. The Great Cyclone, 321 + + XXIII. The Writing in the Book, 328 + + XXIV. Peter Trollope shuts up Shop, 343 + + + + + ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Page + +A Perilous Situation _Frontis._ 327 + +"God hath been truly merciful in that he hath brought +me safely back" 48 + +"Timothy caught him by the neck and hurled him back" 73 + +"And how fares it with the old shipmate?" 147 + +"Timothy disarmed the fellow, and with a forward +thrust pierced him in the chest" 191 + +"Ay, but how came ye aboard, my lad?" 219 + +"For the love of Heaven cut the thing in twain!" 253 + +The Great Fight on board the _Revenge_ 300 + +"He made a lunge at Gilbert, aiming a blow at his +heart" 342 + + + + + THE GOLDEN GALLEON. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + TIMOTHY TROLLOPE. + + +"Tim," said Peter Trollope, looking up from the oily whetstone that lay +on the edge of the table in front of him, and slowly wiping the blade of +the razor on the broad palm of his hand, "I want thee to go fetch me +some more herbs." + +"Herbs?" repeated Tim from the far corner of the shop, where he was +sprawling upon the floor side by side with a very ugly-looking bull-dog. + +"Ay," returned his father, running the edge of the razor along his +thumb-nail to test its keenness. "My stock is at an end, and I have none +left to make up the physic for Cap'n Cruse's sick wife. 'Tis some +hellebore roots that I need most, and a little meadow-saffron and +jasmine, and, if thou canst come upon them, a handful of yew-berries. +You will find them all in Modbury Park if I make no mistake--over +against the plantation of fir-trees where we saw the dead hind. I'd have +thee go there this morning; and see that thou tarry not over long by the +way, for I shall need thy help in distilling them." + +Timothy rose slowly to his feet. There was a look of glum discontent on +his face. It was evident that he was in nowise willing to obey his +father's behest. + +"What!" cried Peter, glancing at the lad with sharp reproof. "Dost +object to the journey? Now, prithee, what wild boy's adventure hast thou +on hand that is more to thy humour?" + +Timothy looked dreamily out through the little latticed window towards +the quay, and his eyes wandered for a time among the masts and riggings +of the ships. + +"I was but thinking to go out for a sail in Ambrose Pennington's +fishing-boat," he said in a sulky undertone. + +"A plague on your fishing-boats!" exclaimed Peter somewhat angrily. +"Y'are for ever thinking of the sea and ships and all such mischievous +inventions! I'll not have it, look you. And to-day, so please you, +you'll do my bidding and go fetch me these herbs, and there's an end +on't." + +Timothy made no answer, for at this moment a hairy-faced mariner entered +the shop, making a great noise upon the sanded floor with his heavy +sea-boots. + +"Give you good-morning, Master Whiddon," said Peter Trollope with a bow +and a smile, as he offered the man a chair in the middle of the room. +"What may be your honour's will?" + +"Trim me my beard, Master Trollope," returned the seaman, seating +himself in the chair and stretching out his legs in front of him; "and +tell me your news; for 'tis a good two years since I was last ashore in +Plymouth, and I am full eager, as you may be sure, to learn all that +hath happened in my absence." + +Timothy opened a little locker under the window and drew forth a large +canvas wallet, which he strapped over his shoulder. Then he crossed over +to a door and disappeared into an inner room behind the shop, leaving +his father to attend to his customer and retail news that to the boy, at +all events, was as stale as a last year's chestnut. + +Peter Trollope was a barber-surgeon. He carried on his useful art (for +in his deft hands it was in truth an art) at the sign of the Pestle and +Mortar, down against Sutton Pool. He was a great man in Plymouth town, +by reason of his entertaining talk and his skill alike in surgery and in +hairdressing; and his little shop was the lounging-place of all the idle +young gallants of the port, who came in to discuss the latest news from +London, to gossip about their neighbours' affairs and about the ships, +or to learn the tricks and fashions in the new art of taking tobacco. +Men who had received sword-wounds in street frays or damaged skulls in +tavern brawls came to him to have their hurts dressed and plastered; he +had a famous tincture for the toothache, a certain remedy for +melancholy, and at curing the common ailments of children and old women +no doctor in the town could beat him. Mariners just home after a long +voyage came to him to have their overgrown locks shorn and their beards +singed. Poor workmen and apprentices came to him to be polled for +twopence, were soon trimmed round as a cheese, and dismissed with a +hearty "God speed you, my master!" There were many high and mighty +gentlemen among his customers too, I do assure you; for he had starched +the beard of the great Sir Walter Raleigh, curled the moustachios of +brave Sir Francis Drake, and tied up the lovelocks of courtly Sir +Anthony Killigrew. + +The Pestle and Mortar stood facing the busy wharf at the corner of one +of the narrow alleys that led up into the town. The upper windows of the +house looked out across the Pool, where all the ships and fishing-boats +were harboured. From these upper windows you could, if you had only been +there, see down upon the ships' decks and watch the brown-faced seamen +at their work of discharging the merchandise that they had brought from +distant climes; and in the street below there was the channel where, on +wet days, the rain-water rushed by in a deep stream; and where, when the +rain had ceased, young Timothy Trollope and his playmates used to go out +in their bare feet and sail their tiny boats, and imagine these bits of +rough-hewn stick to be Spanish galleons, laden with gold, or corsair +galleys with cargoes of Christian captives for the slave-markets of +Algiers. + +Timothy's games had always some connection with ships (which, I suppose, +was natural enough, seeing that he had been born and brought up in sight +of the sea, and with the smell of tar rope and bilge-water for ever in +his nostrils), and all his boyish ambitions were of travel and +adventure, fostered, it may be, by the travellers' talk he had heard +from the mariners who gossiped with his father in the barber's shop. + +Many of these adventurous mariners, remembering past benefits that they +had received at the hands of the kindly barber-surgeon, or perhaps being +short of money (as they ofttimes were, in spite of the vast treasures +that they had voyaged and fought for in far-off regions), had given or +sold to him many relics of their travels in foreign lands, and the shop +was a veritable museum of curiosities from all parts of the known world. +Here was a live poll-parrot brought home by one of Sir Richard +Grenville's seamen from Virginia; the jaws of a giant shark that had +been killed by John Hawkins' boatswain off the west coast of Africa; a +Turk's scimitar, a Patagonian's war-club, a red Indian's tobacco-pipe, +an Icelander's harpoon, and even some of the so-called gold brought back +by Sir Martin Frobisher from distant Greenland. People who had never +crossed the seas regarded these things with wonder and reverence, but +seamen were wont to scoff at them, and to declare that they were but +the sweepings and refuse of ships' cabins. Peter Trollope, however, was +proud of his curious collection; and often, when business was slack, he +would sit in his chair by the fire and look at the things each in turn, +and grumble that Providence had not made him an adventurer instead of a +quiet, stay-at-home barber-surgeon. + +Master Thomas Cavendish, the great explorer, when he was fitting out his +ship, the _Hugh Gallant_, for his voyage round the world, had once said +to him: + +"Peter, thou art too good a man to be wasting thy palmiest days at the +clipping of hair. Those strong big limbs of thine should rather be +employed in the hauling of ropes, the shifting of heavy guns, or +fighting against the Spaniards. Now, my ship will be a-sailing out of +Plymouth Sound in a few days' time, wilt shut up shop and join us? I do +faithfully promise that thou shalt come back home again at the end of +two brief years a wealthier man than ever the use of such trifling +instruments as scissors and curling-irons can make thee." + +But Peter was already a married man, with a growing family of boys to +keep and to clothe and to send out upon the world, and he chose the +certainty of an easy livelihood rather than the promise of riches which +were to be gained, if at all, by deserting his home and leaving his wife +and children to shift for themselves. He had reflected, too, that if +there were Spaniards to be fought abroad, there was also a threatened +danger from the same dread enemy at home in England, and that Queen +Elizabeth had as great need for landsmen to defend her coasts as for +mariners to extend her power beyond the seas. And, indeed, when that +danger arrived (as it did in the year 1588, when Timothy was a boy of +twelve years old) Peter proved himself ready and willing to fight for +his country, albeit the sum of his work on that glorious occasion was no +more than to help to light the bonfire on Plymouth Hoe--the first of +those beacon-fires which flashed along the coast to warn all England of +the coming of King Philip's great armada. + +The memorable rout of the Spanish ships had taken place just two years +before the opening of my story, and Timothy Trollope was now a +well-grown lad of fourteen. He could remember all the events of the +chase up the Channel, for he had heard the story repeated many times by +men who had fought upon the Queen's ships. He was reminded of them every +day; and even this morning as he strode through the town with his bag +over his shoulders on his way to Modbury, he saw a group of the Spanish +prisoners of war standing in the market-place--dark-visaged, +evil-looking men, who seemed to be for ever plotting and scheming how +they might escape from England and get back to their own orange groves +in sunny Seville. + +Tim hated the Spaniards (as I suppose all English boys hated them at +that time), and he was careful to pass the señors at a very safe +distance, believing that there was danger in being close to them, and +that under their long black cloaks each of them carried a rapier or a +stiletto ready to his hand, to draw upon any unwary person who should +happen to betray by look or sign the enmity that was in the hearts of +all the townsfolk, young and old. For although the prisoners were out on +their parole and were strictly forbidden to carry arms, yet Timothy +always secretly mistrusted them, and suspected them, not without reason, +of carrying weapons which they were only too ready to use. + +It was a long walk from Plymouth to Modbury Park; but the morning was +fine, and Timothy, having left the town behind, tramped merrily along +the shady country lanes, slashing with his stick at the rank weeds that +grew at the wayside, and fancying that each nettle and foxglove that he +laid low was a proud Spaniard whom he had slain. + +As he crossed the fields by a footpath leading towards Beddington +Dingle, a covey of partridges, alarmed at his approach, rose with a +noisy whirr of wings from the stubble. In the woods of the dingle he +watched a squirrel running along the high branch of an oak-tree, and in +a ditch at the farther border of the wood he startled a rat, and +loitered there for a long, long time trying to discover the hole into +which the animal had escaped. + +While he was searching he heard voices from behind him, mingled with the +screaming of hawks, the yelping of dogs, and the tinkling of bells. + +"Well cast off aloft, ah!--well flown!" cried one voice. + +"Now she hath seized the fowl," cried another, "and 'gins to plume +her--rebeck her not!--stand still and check her!" + +Timothy turned quickly round. High in the air he saw a heron flying, +pursued by a couple of falcons, that whirled about their quarry, +shunning its spear-like beak. At a moment of advantage one of the hawks +mounted yet higher, and then, swooping down, struck like a thunderbolt +upon her prey and seized the fowl within her talons. A shower of +feathers floated down into the midst of the joyous crowd of men and +women who were watching the sport from their horses' backs in the +stubble-field. + +It was a very gay and courtly company. Here on their prancing horses +were many elegant gentlemen wearing plumed hats and bright-coloured +capes; ladies with their snow-white ruffs and their long velvet gowns +that almost swept the daisies and dandelions at their horses' feet; and +all were laughing and calling aloud in their excitement as they compared +the merits of their birds, or made wagers on the success of their +flights. + +Near to where Timothy stood, an old gentleman with a pointed white beard +and a russet-coloured doublet rode on a very large chestnut horse. He +carried a merlin hawk perched on his fist, but he seemed to take less +interest in the sport than did his younger companions. Timothy had seen +him many times before, both in Plymouth and at Modbury Park, and knew +him to be the great Baron Champernoun, the lord of the manor of Modbury, +a noted soldier and courtier. A very beautiful lady rode by his side, +wearing a sombre black gown and a wide black hat with black feathers. +She looked strangely out of place among her gaily-dressed friends, and +Timothy wondered why she should wear this habit of gloom, until he saw +her face, when he at once recognized her as the Lady Elisabeth Oglander, +and knew that her reason for shunning bright colours in her apparel was +the death of her most noble husband, the honourable Edmund Oglander, who +had fallen in battle in the Netherlands while fighting against the +Spaniards. + +She drew rein, and the master falconer approached her with his square +frame round his waist, on which were perched some half-dozen hawks with +their hoods and bells and their scarlet tufts. The lady leaned over on +her saddle and took a hawk from the falconer's hand. The bird flapped +its wings in great commotion until it was fairly perched on the fingers +that held it. Then the Lady Elizabeth, holding her hand aloft, rode off +across the field, followed presently by the rest of the hawking party, +while Tim Trollope watched them disappear round a corner of the wood. + +As he turned to continue his way he came face to face with a boy of +about his own age, who was carrying some dead partridges--spoils of the +chase. + +"Helloh, Will!" cried Timothy, recognizing the lad. "I had thought you +were at work on Modbury farm. Hast had a rise in the world that you are +out here at the heels of the gentlefolks?" + +"A rise, do you call it?" returned Will. "That is as it may be. For my +own part I do call it but a change of labour. I get no more pay for't, I +promise you; and 'tis a vast deal harder work than the herding of cattle +or the tending of sheep. I like it not, Tim; and 'tis certain I shall +not stand it much longer." He dropped his burden on the grass at his +feet and gazed idly about him with a dreamy look in his eyes. Presently +he added, "I am for the sea, if peradventure I can get a ship to take +me. I'd leave to-morrow an I could get someone to take my place." + +Timothy glanced quickly at his young friend. + +"I'll take it!" he cried eagerly. "I'll take your place, and gladly. For +I have been wanting these many months past to go to work, and, since my +father will not suffer me to go to sea, why, there is nothing I'd like +better than to be in the service of my Lord Champernoun." + +And with this new idea in his head he went on his way, inwardly +resolving that on the very next day he would go up to Modbury Manor and +apply to his lordship's bailiff, entreating him to give him work, either +on the farm or else in the mews where the hawks were kept. And he had +little doubt that when once he had got promise of employment there would +be no possible opposition from his father. + +This thought of his father reminded him that he had not yet begun to +gather the herbs for which he had been sent out, so he went on over the +fields until he came to the fir plantation in Modbury Park, and there in +a quiet hollow he began to fill his wallet with such roots and berries +as the barber-surgeon had bidden him bring home. + +He had walked round by the lake, and was unearthing the root of a rare +herb which he knew that his father would set great store by, when, +without the warning of any previous sound or movement he felt himself +suddenly seized from behind and held firmly by his leather belt. + +Now, although the hand which held him was a very tiny one, yet it +gripped him with surprising tenacity, and the suddenness of the assault +was such that the lad, knowing that he was a trespasser on private +ground, was greatly alarmed. He thought at once of my lord's gamekeeper, +and he dreaded the consequences. He struggled to wrench himself away, +and turned to confront his assailant. Instead of the man that he had +expected, he beheld a little maid whose large blue eyes regarded him +with an expression of ferocity that would have been terrible if it had +not been merely assumed. She wore a lace-trimmed frock of golden-brown +velvet that came down nearly to her toes. There was a crimson silk sash +about her waist and a milk-white ruffle round her neck, and her cheeks +were rosy with glowing health. She was beautiful to behold. But Tim +thought nothing of her beauty; he was only astonished that so dainty a +little gentlewoman, the granddaughter of a noble baron as he knew her to +be, should display such boldness as to lay hands upon him, the son of a +poor barber. He looked at her in amazement. + +"Certes, Mistress Oglander," said he in his confusion, "how you did +startle me! I heard not your approach." + +"That is scarcely to be believed," quoth she, still gripping his belt, +"for we have been firing our guns into your quarter this half-hour +past!" Then tugging at him with renewed energy, she added, "You are now +fairly conquered and our lawful prize of war." + +"Nay, Mistress Oglander," stammered Timothy, "I know not what you mean! +I am but gathering a few poor herbs for my father, Master Trollope, the +barber-surgeon of Plymouth, and I beg you to release me." + +Mistress Oglander looked strangely incredulous, and for a moment she +relaxed her hold of him. She glanced round as though in search of +someone whom she expected to see among the trees at the edge of the +lake. + +"I care not whose son you may be," said she. "In real truth you are no +man's son; nor, so please you, am I Drusilla Oglander; for you are a +Spanish treasure-ship that I have captured on the high seas, while I am +the good ship _Prudence_ of Falmouth, who now intendeth to take you as +my prize to England." + +Timothy seemed to apprehend her purpose, for he calmly yielded himself +to her humour. + +"An that be the way of it all," quoth he, "then am I well content. But I +do pray that England doth lie at no great distance from this spot, for I +must get home with my bag of herbs for the which my father is +impatiently waiting." + +"'Tis but a little way beyond the beeches yonder," explained Drusilla, +indicating three tall trees that grew in the midst of a shrubbery at the +far end of the little lake. "'Twill take but a few moments to cross the +Atlantic Ocean, and then we are there." + +She drew him onward for some yards, when suddenly he stopped. She +glanced at him in quick alarm. + +"Nay," she cried, "you must not sink! You are to be refitted when we +reach port, and then, you know, you will be made into an English ship." + +But Timothy still hesitated, and even made a movement as if to free +himself and run away. + +"Why are you sinking?" questioned little Drusilla, to whom his movements +seemed to imply that he had been seriously damaged in the late battle. +"It cannot be that the shots I fired struck you below the water!" + +"'Tis my heart that sinketh," returned Tim. "Prithee, who and what are +the men I see lurking under yonder trees?" + +Drusilla smiled. + +"The one sitting down with his back to the railings," said she, "is the +_Santa Barbara_ galleon--a poor hopeless wreck. The other--well, I +scarce know what he is at this moment, for he hath been so many things +this morning that 'tis hard to remember. But I think he was the +mule-train the last time--the mule-train that Drake captured near to +Nombre de Dios. Gilbert was Captain Drake. Gilbert doth always like to +be Captain Drake whenever 'tis possible, and will never consent to be a +Spaniard, unless it be King Philip himself or else the great Marquis of +Santa Cruz." + +"Master Gilbert can scarce be blamed for his choice," remarked Tim. And, +understanding from what the girl had said that there was no reason for +the fear that had come over him, he meekly suffered himself to be taken +into port in the character of a captive treasure-ship. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + THE YOUNG HEIR OF MODBURY. + + +"I can scarce agree with you there," remarked the young man whom +Drusilla had described as a poor helpless wreck. He was a thin, +sallow-faced, sad-looking individual, with lank black hair, hollow +cheeks, and weary, lack-lustre eyes. His ruff was limp and frayed at the +edge, and his long scraggy neck rose out of it like the stump of a +mushroom that had difficulty in supporting the large head that +surmounted it. His sombre black cloth doublet hung loose about his +body, and its elbows were worn threadbare. One of his long bony fingers +was thrust between the closed leaves of a little book that he held +lovingly in his hand. His whole appearance suggested that his habit of +life was that of a student, and his discourse certainly did not give the +lie to his appearance. + +"I can scarce agree with you, Sir Richard," said he in a thin, pipy +voice. "Your Ovid is indeed a prince among poets, but in my own poor +opinion Virgil is the greater of the two, inasmuch as the epic is +greater than the lyric." + +"Nay, but I care not to dispute such deep and learned matters with you, +Master Pym," returned the other with a yawn that betrayed his weariness +of the student's argument. "You are a scholar who knoweth all these +things as I do know the ropes of a ship, while I am but a simple seaman, +devoid of learning, who hath scarce opened a book since I was a mere +stripling. Talk to me of travel if you like, or of Her Majesty's temper, +and I will give ear to you, but to books and poets I cry avast!" He +shifted his position on the fallen tree upon which he was sitting, and +turned his clear gray eyes in the direction of the plantation towards +which, a few minutes before, Drusilla had sailed off in quest of +adventure. "Ah!" he cried, observing the girl approaching with Timothy +Trollope at her heels. "Whom have we here--a prisoner of war? Why, I'll +be sworn 'tis the self-same young jackanapes that leapt into Sutton Pool +yester-morn to rescue the drunken fisherman that fell in! Dost know the +name of him, Master Pym?" + +The scholar drew the wide brim of his hat over his brow to shield his +eyes from the glare of the sun. + +"Ay," he said after a long pause, "I know him. 'Tis one of Barber +Trollope's brood--a wild, thoughtless ragamuffin, that doth spend his +days in loitering about the quays and picking up the talk of rough +mariners. But what, I'd like to know, can Mistress Drusilla mean by thus +dragging him hither? I warrant me she hath caught him in some poaching +business." + +Sir Richard stroked his crisp dark beard and said with a laugh: + +"'Tis far more likely she hath taken him for some Barbary corsair, and +is bringing him back as a prize. For you must bear in mind, Master Pym, +that the maid left us on a treasure-hunting cruise. Ay, I'll be bound +'tis as I say," he added, as Drusilla came into the harbour of the +trees. "She hath the rascal in tow, look you, with his belt for hawser." + +At this moment a fleet of English merchantmen, in the boyish person of +Master Gilbert Oglander, hove into sight in the offing; and Drusilla, +relinquishing her prize and sternly bidding Timothy to remain at anchor +until her return, ran off to meet her brother. + +Timothy respectfully took off his cap and stood mutely in front of the +handsome bearded gentleman whom Master Pym had addressed as "Sir +Richard", not daring to raise his eyes from the ground. + +"How now, boy!" cried Sir Richard in a gruff voice, that seemed to have +in it something of the deep roar of the sea waves breaking upon +cavernous rocks. "What hath brought thee here? Hast been a-thieving of +his lordship's rabbits, quotha?" + +"No, please your worship," stammered Timothy, "I have done no manner of +harm." + +"Then wherefore are you here, a-trespassing on private lands?" demanded +Sir Richard. + +"Mistress Oglander did arrest me, yonder by the trees," answered Tim. "I +was about to go home when she came behind me and seized me, declaring +that I was a Spanish treasure-ship. I yielded to her humour, and--" + +"Ay," interrupted Sir Richard with a grim smile, "I'll be sworn you +yielded--as all Spaniards must when 'tis question of fighting with a +well-found English ship such as the one that conquered you. But, +prithee, what may it be that you have concealed in yon fat wallet at +your back? I'll engage it is a pheasant-bird, or else a brace of plump +partridges. Come, my young poacher, open your wallet that I may see!" + +He caught the boy by the shoulder and turned him round, grabbing at the +bag. + +"'Tis but a few poor herbs, your honour, that I have been gathering for +my father," explained Tim, opening the bag. + +"And what does your father with such wretched weeds?" demanded Sir +Richard. + +"They are to be made into physic, sir," said the lad. + +"Physic?" cried Sir Richard, shaking his head in doubt. "Nay, poison +more like! What is thy name, boy?" + +"Timothy Trollope, at your honour's service," returned Tim. "Father's a +barber-surgeon." + +"Ay, a barbarous surgeon truly, if 'twas he that patched up Jan +Coppinger's broken skull last week. I'd have made a goodlier job of it +myself. And so Timothy is your name, eh? Well, I'll bear it in mind, +boy; for 'twas you, if I mistake not, that I saw yester-noon helping to +drag tipsy Tom Vercoe out of Sutton Pool. 'Twas a kindly deed, to say +the least on't. And look you, Master Timothy, if ever you should take to +the notion, as most boys do if I know ought of boyhood, of joining Her +Majesty's service on the sea, you have but to acquaint me with it, and +I'll be sworn you shall not wait long for a ship. Dost know me?" + +Timothy's face brightened as he answered: + +"There be few boys in Plymouth town that do not know your worship. You +are Sir Richard Grenville that went out to Virginia, and that also +fought against the infidels at Lepanto." + +The joyous young voice of Drusilla Oglander broke in upon this little +conversation. + +"Come, Captain Grenville," said she, taking Sir Richard by the arm and +dragging him under the shadow of one of the beech-trees. "Y'are standing +in the middle of the sea where you are. We are about to play at a great +sea-fight, and you are to be the Spanish fleet." + +It was strange to see the tall strong man being led about by this little +girl and made to do her bidding as if she had been his sovereign queen. + +"Even as you list, good my mistress," said he with a docile submission +which was hardly to be expected in one who had the reputation of being a +cruel and relentless warrior. "I am willing to enact whatsoever part you +please; only, if, as I suspect, I am to be the Armada, as you made me on +the other occasion when you brought me to such disaster, I do beseech +you to excuse me the long voyage round the islands of Orkney, for my +limbs are scarce equal to the journey this morning." + +"You shall take what part you choose," interposed Gilbert Oglander, +standing at his sister's side and glancing up into Sir Richard +Grenville's twinkling gray eyes. + +Gilbert was a boy of thirteen years old, very agile and active. His hair +was very dark, and its darkness made his skin seem all the more fair and +clear. In stature he was not very tall for his age, but his limbs were +sinewy and strong, and one could see at a glance that he was of gentle +birth, that he had lived much of his life in the open air, and that he +was well fitted to endure all manner of fatigue. + +"You shall take what part you choose," said he. + +"Why, then, an that be so," returned Captain Grenville, "I will choose +to be Don Hugo de Monçada's great galleass, for then I may lie and rest +me on Calais beach and thus be out of the action, as she was when she +ran aground." + +"Yes," agreed Drusilla; "but first you must be the whole Spanish fleet, +anchored in Calais Roads. Master Pym will help you to make a show of +numbers, while Gilbert will, of course, be Sir Francis Drake on board +the _Revenge_, and Sir Martin Frobisher on board the _Triumph_, and +whichever other of our English admirals he doth care to be. I am myself +to be the lord admiral's flag-ship." + +"And, prithee, what ship or squadron of ships doth young Timothy +Trollope represent?" questioned Sir Richard Grenville. "Surely you will +not scorn so useful an addition to the game?" + +"We had best make Timothy enact the part of the English fire-ships," +suggested Christopher Pym, smiling as his eyes rested upon the lad's +bright red hair. And at his suggestion Drusilla clapped her hands +together and cried "Yes, he shall be the fire-ships!" + +And she forthwith proceeded to point out to her strangely-assorted +playmates how the wide stretch of grass in front of them was to be +understood by them all to be the Narrow Seas, how the distant plantation +where Timothy had gathered his herbs was to represent the French coast +between Calais and Dunquerque, and how the embankment of the fish-pond +was to be Calais Roads. The higher ground under the beech-trees where +the five were now standing was to be looked upon as the Kentish cliffs. + +These matters being arranged to the understanding of all, the Spanish +Armada, in the persons of Sir Richard Grenville and Master Christopher +Pym, sailed obediently up the English Channel, pursued at no great +distance by the English flag-ship and her consorts, who assailed their +enemy with round after round of heavy shot, discharged from their +chase-guns. There was one very tremendous engagement between Frobisher's +_Triumph_ and the Spanish _Santa Anna_, which presently grew into a +general conflict in which many ships were sunk. Then the Spaniards, much +crippled in the fray, were permitted to sail on again, only to be again +pursued by their persistent foes. The English ships bore down upon them, +and then, being within easy range, luffed up and poured their broadsides +into the enemy's hulls with relentless fury. But the Armada looked +always as formidable as ever, and again and again they formed themselves +in line of battle, to endure yet again the prolonged fire of the English +guns. + +At last the Queen's fleet fell back and allowed the Spaniards to sail on +in calm security to their desired refuge in Calais Roads. When, as they +imagined, they were at a safe anchorage and hoped to repair the damages +of battle (for in truth Sir Richard Grenville had received some +surprising buffetings at the hands of Drusilla and Gilbert Oglander, to +say nothing of Master Pym, whose wide-brimmed hat lay abandoned in +mid-channel), the English ships drew near with the fell purpose of +dislodging the enemy and driving them out into the open sea. And when +night was supposed to have fallen, the lord-admiral and Sir Francis +Drake put their woolly heads together in warlike conference and decided +to send forth their fire-ships into the midst of the galleons. + +Timothy Trollope received his instructions, and straightway drifted into +the bay, waving his hands aloft like leaping flames. His near approach +threatened to spread disaster among the ships of Spain, and at a given +signal from the _San Martin_ the dons all slipped their anchors, and in +a confusion of panic endeavoured to make an escape. In the panic the +great galleass of Don Hugo de Monçada ran aground on the sands and there +lay basking in the sun, an unconcerned witness of the conflict that +ensued between Pym and Trollope, who had now turned Spaniard, on the one +side and Drusilla and her brother on the other. + +Drusilla was bent upon carrying through the mimic fight to the battle of +Gravelines, and, drawing Gilbert apart, she allowed Timothy and Master +Pym to sail out into the Channel for some distance before starting in +pursuit. It seemed to Sir Richard Grenville as he watched them that +there occurred some change in their tactics, for Gilbert Oglander, +having made pretence of sinking some half-score of the Armada ships, +suddenly drew off and approached a very tall tree that stood alone on a +wide expanse of grass. The lad placed his hands on the tree-trunk, +looked up into the leafy branches and presently began to climb upward. + +"Peradventure he intends to assail the enemy from the tops with musket +and arquebus," mused Sir Richard, and he continued to watch his young +friend ascending from branch to branch. Up and up he climbed till he +reached one of the topmost boughs, and then he lay out upon the stout +branch and crept along it towards its more slender end. Suddenly he +slipped. For a moment it seemed as if he were about to fall to the +ground, some thirty feet below, but he caught the branch under his right +arm, and remained there suspended. + +Understanding the boy's danger, Captain Grenville quickly rose to his +feet and ran towards the tree. + +"Hold fast!" he cried as he got to the foot of the tree. + +Gilbert raised himself a few inches until he could catch hold of the +bough with his second hand, and there he hung, calling aloud for help. + +Sir Richard gripped the tree and was about to make the attempt to climb +up to the boy's rescue, when his shoulders were seized by a pair of +hands, someone leapt upon his back and clambered over him, crushing him +down under two heavy boots. When the weight was removed from him he +looked up and saw young Timothy Trollope scaling the tree with +astonishing speed. + +"Help! help! or I shall fall!" cried Gilbert Oglander. + +"Hold but another moment," returned Timothy; and ascending to the branch +from which Gilbert was hanging he worked his way along it, and, leaning +over like a very monkey, caught the lad in his one strong right arm and +raised him bodily up to a position of safety. + +For some minutes the two lads sat astride the bough facing each other, +speaking never a word. + +"Certes," cried Gilbert at last, breaking the silence, "'twas a narrow +escape that! I was as near as might be to falling." + +"In sooth I believe you were," agreed Timothy; "and it had been a goodly +fall whichever way you had landed." + +"But for your timely help I should have been sorely hurt for a +certainty," remarked Gilbert; and then after a brief pause he added: +"Prithee, how shall I reward you withal?" + +"Nay, I need no reward, and will take none," returned Timothy. + +"Yea, but you shall have a suitable recompense; for it hath cost you +something as I see," said Gilbert. "Look at your doublet, 'tis torn down +the front. And you have scratched your face too." + +Timothy examined into his own hurts and said with a careless smile: + +"Tut! 'tis nothing. Both the rent and the scratch will easily mend; +whereas if your worship had fallen to the ground it must surely have +been a matter for the physician, and haply a month's idleness in your +bed. And now, so please you, we will, if you are ready, climb down +again, for Sir Richard Grenville is calling to you, bidding you tell him +if you are hurt." + +When the two had got down to the ground again, it was to find that +Drusilla had run off to a farther end of the meadow, where a double row +of giant trees marked the long avenue leading up from the lodge gates to +Modbury Manor. From where he stood Timothy could hear the sound of +horses' feet and the jingling of stirrups and harness. It was the +hawking party returning from the chase, and not until he saw them among +the trees of the avenue did he remember the resolve he had made a little +while before, to seek out his lordship's steward and ask him for work in +the stables. Turning to Master Gilbert Oglander, who was on the point of +following Drusilla, Timothy ventured to say: + +"I beg your honour's pardon, but since you were so gracious a moment ago +as to offer me a favour in return for the slight help I gave you, I have +a boon that I would ask of you." + +"Name it," demanded Gilbert. + +"Ay, name it, lad," urged Sir Richard Grenville, playfully slapping Tim +on his broad back. "Thou'rt a deserving boy, that hath the makings of a +man in him, and shalt have whatsoever boon thou dost name. So out with +it, and be not over-modest in thy request." + +Timothy's eyes rested still upon the handsome young countenance of +Master Gilbert Oglander. + +"'Tis this that I would crave," said he, "that you would by your favour +help me to get work as a stable-boy or a shepherd or a falconer in his +lordship your grandfather's service." + +Gilbert Oglander nodded and said smilingly: + +"Gladly will I do that for you, Master Trollope; ay, and more, for it +seemeth to me you are fit for better work than to groom horses or to +feed greedy hawks; and, moreover, I have taken somewhat of a fancy to +you." He looked aside at Sir Richard Grenville. "What say you, Captain +Grenville?" he questioned. "Dost think he'll do in the place of Will +Leigh? Will is about to join Her Majesty's service, you know." + +Thus appealed to, Sir Richard spoke very highly of Timothy Trollope, and +added that he would himself see Lord Champernoun touching the matter. +And at this Timothy thanked them both and presently turned on his way +back to Plymouth, overjoyed at the new prospect that had so unexpectedly +opened out before him. + +As he trudged homeward along the leafy lanes he sang over and over again +the snatch of a song of the time: + +"I would not be a serving-man + To carry the cloak-bag still, +Nor would I be a falconer + The greedy hawks to fill; +But I would be in a good house, + And have a good master too; +And I would eat and drink of the best, + And no work would I do." + +It was not many days afterwards that Lord Champernoun, riding into +Plymouth, halted at the sign of the Pestle and Mortar and informed the +barber-surgeon that his son Timothy was to consider himself engaged as +squire and personal attendant to Master Gilbert. His lordship gave +instructions that Timothy was to go at once to Silas Quiller, the +tailor, to be measured for two suits of the Oglander livery, and that as +soon as the lad was fitted-out he was to repair to the manor and to +begin his duties. + +Those duties were very simple, as Timothy early discovered. He was to +act as valet to the young heir of Modbury; to comb his hair in the +mornings, keep his wardrobe in good order, attend him on his journeys, +and do his bidding in all things. At the first Timothy was very humble, +as he deemed it his duty to be; but as the months went on and he +acquired some of the manners of the gentlefolk among whom he was placed, +he became more familiar with his young master, who treated him more as a +companion and a playmate than as a servant. Yet Timothy never +overstepped the limits of his position, but was always respectful and +submissive and loyal. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + THE MAN WITH THE SCARRED CHEEK. + + +On a certain afternoon in December, Gilbert Oglander and Timothy +Trollope were loitering on the heights of Plymouth Hoe on their way into +the town. They were looking out across the Sound, watching the movements +of a ship that was drifting inward with the tide. A breeze from off the +sea swelled the vessel's worn and mended topsails; she moved with a +slow, lazy motion, as if in very weariness. The lads were questioning +what manner of ship she might be and whence she had come. + +"'Tis an old Hollander putting in for repairs," ventured Gilbert. "I +warrant me she hath suffered some damage in the storm of yesternight." + +Timothy shook his head, and then, after a short pause, he said: + +"No, Master Gilbert, she is no foreigner at all, but one of our own +brave English adventurers. Look at the tattered flag waving from the +staff on her after-castle. 'Tis the red cross of St. George. And by the +decayed and grimy look of her, I'd judge that she hath been on some long +and perilous voyage--it may be to far Cathay, or the scorching coasts of +Africa, or it may even be to the Western Indies of which we have heard +so much." + +"An that be so," returned Gilbert as he stood gazing with wondering +eyes upon the approaching ship, "methinks there will be some very +strange surprising things for us to see and hear when she droppeth +anchor in the haven yonder. She is deeply laden, look you. 'Tis the bars +of silver in her hold that do weigh her down, or else the heavy chests +of gold and precious stones. Ay, 'tis surely from the Spanish Main that +she hath come; for now as she beareth round I can e'en see the shining +gold-dust clinging to her sides from out her port-holes like flour-drift +from out the windows of Modbury Mill." + +Timothy smiled incredulously and moved apart from his companion. + +"'Tis no gold-dust that you see, my master," said he, "but only the red +iron from off her rust-eaten chains. Come, let us walk down unto the +harbour, that we may get a nearer view of her and see what manner of +voyagers she bringeth home." + +They walked together down the grassy slopes. In aspect, as in their +natures, they differed one from the other as much as a heavy Flemish +horse differs from an agile Arab steed. Timothy looked much the elder, +although in truth he was his master's senior by no more than a +twelvemonth. Gilbert had much ado to keep pace with his long measured +strides, or perhaps it was his own great riding-boots of thick hard +leather coming up above his knees which made his steps seem difficult. +The strong December wind, blowing from over the Channel, caught his +ample cloak, and the garment was forever escaping from his careless +hold and flapping outward behind him, assailing his ears or getting +twisted about his long sword. As the cloak blew aside from his shoulders +it revealed the pink silk slashings of his doublet of russet velvet and +the glittering ornaments on his girdle. He wore a little velvet cap, +embroidered with gold lace and surmounted with a gallant waving feather +which was held in place by a pearl brooch. + +Timothy towered a full head and shoulders above him, being indeed almost +a man in height and build, with great broad shoulders and big strong +hands and muscular arms, and plump cheeks that were as red as ripe Devon +apples. But in spite of his great bulk and his somewhat ungainly figure, +Tim was nevertheless alert and active when occasion required, as many of +his acquaintance were well aware; for at a wrestling bout, at fencing, +riding, climbing, swimming, and many other manly exercises, there were +few who could excel him. He was dressed very plainly now, as beseemed +one whose work it was to serve and to obey. His cap, which was set +jauntily on his head of curly red hair, was not of silk or velvet, but +simple knitted wool, unadorned with any gay-coloured ribbons or +flaunting feathers. He wore no lace ruff about his thick neck, but only +a simple white linen collar. His body was covered by a doublet of plain +tan-coloured leather; his wide trunks were of fustian, trimmed with +cotton braid and gartered below the knee; and he wore low shoes without +any spurs. Like his young master, he carried a sword; and he also had in +his belt a small dagger. He was well skilled in the use of both these +weapons, and during the months that he had passed in Master Oglander's +service he had imparted much of this skill to Gilbert. + +By the time that the two had got down to the level ground, and had +passed through several of the quaint narrow streets leading towards the +harbour, the strange ship had sailed far to the eastward of Mill Bay; +her men were aloft furling the sails, and she was slowly drifting with +the tide into the sheltered basin of Sutton Pool. + +Some fishermen and seamen had gathered in groups upon the wharf to watch +her as she came nearer, and to make conjectures as to what might be her +name and whence she had come. Gilbert Oglander strode into their midst +and stood awhile listening to their talk. + +"'Tis a full three years since she sailed out of Plymouth Sound," said +one of them. + +"Ay, and the rest!" declared another. "Why, 'twas in the summer of 1586 +that she went out--in the self-same month, if not the same week, that +Thomas Cavendish sailed with his three ships to make the voyage round +the world, and that, as I do reckon it, must be nigh upon four years and +six months; though in truth it seemeth less. But the years do fly +amazingly in these busy times!" + +"Know you the name of this vessel that is now coming in, Master +Whiddon?" asked Gilbert of a brown-faced mariner at his elbow. + +"Ay, to be sure, Master Oglander," returned Whiddon. "We do make her out +to be the _Pearl_--one of Sir Walter Raleigh's ships--that went out +along with two others upon a voyage of adventure to the Brazil, or some +such place. Master Will Marsden, of Plymouth, was her captain; an old +playmate of mine own, and a right fortunate seamen in his younger days. +Well do I mind how we all envied him when he set out on this same +voyage. But alas! by the look of his ship at this moment, and the fact +that he hath come home alone and unattended, I much doubt that he hath +left the better part of his good fortune behind him. Ah, there be +blackamoors aboard of her!" + +"Ay," interposed another of the group, who by his apron and his +turned-up sleeves was evidently an artisan and a landsman. "And at +seaman's work too. A woeful sign, my masters! Where be all the brave men +of Devon that set sail in her, I'd like to know? Down among the coral +and the shrimps at the bottom of the sea, I suppose, or else toiling in +Spanish galleys, imprisoned by the Inquisition, or lying dead with the +crows a-picking of their bones out yonder in Panama. 'Tis ever so with +these buccaneering cruises. I like them not, for they do ever end with +disaster." + +"Thou'rt over-quick with thy conjectures, Jack Prynne," said the man +named Whiddon. "The craft is short-handed, 'tis true; but how know you +that the brave men you speak of have not given up their lives for old +England in honest fight against the Spaniards? Had you yourself been as +brave as they--God rest 'em!--you would not have taken flight from +Plymouth the last week, as you did with the other timid fools, because +of a mere idle alarm that the king of Spain was sending over another +armada, forsooth. A brave thing, truly, thus to take to your heels. Why, +man, I marvel that y'are not ashamed to show your craven face in the +town again!" + +Jack Prynne stroked his beard, partly hiding his shamed face with his +big work-worn hand. + +"When we went away," said he, "the town was ill-defended. Sir Francis +Drake was absent." + +"The more reason why every man should have remained to protect his home +and do his duty by his neighbours," returned Whiddon. "Drake cannot well +be in two places at once. What astonisheth me is, that you should all +have come trooping back the instant you heard that Sir Francis had again +taken up his residence in the town. Sure, 'tis a very high compliment to +a man when his mere presence among us should inspire such confidence and +allay such a general panic." + +"There goes her anchor!" cried Timothy Trollope. And as he spoke there +was a splash of water at the ship's bow, followed by the familiar +rumbling noise of her hempen cable as it tore through the hawse-pipe. + +Now that the vessel was close at hand it could be seen that she was +very much battered by the storms and conflicts through which she had +passed during her long voyaging in distant seas. The lower timbers of +her hull were overgrown with barnacles and slimy green weeds. Above the +water-line there were many shot-holes, patched up with raw hides, sheets +of lead, or rough-hewn balks of wood; and in one place, abaft her +main-chains, a cannon-ball could be seen deeply embedded in the stout +oak. In place of her original mizzen-mast there was the trunk of a +forest tree, with the bark still upon it; and the lateen yard was made +of spliced bamboo. Her standing rigging was mended with strands of +twisted cow-hide. She was a ship of about a hundred tons burden, built +with a high castle at her poop and with bulging sides. Her bows were as +round and blunt as the breasts of the noisy sea-birds that floated near +her in the harbour, feeding on the garbage thrown from the +fishing-boats. + +She had not long been at anchor when a boat was put off from her, and +was rowed by two men towards the stone-built slip beside which Gilbert +Oglander and Timothy Trollope were standing. The boat had four occupants +in addition to the two seamen who pulled at the oars. They were a +black-bearded, middle-aged man who sat on the stern gunwale, and who +seemed by his frequent commands to the rowers to be in authority; a +woman, who sat near him; a beardless youth, who was crouching down in +the bottom of the boat; and an aged, white-haired man, with a brown +sunburned face and a long silvery beard, who was bending forward over +the prow as if in desperate eagerness to spring on shore. + +As the little craft came yet nearer, Timothy Trollope observed that the +passengers seemed to be no less weary and tattered than the ship from +which they had just come. The old man at the bow wore no clothing save a +ragged canvas shirt and a pair of wide, ill-made trunks. One of the +rowers had but a single sleeve to his jerkin, and his hair was long and +matted. The woman wore a large black cloak, whose hood was drawn over +her head, leaving visible no more of her than her thin olive-coloured +face and her sparkling dark eyes. She paid scarcely any regard to what +was passing, but sat like an image, gazing stonily before her. + +"Ship your oar, Pascoe!" cried the man at the stern. "Pull three more +strokes, Mason!" + +He rose to his feet as he gave these orders, showing himself to be very +tall. None of the men on shore seemed to know him; nor did he greet +them, even as a stranger newly arrived from foreign climes might have +been expected to do. + +The old man at the bow was the first to leap on shore. And, having done +so, he fell down upon his knees, reverently pressed his lips upon the +stones, and murmured the words: + +"Thanks be to God! Thanks be to God!" + +Then he stood up beside the boat and held it by the gunwale while the +woman and the two other passengers stepped ashore. + +Gilbert Oglander paid but small regard to them, little dreaming of the +important parts they were destined to play in his life. He only noticed +as they passed him that the tall man's otherwise handsome face was +marred by an unsightly scar on the right cheek, that the youth seemed to +be about sixteen years of age, and that the woman, when she spoke to +either of her companions, did so in a foreign tongue. + +The youth who had come ashore paused for a moment, tightening his +sword-belt, and as he did so he glanced aside at the old man. + +"Art going back to the ship, Jacob?" he inquired with seeming +carelessness, yet with a look of strange eagerness in his dark eyes as +if much depended upon the veteran's answer. + +The graybeard slowly shook his head, and the deep-drawn sigh that issued +from his lips seemed to Gilbert Oglander to betoken a whole world of +past troubles and present gratitude. + +"Wherefore should I go back, Master Philip?" said he in a husky voice. +"Have I not had enough of the pestilent old hulk, think you? I have done +all that was needed of me, I trow; and since, as you well know, I did +but engage to work my passage home, there be no wages due to me and we +are quits. As to my worldly belongings," he added with a hollow, uneasy +laugh as he rested his bony hand upon the leathern bag that hung at his +side, "this wallet containeth all my chattels and goods. Ay, all that I +am worth in the world. And little enough, you'll be saying, as the sole +outcome of all my perils and wanderings. Howbeit," he went on, not +heeding that the young man had already passed beyond hearing and was +continuing his way up the slip, "there's but small use in complaining. +And after all, God hath been truly merciful in that He hath brought me +safely back to my dear native land. Sure 'tis worth all my twenty-three +years of voyaging to be back once more in Plymouth town and to again set +foot on English ground!" + +A gust of cold wind blew round one of the stone piers of the wharf near +which he lingered. He shivered slightly, and drew his ragged canvas +shirt closer about his bare chest and neck. Then his moist blue eyes +surveyed the group of men who now stood apart watching the boat +returning to the ship. + +"I don't see none o' my old friends among you, my masters," said he, +looking from one to the other. "You'm all strangers to me. And +peradventure I am as great a stranger to yourselves. But the time hath +been when I was as well known in Plymouth as the tower of St. Andrew's +church yonder." A forced, unnatural smile flitted about the parched blue +lips as he added, addressing no one in particular: "Jacob Hartop is my +name--Jacob Hartop that went out with John Hawkins in the year 1567, and +that hath now come home after three-and-twenty years of foreign +travel and fighting and slavish toil." + +[Illustration: "GOD HATH BEEN TRULY MERCIFUL IN THAT HE HATH BROUGHT ME + SAFELY BACK"] + +He held out his hand to grasp that of one of the older men who stood +near. As he did so Timothy Trollope noticed that his wrist bore an +indented mark upon it, as if it had been too tightly clasped by a +bracelet. Several of the bystanders now shook hands with him. + +"Thou'rt welcome home, friend Hartop," said one. + +"God give you peace and joy, my master!" said another. + +"And may you never need to wander from England's shores again!" said a +third. + +Captain Whiddon then stepped forward, and said he: + +"Be you related to young George Hartop that fell in the great fight +against the Invincible Armada of Spain?" + +Jacob Hartop stared blankly before him. It was evident that he knew +naught of the great fight referred to. He was about to answer when the +touch of a hand on his thin bare arm caused him to turn suddenly round, +and he stood face to face with Gilbert Oglander. + +"Thou'rt thinly clad, and the wind blows cold," said Gilbert as he took +off his cloak and spread it over the ancient traveller's shoulder. "I +pray you take this cloak." + +The old man drew back. + +"Nay, I can take no such goodly gift from one who doth owe me no manner +of kindness," he declared, attempting to remove the garment. "Believe +me, I am not so cold but that a walk and a flagon of ale will warm me." +But seeing that the offer was seriously meant he relented, and, fixing +his tearful eyes upon Gilbert, he said: "Now, prithee, my gallant young +sir, what might be your honour's name? Tell me, so that I may bear it in +memory, and think of you with the gratitude that I do truly feel." + +Gilbert Oglander made a light pretence of not having heard the question, +and, followed by Timothy, he strode gaily up to the head of the slip. + +The tall man with the scar on his cheek was at this moment crossing the +muddy roadway with his two companions towards a house with heavy +overhanging gables, that stood at the corner of one of the alleys. It +was a tavern, as could be known by the fact that the window lattices +were painted red, and it bore the sign of the Three Flagons. The +stranger had to bend down his head as he entered the low porchway. + +"Truly a man may be known by the hostelry he chooseth," remarked Timothy +Trollope as he saw the woman's skirts disappear behind the door-post. "I +had thought by their favour that these people were of high station and +good breeding, and that by their great haste to quit their ship they +were intent upon travelling yet farther into the country, haply to some +famous old estate. But 'tis plain to see that they do intend to abide at +the humble Three Flagons. 'Tis a cheap inn and an ill-managed. +Nevertheless, I should engage that they will have better comfort withal +than on board the cranky old _Pearl_. Think you that the man with the +wounded cheek is her captain?" + +Gilbert shrugged his shoulders. + +"A ship's master would scarcely be the first to quit her on coming into +port," said he; "although, indeed, it may well be that the man's +gallantry hath brought him ashore thus speedily in his wish to place the +woman and her son in decent lodgings." + +"And, prithee, wherefore do you so readily make up your mind that the +lad is her son?" inquired Timothy. + +"For the simple and plain reason that her eyes and his have got the +self-same foreign look in them," answered Gilbert. "But wherefore should +we discuss these people? Foreigners as they are, they can be of no +earthly interest to us, now or hereafter. As to the ship, well, had we +but gone aboard of her we might have learned something of more value +touching the adventures she hath gone through; but as the matter stands, +Tim, we have but wasted a good half-hour of time, and shall not now be +home until after dark." + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + AT THE SIGN OF THE PESTLE AND MORTAR. + + +On the afternoon upon which the good ship _Pearl_ dropped anchor in +Sutton Pool, Peter Trollope was less busy than it was his wont to be at +that time of day. His one customer since noon had been a poor farrier's +apprentice, who had come in to have an aching tooth pulled out--an +operation which had occupied the barber-surgeon scarcely a minute, and +earned for him the total sum of twopence. But he had seen the ship enter +the harbour, and knew well that sooner or later some of her crew would +pay him a visit. In the meantime he engaged himself with two large, +wild-looking birds, which he kept imprisoned in a dark box on a shelf +near the window. He had just been feeding them with raw meat and was +closing the lid of the box, when the shop-door was flung open and his +son Timothy strode within, making a great clatter with his sword as he +dragged the weapon behind him along the stone floor. + +Tim threw his cap upon the oak settle at the farther end of the room, +seated himself in an easy chair before the fire, and stretched out his +legs at full length in front of him with all the freedom of a full-grown +man. The bull-dog, which had been asleep in one of the warm corners of +the ingle, crept out yawning and wagging his stump of a tail by way of +greeting. + +"So thou hast at last thought fit to come in and see if we be all alive +still?" said Peter in an agrieved tone, as he regarded his stalwart son. +"Thou'rt a dutiful son to thy poor parents, in all conscience. 'Tis +shameful of thee, thus to neglect us, Tim. Thou'rt so vastly taken up +with all the great folks at Modbury--my lord this, and my lady that, and +all the rest of them--that thou dost seem to forget thine own flesh and +blood. 'Twas only yesterday, as I live, that I saw thee passing by my +very door without so much as looking in to give me a good day! Zounds, +boy, 'tis most unseemly!" + +Timothy stroked the dog's ears without raising his eyes to his +justly-offended father. + +"I had been bidden to go quickly on my errand, father," he explained, +"and I dared not tarry by the way. I might not even have come in at this +present time to see thee, but that my master hath given me leave while +he goes to the end of the town to take a message from my lord to Sir +Francis Drake." + +"Methinks Master Oglander might have saved himself a journey," remarked +the barber; "for 'tis only a half-hour since that I saw Sir Francis +passing the door here, on his way, as I do believe, to Modbury Manor; +for he wore his new damson silk cape with the gold-lace trimmings, and +you may be sure by that token that he was going to where there will be +women's eyes to look upon him." + +Peter had approached the fireplace, and now stood with his back to the +crackling logs, facing his son. + +"I am sorry," he continued in a more cheery tone, "that Master Gilbert +did not chance to come in with thee, Tim. I have wished to see him these +many days past on a matter of business. I have here a pair of fine young +goshawks that he might be willing to buy from me." + +"Show them to me," demanded Timothy, rising from his chair. "If they be +goshawks indeed, and in goodly condition, I doubt not that he will +gladly buy them. Let me see them. I shall soon know if they be of any +use. But I will wager you ere I set eyes on them that they are no more +fit to fly against a pheasant than a mere sparrow-hawk might be." + +"Nay, I cannot myself swear to them," said the barber, crossing to the +shelf near the window, and proceeding to open the box, "for I have not +been brought up among gentlefolks as thou hast been, and have never in +all my life been present at a hawking party. But the lad who left them +in my keeping did positively declare them to be of the true goshawk +breed, and he bade me sell them for him if perchance I might find a +likely customer." He threw back the lid of the box. "Here they be," said +he. + +Timothy looked over his father's shoulder at the birds. Then he thrust +his gloved hand deep into the box. There was a noisy flapping of wings +and a harsh rasping screech. Tim brought forth his hand with one of the +hawks perched upon it. He held it aloft, examining the bird with +critical eye. + +"He is somewhat short i' the neck and flabby of flesh," he remarked, +with the air of one who was a judge of such points, "but the head is of +good shape, and the eyes are clear. He is fierce enough too, o' my +conscience. Here, put him back, lest he bite me! And now," he added, +when the bird was restored to its prison, "what want you for the pair of +them? No cozening, mind you. I will not have my master overcharged even +by my own father." + +The barber-surgeon named the sum at which he was willing to sell the +birds, and Tim at once proceeded to beat down the price to half the +amount. Neither noticed in the midst of their dispute that a customer +had entered the shop. + +"Hi there, master barber!" cried the new-comer. "Cease your wrangling, +and come and cut me my hair! Dost think I am going to wait for you all +night?" + +"Presently, your worship--presently," answered Peter, snatching up his +scissors and comb. Then, turning to his son, he added: "Thy mother is +laid abed with her old illness, Tim; get thee upstairs to her for +awhile." + +Timothy obediently disappeared through the door at the back of the shop, +stumbling up the stairs with noisy feet and equally noisy sword; while +his father, snipping his scissors merrily in his right hand and thus +making a show of being exceedingly busy, offered his customer a chair +where the light from the window might fall upon him. + +He was a stranger to Peter Trollope, and therefore, it must be assumed, +a stranger to Plymouth also. His long, untidy hair and beard, his +bronzed skin, and, indeed, his whole appearance, betokened that he had +newly come off the sea. His doublet, which had once been velvet, was +worn threadbare; the colour, whatever it may originally have been, had +suffered by the salt water, and was now an indistinct gray, stained here +and there with dark-brown patches, which Peter surmised to be the stains +of hardened blood. It was plain to see that the man was in some sort a +warrior as well as a traveller. + +While the barber was spreading a white napkin about him to protect his +clothing from the clippings of hair which must presently fall from the +scissors, he looked into the stranger's face, and perceived that the +right cheek was marred by an old wound--a long straight wound like the +cut of a knife, beginning below the eye and ending somewhere in the +midst of his thick black beard. + +"Well?" quoth the stranger, seeing that the barber hesitated to make a +start. "Cut me my hair, I say." + +"I am ready to execute your worship's will," announced Peter with a low +bow, as he snipped his scissors. "Prithee, sir, will you have your +worship's hair cut after the Italian manner, short and round, and then +flounced with the curling-irons, or like a Spaniard's, long at the ears +and curled like to the two ends of a new moon; or will you be +Frenchified with a love-lock down to your shoulder, whereon you may +hang your lady's favour? The English cut is base in these days of +fashion, and gentlemen scorn it. Speak the word, sir; and howsoever you +would have it, it shall be done." + +"Nay, a plague on your love-locks and curling-irons," the stranger cried +impatiently. "Do it as you please, but howsoever you do it, do it +quickly. I know naught of your strange fashions and monstrous manners of +haircutting. I have been absent from England so many years, that now +when I come back I am as one who hath risen from out his grave to find +all things changed." + +"In truth, sir," observed the barber, "your worship will indeed find +many changes, alike in government and in manners, if so be your absence +hath been so long as you do say. Her Majesty's ministers and +counsellors, indeed, have changed as often as the seasons. But the Queen +herself, God bless her, is yet with us; so England is merry England +still, and long may it so remain!" + +Peter was now busy at work shearing his customer's plenteous crop of +tangled hair. + +"And how many years in all did your worship say that you had been +abroad?" he ventured presently to inquire. + +"More years than I care to number," was the somewhat curt reply. + +"Ah!" responded Peter. "Then, sir, you had no hand in the glorious +defeat of the great Armada of Spain? Haply your worship was in some +far-distant country at that great time?" + +The stranger shifted his position in his chair. His fingers moved +restlessly. + +"Haply I was," he answered. "But had I chanced to be at the very +extremities of the earth, methinks I should still have heard rumour of +the matter; for wherever there be Spaniards and wherever there be +Englishmen, they are alike disposed to boast of their own prowess on +that occasion. And from neither the one nor the other is it possible to +arrive at the simple truth." + +"The simple truth is simply this, your honour," returned Peter Trollope, +with a proud smile, "that the Spaniards, despite their greater ships and +their greater army of soldiers, were utterly routed and defeated." And +the gossiping barber proceeded to tell the whole story to his listening +customer as he continued with his clipping. + +At length, having fairly come to the beard, he broke off in his wordy +narrative and requested to know if his worship would have his beard cut +short and to a peak like Sir Francis Drake's, or broad and round like a +spade. "Or shall I shave it off," said he, "and leave only your +worship's moustachios?" But he had scarcely made the last suggestion +when his eye was once more caught by the cut on the man's cheek. "I +would advise that the beard be left as it is," he said, "for it doth +help to hide the wound upon your face. Although, indeed, there be many +men in Plymouth who would be mightily proud to display so honourable a +scar, for I doubt not your worship came by it in some desperate battle +against our enemies of Spain." + +It was at this moment that Timothy returned into the shop. He overheard +his father's remark, and noticed that for some reason the stranger +winced, as though he were far from being proud of the old wound. + +"I do perceive that 'tis the cut from a sword," added the +barber-surgeon, looking at the scar more closely. "I trust, for the +honour of England, that you slew the rascal who gave it you." + +"'Tis no sword-cut, but a wound from an Indian's arrow, shot at me from +ambush," declared the traveller; and there was a curious tone in his +voice--a tone which seemed to indicate that he was in reality giving +only a half explanation, or perhaps even a totally false one. In any +case he hastened very plainly to change the subject. + +"You named one Francis Drake just now," said he. "Peradventure you can +inform me if he be still alive?" + +"Alive? Ay, that he is! Alive and well, the Lord be praised! and in +Plymouth town at this present time--ah! I beg your worship's pardon. +Perhaps I caught your cheek with the point of my scissors?" + +The stranger had given a slight nervous start, and a look of displeasure +if not of actual annoyance had come into his dark eyes. + +"In Plymouth at this present time?" he repeated. And then he muttered +some words in a foreign tongue, which neither Timothy nor his father +could comprehend. + +"Had you chanced to come in but an hour earlier you might even have +encountered him," remarked the barber, "for he passed by this very door, +and returned my salutation most graciously, as, indeed, he doth always +do, whenever I come nigh him; for he is by no means proud, I promise +you, for all that he hath done more for England than any other living +man. But I am talking thus while it may be that your worship doth know +him far better than I--while it may even be that you are his personal +friend." + +The man with the scarred cheek made no response to this last remark, but +only leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes and knitting his brows. +He remained silent until Trollope had clipped his beard to a +satisfactory shape and was giving it the final touches. Then the warrior +looked up suddenly and said with curious earnestness, as though he were +seeking an answer to a most important question: + +"There dwelt in the neighbourhood of Plymouth a score of years ago or +so, a certain nobleman by name Baron Champernoun. Canst tell me, master +barber, if there be any of his lordship's family still dwelling in these +parts?" + +Peter Trollope glanced aside at his son and smiled. Timothy strolled +slowly towards the window and seated himself near the two goshawks, +whence he could watch the stranger's face. + +"The name is passing well known to all men of Devon," answered Peter as +he surveyed his workmanship with excusable pride. "And Lord Champernoun +himself--the only Lord Champernoun that I have known--still dwelleth at +his family estate nigh unto the village of Modbury. He is stricken in +years and passing feeble; but clear in his mind withal, and as excellent +and worthy a Christian gentleman as you will find in all the land. As to +his lordship's family, sir, 'tis small in number. He had two sons, your +worship, to wit, Edmund Oglander and Jasper; for Oglander is the family +name, you must know, Champernoun being but the baron's title, bestowed +upon the head of the family in Henry the Fifth's time, and--" + +"Ay, I wot well that there were two sons," interrupted the stranger, +brusquely, "Edmund and Jasper, you say. Ay, and what of them, I pray +you?" + +"They both are dead," returned Peter Trollope. "Both lost their lives in +distant lands. The Honourable Edmund Oglander, my lord's eldest son, +went over to the Netherlands some five years agone, and fell in the +battle of Zutphen--the same engagement in which the virtuous and gallant +Sir Philip Sidney received his death wound from a Spanish bullet. The +younger son, Jasper, died of a fever or some such pestilent mischance +out in the Western Indies, whither he had gone to seek adventure and +fortune in one of John Hawkins' ships. His lordship grieved not overmuch +for the loss of Jasper, 'tis said; nor do I marvel at it, for surely a +greater scamp and reprobate than young Jasper Oglander hath never +lived." + +"And both are dead, eh?" mused the traveller in a strange calculating +tone. "Ods life! and who would have thought it? Why, then," he presently +added, "it must be that the old baron is now quite alone in the world, +and hath none of his own kin to follow him in his title and estates? +Sooth, I do pity him to be thus left desolate in his old age, with never +a son or a son's son to carry on his honoured name!" + +"'Tis doubtless a sore grief to his lordship that his son Edmund +surviveth not to enjoy his great inheritance," remarked Peter Trollope, +"albeit Master Edmund gave up his life in a good and noble cause, and +therein Lord Champernoun hath assuredly a sweet consolation. But if his +lordship hath no longer a son, there is, after all, his grandson--a +bright and gallant young gentleman, and a worthy heir to so vast an +heritage." + +The stranger raised his heavy eyebrows in quick surprise. + +"So-ho?" quoth he; "a grandson, eh? Prithee, what might be the fortunate +stripling's age?" + +The barber turned to his son, who was at that moment looking out through +the window at a strangely-dressed negro woman who was crossing the road +in company with a seaman in the direction of the Three Flagons. + +"Tim, what might be Master Gilbert's age?" he asked of the lad. + +"Fourteen years, mayhap," answered Timothy. "And speaking of Master +Gilbert, father, that remindeth me that I am to meet him at the +market-cross at four by the clock; so I must tarry here no longer. I +will let him know what you have said concerning the goshawks." And with +that he took up his cap, wished his father a "God speed you!" and +strolled out into the street. + +As he approached the Three Flagons he was attracted by a little crowd of +boys and girls who stood on the causeway staring at the black woman as +she followed the seaman into the inn. At the same moment the youth whom +Tim had seen coming ashore from the _Pearl_ was making his way through +the crowd. The lad glanced up at Tim in passing and seemed about to +speak. Tim returned the glance and said: + +"If 'tis the tall man with the scarred cheek that you are seeking, my +master, you will find him at the sign of the Pestle and Mortar, some +dozen yards along the Barbican on your left-hand side." + +"'Tis not him that I am in want of at this moment," responded the lad, +"I am seeking for the old rascal who came from off the ship with us an +hour ago. Canst tell me which way he went?" + +Timothy shook his head, disliking the haughty way in which the +information was demanded. + +"No," he answered. "'Twas no business of mine to spy upon him." + +"I will reward you well if you can find him for me," pursued the other +with unmistakable eagerness. And he thrust his fingers into his pouch +and drew forth a small silver coin. + +Timothy Trollope smiled and bade him keep his money. "As for my turning +constable," he added, "I thank your honour, but I have other matters to +occupy me." And so saying he went on his way towards the market-place. + +As he walked along the harbour front his thoughts wandered back to the +old storm-beaten mariner who had named himself Jacob Hartop. He +remembered how Hartop, on stepping ashore, had gone down on his knees +and fervently thanked his God for having brought him safely back to his +native land, and how the tears had come into his dim eyes when Gilbert +Oglander had done him the slight kindness of giving him a garment to +cover his ill-clad body. Such a devout and grateful old man, thought +Tim, could scarcely truly deserve the title of rascal which had just +been applied to him. Why was this foreign-looking youth so very anxious +that the old mariner should not escape him? Was it that he might do him +some good service or pay him some debt of gratitude? Or was it not +rather that he sought to do him some personal injury? + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + RAPIERS TO THE RESCUE. + + +It was already dark as night when Gilbert Oglander and Timothy Trollope, +having kept their tryst in the old market-place, made their way together +out of the dimly-lighted town. The wind had changed to the north-east, +and snow had come with it. The white flakes swept along with a mad +horizontal rush, alighting only, as by accident, when some tree or +cottage or human figure barred their onward career. The two lads pulled +down their caps about their tingling ears, bent their whitened bodies +forward against the blast, and strode along regardless of the slush and +mud upon the road. + +Neither spoke much until they had walked almost a mile's distance away +from the town and were out in the open country. Here the snow seemed to +be falling thicker and the wind to be blowing almost a gale. + +"Methinks thou hadst best have kept thy cloak to thyself, Master +Gilbert," remarked Timothy at length, as he passed under the friendly +shelter of a thick hedge, "for it had been of far greater use to thee +than to the old man you so generously gave it to. Here are we exposed to +the bitterness of this storm, while he, I will warrant me, is already at +home before a goodly fire, or else carousing with his boon companions in +some comfortable tavern parlour." + +Gilbert walked on a few paces in silence. + +"It matters little to me whether the cloak hath been of use to the poor +fellow or not," he presently said. "I saw him tremble with the cold, and +could not think of him going half-clothed while I had a garment to +spare. And when one thinks on't, Tim, 'tis surely a hard matter for a +seaman who hath spent half a lifetime in tropic countries to come home +here to England in the very depth of winter." + +"Pooh!" objected Timothy. "But 'tis said that an Englishman can endure +any climate in the world and suffer no ill from it. What of Sir Martin +Frobisher and his crews, who voyaged far up into the frozen regions of +the Arctic, where, 'tis said, there be whole mountains of ice, and where +even the salt seas be frozen over for a full half of the year? I will +engage that Sir Martin and his men met not such kindly gentlemen up in +those parts to give them warm cloaks withal. And as for this old man +Hartop, I'd be in nowise astonished to-morrow if I heard that he had +sold your cloak to a pawnbroker and spent the money in strong liquors, +or else thrown it away in the dice-box. You cannot persuade me, Master +Gilbert, that a man who hath been for a score of years in foreign lands +could come home so poor as this man, if he had not squandered all his +gains in wanton idleness." + +"Misfortune doth ofttimes come even to those who are righteous," +remarked Gilbert Oglander in a sober voice as he shook the wet snow from +the front of his doublet and hitched his sword anew under his arm, "and +I will not believe that the man who could devoutly thank God, as Hartop +did, for having brought him safely home, could be aught but an honest +man at heart." + +"Nevertheless," pursued Timothy, "I do greatly fear that your charity in +this present case was misplaced; for as I was passing nigh to the sign +of the Three Flagons on my way to the market-place just now, I +encountered once again the dark-eyed youth whom we saw coming from off +the ship. He besought me to tell him, if I could, whither the old man +Hartop had gone, and did even offer to reward me if I could aid him in +arresting the old rascal, as he called him. He spoke in such wise that I +could only believe that the old mariner had committed some cruel offence +against him. And, indeed, Master Gilbert, if you remember, this Hartop +was truly in a mighty desperate hurry to separate himself from his +shipmates." + +"Well, well, 'tis no affair of ours, Tim, howsoever it be," returned +Gilbert. And he bent down his head and marched on in silence. + +Tim Trollope walked in advance of his young master to shield him from +the snow; and thus they plodded on their way, until they came to a +narrow lane bordered by high overhanging trees that increased the +darkness, and amid whose leafless, dripping branches the wind whistled +and moaned. As the two turned into the lane Timothy dropped back to his +companion's side. + +"There is a matter upon which I listed to speak with you," he abruptly +said, and then was silent for a dozen strides. "'Tis about the man we +saw to-day--" he added, "the man with the scarred cheek." + +"And what of him?" questioned Gilbert. "Hast learned peradventure that +he hath discovered a new Eldorado? or that his ship is laden with a +cargo of talking poll-parrots and gambolling monkeys? What of him, +quotha?" + +"Nay, I have learned but little concerning either him or his ship," +answered Timothy. "But when I was in at the Pestle and Mortar this +afternoon, he also was there, getting his hair and beard trimmed, and it +chanced that he did question my father most curiously touching my lord +your grandfather and your late uncle Jasper. It seemeth that he knew +both your father and your uncle. And more especially was he interested +as to yourself, Master Gilbert." + +"How so?" exclaimed Gilbert, growing attentive now. "But if I heard him +aright as he spoke to the woman who was with him, 'twas surely in the +Portuguese that he spoke, and I marvel how any Portugal man could have +known my father." + +"'Tis true that he did speak in a foreign tongue," responded Timothy, +"but, for all that, I take him to be an Englishman born, if indeed he be +not even a man of Devon. My reason for speaking of him, however, is that +he showed a very strange and surprising concern in the matter of my Lord +Champernoun's title and estates. When he was told that your uncle +Jasper had died of a malaria out on the Spanish Main, a smile came upon +his face. It was as if he knew a vast deal more about Jasper Oglander +than we could tell him. 'Twas not my business to question one of my +father's customers; but had I been bold enough I should certainly have +asked him if 'twas not true, as I do suspect, that he had some part in +the death of your uncle; for you must not forget, Master Gilbert, that +the matter was never very clearly explained to us. Even Sir Richard +Grenville threw some doubt upon the report that he died of a fever, and +suggested that 'twas by the hand of man that he was taken off. And, +indeed, if all we have heard of Jasper Oglander be true, he was a man +(saving your presence) of such evil ways, that 'twould be no great +wonder to me if he had been murdered by some one whom he had injured out +there in wild Virginia." + +"Thou'rt too prone to listen to idle gossip, Tim," rejoined Gilbert in a +tone of reproof; "ay, and too ready to draw your own conclusions. For my +own part I am willing to believe that Uncle Jasper was a far better man +than report hath made him out to be. 'Tis true that I never knew him, +and that I never even set eyes upon him save when I was a little child, +and too young to judge of his character. But my grandfather hath never +spoken an ill word of him in my hearing, and, prithee, what should that +bode but that Jasper was a very worthy and proper gentleman?" + +"Not in your hearing, it may well be," interposed Timothy, "but I do +assure you that my lord hath no great cause to love his younger son's +memory. As for your father (God rest him!), he and his brother Jasper +were ever at enmity." + +Gilbert walked on for many moments without speaking, but at last he +said: + +"I have heard more than once of that enmity, Tim, but never yet have I +discovered its cause. Canst tell me why it was that they quarrelled, +lad?" + +"There were divers causes, Master Gilbert," returned Tim. "But for the +most part the enmity arose (or so at least I have been told) out of +Jasper Oglander's envy and jealousy. He was jealous of your father's +greater wit and learning; of his greater skill in all games and manly +sports; jealous in that his brother Edmund was chosen by the Queen to be +one of Her Majesty's pages at the court and afterwards one of her +favoured courtiers. But more than all else, 'tis said that he was +jealous in that your father was the elder son, and by consequence the +heir to the Champernoun title and lands. Also, you must understand--" + +Gilbert suddenly gripped his companion's arm. + +"Hark!" he cried. "Prithee, what is that strange wailing sound that I +hear?" + +Timothy came to a stand-still and held his breath, listening for a few +moments. + +"I hear naught whatsoever," said he, "naught but the wailing of the wind +among the trees. Yet wait! there was in truth another sound. Was't not +the screech of some wild bird of the night? No; 'tis there again. 'Tis +someone singing--some wayfarer chanting a ditty to scare away the +ghosts." + +"Even so it is," agreed Gilbert. "Ay, and a likely place for a ghost +too, down yonder in Beddington Dingle. I had rather travel a good five +miles round than pass through that dark and desolate wood after +midnight." + +"And I also," returned Timothy, resuming his steady strides; "but less +from the fear of ghosts and goblins than from dread of footpads and +thievish vagabonds; for the place hath been overrun with them these many +weeks past. 'Twas in that self-same hollow that Farmer Uscombe was +robbed of his purse, and ten angels in it, only a seven nights since. +Faith, my master, but the man in front of us hath truly a lusty and +tuneful voice! Ay, and a clear. You can e'en hear his very words. 'Tis +some mariner's song he singeth, touching the taming of the blustering +winds or some such theme. Hark at him!" + +The two lads gave no thought to the continuance of their broken +conversation, but walked silently onward through the dark lane, guiding +their way by the level patches of snowy ground that lay between the high +and shadowy banks at the roadside. The wayfarer in advance of them was +either walking very slowly or else coming towards them from the opposite +direction, for his merry ditty became more and more distinct with every +step they took. + +"Who thinks to strive against the stream, + And for to sail without a mast, +Or without compass cross the main, + His travel is forlorn and waste; +And so in cure of all his pain +His travel is his chiefest gain. + +"So he likewise, that goes about + To please each eye and every ear, +He needs to have, withouten doubt, + A golden gift with him to bear; +For ill report shall be his gain +Though he bestow both toil and pain. + +"God grant each man once to amend; + God send us all a happy place; +And let us pray unto the end + That we may have our prince's grace: +Amen, amen! so shall we gain +A due reward for all our pain." + +Thus he sang. And at the close of each verse he broke out into a lively +chorus that echoed through the woods. Towards the last, however, he +stopped very suddenly, and his melody presently gave place to a loud +alarming cry for help. + +"Thieves! Cut-purses!" he cried "Ah, had I but a sword!" + +The two lads set off at once at a quick run in the direction whence the +cry had come. + +They had gone but fifty yards or so, when at a sharp turn in the lane +they came upon some four men whose figures loomed darkly through the +mist of falling snow. One of the men lay struggling on the ground +trying to disentangle his head and arms from his cloak, while two of +his assailants knelt over him, the one evidently robbing him of such +valuables as he might have about him, the other with a dagger +threateningly drawn. The fourth man stood apart, encouraging them in +their evil work. + +[Illustration: "TIMOTHY CAUGHT HIM BY THE NECK AND HURLED HIM BACK."] + +Gilbert and Timothy understood in a moment what was going on. The victim +of this night attack was doubtless the wayfarer whom they had heard but +a few minutes before carolling his moral ditty; and these three +vagabonds had fallen upon him from their ambush in the dingle, where +they had probably waited with intent to waylay the first passer-by and +rob him. + +"Out with your rapier, Master Gilbert!" cried Timothy as he drew his own +weapon. "We must e'en rescue the man. Yet use your blade discreetly, for +'twill go ill with us if we do slay one of the rascals." + +He flung himself upon the man nearest to him--the one with the drawn +dagger,--caught him by the neck and hurled him back into the ditch. +Gilbert Oglander was about to deal in like manner with the other robber, +when the third man, who had hitherto stood apart,--a very tall man, +wearing a wide slouched hat and a long cloak,--sprang upon him and +forced him back. + +Timothy now stood over their fallen victim, guarding him while he +struggled to his knees. In the meantime the one whom Tim had flung into +the ditch had regained his feet and drawn his rapier. Wrapping the skirt +of his cloak about his left arm, he leapt upon Gilbert Oglander. In the +darkness Gilbert scarcely saw his intention, and might have been taken +wholly unaware had not Timothy warned him at the right moment. Gilbert +caught his adversary's rapier on his own blade and returned the attack. +The man facing him was small, lithe, and evidently well skilled in the +use of his weapon. Bending his body forward, he stretched forth his +cloaked left arm, thus shielding himself. Gilbert made a thrust at the +man's right side, but with no greater result than to strike a spark of +fire from the other's blade. In recovering his balance he felt his left +foot slip upon a clod of snow; he fell forward, and at the same moment +there was a sharp twinge of pain in the upper part of his right arm. His +sword dropped from his grasp and he rolled over. + +When he rose to his feet again he saw that the three robbers had +escaped. Timothy, and the wayfarer who had been the cause of this +encounter, were down in the ditch, peering through a dark gap in the +bank by which the three vagabonds had made their way into the wood. + +"The rascals! They have escaped us!" Timothy was saying. "Well, there is +small harm done, and no one is hurt!" + +"Small harm, say you?" cried the wayfarer, speaking now for the first +time. "But they have robbed me--robbed me of all that I had in the +world!" + +"Your all cannot surely have been much, my friend, since you carried it +with you so lightly," said Timothy. "There is little use in making such +dole over a trifle." + +"Ah, you do not know, you do not know!" said the other, pacing to and +fro in his dire distress. "As well might they have taken my life as what +they have gone off with." + +Timothy searched into the man's face, yet saw nothing to enlighten him +in the black darkness. + +"Art thou of Plymouth?" he presently asked. + +"That I am, my master," came the reply. "My name, sirs, is Jacob +Hartop--Jacob Hartop that went out with John Hawkins in the year +sixty-seven, and that hath now come home only to be waylaid and robbed +by a parcel of villainous cut-purses that sprang upon me from among the +trees yonder. I had not heard them behind me, for it chanced that, being +somewhat lonesome on dry land, I fell to chanting a little song, as it +were for company's sake. I warrant me the ruffians would not so have +overpowered me had they not thrown my cloak over my eyes and mouth, and +thus disabled me from defending myself." + +He drew the garment about his shoulders, turning up its high collar +round his neck. "'Tis a cloak that a kindly young gentleman gave unto me +as I stepped ashore," he went on. "Had I been without it I might have +worsted my assailants; and yet had I not had it I must surely have been +slain, for one of the villains stabbed at me with his dagger with intent +to take my life, and by God's providence the blade, instead of entering +my heart, struck upon one of these gay silver buttons." + +He paused and looked at Gilbert as the lad limped towards him. Even in +the darkness he seemed to recognize him. + +"Now, beshrew me if thou art not the self-same young gentleman who gave +me the cloak," he cried in grateful surprise. Then, noticing that +Gilbert walked lame, he added, "But thou art limping! Hast hurt thy leg +in the scrimmage?" + +Timothy glanced in alarm at his young master, and besought him to tell +what injury he had received. + +"I slipped on the snow," explained Gilbert, "and gave my foot a twist. +'Tis naught to speak of. Come, let us hasten home. Sir Francis Drake +hath gone to spend the night with my grandfather and certain of his +friends from London, and we may yet be in time to hear him relate some +of his adventures ere he returns to Plymouth. I will take thy arm, +Timothy, for my foot is paining me, and--". + +He was about to tell that he had been wounded, but not wishing to alarm +his companions, or perhaps a little ashamed of being defeated by a mere +footpad, he kept the matter to himself. + +"What do I hear?" exclaimed Jacob Hartop. "Didst thou not speak the name +of Francis Drake--Sir Francis Drake? God be thanked! Then he is still +alive, eh? And hath risen in the world since the days when he and I were +shipmates? Sir Francis, forsooth! Well, he deserveth all the honours +that a prince can bestow upon him. Right well do I mind the time when we +were at Nombre de Dios. Ah! that was a time, my masters. But 'tis a long +story. Whither are ye bound for?" + +"We go to the manor-house of Modbury," answered Timothy. + +"Ah! I know it well," returned Hartop as he trudged along the lane at +Gilbert's right side. "'Tis my Lord Champernoun's place, and I doubt not +you will both be in his lordship's service--pages in his household +belike?" He did not wait for an answer to his last remark, but went on +with a cheerfulness that was surprising in an old man; a man, moreover, +who had just been robbed of all his worldly wealth: "Prithee, have they +mended the old bell that hung in the little turret above the stables? +Ha, ha! 'Twas I that broke it, flinging a stone at a blue jay that was +perched upon the weather-vane. Many are the apples and pears I stole +from out the orchard there; ay, and the rabbits and pheasants I trapped +i' the woods! His lordship had a Flanders mare by name Nancy, that he +was wont to ride upon to London. She had a white star betwixt her eyes, +and a most shrewish temper withal. None could ride her but his lordship +and William Stevens; though 'tis true she would willingly eat an apple +o' mornings from out my lady's hand. Is the animal still as full of her +tricks as she used to be?" + +"'Tis like enough that the animal is in her grave these twenty years, +Master Hartop," said Timothy, smiling to himself at the old man's memory +of a time long past. + +"Ay, like enough, like enough," mused the old man. "Time doth slip by +with astonishing speed--though, indeed, 'twas laggard enough in the +galleys and in the prison of Cadiz." + +"I pray you tarry a moment," interposed Gilbert, suppressing a groan of +pain. "I cannot walk so fast. My ankle hurts me at every step. I beg you +haul off my boot, Tim, to give me a few moments' ease. Come closer, +Master Hartop, and let me lean on your shoulder." + +The old man obeyed, while Timothy went down on his knees in the mud and +tried, but with little success, to remove the offending boot. He was +interrupted by a sudden cry from Hartop. + +"God bless us all, what is this?" the mariner cried, running his hand +over Gilbert's right arm. "There be surely more wet here than hath come +from a few flakes of snow. Why, 'tis blood, my master, 'tis blood! Thou +art wounded!" + +"Wounded?" echoed Timothy rising excitedly to his feet. "Oh, my master! +Wherefore didst thou not tell us of this before? Where is the wound?" + +"The fellow's rapier pierced me in the arm," explained Gilbert in a +faint voice, as he leaned yet more helplessly on Hartop's shoulder. "But +'tis not much, I do assure you." + +Timothy Trollops pressed his open palm upon the lad's sleeve, and, +finding it wet from shoulder to wrist, "Not much?" he cried. "Why, +thou'rt scarce able to stand, so much blood hath streamed from thee! +Thou'rt well-nigh fainting! Had I but known of this at the time, I +warrant me the scoundrel should not have escaped so easily. Wouldst know +the man again, my master?" + +"Not I," murmured Gilbert in a yet fainter voice. "I saw not his face." + +"Nor I neither," added Jacob Hartop. "'Twas too dark to see aught but +their shadowy forms, even if mine own face had not been half-smothered +under my cloak. But they are clean gone now you'll be saying, and 'twill +avail us little to go in search of them or to tarry here any longer +while one of us is sore wounded." He put his arms about Gilbert and +added: "Heave thyself on to my back, young friend, and I will carry +thee. 'Tis but a small distance if I mind aright from here to Thomas +Southam's mill, where peradventure we shall get help, and a horse to +carry thee further." + +Timothy gently pushed the old man aside. + +"Thy memory is like to an old almanack, Master Hartop," he said, "and of +as little value for present use. Southam's mill was burnt to the ground +a good ten years ago, and hath never yet been rebuilt." + +"What?" cried Hartop, and, as if the information concerning the mill had +staggered him, he stepped backward, allowing Gilbert Oglander to slip +from his grasp. "Burnt to the ground!" he repeated. "Then prithee, young +sir, what hath become of the miller's fair young daughter Betty--Betty +Southam that promised to wait for me when I sailed away to foreign +lands, ay, and to marry me when I should come back with the fortune that +I meant to gain for her? What hath become of her, I say?" + +Timothy lifted Gilbert upon his knee and held him there while he +answered: + +"Betty Southam? Ah! I knew her when I was a little child. But I do +protest she was then neither young nor fair. As to what hath become of +her, 'tis soon told, Master Hartop. She was found lying dead one +winter's morning in Beddington Woods." + +"Alas!" cried Hartop. "Then was my song indeed prophetic, for all my +travel hath in very truth been 'forlorn and waste'." + +"Listen!" interrupted Timothy. "Hear you not the sound of horses' feet +upon the road? 'Tis surely our robbers, riding away." + +"I hear them plainly," returned Hartop. "There be two horses, as I judge +by the sound. And, far from retreating, they are coming nearer and +nearer. I pray Heaven that they be friends who will help us!" + +Gilbert Oglander had now somewhat recovered from his faintness, and with +the help of his two companions he limped to the side of the road, where, +sitting on the edge of the ditch, he at length succeeded in pulling off +his boot, for his ankle had been badly sprained and was already somewhat +swollen. + +The three waited there in silence at the roadside until the horsemen +whom they had heard approaching came within a few yards of them, when +Timothy Trollope stepped out in front of them, and waving his hands +aloft called aloud to them to halt. His call was not needed, however, +for the horsemen had already drawn rein. + +"So-ho!" cried one of them as he unsheathed his sword, and spurring his +horse again he drove the animal on as if to run Timothy down. "We have +caught you, you rascals, have we?" he cried with an oath. "We shall +teach you better than to go about a-pillaging of honest folks' farmyards +and carrying off their ducks and hens! 'Tis Plymouth gaol that shall be +your lodging to-night if I be not vastly in error." He turned to his +companion, "Now, Jake," he ordered, "look you to those two in the ditch +there! See that they escape not into the wood." + +Timothy sprang forward and seized the horse's bridle. + +"Hold hard, Bob Harvey," he cried, addressing the rider. "Have a care +where y'are driving your horse. Can you not see who we are, man? Here be +Master Oglander, bleeding and well-nigh dead of a great sword-cut given +him by a thief of a footpad but a few minutes since." + +"Od's life, Master Tim, is't yourself then?" cried the horseman drawing +back. "Faith, lad, I had nearly run you through. What bringeth you here +at such an hour? And Master Gilbert wounded, say you?--and by footpads? +Prithee, how many were there? I'll be sworn 'twas the self-same gang +that we are now seeking." + +"There were three of them," answered Timothy. "And after robbing this +poor old man here and wounding Master Gilbert they made off through +Beddington Woods." + +"Ay, three there were at the Manor Farm. I warrant me, they are the same +lot," declared Bob Harvey. Then he added, turning to his follower, +"Come, Jake, we may catch them yet if so be we gallop round to the other +road." And he dug his spurs into his horse's side. + +"Stay!" cried Timothy, gripping the reins. "Thou'dst best dismount, Bob, +and give up thy horse to the young master; or else take him up beside +thee and ride home with him. As for the thieves, or poachers, or +whatever they be, Jake Thew may continue the chase alone." + +"As you will, Master Timothy," returned Harvey; "but methinks Master +Gilbert had better get up in front of me. 'Tis an ill-mannered animal +this, and hard to manage." + +So Gilbert Oglander mounted on the horse's back and rode slowly +homeward, while the second horseman galloped off alone along the lane in +the direction of the town. Timothy intended to go home afoot, running +all the way by his master's side, but ere he started off he turned to +Jacob Hartop. + +"And now, Master Hartop," said he, "prithee, where go you to-night? Hast +got a home in these parts?" + +Jacob was silent for some moments. At last he said: + +"I had meant to rest myself at Southam's Mill, where they have daily +expected me these twenty years and more. But if, as you say, the mill +hath been burnt down, why, then, there is not a house in the land that I +can call my home. Howbeit, I doubt not I shall find goodly shelter under +the lee of some friendly haystack. 'Twill not be the first, no, nor the +hundredth time that I have slept in the open air. And believe me, my +master, he is a happy man who hath none to thank for his food and +shelter saving only his God." + +"I do perceive that thou art an easily contented mortal," remarked +Timothy with a ring of sympathy in his voice. + +"Privation hath made me so," returned Hartop. + +"Nevertheless," pursued Tim, "you will, so please you, think no more of +the haystack, but come on to the manor of Modbury; for sure I am that +Master Oglander would blame me most severely were I to suffer you to go +adrift like a lost creature." + +Hartop answered very seriously and firmly: "Were there no other house in +all England, my master, I should still refuse to take shelter in the +manor of Modbury." + +"And wherefore?" asked Timothy in surprise. + +"Because," returned the old mariner, "it is in that same house that my +bitterest enemy doth live--Jasper Oglander to wit." + +"Pooh!" rejoined Timothy. "Jasper Oglander is dead these many years." + +"Not so," declared Hartop. "You, indeed, and many others may believe him +dead. But in this matter, at the least, I make no mistake; for hark ye, +my friend, Jasper Oglander is as much alive at this moment as you or I. +You and your young friend may not have known him--how should you?--but +'twas he whom you saw this very day coming ashore from the ship _Pearl_; +he and his wife and his son. If you should see him again,--as I doubt +not you will ere many hours be past,--you shall know him by the token +that he hath an old knife-cut across his cheek: a cut that was dealt to +him by one whom he sought to treacherously murder." + + + + + CHAPTER VI + + TABLE-TALK AT MODBURY MANOR. + + +At this same time, while Gilbert and Timothy were continuing their +journey homeward through the darkness and the driving sleet after their +encounter with the unknown robbers in Beddington Dingle, Lord +Champernoun and his household were seated at the supper-table in the +great dining-hall of Modbury Manor. Some friends were with +them--high-born ladies and noble gentlemen who had been of a hawking +party that day, and had come back very weary and full of the enjoyment +of the sport. Chief among the ladies, both for her beauty and wit and +for her noble birth, was the Lady Elizabeth Oglander--or Lady Betty, as +she was familiarly called--who, as the widow of the Honourable Edmund +Oglander, was now the mistress of Modbury Manor; and among the men, Sir +Walter Raleigh and those two gallant seamen, Sir Francis Drake and Sir +Richard Grenville. + +It was a very large and splendid hall, with a high arched roof and tall +embrasured windows, whose broad panes were rich with heraldic devices in +coloured glass. The walls were panelled with carved oak and adorned with +stags' horns, suits of armour, halberds, swords, and crossbows. The +lower parts of the windows and the heavy clamped doors were covered with +tapestry to keep out the draught, and in the huge red cavern of the +fireplace the flaming logs roared and crackled, sending forth strange +moving shadows across the rush-strewn floor, and casting a bright +flicker of light upon the wings of the brass pelicans that stood gazing +out from either side of the hearth. + +At the head of the long table sat the aged baron himself, Gilbert +Oglander's grandfather, a kindly, white-haired, white-bearded gentleman, +wearing a doublet of black velvet with gold chains and a snowy white +ruff. His guests and the members of his household were all grown-up +persons, with the one exception of Drusilla Oglander; and Drusilla, who +was still scarce more than a little girl and had but lately left the +nursery, seemed to be very lonely in consequence. She had no companion +near her at the table saving the family bloodhound, Nero, whose +ponderous head rested upon her knee, ready to gobble such morsels of +meat as the girl might pick from her plate and give to him. There was a +vacant seat at her side, but her brother Gilbert, who had gone into +Plymouth that afternoon, had not returned to occupy it, and she was +perforce content to listen silently to the talk that was going on among +her elders at the upper end of the table. Yet quite as often did she +find entertainment in listening to the men and women who sat below the +great salt-cellar--the barrier which separated them from those who were +above them in station. + +One of the men, a rosy-faced young falconer who had been with the +hawking party, was boasting of how Sir Walter Raleigh had deigned to +hold speech with him, and to ask his opinion concerning the possibility +of stopping a falcon in its full flight and making the bird return +obediently to the lure. The fact that the great courtier had thus +honoured him seemed to have given the man the right to speak with +authority on all matters with which Sir Walter Raleigh was personally +concerned. + +"Wait until the meal is over," Drusilla heard him say; "wait and you +shall see him taking tobacco. 'Tis a wonderous sight, my masters. I have +seen him at it with mine own eyes. He can blow the smoke out through his +nostrils in two long tubes, or drink it down into his inside as one +might drink a cup of malmsey. Ay, 'tis a marvellous habit, is it not, +Christopher Pym?" + +He glanced across the table at a pale, abstracted-looking man, with +straight black hair and lack-lustre eyes. Christopher Pym seemed to feel +himself out of place among these his table companions, for in spite of +his threadbare cloak and his ragged wristbands he was still a ripe +scholar and a born gentleman. He smiled faintly and answered: + +"Ay, truly, Master Hawksworth, 'tis a marvellous habit--marvellous in +that it is indulged in by gentlefolk. For my own part, I like it not. As +well might you make a chimney of your throat at once, and call in the +chimney-sweep o' mornings to sweep out the black soot." + +"'Tis plain to see that thou hast never tried it," remarked Hawksworth. +"But after all, 'twas never intended for poor schoolmasters." + +Christopher Pym quietly broke off a few crumbs from his piece of bread, +and holding them in his thin fingers proceeded slowly to cleanse his +platter. + +"No," he said with another faint smile. "There be few such luxuries that +a poor tutor can afford out of five marks a year. But I am well content +to live without the vile herb and let others take it who may." + +"'Tis a right gentlemanly accomplishment, I warrant you," pursued +Hawksworth; "ay, and one which may gain a man great fame if he but +exercise it with skill. Look at young Sir Anthony Killigrew, for +example; he hath made himself famous in Plymouth by his skill, for he +can not only blow the smoke from his nose, but he hath performed a much +more wondrous trick; for on a day in last week he took three long whiffs +from his tobacco-pipe, drank three cups of canary on the top of them, +then took horse, and brought forth the smoke, one whiff at Burrington, +the second at Bickley, and the third at Tamerton. 'Twas he who first +taught Master Gilbert Oglander to drink tobacco, although 'tis true the +lad misliked it and hath since abandoned it." + +"Master Gilbert hath shown greater wisdom in abandoning it than in +taking to it," observed Christopher Pym, shaking his head with regret at +his pupil's weakness. + +Hearing her brother's name, Drusilla leaned over across the salt-box and +said: + +"I pray you, Master Pym, can you tell me what hath kept my brother so +late in Plymouth?" + +"My lord sent him into the town on some private business, Mistress +Drusilla," answered the poor tutor. "I know of naught else that can have +detained him. He hath taken Timothy Trollope to bear him company, +however, and you may be assured no harm will come to him." + +Drusilla leaned back in her chair, refusing the plate of roasted +pheasant that was offered to her by one of the blue-coated serving-men. +Her eyes rested upon the cheerful countenance of Sir Francis Drake, and +then upon the proud cold face of Sir Walter Raleigh, who sat next to +him. She had never, before this same day, seen Sir Walter Raleigh, and +his courtly manners seemed somehow to give him a dignity which made it +that she dared not have approached him. Even his gay apparel, his +jewelled doublet, his stiffly-starched ruff, and his white be-ringed +fingers placed him at such a distance from her that he appeared to be +far too grand and proud ever to think of taking notice of a little girl. + +With Sir Francis Drake it was very different. She had known him to come +to Modbury more than once on purpose to see her, as he had said; he had +come into the nursery and played with her and told her stories; and +once, when Gilbert had been making a toy ship to sail in the lake, Sir +Francis had sat down on the nursery floor and taken out his knife and +some string and helped to rig the little vessel. They had called the +boat the _Revenge_, which was the name of the ship that Sir Francis had +commanded when he went out to fight against the Spanish Armada, and on +board of which he had won such glory for himself and for England. As +Drusilla looked across at him now his eyes met hers, and he raised his +tall glass of canary wine, bowing to her with as much polite grace as if +she had been a full-grown lady. She returned his greeting with a smile, +raising her little silver tankard of new milk and saying: + +"To your good health, Sir Francis." + +Then the voice of Lord Champernoun was heard from the head of the table. + +"So it seemeth, Sir Francis, that thou hast once more been incurring Her +Majesty's displeasure?" + +"How so, baron?" questioned Drake, looking up in surprise. + +"Marry! In the matter of the King of Spain," returned Lord Champernoun. +"It doth appear from what I have lately heard that Her Majesty's +government have received information that King Philip, knowing how you +had fallen into disgrace with Queen Elizabeth, hath been secretly making +overtures to you to enter the Spanish service and lead a new armada +against England. Zounds, man, we shall soon be hearing that thou hast +turned Papist also, I suppose!" + +Drake laughed, and playfully stroked his full and curly beard. There was +a merry twinkle in his large clear eyes. + +"'Tis not the first time that His Majesty of Spain hath so approached +me," said he. "Her Majesty (God bless her!) is at liberty to believe, if +she so listeth, that I am about to accept Spain's generous offers. 'Tis +her gracious habit to think ill of me. But methinks the people of +England will still believe me incapable of such treachery." + +Sir Walter Raleigh's silvery voice interposed: + +"Thou hast given but a half-denial of the matter, Drake," said he as he +reached his hand to the middle of the table and picked an apple from one +of the plates. "And I do assure thee that Her Majesty will require a +fuller proof ere she consent to forgive thee. All thy endeavours to win +her favour by the building of flour-mills and the making of +water-conduits for this town of Plymouth will go for little against this +suspicious rumour." + +"And, prithee, what punishment doth Her Majesty intend to mete out to me +withal?" questioned Drake. "Hath she given orders that I am to be +clapped into the Tower, or held to ransom like our Spanish prisoners?" + +"Scarcely that," answered Raleigh. "She hath but decided to give thee +the command at Plymouth, with orders to keep the town in a state of +defence, and so resist any attempt by the Spaniards to invade our +western ports." + +"There is small consolation in that," returned Drake. "I had hoped, as +ye all know, that I might be deemed worthy to take the command of the +great expedition against Panama that hath been in contemplation so long. +'Tis mine by right, and it hath been the dream of my life." + +"That same command hath been graciously reserved for myself," said Sir +Walter Raleigh. And he seemed to smile at the mortification that came +into his rival's face. + +There was silence for a few moments, and then the gruff voice of Sir +Richard Grenville broke in. + +"Thou'lt not forget me, cousin Walter, when 'tis question of Panama?" +said he. "'Twould suit my disposition well to be made thy vice-admiral." + +"And touching that same matter, Raleigh," interposed Lord Champernoun as +he pushed back his great chair and crossed his legs, "I would ask you to +reserve a place on board your ship for my grandson Gilbert. The lad hath +long been beseeching me to launch him upon the world of action." + +"I'll think on't, baron," said Raleigh with a slight nod of his head +that showed he had no great desire to favour the young heir of Modbury. + +"The boy shall come with me, my lord, if Sir Waiter takes him not," +cried Sir Richard Grenville. "I promise you that." + +"I had rather see Gilbert Oglander under mine own wing," declared Drake +in an undertone. + +"Ay, if that wing be not already broken," suggested Raleigh. + +The Lady Betty glanced at Lord Champernoun with anxiety in her eyes. + +"Surely Gilbert is yet too young to be trusted upon the sea," she +objected. "Hath not his family already sacrificed enough to the +Spaniards that thou shouldst consent to this thing? Thine own two sons +have given up their lives in foreign lands. I pray thee spare me mine." + +Lord Champernoun made no answer, for at that moment one of the +serving-men had come to his side and whispered some message into his +ear. Drusilla saw her grandfather start back as if in alarm. His face, +in the light of the table-candles, was seen to have become suddenly very +pale. Drusilla instantly thought of her brother Gilbert, and feared that +some great ill had happened to him. She looked towards the door behind +her grandfather's chair. + +It opened, and there came into the hall, not her brother nor even +Timothy Trollope, but a tall dark man who was a complete stranger to +her. He removed his wide slouched hat as he entered, and his long cloak, +which was besprinkled with snow-flakes, fell from his shoulders, +revealing a much-worn and faded doublet with tarnished braid and ominous +stains. He was followed by a much younger man, whom Timothy Trollope, +had he chanced to be present, would doubtless have recognized as the +foreign-looking youth he had encountered at the door of the Three +Flagons. + +Drusilla noticed that the youth's cloak was bespattered with mud, but +she remembered that the roads were bad, and opined that he had had some +trifling accident. He took off the garment and laid it with his hat and +sword upon one of the oak benches that were against the wall. He seemed +to be exceedingly modest, for he stood in the background like one who +had been suddenly brought into a strange place, and had not yet mustered +the courage to raise his eyes and see for himself what manner of place +it happened to be. + +Lord Champernoun rose from his chair but did not advance to meet the +strangers. + +"Jasper Oglander, did you say?" he cried in astonishment, turning aside +to the serving-man. "Jasper Oglander? 'Tis impossible!" + +"Ay, 'tis Jasper Oglander," said the stranger, stepping forward and +standing in front of the old baron. "Dost not know me, father?" + +Lord Champernoun raised his trembling hand and ran his fingers nervously +through his thin locks of white hair. + +"I understand you not," he faltered. "Jasper Oglander is dead--dead +these many years. They have told me so. And yet--" + +"Haply the news was more welcome to your lordship than my presence here +just now," interrupted the stranger with a dark frown on his brow. +"Believe me, sir, I had not wished to break in upon your merriment. But +having only this afternoon arrived in the port of Plymouth, I deemed it +my duty to present myself before you without further loss of time." + +"Your better duty would have been to acquaint me of your existence a +score of years ago," his lordship returned with stern rebuke. And then, +his eyes falling upon the figure of the bashful youth, he added: +"Prithee, who is the stripling at your heels?" + +"Your grandson, my lord--Philip Oglander to wit--born in Brazil in the +year fifteen hundred and seventy-four." + +"And his mother?" pursued the baron questioningly. + +The stranger twirled his newly-trimmed moustachios and answered: + +"His mother, so please you, is now resting in Plymouth town, at the sign +of the Three Flagons. The weather is somewhat inclement for a lady to +travel, and she is weary after our long voyage. In good time, when she +hath been furnished with new apparel--apparel more befitting her +appearance among such fine ladies as I do see here now,--I shall give +myself the pleasure of presenting her in her English home." + +Lord Champernoun bit his lip. It was evident that his newly-returned son +was not to be heartily welcomed. + +By this time the servants at the lower end of the table, having finished +their supper, had retired from the hall. The ladies, too, had risen, and +Sir Walter Raleigh, with courtly gallantry, had opened the door leading +out into the adjoining hall, whence already the sounds of music could be +heard. + +Lady Betty passed out, followed by her lady guests, glancing as she did +so towards the intruder with something akin to indignation in her +beautiful blue eyes. + +"'Tis some impostor, I'll avow," she whispered to Raleigh as she came +near him, "or else some Spanish spy, masquerading in the character of +the long-lost Jasper. Thou'lt join us presently, Sir Walter?" + +"Gladly, my lady, so you promise us a song," said he, bowing low. And +when the ladies had all retired, leaving only Drusilla behind them, he +strolled back into the hall and made his way to the fireplace, where, +seating himself, he proceeded to fill his tobacco-pipe. + +Sir Francis Drake had apparently paid but slight attention to the +entrance of Jasper Oglander and his son Philip, but had remained at the +table cracking nuts. He had cracked about a dozen of them and cleared +the kernels of all remnants of shell and rough skin, and now he gathered +them in his hand and rose, beckoning to Drusilla. + +"These be for you, sweetheart," said he as he offered them to her. "And +now I must hie me back to Plymouth. Wilt kiss me?" + +She held up her face, and he put his two hands upon her shoulders and +held her from him at the full length of his strong arms. Then he bent +down and pressed his lips upon her white forehead. "Give you +good-night," he added, "and God be with you always!" + +"Good-night!" she answered, and her eyes followed him as he went away, +limping slightly in his walk. She saw him stop suddenly as he came near +to where her grandfather and Jasper Oglander were still standing. He +drew back a step, looking up into Jasper's face, and, as it seemed, +fixing his gaze upon the old wound on the man's cheek. + +"'Sdeath! Captain Drake, you here?" cried Jasper Oglander in a tone of +astonishment and no less of annoyance. "Art thou a wizard?" And he +hesitatingly held out his hand. + +Drake affected not to notice this offer of friendship, but stood +unmoved, his round head with its short curly brown hair held proudly +back, his great broad chest expanded, and his muscular figure poised +with easy grace. Compared with the tall man in front of him he seemed to +be of very low stature; but there was a dignity about him which the +other entirely lacked. + +"A wizard?" he repeated. Then shrugging his shoulders he added: "That is +as it may be. But I thank God in that I am at least an honest +Englishman, who hath no cause to go skulking about the world as thou +hast been doing, Master Oglander." He turned to Lord Champernoun. "Give +you good-night, my lord!" he said as they shook hands, and then he went +round for his cape and hat, which were hanging up near the fireplace, +where Sir Walter Raleigh and some others were already regaling +themselves amid a cloud of tobacco smoke. + +Lord Champernoun had bidden his new-found son and Philip Oglander sit +down at the table and take some supper. Meat and drink had been brought +in for them, and they were eating with an appetite which betrayed that +they had long been unaccustomed to such goodly fare. + +Meanwhile Drusilla had withdrawn to one of the window embrasures, where +she sat munching her Brazilian nuts. Sir Richard Grenville stood near +her, examining a suit of armour that was propped up in the corner. + +"'Tis the armour that was worn by Sir Stephen Oglander in the wars of +the Roses," the girl informed him. "And the curved sword that is hanging +near it on the next panel was taken by my grandfather in a certain +battle against the Turks--not this grandfather, you know, but the other +one, my mother's father, the Earl of Dersingham." + +"Ah! so thine ancestor fought against the Infidels, eh?" said Grenville, +and pushing aside Philip Oglander's cloak, which lay on the bench, he +sat down beside her. "Didst know that I too have been in battle against +them?" + +"No," she answered, open-eyed. "Prithee, tell me of it. Was it by sea or +by land?" + +"By land for the most part," he returned; "but the greatest battle was +by sea, and it took place in the Gulf of Lepanto. 'Twas the most +glorious engagement and the most honourable victory I have ever taken +part in, saving only the late fight which you wot of against the dons of +Spain. I will tell thee of it if thou'rt not too weary. 'Twill pass the +time until your brother comes in." + +As he spoke he took up Philip Oglander's rapier, and in mere idleness he +drew the long narrow blade from its leathern scabbard, held the weapon +out in front of him and glanced along it with critical eye, examined its +curious basket hilt of twisted metal, then pressed his thumb against the +sharp point, took the point end in one hand and the hilt in the other, +and bent the blade to test its flexible spring, and finally held the +weapon out once more at arm's-length. + +"The battle was betwixt the Turks and the Christians," he went on. But +here he was abruptly interrupted. Philip Oglander had risen from the +table and crossed the floor towards him. + +"Your pardon, my master, but that rapier is mine!" cried the lad in +strange excitement, speaking with his mouth full of food. + +Sir Richard Grenville glanced up at him in surprise, still retaining the +weapon. + +"A goodly blade too, o' my conscience," he muttered with a grim smile. +"Fashioned in Toledo, I warrant me. 'Tis not often we see its like in +England, save in the hands of our country's foes. But I would warn you, +young sir, that 'tis a good three inches too long to suit Queen +Elizabeth's regulations. I should counsel you to have it clipped ere you +venture to carry it again through English streets." + +He handed the rapier to its owner, holding it by the end of the blade. +Philip Oglander received it, sullenly returned it to its scabbard, and +strode back to the table, there to continue his supper. + +Grenville was about to proceed with his narrative of Lepanto fight when +Drusilla laid her fingers upon his arm. + +"See!" she cried. "Thou hast wounded thy hand, 'tis bleeding!" + +"Nay, but I felt no cut," said he. "And yet," he added, looking at his +opened palms, "there is surely blood there. However, Mistress Drusilla, +to go on with our story. I was saying that 'twas a fight betwixt the +Christians and the Infidels--the Cross against the Crescent--" + +"Wait," interrupted the girl. "I heard but this moment the sound of a +horse's feet in the courtyard. It must surely be Gilbert returned. I +pray you tarry here till I come back." And so saying she tripped lightly +to the end of the hall and flung open the door by which her uncle and +cousin had lately entered. + +There was a murmur of voices from without. The further door at the end +of the outer hall stood open, and by the aid of the large hanging lamp +in the great arched porchway she could see the form of a horse, with +Timothy Trollope and Bob Harvey by its side. They were helping Gilbert +down from the horse's back. Drusilla saw his face, and it was very pale; +she saw that when they lifted him down to the ground he could scarcely +stand, but was obliged to lean for support on Trollope's shoulder. + +"I might even have guessed that some ill had happened to thee since thou +art so late in coming home, Gilbert," she said, disguising her inward +alarm. "Art badly hurt? Hast thou been thrown from thy horse?" + +"Nay, 'tis nothing, good my sister," answered Gilbert as cheerily as his +weakness allowed. "'Tis naught but a sprained ankle." + +"Ay, but the blood!" said she, touching him on his right arm. "What doth +this bode?" + +"A scratch he got in a tussle we have had with some vagabond gypsies +down in the dingle," explained Timothy Trollope, well-nigh breathless +after his long run by the horse's side. "Prithee, be not alarmed, +Mistress Drusilla." He signed to Bob Harvey. "Take you his heels, Bob, +while I take him by the shoulders. We had best carry him within." + +Drusilla went before them while they carried him into the dining-hall. +She was met on the threshold by Sir Francis Drake, who was then on the +point of leaving, a saddled horse being already in waiting for him +outside to carry him back to Plymouth. On being hurriedly told what had +happened he returned into the hall, threw off his cape and hat, turned +up his cuffs, and prepared to exercise his surgical skill in attending +to Gilbert's hurts. + +"A knife, if you please, Mistress Drusilla," he said, when Timothy had +laid the wounded lad upon one of the settles near to the fire. And when +the knife was brought he quietly ripped open Gilbert's sleeve, +discovering the wound. + +"'Tis nothing serious," he said reassuringly to Lord Champernoun, who +stood near with Raleigh, Grenville, and many others who had crowded +round. "Let him have a warm potion to drink and some food, an he will +but take it, and when I have bound up the arm he had best be put to +bed." + +Timothy Trollope moved to the table to get a cup of mulled sack. As he +was passing behind where Drusilla stood he caught sight of Jasper +Oglander and his son, both of whom, having risen from their supper, were +looking over the girl's shoulders at Gilbert. There was a subdued look +of enmity in Jasper Oglander's eyes, which Timothy did not understand. +He remembered it long afterwards, however, when circumstances and a +better knowledge of the man's nature explained its meaning. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + THE INSTINCT OF A BRUTE DOG. + + +Jasper Oglander and his son were up betimes on the following morning, +and had come down to the lower rooms while yet the housemaids were +sweeping up the rushes from the floors and dusting the furniture. Seeing +one of the serving-men coming from the buttery Jasper called out to him, +commanding him to bring two stoups of small ale. The man was waiting to +take the emptied vessels, when the sound of a loud bell clanged through +the house. At this Philip Oglander bowed his head and crossed himself; +whereupon his father trod upon his toe and frowned at him. + +"Thou fool!" said Jasper when the man had left them. "Dost want to +betray us so soon? Did I not warn thee an hundred times that these +people are all of the Protestant faith--heretics and Lutherans who would +but despise us and regard us as enemies did they know that we are of the +Holy Church? By the Rood, boy, thy forgetfulness hath nearly cost us +dearly, for look at who cometh behind thee--thy cousin Drusilla, a saucy +maid, by her favour, and it may be a dangerous." + +Drusilla was at the moment descending the broad staircase, carrying a +little basket of apples in her one hand, and with the other drawing the +hood of her mulberry-coloured cloak over her fair hair. She curtsied low +and bade them a good-morrow when she came before them into the front +hall. + +"Art going abroad so early?" asked her uncle, returning her greeting, +and taking up his wide-brimmed hat from the bench where he had dropped +it when drinking his cup of small ale. "If so, we would go with thee, +for I am fain to show thy cousin what manner of home he hath come to. To +have such escort as thine will make our inspection doubly agreeable." + +"I was but going to the stables to give these apples to my brother's +favourite horse," answered Drusilla. "But if ye would see the grounds I +will willingly bear you company." + +"And how fares Master Gilbert, prithee?" inquired Jasper, leading the +way out into the porchway, and standing there a moment looking out +across the terrace and the wide expanse of lawn to the misty woodlands +beyond. + +"The wound in his arm hath troubled him but little," she answered, "but +his sprained ankle hath swollen greatly and is very painful. I fear me +it will be many days ere he can leave his bed." + +"'Tis a pity the rascals who thus assailed him cannot be caught and +brought to a speedy justice," remarked Philip with seeming sympathy in +his tone, albeit with an unkindly curl of his upper lip. "Was your +brother unarmed that he thus allowed a vagabond gypsy to overcome him?" +he added. + +"Nay, for who would go unarmed in these days?" returned Drusilla. "But +even the skilfullest swordsman may sometimes be taken at a disadvantage. +Gilbert's foot slipped upon the snow, and his adversary did thrust at +him even as he fell. Timothy Trollope knew not of the matter until the +three robbers had fled, or else I am very sure they should not have got +away so easily." + +"And, prithee, who may be this Timothy of whom you speak, cousin?" +pursued Philip. + +Drusilla answered: + +"He is Gilbert's good and faithful servant--the same who brought him in +yesternight. He is the son of Master Peter Trollope, the barber-surgeon +of Plymouth town." + +"Ah! methought I had seen him once before," observed Jasper. "He was +even in his father's shop whilst I was there having my beard trimmed. +And now--let us to the stables first, Mistress Drusilla, and then when +we have made the round of the mansion and had a peep at the hawks in the +mews and the deer in the chase, we shall haply go within again and +introduce ourselves to your brother. Fortunate Gilbert, to be the heir +to such vast and valuable estates as these!" he added covetously, as, +standing at the end of the terrace where a spacious flight of stone +steps led down to the lawn, he glanced towards the avenues of tall old +trees that opened out before him. "Were I their owner, however, I should +hew down those unsightly trees; they do but interrupt the view, and so +much stout oak is but wasted while there be battle-ships to be built--to +say naught of the price one might get in exchange for the timber +withal." + +Drusilla conducted her new-found relatives over the stables. They had a +distant sight of the farm buildings, where the cows, having been newly +milked, were wandering out through the gates in slow and irregular +procession towards the pasture lands. Then they went round to the +kennels and looked at the hounds, and to the mews, where Hawksworth and +his fellows were feeding the falcons. Thence through the orchard, now +bare of fruit, and the kitchen-garden, where Lord Champernoun, at the +instance of his friend Sir Walter Raleigh, had in the last season grown +a wondrous crop of potatoes and other vegetable products of the New +World. Then round into the park to where a herd of deer, browsing in the +wet grass, started off, alarmed at their approach, and ran with great +fleetness to a misty hollow among the trees. + +At first Drusilla had been strangely shy with her two companions; but +they showed such interest in the home of her childhood and treated her +with such graceful courtesy that she soon became familiar with them, and +answered their many questions freely and eagerly. She pointed out the +old oak-tree in the middle of the park under whose spreading branches +the village children had crowned her as Queen of the May in the last +spring-time. She took them to the side of the lake where Gilbert and she +had been wont to sail their boats, and where Gilbert only a week ago had +caught a pike. And then, coming back by the front of the house, she +pointed out the little latticed window of her chamber, half-hidden among +the clambering ivy. From where they were they could see the full extent +of the great baronial mansion, with its abutting wings end many gables +flanking the tall central turret,--on which the gilt weather-vane shone +bright in the morning sunlight,--its stone-shafted oriel windows, and +its curiously-twisted chimneys. It was all very magnificent, albeit +Drusilla thought less of it for this fact than for the reason that it +was sanctified as the residence of so many of her ancestors. + +"Ah, 'tis in truth a palace fit for a king!" declared Jasper Oglander +aside to his son. "I marvel that I ever had the foolishness to leave it. +What wouldst thou say, Phil, an thy father were the owner and master of +the place? Nay, do not smile, boy; less likely things than this have +come to pass; and remember there be but two frail lives between me and +it--your grandfather, poor addle-pated pantaloon, and this stripling +Gilbert as they call him, touching whom I should have been by no means +sorry had his assailant of yesternight done his work more completely. +Mark you, Phil," he reiterated with emphasis, "I had not been +sorry--nay, why boggle the matter?--I had in truth been exceeding glad +had the wound you wot of been a span nearer to his heart." + +Whatever Philip might have said in reply to this cruel remark was cut +short by the return of Drusilla, who had but ran forward a few paces to +greet Nero, the bloodhound, at the entrance of the courtyard. The dog as +it approached the father and son hung down his furrowed head and growled +ominously--which was a habit quite unusual with him, in spite of his +aspect of ferocity. + +"Come, Brutus--Hector--Pompey--what is thy name? Come, good dog," said +Jasper Oglander caressingly, snapping his finger and thumb together in +invitation to the dog. But Nero still hung his head, and growlingly +sniffed about the man's feet, coming finally to Philip and growling yet +again. "Ah! he doth well discern that we are strangers to him," +continued Jasper, "or else he doth smell the brine about our clothes. +Such dogs, I have observed, have a natural aversion to seamen." + +"Indeed, uncle, it can scarce be so with Nero," remarked Drusilla, "for +he hath a marvellous fondness for Sir Francis Drake, and Sir Francis is +a seaman in all conscience." + +"Ay, plague on the man," muttered Jasper to himself. And presently he +followed Drusilla across the courtyard and into the house. + +Timothy Trollope had been for the longer half of the night in his young +master's room--a small chamber in the west wing of the house, with very +simple furniture, but being crowded with a variety of toy ships, bows +and arrows, kites, whips, spurs, morions, corselets, rapiers, foreign +shells, snakes bottled in oil, skins of rare animals and birds, and +other curious and boyish gear. In front of the fireplace there was a +large Polar bear skin, with the head still attached, given to Gilbert by +his friend Sir Martin Frobisher. A small casement window in a corner of +the room was fitted like a ship's port-hole, with a demi-culverin made +of brass pointing outward towards a strip of blue sea that could be +discerned far away in the distance beyond the promontory of Rame Head. +Gilbert had once fired this cannon from this same place, loading it +with stone-shot and aiming at a certain chestnut-tree in the park. The +cannon had rebounded even to the farther end of the room, smashing into +a cupboard, much to the damage thereof. The report had alarmed the +household, nay, even the whole country-side for a mile round; it had +come nigh to the deafening of Gilbert himself, for his ears tingled for +many days. Fortunately no one had suffered any hurt; fortunately, also, +the splendid mansion was too well built to suffer from so unwonted a +shock. The lad had fallen into disgrace for a week afterwards and was +forbidden to bring gunpowder into the house again. He regretted the +foolish freak, but in his regret, and despite of the chastisement he +received by order of his stern and offended grandfather, there was still +a sort of boyish satisfaction in his heart--a satisfaction which arose +from the fact that his shot had hit its intended mark. + +Lady Betty smiled as, sitting by her son's bedside in view of the +cannon, she remembered this long-past incident. She had come into the +room in the early morning, and had dismissed Timothy Trollope, bidding +him go and get some sleep and return when the household had risen. +Gilbert had slumbered during the whole time that she had been present +with him, but at the sound of the opening of the door he had awakened, +to find Timothy again at his side and his mother silently retreating on +tiptoe. + +"Ah, she hath gone, and I had hardly known she was here!" sighed +Gilbert. "Go, summon her back, Tim--yet, no; let her not know that I am +awake. 'Twill comfort her to think that I am still asleep. But I am +sorry that she hath gone. I had meant to question her concerning this +Uncle Jasper and his son. For what my mother doth say of them and think +of them is certain to be true and just, whether her judgment be +favourable or the reverse. Didst mark her demeanour towards them +yesternight, Tim? Didst mark if she greeted them in friendly wise?" + +"I marked little of anything, so much was I concerned as to your hurts, +dear master," returned Timothy; "but in so far as I could see, her +ladyship seemed to regard your uncle rather with annoyance than +friendship, and to avoid his near presence as if she misliked his +intrusion." + +"And yet, if I mind aright, my mother hath ofttimes spoken of him as +though she had known him passing well," observed Gilbert, as he +half-raised himself upon his uninjured arm. + +Timothy strode slowly towards the window and looked out into the park. + +"She knew him ere yet she was wedded," he said in a quiet decisive tone, +"so at least my father hath told me. But peradventure 'twas only idle +gossip." + +"Gossip?" repeated Gilbert reprovingly. "Gossip about my mother? +Prithee, what said your father? Come, tell me, Tim." + +"Nay, be not alarmed," said Timothy, turning for amoment from the +window and looking his young master in the face. "'Twas only this, that +when my lady was at Her Majesty's court in Richmond as one of Her +Majesty's ladies-in-waiting, Jasper Oglander did woo her in the hope +that she would wed him, and so cut out his brother, of whom, as thou +knowest, he was bitterly jealous. My lady chose the better man to be her +husband, and Master Jasper departed across the seas to forget his +disappointment in foreign lands." + +"Tut! There is naught in that," rejoined Gilbert with a light laugh. +"'Tis in no wise surprising that Jasper Oglander or any other man should +admire my mother. Doth not all England admire her? Have not a full score +of our best poets penned sonnets in her praise? Out upon thee, Timothy, +out upon thee!" + +"Well, howsoever it be," said Timothy as he gave his head a careless +toss and stood with his thumbs in his belt at the window; "howsoever it +be, I like not the man myself. He is a braggart, of that I am sure, and +there is a look in his eyes that doth betoken deceitfulness." + +"Thy opinion in the matter of people's characters is seldom to be +depended upon, Tim," remarked Gilbert, assuming the gravity of worldly +wisdom. "Thou dost trust overmuch to instinct and too little to a +knowledge of the world. 'Tis a brute dog's method." + +Timothy strode to the bedside and sat down on the chair that Lady Betty +had lately left. He crossed his legs and was silent for a few moments. + +"'Tis true I have not travelled as thou hast done, Master Gilbert, nor +been to a great public school to learn Latin and Greek as thou hast +been. But methinks a brute dog's instinct may yet sometimes be trusted; +and I have even known the dog Nero to be right in his discernment of men +when thou and I have failed. Howbeit, 'tis not for me, who am but a +servant, to say ought in disparagement of your worshipful uncle, who +may, after all, be a very proper gentleman; and I do humbly beseech your +pardon, sir, for having said so much as I have already done." + +There was a light knock at the door. Tim started to his feet. + +"Wilt let us enter, Gilbert?" asked Drusilla in a half-whisper as though +she feared to disturb her brother. "Uncle Jasper and Cousin Philip are +here, and they would be better known to thee." + +Timothy opened the door and they entered. + +"I fear that we disturb thee, Master Gilbert," began Jasper Oglander in +a soft, tender voice, when the greetings had been exchanged. "But we +were anxious, as thou mayest be sure, to make thy good acquaintance, as +we have already made that of thy sweet sister." + +"Thou art right welcome, Uncle Jasper; and thou too, Cousin Philip," +said Gilbert with hearty candour. "Ay, sit you upon the bed, Drusilla," +he added, turning to Drusilla. "But see you come not too near to my lame +foot, for 'tis easily hurt. I am like our grandfather now, when he is +troubled with his gout." + +"Ah! doth the old gentleman suffer much with that complaint, then?" said +Jasper in a tone of sympathetic interest; and, without pausing for an +answer, he went on: "'Tis old age creeping upon him, I doubt. Let me +see--ay--he must be well upon threescore years and ten. But he hath led +a busy life, what with wars, and parliaments, and missions of state, and +religious controversy; 'tis little wonder that his hairs are silvered. +But I thank God and the saints that I find him looking so hale and +well." + +"_The saints_, Uncle Jasper?" cried Drusilla, noticing this slip of the +tongue. "Is it not enough to thank God alone?" + +"Nay, I meant not that, of course," said Jasper, growing very red in the +face, yet passing the matter off with a careless laugh. "You see, in my +travels in foreign countries I have come so much in contact with +Spaniards and others of the Romish faith that I have, as it were, +acquired insensibly their habit of mentioning the saints, to whom they +do so constantly appeal." + +"Yes, I have heard them oftentimes," said Gilbert; "for there be many +Spanish Papists at this present time in Plymouth. Prisoners of war they +are--although it seemeth vain to call them prisoners, for they do go +about the streets with freedom, and are little different from other men +saving that they are not permitted to carry arms." + +"They would speedily find that they were prisoners indeed, if they did +but attempt to escape from our shores, however," interposed Timothy +Trollope. + +Jasper Oglander seemed to take a lively interest in this particular +subject. + +"Prithee, what is their number, and how came they to be prisoners in +England?" he asked of his nephew. + +"I know not truly how many there be," answered Gilbert; "a good two +score, I should say. They were taken on board of the Spanish galleon +_Nuestra Señora del Rosario_, the flagship of Don Pedro de Valdes, who +surrendered to Francis Drake at the time of the Armada fight. Many of +their companions were sent back to Spain, but these remain in Plymouth, +for I know not what reason other than that Queen Elizabeth hath not +chosen to liberate them." + +Having learned so much, Jasper hastened to change the subject. + +"I have been told," he said, "that you received your injuries +yesternight in rescuing one Jacob Hartop, an aged mariner who, as it +chanceth, came home with us from the Indies. Was he, too, wounded in +this encounter?" + +Gilbert turned to Timothy, and Timothy answered: + +"No, your worship; he was but robbed." + +"H'm! the thieves can have gained but sorry booty from so impoverished a +prey," remarked Jasper, with a derisive sneer. "Poor crazed creature, he +was scarce worth the room he occupied aboard our ship! And, indeed, we +should never have consented to bring him but that we were short-handed, +and he so earnestly craved for his passage back to England, and so we +gave him a berth out of mere compassionate charity." + +"Haply, too, you had been acquainted with the man in former years?" +suggested Gilbert. + +Jasper glanced in quick apprehension at his nephew, as if questioning +whether the lad spoke from knowledge or only at random. + +"No, faith, no," he answered, with seeming indifference. "I have but +known him during our late voyage." + +Then Timothy Trollope--remembering how Philip had made inquiry of him +concerning Hartop; remembering, too, how speedily the attack upon the +old seafarer had followed upon his own meeting with Philip Oglander in +the town--ventured to address the two visitors thus: + +"I have been thinking," said he, looking from Jasper to Philip and back +again to Jasper, "that 'tis passing strange you neither saw nor heard +aught of this encounter. You set out from Plymouth at close upon five +o'clock, or only a brief time before my master and I started for home. +You could scarce have arrived at the manor-house very much in advance of +us. 'Tis plain, therefore, that you were at no great distance from +Beddington Dingle at the moment when this thing befell. And yet it +seemeth that you knew naught of the matter until Master Gilbert was +carried wounded into the dining-hall." + +While Timothy spoke Jasper's fingers were idly playing with the fringe +of Gilbert's counterpane. He glanced upward with a composure which at +once dispelled all Timothy's doubts, and remarked with so much seeming +candour that there was no gainsaying the truth of his statement: + +"That same question hath already occurred to me," said he; "and, indeed, +had we chanced to come by that same road I doubt not that we should +certainly have passed your robbers by the way. Peradventure we might +even have been near enough at hand to render you some timely aid in +overcoming the rascals. But it so happened that we journeyed by the +longer way of the main road instead of taking the short cut by the +Beddington Lane." + +"Would that you had indeed been near, uncle!" said Drusilla, as she sat +at the foot of the bed, her two hands stretched out clasping the carved +oak rail against which her back was resting. "For apart from yourself, +who are, as it seemeth, a man of war, I am well assured that Cousin +Philip is a master of fence. I saw his long rapier yesternight. 'Tis +such a weapon as surely none but the skilfullest swordsman could +handle." + +"Ay, 'tis a pretty enough blade," returned Jasper carelessly; "but more +for ornament, I do assure you, than for use, Mistress Drusilla. As for +Philip, he is a sorry hand at such matters. In fencing, as in many other +arts that I have wished him to exercise, he is in truth a very dullard +and bungler." + +Philip Oglander smiled, with his tongue in his cheek. + +"Marry, father, but thou art giving me an over-true character," said he, +modestly hanging his head. "My cousins will think me a dunce indeed if +you herald me thus. But when Cousin Gilbert hath recovered from his +injuries, as I do pray that he speedily may, I will ask him to give me a +few lessons in the use of the rapier." + +"That will I most gladly do," returned Gilbert. "Although, for the +matter of that, Timothy Trollope here would prove a likelier and a +skilfuller teacher than I, for I am still but his pupil." + +"I thank you," said Philip, with a curious lift of his eyebrows as he +glanced across at Timothy. "But so please you, I had rather take my +lessons from a gentleman." + +Timothy winced under the reproach to his lowly birth, and moved away, +busying himself by putting aside some books that his young master had +left lying on the window-shelf. + +"Was not I right, Tim?" remarked Gilbert, some few minutes afterwards, +when Drusilla with her uncle and cousin had departed. "Are not they good +worthy folk, these relatives of mine?" + +"It would ill become me to differ from you, Master Gilbert," answered +Timothy. "My instincts may be at fault." + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + THE OLD BUCCANEER. + + +The sun shone brightly that morning in a clear blue sky, shedding a +glistening light upon the bare wet branches of the trees, and upon the +little pools of water that lay in the hollows of the land and between +the deep long furrows of the ploughed fields. The sleety snow of the +previous night had not rested, but had left the ground soft and slushy, +and as Timothy Trollope strode down one of the narrow lanes in the +direction of the home-farm his great boots sank deep into the mud at +every stride. + +"'Tis true enough. God wot 'tis true I am no gentleman," he said to +himself as he went along, regardless of the mire. "Nevertheless, I like +not the lad's manner of telling me so. 'Twas ill-bred, at the least; and +doubly hurtful in that 'twas true. Haply he knew by my raiment, or by my +speech, or my ungainly movements, that I am lowly born. 'Tis passing +strange how these gentlefolks do know their own class. They will +recognize a man of good breeding from across the street, and tell him +from a churl though he have not so much as opened his lips. And yet 'tis +not the fashion of his coat that doth proclaim him a gentleman, else +would Philip Oglander himself be writ down the veriest varlet, for a +more ill-favoured fashion than his I have not seen upon a gentleman +these many days. Nay, I like him not, despite Master Gilbert. And his +words do rankle in me like the sting of a wasp. '_I thank you; but so +please you, I had rather take my lessons from a gentleman._' A +gentleman, forsooth! Marry, I have taught a better gentleman than him to +use the rapier. Howbeit, there is a medicine for every malady, and it +may be that yon simpering fool shall some day take from me a lesson that +he wots not of." + +At the end of the lane Timothy came upon some men who were at work +thatching the roof of one of the farm cottages. The man at the foot of +the ladder was Jake Thew, the same who had ridden in pursuit of the +robbers. + +"What ho there, Jake!" cried Timothy, as he clambered up to the gate. +"Didst catch a sight of those rascally Egyptians yesternight?" + +"More than a sight, Master Trollope; I catched themselves," came the +ready answer. "That is to say, Thomas Lee and I did catch 'em. Thomas +rid round by the highroad with William his son. They doubled at the +corner of Beddington Lane with intent to meet us in the dingle. We met +nigh upon half a mile from the spot where Master Gilbert was wounded, +sir. The three of us did scour the country-side, now this way, now that, +until well upon midnight; and at last we came upon the vagabonds lying +hidden in a place that we'd passed a good half-dozen times--Beddington +Dingle to wit. Thomas Lee let fire his pistol upon them, though +purposely aiming above their heads, lest he should kill one of them and +so be brought up for murder; and the rascals surrendered. So we carried +them off and lodged them in Plymouth gaol, sir, where they both now +are." + +"Both?" echoed Timothy. "And were there not three of them in all?" + +Jake left the foot of the ladder, his companions being now on the +cottage roof, and waded through the mud to where Timothy was. + +"Nay, sir, there were but two; we sought for three, but the third had +made good his escape. And well for him that he did so, for 'twas he--so +Robert Harvey avers--who ran his rapier into Master Gilbert's arm." + +"Plague on the man!" cried Timothy, in vexation. "But we shall catch him +yet, I promise you. Prithee, did the constable search the men ere you +came away?" + +"There was small need to search 'em, my master. The booty they took was +scarce so portable as to be stowed away beneath their jerkins. We found +it all in two great meal-sacks that they carried off from the barn. And +a pretty catalogue it was withal--_item_, three young capons; _item_, +one fat hen; _item_, a sucking pig, divers farm implements, and a lordly +goose that Dame Trevenen the hen-wife was feeding up for Christmas." + +"Ay, a goodly haul, o' my conscience," agreed Timothy. "But found ye +nought of what the rogues stole from the old man?" + +"Nay," answered Jake with a shake of his head. "Although 'tis true that +young Robin Redfern passing through the dingle early this morning, did +come upon an old and worthless wallet, which might indeed have belonged +to the man you speak of. 'Twas empty, though--empty as a hatched +egg,--and Robin left it where it lay among last year's brambles." + +"Ah! he had better have brought it with him," said Timothy, "for it will +serve as evidence to convict the thieves alike of the stealing of the +poultry and the wounding of Master Gilbert. And now," he added, "what +canst tell me touching this same old man? Didst see him yesternight +after I left him on the road?" + +Jake Thew nodded and smiled. + +"That we did, my master," said he. "We encountered him nigh unto Modbury +Bridge. He was tramping along full contented and jovial, singing lustily +enough to wake the very birds in the trees. 'Twas the ballad of _The +Beggar's Daughter of Bednall Green_ that he sang. And in truth he might +well have been that same beggar himself, so ill-favoured was he, and so +poorly clad withal." + +"Ay," rejoined Trollope, "but, if I mind aright, your beggar man of +Bednall Green did turn out in the end to be a man of substance, and more +wealthy than any one of his daughter's wooers. Whereas this Jacob Hartop +hath not a groat in the world to call his own, saving what he may claim, +by virtue of his calling, from the seamen's chest at Chatham, which Sir +Francis Drake hath made for the relief of aged mariners." + +"He will not want for friendly help in these parts, howsoever," remarked +Thew, "for it seemeth he was born in Modbury village, and there be many +there still living who have some remembrance of him as a young man ere +he went upon the sea, and who will gladly give him both food and +shelter. There is the widow Frampton for one, who took him into her +cottage yesternight and gave him a supper and a bed, by reason that he +sailed in the same ship with her goodman to the Spanish Main. You will +find him there even now, sir, if so be you would see him." + +Timothy waited only to make certain further inquiries concerning the +identity of the two men who had been taken to the gaol, and then set off +on his way down to the village. + +He went first to the widow Frampton's cottage, a clean little thatched +dwelling, with the dry and faded stalks of honeysuckle about the +trellised porch and a tiny garden in front. He asked for Jacob Hartop, +and was told that the old man had wandered out to enjoy the fresh +morning air. Timothy inquired which way he had gone, and was told that +he would perhaps find him down beside the sign of the Champernoun Arms, +as he had said before going out that he had a mind to have a gossip with +some of the villagers over a pot of home-brewed ale. + +Timothy made his way along the street past many whitewashed cottages, +all curiously striped with cross beams of black oak, and looking very +sweet and cosy with their thatched roofs and their smoking chimneys. A +turn in the road brought him within a few yards of the village well. +About a dozen curly-headed boys and girls stood round it, and in their +midst, sitting on the stone parapet that encircled the fountain, was +Jacob Hartop. He was easily known by the fact that he still wore Gilbert +Oglander's cloak, with its badge of the Oglanders on the shoulder. The +old man's back was towards Timothy, and the lad went quietly up behind +him until he came within sound of his voice. Jacob was holding forth to +his juvenile audience on the precious virtues of pure water, a cup of +which liquid he held in his right hand, resting on his knee. + +"Ay," he was saying as Timothy drew near, "I told ye but a little while +ago of all the gold and precious stones that I possessed--enough and +more in value, as I say, to buy up all Plymouth and Modbury. Well, I +would, at times, willingly have given the whole of that treasure for one +such little cup of water as this. Ah! 'tis a terrible thing to be dying +of thirst, my boys, as many of our brave men were a-dying at that time +aboard the _Golden Galleon_. 'Tis to be compared only with the tortures +of the Inquisition. But there, bairns, methinks I have talked enough +about myself and my ship. What would ye next--a song--a fairy tale?" + +Timothy was about to break into the circle, but the voice of a +yellow-haired little maid of some ten or eleven years old checked him. + +"You did say you would tell us of Captain Drake," she said. + +"Yes," chimed in a boy at her elbow, "thou didst say we should hear how +it was that Sir Francis was crippled. I have oft wondered, when I have +seen him going up to my lord's great house yonder, how it was that he +came to walk lame." + +Hartop laid his cup of water aside on the parapet of the well, and took +the yellow-haired maid in his arms and perched her upon his knee. The +other children gathered closer round him. + +"You must know, then," he began, looking from one to the other of the +rosy faces, "that our great enemies the Spaniards have long been famous +for the vast wealth that they have gathered out yonder in the islands +that we name the West Indies. Every year King Philip doth send out a +fleet of his galleons to bring home to Spain their cargoes of silver and +gold. 'Tis that same vast wealth that hath made him able to fit out his +armadas and pay his armies of soldiers to fight against your fathers. +Now Queen Elizabeth (God bless her!) hath ever been anxious to stop +those treasures from crossing over to Spain, and she hath allowed +Captain Drake and others of her great seamen, as well as such more +humble buccaneers as myself, to rove the Spanish Main and capture such +treasure-ships as came in their way, also to land their forces on the +Spanish islands and strip King Philip's treasure-houses of the gold and +silver therein stored." + +At this point Timothy Trollope, being somewhat interested in the +narrative, sat down on the edge of the well with his back against one of +the pillars of the winch. + +"One such treasure-house was at a place which the Spaniards called +Nombre de Dios," continued Hartop, "a town of the same size as Plymouth. +The great building in which all the gold and silver was stored was named +the Treasure House of the World, and I promise you it well merited the +name. If all the cottages in Modbury village were made of solid silver +and the church there of solid gold, there would yet be less than was +contained in the place I speak of. All the ships now lying in Plymouth +harbour would not have been able to carry it away, though they had gone +all together and made two voyages over their work. + +"Now Captain Drake made up his mind to have that treasure and carry it +off, even though he should cast it all into the deep sea before he came +home again to England; for he well knew that if it should ever reach +Spain King Philip would thus be made so rich that he could build more +ships of war than any other monarch in all the world. So to Nombre de +Dios did Drake take his ships. Their crews were made up of the best +young men of Devon." + +"And were you also with Drake at that time, Master Hartop?" asked one of +the elder boys, whose name was Robin Redfern. + +"I had that honour; yes," said Hartop. "And well I mind the night that +we landed. 'Twas a stormy night. The clouds were as black as my cloak, +and the rain was such as you never saw in dear old England. By +misfortune the Spaniards got wind of our coming, and we had but reached +the main street of the town when they sounded the alarm. They blew their +trumpets, they rang their great bells, their soldiers appeared in vast +numbers at every corner, firing their muskets and their arrows into our +midst. Many of our best men fell. But Captain Drake still urged us on, +and we gladly followed his lead, for we knew that, despite the greater +number of our enemies, we were more than equal to them in bravery, and +that the gold was still within our reach--that, indeed, Master Oxenham +and Captain Drake's brother John had already gone round with their men +to break open the treasure-house doors. While these our comrades were +thus occupied, Captain Drake meant to return to the middle of the town +and engage our enemies in a wide, open market-place. Be called to us to +follow him thither. He stepped briskly forward to lead the way, and then +with a cheery cry on his lips he suddenly rolled over in the wet sand, +with his face as white as this little lady's frock. + +"'Twas daylight by that time, and I had myself seen that with every step +he had taken, for the distance of it may be half a mile, he had left the +imprint of his foot in blood. Ever since our first encounter with the +Spaniards he had been secretly struggling against a desperate wound in +his leg, saying never a word about it, but hiding it lest the knowledge +of it might dishearten us. He had gone bravely on until he could no +longer stand. There, lying well-nigh dead upon the sand, he beseeched us +to proceed with our work. We refused, and he grew angry. Again and again +he entreated us, but we told him--which was no more than the truth--that +his life was dearer to us than all the wealth of the Indies. We carried +him down to our boats and took him aboard his ship, leaving the +Spaniards and their wealth behind. And that was the end of our attempt +upon the Treasure House of the World. + +"'Twas long ere Captain Drake was well enough to leave his bed, but ever +since that time he hath walked with a limp in his gait. May he walk +through this life for many and many a year yet to come, say I!" + +"Amen to that!" chimed in Timothy Trollope, rising and walking round to +the other side of the well and greeting Jacob Hartop. + +The old man looked very different now from the weary and storm-tossed +wanderer of the night before. His weather-beaten face had been newly +washed, and was of a clear ruddy brown, albeit wrinkled with many lines +that were as the river courses upon a map. His silvery hair and beard +had been trimmed and combed, and he wore a small white ruff that covered +from view his thin and scraggy neck. Some kindly villagers had given him +a shepherd's jacket of russet frieze with red sleeves, a pair of thick +start-up boots, and a pair of rough cloth stockings. He lifted the +yellow-haired maid from his knee and stood up, taking Timothy's hand. + +"How fares your young master?" he inquired; and when Timothy had told +him, he bade farewell to the children and walked by the tall young +fellow's side towards the bridge that crossed the little river. There he +paused as if about to turn back, but Timothy drew him on, telling him +that Lord Champernoun had ordered that if he could be found he was to be +brought up to the manor-house. + +"My lord was ill pleased that you came not yesternight," said Tim. "And +it seemeth that Sir Walter Raleigh, hearing that you had been in the +Indies, hath also expressed a wish to have speech with you." + +"Sir Walter Raleigh?" repeated Hartop in a tone of surprise. "Ah! then +'tis my bounden duty to go with you. I knew not that he was within a +hundred miles of this place. And I have news for him. But I gave you my +reasons for avoiding Modbury Manor at this present time. I wanted not to +meet again with Master Jasper Oglander, of whom, God wot, I have already +seen more than pleaseth me. I wot well that he did intend to go thither +yesternight. Didst find him there when ye went in, prithee?" + +Timothy nodded. "We found him and his son at the table when we carried +Master Gilbert into the dining-hall," he said. + +"And the sigñora his wife? Was not she also present?" asked the old man, +glancing up at Timothy as it were with the corner of his eye. + +"No," answered Trollope; "I heard naught of her." + +"Ah!" returned Hartop in a tone which Timothy did not exactly +understand. + +And then, after a few moments' silence, Jacob added, as if speaking to +himself: "'Tis as I judged, then--and yet--?" + +Timothy stroked his upper lip meditatively, and then, turning abruptly +upon the old mariner: "Now, prithee, what doubts and questions art thou +turning over in thy mind?" he inquired. + +Jacob Hartop set his eyes straight before him up the long lane and +strode on in resolute silence. But Timothy was pertinacious; he nudged +his elbow against Jacob's arm. + +"I'll tell thee what thou'rt thinking, Master Hartop," said he smiling. +"Thou'rt thinking that 'tis passing strange that Jasper Oglander and his +son were so close at hand at the time that thou wert robbed--nay, more, +I'll warrant me thou'rt even questioning whether they were not +themselves the very men who robbed thee." + +Jacob Hartop suddenly came to a stand-still and stared at Timothy in +wonderment. + +"By St George," he exclaimed, "thou'rt a very 'cute and promising lad, +Timothy! Beshrew me if thou'st not hit upon my veritable thoughts! 'Twas +that in truth that I was questioning. But there be many points, +nevertheless, that seem to disprove the suspicion; as, firstly, if +Jasper and his son sought to rob me, why did they not rob me aboard the +ship, where the matter was as easy as eating and drinking? Secondly, if +'twas they who robbed me, how came it that there was a third man in the +work with them? And who might that third man have been? But on the other +hand, mark you, if 'twas not they who did it, who else were my +assailants? Who other than they could have known that I had aught about +me that was worth the robbing?" + +"Ah! then you were not so poor as you did look?" cried Timothy. "You did +indeed carry something of value in your wallet?" + +"'Twas something which would most certainly have been accounted of +value--of the most exceeding value--by Queen Elizabeth, or Francis +Drake, or Walter Raleigh, or even perchance by my Lord Champernoun, but +by few else," answered Jacob Hartop. "Your common footpad rascal who +seeketh for that which will buy him bread would peradventure have cast +it into the fire, not guessing at its import." + +"And yet you hinted but a moment ago that Jasper Oglander did know you +had that about you which was worth the robbing," said Timothy. + +"Ay, but Jasper Oglander is different," returned Hartop gravely. "He is +without honour, and without conscience, a vile dissembler, and--" He +broke off, recollecting that Timothy was a servant in Modbury Manor, +and that it was therefore unwise to speak thus of Lord Champernoun's +son. "But why should I catalogue his faults?" he continued. "If you +would learn more of him, you have but to question Sir Francis Drake, who +will haply tell you more than I dare tell. 'Twas indiscreet in me to +mention Jasper in this connection; but your own remark took me unawares. +Nevertheless I am by no means certain that it was not indeed Jasper +Oglander who attacked and robbed me yesternight--to say nothing of the +wounding of your young master who rescued me--and I am minded to find +out the truth, though it cost me until the end of the year in the search +for it." + +"You might better have said to the end of this lane," smiled Timothy, +"for I can at once set your mind at ease. Like yourself, Master Hartop, +I had vaguely suspected that Jasper Oglander had had a hand in this +affair; but he hath given my suspicions a very positive denial, for he +hath declared that both he and Master Philip did journey round by the +highroad, and were nowhere near to Beddington Dingle. Also, the actual +thieves have been discovered." + +Hartop glanced at Timothy with a curious light in his eyes. + +"And yet," said he, "I traced both Jasper and Philip's footprints in the +snowy ground of Beddington Lane. What should that bode, I pray you?" + +"Tut!" retorted Timothy. "How know you their footprints from those of +any other honest folk?" + +The old mariner answered with quiet deliberation, and with a firmness +that seemed to show that he had little doubt upon the matter: + +"By the token that Jasper Oglander's feet do turn slightly inward as he +walks, and by the fact that his boots be pointed at the toes, in the +Spanish fashion. By the token, too, that in the snow, hard against the +left bootmark of him who walked by his side, there was here and there a +little line, made by the point of a rapier scabbard--made, as I take it, +by the point of Philip Oglander's rapier, which, if you will have +occasion to observe, is a weapon of unusual length." + +"Marry!" cried Trollope. "Thou art surely a very bloodhound in thy skill +at tracking!" + +"'Tis an art that hath oft served me in good stead," returned Hartop. "I +learned it from John Hawkins. And, touching this matter of the wounding +of Master Gilbert, didst chance to regard the fashion of his adversary's +sword-play?" + +Timothy shook his head. "I knew naught of the encounter till 'twas +over," he answered. "Yet wait; Master Gilbert did indeed tell me this +morning that the man had enwrapped his guard arm with the skirt of his +cloak." + +"Ay, Philip Oglander's own method. I had guessed so much," said Hartop +with a confident nod of his head. + +"What?" exclaimed Timothy. "You will say that it was Philip Oglander? +'Tis not possible, man. Why, the lad's own father informed us only this +morning that Philip was but a dullard--a very dunce--at the use of the +rapier. The lad admitted as much also, and even spoke of taking lessons +from Master Gilbert. It is not possible, I say." + +"Ah! I do perceive that thou art yet but a simple countryman, Master +Trollope," rejoined Jacob Hartop as he paused at the edge of a great +slough of mud that was in front of him and turned to his companion. "A +simple country lad that doth see no guile, knowing not of man's manifold +wickednesses. But thou'lt learn wisdom with growing years. . . . And so +he declared that his son was but a dullard at sword-play, eh? Hark'ee, +my lad; attend to an old man's counsel; and when Jasper Oglander--ay, or +his son--doth say that a thing is white, believe thou that 'tis in truth +black. When he doth declare that he is a devout and zealous Protestant, +believe thou that he is in truth an ardent and bigoted Papist. When he +doth declare--as I doubt not he soon will--that he is heart and soul for +Queen Elizabeth, believe thou that he is all in all for King Philip and +Spain. When--" + +"Enough!" exclaimed Timothy drawing back a step in anger. "I will hear +no more. You are the man's enemy and do but speak against him falsely. +He hath given you his help, and yet you turn against him and decry him +as though he were a very villain. You say that it was he who robbed you. +I tell you 'tis false--false as your own calumnies. Ay, and I will prove +its falseness, for the men who robbed you have been caught. They were +caught at a late hour yesternight and are now lying in Plymouth gaol." + +The old man started at Timothy, astonished and perplexed. Then he turned +and carefully picked his way across the slough of mud, saying never a +word. At length, when the lad again came to his side, he said very +calmly: + +"Are you certain sure of this that you tell me, Master Trollope? Are you +certain that these men have been caught?" + +"Certain," Timothy answered curtly. And they continued their journey in +silence. + +At this same time Baron Champernoun was in his great gloomy library with +Sir Walter Raleigh and Raleigh's cousin, Sir Richard Grenville. His +lordship was seated before the fire in a large arm-chair, with his head +supported upon pillows and his feet propped up in front of him on a high +hassock. Raleigh had been writing at the table, but had now swung round +his chair and sat with his two hands clasping one of his knees, looking +down at the crimson rosette that adorned his dainty shoe. Grenville +stood with his back to the cheek of the fireplace. He was a tall, +broad-shouldered seaman of about fifty years of age, with dark curly +hair and a full, pointed beard that was sprinkled with gray. There was +an easy, careless look about him, and his voice when he spoke seemed to +have in it something of the deep low murmur of the sea. + +"Ay, cousin Walter," he was saying, "thou hast made a stroke of ill-luck +for once with this _Pearl_. She hath never brought thee much profit to +speak of, and this last adventure of hers doth bring her misfortunes to +a climax. 'Tis the first time I have known a ship come home from the +Indies lacking a cargo that would amply repay her owners for their +outlay. And her crew, from what Master Jasper hath told us, are of as +little value as herself, what with graybeards for sailing-masters and +negroes for seamen. I never saw the negro yet who could handle a rope or +trim a sail. 'Tis surprising to me that with such a ship's company the +craft hath ever reached port. What wilt do with the old hulk now, +Walter,--break it up for firewood, or sell it to thine enemy?" + +"Sell the ship, Raleigh,--sell her to Jasper Oglander," interposed Lord +Champernoun with a chuckling laugh. "I'll go to the expense of fitting +her out anew for him. 'Twill be a cheap enough way of getting rid of him +for another year or two." + +"I will sell her most willingly, baron, an you are serious," remarked +Raleigh. "But I promise you it would be cheaper far to build a new +vessel altogether. The _Pearl_ is one of your old-fashioned craft. We +have made an hundred improvements in our ships since she was +launched--thanks to John Hawkins and other skilled and worthy +navigators. We have devised the striking of the topmast, together with +the chain-pump. We have invented studding sails, top-gallant sails, +sprit sails, topsails. We now weigh our anchors by the capstan. Our +hulls are now built on longer keels than formerly, with lowered +superstructure and finer lines, which make them swifter and capable of +carrying more sail. Compare such a heavy cumbrous ship as the _Pearl_ +with our vessels of the newer sort, such as the _Revenge_. The +improvement is too great to admit of controversy." + +"Thou'rt right, cousin Walter," said Grenville, advancing a step and +seating himself on an oak settle that stood beyond the too-great warmth +of the fire. "Wiseacres, who knew less than we, declared that our new +ships would be too crank to carry sail, and only fit for smooth water, +and they foretold that they would surely founder in the heavy seas of +the Atlantic. But the result hath disproved their prophecies." + +"The high charging of ships was but a huge mistake," pursued Raleigh. +"Those towering castles at stern and prow did but increase the ship's +leeway, made her sink too deep in the water, and tended to overset her." + +"I am not learned in these matters," remarked Lord Champernoun with some +impatience. "But touching that ship the _Revenge_, which you mentioned +just now, Raleigh, did I not hear some weeks since that she had met with +some grave disaster?" + +Sir Walter Raleigh picked up his quill from the table and began idly to +nibble at the feather end, leaving his cousin to answer the question. + +"'Twas a small matter, as things have turned out," said Grenville; "and +although it might indeed have been serious, yet there was not a single +life lost. She was riding at her moorings in the river Medway, off the +town of Rochester, with naught but her bare masts overhead, and in a +great storm of wind and weather she suddenly turned topsy-turvy, her +keel uppermost. Howsoever, they have righted her now, and she is being +refitted for her next voyage, whithersoever that may be." + +"Her destination hath not yet been decided upon," remarked Raleigh. "But +there is talk of her being despatched to join others of Her Majesty's +ships that are now lying in wait off the Western Islands to intercept +and capture the Spanish plate fleet, which should be returning from +Havana at about this time. But I much doubt that 'tis already too late +for her to enter upon that journey, and it may be that she will be +commissioned for the expedition to Panama." + +Sir Richard Grenville slowly rose to his feet, and touching Raleigh on +the shoulder, "Look you, cousin Walter," he said, "'tis not often that I +do ask you a favour, but an you love me I would beseech you to use your +influence with Her Majesty on my account, and advise her with all your +eloquence to graciously appoint me to the command of the _Revenge_." + +"Thou shalt have it, Dick; on my honour thou shalt have it," returned +Raleigh, turning about and clapping the rough seaman on the broad back. + +"Ay," interposed Lord Champernoun, "and thou shalt take my young +grandson Gilbert with thee, Grenville. I had rather he learned +seamanship under thee than under any other man in all Her Majesty's +service." + +At this moment there was a knock at the library door, and Timothy +Trollope entered, followed by Jacob Hartop. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + CONCERNING A STOLEN LETTER. + + +Timothy had given the old man a pair of cloth shoes in place of the +mud-covered boots that he had worn on his walk from the village, and had +himself changed his rough outdoor clothes for a suit of dark-blue +frieze. + +"What have we here?" questioned the baron, turning in his chair and +looking towards the door. + +"'Tis Master Jacob Hartop, my lord," answered Timothy, "the same who was +robbed yesternight." + +"That matter is settled, for the men are arrested," said his lordship +with a wave of his thin white hand that was meant for a dismissal. "I +have now no need of the man's evidence. You had best take him down to +the town and let Justice Oldfield examine him." His eyes rested upon +Hartop for a moment. "Yet stay," he added. And then, addressing Hartop, +he said: "Art thou a man of Devon, prithee?" + +"I am, your lordship," answered Jacob. "So please you, I am Modbury +born, and did serve your lordship's family in my youth--until, my lord, +your father got me a ship and I went to sea." + +"How long time have you been absent from England?" Lord Champernoun +asked, gazing dreamily into the fire. + +"'Tis nigh upon three-and-twenty years since last I trod upon these +shores," the old mariner answered. + +"What is your history during all those years?" pursued the nobleman. + +"A troublous one, my lord. So please you, I was one of Captain John +Hawkins' men that went out with him from Plymouth in the year fifteen +hundred and sixty-seven. I was his master's mate aboard the _Minion_, +and was with him in his fight at San Juan de Ulloa. Captain Hawkins left +me, with certain others, in Mexico, where I remained for two years, +until I fell into the hands of the Spaniards, who carried me off to +Spain. I was a prisoner in the Contratation House of Cadiz for twelve +months, and a slave in one of the galleys of Don Andrea Doria for two +years more, being present as a slave on that admiral's flag-ship at the +battle of Lepanto." He broke off, glancing nervously from one to the +other of the company. At the mention of the battle of Lepanto Sir +Richard Grenville raised his eyebrows. No one spoke, however, and +presently the old buccaneer continued: + +"Transferred to one of King Philip's great galleons, I was taken once +more to the Spanish Indies; but by God's providence the galleon was +captured on the high seas by Captain Ned Horseley, the English +buccaneer, and I was by him handed over to Captain Francis Drake. Under +Drake, so please you, I served at the attack on Nombre de Dios, and at +the taking of Porto Bello in the year seventy-two. Again I fell into the +hands of our enemies, and was for eight long years in the Everlasting +Prison Remediless in Hispaniola; since when I have been in the +Indies--in Darien, in Brazil, in Virginia. I had the good fortune to +come into possession of a great galleon, with which I roved the seas, +making many conquests and gaining great wealth. But again I had the ill +fortune to lose her. Thereafter I found my way out to the Western +Indies, and have now come back from Havana in the good ship _Pearl_." + +His listeners nodded and smiled as he ended his narrative. + +"What say you to that, Sir Walter?" asked Lord Champernoun, turning to +Raleigh. + +"A goodly record, o' my conscience," returned Sir Walter. And glancing +towards Hartop he added: "And so thou hast been robbed--eh, my man? +Prithee, what might have been the value of your stolen property?" + +Hartop hesitated and looked a little confused. At last he said, bowing +to Raleigh: + +"So please your honour, is it to Sir Walter Raleigh that I do now +speak?" + +Sir Walter Raleigh nodded. "Yes, I was asking thee the value of thy +stolen goods." + +"Nay, I know not precisely," answered Hartop. "It might be about the +value of five or six hundred pounds in the form of pearls and emeralds +and gew-gaws of such sort. But of these I care naught, for there was +that in my wallet which I had rather have given my life than lose--a +letter addressed to your worshipful self, that I was bidden to give with +all speed into your honour's hands. I had thought it was safe in the +pocket of my hose until late yesternight, but then I minded that ere I +left the ship I put it into my wallet. And 'tis gone--God forgive me, +'tis gone!" + +"From Havana, say you?" cried Sir Walter Raleigh doubtingly. "Prithee, +who writ it?" + +"Captain William Marsden, please your worship." + +"Marsden?" echoed Raleigh. "But he is dead. He died ere the _Pearl_ set +sail on her homeward voyage. Jasper Oglander told me so. 'Twas of a +malarial fever that he died." + +Hartop shook his head and rejoined very calmly: "No; so please your +worship 'twas not fever. Master Oglander must surely have been +misinformed, or else--" He broke off, glancing apprehensively at Lord +Champernoun. "Captain Marsden was murdered, your worship, and he writ +the letter, knowing beforehand that his life was menaced." + +"Some treachery at work, eh?" muttered Sir Walter. "Well, and the +letter. Dost know naught of its purport?" + +"Naught saving the words that the captain spake as he gave it unto me," +answered Hartop. "They were these: 'Guard the letter with thy life, +Hartop, and let no Spaniard or friend of Spain know aught of its +existence. Deliver it into the hands of Sir Walter Raleigh wheresoever +he may be found, and, failing him, any one of Her Majesty's privy +councillors. If thou shouldst fall into the hands of our enemies, +destroy the letter. If thou shouldst lose it, which Heaven forfend, go +still to Raleigh and tell him this: tell him that the King of Spain's +people in the Indies have gathered together here in the treasure-houses +of Havana the vastest store of silver and gold that hath ever been known +upon earth, and that it is the intention of the King to have all this +treasure transported into Spain, to the end that he may--in revenge for +the great loss he hath lately suffered at the hands of England--build a +yet greater armada than that of two years ago, wherewith to invade and +conquer our Queen's dominions. Bid Sir Walter bear this in mind: that +the taking of that treasure into Spain doth mean nothing short of the +downfall of England and all her glory upon the seas.'" + +"Yes, yes," interrupted Sir Walter, striding to and fro athwart the end +of the table. "But all this I did know passing well before--although, +indeed I was scarce aware that the treasure was so great. Even now at +this present time Hawkins and Frobisher are lying in wait with their +ships at the Azores, with intent to intercept the Spanish galleons." + +"Your pardon, sir, but so please you I am not done," returned Jacob +Hartop. "The more important part is to come. King Philip of Spain, it +seemeth from what Captain Marsden told me, is fully aware that the +English ships are even now lying in wait for his galleons; and the +captain bade me tell your honour that if matters remain as they now are, +those ships will continue so to lie inactive until their hulls be all +eaten with the worm and their crews all dead of famine and disease." + +"And how so?" demanded Raleigh in a loud voice. "Are they not as well +equipped as any fleet that ever sailed out of England, quotha?" + +Hartop shrank back, overawed by the great courtier's imperative manner. + +"I am striving to repeat Captain Marsden's message," he said meekly; and +then he went on more boldly: "Inclosed with the letter I have so +unfortunately lost there was, I believe (although I of course saw it +not), a copy of King Philip's own private instructions to the admiral of +the plate fleet, sent out secretly to Havana. They arrived there but +three days before Captain Marsden received his intelligence. Those +instructions were to the effect that the galleons were to remain in +Havana throughout the winter, and to set sail on the first day of the +month of March next, by which time the English ships, their hulls rotten +and their crews reduced by pestilence, would be too weak to offer any +obstacle." + +"Ah, now do I begin to perceive some daylight!" exclaimed Sir Walter +Raleigh--"as much, it may be, as if I had e'en read the letter thou hast +guarded so ill." He turned to Lord Champernoun. "That letter must be +found," he said. "It will go ill with us if it fall into the hands of +any friend of Spain. I beg thee to see to it in such wise as may seem +most expedient. In the meantime--although I am sorry to abridge my so +pleasant visit--I must hie me back to London. Cousin Dick," he added, +nodding to Captain Grenville, "there is work for thee in this matter, I +do promise thee." + +Timothy Trollope had not heard this conversation. Having ushered Jacob +Hartop into Lord Champernoun's presence, he had withdrawn from the +library and made his way up the stairs to his young master's bedroom. +The sound of merry laughter greeted him from within as he reached the +door. He knocked and entered, and found Gilbert sitting up in bed with a +smile on his face, and with his bandaged arm resting in a sling of +brilliant red silk. The Lady Betty sat at his bedside, at work with her +needle upon a piece of tapestry; Drusilla, seated on a low stool at her +mother's feet, was nursing a litter of mewing kittens. Philip Oglander +occupied a chair close by, and was speaking when Timothy appeared, +entertaining his cousins by his descriptions of life in Brazil, of +adventurous journeys through primeval forests, of horseback rides across +the wide pampas, and dream-like voyages among the islands of the +Antilles. + +"And prithee, cousin Philip, didst never go to any school out there in +those beauteous places?" asked Drusilla. + +And Philip answered: + +"Nay, there be neither schools nor colleges in the Brazil, saving only +those which are kept up by the Jesuit fathers, and with them and their +Romish fashions I could have no dealings." + +"And yet thou'rt not lacking in classical knowledge," remarked Lady +Betty with a smile, as she plied her busy needle; "for I heard thee but +a little while since reading to Gilbert out of his book of Virgil, and +it seemeth to me that thy skill in the Latin tongue doth greatly excel +that of many English boys I have known who have studied at the great +colleges of Oxford." + +At this Philip shrugged his shoulders and affected to make light of the +accomplishment, concealing the fact that it was one of those same Jesuit +priests who had taught him in one of the Romish colleges of Brazil. + +Lady Betty smiled at him yet again. "Thou'rt too modest, Master Philip," +said she. + +"Ay," added Gilbert; "but I have observed that Philip doth ever strive +to avoid all vain boastfulness." + +"'Tis a commendable quality," remarked his mother. + +Clearly did it appear to Timothy Trollope that Philip had already won +his way into the good opinion of his relatives, and that they were +disposed to like him, not only because of his relationship, but also, as +it seemed, because of a certain air of natural courtliness that revealed +itself in his manner of speech. Moreover, there was an attraction in his +dark handsome face and in his dreamy beautiful eyes which made him very +winsome. Even Timothy, who had from the first taken a strong prejudice +against him, could not but admit to himself that there was something of +inborn nobility about the lad which might give the lie to all that old +Hartop had hinted regarding him. + +Later on that same day, when Sir Walter Raleigh and his retinue had +departed, Timothy took horse and rode in to Plymouth to attend the +examination of the two poachers before Justice Oldfield. Jacob Hartop, +Bob Harvey, and Jake Thew had ridden in advance of him, and he did not +overtake them until they were on the outskirts of the town, at a little +wayside hostelry where their horses were stabled, and thence they walked +to the court-house. + +Hartop and Timothy walked together along by the harbour, when, on +approaching the quay against which the good ship _Pearl_ was now lying, +they came upon a crowd of men--mariners, fishermen, and merchants--who +appeared to be greatly concerned in some matter which was going on in +their midst. + +[Illustration: "AND HOW FARES IT WITH THEE, OLD SHIPMATE?"] + +"Ah! I can e'en guess what 'tis," said Hartop. "'Tis Captain Evans +putting up our crew of blackamoors to auction. He bought 'em over in +Florida, lacking better hands, to work the ship home. Ay, and a sorry +lot they proved, Master Timothy. I warrant he'll get scarce a half of +the price he gave for them. Thou seest the black woolly poll of the tall +African who is standing upon the wine-cask close against the auctioneer? +We named him Æsop, by reason of his fables. He was once upon a time the +reigning king of a country nigh unto Sierra Leone, with as many wives as +there be days in the year. Captain Hawkins captured him and sold him to +the Spaniards. He served as our cook aboard the _Pearl_, and I promise +you he made such soup as the Queen herself might relish. As for his +manner of cooking a cutting from off the side of a shark, why, Lor' +bless you, sir!--" + +The old man broke off abruptly as a heavy hand was laid on his shoulder. + +"Od's life!" exclaimed the hearty voice of Sir Francis Drake. "So 'tis +thy very self, Jacob? Faith, thou'rt passing nimble on thy feet, for all +thy gray hairs. And how fares it with thee, old shipmate? Hast brought +thy fortune home with thee?" + +"Fortune, Captain Drake?" returned Hartop, grasping the knight's +proffered hand; "Lor' bless you, sir, I'd none to bring saving only a +handful of precious stones that were stolen from me within an hour's +time of my landing. No, the great fortune that you wot of, and the +_Golden Galleon_ that carried it, now lie at the bottom of the sea--a +wealthy treasure-house that hath claimed tribute from many a good ship +that you and I have known, Master Drake." + +Sir Francis nodded. + +"True, Jacob, true," said he with a sad smile that seemed to betoken a +world of melancholy memories, "and the last long home of many a goodly +man of Devon that hath been our shipmates! Ay, man, and thou hast lost +it, eh? Why, 'twould have made thee one of the wealthiest men in all +England had it been brought home here to Plymouth. But I had e'en +guessed that some such dire misfortune had befallen thee when I heard +that thou hadst come hither aboard this worm-eaten old craft, the +_Pearl_; for well did I know that friend Hartop must surely have been +put to the hardest of shifts ere he would consent to sail i' the same +vessel as Master Jasper Oglander. And, touching that matter, Jacob, how +came it I pray you, that Jasper got possession of any ship of Sir Walter +Raleigh's?" + +"He had chartered her for the homeward voyage," answered Hartop, "and +spent his last groat in victualling her. Master John Evans was our +captain, the command falling to him on the death of your old friend, +Will Marsden." + +"'Tis a fact, then, that Will is dead?" cried Drake in a tone of +surprised inquiry, as he gazed across the harbour. Then lowering his +voice and touching Jacob on the shoulder he added: "Prithee, Jacob, +answer me this--had he you wot of aught to do with Will's death?" + +"Hush!" cautioned Hartop, suddenly gripping Drake's arm. "Here cometh +Jasper himself!" + +Timothy moved aside while Jasper Oglander strode along the causeway with +silent tread, his eyes bent on the ground as if he were absorbed in some +important business that required his deepest thought. As he passed nigh, +however, he raised his eyes and looked out from under his wide sombrero +hat full into Drake's face. His own face became very red, all except the +scar on his cheek, which remained of a dead white colour. He quickly +averted his gaze and passed on without a word, hastening his steps +somewhat. + +Sir Francis Drake and Jacob Hartop exchanged meaning glances. + +"You see he doth still bear the mark of the cut you gave him across his +craven face," remarked Hartop as he watched Jasper crossing the muddy +street. + +A grim smile played for a moment upon Drake's handsome, ruddy +countenance as he answered: + +"Ay, marry. And i' faith 'twas a pretty enough cut for him to remember +me by--eh, Jacob? I warrant me he ne'er looks in his looking-glass +without minding of the occasion of it. And yet methinks I might well +have dealt him a severer blow without blame, for he had surely done for +me outright had you not so timely warned me of his evil purpose. Dost +remember, Jacob, how he came stealing aft to my cabin, with the +moonlight glinting on his naked rapier--how he silently pushed open the +door, and then, believing me to be slumbering, prepared to do his work?" + +"Right well do I mind it," returned Hartop with a grave shake of the +head. "And greatly have I marvelled ever since how it came that you let +him off so easily. Any man less forgiving than yourself would assuredly +have had him slung up to the yard's-arm for attempting so foul a deed." + +Timothy overheard this part of the conversation, but, not wishing to +seem to take interest in other people's affairs, he strode a few steps +away and stood at the edge of the quay looking down upon the untidy and +now deserted deck of the _Pearl_. But what he had heard had nevertheless +given him occasion for reflection. + +"So 'twas a falsehood he told when he declared to my father yesterday +that the wound was made by an Indian's arrow," he said to himself as he +leaned against the granite pillar round which one of the ship's thick +ropes was bound. "I might even have guessed as much, for the cut is not +one such as any arrow could make. Certes, I wonder what Master Gilbert +will think of his uncle when he doth learn what manner of man he truly +is! Methinks I was not so far in error, after all, when I said that I +distrusted him, although 'twas no more than mere instinct that gave me +that feeling concerning him. But I now have warrant for my opinion, in +all conscience, and if I make not a huge mistake, some grave trouble +will ere long spring out of his coming to Modbury Manor; for it seemeth +that he doth intend to take up his residence in my lord's family. Ay, +faith, and a mighty pretty gentleman he is to be counted one of so noble +and honourable a household!" + +Timothy's anxiety grew deeper and deeper as he continued to review the +situation. It was not the mere discovery that Jasper Oglander was +untruthful which disturbed his peace of mind. It was not even the +thought that there might, after all, be some reason in the accusations +which Jacob Hartop had made against him in the earlier morning. It was +the reflection that, as he had just now learned, this Jasper Oglander +had once treacherously attempted to take the life of Sir Francis Drake. +In common with all English boys at that time Timothy Trollope had a +regard for the great seaman and warrior which amounted to reverent +worship. Sir Francis Drake was to him the noblest hero in all the +world--a hero who could do no wrong, and who had won for England a glory +that could never die; and just in proportion as he honoured and +reverenced Sir Francis, so did he now detest the man who, for whatsoever +cause it may have been, had attempted that hero's life. + +Had Timothy been bold enough to follow Jasper Oglander instead of +waiting as he now did upon the busy quay, he might have learned +something more of the man's treachery. But Jasper was not the man to +allow himself to be caught unawares, or to afford any stranger the +slightest chance of prying into the secret matters that he had at +present in hand. Having crossed the street, he walked on for a few yards +looking unconcernedly about him, and then turned in at the front +porchway of the Three Flagons. + +Passing through the little parlour of the hostelry, where some seamen +and merchants sat before the fire gossiping and drinking, he mounted the +narrow dark stairs, and, arriving at the second landing, pushed open a +creaking door at the end of the corridor. The room that he entered was a +small, plainly-furnished apartment, in the front gable of the house, +whose side walls sloped upward at a sharp angle, meeting above. A +charcoal fire burned in a brazier in one of the corners, and near it on +the floor a youth lay sound asleep. Jasper went up to him, listened to +his breathing for a few moments, and then strode to the little casement +window and looked down upon the quay where Drake and Hartop still stood +talking together. He watched them until they parted, and when Timothy +Trollope and Hartop had gone their way to the courthouse be glanced once +more at his sleeping companion, drew a chair to the little centre table, +and sat down with his elbow on the table and his head resting on his +hand. Thus he remained for many minutes, ruminating. + +"And yet, what should it matter to me whom the old man hath speech +with?" he presently murmured, as if arguing with himself. "He can tell +naught Honest clown that he is, he had not so much as looked at the +letter, for the seal was unbroken. He can, therefore, know naught of its +purport. I warrant me Will Marsden was too cautious a man to venture to +impart his knowledge by word of mouth, and if old Hartop doth not know, +no man else can know. There cannot be a person in England, saving only +myself, who doth even suspect aught of His Spanish Majesty's designs. +The treasure will be brought safely over to Spain, and then with a new +armada well equipped we may snap our fingers at England's Drakes and +Howards and her much-vaunted strength upon the seas. As for Elisabeth +Tudor--we'll burn her at the stake, and a fitting end for the heretic +Jezebel, say I!" + +He thrust his hand into the breast of his doublet and drew forth first a +little canvas bag, which he laid before him on the table, and then a +soiled and crumpled sheet of paper, that was folded and refolded into a +small parcel of the size of his own hand. This last he opened out in +front of him. It was closely covered with writing. He glanced down the +page, his eyes following his finger from line to line until he came to a +little below the middle, and here he paused. + +"Ay, by my faith, considering thou wert but a poor untutored mariner, +thou hast put the matter exceeding well, Master Will," he muttered +admiringly. "As for thy good counsel, 'twere wiser than most seamen +could give. But 'tis useless now, seeing that Sir Walter Raleigh, for +whom thou didst intend it, can neither receive it nor profit by it." + +He stopped and shot a glance in the direction of the man lying before +the fire. + +"Art sleeping, Andrea?" he questioned in a low voice. But a deep-drawn +breath was the only answer, and he again went on silently reading. + +When he had got to the end of the paper he took it in his fingers and +deliberately tore it into small shreds. He silently carried the +fragments to the fire and cast them upon it, going down on his knees and +blowing the charcoal into a glow until the paper caught alight and was +consumed. Then, returning to the table he took up the little canvas bag, +loosened its strings and poured its contents into the palm of his hand. +Glistening gems they were--emeralds that were clear and green as a +curling ocean wave pierced by a shaft of sunlight; sapphires that were +blue as a Pacific sea that reflects the azure sky; rubies that were as +drops of crimson blood; together with many beauteous pearls and other +precious stones, wonderful to behold. He counted them all one by one, +made a mental estimate of their value, and then, smiling with +satisfaction, returned them to the bag, which he carefully tied up and +as carefully hid away in the breast of his doublet. + +Having done this he stepped towards the youth near the fire, and, +bending down, prodded him with his finger. + +"Andrea!" he said. "Andrea! Come, wake up!" + +Andrea turned over, rubbed his eyes with his knuckles, and presently +rose to his feet. + +"Sancta Maria!" he muttered, "what a dream I have had! Methought I was +engaged in a deadly duel, and that mine adversary had run me through!" + +"Doubtless 'tis the recollection of your struggle with old Hartop," +remarked Jasper, speaking, as the youth had done, in the Spanish tongue. +"But come, what of the errand I sent you out upon two hours ago? Didst +discover aught of our friends?" + +"That I did," replied Andrea, "and more easily than I had expected. +'Twas my father's friend, Don Miguel Fernandes that I met. He hath been +a prisoner here in this town for the past two years, with his companions +to the number of five-and-twenty. Some of the less important of them are +confined in a strong-built house in the centre of the town, and are +under the charge of one Master Richard Drake--a kinsman of the great +Dragon. But some half-dozen Castilian gentlemen--survivors of the +Armada,--who were shipwrecked in Ireland, are of the number, and these, +it seemeth, are permitted to go abroad for six hours every day, having +given their parole." + +"And who are these same gentlemen? What are their names?" inquired +Jasper. And when Andrea had named them he said: "A goodly company! By +the mass, a most noble company! Assuredly Spain can ill afford to let +them languish here when they might so easily be at home working for His +Most Christian Majesty and our Holy Mother church!" He touched the +youth's shoulder and added with grave earnestness: "Look you, Andrea, +these gentlemen must escape from England, and that speedily, for there +is no time to be lost." + +Andrea looked up surprised and eager. + +"Escape!" he repeated. "Ah! but how, señor, how?" + +"Nay, I know not how," answered Jasper with a shrug, "but 'tis surely +possible. I only marvel how it happens that they have not themselves +contrived it long since." + +"Ay, but they have given their word of honour," returned Andrea; "and +thou knowest as well as I that a Spanish gentleman cannot break his +word." + +"Pooh!" cried Jasper. "'Tis no breach of honour to break one's word to +heretics! But leave the matter to me, and, by our Lady, I'll contrive +it, in spite of Drake and all of them." He broke off and glanced towards +the door, which had been opened. A young negro woman stood upon the +threshold. "What want you, Catalina?" he demanded. + +She answered him in halting Spanish, saying that the señora her mistress +had heard his voice, and had sent her in to ask him if it was his wish +that she should make herself ready for the journey to Modbury. + +"Tell the señora that we start in half an hour's time," said he; and +then he turned to Andrea to further discuss the matter of the Spanish +prisoners of war. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + A RAPIER AND A RIDING WHIP. + + +It was late in the afternoon when Timothy returned to Modbury, and when +he had taken some food he made his way up the stairs to his young +master's room. Gilbert was reading when he entered, but, at sight of +Timothy, threw aside his book. + +"Ah, thou'rt back!" cried Gilbert. "Well, what of the cut-purse gypsies, +Tim? Didst see them?" + +"Ay, full well did I see them," answered Timothy. "And Justice Oldfield +hath dealt with them according to their deserts. They are men well +beknown in the neighbourhood, Master Gilbert, and you must even yourself +have ofttimes seen or heard of them. The elder of them, who is known as +Red Bob, hath been in the lock-up once before for a like offence. His +companion is a young seaman named Tom Lane. They both were armed with +daggers. The third man who was with them in the stealing of the farm +poultry, and who is supposed by many to have been the man whom you +crossed swords with, is not yet arrested. Justice Oldfield tried to +prove them guilty of the robbery of Jacob Hartop's wallet, but neither +Jacob nor I could swear to their identity. There was naught to prove +that they were the same men that we encountered, so they were charged +with the poaching alone and escaped a hanging on the accusation of +highway robbery, and they have been thrown into prison, where they are +to remain for the space of six months." + +"But surely there could be no possible mistake in supposing that they +were the same men," remarked Gilbert. "I can well believe that it was +not easy for you to recognize them, but the empty wallet was found near +to the place where these fellows were caught, and there is certainly +enough evidence in that fact alone to prove that the two crimes were +committed by these same men!" + +"So it might seem," returned Timothy; "but Hartop declared most +positively that the men who attacked and robbed him in nowise resembled +these poachers, and for my own part I was well-nigh as positive as he." + +"And, prithee, by what token art thou so sure?" inquired Gilbert. +Timothy did not answer immediately. He was considering within his own +mind whether he should give expression to his suspicions against Jasper +and Philip Oglander. These suspicions had grown even stronger since he +had learned more of Jasper's evil character, but he still had no other +foundation for them than Jacob Hartop's assertion regarding the +footmarks in Beddington Lane, and he felt the injustice of making any +accusation of a definite sort. At last he replied somewhat falteringly: + +"It seemeth to me, in so far as I can recollect, that the men we +encountered in the dingle wore large wide hats such as seamen wear, +whereas Red Bob and Tom Lane had small, close-fitting caps. Furthermore, +as thou'rt aware, Master Gilbert, the man who crossed rapiers with thee +and wounded thee was a skilful swordsman--a more skilful than any rogue +and vagabond about these parts is likely to be." + +Gilbert shook his head doubtingly. + +"There is no knowing," he said; "these rascals are acquainted with all +manner of tricks and subterfuges. It doth not seem to me that 'tis in +anywise likely that there were two separate and distinct companies of +thieves at work in the one neighbourhood and at the same hour. Well do I +believe that these rascals, Red Bob and Tom Lane, as you name them, were +guilty of both the theft from the farmyard and the stealing of old Jacob +Hartop's wallet, and that Justice Oldfield hath been over lenient." He +paused a few minutes to take up some food from his plate that was near +him. Then continuing, he said: "Hark you, Timothy. My grandfather hath +been speaking with me touching this same Jacob Hartop, and it seemeth +that the old mariner was the bearer of a most precious letter for Sir +Walter Raleigh, containing news of the King of Spain's treasure-ships. +The letter hath been carried off by these thieves, and 'tis necessary, +nay, 'tis even of vital importance to England, that it should be +recovered, lest it fall into the hands of any friend of Spain. Were I +able to go about I should make it my business to search for it, but I am +told that I must rest my sore foot for a day or two longer, and it were +as well that thou shouldst undertake the matter in my stead." + +Timothy had looked up sharply at mention of the missing letter. So this +was the thing of value concerning which Jacob Hartop had said that +rather than lose it he would willingly have sacrificed his own life! The +information had given Tim an important clue. It had given him the new +suggestion that the robbery had been arranged beforehand, and was no +mere highwayman's attack upon a chance traveller, for it was now clear +that the person who had stolen the letter from the old man must have +known full well of its existence, and committed the robbery with the +express purpose of gaining possession of it and thus intercepting its +delivery into Sir Walter Raleigh's hands. Timothy arrived at this +conclusion even before his young master had ceased speaking, and, taking +into consideration Hartop's hint that Jasper was secretly a friend of +Spain, he regarded it as well-nigh certain that Jasper was himself the +thief, and was in all probability in present possession of the missing +document. He did not dare as yet to reveal his suspicions to Gilbert, +but he resolved to seek for still further evidence in support of them. +When he should have gathered full and undeniable proof against Jasper it +would then be time enough to expose his villainy. And with this resolve +in his mind he silently quitted the room. + +It chanced that as he passed down the wide staircase and into the back +hall he caught sight of Philip Oglander's rapier hanging from a rack. He +went to it, and after taking it down he drew it from its scabbard, +finding that it was, as Jacob Hartop had said, of more than the ordinary +length of blade. He was examining its sharp, slender point when he was +startled by hearing a voice behind him. + +"It seemeth that you discover something of interest about my rapier," +said Philip Oglander. + +Timothy turned round and said with confident coolness: + +"I was but observing its great length, Master Philip. 'Tis a handsome +weapon; but perchance you are not aware, sir, that in England 'tis +unlawful to carry a rapier so long in the blade as this is." + +Philip Oglander smiled, showing his beautiful white teeth. + +"The same remark was made to me yesternight by one of my grandfather's +guests," said he. "Sir Richard Grenville, I think it was. He, too, +cautioned me against wearing it. I would have the blade shortened, +therefore, if there be any man about the household who can do it. I will +e'en leave the matter in your hands." + +"Of a surety," agreed Timothy, wondering at the youth's courtesy towards +him, "our blacksmith will clip it down to the lawful measurement. I +will, if you so please, take it down to him in the early morning." + +Now, Timothy Trollope had examined the rapier less with the intention of +considering the length of the blade than with the object of discovering +if by any chance there remained upon it any evidence of the weapon +having been used in a recent encounter. If, as Jacob Hartop had +confidently averred, it was Philip who had fought with and wounded +Master Gilbert on the previous evening, then there was certainly a vague +possibility of the weapon still bearing some slight trace of blood. But +if Tim had expected to find any such stain he was disappointed, for he +discovered the steel to be bright and clean from hilt to point. + +Nevertheless, he continued for many days thereafter to keep a close +watch upon the doings of both Jasper and Philip, in the expectation that +by some carelessly-spoken word or unconsidered act either of them might +betray himself, and reveal not only a knowledge of the missing letter +but also perhaps his sympathy with the King of Spain. Timothy felt that +in thus spying upon his master's relatives he was to some extent +disloyal and dishonourable; but Hartop had awakened in his mind strange +misgivings regarding them, and his only aim was to arrive at the truth. +He had wished for help from Jacob Hartop in the matter, but the old man +had shown a dread of remaining in a neighbourhood in which there was a +danger of his encountering Jasper Oglander, and on the third day after +his arrival in England he had set off on foot to the village of +Polperro, where, as he had heard, a niece of his was at that time +living, so that Timothy could not now consult with him. + +On a certain afternoon some time thereafter Timothy and Gilbert, who had +now recovered from his hurts, were crossing the market-place of +Plymouth towards one of the side streets, when Timothy observed Sir +Francis Drake standing at the doorway of a mercer's shop. Sir Francis, +in spite of his long friendship with Lord Champernoun, had avoided +Modbury Manor ever since the arrival there of Jasper Oglander, giving as +his reason the excuse that he was extremely busy in the work of making +new fortifications on St. Nicholas Island. His gaze now rested upon the +figures of three men who stood at some thirty yards away from him. One +of them was Jasper Oglander. His companions were Don Miguel Fernandes, +the chief of the Spanish prisoners of war, and young Andrea de Ortega. + +Timothy touched Gilbert's elbow. + +"There stands your uncle, Master Gilbert," said he, "holding speech with +our enemies of Spain." + +"Ay," returned Gilbert, showing no surprise. "Haply he is giving the +poor fellows some consolation in their affliction." + +"'Tis such consolation as Sir Francis Drake doth not wholly approve of," +said Timothy, "for look you, there he goes towards them to interrupt +their conspiracies!" + +Gilbert gave a light laugh. + +"Conspiracies, forsooth!" said he. "Your mind doth ever run upon such +fancies, Tim. Dost imagine that my uncle, even if he had a mind to +conspire,--which is impossible in one of his upright and honourable +nature,--would be so simple as to carry on such doubtful business in +the public streets? Od's life, Tim, y'are even as suspicious as +Christopher Pym, who approached me this morning with a long, woeful face +and declared that he had come upon my aunt, Donna Lela, muttering Romish +prayers over her beads and crossing herself like a veritable Papist! +Christopher bade me go with him and bear eye-witness to his strange +discovery, and I found the woman innocently engaged in unwinding a skein +of silk that Pym had mistaken for a rosary, and crooning a quaint +Portuguese love-song that he had taken for a paternoster! So I had the +laugh of Christopher, as I now have of thee, Master Timothy, for mark +you how Sir Francis is now passing your imagined conspirators, who are +doubtless talking of no more serious subject than the price of bread!" + +"Ay, but they have separated for all that," remarked Timothy, observing +that Jasper Oglander at sight of Drake had bidden a hasty farewell to +the two Spaniards. It was upon the point of Timothy's tongue to retort +further by informing his young master of the conversation he had +overheard some days before between Sir Francis and old Hartop concerning +Jasper. But at that moment they were met at the street corner by a tall, +broad-shouldered young gallant, by name Roland Grenville, who grasped +Gilbert's hands very heartily and congratulated him on his so easy +recovery from his late hurts. + +"Tut! my hurts were scarce worth the mention," quoth Gilbert. "Prithee, +speak of other matters, and tell me--hath Sir Richard yet returned from +London?" + +Sir Richard's stalwart son shook his head. + +"Nay," he answered. "He hath scarce had time to get there as yet, nor do +we expect him back for some weeks yet to come. He hath gone to the town +of Rochester to see to the fitting out of the good ship _Revenge_, which +is now lying in the river Medway. He is to bring her round to Plymouth +when she is ready for sea. What her destination may thereafter be I know +not, for 'tis held a secret; but wheresoever she may be bound for I do +heartily rejoice to think that I am to have a berth aboard of her. 'Tis +no small honour to be appointed to so renowned a ship. You, too, I hear, +are to go out in her. So we shall be shipmates, eh?" + +"Ay, that is indeed so," returned Gilbert with a proud smile, "for your +father promised me the coveted opportunity, and charged me ere he went +away to make ready against his return. You may be certain I am anxious +for the time to come, for 'tis my first voyage, as you know. I am not +like you, who have already heard the thunder of ships' guns in battle. +Dost expect we shall have any fighting, Roland?" + +"Fighting!" exclaimed Grenville. "Why, bless you, lad, there would be +small use in our voyaging if there were not! I know that the ship is +being fitted with brand-new guns of brass. Prithee, what should that +bode but fighting? 'Twould go ill with us indeed if there were not a +few Spanish galleons to give chase to in whatsoever seas we may sail. +And I promise you the _Revenge_ will not be far behind when 'tis a +question of fighting the Don and capturing his treasure-ships." + +He moved to go, but paused to add: "Hast seen aught of Sir Francis Drake +these few days past? I am told he is in marvellous dudgeon in that my +father instead of himself hath got the command of the _Revenge_." + +"His disappointment is but natural," returned Gilbert, "seeing that he +hath fought so often and so well upon her decks. But I heard him remark +only the last time that I spoke with him, that if there was one man +other than himself to whom the Queen might fittingly entrust this her +favourite warship, that man was your father--Sir Richard Grenville." + +During the journey homeward on that afternoon Gilbert noticed that +Timothy was unusually silent. + +"Certes, but thou'rt passing gloomy this afternoon, Trollope," he said; +"what ails thee, quotha?" + +"I was but grieving at the near prospect of your quitting England, sir," +answered Timothy, "and at your leaving me behind when I should be far +happier, ay, and peradventure more useful, were I to accompany you. I +would gladly give all that I have, or may have, in the world to be with +you aboard the _Revenge_, though my duty were only the swabbing of the +decks or the cleaning of the brass guns of which Master Grenville +spake." + +Gilbert looked at him with an amused smile. + +"Why, lad," said he, "I had never dreamed that there was the spirit of a +seaman in thee. But if it be that y'are set upon the voyage, 'twill be +an easy matter for me to speak on your behalf to Sir Richard Grenville +or some other of Her Majesty's generals. I'll bear't in mind, Tim." + +And Timothy, hearing this, became in a moment light of heart. He exulted +in this new possibility, and bore himself with as much pride and +conscious dignity as if indeed he had already been appointed by Her +Majesty's own personal warrant. + +During the few following weeks of impatient waiting, Gilbert Oglander +was occupied in making preparation for his expected departure, and also +in paying farewell visits to certain of his friends and relatives in +various parts of the country. + +On one such visit, which was to Willoughby Grange, in the north part of +Devon, he was accompanied by his uncle Jasper. They had been absent for +two days, during which time Jasper Oglander made himself so extremely +agreeable that Gilbert, already disposed in his favour, was at last so +completely won over to him that he found something to love or to admire +in all that he did and all that he said. + +They were on their return journey, riding southward along the road +towards Plymouth; their tired horses were ambling side by side. Jasper +had been earnestly urging his nephew to make the best of his great +opportunity in regard to the forthcoming voyage with Sir Richard +Grenville; for although the intended destination of the _Revenge_ and +her companion ships of the fleet was still held a close secret, yet +Jasper did not doubt, as he said very plainly, that under the leadership +of so able a general as Grenville there would be much honour to gain and +great wealth to bring home. + +"As for fighting," he said, "'tis impossible that you can fail to have +many a brush with the Spaniards, and I know full well that when you +enter into battle you will play no coward's part, for you are a true +Oglander and will surely distinguish yourself as all our ancestors have +done. Be bold, therefore. Be bold, my boy." + +And thereupon he continued to speak of warfare, making it out that there +was nothing to be afraid of in cannon-balls or boarding-pikes so long as +a man kept his wits about him and dared to mix in the thickest of the +fight. It would seem, indeed, that Jasper had almost a personal motive +in urging his nephew thus earnestly, but of this Gilbert in his +innocence guessed nothing. + +"There is one matter as to which I would counsel thee, however," Jasper +continued, "and that is that thou wouldst do well to reconsider thy +intention of allowing that madcap youngster, Timothy Trollope, to bear +thee company. I like not his too familiar bearing towards thee. He is no +fitting companion for one of thy noble birth. I would not trust him." + +Gilbert Oglander looked at his uncle in astonishment. + +"I must confess I have never yet found Timothy Trollope to be aught else +than a good and faithful servant," said he, "nor do I see any possible +reason why he should not accompany me. He is the son of a very worthy +tradesman in Plymouth, and I have ever known him to speak the truth and +to act in all matters as beseemeth an honest youth." + +"Speaks the truth!" cried Jasper, leaning forward on his saddle to +adjust his horse's rein that had got twisted; "speaks the truth, say +you? Body o' me! why, 'twas only two nights since that I caught him in +one of the blackest of lies. Nay," he added, seeing the incredulity in +Gilbert's face, "there is no need to dwell upon the matter. I will not +repeat so base a slander." + +"But 'tis only right that I should know it, uncle," pursued Gilbert. "If +Trollope be indeed untruthful 'twere well that I should not be kept in +ignorance. Prithee, tell me what the lie was that he told thee." + +Jasper rode on in silence for several minutes as if in doubt. + +"The lie was this," he said at last. "He declared that thy mother, the +Lady Betty, was in her secret heart of the Romish Church, and that she +was even now, unknown to my Lord Champernoun, carrying on a political +intrigue with the King of Spain." + +Gilbert reined in his horse and regarded his uncle for a moment in +bewilderment. + +"What?" he cried. "Dost tell me that Timothy said such things as that? +Nay, I can scarce believe it. The scoundrel! the base ingrate! 'Tis a +deliberate, scandalous falsehood!" + +Jasper nodded and said: "Right glad I am to see that thou look'st upon +the matter thus seriously, Gilbert. I only marvel how the knave could +have dared to say such a thing in my hearing. But 'tis ever the way with +these low-born and ill-bred louts. I'd have no more to do with him an I +were thou. Let the dog go back to the gutter whence you took him." + +Now, Gilbert was very sorely troubled and vexed about this matter. He +could not believe that Timothy would stoop to the telling of a lie, much +less to the utterance of a scandal. And yet, he asked himself, was not +his uncle Jasper equally incapable of falsehood? Arguing with himself as +he continued on the ride homeward, he scarce could come to any clear +reason either way, nor indeed could he see the possibility of finally +making up his mind until he should confront young Trollope and boldly +accuse him of the lie. + +It happened very opportunely that the very first person whom they met +upon the road was Timothy himself. He came galloping towards them on one +of Lord Champernoun's favourite hunting horses. Gilbert observed, as he +approached nearer, that his face was radiant with some new joy. + +"The ship hath arrived!" cried Timothy ere yet he was within the +distance of a score yards. "The _Revenge_ hath entered into Plymouth +harbour!" And then as he drew rein he noticed that Gilbert, instead of +showing gladness, looked sorely troubled and annoyed. + +"Your pardon, Master Gilbert," said he, "I see you are vexed that I +should be riding upon his lordship's own horse. But indeed it was my +lord himself who bade me do so." + +"Nay, I am vexed at no such harmless matter as that," returned Gilbert +gloomily. + +"I had hoped that the news I brought you would afford you pleasure, +sir," pursued Timothy. + +"It might well have done so had it not been that I have heard other news +which hath given me pain," quoth Gilbert. And, raising his voice in +angry accusation, he added: "I hear that two days ago you told a vile +lie about my mother--a lie which, were you even closer to me than you +have hitherto been, I could never forgive." + +Timothy winced under his young master's frown; but Gilbert went on +mercilessly: "You had the baseness to declare that my mother is an +idolatrous Papist, and that she hath been secretly in league with the +King of Spain. How dare you utter such scandalous lies? How dare you, I +say?" + +For the moment Timothy imagined that his master was suddenly bereft of +his senses. + +"I deny that I did ever utter any such thoughts," he stammered, looking +Gilbert full boldly in the face. "Nay, how were it possible that I +should do so, knowing that there liveth not a more devout Protestant in +all England than my lady, nor a more faithful subject of Queen +Elizabeth? 'Tis a cruel falsehood, Master Gilbert, and methinks you +might know me better than to accuse me thus upon a mere malicious +report." + +He glanced towards Jasper, who had brought his horse nearer to where his +own and Gilbert's steeds stood restless at the roadside. + +"'Tis not very hard for me to guess the source whence that report hath +reached you," Timothy went on, his face growing pale in his indignation, +and his white lips trembling. "I will warrant me that 'twas your +virtuous uncle here who thus maligned me. But since he hath spoken +falsely of me, I will now speak the truth regarding himself. You are +deceived in him, Master Gilbert--vastly deceived. You think him a man of +honour, but I tell you he is a traitor end a renegade." + +Timothy broke off, disturbed by the look of evil menace that had come +into Jasper's dark eyes which were now fixed upon him. + +"Proceed," commanded Jasper, gripping the silver handle of his +riding-whip. "Prithee, say your say, young man. But mark you, if you +dare to say aught that is not true of me, by the Holy Rood, sirrah, I +will thrash you within an inch of your life." + +This swearing by the Romish emblem passed at the moment unnoticed by +Gilbert, but it did not escape Timothy Trollope. + +"I care as little for your threats as I do for your Papist oaths," the +lad retorted, growing bolder. And then turning to Gilbert he continued: +"So please you, sir, 'twas not the Lady Betty but Master Jasper himself +whom I accused of being a Papist and of being secretly in league with +the King of Spain." + +"'Tis a lie!" cried Jasper furiously, wheeling his horse round so that +he came within a few feet of Timothy. But Timothy was now roused, and he +determined to speak his mind at all hazards. + +"'Tis no lie!" he declared firmly as he watched the man's whip hand. +"Both your wife and your son, as well as yourself, are sworn Papists, +and you are yourself, as I well know, little better than a skulking spy +of King Philip of Spain. If it be not as I say, then, prithee, what mean +all your secret meetings and underhand plottings with the Spanish +prisoners of war down in Plymouth town? Wherefore, also, I pray you, did +you purloin Captain Marsden's letter from old Jacob Hartop?" + +Jasper's face had grown white with suppressed indignation. His eyes +flashed threateningly. + +"Take that for an answer, thou base, lying scoundrel!" he cried +savagely; and, leaning forward over his saddle, he dealt the lad a smart +and vicious cut across his face with the riding-whip. Timothy was +well-nigh blinded with the pain, and presently a drop of blood trickled +down his cheek. + +"Impertinent whelp!" continued Jasper, preparing to repeat the blow. But +Timothy had backed his horse a few steps, and, instead of striking him, +Jasper hurled the whip at his head. Timothy dexterously caught it in his +hand and flung it some distance along the road, at the same time +spurring his horse and galloping away. Gilbert watched him for a moment, +and then called him back. But Timothy went on, very sad at heart, for he +divined that his young master had lost faith in him. + +And indeed it seemed that this was the case, for later on the same day, +when Gilbert was at the kennels paying a visit to one of his favourite +dogs, Timothy approached him. + +"So please you, Master Gilbert--" began Tim in a tone of abject apology. +But Gilbert looked at him in stern reproof, and interrupted him, saying: + +"Look you, Trollope, I'll have no more of these malicious tales of +yours. 'Tis no business of yours to act the spy upon my relatives, and I +command you to do no more of it." + +Timothy hung his head, hurt to the quick by the reproach. + +"Must I then take it that you have lost all confidence in me, Master +Gilbert?" he asked. + +"Ay," returned Gilbert. "Much am I afraid that 'tis so indeed." + +"Then, sir," said Timothy in an unsteady voice, "'twere surely best that +I should leave you; for I cannot brook your displeasure, nor think of +remaining in the service of a master who hath lost trust in my honour." + +"E'en do as ye list," retorted Gilbert. And Timothy, taking the words +for a dismissal, walked slowly away, well-nigh broken-hearted. + +On the evening of the following day the news reached Modbury Manor that +the Spanish prisoners of war, to the number of seven-and-twenty, had +made their escape. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + THE AFFRAY ON POLPERRO BEACH. + + +It was at an ivy-covered house standing upon the heights a little +distance beyond the fishing village of Polperro that Jacob Hartop had +taken his present refuge. His niece, whom he had been at some pains to +discover, was the wife of that Captain Whiddon who sailed out in the +service of Sir Walter Raleigh, with intent to discover the Land of Gold +that was supposed to lie beyond the river Orinoco, and who, with his +ship's crew, had endured untold privations in the swamps of Trinidad, +all of which may be read in Raleigh's printed account of his discovery +of the Empire of Guiana and the great and golden city of Manoa. + +Mrs. Mercy Whiddon had a cluster of sturdy boys and girls about her, and +you may be sure that Master Hartop was a right welcome guest in their +home, for he had a deft hand at the making of a wheelbarrow or a +rabbit-hutch, and his tales of adventure were ever of the exciting sort +which young people do most delight to hear. Captain Whiddon himself was +no less pleased than his sons and daughters to have old Jacob under his +roof, for it chanced that Hartop and he had known each other years +before, out on the Spanish Main, and had struck up a friendship from the +simple reason that they both were men of Devon, and that they both bore +the name of Jacob. + +On a certain evening, ere yet the children had gone to their beds, the +family were seated in the living room. From the window they could see +the glistening track of the moon's silvery light across the Channel, +with here and there a black-sailed fishing-boat pitching about upon the +waves; in moments of silence they could hear the breaking of the tide +upon the rocks below the cliff, and the ivy leaves, disturbed by the +wind, tapping against the diamond panes of the window casement. Jacob +Whiddon sat in the ingle, with Bertha, his youngest girl, perched on his +knee. Ambrose Pennington, who had sailed round from Plymouth to confer +with the captain on some matter concerning Lord Thomas Howard's fleet, +sat near him, while Jacob Hartop sat in the midst of a group of +children, who were attentively watching him as with a large knife and a +block of deal wood he fashioned the rough hull of a boat. + +"And how many masts will the ship have?" questioned one of the boys. + +"Three, Master Jack," answered Hartop; "for 'tis a ship royal, like unto +the _Defiance_ that is now lying in Plymouth." + +"Then we must e'en have an admiral's flag made for her," said little +Jack. "Mother shall make one for us out of the piece of silk that she +cut from off Bertha's belt." + +"Nay, but we agreed that the ship should be named the _Pilgrim_," +objected the eldest of the boys. "For the _Pilgrim_ is father's ship, +and she hath but two masts." + +"The number of her masts and the name she shall have are matters for +yourselves to determine," said Hartop, as he held the boat in front of +him bow-on and glanced with one eye along her deck. "The only matter +that doth at present concern me is her hull, and when 'tis done, as I +promise you it shall be on the morrow, then the rigging of the craft +will remain for other hands than mine, for ere she is ready to be +launched I shall be far away upon the seas." + +He continued to hew at the boat's hull with his knife, shaving down her +bows to the required degree of roundness. + +"Thou'lt not forget the string of coral beads you did promise me," said +Jack's sister Mary, after a long pause of silence. + +"Ay, faith, I'll mind on't, truly," answered Jacob with a smile; "and if +luck doth follow us, thou shalt have a goodly chain of pearls into the +bargain." + +"And wilt bring me home one of those green poll-parrots, or one of the +long-tailed monkeys that you told us of?" pleaded one who stood at his +knee. + +"Ay, surely; I'll bring thee a whole ship-load of such trumpery an +Captain Grenville will but let me," returned the old man. + +"What!" interposed Ambrose Pennington, turning round on his chair. "Art +for going out with the fleet, then, friend Hartop?" + +Hartop nodded. + +"Ay," he answered. "A life on land hath but few joys for such as me, I +find, and I am for having just one cruise more with the buccaneers and +another sight of the palm-trees. And yet," he added, "'tis less of my +own wish than by the will of Sir Richard Grenville that I go; for he +hath besought me to accompany him, since 'tis supposed that I know more +than most men touching the purpose of this present expedition." + +Pennington drew his chair nearer to the old man and sat facing him, +bending forward in attention with his two hands clasped between his +knees. + +"'Tis nought to be marvelled at that Sir Richard should have such a +wish," said he, "for it seemeth that you have some special knowledge of +the matter. An it be no secret, Master Hartop, mayhap you'd enlighten us +concerning this same cruise, for I, too, am to be aboard the _Revenge_, +and 'tis but natural I should wish to know the purpose of our voyage." + +Hartop dusted the shavings of wood from his knees and continued with his +work. + +"'Tis no longer a secret," he said, "and, indeed, I had thought that +Captain Whiddon had already informed you on the matter. Sir Walter +Raleigh did in truth bid me keep my knowledge to myself. But that was +some three months ago, and now that Her Majesty hath bidden my Lord +Thomas Howard assemble this squadron, and hath made no secret of our +destination, I know no reason why I should scruple to break silence." + +"Nay, 'tis no longer a secret. Tell us the tale," interposed Captain +Whiddon. "For all that I do myself know is the simple fact that we are +to waylay and capture King Philip's treasure-ships." + +"You must know," began Hartop, "that the late expedition which the +Queen's ships made to the Western Islands, under Frobisher and Hawkins, +during the last summer past, was a failure. Their intention was even the +same as ours. But King Philip, getting wind of their purpose, sent out +to the Indies, giving orders that his ships were to winter in the +Havana, and delay their home-coming until this present summer. Now the +result of that delay is, that instead of one year's harvest of silver +and gold there is now fully double that quantity lying in the +treasure-houses of Nombre de Dios waiting to be brought over to Spain. +'Tis the mightiest hoard of wealth that ever was brought together since +the world began, and I promise you it will give the Spaniards a hard +enough task to transport so large a burden across the seas. Ay, even +though every galleon of their armada were loaded up to the gunwales." + +"And prithee, Master Hartop, how many galleons do you reckon there will +be engaged in that same task?" inquired Captain Whiddon. + +"Well, as to that," said Hartop, "I scarce can tell. But this I know +full surely, that even at the time when we started homeward in the +_Pearl_, there were then lying at the Havana no fewer than fifty of King +Philip's finest ships. Many of them were of a thousand tons apiece, +which, as I judge, is about double the size of Lord Thomas Howard's +_Defiance_. Nay, fifty sails, do I say? There were more than that. Let +me see! There were three-and-thirty galleons of Nova Hispania, and +three-and-twenty of Terra Firma--that's fifty-six. Then there were +twelve of San Domingo, and it may be nine of Honduras. How many might +that be, all told, Master Jack?" + +Jack Whiddon counted on his fingers and presently answered: + +"Seventy and seven." + +"Body o' me!" exclaimed Ambrose Pennington. "And do you say that so +vast an armada as that is to be attacked and captured by these +half-dozen warships that we now have lying in Sutton Pool?" He held his +hand palm uppermost, as if to suggest that it could well embrace the +dimensions of the whole of Admiral Howard's fleet. "Why, 'tis madness to +think on't!" + +"So it might seem," nodded Hartop. "But 'tis as well to understand, +Master Pennington, that we have certain very great advantages in our +favour. To begin with, these Spaniards have been languishing for many +months in an evil climate; they will surely be reduced by disease, by +famine, and I know not what other pestilential ills, while we shall meet +them strong and fresh and hearty. Their galleons will be half rotten, +bored by the teredo worm, overgrown with weeds and barnacles, and, +moreover, very heavily laden; while our own ships, on the other hand, +are newly fitted out with good sails and riggings, strong clean hulls, +good guns, and an abundance of ammunition. Also, you must bear in mind +that while the Queen's ships will doubtless keep together in one compact +squadron, the Spaniards, by reason of the long voyage, and perhaps +stress of weather, to say naught of the differing sailing powers of +their ships, will most certainly be separated one from the other, so +that 'twill be an easy enough matter for our admiral to pick them off +one by one." + +"There is good reason in your argument, to be sure." declared +Pennington; "and if the matter turn out as you have set it down, I doubt +not that we shall, one and all, return to England in a few weeks' time +with riches enough to serve us and keep us in luxury to the end of our +days." + +"Ay," agreed Captain Whiddon, "'tis like a fairy dream." + +"As for the _Revenge_," added Pennington, with an encouraging glance at +Jacob Hartop, "she is a right gallant ship, and as pretty a one as you +will find upon all the seas, notwithstanding the ill-luck that hath +hitherto been her so frequent attendant." + +Jacob Hartop raised his grizzled eyebrows. + +"Ill-luck?" he repeated. "Why, methought she had been of all Her +Majesty's ships the most highly-favoured by fortune. Prithee, was it not +upon her decks that Sir Francis Drake held command when he gave such a +trouncing to the Duke of Medina-Sidonia three years ago?" + +Ambrose Pennington nodded and smiled. + +"No man doth know better than I how well she behaved on that same +occasion," said he. "I was then but her master's mate, and of no great +account on board. But I mind well every incident and movement in the +engagement--how we met the Armada down by the Lizard in Cornwall, how we +beat them and shuffled them together first to Portland, where they +shamefully abandoned Don Pedro de Valdes with his mighty ship to be +taken by the _Revenge_; how we chased them from Portland to Calais, +where they lost Hugo de Monçada with the great galleass of which he was +captain; then how we drove them with squibs and fireships from their +anchorage in Calais Roads, gave them a sound drubbing off the coast of +Flanders, and anon chased them out of sight of England, round about +Scotland and Ireland, where the storms of the northern seas speedily +finished the destruction that we had begun. And I tell thee that there +was no ship in all Queen Elizabeth's fleet that did greater service for +our country than the _Revenge_. And yet, for all that, she must still be +counted the unfortunatest ship her Queen's Majesty hath had during her +reign--" + +"Heaven grant that her misfortunes will have forsaken her during this +present voyage!" interposed Hartop. "For, although I set not a single +groat's value upon my own poor life, yet I am well assured that every +man and every ship of our company will be sorely needed ere we fulfil +the work that is before us. But, prithee, wherein lieth the ship's +ill-luck and misfortune?" + +"In many particulars," answered Pennington. "As for example, on her very +first voyage when coming back from Ireland, with Sir John Parrot in +command, she was like to be cast away upon the sand-banks that are off +the Kentish coast. After, in the voyage of Sir John Hawkins in 1586, she +struck aground in coming into Plymouth harbour, before her going to sea. +Upon the coast of Spain she left her fleet, ready to sink with a great +leak. At her return into Plymouth she beat herself upon the Winter Stone +and stove in her bows. Twice did she run aground in going out of +Portsmouth haven; and on the latter occasion lay two-and-twenty hours +beating upon the shore. Once more she was driven upon the rocks outside +of Plymouth here, and lay helpless and abandoned for six winter months. +Forced off again, she was being taken to the river Thames to be docked, +when, her old leak breaking upon her, she was like to have drowned all +her ship's company. And ye have surely heard that even four short months +since, when riding at her moorings in the Medway, she turned right over +with her keel uppermost. So you see, my masters, in whatsoever way you +do regard it withal, she is a ship well laden with disaster and full +fraught with ill-success." + +"Marry!" cried Jacob Hartop, "but that is indeed a most woeful record +for so young a ship. But, I pray you, Master Pennington, wherefore do +you so meekly consent to be one of her crew, knowing that she hath been +so unfortunate?" + +And Pennington answered: + +"For the reason that, notwithstanding her misfortunes, she doth still +remain the ship which beyond all others in Her Majesty's navy hath given +the soundest thrashing to the Spaniards. And I do firmly hope and +believe, that if there be any glory to be won on this present expedition +it will be mostly won by the _Revenge_ and her gallant commander Sir +Richard Grenville. For you must know that Sir Richard hath already won +the name of 'the Spaniards' terror'." + +Now, while Pennington was in the midst of this speech Mercy Whiddon had +gone out of the room, and as she crossed the passage she was startled by +hearing the sound of men's feet outside, and the loud rapping of a stick +upon one of the panels of the door. + +"Save us all!" she exclaimed in sudden alarm. "Who can be coming here at +such an hour as this?" And then returning to the room she called upon +her husband. "Jacob!" she cried. "There be someone at the door, I pray +you open it, for I fear 'tis some unruly stranger." And as she spoke yet +another thundering blow fell upon the door. + +Jacob Whiddon strode out into the passage and flung open the door. + +"What want you?" he demanded, as he espied a tall cloaked figure upon +the step. "And who are you that dares to disturb honest folk at this +time of night?" + +"'Tis I," came the answer; "'tis I, Timothy Trollope of Plymouth town. +And I crave your help, Master Whiddon, and the help of as many men as +there may be in your house. 'Twas Master Richard Drake that sent me +hither. He is down by the beach yonder, lying in wait for the Spanish +prisoners who have made their escape. We have tracked them thus far, and +have now discovered that a ship is lying in readiness to carry them off +to Spain." + +"Escaped, have they?" cried Captain Whiddon. "Then, by thunder, if that +be so I am with you, my master!" And leaving Timothy standing at the +door he returned into the room and called upon Pennington and Hartop to +buckle their swords about them, and join with him in the adventure. + +Jacob Hartop was the first of the three men to join Timothy in the +little garden in front of the house. He carried a long sword and a +heavy, cumbrous pistol and a large knotted stick. + +"So 'tis you, Master Trollope?" said he, as he glanced into Timothy's +face by the light from the window. "And, prithee, how cometh it that +thou hast taken to the constable's work of chasing fugitive prisoners?" + +"'Twas by chance that I heard the rogues had escaped," said Tim, moving +towards the gate as if in eagerness to get down to the beach. "I was +passing beside the gaol when Master Richard Drake ran out crying for men +to help him, for that his prisoners had escaped. I joined in the crowd, +following Master Drake at his horse's heels." + +"Ah!" returned Hartop, "trust a Spaniard for winning his way out of a +pent-house. They are like unto serpents for guile and cunning, as I well +know, who have lived in their midst. But I'll engage that these could +scarce have won their freedom without help from the outside. Dost know +if they had any such help, Master Trollope?" + +Timothy did not reply at the moment, for Whiddon and Pennington had now +joined them, and were calling upon the lad to lead the way to the spot +where the escaped Spaniards might be expected to be found. + +"Yonder lies their ship," explained Timothy, pointing out to the shadowy +headland, below which the faint outline of a vessel's hull could be +seen. Then, as his eyes still rested upon the ship, he suddenly gripped +old Hartop's arm. "Look at her, Jacob Hartop! Look at her well!" he +cried. "Dost know the craft, man?" + +"Nay, how should I know one ship from another in such uncertain light, +and with eyes so dim as mine be?" questioned the old man. + +At this Ambrose Pennington cast a glance towards the ship. A gleam of +moonlight now rested upon the water behind her, and her tall hull and +masts and bellying sails were darkly outlined against the bright light. + +"Why, my lad," said he, in a tone of disappointment, "that is no Spanish +ship! Y'are fooling us, for sure. No, 'tis no Spanish ship, I say, but +just the old _Pearl_, that hath been lying under repair against Sutton +wharf there these two months past, and that hath come out to-day to try +her new-made sails! Come you back to the house, Master Whiddon, for I'll +be sworn the lad hath but been playing us some childish prank. +Spaniards, forsooth! Prithee who ever heard of a Spaniard, aye, or any +other prisoner, breaking away from the hands of Richard Drake?" + +At that instant there came a long loud whistle from the beach below. + +"Hark you, my masters," cried Timothy Trollope, "that whistle is Drake's +signal, calling his men together; and I do most positively declare to +you that in a very little time there will be some fighting to be done +down on the beach, for we saw the Spaniards, to the number of a good +score at the least, passing along the headland and making signs to the +ship, which were duly answered. Nay, more, we saw a boat put out from +the ship and make for the spot where Master Drake and some three or four +men of Plymouth now are--" + +"Nay, why stand we parleying here?" broke in Jacob Hartop. "I am for +climbing down to the beach, and let them follow me who will." And so +saying he swung his great stick over his shoulder and took a slanting +course down the slope of the cliff, followed closely by Timothy +Trollope. + +Whiddon and Pennington, it seemed, preferred to descend by the easier +way of the footpath, which led down to the shore in another direction. +Timothy, with greater eagerness and with more alertness than old Hartop, +soon passed his companion, and was down upon the beach while Jacob was +still struggling to penetrate a thick tangle of bramble bushes that grew +upon the lower slope. + +Timothy waited for him some few moments, and as he stood still he became +conscious of some moving figures passing into the shadow behind a +wooden hut, in which the fishermen of the neighbouring village kept +their old nets and torn sails. A gleam of moonlight glinting upon a +drawn sword proved to him that the figures were not those of innocent +fishermen. He crept stealthily towards them. + +A man presently appeared round the farther corner of the hut. He wore a +long cloak and a wide sombrero hat. Timothy guessed that he was one of +the escaping Spaniards, and he was about to hail the man when he was +startled by once more hearing the long loud whistle, this time close +behind him. In an instant as it seemed, he was surrounded by many men. +One of them seized him, gripping him by the throat. + +"Back there, you Spanish dog!" the fellow cried, at the same moment +taking hold of Timothy's drawn sword and dropping it on the shingle +behind him. + +Timothy knew his voice. It was that of young Roland Grenville. + +"Nay, unhand me, Master Grenville," the lad cried, as well as the +tightening fingers upon his throat would permit him. "I am Timothy +Trollope, that went up to summon Jacob Whiddon. I--I--" + +"S'death, lad, I had nearly throttled thee!" cried Grenville, releasing +him, and then stooping and taking up Timothy's rapier, he added: "Here, +take thy blade and hie thee down to the boats yonder at the water's +edge. And, hark ye, if any Spaniard attempt to get aboard, run him +through. Dost hear me? Run him through." + +Scarcely had he spoken when the report of a pistol-shot from behind him +rang through the air. It was Ambrose Pennington who had fired it at the +retreating forms of the Spaniards, who, having crept along under the +deep shadow of the cliff, had eluded their pursuers and were now +hastening across the open beach down towards the water's edge. + +"To the boats! to the boats, my lads!" cried Pennington, and he set off +at a run, followed by Roland Grenville, Timothy, Richard Drake, and +several of the men who had come out from Plymouth. At their heels ran +Jacob Hartop, pistol in hand, and as game for a fight as any of them. + +When the old man got down to the foreshore, where the outgoing tide was +plashing upon the loose stones, he found himself in the midst of some +thirty men, who were belabouring each other with their sticks and +swords. It was difficult for him in the darkness to discover which were +Spaniards and which men of Plymouth. But presently the crowd divided, +one half remaining fighting, the others rushing knee-deep into the water +and scrambling into one of the two boats that lay afloat within easy +reach. Jacob Hartop levelled his pistol at one of the foremost of the +fugitives and fired. Without waiting to see the effect of his shot, he +turned to discover Captain Whiddon, Roland Grenville, and Timothy +Trollope engaged all three in combat with seven of the Spaniards. +Hartop saw that Timothy Trollope was being hard pressed by three of the +enemy, who were assailing him with their heavy sticks. Only one of them +was armed with a sword, and this one stood in front of Timothy, while +his two companions were attacking the lad from the rear. + +[Illustration: "TIMOTHY DISARMED THE FELLOW, AND WITH A FORWARD THRUST + PIERCED HIM IN THE CHEST"] + +Jacob rushed headlong into the fray and speedily relieved Timothy of two +of his assailants, who, seeing the old man's glittering rapier, and +being themselves armed only with cudgels, turned upon their heels and +fled towards the boats. + +Left alone with his one adversary, whose back was to the light, Timothy +crossed swords with him. The Spaniard had wrapped the tail of his coat +round his left arm. Something in his manner of fence reminded Timothy of +the encounter in Beddington Dingle. For a moment he thought of young +Philip Oglander. He tried to get a glimpse of the man's face, but a +quick thrust aimed at his sword-arm brought him to a sense of his +danger, and he did not pause to think which one of the Spaniards whom he +had so often seen in Plymouth his antagonist might be. Whosoever he was, +he certainly was no dunce in the use of his weapon, and with all +Timothy's skill he had much ado to hold his own. The duel continued for +several moments, but at last with a dexterous wrist movement Timothy +disarmed the fellow, and with a heavy forward thrust pierced him in the +chest. + +He staggered for a moment, clapped his two hands against his breast, +and, leaving his weapon lying upon the beach, ran off towards his +companions. Timothy watched him as he fled, and saw him wade into the +water and scramble over the gunwale of the boat upon which Jacob Hartop +had fired. There were already some ten of the Spaniards on board of her. +They were pushing off; their oars were in the row-locks, and so fully +were Richard Drake and his men engaged in making prisoners of those that +remained that they were unaware of what had happened until Timothy +raised the alarm and drew their attention to the fugitives. Captain +Whiddon reloaded his pistol and fired at them, but with no apparent +effect. The boat sped out into the deeper water and was soon beyond +range of such few firearms as were available. As for the Spaniards who +had been left behind, they were speedily captured and bound with ropes, +ready to be marched beck to Plymouth. + +The whole affray had occupied but a few minutes. Two of the Spaniards +had been killed, and one of Drake's men--a young vintner of +Plymouth--had been badly wounded, while there were few of the others who +had not received scars and bruises. + +When at last the prisoners were secured, Roland Grenville, Jacob Hartop, +and Timothy Trollope were told off to conduct them to some place of +safety in Polperro, while Drake, Whiddon, Pennington, and some three +others jumped into the remaining boat and pulled off in pursuit of the +men who had escaped. How they fared Timothy did not learn until the next +morning, when he was told that after an exciting chase the Spaniards had +succeeded in gaining the deck of their ship, which had sailed off +westward along the coast, not to be overtaken by a small boat whose +occupants had only two pairs of oars and no sail. There was only one +thing which Drake gained by his pursuit, and that was the knowledge that +the ship was indeed the _Pearl_ of Plymouth. + +When they had securely housed their prisoners in a vacant stable in +Polperro, and left Hartop in guard at the door, Roland Grenville and +Timothy Trollope returned to the beach, taking with them a lighted +lantern. They were accompanied by a fisherman, who helped them to carry +the two dead Spaniards up to a shed adjoining Jacob Whiddon's house. +Timothy recognised the dead men as Don Miguel de Fernandes and Andrea de +Ortega. He had known Don Miguel by sight for many months past, but +searching in his memory he could only remember Andrea from the time when +Jasper Oglander had come home to England. + +As he was turning away from having bolted the door of the shed, Roland +Granville said, touching Timothy on the arm: + +"Here is a weapon for thee, Master Trollope. I will engage that 'tis a +well-tempered one. These Dons do ever contrive to get hold of a goodly +piece of steel; and in spite of Master Drake's watchfulness, more than +one of them was armed with his Toledo blade to-night. 'Tis a marvel to +me where they found them, for, as you know, they were forbidden to go +armed." + +"I'll be sworn they had friends outside of their prison," returned +Timothy, "else would they never have escaped." He took the rapier from +Grenville's hand. "Thank you," said he. "I will keep it, sir, and +gladly, for it can scarce be a worse weapon than my own." + +"I picked it up on the beach," said Grenville, "at the spot where I saw +you engaged with one of the rascals. 'Twas his sword, I doubt not. But, +prithee, since you disarmed him, why did you not run him through?" + +"Indeed, Master Grenville," quoth Tim, "methought I had e'en done so. I +gave him a good span of my weapon in his chest ere he ran off to the +boat, and I warrant he'll not soon recover. Rather, I should say, I will +warrant that he cannot recover." + +Timothy carried the rapier back with him to Plymouth that night, and +when he reached home he examined it. He saw that its point had been +roughly ground down, obviously with the purpose of shortening the weapon +to the limited length required by the law. Timothy immediately +remembered that this had been done to Philip Oglander's rapier. He +looked at the hilt and at once recognized it. Yes, there was no doubt +that this was Master Philip's weapon. There was no doubt either that +the young man with whom Tim had just had the duel on the beach and whom +he had wounded was Philip Oglander himself. + +Arguing upon this fact, Timothy was not long in coming to the conclusion +that the escape of the Spanish prisoners of war had been achieved by the +help of Philip, if not also of Jasper. There was truth, then--absolute +truth--in the accusation which Timothy had made, that Jasper Oglander +and his son were in league with the King of Spain, and that they had all +along been plotting in the interests of England's enemies. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + BARON CHAMPERNOUN. + + +It was on a certain sunny afternoon in early March, the year 1591. The +quays and wharfs around Sutton Pool were thronged with people--women in +bright-coloured gowns and snowy ruffs, gentlemen with plumed hats and +gaudy, flowing capes, yeomen and tradesmen in their more sober garments, +and noisy, boisterous apprentices. From the little casement windows of +the quaint gabled houses near by, many faces looked out upon the busy +scene below, and here and there a white kerchief was waved in farewell +to some soldier or seaman watching it from the heavily-laden boats that +were putting out into the harbour. For it was the day of the departure +of Lord Thomas Howard's squadron of war-ships on its treasure-hunting +expedition to the islands of the Azores. The ships' masts could be seen +with their white sails half-unfurled, and their pennants, ancients, and +banners fluttering gaily in the breeze that blew from off the land. + +The crowd was thickest near to the landing-stairs, where a stream of +men--some wearing glittering morions and corselets, others wide seamen's +hats and long sea-cloaks, and each with a clanking sword by his +side--moved slowly towards the stone steps, where the boats were waiting +to convey them out to their respective ships. + +Among them was old Jaoob Hartop. He carried his bundle of spare clothing +and a pair of heavy boots under his arm. His face looked fresher and +younger, his eyes were brighter, and his step was lighter than three +months before, when he had landed at this same place from on board the +_Pearl_. No one seemed to know him as he passed through the throng, +saving only a curly-headed boy, who pulled at his coat and cried: + +"What, Master Hartop! Art going with the fleet then? Didst not tell us +that you had done with sea-faring for the rest of thy days?" + +Jacob glanced at the urchin, and recognised him as one of the group of +children who had stood around him at the well in Modbury village the +morning after the robbery, to listen to his story of how Sir Francis +Drake had been wounded at Nombre de Dios. + +"Ay, faith, I am going out with the fleet, friend Robin," he answered +cheerily, as he stopped at the boy's side. "A life on land hath but few +joys, I find, for a lonely old man, and I am minded to go out and see a +bit more of the world, and mayhap recover some of the great wealth that +you wot of--the wealth that went down in my golden galleon out yonder to +the west of Flores." + +"Ah!" said the lad. "An I were old enough, 'tis not a little that would +keep me at home when such fine adventures are in store. I'd run away and +join one of the ships, even as Master Trollope hath done. His father +forbade him to have ought to do with the sea, and yesternight they had a +quarrel; but this morning Timothy hath packed up his bag and gone off." + +"And, prithee, what ship hath the lad joined?" asked Jacob. "Hath he +gone on board the _Revenge_, think you?" + +"Nay, that is just what his father would know," answered Robin Redfern. +"He hath been questioning everyone, but none can tell him. But 'tis not +likely he hath gone on board the _Revenge_, for on that ship Master +Oglander is sailing, and you may be sure that Timothy Trollope would +avoid such companionship after what hath happened." + +Jacob Hartop's jaw dropped. A look of dismay came into his eyes. + +"Heaven forfend!" quoth he gloomily. Then taking a corner of the boy's +collar in his fingers, and looking into his face, he added: "Say you +that Jasper Oglander hath gone aboard the _Revenge_?" + +The boy looked puzzled, but presently, understanding the old man's +drift, he answered: + +"Nay. I meant young Master Gilbert, and not his uncle." + +"Then wherefore should Timothy Trollope avoid the same ship that his +young master is sailing upon?" questioned Hartop. + +"For the reason that Master Gilbert is no longer his master; no, nor +even his friend," said Robin. "Some dispute--I know not what it may have +been--ended in Master Trollope being dismissed from Modbury Manor." + +"That may well be," returned Jacob, "but it seemeth to me that Master +Timothy is surely of a quarrelsome disposition. Howbeit, he will be +speedily knocked into submission and obedience on board ship. As to +young Gilbert Oglander, I'll engage he's like all the rest of his +family--" + +"See!" interrupted the lad admiringly, as he pointed towards the steps; +"see! yonder stands Master Gilbert even now. Certes! how brave he doth +look with his new morion and breast-piece!" + +Hartop was forced onward by the moving throng, and presently he arrived +at the top of the steps. What kissing and handshaking and fond partings +were going on here! There were tears, too, in the women's eyes, for all +knew that there was fighting to be done, and that of the gallant +adventurers who were taking their leave, not all would come safely home +again. Jacob came shoulder to shoulder with Ambrose Pennington, whom he +had met once before at this same place. Ambrose was to be Sir Richard +Grenville's sailing-master on board of the _Revenge_, and he was now +bidding farewell to his aged mother. + +"God speed thee, then!" sobbed the old woman as she clung to his hand. +"And mayst thou ever bear it in mind that 'tis our Queen and our country +that thou servest, and that 'tis thy duty to fight hard and bravely +whensoever there be Spaniards to be vanquished!" + +"Ay, faith, I'll mind on it truly," answered Ambrose, kissing his +mother's wrinkled forehead. Then, catching a glimpse of Jacob Hartop, he +cried: "Ha, Master Hartop! How fare you, old friend? I have not seen +thee since our encounter with the Dons three nights ago. Didst get any +hurt, man?" + +"Not I," answered Hartop as he began to descend the stone stairs. "No +hurt beyond the disappointment of hearing the rascals had escaped you. +Where think you they have sped to?" + +"Spain, you may swear," returned Pennington, closely following him. +"'Tis the only land that will welcome such refuse." + +"An that be so, there is yet a chance that we shall overhaul them," +said Jacob with satisfaction, "for the _Pearl_ is but a laggard at +sailing. A herring-boat might outstrip her hand over hand, to say naught +of such well-found ships as these of my Lord Howard's." + +Gilbert Oglander was stepping into one of the boats when Hartop and +Pennington got to the foot of the flight of stairs. He nodded in +greeting to the two men, and made room for them beside him in the +stern-sheets. Then, all being seated and the boat full, the man at the +bow pushed off, the oars were dipped, and amid the cheers of the crowd +on shore the little craft was steered out into the harbour. + +In his boyish excitement at getting into the boat, Gilbert had not +observed that his uncle Jasper was standing at the end of the quay +quietly watching him. Gilbert had already bidden farewell to his uncle, +as indeed to all the household at Modbury Manor, some three hours +before, and he could not have expected that Jasper, even allowing for +the great affection he had heretofore shown for him, would have the +desire to wish yet a second farewell. + +But in actual truth it was a far other errand than this that had brought +Jasper Oglander into the town so quickly upon his nephew's heels. It was +an errand which, had it been duly fulfilled, would have certainly +prevented Gilbert's departure from England. It was in fact with the +purpose of summoning the lad back to his home that Jasper had thus +hastened to the harbour. + +And yet, strangely enough, he made not the smallest attempt to stop the +boat as it put out from the landing-stairs; nay, he even seemed anxious +that his nephew should not catch sight of him, for as the rowers pulled +past where he had stationed himself, he drew cautiously back into the +crowd. Apparently, therefore, it was in some way to Jasper's personal +advantage that Gilbert should be permitted to leave the country at this +particular time. So it accordingly befell that the lad was taken out to +his ship, and that he proceeded on his voyage in total ignorance of a +most important circumstance which directly concerned him. + +When about noon that day Gilbert had mounted his horse to start for +Plymouth, all had been well with the family at Modbury Manor. He had +waved his hand in farewell to his grandfather, who had stood at the open +casement above the porch, and had embraced his mother and Drusilla, and +shaken hands with all the servants. Drusilla and his uncle Jasper had +accompanied him down the long avenue to the lodge gate, and thence he +had ridden off alone. + +He had expected that his cousin Philip would be at the manor to bid him +farewell. Philip had been absent for two days, and, strangely enough, he +had given no reason for going away. None knew where he had gone +excepting his father, and Jasper, on being questioned, had merely stated +that the lad had had a mind to take an excursion into the country. +Nothing was guessed of the part that he had taken in the affray on +Polperro beach. Indeed, it seemed that Timothy Trollope alone knew this, +and as Timothy was no longer in service at Modbury Manor, no word of +Philip Oglander's connection with the escape of the Spanish prisoners of +war had yet been spoken. + +Gilbert had been gone scarcely an hour when a messenger on horseback +arrived bearing a letter for my Lord Champernoun. The letter was +delivered into the aged baron's own hand in his private library. No one +was present when he opened and read it, but some minutes afterwards the +Lady Betty Oglander was passing the library door when she heard a heavy +fall. She opened the door and looked within and saw Lord Champernoun +lying unconscious on the floor. She called aloud for help. Her cry was +answered by Jasper. They went in together and lifted the old nobleman +into his chair. His face was bloodless, and they could not hear him +breathing. + +"Holy Mother, he is dead!" exclaimed Jasper Oglander. "What in Heaven's +name can have caused it so suddenly?" He looked blankly about the room +as if in search of an explanation. Seeing the letter on the floor he +picked it up, and unnoticed by Lady Betty thrust it into the breast of +his doublet. + +"'Tis his heart!" cried Lady Betty. "He must surely have had some sudden +shock. It may even be that Gilbert's departure hath unduly excited him." +Then, remembering Gilbert, she turned to Jasper. "Good my brother," said +she, "go, I beseech you, and bring back my son, for he must not be +allowed to leave England. Take horse at once and bring him back, and--" +she glanced once again at the lifeless baron, felt for the beating of +his heart, and put her cheek to his lips to discover if there might not +still be some breath in him--"bring also a physician. There may yet be +hope." + +Jasper shook his head sadly. + +"It is death, madam," said he; "I know full well that it is death. +Nevertheless, I will go at once into Plymouth and bring Gilbert back +with me; for, as you most truly say, he must not be permitted to quit +the country while his grandsire lies dead. Think on't, my lady," he went +on, "your son Gilbert is now the head of this noble house. He is Baron +Champernoun--" + +"Go--go at once!" implored Lady Betty, and her eyes followed him +anxiously as he left the room. And as he went out Drusilla, Donna Lela, +Christopher Pym, and others entered in alarm, only to find that Lord +Champernoun had passed indeed beyond all hope. + +Little did Gilbert Oglander dream of this calamity as he sat in the +stern of the rowing-boat that was taking him out to the _Revenge_. His +thoughts were only of the ships and of the men who were to be his future +companions, and he listened with full interest to the talk that was +going on beside him between Ambrose Pennington and old Jacob Hartop. + +"Here we are, good my masters! There lieth our fleet!" cried Pennington, +as the boat was brought round abreast of the outer wall of the harbour. +"Dost know the ships by sight, Hartop?" + +"Not I," answered Jacob, leaning forward and running his eyes with slow +deliberation along the line of stately ships of war. "They be all new +built since my time, and, as I have already said, I have been these many +weeks past away from Plymouth, and only came into the town again early +this morning. Prithee, which of them is the _Revenge_?" + +"We can scarcely see her as yet," returned Pennington. "She doth lie out +yonder beyond the point, half-hidden by the larger vessel that is moored +this side of her. The larger ship is the _Bonaventure_, the greatest in +the squadron by a good hundred tons. Sir Robert Cross is her +commander--a right worthy seaman and a gallant. Next to her lies Captain +Duffield's ship the _Crane_, and astern of her again the _Foresight_, +with Captain Thomas Vavasour's pennant flying from her mast-head. These +two great ships to the leeward are the _Lion_ and the _Defiance_." + +"Ay, and I judge that the _Defiance_ is the one with the higher hull," +remarked Hartop, "for I see she doth fly my Lord Thomas Howard's banner +and an admiral's pennant. 'Tis a right goodly array truly, yet small +enough, my masters, for the work we have in hand, as ye would surely +agree an you knew how many great galleons of Spain do go to make up the +treasure fleet that we have engaged to capture." + +The boat was now being rowed along the line of the admiral's squadron, +and Gilbert Oglander paid no farther regard to the conversation of his +companions, but directed his attention to each of the great vessels in +turn. There were six of Queen Elizabeth's ships; the largest being the +_Bonaventure_ of six hundred tons, and the smallest being the _Crane_ of +two hundred tons. But in addition to these there were some half a dozen +other vessels which had been contributed to the expedition by certain +patriotic English gentlemen and merchant adventurers, as the _Bark +Raleigh_, which was Sir Walter Raleigh's share in the enterprise, the +_Prudence_, the _Pilgrim_, and the _George Noble_. There were also +several smaller ships, victuallers, as they were called, carrying stores +and extra ammunition. The whole fleet numbered in all twenty sails, and +the combined companies numbered something like two thousand five hundred +men and boys. The larger ships mounted from thirty to fifty guns apiece. +Of this squadron Lord Thomas Howard was the appointed admiral and +general. His vice-admiral was Sir Richard Grenville. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + OUTWARD BOUND. + + +The _Revenge_ lay at anchor in the midst of many merchant ships, +pinnaces, and fly-boats,--a very gallant ship, with her carved and +gilded bulwarks, with her tall, stout masts, with her silken, +swallow-tailed banners flying from her masts and yards, her great +standard, bearing the royal arms, at her forecastle. At her maintop the +glorious flag of St George's Cross was fluttering in the breeze--the +flag under which so many great seamen had beforetime traded, explored, +and fought in England's honour, that Drake and Cavendish had borne round +the world, that Lancaster carried to the East Indies and Frobisher to +the far north; the flag that had blown triumphant against the Spaniards +off Gravelines three years before this time, and that was destined soon +to wave with less good fortune though not with less glory over the +shot-torn wreck of the _Revenge_ herself. + +Gilbert had been on board many times during the past two weeks while the +business of preparation and victualling was in progress. He had explored +the vessel from stem to stern, from the high, square forecastle, where +the bowsprit rose steeply upward, and carried at its outer end a small +mast with its sprit-topsail; and back aft to the sloping quarter-deck +and the higher poop-deck, where a narrow strip of railed platform ran +athwart from side to side above the water. He had been below to the +main-deck where the heaviest guns were carried, and below that again to +the lower deck that was dark and airless as a pit. He had even climbed +the tall main-mast and stood upon the gallery, whence in time of battle +the ship's archers and musketeers were wont to shoot down upon their +enemy alongside. He would willingly have climbed the bonaventure mast +also, and crept up to the high peak of the long lateen yard that towered +aloft above the ship's stern lantern, but one of the men in authority +had warned him against the danger of such an attempt. + +Now, when he mounted the ladder at the vessel's side and passed through +the gangway upon the main-deck, he was met by Roland Grenville, who was +arrayed in all the bravery of a new shining corselet, a pair of new +leathern trunk-hose, a coarse blue cloth doublet, and a wide seaman's +hat. Roland greeted him heartily, bade him salute the quarter-deck, and +then conducted him below to the large cabin, reserved for what were in +those days called gentlemen volunteers, most of whom were young men of +good families, who entered the naval service not as actual officers or +midshipmen but as captain's servants. For in Queen Elizabeth's time it +was customary for each captain of a man-of-war to be allowed two +personal servants for every fifty of his crew. Such servants or +cabin-boys were almost invariably recruited from among the captain's +relations, friends, or followers. Sir Richard Grenville had in this +manner appointed his own son Roland and Master Gilbert Oglander. + +When the two lads had eaten some ship's biscuits and bacon, and drunk +between them a tankard of small ale, they went out upon the upper deck +and loitered there for a while, until Gilbert requested his companion +to show him over the ship and tell him about her guns. Young Grenville, +having already spent some three years upon the sea, could point out all +matters of interest, and explain the uses of all maritime instruments +and implements of warfare. He was himself a very skilful gunner, and he +took especial delight in showing Gilbert the ship's ordnance. + +The _Revenge_ mounted forty "great ordnance" of brass, including +cannon-royal, demi-cannon, and culverins for firing a broadside. Of +these the cannon-royal were the largest, having a range of a mile's +distance, weighing four tons, and being twelve feet in length. Their +mouths gaped through the round portholes of the main-deck. The +demi-cannon were a foot longer, but a ton lighter. But in many parts of +the vessel there were other smaller swivel-guns, such as sakers, +falcons, minions, fowlers, and murdering-pieces. The murdering-pieces +were mounted one on the after part of the forecastle and the other on +the fore part of the poop, and they pointed inboard, so that their shot +might be discharged into the midst of the enemy when attempting to board +her. + +"But these guns in especial are not ofttimes used," explained Roland +Grenville, "for you must know, Oglander, that in these days our +sea-fights come but seldom to a matter of boarding. 'Tis rarely I have +seen great execution done with them; no, nor even with the bow and +arrow, small-shot, or the sword. I am not sure, indeed, that in the +whole course of the Armada fight there was a single occasion on which +the Spaniards gained a footing on an English deck. The battle was +chiefly gained by our great artillery breaking down masts and yards, +tearing, raking, and bilging the enemy's ships." + +There were many things for Gilbert to see and to admire: the racks where +the arquebuses were kept, the bows of divers shapes and sizes and the +cases of arrows, the pikes, the granadoes, the piles of hollow brass +balls and earthen pots covered with quarter bullets and filled with +gunpowder, which, as Roland explained, would make an incredible +slaughter in a crowd of Spaniards; the stacks of crossbar, langrel and +chain shot, and the many implements for wild-fire, wherewith to strike +burning into a ship's side to fire her. And, finally, the powder +magazines and the rows of hanging cartridge-cases, in which, during an +action, the ship's boys were wont to carry up the gunpowder to the +gunners. + +They went forward into the seamen's quarters, where they found a motley +crew of mariners--many of them well-tried voyagers with gray hairs and +weather-beaten faces, many burly men of war, who bore in their scarred +cheeks and broken limbs the traces of bygone battles. Some were young +lads starting full joyously on their first enterprise, and among them, +too, were many lawless fellows, pirates and robbers, who had been taken +out of Plymouth prison and forced upon the ship, in the foolish belief +that when removed from the scenes of their past misdeeds they would +change into good and peaceful servants. The crew had been on board some +two days, and now they were lying about in lazy groups, regaling +themselves with the ale that had been served out to them, making a +better acquaintance with each other, and boasting of the great things +they had done, and the yet greater things they expected to do in this +coming voyage. + +When Roland and Gilbert entered the cabin, one Edward Webbe, a gunner, +of London, was telling of his adventures in foreign lands. A man of some +forty years was he, but he looked much older by reason of the privations +and perils through which he had gone. + +"Moreover," he was saying, "in the land of Egypt, near to the river of +Nile, there are seven mountains builded on the outside like unto the +point of a diamond, which mountains were builded in King Pharaoh's time +for to keep corn in, and they are mountains of great strength. In that +same river of Nile there be long fishes that are of twelve foot long, +with marvellous great mouths and long tails, and hides hard as the sole +of my boot. These fishes are so subtle that, swimming near the +shore-side, they will pull men and women suddenly into the river and +devour them." + +"Why, they be sharks, surely," remarked one who sat near him. + +"Nay," corrected Jacob Hartop from the dark corner where he was sitting +mumbling a ship's biscuit. "I have seen such animals myself out in +Virginia, where we called them alligators. But, prithee, continue with +your recital, neighbour. Did ye not say that ye had been to the land of +Prester John?" + +"Yea," proceeded Edward Webbe; "and this Prester John of whom I spake +before is a king of great power and keepeth a very bountiful court, +after the manner of that country, and hath every day to serve him at his +table sixty kings, wearing leaden crowns on their heads, and these serve +in the meat to Prester John's table. And continually the first dish of +meat set upon the table is a dead man's skull, clean picked and laid in +black earth; putting him in mind that he is but earth, and that he must +die and shall become earth again." + +"Ay, a marvellous country truly," interrupted Hartop, "as I do know full +well, who have been there. And I doubt not, Master Webbe, that, having +travelled in those lands, you have also known somewhat of the Turks, +eh?" + +"Right well have I known them," returned Webbe with a rueful head-shake. +"And because I was a Christian, and because the Turk had no cause to use +me in my office of gunnership, I was imprisoned in Constantinople, where +I found two thousand other prisoners and captives, Christians all of +them, who were pinned up against stone walls, locked fast in iron +chains, grievously pinched, with extreme penury. And I do avow that many +times we wished for death rather than in such misery to live, and +grieved at our hard hap that the wars had not ended us ere we came +thither." + +"Ay, right well I know such misery," said Jacob Hartop rising from his +seat, and, thrusting forward his bared left arm he added: "Look you at +this, neighbour!" He pointed with one finger at a depression in his +wrist, which showed where the iron chains had been bound. As he stood +forward he caught sight of Roland Grenville and Gilbert Oglander in the +doorway, and he touched his gray forelock in salutation. At the same +moment there came the shrill sound of a whistle from the main-deck. + +"'Tis the muster-call," cried Roland Grenville. "Come, my lads, tumble +up, one and all!" and he waited by the door as they all filed past him, +and smiled as he regarded their strangely-assorted attire. Many were +raggedly clothed; some looked as if they had but lately come from off +the ploughed fields, others still wore their fishermen's jackets, that +yet had clinging to them the shining scales of the herring; and others +again were gaily set out in the bravery of new suits of doublet and hose +and clean ruffs and long mariners' boots. Gilbert Oglander had gone out +beyond the door to watch them take their respective places in ranks upon +the upper-deck, but young Grenville remained behind until the last of +them had passed out. He glanced into the cabin they had left to assure +himself that none had remained, and in one of the far corners, which was +in deep shadow, he observed a movement. He called out, believing for +the moment that one of the men lay there dazed with over-much ale, but +there was no answer, and the dark form that he had taken for a bundle of +humanity was silent and still. He stepped towards it and prodded it with +his foot. There was no response, and he saw only a heavy seaman's cloak +and the corner of a biscuit bag. + +"Tut!" said he to himself. "I could almost have sworn 'twas a man lying +there. And yet I might have seen that 'twas too small." And he turned to +the door with a light laugh and went out upon the open deck. + +Scarcely had he turned his back when the bundle moved yet again, a +corner of the cloak was raised, and a pair of bright eyes peered out +from a round boyish face, and a boyish voice murmured: + +"Dear heart, I thought he'd discovered me! 'Twas Master Grenville, as I +live! Lord send he cometh not back ere the ship hath begun to sail!" + +Sir Richard Grenville had come on board, having spent some hours that +afternoon in consultation with the admiral and the various captains of +the squadron; and now when his own ship's company had been mustered he +stood at the forward rail of the quarter-deck looking down at the sea of +faces on the upper deck below him. His captain and lieutenants, arrayed +in their best, stood apart from him, while the ship's preacher in his +sombre black gown and white ruffle and scholar's cap sat near on the +carriage of the murderer-gun, sedately turning over the leaves of his +prayer-book. + +The crew were all ranked in order, according to their several stations. +The warrant-officers stood in groups apart from the seamen, for they +were persons of great importance on board. The sailing-master, Ambrose +Pennington, and his mates, who were responsible for the navigation of +the ship, were indeed next in rank to the lieutenants; the corporal was +also a great man, for it was his duty to look after the small-arms and +musketeers' equipment, and to exercise the men-at-arms. The +master-gunner and his mates, of whom one was Jacob Hartop and another +Edward Webbe, had the duty of keeping the guns in good order, of seeing +to their tackle, and also of looking after the powder-room or magazine, +and the gun-room, where the small-arm ammunition was stored. The +master-carpenter and his mates were to attend to the repairs and general +state of the vessel's hull, to see to the plugging of shot-holes in +action, the pumps and caulking, and the masts and yards, while the +boatswain and his mates had charge of the ropes, rigging, cables, +anchors, sails, and flags, superintending the men at their stations, +setting the watches and carrying out punishments. Then, too, there were +the purser, the quarter-masters, and the swabber. This last officer had +the work of seeing to the ship being kept clean within and without above +water, and he was answerable for the men keeping their persons clean. + +The positions held by the members of the crew were in those days as many +and various as in our own navy. The surgeon was not accounted of high +rank, his wages being but twenty shillings a month, which was the same +amount as that received by the trumpeter. There were drummers, cooks, +yeomen of the sheets, yeomen of powder, stewards, armourers, and many +other qualifications; and lastly, there were the seamen and gromets, or +ship's boys. The whole ship's company of the _Revenge_ numbered two +hundred and fifty all told. + +Sir Richard Grenville inspected them all from where he stood. His eyes +searched into each man's face as he answered to his name called out by +the purser from his roll, and if there was aught of doubt as to the +man's appearance of fitness, he was bidden to stand forward so that the +general might have a nearer sight of him, and, if need were, question +him. But all had been well chosen in so far as their bodily health could +be judged; and if some did indeed appear to be rough and ill-kempt and +of an idle sort, Sir Richard still passed them, knowing full well that +rogues do ofttimes prove to be good and true men when 'tis a question of +fighting for England's glory and advancement on the seas. + +"And now, my men," said their leader when the roll had come to an end, +"I would say a word to ye ere I dismiss ye to your quarters. We are +bound, as ye all doubtless know, to the islands of the Azores, where +'tis our purpose to intercept and lay capture to certain of the +Spaniards' treasure-ships coming back to Spain from the Indies. My Lord +Thomas Howard is our chief and admiral, to lead the expedition, by the +appointment of her most gracious Majesty the Queen--" + +"God bless her!" cried someone from the midst of the crowd, and the cry +was taken up by many voices repeating the words "God bless the Queen!" + +"But aboard this ship, and for the continued honour of this ship, which +hath already done so much good service for England, ye are to understand +that your duty is one of constant and unvaried obedience to your +officers, whose word is your law." + +He paused for a moment, looking out over the water to the _Defiance_, +whose anchors were already up, and whose sails were one by one taking +the wind. + +"And," he went on, turning again to the men, "for as much as the good +success and prosperity of every action doth consist in the due service +and glorifying of God, and that not only our being and preservation but +the prosperity of all our actions and enterprises do immediately depend +on His Almighty goodness and mercy, it is provided now as heretofore +that all the company, as well officers as others, shall duly repair +every day twice at the call of the ship's bell to hear public prayers to +be read, such as are authorized by the Church, and that in a godly and +devout manner, as good Christians ought. Finally, I would have you to +observe this ordinance, which hath ever been observed upon the ships +which I have commanded, namely, that no man, be his provocation +whatsoever it may, shall swear by the name of God or use any profane +oath, or blaspheme His holy name." + +He drew back a step and turned to the preacher. + +"Give 'em a prayer, parson," said he; "but be brief, I adjure you, for +we must up anchor and be off." + +At this Sir Richard took off his plumed hat and dropped it on the deck +at his feet, and stood with his hands clasped before him and his head +reverently bowed. His example was followed by his officers, and when the +preacher went forward to the rail of the little pulpit that was at the +front of the quarter-deck and held up his hands, the crowd upon the +upper deck became suddenly silent. Each man bared his head and clapped +his rough right hand over his eyes, as the chaplain's solemn voice rang +out with the words: + + "_Oh, eternal Lord God, who alone spreadest out the heavens and + rulest the raging of the sea; who hast compassed the waters with + bounds until day and night come to an end; be pleased to receive + into thy Almighty and most gracious protection the persons of us thy + servants and the fleet in which we serve. Preserve us from the + dangers of the sea and from the violence of the enemy, that we may + be a safeguard unto our most gracious sovereign lady, Queen + Elizabeth, and her dominions, and a security for such as pass the + seas upon their lawful occasions; that the inhabitants of our Island + may in peace and quietness serve thee our God: and that we may + return in safety to enjoy the blessings of the land with the fruits + of our labours, and with a thankful remembrance of thy mercies to + praise and glorify thy holy name, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. + Amen._" + +The parson remained with uplifted hands, Sir Richard Grenville looked up +for a moment. + +"Enough, man," he said, "enough. George Fenner hath catted his anchor. +Duffield is already under sail." But the parson did not heed him, and on +hearing the words "_Our Father_" Grenville again assumed the attitude of +devotion and waited until the final "_Amen_". Then turning to his +captain he gave a word of instruction, the word was passed down, and +immediately there was a hurry and bustle among the crew. Some climbed up +to the yards and began to shake out the sails, others sped to the +capstans, while others attended to getting on board the ship's boats. + +Lord Thomas Howard's flag-ship, the _Defiance_, led the way into the +Sound. She was followed closely by the great ship of Sir Robert +Cross--the _Bonaventure_. Then at some distance went Captain Fenner's +_Lion_, Captain Vavasour's _Foresight_, and Captain Duffield's _Crane_. +Some of the smaller vessels of the fleet, the private adventurers which +had been contributed to the expedition by Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir George +Carey, and other gentlemen, sailed out in the train. Among these were +the _George Noble_ of London, the _Pilgrim_ of Plymouth, and the _Bark +Raleigh_. + +[Illustration: "AY, BUT HOW CAME YE ABOARD, MY LAD?"] + +The _Revenge_ was the last to leave Plymouth harbour, for, being +commanded by the vice-admiral, her place was in the rear. But her +sailing powers were greater than those of any other ship in the +squadron, and she might easily have overhauled her fastest consort had +her master so willed. Some of the heavily-laden victuallers were +overtaken even at the mouth of Plymouth Sound. One of them, the +_Pilgrim_, was close beside her as they entered the open sea at +sunset-time, and Gilbert Oglander, who was at the moment climbing down +the ladder stairs from the quarter-deck, paused in his descent and +looked over the bulwarks down upon her decks. He could see the faces of +her crew. He could see Captain Whiddon on her poop deck, pacing to and +fro from rail to rail. + +Gilbert was wondering why it was that seamen invariably had this habit, +when suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by sounds from behind him on +the upper deck. He turned, and saw a little crowd of men at the foot of +the main-mast. Some of them were laughing, others were loudly talking as +they bent over some object on the deck that seemed to be the cause of +their concern. As Gilbert approached the crowd broke up, and he +perceived old Jacob Hartop standing there holding a little boy by the +ear. + +"Ay, but how came ye aboard, my lad?" Jacob was asking, looking into the +boy's tearful face. + +"In a boat, so please you, sir," replied the boy. "In the same boat with +yourself, Master Hartop." + +"Nay, but I saw you not," returned Jacob. "I saw you not, else, be +assured, I'd have sent you back instanter to your mother. What think you +the poor soul will do when she findeth you have not come home?" + +"I had but one thought," said the lad, looking up, "and that was to get +on board the _Revenge_ with Master Gilbert Oglander." + +It was at this moment that Gilbert entered the crowd and heard his name +spoken. He glanced at the boy. + +"Body o' me!" he cried. "Why, 'tis young Robin Redfern of Modbury +village! How comes he here?" + +"Ay, 'tis Robin himself, truly," said Jacob Hartop, turning at hearing +Gilbert's voice. "He hath a mind to fight for the Queen, he says, so +smuggled himself aboard. Master Roland Grenville found him stowed away +below, and hath now gone to inform Sir Richard. I saw the child myself +on Sutton quay, ay, and spake with him, but I'd no notion that he meant +to follow us on board. 'Tis foolish in him, as I have told him, for a +lad so young is but an encumbrance on a ship of battle." + +"Nay, but I mean to work," protested Robin. "I'll work hard. Sure there +be many things I can do, Master Hartop." And then as he saw Sir Richard +Grenville emerging from one of the doors at the farther end of the deck +he began to cry very piteously, as though fearing that he must surely be +severely punished. + +"What have we here?" demanded Sir Richard. + +"So please your honour, 'tis a boy," explained one of the men. + +"Ay, I can well see 'tis not a horse," said the admiral; and then plying +the boy with many questions, and learning that he was from Modbury, he +turned to Gilbert Oglander: "Take him into your personal charge, Master +Oglander," said he. "Let him be your serving-boy, or a powder-boy, or +what you like; and bid the purser enter him on the ship's books. As for +his mother, 'tis a pity for her that most concerns me, and I would have +you inscribe a letter to her, and throw it overboard in a bottle, which +may haply be picked up by some passing fishing-boat." And with that he +strolled back aft towards his cabin, where he remained secluded until +late on the following morning. + +Now as Gilbert passed again along the deck he looked over to the land, +as he had done many times already, in the hope of being able to make out +the towers of Modbury Manor in the far distance. Many a time had he +stood in the upper room of one of those towers to watch the ships +sailing outward from Plymouth Sound, and now for the first time he hoped +to reverse the process and try to discover his home from the ship's +deck. It was no very easy matter, in the fading light of the evening, to +identify any house so far away; but Modbury stood upon a height and was +prominent enough if one knew exactly where to look for it. At last, +however, he descried the topmost tower above the trees; he could even +see the tall flag-staff, with the flag fluttering in the breeze. He kept +his eyes fixed upon the flag for many moments, believing that it had +been hoisted for his own benefit as a signal of farewell. But at last he +began to realize that for some strange reason it had not been drawn +fully up to the top of the staff--that indeed it had been hoisted +half-mast high. And this, as he well knew, was a token of death. A pang +of alarm shot through him; he felt suddenly very desolate and lonely. +Again and again he turned his eyes upon the flag, hoping that he had +made a mistake. As he stood there Roland Grenville passed near him. + +"What, art home-sick so soon?" said he with a light laugh. + +Gilbert was silent for a moment, and at length, pointing to the land, he +said: + +"Look to the flag on Modbury tower yonder. I beg you look at it and tell +me if my sight deceiveth me. Is't not flying at the half-mast?" + +"Ay, in very sooth, 'tis so," returned young Grenville. "I can see it +plainly. Someone is surely dead--Ah, the trees hide it now!" + +"Heaven send 'tis not my grandfather!" cried Gilbert. "I cannot believe +'tis he, for I left him hale and well. And yet I can think of none +else." + +"Mayhap 'tis your uncle Jasper," suggested Roland. + +But Gilbert shook his head, remembering Jasper's vigorous strength. + +"No," he said; "it cannot be uncle Jasper." + +"Then 'tis your cousin Philip, I warrant me," said Grenville. "The lad +hath met with some mishap on the hare-brained journey that you told me +of. Said you not that he went off on horseback, and that you had not +heard news of him for two full days? 'Tis clearly he." + +And arguing with himself that night as he lay in the ship's cabin, +sleepless and sick at heart, Gilbert came to the conclusion that this +was so. He surmised that Philip had been thrown from his horse, or had +come into some quarrel with highway vagabonds and had been brought home +to Modbury dead. Little did he dream that Philip Oglander was now on +board the _Pearl_ on his way to Spain; little did he dream that his +grandfather now lay dead in his great room at Modbury Manor; and as +little did he dream that now at this same moment he was himself the only +Baron Champernoun. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + A CHAIN OF PENANCE. + + +That brief voyage from Plymouth to the islands of the Azores was in the +main an uneventful one. Gilbert Oglander, who, notwithstanding his love +of ships, had never before spent a night upon the sea, very speedily +succumbed to the effects of the ship's motion. The _Revenge_ rolled and +pitched upon the great green waves that met her in the open channel +beyond the Eddystone rocks, and when she was off Ushant a thick sea-mist +hemmed her in, and she lay there tossing for many hours under +close-reefed sails, beyond sight or hail of the other vessels of the +fleet. + +It was while the fog still held round her that Gilbert first ventured +upon deck. Jacob Hartop met him there, and greeted him with a question. + +"Prithee, Master Oglander," said the old man, "hast seen aught of young +Robin Redfern these few hours past?" + +"Nay," answered Gilbert, "he hath not been near me since I have been +below." + +"Then I much fear," returned Hartop, "that the lad hath fallen +overboard, for no man hath set eyes upon him since we shortened sail +eight hours ago. We have searched for him all-wheres, but he cannot be +found. As a last resource I have sent a man up the main-mast to seek him +in the tops, although 'tis well-nigh impossible he can be there." + +As he spoke the old man glanced aloft through the fog, and at the same +moment a voice hailed him from tops. + +"Below there!" the voice cried. "The kid is here. I have found him!" + +Jacob Hartop sprang up upon the bulwarks, grasped the shrouds, and +climbed up with the nimbleness of a much younger man. Gilbert watched +him, and presently he disappeared into the railed gallery there. When +he again appeared he was slowly descending, bearing the boy's inert form +over his shoulder. + +"There!" cried Hartop, as he dumped the lad down upon the deck. "Thank +the Lord y'are not starved to death up there!" + +The boy looked up, dazed as if he had been suddenly aroused from sleep. + +"How came you to go hiding up there?" questioned Hartop in a severe +tone. "Dost know how you have alarmed us, quotha? How came you up there, +I say?" + +The lad's eyes glanced about him as if in mortal fear. + +"'Twas Red Bob," he stammered. "He's here, on board this ship. I was +afraid of him, Master Hartop; for he doth owe me a sorry grudge for +being the cause of his being put into prison. I went up the mast to hide +from him, and, being there, I could not get down again, try as I would." + +"And, prithee, who might be this Red Bob of whom y'are so afraid?" asked +Jacob. + +And then Robin caught sight of Gilbert Oglander, and he said: + +"Master Gilbert should know the man. 'Tis the man that was put into +prison for stealing the ducks and geese from the Manor farm, Master +Gilbert, and that attacked you in Beddington Dingle, and that robbed +Master Hartop of his bag of precious stones that he had brought home +from the Spanish Main." + +"Marry!" exclaimed Gilbert in surprise. "And you say he is aboard the +_Revenge_?" + +"Ay, truly," said Robin; "and by the way he regarded me, I feel sure he +doth know that it was I who raised the alarm and was the cause of his +being caught." + +"You need be in no such fear of the man, my lad," said Gilbert. "Let him +but attempt to harm you, and I warrant you he'll not soon forget it. You +are in my personal charge now, Robin, and I'll see you are hurt by no +man." + +Later on that same day Gilbert encountered the man Red Bob in the +forward part of the ship, whence the lad had gone immediately after +prayers to witness a strange ceremony, of which the occasion was this: +that Red Bob had that day been taken in the swearing of a blasphemous +oath, and was now to be punished in sight of his companions. With a +general consent of all the ship's company, it had been ordained that any +man guilty of using profane language should be condemned to wear a heavy +iron chain about his neck, and that at the time of morning and evening +prayers he should receive three blows given him by the boatswain. The +guilty man could only free himself from the penalty by transferring it +to another whom he discovered swearing. Thus did the men of the +_Revenge_ endeavour to banish the vice of bad language on board. + +Red Bob had worn the chain for the space of seven hours, and he was +standing in the midst of his fellows meekly submitting to the +boatswain's blows when Gilbert appeared. Gilbert thought he had never +seen a man whose face showed more of brutality and evil than this Red +Bob, and as he looked at him and remembered that night in Beddington +Dingle, he could not doubt that it was this same man, this poacher, who +had attacked Jacob Hartop and stolen the poor old man's wallet with its +jewels and the precious letter, of which so much had been said at +Modbury Manor. + +Jacob Hartop himself was at Gilbert's elbow as Red Bob retired towards +the forecastle smarting from the boatswain's blows. As he approached +them he touched his forelock, and was passing on when Gilbert accosted +him. + +"Stop," said the lad, "I have a word or two to say to you." + +"I am at your worship's service," returned Red Bob. "What would you?" +And then, recognizing Gilbert as the young heir of Modbury, he added: +"But I have little need to ask, methinks, for I guess that you would +question me concerning the matter of the night when I was arrested and +thrown into Plymouth gaol?" + +Gilbert nodded. "Yes," he said, "you have guessed my wish right truly." + +"Well, your honour," said Red Bob, "as to the poaching of the farm +ducks--" + +"Nay, I meant not the poaching matter," interrupted Gilbert. "You have +had your just punishment for that, and so 'tis at an end. It was rather +of the matter of your attack upon Master Hartop here, that I would know +more. You see, there was a letter stolen--a letter of grave importance." + +"Ay, 'twas the Spaniards that purloined it," broke in Red Bob. + +"The Spaniards?" echoed Gilbert. "Prithee, what Spaniards mean you?" + +"Look you, my masters," said Red Bob, and then he drew Gilbert to the +bulwarks and signed to Hartop to join him. "I can tell you, mayhap, more +than you know. But firstly, be assured that I had no hand in the affair. +The men who waylaid Master Hartop were Jasper Oglander, his son Philip, +and one Andrea de Ortega. Nay, do not doubt me," he cautioned, seeing +that Gilbert shook his head in incredulity; "I had the whole story from +overhearing the Spaniards while I was in the gaol. For you must know +that, having been for some three years on the Spanish galleys, I know +their language, though of that they never dreamt when they contrived +their plots and conspiracies in my hearing. Willingly would I have +warned Master Richard Drake of their schemes; but in gaol one can hold +speech with none but one's fellow-prisoners, and ere I was released and +brought on board this ship the Spaniards had made good their escape." + +"Ay, but what of Master Jasper Oglander?" interrupted Hartop. "Say you +that you have proof against him?" + +"I have proof thus far," rejoined Red Bob, "that on that night in +December he and his two companions followed you from the ship with +intent to get possession of the letter. It was they who assailed you in +Beddington Dingle. They possessed themselves of the letter, which, it +seemeth, contained news of the Spanish plate fleet. It was on account of +that news that they were in so great haste to get back to Spain. Their +escape was contrived by Jasper Oglander and his son--" + +"Marry come up!" cried Gilbert "Why, then, Timothy Trollope was right +after all!" + +Red Bob shook his head, and a grim smile played about his lips. + +"Timothy Trollope had been righter still if he had finished his work on +Polperro beach," said he. "'Tis said that the lad ran his rapier through +young Philip Oglander. Haply he did so; but of this I am certain, that +young Philip Oglander is at this moment on board the _Pearl_ on his way +to Spain, with intent to inform the Spanish king of the setting out of +this present expedition to waylay the plate fleet. That, my master, is +the sum of what I know, and if there be aught else that you would +question me upon, my name on the ship's books is Robert Cruse, and you +will find me when on duty in the carpenter's quarters." And so saying, +he again touched his forelock and proceeded on his way into the +forecastle. + +Thus, when it was too late to relent, did Gilbert learn of his +injustice towards Timothy Trollope. He reflected that had he only +believed in Timothy's report of the character of Jasper and Philip +Oglander, much mischief might have been averted. For it needed no +assurance from Jacob Hartop to bring him to understand to the full all +that might follow from the escape of the Spanish prisoners. They were +now on their way to Spain, apparently with the object of hastening to +King Philip and informing him of the starting of Lord Thomas Howard's +expedition to the Azores; and the result of their intelligence would no +doubt be that the Spanish king would endeavour by all the means in his +power to frustrate the English designs upon his treasure-ships. + +Gilbert spoke of these things with Roland Grenville, but young Grenville +regarded them with small concern, and reminded Gilbert that Lord Thomas +Howard was well acquainted with the situation, for that he had given +instructions to all his captains to keep a constant watch for the +_Pearl_, to the end that if any should sight her she was to be pursued +and captured, or else sent to the bottom with a well-directed shot. + +But if any strange vessels were espied they were only peaceful traders +bearing our own flag of St. George, or else one or two of the Earl of +Cumberland's fleet, which were at that time cruising off the coasts of +Spain. Certain it is that the _Pearl_ did not come within sight of any +on board the _Revenge_, for her voyage across the Bay of Biscay and +thence westward to the Azores was performed without so much as the +firing of a single gun. Nor did any event of great moment occur the +while on board, or any circumstance worthy of mention, saving only that +ere the Western Isles were sighted the men had already begun to grumble +much at the quality of their rations and at their bodily discomforts. + +For, as if the ill results of bad victualling of the Queen's ships in +1588 had not been a sufficient lesson, the food supplied to the present +expedition was of the poorest sort, and it was little wonder that there +was much discontent. The beer, of which one gallon each day was supplied +to every man and boy, had been stored in old oil and fish barrels, and +was so corrupt that many refused to drink of it. The meat was so salt +that many said the brine had been put into it for the purpose of +disguising the rank foulness thereof. The bread, too, was daily becoming +more closely inhabited by maggots, while even the sweetest food was like +to become unsavoury by reason of the noisome and poisonous scent of the +bilge-water, which was in itself enough, had not the men all been for +the most part hale and healthy, to make many a brave sailor food for +crabs and sharks. + +But if the men grumbled it was as yet only in surly undertones, for all +knew that there was good fruit to be had on the island of Flores, and +perhaps even some good wine. Furthermore, the Spanish treasure-ships +were expected on an early day, when, after a little fighting, as none +doubted, our ships would speedily be filled up to the gunwales with bars +of gold and ingots of silver and bags of precious stones. And then it +would be--Hi! for England and a merry life for the rest of their days! + +The thought of that treasure buoyed up the heart of many a man whose +spirit might else have failed him in the long days of waiting that were +before them. But more than the hope of gain was the hope, which every +man in the fleet felt in his inmost heart, of giving a trouncing to the +proud Dons of Spain. For assuredly there was no stronger feeling in the +British seaman's heart at that time than that of hatred of the Spaniard. + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + IN SEARCH OF THE PLATE FLEET. + + +It had been night-time when the fleet cast anchor under shelter of the +island of Flores--the most westerly of the Azores; and if any of the +younger members of the expedition who had not before gazed upon foreign +land had hoped to witness aught that was novel or surprising, they had +perforce to content themselves for the time being with the sight of a +stretch of dark land rising out of a blue moonlit sea. Here and there, +it is true, they could discern the black outline of a tall date-palm +against the lighter background of the sky, poised, as it were, on the +ridge of some rugged hill. But when the morning came the sloping land +could be clearly seen with its terraces of vine and its blossoming +orange-trees and its plantations of olives; and at the foot of the +cliffs there was a long white line of foam, where the Atlantic rollers +broke upon the rocky shores. + +The _Revenge_ lay so near to the shore that the people of the island, +who had come down from their village on the hillside, could be +distinctly seen standing in a group looking out in wonder at the ships. +And some of them had even put out their boats and were paddling towards +the ships in the hope of doing some trade in the selling of fresh fruit. +When they came alongside, certain of the officers bought a few bunches +of luscious grapes or baskets of oranges and dates; but what was most +required was a supply of fresh water, and for this the English saw no +reason why they should pay money or money's worth, and their own boats +were better fitted for the carrying of water-beakers than those of the +natives. So, ere the sun was yet high above the horizon, two boats of +the _Revenge_ were launched, and a like number from each of the other +ships, and they were pulled towards the beach. + +In one of the _Revenge's_ boats went Gilbert Oglander. He sat at the +tiller, and he steered her round under the stern of Jacob Whiddon's +bark, the _Pilgrim_, that lay but a cable's length away from his own +ship. As he passed under her high counter one of her own boats shot out +from her larboard side, and her men pulled vigorously at their oars as +if intent upon having a race. Gilbert glanced at her rowers as she came +abreast of him, and as he caught sight of the youth at her helm he +started in amazement. For a moment he could not believe the evidence of +his own eyes. But when the youth turned half-round with his face full in +view there could be no mistake as to his identity, and Gilbert cried +aloud in a voice that carried far across the waves: + +"Tim! Timothy! Timothy Trollope!" + +And Timothy (for it was in truth he) touched his cap in salutation, and +answered cheerily: + +"Give you good-morrow, Master Oglander. Prithee, hast had a pleasant +voyage, withal?" + +"Ay, truly," returned Gilbert. "But 'sdeath, Tim, I thought not to see +you here!" + +And then the boats drew apart, and Timothy remained out of sight in the +rear for some ten minutes, until the keels grounded on the pebbles of a +little sheltered creek whither the boats from the _Defiance_ had already +led the way. And when Gilbert leapt ashore he ran across some rocks to +where Timothy's boat was arriving; he caught the painter-rope that was +thrown to him, and drew the craft inward through the deep green water to +the edge of the rock. As Timothy stepped out, Gilbert, remembering +nothing of the disagreement that had come betwixt them, took the lad by +the hand and clapped him on the shoulder in very joy. + +"Well met!" said he; "well met!" he repeated. "But why, since thou'rt +sailing i' the fleet, Tim, didst thou not come aboard the _Revenge_, +quotha? There was ample room for thee." + +Timothy smiled awkwardly. + +"I cared not a groat which ship I sailed on, so that it were but in the +following of my lord the admiral," said he, as he strode over the rough +rocks towards a little grassy knoll beyond. "'Tis true I had wished to +be aboard one of the Queen's ships rather than on a mere adventurer such +as Jacob Whiddon's _Pilgrim_. Yet so hard did my father urge my staying +at home, even to the last day, that 'tis a marvel that I did end by +gaining his consent to my coming at all, and it was by sheer good luck +that I succeeded in getting a berth with Whiddon." + +"Wouldst come aboard the _Revenge_ even now an I got thee entered on her +books, Tim?" questioned Gilbert. + +"Ay, gladly," returned Timothy; "for I do assure thee the life we have +had since leaving Plymouth hath been none too comfortable; and the food +is less to be desired than that which I have ofttimes seen bestowed upon +the swine at Modbury Manor. As for the beer they give us, I vow I'd +rather regale myself on the water out of the sea. Ay, gladly would I +join the _Revenge_. And yet," he added, with a curiously undecided look +in his eyes, "'tis surely passing strange, Master Gilbert, that thou +shouldst ask me aboard the same ship with thyself, seeing that when last +we parted it was upon no friendly terms." + +"I should willingly forget and dismiss from my mind the matter that +parted us," said Gilbert. "And I will own now that I made a huge mistake +in my judgment of thee, Tim. I fear thou wert right in thy estimate of +my uncle. I blush to think it, but I am well-nigh convinced that he was, +as you said, engaged in plotting on the side of our country's enemies." + +"It may be that you will have proof of it when we return to England," +observed Timothy. And then with a "God-speed you", he turned and +rejoined his shipmates, wondering the while at Master Oglander's +friendly feeling towards him. + +When Timothy again went on board the _Pilgrim_ he sought out her captain +and told him of the offer that Gilbert had made, beseeching Jacob +Whiddon to let him join the _Revenge_ if it should so chance that Sir +Richard Grenville would have him. Captain Whiddon murmured some +objections, saying that his acquaintance with Timothy during the voyage +had taught him the lad's value. + +"Nevertheless," said he, "if you are a handy man on board this small +craft, I doubt not that you would prove even more so in a wider sphere. +'Tis your own advantage that I consider, Timothy, and looking at the +matter thus, it would ill become me to refuse your pleading." + +For the rest of that day, and during the day that followed, Timothy cast +many a longing glance towards the _Revenge_. So often did he look at the +ship that very soon he came to know every rope of her rigging, every +spar of her masts, and every plank of her richly-carved and gilded hull. +She was a comely vessel, he thought, with her tall poop and her +glittering brass guns, her waving flag of St. George, and her crew of +merry, stalwart men. But the days passed and yet no message came to him, +and he began to think that Gilbert Oglander had surely forgotten all +about him. + +During these days the ships remained in the same positions as they had +taken up when they had cast anchor. At times the boats would be sent +ashore, or to one or other of the victuallers; but there was no sign of +growing activity, nothing to indicate that the expected treasure-ships +were at hand. + +Two weeks went by and still all remained as before. But on a certain +Monday morning in early April, when Timothy sat with some of the men +enjoying the bright sunshine on deck, he observed a boat putting off +from the _Revenge_. He watched it idly, growing more eager when he saw +that it was approaching the _Pilgrim_, and that Gilbert Oglander sat in +her stern seats. + +Very soon the boat was alongside, and Gilbert climbed up the ship's side +ladder and stepped on deck, and strode aft to the captain's cabin. +There he remained for many minutes, delivering some message from Sir +Richard Grenville. When at length he came again upon the deck he sought +out Timothy Trollope--no difficult task, seeing that Tim was patiently +waiting for him at the gangway. + +"Didst think I had forgotten thee, Tim?" said Gilbert. And then, without +waiting for answer he added: "Get thy trappings and baggage ready, lad, +and come aboard the _Revenge_ with us; for Sir Richard hath consented to +thy coming, and hath bidden me fetch thee." + +It occupied Timothy but a few moments to gather his belongings together; +for in truth they made but a scanty bundle, needing no great +consideration in the packing. With his morion slung basket-wise on his +arm, his corselet gripped by the shoulder-straps, his sword dangling at +his side, and his small canvas bag of spare clothing carried on his +back, he followed Gilbert Oglander into the boat, and waving a farewell +to his old shipmates he was rowed alongside the _Revenge_. + +Timothy was somewhat awed by the sight of Lord Thomas Howard on the +ship's quarter-deck, where the admiral, arrayed in a suit of spotless +gray velvet trimmed with silver lace, paced to and fro in earnest +colloquy with Sir Richard Grenville. + +Lord Thomas, it seemed, had been making a tour of his fleet that +morning, inspecting the ships and giving various instructions to his +captains. When Timothy came on board the whole company of the _Revenge_ +were being mustered on the upper deck. Gilbert Oglander presented him to +the purser, who straightway entered his name on the ship's books. + +When the roll had been called, the admiral and the vice-admiral, +standing at the forward rail of the quarter-deck, looked down upon the +sea of sunburnt faces and continued their conversation. Presently Sir +Richard Grenville leaned over the rail and spoke to one of the officers +who stood below. + +"Master Tremayne," said he, "send me up the man Hartop--Jacob Hartop." + +And when the word had been passed forward, Jacob Hartop strode towards +the stairs and mounted to the quarter-deck, where he saluted the two +great men. + +Lord Thomas Howard signed to him to approach nearer, saying at the same +time: + +"It seemeth you are passing well acquainted with these islands, my man?" + +"I have good reason to know them well, my lord," returned Jacob. "I lost +my ship off this same island of Flores--a ship that was loaded even to +the gunwales with Spanish treasure--and for two weeks I cruised among +the Azores in an open boat in search of a vessel to fetch me home to +England. I have been ashore on every island in the group, and have lived +in Terceira for full three months. Yes, my lord, so please you, I know +them well." + +"Good!" nodded the admiral. "And I doubt not you can manage a small boat +if need be?" + +"Ay, or a large," said Jacob. "I am well trained in navigation, as Sir +Richard Grenville can avouch." + +"Enough," said Lord Thomas. And then, becoming more familiar in his tone +of speech, he told Jacob that he had a mind to send him off for a cruise +to the westward with the purpose of keeping an outlook for the +appearance of the Spanish treasure-ships. "You shall have a good, +swift-sailing fly-boat," he said, "and may choose your own companions +for crew. And when you catch sight of the plate fleet it shall be your +object to hasten back with all speed to our anchorage here and warn us +of their coming." + +"Right well do I understand," agreed Jacob. "Prithee, when do I set +off?" + +"When you list," said Lord Thomas; "but at noon to-day at the latest, +for it may be that they are already within a day's sail of the islands." + +So Jacob Hartop, having received full instructions, returned to the +upper deck. And as he was passing the main-mast he caught sight of +Timothy Trollope and touched him on the elbow, bidding him follow him. + +"I am glad to see thee aboard of us, Master Timothy," said he, shaking +the lad by the hand. "And in truth you are in goodly time. Art willing +for an adventure, lad?" + +"Ay, in faith am I that," said Tim. "I am ill of this weary waiting and +ceaseless idleness. But what mean you by adventure, Master Hartop?" + +Then Jacob opened out to him his plans for the cruise in search of the +enemy, and asked him to be one of his little crew. + +Timothy at first leapt gladly at the proposal, but at the next moment he +shook his head in doubt. + +"How will it be," said he, "if the Spaniards should come before we +return? I should then see naught of the fighting, and I would not for +anything in the world miss such an experience." + +"You need have no fear as to that, my boy," returned Jacob, "for shall +we not be the first to see them when they come? Yea, 'tis for that +reason that we go, so that we may hasten back and give the alarm. Come, +be not afraid that we shall miss aught by our absence; for I do vouch +for it that if you remain on board the _Revenge_ it will be but a weary +time of waiting and inactivity, whereas in our boat we shall at the +least be moving from place to place with the chance of adventure. I had +thought that you would rejoice at the opportunity, as did Master +Oglander when I broached the matter to him." + +Timothy's face brightened up at these last words. + +"You had not told me that Master Gilbert was to come," said he. "In that +case, I will certainly consent." + +"'Twas he who bade me ask you," remarked Hartop; "for you must know that +we had word of the thing full three days ago, when Sir Richard +Grenville, with more impatience than my Lord Thomas hath yet shown, saw +the merit of sending out scouts, and made up his mind to speak with Lord +Thomas as he hath done this morning." + +In something less than an hour's time Jacob was ready with his little +crew, which he had chosen with the thought of friendliness rather than +with any regard to their special fitness for the expedition. The old +gunner, Edward Webbe, was a useful man, in that he could not only manage +a boat, but could also, if necessary, speak with any Spaniards or +Portuguese in their own tongue, and he also knew the islands. Timothy +Trollope was strong for the pulling of an oar when the wind would not +serve for the use of the sail, while Gilbert Oglander had marvellously +keen eye-sight, and might therefore be depended upon for a look-out. +Young Robin Redfern was chosen for no greater reason than that he had +pleaded to accompany Master Oglander, and because he was of no great +bulk and would therefore occupy very little room in a boat whose +accommodation was limited. All five were disguised as fishers, and their +boat, which was rigged with a lateen-sail, might well be mistaken at a +distance for a Biscayan fishing-boat. The provisions wherewith she was +stored were sufficient to serve for two weeks. + +A light breeze from the south-east blew over the sea as Jacob Hartop +took his little craft out of the roadstead at the north of Flores +Island where the fleet lay at anchor. A projecting headland soon hid the +ships from view, and towards evening the land itself was but a dim blue +line on the horizon in the east. At nightfall the crew was divided into +watches, and Timothy, Webbe, and Robin Redfern slept while Hartop and +Gilbert remained awake, keeping the boat before the wind as she sailed +ever westward. But at sunrise on the next morning the course was altered +to the south, and so maintained until noon, when it was again altered to +the north. And so, backward and forward, north and south, the cruising +was kept up day after day. But it was not until the evening of the ninth +day that a single sail was sighted. + +It was Robin Redfern who caught the first glimpse of the vessel--a mere +dark speck against the sunset sky. + +"They are coming! they are coming!" he cried, half in terror and half in +joy. And in a moment his four companions were standing up on the boat's +half-deck and gazing out with searching eyes across the ocean. + +"What make you of her, Master Oglander?" questioned Jacob Hartop in a +quiet, deeply earnest tone as he gripped one of the stays to steady +himself while the boat rose to meet the great Atlantic rollers. + +Gilbert shielded his eyes from the strong light of the sunset as he +stood with one arm clasped about the mast. + +"'Tis a goodly ship in the matter of size," he presently said; "yet I +can see but little of her hull, for she is bow-on, sailing eastward as +it seemeth." + +"Haply 'tis one of their quick-sailing advance guards," suggested Webbe. + +But Hartop silently continued to look out upon the sea with his brows +bent and an expression of grim expectancy in his cold gray eyes. + +"Canst make out if there be more than one ship?" he asked after a long +pause. "Mark it well, my boy; for it were best that we make the matter +full certain ere we fly back with the alarm." + +Gilbert's eyes slowly swept the line of the horizon. + +"No," he said; "there is but the one." + +"Then we may not yet return," said Hartop; and turning to Timothy +Trollope he added: "Take you the tiller, Tim, and keep our head to the +westward until the dusk hath fallen. By that time we should know more." + +The wind served well for this new course, and the boat sped on. But when +the sun had sunk the strange ship could no more be seen, for the bright +yellow afterglow was speedily obscured by a gray sea-mist. + +Earlier on that same day they had observed that the sea was plentifully +strewn with tufts of sea-weed, and below their boat, when they had +looked over the gunwale and peered down into the depths of the water, +they had seen dense forests of marine growth thickly entangled, and +many thousands of jelly-fish and other denizens of the deep. + +Jacob Hartop had shown more interest and concern in this fact than any +of his companions. + +"'Tis for all the world like what I have seen many times in the Sargasso +Sea," said he. "And yet it cannot surely be that we have come so far to +the westward as that." + +But as the evening wore on and the water became yet more densely full of +living things, he shook his head gravely and murmured a wish that they +had turned back towards the Azores. "For," said he, "if it be that we +are on the fringe of the Sargasso Sea there is no knowing what may +befall us." + +"And prithee, Jacob, what manner of dangers do you fear?" questioned +Edward Webbe. "Sure there can be no peril in sailing over a forest of +harmless sea-weeds." + +"'Twas in the Sargasso Sea that I lost my ship," said Jacob. "I know the +place full well, and never do I wish to be back in it again. Hast never +heard of it, Ned?" + +Webbe shook his head and smiled as he answered: + +"Mayhap I have heard the name. But it seemeth to me that we are now in +the Atlantic Ocean; and if thou dost declare that we are nigh unto any +other sea, why, I can only believe that thou art dreaming." + +"Well do I know that we are in the Atlantic," returned Hartop, "though a +good piece farther to the westward than we had intended. But you must +know that this Sargasso Sea of which I speak, is itself a part of the +Atlantic--and a part which all wise mariners do avoid. 'Tis in places +naught but a solid mass of sea-weed, so dense as to support the weight +of a man, yea, even of a ship. Once within its confines, 'tis rare that +a vessel doth ever escape; and most men who have been through it will +tell you strange and marvellous tales of hideous monsters with hundreds +of arms, that dart out and entwine in their grip of death all who come +within their venomous reach." + +"Then I pray you let us adventure no farther," said Webbe, "for I, at +least, have no great wish to be embraced by such arms. Let us turn back, +Jacob." + +"I would that we were once more aboard of the _Revenge_," muttered young +Robin Redfern, who lay stretched upon the half-deck at Gilbert +Oglander'a feet. "Who knows but that the Spaniards have already passed +us, and been overmastered and taken home to England." + +"There can be little harm in keeping on our present course until +sunrise," said Jacob Hartop, not heeding the boy's remark. "Then, if we +see no sign of the plate fleet, we can turn about and make a run for +Flores." + +"Ay," added Webbe, "it were even wise to turn at the first peep of dawn; +for, mind you, it would go ill with us if we should find ourselves in +the very midst of the galleons without a chance of escape." + +And so they held on westward; and when darkness fell over the sea, +Hartop and Gilbert curled themselves up under their rugs in the boat's +well and went to sleep, leaving Timothy in charge of the tiller and +Webbe and Robin on the watch forward. + +It may be that the recent mention of the loss of his ship lingered in +Jacob's mind as he fell asleep, for, as he dreamt, he saw himself once +again upon her deck. A great galleon she was. He had won her in battle +from the Spaniards, and as she was a better vessel than his own poor +craft, he had converted her to his own use, and taking his own crew +aboard of her had hoisted the red cross of St George and cruised with +her as a buccaneer on the Spanish Main, conquering many another ship of +Spain and transferring their treasures to his own hold, until the +galleon was weighed down almost to her lower port-holes with the weight +of gold that she carried. And then on a certain night when he was +homeward bound he lay in his cabin asleep, and there had come to him one +of the ship's boys to tell him that the galleon had sprung a leak and +was sinking. He heard the boy calling him now as he lay in his dreams in +the _Revenge's_ boat, sailing on those same seas. + +"Master Hartop!" the boy cried, laying his hand on the old buccaneer's +breast. "Master Hartop! Quick! quick!" + +Jacob turned over and sat up, and found himself not in his ship's cabin +but in an open boat. And the boy who had called him was young Robin +Redfern, who now stood over him with a face as white as the sea-foam, +and with his hand that held the boat's lantern trembling as if with +palsy. + +"'Sdeath, boy!" cried Hartop. "What in the world hath happened?" + +Robin raised his free hand and pointed over the boat's gunwale across +the water. + +"Look!" he cried. "What can it mean?" + + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + THE GREEN LIGHT UPON THE SEA. + + +Jacob was on his feet in a moment. His eyes were dazed by a strange +pale-green light that shone luminous over the boat's larboard bow. The +sea was calm, with only a gentle swell rolling from the east; the sky +was black and starless, and all was dark around saving only in the one +direction where shone the ghostly green light, that reared itself like a +cloud of radiant mist out of the sea, only a few yards from where he +stood. + +Even as he gazed upon it, bewildered and speechless, the light seemed to +approach, or else it was the boat that sailed into the luminance. It +shed its ghastly green glare upon everything, making all on board as +plain as though the craft were bathed in soft moonlight. All was as +green as grass. Webbe, Timothy, and Gilbert stood staring about them +like phantoms, silently glancing at one another with the emotions of men +who had been suddenly hurried into another world. Their faces, their +clothing, even their hair was green, and it seemed that the mysterious +light had deprived them of speech, for none spoke. + +Timothy Trollope, who had been at the helm, had suddenly ceased to pay +any regard to the steering, and now the boat's sail swayed idly to and +fro, empty of wind. Gilbert Oglander, regaining his sober senses, looked +over the side to search for the origin of the strange radiance. But +there was no flame to the light, which seemed to be a mere transparent +shaft of air, as unsubstantial as a rainbow. And when he turned to see +if Jacob Hartop were yet awake, and found the old man at his side, he +implored an explanation of the mystery. + +"What means it, Master Hartop?" he asked in an awe-stricken voice. "Hast +seen its like ever before?" + +But the old buccaneer made no answer. Clambering over the coaming of the +well, he crept on hands and knees towards the bow near where Gilbert +stood. He peered out into the light, gripping the gunwale with trembling +hands. He remained thus for many moments. Then suddenly he drew back, +flung his left arm round Gilbert's legs, and with a wild, frantic cry +upon his lips pointed out with his skinny right hand into the midst of +the green light. + +"See! see!" he cried. "It is a ship!" + +Gilbert's eyes followed the direction in which the old man pointed, and +presently he discovered, at the farther fringe of the light, the +towering form of a vessel's hull. He could clearly see her stern +port-holes, with the gallery above them, and above the gallery the +projecting rail of her poop-deck. Her counter was richly carved with +many strange devices, and the carvings were covered with tarnished gold. +Her stout masts rose high above her, and her ragged sails were ample +evidence that it was long since the ship had known their use. + +"Can you not see her?" continued Hartop. "Od's life, boy! Look where I +point." + +"I see her, Master Hartop," returned Gilbert; "I see her. 'Tis a +galleon, and a Spaniard by her build." + +"Ay, faith, a galleon indeed," nodded Hartop; "and a galleon upon which +mine eyes now look not for the first time, if she be not a ghost!" He +rose to his feet, still keeping his arm about Gilbert, and added in a +strange, dry voice that was scarcely more than a breath: "'Tis a ghost, +Master Oglander, 'tis a ghost that you look upon--the ghost of the +Golden Galleon!" + +And so saying, he turned from the sight and sank upon the narrow deck, +covering his face with his hands. + +By this time Timothy Trollope also had seen the galleon. Clasping the +tiller, he held it over. But it had no effect, for the pinnace had no +way upon her; the wind had fallen to an absolute calm, and the sail +hung loose and motionless against the mast. + +"Out with the sweeps!" cried Edward Webbe, and Timothy, leaving his +post, took up one of the long oars, while Gilbert Oglander took the +other, and together they pulled and pulled, striving to bring the boat +round and so escape from the grim phantom galleon. But with the first +stroke they made their oar-blades caught in a mesh of sea-weeds. The +disturbed water flashed with phosphorescent fire, and when the oars were +with difficulty dragged up they rose dripping with a shower of sparks +and heavy with clinging weeds. Again the oars were dipped, and again +they were weighted with the tangled growth of weeds. + +"'Tis of no avail, Tim," declared Gilbert as he drew in his oar. He +leaned over the boat's side and looked down into the calm, shadowy +water, where fitful tracks of shining white light showed the movements +of coiling writhing monsters of the deep. + +"Nay, pull at your oars!" cried Jacob Hartop, rising now from the deck +and slipping down into the well. "Let us not be carried nearer to that +horrid ship! Dip not your blades so deep, but pull her round that we may +get beyond this phantom light. Here, Ned," he added to Webbe, "take thou +a hand of Timothy's oar, while I give a help to Gilbert. 'Twill go ill +if four of us cannot move her. Robin, my lad, get thee to the tiller and +steer us back into the darkness." + +He looked aft to where Robin stood and saw the lad obediently approach +the tiller, while he himself pulled at Gilbert's oar. The boat began to +move, but scarcely had a second stroke of the oars been made when a +frantic scream came from Robin Redfern, and the lad, starting forward, +plunged himself headlong into the midst of his companions. + +"In heaven's name, what hath bewitched the lad?" cried Hartop. He +abandoned the oar and bent down to pick Robin up, and felt him trembling +in every limb. The boy was comforted by the touch of human hands, but he +positively refused to return to the helm. + +"I cannot, I cannot!" he cried. + +"Take you the oar, then, Robin," said Timothy, "while I go." + +But Timothy, bold though he was, came back even more quickly than Robin +had done, with his face transfixed with terror. + +"Look! look!" he stammered, pointing with fearful eagerness to the +boat's stern. + +All turned their gaze towards the tiller, and saw something which might +well fill them with dread. A long flesh-like arm, half-pink half-green, +was gliding slowly over the gunwale, with the movements of a huge +caterpillar. Its farther end was not visible at first, but Gilbert +Oglander, glancing over into the water, traced the thing for many yards +to where it was rooted in a great green shining body midway between +the boat and the galleon. The body was furnished with two great +glaring eyes as large as plates. From near the eyes some eight or nine +other arms or tentacles were stretched forth, some lying inactive on the +water's surface, others poised in the green air, with rows of immense +sucking discs on their under side; and two of them had climbed up the +galleon's hull and were entwined about her like a pair of giant +serpents. All this Gilbert perceived in a momentary glance. But he told +naught of the matter to his mates. Going down on his hands and knees in +the boat's well he crept to one of the little lockers that were under +the side-seats. He pulled open the door, thrust in his arm end brought +out two swords, and flung one of them to Timothy. + +[Illustration: "FOR THE LOVE OF HEAVEN CUT THE THING IN TWAIN!"] + +"Here, Tim, quick!" he cried. "For the love of heaven cut the thing in +twain!" + +Then again thrusting his arm into the locker he brought out an axe, +which he gripped in his hand. Springing aft to the stern, he then began +to hew at the monstrous arm at the part which was lying across the +gunwale. Timothy got to the other side, and in like manner struck with +all his might at the creature. Stroke after stroke of sword and axe fell +upon the writhing thing. + +Suddenly the boat swayed over, the sail drew wind, and as suddenly the +mysterious green light flickered, faded, flickered again, and then faded +into utter darkness. There was a faint splash under the stern. + +"'Tis done!" shouted Timothy, stamping his heel on the severed portion +of the monster's arm as it lay across the deck. "Give us a hand here, +Master Webbe, and help us to heave this thing overboard. Touch it not +but with your boot, lest it sting you with its poison. Now, all +together!" + +"Down with the helm!" cried Hartop, himself springing to the tiller. And +then, as the remnant of the animal's tentacle was plunged into the sea, +the pinnace moved slowly onward over the darkened waters, and the little +crew breathed in thankful freedom. Yet a strange superstitious terror +had seized upon them, and for a long time no word was spoken and no +sound heard but the creaking of the ropes, the light bubbling of the +water at the bow, and the intermittent sobbing of young Robin Redfern. +They yearned for the coming of daylight, and dreaded every moment that +the eerie green light might again surround them. Again and again Jacob +Hartop as he sat at the tiller glanced furtively behind him, as if to +assure himself that he was not being pursued by what he firmly believed +to be the phantom of his lost ship. Timothy Trollope, too, whose simple +and untutored mind had yielded to the same superstitious fear that was +oppressing the skipper, stood up time after time and, rubbing his eyes, +glanced backward across the sea. Gilbert Oglander had but an uneasy +sleep, while Webbe, who sat with his legs outstretched before him and +his back firmly planted against the boat's side-planks, refused to close +his eyes. The only one who slept peacefully was Robin, who had +literally cried himself to sleep. + +At last, in the eastern sky there appeared the faint gray gleam of +coming dawn. The welcome light crept over sky and sea. The men could now +see each other's pale and troubled faces, and then, for the first time +since the mysterious green radiance had vanished, Jacob Hartop spoke. + +"It hath been a most merciful escape," said he, "a most merciful +deliverance. The Lord be thanked!" + +"Ay, the Lord be thanked!" murmured Edward Webbe. + +The two old men had been feasting their eyes on the dawn-light over in +the east. But Gilbert Oglander, who now rose to his feet and faced the +westward, gave a slight start and quietly placed his hand on Hartop's +shoulder. + +"The galleon is still in sight, Master Hartop," said he. + +"Ay," echoed Timothy Trollope, "she is still in sight." + +Slowly and deliberately Jacob turned his head. His hand lost its hold of +the tiller. Slowly he looked back again at his companions. + +"What means it?" he muttered hoarsely through his dry, parched lips. His +face was ashen gray and woefully haggard. He seemed to have aged a score +of years since the last evening. "What means it?" he repeated dryly. + +"It seemeth to me," said Gilbert, "that your golden galleon is no ghost +after all, but a veritable floating ship." + +"Said you not that she was loaded with Spanish treasure, Master Hartop?" +questioned Timothy. + +Jacob nodded. + +"As full laden as ever ship could be," he answered. + +"And wilt thou leave her there, where she is, to drift at random on the +wide sea, to rot upon the water, and to go down at last to bestow her +treasure upon the mermaids? I pray thee, let us go back to her, that we +may bring away with us some of the gold whereof thou hast spoken." + +"What!" cried Hartop, fixing his glassy eyes in astonishment upon the +bold lad. + +"'Tis daylight now," pursued Tim. "Mark how the coming sunlight spreads +across the sky. Mark how its bright reflection gleams upon your +galleon's golden hull. Why need we fear to approach her, ay, or even to +board her, in the broad light of day?" + +Hartop shook his head in grave rebuke. + +"Thou'rt over bold, Master Timothy," said he. "The ship were a wealthy +prize, I will allow. But I would have thee know that 'twas not to +ransack drifting derelicts that we came out upon this voyage, but in +quest of King Philip's plate fleet. Having failed to discover the fleet +in our allotted time, we shall now return to Queen Elizabeth's ships at +Flores and inform Her Majesty's admiral of the result of our quest. As +for the golden galleon, let her rot, let her sink, say I. Let her +treasures go down to the mermaids' halls, that the precious gems may +bedeck the mermaids' necks withal. It will not be the first ship-load of +Spanish doubloons that hath gone unto the depths for the children of the +ocean to play with. And I say to you, were the galleon thrice her size, +with thrice her present wealth aboard of her, I would not turn back a +fathom's distance with the thought of entering her. And now," he added, +"I pray you, just hitch me up another inch or two of the peak halliard +there, while Gilbert doth set about preparing our breakfast." + +And so they sailed back to Flores. + + + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + SIR RICHARD GRENVILLE. + + +Four months went by--four months of weary, monotonous waiting--and still +Lord Thomas Howard's fleet lay in its old anchorage in the roadstead off +the north of Flores Island. The long-expected homeward-bound treasure +_flota_ from the Spanish Main had not yet come in sight. The King of +Spain, who was now well aware of the presence of the English ships at +the Azores, and who knew their drift as surely as did Lord Thomas +himself, was sensible of how much the safety of his galleons concerned +his own interests and the interests of his country; and by secret means +he had communicated with his admirals at Nombre de Dios, causing them to +delay their starting; for he chose to hazard the perishing of ships, +men, and goods by bringing them over in a season of storms rather than +endanger their falling into our hands. + +He had two distinct designs in bringing his fleet home so late. One was +that he thought that Lord Thomas would have consumed his victuals and +have been forced accordingly to abandon his quest and return to England; +and the other was that he might meanwhile gain time to furnish a great +fleet, which he was preparing to act as the guardian of his treasure +galleons. In the first design he found himself deceived, for Admiral +Howard had not been two months at the Western Isles ere he received +supplies of victuals from England; and in the second he was equally +prevented, for the Earl of Cumberland, who was then cruising off the +coast of Spain, was keeping a constant watch upon the port of Ferrol, +where the new armada was being hurriedly fitted out, and Cumberland was +prepared to send intelligence to Flores to warn Lord Thomas at the +moment of danger. + +But despite the arrival of supplies from home, the provisions of the +English fleet at the Azores were meagre in quantity, and in quality +wretchedly poor, and it was found necessary to add to them by making +frequent raids upon the nearer islands and taking forcible possession +of food from the islanders' homesteads. The hot summer months of June +and July had brought additional discomforts to the crews, and early in +August a pestilent sickness spread from ship to ship. On the _Defiance_ +a score of men had died before the middle of August, and an equal number +of the ship's company of the _Lion_ were carried off. Sir Robert Cross +of the _Bonaventure_ had buried in the sea no fewer than thirty-six of +his picked men, and the disease in a more or less virulent form had made +an entrance upon every one of the Queen's six ships, as well as the +victuallers, fly-boats, and small pinnaces that were of the expedition. +Jacob Whiddon's little ship, the _Pilgrim_, had escaped so far with but +one death. + +On board the _Revenge_ Sir Richard Grenville had much ado to stem the +tide of the dread visitation. His ship was small, and her crowded crew +had but indifferent accommodation even when in good health, and when the +illness seized them there was little chance of a recovery. The matter +was made worse by the fact that, for want of a more convenient hospital, +her sick men were forced to lie upon the ballast, down below, where no +fresh air could reach them, where the light of the sun could not +penetrate, and where even the best and freshest food became speedily +rank and nasty. Her surgeons were ignorant men, of a low and +ill-educated class, to whom the payment of five shillings a week was +considered an ample return for the exercise of their profession. Of +medicine and the laws of health they scarcely knew anything. They could +saw off a shattered limb or patch a broken head passing well; but they +had no more than a child's skill in dealing with a sickness that came of +bad sanitation, putrid food, and insidious infection. The ship's lower +decks were so pestilential that a sound man might hardly hope to go +below without catching the disease. + +At the first it was the men of the commoner sort, the working mariners +and the ill-fed soldiers, who were affected, but betimes the gentlemen +of the poop were struck down one by one by the fell complaint, and there +were few among them who did not suffer in some wise, if it were no more +than to experience a sickly headache. So general did the complaints +become, that many of the men, led by Red Bob, threatened more than once +to break out into open mutiny. They declared that they were being +poisoned by sour beer and rancid meat, and day after day, as the +expected treasure-ships failed to come into view, the discontent became +stronger and more noisy. + +Sir Richard Grenville held a firm and determined authority over his +ship's company, however, for he was a most resolute man, and none dared +to openly offend him. He was a man very unquiet in his mind, always +eager and impatient, and greatly affected to war. It was perhaps from +this same resolute spirit that he had been able to perform the many +valiant acts that are recorded of him. At the age of sixteen he had +distinguished himself for bravery and fearlessness in the wars in +Hungary under the Emperor Maximilian against the Turks; he had fought in +the great sea-fight at Lepanto with the Christians against the Turks, +when thirty thousand of the Saracens fell or were taken prisoners, and +twelve thousand Christian slaves were liberated. Also he had taken +prominent part in the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Of his life in +Virginia, whither he went to found the first English colony, many heroic +acts are recorded. His rivals thought him harsh and overbearing, and +certify that he exercised a most tyrannical rule over his colonists and +shipmates from first to last; and Master Ralph Lane (who is remembered +as being the first to introduce the herb tobacco into England) wrote of +him in an ample discourse addressed to Sir Walter Raleigh, that +Grenville's pride was intolerable, his ambition insatiable, and that his +proceedings towards them all in Virginia, and to Lane in particular, +were unendurable. It seems certain that among the islanders of the +Azores he was greatly feared for his severity in leading his men to +plunder the homesteads for food for the ships. Some things that are +written of him show that at times he could be boastful and inclined to +bravado. + +"He was of so hard a complexion," says Jan van Linschoten in a document +that is to be found in Hakluyt's _Voyages_, "that as he continued among +the Spanish captains while they were at dinner or supper with him, he +would carouse three or four glasses of wine, and in a bravery take the +glasses between his teeth and crash them in pieces and swallow them +down, so that oftentimes the blood ran out of his mouth, without any +harm at all unto him. And this was told me by divers credible persons +that many times stood and beheld him." + +Yet he was a very excellent gentleman, a loyal subject of the Queen, and +a very proper Christian. In an age when cruelty in war was common he +fought with a truly British sense of fairness, and while the Spaniards +treated their prisoners with unnameable tortures Sir Richard Grenville +was ever just and humane with the enemies who fell into his hands. He +hated the Spaniards with a fierce envenomed hatred, and was never known +to shrink from an encounter with them, or to neglect a chance of +striking a blow which should help to lessen their vaunted power upon the +seas. No man in his time--not even Drake himself--was more bold or more +courageous in attacking them. His self-confidence and his trust in +English pluck were supreme. He considered an Englishman equal to any +dozen Spaniards. + +On one occasion when he was returning from the Spanish Main in a ship +which had been sorely battered by storms and badly bored by the +teredo-worm, he sighted a richly-laden galleon. His ship could not be +brought to a close encounter, and he had no boats, yet he was bent upon +capturing that galleon. So he made a raft out of the boards of chests +and boxes, took a handful of men with him, and on this frail craft +adventured an attack. He brought the raft alongside the galleon and +clambered up upon her decks. As soon as his men were all off the raft it +fell asunder and sank at the galleon's side, thus cutting off the +adventurers' retreat. Yet they captured the galleon and brought her home +as a prize to England. + +It was towards the end of the hot month of August that the sickness on +board the _Revenge_, as on board all the other ships of the fleet, +became more general and severe. Lord Thomas Howard, realizing at last +that it was the ships themselves that were unhealthy, and that if he +would preserve his little army from actual dissolution he had better +institute an hospital of some sort on shore, issued orders to his +various captains, instructing them to land their sick men upon the +beach, where huts and tents and other shelters were erected. This +proceeding was found to be of vast benefit. Each ship's company was kept +separate in their own shelters, with a goodly number of healthy men to +attend to their wants. + +Gilbert Oglander and Roland Grenville were among those who were told off +to take charge of the _Revenge's_ invalids. Timothy Trollope and Robin +Redfern were with them, acting for the greater part of the time as +water-carriers. Red Bob was among the sick, so was Edward Webbe. Hartop +remained on board the ship. + +It was weary work looking after men who, in the midst of their sickness, +were for ever grumbling at the bad food and the lack of good doctors. +But the purer air and an abundance of fresh water, together with such +ripe fruit as could be procured, gradually brought the sufferers round +to a better condition. The deaths were fewer and the pestilence ceased +to spread. Also on the thirtieth day of the month there arrived two +ships from England, sent out by the merchants of Plymouth with a supply +of victuals; and the news of home brought additional cheer to those who +had been lingering here in the Azores for over five months, waiting for +the treasure-ships that they were to waylay and capture, waiting until +the very clothes on their backs were worn to rags. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + DRUSILLA'S LETTER. + + +On the morning following the arrival of the ships, boats were sent +shoreward for water and for shingle. The shingle was required for +ballast, the old and polluted ballast having been cast overboard in the +endeavour to clear the vessels of the infection. + +Jacob Hartop was in charge of one of the boats from the _Revenge_, and +all through the day he laboured in the heat of the sun with his men, +shovelling shingle into his boat and making trip after trip between the +shore and the ship. When he landed on his second trip he sought out +Gilbert Oglander. + +Gilbert looked very different now from the gaily-apparelled lad who had +gone on board the vice-admiral's ship at Plymouth in the early +spring-time. His face was burned to a rich ruddy brown; his clothes were +soiled and ragged, the gilt lace trimmings tarnished; the feathers had +been torn from his cap, which was now but a sorry covering for his +long-grown hair. Like all his companions, he had, for reasons of economy +as much as for those of comfort and convenience, altogether abandoned +his boots, and his bare feet, like his face and hands and arms, were as +sunburnt as those of a Sicilian fisherman. He was kneeling in the shade +of a large spreading date-palm, peeling a ripe orange for Red Bob, when +Jacob Hartop approached him. He glanced up and nodded to the old +buccaneer, smiled in greeting, and proceeded to divide the orange into +liths, handing them one by one to his patient. + +Jacob sat down on the soft warm sand and watched the lad for a few +moments in silence. + +"Art weary, Jacob?" asked Gilbert, hearing the old man's heavy +breathing. + +"Ay, weary of waiting for the Dons," answered Jacob, bending over and +taking up a handful of the sand and letting it slowly stream out again +between his gnarled fingers. Then presently he added: "Thou hast heard +of the coming of the two ships from home,--eh, Master Gilbert?" + +"Yes," returned Gilbert, wiping his hot brow with the back of his hand. +"Phew! Would that they had brought a few hogsheads of our Devonshire +cider with them. But that were too much to expect, methinks." He rose to +his feet and stood beside Jacob, with his hands lightly clasped behind +his back, and gazed out upon the sea towards where the little _Revenge_ +rode at anchor. "Hast heard aught of their news, Master Hartop?" he +asked. + +Hartop shook his head. + +"Naught to speak of," he answered. "It seemeth that Sir Francis Drake +hath been summoned to Her Majesty's court, where he is in great favour, +and that Sir Walter Raleigh hath fallen into disgrace; but more than +this I have heard nothing. It may be, however, that thou'lt learn more +from the letter that I bring thee," he added, thrusting his hand into +his doublet. "Sir Richard bade me give it thee, saying as he handed it +unto me, 'Tell Master Oglander that I would willingly have kept the +letter myself, for that by the superscription I do judge it to be a +message from my little sweetheart Drusilla'." + +Gilbert fairly leapt at the letter when it was produced. + +"It is! It is from Drusilla!" he cried, as he glanced at his name upon +it. "'Twas she indeed that writ it!" Whereupon he pressed the missive to +his lips, glanced at it yet again, and then exclaimed; "Only to think +on't, Jacob! Is't not truly passing strange that my sister had this in +her hand--ay, and haply kissed it as I do now--scarcely a month ago!" +He was about to break the seal, but he forebore. "Nay," he said, "I will +not read it now. Let me wait until the joy of receiving it hath abated;" +and kissing it again he thrust it securely under his belt and went once +more among the sick men, attending to their wants, and giving them such +cheer as they had not known for many a day. + +In the afternoon, when most of the invalids were asleep, Gilbert escaped +from the beach and climbed the high bank of land to the level ground +above, where the olive-trees grew. He perched himself upon one of the +lower boughs of one of the largest of the trees, and, resting his back +against the main trunk, took out his letter. + +It had been written, not at Modbury Manor but at Willoughby Grange, the +Devonshire seat of Sir Lester Willoughby. Gilbert read it slowly, +dwelling on each word with fond interest. + +Writ at Willoughby Grange, in the County of +Devon, the 5th day of August, 1591. + + _I know not, dear my brother Gilbert, if this letter will ever + reach thee, but Master Christopher Pym hath but now ridden hence + from Plymouth to tell me that the good ship "Barbara Jane" is being + fitted to sail to the Western Isles with victuals for the Lord + Thomas Howard his fleet, and to bid me write to thee in the hope + that if thou art alive (as I pray God thou be) thou shall know + hereby the things which have befallen us in thy so long absence, + and of how Jasper Oglander hath proved himself to be a most + iniquitous person with no good in him, who hath been secretly + working to the ruination of our home and family, to the uttermost + grief and distress of our saintly mother._ + + _These things I must confide to thee, dear Gilbert, even in the + order in which they happened; for 'tis meet that thou shouldst know + them at the soonest possible time, so that thou mayest come back to + us, if haply thou canst, and aid us in our tribulation. Yet even + now, as I do indite these lines, I can scarce put the matter in its + true order, so much confused am I in mind concerning all that hath + disturbed our happiness, and so greatly do I fear (despite Master + Pym's assurances) that thou art indeed and in truth dead and gone, + as Jasper hath so positively averred. Of this terrible report of + thine untimely death, we have no assurance either of truth or of + disproof, and can only devoutly pray (as we do daily and nightly + pray) that 'tis yet another of Jasper Oglander's evil and wicked + falsehoods, set forth to gain his own advantage and advancement. + But alas! I much fear me that I shall never, never see thee again, + and that thou art, as the letter said, no more in this world._ + + _We were concerned (as thou knowest) about the strange absence of + cousin Philip. It was said by his father that he had gone on + horseback upon a journey of pleasure into the country. But this + report hath been proved false, utterly false. Philip is even at + this present time abroad in Spain, working in league with our + country's enemies. We learnt it at the time of our dear + grandfather's sudden death--_ + +Gilbert started back in amazement as he read these last words, almost +falling from his seat on the olive-tree. + +"Grandfather's death!" he cried aghast, dropping the letter on his lap. +And then, as in a flash, his thoughts sped back to the time of his +leaving Plymouth and the sight of the flag flying at half-mast on the +towers of Modbury Manor. "_Grandfather's sudden death!_" he repeated, +and for many minutes his brain seemed to be stunned by the news. His +tear-filled eyes wandered eastward across the broad blue sea. Far away +in the mid-distance between him and the clear horizon he saw, almost +unconsciously, a little ship ploughing her way under full sail onward in +the direction of Flores. At any other time and in a different mood the +sight of that ship, where ships were so seldom to be seen, would have +aroused in him a keen concern. But now he gave it only an instant's +thought, and turned to continue the reading of Drusilla's letter. + + _We learnt it at the time of our dear grandfather's sudden death, + which befell within an hour after thou hadst gone off to join the + "Revenge". A messenger had ridden in hot haste to the manor, + bearing a letter for grandfather. What the letter contained and + whence it had come we knew not; nor could it be found anywhere in + the library. But later, when, at the instance of our mother, Jasper + took horse for Plymouth to warn thee of what had happened and bring + thee back if there were yet time, Christopher Pym came within to + our mother and handed her the letter, saying that he had discovered + it at the spot where uncle Jasper had mounted his horse, and + declaring that the letter had fallen from Jasper's belt. The letter + was from Master Peter Trollope in Plymouth, and it told that both + Jasper and Philip Oglander were traitors; that it was they who had + contrived the escape of the Spanish prisoners of war, and that + Philip Oglander had sailed with them for Spain in the ship "Pearl", + which Jasper had purchased, from Sir Walter Raleigh out of money + stolen, on the night ye wot of, from poor old Jacob Hartop._ + + _Master Pym hath always held to the belief that 'twas the shock of + reading this letter that brought about my Lord Champernoun's + death._ + + _Greatly were we all concerned when we heard that the "Revenge" had + set sail, and that thou hadst departed in her. 'Tis hard to + believe, but Master Pym doth continually aver that Jasper (although + 'tis certain he had ample time to warn thee) purposely held back + from seeing thee or telling thee of my lord's death, desiring that + thou shouldst quit the country in ignorance and run the risk of + death by battle or storm, rather than that thou shouldst return + home to thy rightful heritage, and so deprive him of his heart's + desire. For it is now manifest to us all that Jasper, even from the + first moment of his landing in Plymouth, hath been scheming and + planning how he might cheat thee of thy rights, and become himself + the Baron Champernoun and the owner of Modbury Manor and all the + family estates._ + + _And he hath now gained his wish: whether honestly or not can only + depend upon whether thou art still alive. At the first he affected + to sorrow over thine absence, speaking of thee as "Lord + Champernoun" and "his lordship, my dear nephew", and the like. But + on a day in the month of May he returned from Plymouth town in + great haste and seeming grief, and when his wife, Donna Lela, + besought him to tell her wherefore he wore a so doleful + countenance, he produced a letter. "'Tis for this that I mourn," + said he with a great sorrowful sigh, as he handed the letter to our + mother. "'Tis a letter newly come from Sir Richard Grenville," said + he. "Read it, good my sister, and God give thee strength to bear + its terrible news." And ere mother had read beyond a dozen of the + written lines she uttered a scream that might have been heard in + the buttery, and fell back in her chair crying, "Oh! my son, my + dear son! dead! dead! dead!" And Christopher Pym, seeing that her + eyes were flooded with tears ere yet she would read the letter to + its end, rose from the supper-table where we all were, and, said + he, "I pray you, my lady, let me read you the letter;" and she gave + it unto him, and he read it aloud so that all could hear. It told + of a great storm that my lord Thomas Howard his fleet had + encountered in the Bay of Biscay, and of how the "Revenge" in + particular had been sorely buffeted by the mountainous waves, and + of how one great wave, sweeping over her decks, had carried off + many gallant men, and among them Master Gilbert Oglander._ + + _When Master Pym came to the end and read the name of Richard + Grenville, his eyes darted across the table to Jasper Oglander, and + the look that Jasper returned to him was dreadful to behold. Master + Pym with no more ado went round to where Jasper sat and touched him + on the shoulder, and presently Jasper rose and they quitted the + room together. We knew not what their intent might be, but 'tis + certain that they quarrelled, and 'tis certain that from that day + to this good Master Christopher Pym hath never set foot in Modbury + Manor._ + + _Now it was not many days thereafter that Jasper began to show by + his bearing the thing that was in his mind. He bade all the + servants and household address him and speak of him as "my lord", + he signed his letters "Champernoun", and if Parliament had been in + session, I doubt not that he would have hastened to take his seat + in the House of Peers. He gave orders for many changes in the + manor-house, he commanded the foresters to hew down our best and + bravest oak-trees in the park, and he sold the timber to the + shipwrights with which to build ships withal. But more unhappy than + all else was his overbearing manner towards our mother. He treated + her as though she had no right to remain under the roof, and his + Papist wife, whom (as Master Pym hath told me) he had brought over + from some hovel in Honduras, was thrust into our mother's place as + Lady Champernoun._ + + _Thou canst well understand, dear my brother, how grieved was our + mother at all this. She lingered not longer in the place than was + barely needful to gather her own personal possessions together, and + then, carrying me with her, she set off to Willoughby Grange, where + we now are._ + + _'Twas but this morning (as I have said) that Master Christopher + Pym came hither with word that the "Barbara Jane" is about to sail + for the Azores. He hath spoken long and earnestly with our mother, + and she is so sorely distressed that she hath bidden me do what she + had willingly have done with her own hand--write to thee, in the + hope that thou art still alive, and tell thee of these things. And + what hath given her a strong hope is, that Christopher Pym doth now + positively declare that the letter which Jasper averred had come to + him from Sir Richard Grenville came not from Sir Richard at all, + but was a base and wilful forgery._ + + _Much more have I to tell thee. But I have already spent many hours + over this long letter, which hath yet to be read by our mother and + writ out again by Master Pym, who will set it forth in more seemly + English than I, an ignorant girl, can command._ + + _Farewell, dear my brother. The Lord bless thee and bring thee home + in safety, and govern thee with His grace and make thee a good + servant to our Queen and country. Thy loving sister, so long as + thou livest in the fear of God_, + + _DRUSILLA OGLANDER_. + +Grasping the letter in his hand, Gilbert bent forward with his head upon +his knees and wept. + +Long, long he remained thus, now weeping in sorrow for his mother, now +yearning to be back in England, now fretting over the fate that kept +him, as it were, a prisoner on foreign shores. Oh, why were the Spanish +so long in coming? Why did they delay? + +Suddenly he was aroused by hearing strange sounds: the tinkling of +distant bells, the shrill, penetrating whistle of boatswains' pipes, and +then the loud report of a cannon. He stood up and glanced through the +foliage down at the fleet, and there he saw that the ships were in +unwonted commotion. Boats were passing to and fro along the line. Near +to the admiral's flag-ship there was a strange vessel with fresh white +sails that had been newly furled. It was the same ship that he had +already seen making her way across the sea. He turned and glanced over +the water to make sure that this was so, for he could not well believe +that she had come so quickly, or that he had remained inactive so long, +brooding over the letter. Yes, it was indeed the same ship. + +But what was this that he now saw upon the far horizon? He strained his +eyes in eagerness. Away in the east, like a string of threaded beads +upon the line of the horizon, there appeared a whole armada of +ships--ten, twenty, forty, nay, more even than this. And they were +sailing westward towards Flores--westward from Spain! + + + + + CHAPTER XIX. + + A SPLENDID DISOBEDIENCE. + + +Gilbert came down upon the beach at the spot where the men of the +_Defiance_ and the _Bonaventure_ were encamped. Sir Robert Cross and Sir +Richard Grenville had come ashore, and their voices sounded loud and +re-echoed among the rocks as they issued orders to the men to carry the +invalids down to the boats and hasten on board. All was bustle, noise, +and confusion. Here a stalwart man of Devon had shouldered one of his +sick shipmates and was carrying him over the shingle, here others were +rolling down water-breakers that had been left from the early morning, +and others again carrying bedding and tent-poles, with their wrappings +of ropes and sail-cloth. + +The first person whom Gilbert recognised in the crowd was Timothy +Trollope. + +"What means all this commotion, Tim?" he inquired. "Is't the +treasure-ships in sight?" + +"No such good luck," answered Tim, looking up from his work of lifting +one of the admiral's men upon his shoulder. "Here, I pray you, lend me a +hand, Master Gilbert, and I'll tell you as we carry this poor fellow to +his boat." + +Gilbert took the man's legs in his arms while Timothy laid hold of him +by his body, and as they bore him downward over the rough beach Tim +said: + +"Didst thou not see the coming of the ship, then?" + +"I indeed saw a little ship approach," returned Gilbert, "but I know not +whence she came nor--" + +"'Tis Captain Middleton's ship," interrupted Timothy. "Captain +Middleton's ship come hence from Spain to give the alarm that full half +a hundred of King Philip's warships are even now bearing down upon us +with intent to do battle!" + +"I have seen them. I saw them from the heights," declared Gilbert. And +then questioning Timothy further he learned that Captain Middleton had +been one of the Earl of Cumberland's fleet, that he had had a race with +the galleons and had outstripped them by only a few hours' sail. He had +counted three-and-fifty galleons--the best that Spain possessed, and it +seemed that the King of Spain, knowing of Lord Thomas Howard's presence +and intention at the Azores, had sent out this formidable fleet to +frustrate his foes and protect his treasure-ships against the English. + +The news had come upon Lord Thomas Howard like a thunder-clap, when he +was all unprepared for the emergency. As we have seen, more than half +the crew in every ship were away on shore, lying sick, while a large +part of the remainder were busy collecting ballast and getting water. On +board most of the ships only a few officers and ship-keepers were left. +Yet taken by surprise as they were, the captains were now meeting the +perilous situation with a prompt alacrity worthy of the navy of which +they were proud to form a part. Sir Richard Grenville as vice-admiral +had hastened ashore, knowing that it was his duty to remain behind with +his ship until the last man was on board. He now gave his orders calmly +and with no show of hurry, and when he had seen the men of the flag-ship +well in the way of getting on board, he passed on along the beach to +where those of the _Bonaventure_ were preparing to quit their temporary +dwelling-place. In like manner he saw to the men of Captain Fenner's +_Lion_, Captain Vavasour's _Foresight_, Captain Duffield's _Crane_, and +to those of the _Bark Raleigh_, the _Pilgrim_, the _George Noble_, and +the other smaller ships. Lastly, he came to his own men of the +_Revenge_, and when these had been sent on board he again made his way +along the beach to pick up all the possible stragglers. This work +occupied him little more than half an hour, for all knew what was at +stake, and each man had taken his own duty in hand with ready +promptitude. + +The first alarm-gun had been fired at one o'clock. By two o'clock five +of the six men-of-war and all the victuallers, flyboats, and pinnaces +had slipped their cables or weighed their anchors, had shaken out their +sails and were beginning to work out seaward for an offing. + +While Sir Richard Grenville was on shore the admiral himself had not +been idle. It was too late now to think of ballasting his ships, which +were all too light by reason of having been emptied of all the old and +infected ballast that they had brought in them from England; but he +knew that more than half his forces were sick and useless for the work +of battle, that on the _Bonaventure_, his largest ship, there were not +so many men in health as could handle her mainsail, so he ordered that a +score of the best should be transferred to her from the ship that Sir +George Cary had sent out with the expedition, while Sir George Cary's +ship was at the last moment scuttled and left to go to the bottom. + +Lord Thomas Howard signalled his orders to his little fleet, and his own +ship, the _Defiance_, led the way out into the offing, for the Spanish +galleons were already approaching the nearest headland of the island and +he deemed it wise to escape as speedily as he could. He saw that the +_Revenge_ had not yet weighed anchor, and he signalled to her yet again, +intending that Grenville should loiter no longer, but that, whatever her +condition or the condition of the few men still remaining ashore, she +should at once slip her cable and follow in her appointed place at the +rear. + +Sir Richard Grenville saw the signal, but thinking only of the sick men +in his charge he would not start until he had collected and shipped the +last of his crew, who, if he had left them on shore, must have been +lost. + +"We cannot leave the poor fellows here to die," said he to Timothy +Trollope, who had been with him during this time helping the men into +the boats. "It were surely cowardly to abandon them. Heave yourself up +on my back, lad," he added, speaking to Red Bob, who was now the last +remaining man. "There is yet time if we are but quick." And with +Timothy's help he carried Bob down to the boat, and then they were rowed +out to the _Revenge_. + +Then with every man safe on board he at last weighed. At the same +instant as the dripping anchor came to the bows, the tall masts with +their bellying sails and the towering hulls of the two vanguard +squadrons of the Spanish fleet appeared under the headland. On the +galleons swept to the windward of the _Revenge_, with their ports triced +up and the gun muzzles showing, and the brass patereros glittering in +the afternoon sun. + +Sir Richard, standing, as it seemed, quite unconcerned upon his +quarter-deck, took in the position in which he was placed. To the +windward of him were the fifty-three great galleons of Spain. On his +lee, now drawing wind and sailing quickly into safety, were the ships of +Lord Thomas Howard. Grenville was not a trained seaman, and he knew but +few of the mariner's tricks and tactics, but he understood his present +case well enough to know that his best and only chance of safety was to +'bout ship and run for it in the endeavour to weather the leaders of the +Spaniards. + +He cast a moment's glance at his sailing-master and in turn at Captain +Robinson, who stood near him. + +"It seemeth to me," remarked the master, "that we have lingered over +long." + +"Ay," added Captain Robinson. "The delay hath cost Her Majesty her +goodliest ship and us our lives and our long-cherished honour." + +"How so?" questioned Grenville, in the blunt direct tone which signified +his inward excitement. + +Captain Robinson raised his eyebrows in slight surprise, and his fingers +played with the point of his well-trimmed black beard. + +"Why," answered he in a seemingly careless tone, "methinks we are caught +in a very pretty trap, that is all." And then a new and earnest light +flashing in his beautiful blue eyes, he added: "Look you, Sir Richard, +we have but one way only. Let out your mainsail, sir, and cast about, +and trust to the sailing of the ship. She is ill-conditioned, 'tis true; +but 'twill go ill if we cannot even yet escape and join our squadron." + +Sir Richard Grenville regarded him with a stern determined glance. + +"What!" he cried. And then he laughed, and in a softer voice added: "No, +no. I never yet turned tail on devil or Don, nor will I do so now. +Rather would I die this day than dishonour myself, my country, or Her +Majesty's ship!" He strode slowly across the deck and as slowly +returned. Then he looked out over the rail at the approaching galleons. +They now appeared in two well-ordered squadrons on his weather-bow, +sailing down upon him between the two neighbour islands of Flores and +Corvo. "Truly they are a brave sight," he went on, "as gallant a sight +as mine eyes have rested upon these three years agone. But, mark you, +Master Robinson, I mean not to fly from them, not I. 'Tis one against +fifty-three, but, by thunder, I mean to adventure it! In despite of +their so great strength I intend to pass in betwixt those two squadrons +and force them to give me way!" + +"Nay, 'tis impossible; 'twere rank madness to make the attempt," cried +the master. "Sure 'tis no dishonour to fly before such overwhelming +numbers. Cast about, sir, while yet there is time. Believe me, 'tis the +better course." + +But Sir Richard Grenville would not be persuaded, and the word was +passed aft to the steersman to take the ship in between the two lines of +galleons. + +It was at this moment that Gilbert Oglander showed himself before his +chief. He was about to ask some question, but Sir Richard cut him short. + +"Bring me my casque, boy, and my breastplates and tassets, also my best +sword!" Then to the master he added: "Let beat the men to their fighting +quarters. Run out the guns, and let every one be manned by a brave son +of Devon that will stick to his post while there be powder to shoot and +ships to be shot." + +None on board had expected this order. All were appalled by Sir +Richard's boldness. But when once the word had gone forth that there was +fighting to be done, there was not a man or a boy whose bodily health +permitted him who did not fly to his particular post with joy at the +thought of having it out with the hated Spaniards. + +Already the _Revenge_ was drifting onward to meet her foes. With her +hundred eager fighting-men on her decks, and her ninety sick lying +unserviceable on the ballast, she slowly made her way into the narrow +channel between the oncoming galleons. The first four of them, either +awed by her boldness or else not quite prepared, permitted her to pass, +but immediately "sprang their luff" and fell under her lee, where they +contented themselves with firing a few shots into one of the English +victualling ships, the _George Noble_, of London, that with greater +spirit than might have been expected of so small a craft, had detached +herself from Her Majesty's ships and fallen behind to offer aid to the +hard-pressed _Revenge_. Her captain, scorning the few shots that had +rattled through his shrouds, now brought her under the _Revenge's_ +counter and called out to Sir Richard Grenville, asking him for +commands. + +"Nay, seek no commands of me," cried Grenville in reply. "But save +yourself, in God's name, while there be time. As for me, why, prithee, +leave me to my fortune. I can look after myself if any man can." + +At this moment occurred the catastrophe which Captain Robinson and the +sailing-master had clearly foreseen. The great galleon, _San Philip_, +being to the windward of the _Revenge_, and coming speedily towards her, +becalmed her sails, which flapped loose, flattened against her masts, +hung down, and ceased to draw. The _Revenge_ lost the way that was upon +her, and she could neither move onward nor obey her helm. The _San +Philip_ was a huge and high-charged ship of fifteen hundred tons--three +times the burden of the _Revenge_,--carrying three tiers of ordnance on +a side, and eleven pieces in every tier. She had eight great guns +peeping out of her chase-ports, and from these she belched forth a +volley of cross-bar shot that crashed into Grenville's gallant little +ship, making her tremble in every plank, yet doing but slight mischief. +And at the same time the three galleons that were to his leeward luffed +up, and fired their forward guns into his rigging. These ships were all +high in the hull, and their guns were so trained that the shots passed +over the _Revenge's_ upper bulwarks, only severing a few ropes or +clipping some splinters of timber from off her masts and yards. One of +the nearest galleons was the admiral, or flag-ship, of the Biscayan +squadron, a very mighty and powerful vessel, commanded by the great +Spanish warrior Britandona. + +Gilbert Oglander, as he strode towards the companion stairs after having +helped Sir Richard Grenville to don his body armour, glanced round at +the vast fleet of the enemy. Each galleon's decks and fighting-tops were +crowded with soldiers, whose morions and breastplates glistened in the +afternoon sun. On the _San Philip's_ decks there were, as he afterwards +estimated, no fewer than six or seven hundred soldiers, apart from her +seamen, and the others of the Spanish ships must certainly have been +equally well manned; while on the _Revenge_ there were no fighting-men +beside the mariners, excepting only the servants of her officers and +some few gentlemen volunteers like himself. + +Already the dread sounds of battle greeted Gilbert's unaccustomed ears. +The loud rumbling roar of the cannons coming from the lumbering hulls +below was mingled with the sharp crackling of musketry from above, where +the Spaniards posted in the tops were firing in the hope of picking off +some of the English officers. The air was even at this early time +charged with a faint smell of burnt gunpowder. Gilbert did not pause to +watch the opening of the battle, but hastened down to the main-deck, +where, for the present, he was to occupy himself in helping the gunners +and carrying out the powder from the magazines. + +Here, down below, he found Edward Webbe with his lighted lintlock coolly +glancing outward along the barrel of a great brass gun. There was no +need to take careful aim, for wheresoever the cannon might be fired its +contents of heavy shot were certain to strike into the oaken hull of one +of the galleons. Webbe applied his fuse, and the cannon flung forth its +spurt of fire with a thunderous boom that made the very deck shake and +the strained lashings creak. Along the whole space of the 'tween decks +and at both sides the gunners applied themselves to their work with +quiet and unruffled movements, and presently Edward Webbe gave up his +gun to another man and undertook the task of directing his shipmates in +the work, only peering out now and again through one of the portholes +to watch the movements of the enemy, as galleon after galleon came +within close range. + +"Steady, my lads!" he cried, "and take good aim. Waste not a shot, but +mark well where it must find its home. Lower your gun's muzzle, Matthew +Giles," he said to one who was training his piece to fire against the +walls of one of the nearer galleons. "Take her below the water-line, and +sink her." + +It was the great _San Philip_ that was alongside now. Having blocked out +the breeze from the _Revenge's_ sails by her own vast stretch of canvas, +she had forced herself full into the path of the English man-of-war, and +swung herself round broadside to broadside, with her grapplings ready to +hold her intended victim fast and so overpower her by superior strength, +and riddle her with shot until she should sink. This was just at three +o'clock in the afternoon, and forthwith the terrible and memorable +combat was begun in desperate earnest. + +At the same time four other of the most formidable of the Spanish +galleons--the smallest of them double the size of the _Revenge_--drew +out to support the _San Philip_, and took up positions round Sir Richard +Grenville's ship, two on her larboard side, one astern of her, and the +fourth under her bows. And all five assailed her with a storm of iron +shot and heavy stone balls and langrage and cross-bar shot. The noise of +the discharge of so many guns was deafening to hear. But it was seen +that the greater number of the shots passed over her, so low in the hull +was she compared with the towering height of her enemies. Nevertheless +many a shot buried itself in her stout sides, many crashed through her +bulwarks, cut great pieces out of her masts, and tore her sails and +rigging. But her gallant flag of St George waved gloriously on high; her +men stuck to their work with ever-ripening courage, and small though she +was in the midst of her huge foes, she dealt them as much as they gave: +nay, even more than that, for she had British guns on board of her and +British men to fire them, and never a shot did they fire that did not +tell. + +After the interchange of many volleys of great ordnance and small-shot, +the Spaniards, finding that the _Revenge_ still held her ground and +defended herself with so great determination, made an attempt to board +her, hoping to force her by the sheer multitude of their armed soldiers +and musketeers. The great _San Philip_ drew to close quarters. Her +bulging sides crunched against those of the _Revenge_, and a host of her +men clambered over her rails, pike and sword in hand, climbed into the +_Revenge's_ lower shrouds, and swarmed like so many infuriated bees +along her stout bulwarks at every point. But Ambrose Pennington, who had +control of the murderer-gun on the starboard side of Sir Richard's +quarter-deck, was ready at the moment with his fuse. He fired the gun, +and its scattering charge of small-shot played fearful havoc among the +would-be boarders, while those who escaped the destructive fire fell +either back between the ships or forward upon the deck of the _Revenge_, +where they were speedily overpowered. + +Nor were the gunners below decks unmindful of their opportunity. At the +moment when the Spaniards were in the act of boarding, Edward Webbe had +every gun on his starboard side ready loaded with cross-bar shot and +primed. He gave the order, and his men applied their lintlocks, and the +full broadside was discharged straight into the _San Philip's_ hull. +After this she sheered off with all diligence from her too close +position, "utterly misliking her first entertainment". It was said +afterwards that the galleon foundered, but Sir Walter Raleigh in his +written account of the fight cast doubt upon the point. Howbeit, no +sooner had the _San Philip_ been cleared away than her position was +taken up by yet another galleon, only to be beaten off in like manner. +One after another they closed and boarded, one after another they were +flung back beaten and in confusion, their boarders being repulsed again +and again, taking refuge in their own ships or else falling into the +seas. + +To tell every incident of this terrible battle would make a long story, +albeit the valour displayed by our English seamen on that great occasion +has no more glorious example in all the annals of our navy's history. +Hour after hour went by and still the _Revenge_ fought on with undaunted +courage. Many of her men were slain and many were hurt, and her surgeons +and their assistants were busy in the hold. Yet the Spaniards suffered +more. Early in the fight Don Louis Cutino, one of the admirals of +Seville, brought his galleon alongside in all her bravery, but he had +not fought for more than a quarter of an hour ere a broadside from the +_Revenge_ was fired point blank into his vessel's hull, sinking her with +all on board. And the same fate befell the powerful galleon, the +_Ascension_, of Seville, commanded by the Marquis of Arumburch. One +other galleon, sorely beaten, had yet strength to recover the roadstead +of the island of St. Michaels, where she quickly followed her anchor to +the bottom. A fourth, to save her men, was run aground on Flores. + +All through that hot August afternoon the _Revenge_ fought on, and as +each galleon was driven off another pushed in to relieve her beaten +consort and to renew the attack upon the stubborn little English +man-of-war, who withstood it all with her hundred men on board, +resisting all comers. With never fewer than two mighty galleons by her +side, she fought to the death, single-handed. + +The Spaniards had an unlimited reserve. They could not all hope to empty +their guns into their heroic little foe, but they crowded round, ever +near, to supply the attacking ships when needed with fresh soldiers, +all manner of arms, and with powder and shot in plenty. To the _Revenge_ +there remained no such comfort, no supply of either ships or men or +weapons, and, alas! no hope. + + + + + CHAPTER XX. + + THE LAST FIGHT OF THE "REVENGE". + + +Once, indeed, in the course of the fight, an English ship appeared, +brave and willing to offer her small help. + +Towards sunset, during a momentary lull in the storm of battle, while +one of the broken and battered Spanish ships was being cleared away from +the ceaseless fury of the English guns, Jacob Hartop left the little +brass falcon gun on the forecastle, at which he had stood for four +terrible hours, and went down for a drink of water. A musket-shot had +struck him in the thigh, and he was somewhat faint. He limped within the +doorway of the seamen's quarters. A dozen men were in this shelter, some +binding up their wounds, some resting and gathering breath before going +out again upon the decks, others patiently waiting for their turn with +the water-dipper. + +Jacob's eyes surveyed them, passing slowly from one face to another. He +nodded to one, gave a cheering smile to another, and helped a third to +tie a knot in the kerchief which he was binding over his arm. + +"What say you, my masters?" said he. "This be life, eh? This be tasting +glory!" + +"Ah--h!" breathed Jeff Dimsdale, the man who was taking the dipper from +young Robin Redfern. "'Tis such glory as might fill many of our friends +at home with envy. May I taste more on't ere I be like Tom Wilson that's +down below on the ballast with a bullet in his honest heart!" He raised +the water to his pale lips. "Tom would ha' given a deal for this drop o' +water, I reckon," he said. Then, still hesitating to drink, he added: +"Here's to Queen Bess, God bless her!" + +Drinking the water at one long draught, he silently handed the dipper +back to Robin and passed out into the open. + +"'Tis men such as Jeff that have won England her glory on the main," +declared Hartop, as he watched the man striding along the deck. Even as +his eyes rested upon him, he saw Dimsdale stagger and fall, with an +arrow, fired from the tops of one of the Spaniards, piercing his temple. +A youth, hastening forward, stumbled over the fallen man, rose to his +feet, looked into Dimsdale's face and passed on. The youth was Gilbert +Oglander, who with grimy, powder-stained countenance, had come up on +deck, utterly tired out by his hard work below. He entered the +forecastle and waited his turn for a drink of water. + +"What, art stationed below decks, Master Oglander?" questioned Jacob +Hartop. "Methinks your better place were up here where there be boarders +to repel. There be many who can carry powder on board, but few who have +the skill to wield a sword or shoot an arrow as thou hast, my master." + +"In truth, 'twas that very thought that brought me hither," said +Gilbert. "And with the more reason, in that the powder is not now so +plentiful or the gunners so many that those I have left below cannot be +quickly enough served by the ship's boys. Hast seen aught of Timothy +Trollope, Master Hartop?" + +Jacob shook his head, but Robin Redfern, hearing the question, answered, +as he pointed outward along the upper deck to where, under the larboard +bulwarks, a half-dozen of Sir Richard Grenville's men were fighting amid +a clash of arms with some score of Spaniards who had made an entrance +upon the _Revenge_: + +"So please you, sir, he is yonder, where, as I have seen with my own +eyes, he hath slain a full dozen Spaniards." + +Without waiting for his much-needed drink of water, Gilbert snatched up +a morion that lay at his feet, clapped it upon his bare head, unsheathed +his sword, and ran out to join in the fray. Jacob Hartop, smiling at the +lad's impetuous eagerness, turned to the water-butt and took the +proffered dipper from Robin Redfern's hand. + +Robin's face was very pale, and there was a strange light in his grave, +gray eyes. He glanced quickly round the cabin, and presently darted into +the further corner, went down upon his knees in the dark, and after a +moment emerged gripping a little sword in his right hand, and strode to +the door. Jacob Hartop stretched out his hand to stop the boy, guessing +his purpose, but Robin escaped him and ran out, mingling with the +fighting crowd. + +Very soon afterwards Hartop was again at his gun on the starboard side +of the forecastle deck. At the moment there was a slight lull in the +battle. A galleon that had been grappled to this side of the _Revenge_ +for an hour or more, and was now almost a total wreck, was being drawn +off to give place to a mighty ship which had stood by from the time of +the opening of the battle, and whose decks were crowded with soldiers. +Glancing out through the gap thus made, Hartop saw at some distance away +a little ship flying the flag of St. George. She seemed to be hovering +near, either to see the success of the fight, or else, which was more +probable, to do what she might to rescue the _Revenge_ from the grip of +her overpowering enemies. Hartop knew the little ship. He had seen her +many times during the voyage out from England and also at the anchorage +at Flores. It was Jacob Whiddon's _Pilgrim_. + +The great galleon which now closed in to the attack was the _St. Paul_, +the flag-ship of Don Alonzo de Bassan, a brother of the renowned Marquis +of Santa Cruz, and King Philip's chosen admiral. Already the +_Revenge's_ bowsprit had been shot away, her foremast had fallen by the +board, and her main topmast was lying across her main-deck with two +Englishmen and seven Spaniards crashed under its weight. Her sails were +in ribbons, and her riggings were in a hopeless tangle of broken rope; +her bulwarks had great yawning gaps in them, yet still her gallant flag +waved gloriously, albeit with many shot-holes in it, over her poop. And +now the _St. Paul_ opened fire upon her, first from her chase-guns that +shot out their great stone balls, and then, as she swung round, from her +full broadside. Sir Richard Granville's mizzen-mast, which had +beforetime been sorely hacked and splintered, fell with a crash. And now +she lay heaving lazily on the swell of the ocean, with but the ragged +stumps of her three masts showing above the level of her shattered hull, +and her ship's company in their sadly reduced numbers showing still a +sturdy and dauntless front, and ever persistently fighting on. The sea +round about her was so strewn with wreckage that the galleons could not +now come close to her as they had done at the first, but lay round her +in a ring, firing into her or sending out their boats crowded with +soldiers to board her, the beams of the setting sun shining on their +morions and body armour, and glancing on the blades of their drawn +swords. + +As Don Alonzo's ship hove near, and when the cloud of smoke from her +discharged guns had lifted, the archers in her fighting-tops fired down +their arrow shafts in the endeavour to pick off such of the English +officers as presented themselves on the poop-deck. Sir Richard Grenville +was struck many times, but his body armour was well forged, and although +he indeed had received many slight wounds on hands and neck and face, +yet he was practically unhurt, and his hoarse voice could be heard amid +the battle's thunder cheering his men and bidding them fight on. + +His son Roland had been wounded by a musket-shot in his right arm, but, +like Sir Richard, he cared not so long as he had breath in him to fight; +so he took his sword in his left hand, and ever when any Spaniards +attempted to make an entrance upon the decks he was ready to repel them, +with Timothy Trollope and Gilbert Oglander shoulder to shoulder with +him, forming a human barrier through which no Don, howsoever bold, might +pass. + +Gilbert Oglander became conscious that as Don Alonzo's galleon came +near, there was one archer in her mizzen-top who had, as it seemed, +singled him out from among his companions. Arrow after arrow struck with +a sharp ring upon his breastplate; and as he moved along the deck to +encounter new foes, again and again an arrow would buzz past him, always +from the same direction. + +The Spaniards, secure in the knowledge that the _Revenge_ was helpless, +went about the fighting more slowly as evening drew upon them. It was as +if they thought to prolong their victim's life, and wished only to see +for how much time the little _Revenge_ would hold out against them. +During a lull in the fight Sir Richard Grenville ordered his men to +clear the decks of wreckage, and to cast overboard the bodies of the +slain. Water was served round, together with bread and onions. As +Gilbert Oglander was carrying a flagon of water to one of his wounded +comrades who lay in the scuppers, an arrow struck the flagon and dashed +it from his grasp. He picked the empty vessel up and returned to the +water-butt to refill it. Again as he passed aft an arrow struck him, +this time making a deep dent in his morion. And at that moment young +Robin Redfern, with a kerchief bound round his bleeding head, came up to +him and touched him on the arm. + +"Master," the lad cried, "I pray you have a care how you expose yourself +to the aim of the archer who hath just fired at you. His arrows have +pursued you this long while past. And--and--prithee, Master Gilbert, +dost know who 'tis?" + +"Nay, how should I know one Spaniard from another?" Gilbert asked, +passing on towards the wounded man. But Robin held him. + +"Hark you, my master," cried the lad, "I have seen his face. I saw it +but a few moments ago, and, as I live, 'tis the face of your own cousin, +Master Philip Oglander!" + +Now Gilbert, despite the excitement of the battle had not forgotten +Drusilla's letter that was nestling within his doublet under the +protection of his breastplate. His thoughts had gone more than once to +his home and to the remembrance of his uncle's trickery, and this had +increased by an hundredfold his hatred of all friends of Spain, and he +had fought with a spirit of personal vengeance as well as with the +desire to help his fellow-countrymen and his Queen in this battle +against their dread enemy. For an instant he doubted the truth of what +Robin had told him, and when he had served the wounded man with his +drink of water, and helped him down to the crowded cockpit, he looked +out through one of the portholes in search of his cousin in the +galleon's tops. But the place where his enemy had stood was now cleared +of men, and Philip Oglander was nowhere to be seen. + +As he was mounting the ladder-stairs to regain the deck, he came upon a +man climbing painfully upward with a sword between his teeth. Putting +his arm about the man's body to assist him, he said: + +"Art wounded, my master?" + +The man looked round at him. It was Red Bob. + +"Not I," he answered. "But I can no longer lie and listen to the groans +of my friends down there, nor to the booming of the guns, and think +that, ill though I am, I have not yet fired a shot or drawn a weapon in +defence of this good ship. A score of the sick men have already gone up +to fight, Master Oglander, and 'tis my intention to join them, and do +what little I can." + +"May the good God put strength into your arm, then!" returned Gilbert, +and, stepping upon the deck, he drew the man with him, and gave him a +loaded pistol and a bag of powder and shot. Jacob Hartop encountered +them as they moved aft. + +"My good gun hath been dismounted at last," said he. "Yet 'tis of little +account, methinks, for I do hear that the powder hath well-nigh given +out." A cheer from the after-deck broke in upon his words. "Ah, here be +work for us!" he added, snatching his sword from his side and limping +towards the quarter-deck, followed by Gilbert and Red Bob. + +A boat-load of Spanish soldiers had put out from the admiral's galleon, +and had come alongside the _Revenge_. Fresh and eager they clambered up +from her chains and over her broken bulwarks--two score of them at the +least. Sir Richard Grenville and Captain Robinson rallied their men to +their sides. They quickly drew together in a line, a gallant little +company of twelve, not one of whom was without a wound, saving three who +had come up from their hard beds on the ballast, and these were so weak +that it was a labour even to raise their swords. + +They met their foes with a rattle of pistol-shots and then with a clash +of steel. Sir Richard Grenville closed with a tall Don, whose gay +clothing and sparkling rings proclaimed him a man of consequence. +Whatever Grenville may have been as a seamen, he was certainly no mean +swordsman. He parried the Spaniard's fierce thrust, and with a quick +movement of his strong wrist and an alert lunge forward sent the point +of his weapon deep into the other's bare throat. The Spaniard fell, and +Sir Richard stepped over his inert body to encounter the man who had +taken his leader's place. Four Spaniards did he vanquish with his own +hand within the few minutes during which this engagement on his +quarter-deck lasted. And by his side--the least with the +greatest--fought little Robin Redfern. + +Robin, indeed, seemed to have abandoned all sense of fear or thought of +danger, and he fought valiantly in his own boyish fashion. At one moment +he rushed forward into the very midst of the Spaniards, and engaged hand +to hand with one whom he seemed to have singled out. Gilbert, seeing him +thus expose himself, pressed in to his rescue, caught him by the +shoulder and dragged him back, parrying on his own blade the +sword-thrust that must else have ended the boy's life. Gilbert now +crossed swords with Robin's antagonist, and in the fading evening light +caught sight of his face, recognizing it as the face of his own cousin, +Philip. For a moment Gilbert drew back, appalled at the thought of +fighting with one of his own flesh and blood. But Philip, with a +scornful laugh on his lips, pressed him to the duel. It was thrust and +cut and parry, parry and cut and thrust, for many moments. The two were +equally matched in skill, albeit Gilbert had already been fighting for +five hours without a rest, while his cousin was full fresh and active. +Back and ever back, foot by foot, Gilbert was forced, and at last a +fierce thrust delivered with all the strength in Philip's right arm, +backed by all the weight in his body, brought Gilbert to his knees. The +sword's point struck against his breast-plate, doing no real injury, but +by its sheer force it disturbed his balance. He rolled over on the deck, +and his own weapon fell from his hand. + +"Now will I do for thee at last!" cried Philip Oglander savagely between +his teeth, speaking in English. He held his sword in air for a moment as +if in deliberation where to strike. In that moment his weapon hand was +struck a tremendous blow by a pistol flung at it by Red Bob, and Red Bob +himself sprang forward, crying "Traitorous hound! I know ye!" and +clutched him round the body in a wrestling embrace. The two swayed to +and fro for an instant, and then Red Bob dropped on the deck with Philip +Oglander's dagger in his heart. + +When Gilbert rose to his feet to continue the duel with his cousin he +saw Philip climbing back over the bulwark in haste to regain the +galleon's boat. Others of the Spaniards occupied Gilbert now, and +Ambrose Pennington and one of the yeomen of the sheets coming up to +help, they were soon overpowered or driven over the side. Some fell into +the sea; five-and-twenty of them had been slain; and the boat returned +to Don Alonzo's ship with but seven out of the forty men who had set +out in her, less than half an hour earlier. + +[Illustration: THE GREAT FIGHT ON BOARD THE _REVENGE_] + +Darkness had now spread across the sea, the stars peeped out through the +overhanging mist of smoke, and in a wide ring about the _Revenge_ the +galleons stood, ceaselessly firing upon her. Their guns flashed out +their fire into the black night. Many of the shots flew wide; some +passed over the low-lying wreck and struck the galleons lying beyond, +yet many thundered against the sides of the English ship, burying +themselves in her stout timbers or rebounding with a hiss into the sea. +Hour after hour throughout the night the battle continued, and if not +many of Sir Richard Grenville's men were killed or wounded it was +because so few remained alive to be wounded or killed. An hour before +midnight there were but a dozen men and boys at Sir Richard's side upon +his decks, and these were all so weary and bruised and hungry that they +scarce could stand. Yet they hovered about their chief, seldom speaking, +but only exchanging strange glances one with another, binding up each +other's hurts, or gazing about them at the flashing of the cannon. At +times one would take up a musket, and, if he could find powder and shot +wherewith to load it, would fire into a crowd of soldiers upon one of +the Spaniard's decks. + +Sir Richard strode to and fro, sword in hand, with a staggering gait, +now pausing behind the shelter of some yet unbroken piece of bulwark and +watching the movements of the enemy. And once he caught at Gilbert +Oglander's arm, gripping it tightly as though to support himself. + +"I pray thee tell me, Sir Richard," cried the lad. "Art wounded? Wilt go +below to the cabin?" + +"Nay, nay," returned Grenville quickly, breathing hard nevertheless, "I +would but ask thee to hasten below and discover wherefore our guns be +silent. Od's life, boy, must we lie here and not give them shot for +shot! Go, bid the gunners maintain their firing!" + +And Gilbert obeyed, coming back some minutes afterwards, saying: + +"Good my master, the last barrel of powder hath been broached, and there +is scarce enough for another round." + +Then Sir Richard took off the casque from his head and wiped his brow, +answering: + +"Go below yet again and bid them sweep up the boards of the magazine, +and scrape out a handful of powder wheresoever it may be found. And you, +boy," he added to young Robin Redfern, who stood trembling near him +under the light of one of the deck lanterns, "hie you to one of the +water-butts and bring me a drink of water." + +His voice was weak, and Ambrose Pennington, who had seated himself on +the thick end of a dismounted cannon, heard it and quickly rose to his +feet. + +"Y'are hurt, Sir Richard," said he. "I know it, though you do bear it +so bravely. I beg you let me help you to your cabin, where the surgeon +will attend you." + +Sir Richard shook his head. + +"Wherefore should I leave the deck now," said he,--"now when there be so +few to defend it?" + +"Nay, I implore you," urged Pennington, and putting his arm about the +admiral's body he gently drew him towards the stairs. And Grenville went +with him. The surgeon was brought, and he speedily took off Sir +Richard's body-armour, and laid bare the many wounds that he had +received. These he washed and bound up with bandages. The two stood +under a little hanging lamp that was near the open porthole. Their +movements, or their flitting shadows, must have been observed upon one +of the galleons, for even as they were nearly ready to quit the cabin a +musket-shot struck Sir Richard on his shoulder. A second bullet struck +him on the head, and at the same moment a third shot killed the surgeon +at his side. + +Taking up a fragment of linen Sir Richard bound it about his head and +staggered to the door. Severe as his injuries were, it was not in him to +stand aside in the hour of peril. He crept up to the deck. At the top of +the stairs he was met by Robin Redfern, who had patiently stood there +with the flagon of water that he had been sent for. + +"God bless thee, my lad!" said Sir Richard, taking the cup from the +boy's hand. "And may you live to serve your Queen and country as I have +tried to serve them!" + +The words had but left his lips when a cannon-ball whizzed past him. He +turned to look for the boy, and found Robin lying dead at his feet. Then +a full broadside of his own ship's guns was fired. + +"Fight on! Fight on!" he cried, although indeed none was near him to +hear his encouraging words. + +That was the last discharge of his heavy guns; for now there was not +sufficient powder on board with which to fire them, and even the smaller +cannons, the falconets and demi-culverins, could be but sparingly used. +Yet so long as there was a handful of powder to be found it was +carefully employed. Not only had the ammunition run short, but all the +pikes were broken in hand-to-hand fight, and of Grenville's men that had +gone into action forty lay dead, and the most part of the rest severely +wounded. The ship herself was almost a wreck, her tackle all cut +asunder, her upper works altogether rased. During the fifteen hours, +from three o'clock in the afternoon, when the battle had begun, until +daybreak on the next morning, she had been closely assailed by fifteen +several galleons, in addition to those that had fired upon her from a +distance. + +Just before dawn, Edward Webbe and the few remaining gunners who had +been at work between decks appeared above the hatchway. They had used up +the powder to the last grain, and there was no more fighting to be +done. Webbe was as black as a coalman, his clothing was torn to tatters, +and he was covered with wounds. He went up to Captain Robinson and told +him the condition of the ship. The captain then held colloquy with the +sailing-master, and both approached Sir Richard Grenville. + +"Our powder hath been spent, even to the last corn," said the captain. + +"We have six feet of water in the hold," added the sailing-master, "and +three great shot-holes below the water-line which are so weakly plugged +that with the first working of the sea we must needs sink." + +Sir Richard Grenville took a turn to and fro, meditating. Then he looked +at the master-gunner, whom he knew to be a most resolute man, and said +in a tone of command: + +"Blow up the ship, then! Blow her up! Split her and sink her, that +naught may remain of glory or victory to our enemies. As for ourselves, +let us yield ourselves unto God, and to the mercy of none else!" + +"Nay," returned the master. "Have we not told ye that there is no +gunpowder on board wherewith to fire a gun, much less to blow up the +ship?" + +"Why, then," cried Grenville, "split her up with your hatchets, pull out +the plugs from the shot-holes. But sink her, sink her how you will. For +while we have, like valiant men, repulsed so many of our enemies, it +were folly now to shorten the honour of our nation by prolonging our +lives for a few hours or a few days. So let sink her, I say. Sink her, +in God's name." + +To this Edward Webbe and divers others who were with him readily +assented. But Captain Robinson and Pennington were of another opinion, +and they besought Sir Richard to have care of them, declaring that the +Spaniards would doubtless be as ready to accept a composition as they +themselves were ready to offer the same. "There be many able and valiant +men in our company yet living," said the captain, "whose wounds are not +mortal, and who may yet do their country and Queen acceptable service +hereafter." + +But Sir Richard refused to hearken to this pleading, and he moved away +and stood for a while looking over the sea that was now clearer under +the approaching light of dawn. And beyond the galleons he caught sight +of Jacob Whiddon's ship, the _Pilgrim_, bearing away to the leeward with +two great galleons in pursuit of her. + +Meanwhile, Captain Robinson held speech with his fellows and won many of +them to his side, and he besought Ambrose Pennington to leave the ship +and go on board the _St. Paul_ and parley with Don Alonzo de Bassan for +conditions. So Pennington and Jacob Hartop and some three others, all of +them sorely wounded and looking strangely ill-conditioned, went down +into an empty boat that was alongside, and holding up a white flag in +their bow they crossed the intervening space of sea to the admiral. + +They found Don Alonzo in no great haste to make another entry upon the +_Revenge_, for his men had had enough of her, and even still feared her. +Pennington told him that Sir Richard Grenville had a mind to blow up his +ship with himself and all his ship's company. + +"And wherefore should he resort to a measure so extreme?" questioned Don +Alonzo. "Since his disposition is so dangerous, return to him, I beg +you, and let him know that I am willing to put an end to this battle, +and that I have already lost more men and more ships than I had ever +thought to lose at the hands of one small English man-of-war. Bid him +understand that I yield to him his life, and that the lives of all his +ship's company shall be spared and sent home to England. For the better +sort, such reasonable ransom shall be paid as their estates may bear. +But I do aver, and swear by the Holy Mother, that all of you shall be +free from the galleys and from imprisonment. I care not to expose myself +and my fleet to further loss and mischief. Also, 'tis my great desire to +rescue your Sir Richard Grenville, whom for his most notable valour I do +greatly honour and admire." + +With this answer Pennington returned to the _Revenge_, and since safety +of life was promised, the larger number of the men, feeling themselves +to be now at the end of their peril, stood up against Sir Richard and +Edward Webbe, and declared their willingness to surrender. + +"What!" cried Edward Webbe with bitter scorn and contempt in his voice. +"Do you ask me to surrender to a Spaniard? Me who have borne so much of +horror and torture and cruelty at their hands, and at the hands of their +accursed Inquisition? God forbid! No, I will not surrender. Rather would +I die now at this moment where I stand!" + +And thus saying he whipped out his sword, and resting its hilt upon the +deck, held its point towards his body with intent to throw himself upon +it. But the captain arrested him in the act, kicking the sword away. +Webbe struggled to regain his weapon, and, failing, was about to rush to +the ship's side and fling himself into the sea, when Ambrose Pennington +and another caught him and carried him down to his cabin and there +locked him in, making sure that he had no weapon within reach. + +Sir Richard Grenville stood alone, not attempting to dissuade his men +from their resolve, and presently in the silence Jacob Hartop spoke. + +"Ned was right," said he, stepping to Sir Richard's side. "An English +ship, even though she be a poor battered hulk, were ever a better home +than a galleon of Spain." He glanced aft to the flag-staff upon which a +tattered remnant of the honoured flag still fluttered in the morning +air, and baring his head he added: "God bless Queen Elizabeth!" + +Gilbert Oglander and Timothy Trollops had taken no part in this little +scene. They were at the time both below in the cockpit attending to +their wounds and giving what small help was in their power to their sick +and dying companions. Here, too, was Roland Grenville. But in good time +the death-like silence of the abated battle brought the three up on +deck. As they came to the stair-head they glanced upon the water, which +rippled and glanced in the morning light; for there were now no +intervening bulwarks to shield it from their sight. And they saw some +six gaily-furnished boats approaching. The boats were brought alongside, +and the boys at their bows threw up coils of rope as they touched, +which, falling upon the blood-stained deck, were taken by certain of Sir +Richard's men and secured to such balks of timber as could be found. +Then one by one the men stole away into the boats and were taken aboard +Don Alonzo's ship and others of the galleons. + +Sir Richard Grenville, thus overmatched, agreed after much persuasion to +leave the _Revenge_, which was indeed an unsavoury resting-place for any +man, her decks being covered with blood and strewn with the bodies of +dead and wounded men, as if it had been a slaughter-house. + +"Well, an you will, let it be so," said Sir Richard as he turned to +descend into the boat that the Spanish admiral had sent for him. "He may +do with my body what he listeth, for I esteem it not." And grasping the +hand of Gilbert Oglander, who was helping him, he added, "Pray for me, +Gilbert, my lad. And bid the others of our company pray for me also." + +Then he swooned, reviving only when he was laid upon a couch in the +cabin of one of the Spanish officers on board the _St Paul_. + +Don Alonzo himself would neither see him nor speak with him. But the +other captains and gentlemen received him with gracious courtesy, +treated him with humanity and kindness, and left nothing unattempted +that might contribute to his comfort or tend to his recovery. They +wondered at his courage and his stout heart, for he now showed no sign +of faintness nor change of colour. + +Gilbert Oglander remained at his side throughout that day, and was +relieved at night by Sir Richard's son Roland. Early in the morning the +galleons anchored in the roadstead of Terceira. Sir Richard Grenville +was too weak to be removed upon the island, and Gilbert and Roland sat +with him until he died on the morning of the third day after the battle. + +His last words were worthy of his life. Two of the Spanish captains were +present as he spoke them in their own tongue. + +"Here die I, Richard Grenville," he murmured as he held his son's hand. +"Here die 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 joyful +departeth out of this body, and shall always leave behind it an +everlasting fame of a valiant and true soldier that hath done his duty +as he was bound to do." + + + + + CHAPTER XXI. + + PRISONERS AND CAPTIVES. + + +It was the intention of the Spaniards to take the broken and +shot-riddled hulk of the _Revenge_ to Spain as their vaunted prize. And +well might they set glory upon their conquest, for she was the one and +only English ship that had surrendered to them during the whole course +of the war, and in capturing her they had sacrificed four of their own +best galleons, while sustaining great damage to some fourteen others. +Nearly two thousand of their soldiers had been slain in the fight or +drowned in the sea, including two high and mighty hidalgos, Don Louis de +St. John, whom Grenville had vanquished with his own hand, and Don +George de Prunaria de Malaga, besides many others of special account. + +Their admiral now sent a large company of carpenters, riggers, and +swabbers on board of her to repair her leaks, pump out the water that +was deep in her hold, and clear her of the wreckage that encumbered her; +while those who remained alive of her gallant crew were dispersed among +the Spanish ships as prisoners, although permitted to go ashore upon +the island during the daytime under close surveillance of a guard of +armed soldiers. + +Don Alonzo de Bassan's fleet lay in the roadstead of Terceira awaiting +the daily expected arrival of the West India treasure-ships, which +appeared in straggling numbers day by day. The Lord Thomas Howard's +squadron, which had set out to lay capture to them, appeared not again, +but having left the _Revenge_ to her fate at the opening of the battle, +departed for England. Some accused him of cowardice in avoiding an +engagement; but 'tis certain enough that he knew the risks that were +entailed, and if the truth must be set down, Sir Richard Grenville had +really been guilty of disobedience. + +While Gilbert and Timothy were still prisoners on board the _St. Paul_ +they were quartered in a little cabin under the poop. With them was +Ambrose Pennington, and in another cabin were Roland Grenville and +Captain Robinson. Jacob Hartop had remained on board the _Revenge_ with +Edward Webbe, refusing to quit her while she floated. + +On a certain day, ere yet the combined fleets from Spain and the West +Indies were ready to depart for Spain, Philip Oglander lay on his bed +under pretence of being wounded, albeit his wounds were no more serious +than a cut upon his knuckles and a dark-blue bruise upon the back of his +right hand, where the pistol flung by Red Bob had struck him. It was +not so much these hurts that kept him abed as the eager desire which +was consuming him to hear what was going on in the cabin next to his +own. It was the cabin occupied by his cousin Gilbert and Timothy +Trollope. Philip did not dare to speak openly with his cousin and +question him concerning what knowledge he might have of the things that +had been going forward at Modbury Manor, but he was aware that Gilbert +knew more than himself, for he had once seen Gilbert reading a +letter--Drusilla's letter,--and also he had on occasion heard Timothy +Trollope--whether in jest or in earnest--address Gilbert as "my lord". + +Now Philip had himself received more than one letter from England. For +his father, well knowing the traitorous business which occupied Philip +in Spain, and knowing where a letter might find him, had written to him +informing him of the death of Lord Champernoun, and bidding him remember +that he, Philip, might one day inherit the title and estates, and that, +therefore, it was incumbent upon him to look well to his personal +safety. + +"Indeed," wrote Jasper, "there is but one thing now standing between +thee and this great heritage, and that is thy cousin, Master Gilbert +Oglander. There is naught that I wish for more heartily than to hear of +the young Jackanapes' death. Therefore I do conjure thee, my son, if +thou shouldst by chance encounter him, prithee do thy work with more +surety than thou didst do it in Beddington Dingle. Let there be no +bungling, but bear thee well in mind that upon thy well-directed arrow +shaft, or rapier point, must depend thy future and the possibility of +dubbing thyself Baron Champernoun." + +These were vague hints. But Philip had understood them. He had +understood them to mean that his father urged him to seek out Gilbert +Oglander and frustrate his return to England. And Philip had sought to +obey these injunctions, although hitherto without success. He had tried +to compass Gilbert's death during the battle, and, having failed, he yet +had hope that some chance would favour him for fulfilling his cherished +desire. And he furtively watched his cousin, spied upon his every +movement, and endeavoured by every available means to entrap him to his +death. But Gilbert, wheresoever he went about the galleon and whenever +he went ashore, was for ever accompanied by Timothy Trollope, and Philip +saw no advantage in running the risk of a hand-to-hand encounter with +the barber's valiant son. + +On this day as he lay in his cabin he listened for every word that +should pass between Gilbert and his two companions. Much that was said +was in the form of mere idle remark about the late battle, or about +their wounds, or about the death of Sir Richard Grenville. But after a +while there was talk of home, and at length, in answer to some question +of Ambrose Pennington, Gilbert spoke of his uncle Jasper, and thereupon +told the whole story of his grandfather's death and of his uncle's +assumption of the title, even as Drusilla had recounted it in her +letter. + +"Ah!" muttered Philip, overhearing every word. "Then he doth know. By +Our Lady, he doth know all!" + +Then, setting his teeth together, he vowed that come what might Gilbert +should never return to England to enjoy his inheritance. And from that +moment he continued to watch his cousin with increased diligence. It was +some comfort to his wicked soul to know that Gilbert was now a captive, +and that as such it was more than probable he would spend many a year to +come in some Spanish prison, as so many Englishmen had done before him. +But this was not enough, for there was the chance of an escape from +prison; there was the chance, indeed, that Don Alonzo might liberate his +captives to ransom; there were a hundred ways by which Gilbert might +succeed in returning to his native land. But there was one sure and +certain means of preventing this, and that was that, by fair measures or +by foul, Gilbert should be brought to his death, and Philip now resolved +that this should be. He would not rest content until his cousin lay +lifeless, ay, as lifeless as brave Sir Richard Grenville, whose body now +lay at the bottom of the sea. + +Gilbert was quite oblivious of the secret danger that threatened him, +nor did he see aught but pure accident in what befell him on the next +day. + +The Spanish admiral did not wish that his ship should be encumbered by +a crowd of wounded Englishmen. And on the day before the sailing of his +fleet he ordered that those who were at present on board the _St. Paul_ +should be removed to the _Revenge_. And it followed accordingly that +boats were put out for this purpose. + +Gilbert and Timothy were at the gangway together, and it chanced that +Timothy descended the side-ladder first, scarcely observing that Philip +Oglander had crept to Gilbert's side. Timothy was already in the boat, +when, on looking up, he saw Gilbert stumble and fall. Fortunately the +boat was not close alongside; there was a yard of water between it and +the ship. Gilbert was but a poor swimmer, and when he splashed into the +sea he sank deep down. There was a strong current, and when he rose to +the surface he appeared many yards away astern of the boat. Timothy +plunged in and swam to him, thinking of sharks, and when he reached him +and supported him, he turned to see if the boat were being brought to +the rescue. He heard some orders given in Spanish, which seemed to him +to be given in Philip Oglander's voice. Louder still than Philip's was +the voice of Ambrose Pennington, which could be heard for a long +distance away, crying out to the boatmen to cast off and pull towards +the two lads, and mingling his commands with volleys of round English +oaths that would surely have won for him the iron chain of punishment +had they been heard a few days before on board the _Revenge_. But the +Spaniards heeded him not at all, declaring that the boys were but +foreign lumber who might well be allowed to drown for all the use they +would be on the galleys. + +Pennington appealed to Philip Oglander, saying that it was his own +cousin and the head of his family who was in danger. But Philip turned +away with a derisive laugh, no doubt congratulating himself upon the +fact that it was his own foot over which Gilbert had tripped. + +From a high part of the galleon's poop where he presently climbed he +watched the heads of the two boys as they were carried away in the +current. Soon an intervening galleon hid them from his view, and he +consoled himself with the thought that he had very cleverly got rid of +the one person who, next to his own father, stood between him and the +baronage of Champernoun. + +But he had not counted upon Timothy Trollope's powers of swimming. For +some moments Timothy thought to strike out for the shore, and gripping +Gilbert with his one arm and bidding him be calm, he manfully breasted +the swelling waves. Swimming to the leeward of one of the galleons he +presently saw an empty boat lying at her side. He swam towards it and +got hold of its gunwale, helping Gilbert to do likewise. Then, while +Gilbert held on, Timothy climbed over her stern, and kneeling upon one +of the thwarts hauled his companion on board. + +"'Twas Philip Oglander that did it," said he, wringing the water out of +Gilbert's ragged clothing. "I saw him put forth his foot and trip thee. +I have seen all along that he hath had designs against thee, Master +Gilbert--I mean, my lord--" + +"Nay, keep to the Gilbert, Tim," interrupted Gilbert. "As to this matter +of my falling overboard, well, I can e'en believe as you say, +nevertheless we might easily have been in a worse case than we are now. +For, look you, there is a ladder up the ship's side at your elbow, and +it were easy enough to get on board of her." + +"It were equally easy to cut the boat's painter and make for the shore," +said Tim. + +"But there be no oars aboard," returned Gilbert. + +"Wherefore need we concern ourselves about oars?" asked Timothy. "I will +adventure it however it be." And he felt for his knife. A look of sudden +despair came into his face. "Alas!" he added, "I had forgotten that the +Dons had deprived us of our weapons!" + +He stepped to the boat's bow, and was about to try to untie the knot of +her painter when a voice greeted him from above, and a Spaniard with +very furious curled moustachios appeared in the opening of the gangway. +To escape now with the boat was impossible, and the two boys yielded +themselves up as prisoners, explaining as best they could the accident +that had brought them there. + +The Spaniards appeared to regard the matter with indolent indifference, +saying that the lads should be sent back on board the flag-ship on the +morrow. In the meantime Gilbert and Timothy were permitted to sit in the +warm sunlight to dry their clothes on the upper deck, and no more notice +was taken of them until late in the evening, when one of the galleon's +boys gave them each an onion. They slept under the lee of one of the big +guns, and in the morning the same ship's-boy brought them a tin dish of +bean soup, indicating by signs that they were to share it between them. + +On the afternoon of that same day some officers from one of the other +galleons came on board, and with them was one Maurice Fitz John, of +Desmond, a forlorn-looking Irish traitor who, because he could speak +English, had been sent to speak with the English prisoners in each ship +and to persuade them to serve the King of Spain. He had not expected to +find any on board this particular galleon--the _Santa Maria_, as she was +named,--but discovering Gilbert and Timothy, he accosted them, believing +them to be very humble seamen. He besought them to take arms in King +Philip's legion, using very subtle arguments. They would have three +times the amount of pay that they could get on an English ship, he said, +and he promised them such advancement as he thought would tempt any +young men who were, as these were, ship-broken and half-starved and +ill-clothed, and if they would be good Catholics the safety of their +souls should be assured. + +Timothy Trollope noticed that the man was himself but ill-apparelled, +and reflected that such beggarly appearance was in itself a sufficient +answer to the argument of rich pay. As for the notion of changing their +religion, it was as repulsive to both Tim and Gilbert as that of +deserting their Queen. + +"Well, well," said the Irishman, when, having used up all his eloquence +in his pleadings, he turned to go, "an ye will not see the advantage of +what is offered ye, 'tis no concern of mine. 'Tis yourselves that will +suffer for your obstinacy. But I doubt not that a few years of work at +the oars of His Majesty's galleys will bring ye to better reason." And +with that he departed. + +For many days thereafter Gilbert and Timothy led a very weary, +uncomfortable life. In return for their food and such shelter as was +given to them, they were made to do much dirty and distasteful work. +They were never permitted to go on shore, yet they were free from the +restraint of chains--a dispensation for which they were thankful. +Gradually their wounds healed, and they regained strength with such +speed, that when at last the full number of the treasure-ships had +arrived and the fleet was ready to sail for Spain, they were almost as +well in health as they had been on the day before the battle. + + + + + CHAPTER XXII. + + THE GREAT CYCLONE. + + +It was on the last day of September that the combined fleets--to the +number of a hundred and forty ships--weighed anchor and set sail. The +sky was dark and threatening as they left Terceira, and they had not +well got out of sight of the island when a most terrible storm arose. +The sea was suddenly whipped up into great mountainous waves, the wind, +which seemed to come from all quarters at once, howled and shrieked like +a thousand furies. The vast fleet was dispersed, each galleon being left +to take care of itself. Some tried to put back to Terceira, others +endeavoured to make for the island of St. Michael's. The whole sea +between these two islands was dotted over with struggling ships. It was +such a storm as comes only once in a hundred years, and its effects were +terrible. Out of the hundred and forty galleons no more than +three-and-thirty ever arrived in Spain and Portugal. All the rest were +cast upon the rocky ribs of the islands or were overwhelmed in the sea. + +It was off the island of Terceira that the _Revenge_--or what remained +of her--came to her end. She had been taken out in tow by the _San +Andrea_ galleon, but when the tempest rose to its height she was cast +off and abandoned to her fate. Driven by the tremendous waves upon the +outlying rocks, she was shattered to splinters, so that not a trace of +her remained but a few balks of her stout oaken timbers that drifted as +flotsam to the beach. There had been seventy men on board of her, many +of them Spaniards, some few of them captive Englishmen. Among the latter +were Jacob Hartop and Edward Webbe. Only one man reached the island +alive, and he, being sorely hurt, had but time to tell his tale to the +islanders and be shriven before he died. + +Roland Grenville, who had been drafted on board the _San Andrea_, was +the only one of our friends who was not shipwrecked. He was taken to +Lisbon, where, after having endured great privations in prison (whereof +much might be told), he fell in with the gallant Captain Monson, escaped +to Cadiz, was again imprisoned, and finally rescued by the Earl of Essex +on the occasion of the famous expedition against that Spanish +stronghold. + +For three days the _Santa Maria_ was buffeted about in the storm. From +her watery decks Gilbert Oglander and Timothy Trollope saw many a +galleon go down, and not only such galleons as had been of Don Alonzo De +Bassan's fleet, but many others of the treasure-ships, which took with +them to the bottom their wealthy cargoes of silver and gold. On the +morning of the fourth day, when the tempest was at its height, she fell +in with the flag-ship, whose foremast was gone by the board, and whose +sails were but so many ragged ribbons flying from her yards. Her rudder +was gone, and she was helpless. Nor was the _Santa Maria_ in any better +case, for only her main-mast was standing, and the great waves washed +over her, threatening to swamp her at every moment. The two ships came +close together, and their white-faced and frightened seamen could see +each other's faces from deck to deck. They drew apart when the deeper +darkness of night came on, but in the morning they were again within +sight, beating about in the perilous channel between the islands of St. +George and Graciosa. + +There was a slight lull in the storm in the afternoon, and the commander +of the _Santa Maria_ thought he might succeed in gaining some shelter +under the lee of the island of Graciosa. He had his ship put about, and +approaching the _St. Paul_ attempted to cross her bows, but a sudden +change in the wind drove him to leeward, and before anyone on board +realized their peril the two vessels crashed together with fearful +force. So great was the impact that Don Alonzo's galleon heeled over +until her larboard bulwarks were for a moment under water. But she +righted herself again and sailed on, leaving many of her men who had +been upon her open decks floundering in the sea. Among these was Philip +Oglander. + +Philip was a good swimmer, and when he rose to the surface he struck +out, shook the water from his dripping hair, and looked around. His own +ship was now drawing away, forced onward by the storm. He turned and saw +the high bows of the _Santa Maria_ towering above him, with her timbers +broken and wrecked, and the water pouring into the yawning gap. The +galleon plunged forward, staggered, rolled, then plunged forward again +with her bow buried deep in a sea of foam. She did not lift herself now, +but first her forward part sank lower and lower, the waves swept over +her, seeming to rejoice in their conquest, and presently, with a great +gurgling sound, the vessel disappeared. + +Gilbert and Timothy had been on her mid-deck when the two ships crashed +together. They were standing abaft her thick main-mast, with their arms +linked. Timothy, watching the ship's onward course and noting the +position of the flag-ship, had foreseen the collision. + +"Look you," said he, gripping Gilbert's arm more tightly, "we shall +strike her. Be ready, master; and if we should founder, cling to me, I +implore you." And then, even as he spoke, the two ships crashed +together, and the lads were thrown off their feet. Timothy flung his +arms around Gilbert and held him. They lay there waiting. They felt the +deck trembling beneath them, swaying to and fro. + +"We are sinking!" cried Timothy. And for many moments--moments that +seemed like hours of suspense--he was silent. Suddenly there was a great +breaking of timber. He saw the white foam leaping up over the steep +incline of the deck. The tall main-mast swayed over and fell with a +crash that was like a crack of thunder. And then all was dark, and he +felt himself being drawn below in the vortex with the sinking ship. + +Still clinging to his companion, he opened his eyes. The water was all +black about him. He moved his legs, trying to force himself upward. +Soon he began to rise; the darkness became less dense, it grew from +black to dark green, and then to a lighter green, and at last the +daylight burst once more upon him. Striking out with his one free arm he +kept himself afloat, then disengaged himself from Gilbert and took a +fresh hold of the lad, keeping his head up above the water. Gilbert's +eyes greeted him with recognition. + +"Hold on, hold on to me!" cried Timothy, as a great wave swept over +them, carrying with it a huge spar of wreckage. + +The spar threatened to fall down upon Gilbert's head, but the waves kept +it buoyant. Timothy stretched forth his arm and gripped some floating +cordage, and presently drew himself towards the drifting spar, which he +found to be the galleon's main-mast. + +"Lay hold on't!" he cried. And Gilbert, releasing his grip of Timothy's +belt, put his hand upon the mast, and, with infinite trouble and after +many failures, at last succeeded in climbing up and getting astride of +it, while Timothy, working his way along to its end, also climbed up. + +When they were both together again in comparative safety, they looked +about them in the hope of saving some of the Spaniards. + +"There is one!" cried Gilbert, as he saw a woolly black head appear +within a couple of yards of him. "'Tis José, the blackamoor." + +And Timothy stretched forth his leg for the negro, who speedily caught +it and clambered up. A second and a third man appeared, but both were +too far off to be helped, and as neither could swim they were quickly +lost to sight. + +It was at this juncture that Philip Oglander, swimming about in search +of some wreckage by which he might hope to save himself, caught sight of +the negro José. Timothy and Gilbert had their backs to him; he only saw +that they were human figures, and that they were for the time being on a +secure refuge. Swimming towards José, he at last attracted the negro's +attention. The noise of the wind and waves was too great for a voice to +be heard, and he climbed upon the floating mast without either Gilbert +or Timothy's knowledge. It was, indeed, as much as any one of them could +do to retain his balance and keep himself from being washed off, for the +ponderous log upon which they rested rolled heavily upon the waves, and +at times either plunged into them or was itself by them thrown upward +into the air, and those who rode upon it might better have been upon a +mad horse, so difficult was it to keep a seat. Cold and hungry and pale +with the terror of their situation, the boys clung tightly with legs and +arms, hoping only that God would bring them out of their peril. + +The night came on and darkness deepened their distresses. Timothy, who +was in front of Gilbert, had not thus far dared to turn round and face +him, but he had worked his way backward so that Gilbert might cling to +him, and the while the boy's hand touched him he was comforted. In the +darkness of the night Gilbert heard what he thought was a human cry--as +in truth it was,--and putting his lips to Timothy's ear he called out: + +"He hath fallen off! José hath fallen off!" + +But later he felt that someone was moving behind him, and again he spoke +to Timothy. + +"Nay, I mistook," said he; "he is still with us." + +Timothy made no response, satisfied only that his companion was able to +take even so much interest in anything apart from the thought of his own +immediate danger. + +The storm subsided somewhat during the early morning. The spar floated +more easily, and when a faint streak of gray light appeared in the +eastern sky, Timothy ventured to alter his position and bring himself +round face to face with Gilbert. Glancing over Gilbert's shoulder, he +saw that the negro--or what he supposed to be the figure of the +negro--was still there, lying with his head upon his hands, and his +hands gripping a strand of thick rope that was coiled about the mast. As +the light grew stronger, however, he was astonished to notice that those +hands were not black, and that where he had expected to see a head of +woolly black hair there was a head whose hair was long and straight. +Further scrutiny revealed to him the fact that through a long rent in +their companion's jerkin there was a gleam of white skin. He waited +until the coming daylight should enable him to discover more of this +mystery, and as yet he said nothing to Gilbert. + +At last the dawn broke, and with its coming Timothy saw the pale haggard +face of Philip Oglander turned towards him, with the dark hollow eyes +gleaming in startled recognition. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIII. + + THE WRITING IN THE BOOK. + + +Gilbert saw the sudden change that had come into Timothy's countenance, +but he paid little heed to it, for his own attention had been attracted +by something else, something that the light of dawn had disclosed upon +the sea not a cable's length away from where he and his two companions +were floating about on that log of the lost galleon's mast. + +Gripping Timothy's shoulders with his two hands, he cried aloud: + +"Look you, Tim! Look! A ship!" + +And at that instant Philip Oglander's eyes rested also upon the object +which had attracted Gilbert. + +Timothy craned his head round, and saw the ship's huge bulk heaving +lazily upon the sea, with a glint of light upon a piece of brass that +edged her forecastle rail. Her bow was towards them. Her masts were all +gone, and there was no sign of life upon her decks. As she rose lazily +upon the waves the lower planks of her hull were seen to be thickly +encrusted with barnacles. + +But Timothy was for the time being very little concerned with the ship. +There was now a hope of safety, and with that hope he was satisfied. But +his discovery that Philip Oglander was now a companion of their strange +position filled him with a feeling of dismay, for he knew that Philip +was no friend to Gilbert any more than to himself, and there was +something about the lad that made him uncomfortable, while yet there was +of course no reason to fear him. Touching Gilbert on the shoulder Tim +signed to him to turn his head. Gilbert obeyed, and saw his cousin, and +wondered how it had come to pass that he was here. His wonderment +continued throughout the whole morning, for it was still impossible to +carry on any conversation, on account not only of the noise of the +storm, but also of the danger of moving and of being thrown off the spar +into the sea. + +At mid-day the wind fell and the sun came out. They were no nearer to +the ship than they had been in the early morning. All through the +afternoon the lads watched the labouring hulk, but even when the sun had +set they could not be sure whether the distance between her and +themselves had increased or diminished. That next night seemed to be a +full year's time of endurance and cold and hunger, and their only +comfort was in the consciousness that the waves were gradually becoming +less in size and that the wind's force had abated. + +On the next morning it was seen that the ship was a little nearer; she +was indeed so close that every detail of her structure could be +distinguished. She was still bow on, as the mariners say, and her +towering after-castle could be seen high above the level of her forward +bulwarks. Something about her--the tangle of green and brown sea-weed +clinging to her bulging bows, the thick crust of barnacles below her +water-line, and a white mess of guano along the edge of her bulwarks and +about the lips of her chase-guns--seemed to indicate that she had been +drifting for a long time unattended. It was clear that she had been +deserted. It was equally clear that she had not formed one of either Don +Alonzo's fleet from Spain or of the fleet of treasure-ships from the +West Indies. + +"Dost think we might get some food in her, Tim, if so be we could win +our way aboard?" asked Gilbert. + +Timothy shook his head. + +"Haply we might," said he gravely; "but haply we might not. Yet even to +be upon her decks would be some comfort; for at the least we might then +stretch our legs and run about until some warmth came into us." + +Philip Oglander drew himself close behind Gilbert, and leaning over him +called out to Timothy Trollope: + +"Canst swim, Master Trollope?" he questioned. + +Timothy nodded. "Why?" he asked. + +"Because," returned Philip, "there is some rope here, which one might +bind about one's body, and so, swimming to the ship, haul this mast +alongside." + +"I have already bethought me of that," said Timothy; "but the rope is +not long enough. A better plan were for you and me to lay ourselves in +the water at the mast's side, and so, clinging to it, paddle with our +feet until we bring it near. Then, when we be close enough, I would +indeed swim with the rope." + +This suggestion was agreed upon, and Timothy and Philip put themselves +one at either side of the mast and propelled it along; not very quickly, +it is true, for with all their efforts it was but small way that they +could get into the heavy log. Yet if it was only inch by inch that they +moved it, this was something. They laboured all through the morning, and +at mid-day they had the satisfaction of knowing that they had lessened +the distance between them and the ship by at least half a dozen yards. +Meanwhile Gilbert gathered all the pieces of rope that were wound about +the mast and spliced them together; and when this was done his two +companions converted it into a hawser, and binding an end of it about +their bodies swam towards the ship, towing the mast behind them. Thus +they made better progress, and in the evening, while the sun was setting +in a rack of clouds, they had brought themselves under the vessel's +larboard bow. + +Gilbert Oglander, waiting until a wave should lift him within reach, +caught at a line of rope that hung from the ship's broken bowsprit. By +this he swarmed up. Timothy and Philip followed, and at last, after +great difficulty, all three of them stood upon her deck. + +It was covered with the refuse of sea-birds. The deck guns were white +with guano. Looking aft to the incline of her poop-deck they saw the +companion hatch of the cabin, and this suggested that in the cabin +itself they might find something that would serve as food. Timothy led +the way down to the main-deck. In a coil of rope on one of the closed +hatchways he caught sight of two white eggs. He leapt to them, and took +one of them in his hand, giving it to Gilbert; the other he gave to +Philip. + +"God grant that they be fresh," said he. + +Philip tapped his egg on one of the stanchions, chipping off a little +piece of the shell. With a muttered Spanish curse he dropped the egg +upon the deck, and stamped his foot upon the shrivelled, half-formed +little sea-gull that the shell had enclosed. + +Gilbert bent down to break the other egg on a corner of the hatch +covering. As he did so he caught sight of something that glittered on +the deck--a small square of yellow metal about the size of his hand. He +picked it up and examined it. + +"Why, 'tis gold!" said he. + +"Ay," agreed Timothy, "and there be other pieces the same as it. Look!" +he added, pointing to the scuppers. And there Gilbert saw at least a +dozen other little bars of gold. + +Philip saw them also, and darted towards them, gathering them together +with miserly avarice. + +"Come," said Timothy, "let us go below and seek for food. I fear me +there is little hope of our finding any, but it may be that we can come +upon a few grains of corn or else a crust of old bread." + +He led the way aft to a door under the quarter-deck, and pushed it open. +A dry, mouldy smell met him as he entered into the darkness. He felt +about with his hands, and stepped cautiously until he found himself at +the head of a narrow staircase. Step by step he went down. The stairs +creaked under him. + +"'Tis all well," he said, looking back at Gilbert, who had hesitated to +follow. "There is another door here, if I could but find the handle. Ah, +'tis here!" + +He turned the handle, and a ray of light fell upon him. Gilbert was soon +at his heels, and they entered together into a spacious cabin, which, in +spite of its dank and mouldy atmosphere, bore still some signs of past +luxury. At its farther end was a row of square port-holes, at each of +which there was a small brass cannon, richly chased and ornamented. The +panels around the cabin were of finely carved oak, with figures of +saints and quaint devices and Latin legends. There were curtains of +crimson velvet, and in the corners were little shelves of carved oak +upon which stood goblets of silver and gold. Facing the port-holes there +was a large mirror, black now, and dulled by the damp atmosphere. Around +the sides stood large oak chests, which seemed to have served as seats; +and in the middle of the floor, which was covered with the remains of +what had once been a handsome Turkey carpet, there was a large oak +table. + +It was this table upon which Timothy Trollope's eyes first rested as he +entered. It was strewn with jars and candlesticks, cups and dishes, all +of them made of solid gold, and in their midst, scattered about like +corn on a barn floor, were hundreds of many-coloured precious stones +that sparkled in the light. + +"Food! food!" cried Timothy, casting his hungry eyes about him. + +"Haply there will be some in here," said Gilbert; and he strode towards +one of the chests whose lid was partly open. He looked within. "Alas!" +he cried, "it is only gold!" + +Timothy passed to one of the others. It was locked. He passed to the +next and opened it. "No," said he, "'tis only money!" At the farther +end of the cabin one of the chests had fallen asunder like a rotten sack +of grain, and the floor was strewn with gold coins. + +"Here is a cupboard," cried Gilbert, turning the rusty key which was +still in the lock. But the shelves were filled with daggers, their hafts +studded with gems, and with pistols of many design. + +Under the table a square of the carpet was turned back, revealing a +trap-door. Gilbert caught hold of the ring-bolt and pulled it up and +looked down into the darkness. As the ship rolled, he thought he heard +the rushing of water. Taking up a handful of doubloons, he dropped them +through the opening. They splashed into water. + +"Prithee, where is Philip?" asked Timothy. "Wherefore hath he not come +with us?" + +"I left him on the deck," answered Gilbert. + +"Then I pray you let us return to him," said Timothy, "for I have found +some four tallow candles, and we must share them with him. They are but +a sorry sort of food to feed upon withal, but I have oft times heard of +hungry men staving off starvation with no better fare. Nay, I am in +earnest," he added, seeing the look of disgust in Gilbert's face. "Sure +they are made out of good tallow-fat." He smiled grimly as he offered +one of the candles to Gilbert, saying with much gravity, "I pray you, +good my lord, wilt join me in a banquet of candles?" + +Gilbert took the proffered food, yet hesitated to begin. + +They quitted the cabin and mounted the stairs. When they regained the +deck Philip Oglander was not to be seen. They called him, but he did not +answer. Already the dusk was falling and they became anxious. But +Timothy felt well assured that Philip was still on board, and surmised +that he had found his way below into some one of the cabins. +Nevertheless a further search was made for him, and it was only the +growing darkness that urged them once more to return to what they +believed to be the captain's room. Here Timothy made a beginning upon +one of the candles, and, finding it not altogether disagreeable, he +recommended Gilbert to make a similar meal. So hungry were they both +that they would fain have finished the whole of their store, but they +remembered Philip, and in fairness they put aside for him his due share. + +It was, as Timothy had remarked, a sorry sort of food, but in the +absence of any better it served for the time, and having partaken of it +they cleared the table of the things that were upon it, stretched +themselves out upon its hard substance, and, committing themselves to +God's keeping, fell asleep. A gnawing thirst disturbed their slumbers, +but the rest was welcome after all their troubles and dangers, and when +a beam of morning sunlight pouring in through the stern-ports awakened +them they arose, conscious that they had been refreshed. + +Timothy's first act was to go to one of the open port-holes to look at +the weather. The sea was now much calmer than when he had last looked +upon it, and instead of the great broken waves with their caps of foam +and showery spray, there was a long, regular rolling swell, only +slightly rippled by the fresh morning breeze. That breeze was so +refreshing that Timothy lingered at the port-hole, breathing it with +joy. He crept outward, too, and tried to make out some of the devices +that were carved upon the vessel's stern. Suddenly he hastened back into +the cabin. His face was ghastly, and a strange agitation shone in his +eyes. + +"Master Gilbert!" he cried, "Master Gilbert--my lord, my lord!" + +Gilbert stared at him in amazement, thinking for the moment that he had +lost his senses. + +"What hath come over thee, Timothy?" he asked. "Hast seen a ghost?" + +"Haply I have," answered Timothy, his limbs shaking under him. "Dost +know what ship we are in?" + +"Nay, how should I know?" returned Gilbert, still in doubt as to +Timothy's sanity. + +Timothy grasped Gilbert by his two shoulders and said in a hollow, +awe-stricken voice: + +"'Tis _The Golden Galleon_!" + +Gilbert started back in astonishment. + +"How know you?" he cried. + +"By the devices I have now seen carven upon her stern," said Timothy. "I +knew them again. They are the same that we saw in the midst of that +weird green light on the Sargasso Sea, and 'tis the self-same ship, as +I'm a living son of a barber. 'Tis Jacob Hartop's Golden Galleon--or +else her ghost, as Jacob averred." + +"Her ghost!" echoed Gilbert; and he put his hand upon the table as if to +assure himself that it was a solid substance. "Nay, Tim, 'tis no ghost," +said he, "although I will not deny that she may be Jacob's galleon." He +paused for many moments reflecting. At last he went on: "Prithee, Tim, +didst ever hear from Jacob how long it was since he deserted that same +golden galleon of his?" + +"Three years at the least," answered Timothy; "for 'tis not to be +forgotten that when he had left her he voyaged yet again to the Spanish +Main, where he fell in with your uncle Jasper and the good ship +_Pearl_." + +Now, in preparing the table as a bed on the night before, Timothy had +left only one thing lying there, and that thing was a large book which +he had placed as a pillow for Gilbert. The book lay still upon the table +close to Gilbert's hand. Gilbert idly turned back its first page. His +eyes rested upon a line of cramped and almost illegible writing. He +looked at it closer and then started back. + +"Tim!" he cried. "'Tis true--'tis true what you say, for here is his +very name writ in this book!" He put his finger on the page while +Timothy drew nearer. "There, where I point," he added. "'Tis his own +hand, see--'JACOB HARTOP, BUCCANEER, HYS LOGG BOOKE'." + +"Nay, I must e'en take thy word for't, my master," said Tim; "for thou +knowest that although I can make shift to read a line of print, yet +writing done with a quill is beyond me. So," he mused, "this is poor +Jacob's treasure-ship--the same that he hath so oft spoken of. Ay, and +I'll engage 'tis, as he hath reported, loaded full deep with gold. Such +wealth might make us great and glorious did we but have it in England, +Master Gilbert. But of what avail is it now? 'Tis of no use under the +sun. For my own part, I'd exchange it all for a barrel of good Devon +apples or a loaf of my mother's home-made bread." + +"And I also," added Gilbert. + +They were silent for some minutes. Timothy was the first to speak. + +"'Tis passing strange where thy cousin Philip hath got to," said he. +"Methinks 'twere well that we now made another search for him." + +Gilbert agreed, and together they went and searched the ship. During +their search they discovered that the galleon was indeed laden with +gold. But they cared not for this while their vitals were being gnawed +with hunger and their lips were blue and parched with thirst. + +Philip Oglander, it would seem, was more familiar with the structure of +a galleon than were either Timothy or Gilbert. For instead of going at +once to the poop-cabins he had found his way down to the rooms +amidships, where it was customary to keep the stores. What little food +he had found was either saturated with salt-water or rotten with decay, +or else so hard and dried up that it would have required a pickaxe to +break it, much less human teeth. In his quest, however, he had +discovered what Gilbert and Timothy had not even dreamt of, namely, some +huge bins of Spanish wine. Into one of these he had managed to bore a +hole with the point of his dagger. Unlike Timothy, he had not for an +instant thought of sharing his discovery. He had taken his fill of the +wine, leaving a stream running from the bin, and finding some stale and +mildewed bread, he had cleaned it and put it to soak and soften in a +bath of the red liquid. + +When Timothy and Gilbert at last came upon him he was lying on the floor +in an intoxicated sleep, with a flood of wine about him. Timothy +regarded him in horror and disgust. + +"It seemeth to me that Master Philip might almost have acquainted us of +such a discovery as this," said he, and picking up a little golden cup +from the floor he held it to catch the drippings from the bin. He +presently passed the cup to Gilbert. + +"Drink, my master," said he; "'twill do thee good. But take not much at +the first, for there is naught so bad upon an empty stomach as strong +liquor. Thy cousin hath seemingly been so unwise as to drink his fill." + +"'Tis naught to marvel at," said Gilbert, having taken a mouthful, "for +of a surety it doth put new life into one. Ay, even to wet one's lips +with it doth send the blood racing through the body like the water in a +mill-dam." + +Timothy espied Philip's bread soaking in its silver dish of wine, and he +took some out, sharing it with Gilbert, and they ate it and were +refreshed. + +Suddenly as they were leaving Philip to finish his sleep, they were +startled by hearing from across the sea the report of a cannon-shot. +Timothy bounded forward, and was speedily upon the deck. Gilbert +followed at his heels. Looking over to the eastward they saw a gallant +little ship in full sail bearing down towards them. A faint mist of +smoke was being wafted by the wind from one of her forward guns. From +her sprit-topmast there waved the glorious flag of St. George. + +"'Tis an English ship!" cried Timothy with joy. + +"Ay," added Gilbert; "and what is more, 'tis one that is no stranger to +me. Thou shouldst know her even better than I, Tim; for, if I mistake +not, 'tis none other than Jacob Whiddon's _Pilgrim_. I know her by the +token that her fore-topsail hath got a round patch of lighter canvas in +it. And, mark you, 'tis Master Whiddon's ancient that flieth from her +mainyard. Ay, 'tis the _Pilgrim_. And of that I have now no manner of +doubt." + +"Then are we saved!" murmured Timothy. "Prithee, Master Gilbert, hie +thee below and bid thy cousin Philip come up, while that I climb to the +top of the poop-deck and make a signal." + +And so saying Timothy sought about for some flag or rag which he might +wave to the ship as a sign that there were people on board the galleon. +No flag could he find, but taking a strip of red silk that he had +discovered in Hartop's cabin, he tied it by the corners to the end of a +pike, and this he waved to and fro from the highest part of the +galleon's hull. His signal was answered from the _Pilgrim_, and the ship +bore down before the wind with a belt of white foam streaming off from +her round bows, and her white sails glimmering in the bright sunlight. + +Meanwhile Gilbert Oglander had gone below to arouse his cousin. Philip +was very sound asleep; but after many efforts Gilbert awakened him, and +he staggered to his feet. Glaring at Gilbert with bloodshot eyes he did +not speak for many minutes. Gilbert told him of the approaching ship, +and added that now they might hope to be taken home to England. + +This mention of England seemed to have aroused strange thoughts in +Philip's brain, and without warning he closed the cabin door and planted +himself with his back against it. + +"Thou, at least, shalt never see England again!" he cried. "By the Holy +Mother thou shalt not! Dost think that I will brook the thought of thee +being Baron Champernoun, while I, who am a better man than thee, am +plain Philip Oglander? No! This ship hath wealth enough aboard her to +serve me in plenty for the rest of my days. And thou shalt not share it; +neither shalt thou ever live to hear thyself addressed by the great +title of Champernoun!" + +He spoke the words in a thick drunken voice, his eyes fixing themselves +upon his cousin in terrible menace. + +Gilbert could not repress the smile that came to his lips. + +"Hush, good my cousin!" said he. "Thou hast taken overmuch of this +strong wine, methinks, and thy tongue doth say things which thy heart +cannot mean." + +"What?" cried Philip. And whipping his dagger from his belt he made a +lunge at Gilbert, aiming a blow at his heart. + +Gilbert drew aside and avoided the blow, and Philip's head struck with a +resounding knock against the bulkhead. The pain enraged him, and +swearing a great Spanish oath he renewed the attack, rushing at his +cousin with wild fury. This time his foot slipped on the slimy, +wine-flooded floor. He fell with a heavy thud; his weapon hand was under +him, and the dagger, which he had held sword-wise, with the point +upward, buried the full length of its blade in his chest. + +Gilbert turned to the door and opened it. As he looked round at Philip +he saw a stream of blood issuing from under him. Philip tried to rise, +but rolled over on his back. Only the handle of his dagger could be +seen. Gilbert bent down to withdraw it, but it was tightly wedged +between the ribs. + +"The Saints protect me!" groaned Philip. "I am done for!" + +"Much do I fear that thou art indeed. God forgive thee," said Gilbert, +and quitting the store-room he returned to the deck to summon Timothy. +It was at this moment that Timothy had seen the answering signal from +the _Pilgrim_. He went below with Gilbert and when they entered the +store-room they found that Philip Oglander was dead. + +[Illustration: "HE MADE A LUNGE AT GILBERT, AIMING A BLOW AT HIS + HEART."] + + + + + CHAPTER XXIV. + + PETER TROLLOPE SHUTS UP SHOP. + + +On a certain gray, windy morning in late October, Peter Trollope's shop +was more than usually busy. Every bench had its occupant, and the talk +was loud and animated. In the big chair near the fire sat that great +courtier Sir Walter Raleigh, smoking a stick of twisted tobacco, to +which he gave the Spanish name of _cigarro_. He joined not much in the +gossip, for he had already recounted all that was so far known +concerning the last fight of the _Revenge_, news of which had come to +England some few days earlier, and he was passing doleful in spirit over +the death of his noble kinsman, Sir Richard Grenville. Now and again he +did indeed put in a word when it was question of deciding the number of +Spanish galleons that had been vanquished in the fight, or the number of +Spaniards that had been slain, but for the most part he was gloomily +silent. + +"My brother Tom was aboard of her, and I'll engage that he gave not up +his life ere he had laid a good dozen of the Dons low," said a burly +fisherman from one of the corners of the shop. + +"Ay," added another man, "and my son Bill was among 'em; likewise my +good wife's brother Dick." + +Peter Trollope snipped his scissors over the head of the young gallant +whose hair he was trimming. + +"My boy Timothy went also out with the fleet," said he; "though 'twas +not on one of Her Majesty's ships that he sailed, but aboard Jacob +Whiddon's _Pilgrim_, of which there hath been no word." + +"She was seen taking some part in the battle," remarked Sir Walter +Raleigh, puffing a cloud of blue smoke in a column above his head, "for +since Whiddon was but an adventurer and owed no duty of obedience to my +Lord Thomas, he was free to do what he listed. And he listed to have a +shot at the galleons, and so, for aught I know, came to grief." + +"Ah!" sighed the barber. "Then peradventure Timothy hath, after all, +been slain?" + +"As like as not," nodded Sir Walter; "as like as not. And you may take +it that since naught hath been heard of the _Pilgrim_, she hath either +gone to the bottom in the battle, or else been broken on the rocks of +the Western Isles, as so many others were in the great storm that +followed on the heels of the fight." + +"The rascal was full eager to join the _Revenge_," continued the barber, +"and did declare most positively to me that Sir Richard had promised him +a berth. 'Twas his desire to be with his young master, Master Gilbert +Oglander, that took him away--" + +"Touching Master Gilbert Oglander," broke in Christopher Pym, addressing +Sir Walter Raleigh, "he was on board the _Revenge_. I pray you, Sir +Walter, I pray you, tell me is there aught of news concerning the lad?" + +Sir Walter shook his head. + +"No," he answered. "Much do I fear me that he hath gone with the rest. +And 'tis a pity if it be so, for now that the vile traitor, his uncle, +hath paid the penalty of his treachery--" + +"The penalty!" interrupted Christopher Pym. "Hath he then been proven +guilty?" + +"Ay," returned Raleigh. And at this the whole room was silent, for the +information was new. Sir Walter Raleigh, resting his elbows on the arms +of his chair, held his two hands in front of him, busying his be-ringed +fingers with adjusting the outer leaf of tobacco about his cigar. "Ay," +he went on, "Jasper hath paid the penalty, for being found guilty by the +judgment of the Star Chamber, he was on Monday morning last beheaded on +Tower Hill." + +Sir Walter paused, and having adjusted his cigar to his satisfaction he +took up the fire-tongs, and with them picked out a piece of burning wood +from the fire the while he lighted the end of his cigar. + +"You may be sure," he went on, "that 'twas not as Lord Champernoun that +the rascal was tried. For apart from the fact that he had not yet proved +that his nephew, Master Gilbert Oglander, was dead, and that therefore +he was himself by right of succession the real Lord Champernoun--apart +from this, I say, he had neither taken out his license as a baron nor +taken his seat in Her Majesty's House of Peers. He had been over eager +to claim his dead father's name and estates, you see, my masters, and by +very reason of his too great eagerness he revealed his trickery and the +vile treachery that lay behind it." + +"Ay, but his treachery and his machinations and intrigues with the King +of Spain would yet have been discovered," said Peter Trollope, "even +although he had not sought to make himself Baron Champernoun. For it +hath been amply proven that even before my Lord Thomas Howard's fleet +departed out of Plymouth, Jasper Oglander had connived at the escape of +the Spanish prisoners of war--had even planned their escape, +indeed,--and had sent off his son Philip to Spain to inform the Spanish +king of the purpose of my Lord Thomas's expedition against the plate +fleet." + +"All that and more than that was brought out at the man's trial in +London," said Sir Walter Raleigh. "And now it seemeth that that same son +of his, Philip Oglander, was present on board Don Alonzo Bassan's +galleon." + +"'Twere well, methinks, that the lad had accompanied his father to Tower +Hill," remarked Peter Trollope. "And now," he added, "a strange thought +hath occurred to me. It is that, should Master Gilbert--or Lord +Champernoun as he should truly be named--have been slain in the fight on +the _Revenge_, and should his cousin have escaped, then the cur Philip +Oglander must now be regarded as the head of the Oglander family, and +the rightful owner of the title and estates." + +No one seemed to take notice of this remark, but at last Christopher Pym +spoke. + +"Better that the title and estates should fall into oblivion than that," +said he. "Howsoever it be," he added, rising and taking up his +walking-staff, "I am now impelled to take horse and journey to +Willoughby Grange, there to inform my Lady Betty Oglander of this news, +and bid her return to her rightful home at Modbury." + +"I pray you give her ladyship my most devoted remembrances," said +Raleigh; "and bid her from me to be of good cheer concerning her son +Gilbert, for if the lad be no more, he hath at least given up his life +for the honour of his Queen and country, even as his sire and so many +other of his noble family hath done before him. Give you good-day, +Master Pym, and God speed you." + +An hour or so after this conversation had ended, Peter Trollope sat +alone in his shop thinking sadly over the remark that had fallen from +Sir Walter Raleigh touching the probable fate of the _Pilgrim_. Trade +had not been brisk at the "Pestle and Mortar" during the months of +Timothy's absence. Of hair cutting and the trimming of beards there had +been plenty, but it chanced that a very skilful man of medicine had +opened a business a few doors away, and had succeeded so well that he +had drawn all Master Trollope's surgical trade away from him, so that, +but for an occasional customer who came in to have a tooth drawn, Peter +could scarcely with justice call himself a barber-surgeon, but merely a +barber. Also, he had fallen into debt, and his creditors were pressing +him for a settlement. Upon all his other distresses had come the word +that in all probability his son Timothy had been either killed in battle +or drowned in a storm; and this was the destruction of all his hopes, +for he had in his more sanguine moments nursed the thought that Tim, +even though he returned penniless and ragged, might yet be a help to +him at this present time, and a joy to him in the future. But if Tim +were really dead, what more could be looked to in this world but +continued poverty and hard work and unhappiness? + +In the midst of his doleful sorrowings and regrets he heard the clatter +of horse's feet on the stones of the street outside. The door of the +shop was swung open, and in bounced Timothy himself. + +His face was rosy brown and it wore a joyous smile, and although his +clothing was woefully ragged and white with the salt of the sea, yet +there was an air of dignity about him that was quite foreign to the lad +who had gone away seven months earlier. He strode into the shop as +though he had been one of the lords of the land, and stood in front of +his father with his arms akimbo, looking down upon the amazed barber and +laughing at his confusion. + +"Father," said Timothy, "I am come back." + +"In sooth," said the barber, "my eyes give me ample evidence of the +fact." + +"And art glad to see me, father?" + +"Ay, God knoweth I am that, Tim. Give me thy hand!" + +"What, though I am dressed as a beggar withal?" + +"Ay, though thy rags were e'en raggeder than they are," said Peter, the +tears filling his eyes. He shook the lad's hand with a grip whose +strength betokened his fulness of joy. "Tim, my lad," he added after a +brief pause, "tell me, I pray you, hast thou been in battle?" + +"Ay," returned Timothy, "the most glorious battle that ever was. I have +fought, father, as my wounds shall presently prove to thee, and have +killed as many Spaniards as might fill thy poor shop." + +"An thou hast proved thyself a man and not a coward?" + +Timothy nodded. + +"'Tis enough for me," said Peter. "And now, I pray you, tell me where is +thy ship?" + +"Lying in Polperro Bay," answered Timothy, "where we dropped anchor but +a half-dozen hours since. Master Whiddon and my Lord Champernoun--Master +Gilbert Oglander that was--have come with me into Plymouth, and bade me +beseech thee to come with me to the sign of the Crown, where they now +are, and where we are presently to sit down to the lordliest banquet +mine host can provide. So get thee ready instanter, while that I go +within to see my mother and don some goodlier raiment." + +"Nay, but I cannot leave my business at this hour of the day," objected +Peter. + +At which Timothy laughed and said: + +"Hark ye, father, and listen to me. Thou hast cropped thy last head of +hair and shaven thy last chin. No more work shalt thou do for the rest +of thy days. Thou shalt have a coach to drive in, and a lordly mansion +to live in, with a tribe of serving people to do thy bidding, and shalt +live on the best in the land--" + +"Nay, mock me not, boy," cried the barber. "I can ill bear thy jests +just now; for of a truth I am deep in debt, and know not how we shall +contrive to live without charity beyond another week." + +"A truce to your charity," cried Tim. "Hark'ee, father, I am rich. Ay, +rich as a king." He plunged his hands into his pockets and scattered +many golden coins upon the chair near which he stood. "These be but a +few trifles that have slipped into my pockets unawares, and are but a +small sample of the _Pilgrim's_ cargo. If more be needed for the nonce, +thou hast but to send a cart round to Polperro and get more. But bear +this in mind, good my father, thou shalt shut up shop for good and all, +and never again shall thine ears be assailed by the snipping of barber's +scissors or the fizzling of curling-tongs!" + +Now this that Timothy promised did actually come to pass. Nor was Peter +Trollope the only one in Plymouth who enjoyed some benefit from the +treasures of _The Golden Galleon_. Every man and boy of the ship's +company of the _Pilgrim_ received his proportionate share of the wealth, +while Captain Whiddon--without whom Timothy and Gilbert might never have +returned to England--received only less than Gilbert and Timothy. + +The _Pilgrim_ had not been large enough to hold all the treasure that +_The Golden Galleon_ had contained, not even although her very ballast +had been jettisoned to make more room. But when she had been loaded with +as much as she could safely carry, she had been brought home as quickly +as the winds would drive her. What became of the old derelict, whether +she sank to the bottom as a consequence of the shots that were fired +into her hull by the departing _Pilgrim_, or whether she remained afloat +long enough for yet another ship to board her and take toll of her +remaining treasure, Gilbert Oglander and his companions never learned. +But, judging by circumstances, it is pretty certain that she sank to the +bottom, and that, as Jacob Hartop had expressed it, her treasures went +down to the mermaid's halls, where her precious gems might serve to +bedeck the mermaid's necks. + + * * * * * + +It was on the third day after the return of the _Pilgrim_ that Gilbert +Oglander--or, as we may now call him, Lord Champernoun--rode along the +familiar lanes to Modbury. He had thus delayed his home-coming because +he had heard that his mother and Drusilla were still absent. But on this +morning Christopher Pym had come to him and told him that they had +returned, and were expecting him. + +Timothy rode in his company, not now as his squire but as his companion, +for it was as companions and loving friends that they were always +afterwards to regard each other. + +Gilbert waxed indignant when he saw the work that his uncle had done in +hewing down the trees in the avenue of the manor, but his indignation +was soon overcome by the joy of meeting his mother and Drusilla. + +To tell of that meeting, and to record all that was said and done on +that momentous day would make a long story in itself. In the evening +Gilbert sat at the head of the table with his dearest friends and all +his household about him. It was a happy occasion, not only for himself +who had endured so much, but also for his mother and for Drusilla, who +now realized for the first time that the terrors held over them by +Jasper Oglander were no more to be feared, and whose anxiety concerning +Gilbert was at last allayed by seeing him there alive and well, +occupying his rightful place, and bearing within himself the promise of +a great and useful manhood. + + + + +"English boys owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Henty."--_Athenæum._ + + + Blackie & Son's + + Illustrated Story Books + + Large Crown 8vo, Cloth Extra, Olivine Edges + + +G. A. HENTY + + On the Irrawaddy: A Story of the First Burmese War. _New Edition._ + 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "Stanley Brooke's pluck is even greater than his luck, and he is + precisely the boy to hearten with emulation the boys who read his + stirring story."--_Saturday Review._ + +--A March on London: A Story of War Tyler's Insurrection. _New Edition._ + 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "The story is set forth with a degree of cunning that may always be + looked for in the work that comes from this practised + hand."--_Daily Telegraph._ + +--Through the Sikh War: A Tale of the Conquest of the Punjaub. _New + Edition._ 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "On the whole we have never read a more vivid and faithful + narrative of military adventure in India."--_Academy._ + +--In Greek Waters: A Story of the Grecian War of Independence. _New + Edition._ 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "There are adventures of all kinds for the hero and his friends, + whose pluck and ingenuity in extricating themselves from awkward + fixes are always equal to the occasion."--_Journal of Education._ + +--Maori and Settler: A Story of the New Zealand War. _New Edition._ + 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "This is a first-rate book, brimful of adventure."--_Schoolmaster._ + +--St. Bartholomew's Eve: A Tale of the Huguenot Wars. _New Edition._ + 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "A really good story."--_Bookman._ + +--Under Drake's Flag: A Tale of the Spanish Main. _New Edition._ + 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "A stirring book of Drake's time."--_Daily Telegraph._ + +--Orange and Green: A Tale of the Boyne and Limerick. _New Edition._ + 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "_Orange and Green_ is an extremely spirited story."--_Saturday + Review._ + +--A Final Reckoning: A Tale of Bush Life in Australia. _New Edition._ + 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "Mr. Henty has never published a more readable, a more carefully + constructed, or a better-written story than this."--_Spectator._ + +--By Right of Conquest: or, With Cortez in Mexico. _New Edition._ + 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "Mr. Henty's skill has never been more convincingly displayed than + in this admirable and ingenious story."--_Saturday Review._ + +--With Cochrane the Dauntless: A Tale of his Exploits. _New Edition._ + 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "This tale we specially recommend, for the career of Lord Cochrane + and his many valiant fights in the cause of liberty deserve to be + better known than they are."--_St. James's Gazette._ + +--A Jacobite Exile: or, In the Service of Charles XII of Sweden. _New + Edition._ 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "Full of life, adventure, movement, and admirably + illustrated."--_Scotsman._ + +--With Frederick the Great: A Tale of the Seven Years' War. _New + Edition._ 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "It is a good deal to say, but this prolific and admirable writer + has never done better than this story."--_British Weekly._ + +--With Moore at Corunna: A Tale of the Peninsular War. _New Edition._ + 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "A very spirited story."--_Spectator._ + +--Facing Death: or, The Hero of the Vaughan Pit. _New Edition._ + 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "If any father, godfather, clergyman, or schoolmaster in on the + lookout for a good book to give as a present to a boy who is worth + his salt, this is the book we would recommend."--_Standard._ + +--The Dragon and the Raven: or the Days of King Alfred. _New Edition._ + 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "A well-built superstructure of fiction on an interesting + substratum of fact."--_Athenæum._ + +--One of the 28th: A Tale of Waterloo. _New Edition._ 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "Contains one of the best descriptions of the various battles which + raged round Waterloo which it has ever been our fate to + read."--_Daily Telegraph._ + +--Cat of Bubastes: A Story of Ancient Egypt. _New Edition._ 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "Full of exciting adventures."--_Saturday Review._ + +--With Clive in India: or, The Beginnings of an Empire. _New Edition._ + 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "Those who know something about India will be the first to thank + Mr. Henty for giving them this instructive volume to place in the + hands of their children."--_Academy._ + +--Condemned as a Nihilist: A Story of Escape from Siberia. _New + Edition._ 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "The narrative is more interesting than many of the tales with + which the public is familiar of escape from Siberia."--_National + Observer._ + +--Under Wellington's Command: A Tale of the Peninsular War. _New + Edition._ 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "An admirable exposition of Mr. Henty's masterly method of + combining instruction with amusement."--_World._ + +--The Young Carthaginian: A Story of the Times of Hannibal. _New + Edition._ 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "From first to last nothing stays the interest of the + narrative."--_Saturday Review._ + +--By England's Aid: or, The Freeing of the Netherlands (1585-1604). 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Brereton."--_Academy._ + +--A Soldier of Japan: A Tale of the Russo-Japanese War. 5_s._ + + "The pages bristle with hairbreadth escapes and + gallantry."--_Graphic._ + +--Foes of the Red Cockade: A Story of the French Revolution. 6_s._ + + "A stirring picture of a fearful time."--_World._ + +--With the Dyaks of Borneo: A Tale of the Head Hunters. 6_s._ + + "Young readers must be hard to please if _With the Dyaks_ does not + suit them."--_Spectator._ + +--A Hero of Lucknow: A Tale of the Indian Mutiny. 5_s._ + + "Full of action and picturesque adventure."--_British Weekly._ + +--A Knight of St. John: A Tale of the Siege of Malta. _New Edition._ + 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "Would enthral any boy reader."--_World._ + +--In the Grip of the Mullah: A Tale of Somaliland. _New Edition._ + 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "A more spirited tale could not be wished for."--_British Weekly._ + +--With Rifle and Bayonet: A Story of the Boer War. _New Edition._ + 3_s._ 6_d._ + +--A Gallant Grenadier: A story of the Crimean War. _New Edition._ + 3_s._ 6_d._ + +--One of the Fighting Scouts. _New Edition._ 3_s._ 6_d._ + +--The Dragon of Pekin. _New Edition._ 3_s._ 6_d._ + +--With Shield and Assegai. 3_s._ 6_d._ + + +SIR HARRY JOHNSTON, G.C.M.G., K.C.B. + + Pioneers in West Africa. With 8 coloured illustrations by the author, + and maps and other illustrations in black-and-white. Demy 8vo, cloth + extra, 6_s._ + +--Pioneers in Canada. With 8 coloured illustrations by E. Wallcousins, + and maps and other illustrations in black-and-white. Demy 8vo, cloth + extra, 6_s._ + + These two volumes are the first of a series, the object of which is to + provide reading of "real adventures" of those pioneers who have helped + to lay the foundations of the British Empire. The story is truthfully + told in a picture of splendid colouring, and with great accuracy. + + +ALEXANDER MACDONALD + + Through the Heart of Tibet: A Tale of a Secret Mission to Lhasa. 6_s._ + + "A rattling story."--_British Weekly._ + +--The White Trail: A Story of the Early Days of Klondike. 6_s._ + + "Should satisfy any boy's mental appetite."--_Outlook._ + +--The Pearl Seekers: A Story of Adventure in the Southern Seas. 6_s._ + + "This is the kind of story a boy will want to read at a + sitting."--_Schoolmaster._ + +--The Invisible Island: A Story of the Far North of Queensland. 5_s._ + + "A well-told story."--_World._ + +--The Quest of the Black Opals: A Story of Adventure in the Heart of + Australia. 5_s._ + + "An admirable tale."--_Westminster Gazette._ + +--The Lost Explorers: A Story of the Trackless Desert. 6_s._ + + "As vivid a narrative as any boy could wish to read."--_Daily + Graphic._ + + +HARRY COLLINGWOOD + + A Middy of the King: A Romance of the Old British Navy. Illustrated by + E. S. HODGSON. Olivine edges, 5_s._ + +--The Adventures of Dick Maitland: A Tale of Unknown Africa. Illustrated + by ALEC BALL. Olivine edges, 3_s._ 6_d._ + +--A Middy of the Slave Squadron: A West African Story. 5_s._ + + "An up-to-date sea story."--_Truth._ + +--Overdue: or, The Strange Story of a Missing Ship. 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "A story of thrilling interest."--_British Weekly._ + +--The Cruise of the Thetis: A Tale of the Cuban Insurrection. 5_s._ + + "A good, stirring book."--_Times._ + + +STAFF SURGEON T. T. JEANS, R.N. + + On Foreign Service: or, The Santa Cruz Revolution. Illustrated by + W. RAINEY, R.I. 6_s._ + + "It is a rousing good yarn."--_Athenæum._ + +--Ford of H.M.S. Vigilant: A Tale of Adventure in the Chusan +Archipelago. 5_s._ + + "A distinctly good story."--_Naval and Military Record._ + +--Mr. Midshipman Glover, R.N.: A Tale of the Royal Navy of To-day. 5_s._ + + "Full of exciting adventures and gallant fighting."--_Truth._ + + +HERBERT STRANG + + The Adventures of Harry Rochester: A Story of the Days of Marlborough + and Eugene. 6_s._ + + "One of the best stories of a military and historical type we have + seen for many a day."--_Athenæum._ + +--Boys of the Light Brigade: A Story of Spain and the Peninsular War. +6_s._ + + Professor Oman (Chichele Professor of Modern History at Oxford, and + author of _A History of the Peninsular War_) writes: "I can't tell + you what a pleasure and rarity it is to the specialist to find a + tale on the history of his own period in which the details are all + right . . . accept thanks from a historian for having got historical + accuracy combined with your fine romantic adventures". + +--Brown of Moukden: A Story of the Russo-Japanese War. 5_s._ + + "The book will hold boy readers spellbound."--_Church Times._ + +--Tom Burnaby: A Story of Uganda and the Great Congo Forest. 5_s._ + + "A delightful story of African adventure."--_Spectator._ + +--Kobo: A Story of the Russo-Japanese War. 5_s._ + + "For vibrant actuality there is nothing to come up to Mr. Strang's + _Kobo_."--_Academy._ + + +ROBERT M. MACDONALD + + The Rival Treasure Hunters: A Tale of the Debatable Frontier of British + Guiana. 6_s._ + + "A story which every schoolboy would probably describe as 'simply + ripping'."--_Daily Graphic._ + +--The Great White Chief: A Story of Adventure in Unknown New Guinea. + 6_s._ + + "A rattling story told with spirit and vigour."--_British Weekly._ + + +DAVID KER + + Under the Flag of France: A Tale of Bertrand du Guesclin. 5_s._ + + "Full of vigour and movement."--_British Weekly._ + +--Among the Dark Mountains: or, Cast away in Sumatra. 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "A glorious tale of adventure."--_Educational News._ + + +ERNEST GLANVILLE + + The Diamond Seekers: A Story of Adventure in South Africa. 6_s._ + + "We have seldom seen a better story for boys."--_Guardian._ + +--In Search of the Okapi: A Story of Adventure in Central Africa. 6_s._ + + "An admirable story."--_Daily Chronicle._ + + +MEREDITH FLETCHER + + Every Inch a Briton: A School Story. 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "Mr. Meredith Fletcher has scored a success."--_Manchester + Guardian._ + +--Jefferson Junior: A School Story. 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "A comical yarn."--_Yorkshire Daily Observer._ + + +FREDERICK P. GIBBON + + The Disputed V.C.: A Tale of the Indian Mutiny. 3_s._ + + "A good, stirring tale, well told."--_Graphic._ + + +G. MANVILLE FENN + + The Boys at Menhardoc: A Story of Cornish Nets and Mines. 3_s._ + + "The story is well worth reading."--_British Weekly._ + +--Bunyip Land: Among the Blackfellows in New Guinea. 3_s._ + + "One of the best tales of adventure produced by any living + writer."--_Daily Chronicle._ + +--In the King's Name. 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "This is, we think, the best of all Mr. Fenn's + productions."--_Daily News._ + +--Dick o' the Fens: A Romance of the Great East Swamp. 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "We conscientiously believe that boys will find it capital + reading."--_Times._ + + +Dr. GORDON STABLES, R.N. + + The Naval Cadet: A Story of Adventure on Land and Sea. 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "An interesting travellers' tale, with plenty of fun and incident + in it."--_Spectator._ + +--For Life and Liberty: A Tale of the Civil War in America. 3_s._ + + "The story is lively and spirited."--_Times._ + +--To Greenland and the Pole: A Story of Arctic Regions. 3_s._ + + "One of the best books Dr. Stables has ever written."--_Truth._ + + +FRED SMITH + + The World of Animal Life: A Natural History for Little Folk. + + With eight full-page coloured Illustrations and numerous black-and-white + Illustrations. Crown 4to, 11¼ inches by 9½ inches. Handsome cloth cover. + Gilt top, 5_s._ + + "An admirable volume."--_Birmingham Gazette._ + + +A. J. CHURCH + + Lords of the World: A Tale of the Fall of Carthage and Corinth. + 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "As a boys' book, _Lords of the World_ deserves a hearty + welcome."--_Spectator._ + + +G. I. WHITHAM + + The Nameless Prince: A Tale of Plantagenet Days. Illustrated by CHARLES + M. SHELDON. 2_s._ 6_d._ + +--The Red Knight: A Tale of the Days of King Edward III. Illustrated. + 2_s._ 6_d._ + + "It holds the imagination from beginning to end."--_British + Weekly._ + + +ESCOTT LYNN + + When Lion-Heart was King: A Tale of Robin Hood and Merry Sherwood. + 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "A lively tale."--_Birmingham Post._ + + +WILLIAM BECK + + Hawkwood the Brave: A Tale Mediæval Italy. 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "A good story for boys."--_Literary World._ + + +DOROTHEA MOORE + + God's Bairn: A Story of the Fen Country. 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "An excellent tale, most dainty in execution and fortunate in + subject."--_Globe._ + +--The Luck of Ledge Point: A Tale of 1805. 2_s._ 6_d._ + + "We thoroughly recommend it as a giftbook."--_Schoolmaster._ + + +WALTER C. RHOADES + + For the Sake of His Chum: A School Story. 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "There is a breeziness about the book which is sure to commend + it."--_Athenæum._ + +--Two Scapegraces: A School Story. 3_s._ 6_d._ + + "A school story of high merit."--_Liverpool Mercury._ + + +PAUL DANBY + + The Red Army Book. With many Illustrations in colour and in + black-and-white. 6_s._ + + "Every boy would glory in the keeping and reading of such a + prize."--_Daily Telegraph._ + + +J. CUTHBERT HADDEN + + The Nelson Navy Book. With many Illustrations in colour and in + black-and-white. 6_s._ + + "A stirring, heartening tale, bold and bracing as the sea + itself."--_Standard._ + + +PERCY F. WESTERMAN + + The Quest of the Golden Hope: A Seventeenth century Story of Adventure. + Illustrated by FRANK WILES. 2_s._ 6_d._ + + + +Transcriber's Notes:-- + +Variations in hyphenation (e.g. "port-hole/porthole") have been retained. + +The word "lintlock" (see Pgs. 285 & 288) has been retained, + although the author probably intended to use either "linstock" or + "lintstock", a staff to hold the lighted match for firing cannon. + +Pg. 209 "there was a single occasion on which the Spandards gained a + footing" changed to "there was a single occasion on which the + Spaniards gained a footing" + +Pg. 211 "in the meat to Prestor John's table." changed to "in the meat + to Prester John's table." + +Pgs. 227, 228, 229 The character name "Red Rob" corrected to "Red Bob" + +Pg. 233 "for the carrying of water-breakers" changed to "for the carrying + of water-beakers" + +Pg. 282 "Let cut your mainsail" changed to "Let out your mainsail" + +Pg. 287 "was defeaning to hear." changed to "was deafening to hear." + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Golden Galleon, by Robert Leighton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN GALLEON *** + +***** This file should be named 35940-8.txt or 35940-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/9/4/35940/ + +Produced by Barbara Watson, James Wright and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at +http://www.pgdpcanada.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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