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diff --git a/7158.txt b/7158.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0af796f --- /dev/null +++ b/7158.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1325 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Prince and The Pauper, Part 5. +by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) + +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 Prince and The Pauper, Part 5. + +Author: Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) + +Release Date: July 4, 2004 [EBook #7158] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER, PART 5. *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER + + by Mark Twain + + Part 5. + + + + +Chapter XV. Tom as King. + +The next day the foreign ambassadors came, with their gorgeous trains; +and Tom, throned in awful state, received them. The splendours of the +scene delighted his eye and fired his imagination at first, but the +audience was long and dreary, and so were most of the addresses +--wherefore, what began as a pleasure grew into weariness and home-sickness +by-and-by. Tom said the words which Hertford put into his mouth from +time to time, and tried hard to acquit himself satisfactorily, but he was +too new to such things, and too ill at ease to accomplish more than a +tolerable success. He looked sufficiently like a king, but he was ill +able to feel like one. He was cordially glad when the ceremony was +ended. + +The larger part of his day was 'wasted'--as he termed it, in his own +mind--in labours pertaining to his royal office. Even the two hours +devoted to certain princely pastimes and recreations were rather a burden +to him than otherwise, they were so fettered by restrictions and +ceremonious observances. However, he had a private hour with his +whipping-boy which he counted clear gain, since he got both entertainment +and needful information out of it. + +The third day of Tom Canty's kingship came and went much as the others +had done, but there was a lifting of his cloud in one way--he felt less +uncomfortable than at first; he was getting a little used to his +circumstances and surroundings; his chains still galled, but not all the +time; he found that the presence and homage of the great afflicted and +embarrassed him less and less sharply with every hour that drifted over +his head. + +But for one single dread, he could have seen the fourth day approach +without serious distress--the dining in public; it was to begin that day. +There were greater matters in the programme--for on that day he would +have to preside at a council which would take his views and commands +concerning the policy to be pursued toward various foreign nations +scattered far and near over the great globe; on that day, too, Hertford +would be formally chosen to the grand office of Lord Protector; other +things of note were appointed for that fourth day, also; but to Tom they +were all insignificant compared with the ordeal of dining all by himself +with a multitude of curious eyes fastened upon him and a multitude of +mouths whispering comments upon his performance,--and upon his mistakes, +if he should be so unlucky as to make any. + +Still, nothing could stop that fourth day, and so it came. It found poor +Tom low-spirited and absent-minded, and this mood continued; he could not +shake it off. The ordinary duties of the morning dragged upon his hands, +and wearied him. Once more he felt the sense of captivity heavy upon +him. + +Late in the forenoon he was in a large audience-chamber, conversing with +the Earl of Hertford and dully awaiting the striking of the hour +appointed for a visit of ceremony from a considerable number of great +officials and courtiers. + +After a little while, Tom, who had wandered to a window and become +interested in the life and movement of the great highway beyond the +palace gates--and not idly interested, but longing with all his heart to +take part in person in its stir and freedom--saw the van of a hooting and +shouting mob of disorderly men, women, and children of the lowest and +poorest degree approaching from up the road. + +"I would I knew what 'tis about!" he exclaimed, with all a boy's +curiosity in such happenings. + +"Thou art the King!" solemnly responded the Earl, with a reverence. +"Have I your Grace's leave to act?" + +"O blithely, yes! O gladly, yes!" exclaimed Tom excitedly, adding to +himself with a lively sense of satisfaction, "In truth, being a king is +not all dreariness--it hath its compensations and conveniences." + +The Earl called a page, and sent him to the captain of the guard with the +order-- + +"Let the mob be halted, and inquiry made concerning the occasion of its +movement. By the King's command!" + +A few seconds later a long rank of the royal guards, cased in flashing +steel, filed out at the gates and formed across the highway in front of +the multitude. A messenger returned, to report that the crowd were +following a man, a woman, and a young girl to execution for crimes +committed against the peace and dignity of the realm. + +Death--and a violent death--for these poor unfortunates! The thought +wrung Tom's heart-strings. The spirit of compassion took control of him, +to the exclusion of all other considerations; he never thought of the +offended laws, or of the grief or loss which these three criminals had +inflicted upon their victims; he could think of nothing but the scaffold +and the grisly fate hanging over the heads of the condemned. His concern +made him even forget, for the moment, that he was but the false shadow of +a king, not the substance; and before he knew it he had blurted out the +command-- + +"Bring them here!" + +Then he blushed scarlet, and a sort of apology sprung to his lips; but +observing that his order had wrought no sort of surprise in the Earl or +the waiting page, he suppressed the words he was about to utter. The +page, in the most matter-of-course way, made a profound obeisance and +retired backwards out of the room to deliver the command. Tom +experienced a glow of pride and a renewed sense of the compensating +advantages of the kingly office. He said to himself, "Truly it is like +what I was used to feel when I read the old priest's tales, and did +imagine mine own self a prince, giving law and command to all, saying 'Do +this, do that,' whilst none durst offer let or hindrance to my will." + +Now the doors swung open; one high-sounding title after another was +announced, the personages owning them followed, and the place was quickly +half-filled with noble folk and finery. But Tom was hardly conscious of +the presence of these people, so wrought up was he and so intensely +absorbed in that other and more interesting matter. He seated himself +absently in his chair of state, and turned his eyes upon the door with +manifestations of impatient expectancy; seeing which, the company forbore +to trouble him, and fell to chatting a mixture of public business and +court gossip one with another. + +In a little while the measured tread of military men was heard +approaching, and the culprits entered the presence in charge of an +under-sheriff and escorted by a detail of the king's guard. The civil +officer knelt before Tom, then stood aside; the three doomed persons +knelt, also, and remained so; the guard took position behind Tom's chair. +Tom scanned the prisoners curiously. Something about the dress or +appearance of the man had stirred a vague memory in him. "Methinks I +have seen this man ere now . . . but the when or the where fail me"--such +was Tom's thought. Just then the man glanced quickly up and quickly +dropped his face again, not being able to endure the awful port of +sovereignty; but the one full glimpse of the face which Tom got was +sufficient. He said to himself: "Now is the matter clear; this is the +stranger that plucked Giles Witt out of the Thames, and saved his life, +that windy, bitter, first day of the New Year--a brave good deed--pity he +hath been doing baser ones and got himself in this sad case . . . I have +not forgot the day, neither the hour; by reason that an hour after, upon +the stroke of eleven, I did get a hiding by the hand of Gammer Canty +which was of so goodly and admired severity that all that went before or +followed after it were but fondlings and caresses by comparison." + +Tom now ordered that the woman and the girl be removed from the presence +for a little time; then addressed himself to the under-sheriff, saying-- + +"Good sir, what is this man's offence?" + +The officer knelt, and answered-- + +"So please your Majesty, he hath taken the life of a subject by poison." + +Tom's compassion for the prisoner, and admiration of him as the daring +rescuer of a drowning boy, experienced a most damaging shock. + +"The thing was proven upon him?" he asked. + +"Most clearly, sire." + +Tom sighed, and said-- + +"Take him away--he hath earned his death. 'Tis a pity, for he was a +brave heart--na--na, I mean he hath the LOOK of it!" + +The prisoner clasped his hands together with sudden energy, and wrung +them despairingly, at the same time appealing imploringly to the 'King' +in broken and terrified phrases-- + +"O my lord the King, an' thou canst pity the lost, have pity upon me! I +am innocent--neither hath that wherewith I am charged been more than but +lamely proved--yet I speak not of that; the judgment is gone forth +against me and may not suffer alteration; yet in mine extremity I beg a +boon, for my doom is more than I can bear. A grace, a grace, my lord the +King! in thy royal compassion grant my prayer--give commandment that I be +hanged!" + +Tom was amazed. This was not the outcome he had looked for. + +"Odds my life, a strange BOON! Was it not the fate intended thee?" + +"O good my liege, not so! It is ordered that I be BOILED ALIVE!" + +The hideous surprise of these words almost made Tom spring from his +chair. As soon as he could recover his wits he cried out-- + +"Have thy wish, poor soul! an' thou had poisoned a hundred men thou +shouldst not suffer so miserable a death." + +The prisoner bowed his face to the ground and burst into passionate +expressions of gratitude--ending with-- + +"If ever thou shouldst know misfortune--which God forefend!--may thy +goodness to me this day be remembered and requited!" + +Tom turned to the Earl of Hertford, and said-- + +"My lord, is it believable that there was warrant for this man's +ferocious doom?" + +"It is the law, your Grace--for poisoners. In Germany coiners be boiled +to death in OIL--not cast in of a sudden, but by a rope let down into the +oil by degrees, and slowly; first the feet, then the legs, then--" + +"O prithee no more, my lord, I cannot bear it!" cried Tom, covering his +eyes with his hands to shut out the picture. "I beseech your good +lordship that order be taken to change this law--oh, let no more poor +creatures be visited with its tortures." + +The Earl's face showed profound gratification, for he was a man of +merciful and generous impulses--a thing not very common with his class in +that fierce age. He said-- + +"These your Grace's noble words have sealed its doom. History will +remember it to the honour of your royal house." + +The under-sheriff was about to remove his prisoner; Tom gave him a sign +to wait; then he said-- + +"Good sir, I would look into this matter further. The man has said his +deed was but lamely proved. Tell me what thou knowest." + +"If the King's grace please, it did appear upon the trial that this man +entered into a house in the hamlet of Islington where one lay sick--three +witnesses say it was at ten of the clock in the morning, and two say it +was some minutes later--the sick man being alone at the time, and +sleeping--and presently the man came forth again and went his way. The +sick man died within the hour, being torn with spasms and retchings." + +"Did any see the poison given? Was poison found?" + +"Marry, no, my liege." + +"Then how doth one know there was poison given at all?" + +"Please your Majesty, the doctors testified that none die with such +symptoms but by poison." + +Weighty evidence, this, in that simple age. Tom recognised its +formidable nature, and said-- + +"The doctor knoweth his trade--belike they were right. The matter hath +an ill-look for this poor man." + +"Yet was not this all, your Majesty; there is more and worse. Many +testified that a witch, since gone from the village, none know whither, +did foretell, and speak it privately in their ears, that the sick man +WOULD DIE BY POISON--and more, that a stranger would give it--a stranger +with brown hair and clothed in a worn and common garb; and surely this +prisoner doth answer woundily to the bill. Please your Majesty to give +the circumstance that solemn weight which is its due, seeing it was +FORETOLD." + +This was an argument of tremendous force in that superstitious day. Tom +felt that the thing was settled; if evidence was worth anything, this +poor fellow's guilt was proved. Still he offered the prisoner a chance, +saying-- + +"If thou canst say aught in thy behalf, speak." + +"Nought that will avail, my King. I am innocent, yet cannot I make it +appear. I have no friends, else might I show that I was not in Islington +that day; so also might I show that at that hour they name I was above a +league away, seeing I was at Wapping Old Stairs; yea more, my King, for I +could show, that whilst they say I was TAKING life, I was SAVING it. A +drowning boy--" + +"Peace! Sheriff, name the day the deed was done!" + +"At ten in the morning, or some minutes later, the first day of the New +Year, most illustrious--" + +"Let the prisoner go free--it is the King's will!" + +Another blush followed this unregal outburst, and he covered his +indecorum as well as he could by adding-- + +"It enrageth me that a man should be hanged upon such idle, hare-brained +evidence!" + +A low buzz of admiration swept through the assemblage. It was not +admiration of the decree that had been delivered by Tom, for the +propriety or expediency of pardoning a convicted poisoner was a thing +which few there would have felt justified in either admitting or +admiring--no, the admiration was for the intelligence and spirit which +Tom had displayed. Some of the low-voiced remarks were to this effect-- + +"This is no mad king--he hath his wits sound." + +"How sanely he put his questions--how like his former natural self was +this abrupt imperious disposal of the matter!" + +"God be thanked, his infirmity is spent! This is no weakling, but a +king. He hath borne himself like to his own father." + +The air being filled with applause, Tom's ear necessarily caught a little +of it. The effect which this had upon him was to put him greatly at his +ease, and also to charge his system with very gratifying sensations. + +However, his juvenile curiosity soon rose superior to these pleasant +thoughts and feelings; he was eager to know what sort of deadly mischief +the woman and the little girl could have been about; so, by his command, +the two terrified and sobbing creatures were brought before him. + +"What is it that these have done?" he inquired of the sheriff. + +"Please your Majesty, a black crime is charged upon them, and clearly +proven; wherefore the judges have decreed, according to the law, that +they be hanged. They sold themselves to the devil--such is their crime." + +Tom shuddered. He had been taught to abhor people who did this wicked +thing. Still, he was not going to deny himself the pleasure of feeding +his curiosity for all that; so he asked-- + +"Where was this done?--and when?" + +"On a midnight in December, in a ruined church, your Majesty." + +Tom shuddered again. + +"Who was there present?" + +"Only these two, your grace--and THAT OTHER." + +"Have these confessed?" + +"Nay, not so, sire--they do deny it." + +"Then prithee, how was it known?" + +"Certain witness did see them wending thither, good your Majesty; this +bred the suspicion, and dire effects have since confirmed and justified +it. In particular, it is in evidence that through the wicked power so +obtained, they did invoke and bring about a storm that wasted all the +region round about. Above forty witnesses have proved the storm; and +sooth one might have had a thousand, for all had reason to remember it, +sith all had suffered by it." + +"Certes this is a serious matter." Tom turned this dark piece of +scoundrelism over in his mind a while, then asked-- + +"Suffered the woman also by the storm?" + +Several old heads among the assemblage nodded their recognition of the +wisdom of this question. The sheriff, however, saw nothing consequential +in the inquiry; he answered, with simple directness-- + +"Indeed did she, your Majesty, and most righteously, as all aver. Her +habitation was swept away, and herself and child left shelterless." + +"Methinks the power to do herself so ill a turn was dearly bought. She +had been cheated, had she paid but a farthing for it; that she paid her +soul, and her child's, argueth that she is mad; if she is mad she knoweth +not what she doth, therefore sinneth not." + +The elderly heads nodded recognition of Tom's wisdom once more, and one +individual murmured, "An' the King be mad himself, according to report, +then is it a madness of a sort that would improve the sanity of some I +wot of, if by the gentle providence of God they could but catch it." + +"What age hath the child?" asked Tom. + +"Nine years, please your Majesty." + +"By the law of England may a child enter into covenant and sell itself, +my lord?" asked Tom, turning to a learned judge. + +"The law doth not permit a child to make or meddle in any weighty matter, +good my liege, holding that its callow wit unfitteth it to cope with the +riper wit and evil schemings of them that are its elders. The DEVIL may +buy a child, if he so choose, and the child agree thereto, but not an +Englishman--in this latter case the contract would be null and void." + +"It seemeth a rude unchristian thing, and ill contrived, that English law +denieth privileges to Englishmen to waste them on the devil!" cried Tom, +with honest heat. + +This novel view of the matter excited many smiles, and was stored away in +many heads to be repeated about the Court as evidence of Tom's +originality as well as progress toward mental health. + +The elder culprit had ceased from sobbing, and was hanging upon Tom's +words with an excited interest and a growing hope. Tom noticed this, and +it strongly inclined his sympathies toward her in her perilous and +unfriended situation. Presently he asked-- + +"How wrought they to bring the storm?" + +"BY PULLING OFF THEIR STOCKINGS, sire." + +This astonished Tom, and also fired his curiosity to fever heat. He said, +eagerly-- + +"It is wonderful! Hath it always this dread effect?" + +"Always, my liege--at least if the woman desire it, and utter the needful +words, either in her mind or with her tongue." + +Tom turned to the woman, and said with impetuous zeal-- + +"Exert thy power--I would see a storm!" + +There was a sudden paling of cheeks in the superstitious assemblage, and +a general, though unexpressed, desire to get out of the place--all of +which was lost upon Tom, who was dead to everything but the proposed +cataclysm. Seeing a puzzled and astonished look in the woman's face, he +added, excitedly-- + +"Never fear--thou shalt be blameless. More--thou shalt go free--none +shall touch thee. Exert thy power." + +"Oh, my lord the King, I have it not--I have been falsely accused." + +"Thy fears stay thee. Be of good heart, thou shalt suffer no harm. Make +a storm--it mattereth not how small a one--I require nought great or +harmful, but indeed prefer the opposite--do this and thy life is spared +--thou shalt go out free, with thy child, bearing the King's pardon, and +safe from hurt or malice from any in the realm." + +The woman prostrated herself, and protested, with tears, that she had no +power to do the miracle, else she would gladly win her child's life +alone, and be content to lose her own, if by obedience to the King's +command so precious a grace might be acquired. + +Tom urged--the woman still adhered to her declarations. Finally he said-- + +"I think the woman hath said true. An' MY mother were in her place and +gifted with the devil's functions, she had not stayed a moment to call +her storms and lay the whole land in ruins, if the saving of my forfeit +life were the price she got! It is argument that other mothers are made +in like mould. Thou art free, goodwife--thou and thy child--for I do +think thee innocent. NOW thou'st nought to fear, being pardoned--pull +off thy stockings!--an' thou canst make me a storm, thou shalt be rich!" + +The redeemed creature was loud in her gratitude, and proceeded to obey, +whilst Tom looked on with eager expectancy, a little marred by +apprehension; the courtiers at the same time manifesting decided +discomfort and uneasiness. The woman stripped her own feet and her +little girl's also, and plainly did her best to reward the King's +generosity with an earthquake, but it was all a failure and a +disappointment. Tom sighed, and said-- + +"There, good soul, trouble thyself no further, thy power is departed out +of thee. Go thy way in peace; and if it return to thee at any time, +forget me not, but fetch me a storm." {13} + + + +Chapter XVI. The State Dinner. + +The dinner hour drew near--yet strangely enough, the thought brought but +slight discomfort to Tom, and hardly any terror. The morning's +experiences had wonderfully built up his confidence; the poor little +ash-cat was already more wonted to his strange garret, after four days' +habit, than a mature person could have become in a full month. A child's +facility in accommodating itself to circumstances was never more +strikingly illustrated. + +Let us privileged ones hurry to the great banqueting-room and have a +glance at matters there whilst Tom is being made ready for the imposing +occasion. It is a spacious apartment, with gilded pillars and pilasters, +and pictured walls and ceilings. At the door stand tall guards, as rigid +as statues, dressed in rich and picturesque costumes, and bearing +halberds. In a high gallery which runs all around the place is a band of +musicians and a packed company of citizens of both sexes, in brilliant +attire. In the centre of the room, upon a raised platform, is Tom's +table. Now let the ancient chronicler speak: + +"A gentleman enters the room bearing a rod, and along with him another +bearing a tablecloth, which, after they have both kneeled three times +with the utmost veneration, he spreads upon the table, and after kneeling +again they both retire; then come two others, one with the rod again, the +other with a salt-cellar, a plate, and bread; when they have kneeled as +the others had done, and placed what was brought upon the table, they too +retire with the same ceremonies performed by the first; at last come two +nobles, richly clothed, one bearing a tasting-knife, who, after +prostrating themselves three times in the most graceful manner, approach +and rub the table with bread and salt, with as much awe as if the King +had been present." {6} + +So end the solemn preliminaries. Now, far down the echoing corridors we +hear a bugle-blast, and the indistinct cry, "Place for the King! Way for +the King's most excellent majesty!" These sounds are momently repeated +--they grow nearer and nearer--and presently, almost in our faces, the +martial note peals and the cry rings out, "Way for the King!" At this +instant the shining pageant appears, and files in at the door, with a +measured march. Let the chronicler speak again:-- + +"First come Gentlemen, Barons, Earls, Knights of the Garter, all richly +dressed and bareheaded; next comes the Chancellor, between two, one of +which carries the royal sceptre, the other the Sword of State in a red +scabbard, studded with golden fleurs-de-lis, the point upwards; next +comes the King himself--whom, upon his appearing, twelve trumpets and +many drums salute with a great burst of welcome, whilst all in the +galleries rise in their places, crying 'God save the King!' After him +come nobles attached to his person, and on his right and left march his +guard of honour, his fifty Gentlemen Pensioners, with gilt battle-axes." + +This was all fine and pleasant. Tom's pulse beat high, and a glad light +was in his eye. He bore himself right gracefully, and all the more so +because he was not thinking of how he was doing it, his mind being +charmed and occupied with the blithe sights and sounds about him--and +besides, nobody can be very ungraceful in nicely-fitting beautiful +clothes after he has grown a little used to them--especially if he is for +the moment unconscious of them. Tom remembered his instructions, and +acknowledged his greeting with a slight inclination of his plumed head, +and a courteous "I thank ye, my good people." + +He seated himself at table, without removing his cap; and did it without +the least embarrassment; for to eat with one's cap on was the one +solitary royal custom upon which the kings and the Cantys met upon common +ground, neither party having any advantage over the other in the matter +of old familiarity with it. The pageant broke up and grouped itself +picturesquely, and remained bareheaded. + +Now to the sound of gay music the Yeomen of the Guard entered,--"the +tallest and mightiest men in England, they being carefully selected in +this regard"--but we will let the chronicler tell about it:-- + +"The Yeomen of the Guard entered, bareheaded, clothed in scarlet, with +golden roses upon their backs; and these went and came, bringing in each +turn a course of dishes, served in plate. These dishes were received by +a gentleman in the same order they were brought, and placed upon the +table, while the taster gave to each guard a mouthful to eat of the +particular dish he had brought, for fear of any poison." + +Tom made a good dinner, notwithstanding he was conscious that hundreds of +eyes followed each morsel to his mouth and watched him eat it with an +interest which could not have been more intense if it had been a deadly +explosive and was expected to blow him up and scatter him all about the +place. He was careful not to hurry, and equally careful not to do +anything whatever for himself, but wait till the proper official knelt +down and did it for him. He got through without a mistake--flawless and +precious triumph. + +When the meal was over at last and he marched away in the midst of his +bright pageant, with the happy noises in his ears of blaring bugles, +rolling drums, and thundering acclamations, he felt that if he had seen +the worst of dining in public it was an ordeal which he would be glad to +endure several times a day if by that means he could but buy himself free +from some of the more formidable requirements of his royal office. + + + +Chapter XVII. Foo-foo the First. + +Miles Hendon hurried along toward the Southwark end of the bridge, +keeping a sharp look-out for the persons he sought, and hoping and +expecting to overtake them presently. He was disappointed in this, +however. By asking questions, he was enabled to track them part of the +way through Southwark; then all traces ceased, and he was perplexed as to +how to proceed. Still, he continued his efforts as best he could during +the rest of the day. Nightfall found him leg-weary, half-famished, and +his desire as far from accomplishment as ever; so he supped at the Tabard +Inn and went to bed, resolved to make an early start in the morning, and +give the town an exhaustive search. As he lay thinking and planning, he +presently began to reason thus: The boy would escape from the ruffian, +his reputed father, if possible; would he go back to London and seek his +former haunts? No, he would not do that, he would avoid recapture. +What, then, would he do? Never having had a friend in the world, or a +protector, until he met Miles Hendon, he would naturally try to find that +friend again, provided the effort did not require him to go toward London +and danger. He would strike for Hendon Hall, that is what he would do, +for he knew Hendon was homeward bound and there he might expect to find +him. Yes, the case was plain to Hendon--he must lose no more time in +Southwark, but move at once through Kent, toward Monk's Holm, searching +the wood and inquiring as he went. Let us return to the vanished little +King now. + +The ruffian whom the waiter at the inn on the bridge saw 'about to join' +the youth and the King did not exactly join them, but fell in close +behind them and followed their steps. He said nothing. His left arm was +in a sling, and he wore a large green patch over his left eye; he limped +slightly, and used an oaken staff as a support. The youth led the King a +crooked course through Southwark, and by-and-by struck into the high road +beyond. The King was irritated, now, and said he would stop here--it was +Hendon's place to come to him, not his to go to Hendon. He would not +endure such insolence; he would stop where he was. The youth said-- + +"Thou'lt tarry here, and thy friend lying wounded in the wood yonder? So +be it, then." + +The King's manner changed at once. He cried out-- + +"Wounded? And who hath dared to do it? But that is apart; lead on, lead +on! Faster, sirrah! Art shod with lead? Wounded, is he? Now though +the doer of it be a duke's son he shall rue it!" + +It was some distance to the wood, but the space was speedily traversed. +The youth looked about him, discovered a bough sticking in the ground, +with a small bit of rag tied to it, then led the way into the forest, +watching for similar boughs and finding them at intervals; they were +evidently guides to the point he was aiming at. By-and-by an open place +was reached, where were the charred remains of a farm-house, and near +them a barn which was falling to ruin and decay. There was no sign of +life anywhere, and utter silence prevailed. The youth entered the barn, +the King following eagerly upon his heels. No one there! The King shot a +surprised and suspicious glance at the youth, and asked-- + +"Where is he?" + +A mocking laugh was his answer. The King was in a rage in a moment; he +seized a billet of wood and was in the act of charging upon the youth +when another mocking laugh fell upon his ear. It was from the lame +ruffian who had been following at a distance. The King turned and said +angrily-- + +"Who art thou? What is thy business here?" + +"Leave thy foolery," said the man, "and quiet thyself. My disguise is +none so good that thou canst pretend thou knowest not thy father through +it." + +"Thou art not my father. I know thee not. I am the King. If thou hast +hid my servant, find him for me, or thou shalt sup sorrow for what thou +hast done." + +John Canty replied, in a stern and measured voice-- + +"It is plain thou art mad, and I am loath to punish thee; but if thou +provoke me, I must. Thy prating doth no harm here, where there are no +ears that need to mind thy follies; yet it is well to practise thy tongue +to wary speech, that it may do no hurt when our quarters change. I have +done a murder, and may not tarry at home--neither shalt thou, seeing I +need thy service. My name is changed, for wise reasons; it is Hobbs +--John Hobbs; thine is Jack--charge thy memory accordingly. Now, then, +speak. Where is thy mother? Where are thy sisters? They came not to +the place appointed--knowest thou whither they went?" + +The King answered sullenly-- + +"Trouble me not with these riddles. My mother is dead; my sisters are in +the palace." + +The youth near by burst into a derisive laugh, and the King would have +assaulted him, but Canty--or Hobbs, as he now called himself--prevented +him, and said-- + +"Peace, Hugo, vex him not; his mind is astray, and thy ways fret him. +Sit thee down, Jack, and quiet thyself; thou shalt have a morsel to eat, +anon." + +Hobbs and Hugo fell to talking together, in low voices, and the King +removed himself as far as he could from their disagreeable company. He +withdrew into the twilight of the farther end of the barn, where he found +the earthen floor bedded a foot deep with straw. He lay down here, drew +straw over himself in lieu of blankets, and was soon absorbed in +thinking. He had many griefs, but the minor ones were swept almost into +forgetfulness by the supreme one, the loss of his father. To the rest of +the world the name of Henry VIII. brought a shiver, and suggested an ogre +whose nostrils breathed destruction and whose hand dealt scourgings and +death; but to this boy the name brought only sensations of pleasure; the +figure it invoked wore a countenance that was all gentleness and +affection. He called to mind a long succession of loving passages +between his father and himself, and dwelt fondly upon them, his unstinted +tears attesting how deep and real was the grief that possessed his heart. +As the afternoon wasted away, the lad, wearied with his troubles, sank +gradually into a tranquil and healing slumber. + +After a considerable time--he could not tell how long--his senses +struggled to a half-consciousness, and as he lay with closed eyes vaguely +wondering where he was and what had been happening, he noted a murmurous +sound, the sullen beating of rain upon the roof. A snug sense of comfort +stole over him, which was rudely broken, the next moment, by a chorus of +piping cackles and coarse laughter. It startled him disagreeably, and he +unmuffled his head to see whence this interruption proceeded. A grim and +unsightly picture met his eye. A bright fire was burning in the middle +of the floor, at the other end of the barn; and around it, and lit +weirdly up by the red glare, lolled and sprawled the motliest company of +tattered gutter-scum and ruffians, of both sexes, he had ever read or +dreamed of. There were huge stalwart men, brown with exposure, +long-haired, and clothed in fantastic rags; there were middle-sized +youths, of truculent countenance, and similarly clad; there were blind +mendicants, with patched or bandaged eyes; crippled ones, with wooden +legs and crutches; diseased ones, with running sores peeping from +ineffectual wrappings; there was a villain-looking pedlar with his pack; +a knife-grinder, a tinker, and a barber-surgeon, with the implements of +their trades; some of the females were hardly-grown girls, some were at +prime, some were old and wrinkled hags, and all were loud, brazen, +foul-mouthed; and all soiled and slatternly; there were three sore-faced +babies; there were a couple of starveling curs, with strings about their +necks, whose office was to lead the blind. + +The night was come, the gang had just finished feasting, an orgy was +beginning; the can of liquor was passing from mouth to mouth. A general +cry broke forth-- + +"A song! a song from the Bat and Dick and Dot-and-go-One!" + +One of the blind men got up, and made ready by casting aside the patches +that sheltered his excellent eyes, and the pathetic placard which recited +the cause of his calamity. Dot-and-go-One disencumbered himself of his +timber leg and took his place, upon sound and healthy limbs, beside his +fellow-rascal; then they roared out a rollicking ditty, and were +reinforced by the whole crew, at the end of each stanza, in a rousing +chorus. By the time the last stanza was reached, the half-drunken +enthusiasm had risen to such a pitch, that everybody joined in and sang +it clear through from the beginning, producing a volume of villainous +sound that made the rafters quake. These were the inspiring words:-- + +'Bien Darkman's then, Bouse Mort and Ken, The bien Coves bings awast, On +Chates to trine by Rome Coves dine For his long lib at last. Bing'd out +bien Morts and toure, and toure, Bing out of the Rome vile bine, And +toure the Cove that cloy'd your duds, Upon the Chates to trine.' (From +'The English Rogue.' London, 1665.) + +Conversation followed; not in the thieves' dialect of the song, for that +was only used in talk when unfriendly ears might be listening. In the +course of it, it appeared that 'John Hobbs' was not altogether a new +recruit, but had trained in the gang at some former time. His later +history was called for, and when he said he had 'accidentally' killed a +man, considerable satisfaction was expressed; when he added that the man +was a priest, he was roundly applauded, and had to take a drink with +everybody. Old acquaintances welcomed him joyously, and new ones were +proud to shake him by the hand. He was asked why he had 'tarried away so +many months.' He answered-- + +"London is better than the country, and safer, these late years, the laws +be so bitter and so diligently enforced. An' I had not had that +accident, I had stayed there. I had resolved to stay, and never more +venture country-wards--but the accident has ended that." + +He inquired how many persons the gang numbered now. The 'ruffler,' or +chief, answered-- + +"Five and twenty sturdy budges, bulks, files, clapperdogeons and +maunders, counting the dells and doxies and other morts. {7} Most are +here, the rest are wandering eastward, along the winter lay. We follow at +dawn." + +"I do not see the Wen among the honest folk about me. Where may he be?" + +"Poor lad, his diet is brimstone, now, and over hot for a delicate taste. +He was killed in a brawl, somewhere about midsummer." + +"I sorrow to hear that; the Wen was a capable man, and brave." + +"That was he, truly. Black Bess, his dell, is of us yet, but absent on +the eastward tramp; a fine lass, of nice ways and orderly conduct, none +ever seeing her drunk above four days in the seven." + +"She was ever strict--I remember it well--a goodly wench and worthy all +commendation. Her mother was more free and less particular; a +troublesome and ugly-tempered beldame, but furnished with a wit above the +common." + +"We lost her through it. Her gift of palmistry and other sorts of +fortune-telling begot for her at last a witch's name and fame. The law +roasted her to death at a slow fire. It did touch me to a sort of +tenderness to see the gallant way she met her lot--cursing and reviling +all the crowd that gaped and gazed around her, whilst the flames licked +upward toward her face and catched her thin locks and crackled about her +old gray head--cursing them! why an' thou should'st live a thousand years +thoud'st never hear so masterful a cursing. Alack, her art died with +her. There be base and weakling imitations left, but no true blasphemy." + +The Ruffler sighed; the listeners sighed in sympathy; a general +depression fell upon the company for a moment, for even hardened outcasts +like these are not wholly dead to sentiment, but are able to feel a +fleeting sense of loss and affliction at wide intervals and under +peculiarly favouring circumstances--as in cases like to this, for +instance, when genius and culture depart and leave no heir. However, a +deep drink all round soon restored the spirits of the mourners. + +"Have any others of our friends fared hardly?" asked Hobbs. + +"Some--yes. Particularly new comers--such as small husbandmen turned +shiftless and hungry upon the world because their farms were taken from +them to be changed to sheep ranges. They begged, and were whipped at the +cart's tail, naked from the girdle up, till the blood ran; then set in +the stocks to be pelted; they begged again, were whipped again, and +deprived of an ear; they begged a third time--poor devils, what else +could they do?--and were branded on the cheek with a red-hot iron, then +sold for slaves; they ran away, were hunted down, and hanged. 'Tis a +brief tale, and quickly told. Others of us have fared less hardly. Stand +forth, Yokel, Burns, and Hodge--show your adornments!" + +These stood up and stripped away some of their rags, exposing their +backs, criss-crossed with ropy old welts left by the lash; one turned up +his hair and showed the place where a left ear had once been; another +showed a brand upon his shoulder--the letter V--and a mutilated ear; the +third said-- + +"I am Yokel, once a farmer and prosperous, with loving wife and kids--now +am I somewhat different in estate and calling; and the wife and kids are +gone; mayhap they are in heaven, mayhap in--in the other place--but the +kindly God be thanked, they bide no more in ENGLAND! My good old +blameless mother strove to earn bread by nursing the sick; one of these +died, the doctors knew not how, so my mother was burnt for a witch, +whilst my babes looked on and wailed. English law!--up, all, with your +cups!--now all together and with a cheer!--drink to the merciful English +law that delivered HER from the English hell! Thank you, mates, one and +all. I begged, from house to house--I and the wife--bearing with us the +hungry kids--but it was crime to be hungry in England--so they stripped +us and lashed us through three towns. Drink ye all again to the merciful +English law!--for its lash drank deep of my Mary's blood and its blessed +deliverance came quick. She lies there, in the potter's field, safe from +all harms. And the kids--well, whilst the law lashed me from town to +town, they starved. Drink, lads--only a drop--a drop to the poor kids, +that never did any creature harm. I begged again--begged, for a crust, +and got the stocks and lost an ear--see, here bides the stump; I begged +again, and here is the stump of the other to keep me minded of it. And +still I begged again, and was sold for a slave--here on my cheek under +this stain, if I washed it off, ye might see the red S the branding-iron +left there! A SLAVE! Do you understand that word? An English SLAVE! +--that is he that stands before ye. I have run from my master, and when I +am found--the heavy curse of heaven fall on the law of the land that hath +commanded it!--I shall hang!" {1} + +A ringing voice came through the murky air-- + +"Thou shalt NOT!--and this day the end of that law is come!" + +All turned, and saw the fantastic figure of the little King approaching +hurriedly; as it emerged into the light and was clearly revealed, a +general explosion of inquiries broke out-- + +"Who is it? WHAT is it? Who art thou, manikin?" + +The boy stood unconfused in the midst of all those surprised and +questioning eyes, and answered with princely dignity-- + +"I am Edward, King of England." + +A wild burst of laughter followed, partly of derision and partly of +delight in the excellence of the joke. The King was stung. He said +sharply-- + +"Ye mannerless vagrants, is this your recognition of the royal boon I +have promised?" + +He said more, with angry voice and excited gesture, but it was lost in a +whirlwind of laughter and mocking exclamations. 'John Hobbs' made +several attempts to make himself heard above the din, and at last +succeeded--saying-- + +"Mates, he is my son, a dreamer, a fool, and stark mad--mind him not--he +thinketh he IS the King." + +"I AM the King," said Edward, turning toward him, "as thou shalt know to +thy cost, in good time. Thou hast confessed a murder--thou shalt swing +for it." + +"THOU'LT betray me?--THOU? An' I get my hands upon thee--" + +"Tut-tut!" said the burley Ruffler, interposing in time to save the King, +and emphasising this service by knocking Hobbs down with his fist, "hast +respect for neither Kings NOR Rufflers? An' thou insult my presence so +again, I'll hang thee up myself." Then he said to his Majesty, "Thou +must make no threats against thy mates, lad; and thou must guard thy +tongue from saying evil of them elsewhere. BE King, if it please thy mad +humour, but be not harmful in it. Sink the title thou hast uttered--'tis +treason; we be bad men in some few trifling ways, but none among us is so +base as to be traitor to his King; we be loving and loyal hearts, in that +regard. Note if I speak truth. Now--all together: 'Long live Edward, +King of England!'" + +"LONG LIVE EDWARD, KING OF ENGLAND!" + +The response came with such a thundergust from the motley crew that the +crazy building vibrated to the sound. The little King's face lighted +with pleasure for an instant, and he slightly inclined his head, and said +with grave simplicity-- + +"I thank you, my good people." + +This unexpected result threw the company into convulsions of merriment. +When something like quiet was presently come again, the Ruffler said, +firmly, but with an accent of good nature-- + +"Drop it, boy, 'tis not wise, nor well. Humour thy fancy, if thou must, +but choose some other title." + +A tinker shrieked out a suggestion-- + +"Foo-foo the First, King of the Mooncalves!" + +The title 'took,' at once, every throat responded, and a roaring shout +went up, of-- + +"Long live Foo-foo the First, King of the Mooncalves!" followed by +hootings, cat-calls, and peals of laughter. + +"Hale him forth, and crown him!" + +"Robe him!" + +"Sceptre him!" + +"Throne him!" + +These and twenty other cries broke out at once! and almost before the +poor little victim could draw a breath he was crowned with a tin basin, +robed in a tattered blanket, throned upon a barrel, and sceptred with the +tinker's soldering-iron. Then all flung themselves upon their knees +about him and sent up a chorus of ironical wailings, and mocking +supplications, whilst they swabbed their eyes with their soiled and +ragged sleeves and aprons-- + +"Be gracious to us, O sweet King!" + +"Trample not upon thy beseeching worms, O noble Majesty!" + +"Pity thy slaves, and comfort them with a royal kick!" + +"Cheer us and warm us with thy gracious rays, O flaming sun of +sovereignty!" + +"Sanctify the ground with the touch of thy foot, that we may eat the dirt +and be ennobled!" + +"Deign to spit upon us, O Sire, that our children's children may tell of +thy princely condescension, and be proud and happy for ever!" + +But the humorous tinker made the 'hit' of the evening and carried off the +honours. Kneeling, he pretended to kiss the King's foot, and was +indignantly spurned; whereupon he went about begging for a rag to paste +over the place upon his face which had been touched by the foot, saying +it must be preserved from contact with the vulgar air, and that he should +make his fortune by going on the highway and exposing it to view at the +rate of a hundred shillings a sight. He made himself so killingly funny +that he was the envy and admiration of the whole mangy rabble. + +Tears of shame and indignation stood in the little monarch's eyes; and +the thought in his heart was, "Had I offered them a deep wrong they could +not be more cruel--yet have I proffered nought but to do them a kindness +--and it is thus they use me for it!" + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Prince and The Pauper, Part 5. +by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER, PART 5. *** + +***** This file should be named 7158.txt or 7158.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/7/1/5/7158/ + +Produced by David Widger + +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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