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padding-top: 1px } + + .coverpage, .titlepage, + .contents, .foreword, .preface, .introduction, .dedication, .prologue, + .epilogue, .appendix, .glossary, .bibliography, .index, .colophon, + .footnotes, + .cleardoublepage { page-break-before: right; padding-top: 1px } + + .vfill { margin-top: 20% } + h2.title { margin-top: 20% } +} +</style> +<style type="text/css"> +.pageno { position: absolute; right: 95%; font: medium sans-serif; } +.pageno:after { color: gray; content: '[' attr(title) ']' } +.toc-pageref { float: right } +pre { font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.9em; white-space: pre-wrap } +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 35896 ***</div> +<div class="document" id="the-great-captain"> +<h1 class="document-title level-1 pfirst title">The Great Captain</h1> +</div> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> +</div> +<div class="container" id="pg-produced-by"> +<p class="noindent pfirst">Produced by Katherine Ward and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at <a class="reference external" href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> +</div> +<p class="noindent pnext">This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.</p> +</div> +</div> +<div class="class container titlepage"> +<div class="center line-block noindent outermost x-large"> +<div class="line"><em class="italics">THE GREAT CAPTAIN.</em></div> +</div> +<div class="center line-block noindent outermost"> +<div class="line"><em class="italics">A STORY OF THE DAYS OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH.</em></div> +</div> +<div class="center large line-block noindent outermost"> +<div class="line"> </div> +<div class="line">BY</div> +<div class="line">KATHARINE TYNAN HINKSON,</div> +</div> +<div class="center line-block noindent outermost small"> +<div class="line"><em class="italics">Author of “The Golden Lily,” “The Queen’s Page,” “Her Father’s Daughter,” etc.</em></div> +</div> +<div class="center line-block noindent outermost small"> +<div class="line"><span class="small-caps">New York, Cincinnati, Chicago</span>:</div> +<div class="line">BENZIGER BROTHERS,</div> +<div class="line"><em class="italics">Publishers of Benziger’s Magazine</em></div> +<div class="line"> </div> +<div class="line"> </div> +<div class="line">Copyright, 1902, by <span class="small-caps">Benziger Brothers</span>.</div> +<div class="line"> </div> +<div class="line">Printed in the United States of America</div> +</div> +</div> +<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="margin-left: 25%; width: 50%" id="figure-2"> +<img style="display: block; width: 100%" alt="images/frontis.jpg" src="images/frontis.jpg" width="100%"/> +<div class="caption italics"> +“While I stood stammering and staring a lean finger was +pointed at me.” (See page <a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#page-24">24</a>.)</div> +</div> +<!-- --> +<div class="contents level-2 section" id="id1"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title">CONTENTS.</h2> +<ul class="toc-list"> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-i-of-myself-that-great-captain-sir-walter-raleigh-and-of-how-i-became-his-leal-man" id="id2">I.—Of Myself, that Great Captain Sir Walter Raleigh, and how I became his Leal Man</a><span class="toc-pageref"> 7</span></span></li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-ii-the-apparition-of-the-monk" id="id3">II.—The Apparition of the Monk</a><span class="toc-pageref"> 21</span></span></li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-iii-of-my-secret-the-lord-boyle-and-other-matters" id="id4">III.—Of My Secret, the Lord Boyle, and Other Matters</a><span class="toc-pageref"> 37</span></span></li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-iv-the-dead-hand" id="id5">IV.—The Dead Hand</a><span class="toc-pageref"> 52</span></span></li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-v-of-a-strait-place-and-a-quiet-time" id="id6">V.—Of a Strait Place and a Quiet Time</a><span class="toc-pageref"> 67</span></span></li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-vi-the-treasure-ship" id="id7">VI.—The Treasure-ship</a><span class="toc-pageref"> 83</span></span></li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-vii-our-last-years-together" id="id8">VII.—Our Last Years Together</a><span class="toc-pageref"> 99</span></span></li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><span class="first"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-viii-an-unravelled-thread" id="id9">VIII.—An Unravelled Thread</a><span class="toc-pageref"> 113</span></span></li> +</ul> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-i-of-myself-that-great-captain-sir-walter-raleigh-and-of-how-i-became-his-leal-man"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id2"><span class="invisible pageno target" title="7" id="page-7"> </span>CHAPTER I.—OF MYSELF, THAT GREAT CAPTAIN SIR WALTER RALEIGH, AND OF HOW I BECAME HIS LEAL MAN.</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">I never knew my father and mother, +having been born into a time like that of +the great desolation foretold by the Scriptures. +They were the days of what I have +heard called the Rebellion of the Desmonds, +when that great league was made against +the power of Eliza, the English Queen, +by the Irish princes, which went down in a +red sunset of death and blood. Indeed I +myself had starved, like other innocents, on +the breasts of their dead mothers, had it not +been for the pity of him I must ever regard +as the greatest of Englishmen, albeit no +friend, but rather the spoiler, of those of +my blood and faith.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was indeed while the end was not yet +quite determined, for although Sir James +Desmond, the wisest and most skilled of +their generals in the art of war, was dead, +there was yet the Seneschal of Imokilly and +other Geraldine lords fighting for their inheritance +and their country. It was on a +day when Sir Walter Raleigh with a handful +of troopers was returning from a visit +to the Lord Deputy at Dublin that he +found me. He had expected no ambush, +and rode slowly, being fatigued by his journey, +through the great woods to the Ford +of the Kine. Now the woods covered many +dead and dying, and as the Captain rode at +the head of his men I came running from +the undergrowth, a lusty and fearless lad of +three, and held up my hands to the foremost +rider. I had as like as not been spitted +on a trooper’s sword but that the Captain +himself, leaning from his horse, swung +me to his saddle-bow.</p> +<p class="pnext">He had perhaps a thought of his own little +Wat, by his mother’s knee in an English +pleasaunce, for, as I have heard since, he +talked with me and provoked me to confidence. +Nor was I slow to answer all he +asked, being a bright and bold child, which +perhaps was the saving of me, since I flung +an arm round the great Captain’s steel-clad +neck, and perched by him as bold as any +robin that is housed in the frost.</p> +<p class="pnext">But as we rode along in the summer evening, +fearing no danger, though danger there +was, for my lord the Seneschal of Imokilly +had word of our coming, and as we forded +the river was upon us from the further bank +with his kerns, three times our number. +But the Captain rode at them with his sword +drawn, slashing hither and thither, and +sorely I must have hampered him, and much +marvel it was that he did not loose me into +the stream. But that he held me shows +what manner of man he was, that being +fierce and violent in battle he yet was of so +rare magnanimity. Little lad as I was then, +I remember to this day the cold of his steel +and silver breastplate against my cheek.</p> +<p class="pnext">And when he had hewed his way through +them and was on the further bank in safety, +he looked back and saw one of his men, Jan +Kneebone by name, dismounted in the +stream and in peril. Then, setting me +down gently, he rode back into deep water +to his man’s deliverance, and having slain +two kerns who had him in jeopardy he flung +him upon his saddle-bow and rode with him +again up the steep bank. It was a great +feat of arms, and might well have cost the +English this most splendid soldier; yet I +have heard Sir Walter say that the Desmond +Lord of Imokilly might have slain him had +he willed it. “And think not, little Wat,” +he said to me years after, speaking upon +that day, “that chivalry departed from the +world with the glorious pagan, Saladin; +for in many places I have found it, nor least +in this wild country of thine; and it is an +exceeding good thing,” he added, “that men +will forget their passions amid the heat of +battle, and will remember only that the +enemy they fight against is brave.”</p> +<p class="pnext">Wat, he called me from himself, because +he loved me, and after his little son. Indeed, +he seemed in time to love me as fondly as +any father; and while I was yet a little one +and learning from him swordplay and fence, +horsemanship, and other manly arts, I began +to understand that amid all his splendor +he carried sadness beneath it, and was a +banished man. He had lost the Queen’s +favor—not because he had enemies at court, +for Eliza was not one to be misled by +rumors or cunning, but because he had +clasped around the white neck of Mistress +Throckmorton, a dame of honor, the milky +carcanet of pearls the Queen’s vanity desired +to adorn her leanness, which in time the +Queen might have forgiven, if he had not +privily married the same Mistress Throckmorton; +for she would have but one moon +in the sky, and she liked not the gallantest +man of her kingdom to be her dame’s satellite. +So he was become a soldier of fortune, +and since he might not have his lady +or his little son with him in these wild +times, they abode in his quiet English +Manor-house, while his sword slashed a way +to fortune for them through the inheritance +of the great, unhappy Desmonds.</p> +<p class="pnext">In later years, when I had become well +acquainted with the character of my lord, +it hath seemed to me that he was not one +for marriage; for danger was his love, and +he was homesick away from her smile. And +yet no more tender lord than he to the Lady +Elizabeth might be found, and he loved his +little Walter greatly.</p> +<p class="pnext">But presently, the war being ended and +the last Desmond Earl slain by a traitor in +a cabin in the mountains, my lord sailed +away from the harbor of Youghall to London, +to the end that he might win permission +for another expedition in search of +treasure, and so regain the Queen’s favor. +By this time I was a tall lad, and was fain +to go with my lord, but this he would by no +manner of means permit. I hated so to +live my life without him, even for a time, +that I had thought of hiding myself aboard +his ship, the Bon Aventure, but the fear +which I had of him besides my love held me +back. I had never seen him angry with +me, and I prayed that I never should, so +I heard him in silence when he bade me +stay. Taking me aside then, he said to me, +lovingly:</p> +<p class="pnext">“I wrong you not, Wat, because I go +without you, for Queen’s favor is vain, and +it may be I go to Traitor’s Gate. You are +no meat for the Tower, lad.”</p> +<p class="pnext">Then I cried out that if he went to the +Tower I should go with him; at which he +seemed pleased, patting my shoulder with +great gentleness.</p> +<p class="pnext">“It may be,” he said, “that I return +again to this Irish exile I weary of. Or, in +the greatest event of all, I shall fit out a +fleet for the Spanish Main, and make the +Dons stand and deliver. That would be +happiest for us, boy, for indeed I make but +a bad port-sailor.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“You sail in the Bon Aventure,” I said; “it is of good omen.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“It is indeed,” he replied, “and I thank +you for reminding me of it.”</p> +<p class="pnext">He looked out to sea, where the English +leopards flapped at the wind’s will on the +mast of his ship, and I think I never saw +such a longing in a man’s eyes: so great was +it that my heart bled for him. I had +thought perhaps that he longed so much to +see the Lady Elizabeth and his boy. But he +spoke, and I knew he was thinking of the +free life of the rovers of the sea, not of that +lady whom he so tenderly loved.</p> +<p class="pnext">“If we prosper,” he said, “we shall sail +for Guiana, and found there, who knows, +another Virginia. The spoil of half a dozen +fat galleons and a new country. These are +things that even Gloriana need not disdain. +Yet Essex hath all her ear, and Essex is +mine enemy.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“If you succeed, my lord—” I began.</p> +<p class="pnext">“If I succeed I shall send for you. If I +am sent to the Tower there are certain matters +concerning you to which Master Richard +Boyle is privy, and which he will impart +to you. But it may be I shall be sent back +to rot here; if so, there is nothing more to +be said.”</p> +<p class="pnext">So on a certain day of lusty summer my +lord sailed away in the Bon Aventure, with +Master Edmund Spenser, whose company +had so greatly lightened his exile. The +same carried with him two books of his +poem, <em class="italics">The Faëry Queen</em>, which he designed +to have printed in London. He was bound +to return, whether my lord came or not, for +he had left at his Castle of Kilcohnour his +lady whom he had married at Cork, and his +young son. The same lady he made famous +forever by the most beautiful of marriage-songs, +which thing I had come to know, +young as I was, for my lord would have me +a scholar as well as a soldier, and I was become +a very excellent scribe, so that the +fair copying of Master Spenser’s poems +came to me.</p> +<p class="pnext">I remember my last glimpse of them ere +the Bon Aventure sunk over the rim of +ocean, and evening seemed all at once to +settle on the world. My lord was wearing a +suit of black velvet over white, very finely +embroidered with seed-pearls. The plume +of his hat was held in its place by a clasp of +diamonds. Beside him Master Spenser, in +his black, looked over-grave. But when did +Sir Walter—whom I call here “my lord” +out of the love and loyalty I bore him—fail +to shine before all the world by the splendor +of his apparel as well as by his manly beauty +and the greatness of his deeds?</p> +<p class="pnext">After they had gone, set in the endless +dusk of summer evening, I grew tired of +wandering about the gardens, so strange and +sad without their master. So I went within +doors, where some one had set a starveling +rushlight in the chamber that was my +lord’s dining-hall, and there I sat me down +with my Latin grammar and the Virgil my +lord had given me. At this time I sat daily +on the wooden benches of the College School +at Youghall, and had my learning of an old +clerk Sir Walter had summoned here from +Devonshire to take the place of the doctors +and singing-men who had gone with the +Desmonds. But my heart was heavy, and +my head, and I had pushed away from me +untasted the supper a serving-wench had +carried to me.</p> +<p class="pnext">Now all was very still in the house, so +that the tap-tapping of a twig by the window-pane +seemed to me a little frightful, +although I was a boy of spirit. Outside was +the black of an early summer night before +the moon has risen, and going to the window +upon the tapping I could see no star +for the myrtle boughs. Yet sure I was that +were I outside the purple would be pierced +by innumerable eyes of light, and I was +greatly tempted to return to the garden. +Indeed, out in the night there would be +companionship, although every bird slept +well within the boughs. It is the houses +men build that breed these phantoms of the +brain, and not the free air. But disregarding +the temptation I went back to my book, +knowing full well the pleasure it would give +my lord to learn that I had been diligent in +his absence. Wonderful it was that he was +hardly less in love with learning than with +adventure. Indeed a man of such parts +was this knight and master of mine that +there seemed to be nothing admirable in +which he did not excel. And if I am blind +to his faults, even to this day when I repent +me of certain share of mine in his adventures, +let that be forgiven me, for surely I +owed him all love and loyalty.</p> +<p class="pnext">As the night went I heard the scullions +who had been disporting themselves in the +town return one by one, and the bolting and +barring of doors. The songs of the sailors +which came up from the shipping in the bay +fell off and ceased. Silence fell on the +town, a silence as unbroken as that of the +sleepers yon in St. Mary’s yard, and presently +drowsiness overcoming me I too slept.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-ii-the-apparition-of-the-monk"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id3"><span class="invisible pageno target" title="21" id="page-21"> </span>CHAPTER II.—THE APPARITION OF THE MONK.</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">The room in which I had studied and +now slept was that to the right hand as you +entered the door of the Manor-house. It +was lined stoutly with oak, and it was dark +because, though it had two fair windows, +they were much obscured by the myrtles my +lord had planted, which had thriven exceedingly +in this mild air.</p> +<p class="pnext">This room, as I have said, my lord used +for a dining-hall. Else when he was within +doors he sat in the oriel of the pleasant +room overhead; and it was there that he and +Master Spenser would sit and smoke or be +silent; and there, which is not to be forgotten, +Sir Walter listened to <em class="italics">The Faëry Queen</em>.</p> +<p class="pnext">For some reason or another this dining-hall, +despite its purpose, seemed a place of +little cheer. The Manor-house had belonged +to the warden of the college, and +owed its construction to him; and it was +built after the English manner, which need +not be surprising, since the progenitors of +those church and abbey builders, the Munster +Geraldines, were of English blood and +race. Not only was the dining-hall in itself +low and somewhat forbidding of aspect, but +it smelt of earth and new graves, for all the +generous wine and meats that had been consumed +within it. The cause of the same +my lord had never been able to determine, +and it stayed, although the chimney roared +with logs of ships’ timber, and the brightness, +the good cheer, the wit and gayety that +met there were enough to scare away any +thought of death or the earth that shall receive +us.</p> +<p class="pnext">I slept, I have said, and while I slept the +moon had arisen. The low light of it filled +the chamber when I awoke with a start, +smelling the graves, and feeling very cold. +On the myrtle tree without an owl hooted. +The rushlight had gone out, but this I +hardly knew, only that an earthy wind, +smelling of damp and mildews, blew about +my face, and I was stiff from lying asleep +upon my book.</p> +<p class="pnext">But this I noticed vaguely, for as soon as +my eyes were well open a strange appearance +in the room drew my gaze upon it. I +was by this time a stout lad of some sixteen +years, and accustomed to fear nothing, yet +I will confess that the hair of my head stood +up. The figure of a monk was in the further +corner from me. I knew it to be a +monk, because of the effigies, images, and +<span class="invisible pageno target" title="24" id="page-24"> </span>portraits in St. Mary’s Church and the +library of the college. Further, I knew the +apparition to be of a white friar. The cowl +was over the face; the head was bent; a fold +of white cloth hid the hands. The stature +of the monk was exceedingly tall, and of a +great leanness, as I could see where the belt +of brown leather clasped the white gown +about the middle.</p> +<p class="pnext">All this I saw clearly by the light of the +moon, or was it by some unearthly light +of which the figure stood the centre? I +know not, only that I saw everything clear: +and still the odor of graves was in my +nostrils.</p> +<p class="pnext">While I stood stammering and staring a +lean finger was pointed at me, so lean that +I know not if flesh covered it, or if it were +the fleshless finger of a skeleton. A voice, +hollow and strange, came forth of the cowl.</p> +<p class="pnext">“Son of the Geraldines,” it said, “why +art thou here among their murderers and +despoilers?”</p> +<p class="pnext">The voice constrained me to answer.</p> +<p class="pnext">“Alas,” I said, “I know not what you +mean. I am a nameless boy, a dead leaf +drifted in the forests. Why do you call me +a son of the Geraldines, unless it be that I +come of the humblest of the clan?”</p> +<p class="pnext">“You are no kern’s son, Walter Fitzmaurice, +but of a noble house. How is it +that you eat the bread and run at the stirrups +of the Sassenach who is the destroyer +of your race?”</p> +<p class="pnext">I stretched my hands imploringly to the +cowled figure.</p> +<p class="pnext">“He rescued me from death,” I cried; +“he warmed me with his love. He has +taught me all a noble youth should know.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“You love him?”</p> +<p class="pnext">“I love him.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“Listen, boy. They think they have destroyed +the Desmonds, root and branch, as +a man might tread out under his heel a nest +of vipers. Yet hope is not dead. The line +of the Geraldines is not destroyed. Return +to your own people and leave this evil +knight.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“Alas, I cannot,” I said, “for I love him.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“The blood of your kin is red on his +hands.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“And yet I love him.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“He and his freebooters have wasted +the country that was the portion of your +fathers. Whom he spared to slay famine +and pestilence have slain.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“I should have died of the hunger,” said +I, “had he not delivered me.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“And you will follow him?”</p> +<p class="pnext">“I will follow him.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“Wherever he goes?”</p> +<p class="pnext">“To death.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“To death and evil. Very well, Walter +Fitzmaurice, of the race of Desmond, then +your kindred’s blood be on your hands, as +they are on those for which you have held +basin and ewer that they might wash. +Water will not wash them clean, nor yours +that share in the stain. He shall die by violence +as he has slain many another—and as +for you, what penance, what fast and prayer +shall suffice to wipe out your sin? You +have chosen, Walter Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald. +Take care that you have not chosen forever.”</p> +<p class="pnext">The voice rose in a shriek of menace, and +I caught sight of burning eyes under the +cowl. Suddenly through the hooting of the +owl in the myrtles there rang, shrilly as a +trumpet, the crowing of a cock. The wind +from the grave rose in my nostrils and filled +me with a great terror. I turned giddy and +swayed hither and thither, and the room went +up and down under my feet.</p> +<p class="pnext">The next thing I knew was that the sun +was in the room, and I was lying with my +cheek on the open page of the Virgil. +Nothing was changed in the room since last +night, except only that the rushlight had +dwindled to a pool of cold fat; but how long +it had been out I could not gauge.</p> +<p class="pnext">Slowly the happenings of the night came +back to me; but now in the warm daylight +who thought on ghosts and goblins, or was +afraid of them if they came? Where the +owl had hooted over night a blackbird was +singing, bold and bright. The lawn of the +Manor-house was under dew. As I looked +a peacock spread his tail in the sun, and his +more sober mate stood to admire him.</p> +<p class="pnext">Sitting there I rubbed my eyes. Why, I +had awakened just as I had fallen asleep, +worn out with the sorrow of loneliness, and +the trial to fix my discontented thoughts +upon my book. I stood up and caught sight +of myself in a mirror. Then I realized that +it is ill to sleep full-dressed. I was pale, and +my hair strayed in disorder. My doublet +looked as if I had had the habit to sleep in +it, and my cloak was awry. I had been no +sight to please my lord, who loved daintiness, +and observed it himself in the strangest +circumstances.</p> +<p class="pnext">I would down to the Port-side and bathe +in the morning waters. But ere I did that, +remembering the dream or vision of the +night, I went towards that place where I +had seen the monk and carefully examined +the same. But nothing there was to give +me clue. The room was stoutly panelled +with oak, every panel as like to his brother +as two peas. Yet in that corner of the +room there was one thing that made me linger, +for the smell of earth, it seemed to me, +was there stronger than elsewhere.</p> +<p class="pnext">I sniffed and smelt like a terrier after a +mouse; but sniff and smell as I might +found nothing. I was no stranger to sliding +panels and the like, at least by hearsay, +but press and push as I might nothing +came of it, so that at last I was fain to +desist.</p> +<p class="pnext">As I made my way to the water-side in +the glorious morning my thoughts were full +of the night’s encounter. If it had been no +dream but a true happening I did not doubt +now, with the sun risen, that the monk was +no ghost but a living man, albeit a spare +one, for I recalled his lean finger, and the +burning eyes set in the hollow cheeks. His +words had been verily human, not ghostly +at all: and had I been minded to leave my +great lord whom I loved, had he not been +ready to bear me away with him? Either +the thing was a fantasy of a dream, every +part of it exceedingly sensible, and one part +following another as I have not known it +in dreams, or else it were true, and he a +living man who had stood before me last +night.</p> +<p class="pnext">One thought made my heart leap up with +a sharp throb of pleasure. The monk had +said I was noble—I, who had come from +none knew where, a nameless youth and +treated courteously only because I was +dear to my lord, and myself very sharp in +a quarrel and adroit in the practice of +arms.</p> +<p class="pnext">After I had bathed and lain to dry in the +sun I returned back hungry as a hawk. In +the blessed sun all was different from last +night. My lord would return, and would +bear me away to court, and presently we +should have letters of marque, and should +go sailing on the Spanish Main in search +of good fighting, salted with doubloons +and pieces of eight; and presently should +make for the Treasure Islands, and find +there, as I imagined, jewels as large as +plums, and gold and silver in great portions. +For I had read Maundeville and other travellers, +and had magnified in my credulity +even the marvels they had told. I knew, +too, that my lord had brought home to the +Queen’s Majesty a necklace of pearls whereof +each stone was larger than a cherry. And +we had heard of Guiana that the very sands +of the seashore sparkled with gold and silver, +and that in the workings the old inhabitants +thereof had made, that they might +build their heathen temples, the walls were +of gold, while the idols were crusted with +jewels so that no man might look on them +without winking.</p> +<p class="pnext">So much in the sunlight. And yet again +I had a cause for joy and pride because +the monk had declared me noble. How to +prove it I knew not, but resolved that when +my lord was come hither again I would tell +him all, and he would somehow unriddle me +the secret and I should be no longer nameless.</p> +<p class="pnext">My breakfast I had beneath the shade of +Sir Walter’s myrtles, where he had made +his favorite seat. It was brought thither by +that good Sukey who had nearly drowned +my lord the first time she beheld him +smoking that weed called tobacco, which +he had brought from his settlement in +Virginia. For she conceived him to be +on fire, and half-drowned him that she +might put him out. I had my white manchet +and roast beef and flagon of ale, and +had a fine hunger for it after my morning +swim.</p> +<p class="pnext">But when it had all vanished I strolled +away to the stable-yard, where Gregory +Dabchick rubbed down one of my lord’s +horses, and hissed between his teeth as is +the manner of ostlers in the doing. He was +a shock-headed fellow, of slow wits, but +honest, and loved my lord.</p> +<p class="pnext">“It be lonely, Master Wat,” he said, +“since the master be gone.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“Gregory Dabchick,” said I, “you were +of Sir Walter’s following the day the Seneschal +of Imokilly set upon him at the Ford +of the Kine.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“Ay,” he said, grinning, “and Jan was +spilt in the water. He got up dripping like +a fish, and when the Captain haled him to +dry land, and he would mount his beast he +overleapt him and a good horse galloped +into the forest and so became the goods of +the Irishry. I wish,” he added, “that Margery +May, at home in pleasant Devon, +might have looked on Jan then.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“I have nothing to do with your jealousies,” +I said, as haughty as though I were +my lord’s son. “But tell me, Gregory, do +you remember me that day?”</p> +<p class="pnext">“A brown babby, as fat as ever I see,” +Gregory answered, still rubbing down his +horse. “And as near being spitted by Dan’l +Drewe as ever I wish to see. I never liked +that work myself, killing o’ babes and sucklings, +and fair women, or leaving the babe +to die on its mother’s breast. ’Twere +lucky for you, Master Wat, them that +starved in the forest did not eat you, ere +ever you came the way o’ Dan’l’s mercy. +Eh, what a fat one you were!”</p> +<p class="pnext">“But a comely, Gregory?” I asked anxiously. +“A noble child? Was I that? And +clad in silk and fine woollen, as became my +condition?”</p> +<p class="pnext">“Why, no, Master Walter, but a fat, +brown babe; eh, so fat! And nought but +rabbit-skins to cover you. You had been +good eating for them in the forest.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“You are rude and dull, Gregory,” said +I, leaving him in dudgeon. As I looked +back I saw that he had come to the stable +door and stood watching me with a gaping +mouth. Plainly there was nothing to be +learned from Gregory Dabchick.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-iii-of-my-secret-the-lord-boyle-and-other-matters"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id4"><span class="invisible pageno target" title="37" id="page-37"> </span>CHAPTER III.—OF MY SECRET, THE LORD BOYLE, AND OTHER MATTERS.</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">In the autumn of that year my lord came +back, and in my joy at seeing him again I +hardly felt that he was sad. The Lord +Essex had prevailed against him with the +Queen and he was returned to exile, although +one of his ships had brought in +a Spanish galleon worth fifty thousand +pounds. It must be remembered of him +that his passion for discovering the unknown +worlds swallowed up all the treasure +he was able to discover; so that the sea was +never without his ships, and one expedition +but led to another.</p> +<p class="pnext">Had he been differently framed this season +at Youghall had been happy enough. +For now there was no fighting to be done +he led that quiet and pastoral life which +might have won him Master Spenser’s title +for him, <em class="italics">The Shepherd of the Ocean</em>. He delighted +himself by planting the strange +seeds and roots he had brought from the +ends of the earth and seeing them thrive. +All his garden ventures were fortunate. +The kindly Irish soil suited well with the +tobacco, the myrtle, and the fuchsia. At +Affane, a little way up the Blackwater, he +had his orchards, where already the cherry +grew abundantly. There, also, on sunny +banks, he sowed in long rows a strange fruit +called the potato, whereof the fruit is in the +earth, and the leaves above it, and a very +pleasant fruit to eat when well boiled, being +of a sweet flouriness within.</p> +<p class="pnext">Another fruit from the Indies which he +planted at Affane was called the tomato—a +great, smooth-skinned, scarlet fruit, over-heavy +for its branches, and of a strange +half-sour flavor, which yet grew on one in +the eating. Another seed brought him by +his captains was that of the clove-gilly-flower, +or wall-flower, a most sweet-smelling +plant; and the cedar also he planted.</p> +<p class="pnext">He was as much set upon gardens as upon +adventure and the search for new countries. +Those of his captains who had returned had +brought with them charts of the lands in +which they had sailed, together with long +reports concerning the inhabitants, their +manner of living, their food and pursuits, +the beasts and birds, the plants and ore, +and all such matters; over which my lord +would sit and pore in the long winter +evenings, by the fire of driftwood, and +smoking his long pipe. And sometimes +he would talk with Master Spenser concerning +them; but more often their talk +ran on poetry and the arts. Master +Spenser was working at the later books of +<em class="italics">The Faëry Queen</em>, and had written also a +very pretty pastoral entitled <em class="italics">Colin Clout’s +Come Home Again</em>. Nor was my lord’s admirable +pen silent. I went to and fro almost +as a son; and I can see my lord now in +some gallant apparel, for he knew not what +it was to be slovenly, leaning back in his +great chair, and reading from the manuscript +in his hand that lament he made for +the death of the stainless knight, Sir Philip +Sidney, slain then at the battle of Zutphen:</p> +<blockquote><div> +<div class="line-block outermost"> +<div class="line">England does hold thy limbs that bred the same;</div> +<div class="line">Flanders thy valour where it last was tried;</div> +<div class="line">The camp thy sorrow where thy body died;</div> +<div class="line">Thy friends thy want; the world thy virtue’s fame.</div> +</div> +</div></blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">Alas, if but Sir Walter had been content to +be poet and gardener; but whereas the one +part of him was content the other tugged at +his heart-strings so that he was not happy. +In gardening he had no rivals except the +Dutch, that great little republic of the +water, since as famous as England herself +for great battles and adventures by sea.</p> +<p class="pnext">Now, quiet as the time was, and I was +often alone with my lord, it was long before +I found courage to speak to him of my birth. +I know not why I was so wary in approaching +it, but somewhere in my heart I had a +warning that it would be unwelcome matter +to him; so that often the words rose to my +lips and fell silent before I could say them. +It was indeed close upon a year from the +time I had seen the monk that at last I +dared to touch upon the subject. It was +one evening when we had been gardening +together, and tired after that pleasant toil +we sat beneath the myrtle trees. My lord’s +brow for a little while was unfurrowed with +care, and his eagle eyes looked at me softened +through the mists of his smoke.</p> +<p class="pnext">“My lord—” I began, and then could go +no further.</p> +<p class="pnext">“What is it, Wat?” he asked kindly.</p> +<p class="pnext">“My lord, I am troubled about the question +of my birth. To be nameless where +every one hath a name is no light matter to +bear.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“Hath any one reproached you?” he +asked, and his eyes flashed.</p> +<p class="pnext">“If any hath I should not have come +even to you for redress,” I said, fingering +my sword.</p> +<p class="pnext">“Ah,” he said, and he looked well pleased. +“There spoke no nameless boy!”</p> +<p class="pnext">I breathed hard at the thought of what +his speech meant. I was in act indeed to +ask him if I were truly a Fitzmaurice and of +noble birth when his next words held me, +and, as it proved, the silence between us +was to last to the edge of the grave for one +of us.</p> +<p class="pnext">“Be content, boy, for a little while,” he +said, and his voice was of great sweetness. +“You are no nameless child; but let it be +my secret for a time. In time I shall reveal +it. If I told you now it might mean that +we should part company.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“Never that,” I said.</p> +<p class="pnext">“Never that, I pray,” he rejoined, adding—“because +I love you, Wat.”</p> +<p class="pnext">Then after a few minutes of silence he +went on:</p> +<p class="pnext">“Your secret is left to no such blind +chance as may befall such an one as I. If +aught happen to me, Master Boyle holds it +safe, and will reveal it in proper time.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“You will not tell me?” I broke out.</p> +<p class="pnext">“To have it known would bring me some +steps nearer the Tower,” he said, “and I +wend that way already.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“Then keep it silent forever,” I cried +out.</p> +<p class="pnext">“Nay; that would be hardly fair to you. +Besides, you forget that Master Boyle hath +it.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“I like not Master Boyle.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“Nor do I, overmuch, Wat. He is one +of your still, secret men, with the lawyer’s +craft and cunning. What should there be +between us?”</p> +<p class="pnext">“I hate his peaked face and his yellow +eyes, and the way he hath of watching +you and peering like a cat that sees in the +dark.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“You are hard on Master Boyle, Wat. +There is too much of the lawyer in him, and +he treads soft as a cat. Yet there is a man +behind his greed and his cunning. He is +better framed for times like these than such +an one as I. I could never walk warily.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“He has your secret and can use it +against you.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“He would do me no more harm than +beggar me if he might so enrich himself. +My head would be no use to him, little +Wat.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“’Tis a poor warranty for holding a secret,” +said I, bitterly.</p> +<p class="pnext">“I am well-disposed to Master Boyle,” +my lord went on. “He is a man of substance, +Wat, and a useful friend for one like +myself, who can keep nothing. We shall +not pluck the jewels from the gold-trees of +Guiana without money and ships. I am +nearly sucked dry, and the Queen hath lost +faith in me.”</p> +<p class="pnext">Then I knew that my lord was not so +contented as he had seemed of late, and that +further voyages were afoot. In the joy and +excitement of the prospect I forgot to fret +about my namelessness. Besides, my lord +knew that I was noble; and Master Boyle +knew it, and treated me with a consideration +which should have won my regard if it were +not that I distrusted his dealings with my +lord.</p> +<p class="pnext">And as the autumn of that year came on +I noticed that my lord ceased to care for his +gardens and orchards and plantations, and +would be forever poring over maps and +charts, and had long conversations with the +master of the Bon Aventure, which good +ship lay yet in Youghall Harbor, and the +master did seem nigh as weary of idleness +as Sir Walter himself. And sometimes he +had Master Boyle privily. Indeed, though +I speak of him as Master Boyle, ’tis from old +habit; for about this time he had been +created my Lord Boyle for his services to +the Queen’s Majesty in the better governance +of Ireland.</p> +<p class="pnext">At last the word came that we were to +sail; and it was as if the quiet, sleeping town +of Youghall had started awake. Such a +burnishing of arms and armor; such a getting +out of old materials of war; such a polishing +of decks and making of sails and +mounting of guns on the good ship Bon +Aventure as never was known. All day long +the singing of the sailors in the harbor +floated to us through the still air. And my +lord’s swarthy face smiled once again as I +had known it when I was a little lad, before +he was like a led eagle that is chained beyond +hopping a little way.</p> +<p class="pnext">My Lord Boyle had found us the funds; +so much I knew, but liked him no better. +The evening before we were to sail there +was a great banquet, and many gentlemen +came even from so far off as Dublin to wish +the Great Captain Godspeed. We were to +sail at blink of the morning star, and there +was to be no sleeping for us till we were on +shipboard. Never have I seen my lord but +once so magnificently clad. His doublet +was of white silk, so sewn with diamonds +that the silk was hardly to be seen. His +hose were of white silk, his trunk-hose of +silk with slashings of gold. Over one shoulder +he wore a short cloak of yellow velvet +clasped with diamonds; and the rosettes of +his shoes were a blaze of diamonds. Seeing +his face in the midst of such splendor I +marvelled how the Queen could harden her +heart against him—for never have I seen +him in any assemblage, however honorable, +that he did not make the other gentlemen +seem mean and dull beside him.</p> +<p class="pnext">When the gayety was at its highest and +he feared not to be missed, I saw him slip +from the table with my Lord Boyle, and retire +with him into the oriel. The banquet +had been set in the oriel-chamber because it +was lighter and more spacious.</p> +<p class="pnext">When my lord had left the table I too +went away. Looking at the horologe my +lord had given me, I saw that it lacked yet +two hours of the time when we should be +aboard.</p> +<p class="pnext">I went down stairs to the lower chamber, +which was dark and silent. Once more I +thought I should endeavor to find the secret +way through which the death-damp came, +and my midnight visitor of more than a +year ago. If he had sought me since he had +not found me, for I had avoided being alone +there since that night.</p> +<p class="pnext">There was neither moonlight nor rushlight +in the room, so that I could only grope +with my fingers for the secret the panel +must contain. For some time I groped in +vain. Then my nails seemed to have found +a crack in the wood, a mere notch in which +they fitted. It gave me no promise, for the +oak had warped here and there, and had left +a few furrows. I was sure I had been over +all the place before, yet now as I drew a +little way the whole panel began to move. +I did not know then, nor could I see, the +cunning by which that door was devised so +that none should discover it. I have said +that the chamber was quite dark.</p> +<p class="pnext">Feeling now before me with my hands, I +found a vacant square wide enough for one +to creep through. Through it the wind +blew strongly, and it was a cold, earthy, evil-smelling +wind, such as I knew full well. +Where might it lead? There was a report +amongst us that the house had secret ways +to the harbor; but it was no honest sea-wind, +however confined and far from its +source, that blew my way, but something +far more villanous.</p> +<p class="pnext">I know not how it was that I seemed to +forget that in less than two hours we must +embark. The present adventure held me to +the exclusion of all else. I stepped within +the narrow passageway—crept within it, for +I had to go on hands and knees. I had no +light nor aught else to guide me; but if I +thought at all it was that if the monk could +come this way in safety, I could go as he +had come. But to leave a gaping panel was +not in my thoughts. Having entered I +drew the panel to. Then feeling with my +hands I came upon a lock. Had I moved +it by my touch, or had it been left unlocked +of design? There was no time for answering +of riddles, and having pushed the panel +to I turned to pursue the adventure.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-iv-the-dead-hand"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id5"><span class="invisible pageno target" title="52" id="page-52"> </span>CHAPTER IV.—THE DEAD HAND.</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">After a little I found that I could stand +upright in the passage. Stretching up my +hands I could feel a solid roof above my +head. The walls on either side of me were +of earth, held back by stout balks of timber. +If one were to give way the passage had +been a grave indeed; but so far as I could +feel with my feet the clay had not fallen at +all. Else indeed there could not have been +so much air in the passage as to give me +breath; and I breathed freely enough, albeit +with a certain oppression, and a loathing of +the dank smells.</p> +<p class="pnext">For a time the passage went down into +the bowels of the earth as it seemed to me. +I guessed by the direction it took from the +dining-hall that it must grope under the +graveyard—and thinking on this I realized +how that indeed the wind that blew from it +was a wind of death. And at that time I +was too ignorant and too vain to rebuke myself +by the thought that this was a burying-place +of saints.</p> +<p class="pnext">Presently my foot stumbled against a +step, and much relieved I was to find on +ascending it that there was another step and +yet another; for I liked not this burrowing +among graves like the mole; and the steps +seemed to promise a speedy end to my journey. +Taking them in the dark there +seemed to me a prodigious number of them; +yet I was not gone very far when I perceived +agreeably a lightening and sweetening +of the air. I could have taken but a +little while in coming, for I had met with +no obstacles; yet it seemed long since the +time I had plunged into that pit of blackness +ere I came up against a stout door, with +a grating in it, designed no doubt to give +air to the passage.</p> +<p class="pnext">To my great joy it was held only by a +latch, and even before I had made this +happy discovery I felt the sweet air of +heaven blow into my face; and I think I +never before knew how sweet it tasted.</p> +<p class="pnext">Undoing the latch and drawing the door +to me I stepped within a stone tower. The +moon had arisen on the eastward side of +the tower, and looking through the crumbling +lancet window I saw below me, serene +and beautiful, the quiet, terraced graveyard +of St. Mary’s.</p> +<p class="pnext">I could have laughed aloud to think that +the journey had seemed to me so long. In +truth it had occupied some five minutes, as +I discovered, holding my horologe to the +moon, and had not occupied so long if it +were not for my groping and pausing.</p> +<p class="pnext">But the floor was solid under my feet. I +had to think a minute before I knew where +I was. I was in that blind tower of St. +Mary’s to the eastward corner, in the basement +whereof were deposited the brooms +and pails for cleaning of the church.</p> +<p class="pnext">Playing hide and seek therein with a +boy’s irreverence I had marvelled why, since +the tower was blind—nothing but a roof of +stone above the chamber—that they should +have troubled to pierce it with lancets like +any honest belfry. The upper portion of +the tower was in ruins, as you could see +from the graveyard without. Ah, and so +the blind tower had its uses; as a hiding-place +it might be for some one who had +lived in the Manor-house in old wild days. +For, as to any manner of egress from the +tower, that I could not see at all.</p> +<p class="pnext">The chamber where I stood was full of +the drifted leaves and the nests of birds. +Except for the shaft of light from the +lancet it was in blackness, and I began to +wonder if the tower went no further.</p> +<p class="pnext">I groped about the walls, however, till I +came upon a staircase, which went up, not +in the middle, as is usual in towers, but at +one corner, so that each story formed a +room.</p> +<p class="pnext">’Twas three stories’ climb to the upper +room. Here it was that the ruin had befallen +the tower; for where the lancet had +been there was a great gap, and somewhat +of the roof had fallen away.</p> +<p class="pnext">I was now clear of the low trees, and the +half-veiled moon looked within the chamber. +Then I saw to my amazement that at +the side of it, yet roofed over, there was a +bed, a chair, a table, all of the rudest. But +little of this I saw till afterwards, for on the +bed lay the figure of that monk who had +spoken with me, now nearly fifteen months +ago.</p> +<p class="pnext">His face was in shadow, yet I never +thought for a moment that he slept. One +lean hand dangled from his great sleeve +over the side of the bed; it hung helplessly; +and young as I was I had looked on death +often enough to know that this was the +hand of the dead. The habit was composed +decently about the figure. Either the monk +had so composed himself for death or he +had had some companion who had fled away +leaving him to the eye of heaven.</p> +<p class="pnext">Standing there, a great awe and compassion +fell upon me. Something of yearning +and tenderness afflicted me as though the +dead man had been of my blood: the tears +rushed from my eyes, and I trembled so that +I was forced to my knees; yea, as though +invisible hands had bent me. I knew little +of praying, but something of wordless petition +to the Great Father of us all stirred in +my dull and proud spirit. In that moment +I had indeed the heart of a child.</p> +<p class="pnext">When I had arisen from my knees I went +to the side of the pallet and looked upon the +sleeper’s face. In the shadow it gleamed +like polished ivory, and as I looked the +moon, climbing higher, touched the still +mouth with a sweet and sanctified light, +making it as though it smiled. I touched +the hand that swung by the side of the pallet. +It was scarcely cold. I knew not how +I thought of such a thing, except that I was +familiar with the knights and ladies who +sleep in stone in St. Mary’s Church, but I +composed the sleeper’s hands in the manner +of Christ’s cross upon his breast; and afterwards +turned away from the patient, smiling +mouth like one who hath sinned and +been forgiven.</p> +<p class="pnext">Then I did what I believed he would have +me do: I made a search for any letters and +papers he might have left; for I could not +think he had left me ignorant of what he +would have me know. I searched busily; +and there were not many places wherein to +look. There was nothing anywhere. But +my search was not yet over till I had examined +the monk’s person. I went back to his +side, and with a prayer to him for forgiveness, +I groped gently in his habit for anything +in the nature of papers, and doing so +I felt his body to be by wasting scarcely +greater than a child’s. Yet ’twas not starvation, +I knew, for a loaf of bread and a +pitcher of water stood on the table.</p> +<p class="pnext">I had not far to seek. The papers were +within the folds of his habit, where they met +upon his breast, and were confined with the +claspings of his leathern belt.</p> +<p class="pnext">I drew them forth and went to the full +flood of the moonlight. By it I read the superscription:</p> +<blockquote><div> +<p class="pfirst">“<em class="italics">To Walter Devereux Fitz-Hugo Fitz-Theobald +Fitz-Maurice</em>”—</p> +</div></blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">As I read it my heart leaped up. What a +proud name it was, and telling of a glorious +ancestry!</p> +<blockquote><div> +<p class="pfirst">“—commonly known as Walter Munster, +the ward and page of Sir Walter Raleigh.”</p> +</div></blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">When I had deciphered so far the tower +seemed suddenly to rock. It was the great +clock in the neighboring tower striking of +midnight; and I had yet to ford the passageway +between the graves! Already I might +have been missed. I read no more, but +thrust the papers within my breast. Then +I bent and kissed the hands of the monk, +feeling again that rush of softness, and as +I kissed the hands I noticed the great string +of beads which fell from the girdle, and that +too I kissed, and the crucifix dependent +from it; and these things I did blindly, having +then a hard and ignorant heart, but +being compelled I knew not how.</p> +<p class="pnext">Then I stole from the tower-room and +again down the winding staircase; but first +I had drawn the cowl over the face and hid +the hands and feet in the folds of the habit; +and so left him to quietness and the night.</p> +<p class="pnext">I made the return passage without any +mishap; and though a fear assailed me on +the way lest I had locked myself within by +closing the door, there was no ground for it, +for the panel opened simply enough, and +was indeed secured by a bolt on the passage +side; which no doubt had prevented my finding +the opening before. For either the +monk had left it undone now by design, or +being surprised by his last sickness, or else +a companion or companions of his had fled +the house-way while we slept, leaving the +door unbarred. Yet I had seen no sign of +any other inmate of the tower save one; +that is of visible folk, for I doubt not there +were others, ministering and invisible.</p> +<p class="pnext">So I returned as I had come and went +hastily to the banquet-hall. As I entered +my lord and the Lord Boyle were returning +slowly to their places. I caught a word of +their speech. “You will remember the +trust,” said my dear lord; and I knew not +it was of me they were talking. “Yea,” +said my Lord Boyle, and showed his yellow +teeth; “let it be in my hands, or else when +Jamie succeeds some Scot will have it.” +And then he laughed, rubbing his lean hands +together.</p> +<p class="pnext">Then my lord observed me, and calling +me to him he put his hand upon my shoulder +and looked at me with surprise.</p> +<p class="pnext">“Why, Wat,” he said, “what spider’s nest +hath caught you?”</p> +<p class="pnext">I looked down then at my brave apparel, +and was confused to find that it was gray +with dust and cobwebs from my journey.</p> +<p class="pnext">“He hath been ratting,” said my Lord +Boyle, “and hath pursued the quarry even +within their holes.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“It matters less,” said my lord, “since +it is the hour to put on soberer attire. Be +in good time, Wat,”—and so saying he released +me. Then I hurried to my chamber +in the roof, and was right pleased that I +had not been questioned more closely. And +when I had laid away my fine apparel and +all was ready for our journey, I took my +paper to the candle-light that I might decipher +it.</p> +<p class="pnext">It had been written for my hand and none +other, and the writer thereof was mine own +father’s brother. I was indeed of the illustrious +Desmond house, though of a younger +branch; and yet in the havoc that had come +upon it I might well now be all that was +living of the race. I had, it seemed, my +father being slain, been hidden with my +mother in the forest by a faithful clansman, +who had provided us with what food he +might; who being out one day snaring +rabbits in the forest had been caught by a +party of the enemy and borne away by them +strapped to one of their horses. He had +escaped them by the mercy of God, and returned +to the place where he had left us, to +find his lady dead of starvation and myself +gone. Doubtless that sweet mother of +mine had starved through giving all she had +to her child. The man knew not if I had +met an enemy and been hacked or speared +to death, or if the wolves had had me, or +the fierce eagles that yet infest the forest +in search of tender prey. He grieved to +death not knowing. But the friar, Brother +Ambrose, the last of the White Monks of +Youghall, and mine uncle, known to men as +Roderick Fitzmaurice, rested not till he had +found if I were of this life, and at last discovered +me. Having written this history +for mine eyes, he wrestled with me further +that I should come out from among the +enemies of my people. But to what end? I +asked, having so much worldly wisdom, +since the Desmond clan was gone down in +blood, and its inheritance with strangers. +Indeed, when I had come to the dead man’s +prayers, I folded up the paper as one that +will not listen and fears to be persuaded. +Even then there came from the harbor a +ringing of bells and the shouts of the sailors +as they drew up the anchor of the Bon +Aventure from its bed in the sands. I +therefore thrust my fine garments into my +sea-chest and shot the bolt; but mine uncle’s +message to me I put within my doublet. +As the ship swung round, and we headed +her for eastward I turned my thoughts away +from the quiet sleeper in the church tower, +and looked rather to my lord’s dark figure +as he leant over the vessel’s side, gazing not +the way she was going, but rather to westward. +For though he was the enemy of my +race and my country, yet I loved him with +such a love that nothing could dissever my +heart from him. And for his sake I was +not sorry even that I had not sooner discovered +that poor kinsman of mine—the +very last it well might be—in his hiding-place. +For no doubt he had come many +times to the room in which he had first +found me, but never found me again. And +now he was dead and past caring any more.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-v-of-a-strait-place-and-a-quiet-time"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id6"><span class="invisible pageno target" title="67" id="page-67"> </span>CHAPTER V.—OF A STRAIT PLACE AND A QUIET TIME.</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">A few days later the Bon Aventure was +lying in the river Thames, and we had no +more than cast anchor when my lord put on +his richest clothes, and bidding me to attend +him, went by water to the steps leading +to the Queen’s palace of Westminster. I +remember that the way took us past Traitor’s +Gate, the low and threatening portals +by which prisoners are brought within the +Tower. As we passed my lord looked at +me with a sad smile. “I shall go that way +yet, Wat,” he said. And when I burst into +a passionate protest, he said to me: “Why, +Wat, if you could look upon the company +which hath passed by way of that gate, you +would see it to be of the finest. I shall not +blush to tread in their footsteps.” But I +could not believe it, looking upon him in his +garb of peach-bloom velvet laced with silver, +and the jewels of a king’s ransom; and +yet alas! he spoke too truly.</p> +<p class="pnext">I remember when we were come to those +stairs of Westminster how the people +pressed to look upon him, and shouted +for him, and flung their caps in the air. If +he was not in favor at the court, certainly +he lacked not favor outside it.</p> +<p class="pnext">Even within the palace the pages and the +maids of honor peeped at him, and many +courtiers thronged to welcome him, and the +scullions and grooms of the chambers looked +through windows and down staircases to see +him pass, so that to me it was as though the +tapestry wavered with whispers and eyes. +As we waited for an audience we saw many +great men pass, but not one fit to stand beside +my lord. Then came the Queen, a +shrunk, tall, high-boned woman, in a blaze +of diamonds, the ruff standing about her +spare, pale head like a setting sun, so thick +it was with jewels, and her farthingale +and petticoat making a prodigious circle +about her. She had green eyes, and they +were cold, and coldly she gave her hand to +my lord to kiss.</p> +<p class="pnext">She had called him back because Spain +threatened; but now he was come she could +not forget her anger. That was for the old +affair of Mistress Throckmorton. I heard +the pages whispering that day that she had +not forgiven him; and one, a pert, bright +lad, who won my heart because he was so +eager to see and hear of the Great Captain, +told me how my Lord Essex had in likewise +nearly forfeited the Queen’s favor. For he +had admired upon the person of the Lady +Mary Howard a farthingale of cloth of gold, +sewn with seed-pearls, the which coming to +the Queen’s ears she had demanded the garment +for herself, saying that no subject +should go finer than the Queen’s Majesty. +But having acquired it she discovered herself +to be too tall and too broad for it, so +that it misbecame her mightily. Whereupon +she cast it aside so that none should +wear it since she could not.</p> +<p class="pnext">Of the same palace I grew sick to death. +How long were we kept waiting about its +corridors till the Queen’s favor should veer +towards us again. It suited not with a +country lad like myself; and as for my lord, +his face grew lined and he seldom smiled: +so that often, often, I longed that the old +gardening days in Youghall were come +again. Nor had he yet seen his wife and +son. At last he grew restive, and declared +that Devonshire air consorted better with +his humor than the dank fogs that spread +at evening about Westminster. But ere he +could be gone he was committed to the +Tower on the Queen’s warrant. So, sooner +than we dreamt were we come to Traitor’s +Gate.</p> +<p class="pnext">I went thither with him, and together we +passed the low arch. There I was permitted +to be in attendance on him, and listened +often to his cries and groans, for he could +not endure the imprisonment while there +were so many glorious things in the world +to be done. Sometimes he would solace +himself with philosophy and poetry. But +at times his fury would break forth so that +the governor of the Tower feared for him +lest he should go mad. He well described +his own sufferings.</p> +<p class="pnext">“I am become like a fish cast on dry +land,” he wrote, “gasping for breath, with +lame legs and lamer lungs.”</p> +<p class="pnext">Indeed there were times when it seemed +as if he would die from being so imprisoned +and confined. Trust in the Queen’s pity he +had not.</p> +<p class="pnext">“There is no chance for me now, Wat,” +he said once, “unless it be that one of my +captains should bring home a treasure-ship +to pour into her lap, which might buy my +freedom if she conceived that by that means +I might find her more. For she loves gold +as other women love love, wherefore is her +face become yellower than a guinea.”</p> +<p class="pnext">It was for some such saying, doubtless, +the Queen had had him cast in the Tower. +He was not one to learn guile; and, like his +rival, Essex, he was over-brave in speech as +in other things.</p> +<p class="pnext">However, that happened that one of his +captains did bring home a treasure-ship. He +had been in the Tower two months, and had +worn the stone floors with his pacing of +them, more restless than the lion. The +folk came to stare at him in the courtyard +without. Then word came to us that his +ships were in from the Azores and had +brought with them the Spanish plate-ship, +the Madre di Dios, which they had captured +from the Dons. Half a million, a million, +there was no end to the guineas she was +worth. She was lined with glowing, woven +carpets, sarcenet quilts, and lengths of white +silks and cyprus. She carried, in chests of +sandalwood and ebony, such stores of rubies +and pearls, such porcelain and ivory and +crystal, such planks of cinnamon, and such +marvellous treasures as had never before +been seen. Her hold seemed like a garden +of spices, so laden was it with cloves, cinnamon, +ambergris, and frankincense.</p> +<p class="pnext">But even then the Queen was not minded +to deliver him. His chief captain came +from the mouth of the Dart, where the ship +lay, to bring him his reports; but no message +came from the Queen. However, his +freeing was taken out of her hands and +came not a whit too soon, for he had aged +ten years in those two months. It seemed +that the usurers and dealers in precious +metals in London had flocked to the Dart +upon the news of the treasure. And vagrants +from all the winds flocked thither. +And between those vultures and my lord’s +own seamen and men of Devon there was +soon riot and bloodshed. Then, since all +means of restoring the peace seemed to +have failed, at last they took my lord from +the Tower that he might make peace.</p> +<p class="pnext">It seemed that half the world was about +the treasure-ship, and my lord’s ships. +There came to greet us at our journey’s +end that Lord Cecil of whom I had heard +so much. I trusted him not, and I was rejoiced +that he should see the passion of welcome +which awaited my lord from his men +of Devon. It was well that it was so, for +my Lord Cecil reported upon it to the +Queen.</p> +<p class="pnext">“I assure you,” he wrote, “all his servants +and his mariners came to him with +such shouts of joy as I never saw a man +more troubled to quiet them in all my life. +But his heart is broken, and whenever he is +saluted with congratulation for liberty he +doth answer, ‘No, I am still the Queen of +England’s poor captive.’ But I vow to you +his credit among the mariners is greater +than I could have thought it.”</p> +<p class="pnext">My Lord Cecil was well disposed to my +lord, albeit his cunning eyes and old, wise +face made my youth feel of a sudden cold. +The Queen harkened to him, and we were +returned no more to the Tower; yet those +two months of impatient fretting had set +their mark upon my lord.</p> +<p class="pnext">After this we sailed up the Dart to that +Manor-house where the Lady Raleigh dwelt +with her son. And again there was a very +sweet interval of peace. I have now but to +close my eyes and see again the red-brick +ivied house, with its chimney-stack dark +against the sky. The swallows are wheeling +overhead, shouting and playing with one +another. The rooks are coming homeward +across the evening sky. On the green and +velvety bowling green young Walter and I +are playing at bowls. There are roses on +the terrace and a peacock spreading his tail. +Below these is the garden with its box borders, +its roses and pinks and pansies; its +fountain where the goldfish swim round and +round, and its mossy dial. Further yet is +the orchard, and beyond it the deer feeding +amid the trees, and further still the river, +and apple-orchards, with maids and men +a-gathering apples for the cider brew. But +I look not so far. My eye rests with my +heart upon my lord, when he goeth between +the box-borders in sweet converse with his +lady-wife; and I watch him till young Walter +rallies me as a poor comrade and player +at the game.</p> +<p class="pnext">Often my lady would take me apart, and +bid me tell her of my lord when he was in +Ireland. Of those years she was never tired +of hearing; and when my tongue or my +thoughts would grow slack she would grow +impatient with me. Yet I think my love +for her lord pleased her. She was a little +lady, and the brightest ever I saw, with +cream-pale cheeks and the liveliest of +black eyes. I could not wonder that +for a time she lulled to sleep my lord’s +desires for America. Very pitiful she +was towards the havoc their long parting +and the trouble and the imprisonment had +wrought in him, and would stand a-tiptoes +to smooth the wrinkles out with her dainty +finger.</p> +<p class="pnext">The Lord Cecil was now my lord’s friend +at court, and to him she writ beseeching +that there might be no more voyages, at +least for the time.</p> +<p class="pnext">“I hope for my sake,” she writ, “that you +wilt rather draw Walter toward the East +than help him forward toward the sunset, +if any respect to me or love to him be not +forgotten.”</p> +<p class="pnext">So we remained in peace, and young Walter +and I flew our hawks and played at the +ball, and fished and swam to our hearts’ +content. And dearly as I loved my lord, I +came to love his son hardly less. He was a +brave lad of Devon, this Walter Raleigh, tall +as his father, and nigh as comely, yet innocent +and quiet, with the country innocence +and quietude, because by reason of the +Queen’s displeasure he had abode all his +years in those sequestered ways; yet skilled +in all such manly and courtly arts as became +the son of his father; so that he +was as good with a sonnet as at swordplay, +and could dance the pavane as prettily as he +could loose his goshawk. And for all his +innocence was not unfit to face a rough +world; and for all his quiet kindliness was +as brave and as quick to fight as any gallant +ever I saw.</p> +<p class="pnext">My lord looked on at our comradeship +well pleased. I heard him ask my Lady +Raleigh one day if we did not make a gallant +couple, at which my lady pouted, and +said he was loving me in Ireland when she +and her Wat were forgotten. “Nay,” said +he, “that never was, Sweetlips; but he comforted +me something in my loneliness without +wife and son.” Then my lady called me +to her, and kissed me like a mother, and +vowed that she loved me for what I had +been to her lord in those Irish years. She +changed quickly in her pretty humors; but +there was no change in her constancy and +kindness towards me any more than in her +lord’s love.</p> +<p class="pnext">After that we went eastward for a season +to the village of Bath, to drink at its +springs, which had been discovered to be +sovereign remedy for many ills. It was my +Lady Raleigh’s will to make her lord well +again. “As though, Bess,” he said, “you +could turn backward the years we have been +parted.”</p> +<p class="pnext">And I left the Manor-house with grief +and pain, for never again, I feared, should +we have a season of such peace. My lord +was not one to abide long in peace; and certainly +the Bath waters as they restored his +strength restored also his passion for adventure +and turmoil, so that my Lady +Raleigh in healing him but defeated her +desire of keeping him with her. For after +a time he seemed no longer quiet and well-content. +And he had yet not only his share +of the treasure-ship, though I doubt not the +greater part was poured in the Queen’s lap, +but he had also my Lord Boyle’s purse to +draw upon.</p> +<p class="pnext">Then as he was becoming restive, yea, +straining as a hound strains at the leash, +and declaring that he would sail before the +mast if he might none other way, one of his +captains, Popham by name, and a stout old +sea-dog from the harbor town of Plymouth, +brought him letters writ by a Spanish captain +to the King of Spain, and captured by +the English ship. Reading them my lord +seemed as he would choke with fury. I +knew how my lord’s heart turned to Guiana, +the golden country. And these letters reported +that the Governor of Trinidad had +annexed this same wondrous land in the +name of King Philip. Then, even my Lady +Raleigh saw that it was no use seeking to +hold her lord any longer; and she bade him +go, with so sweet a grace and so high a spirit +that she proved herself even a worthy mate +for the Great Captain.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-vi-the-treasure-ship"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id7"><span class="invisible pageno target" title="83" id="page-83"> </span>CHAPTER VI.—THE TREASURE-SHIP.</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">We left my Lady Raleigh alone in the +spring of the year. It was February the +sixth, and the snowdrop and crocus were up +in the garden-beds of the Manor-house, and +the blackbirds and thrushes singing nigh as +sweet as they sing in Ireland, when we put +out from Plymouth with five ships and a +motley company. It was a stolen expedition +in a manner of speaking; for we hoisted +our flag for Virginia, yet I think the meanest +scullion aboard knew that Guiana was +our port. For it was not politic to flout too +openly Philip of Spain; though we might fly +the Jolly Roger and overhaul his treasure-ships +on the high seas. For the Queen of +England, as she grew older grew craftier; +and would have any cat’s-paw to draw her +chestnuts out of the fire, and bear the brunt +of it as well, while she went free.</p> +<p class="pnext">We two Wats sailed with Sir Walter. +’Twas time, he said, his son should see the +world; and indeed it would have gone hard +with us to be left behind.</p> +<p class="pnext">It is wonderful to me now to recall how I +had learnt—yea, as though I had been English-born—to +hate the Spaniard, as though +he had been a rat or some such thing, and +no evil but merit in the slaying and despoiling +of him. And therein was shown the +folly and vanity of my youth; for not only +was the Spaniard a grave and majestic foe, +but he was of the faith my fathers had died +to defend. Yet of this I thought not at all +at the time, being indeed little better than +a heathen; for my lord, albeit he was religious +at heart, yet showed little of it in his +life, and troubled not at all about it in +others. Indeed, it is a strange thing to me +now to reflect that all who led that wild life +had yet some measure of religion; for then +the days of the cold-heart and the mocker +had not yet begun.</p> +<p class="pnext">I remember as we made the voyage how +Wat and I used to gather at night about the +mast to hear the sailors tell stories and sing +songs. There was one, Jonas Tittlebat, of +Devizes, who was our favorite story-teller of +them all, and I doubt not our favorite stories +were of the slaying of Spaniards and +sacking of their ships. It was as though +one should inure a tender child to the +shambles. For we grew to love the talk of +blood, and to desire to see and smell and +taste it; and I remember how at the end of +the recitals Wat and I used to sit and pant, +facing each other like a pair of tiger-cats, +with the lust of blood in our hearts. For +though we had been brought up simply and +innocently the evil was there, only awaiting +the breath that should fan it to a flame, and +the fostering hands that would not let it +go out.</p> +<p class="pnext">Many weeks, even months, were we sailing +till we came in sight of land, and for some +days before this the southwesterly wind +had brought us many an earnest of the +beautiful country, brilliant and strange +leaves, and plumes, and shells, and flowers, +drifting to us over the phosphorescent +water which at night made the sea a dance +of silver.</p> +<p class="pnext">Of my lord we saw little during the voyage. +He was ever busy with his maps and +charts in the cabin, observing the motion +of his compasses, and studying the stars by +night. Or else he was writing; and often +it made me wonder to see how he, so greatly +in love with action and energy, could +yet content himself so many hours with +the pen.</p> +<p class="pnext">As we sailed up the river the beauty of it +struck us dumb. I saw my lord stand in +the bows of the vessel and drink in hungrily +the beauty of that land. Exceedingly fertile +it seemed, nor can I describe it better +than in his own words.</p> +<p class="pnext">“I never imagined a more beautiful country +nor more lively prospects,” he wrote; +“hills so raised here and there over the valleys; +the river winding into divers branches; +the plains adjoining without bush or stubble, +but all fair, green grass; the deer crossing +in every path; the birds towards the +evening singing on every tree with a thousand +several tunes, cranes and herons of +white, crimson, and carnation, perching on +the river’s side; the air fresh with a gentle +easterly wind, and every stone that we +stooped to take up promised either gold or +silver by his complexion.”</p> +<p class="pnext">We sailed even into the golden city of +Manoa, and there saw the houses with their +strange carvings, and their cups and drinking-vessels +of precious metal; and the marvellous +temple with its hundred images +of beaten gold, the eyes of diamonds, and +with necklets of rubies large as pigeon’s +eggs, and garments sewn with pearls and +emeralds.</p> +<p class="pnext">The poor Indians who possessed these +treasures were a mild and gentle race, ignorant +of how greatly men’s passions were inflamed +by gold and gems, which to them +were common matters. They were no savages, +but a nation with a certain knowledge +of the arts and a civilization after their own +manner; and it was touching to see how +kindly and sweetly they welcomed the white +man among them, although indeed in the +ships were to be found some of the worst +rascals that ever sailed out of Plymouth. +However, fear of my lord kept this rascaldom +in check; for he loved the Indians, and +made it a matter with the Queen that in +any expedition to the Guianas there should +be no ill-treatment of the gentle race. Indeed +he believed honestly that he were better +their master than Spain, and so had less +compunction in seeking their treasures.</p> +<p class="pnext">But now a larger expedition was needed, +and one that would have the Queen’s sanction; +and so having feasted our eyes on the +delights of this enchanting country we +turned our ships for home, bearing with us +gifts of gems and gold with which the Indians +had loaded us, and also great stores of +roots and plants and many strange matters.</p> +<p class="pnext">We were not bent on any adventure, for +my lord thought only of gaining the Queen’s +ear, displaying to her the earnest he brought +of the treasures of Guiana, and returning +thither as fast as might be after fitting out +a large fleet of ships; and then of taking +possession in the Queen’s name. For +greater even than his passion for adventure +were his love of England and hatred +of Spain; and the new policy of pleasing +King Philip he loathed with all his heart.</p> +<p class="pnext">The homeward voyage therefore he spent +in writing for the Queen’s eye an account of +Guiana, which afterwards he magnified into +his book “<em class="italics">On the Discovery of the large, +rich, and beautiful Empire of Guiana, with +a relation of the great and Golden City of +Manoa, which the Spaniards call El Dorado, +and the Provinces of Emeria, Arromaia, +Amapaia, and other Countries, with their +Rivers adjoining</em>.”</p> +<p class="pnext">So we were left again to the story-telling +about the mast; and this grew more violent +and rank with blood, as though the sight of +so much treasure as we had left behind us +had inflamed the minds of the tellers. Yea, +we ate and drank blood, it seems to me, +now looking back on those recitals; and were +thus prepared for what followed.</p> +<p class="pnext">For lo, one evening we saw far off upon +the waters the shape of a great ship. Her +poop was high out of the water, and apart +from her size she was easy to be seen, for +as the night gathered she blazed with candles +so that she was like a fiery thing upon +the waters.</p> +<p class="pnext">Then there was such a confusion and excitement +on the ships as never have I seen +surpassed. My lord had left his books, and +standing by the prow of the Bon Aventure +gazed through his telescope upon that far-away +vision that hung like a great golden +bird against the purple of the after-sunset. +There was no doubt in any mind that she +was a Spanish galleon by her high poop and +her great decks above the water. She was +indeed none other than the famous treasure-ship, +Nuestra Señora del Pilar, and she was +riding without any escort.</p> +<p class="pnext">We extinguished every light we had +aboard the ships, and in cover of the darkness +we crept upon her. She was big as a +little town, it seemed to me; and for all she +was so gayly lit she slept well, for we crept +up under her stern, and there was no cry +from her lookout. At last we were so near +that I could see the image of the Holy Virgin +at her masthead, and the lamp burning +before it. But the image said nothing to +me then.</p> +<p class="pnext">The great ship was almost motionless on +the dark water. Indeed I wondered if she +had cast anchor, so still she was; yet how +cast anchor in so many fathoms of water?</p> +<p class="pnext">With much care and muffling of our oars +we now took to the boats, and as fast as the +boats filled they rowed towards the ship. +The boat in which I was came up by the +poop. I looked above me in wonder at all +the rows of carven saints and angels, as it +were the hierarchy of heaven. Over the +side a rope swung noiselessly, as though it +had been left there for our purpose. We +clambered up it one after another and stood +on deck, where was not a living soul, and +this puzzled us not a little. But the bulwarks +were set round with carven images in +little niches, and each had its lamp, and the +like on every deck; and that was how the +illumination had come.</p> +<p class="pnext">I looked round on the shipmen in the +light of the many shrines. Some had the +brown and wholesome faces of seamen, +and though they looked fierce and blood-thirsty +enough, were yet no worse than +any fighting man. But others were no better +than Algerine pirates, and carried a +knife in their teeth and their pistols at full +cock, and were as ready to slay and murder +as any evil beast. For my lord had sailed +with but a handful of his own men amid the +scum of Plymouth rascaldom.</p> +<p class="pnext">Yet even these did the silence of the +great ship somewhat appal. And for myself, +though I was as ready for murder and +rapine as any, yet was I given pause; and +hearing my lord’s whisper at my elbow, I +turned and looked at him. “What do you +make of it, Wat?” he asked. “Do you +think it is a trap?”</p> +<p class="pnext">But ere I could answer him a figure came +up the stairway from the cabin. It was an +old man, very tall, and in the garb of a +white friar, just such another as I had left +sleeping in St. Mary’s Tower. The likeness +sent a thrill of terror through me. The old +man saw us not. He carried a taper in his +hand; he was going round doubtless to replenish +the lamps if they had gone out. The +light from the taper showed a face of much +benignancy—an old, kind face. The cowl +had fallen back, and the silver tonsure +gleamed in the light.</p> +<p class="pnext">Suddenly some one stirred in our midst, +and all at once he knew that we were there. +He opened his lips as though to speak. +Then some of those pirates were upon him. +I saw him lift the great crucifix that hung +by his side between them and him. Then +he was down, and the knives were hewing +him. I thought no more on it, though it +turned me sick an instant.</p> +<p class="pnext">The ship now swarmed with our men +rushing hither and thither in search of +treasure. Some were seizing the silver +lamps before the shrines, others were tearing +down the images. A rush of men swept +me from my feet and down the cabin stairs, +and I grasped my sword tighter. But here +was no enemy. Only rich garments flung +hither and thither in the silk-hung rooms, +and many signs of the ship having been deserted +in haste.</p> +<p class="pnext">I would have gone further, leaving the +place to those who were tearing it to pieces, +dragging down the hangings, kicking open +the cedar-wood lockers, and pouring the +precious wine they found there down their +throats; I would have gone further had not +my lord prevented me.</p> +<p class="pnext">“Come up on deck, Wat,” he said; “there +is a scent of death here that sickens me. I +am glad I left my boy on the Bon Aventure.”</p> +<p class="pnext">He dragged me with him. We were +hardly up in the pure air before there was +a scream from the mad herd below that +turned one cold to hear; and as though the +devil pursued them they came clambering +up the hatches and staircases white as +death, and sobered, and began flinging +themselves off the sides of the vessel into +their boats.</p> +<p class="pnext">“They would leave us here, Wat, to the +terror, whatever it may be,” said my lord, +“if I had not had with me by good fortune +a handful of mine own shipmates. Ah, +Gregory Dabchick”—seizing one—“what +white devil hast thou seen below-stairs?”</p> +<p class="pnext">“If you please, none, Captain,” cried +Dabchick, his breath sobbing; “but a worse +thing. There are half a dozen corpses below +there, dead of the smallpox. ’Tis a +floating pest-house, my lord, and the place +reeks with death.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“Ah,” said Sir Walter, as we stood waiting +for the mob to get off the ship, “the +monk would have told us so if those dogs +had not murdered him. Doubtless he remained +behind when the others fled away, +to nurse the living and bury the dead, and +solaced himself, poor soul, by setting candles +to his saints.”</p> +<p class="pnext">Ere we were put into Plymouth town +again there were eighty of our hundred dead +of the smallpox; and I was carried ashore +more dead than alive, to be nursed back to +health by the Lady Raleigh’s ministering +hands.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-vii-our-last-years-together"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id8"><span class="invisible pageno target" title="99" id="page-99"> </span>CHAPTER VII.—OUR LAST YEARS TOGETHER.</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">I came out of that illness no longer the +youth I had been; for God used the things +that had happened me to make a change +in my heart. I went very near to death, +and I came back to life very grievously disfigured, +yea, as though I had been slashed +criss-cross with swords, and the sight of one +of mine eyes gone. Nevermore should I +ruffle it with gallants; and indeed it seemed +a bitter and cruel thing to the boy, this ruin +of comeliness, so that for long the bitterness +was greater than death, yet since then +the man has learned to thank the Hand that +wielded that most merciful rod.</p> +<p class="pnext">I was yet but a moping thing, creeping up +heavily from death to life, when my lord +sailed on that expedition to Cadiz with the +Lord Admiral Thomas Howard and his old-time +enemy the Lord Essex, which brought +such glory to the English name. I think +there was but one part of my old self remained +alive in me, and that was my love +for Sir Walter, which is wrought so inextricably +within the chords of my being that +nothing shall disentangle it.</p> +<p class="pnext">I had been sick to death during that time +when Sir Walter had wrestled vainly with +the Queen for an expedition to Guiana, and +been discomfited. For truly her will was +brass and iron; nothing for man, however +great, to prevail against, and for long her +face had been turned away from him, and +seemed like to remain so.</p> +<p class="pnext">I was getting well, with no heart to +recover, when the reports came of the +Cadiz expedition. It was glorious summer +weather, and my Lady Raleigh, whose patience +was more than human with me, would +have me carried to the lawn under shade of +trees; and there laid on my pillows I would +listen to her proud recitals of her lord’s +heroic deeds.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was on the 21st of June that the fleet +entered Cadiz Harbor. My lord was on +board the Water Sprite; and he had no +sooner entered than he received the fire of +seventeen great galleons. But as though +she had been indeed spirit and not body, the +Sprite went unharmed. Raleigh blew his +trumpets upon them in a great blare of defiance. +Near at hand lay the St. Philip and +the St. Andrew, the two ships foremost in +that attack on the Revenge in which the +brave Sir Richard Greville had fallen. +“These,” wrote he, “were the marks I shot +at, being resolved to be revenged for the +Revenge, or to second her with my own +life.... Having no hope of my fly-boats +to board, and the Earl and my Lord Thomas +having both promised to second me, I laid +out a way by the side of the Philip to +shake hands with her, for with the wind we +could not get aboard; which when she and +the rest perceived they all let slip and ran +aground, tumbling into the sea heaps of soldiers +as thick as if coals had been poured +out of a sack in many parts at once, some +drowned and some sticking in the mud. The +Philip burned itself, the St. Andrew and the +St. Matthew were recovered by our boats ere +they could get out to fire them. The +spectacle was very lamentable, for many +drowned themselves; many, half-burned, +leaped into the water; very many hanging +by the rope’s end by the ship’s side, under +the water even to the lips; many swimming +with grievous wounds, and withal so huge a +fire and so great a tearing of ordnance in +the great Philip and the rest, when the fire +came to them, as if a man had a desire to +see Hell itself it was there most lively figured. +Ourselves spared the lives of all after +the victory, but the Flemings, who did little +or nothing in the fight, used merciless +slaughter, till they were by myself, and +afterwards by the Lord Admiral, beaten +off.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“The poor Spaniards!” cried my Lady +Raleigh with tears, even while she was +proudest; but as for me, I had no heart to +rejoice or to be sorry, being so marred myself, +and scarce anything alive in me except +my love for her lord, and even that pulsed +faintly.</p> +<p class="pnext">He came home to be hailed with such +cheers and shouts by the common people as +pleased the Queen but little, for she liked +not to be eclipsed by a subject. Besides, the +victory gave her little treasure; and she +grew more and more miserly. Though my +lord was glorious with wounds, she even refused +to look upon him, which led me to +say, as I have said often since, that the +greatness of those Tudors lay chiefly in +their hard usage of those who made them +great. However, there was to gauge a +deeper depth when the Stuart came to England’s +throne.</p> +<p class="pnext">I had feared my lord’s face when he came +to look on me in my disfigurement, for he +loved beauty, so that I scarcely dared to lift +my one sound eye to his. Yet when I had +found courage to do so I found nothing but +love in his regard, and he embraced me as a +father might, kissing my seamed cheek and +calling me his dear lad. And young Walter +likewise; for in the years that followed, during +which we continued the tender friendship +that had sprung up between us at the +first, I have never once seen in his manner +that pity which I could not have borne.</p> +<p class="pnext">But the end of our misfortunes was not +yet. Elizabeth died, and the son of Mary +of Scotland succeeded; and now my lord anticipated +no more ill than came, for the +Stuart truckled to King Philip as never a +Tudor had done, and ’twas like the Spaniard’s +first demand would be that the most +glorious of his enemies should be laid away +beyond power of annoying him more. So it +was that presently my lord was accused of +being joined with the Lord Cobham in a +plot to bring the Lady Arabella Stuart to +the throne, and was cast into the Tower.</p> +<p class="pnext">Then began that long martyrdom which +is the everlasting disgrace of the meanest of +Kings. He had made friends with his +mother’s slayer. What was to be looked for +from him? But to shut an eagle in a cage, +to clip a sea-bird’s wings, to confine in a little +space the noblest, freest spirit that lived, +and the loyalist to England! This remained +for Mary Stuart’s son to do.</p> +<p class="pnext">There was no end to that imprisonment. +Again I went with him to the Tower; while +my lady had a lodging without the walls. +Young Walter still fought, as his father had +before him, the battles of England by land +and sea. And I was my lord’s squire in the +Tower, and had as much glory and love in +it as though ’twere the Field of Cloth of +Gold.</p> +<p class="pnext">For now I was to witness the greatness of +his spirit. When it had been borne in upon +him that this imprisonment was like to have +no end, he fretted not as he did in those two +months long ago, but solaced his heart by +the writing of that great <em class="italics">History of the +World</em> which remains his monument. Also +religion came sweetly to his aid, for that +which had been out of sight in his wild, +seafaring days now leaped up like a flame. +Indeed never have I seen a greater tranquillity. +He also occupied himself with the distilling +of sweet waters and medicinal herbs; +and the Governor of the Tower, who loved +him, permitted that his still should be set +up in the Governor’s garden, where also he +took up again his old gardening ways. Indeed +he kept his pain as being a captive out +of sight after the first, and contented himself +heroically; although his lady, poor soul, +deafened the court with her prayers for her +brave Wat, as though it were not the Spaniard +who had turned the key upon him.</p> +<p class="pnext">Nor yet was he forgotten by his old lovers, +the common people. They waited in +crowds to see him walk upon the terrace. +The sailors shouted for him as the ships +came up the river. As the years passed, and +his feats became a legend, ladies and cavaliers +came praying from the lieutenant of +the Tower a word with the lion-heart. Still +he wore his velvets and silks and damasks; +still he blazed with jewels: no dusty prisoner, +but a splendid knight, pacing the terrace +while summers and winters went.</p> +<p class="pnext">Even the Queen came thither with her +young son begging his “strawberry water” +to cure her of an ailment; and if the mother +returned not it was not so with the son. +The young Prince Henry came again and +again, and being a youth of high and generous +spirit, loved my lord in time near as +well as we did, who had seen his glories. +“None save my father,” he quoth bitterly, +“would have kept such a bird in a cage.”</p> +<p class="pnext">His relation with my lord came in time to +be as that of master and pupil, for he would +pace with him for hours while my lord discoursed +on the arts of peace and war and +the duties of a prince to his subjects. So +great grew the tenderness between them +that I doubt not if the young Prince had +lived my lord would have stood at his right +hand. But that was not to be: he died untimely, +and the last prayer on his lips was +for the freeing of his friend.</p> +<p class="pnext">The dead Prince’s prayer was forgotten; +but presently when the King wanted money +he remembered the treasures of Guiana and +those gifts my lord had brought to Queen +Elizabeth. ’Twas as mean a bargain as ever +was made. My lord was to have his liberty. +He was to find the money for the ships and +the men; but whatever treasure the gold +mines in the Orinoco yielded was to fall to +the King. On these conditions, and that +he was not to meddle with the Spaniards, +my lord set out. I went with him; and +young Walter also sailed. He who had +been a noble and gallant youth was now +become a noble and gallant man, and my +lord had great hopes of him; but, alas, +Death mows down the fairest and the most +promising.</p> +<p class="pnext">From the first the thing was ill-fated. +We were not so far sailed when fever broke +out and ravaged the ships. Now there is +nothing like a pestilence for breaking the +heart and reducing the spirit in men; and +ere ever we reached Guiana shores there +was grumbling a-shipboard and mutiny in +the air. And when we were come there it +was to find the Spaniards, with forces of +ships and men guarding the mouth of the +river; for all our secrets had been betrayed +to them.</p> +<p class="pnext">Nor would it matter what force the Spaniards +had, nor would any murmur have +arisen if but the Captain had been at our +head. But he, alas, was laid low by the +sickness; and his men without him as a +shepherdless flock that is driven hither and +thither and blown upon by winds of confusion. +For when they found the Spanish +defences they cried out that they had been +betrayed, and would go no further.</p> +<p class="pnext">Then young Walter, that inheritor of all +braveries, leaped to the front and offered +to creep ashore, past the line of the Spaniards, +and reach the mines if so he might, +and return with reports upon them. Also +Captain Keymis, one of the bravest of +Raleigh’s seamen, would go with him. With +tender embracings and partings did father +and son say farewell, that never were to +look on each other in this life again. For +a party of Spaniards did set upon our dear +Wat and his brave companion, together with +the little force that went with them; and +shouting to his men to come on, Wat fell, +hacked to pieces by Spanish swords.</p> +<p class="pnext">Captain Keymis escaped to bring back +the tale of disaster and a report that there +was no gold to be had at the mines now, +whatever had been. So the men murmured +more; though my lord, sick as he was, would +himself go in search of the mines and in +pursuit of the Spaniards that had slain his +son. But none would follow him.</p> +<p class="pnext">Then, broken-hearted, the lion of England +at last turned his back on his promised +land and set sail for England to meet his +death at last. He had better have died +fighting the Spaniards, yet that his men +would not permit; and I think none of them +guessed that they brought him home to his +death.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-viii-an-unravelled-thread"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id9"><span class="invisible pageno target" title="113" id="page-113"> </span>CHAPTER VIII.—AN UNRAVELLED THREAD.</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">Once again we were in the dolorous +Tower, and this time there was no returning. +They arrested him at Plymouth on +the moment of his landing. As though they +could never slay him fast enough, he was +put on his trial and found guilty of abusing +the King’s confidence and injuring the subjects +of Spain, and condemned to death on +the old sentence.</p> +<p class="pnext">Perhaps they thought if they were not +speedy that the people would not suffer it. +To kill a Raleigh was better sport than +witch-burning, yet they hardly paused from +their torture of innocent crones and helpless +girls to see the lion die. One grace they +gave him—that his body was to be spared +the last indignities and to be handed over +to his wife for burial where she would. “It +is well, Bess,” he said to her, rallying her, +“thou mayst dispose of that dead which +thou hadst not always the disposal of when +living.”</p> +<p class="pnext">The last night he lived he spoke with me +of my birth. I then told him that I had +held the secret all those years. “Yet you +stayed, Wat,” he said gently, “though I +was the enemy of your people.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“But ever my most dear and admired +lord,” I made answer.</p> +<p class="pnext">Then he told me how he had always intended +that I should have his portion of the +Desmond inheritance, together with certain +jewels and plate which he had hidden in a +secret place in the garden at Youghall; but +he had been obliged by sore necessity to +give six thousand acres to the Lord Boyle, +who was now Earl of Cork. Another six +thousand the Lord Boyle was to hold in +trust for me. “The deeds are safe,” he +said, “and he is bound fast. If he will not +disgorge, you must even make him.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“Alas, to what end?” I asked, “seeing +that by my name I am an outlawed man.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“You might be the King’s Fitzmaurice,” +he said, hesitatingly.</p> +<p class="pnext">“My dear lord,” I made answer, “tomorrow +morn I am done with earthly hopes. +Am I one to go to court, or to present myself +to my people, if people I yet possess?”</p> +<p class="pnext">“Why, Wat,” he said gently, “I think +others might love that seamed face of yours +since I do so greatly. What will you do? +Will you comfort my lady?”</p> +<p class="pnext">“If she needs me,” I made answer.</p> +<p class="pnext">“I think she will go to her own folk,” +he said.</p> +<p class="pnext">“Then I shall be free to do what I will.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“And that, Wat?”</p> +<p class="pnext">“Seek out a hermitage far from the +world.”</p> +<p class="pnext">“It is truest wisdom,” he said. “I was +not born to be quiet or else I might wish +that I had found wisdom in my time.”</p> +<p class="pnext">But he asked me nothing more of what I +meant to do, although he placed the deeds +in my hands to carry to the Lord Boyle. I +think he had so done with this world that +but for his lady’s sake he had been glad his +doom was at hand. Think on it! He had +been twelve years in that Tower, who could +never abide the least shackle, however +gentle.</p> +<p class="pnext">While yet I was with him he writ this +verse and gave it me with a smile:</p> +<blockquote><div> +<div class="line-block outermost"> +<div class="line">Even such is He that takes in trust</div> +<div class="inner line-block"> +<div class="line">Our youth, our joys, our all we have</div> +</div> +<div class="line">And pays us but with earth and dust;</div> +<div class="inner line-block"> +<div class="line">Who in the dark and silent grave,</div> +</div> +<div class="line">When we have wandered all our ways</div> +<div class="line">Shuts up the story of our days;</div> +<div class="line">But from this earth, this grave, this dust,</div> +<div class="line">My God shall raise me up, I trust.</div> +</div> +</div></blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">The next morning I helped to caparison +him as for his wedding. Such gay trappings +for death were never seen, such rose-pink +silk, bediamonded, such white velvet, such +white leathern shoes with rosettes of rubies. +Then once again I saw my lord young and +glad, and so full of jests that it grieved the +good Dean of Westminster to hear him, for +he thought it a light spirit in which to +meet death.</p> +<p class="pnext">Throngs of people crowded the palace-yard +of Westminster to see him for the last +time. He smiled upon them happily while +he spoke his farewells to them.</p> +<p class="pnext">“I thank God,” he said, “that He hath +brought me into the light to die, and hath +not suffered me to die in the dark prison of +the Tower, where I have known a great deal +of misery and sickness. And I thank God +that my fever hath not taken me at this +time, as I prayed Him it might not, that I +might clear myself of some accusations laid +to my charge unjustly, and leave behind me +the testimony of a true heart both to my +King and country.” Then he held the +crowd spellbound while he spoke in his defence, +and when he had finished, none +moved, but they all pressed closer to him as +though they could not bear to leave him.</p> +<p class="pnext">At last he sent them away himself. “I +have a long journey to go,” he said, “therefore +must I take my leave of you.”</p> +<p class="pnext">Afterwards he tried the temper of the +axe, passing his finger along the edge. +“’Tis a sharp medicine,” he said; “but one +that will cure me of all my diseases.”</p> +<p class="pnext">The sheriff asked him which way he +would lay himself upon the block. “So as +the heart be right,” he said, “it matters +not which way the head lies.” Then he laid +himself down; and since the headsman +feared to strike, and well he might fear, my +lord himself hurried him. “Strike, man, +strike!” he cried; and in an instant the +noblest head in England rolled upon the +ground.</p> +<p class="pnext">So ended the glorious Sir Walter Raleigh; +and musing on that end and on the wrongs +he suffered at the hands of Queen Elizabeth, +I am often led to wonder that men should +raise kings and queens over them to work +such ill. For it seems to me that the great +days of England were not made by Elizabeth +Tudor or Harry, her sire, but by the +great men who stood around them, and +whom so often they sent to their death. +Raleigh followed Essex by a space of less +than a score years, both suffering execution; +and I pray that in another world these two +are friends who jostled each other in this, +but came alike to the headsman’s block. +The Tudors were too fond of beheading; but +they, at least, sent their friends to the block +and took the shame. I notice in these +Stuarts something more treacherous—that +they permit the slaying, and then will rend +their garments.</p> +<p class="pnext">However, what have I to do with bitterness? +No sooner was my lord laid in the +grave than I set out to visit my Lord Boyle; +and being a great man now, his name carried +me safely where I had not gone without. He +received me with great honor as a friend +of Sir Walter Raleigh, and entertained me +well; but never a word he spoke concerning +that trust. However, I will not wrong him, +for I left him after all without saying farewell. +I was little minded to dispute with +him the possession of those acres; but I +paid a visit by stealth to the garden of the +Manor-house, and there dug up the treasure +of which Sir Walter had warned me, and +conveyed it privily on board my vessel.</p> +<p class="pnext">It had to be done piecemeal, for I trusted +none but myself; but when my sea-chests +held all those chalices and monstrances and +golden candlesticks, we weighed anchor one +night of storm, and sailed from Youghall +without so much as farewell to my Lord +Boyle. However, it comforted him doubtless +that I never spoke of the trust, but +disappeared from his world that stormy +night as though I had gone on a witch’s +broomstick.</p> +<p class="pnext">I had fain given mine uncle’s bones +burial, but that might not be; so I left him +in the consecrated place where he had lain +so many years—to the birds of heaven and +the angels.</p> +<p class="pnext">But for myself, I and my sea-chests were +put ashore at a little French town, from +whence in due time I made my way to +Douai, and restored the treasure to Her +from whom it had been taken. And since +Tyburn Tree had so greatly added to the +glorious throng of the martyrs, and the +ranks were thinned of those who would follow +in their footsteps, I asked the Fathers +of the English College to accept me among +them, which of their graciousness they did; +for I was grown sick of the world. And who +cares that Father Walter is pock-pitted and +hath one blind eye?</p> +<p class="pnext">Once I had cared only to be of the flower +of knighthood. Now all my dream is that I +might some day earn that greeting of St. +Philip to my forerunners in these gray +halls—<em class="italics">Salvete, flos martyrum</em>!</p> +<div class="center line-block noindent outermost"> +<div class="line">PRINTED BY BENZIGER BROTHERS, NEW YORK.</div> +</div> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 5em"> +</div> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 35896 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |