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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Galley, by Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Last Galley
+       Impressions and Tales
+
+Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+Posting Date: March 11, 2009 [EBook #8727]
+Release Date: August, 2005
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST GALLEY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Lionel G. Sear
+
+
+
+
+
+THE LAST GALLEY
+
+IMPRESSIONS AND TALES
+
+By Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+
+I have written "Impressions and Tales" upon the title-page of this
+volume, because I have included within the same cover two styles of work
+which present an essential difference.
+
+The second half of the collection consists of eight stories, which
+explain themselves.
+
+The first half is made up of a series of pictures of the past which
+maybe regarded as trial flights towards a larger ideal which I have
+long had in my mind. It has seemed to me that there is a region
+between actual story and actual history which has never been adequately
+exploited. I could imagine, for example, a work dealing with some great
+historical epoch, and finding its interest not in the happenings to
+particular individuals, their adventures and their loves, but in the
+fascination of the actual facts of history themselves. These facts might
+be coloured with the glamour which the writer of fiction can give, and
+fictitious characters and conversations might illustrate them; but none
+the less the actual drama of history and not the drama of invention
+should claim the attention of the reader. I have been tempted sometimes
+to try the effect upon a larger scale; but meanwhile these short
+sketches, portraying various crises in the story of the human race, are
+to be judged as experiments in that direction.
+
+ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+WINDLESHAM, CROWBOROUGH, April, 1911.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  PART I
+
+     THE LAST GALLEY
+     THE CONTEST THROUGH THE VEIL
+     AN ICONOCLAST
+     GIANT MAXIMIN
+     THE COMING OF THE HUNS
+     THE LAST OF THE LEGIONS
+     THE FIRST CARGO
+     THE HOME-COMING
+     THE RED STAR
+
+
+
+  PART II
+
+     THE SILVER MIRROR
+     THE BLIGHTING OF SHARKEY
+     THE MARRIAGE OF THE BRIGADIER
+     THE LORD OF FALCONBRIDGE
+     OUT OF THE RUNNING
+     "DE PROFUNDIS"
+     THE GREAT BROWN-PERICORD MOTOR
+     THE TERROR OF BLUE JOHN GAP
+
+
+
+
+
+PART I. THE LAST GALLEY
+
+
+"Mutato nomine, de te, Britannia, fabula narratur."
+
+It was a spring morning, one hundred and forty-six years before the
+coming of Christ. The North African Coast, with its broad hem of golden
+sand, its green belt of feathery palm trees, and its background of
+barren, red-scarped hills, shimmered like a dream country in the opal
+light. Save for a narrow edge of snow-white surf, the Mediterranean lay
+blue and serene as far as the eye could reach. In all its vast expanse
+there was no break but for a single galley, which was slowly making its
+way from the direction of Sicily and heading for the distant harbour of
+Carthage.
+
+Seen from afar it was a stately and beautiful vessel, deep red in
+colour, double-banked with scarlet oars, its broad, flapping sail
+stained with Tyrian purple, its bulwarks gleaming with brass work. A
+brazen, three-pronged ram projected in front, and a high golden figure
+of Baal, the God of the Phoenicians, children of Canaan, shone upon the
+after deck. From the single high mast above the huge sail streamed the
+tiger-striped flag of Carthage. So, like some stately scarlet bird, with
+golden beak and wings of purple, she swam upon the face of the waters--a
+thing of might and of beauty as seen from the distant shore.
+
+But approach and look at her now! What are these dark streaks which foul
+her white decks and dapple her brazen shields? Why do the long red oars
+move out of time, irregular, convulsive? Why are some missing from the
+staring portholes, some snapped with jagged, yellow edges, some trailing
+inert against the side? Why are two prongs of the brazen ram twisted and
+broken? See, even the high image of Baal is battered and disfigured! By
+every sign this ship has passed through some grievous trial, some day of
+terror, which has left its heavy marks upon her.
+
+And now stand upon the deck itself, and see more closely the men who man
+her! There are two decks forward and aft, while in the open waist are
+the double banks of seats, above and below, where the rowers, two to
+an oar, tug and bend at their endless task. Down the centre is a narrow
+platform, along which pace a line of warders, lash in hand, who cut
+cruelly at the slave who pauses, be it only for an instant, to sweep the
+sweat from his dripping brow. But these slaves--look at them! Some are
+captured Romans, some Sicilians, many black Libyans, but all are in the
+last exhaustion, their weary eyelids drooped over their eyes, their
+lips thick with black crusts, and pink with bloody froth, their arms
+and backs moving mechanically to the hoarse chant of the overseer. Their
+bodies of all tints from ivory to jet, are stripped to the waist, and
+every glistening back shows the angry stripes of the warders. But it is
+not from these that the blood comes which reddens the seats and tints
+the salt water washing beneath their manacled feet. Great gaping wounds,
+the marks of sword slash and spear stab, show crimson upon their naked
+chests and shoulders, while many lie huddled and senseless athwart the
+benches, careless for ever of the whips which still hiss above them. Now
+we can understand those empty portholes and those trailing oars.
+
+Nor were the crew in better case than their slaves. The decks were
+littered with wounded and dying men. It was but a remnant who still
+remained upon their feet. The most lay exhausted upon the fore-deck,
+while a few of the more zealous were mending their shattered armour,
+restringing their bows, or cleaning the deck from the marks of combat.
+Upon a raised platform at the base of the mast stood the sailing-master
+who conned the ship, his eyes fixed upon the distant point of Megara
+which screened the eastern side of the Bay of Carthage. On the
+after-deck were gathered a number of officers, silent and brooding,
+glancing from time to time at two of their own class who stood apart
+deep in conversation. The one, tall, dark, and wiry, with pure, Semitic
+features, and the limbs of a giant, was Magro, the famous Carthaginian
+captain, whose name was still a terror on every shore, from Gaul to
+the Euxine. The other, a white-bearded, swarthy man, with indomitable
+courage and energy stamped upon every eager line of his keen, aquiline
+face, was Gisco the politician, a man of the highest Punic blood, a
+Suffete of the purple robe, and the leader of that party in the State
+which had watched and striven amid the selfishness and slothfulness of
+his fellow-countrymen to rouse the public spirit and waken the public
+conscience to the ever-increasing danger from Rome. As they talked, the
+two men glanced continually, with earnest anxious faces, towards the
+northern skyline.
+
+"It is certain," said the older man, with gloom in his voice and
+bearing, "none have escaped save ourselves."
+
+"I did not leave the press of the battle whilst I saw one ship which I
+could succour," Magro answered. "As it was, we came away, as you saw,
+like a wolf which has a hound hanging on to either haunch. The Roman
+dogs can show the wolf-bites which prove it. Had any other galley won
+clear, they would surely be with us by now, since they have no place of
+safety save Carthage."
+
+The younger warrior glanced keenly ahead to the distant point which
+marked his native city. Already the low, leafy hill could be seen,
+dotted with the white villas of the wealthy Phoenician merchants. Above
+them, a gleaming dot against the pale blue morning sky, shone the brazen
+roof of the citadel of Byrsa, which capped the sloping town.
+
+"Already they can see us from the watch-towers," he remarked. "Even from
+afar they may know the galley of Black Magro. But which of all of them
+will guess that we alone remain of all that goodly fleet which sailed
+out with blare of trumpet and roll of drum but one short month ago?"
+
+The patrician smiled bitterly. "If it were not for our great ancestors
+and for our beloved country, the Queen of the Waters," said he, "I could
+find it in my heart to be glad at this destruction which has come upon
+this vain and feeble generation. You have spent your life upon the seas,
+Magro. You do not know of know how it has been with us on the land. But
+I have seen this canker grow upon us which now leads us to our death.
+I and others have gone down into the market-place to plead with the
+people, and been pelted with mud for our pains. Many a time have
+I pointed to Rome, and said, 'Behold these people, who bear arms
+themselves, each man for his own duty and pride. How can you who hide
+behind mercenaries hope to stand against them?'--a hundred times I have
+said it."
+
+"And had they no answer?" asked the Rover.
+
+"Rome was far off and they could not see it, so to them it was nothing,"
+the old man answered. "Some thought of trade, and some of votes, and
+some of profits from the State, but none would see that the State
+itself, the mother of all things, was sinking to her end. So might the
+bees debate who should have wax or honey when the torch was blazing
+which would bring to ashes the hive and all therein. 'Are we not rulers
+of the sea?' 'Was not Hannibal a great man?' Such were their cries,
+living ever in the past and blind to the future. Before that sun sets
+there will be tearing of hair and rending of garments; what will that
+now avail us?"
+
+"It is some sad comfort," said Magro, "to know that what Rome holds she
+cannot keep."
+
+"Why say you that? When we go down, she is supreme in all the world."
+
+"For a time, and only for a time," Magro answered, gravely. "Yet you
+will smile, perchance, when I tell you how it is that I know it. There
+was a wise woman who lived in that part of the Tin Islands which juts
+forth into the sea, and from her lips I have heard many things, but not
+one which has not come aright. Of the fall of our own country, and even
+of this battle, from which we now return, she told me clearly. There is
+much strange lore amongst these savage peoples in the west of the land
+of Tin."
+
+"What said she of Rome?"
+
+"That she also would fall, even as we, weakened by her riches and her
+factions."
+
+Gisco rubbed his hands. "That at least makes our own fall less bitter,"
+said he. "But since we have fallen, and Rome will fall, who in turn may
+hope to be Queen of the Waters?"
+
+"That also I asked her," said Magro, "and gave her my Tyrian belt with
+the golden buckle as a guerdon for her answer. But, indeed, it was too
+high payment for the tale she told, which must be false if all else she
+said was true. She would have it that in coining days it was her own
+land, this fog-girt isle where painted savages can scarce row a wicker
+coracle from point to point, which shall at last take the trident which
+Carthage and Rome have dropped."
+
+The smile which flickered upon the old patrician's keen features died
+away suddenly, and his fingers closed upon his companion's wrist. The
+other had set rigid, his head advanced, his hawk eyes upon the northern
+skyline. Its straight, blue horizon was broken by two low black dots.
+
+"Galleys!" whispered Gisco.
+
+The whole crew had seen them. They clustered along the starboard
+bulwarks, pointing and chattering. For a moment the gloom of defeat was
+lifted, and a buzz of joy ran from group to group at the thought that
+they were not alone--that some one had escaped the great carnage as well
+as themselves.
+
+"By the spirit of Baal," said Black Magro, "I could not have believed
+that any could have fought clear from such a welter. Could it be young
+Hamilcar in the _Africa_, or is it Beneva in the blue Syrian ship? We
+three with others may form a squadron and make head against them yet. If
+we hold our course, they will join us ere we round the harbour mole."
+
+Slowly the injured galley toiled on her way, and more swiftly the two
+newcomers swept down from the north. Only a few miles off lay the
+green point and the white houses which flanked the great African city.
+Already, upon the headland, could be seen a dark group of waiting
+townsmen. Gisco and Magro were still watching with puckered gaze the
+approaching galleys, when the brown Libyan boatswain, with flashing
+teeth and gleaming eyes, rushed upon the poop, his long thin arm
+stabbing to the north.
+
+"Romans!" he cried. "Romans!"
+
+A hush had fallen over the great vessel. Only the wash of the water and
+the measured rattle and beat of the oars broke in upon the silence.
+
+"By the horns of God's altar, I believe the fellow is right!" cried old
+Gisco. "See how they swoop upon us like falcons. They are full-manned
+and full-oared."
+
+"Plain wood, unpainted," said Magro. "See how it gleams yellow where the
+sun strikes it."
+
+"And yonder thing beneath the mast. Is it not the cursed bridge they use
+for boarding?"
+
+"So they grudge us even one," said Magro with a bitter laugh. "Not even
+one galley shall return to the old sea-mother. Well, for my part, I
+would as soon have it so. I am of a mind to stop the oars and await
+them."
+
+"It is a man's thought," answered old Gisco; "but the city will need us
+in the days to come. What shall it profit us to make the Roman victory
+complete? Nay, Magro, let the slaves row as they never rowed before, not
+for our own safety, but for the profit of the State."
+
+So the great red ship laboured and lurched onwards, like a weary panting
+stag which seeks shelter from his pursuers, while ever swifter and ever
+nearer sped the two lean fierce galleys from the north. Already
+the morning sun shone upon the lines of low Roman helmets above the
+bulwarks, and glistened on the silver wave where each sharp prow shot
+through the still blue water. Every moment the ships drew nearer, and
+the long thin scream of the Roman trumpets grew louder upon the ear.
+
+Upon the high bluff of Megara there stood a great concourse of the
+people of Carthage who had hurried forth from the city upon the news
+that the galleys were in sight. They stood now, rich and poor, effete
+and plebeian, white Phoenician and dark Kabyle, gazing with breathless
+interest at the spectacle before them. Some hundreds of feet beneath
+them the Punic galley had drawn so close that with their naked eyes
+they could see those stains of battle which told their dismal tale. The
+Romans, too, were heading in such a way that it was before their very
+faces that their ship was about to be cut off; and yet of all this
+multitude not one could raise a hand in its defence. Some wept in
+impotent grief, some cursed with flashing eyes and knotted fists, some
+on their knees held up appealing hands to Baal; but neither prayer,
+tears, nor curses could undo the past nor mend the present. That broken,
+crawling galley meant that their fleet was gone. Those two fierce
+darting ships meant that the hands of Rome were already at their throat.
+Behind them would come others and others, the innumerable trained hosts
+of the great Republic, long mistress of the land, now dominant also
+upon the waters. In a month, two months, three at the most, their armies
+would be there, and what could all the untrained multitudes of Carthage
+do to stop them?
+
+"Nay!" cried one, more hopeful than the rest, "at least we are brave men
+with arms in our hands."
+
+"Fool!" said another, "is it not such talk which has brought us to our
+ruin? What is the brave man untrained to the brave man trained? When
+you stand before the sweep and rush of a Roman legion you may learn the
+difference."
+
+"Then let us train!"
+
+"Too late! A full year is needful to turn a man to a soldier. Where
+will you--where will your city be within the year? Nay, there is but one
+chance for us. If we give up our commerce and our colonies, if we strip
+ourselves of all that made us great, then perchance the Roman conqueror
+may hold his hand."
+
+And already the last sea-fight of Carthage was coming swiftly to an end
+before them. Under their very eyes the two Roman galleys had shot in,
+one on either side of the vessel of Black Magro. They had grappled with
+him, and he, desperate in his despair, had cast the crooked flukes of
+his anchors over their gunwales, and bound them to him in an iron
+grip, whilst with hammer and crowbar he burst great holes in his own
+sheathing. The last Punic galley should never be rowed into Ostia, a
+sight for the holiday-makers of Rome. She would lie in her own waters.
+And the fierce, dark soul of her rover captain glowed as he thought that
+not alone should she sink into the depths of the mother sea.
+
+Too late did the Romans understand the man with whom they had to deal.
+Their boarders who had flooded the Punic decks felt the planking sink
+and sway beneath them. They rushed to gain their own vessels; but they,
+too, were being drawn downwards, held in the dying grip of the great red
+galley. Over they went and ever over. Now the deck of Magro's ship is
+flush with the water, and the Romans, drawn towards it by the iron bonds
+which held them, are tilted downwards, one bulwark upon the waves, one
+reared high in the air. Madly they strain to cast off the death grip
+of the galley. She is under the surface now, and ever swifter, with
+the greater weight, the Roman ships heel after her. There is a rending
+crash. The wooden side is torn out of one, and mutilated, dismembered,
+she rights herself, and lies a helpless thing upon the water. But a last
+yellow gleam in the blue water shows where her consort has been dragged
+to her end in the iron death-grapple of her foemen. The tiger-striped
+flag of Carthage has sunk beneath the swirling surface, never more to be
+seen upon the face of the sea.
+
+For in that year a great cloud hung for seventeen days over the African
+coast, a deep black cloud which was the dark shroud of the burning city.
+And when the seventeen days were over, Roman ploughs were driven from
+end to end of the charred ashes, and salt was scattered there as a sign
+that Carthage should be no more. And far off a huddle of naked, starving
+folk stood upon the distant mountains, and looked down upon the desolate
+plain which had once been the fairest and richest upon earth. And they
+understood too late that it is the law of heaven that the world is given
+to the hardy and to the self-denying, whilst he who would escape the
+duties of manhood will soon be stripped of the pride, the wealth, and
+the power, which are the prizes which manhood brings.
+
+
+
+
+THE CONTEST.
+
+
+In the year of our Lord 66, the Emperor Nero, being at that time in the
+twenty-ninth year of his life and the thirteenth of his reign, set sail
+for Greece with the strangest company and the most singular design that
+any monarch has ever entertained. With ten galleys he went forth
+from Puteoli, carrying with him great stores of painted scenery and
+theatrical properties, together with a number of knights and senators,
+whom he feared to leave behind him at Rome, and who were all marked for
+death in the course of his wanderings. In his train he took Natus, his
+singing coach; Cluvius, a man with a monstrous voice, who should bawl
+out his titles; and a thousand trained youths who had learned to applaud
+in unison whenever their master sang or played in public. So deftly had
+they been taught that each had his own role to play. Some did no more
+than give forth a low deep hum of speechless appreciation. Some clapped
+with enthusiasm. Some, rising from approbation into absolute frenzy,
+shrieked, stamped, and beat sticks upon the benches. Some--and they
+were the most effective--had learned from an Alexandrian a long droning
+musical note which they all uttered together, so that it boomed over the
+assembly. With the aid of these mercenary admirers, Nero had every hope,
+in spite of his indifferent voice and clumsy execution, to return
+to Rome, bearing with him the chaplets for song offered for free
+competition by the Greek cities. As his great gilded galley with two
+tiers of oars passed down the Mediterranean, the Emperor sat in his
+cabin all day, his teacher by his side, rehearsing from morning to
+night those compositions which he had selected, whilst every few hours
+a Nubian slave massaged the Imperial throat with oil and balsam, that it
+might be ready for the great ordeal which lay before it in the land of
+poetry and song. His food, his drink, and his exercise were prescribed
+for him as for an athlete who trains for a contest, and the twanging of
+his lyre, with the strident notes of his voice, resounded continually
+from the Imperial quarters.
+
+Now it chanced that there lived in those days a Grecian goatherd named
+Policles, who tended and partly owned a great flock which grazed upon
+the long flanks of the hills near Heroea, which is five miles north of
+the river Alpheus, and no great distance from the famous Olympia. This
+person was noted all over the countryside as a man of strange gifts and
+singular character. He was a poet who had twice been crowned for his
+verses, and he was a musician to whom the use and sound of an instrument
+were so natural that one would more easily meet him without his staff
+than his harp. Even in his lonely vigils on the winter hills he would
+bear it always slung over his shoulder, and would pass the long hours
+by its aid, so that it had come to be part of his very self. He was
+beautiful also, swarthy and eager, with a head like Adonis, and in
+strength there was no one who could compete with him. But all was
+ruined by his disposition, which was so masterful that he would brook
+no opposition nor contradiction. For this reason he was continually at
+enmity with all his neighbours, and in his fits of temper he would spend
+months at a time in his stone hut among the mountains, hearing nothing
+from the world, and living only for his music and his goats.
+
+One spring morning, in the year of 67, Policles, with the aid of his
+boy Dorus, had driven his goats over to a new pasturage which overlooked
+from afar the town of Olympia. Gazing down upon it from the mountain,
+the shepherd was surprised to see that a portion of the famous
+amphitheatre had been roofed in, as though some performance was being
+enacted. Living far from the world and from all news, Policles could
+not imagine what was afoot, for he was well aware that the Grecian
+games were not due for two years to come. Surely some poetic or musical
+contest must be proceeding of which he had heard nothing. If so, there
+would perhaps be some chance of his gaining the votes of the judges; and
+in any case he loved to hear the compositions and admire the execution
+of the great minstrels who assembled on such an occasion. Calling to
+Dorus, therefore, he left the goats to his charge, and strode swiftly
+away, his harp upon his back, to see what was going forward in the town.
+
+When Policles came into the suburbs, he found them deserted; but he was
+still more surprised when he reached the main street to see no single
+human being in the place. He hastened his steps, therefore, and as he
+approached the theatre he was conscious of a low sustained hum which
+announced the concourse of a huge assembly. Never in all his dreams had
+he imagined any musical competition upon so vast a scale as this. There
+were some soldiers clustering outside the door; but Policles pushed his
+way swiftly through them, and found himself upon the outskirts of the
+multitude who filled the great space formed by roofing over a portion of
+the national stadium. Looking around him, Policles saw a great number of
+his neighbours, whom he knew by sight, tightly packed upon the benches,
+all with their eyes fixed upon the stage. He also observed that there
+were soldiers round the walls, and that a considerable part of the hall
+was filled by a body of youths of foreign aspect, with white gowns
+and long hair. All this he perceived; but what it meant he could not
+imagine. He bent over to a neighbour to ask him, but a soldier prodded
+him at once with the butt end of his spear, and commanded him fiercely
+to hold his peace. The man whom he had addressed, thinking that Policles
+had demanded a seat, pressed closer to his neighbour, and so the
+shepherd found himself sitting at the end of the bench which was nearest
+to the door. Thence he concentrated himself upon the stage, on which
+Metas, a well-known minstrel from Corinth and an old friend of Policles,
+was singing and playing without much encouragement from the audience.
+To Policles it seemed that Metas was having less than his due, so he
+applauded loudly, but he was surprised to observe that the soldiers
+frowned at him, and that all his neighbours regarded him with some
+surprise. Being a man of strong and obstinate character, he was the more
+inclined to persevere in his clapping when he perceived that the general
+sentiment was against him.
+
+But what followed filled the shepherd poet with absolute amazement.
+When Metas of Corinth had made his bow and withdrawn to half-hearted and
+perfunctory applause, there appeared upon the stage, amid the wildest
+enthusiasm upon the part of the audience, a most extraordinary figure.
+He was a short fat man, neither old nor young, with a bull neck and a
+round, heavy face, which hung in creases in front like the dewlap of an
+ox. He was absurdly clad in a short blue tunic, braced at the waist
+with a golden belt. His neck and part of his chest were exposed, and his
+short, fat legs were bare from the buskins below to the middle of his
+thighs, which was as far as his tunic extended. In his hair were two
+golden wings, and the same upon his heels, after the fashion of the
+god Mercury. Behind him walked a negro bearing a harp, and beside him
+a richly dressed officer who bore rolls of music. This strange creature
+took the harp from the hands of the attendant, and advanced to the front
+of the stage, whence he bowed and smiled to the cheering audience. "This
+is some foppish singer from Athens," thought Policles to himself, but
+at the same time he understood that only a great master of song could
+receive such a reception from a Greek audience. This was evidently some
+wonderful performer whose reputation had preceded him. Policles settled
+down, therefore, and prepared to give his soul up to the music.
+
+The blue-clad player struck several chords upon his lyre, and then burst
+suddenly out into the "Ode of Niobe." Policles sat straight up on his
+bench and gazed at the stage in amazement. The tune demanded a rapid
+transition from a low note to a high, and had been purposely chosen for
+this reason. The low note was a grunting, a rumble, the deep discordant
+growling of an ill-conditioned dog. Then suddenly the singer threw up
+his face, straightened his tubby figure, rose upon his tiptoes, and
+with wagging head and scarlet cheeks emitted such a howl as the same dog
+might have given had his growl been checked by a kick from his master.
+All the while the lyre twanged and thrummed, sometimes in front of and
+sometimes behind the voice of the singer. But what amazed Policles most
+of all was the effect of this performance upon the audience. Every Greek
+was a trained critic, and as unsparing in his hisses as he was lavish
+in his applause. Many a singer far better than this absurd fop had been
+driven amid execration and abuse from the platform. But now, as the
+man stopped and wiped the abundant sweat from his fat face, the whole
+assembly burst into a delirium of appreciation. The shepherd held his
+hands to his bursting head, and felt that his reason must be leaving
+him. It was surely a dreadful musical nightmare, and he would wake soon
+and laugh at the remembrance. But no; the figures were real, the faces
+were those of his neighbours, the cheers which resounded in his ears
+were indeed from an audience which filled the theatre of Olympia.
+The whole chorus was in full blast, the hummers humming, the shouters
+bellowing, the tappers hard at work upon the benches, while every now
+and then came a musical cyclone of "Incomparable! Divine!" from the
+trained phalanx who intoned their applause, their united voices sweeping
+over the tumult as the drone of the wind dominates the roar of the sea.
+It was madness--insufferable madness! If this were allowed to pass,
+there was an end of all musical justice in Greece. Policles' conscience
+would not permit him to be still. Standing upon his bench with waving
+hands and upraised voice, he protested with all the strength of his
+lungs against the mad judgment of the audience.
+
+At first, amid the tumult, his action was hardly noticed. His voice was
+drowned in the universal roar which broke out afresh at each bow and
+smirk from the fatuous musician. But gradually the folk round Policles
+ceased clapping, and stared at him in astonishment. The silence grew in
+ever widening circles, until the whole great assembly sat mute, staring
+at this wild and magnificent creature who was storming at them from his
+perch near the door.
+
+"Fools!" he cried. "What are you clapping at? What are you cheering? Is
+this what you call music? Is this cat-calling to earn an Olympian prize?
+The fellow has not a note in his voice. You are either deaf or mad, and
+I for one cry shame upon you for your folly."
+
+Soldiers ran to pull him down, and the whole audience was in confusion,
+some of the bolder cheering the sentiments of the shepherd, and others
+crying that he should be cast out of the building. Meanwhile the
+successful singer having handed his lyre to his negro attendant, was
+inquiring from those around him on the stage as to the cause of the
+uproar. Finally a herald with an enormously powerful voice stepped
+forward to the front and proclaimed that if the foolish person at the
+back of the hall, who appeared to differ from the opinion of the rest
+of the audience, would come forward upon the platform, he might, if he
+dared, exhibit his own powers, and see if he could outdo the admirable
+and wonderful exhibition which they had just had the privilege of
+hearing.
+
+Policles sprang readily to his feet at the challenge, and the great
+company making way for him to pass, he found himself a minute later
+standing in his unkempt garb, with his frayed and weather-beaten harp in
+his hand, before the expectant crowd. He stood for a moment tightening
+a string here and slackening another there until his chords rang
+true. Then, amid a murmur of laughter and jeers from the Roman benches
+immediately before him, he began to sing.
+
+He had prepared no composition, but he had trained himself to improvise,
+singing out of his heart for the joy of the music. He told of the land
+of Elis, beloved of Jupiter, in which they were gathered that day, of
+the great bare mountain slopes, of the swift shadows of the clouds, of
+the winding blue river, of the keen air of the uplands, of the chill of
+the evenings, and the beauties of earth and sky. It was all simple and
+childlike, but it went to the hearts of the Olympians, for it spoke
+of the land which they knew and loved. Yet when he at last dropped his
+hand, few of them dared to applaud, and their feeble voices were drowned
+by a storm of hisses and groans from his opponents. He shrank back in
+horror from so unusual a reception, and in an instant his blue-clad
+rival was in his place. If he had sung badly before, his performance
+now was inconceivable. His screams, his grunts, his discords, and harsh
+jarring cacophanies were an outrage to the very name of music. And yet
+every time that he paused for breath or to wipe his streaming forehead a
+fresh thunder of applause came rolling back from the audience. Policles
+sank his face in his hands and prayed that he might not be insane.
+Then, when the dreadful performance ceased, and the uproar of admiration
+showed that the crown was certainly awarded to this impostor, a horror
+of the audience, a hatred of this race of fools, and a craving for the
+peace and silence of the pastures mastered every feeling in his mind. He
+dashed through the mass of people waiting at the wings, and emerged
+in the open air. His old rival and friend Metas of Corinth was waiting
+there with an anxious face.
+
+"Quick, Policles, quick!" he cried. "My pony is tethered behind yonder
+grove. A grey he is, with red trappings. Get you gone as hard as hoof
+will bear you, for if you are taken you will have no easy death."
+
+"No easy death! What mean you, Metas? Who is the fellow?"
+
+"Great Jupiter! did you not know? Where have you lived? It is Nero
+the Emperor! Never would he pardon what you have said about his voice.
+Quick, man, quick, or the guards will be at your heels!"
+
+An hour later the shepherd was well on his way to his mountain home, and
+about the same time the Emperor, having received the Chaplet of Olympia
+for the incomparable excellence of his performance, was making inquiries
+with a frowning brow as to who the insolent person might be who had
+dared to utter such contemptuous criticisms.
+
+"Bring him to me here this instant," said he, "and let Marcus with his
+knife and branding-iron be in attendance."
+
+"If it please you, great Caesar," said Arsenius Platus, the officer of
+attendance, "the man cannot be found, and there are some very strange
+rumours flying about."
+
+"Rumours!" cried the angry Nero. "What do you mean, Arsenius? I tell you
+that the fellow was an ignorant upstart, with the bearing of a boor and
+the voice of a peacock. I tell you also that there are a good many who
+are as guilty as he among the people, for I heard them with my own ears
+raise cheers for him when he had sung his ridiculous ode. I have half
+a mind to burn their town about their ears so that they may remember my
+visit."
+
+"It is not to be wondered at if he won their votes, Caesar," said the
+soldier, "for from what I hear it would have been no disgrace had you,
+even you, been conquered in this conquest."
+
+"I conquered! You are mad, Arsenius. What do you mean?"
+
+"None know him, great Caesar! He came from the mountains, and he
+disappeared into the mountains. You marked the wildness and strange
+beauty of his face. It is whispered that for once the great god Pan has
+condescended to measure himself against a mortal."
+
+The cloud cleared from Nero's brow. "Of course, Arsenius! You are right!
+No man would have dared to brave me so. What a story for Rome! Let
+the messenger leave this very night, Arsenius, to tell them how their
+Emperor has upheld their honour in Olympia this day."
+
+
+
+
+THROUGH THE VEIL.
+
+
+He was a great shock-headed, freckle-faced Borderer, the lineal
+descendant of a cattle-thieving clan in Liddesdale. In spite of his
+ancestry he was as solid and sober a citizen as one would wish to see, a
+town councillor of Melrose, an elder of the Church, and the chairman of
+the local branch of the Young Men's Christian Association. Brown was his
+name--and you saw it printed up as "Brown and Handiside" over the
+great grocery stores in the High Street. His wife, Maggie Brown, was an
+Armstrong before her marriage, and came from an old farming stock in
+the wilds of Teviothead. She was small, swarthy, and dark-eyed, with a
+strangely nervous temperament for a Scotch woman. No greater contrast
+could be found than the big tawny man and the dark little woman; but
+both were of the soil as far back as any memory could extend.
+
+One day--it was the first anniversary of their wedding--they had driven
+over together to see the excavations of the Roman Fort at Newstead. It
+was not a particularly picturesque spot. From the northern bank of the
+Tweed, just where the river forms a loop, there extends a gentle slope
+of arable land. Across it run the trenches of the excavators, with here
+and there an exposure of old stonework to show the foundations of the
+ancient walls. It had been a huge place, for the camp was fifty acres
+in extent, and the fort fifteen. However, it was all made easy for them
+since Mr. Brown knew the farmer to whom the land belonged. Under his
+guidance they spent a long summer evening inspecting the trenches, the
+pits, the ramparts, and all the strange variety of objects which were
+waiting to be transported to the Edinburgh Museum of Antiquities. The
+buckle of a woman's belt had been dug up that very day, and the farmer
+was discoursing upon it when his eyes fell upon Mrs. Brown's face.
+
+"Your good leddy's tired," said he. "Maybe you'd best rest a wee before
+we gang further."
+
+Brown looked at his wife. She was certainly very pale, and her dark eyes
+were bright and wild.
+
+"What is it, Maggie? I've wearied you. I'm thinkin' it's time we went
+back."
+
+"No, no, John, let us go on. It's wonderful! It's like a dreamland
+place. It all seems so close and so near to me. How long were the Romans
+here, Mr. Cunningham?"
+
+"A fair time, mam. If you saw the kitchen midden-pits you would guess it
+took a long time to fill them."
+
+"And why did they leave?"
+
+"Well, mam, by all accounts they left because they had to. The folk
+round could thole them no longer, so they just up and burned the fort
+aboot their lugs. You can see the fire marks on the stanes."
+
+The woman gave a quick little shudder. "A wild night--a fearsome night,"
+said she. "The sky must have been red that night--and these grey stones,
+they may have been red also."
+
+"Aye, I think they were red," said her husband. "It's a queer thing,
+Maggie, and it may be your words that have done it; but I seem to see
+that business aboot as clear as ever I saw anything in my life. The
+light shone on the water."
+
+"Aye, the light shone on the water. And the smoke gripped you by the
+throat. And all the savages were yelling."
+
+The old farmer began to laugh. "The leddy will be writin' a story aboot
+the old fort," said he. "I've shown many a one over it, but I never
+heard it put so clear afore. Some folk have the gift."
+
+They had strolled along the edge of the foss, and a pit yawned upon the
+right of them.
+
+"That pit was fourteen foot deep," said the farmer. "What d'ye think we
+dug oot from the bottom o't? Weel, it was just the skeleton of a man wi'
+a spear by his side. I'm thinkin' he was grippin' it when he died. Now,
+how cam' a man wi' a spear doon a hole fourteen foot deep? He wasna'
+buried there, for they aye burned their dead. What make ye o' that,
+mam?"
+
+"He sprang doon to get clear of the savages," said the woman.
+
+"Weel, it's likely enough, and a' the professors from Edinburgh couldna
+gie a better reason. I wish you were aye here, mam, to answer a' oor
+difficulties sae readily. Now, here's the altar that we foond last week.
+There's an inscreeption. They tell me it's Latin, and it means that the
+men o' this fort give thanks to God for their safety."
+
+They examined the old worn stone. There was a large deeply-cut "VV" upon
+the top of it. "What does 'VV' stand for?" asked Brown.
+
+"Naebody kens," the guide answered.
+
+"_Valeria Victrix_," said the lady softly. Her face was paler than ever,
+her eyes far away, as one who peers down the dim aisles of overarching
+centuries.
+
+"What's that?" asked her husband sharply.
+
+She started as one who wakes from sleep. "What were we talking about?"
+she asked.
+
+"About this 'VV' upon the stone."
+
+"No doubt it was just the name of the Legion which put the altar up."
+
+"Aye, but you gave some special name."
+
+"Did I? How absurd! How should I ken what the name was?"
+
+"You said something--'_Victrix_,' I think."
+
+"I suppose I was guessing. It gives me the queerest feeling, this place,
+as if I were not myself, but someone else."
+
+"Aye, it's an uncanny place," said her husband, looking round with an
+expression almost of fear in his bold grey eyes. "I feel it mysel'. I
+think we'll just be wishin' you good evenin', Mr. Cunningham, and get
+back to Melrose before the dark sets in."
+
+Neither of them could shake off the strange impression which had been
+left upon them by their visit to the excavations. It was as if some
+miasma had risen from those damp trenches and passed into their blood.
+All the evening they were silent and thoughtful, but such remarks as
+they did make showed that the same subject was in the minds of each.
+Brown had a restless night, in which he dreamed a strange connected
+dream, so vivid that he woke sweating and shivering like a frightened
+horse. He tried to convey it all to his wife as they sat together at
+breakfast in the morning.
+
+"It was the clearest thing, Maggie," said he. "Nothing that has ever
+come to me in my waking life has been more clear than that. I feel as if
+these hands were sticky with blood."
+
+"Tell me of it--tell me slow," said she.
+
+"When it began, I was oot on a braeside. I was laying flat on the
+ground. It was rough, and there were clumps of heather. All round me
+was just darkness, but I could hear the rustle and the breathin' of men.
+There seemed a great multitude on every side of me, but I could see
+no one. There was a low chink of steel sometimes, and then a number of
+voices would whisper 'Hush!' I had a ragged club in my hand, and it had
+spikes o' iron near the end of it. My heart was beatin' quickly, and I
+felt that a moment of great danger and excitement was at hand. Once I
+dropped my club, and again from all round me the voices in the darkness
+cried, 'Hush!' I put oot my hand, and it touched the foot of another
+man lying in front of me. There was some one at my very elbow on either
+side. But they said nothin'.
+
+"Then we all began to move. The whole braeside seemed to be crawlin'
+downwards. There was a river at the bottom and a high-arched wooden
+bridge. Beyond the bridge were many lights--torches on a wall. The
+creepin' men all flowed towards the bridge. There had been no sound
+of any kind, just a velvet stillness. And then there was a cry in the
+darkness, the cry of a man who has been stabbed suddenly to the hairt.
+That one cry swelled out for a moment, and then the roar of a thoosand
+furious voices. I was runnin'. Every one was runnin'. A bright red light
+shone out, and the river was a scarlet streak. I could see my companions
+now. They were more like devils than men, wild figures clad in skins,
+with their hair and beards streamin'. They were all mad with rage,
+jumpin' as they ran, their mouths open, their arms wavin', the red light
+beatin' on their faces. I ran, too, and yelled out curses like the rest.
+Then I heard a great cracklin' of wood, and I knew that the palisades
+were doon. There was a loud whistlin' in my ears, and I was aware that
+arrows were flyin' past me. I got to the bottom of a dyke, and I saw a
+hand stretched doon from above. I took it, and was dragged to the top.
+We looked doon, and there were silver men beneath us holdin' up their
+spears. Some of our folk sprang on to the spears. Then we others
+followed, and we killed the soldiers before they could draw the spears
+oot again. They shouted loud in some foreign tongue, but no mercy was
+shown them. We went ower them like a wave, and trampled them doon into
+the mud, for they were few, and there was no end to our numbers.
+
+"I found myself among buildings, and one of them was on fire. I saw the
+flames spoutin' through the roof. I ran on, and then I was alone among
+the buildings. Some one ran across in front o' me. It was a woman. I
+caught her by the arm, and I took her chin and turned her face so as the
+light of the fire would strike it. Whom think you that it was, Maggie?"
+
+His wife moistened her dry lips. "It was I," she said.
+
+He looked at her in surprise. "That's a good guess," said he. "Yes,
+it was just you. Not merely like you, you understand. It was you--you
+yourself. I saw the same soul in your frightened eyes. You looked white
+and bonny and wonderful in the firelight. I had just one thought in my
+head--to get you awa' with me; to keep you all to mysel' in my own home
+somewhere beyond the hills. You clawed at my face with your nails. I
+heaved you over my shoulder, and I tried to find a way oot of the light
+of the burning hoose and back into the darkness.
+
+"Then came the thing that I mind best of all. You're ill, Maggie. Shall
+I stop? My God! You nave the very look on your face that you had last
+night in my dream. You screamed. He came runnin' in the firelight. His
+head was bare; his hair was black and curled; he had a naked sword in
+his hand, short and broad, little more than a dagger. He stabbed at me,
+but he tripped and fell. I held you with one hand, and with the other--"
+
+His wife had sprung to her feet with writhing features.
+
+"Marcus!" she cried. "My beautiful Marcus! Oh, you brute! you brute! you
+brute!" There was a clatter of tea-cups as she fell forward senseless
+upon the table.
+
+They never talk about that strange isolated incident in their married
+life. For an instant the curtain of the past had swung aside, and some
+strange glimpse of a forgotten life had come to them. But it closed
+down, never to open again. They live their narrow round--he in his shop,
+she in her household--and yet new and wider horizons have vaguely formed
+themselves around them since that summer evening by the crumbling Roman
+fort.
+
+
+
+
+AN ICONOCLAST.
+
+
+It was daybreak of a March morning in the year of Christ 92. Outside
+the long Semita Alta was already thronged with people, with buyers and
+sellers, callers and strollers, for the Romans were so early-rising a
+people that many a Patrician preferred to see his clients at six in the
+morning. Such was the good republican tradition, still upheld by the
+more conservative; but with more modern habits of luxury, a night of
+pleasure and banqueting was no uncommon thing. Thus one, who had learned
+the new and yet adhered to the old, might find his hours overlap, and
+without so much as a pretence of sleep come straight from his night of
+debauch into his day of business, turning with heavy wits and an aching
+head to that round of formal duties which consumed the life of a Roman
+gentleman.
+
+So it was with Emilius Flaccus that March morning. He and his fellow
+senator, Caius Balbus, had passed the night in one of those gloomy
+drinking bouts to which the Emperor Domitian summoned his chosen friends
+at the high palace on the Palatine. Now, having reached the portals of
+the house of Flaccus, they stood together under the pomegranate-fringed
+portico which fronted the peristyle and, confident in each other's tried
+discretion, made up by the freedom of their criticism for their long
+self-suppression of that melancholy feast.
+
+"If he would but feed his guests," said Balbus, a little red-faced,
+choleric nobleman with yellow-shot angry eyes. "What had we? Upon my
+life, I have forgotten. Plovers' eggs, a mess of fish, some bird or
+other, and then his eternal apples."
+
+"Of which," said Flaccus, "he ate only the apples. Do him the justice to
+confess that he takes even less than he gives. At least they cannot say
+of him as of Vitellius, that his teeth beggared the empire."
+
+"No, nor his thirst either, great as it is. That fiery Sabine wine of
+his could be had for a few sesterces the amphora. It is the common drink
+of the carters at every wine-house on the country roads. I longed for
+a glass of my own rich Falernian or the mellow Coan that was bottled in
+the year that Titus took Jerusalem. Is it even now too late? Could we
+not wash this rasping stuff from our palates?"
+
+"Nay, better come in with me now and take a bitter draught ere you go
+upon your way. My Greek physician Stephanos has a rare prescription for
+a morning head. What! Your clients await you? Well, I will see you later
+at the Senate house."
+
+The Patrician had entered his atrium, bright with rare flowers, and
+melodious with strange singing birds. At the jaws of the hall, true to
+his morning duties, stood Lebs, the little Nubian slave, with snow-white
+tunic and turban, a salver of glasses in one hand, whilst in the other
+he held a flask of a thin lemon-tinted liquid. The master of the house
+filled up a bitter aromatic bumper, and was about to drink it off, when
+his hand was arrested by a sudden perception that something was much
+amiss in his household. It was to be read all around him--in the
+frightened eyes of the black boy, in the agitated face of the keeper of
+the atrium, in the gloom and silence of the little knot of ordinarii,
+the procurator or major-domo at their head, who had assembled to greet
+their master. Stephanos the physician, Cleios the Alexandrine reader,
+Promus the steward each turned his head away to avoid his master's
+questioning gaze.
+
+"What in the name of Pluto is the matter with you all?" cried the amazed
+senator, whose night of potations had left him in no mood for patience.
+"Why do you stand moping there? Stephanos, Vacculus--is anything amiss?
+Here, Promus, you are the head of my household. What is it, then? Why do
+you turn your eyes away from me?"
+
+The burly steward, whose fat face was haggard and mottled with anxiety,
+laid his hand upon the sleeve of the domestic beside him.
+
+"Sergius is responsible for the atrium, my lord. It is for him to tell
+you the terrible thing that has befallen in your absence."
+
+"Nay, it was Datus who did it. Bring him in, and let him explain it
+himself," said Sergius in a sulky voice.
+
+The patience of the Patrician was at an end. "Speak this instant,
+you rascal!" he shouted angrily. "Another minute, and I will have you
+dragged to the ergastulum, where, with your feet in the stocks and the
+gyves round your wrists, you may learn quicker obedience. Speak, I say,
+and without delay."
+
+"It is the Venus," the man stammered; "the Greek Venus of Praxiteles."
+
+The senator gave a cry of apprehension and rushed to the corner of the
+atrium, where a little shrine, curtained off by silken drapery, held the
+precious statue, the greatest art treasure of his collection--perhaps
+of the whole world. He tore the hangings aside and stood in speechless
+anger before the outraged goddess. The red perfumed lamp which always
+burned before her had been spilled and broken; her altar fire had
+been quenched, her chaplet had been dashed aside. But worst of
+all--insufferable sacrilege!--her own beautiful nude body of glistening
+Pantelic marble, as white and fair as when the inspired Greek had hewed
+it out five hundred years before, had been most brutally mishandled.
+Three fingers of the gracious outstretched hand had been struck off, and
+lay upon the pedestal beside her. Above her delicate breast a dark mark
+showed, where a blow had disfigured the marble. Emilius Flaccus, the
+most delicate and judicious connoisseur in Rome, stood gasping and
+croaking, his hand to his throat, as he gazed at his disfigured
+masterpiece. Then he turned upon his slaves, his fury in his convulsed
+face; but, to his amazement, they were not looking at him, but had
+all turned in attitudes of deep respect towards the opening of the
+peristyle. As he faced round and saw who had just entered his house,
+his own rage fell away from him in an instant, and his manner became as
+humble as that of his servants.
+
+The newcomer was a man forty-three years of age, clean shaven, with a
+massive head, large engorged eyes, a small clear-cut nose, and the
+full bull neck which was the especial mark of his breed. He had entered
+through the peristyle with a swaggering, rolling gait, as one who walks
+upon his own ground, and now he stood, his hands upon his hips, looking
+round him at the bowing slaves, and finally at their master, with a
+half-humorous expression upon his flushed and brutal face.
+
+"Why, Emilius," said he, "I had understood that your household was the
+best-ordered in Rome. What is amiss with you this morning?"
+
+"Nothing could be amiss with us now that Caesar has deigned to come
+under my roof," said the courtier. "This is indeed a most glad surprise
+which you have prepared for me."
+
+"It was an afterthought," said Domitian. "When you and the others had
+left me, I was in no mood for sleep, and so it came into my mind that
+I would have a breath of morning air by coming down to you, and seeing
+this Grecian Venus of yours, about which you discoursed so eloquently
+between the cups. But, indeed, by your appearance and that of your
+servants, I should judge that my visit was an ill-timed one."
+
+"Nay, dear master; say not so. But, indeed, it is truth that I was in
+trouble at the moment of your welcome entrance, and this trouble was, as
+the Fates have willed it, brought forth by that very statue in which you
+have been graciously pleased to show your interest. There it stands, and
+you can see for yourself how rudely it has been mishandled."
+
+"By Pluto and all the nether gods, if it were mine some of you should
+feed the lampreys," said the Emperor, looking round with his fierce eyes
+at the shrinking slaves. "You were always overmerciful, Emilius. It is
+the common talk that your catenoe are rusted for want of use. But surely
+this is beyond all bounds. Let me see how you handle the matter. Whom do
+you hold responsible?"
+
+"The slave Sergius is responsible, since it is his place to tend the
+atrium," said Flaccus. "Stand forward, Sergius. What have you to say?"
+
+The trembling slave advanced to his master. "If it please you, sir, the
+mischief has been done by Datus the Christian."
+
+"Datus! Who is he?"
+
+"The matulator, the scavenger, my lord. I did not know that he belonged
+to these horrible people, or I should not have admitted him. He came
+with his broom to brush out the litter of the birds. His eyes fell upon
+the Venus, and in an instant he had rushed upon her and struck her two
+blows with his wooden besom. Then we fell upon him and dragged him away.
+But alas! alas! it was too late, for already the wretch had dashed off
+the fingers of the goddess."
+
+The Emperor smiled grimly, while the Patrician's thin face grew pale
+with anger.
+
+"Where is the fellow?" he asked.
+
+"In the ergastulum, your honour, with the furca on his neck."
+
+"Bring him hither and summon the household."
+
+A few minutes later the whole back of the atrium was thronged by the
+motley crowd who ministered to the household needs of a great Roman
+nobleman. There was the arcarius, or account keeper, with his stylum
+behind his ear; the sleek praegustator, who sampled all foods, so as to
+stand between his master and poison, and beside him his predecessor, now
+a half-witted idiot through the interception twenty years before of a
+datura draught from Canidia; the cellarman, summoned from amongst his
+amphorae; the cook, with his basting-ladle in his hand; the pompous
+nomenclator, who ushered the guests; the cubicularius, who saw to
+their accommodation; the silentiarius, who kept order in the house; the
+structor, who set forth the tables; the carptor, who carved the food;
+the cinerarius, who lit the fires--these and many more, half-curious,
+half-terrified, came to the judging of Datus. Behind them a chattering,
+giggling swarm of Lalages, Marias, Cerusas, and Amaryllides, from the
+laundries and the spinning-rooms, stood upon their tiptoes and extended
+their pretty wondering faces over the shoulders of the men. Through this
+crowd came two stout varlets leading the culprit between them. He was a
+small, dark, rough-headed man, with an unkempt beard and wild eyes which
+shone, brightly with strong inward emotion. His hands were bound behind
+him, and over his neck was the heavy wooden collar or furca which was
+placed upon refractory slaves. A smear of blood across his cheek showed
+that he had not come uninjured from the preceding scuffle.
+
+"Are you Datus the scavenger?" asked the Patrician.
+
+The man drew himself up proudly. "Yes," said he, "I am Datus."
+
+"Did you do this injury to my statue?"
+
+"Yes, I did."
+
+There was an uncompromising boldness in the man's reply which compelled
+respect. The wrath of his master became tinged with interest.
+
+"Why did you do this?" he asked.
+
+"Because it was my duty."
+
+"Why, then, was it your duty to destroy your master's property?"
+
+"Because I am a Christian." His eyes blazed suddenly out of his dark
+face. "Because there is no God but the one eternal, and all else are
+sticks and stones. What has this naked harlot to do with Him to whom the
+great firmament is but a garment and the earth a footstool? It was in
+His service that I have broken your statue."
+
+Domitian looked with a smile at the Patrician. "You will make nothing of
+him," said he. "They speak even so when they stand before the lions in
+the arena. As to argument, not all the philosophers of Rome can break
+them down. Before my very face they refuse to sacrifice in my honour.
+Never were such impossible people to deal with. I should take a short
+way with him if I were you."
+
+"What would Caesar advise?"
+
+"There are the games this afternoon. I am showing the new
+hunting-leopard which King Juba has sent from Numidia. This slave
+may give us some sport when he finds the hungry beast sniffing at his
+heels."
+
+The Patrician considered for a moment. He had always been a father to
+his servants. It was hateful to him to think of any injury befalling
+them. Perhaps even now, if this strange fanatic would show his sorrow
+for what he had done, it might be possible to spare him. At least it was
+worth trying.
+
+"Your offence deserves death," he said. "What reasons can you give why
+it should not befall you, since you have injured this statue, which is
+worth your own price a hundred times over?"
+
+The slave looked steadfastly at his master. "I do not fear death," he
+said. "My sister Candida died in the arena, and I am ready to do the
+same. It is true that I have injured your statue, but I am able to find
+you something of far greater value in exchange. I will give you the
+truth and the gospel in exchange for your broken idol."
+
+The Emperor laughed. "You will do nothing with him, Emilius," he said.
+"I know his breed of old. He is ready to die; he says so himself. Why
+save him, then?"
+
+But the Patrician still hesitated. He would make a last effort.
+
+"Throw off his bonds," he said to the guards. "Now take the furca off
+his neck. So! Now, Datus, I have released you to show you that I trust
+you. I have no wish to do you any hurt if you will but acknowledge your
+error, and so set a better example to my household here assembled."
+
+"How, then, shall I acknowledge my error?" the slave asked.
+
+"Bow your head before the goddess, and entreat her forgiveness for
+the violence you have done her. Then perhaps you may gain my pardon as
+well."
+
+"Put me, then, before her," said the Christian.
+
+Emilius Flaccus looked triumphantly at Domitian. By kindness and tact he
+was effecting that which the Emperor had failed to do by violence. Datus
+walked in front of the mutilated Venus. Then with a sudden spring he
+tore the baton out of the hand of one of his guardians, leaped upon the
+pedestal, and showered his blows upon the lovely marble woman. With
+a crack and a dull thud her right arm dropped to the ground. Another
+fierce blow and the left had followed. Flaccus danced and screamed
+with horror, while his servants dragged the raving iconoclast from his
+impassive victim. Domitian's brutal laughter echoed through the hall.
+
+"Well, friend, what think you now?" he cried. "Are you wiser than your
+Emperor? Can you indeed tame your Christian with kindness?"
+
+Emilius Flaccus wiped the sweat from his brow. "He is yours, great
+Caesar. Do with him as you will."
+
+"Let him be at the gladiators' entrance of the circus an hour before
+the games begin," said the Emperor. "Now, Emilius, the night has been a
+merry one. My Ligurian galley waits by the river quay. Come, cool your
+head with a spin to Ostia ere the business of State calls you to the
+Senate."
+
+
+
+
+GIANT MAXIMIN.
+
+
+
+
+I THE COMING OF MAXIMIN
+
+
+Many are the strange vicissitudes of history. Greatness has often sunk
+to the dust, and has tempered itself to its new surrounding. Smallness
+has risen aloft, has flourished for a time, and then has sunk once more.
+Rich monarchs have become poor monks, brave conquerors have lost their
+manhood, eunuchs and women have overthrown armies and kingdoms. Surely
+there is no situation which the mind of man can invent which has not
+taken shape and been played out upon the world stage. But of all the
+strange careers and of all the wondrous happenings, stranger than
+Charles in his monastery, or Justin on his throne, there stands the case
+of Giant Maximin, what he attained, and how he attained it. Let me tell
+the sober facts of history, tinged only by that colouring to which the
+more austere historians could not condescend. It is a record as well as
+a story.
+
+In the heart of Thrace some ten miles north of the Rhodope mountains,
+there is a valley which is named Harpessus, after the stream which runs
+down it. Through this valley lies the main road from the east to the
+west, and along the road, returning from an expedition against the
+Alani, there marched, upon the fifth day of the month of June in
+the year 210, a small but compact Roman army. It consisted of three
+legions--the Jovian, the Cappadocian, and the men of Hercules. Ten
+turmae of Gallic cavalry led the van, whilst the rear was covered by
+a regiment of Batavian Horse Guards, the immediate attendants of the
+Emperor Septimus Severus who had conducted the campaign in person. The
+peasants who lined the low hills which fringed the valley looked with
+indifference upon the long files of dusty, heavily-burdened infantry,
+but they broke into murmurs of delight at the gold-faced cuirasses
+and high brazen horse-hair helmets of the guardsmen, applauding their
+stalwart figures, their martial bearing, and the stately black chargers
+which they rode. A soldier might know that it was the little weary men
+with their short swords, their heavy pikes over their shoulders, and
+their square shields slung upon their backs, who were the real terror of
+the enemies of the Empire, but to the eyes of the wondering Thracians it
+was this troop of glittering Apollos who bore Rome's victory upon their
+banners, and upheld the throne of the purple-togaed prince who rode
+before them.
+
+Among the scattered groups of peasants who looked on from a respectful
+distance at this military pageant, there were two men who attracted
+much attention from those who stood immediately around them. The one was
+commonplace enough--a little grey-headed man, with uncouth dress and
+a frame which was bent and warped by a long life of arduous toil,
+goat-driving and wood-chopping among the mountains. It was the
+appearance of his youthful companion which had drawn the amazed
+observation of the bystanders. In stature he was such a giant as is
+seen but once or twice in each generation of mankind. Eight feet and two
+inches was his measure from his sandalled sole to the topmost curls of
+his tangled hair. Yet for all his mighty stature there was nothing heavy
+or clumsy in the man. His huge shoulders bore no redundant flesh, and
+his figure was straight and hard and supple as a young pine tree. A
+frayed suit of brown leather clung close to his giant body, and a cloak
+of undressed sheep-skin was slung from his shoulder. His bold blue
+eyes, shock of yellow hair and fair skin showed that he was of Gothic or
+northern blood, and the amazed expression upon his broad frank face as
+he stared at the passing troops told of a simple and uneventful life in
+some back valley of the Macedonian mountains.
+
+"I fear your mother was right when she advised that we keep you at
+home," said the old man anxiously. "Tree-cutting and wood-carrying will
+seem but dull work after such a sight as this."
+
+"When I see mother next it will be to put a golden torque round her
+neck," said the young giant. "And you, daddy; I will fill your leather
+pouch with gold pieces before I have done."
+
+The old man looked at his son with startled eyes. "You would not leave
+us, Theckla! What could we do without you?"
+
+"My place is down among yonder men," said the young man. "I was not born
+to drive goats and carry logs, but to sell this manhood of mine in the
+best market. There is my market in the Emperor's own Guard. Say nothing,
+daddy, for my mind is set, and if you weep now it will be to laugh
+hereafter. I will to great Rome with the soldiers."
+
+The daily march of the heavily laden Roman legionary was fixed at twenty
+miles; but on this afternoon, though only half the distance had been
+accomplished, the silver trumpets blared out their welcome news that a
+camp was to be formed. As the men broke their ranks, the reason of their
+light march was announced by the decurions. It was the birthday of Geta,
+the younger son of the Emperor, and in his honour there would be games
+and a double ration of wine. But the iron discipline of the Roman
+army required that under all circumstances certain duties should be
+performed, and foremost among them that the camp should be made secure.
+Laying down their arms in the order of their ranks, the soldiers seized
+their spades and axes, and worked rapidly and joyously until sloping
+vallum and gaping fossa girdled them round, and gave them safe refuge
+against a night attack. Then in noisy, laughing, gesticulating crowds
+they gathered in their thousands round the grassy arena where the sports
+were to be held. A long green hillside sloped down to a level plain, and
+on this gentle incline the army lay watching the strife of the chosen
+athletes who contended before them. They stretched themselves in the
+glare of the sunshine, their heavy tunics thrown off, and their naked
+limbs sprawling, wine-cups an baskets of fruit and cakes circling
+amongst them, enjoying rest and peace as only those can to whom it comes
+so rarely.
+
+The five-mile race was over, and had been won as usual by Decurion
+Brennus, the crack long-distance champion of the Herculians. Amid the
+yells of the Jovians, Capellus of the corps had carried off both the
+long and the high jump. Big Brebix the Gaul had out-thrown the long
+guardsman Serenus with the fifty pound stone. Now, as the sun sank
+towards the western ridge, and turned the Harpessus to a riband of gold,
+they had come to the final of the wrestling, where the pliant Greek,
+whose name is lost in the nickname of "Python," was tried out against
+the bull-necked Lictor of the military police, a hairy Hercules, whose
+heavy hand had in the way of duty oppressed many of the spectators.
+
+As the two men, stripped save for their loin-cloths, approached the
+wrestling-ring, cheers and counter-cheers burst from their adherents,
+some favouring the Lictor for his Roman blood, some the Greek from their
+own private grudge. And then, of a sudden, the cheering died, heads were
+turned towards the slope away from the arena, men stood up and peered
+and pointed, until finally, in a strange hush, the whole great assembly
+had forgotten the athletes, and were watching a single man walking
+swiftly towards them down the green curve of the hill. This huge
+solitary figure, with the oaken club in his hand, the shaggy fleece
+flapping from his great shoulders, and the setting sun gleaming upon a
+halo of golden hair, might have been the tutelary god of the fierce and
+barren mountains from which he had issued. Even the Emperor rose from
+his chair and gazed with open-eyed amazement at the extraordinary being
+who approached him.
+
+The man, whom we already know as Theckla the Thracian, paid no heed
+to the attention which he had aroused, but strode onwards, stepping as
+lightly as a deer, until he reached the fringe of the soldiers. Amid
+their open ranks he picked his way, sprang over the ropes which guarded
+the arena, and advanced towards the Emperor, until a spear at his breast
+warned him that he must go no nearer. Then he sunk upon his right knee
+and called out some words in the Gothic speech.
+
+"Great Jupiter! Whoever saw such a body of a man!" cried the Emperor.
+"What says he? What is amiss with the fellow? Whence comes he, and what
+is his name?"
+
+An interpreter translated the Barbarian's answer. "He says, great
+Caesar, that he is of good blood, and sprung by a Gothic father from a
+woman of the Alani. He says that his name is Theckla, and that he would
+fain carry a sword in Caesar's service."
+
+The Emperor smiled. "Some post could surely be found for such a man,
+were it but as janitor at the Palatine Palace," said he to one of the
+Prefects. "I would fain see him walk even as he is through the forum.
+He would turn the heads of half the women in Rome. Talk to him, Crassus.
+You know his speech."
+
+The Roman officer turned to the giant. "Caesar says that you are to come
+with him, and he will make you the servant at his door."
+
+The Barbarian rose, and his fair cheeks flushed with resentment.
+
+"I will serve Caesar as a soldier," said he, "but I will be
+house-servant to no man-not even to him. If Caesar would see what manner
+of man I am, let him put one of his guardsmen up against me."
+
+"By the shade of Milo this is a bold fellow!" cried the Emperor. "How
+say you, Crassus? Shall he make good his words?"
+
+"By your leave, Caesar," said the blunt soldier, "good swordsmen are too
+rare in these days that we should let them slay each other for sport.
+Perhaps if the Barbarian would wrestle a fall--"
+
+"Excellent!" cried the Emperor. "Here is the Python, and here Varus the
+Lictor, each stripped for the bout. Have a look at them, Barbarian, and
+see which you would choose. What does he say? He would take them both?
+Nay then he is either the king of wrestlers or the king of boasters,
+and we shall soon see which. Let him have his way, and he has himself to
+thank if he comes out with a broken neck."
+
+There was some laughter when the peasant tossed his sheep-skin mantle to
+the ground and, without troubling to remove his leathern tunic, advanced
+towards the two wrestlers; but it became uproarious when with a quick
+spring he seized the Greek under one arm and the Roman under the other,
+holding them as in a vice. Then with a terrific effort he tore them both
+from the ground, carried them writhing and kicking round the arena, and
+finally walking up to the Emperor's throne, threw his two athletes down
+in front of him. Then, bowing to Caesar, the huge Barbarian withdrew,
+and laid his great bulk down among the ranks of the applauding soldiers,
+whence he watched with stolid unconcern the conclusion of the sports.
+
+It was still daylight, when the last event had been decided, and the
+soldiers returned to the camp. The Emperor Severus had ordered his
+horse, and in the company of Crassus, his favourite prefect, rode down
+the winding pathway which skirts the Harpessus, chatting over the future
+dispersal of the army. They had ridden for some miles when Severus,
+glancing behind him, was surprised to see a huge figure which trotted
+lightly along at the very heels of his horse.
+
+"Surely this is Mercury as well as Hercules that we have found among
+the Thracian mountains," said he with a smile. "Let us see how soon our
+Syrian horses can out-distance him."
+
+The two Romans broke into a gallop, and did not draw rein until a good
+mile had been covered at the full pace of their splendid chargers. Then
+they turned and looked back; but there, some distance off, still
+running with a lightness and a spring which spoke of iron muscles and
+inexhaustible endurance, came the great Barbarian. The Roman Emperor
+waited until the athlete had come up to them.
+
+"Why do you follow me?" he asked. "It is my hope, Caesar, that I may
+always follow you." His flushed face as he spoke was almost level with
+that of the mounted Roman.
+
+"By the god of war, I do not know where in all the world I could find
+such a servant!" cried the Emperor. "You shall be my own body-guard, the
+one nearest to me of all."
+
+The giant fell upon his knee. "My life and strength are yours," he said.
+"I ask no more than to spend them for Caesar."
+
+Crassus had interpreted this short dialogue. He now turned to the
+Emperor.
+
+"If he is indeed to be always at your call, Caesar, it would be well to
+give the poor Barbarian some name which your lips can frame. Theckla is
+as uncouth and craggy a word as one of his native rocks."
+
+The Emperor pondered for a moment. "If I am to have the naming of him,"
+said he, "then surely I shall call him Maximus, for there is not such a
+giant upon earth."
+
+"Hark you," said the Prefect. "The Emperor has deigned to give you a
+Roman name, since you have come into his service. Henceforth you are no
+longer Theckla, but you are Maximus. Can you say it after me?"
+
+"Maximin," repeated the Barbarian, trying to catch the Roman word.
+
+The Emperor laughed at the mincing accent. "Yes, yes, Maximin let it
+be. To all the world you are Maximin, the body-guard of Severus. When
+we have reached Rome, we will soon see that your dress shall correspond
+with your office. Meanwhile march with the guard until you have my
+further orders."
+
+So it came about that as the Roman army resumed its march next day, and
+left behind it the fair valley of the Harpessus, a huge recruit, clad
+in brown leather, with a rude sheep-skin floating from his shoulders,
+marched beside the Imperial troop. But far away in the wooden farmhouse
+of a distant Macedonian valley two old country folk wept salt tears, and
+prayed to the gods for the safety of their boy who had turned his face
+to Rome.
+
+
+
+
+II THE RISE OF GIANT MAXIMIN
+
+
+Exactly twenty-five years had passed since the day that Theckla the huge
+Thracian peasant had turned into Maximin the Roman guardsman. They had
+not been good years for Rome. Gone for ever were the great Imperial days
+of the Hadrians and the Trajans. Gone also the golden age of the two
+Antonines, when the highest were for once the most worthy and most
+wise. It had been an epoch of weak and cruel men. Severus, the swarthy
+African, a stark grim man, had died in far away York, after fighting all
+the winter with the Caledonian Highlanders--a race who have ever
+since worn the martial garb of the Romans. His son, known only by his
+slighting nick-name of Caracalla, had reigned during six years of insane
+lust and cruelty, before the knife of an angry soldier avenged the
+dignity of the Roman name. The nonentity Macrinus had filled the
+dangerous throne for a single year before he also met a bloody end,
+and made room for the most grotesque of all monarchs, the unspeakable
+Heliogabalus with his foul mind and his painted face. He in turn was cut
+to pieces by the soldiers, and Severus Alexander, a gentle youth, scarce
+seventeen years of age, had been thrust into his place. For thirteen
+years now he had ruled, striving with some success to put some virtue
+and stability into the rotting Empire, but raising many fierce enemies
+as he did so-enemies whom he had not the strength nor the wit to hold in
+check.
+
+And Giant Maximin--what of him? He had carried his eight feet of manhood
+through the lowlands of Scotland, and the passes of the Grampians.
+He had seen Severus pass away, and had soldiered with his son. He
+had fought in Armenia, in Dacia, and in Germany. They had made him a
+centurion upon the field when with his hands he plucked out one by
+one the stockades of a northern village, and so cleared a path for
+the stormers. His strength had been the jest and the admiration of the
+soldiers. Legends about him had spread through the army and were the
+common gossip round the camp fires--of his duel with the German axeman
+on the Island of the Rhine, and of the blow with his fist which broke
+the leg of a Scythian's horse. Gradually he had won his way upwards,
+until now, after quarter of a century's service he was tribune of the
+fourth legion and superintendent of recruits for the whole army. The
+young soldier who had come under the glare of Maximin's eyes, or had
+been lifted up with one huge hand while he was cuffed by the other, had
+his first lesson from him in the discipline of the service.
+
+It was nightfall in the camp of the fourth legion upon the Gallic shore
+of the Rhine. Across the moonlit water, amid the thick forests which
+stretched away to the dim horizon, lay the wild untamed German tribes.
+Down on the river bank the light gleamed upon the helmets of the Roman
+sentinels who kept guard along the river. Far away a red point rose and
+fell in the darkness--a watch-fire of the enemy upon the further shore.
+
+Outside his tent, beside some smouldering logs, Giant Maximin was
+seated, a dozen of his officers around him. He had changed much since
+the day when we first met him in the Valley of the Harpessus. His huge
+frame was as erect as ever, and there was no sign of diminution of his
+strength. But he had aged none the less. The yellow tangle of hair was
+gone, worn down by the ever-pressing helmet. The fresh young face was
+drawn and hardened, with austere lines wrought by trouble and privation.
+The nose was more hawk-like, the eyes more cunning, the expression more
+cynical and more sinister. In his youth, a child would have run to
+his arms. Now it would shrink screaming from his gaze. That was what
+twenty-five years with the eagles had done for Theckla the Thracian
+peasant.
+
+He was listening now--for he was a man of few words--to the chatter of
+his centurions. One of them, Balbus the Sicilian, had been to the main
+camp at Mainz, only four miles away, and had seen the Emperor Alexander
+arrive that very day from Rome. The rest were eager at the news, for it
+was a time of unrest, and the rumour of great changes was in the air.
+
+"How many had he with him?" asked Labienus, a black-browed veteran from
+the south of Gaul. "I'll wager a month's pay that he was not so trustful
+as to come alone among his faithful legions."
+
+"He had no great force," replied Balbus. "Ten or twelve cohorts of the
+Praetorians and a handful of horse."
+
+"Then indeed his head is in the lion's mouth," cried Sulpicius, a
+hot-headed youth from the African Pentapolis. "How was he received?"
+
+"Coldly enough. There was scarce a shout as he came down the line."
+
+"They are ripe for mischief," said Labienus. "And who can wonder, when
+it is we soldiers who uphold the Empire upon our spears, while the lazy
+citizens at Rome reap all of our sowing. Why cannot a soldier have what
+a soldier gains? So long as they throw us our denarius a day, they think
+that they have done with us."
+
+"Aye," croaked a grumbling old greybeard. "Our limbs, our blood, our
+lives--what do they care so long as the Barbarians are held off, and
+they are left in peace to their feastings and their circus? Free bread,
+free wine, free games--everything for the loafer at Rome. For us the
+frontier guard and a soldier's fare."
+
+Maximin gave a deep laugh. "Old Plancus talks like that," said he; "but
+we know that for all the world he would not change his steel plate for a
+citizen's gown. You've earned the kennel, old hound, if you wish it. Go
+and gnaw your bone and growl in peace."
+
+"Nay, I am too old for change. I will follow the eagle till I die. And
+yet I had rather die in serving a soldier master than a long-gowned
+Syrian who comes of a stock where the women are men and the men are
+women."
+
+There was a laugh from the circle of soldiers, for sedition and mutiny
+were rife in the camp, and even the old centurion's outbreak could not
+draw a protest. Maximin raised his great mastiff head and looked at
+Balbus.
+
+"Was any name in the mouths of the soldiers?" he asked in a meaning
+voice.
+
+There was a hush for the answer. The sigh of the wind among the pines
+and the low lapping of the river swelled out louder in the silence.
+Balbus looked hard at his commander.
+
+"Two names were whispered from rank to rank," said he. "One was Ascenius
+Pollio, the General. The other was--"
+
+The fiery Sulpicius sprang to his feet waving a glowing brand above his
+head.
+
+"Maximinus!" he yelled, "Imperator Maximinus Augustus!"
+
+Who could tell how it came about? No one had thought of it an hour
+before. And now it sprang in an instant to full accomplishment. The
+shout of the frenzied young African had scarcely rung through the
+darkness when from the tents, from the watch-fires, from the sentries,
+the answer came pealing back: "Ave, Maximinus! Ave Maximinus Augustus!"
+From all sides men came rushing, half-clad, wild-eyed, their eyes
+staring, their mouths agape, flaming wisps of straw or flaring torches
+above their heads. The giant was caught up by scores of hands, and sat
+enthroned upon the bull-necks of the legionaries. "To the camp!" they
+yelled. "To the camp! Hail! Hail to the soldier Caesar!"
+
+That same night Severus Alexander, the young Syrian Emperor, walked
+outside his Praetorian camp, accompanied by his friend Licinius Probus,
+the Captain of the Guard. They were talking gravely of the gloomy
+faces and seditious bearing of the soldiers. A great foreboding of evil
+weighed heavily upon the Emperor's heart, and it was reflected upon the
+stern bearded face of his companion.
+
+"I like it not," said he. "It is my counsel, Caesar, that with the first
+light of morning we make our way south once more."
+
+"But surely," the Emperor answered, "I could not for shame turn my back
+upon the danger. What have they against me? How have I harmed them that
+they should forget their vows and rise upon me?"
+
+"They are like children who ask always for something new. You heard the
+murmur as you rode along the ranks. Nay, Caesar, fly tomorrow, and your
+Praetorians will see that you are not pursued. There may be some loyal
+cohorts among the legions, and if we join forces--"
+
+A distant shout broke in upon their conversation--a low continued roar,
+like the swelling tumult of a sweeping wave. Far down the road upon
+which they stood there twinkled many moving lights, tossing and sinking
+as they rapidly advanced, whilst the hoarse tumultuous bellowing broke
+into articulate words, the same tremendous words, a thousand-fold
+repeated. Licinius seized the Emperor by the wrist and dragged him under
+the cover of some bushes.
+
+"Be still, Caesar! For your life be still!" he whispered. "One word and
+we are lost!"
+
+Crouching in the darkness, they saw that wild procession pass, the
+rushing screaming figures, the tossing arms, the bearded, distorted
+faces, now scarlet and now grey, as the brandished torches waxed or
+waned. They heard the rush of many feet, the clamour of hoarse voices,
+the clang of metal upon metal. And then suddenly, above them all, they
+saw a vision of a monstrous man, a huge bowed back, a savage face, grim
+hawk eyes, that looked out over the swaying shields. It was seen for an
+instant in a smoke-fringed circle of fire, and then it had swept on into
+the night.
+
+"Who is he?" stammered the Emperor, clutching at his guardsman's sleeve.
+"They call him Caesar."
+
+"It is surely Maximin the Thracian peasant." In the darkness the
+Praetorian officer looked with strange eyes at his master.
+
+"It is all over, Caesar. Let us fly your tent."
+
+But even as they went a second shout had broken forth tenfold louder
+than the first. If the one had been the roar of the oncoming wave, the
+other was the full turmoil of the tempest. Twenty thousand voices from
+the camp had broken into one wild shout which echoed through the night,
+until the distant Germans round their watch-fires listened in wonder and
+alarm.
+
+"Ave!" cried the voices. "Ave Maximinus Augustus!"
+
+High upon their bucklers stood the giant, and looked round him at the
+great floor of upturned faces below. His own savage soul was stirred
+by the clamour, but only his gleaming eyes spoke of the fire within.
+He waved his hand to the shouting soldiers as the huntsman waves to the
+leaping pack. They passed him up a coronet of oak leaves, and clashed
+their swords in homage as he placed it on his head. And then there came
+a swirl in the crowd before him, a little space was cleared, and there
+knelt an officer in the Praetorian garb, blood upon his face, blood upon
+his bared forearm, blood upon his naked sword. Licinius too had gone
+with the tide.
+
+"Hail, Caesar, hail!" he cried, as he bowed his head before the giant.
+"I come from Alexander. He will trouble you no more."
+
+
+
+
+III THE FALL OF MAXIMIN
+
+
+For three years the soldier Emperor had been upon the throne. His palace
+had been his tent, and his people had been the legionaries. With them he
+was supreme; away from them he was nothing. He had gone with them from
+one frontier to the other. He had fought against Dacians, Sarmatians,
+and once again against the Germans. But Rome knew nothing of him, and
+all her turbulence rose against a master who cared so little for her or
+her opinion that he never deigned to set foot within her walls. There
+were cabals and conspiracies against the absent Caesar. Then his heavy
+hand fell upon them, and they were cuffed, even as the young soldiers
+had been who passed under his discipline. He knew nothing, and cared as
+much for consuls, senates, and civil laws. His own will and the power
+of the sword were the only forces which he could understand. Of commerce
+and the arts he was as ignorant as when he left his Thracian home. The
+whole vast Empire was to him a huge machine for producing the money by
+which the legions were to be rewarded. Should he fail to get that money,
+his fellow soldiers would bear him a grudge. To watch their interests
+they had raised him upon their shields that night. If city funds had to
+be plundered or temples desecrated, still the money must be got. Such
+was the point of view of Giant Maximin.
+
+But there came resistance, and all the fierce energy of the man, all the
+hardness which had given him the leadership of hard men, sprang forth to
+quell it. From his youth he had lived amidst slaughter. Life and death
+were cheap things to him. He struck savagely at all who stood up to him,
+and when they hit back, he struck more savagely still. His giant shadow
+lay black across the Empire from Britain to Syria. A strange subtle
+vindictiveness became also apparent in him. Omnipotence ripened every
+fault and swelled it into crime. In the old days he had been rebuked for
+his roughness. Now a sullen dangerous anger arose against those who had
+rebuked him. He sat by the hour with his craggy chin between his
+hands, and his elbows resting on his knees, while he recalled all the
+misadventures, all the vexations of his early youth, when Roman wits had
+shot their little satires upon his bulk and his ignorance. He could not
+write, but his son Verus placed the names upon his tablets, and they
+were sent to the Governor of Rome. Men who had long forgotten their
+offence were called suddenly to make most bloody reparation.
+
+A rebellion broke out in Africa, but was quelled by his lieutenant. But
+the mere rumour of it set Rome in a turmoil. The Senate found something
+of its ancient spirit. So did the Italian people. They would not be for
+ever bullied by the legions. As Maximin approached from the frontier,
+with the sack of rebellious Rome in his mind, he was faced with every
+sign of a national resistance. The countryside was deserted, the farms
+abandoned, the fields cleared of crops and cattle. Before him lay the
+walled town of Aquileia. He flung himself fiercely upon it, but was met
+by as fierce a resistance. The walls could not be forced, and yet there
+was no food in the country round for his legions. The men were starving
+and dissatisfied. What did it matter to them who was Emperor? Maximin
+was no better than themselves. Why should they call down the curse of
+the whole Empire upon their heads by upholding him? He saw their sullen
+faces and their averted eyes, and he knew that the end had come.
+
+That night he sat with his son Verus in his tent, and he spoke softly
+and gently as the youth had never heard him speak before. He had spoken
+thus in old days with Paullina, the boy's mother; but she had been dead
+these many years, and all that was soft and gentle in the big man had
+passed away with her. Now her spirit seemed very near him, and his own
+was tempered by its presence.
+
+"I would have you go back to the Thracian mountains," he said. "I have
+tried both, boy, and I can tell you that there is no pleasure which
+power can bring which can equal the breath of the wind and the smell of
+the kine upon a summer morning. Against you they have no quarrel.
+Why should they mishandle you? Keep far from Rome and the Romans. Old
+Eudoxus has money, and to spare. He awaits you with two horses outside
+the camp. Make for the valley of the Harpessus, lad. It was thence
+that your father came, and there you will find his kin. Buy and stock
+a homestead, and keep yourself far from the paths of greatness and of
+danger. God keep you, Verus, and send you safe to Thrace."
+
+When his son had kissed his hand and had left him, the Emperor drew his
+robe around him and sat long in thought. In his slow brain he revolved
+the past--his early peaceful days, his years with Severus, his memories
+of Britain, his long campaigns, his strivings and battlings, all leading
+to that mad night by the Rhine. His fellow soldiers had loved him then.
+And now he had read death in their eyes. How had he failed them? Others
+he might have wronged, but they at least had no complaint against him.
+If he had his time again, he would think less of them and more of his
+people, he would try to win love instead of fear, he would live
+for peace and not for war. If he had his time again! But there were
+shuffling Steps, furtive whispers, and the low rattle of arms outside
+his tent. A bearded face looked in at him, a swarthy African face that
+he knew well. He laughed, and, bearing his arm, he took his sword from
+the table beside him.
+
+"It is you, Sulpicius," said he. "You have not come to cry 'Ave
+Imperator Maximin!' as once by the camp fire. You are tired of me, and
+by the gods I am tired of you, and glad to be at the end of it. Come
+and have done with it, for I am minded to see how many of you I can take
+with me when I go."
+
+They clustered at the door of the tent, peeping over each other's
+shoulders, and none wishing to be the first to close with that laughing,
+mocking giant. But something was pushed forward upon a spear point, and
+as he saw it, Maximin groaned and his sword sank to the earth.
+
+"You might have spared the boy," he sobbed. "He would not have hurt you.
+Have done with it then, for I will gladly follow him."
+
+So they closed upon him and cut and stabbed and thrust, until his knees
+gave way beneath him and he dropped upon the floor.
+
+"The tyrant is dead!" they cried. "The tyrant is dead," and from all the
+camp beneath them and from the walls of the beleaguered city the joyous
+cry came echoing back, "He is dead, Maximin is dead!"
+
+I sit in my study, and upon the table before me lies a denarius of
+Maximin, as fresh as when the triumvir of the Temple of Juno Moneta
+sent it from the mint. Around it are recorded his resounding
+titles--Imperator Maximinus, Pontifex Maximus, Tribunitia potestate, and
+the rest. In the centre is the impress of a great craggy head, a massive
+jaw, a rude fighting face, a contracted forehead. For all the pompous
+roll of titles it is a peasant's face, and I see him not as the Emperor
+of Rome, but as the great Thracian boor who strode down the hillside on
+that far-distant summer day when first the eagles beckoned him to Rome.
+
+
+
+
+THE COMING OF THE HUNS
+
+
+In the middle of the fourth century the state of the Christian religion
+was a scandal and a disgrace. Patient, humble, and long-suffering in
+adversity, it had become positive, aggressive, and unreasonable with
+success. Paganism was not yet dead, but it was rapidly sinking, finding
+its most faithful supporters among the conservative aristocrats of the
+best families on the one hand, and among those benighted villagers on
+the other who gave their name to the expiring creed. Between these
+two extremes the great majority of reasonable men had turned from the
+conception of many gods to that of one, and had rejected for ever the
+beliefs of their forefathers. But with the vices of polytheism they had
+also abandoned its virtues, among which toleration and religious good
+humour had been conspicuous. The strenuous earnestness of the Christians
+had compelled them to examine and define every point of their own
+theology; but as they had no central authority by which such definitions
+could be checked, it was not long before a hundred heresies had put
+forward their rival views, while the same earnestness of conviction led
+the stronger bands of schismatics to endeavour, for conscience sake, to
+force their views upon the weaker, and thus to cover the Eastern world
+with confusion and strife.
+
+Alexandria, Antioch, and Constantinople were centres of theological
+warfare. The whole north of Africa, too, was rent by the strife of the
+Donatists, who upheld their particular schism by iron flails and the
+war-cry of "Praise to the Lord!" But minor local controversies sank to
+nothing when compared with the huge argument of the Catholic and the
+Arian, which rent every village in twain, and divided every household
+from the cottage to the palace. The rival doctrines of the Homoousian
+and of the Homoiousian, containing metaphysical differences so
+attenuated that they could hardly be stated, turned bishop against
+bishop and congregation against congregation. The ink of the theologians
+and the blood of the fanatics were spilled in floods on either side, and
+gentle followers of Christ were horrified to find that their faith was
+responsible for such a state of riot and bloodshed as had never yet
+disgraced the religious history of the world. Many of the more earnest
+among them, shocked and scandalized, slipped away to the Libyan Desert,
+or to the solitude of Pontus, there to await in self-denial and prayer
+that second coming which was supposed to be at hand. Even in the deserts
+they could not escape the echo of the distant strife, and the hermits
+themselves scowled fiercely from their dens at passing travellers who
+might be contaminated by the doctrines of Athanasius or of Arius.
+
+Such a hermit was Simon Melas, of whom I write. A Trinitarian and a
+Catholic, he was shocked by the excesses of the persecution of the
+Arians, which could be only matched by the similar outrages with which
+these same Arians in the day of their power avenged their treatment on
+their brother Christians. Weary of the whole strife, and convinced
+that the end of the world was indeed at hand, he left his home in
+Constantinople and travelled as far as the Gothic settlements in Dacia,
+beyond the Danube, in search of some spot where he might be free from
+the never-ending disputes. Still journeying to the north and east, he
+crossed the river which we now call the Dneister, and there, finding
+a rocky hill rising from an immense plain, he formed a cell near its
+summit, and settled himself down to end his life in self-denial and
+meditation. There were fish in the stream, the country teemed with
+game, and there was an abundance of wild fruits, so that his spiritual
+exercises were not unduly interrupted by the search of sustenance for
+his mortal frame.
+
+In this distant retreat he expected to find absolute solitude, but the
+hope was in vain. Within a week of his arrival, in an hour of worldly
+curiosity, he explored the edges of the high rocky hill upon which he
+lived. Making his way up to a cleft, which was hung with olives and
+myrtles, he came upon a cave in the opening of which sat an aged man,
+white-bearded, white-haired, and infirm--a hermit like himself. So long
+had this stranger been alone that he had almost forgotten the use of his
+tongue; but at last, words coming more freely, he was able to convey
+the information that his name was Paul of Nicopolis, that he was a Greek
+citizen, and that he also had come out into the desert for the saving of
+his soul, and to escape from the contamination of heresy.
+
+"Little I thought, brother Simon," said he, "that I should ever find
+any one else who had come so far upon the same holy errand. In all these
+years, and they are so many that I have lost count of them, I have never
+seen a man, save indeed one or two wandering shepherds far out upon
+yonder plain."
+
+From where they sat, the huge steppe, covered with waving grass and
+gleaming with a vivid green in the sun, stretched away as level and as
+unbroken as the sea, to the eastern horizon. Simon Melas stared across
+it with curiosity.
+
+"Tell me, brother Paul," said he, "you who have lived here so long--what
+lies at the further side of that plain?"
+
+The old man shook his head. "There is no further side to the plain,"
+said he. "It is the earth's boundary, and stretches away to eternity.
+For all these years I have sat beside it, but never once have I seen
+anything come across it. It is manifest that if there had been a further
+side there would certainly at some time have come some traveller from
+that direction. Over the great river yonder is the Roman post of
+Tyras; but that is a long day's journey from here, and they have never
+disturbed my meditations."
+
+"On what do you meditate, brother Paul?"
+
+"At first I meditated on many sacred mysteries; but now, for twenty
+years, I have brooded continually on the nature of the Logos. What is
+your view upon that vital matter, brother Simon?"
+
+"Surely," said the younger man, "there can be no question as to that.
+The Logos is assuredly but a name used by St. John to signify the
+Deity."
+
+The old hermit gave a hoarse cry of fury, and his brown, withered face
+was convulsed with anger. Seizing the huge cudgel which he kept to beat
+off the wolves, he shook it murderously at his companion.
+
+"Out with you! Out of my cell!" he cried. "Have I lived here so long
+to have it polluted by a vile Trinitarian--a follower of the rascal
+Athanasius? Wretched idolater, learn once for all, that the Logos is in
+truth an emanation from the Deity, and in no sense equal or co-eternal
+with Him! Out with you, I say, or I will dash out your brains with my
+staff!"
+
+It was useless to reason with the furious Arian, and Simon withdrew in
+sadness and wonder, that at this extreme verge of the known earth the
+spirit of religious strife should still break upon the peaceful solitude
+of the wilderness. With hanging head and heavy heart he made his way
+down the valley, and climbed up once more to his own cell, which lay
+at the crown of the hill, with the intention of never again exchanging
+visits with his Arian neighbour.
+
+Here, for a year, dwelt Simon Melas, leading a life of solitude and
+prayer. There was no reason why any one should ever come to this
+outermost point of human habitation. Once a young Roman officer--Caius
+Crassus--rode out a day's journey from Tyras, and climbed the hill to
+have speech with the anchorite. He was of an equestrian family, and
+still held his belief in the old dispensation. He looked with interest
+and surprise, but also with some disgust, at the ascetic arrangements of
+that humble abode.
+
+"Whom do you please by living in such a fashion?" he asked.
+
+"We show that our spirit is superior to our flesh," Simon answered. "If
+we fare badly in this world, we believe that we shall reap an advantage
+in the world to come."
+
+The centurion shrugged his shoulders. "There are philosophers among our
+people, Stoics and others, who have the same idea. When I was in the
+Herulian Cohort of the Fourth Legion we were quartered in Rome itself,
+and I saw much of the Christians, but I could never learn anything
+from them which I had not heard from my own father, whom you, in your
+arrogance, would call a Pagan. It is true that we talk of numerous gods;
+but for many years we have not taken them very seriously. Our thoughts
+upon virtue and duty and a noble life are the same as your own."
+
+Simon Melas shook his head.
+
+"If you have not the holy books," said he, "then what guide have you to
+direct your steps?"
+
+"If you will read our philosophers, and above all the divine Plato, you
+will find that there are other guides who may take you to the same end.
+Have you by chance read the book which was written by our Emperor Marcus
+Aurelius? Do you not discover there every virtue which man could have,
+although he knew nothing of your creed? Have you considered, also, the
+words and actions of our late Emperor Julian, with whom I served my
+first campaign when he went out against the Persians? Where could you
+find a more perfect man than he?"
+
+"Such talk is unprofitable, and I will have no more of it," said Simon,
+sternly. "Take heed while there is time, and embrace the true faith;
+for the end of the world is at hand, and when it comes there will be no
+mercy for those who have shut their eyes to the light." So saying, he
+turned back once more to his praying-stool and to his crucifix, while
+the young Roman walked in deep thought down the hill, and mounting his
+horse, rode off to his distant post. Simon watched him until his brazen
+helmet was but a bead of light on the western edge of the great plain;
+for this was the first human face that he had seen in all this long
+year, and there were times when his heart yearned for the voices and the
+faces of his kind.
+
+So another year passed, and save for the chance of weather and the slow
+change of the seasons, one day was as another. Every morning, when Simon
+opened his eyes, he saw the same grey line ripening into red in the
+furthest east, until the bright rim pushed itself above that far-off
+horizon across which no living creature had ever been known to come.
+Slowly the sun swept across the huge arch of the heavens, and as the
+shadows shifted from the black rocks which jutted upward from above his
+cell, so did the hermit regulate his terms of prayer and meditation.
+There was nothing on earth to draw his eye, or to distract his mind,
+for the grassy plain below was as void from month to month as the heaven
+above. So the long hours passed, until the red rim slipped down on the
+further side, and the day ended in the same pearl-grey shimmer with
+which it had begun. Once two ravens circled for some days round the
+lonely hill, and once a white fish-eagle came from the Dneister and
+screamed above the hermit's head. Sometimes red dots were seen on the
+green plain where the antelopes grazed, and often a wolf howled in the
+darkness from the base of the rocks. Such was the uneventful life of
+Simon Melas the anchorite, until there came the day of wrath.
+
+It was in the late spring of the year 375 that Simon came out from his
+cell, his gourd in his hand, to draw water from the spring. Darkness had
+closed in, the sun had set, but one last glimmer of rosy light rested
+upon a rocky peak, which jutted forth from the hill, on the further side
+from the hermit's dwelling. As Simon came forth from under his ledge,
+the gourd dropped from his hand, and he stood gazing in amazement.
+
+On the opposite peak a man was standing, his outline black in the
+fading light. He was a strange almost a deformed figure, short-statured,
+round-backed, with a large head, no neck, and a long rod jutting out
+from between his shoulders. He stood with his face advanced, and his
+body bent, peering very intently over the plain to the westward. In a
+moment he was gone, and the lonely black peak showed up hard and naked
+against the faint eastern glimmer. Then the night closed down, and all
+was black once more.
+
+Simon Melas stood long in bewilderment, wondering who this stranger
+could be. He had heard, as had every Christian, of those evil spirits
+which were wont to haunt the hermits in the Thebaid and on the skirts
+of the Ethiopian waste. The strange shape of this solitary creature,
+its dark outline and prowling, intent attitude, suggestive rather of a
+fierce, rapacious beast than of a man, all helped him to believe that
+he had at last encountered one of those wanderers from the pit, of whose
+existence, in those days of robust faith, he had no more doubt than
+of his own. Much of the night he spent in prayer, his eyes glancing
+continually at the low arch of his cell door, with its curtain of deep
+purple wrought with stars. At any instant some crouching monster, some
+homed abomination, might peer in upon him; and he clung with frenzied
+appeal to his crucifix, as his human weakness quailed at the thought.
+But at last his fatigue overcame his fears, and falling upon his couch
+of dried grass, he slept until the bright daylight brought him to his
+senses.
+
+It was later than was his wont, and the sun was far above the horizon.
+As he came forth from his cell, he looked across at the peak of rock,
+but it stood there bare and silent. Already it seemed to him that that
+strange dark figure which had startled him so was some dream, some
+vision of the twilight. His gourd lay where it had fallen, and he picked
+it up with the intention of going to the spring. But suddenly he was
+aware of something new. The whole air was throbbing with sound. From all
+sides it came, rumbling, indefinite, an inarticulate mutter, low, but
+thick and strong, rising, falling, reverberating among the rocks, dying
+away into vague whispers, but always there. He looked round at the blue,
+cloudless sky in bewilderment. Then he scrambled up the rocky pinnacle
+above him, and sheltering himself in its shadow, he stared out over the
+plain. In his wildest dream he had never imagined such a sight.
+
+The whole vast expanse was covered with horse-men, hundreds and
+thousands and tens of thousands, all riding slowly and in silence, out
+of the unknown east. It was the multitudinous beat of their horses'
+hoofs which caused that low throbbing in his ears. Some were so close
+to him as he looked down upon them that he could see clearly their
+thin wiry horses, and the strange humped figures of the swarthy riders,
+sitting forward on the withers, shapeless bundles, their short legs
+hanging stirrupless, their bodies balanced as firmly as though they were
+part of the beast. In those nearest he could see the bow and the quiver,
+the long spear and the short sword, with the coiled lasso behind the
+rider, which told that this was no helpless horde of wanderers, but a
+formidable army upon the march. His eyes passed on from them and swept
+further and further, but still to the very horizon, which quivered
+with movement, there was no end to this monstrous cavalry. Already the
+vanguard was far past the island of rock upon which he dwelt, and he
+could now understand that in front of this vanguard were single scouts
+who guided the course of the army, and that it was one of these whom he
+had seen the evening before.
+
+All day, held spell-bound by this wonderful sight, the hermit crouched
+in the shadow of the rocks, and all day the sea of horsemen rolled
+onward over the plain beneath. Simon had seen the swarming quays of
+Alexandria, he had watched the mob which blocked the hippodrome of
+Constantinople, yet never had he imagined such a multitude as now
+defiled beneath his eyes, coming from that eastern skyline which had
+been the end of his world. Sometimes the dense streams of horsemen
+were broken by droves of brood-mares and foals, driven along by mounted
+guards; sometimes there were herds of cattle; sometimes there were lines
+of waggons with skin canopies above them; but then once more, after
+every break, came the horsemen, the horsemen, the hundreds and the
+thousands and the tens of thousands, slowly, ceaselessly, silently
+drifting from the east to the west. The long day passed, the light
+waned, and the shadows fell; but still the great broad stream was
+flowing by.
+
+But the night brought a new and even stranger sight. Simon had marked
+bundles of faggots upon the backs of many of the led horses, and now he
+saw their use. All over the great plain, red pin-points gleamed through
+the darkness, which grew and brightened into flickering columns of
+flame. So far as he could see both to east and west the fires extended,
+until they were but points of light in the furthest distance. White
+stars shone in the vast heavens above, red ones in the great plain
+below. And from every side rose the low, confused murmur of voices, with
+the lowing of oxen and the neighing of horses.
+
+Simon had been a soldier and a man of affairs before ever he forsook the
+world, and the meaning of all that he had seen was clear to him. History
+told him how the Roman world had ever been assailed by fresh swarms of
+Barbarians, coming from the outer darkness, and that the Eastern Empire
+had already, in its fifty years of existence since Constantine had moved
+the capital of the world to the shores of the Bosphorus, been tormented
+in the same way. Gepidae and Heruli, Ostrogoths and Sarmatians, he was
+familiar with them all. What the advanced sentinel of Europe had seen
+from this lonely outlying hill, was a fresh swarm breaking in upon the
+Empire, distinguished only from the others by its enormous, incredible
+size and by the strange aspect of the warriors who composed it. He
+alone of all civilized men knew of the approach of this dreadful shadow,
+sweeping like a heavy storm-cloud from the unknown depths of the east.
+He thought of the little Roman posts along the Dneister, of the
+ruined Dacian wall of Trajan behind them, and then of the scattered,
+defenceless villages which lay with no thought of danger over all the
+open country which stretched down to the Danube. Could he but give them
+the alarm! Was it not, perhaps, for that very end that God had guided
+him to the wilderness?
+
+Then suddenly he remembered his Arian neighbour, who dwelt in the cave
+beneath him. Once or twice during the last year he had caught a glimpse
+of his tall, bent figure hobbling round to examine the traps which he
+laid for quails and partridges. On one occasion they had met at the
+brook; but the old theologian waved him away, as if he were a
+leper. What did he think now of this strange happening? Surely their
+differences might be forgotten at such a moment. He stole down the side
+of the hill, and made his way to his fellow-hermit's cave.
+
+But there was a terrible silence as he approached it. His heart sank
+at that deadly stillness in the little valley. No glimmer of light came
+from the cleft in the rocks. He entered and called, but no answer came
+back. Then, with flint, steel, and the dry grass which he used for
+tinder, he struck a spark, and blew it into a blaze. The old hermit,
+his white hair dabbled with crimson, lay sprawling across the floor.
+The broken crucifix, with which his head had been beaten in, lay
+in splinters across him. Simon had dropped on his knees beside him,
+straightening his contorted limbs, and muttering the office for the
+dead, when the thud of a horse's hoofs was heard ascending the little
+valley which led to the hermit's cell. The dry grass had burned down,
+and Simon crouched trembling in the darkness, pattering prayers to the
+Virgin that his strength might be upheld.
+
+It may have been that the newcomer had seen the gleam of the light, or
+it may have been that he had heard from his comrades of the old man whom
+they had murdered, and that his curiosity had led him to the spot. He
+stopped his horse outside the cave, and Simon, lurking in the shadows
+within, had a fair view of him in the moonlight. He slipped from his
+saddle, fastened the bridle to a root, and then stood peering through
+the opening of the cell. He was a very short, thick man, with a dark
+face, which was gashed with three cuts upon either side. His small eyes
+were sunk deep in his head, showing like black holes in the heavy, flat,
+hairless face. His legs were short and very bandy, so that he waddled
+uncouthly as he walked.
+
+Simon crouched in the darkest angle, and he gripped in his hand that
+same knotted cudgel which the dead theologian had once raised against
+him. As that hideous stooping head advanced into the darkness of the
+cell, he brought the staff down upon it with all the strength of his
+right arm, and then, as the stricken savage fell forward upon his face,
+he struck madly again and again, until the shapeless figure lay limp and
+still. One roof covered the first slain of Europe and of Asia.
+
+Simon's veins were throbbing and quivering with the unwonted joy of
+action. All the energy stored up in those years of repose came in a
+flood at this moment of need. Standing in the darkness of the cell, he
+saw, as in a map of fire, the outlines of the great Barbaric host, the
+line of the river, the position of the settlements, the means by which
+they might be warned. Silently he waited in the shadow until the moon
+had sunk. Then he flung himself upon the dead man's horse, guided it
+down the gorge, and set forth at a gallop across the plain.
+
+There were fires on every side of him, but he kept clear of the rings
+of light. Round each he could see, as he passed, the circle of sleeping
+warriors, with the long lines of picketed horses. Mile after mile and
+league after league stretched that huge encampment. And then, at last,
+he had reached the open plain which led to the river, and the fires of
+the invaders were but a dull smoulder against the black eastern
+sky. Ever faster and faster he sped across the steppe, like a single
+fluttered leaf which whirls before the storm. Even as the dawn whitened
+the sky behind him, it gleamed also upon the broad river in front, and
+he flogged his weary horse through the shallows, until he plunged into
+its full yellow tide.
+
+So it was that, as the young Roman centurion--Caius Crassus--made his
+morning round in the fort of Tyras he saw a single horseman, who rode
+towards him from the river. Weary and spent, drenched with water and
+caked with dirt and sweat, both horse and man were at the last stage of
+their endurance. With amazement the Roman watched their progress, and
+recognized in the ragged, swaying figure, with flying hair and staring
+eyes, the hermit of the eastern desert. He ran to meet him, and caught
+him in his arms as he reeled from the saddle.
+
+"What is it, then?" he asked. "What is your news?"
+
+But the hermit could only point at the rising sun. "To arms!" he
+croaked. "To arms! The day of wrath is come!" And as he looked, the
+Roman saw--far across the river--a great dark shadow, which moved slowly
+over the distant plain.
+
+
+
+
+THE LAST OF THE LEGIONS
+
+
+Pontus, the Roman viceroy, sat in the atrium of his palatial villa by
+the Thames, and he looked with perplexity at the scroll of papyrus which
+he had just unrolled. Before him stood the messenger who had brought
+it, a swarthy little Italian, whose black eyes were glazed with want
+of sleep, and his olive features darker still from dust and sweat. The
+viceroy was looking fixedly at him, yet he saw him not, so full was his
+mind of this sudden and most unexpected order. To him it seemed as if
+the solid earth had given way beneath his feet. His life and the work of
+his life had come to irremediable ruin.
+
+"Very good," he said at last in a hard dry voice, "you can go."
+
+The man saluted and staggered out of the hall.
+
+A yellow-haired British major-domo came forward for orders.
+
+"Is the General there?"
+
+"He is waiting, your excellency."
+
+"Then show him in, and leave us together."
+
+A few minutes later Licinius Crassus, the head of the British military
+establishment, had joined his chief. He was a large bearded man in a
+white civilian toga, hemmed with the Patrician purple. His rough, bold
+features, burned and seamed and lined with the long African wars, were
+shadowed with anxiety as he looked with questioning eyes at the drawn,
+haggard face of the viceroy.
+
+"I fear, your excellency, that you have had bad news from Rome."
+
+"The worst, Crassus. It is all over with Britain. It is a question
+whether even Gaul will be held."
+
+"Saint Albus save us! Are the orders precise?"
+
+"Here they are, with the Emperor's own seal."
+
+"But why? I had heard a rumour, but it had seemed too incredible."
+
+"So had I only last week, and had the fellow scourged for having spread
+it. But here it is as clear as words can make it: 'Bring every man of
+the Legions by forced marches to the help of the Empire. Leave not a
+cohort in Britain.' These are my orders."
+
+"But the cause?"
+
+"They will let the limbs wither so that the heart be stronger. The
+old German hive is about to swarm once more. There are fresh crowds of
+Barbarians from Dacia and Scythia. Every sword is needed to hold the
+Alpine passes. They cannot let three legions lie idle in Britain."
+
+The soldier shrugged his shoulder's.
+
+"When the legions go no Roman would feel that his life was safe here.
+For all that we have done, it is none the less the truth that it is no
+country of ours, and that we hold it as we won it by the sword."
+
+"Yes, every man, woman, and child of Latin blood must come with us to
+Gaul. The galleys are already waiting at Portus Dubris. Get the orders
+out, Crassus, at once. As the Valerian legion falls back from the Wall
+of Hadrian it can take the northern colonists with it. The Jovians can
+bring in the people from the west, and the Batavians can escort the
+easterns if they will muster at Camboricum. You will see to it." He sank
+his face for a moment in his hands. "It is a fearsome thing," said he,
+"to tear up the roots of so goodly a tree."
+
+"To make more space for such a crop of weeds," said the soldier
+bitterly. "My God, what will be the end of these poor Britons! From
+ocean to ocean there is not a tribe which will not be at the throat of
+its neighbour when the last Roman Lictor has turned his back. With these
+hot-headed Silures it is hard enough now to keep the swords in their
+sheaths."
+
+"The kennel might fight as they chose among themselves until the best
+hound won," said the Roman Governor. "At least the victor would keep the
+arts and the religion which we have brought them, and Britain would be
+one land. No, it is the bear from the north and the wolves from oversea,
+the painted savage from beyond the walls and the Saxon pirate from over
+the water, who will succeed to our rule. Where we saved, they will slay;
+where we built, they will burn; where we planted, they will ravage. But
+the die is cast, Crassus. You will carry out the orders."
+
+"I will send out the messengers within an hour. This very morning there
+has come news that the Barbarians are through the old gap in the wall,
+and their outriders as far south as Vinovia." The Governor shrugged his
+shoulders. "These things concern us no longer," said he. Then a bitter
+smile broke upon his aquiline clean-shaven face. "Whom think you that I
+see in audience this morning?"
+
+"Nay, I know not."
+
+"Caradoc and Regnus, and Celticus the Icenian, who, like so many of the
+richer Britons, have been educated at Rome, and who would lay before me
+their plans as to the ruling of this country."
+
+"And what is their plan?"
+
+"That they themselves should do it." The Roman soldier laughed. "Well,
+they will have their will," said he, as he saluted and turned upon his
+heel. "Farewell, your excellency. There are hard days coming for you and
+for me."
+
+An hour later the British deputation was ushered into the presence of
+the Governor. They were good steadfast men, men who with a whole heart,
+and at some risk to themselves, had taken up their country's cause, so
+far as they could see it. At the same time, they well knew that under
+the mild and beneficent rule of Rome it was only when they passed from
+words to deeds that their backs or their necks would be in danger.
+They stood now, earnest and a little abashed, before the throne of the
+viceroy. Celticus was a swarthy black-bearded little Iberian. Caradoc
+and Regnus were tall middle-aged men of the fair flaxen British type.
+All three were dressed in the draped yellow toga after the Latin
+fashion, instead of in the bracae and tunic which distinguished their
+more insular fellow-countrymen.
+
+"Well?" asked the Governor.
+
+"We are here," said Celticus boldly, "as the spokesmen of a great
+number of our fellow-countrymen, for the purpose of sending our petition
+through you to the Emperor and to the Roman Senate, that we may urge
+upon them the policy of allowing us to govern this country after our own
+ancient fashion." He paused, as if awaiting some outburst as an answer
+to his own temerity; but the Governor merely nodded his head as a sign
+that he should proceed. "We had laws of our own before ever Caesar
+set foot in Britain, which have served their purpose since first our
+forefathers came from the land of Ham. We are not a child among the
+nations, but our history goes back in our own traditions--further even
+than that of Rome, and we are galled by this yoke which you have laid
+upon us."
+
+"Are not our laws just?" asked the Governor.
+
+"The code of Caesar is just, but it is always the code of Caesar. Our
+own laws were made for our own uses and our own circumstances, and we
+would fain have them again."
+
+"You speak Roman as if you had been bred in the Forum; you wear a Roman
+toga; your hair is filleted in Roman fashion--are not these the gifts of
+Rome?"
+
+"We would take all the learning and all the arts that Rome or Greece
+could give, but we would still be Britain, and ruled by Britons."
+
+The viceroy smiled. "By the rood of Saint Helena," said he, "had you
+spoken thus to some of my heathen ancestors, there would have been an
+end to your politics. That you have dared to stand before my face and
+say as much is a proof for ever of the gentleness of our rule. But I
+would reason with you for a moment upon this your request. You know well
+that this land has never been one kingdom, but was always under many
+chiefs and many tribes, who have made war upon each other. Would you in
+very truth have it so again?"
+
+"Those were in the evil pagan days, the days of the Druid and the
+oak-grove, your excellency. But now we are held together by a gospel of
+peace."
+
+The viceroy shook his head. "If all the world were of the same way
+of thinking, then it would be easier," said he. "It may be that this
+blessed doctrine of peace will be little help to you when you are face
+to face with strong men who still worship the god of war. What would you
+do against the Picts of the north?"
+
+"Your excellency knows that many of the bravest legionaries are of
+British blood. These are our defence."
+
+"But discipline, man, the power to command, the knowledge of war, the
+strength to act--it is in these things that you would fail. Too long
+have you leaned upon the crutch."
+
+"The times may be hard, but when we have gone through them, Britain will
+be herself again."
+
+"Nay, she will be under a different and a harsher master," said the
+Roman. "Already the pirates swarm upon the eastern coast. Were it not
+for our Roman Count of the Saxon shore they would land tomorrow. I see
+the day when Britain may, indeed, be one; but that will be because you
+and your fellows are either dead or are driven into the mountains of the
+west. All goes into the melting-pot, and if a better Albion should come
+forth from it, it will be after ages of strife, and neither you nor your
+people will have part or lot in it."
+
+Regnus, the tall young Celt, smiled. "With the help of God and our own
+right arms we should hope for a better end," said he. "Give us but the
+chance, and we will bear the brunt."
+
+"You are as men that are lost," said the viceroy sadly. "I see this
+broad land, with its gardens and orchards, its fair villas and its
+walled towns, its bridges and its roads, all the work of Rome. Surely
+it will pass even as a dream, and these three hundred years of settled
+order will leave no trace behind. For learn that it will indeed be as
+you wish, and that this very day the orders have come to me that the
+legions are to go."
+
+The three Britons looked at each other in amazement. Their first impulse
+was towards a wild exultation, but reflection and doubt followed close
+upon its heels.
+
+"This is indeed wondrous news," said Celticus. "This is a day of days to
+the motherland. When do the legions go, your excellency, and what troops
+will remain behind for our protection?"
+
+"The legions go at once," said the viceroy. "You will doubtless rejoice
+to hear that within a month there will be no Roman soldier in the
+island, nor, indeed, a Roman of any sort, age, or sex, if I can take
+them with me."
+
+The faces of the Britons were shadowed, and Caradoc, a grave and
+thoughtful man, spoke for the first time.
+
+"But this is over sudden, your excellency," said he. "There is much
+truth in what you have said about the pirates. From my villa near the
+fort of Anderida I saw eighty of their galleys only last week, and I
+know well that they would be on us like ravens on a dying ox. For many
+years to come it would not be possible for us to hold them off."
+
+The viceroy shrugged his shoulders. "It is your affair now," said he.
+"Rome must look to herself."
+
+The last traces of joy had passed from the faces of the Britons.
+Suddenly the future had started up clearly before them, and they quailed
+at the prospect.
+
+"There is a rumour in the market-place," said Celticus, "that the
+northern Barbarians are through the gap in the wall. Who is to stop
+their progress?"
+
+"You and your fellows," said the Roman.
+
+Clearer still grew the future, and there was terror in the eyes of the
+spokesmen as they faced it.
+
+"But, your excellency, if the legions should go at once, we should have
+the wild Scots at York, and the Northmen in the Thames within the month.
+We can build ourselves up under your shield, and in a few years it would
+be easier for us; but not now, your excellency, not now."
+
+"Tut, man; for years you have been clamouring in our ears and raising
+the people. Now you have got what you asked. What more would you have?
+Within the month you will be as free as were your ancestors before
+Caesar set foot upon your shore."
+
+"For God's sake, your excellency, put our words out of your head. The
+matter had not been well considered. We will send to Rome. We will ride
+post-haste ourselves. We will fall at the Emperor's feet. We will kneel
+before the Senate and beg that the legions remain."
+
+The Roman proconsul rose from his chair and motioned that the audience
+was at an end.
+
+"You will do what you please," said he. "I and my men are for Italy."
+
+And even as he said, so was it, for before the spring had ripened into
+summer, the troops were clanking down the via Aurelia on their way to
+the Ligurian passes, whilst every road in Gaul was dotted with the
+carts and the waggons which bore the Brito-Roman refugees on their weary
+journey to their distant country. But ere another summer had passed
+Celticus was dead, for he was flayed alive by the pirates and his skin
+nailed upon the door of a church near Caistor. Regnus, too, was dead,
+for he was tied to a tree and shot with arrows when the painted men came
+to the sacking of Isca. Caradoc only was alive, but he was a slave to
+Elda the red Caledonian, and his wife was mistress to Mordred the wild
+chief of the western Cymri. From the ruined wall in the north to Vectis
+in the south blood and ruin and ashes covered the fair land of Britain.
+And after many days it came out fairer than ever, but, even as the Roman
+had said, neither the Britons nor any men of their blood came into the
+heritage of that which had been their own.
+
+
+
+
+THE FIRST CARGO
+
+
+"Ex ovo omnia"
+
+When you left Briton with your legion, my dear Crassus, I promised that
+I would write to you from time to time when a messenger chanced to be
+going to Rome, and keep you informed as to anything of interest which
+might occur in this country. Personally, I am very glad that I remained
+behind when the troops and so many of our citizens left, for though the
+living is rough and the climate is infernal, still by dint of the three
+voyages which I have made for amber to the Baltic, and the excellent
+prices which I obtained for it here, I shall soon be in a position to
+retire, and to spend my old age under my own fig tree, or even perhaps
+to buy a small villa at Baiae or Posuoli, where I could get a good
+sun-bath after the continued fogs of this accursed island. I picture
+myself on a little farm, and I read the Georgics as a preparation; but
+when I hear the rain falling and the wind howling, Italy seems very far
+away.
+
+In my previous letter, I let you know how things were going in this
+country. The poor folk, who had given up all soldiering during the
+centuries that we guarded them, are now perfectly helpless before these
+Picts and Scots, tattoed Barbarians from the north, who overrun the
+whole country and do exactly what they please. So long as they kept to
+the north, the people in the south, who are the most numerous, and also
+the most civilized of the Britons, took no heed of them; but now the
+rascals have come as far as London, and the lazy folk in these parts
+have had to wake up. Vortigern, the king, is useless for anything but
+drink or women, so he sent across to the Baltic to get over some of the
+North Germans, in the hope that they would come and help him. It is bad
+enough to have a bear in your house, but it does not seem to me to mend
+matters if you call in a pack of ferocious wolves as well. However,
+nothing better could be devised, so an invitation was sent and very
+promptly accepted. And it is here that your humble friend appears upon
+the scene. In the course of my amber trading I had learned the Saxon
+speech, and so I was sent down in all haste to the Kentish shore that I
+might be there when our new allies came. I arrived there on the very day
+when their first vessel appeared, and it is of my adventures that I
+wish to tell you. It is perfectly clear to me that the landing of these
+warlike Germans in England will prove to be an event of historical
+importance, and so your inquisitive mind will not feel wearied if I
+treat the matter in some detail.
+
+It was, then, upon the day of Mercury, immediately following the Feast
+of Our Blessed Lord's Ascension, that I found myself upon the south bank
+of the river Thames, at the point where it opens into a wide estuary.
+There is an island there named Thanet, which was the spot chosen for the
+landfall of our visitors. Sure enough, I had no sooner ridden up than
+there was a great red ship, the first as it seems of three, coming in
+under full sail. The white horse, which is the ensign of these rovers,
+was hanging from her topmast, and she appeared to be crowded with
+men. The sun was shining brightly, and the great scarlet ship, with
+snow-white sails and a line of gleaming shields slung over her side,
+made as fair a picture on that blue expanse as one would wish to see.
+
+I pushed off at once in a boat, because it had been arranged that none
+of the Saxons should land until the king had come down to speak with
+their leaders. Presently I was under the ship, which had a gilded dragon
+in the bows, and a tier of oars along either side. As I looked up, there
+was a row of helmeted heads looking down at me, and among them I saw, to
+my great surprise and pleasure, that of Eric the Swart, with whom I do
+business at Venta every year. He greeted me heartily when I reached the
+deck, and became at once my guide, friend, and counsellor. This helped
+me greatly with these Barbarians, for it is their nature that they are
+very cold and aloof unless one of their own number can vouch for you,
+after which they are very hearty and hospitable. Try as they will, they
+find it hard, however, to avoid a certain suggestion of condescension,
+and in the baser sort, of contempt, when they are dealing with a
+foreigner.
+
+It was a great stroke of luck meeting Eric, for he was able to give me
+some idea of how things stood before I was shown into the presence of
+Kenna, the leader of this particular ship. The crew, as I learned from
+him, was entirely made up of three tribes or families--those of Kenna,
+of Lanc, and of Hasta. Each of these tribes gets its name by putting the
+letters "ing" after the name of the chief, so that the people on
+board would describe themselves as Kennings, Lancings, and Hastings. I
+observed in the Baltic that the villages were named after the family who
+lived in them, each keeping to itself, so that I have no doubt if these
+fellows get a footing on shore, we shall see settlements with names like
+these rising up among the British towns.
+
+The greater part of the men were sturdy fellows with red, yellow, or
+brown hair, mostly the latter. To my surprise, I saw several women among
+them. Eric, in answer to my question, explained that they always take
+their women with them so far as they can, and that instead of finding
+them an incumbrance as our Roman dames would be, they look upon them
+as helpmates and advisers. Of course, I remembered afterwards that our
+excellent and accurate Tacitus has remarked upon this characteristic of
+the Germans. All laws in the tribes are decided by votes, and a vote has
+not yet been given to the women, but many are in favour of it, and it
+is thought that woman and man may soon have the same power in the State,
+though many of the women themselves are opposed to such an innovation.
+I observed to Eric that it was fortunate there were several women on
+board, as they could keep each other company; but he answered that
+the wives of chiefs had no desire to know the wives of the inferior
+officers, and that both of them combined against the more common women,
+so that any companionship was out of the question. He pointed as he
+spoke to Editha, the wife of Kenna, a red-faced, elderly woman, who
+walked among the others, her chin in the air, taking no more notice than
+if they did not exist.
+
+Whilst I was talking to my friend Eric, a sudden altercation broke out
+upon the deck, and a great number of the men paused in their work, and
+flocked towards the spot with faces which showed that they were deeply
+interested in the matter. Eric and I pushed our way among the others,
+for I was very anxious to see as much as I could of the ways and manners
+of these Barbarians. A quarrel had broken out about a child, a little
+blue-eyed fellow with curly yellow hair, who appeared to be greatly
+amused by the hubbub of which he was the cause. On one side of him stood
+a white-bearded old man, of very majestic aspect, who signified by his
+gestures that he claimed the lad for himself, while on the other was a
+thin, earnest, anxious person, who strongly objected to the boy being
+taken from him. Eric whispered in my ear that the old man was the tribal
+high priest, who was the official sacrificer to their great god Woden,
+whilst the other was a man who took somewhat different views, not upon
+Woden, but upon the means by which he should be worshipped. The majority
+of the crew were on the side of the old priest; but a certain number,
+who liked greater liberty of worship, and to invent their own prayers
+instead of always repeating the official ones, followed the lead of the
+younger man. The difference was too deep and too old to be healed among
+the grown men, but each had a great desire to impress their view upon
+the children. This was the reason why these two were now so furious with
+each other, and the argument between them ran so high that several of
+their followers on either side had drawn the short saxes, or knives
+from which their name of Saxon is derived, when a burly, red-headed man
+pushed his way through the throng, and in a voice of thunder brought the
+controversy to an end.
+
+"You priests, who argue about the things which no man can know, are more
+trouble aboard this ship than all the dangers of the sea," he cried.
+"Can you not be content with worshipping Woden, over which we are all
+agreed, and not make so much of those small points upon which we may
+differ? If there is all this fuss about the teaching of the children,
+then I shall forbid either of you to teach them, and they must be
+content with as much as they can learn from their mothers."
+
+The two angry teachers walked away with discontented faces; and
+Kenna--for it was he who spoke--ordered that a whistle should be
+sounded, and that the crew should assemble. I was pleased with the free
+bearing of these people, for though this was their greatest chief, they
+showed none of the exaggerated respect which soldiers of a legion might
+show to the Praetor, but met him on a respectful equality, which showed
+how highly they rated their own manhood.
+
+From our Roman standard, his remarks to his men would seem very wanting
+in eloquence, for there were no graces nor metaphors to be found in
+them, and yet they were short, strong and to the point. At any rate it
+was very clear that they were to the minds of his hearers. He began by
+reminding them that they had left their own country because the land was
+all taken up, and that there was no use returning there, since there was
+no place where they could dwell as free and independent men. This island
+of Britain was but sparsely inhabited, and there was a chance that every
+one of them would be able to found a home of his own.
+
+"You, Whitta," he said, addressing some of them by name, "you will found
+a Whitting hame, and you, Bucka, we shall see you in a Bucking hame,
+where your children, and your children's children will bless you for the
+broad acres which your valour will have gained for them." There was no
+word of glory or of honour in his speech, but he said that he was aware
+that they would do their duty, on which they all struck their swords
+upon their shields so that the Britons on the beach could hear the
+clang. Then, his eyes falling upon me, he asked me whether I was the
+messenger from Vortigern, and on my answering, he bid me follow him
+into his cabin, where Lanc and Hasta the other chiefs were waiting for a
+council.
+
+Picture me, then, my dear Crassus, in a very low-roofed cabin, with
+these three huge Barbarians seated round me. Each was clad in some sort
+of saffron tunic, with chain-mail shirts over it, and helmets with the
+horns of oxen on either side, laid upon the table before them. Like most
+of the Saxon chiefs, their beards were shaved, but they wore their hair
+long and their huge light-coloured moustaches drooped down on to their
+shoulders. They are gentle, slow, and somewhat heavy in their bearing,
+but I can well fancy that their fury is the more terrible when it does
+arise.
+
+Their minds seem to be of a very practical and positive nature, for they
+at once began to ask me a series of questions upon the numbers of the
+Britons, the resources of the kingdom, the conditions of its trade, and
+other such subjects. They then set to work arguing over the information
+which I had given, and became so absorbed in their own contention that I
+believe there were times when they forgot my presence. Everything, after
+due discussion, was decided between them by vote, the one who found
+himself in the minority always submitting, though sometimes with a very
+bad grace. Indeed, on one occasion Lanc, who usually differed from the
+others, threatened to refer the matter to the general vote of the whole
+crew. There was a constant conflict in the point of view; for whereas
+Kenna and Hasta were anxious to extend the Saxon power, and to make it
+greater in the eyes of the world, Lanc was of opinion that they should
+give less thought to conquest and more to the comfort and advancement of
+their followers. At the same time it seemed to me that really Lanc was
+the more combative of the three; so much so that, even in time of peace,
+he could not forego this contest with his own brethren. Neither of the
+others seemed very fond of him, for they were each, as was easy to
+see, proud of their chieftainship, and anxious to use their authority,
+referring continually to those noble ancestors from whom it was derived;
+while Lanc, though he was equally well born, took the view of the common
+men upon every occasion, claiming that the interests of the many were
+superior to the privileges of the few. In a word, Crassus, if you
+could imagine a free-booting Gracchus on one side, and two piratical
+Patricians upon the other, you would understand the effect which my
+companions produced upon me.
+
+There was one peculiarity which I observed in their conversation which
+soothed me very much. I am fond of these Britons, among whom I have
+spent so much of my life, and I wish them well. It was very pleasing,
+therefore, to notice that these men insisted upon it in their
+conversation that the whole object of their visit was the good of the
+Islanders. Any prospect of advantage to themselves was pushed into the
+background. I was not clear that these professions could be made to
+agree with the speech in which Kenna had promised a hundred hides of
+land to every man on the ship; but on my making this remark, the three
+chiefs seemed very surprised and hurt by my suspicions, and explained
+very plausibly that, as the Britons needed them as a guard, they
+could not aid them better than by settling on the soil, and so being
+continually at hand in order to help them. In time, they said, they
+hoped to raise and train the natives to such a point that they would be
+able to look after themselves. Lanc spoke with some degree of eloquence
+upon the nobleness of the mission which they had undertaken, and the
+others clattered their cups of mead (a jar of that unpleasant drink was
+on the table) in token of their agreement.
+
+I observed also how much interested, and how very earnest and intolerant
+these Barbarians were in the matter of religion. Of Christianity they
+knew nothing, so that although they were aware that the Britons were
+Christians, they had not a notion of what their creed really was. Yet
+without examination they started by taking it for granted that their
+own worship of Woden was absolutely right, and that therefore this
+other creed must be absolutely wrong. "This vile religion," "This sad
+superstition," and "This grievous error," were among the phrases which
+they used towards it. Instead of expressing pity for any one who had
+been misinformed upon so serious a question, their feelings were those
+of anger, and they declared most earnestly that they would spare
+no pains to set the matter right, fingering the hilts of their long
+broad-swords as they said so.
+
+Well, my dear Crassus, you will have had enough of me and of my Saxons.
+I have given you a short sketch of these people and their ways. Since
+I began this letter, I have visited the two other ships which have come
+in, and as I find the same characteristics among the people on board
+them, I cannot doubt that they lie deeply in the race. For the rest,
+they are brave, hardy, and very pertinacious in all that they undertake;
+whereas the Britons, though a great deal more spirited, have not the
+same steadiness of purpose, their quicker imaginations suggesting always
+some other course, and their more fiery passions being succeeded by
+reaction. When I looked from the deck of the first Saxon ship, and saw
+the swaying excited multitude of Britons on the beach, contrasting them
+with the intent, silent men who stood beside me, it seemed to me more
+than ever dangerous to call in such allies. So strongly did I feel it
+that I turned to Kenna, who was also looking towards the beach.
+
+"You will own this island before you have finished," said I.
+
+His eyes sparkled as he gazed. "Perhaps," he cried; and then suddenly
+collecting himself and thinking that he had said too much, he added--
+
+"A temporary occupation--nothing more."
+
+
+
+
+THE HOME-COMING
+
+
+In the spring of the year 528, a small brig used to run as a passenger
+boat between Chalcedon on the Asiatic shore and Constantinople. On the
+morning in question, which was that of the feast of Saint George, the
+vessel was crowded with excursionists who were bound for the great city
+in order to take part in the religious and festive celebrations which
+marked the festival of the Megalo-martyr, one of the most choice
+occasions in the whole vast hagiology of the Eastern Church. The day was
+fine and the breeze light, so that the passengers in their holiday mood
+were able to enjoy without a qualm the many objects of interest which
+marked the approach to the greatest and most beautiful capital in the
+world.
+
+On the right, as they sped up the narrow strait, there stretched the
+Asiatic shore, sprinkled with white villages and with numerous villas
+peeping out from the woods which adorned it. In front of them, the
+Prince's Islands, rising as green as emeralds out of the deep sapphire
+blue of the Sea of Marmora, obscured for the moment the view of the
+capital. As the brig rounded these, the great city burst suddenly upon
+their sight, and a murmur of admiration and wonder rose from the crowded
+deck. Tier above tier it rose, white and glittering, a hundred brazen
+roofs and gilded statues gleaming in the sun, with high over all the
+magnificent shining cupola of Saint Sophia. Seen against a cloudless
+sky, it was the city of a dream-too delicate, too airily lovely for
+earth.
+
+In the prow of the small vessel were two travellers of singular
+appearance. The one was a very beautiful boy, ten or twelve years of
+age, swarthy, clear-cut, with dark, curling hair and vivacious black
+eyes, full of intelligence and of the joy of living. The other was an
+elderly man, gaunt-faced and grey-bearded, whose stern features were lit
+up by a smile as he observed the excitement and interest with which his
+young companion viewed the beautiful distant city and the many vessels
+which thronged the narrow strait.
+
+"See! see!" cried the lad. "Look at the great red ships which sail out
+from yonder harbour. Surely, your holiness, they are the greatest of all
+ships in the world."
+
+The old man, who was the abbot of the monastery of Saint Nicephorus in
+Antioch, laid his hand upon the boy's shoulder.
+
+"Be wary, Leon, and speak less loudly, for until we have seen your
+mother we should keep ourselves secret. As to the red galleys they are
+indeed as large as any, for they are the Imperial ships of war, which
+come forth from the harbour of Theodosius. Round yonder green point is
+the Golden Horn, where the merchant ships are moored. But now, Leon, if
+you follow the line of buildings past the great church, you will see
+a long row of pillars fronting the sea. It marks the Palace of the
+Caesars."
+
+The boy looked at it with fixed attention. "And my mother is there," he
+whispered.
+
+"Yes, Leon, your mother the Empress Theodora and her husband the great
+Justinian dwell in yonder palace."
+
+The boy looked wistfully up into the old man's face.
+
+"Are you sure, Father Luke, that my mother will indeed be glad to see
+me?"
+
+The abbot turned away his face to avoid those questioning eyes.
+
+"We cannot tell, Leon. We can only try. If it should prove that there is
+no place for you, then there is always a welcome among the brethren of
+Saint Nicephorus."
+
+"Why did you not tell my mother that we were coming, Father Luke? Why
+did you not wait until you had her command?"
+
+"At a distance, Leon, it would be easy to refuse you. An Imperial
+messenger would have stopped us. But when she sees you, Leon--your
+eyes, so like her own, your face, which carries memories of one whom she
+loved--then, if there be a woman's heart within her bosom, she will take
+you into it. They say that the Emperor can refuse her nothing. They have
+no child of their own. There is a great future before you, Leon. When it
+comes, do not forget the poor brethren of Saint Nicephorus, who took you
+in when you had no friend in the world."
+
+The old abbot spoke cheerily, but it was easy to see from his anxious
+countenance that the nearer he came to the capital the more doubtful
+did his errand appear. What had seemed easy and natural from the quiet
+cloisters of Antioch became dubious and dark now that the golden domes
+of Constantinople glittered so close at hand. Ten years before, a
+wretched woman, whose very name was an offence throughout the eastern
+world where she was as infamous for her dishonour as famous for her
+beauty, had come to the monastery gate, and had persuaded the monks to
+take charge of her infant son, the child of her shame. There he had been
+ever since. But she, Theodora, the harlot, returning to the capital, had
+by the strangest turn of Fortune's wheel caught the fancy and finally
+the enduring love of Justinian the heir to the throne. Then on the death
+of his uncle Justin, the young man had become the greatest monarch upon
+the earth, and had raised Theodora to be not only his wife and Empress,
+but to be absolute ruler with powers equal to and independent of his
+own. And she, the polluted one, had risen to the dignity, had cut
+herself sternly away from all that related to her past life, and had
+shown signs already of being a great Queen, stronger and wiser than her
+husband, but fierce, vindictive, and unbending, a firm support to her
+friends, but a terror to her foes. This was the woman to whom the Abbot
+Luke of Antioch was bringing Leon, her forgotten son. If ever her mind
+strayed back to the days when, abandoned by her lover Ecebolus, the
+Governor of the African Pentapolis, she had made her way on foot through
+Asia Minor, and left her infant with the monks, it was only to persuade
+herself that the brethren cloistered far from the world would never
+identify Theodora the Empress with Theodora the dissolute wanderer, and
+that the fruits of her sin would be for ever concealed from her Imperial
+husband.
+
+The little brig had now rounded the point of the Acropolis, and the
+long blue stretch of the Golden Horn lay before it. The high wall of
+Theodosius lined the whole harbour, but a narrow verge of land had been
+left between it and the water's edge to serve as a quay. The vessel
+ran alongside near the Neorion Gate, and the passengers, after a short
+scrutiny from the group of helmeted guards who lounged beside it, were
+allowed to pass through into the great city.
+
+The abbot, who had made several visits to Constantinople upon the
+business of his monastery, walked with the assured step of one who
+knows his ground; while the boy, alarmed and yet pleased by the rush
+of people, the roar and glitter of passing chariots, and the vista of
+magnificent buildings, held tightly to the loose gown of his guide,
+while staring eagerly about him in every direction. Passing through the
+steep and narrow streets which led up from the water, they emerged into
+the open space which surrounds the magnificent pile of Saint Sophia, the
+great church begun by Constantine, hallowed by Saint Chrysostom, and now
+the seat of the Patriarch, and the very centre of the Eastern Church.
+Only with many crossings and genuflections did the pious abbot succeed
+in passing the revered shrine of his religion, and hurried on to his
+difficult task.
+
+Having passed Saint Sophia, the two travellers crossed the marble-paved
+Augusteum, and saw upon their right the gilded gates of the hippodrome
+through which a vast crowd of people was pressing, for though the
+morning had been devoted to the religious ceremony, the afternoon was
+given over to secular festivities. So great was the rush of the populace
+that the two strangers had some difficulty in disengaging themselves
+from the stream and reaching the huge arch of black marble which formed
+the outer gate of the palace. Within they were fiercely ordered to halt
+by a gold-crested and magnificent sentinel who laid his shining spear
+across their breasts until his superior officer should give them
+permission to pass. The abbot had been warned, however, that all
+obstacles would give way if he mentioned the name of Basil the eunuch,
+who acted as chamberlain of the palace and also as Parakimomen--a
+high office which meant that he slept at the door of the Imperial
+bed-chamber. The charm worked wonderfully, for at the mention of that
+potent name the Protosphathaire, or Head of the Palace Guards, who
+chanced to be upon the spot, immediately detached one of his soldiers
+with instructions to convoy the two strangers into the presence of the
+chamberlain.
+
+Passing in succession a middle guard and an inner guard, the travellers
+came at last into the palace proper, and followed their majestic guide
+from chamber to chamber, each more wonderful than the last. Marbles and
+gold, velvet and silver, glittering mosaics, wonderful carvings, ivory
+screens, curtains of Armenian tissue and of Indian silk, damask from
+Arabia, and amber from the Baltic--all these things merged themselves
+in the minds of the two simple provincials, until their eyes ached and
+their senses reeled before the blaze and the glory of this, the most
+magnificent of the dwellings of man. Finally, a pair of curtains,
+crusted with gold, were parted, and their guide handed them over to a
+negro mute who stood within. A heavy, fat, brown-skinned man, with a
+large, flabby, hairless face was pacing up and down the small apartment,
+and he turned upon them as they entered with an abominable and
+threatening smile. His loose lips and pendulous cheeks were those of
+a gross old woman, but above them there shone a pair of dark malignant
+eyes, full of fierce intensity of observation and judgment.
+
+"You have entered the palace by using my name," he said. "It is one of
+my boasts that any of the populace can approach me in this way. But it
+is not fortunate for those who take advantage of it without due cause."
+Again he smiled a smile which made the frightened boy cling tightly to
+the loose serge skirts of the abbot.
+
+But the ecclesiastic was a man of courage. Undaunted by the sinister
+appearance of the great chamberlain, or by the threat which lay in his
+words, he laid his hand upon his young companion's shoulder and faced
+the eunuch with a confidential smile.
+
+"I have no doubt, your excellency," said he, "that the importance of my
+mission has given me the right to enter the palace. The only thing which
+troubles me is whether it may not be so important as to forbid me from
+broaching it to you, or indeed, to anybody save the Empress Theodora,
+since it is she only whom it concerns."
+
+The eunuch's thick eyebrows bunched together over his vicious eyes.
+
+"You must make good those words," he said. "If my gracious master--the
+ever-glorious Emperor Justinian--does not disdain to take me into his
+most intimate confidence in all things, it would be strange if there
+were any subject within your knowledge which I might not hear. You
+are, as I gather from your garb and bearing, the abbot of some Asiatic
+monastery?"
+
+"You are right, your excellency, I am the abbot of the Monastery of St.
+Nicephorus in Antioch. But I repeat that I am assured that what I have
+to say is for the ear of the Empress Theodora only."
+
+The eunuch was evidently puzzled, and his curiosity aroused by the old
+man's persistence. He came nearer, his heavy face thrust forward, his
+flabby brown hands, like two sponges, resting upon the table of yellow
+jasper before him.
+
+"Old man," said he, "there is no secret which concerns the Empress which
+may not be told to me. But if you refuse to speak, it is certain that
+you will never see her. Why should I admit you, unless I know your
+errand? How should I know that you are not a Manichean heretic with
+a poniard in your bosom, longing for the blood of the mother of the
+Church?"
+
+The abbot hesitated no longer. "If there be a mistake in the matter,
+then on your head be it," said he. "Know then that this lad Leon is the
+son of Theodora the Empress, left by her in our monastery within a month
+of his birth ten years ago. This papyrus which I hand you will show you
+that what I say is beyond all question or doubt."
+
+The eunuch Basil took the paper, but his eyes were fixed upon the boy,
+and his features showed a mixture of amazement at the news that he
+had received, and of cunning speculation as to how he could turn it to
+profit.
+
+"Indeed, he is the very image of the Empress," he muttered; and then,
+with sudden suspicion, "Is it not the chance of this likeness which has
+put the scheme into your head, old man?"
+
+"There is but one way to answer that," said the abbot. "It is to ask the
+Empress herself whether what I say is not true, and to give her the glad
+tidings that her boy is alive and well."
+
+The tone of confidence, together with the testimony of the papyrus,
+and the boy's beautiful face, removed the last shadow of doubt from the
+eunuch's mind. Here was a great fact; but what use could he make of it?
+Above all, what advantage could he draw from it? He stood with his fat
+chin in his hand, turning it over in his cunning brain.
+
+"Old man," said he at last, "to how many have you told this secret?"
+
+"To no one in the whole world," the other answered. "There is Deacon
+Bardas at the monastery and myself. No one else knows anything."
+
+"You are sure of this?"
+
+"Absolutely certain."
+
+The eunuch had made up his mind. If he alone of all men in the palace
+knew of this event, he would have a powerful hold over his masterful
+mistress. He was certain that Justinian the Emperor knew nothing of
+this. It would be a shock to him. It might even alienate his affections
+from his wife. She might care to take precautions to prevent him from
+knowing. And if he, Basil the eunuch, was her confederate in those
+precautions, then how very close it must draw him to her. All this
+flashed through his mind as he stood, the papyrus in his hand, looking
+at the old man and the boy.
+
+"Stay here," said he. "I will be with you again." With a swift rustle of
+his silken robes he swept from the chamber.
+
+A few minutes had elapsed when a curtain at the end of the room was
+pushed aside, and the eunuch, reappearing, held it back, doubling his
+unwieldy body into a profound obeisance as he did so. Through the gap
+came a small alert woman, clad in golden tissue, with a loose outer
+mantle and shoes of the Imperial purple. That colour alone showed
+that she could be none other than the Empress; but the dignity of her
+carriage, the fierce authority of her magnificent dark eyes, and the
+perfect beauty of her haughty face, all proclaimed that it could only be
+that Theodora who, in spite of her lowly origin, was the most majestic
+as well as the most maturely lovely of all the women in her kingdom.
+Gone now were the buffoon tricks which the daughter of Acacius the
+bearward had learned in the amphitheatre; gone too was the light charm
+of the wanton, and what was left was the worthy mate of a great king,
+the measured dignity of one who was every inch an empress.
+
+Disregarding the two men, Theodora walked up to the boy, placed her two
+white hands upon his shoulders, and looked with a long questioning
+gaze, a gaze which began with hard suspicion and ended with tender
+recognition, into those large lustrous eyes which were the very
+reflection of her own. At first the sensitive lad was chilled by the
+cold intent question of the look; but as it softened, his own spirit
+responded, until suddenly, with a cry of "Mother! mother!" he cast
+himself into her arms, his hands locked round her neck, his face buried
+in her bosom. Carried away by the sudden natural outburst of emotion,
+her own arms tightened round the lad's figure, and she strained him
+for an instant to her heart. Then, the strength of the Empress gaining
+instant command over the temporary weakness of the mother, she pushed
+him back from her, and waved that they should leave her to herself. The
+slaves in attendance hurried the two visitors from the room. Basil the
+eunuch lingered, looking down at his mistress, who had thrown herself
+upon a damask couch, her lips white and her bosom heaving with the
+tumult of her emotion. She glanced up and met the chancellor's crafty
+gaze, her woman's instinct reading the threat that lurked within it.
+
+"I am in your power," she said. "The Emperor must never know of this."
+
+"I am your slave," said the eunuch, with his ambiguous smile. "I am an
+instrument in your hand. If it is your will that the Emperor should know
+nothing, then who is to tell him?"
+
+"But the monk, the boy? What are we to do?"
+
+"There is only one way for safety," said the eunuch.
+
+She looked at him with horrified eyes. His spongy hands were pointing
+down to the floor. There was an underground world to this beautiful
+palace, a shadow that was ever close to the light, a region of dimly-lit
+passages, of shadowed corners, of noiseless, tongueless slaves, of
+sudden, sharp screams in the darkness. To this the eunuch was pointing.
+
+A terrible struggle rent her breast. The beautiful boy was hers, flesh
+of her flesh, bone of her bone. She knew it beyond all question or
+doubt. It was her one child, and her whole heart went out to him. But
+Justinian! She knew the Emperor's strange limitations. Her career in the
+past was forgotten. He had swept it all aside by special Imperial decree
+published throughout the Empire, as if she were new-born through the
+power of his will, and her association with his person. But they were
+childless, and this sight of one which was not his own would cut him to
+the quick. He could dismiss her infamous past from his mind, but if it
+took the concrete shape of this beautiful child, then how could he wave
+it aside as if it had never been? All her instincts and her intimate
+knowledge of the man told her that even her charm, and her influence
+might fail under such circumstances to save her from ruin. Her divorce
+would be as easy to him as her elevation had been. She was balanced
+upon a giddy pinnacle, the highest in the world, and yet the higher the
+deeper the fall. Everything that earth could give was now at her feet.
+Was she to risk the losing of it all--for what? For a weakness which was
+unworthy of an Empress, for a foolish new-born spasm of love, for that
+which had no existence within her in the morning? How could she be so
+foolish as to risk losing such a substance for such a shadow?
+
+"Leave it to me," said the brown watchful face above her.
+
+"Must it be--death?"
+
+"There is no real safety outside. But if your heart is too merciful,
+then by the loss of sight and speech--"
+
+She saw in her mind the white-hot iron approaching those glorious eyes,
+and she shuddered at the thought.
+
+"No, no! Better death than that!"
+
+"Let it be death then. You are wise, great Empress, for there only is
+real safety and assurance of silence."
+
+"And the monk?"
+
+"Him also."
+
+"But the Holy Synod? He is a tonsured priest. What would the Patriarch
+do?"
+
+"Silence his babbling tongue. Then let them do what they will. How are
+we of the palace to know that this conspirator, taken with a dagger in
+his sleeve, is really what he says?"
+
+Again she shuddered and shrank down among the cushions.
+
+"Speak not of it, think not of it," said the eunuch. "Say only that you
+leave it in my hands. Nay, then, if you cannot say it, do but nod your
+head, and I take it as your signal."
+
+In that moment there flashed before Theodora's mind a vision of all
+her enemies, of all those who envied her rise, of all whose hatred
+and contempt would rise into a clamour of delight could they see the
+daughter of the bearward hurled down again into that abyss from which
+she had been dragged. Her face hardened, her lips tightened, her little
+hands clenched in the agony of her thought. "Do it!" she said.
+
+In an instant, with a terrible smile, the messenger of death hurried
+from the room. She groaned aloud, and buried herself yet deeper amid the
+silken cushions, clutching them frantically with convulsed and twitching
+hands.
+
+The eunuch wasted no time, for this deed, once done, he became--save
+for some insignificant monk in Asia Minor, whose fate would soon be
+sealed--the only sharer of Theodora's secret, and therefore the only
+person who could curb and bend that most imperious nature. Hurrying into
+the chamber where the visitors were waiting, he gave a sinister signal,
+only too well known in those iron days. In an instant the black mutes in
+attendance seized the old man and the boy, pushing them swiftly down a
+passage and into a meaner portion of the palace, where the heavy smell
+of luscious cooking proclaimed the neighbourhood of the kitchens. A side
+corridor led to a heavily-barred iron door, and this in turn opened upon
+a steep flight of stone steps, feebly illuminated by the glimmer of wall
+lamps. At the head and foot stood a mute sentinel like an ebony statue,
+and below, along the dusky and forbidding passages from which the cells
+opened, a succession of niches in the wall were each occupied by a
+similar guardian. The unfortunate visitors were dragged brutally down
+a number of stone-flagged and dismal corridors until they descended
+another long stair which led so deeply into the earth that the damp
+feeling in the heavy air and the drip of water all round showed that
+they had come down to the level of the sea. Groans and cries, like those
+of sick animals, from the various grated doors which they passed showed
+how many there were who spent their whole lives in this humid and
+poisonous atmosphere.
+
+At the end of this lowest passage was a door which opened into a single
+large vaulted room. It was devoid of furniture, but in the centre was
+a large and heavy wooden board clamped with iron. This lay upon a rude
+stone parapet, engraved with inscriptions beyond the wit of the eastern
+scholars, for this old well dated from a time before the Greeks founded
+Byzantium, when men of Chaldea and Phoenicia built with huge unmortared
+blocks, far below the level of the town of Constantine. The door was
+closed, and the eunuch beckoned to the slaves that they should remove
+the slab which covered the well of death. The frightened boy screamed
+and clung to the abbot, who, ashy-pale and trembling, was pleading hard
+to melt the heart of the ferocious eunuch.
+
+"Surely, surely, you would not slay the innocent boy!" he cried. "What
+has he done? Was it his fault that he came here? I alone--I and Deacon
+Bardas--are to blame. Punish us, if some one must indeed be punished.
+We are old. It is today or tomorrow with us. But he is so young and so
+beautiful, with all his life before him. Oh, sir! oh, your excellency,
+you would not have the heart to hurt him!"
+
+He threw himself down and clutched at the eunuch's knees, while the boy
+sobbed piteously and cast horror-stricken eyes at the black slaves who
+were tearing the wooden slab from the ancient parapet beneath. The only
+answer which the chamberlain gave to the frantic pleadings of the abbot
+was to take a stone which lay on the coping of the well and toss it
+in. It could be heard clattering against the old, damp, mildewed walls,
+until it fell with a hollow boom into some far distant subterranean
+pool. Then he again motioned with his hands, and the black slaves threw
+themselves upon the boy and dragged him away from his guardian. So
+shrill was his clamour that no one heard the approach of the Empress.
+With a swift rush she had entered the room, and her arms were round her
+son.
+
+"It shall not be! It cannot be!" she cried. "No, no, my darling! my
+darling! they shall do you no hurt. I was mad to think of it--mad and
+wicked to dream of it. Oh, my sweet boy! To think that your mother might
+have had your blood upon her head!"
+
+The eunuch's brows were gathered together at this failure of his plans,
+at this fresh example of feminine caprice.
+
+"Why kill them, great lady, if it pains your gracious heart?" said he.
+"With a knife and a branding iron they can be disarmed for ever."
+
+She paid no attention to his words. "Kiss me, Leon!" she cried. "Just
+once let me feel my own child's soft lips rest upon mine. Now again! No,
+no more, or I shall weaken for what I have still to say and still to do.
+Old man, you are very near a natural grave, and I cannot think from
+your venerable aspect that words of falsehood would come readily to your
+lips. You have indeed kept my secret all these years, have you not?"
+
+"I have in very truth, great Empress. I swear to you by Saint
+Nicephorus, patron of our house, that, save old Deacon Bardas, there is
+none who knows."
+
+"Then let your lips still be sealed. If you have kept faith in the past,
+I see no reason why you should be a babbler in the future. And you,
+Leon"--she bent her wonderful eyes with a strange mixture of sternness
+and of love upon the boy, "can I trust you? Will you keep a secret
+which could never help you, but would be the ruin and downfall of your
+mother?"
+
+"Oh, mother, I would not hurt you! I swear that I will be silent."
+
+"Then I trust you both. Such provision will be made for your monastery
+and for your own personal comforts as will make you bless the day you
+came to my palace. Now you may go. I wish never to see you again. If
+I did, you might find me in a softer mood, or in a harder, and the
+one would lead to my undoing, the other to yours. But if by whisper or
+rumour I have reason to think that you have failed me, then you and your
+monks and your monastery will have such an end as will be a lesson for
+ever to those who would break faith with their Empress."
+
+"I will never speak," said the old abbot; "neither will Deacon
+Bardas; neither will Leon. For all three I can answer. But there are
+others--these slaves, the chancellor. We may be punished for another's
+fault."
+
+"Not so," said the Empress, and her eyes were like flints. "These slaves
+are voiceless; nor have they any means to tell those secrets which they
+know. As to you, Basil--" She raised her white hand with the same deadly
+gesture which he had himself used so short a time before. The black
+slaves were on him like hounds on a stag.
+
+"Oh, my gracious mistress, dear lady, what is this? What is this? You
+cannot mean it!" he screamed, in his high, cracked voice. "Oh, what have
+I done? Why should I die?"
+
+"You have turned me against my own. You have goaded me to slay my own
+son. You have intended to use my secret against me. I read it in your
+eyes from the first. Cruel, murderous villain, taste the fate which
+you have yourself given to so many others. This is your doom. I have
+spoken."
+
+The old man and the boy hurried in horror from the vault. As they
+glanced back they saw the erect inflexible, shimmering, gold-clad figure
+of the Empress. Beyond they had a glimpse of the green-scummed lining of
+the well, and of the great red open mouth of the eunuch, as he screamed
+and prayed while every tug of the straining slaves brought him one step
+nearer to the brink. With their hands over their ears they rushed away,
+but even so they heard that last woman-like shriek, and then the heavy
+plunge far down in the dark abysses of the earth.
+
+
+
+
+THE RED STAR
+
+
+The house of Theodosius, the famous eastern merchant, was in the best
+part of Constantinople at the Sea Point which is near the Church of
+Saint Demetrius. Here he would entertain in so princely a fashion that
+even the Emperor Maurice had been known to come privately from the
+neighbouring Bucoleon palace in order to join in the revelry. On the
+night in question, however, which was the fourth of November in the
+year of our Lord 630, his numerous guests had retired early, and there
+remained only two intimates, both of them successful merchants like
+himself, who sat with him over their wine on the marble verandah of his
+house, whence on the one side they could see the lights of the shipping
+in the Sea of Marmora, and on the other the beacons which marked out the
+course of the Bosphorus. Immediately at their feet lay a narrow strait
+of water, with the low, dark loom of the Asiatic hills beyond. A thin
+haze hid the heavens, but away to the south a single great red star
+burned sullenly in the darkness.
+
+The night was cool, the light was soothing, and the three men talked
+freely, letting their minds drift back into the earlier days when they
+had staked their capital, and often their lives, on the ventures which
+had built up their present fortunes. The host spoke of his long journeys
+in North Africa, the land of the Moors; how he had travelled, keeping
+the blue sea ever upon his right, until he had passed the ruins of
+Carthage, and so on and ever on until a great tidal ocean beat upon a
+yellow strand before him, while on the right he could see the high rock
+across the waves which marked the Pillars of Hercules. His talk was
+of dark-skinned bearded men, of lions, and of monstrous serpents. Then
+Demetrius, the Cilician, an austere man of sixty, told how he also had
+built up his mighty wealth. He spoke of a journey over the Danube and
+through the country of the fierce Huns, until he and his friends had
+found themselves in the mighty forest of Germany, on the shores of the
+great river which is called the Elbe. His stories were of huge men,
+sluggish of mind, but murderous in their cups, of sudden midnight broils
+and nocturnal flights, of villages buried in dense woods, of bloody
+heathen sacrifices, and of the bears and wolves who haunted the forest
+paths. So the two elder men capped each other's stories and awoke each
+other's memories, while Manuel Ducas, the young merchant of gold and
+ostrich feathers, whose name was already known all over the Levant, sat
+in silence and listened to their talk. At last, however, they called
+upon him also for an anecdote, and leaning his cheek upon his elbow,
+with his eyes fixed upon the great red star which burned in the south,
+the younger man began to speak.
+
+"It is the sight of that star which brings a story into my mind," said
+he. "I do not know its name. Old Lascaris the astronomer would tell me
+if I asked, but I have no desire to know. Yet at this time of the year
+I always look out for it, and I never fail to see it burning in the same
+place. But it seems to me that it is redder and larger than it was.
+
+"It was some ten years ago that I made an expedition into Abyssinia,
+where I traded to such good effect that I set forth on my return with
+more than a hundred camel-loads of skins, ivory, gold, spices, and other
+African produce. I brought them to the sea-coast at Arsinoe, and carried
+them up the Arabian Gulf in five of the small boats of the country.
+Finally, I landed near Saba, which is a starting-point for caravans,
+and, having assembled my camels and hired a guard of forty men from the
+wandering Arabs, I set forth for Macoraba. From this point, which is
+the sacred city of the idolaters of those parts, one can always join
+the large caravans which go north twice a year to Jerusalem and the
+sea-coast of Syria.
+
+"Our route was a long and weary one. On our left hand was the Arabian
+Gulf, lying like a pool of molten metal under the glare of day, but
+changing to blood-red as the sun sank each evening behind the distant
+African coast. On our right was a monstrous desert which extends, so far
+as I know, across the whole of Arabia and away to the distant kingdom
+of the Persians. For many days we saw no sign of life save our own long,
+straggling line of laden camels with their tattered, swarthy guardians.
+In these deserts the soft sand deadens the footfall of the animals, so
+that their silent progress day after day through a scene which never
+changes, and which is itself noiseless, becomes at last like a strange
+dream. Often as I rode behind my caravan, and gazed at the grotesque
+figures which bore my wares in front of me, I found it hard to believe
+that it was indeed reality, and that it was I, I, Manuel Ducas, who
+lived near the Theodosian Gate of Constantinople, and shouted for the
+Green at the hippodrome every Sunday afternoon, who was there in so
+strange a land and with such singular comrades.
+
+"Now and then, far out at sea, we caught sight of the white triangular
+sails of the boats which these people use, but as they are all pirates,
+we were very glad to be safely upon shore. Once or twice, too, by the
+water's edge we saw dwarfish creatures-one could scarcely say if they
+were men or monkeys--who burrow for homes among the seaweed, drink the
+pools of brackish water, and eat what they can catch. These are the
+fish-eaters, the Ichthyophagi, of whom old Herodotus talks--surely the
+lowest of all the human race. Our Arabs shrank from them with horror,
+for it is well known that, should you die in the desert, these little
+people will settle on you like carrion crows, and leave not a bone
+unpicked. They gibbered and croaked and waved their skinny arms at us
+as we passed, knowing well that they could swim far out to sea if we
+attempted to pursue them; for it is said that even the sharks turn with
+disgust from their foul bodies.
+
+"We had travelled in this way for ten days, camping every evening at the
+vile wells which offered a small quantity of abominable water. It was
+our habit to rise very early and to travel very late, but to halt during
+the intolerable heat of the afternoon, when, for want of trees, we would
+crouch in the shadow of a sandhill, or, if that were wanting, behind
+our own camels and merchandise, in order to escape from the insufferable
+glare of the sun. On the seventh day we were near the point where one
+leaves the coast in order to strike inland to Macoraba. We had concluded
+our midday halt, and were just starting once more, the sun still
+being so hot that we could hardly bear it, when, looking up, I saw a
+remarkable sight. Standing on a hillock to our right there was a man
+about forty feet high, holding in his hand a spear which was the size
+of the mast of a large ship. You look surprised, my friends, and you
+can therefore imagine my feelings when I saw such a sight. But my reason
+soon told me that the object in front of me was really a wandering
+Arab, whose form had been enormously magnified by the strange distorting
+effects which the hot air of the desert is able to cause.
+
+"However, the actual apparition caused more alarm to my companions
+than the imagined one had to me, for with a howl of dismay they shrank
+together into a frightened group, all pointing and gesticulating as they
+gazed at the distant figure. I then observed that the man was not alone,
+but that from all the sandhills a line of turbaned heads was gazing down
+upon us. The chief of the escort came running to me, and informed me
+of the cause of their terror, which was that they recognized, by some
+peculiarity of their headgear, that these men belonged to the tribe of
+the Dilwas, the most ferocious and unscrupulous of the Bedouin, who had
+evidently laid an ambuscade for us at this point with the intention of
+seizing our caravan. When I thought of all my efforts in Abyssinia, of
+the length of my journey and of the dangers and fatigues which I had
+endured, I could not bear to think of this total disaster coming upon me
+at the last instant and robbing me not only of my profits, but also of
+my original outlay. It was evident, however, that the robbers were too
+numerous for us to attempt to defend ourselves, and that we should be
+very fortunate if we escaped with our lives. Sitting upon a packet,
+therefore, I commended my soul to our blessed Saint Helena, while I
+watched with despairing eyes the stealthy and menacing approach of the
+Arab robbers.
+
+"It may have been our own good fortune, or it may have been the handsome
+offering of beeswax candles--four to the pound--which I had mentally
+vowed to the blessed Helena, but at that instant I heard a great outcry
+of joy from among my own followers. Standing up on the packet that I
+might have a better view, I was overjoyed to see a long caravan--five
+hundred camels at least-with a numerous armed guard coming along the
+route from Macoraba. It is, I need not tell you, the custom of all
+caravans to combine their forces against the robbers of the desert, and
+with the aid of these newcomers we had become the stronger party. The
+marauders recognized it at once, for they vanished as if their native
+sands had swallowed them. Running up to the summit of a sandhill, I was
+just able to catch a glimpse of a dust-cloud whirling away across the
+yellow plain, with the long necks of their camels, the flutter of their
+loose garments, and the gleam of their spears breaking out from the
+heart of it. So vanished the marauders.
+
+"Presently I found, however, that I had only exchanged one danger for
+another. At first I had hoped that this new caravan might belong to some
+Roman citizen, or at least to some Syrian Christian, but I found that
+it was entirely Arab. The trading Arabs who are settled in the numerous
+towns of Arabia are, of course, very much more peaceable than the
+Bedouin of the wilderness, those sons of Ishmael of whom we read in Holy
+Writ. But the Arab blood is covetous and lawless, so that when I saw
+several hundred of them formed in a semi-circle round our camels,
+looking with greedy eyes at my boxes of precious metals and my packets
+of ostrich feathers, I feared the worst.
+
+"The leader of the new caravan was a man of dignified bearing and
+remarkable appearance. His age I would judge to be about forty. He
+had aquiline features, a noble black beard, and eyes so luminous, so
+searching, and so intense that I cannot remember in all my wanderings
+to have seen any which could be compared with them. To my thanks and
+salutations he returned a formal bow, and stood stroking his beard and
+looking in silence at the wealth which had suddenly fallen into his
+power. A murmur from his followers showed the eagerness with which they
+awaited the order to tall upon the plunder, and a young ruffian, who
+seemed to be on intimate terms with the leader, came to his elbow and
+put the desires of his companions into words.
+
+"'Surely, oh Revered One,' said he, 'these people and their treasure
+have been delivered into our hands. When we return with it to the holy
+place, who of all the Koraish will fail to see the finger of God which
+has led us?'
+
+"But the leader shook his head. 'Nay, Ali, it may not be,' he answered.
+'This man is, as I judge, a citizen of Rome, and we may not treat him as
+though he were an idolater.'
+
+"'But he is an unbeliever,' cried the youth, fingering a great knife
+which hung in his belt. 'Were I to be the judge, he would lose not only
+his merchandise, but his life also, if he did not accept the faith.'
+
+"The older man smiled and shook his head. 'Nay, Ali; you are too
+hot-headed,' said he, 'seeing that there are not as yet three hundred
+faithful in the world, our hands would indeed be full if we were to take
+the lives and property of all who are not with us. Forget not, dear lad,
+that charity and honesty are the very nose-ring and halter of the true
+faith.'
+
+"'Among the faithful,' said the ferocious youth.
+
+"'Nay, towards every one. It is the law of Allah. And yet'--here
+his countenance darkened, and his eyes shone with a most sinister
+light--'the day may soon come when the hour of grace is past, and woe,
+then, to those who have not hearkened! Then shall the sword of Allah be
+drawn, and it shall not be sheathed until the harvest is reaped. First
+it shall strike the idolaters on the day when my own people and kinsmen,
+the unbelieving Koraish, shall be scattered, and the three hundred and
+sixty idols of the Caaba thrust out upon the dungheaps of the town. Then
+shall the Caaba be the home and temple of one God only who brooks no
+rival on earth or in heaven.'
+
+"The man's followers had gathered round him, their spears in their
+hands, their ardent eyes fixed upon his face, and their dark features
+convulsed with such fanatic enthusiasm as showed the hold which he had
+upon their love and respect.
+
+"'We shall be patient,' said he; 'but some time next year, the year
+after, the day may come when the great angel Gabriel shall bear me the
+message that the time of words has gone by, and that the hour of the
+sword has come. We are few and weak, but if it is His will, who can
+stand against us? Are you of Jewish faith, stranger?' he asked.
+
+"I answered that I was not.
+
+"'The better for you,' he answered, with the same furious anger in his
+swarthy face. 'First shall the idolaters fall, and then the Jews, in
+that they have not known those very prophets whom they had themselves
+foretold. Then last will come the turn of the Christians, who follow
+indeed a true Prophet, greater than Moses or Abraham, but who have
+sinned in that they have confounded a creature with the Creator. To each
+in turn--idolater, Jew, and Christian--the day of reckoning will come.'
+
+"The ragamuffins behind him all shook their spears as he spoke. There
+was no doubt about their earnestness, but when I looked at their
+tattered dresses and simple arms, I could not help smiling to think of
+their ambitious threats, and to picture what their fate would be upon
+the day of battle before the battle-axes of our Imperial Guards, or the
+spears of the heavy cavalry of the Armenian Themes. However, I need not
+say that I was discreet enough to keep my thoughts to myself, as I had
+no desire to be the first martyr in this fresh attack upon our blessed
+faith.
+
+"It was now evening, and it was decided that the two caravans should
+camp together--an arrangement which was the more welcome as we were by
+no means sure that we had seen the last of the marauders. I had invited
+the leader of the Arabs to have supper with me, and after a long
+exercise of prayer with his followers he came to join me, but my attempt
+at hospitality was thrown away, for he would not touch the excellent
+wine which I had unpacked for him, nor would he eat any of my dainties,
+contenting himself with stale bread, dried dates, and water. After this
+meal we sat alone by the smouldering fire, the magnificent arch of the
+heavens above us of that deep, rich blue with those gleaming, clear-cut
+stars which can only be seen in that dry desert air. Our camp lay before
+us, and no sound reached our ears save the dull murmur of the voices
+of our companions and the occasional shrill cry of a jackal among the
+sandhills around us. Face to face I sat with this strange man, the glow
+of the fire beating upon his eager and imperious features and reflecting
+from his passionate eyes. It was the strangest vigil, and one which will
+never pass from my recollection. I have spoken with many wise and famous
+men upon my travels, but never with one who left the impression of this
+one.
+
+"And yet much of his talk was unintelligible to me, though, as you are
+aware, I speak Arabian like an Arab. It rose and fell in the strangest
+way. Sometimes it was the babble of a child, sometimes the incoherent
+raving of a fanatic, sometimes the lofty dreams of a prophet and
+philosopher. There were times when his stories of demons, of miracles,
+of dreams, and of omens, were such as an old woman might tell to please
+the children of an evening. There were others when, as he talked with
+shining face of his converse with angels, of the intentions of the
+Creator, and the end of the universe, I felt as if I were in the
+company of some one more than mortal, some one who was indeed the direct
+messenger of the Most High.
+
+"There were good reasons why he should treat me with such confidence. He
+saw in me a messenger to Constantinople and to the Roman Empire. Even as
+Saint Paul had brought Christianity to Europe, so he hoped that I might
+carry his doctrines to my native city. Alas! be the doctrines what they
+may, I fear that I am not the stuff of which Pauls are made. Yet he
+strove with all his heart during that long Arabian night to bring me
+over to his belief. He had with him a holy book, written, as he said,
+from the dictation of an angel, which he carried in tablets of bone in
+the nose-bag of a camel. Some chapters of this he read me; but, though
+the precepts were usually good, the language seemed wild and fanciful.
+There were times when I could scarce keep my countenance as I listened
+to him. He planned out his future movements, and indeed, as he spoke,
+it was hard to remember that he was only the wandering leader of an Arab
+caravan, and not one of the great ones of the earth.
+
+"'When God has given me sufficient power, which will be within a few
+years,' said he, 'I will unite all Arabia under my banner. Then I will
+spread my doctrine over Syria and Egypt. When this has been done, I will
+turn to Persia, and give them the choice of the true faith or the sword.
+Having taken Persia, it will be easy then to overrun Asia Minor, and so
+to make our way to Constantinople.'
+
+"I bit my lip to keep from laughing. 'And how long will it be before
+your victorious troops have reached the Bosphorus?' I asked.
+
+"'Such things are in the hands of God, whose servants we are,' said he.
+'It may be that I shall myself have passed away before these things are
+accomplished, but before the days of our children are completed, all
+that I have now told you will come to pass. Look at that star,' he
+added, pointing to a beautiful clear planet above our heads. 'That is
+the symbol of Christ. See how serene and peaceful it shines, like His
+own teaching and the memory of His life. Now,' he added, turning his
+outstretched hand to a dusky red star upon the horizon--the very one on
+which we are gazing now--'that is my star, which tells of wrath, of war,
+of a scourge upon sinners. And yet both are indeed stars, and each does
+as Allah may ordain.'
+
+"Well, that was the experience which was called to my mind by the sight
+of this star tonight. Red and angry, it still broods over the south,
+even as I saw it that night in the desert. Somewhere down yonder that
+man is working and striving. He may be stabbed by some brother fanatic
+or slain in a tribal skirmish. If so, that is the end. But if he lives,
+there was that in his eyes and in his presence which tells me that
+Mahomet the son of Abdallah--for that was his name--will testify in some
+noteworthy fashion to the faith that is in him."
+
+
+
+
+PART II. THE SILVER MIRROR
+
+
+Jan. 3.--This affair of White and Wotherspoon's accounts proves to be
+a gigantic task. There are twenty thick ledgers to be examined and
+checked. Who would be a junior partner? However, it is the first big bit
+of business which has been left entirely in my hands. I must justify
+it. But it has to be finished so that the lawyers may have the result in
+time for the trial. Johnson said this morning that I should have to get
+the last figure out before the twentieth of the month. Good Lord! Well,
+have at it, and if human brain and nerve can stand the strain, I'll win
+out at the other side. It means office-work from ten to five, and then a
+second sitting from about eight to one in the morning. There's drama in
+an accountant's life. When I find myself in the still early hours, while
+all the world sleeps, hunting through column after column for those
+missing figures which will turn a respected alderman into a felon, I
+understand that it is not such a prosaic profession after all.
+
+On Monday I came on the first trace of defalcation. No heavy game hunter
+ever got a finer thrill when first he caught sight of the trail of his
+quarry. But I look at the twenty ledgers and think of the jungle through
+which I have to follow him before I get my kill. Hard work--but rare
+sport, too, in a way! I saw the fat fellow once at a City dinner, his
+red face glowing above a white napkin. He looked at the little pale man
+at the end of the table. He would have been pale too if he could have
+seen the task that would be mine.
+
+Jan. 6.--What perfect nonsense it is for doctors to prescribe rest when
+rest is out of the question! Asses! They might as well shout to a man
+who has a pack of wolves at his heels that what he wants is absolute
+quiet. My figures must be out by a certain date; unless they are so, I
+shall lose the chance of my lifetime, so how on earth am I to rest? I'll
+take a week or so after the trial.
+
+Perhaps I was myself a fool to go to the doctor at all. But I get
+nervous and highly-strung when I sit alone at my work at night. It's not
+a pain--only a sort of fullness of the head with an occasional mist over
+the eyes. I thought perhaps some bromide, or chloral, or something of
+the kind might do me good. But stop work? It's absurd to ask such a
+thing. It's like a long-distance race. You feel queer at first and your
+heart thumps and your lungs pant, but if you have only the pluck to
+keep on, you get your second wind. I'll stick to my work and wait for my
+second wind. If it never comes--all the same, I'll stick to my work. Two
+ledgers are done, and I am well on in the third. The rascal has covered
+his tracks well, but I pick them up for all that.
+
+Jan. 9.--I had not meant to go to the doctor again. And yet I have had
+to. "Straining my nerves, risking a complete breakdown, even endangering
+my sanity." That's a nice sentence to have fired off at one. Well, I'll
+stand the strain and I'll take the risk, and so long as I can sit in my
+chair and move a pen I'll follow the old sinner's slot.
+
+By the way, I may as well set down here the queer experience which
+drove me this second time to the doctor. I'll keep an exact record of my
+symptoms and sensations, because they are interesting in themselves--"a
+curious psycho-physiological study," says the doctor--and also because I
+am perfectly certain that when I am through with them they will all seem
+blurred and unreal, like some queer dream betwixt sleeping and waking.
+So now, while they are fresh, I will just make a note of them, if only
+as a change of thought after the endless figures.
+
+There's an old silver-framed mirror in my room. It was given me by a
+friend who had a taste for antiquities, and he, as I happen to know,
+picked it up at a sale and had no notion where it came from. It's a
+large thing--three feet across and two feet high--and it leans at the
+back of a side-table on my left as I write. The frame is flat, about
+three inches across, and very old; far too old for hall-marks or other
+methods of determining its age. The glass part projects, with a bevelled
+edge, and has the magnificent reflecting power which is only, as it
+seems to me, to be found in very old mirrors. There's a feeling of
+perspective when you look into it such as no modern glass can ever give.
+
+The mirror is so situated that as I sit at the table I can usually see
+nothing in it but the reflection of the red window curtains. But a queer
+thing happened last night. I had been working for some hours, very much
+against the grain, with continual bouts of that mistiness of which I had
+complained. Again and again I had to stop and clear my eyes. Well,
+on one of these occasions I chanced to look at the mirror. It had the
+oddest appearance. The red curtains which should have been reflected in
+it were no longer there, but the glass seemed to be clouded and steamy,
+not on the surface, which glittered like steel, but deep down in the
+very grain of it. This opacity, when I stared hard at it, appeared
+to slowly rotate this way and that, until it was a thick white cloud
+swirling in heavy wreaths. So real and solid was it, and so reasonable
+was I, that I remember turning, with the idea that the curtains were
+on fire. But everything was deadly still in the room--no sound save the
+ticking of the clock, no movement save the slow gyration of that strange
+woolly cloud deep in the heart of the old mirror.
+
+Then, as I looked, the mist, or smoke, or cloud, or whatever one may
+call it, seemed to coalesce and solidify at two points quite close
+together, and I was aware, with a thrill of interest rather than of
+fear, that these were two eyes looking out into the room. A vague
+outline of a head I could see--a woman's by the hair, but this was very
+shadowy. Only the eyes were quite distinct; such eyes--dark, luminous,
+filled with some passionate emotion, fury or horror, I could not say
+which. Never have I seen eyes which were so full of intense, vivid life.
+They were not fixed upon me, but stared out into the room. Then as I sat
+erect, passed my hand over my brow, and made a strong conscious effort
+to pull myself together, the dim head faded into the general opacity,
+the mirror slowly cleared, and there were the red curtains once again.
+
+A sceptic would say, no doubt, that I had dropped asleep over my
+figures, and that my experience was a dream. As a matter of fact, I was
+never more vividly awake in my life. I was able to argue about it
+even as I looked at it, and to tell myself that it was a subjective
+impression--a chimera of the nerves--begotten by worry and insomnia.
+But why this particular shape? And who is the woman, and what is the
+dreadful emotion which I read in those wonderful brown eyes? They come
+between me and my work. For the first time I have done less than the
+daily tally which I had marked out. Perhaps that is why I have had no
+abnormal sensations tonight. Tomorrow I must wake up, come what may.
+
+Jan. 11.--All well, and good progress with my work. I wind the net, coil
+after coil, round that bulky body. But the last smile may remain with
+him if my own nerves break over it. The mirror would seem to be a sort
+of barometer which marks my brain-pressure. Each night I have observed
+that it had clouded before I reached the end of my task.
+
+Dr. Sinclair (who is, it seems, a bit of a psychologist) was so
+interested in my account that he came round this evening to have a look
+at the mirror. I had observed that something was scribbled in crabbed
+old characters upon the metal-work at the back. He examined this with
+a lens, but could make nothing of it. "Sanc. X. Pal." was his final
+reading of it, but that did not bring us any farther. He advised me to
+put it away into another room; but, after all, whatever I may see in
+it is, by his own account only a symptom. It is in the cause that the
+danger lies. The twenty ledgers--not the silver mirror--should be packed
+away if I could only do it. I'm at the eighth now, so I progress.
+
+Jan. 13.-Perhaps it would have been wiser after all if I had packed away
+the mirror. I had an extraordinary experience with it last night. And
+yet I find it so interesting, so fascinating, that even now I will keep
+it in its place. What on earth is the meaning of it all?
+
+I suppose it was about one in the morning, and I was closing my books
+preparatory to staggering off to bed, when I saw her there in front of
+me. The stage of mistiness and development must have passed unobserved,
+and there she was in all her beauty and passion and distress, as
+clear-cut as if she were really in the flesh before me. The figure
+was small, but very distinct--so much so that every feature, and every
+detail of dress, are stamped in my memory. She is seated on the extreme
+left of the mirror. A sort of shadowy figure crouches down beside her--I
+can dimly discern that it is a man--and then behind them is cloud, in
+which I see figures--figures which move. It is not a mere picture upon
+which I look. It is a scene in life, an actual episode. She crouches and
+quivers. The man beside her cowers down. The vague figures make abrupt
+movements and gestures. All my fears were swallowed up in my interest.
+It was maddening to see so much and not to see more.
+
+But I can at least describe the woman to the smallest point. She is
+very beautiful and quite young--not more than five-and-twenty, I should
+judge. Her hair is of a very rich brown, with a warm chestnut shade
+fining into gold at the edges. A little flat-pointed cap comes to an
+angle in front, and is made of lace edged with pearls. The forehead is
+high, too high perhaps for perfect beauty; but one would not have it
+otherwise, as it gives a touch of power and strength to what would
+otherwise be a softly feminine face. The brows are most delicately
+curved over heavy eyelids, and then come those wonderful eyes--so
+large, so dark, so full of over-mastering emotion, of rage and horror,
+contending with a pride of self-control which holds her from sheer
+frenzy! The cheeks are pale, the lips white with agony, the chin and
+throat most exquisitely rounded. The figure sits and leans forward in
+the chair, straining and rigid, cataleptic with horror. The dress is
+black velvet, a jewel gleams like a flame in the breast, and a golden
+crucifix smoulders in the shadow of a fold. This is the lady whose image
+still lives in the old silver mirror. What dire deed could it be which
+has left its impress there, so that now, in another age, if the spirit
+of a man be but worn down to it, he may be conscious of its presence?
+
+One other detail: On the left side of the skirt of the black dress was,
+as I thought at first, a shapeless bunch of white ribbon. Then, as I
+looked more intently or as the vision defined itself more clearly, I
+perceived what it was. It was the hand of a man, clenched and knotted in
+agony, which held on with a convulsive grasp to the fold of the dress.
+The rest of the crouching figure was a mere vague outline, but that
+strenuous hand shone clear on the dark background, with a
+sinister suggestion of tragedy in its frantic clutch. The man is
+frightened-horribly frightened. That I can clearly discern. What has
+terrified him so? Why does he grip the woman's dress? The answer lies
+amongst those moving figures in the background. They have brought danger
+both to him and to her. The interest of the thing fascinated me. I
+thought no more of its relation to my own nerves. I stared and stared
+as if in a theatre. But I could get no farther. The mist thinned.
+There were tumultuous movements in which all the figures were vaguely
+concerned. Then the mirror was clear once more.
+
+The doctor says I must drop work for a day, and I can afford to do
+so, for I have made good progress lately. It is quite evident that the
+visions depend entirely upon my own nervous state, for I sat in front of
+the mirror for an hour tonight, with no result whatever. My soothing day
+has chased them away. I wonder whether I shall ever penetrate what they
+all mean? I examined the mirror this evening under a good light, and
+besides the mysterious inscription "Sanc. X. Pal.," I was able to
+discern some signs of heraldic marks, very faintly visible upon the
+silver. They must be very ancient, as they are almost obliterated. So
+far as I could make out, they were three spear-heads, two above and one
+below. I will show them to the doctor when he calls tomorrow.
+
+Jan. 14.--Feel perfectly well again, and I intend that nothing else
+shall stop me until my task is finished. The doctor was shown the marks
+on the mirror and agreed that they were armorial bearings. He is deeply
+interested in all that I have told him, and cross-questioned me
+closely on the details. It amuses me to notice how he is torn in two by
+conflicting desires--the one that his patient should lose his symptoms,
+the other that the medium--for so he regards me--should solve this
+mystery of the past. He advised continued rest, but did not oppose me
+too violently when I declared that such a thing was out of the question
+until the ten remaining ledgers have been checked.
+
+Jan. 17.--For three nights I have had no experiences--my day of rest has
+borne fruit. Only a quarter of my task is left, but I must make a forced
+march, for the lawyers are clamouring for their material. I will give
+them enough and to spare. I have him fast on a hundred counts. When they
+realize what a slippery, cunning rascal he is, I should gain some credit
+from the case. False trading accounts, false balance-sheets, dividends
+drawn from capital, losses written down as profits, suppression of
+working expenses, manipulation of petty cash--it is a fine record!
+
+Jan. 18.--Headaches, nervous twitches, mistiness, fullness of the
+temples--all the premonitions of trouble, and the trouble came sure
+enough. And yet my real sorrow is not so much that the vision should
+come as that it should cease before all is revealed.
+
+But I saw more tonight. The crouching man was as visible as the
+lady whose gown he clutched. He is a little swarthy fellow, with a
+black-pointed beard. He has a loose gown of damask trimmed with fur. The
+prevailing tints of his dress are red. What a fright the fellow is in,
+to be sure! He cowers and shivers and glares back over his shoulder.
+There is a small knife in his other hand, but he is far too tremulous
+and cowed to use it. Dimly now I begin to see the figures in the
+background. Fierce faces, bearded and dark, shape themselves out of the
+mist. There is one terrible creature, a skeleton of a man, with hollow
+cheeks and eyes sunk in his head. He also has a knife in his hand. On
+the right of the woman stands a tall man, very young, with flaxen hair,
+his face sullen and dour. The beautiful woman looks up at him in appeal.
+So does the man on the ground. This youth seems to be the arbiter of
+their fate. The crouching man draws closer and hides himself in the
+woman's skirts. The tall youth bends and tries to drag her away from
+him. So much I saw last night before the mirror cleared. Shall I never
+know what it leads to and whence it comes? It is not a mere imagination,
+of that I am very sure. Somewhere, some time, this scene has been acted,
+and this old mirror has reflected it. But when--where?
+
+Jan. 20.--My work draws to a close, and it is time. I feel a tenseness
+within my brain, a sense of intolerable strain, which warns me that
+something must give. I have worked myself to the limit. But tonight
+should be the last night. With a supreme effort I should finish the
+final ledger and complete the case before I rise from my chair. I will
+do it. I will.
+
+Feb. 7.--I did. My God, what an experience! I hardly know if I am strong
+enough yet to set it down.
+
+Let me explain in the first instance that I am writing this in Dr.
+Sinclair's private hospital some three weeks after the last entry in my
+diary. On the night of January 20 my nervous system finally gave way,
+and I remembered nothing afterwards until I found myself three days ago
+in this home of rest. And I can rest with a good conscience. My work was
+done before I went under. My figures are in the solicitors' hands. The
+hunt is over.
+
+And now I must describe that last night. I had sworn to finish my work,
+and so intently did I stick to it, though my head was bursting, that I
+would never look up until the last column had been added. And yet it was
+fine self-restraint, for all the time I knew that wonderful things were
+happening in the mirror. Every nerve in my body told me so. If I looked
+up there was an end of my work. So I did not look up till all was
+finished. Then, when at last with throbbing temples I threw down my pen
+and raised my eyes, what a sight was there!
+
+The mirror in its silver frame was like a stage, brilliantly lit, in
+which a drama was in progress. There was no mist now. The oppression
+of my nerves had wrought this amazing clarity. Every feature, every
+movement, was as clear-cut as in life. To think that I, a tired
+accountant, the most prosaic of mankind, with the account-books of a
+swindling bankrupt before me, should be chosen of all the human race to
+look upon such a scene!
+
+It was the same scene and the same figures, but the drama had advanced
+a stage. The tall young man was holding the woman in his arms. She
+strained away from him and looked up at him with loathing in her face.
+They had torn the crouching man away from his hold upon the skirt of
+her dress. A dozen of them were round him--savage men, bearded men. They
+hacked at him with knives. All seemed to strike him together. Their
+arms rose and fell. The blood did not flow from him-it squirted. His red
+dress was dabbled in it. He threw himself this way and that, purple upon
+crimson, like an over-ripe plum. Still they hacked, and still the jets
+shot from him. It was horrible--horrible! They dragged him kicking to
+the door. The woman looked over her shoulder at him and her mouth gaped.
+I heard nothing, but I knew that she was screaming. And then, whether it
+was this nerve-racking vision before me, or whether, my task finished,
+all the overwork of the past weeks came in one crushing weight upon me,
+the room danced round me, the floor seemed to sink away beneath my feet,
+and I remembered no more. In the early morning my landlady found me
+stretched senseless before the silver mirror, but I knew nothing myself
+until three days ago I awoke in the deep peace of the doctor's nursing
+home.
+
+Feb. 9.--Only today have I told Dr. Sinclair my full experience. He
+had not allowed me to speak of such matters before. He listened with an
+absorbed interest. "You don't identify this with any well-known scene
+in history?" he asked, with suspicion in his eyes. I assured him that I
+knew nothing of history. "Have you no idea whence that mirror came and
+to whom it once belonged?" he continued. "Have you?" I asked, for he
+spoke with meaning. "It's incredible," said he, "and yet how else can
+one explain it? The scenes which you described before suggested it, but
+now it has gone beyond all range of coincidence. I will bring you some
+notes in the evening."
+
+Later.--He has just left me. Let me set down his words as closely as I
+can recall them. He began by laying several musty volumes upon my bed.
+
+"These you can consult at your leisure," said he. "I have some notes
+here which you can confirm. There is not a doubt that what you have seen
+is the murder of Rizzio by the Scottish nobles in the presence of
+Mary, which occurred in March, 1566. Your description of the woman is
+accurate. The high forehead and heavy eyelids combined with great beauty
+could hardly apply to two women. The tall young man was her husband,
+Darnley. Rizzio, says the chronicle, 'was dressed in a loose
+dressing-gown of furred damask, with hose of russet velvet.' With one
+hand he clutched Mary's gown, with the other he held a dagger. Your
+fierce, hollow-eyed man was Ruthven, who was new-risen from a bed of
+sickness. Every detail is exact."
+
+"But why to me?" I asked, in bewilderment. "Why of all the human race to
+me?"
+
+"Because you were in the fit mental state to receive the impression.
+Because you chanced to own the mirror which gave the impression."
+
+"The mirror! You think, then, that it was Mary's mirror--that it stood
+in the room where the deed was done?"
+
+"I am convinced that it was Mary's mirror. She had been Queen of France.
+Her personal property would be stamped with the Royal arms. What you
+took to be three spear-heads were really the lilies of France."
+
+"And the inscription?"
+
+"'Sanc. X. Pal.' You can expand it into Sanctae Crucis Palatium. Some
+one has made a note upon the mirror as to whence it came. It was the
+Palace of the Holy Cross."
+
+"Holyrood!" I cried.
+
+"Exactly. Your mirror came from Holyrood. You have had one very singular
+experience, and have escaped. I trust that you will never put yourself
+into the way of having such another."
+
+
+
+
+THE BLIGHTING OF SHARKEY
+
+
+Sharkey, the abominable Sharkey, was out again. After two years of the
+Coromandel coast, his black barque of death, _The Happy Delivery_, was
+prowling off the Spanish Main, while trader and fisher flew for dear
+life at the menace of that patched fore-topsail, rising slowly over the
+violet rim of the tropical sea.
+
+As the birds cower when the shadow of the hawk falls athwart the field,
+or as the jungle folk crouch and shiver when the coughing cry of the
+tiger is heard in the night-time, so through all the busy world of
+ships, from the whalers of Nantucket to the tobacco ships of Charleston,
+and from the Spanish supply ships of Cadiz to the sugar merchants of the
+Main, there spread the rumour of the black curse of the ocean.
+
+Some hugged the shore, ready to make for the nearest port, while others
+struck far out beyond the known lines of commerce, but none were
+so stout-hearted that they did not breathe more freely when their
+passengers and cargoes were safe under the guns of some mothering fort.
+
+Through all the islands there ran tales of charred derelicts at sea,
+of sudden glares seen afar in the night-time, and of withered bodies
+stretched upon the sand of waterless Bahama Keys. All the old signs were
+there to show that Sharkey was at his bloody game once more.
+
+These fair waters and yellow-rimmed, palm-nodding islands are
+the traditional home of the sea rover. First it was the gentleman
+adventurer, the man of family and honour, who fought as a patriot,
+though he was ready to take his payment in Spanish plunder.
+
+Then, within a century, his debonnaire figure had passed to make room
+for the buccaneers, robbers pure and simple, yet with some organized
+code of their own, commanded by notable chieftains, and taking in hand
+great concerted enterprises.
+
+They, too, passed with their fleets and their sacking of cities, to make
+room for the worst of all, the lonely outcast pirate, the bloody Ishmael
+of the seas, at war with the whole human race. This was the vile brood
+which the early eighteenth century had spawned forth, and of them all
+there was none who could compare in audacity, wickedness, and evil
+repute with the unutterable Sharkey.
+
+It was early in May, in the year 1720, that _The Happy Delivery_ lay
+with her fore-yard aback some five leagues west of the Windward Passage,
+waiting to see what rich, helpless craft the trade-wind might bring down
+to her.
+
+Three days she had lain there, a sinister black speck, in the centre of
+the great sapphire circle of the ocean. Far to the south-east the low
+blue hills of Hispaniola showed up on the skyline.
+
+Hour by hour as he waited without avail, Sharkey's savage temper had
+risen, for his arrogant spirit chafed against any contradiction, even
+from Fate itself. To his quartermaster, Ned Galloway, he had said
+that night, with his odious neighing laugh, that the crew of the next
+captured vessel should answer to him for having kept him waiting so
+long.
+
+The cabin of the pirate barque was a good-sized room, hung with
+much tarnished finery, and presenting a strange medley of luxury and
+disorder. The panelling of carved and polished sandal-wood was blotched
+with foul smudges and chipped with bullet-marks fired in some drunken
+revelry.
+
+Rich velvets and laces were heaped upon the brocaded settees, while
+metal-work and pictures of great price filled every niche and corner,
+for anything which caught the pirate's fancy in the sack of a hundred
+vessels was thrown haphazard into his chamber. A rich, soft carpet
+covered the floor, but it was mottled with wine-stains and charred with
+burned tobacco.
+
+Above, a great brass hanging-lamp threw a brilliant yellow light
+upon this singular apartment, and upon the two men who sat in their
+shirt-sleeves with the wine between them, and the cards in their hands,
+deep in a game of piquet. Both were smoking long pipes, and the thin
+blue reek filled the cabin and floated through the skylight above them,
+which, half opened, disclosed a slip of deep violet sky spangled with
+great silver stars.
+
+Ned Galloway, the quartermaster, was a huge New England wastrel, the one
+rotten branch upon a goodly Puritan family tree. His robust limbs and
+giant frame were the heritage of a long line of God-fearing ancestors,
+while his black savage heart was all his own. Bearded to the temples,
+with fierce blue eyes, a tangled lion's mane of coarse, dark hair,
+and huge gold rings in his ears, he was the idol of the women in every
+waterside hell from the Tortugas to Maracaibo on the Main. A red cap,
+a blue silken shirt, brown velvet breeches with gaudy knee-ribbons, and
+high sea-boots made up the costume of the rover Hercules.
+
+A very different figure was Captain John Sharkey. His thin, drawn,
+clean-shaven face was corpse-like in its pallor, and all the suns of the
+Indies could but turn it to a more deathly parchment tint. He was
+part bald, with a few lank locks of tow-like hair, and a steep, narrow
+forehead. His thin nose jutted sharply forth, and near-set on either
+side of it were those filmy blue eyes, red-rimmed like those of a white
+bull-terrier, from which strong men winced away in fear and loathing.
+His bony hands, with long, thin fingers which quivered ceaselessly like
+the antennae of an insect, were toying constantly with the cards and the
+heap of gold moidores which lay before him. His dress was of some sombre
+drab material, but, indeed, the men who looked upon that fearsome face
+had little thought for the costume of its owner.
+
+The game was brought to a sudden interruption, for the cabin door was
+swung rudely open, and two rough fellows--Israel Martin, the boatswain,
+and Red Foley, the gunner--rushed into the cabin. In an instant Sharkey
+was on his feet with a pistol in either hand and murder in his eyes.
+
+"Sink you for villains!" he cried. "I see well that if I do not shoot
+one of you from time to time you will forget the man I am. What mean you
+by entering my cabin as though it were a Wapping alehouse?"
+
+"Nay, Captain Sharkey," said Martin, with a sullen frown upon his
+brick-red face, "it is even such talk as this which has set us by the
+ears. We have had enough of it."
+
+"And more than enough," said Red Foley, the gunner. "There be no
+mates aboard a pirate craft, and so the boatswain, the gunner, and the
+quarter-master are the officers."
+
+"Did I gainsay it?" asked Sharkey with an oath.
+
+"You have miscalled us and mishandled us before the men, and we scarce
+know at this moment why we should risk our lives in fighting for the
+cabin and against the foc'sle."
+
+Sharkey saw that something serious was in the wind. He laid down his
+pistols and leaned back in his chair with a flash of his yellow fangs.
+
+"Nay, this is sad talk," said he, "that two stout fellows who have
+emptied many a bottle and cut many a throat with me, should now fall out
+over nothing. I know you to be roaring boys who would go with me against
+the devil himself if I bid you. Let the steward bring cups and drown all
+unkindness between us."
+
+"It is no time for drinking, Captain Sharkey," said Martin. "The men are
+holding council round the mainmast, and may be aft at any minute. They
+mean mischief, Captain Sharkey, and we have come to warn you."
+
+Sharkey sprang for the brass-handled sword which hung from the wall.
+
+"Sink them for rascals!" he cried. "When I have gutted one or two of
+them they may hear reason."
+
+But the others barred his frantic way to the door.
+
+"There are forty of them under the lead of Sweetlocks, the master," said
+Martin, "and on the open deck they would surely cut you to pieces. Here
+within the cabin it may be that we can hold them off at the points of
+our pistols."
+
+He had hardly spoken when there came the tread of many heavy feet upon
+the deck. Then there was a pause with no sound but the gentle lipping
+of the water against the sides of the pirate vessel. Finally, a crashing
+blow as from a pistol-butt fell upon the door, and an instant afterwards
+Sweetlocks himself, a tall, dark man, with a deep red birthmark blazing
+upon his cheek, strode into the cabin. His swaggering air sank somewhat
+as he looked into those pale and filmy eyes.
+
+"Captain Sharkey," said he, "I come as spokesman of the crew."
+
+"So I have heard, Sweetlocks," said the captain, softly. "I may live to
+rip you the length of your vest for this night's work."
+
+"That is as it may be, Captain Sharkey," the master answered, "but if
+you will look up you will see that I have those at my back who will not
+see me mishandled."
+
+"Cursed if we do!" growled a deep voice from above, and glancing upwards
+the officers in the cabin were aware of a line of fierce, bearded,
+sun-blackened faces looking down at them through the open skylight.
+
+"Well, what would you have?" asked Sharkey. "Put it in words, man, and
+let us have an end of it."
+
+"The men think," said Sweetlocks, "that you are the devil himself, and
+that there will be no luck for them whilst they sail the sea in such
+company. Time was when we did our two or three craft a day, and every
+man had women and dollars to his liking, but now for a long week we have
+not raised a sail, and save for three beggarly sloops, have taken never
+a vessel since we passed the Bahama Bank. Also, they know that you
+killed Jack Bartholomew, the carpenter, by beating his head in with a
+bucket, so that each of us goes in fear of his life. Also, the rum has
+given out, and we are hard put to it for liquor. Also, you sit in your
+cabin whilst it is in the articles that you should drink and roar with
+the crew. For all these reasons it has been this day in general meeting
+decreed--"
+
+Sharkey had stealthily cocked a pistol under the table, so it may have
+been as well for the mutinous master that he never reached the end of
+his discourse, for even as he came to it there was a swift patter of
+feet upon the deck, and a ship lad, wild with his tidings, rushed into
+the room.
+
+"A craft!" he yelled. "A great craft, and close aboard us!"
+
+In a flash the quarrel was forgotten, and the pirates were rushing to
+quarters. Sure enough, surging slowly down before the gentle trade-wind,
+a great full-rigged ship, with all sail set, was close beside them.
+
+It was clear that she had come from afar and knew nothing of the ways of
+the Caribbean Sea, for she made no effort to avoid the low, dark craft
+which lay so close upon her bow, but blundered on as if her mere size
+would avail her.
+
+So daring was she, that for an instant the Rovers, as they flew to loose
+the tackles of their guns, and hoisted their battle-lanterns, believed
+that a man-of-war had caught them napping.
+
+But at the sight of her bulging, portless sides and merchant rig a shout
+of exultation broke from amongst them, and in an instant they had swung
+round their fore-yard, and darting alongside they had grappled with her
+and flung a spray of shrieking, cursing ruffians upon her deck.
+
+Half a dozen seamen of the night-watch were cut down where they stood,
+the mate was felled by Sharkey and tossed overboard by Ned Galloway, and
+before the sleepers had time to sit up in their berths, the vessel was
+in the hands of the pirates.
+
+The prize proved to be the full-rigged ship _Portobello_--Captain Hardy,
+master--bound from London to Kingston in Jamaica, with a cargo of cotton
+goods and hoop-iron.
+
+Having secured their prisoners, all huddled together in a dazed,
+distracted group, the pirates spread over the vessel in search of
+plunder, handing all that was found to the giant quartermaster, who in
+turn passed it over the side of _The Happy Delivery_ and laid it under
+guard at the foot of her mainmast.
+
+The cargo was useless, but there were a thousand guineas in the ship's
+strong-box, and there were some eight or ten passengers, three of them
+wealthy Jamaica merchants, all bringing home well-filled boxes from
+their London visit.
+
+When all the plunder was gathered, the passengers and crew were dragged
+to the waist, and under the cold smile of Sharkey each in turn was
+thrown over the side--Sweetlocks standing by the rail and ham-stringing
+them with his cutlass as they passed over, lest some strong swimmer
+should rise in judgment against them. A portly, grey-haired woman, the
+wife of one of the planters, was among the captives, but she also was
+thrust screaming and clutching over the side.
+
+"Mercy, you hussy!" neighed Sharkey, "you are surely a good twenty years
+too old for that."
+
+The captain of the _Portobello_, a hale, blue-eyed grey-beard, was the
+last upon the deck. He stood, a thick-set resolute figure, in the glare
+of the lanterns, while Sharkey bowed and smirked before him.
+
+"One skipper should show courtesy to another," said he, "and sink me if
+Captain Sharkey would be behind in good manners! I have held you to the
+last, as you see, where a brave man should be; so now, my bully, you
+have seen the end of them, and may step over with an easy mind."
+
+"So I shall, Captain Sharkey," said the old seaman, "for I have done my
+duty so far as my power lay. But before I go over I would say a word in
+your ear."
+
+"If it be to soften me, you may save your breath. You have kept us
+waiting here for three days, and curse me if one of you shall live!"
+
+"Nay, it is to tell you what you should know. You have not yet found
+what is the true treasure aboard of this ship."
+
+"Not found it? Sink me, but I will slice your liver, Captain Hardy, if
+you do not make good your words! Where is this treasure you speak of?"
+"It is not a treasure of gold, but it is a fair maid, which may be no
+less welcome."
+
+"Where is she, then? And why is she not with the others?"
+
+"I will tell you why she is not with the others. She is the only
+daughter of the Count and Countess Ramirez, who are amongst those whom
+you have murdered. Her name is Inez Ramirez, and she is of the best
+blood of Spain, her father being Governor of Chagre, to which he was now
+bound. It chanced that she was found to have formed an attachment, as
+maids will, to one far beneath her in rank aboard this ship; so her
+parents, being people of great power, whose word is not to be gainsaid,
+constrained me to confine her close in a special cabin aft of my own.
+Here she was held straitly, all food being carried to her, and she
+allowed to see no one. This I tell you as a last gift, though why I
+should make it to you I do not know, for indeed you are a most bloody
+rascal, and it comforts me in dying to think that you will surely be
+gallow's-meat in this world, and hell's-meat in the next."
+
+At the words he ran to the rail, and vaulted over into the darkness,
+praying as he sank into the depths of the sea, that the betrayal of this
+maid might not be counted too heavily against his soul.
+
+The body of Captain Hardy had not yet settled upon the sand forty
+fathoms deep before the pirates had rushed along the cabin gangway.
+There, sure enough, at the further end, was a barred door, overlooked in
+their previous search. There was no key, but they beat it in with their
+gunstocks, whilst shriek after shriek came from within. In the light of
+their outstretched lanterns they saw a young woman, in the very prime
+and fullness of her youth, crouching in a corner, her unkempt hair
+hanging to the ground, her dark eyes glaring with fear, her lovely form
+straining away in horror from this inrush of savage blood-stained men.
+Rough hands seized her, she was jerked to her feet, and dragged with
+scream on scream to where John Sharkey awaited her. He held the light
+long and fondly to her face, then, laughing loudly, he bent forward and
+left his red hand-print upon her cheek.
+
+"'Tis the Rover's brand, lass, that he marks his ewes. Take her to the
+cabin and use her well. Now, hearties, get her under water, and out to
+our luck once more."
+
+Within an hour the good ship _Portobello_ had settled down to her doom,
+till she lay beside her murdered passengers upon the Caribbean sand,
+while the pirate barque, her deck littered with plunder, was heading
+northward in search of another victim.
+
+There was a carouse that night in the cabin of _The Happy Delivery_, at
+which three men drank deep. They were the captain, the quartermaster,
+and Baldy Stable, the surgeon, a man who had held the first practice in
+Charleston, until, misusing a patient, he fled from justice, and took
+his skill over to the pirates. A bloated fat man he was, with a creased
+neck and a great shining scalp, which gave him his name. Sharkey had put
+for the moment all thought of the mutiny out of his head, knowing that
+no animal is fierce when it is over-fed, and that whilst the plunder of
+the great ship was new to them he need fear no trouble from his crew.
+He gave himself up, therefore, to the wine and the riot, shouting and
+roaring with his boon companions. All three were flushed and mad, ripe
+for any devilment, when the thought of the woman crossed the pirate's
+evil mind. He yelled to the negro steward that he should bring her on
+the instant.
+
+Inez Ramirez had now realized it all--the death of her father and
+mother, and her own position in the hands of their murderers. Yet
+calmness had come with the knowledge, and there was no sign of terror
+in her proud, dark face as she was led into the cabin, but rather a
+strange, firm set of the mouth and an exultant gleam of the eyes, like
+one who sees great hopes in the future. She smiled at the pirate captain
+as he rose and seized her by the waist.
+
+"'Fore God! this is a lass of spirit," cried Sharkey, passing his arm
+round her. "She was born to be a Rover's bride. Come, my bird, and drink
+to our better friendship."
+
+"Article Six!" hiccoughed the doctor. "All _bona robas_ in common."
+
+"Aye! we hold you to that, Captain Sharkey," said Galloway. "It is so
+writ in Article Six."
+
+"I will cut the man into ounces who comes betwixt us!" cried Sharkey, as
+he turned his fish-like eyes from one to the other. "Nay, lass, the man
+is not born that will take you from John Sharkey. Sit here upon my knee,
+and place your arm round me so. Sink me, if she has not learned to love
+me at sight! Tell me, my pretty, why you were so mishandled and laid in
+the bilboes aboard yonder craft?"
+
+The woman shook her head and smiled. "No Inglese--no Inglese," she
+lisped. She had drunk off the bumper of wine which Sharkey held to
+her, and her dark eyes gleamed more brightly than before. Sitting on
+Sharkey's knee, her arm encircled his neck, and her hand toyed with
+his hair, his ear, his cheek. Even the strange quartermaster and the
+hardened surgeon felt a horror as they watched her, but Sharkey laughed
+in his joy. "Curse me, if she is not a lass of metal!" he cried, as he
+pressed her to him and kissed her unresisting lips.
+
+But a strange intent look of interest had come into the surgeon's eyes
+as he watched her, and his face set rigidly, as if a fearsome thought
+had entered his mind. There stole a grey pallor over his bull face,
+mottling all the red of the tropics and the flush of the wine.
+
+"Look at her hand, Captain Sharkey!" he cried. "For the Lord's sake,
+look at her hand!"
+
+Sharkey stared down at the hand which had fondled him. It was of a
+strange dead pallor, with a yellow shiny web betwixt the fingers. All
+over it was a white fluffy dust, like the flour of a new-baked loaf. It
+lay thick on Sharkey's neck and cheek. With a cry of disgust he flung
+the woman from his lap; but in an instant, with a wild-cat bound, and a
+scream of triumphant malice, she had sprung at the surgeon, who vanished
+yelling under the table. One of her clawing hands grasped Galloway by
+the beard, but he tore himself away, and snatching a pike, held her off
+from him as she gibbered and mowed with the blazing eyes of a maniac.
+
+The black steward had run in on the sudden turmoil, and among them they
+forced the mad creature back into a cabin and turned the key upon her.
+Then the three sank panting into their chairs, and looked with eyes
+of horror upon each other. The same word was in the mind of each, but
+Galloway was the first to speak it.
+
+"A leper!" he cried. "She has us all, curse her!"
+
+"Not me," said the surgeon; "she never laid her finger on me."
+
+"For that matter," cried Galloway, "it was but my beard that she
+touched. I will have every hair of it off before morning."
+
+"Dolts that we were!" the surgeon shouted, beating his head with his
+hand. "Tainted or no, we shall never know a moment's peace till the year
+is up and the time of danger past. 'Fore God, that merchant skipper has
+left his mark on us, and pretty fools we were to think that such a maid
+would be quarantined for the cause he gave. It is easy to see now that
+her corruption broke forth in the journey, and that save throwing her
+over they had no choice but to board her up until they should come to
+some port with a lazarette."
+
+Sharkey had sat leaning back in his chair with a ghastly face while
+he listened to the surgeon's words. He mopped himself with his red
+handkerchief, and wiped away the fatal dust with which he was smeared.
+
+"What of me?" he croaked. "What say you, Baldy Stable? Is there a chance
+for me? Curse you for a villain! speak out, or I will drub you within an
+inch of your life, and that inch also! Is there a chance for me, I say?"
+
+But the surgeon shook his head. "Captain Sharkey," said he, "it would be
+an ill deed to speak you false. The taint is on you. No man on whom the
+leper scales have rested is ever clean again."
+
+Sharkey's head fell forward on his chest, and he sat motionless,
+stricken by this great and sudden horror, looking with his smouldering
+eyes into his fearsome future. Softly the mate and the surgeon rose from
+their places, and stealing out from the poisoned air of the cabin, came
+forth into the freshness of the early dawn, with the soft, scent-laden
+breeze in their faces and the first red feathers of cloud catching the
+earliest gleam of the rising sun as it shot its golden rays over the
+palm-clad ridges of distant Hispaniola.
+
+That morning a second council of the Rovers was held at the base of
+the mainmast, and a deputation chosen to see the captain. They were
+approaching the after-cabins when Sharkey came forth, the old devil in
+his eyes, and his bandolier with a pair of pistols over his shoulder.
+
+"Sink you all for villains!" he cried, "Would you dare to cross my
+hawse? Stand out, Sweetlocks, and I will lay you open! Here, Galloway,
+Martin, Foley, stand by me and lash the dogs to their kennel!"
+
+But his officers had deserted him, and there was none to come to his
+aid. There was a rush of the pirates. One was shot through the body, but
+an instant afterwards Sharkey had been seized and was triced to his own
+mainmast. His filmy eyes looked round from face to face, and there was
+none who felt the happier for having met them.
+
+"Captain Sharkey," said Sweetlocks, "you have mishandled many of us, and
+you have now pistolled John Masters, besides killing Bartholomew, the
+carpenter, by braining him with a bucket. All this might have been
+forgiven you, in that you have been our leader for years, and that we
+have signed articles to serve under you while the voyage lasts. But
+now we have heard of this bona roba on board, and we know that you are
+poisoned to the marrow, and that while you rot there will be no
+safety for any of us, but that we shall all be turned into filth and
+corruption. Therefore, John Sharkey, we Rovers of _The Happy Delivery_,
+in council assembled, have decreed that while there be yet time, before
+the plague spreads, you shall be set adrift in a boat to find such a
+fate as Fortune may be pleased to send you."
+
+John Sharkey said nothing, but slowly circling his head, he cursed them
+all with his baleful gaze. The ship's dinghy had been lowered, and he
+with his hands still tied, was dropped into it on the bight of a rope.
+
+"Cast her off!" cried Sweetlocks.
+
+"Nay, hold hard a moment, Master Sweetlocks!" shouted one of the crew.
+"What of the wench? Is she to bide aboard and poison us all?"
+
+"Send her off with her mate!" cried another, and the Rovers roared their
+approval. Driven forth at the end of pikes, the girl was pushed towards
+the boat. With all the spirit of Spain in her rotting body she flashed
+triumphant glances on her captors. "Perros! Perros Ingleses! Lepero,
+Lepero!" she cried in exultation, as they thrust her over into the boat.
+
+"Good luck, captain! God speed you on your honeymoon!" cried a chorus of
+mocking voices, as the painter was unloosed, and _The Happy Delivery_,
+running full before the trade-wind, left the little boat astern, a tiny
+dot upon the vast expanse of the lonely sea.
+
+
+Extract from the log of H.M. fifty-gun ship _Hecate_ in her cruise off
+the American Main.
+
+"Jan. 26, 1721.--This day, the junk having become unfit for food, and
+five of the crew down with scurvy, I ordered that we send two boats
+ashore at the nor'-western point of Hispaniola, to seek for fresh fruit,
+and perchance shoot some of the wild oxen with which the island abounds.
+
+"7 p.m.--The boats have returned with good store of green stuff and two
+bullocks. Mr. Woodruff, the master, reports that near the landing-place
+at the edge of the forest was found the skeleton of a woman, clad in
+European dress, of such sort as to show that she may have been a person
+of quality. Her head had been crushed by a great stone which lay beside
+her. Hard by was a grass hut, and signs that a man had dwelt therein for
+some time, as was shown by charred wood, bones and other traces. There
+is a rumour upon the coast that Sharkey, the bloody pirate, was marooned
+in these parts last year, but whether he has made his way into the
+interior, or whether he has been picked up by some craft, there is no
+means of knowing. If he be once again afloat, then I pray that God send
+him under our guns."
+
+
+
+
+THE MARRIAGE OF THE BRIGADIER
+
+
+I am speaking, my friends, of days which are long gone by, when I had
+scarcely begun to build up that fame which has made my name so familiar.
+Among the thirty officers of the Hussars of Conflans there was nothing
+to indicate that I was superior in any way to the others. I can well
+imagine how surprised they would all have been had they realized that
+young Lieutenant Etienne Gerard was destined for so glorious a career,
+and would live to command a brigade and to receive from the Emperor's
+own hands that cross which I can show you any time that you do me the
+honour to visit me in my little cottage. You know, do you not, the
+little white-washed cottage with the vine in front, in the field beside
+the Garonne?
+
+People have said of me that I have never known what fear was. No doubt
+you have heard them say it. For many years, out of a foolish pride, I
+have let the saying pass. And yet now, in my old age, I can afford to
+be honest. The brave man dares to be frank. It is only the coward who is
+afraid to make admissions. So I tell you now that I also am human; that
+I also have felt my skin grow cold, and my hair rise; that I have even
+known what it was to run away until my limbs could scarce support me. It
+shocks you to hear it? Well, some day it may comfort you, when your own
+courage has reached its limits, to know that even Etienne Gerard has
+known what it was to be afraid. I will tell you now how this experience
+befell me, and also how it brought me a wife.
+
+For the moment France was at peace, and we, the Hussars of Conflans,
+were in camp all that summer a few miles from the town of Les Andelys
+in Normandy. It is not a very gay place by itself, but we of the Light
+Cavalry make all places gay which we visit, and so we passed our time
+very pleasantly. Many years and many scenes have dulled my remembrance,
+but still the name Les Andelys brings back to me a huge ruined castle,
+great orchards of apple trees, and above all, a vision of the lovely
+maidens of Normandy. They were the very finest of their sex, as we may
+be said to have been of ours, and so we were well met in that sweet
+sunlit summer. Ah, the youth, the beauty, the valour, and then the dull,
+dead years that blurr them all! There are times when the glorious
+past weighs on my heart like lead. No, sir, no wine can wash away such
+thoughts, for they are of the spirit and the soul. It is only the gross
+body which responds to wine, but if you offer it for that, then I will
+not refuse it.
+
+Now of all the maidens who dwelt in those parts there was one who was
+so superior in beauty and in charm that she seemed to be very specially
+marked out for me. Her name was Marie Ravon, and her people, the Ravons,
+were of yeoman stock who had farmed their own land in those parts since
+the days when Duke William went to England. If I close my eyes now, I
+see her as she then was, her cheeks, dusky like moss roses; her hazel
+eyes, so gentle and yet so full of spirit; her hair of that deepest
+black which goes most fitly with poetry and with passion; her finger as
+supple as a young birch tree in the wind. Ah! how she swayed away from
+me when first I laid my arm round it, for she was full of fire and
+pride, ever evading, ever resisting, fighting to the last that her
+surrender might be the more sweet. Out of a hundred and forty women--But
+who can compare where all are so near perfection!
+
+You will wonder why it should be, if this maiden was so beautiful,
+that I should be left without a rival. There was a very good reason, my
+friends, for I so arranged it that my rivals were in the hospital. There
+was Hippolyte Lesoeur, he visited them for two Sundays; but if he lives,
+I dare swear that he still limps from the bullet which lodges in his
+knee. Poor Victor also--up to his death at Austerlitz he wore my mark.
+Soon it was understood that if I could not win Marie, I should at least
+have a fair field in which to try. It was said in our camp that it was
+safer to charge a square of unbroken infantry than to be seen too often
+at the farmhouse of the Ravons.
+
+Now let me be precise for a moment. Did I wish to marry Marie? Ah! my
+friends, marriage is not for a Hussar. Today he is in Normandy; tomorrow
+he is in the hills of Spain or in the bogs of Poland. What shall he do
+with a wife? Would it be fair to either of them? Can it be right that
+his courage should be blunted by the thought of the despair which his
+death would bring, or is it reasonable that she should be left fearing
+lest every post should bring her the news of irreparable misfortune?
+A Hussar can but warm himself at the fire, and then hurry onwards, too
+happy if he can but pass another fire from which some comfort may come.
+And Marie, did she wish to marry me? She knew well that when our silver
+trumpets blew the march it would be over the grave of our married life.
+Better far to hold fast to her own people and her own soil, where she
+and her husband could dwell for ever amid the rich orchards and within
+sight of the great Castle of Le Galliard. Let her remember her Hussar in
+her dreams, but let her waking days be spent in the world as she finds
+it. Meanwhile we pushed such thoughts from our minds, and gave ourselves
+up to a sweet companionship, each day complete in itself with never a
+thought of the morrow. It is true that there were times when her father,
+a stout old gentleman with a face like one of his own apples, and her
+mother, a thin anxious woman of the country, gave me hints that they
+would wish to be clearer as to my intentions; but in their hearts they
+each knew well that Etienne Gerard was a man of honour, and that their
+daughter was very safe as well as very happy in his keeping. So the
+matter stood until the night of which I speak.
+
+It was the Sunday evening, and I had ridden over from the camp. There
+were several of our fellows who were visiting the village, and we all
+left our horses at the inn. Thence I had to walk to the Ravons, which
+was only separated by a single very large field extending to the very
+door. I was about to start when the landlord ran after me. "Excuse
+me, lieutenant," said he, "it is farther by the road, and yet I should
+advise you to take it."
+
+"It is a mile or more out of my way."
+
+"I know it. But I think that it would be wiser," and he smiled as he
+spoke.
+
+"And why?" I asked.
+
+"Because," said he, "the English bull is loose in the field."
+
+If it were not for that odious smile, I might have considered it. But to
+hold a danger over me and then to smile in such a fashion was more than
+my proud temper could bear. I indicated by a gesture what I thought of
+the English bull.
+
+"I will go by the shortest way," said I.
+
+I had no sooner set my foot in the field than I felt that my spirit had
+betrayed me into rashness. It was a very large square field, and as I
+came further out into it I felt like the cockle-shell which ventures out
+from land and sees no port save that from which it has issued. There was
+a wall on every side of the field save that from which I had come. In
+front of me was the farmhouse of the Ravons, with wall extending to
+right and left. A back door opened upon the field, and there were
+several windows, but all were barred, as is usual in the Norman farms.
+I pushed on rapidly to the door, as being the only harbour of safety,
+walking with dignity as befits a soldier, and yet with such speed as
+I could summon. From the waist upwards I was unconcerned and even
+debonnaire. Below, I was swift and alert.
+
+I had nearly reached the middle of the field when I perceived the
+creature. He was rooting about with his fore feet under a large beech
+tree which lay upon my right hand. I did not turn my head, nor would
+the bystander have detected that I took notice of him, but my eye was
+watching him with anxiety. It may have been that he was in a contented
+mood, or it may have been that he was arrested by the nonchalance of my
+bearing, but he made no movement in my direction. Reassured, I fixed my
+eyes upon the open window of Marie's bed-chamber, which was immediately
+over the back door, in the hope that those dear, tender, dark eyes,
+were surveying me from behind the curtains. I flourished my little cane,
+loitered to pick a primrose, and sang one of our devil-may-care choruses
+in order to insult this English beast, and to show my love how little
+I cared for danger when it stood between her and me. The creature was
+abashed by my fearlessness, and so, pushing open the back door, I was
+able to enter the farmhouse in safety and in honour.
+
+And was it not worth the danger? Had all the bulls of Castile guarded
+the entrance, would it not still have been worth it? Ah, the hours, the
+sunny hours, which can never come back, when our youthful feet seemed
+scarce to touch the ground, and we lived in a sweet dreamland of our own
+creation! She honoured my courage, and she loved me for it. As she lay
+with her flushed cheek pillowed against the silk of my dolman, looking
+up at me with her wondering eyes, shining with love and admiration, she
+marvelled at the stories in which I gave her some pictures of the true
+character of her lover.
+
+"Has your heart never failed you? Have you never known the feeling of
+fear?" she asked. I laughed at such a thought. What place could fear
+have in the mind of a Hussar? Young as I was, I had given my proofs.
+I told her how I had led my squadron into a square of Hungarian
+Grenadiers. She shuddered as she embraced me. I told her also how I had
+swum my horse over the Danube at night with a message for Davoust. To be
+frank, it was not the Danube, nor was it so deep that I was compelled to
+swim, but when one is twenty and in love, one tells a story as best one
+can. Many such stories I told her, while her dear eyes grew more and
+more amazed.
+
+"Never in my dreams, Etienne," said she, "did I believe that so brave a
+man existed. Lucky France that has such a soldier, lucky Marie that has
+such a lover!"
+
+You can think how I flung myself at her feet as I murmured that I was
+the luckiest of all--I who had found some one who could appreciate and
+understand.
+
+It was a charming relationship, too infinitely sweet and delicate for
+the interference of coarser minds. But you can understand that the
+parents imagined that they also had their duty to do. I played dominoes
+with the old man, and I wound wool for his wife, and yet they could not
+be led to believe that it was from love of them that I came thrice a
+week to their farm. For some time an explanation was inevitable, and
+that night it came. Marie, in delightful mutiny, was packed off to her
+room, and I faced the old people in the parlour as they plied me with
+questions upon my prospects and my intentions.
+
+"One way or the other," they said, in their blunt country fashion. "Let
+us hear that you are betrothed to Marie, or let us never see your face
+again."
+
+I spoke of my honour, my hopes, and my future, but they remained
+immovable upon the present. I pleaded my career, but they in their
+selfish way would think of nothing but their daughter. It was indeed a
+difficult position in which I found myself. On the one hand, I could
+not forsake my Marie; on the other, what would a young Hussar do with
+marriage? At last, hard pressed, I begged them to leave the matter, if
+it were only for a day.
+
+"I will see Marie," said I, "I will see her without delay. It is her
+heart and her happiness which come before all else."
+
+They were not satisfied, these grumbling old people, but they could
+say no more. They bade me a short good night and I departed, full
+of perplexity, for the inn. I came out by the same door which I had
+entered, and I heard them lock and bar it behind me.
+
+I walked across the field lost in thought, with my mind entirely filled
+with the arguments of the old people and the skilful replies which I
+had made to them. What should I do? I had promised to see Marie without
+delay. What should I say to her when I did see her? Would I surrender
+to her beauty and turn my back upon my profession? If Etienne Gerard's
+sword were turned to a scythe, then indeed it was a bad day for the
+Emperor and France. Or should I harden my heart and turn away from
+Marie? Or was it not possible that all might be reconciled; that I might
+be a happy husband in Normandy but a brave soldier elsewhere? All these
+thoughts were buzzing in my head, when a sudden noise made me look up.
+The moon had come from behind a cloud, and there was the bull before me.
+
+He had seemed a large animal beneath the beech tree, but now he appeared
+enormous. He was black in colour. His head was held down, and the moon
+shone upon two menacing and bloodshot eyes. His tail switched swiftly
+from side to side, and his fore feet dug into the earth. A more
+horrible-looking monster was never seen in a nightmare. He was moving
+slowly and stealthily in my direction.
+
+I glanced behind me, and I found that in my distraction I had come
+a very long way from the edge of the field. I was more than half-way
+across it. My nearest refuge was the inn, but the bull was between me
+and it. Perhaps if the creature understood how little I feared him, he
+would make way for me. I shrugged my shoulders and made a gesture of
+contempt. I even whistled. The creature thought I called it, for he
+approached with alacrity. I kept my face boldly towards him, but I
+walked swiftly backwards. When one is young and active, one can almost
+run backwards and yet keep a brave and smiling face to the enemy. As I
+ran I menaced the animal with my cane. Perhaps it would have been
+wiser had I restrained my spirit. He regarded it as a challenge--which,
+indeed, was the last thing in my mind. It was a misunderstanding, but a
+fatal one. With a snort he raised his tail and charged.
+
+Have you ever seen a bull charge, my friends? It is a strange sight. You
+think, perhaps, that he trots, or even that he gallops. No, it is worse
+than this. It is a succession of bounds by which he advances, each more
+menacing than the last. I have no fear of anything which man can do.
+When I deal with man, I feel that the nobility of my own attitude, the
+gallant ease with which I face him, will in itself go far to disarm him.
+What he can do, I can do, so why should I fear him? But when it is a ton
+of enraged beef with which you contend, it is another matter. You
+cannot hope to argue, to soften, to conciliate. There is no resistance
+possible. My proud assurance was all wasted upon the creature. In
+an instant my ready wit had weighed every possible course, and had
+determined that no one, not the Emperor himself, could hold his ground.
+There was but one course--to fly.
+
+But one may fly in many ways. One may fly with dignity or one may fly in
+panic. I fled, I trust, like a soldier. My bearing was superb though
+my legs moved rapidly. My whole appearance was a protest against the
+position in which I was placed. I smiled as I ran--the bitter smile of
+the brave man who mocks his own fate. Had all my comrades surrounded
+the field, they could not have thought the less of me when they saw the
+disdain with which I avoided the bull.
+
+But here it is that I must make my confession. When once flight
+commences, though it be ever so soldierly, panic follows hard upon it.
+Was it not so with the Guard at Waterloo? So it was that night with
+Etienne Gerard. After all, there was no one to note my bearing--no one
+save this accursed bull. If for a minute I forgot my dignity, who would
+be the wiser? Every moment the thunder of the hoofs and the horrible
+snorts of the monster drew nearer to my heels. Horror filled me at the
+thought of so ignoble a death. The brutal rage of the creature sent a
+chill to my heart. In an instant everything was forgotten. There were
+in the world but two creatures, the bull and I--he trying to kill me, I
+striving to escape. I put down my head and I ran--I ran for my life.
+
+It was for the house of the Ravons that I raced. But even as I reached
+it, it flashed into my mind that there was no refuge for me there. The
+door was locked. The lower windows were barred. The wall was high upon
+either side. And the bull was nearer me with every stride. But oh, my
+friends, it is at that supreme moment of danger that Etienne Gerard
+has ever risen to his height. There was one path to safety, and in an
+instant I had chosen it.
+
+I have said that the window of Marie's bedroom was above the door. The
+curtains were closed, but the folding sides were thrown open, and a lamp
+burned in the room. Young and active, I felt that I could spring high
+enough to reach the edge of the window sill and to draw myself out
+of danger. The monster was within touch of me as I sprang. Had I been
+unaided, I should have done what I had planned. But even as in a superb
+effort I rose from the earth he butted me into the air. I shot through
+the curtains as if I had been fired from a gun, and I dropped upon my
+hands and knees in the centre of the room.
+
+There was, as it appears, a bed in the window, but I had passed over
+it in safety. As I staggered to my feet I turned towards it in
+consternation, but it was empty. My Marie sat in a low chair in the
+corner of the room, and her flushed cheeks showed that she had been
+weeping. No doubt her parents had given her some account of what had
+passed between us. She was too amazed to move, and could only sit
+looking at me with her mouth open.
+
+"Etienne!" she gasped. "Etienne!"
+
+In an instant I was as full of resource as ever. There was but one
+course for a gentleman, and I took it.
+
+"Marie," I cried, "forgive, oh forgive the abruptness of my return!
+Marie, I have seen your parents tonight. I could not return to the camp
+without asking you whether you will make me for ever happy by promising
+to be my wife?"
+
+It was long before she could speak, so great was her amazement. Then
+every emotion was swept away in the one great flood of her admiration.
+
+"Oh, Etienne! my wonderful Etienne!" she cried, her arms round my neck.
+"Was ever such love! Was ever such a man! As you stand there, white and
+trembling with passion, you seem to me the very hero of my dreams. How
+hard you breathe, my love, and what a spring it must have been which
+brought you to my arms! At the instant that you came, I heard the tramp
+of your war-horse without."
+
+There was nothing more to explain, and when one is newly betrothed, one
+finds other uses for one's lips. But there was a scurry in the passage
+and a pounding at the panels. At the crash of my arrival the old folk
+had rushed to the cellar to see if the great cider cask had toppled off
+the trestles, but now they were back and eager for admittance. I flung
+open the door, and stood with Marie's hand in mine.
+
+"Behold your son!" I said.
+
+Ah, the joy which I had brought to that humble household! It warms my
+heart still when I think of it. It did not seem too strange to them
+that I should fly in through the window, for who should be a hot-headed
+suitor if it is not a gallant Hussar? And if the door be locked, then
+what way is there but the window? Once more we assembled all four in
+the parlour, while the cobwebbed bottle was brought up and the ancient
+glories of the House of Ravon were unrolled before me. Once more I see
+the heavy-raftered room, the two old smiling faces, the golden circle
+of the lamp-light, and she, my Marie, the bride of my youth, won so
+strangely, and kept for so short a time.
+
+It was late when we parted. The old man came with me into the hall.
+
+"You can go by the front door or the back," said he. "The back way is
+the shorter."
+
+"I think that I will take the front way," I answered. "It may be a bit
+longer, but it will give me the more time to think of Marie."
+
+
+
+
+THE LORD OF FALCONBRIDGE
+
+
+A LEGEND OF THE RING
+
+Tom Cribb, Champion of England, having finished his active career by his
+two famous battles with the terrible Molineux, had settled down into the
+public house which was known as the Union Arms, at the corner of Panton
+Street in the Haymarket. Behind the bar of this hostelry there was a
+green baize door which opened into a large, red-papered parlour, adorned
+by many sporting prints and by the numerous cups and belts which were
+the treasured trophies of the famous prize-fighter's victorious career.
+In this snuggery it was the custom of the Corinthians of the day to
+assemble in order to discuss, over Tom Cribb's excellent wines, the
+matches of the past, to await the news of the present, and to arrange
+new ones for the future. Hither also came his brother pugilists,
+especially such as were in poverty or distress, for the Champion's
+generosity was proverbial, and no man of his own trade was ever turned
+from his door if cheering words or a full meal could mend his condition.
+
+On the morning in question--August 25, 1818--there were but two men in
+this famous snuggery. One was Cribb himself--all run to flesh since the
+time seven years before, when, training for his last fight, he had done
+his forty miles a day with Captain Barclay over the Highland roads.
+Broad and deep, as well as tall, he was a little short of twenty stone
+in weight, but his heavy, strong face and lion eyes showed that the
+spirit of the prize-fighter was not yet altogether overgrown by the fat
+of the publican. Though it was not eleven o'clock, a great tankard of
+bitter ale stood upon the table before him, and he was busy cutting up
+a plug of black tobacco and rubbing the slices into powder between his
+horny fingers. For all his record of desperate battles, he looked what
+he was--a good-hearted, respectable householder, law-abiding and kindly,
+a happy and prosperous man.
+
+His companion, however, was by no means in the same easy circumstances,
+and his countenance wore a very different expression. He was a tall
+and well-formed man, some fifteen years younger than the Champion, and
+recalling in the masterful pose of his face and in the fine spread of
+his shoulders something of the manly beauty which had distinguished
+Cribb at his prime. No one looking at his countenance could fail to see
+that he was a fighting man by profession, and any judge of the fancy,
+considering his six feet in height, his thirteen stone solid muscle,
+and his beautifully graceful build, would admit that he had started his
+career with advantages which, if they were only backed by the driving
+power of a stout heart, must carry him far. Tom Winter, or Spring--as
+he chose to call himself--had indeed come up from his Herefordshire home
+with a fine country record of local successes, which had been enhanced
+by two victories gained over formidable London heavy-weights. Three
+weeks before, however, he had been defeated by the famous Painter, and
+the set-back weighed heavily upon the young man's spirit.
+
+"Cheer up, lad," said the Champion, glancing across from under his
+tufted eyebrows at the disconsolate face of his companion. "Indeed, Tom,
+you take it overhard."
+
+The young man groaned, but made no reply. "Others have been beat before
+you and lived to be Champions of England. Here I sit with that very
+title. Was I not beat down Broadwater way by George Nicholls in 1805?
+What then? I fought on, and here I am. When the big Black came from
+America it was not George Nicholls they sent for. I say to you--fight
+on, and by George, I'll see you in my own shoes yet!"
+
+Tom Spring shook his head. "Never, if I have to fight you to get there,
+Daddy."
+
+"I can't keep it for ever, Tom. It's beyond all reason. I'm going to lay
+it down before all London at the Fives Courts next year, and it's to you
+that I want to hand it. I couldn't train down to it now, lad. My day's
+done."
+
+"Well, Dad, I'll never bid for it till you choose to stand aside. After
+that, it is as it may be."
+
+"Well, have a rest, Tom; wait for your chance, and, meantime, there's
+always a bed and crust for you here."
+
+Spring struck his clenched fist on his knee. "I know, Daddy! Ever since
+I came up from Fownthorpe you've been as good as a father to me."
+
+"I've an eye for a winner."
+
+"A pretty winner! Beat in forty rounds by Ned Painter."
+
+"You had beat him first."
+
+"And by the Lord, I will again!"
+
+"So you will, lad. George Nicholls would never give me another shy. Knew
+too much, he did. Bought a butcher's shop in Bristol with the money, and
+there he is to this day."
+
+"Yes, I'll come back on Painter, but I haven't a shilling left. My
+backers have lost faith in me. If it wasn't for you, Daddy, I'd be in
+the kennel."
+
+"Have you nothing left, Tom?"
+
+"Not the price of a meal. I left every penny I had, and my good name as
+well, in the ring at Kingston. I'm hard put to it to live unless I can
+get another fight, and who's going to back me now?"
+
+"Tut, man! the knowing ones will back you. You're the top of the list,
+for all Ned Painter. But there are other ways a man may earn a bit.
+There was a lady in here this morning--nothing flash, boy, a real
+tip-top out-and-outer with a coronet on her coach--asking after you."
+
+"Asking after me! A lady!" The young pugilist stood up with surprise and
+a certain horror rising in his eyes. "You don't mean, Daddy--"
+
+"I mean nothing but what is honest, my lad. You can lay to that!"
+
+"You said I could earn a bit."
+
+"So, perhaps, you can. Enough, anyhow, to tide you over your bad time.
+There's something in the wind there. It's to do with fightin'. She asked
+questions about your height, weight, and my opinion of your prospect.
+You can lay that my answers did you no harm."
+
+"She ain't making a match, surely?"
+
+"Well, she seemed to know a tidy bit about it. She asked about George
+Cooper, and Richmond the Black, and Tom Oliver, always comin' back to
+you, and wantin' to know if you were not the pick of the bunch. _And_
+trustworthy. That was the other point. Could she trust you? Lord,
+Tom, if you was a fightin' archangel you could hardly live up to the
+character that I've given you."
+
+A drawer looked in from the bar. "If you please, Mr. Cribb, the lady's
+carriage is back again."
+
+The Champion laid down his long clay pipe. "This way, lad," said he,
+plucking his young friend by the sleeve towards the side window. "Look
+there, now! Saw you ever a more slap-up carriage? See, too, the pair of
+bays--two hundred guineas apiece. Coachman, too, and footman--you'd find
+'em hard to beat. There she is now, stepping out of it. Wait here, lad,
+till I do the honours of my house."
+
+Tom Cribb slipped off, and young Spring remained by the window, tapping
+the glass nervously with his fingers, for he was a simple-minded country
+lad with no knowledge of women, and many fears of the traps which await
+the unwary in a great city. Many stories were afloat of pugilists who
+had been taken up and cast aside again by wealthy ladies, even as the
+gladiators were in decadent Rome. It was with some suspicion therefore,
+and considerable inward trepidation, that he faced round as a tall
+veiled figure swept into the room. He was much consoled, however, to
+observe the bulky form of Tom Cribb immediately behind her as a proof
+that the interview was not to be a private one. When the door was
+closed, the lady very deliberately removed her gloves. Then with fingers
+which glittered with diamonds she slowly rolled up and adjusted her
+heavy veil. Finally, she turned her face upon Spring.
+
+"Is this the man?" said she.
+
+They stood looking at each other with mutual interest, which warmed
+in both their faces into mutual admiration. What she saw was as fine a
+figure of a young man as England could show, none the less attractive
+for the restrained shyness of his manner and the blush which flushed his
+cheeks. What he saw was a woman of thirty, tall, dark, queen-like, and
+imperious, with a lovely face, every line and feature of which told of
+pride and breed, a woman born to Courts, with the instinct of command
+strong within her, and yet with all the softer woman's graces to temper
+and conceal the firmness of her soul. Tom Spring felt as he looked at
+her that he had never seen nor ever dreamed of any one so beautiful, and
+yet he could not shake off the instinct which warned him to be upon his
+guard. Yes, it was beautiful, this face--beautiful beyond belief.
+But was it good, was it kind, was it true? There was some strange
+subconscious repulsion which mingled with his admiration for her
+loveliness. As to the lady's thoughts, she had already put away all idea
+of the young pugilist as a man, and regarded him now with critical eyes
+as a machine designed for a definite purpose.
+
+"I am glad to meet you, Mr.--Mr. Spring," said she, looking him over
+with as much deliberation as a dealer who is purchasing a horse. "He
+is hardly as tall as I was given to understand, Mr. Cribb. You said six
+feet, I believe?"
+
+"So he is, ma'am, but he carries it so easy. It's only the beanstalk
+that looks tall. See here, I'm six foot myself, and our heads are level,
+except I've lost my fluff."
+
+"What is the chest measurement?"
+
+"Forty-three inches, ma'am."
+
+"You certainly seem to be a very strong young man. And a game one, too,
+I hope?"
+
+Young Spring shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"It's not for me to say, ma'am."
+
+"I can speak for that, ma'am," said Cribb. "You read the _Sporting
+Chronicle_ for three weeks ago, ma'am. You'll see how he stood up to Ned
+Painter until his senses were beat out of him. I waited on him, ma'am,
+and I know. I could show you my waistcoat now--that would let you guess
+what punishment he can take."
+
+The lady waved aside the illustration. "But he was beat," said she,
+coldly. "The man who beat him must be the better man."
+
+"Saving your presence, ma'am, I think not, and outside Gentleman Jackson
+my judgment would stand against any in the ring. My lad here has beat
+Painter once, and will again, if your ladyship could see your way to
+find the battle-money."
+
+The lady started and looked angrily at the Champion.
+
+"Why do you call me that?"
+
+"I beg pardon. It was just my way of speaking."
+
+"I order you not to do it again."
+
+"Very good, ma'am."
+
+"I am here incognito. I bind you both upon your honours to make no
+inquiry as to who I am. If I do not get your firm promise, the matter
+ends here."
+
+"Very good, ma'am. I'll promise for my own part, and so, I am sure,
+will Spring. But if I may be so bold, I can't help my drawers and potmen
+talking with your servants."
+
+"The coachman and footman know just as much about me as you do. But my
+time is limited, so I must get to business. I think, Mr. Spring, that
+you are in want of something to do at present?"
+
+"That is so, ma'am."
+
+"I understand from Mr. Cribb that you are prepared to fight any one at
+any weight?"
+
+"Anything on two legs," cried the Champion. "Who did you wish me to
+fight?" asked the young pugilist.
+
+"That cannot concern you. If you are really ready to fight any one,
+then the particular name can be of no importance. I have my reasons for
+withholding it."
+
+"Very good, ma'am."
+
+"You have been only a few weeks out of training. How long would it take
+you to get back to your best?"
+
+"Three weeks or a month."
+
+"Well, then, I will pay your training expenses and two pounds a week
+over. Here are five pounds as a guarantee. You will fight when I
+consider that you are ready, and that the circumstances are favourable.
+If you win your fight, you shall have fifty pounds. Are you satisfied
+with the terms?"
+
+"Very handsome, ma'am, I'm sure."
+
+"And remember, Mr. Spring, I choose you, not because you are the best
+man--for there are two opinions about that--but because I am given to
+understand that you are a decent man whom I can trust. The terms of this
+match are to be secret."
+
+"I understand that. I'll say nothing."
+
+"It is a private match. Nothing more. You will begin your training
+tomorrow."
+
+"Very good, ma'am."
+
+"I will ask Mr. Cribb to train you."
+
+"I'll do that, ma'am, with pleasure. But, by your leave, does he have
+anything if he loses?"
+
+A spasm of emotion passed over the woman's face and her hands clenched
+white with passion.
+
+"If he loses, not a penny, not a penny!" she cried. "He must not, shall
+not lose!"
+
+"Well, ma'am," said Spring, "I've never heard of any such match. But
+it's true that I am down at heel, and beggars can't be choosers. I'll
+do just what you say. I'll train till you give the word, and then I'll
+fight where you tell me. I hope you'll make it a large ring."
+
+"Yes," said she; "it will be a large ring."
+
+"And how far from London?"
+
+"Within a hundred miles. Have you anything else to say? My time is up."
+
+"I'd like to ask, ma'am," said the Champion, earnestly, "whether I can
+act as the lad's second when the time comes. I've waited on him the last
+two fights. Can I give him a knee?"
+
+"No," said the woman, sharply. Without another word she turned and
+was gone, shutting the door behind her. A few moments later the trim
+carriage flashed past the window, turned down the crowded Haymarket, and
+was engulfed in the traffic.
+
+The two men looked at each other in silence.
+
+"Well, blow my dicky, if this don't beat cockfightin'!" cried Tom Cribb
+at last. "Anyhow, there's the fiver, lad. But it's a rum go, and no
+mistake about it."
+
+After due consultation, it was agreed that Tom Spring should go into
+training at the Castle Inn on Hampstead Heath, so that Cribb could drive
+over and watch him. Thither Spring went on the day after the interview
+with his patroness, and he set to work at once with drugs, dumb-bells,
+and breathers on the common to get himself into condition. It was hard,
+however, to take the matter seriously, and his good-natured trainer
+found the same difficulty.
+
+"It's the baccy I miss, Daddy," said the young pugilist, as they sat
+together on the afternoon of the third day. "Surely there can't be any
+harm in my havin' a pipe?"
+
+"Well, well, lad, it's against my conscience, but here's my box and
+there's a yard o' clay," said the Champion. "My word, I don't know what
+Captain Barclay of Ury would have said if he had seen a man smoke when
+he was in trainin'! He was the man to work you! He had me down from
+sixteen to thirteen the second time I fought the Black."
+
+Spring had lit his pipe and was leaning back amid a haze of blue smoke.
+
+"It was easy for you, Daddy, to keep strict trainin' when you knew what
+was before you. You had your date and your place and your man. You knew
+that in a month you would jump the ropes with ten thousand folk round
+you, and carrying maybe a hundred thousand in bets. You knew also the
+man you had to meet, and you wouldn't give him the better of you. But
+it's all different with me. For all I know, this is just a woman's whim,
+and will end in nothing. If I was sure it was serious, I'd break this
+pipe before I would smoke it."
+
+Tom Cribb scratched his head in puzzlement.
+
+"I can make nothing of it, lad, 'cept that her money is good. Come to
+think of it, how many men on the list could stand up to you for half an
+hour? It can't be Stringer, 'cause you've beat him. Then there's Cooper;
+but he's up Newcastle way. It can't be him. There's Richmond; but you
+wouldn't need to take your coat off to beat him. There's the Gasman; but
+he's not twelve stone. And there's Bill Neat of Bristol. That's it, lad.
+The lady has taken into her head to put you up against either the Gasman
+or Bill Neat."
+
+"But why not say so? I'd train hard for the Gasman and harder for Bill
+Neat, but I'm blowed if I can train, with any heart when I'm fightin'
+nobody in particular and everybody in general, same as now."
+
+There was a sudden interruption to the speculations of the two
+prize-fighters. The door opened and the lady entered. As her eyes fell
+upon the two men her dark, handsome face flushed with anger, and she
+gazed at them silently with an expression of contempt which brought them
+both to their feet with hangdog faces. There they stood, their long,
+reeking pipes in their hands, shuffling and downcast, like two great
+rough mastiffs before an angry mistress.
+
+"So!" said she, stamping her foot furiously. "And this is training!"
+
+"I'm sure we're very sorry, ma'am," said the abashed Champion. "I didn't
+think--I never for one moment supposed--"
+
+"That I would come myself to see if you were taking my money on false
+pretences? No, I dare say not. You fool!" she blazed, turning suddenly
+upon Tom Spring. "You'll be beat. That will be the end of it."
+
+The young man looked up with an angry face.
+
+"I'll trouble you not to call me names, ma'am. I've my self-respect,
+the same as you. I'll allow that I shouldn't have smoked when I was in
+trainin'. But I was saying to Tom Cribb here, just before you came in,
+that if you would give over treatin' us as if we were children, and if
+you would tell us just who it is you want me to fight, and when, and
+where, it would be a deal easier for me to take myself in hand."
+
+"It's true, ma'am," said the Champion. "I know it must be either the
+Gasman or Bill Neat. There's no one else. So give me the office, and
+I'll promise to have him as fit as a trout on the day."
+
+The lady laughed contemptuously.
+
+"Do you think," said she, "that no one can fight save those who make a
+living by it?"
+
+"By George, it's an amateur!" cried Cribb, in amazement. "But you don't
+surely ask Tom Spring to train for three weeks to meet a Corinthian?"
+
+"I will say nothing more of who it is. It is no business of yours," the
+lady answered fiercely. "All I _do_ say is, that if you do not train
+I will cast you aside and take some one who will. Do not think you can
+fool me because I am a woman. I have learned the points of the game as
+well as any man."
+
+"I saw that the very first word you spoke," said Cribb.
+
+"Then don't forget it. I will not warn you again. If I have occasion to
+find fault I shall choose another man."
+
+"And you won't tell me who I am to fight?"
+
+"Not a word. But you can take it from me that at your very best it will
+take you, or any man in England, all your time to master him. Now, get
+back this instant to your work, and never let me find you shirking it
+again." With imperious eyes she looked the two strong men down, and
+then, turning on her heel, she swept out of the room.
+
+The Champion whistled as the door closed behind her, and mopped his brow
+with his red bandanna handkerchief as he looked across at his abashed
+companion. "My word, lad," said he, "it's earnest from this day on."
+
+"Yes," said Tom Spring, solemnly, "it's earnest from this day on."
+
+In the course of the next fortnight the lady made several surprise
+visits to see that her champion was being properly prepared for the
+contest which lay before him. At the most unexpected moments she would
+burst into the training quarters, but never again had she to complain of
+any slackness upon his part or that of his trainer. With long bouts
+of the gloves, with thirty-mile walks, with mile runs at the back of
+a mailcart with a bit of blood between the shafts, with interminable
+series of jumps with a skipping-rope, he was sweated down until his
+trainer was able to proudly proclaim that "the last ounce of tallow is
+off him and he is ready to fight for his life." Only once was the
+lady accompanied by any one upon these visits of inspection. Upon this
+occasion a tall young man was her companion. He was graceful in figure,
+aristocratic in his bearing, and would have been strikingly handsome had
+it not been for some accident which had shattered his nose and broken
+all the symmetry of his features. He stood in silence with moody eyes
+and folded arms, looking at the splendid torso of the prize-fighter as,
+stripped to the waist, he worked with his dumbbells.
+
+"Don't you think he will do?" said the lady.
+
+The young swell shrugged his shoulders. "I don't like it, _cara mia_. I
+can't pretend that I like it."
+
+"You must like it, George. I have set my very heart on it."
+
+"It is not English, you know. Lucrezia Borgia and Mediaeval Italy.
+Woman's love and woman's hatred are always the same, but this particular
+manifestation of it seems to me out of place in nineteenth-century
+London."
+
+"Is not a lesson needed?"
+
+"Yes, yes; but one would think there were other ways."
+
+"You tried another way. What did you get out of that?"
+
+The young man smiled rather grimly, as he turned up his cuff and looked
+at a puckered hole in his wrist.
+
+"Not much, certainly," said he.
+
+"You've tried and failed."
+
+"Yes, I must admit it."
+
+"What else is there? The law?"
+
+"Good gracious, no!"
+
+"Then it is my turn, George, and I won't be balked."
+
+"I don't think any one is capable of balking you, _cara mia_. Certainly
+I, for one, should never dream of trying. But I don't feel as if I could
+co-operate."
+
+"I never asked you to."
+
+"No, you certainly never did. You are perfectly capable of doing it
+alone. I think, with your leave, if you have quite done with your
+prize-fighter, we will drive back to London. I would not for the world
+miss Goldoni in the Opera."
+
+So they drifted away; he, frivolous and dilettante, she with her face as
+set as Fate, leaving the fighting men to their business.
+
+And now the day came when Cribb was able to announce to his employer
+that his man was as fit as science could make him.
+
+"I can do no more, ma'am. He's fit to fight for a kingdom. Another week
+would see him stale."
+
+The lady looked Spring over with the eye of a connoisseur.
+
+"I think he does you credit," she said at last. "Today is Tuesday. He
+will fight the day after tomorrow."
+
+"Very good, ma'am. Where shall he go?"
+
+"I will tell you exactly, and you will please take careful note of all
+that I say. You, Mr. Cribb, will take your man down to the Golden Cross
+Inn at Charing Cross by nine o'clock on Wednesday morning. He will take
+the Brighton coach as far as Tunbridge Wells, where he will alight at
+the Royal Oak Arms. There he will take such refreshment as you advise
+before a fight. He will wait at the Royal Oak Arms until he receives
+a message by word, or by letter, brought him by a groom in a mulberry
+livery. This message will give him his final instructions."
+
+"And I am not to come?"
+
+"No," said the lady.
+
+"But surely, ma'am," he pleaded, "I may come as far as Tunbridge Wells?
+It's hard on a man to train a cove for a fight and then to leave him."
+
+"It can't be helped. You are too well known. Your arrival would spread
+all over the town, and my plans might suffer. It is quite out of the
+question that you should come."
+
+"Well, I'll do what you tell me, but it's main hard."
+
+"I suppose," said Spring, "you would have me bring my fightin' shorts
+and my spiked shoes?"
+
+"No; you will kindly bring nothing whatever which may point to your
+trade. I would have you wear just those clothes in which I saw you
+first, such clothes as any mechanic or artisan might be expected to
+wear."
+
+Tom Cribb's blank face had assumed an expression of absolute despair.
+
+"No second, no clothes, no shoes--it don't seem regular. I give you my
+word, ma'am, I feel ashamed to be mixed up in such a fight. I don't know
+as you can call the thing a fight where there is no second. It's just
+a scramble--nothing more. I've gone too far to wash my hands of it now,
+but I wish I had never touched it."
+
+In spite of all professional misgivings on the part of the Champion and
+his pupil, the imperious will of the woman prevailed, and everything
+was carried out exactly as she had directed. At nine o'clock Tom Spring
+found himself upon the box-seat of the Brighton coach, and waved his
+hand in goodbye to burly Tom Cribb, who stood, the admired of a ring of
+waiters and ostlers, upon the doorstep of the Golden Cross. It was in
+the pleasant season when summer is mellowing into autumn, and the
+first golden patches are seen amid the beeches and the ferns. The young
+country-bred lad breathed more freely when he had left the weary streets
+of Southwark and Lewisham behind him, and he watched with delight the
+glorious prospect as the coach, whirled along by six dapple greys,
+passed by the classic grounds of Knowle, or after crossing Riverside
+Hill skirted the vast expanse of the Weald of Kent. Past Tonbridge
+School went the coach, and on through Southborough, until it wound down
+a steep, curving road with strange outcrops of sandstone beside it, and
+halted before a great hostelry, bearing the name which had been given
+him in his directions. He descended, entered the coffee-room, and
+ordered the underdone steak which his trainer had recommended. Hardly
+had he finished it when a servant with a mulberry coat and a peculiarly
+expressionless face entered the apartment.
+
+"Beg your pardon, sir, are you Mr. Spring--Mr. Thomas Spring, of
+London?"
+
+"That is my name, young man."
+
+"Then the instructions which I had to give you are that you wait for one
+hour after your meal. After that time you will find me in a phaeton at
+the door, and I will drive you in the right direction."
+
+The young pugilist had never been daunted by any experience which had
+befallen him in the ring. The rough encouragement of his backers, the
+surge and shouting of the multitude, and the sight of his opponent had
+always cheered his stout heart and excited him to prove himself worthy
+of being the centre of such a scene. But his loneliness and uncertainty
+were deadly. He flung himself down on the horse-hair couch and tried to
+doze, but his mind was too restless and excited. Finally he rose, and
+paced up and down the empty room. Suddenly he was aware of a great
+rubicund face which surveyed him from round the angle of the door. Its
+owner, seeing that he was observed, pushed forward into the room.
+
+"I beg pardon, sir," said he, "but surely I have the honour of talking
+to Mr. Thomas Spring?"
+
+"At your service," said the young man.
+
+"Bless me! I am vastly honoured to have you under my roof! Cordery is
+my name, sir, landlord of this old-fashioned inn. I thought that my eyes
+could not deceive me. I am a patron of the ring, sir, in my own humble
+way, and was present at Moulsey in September last, when you beat Jack
+Stringer of Rawcliffe. A very fine fight, sir, and very handsomely
+fought, if I may make bold to say so. I have a right to an opinion, sir,
+for there's never been a fight for many a year in Kent or Sussex that
+you wouldn't find Joe Cordery at the ring-side. Ask Mr. Gregson at the
+Chop-house in Holborn and he'll tell you about old Joe Cordery. By the
+way, Mr. Spring, I suppose it is not business that has brought you down
+into these parts? Any one can see with half an eye that you are trained
+to a hair. I'd take it very kindly if you would give me the office."
+
+It crossed Spring's mind that if he were frank with the landlord it was
+more than likely that he would receive more information than he could
+give. He was a man of his word, however, and he remembered his promise
+to his employer.
+
+"Just a quiet day in the country, Mr. Cordery. That's all."
+
+"Dear me! I had hoped there was a mill in the wind. I've a nose for
+these things, Mr. Spring, and I thought I had a whiff of it. But, of
+course, you should know best. Perhaps you will drive round with me this
+afternoon and view the hop-gardens--just the right time of year, sir."
+
+Tom Spring was not very skilful in deception, and his stammering excuses
+may not have been very convincing to the landlord, or finally persuaded
+him that his original supposition was wrong. In the midst of the
+conversation, however, the waiter entered with the news that a phaeton
+was waiting at the door. The innkeeper's eyes shone with suspicion and
+eagerness.
+
+"I thought you said you knew no one in these parts, Mr. Spring?"
+
+"Just one kind friend, Mr. Cordery, and he has sent his gig for me. It's
+likely that I will take the night coach to town. But I'll look in after
+an hour or two and have a dish of tea with you."
+
+Outside the mulberry servant was sitting behind a fine black horse in
+a phaeton, which had two seats in front and two behind. Tom Spring
+was about to climb up beside him, when the servant whispered that his
+directions were that he should sit behind. Then the phaeton whirled
+away, while the excited landlord, more convinced than ever that there
+was something in the wind, rushed into his stable-yard with shrieks to
+his ostlers, and in a very few minutes was in hot pursuit, waiting at
+every cross-road until he could hear tidings of a black horse and a
+mulberry livery.
+
+The phaeton meanwhile drove in the direction of Crowborough. Some miles
+out it turned from the high-road into a narrow lane spanned by a tawny
+arch of beech trees. Through this golden tunnel a lady was walking, tall
+and graceful, her back to the phaeton. As it came abreast of her she
+stood aside and looked up, while the coachman pulled up the horse.
+
+"I trust that you are at your best," said she, looking very earnestly at
+the prize-fighter. "How do you feel?"
+
+"Pretty tidy, ma'am, I thank you."
+
+"I will get up beside you, Johnson. We have some way to go. You will
+drive through the Lower Warren, and then take the lane which skirts the
+Gravel Hanger. I will tell you where to stop. Go slowly, for we are not
+due for twenty minutes."
+
+Feeling as if the whole business was some extraordinary dream, the young
+pugilist passed through a network of secluded lanes, until the phaeton
+drew up at a wicket gate which led into a plantation of firs, choked
+with a thick undergrowth. Here the lady descended and beckoned Spring to
+alight.
+
+"Wait down the lane," said she to the coachman. "We shall be some little
+time. Now, Mr. Spring, will you kindly follow me? I have written a
+letter which makes an appointment."
+
+She passed swiftly through the plantation by a tortuous path, then
+over a stile, and past another wood, loud with the deep chuckling of
+pheasants. At the farther side was a fine rolling park, studded with
+oak trees, and stretching away to a splendid Elizabethan mansion, with
+balustraded terraces athwart its front. Across the park, and making for
+the wood, a solitary figure was walking.
+
+The lady gripped the prize-fighter by the wrist. "That is your man,"
+said she.
+
+They were standing under the shadow of the trees, so that he was very
+visible to them, while they were out of his sight. Tom Spring looked
+hard at the man, who was still some hundreds of yards away. He was a
+tall, powerful fellow, clad in a blue coat with gilt buttons, which
+gleamed in the sun. He had white corded breeches and riding-boots. He
+walked with a vigorous step, and with every few strides he struck
+his leg with a dog-whip which hung from his wrist. There was a great
+suggestion of purpose and of energy in the man's appearance and bearing.
+
+"Why, he's a gentleman!" said Spring. "Look 'ere, ma'am, this is all a
+bit out of my line. I've nothing against the man, and he can mean me no
+harm. What am I to do with him?"
+
+"Fight him! Smash him! That is what you are here for."
+
+Tom Spring turned on his heel with disgust. "I'm here to fight, ma'am,
+but not to smash a man who has no thought of fighting. It's off."
+
+"You don't like the look of him," hissed the woman. "You have met your
+master."
+
+"That is as may be. It is no job for me."
+
+The woman's face was white with vexation and anger.
+
+"You fool!" she cried. "Is all to go wrong at the last minute? There are
+fifty pounds here they are in this paper--would you refuse them?"
+
+"It's a cowardly business. I won't do it."
+
+"Cowardly? You are giving the man two stone, and he can beat any amateur
+in England."
+
+The young pugilist felt relieved. After all, if he could fairly earn
+that fifty pounds, a good deal depended upon his winning it. If he could
+only be sure that this was a worthy and willing antagonist!
+
+"How do you know he is so good?" he asked.
+
+"I ought to know. I am his wife."
+
+As she spoke she turned, and was gone like a flash among the bushes. The
+man was quite close now, and Tom Spring's scruples weakened as he looked
+at him. He was a powerful, broad-chested fellow, about thirty, with a
+heavy, brutal face, great thatched eyebrows, and a hard-set mouth. He
+could not be less than fifteen stone in weight, and he carried himself
+like a trained athlete. As he swung along he suddenly caught a glimpse
+of Spring among the trees, and he at once quickened his pace and sprang
+over the stile which separated them.
+
+"Halloa!" said he, halting a few yards from him, and staring him up and
+down. "Who the devil are you, and where the devil did you come from, and
+what the devil are you doing on my property?"
+
+His manner was even more offensive than his words. It brought a flush of
+anger to Spring's cheeks.
+
+"See here, mister," said he, "civil words is cheap. You've no call to
+speak to me like that."
+
+"You infernal rascal!" cried the other. "I'll show you the way out of
+that plantation with the toe of my boot. Do you dare to stand there on
+my land and talk back at me?" He advanced with a menacing face and his
+dog-whip half raised. "Well, are you going?" he cried, as he swung it
+into the air.
+
+Tom Spring jumped back to avoid the threatened blow.
+
+"Go slow, mister," said he. "It's only fair that you should know where
+you are. I'm Spring, the prize-fighter. Maybe you have heard my name."
+
+"I thought you were a rascal of that breed," said the man. "I've had the
+handling of one or two of you gentry before, and I never found one that
+could stand up to me for five minutes. Maybe you would like to try?"
+
+"If you hit me with that dog-whip, mister----"
+
+"There, then!" He gave the young man a vicious cut across the shoulder.
+"Will that help you to fight?"
+
+"I came here to fight," said Tom Spring, licking his dry lips. "You can
+drop that whip, mister, for I _will_ fight. I'm a trained man and ready.
+But you would have it. Don't blame me."
+
+The man was stripping the blue coat from his broad shoulders. There
+was a sprigged satin vest beneath it, and they were hung together on an
+alder branch.
+
+"Trained are you?" he muttered. "By the Lord, I'll train you before I am
+through!"
+
+Any fears that Tom Spring may have had lest he should be taking some
+unfair advantage were set at rest by the man's assured manner and by the
+splendid physique, which became more apparent as he discarded a black
+satin tie, with a great ruby glowing in its centre, and threw aside
+the white collar which cramped his thick muscular neck. He then, very
+deliberately, undid a pair of gold sleeve-links, and, rolling up his
+shirt-sleeves, disclosed two hairy and muscular arms, which would have
+served as a model for a sculptor.
+
+"Come nearer the stile," said he, when he had finished. "There is more
+room."
+
+The prize-fighter had kept pace with the preparations of his formidable
+antagonist. His own hat, coat, and vest hung suspended upon a bush. He
+advanced now into the open space which the other had indicated.
+
+"Ruffianing or fighting?" asked the amateur, coolly.
+
+"Fighting."
+
+"Very good," said the other. "Put up your hands, Spring. Try it out."
+
+They were standing facing one another in a grassy ring intersected by
+the path at the outlet of the wood. The insolent and overbearing look
+had passed away from the amateur's face, but a grim half-smile was on
+his lips and his eyes shone fiercely from under his tufted brows. From
+the way in which he stood it was very clear that he was a past-master at
+the game. Tom Spring, as he paced lightly to right and left, looking for
+an opening, became suddenly aware that neither with Stringer nor with
+the redoubtable Painter himself had he ever faced a more business-like
+opponent. The amateur's left was well forward, his guard low, his body
+leaning back from the haunches, and his head well out of danger. Spring
+tried a light lead at the mark, and another at the face, but in an
+instant his adversary was on to him with a shower of sledge-hammer blows
+which it took him all his time to avoid. He sprang back, but there was
+no getting away from that whirlwind of muscle and bone. A heavy blow
+beat down his guard, a second landed on his shoulder, and over went the
+prize-fighter with the other on the top of him. Both sprang to their
+feet, glared at each other, and fell into position once more.
+
+There could be no doubt that the amateur was not only heavier, but also
+the harder and stronger man. Twice again he rushed Spring down, once by
+the weight of his blows, and once by closing and hurling him on to his
+back. Such falls might have shaken the fight out of a less game man, but
+to Tom Spring they were but incidents in his daily trade. Though bruised
+and winded he was always up again in an instant. Blood was trickling
+from his mouth, but his steadfast blue eyes told of the unshaken spirit
+within.
+
+He was accustomed now to his opponent's rushing tactics, and he was
+ready for them. The fourth round was the same as to attack, but it was
+very different in defence. Up to now the young man had given way and
+been fought down. This time he stood his ground. As his opponent
+rushed in he met him with a tremendous straight hit from his left hand,
+delivered with the full force of his body, and doubled in effect by the
+momentum of the charge. So stunning was the concussion that the pugilist
+himself recoiled from it across the grassy ring. The amateur staggered
+back and leaned his shoulder on a tree-trunk, his hand up to his face.
+
+"You'd best drop it," said Spring. "You'll get pepper if you don't."
+
+The other gave an inarticulate curse, and spat out a mouthful of blood.
+
+"Come on!" said he.
+
+Even now the pugilist found that he had no light task before him. Warned
+by his misadventure, the heavier man no longer tried to win the battle
+at a rush, nor to beat down an accomplished boxer as he would a country
+hawbuck at a village fair. He fought with his head and his feet as well
+as with his hands. Spring had to admit in his heart that, trained to
+the ring, this man must have been a match for the best. His guard was
+strong, his counter was like lightning, he took punishment like a man
+of iron, and when he could safely close he always brought his lighter
+antagonist to the ground with a shattering fall. But the one stunning
+blow which he had courted before he was taught respect for his adversary
+weighed heavily on him all the time. His senses had lost something of
+their quickness and his blows of their sting. He was fighting, too,
+against a man who, of all the boxers who have made their names great,
+was the safest, the coolest, the least likely to give anything away, or
+lose an advantage gained. Slowly, gradually, round by round, he was worn
+down by his cool, quick-stepping, sharp-hitting antagonist. At last he
+stood exhausted, breathing hoarsely, his face, what could be seen of it,
+purple with his exertions. He had reached the limit of human endurance.
+His opponent stood waiting for him, bruised and beaten, but as cool, as
+ready, as dangerous as ever.
+
+"You'd best drop it, I tell you," said he. "You're done."
+
+But the other's manhood would not have it so. With a snarl of fury he
+cast his science to the winds, and rushed madly to slogging with both
+hands. For a moment Spring was overborne. Then he side-stepped swiftly;
+there was the crash of his blow, and the amateur tossed up his arms and
+fell all asprawl, his great limbs outstretched, his disfigured face to
+the sky.
+
+For a moment Tom Spring stood looking down at his unconscious opponent.
+The next he felt a soft, warm hand upon his bare arm. The woman was at
+his elbow.
+
+"Now is your time!" she cried, her dark eyes aflame. "Go in! Smash him!"
+
+Spring shook her off with a cry of disgust, but she was back in an
+instant.
+
+"I'll make it seventy-five pounds--"
+
+"The fight's over, ma'am. I can't touch him."
+
+"A hundred pounds--a clear hundred! I have it here in my bodice. Would
+you refuse a hundred?"
+
+He turned on his heel. She darted past him and tried to kick at the face
+of the prostrate man. Spring dragged her roughly away, before she could
+do him a mischief.
+
+"Stand clear!" he cried, giving her a shake. "You should take shame to
+hit a fallen man."
+
+With a groan the injured man turned on his side. Then he slowly sat
+up and passed his wet hand over his face. Finally, he staggered to his
+feet.
+
+"Well," he said, shrugging his broad shoulders, "it was a fair fight.
+I've no complaint to make. I was Jackson's favourite pupil, but I give
+you best." Suddenly his eyes lit upon the furious face of the woman.
+"Hulloa, Betty!" he cried. "So I have you to thank. I might have guessed
+it when I had your letter."
+
+"Yes, my lord," said she, with a mock curtsey. "You have me to thank.
+Your little wife managed it all. I lay behind those bushes, and I saw
+you beaten like a hound. You haven't had all that I had planned for you,
+but I think it will be some little time before any woman loves you for
+the sake of your appearance. Do you remember the words, my lord? Do you
+remember the words?"
+
+He stood stunned for a moment. Then he snatched his whip from the
+ground, and looked at her from under his heavy brows.
+
+"I believe you're the devil!" he cried.
+
+"I wonder what the governess will think?" said she.
+
+He flared into furious rage and rushed at her with his whip. Tom Spring
+threw himself before him with his arms out.
+
+"It won't do, sir; I can't stand by."
+
+The man glared at his wife over the prize-fighter's shoulder.
+
+"So it's for dear George's sake!" he said, with a bitter laugh. "But
+poor, broken-nosed George seems to have gone to the wall. Taken up with
+a prize-fighter, eh? Found a fancy man for yourself!"
+
+"You liar!" she gasped.
+
+"Ha, my lady, that stings your pride, does it? Well, you shall stand
+together in the dock for trespass and assault. What a picture--great
+Lord, what a picture!"
+
+"You wouldn't, John!"
+
+"Wouldn't I, by--! you stay there three minutes and see if I wouldn't."
+He seized his clothes from the bush, and staggered off as swiftly as he
+could across the field, blowing a whistle as he ran.
+
+"Quick! quick!" cried the woman. "There's not an instant to lose." Her
+face was livid, and she was shivering and panting with apprehension.
+"He'll raise the country. It would be awful--awful!"
+
+She ran swiftly down the tortuous path, Spring following after her and
+dressing as he went. In a field to the right a gamekeeper, his gun in
+his hand, was hurrying towards the whistling. Two labourers, loading
+hay, had stopped their work and were looking about them, their
+pitchforks in their hands.
+
+But the path was empty, and the phaeton awaited them, the horse cropping
+the grass by the lane-side, the driver half asleep on his perch. The
+woman sprang swiftly in and motioned Spring to stand by the wheel.
+
+"There is your fifty pounds," she said, handing him a paper. "You were
+a fool not to turn it into a hundred when you had the chance. I've done
+with you now."
+
+"But where am I to go?" asked the prize-fighter, gazing around him at
+the winding lanes.
+
+"To the devil!" said she. "Drive on, Johnson!"
+
+The phaeton whirled down the road and vanished round a curve. Tom Spring
+was alone.
+
+Everywhere over the countryside he heard shoutings and whistlings. It
+was clear that so long as she escaped the indignity of sharing his fate
+his employer was perfectly indifferent as to whether he got into trouble
+or not. Tom Spring began to feel indifferent himself. He was weary
+to death, his head was aching from the blows and falls which he had
+received, and his feelings were raw from the treatment which he had
+undergone. He walked slowly some few yards down the lane, but had no
+idea which way to turn to reach Tunbridge Wells. In the distance he
+heard the baying of dogs, and he guessed that they were being set upon
+his track. In that case he could not hope to escape them, and might just
+as well await them where he was. He picked out a heavy stake from the
+hedge, and he sat down moodily waiting, in a very dangerous temper, for
+what might befall him.
+
+But it was a friend and not a foe who came first into sight. Round the
+corner of the lane flew a small dog-cart, with a fast-trotting chestnut
+cob between the shafts. In it was seated the rubicund landlord of the
+Royal Oak, his whip going, his face continually flying round to glance
+behind him.
+
+"Jump in, Mr. Spring jump in!" he cried, as he reined up. "They're all
+coming, dogs and men! Come on! Now, hud up, Ginger!" Not another word
+did he say until two miles of lanes had been left behind them at racing
+speed and they were back in safety upon the Brighton road. Then he let
+the reins hang loose on the pony's back, and he slapped Tom Spring with
+his fat hand upon the shoulder.
+
+"Splendid!" he cried, his great red face shining with ecstasy. "Oh,
+Lord! but it was beautiful!"
+
+"What!" cried Spring. "You saw the fight?"
+
+"Every round of it! By George! to think that I should have lived to have
+had such a fight all to myself! Oh, but it was grand," he cried, in a
+frenzy of delight, "to see his lordship go down like a pithed ox and
+her ladyship clapping her hands behind the bush! I guessed there was
+something in the wind, and I followed you all the way. When you stopped,
+I tethered little Ginger in a grove, and I crept after you through the
+wood. It's as well I did, for the whole parish was up!"
+
+But Tom Spring was sitting gazing at him in blank amazement.
+
+"His lordship!" he gasped.
+
+"No less, my boy. Lord Falconbridge, Chairman of the Bench, Deputy
+Lieutenant of the County, Peer of the Realm--that's your man."
+
+"Good Lord!"
+
+"And you didn't know? It's as well, for maybe you wouldn't have whacked
+it in as hard if you had; and, mind you, if you hadn't, he'd have beat
+you. There's not a man in this county could stand up to him. He takes
+the poachers and gipsies two and three at a time. He's the terror of the
+place. But you did him--did him fair. Oh, man, it was fine!"
+
+Tom Spring was too much dazed by what he heard to do more than sit and
+wonder. It was not until he had got back to the comforts of the inn, and
+after a bath had partaken of a solid meal, that he sent for Mr. Cordery
+the landlord. To him he confided the whole train of events which had led
+up to his remarkable experience, and he begged him to throw such light
+as he could upon it. Cordery listened with keen interest and many
+chuckles to the story. Finally he left the room and returned with a
+frayed newspaper in his hand, which he smoothed out upon his knee.
+
+"It's the _Pantiles Gazette_, Mr. Spring, as gossiping a rag as ever was
+printed. I expect there will be a fine column in it if ever it gets its
+prying nose into this day's doings. However, we are mum and her ladyship
+is mum, and, my word! his lordship is mum, though he did, in his
+passion, raise the hue and cry on you. Here it is, Mr. Spring, and I'll
+read it to you while you smoke your pipe. It's dated July of last year,
+and it goes like this--
+
+"'FRACAS IN HIGH LIFE.--It is an open secret that the differences which
+have for some years been known to exist between Lord F---- and his
+beautiful wife have come to a head during the last few days. His
+lordship's devotion to sport, and also, as it is whispered, some
+attentions which he has shown to a humbler member of his household,
+have, it is said, long alienated Lady F----'s affection. Of late she
+has sought consolation and friendship with a gentleman whom we will
+designate as Sir George W----n. Sir George, who is a famous ladykiller,
+and as well-proportioned a man as any in England, took kindly to the
+task of consoling the disconsolate fair. The upshot, however, was
+vastly unfortunate, both for the lady's feelings and for the gentleman's
+beauty. The two friends were surprised in a rendezvous near the house
+by Lord F---- himself at the head of a party of his servants. Lord F----
+then and there, in spite of the shrieks of the lady, availed himself of
+his strength and skill to administer such punishment to the unfortunate
+Lothario as would, in his own parting words, prevent any woman from
+loving him again for the sake of his appearance. Lady F---- has left
+his lordship and betaken herself to London, where, no doubt, she is now
+engaged in nursing the damaged Apollo. It is confidently expected that a
+duel will result from the affair, but no particulars have reached us up
+to the hour of going to press.'"
+
+The landlord laid down the paper. "You've been moving in high life, Mr.
+Thomas Spring," said he.
+
+The pugilist passed his hand over his battered face. "Well, Mr.
+Cordery," said he, "low life is good enough for me."
+
+
+
+
+OUT OF THE RUNNING
+
+
+It was on the North Side of Butser on the long swell of the Hampshire
+Downs. Beneath, some two miles away, the grey roofs and red houses of
+Petersfield peeped out from amid the trees which surrounded it. From
+the crest of the low hills downwards the country ran in low, sweeping
+curves, as though some green primeval sea had congealed in the midst
+of a ground swell and set for ever into long verdant rollers. At the
+bottom, just where the slope borders upon the plain, there stood a
+comfortable square brick farmhouse, with a grey plume of smoke floating
+up from the chimney. Two cowhouses, a cluster of hayricks, and a broad
+stretch of fields, yellow with the ripening wheat, formed a fitting
+setting to the dwelling of a prosperous farmer.
+
+The green slopes were dotted every here and there with dark clumps of
+gorse bushes, all alight with the flaming yellow blossoms. To the left
+lay the broad Portsmouth Road curving over the hill, with a line of
+gaunt telegraph posts marking its course. Beyond a huge white chasm
+opened in the grass, where the great Butser chalk quarry had been sunk.
+From its depths rose the distant murmur of voices, and the clinking of
+hammers. Just above it, between two curves of green hill, might be seen
+a little triangle of leaden-coloured sea, flecked with a single white
+sail.
+
+Down the Portsmouth Road two women were walking, one elderly, florid and
+stout, with a yellow-brown Paisley shawl and a coarse serge dress,
+the other young and fair, with large grey eyes, and a face which was
+freckled like a plover's egg. Her neat white blouse with its trim black
+belt, and plain, close-cut skirt, gave her an air of refinement which
+was wanting in her companion, but there was sufficient resemblance
+between them to show that they were mother and daughter. The one was
+gnarled and hardened and wrinkled by rough country work, the other fresh
+and pliant from the benign influence of the Board School; but their
+step, their slope of the shoulders, and the movement of their hips as
+they walked, all marked them as of one blood.
+
+"Mother, I can see father in the five-acre field," cried the younger,
+pointing down in the direction of the farm.
+
+The older woman screwed up her eyes, and shaded them with her hand.
+
+"Who's that with him?" she asked.
+
+"There's Bill."
+
+"Oh, he's nobody. He's a-talkin' to some one."
+
+"I don't know, mother. It's some one in a straw hat. Adam Wilson of the
+Quarry wears a straw hat."
+
+"Aye, of course, it's Adam sure enough. Well, I'm glad we're back home
+time enough to see him. He'd have been disappointed if he had come over
+and you'd been away. Drat this dust! It makes one not fit to be seen."
+
+The same idea seemed to have occurred to her daughter, for she had taken
+out her handkerchief, and was flicking her sleeves and the front of her
+dress.
+
+"That's right, Dolly. There's some on your flounces. But, Lor' bless
+you, Dolly, it don't matter to him. It's not your dress he looks at, but
+your face. Now I shouldn't be very surprised if he hadn't come over to
+ask you from father."
+
+"I think he'd best begin by asking me from myself," remarked the girl.
+
+"Ah, but you'll have him, Dolly, when he does."
+
+"I'm not so sure of that, mother." The older woman threw up her hands.
+"There! I don't know what the gals are coming to. I don't indeed. It's
+the Board Schools as does it. When I was a gal, if a decent young man
+came a-courtin', we gave him a 'Yes' or a 'No.' We didn't keep him
+hanging on like a half-clipped sheep. Now, here are you with two of them
+at your beck, and you can't give an answer to either of them."
+
+"Why, mother, that's it," cried the daughter, with something between
+a laugh and a sob. "May be if they came one at a time I'd know what to
+say."
+
+"What have you agin Adam Wilson?"
+
+"Nothing. But I have nothing against Elias Mason."
+
+"Nor I, either. But I know which is the most proper-looking young man."
+
+"Looks isn't everything, mother. You should hear Elias Mason talk. You
+should hear him repeat poetry."
+
+"Well, then, have Elias."
+
+"Ah, but I haven't the heart to turn against Adam."
+
+"There, now! I never saw such a gal. You're like a calf betwixt two
+hayricks; you have a nibble at the one and a nibble at the other.
+There's not one in a hundred as lucky as you. Here's Adam with three
+pound ten a week, foreman already at the Chalk Works, and likely enough
+to be manager if he's spared. And there's Elias, head telegraph clerk at
+the Post Office, and earning good money too. You can't keep 'em both on.
+You've got to take one or t'other, and it's my belief you'll get neither
+if you don't stop this shilly-shally."
+
+"I don't care. I don't want them. What do they want to come bothering
+for?"
+
+"It's human natur', gal. They must do it. If they didn't, you'd be the
+first to cry out maybe. It's in the Scriptures. 'Man is born for woman,
+as the sparks fly upwards.'" She looked up out of the corner of her eyes
+as if not very sure of her quotation. "Why, here be that dratted Bill.
+The good book says as we are all made of clay, but Bill does show it
+more than any lad I ever saw."
+
+They had turned from the road into a narrow, deeply rutted lane, which
+led towards the farm. A youth was running towards them, loose-jointed
+and long-limbed, with a boyish, lumbering haste, clumping fearlessly
+with his great yellow clogs through pool and mire. He wore brown
+corduroys, a dingy shirt, and a red handkerchief tied loosely round his
+neck. A tattered old straw hat was tilted back upon his shock of coarse,
+matted, brown hair. His sleeves were turned up to the elbows, and his
+arms and face were both tanned and roughened until his skin looked like
+the bark of some young sapling. As he looked up at the sound of the
+steps, his face with its blue eyes, brown skin, and first slight down
+of a tawny moustache, was not an uncomely one, were it not marred by the
+heavy, stolid, somewhat sulky expression of the country yokel.
+
+"Please, mum," said he, touching the brim of his wreck of a hat,
+"measter seed ye coming. He sent to say as 'ow 'e were in the five-acre
+lot."
+
+"Run back, Bill, and say that we are coming," answered the farmer's
+wife, and the awkward figure sped away upon its return journey.
+
+"I say, mother, what is Bill's other name?" asked the girl, with languid
+curiosity.
+
+"He's not got one."
+
+"No name?"
+
+"No, Dolly, he's a found child, and never had no father or mother that
+ever was heard of. We had him from the work'us when he was seven, to
+chop mangel wurzel, and here he's been ever since, nigh twelve year. He
+was Bill there, and he's Bill here."
+
+"What fun! Fancy having only one name. I wonder what they'll call his
+wife?"
+
+"I don't know. Time to talk of that when he can keep one. But now, Dolly
+dear, here's your father and Adam Wilson comin' across the field. I want
+to see you settled, Dolly. He's a steady young man. He's blue ribbon,
+and has money in the Post Office."
+
+"I wish I knew which liked me best," said her daughter glancing from
+under her hat-brim at the approaching figures. "That's the one I should
+like. But it's all right, mother, and I know how to find out, so don't
+you fret yourself any more."
+
+The suitor was a well-grown young fellow in a grey suit, with a straw
+hat jauntily ribboned in red and black. He was smoking, but as he
+approached he thrust his pipe into his breast-pocket, and came forward
+with one hand outstretched, and the other gripping nervously at his
+watch-chain.
+
+"Your servant, Mrs. Foster. And how are you, Miss Dolly? Another
+fortnight of this and you will be starting on your harvest, I suppose."
+
+"It's bad to say beforehand what you will do in this country," said
+Farmer Foster, with an apprehensive glance round the heavens.
+
+"It's all God's doing," remarked his wife piously.
+
+"And He does the best for us, of course. Yet He does seem these last
+seasons to have kind of lost His grip over the weather. Well, maybe
+it will be made up to us this year. And what did you do at Horndean,
+mother?"
+
+The old couple walked in front, and the other dropped behind, the young
+man lingering, and taking short steps to increase the distance.
+
+"I say, Dolly," he murmured at last, flushing slightly as he glanced at
+her, "I've been speaking to your father about--you know what."
+
+But Dolly didn't know what. She hadn't the slightest idea of what.
+She turned her pretty little freckled face up to him and was full of
+curiosity upon the point.
+
+Adam Wilson's face flushed to a deeper red. "You know very well," said
+he, impatiently, "I spoke to him about marriage."
+
+"Oh, then it's him you want."
+
+"There, that's the way you always go on. It's easy to make fun, but I
+tell you that I am in earnest, Dolly. Your father says that he would
+have no objection to me in the family. You know that I love you true."
+
+"How do I know that then?"
+
+"I tell you so. What more can I do?"
+
+"Did you ever do anything to prove it?"
+
+"Set me something and see if I don't do it."
+
+"Then you haven't done anything yet?"
+
+"I don't know. I've done what I could."
+
+"How about this?" She pulled a little crumpled sprig of dog-rose, such
+as grows wild in the wayside hedges, out of her bosom. "Do you know
+anything of that?"
+
+He smiled, and was about to answer, when his brows suddenly contracted,
+his mouth set, and his eyes flashed angrily as they focussed some
+distant object. Following his gaze, she saw a slim, dark figure, some
+three fields off, walking swiftly in their direction. "It's my friend,
+Mr. Elias Mason," said she.
+
+"Your friend!" He had lost his diffidence in his anger. "I know all
+about that. What does he want here every second evening?"
+
+"Perhaps he wonders what you want."
+
+"Does he? I wish he'd come and ask me. I'd let him see what I wanted.
+Quick too."
+
+"He can see it now. He has taken off his hat to me," Dolly said,
+laughing.
+
+Her laughter was the finishing touch. He had meant to be impressive,
+and it seemed that he had only been ridiculous. He swung round upon his
+heel.
+
+"Very well, Miss Foster," said he, in a choking voice, "that's all
+right. We know where we are now. I didn't come here to be made a fool
+of, so good day to you." He plucked at his hat, and walked furiously off
+in the direction from which they had come. She looked after him, half
+frightened, in the hope of seeing some sign that he had relented, but he
+strode onwards with a rigid neck, and vanished at a turn of the lane.
+
+When she turned again her other visitor was close upon her--a thin,
+wiry, sharp-featured man with a sallow face, and a quick, nervous
+manner.
+
+"Good evening, Miss Foster. I thought that I would walk over as the
+weather was so beautiful, but I did not expect to have the good fortune
+to meet you in the fields."
+
+"I am sure that father will be very glad to see you, Mr. Mason. You must
+come in and have a glass of milk."
+
+"No, thank you, Miss Foster, I should very much prefer to stay out here
+with you. But I am afraid that I have interrupted you in a chat. Was not
+that Mr. Adam Wilson who left you this moment?" His manner was subdued,
+but his questioning eyes and compressed lips told of a deeper and more
+furious jealousy than that of his rival.
+
+"Yes. It was Mr. Adam Wilson." There was something about Mason, a
+certain concentration of manner, which made it impossible for the girl
+to treat him lightly as she had done the other.
+
+"I have noticed him here several times lately."
+
+"Yes. He is head foreman, you know, at the big quarry."
+
+"Oh, indeed. He is fond of your society, Miss Foster. I can't blame him
+for that, can I, since I am equally so myself. But I should like to come
+to some understanding with you. You cannot have misunderstood what my
+feelings are to you? I am in a position to offer you a comfortable home.
+Will you be my wife, Miss Foster?"
+
+Dolly would have liked to make some jesting reply, but it was hard to be
+funny with those two eager, fiery eyes fixed so intently upon her own.
+She began to walk slowly towards the house, while he paced along beside
+her, still waiting for his answer.
+
+"You must give me a little time, Mr. Mason," she said at last. "'Marry
+in haste,' they say, 'and repent at leisure.'"
+
+"But you shall never have cause to repent."
+
+"I don't know. One hears such things."
+
+"You shall be the happiest woman in England."
+
+"That sounds very nice. You are a poet, Mr. Mason, are you not?"
+
+"I am a lover of poetry."
+
+"And poets are fond of flowers?"
+
+"I am very fond of flowers."
+
+"Then perhaps you know something of these?" She took out the humble
+little sprig, and held it out to him with an arch questioning glance. He
+took it and pressed it to his lips.
+
+"I know that it has been near you, where I should wish to be," said he.
+
+"Good evening, Mr. Mason!" It was Mrs. Foster who had come out to meet
+them. "Where's Mr.----? Oh--ah! Yes, of course. The teapot's on the
+table, and you'd best come in afore it's over-drawn."
+
+When Elias Mason left the farmhouse that evening, he drew Dolly aside at
+the door.
+
+"I won't be able to come before Saturday," said he.
+
+"We shall be glad to see you, Mr. Mason."
+
+"I shall want my answer then."
+
+"Oh, I cannot give any promise, you know."
+
+"But I shall live in hope."
+
+"Well, no one can prevent you from doing that." As she came to realize
+her power over him she had lost something of her fear, and could answer
+him now nearly as freely as if he were simple Adam Wilson.
+
+She stood at the door, leaning against the wooden porch, with the long
+trailers of the honeysuckle framing her tall, slight figure. The great
+red sun was low in the west, its upper rim peeping over the low hills,
+shooting long, dark shadows from the beech-tree in the field, from the
+little group of tawny cows, and from the man who walked away from her.
+She smiled to see how immense the legs were, and how tiny the body in
+the great flat giant which kept pace beside him. In front of her in
+the little garden the bees droned, a belated butterfly or an early
+moth fluttered slowly over the flower-beds, a thousand little creatures
+buzzed and hummed, all busy working out their tiny destinies, as she,
+too, was working out hers, and each doubtless looking upon their own
+as the central point of the universe. A few months for the gnat, a few
+years for the girl, but each was happy now in the heavy summer air. A
+beetle scuttled out upon the gravel path and bored onwards, its six legs
+all working hard, butting up against stones, upsetting itself on ridges,
+but still gathering itself up and rushing onwards to some all-important
+appointment somewhere in the grass plot. A bat fluttered up from behind
+the beech-tree. A breath of night air sighed softly over the hillside
+with a little tinge of the chill sea spray in its coolness. Dolly Foster
+shivered, and had turned to go in when her mother came out from the
+passage.
+
+"Whatever is that Bill doing there?" she cried.
+
+Dolly looked, and saw for the first time that the nameless farm-labourer
+was crouching under the beech, his browns and yellows blending with the
+bark behind him.
+
+"You go out o' that, Bill!" screamed the farmer's wife.
+
+"What be I to do?" he asked humbly, slouching forward.
+
+"Go, cut chaff in the barn." He nodded and strolled away, a comical
+figure in his mud-crusted boots, his strap-tied corduroys and his
+almond-coloured skin.
+
+"Well, then, you've taken Elias," said the mother, passing her hand
+round her daughter's waist. "I seed him a-kissing your flower. Well, I'm
+sorry for Adam, for he is a well-grown young man, a proper young man,
+blue ribbon, with money in the Post Office. Still some one must suffer,
+else how could we be purified. If the milk's left alone it won't ever
+turn into butter. It wants troubling and stirring and churning. That's
+what we want, too, before we can turn angels. It's just the same as
+butter."
+
+Dolly laughed. "I have not taken Elias yet," said she.
+
+"No? What about Adam then?"
+
+"Nor him either."
+
+"Oh, Dolly girl, can you not take advice from them that is older. I tell
+you again that you'll lose them both."
+
+"No, no, mother. Don't you fret yourself. It's all right. But you can
+see how hard it is. I like Elias, for he can speak so well, and is so
+sure and masterful. And I like Adam because--well, because I know very
+well that Adam loves me."
+
+"Well, bless my heart, you can't marry them both. You'd like all the
+pears in the basket."
+
+"No, mother, but I know how to choose. You see this bit of a flower,
+dear."
+
+"It's a common dog-rose."
+
+"Well, where d'you think I found it?"
+
+"In the hedge likely."
+
+"No, but on my window-ledge."
+
+"Oh, but when?"
+
+"This morning. It was six when I got up, and there it lay fresh and
+sweet, and new-plucked. 'Twas the same yesterday and the day before.
+Every morning there it lies. It's a common flower, as you say, mother,
+but it is not so common to find a man who'll break short his sleep day
+after day just to show a girl that the thought of her is in his heart."
+
+"And which was it?"
+
+"Ah, if I knew! I think it's Elias. He's a poet, you know, and poets do
+nice things like that."
+
+"And how will you be sure?"
+
+"I'll know before morning. He will come again, whichever it is. And
+whichever it is he's the man for me. Did father ever do that for you
+before you married?"
+
+"I can't say he did, dear. But father was always a powerful heavy
+sleeper."
+
+"Well then, mother, you needn't fret any more about me, for as sure as I
+stand here, I'll tell you to-morrow which of them it is to be."
+
+That evening the farmer's daughter set herself to clearing off all those
+odd jobs which accumulate in a large household. She polished the dark,
+old-fashioned furniture in the sitting-room. She cleared out the cellar,
+re-arranged the bins, counted up the cider, made a great cauldron full
+of raspberry jam, potted, papered, and labelled it. Long after the whole
+household was in bed she pushed on with her self-imposed tasks until the
+night was far gone and she very spent and weary. Then she stirred up the
+smouldering kitchen fire and made herself a cup of tea, and, carrying
+it up to her own room, she sat sipping it and glancing over an old bound
+volume of the _Leisure Hour_. Her seat was behind the little dimity
+window curtains, whence she could see without being seen.
+
+The morning had broken, and a brisk wind had sprung up with the dawn.
+The sky was of the lightest, palest blue, with a scud of flying
+white clouds shredded out over the face of it, dividing, coalescing,
+overtaking one another, but sweeping ever from the pink of the east to
+the still shadowy west. The high, eager voice of the wind whistled and
+sang outside, rising from moan to shriek, and then sinking again to a
+dull mutter and grumble. Dolly rose to wrap her shawl around her, and as
+she sat down again in an instant her doubts were resolved, and she had
+seen that for which she had waited.
+
+Her window faced the inner yard, and was some eight feet from the
+ground. A man standing beneath it could not be seen from above. But she
+saw enough to tell her all that she wished to know. Silently, suddenly,
+a hand had appeared from below, had laid a sprig of flower upon her
+ledge, and had disappeared. It did not take two seconds; she saw no
+face, she heard no sound, but she had seen the hand and she wanted
+nothing more. With a smile she threw herself upon the bed, drew a rug
+over her, and dropped into a heavy slumber.
+
+She was awakened by her mother plucking at her shoulder.
+
+"It's breakfast time, Dolly, but I thought you would be weary, so I
+brought you lip some bread and coffee. Sit up, like a dearie, and take
+it."
+
+"All right, mother. Thank you. I'm all dressed, so I'll be ready to come
+down soon."
+
+"Bless the gal, she's never had her things off! And, dearie me, here's
+the flower outside the window, sure enough! Well, and did you see who
+put it there?"
+
+"Yes, I did."
+
+"Who was it then?"
+
+"It was Adam."
+
+"Was it now? Well, I shouldn't have thought that he had it in him. Then
+Adam it's to be. Well, he's steady, and that's better than being clever,
+yea, seven-and-seventy fold. Did he come across the yard?"
+
+"No, along by the wall."
+
+"How did you see him then?"
+
+"I didn't see him."
+
+"Then how can you tell?"
+
+"I saw his hand."
+
+"But d'you tell me you know Adam's hand?"
+
+"It would be a blind man that couldn't tell it from Elias' hand. Why,
+the one is as brown as that coffee, and the other as white as the cup,
+with great blue veins all over it."
+
+"Well, now I shouldn't have thought of it, but so it is. Well, it'll be
+a busy day, Dolly. Just hark to the wind!"
+
+It had, indeed, increased during the few hours since dawn to a very
+violent tempest. The panes of the window rattled and shook. Glancing
+out, Dolly saw cabbage leaves and straw whirling up past the casement.
+
+"The great hayrick is giving. They're all out trying to prop it up. My,
+but it do blow!"
+
+It did indeed! When Dolly came downstairs it was all that she could do
+to push her way through the porch. All along the horizon the sky was
+brassy-yellow, but above the wind screamed and stormed, and the torn,
+hurrying clouds were now huddled together, and now frayed off into
+countless tattered streamers. In the field near the house her father
+and three or four labourers were working with poles and ropes, hatless,
+their hair and beards flying, staving up a great bulging hayrick. Dolly
+watched them for a moment, and then, stooping her head and rounding her
+shoulders, with one hand up to her little black straw hat, she staggered
+off across the fields.
+
+Adam Wilson was at work always on a particular part of the hillside, and
+hither it was that she bent her steps. He saw the trim, dapper figure,
+with its flying skirts and hat-ribbons, and he came forward to meet her
+with a great white crowbar in his hand. He walked slowly, however, and
+his eyes were downcast, with the air of a man who still treasures a
+grievance.
+
+"Good mornin', Miss Foster."
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Wilson. Oh, if you are going to be cross with me, I'd
+best go home again."
+
+"I'm not cross, Miss Foster. I take it very kindly that you should come
+out this way on such a day."
+
+"I wanted to say to you--I wanted to say that I was sorry if I made you
+angry yesterday. I didn't mean to make fun. I didn't, indeed. It is only
+my way of talking. It was so good of you, so noble of you, to let it
+make no difference."
+
+"None at all, Dolly." He was quite radiant again. "If I didn't love you
+so, I wouldn't mind what that other chap said or did. And if I could
+only think that you cared more for me than for him--"
+
+"I do, Adam."
+
+"God bless you for saying so! You've lightened my heart, Dolly. I have
+to go to Portsmouth for the firm today. To-morrow night I'll come and
+see you."
+
+"Very well, Adam, I--Oh, my God, what's that!"
+
+A rending breaking noise in the distance, a dull rumble, and a burst of
+shouts and cries.
+
+"The rick's down! There's been an accident!" They both started running
+down the hill.
+
+"Father!" panted the girl, "father!"
+
+"He's all right!" shouted her companion, "I can see him. But there's
+some one down. They're lifting him now. And here's one running like mad
+for the doctor."
+
+A farm-labourer came rushing wildly up the lane. "Don't you go, Missey,"
+he cried. "A man's hurt."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"It's Bill. The rick came down and the ridge-pole caught him across the
+back. He's dead, I think. Leastwise, there's not much life in him. I'm
+off for Doctor Strong!" He bent his shoulder to the wind, and lumbered
+off down the road.
+
+"Poor Bill! Thank God it wasn't father!" They were at the edge of
+the field now in which the accident had taken place. The rick lay, a
+shapeless mound upon the earth, with a long thick pole protruding from
+it, which had formerly supported the tarpaulin drawn across it in case
+of rain. Four men were walking slowly away, one shoulder humped, one
+hanging, and betwixt them they bore a formless clay-coloured bundle.
+He might have been a clod of the earth that he tilled, so passive, so
+silent, still brown, for death itself could not have taken the burn from
+his skin, but with patient, bovine eyes looking out heavily from under
+half-closed lids. He breathed jerkily, but he neither cried out nor
+groaned. There was something almost brutal and inhuman in his absolute
+stolidity. He asked no sympathy, for his life had been without it. It
+was a broken tool rather than an injured man.
+
+"Can I do anything, father?"
+
+"No, lass, no. This is no place for you. I've sent for the doctor. He'll
+be here soon."
+
+"But where are they taking him?"
+
+"To the loft where he sleeps."
+
+"I'm sure he's welcome to my room, father."
+
+"No, no, lass. Better leave it alone."
+
+But the little group were passing as they spoke, and the injured lad had
+heard the girl's words.
+
+"Thank ye kindly, Missey," he murmured, with a little flicker of life,
+and then sank back again into his stolidity and his silence.
+
+Well, a farm hand is a useful thing, but what is a man to do with one
+who has an injured spine and half his ribs smashed. Farmer Foster shook
+his head and scratched his chin as he listened to the doctor's report.
+
+"He can't get better?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then we had better move him."
+
+"Where to?"
+
+"To the work'us hospital. He came from there just this time eleven
+years. It'll be like going home to him."
+
+"I fear that he is going home," said the doctor gravely. "But it's out
+of the question to move him now. He must lie where he is for better or
+for worse."
+
+And it certainly looked for worse rather than for better. In a little
+loft above the stable he was stretched upon a tiny blue pallet which
+lay upon the planks. Above were the gaunt rafters, hung with saddles,
+harness, old scythe blades--the hundred things which droop, like bats,
+from inside such buildings. Beneath them upon two pegs hung his own
+pitiable wardrobe, the blue shirt and the grey, the stained trousers,
+and the muddy coat. A gaunt chaff-cutting machine stood at his head, and
+a great bin of the chaff behind it. He lay very quiet, still dumb, still
+uncomplaining, his eyes fixed upon the small square window looking out
+at the drifting sky, and at this strange world which God has made so
+queerly--so very queerly.
+
+An old woman, the wife of a labourer, had been set to nurse him, for the
+doctor had said that he was not to be left. She moved about the room,
+arranging and ordering, grumbling to herself from time to time at this
+lonely task which had been assigned to her. There were some flowers in
+broken jars upon a cross-beam, and these, with a touch of tenderness,
+she carried over and arranged upon a deal packing-case beside the
+patient's head. He lay motionless, and as he breathed there came a
+gritty rubbing sound from somewhere in his side, but he followed his
+companion about with his eyes and even smiled once as she grouped the
+flowers round him.
+
+He smiled again when he heard that Mrs. Foster and her daughter had been
+to ask after him that evening. They had been down to the Post Office
+together, where Dolly had sent off a letter which she had very carefully
+drawn up, addressed to Elias Mason, Esq., and explaining to that
+gentleman that she had formed her plans for life, and that he need spare
+himself the pain of coming for his answer on the Saturday. As they came
+back they stopped in the stable and inquired through the loft door as
+to the sufferer. From where they stood they could hear that horrible
+grating sound in his breathing. Dolly hurried away with her face quite
+pale under her freckles. She was too young to face the horrid details of
+suffering, and yet she was a year older than this poor waif, who lay in
+silence, facing death itself.
+
+All night he lay very quiet--so quiet that were it not for that one
+sinister sound his nurse might have doubted whether life was still in
+him. She had watched him and tended him as well as she might, but she
+was herself feeble and old, and just as the morning light began to steal
+palely through the small loft window, she sank back in her chair in a
+dreamless sleep. Two hours passed, and the first voices of the men as
+they gathered for their work aroused her. She sprang to her feet.
+Great heaven! the pallet was empty. She rushed down into the stables,
+distracted, wringing her hands. There was no sign of him. But the stable
+door was open. He must have walked-but how could he walk?--he must have
+crawled--have writhed that way. Out she rushed, and as they heard her
+tale, the newly risen labourers ran with her, until the farmer with his
+wife and daughter were called from their breakfast by the bustle, and
+joined also in this strange chase. A whoop, a cry, and they were drawn
+round to the corner of the yard on which Miss Dolly's window opened.
+There he lay within a few yards of the window, his face upon the stones,
+his feet thrusting out from his tattered night-gown, and his track
+marked by the blood from his wounded knees. One hand was thrown out
+before him, and in it he held a little sprig of the pink dog-rose.
+
+They carried him back, cold and stiff, to the pallet in the loft, and
+the old nurse drew the sheet over him and left him, for there was no
+need to watch him now. The girl had gone to her room, and her mother
+followed her thither, all unnerved by this glimpse of death.
+
+"And to think," said she, "that it was only _him_, after all."
+
+But Dolly sat at the side of her bed, and sobbed bitterly in her apron.
+
+
+
+
+"DE PROFUNDIS"
+
+
+So long as the oceans are the ligaments which bind together the great
+broad-cast British Empire, so long will there be a dash of romance in
+our minds. For the soul is swayed by the waters, as the waters are by
+the moon, and when the great highways of an empire are along such roads
+as these, so full of strange sights and sounds, with danger ever running
+like a hedge on either side of the course, it is a dull mind indeed
+which does not bear away with it some trace of such a passage. And
+now, Britain lies far beyond herself, for the three-mile limit of every
+seaboard is her frontier, which has been won by hammer and loom and pick
+rather than by arts of war. For it is written in history that neither
+king nor army can bar the path to the man who having twopence in his
+strong box, and knowing well where he can turn it to threepence, sets
+his mind to that one end. And as the frontier has broadened, the mind of
+Britain has broadened too, spreading out until all men can see that the
+ways of the island are continental, even as those of the Continent are
+insular.
+
+But for this a price must be paid, and the price is a grievous one. As
+the beast of old must have one young human life as a tribute every year,
+so to our Empire we throw from day to day the pick and flower of our
+youth. The engine is world-wide and strong, but the only fuel that will
+drive it is the lives of British men. Thus it is that in the grey old
+cathedrals, as we look round upon the brasses on the walls, we see
+strange names, such names as they who reared those walls had never
+heard, for it is in Peshawar, and Umballah, and Korti and Fort Pearson
+that the youngsters die, leaving only a precedent and a brass behind
+them. But if every man had his obelisk, even where he lay, then no
+frontier line need be drawn, for a cordon of British graves would ever
+show how high the Anglo-Celtic tide had lapped.
+
+This, then, as well as the waters which join us to the world, has done
+something to tinge us with romance. For when so many have their loved
+ones over the seas, walking amid hillmen's bullets, or swamp malaria,
+where death is sudden and distance great, then mind communes with mind,
+and strange stories arise of dream, presentiment or vision, where the
+mother sees her dying son, and is past the first bitterness of her grief
+ere the message comes which should have broken the news. The learned
+have of late looked into the matter and have even labelled it with a
+name; but what can we know more of it save that a poor stricken
+soul, when hard-pressed and driven, can shoot across the earth some
+ten-thousand-mile-distant picture of its trouble to the mind which is
+most akin to it. Far be it from me to say that there lies no such power
+within us, for of all things which the brain will grasp the last will
+be itself; but yet it is well to be very cautious over such matters, for
+once at least I have known that which was within the laws of nature seem
+to be far upon the further side of them.
+
+John Vansittart was the younger partner of the firm of Hudson and
+Vansittart, coffee exporters of the Island of Ceylon, three-quarters
+Dutchman by descent, but wholly English in his sympathies. For years I
+had been his agent in London, and when in '72 he came over to England
+for a three months' holiday, he turned to me for the introductions which
+would enable him to see something of town and country life. Armed with
+seven letters he left my offices, and for many weeks scrappy notes from
+different parts of the country let me know that he had found favour
+in the eyes of my friends. Then came word of his engagement to Emily
+Lawson, of a cadet branch of the Hereford Lawsons, and at the very tail
+of the first flying rumour the news of his absolute marriage, for the
+wooing of a wanderer must be short, and the days were already crowding
+on towards the date when he must be upon his homeward journey. They
+were to return together to Colombo in one of the firm's own thousand-ton
+barque-rigged sailing ships, and this was to be their princely
+honeymoon, at once a necessity and a delight.
+
+Those were the royal days of coffee-planting in Ceylon, before a single
+season and a rotten fungus drove a whole community through years of
+despair to one of the greatest commercial victories which pluck and
+ingenuity ever won. Not often is it that men have the heart when their
+one great industry is withered to rear up in a few years another as rich
+to take its place, and the tea-fields of Ceylon are as true a monument
+to courage as is the lion at Waterloo. But in '72 there was no cloud
+yet above the skyline, and the hopes of the planters were as high and
+as bright as the hillsides on which they reared their crops. Vansittart
+came down to London with his young and beautiful wife. I was introduced,
+dined with them, and it was finally arranged that I, since business
+called me also to Ceylon, should be a fellow-passenger with them on the
+_Eastern Star_, which was timed to sail on the following Monday.
+
+It was on the Sunday evening that I saw him again. He was shown up
+into my rooms about nine o'clock at night, with the air of a man who is
+bothered and out of sorts. His hand, as I shook it, was hot and dry.
+
+"I wish, Atkinson," said he, "that you could give me a little lime juice
+and water. I have a beastly thirst upon me, and the more I take the more
+I seem to want."
+
+I rang and ordered a carafe and glasses. "You are flushed," said I. "You
+don't look the thing."
+
+"No, I'm clean off colour. Got a touch of rheumatism in my back, and
+don't seem to taste my food. It is this vile London that is choking me.
+I'm not used to breathing air which has been used up by four million
+lungs all sucking away on every side of you." He flapped his crooked
+hands before his face, like a man who really struggles for his breath.
+
+"A touch of the sea will soon set you right."
+
+"Yes, I'm of one mind with you there. That's the thing for me. I want
+no other doctor. If I don't get to sea to-morrow I'll have an illness.
+There are no two ways about it." He drank off a tumbler of lime juice,
+and clapped his two hands with his knuckles doubled up into the small of
+his back.
+
+"That seems to ease me," said he, looking at me with a filmy eye. "Now I
+want your help, Atkinson, for I am rather awkwardly placed."
+
+"As how?"
+
+"This way. My wife's mother got ill and wired for her. I couldn't
+go--you know best yourself how tied I have been--so she had to go alone.
+Now I've had another wire to say that she can't come to-morrow, but that
+she will pick up the ship at Falmouth on Wednesday. We put in there,
+you know, and in, though I count it hard, Atkinson, that a man should
+be asked to believe in a mystery, and cursed if he can't do it. Cursed,
+mind you, no less." He leaned forward and began to draw a catchy breath
+like a man who is poised on the very edge of a sob.
+
+Then first it came to my mind that I had heard much of the hard-drinking
+life of the island, and that from brandy came those wild words and
+fevered hands. The flushed cheek and the glazing eye were those of one
+whose drink is strong upon him. Sad it was to see so noble a young man
+in the grip of that most bestial of all the devils.
+
+"You should lie down," I said, with some severity.
+
+He screwed up his eyes like a man who is striving to wake himself, and
+looked up with an air of surprise.
+
+"So I shall presently," said he, quite rationally. "I felt quite swimmy
+just now, but I am my own man again now. Let me see, what was I talking
+about? Oh ah, of course, about the wife. She joins the ship at Falmouth.
+Now I want to go round by water. I believe my health depends upon it.
+I just want a little clean first-lung air to set me on my feet again. I
+ask you, like a good fellow, to go to Falmouth by rail, so that in case
+we should be late you may be there to look after the wife. Put up at
+the Royal Hotel, and I will wire her that you are there. Her sister will
+bring her down, so that it will be all plain sailing."
+
+"I'll do it with pleasure," said I. "In fact, I would rather go by
+rail, for we shall have enough and to spare of the sea before we reach
+Colombo. I believe too that you badly need a change. Now, I should go
+and turn in, if I were you."
+
+"Yes, I will. I sleep aboard tonight. You know," he continued, as the
+film settled down again over his eyes, "I've not slept well the last
+few nights. I've been troubled with theolololog--that is to say,
+theolological--hang it," with a desperate effort, "with the doubts of
+theolologicians. Wondering why the Almighty made us, you know, and why
+He made our heads swimmy, and fixed little pains into the small of our
+backs. Maybe I'll do better tonight." He rose and steadied himself with
+an effort against the corner of the chair back.
+
+"Look here, Vansittart," said I, gravely, stepping up to him, and laying
+my hand upon his sleeve, "I can give you a shakedown here. You are
+not fit to go out. You are all over the place. You've been mixing your
+drinks."
+
+"Drinks!" He stared at me stupidly.
+
+"You used to carry your liquor better than this."
+
+"I give you my word, Atkinson, that I have not had a drain for two days.
+It's not drink. I don't know what it is. I suppose you think this is
+drink." He took up my hand in his burning grasp, and passed it over his
+own forehead.
+
+"Great Lord!" said I.
+
+His skin felt like a thin sheet of velvet beneath which lies a
+close-packed layer of small shot. It was smooth to the touch at any one
+place, but to a finger passed along it, rough as a nutmeg grater.
+
+"It's all right," said he, smiling at my startled face. "I've had the
+prickly heat nearly as bad."
+
+"But this is never prickly heat."
+
+"No, it's London. It's breathing bad air. But tomorrow it'll be all
+right. There's a surgeon aboard, so I shall be in safe hands. I must be
+off now."
+
+"Not you," said I, pushing him back into a chair. "This is past a joke.
+You don't move from here until a doctor sees you. Just stay where you
+are."
+
+I caught up my hat, and rushing round to the house of a neighbouring
+physician, I brought him back with me. The room was empty and Vansittart
+gone. I rang the bell. The servant said that the gentleman had ordered a
+cab the instant that I had left, and had gone off in it. He had told the
+cabman to drive to the docks.
+
+"Did the gentleman seem ill?" I asked.
+
+"Ill!" The man smiled. "No, sir, he was singin' his 'ardest all the
+time."
+
+The information was not as reassuring as my servant seemed to think, but
+I reflected that he was going straight back to the _Eastern Star_, and
+that there was a doctor aboard of her, so that there was nothing which I
+could do in the matter. None the less, when I thought of his thirst, his
+burning hands, his heavy eye, his tripping speech, and lastly, of that
+leprous forehead, I carried with me to bed an unpleasant memory of my
+visitor and his visit.
+
+At eleven o'clock next day I was at the docks, but the _Eastern Star_
+had already moved down the river, and was nearly at Gravesend. To
+Gravesend I went by train, but only to see her topmasts far off, with
+a plume of smoke from a tug in front of her. I would hear no more of my
+friend until I rejoined him at Falmouth. When I got back to my offices,
+a telegram was awaiting me from Mrs. Vansittart, asking me to meet her;
+and next evening found us both at the Royal Hotel, Falmouth, where we
+were to wait for the _Eastern Star_. Ten days passed, and there came no
+news of her.
+
+They were ten days which I am not likely to forget. On the very day that
+the _Eastern Star_ had cleared from the Thames, a furious easterly gale
+had sprung up, and blew on from day to day for the greater part of a
+week without the sign of a lull. Such a screaming, raving, long-drawn
+storm has never been known on the southern coast. From our hotel
+windows the sea view was all banked in haze, with a little rain-swept
+half-circle under our very eyes, churned and lashed into one tossing
+stretch of foam. So heavy was the wind upon the waves that little sea
+could rise, for the crest of each billow was torn shrieking from it, and
+lashed broadcast over the bay. Clouds, wind, sea, all were rushing to
+the west, and there, looking down at this mad jumble of elements, I
+waited on day after day, my sole companion a white, silent woman, with
+terror in her eyes, her forehead pressed ever against the window, her
+gaze from early morning to the fall of night fixed upon that wall
+of grey haze through which the loom of a vessel might come. She said
+nothing, but that face of hers was one long wail of fear.
+
+On the fifth day I took counsel with an old seaman. I should have
+preferred to have done so alone, but she saw me speak with him, and was
+at our side in an instant, with parted lips and a prayer in her eyes.
+
+"Seven days out from London," said he, "and five in the gale. Well, the
+Channel's swept clear by this wind. There's three things for it. She may
+have popped into port on the French side. That's like enough."
+
+"No, no; he knew we were here. He would have telegraphed."
+
+"Ah, yes, so he would. Well, then, he might have run for it, and if he
+did that he won't be very far from Madeira by now. That'll be it, marm,
+you may depend."
+
+"Or else? You said there was a third chance."
+
+"Did I, marm? No, only two, I think. I don't think I said anything of a
+third. Your ship's out there, depend upon it, away out in the Atlantic,
+and you'll hear of it time enough, for the weather is breaking. Now
+don't you fret, marm, and wait quiet, and you'll find a real blue
+Cornish sky tomorrow."
+
+The old seaman was right in his surmise, for the next day broke calm
+and bright, with only a low dwindling cloud in the west to mark the last
+trailing wreaths of the storm-wrack. But still there came no word from
+the sea, and no sign of the ship. Three more weary days had passed, the
+weariest that I have ever spent, when there came a seafaring man to the
+hotel with a letter. I gave a shout of joy. It was from the captain of
+the _Eastern Star_. As I read the first lines of it I whisked my hand
+over it, but she laid her own upon it and drew it away. "I have seen
+it," said she, in a cold, quiet voice. "I may as well see the rest,
+too."
+
+
+"DEAR SIR," said the letter,
+
+"Mr. Vansittart is down with the small-pox, and we are blown so far
+on our course that we don't know what to do, he being off his head and
+unfit to tell us. By dead reckoning we are but three hundred miles from
+Funchal, so I take it that it is best that we should push on there,
+get Mr. V. into hospital, and wait in the Bay until you come. There's
+a sailing-ship due from Falmouth to Funchal in a few days' time, as I
+understand. This goes by the brig _Marian_ of Falmouth, and five pounds
+is due to the master, Yours respectfully,
+
+"JNO. HINES."
+
+
+She was a wonderful woman that, only a chit of a girl fresh from school,
+but as quiet and strong as a man. She said nothing--only pressed her
+lips together tight, and put on her bonnet.
+
+"You are going out?" I asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Can I be of use?"
+
+"No; I am going to the doctor's."
+
+"To the doctor's?"
+
+"Yes. To learn how to nurse a small-pox case."
+
+She was busy at that all the evening, and next morning we were off with
+a fine ten-knot breeze in the barque _Rose of Sharon_ for Madeira. For
+five days we made good time, and were no great way from the island; but
+on the sixth there fell a calm, and we lay without motion on a sea of
+oil, heaving slowly, but making not a foot of way.
+
+At ten o'clock that night Emily Vansittart and I stood leaning on the
+starboard railing of the poop, with a full moon shining at our backs,
+and casting a black shadow of the barque, and of our own two heads
+upon the shining water. From the shadow a broadening path of moonshine
+stretched away to the lonely sky-line, flickering and shimmering in the
+gentle heave of the swell. We were talking with bent heads, chatting
+of the calm, of the chances of wind, of the look of the sky, when there
+came a sudden plop, like a rising salmon, and there, in the clear light,
+John Vansittart sprang out of the water and looked up at us.
+
+I never saw anything clearer in my life than I saw that man. The moon
+shone full upon him, and he was but three oars' lengths away. His face
+was more puffed than when I had seen him last, mottled here and there
+with dark scabs, his mouth and eyes open as one who is struck with
+some overpowering surprise. He had some white stuff streaming from his
+shoulders, and one hand was raised to his ear, the other crooked across
+his breast. I saw him leap from the water into the air, and in the dead
+calm the waves of his coming lapped up against the sides of the vessel.
+Then his figure sank back into the water again, and I heard a rending,
+crackling sound like a bundle of brushwood snapping in the fire on a
+frosty night. There were no signs of him when I looked again, but a
+swift swirl and eddy on the still sea still marked the spot where he had
+been. How long I stood there, tingling to my finger-tips, holding up
+an unconscious woman with one hand, clutching at the rail of the vessel
+with the other, was more than I could afterwards tell. I had been noted
+as a man of-slow and unresponsive emotions, but this time at least I was
+shaken to the core. Once and twice I struck my foot upon the deck to be
+certain that I was indeed the master of my own senses, and that this was
+not some mad prank of an unruly brain. As I stood, still marvelling, the
+woman shivered, opened her eyes, gasped, and then standing erect with
+her hands upon the rail, looked out over the moonlit sea with a face
+which had aged ten years in a summer night.
+
+"You saw his vision?" she murmured.
+
+"I saw something."
+
+"It was he! It was John! He is dead!"
+
+I muttered some lame words of doubt.
+
+"Doubtless he died at this hour," she whispered. "In hospital at
+Madeira. I have read of such things. His thoughts were with me. His
+vision came to me. Oh, my John, my dear, dear, lost John!"
+
+She broke out suddenly into a storm of weeping, and I led her down into
+her cabin, where I left her with her sorrow. That night a brisk breeze
+blew up from the east, and in the evening of the next day we passed the
+two islets of Los Desertos, and dropped anchor at sundown in the Bay
+of Funchal. The _Eastern Star_ lay no great distance from us, with the
+quarantine flag flying from her main, and her Jack half-way up her peak.
+
+"You see," said Mrs. Vansittart, quickly. She was dry-eyed now, for she
+had known how it would be.
+
+That night we received permission from the authorities to move on board
+the _Eastern Star_. The captain, Hines, was waiting upon deck with
+confusion and grief contending upon his bluff face as he sought for
+words with which to break this heavy tidings, but she took the story
+from his lips.
+
+"I know that my husband is dead," she said. "He died yesterday night,
+about ten o'clock, in hospital at Madeira, did he not?"
+
+The seaman stared aghast. "No, marm, he died eight days ago at sea, and
+we had to bury him out there, for we lay in a belt of calm, and could
+not say when we might make the land."
+
+Well, those are the main facts about the death of John Vansittart, and
+his appearance to his wife somewhere about lat. 35 N. and long. 15 W. A
+clearer case of a wraith has seldom been made out, and since then it has
+been told as such, and put into print as such, and endorsed by a learned
+society as such, and so floated off with many others to support the
+recent theory of telepathy. For myself, I hold telepathy to be proved,
+but I would snatch this one case from amid the evidence, and say that
+I do not think that it was the wraith of John Vansittart, but John
+Vansittart himself whom we saw that night leaping into the moonlight
+out of the depths of the Atlantic. It has ever been my belief that some
+strange chance--one of those chances which seem so improbable and yet so
+constantly occur--had becalmed us over the very spot where the man had
+been buried a week before. For the rest, the surgeon tells me that the
+leaden weight was not too firmly fixed, and that seven days bring about
+changes which fetch a body to the surface. Coming from the depth to
+which the weight would have sunk it, he explains that it might well
+attain such a velocity as to carry it clear of the water. Such is my
+own explanation of the matter, and if you ask me what then became of
+the body, I must recall to you that snapping, crackling sound, with the
+swirl in the water. The shark is a surface feeder and is plentiful in
+those parts.
+
+
+
+
+THE GREAT BROWN-PERICORD MOTOR
+
+
+It was a cold, foggy, dreary evening in May. Along the Strand blurred
+patches of light marked the position of the lamps. The flaring shop
+windows flickered vaguely with steamy brightness through the thick and
+heavy atmosphere.
+
+The high lines of houses which lead down to the Embankment were all
+dark and deserted, or illuminated only by the glimmering lamp of the
+caretaker. At one point, however, there shone out from three windows
+upon the second floor a rich flood of light, which broke the sombre
+monotony of the terrace. Passers-by glanced up curiously, and drew each
+other's attention to the ruddy glare, for it marked the chambers of
+Francis Pericord, the inventor and electrical engineer. Long into the
+watches of the night the gleam of his lamps bore witness to the untiring
+energy and restless industry which was rapidly carrying him to the first
+rank in his profession.
+
+Within the chamber sat two men. The one was Pericord himself--hawk-faced
+and angular, with the black hair and brisk bearing which spoke of his
+Celtic origin. The other--thick, sturdy, and blue-eyed--was Jeremy
+Brown, the well-known mechanician. They had been partners in many an
+invention, in which the creative genius of the one had been aided by the
+practical abilities of the other. It was a question among their friends
+as to which was the better man.
+
+It was no chance visit which had brought Brown into Pericord's workshop
+at so late an hour. Business was to be done--business which was to
+decide the failure or success of months of work, and which might affect
+their whole careers. Between them lay a long brown table, stained and
+corroded by strong acids, and littered with giant carboys, Faure's
+accumulators, voltaic piles, coils of wire, and great blocks of
+non-conducting porcelain. In the midst of all this lumber there stood
+a singular whizzing, whirring machine, upon which the eyes of both
+partners were riveted.
+
+A small square metal receptacle was connected by numerous wires to
+a broad steel girdle, furnished on either side with two powerful
+projecting joints. The girdle was motionless, but the joints with the
+short arms attached to them flashed round every few seconds, with
+a pause between each rhythmic turn. The power which moved them came
+evidently from the metal box. A subtle odour of ozone was in the air.
+
+"How about the flanges, Brown?" asked the inventor.
+
+"They were too large to bring. They are seven foot by three. There is
+power enough there to work them, however. I will answer for that."
+
+"Aluminium with an alloy of copper?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"See how beautifully it works." Pericord stretched out a thin, nervous
+hand, and pressed a button upon the machine. The joints revolved more
+slowly, and came presently to a dead stop. Again he touched a spring and
+the arms shivered and woke up again into their crisp metallic life. "The
+experimenter need not exert his muscular powers," he remarked. "He has
+only to be passive, and use his intelligence."
+
+"Thanks to my motor," said Brown.
+
+"_Our_ motor," the other broke in sharply.
+
+"Oh, of course," said his colleague impatiently.
+
+"The motor which you thought of, and which I reduced to practice--call
+it what you like."
+
+"I call it the Brown-Pericord Motor," cried the inventor with an angry
+flash of his dark eyes. "You worked out the details, but the abstract
+thought is mine, and mine alone."
+
+"An abstract thought won't turn an engine," said Brown, doggedly.
+
+"That was why I took you into partnership," the other retorted, drumming
+nervously with his fingers upon the table. "I invent, you build. It is a
+fair division of labour."
+
+Brown pursed up his lips, as though by no means satisfied upon the
+point. Seeing, however, that further argument was useless, he turned
+his attention to the machine, which was shivering and rocking with each
+swing of its arms, as though a very little more would send it skimming
+from the table.
+
+"Is it not splendid?" cried Pericord.
+
+"It is satisfactory," said the more phlegmatic Anglo-Saxon.
+
+"There's immortality in it!"
+
+"There's money in it!"
+
+"Our names will go down with Montgolfier's."
+
+"With Rothschild's, I hope."
+
+"No, no, Brown; you take too material a view," cried the inventor,
+raising his gleaming eyes from the machine to his companion. "Our
+fortunes are a mere detail. Money is a thing which every heavy-witted
+plutocrat in the country shares with us. My hopes rise to something
+higher than that. Our true reward will come in the gratitude and
+goodwill of the human race."
+
+Brown shrugged his shoulders. "You may have my share of that," he said.
+"I am a practical man. We must test our invention."
+
+"Where can we do it?"
+
+"That is what I wanted to speak about. It must be absolutely secret. If
+we had private grounds of our own it would be an easy matter, but there
+is no privacy in London."
+
+"We must take it into the country."
+
+"I have a suggestion to offer," said Brown. "My brother has a place in
+Sussex on the high land near Beachy Head. There is, I remember, a large
+and lofty barn near the house. Will is in Scotland, but the key is
+always at my disposal. Why not take the machine down tomorrow and test
+it in the barn?"
+
+"Nothing could be better."
+
+"There is a train to Eastbourne at one."
+
+"I shall be at the station."
+
+"Bring the gear with you, and I will bring the flanges," said the
+mechanician, rising. "Tomorrow will prove whether we have been following
+a shadow, or whether fortune is at our feet. One o'clock at Victoria."
+He walked swiftly down the stair and was quickly reabsorbed into the
+flood of comfortless clammy humanity which ebbed and flowed along the
+Strand.
+
+The morning was bright and spring-like. A pale blue sky arched over
+London, with a few gauzy white clouds drifting lazily across it. At
+eleven o'clock Brown might have been seen entering the Patent Office
+with a great roll of parchment, diagrams, and plans under his arm. At
+twelve he emerged again smiling, and, opening his pocket-book, he packed
+away very carefully a small slip of official blue paper. At five minutes
+to one his cab rolled into Victoria Station. Two giant canvas-covered
+parcels, like enormous kites, were handed down by the cabman from the
+top, and consigned to the care of a guard. On the platform Pericord was
+pacing up and down, with long eager step and swinging arms, a tinge of
+pink upon his sunken and sallow cheeks.
+
+"All right?" he asked.
+
+Brown pointed in answer to his baggage.
+
+"I have the motor and the girdle already packed away in the guard's van.
+Be careful, guard, for it is delicate machinery of great value. So! Now
+we can start with an easy conscience."
+
+At Eastbourne the precious motor was carried to a four-wheeler, and the
+great flanges hoisted on the top. A long drive took them to the house
+where the keys were kept, whence they set off across the barren Downs.
+The building which was their destination was a commonplace white-washed
+structure, with straggling stables and out-houses, standing in a grassy
+hollow which sloped down from the edge of the chalk cliffs. It was a
+cheerless house even when in use, but now with its smokeless chimneys
+and shuttered windows it looked doubly dreary. The owner had planted a
+grove of young larches and firs around it, but the sweeping spray had
+blighted them, and they hung their withered heads in melancholy groups.
+It was a gloomy and forbidding spot.
+
+But the inventors were in no mood to be moved by such trifles. The
+lonelier the place, the more fitted for their purpose. With the help of
+the cabman they carried their packages down the footpath, and laid them
+in the darkened dining-room. The sun was setting as the distant murmur
+of wheels told them that they were finally alone.
+
+Pericord had thrown open the shutters and the mellow evening light
+streamed in through the discoloured windows. Brown drew a knife from his
+pocket and cut the pack-thread with which the canvas was secured. As the
+brown covering fell away it disclosed two great yellow metal fans. These
+he leaned carefully against the wall. The girdle, the connecting-bands,
+and the motor were then in turn unpacked. It was dark before all was set
+out in order. A lamp was lit, and by its light the two men continued to
+tighten screws, clinch rivets, and make the last preparations for their
+experiment.
+
+"That finishes it," said Brown at last, stepping back and surveying the
+machine.
+
+Pericord said nothing, but his face glowed with pride and expectation.
+
+"We must have something to eat," Brown remarked, laying out some
+provisions which he had brought with him.
+
+"Afterwards."
+
+"No, now," said the stolid mechanician. "I am half starved." He pulled
+up to the table and made a hearty meal, while his Celtic companion
+strode impatiently up and down, with twitching fingers and restless
+eyes.
+
+"Now then," said Brown, facing round, and brushing the crumbs from his
+lap, "who is to put it on?"
+
+"I shall," cried his companion eagerly. "What we do to-night is likely
+to be historic."
+
+"But there is some danger," suggested Brown. "We cannot quite tell how
+it may act."
+
+"That is nothing," said Pericord, with a wave of his hand.
+
+"But there is no use our going out of our way to incur danger."
+
+"What then? One of us must do it."
+
+"Not at all. The motor would act equally well if attached to any
+inanimate object."
+
+"That is true," said Pericord, thoughtfully.
+
+"There are bricks by the barn. I have a sack here. Why should not a
+bagful of them take your place?"
+
+"It is a good idea. I see no objection."
+
+"Come on then," and the two sallied out, bearing with them the various
+sections of their machine. The moon was shining cold and clear though
+an occasional ragged cloud drifted across her face. All was still and
+silent upon the Downs. They stood and listened before they entered the
+barn, but not a sound came to their ears, save the dull murmur of the
+sea and the distant barking of a dog. Pericord journeyed backwards and
+forwards with all that they might need, while Brown filled a long narrow
+sack with bricks.
+
+When all was ready, the door of the barn was closed, and the lamp
+balanced upon an empty packing-case. The bag of bricks was laid upon
+two trestles, and the broad steel girdle was buckled round it. Then the
+great flanges, the wires, and the metal box containing the motor were
+in turn attached to the girdle. Last of all a flat steel rudder, shaped
+like a fish's tail, was secured to the bottom of the sack.
+
+"We must make it travel in a small circle," said Pericord, glancing
+round at the bare high walls.
+
+"Tie the rudder down at one side," suggested Brown. "Now it is ready.
+Press the connection and off she goes!"
+
+Pericord leaned forward, his long sallow face quivering with excitement.
+His white nervous hands darted here and there among the wires. Brown
+stood impassive with critical eyes. There was a sharp burr from the
+machine. The huge yellow wings gave a convulsive flap. Then another.
+Then a third, slower and stronger, with a fuller sweep. Then a fourth
+which filled the barn with a blast of driven air. At the fifth the bag
+of bricks began to dance upon the trestles. At the sixth it sprang into
+the air, and would have fallen to the ground, but the seventh came to
+save it, and fluttered it forward through the air. Slowly rising, it
+flapped heavily round in a circle, like some great clumsy bird, filling
+the barn with its buzzing and whirring. In the uncertain yellow light
+of the single lamp it was strange to see the loom of the ungainly thing,
+flapping off into the shadows, and then circling back into the narrow
+zone of light.
+
+The two men stood for a while in silence. Then Pericord threw his long
+arms up into the air.
+
+"It acts!" he cried. "The Brown-Pericord Motor acts!" He danced about
+like a madman in his delight. Brown's eyes twinkled, and he began to
+whistle.
+
+"See how smoothly it goes, Brown!" cried the inventor. "And the
+rudder--how well it acts! We must register it tomorrow."
+
+His comrade's face darkened and set. "It _is_ registered," he said, with
+a forced laugh.
+
+"Registered?" said Pericord. "Registered?" He repeated the word first in
+a whisper, and then in a kind of scream. "Who has dared to register my
+invention?"
+
+"I did it this morning. There is nothing to be excited about. It is all
+right."
+
+"You registered the motor! Under whose name?"
+
+"Under my own," said Brown, sullenly. "I consider that I have the best
+right to it."
+
+"And my name does not appear?"
+
+"No, but--"
+
+"You villain!" screamed Pericord. "You thief and villain! You would
+steal my work! You would filch my credit! I will have that patent back
+if I have to tear your throat out!" A sombre fire burned in his black
+eyes, and his hands writhed themselves together with passion. Brown was
+no coward, but he shrank back as the other advanced upon him.
+
+"Keep your hands off!" he said, drawing a knife from his pocket. "I will
+defend myself if you attack me."
+
+"You threaten me?" cried Pericord, whose face was livid with anger. "You
+are a bully as well as a cheat. Will you give up the patent?"
+
+"No, I will not."
+
+"Brown, I say, give it up!"
+
+"I will not. I did the work."
+
+Pericord sprang madly forward with blazing eyes and clutching fingers.
+His companion writhed out of his grasp, but was dashed against the
+packing-case, over which he fell. The lamp was extinguished, and the
+whole barn plunged into darkness. A single ray of moonlight shining
+through a narrow chink flickered over the great waving fans as they came
+and went.
+
+"Will you give up the patent, Brown?"
+
+There was no answer.
+
+"Will you give it up?"
+
+Again no answer. Not a sound save the humming and creaking overhead.
+A cold pang of fear and doubt struck through Pericord's heart. He felt
+aimlessly about in the dark and his fingers closed upon a hand. It was
+cold and unresponsive. With all his anger turned to icy horror he struck
+a match, set the lamp up, and lit it.
+
+Brown lay huddled up on the other side of the packing-case. Pericord
+seized him in his arms, and with convulsive strength lifted him across.
+Then the mystery of his silence was explained. He had fallen with his
+right arms doubled up under him, and his own weight had driven the knife
+deeply into his body. He had died without a groan. The tragedy had been
+sudden, horrible, and complete.
+
+Pericord sat silently on the edge of the case, staring blankly down, and
+shivering like one with the ague, while the great Brown-Pericord Motor
+boomed and hurtled above him. How long he sat there can never be known.
+It might have been minutes or it might have been hours. A thousand mad
+schemes flashed through his dazed brain. It was true that he had been
+only the indirect cause. But who would believe that? He glanced down at
+his blood-spattered clothing. Everything was against him. It would be
+better to fly than to give himself up, relying upon his innocence. No
+one in London knew where they were. If he could dispose of the body he
+might have a few days clear before any suspicion would be aroused.
+
+Suddenly a loud crash recalled him to himself. The flying sack had
+gradually risen with each successive circle until it had struck against
+the rafters. The blow displaced the connecting-gear, and the machine
+fell heavily to the ground. Pericord undid the girdle. The motor was
+uninjured. A sudden strange thought flashed upon him as he looked at it.
+The machine had become hateful to him. He might dispose both of it and
+the body in a way that would baffle all human search.
+
+He threw open the barn door, and carried his companion out into the
+moonlight. There was a hillock outside, and on the summit of this he
+laid him reverently down. Then he brought from the barn the motor, the
+girdle and the flanges. With trembling fingers he fastened the broad
+steel belt round the dead man's waist. Then he screwed the wings into
+the sockets. Beneath he slung the motor-box, fastened the wires, and
+switched on the connection. For a minute or two the huge yellow fans
+flapped and flickered. Then the body began to move in little jumps down
+the side of the hillock, gathering a gradual momentum, until at last it
+heaved up into the air and soared off in the moonlight. He had not used
+the rudder, but had turned the head for the south. Gradually the weird
+thing rose higher, and sped faster, until it had passed over the line of
+cliff, and was sweeping over the silent sea. Pericord watched it with
+a white drawn face, until it looked like a black bird with golden wings
+half shrouded in the mist which lay over the waters.
+
+In the New York State Lunatic Asylum there is a wild-eyed man whose name
+and birth-place are alike unknown. His reason has been unseated by some
+sudden shock, the doctors say, though of what nature they are unable to
+determine. "It is the most delicate machine which is most readily put
+out of gear," they remark, and point, in proof of their axiom, to the
+complicated electric engines, and remarkable aeronautic machines which
+the patient is fond of devising in his more lucid moments.
+
+
+
+
+THE TERROR OF BLUE JOHN GAP
+
+
+The following narrative was found among the papers of Dr. James
+Hardcastle, who died of phthisis on February 4th, 1908, at 36, Upper
+Coventry Flats, South Kensington. Those who knew him best, while
+refusing to express an opinion upon this particular statement, are
+unanimous in asserting that he was a man of a sober and scientific turn
+of mind, absolutely devoid of imagination, and most unlikely to invent
+any abnormal series of events. The paper was contained in an envelope,
+which was docketed, "A Short Account of the Circumstances which occurred
+near Miss Allerton's Farm in North-West Derbyshire in the Spring of Last
+Year." The envelope was sealed, and on the other side was written in
+pencil--
+
+DEAR SEATON,--
+
+"It may interest, and perhaps pain you, to know that the incredulity
+with which you met my story has prevented me from ever opening my mouth
+upon the subject again. I leave this record after my death, and perhaps
+strangers may be found to have more confidence in me than my friend."
+
+
+Inquiry has failed to elicit who this Seaton may have been. I may add
+that the visit of the deceased to Allerton's Farm, and the general
+nature of the alarm there, apart from his particular explanation, have
+been absolutely established. With this foreword I append his account
+exactly as he left it. It is in the form of a diary, some entries in
+which have been expanded, while a few have been erased.
+
+
+April 17.--Already I feel the benefit of this wonderful upland air.
+The farm of the Allertons lies fourteen hundred and twenty feet above
+sea-level, so it may well be a bracing climate. Beyond the usual morning
+cough I have very little discomfort, and, what with the fresh milk and
+the home-grown mutton, I have every chance of putting on weight. I think
+Saunderson will be pleased.
+
+The two Miss Allertons are charmingly quaint and kind, two dear little
+hard-working old maids, who are ready to lavish all the heart which
+might have gone out to husband and to children upon an invalid stranger.
+Truly, the old maid is a most useful person, one of the reserve forces
+of the community. They talk of the superfluous woman, but what would
+the poor superfluous man do without her kindly presence? By the way,
+in their simplicity they very quickly let out the reason why Saunderson
+recommended their farm. The Professor rose from the ranks himself, and
+I believe that in his youth he was not above scaring crows in these very
+fields.
+
+It is a most lonely spot, and the walks are picturesque in the extreme.
+The farm consists of grazing land lying at the bottom of an irregular
+valley. On each side are the fantastic limestone hills, formed of rock
+so soft that you can break it away with your hands. All this country is
+hollow. Could you strike it with some gigantic hammer it would boom like
+a drum, or possibly cave in altogether and expose some huge subterranean
+sea. A great sea there must surely be, for on all sides the streams run
+into the mountain itself, never to reappear. There are gaps everywhere
+amid the rocks, and when you pass through them you find yourself in
+great caverns, which wind down into the bowels of the earth. I have a
+small bicycle lamp, and it is a perpetual joy to me to carry it into
+these weird solitudes, and to see the wonderful silver and black effect
+when I throw its light upon the stalactites which drape the lofty roofs.
+Shut off the lamp, and you are in the blackest darkness. Turn it on, and
+it is a scene from the Arabian Nights.
+
+But there is one of these strange openings in the earth which has a
+special interest, for it is the handiwork, not of nature, but of man. I
+had never heard of Blue John when I came to these parts. It is the name
+given to a peculiar mineral of a beautiful purple shade, which is only
+found at one or two places in the world. It is so rare that an ordinary
+vase of Blue John would be valued at a great price. The Romans, with
+that extraordinary instinct of theirs, discovered that it was to be
+found in this valley, and sank a horizontal shaft deep into the mountain
+side. The opening of their mine has been called Blue John Gap, a
+clean-cut arch in the rock, the mouth all overgrown with bushes. It is
+a goodly passage which the Roman miners have cut, and it intersects some
+of the great water-worn caves, so that if you enter Blue John Gap you
+would do well to mark your steps and to have a good store of candles, or
+you may never make your way back to the daylight again. I have not
+yet gone deeply into it, but this very day I stood at the mouth of the
+arched tunnel, and peering down into the black recesses beyond, I vowed
+that when my health returned I would devote some holiday to exploring
+those mysterious depths and finding out for myself how far the Roman had
+penetrated into the Derbyshire hills.
+
+Strange how superstitious these countrymen are! I should have thought
+better of young Armitage, for he is a man of some education and
+character, and a very fine fellow for his station in life. I was
+standing at the Blue John Gap when he came across the field to me.
+
+"Well, doctor," said he, "you're not afraid, anyhow."
+
+"Afraid!" I answered. "Afraid of what?"
+
+"Of it," said he, with a jerk of his thumb towards the black vault, "of
+the Terror that lives in the Blue John Cave."
+
+How absurdly easy it is for a legend to arise in a lonely countryside! I
+examined him as to the reasons for his weird belief. It seems that from
+time to time sheep have been missing from the fields, carried bodily
+away, according to Armitage. That they could have wandered away of their
+own accord and disappeared among the mountains was an explanation to
+which he would not listen. On one occasion a pool of blood had been
+found, and some tufts of wool. That also, I pointed out, could be
+explained in a perfectly natural way. Further, the nights upon which
+sheep disappeared were invariably very dark, cloudy nights with no moon.
+This I met with the obvious retort that those were the nights which a
+commonplace sheep-stealer would naturally choose for his work. On one
+occasion a gap had been made in a wall, and some of the stones scattered
+for a considerable distance. Human agency again, in my opinion. Finally,
+Armitage clinched all his arguments by telling me that he had actually
+heard the Creature--indeed, that anyone could hear it who remained long
+enough at the Gap. It was a distant roaring of an immense volume.
+I could not but smile at this, knowing, as I do, the strange
+reverberations which come out of an underground water system running
+amid the chasms of a limestone formation. My incredulity annoyed
+Armitage, so that he turned and left me with some abruptness.
+
+And now comes the queer point about the whole business. I was still
+standing near the mouth of the cave turning over in my mind the various
+statements of Armitage, and reflecting how readily they could be
+explained away, when suddenly, from the depth of the tunnel beside me,
+there issued a most extraordinary sound. How shall I describe it? First
+of all it seemed to be a great distance away, far down in the bowels
+of the earth. Secondly, in spite of this suggestion of distance, it was
+very loud. Lastly, it was not a boom, nor a crash, such as one would
+associate with falling water or tumbling rock, but it was a high whine,
+tremulous and vibrating, almost like the whinnying of a horse. It was
+certainly a most remarkable experience, and one which for a moment, I
+must admit, gave a new significance to Armitage's words. I waited by the
+Blue John Gap for half an hour or more, but there was no return of the
+sound, so at last I wandered back to the farmhouse, rather mystified
+by what had occurred. Decidedly I shall explore that cavern when my
+strength is restored. Of course, Armitage's explanation is too absurd
+for discussion, and yet that sound was certainly very strange. It still
+rings in my ears as I write.
+
+April 20.--In the last three days I have made several expeditions to
+the Blue John Gap, and have even penetrated some short distance, but my
+bicycle lantern is so small and weak that I dare not trust myself very
+far. I shall do the thing more systematically. I have heard no sound
+at all, and could almost believe that I had been the victim of some
+hallucination, suggested, perhaps, by Armitage's conversation. Of
+course, the whole idea is absurd, and yet I must confess that those
+bushes at the entrance of the cave do present an appearance as if some
+heavy creature had forced its way through them. I begin to be keenly
+interested. I have said nothing to the Miss Allertons, for they are
+quite superstitious enough already, but I have bought some candles, and
+mean to investigate for myself.
+
+I observed this morning that among the numerous tufts of sheep's wool
+which lay among the bushes near the cavern there was one which was
+smeared with blood. Of course, my reason tells me that if sheep wander
+into such rocky places they are likely to injure themselves, and yet
+somehow that splash of crimson gave me a sudden shock, and for a moment
+I found myself shrinking back in horror from the old Roman arch. A fetid
+breath seemed to ooze from the black depths into which I peered. Could
+it indeed be possible that some nameless thing, some dreadful presence,
+was lurking down yonder? I should have been incapable of such feelings
+in the days of my strength, but one grows more nervous and fanciful when
+one's health is shaken.
+
+For the moment I weakened in my resolution, and was ready to leave the
+secret of the old mine, if one exists, for ever unsolved. But tonight my
+interest has returned and my nerves grown more steady. Tomorrow I trust
+that I shall have gone more deeply into this matter.
+
+April 22.--Let me try and set down as accurately as I can my
+extraordinary experience of yesterday. I started in the afternoon, and
+made my way to the Blue John Gap. I confess that my misgivings returned
+as I gazed into its depths, and I wished that I had brought a companion
+to share my exploration. Finally, with a return of resolution, I lit my
+candle, pushed my way through the briars, and descended into the rocky
+shaft.
+
+It went down at an acute angle for some fifty feet, the floor being
+covered with broken stone. Thence there extended a long, straight
+passage cut in the solid rock. I am no geologist, but the lining of this
+corridor was certainly of some harder material than limestone, for there
+were points where I could actually see the tool-marks which the old
+miners had left in their excavation, as fresh as if they had been done
+yesterday. Down this strange, old-world corridor I stumbled, my feeble
+flame throwing a dim circle of light around me, which made the shadows
+beyond the more threatening and obscure. Finally, I came to a spot where
+the Roman tunnel opened into a water-worn cavern--a huge hall, hung with
+long white icicles of lime deposit. From this central chamber I could
+dimly perceive that a number of passages worn by the subterranean
+streams wound away into the depths of the earth. I was standing there
+wondering whether I had better return, or whether I dare venture farther
+into this dangerous labyrinth, when my eyes fell upon something at my
+feet which strongly arrested my attention.
+
+The greater part of the floor of the cavern was covered with boulders
+of rock or with hard incrustations of lime, but at this particular point
+there had been a drip from the distant roof, which had left a patch
+of soft mud. In the very centre of this there was a huge mark--an
+ill-defined blotch, deep, broad and irregular, as if a great boulder had
+fallen upon it. No loose stone lay near, however, nor was there anything
+to account for the impression. It was far too large to be caused by any
+possible animal, and besides, there was only the one, and the patch of
+mud was of such a size that no reasonable stride could have covered it.
+As I rose from the examination of that singular mark and then looked
+round into the black shadows which hemmed me in, I must confess that I
+felt for a moment a most unpleasant sinking of my heart, and that, do
+what I could, the candle trembled in my outstretched hand.
+
+I soon recovered my nerve, however, when I reflected how absurd it was
+to associate so huge and shapeless a mark with the track of any known
+animal. Even an elephant could not have produced it. I determined,
+therefore, that I would not be scared by vague and senseless fears from
+carrying out my exploration. Before proceeding, I took good note of
+a curious rock formation in the wall by which I could recognize the
+entrance of the Roman tunnel. The precaution was very necessary, for
+the great cave, so far as I could see it, was intersected by passages.
+Having made sure of my position, and reassured myself by examining
+my spare candles and my matches, I advanced slowly over the rocky and
+uneven surface of the cavern.
+
+And now I come to the point where I met with such sudden and desperate
+disaster. A stream, some twenty feet broad, ran across my path, and I
+walked for some little distance along the bank to find a spot where I
+could cross dry-shod. Finally, I came to a place where a single flat
+boulder lay near the centre, which I could reach in a stride. As it
+chanced, however, the rock had been cut away and made top-heavy by the
+rush of the stream, so that it tilted over as I landed on it and shot
+me into the ice-cold water. My candle went out, and I found myself
+floundering about in utter and absolute darkness.
+
+I staggered to my feet again, more amused than alarmed by my adventure.
+The candle had fallen from my hand, and was lost in the stream, but I
+had two others in my pocket, so that it was of no importance. I got one
+of them ready, and drew out my box of matches to light it. Only then
+did I realize my position. The box had been soaked in my fall into the
+river. It was impossible to strike the matches.
+
+A cold hand seemed to close round my heart as I realized my position.
+The darkness was opaque and horrible. It was so utter that one put one's
+hand up to one's face as if to press off something solid. I stood still,
+and by an effort I steadied myself. I tried to reconstruct in my mind a
+map of the floor of the cavern as I had last seen it. Alas! the bearings
+which had impressed themselves upon my mind were high on the wall, and
+not to be found by touch. Still, I remembered in a general way how the
+sides were situated, and I hoped that by groping my way along them I
+should at last come to the opening of the Roman tunnel. Moving very
+slowly, and continually striking against the rocks, I set out on this
+desperate quest.
+
+But I very soon realized how impossible it was. In that black, velvety
+darkness one lost all one's bearings in an instant. Before I had made a
+dozen paces, I was utterly bewildered as to my whereabouts. The rippling
+of the stream, which was the one sound audible, showed me where it lay,
+but the moment that I left its bank I was utterly lost. The idea
+of finding my way back in absolute darkness through that limestone
+labyrinth was clearly an impossible one.
+
+I sat down upon a boulder and reflected upon my unfortunate plight. I
+had not told anyone that I proposed to come to the Blue John mine, and
+it was unlikely that a search party would come after me. Therefore I
+must trust to my own resources to get clear of the danger. There was
+only one hope, and that was that the matches might dry. When I fell into
+the river, only half of me had got thoroughly wet. My left shoulder had
+remained above the water. I took the box of matches, therefore, and put
+it into my left armpit. The moist air of the cavern might possibly be
+counteracted by the heat of my body, but even so, I knew that I could
+not hope to get a light for many hours. Meanwhile there was nothing for
+it but to wait.
+
+By good luck I had slipped several biscuits into my pocket before I
+left the farm-house. These I now devoured, and washed them down with
+a draught from that wretched stream which had been the cause of all my
+misfortunes. Then I felt about for a comfortable seat among the rocks,
+and, having discovered a place where I could get a support for my
+back, I stretched out my legs and settled myself down to wait. I
+was wretchedly damp and cold, but I tried to cheer myself with the
+reflection that modern science prescribed open windows and walks in all
+weather for my disease. Gradually, lulled by the monotonous gurgle of
+the stream, and by the absolute darkness, I sank into an uneasy slumber.
+
+How long this lasted I cannot say. It may have been for an hour, it may
+have been for several. Suddenly I sat up on my rock couch, with every
+nerve thrilling and every sense acutely on the alert. Beyond all doubt
+I had heard a sound--some sound very distinct from the gurgling of the
+waters. It had passed, but the reverberation of it still lingered in my
+ear. Was it a search party? They would most certainly have shouted, and
+vague as this sound was which had wakened me, it was very distinct from
+the human voice. I sat palpitating and hardly daring to breathe.
+There it was again! And again! Now it had become continuous. It was a
+tread--yes, surely it was the tread of some living creature. But what a
+tread it was! It gave one the impression of enormous weight carried upon
+sponge-like feet, which gave forth a muffled but ear-filling sound.
+The darkness was as complete as ever, but the tread was regular and
+decisive. And it was coming beyond all question in my direction.
+
+My skin grew cold, and my hair stood on end as I listened to that steady
+and ponderous footfall. There was some creature there, and surely by the
+speed of its advance, it was one which could see in the dark. I crouched
+low on my rock and tried to blend myself into it. The steps grew nearer
+still, then stopped, and presently I was aware of a loud lapping and
+gurgling. The creature was drinking at the stream. Then again there was
+silence, broken by a succession of long sniffs and snorts of tremendous
+volume and energy. Had it caught the scent of me? My own nostrils were
+filled by a low fetid odour, mephitic and abominable. Then I heard the
+steps again. They were on my side of the stream now. The stones rattled
+within a few yards of where I lay. Hardly daring to breathe, I crouched
+upon my rock. Then the steps drew away. I heard the splash as it
+returned across the river, and the sound died away into the distance in
+the direction from which it had come.
+
+For a long time I lay upon the rock, too much horrified to move. I
+thought of the sound which I had heard coming from the depths of the
+cave, of Armitage's fears, of the strange impression in the mud, and
+now came this final and absolute proof that there was indeed some
+inconceivable monster, something utterly unearthly and dreadful, which
+lurked in the hollow of the mountain. Of its nature or form I could
+frame no conception, save that it was both light-footed and gigantic.
+The combat between my reason, which told me that such things could not
+be, and my senses, which told me that they were, raged within me as I
+lay. Finally, I was almost ready to persuade myself that this experience
+had been part of some evil dream, and that my abnormal condition
+might have conjured up an hallucination. But there remained one final
+experience which removed the last possibility of doubt from my mind.
+
+I had taken my matches from my armpit and felt them. They seemed
+perfectly hard and dry. Stooping down into a crevice of the rocks, I
+tried one of them. To my delight it took fire at once. I lit the candle,
+and, with a terrified backward glance into the obscure depths of the
+cavern, I hurried in the direction of the Roman passage. As I did so
+I passed the patch of mud on which I had seen the huge imprint. Now I
+stood astonished before it, for there were three similar imprints upon
+its surface, enormous in size, irregular in outline, of a depth which
+indicated the ponderous weight which had left them. Then a great terror
+surged over me. Stooping and shading my candle with my hand, I ran in a
+frenzy of fear to the rocky archway, hastened up it, and never stopped
+until, with weary feet and panting lungs, I rushed up the final slope of
+stones, broke through the tangle of briars, and flung myself exhausted
+upon the soft grass under the peaceful light of the stars. It was
+three in the morning when I reached the farm-house, and today I am all
+unstrung and quivering after my terrific adventure. As yet I have told
+no one. I must move warily in the matter. What would the poor lonely
+women, or the uneducated yokels here think of it if I were to tell them
+my experience? Let me go to someone who can understand and advise.
+
+April 25.--I was laid up in bed for two days after my incredible
+adventure in the cavern. I use the adjective with a very definite
+meaning, for I have had an experience since which has shocked me almost
+as much as the other. I have said that I was looking round for someone
+who could advise me. There is a Dr. Mark Johnson who practices some
+few miles away, to whom I had a note of recommendation from Professor
+Saunderson. To him I drove, when I was strong enough to get about, and I
+recounted to him my whole strange experience. He listened intently, and
+then carefully examined me, paying special attention to my reflexes and
+to the pupils of my eyes. When he had finished, he refused to discuss
+my adventure, saying that it was entirely beyond him, but he gave me
+the card of a Mr. Picton at Castleton, with the advice that I should
+instantly go to him and tell him the story exactly as I had done
+to himself. He was, according to my adviser, the very man who was
+pre-eminently suited to help me. I went on to the station, therefore,
+and made my way to the little town, which is some ten miles away.
+Mr. Picton appeared to be a man of importance, as his brass plate was
+displayed upon the door of a considerable building on the outskirts of
+the town. I was about to ring his bell, when some misgiving came into my
+mind, and, crossing to a neighbouring shop, I asked the man behind the
+counter if he could tell me anything of Mr. Picton. "Why," said he, "he
+is the best mad doctor in Derbyshire, and yonder is his asylum." You can
+imagine that it was not long before I had shaken the dust of Castleton
+from my feet and returned to the farm, cursing all unimaginative pedants
+who cannot conceive that there may be things in creation which have
+never yet chanced to come across their mole's vision. After all,
+now that I am cooler, I can afford to admit that I have been no more
+sympathetic to Armitage than Dr. Johnson has been to me.
+
+April 27. When I was a student I had the reputation of being a man of
+courage and enterprise. I remember that when there was a ghost-hunt at
+Coltbridge it was I who sat up in the haunted house. Is it advancing
+years (after all, I am only thirty-five), or is it this physical malady
+which has caused degeneration? Certainly my heart quails when I think
+of that horrible cavern in the hill, and the certainty that it has some
+monstrous occupant. What shall I do? There is not an hour in the day
+that I do not debate the question. If I say nothing, then the mystery
+remains unsolved. If I do say anything, then I have the alternative of
+mad alarm over the whole countryside, or of absolute incredulity which
+may end in consigning me to an asylum. On the whole, I think that my
+best course is to wait, and to prepare for some expedition which shall
+be more deliberate and better thought out than the last. As a first
+step I have been to Castleton and obtained a few essentials--a large
+acetylene lantern for one thing, and a good double-barrelled sporting
+rifle for another. The latter I have hired, but I have bought a dozen
+heavy game cartridges, which would bring down a rhinoceros. Now I am
+ready for my troglodyte friend. Give me better health and a little spate
+of energy, and I shall try conclusions with him yet. But who and what is
+he? Ah! there is the question which stands between me and my sleep.
+How many theories do I form, only to discard each in turn! It is all
+so utterly unthinkable. And yet the cry, the footmark, the tread in
+the cavern--no reasoning can get past these. I think of the old-world
+legends of dragons and of other monsters. Were they, perhaps, not such
+fairy-tales as we have thought? Can it be that there is some fact which
+underlies them, and am I, of all mortals, the one who is chosen to
+expose it?
+
+May 3.--For several days I have been laid up by the vagaries of an
+English spring, and during those days there have been developments, the
+true and sinister meaning of which no one can appreciate save myself.
+I may say that we have had cloudy and moonless nights of late,
+which according to my information were the seasons upon which sheep
+disappeared. Well, sheep _have_ disappeared. Two of Miss Allerton's, one
+of old Pearson's of the Cat Walk, and one of Mrs. Moulton's. Four in
+all during three nights. No trace is left of them at all, and the
+countryside is buzzing with rumours of gipsies and of sheep-stealers.
+
+But there is something more serious than that. Young Armitage has
+disappeared also. He left his moorland cottage early on Wednesday night
+and has never been heard of since. He was an unattached man, so there is
+less sensation than would otherwise be the case. The popular explanation
+is that he owes money, and has found a situation in some other part of
+the country, whence he will presently write for his belongings. But
+I have grave misgivings. Is it not much more likely that the recent
+tragedy of the sheep has caused him to take some steps which may have
+ended in his own destruction? He may, for example, have lain in wait
+for the creature and been carried off by it into the recesses of the
+mountains. What an inconceivable fate for a civilized Englishman of the
+twentieth century! And yet I feel that it is possible and even probable.
+But in that case, how far am I answerable both for his death and for
+any other mishap which may occur? Surely with the knowledge I already
+possess it must be my duty to see that something is done, or if
+necessary to do it myself. It must be the latter, for this morning I
+went down to the local police-station and told my story. The inspector
+entered it all in a large book and bowed me out with commendable
+gravity, but I heard a burst of laughter before I had got down his
+garden path. No doubt he was recounting my adventure to his family.
+
+June 10.--I am writing this, propped up in bed, six weeks after my last
+entry in this journal. I have gone through a terrible shock both to mind
+and body, arising from such an experience as has seldom befallen a human
+being before. But I have attained my end. The danger from the Terror
+which dwells in the Blue John Gap has passed never to return. Thus much
+at least I, a broken invalid, have done for the common good. Let me now
+recount what occurred as clearly as I may.
+
+The night of Friday, May 3rd, was dark and cloudy--the very night for
+the monster to walk. About eleven o'clock I went from the farm-house
+with my lantern and my rifle, having first left a note upon the table
+of my bedroom in which I said that, if I were missing, search should be
+made for me in the direction of the Gap. I made my way to the mouth of
+the Roman shaft, and, having perched myself among the rocks close to the
+opening, I shut off my lantern and waited patiently with my loaded rifle
+ready to my hand.
+
+It was a melancholy vigil. All down the winding valley I could see
+the scattered lights of the farm-houses, and the church clock of
+Chapel-le-Dale tolling the hours came faintly to my ears. These tokens
+of my fellow-men served only to make my own position seem the more
+lonely, and to call for a greater effort to overcome the terror which
+tempted me continually to get back to the farm, and abandon for ever
+this dangerous quest. And yet there lies deep in every man a rooted
+self-respect which makes it hard for him to turn back from that which
+he has once undertaken. This feeling of personal pride was my salvation
+now, and it was that alone which held me fast when every instinct of my
+nature was dragging me away. I am glad now that I had the strength. In
+spite of all that is has cost me, my manhood is at least above reproach.
+
+Twelve o'clock struck in the distant church, then one, then two. It was
+the darkest hour of the night. The clouds were drifting low, and there
+was not a star in the sky. An owl was hooting somewhere among the rocks,
+but no other sound, save the gentle sough of the wind, came to my ears.
+And then suddenly I heard it! From far away down the tunnel came those
+muffled steps, so soft and yet so ponderous. I heard also the rattle of
+stones as they gave way under that giant tread. They drew nearer.
+They were close upon me. I heard the crashing of the bushes round the
+entrance, and then dimly through the darkness I was conscious of the
+loom of some enormous shape, some monstrous inchoate creature, passing
+swiftly and very silently out from the tunnel. I was paralysed with fear
+and amazement. Long as I had waited, now that it had actually come I was
+unprepared for the shock. I lay motionless and breathless, whilst the
+great dark mass whisked by me and was swallowed up in the night.
+
+But now I nerved myself for its return. No sound came from the sleeping
+countryside to tell of the horror which was loose. In no way could I
+judge how far off it was, what it was doing, or when it might be back.
+But not a second time should my nerve fail me, not a second time should
+it pass unchallenged. I swore it between my clenched teeth as I laid my
+cocked rifle across the rock.
+
+And yet it nearly happened. There was no warning of approach now as the
+creature passed over the grass. Suddenly, like a dark, drifting shadow,
+the huge bulk loomed up once more before me, making for the entrance of
+the cave. Again came that paralysis of volition which held my crooked
+forefinger impotent upon the trigger. But with a desperate effort I
+shook it off. Even as the brushwood rustled, and the monstrous beast
+blended with the shadow of the Gap, I fired at the retreating form.
+In the blaze of the gun I caught a glimpse of a great shaggy mass,
+something with rough and bristling hair of a withered grey colour,
+fading away to white in its lower parts, the huge body supported upon
+short, thick, curving legs. I had just that glance, and then I heard the
+rattle of the stones as the creature tore down into its burrow. In an
+instant, with a triumphant revulsion of feeling, I had cast my fears to
+the wind, and uncovering my powerful lantern, with my rifle in my hand,
+I sprang down from my rock and rushed after the monster down the old
+Roman shaft.
+
+My splendid lamp cast a brilliant flood of vivid light in front of me,
+very different from the yellow glimmer which had aided me down the
+same passage only twelve days before. As I ran, I saw the great beast
+lurching along before me, its huge bulk filling up the whole space from
+wall to wall. Its hair looked like coarse faded oakum, and hung down
+in long, dense masses which swayed as it moved. It was like an enormous
+unclipped sheep in its fleece, but in size it was far larger than the
+largest elephant, and its breadth seemed to be nearly as great as its
+height. It fills me with amazement now to think that I should have dared
+to follow such a horror into the bowels of the earth, but when one's
+blood is up, and when one's quarry seems to be flying, the old primeval
+hunting-spirit awakes and prudence is cast to the wind. Rifle in hand, I
+ran at the top of my speed upon the trail of the monster.
+
+I had seen that the creature was swift. Now I was to find out to my
+cost that it was also very cunning. I had imagined that it was in panic
+flight, and that I had only to pursue it. The idea that it might turn
+upon me never entered my excited brain. I have already explained that
+the passage down which I was racing opened into a great central cave.
+Into this I rushed, fearful lest I should lose all trace of the beast.
+But he had turned upon his own traces, and in a moment we were face to
+face.
+
+That picture, seen in the brilliant white light of the lantern, is
+etched for ever upon my brain. He had reared up on his hind legs as a
+bear would do, and stood above me, enormous, menacing--such a creature
+as no nightmare had ever brought to my imagination. I have said that
+he reared like a bear, and there was something bear-like--if one could
+conceive a bear which was ten-fold the bulk of any bear seen upon
+earth--in his whole pose and attitude, in his great crooked forelegs
+with their ivory-white claws, in his rugged skin, and in his red, gaping
+mouth, fringed with monstrous fangs. Only in one point did he differ
+from the bear, or from any other creature which walks the earth, and
+even at that supreme moment a shudder of horror passed over me as I
+observed that the eyes which glistened in the glow of my lantern were
+huge, projecting bulbs, white and sightless. For a moment his great paws
+swung over my head. The next he fell forward upon me, I and my broken
+lantern crashed to the earth, and I remember no more.
+
+
+When I came to myself I was back in the farm-house of the Allertons.
+Two days had passed since my terrible adventure in the Blue John Gap. It
+seems that I had lain all night in the cave insensible from concussion
+of the brain, with my left arm and two ribs badly fractured. In the
+morning my note had been found, a search party of a dozen farmers
+assembled, and I had been tracked down and carried back to my bedroom,
+where I had lain in high delirium ever since. There was, it seems, no
+sign of the creature, and no bloodstain which would show that my bullet
+had found him as he passed. Save for my own plight and the marks upon
+the mud, there was nothing to prove that what I said was true.
+
+Six weeks have now elapsed, and I am able to sit out once more in the
+sunshine. Just opposite me is the steep hillside, grey with shaly rock,
+and yonder on its flank is the dark cleft which marks the opening of
+the Blue John Gap. But it is no longer a source of terror. Never again
+through that ill-omened tunnel shall any strange shape flit out into the
+world of men. The educated and the scientific, the Dr. Johnsons and the
+like, may smile at my narrative, but the poorer folk of the countryside
+had never a doubt as to its truth. On the day after my recovering
+consciousness they assembled in their hundreds round the Blue John Gap.
+As the _Castleton Courier_ said:
+
+
+"It was useless for our correspondent, or for any of the adventurous
+gentlemen who had come from Matlock, Buxton, and other parts, to offer
+to descend, to explore the cave to the end, and to finally test the
+extraordinary narrative of Dr. James Hardcastle. The country people had
+taken the matter into their own hands, and from an early hour of the
+morning they had worked hard in stopping up the entrance of the tunnel.
+There is a sharp slope where the shaft begins, and great boulders,
+rolled along by many willing hands, were thrust down it until the
+Gap was absolutely sealed. So ends the episode which has caused such
+excitement throughout the country. Local opinion is fiercely
+divided upon the subject. On the one hand are those who point to Dr.
+Hardcastle's impaired health, and to the possibility of cerebral lesions
+of tubercular origin giving rise to strange hallucinations. Some _idee
+fixe_, according to these gentlemen, caused the doctor to wander down
+the tunnel, and a fall among the rocks was sufficient to account for his
+injuries. On the other hand, a legend of a strange creature in the
+Gap has existed for some months back, and the farmers look upon
+Dr. Hardcastle's narrative and his personal injuries as a final
+corroboration. So the matter stands, and so the matter will continue
+to stand, for no definite solution seems to us to be now possible. It
+transcends human wit to give any scientific explanation which could
+cover the alleged facts."
+
+
+Perhaps before the _Courier_ published these words they would have been
+wise to send their representative to me. I have thought the matter out,
+as no one else has occasion to do, and it is possible that I might
+have removed some of the more obvious difficulties of the narrative and
+brought it one degree nearer to scientific acceptance. Let me then write
+down the only explanation which seems to me to elucidate what I know to
+my cost to have been a series of facts. My theory may seem to be
+wildly improbable, but at least no one can venture to say that it is
+impossible.
+
+My view is--and it was formed, as is shown by my diary, before my
+personal adventure--that in this part of England there is a vast
+subterranean lake or sea, which is fed by the great number of streams
+which pass down through the limestone. Where there is a large collection
+of water there must also be some evaporation, mists or rain, and a
+possibility of vegetation. This in turn suggests that there may be
+animal life, arising, as the vegetable life would also do, from those
+seeds and types which had been introduced at an early period of the
+world's history, when communication with the outer air was more easy.
+This place had then developed a fauna and flora of its own, including
+such monsters as the one which I had seen, which may well have been the
+old cave-bear, enormously enlarged and modified by its new environment.
+For countless aeons the internal and the external creation had kept
+apart, growing steadily away from each other. Then there had come some
+rift in the depths of the mountain which had enabled one creature to
+wander up and, by means of the Roman tunnel, to reach the open air. Like
+all subterranean life, it had lost the power of sight, but this had no
+doubt been compensated for by nature in other directions. Certainly it
+had some means of finding its way about, and of hunting down the sheep
+upon the hillside. As to its choice of dark nights, it is part of my
+theory that light was painful to those great white eyeballs, and that it
+was only a pitch-black world which it could tolerate. Perhaps, indeed,
+it was the glare of my lantern which saved my life at that awful moment
+when we were face to face. So I read the riddle. I leave these facts
+behind me, and if you can explain them, do so; or if you choose to doubt
+them, do so. Neither your belief nor your incredulity can alter them,
+nor affect one whose task is nearly over.
+
+
+So ended the strange narrative of Dr. James Hardcastle.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Galley, by Arthur Conan Doyle
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