Lochinvar: A Novel
Page 26
CHAPTER XXIII
WISE JAN WAXES WISER
Jan Pettigrew started with the gold piece in his hand to get theprovisions in the town of Lis-op-Zee. So soon as he was out of sightWat Gordon was in the long-boat hunting about like a terrier dog. Hiseye had caught the least touch of bright color among the rubbish inthe stern of the boat. He was on his knees presently, holding a bitof ribbon in his fingers which in hue appeared like the stone calledaquamarine, or, as one would say, blue and green at the same time. Hepressed it with passion to his lips.
"It is my love's!" he cried. "It is most surely hers. Thrice I saw herwear it about her beautiful neck! She must have sat in this boat not somany hours since."
"And what else do you suppose I have been getting out of thatincredible lout, all the while you were staring at this bit of ribbonand trying to get in your silly word and spoil everything?" saidScarlett, testily. For sleeplessness and his companion's impatience hadcertainly been trying to the temper.
But Wat continued to cherish his ribbon to the exclusion of all else.He had had but little to feed his affection upon, poor lad, ever sincehe had been clapped behind iron bars--and, indeed, not so very muchbefore that.
Wat and Scarlett carried the cask and beakers to a spring which theyfound in an old overgrown garden not far from the harbor. They made aconvenient stretcher by removing part of the rough decking from thebottom of the long-boat, and carrying the vessels to and fro uponthat. They had hardly returned for the last time when they descriedWise Jan Pettigrew coming back along the shore with a whole army ofhelpers at his tail, carrying parcels and packages innumerable. He wasin the full tide of discourse to them.
"Ye see, lads," he was saying, as he came up, "my father was a man fromAmersfort that came to England; and desiring to settle there, he haddealings with my mother, who was a farmer's daughter in the county ofDorset. And in due time he married her--yes, in good sooth, he marriedher, and that is why I am called Jan Pettigrew. For my father must haveme called Jan. He would hear of nothing else. Whereat my mother, not tobe beaten, swore that some part of my name should carry with it a goodold English smell. So Jan Pettigrew I was christened, of my mother'ssurname, with my father standing by and never daring so much as to saya word!"
The louts of Lis were chuckling and nudging each other with suppressedlaughter, for it was obvious that Wise Jan Pettigrew had been lookingmost unwisely upon the Hollands when it gave its color aright in thecup. However, they hastened to plant their parcels and stores in thelong-boat, and meantime they gazed with wide-open eyes at Wat andScarlett.
"These honest gentlemen," said the wise and reticent Jan, "are for thefishing. Oh yes, they are for the fishing"--his finger went to hisnose--"you all understand, lads, the fishing. Then when we come back toLis here to make a declaration to the burgomeister of the number andweight of the fine fish we have taken on the Banks, why, there will bedrink at the Three Castles for every honest fellow here!"
He would have said more, but Scarlett, growing suddenly tired of hisclatter, tumbled him unceremoniously into the boat, and cried out tothe men of Lis:
"Here's good silver for whoever will give us a hand that the boat maybe launched--silver to drink the health of the prince this very nightat the inn of Lis in sound, stark Hollands!"
The men and boys, hearing this, gave a rousing cheer, and settingtheir strength to the long-boat of the _Sea Unicorn_, they rattled itdown the pebbles and out into the heave and murmur of the incomingtide. Scarlett ran his hands through the pockets of Jan Pettigrew'sclothing, and handed all the small silver which he found there--a roundhandful--to the tallest of the 'prentice lads.
"There," he said, "drink the prince's health, and if there be any over,drink to the health of Captain Smith of the _Sea Unicorn_, and of allhis crew and passengers."
And at this liberal and comprehensive toast the lads on shore againcheered, as men with drink in prospect will cheer at anything.
There was still a rousing breeze astern, and making Jan Pettigrewkeep awake so that he might at least direct them in the necessarymanoeuvres, Wat and Scarlett proceeded to erect the mast and unbendthe sail with ignorant, unseamanlike hands. But after a little, underguidance, they did featly enough, so that the distance widened, andthey saw with delight the shores of Holland drop back and the solemn,waffing windmills stand up in a long row out of the polder.
"Now for England and Kate!" cried Wat, as though they had already foundboth.
Jan Pettigrew, who had become noisier and more oracular, so soon as hefound himself on the lift and heave of the sea, and the boat began tocradle buoyantly among the short waves, cried out to Wat and Scarlettto set the foresail. This Wat attempted to do, but, though he found thesmall triangular sail readily enough, he could neither attach it tothe bowsprit nor yet bend it properly.
Then Jack Scarlett did a thing which exceedingly astonished MasterJan. That wise youth was lying in the stern-sheets, with his pipe inhis hand, content to issue commands, and laughing and sneering at thelandsmen's awkward manner of executing them.
When he had ordered them for the third time to bend the foresail,Scarlett turned on him and very curtly bade him do it himself and lookspry. Jan, the self-satisfied one, could scarce believe his ears. Hefelt astounded, his pipe went out, his jaw began to fall and his mouthto open as it had done while he listened to Scarlett's eloquence on theshore.
But Scarlett was in a different mood this time. He simply repeated hisadvice in a louder tone.
Then Wise Jan Pettigrew grew sulky and pointedly declined, assertingthat he had not come upon this particular cruise for the purpose ofpulling ropes with two greenhorns to do it for him. As the words lefthis mouth he felt something cold touch his right temple. He turnedrapidly, and the movement brought his entire cheek against the coldbell mouth of a horse-pistol. The self-satisfaction flickered out ofhis face. His gin-reddened cheek whitened to chalk, and he began totremble violently in all his limbs.
"Get up and bend the foresail without a word more!" quoth Scarlett,sternly, "and remember for the remainder of this cruise you will dovery precisely as you are bid."
Jan, being upon compulsion really wise, instantly and without a murmurcomplied. In a minute the foresail was properly bent and also a littlesquare-sail in the stern--which last had a great effect in steadyingthe boat in the cross winds which were now whipping the tops off thewaves and driving the spray over the boat, as they sat under theshelter of the windward side.
Presently Scarlett began to explain the situation to Jan Pettigrew. Hetold him that though he must be ready to work the boat in all mattersof seamanship, yet both of the others would assist him to the best oftheir ability. He must, however, be willing to go where they wished andto obey their orders. In the event of their cruise being successfulhe was to receive ten gold pieces. And even if it were not, in theevent of his proving faithful and silent, he should have five for hispains--which was a great deal more than he would have received on manyvoyages from Captain Smith of the _Sea Unicorn_.
At first Jan lay sulkily enough in the bow of the boat and pretended topay no attention to Scarlett's words. But presently he grumbled, "Howcan I or any man take a boat to England without so much as a compass ora chart?"
"That is not my business," said Scarlett; "it is surely a strangeseaman that cannot keep a boat to its course for a few miles by thestars. All I know is that if you do it not I shall be compelledmost reluctantly to blow your brains out, and let your carcass dropoverboard to feed the fishes."
"THE SELF-SATISFACTION FLICKERED OUT OF HIS FACE"]
He pronounced this in so matter-of-fact a voice that the lad cameinstantly aft, and began to search carefully in the side lockers anddrawers. Two of these were locked and had to be opened with the bladeof Scarlett's dagger. Wat cut away part of the wood round the wards ofthe lock, into which aperture Jan inserted an iron spike that lay inthe bottom of the boat, whereupon the locks gave sharply in both cases.In one compartment was a small compass, and in the other a sheaf o
fcharts.
* * * * *
When the morning broke on the third day of their cruise a long, lowisland was in sight immediately in front. Then a flat coast withrolling country stretched away behind, with many woods shiningpalely green, and looking newly washed as the morning sun sucked thenight dews from the leaves. An ancient castle stood gray and stern onthe left, and far to the right the tower of a noble church took the sunand gleamed like the white sail of a ship.
Wise Jan Pettigrew, who had long since composed himself to all hisduties and become the devoted slave of Jack Scarlett (whom his eyesfollowed with a kind of rapt adoration), pointed with his finger.
"Branksea!" he cried, with pride both in voice and gesture.
And indeed he had some reason for self-congratulation. For the crosschannel voyage in an open boat, together with a long trip down thecoast, had not often been so successfully undertaken.
Keeping the boat well to the left, they rounded a low spit of shingleand turned in sharply towards a tiny landing-place, from which a neatpath extended up into the woods.
A flag was flying among the trees and making a splash of brave coloramong the greenery.