Springhaven: A Tale of the Great War

by R. D. Blackmore

  CHAPTER LIX

  NEAR OUR SHORES

  "This is how it is," said Captain Tugwell, that same day, to ErleTwemlow: "the folk they goes on with a thing, till a man as has anyhead left twists it round on his neck, with his chin looking down hisstarn-post. Then the enemy cometh, with his spy-glass and his guns, andafore he can look round, he hath nothing left to look for."

  "Then you think, Tugwell, that the danger is not over?--that the Frenchmean business even now, when every one is tired of hearing of it? I havebeen away so long that I know nothing. But the universal opinion is--"

  "Opinion of the universe be dashed!" Master Zebedee answered, with apuff of smoke. "We calls ourselves the universe, when we be the ropethat drags astarn of it. Cappen, to my mind there is mischief in thewind, more than there hath been for these three years; and that's whyyou see me here, instead of going with the smacks. Holy Scripture saitha dream cometh from the Lord; leastways, to a man of sense, as hardlyever dreameth. The wind was so bad again us, Monday afternoon, that weput off sailing till the Tuesday, and Monday night I lay on my own bed,without a thought of nothing but to sleep till five o'clock. I hadn'ttaken nothing but a quart of John Prater's ale--and you know what hismeasures is--not a single sip of grog; but the Hangel of the Lord hecome and stand by me in the middle of the night. And he took me by thehand, or if he didn't it come to the same thing of my getting there, andhe set me up in a dark high place, the like of the yew-tree near CarneCastle. And then he saith, 'Look back, Zeb'; and I looked, and beholdSpringhaven was all afire, like the bottomless pit, or the thunder-stormof Egypt, or the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And two figures wasjumping about in the flames, like the furnace in the plain of Dura, andone of them was young Squire Carne, and the other was my son Daniel, asbehaveth below his name. And I called out, 'Daniel, thou son of Zebedeeand Kezia Tugwell, come forth from the burning fiery furnace'; but heanswered not, neither heeded me. And then Squire Darling, Sir Charles isnow the name of him, out he come from his Round-house, and by the whitegate above high-water mark, to order out the fire, because they was allhis own cottages. But while he was going about, as he doth for fear ofbeing hard upon any one, out jumps Squire Carne, from the thickest ofthe blazes, and takes the poor Squire by the forepart of his neck, whichhe liketh to keep open when he getteth off of duty, and away with himinto the burning fiery furnace made of his own houses! That was morethan I could put up with, even under the Hangel, and I give such a kickthat Kezia, though she saith she is the most quietest of women, feltherself a forced to bounce me up."

  "A dream of that sort deserves notice," answered Erle, who had passedmany months among sailors; "and over and above that, I see proofs ofa foolish security in England, and of sharp activity in France. LastMonday I was only five miles from Boulogne, on board of our frigatethe Melpomene, for I wanted the captain's evidence to help me in myown affairs; and upon my word I was quite amazed at the massing of theFrench forces there, and the evident readiness of their hundreds oftroop-ships. Scores of them even had horses on board, for I saw themquite clearly with a spy-glass. But the officers only laughed at me, andsaid they were tired of seeing that. And another thing I don't likeat all is the landing of a French boat this side of Pebbleridge. I wascoming home after dark one night, and as soon as they saw me they pushedoff, and pretended to be English fishermen; but if ever I saw Frenchmen,these were French; and I believe they had a ship not far away, for I sawa light shown and then turned off. I examined the place in the morning,and saw the footprints of men on a path up the cliff, as if they hadgone inland towards Carne Castle. When the Admiral came home, I told himof it; but he seemed to think it was only some smuggling."

  "Ah, there's smooglin' of a bad kind over there, to my belief. Iwouldn't tell your honour not a quarter what I thinks, because of theyoung gentleman being near akin to you. But a thing or two have come tomy ears, very much again a young squire over that way. A man as will dowhat he have done is a black one in some ways; and if some, why not inall?"

  "Tell me what you mean," said Twemlow, sternly. "After saying so much,you are bound to say more. Caryl Carne is no friend of mine, although heis my cousin. I dislike the man, though I know but little of him."

  "For sartin then a kind gentleman like you won't like him none thebetter for betraying of a nice young maid as put her trust in him, aslively and pretty a young maid as ever stepped, and might have had thepick of all the young men in the parish."

  "What!" exclaimed Erle, with a sudden chill of heart, for Faith had notconcealed from him her anxiety about Dolly. "Tugwell, do you mean tosay--"

  "Yes, sir; only you must keep it to yourself, for the sake of the pooryoung thing; though too many knows it already, I'm afeared. And thatwas how poor Jem Cheeseman changed from a dapper money-turning man, aspleasant as could be, to a down-hearted, stick-in-doors, honest-weightedfellow. Poor little Polly was as simple as a dove, and her meant tobreak none of the Lord's commandments, unless it was a sin to look somuch above her. He took her aboard her father's trading-craft, andmade pretence to marry her across the water, her knowing nothing ofthe lingo, to be sure; and then when there come a thumping boy, andher demanded for the sake of the young 'un that her marriage should besartified in the face of all the world, what does he do but turn roundand ask her if she was fool enough to suppose that a Carne had married abutter-man's daughter? With a few words more, she went off of her head,and have never been right again, they say; and her father, who wasmighty proud to have a grandson heir to an old ancient castle, he wasso took aback with this disappointment that he puzzled all the village,including of me, as I am free to own, by jumping into his own rope.'Twas only now just that I heard all this; and as the captain of thishere place, I shall ask leave of Cheeseman to have it out with MasterCarne, as soon as may be done without hurting the poor thing. If shehad been my child, the rope should have gone round his neck first, if itcome to mine there-arter!"

  "The ----- villain!" Twemlow used a strong short word, without addingheavily, it may be hoped, to the score against him. "And to think thatall this time he has been daring to address himself--But never mind thatnow. It will be a bad time for him when I catch him by himself, though Imust not speak of Polly. Poor little Polly! what a pretty child she was!I used to carry sugar-plums on purpose for her. Good-bye, Tugwell; Imust think about all this."

  "And so must I, sir. What a strapping chap 'a be!" Captain Zebedeecontinued to himself, as Twemlow strode away with the light step of amountain savage, carrying a long staff from force of habit, and lookingeven larger than himself from the flow of chestnut hair and beard aroundhim. "Never did see such a hairy chap. Never showed no signs of it when'a was a lad, and Miss 'Liza quite smooth in the front of her neck. Mustcome of Hottentot climate, I reckon. They calls it the bush, fromthe folk been so bushy. I used to think as my beard was a pretty goodexample; but, Lord bless me and keep me, it would all go on his nose! If'a spreadeth that over the face of Squire Carne, 'a will ravish him, asthe wicked doth ravish the poor."

  Twemlow had many sad things to consider, and among them the impendingloss of this grand mane. After divers delays, and infinitude of forms,and much evidence of things self-evident--in the spirit which drove SirHoratio Nelson to pin a certificate of amputation to the sleeve of hislost arm--this Twemlow had established that he was the Twemlow leftbehind upon the coast of Africa, and having been captured in the serviceof his country, was entitled at least to restoration. In such a casesmall liberality was shown in those days, even as now prevaileth, theobject of all in authority being to be hard upon those who are outof it. At last, when he was becoming well weary, and nothing but anEnglishman's love of his country and desire to help in her dangersprevented him from turning to private pursuits--wherein he held a keyto fortune--he found himself restored to his rank in the Army, andappointed to another regiment, which happened to be short of officers.Then he flung to the winds, until peace should return, his prospect ofwealth beyond reckoning, and locked in a black leather trunk materialsworth thei
r weight in diamonds. But, as life is uncertain, he toldhis beloved one the secret of his great discovery, which she, in sweetignorance of mankind, regarded as of no importance.

  But as wars appear and disappear, nations wax and wane, and the holiestprinciples of one age become the scoff of the next, yet human nature isthe same throughout, it would be wrong to cast no glance--even with theFrench so near our shores--at the remarkable discovery of this youngman, and the circumstances leading up to it. For with keen insightinto civilized thought, which yearns with the deepest remorse for thoseblessings which itself has banished, he knew that he held a master-keyto the treasuries of Croesus, Mycerinus, Attalus, and every other Kingwho has dazzled the world with his talents. The man who can minister tohuman needs may, when he is lucky, earn a little towards his own; theman who contributes to the pleasure of his fellows must find reward inhis own; but he who can gratify the vanity of his race is the master oftheir pockets.

  Twemlow had been carried from the deadly coast (as before related byCaptain Southcombe) to the mountainous district far inland, by the greatKing Golo of the Quackwas nation, mighty warriors of lofty stature. Herehe was treated well, and soon learned enough of their simple language tounderstand and be understood; while the King, who considered all whitemen as of canine origin, was pleased with him, and prepared to make himuseful. Then Twemlow was sent, with an escort of chiefs, to the land ofthe Houlas, as a medicine-man, to win Queen Mabonga for the great KingGolo. But she--so strange is the perversity of women--beholding this manof a pearly tint, as fair as the moon, and as soft as a river--for hetook many months to get properly tanned--with one long gaze of amazementyielded to him what he sought for another. A dwarf and a whipster hemight be among the great darkies around her--for he had only six feetand one inch of stature, and forty-two inches round the chest--but, toher fine taste, tone and quality more than covered defect of quantity.The sight of male members of her race had never moved her, because shehad heard of their wickedness; but the gaze of this white man, so tenderand so innocent, set her on a long course of wondering about herself.Then she drew back, and passed into the private hut behind, where no onewas allowed to disturb her. For she never had felt like this before, andshe wanted nobody to notice it.

  But the Houla maidens, with the deepest interest in matters that camehome to them outside their understanding, held council with theirmothers, and these imparted to the angelic stranger, as plainly asmodesty permitted, the distressing results of his whiteness, andimplored him to depart, before further harm was done. Twemlow perceivedthat he had tumbled into a difficult position, and the only way out ofit was to make off. Giving pledges to return in two moons at the latest,he made his salaam to the sensitive young Queen, whose dignity wasonly surpassed by her grace, and expecting to be shortened by the head,returned with all speed to the great King Golo. Honesty is the bestpolicy--as we all know so well that we forbear to prove it--and theEnglishman saw that the tale would be darker from the lips of his blackattendants. The negro monarch was of much-enduring mind, but thesetidings outwent his philosophy. He ordered Twemlow's head to come off bydinner-time, and, alas, that royal household kept very early hours; andthe poor captain, corded to a tree, sniffed sadly the growth of goodroast, which he never should taste, and could only succeed in successionof fare. For although that enlightened King had discarded the taste ofthe nations around him, it was not half so certain as the prisoner couldhave wished that his prejudice would resist the relish of a candid rivalin prime condition.

  While Twemlow was dwelling upon this nice question, and sympathisingdeeply with the animal on the spit, Tuloo, the head councillor ofthe realm, appeared, an ancient negro full of wisdom and resource.Discovering that the white man set more value on his head than is usualwith these philosophers, he proposed conditions which were eagerlyaccepted, and releasing the captive, led him into his own hut. Here theman of wisdom spat three times into his very ample bosom, to exorciseevil spells, and took from a hole in the corner something which hehandled very carefully, and with a touch as light as possible. Followingeverything with his best eyes, Twemlow perceived in the hand of Tulooa spongy-looking substance of conical form, and in colour and size verylike a morel, but possessing a peculiar golden glow. "Kneel here, myson, and move not until I tell you," the old man whispered, and wasobeyed. Then he stripped off all covering from the white neck andshoulders, and beginning immediately below the eyes, brushed all thecheeks and the chin, throat and neck and upper part of the bosom, withthe substance in his hand, from which a yellow powder passed, moistrather than dusty, into the open pores. "In one moon you will be a beastof the woods, and in two you shall return to the Queen that loves you,"said Councillor Tuloo, with a sly little grin.

  But Twemlow was robbed of no self-respect by the growth of a forestabout him; and when he was sent again to Queen Mabonga, and the dewyglance of love died at the very first wink into a stony glare--becauseof his face being covered with hair--he said to himself that he knewwhere he could inflict a very different impression upon ladies. Forthese cannot have too much hair in England, at the back of their ownheads, and front of their admirers'.

  Councillor Tuloo was gifted with a deep understanding of a thing whichlooks shallow to a man who has never yet heard of false bottoms. He saidto King Golo: "I know what women are. As long as she never had thoughtabout men, you might crawl, and be only a hog to her. But her eyes havebeen opened to this white man, and there is room for a black one togo into them. And unless you are at hand, it will be done by some oneelse."

  In short, all was managed so beautifully that in six more moons the coyMabonga split the Durra straw with King Golo, amid vast rejoicings andin din almost equal to that which a wedding in Wales arouses. Butfrom time to time it was considered needful to keep up her Majesty'srepulsion by serving Erle Twemlow with another dose of that which wouldhave created for the English fair capillary attraction. Thus he becamea great favourite with the King, who listened with deep interest tohis descriptions of the houseful of beads and buttons to be earned inEngland by a little proper management of Tuloo's magic dust. Beforevery long it was arranged that as soon as a good supply of Pong could becollected, Twemlow should be sent back to the coast and placed underthe charge of Bandeliah, who was now a tributary of this great King. Andhere he might have waited years and years--for the trading station wasabandoned now--but for the benevolence of Captain Southcombe, who, beingdriven to the eastward of his course upon one of his returns from India,stood in a little further to enquire about his friend, and with no smallpleasure conveyed him home.