by T. Smollett
Mr. Sackbut and his Pupil conspire against Peregrine, who,being apprised of their Design by his Sister, takes measures forcounterworking their Scheme, which is executed by mistake upon Mr.Gauntlet--this young Soldier meets with a cordial reception from theCommodore, who generously decoys him into his own interest.
When he considered the circumstances of the ambuscade, he could notpersuade himself that he had been assaulted by a common thief, becauseit was not to be supposed that a robber would have amused himself inpummeling rather than in rifling his prey; he therefore ascribed hismisfortune to the secret enmity of some person who had a design upon hislife; and, upon mature deliberation, fixed his suspicion upon Peregrine,who was the only man on earth from whom he thought he deserved suchtreatment. He communicated his conjecture to his pupil, who readilyadopted his opinion, and advised him strenuously to revenge the wrong bya like contrivance, without seeking to make a narrower inquiry, lest hisenemy should be thereby put upon his guard.
This proposal being relished, they in concert revolved the means ofretorting the ambush with interest, and actually laid such a villainousplan for attacking our hero in the dark, that, had it been executedaccording to their intention, the young gentleman's scheme of travellingwould have been effectually marred. But their machinations wereoverheard by Miss Pickle, who was now in the seventeenth year of herage, and, in spite of the prejudice of education, entertained in secreta most sisterly affection for her brother Perry, though she had neverspoken to him, and was deterred by the precepts, vigilance and menacesof her mother, from attempting any means of meeting him in private. Shewas not, however, insensible to his praise, which was loudly soundedforth in the neighbourhood; and never failed of going to church, andevery other place, where she thought she might have an opportunity ofseeing this amiable brother. With these sentiments it cannot be supposedthat she would hear the conspiracy without emotion. She was shocked atthe treacherous barbarity of Gam, and shuddered at the prospect of thedanger to which Peregrine would be exposed from their malice. She durstnot communicate this plot to her mother, because she was afraid thatlady's unaccountable aversion for her first-born would hinder herfrom interposing in his behalf, and consequently render her a sort ofaccomplice in the guilt of his assassins. She therefore resolved to warnPeregrine of the conspiracy, on account of which she transmitted tohim in an affectionate letter, by means of a young gentleman in thatneighbourhood, who made his addresses to her at that time, and who, ather request, offered his service to our hero, in defeating the projectsof his adversaries.
Peregrine was startled when he read the particulars of their scheme,which was no other than an intention to sally upon him when he shouldbe altogether unprovided against such an attack, cut off his ears, andotherwise mutilate him in such a manner that he should have no causeto be vain of his person for the future. Incensed as he was againstthe brutal disposition of his own father's son, he could not helpbeing moved at the integrity and tenderness of his sister, of whoseinclinations towards him he had been hitherto kept in ignorance. Hethanked the gentleman for his honourable dealing, and expressed a desireof being better acquainted with his virtues; told him that now he wascautioned, he hoped there would be no necessity for giving him anyfurther trouble, and wrote by him a letter of acknowledgment to hissister, for whom he expressed the utmost love and regard, beseechingher to favour him with an interview before his departure, that he mightindulge his fraternal fondness, and be blessed with the company andcountenance of one at least belonging to his own family. Having impartedthis discovery to his friend Hatchway, they came to a resolution ofcountermining the plan of their enemies. As they did not choose toexpose themselves to the insinuations of slander, which would haveexerted itself at their expense, had they, even in defending themselves,employed any harsh means of retaliation, they invented a method ofdisappointing and disgracing their foes, and immediately set Pipes atwork to forward the preparations. Miss Pickle having described the spotwhich the assassins had pitched upon for the scene of their vengeance,our triumvirate intended to have placed a sentinel among the corn, whoshould come and give them intelligence when the ambuscade was laid; and,in consequence of that information, they would steal softly towards theplace, attended by three or four of the domestics, and draw a largenet over the conspirators, who, being entangled in the toil, should bedisarmed, fettered, heartily scourged, and suspended between two treesin the snare, as a spectacle to all passengers that should chance totravel that way.
The plan being thus digested, and the commodore acquainted with thewhole affair, the spy was sent upon duty, and everybody within-doorsprepared to go forth upon the first notice. One whole evening did theyspend in the most impatient expectation, but on the second the scoutcrept into the garrison, and assured them that he had perceived threemen skulking behind the hedge, on the road that led to the public-housefrom which Peregrine and the lieutenant used every night to return aboutthat hour. Upon this intelligence the confederates set out immediatelywith all their implements. Approaching the scene with as little noise aspossible, they heard the sound of blows; and, though the night wasdark, perceived a sort of tumultuous conflict on the very spot which theconspirators had possessed. Surprised at this occurrence, the meaning ofwhich he could not comprehend, Peregrine ordered his myrmidons tohalt and reconnoitre; and immediately his ears were saluted with anexclamation of "You shan't 'scape me, rascal." The voice being quitefamiliar to him, he at once divined the cause of that confusion whichthey had observed; and running up to the assistance of the exclaimer,found a fellow on his knees begging his life of Mr. Gauntlet, who stoodover him with a naked hanger in his hand.
Pickle instantly made himself known to his friend, who told him, thathaving left his horse at Tunley's, he was, in his way to the garrison,set upon by three ruffians, one of whom being the very individual personnow in his power, had come behind him, and struck with a bludgeon athis head, which, however, he missed, and the instrument descended on hisleft shoulder; that, upon drawing his hanger, and laying about himin the dark, the other two fled, leaving their companion, whom he haddisabled, in the lurch.
Peregrine congratulated him on his safety, and having ordered Pipes tosecure the prisoner, conducted Mr. Gauntlet to the garrison, where hemet with a very hearty reception from the commodore, to whom he wasintroduced as his nephew's intimate friend; not but that, in alllikelihood, he would have abated somewhat of his hospitality had heknown that he was the brother of Perry's mistress; but her name theold gentleman had never thought of asking, when he inquired into theparticulars of his godson's amour.
The captive being examined, in presence of Trunnion and all hisadherents, touching the ambuscade, owned that being in the service ofGam Pickle, he had been prevailed upon, by the solicitations of hismaster and the Curate, to accompany them in their expedition, andundertake the part which he had acted against the stranger, whom heand his employers mistook for Peregrine. In consideration of this frankacknowledgment, and a severe wound he had received in his right arm,they resolved to inflict no other punishment on this malefactor than todetain him all night in the garrison, and next morning carry him beforea justice of the peace, to whom he repeated all he had said overnight,and with his own hand subscribed his confession, copies of whichwere handed about the neighbourhood, to the unspeakable confusion anddisgrace of the curate and his promising pupil.
Meanwhile Trunnion treated the young soldier with uncommon marks ofrespect, being prepossessed in his favour by this adventure, which hehad so gallantly achieved, as well as by the encomiums that Peregrinebestowed upon his valour and generosity. He liked his countenance, whichwas bold and hardy, admired his Herculean limbs, and delighted in askingquestions concerning the service he had seen. The day after his arrival,while the conversation turned on this last subject, the commodore,taking the pipe out of his month, "I'll tell ye what, brother," said he;"five-and-forty years ago, when I was third lieutenant of the Warwickman-of-war, there was a very stout young fellow on board, a subalternofficer of marin
es; his name was not unlike your own, d'ye see, beingGuntlet, with a G. I remember he and I could not abide one another atfirst, because, d'ye see, I was a sailor and he a landsman; till we fellin with a Frenchman, whom we engaged for eight glasses, and at lengthboarded and took. I was the first man that stood on the enemy's deck,and should have come scurvily off, d'ye see, if Guntlet had not jumpedto my assistance; but we soon cleared ship, and drove them to closequarters, so that they were obliged to strike; and from that day Guntletand I were sworn brothers as long as he remained on board. He wasexchanged into a marching regiment, and what became of him afterwards,Lord in heaven knows; but this I'll say of him, whether he be dead oralive, he feared no man that ever wore a head, and was, moreover, a veryhearty messmate."
The stranger's breast glowed at this eulogium, which was no soonerpronounced than he eagerly asked if the French ship was not theDiligence? The commodore replied, with a stare, "The very same, mylad."--"Then," said Gauntlet, "the person of whom you are pleased tomake such honourable mention was my own father."--"The devil he was!"cried Trunnion, shaking him by the hand: "I am rejoiced to see a son ofNed Guntlet in my house."
This discovery introduced a thousand questions, in the course of whichthe old gentleman learned the situation of his friend's family, anddischarged innumerable execrations upon the ingratitude and injusticeof the ministry, which had failed to provide for the son of such abrave soldier. Nor was his friendship confined to such ineffectualexpressions; he that same evening signified to Peregrine a desire ofdoing something for his friend. This inclination was so much praised,encouraged, and promoted by his godson, and even supported by hiscouncilor Hatchway, that our hero was empowered to present him with asum of money sufficient to purchase a commission.
Though nothing could be more agreeable to Pickle than this permission,he was afraid that Godfrey's scrupulous disposition would hinder himfrom subjecting himself to any such obligation; and therefore proposedthat he should be decoyed into his own interest by a feigned story, inconsequence of which he would be prevailed upon to accept of the money,as a debt which the commodore had contracted of his father at sea.Trunnion made wry faces at this expedient, the necessity of which hecould not conceive, without calling in question the common sense ofGauntlet; as he took it for granted that such offers as those were notto be rejected on any consideration whatever. Besides, he could notdigest an artifice, by which he himself must own that he had lived somany years without manifesting the least intention of doing justice tohis creditor. All these objections, however, were removed by the zealand rhetoric of Peregrine, who represented that it would be impossibleto befriend him on any other terms; that his silence hitherto wouldbe imputed to his want of information touching the circumstances andcondition of his friend; and that his remembering and insisting upondischarging the obligation, after such an interval of time, when thewhole affair was in oblivion, would be the greatest compliment he couldpay to his own honour and integrity.
Thus persuaded, he took an opportunity of Gauntlet's being alone withhim to broach the affair, telling the young man that his father hadadvanced a sum of money for him, when they sailed together, on accountof the mess, as well as to stop the mouth of a clamorous creditor atPortsmouth; and that the said sum, with interest, amounted to about fourhundred pounds, which he would now, with great thankfulness, repay.
Godfrey was amazed at this declaration, and, after a considerable pause,replied, that he had never heard his parents mention any such debt; thatno memorandum or voucher of it was found among his father's papers;and that, in all probability, it must have been discharged long ago,although the commodore, in such a long course of time and hurry ofoccupation, might have forgotten the repayment: he therefore desired tobe excused from accepting what in his own conscience he believed wasnot his due; and complemented the old gentleman upon his being soscrupulously just and honourable.
The soldier's refusal, which was matter of astonishment to Trunnion,increased his inclination to assist him; and, on pretence of acquittinghis own character, he urged his beneficence with such obstinacy, thatGauntlet, afraid of disobliging him, was in a manner compelled toreceive a draft for the money; for which he subscribed an ampledischarge, and immediately transmitted the order to his mother, whomat the same time he informed of the circumstances by which they had sounexpectedly gained this accession of fortune.
Such a piece of news could not fail of being agreeable to Mrs. Gauntlet,who by the first post wrote a polite letter of acknowledgment to thecommodore; another to her own son, importing that she had already sentthe draft to a friend in London, with directions to deposit it in thehands of a certain banker, for the purchase of the first ensigncy to besold; and she took the liberty of sending a third to Peregrine, couchedin very affectionate terms, with a kind postscript, signed by Miss Sophyand his charming Emily.
This affair being transacted to the satisfaction of all concerned,preparations were set on foot for the departure of our hero, on whom hisuncle settled an annuity of eight hundred pounds, being little less thanone half of his whole income. By this time, indeed, the old gentlemancould easily afford to alienate such a part of his fortune, because heentertained little or no company, kept few servants, and was remarkablyplain and frugal in his housekeeping. Mrs. Trunnion being now someyears on the wrong side of fifty, her infirmities began to increase; andthough her pride had suffered no diminution, her vanity was altogethersubdued by her avarice.
A Swiss valet-de-chambre, who had already made the tour of Europe, washired for the care of Peregrine's own person. Pipes being ignorant ofthe French language, as well as otherwise unfit for the office ofa fashionable attendant, it was resolved that he should remain ingarrison; and his place was immediately supplied by a Parisian lacqueyengaged at London for that purpose. Pipes did not seem to relish thisdisposition of things; and though he made no verbal objections to it,looked remarkably sour at his successor upon his first arrival; but thissullen fit seemed gradually to wear off; and long before his master'sdeparture, he had recovered his natural tranquility and unconcern.
CHAPTER XXXI.