Foxholme Hall, and Other Tales

by William Henry Giles Kingston

I am nigh, and hiss into yourears the name of her you murdered, and you see borne before your eyes onthe whirlwind the writhing form of her who was once so lovely, dying inagony on the wild heath alone and hopeless. Blasted shall be the beautyof which you are proud, withered shall be your form, frozen your heart,and she who now stands in youth and loveliness by your side shall learnto repent she knew you, and shall share your fate. Sail onward on yourcourse, but never shall your eyes again behold your native land, or hearthe greeting of the friends you leave behind. But me you shall hear,and me you shall see, when you would give all the wealth of India not tosee me or to hear me, and wish that I never existed. Go now--sail--sail--sail away over the wide sea! Curses hover over you where'er yougo! Curses attend your hardy crew! Curses follow after the stout shipwhich hears you!'

  "While uttering these dreadful imprecations, she whirled her staff stillmore violently in the air, and uttered shrieks louder than ever, untilshe almost drove the captain and everybody on board mad with horror; andwhile we were all wondering what she would do next, a sudden squall tookthe ship aback, and it was of such violence that we were as nearly aspossible driven stern on to the pier. Everybody had to run to thebraces, tacks, and sheets, and sharp work we had to slew the yards roundin time; and when we looked again for the old woman, she was nowhere tobe seen. I never before or since have met in the Mersey a squall sosudden, or so violent, and in a minute it was over, and the wind blew asit had done before. What was also strange was, that not one of theother ships in the river had felt it. The old pilot who was taking usclear of the sands shook his head and said he did not at all like thelook of things, that no good ever came of such strange doings; butCaptain Derick, who was himself again the moment Dame Kirby haddisappeared, laughed, and asked him what harm could possibly happen fromthe ravings of an old mad woman.

  "The young bride also did not at all like it, for she could not helprecognising her as the old hag who had come and frightened her on theday of their marriage; and though Derick did his best to persuade herthat there was nothing of truth in what she said, she could not bringherself to believe him. Those dreadful shrieks and curses had piercedher young heart, and struck her soul with dread.

  "`Why, my love,' he said, `what power to do us harm can a wretched oldcreature like that have? She is some unfortunate maniac who has escapedfrom her keepers, and has got this story about a grandchild she haslost, and whom, perhaps, some man has neglected, into her head, and hasfixed it upon me. Poor old hag! she is more to be pitied than feared.It would have been a mercy to have sent a bullet through her head, andput her out of her misery, when she was howling at us leaving the quay,and I confess I felt not a little inclined to do so. I don't mean tosay that it would have been right to hurt her--of course, I would not,poor thing. So now let us laugh at the foolish fears of the crew, andthink no more about the matter.'

  "Even while he was speaking, I saw his lip tremble, and his eye beliedhis words. His wife, who by this time knew him pretty well, was awareall the time that he was not speaking his real feelings, though perhapshe was trying to deceive himself, as well as her and others.

  "Mrs Derick was certainly a very handsome woman, and she did not wantwit or sense. She was dotingly fond of her husband, though she hadfound out that he had a good number of faults to weigh in the scaleagainst his good looks, which is what many a woman is apt to discoverwhen she marries a man for his handsome face, instead of for his senseand goodness. Though the captain appeared in high spirits, and laughedand talked as gaily as need be, the crew could not get the thought ofthe old hag out of their heads; and when the pilot left us, he lookedvery grave, and said that his heart would not be light again till he sawthe ship safe back in the Mersey once more. I believe that at that timeone-half of the men would have left the ship if they could have done so.Indeed, some attempted to follow the pilot, but Derick rushed on deckwith his pistols in his hands, and swore that he would blow out thebrains of the first man who should attempt such a trick.

  "`You confounded idiots!' he exclaimed. `I thought I had shipped a crewof men, who would face the devil if I led them; instead of that, I'vegot a number of sucking babies on board. Pity I did not ship some casksof pap to feed you on! But now I've got you, I intend to keep you, andto try if I can't make men of you; so I don't mean to part company justnow, and shall keep my powder dry for ready use.'

  "This speech had the effect of shaming the men into their duty, and forsome time we heard no more of the old witch. I ought to have said thatwe were bound for Chili and the western coast of South America, and wereto visit some of the islands in the Pacific before we returned home, sothat we thus expected to be away the best part of two years. We had afair wind after leaving the Mersey, and enjoyed a fine run clear of theChannel, and until we got into the latitude of Gibraltar, so that themen entirely recovered their spirits and good humour, and, with thecarelessness of seamen, even began to laugh at their former fears. MrsDerick took a great liking to the sea, and told her husband that sheshould always be ready to go with him. Poor thing! she had only yetseen the bright face of it. Those who know the ocean can say, that,like many a beautiful woman, it wears two very different aspects atdifferent times. We all began to like the lady very much, whichofficers and crew do not always do the skipper's wife; but she was likea gleam of sunshine on a cloudy day, and stood between us and thesomewhat dark temper which the captain now often showed. Thus thingswent on very well on board the _Chameleon_, and there appeared to beevery prospect of a pleasant voyage.

  "I said that we were bound for Chili and the western coast of SouthAmerica. In those days the jealous and narrow-minded commercial policyof Spain prohibited the ships of any other nation than their own tradingwith her colonies. The consequence was, that those provinces,notwithstanding their internal sources of wealth, remained poor andinsignificant, and their inhabitants ignorant and bigoted, while inNorth America a state was springing up which not only surpassed theirwhole united provinces in power and influence, but soon became in acondition to bid defiance to the rest of the world. We, therefore, didnot hope to carry on a regular trade with these degenerate Spaniards,but our intention was to call off different parts of the coast, and tosell our goods wherever we found people ready to buy them, withouttroubling ourselves by entering at any custom-house. There was somerisk, it is true, in this species of traffic, but there was also someadventure, and it required considerable sagacity and courage, and thisexactly suited Derick's taste. I forgot to say that we carried fourguns on a side, and were well supplied with muskets, pistols, andboarding-pikes, both to defend ourselves against the Spanishcustom-house officers, and also against any piratical rovers, who, inthat day, were known at times to frequent those seas, to rob any unarmedmerchantmen they might fall in with.

  "The plan, in dealing with the Spaniards, when I had been in that partof the world before, was to call off the coast two or three leagues awayfrom a town, and to send on shore, by some fishing-boat, to themerchants, to say what goods we had, and that we were ready to deal withthem. They would then send back word when they would come, probably onthat or the following night. If the weather were fine we used to anchorclose in shore, always keeping a bright look out in case of treachery.As soon as it was dark, the merchant", or their agents, would come offin their boats, and take the goods on shore, and pay us good prices inhard dollars. So much for restrictive duties. Scarcely a ship enteredat the custom-house at any of those ports, and the Government got norevenue, while, on account of the difficulties and risks, the people hadto pay just as much as they would have done for the goods had moderatedues been levied, and the trade been regular and above board. But I amrunning away from the subject of my story. Well, as I was saying, wemade very fine weather of it, though the wind was seldom fair, till wereached about twenty-seven degrees north latitude, when we got into thenorth-east trade-winds, which carried us along at a spanking pace, withstudding sails alow and aloft on either side, till we were nearly in thelatitude of Rio
do Janeiro. It was enough to make a man vain of hisship, of himself, and of the art which formed her, to see her thuswalking along the water, with her wide spread of snowy canvas proudlysweeping the blue vault of heaven. Captain Derick rubbed his hands, andsmiled with satisfaction, as he walked the deck and looked up at thewell-set sails, and then over the side, to watch the sparkling foam asit quickly flew past and formed a long wake astern. He amused his youngwife and himself in teaching her the names of the ropes and sails, andshe fully shared his pleasure and satisfaction. I remember them as ifit were yesterday; she was sitting on the bench, on the after-part ofthe deck, with one arm resting on his shoulder, and her face looking upat his, while he was explaining some point she could not at firstunderstand. They certainly were a handsome couple. The sea was smooth,the sky was blue, and the air was pure and warm.