Guy Mannering, Or, the Astrologer — Complete
Page 32
CHAPTER XXX
I renounce your defiance; if you parley so roughly I'll barricade my gates against you. Do you see yon bay window? Storm, I care not, serving the good Duke of Norfolk
Merry Devil of Edmonton.
JULIA MANNERING to MATILDA MARCHMONT
'I rise from a sick-bed, my dearest Matilda, to communicate the strangeand frightful scenes which have just passed. Alas! how little we oughtto jest with futurity! I closed my letter to you in high spirits, withsome flippant remarks on your taste for the romantic and extraordinaryin fictitious narrative. How little I expected to have had such eventsto record in the course of a few days! And to witness scenes of terror,or to contemplate them in description, is as different, my dearestMatilda, as to bend over the brink of a precipice holding by the frailtenure of a half-rooted shrub, or to admire the same precipice asrepresented in the landscape of Salvator. But I will not anticipate mynarrative.
'The first part of my story is frightful enough, though it had nothingto interest my feelings. You must know that this country isparticularly favourable to the commerce of a set of desperate men fromthe Isle of Man, which is nearly opposite. These smugglers arenumerous, resolute, and formidable, and have at different times becomethe dread of the neighbourhood when any one has interfered with theircontraband trade. The local magistrates, from timidity or worsemotives, have become shy of acting against them, and impunity hasrendered them equally daring and desperate. With all this my father, astranger in the land, and invested with no official authority, had, onewould think, nothing to do. But it must be owned that, as he himselfexpresses it, he was born when Mars was lord of his ascendant, and thatstrife and bloodshed find him out in circumstances and situations themost retired and pacific.
'About eleven o'clock on last Tuesday morning, while Hazlewood and myfather were proposing to walk to a little lake about three miles'distance, for the purpose of shooting wild ducks, and while Lucy and Iwere busied with arranging our plan of work and study for the day, wewere alarmed by the sound of horses' feet advancing very fast up theavenue. The ground was hardened by a severe frost, which made theclatter of the hoofs sound yet louder and sharper. In a moment two orthree men, armed, mounted, and each leading a spare horse loaded withpackages, appeared on the lawn, and, without keeping upon the road,which makes a small sweep, pushed right across for the door of thehouse. Their appearance was in the utmost degree hurried anddisordered, and they frequently looked back like men who apprehended aclose and deadly pursuit. My father and Hazlewood hurried to the frontdoor to demand who they were, and what was their business. They wererevenue officers, they stated, who had seized these horses, loaded withcontraband articles, at a place about three miles off. But thesmugglers had been reinforced, and were now pursuing them with theavowed purpose of recovering the goods, and putting to death theofficers who had presumed to do their duty. The men said that, theirhorses being loaded, and the pursuers gaining ground upon them, theyhad fled to Woodbourne, conceiving that, as my father had served theKing, he would not refuse to protect the servants of government whenthreatened to be murdered in the discharge of their duty.
'My father, to whom, in his enthusiastic feelings of military loyalty,even a dog would be of importance if he came in the King's name, gaveprompt orders for securing the goods in the hall, arming the servants,and defending the house in case it should be necessary. Hazlewoodseconded him with great spirit, and even the strange animal they callSampson stalked out of his den, and seized upon a fowling-piece whichmy father had laid aside to take what they call a rifle-gun, with whichthey shoot tigers, etc., in the East. The piece went off in the awkwardhands of the poor parson, and very nearly shot one of the excisemen. Atthis unexpected and involuntary explosion of his weapon, the Dominie(such is his nickname) exclaimed, "Prodigious!" which is his usualejaculation when astonished. But no power could force the man to partwith his discharged piece, so they were content to let him retain it,with the precaution of trusting him with no ammunition. This (exceptingthe alarm occasioned by the report) escaped my notice at the time, youmay easily believe; but, in talking over the scene afterwards,Hazlewood made us very merry with the Dominie's ignorant but zealousvalour.
'When my father had got everything into proper order for defence, andhis people stationed at the windows with their firearms, he wanted toorder us out of danger--into the cellar, I believe--but we could not beprevailed upon to stir. Though terrified to death, I have so much ofhis own spirit that I would look upon the peril which threatens usrather than hear it rage around me without knowing its nature or itsprogress. Lucy, looking as pale as a marble statue, and keeping hereyes fixed on Hazlewood, seemed not even to hear the prayers with whichhe conjured her to leave the front of the house. But in truth, unlessthe hall-door should be forced, we were in little danger; the windowsbeing almost blocked up with cushions and pillows, and, what theDominie most lamented, with folio volumes, brought hastily from thelibrary, leaving only spaces through which the defenders might fireupon the assailants.
'My father had now made his dispositions, and we sat in breathlessexpectation in the darkened apartment, the men remaining all silentupon their posts, in anxious contemplation probably of the approachingdanger. My father, who was quite at home in such a scene, walked fromone to another and reiterated his orders that no one should presume tofire until he gave the word. Hazlewood, who seemed to catch couragefrom his eye, acted as his aid-de-camp, and displayed the utmostalertness in bearing his directions from one place to another, andseeing them properly carried into execution. Our force, with thestrangers included, might amount to about twelve men.
'At length the silence of this awful period of expectation was brokenby a sound which at a distance was like the rushing of a stream ofwater, but as it approached we distinguished the thick-beating clang ofa number of horses advancing very fast. I had arranged a loophole formyself, from which I could see the approach of the enemy. The noiseincreased and came nearer, and at length thirty horsemen and morerushed at once upon the lawn. You never saw such horrid wretches!Notwithstanding the severity of the season, they were most of themstripped to their shirts and trowsers, with silk handkerchiefs knottedabout their heads, and all well armed with carbines, pistols, andcutlasses. I, who am a soldier's daughter, and accustomed to see warfrom my infancy, was never so terrified in my life as by the savageappearance of these ruffians, their horses reeking with the speed atwhich they had ridden, and their furious exclamations of rage anddisappointment when they saw themselves baulked of their prey. Theypaused, however, when they saw the preparations made to receive them,and appeared to hold a moment's consultation among themselves. Atlength one of the party, his face blackened with gunpowder by way ofdisguise, came forward with a white handkerchief on the end of hiscarbine, and asked to speak with Colonel Mannering. My father, to myinfinite terror, threw open a window near which he was posted, anddemanded what he wanted. "We want our goods, which we have been robbedof by these sharks," said the fellow; "and our lieutenant bids me saythat, if they are delivered, we'll go off for this bout withoutclearing scores with the rascals who took them; but if not, we'll burnthe house, and have the heart's blood of every one in it,"--a threatwhich he repeated more than once, graced by a fresh variety ofimprecations, and the most horrid denunciations that cruelty couldsuggest.
'"And which is your lieutenant?" said my father in reply.
'"That gentleman on the grey horse," said the miscreant, "with the redhandkerchief bound about his brow."
'"Then be pleased to tell that gentleman that, if he and the scoundrelswho are with him do not ride off the lawn this instant, I will fireupon them without ceremony." So saying, my father shut the window andbroke short the conference.
'The fellow no sooner regained his troop than, with a loud hurra, orrather a savage yell, they fired a volley against our garrison. Theglass of the windows was shattered in every direction, but theprecautions already noticed saved the party within from suffering.Three such volley
s were fired without a shot being returned fromwithin. My father then observed them getting hatchets and crows,probably to assail the hall-door, and called aloud, "Let none fire butHazlewood and me; Hazlewood, mark the ambassador." He himself aimed atthe man on the grey horse, who fell on receiving his shot. Hazlewoodwas equally successful. He shot the spokesman, who had dismounted andwas advancing with an axe in his hand. Their fall discouraged the rest,who began to turn round their horses; and a few shots fired at themsoon sent them off, bearing along with them their slain or woundedcompanions. We could not observe that they suffered any farther loss.Shortly after their retreat a party of soldiers made their appearance,to my infinite relief. These men were quartered at a village some milesdistant, and had marched on the first rumour of the skirmish. A part ofthem escorted the terrified revenue officers and their seizure to aneighbouring seaport as a place of safety, and at my earnest requesttwo or three files remained with us for that and the following day, forthe security of the house from the vengeance of these banditti.
'Such, dearest Matilda, was my first alarm. I must not forget to addthat the ruffians left, at a cottage on the roadside, the man whoseface was blackened with powder, apparently because he was unable tobear transportation. He died in about half an hour after. On examiningthe corpse, it proved to be that of a profligate boor in theneighbourhood, a person notorious as a poacher and smuggler. Wereceived many messages of congratulation from the neighbouringfamilies, and it was generally allowed that a few such instances ofspirited resistance would greatly check the presumption of theselawless men. My father distributed rewards among his servants, andpraised Hazlewood's courage and coolness to the skies. Lucy and I camein for a share of his applause, because we had stood fire withfirmness, and had not disturbed him with screams or expostulations. Asfor the Dominie, my father took an opportunity of begging to exchangesnuff-boxes with him. The honest gentleman was much flattered with theproposal, and extolled the beauty of his new snuff-box excessively. "Itlooked," he said, "as well as if it were real gold from Ophir." Indeed,it would be odd if it should not, being formed in fact of that verymetal; but, to do this honest creature justice, I believe the knowledgeof its real value would not enhance his sense of my father's kindness,supposing it, as he does, to be pinchbeck gilded. He has had a hardtask replacing the folios which were used in the barricade, smoothingout the creases and dog's-ears, and repairing the other disasters theyhave sustained during their service in the fortification. He brought ussome pieces of lead and bullets which these ponderous tomes hadintercepted during the action, and which he had extracted with greatcare; and, were I in spirits, I could give you a comic account of hisastonishment at the apathy with which we heard of the wounds andmutilation suffered by Thomas Aquinas or the venerable Chrysostom. ButI am not in spirits, and I have yet another and a more interestingincident to communicate. I feel, however, so much fatigued with mypresent exertion that I cannot resume the pen till to-morrow. I willdetain this letter notwithstanding, that you may not feel any anxietyupon account of your own
'JULIA MANNERING.'