CHAPTER VII
THE TRUE AND TRAGICAL HISTORY OF MR. JOHN OXENHAM OF PLYMOUTH
"The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew; The furrow follow'd free; We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea."
The Ancient Mariner.
It was too late and too dark last night to see the old house at Stow. Wewill look round us, then, this bright October day, while Sir Richard andAmyas, about eleven o'clock in the forenoon, are pacing up and down theterraced garden to the south. Amyas has slept till luncheon, i. e. tillan hour ago: but Sir Richard, in spite of the bustle of last night, wasup and in the valley by six o'clock, recreating the valiant souls ofhimself and two terrier dogs by the chase of sundry badgers.
Old Stow House stands, or rather stood, some four miles beyond theCornish border, on the northern slope of the largest and loveliest ofthose combes of which I spoke in the last chapter. Eighty years afterSir Richard's time there arose there a huge Palladian pile, bedizenedwith every monstrosity of bad taste, which was built, so the story runs,by Charles the Second, for Sir Richard's great-grandson, the heir ofthat famous Sir Bevil who defeated the Parliamentary troops at Stratton,and died soon after, fighting valiantly at Lansdowne over Bath. But,like most other things which owed their existence to the Stuarts,it rose only to fall again. An old man who had seen, as a boy, thefoundation of the new house laid, lived to see it pulled down again,and the very bricks and timber sold upon the spot; and since then thestables have become a farm-house, the tennis-court a sheep-cote, thegreat quadrangle a rick-yard; and civilization, spreading wave onwave so fast elsewhere, has surged back from that lonely corner of theland--let us hope, only for a while.
But I am not writing of that great new Stow House, of the past glorieswhereof quaint pictures still hang in the neighboring houses; nor ofthat famed Sir Bevil, most beautiful and gallant of his generation,on whom, with his grandfather Sir Richard, old Prince has his pompousepigram--
"Where next shall famous Grenvil's ashes stand? Thy grandsire fills the sea, and thou the land."
I have to deal with a simpler age, and a sterner generation; and withthe old house, which had stood there, in part at least, from gray andmythic ages, when the first Sir Richard, son of Hamon Dentatus, Lord ofCarboyle, the grandson of Duke Robert, son of Rou, settled at Bideford,after slaying the Prince of South-Galis, and the Lord of Glamorgan, andgave to the Cistercian monks of Neath all his conquests in South Wales.It was a huge rambling building, half castle, half dwelling-house, suchas may be seen still (almost an unique specimen) in Compton Castlenear Torquay, the dwelling-place of Humphrey Gilbert, Walter Raleigh'shalf-brother, and Richard Grenville's bosom friend, of whom morehereafter. On three sides, to the north, west, and south, the loftywalls of the old ballium still stood, with their machicolated turrets,loopholes, and dark downward crannies for dropping stones and fire onthe besiegers, the relics of a more unsettled age: but the southerncourt of the ballium had become a flower-garden, with quaint terraces,statues, knots of flowers, clipped yews and hollies, and all thepedantries of the topiarian art. And toward the east, where the vistaof the valley opened, the old walls were gone, and the frowning Normankeep, ruined in the Wars of the Roses, had been replaced by the richand stately architecture of the Tudors. Altogether, the house, like thetime, was in a transitionary state, and represented faithfully enoughthe passage of the old middle age into the new life which had just burstinto blossom throughout Europe, never, let us pray, to see its autumn orits winter.
From the house on three sides, the hill sloped steeply down, and thegarden where Sir Richard and Amyas were walking gave a truly Englishprospect. At one turn they could catch, over the western walls, aglimpse of the blue ocean flecked with passing sails; and at the next,spread far below them, range on range of fertile park, stately avenue,yellow autumn woodland, and purple heather moors, lapping over and overeach other up the valley to the old British earthwork, which stood blackand furze-grown on its conical peak; and standing out against the sky onthe highest bank of hill which closed the valley to the east, the loftytower of Kilkhampton church, rich with the monuments and offerings offive centuries of Grenvilles. A yellow eastern haze hung soft over park,and wood, and moor; the red cattle lowed to each other as they stoodbrushing away the flies in the rivulet far below; the colts in thehorse-park close on their right whinnied as they played together, andtheir sires from the Queen's Park, on the opposite hill, answered themin fuller though fainter voices. A rutting stag made the still woodlandrattle with his hoarse thunder, and a rival far up the valley gave backa trumpet note of defiance, and was himself defied from heathery browswhich quivered far away above, half seen through the veil of easternmist. And close at home, upon the terrace before the house, amid rompingspaniels and golden-haired children, sat Lady Grenville herself, thebeautiful St. Leger of Annery, the central jewel of all that gloriousplace, and looked down at her noble children, and then up at her morenoble husband, and round at that broad paradise of the West, till lifeseemed too full of happiness, and heaven of light.
And all the while up and down paced Amyas and Sir Richard, talking long,earnestly, and slow; for they both knew that the turning point of theboy's life was come.
"Yes," said Sir Richard, after Amyas, in his blunt simple way, had toldhim the whole story about Rose Salterne and his brother,--"yes, sweetlad, thou hast chosen the better part, thou and thy brother also, and itshall not be taken from you. Only be strong, lad, and trust in God thatHe will make a man of you."
"I do trust," said Amyas.
"Thank God," said Sir Richard, "that you have yourself taken from myheart that which was my great anxiety for you, from the day that yourgood father, who sleeps in peace, committed you to my hands. For allbest things, Amyas, become, when misused, the very worst; and the loveof woman, because it is able to lift man's soul to the heavens, is alsoable to drag him down to hell. But you have learnt better, Amyas; andknow, with our old German forefathers, that, as Tacitus saith, Serajuvenum Venus, ideoque inexhausta pubertas. And not only that, Amyas;but trust me, that silly fashion of the French and Italians, to behanging ever at some woman's apron string, so that no boy shall counthimself a man unless he can vagghezziare le donne, whether maids orwives, alas! matters little; that fashion, I say, is little less hurtfulto the soul than open sin; for by it are bred vanity and expense, envyand heart-burning, yea, hatred and murder often; and even if that beescaped, yet the rich treasure of a manly worship, which should be keptfor one alone, is squandered and parted upon many, and the bride at lastcomes in for nothing but the very last leavings and caput mortuum ofher bridegroom's heart, and becomes a mere ornament for his table, anda means whereby he may obtain a progeny. May God, who has saved me fromthat death in life, save you also!" And as he spoke, he looked downtoward his wife upon the terrace below; and she, as if guessinginstinctively that he was talking of her, looked up with so sweeta smile, that Sir Richard's stern face melted into a very glory ofspiritual sunshine.
Amyas looked at them both and sighed; and then turning the conversationsuddenly--
"And I may go to Ireland to-morrow?"
"You shall sail in the 'Mary' for Milford Haven, with these letters toWinter. If the wind serves, you may bid the master drop down the rivertonight, and be off; for we must lose no time."
"Winter?" said Amyas. "He is no friend of mine, since he left Drake andus so cowardly at the Straits of Magellan."
"Duty must not wait for private quarrels, even though they be just ones,lad: but he will not be your general. When you come to the marshal, orthe Lord Deputy, give either of them this letter, and they will set youwork,--and hard work too, I warrant.
"I want nothing better."
"Right, lad; the best reward for having wrought well already, is to havemore to do; and he that has been faithful over a few things, must findhis account in being made ruler over many things. That is the true andheroical rest, which only is worthy of gentlemen and sons of God. A
s forthose who, either in this world or the world to come, look for idleness,and hope that God shall feed them with pleasant things, as it were witha spoon, Amyas, I count them cowards and base, even though they callthemselves saints and elect."
"I wish you could persuade my poor cousin of that."
"He has yet to learn what losing his life to save it means, Amyas. Badmen have taught him (and I fear these Anabaptists and Puritans at hometeach little else), that it is the one great business of every one tosave his own soul after he dies; every one for himself; and that that,and not divine self-sacrifice, is the one thing needful, and the betterpart which Mary chose."
"I think men are inclined enough already to be selfish, without beingtaught that."
"Right, lad. For me, if I could hang up such a teacher on high as anenemy of mankind, and a corrupter of youth, I would do it gladly. Isthere not cowardice and self-seeking enough about the hearts of usfallen sons of Adam, that these false prophets, with their baits ofheaven, and their terrors of hell, must exalt our dirtiest vices intoheavenly virtues and the means of bliss? Farewell to chivalry and todesperate valor, farewell to patriotism and loyalty, farewell to Englandand to the manhood of England, if once it shall become the fashion ofour preachers to bid every man, as the Jesuits do, take care first ofwhat they call the safety of his soul. Every man will be afraid to dieat his post, because he will be afraid that he is not fit to die. Amyas,do thou do thy duty like a man, to thy country, thy queen, and thy God;and count thy life a worthless thing, as did the holy men of old. Dothy work, lad; and leave thy soul to the care of Him who is just andmerciful in this, that He rewards every man according to his work. Isthere respect of persons with God? Now come in, and take the letters,and to horse. And if I hear of thee dead there at Smerwick fort, withall thy wounds in front, I shall weep for thy mother, lad; but I shallhave never a sigh for thee."
If any one shall be startled at hearing a fine gentleman and a warriorlike Sir Richard quote Scripture, and think Scripture also, they mustbe referred to the writings of the time; which they may read not withoutprofit to themselves, if they discover therefrom how it was possiblethen for men of the world to be thoroughly ingrained with the Gospel,and yet to be free from any taint of superstitious fear, or falsedevoutness. The religion of those days was such as no soldier need havebeen ashamed of confessing. At least, Sir Richard died as he lived,without a shudder, and without a whine; and these were his last words,fifteen years after that, as he lay shot through and through, a captiveamong Popish Spaniards, priests, crucifixes, confession, extremeunction, and all other means and appliances for delivering men out ofthe hands of a God of love:--
"Here die I, Richard Grenville, with a joyful and quiet mind; for thatI have ended my life as a true soldier ought, fighting for his country,queen, religion, and honor: my soul willingly departing from this body,leaving behind the lasting fame of having behaved as every valiantsoldier is in his duty bound to do."
Those were the last words of Richard Grenville. The pulpits of thosedays had taught them to him.
But to return. That day's events were not over yet. For, when they wentdown into the house, the first person whom they met was the old steward,in search of his master.
"There is a manner of roog, Sir Richard, a masterless man, at the door;a very forward fellow, and must needs speak with you."
"A masterless man? He had better not to speak to me, unless he is inlove with gaol and gallows."
"Well, your worship," said the steward, "I expect that is what he doeswant, for he swears he will not leave the gate till he has seen you."
"Seen me? Halidame! he shall see me, here and at Launceston too, if helikes. Bring him in."
"Fegs, Sir Richard, we are half afeard. With your good leave--"
"Hillo, Tony," cried Amyas, "who was ever afeard yet with Sir Richard'sgood leave?"
"What, has the fellow a tail or horns?"
"Massy no: but I be afeard of treason for your honor; for the fellow ispinked all over in heathen patterns, and as brown as a filbert; and atall roog, a very strong roog, sir, and a foreigner too, and a mightystaff with him. I expect him to be a manner of Jesuit, or wild Irish,sir; and indeed the grooms have no stomach to handle him, nor the dogsneither, or he had been under the pump before now, for they that saw himcoming up the hill swear that he had fire coming out of his mouth."
"Fire out of his mouth?" said Sir Richard. "The men are drunk."
"Pinked all over? He must be a sailor," said Amyas; "let me out and seethe fellow, and if he needs putting forth--"
"Why, I dare say he is not so big but what he will go into thy pocket.So go, lad, while I finish my writing."
Amyas went out, and at the back door, leaning on his staff, stood atall, raw-boned, ragged man, "pinked all over," as the steward had said.
"Hillo, lad!" quoth Amyas. "Before we come to talk, thou wilt please tolay down that Plymouth cloak of thine." And he pointed to the cudgel,which among West-country mariners usually bore that name.
"I'll warrant," said the old steward, "that where he found his cloak hefound purse not far off."
"But not hose or doublet; so the magical virtue of his staff hasnot helped him much. But put down thy staff, man, and speak like aChristian, if thou be one."
"I am a Christian, though I look like a heathen; and no rogue, thougha masterless man, alas! But I want nothing, deserving nothing, and onlyask to speak with Sir Richard, before I go on my way."
There was something stately and yet humble about the man's tone andmanner which attracted Amyas, and he asked more gently where he wasgoing and whence he came.
"From Padstow Port, sir, to Clovelly town, to see my old mother, ifindeed she be yet alive, which God knoweth."
"Clovally man! why didn't thee say thee was Clovally man?" asked all thegrooms at once, to whom a West-countryman was of course a brother. Theold steward asked--
"What's thy mother's name, then?"
"Susan Yeo."
"What, that lived under the archway?" asked a groom.
"Lived?" said the man.
"Iss, sure; her died three days since, so we heard, poor soul."
The man stood quite silent and unmoved for a minute or two; and thensaid quietly to himself, in Spanish, "That which is, is best."
"You speak Spanish?" asked Amyas, more and more interested.
"I had need to do so, young sir; I have been five years in the SpanishMain, and only set foot on shore two days ago; and if you will let mehave speech of Sir Richard, I will tell him that at which both the earsof him that heareth it shall tingle; and if not, I can but go on to Mr.Cary of Clovelly, if he be yet alive, and there disburden my soul; but Iwould sooner have spoken with one that is a mariner like to myself."
"And you shall," said Amyas. "Steward, we will have this man in; for allhis rags, he is a man of wit." And he led him in.
"I only hope he ben't one of those Popish murderers," said the oldsteward, keeping at a safe distance from him as they entered the hall.
"Popish, old master? There's little fear of my being that. Look here!"And drawing back his rags, he showed a ghastly scar, which encircled hiswrist and wound round and up his fore-arm.
"I got that on the rack," said he, quietly, "in the Inquisition atLima."
"O Father! Father! why didn't you tell us that you were a poorChristian?" asked the penitent steward.
"Because I have had naught but my deserts; and but a taste of themeither, as the Lord knoweth who delivered me; and I wasn't going to makemyself a beggar and a show on their account."
"By heaven, you are a brave fellow!" said Amyas. "Come along straight toSir Richard's room."
So in they went, where Sir Richard sat in his library among books,despatches, state-papers, and warrants; for though he was not yet, as inafter times (after the fashion of those days) admiral, general, memberof parliament, privy councillor, justice of the peace, and so forth, allat once, yet there were few great men with whom he did not correspond,or great matters with which he wa
s not cognizant.
"Hillo, Amyas, have you bound the wild man already, and brought him into swear allegiance?"
But before Amyas could answer, the man looked earnestly on him--"Amyas?"said he; "is that your name, sir?"
"Amyas Leigh is my name, at your service, good fellow."
"Of Burrough by Bideford?"
"Why then? What do you know of me?"
"Oh sir, sir! young brains and happy ones have short memories; but oldand sad brains too long ones often! Do you mind one that was with Mr.Oxenham, sir? A swearing reprobate he was, God forgive him, and hathforgiven him too, for His dear Son's sake--one, sir, that gave you ahorn, a toy with a chart on it?"
"Soul alive!" cried Amyas, catching him by the hand; "and are you he?The horn? why, I have it still, and will keep it to my dying day, too.But where is Mr. Oxenham?"
"Yes, my good fellow, where is Mr. Oxenham?" asked Sir Richard, rising."You are somewhat over-hasty in welcoming your old acquaintance, Amyas,before we have heard from him whether he can give honest account ofhimself and of his captain. For there is more than one way by whichsailors may come home without their captains, as poor Mr. Barker ofBristol found to his cost. God grant that there may have been no suchtraitorous dealing here."
"Sir Richard Grenville, if I had been a guilty man to my noble captain,as I have to God, I had not come here this day to you, from whomvillainy has never found favor, nor ever will; for I know yourconditions well, sir; and trust in the Lord, that if you will be pleasedto hear me, you shall know mine."
"Thou art a well-spoken knave. We shall see."
"My dear sir," said Amyas, in a whisper, "I will warrant this manguiltless."
"I verily believe him to be; but this is too serious a matter to be lefton guess. If he will be sworn--"
Whereon the man, humbly enough, said, that if it would please SirRichard, he would rather not be sworn.
"But it does not please me, rascal! Did I not warn thee, Amyas?"
"Sir," said the man, proudly, "God forbid that my word should not be asgood as my oath: but it is against my conscience to be sworn."
"What have we here? some fantastical Anabaptist, who is wiser than histeachers."
"My conscience, sir--"
"The devil take it and thee! I never heard a man yet begin to prate ofhis conscience, but I knew that he was about to do something more thanordinarily cruel or false."
"Sir," said the man, coolly enough, "do you sit here to judge meaccording to law, and yet contrary to the law swear profane oaths, forwhich a fine is provided?"
Amyas expected an explosion: but Sir Richard pulled a shilling out andput it on the table. "There--my fine is paid, sirrah, to the poor ofKilkhampton: but hearken thou all the same. If thou wilt not speak anoath, thou shalt speak on compulsion; for to Launceston gaol thou goest,there to answer for Mr. Oxenham's death, on suspicion whereof, and ofmutiny causing it, I will attach thee and every soul of his crew thatcomes home. We have lost too many gallant captains of late by treacheryof their crews, and he that will not clear himself on oath, must be heldfor guilty, and self-condemned."
"My good fellow," said Amyas, who could not give up his belief in theman's honesty, "why, for such fantastical scruples, peril not only yourlife, but your honor, and Mr. Oxenham's also? For if you be examined byquestion, you may be forced by torment to say that which is not true."
"Little fear of that, young sir!" answered he, with a grim smile; "Ihave had too much of the rack already, and the strappado too, to caremuch what man can do unto me. I would heartily that I thought it lawfulto be sworn: but not so thinking, I can but submit to the cruelty ofman; though I did expect more merciful things, as a most miserable andwrecked mariner, at the hands of one who hath himself seen God's waysin the sea, and His wonders in the great deep. Sir Richard Grenville,if you will hear my story, may God avenge on my head all my sins from myyouth up until now, and cut me off from the blood of Christ, and, if itwere possible, from the number of His elect, if I tell you one whit moreor less than truth; and if not, I commend myself into the hands of God."
Sir Richard smiled. "Well, thou art a brave ass, and valiant, though anass manifest. Dost thou not see, fellow, how thou hast sworn a ten-timesbigger oath than ever I should have asked of thee? But this is the waywith your Anabaptists, who by their very hatred of forms and ceremonies,show of how much account they think them, and then bind themselves outof their own fantastical self-will with far heavier burdens than everthe lawful authorities have laid on them for the sake of the commonweal.But what do they care for the commonweal, as long as they can save, asthey fancy, each man his own dirty soul for himself? However, thou artsworn now with a vengeance; go on with thy tale: and first, who artthou, and whence?"
"Well, sir," said the man, quite unmoved by this last explosion; "myname is Salvation Yeo, born in Clovelly Street, in the year 1526, wheremy father exercised the mystery of a barber surgeon, and a preacher ofthe people since called Anabaptists, for which I return humble thanks toGod."
Sir Richard.--Fie! thou naughty knave; return thanks that thy father wasan ass?
Yeo.--Nay, but because he was a barber surgeon; for I myself learnta touch of that trade, and thereby saved my life, as I will tellpresently. And I do think that a good mariner ought to have allknowledge of carnal and worldly cunning, even to tailoring andshoemaking, that he may be able to turn his hand to whatsoever may hap.
Sir Richard.--Well spoken, fellow: but let us have thy text without thycomments. Forwards!
Yeo.--Well, sir. I was bred to the sea from my youth, and was withCaptain Hawkins in his three voyages, which he made to Guinea for negroslaves, and thence to the West Indies.
Sir Richard.--Then thrice thou wentest to a bad end, though CaptainHawkins be my good friend; and the last time to a bad end thou camest.
Yeo.--No denying that last, your worship: but as for the former, Idoubt--about the unlawfulness, I mean; being the negroes are of thechildren of Ham, who are cursed and reprobate, as Scripture declares,and their blackness testifies, being Satan's own livery; among whomtherefore there can be none of the elect, wherefore the elect are notrequired to treat them as brethren.
Sir Richard.--What a plague of a pragmatical sea-lawyer have we here?And I doubt not, thou hypocrite, that though thou wilt call the negroes'black skin Satan's livery, when it serves thy turn to steal them, thouwilt find out sables to be Heaven's livery every Sunday, and up with agodly howl unless a parson shall preach in a black gown, Geneva fashion.Out upon thee! Go on with thy tale, lest thou finish thy sermon atLaunceston after all.
Yeo.--The Lord's people were always a reviled people and a persecutedpeople: but I will go forward, sir; for Heaven forbid but that I shoulddeclare what God has done for me. For till lately, from my youth up,I was given over to all wretchlessness and unclean living, and was bynature a child of the devil, and to every good work reprobate, even asothers.
Sir Richard.--Hark to his "even as others"! Thou new-whelped Pharisee,canst not confess thine own villainies without making out others as badas thyself, and so thyself no worse than others? I only hope that thouhast shown none of thy devil's doings to Mr. Oxenham.
Yeo.--On the word of a Christian man, sir, as I said before, I kept truefaith with him, and would have been a better friend to him, sir, what ismore, than ever he was to himself.
Sir Richard.--Alas! that might easily be.
Yeo.--I think, sir, and will make good against any man, that Mr. Oxenhamwas a noble and valiant gentleman; true of his word, stout of his sword,skilful by sea and land, and worthy to have been Lord High Admiral ofEngland (saving your worship's presence), but that through two greatsins, wrath and avarice, he was cast away miserably or ever his soul wasbrought to the knowledge of the truth. Ah, sir, he was a captain worthsailing under!
And Yeo heaved a deep sigh.
Sir Richard.--Steady, steady, good fellow! If thou wouldst quitpreaching, thou art no fool after all. But tell us the story withoutmore bush-beating.
So a
t last Yeo settled himself to his tale:--
"Well, sirs, I went, as Mr. Leigh knows, to Nombre de Dios, with Mr.Drake and Mr. Oxenham, in 1572, where what we saw and did, your worship,I suppose, knows as well as I; and there was, as you've heard maybe,a covenant between Mr. Oxenham and Mr. Drake to sail the South Seastogether, which they made, your worship, in my hearing, under the treeover Panama. For when Mr. Drake came down from the tree, after seeingthe sea afar off, Mr. Oxenham and I went up and saw it too; and when wecame down, Drake says, 'John, I have made a vow to God that I will sailthat water, if I live and God gives me grace;' which he had done, sir,upon his bended knees, like a godly man as he always was, and would Ihad taken after him! and Mr. O. says, 'I am with you, Drake, to live ordie, and I think I know some one there already, so we shall not be quiteamong strangers;' and laughed withal. Well, sirs, that voyage, as youknow, never came off, because Captain Drake was fighting in Ireland; soMr. Oxenham, who must be up and doing, sailed for himself, and I, wholoved him, God knows, like a brother (saving the difference in ourranks), helped him to get the crew together, and went as his gunner.That was in 1575; as you know, he had a 140-ton ship, sir, and seventymen out of Plymouth and Fowey and Dartmouth, and many of them old handsof Drake's, beside a dozen or so from Bideford that I picked up when Isaw young Master here."
"Thank God that you did not pick me up too."
"Amen, amen!" said Yeo, clasping his hands on his breast. "Those seventymen, sir,--seventy gallant men, sir, with every one of them an immortalsoul within him,--where are they now? Gone, like the spray!" And heswept his hands abroad with a wild and solemn gesture. "And their bloodis upon my head!"
Both Sir Richard and Amyas began to suspect that the man's brain was notaltogether sound.
"God forbid, my man," said the knight, kindly.
"Thirteen men I persuaded to join in Bideford town, beside WilliamPenberthy of Marazion, my good comrade. And what if it be said to me atthe day of judgment, 'Salvation Yeo, where are those fourteen whom thoudidst tempt to their deaths by covetousness and lust of gold?' Not thatI was alone in my sin, if the truth must be told. For all the way outMr. Oxenham was making loud speech, after his pleasant way, that hewould make all their fortunes, and take them to such a Paradise, thatthey should have no lust to come home again. And I--God knows why--forevery one boast of his would make two, even to lying and empty fables,and anything to keep up the men's hearts. For I had really persuadedmyself that we should all find treasures beyond Solomon his temple,and Mr. Oxenham would surely show us how to conquer some golden city ordiscover some island all made of precious stones. And one day, as thecaptain and I were talking after our fashion, I said, 'And you shall beour king, captain.' To which he, 'If I be, I shall not be long withouta queen, and that no Indian one either.' And after that he often jestedabout the Spanish ladies, saying that none could show us the way totheir hearts better than he. Which speeches I took no count of then,sirs: but after I minded them, whether I would or not. Well, sirs, wecame to the shore of New Spain, near to the old place--that's Nombrede Dios; and there Mr. Oxenham went ashore into the woods with a boat'screw, to find the negroes who helped us three years before. Those arethe Cimaroons, gentles, negro slaves who have fled from those devilsincarnate, their Spanish masters, and live wild, like the beaststhat perish; men of great stature, sirs, and fierce as wolves inthe onslaught, but poor jabbering mazed fellows if they be but a bitdismayed: and have many Indian women with them, who take to thesenegroes a deal better than to their own kin, which breeds war enough, asyou may guess.
"Well, sirs, after three days the captain comes back, looking heavyenough, and says, 'We played our trick once too often, when we playedit once. There is no chance of stopping another reco (that is, amule-train, sirs) now. The Cimaroons say that since our last visitthey never move without plenty of soldiers, two hundred shot at least.Therefore,' he said, 'my gallants, we must either return empty-handedfrom this, the very market and treasury of the whole Indies, or do sucha deed as men never did before, which I shall like all the better forthat very reason.' And we, asking his meaning, 'Why,' he said, 'if Drakewill not sail the South Seas, we will;' adding profanely that Drake waslike Moses, who beheld the promised land afar; but he was Joshua, whowould enter into it, and smite the inhabitants thereof. And, for ourconfirmation, showed me and the rest the superscription of a letter: andsaid, 'How I came by this is none of your business: but I have had it inmy bosom ever since I left Plymouth; and I tell you now, what I forboreto tell you at first, that the South Seas have been my mark all along!such news have I herein of plate-ships, and gold-ships, and what not,which will come up from Quito and Lima this very month, all which, withthe pearls of the Gulf of Panama, and other wealth unspeakable, will beours, if we have but true English hearts within us.'
"At which, gentles, we were like madmen for lust of that gold, andcheerfully undertook a toil incredible; for first we run our shipaground in a great wood which grew in the very sea itself, and then tookout her masts, and covered her in boughs, with her four cast pieces ofgreat ordnance (of which more hereafter), and leaving no man in her,started for the South Seas across the neck of Panama, with two smallpieces of ordnance and our culverins, and good store of victuals, andwith us six of those negroes for a guide, and so twelve leagues to ariver which runs into the South Sea.
"And there, having cut wood, we made a pinnace (and work enough we hadat it) of five-and-forty foot in the keel; and in her down the stream,and to the Isle of Pearls in the Gulf of Panama."
"Into the South Sea? Impossible!" said Sir Richard. "Have a care whatyou say, my man; for there is that about you which would make me sorryto find you out a liar."
"Impossible or not, liar or none, we went there, sir."
"Question him, Amyas, lest he turn out to have been beforehand withyou."
The man looked inquiringly at Amyas, who said--
"Well, my man, of the Gulf of Panama I cannot ask you, for I never wasinside it, but what other parts of the coast do you know?"
"Every inch, sir, from Cabo San Francisco to Lima; more is my sorrow,for I was a galley-slave there for two years and more."
"You know Lima?"
"I was there three times, worshipful gentlemen, and the last wasFebruary come two years; and there I helped lade a great plate-ship, theCacafuogo,' they called her."
Amyas started. Sir Richard nodded to him gently to be silent, and then--
"And what became of her, my lad?"
"God knows, who knows all, and the devil who freighted her. I brokeprison six weeks afterwards, and never heard but that she got safe intoPanama."
"You never heard, then, that she was taken?"
"Taken, your worships? Who should take her?"
"Why should not a good English ship take her as well as another?" saidAmyas.
"Lord love you, sir; yes, faith, if they had but been there. Many's thetime that I thought to myself, as we went alongside, 'Oh, if CaptainDrake was but here, well to windward, and our old crew of the "Dragon"!'Ask your pardon, gentles: but how is Captain Drake, if I may make sobold?"
Neither could hold out longer.
"Fellow, fellow!" cried Sir Richard, springing up, "either thou art thecunningest liar that ever earned a halter, or thou hast done a deedthe like of which never man adventured. Dost thou not know that CaptainDrake took that 'Cacafuogo' and all her freight, in February come twoyears?"
"Captain Drake! God forgive me, sir; but--Captain Drake in the SouthSeas? He saw them, sir, from the tree-top over Panama, when I was withhim, and I too; but sailed them, sir?--sailed them?"
"Yes, and round the world too," said Amyas, "and I with him; and tookthat very 'Cacafuogo' off Cape San Francisco, as she came up to Panama."
One glance at the man's face was enough to prove his sincerity. Thegreat stern Anabaptist, who had not winced at the news of his mother'sdeath, dropt right on his knees on the floor, and burst into violentsobs.
"Glory to God! Glory to God! O Lord, I thank thee! Captain D
rake inthe South Seas! The blood of thy innocents avenged, O Lord! The spoilerspoiled, and the proud robbed; and all they whose hands were mighty havefound nothing. Glory, glory! Oh, tell me, sir, did she fight?"
"We gave her three pieces of ordnance only, and struck down hermizzenmast, and then boarded sword in hand, but never had need to strikea blow; and before we left her, one of her own boys had changed hername, and rechristened her the 'Cacaplata.'"
"Glory, glory! Cowards they are, as I told them. I told them they nevercould stand the Devon mastiffs, and well they flogged me for saying it;but they could not stop my mouth. O sir, tell me, did you get the shipthat came up after her?"
"What was that?"
"A long race-ship, sir, from Guayaquil, with an old gentleman onboard,--Don Francisco de Xararte was his name, and by token, he had agold falcon hanging to a chain round his neck, and a green stone in thebreast of it. I saw it as we rowed him aboard. O tell me, sir, tell mefor the love of God, did you take that ship?"
"We did take that ship, and the jewel too, and her majesty has it atthis very hour."
"Then tell me, sir," said he slowly, as if he dreaded an answer; "tellme, sir, and oh, try and mind--was there a little maid aboard with theold gentleman?"
"A little maid? Let me think. No; I saw none."
The man settled his features again sadly.
"I thought not. I never saw her come aboard. Still I hoped, like; Ihoped. Alackaday! God help me, Salvation Yeo!"
"What have you to do with this little maid, then, good fellow!" askedGrenville.
"Ah, sir, before I tell you that, I must go back and finish the story ofMr. Oxenham, if you will believe me enough to hear it."
"I do believe thee, good fellow, and honor thee too."
"Then, sir, I can speak with a free tongue. Where was I?"
"Where was he, Amyas?"
"At the Isle of Pearls."
"And yet, O gentles, tell me first, how Captain Drake came into theSouth Seas:--over the neck, as we did?"
"Through the Straits, good fellow, like any Spaniard: but go on with thystory, and thou shalt have Mr. Leigh's after."
"Through the Straits! O glory! But I'll tell my tale. Well, sirsboth--To the Island of Pearls we came, we and some of the negroes. Wefound many huts, and Indians fishing for pearls, and also a fair house,with porches; but no Spaniard therein, save one man; at which Mr.Oxenham was like a man transported, and fell on that Spaniard, crying,'Perro, where is your mistress? Where is the bark from Lima?' To whichhe boldly enough, 'What was his mistress to the Englishman?' But Mr. O.threatened to twine a cord round his head till his eyes burst out; andthe Spaniard, being terrified, said that the ship from Lima was expectedin a fortnight's time. So for ten days we lay quiet, letting neithernegro nor Spaniard leave the island, and took good store of pearls,feeding sumptuously on wild cattle and hogs until the tenth day, whenthere came by a small bark; her we took, and found her from Quito, andon board 60,000 pezos of gold and other store. With which if we had beencontent, gentlemen, all had gone well. And some were willing to go backat once, having both treasure and pearls in plenty; but Mr. O., hewaxed right mad, and swore to slay any one who made that motion again,assuring us that the Lima ship of which he had news was far greater andricher, and would make princes of us all; which bark came in sight onthe sixteenth day, and was taken without shot or slaughter. The takingof which bark, I verily believe, was the ruin of every mother's son ofus."
And being asked why, he answered, "First, because of the discontentwhich was bred thereby; for on board was found no gold, but only 100,000pezos of silver."
Sir Richard Grenville.--Thou greedy fellow; and was not that enough tostay your stomachs?
Yeo answered that he would to God it had been; and that, moreover, theweight of that silver was afterwards a hindrance to them, and freshcause of discontent, as he would afterwards declare. "So that it hadbeen well for us, sirs, if we had left it behind, as Mr. Drake left histhree years before, and carried away the gold only. In which I do seethe evident hand of God, and His just punishment for our greedinessof gain; who caused Mr. Oxenham, by whom we had hoped to attain greatwealth, to be a snare to us, and a cause of utter ruin."
"Do you think, then," said Sir Richard, "that Mr. Oxenham deceived youwilfully?"
"I will never believe that, sir: Mr. Oxenham had his private reasons forwaiting for that ship, for the sake of one on board, whose face wouldthat he had never seen, though he saw it then, as I fear, not for thefirst time by many a one." And so was silent.
"Come," said both his hearers, "you have brought us thus far, and youmust go on."
"Gentlemen, I have concealed this matter from all men, both on my voyagehome and since; and I hope you will be secret in the matter, for thehonor of my noble captain, and the comfort of his friends who are alive.For I think it shame to publish harm of a gallant gentleman, and of anancient and worshipful family, and to me a true and kind captain, whenwhat is done cannot be undone, and least said soonest mended. Neithernow would I have spoken of it, but that I was inwardly moved to it forthe sake of that young gentleman there" (looking at Amyas), "thathe might be warned in time of God's wrath against the crying sin ofadultery, and flee youthful lusts, which war against the soul."
"Thou hast done wisely enough, then," said Sir Richard; "and look to itif I do not reward thee: but the young gentleman here, thank God, needsno such warnings, having got them already both by precept and example,where thou and poor Oxenham might have had them also."
"You mean Captain Drake, your worship?"
"I do, sirrah. If all men were as clean livers as he, the world would bespared one half the tears that are shed in it."
"Amen, sir. At least there would have been many a tear spared to us andours. For--as all must out--in that bark of Lima he took a younglady, as fair as the sunshine, sir, and seemingly about two orthree-and-twenty years of age, having with her a tall young lad ofsixteen, and a little girl, a marvellously pretty child, of about asix or seven. And the lady herself was of an excellent beauty, like awhale's tooth for whiteness, so that all the crew wondered at her, andcould not be satisfied with looking upon her. And, gentlemen, this wasstrange, that the lady seemed in no wise afraid or mournful, and bidher little girl fear naught, as did also Mr. Oxenham: but the lad kept avery sour countenance, and the more when he saw the lady and Mr. Oxenhamspeaking together apart.
"Well, sir, after this good luck we were minded to have gone straightback to the river whence we came, and so home to England with all speed.But Mr. Oxenham persuaded us to return to the island, and get a few morepearls. To which foolishness (which after caused the mishap) I verilybelieve he was moved by the instigation of the devil and of that lady.For as we were about to go ashore, I, going down into the cabin of theprize, saw Mr. Oxenham and that lady making great cheer of each otherwith, 'My life,' and 'My king,' and 'Light of my eyes,' and such toys;and being bidden by Mr. Oxenham to fetch out the lady's mails, and takethem ashore, heard how the two laughed together about the old ape ofPanama (which ape, or devil rather, I saw afterwards to my cost), andalso how she said that she had been dead for five years, and now thatMr. Oxenham was come, she was alive again, and so forth.
"Mr. Oxenham bade take the little maid ashore, kissing her and playingwith her, and saying to the lady, 'What is yours is mine, and what ismine is yours.' And she asking whether the lad should come ashore, heanswered, 'He is neither yours nor mine; let the spawn of Beelzebub stayon shore.' After which I, coming on deck again, stumbled over that verylad, upon the hatchway ladder, who bore so black and despiteful a face,that I verily believe he had overheard their speech, and so thrust himupon deck; and going below again, told Mr. Oxenham what I thought, andsaid that it were better to put a dagger into him at once, professing tobe ready so to do. For which grievous sin, seeing that it wascommitted in my unregenerate days, I hope I have obtained the grace offorgiveness, as I have that of hearty repentance. But the lady criedout, 'Though he be none of mine, I have sin enough alread
y on my soul;'and so laid her hand on Mr. Oxenham's mouth, entreating pitifully. AndMr. Oxenham answered laughing, when she would let him, 'What care we?let the young monkey go and howl to the old one;' and so went ashorewith the lady to that house, whence for three days he never came forth,and would have remained longer, but that the men, finding but fewpearls, and being wearied with the watching and warding so manySpaniards, and negroes came clamoring to him, and swore that theywould return or leave him there with the lady. So all went on boardthe pinnace again, every one in ill humor with the captain, and he withthem.
"Well, sirs, we came back to the mouth of the river, and there began ourtroubles; for the negroes, as soon as we were on shore, called on Mr.Oxenham to fulfil the bargain he had made with them. And now it came out(what few of us knew till then) that he had agreed with the Cimaroonsthat they should have all the prisoners which were taken, save the gold.And he, though loath, was about to give up the Spaniards to them, nearforty in all, supposing that they intended to use them as slaves: butas we all stood talking, one of the Spaniards, understanding what wasforward, threw himself on his knees before Mr. Oxenham, and shriekinglike a madman, entreated not to be given up into the hands of 'thosedevils,' said he, 'who never take a Spanish prisoner, but they roast himalive, and then eat his heart among them.' We asked the negroes if thiswas possible? To which some answered, What was that to us? But otherssaid boldly, that it was true enough, and that revenge made the bestsauce, and nothing was so sweet as Spanish blood; and one, pointingto the lady, said such foul and devilish things as I should be ashamedeither for me to speak, or you to hear. At this we were like men amazedfor very horror; and Mr. Oxenham said, 'You incarnate fiends, if you hadtaken these fellows for slaves, it had been fair enough; for you wereonce slaves to them, and I doubt not cruelly used enough: but as forthis abomination,' says he, 'God do so to me, and more also, if Ilet one of them come into your murderous hands.' So there was a greatquarrel; but Mr. Oxenham stoutly bade put the prisoners on boardthe ships again, and so let the prizes go, taking with him only thetreasure, and the lady and the little maid. And so the lad went on toPanama, God's wrath having gone out against us.
"Well, sirs, the Cimaroons after that went away from us, swearingrevenge (for which we cared little enough), and we rowed up the riverto a place where three streams met, and then up the least of the three,some four days' journey, till it grew all shoal and swift; and there wehauled the pinnace upon the sands, and Mr. Oxenham asked the men whetherthey were willing to carry the gold and silver over the mountains to theNorth Sea. Some of them at first were loath to do it, and I and othersadvised that we should leave the plate behind, and take the gold only,for it would have cost us three or four journeys at the least. But Mr.Oxenham promised every man 100 pezos of silver over and above his wages,which made them content enough, and we were all to start the morrowmorning. But, sirs, that night, as God had ordained, came a mishap bysome rash speeches of Mr. Oxenham's, which threw all abroad again; forwhen we had carried the treasure about half a league inland, and hiddenit away in a house which we made of boughs, Mr. O. being always full ofthat his fair lady, spoke to me and William Penberthy of Marazion, mygood comrade, and a few more, saying, 'That we had no need to returnto England, seeing that we were already in the very garden of Eden, andwanted for nothing, but could live without labor or toil; and that itwas better, when we got over to the North Sea, to go and seek out somefair island, and there dwell in joy and pleasure till our lives' end.And we two,' he said, 'will be king and queen, and you, whom I cantrust, my officers; and for servants we will have the Indians, who, Iwarrant, will be more fain to serve honest and merry masters like usthan those Spanish devils,' and much more of the like; which words Iliked well,--my mind, alas! being given altogether to carnal pleasureand vanity,--as did William Penberthy, my good comrade, on whom I trustGod has had mercy. But the rest, sirs, took the matter all across, andbegan murmuring against the captain, saying that poor honest marinerslike them had always the labor and the pain, while he took his delightwith his lady; and that they would have at least one merry night beforethey were slain by the Cimaroons, or eaten by panthers and lagartos;and so got out of the pinnace two great skins of Canary wine, which weretaken in the Lima prize, and sat themselves down to drink. Moreover,there were in the pinnace a great sight of hens, which came from thesame prize, by which Mr. O. set great store, keeping them for the ladyand the little maid; and falling upon these, the men began to blaspheme,saying, 'What a plague had the captain to fill the boat with dirty livelumber for that giglet's sake? They had a better right to a good supperthan ever she had, and might fast awhile to cool her hot blood;' andso cooked and ate those hens, plucking them on board the pinnace, andletting the feathers fall into the stream. But when William Penberthy,my good comrade, saw the feathers floating away down, he asked them ifthey were mad, to lay a trail by which the Spaniards would surely trackthem out, if they came after them, as without doubt they would. But theylaughed him to scorn, and said that no Spanish cur dared follow onthe heels of true English mastiffs as they were, and other boastfulspeeches; and at last, being heated with wine, began afresh to murmur atthe captain. And one speaking of his counsel about the island, the restaltogether took it amiss and out of the way; and some sprang up cryingtreason, and others that he meant to defraud them of the plate which hehad promised, and others that he meant to desert them in a strange land,and so forth, till Mr. O., hearing the hubbub, came out to them fromthe house, when they reviled him foully, swearing that he meant to cheatthem; and one Edward Stiles, a Wapping man, mad with drink, dared to saythat he was a fool for not giving up the prisoners to the negroes, andwhat was it to him if the lady roasted? the negroes should have her yet;and drawing his sword, ran upon the captain: for which I was about tostrike him through the body; but the captain, not caring to waste steelon such a ribald, with his fist caught him such a buffet behind the ear,that he fell down stark dead, and all the rest stood amazed. Then Mr.Oxenham called out, 'All honest men who know me, and can trust me, standby your lawful captain against these ruffians.' Whereon, sirs, I, andPenberthy my good comrade, and four Plymouth men, who had sailed withMr. O. in Mr. Drake's ship, and knew his trusty and valiant conditions,came over to him, and swore before God to stand by him and the lady.Then said Mr. O. to the rest, 'Will you carry this treasure, knaves,or will you not? Give me an answer here.' And they refused, unless hewould, before they started, give each man his share. So Mr. O. waxedvery mad, and swore that he would never be served by men who did nottrust him, and so went in again; and that night was spent in greatdisquiet, I and those five others keeping watch about the house ofboughs till the rest fell asleep, in their drink. And next morning, whenthe wine was gone out of them, Mr. O. asked them whether they would goto the hills with him, and find those negroes, and persuade them afterall to carry the treasure. To which they agreed after awhile, thinkingthat so they should save themselves labor; and went off with Mr.Oxenham, leaving us six who had stood by him to watch the lady and thetreasure, after he had taken an oath of us that we would deal justly andobediently by him and by her, which God knows, gentlemen, we did. Sohe parted with much weeping and wailing of the lady, and was gone sevendays; and all that time we kept that lady faithfully and honestly,bringing her the best we could find, and serving her upon our bendedknees, both for her admirable beauty, and for her excellent conditions,for she was certainly of some noble kin, and courteous, and withoutfear, as if she had been a very princess. But she kept always within thehouse, which the little maid (God bless her!) did not, but soon learnedto play with us and we with her, so that we made great cheer of her,gentlemen, sailor fashion--for you know we must always have our minionsaboard to pet and amuse us--maybe a monkey, or a little dog, or asinging bird, ay, or mice and spiders, if we have nothing better toplay withal. And she was wonderful sharp, sirs, was the little maid, andpicked up her English from us fast, calling us jolly mariners, which Idoubt but she has forgotten by now, but I hope in God it be not so;" andtherewith the
good fellow began wiping his eyes.
"Well, sir, on the seventh day we six were down by the pinnace clearingher out, and the little maid with us gathering of flowers, and WilliamPenberthy fishing on the bank, about a hundred yards below, when ona sudden he leaps up and runs toward us, crying, 'Here come our hens'feathers back again with a vengeance!' and so bade catch up the littlemaid, and run for the house, for the Spaniards were upon us.
"Which was too true; for before we could win the house, there were fulleighty shot at our heels, but could not overtake us; nevertheless, someof them stopping, fixed their calivers and let fly, killing one of thePlymouth men. The rest of us escaped to the house, and catching up thelady, fled forth, not knowing whither we went, while the Spaniards,finding the house and treasure, pursued us no farther.
"For all that day and the next we wandered in great misery, the ladyweeping continually, and calling for Mr. Oxenham most piteously, andthe little maid likewise, till with much ado we found the track of ourcomrades, and went up that as best we might: but at nightfall, by goodhap, we met the whole crew coming back, and with them 200 negroes ormore, with bows and arrows. At which sight was great joy and embracing,and it was a strange thing, sirs, to see the lady; for before that shewas altogether desperate: and yet she was now a very lioness, as soonas she had got her love again; and prayed him earnestly not to carefor that gold, but to go forward to the North Sea, vowing to him in myhearing that she cared no more for poverty than she had cared for hergood name, and then--they being a little apart from the rest--pointedround to the green forest, and said in Spanish--which I suppose theyknew not that I understood,--'See, all round us is Paradise. Were it notenough for you and me to stay here forever, and let them take the goldor leave it as they will?'
"To which Mr. Oxenham--'Those who lived in Paradise had not sinned as wehave, and would never have grown old or sick, as we shall.'
"And she--'If we do that, there are poisons enough in these woods, bywhich we may die in each other's arms, as would to Heaven we had diedseven years agone!'
"But he--'No, no, my life. It stands upon my honor both to fulfil mybond with these men, whom I have brought hither, and to take home toEngland at least something of my prize as a proof of my own valor.'
"Then she smiling--'Am I not prize enough, and proof enough?' But hewould not be so tempted, and turning to us offered us the half of thattreasure, if we would go back with him, and rescue it from the Spaniard.At which the lady wept and wailed much; but I took upon myself tocomfort her, though I was but a simple mariner, telling her that itstood upon Mr. Oxenham's honor; and that in England nothing was esteemedso foul as cowardice, or breaking word and troth betwixt man and man;and that better was it for him to die seven times by the Spaniards, thanto face at home the scorn of all who sailed the seas. So, after muchado, back they went again; I and Penberthy, and the three Plymouth menwhich escaped from the pinnace, keeping the lady as before.
"Well, sirs, we waited five days, having made houses of boughs asbefore, without hearing aught; and on the sixth we saw coming afar offMr. Oxenham, and with him fifteen or twenty men, who seemed very wearyand wounded; and when we looked for the rest to be behind them, beholdthere were no more; at which, sirs, as you may well think, our heartssank within us.
"And Mr. O., coming nearer, cried out afar off, 'All is lost!' and sowalked into the camp without a word, and sat himself down at the footof a great tree with his head between his hands, speaking neither to thelady or to any one, till she very pitifully kneeling before him, cursingherself for the cause of all his mischief, and praying him to avengehimself upon that her tender body, won him hardly to look once upon her,after which (as is the way of vain and unstable man) all between themwas as before.
"But the men were full of curses against the negroes, for theircowardice and treachery; yea, and against high Heaven itself, which hadput the most part of their ammunition into the Spaniards' hands; andtold me, and I believe truly, how they forced the enemy awaiting them ina little copse of great trees, well fortified with barricades of boughs,and having with them our two falcons, which they had taken out of thepinnace. And how Mr. Oxenham divided both the English and the negroesinto two bands, that one might attack the enemy in front, and theother in the rear, and so set upon them with great fury, and would haveutterly driven them out, but that the negroes, who had come on with muchhowling, like very wild beasts, being suddenly scared with the shot andnoise of the ordnance, turned and fled, leaving the Englishmen alone; inwhich evil strait Mr. O. fought like a very Guy of Warwick, and I verilybelieve every man of them likewise; for there was none of them who hadnot his shrewd scratch to show. And indeed, Mr. Oxenham's party had oncegotten within the barricades, but the Spaniards being sheltered bythe tree trunks (and especially by one mighty tree, which stood as Iremembered it, and remember it now, borne up two fathoms high upon itsown roots, as it were upon arches and pillars), shot at them with suchadvantage, that they had several slain, and seven more taken alive, onlyamong the roots of that tree. So seeing that they could prevail nothing,having little but their pikes and swords, they were fain to give back;though Mr. Oxenham swore he would not stir a foot, and making at theSpanish captain was borne down with pikes, and hardly pulled away bysome, who at last reminding him of his lady, persuaded him to come awaywith the rest. Whereon the other party fled also; but what had becomeof them they knew not, for they took another way. And so they miserablydrew off, having lost in men eleven killed and seven taken alive,besides five of the rascal negroes who were killed before they had timeto run; and there was an end of the matter.*
* In the documents from which I have drawn this veracious history, a note is appended to this point of Yeo's story, which seems to me to smack sufficiently of the old Elizabethan seaman, to be inserted at length.
"All so far, and most after, agreeth with Lopez Vaz his tale, taken from his pocket by my Lord Cumberland's mariners at the river Plate, in the year 1586. But note here his vainglory and falsehood, or else fear of the Spaniard.
"First, lest it should be seen how great an advantage the Spaniards had, he maketh no mention of the English calivers, nor those two pieces of ordnance which were in the pinnace.
"Second, he saith nothing of the flight of the Cimaroons: though it was evidently to be gathered from that which he himself saith, that of less than seventy English were slain eleven, and of the negroes but five. And while of the English seven were taken alive, yet of the negroes none. And why, but because the rascals ran?
"Thirdly, it is a thing incredible, and out of experience, that eleven English should be slain and seven taken, with loss only of two Spaniards killed.
"Search now, and see (for I will not speak of mine own small doings), in all those memorable voyages, which the worthy and learned Mr. Hakluyt hath so painfully collected, and which are to my old age next only to my Bible, whether in all the fights which we have endured with the Spaniards, their loss, even in victory, hath not far exceeded ours. For we are both bigger of body and fiercer of spirit, being even to the poorest of us (thanks so the care of our illustrious princes), the best fed men of Europe, the most trained to feats of strength and use of weapons, and put our trust also not in any Virgin or saints, dead rags and bones, painted idols which have no breath in their mouths, or St. Bartholomew medals and such devil's remembrancers; but in the only true God and our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom whosoever trusteth, one of them shall chase a thousand. So I hold, having had good experience; and say, if they have done it once, let them do it again, and kill their eleven to our two, with any weapon they will, save paper bullets blown out of Fame's lying trumpet. Yet I have no quarrel with the poor Portugal; for I doubt not but friend Lopez Vaz had looking over his shoulder as he wrote some mighty black velvet Don, with a name as long as that Don Bernaldino Delgadillo de Avellaneda who set forth lately h
is vainglorious libel of lies concerning the last and fatal voyage of my dear friends Sir F. Drake and Sir John Hawkins, who rest in peace, having finished their labors, as would God I rested. To whose shameless and unspeakable lying my good friend Mr. Henry Savile of this county did most pithily and wittily reply, stripping the ass out of his lion's skin; and Sir Thomas Baskerville, general of the fleet, by my advice, send him a cartel of defiance, offering to meet him with choice of weapons, in any indifferent kingdom of equal distance from this realm; which challenge he hath prudently put in his pipe, or rather rolled it up for one of his Spanish cigarros, and smoked it, and I doubt not, found it foul in the mouth."
"But the next day, gentlemen, in came some five-and-twenty more, beingthe wreck of the other party, and with them a few negroes; and theselast proved themselves no honester men than they were brave, for therebeing great misery among us English, and every one of us stragglingwhere he could to get food, every day one or more who went out nevercame back, and that caused a suspicion that the negroes had betrayedthem to the Spaniards, or, maybe, slain and eaten them. So these fellowsbeing upbraided, with that altogether left us, telling us boldly,that if they had eaten our fellows, we owed them a debt instead of theSpanish prisoners; and we, in great terror and hunger, went forward andover the mountains till we came to a little river which ran northward,which seemed to lead into the Northern Sea; and there Mr. O.--who, sirs,I will say, after his first rage was over, behaved himself all throughlike a valiant and skilful commander--bade us cut down trees and makecanoes, to go down to the sea; which we began to do, with great laborand little profit, hewing down trees with our swords, and burning themout with fire, which, after much labor, we kindled; but as we werea-burning out of the first tree, and cutting down of another, a greatparty of negroes came upon us, and with much friendly show bade us fleefor our lives, for the Spaniards were upon us in great force. And so wewere up and away again, hardly able to drag our legs after us for hungerand weariness, and the broiling heat. And some were taken (God helpthem!) and some fled with the negroes, of whom what became God aloneknoweth; but eight or ten held on with the captain, among whom was I,and fled downward toward the sea for one day; but afterwards finding, bythe noise in the woods, that the Spaniards were on the track of us, weturned up again toward the inland, and coming to a cliff, climbed upover it, drawing up the lady and the little maid with cords of liana(which hang from those trees as honeysuckle does here, but exceedingstout and long, even to fifty fathoms); and so breaking the track, hopedto be out of the way of the enemy.
"By which, nevertheless, we only increased our misery. For two fell fromthat cliff, as men asleep for very weariness, and miserably broke theirbones; and others, whether by the great toil, or sunstrokes, or eatingof strange berries, fell sick of fluxes and fevers; where was no dropof water, but rock of pumice stone as bare as the back of my hand, andfull, moreover, of great cracks, black and without bottom, over whichwe had not strength to lift the sick, but were fain to leave them therealoft, in the sunshine, like Dives in his torments, crying aloud fora drop of water to cool their tongues; and every man a great stinkingvulture or two sitting by him, like an ugly black fiend out of the pit,waiting till the poor soul should depart out of the corpse: but nothingcould avail, and for the dear life we must down again and into thewoods, or be burned up alive upon those rocks.
"So getting down the slope on the farther side, we came into the woodsonce more, and there wandered for many days, I know not how many;our shoes being gone, and our clothes all rent off us with brakes andbriars. And yet how the lady endured all was a marvel to see; for shewent barefoot many days, and for clothes was fain to wrap herself in Mr.Oxenham's cloak; while the little maid went all but naked: but ever shelooked still on Mr. Oxenham, and seemed to take no care as long as hewas by, comforting and cheering us all with pleasant words; yea, andonce sitting down under a great fig-tree, sang us all to sleep withvery sweet music; yet, waking about midnight, I saw her sitting stillupright, weeping very bitterly; on whom, sirs, God have mercy; for shewas a fair and a brave jewel.
"And so, to make few words of a sad matter, at last there were none leftbut Mr. Oxenham and the lady and the little maid, together with me andWilliam Penberthy of Marazion, my good comrade. And Mr. Oxenham alwaysled the lady, and Penberthy and I carried the little maid. And for foodwe had fruits, such as we could find, and water we got from the leavesof certain lilies which grew on the bark of trees, which I found byseeing the monkeys drink at them; and the little maid called themmonkey-cups, and asked for them continually, making me climb for them.And so we wandered on, and upward into very high mountains, alwaysfearing lest the Spaniards should track us with dogs, which made thelady leap up often in her sleep, crying that the bloodhounds were uponher. And it befell upon a day, that we came into a great wood of ferns(which grew not on the ground like ours, but on stems as big as apinnace's mast, and the bark of them was like a fine meshed net, verystrange to see), where was very pleasant shade, cool and green; andthere, gentlemen, we sat down on a bank of moss, like folk desperate andfordone, and every one looked the other in the face for a long while.After which I took off the bark of those ferns, for I must needs bedoing something to drive away thought, and began to plait slippers forthe little maid.
"And as I was plaiting, Mr. Oxenham said, 'What hinders us from dyinglike men, every man falling on his own sword?' To which I answered thatI dare not; for a wise woman had prophesied of me, sirs, that I shoulddie at sea, and yet neither by water or battle, wherefore I did notthink right to meddle with the Lord's purposes. And William Penberthysaid, 'That he would sell his life, and that dear, but never give itaway.' But the lady said, 'Ah, how gladly would I die! but then lapaouvre garse,' which is in French 'the poor maid,' meaning the littleone. Then Mr. Oxenham fell into a very great weeping, a weakness I neversaw him in before or since; and with many tears besought me neverto desert that little maid, whatever might befall; which I promised,swearing to it like a heathen, but would, if I had been able, have keptit like a Christian. But on a sudden there was a great cry in thewood, and coming through the trees on all sides Spanish arquebusiers,a hundred strong at least, and negroes with them, who bade us standor they would shoot. William Penberthy leapt up, crying 'Treason!' andrunning upon the nearest negro ran him through, and then another, andthen falling on the Spaniards, fought manfully till he was borne downwith pikes, and so died. But I, seeing no thing better to do, satestill and finished my plaiting. And so we were all taken, and I and Mr.Oxenham bound with cords; but the soldiers made a litter for the ladyand child, by commandment of Senor Diego de Trees, their commander, avery courteous gentleman.
"Well, sirs, we were brought down to the place where the house of boughshad been by the river-side; there we went over in boats, and foundwaiting for us certain Spanish gentlemen, and among others one old andill-favored man, gray-bearded and bent, in a suit of black velvet, whoseemed to be a great man among them. And if you will believe me, Mr.Leigh, that was none other than the old man with the gold falcon at hisbreast, Don Francisco Xararte by name, whom you found aboard of the Limaship. And had you known as much of him as I do, or as Mr. Oxenham dideither, you had cut him up for shark's bait, or ever you let the curashore again.
"Well, sirs, as soon as the lady came to shore, that old man ran uponher sword in hand, and would have slain her, but some there held himback. On which he turned to, and reviled with every foul and spitefulword which he could think of, so that some there bade him be silent forshame; and Mr. Oxenham said, 'It is worthy of you, Don Francisco, thusto trumpet abroad your own disgrace. Did I not tell you years ago thatyou were a cur; and are you not proving my words for me?'
"He answered, 'English dog, would to Heaven I had never seen you!'
"And Mr. Oxenham, 'Spanish ape, would to Heaven that I had sentmy dagger through your herring-ribs when you passed me behind St.Ildegonde's church, eight years last Easter-eve.' At which the old manturned pale, and t
hen began again to upbraid the lady, vowing thathe would have her burnt alive, and other devilish words, to which sheanswered at last--
"'Would that you had burnt me alive on my wedding morning, and spared meeight years of misery!' And he--
"'Misery? Hear the witch, senors! Oh, have I not pampered her, heapedwith jewels, clothes, coaches, what not? The saints alone know what 'Ihave spent on her. What more would she have of me?'
"To which she answered only but this one word, 'Fool!' but in soterrible a voice, though low, that they who were about to laugh at theold pantaloon, were more minded to weep for her.
"'Fool!' she said again, after a while, 'I will waste no words upon you.I would have driven a dagger to your heart months ago, but that Iwas loath to set you free so soon from your gout and your rheumatism.Selfish and stupid, know when you bought my body from my parents, youdid not buy my soul! Farewell, my love, my life! and farewell, senors!May you be more merciful to your daughters than my parents were to me!'And so, catching a dagger from the girdle of one of the soldiers, smoteherself to the heart, and fell dead before them all.
"At which Mr. Oxenham smiled, and said, 'That was worthy of us both. Ifyou will unbind my hands, senors, I shall be most happy to copy so faira schoolmistress.'
"But Don Diego shook his head, and said--
"'It were well for you, valiant senor, were I at liberty to do so; buton questioning those of your sailors whom I have already taken, I cannothear that you have any letters of license, either from the queen ofEngland, or any other potentate. I am compelled, therefore, to ask youwhether this is so; for it is a matter of life and death.'
"To which Mr. Oxenham answered merrily, that so it was: but that hewas not aware that any potentate's license was required to permit agentleman's meeting his lady love; and that as for the gold which theyhad taken, if they had never allowed that fresh and fair young May to beforced into marrying that old January, he should never have meddled withtheir gold; so that was rather their fault than his. And added, that ifhe was to be hanged, as he supposed, the only favor which he asked forwas a long drop and no priests. And all the while, gentlemen, he stillkept his eyes fixed on the lady's corpse, till he was led away with me,while all that stood by, God reward them for it, lamented openly thetragical end of those two sinful lovers.
"And now, sirs, what befell me after that matters little; for I neversaw Captain Oxenham again, nor ever shall in this life."
"He was hanged, then?"
"So I heard for certain the next year, and with him the gunner andsundry more: but some were given away for slaves to the Spaniards,and may be alive now, unless, like me, they have fallen into the cruelclutches of the Inquisition. For the Inquisition now, gentlemen, claimsthe bodies and souls of all heretics all over the world (as the devilstold me with their own lips, when I pleaded that I was no Spanishsubject); and none that it catches, whether peaceable merchants orshipwrecked mariners, but must turn or burn."
"But how did you get into the Inquisition?"
"Why, sir, after we were taken, we set forth to go down the river again;and the old Don took the little maid with him in one boat (and bitterlyshe screeched at parting from us and from the poor dead corpse), and Mr.Oxenham with Don Diego de Trees in another, and I in a third. And fromthe Spaniards I learnt that we were to be taken down to Lima, to theViceroy; but that the old man lived hard by Panama, and was goingstraight back to Panama forthwith with the little maid. But they said,'It will be well for her if she ever gets there, for the old man swearsshe is none of his, and would have left her behind him in the woods,now, if Don Diego had not shamed him out of it.' And when I heard that,seeing that there was nothing but death before me, I made up my mindto escape; and the very first night, sirs, by God's help, I did it,and went southward away into the forest, avoiding the tracks of theCimaroons, till I came to an Indian town. And there, gentlemen, I gotmore mercy from heathens than ever I had from Christians; for when theyfound that I was no Spaniard, they fed me and gave me a house, anda wife (and a good wife she was to me), and painted me all over inpatterns, as you see; and because I had some knowledge of surgery andblood-letting, and my fleams in my pocket, which were worth to me afortune, I rose to great honor among them, though they taught me more ofsimples than ever I taught them of surgery. So I lived with them merrilyenough, being a very heathen like them, or indeed worse, for theyworshipped their Xemes, but I nothing. And in time my wife bare me achild; in looking at whose sweet face, gentlemen, I forgot Mr. Oxenhamand his little maid, and my oath, ay, and my native land also. Whereforeit was taken from me, else had I lived and died as the beasts whichperish; for one night, after we were all lain down, came a noise outsidethe town, and I starting up saw armed men and calivers shining in themoonlight, and heard one read in Spanish, with a loud voice, some fool'ssermon, after their custom when they hunt the poor Indians, how God hadgiven to St. Peter the dominion of the whole earth, and St. Peteragain the Indies to the Catholic king; wherefore, if they would allbe baptized and serve the Spaniard, they should have some monkey'sallowance or other of more kicks than pence; and if not, then haveat them with fire and sword; but I dare say your worships know thatdevilish trick of theirs better than I."
"I know it, man. Go on."
"Well--no sooner were the words spoken than, without waiting to hearwhat the poor innocents within would answer (though that matteredlittle, for they understood not one word of it), what do the villainsbut let fly right into the town with their calivers, and then rushin, sword in hand, killing pell-mell all they met, one of which shots,gentlemen, passing through the doorway, and close by me, struck my poorwife to the heart, that she never spoke word more. I, catching up thebabe from her breast, tried to run: but when I saw the town full ofthem, and their dogs with them in leashes, which was yet worse, I knewall was lost, and sat down again by the corpse with the babe on myknees, waiting the end, like one stunned and in a dream; for now Ithought God from whom I had fled had surely found me out, as He didJonah, and the punishment of all my sins was come. Well, gentlemen, theydragged me out, and all the young men and women, and chained us togetherby the neck; and one, catching the pretty babe out of my arms, callsfor water and a priest (for they had their shavelings with them), and nosooner was it christened than, catching the babe by the heels, he dashedout its brains,--oh! gentlemen, gentlemen!--against the ground, as if ithad been a kitten; and so did they to several more innocents that night,after they had christened them; saying it was best for them to go toheaven while they were still sure thereof; and so marched us all forslaves, leaving the old folk and the wounded to die at leisure. But whenmorning came, and they knew by my skin that I was no Indian, and by myspeech that I was no Spaniard, they began threatening me with torments,till I confessed that I was an Englishman, and one of Oxenham's crew.At that says the leader, 'Then you shall to Lima, to hang by the side ofyour captain the pirate;' by which I first knew that my poor captain wascertainly gone; but alas for me! the priest steps in and claims me forhis booty, calling me Lutheran, heretic, and enemy of God; and so, tomake short a sad story, to the Inquisition at Cartagena I went, wherewhat I suffered, gentlemen, were as disgustful for you to hear, asunmanly for me to complain of; but so it was, that being twice racked,and having endured the water-torment as best I could, I was put to thescarpines, whereof I am, as you see, somewhat lame of one leg to thisday. At which I could abide no more, and so, wretch that I am! denied myGod, in hope to save my life; which indeed I did, but little it profitedme; for though I had turned to their superstition, I must have twohundred stripes in the public place, and then go to the galleys forseven years. And there, gentlemen, ofttimes I thought that it had beenbetter for me to have been burned at once and for all: but you knowas well as I what a floating hell of heat and cold, hunger and thirst,stripes and toil, is every one of those accursed craft. In which hell,nevertheless, gentlemen, I found the road to heaven,--I had almost saidheaven itself. For it fell out, by God's mercy, that my next comrade wasan Englishman like myself, a young m
an of Bristol, who, as he told me,had been some manner of factor on board poor Captain Barker's ship, andhad been a preacher among the Anabaptists here in England. And, oh! SirRichard Grenville, if that man had done for you what he did for me, youwould never say a word against those who serve the same Lord, becausethey don't altogether hold with you. For from time to time, sir, seeingme altogether despairing and furious, like a wild beast in a pit, he setbefore me in secret earnestly the sweet promises of God in Christ,--whosays, 'Come to me, all ye that are heavy laden, and I will refreshyou; and though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white assnow,--till all that past sinful life of mine looked like a dream whenone awaketh, and I forgot all my bodily miseries in the misery of mysoul, so did I loathe and hate myself for my rebellion against thatloving God who had chosen me before the foundation of the world, andcome to seek and save me when I was lost; and falling into very despairat the burden of my heinous sins, knew no peace until I gained sweetassurance that my Lord had hanged my burden upon His cross, and washedmy sinful soul in His most sinless blood, Amen!"
And Sir Richard Grenville said Amen also.
"But, gentlemen, if that sweet youth won a soul to Christ, he paidas dearly for it as ever did saint of God. For after a three or fourmonths, when I had been all that while in sweet converse with him, andI may say in heaven in the midst of hell, there came one night to thebarranco at Lima, where we were kept when on shore, three black devilsof the Holy Office, and carried him off without a word, only saying tome, 'Look that your turn come not next, for we hear that you have hadmuch talk with the villain.' And at these words I was so struck coldwith terror that I swooned right away, and verily, if they had taken methere and then, I should have denied my God again, for my faith was butyoung and weak: but instead, they left me aboard the galley for a fewmonths more (that was a whole voyage to Panama and back), in daily dreadlest I should find myself in their cruel claws again--and then nothingfor me, but to burn as a relapsed heretic. But when we came back toLima, the officers came on board again, and said to me, 'That heretichas confessed naught against you, so we will leave you for this time:but because you have been seen talking with him so much, and the HolyOffice suspects your conversion to be but a rotten one, you are adjudgedto the galleys for the rest of your life in perpetual servitude.'"
"But what became of him?" asked Amyas.
"He was burned, sir, a day or two before we got to Lima, and five otherswith him at the same stake, of whom two were Englishmen; old comrades ofmine, as I guess."
"Ah!" said Amyas, "we heard of that when we were off Lima; and theysaid, too, that there were six more lying still in prison, to be burntin a few days. If we had had our fleet with us (as we should have had ifit had not been for John Winter) we would have gone in and rescued themall, poor wretches, and sacked the town to boot: but what could we dowith one ship?"
"Would to God you had, sir; for the story was true enough; and amongthem, I heard, were two young ladies of quality and their confessor,who came to their ends for reproving out of Scripture the filthy andloathsome living of those parts, which, as I saw well enough and toowell, is liker to Sodom than to a Christian town; but God will avengeHis saints, and their sins. Amen."
"Amen," said Sir Richard: "but on with thy tale, for it is as strange asever man heard."
"Well, gentlemen, when I heard that I must end my days in that galley, Iwas for awhile like a madman: but in a day or two there came over me, Iknow not how, a full assurance of salvation, both for this life and thelife to come, such as I had never had before; and it was revealed to me(I speak the truth, gentlemen, before Heaven) that now I had been triedto the uttermost, and that my deliverance was at hand.
"And all the way up to Panama (that was after we had laden the'Cacafuogo') I cast in my mind how to escape, and found no way: but justas I was beginning to lose heart again, a door was opened by the Lord'sown hand; for (I know not why) we were marched across from Panama toNombre, which had never happened before, and there put all together intoa great barranco close by the quay-side, shackled, as is the fashion, toone long bar that ran the whole length of the house. And the very firstnight that we were there, I, looking out of the window, spied, lyingclose aboard of the quay, a good-sized caravel well armed and justloading for sea; and the land breeze blew off very strong, so that thesailors were laying out a fresh warp to hold her to the shore. And itcame into my mind, that if we were aboard of her, we should be at seain five minutes; and looking at the quay, I saw all the soldiers who hadguarded us scattered about drinking and gambling, and some going intotaverns to refresh themselves after their journey. That was just atsundown; and half an hour after, in comes the gaoler to take a last lookat us for the night, and his keys at his girdle. Whereon, sirs (whetherby madness, or whether by the spirit which gave Samson strength to rendthe lion), I rose against him as he passed me, without forethought ortreachery of any kind, chained though I was, caught him by the head,and threw him there and then against the wall, that he never spoke wordafter; and then with his keys freed myself and every soul in thatroom, and bid them follow me, vowing to kill any man who disobeyed mycommands. They followed, as men astounded and leaping out of night intoday, and death into life, and so aboard that caravel and out of theharbor (the Lord only knows how, who blinded the eyes of the idolaters),'with no more hurt than a few chance-shot from the soldiers on the quay.But my tale has been over-long already, gentlemen--"
"Go on till midnight, my good fellow, if you will."
"Well, sirs, they chose me for captain, and a certain Genoese forlieutenant, and away to go. I would fain have gone ashore after all, andback to Panama to hear news of the little maid: but that would have beenbut a fool's errand. Some wanted to turn pirates: but I, and the Genoesetoo, who was a prudent man, though an evil one, persuaded them to runfor England and get employment in the Netherland wars, assuring themthat there would be no safety in the Spanish Main, when once our escapegot wind. And the more part being of one mind, for England we sailed,watering at the Barbadoes because it was desolate; and so eastwardtoward the Canaries. In which voyage what we endured (being taken bylong calms), by scurvy, calentures, hunger, and thirst, no tongue cantell. Many a time were we glad to lay out sheets at night to catchthe dew, and suck them in the morning; and he that had a noggin ofrain-water out of the scuppers was as much sought to as if he had beenAdelantado of all the Indies; till of a hundred and forty poor wretchesa hundred and ten were dead, blaspheming God and man, and above allme and the Genoese, for taking the Europe voyage, as if I had not sinsenough of my own already. And last of all, when we thought ourselvessafe, we were wrecked by southwesters on the coast of Brittany, near toCape Race, from which but nine souls of us came ashore with their lives;and so to Brest, where I found a Flushinger who carried me to Falmouthand so ends my tale, in which if I have said one word more or less thantruth, I can wish myself no worse, than to have it all to undergo asecond time."
And his voice, as he finished, sank from very weariness of soul; whileSir Richard sat opposite him in silence, his elbows on the table,his cheeks on his doubled fists, looking him through and through withkindling eyes. No one spoke for several minutes; and then--
"Amyas, you have heard this story. You believe it?"
"Every word, sir, or I should not have the heart of a Christian man."
"So do I. Anthony!"
The butler entered.
"Take this man to the buttery; clothe him comfortably, and feed him withthe best; and bid the knaves treat him as if he were their own father."
But Yeo lingered.
"If I might be so bold as to ask your worship a favor?--"
"Anything in reason, my brave fellow."
"If your worship could put me in the way of another adventure to theIndies?"
"Another! Hast not had enough of the Spaniards already?"
"Never enough, sir, while one of the idolatrous tyrants is leftunhanged," said he, with a right bitter smile. "But it's not for thatonly, sir: but my little maid--Oh
, sir! my little maid, that I swore toMr. Oxenham to look to, and never saw her from that day to this! I mustfind her, sir, or I shall go mad, I believe. Not a night but she comesand calls to me in my dreams, the poor darling; and not a morning butwhen I wake there is my oath lying on my soul, like a great black cloud,and I no nearer the keeping of it. I told that poor young minister of itwhen we were in the galleys together; and he said oaths were oaths, andkeep it I must; and keep it I will, sir, if you'll but help me."
"Have patience, man. God will take as good care of thy little maid asever thou wilt."
"I know it, sir. I know it: but faith's weak, sir! and oh! if she werebred up a Papist and an idolater; wouldn't her blood be on my head then,sir? Sooner than that, sooner than that, I'd be in the Inquisition againto-morrow, I would!"
"My good fellow, there are no adventures to the Indies forward now: butif you want to fight Spaniards, here is a gentleman will show you theway. Amyas, take him with you to Ireland. If he has learnt half thelessons God has set him to learn, he ought to stand you in good stead."
Yeo looked eagerly at the young giant.
"Will you have me, sir? There's few matters I can't turn my hand to:and maybe you'll be going to the Indies again, some day, eh? and take mewith you? I'd serve your turn well, though I say it, either for gunneror for pilot. I know every stone and tree from Nombre to Panama, and allthe ports of both the seas. You'll never be content, I'll warrant, tillyou've had another turn along the gold coasts, will you now?"
Amyas laughed, and nodded; and the bargain was concluded.
So out went Yeo to eat, and Amyas having received his despatches, gotready for his journey home.
"Go the short way over the moors, lad; and send back Cary's gray whenyou can. You must not lose an hour, but be ready to sail the moment thewind goes about."
So they started: but as Amyas was getting into the saddle, he saw thatthere was some stir among the servants, who seemed to keep carefully outof Yeo's way, whispering and nodding mysteriously; and just as his footwas in the stirrup, Anthony, the old butler, plucked him back.
"Dear father alive, Mr. Amyas!" whispered he: "and you ben't going bythe moor road all alone with that chap?"
"Why not, then? I'm too big for him to eat, I reckon."
"Oh, Mr. Amyas! he's not right, I tell you; not company for aChristian--to go forth with creatures as has flames of fire in theirinwards; 'tis temptation of Providence, indeed, then, it is."
"Tale of a tub."
"Tale of a Christian, sir. There was two boys pig-minding, seed him atit down the hill, beside a maiden that was taken mazed (and no wonder,poor soul!) and lying in screeching asterisks now down to the mill--youask as you go by--and saw the flames come out of the mouth of mun, andthe smoke out of mun's nose like a vire-drake, and the roaring of munlike the roaring of ten thousand bulls. Oh, sir! and to go with he afterdark over moor! 'Tis the devil's devices, sir, against you, becauseyou'm going against his sarvants the Pope of Room and the Spaniard; andyou'll be Pixy-led, sure as life, and locked into a bog, you will, andsee mun vanish away to fire and brimstone, like a jack-o'-lantern. Oh,have a care, then, have a care!"
And the old man wrung his hands, while Amyas, bursting with laughter,rode off down the park, with the unconscious Yeo at his stirrup,chatting away about the Indies, and delighting Amyas more and more byhis shrewdness, high spirit, and rough eloquence.
They had gone ten miles or more; the day began to draw in, and thewestern wind to sweep more cold and cheerless every moment, when Amyas,knowing that there was not an inn hard by around for many a mile ahead,took a pull at a certain bottle which Lady Grenville had put into hisholster, and then offered Yeo a pull also.
He declined; he had meat and drink too about him, Heaven be praised!
"Meat and drink? Fall to, then, man, and don't stand on manners."
Whereon Yeo, seeing an old decayed willow by a brook, went to it, andtook therefrom some touchwood, to which he set a light with his knifeand a stone, while Amyas watched, a little puzzled and startled,as Yeo's fiery reputation came into his mind. Was he really asalamander-sprite, and going to warm his inside by a meal of burningtinder? But now Yeo, in his solemn methodical way, pulled out of hisbosom a brown leaf, and began rolling a piece of it up neatly to thesize of his little finger; and then, putting the one end into his mouthand the other on the tinder, sucked at it till it was a-light; anddrinking down the smoke, began puffing it out again at his nostrils witha grunt of deepest satisfaction, and resumed his dog-trot by Amyas'sside, as if he had been a walking chimney.
On which Amyas burst into a loud laugh, and cried--
"Why, no wonder they said you breathed fire? Is not that the Indians'tobacco?"
"Yea, verily, Heaven be praised! but did you never see it before?"
"Never, though we heard talk of it along the coast; but we took it forone more Spanish lie. Humph--well, live and learn!"
"Ah, sir, no lie, but a blessed truth, as I can tell, who have ere nowgone in the strength of this weed three days and nights without eating;and therefore, sir, the Indians always carry it with them on theirwar-parties: and no wonder; for when all things were made none was madebetter than this; to be a lone man's companion, a bachelor's friend,a hungry man's food, a sad man's cordial, a wakeful man's sleep, and achilly man's fire, sir; while for stanching of wounds, purging of rheum,and settling of the stomach, there's no herb like unto it under thecanopy of heaven."
The truth of which eulogium Amyas tested in after years, as shall befully set forth in due place and time. But "Mark in the meanwhile," saysone of the veracious chroniclers from whom I draw these facts, writingseemingly in the palmy days of good Queen Anne, and "not having" (as hesays) "before his eyes the fear of that misocapnic Solomon James I. orof any other lying Stuart," "that not to South Devon, but to North; notto Sir Walter Raleigh, but to Sir Amyas Leigh; not to the banks of Dart,but to the banks of Torridge, does Europe owe the day-spring of thelatter age, that age of smoke which shall endure and thrive, when theage of brass shall have vanished like those of iron and of gold; forwhereas Mr. Lane is said to have brought home that divine weed (asSpenser well names it) from Virginia, in the year 1584, it is herebyindisputable that full four years earlier, by the bridge of Putford inthe Torridge moors (which all true smokers shall hereafter visit as ahallowed spot and point of pilgrimage) first twinkled that fiery beaconand beneficent lodestar of Bidefordian commerce, to spread hereafterfrom port to port and peak to peak, like the watch-fires whichproclaimed the coming of the Armada or the fall of Troy, even to theshores of the Bosphorus, the peaks of the Caucasus, and the farthestisles of the Malayan sea, while Bideford, metropolis of tobacco, saw herPool choked with Virginian traders, and the pavement of her BridgelandStreet groaning beneath the savory bales of roll Trinadado, leaf, andpudding; and her grave burghers, bolstered and blocked out of their ownhouses by the scarce less savory stock-fish casks which filled cellar,parlor, and attic, were fain to sit outside the door, a silver pipein every strong right hand, and each left hand chinking cheerfully thedoubloons deep lodged in the auriferous caverns of their trunk-hose;while in those fairy-rings of fragrant mist, which circled round theircontemplative brows, flitted most pleasant visions of Wiltshire farmersjogging into Sherborne fair, their heaviest shillings in their pockets,to buy (unless old Aubrey lies) the lotus-leaf of Torridge for itsweight in silver, and draw from thence, after the example of theCaciques of Dariena, supplies of inspiration much needed, then as now,in those Gothamite regions. And yet did these improve, as Englishmen,upon the method of those heathen savages; for the latter (so SalvationYeo reported as a truth, and Dampier's surgeon Mr. Wafer after him),when they will deliberate of war or policy, sit round in the hut of thechief; where being placed, enter to them a small boy with a cigarro ofthe bigness of a rolling-pin and puffs the smoke thereof into the faceof each warrior, from the eldest to the youngest; while they, puttingtheir hand funnel-wise round their mouths, draw into the sinuosities ofthe brain that more than
Delphic vapor of prophecy; which boy presentlyfalls down in a swoon, and being dragged out by the heels and laid by tosober, enter another to puff at the sacred cigarro, till he is draggedout likewise; and so on till the tobacco is finished, and the seed ofwisdom has sprouted in every soul into the tree of meditation, bearingthe flowers of eloquence, and in due time the fruit of valiant action."With which quaint fact (for fact it is, in spite of the bombast) I endthe present chapter.
Westward Ho! Or, The Voyages and Adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, of Burrough, in the County of Devon, in the Reign of Her Most Glorious Majesty Queen Elizabeth Page 7