CHAPTER XI
As I was about to turn in to bed, I perceived a red glare in the skywestward, and feared it meant trouble at Sandtoft, so I lay long awake;but at length weariness overpowered me, and I slept for some hours. Iawoke early, and, having dressed in a slow, fumbling way--my arm beingmore than usually painful--I walked out as if I sought the morning air,taking care to give no inkling of my purpose to the servants, who werealready astir.
At that time of the year, the middle of August, there was choice ofthree modes of crossing the fen. One might pick one's way on stilts,or with cleat-boards, but in my present weakness I dared not adventureeither method. The third course was to take boat at Belshaw, on awinding stream, which in the end joined the Idle a mile or so aboveSandtoft. Luke had told me that the Idle was flowing again since thedestruction of Vermuijden's work in the south of the Isle, so I chosethe easiest, if slowest, manner of going; but when I reached the littleinn at Belshaw, there was no boat to be had. Dame Drury told me theirboat was at the carpenter's under repair, and the flat-bottomed puntDrury had taken out, meaning to try for half-duck and snipe, which hadbegun to appear in the fen. There was nothing for me but to await hisreturn, which would be early or late, according to his luck in fowling.
While the dame got ready a breakfast for me, she chanced to makemention of her husband's cousin, who had lain at their house for ayear, crippled with a kind of palsy. Half in curiosity, half incompassion, I questioned her, and learned that he was about thirtyyears of age, that he had inherited a moderate property on the death ofhis father thirteen years ago, and had gone out to see the world,seeking knowledge and adventure in many countries. Some twelve monthsbefore this time he had arrived in London, intending to visit hisfriends in the Isle, and then to go to Virginia to join Captain JohnSmith (who was a distant kinsman of the Drurys); but he had beensuddenly struck down by a mysterious disease, and now lay helpless inan upper room. On my asking whether the poor fellow would welcome avisitor, she went to inquire, while I took my meal, and came back withthe message that he would be very glad to receive me.
At first sight my heart warmed to him, though what was the secret ofhis charm for me I do not know. Do we ever know what it is which drawsus toward another? He had a handsome face, but his eyes only wereremarkable. The broad brow was crowned with clusters of dark hair;mouth and chin were hidden under moustachios and beard, but the eyesglowed. There was witchery in his smile, as he extended his thin hand,saying--
"This is a day to be marked with a white stone. I have often heard ofyou, but little expected ever to see you in my den."
I gripped the hand, with a choking in my throat to see such a man aprisoner, and said--
"If I had known, I would have come earlier."
"I thank Dame Fortune that you have come now," said he.
He had made his poor little room a wonderful place. On the walls weremany sketches, pencilled from memory chiefly, as I came to knowafterwards, full of life and spirit. Quaint drawings, the expressionof his humorous fancy, there were also. A few well-thumbed books inseveral languages stood at his bed's head. On the table lay paperscovered with mathematical studies. He followed my glance, and said--
"The hours are not so leaden-footed as you might fear. With books andpencil and a questioning habit of mind, one need not be idle."
"But accustomed to liberty and travel----" I began.
"And, therefore, with store of remembrances," he interrupted. "I usedto roam the field and browse; now I lie and chew the cud. You maylaugh when I tell you that my worst plague is the perpetual swarm offlies. At times their buzzing and their touch nearly madden me. Theidlest, foulest, most impudent and vilest things on earth, no wonderthe Bible ascribes their creation to Beelzebub. You don't happen toknow what is the proper sacrifice to offer him? I should make it, ifhe would be favourable to me, and remove his creatures from me."
"The dame would prepare you a paper to catch them."
"Don't speak of it! She did, and the horror of it abides with me. Butone thing I learned therefrom. The priests are wrong with theirdoctrine of everlasting torment. Why, I could not endure the miserablestruggles of the most loathsome and detestable and worthless insects._A fortiori_."
"Questions of divinity are beyond me," I said, laughing.
"Whereas questions of all sorts are my occupation," he answered.
Then the conversation turned on his travels, and he talked of men andthings in nearly all the countries of Europe. He seemed to have madefriends wherever he had been, and had something to say of the virtuesof every people. He had seen with his own eyes and judged for himself,and spoke with a delightful freshness. Many a droll prank he hadplayed in his desire to see things from the inside, here to get into amosque, there to penetrate into a brigand's cave, and he told hisescapades briefly and lightly, as I had never heard man speak before inmy life. Despite my longing to be away to Sandtoft, the time passedquickly in his company, and we took our luncheon together pleasantly.But when two o'clock, three o'clock struck, and Drury did not appear, Igrew restless and uneasy, and made some excuse for going out.
"As you will," said he; "but if you want only a vent for yourimpatience, pace about, and swear a little. It is long since I havehad the pleasure to watch a lover."
"And who tells you I am one?"
He laughed as I have never heard another man laugh, softly, musically.
"Oh, my friend, the name is writ all over you. A blind beggar's cardis not so readable. Sighs, fits of silence, eager hearkening for meansof flight--a dozen signs make it plain. And besides, what could take awounded man, still ailing no little, across the fen to Sandtoft, of allplaces in the world--but Love, the strongest of the most ancient gods,venerable as Chaos and Mother Earth and the Nether Deep?"
"You speak like a votary," said I.
"Ay, of the god; not, like you, of the priestess. The deity is one;his ministrants are many."
To me this was a jangling and jarring note, but there came to my earsthe sound of Dame Drury's voice in grumbling welcome of her husband, soI bade my new friend "Good day," and hurried downstairs.
I had difficulty in getting the loan of the punt. Drury had this,that, and the other to do to-morrow. There was "a plenty of fowl"about, which would fetch good prices so early in the season, and hedistrusted my assurance of return that evening; and even hinted doubtof ever seeing the punt or me again, if he allowed me to take it toSandtoft, where "the Dutchees are as mad as bees when their skep hasbeen upset." "Would he sell it outright?" I asked, impatient of thewaste of time in wrangling. No; he wouldn't do that, because the priceof the punt would not cover the loss of time while a new one was beingput together. "Take any price you please," said I, and at five o'clockstepped into the punt, and began to pole down stream. I could not plytwo poles by reason of the weakness of my right arm, so I got forwardbut slowly. Several times I was compelled to use both arms to thesingle pole where the water was very shallow, or the weeds grew rank;and heavy work I found it, so heavy that after an hour's toil, I wastaken with a kind of swimming in the head, and lay down in the bottomof the punt to rest awhile. I know not whether I fell asleep orfainted, but when I came out of slumber or swoon, the light had faded,and a gentle shower was falling. I suppose the rain on my face awokeme. I pushed on, but so feebly that darkness overtook me before Ireached Sandtoft, for the thickening rainclouds cut off the twilight.When I came to the settlement I got out at the first convenient spotfor landing, and, having moored the punt, walked slowly and cautiouslyalong the bank to find the gate. Suddenly a lantern flashed in myface, and my arms were seized from behind and pinioned. My captorshurried me forward, exchanging a few words in their own language, butsaying nothing to me.
Shortly, I was thrust into a bare room, lighted by a lamp slung from ahook in the planking overhead, where Vliet and three others sat,smoking, round a table, on which stood two or three square bottles,several glasses, and a pitcher of water. The closeness of the roomwit
h the reek of tobacco and odour of Schiedam was choking andsickening, and all things began to go round; but I pulled myselftogether by strong effort of will, for something warned me that I musthave my wits about me here. While Vliet and the others talked inDutch, one of the men loosed my bonds, and on looking down I saw myright hand was red, and then felt a slow trickling down the arm. Now Iunderstood my faintness. My wound had broken out again, and loss ofblood had weakened me.
The man who had cut the cord which tied my arms now searched me, as ifhe supposed I had weapons hidden under my clothing. In so doing, hestripped off my coat, and finding my shirt sleeve soaked in blood,looked in my face narrowly, and then made some remark to Vliet, whichcaused him to take the lantern from one of the men and poke it againstmy nose. He sat down after the inspection, and laughed until his facegrew purple. Then he poured out a huge glassful of spirit, half ofwhich he took down at a gulp, and laughed again. When his fit wasover, I said--
"You recognise me, I believe, Mynherr Vliet?"
He could speak English, I found, though abominably, and with a drunkenstutter.
"Oh yes, mister--devil take your name! I know you."
"You cannot suppose that I came to Sandtoft with any ill intent."
"By heaven and hell, but I can suppose it, and be sure of it. Thousanddevils, yes. You are a spy, a traitor, a Judas."
Then he turned to his men, gabbling fast them in Dutch, finally issuingan order to one of the men, which he went out to execute.
"These hurts got in defending your people should certify you, M.Vliet," I said, pointing t my shoulder.
"Ah! you are crafty, Mister-Judas. You fight a little in the daylightfor us, that you may plot against us in the dark. You designing devil!"
Although I knew, looking at Vliet's countenance, in which raging hatredwas no less visible than drunkenness, that there was but a step betweenme and death, I could not refrain from smiling at the character he gaveme.
"You laugh! You will look very funny when you are hanged!" he said.
"Be sure of this," I said, speaking slowly, and as plainly as I could,if perchance some of the Dutchmen, might have English enough to take mymeaning: "if you hang me, you will be hanged, and every man who aidsyou."
I saw by the look of one of the fellows that he understood me. Hewhispered to Vliet, who looked up and asked--
"What lie have you to tell why you came here?"
"I came to speak with Doctor Goel and his daughter on private business."
"Under cover of darkness, like a thief! You creep on the bank at anunguarded place. To see the doctor! Liar!"
"I set out early this morning, but was hindered by the way, and, beingfatigued, I got out of my boat at the first spot I touched."
I saw I had somewhat impressed the one man, for he asked Vliet aquestion, in which he mentioned the doctor's name, to which the answerwas a roaring negative; and as he gave it, Vliet took a pistol from adrawer under the table, and looked at the man threateningly. Then heturned to me.
"You are a liar. Your Lord Sheffield told me how you are cunning. Youpretend to be a friend of some of our people that you may get knowledgeof our work and our defences. Then you send your rascals to burn anddestroy, as they did last night. I hanged two of them, and I will hangyou. Your English law!--that for it!"--snapping his fingers. "You area rebel against your King; and an English lord will stand my friend."
He swallowed another fiery draught. I began to think my chance of lifewas small. Vliet might or might not really believe I was theinstigator of attacks on the settlement, but he had the word ofSheffield for it, and would doubtless have Sheffield's men ready toswear it, if so it pleased his lordship. Vliet's real motive could bewell hidden under pretence of summary justice on a public enemy. Therewas, however, a possibility which had not occurred to him; I would putit to him. All this passed through my mind before Vliet placed hisempty glass on the table.
"Have you any witnesses to prove that Lord Sheffield told you I raisedrioters against you? Because if you have not, when you have gratifiedhim by putting me out of the way, he will not lift a finger to keep youout of the hangman's clutches. He will deny that he ever said suchthings, and laugh in your face."
For a moment he was staggered, but he was too far gone in liquor to beable to think.
"Bah! you are a lying devil!" he said.
At this moment, the man whom he had sent out returned to say, as Iunderstood, that everything was ready. I took a glass from the table,rinsed it out with water from the pitcher, filled it again, and drank.I was inclined to shiver, and the fellow might think I trembled withfear. Vliet gave a signal, and I was led out into the open. Severalmen stood by, with flaming torches and cressets in their hands, and bythese lights I saw the gallows overhead, from which a rope dangled.The noose was slipped over my head. Some men spat on their hands andseized the other end of the rope, ready to haul upon it; and I closedmy eyes to pray the publican's prayer, when a loud cry in the clearestvoice in the world roused me. The crowd parted, and Anna came up tothe foot of the gallows, saying something in Dutch with an imperioustone. The men slacked the rope, one of them giving it a turn or tworound a peg in the upright. Then followed a rapid conversation betweenAnna and Vliet, with an accompaniment of murmuring voices from thebystanders. I understood no word, but by tones and gestures I knewthat Anna began in indignation and anger, but was driven to pleading.Then the doctor came up and joined in the talk, addressing himself tohis daughter chiefly. It ended in Anna allowing Vliet to take herhand, repeating a sentence which he seemed to dictate. Anna now madeas if to come to me, but Vliet barred the way; and there ensued analtercation, which again ended in Vliet having his will. Anna wentreluctantly away with her father, and I was conducted to the room towhich I had been taken at first.
When we--that is, Vliet and I and his three topingcompanions--re-entered the room, one of them handed me my coat, but Idid not put it on, for it was drenched with the rain. He then found ahorse-blanket, threw it over my shoulders, and offered me thespirit-bottle. Seeing him thus far well inclined, I asked for bread,and he produced some, which I munched before helping myself to a smallquantity of the liquor. It made me shudder to drink it, but it putlife and warmth into me. All this time Vliet lay back in his chair ina sort of stupor, consequent, I imagined, on his having been, in thefresh air after so much gin-drinking. After awhile he roused himselfand took a dram. Then he lighted his pipe and began to talk to hiscomrades in a snuffling manner, and thickly. By-and-by he turned tome--
"I spare your life; I will not hang you. Why do you not kneel down andkiss my boots? Where is your gratitude for my mercy?"
As I did not answer the inquiry, he continued--
"Stupid pig! But I will make you speak. I have given my word to mywife--my _wife_, you understand--that I will not hang you; but I willcrop your ears and slit your nose. Thousand devils, yes! And then Iwill kick you out into the fen, and if you die there that will not bemy fault."
"If you want revenge on me, take it like a man," I answered. "You havea knife in your belt; give me one and let us fight. You are halfdrunk, but I have only my left arm, and am otherwise weak. Come, be aman."
And I stood up, for I desired nothing better than a duel to the death.Life without Anna was nothing worth, and if I could by any chance killhim, she would be freed from the loathsome brute. The other Dutchmenjabbered among themselves and to Vliet, and, as far as I couldunderstand, they backed my demand for a fight. Perhaps they would notgreatly grieve, if the bully got the worst of it. He scowled savagelyround on us all, poured out more gin and drank it, let his pipe fall tothe floor, drew his knife, and came at me. But he had drunk too muchto be dangerous. One blow between the eyes sent him to the ground likea log, and he lay there senseless. The friendly Dutchman took me bythe arm and led me to Doctor Goel's house.
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