by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER X.
THE COMMISSIONER OF THE CONVENTION.
At Kelso Harry procured changes of garments, attiring himself as aLowland farmer, and his companions as two drovers. They were, as before,mounted; but the costume of English farmers could no longer have beensupported by any plausible story. They learned that upon the direct roadnorth they should find many bodies of Scotch troops, and therefore madefor the coast. Two days' riding brought them to the little port ofAyton.
After taking their supper in the common room of the hostelry, there wasa stir outside, and three men, attired as Puritan preachers, entered theroom. Mine host received them with courtesy, but with none of the eagerwelcome usually displayed to guests; for these gentry, althoughfeared--for their power was very great at the time--were by no meansloved, and their orders at a hostelry were not likely to swell the purseof the host. Stalking to an unoccupied table next to that at which Harryand his party were sitting, they took their seats and called for supper.
Harry made a sign to his companions to continue talking together, whilehe listened attentively to the conversation of the men behind him. Hegathered from their talk that they were commissioners proceeding fromthe Presbyterian Convention in London to discuss with that at Edinburghupon the points upon which they could come to an agreement for a commonbasis of terms. Their talk turned principally upon doctrinal questions,upon which Harry's ignorance was entire and absolute; but he saw at oncethat it would do good service to the king if he could in some wayprevent these men continuing upon their journey, and so for a timearrest the progress of the negotiations between the king's enemies inEngland and Scotland, for at this time the preachers were the paramountauthorities in England. It was they who insisted upon terms, they whoswayed the councils of the nation, and it was not until Cromwell, afteroverthrowing the king, overthrew the Parliament, which was for the mainpart composed of their creatures, that the power of the preachers cameto an end. It would, of course, have been easy for Harry and his friendsto attack these men during their next day's journey, but this would haveinvolved the necessity of killing them--from which he shrank--for anassault upon three godly men traveling on the high business of theConvention to the Scottish capital would have caused such an outcry thatHarry could not hope to continue on his way without the certainty ofdiscovery and arrest.
Signing to his comrades to remain in their seats, he strolled off towardthe port, and there entered a public house, which, by its aspect, wasfrequented by seafaring men. It was a small room that he entered, andcontained three or four fishermen, and one whom a certain superiority indress betokened to be the captain of a vessel. They were talking of thewar, and of the probability of the Scottish army taking part in it. Thefishermen were all of the popular party; but the captain, who seemed ajovial fellow, shrugged his shoulders over the religious squabbles, andsaid that, for his part, he wanted nothing but peace.
"Not," he said, "that the present times do not suit are rarely inpurse. Men are too busy now to look after the doings of every luggerthat passes along the coast, and never were French goods so plentiful orso cheap. Moreover," he said, "I find that not unfrequently passengerswant to be carried to France or Holland. I ask no questions; I care notwhether they go on missions from the Royalists or from the Convention; Itake their money; I land them at their destination; no questions areasked. So the times suit me bravely; but for all that I do not like tothink of Englishmen and Scotchmen arrayed against their fellows. Icannot see that it matters one jot whether we are predestinate or notpredestinate, or whether it is a bishop who governs a certain church ora presbyter. I say let each worship in his own way, and not concernhimself about his fellows. If men would but mind their own affairs inreligion as they do in business it would be better for us all."
Harry, as he drank the glass of beer he had ordered, had joinedoccasionally in the conversation, not taking any part, but agreeingchiefly with the sea-captain in his desire for peace.
"I too," he said, "have nothing to grumble at. My beasts fetch goodprices for the army, and save that there is a want of hands, I was neverdoing better. Still I would gladly see peace established."
Presently the fishermen, having finished their liquor, retired, and thecaptain, looking keenly at Harry, said, "Methinks, young sir, that youare not precisely what you seem!"
"That is so," Harry replied; "I am on business here, It matters not onwhich side, and it may be that we may strike a bargain together."
"Do you want to cross the channel?" the captain asked, laughing. "Youseem young to have put your head in a noose already."
"No," Harry said, "I do not want to cross myself; but I want to sendsome others across. I suppose that if a passenger or two were placed onboard your ship, to be landed in Holland, you would not deem itnecessary to question them closely, or to ascertain whether they alsowere anxious to arrive at that destination?"
"By no means," the captain replied. "Goods consigned to me will bedelivered at the port to which they are addressed, and I should considerthat with passengers as with goods, I must carry them to the port forwhich their passage is taken."
"Good," Harry said; "if that is the case, methinks that when yousail--and," he asked, breaking off, "when do you sail?"
"To-morrow morning, if the wind is fair," the captain answered. "But ifit would pay me better to stop for a few hours, I might do so."
"To-morrow night, if you will wait till then," Harry said, "I will placethree passengers on board, and will pay you your own sum to land them atFlushing, or any other place across the water to which you may be bound.I will take care that they will make no complaints whatever, or addressany remonstrance to you, until after you have fairly put to sea. Andthen, naturally, you will feel yourself unable to alter the course ofyour ship."
"But," the captain observed, "I must be assured that these passengerswho are so anxious to cross the water are not men whose absence mightcause any great bother. I am a simple man, earning my living as honestlyas the times will allow me to do, and I wish not to embroil myself withthe great parties of the State."
"There may be an inquiry," Harry replied; "but methinks it will soondrop. They are three preachers of London, who are on their way todispute concerning points of religion with the divines in Scotland. Theresult of their disputation may perchance be that an accord may bearrived at between the divines of London and Edinburgh; and in thatcase, I doubt not that the army now lying at Dundee would move south,and that the civil war would therefore become more extended and cruelthan ever."
The captain laughed.
"I am not fond of blackbirds on board my ship," he said. "They are everof ill omen on the sea. But I will risk it for so good a cause. It istheir pestilent religious disputes which have stirred up the nations towar, and I doubt not that even should some time elapse before thesegentlemen can again hold forth in England, there are plenty of others tosupply their place."
An agreement was speedily arrived at as to the terms of passage, forHarry was well provided with money, having drawn at Kelso from an agentdevoted to the Royal cause, upon whom he had letters of credit.
The next morning early Harry went to a carter in the town, and hired acart for the day, leaving a deposit for its safe return at night. Then,mounting their horses, the three Royalists rode off just as thepreachers were going forth from the inn. The latter continued theircourse at the grave pace suitable to their calling and occupation,conversing vigorously upon the points of doctrine which they intended tourge upon their fellows at Edinburgh. Suddenly, just where the roademerged from a wood on to a common, three men dashed out, and fell uponthem. The preachers roared lustily for mercy, and invoked the vengeanceof the Parliament upon those who ventured to interfere with them.
"We are charged," one said, "with a mission to the Convention atEdinburgh, and it is as much as your heads are worth to interfere withus."
"Natheless," Harry said, "we must even risk our heads. You must followus into the wood, or we shall be under the necessity of 'blowing outyour br
ains.'"
Much crestfallen, the preachers followed their captors into the wood.There they were despoiled of their hats and doublets, tied securely bycords, gagged, and placed, in spite of their remonstrances andstruggles, in three huge sacks.
At midnight the Annette was lying alongside the wharf at Ayton, when acart drove up. Three men alighted from it, and one hailed the captain,who was standing on deck.
"I have brought the three parcels thou wottest of," he said. "They willneed each two strong men to carry them on board."
The captain, with two sailors, ascended to the quay.
"What have we here?" said one of the sailors; "there is some livecreature in this sack."
"It is a young calf," Harry said; "when you are well out to sea you cangive it air."
The men laughed, for having frequently had passengers to cross to theContinent, they shrewdly guessed at the truth; and the captain hadalready told them that the delay of a day would put some money into eachof their pockets. Having seen the three sacks deposited on the deck ofthe ship, when the sails were immediately hoisted, and the Annetteglided away on her course seaward, the cart was driven round to thehouse where it had been hired. The stipulated price was paid, thedeposit returned, and the hirer then departed.
Riding toward Edinburgh, Harry agreed with his comrades that as he, asthe apparent leader of the party, would be the more likely to besuspected and arrested, it would be better for the documents of whichthey were the carriers, as well as the papers found upon the persons ofthe Puritans, to be intrusted to the charge of Jacob and William Long.Harry charged them, in the event of anything happening to him, to pay noheed to him whatever, but to separate from him and mix with the crowd,and then to make their way, as best they might, to the Earl of Montrose.
"It matters nothing," he said, "my being arrested, They can provenothing against me, as I shall have no papers on my body, while it isall-important that you should get off. The most that they can do to meis to send me to London, and a term of imprisonment as a malignant isthe worst that will befall me."
The next day they entered the town by the Canongate, and were surprisedand amused at the busy scene passing there. Riding to an inn, they putup their horses and dismounted. Harry purposed to remain there for threeor four days to learn the temper of the people.
The next morning he strolled out into the streets, followed at somelittle distance by Jacob and William Long, He had not the least fear ofbeing recognized, and for the time gave himself up thoroughly to theamusement of the moment. He had not proceeded far, however, when he ranfull tilt against a man in a black garb, who, gazing at him, at onceshouted out at the top of his voice, "Seize this man, he is a malignantand a spy," and to his horror Harry discovered the small preacher withwhom he had twice already been at loggerheads, and who, it seems, hadbeen dispatched as a member of a previous commission by his party inLondon.
In a moment a dozen sturdy hands seized him by his collar. Feeling theutter uselessness of resistance, and being afraid that should he attemptto struggle, his friends might be drawn into the matter, Harry quietlyproceeded along the street until he reached the city guardhouse, in acell of which he was thrust.
"One would think," he muttered to himself, "that little preacher is anemissary of Satan himself. Go where I will, this lantern-jawed knave issure to crop up and I feel convinced that until I have split his skull Ishall have no safety. I thought I had freed myself of him forever when Igot out of London; and here, in the middle of the Scotch capital, heturns up as sharpsighted and as venomous as ever."
An hour or two later Harry was removed under a guard to the city prison,and in the evening the doors were opened and a guard appeared andbriefly ordered him to follow. Under the escort of four men he was ledthrough the streets to a large building, and then conducted to a room inwhich a number of persons, some of them evidently of high rank, weresitting. At the head of the table was a man of sinister aspect. He hadred hair and eyebrows, and a foxy, cunning face, and Harry guessed atonce that he was in the presence of the Earl of Argyll--a man who, evenmore than the rest of his treacherous race, was hated and despised byloyal Scotchmen. In all their history, a great portion of the Scottishnobles were ever found ready to take English gold, and to plot againsttheir country. But the Argylls had borne a bad pre-eminence even amongthese. They had hunted Wallace, had hounded down Bruce, and had everbeen prominent in fomenting dissensions in their country; the presentearl was probably the coldest and most treacherous of his race.
"We are told," he said sternly to the prisoner, "that you are a followerof the man Charles; that you have been already engaged in plottingsamong the good citizens of London, and we shrewdly suspect that yourpresence here bodes no good to the state. What hast thou to say in thydefense?"
"I do not know that I am charged with any offence," Harry said quietly."I am an English gentleman, who, wishing to avoid the disorders in hisown country, has traveled north for peace and quietness. If you haveaught to urge against me or any evidence to give, I shall be prepared toconfute it. As for the preacher, whose evidence has caused my arrest, hehath simply a grudge against me for a boyish freak, from which hesuffered at the time when I made my escape from a guardroom in London,and his accusation against me is solely the result of prejudice."
Harry had already, upon his arrival at the jail, been searchedthoroughly, having been stripped, and even the folds and linings of hisgarments ripped open, to see that they contained no correspondence.Knowing that nothing whatever could have been found against him, unless,indeed, his followers had also fallen into the hands of the Roundheads,Harry was able to assume a position of injured innocence.
"Your tone comports not with your condition," the Earl of Argyll saidharshly. "We have found means here to make men of sterner mold thanthine speak the truth, and in the interests of the state we shall nothesitate to use them against you also. The torturer here hathinstruments which would tear you limb from limb, and, young sir, thesewill not be spared unless that malapert tongue of thine gives us theinformation we desire to learn."
"I decline to answer any questions beyond what I have already said,"Harry replied firmly. "I tell you that I am an English gentlemantraveling here on my own private business, and it were foul wrong for meto be seized and punished upon the suspicion of such a one as that manthere;" and he pointed contemptuously to the preacher.
"You will be brought up again in two days," the earl said, "and if bythat time you have not made up your mind to confess all, it will go hardwith you. Think not that the life of a varlet like you will weigh forone moment in the scale with the safety of the nation, or that anyregard for what you may consider in England the usages of war willprevail here."
He waved his hand, and Harry was conducted back to jail, feeling farmore uneasy than he had done, for he knew that in Scotland verydifferent manners prevailed to those which characterized the English. InEngland, throughout the war, no unnecessary bloodshed took place, and upto that time the only persons executed in cold blood had been the twogentlemen convicted of endeavoring to corrupt the Parliament in favor ofthe king. But in Scotland, where civil broils were constant, blood wasever shed recklessly on both sides; houses were given to the flames;men, women, and children slaughtered; lands laid waste; and all theatrocities which civil war, heightened by religious bigotry, couldsuggest, perpetrated.
Late that evening, the door of the prison opened, and a preacher wasshown into the room.
"I have come," he said in a nasal tone, "misguided young man, to prayyou to consider the wickedness of your ways. It is written that theungodly shall perish, and I would fain lead you from the errors of yourway before it is too late."
Harry had started as the speaker began; but he remained immovable untilthe jailer closed the door.
"Jacob," he exclaimed, "how mad, how imprudent of you! I ordered youspecially, if I was arrested, to pay no heed, but to make your waynorth."
"I know that you did," Jacob said. "But you see you yourself talked ofremaining for
three days in Edinburgh. Therefore, I knew that therecould be no pressing need of my journey north; and hearing somewhispers of the intention of the lord president to extract from acertain prisoner the news of a plot with which he was supposed to beconnected, I thought it even best to come and see you."
"But how have you obtained this garb?" Harry asked; "and how, above all,have you managed to penetrate hither?"
"Truly," Jacob said, "I have undertaken a difficult task in thy behalf,for I have to-night to enter into a disputation with many learneddivines, and I dread that more than running the risk of meeting the Earlof Argyll, who, they say, has the face of a fox, and the heart of adevil."
"What mean you?" Harry asked.
"After we saw you dragged off by the townsmen, on being denounced bythat little preacher whose hat I spoiled in St. Paul's churchyard, wefollowed your orders, and made back to our hostelry. There William Longand myself talked the matter over. In the first place, we took all thepapers and documents which were concealed about us, and lifting a boardin the room, hid them beneath it, so that in case of our arrest theywould be safe. As we took out the documents, the commission which weborrowed from the preachers met our eyes, and it struck me that, armedwith this, we might be enabled to do you service. I therefore at oncepurchased cloaks and hats fitting for us as worthy divines from London,and then, riding a mile or two into the country, we changed ourgarments, and entered the good city of Edinburgh as English divines. Weproceeded direct to the house of the chief presbyter, to whom theletters of commission were addressed, and were received by him with openarms. I trust that we played our part rarely, and, in truth, theunctuousness and godliness of William Long passeth belief, and he playshis part well. Looking as he does far older than I--although in thesedays of clean-shaven faces I can make up rarely for thirty--he assumedthe leading part. The presbyter would fain have summoned a number of hisdivines for a discussion this evening. But we, pleading fatigue, beggedhim to allow us two days of rest. He has, however, invited a few of hisfellows, and we are to wrestle with them this evening in argument. Howwe shall get out of it I know not, for my head is altogether inignorance of the points in issue. However, there was, among thedocuments of the preachers, one setting forth the points in which thepractice of the sect in England and Scotland differed, with the heads ofthe arguments to be used. We have looked through these, and, as well aswe could understand the jumble of hard words, have endeavored to masterthe points at issue, so we shall to-night confine ourselves to a bareexposition of facts, and shall put off answering the arguments of theother side until the drawn battle, which will be fixed for the day afterto-morrow. By the way, we accounted for the absence of our colleague bysaying that he fell sick on the way."
"But what is the use of all this risk?" Harry asked, laughing at thethought of his two followers discussing theology with the learneddivines of the Scotch Church.
"That, in truth," Jacob said, "I do not yet exactly see; but I trustthat to-morrow we shall have contrived some plan of getting you out ofthis prison. I shall return at the same time to-morrow evening."
"How did you get in here?" he asked.
"I had an order from the chief presbyter for entry. Saying that Ibelieved I knew you, and that my words might have some effect in turningyou from the evil of your ways, I volunteered to exhort you, and shallgive such an account of my mission as will lead them to give me a passto see you again to-morrow night."
The following evening Jacob again called, this time accompanied byWilliam. They brought with them another dress similar to their own.Their visit was an hour later than upon the preceding evening.
"I learned," Jacob said, "that the guard was changed at eight o'clock,and it is upon this that the success of our scheme depends. William willimmediately leave, and as he has been seen to enter by the guardswithout, and by those at the prison gate, he will pass out withoutquestioning. In half an hour a fresh guard will be placed at both thesepoints, and you and I will march out together, armed with permission fortwo preachers to pass."
The scheme appeared a hopeful one, and William took his departure aftera few minutes, saying to the guards without that he went to fetch a bookof reference which he needed to convince the hard-hearted reprobatewithin. He left the door partly ajar, and the guards without wereedified by catching snatches of a discourse of exceeding godliness andunction, delivered by the preacher to the prisoner.
Presently a trampling without informed Harry and Jacob that the guardwas being changed, and half an hour later they opened the door, andJacob, standing for a moment as they went out, addressed a few words ofearnest exhortation to the prisoner supposed to be within, adjuring himto bethink himself whether it was better to sacrifice his life in thecause of a wicked king than to purchase his freedom by forsaking theerror of his ways, and turning to the true belief. Then, closing thedoor after him, Jacob strode along, accompanied by Harry, to theguardroom. They passed through the yard of the prison to the gate. ThereJacob produced his pass for the entrance and exit of two divines, andthe guard, suspecting no evil, at once suffered them to go forth.William had already been to the inn where they stopped, and had told thehost that he was charged to examine the chamber where the persons whoabode there upon the previous day had stopped. There he had taken thevarious documents from their hiding-place, and had made his way from thecity. Outside the gates he was joined by the others, and all, at aspeedy but still dignified pace, made their way to the spot where thehorses were concealed, in a little wood in a retired valley. Here theychanged their dress, and, making a bonfire of the garments which theyhad taken off, mounted their horses, and rode for the north.