diff --git "a/data/train/2807.txt" "b/data/train/2807.txt" new file mode 100644--- /dev/null +++ "b/data/train/2807.txt" @@ -0,0 +1,11809 @@ + + + + +Produced by David Reed + + + + + +TO HAVE AND TO HOLD + +By Mary Johnston + + + TO + THE MEMORY OF + MY MOTHER + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER I. IN WHICH I THROW AMBS-ACE + CHAPTER II. IN WHICH I MEET MASTER JEREMY SPARROW + CHAPTER III. IN WHICH I MARRY IN HASTE + CHAPTER IV. IN WHICH I AM LIKE TO REPENT AT LEISURE + CHAPTER V. IN WHICH A WOMAN HAS HER WAY + CHAPTER VI. IN WHICH WE GO TO JAMESTOWN + CHAPTER VII. IN WHICH WE PREPARE TO FIGHT THE SPANIARD + CHAPTER VIII. IN WHICH ENTERS MY LORD CARNAL + CHAPTER IX. IN WHICH TWO DRINK OF ONE CUP + CHAPTER X. IN WHICH MASTER PORY GAINS TIME TO SOME PURPOSE + CHAPTER XI. IN WHICH I MEET AN ITALIAN DOCTOR + CHAPTER XII. IN WHICH I RECEIVE A WARNING AND REPOSE A TRUST + CHAPTER XIII. IN WHICH THE SANTA TERESA DROPS DOWN-STREAM + CHAPTER XIV. IN WHICH WE SEEK A LOST LADY + CHAPTER XV. IN WHICH WE FIND THE HAUNTED WOOD + CHAPTER XVI. IN WHICH I AM RID OF AN UNPROFITABLE SERVANT + CHAPTER XVII. IN WHICH MY LORD AND I PLAY AT BOWLS + CHAPTER XVIII. IN WHICH WE GO OUT INTO THE NIGHT + CHAPTER XIX. IN WHICH WE HAVE UNEXPECTED COMPANY + CHAPTER XX. IN WHICH WE ARE IN DESPERATE CASE + CHAPTER XXI. IN WHICH A GRAVE IS DIGGED + CHAPTER XXII. IN WHICH I CHANGE MY NAME AND OCCUPATION + CHAPTER XXIII. IN WHICH WE WRITE UPON THE SAND + CHAPTER XXIV. IN WHICH WE CHOOSE THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS + CHAPTER XXV. IN WHICH MY LORD HATH HIS DAY + CHAPTER XXVI. IN WHICH I AM BROUGHT TO TRIAL + CHAPTER XXVII. IN WHICH I FIND AN ADVOCATE + CHAPTER XXVIII. IN WHICH THE SPRINGTIME IS AT HAND + CHAPTER XXIX. IN WHICH I KEEP TRYST + CHAPTER XXX. IN WHICH WE START UPON A JOURNEY + CHAPTER XXXI. IN WHICH NANTAUQUAS COMES TO OUR RESCUE + CHAPTER XXXII. IN WHICH WE ARE THE GUESTS OF AN EMPEROR + CHAPTER XXXIII. IN WHICH MY FRIEND BECOMES MY FOE + CHAPTER XXXIV. IN WHICH THE RACE IS NOT TO THE SWIFT + CHAPTER XXXV. IN WHICH I COME TO THE GOVERNOR'S HOUSE + CHAPTER XXXVI. IN WHICH I HEAR ILL NEWS + CHAPTER XXXVII. IN WHICH MY LORD AND I PART COMPANY + CHAPTER XXXVIII. IN WHICH I GO UPON A QUEST + CHAPTER XXXIX. IN WHICH WE LISTEN TO A SONG + + + + +TO HAVE AND TO HOLD + + + +CHAPTER I IN WHICH I THROW AMBS-ACE + + +THE work of the day being over, I sat down upon my doorstep, pipe in +hand, to rest awhile in the cool of the evening. Death is not more still +than is this Virginian land in the hour when the sun has sunk away, and +it is black beneath the trees, and the stars brighten slowly and softly, +one by one. The birds that sing all day have hushed, and the horned +owls, the monster frogs, and that strange and ominous fowl (if fowl it +be, and not, as some assert, a spirit damned) which we English call the +whippoorwill, are yet silent. Later the wolf will howl and the panther +scream, but now there is no sound. The winds are laid, and the restless +leaves droop and are quiet. The low lap of the water among the reeds is +like the breathing of one who sleeps in his watch beside the dead. + +I marked the light die from the broad bosom of the river, leaving it +a dead man's hue. Awhile ago, and for many evenings, it had been +crimson,--a river of blood. A week before, a great meteor had shot +through the night, blood-red and bearded, drawing a slow-fading fiery +trail across the heavens; and the moon had risen that same night +blood-red, and upon its disk there was drawn in shadow a thing most +marvelously like a scalping knife. Wherefore, the following day being +Sunday, good Mr. Stockham, our minister at Weyanoke, exhorted us to be +on our guard, and in his prayer besought that no sedition or rebellion +might raise its head amongst the Indian subjects of the Lord's anointed. +Afterward, in the churchyard, between the services, the more timorous +began to tell of divers portents which they had observed, and to recount +old tales of how the savages distressed us in the Starving Time. The +bolder spirits laughed them to scorn, but the women began to weep and +cower, and I, though I laughed too, thought of Smith, and how he ever +held the savages, and more especially that Opechancanough who was now +their emperor, in a most deep distrust; telling us that the red men +watched while we slept, that they might teach wiliness to a Jesuit, and +how to bide its time to a cat crouched before a mousehole. I thought +of the terms we now kept with these heathen; of how they came and went +familiarly amongst us, spying out our weakness, and losing the salutary +awe which that noblest captain had struck into their souls; of how many +were employed as hunters to bring down deer for lazy masters; of how, +breaking the law, and that not secretly, we gave them knives and arms, a +soldier's bread, in exchange for pelts and pearls; of how their emperor +was forever sending us smooth messages; of how their lips smiled +and their eyes frowned. That afternoon, as I rode home through the +lengthening shadows, a hunter, red-brown and naked, rose from behind a +fallen tree that sprawled across my path, and made offer to bring me my +meat from the moon of corn to the moon of stags in exchange for a gun. +There was scant love between the savages and myself,--it was answer +enough when I told him my name. I left the dark figure standing, still +as a carved stone, in the heavy shadow of the trees, and, spurring my +horse (sent me from home, the year before, by my cousin Percy), was soon +at my house,--a poor and rude one, but pleasantly set upon a of +green turf, and girt with maize and the broad leaves of the tobacco. +When I had had my supper, I called from their hut the two Paspahegh lads +bought by me from their tribe the Michaelmas before, and soundly flogged +them both, having in my mind a saying of my ancient captain's, namely, +"He who strikes first oft-times strikes last." + +Upon the afternoon of which I now speak, in the midsummer of the year of +grace 1621, as I sat upon my doorstep, my long pipe between my teeth and +my eyes upon the pallid stream below, my thoughts were busy with these +matters,--so busy that I did not see a horse and rider emerge from the +dimness of the forest into the cleared space before my palisade, nor +knew, until his voice came up the bank, that my good friend, Master John +Rolfe, was without and would speak to me. + +I went down to the gate, and, unbarring it, gave him my hand and led the +horse within the inclosure. + +"Thou careful man!" he said, with a laugh, as he dismounted. "Who else, +think you, in this or any other hundred, now bars his gate when the sun +goes down?" + +"It is my sunset gun," I answered briefly, fastening his horse as I +spoke. + +He put his arm about my shoulder, for we were old friends, and together +we went up the green bank to the house, and, when I had brought him a +pipe, sat down side by side upon the doorstep. + +"Of what were you dreaming?" he asked presently, when we had made for +ourselves a great cloud of smoke. "I called you twice." + +"I was wishing for Dale's times and Dale's laws." + +He laughed, and touched my knee with his hand, white and smooth as a +woman's, and with a green jewel upon the forefinger. + +"Thou Mars incarnate!" he cried. "Thou first, last, and in the meantime +soldier! Why, what wilt thou do when thou gettest to heaven? Make it too +hot to hold thee? Or take out letters of marque against the Enemy?" + +"I am not there yet," I said dryly. "In the meantime I would like a +commission against--your relatives." + +He laughed, then sighed, and, sinking his chin into his hand and softly +tapping his foot against the ground, fell into a reverie. + +"I would your princess were alive," I said presently. + +"So do I," he answered softly. "So do I." Locking his hands behind his +head, he raised his quiet face to the evening star. "Brave and wise and +gentle," he mused. "If I did not think to meet her again, beyond that +star, I could not smile and speak calmly, Ralph, as I do now." + +"'T is a strange thing," I said, as I refilled my pipe. "Love for your +brother-in-arms, love for your commander if he be a commander worth +having, love for your horse and dog, I understand. But wedded love! to +tie a burden around one's neck because 't is pink and white, or clear +bronze, and shaped with elegance! Faugh!" + +"Yet I came with half a mind to persuade thee to that very burden!" he +cried, with another laugh. + +"Thanks for thy pains," I said, blowing blue rings into the air. + +"I have ridden to-day from Jamestown," he went on. "I was the only +man, i' faith, that cared to leave its gates; and I met the world--the +bachelor world--flocking to them. Not a mile of the way but I +encountered Tom, Dick, and Harry, dressed in their Sunday bravery and +making full tilt for the city. And the boats upon the river! I have seen +the Thames less crowded." + +"There was more passing than usual," I said; "but I was busy in the +fields, and did not attend. What's the lodestar?" + +"The star that draws us all,--some to ruin, some to bliss ineffable, +woman." + +"Humph! The maids have come, then?" + +He nodded. "There's a goodly ship down there, with a goodly lading." + +"Videlicet, some fourscore waiting damsels and milkmaids, warranted +honest by my Lord Warwick," I muttered. + +"This business hath been of Edwyn Sandys' management, as you very well +know," he rejoined, with some heat. "His word is good: therefore I hold +them chaste. That they are fair I can testify, having seen them leave +the ship." + +"Fair and chaste," I said, "but meanly born." + +"I grant you that," he answered. "But after all, what of it? Beggars +must not be choosers. The land is new and must be peopled, nor will +those who come after us look too curiously into the lineage of those +to whom a nation owes its birth. What we in these plantations need is +a loosening of the bonds which tie us to home, to England, and a +tightening of those which bind us to this land in which we have cast our +lot. We put our hand to the plough, but we turn our heads and look +to our Egypt and its fleshpots. 'T is children and wife--be that wife +princess or peasant--that make home of a desert, that bind a man with +chains of gold to the country where they abide. Wherefore, when at +midday I met good Master Wickham rowing down from Henricus to Jamestown, +to offer his aid to Master Bucke in his press of business to-morrow, I +gave the good man Godspeed, and thought his a fruitful errand and one +pleasing to the Lord." + +"Amen," I yawned. "I love the land, and call it home. My withers are +unwrung." + +He rose to his feet, and began to pace the greensward before the door. +My eyes followed his trim figure, richly though sombrely clad, then fell +with a sudden dissatisfaction upon my own stained and frayed apparel. + +"Ralph," he said presently, coming to a stand before me, "have you ever +an hundred and twenty pounds of tobacco in hand? If not, I"-- + +"I have the weed," I replied. "What then?" + +"Then at dawn drop down with the tide to the city, and secure for +thyself one of these same errant damsels." + +I stared at him, and then broke into laughter, in which, after a space +and unwillingly, he himself joined. When at length I wiped the water +from my eyes it was quite dark, the whippoorwills had begun to call, and +Rolfe must needs hasten on. I went with him down to the gate. + +"Take my advice,--it is that of your friend," he said, as he swung +himself into the saddle. He gathered up the reins and struck spurs into +his horse, then turned to call back to me: "Sleep upon my words, Ralph, +and the next time I come I look to see a farthingale behind thee!" + +"Thou art as like to see one upon me," I answered. + +Nevertheless, when he had gone, and I climbed the bank and reentered the +house, it was with a strange pang at the cheerlessness of my hearth, +and an angry and unreasoning impatience at the lack of welcoming face or +voice. In God's name, who was there to welcome me? None but my hounds, +and the flying squirrel I had caught and tamed. Groping my way to the +corner, I took from my store two torches, lit them, and stuck them into +the holes pierced in the mantel shelf; then stood beneath the clear +flame, and looked with a sudden sick distaste upon the disorder which +the light betrayed. The fire was dead, and ashes and embers were +scattered upon the hearth; fragments of my last meal littered the table, +and upon the unwashed floor lay the bones I had thrown my dogs. Dirt +and confusion reigned; only upon my armor, my sword and gun, my hunting +knife and dagger, there was no spot or stain. I turned to gaze upon +them where they hung against the wall, and in my soul I hated the piping +times of peace, and longed for the camp fire and the call to arms. + +With an impatient sigh, I swept the litter from the table, and, +taking from the shelf that held my meagre library a bundle of Master +Shakespeare's plays (gathered for me by Rolfe when he was last in +London), I began to read; but my thoughts wandered, and the tale seemed +dull and oft told. I tossed it aside, and, taking dice from my pocket, +began to throw. As I cast the bits of bone, idly, and scarce caring to +observe what numbers came uppermost, I had a vision of the forester's +hut at home, where, when I was a boy, in the days before I ran away to +the wars in the Low Countries, I had spent many a happy hour. Again I +saw the bright light of the fire reflected in each well-scrubbed crock +and pannikin; again I heard the cheerful hum of the wheel; again the +face of the forester's daughter smiled upon me. The old gray manor +house, where my mother, a stately dame, sat ever at her tapestry, and an +imperious elder brother strode to and fro among his hounds, seemed less +of home to me than did that tiny, friendly hut. To-morrow would be my +thirty-sixth birthday. All the numbers that I cast were high. "If I +throw ambs-ace," I said, with a smile for my own caprice, "curse me if I +do not take Rolfe's advice!" + +I shook the box and clapped it down upon the table, then lifted it, +and stared with a lengthening face at what it had hidden; which done, I +diced no more, but put out my lights and went soberly to bed. + + + +CHAPTER II IN WHICH I MEET MASTER JEREMY SPARROW + + +MINE are not dicers' oaths. The stars were yet shining when I left the +house, and, after a word with my man Diccon, at the servants' huts, +strode down the bank and through the gate of the palisade to the wharf, +where I loosed my boat, put up her sail, and turned her head down the +broad stream. The wind was fresh and favorable, and we went swiftly down +the river through the silver mist toward the sunrise. The sky grew pale +pink to the zenith; then the sun rose and drank up the mist. The river +sparkled and shone; from the fresh green banks came the smell of the +woods and the song of birds; above rose the sky, bright blue, with a few +fleecy clouds drifting across it. I thought of the day, thirteen years +before, when for the first time white men sailed up this same river, +and of how noble its width, how enchanting its shores, how gay and sweet +their blooms and odors, how vast their trees, how strange the painted +savages, had seemed to us, storm-tossed adventurers, who thought we had +found a very paradise, the Fortunate Isles at least. How quickly were +we undeceived! As I lay back in the stern with half-shut eyes and tiller +idle in my hand, our many tribulations and our few joys passed in review +before me. Indian attacks; dissension and strife amongst our rulers; +true men persecuted, false knaves elevated; the weary search for gold +and the South Sea; the horror of the pestilence and the blacker horror +of the Starving Time; the arrival of the Patience and Deliverance, +whereat we wept like children; that most joyful Sunday morning when we +followed my Lord de la Warre to church; the coming of Dale with that +stern but wholesome martial code which was no stranger to me who had +fought under Maurice of Nassau; the good times that followed, when +bowl-playing gallants were put down, cities founded, forts built, and +the gospel preached; the marriage of Rolfe and his dusky princess; +Argall's expedition, in which I played a part, and Argall's iniquitous +rule; the return of Yeardley as Sir George, and the priceless gift he +brought us,--all this and much else, old friends, old enemies, old toils +and strifes and pleasures, ran, bitter-sweet, through my memory, as the +wind and flood bore me on. Of what was before me I did not choose to +think, sufficient unto the hour being the evil thereof. + +The river seemed deserted: no horsemen spurred Along the bridle path on +the shore; the boats were few and far between, and held only servants +or Indians or very old men. It was as Rolfe had said, and the free and +able-bodied of the plantations had put out, posthaste, for matrimony. +Chaplain's Choice appeared unpeopled; Piersey's Hundred slept in the +sunshine, its wharf deserted, and but few, slow-moving figures in the +tobacco fields; even the Indian villages looked scant of all but squaws +and children, for the braves were gone to see the palefaces buy their +wives. Below Paspahegh a cockleshell of a boat carrying a great white +sail overtook me, and I was hailed by young Hamor. + +"The maids are come!" he cried. "Hurrah!" and stood up to wave his hat. + +"Humph!" I said. "I guess thy destination by thy hose. Are they not +'those that were thy peach- ones'?" + +"Oons! yes!" he answered, looking down with complacency upon his +tarnished finery. "Wedding garments, Captain Percy, wedding garments!" + +I laughed. "Thou art a tardy bridegroom. I thought that the bachelors of +this quarter of the globe slept last night in Jamestown." + +His face fell. "I know it," he said ruefully; "but my doublet had more +rents than slashes in it, and Martin Tailor kept it until cockcrow. +That fellow rolls in tobacco; he hath grown rich off our impoverished +wardrobes since the ship down yonder passed the capes. After all," he +brightened, "the bargaining takes not place until toward midday, after +solemn service and thanksgiving. There's time enough!" He waved me a +farewell, as his great sail and narrow craft carried him past me. + +I looked at the sun, which truly was not very high, with a secret +disquietude; for I had had a scurvy hope that after all I should be +too late, and so the noose which I felt tightening about my neck might +unknot itself. Wind and tide were against me, and an hour later saw me +nearing the peninsula and marveling at the shipping which crowded its +waters. It was as if every sloop, barge, canoe, and dugout between Point +Comfort and Henricus were anchored off its shores, while above them +towered the masts of the Marmaduke and Furtherance, then in port, and of +the tall ship which had brought in those doves for sale. The river with +its dancing freight, the blue heavens and bright sunshine, the green +trees waving in the wind, the stir and bustle in the street and market +place thronged with gayly dressed gallants, made a fair and pleasant +scene. As I drove my boat in between the sloop of the commander of +Shirley Hundred and the canoe of the Nansemond werowance, the two +bells then newly hung in the church began to peal and the drum to beat. +Stepping ashore, I had a rear view only of the folk who had clustered +along the banks and in the street, their faces and footsteps being with +one accord directed toward the market place. I went with the throng, +jostled alike by velvet and dowlas, by youths with their estates upon +their backs and naked fantastically painted savages, and trampling the +tobacco with which the greedy citizens had planted the very street. In +the square I brought up before the Governor's house, and found myself +cheek by jowl with Master Pory, our Secretary, and Speaker of the +Assembly. + +"Ha, Ralph Percy!" he cried, wagging his gray head, "we two be the only +sane younkers in the plantations! All the others are horn-mad!" + +"I have caught the infection," I said, "and am one of the bedlamites." + +He stared, then broke into a roar of laughter. "Art in earnest?" he +asked, holding his fat sides. "Is Saul among the prophets?" + +"Yes," I answered. "I diced last night,--yea or no; and the +'yea'--plague on 't--had it." + +He broke into another roar. "And thou callest that bridal attire, man! +Why, our cow-keeper goes in flaming silk to-day!" + +I looked down upon my suit of buff, which had in truth seen some +service, and at my great boots, which I had not thought to clean since I +mired in a swamp, coming from Henricus the week before; then shrugged my +shoulders. + +"You will go begging," he continued, wiping his eyes. "Not a one of them +will so much as look at you." + +"Then will they miss seeing a man, and not a popinjay," I retorted. "I +shall not break my heart." + +A cheer arose from the crowd, followed by a crashing peal of the bells +and a louder roll of the drum. The doors of the houses around and to +right and left of the square swung open, and the company which had +been quartered overnight upon the citizens began to emerge. By twos and +threes, some with hurried steps and downcast eyes, others more slowly +and with free glances at the staring men, they gathered to the centre of +the square, where, in surplice and band, there awaited them godly Master +Bucke and Master Wickham of Henricus. I stared with the rest, though I +did not add my voice to theirs. + +Before the arrival of yesterday's ship there had been in this natural +Eden (leaving the savages out of the reckoning) several thousand Adams, +and but some threescore Eves. And for the most part, the Eves were +either portly and bustling or withered and shrewish housewives, of age +and experience to defy the serpent. These were different. Ninety slender +figures decked in all the bravery they could assume; ninety comely +faces, pink and white, or clear brown with the rich blood showing +through; ninety pair of eyes, laughing and alluring, or downcast with +long fringes sweeping rounded cheeks; ninety pair of ripe red lips,--the +crowd shouted itself hoarse and would not be restrained, brushing aside +like straws the staves of the marshal and his men, and surging in upon +the line of adventurous damsels. I saw young men, panting, seize hand or +arm and strive to pull toward them some reluctant fair; others snatched +kisses, or fell on their knees and began speeches out of Euphues; others +commenced an inventory of their possessions,--acres, tobacco, servants, +household plenishing. All was hubbub, protestation, frightened cries, +and hysterical laughter. The officers ran to and fro, threatening and +commanding; Master Pory alternately cried "Shame!" and laughed his +loudest; and I plucked away a jackanapes of sixteen who had his hand +upon a girl's ruff, and shook him until the breath was well-nigh out of +him. The clamor did but increase. + +"Way for the Governor!" cried the marshal. "Shame on you, my masters! +Way for his Honor and the worshipful Council!" + +The three wooden steps leading down from the door of the Governor's +house suddenly blossomed into crimson and gold, as his Honor with the +attendant Councilors emerged from the hall and stood staring at the mob +below. + +The Governor's honest moon face was quite pale with passion. "What a +devil is this?" he cried wrathfully. "Did you never see a woman before? +Where's the marshal? I'll imprison the last one of you for rioters!" + +Upon the platform of the pillory, which stood in the centre of the +market place, suddenly appeared a man of a gigantic frame, with a strong +face deeply lined and a great shock of grizzled hair,--a strange thing, +for he was not old. I knew him to be one Master Jeremy Sparrow, a +minister brought by the Southampton a month before, and as yet without +a charge, but at that time I had not spoken with him. Without word of +warning he thundered into a psalm of thanksgiving, singing it at the +top of a powerful and yet sweet and tender voice, and with a fervor and +exaltation that caught the heart of the riotous crowd. The two ministers +in the throng beneath took up the strain; Master Pory added a husky +tenor, eloquent of much sack; presently we were all singing. The +audacious suitors, charmed into rationality, fell back, and the broken +line re-formed. The Governor and the Council descended, and with pomp +and solemnity took their places between the maids and the two ministers +who were to head the column. The psalm ended, the drum beat a thundering +roll, and the procession moved forward in the direction of the church. + +Master Pory having left me, to take his place among his brethren of +the Council, and the mob of those who had come to purchase and of the +curious idle having streamed away at the heels of the marshal and his +officers, I found myself alone in the square, save for the singer, who +now descended from the pillory and came up to me. + +"Captain Ralph Percy, if I mistake not?" he said, in a voice as deep and +rich as the bass of an organ. + +"The same," I answered. "And you are Master Jeremy Sparrow?" + +"Yea, a silly preacher,--the poorest, meekest, and lowliest of the +Lord's servitors." + +His deep voice, magnificent frame, and bold and free address so gave +the lie to the humility of his words that I had much ado to keep from +laughing. He saw, and his face, which was of a cast most martial, +flashed into a smile, like sunshine on a scarred cliff. + +"You laugh in your sleeve," he said good-humoredly, "and yet I am but +what I profess to be. In spirit I am a very Job, though nature hath +fit to dress me as a Samson. I assure you, I am worse misfitted than is +Master Yardstick yonder in those Falstaffian hose. But, good sir, will +you not go to church?" + +"If the church were Paul's, I might," I answered. "As it is, we could +not get within fifty feet of the door." + +"Of the great door, ay, but the ministers may pass through the side +door. If you please, I will take you in with me. The pretty fools yonder +march slowly; if we turn down this lane, we will outstrip them quite." + +"Agreed," I said, and we turned into a lane thick planted with tobacco, +made a detour of the Governor's house, and outflanked the procession, +arriving at the small door before it had entered the churchyard. Here we +found the sexton mounting guard. + +"I am Master Sparrow, the minister that came in the Southampton," my +new acquaintance explained. "I am to sit in the choir. Let us pass, good +fellow." + +The sexton squared himself before the narrow opening, and swelled with +importance. + +"You, reverend sir, I will admit, such being my duty. But this gentleman +is no preacher; I may not allow him to pass." + +"You mistake, friend," said my companion gravely. "This gentleman, my +worthy colleague, has but just come from the island of St. Brandon, +where he preaches on the witches' Sabbath: hence the disorder of his +apparel. His admittance be on my head: wherefore let us by." + +"None to enter at the west door save Councilors, commander, and +ministers. Any attempting to force an entrance to be arrested and laid +by the heels if they be of the generality, or, if they be of quality, +to be duly fined and debarred from the purchase of any maid whatsoever," +chanted the sexton. + +"Then, in God's name, let's on!" I exclaimed "Here, try this!" and I +drew from my purse, which was something of the leanest, a shilling. + +"Try this," quoth Master Jeremy Sparrow, and knocked the sexton down. + +We left the fellow sprawling in the doorway, sputtering threats to the +air without, but with one covetous hand clutching at the shilling which +I threw behind me, and entered the church, which we found yet empty, +though through the open great door we heard the drum beat loudly and a +deepening sound of footsteps. + +"I have choice of position," I said. "Yonder window seems a good +station. You remain here in the choir?" + +"Ay," he answered, with a sigh; "the dignity of my calling must be +upheld: wherefore I sit in high places, rubbing elbows with gold lace, +when of the very truth the humility of my spirit is such that I would +feel more at home in the servants' seats or among the negars that we +bought last year." + +Had we not been in church I would have laughed, though indeed I saw that +he devoutly believed his own words. He took his seat in the largest +and finest of the chairs behind the great velvet one reserved for the +Governor, while I went and leaned against my window, and we stared at +each other across the flower-decked building in profound silence, until, +with one great final crash, the bells ceased, the drum stopped beating, +and the procession entered. + + + +CHAPTER III IN WHICH I MARRY IN HASTE + + +THE long service of praise and thanksgiving was well-nigh over when I +first saw her. + +She sat some ten feet from me, in the corner, and so in the shadow of a +tall pew. Beyond her was a row of milkmaid beauties, red of cheek, free +of eye, deep-bosomed, and beribboned like Maypoles. I looked again, and +saw--and see--a rose amongst blowzed poppies and peonies, a pearl amidst +glass beads, a Perdita in a ring of rustics, a nonparella of all grace +and beauty! As I gazed with all my eyes, I found more than grace and +beauty in that wonderful face,--found pride, wit, fire, determination, +finally shame and anger. For, feeling my eyes upon her, she looked up +and met what she must have thought the impudent stare of an appraiser. +Her face, which had been without color, pale and clear like the sky +about the evening star, went crimson in a moment. She bit her lip and +shot at me one withering glance, then dropped her eyelids and hid the +lightning. When I looked at her again, covertly, and from under my hand +raised as though to push back my hair, she was pale once more, and her +dark eyes were fixed upon the water and the green trees without the +window. + +The congregation rose, and she stood up with the other maids. Her dress +of dark woolen, severe and unadorned, her close ruff and prim white +coif, would have cried "Puritan," had ever Puritan looked like this +woman, upon whom the poor apparel had the seeming of purple and ermine. + +Anon came the benediction. Governor, Councilors, commanders, and +ministers left the choir and paced solemnly down the aisle; the maids +closed in behind; and we who had lined the walls, shifting from one heel +to the other for a long two hours, brought up the rear, and so passed +from the church to a fair green meadow adjacent thereto. Here the +company disbanded; the wearers of gold lace betaking themselves to seats +erected in the shadow of a mighty oak, and the ministers, of whom there +were four, bestowing themselves within pulpits of turf. For one altar +and one clergyman could not hope to dispatch that day's business. + +As for the maids, for a minute or more they made one cluster; then, +shyly or with laughter, they drifted apart like the petals of a +wind-blown rose, and silk doublet and hose gave chase. Five minutes saw +the goodly company of damsels errant and would-be bridegrooms scattered +far and near over the smiling meadow. For the most part they went man +and maid, but the fairer of the feminine cohort had rings of clamorous +suitors from whom to choose. As for me, I walked alone; for if by chance +I neared a maid, she looked (womanlike) at my apparel first, and never +reached my face, but squarely turned her back. So disengaged, I felt +like a guest at a mask, and in some measure enjoyed the show, though +with an uneasy consciousness that I was pledged to become, sooner or +later, a part of the spectacle. I saw a shepherdess fresh from Arcadia +wave back a dozen importunate gallants, then throw a knot of blue ribbon +into their midst, laugh with glee at the scramble that ensued, and +finally march off with the wearer of the favor. I saw a neighbor of +mine, tall Jack Pride, who lived twelve miles above me, blush and +stammer, and bow again and again to a milliner's apprentice of a girl, +not five feet high and all eyes, who dropped a curtsy at each bow. When +I had passed them fifty yards or more, and looked back, they were still +bobbing and bowing. And I heard a dialogue between Phyllis and Corydon. +Says Phyllis, "Any poultry?" + +Corydon. "A matter of twalve hens and twa cocks." + +Phyllis. "A cow?" + +Corydon. "Twa." + +Phyllis. "How much tobacco?" + +Corydon. "Three acres, hinny, though I dinna drink the weed mysel'. I'm +a Stewart, woman, an' the King's puir cousin." + +Phyllis. "What household plenishing?" + +Corydon. "Ane large bed, ane flock bed, ane trundle bed, ane chest, ane +trunk, ane leather cairpet, sax cawfskin chairs an' twa-three rush, five +pair o' sheets an' auchteen dowlas napkins, sax alchemy spunes"-- + +Phyllis. "I'll take you." + +At the far end of the meadow, near to the fort, I met young Hamor, +alone, flushed, and hurrying back to the more populous part of the +field. + +"Not yet mated?" I asked. "Where are the maids' eyes?" + +"By--!" he answered, with an angry laugh. "If they're all like the +sample I've just left, I'll buy me a squaw from the Paspaheghs!" + +I smiled. "So your wooing has not prospered?" + +His vanity took fire. "I have not wooed in earnest," he said carelessly, +and hitched forward his cloak of sky-blue tuftaffeta with an air. "I +sheered off quickly enough, I warrant you, when I found the nature of +the commodity I had to deal with." + +"Ah!" I said. "When I left the crowd they were going very fast. You had +best hurry, if you wish to secure a bargain." + +"I'm off," he answered; then, jerking his thumb over his shoulder, +"If you keep on to the river and that clump of cedars, you will find +Termagaunt in ruff and farthingale." + +When he was gone, I stood still for a while and watched the slow sweep +of a buzzard high in the blue, after which I unsheathed my dagger, and +with it tried to scrape the dried mud from my boots. Succeeding but +indifferently, I put the blade up, stared again at the sky, drew a long +breath, and marched upon the covert of cedars indicated by Hamor. + +As I neared it, I heard at first only the wash of the river; but +presently there came to my ears the sound of a man's voice, and then a +woman's angry "Begone, sir!" + +"Kiss and be friends," said the man. + +The sound that followed being something of the loudest for even the most +hearty salutation, I was not surprised, on parting the bushes, to find +the man nursing his cheek, and the maid her hand. + +"You shall pay well for that, you sweet vixen!" he cried, and caught her +by both wrists. + +She struggled fiercely, bending her head this way and that, but his hot +lips had touched her face before I could come between. + +When I had knocked him down he lay where he fell, dazed by the blow, +and blinking up at me with his small ferret eyes. I knew him to be one +Edward Sharpless, and I knew no good of him. He had been a lawyer in +England. He lay on the very brink of the stream, with one arm touching +the water. Flesh and blood could not resist it, so, assisted by the toe +of my boot, he took a cold bath to cool his hot blood. + +When he had clambered out and had gone away, cursing, I turned to face +her. She stood against the trunk of a great cedar, her head thrown back, +a spot of angry crimson in each cheek, one small hand clenched at her +throat. I had heard her laugh as Sharpless touched the water, but now +there was only defiance in her face. As we gazed at each other, a +burst of laughter came to us from the meadow behind. I looked over my +shoulder, and beheld young Hamor, probably disappointed of a wife,--with +Giles Allen and Wynne, returning to his abandoned quarry. She saw, too, +for the crimson spread and deepened and her bosom heaved. Her dark eyes, +glancing here and there like those of a hunted creature, met my own. + +"Madam," I said, "will you marry me?" + +She looked at me strangely. "Do you live here?" she asked at last, with +a disdainful wave of her hand toward the town. + +"No, madam," I answered. "I live up river, in Weyanoke Hundred, some +miles from here." + +"Then, in God's name, let us be gone!" she cried, with sudden passion. + +I bowed low, and advanced to kiss her hand. + +The finger tips which she slowly and reluctantly resigned to me were +icy, and the look with which she favored me was not such an one as poets +feign for like occasions. I shrugged the shoulders of my spirit, but +said nothing. So, hand in hand, though at arms' length, we passed from +the shade of the cedars into the open meadow, where we presently met +Hamor and his party. They would have barred the way, laughing and making +unsavory jests, but I drew her closer to me and laid my hand upon my +sword. They stood aside, for I was the best swordsman in Virginia. + +The meadow was now less thronged. The river, up and down, was white with +sailboats, and across the neck of the peninsula went a line of horsemen, +each with his purchase upon a pillion behind him. The Governor, the +Councilors, and the commanders had betaken themselves to the Governor's +house, where a great dinner was to be given. But Master Piersey, the +Cape Merchant, remained to see the Company reimbursed to the last leaf, +and the four ministers still found occupation, though one couple trod +not upon the heels of another, as they had done an hour agone. + +"I must first satisfy the treasurer," I said, coming to a halt within +fifty feet of the now deserted high places. + +She drew her hand from mine, and looked me up and down. + +"How much is it?" she asked at last. "I will pay it." + +I stared at her. + +"Can't you speak?" she cried, with a stamp of her foot. "At what am I +valued? Ten pounds--fifty pounds"-- + +"At one hundred and twenty pounds of tobacco, madam," I said dryly. "I +will pay it myself. To what name upon the ship's list do you answer?" + +"Patience Worth," she replied. + +I left her standing there, and went upon my errand with a whirling +brain. Her enrollment in that company proclaimed her meanly born, and +she bore herself as of blood royal; of her own free will she had crossed +an ocean to meet this day, and she held in passionate hatred this +day and all that it contained; she was come to Virginia to better her +condition, and the purse which she had drawn from her bosom was filled +with gold pieces. To another I would have advised caution, delay, +application to the Governor, inquiry; for myself I cared not to make +inquiries. + +The treasurer gave me my receipt, and I procured, from the crowd around +him, Humfrey Kent, a good man and true, and old Belfield, the perfumer, +for witnesses. With them at my heels I went back to her, and, giving her +my hand, was making for the nearest minister, when a voice at a little +distance hailed me, crying out, "This way, Captain Percy!" + +I turned toward the voice, and beheld the great figure of Master +Jeremy Sparrow sitting, cross-legged like the Grand Turk, upon a grassy +hillock, and beckoning to me from that elevation. + +"Our acquaintance hath been of the shortest," he said genially, when the +maid, the witnesses, and I had reached the foot of the hillock, "but I +have taken a liking to you and would fain do you a service. Moreover, I +lack employment. The maids take me for a hedge parson, and sheer off +to my brethren, who truly are of a more clerical appearance. Whereas if +they could only look upon the inner man! You have been long in choosing, +but have doubtless chosen"--He glanced from me to the woman beside me, +and broke off with open mouth and staring eyes. There was excuse, for +her beauty was amazing. "A paragon," he ended, recovering himself. + +"Marry us quickly, friend," I said. "Clouds are gathering, and we have +far to go." + +He came down from his mound, and we went and stood before him. I had +around my neck the gold chain given me upon a certain occasion by Prince +Maurice, and in lieu of other ring I now twisted off the smallest link +and gave it to her. + +"Your name?" asked Master Sparrow, opening his book. + +"Ralph Percy, Gentleman." + +"And yours?" he demanded, staring at her with a somewhat too apparent +delight in her beauty. + +She flushed richly and bit her lip. + +He repeated the question. + +She stood a minute in silence, her eyes upon the darkening sky. Then she +said in a low voice, "Jocelyn Leigh." + +It was not the name I had watched the Cape Merchant strike off his list. +I turned upon her and made her meet my eyes. "What is your name?" I +demanded. "Tell me the truth!" + +"I have told it," she answered proudly. "It is Jocelyn Leigh." + +I faced the minister again. "Go on," I said briefly. + +"The Company commands that no constraint be put upon its poor maids. +Wherefore, do you marry this man of your own free will and choice?" + +"Ay," she said, "of my own free will." + +Well, we were married, and Master Jeremy Sparrow wished us joy, and Kent +would have kissed the bride had I not frowned him off. He and Belfield +strode away, and I left her there, and went to get her bundle from the +house that had sheltered her overnight. Returning, I found her seated +on the turf, her chin in her hand and her dark eyes watching the distant +play of lightning. Master Sparrow had left his post, and was nowhere to +be seen. + +I gave her my hand and led her to the shore; then loosed my boat and +helped her aboard. I was pushing off when a voice hailed us from the +bank, and the next instant a great bunch of red roses whirled past me +and fell into her lap. "Sweets to the sweet, you know," said Master +Jeremy Sparrow genially. "Goodwife Allen will never miss them." + +I was in two minds whether to laugh or to swear,--for I had never +given her flowers,--when she settled the question for me by raising the +crimson mass and bestowing it upon the flood. + +A sudden puff of wind brought the sail around, hiding his fallen +countenance. The wind freshened, coming from the bay, and the boat +was off like a startled deer. When I next saw him he had recovered his +equanimity, and, with a smile upon his rugged features, was waving us +a farewell. I looked at the beauty opposite me, and, with a sudden +movement of pity for him, mateless, stood up and waved to him vigorously +in turn. + + + +CHAPTER IV IN WHICH I AM LIKE TO REPENT AT LEISURE + + +WHEN we had passed the mouth of the Chickahominy, I broke the silence, +now prolonged beyond reason, by pointing to the village upon its bank, +and telling her something of Smith's expedition up that river, ending by +asking her if she feared the savages. + +When at length she succeeded in abstracting her attention from the +clouds, it was to answer in the negative, in a tone of the supremest +indifference, after which she relapsed into her contemplation of the +weather. + +Further on I tried again. "That is Kent's, yonder. He brought his wife +from home last year. What a hedge of sunflowers she has planted! If you +love flowers, you will find those of paradise in these woods." + +No answer. + +Below Martin-Brandon we met a canoe full of Paspaheghs, bound upon a +friendly visit to some one of the down-river tribes; for in the bottom +of the boat reposed a fat buck, and at the feet of the young men lay +trenchers of maize cakes and of late mulberries. I hailed them, and when +we were alongside held up the brooch from my hat, then pointed to the +purple fruit. The exchange was soon made; they sped away, and I placed +the mulberries upon the thwart beside her. + +"I am not hungry," she said coldly. "Take them away." + +I bit my lip, and returned to my place at the tiller. This rose was set +with thorns, and already I felt their sting. Presently she leaned back +in the nest I had made for her. "I wish to sleep," she said haughtily, +and, turning her face from me, pillowed her head upon her arms. + +I sat, bent forward, the tiller in my hand, and stared at my wife in +some consternation. This was not the tame pigeon, the rosy, humble, +domestic creature who was to make me a home and rear me children. A sea +bird with broad white wings swooped down upon the water, now dark and +ridged, rested there a moment, then swept away into the heart of the +gathering storm. She was liker such an one. Such birds were caught at +times, but never tamed and never kept. + +The lightning, which had played incessantly in pale flashes across the +low clouds in the south, now leaped to higher peaks and became more +vivid, and the muttering of the thunder changed to long, booming peals. +Thirteen years before, the Virginia storms had struck us with terror. +Compared with those of the Old World we had left, they were as cannon to +the whistling of arrows, as breakers on an iron coast to the dull wash +of level seas. Now they were nothing to me, but as the peals changed to +great crashes as of falling cities, I marveled to see my wife sleeping +so quietly. The rain began to fall, slowly, in large sullen drops, and I +rose to cover her with my cloak. Then I saw that the sleep was feigned, +for she was gazing at the storm with wide eyes, though with no fear in +their dark depths. When I moved they closed, and when I reached her the +lashes still swept her cheeks, and she breathed evenly through parted +lips. But, against her will, she shrank from my touch as I put the cloak +about her; and when I had returned to my seat, I bent to one side and +saw, as I had expected to see, that her eyes were wide open again. If +she had been one whit less beautiful, I would have wished her back at +Jamestown, back on the Atlantic, back at whatever outlandish place, +where manners were unknown, that had owned her and cast her out. Pride +and temper! I set my lips, and vowed that she should find her match. + +The storm did not last. Ere we had reached Piersey's the rain had ceased +and the clouds were breaking; above Chaplain's Choice hung a great +rainbow; we passed Tants Weyanoke in the glory of the sunset, all +shattered gold and crimson. Not a word had been spoken. I sat in a humor +grim enough, and she lay there before me, wide awake, staring at the +shifting banks and running water, and thinking that I thought she slept. + +At last my own wharf rose before me through the gathering dusk, and +beyond it shone out a light; for I had told Diccon to set my house in +order, and to provide fire and torches, that my wife might see I wished +to do her honor. I looked at that wife, and of a sudden the anger in my +heart melted away. It was a wilderness vast and dreadful to which she +had come. The mighty stream, the towering forests, the black skies and +deafening thunder, the wild cries of bird and beast the savages, uncouth +and terrible,--for a moment I saw my world as the woman at my feet must +see it, strange, wild, and menacing, an evil land, the other side of the +moon. A thing that I had forgotten came to my mind: how that, after our +landing at Jamestown, years before, a boy whom we had with us did each +night fill with cries and lamentations the hut where he lay with my +cousin Percy, Gosnold, and myself, nor would cease though we tried both +crying shame and a rope's end. It was not for homesickness, for he +had no mother or kin or home; and at length Master Hunt brought him to +confess that it was but pure panic terror of the land itself,--not of +the Indians or of our hardships, both of which he faced bravely enough, +but of the strange trees and the high and long roofs of vine, of +the black sliding earth and the white mist, of the fireflies and the +whippoorwills,--a sick fear of primeval Nature and her tragic mask. + +This was a woman, young, alone, and friendless, unless I, who had sworn +to cherish and protect her, should prove myself her friend. Wherefore, +when, a few minutes later, I bent over her, it was with all gentleness +that I touched and spoke to her. + +"Our journey is over," I said. "This is home, my dear." + +She let me help her to her feet, and up the wet and slippery steps to +the level of the wharf. It was now quite dark, there being no moon, and +thin clouds obscuring the stars. The touch of her hand, which I perforce +held since I must guide her over the long, narrow, and unrailed trestle, +chilled me, and her breathing was hurried, but she moved by my side +through the gross darkness unfalteringly enough. Arrived at the gate of +the palisade, I beat upon it with the hilt of my sword, and shouted to +my men to open to us. A moment, and a dozen torches came flaring down +the bank. Diccon shot back the bolts, and we entered. The men drew +up and saluted; for I held my manor a camp, my servants soldiers, and +myself their captain. + +I have seen worse favored companies, but doubtless the woman beside +me had not. Perhaps, too, the red light of the torches, now flaring +brightly, now sunk before the wind, gave their countenances a more +villainous cast than usual. They were not all bad. Diccon had the +virtue of fidelity, if none other; there were a brace of Puritans, and +a handful of honest fools, who, if they drilled badly, yet abhorred +mutiny. But the half dozen I had taken off Argall's hands; the Dutchmen +who might have been own brothers to those two Judases, Adam and Francis; +the thief and the highwayman I had bought from the precious crew sent +us by the King the year before; the and the Indians--small wonder +that she shrank and cowered. It was but for a moment. I was yet seeking +for words sufficiently reassuring when she was herself again. She +did not deign to notice the men's awkward salute, and when Diccon, a +handsome rogue enough, advancing to light us up the bank, brushed by her +something too closely, she drew away her skirts as though he had been a +lazar. At my own door I turned and spoke to the men, who had followed us +up the ascent. + +"This lady," I said, taking her hand as she stood beside me, "is my true +and lawful wife, your mistress, to be honored and obeyed as such. Who +fails in reverence to her I hold as mutinous to myself, and will deal +with him accordingly. She gives you to-morrow for holiday, with double +rations, and to each a measure of rum. Now thank her properly." + +They cheered lustily, of course, and Diccon, stepping forward, gave us +thanks in the name of them all, and wished us joy. After which, with +another cheer, they backed from out our presence, then turned and made +for their quarters, while I led my wife within the house and closed the +door. + +Diccon was an ingenious scoundrel. I had told him to banish the dogs, to +have the house cleaned and lit, and supper upon the table; but I had +not ordered the floor to be strewn with rushes, the walls draped with +flowering vines, a great jar filled with sunflowers, and an illumination +of a dozen torches. Nevertheless, it looked well, and I highly approved +the capon and maize cakes, the venison pasty and ale, with which the +table was set. Through the open doors of the two other rooms were to be +seen more rushes, more flowers, and more lights. + +To the larger of these rooms I now led the way, deposited her bundle +upon the settle, and saw that Diccon had provided fair water for her +face and hands; which done, I told her that supper waited upon her +convenience, and went back to the great room. + +She was long in coming, so long that I grew impatient and went to call +her. The door was ajar, and so I saw her, kneeling in the middle of the +floor, her head thrown back, her hands raised and clasped, on her face +terror and anguish of spirit written so large that I started to see it. +I stared in amazement, and, had I followed my first impulse, would +have gone to her, as I would have gone to any other creature in so dire +distress. On second thoughts, I went noiselessly back to my station in +the great room. She had not seen me, I was sure. Nor had I long to wait. +Presently she appeared, and I could have doubted the testimony of my +eyes, so changed were the agonized face and figure of a few moments +before. Beautiful and disdainful, she moved to the table, and took +the great chair drawn before it with the air of an empress mounting a +throne. I contented myself with the stool. + +She ate nothing, and scarcely touched the canary I poured for her. +I pressed upon her wine and viands,--in vain; I strove to make +conversation,--equally in vain. Finally, tired of "yes" and "no" uttered +as though she were reluctantly casting pearls before swine, I desisted, +and applied myself to my supper in a silence as sullen as her own. At +last we rose from table, and I went to look to the fastenings of door +and windows, and returning found her standing in the centre of the room, +her head up and her hands clenched at her sides. I saw that we were to +have it out then and there, and I was glad of it. + +"You have something to say," I said. "I am quite at your command," and I +went and leaned against the chimneypiece. + +The low fire upon the hearth burnt lower still before she broke the +silence. When she did speak it was slowly, and with a voice which was +evidently controlled only by a strong effort of a strong will. She +said:-- + +"When--yesterday, to-day, ten thousand years ago you went from this +horrible forest down to that wretched village yonder, to those huts that +make your London, you went to buy you a wife?" + +"Yes, madam," I answered. "I went with that intention." + +"You had made your calculation? In your mind you had pitched upon +such and such an article, with such and such qualities, as desirable? +Doubtless you meant to get your money's worth?" + +"Doubtless," I said dryly. + +"Will you tell me what you were inclined to consider its equivalent?" + +I stared at her, much inclined to laugh. The interview promised to be +interesting. + +"I went to Jamestown to get me a wife," I said at length, "because I had +pledged my word that I would do so. I was not over-anxious. I did not +run all the way. But, as you say, I intended to do the best I could for +myself; one hundred and twenty pounds of tobacco being a considerable +sum, and not to be lightly thrown away. I went to look for a mistress +for my house, a companion for my idle hours, a rosy, humble, docile +lass, with no aspirations beyond cleanliness and good temper, who was to +order my household and make me a home. I was to be her head and her law, +but also her sword and shield. That is what I went to look for." + +"And you found--me!" she said, and broke into strange laughter. + +I bowed. + +"In God's name, why did you not go further?" + +I suppose she saw in my face why I went no further, for into her own the +color came flaming. + +"I am not what I seem!" she cried out. "I was not in that company of +choice!" + +I bowed again. "You have no need to tell me that, madam," I said. "I +have eyes. I desire to know why you were there at all, and why you +married me." + +She turned from me, until I could see nothing but the coiled wealth of +her hair and the bit of white neck between it and the ruff. We stood so +in silence, she with bent head and fingers clasping and unclasping, +I leaning against the wall and staring at her, for what seemed a long +time. At least I had time to grow impatient, when she faced me again, +and all my irritation vanished in a gasp of admiration. + +Oh, she was beautiful, and of a sweetness most alluring and fatal! Had +Medea worn such a look, sure Jason had quite forgot the fleece, and with +those eyes Circe had needed no other charm to make men what she would. +Her voice, when she spoke, was no longer imperious; it was low pleading +music. And she held out entreating hands. + +"Have pity on me," she said. "Listen kindly, and have pity on me. You +are a strong man and wear a sword. You can cut your way through trouble +and peril. I am a woman, weak, friendless, helpless. I was in distress +and peril, and I had no arm to save, no knight to fight my battle. I do +not love deceit. Ah, do not think that I have not hated myself for the +lie I have been. But these forest creatures that you take,--will they +not bite against springe and snare? Are they scrupulous as to how they +free themselves? I too was in the toils of the hunter, and I too was not +scrupulous. There was a thing of which I stood in danger that would +have been bitterer to me, a thousand times, than death. I had but +one thought, to escape; how, I did not care,--only to escape. I had a +waiting woman named Patience Worth. One night she came to me, weeping. +She had wearied of service, and had signed to go to Virginia as one of +Sir Edwyn Sandys' maids, and at the last moment her heart had failed +her. There had been pressure brought to bear upon me that day,--I had +been angered to the very soul. I sent her away with a heavy bribe, and +in her dress and under her name I fled from--I went aboard that ship. No +one guessed that I was not the Patience Worth to whose name I answered. +No one knows now,--none but you, none but you." + +"And why am I so far honored, madam?" I said bluntly. + +She crimsoned, then went white again. She was trembling now through her +whole frame. At last she broke out: "I am not of that crew that came +to marry! To me you are the veriest stranger,--you are but the hand at +which I caught to draw myself from a pit that had been digged for me. +It was my hope that this hour would never come. When I fled, mad +for escape, willing to dare anything but that which I left behind, +I thought, 'I may die before that ship with its shameless cargo sets +sail.' When the ship set sail, and we met with stormy weather, and there +was much sickness aboard, I thought, 'I may drown or I may die of the +fever.' When, this afternoon, I lay there in the boat, coming up this +dreadful river through the glare of the lightning, and you thought I +slept, I was thinking, 'The bolts may strike me yet, and all will be +well.' I prayed for that death, but the storm passed. I am not without +shame. I know that you must think all ill of me, that you must feel +yourself gulled and cheated. I am sorry--that is all I can say--I am +sorry. I am your wife--I was married to you to-day--but I know you not +and love you not. I ask you to hold me as I hold myself, a guest in your +house, nothing more. I am quite at your mercy. I am entirely friendless, +entirely alone. I appeal to your generosity, to your honor"-- + +Before I could prevent her she was kneeling to me, and she would not +rise, though I bade her do so. + +I went to the door, unbarred it, and looked out into the night, for +the air within the room stifled me. It was not much better outside. The +clouds had gathered again, and were now hanging thick and low. From the +distance came a rumble of thunder, and the whole night was dull, +heavy, and breathless. Hot anger possessed me: anger against Rolfe +for suggesting this thing to me; anger against myself for that unlucky +throw; anger, most of all, against the woman who had so cozened me. In +the servants' huts, a hundred yards away, lights were still burning, +against rule, for the hour was late. Glad that there was something I +could rail out against, I strode down upon the men, and caught them +assembled in Diccon's cabin, dicing for to-morrow's rum. When I had +struck out the light with my rapier, and had rated the rogues to +their several quarters, I went back through the gathering storm to the +brightly-lit, flower-decked room, and to Mistress Percy. + +She was still kneeling, her hands at her breast, and her eyes, wide and +dark, fixed upon the blackness without the open door. I went up to her +and took her by the hand. + +"I am a gentleman, madam," I said. "You need have no fear of me. I pray +you to rise." + +She stood up at that, and her breath came hurriedly through her parted +lips, but she did not speak. + +"It grows late, and you must be weary," I continued. "Your room is +yonder. I trust that you will sleep well. Good-night." + +I bowed low, and she curtsied to me. "Good-night," she said. + +On her way to the door, she brushed against the rack wherein hung my +weapons. Among them was a small dagger. Her quick eye caught its gleam, +and I saw her press closer to the wall, and with her right hand +strive stealthily to detach the blade from its fastening. She did not +understand the trick. Her hand dropped to her side, and she was passing +on, when I crossed the room, loosened the dagger, and offered it to her, +with a smile and a bow. She flushed scarlet and bit her lips, but she +took it. + +"There are bars to the door within," I said. "Again, good-night." + +"Good-night," she answered, and, entering the room, she shut the door. A +moment more, and I heard the heavy bars drop into place. + + + +CHAPTER V IN WHICH A WOMAN HAS HER WAY + + +TEN days later, Rolfe, going down river in his barge, touched at my +wharf, and finding me there walked with me toward the house. + +"I have not seen you since you laughed my advice to scorn--and took it," +he said. "Where's the farthingale, Benedick the married man?" + +"In the house." + +"Oh, ay!" he commented. "It's near to supper time. I trust she's a good +cook?" + +"She does not cook," I said dryly. "I have hired old Goody Cotton to do +that." + +He eyed me closely. "By all the gods! a new doublet! She is skillful +with her needle, then?" + +"She may be," I answered. "Having never seen her with one, I am no +judge. The doublet was made by the tailor at Flowerdieu Hundred." + +By this we had reached the level sward at the top of the bank. "Roses!" +he exclaimed,--"a long row of them new planted! An arbor, too, and +a seat beneath the big walnut! Since when hast thou turned gardner, +Ralph?" + +"It's Diccon's doing. He is anxious to please his mistress." + +"Who neither sews, nor cooks, nor plants! What does she do?" + +"She pulls the roses," I said. "Come in." + +When we had entered the house he stared about him; then cried out, +"Acrasia's bower! Oh, thou sometime Guyon!" and began to laugh. + +It was late afternoon, and the slant sunshine streaming in at door and +window striped wall and floor with gold. Floor and wall were no longer +logs gnarled and stained: upon the one lay a carpet of delicate ferns +and aromatic leaves, and glossy vines, purple-berried, tapestried +the other. Flowers--purple and red and yellow--were everywhere. As we +entered, a figure started up from the hearth. + +"St. George!" exclaimed Rolfe. "You have never married a blackamoor?" + +"It is the negress, Angela," I said. "I bought her from William Pierce +the other day. Mistress Percy wished a waiting damsel." + +The creature, one of the five females of her kind then in Virginia, +looked at us with large, rolling eyes. She knew a little Spanish, and I +spoke to her in that tongue, bidding her find her mistress and tell her +that company waited. When she was gone I placed a jack of ale upon the +table, and Rolfe and I sat down to discuss it. Had I been in a mood +for laughter, I could have found reason in his puzzled face. There were +flowers upon the table, and beside them a litter of small objects, one +of which he now took up. + +"A white glove," he said, "perfumed and silver-fringed, and of a size to +fit Titania." + +I spread its mate out upon my palm. "A woman's hand. Too white, too +soft, and too small." + +He touched lightly, one by one, the slender fingers of the glove he +held. "A woman's hand,--strength in weakness, veiled power, the star in +the mist, guiding, beckoning, drawing upward!" + +I laughed and threw the glove from me. "The star, a will-of-the-wisp; +the goal, a slough," I said. + +As he sat opposite me a change came over his face, a change so great +that I knew before I turned that she was in the room. + +The bundle which I had carried for her from Jamestown was neither small +nor light. Why, when she fled, she chose to burden herself with such +toys, or whether she gave a thought to the suspicions that might be +raised in Virginia if one of Sir Edwyn's maids bedecked herself in silk +and lace and jewels, I do not know, but she had brought to the forest +and the tobacco fields the gauds of a maid of honor. The Puritan dress +in which I first saw her was a thing of the past; she clothed herself +now like the parrakeets in the forest,--or liker the lilies of the +field, for verily she toiled not, neither did she spin. + +Rolfe and I rose from our seats. "Mistress Percy," I said, "let me +present to you a right worthy gentleman and my very good friend, Master +John Rolfe." + +She curtsied, and he bowed low. He was a man of quick wit and had been +at court, but for a time he could find no words. Then: "Mistress Percy's +face is not one to be forgotten. I have surely seen it before, though +where"-- + +Her color mounted, but she answered him indifferently enough. "Probably +in London, amongst the spectators of some pageant arranged in honor of +the princess, your wife, sir," she said carelessly. "I had twice the +fortune to see the Lady Rebekah passing through the streets." + +"Not in the streets only," he said courteously. "I remember now: 't +was at my lord bishop's dinner. A very courtly company it was. You were +laughing with my Lord Rich. You wore pearls in your hair"-- + +She met his gaze fully and boldly. "Memory plays us strange tricks at +times," she told him in a clear, slightly raised voice, "and it hath +been three years since Master Rolfe and his Indian princess were in +London. His memory hath played him false." + +She took her seat in the great chair which stood in the centre of the +room, bathed in the sunlight, and the negress brought a cushion for her +feet. It was not until this was done, and until she had resigned her fan +to the slave, who stood behind her slowly waving the plumed toy to and +fro, that she turned her lovely face upon us and bade us be seated. + +An hour later a whippoorwill uttered its cry close to the window, +through which now shone the crescent moon. Rolfe started up. "Beshrew +me! but I had forgot that I am to sleep at Chaplain's to-night. I must +hurry on." + +I rose, also. "You have had no supper!" I cried. "I too have forgotten." + +He shook his head. "I cannot wait. Moreover, I have feasted,--yea, and +drunk deep." + +His eyes were very bright, with an exaltation in them as of wine. +Mine, I felt, had the same light. Indeed, we were both drunk with her +laughter, her beauty, and her wit. When he had kissed her hand, and +I had followed him out of the house and down the bank, he broke the +silence. + +"Why she came to Virginia I do not know "-- + +"Nor care to ask," I said. + +"Nor care to ask," he repeated, meeting my gaze. "And I know neither her +name nor her rank. But as I stand here, Ralph, I saw her, a guest, at +that feast of which I spoke; and Edwyn Sandys picked not his maids from +such assemblies." + +I stopped him with my hand upon his shoulder. "She is one of Sandys' +maids," I asserted, with deliberation, "a waiting damsel who wearied of +service and came to Virginia to better herself. She was landed with her +mates at Jamestown a week or more agone, went with them to church and +thence to the courting meadow, where she and Captain Ralph Percy, a +gentleman adventurer, so pleased each other that they were married +forthwith. That same day he brought her to his house, where she now +abides, his wife, and as such to be honored by those who call themselves +his friends. And she is not to be lightly spoken of, nor comment +passed upon her grace, beauty, and bearing (something too great for her +station, I admit), lest idle tales should get abroad." + +"Am I not thy friend, Ralph?" he asked with smiling eyes. + +"I have thought so at times," I answered. + +"My friend's honor is my honor," he went on. "Where his lips are sealed +mine open not. Art content?" + +"Content," I said, and pressed the hand he held out to me. + +We reached the steps of the wharf, and descending them he entered his +barge, rocking lazily with the advancing tide. His rowers cast loose +from the piles, and the black water slowly widened between us. From over +my shoulder came a sudden bright gleam of light from the house above, +and I knew that Mistress Percy was as usual wasting good pine knots. I +had a vision of the many lights within, and of the beauty whom the world +called my wife, sitting erect, bathed in that rosy glow, in the great +armchair, with the turbaned negress behind her. I suppose Rolfe saw the +same thing, for he looked from the light to me, and I heard him draw his +breath. + +"Ralph Percy, thou art the very button upon the cap of Fortune," he +said. + +To myself my laugh sounded something of the bitterest, but to him, I +presume, it vaunted my return through the darkness to the lit room and +its resplendent pearl. He waved farewell, and the dusk swallowed up him +and his boat. I went back to the house and to her. + +She was sitting as we had left her, with her small feet crossed upon the +cushion beneath them, her hands folded in her silken lap, the air from +the waving fan blowing tendrils of her dark hair against her delicate +standing ruff. I went and leaned against the window, facing her. + +"I have been chosen Burgess for this hundred," I said abruptly. "The +Assembly meets next week. I must be in Jamestown then and for some time +to come." + +She took the fan from the negress, and waved it lazily to and fro. "When +do we go?" she asked at last. + +"We!" I answered. "I had thought to go alone." + +The fan dropped to the floor, and her eyes opened wide. "And leave me +here!" she exclaimed. "Leave me in these woods, at the mercy of Indians, +wolves, and your rabble of servants!" + +I smiled. "We are at peace with the Indians; it would be a stout wolf +that could leap this palisade; and the servants know their master too +well to care to offend their mistress. Moreover, I would leave Diccon in +charge." + +"Diccon!" she cried. "The old woman in the kitchen hath told me tales of +Diccon! Diccon Bravo! Diccon Gamester! Diccon Cutthroat!" + +"Granted," I said. "But Diccon Faithful as well. I can trust him." + +"But I do not trust him!" she retorted. "And I wish to go to Jamestown. +This forest wearies me." Her tone was imperious. + +"I must think it over," I said coolly. "I may take you, or I may not. I +cannot tell yet." + +"But I desire to go, sir!" + +"And I may desire you to stay." + +"You are a churl!" + +I bowed. "I am the man of your choice, madam." + +She rose with a stamp of her foot, and, turning her back upon me, took +a flower from the table and commenced to pull from it its petals. I +unsheathed my sword, and, seating myself, began to polish away a speck +of rust upon the blade. Ten minutes later I looked up from the task, +to receive full in my face a red rose tossed from the other side of the +room. The missile was followed by an enchanting burst of laughter. + +"We cannot afford to quarrel, can we?" cried Mistress Jocelyn Percy. +"Life is sad enough in this solitude without that. Nothing but trees and +water all day long, and not a soul to speak to! And I am horribly afraid +of the Indians! What if they were to kill me while you were away? You +know you swore before the minister to protect me. You won't leave me to +the mercies of the savages, will you? And I may go to Jamestown, may n't +I? I want to go to church. I want to go to the Governor's house. I want +to buy a many things. I have gold in plenty, and but this one decent +dress. You'll take me with you, won't you?" + +"There's not your like in Virginia," I told her. "If you go to town clad +like that and with that bearing, there will be talk enough. And ships +come and go, and there are those besides Rolfe who have been to London." + +For a moment the laughter died from her eyes and lips, but it returned. +"Let them talk," she said. "What care I? And I do not think your ship +captains, your traders and adventurers, do often dine with my lord +bishop. This barbarous forest world and another world that I wot of are +so far apart that the inhabitants of the one do not trouble those of the +other. In that petty village down there I am safe enough. Besides, sir, +you wear a sword." + +"My sword is ever at your service, madam." + +"Then I may go to Jamestown?" + +"If you will it so." + +With her bright eyes upon me, and with one hand softly striking a rose +against her laughing lips, she extended the other hand. + +"You may kiss it, if you wish, sir," she said demurely. + +I knelt and kissed the white fingers, and four days later we went to +Jamestown. + + + +CHAPTER VI IN WHICH WE GO TO JAMESTOWN + + +IT was early morning when we set out on horseback for Jamestown. I rode +in front, with Mistress Percy upon a pillion behind me, and Diccon on +the brown mare brought up the rear. The negress and the mails I had sent +by boat. + +Now, a ride through the green wood with a noble horse beneath you, and +around you the freshness of the morn, is pleasant enough. Each twig had +its row of diamonds, and the wet leaves that we pushed aside spilled +gems upon us. The horses set their hoofs daintily upon fern and moss +and lush grass. In the purple distances deer stood at gaze, the air rang +with innumerable bird notes, clear and sweet, squirrels chattered, bees +hummed, and through the thick leafy roof of the forest the sun showered +gold dust. And Mistress Jocelyn Percy was as merry as the morning. It +was now fourteen days since she and I had first met, and in that time +I had found in her thrice that number of moods. She could be as gay and +sweet as the morning, as dark and vengeful as the storms that came up of +afternoons, pensive as the twilight, stately as the night,--in her there +met a hundred minds. Also she could be childishly frank--and tell you +nothing. + +To-day she chose to be gracious. Ten times in an hour Diccon was off +his horse to pluck this or that flower that her white forefinger pointed +out. She wove the blooms into a chaplet, and placed it upon her head; +she filled her lap with trailers of the vine that swayed against us, and +stained her fingers and lips with the berries Diccon brought her; she +laughed at the squirrels, at the scurrying partridges, at the turkeys +that crossed our path, at the fish that leaped from the brooks, at old +Jocomb and his sons who ferried us across the Chickahominy. She was +curious concerning the musket I carried; and when, in an open space in +the wood, we saw an eagle perched upon a blasted pine, she demanded my +pistol. I took it from my belt and gave it to her, with a laugh. "I will +eat all of your killing," I said. + +She aimed the weapon. "A wager!" she declared. "There be mercers in +Jamestown? If I hit, thou 'lt buy me a pearl hatband?" + +"Two." + +She fired, and the bird rose with a scream of wrath and sailed away. But +two or three feathers came floating to the ground, and when Diccon had +brought them to her she pointed triumphantly to the blood upon them. +"You said two!" she cried. + +The sun rose higher, and the heat of the day set in. Mistress Percy's +interest in forest bloom and creature flagged. Instead of laughter, we +had sighs at the length of way; the vines slid from her lap, and she +took the faded flowers from her head and cast them aside. She talked no +more, and by and by I felt her head droop against my shoulder. + +"Madam is asleep," said Diccon's voice behind me. + +"Ay," I answered. "She'll find a jack of mail but a hard pillow. And +look to her that she does not fall." + +"I had best walk beside you, then," he said. + +I nodded, and he dismounted, and throwing the mare's bridle over his arm +strode on beside us, with his hand upon the frame of the pillion. Ten +minutes passed, the last five of which I rode with my face over my +shoulder. "Diccon!" I cried at last, sharply. + +He came to his senses with a start. "Ay, sir?" he questioned, his face +dark red. + +"Suppose you look at me for a change," I said. "How long since Dale came +in, Diccon?" + +"Ten years, sir." + +"Before we enter Jamestown we'll pass through a certain field and +beneath a certain tree. Do you remember what happened there, some years +ago?" + +"I am not like to forget, sir. You saved me from the wheel." + +"Upon which you were bound, ready to be broken for drunkenness, gaming, +and loose living. I begged your life from Dale for no other reason, I +think, than that you had been a horse-boy in my old company in the Low +Countries. God wot, the life was scarcely worth the saving!" + +"I know it, sir." + +"Dale would not let you go scot-free, but would sell you into slavery. +At your own entreaty I bought you, since when you have served me +indifferently well. You have showed small penitence for past misdeeds, +and your amendment hath been of yet lesser bulk. A hardy rogue thou wast +born, and a rogue thou wilt remain to the end of time. But we have lived +and hunted, fought and bled together, and in our own fashion I think we +bear each other good will,--even some love. I have winked at much, have +shielded you in much, perhaps. In return I have demanded one thing, +which if you had not given I would have found you another Dale to deal +with." + +"Have I ever refused it, my captain?" + +"Not yet. Take your hand from that pillion and hold it up; then say +after me these words: 'This lady is my mistress, my master's wife, to be +by me reverenced as such. Her face is not for my eyes nor her hand for +my lips. If I keep not myself clean of all offense toward her, may God +approve that which my master shall do!'" + +The blood rushed to his face. I watched his fingers slowly loosening +their grasp. + +"Tardy obedience is of the house of mutiny," I said sternly. "Will you, +sirrah, or will you not?" + +He raised his hand and repeated the words. + +"Now hold her as before," I ordered, and, straightening myself in the +saddle, rode on, with my eyes once more on the path before me. + +A mile further on, Mistress Percy stirred and raised her head from my +shoulder. "Not at Jamestown yet?" she sighed, as yet but half awake. +"Oh, the endless trees! I dreamed I was hawking at Windsor, and then +suddenly I was here in this forest, a bird, happy because I was free; +and then a falcon came swooping down upon me,--it had me in its talons, +and I changed to myself again, and it changed to--What am I saying? I am +talking in my sleep. Who is that singing?" + +In fact, from the woods in front of us, and not a bowshot away, rang out +a powerful voice:-- + + "'In the merry month of May, + + In a morn by break of day, + + With a troop of damsels playing + +Forth I went, forsooth, a-maying;'" and presently, the trees thinning +in front of us, we came upon a little open glade and upon the singer. He +lay on his back, on the soft turf beneath an oak, with his hands clasped +behind his head and his eyes upturned to the blue sky showing between +leaf and branch. On one knee crossed above the other sat a squirrel with +a nut in its paws, and half a dozen others scampered here and there over +his great body, like so many frolicsome kittens. At a little distance +grazed an old horse, gray and gaunt, springhalt and spavined, with ribs +like Death's own. Its saddle and bridle adorned a limb of the oak. + +The song went cheerfully on:-- + + "'Much ado there was, God wot: + + would love and she would not; + + said, "Never man was true." + + He said, "None was false to you."'" + +"Give you good-day, reverend sir!" I called. "Art conning next Sunday's +hymn?" + +Nothing abashed, Master Jeremy Sparrow gently shook off the squirrels, +and getting to his feet advanced to meet us. + +"A toy," he declared, with a wave of his hand, "a trifle, a silly old +song that came into my mind unawares, the leaves being so green and the +sky so blue. Had you come a little earlier or a little later, you would +have heard the ninetieth psalm. Give you good-day madam. I must have +sung for that the very queen of May was coming by." + +"Art on your way to Jamestown?" I demanded. "Come ride with us. Diccon, +saddle his reverence's horse." + +"Saddle him an thou wilt, friend," said Master Sparrow, "for he and I +have idled long enough, but I fear I cannot keep pace with this fair +company. I and the horse are footing it together." + +"He is not long for this world," I remarked, eyeing his ill-favored +steed, "but neither are we far from Jamestown. He'll last that far." + +Master Sparrow shook his head, with a rueful countenance. "I bought him +from one of the French vignerons below Westover," he said. "The fellow +was astride the poor creature, beating him with a club because he could +not go. I laid Monsieur Crapaud in the dust, after which we compounded, +he for my purse, I for the animal; since when the poor beast and I have +tramped it together, for I could not in conscience ride him. Have you +read me Aesop's fables, Captain Percy?" + +"I remember the man, the boy, and the ass," I replied. "The ass came +to grief in the end. Put thy scruples in thy pocket, man, and mount thy +pale horse." + +"Not I!" he said, with a smile. "'T is a thousand pities, Captain Percy, +that a small, mean, and squeamish spirit like mine should be cased like +a very Guy of Warwick. Now, if I were slight of body, or even if I were +no heavier than your servant there"-- + +"Oh!" I said. "Diccon, give his reverence the mare, and do you mount his +horse and bring him slowly on to town. If he will not carry you, you can +lead him in." + +Sunshine revisited the countenance of Master Jeremy Sparrow; he swung +his great body into the saddle, gathered up the reins, and made the mare +to caracole across the path for very joy. + +"Have a care of the poor brute, friend!" he cried genially to Diccon, +whose looks were of the sulkiest. "Bring him gently on, and leave him at +Master Bucke's, near to the church." + +"What do you do at Jamestown?" I asked, as we passed from out the +glade into the gloom of a pine wood. "I was told that you were gone to +Henricus, to help Master Thorpe convert the Indians." + +"Ay," he answered, "I did go. I had a call,--I was sure I had a call. +I thought of myself as a very apostle to the Gentiles. I went from +Henricus one day's journey into the wilderness, with none but an Indian +lad for interpreter, and coming to an Indian village gathered its +inhabitants about me, and sitting down upon a hillock read and expounded +to them the Sermon on the Mount. I was much edified by the solemnity of +their demeanor and the earnestness of their attention, and had +conceived great hopes for their spiritual welfare, when, the reading +and exhortation being finished, one of their old men arose and made me +a long speech, which I could not well understand, but took to be one +of grateful welcome to myself and my tidings of peace and good will. +He then desired me to tarry with them, and to be present at some +entertainment or other, the nature of which I could not make out. I +tarried; and toward evening they conducted me with much ceremony to an +open space in the midst of the village. There I found planted in the +ground a thick stake, and around it a ring of flaming brushwood. To +the stake was fastened an Indian warrior, captured, so my interpreter +informed me, from some hostile tribe above the falls. His arms and +ankles were secured to the stake by means of thongs passed through +incisions in the flesh; his body was stuck over with countless pine +splinters, each burning like a miniature torch; and on his shaven crown +was tied a thin plate of copper heaped with red-hot coals. A little to +one side appeared another stake and another circle of brushwood: the one +with nothing tied to it as yet, and the other still unlit. My friend, I +did not tarry to see it lit. I tore a branch from an oak, and I became +as Samson with the jaw bone of the ass. I fell upon and smote those +Philistines. Their wretched victim was beyond all human help, but I +dearly avenged him upon his enemies. And they had their pains for naught +when they planted that second stake and laid the brush for their hell +fire. At last I dropped into the stream upon which their damnable +village was situate, and got safely away. Next day I went to George +Thorpe and resigned my ministry, telling him that we were nowhere +commanded to preach to devils; when the Company was ready to send shot +and steel amongst them, they might count upon me. After which I came +down the river to Jamestown, where I found worthy Master Bucke well-nigh +despaired of with the fever. Finally he was taken up river for change of +air, and, for lack of worthier substitute, the Governor and Captain West +constrained me to remain and minister to the shepherdless flock. Where +will you lodge, good sir?" + +"I do not know," I said. "The town will be full, and the guest house is +not yet finished." + +"Why not come to me?" he asked. "There are none in the minister's house +but me and Goodwife Allen who keeps it. There are five fair large rooms +and a goodly garden, though the trees do too much shadow the house. If +you will come and let the sunshine in,"--a bow and smile for madam,--"I +shall be your debtor." + +His plea pleased me well. Except the Governor's and Captain West's, the +minister's house was the best in the town. It was retired, too, being +set in its own grounds, and not upon the street, and I desired privacy. +Goodwife Allen was stolid and incurious. Moreover, I liked Master Jeremy +Sparrow. + +I accepted his hospitality and gave him thanks. He waved them away, and +fell to complimenting Mistress Percy, who was pleased to be gracious to +us both. Well content for the moment with the world and ourselves, we +fared on through the alternating sunshine and shade, and were happy +with the careless inhabitants of the forest. Oversoon we came to the +peninsula, and crossed the neck of land. Before us lay the town: to +the outer eye a poor and mean village, indeed, but to the inner the +stronghold and capital of our race in the western world, the germ from +which might spring stately cities, the newborn babe which might in time +equal its parent in stature, strength, and comeliness. So I and a few +besides, both in Virginia and at home, viewed the mean houses, the +poor church and rude fort, and loved the spot which had witnessed much +suffering and small joy, but which held within it the future, which was +even now a bit in the mouth of Spain, a thing in itself outweighing all +the toil and anguish of our planting. But there were others who saw only +the meanness of the place, its almost defenselessness, its fluxes and +fevers, the fewness of its inhabitants and the number of its graves. +Finding no gold and no earthly paradise, and that in the sweat of their +brow they must eat their bread, they straightway fell into the dumps, +and either died out of sheer perversity, or went yelping home to the +Company with all manner of dismal tales,--which tales, through my Lord +Warwick's good offices, never failed to reach the sacred ears of his +Majesty, and to bring the colony and the Company into disfavor. + +We came to the palisade, and found the gates wide open and the warder +gone. + +"Where be the people?" marveled Master Sparrow, as we rode through +into the street. In truth, where were the people? On either side of the +street the doors of the houses stood open, but no person looked out from +them or loitered on the doorsteps; the square was empty; there were no +women at the well, no children underfoot, no gaping crowd before gaol +and pillory, no guard before the Governor's house,--not a soul, high or +low, to be seen. + +"Have they all migrated?" cried Sparrow. "Are they gone to Croatan?" + +"They have left one to tell the tale, then," I said, "for here he comes +running." + + + +CHAPTER VII IN WHICH WE PREPARE TO FIGHT THE SPANIARD + + +A MAN came panting down the street. "Captain Ralph Percy!" he cried. +"My master said it was your horse coming across the neck. The Governor +commands your attendance at once, sir." + +"Where is the Governor? Where are all the people?" I demanded. + +"At the fort. They are all at the fort or on the bank below. Oh, sirs, a +woeful day for us all!" + +"A woeful day!" I exclaimed. "What's the matter?" + +The man, whom I recognized as one of the commander's servants, a fellow +with the soul of a French valet de chambre, was wild with terror. + +"They are at the guns!" he quavered. "Alackaday! what can a few sakers +and demiculverins do against them?" + +"Against whom?" I cried. + +"They are giving out pikes and cutlasses! Woe's me, the sight of naked +steel hath ever made me sick!" + +I drew my dagger, and flashed it before him. "Does 't make you sick?" I +asked. "You shall be sicker yet, if you do not speak to some purpose." + +The fellow shrank back, his eyeballs starting from his head. + +"It's a tall ship," he gasped, "a very big ship! It hath ten culverins, +beside fowlers and murderers, sabers, falcons, and bases!" + +I took him by the collar and shook him off his feet. + +"There are priests on board!" he managed to say as I set him down. "This +time to-morrrow we'll all be on the rack! And next week the galleys will +have us!" + +"It's the Spaniard at last," I said. "Come on!" + +When we reached the river bank before the fort, it was to find confusion +worse confounded. The gates of the palisade were open, and through them +streamed Councilors, Burgesses, and officers, while the bank itself was +thronged with the generality. Ancient planters, Smith's men, Dale's men, +tenants and servants, women and children, including the little eyases we +imported the year before, s, Paspaheghs, French vignerons, Dutch +sawmill men, Italian glassworkers,--all seethed to and fro, all talked +at once, and all looked down the river. Out of the babel of voices these +words came to us over and over: "The Spaniard!" "The Inquisition!" "The +galleys!" They were the words oftenest heard at that time, when strange +sails hove in sight. + +But where was the Spaniard? On the river, hugging the shore, were many +small craft, barges, shallops, sloops, and pinnaces, and beyond them the +masts of the Truelove, the Due Return, and the Tiger, then in port; on +these three, of which the largest, the Due Return, was of but eighty +tons burthen, the mariners were running about and the masters bawling +orders. But there was no other ship, no bark, galleon, or man-of-war, +with three tiers of grinning ordnance, and the hated yellow flag +flaunting above. + +I sprang from my horse, and, leaving it and Mistress Percy in Sparrow's +charge, hastened up to the fort. As I passed through the palisade I +heard my name called, and turning waited for Master Pory to come up. He +was panting and puffing, his jovial face very red. + +"I was across the neck of land when I heard the news," he said. "I ran +all the way, and am somewhat scant of breath. Here's the devil to pay!" + +"It looks another mare's-nest," I replied. "We have cried 'Spaniard!' +pretty often." + +"But this time the wolf's here," he answered. "Davies sent a horseman at +a gallop from Algernon with the tidings. He passed the ship, and it was +a very great one. We may thank this dead calm that it did not catch us +unawares." + +Within the palisade was noise enough, but more order than without. On +the half-moons commanding the river, gunners were busy about our sakers, +falcons, and three culverins. In one place, West, the commander, was +giving out brigandines, jacks, skulls, muskets, halberds, swords, and +longbows; in another, his wife, who was a very Mary Ambree, supervised +the boiling of a great caldron of pitch. Each loophole in palisade and +fort had already its marksman. Through the west port came a horde of +reluctant invaders,--cattle, swine, and poultry,--driven in by yelling +boys. + +I made my way through the press to where I saw the Governor, surrounded +by Councilors and Burgesses, sitting on a keg of powder, and issuing +orders at the top of his voice. "Ha, Captain Percy!" he cried, as I came +up. "You are in good time, man! You've served your apprenticeship at the +wars. You must teach us how to beat the dons." + +"To Englishmen, that comes by nature, sir," I said. "Art sure we are to +have the pleasure?" + +"Not a doubt of it this time," he answered. "The ship slipped in past +the Point last night. Davies signaled her to stop, and then sent a ball +over her; but she kept on. True, it was too dark to make out much; but +if she were friendly, why did she not stop for castle duties? Moreover, +they say she was of at least five hundred tons, and no ship of that size +hath ever visited these waters. There was no wind, and they sent a man +on at once, hoping to outstrip the enemy and warn us. The man changed +horses at Basse's Choice, and passed the ship about dawn. All he could +tell for the mist was that it was a very great ship, with three tiers of +guns." + +"The flag?" + +"She carried none." + +"Humph!" I said. "It hath a suspicious look. At least we do well to be +ready. We'll give them a warm welcome." + +"There are those here who counsel surrender," continued the Governor. +"There's one, at least, who wants the Tiger sent downstream with a white +flag and my sword." + +"Where?" I cried. "He's no Englishman, I warrant!" + +"As much an Englishman as thou, sir!" called out a gentleman whom I had +encountered before, to wit, Master Edward Sharpless. "It's well enough +for swingebuckler captains, Low Country fire-eaters, to talk of holding +out againt a Spanish man-of-war with twice our number of fighting men, +and enough ordnance to batter the town out of existence. Wise men know +when the odds are too heavy!" + +"It's well enough for lily-livered, goose-fleshed lawyers to hold their +tongues when men and soldiers talk," I retorted. "We are not making +indentures to the devil, and so have no need of such gentry." + +There was a roar of laughter from the captains and gunners, but terror +of the Spaniard had made Master Edward Sharpless bold to all besides. + +"They will wipe us off the face of the earth!" he lamented. "There won't +be an Englishman left in America! they'll come close in upon us! they'll +batter down the fort with their culverins; they'll turn all their +swivels, sakers, and falcons upon us; they'll throw into our midst +stinkpots and grenades; they'll mow us down with chain shot! Their +gunners never miss!" His voice rose to a scream, and he shook as with +an ague. "Are you mad? It's Spain that's to be fought! Spain the rich! +Spain the powerful! Spain the lord of the New World!" + +"It's England that fights!" I cried. "For very shame, hold thy tongue!" + +"If we surrender at once, they'll let us go!" he whined. "We can take +the small boats and get to the Bermudas, they'll let us go." + +"Into the galleys," muttered West. + +The craven tried another feint. "Think of the women and children!" + +"We do," I said sternly. "Silence, fool!" + +The Governor, a brave and honest man, rose from the keg of powder. "All +this is foreign to the matter, Master Sharpless. I think our duty is +clear, be the odds what they may. This is our post, and we will hold it +or die beside it. We are few in number, but we are England in America, +and I think we will remain here. This is the King's fifth kingdom, and +we will keep it for him. We will trust in the Lord and fight it out." + +"Amen," I said, and "Amen," said the ring of Councilors and Burgesses +and the armed men beyond. + +The hum of voices now rose into excited cries, and the watchman +stationed atop the big culverin called out, "Sail ho!" With one accord +we turned our faces downstream. There was the ship, undoubtedly. +Moreover, a strong breeze had sprung up, blowing from the sea, filling +her white sails, and rapidly lessening the distance between us. As yet +we could only tell that she was indeed a large ship with all sail set. + +Through the gates of the palisade now came, pellmell, the crowd without. +In ten minutes' time the women were in line ready to load the muskets, +the children sheltered as best they might be, the men in ranks, the +gunners at their guns, and the flag up. I had run it up with my own +hand, and as I stood beneath the folds Master Sparrow and my wife came +to my side. + +"The women are over there," I said to the latter, "where you had best +betake yourself." + +"I prefer to stay here," she answered. "I am not afraid." Her color was +high, and she held her head up. "My father fought the Armada," she said. + +"Get me a sword from that man who is giving them out." + +From his coign of vantage the watch now called out: "She's a long +ship,--five hundred tons, anyhow! Lord! the metal that she carries! +She's rasedecked!" + +"Then she's Spanish, sure enough!" cried the Governor. + +From the crowd of servants, felons, and foreigners rose a great clamor, +and presently we made out Sharpless perched on a cask in their midst and +wildly gesticulating. + +"The Tiger, the Truelove, and the Due Return have swung across channel!" +announced the watch. "They 've trained their guns on the Spaniard!" + +The Englishmen cheered, but the bastard crew about Sharpless groaned. +Extreme fear had made the lawyer shameless. "What guns have those +boats?" he screamed. "Two falcons apiece and a handful of muskets, and +they go out against a man-of-war! She'll trample them underfoot! She'll +sink them with a shot apiece! The Tiger is forty tons, and the Truelove +is sixty. You 're all mad!" + +"Sometimes quality beats quantity," said West. + +"Didst ever hear of the Content?" sang out a gunner. + +"Or of the Merchant Royal?" cried another. + +"Or of the Revenge?" quoth Master Jeremy Sparrow. "Go hang thyself, +coward, or, if you choose, swim out to the Spaniard, and shift from thy +wet doublet and hose into a sanbenito. Let the don come, shoot if he +can, and land if he will! We'll singe his beard in Virginia as we did at +Cales! + + 'The great St. Philip, the pride of the Spaniards, + + Was burnt to the bottom and sunk in the sea. + + the St. Andrew and eke the St. Matthew + + We took in fight manfully and brought away.' + +And so we'll do with this one, my masters! We'll sink her, or we'll take +her and send her against her own galleons and galleasses! + + 'Dub-a-dub, dub-a-dub, thus strike their drums, + + Tantara, tantara, the Englishman comes!'" + +His great voice and great presence seized and held the attention of all. +Over his doublet of rusty black he had clapped a yet rustier back and +breast; on his bushy hair rode a headpiece many sizes too small; by his +side was an old broadsword, and over his shoulder a pike. Suddenly, from +gay hardihood his countenance changed to an expression more befitting +his calling. "Our cause is just, my masters!" he cried. "We stand here +not for England alone; we stand for the love of law, for the love of +liberty, for the fear of God, who will not desert his servants and his +cause, nor give over to Anti-Christ this virgin world. This plantation +is the leaven which is to leaven the whole lump, and surely he will +hide it in the hollow of his hand and in the shadow of his wing. God of +battles, hear us! God of England, God of America, aid the children of +the one, the saviors of the other!" + +He had dropped the pike to raise his clasped hands to the blue heavens, +but now he lifted it again, threw back his shoulders, and flung up his +head. He laid his hand on the flagstaff, and looked up to the banner +streaming in the breeze. "It looks well so high against the blue, does +n't it, friends?" he cried genially. "Suppose we keep it there forever +and a day!" + +A cheer arose, so loud that it silenced, if it did not convince, the +craven few. As for Master Edward Sharpless, he disappeared behind the +line of women. + +The great ship came steadily on, her white sails growing larger and +larger, moment by moment, her tiers of guns more distinct and menacing, +her whole aspect more defiant. Her waist seemed packed with men. But no +streamers, no flag. + +A puff of smoke floated up from the deck of the Tiger, and a ball from +one of her two tiny falcons passed through the stranger's rigging. A +cheer for the brave little cockboat arose from the English. "David +and his pebble!" exclaimed Master Jeremy Sparrow. "Now for Goliath's +twenty-pounders!" + +But no flame and thunder issued from the guns aboard the stranger. +Instead, from her deck there came to us what sounded mightily like +a roar of laughter. Suddenly, from each masthead and yard shot out +streamers of red and blue, up from the poop rose and flaunted in the +wind the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew, and with a crash trumpet, +drum, and fife rushed into + + "Here's to jolly good ale and old!" + +"By the Lord, she's English!" shouted the Governor. + +On she came, banners flying, music playing, and inextinguishable +laughter rising from her decks. The Tiger, the Truelove, and the Due +Return sent no more hailstones against her; they turned and resolved +themselves into her consort. The watch, a grim old sea dog that had +come in with Dale, swung himself down from his post, and came toward +the Governor at a run. "I know her now, sir!" he shouted. "I was at the +winning of Cales, and she's the Santa Teresa, that we took and sent home +to the Queen. She was Spanish once, sir, but she's English now." + +The gates were flung open, and the excited people poured out again +upon the river bank. I found myself beside the Governor, whose honest +countenance wore an expression of profound bewilderment. + +"What d' ye make of her, Percy?" he said. "The Company does n't send +servants, felons, 'prentices, or maids in such craft; no, nor officers +or governors, either. It's the King's ship, sure enough, but what is she +doing here?--that 's the question. What does she want, and whom does she +bring?" + +"We'll soon know," I answered, "for there goes her anchor." + +Five minutes later a boat was lowered from the ship, and came swiftly +toward us. The boat had four rowers, and in the stern sat a tall man, +black-bearded, high-, and magnificently dressed. It touched the +sand some two hundred feet from the spot where Governor, Councilors, +officers, and a sprinkling of other sorts stood staring at it, and at +the great ship beyond. The man in the stern leaped out, looked around +him, and then walked toward us. As he walked slowly, we had leisure to +note the richness of his doublet and cloak,--the one slashed, the other +lined with scarlet taffeta,--the arrogance of his mien and gait, and the +superb full-blooded beauty of his face. + +"The handsomest man that ever I saw!" ejaculated the Governor. + +Master Pory, standing beside him, drew in his breath, then puffed it out +again. "Handsome enough, your Honor," he said, "unless handsome is as +handsome does. That, gentlemen, is my Lord Carnal,--that is the King's +latest favorite." + + + +CHAPTER VIII IN WHICH ENTERS MY LORD CARNAL + + +I FELT a touch upon my shoulder, and turned to find Mistress Percy +beside me. Her cheeks were white, her eyes aflame, her whole frame +tense. The passion that dominated her was so clearly anger at white heat +that I stared at her in amazement. Her hand slid from my shoulder to the +bend of my arm and rested there. "Remember that I am your wife, sir," +she said in a low, fierce voice,--"your kind and loving wife. You said +that your sword was mine; now bring your wit to the same service!" + +There was not time to question her meaning. The man whose position in +the realm had just been announced by the Secretary, and of whom we had +all heard as one not unlikely to supplant even Buckingham himself, was +close at hand. The Governor, headpiece in hand, stepped forward; the +other swept off his Spanish hat; both bowed profoundly. + +"I speak to his Honor the Governor of Virginia?" inquired the newcomer. +His tone was offhand, his hat already back upon his head. + +"I am George Yeardley, at my Lord Carnal's service," answered the +Governor. + +The favorite raised his eyebrows. "I don't need to introduce myself, it +seems," he said. "You've found that I am not the devil, after all,--at +least not the Spanish Apollyon. Zooks! a hawk above a poultry yard could +n't have caused a greater commotion than did my poor little ship and my +few poor birding pieces! Does every strange sail so put you through your +paces?" + +The Governor's color mounted. "We are not at home," he answered stiffly. +"Here we are few and weak and surrounded by many dangers, and have need +to be vigilant, being planted, as it were, in the very grasp of that +Spain who holds Europe in awe, and who claims this land as her own. That +we are here at all is proof enough of our courage, my lord." + +The other shrugged his shoulders. "I don't doubt your mettle," he said +negligently. "I dare say it matches your armor." + +His glance had rested for a moment upon the battered headpiece and +ancient rusty breastplate with which Master Jeremy Sparrow was bedight. + +"It is something antique, truly, something out of fashion," remarked +that worthy,--"almost as out of fashion as courtesy from guests, or +respect for dignities from my-face-is-my-fortune minions and lords on +carpet considerations." + +The hush of consternation following this audacious speech was broken by +a roar of laughter from the favorite himself. "Zounds!" he cried, "your +courage is worn on your sleeve, good giant! I'll uphold you to face +Spaniards, strappado, rack, galleys, and all!" + +The bravado with which he spoke, the insolence of his bold glance and +curled lip, the arrogance with which he flaunted that King's favor which +should be a brand more infamous than the hangman's, his beauty, the pomp +of his dress,--all were alike hateful. I hated him then, scarce knowing +why, as I hated him afterward with reason. + +He now pulled from the breast of his doublet a packet, which he +proffered the Governor. "From the King, sir," he announced, in the +half-fierce, half--mocking tone he had made his own. "You may read it at +your leisure. He wishes you to further me in a quest upon which I have +come." + +The Governor took the packet with reverence. "His Majesty's will is our +law," he said. "Anything that lies in our power, sir; though if you come +for gold"-- + +The favorite laughed again. "I've come for a thing a deal more precious, +Sir Governor,--a thing worth more to me than all the treasure of the +Indies with Manoa and El Dorado thrown in,--to wit, the thing upon which +I've set my mind. That which I determine to do, I do, sir, and the thing +I determine to have, why, sooner or later, by hook or by crook, fair +means or foul, I have it! I am not one to be crossed or defied with +impunity." + +"I do not take your meaning, my lord," said the Governor, puzzled, +but courteous. "There are none here who would care to thwart, in any +honorable enterprise, a nobleman so high in the King's favor. I trust +that my Lord Carnal will make my poor house his own during his stay in +Virginia--What's the matter, my lord?" + +My lord's face was dark red, his black eyes afire, his mustaches working +up and down. His white teeth had closed with a click on the loud oath +which had interrupted the Governor's speech. Honest Sir George and his +circle stared at this unaccountable guest in amazement not unmixed with +dismay. As for myself, I knew before he spoke what had caused the oath +and the fierce triumph in that handsome face. Master Jeremy Sparrow had +moved a little to one side, thus exposing to view that which his great +body had before screened from observation,--namely, Mistress Jocelyn +Percy. + +In a moment the favorite was before her, hat in hand, bowing to the +ground. + +"My quest hath ended where I feared it but begun!" he cried, flushed and +exultant. "I have found my Manoa sooner than I thought for. Have you no +welcome for me, lady?" + +She withdrew her arm from mine and curtsied to him profoundly; then +stood erect, indignant and defiant, her eyes angry stars, her cheeks +carnation, scorn on her smiling lips. + +"I cannot welcome you as you should be welcomed, my lord," she said in a +clear voice. "I have but my bare hands. Manoa, my lord, lies far to the +southward. This land is quite out of your course, and you will find here +but your travail for your pains. My lord, permit me to present to you my +husband, Captain Ralph Percy. I think that you know his cousin, my Lord +of Northumberland." + +The red left the favorite's cheeks, and he moved as though a blow had +been dealt him by some invisible hand. Recovering himself he bowed +to me, and I to him, which done we looked each other in the eyes long +enough for each to see the thrown gauntlet. + +"I raise it," I said. + +"And I raise it," he answered. + +"A l'outrance, I think, sir?" I continued. + +"A l'outrance," he assented. + +"And between us two alone," I suggested. + +His answering smile was not good to see, nor was the tone in which he +spoke to the Governor good to hear. + +"It is now some weeks, sir," he said, "since there disappeared from +court a jewel, a diamond of most inestimable worth. It in some sort +belonged to the King, and his Majesty, in the goodness of his heart, +had promised it to a certain one,--nay, had sworn by his kingdom that +it should be his. Well, sir, that man put forth his hand to claim his +own--when lo! the jewel vanished! Where it went no man could tell. There +was, as you may believe, a mighty running up and down and looking into +dark corners, all for naught,--it was clean gone. But the man to whom +that bright gem had been promised was not one easily hoodwinked or +baffled. He swore to trace it, follow it, find it, and wear it." + +His bold eyes left the Governor, to rest upon the woman beside me; had +he pointed to her with his hand, he could not have more surely drawn +upon her the regard of that motley throng. By degrees the crowd had +fallen back, leaving us three--the King's minion, the masquerading lady, +and myself--the centre of a ring of staring faces; but now she became +the sole target at which all eyes were directed. + +In Virginia, at this time, the women of our own race were held in high +esteem. During the first years of our planting they were a greater +rarity than the mocking-birds and flying squirrels, or than that weed +the eating of which made fools of men. The man whose wife was loving and +daring enough, or jealous enough of Indian maids, to follow him into +the wilderness counted his friends by the score and never lacked for +company. The first marriage in Virginia was between a laborer and a +waiting maid, and yet there was as great a deal of candy stuff as if it +had been the nuptials of a lieutenant of the shire. The brother of my +Lord de la Warre stood up with the groom, the brother of my Lord of +Northumberland gave away the bride and was the first to kiss her, and +the President himself held the caudle to their lips that night. Since +that wedding there had been others. Gentlewomen made the Virginia voyage +with husband or father; women signed as servants and came over, to marry +in three weeks' time, the husband paying good tobacco for the wife's +freedom; in the cargoes of children sent for apprentices there were many +girls. And last, but not least, had come Sir Edwyn's doves. Things had +changed since that day--at the memory of which men still held their +sides--when Madam West, then the only woman in the town with youth and +beauty, had marched down the street to the pillory, mounted it, called +to her the drummer, and ordered him to summon to the square by tuck of +drum every man in the place. Which done, and the amazed population +at hand, gaping at the spectacle of the wife of their commander (then +absent from home) pilloried before them, she gave command, through +the crier, that they should take their fill of gazing, whispering, and +nudging then and there, forever and a day, and then should go about +their business and give her leave to mind her own. + +That day was gone, but men still dropped their work to see a woman pass, +still cheered when a farthingale appeared over a ship's side, and at +church still devoted their eyes to other service than staring at the +minister. In our short but crowded history few things had made a greater +stir than the coming in of Sir Edwyn's maids. They were married now, +but they were still the observed of all observers; to be pointed out to +strangers, run after by children, gaped at by the vulgar, bowed to with +broad smiles by Burgess, Councilor, and commander, and openly contemned +by those dames who had attained to a husband in somewhat more regular +fashion. Of the ninety who had arrived two weeks before, the greater +number had found husbands in the town itself or in the neighboring +hundreds, so that in the crowd that had gathered to withstand the +Spaniard, and had stayed to welcome the King's favorite, there were +farthingales not a few. + +But there were none like the woman whose hand I had kissed in the +courting meadow. In the throng, that day, in her Puritan dress and amid +the crowd of meaner beauties, she had passed without overmuch comment, +and since that day none had seen her save Rolfe and the minister, my +servants and myself; and when "The Spaniard!" was cried, men thought of +other things than the beauty of women; so that until this moment she +had escaped any special notice. Now all that was changed. The Governor, +following the pointing of those insolent eyes, fixed his own upon her +in a stare of sheer amazement; the gold-laced quality about him craned +necks, lifted eyebrows, and whispered; and the rabble behind followed +their betters' example with an emphasis quite their own. + +"Where do you suppose that jewel went, Sir Governor," said the +favorite,--"that jewel which was overnice to shine at court, which set +up its will against the King's, which would have none of that one to +whom it had been given?" + +"I am a plain man, my lord," replied the Governor bluntly. "An it please +you, give me plain words." + +My lord laughed, his eyes traveling round the ring of greedily intent +faces. "So be it, sir," he assented. "May I ask who is this lady?" + +"She came in the Bonaventure," answered the Governor. "She was one of +the treasurer's poor maids." + +"With whom I trod a measure at court not long ago," said the favorite. +"I had to wait for the honor until the prince had been gratified." + +The Governor's round eyes grew rounder. Young Hamor, a-tiptoe behind +him, drew a long, low whistle. + +"In so small a community," went on my lord, "sure you must all know +one another. There can be no masks worn, no false colors displayed. +Everything must be as open as daylight. But we all have a past as well +as a present. Now, for instance"-- + +I interrupted him. "In Virginia, my lord, we live in the present. At +present, my lord, I like not the color of your lordship's cloak." + +He stared at me, with his black brows drawn together. "It is not of your +choosing nor for your wearing, sir," he rejoined haughtily. + +"And your sword knot is villainously tied," I continued. "And I like not +such a fire-new, bejeweled scabbard. Mine, you see, is out at heel." + +"I see," he said dryly. + +"The pinking of your doublet suits me not, either," I declared. "I could +make it more to my liking," and I touched his Genoa three-pile with the +point of my rapier. + +A loud murmur arose from the crowd, and the Governor started forward, +crying out, "Captain Percy! Are you mad?" + +"I was never saner in my life, sir," I answered. "French fashions like +me not,--that is all,--nor Englishmen that wear them. To my thinking +such are scarcely true-born." + +That thrust went home. All the world knew the story of my late Lord +Carnal and the waiting woman in the service of the French ambassador's +wife. A gasp of admiration went up from the crowd. My lord's rapier was +out, the hand that held it shaking with passion. I had my blade in my +hand, but the point was upon the ground. "I'll lesson you, you madman!" +he said thickly. Suddenly, without any warning, he thrust at me; had +he been less blind with rage, the long score which each was to run up +against the other might have ended where it began. I swerved, and the +next instant with my own point sent his rapier whirling. It fell at the +Governor's feet. + +"Your lordship may pick it up," I remarked. "Your grasp is as firm as +your honor, my lord." + +He glared at me, foam upon his lips. Men were between us now,--the +Governor, Francis West, Master Pory, Hamor, Wynne,--and a babel of +excited voices arose. The diversion I had aimed to make had been made +with a vengeance. West had me by the arm. "What a murrain is all this +coil about, Ralph Percy? If you hurt hair of his head, you are lost!" + +The favorite broke from the Governor's detaining hand and conciliatory +speech. + +"You'll fight, sir?" he cried hoarsely. + +"You know that I need not now, my lord," I answered. + +He stamped upon the ground with rage and shame; not true shame for that +foul thrust, but shame for the sword upon the grass, for that which +could be read in men's eyes, strive to hide it as they might, for the +open scorn upon one face. Then, during the minute or more in which we +faced each other in silence, he exerted to some effect that will +of which he had boasted. The scarlet faded from his face, his frame +steadied, and he forced a smile. Also he called to his aid a certain +soldierly, honest-seeming frankness of speech and manner which he could +assume at will. + +"Your Virginian sunshine dazzleth the eyes, sir," he said. "Of a verity +it made me think you on guard. Forgive me my mistake." + +I bowed. "Your lordship will find me at your service. I lodge at the +minister's house, where your lordship's messenger will find me. I am +going there now with my wife, who hath ridden a score of miles this +morning and is weary. We give you good-day, my lord." + +I bowed to him again and to the Governor, then gave my hand to Mistress +Percy. The crowd opening before us, we passed through it, and crossed +the parade by the west bulwark. At the further end was a bit of rising +ground. This we mounted; then, before descending the other side into the +lane leading to the minister's house, we turned as by one impulse +and looked back. Life is like one of those endless Italian corridors, +painted, picture after picture, by a master hand; and man is the +traveler through it, taking his eyes from one scene but to rest them +upon another. Some remain a blur in his mind; some he remembers not; for +some he has but to close his eyes and he sees them again, line for line, +tint for tint, the whole spirit of the piece. I close my eyes, and I +see the sunshine hot and bright, the blue of the skies, the sheen of the +river. The sails are white again upon boats long lost; the Santa Teresa, +sunk in a fight with an Algerine rover two years afterward, rides +at anchor there forever in the James, her crew in the waist and the +rigging, her master and his mates on the poop, above them the flag. +I see the plain at our feet and the crowd beyond, all staring with +upturned faces; and standing out from the group of perplexed and +wondering dignitaries a man in black and scarlet, one hand busy at his +mouth, the other clenched upon the newly restored and unsheathed sword. +And I see, standing on the green hillock, hand in hand, us two, myself +and the woman so near to me, and yet so far away that a common enemy +seemed our only tie. + +We turned and descended to the green lane and the deserted houses. When +we were quite hidden from those we had left on the bank below the fort, +she dropped my hand and moved to the other side of the lane; and thus, +with never a word to spare, we walked sedately on until we reached the +minister's house. + + + +CHAPTER IX IN WHICH TWO DRINK OF ONE CUP + + +WAITING for us in the doorway we found Master Jeremy Sparrow, relieved +of his battered armor, his face wreathed with hospitable smiles, and a +posy in his hand. + +"When the Spaniard turned out to be only the King's minion, I slipped +away to see that all was in order," he said genially. "Here are roses, +madam, that you are not to treat as you did those others." + +She took them from him with a smile, and we went into the house to find +three fair large rooms, something bare of furnishing, but clean and +sweet, with here and there a bow pot of newly gathered flowers, a dish +of wardens on the table, and a cool air laden with the fragrance of the +pine blowing through the open window. + +"This is your demesne," quoth the minister. "I have worthy Master +Bucke's own chamber upstairs. Ah, good man, I wish he may quickly +recover his strength and come back to his own, and so relieve me of the +burden of all this luxury. I, whom nature meant for an eremite, have no +business in kings' chambers such as these." + +His devout faith in his own distaste for soft living and his longings +after a hermit's cell was an edifying spectacle. So was the evident +pride which he took in his domain, the complacence with which he pointed +out the shady, well-stocked garden, and the delight with which he +produced and set upon the table a huge pasty and a flagon of wine. + +"It is a fast day with me," he said. "I may neither eat nor drink until +the sun goes down. The flesh is a strong giant, very full of pride and +lust of living, and the spirit must needs keep watch and ward, seizing +every opportunity to mortify and deject its adversary. Goodwife Allen is +still gaping with the crowd at the fort, and your man and maid have not +yet come, but I shall be overhead if you need aught. Mistress Percy must +want rest after her ride." + +He was gone, leaving us two alone together. She stood opposite me, +beside the window, from which she had not moved since entering the room. +The color was still in her cheeks, the light in her eyes, and she still +held the roses with which Sparrow had heaped her arms. I was moving to +the table. + +"Wait!" she said, and I turned toward her again. + +"Have you no questions to ask?" she demanded. + +I shook my head. "None, madam." + +"I was the King's ward!" she cried. + +I bowed, but spoke no word, though she waited for me. + +"If you will listen," she said at last, proudly, and yet with a pleading +sweetness,--"if you will listen, I will tell you how it was that I--that +I came to wrong you so." + +"I am listening, madam," I replied. + +She stood against the light, the roses pressed to her bosom, her dark +eyes upon me, her head held high. "My mother died when I was born; my +father, years ago. I was the King's ward. While the Queen lived she kept +me with her,--she loved me, I think; and the King too was kind,--would +have me sing to him, and would talk to me about witchcraft and the +Scriptures, and how rebellion to a king is rebellion to God. When I was +sixteen, and he tendered me marriage with a Scotch lord, I, who loved +the gentleman not, never having seen him, prayed the King to take the +value of my marriage and leave me my freedom. He was so good to me then +that the Scotch lord was wed elsewhere, and I danced at the wedding with +a mind at ease. Time passed, and the King was still my very good lord. +Then, one black day, my Lord Carnal came to court, and the King looked +at him oftener than at his Grace of Buckingham. A few months, and my +lord's wish was the King's will. To do this new favorite pleasure he +forgot his ancient kindness of heart; yea, and he made the law of no +account. I was his kinswoman, and under my full age; he would give my +hand to whom he chose. He chose to give it to my Lord Carnal." + +She broke off, and turned her face from me toward the slant sunshine +without the window. Thus far she had spoken quietly, with a certain +proud patience of voice and bearing; but as she stood there in a silence +which I did not break, the memory of her wrongs brought the crimson +to her cheeks and the anger to her eyes. Suddenly she burst forth +passionately: "The King is the King! What is a subject's will to clash +with his? What weighs a woman's heart against his whim? Little cared +he that my hand held back, grew cold at the touch of that other hand +in which he would have put it. What matter if my will was against that +marriage? It was but the will of a girl, and must be broken. All my +world was with the King; I, who stood alone, was but a woman, young and +untaught. Oh, they pressed me sore, they angered me to the very heart! +There was not one to fight my battle, to help me in that strait, to show +me a better path than that I took. With all my heart, with all my soul, +with all my might, I hate that man which that ship brought here to-day! +You know what I did to escape them all, to escape that man. I fled from +England in the dress of my waiting maid and under her name. I came to +Virginia in that guise. I let myself be put up, appraised, cried for +sale, in that meadow yonder, as if I had been indeed the piece of +merchandise I professed myself. The one man who approached me with +respect I gulled and cheated. I let him, a stranger, give me his name. I +shelter myself now behind his name. I have foisted on him my quarrel. +I have--Oh, despise me, if you will! You cannot despise me more than I +despise myself!" + +I stood with my hand upon the table and my eyes studying the shadow +of the vines upon the floor. All that she said was perfectly true, +and yet--I had a vision of a scarlet and black figure and a dark and +beautiful face. I too hated my Lord Carnal. + +"I do not despise you, madam," I said at last. "What was done two weeks +ago in the meadow yonder is past recall. Let it rest. What is mine is +yours: it's little beside my sword and my name. The one is naturally at +my wife's service; for the other, I have had some pride in keeping it +untarnished. It is now in your keeping as well as my own. I do not fear +to leave it there, madam." + +I had spoken with my eyes upon the garden outside the window, but now I +looked at her, to see that she was trembling in every limb,--trembling +so that I thought she would fall. I hastened to her. "The roses," she +said,--"the roses are too heavy. Oh, I am tired--and the room goes +round." + +I caught her as she fell, and laid her gently upon the floor. There +was water on the table, and I dashed some in her face and moistened +her lips; then turned to the door to get woman's help, and ran against +Diccon. + +"I got that bag of bones here at last, sir," he began. "If ever I"--His +eyes traveled past me, and he broke off. + +"Don't stand there staring," I ordered. "Go bring the first woman you +meet." + +"Is she dead?" he asked under his breath. "Have you killed her?" + +"Killed her, fool!" I cried. "Have you never seen a woman swoon?" + +"She looks like death," he muttered. "I thought"-- + +"You thought!" I exclaimed. "You have too many thoughts. Begone, and +call for help!" + +"Here is Angela," he said sullenly and without offering to move, as, +light of foot, soft of voice, ox-eyed and docile, the black woman +entered the room. When I saw her upon her knees beside the motionless +figure, the head pillowed on her arm, her hand busy with the fastenings +about throat and bosom, her dark face as womanly tender as any English +mother's bending over her nursling; and when I saw my wife, with a +little moan, creep further into the encircling arms, I was satisfied. + +"Come away!" I said, and, followed by Diccon, went out and shut the +door. + +My Lord Carnal was never one to let the grass grow beneath his feet. +An hour later came his cartel, borne by no less a personage than the +Secretary of the colony. + +I took it from the point of that worthy's rapier. It ran thus: "SIR,--At +what hour to-morrow and at what place do you prefer to die? And with +what weapon shall I kill you?" + +"Captain Percy will give me credit for the profound reluctance with +which I act in this affair against a gentleman and an officer so high +in the esteem of the colony," said Master Pory, with his hand upon his +heart. "When I tell him that I once fought at Paris in a duel of six +on the same side with my late Lord Carnal, and that when I was last +at court my Lord Warwick did me the honor to present me to the present +lord, he will see that I could not well refuse when the latter requested +my aid." + +"Master Pory's disinterestedness is perfectly well known," I said, +without a smile. "If he ever chooses the stronger side, sure he has +strong reasons for so doing. He will oblige me by telling his principal +that I ever thought sunrise a pleasant hour for dying, and that there +could be no fitter place than the field behind the church, convenient as +it is to the graveyard. As for weapons, I have heard that he is a good +swordsman, but I have some little reputation that way myself. If he +prefers pistols or daggers, so be it." + +"I think we may assume the sword," said Master Pory. + +I bowed. + +"You'll bring a friend?" he asked. + +"I do not despair of finding one," I answered, "though my second, Master +Secretary, will put himself in some jeopardy." + +"It is combat... outrance, I believe?" + +"I understand it so." + +"Then we'd better have Bohun. The survivor may need his services." + +"As you please," I replied, "though my man Diccon dresses my scratches +well enough." + +He bit his lip, but could not hide the twinkle in his eye. + +"You are cocksure," he said. "Curiously enough, so is my lord. There +are no further formalities to adjust, I believe? To-morrow at sunrise, +behind the church, and with rapiers?" + +"Precisely." + +He slapped his blade back into its sheath. "Then that's over and done +with, for the nonce at least! Sufficient unto the day, etcetera. 'S +life! I'm hot and dry! You've sacked cities, Ralph Percy; now sack me +the minister's closet and bring out his sherris I'll be at charges for +the next communion." + +We sat us down upon the doorstep with a tankard of sack between us, and +Master Pory drank, and drank, and drank again. + +"How's the crop?" he asked. "Martin reports it poorer in quality than +ever, but Sir George will have it that it is very Varinas." + +"It's every whit as good as the Spanish," I answered. "You may tell my +Lord Warwick so, when next you write." + +He laughed. If he was a timeserver and leagued with my Lord Warwick's +faction in the Company, he was a jovial sinner. Traveler and student, +much of a philosopher, more of a wit, and boon companion to any beggar +with a pottle of ale,--while the drink lasted,--we might look askance at +his dealings, but we liked his company passing well. If he took half a +poor rustic's crop for his fee, he was ready enough to toss him sixpence +for drink money; and if he made the tenants of the lands allotted to +his office leave their tobacco uncared for whilst they rowed him on +his innumerable roving expeditions up creeks and rivers, he at least +lightened their labors with most side-splitting tales, and with bottle +songs learned in a thousand taverns. + +"After to-morrow there'll be more interesting news to write," he +announced. "You're a bold man, Captain Percy." + +He looked at me out of the corners of his little twinkling eyes. I sat +and smoked in silence. + +"The King begins to dote upon him," he said; "leans on his arm, plays +with his hand, touches his cheek. Buckingham stands by, biting his lip, +his brow like a thundercloud. You'll find in to-morrow's antagonist, +Ralph Percy, as potent a conjurer as your cousin Hotspur found in +Glendower. He'll conjure you up the Tower, and a hanging, drawing, and +quartering. Who touches the King's favorite had safer touch the King. +It's _lese-majeste_, you contemplate." + +He lit his pipe and blew out a great cloud of smoke, then burst into +a roar of laughter. "My Lord High Admiral may see you through. Zooks! +there'll be a raree-show worth the penny, behind the church to-morrow, a +Percy striving with all his might and main to serve a Villiers! Eureka! +There is something new under the sun, despite the Preacher!" He blew out +another cloud of smoke. By this the tankard was empty, and his cheeks +were red, his eyes moist, and his laughter very ready. + +"Where's the Lady Jocelyn Leigh?" he asked. "May I not have the honor to +kiss her hand before I go?" + +I stared at him. "I do not understand you," I said coldly. "There +'s none within but Mistress Percy. She is weary, and rests after her +journey. We came from Weyanoke this morning." + +He shook with laughter. "Ay, ay, brave it out!" he cried. "It's what +every man Jack of us said you would do! But all's known, man! The +Governor read the King's letters in full Council an hour ago. She's the +Lady Jocelyn Leigh; she 's a ward of the King's; she and her lands are +to wed my Lord Carnal!" + +"She was all that," I replied. "Now she 's my wife." + +"You'll find that the Court of High Commission will not agree with you." + +My rapier lay across my knees, and I ran my hand down its worn scabbard. +"Here 's one that agrees with me," I said. "And up there is Another," +and I lifted my hat. + +He stared. "God and my good sword!" he cried. "A very knightly +dependence, but not to be mentioned nowadays in the same breath with +gold and the King's favor. Better bend to the storm, man; sing low while +it roars past. You can swear that you did n't know her to be of finer +weave than dowlas. Oh, they'll call it in some sort a marriage, for the +lady's own sake; but they'll find flaws enough to crack a thousand such +mad matches. The divorce is the thing! There's precedent, you know. A +fair lady was parted from a brave man not a thousand years ago, because +a favorite wanted her. True, Frances Howard wanted the favorite, whilst +this beauty of yours"-- + +"You will please not couple the name of my wife with the name of that +adulteress!" I interrupted fiercely. + +He started; then cried out somewhat hurriedly: "No offense, no offense! +I meant no comparisons; comparisons are odorous, saith Dogberry. All at +court know the Lady Jocelyn Leigh for a very Britomart, a maid as cold +as Dian!" + +I rose, and began to pace up and down the bit of green before the door. +"Master Pory," I said at last, coming to a stop before him, "if, without +breach of faith, you can tell me what was said or done at the Council +to-day anent this matter, you will lay me under an obligation that I +shall not forget." + +He studied the lace on his sleeve in silence for a while; then glanced +up at me out of those small, sly, merry eyes. "Why," he answered, "the +King demands that the lady be sent home forthwith, on the ship that gave +us such a turn to-day, in fact, with a couple of women to attend her, +and under the protection of the only other passenger of quality, to wit, +my Lord Carnal. His Majesty cannot conceive it possible that she hath +so far forgotten her birth, rank, and duty as to have maintained in +Virginia this mad masquerade, throwing herself into the arms of any +petty planter or broken adventurer who hath chanced to have an hundred +and twenty pounds of filthy tobacco with which to buy him a wife. If she +hath been so mad, she is to be sent home none the less, where she will +be tenderly dealt with as one surely in this sole matter under the spell +of witchcraft. The ship is to bring home also--and in irons--the man +who married her. If he swears to have been ignorant of her quality, and +places no straws in the way of the King's Commissioners, then shall he +be sent honorably back to Virginia with enough in his hand to get him +another wife. Per contra, if he erred with open eyes, and if he remain +contumacious, he will have to deal with the King and with the Court of +High Commission, to say nothing of the King's favorite. That's the sum +and substance, Ralph Percy." + +"Why was my Lord Carnal sent?" I asked. + +"Probably because my Lord Carnal would come. He hath a will, hath my +Lord, and the King is more indulgent than Eli to those upon whom he +dotes. Doubtless, my Lord High Admiral sped him on his way, gave him the +King's best ship, wished him a favorable wind--to hell." + +"I was not ignorant that she was other than she seemed, and I remain +contumacious." + +"Then," he said shamelessly, "you'll forgive me if in public, at least, +I forswear your company? You're plague-spotted, Captain Percy, and your +friends may wish you well, but they must stay at home and burn juniper +before their own doors." + +"I'll forgive you," I said, "when you 've told me what the Governor will +do." + +"Why, there's the rub," he answered. "Yeardley is the most obstinate man +of my acquaintance. He who at his first coming, beside a great deal of +worth in his person, brought only his sword hath grown to be as very a +Sir Oracle among us as ever I saw. It's 'Sir George says this,' and 'Sir +George says that,' and so there's an end on't. It's all because of that +leave to cut your own throats in your own way that he brought you last +year. Sir George and Sir Edwyn! Zooks! you had better dub them St. +George and St. Edwyn at once, and be done with it. Well, on this +occasion Sir George stands up and says roundly, with a good round +oath to boot: 'The King's commands have always come to us through the +Company. The Company obeys the King; we obey the Company. His Majesty's +demand (with reverence I speak it) is out of all order. Let the Company, +through the treasurer, command us to send Captain Percy home in irons to +answer for this passing strange offense, or to return, willy nilly, the +lady who is now surely his wife, and we will have no choice but to +obey. Until the Company commands us we will do nothing; nay we can do +nothing.' And every one of my fellow Councilors (for myself, I was busy +with my pens) saith, 'My opinion, Sir George.' The upshot of it all +is that the Due Return is to sail in two days with our humble +representation to his Majesty that though we bow to his lightest word as +the leaf bows to the zephyr, yet we are, in this sole matter, handfast, +compelled by his Majesty's own gracious charter to refer our slightest +official doing to that noble Company which owes its very being to its +rigid adherence to the terms of said charter. Wherefore, if his Majesty +will be graciously pleased to command us as usual through the said +Company--and so on. Of course, not a soul in the Council, or in +Jamestown, or in Virginia dreams of a duel behind the church at sunrise +to-morrow." He knocked the ashes from his pipe, and by degrees got his +fat body up from the doorstep. "So there's a reprieve for you, Ralph +Percy, unless you kill or are killed to-morrow morning. In the latter +case, the problem's solved; in the former, the best service you can do +yourself, and maybe the Company, is to walk out of the world of your +own accord, and that as quickly as possible. Better a cross-roads and a +stake through a dead heart than a hangman's hands upon a live one." + +"One moment," I said. "Doth my Lord Carnal know of this decision of the +Governor's?" + +"Ay, and a fine passion it put him into. Stormed and swore and +threatened, and put the Governor's back up finely. It seems that he +thought to 'bout ship to-morrow, lady and all. He refuseth to go without +the lady, and so remaineth in Virginia until he can have his will. Lord! +but Buckingham would be a happy man if he were kept here forever and a +day! My lord knows what he risks, and he's in as black a humor as ever +you saw. But I have striven to drop oil on the troubled waters. 'My +lord,' I told him, 'you have but to posses your soul with patience for a +few short weeks, just until the ship the Governor sends can return. Then +all must needs be as your lordship wishes. In the meantime, you may find +existence in these wilds and away from that good company which is the +soul of life endurable, and perhaps pleasant. You may have daily sight +of the lady who is to become your wife, and that should count for +much with so ardent and determined a lover as your lordship hath shown +yourself to be. You may have the pleasure of contemplating your rival's +grave, if you kill him. If he kills you, you will care the less about +the date of the Santa Teresa's sailing. The land, too, hath inducements +to offer to a philosophical and contemplative mind such as one whom his +Majesty delighteth to honor must needs possess. Beside these crystal +rivers and among these odoriferous woods, my lord, one escapes much +expense, envy, contempt, vanity, and vexation of mind.'" + +The hoary sinner laughed and laughed. When he had gone away, still in +huge enjoyment of his own mirth, I, who had seen small cause for mirth, +went slowly indoors. Not a yard from the door, in the shadow of the +vines that draped the window, stood the woman who was bringing this fate +upon me. + +"I thought that you were in your own room," I said harshly, after a +moment of dead silence. + +"I came to the window," she replied. "I listened. I heard all." She +spoke haltingly, through dry lips. Her face was as white as her ruff, +but a strange light burned in her eyes, and there was no trembling. +"This morning you said that all that you had--your name and your +sword--were at my service. You may take them both again, sir. I refuse +the aid you offer. Swear what you will, tell them what you please, make +your peace whilst you may. I will not have your blood upon my soul." + +There was yet wine upon the table. I filled a cup and brought it to her. +"Drink!" I commanded. + +"I have much of forbearance, much of courtesy, to thank you for," she +said. "I will remember it when--Do not think that I shall blame you"-- + +I held the cup to her lips. "Drink!" I repeated. She touched the red +wine with her lips. I took it from her and put it to my own. "We drink +of the same cup," I said, with my eyes upon hers, and drained it to the +bottom. "I am weary of swords and courts and kings. Let us go into the +garden and watch the minister's bees." + + + +CHAPTER X IN WHICH MASTER PORY GAINS TIME TO SOME PURPOSE + + +ROLFE coming down by boat from Varina, had reached the town in the dusk +of that day which had seen the arrival of the Santa Teresa, and I had +gone to him before I slept that night. Early morning found us together +again in the field behind the church. We had not long to wait in the +chill air and dew-drenched grass. When the red rim of the sun showed +like a fire between the trunks of the pines came my Lord Carnal, and +with him Master Pory and Dr. Lawrence Bohun. + +My lord and I bowed to each other profoundly. Rolfe with my sword and +Master Pory with my lord's stepped aside to measure the blades. Dr. +Bohun, muttering something about the feverishness of the early air, +wrapped his cloak about him, and huddled in among the roots of a +gigantic cedar. I stood with my back to the church, and my face to the +red water between us and the illimitable forest; my lord opposite me, +six feet away. He was dressed again splendidly in black and scarlet, +colors he much affected, and, with the dark beauty of his face and the +arrogant grace with which he stood there waiting for his sword, made a +picture worth looking upon. + +Rolfe and the Secretary came back to us. "If you kill him, Ralph," said +the former in a low voice, as he took my doublet from me, "you are to +put yourself in my hands and do as you are bid." + +"Which means that you will try to smuggle me north to the Dutch. Thanks, +friend, but I'll see the play out here." + +"You were ever obstinate, self-willed, reckless--and the man most to my +heart," he continued. "Have your way, in God's name, but I wish not to +see what will come of it! All's ready, Master Secretary." + +Very slowly that worthy stooped down and examined the ground, narrowly +and quite at his leisure. "I like it not, Master Rolfe," he declared at +length. "Here is a molehill, and there a fairy ring." + +"I see neither," said Rolfe. "It looks as smooth as a table. But we can +easily shift under the cedars where there is no grass." + +"Here's a projecting root," announced the Secretary, when the new ground +had been reached. + +Rolfe shrugged his shoulders, but we moved again. + +"The light comes jaggedly through the branches," objected my lord's +second. "Better try the open again." + +Rolfe uttered an exclamation of impatience, and my lord stamped his foot +on the ground. "What is this foolery, sir?" the latter cried fiercely. +"The ground's well enough, and there 's sufficient light to die by." + +"Let the light pass, then," said his second resignedly. "Gentlemen, +are you read--Ods blood! my lord, I had not noticed the roses upon your +lordship's shoes! They are so large and have such a fall that they +sweep the ground on either side your foot; you might stumble in all that +dangling ribbon and lace. Allow me to remove them." + +He unsheathed his knife, and, sinking upon his knees, began leisurely to +sever the threads that held the roses to the leather. As he worked, he +looked neither at the roses nor at my lord's angry face, but beneath his +own bent arm toward the church and the town beyond. + +How long he would have sawed away at the threads there is no telling; +for my lord, amongst whose virtues patience was not one, broke from him, +and with an oath stooped and tore away the offending roses with his +own hand, then straightened himself and gripped his sword more closely. +"I've learned one thing in this d----d land," he snarled, "and that is +where not to choose a second. You, sir," to Rolfe, "give the word." + +Master Pory rose from his knees, unruffled and unabashed, and still with +a curiously absent expression upon his fat face and with his ears cocked +in the direction of the church. "One moment, gentlemen," he said. "I +have just bethought me"-- + +"On guard!" cried Rolfe, and cut him short. + +The King's favorite was no mean antagonist. Once or twice the thought +crossed my mind that here, where I least desired it, I had met my match. +The apprehension passed. He fought as he lived, with a fierce intensity, +a headlong passion, a brute force, bearing down and overwhelming most +obstacles. But that I could tire him out I soon knew. + +The incessant flash and clash of steel, the quick changes in position, +the need to bring all powers of body and mind to aid of eye and wrist, +the will to win, the shame of loss, the rage and lust of blood,--there +was no sight or sound outside that trampled circle that could force +itself upon our brain or make us glance aside. If there was a sudden +commotion amongst the three witnesses, if an expression of immense +relief and childlike satisfaction reigned in Master Pory's face, we knew +it not. We were both bleeding,--I from a pin prick on the shoulder, +he from a touch beneath the arm. He made a desperate thrust, which I +parried, and the blades clashed. A third came down upon them with such +force that the sparks flew. + +"In the King's name!" commanded the Governor. + +We fell apart, panting, white with rage, staring at the unexpected +disturbers of our peace. They were the Governor, the commander, the Cape +Merchant, and the watch. + +"Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace!" exclaimed Master +Pory, and retired to the cedar and Dr. Bohun. + +"This ends here, gentlemen," said the Governor firmly. "You are both +bleeding. It is enough." + +"Out of my way, sir!" cried my lord, foaming at the mouth. He made a mad +thrust over the Governor's extended arm at me, who was ready enough to +meet him. "Have at thee, thou bridegroom!" he said between his teeth. + +The Governor caught him by the wrist. "Put up your sword, my lord, or, +as I stand here, you shall give it into the commander's hands!" + +"Hell and furies!" ejaculated my lord. "Do you know who I am, sir?" + +"Ay," replied the Governor sturdily, "I do know. It is because of that +knowledge, my Lord Carnal, that I interfere in this affair. Were you +other than you are, you and this gentleman might fight until doomsday, +and meet with no hindrance from me. Being what you are, I will prevent +any renewal of this duel, by fair means if I may, by foul if I must." + +He left my lord, and came over to me. "Since when have you been upon my +Lord Warwick's side, Ralph Percy?" he demanded, lowering his voice. + +"I am not so," I said. + +"Then appearances are mightily deceitful," he retorted. + +"I know what you mean, Sir George," I answered. "I know that if the +King's darling should meet death or maiming in this fashion, upon +Virginian soil, the Company, already so out of favor, might find some +difficulty in explaining things to his Majesty's satisfaction. But I +think my Lord Southampton and Sir Edwyn Sandys and Sir George Yeardley +equal to the task, especially if they are able to deliver to his Majesty +the man whom his Majesty will doubtless consider the true and only rebel +and murderer. Let us fight it out, sir. You can all retire to a distance +and remain in profound ignorance of any such affair. If I fall, you have +nothing to fear. If he falls,--why, I shall not run away, and the Due +Return sails to-morrow." + +He eyed me closely from under frowning brows. + +"And when your wife's a widow, what then?" he asked abruptly. + +I have not known many better men than this simple, straightforward, +soldierly Governor. The manliness of his character begot trust, invited +confidence. Men told him of their hidden troubles almost against their +will, and afterward felt neither shame nor fear, knowing the simplicity +of his thoughts and the reticence of his speech. I looked him in the +eyes, and let him read what I would have shown to no other, and felt no +shame. "The Lord may raise her up a helper," I said. "At least she won't +have to marry him." + +He turned on his heel and moved back to his former station between us +two. "My Lord Carnal," he said, "and you, Captain Percy, heed what I +say; for what I say I will do. You may take your choice: either you will +sheathe your swords here in my presence, giving me your word of honor +that you will not draw them upon each other before his Majesty shall +have made known his will in this matter to the Company, and the Company +shall have transmitted it to me, in token of which truce between you you +shall touch each other's hands; or you will pass the time between this +and the return of the ship with the King's and the Company's will in +strict confinement,--you, Captain Percy, in gaol, and you, my Lord +Carnal, in my own poor house, where I will use my best endeavors to +make the days pass as pleasantly as possible for your lordship. I have +spoken, gentlemen." + +There was no protest. For my own part, I knew Yeardley too well to +attempt any; moreover, had I been in his place, his course should have +been mine. For my Lord Carnal,--what black thoughts visited that fierce +and sullen brain I know not, but there was acquiescence in his face, +haughty, dark, and vengeful though it was. Slowly and as with one motion +we sheathed our swords, and more slowly still repeated the few words +after the Governor. His Honor's countenance shone with relief. "Take +each other by the hand, gentlemen, and then let 's all to breakfast at +my own house, where there shall be no feud save with good capon pasty +and jolly good ale." In dead silence my lord and I touched each other's +finger tips. + +The world was now a flood of sunshine, the mist on the river vanishing, +the birds singing, the trees waving in the pleasant morning air. +From the town came the roll of the drum summoning all to the week-day +service. The bells too began to ring, sounding sweetly through the clear +air. The Governor took off his hat. "Let's all to church, gentlemen," he +said gravely. "Our cheeks are flushed as with a fever and our pulses run +high this morning. There be some among us, perhaps, that have in their +hearts discontent, anger, and hatred. I know no better place to take +such passions, provided we bring them not forth again." + +We went in and sat down. Jeremy Sparrow was in the pulpit. Singly or +in groups the town folk entered. Down the aisle strode bearded men, +old soldiers, adventurers, sailors, scarred body and soul; young men +followed, younger sons and younger brothers, prodigals whose portion had +been spent, whose souls now ate of the husks; to the servants' benches +came dull laborers, dimly comprehending, groping in the twilight; women +entered softly and slowly, some with children clinging to their skirts. +One came alone and knelt alone, her face shadowed by her mantle. Amongst +the servants stood a slave or two, blindly staring, and behind them all +one of that felon crew sent us by the King. + +Through the open windows streamed the summer sunshine, soft and +fragrant, impartial and unquestioning, caressing alike the uplifted +face of the minister, the head of the convict, and all between. The +minister's voice was grave and tender when he read and prayed, but +in the hymn it rose above the people's like the voice of some mighty +archangel. That triumphant singing shook the air, and still rang in the +heart while we said the Creed. + +When the service was over, the congregation waited for the Governor to +pass out first. At the door he pressed me to go with him and his party +to his own house, and I gave him thanks, but made excuse to stay away. +When he and the nobleman who was his guest had left the churchyard, and +the townspeople too were gone, I and my wife and the minister walked +home together through the dewy meadow, with the splendor of the morning +about us, and the birds caroling from every tree and thicket. + + + +CHAPTER XI IN WHICH I MEET AN ITALIAN DOCTOR + + +THE summer slipped away, and autumn came, with the purple of the grape +and the yellowing corn, the nuts within the forest, and the return of +the countless wild fowl to the marshes and reedy river banks, and still +I stayed in Jamestown, and my wife with me, and still the Santa Teresa +rode at anchor in the river below the fort. If the man whom she brought +knew that by tarrying in Virginia he risked his ruin with the King, yet, +with a courage worthy of a better cause, he tarried. + +Now and then ships came in, but they were small, belated craft. The +most had left England before the sailing of the Santa Teresa; the rest, +private ventures, trading for clapboard or sassafras, knew nothing of +court affairs. Only the Sea Flower, sailing from London a fortnight +after the Santa Teresa, and much delayed by adverse winds, brought a +letter from the deputy treasurer to Yeardley and the Council. From +Rolfe I learned its contents. It spoke of the stir that was made by the +departure from the realm of the King's favorite. "None know where he +hath gone. The King looks dour; 't is hinted that the privy council are +as much at sea as the rest of the world; my Lord of Buckingham saith +nothing, but his following--which of late hath somewhat decayed--is so +increased that his antechambers cannot hold the throngs that come to +wait upon him. Some will have it that my Lord Carnal hath fled the +kingdom to escape the Tower; others, that the King hath sent him on a +mission to the King of Spain about this detested Spanish match; others, +that the gadfly hath stung him and he is gone to America,--to search for +Raleigh's gold mine, maybe. This last most improbable; but if 't is so, +and he should touch at Virginia, receive him with all honor. If indeed +he is not out of favor, the Company may find in him a powerful friend; +of powerful enemies, God knows, there is no lack!" + +Thus the worthy Master Ferrar. And at the bottom of the letter, among +other news of city and court, mention was made of the disappearance of a +ward of the King's, the Lady Jocelyn Leigh. Strict search had been made, +but the unfortunate lady had not been found. "'T is whispered that she +hath killed herself; also, that his Majesty had meant to give her +in marriage to my Lord Carnal. But that all true love and virtue and +constancy have gone from the age, one might conceive that the said +lord had but fled the court for a while, to indulge his grief in some +solitude of hill and stream and shady vale,--the lost lady being right +worthy of such dole." + +In sooth she was, but my lord was not given to such fashion of mourning. + +The summer passed, and I did nothing. What was there I could do? I had +written by the Due Return to Sir Edwyn, and to my cousin, the Earl +of Northumberland. The King hated Sir Edwyn as he hated tobacco and +witchcraft. "Choose the devil, but not Sir Edwyn Sandys!" had been his +passionate words to the Company the year before. A certain fifth of +November had despoiled my Lord of Northumberland of wealth, fame, and +influence. Small hope there was in those two. That the Governor and +Council, remembering old dangers shared, wished me well I did not doubt, +but that was all. Yeardley had done all he could do, more than most men +would have dared to do, in procuring this delay. There was no further +help in him; nor would I have asked it. Already out of favor with the +Warwick faction, he had risked enough for me and mine. I could not flee +with my wife to the Indians, exposing her, perhaps, to a death by +fierce tortures; moreover, Opechancanough had of late strangely taken to +returning to the settlements those runaway servants and fugitives from +justice which before we had demanded from him in vain. If even it had +been possible to run the gauntlet of the Indian villages, war parties, +and hunting bands, what would have been before us but endless forest and +a winter which for us would have had no spring? I could not see her die +of hunger and cold, or by the teeth of the wolves. I could not do what I +should have liked to do,--take, single-handed, that King's ship with +its sturdy crew and sail with her south and ever southwards, before us +nothing more formidable than Spanish ships, and beyond them blue waters, +spice winds, new lands, strange islands of the blest. + +There seemed naught that I could do, naught that she could do. Our Fate +had us by the hands, and held us fast. We stood still, and the days came +and went like dreams. + +While the Assembly was in session I had my part to act as Burgess from +my hundred. Each day I sat with my fellows in the church, facing the +Governor in his great velvet chair, the Council on either hand, and +listened to the droning of old Twine, the clerk, like the droning of the +bees without the window; to the chant of the sergeant-at-arms; to long +and windy discourses from men who planted better than they spoke; to +remarks by the Secretary, witty, crammed with Latin and traveled talk; +to the Governor's slow, weighty words. At Weyanoke we had had trouble +with the Indians. I was one who loved them not and had fought them +well, for which reason the hundred chose me its representative. In the +Assembly it was my part to urge a greater severity toward those our +natural enemies, a greater watchfulness on our part, the need for +palisades and sentinels, the danger that lay in their acquisition of +firearms, which, in defiance of the law, men gave them in exchange for +worthless Indian commodities. This Indian business was the chief matter +before the Assembly. I spoke when I thought speech was needed, and spoke +strongly; for my heart foreboded that which was to come upon us too soon +and too surely. The Governor listened gravely, nodding his head; +Master Pory, too, the Cape Merchant, and West were of my mind; but the +remainder were besotted by their own conceit, esteeming the very name of +Englishman sentinel and palisade enough, or trusting in the smooth +words and vows of brotherhood poured forth so plentifully by that red +Apollyon, Opechancanough. + +When the day's work was done, and we streamed out of the church,--the +Governor and Council first, the rest of us in order,--it was to find +as often as not a red and black figure waiting for us among the graves. +Sometimes it joined itself to the Governor, sometimes to Master Pory; +sometimes the whole party, save one, went off with it to the guest +house, there to eat, drink, and make merry. + +If Virginia and all that it contained, save only that jewel of which +it had robbed the court, were out of favor with the King's minion, he +showed it not. Perhaps he had accepted the inevitable with a good grace; +perhaps it was but his mode of biding his time; but he had shifted +into that soldierly frankness of speech and manner, that genial, +hail-fellow-well-met air, behind which most safely hides a villain's +mind. Two days after that morning behind the church, he had removed +himself, his French valets, and his Italian physician from the +Governor's house to the newly finished guest house. Here he lived, cock +of the walk, taking his ease in his inn, elbowing out all guests save +those of his own inviting. If, what with his open face and his open +hand, his dinners and bear-baitings and hunting parties, his tales +of the court and the wars, his half hints as to the good he might do +Virginia with the King, extending even to the lightening of the tax upon +our tobacco and the prohibition of the Spanish import, his known riches +and power, and the unknown height to which they might attain if his star +at court were indeed in the ascendant,--if with these things he slowly, +but surely, won to his following all save a very few of those I had +thought my fast friends, it was not a thing marvelous or without +precedent. Upon his side was good that might be seen and handled; on +mine was only a dubious right and a not at all dubious danger. I do not +think it plagued me much. The going of those who had it in their heart +to wish to go left me content, and for those who fawned upon him from +the first, or for the rabble multitude who flung up their caps and ran +at his heels, I cared not a doit. There were still Rolfe and West and +the Governor, Jeremy Sparrow and Diccon. + +My lord and I met, perforce, in the street, at the Governor's house, +in church, on the river, in the saddle. If we met in the presence of +others, we spoke the necessary formal words of greeting or leave-taking, +and he kept his countenance; if none were by, off went the mask. The +man himself and I looked each other in the eyes and passed on. Once we +encountered on a late evening among the graves, and I was not alone. +Mistress Percy had been restless, and had gone, despite the minister's +protests, to sit upon the river bank. When I returned from the assembly +and found her gone, I went to fetch her. A storm was rolling slowly up. +Returning the long way through the churchyard, we came upon him sitting +beside a sunken grave, his knees drawn up to meet his chin, his eyes +gloomily regardful of the dark broad river, the unseen ocean, and +the ship that could not return for weeks to come. We passed him in +silence,--I with a slight bow, she with a slighter curtsy. An hour +later, going down the street in the dusk of the storm, I ran against Dr. +Lawrence Bohun. "Don't stop me!" he panted. "The Italian doctor is away +in the woods gathering simples, and they found my Lord Carnal in a fit +among the graves, half an hour agone." My lord was bled, and the next +morning went hunting. + +The lady whom I had married abode with me in the minister's house, held +her head high, and looked the world in the face. She seldom went from +home, but when she did take the air it was with pomp and circumstance. +When that slender figure and exquisite face, set off by as rich apparel +as could be bought from a store of finery brought in by the Southampton, +and attended by a turbaned negress and a serving man who had been to the +wars, and had escaped the wheel by the skin of his teeth, appeared in +the street, small wonder if a greater commotion arose than had been +since the days of the Princess Pocahontas and her train of dusky +beauties. To this fairer, more imperial dame gold lace doffed its +hat and made its courtliest bow, and young planters bent to their +saddlebows, while the common folk nudged and stared and had their +say. The beauty, the grace, the pride, that deigned small response +to well-meant words,--all that would have been intolerable in plain +Mistress Percy, once a waiting maid, then a piece of merchandise to be +sold for one hundred and twenty pounds of tobacco, then the wife of a +poor gentleman, was pardoned readily enough to the Lady Jocelyn Leigh, +the ward of the King, the bride to be (so soon as the King's Court +of High Commission should have snapped in twain an inconvenient and +ill-welded fetter) of the King's minion. + +So she passed like a splendid vision through the street perhaps once a +week. On Sundays she went with me to church, and the people looked at +her instead of at the minister, who rebuked them not, because his eyes +were upon the same errand. + +The early autumn passed and the leaves began to turn, and still all +things were as they had been, save that the Assembly sat no longer. My +fellow Burgesses went back to their hundreds, but my house at Weyanoke +knew me no more. In a tone that was apologetic, but firm, the Governor +had told me that he wished my company at Jamestown. I was pleased enough +to stay, I assured him,--as indeed I was. At Weyanoke, the thunderbolt +would fall without warning; at Jamestown, at least I could see, coming +up the river, the sails of the Due Return or what other ship the Company +might send. + +The color of the leaves deepened, and there came a season of a beauty +singular and sad, like a smile left upon the face of the dead summer. +Over all things, near and far, the forest where it met the sky, the +nearer woods, the great river, and the streams that empty into it, +there hung a blue haze, soft and dream-like. The forest became a painted +forest, with an ever thinning canopy and an ever thickening carpet of +crimson and gold; everywhere there was a low rustling underfoot and a +slow rain of color. It was neither cold nor hot, but very quiet, and the +birds went by like shadows,--a listless and forgetful weather, in which +we began to look, every hour of every day, for the sail which we knew we +should not see for weeks to come. + +Good Master Bucke tarried with Master Thorpe at Henricus, recruiting +his strength, and Jeremy Sparrow preached in his pulpit, slept in his +chamber, and worked in his garden. This garden ran down to the green +bank of the river; and here, sitting idly by the stream, her chin in her +hand and her dark eyes watching the strong, free sea birds as they came +and went, I found my wife one evening, as I came from the fort, where +had been some martial exercise. Thirty feet away Master Jeremy Sparrow +worked among the dying flowers, and hummed:-- + + "There is a garden in her face, + + Where roses and white lilies grow." + +He and I had agreed that when I must needs be absent he should be within +call of her; for I believed my Lord Carnal very capable of intruding +himself into her presence. That house and garden, her movements and +mine, were spied upon by his foreign hirelings, I knew perfectly well. + +As I sat down upon the bank at her feet, she turned to me with a sudden +passion. "I am weary of it all!" she cried. "I am tired of being pent up +in this house and garden, and of the watch you keep upon me. And if I go +abroad, it is worse! I hate all those shameless faces that stare at me +as if I were in the pillory. I am pilloried before you all, and I find +the experience sufficiently bitter. And when I think that that man whom +I hate, hate, hate, breathes the air that I breathe, it stifles me! If I +could fly away like those birds, if I could only be gone from this place +for even a day!" + +"I would beg leave to take you home, to Weyanoke," I said after a pause, +"but I cannot go and leave the field to him." + +"And I cannot go," she answered. "I must watch for that ship and that +King's command that my Lord Carnal thinks potent enough to make me his +wife. King's commands are strong, but a woman's will is stronger. At +the last I shall know what to do. But now why may I not take Angela and +cross that strip of sand and go into the woods on the other side? They +are so fair and strange,--all red and yellow,--and they look very still +and peaceful. I could walk in them, or lie down under the trees and +forget awhile, and they are not at all far away." She looked at me +eagerly. + +"You could not go alone," I told her. "There would be danger in that. +But to-morrow, if you choose, I and Master Sparrow and Diccon will take +you there. A day in the woods is pleasant enough, and will do none of +us harm. Then you may wander as you please, fill your arms with +leaves, and forget the world. We will watch that no harm comes nigh you, +but otherwise you shall not be disturbed." + +She broke into delighted laughter. Of all women the most steadfast of +soul, her outward moods were as variable as a child's. "Agreed!" she +cried. "You and the minister and Diccon Demon shall lay your muskets +across your knees, and Angela shall witch you into stone with her old, +mad, heathen charms. And then--and then--I will gather more gold than +had King Midas; I will dance with the hamadryads; I will find out Oberon +and make Titania jealous!" + +"I do not doubt that you could do so," I said, as she sprang to her +feet, childishly eager and radiantly beautiful. + +I rose to go in with her, for it was supper time, but in a moment +changed my mind, and resumed my seat on the bank of turf. "Do you go +in," I said. "There's a snake near by, in those bushes below the bank. +I'll kill the creature, and then I'll come to supper." + +When she was gone, I walked to where, ten feet away, the bank dipped +to a clump of reeds and willows planted in the mud on the brink of the +river. Dropping on my knees I leaned over, and, grasping a man by the +collar, lifted him from the slime where he belonged to the bank beside +me. + +It was my Lord Carnal's Italian doctor that I had so fished up. I had +seen him before, and had found in his very small, mean figure clad all +in black, and his narrow face with malignant eyes, and thin white lips +drawn tightly over gleaming teeth, something infinitely repulsive, +sickening to the sight as are certain reptiles to the touch. + +"There are no simples or herbs of grace to be found amongst reeds and +half-drowned willows," I said. "What did so learned a doctor look for in +so unlikely a place?" + +He shrugged his shoulders and made play with his clawlike hands, as if +he understood me not. It was a lie, for I knew that he and the English +tongue were sufficiently acquainted. I told him as much, and he shot +at me a most venomous glance, but continued to shrug, gesticulate, and +jabber in Italian. At last I saw nothing better to do than to take him, +still by the collar, to the edge of the garden next the churchyard, and +with the toe of my boot to send him tumbling among the graves. I watched +him pick himself up, set his attire to rights, and go away in the +gathering dusk, winding in and out among the graves; and then I went in +to supper, and told Mistress Percy that the snake was dead. + + + +CHAPTER XII IN WHICH I RECEIVE A WARNING AND REPOSE A TRUST + + +SHORTLY before daybreak I was wakened by a voice beneath my window. +"Captain Percy," it cried, "the Governor wishes you at his house!" and +was gone. + +I dressed and left the house, disturbing no one. Hurrying through the +chill dawn, I reached the square not much behind the rapid footsteps +of the watch who had wakened me. About the Governor's door were horses, +saddled and bridled, with grooms at their heads, men and beasts gray and +indistinct, wrapped in the fog. I went up the steps and into the hall, +and knocked at the door of the Governor's great room. It opened, and I +entered to find Sir George, with Master Pory, Rolfe, West, and others of +the Council gathered about the great centre table and talking eagerly. +The Governor was but half dressed; West and Rolfe were in jack boots and +coats of mail. A man, breathless with hard riding, spattered with swamp +mud and torn by briers, stood, cap in hand, staring from one to the +other. + +"In good time, Captain Percy!" cried the Governor. "Yesterday you called +the profound peace with the Indians, of which some of us boasted, the +lull before the storm. Faith, it looks to-day as though you were in the +right, after all!" + +"What 's the matter, sir?" I asked, advancing to the table. + +"Matter enough!" he answered. "This man has come, post haste, from the +plantations above Paspahegh. Three days ago, Morgan, the trader, was +decoyed into the woods by that Paspahegh fool and bully, Nemattanow, +whom they call Jack of the Feather, and there murdered. Yesterday, out +of sheer bravado, the Indian turned up at Morgan's house, and Morgan's +men shot him down. They buried the dog, and thought no more of it. Three +hours ago, Chanco the Christian went to the commander and warned him +that the Paspaheghs were in a ferment, and that the warriors were +painting themselves black. The commander sent off at once to me, and I +see naught better to do than to dispatch you with a dozen men to bring +them to their senses. But there 's to be no harrying nor battle. A show +of force is all that 's needed,--I'll stake my head upon it. Let them +see that we are not to be taken unawares, but give them fair words. That +they may be the sooner placated I send with you Master Rolfe,--they'll +listen to him. See that the black paint is covered with red, give them +some beads and a knife or two, then come home. If you like not the +look of things, find out where Opechancanough is, and I'll send him an +embassy. He loves us well, and will put down any disaffection." + +"There's no doubt that he loves us," I said dryly. "He loves us as a +cat loves the mouse that it plays with. If we are to start at once, sir, +I'll go get my horse." + +"Then meet us at the neck of land," said Rolfe. + +I nodded, and left the room. As I descended the steps into the growing +light outside, I found Master Pory at my side. + +"I kept late hours last night," he remarked, with a portentous yawn. +"Now that this business is settled, I'll go back to bed." + +I walked on in silence. + +"I am in your black books," he continued, with his sly, merry, sidelong +glance. "You think that I was overcareful of the ground, that morning +behind the church, and so unfortunately delayed matters until the +Governor happened by and brought things to another guess conclusion." + +"I think that you warned the Governor," I said bluntly. + +He shook with laughter. "Warned him? Of course I warned him. Youth would +never have seen that molehill and fairy ring and projecting root, but +wisdom cometh with gray hairs, my son. D' ye not think I'll have the +King's thanks?" + +"Doubtless," I answered. "An the price contents you, I do not know why I +should quarrel with it." + +By this we were halfway down the street, and we now came upon the guest +house. A window above us was unshuttered, and in the room within a light +still burned. Suddenly it was extinguished. A man's face looked down +upon us for a moment, then drew back; a skeleton hand was put out softly +and slowly, and the shutter drawn to. Hand and face belonged to the man +I had sent tumbling among the graves the evening before. + +"The Italian doctor," said Master Pory. + +There was something peculiar in his tone. I glanced at him, but his +broad red face and twinkling eyes told me nothing. "The Italian doctor," +he repeated. "If I had a friend in Captain Percy's predicament, I should +bid him beware of the Italian doctor." + +"Your friend would be obliged for the warning," I replied. + +We walked a little further. "And I think," he said, "that I should +inform this purely hypothetical friend of mine that the Italian and his +patron had their heads mighty close together, last night." + +"Last night?" + +"Ay, last night. I went to drink with my lord, and so broke up their +tete-a-tete. My lord was boisterous in his cups and not oversecret. +He dropped some hints"--He broke off to indulge in one of his endless +silent laughs. "I don't know why I tell you this, Captain Percy. I am +on the other side, you know,--quite on the other side. But now I bethink +me, I am only telling you what I should tell you were I upon your side. +There's no harm in that, I hope, no disloyalty to my Lord Carnal's +interests which happen to be my interests?" + +I made no answer. I gave him credit both for his ignorance of the very +hornbook of honor and for his large share of the milk of human kindness. + +"My lord grows restive," he said, when we had gone a little further. +"The Francis and John, coming in yesterday, brought court news. Out of +sight, out of mind. Buckingham is making hay while the sun shines. Useth +angel water for his complexion, sleepeth in a medicated mask such as the +Valois used, and is grown handsomer than ever; changeth the fashion of +his clothes thrice a week, which mightily pleaseth his Majesty. Whoops +on the Spanish match, too, and, wonderful past all whooping, from the +prince's detestation hath become his bosom friend. Small wonder if my +Lord Carnal thinks it's time he was back at Whitehall." + +"Let him go, then," I said. "There's his ship that brought him here." + +"Ay, there 's his ship," rejoined Master Pory. "A few weeks more, and +the Due Return will be here with the Company's commands. D' ye think, +Captain Percy, that there's the slightest doubt as to their tenor?" + +"No." + +"Then my lord has but to possess his soul with patience and wait for the +Due Return. No doubt he'll do so." + +"No doubt he'll do so," I echoed. + +By this we had reached the Secretary's own door. "Fortune favor you with +the Paspaheghs!" he said, with another mighty yawn. "As for me, I'll +to bed. Do you ever dream, Captain Percy? I don't; mine is too good a +conscience. But if I did, I should dream of an Italian doctor." + +The door shut upon his red face and bright eyes. I walked rapidly on +down the street to the minister's house. The light was very pale as yet, +and house and garden lay beneath a veil of mist. No one was stirring. I +went on through the gray wet paths to the stable, and roused Diccon. + +"Saddle Black Lamoral quickly," I ordered. "There's trouble with the +Paspaheghs, and I am off with Master Rolfe to settle it." + +"Am I to go with you?" he asked. + +I shook my head. "We have a dozen men. There's no need of more." + +I left him busy with the horse, and went to the house. In the hall I +found the negress strewing the floor with fresh rushes, and asked her +if her mistress yet slept. In her soft half English, half Spanish, she +answered in the affirmative. I went to my own room and armed myself; +then ran upstairs to the comfortable chamber where abode Master Jeremy +Sparrow, surrounded by luxuries which his soul contemned. He was not +there. At the foot of the stair I was met by Goodwife Allen. "The +minister was called an hour ago, sir," she announced. "There's a man +dying of the fever at Archer's Hope, and they sent a boat for him. He +won't be back until afternoon." + +I hurried past her back to the stable. Black Lamoral was saddled, and +Diccon held the stirrup for me to mount. + +"Good luck with the vermin, sir!" he said. "I wish I were going, too." + +His tone was sullen, yet wistful. I knew that he loved danger as I +loved it, and a sudden remembrance of the dangers we had faced together +brought us nearer to each other than we had been for many a day. + +"I don't take you," I explained, "because I have need of you here. +Master Sparrow has gone to watch beside a dying man, and will not be +back for hours. As for myself, there's no telling how long I may be +kept. Until I come you are to guard house and garden well. You know what +I mean. Your mistress is to be molested by no one." + +"Very well, sir." + +"One thing more. There was some talk yesterday of my taking her across +the neck to the forest. When she awakes, tell her from me that I am +sorry for her to lose her pleasure, but that now she could not go even +were I here to take her." + +"There 's no danger from the Paspaheghs there," he muttered. + +"The Paspaheghs happen not to be my only foes," I said curtly. "Do as I +bid you without remark. Tell her that I have good reasons for desiring +her to remain within doors until my return. On no account whatever is +she to venture without the garden." + +I gathered up the reins, and he stood back from the horse's head. When +I had gone a few paces I drew rein, and, turning in my saddle, spoke to +him across the dew-drenched grass. "This is a trust, Diccon," I said. + +The red came into his tanned face. He raised his hand and made our old +military salute. "I understand it so, my captain," he answered, and I +rode away satisfied. + + + +CHAPTER XIII IN WHICH THE SANTA TERESA DROPS DOWNSTREAM + + +AN hour's ride brought us to the block house standing within the forest, +midway between the white plantations at Paspahegh and the village of the +tribe. We found it well garrisoned, spies out, and the men inclined to +make light of the black paint and the seething village. + +Amongst them was Chanco the Christian. I called him to me, and we +listened to his report with growing perturbation. "Thirty warriors!" +I said, when he had finished. "And they are painted yellow as well as +black, and have dashed their cheeks with puccoon: it's _l'outrance_, +then! And the war dance is toward! If we are to pacify this hornets' +nest, it's high time we set about it. Gentlemen of the block house, we +are but twelve, and they may beat us back, in which case those that are +left of us will fight it out with you here. Watch for us, therefore, and +have a sally party ready. Forward, men!" + +"One moment, Captain Percy," said Rolfe. "Chanco, where's the Emperor?" + +"Five suns ago he was with the priests at Uttamussac," answered the +Indian. "Yesterday, at the full sun power, he was in the lodge of +the werowance of the Chickahominies. He feasts there still. The +Chickahominies and the Powhatans have buried the hatchet." + +"I regret to hear it," I remarked. "Whilst they took each other's +scalps, mine own felt the safer." + +"I advise going direct to Opechancanough," said Rolfe. + +"Since he's only a league away, so do I," I answered. + +We left the block house and the clearing around it, and plunged into +the depths of the forest. In these virgin woods the trees are set well +apart, though linked one to the other by the omnipresent grape, and +there is little undergrowth, so that we were able to make good speed. +Rolfe and I rode well in front of our men. By now the sun was shining +through the lower branches of the trees, and the mist was fast +vanishing. The forest--around us, above us, and under the hoofs of the +horses where the fallen leaves lay thick--was as yellow as gold and as +red as blood. + +"Rolfe," I asked, breaking a long silence, "do you credit what the +Indians say of Opechancanough?" + +"That he was brother to Powhatan only by adoption?" + +"That, fleeing for his life, he came to Virginia, years and years ago, +from some mysterious land far to the south and west?" + +"I do not know," he replied thoughtfully. "He is like, and yet not like, +the people whom he rules. In his eye there is the authority of mind; his +features are of a nobler cast "-- + +"And his heart is of a darker," I said. "It is a strange and subtle +savage." + +"Strange enough and subtle enough, I admit," he answered, "though I +believe not with you that his friendliness toward us is but a mask." + +"Believe it or not, it is so," I said. "That dark, cold, still face is +a mask, and that simple-seeming amazement at horses and armor, guns and +blue beads, is a mask. It is in my mind that some fair day the mask will +be dropped. Here's the village." + +Until our interview with Chanco the Christian, the village of the +Paspaheghs, and not the village of the Chickahominies, had been our +destination, and since leaving the block house we had made good speed; +but now, within the usual girdle of mulberries, we were met by the +werowance and his chief men with the customary savage ceremonies. We had +long since come to the conclusion that the birds of the air and the fish +of the streams were Mercuries to the Indians. + +The werowance received us in due form, with presents of fish and +venison, cakes of chinquapin meal and gourds of pohickory, an uncouth +dance by twelve of his young men and a deal of hellish noise; then, at +our command, led us into the village, and to the lodge which marked its +centre. Around it were gathered Opechancanough's own warriors, men from +Orapax and Uttamussac and Werowocomoco, chosen for their strength and +cunning; while upon the grass beneath a blood-red gum tree sat his +wives, painted and tattooed, with great strings of pearl and copper +about their necks. Beyond them were the women and children of the +Chickahominies, and around us all the red forest. + +The mat that hung before the door of the lodge was lifted, and an +Indian, emerging, came forward, with a gesture of welcome. It was +Nantauquas, the Lady Rebekah's brother, and the one Indian--saving +always his dead sister--that was ever to my liking; a savage, indeed, +but a savage as brave and chivalrous, as courteous and truthful, as a +Christian knight. + +Rolfe sprang from his horse, and advancing to meet the young chief +embraced him. Nantauquas had been much with his sister during those her +happy days at Varina, before she went with Rolfe that ill-fated voyage +to England, and Rolfe loved him for her sake and for his own. "I thought +you at Orapax, Nantauquas!" he exclaimed. + +"I was there, my brother," said the Indian, and his voice was sweet, +deep, and grave, like that of his sister. "But Opechancanough would go +to Uttamussac, to the temple and the dead kings. I lead his war parties +now, and I came with him. Opechancanough is within the lodge. He asks +that my brother and Captain Percy come to him there." + +He lifted the mat for us, and followed us into the lodge. There was the +usual winding entrance, with half a dozen mats to be lifted one after +the other, but at last we came to the central chamber and to the man we +sought. + +He sat beside a small fire burning redly in the twilight of the room. +The light shone now upon the feathers in his scalp lock, now upon the +triple row of pearls around his neck, now upon knife and tomahawk in his +silk grass belt, now on the otterskin mantle hanging from his shoulder +and drawn across his knees. How old he was no man knew. Men said that he +was older than Powhatan, and Powhatan was very old when he died. But +he looked a man in the prime of life; his frame was vigorous, his skin +unwrinkled, his eyes bright and full. When he rose to welcome us, and +Nantauquas stood beside him, there seemed not a score of years between +them. + +The matter upon which we had come was not one that brooked delay. We +waited with what patience we might until his long speech of welcome was +finished, when, in as few words as possible, Rolfe laid before him our +complaint against the Paspaheghs. The Indian listened; then said, in +that voice that always made me think of some cold, still, bottomless +pool lying black beneath overhanging rocks: "My brothers may go in +peace. The Paspaheghs have washed off the black paint. If my brothers go +to the village, they will find the peace pipe ready for their smoking." + +Rolfe and I stared at each other. "I have sent messengers," continued +the Emperor. "I have told the Paspaheghs of my love for the white man, +and of the goodwill the white man bears the Indian. I have told them +that Nemattanow was a murderer, and that his death was just. They are +satisfied. Their village is as still as this beast at my feet." He +pointed downward to a tame panther crouched against his moccasins. I +thought it an ominous comparison. + +Involuntarily we looked at Nantauquas. "It is true," he said. "I am +but come from the village of the Paspaheghs. I took them the word of +Opechancanough." + +"Then, since the matter is settled, we may go home," I remarked, rising +as I spoke. "We could, of course, have put down the Paspaheghs with one +hand, giving them besides a lesson which they would not soon forget, but +in the kindness of our hearts toward them and to save ourselves trouble +we came to Opechancanough. For his aid in this trifling business the +Governor gives him thanks." + +A smile just lit the features of the Indian. It was gone in a moment. +"Does not Opechancanough love the white men?" he said. "Some day he will +do more than this for them." + +We left the lodge and the dark Emperor within it, got to horse, and +quitted the village, with its painted people, yellowing mulberries, and +blood-red gum trees. Nantauquas went with us, keeping pace with Rolfe's +horse, and giving us now and then, in his deep musical voice, this or +that bit of woodland news. At the block house we found confirmation of +the Emperor's statement. An embassy from the Paspaheghs had come with +presents, and the peace pipe had been smoked. The spies, too, brought +news that all war-like preparations had ceased in the village. It +had sunk once more into a quietude befitting the sleepy, dreamy, hazy +weather. + +Rolfe and I held a short consultation. All appeared safe, but there was +the possibility of a ruse. At the last it seemed best that he, who +by virtue of his peculiar relations with the Indians was ever our +negotiator, should remain with half our troop at the block house, while +I reported to the Governor. So I left him, and Nantauquas with him, and +rode back to Jamestown, reaching the town some hours sooner than I was +expected. + +It was after nooning when I passed through the gates of the palisade, +and an hour later when I finished my report to the Governor. When he at +last dismissed me, I rode quickly down the street toward the minister's +house. As I passed the guest house, I glanced up at the window from +which, at daybreak, the Italian had looked down upon me. No one looked +out now; the window was closely shuttered, and at the door beneath my +lord's French rascals were conspicuously absent. A few yards further on +I met my lord face to face, as he emerged from a lane that led down to +the river. At sight of me he started violently, and his hand went to his +mouth. I slightly bent my head, and rode on past him. At the gate of the +churchyard, a stone's throw from home, I met Master Jeremy Sparrow. + +"Well met!" he exclaimed. "Are the Indians quiet?" + +"For the nonce. How is your sick man?" + +"Very well," he answered gravely. "I closed his eyes two hours ago." + +"He's dead, then," I said. "Well, he 's out of his troubles, and hath +that advantage over the living. Have you another call, that you travel +from home so fast?" + +"Why, to tell the truth," he replied, "I could not but feel uneasy when +I learned just now of this commotion amongst the heathen. You must know +best, but I should not have thought it a day for madam to walk in the +woods; so I e'en thought I would cross the neck and bring her home." + +"For madam to walk in the woods?" I said slowly. "So she walks there? +With whom?" + +"With Diccon and Angela," he answered. "They went before the sun was +an hour high, so Goodwife Allen says. I thought that you--" "No," I +told him. "On the contrary, I left command that she should not venture +outside the garden. There are more than Indians abroad." + +I was white with anger; but besides anger there was fear in my heart. + +"I will go at once and bring her home," I said. As I spoke, I happened +to glance toward the fort and the shipping in the river beyond. +Something seemed wrong with the prospect. I looked again, and saw what +hated and familiar object was missing. + +"Where is the Santa Teresa?" I demanded, the fear at my heart tugging +harder. + +"She dropped downstream this morning. I passed her as I came up from +Archer's Hope, awhile ago. She's anchored in midstream off the big +spring. Why did she go?" + +We looked each other in the eyes, and each read the thought that neither +cared to put into words. + +"You can take the brown mare," I said, speaking lightly because my heart +was as heavy as lead, "and we'll ride to the forest. It is all right, I +dare say. Doubtless we'll find her garlanding herself with the grape, or +playing with the squirrels, or asleep on the red leaves, with her head +in Angela's lap." + +"Doubtless," he said. "Don't lose time. I'll saddle the mare and +overtake you in two minutes." + + + +CHAPTER XIV IN WHICH WE SEEK A LOST LADY + + +BESIDE the minister and myself, nothing human moved in the crimson +woods. Blue haze was there, and the steady drift of leaves, and +the sunshine freely falling through bared limbs, but no man or woman. +The fallen leaves rustled as the deer passed, the squirrels chattered +and the foxes barked, but we heard no sweet laughter or ringing song. + +We found a bank of moss, and lying upon it a chaplet of red-brown oak +leaves; further on, the mint beside a crystal streamlet had been trodden +underfoot; then, flung down upon the brown earth beneath some pines, we +came upon a long trailer of scarlet vine. Beyond was a fairy hollow, a +cuplike depression, curtained from the world by the red vines that hung +from the trees upon its brim, and carpeted with the gold of a great +maple; and here Fear became a giant with whom it was vain to wrestle. + +There had been a struggle in the hollow. The curtain of vines was +torn, the boughs of a sumach bent and broken, the fallen leaves groun +underfoot. In one place there was blood upon the leaves. + +The forest seemed suddenly very quiet,--quite soundless save for the +beating of our hearts. On every side opened red and yellow ways, sunny +glades, labyrinthine paths, long aisles, all dim with the blue haze like +the cloudy incense in stone cathedrals, but nothing moved in them save +the creatures of the forest. Without the hollow there was no sign. The +leaves looked undisturbed, or others, drifting down, had hidden any +marks there might have been; no footprints, no broken branches, no token +of those who had left the hollow. Down which of the painted ways had +they gone, and where were they now? + +Sparrow and I sat our horses, and stared now down this alley, now down +that, into the blue that closed each vista. + +"The Santa Teresa is just off the big spring," he said at last. "She +must have dropped down there in order to take in water quietly." + +"The man that came upon her is still in town,--or was an hour agone," I +replied. + +"Then she has n't sailed yet," he said. + +In the distance something grew out of the blue mist. I had not lived +thirteen years in the woodland to be dim of sight or dull of hearing. + +"Some one is coming," I announced. "Back your horse into this clump of +sumach." + +The sumach grew thick, and was draped, moreover, with some broad-leafed +vine. Within its covert we could see with small danger of being seen, +unless the approaching figure should prove to be that of an Indian. It +was not an Indian; it was my Lord Carnal. He came on slowly, glancing +from side to side, and pausing now and then as if to listen. He was so +little of a woodsman that he never looked underfoot. + +Sparrow touched my arm and pointed down a glade at right angles with +the path my lord was pursuing. Up this glade there was coming toward +us another figure,--a small black figure that moved swiftly, looking +neither to the right nor to the left. + +Black Lamoral stood like a stone; the brown mare, too, had learned what +meant a certain touch upon her shoulder. Sparrow and I, with small +shame for our eavesdropping, bent to our saddlebows and looked sideways +through tiny gaps in the crimson foliage. + +My lord descended one side of the hollow, his heavy foot bringing down +the dead leaves and loose earth; the Italian glided down the opposite +side, disturbing the economy of the forest as little as a snake would +have done. + +"I thought I should never meet you," growled my lord. "I thought I had +lost you and her and myself. This d-d red forest and this blue haze are +enough to"--He broke off with an oath. + +"I came as fast as I could," said the other. His voice was strange, thin +and dreamy, matching his filmy eyes and his eternal, very faint smile. +"Your poor physician congratulates your lordship upon the success that +still attends you. Yours is a fortunate star, my lord." + +"Then you have her safe?" cried my lord. + +"Three miles from here, on the river bank, is a ring of pines, in which +the trees grow so thick that it is always twilight. Ten years ago a man +was murdered there, and Sir Thomas Dale chained the murderer to the tree +beneath which his victim was buried, and left him to perish of hunger +and thirst. That is the tale they tell at Jamestown. The wood is said +to be haunted by murdered and murderer, and no one enters it or comes +nearer to it than he can avoid: which makes it an excellent resort for +those whom the dead cannot scare. The lady is there, my lord, with your +four knaves to guard her. They do not know that the gloom and quiet of +the place are due to more than nature." + +My lord began to laugh. Either he had been drinking, or the success of +his villainy had served for wine. "You are a man in a thousand, Nicolo!" +he said. "How far above or below the ship is this fortunate wood?" + +"Just opposite, my lord." + +"Can a boat land easily?" + +"A creek runs through the wood to the river. There needs but the +appointed signal from the bank, and a boat from the Santa Teresa can be +rowed up the stream to the very tree beneath which the lady sits." + +My lord's laughter rang out again. "You're a man in ten thousand, +Nicolo! Nicolo, the bridegroom's in town." + +"Back so soon?" said the Italian. "Then we must change your lordship's +plan. With him on the ground, you can no longer wait until nightfall to +row downstream to the lady and the Santa Teresa. He'll come to look for +her." + +"Ay he'll come to look for her, curse him!" echoed my lord. + +"Do you think the dead will scare him?" continued the Italian. + +"No, I don't!" answered my lord, with an oath. "I would he were among +them! An I could have killed him before I went"-- + +"I had devised a way to do it long ago, had not your lordship's +conscience been so tender. And yet, before now, our enemies--yours and +mine, my lord--have met with sudden and mysterious death. Men stared, +but they ended by calling it a dispensation of Providence." He broke +off to laugh with silent, hateful laughter, as mirthful as the grin of a +death's-head. + +"I know, I know!" said my lord impatiently. "We are not overnice, +Nicolo. But between me and those who then stood in my way there had +passed no challenge. This is my mortal foe, through whose heart I would +drive my sword. I would give my ruby to know whether he's in the town or +in the forest." + +"He's in the forest," I said. + +Black Lamoral and the brown mare were beside them before either moved +hand or foot, or did aught but stare and stare, as though men and horses +had risen from the dead. All the color was gone from my lord's face,--it +looked white, drawn, and pinched; as for his companion, his countenance +did not change,--never changed, I believe,--but the trembling of the +feather in his hat was not caused by the wind. + +Jeremy Sparrow bent down from his saddle, seized the Italian under the +armpits, and swung him clean from the ground up to the brown mare's +neck. "Divinity and medicine," he said genially, "soul healer and body +poisoner, we'll ride double for a time," and proceeded to bind the +doctor's hands with his own scarf. The creature of venom before him +writhed and struggled, but the minister's strength was as the strength +of ten, and the minister's hand held him down. By this I was off Black +Lamoral and facing my lord. The color had come back to his lip and +cheek, and the flash to his eye. His hand went to his sword hilt. + +"I shall not draw mine, my lord," I told him. "I keep troth." + +He stared at me with a frown that suddenly changed into a laugh, forced +and unnatural enough. "Then go thy ways, and let me go mine!" he cried. +"Be complaisant, worthy captain of trainbands and Burgess from a dozen +huts! The King and I will make it worth your while." + +"I will not draw my sword upon you," I replied, "but I will try a fall +with you," and I seized him by the wrist. + +He was a good wrestler as he was a good swordsman, but, with bitter +anger in my heart and a vision of the haunted wood before my eyes, I +think I could have wrestled with Hercules and won. Presently I threw +him, and, pinning him down with my knee upon his breast, cried to +Sparrow to cut the bridle reins from Black Lamoral and throw them to me. +Though he had the Italian upon his hands, he managed to obey. With my +free hand and my teeth I drew a thong about my lord's arms and bound +them to his sides; then took my knee from his chest and my hand from his +throat, and rose to my feet. He rose too with one spring. He was very +white, and there was foam on his lips. + +"What next, captain?" he demanded thickly. "Your score is mounting up +rather rapidly. What next?" + +"This," I replied, and with the other thong fastened him, despite his +struggles, to the young maple beneath which we had wrestled. When the +task was done, I first drew his sword from its jeweled scabbard and laid +it on the ground at his feet, and then cut the leather which restrained +his arms, leaving him only tied to the tree. "I am not Sir Thomas Dale," +I said, "and therefore I shall not gag you and leave you bound for an +indefinite length of time, to contemplate a grave that you thought +to dig. One haunted wood is enough for one county. Your lordship will +observe that I have knotted your bonds in easy reach of your hands, the +use of which I have just restored to you. The knot is a peculiar one; +an Indian taught it to me. If you set to work at once, you will get it +untied before nightfall. That you may not think it the Gordian knot and +treat it as such, I have put your sword where you can get it only when +you have worked for it. Your familiar, my lord, may prove of use to us; +therefore we will take him with us to the haunted wood. I have the honor +to wish your lordship a very good day." + +I bowed low, swung myself into my saddle, and turned my back upon +his glaring eyes and bared teeth. Sparrow, his prize flung across his +saddlebow, turned with me. A minute more saw us out of the hollow, and +entered upon the glade up which had come the Italian. When we had gone +a short distance, I turned in my saddle and looked back. The tiny hollow +had vanished; all the forest looked level, dreamy and still, barren of +humanity, given over to its own shy children, nothing moving save the +slow-falling leaves. But from beyond a great clump of sumach, set like +a torch in the vaporous blue, came a steady stream of words, happily +rendered indistinguishable by distance, and I knew that the King's +minion was cursing the Italian, the Governor, the Santa Teresa, the Due +Return, the minister, the forest, the haunted wood, his sword, the knot +that I had tied, and myself. + +I admit that the sound was music in mine ears. + + + +CHAPTER XV IN WHICH WE FIND THE HAUNTED WOOD + + +ON the outskirts of the haunted wood we dismounted, fastening the horses +to two pines. The Italian we gagged and bound across the brown mare's +saddle. Then, as noiselessly as Indians, we entered the wood. + +Once within it, it was as though the sun had suddenly sunk from the +heavens. The pines, of magnificent height and girth, were so closely +set that far overhead, where the branches began, was a heavy roof of +foliage, impervious to the sunshine, brooding, dark and sullen as +a thundercloud, over the cavernous world beneath. There was no +undergrowth, no clinging vines, no bloom, no color; only the dark, +innumerable tree trunks and the purplish-brown, scented, and slippery +earth. The air was heavy, cold, and still, like cave air; the silence as +blank and awful as the silence beneath the earth. + +The minister and I stole through the dusk, and for a long time heard +nothing but our own breathing and the beating of our hearts. But coming +to a sluggish stream, as quiet as the wood through which it crept, +and following its slow windings, we at last heard a voice, and in the +distance made out dark forms sitting on the earth beside that sombre +water. We went on with caution, gliding from tree to tree and making +no noise. In the cheerless silence of that place any sound would have +shattered the stillness like a pistol shot. + +Presently we came to a halt, and, ourselves hidden by a giant trunk, +looked out on stealers and stolen. They were gathered on the bank of +the stream, waiting for the boat from the Santa Teresa. The lady whom we +sought lay like a fallen flower on the dark ground beneath a pine. She +did not move, and her eyes were shut. At her head crouched the negress, +her white garments showing ghostlike through the gloom. Beneath the +next tree sat Diccon, his hands tied behind him, and around him my Lord +Carnal's four knaves. It was Diccon's voice that we had heard. He was +still speaking, and now we could distinguish the words. + +"So Sir Thomas chains him there," he said,--"right there to that tree +under which you are sitting, Jacky Bonhomme." Jacques incontinently +shifted his position. "He chains him there, with one chain around his +neck, one around his waist, and one around his ankles. Then he sticks me +a bodkin through his tongue." A groan of admiration from his audience. +"Then they dig, before his very eyes, a grave,--shallow enough they +make it, too,--and they put into it, uncoffined, with only a long white +shroud upon him, the man he murdered. Then they cover the grave. You're +sitting on it now, you other Jacky." + +"Godam!" cried the rascal addressed, and removed with expedition to a +less storied piece of ground. + +"Then they go away," continued Diccon in graveyard tones. "They all go +away together,--Sir Thomas and Captain Argall, Captain West, Lieutenant +George Percy and his cousin, my master, and Sir Thomas's men; they go +out of the wood as though it were accursed, though indeed it was not +half so gloomy then as it is now. The sun shone into it then, sometimes, +and the birds sang. You would n't think it from the looks of things now, +would you? As the dead man rotted in his grave, and the living man died +by inches above him, they say the wood grew darker, and darker, and +darker. How dark it's getting now, and cold,--cold as the dead!" + +His auditors drew closer together, and shivered. Sparrow and I were so +near that we could see the hands of the ingenious story-teller, bound +behind his back, working as he talked. Now they strained this way, and +now that, at the piece of rope that bound them. + +"That was ten years ago," he said, his voice becoming more and more +impressive. "Since that day nothing comes into this wood,--nothing +human, that is. Neither white man nor Indian comes, that's certain. Then +why are n't there chains around that tree, and why are there no bones +beneath it, on the ground there? Because, Jackies all, the man that did +that murder walks! It is not always deadly still here; sometimes there +'s a clanking of chains! And a bodkin through the tongue can't keep the +dead from wailing! And the murdered man walks, too; in his shroud he +follows the other--Is n't that something white in the distance yonder?" + +My lord's four knaves looked down the arcade of trees, and saw the +something white as plainly as if it had been verily there. Each moment +the wood grew darker,--a thing in nature, since the sun outside was +swiftly sinking to the horizon. But to those to whom that tale had been +told it was a darkening unearthly and portentous, bringing with it a +colder air and a deepened silence. + +"Oh, Sir Thomas Dale, Sir Thomas Dale!" + +The voice seemed to come from the distance, and bore in its dismal +cadence the melancholy of the damned. For a moment my heart stood still, +and the hair of my head commenced to rise; the next, I knew that Diccon +had found an ally, not in the dead, but in the living. The minister, +standing beside me, opened his mouth again, and again that dismal voice +rang through the wood, and again it seemed, by I know not what art, to +come from any spot rather than from that particular tree behind whose +trunk stood Master Jeremy Sparrow. + +"Oh, the bodkin through my tongue! Oh, the bodkin through my tongue!" + +Two of the guard sat with hanging lip and lacklustre eyes, turned to +stone; one, at full length upon the ground, bruised his face against +the pine needles and called on the Virgin; the fourth, panic-stricken, +leaped to his feet and dashed off into the darkness, to trouble us no +more that day. + +"Oh, the heavy chains!" cried the unseen spectre. "Oh, the dead man in +his grave!" + +The man on his face dug his nails into the earth and howled; his fellows +were too frightened for sound or motion. Diccon, a hardy rogue, with +little fear of God or man, gave no sign of perturbation beyond a +desperate tugging at the rope about his wrists. He was ever quick to +take suggestion, and he had probably begun to question the nature of the +ghost who was doing him such yeoman service. + +"D' ye think they've had enough?" said Sparrow in my ear. "My invention +flaggeth." + +I nodded, too choked with laughter for speech, and drew my sword. The +next moment we were upon the men like wolves upon the fold. + +They made no resistance. Amazed and shaken as they were, we might have +dispatched them with all ease, to join the dead whose lamentations yet +rang in their ears; but we contented ourselves with disarming them and +bidding them begone for their lives in the direction of the Pamunkey. +They went like frightened deer, their one goal in life escape from the +wood. + +"Did you meet the Italian?" + +I turned to find my wife at my side. The King's ward had a kingly +spirit; she was not one that the dead or the living could daunt. To her, +as to me, danger was a trumpet call to nerve heart and strengthen soul. +She had been in peril of that which she most feared, but the light in +her eye was not quenched, and the hand with which she touched mine, +though cold, was steady. + +"Is he dead?" she asked. "At court they called him the Black Death. They +said"-- + +"I did not kill him," I answered, "but I will if you desire it." + +"And his master?" she demanded. "What have you done with his master?" + +I told her. At the vision my words conjured up her strained nerves gave +way, and she broke into laughter as cruel as it was sweet. Peal after +peal rang through the haunted wood, and increased the eeriness of the +place. + +"The knot that I tied he will untie directly," I said. "If we would +reach Jamestown first, we had best be going." + +"Night is upon us, too," said the minister, "and this place hath the +look of the very valley of the shadow of death. If the spirits walk, it +is hard upon their time--and I prefer to walk elsewhere." + +"Cease your laughter, madam," I said. "Should a boat be coming up this +stream, you would betray us." + +I went over to Diccon, and in a silence as grim as his own cut the rope +which bound his hands, which done we all moved through the deepening +gloom to where we had left the horses, Jeremy Sparrow going on ahead to +have them in readiness. Presently he came hurrying back. "The Italian is +gone!" he cried. + +"Gone!" I exclaimed. "I told you to tie him fast to the saddle!" + +"Why, so I did," he replied. "I drew the thongs so tight that they cut +into his flesh. He could not have endured to pull against them." + +"Then how did he get away?" + +"Why," he answered, with a rueful countenance, "I did bind him, as I +have said; but when I had done so, I bethought me of how the leather +must cut, and of how pain is dreadful even to a snake, and of the +injunction to do as you would be done by, and so e'en loosened his +bonds. But, as I am a christened man, I thought that they would yet hold +him fast!" + +I began to swear, but ended in vexed laughter. "The milk's spilt. There +'s no use in crying over it. After all, we must have loosed him before +we entered the town." + +"Will you not bring the matter before the Governor?" he asked. + +I shook my head. "If Yeardley did me right, he would put in jeopardy his +office and his person. This is my private quarrel, and I will draw no +man into it against his will. Here are the horses, and we had best be +gone, for by this time my lord and his physician may have their heads +together again." + +I mounted Black Lamoral, and lifted Mistress Percy to a seat behind me. +The brown mare bore the minister and the negress, and Diccon, doggedly +silent, trudged beside us. + +We passed through the haunted wood and the painted forest beyond without +adventure. We rode in silence: the lady behind me too weary for speech, +the minister revolving in his mind the escape of the Italian, and I with +my own thoughts to occupy me. It was dusk when we crossed the neck +of land, and as we rode down the street torches were being lit in the +houses. The upper room in the guest house was brightly illumined, and +the window was open. Black Lamoral and the brown mare made a trampling +with their hoofs, and I began to whistle a gay old tune I had learnt in +the wars. A figure in scarlet and black came to the window, and stood +there looking down upon us. The lady riding with me straightened herself +and raised her weary head. "The next time we go to the forest, Ralph," +she said in a clear, high voice, "thou 'lt show me a certain tree," and +she broke into silvery laughter. She laughed until we had left behind +the guest house and the figure in the upper window, and then the +laughter changed to something like a sob. If there were pain and anger +in her heart, pain and anger were in mine also. She had never called me +by my name before. She had only used it now as a dagger with which to +stab at that fierce heart above us. + +At last we reached the minister's house, and dismounted before the door. +Diccon led the horses away, and I handed my wife into the great room. +The minister tarried but for a few words anent some precautions that I +meant to take, and then betook himself to his own chamber. As he went +out of the door Diccon entered the room. + +"Oh, I am weary!" sighed Mistress Jocelyn Percy. "What was the mighty +business, Captain Percy, that made you break tryst with a lady? You +should go to court, sir, to be taught gallantry." + +"Where should a wife go to be taught obedience?" I demanded. "You know +where I went and why I could not keep tryst. Why did you not obey my +orders?" + +She opened wide her eyes. "Your orders? I never received any,--not that +I should have obeyed them if I had. Know where you went? I know neither +why nor where you went!" + +I leaned my hand upon the table, and looked from her to Diccon. + +"I was sent by the Governor to quell a disturbance amongst the nearest +Indians. The woods today have been full of danger. Moreover, the plan +that we made yesterday was overheard by the Italian. When I had to go +this morning without seeing you, I left you word where I had gone and +why, and also my commands that you should not stir outside the garden. +Were you not told this, madam?" + +"No!" she cried. + +I looked at Diccon. "I told madam that you were called away on +business," he said sullenly. "I told her that you were sorry you could +not go with her to the woods." + +"You told her nothing more?" + +"No." + +"May I ask why?" + +He threw back his head. "I did not believe the Paspaheghs would trouble +her," he answered, with hardihood, "and you had n't seen fit, sir, to +tell me of the other danger. Madam wanted to go, and I thought it a pity +that she should lose her pleasure for nothing." + +I had been hunting the day before, and my whip yet lay upon the table. +"I have known you for a hardy rogue," I said, with my hand upon it; "now +I know you for a faithless one as well. If I gave you credit for all the +vices of the soldier, I gave you credit also for his virtues. I was the +more deceived. The disobedient servant I might pardon, but the soldier +who is faithless to his trust"-- + +I raised the whip and brought it down again and again across his +shoulders. He stood without a word, his face dark red and his hands +clenched at his sides. For a minute or more there was no sound in the +room save the sound of the blows; then my wife suddenly cried out: "It +is enough! You have beaten him enough! Let him go, sir!" + +I threw down the whip. "Begone, sirrah!" I ordered. "And keep out of my +sight to-morrow!" + +With his face still dark red and with a pulse beating fiercely in his +cheek, he moved slowly toward the door, turned when he had reached it +and saluted, then went out and closed it after him. + +"Now he too will be your enemy," said Mistress Percy, "and all through +me. I have brought you many enemies, have I not? Perhaps you count me +amongst them? I should not wonder if you did. Do you not wish me gone +from Virginia?" + +"So I were with you, madam," I said bluntly, and went to call the +minister down to supper. + + + +CHAPTER XVI IN WHICH I AM RID OF AN UNPROFITABLE SERVANT + + +THE next day, Governor and Councilors sat to receive presents from +the Paspaheghs and to listen to long and affectionate messages from +Opechancanough, who, like the player queen, did protest too much. The +Council met at Yeardley's house, and I was called before it to make my +report of the expedition of the day before. It was late afternoon when +the Governor dismissed us, and I found myself leaving the house in +company with Master Pory. + +"I am bound for my lord's," said that worthy as we neared the guest +house. "My lord hath Xeres wine that is the very original nectar of the +gods, and he drinks it from goblets worth a king's ransom. We have heard +a deal to-day about burying hatchets: bury thine for the nonce, Ralph +Percy, and come drink with us." + +"Not I," I said. "I would sooner drink with--some one else." + +He laughed. "Here's my lord himself shall persuade you." + +My lord, dressed with his usual magnificence and darkly handsome as +ever, was indeed standing within the guest-house door. Pory drew up +beside him. I was passing on with a slight bow, when the Secretary +caught me by the sleeve. At the Governor's house wine had been set forth +to revive the jaded Council, and he was already half seas over. "Tarry +with us, captain!" he cried. "Good wine's good wine, no matter who pours +it! 'S bud! in my young days men called a truce and forgot they were +foes when the bottle went round!" + +"If Captain Percy will stay," quoth my lord, "I will give him welcome +and good wine. As Master Pory says, men cannot be always fighting. A +breathing spell to-day gives to-morrow's struggle new zest." + +He spoke frankly, with open face and candid eyes. I was not fooled. +If yesterday he would have slain me only in fair fight, it was not so +to-day. Under the lace that fell over his wrist was a red cirque, the +mark of the thong with which I had bound him. As if he had told me, I +knew that he had thrown his scruples to the winds, and that he cared not +what foul play he used to sweep me from his path. My spirit and my +wit rose to meet the danger. Of a sudden I resolved to accept his +invitation. + +"So be it," I said, with a laugh and a shrug of my shoulders. "A cup of +wine is no great matter. I'll take it at your hands, my lord, and drink +to our better acquaintance." + +We all three went up into my lord's room. The King had fitted out his +minion bravely for the Virginia voyage, and the riches that had decked +the state cabin aboard the Santa Teresa now served to transform the bare +room in the guest house at Jamestown into a corner of Whitehall. The +walls were hung with arras, there was a noble carpet beneath as well as +upon the table, and against the wall stood richly carved trunks. On the +table, beside a bowl of late flowers were a great silver flagon and +a number of goblets, some of chased silver and some of glass, +strangely shaped and fragile as an eggshell. The late sun now shining in +at the open window made the glass to glow like precious stones. + +My lord rang a little silver bell, and a door behind us was opened. +"Wine, Giles!" cried my lord in a raised voice. "Wine for Master Pory, +Captain Percy, and myself! And Giles, my two choice goblets." + +Giles, whom I had never seen before, advanced to the table, took the +flagon, and went toward the door, which he had shut behind him. I +negligently turned in my seat, and so came in for a glimpse, as he +slipped through the door, of a figure in black in the next room. + +The wine was brought, and with it two goblets. My lord broke off in the +midst of an account of the morning's bear-baiting which the tediousness +of the Indians had caused us to miss. "Who knows if we three shall +ever drink together again?" he said. "To honor this bout I use my most +precious cups." Voice and manner were free and unconstrained. "This gold +cup "--he held it up--"belonged to the Medici. Master Pory, who is a man +of taste, will note the beauty of the graven maenads upon this side, and +of the Bacchus and Ariadne upon this. It is the work of none other than +Benvenuto Cellini. I pour for you, sir." He filled the gold cup with +the ruby wine and set it before the Secretary, who eyed it with all the +passion of a lover, and waited not for us, but raised it to his lips +at once. My lord took up the other cup. "This glass," he continued, "as +green as an emerald, freckled inside and out with gold, and shaped like +a lily, was once amongst a convent's treasures. My father brought it +from Italy, years ago. I use it as he used it, only on gala days. I fill +to you, sir." He poured the wine into the green and gold and twisted +bauble and set it before me, then filled a silver goblet for himself. +"Drink, gentlemen," he said. + +"Faith, I have drunken already," quoth the Secretary, and proceeded +to fill for himself a second time. "Here's to you, gentlemen!" and he +emptied half the measure. + +"Captain Percy does not drink," remarked my lord. + +I leaned my elbow upon the table, and, holding up the glass against the +light, began to admire its beauty. "The tint is wonderful," I said, "as +lucent a green as the top of the comber that is to break and overwhelm +you. And these knobs of gold, within and without, and the strange shape +the tortured glass has been made to take. I find it of a quite sinister +beauty, my lord." + +"It hath been much admired," said the nobleman addressed. + +"I am strangely suited, my lord," I went on, still dreamily enjoying +the beauty of the green gem within my clasp. "I am a soldier with an +imagination. Sometimes, to give the rein to my fancy pleases me more +than wine. Now, this strange chalice,--might it not breed dreams as +strange?" + +"When I had drunken, I think," replied my lord. "The wine would be a +potent spur to my fancy." + +"What saith honest Jack Falstaff?" broke in the maudlin Secretary. "Doth +he not bear testimony that good sherris maketh the brain apprehensive +and quick; filleth it with nimble, fiery, and delectable shapes, which +being delivered by the tongue become excellent wit? Wherefore let us +drink, gentlemen, and beget fancies." He filled for himself again, and +buried his nose in the cup. + +"'T is such a cup, methinks," I said, "as Medea may have filled for +Theseus. The white hand of Circe may have closed around this stem when +she stood to greet Ulysses, and knew not that he had the saving herb in +his palm. Goneril may have sent this green and gilded shape to Regan. +Fair Rosamond may have drunk from it while the Queen watched her. At +some voluptuous feast, Caesar Borgia and his sister, sitting crowned with +roses, side by side, may have pressed it upon a reluctant guest, who +had, perhaps, a treasure of his own. I dare swear Rene, the Florentine, +hath fingered many such a goblet before it went to whom Catherine de' +Medici delighted to honor." + +"She had the whitest hands," maundered the Secretary. "I kissed them +once before she died, in Blois, when I was young. Rene was one of your +slow poisoners. Smell a rose, draw on a pair of perfumed gloves, drink +from a certain cup, and you rang your own knell, though your bier might +not receive you for many and many a day,--not till the rose was dust, +the gloves lost, the cup forgotten." + +"There's a fashion I have seen followed abroad, that I like," I said. +"Host and guest fill to each other, then change tankards. You are my +host to-day, my lord, and I am your guest. I will drink to you, my lord, +from your silver goblet." + +With as frank a manner as his own of a while before, I pushed the green +and gold glass over to him, and held out my hand for the silver goblet. +That a man may smile and smile and be a villain is no new doctrine. My +lord's laugh and gesture of courtesy were as free and ready as if the +poisoned splendor he drew toward him had been as innocent as a pearl +within the shell. I took the silver cup from before him. "I drink to +the King," I said, and drained it to the bottom. "Your lordship does not +drink. 'T is a toast no man refuses." + +He raised the glass to his lips, but set it down before its rim had +touched them. "I have a headache," he declared. "I will not drink +to-day." + +Master Pory pulled the flagon toward him, tilted it, and found it +empty. His rueful face made me laugh. My lord laughed too,--somewhat +loudly,--but ordered no more wine. "I would I were at the Mermaid +again," lamented the now drunken Secretary. "There we did n't split a +flagon in three parts.... The Tsar of Muscovy drinks me down a quartern +of aqua vitae at a gulp,--I've seen him do it....I would I were the +Bacchus on this cup, with the purple grapes adangle above me.... Wine +and women--wine and women... good wine needs no bush... good sherris +sack"... His voice died into unintelligible mutterings, and his gray +unreverend head sank upon the table. + +I rose, leaving him to his drunken slumbers, and, bowing to my lord, +took my leave. My lord followed me down to the public room below. A +party of upriver planters had been drinking, and a bit of chalk lay upon +a settle behind the door upon which the landlord had marked their score. +I passed it; then turned back and picked it up. "How long a line shall I +draw, my lord?" I asked with a smile. + +"How does the length of the door strike you?" he answered. + +I drew the chalk from top to bottom of the wood. "A heavy Core makes a +heavy reckoning, my lord," I said, and, leaving the mark upon the door, +I bowed again and went out into the street. + +The sun was sinking when I reached the minister's house, and going into +the great room drew a stool to the table and sat down to think. Mistress +Percy was in her own chamber; in the room overhead the minister paced up +and down, humming a psalm. A fire was burning briskly upon the hearth, +and the red light rose and fell,--now brightening all the room, now +leaving it to the gathering dusk. Through the door, which I had left +open, came the odor of the pines, the fallen leaves, and the damp earth. +In the churchyard an owl hooted, and the murmur of the river was louder +than usual. + +I had sat staring at the table before me for perhaps half an hour, when +I chanced to raise my eyes to the opposite wall. Now, on this wall, +reflecting the firelight and the open door behind me, hung a small +Venetian mirror, which I had bought from a number of such toys brought +in by the Southampton, and had given to Mistress Percy. My eyes rested +upon it, idly at first, then closely enough as I saw within it a man +enter the room. I had heard no footfall; there was no noise now behind +me. The fire was somewhat sunken, and the room was almost in darkness; +I saw him in the glass dimly, as shadow rather than substance. But the +light was not so faint that the mirror could not show me the raised +hand and the dagger within its grasp. I sat without motion, watching +the figure in the glass grow larger. When it was nearly upon me, and the +hand with the dagger drawn back for the blow, I sprang up, wheeled, and +caught it by the wrist. + +A moment's fierce struggle, and I had the dagger in my own hand and +the man at my mercy. The fire upon the hearth seized on a pine knot and +blazed up brightly, filling the room with light. "Diccon!" I cried, and +dropped my arm. + +I had never thought of this. The room was very quiet as, master and man, +we stood and looked each other in the face. He fell back to the wall and +leaned against it, breathing heavily; into the space between us the past +came thronging. + +I opened my hand and let the dagger drop to the floor. "I suppose that +this was because of last night," I said. "I shall never strike you +again." + +I went to the table, and sitting down leaned my forehead upon my hand. +It was Diccon who would have done this thing! The fire crackled on the +hearth as had crackled the old camp fires in Flanders; the wind outside +was the wind that had whistled through the rigging of the Treasurer, +one terrible night when we lashed ourselves to the same mast and never +thought to see the morning. Diccon! + +Upon the table was the minister's inkhorn and pen. I drew my tablets +from the breast of my doublet and began to write. "Diccon!" I called, +without turning, when I had finished. + +He came slowly forward to the table, and stood beside it with hanging +head. I tore the leaf from the book and pushed it over to him. "Take +it," I ordered. + +"To the commander?" he asked. "I am to take it to the commander?" + +I shook my head. "Read it." + +He stared at it vacantly, turning it now this way, now that. + +"Did you forget how to read when you forgot all else?" I said sternly. + +He read, and the color rushed into his face. + +"It is your freedom," I said. "You are no longer man of mine. Begone, +sirrah!" + +He crumpled the paper in his hand. "I was mad," he muttered. + +"I could almost believe it," I replied. "Begone!" + +After a moment he went. Sitting still in my place, I heard him heavily +and slowly leave the room, descend the step at the door, and go out into +the night. + +A door opened, and Mistress Jocelyn Percy came into the great room, like +a sunbeam strayed back to earth. Her skirt was of flowered satin, her +bodice of rich taffeta; between the gossamer walls of her French ruff +rose the whitest neck to meet the fairest face. Upon her dark hair sat, +as lightly as a kiss, a little pearl-bordered cap. A color was in her +cheeks and a laugh on her lips. The rosy light of the burning pine +caressed her,--now dwelling on the rich dress, now on the gold chain +around the slender waist, now on rounded arms, now on the white forehead +below the pearls. Well, she was a fair lady for a man to lay down his +life for. + +"I held court this afternoon!" she cried. "Where were you, sir? Madam +West was here, and my Lady Temperance Yeardley, and Master Wynne, +and Master Thorpe from Henricus, and Master Rolfe with his Indian +brother,--who, I protest, needs but silk doublet and hose and a month at +Whitehall to make him a very fine gentleman." + +"If courage, steadfastness, truth, and courtesy make a gentleman," I +said, "he is one already. Such an one needs not silk doublet nor court +training." + +She looked at me with her bright eyes. "No," she repeated, "such an one +needs not silk doublet nor court training." Going to the fire, she stood +with one hand upon the mantelshelf, looking down into the ruddy hollows. +Presently she stooped and gathered up something from the hearth. "You +waste paper strangely, Captain Percy," she said. "Here is a whole +handful of torn pieces." + +She came over to the table, and with a laugh showered the white +fragments down upon it, then fell to idly piecing them together. "What +were you writing?" she asked. "'To all whom it may concern: I, Ralph +Percy, Gentleman, of the Hundred of Weyanoke, do hereby set free from +all service to me and mine'"-- + +I took from her the bits of paper, and fed the fire with them. "Paper +is but paper," I said. "It is easily rent. Happily a man's will is more +durable." + + + +CHAPTER XVII IN WHICH MY LORD AND I PLAY AT BOWLS + + +THE Governor had brought with him from London the year before, a set +of boxwood bowls, and had made, between his house and the fort, a noble +green. The generality must still use for the game that portion of the +street that was not tobacco-planted; but the quality flocked to the +Governor's green, and here, one holiday afternoon, a fortnight or more +from the day in which I had drunk to the King from my lord's silver +goblet, was gathered a very great company. The Governor's match +was toward,--ten men to a side, a hogshead of sweet-scented to the +victorious ten, and a keg of canary to the man whose bowl should hit the +jack. + +The season had been one of unusual mildness, and the sunshine was still +warm and bright, gilding the velvet of the green, and making the red and +yellow leaves swept into the trench to glow like a ribbon of flame. The +sky was blue, the water bluer still, the leaves bright-, the wind +blowing; only the enshrouding forest, wrapped in haze, seemed as dim, +unreal, and far away as a last year's dream. + +The Governor's gilt armchair had been brought from the church, and put +for him upon the bank of turf at the upper end of the green. By his side +sat my Lady Temperance, while the gayly dressed dames and the men who +were to play and to watch were accommodated with stools and settles or +with seats on the green grass. All were dressed in holiday clothes, all +tongues spoke, all eyes laughed; you might have thought there was not a +heavy heart amongst them. Rolfe was there, gravely courteous, quiet +and ready; and by his side, in otterskin mantle, beaded moccasins, and +feathered headdress, the Indian chief, his brother-in-law,--the bravest, +comeliest, and manliest savage with whom I have ever dealt. There, too, +was Master Pory, red and jovial, with an eye to the sack the servants +were bringing from the Governor's house; and the commander, with his +wife; and Master Jeremy Sparrow, fresh from a most moving sermon on the +vanities of this world. Captains, Councilors, and Burgesses aired their +gold lace, and their wit or their lack of it; while a swarm of younger +adventurers, youths of good blood and bad living, come from home for the +weal of England and the woe of Virginia, went here and there through the +crowd like gilded summer flies. + +Rolfe and I were to play; he sat on the grass at the feet of Mistress +Jocelyn Percy, making her now and then some courtly speech, and I stood +beside her, my hand on the back of her chair. + +The King's ward held court as though she were a king's daughter. In the +brightness of her beauty she sat there, as gracious for the nonce as the +sunshine, and as much of another world. All knew her story, and to the +daring that is in men's hearts her own daring appealed,--and she was +young and very beautiful. Some there had not been my friends, and now +rejoiced in what seemed my inevitable ruin; some whom I had thought my +friends were gone over to the stronger side; many who in secret wished +me well still shook their heads and shrugged their shoulders over what +they were pleased to call my madness; but for her, I was glad to know, +there were only good words. The Governor had left his gilt armchair to +welcome her to the green, and had caused a chair to be set for her near +his own, and here men came and bowed before her as if she had been a +princess indeed. + +A stir amongst the crowd, a murmur, and a craning of necks heralded the +approach of that other at whom the town gaped with admiration. He came +with his retinue of attendants, his pomp of dress, his arrogance of +port, his splendid beauty. Men looked from the beauty of the King's ward +to the beauty of the King's minion, from her costly silk to his velvet +and miniver, from the air of the court that became her well to the +towering pride and insolence which to the thoughtless seemed his +fortune's proper mantle, and deemed them a pair well suited, and the +King's will indeed the will of Heaven. + +I was never one to value a man by his outward seeming, but suddenly I +saw myself as in a mirror,--a soldier, scarred and bronzed, acquainted +with the camp, but not with the court, roughened by a rude life, poor in +this world's goods, the first flush of youth gone forever. For a moment +my heart was bitter within me. The pang passed, and my hand tightened +its grasp upon the chair in which sat the woman I had wed. She was my +wife, and I would keep my own. + +My lord had paused to speak to the Governor, who had risen to greet him. +Now he came toward us, and the crowd pressed and whispered. He bowed +low to Mistress Percy, made as if to pass on, then came to a stop before +her, his hat in his hand, his handsome head bent, a smile upon his +bearded lips. + +"When was it that we last sat to see men bowl, lady?" he said. "I +remember a gay match when I bowled against my Lord of Buckingham, and +fair ladies sat and smiled upon us. The fairest laughed, and tied her +colors around my arm." + +The lady whom he addressed sat quietly, with hands folded in her silken +lap and an untroubled face. "I did not know you then, my lord," she +answered him, quite softly and sweetly. "Had I done so, be sure I +would have cut my hand off ere it gave color of mine to"--"To whom?" he +demanded, as she paused. + +"To a coward, my lord," she said clearly. + +As if she had been a man, his hand went to his sword hilt. As for her, +she leaned back in her chair and looked at him with a smile. + +He spoke at last, slowly and with deliberate emphasis. "I won then," he +said. "I shall win again, my lady,--my Lady Jocelyn Leigh." + +I dropped my hand from her chair and stepped forward. "It is my wife +to whom you speak, my Lord Carnal," I said sternly. "I wait to hear you +name her rightly." + +Rolfe rose from the grass and stood beside me, and Jeremy Sparrow, +shouldering aside with scant ceremony Burgess and Councilor, came also. +The Governor leaned forward out of his chair, and the crowd became +suddenly very still. + +"I am waiting, my lord," I repeated. + +In an instant, from what he had been he became the frank and guileless +nobleman. "A slip of the tongue, Captain Percy!" he cried, his white +teeth showing and his hand raised in a gesture of deprecation. "A +natural thing, seeing how often, how very often, I have so +addressed this lady in the days when we had not the pleasure of your +acquaintance." He turned to her and bowed, until the feather in his hat +swept the ground. "I won then," he said. "I shall win again--Mistress +Percy," and passed on to the seat that had been reserved for him. + +The game began. I was to lead one side, and young Clement the other. At +the last moment he came over to me. "I am out of it, Captain Percy," +he announced with a rueful face. "My lord there asks me to give him my +place. When we were hunting yesterday, and the stag turned upon me, he +came between and thrust his knife into the brute, which else might have +put an end to my hunting forever and a day: so you see I can't refuse +him. Plague take it all! and Dorothy Gookin sitting there watching!" + +My lord and I stood forward, each with a bowl in his hand. We looked +toward the Governor. "My lord first, as becometh his rank," he said. +My lord stooped and threw, and his bowl went swiftly over the grass, +turned, and rested not a hands'-breadth from the jack. I threw. "One +is as near as the other!" cried Master Macocke for the judges. A murmur +arose from the crowd, and my lord swore beneath his breath. He and I +retreated to our several sides, and Rolfe and West took our places. +While they and those that followed bowled, the crowd, attentive though +it was, still talked and laughed, and laid wagers upon its favorites; +but when my lord and I again stood forth, the noise was hushed, and men +and women stared with all their eyes. He delivered, and his bowl touched +the jack. He straightened himself, with a smile, and I heard Jeremy +Sparrow behind me groan; but my bowl too kissed the jack. The crowd +began to laugh with sheer delight, but my lord turned red and his brows +drew together. We had but one turn more. While we waited, I marked his +black eyes studying every inch of the ground between him and that small +white ball, to strike which, at that moment, I verily believe he would +have given the King's favor. All men pray, though they pray not to the +same god. As he stood there, when his time had come, weighing the bowl +in his hand, I knew that he prayed to his daemon, fate, star, whatever +thing he raised an altar to and bent before. He threw, and I followed, +while the throng held its breath. Master Macocke rose to his feet. "It's +a tie, my masters!" he exclaimed. + +The excited crowd surged forward, and a babel of voices arose. "Silence, +all!" cried the Governor. "Let them play it out!" + +My lord threw, and his bowl stopped perilously near the shining mark. As +I stepped to my place a low and supplicating "O Lord!" came to my +ears from the lips and the heart of the preacher, who had that morning +thundered against the toys of this world. I drew back my arm and threw +with all my force. A cry arose from the throng, and my lord ground his +heel into the earth. The bowl, spurning the jack before it, rushed on, +until both buried themselves in the red and yellow leaves that filled +the trench. + +I turned and bowed to my antagonist. "You bowl well, my lord," I said. +"Had you had the forest training of eye and arm, our fortunes might have +been reversed." + +He looked me up and down. "You are kind, sir," he said thickly. +"'To-day to thee, to-morrow to me.' I give you joy of your petty +victory." + +He turned squarely from me, and stood with his face downstream. I was +speaking to Rolfe and to the few--not even all of that side for which I +had won--who pressed around me, when he wheeled. + +"Your Honor," he cried to the Governor, who had paused beside Mistress +Percy, "is not the Due Return high-pooped? Doth she not carry a blue +pennant, and hath she not a gilt siren for figurehead?" + +"Ay," answered the Governor, lifting his head from the hand he had +kissed with ponderous gallantry. "What then, my lord?" + +"Then to-morrow has dawned, sir captain," said my lord to me. "Sure, +Dame Venus and her blind son have begged for me favorable winds; for the +Due Return has come again." + +The game that had been played was forgotten for that day. The hogshead +of sweet scented, lying to one side, wreathed with bright vines, was +unclaimed of either party; the servants who brought forward the keg of +canary dropped their burden, and stared with the rest. All looked down +the river, and all saw the Due Return coming up the broad, ruffled +stream, the wind from the sea filling her sails, the tide with her, the +gilt mermaid on her prow just rising from the rushing foam. She came as +swiftly as a bird to its nest. None had thought to see her for at least +ten days. + +Upon all there fell a sudden realization that it was the word of the +King, feathered by the command of the Company, that was hurrying, +arrow-like, toward us. All knew what the Company's orders would +be,--must needs be,--and the Tudor sovereigns were not so long in the +grave that men had forgot to fear the wrath of kings. The crowd drew +back from me as from a man plague-spotted. Only Rolfe, Sparrow, and the +Indian stood their ground. + +The Governor turned from staring downstream. "The game is played, +gentlemen," he announced abruptly. "The wind grows colder, too, and +clouds are gathering. This fair company will pardon me if I dismiss them +somewhat sooner than is our wont. The next sunny day we will play again. +Give you God den, gentles." + +The crowd stood not upon the order of its going, but streamed away to +the river bank, whence it could best watch the oncoming ship. My lord, +after a most triumphant bow, swept off with his train in the direction +of the guest house. With him went Master Pory. The Governor drew nearer +to me. "Captain Percy," he said, lowering his voice, "I am going now to +mine own house. The letters which yonder ship brings will be in my hands +in less than an hour. When I have read them, I shall perforce obey their +instructions. Before I have them I will see you, if you so wish." + +"I will be with your Honor in five minutes." + +He nodded, and strode off across the green to his garden. I turned to +Rolfe. "Will you take her home?" I said briefly. She was so white and +sat so still in her chair that I feared to see her swoon. But when +I spoke to her she answered clearly and steadily enough, even with a +smile, and she would not lean upon Rolfe's arm. "I will walk alone," she +said. "None that see me shall think that I am stricken down." I watched +her move away, Rolfe beside her, and the Indian following with his +noiseless step; then I went to the Governor's house. Master Jeremy +Sparrow had disappeared some minutes before, I knew not whither. + +I found Yeardley in his great room, standing before a fire and staring +down into its hollows. "Captain Percy," he said, as I went up to him, "I +am most heartily sorry for you and for the lady whom you so ignorantly +married." + +"I shall not plead ignorance," I told him. + +"You married, not the Lady Jocelyn Leigh, but a waiting woman named +Patience Worth. The Lady Jocelyn Leigh, a noble lady, and a ward of +the King, could not marry without the King's consent. And you, Captain +Percy, are but a mere private gentleman, a poor Virginia adventurer; +and my Lord Carnal is--my Lord Carnal. The Court of High Commission will +make short work of this fantastic marriage." + +"Then they may do it without my aid," I said. "Come, Sir George, had +you wed my Lady Temperance in such fashion, and found this hornets' nest +about your ears, what would you have done?" + +He gave his short, honest laugh. "It's beside the question, Ralph Percy, +but I dare say you can guess what I would have done." + +"I'll fight for my own to the last ditch," I continued. "I married her +knowing her name, if not her quality. Had I known the latter, had I +known she was the King's ward, all the same I should have married her, +an she would have had me. She is my wife in the sight of God and honest +men. Esteeming her honor, which is mine, at stake, Death may silence me, +but men shall not bend me." + +"Your best hope is in my Lord of Buckingham," he said. "They say it +is out of sight, out of mind, with the King, and, thanks to this +infatuation of my Lord Carnal's, Buckingham hath the field. That he +strains every nerve to oust completely this his first rival since he +himself distanced Somerset goes without saying. That to thwart my lord +in this passion would be honey to him is equally of course. I do not +need to tell you that, if the Company so orders, I shall have no choice +but to send you and the lady home to England. When you are in London, +make your suit to my Lord of Buckingham, and I earnestly hope that you +may find in him an ally powerful enough to bring you and the lady, to +whose grace, beauty, and courage we all do homage, out of this coil." + +"We give you thanks, sir," I said. + +"As you know," he went on, "I have written to the Company, humbly +petitioning that I be graciously relieved from a most thankless task, +to wit, the governorship of Virginia. My health faileth, and I am, +moreover, under my Lord Warwick's displeasure. He waxeth ever stronger +in the Company, and if I put not myself out, he will do it for me. If +I be relieved at once, and one of the Council appointed in my place, I +shall go home to look after certain of my interests there. Then shall I +be but a private gentleman, and if I can serve you, Ralph Percy, I shall +be blithe to do so; but now, you understand"-- + +"I understand, and thank you, Sir George," I said. "May I ask one +question?" + +"What is it?" + +"Will you obey to the letter the instructions the Company sends?" + +"To the letter," he answered. "I am its sworn officer." + +"One thing more," I went on: "the parole I gave you, sir, that morning +behind the church, is mine own again when you shall have read those +letters and know the King's will. I am free from that bond, at least." + +He looked at me with a frown. "Make not bad worse, Captain Percy," he +said sternly. + +I laughed. "It is my aim to make bad better, Sir George. I see through +the window that the Due Return hath come to anchor; I will no longer +trespass on your Honor's time." I bowed myself out, leaving him still +with the frown upon his face, staring at the fire. + +Without, the world was bathed in the glow of a magnificent sunset. +Clouds, dark purple and dark crimson, reared themselves in the west to +dizzy heights, and hung threateningly over the darkening land beneath. +In the east loomed more pallid masses, and from the bastions of the east +to the bastions of the west went hurrying, wind-driven cloudless, dark +in the east, red in the west. There was a high wind, and the river, +where it was not reddened by the sunset, was lividly green. "A storm, +too!" I muttered. + +As I passed the guest house, there came to me from within a burst of +loud and vaunting laughter and a boisterous drinking catch sung by many +voices; and I knew that my lord drank, and gave others to drink, to the +orders which the Due Return should bring. The minister's house was +in darkness. In the great room I struck a light and fired the fresh +torches, and found I was not its sole occupant. On the hearth, the ashes +of the dead fire touching her skirts, sat Mistress Jocelyn Percy, her +arms resting upon a low stool, and her head pillowed upon them. Her face +was not hidden: it was cold and pure and still, like carven marble. I +stood and gazed at her a moment; then, as she did not offer to move, I +brought wood to the fire and made the forlorn room bright again. + +"Where is Rolfe?" I asked at last. + +"He would have stayed," she answered, "but I made him go. I wished to +be alone." She rose, and going to the window leaned her forehead against +the bars, and looked out upon the wild sky and the hurrying river. "I +would I were alone," she said in a low voice and with a catch of her +breath. As she stood there in the twilight by the window, I knew that +she was weeping, though her pride strove to keep that knowledge from me. +My heart ached for her, and I knew not how to comfort her. At last she +turned. A pasty and stoup of wine were upon the table. + +"You are tired and shaken," I said, "and you may need all your strength. +Come, eat and drink." + +"For to-morrow we die," she added, and broke into tremulous laughter. +Her lashes were still wet, but her pride and daring had returned. She +drank the wine I poured for her, and we spoke of indifferent things,--of +the game that afternoon, of the Indian Nantauquas, of the wild night +that clouds and wind portended. Supper over, I called Angela to bear +her company, and I myself went out into the night, and down the street +toward the guest house. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII IN WHICH WE GO OUT INTO THE NIGHT + + +THE guest house was aflame with lights. As I neared it, there was +borne to my ears a burst of drunken shouts accompanied by a volley of +musketry. My lord was pursuing with a vengeance our senseless fashion +of wasting in drinking bouts powder that would have been better spent +against the Indians. The noise increased. The door was flung open, and +there issued a tide of drawers and servants headed by mine host himself, +and followed by a hail of such minor breakables as the house contained +and by Olympian laughter. + +I made my way past the indignant host and his staff, and standing upon +the threshold looked at the riot within. The long room was thick with +the smoke of tobacco and the smoke of powder, through which the many +torches burned yellow. Upon the great table wine had been spilt, and +dripped to swell a red pool upon the floor. Underneath the table, still +grasping his empty tankard, lay the first of my lord's guests to fall, +an up-river Burgess with white hair. The rest of the company were fast +reeling to a like fate. Young Hamor had a fiddle, and, one foot upon a +settle, the other upon the table, drew across it a fast and furious bow. +Master Pory, arrived at the maudlin stage, alternately sang a slow and +melancholy ditty and wiped the tears from his eyes with elaborate +care. Master Edward Sharpless, now in a high voice, now in an +undistinguishable murmur, argued some imaginary case. Peaceable Sherwood +was drunk, and Giles Allen, and Pettiplace Clause. Captain John Martin, +sitting with outstretched legs, called now for a fresh tankard, which +he emptied at a gulp; now for his pistols, which, as fast as my lord's +servants brought them to him new primed, he discharged at the ceiling. +The loud wind rattled doors and windows, and made the flame of the +torches stream sideways. The music grew madder and madder, the shots +more frequent, the drunken voices thicker and louder. + +The master of the feast carried his wine better than did his guests, +or had drunk less, but his spirit too was quite without bounds. A color +burned in his cheeks, a wicked light in his eyes; he laughed to himself. +In the gray smoke cloud he saw me not, or saw me only as one of the many +who thronged the doorway and stared at the revel within. He raised his +silver cup with a slow and wavering hand. "Drink, you dogs!" he chanted. +"Drink to the Santa Teresa! Drink to to-morrow night! Drink to a proud +lady within my arms and an enemy in my power!" + +The wine that had made him mad had maddened those others, also. In that +hour they were dead to honor. With shameless laughter and as little +spilling as might be, they raised their tankards as my lord raised his. +A stone thrown by some one behind me struck the cup from my lord's hand, +sending it clattering to the floor and dashing him with the red wine. +Master Pory roared with drunken laughter. "Cup and lip missed that +time!" he cried. + +The man who had thrown the stone was Jeremy Sparrow. For one instant +I saw his great figure, and the wrathful face beneath his shock of +grizzled hair; the next he had made his way through the crowd of gaping +menials and was gone. + +My lord stared foolishly at the stains upon his hands, at the fallen +goblet and the stone beside it. "Cogged dice," he said thickly, "or +I had not lost that throw! I'll drink that toast by myself to-morrow +night, when the ship does n't rock like this d--d floor, and the sea +has no stones to throw. More wine, Giles! To my Lord High Admiral, +gentlemen! To his Grace of Buckingham! May he shortly howl in hell, and +looking back to Whitehall see me upon the King's bosom! The King 's a +good king, gentlemen! He gave me this ruby. D' ye know what I had of him +last year? I"-- + +I turned and left the door and the house. I could not thrust a fight +upon a drunken man. + +Ten yards away, suddenly and without any warning of his approach, I +found beside me the Indian Nantauquas. "I have been to the woods to +hunt," he said, in the slow musical English Rolfe had taught him. "I +knew where a panther lodged, and to-day I laid a snare, and took him +in it. I brought him to my brother's house, and caged him there. When I +have tamed him, I shall give him to the beautiful lady." + +He expected no answer, and I gave him none. There are times when an +Indian is the best company in the world. + +Just before we reached the market place we had to pass the mouth of a +narrow lane leading down to the river. The night was very dark, though +the stars still shone through rifts in the ever moving clouds. The +Indian and I walked rapidly on,--my footfalls sounding clear and sharp +on the frosty ground, he as noiseless as a shadow. We had reached the +further side of the lane, when he put forth an arm and plucked from the +blackness a small black figure. + +In the middle of the square was kept burning a great brazier filled +with pitched wood. It was the duty of the watch to keep it flaming from +darkness to dawn. We found it freshly heaped with pine, and its red +glare lit a goodly circle. The Indian, pinioning the wrists of his +captive with his own hand of steel, dragged him with us into this circle +of light. + +"Looking for simples once more, learned doctor?" I demanded. + +He mowed and jabbered, twisting this way and that in the grasp of the +Indian. + +"Loose him," I said to the latter, "but let him not come too near you. +Why, worthy doctor, in so wild and threatening a night, when fire is +burning and wine flowing at the guest house, do you choose to crouch +here in the cold and darkness?" + +He looked at me with his filmy eyes, and that faint smile that had more +of menace in it than a panther's snarl. "I laid in wait for you, it is +true, noble sir," he said in his thin, dreamy voice, "but it was for +your good. I would give you warning, sir." + +He stood with his mean figure bent cringingly forward, and with his hat +in his hand. "A warning, sir," he went ramblingly on. "Maybe a certain +one has made me his enemy. Maybe I cut myself loose from his service. +Maybe I would do him an ill turn. I can tell you a secret, sir." He +lowered his voice and looked around, as if in fear of eavesdroppers. + +"In your ear, sir," he said. + +I recoiled. "Stand back," I cried, "or you will cull no more simples +this side of hell!" + +"Hell!" he answered. "There's no such place. I will not tell my secret +aloud." + +"Nicolo the Italian! Nicolo the Poisoner! Nicolo the Black Death! I am +coming for the soul you sold me. There is a hell!" + +The thundering voice came from underneath our feet. With a sound that +was not a groan and not a screech, the Italian reeled back against the +heated iron of the brazier. Starting from that fiery contact with +an unearthly shriek, he threw up his arms and dashed away into the +darkness. The sound of his madly hurrying footsteps came back to us +until the guest house had swallowed him and his guilty terrors. + +"Can the preacher play the devil too?" I asked, as Sparrow came up to +us from the other side of the fire. "I could have sworn that that voice +came from the bowels of the earth. 'T is the strangest gift!" + +"A mere trick," he said, with his great laugh, "but it has served me +well on more occasions than one. It is not known in Virginia, sir, but +before ever the word of the Lord came to me to save poor silly souls +I was a player. Once I played the King's ghost in Will Shakespeare's +'Hamlet,' and then, I warrant you, I spoke from the cellarage indeed. I +so frighted players and playgoers that they swore it was witchcraft, and +Burbage's knees did knock together in dead earnest. But to the matter +in hand. When I had thrown yonder stone, I walked quietly down to the +Governor's house and looked through the window. The Governor hath +the Company's letters, and he and the Council--all save the reprobate +Pory--sit there staring at them and drumming with their fingers on the +table." + +"Is Rolfe of the Council?" I asked. + +"Ay; he was speaking,--for you, I suppose, though I heard not the words. +They all listened, but they all shook their heads." + +"We shall know in the morning," I said. "The night grows wilder, and +honest folks should be abed. Nantauquas, good-night. When will you have +tamed your panther?" + +"It is now the moon of cohonks," answered the Indian. "When the moon of +blossoms is here, the panther shall roll at the beautiful lady's feet." + +"The moon of blossoms!" I said. "The moon of blossoms is a long way off. +I have panthers myself to tame before it comes. This wild night gives +one wild thoughts, Master Sparrow. The loud wind, and the sound of the +water, and the hurrying clouds--who knows if we shall ever see the moon +of blossoms?" I broke off with a laugh for my own weakness. "It's not +often that a soldier thinks of death," I said. "Come to bed, reverend +sir. Nantauquas, again, good-night, and may you tame your panther!" + +In the great room of the minister's house I paced up and down; now +pausing at the window, to look out upon the fast darkening houses of the +town, the ever thickening clouds, and the bending trees; now speaking to +my wife, who sat in the chair I had drawn for her before the fire, her +hands idle in her lap, her head thrown back against the wood, her face +white and still, with wide dark eyes. We waited for we knew not what, +but the light still burned in the Governor's house, and we could not +sleep and leave it there. + +It grew later and later. The wind howled down the chimney, and I heaped +more wood upon the fire. The town lay in darkness now; only in the +distance burned like an angry star the light in the Governor's house. In +the lull between the blasts of wind it was so very still that the sound +of my footfalls upon the floor, the dropping of the charred wood upon +the hearth, the tapping of the withered vines without the window, jarred +like thunder. + +Suddenly madam leaned forward in her chair. "There is some one at the +door," she said. + +As she spoke, the latch rose and some one pushed heavily against the +door. I had drawn the bars across. "Who is it?" I demanded, going to it. + +"It is Diccon, sir," replied a guarded voice outside. "I beg of you, for +the lady's sake, to let me speak to you." + +I opened the door, and he crossed the threshold. I had not seen him +since the night he would have played the assassin. I had heard of him +as being in Martin's Hundred, with which plantation and its turbulent +commander the debtor and the outlaw often found sanctuary. + +"What is it, sirrah?" I inquired sternly. + +He stood with his eyes upon the floor, twirling his cap in his hands. He +had looked once at madam when he entered, but not at me. When he spoke +there was the old bravado in his voice, and he threw up his head with +the old reckless gesture. "Though I am no longer your man, sir," he +said, "yet I hope that one Christian may warn another. The marshal, with +a dozen men at his heels, will be here anon." + +"How do you know?" + +"Why, I was in the shadow by the Governor's window when the parson +played eavesdropper. When he was gone I drew myself up to the ledge, and +with my knife made a hole in the shutter that fitted my ear well enough. +The Governor and the Council sat there, with the Company's letters +spread upon the table. I heard the letters read. Sir George Yeardley's +petition to be released from the governorship of Virginia is granted, +but he will remain in office until the new Governor, Sir Francis Wyatt, +can arrive in Virginia. The Company is out of favor. The King hath sent +Sir Edwyn Sandys to the Tower. My Lord Warwick waxeth greater every day. +The very life of the Company dependeth upon the pleasure of the King, +and it may not defy him. You are to be taken into custody within six +hours of the reading of the letter, to be kept straitly until the +sailing of the Santa Teresa, and to be sent home aboard of her in irons. +The lady is to go also, with all honor, and with women to attend her. +Upon reaching London, you are to be sent to the Tower, the lady to +Whitehall. The Court of High Commission will take the matter under +consideration at once. My Lord of Southampton writes that, because of +the urgent entreaty of Sir George Yeardley, he will do for you all that +lieth in his power, but that if you prove not yourself conformable, +there will be little that any can do." + +"When will the marshal be here?" I demanded. + +"Directly. The Governor was sending for him when I left the window. +Master Rolfe spoke vehemently for you, and would have left the Council +to come to you; but the Governor, swearing that the Company should not +be betrayed by its officers, constrained him to remain. I'm not the +Company's officer, so I may tell its orders if I please. A masterless +man may speak without fear or favor. I have told you all I know." Before +I could speak he was gone, closing the door heavily behind him. + +I turned to the King's ward. She had risen from the chair, and now stood +in the centre of the room, one hand at her bosom, the other clenched at +her side, her head thrown up. She looked as she had looked at Weyanoke, +that first night. + +"Madam," I said under my breath. + +She turned her face upon me. "Did you think," she asked in a low, +even voice,--"did you think that I would ever set my foot upon that +ship,--that ship on the river there? One ship brought me here upon +a shameful errand; another shall not take me upon one more shameful +still." + +She took her hand from her bosom; in it gleamed in the firelight the +small dagger I had given her that night. She laid it on the table, but +kept her hand upon it. "You will choose for me, sir," she declared. + +I went to the door and looked out. "It is a wild night," I said. "I +can suit it with as wild an enterprise. Make a bundle of your warmest +clothing, madam, and wrap your mantle about you. Will you take Angela?" + +"No," she answered. "I will not have her peril too upon me." + +As she stood there, her hand no longer upon the dagger, the large tears +welled into her eyes and fell slowly over her white cheeks. "It is for +mine honor, sir," she said. "I know that I ask your death." + +I could not bear to see her weep, and so I spoke roughly. "I have told +you before," I said, "that your honor is my honor. Do you think I would +sleep to-morrow night, in the hold of the Santa Teresa, knowing that my +wife supped with my Lord Carnal?" + +I crossed the room to take my pistols from the rack. As I passed her she +caught my hand in hers, and bending pressed her lips upon it. "You have +been very good to me," she murmured. "Do not think me an ingrate." + +Five minutes later she came from her own room, hooded and mantled, and +with a packet of clothing in her hand. I extinguished the torches, +then opened the door. As we crossed the threshold, we paused as by one +impulse and looked back into the firelit warmth of the room; then I +closed the door softly behind us, and we went out into the night. + + + +CHAPTER XIX IN WHICH WE HAVE UNEXPECTED COMPANY + + +THE wind, which had heretofore come in fierce blasts, was now steadying +to a gale. What with the flying of the heaped clouds, the slanting, +groaning pines, and the rushing of the river, the whole earth seemed a +fugitive, fleeing breathless to the sea. From across the neck of land +came the long-drawn howl of wolves, and in the wood beyond the church a +catamount screamed and screamed. The town before us lay as dark and as +still as the grave; from the garden where we were we could not see the +Governor's house. + +"I will carry madam's bundle," said a voice behind us. + +It was the minister who had spoken, and he now stood beside us. There +was a moment's silence, then I said, with a laugh: "We are not going +upon a summer jaunt, friend Sparrow. There is a warm fire in the great +room, to which your reverence had best betake yourself out of this windy +night." + +As he made no movement to depart, but instead possessed himself of +Mistress Percy's bundle, I spoke again, with some impatience: "We are no +longer of your fold, reverend sir, but are bound for another parish. We +give you hearty thanks for your hospitality, and wish you a very good +night." + +As I spoke I would have taken the bundle from him, but he tucked it +under his arm, and, passing us, opened the garden gate. "Did I forget to +tell you," he said, "that worthy Master Bucke is well of the fever, and +returns to his own to-morrow? His house and church are no longer mine. I +have no charge anywhere. I am free and footloose. May I not go with +you, madam? There may be dragons to slay, and two can guard a distressed +princess better than one. Will you take me for your squire, Captain +Percy?" + +He held out his great hand, and after a moment I put my own in it. + +We left the garden and struck into a lane. "The river, then, instead of +the forest?" he asked in a low voice. + +"Ay," I answered. "Of the two evils it seems the lesser." + +"How about a boat?" + +"My own is fastened to the piles of the old deserted wharf." + +"You have with you neither food nor water." + +"Both are in the boat. I have kept her victualed for a week or more." + +He laughed in the darkness, and I heard my wife beside me utter a +stifled exclamation. + +The lane that we were now in ran parallel to the street to within fifty +yards of the guest house, when it bent sharply down to the river. We +moved silently and with caution, for some night bird might accost us +or the watch come upon us. In the guest house all was darkness save one +room,--the upper room,--from which came a very pale light. When we had +turned with the lane there were no houses to pass; only gaunt pines +and copses of sumach. I took my wife by the hand and hurried her on. A +hundred yards before us ran the river, dark and turbulent, and between +us and it rose an old, unsafe, and abandoned landing. Sparrow laid his +hand upon my arm. "Footsteps behind us," he whispered. + +Without slackening pace I turned my head and looked. The clouds, high +around the horizon, were thinning overhead, and the moon, herself +invisible, yet lightened the darkness below. The sandy lane stretched +behind us like a ribbon of twilight,--nothing to be seen but it and the +ebony mass of bush and tree lining it on either side. We hastened on. A +minute later and we heard behind us a sound like the winding of a small +horn, clear, shrill, and sweet. Sparrow and I wheeled--and saw nothing. +The trees ran down to the very edge of the wharf, upon whose rotten, +loosened, and noisy boards we now trod. Suddenly the clouds above us +broke, and the moon shone forth, whitening the mountainous clouds, +the ridged and angry river, and the low, tree-fringed shore. Below us, +fastened to the piles and rocking with the waves, was the open boat in +which we were to embark. A few broken steps led from the boards above to +the water below. Descending these I sprang into the boat and held out my +arms for Mistress Percy. Sparrow gave her to me, and I lifted her down +beside me; then turned to give what aid I might to the minister, who was +halfway down the steps--and faced my Lord Carnal. + +What devil had led him forth on such a night; why he, whom with my own +eyes, three hours agone, I had seen drunken, should have chosen, after +his carouse, cold air and his own company rather than sleep; when and +where he first spied us, how long he had followed us, I have never +known. Perhaps he could not sleep for triumph, had heard of my impending +arrest, had come forth to add to the bitterness of my cup by his +presence, and so had happened upon us. He could only have guessed at +those he followed, until he reached the edge of the wharf and looked +down upon us in the moonlight. For a moment he stood without moving; +then he raised his hand to his lips, and the shrill call that had before +startled us rang out again. At the far end of the lane lights appeared. +Men were coming down the lane at a run; whether they were the watch, +or my lord's own rogues, we tarried not to see. There was not time to +loosen the rope from the piles, so I drew my knife to cut it. My lord +saw the movement, and sprang down the steps, at the same time shouting +to the men behind to hasten. Sparrow, grappling with him, locked him in +a giant's embrace, lifted him bodily from the steps, and flung him into +the boat. His head struck against a thwart, and he lay, huddled beneath +it, quiet enough. The minister sprang after him, and I cut the rope. By +now the wharf shook with running feet, and the backward-streaming flame +of the torches reddened its boards and the black water beneath; but each +instant the water widened between us and our pursuers. Wind and current +swept us out, and at that wharf there were no boats to follow us. + +Those whom my lord's whistle had brought were now upon the very edge of +the wharf. The marshal's voice called upon us in the name of the King to +return. Finding that we vouchsafed no answer, he pulled out a pistol and +fired, the ball going through my hat; then whipped out its fellow and +fired again. Mistress Percy, whose behavior had been that of an angel, +stirred in her seat. I did not know until the day broke that the ball +had grazed her arm, drenching her sleeve with blood. + +"It is time we were away," I said, with a laugh. "If your reverence will +keep your hand upon the tiller and your eye upon the gentleman whom you +have made our traveling companion, I'll put up the sail." + +I was on my way to the foremast, when the boom lying prone before +me rose. Slowly and majestically the sail ascended, tapering upward, +silvered by the moon,--the great white pinion which should bear us we +knew not whither. I stopped short in my tracks, Mistress Percy drew a +sobbing breath, and the minister gasped with admiration. We all three +stared as though the white cloth had veritably been a monster wing +endowed with life. + +"Sails don't rise of themselves!" I exclaimed, and was at the mast +before the words were out of my lips. Crouched behind it was a man. I +should have known him even without the aid of the moon. Often enough, +God knows, I had seen him crouched like this beside me, ourselves in +ambush awaiting some unwary foe, brute or human; or ourselves in hiding, +holding our breath lest it should betray us. The minister who had been a +player, the rival who would have poisoned me, the servant who would +have stabbed me, the wife who was wife in name only,--mine were strange +shipmates. + +He rose to his feet and stood there against the mast, in the old +half-submissive, half-defiant attitude, with his head thrown back in the +old way. + +"If you order me, sir, I will swim ashore," he said, half sullenly, +half--I know not how. + +"You would never reach the shore," I replied. "And you know that I +will never order you again. Stay here if you please, or come aft if you +please." + +I went back and took the tiller from Sparrow. We were now in mid-river, +and the swollen stream and the strong wind bore us on with them like a +leaf before the gale. We left behind the lights and the clamor, the dark +town and the silent fort, the weary Due Return and the shipping about +the lower wharf. Before us loomed the Santa Teresa; we passed so close +beneath her huge black sides that we heard the wind whistling through +her rigging. When she, too, was gone, the river lay bare before us; +silver when the moon shone, of an inky blackness when it was obscured by +one of the many flying clouds. + +My wife wrapped her mantle closer about her, and, leaning back in her +seat in the stern beside me, raised her face to the wild and solemn +heavens. Diccon sat apart in the bow and held his tongue. The minister +bent over, and, lifting the man that lay in the bottom of the boat, laid +him at full length upon the thwart before us. The moonlight streamed +down upon the prostrate figure. I think it could never have shone upon +a more handsome or a more wicked man. He lay there in his splendid dress +and dark beauty, Endymion-like, beneath the moon. The King's ward turned +her eyes upon him, kept them there a moment, then glanced away, and +looked at him no more. + +"There's a parlous lump upon his forehead where it struck the thwart," +said the minister, "but the life's yet in him. He'll shame honest men +for many a day to come. Your Platonists, who from a goodly outside argue +as fair a soul, could never have been acquainted with this gentleman." + +The subject of his discourse moaned and stirred. The minister raised one +of the hanging hands and felt for the pulse. "Faint enough," he went on. +"A little more and the King might have waited for his minion forever +and a day. It would have been the better for us, who have now, indeed, a +strange fish upon our hands, but I am glad I killed him not." + +I tossed him a flask. "It's good aqua vitae, and the flask is honest. +Give him to drink of it." + +He forced the liquor between my lord's teeth, then dashed water in his +face. Another minute and the King's favorite sat up and looked around +him. Dazed as yet, he stared, with no comprehension in his eyes, at +the clouds, the sail, the rushing water, the dark figures about him. +"Nicolo!" he cried sharply. + +"He's not here, my lord," I said. + +At the sound of my voice he sprang to his feet. + +"I should advise your lordship to sit still," I said. "The wind is very +boisterous, and we are not under bare poles. If you exert yourself, you +may capsize the boat." + +He sat down mechanically, and put his hand to his forehead. I watched +him curiously. It was the strangest trick that fortune had played him. + +His hand dropped at last, and he straightened himself, with a long +breath. "Who threw me into the boat?" he demanded. + +"The honor was mine," declared the minister. + +The King's minion lacked not the courage of the body, nor, when +passionate action had brought him naught, a certain reserve force of +philosophy. He now did the best thing he could have done,--burst into +a roar of laughter. "Zooks!" he cried. "It's as good a comedy as ever +I saw! How's the play to end, captain? Are we to go off laughing, or +is the end to be bloody after all? For instance, is there murder to be +done?" He looked at me boldly, one hand on his hip, the other twirling +his mustaches. + +"We are not all murderers, my lord," I told him. "For the present you +are in no danger other than that which is common to us all." + +He looked at the clouds piling behind us, thicker and thicker, higher +and higher, at the bending mast, at the black water swirling now and +again over the gunwales. "It's enough," he muttered. + +I beckoned to Diccon, and putting the tiller into his hands went forward +to reef the sail. When it was done and I was back in my place, my lord +spoke again. + +"Where are we going, captain?" + +"I don't know." + +"If you leave that sail up much longer, you will land us at the bottom +of the river." + +"There are worse places," I replied. + +He left his seat, and moved, though with caution, to one nearer Mistress +Percy. "Are cold and storm and peril sweeter to you, lady, than warmth +and safety, and a love that would guard you from, not run you into, +danger?" he said in a whisper. "Do you not wish this boat the Santa +Teresa, these rude boards the velvet cushions of her state cabin, this +darkness her many lights, this cold her warmth, with the night shut out +and love shut in?" + +His audacity, if it angered me, yet made me laugh. Not so with the +King's ward. She shrank from him until she pressed against the tiller. +Our flight, the pursuing feet, the struggle at the wharf, her wounded +arm of which she had not told, the terror of the white sail rising as if +by magic, the vision of the man she hated lying as one dead before her +in the moonlight, the cold, the hurry of the night,--small wonder if +her spirit failed her for some time. I felt her hand touch mine where +it rested upon the tiller. "Captain Percy," she murmured, with a little +sobbing breath. + +I leaned across the tiller and addressed the favorite. "My lord," I +said, "courtesy to prisoners is one thing, and freedom from restraint +and license of tongue is another. Here at the stern the boat is somewhat +heavily freighted. Your lordship will oblige me if you will go forward +where there is room enough and to spare." + +His black brows drew together. "And what if I refuse, sir?" he demanded +haughtily. + +"I have rope here," I answered, "and to aid me the gentleman who once +before to-night, and in despite of your struggles, lifted you in his +arms like an infant. We will tie you hand and foot, and lay you in the +bottom of the boat. If you make too much trouble, there is always the +river. My lord, you are not now at Whitehall. You are with desperate +men, outlaws who have no king, and so fear no king's minions. Will you +go free, or will you go bound? Go you shall, one way or the other." + +He looked at me with rage and hatred in his face. Then, with a laugh +that was not good to hear and a shrug of the shoulders, he went forward +to bear Diccon company in the bow. + + + +CHAPTER XX IN WHICH WE ARE IN DESPERATE CASE + + +"GOD walketh upon the sea as he walketh upon the land," said the +minister. "The sea is his and we are his. He will do what it liketh +him with his own." As he spoke he looked with a steadfast soul into the +black hollow of the wave that combed above us, threatening destruction. + +The wave broke, and the boat still lived. Borne high upon the shoulder +of the next rolling hill, we looked north, south, east, and west, and +saw only a waste of livid, ever forming, ever breaking waves, a gray +sky streaked with darker gray shifting vapor, and a horizon impenetrably +veiled. Where we were in the great bay, in what direction we were being +driven, how near we might be to the open sea or to some fatal shore, we +knew not. What we did know was that both masts were gone, that we must +bail the boat without ceasing if we would keep it from swamping, that +the wind was doing an apparently impossible thing and rising higher and +higher, and that the waves which buffeted us from one to the other were +hourly swelling to a more monstrous bulk. + +We had come into the wider waters at dawn, and still under canvas. An +hour later, off Point Comfort, a bare mast contented us; we had hardly +gotten the sail in when mast and all went overboard. That had been hours +ago. + +A common peril is a mighty leveler of barriers. Scant time was there +in that boat to make distinction between friend and foe. As one man +we fought the element which would devour us. Each took his turn at +the bailing, each watched for the next great wave before which we must +cower, clinging with numbed hands to gunwale and thwart. We fared alike, +toiled alike, and suffered alike, only that the minister and I cared for +Mistress Percy, asking no help from the others. + +The King's ward endured all without a murmur. She was cold, she was worn +with watching and terror, she was wounded; each moment Death raised his +arm to strike, but she sat there dauntless, and looked him in the face +with a smile upon her own. If, wearied out, we had given up the fight, +her look would have spurred us on to wrestle with our fate to the last +gasp. She sat between Sparrow and me, and as best we might we shielded +her from the drenching seas and the icy wind. Morning had shown me the +blood upon her sleeve, and I had cut away the cloth from the white arm, +and had washed the wound with wine and bound it up. If for my fee, I +should have liked to press my lips upon the blue-veined marble, still I +did it not. + +When, a week before, I had stored the boat with food and drink and had +brought it to that lonely wharf, I had thought that if at the last my +wife willed to flee I would attempt to reach the bay, and passing out +between the capes would go to the north. Given an open boat and the +tempestuous seas of November, there might be one chance out of a hundred +of our reaching Manhattan and the Dutch, who might or might not give us +refuge. She had willed to flee, and we were upon our journey, and the +one chance had vanished. That wan, monotonous, cold, and clinging mist +had shrouded us for our burial, and our grave yawned beneath us. + +The day passed and the night came, and still we fought the sea, and +still the wind drove us whither it would. The night passed and the +second morning came, and found us yet alive. My wife lay now at my feet, +her head pillowed upon the bundle she had brought from the minister's +house. Too weak for speech, waiting in pain and cold and terror for +death to bring her warmth and life, the knightly spirit yet lived in her +eyes, and she smiled when I bent over her with wine to moisten her lips. +At length she began to wander in her mind, and to speak of summer days +and flowers. A hand held my heart in a slowly tightening grip of iron, +and the tears ran down the minister's cheeks. The man who had darkened +her young life, bringing her to this, looked at her with an ashen face. + +As the day wore on, the gray of the sky paled to a dead man's hue and +the wind lessened, but the waves were still mountain high. One moment +we poised, like the gulls that now screamed about us, upon some giddy +summit, the sky alone above and around us; the next we sank into dark +green and glassy caverns. Suddenly the wind fell away, veered, and rose +again like a giant refreshed. + +Diccon started, put his hand to his ear, then sprang to his feet. +"Breakers!" he cried hoarsely. + +We listened with straining ears. He was right. The low, ominous murmur +changed to a distant roar, grew louder yet, and yet louder, and was no +longer distant. + +"It will be the sand islets off Cape Charles, sir," he said. I nodded. +He and I knew there was no need of words. + +The sky grew paler and paler, and soon upon the woof of the clouds +a splash of dull yellow showed where the sun would be. The fog rose, +laying bare the desolate ocean. Before us were two very small islands, +mere handfuls of sand, lying side by side, and encompassed half by the +open sea, half by stiller waters diked in by marshes and sand bars. A +coarse, scanty grass and a few stunted trees with branches bending away +from the sea lived upon them, but nothing else. Over them and over the +marshes and the sand banks circled myriads of great white gulls. Their +harsh, unearthly voices came to us faintly, and increased the desolation +of earth and sky and sea. + +To the shell-strewn beach of the outer of the two islets raced long +lines of surf, and between us and it lurked a sand bar, against which +the great rollers dashed with a bull-like roar. The wind drove us +straight upon this bar. A moment of deadly peril and it had us fast, +holding us for the waves to beat our life out. The boat listed, then +rested, quivering through all its length. The waves pounded against its +side, each watery battering-ram dissolving in foam and spray but to give +place to another, and yet it held together, and yet we lived. How long +it would hold we could not tell; we only knew it could not be for long. +The inclination of the boat was not so great but that, with caution, we +might move about. There were on board rope and an axe. With the latter I +cut away the thwarts and the decking in the bow, and Diccon and I made +a small raft. When it was finished, I lifted my wife in my arms and laid +her upon it and lashed her to it with the rope. She smiled like a child, +then closed her eyes. "I have gathered primroses until I am tired," she +said. "I will sleep here a little in the sunshine, and when I awake I +will make you a cowslip ball." + +Time passed, and the groaning, trembling timbers still held together. +The wind fell, the sky became blue, and the sun shone. Another while, +and the waves were less mountainous and beat less furiously against the +boat. Hope brightened before us. To strong swimmers the distance to the +islet was trifling; if the boat would but last until the sea subsided, +we might gain the beach. What we would do upon that barren spot, where +was neither man nor brute, food nor water, was a thing that we had not +the time to consider. It was land that we craved. + +Another hour, and the sea still fell. Another, and a wave struck the +boat with force. "The sea is coming in!" cried the minister. + +"Ay," I answered. "She will go to pieces now." + +The minister rose to his feet. "I am no mariner," he said, "but once +in the water I can swim you like any fish. There have been times when I +have reproached the Lord for that he cased a poor silly humble preacher +like me with the strength and seeming of some might man of old, and +there have been times when I have thanked him for that strength. I thank +him now. Captain Percy, if you will trust the lady to me, I will take +her safely to that shore." + +I raised my head from the figure over which I was bending, and looked +first at the still tumultuous sea, and then at the gigantic frame of the +minister. When we had made that frail raft no swimmer could have lived +in that shock of waves; now there was a chance for all, and for the +minister, with his great strength, the greatest I have ever seen in any +man, a double chance. I took her from the raft and gave her into his +arms. A minute later the boat went to pieces. + +Side by side Sparrow and I buffeted the sea. He held the King's ward +in one arm, and he bore her safely over the huge swells and through the +onslaught of the breaking waves. I could thank God for his strength, and +trust her to it. For the other three of us, we were all strong swimmers, +and though bruised and beat about, we held our own. Each wave, overcome, +left us nearer the islet,--a little while and our feet touched bottom. +A short struggle with the tremendous surf and we were out of the maw of +the sea, but out upon a desolate islet, a mere hand's-breadth of sand +and shell in a lonely ocean, some three leagues from the mainland of +Accomac, and upon it neither food nor water. We had the clothes upon our +backs, and my lord and I had kept our swords. I had a knife, and Diccon +too was probably armed. The flint and steel and tinder box within my +pouch made up our store. + +The minister laid the woman whom he carried upon the pebbles, fell upon +his knees, and lifted his rugged face to heaven. I too knelt, and with +my hand upon her heart said my own prayer in my own way. My lord stood +with unbent head, his eyes upon that still white face, but Diccon turned +abruptly and strode off to a low ridge of sand, from the top of which +one might survey the entire island. + +In two minutes he was back again. "There's plenty of driftwood further +up the beach," he announced, "and a mort of dried seaweed. At least we +need n't freeze." + +The great bonfire that we made roared and crackled, sending out a most +cheerful heat and light. Under that genial breath the color came +slowly back to madam's cheek and lip, and her heart beat more strongly. +Presently she turned under my hand, and with a sigh pillowed her head +upon her arm and went to sleep in that blessed warmth like a little +child. + +We who had no mind for sleep sat there beside the fire and watched the +sun sink behind the low black line of the mainland, now plainly visible +in the cleared air. It dyed the waves blood red, and shot out one long +ray to crimson a single floating cloud, no larger than a man's hand, +high in the blue. Sea birds, a countless multitude, went to and fro with +harsh cries from island to marsh, and marsh to island. The marshes were +still green; they lay, a half moon of fantastic shapes, each parted from +the other by pink water. Beyond them was the inlet dividing us from +the mainland, and that inlet was three leagues in width. We turned and +looked seaward. Naught but leaping waves white-capped to the horizon. + +"We touched here the time we went against the French at Port Royal and +St. Croix," I said. "We had heard a rumor that the Bermuda pirates had +hidden gold here. Argall and I went over every foot of it." + +"And found no water?" questioned the minister. + +"And found no water." + +The light died from the west and from the sea beneath, and the night +fell. When with the darkness the sea fowl ceased their clamor, a +dreadful silence suddenly enfolded us. The rush of the surf made no +difference; the ear heard it, but to the mind there was no sound. The +sky was thick with stars; every moment one shot, and the trail of white +fire it left behind melted into the night silently like snowflakes. +There was no wind. The moon rose out of the sea, and lent the sandy isle +her own pallor. Here and there, back amongst the dunes, the branches of +a low and leafless tree writhed upward like dark fingers thrust from out +the spectral earth. The ocean, quiet now, dreamed beneath the moon and +cared not for the five lives it had cast upon that span of sand. + +We piled driftwood and tangles of seaweed upon our fire, and it flamed +and roared and broke the silence. Diccon, going to the landward side of +the islet, found some oysters, which we roasted and ate; but we had nor +wine nor water with which to wash them down. + +"At least there are here no foes to fear," quoth my lord. "We may all +sleep to-night; and zooks! we shall need it!" He spoke frankly, with an +open face. + +"I will take one watch, if you will take the other," I said to the +minister. + +He nodded. "I will watch until midnight." + +It was long past that time when he roused me from where I lay at +Mistress Percy's feet. + +"I should have relieved you long ago," I told him. + +He smiled. The moon, now high in the heavens, shone upon and softened +his rugged features. I thought I had never seen a face so filled with +tenderness and hope and a sort of patient power. "I have been with God," +he said simply. "The starry skies and the great ocean and the little +shells beneath my hand,--how wonderful are thy works, O Lord! What is +man that thou art mindful of him? And yet not a sparrow falleth"--I rose +and sat by the fire, and he laid himself down upon the sand beside me. + +"Master Sparrow," I asked, "have you ever suffered thirst?" + +"No," he answered. We spoke in low tones, lest we should wake her. +Diccon and my lord, upon the other side of the fire, were sleeping +heavily. + +"I have," I said. "Once I lay upon a field of battle throughout a summer +day, sore wounded and with my dead horse across my body. I shall forget +the horror of that lost field and the torment of that weight before I +forget the thirst." + +"You think there is no hope?" + +"What hope should there be?" + +He was silent. Presently he turned and looked at the King's ward where +she lay in the rosy light; then his eyes came back to mine. + +"If it comes to the worst I shall put her out of her torment," I said. + +He bowed his head and we sat in silence, our gaze upon the ground +between us, listening to the low thunder of the surf and the crackling +of the fire. "I love her," I said at last. "God help me!" + +He put his finger to his lips. She had stirred and opened her eyes. I +knelt beside her, and asked her how she did and if she wanted aught. + +"It is warm," she said wonderingly. + +"You are no longer in the boat," I told her. "You are safe upon the +land. You have been sleeping here by the fire that we kindled." + +An exquisite smile just lit her face, and her eyelids drooped again. +"I am so tired," she said drowsily, "that I will sleep a little longer. +Will you bring me some water, Captain Percy? I am very thirsty." + +After a moment I said gently, "I will go get it, madam." She made no +answer; she was already asleep. Nor did Sparrow and I speak again. He +laid himself down with his face to the ocean, and I sat with my head in +my hands, and thought and thought, to no purpose. + + + +CHAPTER XXI IN WHICH A GRAVE IS DIGGED + + +WHEN the stars had gone out and the moon begun to pale, I raised my face +from my hands. Only a few glowing embers remained of the fire, and the +driftwood that we had collected was exhausted. I thought that I would +gather more, and build up the fire against the time when the others +should awake. The driftwood lay in greatest quantity some distance up +the beach, against a low ridge of sand dunes. Beyond these the islet +tapered off to a long gray point of sand and shell. Walking toward this +point in the first pale light of dawn, I chanced to raise my eyes, and +beheld riding at anchor beyond the spit of sand a ship. + +I stopped short and rubbed my eyes. She lay there on the sleeping ocean +like a dream ship, her masts and rigging black against the pallid sky, +the mist that rested upon the sea enfolding half her hull. She might +have been of three hundred tons burthen; she was black and two-decked, +and very high at poop and forecastle, and she was heavily armed. My eyes +traveled from the ship to the shore, and there dragged up on the point, +the oars within it, was a boat. + +At the head of the beach, beyond the line of shell and weed, the sand +lay piled in heaps. With these friendly hillocks between me and the sea, +I crept on as silently as I might, until I reached a point just above +the boat. Here I first heard voices. I went a little further, then +knelt, and, parting the long coarse grass that filled the hollow between +two hillocks, looked out upon two men who were digging a grave. + +They dug in a furious hurry, throwing the sand to left and right, and +cursing as they dug. They were powerful men, of a most villainous cast +of countenance, and dressed very oddly. One with a shirt of coarsest +dowlas, and a filthy rag tying up a broken head, yet wore velvet +breeches, and wiped the sweat from his face with a wrought handkerchief; +the other topped a suit of shreds and patches with a fine bushy ruff, +and swung from one ragged shoulder a cloak of grogram lined with +taffeta. On the ground, to one side of them, lay something long and +wrapped in white. + +As they dug and cursed, the light strengthened. The east changed from +gray to pale rose, from rose to a splendid crimson shot with gold. The +mist lifted and the sea burned red. Two boats were lowered from the +ship, and came swiftly toward the point. + +"Here they are at last," growled the gravedigger with the broken head +and velvet breeches. + +"They've taken their time," snarled his companion, "and us two here +on this d-d island with a dead man the whole ghost's hour. Boarding a +ship's nothing, but to dig a grave on the land before cockcrow, with the +man you're to put in it looking at you! Why could n't he be buried at +sea, decent and respectable, like other folk?" + +"It was his will,--that's all I know," said the first; "just as it was +his will, when he found he was a dying man, to come booming away from +the gold seas up here to a land where there is n't no gold, and never +will be. Belike he thought he'd find waiting for him at the bottom of +the sea, all along from the Lucayas to Cartagena, the many he sent +there afore he died. And Captain Paradise, he says, says he: 'It's ill +crossing a dead man. We'll obey him this once more'"-- + +"Captain Paradise!" cried he of the ruff. "Who made him captain?--curse +him!" + +His fellow straightened himself with a jerk. "Who made him captain? The +ship will make him captain. Who else should be captain?" + +"Red Gil!" + +"Red Gil!" exclaimed the other. "I'd rather have the Spaniard!" + +"The Spaniard would do well enough, if the rest of us were n't English. +If hating every other Spaniard would do it, he'd be English fast +enough." + +The scoundrel with the broken head burst into a loud laugh. "D' ye +remember the bark we took off Porto Bello, with the priests aboard? Oho! +Oho!" + +The rogue with the ruff grinned. "I reckon the padres remember it, and +find hell easy lying. This hole's deep enough, I'm thinking." + +They both clambered out, and one squatted at the head of the grave and +mopped his face with his delicate handkerchief, while the other swung +his fine cloak with an air and dug his bare toes in the sand. + +The two boats now grated upon the beach, and several of their occupants, +springing out, dragged them up on the sand. + +"We'll never get another like him that's gone," said the worthy at the +head of the grave, gloomily regarding the something wrapped in white. + +"That's gospel truth," assented the other, with a prodigious sigh. "He +was a man what was a man. He never stuck at nothing. Don or priest, man +or woman, good red gold or dirty silver,--it was all one to him. But +he's dead and gone!" + +"Now, if we had a captain like Kirby," suggested the first. + +"Kirby keeps to the Summer Isles," said the second. "'T is n't often now +that he swoops down as far as the Indies." + +The man with the broken head laughed. "When he does, there's a noise in +that part of the world." + +"And that's gospel truth, too," swore the other, with an oath of +admiration. + +By this the score or more who had come in the two boats were halfway +up the beach. In front, side by side, as each conceding no inch of +leadership, walked three men: a large man, with a villainous face much +scarred, and a huge, bushy, dark red beard; a tall dark man, with a thin +fierce face and bloodshot eyes, the Spaniard by his looks; and a slight +man, with the face and bearing of an English gentleman. The men behind +them differed no whit from the two gravediggers, being as scoundrelly of +face, as great of strength, and as curiously attired. They came straight +to the open grave, and the dead man beside it. The three who seemed of +most importance disposed themselves, still side by side, at the head of +the grave, and their following took the foot. + +"It's a dirty piece of work," said Red Gil in a voice like a raven's, +"and the sooner it's done with, and we are aboard again and booming back +to the Indies, the better I'll like it. Over with him, brave boys!" + +"Is it yours to give the word?" asked the slight man, who was dressed +point-device, and with a finical nicety, in black and silver. His voice +was low and clear, and of a somewhat melancholy cadence, going well with +the pensiveness of fine, deeply fringed eyes. + +"Why should n't I give the word?" growled the personage addressed, +adding with an oath, "I've as good a right to give it as any man,--maybe +a better right!" + +"That would be scanned," said he of the pensive eyes. "Gentlemen, we +have here the pick of the ship. For the captain that these choose, those +on board will throw up their caps. Let us bury the dead, and then let +choice be made of one of us three, each of whom has claims that might +be put forward"--He broke off and picking up a delicate shell began +to study its pearly spirals with a tender, thoughtful, half-pleased, +half-melancholy countenance. + +The gravedigger with the wrought handkerchief looked from him to +the rascal crew massed at the foot of the grave, and, seeing his own +sentiments mirrored in the countenances of not a few, snatched the +bloody clout from his head, waved it, and cried out, "Paradise!" +Whereupon arose a great confusion. Some bawled for Paradise, some for +Red Gil, a few for the Spaniard. The two gravediggers locked horns, and +a brawny devil with a woman's mantle swathed about his naked shoulders +drew a knife, and made for a partisan of the Spaniard, who in his turn +skillfully interposed between himself and the attack the body of a +bawling well-wisher to Red Gil. + +The man in black and silver tossed aside the shell, rose, and entered +the lists. With one hand he seized the gravedigger of the ruff, and +hurled him apart from him of the velvet breeches; with the other he +presented a dagger with a jeweled haft at the breast of the ruffian with +the woman's mantle, while in tones that would have befitted Astrophel +plaining of his love to rocks, woods, and streams, he poured forth a +flood of wild, singular, and filthy oaths, such as would have disgraced +a camp follower. His interference was effectual. The combatants +fell apart and the clamor was stilled, whereupon the gentleman of +contrarieties at once resumed the gentle and indifferent melancholy of +manner and address. + +"Let us off with the old love before we are on with the new, gentlemen," +he said. "We'll bury the dead first, and choose his successor +afterward,--decently and in order, I trust, and with due submission to +the majority." + +"I'll fight for my rights," growled Red Gil. + +"And I for mine," cried the Spaniard. + +"And each of us'll back his own man," muttered in an aside the +gravedigger with the broken head. + +The one they called Paradise sighed. "It is a thousand pities that there +is not amongst us some one of merit so preeminent that faction should +hide its head before it. But to the work in hand, gentlemen." + +They gathered closer around the yawning grave, and some began to lift +the corpse. As for me, I withdrew as noiselessly as an Indian from my +lair of grass, and, hidden by the heaped-up sand, made off across the +point and down the beach to where a light curl of smoke showed that +some one was mending the fire I had neglected. It was Sparrow, who +alternately threw on driftwood and seaweed and spoke to madam, who +sat at his feet in the blended warmth of fire and sunshine. Diccon was +roasting the remainder of the oysters he had gathered the night before, +and my lord stood and stared with a frowning face at the nine-mile +distant mainland. All turned their eyes upon me as I came up to the +fire. + +"A little longer, Captain Percy, and we would have had out a search +warrant," began the minister cheerfully. "Have you been building a +bridge?" + +"If I build one," I said, "it will be a perilous one enough. Have you +looked seaward?" + +"We waked but a minute agone," he answered. As he spoke, he straightened +his great form and lifted his face from the fire to the blue sea. +Diccon, still on his knees at his task, looked too; and my lord, turning +from his contemplation of the distant kingdom of Accomac; and Mistress +Percy, one hand shading her eyes, the slender fingers of the other still +immeshed in her long dark hair which she had been braiding. They stared +at the ship in silence until my lord laughed. + +"Conjure us on board at once, captain," he cried. "We are thirsty." + +I drew the minister aside. "I am going up the beach, beyond that point, +again; you will one and all stay here. If I do not come back, do +the best you can, and sell her life as dearly as you can. If I come +back,--you are quick of wit and have been a player; look that you take +the cue I give you!" + +I returned to the fire, and he followed me, amazement in his face. "My +Lord Carnal," I said, "I must ask you for your sword." + +He started, and his black brows drew together. "Though the fortunes of +war have made me in some sort your captive, sir," he said at last, and +not without dignity, "I do not see, upon this isle to which we are +all prisoners, the need of so strong testimony to the abjectness of my +condition, nor deem it generous"-- + +"We will speak of generosity another day, my lord," I interrupted. "At +present I am in a hurry. That you are my prisoner in verity is enough +for me, but not for others. I must have you so in seeming as well as in +truth. Moreover, Master Sparrow is weaponless, and I must needs disarm +an enemy to arm a friend. I beg that you will give what else we must +take." + +He looked at Diccon, but Diccon stood with his face to the sea. I +thought we were to have a struggle, and I was sorry for it, but my +lord could and did add discretion to a valor that I never doubted. +He shrugged his shoulders, burst into a laugh, and turned to Mistress +Percy. + +"What can one do, lady, when one is doubly a prisoner, prisoner to +numbers and to beauty? E'en laugh at fate, and make the best of a bad +job. Here, sir! Some day it shall be the point!" + +He drew his rapier from its sheath, and presented the hilt to me. I took +it with a bow, and handed it to Sparrow. + +The King's ward had risen, and now leant against the bank of sand, +her long dark hair, half braided, drawn over either shoulder, her face +marble white between the waves of darkness. + +"I do not know that I shall ever come back," I said, stopping before +her. "May I kiss your hand before I go?" + +Her lips moved, but she did not speak. I knelt and kissed her clasped +hands. They were cold to my lips. "Where are you going?" she whispered. +"Into what danger are you going? I--I--take me with you!" + +I rose, with a laugh at my own folly that could have rested brow and +lips on those hands, and let the world wag. "Another time," I said. +"Rest in the sunshine now, and think that all is well. All will be well, +I trust." + +A few minutes later saw me almost upon the party gathered about the +grave. The grave had received that which it was to hold until the +crack of doom, and was now being rapidly filled with sand. The crew of +deep-dyed villains worked or stood or sat in silence, but all looked +at the grave, and saw me not. As the last handful of sand made it level +with the beach, I walked into their midst, and found myself face to face +with the three candidates for the now vacant captaincy. + +"Give you good-day, gentlemen," I cried. "Is it your captain that you +bury or one of your crew, or is it only pezos and pieces of eight?" + + +CHAPTER XXII IN WHICH I CHANGE MY NAME AND OCCUPATION + + + +"THE sun shining on so much bare steel hurts my eyes," I said. "Put +up, gentlemen, put up! Cannot one rover attend the funeral of another +without all this crowding and display of cutlery? If you will take the +trouble to look around you, you will see that I have brought to the +obsequies only myself." + +One by one cutlass and sword were lowered, and those who had drawn them, +falling somewhat back, spat and swore and laughed. The man in black and +silver only smiled gently and sadly. "Did you drop from the blue?" he +asked. "Or did you come up from the sea?" + +"I came out of it," I said. "My ship went down in the storm yesterday. +Your little cockboat yonder was more fortunate." I waved my hand toward +that ship of three hundred tons, then twirled my mustaches and stood at +gaze. + +"Was your ship so large, then?" demanded Paradise, while a murmur of +admiration, larded with oaths, ran around the circle. + +"She was a very great galleon," I replied, with a sigh for the good ship +that was gone. + +A moment's silence, during which they all looked at me. "A galleon," +then said Paradise softly. + +"They that sailed her yesterday are to-day at the bottom of the sea," I +continued. "Alackaday! so are one hundred thousand pezos of gold, three +thousand bars of silver, ten frails of pearls, jewels uncounted, cloth +of gold and cloth of silver. She was a very rich prize." + +The circle sucked in their breath. "All at the bottom of the sea?" +queried Red Gil, with gloating eyes fixed upon the smiling water. "Not +one pezo left, not one little, little pearl?" + +I shook my head and heaved a prodigious sigh. "The treasure is gone," +I said, "and the men with whom I took it are gone. I am a captain with +neither ship nor crew. I take you, my friends, for a ship and crew +without a captain. The inference is obvious." + +The ring gaped with wonder, then strange oaths arose. Red Gil broke into +a bellow of angry laughter, while the Spaniard glared like a catamount +about to spring. "So you would be our captain?" said Paradise, picking +up another shell, and poising it upon a hand as fine and small as a +woman's. + +"Faith, you might go farther and fare worse," I answered, and began to +hum a tune. When I had finished it, "I am Kirby," I said, and waited to +see if that shot should go wide or through the hull. + +For two minutes the dash of the surf and the cries of the wheeling sea +fowl made the only sound in that part of the world; then from those +half-clad rapscallions arose a shout of "Kirby!"--a shout in which the +three leaders did not join. That one who looked a gentleman rose from +the sand and made me a low bow. "Well met, noble captain," he cried in +those his honey tones. "You will doubtless remember me who was with you +that time at Maracaibo when you sunk the galleasses. Five years have +passed since then, and yet I see you ten years younger and three inches +taller." + +"I touched once at the Lucayas, and found the spring de Leon sought," +I said. "Sure the waters have a marvelous effect, and if they give not +eternal youth at least renew that which we have lost." + +"Truly a potent aqua vitae," he remarked, still with thoughtful +melancholy. "I see that it hath changed your eyes from black to gray." + +"It hath that peculiar virtue," I said, "that it can make black seem +white." + +The man with the woman's mantle drawn about him now thrust himself from +the rear to the front rank. "That's not Kirby!" he bawled. "He's no more +Kirby than I am Kirby! Did n't I sail with Kirby from the Summer Isles +to Cartagena and back again? He's a cheat, and I am agoing to cut his +heart out!" He was making at me with a long knife, when I whipped out my +rapier. + +"Am I not Kirby, you dog?" I cried, and ran him through the shoulder. + +He dropped, and his fellows surged forward with a yell. "Yet a little +patience, my masters!" said Paradise in a raised voice and with genuine +amusement in his eyes. "It is true that that Kirby with whom I and our +friend there on the ground sailed was somewhat short and as swart as a +raven, besides having a cut across his face that had taken away a part +of his lip and the top of his ear, and that this gentleman who announces +himself as Kirby hath none of Kirby's marks. But we are fair and +generous and open to conviction"-- + +"He'll have to convince my cutlass!" roared Red Gil. + +I turned upon him. "If I do convince it, what then?" I demanded. "If I +convince your sword, you of Spain, and yours, Sir Black and Silver?" + +The Spaniard stared. "I was the best sword in Lima," he said stiffly. "I +and my Toledo will not change our minds." + +"Let him try to convince Paradise; he's got no reputation as a +swordsman!" cried out the gravedigger with the broken head. + +A roar of laughter followed this suggestion, and I gathered from it +and from the oaths and allusions to this or that time and place that +Paradise was not without reputation. + +I turned to him. "If I fight you three, one by one, and win, am I +Kirby?" + +He regarded the shell with which he was toying with a thoughtful smile, +held it up that the light might strike through its rose and pearl, then +crushed it to dust between his fingers. + +"Ay," he said with an oath. "If you win against the cutlass of Red Gil, +the best blade of Lima, and the sword of Paradise, you may call yourself +the devil an you please, and we will all subscribe to it." + +I lifted my hand. "I am to have fair play?" + +As one man that crew of desperate villains swore that the odds should be +only three to one. By this the whole matter had presented itself to them +as an entertainment more diverting than bullfight or bearbaiting. They +that follow the sea, whether honest men or black-hearted knaves, have in +their composition a certain childlikeness that makes them easily turned, +easily led, and easily pleased. The wind of their passion shifts quickly +from point to point, one moment blowing a hurricane, the next sinking +to a happy-go-lucky summer breeze. I have seen a little thing convert a +crew on the point of mutiny into a set of rollicking, good-natured souls +who--until the wind veered again--would not hurt a fly. So with these. +They spread themselves into a circle, squatting or kneeling or standing +upon the white sand in the bright sunshine, their sinewy hands that +should have been ingrained red clasped over their knees, or, arms +akimbo, resting upon their hips, on their scoundrel faces a broad smile, +and in their eyes that had looked on nameless horrors a pleasurable +expectation as of spectators in a playhouse awaiting the entrance of the +players. + +"There is really no good reason why we should gratify your whim," said +Paradise, still amused. "But it will serve to pass the time. We will +fight you, one by one." + +"And if I win?" + +He laughed. "Then, on the honor of a gentleman, you are Kirby and our +captain. If you lose, we will leave you where you stand for the gulls to +bury." + +"A bargain," I said, and drew my sword. + +"I first!" roared Red Gil. "God's wounds! there will need no second!" + +As he spoke he swung his cutlass and made an arc of blue flame. The +weapon became in his hands a flail, terrible to look upon, making +lightnings and whistling in the air, but in reality not so deadly as it +seemed. The fury of his onslaught would have beaten down the guard of +any mere swordsman, but that I was not. A man, knowing his weakness and +insufficiency in many and many a thing, may yet know his strength in one +or two and his modesty take no hurt. I was ever master of my sword, and +it did the thing I would have it do. Moreover, as I fought I saw her as +I had last seen her, standing against the bank of sand, her dark hair, +half braided, drawn over her bosom and hanging to her knees. Her +eyes haunted me, and my lips yet felt the touch of her hand. I fought +well,--how well the lapsing of oaths and laughter into breathless +silence bore witness. + +The ruffian against whom I was pitted began to draw his breath in gasps. +He was a scoundrel not fit to die, less fit to live, unworthy of +a gentleman's steel. I presently ran him through with as little +compunction and as great a desire to be quit of a dirty job as if he had +been a mad dog. He fell, and a little later, while I was engaged with +the Spaniard, his soul went to that hell which had long gaped for it. +To those his companions his death was as slight a thing as would theirs +have been to him. In the eyes of the two remaining would-be leaders +he was a stumbling-block removed, and to the squatting, open-mouthed +commonality his taking off weighed not a feather against the solid +entertainment I was affording them. I was now a better man than Red +Gil,--that was all. + +The Spaniard was a more formidable antagonist. The best blade of Lima +was by no means to be despised; but Lima is a small place, and its +blades can be numbered. The sword that for three years had been counted +the best in all the Low Countries was its better. But I fought fasting +and for the second time that morning, so maybe the odds were not so +great. I wounded him slightly, and presently succeeded in disarming him. +"Am I Kirby?" I demanded, with my point at his breast. + +"Kirby, of course, senor," he answered with a sour smile, his eyes upon +the gleaming blade. + +I lowered my point and we bowed to each other, after which he sat down +upon the sand and applied himself to stanching the bleeding from his +wound. The pirate ring gave him no attention, but stared at me instead. +I was now a better man than the Spaniard. + +The man in black and silver rose and removed his doublet, folding it +very carefully, inside out, that the sand might not injure the velvet, +then drew his rapier, looked at it lovingly, made it bend until point +and hilt well-nigh met, and faced me with a bow. + +"You have fought twice, and must be weary," he said. "Will you not take +breath before we engage, or will your long rest afterward suffice you?" + +"I will rest aboard my ship," I made reply. "And as I am in a hurry to +be gone we won't delay." + +Our blades had no sooner crossed than I knew that in this last encounter +I should need every whit of my skill, all my wit, audacity, and +strength. I had met my equal, and he came to it fresh and I jaded. I +clenched my teeth and prayed with all my heart; I set her face before +me, and thought if I should fail her to what ghastly fate she might +come, and I fought as I had never fought before. The sound of the surf +became a roar in my ears, the sunshine an intolerable blaze of light; +the blue above and around seemed suddenly beneath my feet as well. We +were fighting high in the air, and had fought thus for ages. I knew that +he made no thrust I did not parry, no feint I could not interpret. I +knew that my eye was more quick to see, my brain to conceive, and my +hand to execute than ever before; but it was as though I held that +knowledge of some other, and I myself was far away, at Weyanoke, in the +minister's garden, in the haunted wood, anywhere save on that barren +islet. I heard him swear under his breath, and in the face I had set +before me the eyes brightened. As if she had loved me I fought for +her with all my powers of body and mind. He swore again, and my heart +laughed within me. The sea now roared less loudly, and I felt the good +earth beneath my feet. Slowly but surely I wore him out. His breath +came short, the sweat stood upon his forehead, and still I deferred my +attack. He made the thrust of a boy of fifteen, and I smiled as I put it +by. + +"Why don't you end it?" he breathed. "Finish and be d-d to you!" + +For answer I sent his sword flying over the nearest hillock of sand. +"Am I Kirby?" I said. He fell back against the heaped-up sand and leaned +there, panting, with his hand to his side. "Kirby or devil," he replied. +"Have it your own way." + +I turned to the now highly excited rabble. "Shove the boats off, half a +dozen of you!" I ordered. "Some of you others take up that carrion there +and throw it into the sea. The gold upon it is for your pains. You there +with the wounded shoulder you have no great hurt. I'll salve it with ten +pieces of eight from the captain's own share, the next prize we take." + +A shout of acclamation arose that scared the sea fowl. They who so short +a time before had been ready to tear me limb from limb now with the +greatest apparent delight hailed me as captain. How soon they might +revert to their former mood was a question that I found not worth while +to propound to myself. + +By this the man in black and silver had recovered his breath and his +equanimity. "Have you no commission with which to honor me, noble +captain?" he asked in gently reproachful tones. "Have you forgot how +often you were wont to employ me in those sweet days when your eyes were +black?" + +"By no means, Master Paradise," I said courteously. "I desire your +company and that of the gentleman from Lima. You will go with me to +bring up the rest of my party. The three gentlemen of the broken head, +the bushy ruff, which I protest is vastly becoming, and the wounded +shoulder will escort us." + +"The rest of your party?" said Paradise softly. + +"Ay," I answered nonchalantly. "They are down the beach and around the +point warming themselves by a fire which this piled-up sand hides from +you. Despite the sunshine it is a biting air. Let us be going! This +island wearies me, and I am anxious to be on board ship and away." + +"So small an escort scarce befits so great a captain," he said. "We will +all attend you." One and all started forward. + +I called to mind and gave utterance to all the oaths I had heard in the +wars. "I entertain you for my subordinate whom I command, and not who +commands me!" I cried, when my memory failed me. "As for you, you dogs, +who would question your captain and his doings, stay where you are, if +you would not be lessoned in earnest!" + +Sheer audacity is at times the surest steed a man can bestride. Now at +least it did me good service. With oaths and grunts of admiration +the pirates stayed where they were, and went about their business of +launching the boats and stripping the body of Red Gil, while the man in +black and silver, the Spaniard, the two gravediggers, the knave with the +wounded shoulder, and myself walked briskly up the beach. + +With these five at my heels I strode up to the dying fire and to those +who had sprung to their feet at our approach. "Sparrow," I said easily, +"luck being with us as usual, I have fallen in with a party of rovers. +I have told them who I am,--that Kirby, to wit, whom an injurious world +calls the blackest pirate unhanged,--and have recounted to them how the +great galleon which I took some months ago went down yesterday with all +on board, you and I with these others being the sole survivors. By dint +of a little persuasion they have elected me their captain, and we will +go on board directly and set sail for the Indies, a hunting ground which +we never should have left. You need not look so blank; you shall be my +mate and right hand still." I turned to the five who formed my escort. +"This, gentlemen, is my mate, Jeremy Sparrow by name, who hath a taste +for divinity that in no wise interferes with his taste for a galleon +or a guarda costa. This man, Diccon Demon by name, was of my crew. The +gentleman without a sword is my prisoner, taken by me from the last ship +I sunk. How he, an Englishman, came to be upon a Spanish bark I have not +found leisure to inquire. The lady is my prisoner, also." + +"Sure by rights she should be gaoler and hold all men's hearts in ward," +said Paradise, with a low bow to my unfortunate captive. + +While he spoke a most remarkable transformation was going on. The +minister's grave, rugged, and deeply lined face smoothed itself and shed +ten years at least; in the eyes that I had seen wet with noble tears a +laughing devil now lurked, while his strong mouth became a loose-lipped, +devil-may-care one. His head with its aureole of bushy, grizzled hair +set itself jauntily upon one side, and from it and from his face and his +whole great frame breathed a wicked jollity quite indescribable. + +"Odsbodikins, captain!" he cried. "Kirby's luck!--'t will pass into a +saw! Adzooks! and so you're captain once more, and I'm mate once more, +and we've a ship once more, and we're off once more + + sail the Spanish Main + + give the Spaniard pain, + + ho, bully boy, heave ho! + +By 'r lakin! I'm too dry to sing. It will take all the wine of Xeres in +the next galleon to unparch my tongue!" + + + +CHAPTER XXIII IN WHICH WE WRITE UPON THE SAND + + +DAY after day the wind filled our sails and sang in the rigging, and day +after day we sailed through blue seas toward the magic of the south. Day +after day a listless and voluptuous world seemed too idle for any dream +of wrong, and day after day we whom a strange turn of Fortune's wheel +had placed upon a pirate ship held our lives in our hands, and walked so +close with Death that at length that very intimacy did breed contempt. +It was not a time to think; it was a time to act, to laugh and make +others laugh, to bluster and brag, to estrange sword and scabbard, to +play one's hand with a fine unconcern, but all the time to watch, watch, +watch, day in and day out, every minute of every hour. That ship became +a stage, and we, the actors, should have been applauded to the echo. How +well we played let witness the fact that the ship came to the Indies, +with me for captain and the minister for mate, and with the woman that +was on board unharmed; nay, reverenced like a queen. The great cabin was +hers, and the poop deck; we made for her a fantastic state with +doffing of hats and bowings and backward steps. We were her guard,--the +gentlemen of the Queen,--I and my Lord Carnal, the minister and Diccon, +and we kept between her and the rest of the ship. + +We did our best, and our best was very much. When I think of the songs +the minister sang; of the roars of laughter that went up from the +lounging pirates when, sitting astride one of the main-deck guns, he +made his voice call to them, now from the hold, now from the stern +gallery, now from the masthead, now from the gilt sea maid upon the +prow, I laugh too. Sometimes a space was cleared for him, and he played +to them as to the pit at Blackfriars. They laughed and wept and swore +with delight,--all save the Spaniard, who was ever like a thundercloud, +and Paradise, who only smiled like some languid, side-box lord. There +was wine on board, and during the long, idle days, when the wind droned +in the rigging like a bagpipe, and there was never a cloud in the sky, +and the galleons were still far away, the pirates gambled and drank. +Diccon diced with them, and taught them all the oaths of a free company. +So much wine, and no more, should they have; when they frowned, I let +them see that their frowning and their half-drawn knives mattered no +doit to me. It was their whim--a huge jest of which they could never +have enough--still to make believe that they sailed under Kirby. Lest +it should spoil the jest, and while the jest outranked all other +entertainment, they obeyed as though I had been indeed that fierce sea +wolf. + +Time passed, though it passed like a tortoise, and we came to the +Lucayas, to the outposts of the vast hunting ground of Spaniard and +pirate and buccaneer, the fringe of that zone of beauty and villainy and +fear, and sailed slowly past the islands, looking for our prey. + +The sea was blue as blue could be. Only in the morning and the evening +it glowed blood red, or spread upon its still bosom all the gold of +all the Indies, or became an endless mead of palest green shot with +amethyst. When night fell, it mirrored the stars, great and small, or +was caught in a net of gold flung across it from horizon to horizon. +The ship rent the net with a wake of white fire. The air was balm; +the islands were enchanted places, abandoned by Spaniard and Indian, +overgrown, serpent-haunted. The reef, the still water, pink or gold, +the gleaming beach, the green plume of the palm, the scarlet birds, the +cataracts of bloom,--the senses swooned with the color, the steaming +incense, the warmth, the wonder of that fantastic world. Sometimes, in +the crystal waters near the land, we sailed over the gardens of the sea +gods, and, looking down, saw red and purple blooms and shadowy waving +forests, with rainbow fish for humming birds. Once we saw below us a +sunken ship. With how much gold she had endowed the wealthy sea, how +many long drowned would rise from her rotted decks when the waves gave +up their dead, no man could tell. Away from the ship darted many-hued +fish, gold-disked, or barred and spotted with crimson, or silver and +purple. The dolphin and the tunny and the flying fish swam with us. +Sometimes flights of small birds came to us from the land. Sometimes the +sea was thickly set with full-blown pale red bloom, the jellyfish that +was a flower to the sight and a nettle to the touch. If a storm arose, +a fury that raged and threatened, it presently swept away, and the blue +laughed again. When the sun sank, there arose in the east such a moon +as might have been sole light to all the realms of faery. A beauty +languorous and seductive was most absolute empress of the wonderful land +and the wonderful sea. + +We were in the hunting grounds, and men went not there to gather +flowers. Day after day we watched for Spanish sails; for the plate +fleets went that way, and some galleass or caravel or galleon might +stray aside. At last, in the clear green bay of a nameless island at +which we stopped for water, we found two carracks come upon the same +errand, took them, and with them some slight treasure in rich cloths and +gems. A week later, in a strait between two islands like tinted clouds, +we fought a very great galleon from sunrise to noon, pierced her hull +through and through and silenced her ordnance, then boarded her and +found a king's ransom in gold and silver. When the fighting had ceased +and the treasure was ours, then we four stood side by side on the deck +of the slowly sinking galleon, in front of our prisoners,--of the men +who had fought well, of the ashen priests and the trembling women. +Those whom we faced were in high good humor: they had gold with which to +gamble, and wine to drink, and rich clothing with which to prank their +villainous bodies, and prisoners with whom to make merry. When I ordered +the Spaniards to lower their boats, and taking with them their priests +and women row off to one of those two islands, the weather changed. + +We outlived that storm, but how I scarcely know. As Kirby would have +done, so did I; rating my crew like hounds, turning my point this way +and that, daring them to come taste the red death upon it, braving it +out like some devil who knows he is invulnerable. My lord, swinging +the cutlass with which he was armed, stood beside me, knee to knee, and +Diccon cursed after me, making quarterstaff play with his long pike. +But it was the minister that won us through. At length they laughed, and +Paradise, standing forward, swore that such a captain and such a mate +were worth the lives of a thousand Spaniards. To pleasure Kirby, they +would depart this once from their ancient usage and let the prisoners +go, though it was passing strange,--it being Kirby's wont to clap +prisoners under hatches and fire their ship above them. At the end +of which speech the Spaniard began to rave, and sprang at me like a +catamount. Paradise put forth a foot and tripped him up, whereat the +pirates laughed again, and held him back when he would have come at me a +second time. + +From the deck of the shattered galleon I watched her boats, with their +heavy freight of cowering humanity, pull off toward the island. Back +upon my own poop, the grappling irons cast loose, and a swiftly widening +ribbon of blue between us and the sinking ship, I looked at the pirates +thronging the waist below me, and knew that the play was nearly over. +How many days, weeks, hours, before the lights would go out, I could not +tell: they might burn until we took or lost another ship; the next hour +might see that brief tragedy consummated. + +I turned, and going below met Sparrow at the foot of the poop ladder. + +"I have sworn at these pirates until my hair stood on end," he said +ruefully. "God forgive me! And I have bent into circles three half pikes +in demonstration of the thing that would occur to them if they tempted +me overmuch. And I have sung them all the bloody and lascivious songs +that ever I knew in my unregenerate days. I have played the bravo +and buffoon until they gaped for wonder. I have damned myself to all +eternity, I fear, but there'll be no mutiny this fair day. It may arrive +by to-morrow, though." + +"Likely enough," I said. "Come within. I have eaten nothing since +yesterday." + +"I'll speak to Diccon first," he answered, and went on toward the +forecastle, while I entered the state cabin. Here I found Mistress Percy +kneeling beside the bench beneath the stern windows, her face buried in +her outstretched arms, her dark hair shadowing her like a mantle. When +I spoke to her she did not answer. With a sudden fear I stooped and +touched her clasped hands. A shudder ran through her frame, and she +slowly raised a colorless face. + +"Are you come back?" she whispered. "I thought you would never come +back. I thought they had killed you. I was only praying before I killed +myself." + +I took her hands and wrung them apart to rouse her, she was so white and +cold, and spoke so strangely. "God forbid that I should die yet awhile, +madam!" I said. "When I can no longer serve you, then I shall not care +how soon I die." + +The eyes with which she gazed upon me were still wide and unseeing. "The +guns!" she cried, wresting her hands from mine and putting them to +her ears. "Oh, the guns! they shake the air. And the screams and the +trampling--the guns again!" + +I brought her wine and made her drink it; then sat beside her, and told +her gently, over and over again, that there was no longer thunder of the +guns or screams or trampling. At last the long, tearless sobs ceased, +and she rose from her knees, and let me lead her to the door of her +cabin. There she thanked me softly, with downcast eyes and lips that +yet trembled; then vanished from my sight, leaving me first to wonder at +that terror and emotion in her who seldom showed the thing she felt, and +finally to conclude that it was not so wonderful after all. + +We sailed on,--southwards to Cuba, then north again to the Lucayas +and the Florida straits, looking for Spanish ships and their gold. The +lights yet burned,--now brightly, now so sunken that it seemed as though +the next hour they must flicker out. We, the players, flagged not in +that desperate masque; but we knew that, in spite of all endeavor, the +darkness was coming fast upon us. + +Had it been possible, we would have escaped from the ship, hazarding new +fortunes on the Spanish Main, in an open boat, sans food or water. +But the pirates watched us very closely. They called me "captain" and +"Kirby," and for the jest's sake gave an exaggerated obedience, with +laughter and flourishes; but none the less I was their prisoner,--I and +those I had brought with me to that ship. + +An islet, shaped like the crescent moon, rose from out the sea before +us. We needed water, and so we felt our way between the horns of +the crescent into the blue crystal of a fairy harbor. One low hill, +rose- from base to summit, with scarce a hint of the green world +below that canopy of giant bloom, a little silver beach with wonderful +shells upon it, the sound of a waterfall and a lazy surf,--we smelt the +fruits and the flowers, and a longing for the land came upon us. Six +men were left on the ship, and all besides went ashore. Some rolled the +water casks toward the sound of the cascade; others plunged into the +forest, to return laden with strange and luscious fruits, birds, guanas, +conies,--whatever eatable thing they could lay hands upon; others +scattered along the beach to find turtle eggs, or, if fortune favored +them, the turtle itself. They laughed, they sang, they swore, until the +isle rang to their merriment. Like wanton children, they called to each +other, to the screaming birds, to the echoing bloom-draped hill. + +I spread a square of cloth upon the sand, in the shadow of a mighty tree +that stood at the edge of the forest, and the King's ward took her seat +upon it, and looked, in the golden light of the sinking sun, the very +spirit of the isle. By this we two were alone on the beach. The hunters +for eggs, led by Diccon, were out upon the farthest gleaming horn; +from the wood came the loud laughter of the fruit gatherers, and a most +rollicking song issuing from the mighty chest of Master Jeremy Sparrow. +With the woodsmen had gone my lord. + +I walked a little way into the forest, and shouted a warning to Sparrow +against venturing too far. When I returned to the giant tree and the +cloth in the shadow of its outer branches, my wife was writing on the +sand with a pointed shell. She had not seen or heard me, and I stood +behind her and read what she wrote. It was my name. She wrote it three +times, slowly and carefully; then she felt my presence, glanced swiftly +up, smiled, rubbed out my name, and wrote Sparrow's, Diccon's, and the +King's in succession. "Lest I should forget to make my letters," she +explained. + +I sat down at her feet, and for some time we said no word. The light, +falling between the heavy blooms, cast bright sequins upon her dress and +dark hair. The blooms were not more pink than her cheeks, the recesses +of the forest behind us not deeper or darker than her eyes. The laughter +and the song came faintly to us now. The sun was low in the west, and a +wonderful light slept upon the sea. + +"Last year we had a masque at court," she said at length, breaking the +long silence. "We had Calypso's island, and I was Calypso. The island +was built of boards covered with green velvet, and there was a mound +upon it of pink silk roses. There was a deep blue painted sea below, +and a deep blue painted sky above. My nymphs danced around the mound of +roses, while I sat upon a real rock beside the painted sea and talked +with Ulysses--to wit, my Lord of Buckingham--in gold armor. That was +a strange, bright, unreal, and wearisome day, but not so strange and +unreal as this." + +She ceased to speak, and began again to write upon the sand. I watched +her white hand moving to and fro. She wrote, "How long will it last?" + +"I do not know. Not long." + +She wrote again: "If there is time at the last, when you see that it is +best, will you kill me?" + +I took the shell from her hand, and wrote my answer beneath her +question. + +The forest behind us sank into that pause and breathless hush between +the noises of the day and the noises of the night. The sun dropped +lower, and the water became as pink as the blooms above us. + +"An you could, would you change?" I asked. "Would you return to England +and safety?" + +She took a handful of the sand and let it slowly drift through her white +fingers. "You know that I would not," she said; "not if the end were +to come to-night. Only--only"--She turned from me and looked far out to +sea. I could not see her face, only the dusk of her hair and her heaving +bosom. "My blood may be upon your hands," she said in a whisper, "but +yours will be upon my soul." + +She turned yet further away, and covered her eyes with her hand. I +arose, and bent over her until I could have touched with my lips that +bowed head. "Jocelyn," I said. + +A branch of yellow fruit fell beside us, and my Lord Carnal, a mass of +gaudy bloom in his hand, stepped from the wood. "I returned to lay our +first-fruits at madam's feet," he explained, his darkly watchful eyes +upon us both. "A gift from one poor prisoner to another, madam." He +dropped the flowers in her lap. "Will you wear them, lady? They are as +fair almost as I could wish." + +She touched the blossoms with listless fingers, said they were fair; +then, rising, let them drop upon the sand. "I wear no flowers save of my +husband's gathering, my lord," she said. + +There was a pathos and weariness in her voice, and a mist of unshed +tears in her eyes. She hated him; she loved me not, yet was forced to +turn to me for help at every point, and she had stood for weeks upon the +brink of death and looked unfalteringly into the gulf beneath her. + +"My lord," I said, "you know in what direction Master Sparrow led the +men. Will you reenter the wood and call them to return? The sun is fast +sinking, and darkness will be upon us." + +He looked from her to me, with his brows drawn downwards and his +lips pressed together. Stooping, he took up the fallen flowers and +deliberately tore them to pieces, until the pink petals were all +scattered upon the sand. + +"I am weary of requests that are but sugared commands," he said thickly. +"Go seek your own men, an you will. Here we are but man to man, and +I budge not. I stay, as the King would have me stay, beside the +unfortunate lady whom you have made the prisoner and the plaything of a +pirate ship." + +"You wear no sword, my Lord Carnal," I said at last, "and so may lie +with impunity." + +"But you can get me one!" he cried, with ill-concealed eagerness. + +I laughed. "I am not zealous in mine enemy's cause, my lord. I shall not +deprive Master Sparrow of your lordship's sword." + +Before I knew what he was about he crossed the yard of sand between us +and struck me in the face. "Will that quicken your zeal?" he demanded +between his teeth. + +I seized him by the arm, and we stood so, both white with passion, both +breathing heavily. At length I flung his arm from me and stepped back. +"I fight not my prisoner," I said, "nor, while the lady you have named +abides upon that ship with the nobleman who, more than myself, is +answerable for her being there, do I put my life in unnecessary hazard. +I will endure the smart as best I may, my lord, until a more convenient +season, when I will salve it well." + +I turned to Mistress Percy, and giving her my hand led her down to the +boats; for I heard the fruit gatherers breaking through the wood, +and the hunters for eggs, black figures against the crimson sky, were +hurrying down the beach. Before the night had quite fallen we were out +of the fairy harbor, and when the moon rose the islet looked only a +silver sail against the jeweled heavens. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV IN WHICH WE CHOOSE THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS + + +THE luck that had been ours could not hold; when the tide turned, it +ebbed fast. + +The weather changed. One hurricane followed upon the stride of another, +with only a blue day or two between. Ofttimes we thought the ship was +lost. All hands toiled like galley slaves; and as the heavens darkened, +there darkened also the mood of the pirates. + +In sight of the great island of Cuba we gave chase to a bark. The sun +was shining and the sea fairly still when first she fled before us; +we gained upon her, and there was not a mile between us when a cloud +blotted out the sun. The next minute our own sails gave us occupation +enough. The storm, not we, was victor over the bark; she sank with a +shriek from her decks that rang above the roaring wind. Two days later +we fought a large caravel. With a fortunate shot she brought down our +foremast, and sailed away from us with small damage of her own. All that +day and night the wind blew, driving us out of our course, and by dawn +we were as a shuttlecock between it and the sea. We weathered the gale, +but when the wind sank there fell on board that black ship a menacing +silence. + +In the state cabin I held a council of war. Mistress Percy sat beside +me, her arm upon the table, her hand shadowing her eyes; my lord, +opposite, never took his gaze from her, though he listened gloomily to +Sparrow's rueful assertion that the brazen game we had been playing was +well-nigh over. Diccon, standing behind him, bit his nails and stared at +the floor. + +"For myself I care not overmuch," ended the minister. "I scorn not life, +but think it at its worst well worth the living; yet when my God calls +me, I will go as to a gala day and triumph. You are a soldier, Captain +Percy, you and Diccon here, and know how to die. You too, my Lord +Carnal, are a brave man, though a most wicked one. For us four, we can +drink the cup, bitter though it be, with little trembling. But there is +one among us"--His great voice broke, and he sat staring at the table. + +The King's ward uncovered her eyes. "If I be not a man and a soldier, +Master Sparrow," she said simply, "yet I am the daughter of many valiant +gentlemen. I will die as they died before me. And for me, as for you +four, it will be only death,--naught else." She looked at me with a +proud smile. + +"Naught else," I said. + +My lord started from his seat and strode over to the window, where he +stood drumming his fingers against the casing. I turned toward him. "My +Lord Carnal," I said, "you were overheard last night when you plotted +with the Spaniard." + +He recoiled with a gasp, and his hand went to his side, where it found +no sword. I saw his eyes busy here and there through the cabin, seeking +something which he might convert into a weapon. + +"I am yet captain of this ship," I continued. "Why I do not, even though +it be my last act of authority, have you flung to the sharks, I scarcely +know." + +He threw back his head, all his bravado returned to him. "It is not I +that stand in danger," he began loftily; "and I would have you remember, +sir, that you are my enemy, and that I owe you no loyalty." + +"I am content to be your enemy," I answered. + +"You do not dare to set upon me now," he went on, with his old insolent, +boastful smile. "Let me cry out, make a certain signal, and they without +will be here in a twinkling, breaking in the door"--"The signal set?" +I said. "The mine laid, the match burning? Then 't is time that we were +gone. When I bid the world good-night, my lord, my wife goes with me." + +His lips moved and his black eyes narrowed, but he did not speak. + +"An my cheek did not burn so," I said, "I would be content to let you +live; live, captain in verity of this ship of devils, until, tired of +you, the devils cut your throat, or until some victorious Spaniard +hung you at his yardarm; live even to crawl back to England, by hook +or crook, to wait, hat in hand, in the antechamber of his Grace of +Buckingham. As it is, I will kill you here and now. I restore you your +sword, my lord, and there lies my challenge." + +I flung my glove at his feet, and Sparrow unbuckled the keen blade which +he had worn since the day I had asked it of its owner, and pushed it +to me across the table. The King's ward leaned back in her chair, very +white, but with a proud, still face, and hands loosely folded in her +lap. My lord stood irresolute, his lip caught between his teeth, his +eyes upon the door. + +"Cry out, my lord," I said. "You are in danger. Cry to your friends +without, who may come in time. Cry out loudly, like a soldier and a +gentleman!" + +With a furious oath he stooped and caught up the glove at his feet; then +snatched out of my hand the sword that I offered him. + +"Push back the settle, you; it is in the way!" he cried to Diccon; then +to me, in a voice thick with passion: "Come on, sir! Here there are no +meddling governors; this time let Death throw down the warder!" + +"He throws it," said the minister beneath his breath. + +From without came a trampling and a sudden burst of excited voices. The +next instant the door was burst open, and a most villainous, fiery-red +face thrust itself inside. "A ship!" bawled the apparition, and +vanished. The clamor increased; voices cried for captain and mate, and +more pirates appeared at the door, swearing out the good news, come in +search of Kirby, and giving no choice but to go with them at once. + +"Until this interruption is over, sir," I said sternly, bowing to him as +I spoke. "No longer." + +"Be sure, sir, that to my impatience the time will go heavily," he +answered as sternly. + +We reached the poop to find the fog that had lain about us thick and +white suddenly lifted, and the hot sunshine streaming down upon a rough +blue sea. To the larboard, a league away, lay a low, endless coast of +sand, as dazzling white as the surf that broke upon it, and running back +to a matted growth of vivid green. + +"That is Florida," said Paradise at my elbow, "and there are reefs +and shoals enough between us. It was Kirby's luck that the fog lifted. +Yonder tall ship hath a less fortunate star." + +She lay between us and the white beach, evidently in shoal and dangerous +waters. She too had encountered a hurricane, and had not come forth +victorious. Foremast and forecastle were gone, and her bowsprit was +broken. She lay heavily, her ports but a few inches above the water. +Though we did not know it then, most of her ordnance had been flung +overboard to lighten her. Crippled as she was, with what sail she could +set, she was beating back to open sea from that dangerous offing. + +"Where she went we can follow!" sang out a voice from the throng in our +waist. "A d--d easy prize! And we'll give no quarter this time!" There +was a grimness in the applause of his fellows that boded little good to +some on either ship. + +"Lord help all poor souls this day!" ejaculated the minister in +undertones; then aloud and more hopefully, "She hath not the look of a +don; maybe she's buccaneer." + +"She is an English merchantman," said Paradise. "Look at her colors. A +Company ship, probably, bound for Virginia, with a cargo of servants, +gentlemen out at elbows, felons, children for apprentices, traders, +French vignerons, glasswork Italians, returning Councilors and heads +of hundreds, with their wives and daughters, men servants and maid +servants. I made the Virginia voyage once myself, captain." + +I did not answer. I too saw the two crosses, and I did not doubt that +the arms upon the flag beneath were those of the Company. The vessel, +which was of about two hundred tons, had mightily the look of the +George, a ship with which we at Jamestown were all familiar. Sparrow +spoke for me. + +"An English ship!" he cried out of the simplicity of his heart. "Then +she's safe enough for us! Perhaps we might speak her and show her that +we are English, too! Perhaps"--He looked at me eagerly. + +"Perhaps you might be let to go off to her in one of the boats," +finished Paradise dryly. "I think not, Master Sparrow." + +"It's other guess messengers that they'll send," muttered Diccon. +"They're uncovering the guns, sir." + +Every man of those villains, save one, was of English birth; every +man knew that the disabled ship was an English merchantman filled with +peaceful folk, but the knowledge changed their plans no whit. There was +a great hubbub; cries and oaths and brutal laughter, the noise of the +gunners with their guns, the clang of cutlass and pike as they were +dealt out, but not a voice raised against the murder that was to be +done. I looked from the doomed ship, upon which there was now frantic +haste and confusion, to the excited throng below me, and knew that I had +as well cry for mercy to winter wolves. + +The helmsman behind me had not waited for orders, and we were bearing +down upon the disabled bark. Ahead of us, upon our larboard bow, was +a patch of lighter green, and beyond it a slight hurry and foam of the +waters. Half a dozen voices cried warning to the helmsman. It was he of +the woman's mantle, whom I had run through the shoulder on the island +off Cape Charles, and he had been Kirby's pilot from Maracaibo to Fort +Caroline. Now he answered with a burst of vaunting oaths: "We're in deep +water, and there's deep water beyond. I've passed this way before, and +I'll carry ye safe past that reef were 't hell's gate!" + +The desperadoes who heard him swore applause, and thought no more of +the reef that lay in wait. Long since they had gone through the gates +of hell for the sake of the prize beyond. Knowing the appeal to be +hopeless, I yet made it. + +"She is English, men!" I shouted. "We will fight the Spaniards while +they have a flag in the Indies, but our own people we will not touch!" + +The clamor of shouts and oaths suddenly fell, and the wind in the +rigging, the water at the keel, the surf on the shore, made themselves +heard. In the silence, the terror of the fated ship became audible. +Confused voices came to us, and the scream of a woman. + +On the faces of a very few of the pirates there was a look of momentary +doubt and wavering; it passed, and the most had never worn it. They +began to press forward toward the poop, cursing and threatening, +working themselves up into a rage that would not care for my sword, the +minister's cutlass, or Diccon's pike. One who called himself a wit cried +out something about Kirby and his methods, and two or three laughed. + +"I find that the role of Kirby wearies me," I said. "I am an English +gentleman, and I will not fire upon an English ship." + +As if in answer there came from our forecastle a flame and thunder of +guns. The gunners there, intent upon their business, and now within +range of the merchantman, had fired the three forecastle culverins. The +shot cut her rigging and brought down the flag. The pirates' shout of +triumph was echoed by a cry from her decks and the defiant roar of her +few remaining guns. + +I drew my sword. The minister and Diccon moved nearer to me, and the +King's ward, still and white and braver than a man, stood beside me. +From the pirates that we faced came one deep breath, like the first +sigh of the wind before the blast strikes. Suddenly the Spaniard pushed +himself to the front; with his gaunt figure and sable dress he had the +seeming of a raven come to croak over the dead. He rested his gloomy +eyes upon my lord. The latter, very white, returned the look; then, with +his head held high, crossed the deck with a measured step and took his +place among us. He was followed a moment later by Paradise. "I never +thought to die in my bed, captain," said the latter nonchalantly. +"Sooner or later, what does it matter? And you must know that before +I was a pirate I was a gentleman." Turning, he doffed his hat with a +flourish to those he had quitted. "Hell litter!" he cried. "I have run +with you long enough. Now I have a mind to die an honest man." + +At this defection a dead hush of amazement fell upon that crew. One and +all they stared at the man in black and silver, moistening their lips, +but saying no word. We were five armed and desperate men; they were +fourscore. We might send many to death before us, but at the last we +ourselves must die,--we and those aboard the helpless ship. + +In the moment's respite I bowed my head and whispered to the King's +ward. + +"I had rather it were your sword," she answered in a low voice, in which +there was neither dread nor sorrow. "You must not let it grieve you; +it will be added to your good deeds. And it is I that should ask your +forgiveness, not you mine." + +Though there was scant time for such dalliance, I bent my knee and +rested my forehead upon her hand. As I rose, the minister's hand touched +my shoulder and the voice spoke in my ear. "There is another way," he +said. "There is God's death, and not man's. Look and see what I mean." + +I followed the pointing of his eyes, and saw how close we were to those +white and tumbling waters, the danger signal, the rattle of the hidden +snake. The eyes of the pirate at the helm, too, were upon them; his +brows were drawn downward, his lips pressed together, the whole man bent +upon the ship's safe passage.... The low thunder of the surf, the cry of +a wheeling sea bird, the gleaming lonely shore, the cloudless sky, the +ocean, and the white sand far, far below, where one might sleep well, +sleep well, with other valiant dead, long drowned, long changed. "Of +their bones are coral made." + +The storm broke with fury and outcries, and a blue radiance of drawn +steel. A pistol ball sang past my ear. + +"Don't shoot!" roared the gravedigger to the man who had fired the shot. +"Don't cut them down! Take them and thrust them under hatches until +we've time to give them a slow death! And hands off the woman until +we've time to draw lots!" + +He and the Spaniard led the rush. I turned my head and nodded to +Sparrow, then faced them again. "Then may the Lord have mercy upon your +souls!" I said. + +As I spoke the minister sprang upon the helmsman, and, striking him +to the deck with one blow of his huge fist, himself seized the +wheel. Before the pirates could draw breath he had jammed the helm to +starboard, and the reef lay right across our bows. + +A dreadful cry went up from that black ship to a deaf Heaven,--a cry +that was echoed by a wild shout of triumph from the merchantman. The +mass fronting us broke in terror and rage and confusion. Some ran +frantically up and down with shrieks and curses; others sprang +overboard. A few made a dash for the poop and for us who stood to meet +them. They were led by the Spaniard and the gravedigger. The former I +met and sent tumbling back into the waist; the latter whirled past me, +and rushing upon Paradise thrust him through with a pike, then dashed on +to the wheel, to be met and hewn down by Diccon. + +The ship struck. I put my arm around my wife, and my hand before her +eyes; and while I looked only at her, in that storm of terrible cries, +of flapping canvas, rushing water, and crashing timbers, the Spaniard +clambered like a catamount upon the poop, that was now high above the +broken forepart of the ship, and fired his pistol at me point-blank. + + + +CHAPTER XXV IN WHICH MY LORD HATH HIS DAY + + +I AND Black Lamoral were leading a forlorn hope. With all my old company +behind us, we were thundering upon an enemy as thick as ants, covering +the face of the earth. Down came Black Lamoral, and the hoofs of every +mad charger went over me. For a time I was dead; then I lived again, and +was walking with the forester's daughter in the green chase at home. The +oaks stretched broad sheltering arms above the young fern and the little +wild flowers, and the deer turned and looked at us. In the open spaces, +starring the lush grass, were all the yellow primroses that ever +bloomed. I gathered them for her, but when I would have given them to +her she was no longer the forester's daughter, but a proud lady, +heiress to lands and gold, the ward of the King. She would not take the +primroses from a poor gentleman, but shook her head and laughed sweetly, +and faded into a waterfall that leaped from a pink hill into a waveless +sea. Another darkness, and I was captive to the Chickahominies, tied to +the stake. My arm and shoulder were on fire, and Opechancanough came and +looked at me, with his dark, still face and his burning eyes. The fierce +pain died, and I with it, and I lay in a grave and listened to the loud +and deep murmur of the forest above. I lay there for ages on ages before +I awoke to the fact that the darkness about me was the darkness of +a ship's hold, and the murmur of the forest the wash of the water +alongside. I put out an arm and touched, not the side of a grave, but a +ship's timbers. I stretched forth the other arm, then dropped it with a +groan. Some one bent over me and held water to my lips. I drank, and my +senses came fully to me. "Diccon!" I said. + +"It's not Diccon," replied the figure, setting down a pitcher. "It is +Jeremy Sparrow. Thank God, you are yourself again!" + +"Where are we?" I asked, when I had lain and listened to the water a +little longer. + +"In the hold of the George," he answered. "The ship sank by the bows, +and well-nigh all were drowned. But when they upon the George saw that +there was a woman amongst us who clung to the poop deck, they sent their +longboat to take us off." + +The light was too dim for me to read his face, so I touched his arm. + +"She was saved," he said. "She is safe now. There are gentlewomen +aboard, and she is in their care." + +I put my unhurt arm across my eyes. + +"You are weak yet," said the minister gently. "The Spaniard's ball, you +know, went through your shoulder, and in some way your arm was badly +torn from shoulder to wrist. You have been out of your head ever since +we were brought here, three days ago. The chirurgeon came and dressed +your wound, and it is healing well. Don't try to speak,--I'll tell +you all. Diccon has been pressed into service, as the ship is short of +hands, having lost some by fever and some overboard. Four of the pirates +were picked up, and hung at the yardarm next morning." + +He moved as he spoke, and something clanked in the stillness. "You are +ironed!" I exclaimed. + +"Only my ankles. My lord would have had me bound hand and foot; but you +were raving for water, and, taking you for a dying man, they were so +humane as to leave my hands free to attend you." + +"My lord would have had you bound," I said slowly. "Then it's my lord's +day." + +"High noon and blazing sunshine," he answered, with a rueful laugh. "It +seems that half the folk on board had gaped at him at court. Lord! when +he put his foot over the side of the ship, how the women screeched and +the men stared! He 's cock of the walk now, my Lord Carnal, the King's +favorite!" + +"And we are pirates." + +"That 's the case in a nutshell," he answered cheerfully. + +"Do they know how the ship came to strike upon that reef?" I asked. + +"Probably not, unless madam has enlightened them. I did n't take the +trouble,--they would n't have believed me,--and I can take my oath my +lord has n't. He was only our helpless prisoner, you know; and they +would think madam mistaken or bewitched." + +"It 's not a likely tale," I said grimly, "seeing that we had already +opened fire upon them." + +"I trust in heaven the sharks got the men who fired the culverins!" he +cried, and then laughed at his own savagery. + +I lay still and tried to think. "Who are they on board?" I asked at +last. + +"I don't know," he replied. "I was only on deck until my lord had had +his say in the poop cabin with the master and a gentleman who appeared +most in authority. Then the pirates were strung up, and we were bundled +down here in quick order. But there seems to be more of quality than +usual aboard." + +"You do not know where we are?" + +"We lay at anchor for a day,--whilst they patched her up, I +suppose,--and since then there has been rough weather. We must be still +off Florida, and that is all I know. Now go to sleep. You'll get your +strength best so, and there's nothing to be gotten by waking." + +He began to croon a many-versed psalm. I slept and waked, and slept +again, and was waked by the light of a torch against my eyes. The torch +was held by a much-betarred seaman, and by its light a gentleman of a +very meagre aspect, with a weazen face and small black eyes, was busily +examining my wounded shoulder and arm. + +"It passeth belief," he said in a sing-song voice, "how often wounds, +with naught in the world done for them outside of fair water and a clean +rag, do turn to and heal out of sheer perversity. Now, if I had been +allowed to treat this one properly with scalding oil and melted lead, +and to have bled the patient as he should have been bled, it is ten to +one that by this time there would have been a pirate the less in the +world." He rose to his feet with a highly injured countenance. + +"Then he's doing well?" asked Sparrow. + +"So well that he could n't do better," replied the other. "The arm was +a trifling matter, though no doubt exquisitely painful. The wound in +the shoulder is miraculously healing, without either blood-letting or +cauteries. You'll have to hang after all, my friend." He looked at me +with his little beady eyes. "It must have been a grand life," he said +regretfully. "I never expected to see a pirate chief in the flesh. When +I was a boy, I used to dream of the black ships and the gold and the +fighting. By the serpent of Esculapius, in my heart of hearts I would +rather be such a world's thief, uncaught, than Governor of Virginia!" He +gathered up the tools of his trade, and motioned to his torchbearer +to go before. "I'll have to report you rapidly recovering," he said +warningly, as he turned to follow the light. + +"Very well," I made answer. "To whom am I indebted for so much +kindness?" + +"I am Dr. John Pott, newly appointed physician general to the colony of +Virginia. It is little of my skill I could give you, but that little I +gladly bestow upon a real pirate. What a life it must have been! And to +have to part with it when you are yet young! And the good red gold and +the rich gems all at the bottom of the sea!" + +He sighed heavily and went his way. The hatches were closed after +him, and the minister and I were left in darkness while the slow hours +dragged themselves past us. Through the chinks of the hatches a very +faint light streamed down, and made the darkness gray instead of black. +The minister and I saw each other dimly, as spectres. Some one brought +us mouldy biscuit that I wanted not, and water for which I thirsted. +Sparrow put the small pitcher to his lips, kept it there a moment, then +held it to mine. I drank, and with that generous draught tasted pure +bliss. It was not until five minutes later that I raised myself upon my +elbow and turned on him. + +"The pitcher felt full to my lips!" I exclaimed. "Did you drink when you +said you did?" + +He put out his great hand and pushed me gently down. "I have no wound," +he said, "and there was not enough for two." + +The light that trembled through the cracks above died away, and the +darkness became gross. The air in the hold was stifling; our souls +panted for the wind and the stars outside. At the worst, when the fetid +blackness lay upon our chests like a nightmare, the hatch was suddenly +lifted, a rush of pure air came to us, and with it the sound of men's +voices speaking on the deck above. Said one, "True the doctor pronounces +him out of all danger, yet he is a wounded man." + +"He is a desperate and dangerous man," broke in another harshly. "I +know not how you will answer to your Company for leaving him unironed so +long." + +"I and the Company understand each other, my lord," rejoined the first +speaker, with some haughtiness. "I can keep my prisoner without advice. +If I now order irons to be put upon him and his accomplice, it is +because I see fit to do so, and not because of your suggestion, my lord. +You wish to take this opportunity to have speech with him,--to that I +can have no objection." + +The speaker moved away. As his footsteps died in the distance my lord +laughed, and his merriment was echoed by three or four harsh voices. +Some one struck flint against steel, and there was a sudden flare +of torches and the steadier light of a lantern. A man with a brutal, +weather-beaten face--the master of the ship, we guessed--came down the +ladder, lantern in hand, turned when he had reached the foot, and held +up the lantern to light my lord down. I lay and watched the King's +favorite as he descended. The torches held slantingly above cast a fiery +light over his stately figure and the face which had raised him from the +low estate of a doubtful birth and a most lean purse to a pinnacle too +near the sun for men to gaze at with undazzled eyes. In his rich dress +and the splendor of his beauty, with the red glow enveloping him, he lit +the darkness like a baleful star. + +The two torchbearers and a third man descended, closing the hatch after +them. When all were down, my lord, the master at his heels, came and +stood over me. I raised myself, though with difficulty, for the fever +had left me weak as a babe, and met his gaze. His was a cruel look; if +I had expected, as assuredly I did not expect, mercy or generosity +from this my dearest foe, his look would have struck such a hope dead. +Presently he beckoned to the men behind him. "Put the manacles upon him +first," he said, with a jerk of his thumb toward Sparrow. + +The man who had come down last, and who carried irons enough to fetter +six pirates, started forward to do my lord's bidding. The master glanced +at Sparrow's great frame, and pulled out a pistol. The minister laughed. +"You'll not need it, friend. I know when the odds are too great." He +held out his arms, and the men fettered them wrist to wrist. When they +had finished he said calmly: "'I have seen the wicked in great power, +and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, +lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.'" + +My lord turned from him, and pointed to me. He kept his eyes upon my +face while they shackled me hand and foot; then said abruptly, "You have +cords there: bind his arms to his sides." The men wound the cords around +me many times. "Draw them tight," commanded my lord. + +There came a wrathful clank of the minister's chains. "The arm is torn +and inflamed from shoulder to wrist, as I make no doubt you have been +told!" he cried. "For very shame, man!" + +"Draw them tighter," said my lord, between his teeth. + +The men knotted the cords, and rose to their feet, to be dismissed by my +lord with a curt "You may go." They drew back to the foot of the ladder, +while the master of the ship went and perched himself upon one of the +rungs. "The air is fresher here beneath the hatch," he remarked. + +As for me, though I lay at my enemy's feet, I could yet set my teeth and +look him in the eyes. The cup was bitter, but I could drink it with an +unmoved face. + +"Art paid?" he demanded. "Art paid for the tree in the red forest +without the haunted wood? Art paid, thou bridegroom?" + +"No," I answered. "Bring her here to laugh at me as she laughed in the +twilight beneath the guesthouse window." + +I thought he would murder me with the poniard he drew, but presently he +put it up. + +"She is come to her senses," he said. "Up in the state cabin are bright +lights, and wine and laughter. There are gentlewomen aboard, and I have +been singing to the lute, to them--and to her. She is saved from the +peril into which you plunged her; she knows that the King's Court of +High Commission, to say nothing of the hangman, will soon snap the +fetters which she now shudders to think of; that the King and one +besides will condone her past short madness. Her cheeks are roses, her +eyes are stars. But now, when I pressed her hand between the verses of +my song, she smiled and sighed and blushed. She is again the dutiful +ward of the King, the Lady Jocelyn Leigh--she hath asked to be so +called"-- + +"You lie," I said. "She is my true and noble wife. She may sit in the +state cabin, in the air and warmth and light, she may even laugh with +her lips, but her heart is here with me in the hold." + +As I spoke, I knew, and knew not how I knew, that the thing which I had +said was true. With that knowledge came a happiness so deep and strong +that it swept aside like straw the torment of those cords, and the +deeper hurt that I lay at his feet. I suppose my face altered, and +mirrored that blessed glow about my heart, for into his own came a white +fury, changing its beauty into something inhuman and terrifying. He +looked a devil baffled. For a minute he stood there rigid, with hands +clenched. "Embrace her heart, if thou canst," he said, in a voice so low +that it came like a whisper from the realm he might have left. "I shall +press my face against her bosom." + +Another minute of a silence that I disdained to break; then he turned +and went up the ladder. The seamen and the master followed. The hatch +was clapped to and fastened, and we were left to the darkness and the +heavy air, and to a grim endurance of what could not be cured. + +During those hours of thirst and torment I came indeed to know the man +who sat beside me. His hands were so fastened that he could not loosen +the cords, and there was no water for him to give me; but he could +and did bestow a higher alms,--the tenderness of a brother, the manly +sympathy of a soldier, the balm of the priest of God. I lay in silence, +and he spoke not often; but when he did so, there was that in the tone +of his voice--Another cycle of pain, and I awoke from a half swoon, +in which there was water to drink and no anguish, to hear him praying +beside me. He ceased to speak, and in the darkness I heard him draw his +breath hard and his great muscles crack. Suddenly there came a sharp +sound of breaking iron, and a low "Thank Thee, Lord!" Another moment, +and I felt his hands busy at the knotted cords. "I will have them off +thee in a twinkling, Ralph," he said, "thanks to Him who taught my hands +to war, and my arms to break in two a bow of steel." As he spoke, the +cords loosened beneath his fingers. + +I raised my head and laid it on his knee, and he put his great arm, with +the broken chain dangling from it, around me, and, like a mother with a +babe, crooned me to sleep with the twenty-third psalm. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI IN WHICH I AM BROUGHT TO TRIAL + + +MY lord came not again into the hold, and the untied cords and the +broken chain were not replaced. Morning and evening we were brought a +niggard allowance of bread and water; but the man who carried it bore +no light, and may not even have observed their absence. We saw no one in +authority. Hour by hour my wounds healed and my strength returned. If +it was a dark and noisome prison, if there were hunger and thirst and +inaction to be endured, if we knew not how near to us might be a death +of ignominy, yet the minister and I found the jewel in the head of the +toad; for in that time of pain and heaviness we became as David and +Jonathan. + +At last some one came beside the brute who brought us food. A quiet +gentleman, with whitening hair and bright dark eyes, stood before us. He +had ordered the two men with him to leave open the hatch, and he held +in his hand a sponge soaked with vinegar. "Which of you is--or rather +was--Captain Ralph Percy?" he asked, in a grave but pleasant voice. + +"I am Captain Percy," I answered. + +He looked at me with attention. "I have heard of you before," he said. +"I read the letter you wrote to Sir Edwyn Sandys, and thought it an +excellently conceived and manly epistle. What magic transformed a +gentleman and a soldier into a pirate?" + +As he waited for me to speak, I gave him for answer, "Necessity." + +"A sad metamorphosis," he said. "I had rather read of nymphs changed +into laurel and gushing springs. I am come to take you, sir, before the +officers of the Company aboard this ship, when, if you have aught to say +for yourself, you may say it. I need not tell you, who saw so clearly +some time ago the danger in which you then stood, that your plight is +now a thousandfold worse." + +"I am perfectly aware of it," I said. "Am I to go in fetters?" + +"No," he replied, with a smile. "I have no instructions on the subject, +but I will take it upon myself to free you from them,--even for the sake +of that excellently writ letter." + +"Is not this gentleman to go too?" I asked. + +He shook his head. "I have no orders to that effect." + +While the men who were with him removed the irons from my wrists and +ankles he stood in silence, regarding me with a scrutiny so close that +it would have been offensive had I been in a position to take offense. +When they had finished I turned and held Jeremy's hand in mine for an +instant, then followed the new-comer to the ladder and out of the hold; +the two men coming after us, and resolving themselves above into a +guard. As we traversed the main deck we came upon Diccon, busy with two +or three others about the ports. He saw me, and, dropping the bar that +he held, started forward, to be plucked back by an angry arm. The men +who guarded me pushed in between us, and there was no word spoken by +either. I walked on, the gentleman at my side, and presently came to an +open port, and saw, with an intake of my breath, the sunshine, a dark +blue heaven flecked with white, and a quiet ocean. My companion glanced +at me keenly. + +"Doubtless it seems fair enough, after that Cimmerian darkness below," +he remarked. "Would you like to rest here a moment?" + +"Yes," I said, and, leaning against the side of the port, looked out at +the beauty of the light. + +"We are off Hatteras," he informed me, "but we have not met with the +stormy seas that vex poor mariners hereabouts. Those sails you see on +our quarter belong to our consort. We were separated by the hurricane +that nigh sunk us, and finally drove us, helpless as we were, toward +the Florida coast and across your path. For us that was a fortunate reef +upon which you dashed. The gods must have made your helmsman blind, +for he ran you into a destruction that gaped not for you. Why did every +wretch that we hung next morning curse you before he died?" + +"If I told you, you would not believe me," I replied. + +I was dizzy with the bliss of the air and the light, and it seemed a +small thing that he would not believe me. The wind sounded in my ears +like a harp, and the sea beckoned. A white bird flashed down into the +crystal hollow between two waves, hung there a second, then rose, a +silver radiance against the blue. Suddenly I saw a river, dark and +ridged beneath thunderclouds, a boat, and in it, her head pillowed upon +her arm, a woman, who pretended that she slept. With a shock my senses +steadied, and I became myself again. The sea was but the sea, the wind +the wind; in the hold below me lay my friend; somewhere in that ship was +my wife; and awaiting me in the state cabin were men who perhaps had +the will, as they had the right and the might, to hang me at the yardarm +that same hour. + +"I have had my fill of rest," I said. "Whom am I to stand before?" + +"The newly appointed officers of the Company, bound in this ship for +Virginia," he answered. "The ship carries Sir Francis Wyatt, the new +Governor; Master Davison, the Secretary; young Clayborne, the surveyor +general; the knight marshal, the physician general, and the Treasurer, +with other gentlemen, and with fair ladies, their wives and sisters. I +am George Sandys, the Treasurer." + +The blood rushed to my face, for it hurt me that the brother of Sir +Edwyn Sandys should believe that the firing of those guns had been my +act. His was the trained observation of the traveler and writer, and he +probably read the color aright. "I pity you, if I can no longer esteem +you," he said, after a pause. "I know no sorrier sight than a brave +man's shield reversed." + +I bit my lip and kept back the angry word. The next minute saw us at +the door of the state cabin. It opened, and my companion entered, and +I after him, with my two guards at my back. Around a large table were +gathered a number of gentlemen, some seated, some standing. There +were but two among them whom I had seen before,--the physician who had +dressed my wound and my Lord Carnal. The latter was seated in a great +chair, beside a gentleman with a pleasant active face and light brown +curling hair,--the new Governor, as I guessed. The Treasurer, nodding to +the two men to fall back to the window, glided to a seat upon my lord's +other hand, and I went and stood before the Governor of Virginia. + +For some moments there was silence in the cabin, every man being engaged +in staring at me with all his eyes; then the Governor spoke: "It should +be upon your knees, sir." + +"I am neither petitioner nor penitent," I said. "I know no reason why I +should kneel, your Honor." + +"There 's reason, God wot, why you should be both!" he exclaimed. "Did +you not, now some months agone, defy the writ of the King and Company, +refusing to stand when called upon to do so in the King's name?" + +"Yes." + +"Did you not, when he would have stayed your lawless flight, lay violent +hands upon a nobleman high in the King's favor, and, overpowering him +with numbers, carry him out of the King's realm?" + +"Yes." + +"Did you not seduce from her duty to the King, and force to fly with +you, his Majesty's ward, the Lady Jocelyn Leigh?" + +"No," I said. "There was with me only my wife, who chose to follow the +fortunes of her husband." + +He frowned, and my lord swore beneath his breath. "Did you not, falling +in with a pirate ship, cast in your lot with the scoundrels upon it, and +yourself turn pirate?" + +"In some sort." + +"And become their chief?" + +"Since there was no other situation open,--yes." + +"Taking with you as captives upon the pirate ship that lady and that +nobleman?" + +"Yes." + +"You proceeded to ravage the dominions of the King of Spain, with whom +his Majesty is at peace"-- + +"Like Drake and Raleigh,--yes," I said. + +He smiled, then frowned "Tempora mutantur," he said dryly. "And I have +never heard that Drake or Raleigh attacked an English ship." + +"Nor have I attacked one," I said. + +He leaned back in his chair and stared at me. "We saw the flame and +heard the thunder of your guns, and our rigging was cut by the shot. Did +you expect me to believe that last assertion?" + +"No." + +"Then you might have spared yourself--and us--that lie," he said coldly. + +The Treasurer moved restlessly in his seat, and began to whisper to his +neighbor the Secretary. A young man, with the eyes of a hawk and an iron +jaw,--Clayborne, the surveyor general,--who sat at the end of the table +beside the window, turned and gazed out upon the clouds and the sea, +as if, contempt having taken the place of curiosity, he had no further +interest in the proceedings. As for me, I set my face like a flint, +and looked past the man who might have saved me that last speech of the +Governor's as if he had never been. + +There was a closed door in the cabin, opposite the one by which I had +entered. Suddenly from behind it came the sound of a short struggle, +followed by the quick turn of a key in the lock. The door was flung +open, and two women entered the cabin. One, a fair young gentlewoman, +with tears in her brown eyes, came forward hurriedly with outspread +hands. + +"I did what I could, Frank!" she cried. "When she would not listen to +reason, I e'en locked the door; but she is strong, for all that she has +been ill, and she forced the key out of my hand!" She looked at the red +mark upon the white hand, and two tears fell from her long lashes upon +her wild-rose cheeks. + +With a smile the Governor put out an arm and drew her down upon a stool +beside him, then rose and bowed low to the King's ward. "You are not yet +well enough to leave your cabin, as our worthy physician general will +assure you, lady," he said courteously, but firmly. "Permit me to lead +you back to it." + +Still smiling he made as if to advance, when she stayed him with a +gesture of her raised hand, at once so majestic and so pleading that it +was as though a strain of music had passed through the stillness of the +cabin. + +"Sir Francis Wyatt, as you are a gentleman, let me speak," she said. +It was the voice of that first night at Weyanoke, all pathos, all +sweetness, all entreating. + +The Governor stopped short, the smile still upon his lips, his hand +still outstretched,--stood thus for a moment, then sat down. Around the +half circle of gentlemen went a little rustling sound, like wind in dead +leaves. My lord half rose from his seat. "She is bewitched," he said, +with dry lips. "She will say what she has been told to say. Lest she +speak to her shame, we should refuse to hear her." + +She had been standing in the centre of the floor, her hands clasped, her +body bowed toward the Governor, but at my lord's words she straightened +like a bow unbent. "I may speak, your Honor?" she asked clearly. + +The Governor, who had looked askance at the working face of the +man beside him, slightly bent his head and leaned back in his great +armchair. The King's favorite started to his feet. The King's ward +turned her eyes upon him. "Sit down, my lord," she said. "Surely these +gentlemen will think that you are afraid of what I, a poor erring woman, +rebellious to the King, traitress to mine own honor, late the plaything +of a pirate ship, may say or do. Truth, my lord, should be more +courageous." Her voice was gentle, even plaintive, but it had in it the +quality that lurks in the eyes of the crouching panther. + +My lord sat down, one hand hiding his working mouth, the other clenched +on the arm of his chair as if it had been an arm of flesh. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII IN WHICH I FIND AN ADVOCATE + + +SHE came slowly nearer the ring of now very quiet and attentive faces +until she stood beside me, but she neither looked at me nor spoke to me. +She was thinner and there were heavy shadows beneath her eyes, but she +was beautiful. + +"I stand before gentlemen to whom, perhaps, I am not utterly unknown," +she said. "Some here, perchance, have been to court, and have seen me +there. Master Sandys, once, before the Queen died, you came to Greenwich +to kiss her Majesty's hands; and while you waited in her antechamber you +saw a young maid of honor--scarce more than a child--curled in a window +seat with a book. You sat beside her, and told her wonderful tales +of sunny lands and gods and nymphs. I was that maid of honor. Master +Clayborne, once, hawking near Windsor, I dropped my glove. There were a +many out of their saddles before it touched the ground, but a gentleman, +not of our party, who had drawn his horse to one side to let us pass, +was quicker than they all. Did you not think yourself well paid, sir, +when you kissed the hand to which you restored the glove? All here, I +think, may have heard my name. If any hath heard aught that ever I +did in all my life to tarnish it, I pray him to speak now and shame me +before you all!" + +Clayborne started up. "I remember that day at Windsor, lady!" he cried. +"The man of whom I afterward asked your name was a most libertine +courtier, and he raised his hat when he spoke of you, calling you a lily +which the mire of the court could not besmirch. I will believe all good, +but no harm of you, lady!" + +He sat down, and Master Sandys said gravely: "Men need not be courtiers +to have known of a lady of great wealth and high birth, a ward of the +King's, and both beautiful and pure. I nor no man else, I think, ever +heard aught of the Lady Jocelyn Leigh but what became a daughter of her +line." + +A murmur of assent went round the circle. The Governor, leaning forward +from his seat, his wife's hand in his, gravely bent his head. "All this +is known, lady," he said courteously. + +She did not answer; her eyes were upon the King's favorite, and the +circle waited with her. + +"It is known," said my lord. + +She smiled proudly. "For so much grace, thanks, my lord," she said, then +addressed herself again to the Governor: "Your Honor, that is the past, +the long past, the long, long past, though not a year has gone by. Then +I was a girl, proud and careless; now, your Honor, I am a woman, and +I stand here in the dignity of suffering and peril. I fled from +England"--She paused, drew herself up, and turned upon my lord a face +and form so still, and yet so expressive of noble indignation, outraged +womanhood, scorn, and withal a kind of angry pity, that small wonder if +he shrank as from a blow. "I left the only world I knew," she said. "I +took a way low and narrow and dark and set with thorns, but the only way +that I--alone and helpless and bewildered---could find, because that I, +Jocelyn Leigh, willed not to wed with you, my Lord Carnal. Why did you +follow me, my lord? You knew that I loved you not. You knew my mind, +and that I was weak and friendless, and you used your power. I must +tell you, my lord, that you were not chivalrous, nor compassionate, nor +brave"-- + +"I loved you!" he cried, and stretched out his arm toward her across the +table. He saw no one but her, spoke to none but her. There was a fierce +yearning and a hopelessness in his voice and bent head and outstretched +arm that lent for the time a tragic dignity to the pageant, evil and +magnificent, of his life. + +"You loved me," she said. "I had rather you had hated me, my lord. I +came to Virginia, your Honor, and men thought me the thing I professed +myself. In the green meadow beyond the church they wooed me as such. +This one came and that one, and at last a fellow, when I said him nay +and bade him begone, did dare to seize my hands and kiss my lips. While +I struggled one came and flung that dastard out of the way, then asked +me plainly to become his wife, and there was no laugh or insult in his +voice. I was wearied and fordone and desperate.... So I met my husband, +and so I married him. That same day I told him a part of my secret, and +when my Lord Carnal was come I told him all.... I had not met with much +true love or courtesy or compassion in my life. When I saw the danger in +which he stood because of me, I told him he might free himself from that +coil, might swear to what they pleased, whistle me off, save himself, +and I would say no word of blame. There was wine upon the table, and he +filled a cup and brought it to me, and we drank of it together. We drank +of the same cup then, your Honor, and we will drink of it still. We +twain were wedded, and the world strove to part us. Which of you here, +in such quarrel, would not withstand the world? Lady Wyatt, would not +thy husband hold thee, while he lived, against the world? Then speak for +mine!" + +"Frank, Frank!" cried Lady Wyatt. "They love each other!" + +"If he withstood the King," went on the King's ward, "it was for his +honor and for mine. If he fled from Virginia, it was because I willed +it so. Had he stayed, my Lord Carnal, and had you willed to follow me +again, you must have made a yet longer journey to a most distant bourne. +That wild night when we fled, why did you come upon us, my lord? The +moon burst forth from a black cloud, and you stood there upon the wharf +above us, calling to the footsteps behind to hasten. We would have left +you there in safety, and gone ourselves alone down that stream as black +and strange as death. Why did you spring down the steps and grapple with +the minister? And he that might have thrust you beneath the flood and +drowned you there did but fling you into the boat. We wished not your +company, my lord; we would willingly have gone without you. I trust, my +lord, you have made honest report of this matter, and have told these +gentlemen that my husband gave you, a prisoner whom he wanted not, all +fair and honorable treatment. That you have done this I dare take my +oath, my lord"-- + +She stood silent, her eyes upon his. The men around stirred, and a +little flash like the glint of drawn steel went from one pair of eyes to +another. + +"My lord, my lord!" said the King's ward. "Long ago you won my hatred; +an you would not win my contempt, speak truth this day!" + +In his eyes, which he had never taken from her face, there leaped to +meet the proud appeal in her own a strange fire. That he loved her with +a great and evil passion, I, who needs had watched him closely, had +long known. Suddenly he burst into jarring laughter. "Yea, he treated me +fairly enough, damn him to everlasting hell! But he 's a pirate, sweet +bird; he's a pirate, and must swing as such!" + +"A pirate!" she cried. "But he was none! My lord, you know he was none! +Your Honor"-- + +The Governor interrupted her: "He made himself captain of a pirate ship, +lady. He took and sunk ships of Spain." + +"In what sort did he become their chief?" she cried. "In such sort, +gentlemen, as the bravest of you, in like straits, would have been +blithe to be, an you had had like measure of wit and daring! Your Honor, +the wind before which our boat drave like a leaf, the waves that would +engulf us, wrecked us upon a desert isle. There was no food or water +or shelter. That night, while we slept, a pirate ship anchored off the +beach, and in the morning the pirates came ashore to bury their captain. +My husband met them alone, fought their would-be leaders one by one, and +forced the election to fall upon himself. Well he knew that if he left +not that isle their leader, he would leave it their captive; and not +he alone! God's mercy, gentlemen, what other could he do? I pray you +to hold him absolved from a willing embrace of that life! Sunk ships +of Spain! Yea, forsooth; and how long hath it been since other English +gentlemen sunk other ships of Spain? The world hath changed indeed if +to fight the Spaniard in the Indies, e'en though at home we be at peace +with him, be conceived so black a crime! He fought their galleons fair +and knightly, with his life in his hand; he gave quarter, and while +they called him chief those pirates tortured no prisoner and wronged +no woman. Had he not been there, would the ships have been taken less +surely? Had he not been there, God wot, ships and ships' boats alike +would have sunk or burned, and no Spanish men and women had rowed away +and blessed a generous foe. A pirate! He, with me and with the minister +and with my Lord Carnal, was prisoner to the pirates, and out of that +danger he plucked safety for us all! Who hath so misnamed a gallant +gentleman? Was it you, my lord?" + +Eyes and voice were imperious, and in her cheeks burned an indignant +crimson. My lord's face was set and white; he looked at her, but spoke +no word. + +"The Spanish ships might pass, lady," said the Governor; "but this is an +English ship, with the flag of England above her." + +"Yea," she said. "What then?" + +The circle rustled again. The Governor loosed his wife's fingers and +leaned forward. "You plead well, lady!" he exclaimed. "You might win, an +Captain Percy had not seen fit to fire upon us." + +A dead silence followed his words. Outside the square window a cloud +passed from the face of the sun, and a great burst of sunshine entered +the cabin. She stood in the heart of it, and looked a goddess angered. +My lord, with his haggard face and burning eyes, slowly rose from his +seat, and they faced each other. + +"You told them not who fired those guns, who sunk that pirate ship?" +she said. "Because he was your enemy, you held your tongue? Knight and +gentleman--my Lord Carnal--my Lord Coward!" + +"Honor is an empty word to me," he answered. "For you I would dive into +the deepest hell,--if there be a deeper than that which burns me, day +in, day out.... Jocelyn, Jocelyn, Jocelyn!" + +"You love me so?" she said. "Then do me pleasure. Because I ask it of +you, tell these men the truth." She came a step nearer, and held out her +clasped hands to him. "Tell them how it was, my lord, and I will strive +to hate you no longer. The harm that you have done me I will pray for +strength to forgive. Ah, my lord, let me not ask in vain! Will you that +I kneel to you?" + +"I fix my own price," he said. "I will do what you ask, an you will let +me kiss your lips." + +I sprang forward with an oath. Some one behind caught both my wrists in +an iron grasp and pulled me back. "Be not a fool!" growled Clayborne +in my ear. "The cord's loosening fast: if you interfere, it may tighten +with a jerk!" I freed my hands from his grasp. The Treasurer, sitting +next him, leaned across the table and motioned to the two seamen beside +the window. They left their station, and each seized me by an arm. "Be +guided, Captain Percy," said Master Sandys in a low voice. "We wish you +well. Let her win you through." + +"First tell the truth, my lord," said the King's ward; "then come and +take the reward you ask." + +"Jocelyn!" I cried. "I command you"-- + +She turned upon me a perfectly colorless face. "All my life after I will +be to you an obedient wife," she said. "This once I pray you to hold me +excused.... Speak, my lord." + +There was the mirth of the lost in the laugh with which he turned to the +Governor. "That pretty little tale, sir, that I regaled you with, the +day you obligingly picked me up, was pure imagination; the wetting must +have disordered my reason. A potion sweeter than the honey of Hybla, +which I am about to drink, hath restored me beforehand. Gentlemen all, +there was mutiny aboard that ship which so providentially sank before +your very eyes. For why? The crew, who were pirates, and the captain, +who was yonder gentleman, did not agree. The one wished to attack +you, board you, rummage you, and slay, after recondite fashions, every +mother's son of you; the other demurred,--so strongly, in fact, that his +life ceased to be worth a pin's purchase. Indeed, I believe he resigned +his captaincy then and there, and, declining to lift a finger against +an English ship, defied them to do their worst. He had no hand in the +firing of those culverins; the mutineers touched them off without so +much as a 'by your leave.' His attention was otherwise occupied. Good +sirs, there was not the slightest reason in nature why the ship should +have struck upon that sunken reef, to the damnation of her people and +the salvation of yours. Why do you suppose she diverged from the path of +safety to split into slivers against that fortunate ledge?" + +The men around drew in their breath, and one or two sprang to their +feet. My lord laughed again. "Have you seen the pious man who +left Jamestown and went aboard the pirate ship as this gentleman's +lieutenant? He hath the strength of a bull. Captain Percy here had but +to nod his head, and hey, presto! the helmsman was bowled over, and the +minister had the helm. The ship struck: the pirates went to hell, and +you, gentlemen, were preserved to order all things well in Virginia. May +she long be grateful! The man who dared that death rather than attack +the ship he guessed to be the Company's is my mortal foe, whom I will +yet sweep from my path, but he is not a pirate. Ay, take it down, an it +please you, Master Secretary! I retreat from a most choice position, to +be sure, but what care I? I see a vantage ground more to my liking. I +have lost a throw, perhaps, but I will recoup ten such losses with one +such kiss. By your leave, lady." + +He went up to her where she stood, with hanging arms, her head a little +bent, white and cold and yielding as a lady done in snow; gazed at her +a moment, with his passion written in his fierce eyes and haggard, +handsome face; then crushed her to him. + +If I could have struck him dead, I would have done so. When her word had +been kept, she released herself with a quiet and resolute dignity. As +for him, he sank back into the great chair beside the Governor's, leaned +an elbow on the table, and hid his eyes with one shaking hand. + +The Governor rose to his feet, and motioned away the two seamen who held +me fast. "We'll have no hanging this morning, gentlemen," he announced. +"Captain Percy, I beg to apologize to you for words that were never +meant for a brave and gallant gentleman, but for a pirate who I find +does not exist. I pray you to forget them, quite." + +I returned his bow, but my eyes traveled past him. + +"I will allow you no words with my Lord Carnal," he said. "With your +wife,--that is different." He moved aside with a smile. + +She was standing, pale, with downcast eyes, where my lord had left her. +"Jocelyn," I said. She turned toward me, crimsoned deeply, uttered a low +cry, half laughter, half a sob, then covered her face with her hands. I +took them away and spoke her name again, and this time she hid her face +upon my breast. + +A moment thus; then--for all eyes were upon her--I lifted her head, +kissed her, and gave her to Lady Wyatt, whom I found at my side. "I +commend my wife to your ladyship's care," I said. "As you are woman, +deal sisterly by her!" + +"You may trust me, sir," she made answer, the tears upon her cheeks. "I +did not know,--I did not understand....Dear heart, come away,--come away +with Margaret Wyatt." + +Clayborne opened the door of the cabin, and stood aside with a low bow. +The men who had sat to judge me rose; only the King's favorite kept his +seat. With Lady Wyatt's arm about her, the King's ward passed between +the lines of standing gentlemen to the door, there hesitated, turned, +and, facing them with I know not what of pride and shame, wistfulness of +entreaty and noble challenge to belief in the face and form that were of +all women's most beautiful, curtsied to them until her knee touched the +floor. She was gone, and the sunlight with her. + +When I turned upon that shameless lord where he sat in his evil beauty, +with his honor dead before him, men came hastily in between. I put +them aside with a laugh. I had but wanted to look at him. I had no +sword,--already he lay beneath my challenge,--and words are weak things. + +At length he rose, as arrogant as ever in his port, as evilly superb in +his towering pride, and as amazingly indifferent to the thoughts of men +who lied not. "This case hath wearied me," he said. "I will retire for +a while to rest, and in dreams to live over a past sweetness. Give +you good-day, gentles! Sir Francis Wyatt, you will remember that +this gentleman did resist arrest, and that he lieth under the King's +displeasure!" So saying he clapped his hat upon his head and walked out +of the cabin. The Company's officers drew a long breath, as if a fresher +air had come in with his departure. + +"I have no choice, Captain Percy, but to keep you still under restraint, +both here and when we shall reach Jamestown," said the Governor. "All +that the Company, through me, can do, consistent with its duty to his +Majesty, to lighten your confinement shall be done"-- + +"Then send him not again into the hold, Sir Francis!" exclaimed the +Treasurer, with a wry face. + +The Governor laughed. "Lighter and sweeter quarters shall be found. Your +wife's a brave lady, Captain Percy"-- + +"And a passing fair one," said Claybourne under his breath. + +"I left a friend below in the hold, your Honor," I said. "He came with +me from Jamestown because he was my friend. The King hath never heard +of him. And he's no more a pirate than I or you, your Honor. He is a +minister,--a sober, meek, and godly man"-- + +From behind the Secretary rose the singsong of my acquaintance of the +hold, Dr. John Pott. "He is Jeremy, your Honor, Jeremy who made the town +merry at Blackfriars. Your Honor remembers him? He had a sickness, and +forsook the life and went into the country. He was known to the Dean +of St. Paul's. All the town laughed when it heard that he had taken +orders." + +"Jeremy!" cried out the Treasurer. "Nick Bottom! Christopher Sly! Sir +Toby Belch! Sir Francis, give me Jeremy to keep in my cabin!" + +The Governor laughed. "He shall be bestowed with Captain Percy where +he'll not lack for company, I warrant! Jeremy! Ben Jonson loved him; +they drank together at the Mermaid." + +A little later the Treasurer turned to leave my new quarters, to +which he had walked beside me, glanced at the men who waited for him +without,--Jeremy had not yet been brought from the hold,--and returned +to my side to say, in a low voice, but with emphasis: "Captain Percy has +been a long time without news from home,--from England. What would he +most desire to hear?" + +"Of the welfare of his Grace of Buckingham," I replied. + +He smiled. "His Grace is as well as heart could desire, and as powerful. +The Queen's dog now tuggeth the sow by the ears this way or that, as it +pleaseth him. Since we are not to hang you as a pirate, Captain Percy, +I incline to think your affairs in better posture than when you left +Virginia." + +"I think so too, sir," I said, and gave him thanks for his courtesy, and +wished him good-day, being anxious to sit still and thank God, with my +face in my hands and summer in my heart. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII IN WHICH THE SPRINGTIME IS AT HAND + + +TIRED of dicing against myself, and of the books that Rolfe had sent +me, I betook myself to the gaol window, and, leaning against the bars, +looked out in search of entertainment. The nearest if not the merriest +thing the prospect had to offer was the pillory. It was built so tall +that it was but little lower than the low upper story of the gaol, and +it faced my window at so short a distance that I could hear the long, +whistling breath of the wretch who happened to occupy it. It was not a +pleasant sound; neither was a livid face, new branded on the cheek with +a great R, and with a trickle of dark blood from the mutilated ears +staining the board in which the head was immovably fixed, a pleasant +sight. A little to one side was the whipping post: a woman had been +whipped that morning, and her cries had tainted the air even more +effectually than had the decayed matter with which certain small devils +had pelted the runaway in the pillory. I looked away from the poor rogue +below me into the clear, hard brightness of the March day, and was most +heartily weary of the bars between me and it. The wind blew keenly; the +sky was blue as blue could be, and the river a great ribbon of azure +sewn with diamonds. All colors were vivid and all distances near. There +was no haze over the forest; brown and bare it struck the cloudless +blue. The marsh was emerald, the green of the pines deep and rich, the +budding maples redder than coral. The church, with the low green graves +around it, appeared not a stone's throw away, and the voices of the +children up and down the street sounded clearly, as though they played +in the brown square below me. When the drum beat for the nooning the +roll was close in my ears. The world looked so bright and keen that it +seemed new made, and the brilliant sunshine and the cold wind stirred +the blood like wine. + +Now and then men and women passed through the square below. Well-nigh +all glanced up at the window, and their eyes were friendly. It was +known now that Buckingham was paramount at home, and my Lord Carnal's +following in Virginia was much decayed. Young Hamor strode by, bravely +dressed and whistling cheerily, and doffed a hat with a most noble +broken feather. "We're going to bait a bear below the fort!" he called. +"Sorry you'll miss the sport! There will be all the world--and my Lord +Carnal." He whistled himself away, and presently there came along +Master Edward Sharpless. He stopped and stared at the rogue in the +pillory,--with no prescience, I suppose, of a day when he was to stand +there himself; then looked up at me with as much malevolence as his +small soul could write upon his mean features, and passed on. He had a +jaded look; moreover, his clothes were swamp-stained and his cloak had +been torn by briers. "What did you go to the forest for?" I muttered. + +The key grated in the door behind me, and it opened to admit the gaoler +and Diccon with my dinner,--which I was not sorry to see. "Sir George +sent the venison, sir," said the gaoler, grinning, "and Master Piersey +the wild fowl, and Madam West the pasty and the marchpane, and Master +Pory the sack. Be there anything you lack, sir?" + +"Nothing that you can supply," I answered curtly. + +The fellow grinned again, straightened the things upon the table, and +started for the door. "You can stay until I come for the platters," +he said to Diccon, and went out, locking the door after him with +ostentation. + +I applied myself to the dinner, and Diccon went to the window, and stood +there looking out at the blue sky and at the man in the pillory. He had +the freedom of the gaol. I was somewhat more straitly confined, though +my friends had easy access to me. As for Jeremy Sparrow, he had spent +twenty-four hours in gaol, at the end of which time Madam West had a +fit of the spleen, declared she was dying, and insisted upon Master +Sparrow's being sent for to administer consolation; Master Bucke, +unfortunately, having gone up to Henricus on business connected with the +college. From the bedside of that despotic lady Sparrow was called to +bury a man on the other side of the river, and from the grave to marry +a couple at Mulberry Island. And the next day being Sunday, and no +minister at hand, he preached again in Master Bucke's pulpit,--and +preached a sermon so powerful and moving that its like had never been +heard in Virginia. They marched him not back from the pulpit to gaol. +There were but five ministers in Virginia, and there were a many more +sick to visit and dead to bury. Master Bucke, still feeble in body, +tarried up river discussing with Thorpe the latter's darling project of +converting every imp of an Indian this side the South Sea, and Jeremy +slipped into his old place. There had been some talk of a public +censure, but it died away. + +The pasty and sack disposed of, I turned in my seat and spoke to Diccon: +"I looked for Master Rolfe to-day. Have you heard aught of him?" + +"No," he answered. As he spoke, the door was opened and the gaoler put +in his head. "A messenger from Master Rolfe, captain." He drew back, and +the Indian Nantauquas entered the room. + +Rolfe I had seen twice since the arrival of the George at Jamestown, but +the Indian had not been with him. The young chief now came forward and +touched the hand I held out to him. "My brother will be here before the +sun touches the tallest pine," he announced in his grave, calm voice. +"He asks Captain Percy to deny himself to any other that may come. He +wishes to see him alone." + +"I shall hardly be troubled with company," I said. "There's a +bear-baiting toward." + +Nantauquas smiled. "My brother asked me to find a bear for to-day. I +bought one from the Paspaheghs for a piece of copper, and took him to +the ring below the fort." + +"Where all the town will presently be gone," I said. "I wonder what +Rolfe did that for!" + +Filling a cup with sack, I pushed it to the Indian across the table. +"You are little in the woods nowadays, Nantauquas." + +His fine dark face clouded ever so slightly. "Opechancanough has dreamt +that I am Indian no longer. Singing birds have lied to him, telling him +that I love the white man, and hate my own color. He calls me no more +his brave, his brother Powhatan's dear son. I do not sit by his council +fire now, nor do I lead his war bands. When I went last to his lodge and +stood before him, his eyes burned me like the coals the Monacans once +closed my hands upon. He would not speak to me." + +"It would not fret me if he never spoke again," I said. "You have been +to the forest to-day?" + +"Yes," he replied, glancing at the smear of leaf mould upon his beaded +moccasins. "Captain Percy's eyes are quick; he should have been an +Indian. I went to the Paspaheghs to take them the piece of copper. I +could tell Captain Percy a curious thing"-- + +"Well?" I demanded, as he paused. + +"I went to the lodge of the werowance with the copper, and found him not +there. The old men declared that he had gone to the weirs for fish,--he +and ten of his braves. The old men lied. I had passed the weirs of the +Paspaheghs, and no man was there. I sat and smoked before the lodge, and +the maidens brought me chinquapin cakes and pohickory; for Nantauquas +is a prince and a welcome guest to all save Opechancanough. The old men +smoked, with their eyes upon the ground, each seeing only the days when +he was even as Nantauquas. They never knew when a wife of the werowance, +turned child by pride, unfolded a doeskin and showed Nantauquas a silver +cup carved all over and set with stones." + +"Humph!" + +"The cup was a heavy price to pay," continued the Indian. "I do not know +what great thing it bought." + +"Humph!" I said again. "Did you happen to meet Master Edward Sharpless +in the forest?" + +He shook his head. "The forest is wide, and there are many trails +through it. Nantauquas looked for that of the werowance of the +Paspaheghs, but found it not. He had no time to waste upon a white man." + +He gathered his otterskin mantle about him and prepared to depart. I +rose and gave him my hand, for I thoroughly liked him, and in the past +he had made me his debtor. "Tell Rolfe he will find me alone," I said, +"and take my thanks for your pains, Nantauquas. If ever we hunt together +again, may I have the chance to serve you! I bear the scars of the +wolf's teeth yet; you came in the nick of time, that day." + +The Indian smiled. "It was a fierce old wolf. I wish Captain Percy free +with all my heart, and then we will hunt more wolves, he and I." + +When he was gone, and the gaoler and Diccon with him, I returned to +the window. The runaway in the pillory was released, and went away +homewards, staggering beside his master's stirrup. Passers-by grew more +and more infrequent, and up the street came faint sounds of laughter +and hurrahing,--the bear must be making good sport. I could see the +half-moon, and the guns, and the flag that streamed in the wind, and on +the river a sail or two, white in the sunlight as the gulls that swooped +past. Beyond rose the bare masts of the George. The Santa Teresa rode +no more forever in the James. The King's ship was gone home to the King +without the freight he looked for. Three days, and the George would +spread her white wings and go down the wide river, and I with her, and +the King's ward, and the King's sometime favorite. I looked down the +wind-ruffled stream, and saw the great bay into which it emptied, and +beyond the bay the heaving ocean, dark and light, league on league, +league on league; then green England, and London, and the Tower. The +vision disturbed me less than once it would have done. Men that I knew +and trusted were to be passengers on that ship, as well as one I knew +and did not trust. And if, at the journey's end, I saw the Tower, I +saw also his Grace of Buckingham. Where I hated he hated, and was now +powerful enough to strike. + +The wind blew from the west, from the unknown. I turned my head, and +it beat against my forehead, cold and fragrant with the essence of the +forest,--pine and cedar, dead leaves and black mould, fen and hollow +and hill,--all the world of woods over which it had passed. The ghost +of things long dead, which face or voice could never conjure up, will +sometimes start across our path at the beckoning of an odor. A day in +the Starving Time came back to me: how I had dragged myself from our +broken palisade and crazy huts, and the groans of the famished and the +plague-stricken, and the presence of the unburied dead, across the neck +and into the woods, and had lain down there to die, being taken with a +sick fear and horror of the place of cannibals behind me; and how weak +I was!--too weak to care any more. I had been a strong man, and it had +come to that, and I was content to let it be. The smell of the woods +that day, the chill brown earth beneath me, the blowing wind, the long +stretch of the river gleaming between the pines,... and fair in sight +the white sails of the Patience and the Deliverance. + +I had been too nigh gone then to greatly care that I was saved; now I +cared, and thanked God for my life. Come what might in the future, the +past was mine. Though I should never see my wife again, I had that hour +in the state cabin of the George. I loved, and was loved again. + +There was a noise outside the door, and Rolfe's voice speaking to the +gaoler. Impatient for his entrance I started toward the door, but when +it opened he made no move to cross the threshold. "I am not coming in," +he said, with a face that he strove to keep grave. "I only came to bring +some one else." With that he stepped back, and a second figure, coming +forward out of the dimness behind him, crossed the threshold. It was a +woman, cloaked and hooded. The door was drawn to behind her, and we were +alone together. + +Beside the cloak and hood she wore a riding mask. "Do you know who it +is?" she asked, when she had stood, so shrouded, for a long minute, +during which I had found no words with which to welcome her. + +"Yea," I answered: "the princess in the fairy tale." + +She freed her dark hair from its covering, and unclasping her cloak let +it drop to the floor. "Shall I unmask?" she asked, with a sigh. "Faith! +I should keep the bit of silk between your eyes, sir, and my blushes. Am +I ever to be the forward one? Do you not think me too bold a lady?" As +she spoke, her white hands were busy about the fastening of her mask. +"The knot is too hard," she murmured, with a little tremulous laugh and +a catch of her breath. + +I untied the ribbons. + +"May I not sit down?" she said plaintively, but with soft merriment in +her eyes. "I am not quite strong yet. My heart--you do not know what +pain I have in my heart sometimes. It makes me weep of nights and when +none are by, indeed it does!" + +There was a settle beneath the window. I led her to it, and she sat +down. + +"You must know that I am walking in the Governor's garden, that hath +only a lane between it and the gaol." Her eyes were downcast, her cheeks +pure rose. + +"When did you first love me?" I demanded. + +"Lady Wyatt must have guessed why Master Rolfe alone went not to the +bear-baiting, but joined us in the garden. She said the air was keen, +and fetched me her mask, and then herself went indoors to embroider +Samson in the arms of Delilah.' + +"Was it here at Jamestown, or was it when we were first wrecked, or on +the island with the pink hill when you wrote my name in the sand, or"-- + +"The George will sail in three days, and we are to be taken back to +England after all. It does not scare me now." + +"In all my life I have kissed you only once," I said. + +The rose deepened, and in her eyes there was laughter, with tears +behind. "You are a gentleman of determination," she said. "If you +are bent upon having your way, I do not know that I--that I--can help +myself. I do not even know that I want to help myself." + +Outside the wind blew and the sun shone, and the laughter from below the +fort was too far away and elfin to jar upon us. The world forgot us, and +we were well content. There seemed not much to say: I suppose we were +too happy for words. I knelt beside her, and she laid her hands in +mine, and now and then we spoke. In her short and lonely life, and in my +longer stern and crowded one, there had been little tenderness, little +happiness. In her past, to those about her, she had seemed bright and +gay; I had been a comrade whom men liked because I could jest as well as +fight. Now we were happy, but we were not gay. Each felt for the other a +great compassion; each knew that though we smiled to-day, the groan and +the tear might be to-morrow's due; the sunshine around us was pure gold, +but that the clouds were mounting we knew full well. + +"I must soon be gone," she said at last. "It is a stolen meeting. I do +not know when we shall meet again." + +She rose from the settle, and I rose with her, and we stood together +beside the barred window. There was no danger of her being seen; street +and square were left to the wind and the sunshine. My arm was around +her, and she leaned her head against my breast. "Perhaps we shall never +meet again," she said. + +"The winter is over," I answered. "Soon the trees will be green and +the flowers in bloom. I will not believe that our spring can have no +summer." + +She took from her bosom a little flower that had been pinned there. It +lay, a purple star, in the hollow of her hand. "It grew in the sun. It +is the first flower of spring." She put it to her lips, then laid +it upon the window ledge beside my hand. "I have brought you evil +gifts,--foes and strife and peril. Will you take this little purple +flower--and all my heart beside?" + +I bent and kissed first the tiny blossom, and then the lips that had +proffered it. "I am very rich," I said. + +The sun was now low, and the pines in the square and the upright of the +pillory cast long shadows. The wind had fallen and the sounds had died +away. It seemed very still. Nothing moved but the creeping shadows until +a flight of small white-breasted birds went past the window. "The snow +is gone," I said. "The snowbirds are flying north." + +"The woods will soon be green," she murmured wistfully. "Ah, if we could +ride through them once more, back to Weyanoke"-- + +"To home," I said. + +"Home," she echoed softly. + +There was a low knocking at the door behind us. "It is Master Rolfe's +signal," she said. "I must not stay. Tell me that you love me, and let +me go." + +I drew her closer to me and pressed my lips upon her bowed head. "Do you +not know that I love you?" I asked. + +"Yea," she answered. "I have been taught it. Tell me that you believe +that God will be good to us. Tell me that we shall be happy yet; for oh, +I have a boding heart this day!" + +Her voice broke, and she lay trembling in my arms, her face hidden. "If +the summer never comes for us"--she whispered. "Good-by, my lover and my +husband. If I have brought you ruin and death, I have brought you, too, +a love that is very great. Forgive me and kiss me, and let me go." + +"Thou art my dearly loved and honored wife," I said. "My heart forebodes +summer, and joy, and peace, and home." + +We kissed each other solemnly, as those who part for a journey and a +warfare. I spoke no word to Rolfe when the door was opened and she had +passed out with her cloak drawn about her face, but we clasped hands, +and each knew the other for his friend indeed. They were gone, the +gaoler closing and locking the door behind them. As for me, I went back +to the settle beneath the window, and, falling on my knees beside it, +buried my face in my arms. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX IN WHICH I KEEP TRYST + + +THE sun dropped below the forest, blood red, dyeing the river its own +color. There were no clouds in the sky,--only a great suffusion of +crimson climbing to the zenith; against it the woods were as black as +war paint. The color faded and the night set in, a night of no wind and +of numberless stars. On the hearth burned a fire. I left the window and +sat beside it, and in the hollows between the red embers made pictures, +as I used to make them when I was a boy. + +I sat there long. It grew late, and all sounds in the town were hushed; +only now and then the "All's well!" of the watch came faintly to my +ears. Diccon lodged with me; he lay in his clothes upon a pallet in the +far corner of the room, but whether he slept or not I did not ask. He +and I had never wasted words; since chance had thrown us together again +we spoke only when occasion required. + +The fire was nigh out, and it must have been ten of the clock when, with +somewhat more of caution and less of noise than usual, the key grated +in the lock; the door opened, and the gaoler entered, closing it +noiselessly behind him. There was no reason why he should intrude +himself upon me after nightfall, and I regarded him with a frown and an +impatience that presently turned to curiosity. + +He began to move about the room, making pretense of seeing that there +was water in the pitcher beside my pallet, that the straw beneath the +coverlet was fresh, that the bars of the window were firm, and ended by +approaching the fire and heaping pine upon it. It flamed up brilliantly, +and in the strong red light he half opened a clenched hand and showed +me two gold pieces, and beneath them a folded paper. I looked at his +furtive eyes and brutal, doltish face, but he kept them blank as a wall. +The hand closed again over the treasure within it, and he turned away +as if to leave the room. I drew a noble--one of a small store of gold +pieces conveyed to me by Rolfe--from my pocket, and stooping made it +spin upon the hearth in the red firelight. The gaoler looked at it +askance, but continued his progress toward the door. I drew out its +fellow, set it too to spinning, then leaned back against the table. +"They hunt in couples," I said. "There will be no third one." + +He had his foot upon them before they had done spinning. The next moment +they had kissed the two pieces already in his possession, and he had +transferred all four to his pocket. I held out my hand for the paper, +and he gave it to me grudgingly, with a spiteful slowness of movement. +He would have stayed beside me as I read it, but I sternly bade him keep +his distance; then kneeling before the fire to get the light, I opened +the paper. It was written upon in a delicate, woman's hand, and it ran +thus:-- + +An you hold me dear, come to me at once. Come without tarrying to the +deserted hut on the neck of land, nearest to the forest. As you love me, +as you are my knight, keep this tryst. + +In distress and peril, THY WIFE. + +Folded with it was a line in the commander's hand and with his +signature: "The bearer may pass without the palisade at his pleasure." + +I read the first paper again, refolded it, and rose to my feet. "Who +brought this, sirrah?" I demanded. + +His answer was glib enough: "One of the governor's servants. He said as +how there was no harm in the letter, and the gold was good." + +"When was this?" + +"Just now. No, I did n't know the man." + +I saw no way to discover whether or not he lied. Drawing out another +gold piece, I laid it upon the table. He eyed it greedily, edging nearer +and nearer. + +"For leaving this door unlocked," I said. + +His eyes narrowed and he moistened his lips, shifting from one foot to +the other. + +I put down a second piece. "For opening the outer door," I said. + +He wet his lips again, made an inarticulate sound in his throat, +and finally broke out with, "The commander will nail my ears to the +pillory." + +"You can lock the doors after me, and know as little as you choose in +the morning. No gain without some risk." + +"That's so," he agreed, and made a clutch at the gold. + +I swept it out of his reach. "First earn it," I said dryly. "Look at the +foot of the pillory an hour from now and you'll find it. I'll not pay +you this side of the doors." + +He bit his lips and studied the floor. "You're a gentleman," he growled +at last. "I suppose I can trust ye." + +"I suppose you can." + +Taking up his lantern he turned toward the door. "It 's growing late," +he said, with a most uncouth attempt to feign a guileless drowsiness. +"I'll to bed, captain, when I've locked up. Good-night to ye!" + +He was gone, and the door was left unlocked. I could walk out of that +gaol as I could have walked out of my house at Weyanoke. I was free, but +should I take my freedom? Going back to the light of the fire I unfolded +the paper and stared at it, turning its contents this way and that in +my mind. The hand--but once had I seen her writing, and then it had been +wrought with a shell upon firm sand. I could not judge if this were the +same. Had the paper indeed come from her? Had it not? If in truth it +was a message from my wife, what had befallen in a few hours since our +parting? If it was a forger's lie, what trap was set, what toils were +laid? I walked up and down, and tried to think it out. The strangeness +of it all, the choice of a lonely and distant hut for trysting place, +that pass coming from a sworn officer of the Company, certain things I +had heard that day... A trap... and to walk into it with my eyes +open.... An you hold me dear. As you are my knight, keep this tryst. In +distress and peril.... Come what might, there was a risk I could not run. + +I had no weapons to assume, no preparations to make. Gathering up the +gaoler's gold I started toward the door, opened it, and going out would +have closed it softly behind me but that a booted leg thrust across +the jamb prevented me. "I am going with you," said Diccon in a guarded +voice. "If you try to prevent me, I will rouse the house." His head was +thrown back in the old way; the old daredevil look was upon his face. +"I don't know why you are going," he declared, "but there'll be danger, +anyhow." + +"To the best of my belief I am walking into a trap," I said. + +"Then it will shut on two instead of one," he answered doggedly. + +By this he was through the door, and there was no shadow of turning on +his dark, determined face. I knew my man, and wasted no more words. +Long ago it had grown to seem the thing most in nature that the hour of +danger should find us side by side. + +When the door of the firelit room was shut, the gaol was in darkness +that might be felt. It was very still: the few other inmates were fast +asleep; the gaoler was somewhere out of sight, dreaming with open +eyes. We groped our way through the passage to the stairs, noiselessly +descended them, and found the outer door unchained, unbarred, and +slightly ajar. + +When I had laid the gold beneath the pillory, we struck swiftly across +the square, being in fear lest the watch should come upon us, and took +the first lane that led toward the palisade. Beneath the burning stars +the town lay stark in sleep. So bright in the wintry air were those +far-away lights that the darkness below them was not great. We could +see the low houses, the shadowy pines, the naked oaks, the sandy lane +glimmering away to the river, star-strewn to match the heavens. The air +was cold, but exceedingly clear and still. Now and then a dog barked, or +wolves howled in the forest across the river. We kept in the shadow +of the houses and the trees, and went with the swiftness, silence, and +caution of Indians. + +The last house we must pass before reaching the palisade was one +that Rolfe owned, and in which he lodged when business brought him to +Jamestown. It and some low outbuildings beyond it were as dark as the +cedars in which they were set, and as silent as the grave. Rolfe and his +Indian brother were sleeping there now, while I stood without. Or did +they sleep? Were they there at all? Might it not have been Rolfe who had +bribed the gaoler and procured the pass from West? Might I not find him +at that strange trysting place? Might not all be well, after all? I was +sorely tempted to rouse that silent house and demand if its master were +within. I did it not. Servants were there, and noise would be made, and +time that might be more precious than life-blood was flying fast. I went +on, and Diccon with me. + +There was a cabin built almost against the palisade, and here one man +was supposed to watch, whilst another slept. To-night we found both +asleep. I shook the younger to his feet, and heartily cursed him for his +negligence. He listened stupidly, and read as stupidly, by the light of +his lantern, the pass which I thrust beneath his nose. Staggering to his +feet, and drunk with his unlawful slumber, he fumbled at the fastenings +of the gate for full three minutes before the ponderous wood finally +swung open and showed the road beyond. "It's all right," he muttered +thickly. "The commander's pass. Good-night, the three of ye!" + +"Are you drunk or drugged?" I demanded. "There are only two. It's not +sleep that is the matter with you. What is it?" + +He made no answer, but stood holding the gate open and blinking at us +with dull, unseeing eyes. Something ailed him besides sleep; he may have +been drugged, for aught I know. When we had gone some yards from the +gate, we heard him say again, in precisely the same tone, "Good-night, +the three of ye!" Then the gate creaked to, and we heard the bars drawn +across it. + +Without the palisade was a space of waste land, marsh and thicket, +tapering to the narrow strip of sand and scrub joining the peninsula to +the forest, and here and there upon this waste ground rose a mean house, +dwelt in by the poorer sort. All were dark. We left them behind, and +found ourselves upon the neck, with the desolate murmur of the river on +either hand, and before us the deep blackness of the forest. Suddenly +Diccon stopped in his tracks and turned his head. "I did hear something +then," he muttered. "Look, sir!" + +The stars faintly lit the road that had been trodden hard and bare by +the feet of all who came and went. Down this road something was coming +toward us, something low and dark, that moved not fast, and not slow, +but with a measured and relentless pace. "A panther!" said Diccon. + +We watched the creature with more of curiosity than alarm. Unless +brought to bay, or hungry, or wantonly irritated, these great cats were +cowardly enough. It would hardly attack the two of us. Nearer and nearer +it came, showing no signs of anger and none of fear, and paying no +attention to the withered branch with which Diccon tried to scare it +off. When it was so close that we could see the white of its breast it +stopped, looking at us with large unfaltering eyes, and slightly moving +its tail to and fro. + +"A tame panther!" ejaculated Diccon. "It must be the one Nantauquas +tamed, sir. He would have kept it somewhere near Master Rolfe's house." + +"And it heard us, and followed us through the gate," I said. "It was the +third the warder talked of." + +We walked on, and the beast, addressing itself to motion, followed at +our heels. Now and then we looked back at it, but we feared it not. + +As for me, I had begun to think that a panther might be the least +formidable thing I should meet that night. By this I had scarcely any +hope--or fear--that I should find her at our journey's end. The lonesome +path that led only to the night-time forest, the deep and dark river +with its mournful voice, the hard, bright, pitiless stars, the cold, the +loneliness, the distance,--how should she be there? And if not she, who +then? + +The hut to which I had been directed stood in an angle made by the neck +and the main bank of the river. On one side of it was the water, on +the other a deep wood. The place had an evil name, and no man had +lived there since the planter who had built it hanged himself upon its +threshold. The hut was ruinous: in the summer tall weeds grew up around +it, and venomous snakes harbored beneath its rotted and broken floor; in +the winter the snow whitened it, and the wild fowl flew screaming in and +out of the open door and the windows that needed no barring. To-night +the door was shut and the windows in some way obscured. But the +interstices between the logs showed red; the hut was lighted within, and +some one was keeping tryst. + +The stillness was deadly. It was not silence, for the river murmured in +the stiff reeds, and far off in the midnight forest some beast of the +night uttered its cry, but a hush, a holding of the breath, an expectant +horror. The door, warped and shrunken, was drawn to, but was not +fastened, as I could tell by the unbroken line of red light down one +side from top to bottom. Making no sound, I laid my hand upon it, pushed +it open a little way, and looked within the hut. + +I had thought to find it empty or to find it crowded. It was neither. +A torch lit it, and on the hearth burned a fire. Drawn in front of the +blaze was an old rude chair, and in it sat a slight figure draped from +head to foot in a black cloak. The head was bowed and hidden, the whole +attitude one of listlessness and dejection. As I looked, there came a +long tremulous sigh, and the head drooped lower and lower, as if in a +growing hopelessness. + +The revulsion of feeling was so great that for the moment I was dazed as +by a sudden blow. There had been time during the walk from the gaol for +enough of wild and whirling thoughts as to what should greet me in that +hut; and now the slight figure by the fire, the exquisite melancholy of +its posture, its bent head, the weeping I could divine,--I had but one +thought, to comfort her as quickly as I might. Diccon's hand was upon +my arm, but I shook it off, and pushing the door open crossed the uneven +and noisy floor to the fire, and bent over the lonely figure beside it. +"Jocelyn," I said, "I have kept tryst." + +As I spoke, I laid my hand upon the bowed and covered head. It was +raised, the cloak was drawn aside, and there looked me in the eyes the +Italian. + +As if it had been the Gorgon's gaze, I was turned to stone. The filmy +eyes, the smile that would have been mocking had it not been so very +faint, the pallor, the malignance,--I stared and stared, and my heart +grew cold and sick. + +It was but for a minute; then a warning cry from Diccon roused me. I +sprang backward until the width of the hearth was between me and the +Italian, then wheeled and found myself face to face with the King's late +favorite. Behind him was an open door, and beyond it a small inner room, +dimly lighted. He stood and looked at me with an insolence and a triumph +most intolerable. His drawn sword was in his hand, the jeweled hilt +blazing in the firelight, and on his dark, superb face a taunting smile. +I met it with one as bold, at least, but I said no word, good or bad. +In the cabin of the George I had sworn to myself that thenceforward my +sword should speak for me to this gentleman. + +"You came," he said. "I thought you would." + +I glanced around the hut, seeking for a weapon. Seeing nothing more +promising than the thick, half-consumed torch, I sprang to it and +wrested it from the socket. Diccon caught up a piece of rusted iron from +the hearth, and together we faced my lord's drawn sword and a small, +sharp, and strangely shaped dagger that the Italian drew from a velvet +sheath. + +My lord laughed, reading my thoughts. "You are mistaken," he declared +coolly. "I am content that Captain Percy knows I do not fear to fight +him. This time I play to win." Turning toward the outer door, he raised +his hand with a gesture of command. + +In an instant the room was filled. The red-brown figures, naked save for +the loincloth and the headdress, the impassive faces dashed with black, +the ruthless eyes--I knew now why Master Edward Sharpless had gone to +the forest, and what service had been bought with that silver cup. The +Paspaheghs and I were old enemies; doubtless they would find their task +a pleasant one. + +"My own knaves, unfortunately, were out of the way; sent home on the +Santa Teresa," said my lord, still smiling. "I am not yet so poor that I +cannot hire others. True, Nicolo might have done the work just now, when +you bent over him so lovingly and spoke so softly; but the river might +give up your body to tell strange tales. I have heard that the Indians +are more ingenious, and leave no such witness anywhere." + +Before the words were out of his mouth I had sprung upon him, and had +caught him by the sword wrist and the throat. He strove to free his +hand, to withdraw himself from my grasp. Locked together, we struggled +backward and forward in what seemed a blaze of lights and a roaring as +of mighty waters. Red hands caught at me, sharp knives panted to drink +my blood; but so fast we turned and writhed, now he uppermost, now I, +that for very fear of striking the wrong man hands and knives could not +be bold. I heard Diccon fighting, and knew that there would be howling +tomorrow among the squaws of the Paspaheghs. With all his might my lord +strove to bend the sword against me, and at last did cut me across the +arm, causing the blood to flow freely. It made a pool upon the floor, +and once my foot slipped in it, and I stumbled and almost fell. + +Two of the Paspaheghs were silent for evermore. Diccon had the knife of +the first to fall, and it ran red. The Italian, quick and sinuous as a +serpent, kept beside my lord and me, striving to bring his dagger to his +master's aid. We two panted hard; before our eyes blood, within our ears +the sea. The noise of the other combatants suddenly fell. The hush could +only mean that Diccon was dead or taken. I could not look behind to +see. With an access of fury I drove my antagonist toward a corner of the +hut,--the corner, so it chanced, in which the panther had taken up its +quarters. With his heel he struck the beast out of his way, then made +a last desperate effort to throw me. I let him think he was about to +succeed, gathered my forces and brought him crashing to the ground. The +sword was in my hand and shortened, the point was at his throat, when my +arm was jerked backwards. A moment, and half a dozen hands had dragged +me from the man beneath me, and a supple savage had passed a thong of +deerskin around my arms and pinioned them to my sides. The game was up; +there remained only to pay the forfeit without a grimace. + +Diccon was not dead; pinioned, like myself, and breathing hard, he +leaned sullenly against the wall, they that he had slain at his feet. +My lord rose, and stood over against me. His rich doublet was torn and +dragged away at the neck, and my blood stained his hand and arm. A smile +was upon the face that had made him master of a kingdom's master. + +"The game was long," he said, "but I have won at last. A long good-night +to you, Captain Percy, and a dreamless sleep!" + +There was a swift backward movement of the Indians, and a loud "The +panther, sir! Have a care!" from Diccon. I turned. The panther, maddened +by the noise and light, the shifting figures, the blocked doors, the +sight and smell of blood, the blow that had been dealt it, was crouching +for a spring. The red-brown hair was bristling, the eyes were terrible. +I was before it, but those glaring eyes had marked me not. It passed me +like a bar from a catapult, and the man whose heel it had felt was full +in its path. One of its forefeet sank in the velvet of the doublet; +the claws of the other entered the flesh below the temple, and tore +downwards and across. With a cry as awful as the panther's scream the +Italian threw himself upon the beast and buried his poniard in its neck. +The panther and the man it had attacked went down together. + +When the Indians had unlocked that dread embrace and had thrust aside +the dead brute, there emerged from the dimness of the inner room Master +Edward Sharpless, gray with fear, trembling in every limb, to take the +reins that had fallen from my lord's hands. The King's minion lay in +his blood, a ghastly spectacle; unconscious now, but with life before +him,--life through which to pass a nightmare vision. The face out of +which had looked that sullen, proud, and wicked spirit had been one +of great beauty; it had brought him exceeding wealth and power beyond +measure; the King had loved to look upon it; and it had come to this. He +lived, and I was to die: better my death than his life. In every heart +there are dark depths, whence at times ugly things creep into the +daylight; but at least I could drive back that unmanly triumph, and bid +it never come again. I would have killed him, but I would not have had +him thus. + +The Italian was upon his knees beside his master: even such a creature +could love. From his skeleton throat came a low, prolonged, croaking +sound, and his bony hands strove to wipe away the blood. The Paspaheghs +drew around us closer and closer, and the werowance clutched me by the +shoulder. I shook him off. "Give the word, Sharpless," I said, "or nod, +if thou art too frightened to speak. Murder is too stern a stuff for +such a base kitchen knave as thou to deal in." + +White and shaking, he would not meet my eyes, but beckoned the werowance +to him, and began to whisper vehemently; pointing now to the man upon +the floor, now to the town, now to the forest. The Indian listened, +nodded, and glided back to his fellows. + +"The white men upon the Powhatan are many," he said in his own tongue, +"but they build not their wigwams upon the banks of the Pamunkey. 1 The +singing birds of the Pamunkey tell no tales. The pine splinters will +burn as brightly there, and the white men will smell them not. We will +build a fire at Uttamussac, between the red hills, before the temple and +the graves of the kings." There was a murmur of assent from his braves. + +Uttamussac! They would probably make a two days' journey of it. We had +that long, then, to live. + +Captors and captives, we presently left the hut. On the threshold I +looked back, past the poltroon whom I had flung into the river one +midsummer day, to that prone and bleeding figure. As I looked, it +groaned and moved. The Indians behind me forced me on; a moment, and +we were out beneath the stars. They shone so very brightly; there was +one--large, steadfast, golden--just over the dark town behind us, over +the Governor's house. Did she sleep or did she wake? Sleeping or waking, +I prayed God to keep her safe and give her comfort. The stars now shone +through naked branches, black tree trunks hemmed us round, and under our +feet was the dreary rustling of dead leaves. The leafless trees gave +way to pines and cedars, and the closely woven, scented roof hid the +heavens, and made a darkness of the world beneath. + + 1. The modern York. + + + +CHAPTER XXX IN WHICH WE START UPON A JOURNEY + + +WHEN the dawn broke, it found us traveling through a narrow +valley, beside a stream of some width. Upon its banks grew trees of +extraordinary height and girth; cypress and oak and walnut, they towered +into the air, their topmost branches stark and black against the roseate +heavens. Below that iron tracery glowed the firebrands of the maples, +and here and there a willow leaned a pale green cloud above the stream. +Mist closed the distances; we could hear, but not see, the deer where +they stood to drink in the shallow places, or couched in the gray and +dreamlike recesses of the forest. + +Spectral, unreal, and hollow seems the world at dawn. Then, if ever, the +heart sickens and the will flags, and life becomes a pageant that hath +ceased to entertain. As I moved through the mist and the silence, and +felt the tug of the thong that bound me to the wrist of the savage who +stalked before me, I cared not how soon they made an end, seeing how +stale and unprofitable were all things under the sun. + +Diccon, walking behind me, stumbled over a root and fell upon his knees, +dragging down with him the Indian to whom he was tied. In a sudden +access of fury, aggravated by the jeers with which his fellows greeted +his mishap, the savage turned upon his prisoner and would have stuck +a knife into him, bound and helpless as he was, had not the werowance +interfered. The momentary altercation over, and the knife restored +to its owner's belt, the Indians relapsed into their usual menacing +silence, and the sullen march was resumed. Presently the stream made a +sharp bend across our path, and we forded it as best we might. It ran +dark and swift, and the water was of icy coldness. Beyond, the woods +had been burnt, the trees rising from the red ground like charred and +blackened stakes, with the ghostlike mist between. We left this dismal +tract behind, and entered a wood of mighty oaks, standing well apart, +and with the earth below carpeted with moss and early wild flowers. The +sun rose, the mist vanished, and there set in the March day of keen wind +and brilliant sunshine. + +Farther on, an Indian bent his bow against a bear shambling across a +little sunny glade. The arrow did its errand, and where the creature +fell, there we sat down and feasted beside a fire kindled by rubbing two +sticks together. According to their wont the Indians ate ravenously, and +when the meal was ended began to smoke, each warrior first throwing +into the air, as thank-offering to Kiwassa, a pinch of tobacco. They all +stared at the fire around which we sat, and the silence was unbroken. +One by one, as the pipes were smoked, they laid themselves down upon +the brown leaves and went to sleep, only our two guardians and a third +Indian over against us remaining wide-eyed and watchful. + +There was no hope of escape, and we entertained no thought of it. Diccon +sat, biting his nails, staring into the fire, and I stretched myself +out, and burying my head in my arms tried to sleep, but could not. + +With the midday we were afoot again, and we went steadily on through the +bright afternoon. We met with no harsh treatment other than our bonds. +Instead, when our captors spoke to us, it was with words of amity and +smiling lips. Who accounteth for Indian fashions? It is a way they +have, to flatter and caress the wretch for whom have been provided the +torments of the damned. If, when at sunset we halted for supper and +gathered around the fire, the werowance began to tell of a foray I had +led against the Paspaheghs years before, and if he and his warriors, for +all the world like generous foes, loudly applauded some daring that had +accompanied that raid, none the less did the red stake wait for us; none +the less would they strive, as for heaven, to wring from us groans and +cries. + +The sun sank, and the darkness entered the forest. In the distance we +heard the wolves, so the fire was kept up through the night. Diccon and +I were tied to trees, and all the savages save one lay down and slept. I +worked awhile at my bonds; but an Indian had tied them, and after a time +I desisted from the useless labor. We two could have no speech together; +the fire was between us, and we saw each other but dimly through the +flame and wreathing smoke,--as each might see the other to-morrow. What +Diccon's thoughts were I know not; mine were not of the morrow. + +There had been no rain for a long time, and the multitude of leaves +underfoot were crisp and dry. The wind was loud in them and in the +swaying trees. Off in the forest was a bog, and the will-o'-the-wisps +danced over it,--pale, cold flames, moving aimlessly here and there like +ghosts of those lost in the woods. Toward the middle of the night some +heavy animal crashed through a thicket to the left of us, and tore away +into the darkness over the loud-rustling leaves; and later on wolves' +eyes gleamed from out the ring of darkness beyond the firelight. Far on +in the night the wind fell and the moon rose, changing the forest into +some dim, exquisite, far-off land, seen only in dreams. The Indians +awoke silently and all at once, as at an appointed hour. They spoke for +a while among themselves; then we were loosed from the trees, and the +walk toward death began anew. + +On this march the werowance himself stalked beside me, the moonlight +whitening his dark limbs and relentless face. He spoke no word, nor did +I deign to question or reason or entreat. Alike in the darkness of the +deep woods, and in the silver of the glades, and in the long twilight +stretches of sassafras and sighing grass, there was for me but one +vision. Slender and still and white, she moved before me, with her wide +dark eyes upon my face. Jocelyn! Jocelyn! + +At sunrise the mist lifted from a low hill before us, and showed an +Indian boy, painted white, poised upon the summit, like a spirit about +to take its flight. He prayed to the One over All, and his voice came +down to us pure and earnest. At sight of us he bounded down the hillside +like a ball, and would have rushed away into the forest had not a +Paspahegh starting out of line seized him and set him in our midst, +where he stood, cool and undismayed, a warrior in miniature. He was +of the Pamunkeys, and his tribe and the Paspaheghs were at peace; +therefore, when he saw the totem burnt upon the breast of the werowance, +he became loquacious enough, and offered to go before us to his village, +upon the banks of a stream, some bowshots away. He went, and the +Paspaheghs rested under the trees until the old men of the village +came forth to lead them through the brown fields and past the ring of +leafless mulberries to the strangers' lodge. Here on the green turf mats +were laid for the visitors, and water was brought for their hands. Later +on, the women spread a great breakfast of fish and turkey and venison, +maize bread, tuckahoe and pohickory. When it was eaten, the Paspaheghs +ranged themselves in a semicircle upon the grass, the Pamunkeys faced +them, and each warrior and old man drew out his pipe and tobacco pouch. +They smoked gravely, in a silence broken only by an occasional slow and +stately question or compliment. The blue incense from the pipes mingled +with the sunshine falling freely through the bare branches; the stream +which ran by the lodge rippled and shone, and the wind rose and fell in +the pines upon its farther bank. + +Diccon and I had been freed for the time from our bonds, and placed in +the centre of this ring, and when the Indians raised their eyes from the +ground it was to gaze steadfastly at us. I knew their ways, and how +they valued pride, indifference, and a bravado disregard of the worst an +enemy could do. They should not find the white man less proud than the +savage. + +They gave us readily enough the pipes I asked for. Diccon lit one and +I the other, and sitting side by side we smoked in a contentment as +absolute as the Indians' own. With his eyes upon the werowance, Diccon +told an old story of a piece of Paspahegh villainy and of the payment +which the English exacted, and I laughed as at the most amusing thing in +the world. The story ended, we smoked with serenity for a while; then I +drew my dice from my pocket, and, beginning to throw, we were at once as +much absorbed in the game as if there were no other stake in the world +beside the remnant of gold that I piled between us. The strange people +in whose power we found ourselves looked on with grim approval, as at +brave men who could laugh in Death's face. + +The sun was high in the heavens when we bade the Pamunkeys farewell. The +cleared ground, the mulberry trees, and the grass beneath, the few rude +lodges with the curling smoke above them, the warriors and women and +brown naked children,--all vanished, and the forest closed around us. +A high wind was blowing, and the branches far above beat at one another +furiously, while the pendent, leafless vines swayed against us, and the +dead leaves went past in the whirlwind. A monstrous flight of pigeons +crossed the heavens, flying from west to east, and darkening the land +beneath like a transient cloud. We came to a plain covered with very +tall trees that had one and all been ringed by the Indians. Long dead, +and partially stripped of the bark, with their branches, great and +small, squandered upon the ground, they stood, gaunt and silver gray, +ready for their fall. As we passed, the wind brought two crashing to +the earth. In the centre of the plain something--deer or wolf or bear or +man--lay dead, for to that point the buzzards were sweeping from every +quarter of the blue. Beyond was a pine wood, silent and dim, with a high +green roof and a smooth and scented floor. We walked through it for an +hour, and it led us to the Pamunkey. A tiny village, counting no more +than a dozen warriors, stood among the pines that ran to the water's +edge, and tied to the trees that shadowed the slow-moving flood were +its canoes. When the people came forth to meet us, the Paspaheghs bought +from them, for a string of roanoke, two of these boats; and we made no +tarrying, but, embarking at once, rowed up river toward Uttamussac and +its three temples. + +Diccon and I were placed in the same canoe. We were not bound: what +need of bonds, when we had no friend nearer than the Powhatan, and +when Uttamussac was so near? After a time the paddles were put into our +hands, and we were required to row while our captors rested. There was +no use in sulkiness; we laughed as at some huge jest, and bent to the +task with a will that sent our canoe well in advance of its mate. Diccon +burst into an old song that we had sung in the Low Countries, by camp +fires, on the march, before the battle. The forest echoed to the loud +and warlike tune, and a multitude of birds rose startled from the trees +upon the bank. The Indians frowned, and one in the boat behind called +out to strike the singer upon the mouth; but the werowance shook his +head. There were none upon that river who might not know that the +Paspaheghs journeyed to Uttamussac with prisoners in their midst. Diccon +sang on, his head thrown back, the old bold laugh in his eyes. When he +came to the chorus I joined my voice to his, and the woodland rang +to the song. A psalm had better befitted our lips than those rude and +vaunting words, seeing that we should never sing again upon this earth; +but at least we sang bravely and gayly, with minds that were reasonably +quiet. + +The sun dropped low in the heavens, and the trees cast shadows across +the water. The Paspaheghs now began to recount the entertainment they +meant to offer us in the morning. All those tortures that they were +wont to practice with hellish ingenuity they told over, slowly and +tauntingly, watching to see a lip whiten or an eyelid quiver. They +boasted that they would make women of us at the stake. At all events, +they made not women of us beforehand. We laughed as we rowed, and Diccon +whistled to the leaping fish, and the fish-hawk, and the otter lying +along a fallen tree beneath the bank. + +The sunset came, and the river lay beneath the clouds like +molten gold, with the gaunt forest black upon either hand. From the +lifted paddles the water showered in golden drops. The wind died away, +and with it all noises, and a dank stillness settled upon the flood and +upon the endless forest. We were nearing Uttamussac, and the Indians +rowed quietly, with bent heads and fearful glances; for Okee brooded +over this place, and he might be angry. It grew colder and stiller, but +the light dwelt in the heavens, and was reflected in the bosom of the +river. The trees upon the southern bank were all pines; as if they had +been carved from black stone they stood rigid against the saffron sky. +Presently, back from the shore, there rose before us a few small hills, +treeless, but covered with some low, dark growth. The one that stood +the highest bore upon its crest three black houses shaped like coffins. +Behind them was the deep yellow of the sunset. + +An Indian rowing in the second canoe commenced a chant or prayer to +Okee. The notes were low and broken, unutterably wild and melancholy. +One by one his fellows took up the strain; it swelled higher, louder, +and sterner, became a deafening cry, then ceased abruptly, making the +stillness that followed like death itself. Both canoes swung round from +the middle stream and made for the bank. When the boats had slipped from +the stripe of gold into the inky shadow of the pines, the Paspaheghs +began to divest themselves of this or that which they conceived Okee +might desire to possess. One flung into the stream a handful of copper +links, another the chaplet of feathers from his head, a third a bracelet +of blue beads. The werowance drew out the arrows from a gaudily painted +and beaded quiver, stuck them into his belt, and dropped the quiver into +the water. + +We landed, dragging the canoes into a covert of overhanging bushes and +fastening them there; then struck through the pines toward the rising +ground, and presently came to a large village, with many long huts, +and a great central lodge where dwelt the emperors when they came to +Uttamussac. It was vacant now, Opechancanough being no man knew where. + +When the usual stately welcome had been extended to the Paspaheghs, and +when they had returned as stately thanks, the werowance began a harangue +for which I furnished the matter. When he ceased to speak a great +acclamation and tumult arose, and I thought they would scarce wait for +the morrow. But it was late, and their werowance and conjurer restrained +them. In the end the men drew off, and the yelling of the children +and the passionate cries of the women, importunate for vengeance, +were stilled. A guard was placed around the vacant lodge, and we two +Englishmen were taken within and bound down to great logs, such as the +Indians use to roll against their doors when they go from home. + +There was revelry in the village; for hours after the night came, +everywhere were bright firelight and the rise and fall of laughter and +song. The voices of the women were musical, tender, and plaintive, and +yet they waited for the morrow as for a gala day. I thought of a woman +who used to sing, softly and sweetly, in the twilight at Weyanoke, in +the firelight at the minister's house. At last the noises ceased, the +light died away, and the village slept beneath a heaven that seemed +somewhat deaf and blind. + + + +CHAPTER XXXI IN WHICH NANTAUQUAS COMES TO OUR RESCUE + + +A MAN who hath been a soldier and an adventurer into far and strange +countries must needs have faced Death many times and in many guises. I +had learned to know that grim countenance, and to have no great fear of +it. And beneath the ugliness of the mask that now presented itself there +was only Death at last. I was no babe to whimper at a sudden darkness, +to cry out against a curtain that a Hand chose to drop between me and +the life I had lived. Death frighted me not, but when I thought of one +whom I should leave behind me I feared lest I should go mad. Had this +thing come to me a year before, I could have slept the night through; +now--now--I lay, bound to the log, before the open door of the lodge, +and, looking through it, saw the pines waving in the night wind and the +gleam of the river beneath the stars, and saw her as plainly as though +she had stood there under the trees, in a flood of noon sunshine. Now +she was the Jocelyn Percy of Weyanoke, now of the minister's house, now +of a storm-tossed boat and a pirate ship, now of the gaol at Jamestown. +One of my arms was free; I could take from within my doublet the little +purple flower, and drop my face upon the hand that held it. The bloom +was quite withered, and scalding tears would not give it life again. + +The face that was, now gay, now defiant, now pale and suffering, became +steadfastly the face that had leaned upon my breast in the Jamestown +gaol, and looked at me with a mournful brightness of love and sorrow. +Spring was in the land, and the summer would come, but not to us. I +stretched forth my hand to the wife who was not there, and my heart lay +crushed within me. She had been my wife not a year; it was but the other +day that I knew she loved me-- + +After a while the anguish lessened, and I lay, dull and hopeless, +thinking of trifling things, counting the stars between the pines. +Another slow hour, and, a braver mood coming upon me, I thought of +Diccon, who was in that plight because of me, and spoke to him, asking +him how he did. He answered from the other side of the lodge, but the +words were scarcely out of his mouth before our guard broke in upon us +commanding silence. Diccon cursed them, whereupon a savage struck him +across the head with the handle of a tomahawk, stunning him for a time. +As soon as I heard him move I spoke again, to know if he were much hurt; +when he had answered in the negative we said no more. + +It was now moonlight without the lodge and very quiet. The night was +far gone; already we could smell the morning, and it would come apace. +Knowing the swiftness of that approach, and what the early light would +bring, I strove for a courage which should be the steadfastness of the +Christian, and not the vainglorious pride of the heathen. If my thoughts +wandered, if her face would come athwart the verses I tried to remember, +the prayer I tried to frame, perhaps He who made her lovely understood +and forgave. I said the prayer I used to say when I was a child, and +wished with all my heart for Jeremy. + +Suddenly, in the first gray dawn, as at a trumpet's call, the village +awoke. From the long, communal houses poured forth men, women, and +children; fires sprang up, dispersing the mist, and a commotion arose +through the length and breadth of the place. The women made haste with +their cooking, and bore maize cakes and broiled fish to the warriors who +sat on the ground in front of the royal lodge. Diccon and I were loosed, +brought without, and allotted our share of the food. We ate sitting side +by side with our captors, and Diccon, with a great cut across his head, +seized the Indian girl who brought him his platter of fish, and pulling +her down beside him kissed her soundly, whereat the maid seemed not ill +pleased and the warriors laughed. + +In the usual order of things, the meal over, tobacco should have +followed. But now not a pipe was lit, and the women made haste to take +away the platters and to get all things in readiness. The werowance of +the Paspaheghs rose to his feet, cast aside his mantle, and began to +speak. He was a man in the prime of life, of a great figure, strong as +a Susquehannock, and a savage cruel and crafty beyond measure. Over his +breast, stained with strange figures, hung a chain of small bones, and +the scalp locks of his enemies fringed his moccasins. His tribe being +the nearest to Jamestown, and in frequent altercation with us, I had +heard him speak many times, and knew his power over the passions of his +people. No player could be more skillful in gesture and expression, no +poet more nice in the choice of words, no general more quick to raise +a wild enthusiasm in the soldiers to whom he called. All Indians are +eloquent, but this savage was a leader among them. + +He spoke now to some effect. Commencing with a day in the moon of +blossoms when for the first time winged canoes brought white men into +the Powhatan, he came down through year after year to the present hour, +ceased, and stood in silence, regarding his triumph. It was complete. In +its wild excitement the village was ready then and there to make an +end of us who had sprung to our feet and stood with our backs against +a great bay tree, facing the maddened throng. So much the best for us +would it be if the tomahawks left the hands that were drawn back to +throw, if the knives that were flourished in our faces should be buried +to the haft in our hearts, that we courted death, striving with word +and look to infuriate our executioners to the point of forgetting their +former purpose in the lust for instant vengeance. It was not to be. The +werowance spoke again, pointing to the hills with the black houses upon +them, dimly seen through the mist. A moment, and the hands clenched upon +the weapons fell; another, and we were upon the march. + +As one man, the village swept through the forest toward the rising +ground that was but a few bowshots away. The young men bounded ahead to +make preparation; but the approved warriors and the old men went more +sedately, and with them walked Diccon and I, as steady of step as they. +The women and children for the most part brought up the rear, though +a few impatient hags ran past us, calling the men tortoises who would +never reach the goal. One of these women bore a great burning torch, the +flame and smoke streaming over her shoulder as she ran. Others carried +pieces of bark heaped with the slivers of pine of which every wigwam has +store. + +The sun was yet to rise when we reached a hollow amongst the low red +hills. Above us were the three long houses in which they keep the image +of Okee and the mummies of their kings. These temples faced the crimson +east, and the mist was yet about them. Hideous priests, painted over +with strange devices, the stuffed skins of snakes knotted about their +heads, in their hands great rattles which they shook vehemently, rushed +through the doors and down the bank to meet us, and began to dance +around us, contorting their bodies, throwing up their arms, and making a +hellish noise. Diccon stared at them, shrugged his shoulders, and with +a grunt of contempt sat down upon a fallen tree to watch the enemy's +manoeuvres. + +The place was a natural amphitheatre, well fitted for a spectacle. Those +Indians who could not crowd into the narrow level spread themselves over +the rising ground, and looked down with fierce laughter upon the driving +of the stakes which the young men brought. The women and children +scattered into the woods beyond the cleft between the hills, and +returned bearing great armfuls of dry branches. The hollow rang to the +exultation of the playgoers. Taunting laughter, cries of savage triumph, +the shaking of the rattles, and the furious beating of two great drums +combined to make a clamor deafening to stupor. And above the hollow was +the angry reddening of the heavens, and the white mist curling up like +smoke. + +I sat down beside Diccon on the log. Beneath it there were growing +tufts of a pale blue, slender-stemmed flower. I plucked a handful of the +blossoms, and thought how blue they would look against the whiteness of +her hand; then dropped them in a sudden shame that in that hour I was so +little steadfast to things which were not of earth. I did not speak to +Diccon, nor he to me. There seemed no need of speech. In the pandemonium +to which the world had narrowed, the one familiar, matter-of-course +thing was that he and I were to die together. + +The stakes were in the ground and painted red, the wood properly +arranged. The Indian woman who held the torch that was to light the pile +ran past us, whirling the wood around her head to make it blaze more +fiercely. As she went by she lowered the brand and slowly dragged it +across my wrists. The beating of the drums suddenly ceased, and the +loud voices died away. To Indians no music is so sweet as the cry of an +enemy; if they have wrung it from a brave man who has striven to endure, +so much the better. They were very still now, because they would not +lose so much as a drawing in of the breath. + +Seeing that they were coming for us, Diccon and I rose to await them. +When they were nearly upon us I turned to him and held out my hand. + +He made no motion to take it. Instead he stood with fixed eyes looking +past me and slightly upwards. A sudden pallor had overspread the +bronze of his face. "There's a verse somewhere," he said in a quiet +voice,--"it's in the Bible, I think,--I heard it once long ago, before I +was lost: 'I will look unto the hills from whence cometh my help'--Look, +sir!" + +I turned and followed with my eyes the pointing of his finger. In front +of us the bank rose steeply, bare to the summit,--no trees, only the red +earth, with here and there a low growth of leafless bushes. Behind it +was the eastern sky. Upon the crest, against the sunrise, stood the +figure of a man,--an Indian. From one shoulder hung an otterskin, and +a great bow was in his hand. His limbs were bare, and as he stood +motionless, bathed in the rosy light, he looked like some bronze god, +perfect from the beaded moccasins to the calm, uneager face below the +feathered headdress. He had but just risen above the brow of the hill; +the Indians in the hollow saw him not. + +While Diccon and I stared our tormentors were upon us. They came a dozen +or more at once, and we had no weapons. Two hung upon my arms, while a +third laid hold of my doublet to rend it from me. An arrow whistled over +our heads and stuck into a tree behind us. The hands that clutched +me dropped, and with a yell the busy throng turned their faces in the +direction whence had come the arrow. + +The Indian who had sent that dart before him was descending the bank. An +instant's breathless hush while they stared at the solitary figure; then +the dark forms bent forward for the rush straightened, and there arose a +loud cry of recognition. "The son of Powhatan! The son of Powhatan!" + +He came down the hillside to the level of the hollow, the authority of +his look and gesture making way for him through the crowd that surged +this way and that, and walked up to us where we stood, hemmed round, +but no longer in the clutch of our enemies. "It was a very big wolf this +time, Captain Percy," he said. + +"You were never more welcome, Nantauquas," I answered,--"unless, indeed, +the wolf intends making a meal of three instead of two." + +He smiled. "The wolf will go hungry to-day." Taking my hand in his he +turned to his frowning countrymen. "Men of the Pamunkeys!" he cried. +"This is Nantauquas' friend, and so the friend of all the tribes that +called Powhatan 'father.' The fire is not for him nor for his servant; +keep it for the Monacans and for the dogs of the Long House! The calumet +is for the friend of Nantauquas, and the dance of the maidens, the +noblest buck and the best of the weirs"-- + +There was a surging forward of the Indians, and a fierce murmur of +dissent. The werowance, standing out from the throng, lifted his voice. +"There was a time," he cried, "when Nantauquas was the panther crouched +upon the bough above the leader of the herd; now Nantauquas is a tame +panther and rolls at the white men's feet! There was a time when the +word of the son of Powhatan weighed more than the lives of many dogs +such as these, but now I know not why we should put out the fire at his +command! He is war chief no longer, for Opechancanough will have no +tame panther to lead the tribes. Opechancanough is our head, and +Opechancanough kindleth a fire indeed! We will give to this one what +fuel we choose, and to-night Nantauquas may look for the bones of the +white men!" + +He ended, and a great clamor arose. The Paspaheghs would have cast +themselves upon us again but for a sudden action of the young chief, +who had stood motionless, with raised head and unmoved face, during the +werowance's bitter speech. Now he flung up his hand, and in it was a +bracelet of gold carved and twisted like a coiled snake and set with a +green stone. I had never seen the toy before, but evidently others +had done so. The excited voices fell, and the Indians, Pamunkeys and +Paspaheghs alike, stood as though turned to stone. + +Nantauquas smiled coldly. "This day hath Opechancanough made me war +chief again. We have smoked the peace pipe together--my father's brother +and I--in the starlight, sitting before his lodge, with the wide marshes +and the river dark at our feet. Singing birds in the forest have been +many; evil tales have they told; Opechancanough has stopped his ears +against their false singing. My friends are his friends, my brother is +his brother, my word is his word: witness the armlet that hath no like; +that Opechancanough brought with him when he came from no man knows +where to the land of the Powhatans, many Huskanawings ago; that no +white men but these have ever seen. Opechancanough is at hand; he comes +through the forest with his two hundred warriors that are as tall as +Susquehannocks, and as brave as the children of Wahunsonacock. He comes +to the temples to pray to Kiwassa for a great hunting. Will you, when +you lie at his feet, that he ask you, 'Where is the friend of my friend, +of my war chief, of the Panther who is one with me again?'" + +There came a long, deep breath from the Indians, then a silence, in +which they fell back, slowly and sullenly; whipped hounds, but with the +will to break that leash of fear. + +"Hark!" said Nantauquas, smiling. "I hear Opechancanough and his +warriors coming over the leaves." + +The noise of many footsteps was indeed audible, coming toward the +hollow from the woods beyond. With a burst of cries, the priests and +the conjurer whirled away to bear the welcome of Okee to the royal +worshiper, and at their heels went the chief men of the Pamunkeys. +The werowance of the Paspaheghs was one that sailed with the wind; he +listened to the deepening sound, and glanced at the son of Powhatan +where he stood, calm and confident, then smoothed his own countenance +and made a most pacific speech, in which all the blame of the late +proceedings was laid upon the singing birds. When he had done speaking, +the young men tore the stakes from the earth and threw them into a +thicket, while the women plucked apart the newly kindled fire and flung +the brands into a little near-by stream, where they went out in a cloud +of hissing steam. + +I turned to the Indian who had wrought this miracle. "Art sure it is +not a dream, Nantauquas?" I said. "I think that Opechancanough would not +lift a finger to save me from all the deaths the tribes could invent." + +"Opechancanough is very wise," he answered quietly. "He says that now +the English will believe in his love indeed when they see that he holds +dear even one who might be called his enemy, who hath spoken against +him at the Englishmen's council fire. He says that for five suns Captain +Percy shall feast with Opechancanough, and that then he shall be sent +back free to Jamestown. He thinks that then Captain Percy will not speak +against him any more, calling his love to the white men only words with +no good deeds behind." + +He spoke simply, out of the nobility of his nature, believing his own +speech. I that was older, and had more knowledge of men and the masks +that they wear, was but half deceived. My belief in the hatred of the +dark Emperor was not shaken, and I looked yet to find the drop of poison +within this honey flower. How poisoned was that bloom God knows I could +not guess! + +"When you were missed, three suns ago," Nantauquas went on, "I and my +brother tracked you to the hut beside the forest, where we found only +the dead panther. There we struck the trail of the Paspaheghs; but +presently we came to running water, and the trail was gone." + +"We walked up the bed of the stream for half the night," I said. + +The Indian nodded. "I know. My brother went back to Jamestown for men +and boats and guns to go to the Paspahegh village and up the Powhatan. +He was wise with the wisdom of the white men, but I, who needed no gun, +and who would not fight against my own people, I stepped into the stream +and walked up it until past the full sun power. Then I found a broken +twig and the print of a moccasin, half hidden by a bush, overlooked when +the other prints were smoothed away. I left the stream and followed the +trail until it was broken again. I looked for it no more then, for I +knew that the Paspaheghs had turned their faces toward Uttamussac, and +that they would make a fire where many others had been made, in the +hollow below the three temples. Instead I went with speed to seek +Opechancanough. Yesterday, when the sun was low, I found him, sitting in +his lodge above the marshes and the river. We smoked the peace +pipe together, and I am his war chief again. I asked for the green +stone, that I might show it to the Paspaheghs for a sign. He gave it, +but he willed to come to Uttamussac with me." + +"I owe you my life," I said, with my hand upon his. "I and Diccon"--What +I would have said he put aside with a fine gesture. "Captain Percy is +my friend. My brother loves him, and he was kind to Matoax when she +was brought prisoner to Jamestown. I am glad that I could pull off this +wolf." + +"Tell me one thing," I asked. "Before you left Jamestown, had you heard +aught of my wife or of my enemy?" + +He shook his head. "At sunrise, the commander came to rouse my brother, +crying out that you had broken gaol and were nowhere to be found, and +that the man you hate was lying within the guest house, sorely torn by +some beast of the forest. My brother and I followed your trail at once; +the town was scarce awake when we left it behind us,--and I did not +return." + +By this we three were alone in the hollow, for all the savages, men and +women, had gone forth to meet the Indian whose word was law from the +falls of the far west to the Chesapeake. The sun now rode above the low +hills, pouring its gold into the hollow and brightening all the world +besides. The little stream flashed diamonds, and the carven devils upon +the black houses above us were frightful no longer. There was not a +menace anywhere from the cloudless skies to the sweet and plaintive +chant to Kiwassa, sung by women and floating to us from the woods beyond +the hollow. The singing grew nearer, and the rustling of the leaves +beneath many feet more loud and deep; then all noise ceased, and +Opechancanough entered the hollow alone. An eagle feather was thrust +through his scalp lock; over his naked breast, that was neither painted +nor pricked into strange figures, hung a triple row of pearls; his +mantle was woven of bluebird feathers, as soft and sleek as satin. The +face of this barbarian was dark, cold, and impassive as death. Behind +that changeless mask, as in a safe retreat, the supersubtle devil that +was the man might plot destruction and plan the laying of dreadful +mines. He had dignity and courage,--no man denied him that. I suppose he +thought that he and his had wrongs: God knows! perhaps they had. But if +ever we were hard or unjust in our dealings with the savages,--I say not +that this was the case,--at least we were not treacherous and dealt not +in Judas kisses. + +I stepped forward, and met him on the spot where the fire had been. For +a minute neither spoke. It was true that I had striven against him many +a time, and I knew that he knew it. It was also true that without his +aid Nantauquas could not have rescued us from that dire peril. And it +was again the truth that an Indian neither forgives nor forgets. He was +my saviour, and I knew that mercy had been shown for some dark reason +which I could not divine. Yet I owed him thanks, and gave them as +shortly and simply as I could. + +He heard me out with neither liking nor disliking nor any other emotion +written upon his face; but when I had finished, as though he suddenly +bethought himself, he smiled and held out his hand, white-man fashion. +Now, when a man's lips widen I look into his eyes. The eyes of +Opechancanough were as fathomless as a pool at midnight, and as devoid +of mirth or friendliness as the staring orbs of the carven imps upon the +temple corners. + +"Singing birds have lied to Captain Percy," he said, and his voice was +like his eyes. "Opechancanough thinks that Captain Percy will never +listen to them again. The chief of the Powhatans is a lover of the white +men, of the English, and of other white men,--if there are others. He +would call the Englishmen his brothers, and be taught of them how to +rule, and who to pray to"-- + +"Let Opechancanough go with me to-day to Jamestown," I said. "He hath +the wisdom of the woods; let him come and gain that of the town." + +The Emperor smiled again. "I will come to Jamestown soon, but not to-day +nor to-morrow nor the next day. And Captain Percy must smoke the peace +pipe in my lodge above the Pamunkey, and watch my young men and maidens +dance, and eat with me five days. Then he may go back to Jamestown +with presents for the great white father there, and with a message that +Opechancanough is coming soon to learn of the white men." + +I could have gnashed my teeth at that delay when she must think me dead, +but it would have been the madness of folly to show the impatience which +I felt. I too could smile with my lips when occasion drove, and drink a +bitter draught as though my soul delighted in it. Blithe enough to +all seeming, and with as few inward misgivings as the case called for, +Diccon and I went with the subtle Emperor and the young chief he had +bound to himself once more, and with their fierce train, back to that +village which we had never thought to see again. A day and a night we +stayed there; then Opechancanough sent away the Paspaheghs,--where we +knew not,--and taking us with him went to his own village above the +great marshes of the Pamunkey. + + + +CHAPTER XXXII IN WHICH WE ARE THE GUESTS OF AN EMPEROR + + +I HAD before this spent days among the Indians, on voyages of discovery, +as conqueror, as negotiator for food, exchanging blue beads for corn and +turkeys. Other Englishmen had been with me. Knowing those with whom we +dealt for sly and fierce heathen, friends to-day, to-morrow deadly foes, +we kept our muskets ready and our eyes and ears open, and, what with the +danger and the novelty and the bold wild life, managed to extract some +merriment as well as profit from these visits. It was different now. + +Day after day I ate my heart out in that cursed village. The feasting +and the hunting and the triumph, the wild songs and wilder dances, the +fantastic mummeries, the sudden rages, the sudden laughter, the great +fires with their rings of painted warriors, the sleepless sentinels, the +wide marshes that could not be crossed by night, the leaves that rustled +so loudly beneath the lightest footfall, the monotonous days, the +endless nights when I thought of her grief, of her peril, maybe,--it was +an evil dream, and for my own pleasure I could not wake too soon. + +Should we ever wake? Should we not sink from that dream without pause +into a deeper sleep whence there would be no waking? It was a question +that I asked myself each morning, half looking to find another hollow +between the hills before the night should fall. The night fell, and +there was no change in the dream. + +I will allow that the dark Emperor to whom we were so much beholden gave +us courteous keeping. The best of the hunt was ours, the noblest fish, +the most delicate roots. The skins beneath which we slept were fine and +soft; the women waited upon us, and the old men and warriors held with +us much stately converse, sitting beneath the budding trees with the +blue tobacco smoke curling above our heads. We were alive and sound +of limb, well treated and with the promise of release; we might have +waited, seeing that wait we must, in some measure of content. We did not +so. There was a horror in the air. From the marshes that were growing +green, from the sluggish river, from the rotting leaves and cold black +earth and naked forest, it rose like an exhalation. We knew not what it +was, but we breathed it in, and it went to the marrow of our bones. + +Opechancanough we rarely saw, though we were bestowed so near to him +that his sentinels served for ours. Like some god, he kept within his +lodge with the winding passage, and the hanging mats between him and the +world without. At other times, issuing from that retirement, he would +stride away into the forest. Picked men went with him, and they were +gone for hours; but when they returned they bore no trophies, brute or +human. What they did we could not guess. We might have had much comfort +in Nantauquas, but the morning after our arrival in this village the +Emperor sent him upon an embassy to the Rappahannocks, and when for +the fourth time the forest stood black against the sunset he had not +returned. If escape had been possible, we would not have awaited the +doubtful fulfillment of that promise made to us below the Uttamussac +temples. But the vigilance of the Indians never slept; they watched us +like hawks, night and day. And the dry leaves underfoot would not hold +their peace, and there were the marshes to cross and the river. + +Thus four days dragged themselves by, and in the early morning of the +fifth, when we came from our wigwam, it was to find Nantauquas sitting +by the fire, magnificent in the paint and trappings of the ambassador, +motionless as a piece of bronze, and apparently quite unmindful of the +admiring glances of the women who knelt about the fire preparing our +breakfast. When he saw us he rose and came to meet us, and I embraced +him, I was so glad to see him. "The Rappahannocks feasted me long," he +said. "I was afraid that Captain Percy would be gone to Jamestown before +I was back upon the Pamunkey." + +"Shall I ever see Jamestown again, Nantauquas?" I demanded. "I have my +doubts." + +He looked me full in the eyes, and there was no doubting the candor of +his own. "You go with the next sunrise," he answered. "Opechancanough +has given me his word." + +"I am glad to hear it," I said. "Why have we been kept at all? Why did +he not free us five days agone?" + +He shook his head. "I do not know. Opechancanough has many thoughts +which he shares with no man. But now he will send you with presents for +the Governor, and with messages of his love to the white men. There will +be a great feast to-day, and to-night the young men and maidens will +dance before you. Then in the morning you will go." + +"Will you not come with us?" I asked. "You are ever welcome amongst us, +Nantauquas, both for your sister's sake and for your own. Rolfe will +rejoice to have you with him again; he ever grudgeth you to the forest." + +He shook his head again. "Nantauquas, the son of Powhatan, hath had much +talk with himself lately," he said simply. "The white men's ways have +seemed very good to him, and the God of the white men he knows to be +greater than Okee, and to be good and tender; not like Okee, who sucks +the blood of the children. He remembers Matoax, too, and how she loved +and cared for the white men and would weep when danger threatened them. +And Rolfe is his brother and his teacher. But Opechancanough is his +king, and the red men are his people, and the forest is his home. If, +because he loved Rolfe, and because the ways of the white men seemed to +him better than his own ways, he forgot these things, he did wrong, +and the One over All frowns upon him. Now he has come back to his home +again, to the forest and the hunting and the warpath, to his king and +his people. He will be again the panther crouching upon the bough"-- + +"Above the white men?" + +He gazed at me in silence, a shadow upon his face. "Above the Monacans," +he answered slowly. "Why did Captain Percy say 'above the white men'? +Opechancanough and the English have buried the hatchet forever, and the +smoke of the peace pipe will never fade from the air. Nantauquas meant +'above the Monacans or the Long House dogs.'" + +I put my hand upon his shoulder. "I know you did, brother of Rolfe by +nature if not by blood! Forget what I said; it was without thought +or meaning. If we go indeed to-morrow, I shall be loath to leave you +behind; and yet, were I in your place, I should do as you are doing." + +The shadow left his face and he drew himself up. "Is it what you call +faith and loyalty and like a knight?" he demanded, with a touch of +eagerness breaking through the slowness and gravity with which an Indian +speaks. + +"Yea," I made reply. "I think you good knight and true, Nantauquas, and +my friend, moreover, who saved my life." + +His smile was like his sister's, quick and very bright, and leaving +behind it a most entire gravity. Together we sat down by the fire and +ate of the sylvan breakfast, with shy brown maidens to serve us and with +the sunshine streaming down upon us through the trees that were growing +faintly green. It was a thing to smile at to see how the Indian girls +manoeuvred to give the choicest meat, the most delicate maize cakes, +to the young war chief, and to see how quietly he turned aside their +benevolence. The meal over, he went to divest himself of his red and +white paint, of the stuffed hawk and strings of copper that formed his +headdress, of his gorgeous belt and quiver and his mantle of raccoon +skins, while Diccon and I sat still before our wigwam, smoking, and +reckoning the distance to Jamestown and the shortest time in which we +could cover it. + +When we had sat there for an hour the old men and the warriors came to +visit us, and the smoking must commence all over again. The women laid +mats in a great half circle, and each savage took his seat with perfect +breeding; that is, in absolute silence and with a face like a stone. +The peace paint was upon them all,--red, or red and white; they sat and +looked at the ground until I had made the speech of welcome. Soon the +air was dense with the fragrant smoke; in the thick blue haze the sweep +of painted figures had the seeming of some fantastic dream. An old +man arose and made a long and touching speech with much reference to +calumets and buried hatchets. When he had finished a chief talked of +Opechancanough's love for the English, "high as the stars, deep as +Popogusso, wide as from the sunrise to the sunset," adding that the +death of Nemattanow last year and the troubles over the hunting grounds +had kindled in the breasts of the Indians no desire for revenge. With +which highly probable statement he made an end, and all sat in silence +looking at me and waiting for my contribution of honeyed words. These +Pamunkeys, living at a distance from the settlements, had but little +English to their credit, and the learning of the Paspaheghs was not much +greater. I sat and repeated to them the better part of the seventh canto +of the second book of Master Spenser's "Faery Queen." Then I told them +the story of the Moor of Venice, and ended by relating Smith's tale of +the three Turks' heads. It all answered the purpose to admiration. When +at length they went away to change their paint for the coming feast +Diccon and I laughed at that foolery as though there were none beside us +who could juggle with words. We were as light-hearted as children--God +forgive us! + +The day wore on, with relay after relay of food which we must taste at +least, with endless smoking of pipes and speeches that must be listened +to and answered. When evening came and our entertainers drew off to +prepare for the dance, they left us as wearied as by a long day's march. + +The wind had been high during the day, but with the sunset it sank to +a desolate murmur. The sky wore the strange crimson of the past year +at Weyanoke. Against that sea of color the pines were drawn in ink, and +beneath it the winding, threadlike creeks that pierced the marshes had +the look of spilt blood moving slowly and heavily to join the river that +was black where the pines shadowed it, red where the light touched +it. From the marsh arose the cry of some great bird that made its home +there; it had a lonely and a boding sound, like a trumpet blown above +the dead. The color died into an ashen gray and the air grew cold, +with a heaviness beside that dragged at the very soul. Diccon shivered +violently, turned restlessly upon the log that served him as settle, and +began to mutter to himself. + +"Art cold?" I asked. + +He shook his head. "Something walked over my grave," he said. "I would +give all the pohickory that was ever brewed by heathen for a toss of +aqua vitae!" + +In the centre of the village rose a great heap of logs and dry branches, +built during the day by the women and children. When the twilight fell +and the owls began to hoot this pile was fired, and lit the place from +end to end. The scattered wigwams, the scaffolding where the fish +were dried, the tall pines and wide-branching mulberries, the trodden +grass,--all flashed into sight as the flame roared up to the top-most +withered bough. The village glowed like a lamp set in the dead blackness +of marsh and forest. Opechancanough came from the forest with a score of +warriors behind him, and stopped beside me. I rose to greet him, as was +decent; for he was an Emperor, albeit a savage and a pagan. "Tell the +English that Opechancanough grows old," he said. "The years that once +were as light upon him as the dew upon the maize are now hailstones +to beat him back to the earth whence he came. His arm is not swift to +strike and strong as it once was. He is old; the warpath and the scalp +dance please him no longer. He would die at peace with all men. Tell +the English this; tell them also that Opechancanough knows that they are +good and just, that they do not treat men whose color is not their own +like babes, fooling them with toys, thrusting them out of their path +when they grow troublesome. The land is wide and the hunting grounds +are many. Let the red men who were here as many moons ago as there are +leaves in summer and the white men who came yesterday dwell side by side +in peace, sharing the maize fields and the weirs and the hunting grounds +together." He waited not for my answer, but passed on, and there was no +sign of age in his stately figure and his slow, firm step. I watched him +with a frown until the darkness of his lodge had swallowed up him and +his warriors, and mistrusted him for a cold and subtle devil. + +Suddenly, as we sat staring at the fire we were beset by a band of +maidens, coming out of the woods, painted, with antlers upon their heads +and pine branches in their hands. They danced about us, now advancing +until the green needles met above our heads, now retreating until there +was a space of turf between us. Their slender limbs gleamed in the +firelight; they moved with grace, keeping time to a plaintive song, now +raised by the whole choir, now fallen to a single voice. Pocahontas +had danced thus before the English many a time. I thought of the little +maid, of her great wondering eyes and her piteous, untimely death, of +how loving she was to Rolfe and how happy they had been in their brief +wedded life. It had bloomed like a rose, as fair and as early fallen, +with only a memory of past sweetness. Death was a coward, passing by +men whose trade it was to out-brave him, and striking at the young and +lovely and innocent.... + +We were tired with all the mummery of the day; moreover, every fibre of +our souls had been strained to meet the hours that had passed since we +left the gaol at Jamestown. The elation we had felt earlier in the day +was all gone. Now, the plaintive song, the swaying figures, the red +light beating against the trees, the blackness of the enshrouding +forest, the low, melancholy wind,--all things seemed strange, and yet +deadly old, as though we had seen and heard them since the beginning of +the world. All at once a fear fell upon me, causeless and unreasonable, +but weighing upon my heart like a stone. She was in a palisaded town, +under the Governor's protection, with my friends about her and my enemy +lying sick, unable to harm her. It was I, not she, that was in danger. +I laughed at myself, but my heart was heavy, and I was in a fever to be +gone. + +The Indian girls danced more and more swiftly, and their song changed, +becoming gay and shrill and sweet. Higher and higher rang the notes, +faster and faster moved the dark limbs; then, quite suddenly, song and +motion ceased together. They who had danced with the abandonment of wild +priestesses to some wild god were again but shy brown Indian maids who +went and set them meekly down upon the grass beneath the trees. From the +darkness now came a burst of savage cries only less appalling than the +war whoop itself. In a moment the men of the village had rushed from the +shadow of the trees into the broad, firelit space before us. Now they +circled around us, now around the fire; now each man danced and stamped +and muttered to himself. For the most part they were painted red, but +some were white from head to heel,--statues come to life,--while others +had first oiled their bodies, then plastered them over with small +bright- feathers. The tall headdresses made giants of them all; +as they leaped and danced in the glare of the fire they had a fiendish +look. They sang, too, but the air was rude, and broken by dreadful +cries. Out of a hut behind us burst two or three priests, the conjurer, +and a score or more of old men. They had Indian drums upon which +they beat furiously, and long pipes made of reeds which gave forth no +uncertain sound. Fixed upon a pole and borne high above them was the +image of their Okee, a hideous thing of stuffed skins and rattling +chains of copper. When they had joined themselves to the throng in the +firelight the clamor became deafening. Some one piled on more logs, +and the place grew light as day. Opechancanough was not there, nor +Nantauquas. + +Diccon and I watched that uncouth spectacle, that Virginian masque, as +we had watched many another one, with disgust and weariness. It would +last, we knew, for the better part of the night. It was in our honor, +and for a while we must stay and testify our pleasure; but after a time, +when they had sung and danced themselves into oblivion of our presence, +we might retire, and leave the very old men, the women, and the children +sole spectators. We waited for that relief with impatience, though we +showed it not to those who pressed about us. + +Time passed, and the noise deepened and the dancing became more frantic. +The dancers struck at one another as they leaped and whirled, the sweat +rolled from their bodies, and from their lips came hoarse, animal-like +cries. The fire, ever freshly fed, roared and crackled, mocking the +silent stars. The pines were bronze-red, the woods beyond a dead black. +All noises of marsh and forest were lost in the scream of the pipes, the +wild yelling, and the beating of the drums. + +From the ranks of the women beneath the reddened pines rose shrill +laughter and applause as they sat or knelt, bent forward, watching the +dancers. One girl alone watched not them, but us. She stood somewhat +back of her companions, one slim brown hand touching the trunk of a +tree, one brown foot advanced, her attitude that of one who waits but +for a signal to be gone. Now and then she glanced impatiently at the +wheeling figures, or at the old men and the few warriors who took no +part in the masque, but her eyes always came back to us. She had been +among the maidens who danced before us earlier in the night; when they +rested beneath the trees she had gone away, and the night was much older +when I marked her again, coming out of the firelit distance back to the +fire and her dusky mates. It was soon after this that I became aware +that she must have some reason for her anxious scrutiny, some message to +deliver or warning to give. Once when I made a slight motion as if to go +to her, she shook her head and laid her finger upon her lips. + +A dancer fell from sheer exhaustion, another and another, and warriors +from the dozen or more seated at our right began to take the places of +the fallen. The priests shook their rattles, and made themselves dizzy +with bending and whirling about their Okee; the old men, too, though +they sat like statues, thought only of the dance, and of how they +themselves had excelled, long ago when they were young. + +I rose, and making my way to the werowance of the village where he +sat with his eyes fixed upon a young Indian, his son, who bade fair to +outlast all others in that wild contest, told him that I was wearied and +would go to my hut, I and my servant, to rest for the few hours that yet +remained of the night. He listened dreamily, his eyes upon the dancing +Indian, but made offer to escort me thither. I pointed out to him that +my quarters were not fifty yards away, in the broad firelight, in sight +of them all, and that it were a pity to take him or any others from the +contemplation of that whirling Indian, so strong and so brave that he +would surely one day lead the war parties. + +After a moment he acquiesced, and Diccon and I, quietly and yet with +some ostentation, so as to avoid all appearance of stealing away, left +the press of savages and began to cross the firelit turf between them +and our lodge. When we had gone fifty paces I glanced over my shoulder +and saw that the Indian maid no longer stood where we had last seen +her, beneath the pines. A little farther on we caught a glimpse of her +winding in and out among a row of trees to our left. The trees ran past +our lodge. When we had reached its entrance we paused and looked back to +the throng we had left. Every back seemed turned to us, every eye intent +upon the leaping figures around the great fire. Swiftly and quietly we +walked across the bit of even ground to the friendly trees, and found +ourselves in a thin strip of shadow between the light of the great fire +we had left and that of a lesser one burning redly before the Emperor's +lodge. Beneath the trees, waiting for us, was the Indian maid, with her +light form, and large, shy eyes, and finger upon her lips. She would not +speak or tarry, but flitted before us as dusk and noiseless as a moth, +and we followed her into the darkness beyond the firelight, well-nigh +to the line of sentinels. A wigwam, larger than common and shadowed by +trees, rose in our path; the girl, gliding in front of us, held aside +the mats that curtained the entrance. We hesitated a moment, then +stooped and entered the place. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII IN WHICH MY FRIEND BECOMES MY FOE + + +IN the centre of the wigwam the customary fire burned clear and bright, +showing the white mats, the dressed skins, the implements of war +hanging upon the bark walls,--all the usual furniture of an Indian +dwelling,--and showing also Nantauquas standing against the stripped +trunk of a pine that pierced the wigwam from floor to roof. The fire was +between us. He stood so rigid, at his full height, with folded arms and +head held high, and his features were so blank and still, so forced and +frozen, as it were, into composure, that, with the red light beating +upon him and the thin smoke curling above his head, he had the look of a +warrior tied to the stake. + +"Nantauquas!" I exclaimed, and striding past the fire would have touched +him but that with a slight and authoritative motion of the hand he kept +me back. Otherwise there was no change in his position or in the dead +calm of his face. + +The Indian maid had dropped the mat at the entrance, and if she waited, +waited without in the darkness. Diccon, now staring at the young chief, +now eyeing the weapons upon the wall with all a lover's passion, kept +near the doorway. Through the thickness of the bark and woven twigs the +wild cries and singing came to us somewhat faintly; beneath that distant +noise could be heard the wind in the trees and the soft fall of the +burning pine. + +"Well!" I asked at last. "What is the matter, my friend?" + +For a full minute he made no answer, and when he did speak his voice +matched his face. + +"My friend," he said, "I am going to show myself a friend indeed to the +English, to the strangers who were not content with their own hunting +grounds beyond the great salt water. When I have done this, I do not +know that Captain Percy will call me 'friend' again." + +"You were wont to speak plainly, Nantauquas," I answered him. "I am not +fond of riddles." + +Again he waited, as though he found speech difficult. I stared at him in +amazement, he was so changed in so short a time. + +He spoke at last: "When the dance is over, and the fires are low, and +the sunrise is at hand, then will Opechancanough come to you to bid you +farewell. He will give you the pearls that he wears about his neck for a +present to the Governor, and a bracelet for yourself. Also he will give +you three men for a guard through the forest. He has messages of love to +send the white men, and he would send them by you who were his enemy and +his captive. So all the white men shall believe in his love." + +"Well," I said dryly as he paused. "I will take his messages. What +next?" + +"Those are the words of Opechancanough. Now listen to the words of +Nantauquas, the son of Wahunsonacock, a war chief of the Powhatans. +There are two sharp knives there, hanging beneath the bow and the quiver +and the shield. Take them and hide them." + +The words were scarcely out of his mouth before Diccon had the two keen +English blades. I took the one he offered me, and hid it in my doublet. + +"So we go armed, Nantauquas," I said. "Love and peace and goodwill +consort not with such toys." + +"You may want them," he went on, with no change in his low, measured +tones. "If you see aught in the forest that you should not see, if they +think you know more than you are meant to know, then those three, who +have knives and tomahawks, are to kill you, whom they believe unarmed." + +"See aught that we should not see, know more than we are meant to know?" +I said. "To the point, friend." + +"They will go slowly, too, through the forest to Jamestown, stopping to +eat and to sleep. For them there is no need to run like the stag with +the hunter behind him." + +"Then we should make for Jamestown as for life," I said, "not sleeping +or eating or making pause?" + +"Yea," he replied, "if you would not die, you and all your people." + +In the silence of the hut the fire crackled, and the branches of the +trees outside, bent by the wind, made a grating sound against the bark +roof. + +"How die?" I asked at last. "Speak out!" + +"Die by the arrow and the tomahawk," he answered,--"yea, and by the +guns you have given the red men. To-morrow's sun, and the next, and the +next,--three suns,--and the tribes will fall upon the English. At the +same hour, when the men are in the fields and the women and children +are in the houses, they will strike,--Kecoughtans, Paspaheghs, +Chickahominies, Pamunkeys, Arrowhatocks, Chesapeakes, Nansemonds, +Accomacs,--as one man will they strike; and from where the Powhatan +falls over the rocks to the salt water beyond Accomac, there will not be +one white man left alive." + +He ceased to speak, and for a minute the fire made the only sound in +the hut. Then, "All die?" I asked dully. "There are three thousand +Englishmen in Virginia." + +"They are scattered and unwarned. The fighting men of the villages of +the Powhatan and the Pamunkey and the great bay are many, and they have +sharpened their hatchets and filled their quivers with arrows." + +"Scattered," I said, "strewn broadcast up and down the river,--here a +lonely house, there a cluster of two or three; they at Jamestown and +Henricus off guard,--the men in the fields or at the wharves, the women +and the children busy within doors, all unwarned--O my God!" + +Diccon strode over from the doorway to the fire. "We'd best be going, I +reckon, sir," he cried. "Or you wait until morning; then there'll be two +chances. Now that I've a knife, I'm thinking I can give account of one +of them damned sentries, at least. Once clear of them"-- + +I shook my head, and the Indian too made a gesture of dissent. "You +would only be the first to die." + +I leaned against the side of the hut, for my heart beat like a +frightened woman's. "Three days!" I exclaimed. "If we go with all our +speed we shall be in time. When did you learn this thing?" + +"While you watched the dance," he answered, "Opechancanough and I sat +within his lodge in the darkness. His heart was moved, and he talked to +me of his own youth in a strange country, south of the sunset, where he +and his people dwelt in stone houses and worshiped a great and fierce +god, giving him blood to drink and flesh to eat. To that country, +too, white men had come in ships. Then he spoke to me of Powhatan, my +father,--of how wise he was and how great a chief before the English +came, and how the English made him kneel in sign that he held his lands +from their King, and how he hated them; and then he told me that the +tribes had called me 'woman,' 'lover no longer of the warpath and the +scalp dance,' but that he, who had no son, loved me as his son, knowing +my heart to be Indian still; and then I heard what I have told you." + +"How long had this been planned?" + +"For many moons. I have been a child, fooled and turned aside from the +trail; not wise enough to see it beneath the flowers, through the smoke +of the peace pipes." + +"Why does Opechancanough send us back to the settlements?" I demanded. +"Their faith in him needs no strengthening." + +"It is his fancy. Every hunter and trader and learner of our tongues, +living in the villages or straying in the woods, has been sent back +to Jamestown or to his hundred with presents and with words that are +sweeter than honey. He has told the three who go with you the hour in +which you are to reach Jamestown; he would have you as singing birds, +telling lying tales to the Governor, with scarce the smoking of a pipe +between those words of peace and the war whoop. But if those who go with +you see reason to misdoubt you, they will kill you in the forest." + +His voice fell, and he stood in silence, straight as an arrow, against +the post, the firelight playing over his dark limbs and sternly quiet +face. Outside, the night wind, rising, began to howl through the naked +branches, and a louder burst of yells came to us from the roisterers in +the distance. The mat before the doorway shook, and a slim brown hand, +slipped between the wood and the woven grass, beckoned to us. + +"Why did you come?" demanded the Indian. "Long ago, when there were +none but dark men from the Chesapeake to the hunting grounds beneath the +sunset, we were happy. Why did you leave your own land, in the strange +black ships with sails like the piled-up clouds of summer? Was it not a +good land? Were not your forests broad and green, your fields fruitful, +your rivers deep and filled with fish? And the towns I have heard +of--were they not fair? You are brave men: had you no enemies there, +and no warpaths? It was your home: a man should love the good earth over +which he hunts, upon which stands his village. This is the red man's +land. He wishes his hunting grounds, his maize fields, and his rivers +for himself, his women and children. He has no ships in which to go to +another country. When you first came we thought you were gods; but you +have not done like the great white God who, you say, loves you so. You +are wiser and stronger than we, but your strength and wisdom help us +not: they press us down from men to children; they are weights upon the +head and shoulders of a babe to keep him under stature. Ill gifts have +you brought us, evil have you wrought us"-- + +"Not to you, Nantauquas!" I cried, stung into speech. + +He turned his eyes upon me. "Nantauquas is the war chief of his tribe. +Opechancanough is his king, and he lies upon his bed in his lodge +and says within himself: 'My war chief, the Panther, the son of +Wahunsonacock, who was chief of all the Powhatans, sits now within his +wigwam, sharpening flints for his arrows, making his tomahawk bright and +keen, thinking of a day three suns hence, when the tribes will shake off +forever the hand upon their shoulder,--the hand so heavy and white that +strives always to bend them to the earth and keep them there.' Tell me, +you Englishman who have led in war, another name for Nantauquas, and ask +no more what evil you have done him." + +"I will not call you 'traitor,' Nantauquas," I said, after a pause. +"There is a difference. You are not the first child of Powhatan who has +loved and shielded the white men." + +"She was a woman, a child," he answered. "Out of pity she saved your +lives, not knowing that it was to the hurt of her people. Then you were +few and weak, and could not take your revenge. Now, if you die not, you +will drink deep of vengeance,--so deep that your lips may never leave +the cup. More ships will come, and more; you will grow ever stronger. +There may come a moon when the deep forests and the shining rivers know +us, to whom Kiwassa gave them, no more." He paused, with unmoved face, +and eyes that seemed to pierce the wall and look out into unfathomable +distances. "Go!" he said at last. "If you die not in the woods, if you +see again the man whom I called my brother and teacher, tell him. .. +tell him nothing! Go!" + +"Come with us," urged Diccon gruffly. "We English will make a place for +you among us"--and got no further, for I turned upon him with a stern +command for silence. + +"I ask of you no such thing, Nantauquas," I said. "Come against us, +if you will. Nobly warned, fair upon our guard, we will meet you as +knightly foe should be met." + +He stood for a minute, the quick change that had come into his face +at Diccon's blundering words gone, and his features sternly impassive +again; then, very slowly, he raised his arm from his side and held out +his hand. His eyes met mine in sombre inquiry, half eager, half proudly +doubtful. + +I went to him at once, and took his hand in mine. No word was spoken. +Presently he withdrew his hand from my clasp, and, putting his finger +to his lips, whistled low to the Indian girl. She drew aside the hanging +mats, and we passed out, Diccon and I, leaving him standing as we had +found him, upright against the post, in the red firelight. + +Should we ever go through the woods, pass through that gathering storm, +reach Jamestown, warn them there of the death that was rushing upon +them? Should we ever leave that hated village? Would the morning ever +come? When we reached our hut, unseen, and sat down just within the +doorway to watch for the dawn, it seemed as though the stars would never +pale. Again and again the leaping Indians between us and the fire fed +the tall flame; if one figure fell in the wild dancing, another took its +place; the yelling never ceased, nor the beating of the drums. + +It was an alarum that was sounding, and there were only two to hear; +miles away beneath the mute stars English men and women lay asleep, with +the hour thundering at their gates, and there was none to cry, "Awake!" +When would the dawn come, when should we be gone? I could have cried out +in that agony of waiting, with the leagues on leagues to be traveled, +and the time so short! If we never reached those sleepers--I saw the +dark warriors gathering, tribe on tribe, war party on war party, thick +crowding shadows of death, slipping though the silent forest... and +the clearings we had made and the houses we had built... the goodly +Englishmen, Kent and Thorpe and Yeardley, Maddison, Wynne, Hamor, the +men who had striven to win and hold this land so fatal and so fair, West +and Rolfe and Jeremy Sparrow... the children about the doorsteps, the +women... one woman... + +It came to an end, as all things earthly will. The flames of the great +bonfire sank lower and lower, and as they sank the gray light faltered +into being, grew, and strengthened. At last the dancers were still, the +women scattered, the priests with their hideous Okee gone. The wailing +of the pipes died away, the drums ceased to beat, and the village lay in +the keen wind and the pale light, inert and quiet with the stillness of +exhaustion. + +The pause and hush did not last. When the ruffled pools amid the marshes +were rosy beneath the sunrise, the women brought us food, and the +warriors and old men gathered about us. They sat upon mats or billets of +wood, and I offered them bread and meat, and told them they must come to +Jamestown to taste of the white man's cookery. + +Scarcely was the meal over when Opechancanough issued from his lodge, +with his picked men behind him, and, coming slowly up to us, took his +seat upon the white mat that was spread for him. For a few minutes he +sat in a silence that neither we nor his people cared to break. Only +the wind sang in the brown branches, and from some forest brake came a +stag's hoarse cry. As he sat in the sunshine he glistened all over, like +an Ethiop besprent with silver; for his dark limbs and mighty chest had +been oiled, and then powdered with antimony. Through his scalp lock was +stuck an eagle's feather; across his face, from temple to chin, was a +bar of red paint; the eyes above were very bright and watchful, but we +upon whom that scrutiny was bent were as little wont as he to let our +faces tell our minds. + +One of his young men brought a great pipe, carved and painted, stem and +bowl; an old man filled it with tobacco, and a warrior lit it and bore +it to the Emperor. He put it to his lips and smoked in silence, while +the sun climbed higher and higher, and the golden minutes that were more +precious than heart's blood went by, at once too slow, too swift. + +At last, his part in the solemn mockery played, he held out the pipe to +me. "The sky will fall, and the rivers run dry, and the birds cease to +sing," he said, "before the smoke of the calumet fades from the land." + +I took the symbol of peace, and smoked it as silently and soberly--ay, +and as slowly--as he had done before me, then laid it leisurely aside +and held out my hand. "My eyes have been holden," I told him, "but now +I see plainly the deep graves of the hatchets and the drifting of the +peace smoke through the forest. Let Opechancanough come to Jamestown to +smoke of the Englishman's uppowoc, and to receive rich presents,--a red +robe like his brother Powhatan's, and a cup from which he shall drink, +he and all his people." + +He laid his dark fingers in mine for an instant, withdrew them, and, +rising to his feet, motioned to three Indians who stood out from the +throng of warriors. "These are Captain Percy's guides and friends," +he announced. "The sun is high; it is time that he was gone. Here are +presents for him and for my brother the Governor." As he spoke, he took +from his neck the rope of pearls and from his arm a copper bracelet, and +laid both upon my palm. + +I thrust the pearls within my doublet, and slipped the bracelet upon my +wrist. "Thanks, Opechancanough," I said briefly. "When we meet again I +shall not greet you with empty thanks." + +By this all the folk of the village had gathered around us; and now the +drums beat again, and the maidens raised a wild and plaintive song +of farewell. At a sign from the werowance men and women formed a rude +procession, and followed us, who were to go upon a journey, to the edge +of the village where the marsh began. Only the dark Emperor and the old +men stayed behind, sitting and standing in the sunshine, with the peace +pipe lying on the grass at their feet, and the wind moving the branches +overhead. I looked back and saw them thus, and wondered idly how many +minutes they would wait before putting on the black paint. Of Nantauquas +we had seen nothing. Either he had gone to the forest, or upon some +pretense he kept within his lodge. + +We bade farewell to the noisy throng who had brought us upon our way, +and went down to the river, where we found a canoe and rowers, crossed +the stream, and, bidding the rowers good-by, entered the forest. It +was Wednesday morning, and the sun was two hours high. Three suns, +Nantauquas had said: on Friday, then, the blow would fall. Three +days! Once at Jamestown, it would take three days to warn each lonely +scattered settlement, to put the colony into any posture of defense. +What of the leagues of danger-haunted forest to be traversed before even +a single soul of the three thousand could be warned? + +As for the three Indians,--who had their orders to go slowly, who at any +suspicious haste or question or anxiety on our part were to kill us whom +they deemed unarmed,--when they left their village that morning, they +left it forever. There were times when Diccon and I had no need of +speech, but knew each other's mind without; so now, though no word had +been spoken, we were agreed to set upon and slay our guides the first +occasion that offered. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV IN WHICH THE RACE IS NOT TO THE SWIFT + + +THE three Indians of whom we must rid ourselves were approved warriors, +fierce as wolves, cunning as foxes, keen-eyed as hawks. They had no +reason to doubt us, to dream that we would turn upon them, but from +habit they watched us, with tomahawk and knife resting lightly in their +belts. + +As for us, we walked slowly, smiled freely, and spoke frankly. The +sunshine streaming down in the spaces where the trees fell away was not +brighter than our mood. Had we not smoked the peace pipe? Were we not +on our way home? Diccon, walking behind me, fell into a low-voiced +conversation with the savage who strode beside him. It related to the +barter for a dozen otterskins of a gun which he had at Jamestown. The +savage was to bring the skins to Paspahegh at his earliest convenience, +and Diccon would meet him there and give him the gun, provided the pelts +were to his liking. As they talked, each, in his mind's eye, saw the +other dead before him. The one meant to possess a gun, indeed, but he +thought to take it himself from the munition house at Jamestown; the +other knew that the otter which died not until this Indian's arrow +quivered in its side would live until doomsday. Yet they discussed the +matter gravely, hedging themselves about with provisos, and, the +bargain clinched, walked on side by side in the silence of a perfect and +all-comprehending amity. + +The sun rode higher and higher, gilding the misty green of the budding +trees, quickening the red maple bloom into fierce scarlet, throwing +lances of light down through the pine branches to splinter against the +dark earth far below. For an hour it shone; then clouds gathered and +shut it from sight. The forest darkened, and the wind arose with +a shriek. The young trees cowered before the blast, the strong and +vigorous beat their branches together with a groaning sound, the old and +worn fell crashing to the earth. Presently the rain rushed down, slant +lines of silver tearing through the wood with the sound of the feet of +an army; hail followed, a torrent of ice beating and bruising all tender +green things to the earth. The wind took the multitudinous sounds,--the +cries of frightened birds, the creaking trees, the snap of breaking +boughs, the crash of falling giants, the rush of the rain, the drumming +of the hail,--enwound them with itself, and made the forest like a great +shell held close to the ear. + +There was no house to flee to; so long as we could face the hail we +staggered on, heads down, buffeting the wind; but at last, the fury of +the storm increasing, we were fain to throw ourselves upon the earth, +in a little brake, where an overhanging bank somewhat broke the wind. A +mighty oak, swaying and groaning above us, might fall and crush us like +eggshells; but if we went on, the like fate might meet us in the way. +Broken and withered limbs, driven by the wind, went past us like crooked +shadows; it grew darker and darker, and the air was deadly cold. + +The three Indians pressed their faces against the ground; they dreamed +not of harm from us, but Okee was in the merciless hail and the first +thunder of the year, now pealing through the wood. Suddenly Diccon +raised himself upon his elbow, and looked across at me. Our eyes had +no sooner met than his hand was at his bosom. The savage nearest him, +feeling the movement, as it were, lifted his head from the earth, of +which it was so soon to become a part; but if he saw the knife, he saw +it too late. The blade, driven down with all the strength of a desperate +man, struck home; when it was drawn from its sheath of flesh, there +remained to us but a foe apiece. + +In the instant of its descent I had thrown myself upon the Indian +nearest me. It was not a time for overniceness. If I could have done so, +I would have struck him in the back while he thought no harm; as it was, +some subtle instinct warning him, he whirled himself over in time to +strike up my hand and to clench with me. He was very strong, and his +naked body, wet with rain, slipped like a snake from my hold. Over and +over we rolled on the rain-soaked moss and rotted leaves and cold black +earth, the hail blinding us, and the wind shrieking like a thousand +watching demons. He strove to reach the knife within his belt; I, to +prevent him, and to strike deep with the knife I yet held. + +At last I did so. Blood gushed over my hand and wrist, the clutch upon +my arm relaxed, the head fell back. The dying eyes glared into mine; +then the lids shut forever upon that unquenchable hatred. I staggered to +my feet and turned, to find that Diccon had given account of the third +Indian. + +We stood up in the hail and the wind, and looked at the dead men at +our feet. Then, without speaking, we went our way through the tossing +forest, with the hailstones coming thick against us, and the wind a +strong hand to push us back. When we came to a little trickling spring, +we knelt and washed our hands. + +The hail ceased, but the rain fell and the wind blew throughout the +morning. We made what speed we could over the boggy earth against the +storm, but we knew that we were measuring miles where we should have +measured leagues. There was no breath to waste in words, and thought +was a burden quite intolerable; it was enough to stumble on through +the partial light, with a mind as gray and blank as the rain-blurred +distance. + +At noon the clouds broke, and an hour later the sunshine was streaming +down from a cloudless heaven, beneath which the forest lay clear before +us, naught stirring save shy sylvan creatures to whom it mattered not if +red man or white held the land. + +Side by side Diccon and I hurried on, not speaking, keeping eye and ear +open, proposing with all our will to reach the goal we had set, and +to reach it in time, let what might oppose. It was but another forced +march; many had we made in our time, through dangers manifold, and had +lived to tell the tale. + +There was no leisure in which to play the Indian and cover up our +footprints as we made them, but when we came to a brook we stepped into +the cold, swift-flowing water, and kept it company for a while. +The brook flowed between willows, thickly set, already green, and +overarching a yard or more of water. Presently it bent sharply, and we +turned with it. Ten yards in front of us the growth of willows ceased +abruptly, the low, steep banks shelved downwards to a grassy level, +and the stream widened into a clear and placid pool, as blue as the sky +above. Crouched upon the grass or standing in the shallow water were +some fifteen or twenty deer. We had come upon them without noise; the +wind blew from them to us, and the willows hid us from their sight. +There was no alarm, and we stood a moment watching them before we should +throw a stone or branch into their midst and scare them from our path. + +Suddenly, as we looked, the leader threw up his head, made a spring, and +was off like a dart, across the stream and into the depths of the forest +beyond. The herd followed. A moment, and there were only the trodden +grass and the troubled waters; no other sign that aught living had +passed that way. + +"Now what was that for?" muttered Diccon. "I'm thinking we had best not +take to the open just yet." + +For answer I parted the willows, and forced myself into the covert, +pressing as closely as possible against the bank, and motioning him to +do the same. He obeyed, and the thick-clustering gold-green twigs swung +into place again, shutting us in with the black water and the leafy, +crumbling bank. From that green dimness we could look out upon the pool +and the grass, with small fear that we ourselves would be seen. + +Out of the shadow of the trees into the grassy space stepped an Indian; +a second followed, a third, a fourth,--one by one they came from the +gloom into the sunlight, until we had counted a score or more. They made +no pause, a glance telling them to what were due the trampled grass and +the muddied water. As they crossed the stream one stooped and drank +from his hand, but they said no word and made no noise. All were painted +black; a few had face and chest striped with yellow. Their headdresses +were tall and wonderful, their leggings and moccasins fringed with scalp +locks; their hatchets glinted in the sunshine, and their quivers were +stuck full of arrows. One by one they glided from the stream into the +thick woods beyond. We waited until we knew that they were were deep in +the forest, then crept from the willows and went our way. + +"They were Youghtenunds," I said, in the low tones we used when we spoke +at all, "and they went to the southward." + +"We may thank our stars that they missed our trail," Diccon answered. + +We spoke no more, but, leaving the stream, struck again toward the +south. The day wore on, and still we went without pause. Sun and shade +and keen wind, long stretches of pine and open glades where we quickened +our pace to a run, dense woods, snares of leafless vines, swamp and +thicket through which we toiled so slowly that the heart bled at the +delay, streams and fallen trees,--on and on we hurried, until the sun +sank and the dusk came creeping in upon us. + +"We've dined with Duke Humphrey to-day," said Diccon at last; "but if we +can keep this pace, and don't meet any more war parties, or fall foul of +an Indian village, or have to fight the wolves to-night, we'll dine with +the Governor to-morrow. What's that?" + +"That" was the report of a musket, and a spent ball had struck me above +the knee, bruising the flesh beneath the leather of my boot. + +We wheeled, and looked in the direction whence lead come that unwelcome +visitor. There was naught to be seen. It was dusk in the distance, +and there were thickets too, and fallen logs. Where that ambuscade was +planted, if one or twenty Indians lurked in the dusk behind the trees, +or lay on the further side of those logs, or crouched within a thicket, +no mortal man could tell. + +"It was a spent ball," I said. "Our best hope is in our heels." + +"There are pines beyond, and smooth going," he answered; "but if ever I +thought to run from an Indian!" + +Without more ado we started. If we could outstrip that marksman, if we +could even hold our distance until night had fallen, all might yet be +well. A little longer, and even an Indian must fire at random; moreover, +we might reach some stream and manage to break our trail. The ground was +smooth before us,--too smooth, and slippery with pine needles; the pines +themselves stood in grim brown rows, and we ran between them lightly and +easily, husbanding our strength. Now and again one or the other looked +behind, but we saw only the pines and the gathering dusk. Hope was +strengthening in us, when a second bullet dug into the earth just beyond +us. + +Diccon swore beneath his breath. "It struck deep," he muttered. "The +dark is slow in coming." + +A minute later, as I ran with my head over my shoulder, I saw our +pursuer, dimly, like a deeper shadow in the shadows far down the arcade +behind us. There was but one man,--a tall warrior, strayed aside from +his band, perhaps, or bound upon a warpath of his own. The musket that +he carried some English fool had sold him for a mess of pottage. + +Putting forth all our strength, we ran for our lives, and for the lives +of many others. Before us the pine wood sloped down to a deep and wide +thicket, and beyond the thicket a line of sycamores promised water. If +we could reach the thicket, its close embrace would hide us,--then the +darkness and the stream. A third shot, and Diccon staggered slightly. + +"For God's sake, not struck, man?" I cried. + +"It grazed my arm," he panted. "No harm done. Here's the thicket!" + +Into the dense growth we broke, reckless of the blood which the sharp +twigs drew from face and hands. The twigs met in a thick roof over our +heads; that was all we cared for, and through the network we saw one of +the larger stars brighten into being. The thicket was many yards across. +When we had gone thirty feet down we crouched and waited for the dark. +If our enemy followed us, he must do so at his peril, with only his +knife for dependence. + +One by one the stars swam into sight, until the square of sky above us +was thickly studded. There was no sound, and no living thing could have +entered that thicket without noise. For what seemed an eternity, +we waited; then we rose and broke our way through the bushes to the +sycamores, to find that they indeed shadowed a little sluggish stream. + +Down this we waded for some distance before taking to dry earth again. +Since entering the thicket we had seen and heard nothing suspicious, +and were now fain to conclude that the dark warrior had wearied of the +chase, and was gone on his way toward his mates and that larger and +surer quarry which two suns would bring. Certain it is that we saw no +more of him. + +The stream flowing to the south, we went with it, hurrying along its +bank, beneath the shadow of great trees, with the stars gleaming down +through the branches. It was cold and still, and far in the distance we +heard wolves hunting. As for me, I felt no weariness. Every sense +was sharpened; my feet were light; the keen air was like wine in the +drinking; there was a star low in the south that shone and beckoned. The +leagues between my wife and me were few. I saw her standing beneath the +star, with a little purple flower in her hand. + +Suddenly, a bend in the stream hiding the star, I became aware that +Diccon was no longer keeping step with me, but had fallen somewhat to +the rear. I turned, and he was leaning heavily, with drooping head, +against the trunk of a tree. + +"Art so worn as that?" I exclaimed. "Put more heart into thy heels, +man!" + +He straightened himself and strode on beside me. "I don't know what came +over me for a minute," he answered. "The wolves are loud to-night. I +hope they'll keep to their side of the water." + +A stone's throw farther on, the stream curving to the west, we left it, +and found ourselves in a sparsely wooded glade, with a bare and sandy +soil beneath our feet, and above, in the western sky, a crescent moon. +Again Diccon lagged behind, and presently I heard him groan in the +darkness. + +I wheeled. "Diccon!" I cried. "What is the matter?" + +Before I could reach him he had sunk to his knees. When I put my hand +upon his arm and again demanded what ailed him, he tried to laugh, then +tried to swear, and ended with another groan. "The ball did graze my +arm," he said, "but it went on into my side. I'll just lie here and +die, and wish you well at Jamestown. When the red imps come against you +there, and you open fire on them, name a bullet for me." + + + +CHAPTER XXXV IN WHICH I COME TO THE GOVERNOR'S HOUSE + + +I LAID him down upon the earth, and, cutting away his doublet and the +shirt beneath, saw the wound, and knew that there was a journey indeed +that he would shortly make. "The world is turning round," he muttered, +"and the stars are falling thicker than the hailstones yesterday. Go on, +and I will stay behind,--I and the wolves." + +I took him in my arms and carried him back to the bank of the stream, +for I knew that he would want water until he died. My head was bare, but +he had worn his cap from the gaol at Jamestown that night. I filled it +with water and gave him to drink; then washed the wound and did what I +could to stanch the bleeding. He turned from side to side, and presently +his mind began to wander, and he talked of the tobacco in the fields +at Weyanoke. Soon he was raving of old things, old camp fires and +night-time marches and wild skirmishes, perils by land and by sea; then +of dice and wine and women. Once he cried out that Dale had bound him +upon the wheel, and that his arms and legs were broken, and the woods +rang to his screams. Why, in that wakeful forest, they were unheard, or +why, if heard, they went unheeded, God only knows. + +The moon went down, and it was very cold. How black were the shadows +around us, what foes might steal from that darkness upon us, it was not +worth while to consider. I do not know what I thought of on that night, +or even that I thought at all. Between my journeys for the water that he +called for I sat beside the dying man with my hand upon his breast, for +he was quieter so. Now and then I spoke to him, but he answered not. + +Hours before we had heard the howling of wolves, and knew that some +ravenous pack was abroad. With the setting of the moon the noise had +ceased, and I thought that the brutes had pulled down the deer they +hunted, or else had gone with their hunger and their dismal voices out +of earshot. Suddenly the howling recommenced, at first faint and far +away, then nearer and nearer yet. Earlier in the evening the stream had +been between us, but now the wolves had crossed and were coming down our +side of the water, and were coming fast. + +All the ground was strewn with dead wood, and near by was a growth of +low and brittle bushes. I gathered the withered branches, and broke +fagots from the bushes; then into the press of dark and stealthy forms I +threw a great crooked stick, shouting as I did so, and threatening with +my arms. They turned and fled, but presently they were back again. Again +I frightened them away, and again they returned. I had flint and steel +and tinder box; when I had scared them from us a third time, and they +had gone only a little way, I lit a splinter of pine, and with it fired +my heap of wood; then dragged Diccon into the light and sat down beside +him, with no longer any fear of the wolves, but with absolute confidence +in the quick appearance of less cowardly foes. There was wood enough and +to spare; when the fire sank low and the hungry eyes gleamed nearer, I +fed it again, and the flame leaped up and mocked the eyes. + +No human enemy came upon us. The fire blazed and roared, and the man who +lay in its rosy glare raved on, crying out now and then at the top of +his voice; but on that night of all nights, of all years, light and +voice drew no savage band to put out the one and silence the other +forever. + +Hours passed, and as it drew toward midnight Diccon sank into a stupor. +I knew that the end was not far away. The wolves were gone at last, and +my fire was dying down. He needed my touch upon his breast no longer, +and I went to the stream and bathed my hands and forehead, and then +threw myself face downward upon the bank. In a little while the desolate +murmur of the water became intolerable, and I rose and went back to the +fire, and to the man whom, as God lives, I loved as a brother. + +He was conscious. Pale and cold and nigh gone as he was, there came a +light to his eyes and a smile to his lips when I knelt beside him. "You +did not go?" he breathed. + +"No," I answered, "I did not go." + +For a few minutes he lay with closed eyes; when he again opened them +upon my face, there were in their depths a question and an appeal. I +bent over him, and asked him what he would have. + +"You know," he whispered. "If you can... I would not go without it." + +"Is it that?" I asked. "I forgave you long ago." + +"I meant to kill you. I was mad because you struck me before the lady, +and because I had betrayed my trust. An you had not caught my hand, +I should be your murderer." He spoke with long intervals between the +words, and the death dew was on his forehead. + +"Remember it not, Diccon," I entreated. "I too was to blame. And I see +not that night for other nights,--for other nights and days, Diccon." + +He smiled, but there was still in his face a shadowy eagerness. "You +said you would never strike me again," he went on, "and that I was man +of yours no more forever--and you gave me my freedom in the paper which +I tore." He spoke in gasps, with his eyes upon mine. "I'll be gone in +a few minutes now. If I might go as your man still, and could tell the +Lord Jesus Christ that my master on earth forgave, and took back, it +would be a hand in the dark. I have spent my life in gathering darkness +for myself at the last." + +I bent lower over him, and took his hand in mine. "Diccon, my man," I +said. + +A brightness came into his face, and he faintly pressed my hand. I +slipped my arm beneath him and raised him a little higher to meet his +death. He was smiling now, and his mind was not quite clear. "Do you +mind, sir," he asked, "how green and strong and sweet smelled the pines +that May day, when we found Virginia, so many years ago?" + +"Ay, Diccon," I answered. "Before we saw the land, the fragrance told us +we were near it." + +"I smell it now," he went on, "and the bloom of the grape, and the +May-time flowers. And can you not hear, sir, the whistling and the +laughter and the sound of the falling trees, that merry time when Smith +made axemen of all our fine gentlemen?" + +"Ay, Diccon," I said. "And the sound of the water that was dashed down +the sleeve of any that were caught in an oath." + +He laughed like a little child. "It is well that I was n't a gentleman, +and had not those trees to fell, or I should have been as wet as any +merman.... And Pocahontas, the little maid... and how blue the sky was, +and how glad we were what time the Patience and Deliverance came in!" + +His voice failed, and for a minute I thought he was gone; but he had +been a strong man, and life slipped not easily from him. When his eyes +opened again he knew me not, but thought he was in some tavern, and +struck with his hand upon the ground as upon a table, and called for the +drawer. + +Around him were only the stillness and the shadows of the night, but +to his vision men sat and drank with him, diced and swore and told wild +tales of this or that. For a time he talked loudly and at random of the +vile quality of the drink, and his viler luck at the dice; then he began +to tell a story. As he told it, his senses seemed to steady, and he +spoke with coherence and like a shadow of himself. + +"And you call that a great thing, William Host?" he demanded. "I can +tell a true tale worth two such lies, my masters. (Robin tapster, more +ale! And move less like a slug, or my tankard and your ear will cry, +'Well met!') It was between Ypres and Courtrai, friends, and it's nigh +fifteen years ago. There were fields in which nothing was sowed because +they were ploughed with the hoofs of war horses, and ditches in which +dead men were thrown, and dismal marshes, and roads that were no roads +at all, but only sloughs. And there was a great stone house, old and +ruinous, with tall poplars shivering in the rain and mist. Into this +house there threw themselves a band of Dutch and English, and hard +on their heels came two hundred Spaniards. All day they besieged that +house,--smoke and flame and thunder and shouting and the crash of +masonry,--and when eventide was come we, the Dutch and the English, +thought that Death was not an hour behind." + +He paused, and made a gesture of raising a tankard to his lips. His +eyes were bright, his voice was firm. The memory of that old day and its +mortal strife had wrought upon him like wine. + +"There was one amongst us," he said, "he was our captain, and it's of +him I am going to tell the story. Robin tapster, bring me no more ale, +but good mulled wine! It's cold and getting dark, and I have to drink to +a brave man besides"-- + +With the old bold laugh in his eyes, he raised himself, for the moment +as strong as I that held him. "Drink to that Englishman, all of ye!" he +cried, "and not in filthy ale, but in good, gentlemanly sack! I'll pay +the score. Here's to him, brave hearts! Here's to my master!" + +With his hand at his mouth, and his story untold, he fell back. I held +him in my arms until the brief struggle was over, and then laid his body +down upon the earth. + +It might have been one of the clock. For a little while I sat beside +him, with my head bowed in my hands. Then I straightened his limbs and +crossed his hands upon his breast, and kissed him upon the brow, and +left him lying dead in the forest. + +It was hard going through the blackness of the night-time woods. Once +I was nigh sucked under in a great swamp, and once I stumbled into some +hole or pit in the earth, and for a time thought that I had broken my +leg. The night was very dark, and sometimes when I could not see the +stars, I lost my way, and went to the right or the left, or even back +upon my track. Though I heard the wolves, they did not come nigh me. +Just before daybreak, I crouched behind a log, and watched a party of +savages file past like shadows of the night. + +At last the dawn came, and I could press on more rapidly. For two days +and two nights I had not slept; for a day and a night I had not tasted +food. As the sun climbed the heavens, a thousand black spots, like +summer gnats, danced between his face and my weary eyes. The forest laid +stumbling-blocks before me, and drove me back, and made me wind in and +out when I would have had my path straighter than an arrow. When +the ground allowed I ran; when I must break my way, panting, through +undergrowth so dense and stubborn that it seemed some enchanted thicket, +where each twig snapped but to be on the instant stiff in place again, I +broke it with what patience I might; when I must turn aside for this +or that obstacle I made the detour, though my heart cried out at the +necessity. Once I saw reason to believe that two or more Indians were +upon my trail, and lost time in outwitting them; and once I must go a +mile out of my way to avoid an Indian village. + +As the day wore on, I began to go as in a dream. It had come to seem the +gigantic wood of some fantastic tale through which I was traveling. +The fallen trees ranged themselves into an abatis hard to surmount; the +thickets withstood one like iron; the streamlets were like rivers, the +marshes leagues wide, the treetops miles away. Little things, twisted +roots, trailing vines, dead and rotten wood, made me stumble. A wind +was blowing that had blown just so since time began, and the forest was +filled with the sound of the sea. + +Afternoon came, and the shadows began to lengthen. They were lines of +black paint spilt in a thousand places, and stealing swiftly and surely +across the brightness of the land. Torn and bleeding and breathless, I +hastened on; for it was drawing toward night, and I should have been at +Jamestown hours before. My head pained me, and as I ran I saw men and +women stealing in and out among the trees before me: Pocahontas with her +wistful eyes and braided hair and finger on her lips; Nantauquas; Dale, +the knight-marshal, and Argall with his fierce, unscrupulous face; +my cousin George Percy, and my mother with her stately figure, her +embroidery in her hands. I knew that they were but phantoms of my brain, +but their presence confused and troubled me. + +The shadows ran together, and the sunshine died out of the forest. +Stumbling on, I saw through the thinning trees a long gleam of red, and +thought it was blood, but presently knew that it was the river, crimson +from the sunset. A minute more and I stood upon the shore of the mighty +stream, between the two brightnesses of flood and heavens. There was +a silver crescent in the sky with one white star above it, and fair in +sight, down the James, with lights springing up through the twilight, +was the town,--the English town that we had built and named for our +King, and had held in the teeth of Spain, in the teeth of the wilderness +and its terrors. It was not a mile away; a little longer,--a little +longer and I could rest, with my tidings told. + +The dusk had quite fallen when I reached the neck of land. The hut to +which I had been enticed that night stood dark and ghastly, with its +door swinging in the wind. I ran past it and across the neck, and, +arriving at the palisade, beat upon the gate with my hands, and called +to the warder to open. When I had told him my name and tidings, he did +so, with shaking knees and starting eyes. Cautioning him to raise no +alarm in the town, I hurried by him into the street, and down it toward +the house that was set aside for the Governor of Virginia. I should find +there now, not Yeardley, but Sir Francis Wyatt. + +The torches were lighted, and the folk were indoors, for the night was +cold. One or two figures that I met or passed would have accosted me, +not knowing who I was, but I brushed by them, and hastened on. Only when +I passed the guest house I looked up, and saw that mine host's chief +rooms were yet in use. + +The Governor's door was open, and in the hall servingmen were moving +to and fro. When I came in upon them, they cried out as it had been a +ghost, and one fellow let a silver dish that he carried fall clattering +to the floor. They shook and stood back, as I passed them without a +word, and went on to the Governor's great room. The door was ajar, and I +pushed it open and stood for a minute upon the threshold, unobserved by +the occupants of the room. + +After the darkness outside the lights dazzled me; the room, too, seemed +crowded with men, though when I counted them there were not so many, +after all. Supper had been put upon the table, but they were not eating. +Before the fire, his head thoughtfully bent, and his fingers tapping +upon the arm of his chair, sat the Governor; over against him, and as +serious of aspect, was the Treasurer. West stood by the mantel, tugging +at his long mustaches and softly swearing. Clayborne was in the room, +Piersey the Cape Merchant, and one or two besides. And Rolfe was there, +walking up and down with hasty steps, and a flushed and haggard +face. His suit of buff was torn and stained, and his great-boots were +spattered with mud. + +The Governor let his fingers rest upon the arm of his chair, and raised +his head. + +"He is dead, Master Rolfe," he said. "There can be no other +conclusion,--a brave man lost to you and to the colony. We mourn with +you, sir." + +"We too have searched, Jack," put in West. "We have not been idle, +though well-nigh all men believe that the Indians, who we know had a +grudge against him, murdered him and his man that night, then threw +their bodies into the river, and themselves made off out of our reach. +But we hoped against hope that when your party returned he would be in +your midst." + +"As for this latest loss," continued the Governor, "within an hour +of its discovery this morning search parties were out; yea, if I had +allowed it, the whole town would have betaken itself to the woods. The +searchers have not returned, and we are gravely anxious. Yet we are not +utterly cast down. This trail can hardly be missed, and the Indians are +friendly. There were a number in town overnight, and they went with the +searchers, volunteering to act as their guides. We cannot but think that +of this load, our hearts will soon be eased." + +"God grant it!" groaned Rolfe. "I will drink but a cup of wine, sir, and +then will be gone upon this new quest." + +There was a movement in the room. "You are worn and spent with your +fruitless travel, sir," said the Governor kindly. "I give you my word +that all that can be done is doing. Wait at least for the morning, and +the good news it may bring." + +The other shook his head. "I will go now. I could not look my friend in +the face else--God in heaven!" + +The Governor sprang to his feet; through the Treasurer's lips came a +long, sighing breath; West's dark face was ashen. I came forward to the +table, and leaned my weight upon it; for all the waves of the sea were +roaring in my ears, and the lights were going up and down. + +"Are you man or spirit?" cried Rolfe through white lips. "Are you Ralph +Percy?" + +"Yes, I am Percy," I said. "I have not well understood what quest you +would go upon, Rolfe, but you cannot go to-night. And those parties that +your Honor talked of, that have gone with Indians to guide them to look +for some lost person,--I think that you will never see them again." + +With an effort I drew myself erect, and standing so told my tidings, +quietly and with circumstance, so as to leave no room for doubt as +to their verity, or as to the sanity of him who brought them. They +listened, as the warder had listened, with shaking limbs and gasping +breath; for this was the fall and wiping out of a people of which I +brought warning. + +When all was told, and they stood there before me, white and shaken, +seeking in their minds the thing to say or do first, I thought to ask a +question myself; but before my tongue could frame it, the roaring of the +sea became so loud that I could hear naught else, and the lights all ran +together into a wheel of fire. Then in a moment all sounds ceased, and +to the lights succeeded the blackness of outer darkness. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI IN WHICH I HEAR ILL NEWS + + +WHEN I awoke from the sleep or stupor into which I must have passed from +that swoon, it was to find myself lying upon a bed in a room flooded +with sunshine. I was alone. For a moment I lay still, staring at the +blue sky without the window, and wondering where I was and how I +came there. A drum beat, a dog barked, and a man's quick voice gave a +command. The sounds stung me into remembrance, and I was at the window +while the voice was yet speaking. + +It was West in the street below, pointing with his sword now to the +fort, now to the palisade, and giving directions to the armed men about +him. There were many people in the street. Women hurried by to the +fort with white, scared faces, their arms filled with household gear; +children ran beside them, sturdily bearing their share of the goods, but +pressing close to their elders' skirts; men went to and fro, the most +grimly silent, but a few talking loudly. Not all of the faces in the +crowd belonged to the town: there were Kingsmell and his wife from the +main, and John Ellison from Archer's Hope, and the Italians Vincencio +and Bernardo from the Glass House. The nearer plantations, then, had +been warned, and their people had come for refuge to the city. A +passed, but on that morning, alone of many days, no Indian aired his +paint and feathers in the white man's village. + +I could not see the palisade across the neck, but I knew that it was +there that the fight--if fight there were--would be made. Should the +Indians take the palisade, there would yet be the houses of the town, +and, last of all, the fort in which to make a stand. I believed not that +they would take it. Long since we had found out their method of warfare. +They used ambuscade, surprise, and massacre; when withstood in force and +with determination they withdrew to their stronghold the forest, there +to bide their time until, in the blackness of some night, they could +again swoop down upon a sleeping foe. + +The drum beat again, and a messenger from the palisade came down the +street at a run. "They're in the woods over against us, thicker than +ants!" he cried to West as he passed. "A boat has just drifted ashore +yonder, with two men in it, dead and scalped!" + +I turned to leave the room, and ran against Master Pory coming in on +tiptoe, with a red and solemn face. He started when he saw me. + +"The roll of the drum brought you to your feet, then!" he cried. "You've +lain like the dead all night. I came but to see if you were breathing." + +"When I have eaten, I shall be myself again," I said. "There's no attack +as yet?" + +"No," he answered. "They must know that we are prepared. But they +have kindled fires along the river bank, and we can hear them yelling. +Whether they'll be mad enough to come against us remains to be seen." + +"The nearest settlements have been warned?" + +"Ay. The Governor offered a thousand pounds of tobacco and the perpetual +esteem of the Company to the man or men who would carry the news. Six +volunteered, and went off in boats, three up river, three down. How +many they reached, or if they still have their scalps, we know not. And +awhile ago, just before daybreak, comes with frantic haste Richard +Pace, who had rowed up from Pace's Pains to tell the news which you had +already brought. Chanco the Christian had betrayed the plot to him, and +he managed to give warning at Powel's and one or two other places as he +came up the river." + +He broke off, but when I would have spoken interrupted me with: "And so +you were on the Pamunkey all this while! Then the Paspaheghs fooled us +with the simple truth, for they swore so stoutly that their absent chief +men were but gone on a hunt toward the Pamunkey that we had no choice +but to believe them gone in quite another direction. And one and all of +every tribe we questioned swore that Opechancanough was at Orapax. So +Master Rolfe puts off up river to find, if not you, then the Emperor, +and make him give up your murderers; and the Governor sends a party +along the bay, and West another up the Chickahominy. And there you were, +all the time, mewed up in the village above the marshes! And Nantauquas, +after saving our lives like one of us, is turned Indian again! And your +man is killed! Alackaday! there's naught but trouble in the world. 'As +the sparks fly upwards,' you know. But a brave man draws his breath and +sets his teeth." + +In his manner, his rapid talk, his uneasy glances toward the door, I +found something forced and strange. "I thought Rolfe was behind me," he +said, "but he must have been delayed. There are meat and drink set out +in the great room, where the Governor and those of the Council who +are safe here with us are advising together. Let's descend; you've not +eaten, and the good sack will give you strength. Wilt come?" + +"Ay," I answered, "but tell me the news as we go. I have been gone ten +days,--faith, it seems ten years! There have no ships sailed, Master +Pory? The George is still here?" I looked him full in the eye, for a +sudden guess at a possible reason for his confusion had stabbed me like +a knife. + +"Ay," he said, with a readiness that could scarce be feigned. "She was +to have sailed this week, it is true, the Governor fearing to keep +her longer. But the Esperance, coming in yesterday, brought news which +removed his Honor's scruples. Now she'll wait to see out this hand at +the cards, and to take home the names of those who are left alive +in Virginia. If the red varlets do swarm in upon us, there are her +twelve-pounders; they and the fort guns"-- + +I let him talk on. The George had not sailed. I saw again a firelit +hut, and a man and a panther who went down together. Those claws had dug +deep; the man across whose face they had torn their way would keep his +room in the guest house at Jamestown until his wounds were somewhat +healed. The George would wait for him, would scarcely dare to sail +without him, and I should find the lady whom she was to carry away to +England in Virginia still. It was this that I had built upon, the +grain of comfort, the passionate hope, the sustaining cordial, of those +year-long days in the village above the Pamunkey. + +My heart was sore because of Diccon; but I could speak of that grief to +her, and she would grieve with me. There were awe and dread and stern +sorrow in the knowledge that even now in the bright spring morning blood +from a hundred homes might be flowing to meet the shining, careless +river; but it was the springtime, and she was waiting for me. I strode +on toward the stairway so fast that when I asked a question Master Pory, +at my side, was too out of breath to answer it. Halfway down the stairs +I asked it again, and again received no answer save a "Zooks! you go +too fast for my years and having in flesh! Go more slowly, Ralph Percy; +there's time enough, there's time enough!" + +There was a tone in his voice that I liked not, for it savored of pity. +I looked at him with knitted brows; but we were now in the hall, and +through the open door of the great room I caught a glimpse of a woman's +skirt. There were men in the hall, servants and messengers, who made +way for us, staring at me as they did so, and whispering. I knew that +my clothing was torn and muddied and stained with blood; as we paused +at the door there came to me in a flash that day in the courting meadow +when I had tried with my dagger to scrape the dried mud from my boots. +I laughed at myself for caring now, and for thinking that she would care +that I was not dressed for a lady's bower. The next moment we were in +the great room. + +She was not there. The silken skirt that I had seen, and--there being +but one woman in all the world for me--had taken for hers, belonged to +Lady Wyatt, who, pale and terrified, was sitting with clasped hands, +mutely following with her eyes her husband as he walked to and fro. West +had come in from the street and was making some report. Around the table +were gathered two or three of the Council; Master Sandys stood at +a window, Rolfe beside Lady Wyatt's chair. The room was filled with +sunshine, and a caged bird was singing, singing. It made the only sound +there when they saw that I stood amongst them. + +When I had made my bow to Lady Wyatt and to the Governor, and had +clasped hands with Rolfe, I began to find in the silence, as I had found +in Master Pory's loquaciousness, something strange. They looked at me +uneasily, and I caught a swift glance from the Treasurer to Master Pory, +and an answering shake of the latter's head. Rolfe was very white and +his lips were set; West was pulling at his mustaches and staring at the +floor. + +"With all our hearts we welcome you back to life and to the service of +Virginia, Captain Percy," said the Governor, when the silence had become +awkward. + +A murmur of assent went round the room. + +I bowed. "I thank you, sir, and these gentlemen very heartily. You have +but to command me now. I find that I have to-day the best will in +the world toward fighting. I trust that your Honor does not deem it +necessary to send me back to gaol?" + +"Virginia has no gaol for Captain Percy," he answered gravely. "She has +only grateful thanks and fullest sympathy." + +I glanced at him keenly. "Then I hold myself at your command, sir, when +I shall have seen and spoken with my wife." + +He looked at the floor, and they one and all held their peace. + +"Madam," I said to Lady Wyatt, "I have been watching your ladyship's +face. Will you tell me why it is so very full of pity, and why there are +tears in your eyes?" + +She shrank back in her chair with a little cry, and Rolfe stepped toward +me, then turned sharply aside. "I cannot!" he cried, "I that know"-- + +I drew myself up to meet the blow, whatever it might be. "I demand of +you my wife, Sir Francis Wyatt," I said. "If there is ill news to be +told, be so good as to tell it quickly. If she is sick, or hath been +sent away to England"-- + +The Governor made as if to speak, then turned and flung out his hands to +his wife. "'T is woman's work, Margaret!" he cried. "Tell him!" + +More merciful than the men, she came to me at once, the tears running +down her cheeks, and laid one trembling hand upon my arm. "She was a +brave lady, Captain Percy," she said. "Bear it as she would have had you +bear it." + +"I am bearing it, madam," I answered at length. "'She was a brave lady.' +May it please your ladyship to go on?" + +"I will tell you all, Captain Percy; I will tell you everything.... She +never believed you dead, and she begged upon her knees that we would +allow her to go in search of you with Master Rolfe. That could not be; +my husband, in duty to the Company, could not let her have her will. +Master Rolfe went, and she sat in the window, yonder, day after day, +watching for his return. When other parties went out, she besought the +men, as they had wives whom they loved, to search as though those +loved ones were in captivity and danger; when they grew weary and +fainthearted, to think of her face waiting in the window.... Day after +day she sat there watching for them to come back; when they were come, +then she watched the river for Master Rolfe's boats. Then came word down +the river that he had found no trace of you whom he sought, that he was +on his way back to Jamestown, that he too believed you dead.... We put +a watch upon her after that, for we feared we knew not what, there was +such a light and purpose in her eyes. But two nights ago, in the middle +of the night, the woman who stayed in her chamber fell asleep. When she +awoke before the dawn, it was to find her gone." + +"To find her gone?" I said dully. "To find her dead?" + +She locked her hands together and the tears came faster. "Oh, Captain +Percy, it had been better so!--it had been better so! Then would she +have lain to greet you, calm and white, unmarred and beautiful, with the +spring flowers upon her.... She believed not that you were dead; she +was distraught with grief and watching; she thought that love might find +what friendship missed; she went to the forest to seek you. They that +were sent to find and bring her back have never returned"-- + +"Into the forest!" I cried. "Jocelyn, Jocelyn, Jocelyn, come back!" + +Some one pushed me into a chair, and I felt the warmth of wine within my +lips. In the moment that the world steadied I rose and went toward the +door to find my way barred by Rolfe. + +"Not you, too, Ralph!" he cried. "I will not let you go. Look for +yourself!" + +He drew me to the window, Master Sandys gravely making place for us. +From the window was visible the neck of land and the forest beyond, and +from the forest, up and down the river as far as the eye could reach, +rose here and there thin columns of smoke. Suddenly, as we stared, +three or four white smoke puffs, like giant flowers, started out of the +shadowy woods across the neck. Following the crack of the muskets--fired +out of pure bravado by their Indian owners--came the yelling of the +savages. The sound was prolonged and deep, as though issuing from many +throats. + +I looked and listened, and knew that I could not go,--not now. + +"She was not alone, Ralph," said Rolfe, with his arm about me. "On the +morning that she was missed, they found not Jeremy Sparrow either. They +tracked them both to the forest by the footprints upon the sand, +though once in the wood the trail was lost. The minister must have been +watching, must have seen her leave the house, and must have followed +her. How she, and he after her, passed through the gates, none know. So +careless and confident had we grown--God forgive us!--that they may have +been left open all that night. But he was with her, Ralph; she had not +to face it alone"--His voice broke. + +For myself, I was glad that the minister had been there, though I knew +that for him also I should grieve after a while. + +At the firing and the shouting West had rushed from the room, followed +by his fellow Councilors, and now the Governor clapped on his headpiece +and called to his men to bring his back-and-breast. His wife hung around +his neck, and he bade her good-by with great tenderness. I looked dully +on at that parting. I too was going to battle. Once I had tasted such a +farewell, the pain, the passion, the sweetness, but never again,--never +again. + +He went, and the Treasurer, after a few words of comfort to Lady Wyatt, +was gone also. Both were merciful, and spoke not to me, but only bowed +and turned aside, requiring no answering word or motion of mine. When +they were away, and there was no sound in the room save the caged bird's +singing and Lady Wyatt's low sobs, I begged Rolfe to leave me, telling +him that he was needed, as indeed he was, and that I would stay in the +window for a while, and then would join him at the palisade. He was +loath to go; but he too had loved and lost, and knew that there is +nothing to be said, and that it is best to be alone. He went, and only +Lady Wyatt and I kept the quiet room with the singing bird and the +sunshine on the floor. + +I leaned against the window and looked out into the street,--which was +not crowded now, for the men were all at their several posts,--and at +the budding trees, and at the smoke of many fires going up from the +forest to the sky, from a world of hate and pain and woe to the heaven +where she dwelt, and then I turned and went to the table, where had been +set bread and meat and wine. + +At the sound of my footstep Lady Wyatt uncovered her face. "Is there +aught that I can do for you, sir?" she asked timidly. + +"I have not broken my fast for many hours, madam," I answered. "I would +eat and drink, that I may not be found wanting in strength. There is a +thing that I have yet to do." + +Rising from her chair, she brushed away her tears, and coming to the +table with a little housewifely eagerness would not let me wait upon +myself, but carved and poured for me, and then sat down opposite me and +covered her eyes with her hand. + +"I think that the Governor is quite safe, madam," I said. "I do not +believe that the Indians will take the palisade. It may even be that, +knowing we are prepared, they will not attack at all. Indeed, I think +that you may be easy about him." + +She thanked me with a smile. "It is all so strange and dreadful to me, +sir," she said. "At my home, in England, it was like a Sunday morning +all the year round,--all stillness and peace; no terror, no alarm. I +fear that I am not yet a good Virginian." + +When I had eaten, and had drunk the wine she gave me, I rose, and asked +her if I might not see her safe within the fort before I joined her +husband at the palisade. She shook her head, and told me that there were +with her faithful servants, and that if the savages broke in upon the +town she would have warning in time to flee, the fort being so close at +hand. When I thereupon begged her leave to depart, she first curtsied to +me, and then, again with tears, came to me and took my hand in hers. "I +know that there is naught that I can say.... Your wife loved you, sir, +with all her heart." She drew something from the bosom of her gown. +"Would you like this? It is a knot of ribbon that she wore. They found +it caught in a bush at the edge of the forest." + +I took the ribbon from her and put it to my lips, then unknotted it and +tied it around my arm; and then, wearing my wife's colors, I went softly +out into the street, and turned my face toward the guest house and the +man whom I meant to kill. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII IN WHICH MY LORD AND I PART COMPANY + + +THE door of the guest house stood wide, and within the lower room were +neither men that drank nor men that gave to drink. Host and drawers and +chance guests alike had left pipe and tankard for sword and musket, and +were gone to fort or palisade or river bank. + +I crossed the empty room and went up the creaking stairway. No one +met me or withstood me; only a pigeon perched upon the sill of a sunny +window whirred off into the blue. I glanced out of the window as I +passed it, and saw the silver river and the George and the Esperance, +with the gunners at the guns watching for Indian canoes, and saw smoke +rising from the forest on the southern shore. There had been three +houses there,--John West's and Minifie's and Crashaw's. I wondered if +mine were burning, too, at Weyanoke, and cared not if 't was so. + +The door of the upper room was shut. When I raised the latch and pushed +against it, it gave at the top and middle, but there was some pressure +from within at the bottom. I pushed again, more strongly, and the door +slowly opened, moving away whatever thing had lain before it. Another +moment, and I was in the room, and had closed and barred the door behind +me. + +The weight that had opposed me was the body of the Italian, lying face +downwards, upon the floor. I stooped and turned it over, and saw that +the venomous spirit had flown. The face was purple and distorted; the +lips were drawn back from the teeth in a dreadful smile. There was in +the room a faint, peculiar, not unpleasant odor. It did not seem strange +to me to find that serpent, which had coiled in my path, dead and +harmless for evermore. Death had been busy of late; if he struck down +the flower, why should he spare the thing that I pushed out of my way +with my foot? + +Ten feet from the door stood a great screen, hiding from view all that +might be beyond. It was very quiet in the room, with the sunshine coming +through the window, and a breeze that smelt of the sea. I had not +cared to walk lightly or to close the door softly, and yet no voice had +challenged my entrance. For a minute I feared to find the dead physician +the room's only occupant; then I passed the screen and came upon my +enemy. + +He was sitting beside a table, with his arms outstretched and his head +bowed upon them. My footfall did not rouse him; he sat there in the +sunshine as still as the figure that lay before the threshold. I thought +with a dull fury that maybe he was dead already, and I walked hastily +and heavily across the floor to the table. He was a living man, for with +the fingers of one hand he was slowly striking against a sheet of +paper that lay beneath them. He knew not that I stood above him; he was +listening to other footsteps. + +The paper was a letter, unfolded and written over with great black +characters. The few lines above those moving fingers stared me in the +face. They ran thus: "I told you that you had as well cut your throat +as go upon that mad Virginia voyage. Now all's gone,--wealth, honors, +favor. Buckingham is the sun in heaven, and cold are the shadows in +which we walk who hailed another luminary. There's a warrant out for +the Black Death; look to it that one meets not you too, when you come at +last. But come, in the name of all the fiends, and play your last card. +There's your cursed beauty still. Come, and let the King behold your +face once more"--The rest was hidden. + +I put out my hand and touched him upon the shoulder, and he raised his +head and stared at me as at one come from the grave. + +Over one side of his face, from temple to chin, was drawn and fastened +a black cloth; the unharmed cheek was bloodless and shrunken, the lip +twisted. Only the eyes, dark, sinister, and splendid, were as they had +been. "I dig not my graves deep enough," he said. "Is she behind you +there in the shadow?" + +Flung across a chair was a cloak of scarlet cloth. I took it and spread +it out upon the floor, then unsheathed a dagger which I had taken from +the rack of weapons in the Governor's hall. "Loosen thy poniard, thou +murderer," I cried, "and come stand with me upon the cloak." + +"Art quick or dead?" he answered. "I will not fight the dead." He had +not moved in his seat, and there was a lethargy and a dullness in his +voice and eyes. "There is time enough," he said. "I too will soon be +of thy world, thou haggard, bloody shape. Wait until I come, and I will +fight thee, shadow to shadow." + +"I am not dead," I said, "but there is one that is. Stand up, villain +and murderer, or I will kill you sitting there, with her blood upon your +hands!" + +He rose at that, and drew his dagger from the sheath. I laid aside my +doublet, and he followed my example, but his hands moved listlessly and +his fingers bungled at the fastenings. I waited for him in some wonder, +it not being like him to come tardily to such pastime. + +He came at length, slowly and with an uncertain step, and we stood +together on the scarlet cloak. I raised my left arm and he raised his, +and we locked hands. There was no strength in his clasp; his hand lay +within mine cold and languid. "Art ready?" I demanded. + +"Yea," he answered in a strange voice, "but I would that she did +not stand there with her head upon your breast.... I too loved thee, +Jocelyn,--Jocelyn lying dead in the forest!" + +I struck at him with the dagger in my right hand, and wounded him, but +not deeply, in the side. He gave blow for blow, but his poniard scarce +drew blood, so nerveless was the arm that would have driven it home. I +struck again, and he stabbed weakly at the air, then let his arm drop to +his side, as though the light and jeweled blade had weighed it down. + +Loosening the clasp of our left hands, I fell back until the narrow +scarlet field was between us. "Hast no more strength than that?" I +cried. "I cannot murder you!" + +He stood looking past me as into a great distance. He was bleeding, but +I had as yet been able to strike no mortal blow. "It is as you choose," +he said. "I am as one bound before you. I am sick unto death." + +Turning, he went back, swaying as he walked, to his chair, and sinking +into it sat there a minute with half-closed eyes; then raised his head +and looked at me, with a shadow of the old arrogance, pride, and disdain +upon his scarred face. "Not yet, captain?" he demanded. "To the heart, +man! So I would strike an you sat here and I stood there." + +"I know you would," I said, and going to the window I flung the dagger +down into the empty street; then stood and watched the smoke across the +river, and thought it strange that the sun shone and the birds sang. + +When I turned to the room again, he still sat there in the great chair, +a tragic, splendid figure, with his ruined face and the sullen woe of +his eyes. "I had sworn to kill you," I said. "It is not just that you +should live." + +He gazed at me with something like a smile upon his bloodless lips. +"Fret not thyself, Ralph Percy," he said. "Within a week I shall be +gone. Did you see my servant, my Italian doctor, lying dead upon the +floor, there beyond the screen? He had poisons, had Nicolo whom men +called the Black Death,--poisons swift and strong, or subtle and slow. +Day and night, the earth and sunshine have become hateful to me. I will +go to the fires of hell, and see if they can make me forget,--can make +me forget the face of a woman." He was speaking half to me, half to +himself. "Her eyes are dark and large," he said, "and there are shadows +beneath them, and the mark of tears. She stands there day and night with +her eyes upon me. Her lips are parted, but she never speaks. There was +a way that she had with her hands, holding them one within the other, +thus"-- + +I stopped him with a cry for silence, and I leaned trembling against the +table. "Thou wretch!" I cried. "Thou art her murderer!" + +He raised his head and looked beyond me with that strange, faint smile. +"I know," he replied, with the dignity which was his at times. "You may +play the headsman, if you choose. I dispute not your right. But it is +scarce worth while. I have taken poison." + +The sunshine came into the room, and the wind from the river, and the +trumpet notes of swans flying to the north. "The George is ready for +sailing," he said at last. "To-morrow or the next day she will be going +home with the tidings of this massacre. I shall go with her, and within +a week they will bury me at sea. There is a stealthy, slow, and secret +poison.... I would not die in a land where I have lost every throw of +the dice, and I would not die in England for Buckingham to come and look +upon my face, and so I took that poison. For the man upon the floor, +there,--prison and death awaited him at home. He chose to flee at once." + +He ceased to speak, and sat with his head bowed upon his breast. "If you +are content that it should be as it is," he said at length, "perhaps you +will leave me? I am not good company to-day." + +His hand was busy again with the letter upon the table, and his gaze +was fixed beyond me. "I have lost," he muttered. "How I came to play +my cards so badly I do not know. The stake was heavy,--I have not +wherewithal to play again." + +His head sank upon his outstretched arm. As for me, I stood a minute +with set lips and clenched hands, and then I turned and went out of the +room and down the stair and out into the street. In the dust beneath +the window lay my dagger. I picked it up, sheathed it, and went my way. + +The street was very quiet. All windows and doors were closed and barred; +not a soul was there to trouble me with look or speech. The yelling from +the forest had ceased; only the keen wind blew, and brought from the +Esperance upon the river a sound of singing. The sea was the home of the +men upon her decks, and their hearts dwelt not in this port; they could +sing while the smoke went up from our homes and the dead lay across the +thresholds. + +I went on through the sunshine and the stillness to the minister's +house. The trees in the garden were bare, the flowers dead. The door was +not barred. I entered the house and went into the great room and flung +the heavy shutters wide, then stood and looked about me. Naught was +changed; it was as we had left it that wild November night. Even the +mirror which, one other night, had shown me Diccon still hung upon the +wall. Master Bucke had been seldom at home, perhaps, or was feeble and +careless of altering matters. All was as though we had been but an hour +gone, save that no fire burned upon the hearth. + +I went to the table, and the books upon it were Jeremy Sparrow's: the +minister's house, then, had been his home once more. Beside the books +lay a packet, tied with silk, sealed, and addressed to me. Perhaps the +Governor had given it, the day before, into Master Bucke's care,--I do +not know; at any rate, there it lay. I looked at the "By the Esperance" +upon the cover, and wondered dully who at home would care to write to +me; then broke the seal and untied the silk. Within the cover there +was a letter with the superscription, "To a Gentleman who has served me +well." + +I read the letter through to the signature, which was that of his Grace +of Buckingham, and then I laughed, who had never thought to laugh again, +and threw the paper down. It mattered naught to me now that George +Villiers should be grateful, or that James Stewart could deny a favorite +nothing. "The King graciously sanctions the marriage of his sometime +ward, the Lady Jocelyn Leigh, with Captain Ralph Percy; invites them +home"-- + +She was gone home, and I her husband, I who loved her, was left behind. +How many years of pilgrimage... how long, how long, O Lord? + +The minister's great armchair was drawn before the cold and blackened +hearth. How often she had sat there within its dark clasp, the firelight +on her dress, her hands, her face! She had been fair to look upon; the +pride, the daring, the willfulness, were but the thorns about the rose; +behind those defenses was the flower, pure and lovely, with a heart of +gold. I flung myself down beside the chair, and, putting my arms across +it, hid my face upon them, and could weep at last. + +That passion spent itself, and I lay with my face against the wood and +well-nigh slept. The battle was done; the field was lost; the storm +and stress of life had sunk into this dull calm, as still as peace, as +hopeless as the charred log and white ash upon the hearth, cold, never +to be quickened again. + +Time passed, and at length I raised my head, roused suddenly to the +consciousness that for a while there had been no stillness. The air was +full of sound, shouts, savage cries, the beating of a drum, the noise +of musketry. I sprang to my feet, and went to the door to meet Rolfe +crossing the threshold. + +He put his arm within mine and drew me out into the sunshine upon the +doorstep. "I thought I should find you here," he said; "but it is only +a room with its memories, Ralph. Out here is more breadth, more height. +There is country yet, Ralph, and after a while, friends. The Indians +are beginning to attack in force. Humphry Boyse is killed, and Morris +Chaloner. There is smoke over the plantations up and down the river, as +far as we can see, and awhile ago the body of a child drifted down to +us." + +"I am unarmed," I said. "I will but run to the fort for sword and +musket"-- + +"No need," he answered. "There are the dead whom you may rob." The noise +increasing as he spoke, we made no further tarrying, but, leaving behind +us house and garden, hurried to the palisade. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII IN WHICH I GO UPON A QUEST + + +THROUGH a loophole in the gate of the palisade I looked, and saw the +sandy neck joining the town to the main, and the deep and dark woods +beyond, the fairy mantle giving invisibility to a host. Between us and +that refuge dead men lay here and there, stiff and stark, with the black +paint upon them, and the feathers of their headdresses red or +blue against the sand. One warrior, shot through the back, crawled like +a wounded beetle to the forest. We let him go, for we cared not to waste +ammunition upon him. + +I drew back from my loophole, and held out my hand to the women for a +freshly loaded musket. A quick murmur like the drawing of a breath came +from our line. The Governor, standing near me, cast an anxious glance +along the stretch of wooden stakes that were neither so high nor so +thick as they should have been. "I am new to this warfare, Captain +Percy," he said. "Do they think to use those logs that they carry as +battering rams?" + +"As scaling ladders, your Honor," I replied. "It is on the cards that we +may have some sword play, after all." + +"We'll take your advice, the next time we build a palisade, Ralph +Percy," muttered West on my other side. Mounting the breastwork that +we had thrown up to shelter the women who were to load the muskets, he +coolly looked over the pales at the oncoming savages. "Wait until they +pass the blasted pine, men!" he cried. "Then give them a hail of lead +that will beat them back to the Pamunkey!" + +An arrow whistled by his ear; a second struck him on the shoulder, but +pierced not his coat of mail. He came down from his dangerous post with +a laugh. + +"If the leader could be picked off"--I said. "It's a long shot, but +there's no harm in trying." + +As I spoke I raised my gun to my shoulder; but he leaned across Rolfe, +who stood between us, and plucked me by the sleeve. "You've not looked +at him closely. Look again." + +I did as he told me, and lowered my musket. It was not for me to send +that Indian leader to his account. Rolfe's lips tightened and a sudden +pallor overspread his face. "Nantauquas?" he muttered in my ear, and I +nodded yes. + +The volley that we fired full into the ranks of our foe was deadly, and +we looked to see them turn and flee, as they had fled before. But this +time they were led by one who had been trained in English steadfastness. +Broken for the moment, they rallied and came on yelling, bearing logs, +thick branches of trees, oars tied together,--anything by whose help +they could hope to surmount the palisade. We fired again, but they had +planted their ladders. Before we could snatch the loaded muskets from +the women a dozen painted figures appeared above the sharpened stakes. A +moment, and they and a score behind them had leaped down upon us. + +It was no time now to skulk behind a palisade. At all hazards, that tide +from the forest must be stemmed. Those that were amongst us we might +kill, but more were swarming after them, and from the neck came the +exultant yelling of madly hurrying reinforcements. + +We flung open the gates. I drove my sword through the heart of an Indian +who would have opposed me, and, calling for men to follow me, sprang +forward. Perhaps thirty came at my call; together we made for the +opening. A party of the savages in our midst interposed. We set upon +them with sword and musket butt, and though they fought like very devils +drove them before us through the gateway. Behind us were wild clamor, +the shrieking of women, the stern shouts of the English, the whooping of +the savages; before us a rush that must be met and turned. + +It was done. A moment's fierce fighting, then the Indians wavered, +broke, and fled. Like sheep we drove them before us, across the neck, +to the edge of the forest, into which they plunged. Into that ambush +we cared not to follow, but fell back to the palisade and the town, +believing, and with reason, that the lesson had been taught. The strip +of sand was strewn with the dead and the dying, but they belonged not to +us. Our dead numbered but three, and we bore their bodies with us. + +Within the palisade we found the English in sufficiently good case. +Of the score or more Indians cut off by us from their mates and penned +within that death trap, half at least were already dead, run through +with sword and pike, shot down with the muskets that there was now time +to load. The remainder, hemmed about, pressed against the wall, were +fast meeting with a like fate. They stood no chance against us; we cared +not to make prisoners of them; it was a slaughter, but they had taken +the initiative. They fought with the courage of despair, striving to +spring in upon us, striking when they could with hatchet and knife, +and through it all talking and laughing, making God knows what savage +boasts, what taunts against the English, what references to the hunting +grounds to which they were going. They were brave men that we slew that +day. + +At last there was left but the leader,--unharmed, unwounded, though time +and again he had striven to close with some one of us, to strike and +to die striking with his fellows. Behind him was the wall: of the half +circle which he faced well-nigh all were old soldiers and servants of +the colony, gentlemen none of whom had come in later than Dale,--Rolfe, +West, Wynne, and others. We were swordsmen all. When in his desperation +he would have thrown himself upon us, we contented ourselves with +keeping him at sword's length, and at last West sent the knife in +the dark hand whirling over the palisade. Some one had shouted to the +musketeers to spare him. + +When he saw that he stood alone, he stepped back against the wall, drew +himself up to his full height, and folded his arms. Perhaps he thought +that we would shoot him down then and there; perhaps he saw himself a +captive amongst us, a show for the idle and for the strangers that the +ships brought in. + +The din had ceased, and we the living, the victors, stood and looked at +the vanquished dead at our feet, and at the dead beyond the gates, and +at the neck upon which was no living foe, and at the blue sky bending +over all. Our hearts told us, and told us truly, that the lesson had +been taught, that no more forever need we at Jamestown fear an Indian +attack. And then we looked at him whose life we had spared. + +He opposed our gaze with his folded arms and his head held high and his +back against the wall. Many of us could remember him, a proud, shy lad, +coming for the first time from the forest with his sister to see the +English village and its wonders. For idleness we had set him in our +midst that summer day, long ago, on the green by the fort, and had +called him "your royal highness," laughing at the quickness of our wit, +and admiring the spirit and bearing of the lad and the promise he gave +of a splendid manhood. And all knew the tale I had brought the night +before. + +Slowly, as one man, and with no spoken word, we fell back, the half +circle straightening into a line and leaving a clear pathway to the open +gates. The wind had ceased to blow, I remember, and a sunny stillness +lay upon the sand, and the rough-hewn wooden stakes, and a little patch +of tender grass across which stretched a dead man's arm. The church +bells began to ring. + +The Indian out of whose path to life and freedom we had stepped glanced +from the line of lowered steel to the open gates and the forest beyond, +and understood. For a full minute he waited, moving not a muscle, still +and stately as some noble masterpiece in bronze. Then he stepped from +the shadow of the wall and moved past us through the sunshine that +turned the eagle feather in his scalp lock to gold. His eyes were fixed +upon the forest; there was no change in the superb calm of his face. He +went by the huddled dead and the long line of the living that spoke no +word, and out of the gates and across the neck, walking slowly that we +might yet shoot him down if we saw fit to repent ourselves, and proudly +like a king's son. There was no sound save the church bells ringing for +our deliverance. He reached the shadow of the trees: a moment, and the +forest had back her own. + +We sheathed our swords and listened to the Governor's few earnest words +of thankfulness and of recognition of this or that man's service, and +then we set to work to clear the ground of the dead, to place sentinels, +to bring the town into order, to determine what policy we should pursue, +to search for ways by which we might reach and aid those who might be +yet alive in the plantations above and below us. + +We could not go through the forest where every tree might hide a foe, +but there was the river. For the most part, the houses of the English +had been built, like mine at Weyanoke, very near to the water. I +volunteered to lead a party up river, and Wynne to go with another +toward the bay. But as the council at the Governor's was breaking up, +and as Wynne and I were hurrying off to make our choice of the craft at +the landing, there came a great noise from the watchers upon the bank, +and a cry that boats were coming down the stream. + +It was so, and there were in them white men, nearly all of whom had +their wounds to show, and cowering women and children. One boat had come +from the plantation at Paspahegh, and two from Martin-Brandon; they held +all that were left of the people.... A woman had in her lap the body +of a child, and would not let us take it from her; another, with a +half-severed arm, crouched above a man who lay in his blood in the +bottom of the boat. + +Thus began that strange procession that lasted throughout the afternoon +and night and into the next day, when a sloop came down from Henricus +with the news that the English were in force there to stand their +ground, although their loss had been heavy. Hour after hour they came +as fast as sail and oar could bring them, the panic-stricken folk, whose +homes were burned, whose kindred were slain, who had themselves escaped +as by a miracle. Many were sorely wounded, so that they died when we +lifted them from the boats; others had slighter hurts. Each boatload +had the same tale to tell of treachery, surprise, and fiendish butchery. +Wherever it had been possible the English had made a desperate defense, +in the face of which the savages gave way and finally retired to the +forest. Contrary to their wont, the Indians took few prisoners, but for +the most part slew outright those whom they seized, wreaking their +spite upon the senseless corpses. A man too good for this world, George +Thorpe, who would think no evil, was killed and his body mutilated by +those whom he had taught and loved. And Nathaniel Powel was dead, and +four others of the Council, besides many more of name and note. There +were many women slain and little children. + +From the stronger hundreds came tidings of the number lost, and that the +survivors would hold the homes that were left, for the time at least. +The Indians had withdrawn; it remained to be seen if they were satisfied +with the havoc they had wrought. Would his Honor send by boat--there +could be no traveling through the woods--news of how others had fared, +and also powder and shot? + +Before the dawning we had heard from all save the remoter settlements. +The blow had been struck, and the hurt was deep. But it was not beyond +remedy, thank God! It is known what measures we took for our protection, +and how soon the wound to the colony was healed, and what vengeance we +meted out to those who had set upon us in the dark, and had failed to +reach the heart. These things belong to history, and I am but telling my +own story,--mine and another's. + +In the chill and darkness of the hour before dawn something like quiet +fell upon the distracted, breathless town. There was a pause in the +coming of the boats. The wounded and the dying had been cared for, and +the noise of the women and the children was stilled at last. All was +well at the palisade; the strong party encamped upon the neck reported +the forest beyond them as still as death. + +In the Governor's house was held a short council, subdued and quiet, for +we were all of one mind and our words were few. It was decided that the +George should sail at once with the tidings, and with an appeal for arms +and powder and a supply of men. The Esperance would still be with us, +besides the Hope-in-God and the Tiger; the Margaret and John would +shortly come in, being already overdue. + +"My Lord Carnal goes upon the George, gentlemen," said Master Pory. "He +sent but now to demand if she sailed to-morrow. He is ill, and would be +at home." + +One or two glanced at me, but I sat with a face like stone, and the +Governor, rising, broke up the council. + +I left the house, and the street that was lit with torches and noisy +with going to and fro, and went down to the river. Rolfe had been +detained by the Governor, West commanded the party at the neck. There +were great fires burning along the river bank, and men watching for the +incoming boats; but I knew of a place where no guard was set, and where +one or two canoes were moored. There was no firelight there, and no one +saw me when I entered a canoe and cut the rope and pushed off from the +land. + +Well-nigh a day and a night had passed since Lady Wyatt had told me that +which made for my heart a night-time indeed. I believed my wife to +be dead,--yea, I trusted that she was dead. I hoped that it had been +quickly over,--one blow.... Better that, oh, better that a thousand +times, than that she should have been carried off to some village, saved +to-day to die a thousand deaths to-morrow. + +But I thought that there might have been left, lying on the dead leaves +of the forest, that fair shell from which the soul had flown. I knew not +where to go,--to the north, to the east, to the west,--but go I must. I +had no hope of finding that which I went to seek, and no thought but to +take up that quest. I was a soldier, and I had stood to my post; but now +the need was past, and I could go. In the hall at the Governor's house, +I had written a line of farewell to Rolfe, and had given the paper into +the hand of a trusty fellow, charging him not to deliver it for two +hours to come. + +I rowed two miles downstream through the quiet darkness,--so quiet after +the hubbub of the town. When I turned my boat to the shore the day +was close at hand. The stars were gone, and a pale, cold light, more +desolate than the dark, streamed from the east across which ran, like +a faded blood stain, a smear of faint red. Upon the forest the mist lay +heavy. When I drove the boat in amongst the sedge and reeds below the +bank, I could see only the trunks of the nearest trees, hear only the +sullen cry of some river bird that I had disturbed. + +Why I was at some pains to fasten the boat to a sycamore that dipped a +pallid arm into the stream I do not know. I never thought to come back +to the sycamore; I never thought to bend to an oar again, to behold +again the river that the trees and the mist hid from me before I had +gone twenty yards into the forest. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX IN WHICH WE LISTEN TO A SONG + + +IT was like a May morning, so mild was the air, so gay the sunshine, +when the mist had risen. Wild flowers were blooming, and here and there +unfolding leaves made a delicate fretwork against a deep blue sky. +The wind did not blow; everywhere were stillness soft and sweet, dewy +freshness, careless peace. + +Hour after hour I walked slowly through the woodland, pausing now and +then to look from side to side. It was idle going, wandering in a desert +with no guiding star. The place where I would be might lie to the east, +to the west. In the wide enshrouding forest I might have passed it by. +I believed not that I had done so. Surely, surely I should have known; +surely the voice that lived only in my heart would have called to me to +stay. + +Beside a newly felled tree, in a glade starred with small white flowers, +I came upon the bodies of a man and a boy, so hacked, so hewn, so robbed +of all comeliness, that at the sight the heart stood still and the brain +grew sick. Farther on was a clearing, and in its midst the charred and +blackened walls of what had been a home. I crossed the freshly turned +earth, and looked in at the cabin door with the stillness and the +sunshine. A woman lay dead upon the floor, her outstretched hand +clenched upon the foot of a cradle. I entered the room, and, looking +within the cradle, found that the babe had not been spared. Taking up +the little waxen body with the blood upon its innocent breast, I laid +it within the mother's arms, and went my way over the sunny doorstep and +the earth that had been made ready for planting. A white butterfly--the +first of the year--fluttered before me; then rose through a mist of +green and passed from my sight. + +The sun climbed higher into the deep blue sky. Save where grew pines or +cedars there were no shadowy places in the forest. The slight green of +uncurling leaves, the airy scarlet of the maples, the bare branches of +the tardier trees, opposed no barrier to the sunlight. It streamed into +the world below the treetops, and lay warm upon the dead leaves and the +green moss and the fragile wild flowers. There was a noise of birds, +and a fox barked. All was lightness, gayety, and warmth; the sap was +running, the heyday of the spring at hand. Ah! to be riding with her, +to be going home through the fairy forest, the sunshine, and the +singing!... The happy miles to Weyanoke, the smell of the sassafras in +its woods, the house all lit and trimmed. The fire kindled, the wine +upon the table... Diccon's welcoming face, and his hand upon Black +Lamoral's bridle; the minister, too, maybe, with his great heart and his +kindly eyes; her hand in mine, her head upon my breast-- + +The vision faded. Never, never, never for me a home-coming such as that, +so deep, so dear, so sweet. The men who were my friends, the woman whom +I loved, had gone into a far country. This world was not their home. +They had crossed the threshold while I lagged behind. The door was shut, +and without were the night and I. + +With the fading of the vision came a sudden consciousness of a presence +in the forest other than my own. I turned sharply, and saw an Indian +walking with me, step for step, but with a space between us of earth and +brown tree trunks and drooping branches. For a moment I thought that +he was a shadow, not substance; then I stood still, waiting for him to +speak or to draw nearer. At the first glimpse of the bronze figure I had +touched my sword, but when I saw who it was I let my hand fall. He too +paused, but he did not offer to speak. With his hand upon a great bow, +he waited, motionless in the sunlight. A minute or more thus; then I +walked on with my eyes upon him. + +At once he addressed himself to motion, not speaking or making any sign +or lessening the distance between us, but moving as I moved through the +light and shade, the warmth and stillness, of the forest. For a time +I kept my eyes upon him, but soon I was back with my dreams again. It +seemed not worth while to wonder why he walked with me, who was now the +mortal foe of the people to whom he had returned. + +From the river bank, the sycamore, and the boat that I had fastened +there, I had gone northward toward the Pamunkey; from the clearing and +the ruined cabin with the dead within it, I had turned to the eastward. +Now, in that hopeless wandering, I would have faced the north again. But +the Indian who had made himself my traveling companion stopped short, +and pointed to the east. I looked at him, and thought that he knew, +maybe, of some war party between us and the Pamunkey, and would save +me from it. A listlessness had come upon me, and I obeyed the pointing +finger. + +So, estranged and silent, with two spears' length of earth between us, +we went on until we came to a quiet stream flowing between low, dark +banks. Again I would have turned to the northward, but the son of +Powhatan, gliding before me, set his face down the stream, toward the +river I had left. A minute in which I tried to think and could not, +because in my ears was the singing of the birds at Weyanoke; then I +followed him. + +How long I walked in a dream, hand in hand with the sweetness of the +past, I do not know; but when the present and its anguish weighed +again upon my heart it was darker, colder, stiller, in the forest. The +soundless stream was bright no longer; the golden sunshine that had lain +upon the earth was all gathered up; the earth was dark and smooth and +bare, with not a flower; the tree trunks were many and straight and +tall. Above were no longer brown branch and blue sky, but a deep and +sombre green, thick woven, keeping out the sunlight like a pall. I stood +still and gazed around me, and knew the place. + +To me, whose heart was haunted, the dismal wood, the charmed silence, +the withdrawal of the light, were less than nothing. All day I had +looked for one sight of horror; yea, had longed to come at last upon it, +to fall beside it, to embrace it with my arms. There, there, though it +should be some fair and sunny spot, there would be my haunted wood. As +for this place of gloom and stillness, it fell in with my mood. More +welcome than the mocking sunshine were this cold and solemn light, this +deathlike silence, these ranged pines. It was a place in which to think +of life as a slight thing and scarcely worth the while, given without +the asking, spent in turmoil, strife, suffering, and longings all in +vain. Easily laid down, too,--so easily laid down that the wonder was-- + +I looked at the ghostly wood, and at the dull stream, and at my hand +upon the hilt of the sword that I had drawn halfway from the scabbard. +The life within that hand I had not asked for. Why should I stand like +a soldier left to guard a thing not worth the guarding; seeing +his comrades march homeward, hearing a cry to him from his distant +hearthstone? + +I drew my sword well-nigh from its sheath; and then of a sudden I saw +the matter in a truer light; knew that I was indeed the soldier, and +willed to be neither coward nor deserter. The blade dropped back into +the scabbard with a clang, and, straightening myself, I walked on beside +the sluggish stream deep into the haunted wood. + +Presently it occurred to me to glance aside at the Indian who had kept +pace with me through the forest. He was not there; he walked with me no +longer; save for myself there seemed no breathing creature in the dim +wood. I looked to right and left, and saw only the tall, straight pines +and the needle-strewn ground. How long he had been gone I could not +tell. He might have left me when first we came to the pines, for my +dreams had held me, and I had not looked his way. + +There was that in the twilight place, or in the strangeness, the horror, +and the yearning that had kept company with me that day, or in the dull +weariness of a mind and body overwrought of late, which made thought +impossible. I went on down the stream toward the river, because it +chanced that my face was set in that direction. + +How dark was the shadow of the pines, how lifeless the earth beneath, +how faint and far away the blue that showed here and there through rifts +in the heavy roof of foliage! The stream bending to one side I turned +with it, and there before me stood the minister! + +I do not know what strangled cry burst from me. The earth was rocking, +all the wood a glare of light. As for him, at the sight of me and +the sound of my voice he had staggered back against a tree; but now, +recovering himself, he ran to me and put his great arms about me. "From +the power of the dog, from the lion's mouth," he cried brokenly. "And +they slew thee not, Ralph, the heathen who took thee away! Yesternight I +learned that you lived, but I looked not for you here." + +I scarce heard or marked what he was saying, and found no time in which +to wonder at his knowledge that I had not perished. I only saw that +he was alone, and that in the evening wood there was no sign of other +living creature. + +"Yea, they slew me not, Jeremy," I said. "I would that they had done so. +And you are alone? I am glad that you died not, my friend; yes, faith, +I am very glad that one escaped. Tell me about it, and I will sit here +upon the bank and listen. Was it done in this wood? A gloomy deathbed, +friend, for one so young and fair. She should have died to soft music, +in the sunshine, with flowers about her." + +With an exclamation he put me from him, but kept his hand upon my arm +and his steady eyes upon my face. + +"She loved laughter and sunshine and sweet songs," I continued. "She +can never know them in this wood. They are outside; they are outside the +world, I think. It is sad, is it not? Faith, I think it is the saddest +thing I have ever known." + +He clapped his other hand upon my shoulder. "Wake, man!" he commanded. +"If thou shouldst go mad now--Wake! thy brain is turning. Hold to +thyself. Stand fast, as thou art soldier and Christian! Ralph, she +is not dead. She will wear flowers,--thy flowers,--sing, laugh, move +through the sunshine of earth for many and many a year, please God! Art +listening, Ralph? Canst hear what I am saying?" + +"I hear," I said at last, "but I do not well understand." + +He pushed me back against a pine, and held me there with his hands upon +my shoulders. "Listen," he said, speaking rapidly and keeping his +eyes upon mine. "All those days that you were gone, when all the world +declared you dead, she believed you living. She saw party after party +come back without you, and she believed that you were left behind in the +forest. Also she knew that the George waited but for the search to be +quite given over, and for my Lord Carnal's recovery. She had been told +that the King's command might not be defied, that the Governor had no +choice but to send her from Virginia. Ralph, I watched her, and I knew +that she meant not to go upon that ship. Three nights agone she stole +from the Governor's house, and, passing through the gates that the +sleeping warder had left unfastened, went toward the forest. I saw her +and followed her, and at the edge of the forest I spoke to her. I stayed +her not, I brought her not back, Ralph, because I was convinced that an +I did so she would die. I knew of no great danger, and I trusted in the +Lord to show me what to do, step by step, and how to guide her gently +back when she was weary of wandering,--when, worn out, she was willing +to give up the quest for the dead. Art following me, Ralph?" + +"Yes," I answered, and took my hand from my eyes. "I was nigh mad, +Jeremy, for my faith was not like hers. I have looked on Death too much +of late, and yesterday all men believed that he had come to dwell in the +forest and had swept clean his house before him. But you escaped, you +both escaped"-- + +"God's hand was over us," he said reverently. "This is the way of it. +She had been ill, you know, and of late she had taken no thought of food +or sleep. She was so weak, we had to go so slowly, and so winding was +our path, who knew not the country, that the evening found us not far +upon our way, if way we had. We came to a cabin in a clearing, and they +whose home it was gave us shelter for the night. In the morning, when +the father and son would go forth to their work we walked with them. +When they came to the trees they meant to fell we bade them good-by, and +went on alone. We had not gone an hundred paces when, looking back, we +saw three Indians start from the dimness of the forest and set upon and +slay the man and the boy. That murder done they gave chase to me, who +caught up thy wife and ran for both our lives. When I saw that they were +light of foot and would overtake me, I set my burden down, and, drawing +a sword that I had with me, went back to meet them halfway. Ralph, I +slew all three,--may the Lord have mercy on my soul! I knew not what to +think of that attack, the peace with the Indians being so profound, and +I began to fear for thy wife's safety. She knew not the woods, and I +managed to turn our steps back toward Jamestown without her knowledge +that I did so. It was about midday when we saw the gleam of the river +through the trees before us, and heard the sound of firing and of a +great yelling. I made her crouch within a thicket, while I myself went +forward to reconnoitre, and well-nigh stumbled into the midst of an +army. Yelling, painted, maddened, brandishing their weapons toward the +town, human hair dabbled with blood at the belts of many--in the name of +God, Ralph, what is the meaning of it all?" + +"It means," I said, "that yesterday they rose against us and slew us by +the hundred. The town was warned and is safe. Go on." + +"I crept back to madam," he continued, "and hurried her away from that +dangerous neighborhood. We found a growth of bushes and hid ourselves +within it, and just in time, for from the north came a great band of +picked warriors, tall and black and wondrously feathered, fresh to the +fray, whatever the fray might be. They joined themselves to the imps +upon the river bank, and presently we heard another great din with more +firing and more yelling. Well, to make a long story short, we crouched +there in the bushes until late afternoon, not knowing what was the +matter, and not daring to venture forth to find out. The woman of the +cabin at which we had slept had given us a packet of bread and meat, so +we were not without food, but the time was long. And then of a sudden +the wood around us was filled with the heathen, band after band, coming +from the river, stealing like serpents this way and that into the depths +of the forest. They saw us not in the thick bushes; maybe it was because +of the prayers which I said with might and main. At last the distance +swallowed them, the forest seemed clear, no sound, no motion. Long we +waited, but with the sunset we stole from the bushes and down an aisle +of the forest toward the river, rounded a little wood of cedar, and +came full upon perhaps fifty of the savages"--He paused to draw a great +breath and to raise his brows after a fashion that he had. + +"Go on, go on!" I cried. "What did you do? You have said that she is +alive and safe!" + +"She is," he answered, "but no thanks to me, though I did set lustily +upon that painted fry. Who led them, d' ye think, Ralph? Who saved us +from those bloody hands?" + +A light broke in upon me. "I know," I said. "And he brought you here"-- + +"Ay, he sent away the devils whose color he is, worse luck! He told us +that there were Indians, not of his tribe, between us and the town. If +we went on we should fall into their hands. But there was a place that +was shunned by the Indian as by the white man: we could bide there until +the morrow, when we might find the woods clear. He guided us to this +dismal wood that was not altogether strange to us. Ay, he told her that +you were alive. He said no more than that; all at once, when we were +well within the wood and the twilight was about us, he was gone." + +He ceased to speak, and stood regarding me with a smile upon his rugged +face. I took his hand and raised it to my lips. "I owe you more than I +can ever pay," I said. "Where is she, my friend?" + +"Not far away," he answered. "We sought the centre of the wood, and +because she was so chilled and weary and shaken I did dare to build a +fire there. Not a foe has come against us, and we waited but for the +dusk of this evening to try to make the town. I came down to the stream +just now to find, if I could, how near we were to the river"-- + +He broke off, made a gesture with his hand toward one of the long aisles +of pine trees, and then, with a muttered "God bless you both," left me, +and going a little way down the stream, stood with his back to a great +tree and his eyes upon the slow, deep water. + +She was coming. I watched the slight figure grow out of the dusk between +the trees, and the darkness in which I had walked of late fell away. The +wood that had been so gloomy was a place of sunlight and song; had red +roses sprung up around me I had felt no wonder. She came softly and +slowly, with bent head and hanging arms, not knowing that I was near. +I went not to meet her,--it was my fancy to have her come to me +still,--but when she raised her eyes and saw me I fell upon my knees. + +For a moment she stood still, with her hands at her bosom; then, softly +and slowly through the dusky wood, she came to me and touched me upon +the shoulder. "Art come to take me home?" she asked. "I have wept and +prayed and waited long, but now the spring is here and the woods are +growing green." + +I took her hands and bowed my head upon them. "I believed thee dead," +I said. "I thought that thou hadst gone home, indeed, and I was left in +the world alone. I can never tell thee how I love thee." + +"I need no telling," she answered. "I am glad that I did so forget my +womanhood as to come to Virginia on such an errand; glad that they did +laugh at and insult me in the meadow at Jamestown, for else thou mightst +have given me no thought; very heartily glad that thou didst buy me with +thy handful of tobacco. With all my heart I love thee, my knight, my +lover, my lord and husband"--Her voice broke, and I felt the trembling +of her frame. "I love not thy tears upon my hands," she murmured. "I +have wandered far and am weary. Wilt rise and put thy arm around me and +lead me home?" + +I stood up, and she came to my arms like a tired bird to its nest. I +bent my head, and kissed her upon the brow, the blue-veined eyelids, the +perfect lips. "I love thee," I said. "The song is old, but it is sweet. +See! I wear thy color, my lady." + +The hand that had touched the ribbon upon my arm stole upwards to my +lips. "An old song, but a sweet one," she said. "I love thee. I will +always love thee. My head may lie upon thy breast, but my heart lies at +thy feet." + +There was joy in the haunted wood, deep peace, quiet thankfulness, a +springtime of the heart,--not riotous like the May, but fair and grave +and tender like the young world in the sunshine without the pines. Our +lips met again, and then, with my arm around her, we moved to the giant +pine beneath which stood the minister. He turned at our approach, and +looked at us with a quiet and tender smile, though the water stood +in his eyes. "'Heaviness may endure for a night,'" he said, "'but joy +cometh in the morning.' I thank God for you both." + +"Last summer, in the green meadow, we knelt before you while you blessed +us, Jeremy," I answered. "Bless us now again, true friend and man of +God." + +He laid his hands upon our bowed heads and blessed us, and then we three +moved through the dismal wood and beside the sluggish stream down to +the great bright river. Ere we reached it the pines had fallen away, the +haunted wood was behind us, our steps were set through a fairy world of +greening bough and springing bloom. The blue sky laughed above, the late +sunshine barred our path with gold. When we came to the river it lay in +silver at our feet, making low music amongst its reeds. + +I had bethought me of the boat which I had fastened that morning to the +sycamore between us and the town, and now we moved along the river bank +until we should come to the tree. Though we walked through an enemy's +country we saw no foe. Stillness and peace encompassed us; it was like a +beautiful dream from which one fears no wakening. + +As we went, I told them, speaking low, for we knew not if we were yet +in safety, of the slaughter that had been made and of Diccon. My wife +shuddered and wept, and the minister drew long breaths while his hands +opened and closed. And then, when she asked me, I told of how I had been +trapped to the ruined hut that night and of all that had followed. +When I had done she turned within my arm and clung to me with her face +hidden. I kissed her and comforted her, and presently we came to the +sycamore tree reaching out over the clear water, and to the boat that I +had fastened there. + +The sunset was nigh at hand, and all the west was pink. The wind had +died away, and the river lay like tinted glass between the dark borders +of the forest. Above the sky was blue, while in the south rose clouds +that were like pillars, tall and golden. The air was soft as silk; there +was no sound other than the ripple of the water about our keel and the +low dash of the oars. The minister rowed, while I sat idle beside my +love. He would have it so, and I made slight demur. + +We left the bank behind us and glided into the midstream, for it was as +well to be out of arrowshot. The shadow of the forest was gone; still +and bright around us lay the mighty river. When at length the boat head +turned to the west, we saw far up the stream the roofs of Jamestown, +dark against the rosy sky. + +"There is a ship going home," said the minister. + +We to whom he spoke looked with him down the river, and saw a tall ship +with her prow to the ocean. All her sails were set; the last rays of the +sinking sun struck against her poop windows and made of them a half-moon +of fire. She went slowly, for the wind was light, but she went surely, +away from the new land back to the old, down the stately river to the +bay and the wide ocean, and to the burial at sea of one upon her. With +her pearly sails and the line of flame color beneath, she looked +a dwindling cloud; a little while, and she would be claimed of the +distance and the dusk. + +"It is the George," I said. + +The lady who sat beside me caught her breath. "Ay, sweetheart," I went +on. "She carries one for whom she waited. He has gone from out our life +forever." + +She uttered a low cry and turned to me, trembling, her lips parted, her +eyes eloquent. "We will not speak of him," I said. "As if he were dead +let his name rest between us. I have another thing to tell thee, dear +heart, dear court lady masking as a waiting damsel, dear ward of the +King whom his Majesty hath thundered against for so many weary months. +Would it grieve thee to go home, after all?" + +"Home?" she asked. "To Weyanoke? That would not grieve me." + +"Not to Weyanoke, but to England," I said. "The George is gone, but +three days since the Esperance came in. When she sails again I think +that we must go." + +She gazed at me with a whitening face. "And you?" she whispered. "How +will you go? In chains?" + +I took her clasped hands, parted them, and drew her arms around my neck. +"Ay," I answered, "I will go in chains that I care not to have broken. +My dear love, I think that the summer lies fair before us. Listen while +I tell thee of news that the Esperance brought." + +While I told of new orders from the Company to the Governor and of my +letter from Buckingham, the minister rested upon his oars that he might +hear the better. When I had ceased to speak he bent to them again, and +his tireless strength sent us swiftly over the glassy water toward the +town that was no longer distant. "I am more glad than I can tell you, +Ralph and Jocelyn," he said, and the smile with which he spoke made his +face beautiful. + +The light streaming to us from the ruddy west laid roses in the cheeks +of the sometime ward of the King, and the low wind lifted the dark hair +from her forehead. Her head was on my breast, her hand in mine; we cared +not to speak, we were so happy. On her finger was her wedding ring, the +ring that was only a link torn from the gold chain Prince Maurice had +given me. When she saw my eyes upon it, she raised her hand and kissed +the rude circlet. + +The hue of the sunset lingered in cloud and water, and in the pale +heavens above the rose and purple shone the evening star. The cloudlike +ship at which we had gazed was gone into the distance and the twilight; +we saw her no more. Broad between its blackening shores stretched the +James, mirroring the bloom in the west, the silver star, the lights upon +the Esperance that lay between us and the town. Aboard her the mariners +were singing, and their song of the sea floated over the water to us, +sweetly and like a love song. We passed the ship unhailed, and glided on +to the haven where we would be. The singing behind us died away, but the +song in our hearts kept on. All things die not: while the soul lives, +love lives: the song may be now gay, now plaintive, but it is deathless. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of To Have and To Hold, by Mary Johnston + +*** \ No newline at end of file