Transcript

020 - Chapter 18 · Pirate

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Speaker 1: Chapter eighteen of the Pirate by Sir Walter Scott. The
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Speaker 1: Slipovoks recording is in the public domain, read by Dion
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Speaker 1: Jine's Salt Lake City, Utah and Helter Skelter. Have I
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Speaker 1: rode to thee and tidings do I bring? And lucky
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Speaker 1: joys and golden times and happy news of price? Ancient
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Speaker 1: pistol Fortune, who seems at times to bear a conscience,
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Speaker 1: owed the hospitable U Dollar some amends, and accordingly repaid
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Speaker 1: to Burgwestra the disappointment occasioned by the unsuccessful whale fishing
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Speaker 1: by sending thither on the evening of the day in
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Speaker 1: which that incident happened. No less a person than the
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Speaker 1: jagger or traveling merchant, as he styled himself, Bryce Snail's Foot,
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Speaker 1: who arrived in great pomp, himself on one pony, and
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Speaker 1: his pack of goods swelled to nearly double its usual size,
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Speaker 1: forming the burden of another, which was led by a
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Speaker 1: bare headed, bear legged boy. As Bryce announced himself the
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Speaker 1: bearer of important news, he was introduced to the dining apartment, where,
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Speaker 1: for that primitive age was no respector of persons. He
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Speaker 1: was permitted to sit down at a side table and
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Speaker 1: amply supplied with provisions and good liquor. While the attentive
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Speaker 1: hospitality of Magnus permitted no questions to be put to
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Speaker 1: him until his hunger and thirst appeased. He announced, with
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Speaker 1: the sense of importance attached to distant travels, that he
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Speaker 1: had just yesterday arrived at Lerwick from Kirkwall, the capital
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Speaker 1: of Orkney, and would have been here yesterday, but it
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Speaker 1: blew hard off the fitful head. We had no wind here,
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Speaker 1: said Magnus. There is somebody has not been sleeping, then,
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Speaker 1: said the peddler, and her name begins within. But heaven
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Speaker 1: is above all. But the news from Orkney Bryce, instead
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Speaker 1: of croaking about a capful of wind. Such news, replied Bryce,
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Speaker 1: as has not been heard this thirty years, not since
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Speaker 1: Cromwell's time. There is not another revolution, is there, said Holcrow.
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Speaker 1: King James has not come back as blithe as King
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Speaker 1: Charlie did, has he? It's news, replied the peddler. That
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Speaker 1: are worth twenty kings and kingdoms to boot of them?
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Speaker 1: For what good did the evolutions ever? Do us? And
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Speaker 1: I dare say we have seen a dozen great and
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Speaker 1: small Any India men come north about, said magnus troil.
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Speaker 1: Ye are nearer the mark, foud, said the jagger. But
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Speaker 1: it is no India man, but a gallant armed vessel
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Speaker 1: choke full of merchandise that they part with so easy
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Speaker 1: that a decent man like myself can afford to give
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Speaker 1: the country the best pennyworths you ever saw. And that
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Speaker 1: you will say when I opened that pack, for I
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Speaker 1: count to carry it back another sort lighter than when
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Speaker 1: I brought it here. Aye aye, bryce said the u dollar.
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Speaker 1: You must have had good bargains if you sell cheap.
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Speaker 1: But what ship was? It? Cannot justly say. I spoke
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Speaker 1: to nobody but the captain, who was a discreet man.
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Speaker 1: But she had been down on the Spanish main. For
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Speaker 1: she has silks and satins and tobacco. Go I warrant
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Speaker 1: you and wine and no lack of sugar, and Bonnie
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Speaker 1: Wally's both of silver and gold, and a Bonnie dredging
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Speaker 1: of gold dust into the bargain. What like was, she
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Speaker 1: said Cleveland, who seemed to give much attention. A stout ship,
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Speaker 1: said the itinerant merchant. Schooner rigged sails like a dolphin,
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Speaker 1: they say, carries twelve guns and is pierced for twenty
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Speaker 1: Did you hear the captain's name, said Cleveland, speaking rather
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Speaker 1: lower than his usual tone. I just called him, the captain,
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Speaker 1: replied Bryce Snousfoot, For I make it a rule never
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Speaker 1: to ask questions of them I deal with in the
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Speaker 1: way of trade. For there is many an honest captain
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Speaker 1: begging your pardon, Captain Cleveland, that does not care to
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Speaker 1: have his name tacked to his title. And as long
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Speaker 1: as we can, and what bargains we are making, what
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Speaker 1: signifies it who we are making them with? Ye can
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Speaker 1: Bryce Snelsfoot is a cautious man, said the u Dollar, laughing.
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Speaker 1: He knows a fool may ask more questions than a
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Speaker 1: wise man cares to answer. I have dealt with the
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Speaker 1: fair traitors in my day, replied snol's Foot, and I
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Speaker 1: can no use in blurting braid out with a man's
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Speaker 1: name at every moment. But I will uphold this gentleman
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Speaker 1: to be a gallant commander, aye, and a kind one too,
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Speaker 1: for every one of his crew is as brave in
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Speaker 1: apparel as himself. Nearly the very foremast men have their
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Speaker 1: silken scarves, and I have seen many a lady wear
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Speaker 1: a worse and think herself no small drink, And for
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Speaker 1: siller buttons and buckles, and the love of sick men,
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Speaker 1: there is no end of them idiots, muttered Cleveland between
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Speaker 1: his teeth, and then added, I suppose they are often
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Speaker 1: ashore to show all their bravery to the lasses of Kirkwall.
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Speaker 1: Never a bit of that are they? The captain will
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Speaker 1: scarce Let them stir ashore without the boatswain go in
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Speaker 1: the boat as rough a tarpaulin as ever swapped a deck.
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Speaker 1: And you may as well catch a cat without her
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Speaker 1: claws as him without his cutlass and his double brace
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Speaker 1: of pistols about him. Every man stands as much in
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Speaker 1: awe of him as of the commander himself. That must
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Speaker 1: be Hawkins or the devil, said Cleveland. A well captain
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Speaker 1: replied the jagger. Be he the taine or the thither,
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Speaker 1: or a wee bid of both? Mind, it is you
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Speaker 1: that give him these names, and not I white captain
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Speaker 1: in Cleveland, said the eu Dollar. This may prove the
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Speaker 1: very consort you spoke of. They must have had some
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Speaker 1: good luck, then, said Cleveland, to put them in better
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Speaker 1: plight than when I left them. Did they speak of
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Speaker 1: having lost their consort? Peddler in troth they did, said Bryce.
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Speaker 1: That is, they said something about a partner that had
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Speaker 1: gone down to Davy Jones in these seas. And did
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Speaker 1: you tell them that you knew of her, said the
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Speaker 1: EU Dollar, And what the devil would have been? The fool, then,
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Speaker 1: said the peddler, that I should say so when they
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Speaker 1: ken't what came of the ship? The next question would
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Speaker 1: have been about the cargo. And ye would not have
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Speaker 1: had me bring down an armed vessel on the coast
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Speaker 1: to harry the poor folk about a wheen rags of
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Speaker 1: duds that the sea flung upon their shores. Besides what
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Speaker 1: might have been found in your own pack, you scoundrel,
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Speaker 1: said Magnus Troil, an observation which produced a loud laugh.
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Speaker 1: The U Dollar could not help joining in the hilarity,
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Speaker 1: which applauded his jest, but instantly composing his countenance, he said,
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Speaker 1: in an unusually grave tone, you may laugh, my friends,
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Speaker 1: but this is a matter which brings both a curse
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Speaker 1: and a shame on the country. Until we learn to
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Speaker 1: regard the rights of them that suffer by the winds
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Speaker 1: and waves, we shall deserve to be oppressed and hagridden
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Speaker 1: as we have been and are by the superior strength
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Speaker 1: of the strangers who rule us. The company hung their
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Speaker 1: heads at the rebuke of Magnus Troil. Perhaps some even
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Speaker 1: of the better class might be conscience struck on their
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Speaker 1: own account, And all of them were sensible that the
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Speaker 1: appetite for plunder on the part of the tenants and
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Speaker 1: inferiors was not at all times restrained with sufficient strictness.
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Speaker 1: But Cleveland made answer gaily, if these honest fellows be
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Speaker 1: my comrades, I will answer for them that they will
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Speaker 1: never trouble the country about a parcel of chess hammocks
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Speaker 1: and such trumpery that the roost may have washed ashore
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Speaker 1: out of my poor sloop. What signifies to them whether
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Speaker 1: the trash went to Bryce Snout's foot, or to the bottom,
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Speaker 1: or to the devil. So unbuckle thy pack, Bryce, and
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Speaker 1: show the ladies thy cargo, and perhaps we may see
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Speaker 1: something that will please them. It cannot be his consort,
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Speaker 1: said Brenda in a whisper to her sister. He would
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Speaker 1: have shown more joy at her appearance. It must be
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Speaker 1: the vessel, answered Minna. I saw his eye gliss at
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Speaker 1: the thought of again being united to the partner of
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Speaker 1: his dangers. Perhaps it glistened, said her sister, still apart
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Speaker 1: at the thought of leaving Zettland. It is difficult to
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Speaker 1: guess the thought of the heart from the glance of
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Speaker 1: the eye. Judge, not at least unkindly of a friend's thought,
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Speaker 1: said Minna. And then Brenda, if you are mistaken, the
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Speaker 1: fault rests not with you. During this dialogue, Bryce Snow's
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Speaker 1: Foot was busied in uncoiling the carefully arranged cordage of
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Speaker 1: his pack, which amounted to six good yards of dressed
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Speaker 1: seal skin, curiously complicated and secured by all manner of
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Speaker 1: knots and buckles. He was considerably interrupted in the task
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Speaker 1: by the u Dollar and others, who pressed him with
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Speaker 1: questions respecting the stranger vessel, where the officers often assure,
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Speaker 1: and how were they received by the people of Kirkwall,
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Speaker 1: said Magnus Troyl, excellently well, answered Bryce Snail's Foot. And
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Speaker 1: the Captain and one or two of his men had
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Speaker 1: been at some of the vanities and dances which went
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Speaker 1: forward in the town, but there had been some word
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Speaker 1: about customs or king's duties or the like, and some
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Speaker 1: of the higher folk that took upon them as magistrates
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Speaker 1: or the like had had words with the captain, and
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Speaker 1: he refused to satisfy them. And then it is like
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Speaker 1: he was more coldly looked on, and he spoke of
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Speaker 1: carrying the ship round to Strongness or the Langhope, for
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Speaker 1: she lay under the guns of the battery at Kirkwall,
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Speaker 1: that he bryce thought she would bide at Kirkwall till
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Speaker 1: the summer fair was over. For all that the Orkney gentry,
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Speaker 1: said Magnus Troyl are always in a hurry to draw
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Speaker 1: the Scotch collar tighter round their own necks. Is it
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Speaker 1: not enough that we must pay scat and waddle, which
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Speaker 1: were all the public dues under our old Norse government?
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Speaker 1: But must they come over us with king's dues and customs. Besides,
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Speaker 1: it is the part of an honest man to resist
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Speaker 1: these things. I have done so all my life, and
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Speaker 1: will do so to the end of it. There was
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Speaker 1: a loud jubilee and shout of applause among the guests,
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Speaker 1: who were some of them at least bet are pleased
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Speaker 1: with Magnus Troil's latitudinarian principles with respect to the public revenue,
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Speaker 1: which were extremely natural to those living in so secluded
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Speaker 1: a situation and subjected to many additional exactions than they
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Speaker 1: had been with the rigor of his judgment on the
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Speaker 1: subject of wrecked goods, that menace, inexperience feelings carried her
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Speaker 1: farther than her father. While she whispered to Brenda, not
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Speaker 1: unheard by Cleveland, that the tame spirit of the Orcadians
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Speaker 1: had missed every chance which late incidents had given them
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Speaker 1: to emancipate these islands from the Scottish yoke. Why, she said,
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Speaker 1: should we, not, under so many changes as late times
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Speaker 1: have introduced, have seized the opportunity to shake off an
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Speaker 1: allegiance which is not justly due from us, and to
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Speaker 1: return to the protection of Denmark, our parent country. Why
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Speaker 1: should we yet hesitate to do this? But that the
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Speaker 1: gentry of Orkney have mixed families and friendship so much
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Speaker 1: with our invaders that they have become dead to the
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Speaker 1: throb of the heroic Norse blood which they derived from
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Speaker 1: their ancestors. The latter part of this page priotic speech
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Speaker 1: happened to reach the astonished ears of our friend Tryptolemus, who,
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Speaker 1: having a sincere devotion for the Protestant succession and the
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Speaker 1: revolution as established, was surprised into the ejaculation. As the
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Speaker 1: old cock crows, the young cog learns. And I should say, mistress,
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Speaker 1: and I crave your pardon if I say anything amiss
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Speaker 1: in either gender. But it is a happy country where
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Speaker 1: the father declares against the king's customs and the daughter
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Speaker 1: against the king's crown, And in my judgment, it can
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Speaker 1: end in nothing but trees and toes. Trees are scarce
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Speaker 1: among us, said Magnus. And for robes, we need them
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Speaker 1: for our rigging, and cannot spare them to be shirt collars.
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Speaker 1: And whoever said the captain, takes umbrage at what this
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Speaker 1: young lady said us had better keep his ears and
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Speaker 1: tongue for a safer employment than such an adventure. I,
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Speaker 1: I said, Tryptolemus. It helps the matter much to speak.
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Speaker 1: Truths will are as unwelcome to a proud stomach as
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Speaker 1: wet clover to a cow's in a land where lads
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Speaker 1: are ready to draw the whittle if a lassie but
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Speaker 1: looks awry. But what manners are to be expected in
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Speaker 1: a country where folk call a plowsock a markle har
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Speaker 1: key master yellowly? Said the captain, smiling. I hope my
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Speaker 1: manners are not among those abuses which you come hither
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Speaker 1: to reform. Any experiment on them may be dangerous as
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Speaker 1: well as difficult, said Tryptolemus dryly. But fear nothing, Captain Cleveland,
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Speaker 1: from my remonstrances. My labors regard the men and things
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Speaker 1: of the earth, and not the men and things of
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Speaker 1: the sea. You are not of my element. Let us
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Speaker 1: be friends, then, old clod Compeller, said the captain. Clod Compeller,
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Speaker 1: said the agriculturist, bethinking himself of the lore of his
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Speaker 1: earlier days. Cloud compeller, pro cloud compeller, niphelidiretta zeus gray
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Speaker 1: com est in which voyage came you by that phrase?
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Speaker 1: I have traveled books as well as seas in my day,
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Speaker 1: said the captain. But my last voyages have been of
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Speaker 1: a sort to make me forget my early cruises through
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Speaker 1: classic knowledge. But come here, Bryce hast, cast off the lashing,
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Speaker 1: Come all hands, and let us see if he has
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Speaker 1: aught in his cargo that is worth looking upon. With
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Speaker 1: a proud and at the same time a wily smile,
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Speaker 1: did the crafty peddler display a collection of wearers far
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Speaker 1: superior to those which usually filled his packages, And in
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Speaker 1: particular some stuffs and embroideries of such beauty and curiosity, fringed, flowered,
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Speaker 1: and worked with such art and magnificence upon foreign and
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Speaker 1: Arabesque patterns, that the site might have dazzled a far
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Speaker 1: more brilliant company than the simple race of Tully. All
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Speaker 1: beheld and admired, while Mistress Babby yellowly, holding up her hands, protested,
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Speaker 1: it was a sin even to look upon such extravagance,
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Speaker 1: and worse than murder, so much as to ask the
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Speaker 1: price of them. Others, however, were more courageous, and the
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Speaker 1: prices demanded by the merchant, if they were not, as
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Speaker 1: he himself declared, something just more than nothing short only
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Speaker 1: of an absolute free gift of his wares, were nevertheless
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Speaker 1: so moderate as to show that he himself must have
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Speaker 1: made an easy acquisition of the goods, judging by the
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Speaker 1: raid at which he offered to part with them. Accordingly,
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Speaker 1: the cheapness of the articles created a rapid sale for
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Speaker 1: in Zeteland as well as elsewhere. Wise folk buy more
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Speaker 1: from the prudential desire to secure a good bargain than
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Speaker 1: from any real occasion for the purchase. The Lady glow
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Speaker 1: Rorem bought seven petticoats and twelve stomachers on this sole principle,
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Speaker 1: and other matrons present rivaled her in this sagacious species
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Speaker 1: of economy. The U Dollar was also a considerable purchaser
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Speaker 1: that the principal customer for whatever could please the eye
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Speaker 1: of beauty was the gallant Captain Cleveland, who rummaged the
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Speaker 1: jag stores in selecting presents for the ladies of the party,
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Speaker 1: in which Minna and Brenda Troyle were especially remembered. I fear,
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Speaker 1: said Magnus Troyle, that the young women are to consider
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Speaker 1: these pretty presents as keepsakes, and that all this liberality
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Speaker 1: is only a sure sign we are sure to lose you.
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Speaker 1: This question seemed to embarrass him, to whom it was put.
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Speaker 1: I scarce know, he said, with some hesitation, whether this
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Speaker 1: vessel is my consort or no. I must take a
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Speaker 1: trip to Kirkwall to make sure of that matter, and
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Speaker 1: then I hope to return to Dunrossness to bid you
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Speaker 1: all farewell. In that case, said the U Dollar, after
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Speaker 1: a moment's pause, I think I may carry you thither.
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Speaker 1: I should be at the Kirkwall Fair to settle with
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Speaker 1: the merchants I have consigned my fish to and I
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Speaker 1: have often promised Minna and Brenda that they should see
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Speaker 1: the fair. Perhaps also your consort or these strangers, whoever
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Speaker 1: they be, may have some merchandise that will suit me.
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Speaker 1: I love to see my rigging loft well stalked with goods,
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Speaker 1: almost as much as to see it full of dancers.
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Speaker 1: We will go to Orkney in my own brig and
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Speaker 1: I can offer you a hammock if you will. The
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Speaker 1: offer seemed so acceptable to Cleveland that, after pouring himself
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Speaker 1: forth in thanks, he seemed determined to mark his joy
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Speaker 1: by exhausting Bryce Sneltzfoot's treasures in liberality to the company.
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Speaker 1: The contents of a purse of gold were transferred to
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Speaker 1: the Jagger with a facility and indifference on the part
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Speaker 1: of its former owner, which argued either the greatest profusion
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Speaker 1: or consciousness of superior and inexhaustible wealth, so that Babby
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Speaker 1: whispered to her brother that if he could afford to
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Speaker 1: fling away money at this rate, the lad had made
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Speaker 1: a better voyage in a broken ship than all the
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Speaker 1: skippers of Dundee had made in their whole ones for
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Speaker 1: a twelvemonth past. But the angry feeling in which she made.
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Speaker 1: This remark was much mollified when Cleveland, whose object it
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Speaker 1: seemed that evening to be to buy golden opinions of
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Speaker 1: all sorts of men, approached her with a garment somewhat
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Speaker 1: resembling in shape the Scottish plaid, but woven of a
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Speaker 1: sort of wool so soft that it felt to the
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Speaker 1: touch as if it were composed of eider down. This,
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Speaker 1: he said, was a part of a Spanish lady's dress
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Speaker 1: called amantilla. As it would exactly fit the size of
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Speaker 1: missus Babby Yellowly, and was very well suited for the
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Speaker 1: fogs of the climate of Zeeland, he entreated her to
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Speaker 1: wear it for his sake. The lady, with as much
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Speaker 1: condescending sweetness as her countenance was able to express, not
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Speaker 1: only consented to receive this mark of gallantry, but permitted
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Speaker 1: the donor to arrange the mantilla upon her projecting and
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Speaker 1: boney shoulder blades, where said Claude Holcrow, it hung for
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Speaker 1: all the world as if it had been stretched betwixt
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Speaker 1: a couple of cloak pins. While the captain was performing
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Speaker 1: this piece of courtesy, much to the entertainment of the company,
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Speaker 1: which it may be presumed was his principal object. From
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Speaker 1: the beginning, Mordaunt Mrtown made purchase of a small golden chaplet,
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Speaker 1: with the private intention of presenting it to Brenda when
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Speaker 1: he should find an opportunity. The price was fixed and
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Speaker 1: the article laid aside. Claudehlcrow also showed some desire of
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Speaker 1: possessing a silver box of antique shape for depositing tobacco,
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Speaker 1: which he was in the habit of using inconsiderable quantity.
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Speaker 1: But the Bard seldom had current coin in promptitude, and indeed,
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Speaker 1: in his wandering way of life, had little occasion for
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Speaker 1: any and Bryce, on the other hand, his having been
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Speaker 1: hitherto a ready money trade, protested that his very moderate
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Speaker 1: profits upon such rare and choice articles would not allow
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Speaker 1: of his affording credit to the purchaser. Mordaunt gathered the
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Speaker 1: import of this conversation from the mode in which they
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Speaker 1: whispered together, while the Bards seemed to advance a wishful
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Speaker 1: finger towards the box in question, and the cautious peddler
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Speaker 1: detained it with the weight of his whole hand, as
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Speaker 1: if he had been afraid it would literally make itself
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Speaker 1: wings and fly into Claude Holcrow's pocket. Mordaunt Mertown, at
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Speaker 1: this moment, desirous to gratify an old acquaintance, laid the
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Speaker 1: price of the box on the table and said he
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Speaker 1: would not permit Master Holcrow to purchase that box, as
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Speaker 1: he had settled in his own mind to make him
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Speaker 1: a present of it. I cannot think of robbing you,
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Speaker 1: my dear young friend, said the poet. But the truth
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Speaker 1: is that that same box does remind me strangely of
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Speaker 1: Glorious John's, out of which I had the honor to
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Speaker 1: take a pinch at the WIT's coffee house, for which
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Speaker 1: I think more highly of my right hand finger and
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Speaker 1: thumb than any other part of my body. Only you
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Speaker 1: must allow me to pay you back the price when
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Speaker 1: my ercaster stockfish come to market. Settle that as you
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Speaker 1: like betwixt you, said the jagger, taking up Mordaunt's money.
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Speaker 1: The box is bought and sold. And how dare you
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Speaker 1: sell over again? Said Captain Cleveland, suddenly interfering what you
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Speaker 1: have already sold to me. All were surprised at this interjection,
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Speaker 1: which was hastily made, as Cleveland, having turned from Mistress Babby,
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Speaker 1: had become suddenly and as it seemed not without emotion,
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Speaker 1: aware what articles Price snouts Foot was now disposing of.
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Speaker 1: To this short and fierce question, the jagger, afraid to
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Speaker 1: contradict a customer of his description, answered only by stammering
25:43
Speaker 1: that the lord knew he meant no offense. How sir,
25:47
Speaker 1: no offense, said the seaman, and dispose of my property,
25:52
Speaker 1: extending his hand at the same time to the box
25:56
Speaker 1: and chaplet. Restore the young gentleman's money, and learn to
26:00
Speaker 1: keep your course on the meridian of honesty. The jagger,
26:05
Speaker 1: confused and reluctant, pulled out his leathern pouch to repay
26:10
Speaker 1: to Mordaunt the money he had just deposited in it.
26:14
Speaker 1: But the youth was not to be so satisfied. The articles,
26:18
Speaker 1: he said, were bought and sold. These were your own words,
26:22
Speaker 1: Bryce Snowsfoot, in Master Holcrow's hearing, and I will suffer
26:27
Speaker 1: neither you nor any other to deprive me of my property.
26:32
Speaker 1: Your property, young man, said Cleveland, it is mine. I
26:37
Speaker 1: spoke to Bryce, respecting them an instant before I turned
26:41
Speaker 1: from the table. I I I had not heard, distinctly,
26:46
Speaker 1: said Bryce, evidently unwilling to offend either party. Come, Come,
26:52
Speaker 1: said the youth, dollar. We will have no quarreling about bobbles.
26:57
Speaker 1: We shall be summoned presently to the rigging law. So
27:01
Speaker 1: he used to call the apartment used as a ballroom.
27:04
Speaker 1: And we must all go in good humor. The things
27:08
Speaker 1: shall remain with Bryce for tonight and tomorrow I will
27:12
Speaker 1: myself settle whom they shall belong to. The laws of
27:17
Speaker 1: the U Dollar in his own house were absolute as
27:20
Speaker 1: those of the meetes. The two young men, regarding each
27:24
Speaker 1: other with looks of sullen displeasure, drew off in different directions.
27:30
Speaker 1: It is seldom that the second day of a prolonged
27:33
Speaker 1: festival equals the first. The spirits as well as the
27:37
Speaker 1: limbs are jaded, and an equal to the renewed expenditure
27:42
Speaker 1: of animation and exertion, and the dance at Burgwestra was
27:46
Speaker 1: sustained with much less mirth than on the preceding evening.
27:51
Speaker 1: It was yet an hour from midnight. Even when the
27:55
Speaker 1: reluctant Magnus Troil, after regretting the degeneracy of the time times,
28:00
Speaker 1: and wishing he could transfuse into the modern Heighlanders, some
28:05
Speaker 1: of the vigor which still animated his own frame, found
28:09
Speaker 1: himself compelled to give the signal for general retreat. Just
28:14
Speaker 1: as this took place, Holcrow, leading Mordaunt Mertown a little aside,
28:19
Speaker 1: said he had a message to him from Captain Cleveland.
28:24
Speaker 1: A message, said Mordaunt, his heart beating somewhat thick as
28:28
Speaker 1: he spoke. A challenge. I suppose a challenge, repeated Holcrow.
28:34
Speaker 1: Who ever heard of a challenge in our quiet islands?
28:38
Speaker 1: Do you think that I look like a carrier of challenges?
28:42
Speaker 1: And to you, of all men living, I am none
28:46
Speaker 1: of those fighting fools, as Glorious John calls them. And
28:50
Speaker 1: it was not quite a message I had to deliver
28:54
Speaker 1: only thus far. This Captain Cleveland, I find, has set
28:58
Speaker 1: his heart upon how these articles you looked at. He
29:03
Speaker 1: shall not have them, I swear to you, replied Mordaunt Mertown. Nay,
29:08
Speaker 1: but hear me, said Holcrow. It seems that by the
29:12
Speaker 1: marks or arms that are upon them, he knows that
29:16
Speaker 1: they were formerly his property. Now, were you to give
29:20
Speaker 1: me the box as you promised, I fairly tell you
29:24
Speaker 1: I should give the man back his own, and Brenda
29:28
Speaker 1: might do the like, thought Mordaunt to himself, and instantly
29:32
Speaker 1: replied aloud, I have thought better of it, my friend,
29:36
Speaker 1: Captain Cleveland shall have the toys he sets such store buy.
29:41
Speaker 1: But it is on one sole condition. Nay, you will
29:46
Speaker 1: spoil all with your conditions, said Holcrow. For as glorious
29:51
Speaker 1: John says, conditions are, but hear me I say with patience,
29:57
Speaker 1: My condition is that he keeps the toys in exchange
30:01
Speaker 1: for the rifle gun I accepted from him, which will
30:05
Speaker 1: leave no obligation between us on either side. I see
30:10
Speaker 1: where you would be. This is Sebastian and Dorax all over. Well,
30:16
Speaker 1: you may let the Jagger know he is to deliver
30:19
Speaker 1: the things to Cleveland. I think he is mad to
30:22
Speaker 1: have them, and I will let Cleveland know the conditions annexed. Otherwise,
30:28
Speaker 1: honest Bryce might come by two payments instead of one,
30:33
Speaker 1: and I believe his conscience would not choke upon it.
30:37
Speaker 1: With these words, Hulcrow went to seek out Cleveland, while Mordaunt,
30:42
Speaker 1: observing Snelsfoot, who as a sort of privileged person, had
30:47
Speaker 1: thrust himself into the crowd at the bottom of the
30:50
Speaker 1: dancing room, went up to him and gave him directions
30:54
Speaker 1: to deliver the disputed articles to Cleveland as soon as
30:58
Speaker 1: he had an opportunity. Ye are in the right, Master,
31:03
Speaker 1: Mordaunt said, the jagger, ye are a prudent and a
31:06
Speaker 1: sensible lad, A calm answer turneth away wrath, and myself
31:12
Speaker 1: I shall be willing to please you in any trifling
31:15
Speaker 1: matters in my small way. For between the U Dollar
31:19
Speaker 1: of Burgwestra and Captain Cleveland a man is, as it were,
31:24
Speaker 1: between the devil and the deep sea. And it was
31:28
Speaker 1: like that the U Dollar in the end would have
31:31
Speaker 1: taken your part in the dispute, for he is a
31:35
Speaker 1: man that loves justice, which apparently you care very little about,
31:40
Speaker 1: Master Snowsfoot, said Mordaunt. Otherwise there could have been no
31:45
Speaker 1: dispute whatever, the right being so clearly on my side,
31:50
Speaker 1: if you had pleased to bear witness according to the
31:53
Speaker 1: dictates of truth. Master Mordaunt said the Jagger I must
31:58
Speaker 1: own there was, as it were, a coloring or shadow
32:02
Speaker 1: of justice on your side. But then the justice that
32:06
Speaker 1: I meddle with is only the justice in the way
32:10
Speaker 1: of trade. To have an l wand of due length,
32:14
Speaker 1: if it be not something worn out with leaning on
32:17
Speaker 1: it in my long and painful journeys, and to buy
32:21
Speaker 1: and sell by just weight and measure twenty four merks
32:25
Speaker 1: to the listband. But I have nothing to do to
32:29
Speaker 1: do justice betwixt man and man, like a foud or
32:33
Speaker 1: a law right man at a lotching lang sign. No
32:37
Speaker 1: one asked you to do so, but only to give
32:41
Speaker 1: evidence according to your conscience, replied Mordaunt, not greatly pleased
32:46
Speaker 1: either with the part the jagger had acted during the
32:50
Speaker 1: dispute or the construction which he seemed to put on
32:53
Speaker 1: his own motives for yielding up the point. But Bryce
32:58
Speaker 1: Snow's foot wanted not his ane, Sir, My conscience, he said,
33:02
Speaker 1: Master Mordaunt is as tender as any man's in my degree.
33:07
Speaker 1: But she is something of a timorsome nature, cannot abide
33:11
Speaker 1: angry folk, and can never speak above her breath when
33:15
Speaker 1: there is aught of a fray going forward. Indeed, she
33:20
Speaker 1: hath at all times a small and low voice, which
33:25
Speaker 1: you are not much in the habit of listening to,
33:28
Speaker 1: said Mordaunt. There is that on your own breast that
33:32
Speaker 1: proves the contrary, said Bryce, resolutely. In my breast, said Mordaunt,
33:38
Speaker 1: somewhat angrily. What no I of you? I said, on
33:42
Speaker 1: your breast, Master Mordaunt, and not in it? I am
33:46
Speaker 1: sure no eye that looks on that waistcoat upon your
33:50
Speaker 1: own gallant brisket, but will say that the merchant who
33:55
Speaker 1: sold such a piece for four dollars had justice and
33:59
Speaker 1: conscience and a kind heart to a customer, to the
34:03
Speaker 1: boot of all that. So ye shouldn't be so thraw
34:07
Speaker 1: wart with me for having spared the breath of my
34:11
Speaker 1: mouth in a fool's quarrel. I thraw wart, said Mordaunt. Pooh,
34:17
Speaker 1: you silly man, I have no quarrel with you. I
34:22
Speaker 1: am glad of it, said the traveling merchant. I will
34:25
Speaker 1: quarrel with no man with my will, least of all
34:29
Speaker 1: with an old customer. And if you will walk by
34:33
Speaker 1: my advice, you will quarrel none with Captain Cleveland. He
34:37
Speaker 1: is like one of yon cutters and slashers that have
34:41
Speaker 1: come into Kirkwall, that think as little of slicing a
34:45
Speaker 1: man as we do of flinching a whale. It's their
34:49
Speaker 1: trade to fight, and they live by it, and they
34:53
Speaker 1: have the advantage of the like of you that only
34:56
Speaker 1: take it up at your own hand and in the
34:59
Speaker 1: way of pastime when you have nothing better to do.
35:03
Speaker 1: The company had now almost all dispersed, and Mornaut, laughing
35:08
Speaker 1: at the jagger's caution, bade him good night, and went
35:12
Speaker 1: to his own place of repose, which had been assigned
35:16
Speaker 1: to him by Eric Scambaster, who acted the part of
35:20
Speaker 1: Chamberlain as well as butler, in a small room, or
35:24
Speaker 1: rather closet in one of the outhouses, furnished for the
35:29
Speaker 1: occasion with the hammock of a sailor. End of Chapter eighteen.