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Moonfleet · Moonfleet

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  Chapter one in Moonfleet Village, so sleeps the pride of former days. More.
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  The village of Moonfleet lies half a mile from the sea, on the
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  right or west bank of the Fleet Stream. This rivulet, which is so
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  narrow as it passes the houses that I have known a good jumper clear it
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  without a pole, broadens out into salt marshes below the village, and loses
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  itself at last in a lake of brackish water. The lake is good for
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  nothing except sea fowl, herons, and oysters, and forms such a place,
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  as they call in the Indies, a lagoon being shut off from the
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  open channel by a monstrous great beech or dyke of pebbles, of which I
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  shall speak more hereafter. When I was a child, I thought that this
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  place was called Moonfleet because on a still night, whether in summer or in
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  winter frosts, the moon shone very brightly on the lagoon. But learned afterwards
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  that twas but short for Mahoonfleet, from the Mahoons, a great family who
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  were once lords of all these parts. My name is John Trenchard, and
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  I was fifteen years of age when this story begins. My father and mother
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  had both been dead for years, and I boarded with my aunt, Miss
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  Arnold, who was kind to me in her own fashion, but too strict
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  and precise ever to make me love her. I shall first speak of one
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  evening in the fall of the year seventeen fifty seven. It must have been
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  late in October, though I have forgotten the exact date, and I sat
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  in the little front parlor reading after tea. My aunt had few books.
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  A Bible, a common prayer and some volumes of sermons are all that I
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  can recollect now. But the reverend mister Glennie, who taught us village children,
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  had lent me a story book full of interest and adventure, called The
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  Arabian Night's Entertainment. At last, the light began to fail, and I
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  was nothing loath to leave off reading for several reasons as First, the parlor
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  was a chili room with horsehair chairs and sofa, and only a coloured paper
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  screen in the grate, for my aunt did not allow a fire till the
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  first of November. Second, there was a rank smell of molten tallow in
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  the house, for my aunt was dipping winter candles on frames in the back
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  kitchen. Third, I had reached a part in the Arabian nights, which
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  tightened my breath and made me wish to leave off reading for very anxiousness of
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  expectation. It was that point in the story of the Wonderful Lamp where the
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  false Uncle lets fall a stone that seals the mouth of the underground chamber and
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  immures the boy Aladdin in the darkness, because he would not give up the
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  lamp till he stood safe on the surface. Again. This scene reminded me
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  of one of those dreadful nightmares where we dream we are shut in a little
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  room, the walls of which are closing in upon us, And so impressed
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  me that the memory of it served as a warning in an adventure that befell
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  me later on, so I gave up reading and stepped out into the street.
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  It was a poor street at best, though once, no doubt it
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  had been finer. Now there were not two hundred souls in Moonfleet, and
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  yet the houses that held them straggled sadly over half a mile, lying at
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  intervals along either side of the roadad Nothing was ever made new in the village.
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  If a house wanted repair badly, it was pulled down, and so
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  there were toothless gaps in the street and overrun gardens with broken down walls,
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  and many of the houses that yet stood looked as though they could stand but
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  little longer the sun had set. Indeed, it was already so dusk that
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  the lower or sea end of the street was lost from sight. There was
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  a little fog or smoke wreath in the air, with an odor of burning
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  weeds, and that first frosty feeling of the autumn that makes us think of
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  glowing fires and the comfort of long winter evenings to come. All was very
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  still, but I could hear the tapping of a hammer farther down the street,
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  and walked to see what was doing, for we had no trades in
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  Moonfleet save that of fishing. It was Ratsey, the sexton, at work
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  in a shed which opened on the street, lettering a tombstone with a mallet
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  and graver. He had been mason before he became fisherman, and was handy
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  with his tools, so that if anyone wanted a headstone set up in the
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  churchyard, he went to Ratsey to get it done. I leant over the
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  half door and watched him a minute, chipping away with the graver in a
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  bad light from a lantern Then he looked up, and, seeing me,
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  said, here, John, if you have nothing to do, come in
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  and hold the lantern for me. Tis but a half hour's job to get
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  all finished. Ratsey was always kind to me, and had lent me a
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  chisel many a time to make boats. So I stepped in and held the
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  lantern, watching him chink out the bits of Portland stone with a graver,
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  and blinking the while when they came too near my eyes. The inscription stood
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  complete, but he was putting the finishing touches to a little sea piece carved
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  at the top of the stone, which showed a schooner boarding a cutter.
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  I thought it fine work at the time, but know now that it was
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  rough enough. Indeed, you may see it for yourself in Moonfleet Churchyard to
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  this day and read the inscription too, though it is yellow with lichen and
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  not so plain as it was that night. This is how it runs,
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  sacred to the memory of David Block, aged fifteen, who was killed by
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  a shot fired from the Electors schooner twenty one June seventeen fifty seven of life
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  bereft by fell design. I mingle with my fellow Clay on God's protection I
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  recline to save me in the judgment day, There too, must you,
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  cruel man, appear repent ere it be all too late, or else a
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  dreadful sentence fear, for God will sure revenge my fate. The reverend mister
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  Glennie wrote the verses, and I knew them by heart, for he had
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  given me a copy. Indeed, the whole village had rung with the tale
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  of David's death, and it was yet in every mouth. He was only
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  child to Elzevir Bloch, who kept the fine not in at the bottom of
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  the village, and was with the contrabandeers when their catch was boarded that June
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  night by the government schooner. People said that it was Magistrate Masque of Moonfleet,
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  Manor who had put the revenue men on the track, and anyway he
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  was on board the Elector as she overhauled the ketch. There was some show
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  of fighting when the vessels first came alongside of one another, and maskew drew
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  a pistol and fired it off in young David's face, with only the two
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  gunwales between them. In the afternoon of Midsummer's Day, the Elector brought the
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  ketch into Moonfleet, and there was a posse of constables to march the smugglers
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  off to Dorchester jail. The prisoners trudged up through the village, ironed two
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  and two together, while people stood at their doors or followed them, the
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  men greeting them with a kindly word, for we knew most of them as
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  Ringstave and Munkberry men, and the women sorrowing for their wives. But they
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  left David's body in the catch, so the boy paid dear for his night's
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  frolic. I twas a cruel, cruel thing to fire on so young,
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  a lad Ratsey said, as he stepped back a pace to study the effect
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  of a flag that he was chiseling on the revenue schooner. And trouble is
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  likely to come to the other poor fellows taken for Lawyer Empsen says, three
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  of them will surely hang at next a size I recollect he went on thirty
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  years ago when there was a bit of a scuffle between the Royal Sophie and
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  the man Hull. They hanged four of the contrabandiers, and my old father
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  caught his death of cold WoT with going to see the poor chaps turned off
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  at Dorchester, and standing up to his knees in the river froom to get
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  a sight of them. For all the countryside was there, and such a
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  press there was no place on land there. That's enough, he said,
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  turning again to the gravestone. On Monday, i'll line the ports in black
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  and get a brush of red to pick out the flag. And now,
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  my son, you've helped with the lantern, so come down to the why
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  Not. And there i'll have a word with Elzevir, who sadly needs the
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  talk of kindly friends to cheer him, and we'll find I drew a glass
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  of Hollands to keep out autumn chills. I was but a lad, and
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  thought it a vast honor to be asked to the why Not. For did
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  not such an invitation raise me at once to the dignity of manhood? Ah,
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  sweet boyhood, How eager are we as boys to be quit of thee?
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  With what regret? Do we look back on thee before our man's race
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  is half way run? Yet was not my pleasure without a lay, For
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  I feared even to think of what Aunt Jane would say if she knew that
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  I had been at the why Not. And beside that I stood in awe
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  of grim old Elzevia Block grimmer and sadder a thousand times since David's death.
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  The why Not was not the real name of the inn. It was properly
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  the Mahoone Arms. The Mohoons had once owned, as I have said,
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  the whole of the village. But their fortunes fell, and with them fell
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  the fortunes of Moonfleet. The ruins of their mansion showed gray on the hillside
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  above the village. Their armshouses stood half way down the street, with the
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  quadrangle deserted and overgrown. The Mahoon image and superscription was on everything, from
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  the church to the Inn, and everything that bore it was stamp also with
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  the superscription of decay. And here it is necessary that I say a few
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  words as to this family badge, for as you will see, I was
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  to bear it all my life, and shall carry its impress with me to
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  the grave. The Mahoon shield was plain white or silver, and bore nothing
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  upon it except a great black why. I call it a y, though
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  the Reverend mister Glennie once explained to me that it was not a why at
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  all, but what heralds call a cross Paul, cross Paul, or no
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  cross Paul. It looked for all the way world like a black y with
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  a broad arm ending in each of the top corners of the shield, and
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  the tale coming down into the bottom. You might see that cognizance carved on
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  the manor, and on the stone work and woodwork of the church, and
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  on a score of houses in the village. And it hung on the sign
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  board over the door of the inn. Every one knew the Mahoon why for
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  miles around, and a former landlord having called the inn the why Not in
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  jest, the name had stuck to it ever since. More than once,
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  on winter evenings, when men were drinking in the why Not, I had
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  stood outside and listened to them singing ducky stones, or kegs bobbing one,
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  two three, or some of the other tunes that sailors sing in the west.
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  Such songs had neither beginning nor ending, and very little sense to catch
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  hold of. In the middle, one man would crone the air, and
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  the others would crone a solemn chorus. But there was little hard drinking.
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  For Elzevir Block never got drunk himself, and did not like his guests to
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  get drunk. Either. On singing nights the room grew hot, and the
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  steam stood so thick on the glass inside that one could not see in.
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  But at other times, when there was no company, I have peeped through
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  the red curtains and watched Elzevir Block and Ratsey playing backgammon at the trestle table
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  by the fire. It was on the trestle table that Block had afterwards laid
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  out his son's dead body. And some said they had looked through the window
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  at night and seen the father trying to wash the blood matting out of the
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  boy's yellow hair, and heard him groaning and talking to the lifeless clay,
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  as if it could understand anyhow. There had been little drinking in the inn
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  since that time, for Block grew more and more silent and morose. He
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  had never caught it customers, and now he scowled on any that came,
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  so that men looked on the why Not as a blighted spot, and went
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  to drink at the three chups at Ringstave. My heart was in my mouth
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  when Ratsey lifted the latch and led me into the inn parlor. It was
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  a low sanded room with no light except a fire of seawood on the hearth,
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  burning clear and lambent with blue salt flames. There were tables at each
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  end of the room, and wooden seated chairs round the walls, and at
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  the trestle table by the chimney sat Elzevir Block, smoking a long pipe and
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  looking at the fire. He was a man of fifty, with a shock
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  of grizzled hair, a broad but not unkindly face of regular features, bushy
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  eyebrows, and the finest forehead that I ever saw. His frame was thick
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  set and still immensely strong. Indeed, the countryside was full of tails of
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  his range, prowess or endurance. Blocks had been landlords at the why Not,
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  father and son for years, but Elzevir's mother came from the Low countries,
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  and that was how he got his outland name and could speak Dutch.
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  Few men knew much of him, and folks often wondered how it was he
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  kept the why Not on so little custom as went that way. Yet he
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  never seemed to lack for money, and if people loved to tell stories of
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  his strength, they would speak also of widows helped and sick, comforted with
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  unknown gifts, and hint that some of them came from Elzevir block For all
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  he was so grim and silent. He turned round and got up as we
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  came in, and my fears led me to think that his face darkened when
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  he saw me. What does this boy want? He said to Ratsey sharply,
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  he wants the same as I want, and that's a glass of arrow
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  at milk keep out autumn chills, the sexton answered, drawing another chair up
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  to the trestle table. Cow's milk is best for children such as he was.
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  Elzevir's answer, as he took two shining brass candlesticks from the mantel board,
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  set them on the table, and lit the candles with a burning chip
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  from the hearth. John is no child. He is the same age as
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  David, and comes from helping me to finish David's headstone. Tis finished now,
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  barring the paint upon the ships, and please God, by Monday night
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  we will have it set fair and square in the churchyard, and then the
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  poor lad may rest in peace, knowing he has above him Master Rats's best
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  handiwork, and the parsons verses to set forth. How shamefully he came to
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  his end. I thought that Elzevir softened a little as Ratsey spoke of his
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  son, and he said, aye, David rests in tis they that brought
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  him to his end, that shall not rest in peace when their time comes,
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  and it may come sooner than they think. He added, speaking more
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  to himself than to us. I knew that he meant mister maskew and recollected
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  that some had warned the magistrate that he had better keep out of Elzevir's way,
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  for there was no knowing what a desperate man might do. And yet
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  the two had met since in the village street, and nothing worse come of
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  it than a scowling look from Block. Tush Man broke in the sexton.
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  It was the foulest deed ever man did. But let not thy mind brood
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  on it, nor think how thou mayest get thyself avenged. Leave that to
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  providence. For he whose wisdom let such things be done, will surely see
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  they meet their due reward. Vengeance is mine. I will repay saith the
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  Lord. And he took his hat off and hung it on a peg.
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  Block did not answer, but set three glasses on the table, and then
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  took out from a cupboard a little round, long necked bottle, from which
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  he poured out a glass for Ratsey and himself. Then he half filled the
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  third and pushed it along the table to me, saying, there take it,
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  lad. If thou wilt twill do THEE no good, but may do
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  THEE no harm. Ratsy raised his glass almost before it was filled. He
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  sniffed the liquor and smacked his lips O rare milk of arrarat. He said,
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  it is sweet and strong and sets the heart at ease. And now
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  get the backgammon board, John, and set it for us on the table.
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  So they fell to the game, and I took a sly sip at
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  the liquor, but nearly choked myself, not being used as strong waters,
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  and finding it heady and burning in the throat. Neither man spoke, and
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  there was no sound except the constant rattle of the dice at the rubbing of
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  the pieces being moved across the board. Now and then one of the players
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  stopped to light his pipe. And at the end of a game, they
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  scored their totals on the table with a bit of chalk. So I watched
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  them for an hour, knowing the game myself, and being interested at seeing
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  Elzevir's backgammon board, which I had heard talked of before. It had formed
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  part of the furniture of the why not for generations of landlords, and served
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  perhaps to past time for cavaliers of the civil wars. All was of oak,
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  black and polished board, dice boxes and men. But round the edge
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  ran a Latin inscription inlaid in lightwood, which I read on that first evening,
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  but did not understand till mister Glennie translated it to me. I had
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  cause to remember it afterwards, So I shall set it down here in Latin
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  for those who know that tongue ita in vita ut in luzu alii pessimer jack
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  tura artie corrigenda est and in English, as mister Glennie translated it, as
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  in life, so in a game of hazard's skill will make something of the
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  worst of throes. At last, Elzevir looked up and spoke to me,
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  not unkindly, lad, it is time for you to go home. Men
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  say that Blackbeard walks on the first nights of winter, and some have met
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  him face to face betwixt this house and yours. I saw he wanted to
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  be rid of me so bad them both good night, and was off home,
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  running all the way thither, though not from any fear of Blackbeard,
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  for Ratsy had often told me that there was no chance of meeting him unless
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  one past the church by night. Blackbeard was one of the Mahoons who had
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  died a century back, and was buried in the vault under the church with
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  others of his family, but could not rest there, whether as some said,
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  because he was always looking for a lost treasure, or as others,
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  because of his exceeding wickedness in life. If this last were the true reason,
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  he must have been bad indeed, for Mohunes have died before and since
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  his day, wicked enough to bear any one company in their vault or elsewhere.
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  Men would have it that on dark winter nights Blackbeard might be seen with
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  an old fashioned lanthorn digging for treasure in the graveyard, and those who professed
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  to know said he was the tallest of men, with full black beard coppery
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  face and such evil eyes that any who once met their gaze must die within
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  a year. However that might be, there were few in moonfe Fleet who
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  would not rather walk ten miles round than go near the churchyard after dark.
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  And once when Cracky Jones, a poor dointed body was found there one summer
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  morning, lying dead on the grass. It was thought that he had met
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  Blackbeard in the night. Mister Glennie, who knew more about such things than
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  any one else, told me that Blackbeard was none other than a certain Colonel
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  John Mahoune, deceased about one hundred years ago. He would have it that
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  Colonel Mahoone, in the dreadful Wars against King Charles the First, had deserted
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  the allegiance of his house and supported the cause of the rebels, so being
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  made governor of Carrisbrook Castle for the Parliament. He became there the King's jailer,
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  but was false to his trust. For the King carrying constantly hidden about
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  his person a great diamond, which had once been given him by his brother,
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  King of France. Mahoon got wind of them duel and promised that if
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  it were given him, he would wink at his Majesty's escape. Then this
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  wicked man, having taken the bribe, plays traitor again, comes with a
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  file of soldiers at the hour appointed for the King's flight, finds his Majesty
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  escaping through a window, has him away to a strict award, and reports
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  to the Parliament that the King's escape is only prevented by Colonel Mahoune's watchfulness.
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  But how true, as mister Glennie said that we should not be envious against
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  the ungodly, against the man that walketh after evil counsels, suspicion fell on
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  Colonel Mahoune. He was removed from his governorship and came back to his home
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  at Moonfleet. There he lived in seclusion, despised by both parties in the
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  state, until he died about the time of the happy restoration of King Charles
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  the Second. But even after his death he could not get rest, for
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  men said that he had hid somewhere that treasure given him to permit the King's
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  escape, and that, not daring to reclaim it, had let the secret
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  die with him, and so must needs come out of his grave to try
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  to get at it again. Mister Glennie would never say whether he believed the
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  tale or not, pointing out that apparitions both of good and evil spirits are
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  related in Holy scripture, but that the churchyard was an unlikely spot for Colonel
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  Mahune to seek his treasure in, for had it been buried there, he
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  would have had a hundred chances to have it up in his lifetime. However
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  this may be, though I was brave as a lion by day, and
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  used indeed to frequent the churchyard, because there was the widest view of the
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  sea to be obtained from it. Yet no reward would have taken me thither
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  at night, nor was I myself without some witness to the tale, For
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  have to walk to Ringstave for doctor Hawkins. On the night my aunt broke
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  her leg, I took the path along the down which overlooks the churchyard and
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  a mile off, and thence most certainly saw a light moving to and fro
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  about the church, where no honest man could be at two o'clock in the
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  morning end of chapter one, Chapter two, the floods. Then banks came
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  down with ruin and rout. Then beaten spray flew round about. Then all
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  the mighty floods were out, and all the world was in the sea.
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  Jean Ingelow On the third of November, a few days after this visit to
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  the why not, the wind which had been blowing from the southwest began about
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  four in the afternoon to rise in sudden strong gusts. The rooks had been
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  pitchfalling all the morning, so we knew that bad weather was due. And
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  when we came out from the schooling that mister Lenny gave us in the hall
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  of the old arms houses, there were wisps of thatch and even stray tiles
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  flying from the roofs, and the children sang blow wind rice storm ship ashore
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  before morn. It is heathenish rhyme that has come down out of other and
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  worse times. For though I do not say but that a wreck on Moonfleet
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  Beach was looked upon sometimes as little short of a godsend, yet I hope
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  none of us were so wicked as to wish a vessel to be wrecked that
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  we might share in the plunder. Indeed, I have known the men of
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  Moonfleet risk their own lives a hundred times to save those of shipwrecked mariners,
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  as when the Darriyas East gentlemen came ashore. Nay, even poor nameless corpses
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  washed up were shore of Christian burial, or perhaps of one of Master Rats's
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  headstones to set forth Sex and date, as may be seen in the churchyard.
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  To this day our village lies near the center of Moonfleet Bay, a
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  great bite twenty miles across, and a death trap to up channel sailors in
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  a southwesterly gale. For with that wind blowing strong from south, if you
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  cannot double the snout, you must most surely come ashore. And many a
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  good ship failing to round that point has beat up and down the bay all
• 27:18
  day, but come to beach in the evening. And once on the beach
• 27:23
  the sea has little mercy, for the water is deep right in, and
• 27:27
  the waves curl over full on the pebbles, where the weight no timbers can
• 27:32
  withstand. Then if poor feadows try to save themselves, there is a deadly
• 27:38
  undertow or rush back of the water, which sucks them off their legs and
• 27:42
  carries them again under the thundering waves. It is that back sack of the
• 27:48
  pebbles that you may hear for miles in land, even at Dorchester on still
• 27:52
  nights, long after the winds have caused it have sunk, and which make
• 27:56
  people turn in their beds, and thank god they are not fighting with the
• 28:00
  sea on Moonfleet Beach. But on this third of November there was no wreck,
• 28:07
  only such a wind as I have never known before, and only once
• 28:11
  since. All night long the tempest grew fiercer, and I think no one
• 28:15
  in Moonfleet went to bed, for there was such a breaking of tiles and
• 28:19
  glass, such a banging of doon and rattling of shat shatters, that no
• 28:23
  sleep was possible, and we were afraid besides, lest the chimneys should fall
• 28:27
  and crush us. The wind blew fiercest about five in the morning, and
• 28:33
  then some ran up the street, calling out a new danger, that the
• 28:37
  sea was breaking over the beach, and that all the place was likely to
• 28:40
  be flooded. Some of the womb were for flitting forthwith and climbing the down
• 28:45
  But Master Ratsey, who was going round with others to comfort people, soon
• 28:49
  showed us that the upper part of the village stood so high that if the
• 28:52
  water was to get thither, there was no knowing if it would not cover
• 28:56
  Ridge Down itself. But what with its being a spring tide and the sea
• 29:00
  breaking clean over the great outer beach of pebbles, a thing that had not
• 29:04
  happened for fifty years, there was so much water piled up in the lagoon
• 29:10
  that it passed its bounds and flooded all the sea meadows and even the lower
• 29:14
  end of the street. So when day broke there was the churchyard flooded,
• 29:19
  though twas on rising ground, and the church itself standing up like a steep
• 29:23
  little island, and the water over the door sill of the Why not,
• 29:27
  though Elzevir Block would not budge, saying he did not care if the sea
• 29:30
  swept him away, it was but a nine hours wonder, for the wind
• 29:36
  fell very suddenly, the water began to go back. The sun shone bright,
• 29:41
  and before noon people came out to the doors to see the floods and
• 29:44
  talk over the storm. Most said there never had been so fierce a wind,
• 29:49
  but some of the oldest spoke of one in the second year of Queen
• 29:52
  Anne, and would have it as bad or worse. But whether worse or
• 29:56
  not, this storm was a weighty matter enough for me, and turned the
• 30:00
  course of my life. As you shall hear, I have said that the
• 30:06
  waters came up so high that the church stood out like an island. But
• 30:10
  they went back quickly, and mister Lenny was able to hold service. On
• 30:14
  the next Sunday morning. Few enough folks came to Moonfleet Church at any time,
• 30:19
  but fewer still came that morning, for the meadows between the village and
• 30:22
  the churchyard were wet and miry from the water. There were streamers of seaweed
• 30:27
  tangled about the very tombstones, and against the outside of the churchyard wall was
• 30:32
  piled up a great bank of it, from which came a salt rancid smell,
• 30:37
  like a Gillimot's egg that is always in the air after a southwesterly gale
• 30:41
  has strewn the shore with rack. This church is as large as any other
• 30:47
  I have seen, and divided into two parts, with a stone screen across
• 30:51
  the middle. Perhaps Moonfleet was once a large place, and then likely enough
• 30:55
  there were people to fill such a church, But ever since I knew it
• 30:59
  did anyone work ship in that part called the nave. This western portion was
• 31:03
  quite empty, beyond a few old tombs and the royal arms of Queen Anne.
• 31:08
  The pavement, too was damp and mossy, and there were green patches
• 31:11
  down the white walls where the rains had got in. So the handful of
• 31:17
  people that came to church were glad enough to get to the other side of
• 31:18
  the screen in the chancel, where at least the pew floors were boarded over
• 31:23
  and the paneling of oat work kept off the drafts now. This Sunday morning,
• 31:30
  there were only three or four, I think, beside mister Lanny and
• 31:33
  Ratsey, and the half dozen of us boys who crossed the swampy meadows strewn
• 31:37
  with drowned shrew, mice and moles. Even my aunt was not at church,
• 31:41
  being prevented by a migraine. But a surprise waited those who did go.
• 31:47
  For there in a pew by himself, sat Elzevir Block. The people
• 31:52
  stared at him as they came in, for no one had ever known him
• 31:55
  go to church before. Some say in the village that he was a Catholic,
• 31:59
  another an infidel, however that might be. There he was this day,
• 32:05
  wishing perhaps to show a favor to the parson who had written the verses
• 32:07
  for David's headstone. He took no notice of anyone, nor exchanged greetings with
• 32:14
  those that came in, as was the fashion in Moonfleet Church, but kept
• 32:17
  his eyes fixed on a prayer book which he held in his hand. That
• 32:22
  he could not be following the minister, for he never turned the leaf.
• 32:27
  The church was so damp from the floods that Master Ratsey had put afire in
• 32:30
  the brazier, which stood at the back, but was not commonly lighted till
• 32:35
  the winter had fairly begun. We boys sat as close to the brazier as
• 32:39
  we could, for the wet cold struck up from the flags, and besides
• 32:44
  that, we were so far from the clergyman and so well screened by the
• 32:47
  oak backs that we could bake an apple or roast a chestnuts without much fear
• 32:52
  of being caught. But that morning there was something else to take off our
• 32:57
  thoughts, for before the service was well begun, we became aware of a
• 33:01
  strange noise under the church. The first time it came was just as mister
• 33:07
  Glenny was finishing Dearly Beloved, and we heard it again before the second lesson.
• 33:12
  It was not a loud noise, but rather like that which a boat
• 33:15
  makes jostly against another at sea, and there was something deeper and more hollow
• 33:20
  about it. We boys looked at each other, for we knew what was
• 33:24
  under the church, and that the sound could only come from the Mahoon vault.
• 33:30
  No one at Moonfleet had ever seen the inside of that vault, but
• 33:34
  Ratsey was told by his father, who was clark before him, that it
• 33:37
  underlay half the chancel, and that there were more than a score of mahoons
• 33:40
  lying there. It had not been opened for over forty years since Gerald mahoone
• 33:46
  who burst off blood vessel drinking at Weymouth Races, was buried there. But
• 33:52
  there was a tale that one Sunday afternoon many years back, there had come
• 33:55
  from the vault so horrible and unearthly a cry that parson and people got up
• 34:01
  and fled the church and would not worship there for weeks. Afterwards. We
• 34:07
  thought of these stories and huddled up close to the brazier, being frightened of
• 34:12
  the noise, and uncertain whether we would not turn tail and run from the
• 34:15
  church, for it was certain that something was moving in the mahoon vault,
• 34:21
  to which there was no entrance except by a ring to stone in the chancel
• 34:23
  floor that had not been lifted for forty years. However, we thought better
• 34:30
  of it and did not budge, though I could see, when standing up
• 34:34
  and looking over the tops of the seats, that others beside ourselves were ill
• 34:37
  at ease. For Granituca gave such starts when she heard the sounds that twice
• 34:43
  her spectacles fell off her nose into her lap, and Master Ratsey seemed to
• 34:46
  be trying to mask the one noise by making another himself, whether by shuffling
• 34:51
  with his feet or by thumping down his prayer book. But the thing that
• 34:55
  most surprised me was that even Elzevir Block, who cared men said for neither
• 35:00
  God nor Devil, looked unquiet and gave a quick glance at Whereatsey every time
• 35:07
  the sound came. So we sat till mister Lenny was well on with the
• 35:12
  sermon. His discourse interested me though I was only a boy, for he
• 35:17
  likened life to the Letter Why, saying that in each man's life must come
• 35:22
  a point where two roads part, like the arms of a y, and
• 35:27
  that every one must choose for himself whether he will follow the broad and sloping
• 35:31
  path on the left or the steep and narrow path on the right. For
• 35:37
  said he, if you will look in your books, you will see that
• 35:39
  the Letter Why is not like the mohounds, with both arms equal, but
• 35:44
  has the arm on the left broader and more sloping than the arm on the
• 35:47
  right. Hence, ancient philosophers hold that this arm on the left represents the
• 35:53
  easy downward path to destruction, and the arm on the right the narrow upward
• 35:59
  path of life. When we heard that, we all fell to searching our
• 36:05
  prayer books for a capital y, and Granniteitucker, who knew not a from
• 36:09
  b made much ado in fumbling with her book, for she would have people
• 36:14
  think that she could read. Then just at that moment came a noise from
• 36:17
  below, louder than those before, hollow and grating, like the cry of
• 36:22
  an old man in pain. With that a up jumps Grannitucker, calling out
• 36:27
  loud in church to mister Lennie, Oh, Master Harver, can he bide
• 36:30
  their preaching when the moons be rising from their graves and out from the church.
• 36:37
  That was too much for the others, And all fled, missus Viney
• 36:39
  crying, Lord's sakes, we shall all be throttled like Cracky Jawn's. So
• 36:45
  in a minute there was none left in the church save and except mister Lennie,
• 36:50
  with me Ratsey and Elzevir Block. I did not run, first,
• 36:55
  not wishing to show myself card before the men. Second, because I thought
• 37:00
  that if Blackbird came, he would fall on the men rather than on a
• 37:02
  boy. And third that if he came to blows block was strong enough to
• 37:07
  give account even of a mahoon. Mister Lennie went on with his sermon,
• 37:12
  making as though he neither heard in a noise nor saw the people leave the
• 37:15
  church, And when he had finished, Elzevir walked out. But I stopped
• 37:21
  to see what the minister would say to Ratsey about the noise in the vault.
• 37:24
  The sexton helped mister Lennie off with his gown, and then, seeing
• 37:28
  me standing by and listening, said, the Law has sent evil angels among
• 37:32
  us. Tis a terrible thing, Master Lenny, to hear the dead men
• 37:36
  moving under our feet. Oh tut tut, answered the minister. It is
• 37:40
  only their own fears that make such noises terrible to the vulgar. As for
• 37:45
  Blackbeard, I am not here to say whether guilty spirits sometimes cannot rest and
• 37:50
  are seen wandering by men. But for these noises there are certainly nature's work,
• 37:54
  as is the noise of waves upon the beach. The floods have filled
• 37:59
  the vault with and so the coffins getting afloat, move in some eddies that
• 38:04
  we know not of, and jostle one another. Then, being hollow,
• 38:07
  they give forth these sounds you hear, and these are your evil angels.
• 38:12
  Tis very true the dead do move beneath our feet. But tis because they
• 38:15
  cannot help themselves, being carried hither and thither by the water. Fie,
• 38:19
  ratsy man, you should know better than to fright a boy with silly talk
• 38:22
  of spirits, when the truth is bad enough. The parsons words had the
• 38:29
  ring of truth in them. To me, I no never doubted that he
• 38:31
  was right. So this myschievous explained, And yet it was a dreadful thing,
• 38:37
  and made me shiver to think of the mohoons, all adrift in their
• 38:40
  coffins and jostling one another in the dark. I pictured them to myself,
• 38:45
  the many generations, old men and children, man and maid, all bones
• 38:51
  now, each afloat in his little box of rotting wood, and Blackbeard himself,
• 38:55
  and a great coffin, bigger than all the rest, coming crashing into
• 38:59
  the weaker ones, as a ship in a heavy sea comes crashing down,
• 39:02
  sometimes in the trough on a small boat that is trying to board her.
• 39:07
  And then there was the outer darkness of the vault itself. To think of
• 39:10
  and the close air, and the black, putrid water nearly up to the
• 39:14
  roof on which such sorry ships were sailing. Ratsey looked a little crestfallen at
• 39:22
  what mister Glenny said, but put a good face on it, and answered,
• 39:25
  well, master, but a plain man, and know nothing about floods
• 39:29
  and these eddies and hidden workings of nature of which you speak. But saving
• 39:32
  your presence, I hold it a fond thing to make light of such warnings
• 39:37
  as a giveness. Tis always said, when the moons move, their moonfleet
• 39:42
  mourns, and I've heard my father tell that the last time they stir was
• 39:46
  in Queen Anne's second year, when the great storm blew men's homes about their
• 39:50
  heads. And as for frightening children, tis well that heady boys should learn
• 39:54
  to stand in awe and not pry to what does not concern them, when
• 39:59
  they may come to harm. He added the last words with what I felt
• 40:04
  sure was a not of warning to myself, though I did not then understand
• 40:07
  what he meant. So he walked off in a huff with the Elzevir,
• 40:10
  who was waiting for him outside, And I went with mister Lenny and carried
• 40:15
  his gown for him. Back to his lodging in the village. Mister Lenny
• 40:21
  was always very friendly, making much of me and talking to me as I
• 40:22
  were his equal, which was due, I think, to there being no
• 40:27
  one of his own knowledge in the neighborhood, and so he had as leaf
• 40:30
  talked to an ignorant boy as to an ignorant man. After we had passed
• 40:35
  the churchyard turnstile and acrossing the sludgy meadows, I asked him again what he
• 40:40
  knew of Blackbeard and his lost treasure, my son, He answered, all
• 40:46
  that I have been able to gather is that this Colonel John Mahoone, foolishly
• 40:51
  called Blackbeard, was the first to impair the family fortunes by his excesses,
• 40:55
  and even at the arms houses fall to ruin and turn the poor away.
• 41:00
  Unless report strangely belies him. He was an evil man, and besides numberless
• 41:05
  lesser crimes, had on his hands the blood of a faithful servant, whom
• 41:09
  he made away with because chance had brought to the man's ears some guilty secret
• 41:14
  of the master. Then, at the end of his life, being filled
• 41:17
  with fear and remorse, as must always happen with evil livers, at the
• 41:22
  last he sent for Rector Kindersley of Dorchester to confess him, though a Protestant,
• 41:27
  and wished to make amends by leaving that treasure so ill gotten from King
• 41:30
  Charles, which is all that he had to leave, for the repair and
• 41:35
  support of the armshouses. He made a last will, which I have seen
• 41:38
  to this effect, but without describing the treasure further than to call it a
• 41:43
  diamond, not saying where it was to be found. Doubtless he meant to
• 41:47
  get it himself, said it and afterwards apply the prophet to his good purpose.
• 41:52
  But before he could do so, death called him suddenly to his account.
• 41:57
  So men say that he cannot rest in his grave, not having made
• 42:00
  even so tardy a reparation, and never will rest unless the treasure is found
• 42:06
  and spent upon the poor. I thought much, ever, what mister Lenny
• 42:12
  had said, and fell to wondering whether black Beard could have hid his diamond,
• 42:15
  and whether I might not find it some day and make myself a rich
• 42:19
  man. Now, as I considered that noise we had heard under the church,
• 42:24
  and passing Lenny's explanation of it, I was more and more perplexed.
• 42:30
  For the noise had, as I have said, something deep and hollow booming
• 42:32
  in it? And how was that to be made by decayed coffins? I
• 42:37
  had more than once seen Ratsey in digging a grave, turn up pieces of
• 42:42
  coffins, and sometimes a tarnished name plate would show that they had not been
• 42:46
  so very long underground. And yet the road was quite decayed and rotten,
• 42:52
  and granting that such were in the earth and so might more easily perish.
• 42:57
  Yet when the top was taken off Old Guy's brick grave to put his widow
• 43:00
  beside him, Master Ratsey gave me a peep in an Old guy's coffin had
• 43:05
  cracks and warps in it, and looks as if a sound blow would send
• 43:08
  it to pieces. Yet here were the mahoon coffins that had been put away
• 43:15
  for generations. I must be rotten as tinder, tapping against each other with
• 43:20
  a sound like a drum, as if they were still sound and air tight.
• 43:24
  Still, mister Lenny must be right, for it was not the coffins.
• 43:29
  What should it be that made the noise? So on the next half
• 43:35
  day after we had heard the sounds in church, being the Monday, as
• 43:38
  soon as morning school was over off I ran down street and across meadows to
• 43:43
  the churchyard, meaning to listen outside the church if the Mahoons were still moving.
• 43:50
  I say outside the church, for I knew Ratsey would not lend me
• 43:52
  the key to go in, after what he had said about boys prying into
• 43:57
  things that did not concern them. And besides that, I do not know
• 44:00
  that I would care to venture inside alone, even if I had the key.
• 44:07
  When I reached the church, not a little out of breath, I
• 44:10
  listened to first on the side nearest the village, that is, the north
• 44:15
  side, putting my ear against the wall, and afterwards lying down on the
• 44:19
  ground, though the grass was long and wet, so that I might the
• 44:22
  better catch any sound that came. But I could hear nothing, and so
• 44:28
  concluded that the Mohoons had come to rest again. Yet thought I would walk
• 44:32
  round the church and listen to on the south or sea side, for that
• 44:37
  their worships might have drifted over to that side and be there rubbing shoulders with
• 44:39
  one another. So I went round, and was glad to get out of
• 44:45
  the cold shade into the sun on the south. But here was a surprise,
• 44:51
  for when I came round, a great buttress which juts out from the
• 44:53
  wall. What should I see but two men, and these two were Ratsey
• 45:00
  and Elzevir Block. I came upon the unawaars, and lo and behold there
• 45:06
  was Master Ratsey, lying also on the ground, with his ear to the
• 45:08
  wall, while Elzevir sat back against the inside of the buttress with a spy
• 45:14
  glass in his hand, smoking and looking out to see. Now, I
• 45:19
  had as much right to be in the churchyard as Ratzy or Elzevir, and
• 45:22
  yet I felt a sudden shame, as if I had been caught in some
• 45:25
  bad act, and knew the blood was running to my cheeks. At first
• 45:31
  I had it in my mind to turn tail and make off, but concluded
• 45:36
  to stand my ground since they had seen me, and so bade them good
• 45:40
  morning. Master Ratsey jumped to his feet as nimbly as a cat, and
• 45:45
  as if he had not been a man. I should have thought he was
• 45:46
  blushing, too, for his face was very red that that came perhaps from
• 45:52
  lying on the ground. I could see he was a little put about and
• 45:55
  out of countenance, though he tried to say good morning, John in an
• 46:00
  easy tone, as if it were a common thing for him to be lying
• 46:04
  in the churchyard. With his ear to the wall on a winter's morning.
• 46:07
  Good morning, John, he said, and what might you be doing in
• 46:09
  the churchyard this fine day? I answered that I was come to listen in
• 46:15
  the mohoons were still moving. Well that I can't tell you, returned Ratsey,
• 46:21
  not wishing to waste thought on such idle matters, and having to examine
• 46:24
  this wall whether the floods have not so damaged it as to need underpinning.
• 46:28
  So if you have time to get about of a morning, get you back
• 46:30
  to my workshop and fetch me a plastrous hammer which I have left behind,
• 46:34
  so that I can try this mortar. I knew that he was making excuses
• 46:39
  about underpinning, for the wall was as sound as a rock, but was
• 46:45
  glad enough to take him at his word and beat a retreat from where I
• 46:46
  was not wanted. Indeed, I soon saw how he was mocking me,
• 46:52
  for the men did not even wait for me to come back with the hammer.
• 46:55
  But I met them returning in the first meadow. Marsaretti made another excuse
• 47:00
  that he did not need the hammer now, as he had found out that
• 47:04
  all that was wanted was a little pointing with new mortar. But if you
• 47:07
  have such time to waste. John, he added, you can come to
• 47:10
  morrow and help me to get new thwarts and the petrol, which she badly
• 47:14
  wants. So we three came back to the village together, but looking up
• 47:20
  at Elzevir once while Marserratti was making these pretenses, I saw his eyes twinkle
• 47:25
  under their heavy brows, as if he was amused at the other's embarrassment.
• 47:32
  The next Sunday, when we went to church, all was quiet as usual.
• 47:37
  There was no Elzevir and no more noises, and I never heard them
• 47:42
  mohunes move again. End of Chapter two, Chapter three A discovery. Some
• 47:53
  bold adventurers disdain the limits of their little rain and underknown regions, dared to
• 48:00
  cry still. As they run they look behind, they hear a voice in
• 48:05
  every wind, and snatch of fearful joy. Gray. I have said that
• 48:13
  I used often in the daytime, when not at school, to go to
• 48:15
  the churchyard, because, being on a little rise, there was the best
• 48:20
  view of the sea to be had from it, and on a fine day
• 48:22
  you could watch the French privateers creeping along the cliffs under the snout and lying
• 48:28
  in wait for an Indiaman or up channel trader there were at Moonfleet few boys
• 48:32
  of my own age, are none that I cared to make my companion.
• 48:37
  So I was given to muse alone, and did so for the most part
• 48:40
  in the open air, all the more because my aunt did not like to
• 48:45
  see an idle boy with muddy boots about her house. For a few weeks,
• 48:50
  indeed, after the day that I had surprised Elzevir and Ratsey, I
• 48:53
  kept away from the church, fearing to meet them there again. But a
• 48:58
  little later resumed my visits and saw no more of them. Now my favorite
• 49:04
  seat in the churchyard was the flat top of a raised stone tomb, which
• 49:07
  stands on the southeast of the church. I have heard mister Dennis call it
• 49:13
  an altar tomb, and in its day it had been a fine monument,
• 49:15
  being carved around with forestoons of fruit and flowers, but had suffered so much
• 49:21
  from the weather that I never was able to read the lettering on it,
• 49:23
  or to find out who had been buried beneath. Here I chose most to
• 49:29
  sit, not only because it had a flat and convenient top, but because
• 49:34
  it was screened from the wind by a thick clump of yew trees. These
• 49:38
  ewes had once I think, completely surrounded it, but had either died or
• 49:43
  been cut down on the south side, so that anyone sitting on the gravetop
• 49:46
  was snug from the weather, and yet possessed a fine prospect over the sea.
• 49:53
  On the other three sides, the ewes grew close and thick, embarring
• 49:58
  the tomb like the high back of a side chair, And many times in
• 50:02
  autumn I have seen the stone slab crimson with the fallen waxy berries, and
• 50:07
  taking some home to my aunt, who liked to taste them with a glass
• 50:10
  of slogjin after her Sunday dinner. Others beside me, no doubt, found
• 50:15
  this tomb a comfortable seat and look out, for there was quite a path
• 50:20
  worn to it on the south side, though all the times I had visited
• 50:22
  it, I had never seen any one there. So it came about that
• 50:28
  on a certain afternoon in the beginning of February in the year seventeen fifty eight,
• 50:32
  I was sitting on this tomb looking out to sea. They it was
• 50:37
  so early in the air. The air was soft and warm as a may
• 50:39
  day, and so still that I could hear the drumming of turnips that gaffer
• 50:45
  George was flinging into a cart on the hillside near half a mile away.
• 50:50
  Ever since the floods of which I have spoken, the weather had been open,
• 50:53
  but with high winds and little or no rain. Thus, as the
• 50:58
  land dried after the floodds, there began to open cracks in the heavy clay
• 51:01
  soil on which Moonfleet is built, such as are usually only seen with us
• 51:06
  in the height of summer. There were cracks by the side of the path
• 51:09
  in the sea meadows between the village and the church, and cracks in the
• 51:14
  churchyard itself, and one running right up to this very tomb. It must
• 51:21
  have been past four o'clock in the afternoon, and I was for returning to
• 51:23
  tea at my aunt's when underneath the stone on which I sat I heard a
• 51:28
  rumbling and crumbling, and on jumping off, saw that the crack in the
• 51:31
  ground had still further widened just where it came up to the tomb, and
• 51:36
  that the dry earth had so shrunk and settled that there was a hole in
• 51:38
  the ground a foot or more across. Now this hole reached under the big
• 51:44
  stone that formed one side of the tomb, and falling on my hands and
• 51:49
  knees and looking down it, I perceived that there was under the monument a
• 51:52
  larger cavity into which the hole opened. I believe there never was boy yet
• 51:59
  who saw a hole in the ground, or a cave in a hill,
• 52:01
  or much more ununderground passage, but longed incontinently to be into it and discover
• 52:07
  whither it led. So it was with me, And, seeing that the
• 52:12
  earth had fallen enough into the hole to open away under the stone, I
• 52:15
  slipped myself in feet foremost, dropped down on to a heap of fallen mold,
• 52:21
  and found that I could stand upright under the monument itself. Now this
• 52:28
  was what I had expected, for I thought that there had been below this
• 52:30
  grave a vault, the roof of which had given way and let the earth
• 52:34
  fall in. But as soon as my eyes were used to the dimmer light,
• 52:38
  I saw that it was no such thing, but that the hole into
• 52:42
  which I had crept was only the mouth of a passage which sloped gently down
• 52:46
  in the direction of the church. My heart fell to thumping with eagerness and
• 52:52
  surprise, for I thought I had made a wonderful discovery, and that this
• 52:54
  hidden way would certainly lead to great things, perhaps even to Blackbeard's horde.
• 53:00
  For ever since mister Lenny's tail, I had constantly before my eyes a vision
• 53:05
  of the diamond and the wealth it was to bring me. The passage was
• 53:09
  two paces broad, as high as a tall man, and cut through the
• 53:14
  soil without bricks or any other lining. And what surprised me most was if
• 53:19
  that it did not seem deserted or moldy and cobbed weed as one who expected
• 53:22
  such a place to be, but rather a well used thoroughfare. For I
• 53:29
  could see the soft clay floor was trodden with the prints of many boots,
• 53:32
  and marked with a trail, as if some heavy thing had been dragged over
• 53:37
  it. So I set out down the passage, reaching out my hand before
• 53:42
  me lest I should run against anything in the dark, and sliding my feet
• 53:45
  slowly to avoid pitfalls in the floor. But before I had gone half a
• 53:51
  dozen paces, the darkness grew so black that I was frightened, and so
• 53:54
  far from going on, was glad to turn sharp about and see the glimmer
• 53:59
  of light that came in through the hole under the tomb. Then a horror
• 54:04
  of the darkness seized me, and before I well knew what I was about,
• 54:07
  I found myself wriggling my body up under the tombstone on to the churchyard
• 54:09
  grass, and was once more in the low evening sunlight and the soft,
• 54:15
  sweet air. Home. I ran to my aunt's, for it was past
• 54:20
  tea time, and beside that I knew I must fetch a candle if I
• 54:23
  were ever to search out the passage, and to search it, I had
• 54:27
  well made up my mind, no matter how much I was scared for this
• 54:30
  moment. My aunt gave me but a sorry greeting when I came into the
• 54:35
  kitchen, for I was late and hot. She never said much when displeased,
• 54:39
  but had a way of saying nothing, which was much worse, and
• 54:43
  would only reply yes or no, and that after an interval to anything that
• 54:47
  was asked of her. So the meal was silent enough, for she had
• 54:52
  finished before I had arrived, and I yet but little myself, being too
• 54:57
  much occupied with the thought of my strange discovery, and find him beside the
• 55:00
  tea lute warm and the victuals. Not enticing. You may guess that I
• 55:07
  said nothing of what I had seen, but made up my mind that as
• 55:09
  soon as my aunt's back was turned, I would get a candle and tinder
• 55:13
  box and return to the churchyard. The sun was down before Aunt Jane gave
• 55:19
  thanks for what we had received, and then turning to me, she said,
• 55:22
  in a cold and measured voice, John, I have observed that you
• 55:28
  are often out and about of nights, sometimes as late as half past seven
• 55:31
  or eight. Now it is not seemly for a young folk to be abroad
• 55:36
  after dark, and I do not choose that my nephew should be called a
• 55:37
  Gadabout what spread in the bone? Will I come out in the flesh?
• 55:43
  And twas with such loafing that your father began his wild ways, and afterwards
• 55:47
  led my poor sister such a life as never was till the mercy of Providence
• 55:52
  took him away. Aunt Jane often spoke thus of my father, whom I
• 55:58
  never remembered, but believe to have been an honest man and good fellow to
• 56:01
  boot if something given to roaming and to contraband so understand she went on that
• 56:08
  I will not have you out again this evening, no nor any other evening
• 56:13
  after dusk. Bed is the place for youth when night falls. But if
• 56:16
  this seem to you too early, you can sit with me for an hour
• 56:20
  in the parlor, and I will read your discourse of Doctor Sherlock that will
• 56:23
  banish vain thoughts and leave you in a fit frame for quiet sleep. So
• 56:30
  she led the way into the parlor, took the book from the shelf,
• 56:32
  put it on the table within the little circle of light cast by a shaded
• 56:37
  candle, and began. It was dull enough, though I had borne such
• 56:42
  tribulations before, and the drone of my aunt's voice would have sent me to
• 56:45
  sleep, as it had done at other times, even in a straight backed
• 56:50
  chair, had I not been so full of my discovery and chafed at this
• 56:53
  delay. Thus, all the time my Aunt read of spiritualities and saving grace,
• 57:00
  I had my mind on diamonds and all kinds of mammon, for I
• 57:05
  never doubted that Blackbeard's treasure would be found at the end of that secret passage.
• 57:10
  The sermon finished at last, and my Aunt closed the book with a
• 57:14
  stiff good night For me. I was for giving her my formal kiss,
• 57:20
  but she made as if she did not see me, and turned away.
• 57:23
  So we went upstairs, each to our own room, and I never kissed
• 57:28
  Aunt Jane again. There was a moon three quarters full already in the sky,
• 57:35
  and on moonlight nights I was allowed no candle to show me to bed,
• 57:38
  But on that night I needed none, for I never took off my
• 57:43
  clothes, having resolved to wait till my aunt was asleep, and then ghosts
• 57:46
  or no ghosts, to make my way back to the churchyard. I did
• 57:52
  not dare to put off that visit even till the morning, lest some chance
• 57:55
  passer by should light upon the whole and so full stormy with black Beard its
• 58:00
  treasure. Thus I lay wide awake on my bed, watching the shadow of
• 58:05
  the testa post against the whitewashed wall, and noting how it had moved by
• 58:09
  degrees as the moon went farther round. At last, just as it touched
• 58:15
  the picture of the Good Shepherd, which hung over the mantelpiece, I heard
• 58:19
  my aunt snoring in her room, and knew that I was free. Yet
• 58:24
  I waited a few minutes so that she might get well on with her first
• 58:28
  sleep, and then took off my boots, and in stockinged feet slipped past
• 58:31
  her room and down the stairs. How stare hand rail and landing creaked that
• 58:38
  night, and how my feet and body struck noisily against things seen quite well,
• 58:44
  But misjudge in the effort not to misjudge them. And yet there was
• 58:49
  the note of safety still sounding, for the snoring never ceased, and the
• 58:52
  sleeper woke not, though her waking then might have changed all my life.
• 58:59
  So safety to the kitchen, and there put in my pocket one of the
• 59:01
  best winter candles and the tinder box. And as I crept out of the
• 59:06
  room heard suddenly how loud the old clock was ticking, and looking up,
• 59:12
  saw the bright brass band marking half past ten on the dial. Out in
• 59:17
  the street, I kept in the shadow of the houses as far as I
• 59:21
  might, though all was silent as the grave. Indeed, I think that
• 59:25
  when the moon is bright, a great hush falls always upon nature, as
• 59:30
  though she was taken up in wondering at her own beauty. Everyone was fast
• 59:36
  asleep in Moonfleet, and there was no light in any window. Only when
• 59:40
  I came opposite thee why Not I saw from the red glow behind the curtains
• 59:45
  that the bottom room was lit up. Sir Elzevir was not yet gone to
• 59:47
  bed. It was strange, for the why Not had been shut up early
• 59:52
  for many A long night passed, and I crossed over cautiously to see if
• 59:57
  I could make out what was going forward, But that was not to be
• 1:00:00
  done, for the panes were thickly steamed over, and this surprised me more
• 1:00:06
  as showing that there was a good company inside. Moreover, as I stood
• 1:00:10
  and listened, I could hear a mutter of deep voices inside, not as
• 1:00:15
  of rostra or roisterers, but of sober men talking. Low. Eagerness would
• 1:00:22
  not let me wait long, and I was off across the meadows towards the
• 1:00:24
  church, though not without sad misgivings. As soon as the last house was
• 1:00:29
  left well behind me at the churchyard wall, my courage had waned somewhat.
• 1:00:36
  It seemed a shameless thing to come to rifle Blackbeard's treasure, just in the
• 1:00:39
  very place and hour that Blackbeard loved. And as I passed the turnstile,
• 1:00:45
  I half expected that a tall figure, hairy and evil eyed, would spring
• 1:00:49
  out from the shadow on the north side of the church. But nothing stirred,
• 1:00:53
  and the frosty grass sounded crisp under my feet as I made across the
• 1:00:58
  churchyard, still over the graves and keeping always out of the shadows, towards
• 1:01:04
  the black clump of yew trees on the far side. When I got round
• 1:01:08
  the ewes, there was the tomb standing out white against them, and at
• 1:01:13
  the foot of the tomb was the hole, like a patch of black velvets
• 1:01:15
  spread upon the ground. It was so dark. Then for a moment I
• 1:01:22
  thought that black Beard might be lying in wait in the bottom of the hole,
• 1:01:24
  and I stood uncertain whether to go on or back. I could catch
• 1:01:29
  the rustle of the water on the beach, not of any waves, for
• 1:01:32
  the bay was smooth as glass, but just a lipper at the fringe.
• 1:01:37
  And wishing to put off with any excuse the descent into the passage, though
• 1:01:42
  I had quite resolved to make it, I settled with myself that I would
• 1:01:45
  count the water wash twenty times, and at the twentieth would let myself down
• 1:01:51
  into the hole. Only seven wavelets had come in when I forgot to count,
• 1:01:57
  for there, right in the middle of the moon's path across the water
• 1:02:00
  lay a lugger moored broadside to the beach. She was about half a mile
• 1:02:06
  out, but there was no mistake, for though her sails were lured,
• 1:02:09
  her masts and howls stood out black against the moonlight. Here was a fresh
• 1:02:15
  reason for delay, For surely one must consider what this craft could be and
• 1:02:17
  what had brought her here. She was too small for a privateer, too
• 1:02:22
  large for a fresh fishing smack, and could not be a revenue boat by
• 1:02:25
  her low freeboard in the waist, and twas a strange thing for a boat
• 1:02:30
  to cast anchor in the midst of Moonfleet Bay, even on a night so
• 1:02:35
  fine as this. Then, while I watched, I saw a blue flare
• 1:02:40
  in the boughs, only for a moment, as if a man had lit
• 1:02:44
  a squib and flung it overboard, But I knew from it she was a
• 1:02:49
  contrabandier and signaling either to the shore or to a mate in the offing.
• 1:02:54
  With that, courage came back, and I resolved to make this flare my
• 1:02:59
  signal for getting down into the hole, screwing my heart up with the thought
• 1:03:01
  that if black Beard was really waiting for me, there twould be little good
• 1:03:06
  to turn tail now, for he would be after me and would certainly run
• 1:03:08
  much faster than I could. Then I took one last look round and down
• 1:03:15
  into the hole forthwith the same way as I had got down earlier in the
• 1:03:20
  day. So on that February night, John Trenchard found himself standing in the
• 1:03:27
  heap of loose fallen mold at the bottom of the hole, with a mixture
• 1:03:30
  of courage and cowardice in his heart, but overruling all a great desire to
• 1:03:37
  get at Blackbeard's diamond. Out came tinder box and candle. And I was
• 1:03:43
  glad, indeed when the lights burned up bright enough to show that no one
• 1:03:46
  at any rate was standing by my side. But then there was the passage,
• 1:03:51
  and who could say what might be lurking there? Yet I did not
• 1:03:55
  falter, but set out on this adventurous journey, walking very sly, indeed,
• 1:04:00
  but that was from fear of pitfalls, and nerving myself with the thought
• 1:04:04
  of the great diamond, which surely would be found at the end of the
• 1:04:08
  passage. What should I not be able to do with such wealth? I
• 1:04:13
  would buy a nag for mister Lenney, a new boat for Ratsey, and
• 1:04:15
  a silk gown for Aunt Jane, in spite of her being so hard with
• 1:04:19
  me as on this night. And thus I would make myself the greatest man
• 1:04:24
  in Moonfleet, richer even the mister Masque, and build a stone house in
• 1:04:28
  the sea meadows with a good prospect of the sea, and marry Grace Masque,
• 1:04:31
  and live happily and fish. I walked on down the passage, reaching
• 1:04:38
  out the candle as far as might be in front of me, and whistling
• 1:04:41
  to keep myself company. It saw neither Blackbeard nor any one else. All
• 1:04:46
  the way. There were footprints on the floor, and the roof was black,
• 1:04:50
  as with smoke of torches, And this made me fear lest some of
• 1:04:55
  those who had been there before might have made away with the diamond. Now
• 1:05:00
  though I have spoken of this journey down the passage as though it were a
• 1:05:02
  mile long, and they verily seemed so to me that night, yet I
• 1:05:06
  afterwards found it was no more than twenty yards or thereabouts. And then I
• 1:05:12
  came upon a stone wall, which at once blocked the road, but was
• 1:05:15
  now broken through so as to make a ragged doorway into a chamber beyond.
• 1:05:20
  There I stood on the rough sill of the door, holding my breath and
• 1:05:25
  reaching out my candle arm's length into the darkness to see what sort of a
• 1:05:30
  place this was. Before I put foot into it, and before the light
• 1:05:33
  of well time to fall on things, I knew that I was underneath the
• 1:05:38
  church, and that this chamber was none other than the mahoon of vault.
• 1:05:45
  It was a large room, much larger, I think from the schoolroom where
• 1:05:47
  mister Lenny taught us, but not near so high, being only some nine
• 1:05:51
  feet from floor to roof I say floor, then reality there was none but
• 1:05:57
  only a bottom of soft, wet sand, And when I stepped down on
• 1:06:01
  to it, my heart beat very fiercely, for I remembered what manner of
• 1:06:05
  place I was entering, and the dreadful sounds which it issued from it.
• 1:06:10
  That Sunday morning, so short a time before, I satisfied myself that there
• 1:06:15
  was nothing evil lurking in the dark corners, or nothing visible at least,
• 1:06:20
  and then began to look round and note what was to be seen. Walls
• 1:06:25
  and roof were stone, and at one end was a staircase closed by a
• 1:06:29
  great flat stone. At top that same stone which I had often seen with
• 1:06:33
  a ring in it in the floor of the church. Above. All round
• 1:06:38
  the sides were stone shelves, with the divisions between them like great bookcases.
• 1:06:44
  On instead of books, there were the coffins of the mahoons. Yet these
• 1:06:48
  lay only the sides, and in the middle of the room was something very
• 1:06:53
  different. For here were stacked scores of casks, kegs and runlets, from
• 1:06:58
  a storage butt that might hold thirty gallons down to a breaker that held any
• 1:07:01
  one. They were marked, all of them in white paint on the end,
• 1:07:05
  with figures and letters that doubtless set forth the quality. To those that
• 1:07:11
  understood here, indeed was a discovery. And instead of picking up at the
• 1:07:15
  end of the passage a little brass or silver casket which had only to be
• 1:07:19
  opened to show black beards diamond leaning inside, I had stumbled on the Mahoon's
• 1:07:25
  vault and found it to be nothing but a cellar of gentlemen of the contraband,
• 1:07:30
  for surely good liquor would never be stored in so shy a place if
• 1:07:34
  it ever had paid the excise. As I walked round this stack of casks,
• 1:07:40
  my foot struck sharply on the edge of a butt where it must have
• 1:07:44
  been near empty, and straightway came from it the same hollow booming sound,
• 1:07:48
  only fainter which had so frightened us in church that Sunday morning. So it
• 1:07:55
  was the casks and not the coffins, that had been knocking one against another,
• 1:08:00
  and I was pleased with myself, remembering how I had reasoned that coffin
• 1:08:02
  wood could never give that booming sound. It was plain enough that the whole
• 1:08:09
  place had been under water. The floor was still muddy, and the green
• 1:08:12
  and sweating walls showed the flood mark. Within two feet of the roof.
• 1:08:16
  There was a wisper or to a fine seaweed that had somehow got in,
• 1:08:19
  and a small crab was still alive and scuttle across the corner. Yet the
• 1:08:24
  coffins were but little disturbed. They lay on their shelves in rows, one
• 1:08:29
  above the other, and numbered twenty three in all. Most were in lead
• 1:08:34
  and so could never float. But of those in wood, some were turned
• 1:08:39
  slantways in their niches, and one have floated right away and been left on
• 1:08:44
  the floor upside down in a corner. When the waters went back first I
• 1:08:49
  fell to wondering as to whose cellar this was, and how so much liquor
• 1:08:54
  could have been brought in with secrecy, And hew it was I had never
• 1:08:58
  seen anything of the contraband men. That it was clear that they had made
• 1:09:00
  this flat tomb the entrance to their storehouse, as I had made it my
• 1:09:04
  seat. And then I remembered how Ratsey had tried to scare me with talk
• 1:09:11
  of Blackbeard, and how Elzevir, who had never been seen at church before,
• 1:09:15
  was there the Sunday of the noises, and how he had looked ill
• 1:09:17
  at ease whenever the noise came, though he was as bold as alarm,
• 1:09:21
  And how I had tripped upon him and Ratsey in the Kurt churchyard, and
• 1:09:25
  how Master Ratsey lay with his ear to the wall, and putting all these
• 1:09:30
  things together and casting them up. I thought that Elzevir and Ratsey knew as
• 1:09:34
  much as any about this hiding place. These reflections gave him more courage,
• 1:09:42
  for I considered that the tales of black Beard walking or digging among the graves
• 1:09:45
  had been set afloat to keep those that were not wanted from the place.
• 1:09:49
  And guessed now that when I saw the light moving in the churchyard that night
• 1:09:54
  I went to fetch doctor Hawkins, it was no corpse candle, but a
• 1:09:58
  lantern of smuggler running a cargo. Then, having settled these important matters,
• 1:10:04
  I began to turn over in my mind how to get at the treasure.
• 1:10:09
  And herein was much cast down, for in this place was neither casket nor
• 1:10:14
  diamond, but only coffins and double hollands. So it was that, having
• 1:10:18
  no better plan, I set to work to see whether I could learn anything
• 1:10:23
  from the coffins themselves, popa little success, for the lead coffins had no
• 1:10:28
  names upon them, and on such of the wooden coffins as bore plates,
• 1:10:30
  I found the writing to be Latin, and so rusted over that I could
• 1:10:34
  make nothing of it. Soon I wished I had not come at all,
• 1:10:41
  considering that the diamond had vanished into air, and it was a sad thing
• 1:10:45
  to be cabined with so many dead men. It moved me too to see
• 1:10:48
  pieces of banners and funeral shields, and even shreds of wreaths that dear hearts
• 1:10:54
  had put there a century ago, now all ruined and rotten, some still
• 1:11:00
  clinging water sod into the coffins, and some trampled in the sand of the
• 1:11:03
  floor. I had spent some time in this bootless search, and was resolved
• 1:11:09
  to give up further inquiry and foot it home when the clock in the tar
• 1:11:14
  struck midnight. Surely never was ghostly hour sounded in more ghostly place. Moonfeet
• 1:11:23
  Peel was known over half the county, and the finest part of it was
• 1:11:26
  the clock bell. Twas said that in times past, when perhaps the chimes
• 1:11:31
  were rung more often than now, the voice of this bell had led safe
• 1:11:35
  home boats that were lost in the fog, And this night, its clangor,
• 1:11:41
  mellow and profound, reached even to the vault. Bim bomb it went,
• 1:11:46
  bim bomb, twelve heavy thuds that shook the walls. Twelve resonant echoes
• 1:11:54
  that followed, and then a purring and vibration of the air, so that
• 1:11:59
  the ear could not tell when it ended. I was wrought up, perhaps
• 1:12:03
  by the strangeness of the hour and place, and my hearing quicker than at
• 1:12:08
  other times. But before the tremor of the bell was quite passed away,
• 1:12:12
  I knew there was some other sound in the air, and that the awful
• 1:12:15
  stillness of the vault was broken. At first I could not tell what this
• 1:12:20
  new sound was, nor whence it came. And now it seemed a little
• 1:12:25
  noise close by, and now a great noise in the distance. And then
• 1:12:29
  it grew nearer and more defined, and in a moment I knew it was
• 1:12:33
  the sound of voices talking. There must have been a long way off at
• 1:12:38
  first, and for a minute that seemed as an age, they came no
• 1:12:41
  nearer. What a minute was that? To me? Even now, so
• 1:12:45
  many years after, I can recall the anguish of it, and how I
• 1:12:48
  stood with ears pricked up, eyes starting, and a clammy sweat upon my
• 1:12:53
  face, waiting for those speakers to come. It was the anguish of the
• 1:12:57
  rabbit at the end of his burrow, with the ferry's eyes gleaming in the
• 1:13:00
  dark, and gun and lurcher waiting at the mouth of the hole. I
• 1:13:05
  was caught in a trap, and knew beside that the contraband men had a
• 1:13:09
  way of sealing, prying eyes and stilling, babbling tongues. And I remembered
• 1:13:15
  poor Cracky Jones, found dead in the churchyard, and how men said he
• 1:13:19
  had met Blackbeard in the night. These were but the thoughts of a second
• 1:13:26
  but the voices were nearer, and I heard a dull thud far up the
• 1:13:30
  passage, and knew that a man had jumped down from the churchyard into the
• 1:13:32
  hole. So I took a last stare round, agonizing to see if there
• 1:13:36
  was any way of escape. But the stone walls and roof were solid enough
• 1:13:42
  to crush me and the stack of casks too closely packed to hide more than
• 1:13:45
  a rat. There was a man speaking now from the bottom of the hole
• 1:13:49
  to others in the churchyard. And then my eyes were led as by a
• 1:13:53
  loadstone, to a great wooden coffin that lay by itself on the top shelf
• 1:13:57
  a full six feet from the ground. When I saw the coffin, I
• 1:14:00
  knew that I was respited, for as I judged, there was space between
• 1:14:04
  it and the wall behind enough to contain my little carcass. And in a
• 1:14:10
  second I put out the candle, scrambled up the shelves, half stunned my
• 1:14:14
  senses with dashing my head against the roof, and squeezed my body betwixt wall
• 1:14:17
  and coffin. There I lay on one side, with a thin and rotten
• 1:14:23
  plank between the dead man and me, dazed with a blow to my head
• 1:14:28
  and breathing hard, while the blow of torches as they came down the passage
• 1:14:32
  reddened and flickered on the roof a bath. End of chapter three, Chapter
• 1:14:41
  four, Part one of two. In the vault, let us hob and
• 1:14:46
  nob with death Tennyson. Though nothing of the vault except the roof was visible
• 1:14:54
  from where I lay, and so I could not see these visitors. Yet
• 1:14:58
  I heard every word spoken, and soon made out one voice as being Master
• 1:15:02
  Ratsey's. This discovery gave me no surprise, but much soulace, for I
• 1:15:08
  thought that if the worst happened and I was discovered, I should find one
• 1:15:12
  friend with whom I could plead for life. It is well the earth gave
• 1:15:16
  way, the sexton was saying on a night when we were here to find
• 1:15:19
  it. I was in the graveyard myself after midday, and all was snug
• 1:15:25
  and tight. Then twould have been awkward enough to have a hole stand open
• 1:15:29
  through the day for any passer by tole light on. There were four or
• 1:15:32
  five men in the vault already, and I could hear more coming down the
• 1:15:35
  passage, and guessed from their heavy footsteps that they were carrying burdens. There
• 1:15:42
  was a sound too, of dumping kegs on the ground, with a swish
• 1:15:45
  of liquor inside them, and then the noise of casks being moved. I
• 1:15:50
  thought we should have a fall there ere long, Ratsey went on, what
• 1:15:55
  with this drought parching the ground and the trampling at the edge. When we
• 1:15:58
  moved the side stone to get in, But there is no mischief done beyond
• 1:16:00
  what can be easily made good. A gravestone or two, and a few
• 1:16:04
  spades of earth will make all sound again. Leave that to me. Be
• 1:16:08
  careful what you do, rejoined another man's voice that I did not know,
• 1:16:13
  lest some one see you digging and sent us out. Make your mind easy,
• 1:16:16
  Ratsey said, I have dug too often in this graveyard for any to
• 1:16:19
  wonder if they see me with a spade. Then the conversation broke off,
• 1:16:25
  and there was little more talking, only a noise of men going backwards and
• 1:16:30
  forwards, and of putting down of the kegs, and the hollow gurgle of
• 1:16:32
  good liquor being poured from beakers into the casks. By and by, fumes
• 1:16:39
  of brandy began to fill the air and climb to where I lay, overcoming
• 1:16:43
  the moldy smell of decayed wood and the dampness of the green walls. It
• 1:16:47
  may have been that these fumes mounted to my head and gave me courage,
• 1:16:51
  not my own. But so it was that I lost something of the stifling
• 1:16:56
  fear that had gripped me, and could listen with more ease what was going
• 1:17:00
  forward. There was a pause in the carrying to and fro. They were
• 1:17:04
  talking again now, and someone said, I was in Dorchester three days ago
• 1:17:09
  and heard men say it will go hard with the poor chaps who had the
• 1:17:12
  brush with the elector last summer. Judge Barentine comes on a size next week,
• 1:17:16
  and that old fox Masque has driven down to Tauton to get at him
• 1:17:20
  before and coach him back, making out to him that the law's arm is
• 1:17:26
  weak in these parts against the contraband, and must be strengthened by some wholesome
• 1:17:30
  hangings. Nay, are a cruel pair, another put in, and we
• 1:17:33
  shall have new gibbets on Ridgetown for leading lights. Once I get even with
• 1:17:39
  Mascue, the other may go hang aye, and they may hang me too.
• 1:17:43
  The devil send him to meet me one dark night on the down alone,
• 1:17:45
  said some one else. And I will give him a pistol's mouth to
• 1:17:48
  look down and spoil his face for him. No thou wilt not, said
• 1:17:54
  a deep voice, And then I knew that Elzevir was there too. None
• 1:17:58
  shall lay hand on Mascue. So mark that lad, that when his day
• 1:18:02
  of reckoning comes, tis eye will reckon with him. Then, for a
• 1:18:06
  few minutes. I did not pay much heed to what was said, being
• 1:18:11
  terribly straightened for room and cramped with pain from lying so long in one place.
• 1:18:15
  The thick smoke from the pitch torches, too, came curling across the
• 1:18:19
  roof and down upon me, making me sick and giddy with its evil smell
• 1:18:24
  and taste. And though all was very dim, I could see my hands
• 1:18:28
  were black with oily smuts. At last I was able to wriggle myself over
• 1:18:32
  without making too much noise, and felt a great relief in changing sides,
• 1:18:38
  but gave such a start as made the coffin creak again at hearing my own
• 1:18:42
  name. There is a boy of trenchards, said a voice that I thought
• 1:18:45
  was par Meters, who lived at the bottom of the village. There is
• 1:18:48
  a boy of trenchards that I mistrust. He is forever wandering in the graveyard,
• 1:18:54
  and I have seen him a score of time, sitting on this tomb
• 1:18:57
  and looking out to see this very night. When the wind fell at sundown,
• 1:19:00
  we were hung up with sails flapping three miles out, and waited for
• 1:19:04
  the dark to get the sweeps. I took my glass to scan the coast
• 1:19:09
  line, and lo here on the tomb top sits master Trenchard. I could
• 1:19:14
  not see his face, but knew him by his cut and fear. The
• 1:19:16
  boy sits there to play the spy and then tells Maskew, you're right,
• 1:19:20
  said Greening of Ringstave, For I knew his slow drawl. And many a
• 1:19:26
  time when I have sat in the wood and watched the manner to see Masque
• 1:19:30
  safe at home before we ran a cargo, I have seen this boy too,
• 1:19:33
  go round about the place with a hang dog look scanning the house as
• 1:19:39
  if his life depended on it. Twas very true what Greening said, For
• 1:19:43
  of a summer evening I would take the path that let up weather Beach Hill
• 1:19:46
  behind the manor both, because twas a walk that had a good prospect in
• 1:19:50
  itself and also a sweet charm for me, namely the hope of seeing Grace
• 1:19:55
  maskue. And there I often sat upon the stile that ends the path and
• 1:20:00
  opens on the down and watch the old half ruined house below, and sometimes
• 1:20:04
  saw white frocked Gracie walking on the terrace in the evening sun, and sometimes
• 1:20:10
  in returning passed her window near enough to wave a greeting and once when she
• 1:20:15
  had the fever, and doctor Hawkins came twice a day to see her.
• 1:20:18
  I had no heart for school, but sat on that style the livelong day,
• 1:20:23
  looking at the gabled house where she was lying ill. And mister Glennie
• 1:20:28
  never rated me for playing truant, nor told Aunt Jane, guessing as I
• 1:20:32
  thought afterwards the cause, and having once been young himself twas but boy's love
• 1:20:39
  it serious for me. And on the day she lay near death, I
• 1:20:43
  made so bold as to stop doctor Hawkins on his horse and ask him how
• 1:20:46
  she did. And he, burying with me for the eagerness that he read
• 1:20:50
  in my face, bent down over his saddle and smiled and said, my
• 1:20:55
  playmate would come back to me again. So it was quite true that I
• 1:21:00
  watched the house, but not as a spy, and would not have borne
• 1:21:03
  tales to old Maskew for anything that could be offered. Then Ratche spoke up
• 1:21:08
  for me and said, tis a false scent. The boy is well enough
• 1:21:12
  and simple, and has told me many a time he seeks the churchyard because
• 1:21:15
  there is a fine view to be had there of the sea, and tis
• 1:21:18
  the sea he loves. A month ago, when the high tide set,
• 1:21:23
  and this vault was so full of water that we could not get in.
• 1:21:26
  I came with Elzevir to make out if the floods were going down inside or
• 1:21:30
  what. Eddy twas that set the casks tapping one against another. So as
• 1:21:34
  I lay on the ground with my ear glued close against the wall, who
• 1:21:38
  should march round the church but John Trenchard Esquire, not treading delicately like King
• 1:21:43
  agag or spying, but just coming on a voyage of discovery for himself.
• 1:21:47
  For in the church on Sunday, when we heard the tapping in the vault
• 1:21:50
  below, my young gentleman was scared enough. But afterwards being told by Parson
• 1:21:55
  Glenny, who should know better that such noises were not made by goat,
• 1:22:00
  but by the moons at sea in their coffins, he plucks up his heart
• 1:22:03
  and comes down on the Monday to see if they are still afloat. So
• 1:22:08
  there he caught me lying like a zany on the ground. You may guess
• 1:22:12
  I stood at attention soon enough, but told him I was looking at the
• 1:22:15
  founds to see if they wanted underpinnings from the flood. And so I set
• 1:22:19
  his mind at ease, for'tis a simple child, and packed him off
• 1:22:23
  to get my dubbing hammer. And I think the boy will not be here
• 1:22:26
  so often now to frighten honest parameter, for I have weaved him some pretty
• 1:22:30
  tales of Blackbeard, and he has a wholesome scare of meeting the colonel.
• 1:22:34
  But after dark I pledged my life that neither he nor any other in the
• 1:22:38
  town would pass the churchyard wall. No, not for a thousand pounds.
• 1:22:43
  I heard him chuckling to himself, and the others laughed loudly too when he
• 1:22:46
  was telling how he palmed me off. But he who laughs loudest, who
• 1:22:51
  laughs last thought I and should have chuckled too, were it not for making
• 1:22:57
  the coffin creek. And then to my Elzevir spoke, the lad is a
• 1:23:01
  brave lad. I would he were my son. He is David's age and
• 1:23:08
  will make a good sailor. Later on. They were simple words, yet
• 1:23:12
  pleasing to me, for Elzevir spoke as if he meant them, and I
• 1:23:15
  had got to like him a little in spite of all his grimness, And
• 1:23:19
  besides that was sorry for his grief over his son. I was so moved
• 1:23:25
  by what he said that for a moment I was for jumping up and calling
• 1:23:29
  out to him that I lay here and liked him well, but then thought
• 1:23:32
  better of it, and so kept still. The carrying was over, and
• 1:23:38
  I fancy they were all sitting on the ends of kegs or leaning up against
• 1:23:41
  the pile, but could not see, and was still much troubled with the
• 1:23:45
  torch smoke, though now and then I caught through it a whiff of tobacco,
• 1:23:48
  which showed that some were smoking. Then Greeening, who had a singing
• 1:23:53
  voice for all his drawl, struck up with says the captain to the crew,
• 1:23:58
  we have slipped the revenue. But Ratty stopped him with a sharp no
• 1:24:01
  more of that. The words aren't to our taste tonight, but come as
• 1:24:05
  wry as if the parson called old hundred. And I tuned up with venny.
• 1:24:10
  I knew he meant the last verse with a hanging touch in it.
• 1:24:13
  But Greening was for going on with the song until some others broke in too,
• 1:24:17
  and he saw that the company would have none of it. Not but
• 1:24:20
  what the laborer is worthy of his hire, went on Master Ratsey. So
• 1:24:24
  spile that little breaker of ski dam and send a rummer round to keep off
• 1:24:28
  midnight chills. He loved a glass of the good liquor well, And with
• 1:24:32
  him twas always the same reasoning, namely to keep off chills. Though he
• 1:24:38
  chopped the words to suit the season, And now twas autumn, now winter,
• 1:24:42
  now spring or summer chills. They must have found glasses, though I
• 1:24:45
  could not remember to have seen any in the vault. For a minute later
• 1:24:48
  Feugelman Ratsey spoke again. Now, lads, glasses full and bumpers for a
• 1:24:54
  toast. And here's to Blackbeard, to father Blackbeard, who watches over our
• 1:24:59
  treasure better than he he did over his own. For were it not the
• 1:25:00
  fear of him that keeps off idle feet and prying eyes, we should have
• 1:25:04
  the dodgers in and our store ransacked twenty times. So he spoke, and
• 1:25:10
  it seemed there was a little halting at first, as of men not liking
• 1:25:13
  to take Blackbeard's name in Blackbeard's place, or raise the devil by mocking at
• 1:25:17
  him. But then some of the boulder shouted Blackbeard, and so the more
• 1:25:23
  timid chimed in, and in a minute there were a score of voices calling
• 1:25:27
  Blackbeard Blackbeard, till the place rang again. Then Elzevir cried out angrily,
• 1:25:32
  silence. Are you mad? Or has the liquor mastered you? Are you
• 1:25:38
  revenue men that you dare shout and royster or contrabandears. With a luger in
• 1:25:42
  the offing and your life in your hand, you make noise enough to wake
• 1:25:45
  folk and moonfleet from their beds. Tut Man retorted Ratsey testily, And if
• 1:25:51
  they waked, they would but pull the blankets tied about their ears. And
• 1:25:55
  say twas Blackbeard piping his crew of the lost Moons to help him dig for
• 1:25:59
  treasure. Yet for all that, twas plain that block ruled the roost.
• 1:26:03
  For there was silence for a minute, and then one said, ay,
• 1:26:08
  Master Elzevir is right. Let us away. The night is far spent,
• 1:26:11
  and we have nothing but the sweeps to take the lugger out of sight by
• 1:26:15
  dawn. So the meeting broke up, and the torchlight grew dimmer and died
• 1:26:19
  away as it had come in a red flicker on the roof, and the
• 1:26:23
  footsteps sounded fainter as they went up the passage, until the vault was left
• 1:26:27
  to the dead men and me. Yet for a very long time it seemed
• 1:26:31
  hours after all had gone. I could hear a murmur of distant voices,
• 1:26:36
  and knew that some were talking at the end of the passage, and perhaps
• 1:26:41
  considering how the landslip might best be restored. So while I heard them thus
• 1:26:46
  conversing, I dared not descend from my perch, lest some one might turn
• 1:26:50
  back to the vault. Though I was glad enough to sit up and ease
• 1:26:54
  my aching back and limbs. Yet in the awful blackness of the place,
• 1:26:59
  even the echo of these human voices seemed a kindly and blessed thing, and
• 1:27:03
  a certain shrinking loneliness fell on me. When they ceased at last, and
• 1:27:08
  all was silent. Then I resolved I would be off at once and get
• 1:27:12
  back to the moonlight bed that I had left hours ago, having no stomach
• 1:27:15
  for more treasure hunting, and being glad indeed to be still left with the
• 1:27:19
  treasure of life. Thus, sitting where I was, I lit my candle
• 1:27:25
  once more, and then clambered across that great coffin, which for two hours
• 1:27:29
  or more had been a mid wall of partition between me and danger. But
• 1:27:34
  to get out of the niche was harder than to get in, For now
• 1:27:38
  that I had a candle to light me. I saw that the coffin,
• 1:27:41
  though sound enough to outer view, was wormed through and through, and little
• 1:27:45
  better than a rotten shell. So it was that I had some adio to
• 1:27:48
  get over it, not daring either to kneel upon it, or to bring
• 1:27:53
  much weight to bear with my hand lest it should go through. And now
• 1:27:57
  having got safely across, I said but for an instant on that narrow ledge
• 1:28:00
  of the stone shelf which projected beyond the coffin on the vaults side, and
• 1:28:04
  made ready to jump forward onto the floor below. And how it happened I
• 1:28:09
  know not, But there I lost my balance, and as I slipped,
• 1:28:14
  the candle flew out of my grasp. Then I clutched at the coffin to
• 1:28:16
  save myself, but my hand went clean through it, and so I came
• 1:28:20
  to the ground in a cloud of dust and splinters, having only got hold
• 1:28:25
  of a wisp of seaweed or a handful of those draggled funeral trappings which were
• 1:28:29
  strewn about this place. The floor of the vault was sandy, and so
• 1:28:34
  though I fell crookedly, I took but little harm beyond a shaking and soon
• 1:28:40
  pulling myself together set to strike my flint and blow the match into a flame,
• 1:28:44
  to search for the fallen candle. Yet all the time I kept in
• 1:28:47
  my fingers this handful of light stuff. And when the flame burnt up again,
• 1:28:53
  I held the thing against the light and saw that it was no wisp
• 1:28:57
  of seaweed, but something black and wiry. For a moment I could not
• 1:29:01
  gather what I had hold of, but then gave a start that nearly sent
• 1:29:04
  the candle out, and perhaps a cry, and let it drop as if
• 1:29:09
  it were red hot iron. For I knew that it was a man's beard.
• 1:29:15
  Now when I saw that, I felt a sort of throttling fright,
• 1:29:17
  as though one had caught hold of my heart strings. And so many and
• 1:29:21
  such strange thoughts rose in me that the blood went pounding round and round in
• 1:29:27
  my head, as it did once afterwards, when I was fighting with the
• 1:29:30
  sea and nearly drowned. Surely, to have in hand the beard of any
• 1:29:34
  dead man in any place was bad enough, but worse a thousand times in
• 1:29:40
  such a place as this, And to know on whose face it had grown.
• 1:29:44
  For almost before I fully saw what it was, I knew it was
• 1:29:47
  that blackbeard, that had given Colonel John Moon his nickname, and this was
• 1:29:53
  his great coffin I had hid behind. I had lain therefore all that time,
• 1:29:59
  cheek by owl with Blackbeard himself, with only a thin shell of tinderwood
• 1:30:03
  to keep him from me, And now had thrust my hand into his coffin
• 1:30:10
  and plucked away his beard, so that if ever wicked men have power to
• 1:30:14
  show themselves after death, and still to work evil, one would guess that
• 1:30:19
  he would show himself now and fall upon me. Thus a sick dread got
• 1:30:24
  hold of me. And had I been a woman or a girl, I
• 1:30:28
  think I should have swooned. But being only a boy, and not knowing
• 1:30:32
  how to swoon, did the next best thing, which was to put myself
• 1:30:35
  as far as might be from the beard and make for the outlet. Yet
• 1:30:41
  had I scarce set foot in the passage when I stopped remembering how once,
• 1:30:45
  already this same evening I had played the coward and run home, scared with
• 1:30:49
  my own fears. So I was brought up for very shame, And beside
• 1:30:55
  that thought how I had come to this place to look for Blackbeard's treasure,
• 1:30:59
  and my have gone away without knowing even so much as where he lay.
• 1:31:02
  Had not chance first led me to be down by his side, and afterwards
• 1:31:06
  placed my hand upon his beard. And surely this could not be chance alone,
• 1:31:13
  but must rather be the finger of providence guiding me to that which I
• 1:31:15
  desired to find. This consideration somewhat restored my courage, and after several feints
• 1:31:23
  to return, advances, stoppings, and panics, I was in the vault
• 1:31:28
  again, walking carefully round the stack of barrels, and fearing to see the
• 1:31:32
  glimmer of the candle fall upon that beard. There it was, upon the
• 1:31:36
  sand, and holding the candle nearer to it with a certain caution, as
• 1:31:41
  though it would spring up and bite me. I saw it was a great,
• 1:31:45
  full black beard, more than a foot long, but going gray at
• 1:31:48
  the tips, and had at the back keeping it together a thin tissue of
• 1:31:54
  dried skin, like the false parting which Aunt Jane wore under her cap on
• 1:31:59
  Sundays. This I could see as it lay before me, for I did
• 1:32:03
  not handle or lift it, but only peered into it with the candle on
• 1:32:06
  all sides, busying myself the while with thoughts of the man of whom it
• 1:32:12
  had once been. Part end of Chapter four, Part one, Chapter four,
• 1:32:17
  Part two of two. In returning to the vault, I had no
• 1:32:24
  very sure purpose in mind, only a vague surmise that this finding of Blackbeard's
• 1:32:29
  coffin would somehow lead to the finding of his treasure. But as I looked
• 1:32:34
  at the beard and pondered, I began to see that if anything was to
• 1:32:39
  be done, it must be by searching in the coffin itself. And the
• 1:32:43
  clearer this became to me, the greater was my dislike to set about such
• 1:32:47
  a task. So I put off the evil hour by feigning to myself that
• 1:32:51
  it was necessary to make a careful scrutiny of the beard, and thus wasted
• 1:32:57
  at least ten minutes. But at length, seeing that the candle was burning
• 1:33:01
  low and could certainly last little more than half an hour, and considering that
• 1:33:05
  it must now be getting near dawn, I buckled to the distasteful work of
• 1:33:11
  rummaging the coffin. Nor had I any need to climb up on the top
• 1:33:15
  shelf again. But standing on the one beneath, found my head and arms
• 1:33:19
  well on a level with the search, and beside that the task was not
• 1:33:25
  so difficult as I had thought, for in my fall I had broken off
• 1:33:28
  the head end of the lid and brought away the whole of the side that
• 1:33:31
  faced the vault. Now, any lad of my age, and perhaps some
• 1:33:36
  men too, might well have been frightened to set about such a matter as
• 1:33:41
  to search in a coffin. And if any had said a few hours before
• 1:33:45
  that I should ever have courage to do this by night in the moon vault,
• 1:33:49
  I would not have believed him. Yet here I was, and had
• 1:33:55
  advanced along the path of terror so gradually, and as it were, foot
• 1:33:59
  by foot the past night, that when I came to this final step,
• 1:34:02
  I was not near so scared as when I first felt my way into the
• 1:34:05
  vault. It was not the first time either that I had looked on death,
• 1:34:11
  but had indeed always a leaning to such sights and matters, and had
• 1:34:15
  seen corpses washed up from the Darius and other wrecks, and besides that had
• 1:34:20
  helped Ratsey to case some poor bodies that had died in their beds. The
• 1:34:26
  coffin was, as I have said, of great length, and the side
• 1:34:30
  being removed, I could see the whole outline of the skeleton that lay in
• 1:34:32
  it. I say the outline, for the form was wrapped in a woolen
• 1:34:38
  or flannel shroud, so that the bones themselves were not visible. The man
• 1:34:43
  that lay in it was little short of a giant, measuring as I guessed,
• 1:34:46
  a full six and a half feet, and the flannel having sunk in
• 1:34:50
  over the belly, the end of the breastbone, the hips, knees,
• 1:34:55
  and toes were very easy to be made out. The head was swath in
• 1:35:00
  linen bands that had been white, but were now stained and discolored with damp.
• 1:35:04
  But of this I shall not speak more. And beneath the chin cloth
• 1:35:09
  the beard had once escaped the clutch which I had made to save myself in
• 1:35:14
  falling, had torn away this chin band and let the lower jaw drop on
• 1:35:18
  the breast. But little else was disturbed, and there was Colonel John Moon,
• 1:35:25
  resting as he had been laid out a century ago. I lifted that
• 1:35:29
  portion of the lid which had been left behind, and reached over to see
• 1:35:31
  if there was anything hit on the other side of the body, but had
• 1:35:35
  scarce let the light fall in the coffin. When my heart gave a great
• 1:35:39
  bound, and all fear left me in a flush of success, for there
• 1:35:43
  I saw what I had come to seek. On the breast of this silent
• 1:35:47
  and swathed figure lay a locket attached to the neck by a thin chain,
• 1:35:53
  which passed inside the linen bandages. A wider portion of the flannel showed how
• 1:35:59
  far the beard had extended, But the locket and chain were quite black,
• 1:36:02
  though I judged that they were made of silver. The shape of this locket
• 1:36:08
  was not unlike a crown piece, only three times as thick, and as
• 1:36:11
  soon as I set my eyes upon it, I never doubted but that inside
• 1:36:15
  would be found the diamond. It was then that a great pity came over
• 1:36:19
  me for this thin shadow of a man, thinking rather what a fine,
• 1:36:24
  tall gentleman Colonel Moon had once been, and a good soldier, no doubt
• 1:36:28
  besides, than that he had wasted a noble estate and played traitor to the
• 1:36:32
  king. And then I reflected that it was all for the bit of flashing
• 1:36:36
  stone which lay, as I hoped within the locket, that he had sold
• 1:36:42
  his honor, and wished that the jewel might bring me better fortune than had
• 1:36:45
  fallen to him, or at any rate, that it might not lead me
• 1:36:48
  into such miery paths. Yet such thoughts did not delay my purpose, and
• 1:36:54
  I possessed myself of the locket easily enough, finding a hasp in the chain,
• 1:36:59
  and so drawing it out from the linen folds. I had expected as
• 1:37:03
  I moved the locket to hear the jewel rattle in the inside, but there
• 1:37:08
  was no sound, and then I thought that the diamond might leave to the
• 1:37:11
  side with damp or perhaps be wrapped in wool. Scarcely was the locket well
• 1:37:16
  in my hand before I had it undone, finding a thumb nick whereby,
• 1:37:20
  after a little persuasion, the back, though rusted, could be opened on
• 1:37:26
  a hinge. My breath came very fast, and I shook, so that
• 1:37:30
  I had a difficulty to keep my thumb nail in the neck. Yet hardly
• 1:37:35
  was it opened before exalted expectation gave place to deepest disappointment, for there lay
• 1:37:43
  all the secret of the locket disclosed, and there was no diamond, no
• 1:37:46
  nor any other jewel, and nothing at all except a little piece of folded
• 1:37:50
  paper. Then I felt like a man who had played away all his property
• 1:37:55
  and stakes, his last crown, heavy hearted, yet hoping against hope that
• 1:38:00
  luck may turn, and that with this piece be may win back all his
• 1:38:03
  money. So it was for me. For I hoped that this paper might
• 1:38:09
  have written on it directions for the finding of the jewel, and that I
• 1:38:12
  might yet rise from the table a winner. But it was a frail hope,
• 1:38:16
  and quickly dashed, for when I had smoothed the creases and spread out
• 1:38:20
  the piece of paper in the candlelight, there was nothing to be seen except
• 1:38:25
  a few verses from the Psalms of David. The paper was yellow and showed
• 1:38:30
  a lattice of folds where it had been pressed into the locket. But the
• 1:38:33
  handwriting, though small, was clear and neat, and there was no mistaking
• 1:38:39
  a word of what was there set down twas so short I could read it
• 1:38:43
  at once. The days of our age are threescore years and ten. And
• 1:38:48
  though men may be so strong that they come to four score years, yet
• 1:38:53
  it is their strength then, but labor and sorrow so soon passeth it away,
• 1:38:58
  and we are gone Psalm ninety twenty one. And as for me,
• 1:39:04
  my feet are almost gone, my treadings are well nigh slipped seventy three six.
• 1:39:13
  But let not the water flood drown me, neither let the deep swallow
• 1:39:16
  me up sixty nine eleven. So going through the vale of misery. I
• 1:39:23
  shall use it for a well till the pools are filled with water eighty four
• 1:39:28
  fourteen. For thou hast made the north and the south Tabor and Hermann shall
• 1:39:33
  rejoice in thy name eighty nine six. So here was an end to great
• 1:39:41
  hopes, and I was after all to leave the vault no richer than I
• 1:39:45
  had entered it. For look at it as I might, I could not
• 1:39:48
  see that these verses could ever lead to any diamond. And though I might
• 1:39:53
  otherwise have thought of Cypher's or secret writing. Yet, remembering what mister Glennea
• 1:39:59
  had said that Blackbeard, after his wicked life, desired to make a good
• 1:40:02
  end, and sent for a parson to confess him, I guessed that such
• 1:40:06
  pious words had been hung around his neck as a charm to keep the spirits
• 1:40:11
  of evil away from his tomb. I was disappointed enough, but before I
• 1:40:16
  left, picked up the beard from the floor, though it sent a shiver
• 1:40:20
  through me to touch it, and put it back in its place on the
• 1:40:24
  dead man's breast. I restored also such pieces of the coffin as I could
• 1:40:28
  get at, but could not make much of it, so left things as
• 1:40:31
  they were, trusting that those who came there next would think that the wood
• 1:40:35
  had fallen to pieces by natural decay. But the locket I kept and hung
• 1:40:41
  about my neck under my shirt, both as being a curious thing in itself,
• 1:40:45
  and because I thought that if the good words inside it were strong enough
• 1:40:48
  to keep off bad spirits from Blackbeard, they would also be strong enough to
• 1:40:53
  keep Blackbeard from me. When this was done, the candle had burnt so
• 1:40:58
  low that I could no longer hold it in my fingers, and was forced
• 1:41:00
  to stick it on a piece of broken wood, and so carry it before
• 1:41:04
  me. But after all I was not to escape from Blackbeard's clutches so easily,
• 1:41:10
  for when I came to the end of the passage and was prepared to
• 1:41:14
  climb up into the churchyard, I found that the hole was stopped, and
• 1:41:17
  that there was no exit. I understood now how it was that I heard
• 1:41:23
  talking so long after the company had left the vault, for it was clear
• 1:41:27
  that Ratsy had been as good as his word, and that the falling in
• 1:41:30
  of the ground had been repaired before the contrabandmen went home that night. At
• 1:41:34
  first I made light of the matter, thinking I should be able to dislodge
• 1:41:38
  this new work, and so find a way out. But when I looked
• 1:41:43
  more narrowly into the business, I did not feel so sure. For they
• 1:41:45
  had made a sound job of it, putting one very heavy burial slab at
• 1:41:50
  the side to pile earth against it till the hole was full, and then
• 1:41:54
  covering it with another. These were both of slate, and I knew whence
• 1:41:59
  they came, for there were a dozen or more of such disused and weather
• 1:42:02
  worn covers laid up against the north side of the church, and every one
• 1:42:06
  of them was a good burden for four men. Yet I hoped, by
• 1:42:11
  grouting at the earth below it, to be able to dislodge the stone at
• 1:42:14
  the side. And while I was considering how best to begin, the candle
• 1:42:19
  flickered, the wick gave a sudden lurch to one side, and I was
• 1:42:25
  left in darkness. Thus my plight was evil, indeed, for I had
• 1:42:30
  nothing now to burn to give me light, and knew that twas no use
• 1:42:33
  setting to grout till I could see to go about it. Moreover, the
• 1:42:39
  darkness was of that black kind that is never found beneath the open sky,
• 1:42:43
  no, not even on the darkest night, but lurks in close and covered
• 1:42:46
  places and strains the eyes in trying to see into it. Yet I did
• 1:42:51
  not give way, but settled to wait for dawn, which must I knew
• 1:42:56
  be now at hand, For then I thought enough light would come through the
• 1:43:00
  chinks of the tomb above to show me how to set to work. Nor
• 1:43:02
  was I even much scared, as one who, having been in peril of
• 1:43:06
  life from the contrabandmen for a spy, and in peril from evil ghosts for
• 1:43:11
  rifling Blackbeard's tomb, deemed it a light thing to be left in the dark,
• 1:43:15
  to wait an hour till morning. So I sat down on the floor
• 1:43:18
  of the passage, which, if damp, was at least soft, and,
• 1:43:24
  being tired with what I had gone through and not used to miss a
• 1:43:28
  night's rest, fell straightway asleep. How long I slept I cannot tell,
• 1:43:32
  for I had nothing to guide me to the time, but woke at length
• 1:43:36
  and found myself still in darkness. I stood up and stretched my limbs,
• 1:43:43
  but did not feel as one refreshed by wholesome sleep, but sick and tired,
• 1:43:46
  with pains and back, arms and legs, as if beaten or bruised.
• 1:43:54
  I have said, I was still in darkness yet it was not the
• 1:43:56
  blackness of the last night, And looking up into the inside of the tomb
• 1:44:00
  above, I could see the faintest line of light at one corner, which
• 1:44:03
  showed the sun was up. For this line of light was the sunlight filtering
• 1:44:09
  slowly through a crevice at the joining of the stones. But the sides of
• 1:44:13
  the tomb had been fitted much closer than I had reckoned for, and it
• 1:44:16
  was plain there would never be light in the place enough to guide me to
• 1:44:19
  my work. All this I considered as I rested on the ground, for
• 1:44:25
  I had sat down again, feeling too tired to stand. But as I
• 1:44:29
  kept my eye on the narrow streak of light, I was much startled,
• 1:44:32
  for I looked at the southwest corner of the tomb, and yet was looking
• 1:44:36
  towards the sun. This I gathered from the tone of the light. And
• 1:44:42
  although there was no direct outlet to the air, and only a glimmer came
• 1:44:45
  in. As I have said, yet I knew certainly that the sun was
• 1:44:48
  low in the west and falling full upon this stone. Here was a surprise,
• 1:44:55
  and the sad one from me, for I perceived that I had slept
• 1:44:58
  away a day, and that the sun was setting for another night, and
• 1:45:02
  yet it mattered little for night or daytime. There was no light to help
• 1:45:06
  me in this horrible place, and though my eyes had grown accustomed to the
• 1:45:11
  gloom, I could make out nothing to show me where to work. So
• 1:45:15
  I took out my tinder box, meaning to fan the match into a flame
• 1:45:18
  and to get at least one moment's look at the place, and then to
• 1:45:23
  set digging with my hands. But as I lay asleep, the top had
• 1:45:27
  been pressed off of the box, and the tinder got loose in my pockets.
• 1:45:31
  And though I picked the tinder out easily enough and got it in the
• 1:45:34
  box again, yet the salt damps of the place had sodden it in the
• 1:45:38
  night, and spark by spark fell idle from the flint. And then it
• 1:45:43
  was that I first perceived the danger in which I stood, for there was
• 1:45:46
  no hope of kindling a light, and I doubted now whether even in the
• 1:45:50
  light I could ever have done much to dislodge the great slab of slight.
• 1:45:56
  I began also to feel very hungry, as not having eaten for twenty four
• 1:46:00
  hours, and worse than that, there was a parching thirst and dryness in
• 1:46:04
  my throat, and nothing with which to quench it. Yet there was no
• 1:46:10
  time to be lost if I was ever to get out alive, and so
• 1:46:13
  I groped with my hands against the side of the grave until I made out
• 1:46:16
  the bottom edge of the slab, and then fell to grubbing beneath it with
• 1:46:19
  my fingers. But the earth, which the day before had looked light and
• 1:46:25
  loamy to the eye, was stiff and hard enough when one came to tackle
• 1:46:30
  it with naked hands, And in an hour's time I had done little more
• 1:46:32
  than further weary myself and bruised my fingers. Then I was forced to rest,
• 1:46:39
  and, sitting down on the ground, saw that the glimmering streak of
• 1:46:43
  light had faded, and that the awful blackness of the previous night was creeping
• 1:46:46
  up again. And now I had no heart to face it, being cowed
• 1:46:50
  with hunger, thirst and weariness, and so flung myself upon my face that
• 1:46:55
  I might not see how dark it was, and groaned for very lowness of
• 1:46:59
  spirit. Thus I lay for a long time, but afterwards stood up and
• 1:47:03
  cried aloud and shrieked. If any one should happily hear me, calling to
• 1:47:08
  mister Glennie and Ratsey, and even Elzevir by name, to save me from
• 1:47:11
  this awful place. But there came no answer except the echo of my own
• 1:47:16
  voice, sounding hollow and far off down in the vault. So in despair
• 1:47:20
  I turned back to the earth wall below the slab and scrambled at it with
• 1:47:25
  my fingers till my nails were broken and the blood ran out, having all
• 1:47:29
  the while assured knowledge like a cord twisted round my head that no effort of
• 1:47:34
  mine could ever dislodge the great stone. And thus hours passed, And I
• 1:47:40
  shall not say more here, for the remembrance of that time is still terrible,
• 1:47:44
  And besides, no words could ever set forth the anguish I then suffered.
• 1:47:48
  Yet did slumber come sometimes to my help, For even while I was
• 1:47:53
  working at the earth, sheer weariness would overtake me, and I sank on
• 1:47:58
  to the ground, fell asleep. And still the hours passed, and at
• 1:48:03
  last I knew, by the glimmer of light in the tomb above, that
• 1:48:06
  the sun had risen again, and a maddening thirst had holded me. And
• 1:48:12
  then I thought of all the barrels piled up in the vault, and of
• 1:48:15
  the liquor that they held and stuck not because twas spirit, for I would
• 1:48:19
  scarce have paused to sate that thirst, even with molten lead. So I
• 1:48:24
  felt my way down the passages back to the vault, and wrecked, not
• 1:48:28
  of the darkness nor of Blackbeard and his crew, if only I could lay
• 1:48:31
  my lips to liquor. Thus I groped about the barrels till near the top
• 1:48:35
  of the deck my hand struck on a spile of a keg, and drawing
• 1:48:40
  it, got my mouth to the hold. What the liquor was, I
• 1:48:44
  do not know. But it was not so strong but that I could swallow
• 1:48:47
  it in great gulps, and found it less burning than my burning throat.
• 1:48:51
  But when I turned to get back to the passage, I could not find
• 1:48:55
  the outlet, and fumbled round and round until my brain was dizzy, and
• 1:48:59
  I fell senseless to the ground. End of Chapter four, Chapter five,
• 1:49:05
  The Rescue Shades of the Dead. Have I not heard your voices rise on
• 1:49:12
  the night rolling breath of the gale? Byron? When I came to myself,
• 1:49:17
  I was lying not in the outer blackness of the Mohune vault, not
• 1:49:21
  on a floor of sand, but in a bed of sweet clean linen,
• 1:49:26
  and in a little white washed room, through the window of which the spring
• 1:49:30
  sunlight streamed. Oh, the blessed sunshine, And how I praised God for
• 1:49:33
  the light. At first I thought I was in my own bed at my
• 1:49:38
  aunt's house, and had dreamed of the vault and the smugglers, and that
• 1:49:42
  my being prisoned in the darkness was but the horror of a nightmare. I
• 1:49:45
  was forgetting up, but fell back on my pillow in the effort to rise,
• 1:49:49
  with a weakness and sick linger which I had never known before. And
• 1:49:54
  as I sunk down, I felt something swing about my neck, and putting
• 1:49:58
  up my hand, found twas Colonel John Mohun's black locket, and so knew
• 1:50:02
  that part, at least of this adventure was no dream. Then the door
• 1:50:06
  opened, and to my wondering thought, it seemed that I was back again
• 1:50:10
  in the vault. Friend came Elzevar Block. Then I held up my hands
• 1:50:15
  and cried, O, Elzevar, save me, Save me. I am
• 1:50:18
  not come to spy. But he, with a kind look on his face,
• 1:50:23
  put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me gently back, saying,
• 1:50:26
  lie still, lad, there is none here will hurt thee and drink this.
• 1:50:30
  He held out to me, a bowl of steaming broth that filled the
• 1:50:32
  room with a savor sweeter ten thousand times to me than every rose and lily
• 1:50:39
  of the world, Yet would not let me drink it at a gulp,
• 1:50:42
  but made me sip it with a spoon like any baby. Thus, while
• 1:50:45
  I drank, he told me where I was, namely in an attic at
• 1:50:49
  the why not, but would not say more, then bidding me to sleep
• 1:50:53
  again, and I should know all afterwards. And so it was ten days
• 1:50:57
  or more before youth and health had their way and I was strong again.
• 1:51:00
  And all that time Elzebar Block sat by my bed and nursed me tenderly as
• 1:51:05
  a woman. So piece by piece I learned the story of how they found
• 1:51:09
  me. Twas mister Glennie who first moved to seek me, for when the
• 1:51:14
  second day came that I was not at school, he thought that I was
• 1:51:16
  ill, as was his wont when any ailed, But Aunt Jane answered him
• 1:51:20
  stiffly that she could not say how I did, For says she, he
• 1:51:26
  is run off. I know not where, but as he makes his bed,
• 1:51:29
  he must lie in it. And if he run away for his pleasure,
• 1:51:32
  may stay away for mine. I have been pestered with this lot too
• 1:51:35
  long, and only bore with him for poor sister Martha's sake. But tis
• 1:51:41
  after his father that the graceless lad takes and thus rewards me with that.
• 1:51:46
  She bangs the door in the parson's face, and off he goes to Ratsey,
• 1:51:50
  but can learn nothing there, and so concludes that I have run away
• 1:51:54
  to sea and am seeking ship at Pool or Weymouth. But that same day
• 1:52:00
  came Sam Tewksbury to the wine not about nightfall, and begged a glass of
• 1:52:03
  rum, being as he said, olive a shake, and telling a tale
• 1:52:09
  of how he passed the churchyard wall in his return from Wark and New twas
• 1:52:13
  Blackbeard piping his lost mohounds to hunt for treasure. So though he saw nothing,
• 1:52:18
  he turned tail and never stopped running till he stood at the inn door.
• 1:52:23
  Then forthwith Elzevar, leaves Sam to drink at the wye, not alone,
• 1:52:28
  and himself sets off running up the street to call for Master Ratsey,
• 1:52:31
  and they two make straight across the sea meadows in the dark. For as
• 1:52:35
  soon as I heard Tewksbury's telle of screams and wailings in the air, and
• 1:52:40
  no one to be seen, said Elzevar. I guess that some poor soul
• 1:52:44
  had got shut in the vault and was there crying for his life. And
• 1:52:47
  to this I was not guided by mother wit, but by a sure and
• 1:52:50
  sadder token. Thou wilt have heard how thirteen years ago a daft body we
• 1:52:57
  called Kracky Jones was found one morning in the church which are dead. He
• 1:53:00
  was gone missing for a week before, and twice within that week I had
• 1:53:04
  sat through the night upon the hill behind the church, watching to warn the
• 1:53:09
  lugger with a flare she could not put in for the surf upon the beach.
• 1:53:14
  And on those nights, the air being still, though a heavy swell
• 1:53:16
  was running, I heard thrice or more a throttled scream come shivering across the
• 1:53:21
  meadows from the graveyard. Yet beyond turning my blood cold for a moment,
• 1:53:27
  it gave me little trouble, For evil tails have hung about the church.
• 1:53:30
  And though I did not set much store by the old yarns of black Beard
• 1:53:32
  piping up his crew, yet I thought strange things might well go on among
• 1:53:38
  the graves at night, And so I never budged, nor stirred hand or
• 1:53:41
  foot to save a fellow creature in his agony. But when the surf was
• 1:53:45
  fell enough for the boats to get ashore, and Greening held a lantern for
• 1:53:49
  me to jump down into the passage. After we had got the side out
• 1:53:53
  of the tomb, the first thing the light fell on at the bottom was
• 1:53:56
  a white face turned skyward. I have not forgot that lad, for twas
• 1:54:00
  Quacky Jones lay there with his face thin and shrunk, yet all the deiighted
• 1:54:04
  look gone out of it. We tried to force some brandy in his mouth,
• 1:54:08
  but he was stark and dead, with knees drawn up toward his head
• 1:54:12
  so stiff, we had to lift him, doubled as he was, and
• 1:54:15
  lay him by the churchyard wall for some of us to find the next day.
• 1:54:18
  We never knew how he got there, but guessed that he had hung
• 1:54:21
  about the landers some night when they ran a cargo, and slipped in when
• 1:54:25
  the watchman's back was turned. Thus, when Sam Tewkesbury spoke of screams and
• 1:54:30
  wailings and no one to be seen, I knew what twas, but never
• 1:54:33
  guessed who might be shut in there, Not knowing thou wert gone amissing,
• 1:54:39
  so ran to Ratsey to get his help to slip the side stone off,
• 1:54:42
  for by myself I cannot stir it now, though once I did when I
• 1:54:45
  was younger, and from him learned that thou wert lost, and knew whom
• 1:54:49
  we would find Before we got there. I shuddered while Elzevar talked, for
• 1:54:55
  I thought how cracky Jones had perhaps hidden behind the self same coffin that sheltered
• 1:55:00
  me, and how narrowly I had escaped his fate. And that old story
• 1:55:03
  came back into my mind. How years ago there once arose so terrible a
• 1:55:09
  cry from the vault at service time that person and people fled from the church.
• 1:55:13
  And I doubted not now that same other poor soul had gotten shut in
• 1:55:16
  that awful place, and was then calling for help to those whose fears would
• 1:55:20
  not let them listen. There we found thee, Elzevar went on, stretched
• 1:55:26
  out on the sand, senseless and far gone. And there was something in
• 1:55:30
  thy face that made me think of David when he lay stretched out in his
• 1:55:32
  last sleep. And so I put thee on my shoulder and bare thee back,
• 1:55:38
  And here thou are in David's room, and shalt find bored in bed
• 1:55:42
  with me as long as thou hast mine to. We spoke much together during
• 1:55:45
  the days when I was getting stronger, and I grew to like Elzevar well,
• 1:55:49
  finding his grimness was but on the outside, and that never was a
• 1:55:53
  kinder man. Indeed, I think that my being with him did him good,
• 1:55:58
  for he felt that there was once more someone to love him, and
• 1:56:00
  his heart went out to me as to his son David. Never once did
• 1:56:04
  he ask me to keep my counsel as to the vault and what I had
• 1:56:08
  seen there, knowing perhaps he had no need, for I would have died
• 1:56:12
  rather than tell the secret to any Only one day Master Ratsey, who often
• 1:56:16
  came to see me, said, John, there is only Elzevar and I
• 1:56:21
  who know that you have seen the inside of our bond cellar. And tis
• 1:56:26
  well, for if some of the landers guessed, they might have ugly ways
• 1:56:30
  to stop all chance of pratting. So keep our secret tight, and we'll
• 1:56:33
  keep yours, for he that refraineth his lips. As wise, I wondered
• 1:56:40
  how Master Ratsey could quote scripture so pat and yet cheat the revenue, though
• 1:56:44
  in truth twas thought little Sin at Moonfleet to run a cargo, and perhaps
• 1:56:47
  he guessed what I was thinking, for he added, not that a Christian
• 1:56:51
  man has ought to be ashamed of in landing a cask of good liquor.
• 1:56:56
  For we read that when Israel came out of Egypt, the Chosen people bid
• 1:57:00
  trick their oppressors out of jewels of silver and jewels of gold. And among
• 1:57:03
  those cruel taskmasters, some of the wont must certainly have been the tax gatherers.
• 1:57:10
  The first walk I took, when I grew stronger and was able to
• 1:57:12
  get about, was up to Aunt Jane's. Notwithstanding she had never so much
• 1:57:16
  as been to ask after me all these days. She knew indeed where I
• 1:57:20
  was, for Ratsey had told her I lay at the wye, not explaining
• 1:57:24
  that Alzebar had found me one night on the ground, famished and half dead,
• 1:57:28
  yet not saying where. But my aunt greeted me with hard words,
• 1:57:31
  which I need not repeat here, for perhaps she meant them not unkindly,
• 1:57:35
  but only to bring me back again to the right way. She did not
• 1:57:40
  let me cross the threshold, holding the door jar in her hand, saying
• 1:57:43
  she would have no tavern loungers in her house, but that if I liked
• 1:57:46
  the Wye not so well, I could go back there again for her I
• 1:57:50
  had been for begging her pardon for playing truant. But when I heard such
• 1:57:54
  scurvy words, felt the devil rise in my heart, and only laughed,
• 1:57:58
  though bitter tears were in my eyes. So I turned my back upon the
• 1:58:00
  only home that I had ever known, and sauntered off down the village,
• 1:58:04
  feeling very lone, and am not sure I was not crying before I came
• 1:58:09
  again to the why Not. Then Alzivar saw that my face was downcast and
• 1:58:14
  asked me what ailed me, And so I told him how my aunt had
• 1:58:16
  turned me away, and that I had no home to go to. But
• 1:58:20
  he seemed pleased rather than sorry, and said that I must come now and
• 1:58:24
  live with him, for he had plenty for both, and that since chance
• 1:58:28
  had led him to save my life, I should be to him a son
• 1:58:30
  in David's place. So I went to keep the house with him at the
• 1:58:33
  why Not, and my aunt sent down my bag of clothes, and would
• 1:58:36
  have made over to Elzevar the pittance that my father left for my keep,
• 1:58:41
  but he said it was not needful, and he would have none of it.
• 1:58:45
  End of five Chapter six. An assault, surely, after all,
• 1:58:53
  the noblest answer unto such is perfect stillness when they brawl. Tennyson, I
• 1:58:59
  have more than one has brought up the name of mister Maskew, And as
• 1:59:01
  I shall have other things to tell of him later on, I may as
• 1:59:04
  well relate here what manner of man he was. His stature was but medium,
• 1:59:11
  not exceeding five feet four inches, I think, and to make the
• 1:59:14
  most of it, he flung his head far back and gave himself a little
• 1:59:16
  strut in walking. He had a thin face, with a sharp nose that
• 1:59:21
  looked as if it would peck you, and gray eyes that could pierce a
• 1:59:25
  millstone if there was a guinea on the far side of it. His hair,
• 1:59:30
  for he wore his own, had been red, though it was now
• 1:59:33
  grizzled, and the color of it was set down in Moonfleet to his being
• 1:59:39
  a scotchman, for we thought all scotchmen were red headed. He was a
• 1:59:43
  lawyer by profession, and having made money in Edinburgh, had gone so far
• 1:59:47
  south as Moonfleet to get quit. As was said of the memories of rascally
• 1:59:53
  deeds. It was about four years since he bought a parcel of the mohown
• 1:59:59
  estate, which had been breaking up and selling piecemeal for a generation. And
• 2:00:03
  on his land stood the manor house, or so much of it as was
• 2:00:08
  left of the mansion I have spoken before. It was a very long house
• 2:00:14
  of two stories, with the projecting gable and doorway in the middle, and
• 2:00:16
  at each end gabled wings running out crosswise. The Maskews lived in one of
• 2:00:21
  these wings, and that was the only habitable portion of the place, for
• 2:00:27
  as to the rest, the glass was out of the windows, and in
• 2:00:30
  some places the roofs had fallen in. Mister Maskew made no attempt to repair
• 2:00:36
  house or grounds, and the bow of the great cedar, which the snow
• 2:00:41
  had brought down in forty nine, still blocked the drive. The entrance to
• 2:00:45
  the house was through the porchway in the middle, but more than one tumbled
• 2:00:49
  down quarter had to be threaded before one reached the inhabited wing, while fowls
• 2:00:55
  and pigs and squirrels had possession of the terrace lawns in front. It was
• 2:00:59
  not for want of money that Maskew let things remain thus, For men said
• 2:01:02
  that he was rich enough, only that his mood was miserly. And perhaps
• 2:01:06
  also it was the lack of woman's company that made him think so little of
• 2:01:11
  neatness and order, for his wife was dead, and though he had a
• 2:01:15
  daughter, she was young and had not yet wait enough to make her father
• 2:01:18
  do things that he did not choose. Till Maskew came there had been none
• 2:01:24
  living in the manor house for a generation, so the village children used the
• 2:01:28
  terrace for a playground and picked primroses in the woods, and the men thought
• 2:01:32
  they had a right to snare a rabbit or shoot a pheasant in the chase.
• 2:01:36
  But the new owner changed all this, hiding gins and spring guns in
• 2:01:41
  the coverts and nailing up boards on the trees to say that he would have
• 2:01:44
  the law of any that trespassed. So he soon made enemies for himself,
• 2:01:48
  and before long had every one's hand against him. Yet he preferred his neighbor's
• 2:01:54
  enmity to their good will, and went about to make it more bitter by
• 2:01:57
  getting himself posted for magistrate, and giving out that he would put down the
• 2:02:01
  contraband thereabouts for no one round Moonfleet was for the excise, But farmers loved
• 2:02:08
  the glassish knobs that had never been gaged, and their wives a piece of
• 2:02:13
  fine lace from France. And then came the affair between the Elector and the
• 2:02:18
  catch with David Brock's death. And after that they said it was not safe
• 2:02:24
  for Masque to walk at large, and that he would be found some day
• 2:02:28
  dead on the down. But he gave no heed to it, and went
• 2:02:30
  on as if he had been a paid exciseman rather than the magistrate. When
• 2:02:36
  I was a little boy, the manor woods were my delight, and many
• 2:02:41
  a sunny afternoon have I sat on the terrace edge, looking down over the
• 2:02:45
  village and munching red quarantines from the ruined fruit gardens. And though this is
• 2:02:50
  now forbidden, yet the manner had still a sweeter attraction to me than apples
• 2:02:55
  or bird batting. And that was Grace Maskew. She was an only child,
• 2:03:00
  and about my own age or a little better at the time of which
• 2:03:04
  I am speaking. I knew her because she went every day to the old
• 2:03:09
  almshouses to be taught by the reverend mister Gillini, from whom I also received
• 2:03:15
  my schooling. She was tall for her age and slim, with a thin
• 2:03:18
  face, and a tumble of tawny hair, which flew about her in a
• 2:03:21
  wind or when she ran. Her frocks were washed and patched and faded,
• 2:03:27
  and showed more of her arms and legs than the dressmaker had ever intended,
• 2:03:31
  for she was a growing girl and had none to look after her clothes.
• 2:03:35
  She was a favorite playfellow with all, and an early choice for games of
• 2:03:40
  prisoner's base, and she could beat most of us boys at speed. Thus,
• 2:03:45
  though we all hated her father, and had for him many jeering titles
• 2:03:50
  among ourselves, yet we never used an evil nickname nor a railing word against
• 2:03:57
  him when she was by, because we liked her well. There were half
• 2:04:01
  dozen of us boys and as many girls whom mister Gleane used to teach,
• 2:04:06
  And that you may see what sort of man mask you was. I will
• 2:04:10
  tell you what happened one day in school between him and the parson. Mister
• 2:04:15
  Gleanie taught us in the almshouses. For though there were now no bedsmen,
• 2:04:19
  the houses themselves were fallen to decay. Yet the little hall in which the
• 2:04:26
  inmates had once dined was still maintained and served for our school room. It
• 2:04:30
  was a long and lofty room with a high wainscoat all around it, a
• 2:04:35
  carved oak screen at one end and a broad window at the other. A
• 2:04:41
  very heavy table, polished by use and sadly besmirked with ink, ran down
• 2:04:45
  the middle of the hall, with benches on either side of it for us
• 2:04:47
  to use, and a high desk for mister Gleaney stood under the window at
• 2:04:54
  the end of the room. Thus we were sitting one morning with our summing
• 2:04:57
  slates and grammars before us, when the door in the screen opens and mister
• 2:05:02
  Maskew enters. I have told you already of the verses which mister Gleaney wrote
• 2:05:08
  for David Block's grave, And when the floods had gone down, Ratsey set
• 2:05:13
  up the headstone with the poetry carved on it. But Maskew, through not
• 2:05:18
  going to church, never saw the stone for weeks until one morning, walking
• 2:05:24
  through the churchyard, he lighted on it and knew the verses for mister gleanies,
• 2:05:30
  so twas to have it out with the parson that he had come to
• 2:05:33
  school this day. And though we did not know so much then, yet
• 2:05:38
  guessed from his presence that something was in the wind, and could read in
• 2:05:42
  his face that he was very angry. Now, for all that we hated
• 2:05:46
  Maskew, yet were we glad enough to see him there as hoping for something
• 2:05:51
  strange to vary the sameness of school, and scenting a disturbance in the air.
• 2:05:58
  Only Grace was ill at ease for fear her father should say something unseemly,
• 2:06:01
  and kept her head down, with shocks of hair falling over her book,
• 2:06:05
  though I could see her blushing between them. So in vapors, Maskew,
• 2:06:11
  and with an angry glance about him, make straight for the desk where
• 2:06:15
  our master sits at the top of the room. For a moment, mister
• 2:06:19
  Gleanie, being shortsighted, did not see who twas, But as his visitors
• 2:06:24
  drew near, rose courteously to greet him. Good day to you, mister
• 2:06:29
  Maskew, he said, holding out his hand. But Maskew put his arms
• 2:06:34
  behind his back and bubbled out, hold not out your hand to me,
• 2:06:39
  lest I spit on. It tis like your sniveling cant to write sweet psalms
• 2:06:44
  for smuggling rogues, and to frighten honest men with your judgments. At first,
• 2:06:50
  mister Gleanie did not know what the other would be at, and afterwards
• 2:06:55
  understanding, turned very pale, but said, as a minister he would never
• 2:07:00
  be backward in reproving those whom he considered in the wrong, whether from the
• 2:07:03
  pulpit or from the gravestone. Then Maskew flies into a great passion and pours
• 2:07:11
  out many vile and insolent words, saying, mister Gleanie is in the league
• 2:07:15
  with the smugglers and fattens on their crimes, that the poetry is I libel,
• 2:07:20
  and that he mask you will have the law of him for calumny.
• 2:07:27
  After that he took Grace by the arm and bade her get hat and cape
• 2:07:30
  and come with him. Four says he, I will not have thee taught
• 2:07:34
  any more by a psalm singing hypocrite that calls thy father murderer. And all
• 2:07:42
  the while he kept drawing up closer to mister Gleane, until the stew stood
• 2:07:47
  very near each other. There was a great difference between them, the one,
• 2:07:53
  short and blustering with a red face, turned up, the other tall
• 2:07:57
  and craning down, clad, ill fed and pale. Maskew had in his
• 2:08:05
  left hand a basket with which he went to marketing of mornings, for he
• 2:08:09
  made his own purchases, and liked fish as being cheaper than meat. He
• 2:08:13
  had been chaffering with the fishwives this very day, and was bringing back his
• 2:08:18
  proven with him when he visited our school. Then he said to mister Gleaney,
• 2:08:24
  Now, sir parson, the light has given into your fool's hands a
• 2:08:30
  power over this churchyard, and tis your trade to stop unseemly headlines from being
• 2:08:37
  set up within its walls, or one set up to turn them forthwith.
• 2:08:41
  So I give you a week's grace, and if tomorrow send night yawn stone
• 2:08:46
  not be gone, I will have it up and flung into pieces outside the
• 2:08:52
  wall. Mister Gleaney answered him, in a low voice, but quite clear,
• 2:08:56
  so that we could hear where we sat. I can neither turn the
• 2:09:01
  stone out myself, nor stop you from turning it out, if you so
• 2:09:07
  mind. But if you do this thing and dishonor the graveyard, there is
• 2:09:13
  one stronger than either you or I that must be reckoned with. I knew
• 2:09:20
  afterwards that he meant the Almighty, but thought then that twas of Elzevir he
• 2:09:24
  spoke, and so perhaps did mister Maskew, for he fell into a worse
• 2:09:30
  rage thrust his hand in the basket, whipped out a great soul he had
• 2:09:33
  there, and in a twinkling dashes it in mister Gleanee's face with a Then
• 2:09:39
  take that for an unmannerly parson, for I would not foul my fist with
• 2:09:45
  your mealy chops. But to see that stirred my coler. For mister Gleani
• 2:09:50
  as weak as wax, and would never have held up his hand to stop
• 2:09:52
  a blow, even where he as strong as Goliath. So I was for
• 2:09:58
  setting on Maskew, and being a stout for my age, could have had
• 2:10:01
  him on the floor as easy as a baby. But as I rose from
• 2:10:03
  my seat, I saw he held Grace by the hand, and so I
• 2:10:07
  hung back for a moment, and before I got my thoughts together, he
• 2:10:11
  was gone, and I saw the tail of Grace's cape whisk round the screen
• 2:10:16
  door. A soul is at best an ugly thing to have in one's face,
• 2:10:20
  and this soul was larger than most, for Maskew took care to get
• 2:10:24
  what he could for his money. So it went with a loud smack on
• 2:10:28
  mister Gleanie's cheek, and then fell with another smack on the floor at this
• 2:10:33
  we all laughed, as children will, and mister Gleanie did not check us,
• 2:10:37
  but went back and sat very quiet at his desk. And soon I
• 2:10:41
  was sorry I had laughed, for he looked sad, with his face sanded
• 2:10:46
  in a great red patch on one side, and beside that the fin had
• 2:10:50
  scratched him and made a blood drop trickle down his cheek. A few minutes
• 2:10:54
  later, the thin voice of the almshouse clock said twelve, and away walked
• 2:11:00
  mister gleaning without his usual good day children. And there was the soul left
• 2:11:05
  lying on the dusty floor in front of his desk. It seemed ashamed,
• 2:11:09
  so fine a fish should be wasted, so I picked it up and slipped
• 2:11:13
  it in my desk, sending Fred Burt to get his mother's gridiron that we
• 2:11:16
  might grill it on the school room fire. While he was gone, I
• 2:11:20
  went out to the court to play, and had not been there five minutes
• 2:11:24
  when back comes maskew through our playground without grace and goes into the school room.
• 2:11:30
  But in the screen at the end of the room was a chink against
• 2:11:33
  which we used to hold our fingers on bright days for the sun to shine
• 2:11:37
  through and show the blood of pink, so up I slipped and fix my
• 2:11:41
  eye on the whole, wanting to know what he was at. He had
• 2:11:46
  his basket with him, and I soon saw he had come back for the
• 2:11:48
  soul, not having the heart to leave so good a bit of fish.
• 2:11:52
  But look where he would. He could not find it, for he never
• 2:11:56
  searched my desk and had to go off with a sour counts. But Fred
• 2:12:01
  Burt and I cooked the soul and found it well flavored, for all it
• 2:12:05
  had given so much pain to mister Gleanee. After that, Grace came no
• 2:12:09
  more to school, both because her father had said she should nod, and
• 2:12:13
  because she was herself ashamed to go back after what Maskew had done to mister
• 2:12:18
  Gleanee. And then it was that I took the wandering much in the manor
• 2:12:22
  woods, having no fear of man traps, for I knew their place as
• 2:12:26
  soon as they were put down, but often catching sight of Grace and sometimes
• 2:12:30
  finding occasion to talk with her. Thus time passed and I lived with Elzevir
• 2:12:35
  at the why, not still going to school of mornings, but spending the
• 2:12:37
  afternoons in fishing or in helping him in the garden or with the boats.
• 2:12:43
  As soon as I got to know him well, I begged him to let
• 2:12:45
  me run the cargoes, but he refused, saying I was yet too young
• 2:12:50
  and must not come into mischief. Yet later, yielding to my importunity,
• 2:12:56
  he consented, and more than one dark night I was in the landing boats
• 2:13:01
  that unburdened the lugger. Though I could never bring myself to enter the Mohune
• 2:13:05
  vault again, but would stand as sentry at the passage mouth, and all
• 2:13:13
  the while I had round my neck Colonel John Mohun's locket, and at first
• 2:13:16
  wore it next to myself, by finding it blackens the skin, put it
• 2:13:22
  between shirt and body jacket, and there by dint of wear it grew less
• 2:13:26
  black and showed a little of the metal underneath. And at last I took
• 2:13:31
  polishing it at odd times until it came out quite white and shiny, like
• 2:13:35
  the pure silver it was. Elzevir had seen this locket when he put me
• 2:13:39
  to bed the first time I came to the why not, and afterwards I
• 2:13:45
  told him whence I got it? But though we had it out more than
• 2:13:48
  once of an evening, we could never come to any hidden meaning indeed we
• 2:13:54
  scarce tried to, judging it to be certainly a sacred charm to keep evil
• 2:13:58
  spirits from Blackbeard's bye Chapter seven an auction. What if my house be troubled
• 2:14:07
  with a rat? And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats to have
• 2:14:13
  it bainned? Shakespeare. One evening in March, when the days were lengthening
• 2:14:22
  fast, there came a messenger from Dorchester and brought printed notices for fixing to
• 2:14:28
  the shutters of the way not and to the church door, which said that
• 2:14:33
  in a week's time the Bailiff of the Duchy of Cornwall would visit Moonfleet.
• 2:14:37
  This bailiff was an important person, and his visits stood as events in village
• 2:14:43
  history. Once in five years he made a perambulation or journey through the whole
• 2:14:50
  duchy, inspecting all the royal property and arranging for new leases. His visits
• 2:14:56
  to Moonfleet were generally short enough for, owing to the Mohoons owning all the
• 2:15:01
  land, the only duchy estate there was the why Not, and the only
• 2:15:07
  duty of the bailiff to renew that five year lease under which Locks had held
• 2:15:11
  the inn father and son for generations. But for all that the business was
• 2:15:18
  not performed without ceremony, for there was a solemn show of putting up the
• 2:15:22
  lease of the inn to the highest bidder, though it was well understood that
• 2:15:26
  no one except Elzevir would make an offer. So one morning a week later
• 2:15:33
  I went up to the top end of the village to watch for the bailiff's
• 2:15:37
  post chaise, and about eleven of the forenoon saw it coming down the hill
• 2:15:41
  with four horses and two postilions. Presently it came past, and I saw
• 2:15:46
  there were two men in it, a clerk sitting with his back to the
• 2:15:50
  horse's and in the seat opposite a little man in a periwig, whom I
• 2:15:56
  took for the bailiff. Then I ran down to my aunt's house, for
• 2:16:01
  Elzevir had asked me to beg one of her best winter candles for a purpose
• 2:16:05
  which I will explain Presently. I had not seen Aunt Jane except in church
• 2:16:11
  since the day that she dismissed me, But she was no stiffer than usual,
• 2:16:16
  and gave me the candle readily enough. There she said, take it,
• 2:16:22
  and I wish it may bring light into your dark heart and show you
• 2:16:26
  what a wicked thing it is. To leave your own kith and kin and
• 2:16:30
  go to dwell in a tavern. I was for saying that it was kith
• 2:16:33
  and kin that left me and not I them, And as for living in
• 2:16:39
  a tavern, it was better to live there than nowhere at all. As
• 2:16:43
  she would wish me to do in turning me out of her house, but
• 2:16:46
  did not, and only thanked her for the candle, and was off.
• 2:16:52
  When I came to the inn, there was the post chaise in front of
• 2:16:54
  the door, the horses being led away to bait, and a little group
• 2:17:00
  of villagers standing round. For though the auction of the why not was in
• 2:17:05
  itself a trite thing with a foregone conclusion, yet the Bailiff's visit always stirred
• 2:17:11
  some show of interest. There were a few children with their noses flattened against
• 2:17:16
  the windows at the parlor, and inside were mister Bailiff and mister Clark hard
• 2:17:22
  at work on their dinner. Mister Bailiff, who was, as I guessed,
• 2:17:26
  the little man in the periwig, sat at the top of the table,
• 2:17:31
  and mister Clark sat at the bottom, And on chairs were placed their
• 2:17:35
  hats and traveling cloaks and bundles of papers tied together with green tape. You
• 2:17:41
  may be sure that Elzevir had a good dinner for them, with hot rabbit
• 2:17:45
  pie and cold round of brawn, and a piece of blue vinny, which
• 2:17:50
  mister Bailiff at heartily, but his clerk would not touch, saying he had
• 2:17:54
  as leaf chew soap. There was also a bottle of arrow wraps milk,
• 2:18:00
  and a flagon of ale, for we were afraid to set French wines before
• 2:18:05
  them lest they should fall to wondering how they were come by. Elzevir took
• 2:18:11
  the candle, chiding me a little for being late, and set it in
• 2:18:15
  a brass candlestick in the middle of the table. Then mister Clark takes a
• 2:18:20
  little rule from his pocket, measures an inch down on the candle, sticks
• 2:18:24
  into the grease. At that point a scarf pin with an onyx head that
• 2:18:28
  Elzevir lent him, and lights the wick. Now the reason of this was
• 2:18:35
  that the custom ran in Moonfleet when either land or lease was put up to
• 2:18:39
  bidding to stick a pin in a candle, and so long as the pin
• 2:18:45
  held firm, it was open to any to make a better offer. But
• 2:18:48
  when the flame burnt down and the pin fell out, then land or lease
• 2:18:54
  fell to the last bidder. So after dinner was over and the table cleared,
• 2:19:00
  mister Clark takes out a roll of papers and reads a legal description of
• 2:19:05
  the why Not, calling it the mahoon arms an excellent messwage or tenement now
• 2:19:11
  used as a tavern, and speaking of the convenient paddocks or parcels of grazing
• 2:19:16
  land at the back of it, called Moon's lease, amounting to sixteen acres
• 2:19:20
  more or less. Then he invites the company to make an offer of rent
• 2:19:26
  for such a desirable property under a five years lease. And as Elzevir and
• 2:19:31
  I are the only company present, the bidding is soon done, for Elzevir
• 2:19:37
  offers a rent of twelve a year, which has always been the value of
• 2:19:41
  the why Not. The clerk makes a note of this, but the business
• 2:19:46
  is not over yet, for we must wait till the pin drops out of
• 2:19:50
  the candle before the lease is finally made out. So the men fell to
• 2:19:54
  smoking to pass the time, till there could not have been more than ten
• 2:19:58
  minutes candle to burn, and mister Bailiff, with a glass of arrow rat
• 2:20:03
  milk in his hand, was saying, tis a curious and fine tap of
• 2:20:07
  hollands. You keep here, Master Block. When in walked mister Masque,
• 2:20:13
  a thunderbolt would not have astonished me so much as did his appearance, and
• 2:20:18
  Elzevir's face grew black as night. But the bailiff and clerk showed no surprise,
• 2:20:24
  not knowing the terms on which persons in our village stood to one another,
• 2:20:30
  and thinking it natural that some one should come in to see the pin
• 2:20:33
  drop at the end of an ancient custom. Indeed, Maskew seemed to know
• 2:20:39
  the bailiff, for he passed the time of day with him, and was
• 2:20:43
  then for sitting down at the table without taking any notice of Elzevir or me.
• 2:20:48
  But just as he began to seat himself, Block shouted out, you
• 2:20:52
  are no welcome visitor in my house, and I would sooner see your back
• 2:20:58
  than see your face. But sit at this table, you shall not.
• 2:21:03
  I knew what he meant, for on that table they had laid out David's
• 2:21:07
  body, and with that he struck his fist upon the board, so smart
• 2:21:13
  as to make the bailiff jump and nearly bring the pin out of the candle.
• 2:21:18
  Hey day, sirs, says mister bailiff, astonished, let us have
• 2:21:22
  no brawling here, the more so as this worshipful gentleman is a magistrate and
• 2:21:28
  something of a friend of mine. Yet Maskew refrained from sitting, but stood
• 2:21:33
  by the Bailiff's chair, turning white and not red as he did with mister
• 2:21:39
  Glennie, and muttered something that he had as leaf stand as sit, and
• 2:21:45
  that it should soon be Blocks turned to ask sitting room of him. I
• 2:21:50
  was wondering what possibly could have brought Maskew there, when the Bailiff, who
• 2:21:54
  was ill at ease, said, come mister Clark the pin hath but another
• 2:21:58
  minutess rehearse what has been done, for I must get this lease delivered and
• 2:22:03
  off to Bridport, where much business waits. So the clerk read in a
• 2:22:09
  sing song voice that the property of the Duchy of Cornwall, called the mahoon
• 2:22:15
  arms an inn or tavern, with all its land, tenements and appertinences,
• 2:22:20
  situate in the parish of Saint Sebastian Moonfleet, having been offered on lease for
• 2:22:26
  five years, would be let to Elzevir Block at a rent of twelve per
• 2:22:30
  annum, unless anyone offered a higher rent before the pin fell from the candle.
• 2:22:35
  There was no one to make another offer, and the bailiff said to
• 2:22:39
  Elzevir, tell them to have the horses round. The pin will be out
• 2:22:43
  in a minute and twill save time. So Elzevir gave the order, and
• 2:22:48
  then we all stood round in silence, waiting for the pin to fall.
• 2:22:54
  The grease had burnt down to the mark, or almost below it, as
• 2:22:58
  it appeared, but just where the pins stuck in there was a little lump
• 2:23:01
  of harder tallow that held bravely out, refusing to be melted. The bailiff
• 2:23:07
  gave a stamp of impatience, with his foot under the table, as though
• 2:23:11
  he hoped thus to shake out the pin. And then a little dry voice
• 2:23:16
  came from Maskew saying, I offer thirteen a year for the inn. This
• 2:23:24
  fell upon us with so much surprise that all looked round, seeking as it
• 2:23:28
  were some mother speaker, and never thinking that it could be mascue. Elzevir
• 2:23:35
  was the first, I believe to fully understand twas he and without turning to
• 2:23:39
  look at bailiff or Masque, but having his elbows on the table, his
• 2:23:43
  face between his hands, and looking straight out to sea, said, in
• 2:23:48
  a sturdy voice, I offer twenty. The words were scarce out of his
• 2:23:54
  mouth when Mascue caps them with twenty one, and so in less than a
• 2:24:00
  minute the rent of the why not was near doubled. Then the bailiff looked
• 2:24:03
  from one to the other, not knowing what to make of it all,
• 2:24:07
  nor whether it twas comedy or serious, and said, kind sir, I
• 2:24:13
  warn you not to trifle. I have no time to waste in april fooling,
• 2:24:18
  and he who makes offers in sport will have to stand them in earnest.
• 2:24:22
  But there was no lack of earnest in one at least of the men
• 2:24:26
  that he had before him, and the voice with which Elzevir said thirty was
• 2:24:31
  still sturdy. Maskew called thirty one and forty one, and Elzevir forty and
• 2:24:37
  fifty. And then I looked at the candle and saw that the head of
• 2:24:41
  the pin was no longer level. It had sunk a little, a very
• 2:24:45
  little. The clerk awoke from his indifference and was making notes of the bids
• 2:24:50
  with a squeaking quill. The bailiff frowned, as being puzzled and thinking that
• 2:24:56
  none had a right to puzzle him. As for me, I could not
• 2:25:00
  sit still, but got on my feet, if so I might better bear
• 2:25:05
  the suspense. For I understood now that Maskew had made up his mind to
• 2:25:09
  turn Elzevir out, and that Elzevir was fighting for his home, his home,
• 2:25:16
  and had he not made it my home too? And were we both
• 2:25:20
  to be made outcasts to please the spite of this mean little man. There
• 2:25:26
  were some more bids, and then I knew that Maskew was saying ninety one,
• 2:25:31
  and saw the head of the pin was lower, the hard lump of
• 2:25:35
  tallow in Aunt Jane's candle was thawing. The bailiffs struck in. Are ye
• 2:25:41
  mad sirs, and you muster block, save your breath, and spare your
• 2:25:45
  money. And if this worshipful gentleman must become inn keeper at any price,
• 2:25:50
  let him have the place in the Devil's name, and I will give thee
• 2:25:54
  the mermaid at Bridport with a snug parlor and ten times the trade of this.
• 2:26:01
  Elzevir seemed not to hear what he said, but only called out a
• 2:26:05
  hundred, with his face still looking out to sea, and the same sturdiness
• 2:26:09
  in his voice. Then Maskew tried a spring and went to one hundred and
• 2:26:15
  twenty, and Elzevir kept him with A hundred thirty and a hundred forty,
• 2:26:20
  A hundred fifty, a hundred sixty, a hundred seventy followed quick. My
• 2:26:26
  breath came so fast that I was almost giddy, and I had to clench
• 2:26:31
  my hands to remind myself of where I was and what was going on.
• 2:26:35
  The bidders, too, were breathing hard. Elzevir had taken his head from
• 2:26:39
  his hands, and the eyes of all were on the pin. The lump
• 2:26:45
  of tallow was worn down. Now it was hard to say why the pin
• 2:26:50
  did not fall. Maskew gulped out a hundred and eighty, and Elzevir said
• 2:26:54
  a hundred ninety. And then the pin gave a lurch, and I thought
• 2:26:58
  the why not was saved, though at the price of ruin. No,
• 2:27:05
  the pin had not fallen. There was a film that held it by the
• 2:27:09
  point one second, only one second. Elzevir's breath, which was ready to
• 2:27:15
  outbid whatever Maskew said, caught in his throat with the catching pin, and
• 2:27:20
  Maskew sighed out two hundred before the pin pattered on the bottom of the brass
• 2:27:26
  candlestick. The clerk forgot his master's presence and shut his note book with a
• 2:27:33
  bang. Congratulate you, sir, says he quite pert to maskue. You
• 2:27:39
  are the landlord of the poorest pothouse in the duchy at two hundred a year.
• 2:27:45
  The bailiff paid no heed to what his man did, but took his
• 2:27:48
  periwig off and wiped his head. Well, I'm hanged, he said,
• 2:27:56
  and so the why not was lost. Just as the last bid was given,
• 2:28:03
  Elzevir half rose from his chair, and for a moment I expected to
• 2:28:07
  see him spring like a wild beast on mascue. But he said nothing and
• 2:28:11
  sat down again, with the same stolid look on his face. And indeed
• 2:28:16
  it was perhaps well that he thus thought better of it, for Maskew stuck
• 2:28:22
  his hand into his bosom as the other rose, and though he withdrew it
• 2:28:26
  again, when Elzevir got back to his chair, yet the front of his
• 2:28:31
  waistcoat was a little bulged, and looking sideways I saw the silver shod butt
• 2:28:35
  of a pistol nestling far down against his white shirt. The bailiff was vexed.
• 2:28:43
  I think that he had been betrayed into such strong words, for he
• 2:28:46
  tried at once to put on as indifferent an air as might be, saying
• 2:28:52
  in dry tones. Well, gentlemen, there seems to be here some personal
• 2:28:56
  matter into which I shall not attempt to sp by two hundred pounds more or
• 2:29:03
  less is but a flea bite to the duchy. And if you, sir,
• 2:29:07
  turning to Mascuw, wish later on to change your mind and be quit
• 2:29:11
  of the bargain, I shall not be the man to stand in your way.
• 2:29:15
  In any case, I imagine twill be time enough to seal the lease
• 2:29:18
  if I send it from London. I knew he said this, and hinted
• 2:29:24
  at delay as wishing to do Elzevir a good turn, For his clerk had
• 2:29:28
  the lease already made out pat and it only wanted the name and rent filled
• 2:29:33
  in to be sealed and signed. But no, says Maskeuw. Business is
• 2:29:39
  business, mister bailiff, and the post uncertain to part so distant from the
• 2:29:46
  capital as these. So I'll thank you to make out the least to me
• 2:29:50
  now, and on may day place me in possession. So be it,
• 2:29:56
  then, said the bailiff a little testily, but blame me not for driving
• 2:30:01
  hard bargains. For the duchy whose servant I am, and he raised his
• 2:30:05
  hat is no daughter of the horse leech. Fill in the figures, mister
• 2:30:11
  Scrutton, and let us away. So mister Scrutton, for that was mister
• 2:30:16
  Clark's name, scratches a bit with his quill on the parchment sheet to fill
• 2:30:22
  in the money, and then Maskew scratches his name, and mister Bailiff scratches
• 2:30:26
  his name, and mister Clark scratches again to witness mister Bailiff's name. And
• 2:30:31
  then mister Bayliff takes from his mails a little chagreen case, and out from
• 2:30:37
  the case comes sealing wax and the traveling seal of the Duchy. There was
• 2:30:43
  my aunt's best winter candle, still burning away in the daylight, for no
• 2:30:48
  one had taken any thought to put it out, And mister Bayliff melts the
• 2:30:52
  wax at it till a drop of sealing wax falls into the grease and makes
• 2:30:56
  a gutter down one side. And then there is a sweating of the parchment
• 2:31:01
  under the hot wax, and at last on goes the seal signed, sealed,
• 2:31:07
  and delivered, says mister Clark, rolling up the sheet and handing it
• 2:31:13
  to Maskew. And Maskew takes and thrusts it into his bosom underneath his waistcoat,
• 2:31:18
  front all cheek by jowl, with that silver hafted pistol whose butt I
• 2:31:24
  had seen before the post chaise stood before the door. The horses were stamping
• 2:31:30
  on the cobblestones, and the harness jingled. Mister Clark had carried out his
• 2:31:35
  mails, but mister Bailiff stopped for a moment as he flung the traveling cloak
• 2:31:41
  about his shoulders, to say to Elzevir, tut man, take things not
• 2:31:46
  too hardly. Thou shalt have the Mermaid at twenty a year, which will
• 2:31:50
  be worth ten times as much to THEE as this dreary place. And canst
• 2:31:54
  send thy son to Bryson's school, where they will make a scholar of him,
• 2:32:00
  for he is a brave lad. And he touched my shoulder and gave
• 2:32:03
  me a kindly look as he passed. I thank your worship, said Elzevir,
• 2:32:09
  for all your goodness. But when I quit this place, I shall
• 2:32:13
  not set up my staff again at any inn door. Mister bailiff seemed nettled
• 2:32:20
  to see his offer made so little of and left the room with a sniff.
• 2:32:24
  Then I wish you good day. Maskew had slipped out before him,
• 2:32:30
  and the children's noses left the window pane. As the great man walked down
• 2:32:33
  the steps. There was a little group to see the start, but it
• 2:32:39
  quickly melted, and before the clatter of hoofs died away, the report spread
• 2:32:45
  through the village that Maskew had turned Elzevir out of the why not For a
• 2:32:50
  long time after all had gone, Elzevir sat at the table with his head
• 2:32:56
  between his hands, and I kept quiet, also, both because I was
• 2:33:01
  myself sorry that we were to be sent to drift, and because I wished
• 2:33:07
  to show Elzevir that I felt for him in his troubles. But the young
• 2:33:11
  cannot enter fully into their elder sorrows, however much they may wish to.
• 2:33:16
  And after a time the silence palled upon me. It was getting dusk,
• 2:33:22
  and the candle, which bore itself so bravely through auction and lease ceiling,
• 2:33:28
  burnt low in the socket. A minute later, the light gave some flickering
• 2:33:33
  flashes, failings, and sputters, and then the wick tottered and out popped
• 2:33:39
  the flame, leaving us with the chilly gray of a march evening creeping up
• 2:33:43
  in the corners of the room. I could bear the gloom no longer,
• 2:33:48
  but made up the fire till the light danced ruddy across pewter and porcelain on
• 2:33:52
  the dresser. Come, Master Block, I said, there is time enough
• 2:33:58
  before May day to think what we shall do. So let us take a
• 2:34:01
  cup of tea, and after that I will play you a game of backgammon.
• 2:34:07
  But he still remained cast down and would say nothing. And as chance
• 2:34:11
  would have it, though, I wished to let him win at backgammon that
• 2:34:16
  so perhaps he might get cheered. Yet do what I would that night I
• 2:34:20
  could not lose, so as his luck drew worse, his moodiness increased,
• 2:34:26
  and at last he shut the board with a bang, saying, in reference
• 2:34:31
  to that motto that ran round its edge, life is like a game of
• 2:34:35
  hazard, and surely none ever flung worse throes or made so little of them
• 2:34:43
  as I. End of chapter seven, Chapter eight, the landing, let
• 2:34:52
  my lamp at midnight hour be seen in some high, lonely tower Milton Maskew
• 2:35:01
  got ugly looks from the men and sire words from the wives as he went
• 2:35:05
  up through the village that afternoon. For all knew what he had done,
• 2:35:09
  and for many days after the auction he durst not show his face abroad.
• 2:35:13
  Yet Damon of Ringstave, and some others of the Lander's men, who made
• 2:35:18
  it their business to keep an eye upon him, said that he had been
• 2:35:22
  twice to Weymouth of the evenings, and held converse there with mister Luckom of
• 2:35:26
  the Excise, and with Captain Henning, who commanded the troopers then in quarters
• 2:35:30
  on the note, and by degrees it got about. But how I do
• 2:35:35
  not know? That he had persuaded the Revenue to strike hard at the smugglers,
• 2:35:39
  and that a strong posse was to be held in readiness to take the
• 2:35:43
  Landers in the act the next time they should try to run a cargo.
• 2:35:48
  Why Maskew should so put himself about to help the Revenue, I cannot tell,
• 2:35:52
  nor did any one ever certainly find out. But some said twas out
• 2:35:56
  of sheer wantonness and a desire to hurt his neighbors, and others, that
• 2:36:01
  he saw what an apt place this was for landing cargoes, and wished first
• 2:36:05
  to make a brave show of zeal for the excise and afterwards to get the
• 2:36:11
  whole of the contraband trade into his own hands. However that may be,
• 2:36:16
  I think he was certainly in league with the revenue men, and more than
• 2:36:20
  once I saw him on the manor terrace with a spy glass in his hand,
• 2:36:24
  and guessed that he was looking for the lugger in the offing. Now,
• 2:36:28
  word was mostly given to the lander by safe hands of the night on
• 2:36:33
  which a cargo should be run, and then in the morning or afternoon the
• 2:36:35
  lugger would come just near enough the land to be made out with glasses,
• 2:36:41
  and afterwards lie off again out of sight till nightfall. The knights chosen for
• 2:36:46
  such work were without moon, but as still as might be, so long
• 2:36:50
  as there was wind enough to fill the sails, and often the lugger could
• 2:36:56
  be made out from the beach. But sometimes it twas necessary to signal flares,
• 2:37:01
  though they were used as little as might be. Yet after there had
• 2:37:05
  been a long spell of rough weather and a cargo had to be run at
• 2:37:07
  all hazards I've known the boats come in even on the bright moonlight, and
• 2:37:11
  take their risk for tous, said the excis slept sounder round us than anywhere
• 2:37:18
  in all the channel. These tales of Maskew's doings failed not to reach Elzevir,
• 2:37:24
  and for some days he thought best not to move, though there was
• 2:37:28
  a cargo on the other side that wanted landing badly. But one evening,
• 2:37:33
  when he had won at Batcammon and was in an open mind, he took
• 2:37:37
  me into confidence, setting down the dice box on the table and saying,
• 2:37:41
  there is word come from the shippers that we mistake a cargo, for that
• 2:37:45
  they cannot keep the stuff by them longer. And Saint Marlow, now,
• 2:37:48
  with this devil of the manner prowling round, I dare not risk the job
• 2:37:50
  on Moonfleet Beach, nor yet stow the liquor in the vault. So I've
• 2:37:56
  told the Bonaventure to put her nose into this bay tomorrow afternoon, that masque
• 2:38:00
  you may see her well, and then to lie out again to sea,
• 2:38:03
  as she has done a hundred times before. But instead of waiting in the
• 2:38:05
  offing, she will make straight off up channel to a little strip of shingle
• 2:38:09
  underneath hoar head. I nodded to show I knew the place, and he
• 2:38:15
  went on. Men used to choose that spot in good old times to beat
• 2:38:18
  your cargo before the passage to the vault was dug. And there is a
• 2:38:22
  worked out quarry they call pie Grove's Hole, not too far off up the
• 2:38:26
  down and choked with brambles, where we can find shelter for a hundred canks.
• 2:38:31
  So we will be under hoar Head at five to morrow morning with the
• 2:38:33
  pack horses. I wish who we could be earlier for the sun rises thereabout,
• 2:38:39
  but the tide will not serve before. It was at that moment that
• 2:38:45
  I thought a cold touch on my shoulders as of the fresh air from outside,
• 2:38:50
  and thought beside I had a whiff of salt seaweed from the beach.
• 2:38:54
  So round I looked to see if the door or window stood ajar. The
• 2:38:58
  window was tight enough and shut it to boot. But the door was not
• 2:39:03
  to be seen plainly for a wooden screen which parted it from the parlor and
• 2:39:07
  was meant to keep off drafts. Yet I could just see a top corner
• 2:39:11
  of the door above the screen, and thought it was not fast, So
• 2:39:15
  up I got to shut it for the nights were cold. But coming round
• 2:39:18
  the corner of the screen, found that twas closed, And yet I could
• 2:39:22
  have sworn I saw the latch fall to its place as I walked towards it.
• 2:39:26
  Then I dashed forward, and in a trice had the door open.
• 2:39:30
  Was in the street. But the night was moonless and black, and I
• 2:39:33
  neither saw nor heard aught stirring save the gentle sea wash or Moonfleet beach beyond
• 2:39:41
  the salt meadows. Elzevia looked at me uneasily when I came back. What
• 2:39:48
  ails? Thee boy said he I thought I heard someone at the door,
• 2:39:52
  I answered, did you not feel a cold wind? As if it was
• 2:39:54
  open? It is, but the night is sharp, the springs it's him
• 2:40:00
  very chill. Step the bolt and sip down again, And he flung a
• 2:40:05
  fresh log on the fire that sent a cloud of sparks cracking up the chimney
• 2:40:09
  and out into the room. Elzevir I said, I think there was one
• 2:40:13
  listening at the door, and there may be others in the house. So
• 2:40:16
  before we sit again, let us take candle and go through the rooms to
• 2:40:20
  make sure none are prying on us. He laughed and said, twas but
• 2:40:26
  the wind that blew the door open, but that I might do as I
• 2:40:28
  pleased. So I lit another candle and was for starting on my search.
• 2:40:33
  But he cried, nay, thou shall not go alone. And so we
• 2:40:37
  went all round to the house together and found not so much as a mouse
• 2:40:41
  stirring. He laughed the more when we came back to the parlor. Tis
• 2:40:48
  the cold has chilled thy heart and made thee timid of that skulking rascal of
• 2:40:52
  the manner. Throw me a glass of arrow at milk, and one for
• 2:40:56
  thyself, and let us to bed. I'd learned this not to be afraid
• 2:41:01
  of the good liquor. And while we sat sipping it, Elzevir went on,
• 2:41:05
  there is a fortnight yet to run, and then you and I should
• 2:41:07
  be cut adrift from our moorings. It's a cruel thing to see the doors
• 2:41:11
  of this house closed on me, where I and mine have lived a century
• 2:41:16
  or more, but I must see it. Yet. Let us not be
• 2:41:18
  too cast down, but try to make something even of this worst of throes.
• 2:41:24
  I was glad enough to hear him speak in the firmer strain, for
• 2:41:28
  I had seen what a sore thought it had been for these days past that
• 2:41:31
  he must leave the why not, and how it had often made him moody
• 2:41:35
  and downcast. We'll have no more of him keeping, he said, I've
• 2:41:41
  been sick and tired of it this many a day, and care not now
• 2:41:45
  to see men abuse good liquor and addle their silly pates to fill my purse.
• 2:41:50
  And I have something boy put snug away in dortches to town, that
• 2:41:52
  will give us bread to eat and beer to drink, even if the throes
• 2:41:56
  run still. Do you sace, But we must seek a roof to shelter
• 2:42:00
  us when the wine not is shut, And tis best we leave this moonfleet
• 2:42:03
  of ours for a season till Maskew finds a rope's end long enough to hang
• 2:42:07
  himself withal. So when our work is done to morrow night, we'll walk
• 2:42:11
  out along the cliff to Worth and take a look at a cottage there that
• 2:42:15
  Damon spoke about, with a walled orchard of the back and fuchia hedge in
• 2:42:18
  front, tis near the lobster in and has a fine prospect of the sea.
• 2:42:22
  And if we live there, we will leave the vault alone a while
• 2:42:26
  and use this pie grove's hull for storehouse till the watch is relaxed. I
• 2:42:31
  did not answer, having my thoughts on other things, and he tossed off
• 2:42:35
  his liquor, saying that at tired, so let's to bed, for we
• 2:42:39
  shall get little sleep to morrow night. It was true that I was tired,
• 2:42:45
  and yet I could not get to sleep, but tossed and turned in
• 2:42:48
  my bed for thinking of many things, and being vexed that we were to
• 2:42:52
  leave Moonfleet. Yet mine was a selfish sorrow, for I had little thought
• 2:42:56
  for Elzevir and the pain that it must be to him to quit the why
• 2:43:01
  not. Nor yet was it the grief of leaving Moonfleet that so troubled me,
• 2:43:05
  although that was the only place I had ever known, and seemed to
• 2:43:09
  me then as now the only spot on Earth fit to be lived in.
• 2:43:15
  But the real care and canker was that I was going away from Grace Maskew,
• 2:43:20
  For since she had left school I had grown fonder of her, and
• 2:43:22
  now that it was difficult to see her, I took the more pains to
• 2:43:26
  accomplish it, and met her sometimes in Manor woods, and more than once,
• 2:43:31
  when Maskeuw was away, had walked with her on weather Beach Hill.
• 2:43:35
  So we bred up her boy and girl affection, and aust needs pleasure ourselves
• 2:43:39
  to be true to one another, not knowing what such silly words might mean,
• 2:43:46
  And I told Grace all my secrets, not even excepting the doings of
• 2:43:48
  the contraband to the mahewn vault and blackbirds locket, for I knew all was
• 2:43:54
  as safe with her as with me, and that her father could never rack
• 2:43:58
  aught from her. Nay more, her bedroom was at the top of the
• 2:44:01
  gable wing of them Na manor House, and looked right out to sea.
• 2:44:05
  And one clear night, when our boat was coming late from fishing, I
• 2:44:09
  saw her candle burning there, and next day told her of it. And
• 2:44:15
  then she said that she would set a candle to burn before the panes on
• 2:44:18
  winter nights and be a leading light for boats at sea. And so she
• 2:44:22
  did, and others beside me saw and used it, calling it Maskew's match,
• 2:44:28
  and saying that it was the attorney sitting up all night to pore over
• 2:44:33
  ledgers and add up his fortune. So this night, as I lay awake,
• 2:44:37
  I vexed and vexed myself for thinking of her, and at last resolved
• 2:44:43
  to go up next morning to the manor woods and lie in wait for Grace
• 2:44:46
  to tell her what was up, and that we were going away to Worth
• 2:44:52
  next day, the sixteenth of April. And eh, I've had cause to
• 2:44:56
  remember all my life. I played a truant from mister Lennie, and by
• 2:45:01
  ten in the forenoon found myself in the woods. There was a little dimple
• 2:45:05
  on the hillside above the house, green with bird ocks in summer and filled
• 2:45:09
  with dry leaves in winter, just big enough to hold one lying flat,
• 2:45:15
  and not so deep, but that I could look over the lip of it
• 2:45:16
  and see the house without being seen. Thither I went that day and lay
• 2:45:22
  down in the gry leaves to wait and watch for Grace. The morning was
• 2:45:28
  bright enough, the chores of the night before had given way to sunlight that
• 2:45:31
  seemed warm as summer, and yet had with it the soft freshness of spring.
• 2:45:37
  There were scarce a breath moving in the wood, though I could see
• 2:45:39
  the clouds of white dust stalking up the road that climbs ridged down, and
• 2:45:45
  the trees were green with buds and without leafage to keep the sunbeams from lighting
• 2:45:50
  up the ground below, which glowed with yellow king cups. So I lay
• 2:45:56
  there for a long, long while, and to make time pass quicker,
• 2:46:01
  took from my bosom the silver locket, and opening it, read again the
• 2:46:05
  parchment which I had read times out of mind before, and knew indeed by
• 2:46:11
  heart the days of our age are threescore years and ten and the rest.
• 2:46:20
  Now. Whenever I handled the locket, my thoughts were turned to Mohune's treasure,
• 2:46:24
  and it was natural that it should be so, for the locket reminded
• 2:46:26
  me of my first journey to the vault, and I laughed at myself,
• 2:46:31
  remembering how simple I had been, and had hoped to find the place littered
• 2:46:35
  with diamonds and to see the gold line packed in heaps. And thus,
• 2:46:39
  for the hundredth time I came to rack my brain to know where the diamond
• 2:46:43
  could be hid, and thought, at last he must be buried in the
• 2:46:46
  church yard, because of the talk of Blackbeard being seen on wild nights digging
• 2:46:50
  there for his treasure. But then I reasoned that very like it was the
• 2:46:56
  contrabandiers whom men had seen with spades when they were digging out the passage from
• 2:47:00
  the tomb to the vault, and set them down for ghosts, because they
• 2:47:03
  wrought at night, and when I was busy with such thoughts. The door
• 2:47:07
  opened in the house below me an out came Grace, with a hood on
• 2:47:11
  her head and a basket for wild flowers in her hand. I watched to
• 2:47:18
  see which way she would walk, and as soon as she took the path
• 2:47:20
  that leads up Weatherbeach, made off through the dry brushwood to meet her,
• 2:47:24
  for we had settled she should never go that road except when Maskew was away.
• 2:47:31
  So there we met and spent an hour together on the hill. Though
• 2:47:33
  I shall not write here what we said, because it was mostly silly stuff.
• 2:47:39
  She spoke much of the auction and of Elzevir leaving the why not,
• 2:47:43
  and then she never said a word against her father let me know what pain
• 2:47:46
  his doing gave her. But most she grieved that we were leaving Moonfeet,
• 2:47:52
  and showed her grief in such pretty ways as may be. Almost glad to
• 2:47:56
  see her sorry. And from her I learned and that Masque was indeed absent
• 2:48:01
  from home, having been called away suddenly last night. The evening was so
• 2:48:05
  fine, he said, and this surprised me, remembering how dark and cold
• 2:48:09
  it was with us, that he must needs walk round the policies. But
• 2:48:13
  about nine o'clock came back and told her he had got a sudden call to
• 2:48:18
  business, which would take him to Weymouth then and there so to saddle,
• 2:48:22
  and off he went on his mare, bidding Grace not to look for him
• 2:48:26
  for two nights to come. I know not why it was, but what
• 2:48:31
  she said of Maskew may be thoughtful and silent, and she too must be
• 2:48:35
  back home, lest the old servant that kept house for them should say she
• 2:48:39
  had been too long away. And so we parted. Then off I went
• 2:48:45
  through the woods and down the village street. But I passed my old home
• 2:48:48
  saw Aunt Jane standing on the doorstep. I bade her good day, and
• 2:48:54
  was running on to the why not, for I was late enough already,
• 2:48:56
  But she called me to her, see me in a milder mood, and
• 2:49:00
  said she had something for me in the house. So left me standing while
• 2:49:03
  she went off to get it. And back she came and thrust into my
• 2:49:07
  hand a little prayer book which I had often seen about the parlor in past
• 2:49:13
  days, saying, here is a common prayer which I meant to send thee
• 2:49:18
  with thy clothes. It is thy poor mothers, and I pray may some
• 2:49:22
  day be as precious a balm to thee as it once was to that godly
• 2:49:24
  woman. With that she gave me the good day, and I pocketed the
• 2:49:30
  little red leather book, which did, indeed afterwards prove precious to me.
• 2:49:35
  They're not in the way she meant, and ran down the street to the
• 2:49:39
  whye. Not that same evening, Elzevir and I left the wye, not
• 2:49:43
  went up to the village, climbed the down, and were at the brow
• 2:49:48
  by sunset. We had started earlier than we fixed the night before, because
• 2:49:52
  word had come to Elzevir that morning that the tide called Gulda would serve for
• 2:49:56
  the beaching of the Bonaventure at three instead of tis a strange thing the Gulder,
• 2:50:03
  and not even sailors can count closely with it, for on the Dorset
• 2:50:07
  coast the tide makes four times a day, twice with the common flow and
• 2:50:11
  twice with the Gulder, and this last, being shifty and uncertain as to
• 2:50:16
  time, flings out many a sea reckoning. It was about seven o'clock when
• 2:50:22
  we were at the top of the hill, and there were fifteen good miles
• 2:50:24
  to cover to get to hoar Head. Dusk was upon us before we had
• 2:50:28
  walked half an hour, But when the night fell it was not black as
• 2:50:33
  on the last evening, but a deep sort of blue, and the heat
• 2:50:37
  of the day did not die with the sun, but left the air still
• 2:50:39
  warm and balmy. We trudged on in silence, and were glad enough when
• 2:50:43
  we saw by a white stone here and there at the side of the path,
• 2:50:48
  that we were nearing the cliff. For the preventive men marked all the
• 2:50:52
  footpaths on the cliff with whitewashed stones, so that one could pick up the
• 2:50:56
  way without risk on a dark night. A few minutes more and we reached
• 2:51:01
  a broad piece of open sward, which I knew for the top of hoar
• 2:51:05
  Head. Hoarhead is the highest of that line of cliffs which stretches twenty miles
• 2:51:11
  from Weymouth to Saint Alban's Head, and it stands up eighty fathoms or more
• 2:51:15
  above the water. The seaward side is a great sheer of chalk, but
• 2:51:20
  falls not straight into the sea for three parts down there is a lower ledge
• 2:51:26
  or terrace, called the undercliff. Twas to this ledge that we were bound.
• 2:51:31
  And there we were, now straight above I knew we had a mile
• 2:51:35
  or more to go before we could get down to it. So on we
• 2:51:39
  went again and found the bridle path that slopes down through a deep dip in
• 2:51:43
  the cliff line. And when we reached this under ledge, I looked up
• 2:51:46
  at the sky, the night being clear, and guessed by the stars that
• 2:51:50
  twas past midnight. I knew the place from having once been there for blackberries,
• 2:51:56
  for the brambles on the under cliff, being sheltered every way but south
• 2:51:58
  and open to the sun, grow the finest. In all those parts.
• 2:52:03
  We were not alone, for I could make out a score of men,
• 2:52:07
  some standing in groups, some resting on the ground, and the dark shapes
• 2:52:11
  of the pack horses showing larger in the dimness. There were a few words
• 2:52:16
  of greeting muttered in deep voices, and then all was still, so that
• 2:52:20
  one heard the browsing horses trying to crop something off the turf. It was
• 2:52:26
  not the first cargo I had helped to run, and I knew most of
• 2:52:30
  the men, but did not speak with them, being tired and wishing to
• 2:52:33
  rest till I was wanted. So cast myself down on the turf, but
• 2:52:37
  had not lain there long when I saw some one coming to me through the
• 2:52:41
  brambles, and mass Ratie said, while Jack so thou and Elzevira leaving Moonfleet,
• 2:52:48
  and I fain would flip myself. But then who would be left to
• 2:52:50
  leave the old folk of their last horns for dead? Do not bury their
• 2:52:54
  dead in these days. I was half asleep and took little heed of what
• 2:52:58
  he said, putting him off with that need not keep you, master,
• 2:53:03
  They will find others to fill your place. Yet he would not let me
• 2:53:07
  be, but went on talking for the pleasure of hearing his own voice.
• 2:53:11
  Nay, child, you know not what you say. They may behind meant
• 2:53:13
  to dig a grave, and perhaps to fill it, But who shall toss
• 2:53:18
  them mold? When parsing lenny gives the earth to earth, it takes a
• 2:53:22
  more knowledge to make it rattle kindly on the coffin lid. I felt sleep
• 2:53:28
  heavy on my eyelids, and was for begging him to let me rest,
• 2:53:31
  when there came a whistle from below, and in a moment all were on
• 2:53:35
  their feet. The drivers went to the pack horses heads, and so we
• 2:53:37
  walked down to the strand, A silent moving group of men and horses mixed,
• 2:53:43
  and before we came to the bottom heard the first boats and nose grind
• 2:53:48
  on the beach, and the feet of the seamen crunching in the pebbles.
• 2:53:52
  Then all fell to the business of landing, and a strange enough scene it
• 2:53:56
  was, what with the medley of men, the lanthens swinging, and a
• 2:54:01
  frothy upper from the sea running up till sometimes it was over our boots,
• 2:54:05
  and all the time there was a patter of French and Dutch, for most
• 2:54:09
  of the Bonaventure's men were foreigners. But I shall not speak of this,
• 2:54:13
  for after all, one landing is very much like another, and kegs come
• 2:54:16
  ashore in much the same way, whether they are to pay excise or not.
• 2:54:22
  It must have been three o'clock before the lugger's boats were off again to
• 2:54:26
  sea, and by that time the horses were well laden, and most of
• 2:54:28
  the men had a keg or two to carry beside. Then Elzevir, who
• 2:54:33
  was in command, gave the word and we began to file away from the
• 2:54:37
  beach up to the under cliff. Now, what with the cargo being heavy,
• 2:54:41
  we were longer than usual in getting away, And though there was no
• 2:54:45
  sign of sunrise yet, the night was grayer and not so blue as it
• 2:54:48
  had been. We reached the under cliff and were moving across it to address
• 2:54:52
  ourselves to the bridle path, and so wined sideways up the steep when I
• 2:54:58
  saw something moving behind one of the plums of brambles with which the place is
• 2:55:01
  beset. It was only a glimpse of motion that I have perceived, and
• 2:55:05
  could not say whether twas man or animal, or even frightened bird behind the
• 2:55:09
  bushes. But others had seen it as well. There was some shouting,
• 2:55:13
  half a dozen flung down their kegs and started in pursuit. All eyes were
• 2:55:18
  turned to the bridle path, and in a twinkling, hunters and hunted were
• 2:55:20
  in view. The greyhounds were Damon and Garrett, with some others, and
• 2:55:24
  the hare was an older man who leapt and bounded forward faster than I should
• 2:55:30
  have thought any but a youth could run. But then he knew what men
• 2:55:33
  were after him, and that twas a race for life. For though it
• 2:55:37
  was but a moment before all were lost in the night, yet this was
• 2:55:39
  long enough to show me that the man was none other than Maskew, and
• 2:55:43
  I knew that his life was not worth ten minutes purchase. Now I hated
• 2:55:48
  this man, and had myself suffered something at his hand, besides seeing him
• 2:55:52
  put much grievous suffering on others. But I wished then with all my heart,
• 2:55:56
  he might escape, and had a horrid dread of what was to cut.
• 2:56:01
  Yet I knew all the time escape was impossible, for though Maskew ran
• 2:56:03
  desperately, the way was steep and stony, and he had behind him some
• 2:56:07
  of the fleetest feet along that coast, we had all stopped with one accord
• 2:56:11
  as not wishing to move a step forward till we had seen the issue of
• 2:56:13
  the chase. And I was near enough to look into Elzevir's face, but
• 2:56:18
  saw there neither passion nor bloodthirstness, but only a calm resolve, as if
• 2:56:22
  he had to deal with something well expected. We had not long to wait
• 2:56:28
  for very soon we heard a rolling of stones and trampling of feet coming down
• 2:56:31
  the path, and from the darkness issued a group of men, having Maskew
• 2:56:37
  in the middle of them. They hustling him along fast, too, having
• 2:56:39
  hold of him by the arms and a third by the neck of his shirt.
• 2:56:43
  Behind. The sight gave me a sick qualm, like an overdose of
• 2:56:46
  tobacco, For it was the first time I had ever seen a man a
• 2:56:50
  man handled and a fellow creature abused. His cap was lost, and his
• 2:56:56
  thin hair tangled over his forehead. His coat was torn off, so that
• 2:57:00
  he stood in his waistcoat alone. He was pale and gasped terribly, whether
• 2:57:05
  from the sharp run, or from violence or fear, or all combined.
• 2:57:09
  There was a babel of voices when they came up, of desperate men who
• 2:57:13
  had the bitterest enemy in their clutch, and some shouted club him, shoot
• 2:57:16
  him, hang him, while others were for throwing him over the cliff.
• 2:57:22
  Then some one saw under the flap of his waistcoat that same silver hafted pistol
• 2:57:26
  that lay so lately near the lease of the why not, and snatching it
• 2:57:30
  from him, flung it on the grass at Block's feet. But Elzevir's deep
• 2:57:35
  voice mastered their contentions. Lads, he remember how I said, when this
• 2:57:41
  man's reckoning day should come, twas I would reckon with him, and had
• 2:57:43
  your promise to it. Nor is it right that any should lay hand on
• 2:57:48
  him? But I were Is he not sealed to me with my son's blood?
• 2:57:52
  So touch him not? But bind him hand and foot, and leave
• 2:57:56
  him here with me, and go your ways. There's no time to lose.
• 2:58:00
  The light grows apace. There was a little muttered murmuring. But Elzevir's
• 2:58:05
  will overbore them here as it had done in the vault, and they yielded
• 2:58:09
  the more easily, because every man knew in his heart that he would never
• 2:58:13
  see Masque again alive. So within ten minutes all were winding up the bridle
• 2:58:18
  path, horses and men, all except three, for they were left upon
• 2:58:24
  the bramley greenswood of the undercliff. Masque and Elzevir and I and the pistol
• 2:58:31
  lay at Elzevir's feet. End of Chapter eight, Chapter nine. A judge
• 2:58:41
  let them fight it out, friend, things have gone too far. God
• 2:58:46
  must judge the couple, leave them as they are browning. I made as
• 2:58:52
  if I would follow the others, not wishing to see what I must see
• 2:58:54
  if I stayed behind, and knowing that I was parloss to bend Elzevir from
• 2:59:00
  his purpose. But he called me back and bade me wait with him,
• 2:59:05
  for that I might be useful by and by. So I waited, but
• 2:59:09
  was only able to make a dreadful guess at how I might be of use,
• 2:59:13
  and feared the worst. Maskew sat on the sword, with his hands
• 2:59:18
  lashed tight behind his back and his feet tied in front. They had set
• 2:59:24
  him with his shoulders against a great block of weather worn stone that was half
• 2:59:28
  buried and half stuck up out of the turf. There he sat, keeping
• 2:59:31
  his eyes on the ground, and was breathing less painfully than when he was
• 2:59:35
  first brought, but still very pale. Elzevir stood with the landthorn in his
• 2:59:41
  hand, looking at Maskew with a fixed gaze, and we could hear the
• 2:59:46
  hoofs of the heavy laden horses beating up the path till they turned a corner
• 2:59:50
  and all was still. The silence was broken by Maskew. Unloose me,
• 2:59:58
  villain, and let me go. I am a magistrate of the county,
• 3:00:01
  and if you do not, I will have you gibbeted on this cliff top.
• 3:00:07
  They were brave words enough, yet seemed to me but bad play acting,
• 3:00:11
  and brought to my remembrance how when I was a little fellow, mister
• 3:00:15
  Glenny once made me recite a battle piece of mister Dryden before my betters,
• 3:00:20
  and how I could scarcely get out the bloody threats for shyness and rising tears.
• 3:00:24
  Say it was with Maskew's words, for he had much ado to gather
• 3:00:28
  breath to say them, and they came in a thin voice that had no
• 3:00:31
  sting of wrath or passion in it. Then Elzevir spoke to him, not
• 3:00:37
  roughly, but resolved, and yet with melancholy, like a judge sentencing a
• 3:00:43
  prisoner. Talk not to me of gibbets, for thou wilt neither hang nor
• 3:00:48
  see men hanged again. A month ago, thou satst under my roof,
• 3:00:52
  watching the flame burn down till the pin dropped, and gave THEE right to
• 3:00:56
  turn me out from my old home. This morning, thou shalt watch that
• 3:01:01
  flame again, for I will give THEE one inch more of candle, and
• 3:01:05
  when the pin drops, will put this thine own pistol to thy head and
• 3:01:09
  kill THEE with as little thought as I would kill a stout or other vermin.
• 3:01:16
  Then he opened the landform slide, took out from his neckcloth that same
• 3:01:18
  pin with the onyx head which he had used in the why Not, and
• 3:01:22
  fixed it in the tallow a short inch from the top setting the landform down
• 3:01:26
  upon the sward in front of Maskew. As for me, I was dismayed
• 3:01:33
  beyond telling at these words, and made giddy with the revulsion of feeling.
• 3:01:37
  For whereas but a few minutes ago I would have thought nothing too bad for
• 3:01:41
  Mascuw. Now I was turned round to wish he might come off with his
• 3:01:45
  life, and to look with terror upon Elzevir. It had grown much lighter,
• 3:01:50
  but not yet with the rosy flush of sunrise. Only the stars had
• 3:01:54
  faded out, and the deep blue of the night given way to a misty
• 3:01:58
  gray. The light was strong enough to let all things be seen, but
• 3:02:03
  not to call upon the dew tints back to them. So I could see
• 3:02:07
  cliffs and ground, bushes, and stones and sea, and all were of
• 3:02:11
  one pearly gray color, or rather they were colorless. But the most colorless
• 3:02:18
  and grayest thing of all was Maskew's face. His hair had gone awry,
• 3:02:24
  and his head showed much balder them when it was well trimmed. His face
• 3:02:28
  too, was drawn with heavy lines, and there were rings under his eyes.
• 3:02:33
  Beside all that, he had got an ugly fall in trying to escape,
• 3:02:37
  and one cheek was mudded and done it trickled a blood drop where a
• 3:02:41
  stone had cut him. He was a sorry sight enough, and looking at
• 3:02:46
  him, I remembered that day in the schoolroom when this very man had struck
• 3:02:50
  the parson, and how our master had sat patient under it, with a
• 3:02:54
  blood drop trickling down his cheek too. Maskew kept his eyes fixed for a
• 3:03:01
  long time on the ground, but raised them at last and looked at me
• 3:03:05
  with a vacant yet pity seeking look. Now till that moment I had never
• 3:03:11
  seen a trace of grace in his features, nor of him in hers.
• 3:03:15
  And yet as he gazed at me, then there was something of her present
• 3:03:18
  in his face. Even better, as it was so that it seemed as
• 3:03:22
  if she looked at me behind his eyes. And that made me the sorrier
• 3:03:28
  for him, And at last I felt I could not stand by and see
• 3:03:31
  him done to death. When Elzevir had stuck the pin into the candle,
• 3:03:37
  he never shut the slide again, and though no wind blew, there was
• 3:03:41
  a light breath moving in the morning off the sea, that got inside the
• 3:03:45
  landform and set the flame askew, and so the candle guttered down one side
• 3:03:50
  till, but little tallow was left above the pin. For though the flame
• 3:03:54
  grew pale and paler to the view in the growing morning light, yet it
• 3:03:58
  burn freely all the time. So at last there was left, as I
• 3:04:03
  judged, but a quarter of an hour to run before the pin should fall.
• 3:04:09
  And I saw the mask. You knew this as well as I,
• 3:04:11
  for his eyes were fixed on the landthorn. At last he spoke again,
• 3:04:16
  but the brave words were gone, and the thin voice was thinner. He
• 3:04:20
  had dropped threats and was begging piteously for his life. Spare me, he
• 3:04:26
  said, Spare me, mister Block. I have an only daughter, a
• 3:04:31
  young girl with none but me to guard. He would you rob a young
• 3:04:35
  girl of her only help and cast her on the world? Would you have
• 3:04:39
  them find me dead upon the cliff and bring me back to her a bloody
• 3:04:41
  corpse? Then Elzevir answered, and had I not an only son? And
• 3:04:48
  was he not brought back to me a bloody corpse? Whose pistol was it
• 3:04:52
  that flashed in his face and took his life away? Do you not know
• 3:04:56
  it was this very same that you're flashing yours? So make what peace you
• 3:05:01
  may with God, For you have little time to make it. With that,
• 3:05:07
  he took the pistol from the ground where it had lain, and,
• 3:05:11
  turning his back on Maskew, walked slowly to and fro among the bramble plumps.
• 3:05:18
  Their Maskew's words about his daughter seemed but to feed Elzevir's anger by leading
• 3:05:22
  him to think of David. They sank deep in my heart. And if
• 3:05:26
  it had not seemed a fearful thing before to stand by and see a fellow
• 3:05:31
  creature butchered, it seemed now ten thousand times more fearful. And when I
• 3:05:37
  thought of Grace and what such a deed would mean to her, my pulse
• 3:05:41
  beat so fierce that I must needs spring to my feet and run to reason
• 3:05:45
  with Elzevir and tell him this must not be. He was still walking among
• 3:05:50
  the bushes when I found him, and let me say, my say till
• 3:05:52
  I was out of breath, and bore with me if I talked fast,
• 3:05:56
  and if my tongue outram my judgment. Thy has a warmed heart, lad,
• 3:06:03
  he said, And tis for that I like thee. And if thou
• 3:06:05
  hast a chief place in my heart for me, I cannot grumble. If
• 3:06:09
  thou find a little room there, even for our enemies, where I could
• 3:06:13
  set thy soul at ease and do all that thou askest. In the first
• 3:06:16
  flush of wrath, when he was taken plotting against our lives, it seemed
• 3:06:20
  a little thing enough to take his evil life. But now these morning airs
• 3:06:24
  have cooled me, and it goes against my will to shoot a cowering hound
• 3:06:28
  tied hand and foot, even though he is murdered twenty sons of mine.
• 3:06:33
  I thought of there be any way to spare his life and leave this hour's
• 3:06:37
  agony to read a lesson not to be unlearned until the grave. For such
• 3:06:43
  poltroons dread death, and in one are they die a hundred times. But
• 3:06:48
  there is no way out. His life lies in the scale against the lives
• 3:06:52
  of all our men. Yes, and thy life too. They left him
• 3:06:56
  in my hands, well knowing I should take account of him, And am
• 3:07:00
  I now to play them false and turn him loose again to hang them all?
• 3:07:03
  It cannot be still. I pleaded hard for Maskew's life, hanging on
• 3:07:09
  Elzevir's arm, and using every argument that I could think of to soften his
• 3:07:13
  purpose. But he pushed me off, and though I saw that he was
• 3:07:18
  loath to do it. I had a terrible conviction that he was not a
• 3:07:20
  man to be turned back from his resolve, and would go through with it
• 3:07:24
  to the end. We came back together from the brambles to the piece of
• 3:07:30
  sword, and there sat Maskew where we had left him, with his back
• 3:07:33
  against the stone. Only while we were away he managed to wriggle his watch
• 3:07:37
  out of the fob, and it lay beside him on the turf, tied
• 3:07:41
  to him with a black silk ribband. The face of it was turned upwards,
• 3:07:48
  and as I passed I saw the hand pointed to five. Sunrise was
• 3:07:52
  very near, for though the cliff shut out the east from us, the
• 3:07:56
  west over Portland was all alow with copper red and gold, and the candle
• 3:08:01
  burnt low. The head of the pin was drooping, though very slightly,
• 3:08:07
  But as I saw it to droop a month before, and I knew that
• 3:08:09
  the final act was not far off, Maskew knew it too, for he
• 3:08:16
  made his last appeal, using such passionate words as I cannot now relate,
• 3:08:20
  and wriggling with his body as if to get his hands from behind his back
• 3:08:24
  and hold them up in supplication, he offered money a thousand, five thousand,
• 3:08:30
  ten thousand pounds to be set free. He would give back the why
• 3:08:33
  not, he would leave Moonfleet, And all the while the sweat ran down
• 3:08:39
  his furrowed face, and at last his voice was choked with sobs, for
• 3:08:43
  he was crying for his life in craven fear. He might have spoken to
• 3:08:48
  a deaf man, for all he moved his judge, and Elzevir's answer was
• 3:08:52
  to cock the pistol and prime the powder in the pan. Then I stuck
• 3:08:58
  my fingers in my ears and shut my eyes that I might neither see nor
• 3:09:03
  hear what followed. But in a second changed my mind and opened them again,
• 3:09:09
  for I had made a great resolve to stop this matter. Come what
• 3:09:11
  might. Maskew was making a dreadful sound between a moan and strangled cry.
• 3:09:18
  It almost seemed as if he thought that there were others by him beside Elzevir
• 3:09:22
  and me, and was shouting to them for help. The sun had risen,
• 3:09:26
  and his first rays blazed on a window far away in the west,
• 3:09:30
  on top of Portland Island. And then there was a tinkle on the inside
• 3:09:35
  of the lanthorn, and the pin fell. Elzevir looked full of maskew and
• 3:09:41
  raised his pistol, But before he had time to take aim, I dashed
• 3:09:46
  upon him like a wild cat, springing on his right arm and crying to
• 3:09:48
  him to stop. It was an unequal struggle, a lad, though full
• 3:09:52
  grown and lusty, against one of the powerfulest of men. But indignation nerved
• 3:09:58
  my arms, and his were weak because he doubted of his right. So
• 3:10:01
  it was with some effort that he shook me off, and in the struggle
• 3:10:05
  the pistol was fired into the air. Then I let go of him and
• 3:10:11
  stumbled for a moment tard with that bout, but pleased with all because I
• 3:10:15
  saw what peace, even so short a spite, had brought to Masque.
• 3:10:18
  For at the pistol shot, twas as if a mask of horror had fallen
• 3:10:22
  from his face and left him with his old countenance again. And then I
• 3:10:26
  saw he turned his eyes towards the cliff top, and thought that he was
• 3:10:30
  looking up in thankfulness to Heaven. But now a new thing happened, For
• 3:10:35
  before the echoes of that pistol shot had died on the keen morning air,
• 3:10:39
  I thought I heard a noise of distant shouting, and looked about to see
• 3:10:43
  whence it could come. Elzevir looked round too, but Maskew, forgetting to
• 3:10:48
  upbraid me for making him miss his aim, still kept his face turned up
• 3:10:52
  towards the cliff. Then the voices came nearer, and there was a mingled
• 3:10:56
  sound as of men shouting to one another, and gathered in from different places.
• 3:11:01
  Itwas from the cliff top that the voices came, and thither Elzevir and
• 3:11:05
  I looked up, and there too Maskew kept his eyes fixed, and in
• 3:11:09
  a moment there were a score of men stood on the cliff's edge, high
• 3:11:13
  above our heads. The sky behind them was pink flushed with the keenest light
• 3:11:18
  of the young day, and they stood out against its sharp cut and black
• 3:11:22
  as the silhouette of my mother that used to hang up by the parlor chimney.
• 3:11:26
  They were soldiers, and I knew the tall miter caps of the thirteenth
• 3:11:31
  and saw the shafts of light from the sunrise came flashing round their bodies and
• 3:11:35
  glance off the barrels of their matchlocks. I knew it all now. It
• 3:11:41
  was the Posse who had lain in ambush. Elzevir saw it too, and
• 3:11:46
  then all shouted at once yield at the king's command. You are our prisoners,
• 3:11:50
  calls the voice of one of those black silhouettes far up on the cliff
• 3:11:54
  top. We are lost, cries Elzevir. It is the posse. But
• 3:12:00
  if we die, this traitor shall go before us. And he makes towards
• 3:12:03
  Mascue to brain him with the pistol. Shoot, shoot in the devil's name,
• 3:12:07
  screams Maskew, or I am a dead man. Then there came a
• 3:12:11
  flash of fire along the black line of silhouettes, with a crackle like a
• 3:12:16
  near peal of thunder, and a fut fut fut of bullets in the turf,
• 3:12:20
  And before Elzevir could get him in, Maskew had fallen over on the
• 3:12:22
  sward with a groan and with a little red hole in the middle of his
• 3:12:28
  forehead. Run for the cliff side, cried Elzevir, to me get close
• 3:12:31
  in and they cannot touch thee And he made for the chalk wall. But
• 3:12:37
  I had fallen on my knees like a bullock felled by a pole axe,
• 3:12:39
  and had a scorching pain in my left foot Elzevir looked back. What have
• 3:12:45
  they hit thee too? He said, and ran and picked me up like
• 3:12:48
  a child. And then there is another flash, and fut fut in the
• 3:12:52
  turf. But the shots find no billet this time, and we are lying
• 3:12:56
  close against the cliff, panting but safe. End of Chapter nine, Chapter
• 3:13:05
  ten, Part one, The Escape. How fearful and dizzy tis to cast
• 3:13:13
  one's eyes so low? I'll look no more lest my brains turn Shakespeare.
• 3:13:22
  The wild chalk was a bulwark between us and the foe. And though one
• 3:13:28
  or two of them loosed off their matchlocks trying to get out of sideways,
• 3:13:31
  they could not even see their quarry. And twas only shooting at a venture.
• 3:13:39
  We were safe, but for how short a time? Safe? Just
• 3:13:43
  for so long as it should please the soldiers not to come down to take
• 3:13:48
  us safe. With a discharged pistol in our grasp and a shot man lying
• 3:13:54
  at our feet. Elzevir was the first to speak, can you stand,
• 3:14:00
  John? Is the bone broken? I cannot stand, I said, There
• 3:14:05
  is something gone in my leg, and I feel blood running down into my
• 3:14:09
  boot. He knelt and rolled down the leg of my stocking. But though
• 3:14:16
  he only moved my foot, ever so little it caused me sharp pain,
• 3:14:20
  for feeling was coming back after the first numbness of the shot. They have
• 3:14:26
  broke the leg, though it bleeds little. Elzevir said, we have no
• 3:14:31
  time to splice it here, but I will put a kerchief round, and
• 3:14:35
  while I wrap it, listen to how we lie, and then choose what
• 3:14:37
  we shall do. I nodded, biting my lips hard to conceal the pain
• 3:14:43
  he gave me, and he went on, we have a quarter of an
• 3:14:48
  hour before the Posse can get down to us, but come they will,
• 3:14:52
  and thou canst judge what chance we have to save liberty or life with that
• 3:14:58
  carrion lying by us. And he jerked his thumb at miskew, though I
• 3:15:03
  am glad twas not my hand that sent him to his reckoning. And therefore
• 3:15:07
  do not blame thee if thou didst make me waste to charge in air.
• 3:15:11
  So one thing we can do is to wait here until they come, and
• 3:15:16
  I can account for a few of them before they shoot me down. But
• 3:15:20
  thou canst not fight with a broken leg, and they will take thee alive,
• 3:15:24
  and then there is a dance on air at Dorchester Jail. I felt
• 3:15:30
  sick with pain and bitterly cast down to think that I was like to come
• 3:15:35
  so soon to such a vile end. So only gave a sigh, wishing
• 3:15:39
  heartily that Maskew were not dead, and that my leg were not broke,
• 3:15:45
  but that I was back again at the why not or even hearing one of
• 3:15:48
  Doctor Sherlock's sermons in my aunt's parlor. Elzevir looked down at me when I
• 3:15:54
  sighed, and, seeing I suppose that I was sorrowful, tried to put
• 3:15:58
  a better face on a bad business. Forgive me, lad he said,
• 3:16:03
  if I have spoke too roughly, there is yet another way that we may
• 3:16:09
  try. And if thou hadst but two whole legs, I would have tried
• 3:16:13
  it. And now tis a little short of madness. And yet if thou
• 3:16:18
  fearest not, I will still try it. Just at the end of this
• 3:16:24
  flat ledge, farthest from where the bridle path leads down, but not one
• 3:16:28
  hundred yards from where we stand, there is a sheep track leading up the
• 3:16:33
  cliff. It starts where the undercliff dies back again into the chalk face,
• 3:16:39
  and climbs by slants and elbow turns up to the top. The shepherds call
• 3:16:45
  it the zigzag, and even sheep lose their footing on it. And of
• 3:16:50
  men I never heard, but one had climbed it, and that was Lander
• 3:16:54
  Jordan, when the excise was on his heels half a century back. But
• 3:16:58
  he that tries it stakes all on head and foot, and a wounded bird
• 3:17:03
  like thee may not dare that flight. Yet, if thou art content to
• 3:17:09
  hang thy life upon a hair, I will carry thee some way. And
• 3:17:13
  where there is no room to carry, thou must on hands and knees trail
• 3:17:16
  thy foot. It was a desperate chance enough, but came as welcome as
• 3:17:22
  a patch of blue through lowering skies. Yes, I said, dear Master
• 3:17:28
  Elzevir, let us get to it quickly, and if we fall, tis
• 3:17:33
  better far to die upon the rocks below than to wait here for them to
• 3:17:37
  hail us off to jail. And with that I tried to stand, thinking
• 3:17:41
  I might go dot and carry even with a broken leg. But twas no
• 3:17:46
  use, and down I sank with a groan. Then Elzevir caught me up,
• 3:17:52
  holding me in his arms, with my head looking over his back,
• 3:17:56
  and made off for the zigzag. As we slunk along close to the cliff
• 3:18:01
  side, I saw between the brambles maskew lying with his face turned up to
• 3:18:07
  the morning sky, and there was the little red hole in the middle of
• 3:18:11
  his forehead, and a thread of blood that welled up from it and trickled
• 3:18:15
  off on to the sword. It was a sight to stagger any man,
• 3:18:20
  and would have made me swoon, perhaps, but that there was no time,
• 3:18:24
  for we were at the end of the undercliff, and Elzevir set me
• 3:18:30
  down for a minute before he buckled to his task. And twas a task
• 3:18:33
  that might cow the bravest. And when I looked upon the zigzag, it
• 3:18:37
  seemed better to stay where we were and fall into the hands of the posse,
• 3:18:41
  than set foot on that awful way and fall upon the rocks below.
• 3:18:46
  For the zigzag started off as a fair enough chalk path, but in a
• 3:18:50
  few paces narrowed down till it was but a whiter thread against the gray white
• 3:18:56
  cliff face, and afterwards turn sharply back, crossing a hundred feet direct above
• 3:19:03
  our heads. And then I smelt an evil stench, and looking about,
• 3:19:07
  saw the blown out carcass of a rotting sheep. Lie close at hand.
• 3:19:13
  Fah, said Elzevir,'tis a poor beast has lost his foothold. It
• 3:19:20
  was an ill omen enough, and I said as much, beseeching him to
• 3:19:24
  make his own way up the zigzag and leave me where I was, for
• 3:19:28
  that they might have mercy on a boy. Tush, he cried, it
• 3:19:35
  is thy heart that fails THEE, and tis too late now to change counsel.
• 3:19:41
  We have fifteen minutes yet to win or lose with and if we gain
• 3:19:43
  the cliff top in that time, we shall have an hour's start or more,
• 3:19:48
  for they will take all that to search the undercliff. And Maskew too
• 3:19:54
  will keep them in check a little while they try to bring the life back
• 3:19:58
  to so good a man. But if we fall, why we shall fall
• 3:20:03
  together and outwit their cunning. So shut thy eyes and keep them tight until
• 3:20:09
  I bid THEE open them. With that, he caught me up again,
• 3:20:15
  and I shut my eyes firm, rebuking myself for my faint heartedness, and
• 3:20:20
  not telling him how much my foot hurt me. In a minute I knew
• 3:20:24
  from Elzevir's steps that he had left the turf and was upon the chalk.
• 3:20:30
  Now I do not believe that there were half a dozen men beside in England
• 3:20:33
  who would have ventured up that path, even free and untrammeled, and not
• 3:20:39
  a man in all the world to do it with a full grown lad in
• 3:20:41
  his arms. Yet Elzevir made no bones of it, nor spoke a single
• 3:20:48
  word. Only he went very slow, and I felt him scuffle with his
• 3:20:52
  foot as he set it forward, to make sure he was putting it down
• 3:20:56
  firm. I said nothing, not wishing to distract him from his terrible task,
• 3:21:03
  and held my breath when I could, so that I might lie wieter
• 3:21:07
  in his arms. Thus he went on for a time that seemed without end,
• 3:21:13
  and yet was really but a minute or two. And by degrees I
• 3:21:18
  felt the wind that we could scarce perceive it all on the under cliff,
• 3:21:20
  blow fresher and cold on the cliff side. And then the path grew steeper
• 3:21:26
  and steeper, and Elzevir went slower and slower, till at last he spoke,
• 3:21:35
  John, I am going to stop, but open not thy eyes till
• 3:21:39
  I have set thee down and bid thee. I did as bidden, and
• 3:21:45
  he lowered me gently, setting me on all fours upon the path, and
• 3:21:50
  speaking again, The path is too narrow here for me to carry thee,
• 3:21:54
  and thou must creep round this corner on thy hands and knees. But have
• 3:22:01
  a care to keep thy outer hand near to the inner, and the balance
• 3:22:03
  of thy body to the cliff, for there is no room to dance hornpipes
• 3:22:09
  here, and hold thy eyes fixed on the chalk wall, looking neither down
• 3:22:15
  nor seaward. Twas well he told me what to do, and well I
• 3:22:20
  did it. For when I opened my eyes, even without moving them from
• 3:22:22
  the cliff side, I saw that the ledge was little more than a foot
• 3:22:26
  wide, and that ever so little a lean of the body would dash me
• 3:22:31
  on the rocks below. So I crept on, but spent much time that
• 3:22:37
  was so precious, in traveling those ten yards to take me round the first
• 3:22:39
  elbow of the path. For my foot was heavy and gave me fierce pain
• 3:22:45
  to drag, though I tried to mask it from Elzevir, and he,
• 3:22:48
  forgetting what I suffered, cried out, quicken thy pace, lad if thou
• 3:22:52
  canst the time is short now, So frail is man's temper, that though
• 3:22:58
  he was doing more than any ever did to save another's life, and was
• 3:23:03
  all I had to trust to in the world. Yet, because he forgot
• 3:23:05
  my pain and bade me quicken, my collar rose, and I nearly gave
• 3:23:11
  him back an angry word, but thought better of it and kept it in.
• 3:23:15
  Then he told me to stop, for that the way grew wider and
• 3:23:18
  he would pick me up again. But here was another difficulty, for the
• 3:23:24
  path was still so narrow and the cliff wall so close that he could not
• 3:23:28
  take me up in his arms. So I lay flat on my face,
• 3:23:31
  and he stepped over me, setting his foot between my shoulders to do it.
• 3:23:37
  And then while he knelt down upon the path, I climbed up from
• 3:23:41
  behind him, putting my arms round his neck, and so he bore me
• 3:23:46
  pickaback. I shut my eyes firm again, and thus we moved along another's
• 3:23:50
  spell, mounting still and feeling the wind still freshening. At length, he
• 3:23:58
  said that we were come to the last turn of the path, and he
• 3:24:01
  must set me down once more. So down upon his knees and hands he
• 3:24:07
  went, and I slid off behind on to the ledge. Both were on
• 3:24:11
  all fours now, Elzevir first and I following. But as I crept along,
• 3:24:18
  I relaxed care for a moment, and my eyes wandered from the cliff
• 3:24:22
  side and looked down, and far below I saw the blue sea twinkling like
• 3:24:28
  a dazzling mirror, and the gulls wheeling about the sheer chalk wall. And
• 3:24:33
  then I thought of that bloated carcass of a sheep that had fallen from this
• 3:24:35
  very spot, perhaps, and in an instant felt a sickening qualm in swimming
• 3:24:41
  of the brain, and knew that I was giddy and must fall. Then
• 3:24:46
  I called out to Elzevir, and he, guessing what had come over me,
• 3:24:52
  cries to turn upon my side and press my belly to the cliff.
• 3:24:56
  And how he did it in such a narrow strait I know not, But
• 3:24:58
  he turned round, and, lying down himself, thrust his hand firmly in
• 3:25:03
  my back, pressing me closer to the cliff. Yet it was none too
• 3:25:07
  soon, for if he had not held me tight, I should have flung
• 3:25:11
  myself down in sheer despair to get quit of that dreadful sickness. Keep thine
• 3:25:18
  eyes shut, John, he said, and count up numbers loud to me
• 3:25:22
  that I may know thou art not turning faint. So I gave out one,
• 3:25:28
  two, three, And while I went on counting, heard him repeating
• 3:25:33
  to himself those words seemed thin and far off. We must have taken ten
• 3:25:39
  minutes to get here, and in five more they will be on the undercliff.
• 3:25:43
  And if we ever reach the top, who knows, But they have
• 3:25:46
  left a guard. No, no, they will not leave a guard,
• 3:25:50
  for not a man knows of the zigzag, and if they knew, they
• 3:25:56
  would not guess that we should try it. We have but fifty yards to
• 3:26:00
  go to wind, and now this cursed giddy fit has come upon the child,
• 3:26:05
  and he will fall and drag me with him, or they will see
• 3:26:07
  us from below and pick us off, like sitting guillemots against the cliff face.
• 3:26:13
  So he talked to himself, and all the while I would have given
• 3:26:18
  a world to pluck up heart and creep on farther, yet could not,
• 3:26:22
  for the deadly, sweating fear that had hold of me. Thus I lay
• 3:26:26
  with my face to the cliff, and Elzevir pushing firmly in my back.
• 3:26:31
  And the thing that frightened me most was that there was nothing at all for
• 3:26:35
  the hand to take hold of. For had there been a piece of string
• 3:26:39
  or even a thread of cotton stretched along to give a semblance of support.
• 3:26:43
  I think I could have done it, But there was only the cliff wall,
• 3:26:48
  sheer and white against that narrowest way, with never cranny to put a
• 3:26:52
  finger into. The wind was blowing in fresh puffs, and though I did
• 3:26:58
  not open my eyes, I knew that it was moving. The little tufts
• 3:27:01
  of bent grass, and the chiding cries of the gulls seem to invite me
• 3:27:05
  to be done with fear and pain and broken leg and fling myself off onto
• 3:27:09
  the rocks below. Then Elzevir spoke John. He said, there is no
• 3:27:16
  time to play the woman. Another minute of this and we are lost.
• 3:27:20
  Pluck up thy courage, keep thy eyes to the cliff and forward. Yet
• 3:27:26
  I could not, but answered I cannot. I cannot. If I open
• 3:27:31
  my eyes or move hand or foot, I shall fall on the rocks below.
• 3:27:37
  He waited a second and then said, nay, move thou must,
• 3:27:41
  and tis better to risk falling now than fall for certain with another bullet in
• 3:27:45
  thee later on. And with that he shifted his hand from my back and
• 3:27:50
  fixed it in my coat collar, moving backwards himself and setting to drag me
• 3:27:54
  after him. Now I was so beside with fright that I would not budge
• 3:28:01
  an inch, fearing to fall over if I opened my eyes. And Elzevir,
• 3:28:05
  for all he was so strong, could not pull a helpless lump backwards
• 3:28:09
  up that path. So he gave it up, leaving go hold on me
• 3:28:13
  with a groan. And at that moment there rose from the under cliff below
• 3:28:18
  a sound of voices and shouting zounds. They are down already, cried Elzevir,
• 3:28:24
  and have found Maskew's body. It is all up another minute and they
• 3:28:28
  will see us. But so strange is the force of mind on body,
• 3:28:33
  and the power of a greater to master a lesser fear that when I heard
• 3:28:37
  those voices from below, all fright of falling left me in a moment,
• 3:28:41
  and I could open my eyes without a trace of giddiness. So I began
• 3:28:46
  to move forward again on hands and knees, and Elzevir, seeing me,
• 3:28:50
  thought for a moment I had gone mad and was dragging myself over the cliff,
• 3:28:56
  but then saw how it was and moved backwards himself before me, saying
• 3:29:01
  in a low voice, brave lad once, creep round this turn, and
• 3:29:05
  I will pick thee up again. There is but fifty yards to go,
• 3:29:09
  and we shall foil these devils. Yet then we heard the voices again,
• 3:29:15
  but farther off and not so loud, and knew that our pursuers had left
• 3:29:20
  the under cliff, and turned down to the beach, thinking that we were
• 3:29:22
  hiding by the sea. Five minutes later Elzevir stepped on to the cliff top
• 3:29:28
  with me upon his back. We have made something of this throw, he
• 3:29:33
  said, and are safe for another hour, though I thought thy giddy head
• 3:29:37
  had ruined us. Then he put me gently upon the springing turf and lay
• 3:29:41
  down himself upon his back, stretching his arms out straight on either side and
• 3:29:46
  breathing hard to recover from the task he had performed. End of Chapter ten,
• 3:29:54
  Part one, Chapter ten, Part two. The day was still young,
• 3:30:01
  and far below us was stretched the moving floor of the channel with a
• 3:30:05
  silver gray film of night mists not yet lifted in the offing. A hummocky
• 3:30:11
  up and down line of cliffs, all projections, dense bais and hollows,
• 3:30:16
  trended southward till it ended in the great bluff of Saint Alban's Head, ten
• 3:30:20
  miles away. The cliff face was gleaming white, the sea tawny and shore
• 3:30:24
  but purest blue outside, with the straight sun path across it spangled and gleaming
• 3:30:30
  like a mackerel's back. The relief of being once more on firm ground,
• 3:30:35
  and the exultation of an escape from immediate danger, removed my pain and made
• 3:30:39
  me forget that my leg was broken. So I lay for a moment basking
• 3:30:43
  in the sun, and the wind, which a few minutes before threatened to
• 3:30:48
  blow me from that narrow ledge, seemed now but the gentlest of breezes,
• 3:30:52
  fresh with the breath of the kindly sea. But this was only for a
• 3:30:56
  moment, for the anguish came back and grew apace, and I fell to
• 3:31:00
  thinking dismally of the plight we were in, how things had been against us
• 3:31:05
  in these last days. First there was losing the why not, and that
• 3:31:09
  was bad enough. Second there was the being known by the excise for smugglers
• 3:31:15
  and perhaps for murderers. Third and last there was the breaking of my leg,
• 3:31:20
  which made escape so difficult. But most of all, there came before
• 3:31:24
  my eyes that gray face turned up against the morning sun, and I thought
• 3:31:28
  of all it meant for grace and would have given my own life to call
• 3:31:31
  back that of our worst enemy. Then Elzevir sat up, stretching himself like
• 3:31:39
  one waking out of a sleep, and said, we must be gone.
• 3:31:43
  They will not be back for some time yet, and when they come will
• 3:31:46
  not think to search closely for us hereabouts, but that we cannot risk and
• 3:31:50
  must get clear away. This leg of thine will keep us tied for weeks,
• 3:31:54
  and we must find some place where we can lie hid and tend it.
• 3:32:00
  Now I know such a hiding hole in Purbeck, which to call Joseph's
• 3:32:03
  Pit, and thither we must go. But it will take all the day
• 3:32:07
  to get there, for it is seven miles off, and I am older
• 3:32:11
  than I was, and thou too heavy a babe to carry over lightly.
• 3:32:16
  I did not know the pit he spoke of, but was glad to hear
• 3:32:18
  of some place, however, far off, where I could lie still and
• 3:32:22
  get ease from the pain. And so he took me in his arms again
• 3:32:26
  and started off across the fields. I need not tell of that weary journey,
• 3:32:31
  and indeed could not if I wished, for the pain went to my
• 3:32:35
  head and filled me with such a drowsy anguish that I knew nothing, except
• 3:32:39
  when some unlooked for movement gave me a sharper twinge and made me cry out.
• 3:32:43
  At first, Elzevir walked briskly, but as the day wore on,
• 3:32:48
  went slower, and was fain more than once to put me down and rest,
• 3:32:52
  till at last he could only carry me a hundred yards at a time.
• 3:32:56
  It was afternoon, for the sun was past the meridian and very hot
• 3:33:00
  for the time of year when the face of the country began to change,
• 3:33:03
  and instead of the short sward of the open down sprinkled with tiny white snail
• 3:33:07
  shells, the ground was brashy with flat stones, and divided up into tillage
• 3:33:11
  fields. It was a bleak, wide, bitten place, enough, looking
• 3:33:16
  as if twould never pay for turning, And instead of hedges there were dreary
• 3:33:22
  walls built of dry stone without mortar. Behind one of these walls broken down
• 3:33:26
  in places, but held together with straggling ivy and buttressed here and there with
• 3:33:31
  a bramble bush. Elzevir put me down at length and said, I am
• 3:33:35
  beat and can carry thee no farther for this present, though there is not
• 3:33:39
  now much farther to go. We have passed Purbeck gates, and these walls
• 3:33:45
  will screen us from prying eyes if any chance comer passed along the down.
• 3:33:50
  And as for the soldiers, they are not like to come this way so
• 3:33:52
  soon, And if they come, I cannot help it, for weariness and
• 3:33:58
  the sun's heat have made my feet like life. A score of years ago
• 3:34:01
  I would have laughed at such a task, But now tis different, and
• 3:34:05
  I must take a little sleep and rest to the airs cooler. So sit
• 3:34:09
  thee here and lean thy shoulder up against the wall. And thus thou canst
• 3:34:13
  look through this broken place and watch both ways. Then if thou see aught
• 3:34:20
  moving, wake me up. I wish I had a thimbleful of powder to
• 3:34:24
  make this whistle sound. And he took Maskew's silver butted pistol again from his
• 3:34:28
  bosom and handled it lovingly. Tis like my evil luck to carry firearms thirty
• 3:34:33
  years and leave them at home at a pinch like this. With that,
• 3:34:37
  he flung himself down where there was a narrow shadow close against the bottom of
• 3:34:41
  the wall, And in a minute I knew from his heavy breathing that he
• 3:34:46
  was asleep. The wind had freshened much, and was blowing strong from the
• 3:34:50
  west, and now that I was under the lee of the wall, I
• 3:34:54
  began to perceive that drowsiness creeping upon me, which overtakes a man who's meant
• 3:35:00
  hassled for an hour or two by the wind, and gets at length into
• 3:35:03
  the shelter. Moreover, though I was not tired by grievous toil like Elzevir,
• 3:35:09
  I had passed a night without sleep, and felt besides the weariness of
• 3:35:13
  pain to lull me to slumber. So it was that before a quarter of
• 3:35:16
  an hour was past, I had much to do to keep awake. For
• 3:35:20
  all I knew that I was left on guard. Then I sought something to
• 3:35:24
  fix my thoughts, and, looking on that side of the wall where the
• 3:35:26
  sward was, fell to counting the mole hills that were cast up in numbers
• 3:35:31
  thereabout. And when I had exhausted them and reckoned up thirty little heaps of
• 3:35:35
  dry and powdery brown earth that lay at random on the green turf, I
• 3:35:39
  turned my eyes to the tillage field on the other side of the wall,
• 3:35:43
  and saw the inch high blades of corn coming up between the stones. Then
• 3:35:48
  I fell to counting the blades, feeling glad to have discovered a reckoning that
• 3:35:52
  would not be exhausted at thirty, but would go on for millions and millions
• 3:35:56
  and millions. And before I had reached ten in so heroic ans was fast
• 3:36:01
  asleep. A sharp noise woke me with a start that set the pain tingling
• 3:36:05
  in my leg. And though I could see nothing, I knew that a
• 3:36:09
  shot had been fired very near us. I was for waking Elzevir, but
• 3:36:13
  he was already full awake, and put a finger on his lip to show
• 3:36:16
  I should not speak. Then he crept a few paces down the wall to
• 3:36:20
  where an ivy bush overtopped it enough for him to look through the leaves without
• 3:36:24
  being seen. He dropped down again with a look of relief and said,
• 3:36:28
  'tis but a lad scaring rooks with a blunderbuss. We will not stir unless
• 3:36:33
  he makes this way. A minute later he said, the boy is coming
• 3:36:37
  straight for the wall. We shall have to show ourselves. And while he
• 3:36:41
  spoke, there was a rattle of falling stones where the boy was partly climbing
• 3:36:45
  and partly pulling down the dry wall, and so Elzevir stood up. The
• 3:36:48
  boy looked frightened and made as if he would run off, but Elzevir passed
• 3:36:54
  him the time of day in a civil voice, and he stopped and gave
• 3:36:56
  it back. What are you doing here, block asked, scaring rooks for
• 3:37:03
  farmer topp was the answer. Have you got a charge of powder to spare?
• 3:37:07
  Said Elzevir, showing his pistol. I want to get a rabbit in
• 3:37:11
  the gorse for supper, and have dropped my flask. Maybe you've seen a
• 3:37:15
  flask in walking through the furrows. He whispered to me to lie still so
• 3:37:20
  that it might not be perceived. My leg was broken, and the boy
• 3:37:22
  replied, no, I have seen no flask, but very like have not
• 3:37:28
  come the same way as you, being sent out here from lower Moine.
• 3:37:31
  And as for powder, I have little left and must save that for the
• 3:37:35
  rooks, or shall get a beating for my pains? Come, said Elzevir,
• 3:37:39
  give me a charge or two, and there is half a crown for
• 3:37:41
  thee. And he took the coin out of his pocket and showed it.
• 3:37:46
  The boy's eyes twinkled, and so would mine it so valuable a piece,
• 3:37:50
  And he took out from his pocket a battered cowskin flask, give flask,
• 3:37:54
  and all said Elzevir, And thou shalt have a crown, and he showed
• 3:37:58
  him the larger coin. No time was wasted in words. Elzevir had the
• 3:38:03
  flask in his pocket, and the boy was biting the crown. What shot
• 3:38:07
  have you, said Elzevir. What have you dropped? Your shot? Flask
• 3:38:11
  too, asked the boy, and his voice had something of surprise in it.
• 3:38:16
  Nay, but my shot are over small. If thou hast a slug
• 3:38:20
  or two, I would take them. I have a dozen goose slugs,
• 3:38:24
  number two, said the boy. But that must pay a shilling for them,
• 3:38:28
  my master says, I never am to use them, except I see
• 3:38:31
  a swan or a buzzard or something fit to cook. Come over. I
• 3:38:33
  shall get a sound beating for my pains, And to be beat is worth
• 3:38:37
  a shilling. If thou art beat be beat for something more, said Elzevir.
• 3:38:41
  The tempter. Give me that firelock that thou carriest, and take a
• 3:38:46
  guinea. Nay, I know not, said the boy. There are queer
• 3:38:50
  tails afloat at lower Moyne. How that a posse met the contraband this morning,
• 3:38:54
  and shots were fired, and a gager got an overdose of lead,
• 3:38:58
  may be of goose slugs number two. The smugglers got off clear. But
• 3:39:01
  they say the hue and cry is up already, and that a head price
• 3:39:05
  will be fixed of twenty pound. So if I sell you a fowling piece,
• 3:39:09
  maybe I shall do wrong and have the government upon me as well as
• 3:39:11
  my master. The surprise in his voice was changed to suspicion, for while
• 3:39:16
  he spoke, I saw that his eye had fallen on my foot, though
• 3:39:20
  I tried to keep it in the shadow, and that he saw the boot
• 3:39:22
  clotted with blood, and the kerchief tied around my leg. Tis for that
• 3:39:28
  very reason, says Elzevir, that I want the firelock. These smugglers are
• 3:39:31
  roaming loose, and a pistol is a poor thing to stop such wicked rascals
• 3:39:35
  on a lone hillside. Come, Come, thou dost not want a piece
• 3:39:39
  to guard thee They will not hurt a boy. He had the guinea between
• 3:39:43
  his finger and thumb, and the gleam of the gold was too strong to
• 3:39:46
  be withstood. So we gained a sorry matchlock, slugs and powder, and
• 3:39:52
  the boy walked off over the furrow, whistling with his hand in his pocket,
• 3:39:56
  and a guinea and a crown piece in his hand. His whistles sound
• 3:40:00
  innocent enough, yet I mistrusted him, having caught his eye while he was
• 3:40:03
  looking at my bloody foot, And so I said as much to Elzevir,
• 3:40:05
  who only laughed, saying the boy was simple and harmless. But from where
• 3:40:11
  I sat, I could peep out through the brambles in the open gap and
• 3:40:13
  see without being seen. And there was my young gentleman, walking carelessly enough
• 3:40:18
  and whistling like any birds, so long as Elzevir's head was above the wall.
• 3:40:22
  But when Elzevir sat down, the boy gave a careful look round,
• 3:40:26
  and, seeing no one watching any more, dropped his whistling and made off
• 3:40:30
  as fast as his heels would carry him. Then I knew that he had
• 3:40:33
  guessed who we were, and was off to warn the hue and cry.
• 3:40:37
  But before Elzevir was on his feet again, the boy was out of sight
• 3:40:41
  over the hill. Brow. Let us move on, said block tis but
• 3:40:45
  a little distance now to go, and the heat is past already. We
• 3:40:48
  must have slept three hours or more for thou art, But of sorry,
• 3:40:52
  watchman John,'tis when the sentry sleeps that the enemy laughs, and for
• 3:40:56
  thee the posse might have had us both like daylight owls. With that,
• 3:41:01
  he took me on his back and made off with the lusty stride, keeping
• 3:41:05
  as much as possible under the brow of the hill and in the shelter of
• 3:41:07
  the walls. We had slept longer than we thought, for the sun was
• 3:41:11
  westering fast, and though the rest had refreshed me, my leg had grown
• 3:41:16
  stiff and hurt the more in dangling. When we started again, Elzevir was
• 3:41:20
  still walking strongly in spite of the heavy burden he carried, And in less
• 3:41:24
  than half an hour I knew, though I had never been there before,
• 3:41:28
  we were in the land of the old marble quarries at the back of Anvil
• 3:41:31
  Point. Although I knew little of these quarries, and certainly was an evil
• 3:41:35
  plight to take note of anything at that time, yet afterwards I learnt much
• 3:41:39
  about them. Out of such excavations comes that black Purbeck marble, which you
• 3:41:43
  see in old churches in our country, and I am told in other parts
• 3:41:48
  of England as well. And the way of making a marble quarry is to
• 3:41:50
  sink a tunnel slanting very steeply down into the earth, like a well turned
• 3:41:56
  askew, till you reach fifty seventy or perhaps one hundred feet deep. Then
• 3:42:01
  from the bottom of the shaft there spread out narrow passages or tunnels, mostly
• 3:42:05
  six feet high, but sometimes only three or four, and in these the
• 3:42:09
  marble is dug. These quarries were made by men centuries ago, some say
• 3:42:13
  by the Romans themselves, and though some are still worked in other parts of
• 3:42:18
  Purbeck, those at the back of Anvil Point have been disused beyond the memory
• 3:42:22
  of man. We had left the stony village fields, and the face of
• 3:42:26
  the country was covered once more with the closest sward, which was just putting
• 3:42:30
  on the brighter green of spring. This turf was not smooth, but hummocky,
• 3:42:35
  for under it lay heaps of worthless stone and marble drawn out of the
• 3:42:37
  quarries ages ago, which the green vestment had covered for the most part,
• 3:42:43
  though it left sometimes a little patch of broken rubble peering out at the top
• 3:42:46
  of the mound. There were many tumble down walls and low gables left at
• 3:42:50
  the cottages of the old quarrymen. Grass covered ridges marked out the little garden
• 3:42:56
  folds, and here and there still stood a forlorn gooseberry bush, or a
• 3:43:01
  stunted plum or apple tree, with its branches all swept eastward by the up
• 3:43:05
  channel gales. As for the quarry shafts themselves, they too were covered around
• 3:43:09
  the tips with the green turf, and down them led a narrow flight of
• 3:43:13
  steep cut steps, with a slide of soapstone at the side, on which
• 3:43:18
  the marble blocks were once hauled up by wooden winches. Down these steps no
• 3:43:22
  feet ever walked. Now, for not only were suffocating gases said to beset
• 3:43:26
  the bottom of these shafts, but men would have it that in the narrow
• 3:43:30
  passages below lurked evil spirits and demons. One who ought to know about such
• 3:43:35
  things told me that when Saint Aldhelm first came to Purbeck, he bound the
• 3:43:39
  old pagan gods under a ban deep in these passages. But that the worst
• 3:43:43
  of all the crew was a certain demon called the man Drive, who walked
• 3:43:48
  over the best of the black marble. And that was why such marble might
• 3:43:52
  only be used in churches or for graves, For if it were not for
• 3:43:56
  this holy purpose, the band Drive would have power to strangle the man that
• 3:44:00
  hewed it. It was by the side of one of these old shafts that
• 3:44:03
  Elzevir laid me down. At last. The light was very low, showing
• 3:44:07
  all the little unevenness of the turf, and the sward crept over the edges
• 3:44:11
  of the hole, and every crack and crevice in steps and slide was green
• 3:44:16
  with ferns. The green ferns shrouded the walls of the hole, and ruddy
• 3:44:20
  brown brambles overgrew the steps, till all was lost in the gloom that hung
• 3:44:24
  at the bottom of the pit. Elzevir drew a deep breath or two of
• 3:44:28
  the cool evening air, like a man who has come through a difficult trial.
• 3:44:33
  There he said, this is Joseph's pit, and here we must lie
• 3:44:37
  hid until thy foot is sound again. Once get to the bottom safe,
• 3:44:41
  and we can laugh at posse and hue and cry, and at the King's
• 3:44:43
  crown itself. They cannot search all the quarries, and are not like to
• 3:44:48
  search any of them, for they are cowards at the best, and hang
• 3:44:52
  much on tails of the band drive Aye, and such tails are true enough
• 3:44:56
  for their alert gases. At the bottom of most of the shafts like devils
• 3:45:00
  to strangle any that go down. And if they do come down this Joseph's
• 3:45:03
  pit, we still have nineteen chances in a score. They cannot thread the
• 3:45:07
  workings. But last, if they come down and thread the path, there
• 3:45:13
  is his pistol and a rusty matchlock. And before they come to where we
• 3:45:16
  lie, we can hold the troop at bay and sell our lives so dear
• 3:45:20
  they will not care to buy them. We waited a few minutes, and
• 3:45:24
  then he took me in his arms and began to descend the steps back first
• 3:45:28
  as one goes down a hatchway. The sun was setting in a heavy bank
• 3:45:33
  of clouds just as we began to go down, and I could not help
• 3:45:37
  remembering how I had seen it set over Peaceful Moonfleet only twenty four hours ago,
• 3:45:41
  and how far off we were now, and how long it was likely
• 3:45:45
  to be before I saw that dear village and grace again. The stairs were
• 3:45:50
  still sharp cut and little worn, but Elzevir paid great care to his feet
• 3:45:54
  lest he should slip on the ferns and mosses with which they were overgrown.
• 3:45:58
  When we reached the bramble, he met them with his back, and though
• 3:46:01
  I heard the thorns tearing his coat, he shoved them aside with his broad
• 3:46:05
  shoulders and screened my dangling leg from getting caught. Thus he came safe without
• 3:46:11
  stumble to the bottom of the pit. When we got there, all was
• 3:46:15
  dark, but he stepped off into a narrow opening on the right hand and
• 3:46:18
  walked on as if he knew the way. I could see nothing, but
• 3:46:24
  perceived that we were passing through endless galleries cut in the solid rock, high
• 3:46:28
  enough for the most part to allow of walking upright, but sometimes so low
• 3:46:33
  as to force him to bend down and carry me in a very constrained attitude.
• 3:46:37
  Only twice did he set me down at a turning while he took out
• 3:46:41
  his tinder box and lit a match. But at length the darkness became less
• 3:46:46
  dark, and I saw that we were in a large cave or room,
• 3:46:48
  into which the light came through some opening at the far end. At the
• 3:46:52
  same time, I felt a colder breath and fresh salt smell in the air
• 3:46:56
  that told me we were very near the sea. End of Chapter ten,
• 3:47:03
  Chapter eleven. The sea cave, the dull loneness, the black shade that
• 3:47:09
  these hanging vaults have made the strange music of the waves beating on these hollow
• 3:47:15
  caves. Whither he set me down in one corner, where was some loose,
• 3:47:20
  dry silver sand upon the floor, which others had perhaps used for a
• 3:47:24
  resting place before. Thou must lie here for a month or two. Lad,
• 3:47:30
  he said, tis a mean bed, but I have known many worse,
• 3:47:33
  and will get straw to morrow if I can, and to better it.
• 3:47:37
  I had eaten nothing all day, nor had Elzevir. Yet I felt
• 3:47:41
  no hunger, only a giddiness and burning thirst, like that which came upon
• 3:47:45
  me when I was shut in the Mahoon vault. So it was very music
• 3:47:48
  to me to hear a pat and splash of water dropping from the roof into
• 3:47:52
  a little pool upon the floor. And Elzevir made a cup out of my
• 3:47:56
  hat and gave a fool drink of it that was icy cool, and more
• 3:48:00
  delicious than any smuggled wine of France. And after that I knew little that
• 3:48:05
  happened for ten days or more, for fever had hold of me, and
• 3:48:09
  as I learnt afterwards, I talked wild, and could scarce be restrained from
• 3:48:13
  jumping up and loosing the bindings that Elzevir had put upon my leg, and
• 3:48:18
  all that time he nursed me as tenderly as any mother could her child,
• 3:48:24
  and never left the cave except when he was forced to seek food. But
• 3:48:30
  after the fever passed he left me very thin, as I could see from
• 3:48:33
  hands and arms, and weaker than a baby. And I used to lie
• 3:48:37
  the whole day, not thinking much nor troubling about anything, but eating what
• 3:48:43
  was given me, and drawing a quiet pleasure from the knowledge that strength was
• 3:48:46
  gradually returning. Elzevir had found a battered sea chest up on Peveril point,
• 3:48:52
  and from the side of it made splints to set my leg, using his
• 3:48:56
  own shirt for bandages. The sand bed, too was made more soft and
• 3:49:01
  easy with some armfuls of straw, And among corener of the cave was a
• 3:49:05
  little pile of driftwood and an iron cooking pot. And all these things said
• 3:49:09
  Elzevir got by foraging of knights, using great care that none should see him,
• 3:49:15
  and taking only what would not be much missed or thought about. But
• 3:49:18
  soon he contrived to give Ratsey word of where we were, and after that
• 3:49:24
  the sexton fended for us, though none even of the landers knew what was
• 3:49:28
  become of us, save only Ratsey, and he never came down the quarry,
• 3:49:33
  but would leave what he brought in one of the ruined cottages a half
• 3:49:35
  mile from the shaft. And all the while there was strict search being made
• 3:49:41
  for us, and mounted excise men scarring the country. For though at first
• 3:49:46
  the posse took back Maskew's dead body and said we must have fallen over the
• 3:49:50
  cliff, for there was nothing to be found of us, yet afterwards a
• 3:49:54
  farm boy brought a tail of how he had come suddenly on men lurking under
• 3:49:58
  a wall, and how one had a bloody foot and leg, and had
• 3:50:01
  the others sprung upon him, and after a fierce struggle, wrenched his master's
• 3:50:03
  rook piece from his hands, rifled his pocket of a powder horn, and
• 3:50:07
  made off with them like a hare, towards Kauf. And as to Maskew,
• 3:50:13
  some of the soldiers said that Elzevir had shot him, and others that
• 3:50:16
  he died by misadventure, being killed by a stray bullet of one of his
• 3:50:20
  own men on the hilltop. But for all that they put a head price
• 3:50:24
  on Elzevir of fifty and twenty for me, so we had reason to lie
• 3:50:28
  close. It must have been Maskew that listened that night at the door when
• 3:50:33
  Elzevir told me the hour at which the cargo was to be run, for
• 3:50:35
  the posse had been ordered to be at Hoarhead at four in the morning,
• 3:50:39
  so all the gang would have been taken had it not been for the Galda
• 3:50:43
  making earlier and the soldiers been delayed by tippling at the lobster. All this
• 3:50:50
  Elzevir learnt from Ratsey and told me to pass the time, though in truth
• 3:50:54
  I had, as lief not heard it, for tis no pleasant thing to
• 3:50:56
  see one's head wrote down so low as twenty. And what I wanted most
• 3:51:01
  to know, namely how Grace fared and how she took the bad news of
• 3:51:05
  her father's death, I could not hear, for Elzevir said nothing, and
• 3:51:11
  I was shy to ask him. Now, when I came entirely to myself
• 3:51:15
  and was able to take stock of things, I found that the place in
• 3:51:18
  which I lay was a cave some eight yards square and three in height,
• 3:51:22
  whose straight cut walls showed that men had once hewn stone. Therefrom on one
• 3:51:28
  side was that passage through which we had come in, and on the other
• 3:51:31
  opened a sort of door which gave on to a stone ledge eight fathoms above
• 3:51:35
  high water mark. For the cave was cut out just inside that arm cliff
• 3:51:41
  face which lies between Saint Alban's Head and Swanage. But the cliffs here are
• 3:51:46
  different from those on the other side of the head, being neither so high
• 3:51:48
  as Hoarhead, nor of chalk, but standing for the most part only a
• 3:51:52
  hundred or one hundred fifty feet above the sea, and showing towards it a
• 3:51:56
  stern face of solid rock. But though they rise not so high above the
• 3:52:01
  water, they go down a long way below it, so that there is
• 3:52:05
  fifty fathom right up to the cliff, And many a good craft, out
• 3:52:09
  of reckoning in fog or on a pitch dark night, has run full against
• 3:52:13
  that frowning wall, and perished ship and crew without a soul to hear their
• 3:52:18
  cries. Yet though the rock looks hard as adamant, the eternal washing of
• 3:52:22
  the wave has worn it out below, And even with the slightest dwell there
• 3:52:28
  is a dull and distant booming of the surge in those cavernous deeps. And
• 3:52:33
  when the wind blows fresh, each roller smites the cliff like a thunder clap,
• 3:52:37
  till even the living rock trembles again. It was on a ledge of
• 3:52:43
  that rock face that our cave opened, And sometimes on a fine day,
• 3:52:46
  Elzevir would carry me out thither, so that I might sun myself and see
• 3:52:50
  all the moving channel without myself being seen. For this ledge was carved out
• 3:52:56
  something like a balcony, so that when the quarry was in working, they
• 3:52:58
  could learn the stone by pulleys to boats lying underneath, and perhaps haul up
• 3:53:03
  a keg or two by the way of ballast, as might be guessed by
• 3:53:05
  the stanchions still rusting in the rock. Such was this gallery, and as
• 3:53:11
  with the inside of the cave, twas a great empty room, with a
• 3:53:16
  white floor made up of broken stone, dust trodden hard of old till one
• 3:53:20
  would say it was plaster and dry, without those sweaty damps so often seen
• 3:53:24
  in such places. Save only in one corner a land spring dropped from the
• 3:53:30
  roof, trickling down over spiky rock icicles and falling into a little hollow in
• 3:53:35
  the floor. This basin had been scooped out of set purpose with a gutter
• 3:53:39
  seaward for the overflow and round it, and on the wet patch of the
• 3:53:43
  roof above grew a garden of ferns and other clinging plants. The weeks moved
• 3:53:50
  on until we were in the middle of May, when even the nights were
• 3:53:54
  no longer cold, as the sun gathered par and with the warmer days,
• 3:53:58
  my stretrength to increased, And though I dared not yet stand, my leg
• 3:54:03
  had ceased to pain me, except for some sharp twinges now and then,
• 3:54:09
  WHI Jervisier said were caused by the bone setting. And then he who put
• 3:54:13
  a poultice made of grass upon the place, and once ought almost as far
• 3:54:16
  as children to pluck sorrel for a soothing mash. Now there he had gone
• 3:54:22
  out, and in so many times in safety. Yet I was always ill
• 3:54:26
  at ease when he was away, lest he might fall into some ambush and
• 3:54:28
  never come back. Nor was it any thought of what would come to me
• 3:54:33
  if he were caught that grieved me, but any care for him, for
• 3:54:37
  I had come to lean in everything upon this grim and grizzled giant, and
• 3:54:41
  love him like a father. So when he was away I took to reading
• 3:54:46
  to bigar My thoughts, but found little choice of matter, having only my
• 3:54:50
  aunt's read prayer book that I thrust into my bosom the afternoon that I left
• 3:54:54
  Moonfleet, and blackbeards lock it. For that locket hung always round my ne
• 3:55:00
  and I often had the parchment out and read it, unton that I did
• 3:55:03
  not know it now by heart, but because reading it seemed to bring grace
• 3:55:07
  to my thoughts. For the last time I had read it was when I
• 3:55:11
  saw her in the manor woods. Elzevir and I had often talked over what
• 3:55:16
  was to be done when my leg should be sound again, and resolved to
• 3:55:20
  take passage to Saint Marlo in the Bonaventure, and there lie hid till the
• 3:55:24
  pursuit against us should have ceased. For though twas wartime, French and English
• 3:55:30
  were as brothers in the contraband, and the Shippers would give us bit and
• 3:55:33
  sup and glad to as long as we had need of them. But of
• 3:55:37
  this I need not say more, because twas but a project which other events
• 3:55:43
  came in to overturn. It was this very errand, namely to fix with
• 3:55:48
  the Bonovitch's men the time to take us over to the other side. That
• 3:55:52
  Elzevir had gone out on the day of which I shall now speak. He
• 3:55:56
  was to go to pool, and left our cave in the afternoon, thinking
• 3:55:58
  it to keep along the cliff edge even in the daylight, and to strike
• 3:56:03
  across country when dusk came on. The wind had blown fresh all the morning
• 3:56:07
  from southwest, and after Elzevir had left, strengthened to a gale. My
• 3:56:13
  leg was now so strong that I could walk across the cave with the help
• 3:56:16
  of a stout blackthorn that Elzevir had cut me. And so I went out
• 3:56:20
  that afternoon onto the ledge to watch the growing sea. There I sat down
• 3:56:24
  with my back against a protecting rock, in such a place that I could
• 3:56:28
  see up channel, and yet shelter from the rushing wind. The sky was
• 3:56:33
  overcast, and the long wall of rock showed gray with orange brown patches,
• 3:56:37
  and a darker line of seaweed at the base, like the under streak of
• 3:56:41
  a bright's belly. For the tide was but beginning to make There was a
• 3:56:46
  mist, half fog, half spray scudding before the wind, and through it
• 3:56:50
  I could see the white backed rollers lifting over Peveril Point, while all on
• 3:56:54
  the cliff face the sea. Birds thronged the ledges and sat huddled in snowy
• 3:57:00
  lines, knowing the mischief that was brewing in the elements. It was a
• 3:57:05
  melancholy scene and bred melancholy in my heart. And about sundown the wind south
• 3:57:09
  to point or two, setting the sea more against the cliff, so that
• 3:57:13
  the spray began to fly even over my ledge, and drove me back into
• 3:57:16
  the cave. The night came on much sooner than usual, and before long
• 3:57:22
  I was lying on my straw bed in perfect darkness. The wind had gone
• 3:57:26
  still more to south and was screaming through the opening of the cave. The
• 3:57:30
  caverns down below bellowed and rumbled. Every now and then a giant roller struck
• 3:57:33
  the rock such a blow as to make the cave tremble, and in the
• 3:57:37
  second later there would fall, splattering on the ledge outside, the heavy spray
• 3:57:43
  that had been lifted by the impact. I have said that I was melancholy,
• 3:57:48
  but worse followed, for I grew timid and fearful of the wild night,
• 3:57:52
  and the loneliness and the darkness, and all sorts of evil tales came
• 3:57:56
  to my mind, and I thought much of baleful heath, even gods that
• 3:58:01
  Saint Aldham had banished to these underground cellars, and of the mandrive who leapt
• 3:58:05
  on people in the dark and strangled them. And then fancy played another trick
• 3:58:09
  on me, and I seemed to see a man lying on the cave floor
• 3:58:11
  with a drawn white face upturned and a red hole in the forehead. And
• 3:58:16
  at last could bear the dark no longer, but got up with my lame
• 3:58:18
  leg and graped round till I found a candle, for we had but two
• 3:58:22
  or three in store, twas only with much ado I got it lit and
• 3:58:26
  set up in the corner of the cave, And then I sat down close
• 3:58:30
  by, trying to screen it with my coat. But do what I would,
• 3:58:33
  the wind came gusting round the corner, blowing the flame to one side
• 3:58:37
  and making the candle gutter, as another candle guttered on that black day at
• 3:58:41
  the why not? And so thought whisked round till I saw Maskew's face wearing
• 3:58:46
  a look of evil triumph when the pin fell at the auction, and again
• 3:58:50
  his face grew deadly pale, and there was the bullet mark on his brow.
• 3:58:56
  Surely there were evil spirits in this place to leave my thoughts so much
• 3:58:58
  as And then there came to my mind that locket on my neck, which
• 3:59:03
  men had once hung round blackbeards to scare evil spirits from his tomb. If
• 3:59:07
  it could frighten them from him, might it not rout them now and make
• 3:59:11
  them fly from me? And with that thought I took the parchment out,
• 3:59:15
  and, opening it before the flickering light. Although I knew all word for
• 3:59:18
  word, conned it over again and read it out aloud. It was a
• 3:59:24
  relief to hear a human voice, even though twas nothing but my own.
• 3:59:26
  And I took to shouting the words, having much ado even so, to
• 3:59:30
  make them heard. For the raging of the storm. The days of our
• 3:59:33
  age are threescore years and ten. And though men be so strong that they
• 3:59:39
  come to fourscore years, yet it is their strength then, but labor and
• 3:59:43
  sorrow so soon passeth it away, and we are gone. And as for
• 3:59:48
  me, my feet were almost at the almost I stopped being brought up suddenly
• 3:59:54
  with a fierce beat of blood through my veins and a jump fit to burst
• 3:59:58
  them. For I had heard a scuffling noise the passage that led to the
• 4:00:01
  cave, as if some one had stumbled against the loose stone in the dark.
• 4:00:05
  I did not know then, but have learnt since that when there is
• 4:00:07
  a loud noise, such as the roaring of a cascade, the churning of
• 4:00:11
  a mill, or as here the rage and bluster of a storm, if
• 4:00:15
  there arise some different sound, even though it be as slight as the whistle
• 4:00:18
  of a bird, twill strike the ear clear above the general din. And
• 4:00:24
  so it was this night, for I caught that stumbling tread even when the
• 4:00:26
  gale blew loudest, and sat motionless and breathless in my eagerness of listening.
• 4:00:33
  And then the gale lulled an instant and I heard the slow beat of footsteps,
• 4:00:37
  as of one grouping his way down the passage in the dark. I
• 4:00:41
  knew it was not Elzevir, for first, he could not be back from
• 4:00:43
  pool for many hours yet, and second he was whistled in a certain way
• 4:00:48
  to show twas he coming, and gave besides a password. If not Elzevir,
• 4:00:52
  who could it be. I blew out the light, for I did
• 4:00:56
  not want to guide the aim of some unknown marksmen shooting at me from the
• 4:00:58
  dark. And then I thought of that gaunt strangler that sprang on marble workers
• 4:01:03
  in the gloom. Yet it could not be the man Drive, for surely
• 4:01:07
  he would know his own passages better than to stumble in them in the dark.
• 4:01:11
  It was more likely to be one of the Hue and Cry, who
• 4:01:13
  had smelt us out and hoped perhaps to be able to reconnoiter without being perceived
• 4:01:16
  on so awful a night. Whenever Elzevir went out foraging, he carried with
• 4:01:22
  him that silver butted pistol, which would once be Maskew's, but left behind
• 4:01:24
  the old rook piece. We had plenty of powder and slugs, now,
• 4:01:28
  having obtained a store of both from Ratsey, and Elzevir had bid me keep
• 4:01:31
  the matchlock charged and use it or not after my own judgment if any came
• 4:01:35
  to the cave. But gave us his counsel that it was better to die
• 4:01:39
  fighting than to swing at Dorchester, for that we should most certainly do if
• 4:01:43
  taken. We had agreed moreover on a poor password, which was prosper the
• 4:01:48
  bonadventure, so that I might challenge Betimes any that I heard coming, and
• 4:01:54
  if they gave not back this countersign might know it was not Elzevir. So
• 4:01:58
  now I reached out for the piece which lay beside me on the floor,
• 4:02:01
  and scrambled to my feet, lifting the deckle in the darkness, and feeding
• 4:02:05
  with my fingers in the pan to see twas full of powder. The lull
• 4:02:09
  in the storm still lasted, and I heard the footsteps advancing, though with
• 4:02:13
  uncertain slowness, And once, after a heavy stumble, I thought I caught
• 4:02:18
  a muttered oath, as if some one had struck his foot against a stone.
• 4:02:22
  Then I shouted out, clear in the darkness, say who goes there?
• 4:02:26
  That rang again through the stone roofs. The footset stopped. There was
• 4:02:30
  no answer, who goes there? I repeated, answer, or I far
• 4:02:35
  prosper. The bonadventure came back out of the darkness, and I knew that
• 4:02:39
  I was safe. The devil take thee for a hot blooded young bantam to
• 4:02:43
  shoot thy best friend with powder and ball, that he was full enough to
• 4:02:46
  give thee. And by this time I guessed twas Master Ratsey, and recognized
• 4:02:50
  his voice. I would have let thee hear soon enough that twas I,
• 4:02:54
  if i'd known I was so near thy lair. But tis more than a
• 4:02:58
  man's life is worth the creek, dumb mole holes in the dark, and
• 4:03:01
  on a light like this, who I could not get out the gibberish about
• 4:03:05
  the bottomveture sooner was because I matched my shin to break a stone and lost
• 4:03:09
  the wager and my breath together, and where my wind returned. Twis very
• 4:03:13
  like that I was trapped into an oath, which is sad enough for me,
• 4:03:16
  who am sexton, and sought to say in small orders of the Church
• 4:03:18
  of England, as by law established. By the time I put down the
• 4:03:24
  gun and coaxed the candle again to light, Ratsy stepped into the cave.
• 4:03:28
  He wore a sour wester and was dripping with wet, but seemed glad to
• 4:03:31
  see me, and shook me by the hand. He was welcome enough to
• 4:03:35
  me also, for he banished the dreadful loneliness, and his coming was a
• 4:03:39
  bit out of my old pleasant life that lay so far away, and seemed
• 4:03:43
  to bring me once more within reach of some the but dearest end of Chapter
• 4:03:50
  eleven, Chapter twelve, Part one a funeral, How he lies in his
• 4:03:58
  rights of a man. Death has done all death can Browning. We stood
• 4:04:05
  for a moment holding one another's hands, then Ratsey spoke John, these two
• 4:04:11
  months have changed Thee from boy to man. Thou wast a child when I
• 4:04:15
  turned that morning as we went up Hoarhead with the pack horses, and looked
• 4:04:18
  back on Thee and Elzevir below a maskew lying on the ground. Twas a
• 4:04:24
  sorry business and has broken up the finest gang that ever rung a cargo.
• 4:04:28
  Besides driving Thee and Elzevir to hide in caves and dens of the earth,
• 4:04:33
  Thou shouldst have come with us that morn, not have stayed behind. The
• 4:04:37
  work was too rough for boys. The skipper should have piped the reefing hands.
• 4:04:41
  It was true enough, or seemed to me true then, for I
• 4:04:45
  felt much cast down, but only said nay, Master Ratsey. Where Master
• 4:04:50
  Block stays there, I must stay too, and where he goes I follow.
• 4:04:56
  Then I sat down upon the bed in the corner, feeling my lake
• 4:05:00
  began to ache, and the storm, which had lulled for a few minutes,
• 4:05:03
  came up again, all the fiercer, with wilder gusts and showers of
• 4:05:07
  spray and rain, driving into the cave from seaward. So I was scarce
• 4:05:11
  set down when in came a roaring blast, filling even our corner with cold
• 4:05:16
  wet air that quenched the weakling candle flame. God save us, what a
• 4:05:22
  knight, Ratsey cried, God save poor souls at sea. Said I amen
• 4:05:28
  to that, says he. And with that every amen I have said.
• 4:05:31
  It come as truly from my heart. There'll be see enough on Moonfleet Beach
• 4:05:35
  this night to lift a schooner to the top of it and launch her down
• 4:05:39
  into the fields behind. I had as leef be in the mahewn vaults in
• 4:05:43
  this fearsome place, and leaf for two if half the tales men tell are
• 4:05:46
  true of faces that may meet one here for God sake at us light of
• 4:05:50
  fire, For I caught sight of a store of driftwood before that sickly candle
• 4:05:56
  went out. It was some time before we got afire light. And even
• 4:06:00
  after the flame had caught well hold, the rush of the wind would every
• 4:06:03
  now and again blow the smoke into our eyes, or send a shower of
• 4:06:07
  sparks dancing through the cave. But by degrees the logs began to blow clear
• 4:06:13
  white, and such a cheerful warmth came out, as was in itself a
• 4:06:16
  solace and remedy for man's afflictions, Ah said Ratzy ies shrammed with wet and
• 4:06:24
  cold and half dead with this baffling wind, tis a blessed thing a fire,
• 4:06:28
  and he unbuttoned his pilot coat. And needful now, if ever,
• 4:06:33
  my soul is very low, lad, And this place has strange memories for
• 4:06:35
  me, and I recollect forty years ago, when I was a boy,
• 4:06:39
  just like thee old land of Jordan's gang, and I, among them,
• 4:06:43
  were in this very cave on such another night. I was new to the
• 4:06:48
  trade then, as thou might be, and could not sleep for noise of
• 4:06:52
  wind and sea. And in the small hours of an autumn morning, as
• 4:06:56
  I lay here, just where we lie now, I heard such wailing cries
• 4:07:01
  above the storm ay, and such shrieks of women as made by blood wrung
• 4:07:05
  cold, and have not yet forgot them. And so I woke the gang,
• 4:07:09
  who were all deep asleep, as seasoned contrabandias should be. But though
• 4:07:13
  we knew that there were fellow creatures fighting for their lives in the seething flood
• 4:07:16
  beneath us, we could not stir hand or foot to save them, for
• 4:07:22
  nothing could be seen for rain and spray, and twas not till next morning
• 4:07:26
  that we learned the Florida had foundered just below, with every soul on board.
• 4:07:33
  Aye tis a queer life and newer blocker and a quare straight now.
• 4:07:37
  And that is what I came to tell you. See here, and he
• 4:07:41
  took out of his pocket an oblong strip of printed paper. G. R.
• 4:07:48
  Whitehall, fifteen May seventeen fifty eight. Whereath it hath been humbly represented
• 4:07:54
  to the King that on Friday, the night of the sixteenth of April last
• 4:07:56
  Thomas Maskew, adjusted to the piece, was most inhumanly murdered at Warhead alone,
• 4:08:03
  placed in the Parish of Children and the County of Dorset, by one
• 4:08:07
  Elzevir Block and one John Trenchard, both of the Parish of Moonfleet in the
• 4:08:11
  aforesaid county. His Majesty, for the better discovering and bringing to justice these
• 4:08:16
  persons, is pleased to promise his most gracious pardon to any of the persons
• 4:08:22
  concerned therein, except the persons who actually committed the said murder, And as
• 4:08:28
  a further encouragement, a reward of fifty pounds to any person who shall furnish
• 4:08:31
  such information as shall lead to the apprehension of the said Elzevir Block, and
• 4:08:37
  a reward of twenty pounds to any person who shall furnish such information as shall
• 4:08:41
  lead to the apprehension of the said John Trenchard, such information to be given
• 4:08:46
  to me or to the Governor of his Magister's jail in Dorchester. Holderness,
• 4:08:54
  there that's the bill, he said, and a vastly fine piece it is.
• 4:08:58
  Yet I wished that twas played with other actors. Now I'm Moonfleet.
• 4:09:01
  There is none that know your hiding place, and not a man nor woman
• 4:09:05
  either that would tell me. Then you it ten times over. But fifty
• 4:09:09
  pounds for Elzevir and twenty pounds for an empty pumpkin top like thine is a
• 4:09:13
  fair round sum. And there are vagabonds about this countryside, scarve enough to
• 4:09:18
  try to earn it. And some of these have set the excise men on
• 4:09:20
  my track with tales of how it is that I know where you lie hid
• 4:09:24
  and bring you meat and drink. So it is that I cannot stir abroad
• 4:09:28
  now, no, not even to the Church of Sundays, without having some
• 4:09:33
  rogue lurking at my heels to watch my movements. And that is why I
• 4:09:37
  chose such a night to come hither, knowing these knaves like dry skins,
• 4:09:41
  but never thinking that the wind will blow like this. I am come to
• 4:09:46
  tell block that tis not safe for me to be so much in purbic,
• 4:09:48
  and that I dare no longer bring food or what not, or these manhounds
• 4:09:52
  will scent you out. Your leg is sound again, and tis best to
• 4:09:56
  be fitting while you may. And there's the epern door and show to give
• 4:10:00
  you welcome on the other side. I told him how Elzevir was gone this
• 4:10:05
  very night to pool to settle with the bona venture when she should come to
• 4:10:09
  take us off. And at that Ratsey seemed pleased. There were many things
• 4:10:15
  I wished to learn of him, and especially how Grace did, but felt
• 4:10:18
  a shyness and durst not ask him, And he said no more for a
• 4:10:22
  minute, seeming low hearted and crouching over the fire. So we sat huddled
• 4:10:28
  in the corner by the glowing logs, the red light flickering on the cave
• 4:10:31
  roof and showing the lines on Ratsey's face, while the steam rose from his
• 4:10:37
  drying clothes. The gale blew as fiercely as ever, but the tide had
• 4:10:43
  fallen, and there was not so much spray coming into the cave. Then
• 4:10:48
  Ratsey spoke again, My heart is very heavy, John tonight to think how
• 4:10:52
  all the good old times are gone, and how that master block can never
• 4:10:56
  again go back to Moonfleet as fine a land as crew as ever stood together,
• 4:11:01
  not even excepting Captain Jordan's, and now must all be broken up,
• 4:11:07
  for this mess of maskews has made the place too hot to hold us,
• 4:11:11
  and twill be many a long day before another cargoes run on Moonfleet Beach.
• 4:11:16
  But I to get the liquor out of Mohune's vault, I know not.
• 4:11:20
  Now, remind me I've something in my pouches for Elzevir and thee. And
• 4:11:24
  with that he drew forth from either little pel a great wicker bound flask.
• 4:11:28
  He put one to his lips, tilting it and drinking long and deep,
• 4:11:33
  and then passed it to me with a sigh of satisfaction. Ah, that
• 4:11:37
  has a right smack. Here, take it, charming all thy heart.
• 4:11:41
  Tis the true milk of arrowrat and the lass I'll taste this side of the
• 4:11:45
  channel. Then I drank too, but lightly, for the good liquor was
• 4:11:50
  no stranger to me. There was only so few months ago that I tasted
• 4:11:52
  it for the first time in the why Not, and in a minute it
• 4:11:56
  tingled in my finger tips. Soon a grateful sense of warmth and comfort stole
• 4:12:01
  over me, and our state seemed not so desperate, nor even the night
• 4:12:05
  so wild. Ratsy too wore a more cheerful air, and the lines in
• 4:12:11
  his face were not so deeply marked. The golden, sparkling influence of the
• 4:12:16
  flask had loosed his tongue, and he was talking now of what I most
• 4:12:18
  wanted to hear. Yes, yes, it is a sad break up.
• 4:12:22
  And what will happen to the old why not? I cannot tell. None
• 4:12:26
  have passed the threshold since you left. Only the dutchy men came and sealed
• 4:12:30
  the doors, making it fell on it a false them, and even these
• 4:12:33
  lawyer chaps know not where the right stands. The Masque never paid a rent
• 4:12:37
  and died before he took possession. A master Block's term is long expired,
• 4:12:43
  and now he is in hiding and an outlaw. But I'm sorrious for Maskew's
• 4:12:48
  girl, who grows thin and pale as any lily. For when the soldiers
• 4:12:52
  brought the body back. The men stood at their doors and cursed the clay,
• 4:12:56
  and some of the fishwives spat at it. An old each who kept
• 4:13:01
  house for him, swore he had never paid her a penny of wages,
• 4:13:03
  and that she was afeared to stop under the same roof with such an evil
• 4:13:07
  corpse, so had she goes from the manor house, leaving that portchard alone
• 4:13:11
  in it with her dead father, And that were not wanting some to say
• 4:13:15
  it was all a judgment, and called to mind how Elzevir had been once
• 4:13:18
  left alone with his dead son, and the why not. But in the
• 4:13:22
  village there was not a man that doubted that twas Block had sent Maskew to
• 4:13:26
  his account, nor did I doubt it either till a tale got abroad that
• 4:13:30
  he was killed by a stray shot far by the posse from the cliff.
• 4:13:35
  And when they took the hue and cry papers to the manor house for his
• 4:13:37
  lass as next of kin to sign the requisition, she would not set her
• 4:13:41
  name to it, saying that Block had never lifted his hand against her father
• 4:13:45
  when they met at Moonfleet or on the road, and that she never would
• 4:13:48
  believe he was the man to let his anger sleep so long and then attack
• 4:13:52
  an enemy in cold blood. And as for THEE, she knew THEE for
• 4:13:58
  a trusty lad who would not do such things himself, nor yet stand by
• 4:14:01
  whilst others did them. Now what Ratsey said was sweeter than any music in
• 4:14:07
  my ears, and I felt myself a better man as any one musked,
• 4:14:11
  of whom a true woman speaks well, and that I must live uprightly to
• 4:14:16
  deserve such praise. Then I resolved that come what might, I would make
• 4:14:22
  my way once more to Moonfeet before we fled from England and Sea Grace,
• 4:14:26
  so that I might tell her all that happened about her father's death, saving
• 4:14:31
  NR. That Elzevir had meant himself to put Masque away. But it was
• 4:14:33
  no use to tell her this when she had said that he could never think
• 4:14:37
  to do such a thing. And besides, for all I knew he never
• 4:14:41
  did mean to shoot, but only to frighten him. Though I thus resolved,
• 4:14:45
  I said nothing of it to Master Ratsey, but only nodded, and
• 4:14:48
  he went on well. Seeing as was no one save this poor guild a
• 4:14:52
  look to putting Masque underground, I'm as needs taken in hand myself ruffing together
• 4:14:58
  a sound coffin, and and digging as fair a grave for him as could
• 4:15:01
  be made for any lord, except that lords have always vaults to sleep in.
• 4:15:05
  And I got Mother Nutting's fish cart to carry the body down, for
• 4:15:09
  there was not a man in Moonfleet would lay hands to the coffin to bury
• 4:15:11
  it. And off we started down the street, I leading the walll eyed
• 4:15:16
  pawnee, and the coffin following on the trolley. There was no mourner to
• 4:15:22
  see him home except his daughter, and she without a bit of black upon
• 4:15:26
  her, for she had no time to get her crapes, and yet she
• 4:15:30
  needed none, having grief writ plain enough upon her face. When we got
• 4:15:35
  to the churchyard, her crowd was gathered there, men and women and children,
• 4:15:39
  not only from Moonfleet, but from Rigstave and Monkbury. They were not
• 4:15:43
  come to mourn, but to make gibes to show how much they hated him.
• 4:15:48
  And many of the children are old pots and pans for rough music.
• 4:15:54
  Parson Glenny was waiting in the church, and there he waited, for the
• 4:15:58
  cart could not pass the gate. We had no bearers to lift the coffin.
• 4:16:03
  And then I look round to see if there was any that would help
• 4:16:04
  to lift. But when I tried to meet a man's eye looked away.
• 4:16:08
  All I could see was the bitter, scowling faces of the women, And
• 4:16:15
  all the while the girl stood by the trolley, looking on the ground.
• 4:16:18
  She had a little kerchief over her head that let the hair fall about her
• 4:16:22
  shoulders, and her face was very white, with eyes red and swollen through
• 4:16:26
  weeping. But when she knew that all that crowd was there to mock her
• 4:16:32
  father, and that there was not a man would raise hand to lift him,
• 4:16:37
  she laid her head upon the coffin, hiding her face in her hands,
• 4:16:41
  and sobbed bitterly. Ratsey stopped for a moment and drank again, deep
• 4:16:48
  at the flask. And as for me, I still said nothing, feeling
• 4:16:52
  a great lump in my throat, and reflecting how hatred and passion have power
• 4:16:56
  to turn men to brutes. I'm a rough man. Rats He resumed,
• 4:17:03
  but tender light with all em. When I saw a weep, I ran
• 4:17:07
  off to the church to tell the parson how it was, and beg him
• 4:17:10
  to come out and try. Weak too could lift the coffin. So he
• 4:17:15
  came, just as he was with surplice on his back and book in hand.
• 4:17:18
  But when the men knew what he was come for and looked upon that
• 4:17:22
  tall fair girl bowed down over her father's coffin, their hearts were moved.
• 4:17:27
  And first Tom Tewksbury stepped out with a sheepy's hair, and then Garreton,
• 4:17:32
  then four others. So now we had six fine bearers, and twas only
• 4:17:38
  women that could still look hard and scowling, And even they said no word,
• 4:17:44
  and not a boy beat on his pan. Then mister Glennie, seeing
• 4:17:48
  he was not wanted for bearer, changed to parson and strikes up with I
• 4:17:52
  am the Resurrection and the Life tis a great text, John, and I've
• 4:17:57
  heard its scores and scorn of times. It never sounded sweeter than on that
• 4:18:02
  day. It was a fine afternoon, and what would there be no wind
• 4:18:07
  but the sun bright and the sea still and blue. There was a calm
• 4:18:11
  on everything that seemed to say rest in peace, rest him peace. And
• 4:18:18
  was not the spring with us and the whole land preaching of resurrection, the
• 4:18:22
  birds singing, trees and flowers waking from their winter sleep, and cowslips yellow
• 4:18:27
  on the very graves. Then surely tis a fond thing to push our enmities
• 4:18:33
  beyond the grave. And perhaps even he was not so bad as we held
• 4:18:37
  him, but might have tricked himself into thinking he did right to hunt down
• 4:18:41
  the Contraband I know not how it was, but something like this came into
• 4:18:47
  my mind and did preaps to others, For we got him under without a
• 4:18:51
  sign or word from any that stood there. There was not one sound heard
• 4:18:56
  inside the church or out except mister Lenny's reading and my amends, and now
• 4:19:02
  then a sob from the poor child. But when was all over and the
• 4:19:07
  coffins safe, lord up, she walks to Tom tukesby saying, through her
• 4:19:11
  tears, I thank you, sir for your kindness, and holds out her
• 4:19:17
  hand, so he took it, looking askew, and afterwards the five other
• 4:19:21
  bearers, and then she walked away by herself, and no one moved till
• 4:19:26
  she had left the churchyard gate, letting her pass out like a queen.
• 4:19:33
  And so she is a queen, I said, not being able to keep
• 4:19:36
  from speaking for very pride to hear how she had borne herself, and because
• 4:19:40
  she had always shown kindness to me, so she is and fairer than any
• 4:19:45
  Queen to Boot end of Chapter twelve, Part one, Chapter twelve, Part
• 4:19:53
  two. Ratsey gave me a questioning look, and I could see a little
• 4:19:59
  smile upon his face in the firelight. Ay, she's fair enough, said
• 4:20:03
  he, as though reflecting to himself. But white and thin. Maybe she
• 4:20:08
  would make a match for THEE, if ye, a man and woman are
• 4:20:11
  not boy and girl, if she were not rich, and thou not poor
• 4:20:15
  and an outlaw, and if she would have THEE. It vexed me to
• 4:20:21
  hear his banter and to think how I had let my secret out. So
• 4:20:25
  I did not answer, and we sat by the embers for a while without
• 4:20:27
  speaking, while the wind still blew through the cave like a funnel. Ratsey
• 4:20:33
  spoke first, John passed with a flask. I can hear voices mounting the
• 4:20:38
  cliffs of those poor souls of the Florida. With that, he took another
• 4:20:44
  heavy pool and flung a log on the fire till sparks flew about as in
• 4:20:48
  a smithy, and the flame that had slumbered woke again and leapt out white,
• 4:20:52
  blue and green from the salt wood. Now, as the light danced
• 4:20:57
  and flickered, I saw a piece of parch lying at Ratsey's feet. And
• 4:21:02
  this was none other than the writing out of Blackbeard's locket, which I had
• 4:21:06
  been reading when I first heard footsteps in the passage and had dropped in my
• 4:21:08
  alarm of hostile visitors. Ratsey saw it too, and stretched out his hand
• 4:21:15
  to pick it up. I would have concealed it if I could, because
• 4:21:18
  I had never told him how I had rifled Blackbeard's coffin, and did not
• 4:21:22
  want to be questioned as to how I had come by the writing. But
• 4:21:26
  to try him stopping get hold of it would only have spurred his curiosity,
• 4:21:30
  and so I said nothing. When he took it in his hands. What
• 4:21:34
  is this, son, asked he. It's only scripture verses, I answered,
• 4:21:40
  which I got some time ago. Tis said. They are a spell
• 4:21:42
  against spirits of evil, and I was reading them to keep off the lonliness
• 4:21:47
  of this place when you came in and made me drop them. I was
• 4:21:52
  afraid lest he would ask whence I had got them, but he did not,
• 4:21:56
  thinking perhaps that my aunt had given them to me. The heat of
• 4:22:00
  the flames had curled the parchment a little, and he spread it out on
• 4:22:03
  his knee, conning it in the far light. M Tis well written,
• 4:22:08
  he said, and good verse is enough. But he put them together for
• 4:22:12
  a spell. Knew little how to keep off evil spirits, for this would
• 4:22:17
  not keep a flea from a black cat. I could do ten times better
• 4:22:21
  myself, being not without some little understanding of such things. And he nodded
• 4:22:26
  seriously. And though I never yet met any from the other world, they
• 4:22:32
  would not take me unprepared if they should come. For I have spent half
• 4:22:36
  my life in graveyard or church, and twould be as foolish to move about
• 4:22:40
  such places and have no words to meet an evil visitor withal as to bear
• 4:22:44
  money on a lonely road without a pistol. So one day after a parson
• 4:22:48
  Glenny had preached from Habakuk, how that the vision is for an appointed time,
• 4:22:53
  but at the end it shall speak, and not lie, though it
• 4:22:56
  tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come. It will not
• 4:23:00
  tarry. I talked with him on these matters, and got from him three
• 4:23:04
  or four rousing texts, such as Specter's fear more than a burned child does
• 4:23:10
  the fire. I'll learn them all to thee someday, But for the moment,
• 4:23:15
  take this Latin, which I got by art habite armee in ignem et
• 4:23:21
  tamum quiparatuses diabolo at angelis Aus English, it means depart from me into eternal
• 4:23:30
  fire prepared for the devil and his angels. But how at least double that
• 4:23:33
  power in Latin? So they get that after me by heart and use it
• 4:23:40
  freely. I aart led to think that there are evil presences near and in
• 4:23:44
  such lonely places as this cave. I humored him by doing as he desired,
• 4:23:51
  and that the rather because I hoped his thoughts would thus be turned away
• 4:23:53
  from the writing. But as soon as I had the spell by wrote,
• 4:23:57
  he turned back to the parchment, saying he was a but a poor divine
• 4:24:02
  who wrote this, for besides choosing ill fitting verses, he cannot even give
• 4:24:06
  right numbers them fors he here the days of our age are threescore years and
• 4:24:11
  ten. And though men be so strong that they come to four score years,
• 4:24:15
  it is is their strength then, but labor and sorrow so soon pass
• 4:24:19
  it away, and we are gone. And he writes Psalm ninety twenty one.
• 4:24:26
  Now I have said that Psalm with parsing verse and verse about for every
• 4:24:30
  sleeper we have laid to rest in churchyard mould for thirty years. And no
• 4:24:33
  it had not but twenty verses in it all told. And this same verse
• 4:24:38
  is the Clerk's verse, and cometh tenth. And yet he calls it twenty
• 4:24:42
  first. I wish I had a common prayer and I could prove my words.
• 4:24:48
  He stopped and flung me back the parchment scornfully. But I folded it
• 4:24:52
  and slipped it into my pocket, booting all the while over a strange thought
• 4:24:57
  that his last words have brought to me. Nor did I tell him that
• 4:25:02
  I had by me my aunt's prayer book, wishing to examine for myself more
• 4:25:06
  closely whether he was right. After he should have gone. I must be
• 4:25:11
  away, he said, at last, though low, to leave this good
• 4:25:15
  far and liquor. I would fain, waite till Elzevir was back, and
• 4:25:18
  fainers till his gale was spent. But it may not be. The nights
• 4:25:22
  are short, and I must be out of Purbic before sunrise. So tell
• 4:25:27
  block what I say, that he and thou must flit and pass the flask,
• 4:25:33
  for I have fifteen miles to walk against the wind, and must keep
• 4:25:34
  off these midnight chills. He drank again, and then rose to his feet,
• 4:25:41
  shaking himself like a dog, and walking briskly across this cave twice or
• 4:25:45
  thrice to make sure, as I thought that the arrow at milk had not
• 4:25:49
  confused his steps. Then he shook my hand warmly and disappeared in the deep
• 4:25:55
  shadow of the passage mouth. The wind was blowing more fitfully than before,
• 4:26:02
  and there was some sign of a lull between the gusts. I stood at
• 4:26:06
  the opening of the passage and listened till the echo of Ratsey's footsteps died away,
• 4:26:11
  and then, returning to the corner, flung more wood on the fire
• 4:26:15
  and lit the candle. After that, I took out again the parchment and
• 4:26:19
  also my aunt's read a prayer book, and sat down to study them.
• 4:26:25
  First I looked out in the book that text about the days of our life,
• 4:26:29
  and found that it was indeed in the ninetieth Psalm, but the tenth
• 4:26:32
  firth, just as Ratsey had said, and not the twenty first, as
• 4:26:36
  it was writ on the parchment. And then I took the second text,
• 4:26:40
  and here again the psalm was given correct, but the verse was two and
• 4:26:45
  not six as my scribe had it. It was just the same with the
• 4:26:48
  other three. The number of the psalm was right, but the verse wrong.
• 4:26:53
  So here was a discovery. For all was painfully written, smooth and
• 4:26:57
  clean, without a blot, and yet in every verse an error. But
• 4:27:03
  if the second number did not stand for the verse, what else should it
• 4:27:07
  mean? I scarce formed the question to myself before I had the answer,
• 4:27:11
  and knew that it must be the number of the word chosen in each text
• 4:27:15
  to make a secret meaning. I was in as great a fever and excitement
• 4:27:19
  now as when I found the locket in the Mahoun vault, and could scarce
• 4:27:23
  count with trembling fingers as far as twenty one in the first verse, for
• 4:27:27
  hurry and amaze. It was fourscore that the number fell on in the first
• 4:27:33
  text, feet in the second deep in the third, well in the fourth
• 4:27:38
  north in the fifth fourscore feet deep, well north. There was the cipher
• 4:27:48
  read, And what an easy trick. And yet I had not lighted on
• 4:27:52
  it, and all this while, nor ever should have. But for Sexton
• 4:27:55
  Ratsy in his burial verse. It was a cunning plan of Blackbird. But
• 4:28:00
  other folk were quite as cunning as he, And here was all his treasure
• 4:28:03
  at our feet. I chuckled over that to myself, rubbing my hands,
• 4:28:08
  and ready through again. Fourscore feet deep Well North, twas all so simple,
• 4:28:18
  and the word in the fourth verse well, and not veil or pull,
• 4:28:22
  as I'd stuck at so often in trying to unriddle it. How was
• 4:28:25
  it I had not guessed as much before? And here was something to tell
• 4:28:29
  Ezevir when he came back, that the clue was found to the cipher and
• 4:28:33
  the secret out. I would not reveal it all at once, but tease
• 4:28:37
  him by making him guess, and at last tell him everything, and we
• 4:28:41
  would set to work at once to make ourselves rich men. And then I
• 4:28:45
  thought once more of grace, and how the laugh would be on my side
• 4:28:49
  now for all Master Ratsy's banter about her being rich and me being poor.
• 4:28:56
  Fourscore feet deep Well North. I read it again, and somehow it was
• 4:29:03
  this time a little less dear, and I fell to thinking what it was
• 4:29:07
  exactly that I should tell Ezevir, and how we were to get to work
• 4:29:11
  to find the treasure twas hidden a well? That was pain enough, But
• 4:29:17
  in what well? And what did north mean? Was it the north well
• 4:29:22
  or to north of the well, or was it fourscore feet north of the
• 4:29:26
  deep well. I stared at the verses as if the ink would change color
• 4:29:32
  and show some other sense. And then a veil seemed drawn across the writing,
• 4:29:37
  and the meaning to slip away and be as far as ever from my
• 4:29:41
  grasp, fourscore feet deep well north and by degrees. Exulting gladness gave way
• 4:29:49
  to bewilderment and disquiet of spirit, And in the gusts of wind, I
• 4:29:53
  heard a blackbird himself, laughing and mocking me for thinking I had found his
• 4:29:57
  treasure. Still I read and re read it, juggling with the words and
• 4:30:03
  turning them about to squeeze new meaning from them. Four score feet deep in
• 4:30:08
  the north well, four score feet deep in the well to the north fource,
• 4:30:15
  core feet north of the deep well. So the words went round and
• 4:30:19
  round in my head till I was tired and giddy, and fell unawares asleep.
• 4:30:26
  It was daylight when I awoke, and the wind had fallen that I
• 4:30:30
  could still hear the thunder of the swell against the rock face. Down below.
• 4:30:34
  The fire was yet burning, and by it sat Elzevir cooking something in
• 4:30:40
  the pot. He looked fresh and keen, like a man risen from a
• 4:30:44
  long night's sleep, rather than one who had spent the hours of darkness in
• 4:30:48
  struggling against a gale, and must afterwards remain watching, because forsooth the sentinel
• 4:30:52
  sleeps. He spoke as soon as he saw that I was awake, laughing
• 4:30:59
  and saying, how goes a night watchman? As is the second time that
• 4:31:02
  I have caught thee napping, and did sleep so sound it might have taken
• 4:31:04
  a cold pistoled lips against thy forehead to wake thee. I was too full
• 4:31:11
  of my story even to bake his pardon, but began at once to tell
• 4:31:14
  him what had happened, and how, by following the hint that Rents he
• 4:31:17
  dropped, I have made out, as I thought, a secret meaning in
• 4:31:19
  these verses. Elzevir heard me patiently, and with more show of interest towards
• 4:31:26
  the end, and then took the parchment in his hands, reading it carefully
• 4:31:30
  and checking the errors of numbering by the help of the red prayer book.
• 4:31:36
  I believe thou art right, he said at length, For why should all
• 4:31:40
  the figures be false if there be no hidden trickery in it? If it
• 4:31:44
  had been one or two were wrong? I would have said some priest had
• 4:31:47
  copied them in error, For priests are thriftless folk, and had as leif
• 4:31:51
  set a thing down wrong as right. But withal wrong, there is no
• 4:31:55
  room for chance. So he means it. Let us see what tis he
• 4:32:00
  means. First he says, tis in a well? But what well?
• 4:32:04
  And the depths he gives of fourscore feet is over deep for any well near
• 4:32:08
  main fleet. I was for saying it must be the well at the manor
• 4:32:14
  house. But before the words left my mouth remembered that there was no well
• 4:32:18
  at the manner at all, For the house was water by a runnel brook
• 4:32:21
  that broke out from the woods above, and, jumping down from stone to
• 4:32:23
  stone, ran through the manor gardens, and emptied itself into the fleet below.
• 4:32:30
  And now I come to think of it, Elzeba went on. Tis
• 4:32:34
  more likely that the well he speaks of was not in these parts at all.
• 4:32:37
  For see here this blackboard was a spring fish, squandering all he had,
• 4:32:42
  and will most surely have squandered the jewel too. Could he have laid
• 4:32:45
  his hands on it, and yet tis city did not. Therefore, I
• 4:32:49
  think he must have stowed it safe in some place where afterwards he could not
• 4:32:53
  get at it, for if it had been near Moonfleet, he would have
• 4:32:57
  had it up a hundred times. But thou was often talked of Blackbeard in
• 4:33:00
  his end with Parson Lenny. So speak up, Ladd, and let us
• 4:33:04
  hear all that thou knowest of these tales may be twill help us to come
• 4:33:08
  to some judgment. So I told him all that mister Glennie had told me,
• 4:33:15
  how that Colonel John Mohune, whom men called Blackbeard, was a wastrel
• 4:33:19
  from his youth and squandered all his substance in Rita's living, thus being at
• 4:33:25
  his last turn. He changed from royalist to rebel, and was set to
• 4:33:29
  guard the King in the castle of Carrisbrook. But there he stooped to a
• 4:33:33
  bribe and took from his royal prisoner a splendid diamond of the crown to let
• 4:33:37
  him go. Then, with the jewel in his pocket, turned traitor again
• 4:33:41
  and showed a file of soldiers into the room where the King was stuck between
• 4:33:45
  the window bars escaping. But no one trusted Blackbeard after that, and so
• 4:33:51
  he lost his post and came back in his age a broken man, to
• 4:33:55
  Moonfleet. There he rusted out his life. When he neared his end,
• 4:34:00
  was filled with fear, and sent for a clergyman to give him consolation.
• 4:34:06
  And twa was at the Parsons instance that he made a will and bequeathed the
• 4:34:08
  diamond, which was the only thing he had left, to the Mohune Arms
• 4:34:14
  Houses at Moonfleet. These were the very houses that he had robbed and let
• 4:34:18
  go to ruin, and they never benefited by his testament, for when it
• 4:34:22
  was opened, there was the bequest plain enough, but not a word to
• 4:34:26
  save where was the jewel? Some said that it was all a mockery,
• 4:34:32
  and that Blackbeard never had the jewel. Others that the jewel was in his
• 4:34:36
  hand when he died, but carried off by some that stood by, But
• 4:34:41
  most thought and handed down the tail that being taken. Suddenly he died before
• 4:34:45
  he could reveal the safe place of the jewel, And that in his last
• 4:34:49
  throes he struggled hard to speak, as if he had some secret to unburden.
• 4:34:56
  All this I told Elzevir, and he listened close, as though some
• 4:35:02
  bit was new to him. When I was speaking of Blackbeard being at Carrysbrook,
• 4:35:07
  he made a little quick move as though to speak, but did not,
• 4:35:11
  waiting till I had finished the tale. Then he broke out with John.
• 4:35:15
  The damond is yet at Carry's Brook. I wonder I had not thought
• 4:35:18
  of Carry'sbrook before you spoke. And there he can get fourscore feet and twice
• 4:35:23
  and thrice fourscore if he list, and none to stop him. Tis Carry'sbrook.
• 4:35:29
  I have heard of that well from childhood, and once saw it when
• 4:35:30
  a boy it is dug in the castle keep and goes down fifty fathoms or
• 4:35:34
  more into the bowels of the chalk below. It is so deep no man
• 4:35:38
  can draw the buckets on a winch, but they must have an ass inside
• 4:35:41
  a dread wheel to hoist them up. Now, why this Colonel John Muhoon,
• 4:35:47
  whom we call Blackbeard, should have chosen a well at all to hide
• 4:35:49
  his Julian I cannot say. But given he chose a well, twas odds
• 4:35:53
  he would choose Carry's Brook tis a known place, and I've heard that people
• 4:35:59
  come as far as from London to see the castle and this well. He
• 4:36:03
  spoke quick and with more far than I had known him use before, and
• 4:36:07
  I felt he was right. It seemed indeed natural enough that if Blackbeard was
• 4:36:11
  to hide the diamond in a well. It would be in the world of
• 4:36:15
  that very castle where he had earned it. So evily. When he says
• 4:36:21
  the well north, continued, elzevir tis clear he means to take a compass
• 4:36:25
  and mark north by needle, and at eighty feet in the well side below
• 4:36:27
  that point will lie the treasure. I fixed yesterday with the Bona Vnshire's men
• 4:36:33
  that they should lie underneath this ledge to morrow, sir night, if the
• 4:36:37
  sea be smooth, and take us off on the spring tide at midnight.
• 4:36:41
  Is there are? And I said eight days on to give thy leg a
• 4:36:45
  week wherewith to strengthen, I thought a mate for Saint Marlow, and leave
• 4:36:49
  thee at the Epron door with old Chovlain, where thou couldst learn to patter
• 4:36:53
  French until these evil times have blown by. But now if thou art set
• 4:36:59
  to hunt treasure up and has to mind to run thy head into a noose,
• 4:37:03
  why I am not so old, but that I too can play the
• 4:37:06
  fool, and we will let Saint Marlow be and make the Carrisbrook. I
• 4:37:10
  know the castle's not two miles distant from Newport, and that Newport we can
• 4:37:14
  lie at the Bugle, which is an inn addicted to the contraband the King's
• 4:37:18
  rich runs but lamely in the Channel isles and white. And if we wear
• 4:37:22
  some other kit than this, maybe we shall find Newport as safe as Saint
• 4:37:26
  Marlow. This was just what I wanted, and so we settled there,
• 4:37:32
  and then that we would get the bonadventure to land us in the Isle of
• 4:37:34
  Wight instead of at Saint Marlow. Since man first walked upon this earth,
• 4:37:41
  a tale of buried treasure must have had a master power to stir his blood,
• 4:37:45
  and mine was hotly stirred. Even Elzevir, though he did not share
• 4:37:51
  it, was moved, I thought at heart. And we chafed in our
• 4:37:55
  cave prison. And those eight days went wearily enough. Itwa was not time
• 4:38:00
  lost, for every day my leg grew stronger, and like a wolf which
• 4:38:04
  I once saw in a cage at Dorchester Fair, I spent hours in marching
• 4:38:08
  round the cave to kill the time and put more vigor in my steps.
• 4:38:14
  Ratsey did not visit us again, but in spite of what he said,
• 4:38:18
  met Elzevir more than once, and got money for him from Dorchester and many
• 4:38:22
  other things he needed It was after meeting Ratsey that Elzevir came back one night,
• 4:38:26
  bringing a long whip in one hand, and in the other a bundle
• 4:38:30
  which held clothes to mask us. In the next scene, there was a
• 4:38:36
  carter's smock for him, white and quilted over with needleworks, such as carters
• 4:38:40
  were on the down farms, and for me a smaller one, and hats
• 4:38:45
  and leather leggings all to match. We tried them on and were for all
• 4:38:48
  the world carter and carter's boy. And I laughed long to see Elzevir stand
• 4:38:55
  there and practice how to crap his whip and cry were who as carters do
• 4:38:59
  to horse, And for all he was so grave. There was a smile
• 4:39:03
  on his face too, and he showed me how to twist a wisp of
• 4:39:07
  straw out of the bed to bind about my ankles at the bottom of the
• 4:39:11
  leggings. He had cut off his beard, and yet lost nothing of his
• 4:39:15
  looks, for his jaw and de deep chin showed firm and powerful. And
• 4:39:21
  as for me, we made a broth of young walnut leaves and twigs and
• 4:39:26
  tanned my hands and face with it a ruddy brown, so that I looked
• 4:39:30
  a different lad end of Chapter twelve, Part two, Chapter thirteen, an
• 4:39:38
  interview. No human creature stirred to go or come. No face looked forth
• 4:39:47
  from shut or open casement, no chimney smoked. There was no sign of
• 4:39:52
  home from parapet to basement hood. And so the days went until there came
• 4:40:00
  to be but two nights more before we were to leave our cave. Now
• 4:40:06
  I have said that the delay chafed us because we were impatient to get at
• 4:40:08
  the treasure. But there was something else that vexed me and made me more
• 4:40:12
  unquiet with every day that passed. And this was that I had resolved to
• 4:40:18
  see Grace before I left these parts, and yet knew not how to tell
• 4:40:22
  it to Elzevir. But on this evening, seeing the time has grown so
• 4:40:26
  short, I knew that I must speak or drop my purpose, and so
• 4:40:32
  spoke. We were sitting like the sea birds on the ledge outside our cave,
• 4:40:37
  looking towards Saint Alban's head, and watching the last glow of sunset.
• 4:40:41
  The evening vapors began to sweep down channel, and Elzevir shrugged his shoulders.
• 4:40:48
  The night turned chill, he said, and got up to go back to
• 4:40:51
  the cave. So then I thought my time was come, and following him
• 4:40:55
  inside, said, dear Master Elzevier, you've watched over me all this while
• 4:41:00
  and tendered me kinder than any father could his son. And tis to you
• 4:41:04
  I owe my life, and that my leg is strong again. Yet I
• 4:41:07
  am restless this night, and beg that you will give me leave to climb
• 4:41:11
  the shaft and walk abroad. It is two months or more that I have
• 4:41:15
  been in the cave and see nothing but stone walls, and I would gladly
• 4:41:18
  tread once more upon the down. Say not that I have saved your life,
• 4:41:25
  as ever are broke in dos I who brought thy life in danger?
• 4:41:29
  And but for me thou mightest even now be lying snug a bed at Moonfleet,
• 4:41:33
  instead of hiding in the chambers of these rocks. So speak not of
• 4:41:37
  that. But if I has the mind to air thyself an hour, I
• 4:41:42
  see little harm in it. These wayward fancies fall on men as they get
• 4:41:47
  better of sickness. And I must go to night to that ruined house of
• 4:41:49
  which I spoke to thee to fetch a pocket compass Master Ratsey was to put
• 4:41:55
  there, so thou canst come with me and smell the night air on the
• 4:41:59
  down. He had agreed more readily than I looked for, and so I
• 4:42:03
  pushed the matter, saying, nay, Master, grant me leave to go
• 4:42:07
  yet a little farther afield. You know that I was born in Moonfleet,
• 4:42:11
  and have been bred there all my life, and love the trees and stream
• 4:42:15
  and very stones of it, and I have set my heart on sea it
• 4:42:18
  once more before we leave these parts for good and all. So give me
• 4:42:22
  leave to walk along the down and look on Moonfleet, but this once,
• 4:42:26
  and in this plowboy, guise I shall be safe enough and will come back
• 4:42:30
  to you to morrow night. He looked at me a moment without speaking,
• 4:42:36
  and all the while I felt he saw me through and through, and yet
• 4:42:40
  he was not angry. But I turned red and cast my eyes upon the
• 4:42:45
  ground. And then he spoke, lad, I've no men risk their lives
• 4:42:51
  for many things, for gold and love and hate, but never one would
• 4:42:56
  play with death that he might see a tree or stream or stones. And
• 4:43:00
  when men say they love a place or town, thou mayst be sure tis
• 4:43:04
  not the place they love, but some that live there, or that they
• 4:43:08
  loved some in the past, and so would see the spot again to kindle
• 4:43:12
  memory withal. Thus, when thou speakest of Moonfleet, I may guess that
• 4:43:18
  thou hast to some one there to see or hope to see. It cannot
• 4:43:22
  be thine aunt, for there is no love lost between ye, And besides,
• 4:43:27
  no man ever periled his life to bid adieu to an aarnt. So
• 4:43:32
  have no secrets from me, John, But tell me straight, and I
• 4:43:34
  will judge whether this second treasure that thou seekest is true gold enough to fling
• 4:43:40
  thy life into the scale against it. Then I told him all, keeping
• 4:43:45
  nothing back, but trying to make him see that there was little danger in
• 4:43:48
  my visiting Moonfleet, for none would know me in a carter's dress, and
• 4:43:52
  that my knowledge of the place would let me use a hedge or wall or
• 4:43:56
  wood for cover. And finally, if I were seen, my leg was
• 4:44:00
  now sound, and there were few could meet me in a running match upon
• 4:44:03
  the down. So I talked on, not so much in the hope of
• 4:44:07
  convincing him as to keep saying something, for I durst not look up,
• 4:44:12
  and feared to hear an angry word from him when I should stop. But
• 4:44:18
  at last I had spoken all I could, and ceased because I had no
• 4:44:22
  more. Yet he did not break out, as I had thought, but
• 4:44:26
  there was silence, and after a moment I looked up and saw by his
• 4:44:30
  face that his thoughts were wandering. When he spoke, there was no anger
• 4:44:36
  in his voice, but only something sad. Thou art a foolish lad,
• 4:44:42
  he said. Yet I was young once myself, and my ways have been
• 4:44:47
  too dark to make me wish to darken others or try to chill young blood.
• 4:44:52
  Now thine own life has got a chadownt already that I have helped to
• 4:44:56
  cast. So take the brightness of it while thus mayst and get the gone.
• 4:45:02
  But for this girl, I know her for a comely lass and good
• 4:45:04
  hearted, and have wondered often how she came to have him for her father.
• 4:45:11
  I am glad now I have not his blood on my hands, and
• 4:45:12
  never would have gone to take it then, for all the evil he had
• 4:45:15
  brought on me, but that the lives of every mother's son hung on his
• 4:45:19
  life. So make thy mind at ease, and get thee gone. And
• 4:45:23
  see these streams and trees and stones thou talkest of. Yet, if I
• 4:45:30
  shot upon the ground or taken off to jail. Blame thine own folly and
• 4:45:34
  not me. And I will walk with thee to Perbect gates to night,
• 4:45:38
  and then come back and wait. But if thou art not here again by
• 4:45:44
  midnight tomorrow, I shall believe that thou art taken in some snare, and
• 4:45:48
  come out to seek thee. I took his hand and thanked him with what
• 4:45:55
  words I could that he had let me go, and then got on the
• 4:45:56
  smock, putting some bread and meat in my pockets, as I was likely
• 4:46:02
  to find little to eat on my journey. It was dark before we left
• 4:46:06
  the cave, for there is little dusk with us, and the division between
• 4:46:10
  day and night sharper than in more northern parts. Elzevir took me by the
• 4:46:15
  hand and led me through the darkness of the workings, telling me where I
• 4:46:18
  should stoop, and when the way was uneven. Then thus we came to
• 4:46:22
  the bottom of the shaft, and looking up through ferns and brambles, I
• 4:46:26
  could see the deep blue of the sky overhead, and a great star gazing
• 4:46:30
  down full at us. We climbed the steps with the soap stone slide at
• 4:46:36
  one side, and then walked on briskly over the springy turf, through the
• 4:46:40
  hillocks of the decoveted quarry heaps and the ruins of the deserted cottages. There
• 4:46:47
  was a heavy dew which got through my boots before we had gone half a
• 4:46:48
  mile. And then there was no moon. The sky was very clear,
• 4:46:53
  and I could see the veil of gossamers spread silvery white over the grass.
• 4:47:00
  Either of us spoke, partly because it was safer not not to speak,
• 4:47:03
  for the voice carries far in a still night on the downs, and partly,
• 4:47:07
  I think, because the beauty of the starry heaven had taken hold upon
• 4:47:11
  us, both ruling our hearts with thoughts too big for words. We soon
• 4:47:18
  reached that ruined cottage of which Elzevir had spoken, and in what had once
• 4:47:21
  been an oven, found the compass safe enough, as Ratsey had promised.
• 4:47:26
  Then on again over the solitary hills, not speaking ourselves, and neither seeing
• 4:47:30
  light in window nor hearing dog stir, until we reached that strange defile which
• 4:47:37
  men call the gates of Purbeck. Here is a natural road licking the highest
• 4:47:41
  summit of the hill, with walls as sharp as if the hand of man
• 4:47:45
  had cut them, through which had walked for ages all the few travelers in
• 4:47:49
  this lonely place, shepherds and sailors, soldiers and excise men. And although,
• 4:47:56
  as I suppose, no carts had been through it for centuries, there
• 4:48:00
  are ruts in the chalk floored as wide and deep as if the cars of
• 4:48:03
  Jance used it in past times. So here Elzevir stopped, and, drawing
• 4:48:11
  from his bosom that silver butted pistol of which I have spoken, thrust it
• 4:48:15
  in my hand. Here take it, child, he said, But use
• 4:48:22
  it not till thou art close depressed, and then if thou must shoot,
• 4:48:26
  shoot low it flings. I took it and gripped his hand, and so
• 4:48:30
  be parted. He going back to Purbeck, and I making along the top
• 4:48:36
  of the ridge at the back of hoar Head. It must have been near
• 4:48:40
  three when I reached a great grass grown mound called Culiford Tree, the marks
• 4:48:45
  to the resting place of some old warrior of the past. The top is
• 4:48:49
  planted by a clump of trees that cut the sky line. And there I
• 4:48:53
  sat awhile to rest, but not for long, for looking back towards Purbeck,
• 4:48:59
  I could see the faint hint of dawn and low on the sea line
• 4:49:02
  behind Saint Alban's Head, and so pressed forward, knowing I had a full
• 4:49:07
  ten miles to cover. Yet thus I traveled on, and soon came to
• 4:49:12
  the first sign of man, namely a flock of lambs being fed with turnips
• 4:49:17
  on a summer fallow. The sun was well up now and flushed all with
• 4:49:22
  a rosied low, showing the sheep and the roots they eat white against the
• 4:49:26
  barren earth. Still I saw no shepherd, not even dog. At about
• 4:49:30
  seven o'clock stood safe on weather Beech Hill that looks down over Moonfleet. There
• 4:49:37
  at my feet lay the manor woods and the old house, and lower down
• 4:49:41
  the white road and the straggling cottages, and farther still the why Not and
• 4:49:45
  the lasty fleet, and beyond that the open sea. I cannot say how
• 4:49:52
  sad yet sweet the sight was. It seemed like the mirage of the desert
• 4:49:57
  of which I had been told so beautiful, but never to be reached again
• 4:50:02
  by me. The air was still, and the blue smoke of the morning
• 4:50:07
  wood fires rose straight up, but none from the why Not or Manor house.
• 4:50:12
  The sun was already very hot, and I dropped at once from the
• 4:50:15
  hill top, digging my heels into the brown burnt turf, and keeping as
• 4:50:19
  much as might be among the furze champs. So I as soon in the
• 4:50:23
  wood, I made straight for the little dell and lay down there, burying
• 4:50:27
  myself on the wild rhubarb and burdocks, yet so that I could see the
• 4:50:32
  doorway of the manor house over the lip of the hill. Then I reflected
• 4:50:37
  what I was to do, or how I should get to speak with Grace,
• 4:50:41
  and thought I would first wait an hour or two and see whether she
• 4:50:45
  came out, and afterwards, if she did not, would go down boldly
• 4:50:48
  and knock at the door. This seemed not very dangerous, for it was
• 4:50:53
  likely, from what Ratsey had said, that there was no one with her
• 4:50:56
  in the house, and if there was, it would be but an old
• 4:50:59
  woman to whom I could pass as a stranger. In my disguise, I
• 4:51:03
  masked my way to some house in the village. So I lay still and
• 4:51:07
  munched piece of bread, and heard the clock in the church tower strike eight
• 4:51:11
  and afterwards nine, but saw no one move in the house. The wood
• 4:51:17
  was all alive with singing birds, and with the calling of cuckoo and woodpigeon,
• 4:51:21
  there were deep patches of green shade and lighter patches of yellow sunlight,
• 4:51:25
  in which the iris leaves gleamed with a sheeny white, and a shimmering blue
• 4:51:30
  sea of ground ivy spread all through the wood. It struck ten, and
• 4:51:36
  as the heat increased, the birds sang less, and the droning of the
• 4:51:40
  bees grew more distinct. And at last I got up, shook myself,
• 4:51:45
  smoothed my smock, and making a turn, came out on the road that
• 4:51:48
  led to the house. Then my disguise was good. I fear I made
• 4:51:53
  but an indifferent bad plowboy when walking, and found a difficulty in dealing with
• 4:51:59
  my hands, not knowing how plowboys are wont to carry them. So I
• 4:52:03
  came round in front of the house and gave a rat tat on the door,
• 4:52:07
  while my pulse beat as loud inside of me as ever did the knocker.
• 4:52:10
  Without the sound, ran round the building and backwards among the walks,
• 4:52:15
  and all was silent as before. I waited a minute and was for knocking
• 4:52:19
  again, thinking there might be no one in the house, and then heard
• 4:52:23
  a light footstep coming along the corridor. Yet durst not look through the window
• 4:52:27
  to see who it was in passing, as I might have done, but
• 4:52:30
  kept myself close to the door. The bolts were being drawn, and a
• 4:52:37
  girl's voice asked, who's there. I gave a jump to hear that voice,
• 4:52:41
  knowing it well for Grace's, and had a mind to shout out my
• 4:52:45
  name. But and I remembered there might be some in the house with her.
• 4:52:51
  Besides, and I thou must remain disguised. Moreover, laughing is so
• 4:52:56
  mixed with crying in our world, and trifling things with serious that even in
• 4:53:02
  this pass I believe I was secretly pleased to have to play a trick on
• 4:53:04
  her and test whether she find me out in this dress or not. So
• 4:53:10
  I spoke out in our round Dorset speech such as they talk it out of
• 4:53:12
  the veil, saying a poor boy who is out of his way. Then
• 4:53:18
  she opened one leaf of the door and asked me whither I would go,
• 4:53:22
  looking at me as one might at a stranger, and not knowing who it
• 4:53:25
  was. I answered that I was a farm lad who walked from Purbeck and
• 4:53:30
  sought an ind called the whine not kept by one master block. When she
• 4:53:33
  heard that, she gave a little start and looked me over again, yet
• 4:53:37
  could make nothing of it, but said, good lad, if you will
• 4:53:41
  step on to this terrace, I can chew the whine not in. But
• 4:53:44
  she's shut these two months or more, and master block away. With that,
• 4:53:48
  she turned towards the terrace, I following, But when we were outside
• 4:53:52
  of the earshot from the door, I spoke in my own voice, quick
• 4:53:56
  but low, grace, it is I John Trenchard, whom come to say
• 4:54:00
  good bye before I leave these parts, and have much to tell that you
• 4:54:03
  wish to hear. Are there any beside in the house with you? Now?
• 4:54:08
  Many girls who have suffered as she had and were thus surprised, would
• 4:54:11
  have screamed or perhaps swooned, but she did neither, only flushing a little,
• 4:54:15
  and saying, also, quick and low, let us go back to
• 4:54:18
  the house. I am alone. So we went back, and after the
• 4:54:23
  door was bolted, took both hands and stood up face to face in the
• 4:54:26
  passage, looking into one another's eyes. I was tired with a long walk
• 4:54:32
  and sleepless night, and so full of joy to see her again that my
• 4:54:36
  head swam and all seemed a sweet dream. Then she squeezed my hands,
• 4:54:41
  and I knew twas real, and was for kissing her for very love.
• 4:54:45
  But she guessed what I would be at perhaps, and cast my hands loose,
• 4:54:48
  drawing back a little, as if to see me better, and saying,
• 4:54:51
  John, you've grown a man in these two months. So I did
• 4:54:56
  not kiss her. But if it was true that I was grown a man,
• 4:55:00
  and it was truer still that she was grown a woman, and as
• 4:55:03
  tall as I. And these recent sufferings had taken from her something of light
• 4:55:07
  and frolic girlhood, and left her with a manner more staid than sober.
• 4:55:14
  She was dressed in black, with long the skirts, and her hair caught
• 4:55:17
  up behind, and perhaps it was the morning frock that made her look pale
• 4:55:21
  and thin, as Ratsy said, So while I looked at her, she
• 4:55:26
  looked at me, who could not choose but smile, to see my carters
• 4:55:30
  smock. And as for my brown face and hands, thought I had been
• 4:55:33
  shiding in some country underneath the sun until I told her of the walnut juice.
• 4:55:40
  Then before we fell to talking, she said it was better we should
• 4:55:41
  sit in the garden, for that a woman might come in to help her
• 4:55:45
  with the house, and anyway it was safer so that I might get out
• 4:55:48
  at the back in case of need. So she led the way down the
• 4:55:52
  corridor and through the living part of the house, and we passed several rooms
• 4:55:56
  and one little parlor lined with shelves and musty books. The blinds were pulled
• 4:56:02
  but let enough light in to show a high backed horse hair chair that stood
• 4:56:04
  at the table. In front of it lay an open volume and a pair
• 4:56:08
  of horn rimmed spectacles that often seen or Maskew's nose. So I knew it
• 4:56:15
  was his study, and that nothing had been moved since last he sat there.
• 4:56:19
  Even now I trembled to think in whose house I was, and half
• 4:56:23
  expected the old attorney to step in and hail me off to jail, till
• 4:56:27
  I remembered how all my trouble had come about, and how I at last
• 4:56:32
  had seen him with his face turned up against the morning sun. Thus we
• 4:56:38
  came to the garden, where I had never been before. It was a
• 4:56:41
  great square shut in with a brick wall of twelve or fifteen feet, big
• 4:56:45
  enough to suit a palace, but then ill kept and sorely overgrown. I
• 4:56:51
  could spend long in speaking of that plot, how the flowers and fruit trees,
• 4:56:56
  pot herbs, spice, and simples ran all wild and intermixed. The
• 4:57:00
  pink brick walls caught every ray of sun that fell, and that morning there
• 4:57:04
  was a hushed, close heat in it, and a warm breath rose from
• 4:57:08
  the strawberry beds, for they were then in full bearing. I was glad
• 4:57:14
  enough to get out of the sun when Grace led the way into a walk
• 4:57:17
  of meddler trees and quinces, where the boughs interlaced and formed an alley to
• 4:57:21
  a brick summer house. This summer house stands in the angle of the south
• 4:57:26
  wall, and by it two fig trees, whose tops you can see from
• 4:57:30
  the outside. They are well known for the biggest and the earliest bearing of
• 4:57:34
  all that part. And Grace showed me how if danger threatened, I might
• 4:57:38
  climb up their boughs and scale the wall. We sat in the summer house
• 4:57:45
  and I told her all that had happened at her father's death, only conceding
• 4:57:48
  that Elzevir had meant to do the deed himself, because it was no use
• 4:57:52
  to tell her that, and besides, for all I knew, he never
• 4:57:56
  did me to shoot, but only to frighten. She wept again while I
• 4:58:02
  spoke, but afterwards dry her tears. I must needs look at my leg
• 4:58:07
  to see the bullet wound, and if it was all soundly healed. Then
• 4:58:12
  I told her of the secret sense that Master Ratsy's words put into the texts
• 4:58:15
  written on the parchment. I had showed her the locket before, but we
• 4:58:21
  had it out again now, and she read and read again the writing,
• 4:58:25
  while I pointed out how the words fell, and told her I was going
• 4:58:29
  away to get the diamond and come back the richest man in all the countryside.
• 4:58:34
  Then she said, ah, John, set not your heart too much
• 4:58:38
  upon this diamond. If what they say is true, twas evilly come by
• 4:58:42
  and will bring evil with it. Even this wicked man Durst not spend it
• 4:58:48
  for himself, but meant to give it to the poor. So if indeed
• 4:58:52
  you ever find it, keep it not for yourself, but set his soul
• 4:58:55
  at rest by doing with it what he meant to do, or twill bring
• 4:59:00
  a curse upon you. I only smiled at what she said, taking it
• 4:59:04
  to be a girlish fancy, and did not tell her why I wanted so
• 4:59:08
  much to be rich, namely to marry her. One day. Then,
• 4:59:14
  having talked long about my own concerns as selfishly as a man always does.
• 4:59:18
  I thought to ask after herself and what she was going to do. She
• 4:59:23
  told me that a month past lawyers had come to Moonfleet and pressed her to
• 4:59:27
  leave the place, and they be give her in charge to a lady in
• 4:59:32
  London, because, said they, her father had died without a will,
• 4:59:36
  and so she must be made a ward of chancery. But she had begged
• 4:59:41
  them to let her be, for she could never live anywhere else than in
• 4:59:44
  Moonfleet, and that the air and commodity of the place suited her well.
• 4:59:48
  So they went off, saying that they must take direction of the court to
• 4:59:52
  know whether she might stay there or not. And here she yet was.
• 4:59:57
  This made me sad, for all I knew chancery was that whatever it put
• 5:00:00
  hands on fell to ruin, as witnessed the chancery mills at Cirne, or
• 5:00:04
  the chancery wharf at Wareham. And certainly it would take little enough to ruin
• 5:00:10
  the manor house, for it was three parts in decay already. Thus we
• 5:00:15
  talked, and after that she put on a calico bonnet and picked me a
• 5:00:18
  dish of strawberries, staying to pull the finest, although the sun was beating
• 5:00:22
  down from mid heaven, and brought me bread and meat from the house.
• 5:00:29
  Then she rolled up a shawl to make me a pillow and baby lie down
• 5:00:30
  on the seat that ran round the summer house and get to sleep. For
• 5:00:34
  I had told her that I walked all night and must be back again at
• 5:00:37
  the cave come midnight. She went back to the house, and that was
• 5:00:44
  the most sweet and peaceful sleep that ever I knew. For I was very
• 5:00:48
  tired and had this thought to soothe me as I fell asleep, that I
• 5:00:52
  had seen Grace and that she was so kind to me. She was sitting
• 5:00:59
  beside me when I awake, and knitting a piece of work. The heat
• 5:01:03
  of the day was somewhat less, and she told me that it was past
• 5:01:06
  five o'clock by the sun dial, so I knew that I must go.
• 5:01:11
  She may be take a packet of vittals and a bottle of milk, And
• 5:01:14
  as she put it into my pocket, the bottle struck on the butt of
• 5:01:18
  Maskew's pistol, which I had in my bosom. What have you there,
• 5:01:22
  she said, But I did not tell her, fearing to call up bitter
• 5:01:26
  memories. We stood hand in hand again, as we had done in the
• 5:01:32
  morning, and she said, John, you will wander on sea and may
• 5:01:37
  perhaps put into moonfleet. You have not been here of late. I have
• 5:01:41
  kept a candle burning the window every night, as in the past, so
• 5:01:45
  if you come to beach on any night, you will see that light and
• 5:01:48
  know Grace remembers you. And if you see it not, then know that
• 5:01:53
  I am dead or gone, for I will think of you every night till
• 5:01:57
  you come back again. I had nothing to say, for my heart was
• 5:02:03
  too full with her sweet words and with the sorrow of parting, but only
• 5:02:08
  drew her close to me and kissed her. And this time she did not
• 5:02:14
  step back, but kissed me again. Then I climbed up the fig tree,
• 5:02:19
  thinking it safer so to get out over the wall than to go back
• 5:02:22
  to the front of the house. And as I sat on the wall,
• 5:02:26
  ready to drop the other side, turned to her and said good bye,
• 5:02:32
  good bye, cried she, and have a care how you touch the treasure.
• 5:02:36
  It was evilly come by and will bring a curse with it. Good
• 5:02:41
  Bye, good bye, I said, and dropped on to the soft,
• 5:02:47
  leafty bottom of the wood. End of Chapter thirteen. Chapter fourteen the well
• 5:02:56
  house, for those thou mayest not to look upon, are gathering fast round
• 5:03:02
  the yawning stone Scott. It wanted yet half an hour of midnight when I
• 5:03:08
  found myself at the shaft of the marble quarrye and brefore I had well set
• 5:03:12
  foot on the steps to descend, heard Elzevir's voice challenging out of the darkness
• 5:03:18
  below. I gave back prosper the bonadventure, and so came home again to
• 5:03:23
  sleep the last time in our cave. The next night was well suited to
• 5:03:30
  flight. There was a spring tide with full moon and a light breeze setting
• 5:03:33
  off the land, which left the water smooth under the cliff. We saw
• 5:03:38
  the Bonaventure cruising in the channel before sundown, and after the darkness fell,
• 5:03:44
  she laid close in and took us off in her boat. There were several
• 5:03:48
  men on board of her that I knew, and they greeted us kindly and
• 5:03:51
  made much of us. I was indeed glad to be among them again,
• 5:03:56
  and yet felt a pang at leaving our dear Dorset coast and the old cave
• 5:04:00
  that had been hospital and home to me for two months. The wind set
• 5:04:06
  us up channel and by daybreak they put us ashore at cows So we walked
• 5:04:11
  to Newport and came there before many were stirring, such as we saw in
• 5:04:15
  the street. Paid no heed to us, but took us doubtless for some
• 5:04:18
  carter and his boy who had brought corn in from the country for the Southampton
• 5:04:22
  packet, and were about early to lead the team home. Again. Tis
• 5:04:29
  a little enough place, this Newport, and we soon found the bugle.
• 5:04:33
  But Elzevir made so good a carter that the landlord did not know him,
• 5:04:37
  though he had his acquaintance before. So they fenced a little with one another.
• 5:04:42
  Have you been vittles for a plain countryman and his boy, says Elzevir.
• 5:04:48
  Nay that I am not, says the landlord, looking him up and
• 5:04:51
  down, and not liking to take in strangers who might use their eyes inside,
• 5:04:56
  and perhaps get on the trail of the Contraband tis near the Somerset,
• 5:05:00
  and the place over a fool. Already I cannot move, my gentleman,
• 5:05:03
  and forbid you try the wheat sheaf, which is a good house and not
• 5:05:06
  so full as this. Ay, tis a busy time, and tis these
• 5:05:11
  fairs that make things prosper and Elzevir marked the last word a little as he
• 5:05:15
  said it. The man looked harder at him and asked, prosper, what,
• 5:05:22
  as if he were hard of hearing prosper? The bonaventure was the answer.
• 5:05:27
  And then the landlord caught Elzevir by the hand, shaking it hard and
• 5:05:30
  saying, why you a master block? And I expected you this morning,
• 5:05:33
  never knew you, he laughed as he stared at us again, and Elzevir
• 5:05:37
  smiled too. Then the landlord led us in, and this is he said,
• 5:05:42
  looking at me, This is a well licked whelp, replied Elzevir,
• 5:05:47
  who got a bullet in the leg two months ago in that touch under her
• 5:05:49
  head, and is worth more than he looks. For they have put twenty
• 5:05:53
  golden guineas on his head, So have a care of such a precious topknot.
• 5:06:00
  As long as we stopped at the bugle, we had the best of
• 5:06:02
  lodging, and the choicest meat and drink, and all the while the landlord
• 5:06:06
  treated Elzevir as though he were a prince, and so he was indeed a
• 5:06:10
  prince among the contrabandiers, and held, as I found out long afterwards,
• 5:06:15
  for Captain of all Landers between Start and Solent. At first the landlord would
• 5:06:21
  take no money of us, saying that he was in our debt and had
• 5:06:23
  received many a good term from mister Block in the plast. But Elzevir had
• 5:06:29
  got gold from Dorchester before we left the cave and forced him to take payment.
• 5:06:33
  I was glad enough to lie between clean, sweet sheets at night instead
• 5:06:38
  of a heap of sand, and sit once more a knife and fork in
• 5:06:41
  hand before a well filled trencher. TuS thought best I should show myself as
• 5:06:47
  little as possible, so I was content to pass my time in a room
• 5:06:51
  at the back of the house, whilst Elzevir went abroad to make inquiries how
• 5:06:55
  we could find entrance to the castle at Carrisbrook. Nor did the time hanginge
• 5:07:00
  beyond my hands, for I found some old books in the bugle, and
• 5:07:03
  among them several to my tastes, especially a history of Kauf Castle, which
• 5:07:07
  set forth how there was a secret passage from the ruins to some of the
• 5:07:11
  old marble quarries, and perhaps to that very one that sheltered us. Elzevir
• 5:07:18
  was out most of the day, so that I saw him only at breakfast
• 5:07:21
  and supper. He had been several times to Carrisbrook, and told me that
• 5:07:26
  the castle was used as a jail for persons taken in the wars, and
• 5:07:30
  was now full of French prisoners. He had met several of the turnkeys or
• 5:07:33
  jailers, drinking with them in the inns there, and making out that he
• 5:07:37
  was himself a carter who waited at Newport till a wind bound a ship should
• 5:07:41
  bring grindstones from Lime Regis. Thus he was able at last to enter the
• 5:07:48
  castle and to see well house and well, and spent some days in trying
• 5:07:52
  to devise a plan whereby we might get at the well without making the man
• 5:07:56
  who had charge of it privy to our full design, But in this did
• 5:08:00
  not succeed. There is a slip of garden at the back of the bugle,
• 5:08:04
  which runs down to a little stream. He had met several of the
• 5:08:08
  turnkeys or jailers, drinking with them in the inns there, and making out
• 5:08:12
  that he was himself a carter who waited at Newport till a wind bound a
• 5:08:17
  ship should bring grindstones from lime Regis. Thus he was able at last to
• 5:08:22
  enter the castle and to see well house and well, and spent some days
• 5:08:26
  in trying to devise a plan whereby we might get at the well without making
• 5:08:30
  the man who had charge of it privy to our full design. But in
• 5:08:34
  this did not succeed. There is a slip of garden at the back of
• 5:08:40
  the bugle, which runs down to a little stream, and one evening,
• 5:08:44
  when I was taking the air there after dark, Elzevir returned and said that
• 5:08:48
  time was come for us to put Blackbeard's cipher to the proof. I have
• 5:08:52
  tried every way, he said, to see if we could work this secretly,
• 5:08:56
  But it is not to be done without the privity of the man who
• 5:08:59
  keeps the well, and even with his help, it is not easy.
• 5:09:03
  He's a man I do not trust, but have been forced to tell him
• 5:09:07
  there is treasure hidden in the well. If without saying where it lies or
• 5:09:10
  how to get it, he promises to let us search the well, taking
• 5:09:14
  one third the value of all we find for his share. For I said
• 5:09:18
  not that thou and I were one at heart, but only that there was
• 5:09:21
  a boy who had the key, and claimed an equal third with both of
• 5:09:25
  us. To morrow we miss be up betimes and at the castle gate by
• 5:09:29
  six o'clock for him to let us in, and thou shalt not be carter
• 5:09:32
  any more, but mason's boy and I a mason, for I have got
• 5:09:36
  coats in the house, brushes and trowels and lime bucket, and were going
• 5:09:40
  to Carrisbrook to plaster up a weak patch in this same well side. Elzevir
• 5:09:47
  had thought carefully over this plan, and when we left the bugle next morning,
• 5:09:51
  we were better masons in our splashed clothes than ever we had been farm
• 5:09:53
  servants. I carried a bucket and a brush, and Elzevir a plasterus hammer
• 5:09:59
  and a boil a stout twine over his arm. It was a wet morning
• 5:10:03
  and had been raining all night. The sky was stagnant and one colored without
• 5:10:07
  wind, and the heavy drops fell straight down out of a gray veil that
• 5:10:11
  covered everything. The air struck cold when we first came out, but trudging
• 5:10:17
  over the heavy road soon made us remember that it was July, and we
• 5:10:21
  were very hot and soaking wet. When we stood at the gateway of Carrisbrook
• 5:10:25
  Castle. Here are two flanking towers and a stout gatehouse, reached by a
• 5:10:30
  stone bridge crossing the moat. And when I saw it. I remembered that
• 5:10:33
  twas here Colonel Mohune had earned the wages of his unrighteousness, and thought how
• 5:10:38
  many times he must have passed these gates. Elzevir knocked as one that had
• 5:10:45
  a right, and we were evidently expected for a wicket in. The heavy
• 5:10:48
  door was opened at once. The man who let us in was tall and
• 5:10:53
  stout, but had a puffy face and too much flesh on him to be
• 5:10:56
  very strong, though he was not I think more than thirty years of age.
• 5:11:02
  He gave Elzevir a smile and passed the time of day civilly enough,
• 5:11:06
  nodding also to me, But I did not like his oily black hair and
• 5:11:11
  a shifty eye that turned away uneasily when one met it. Warning master were
• 5:11:17
  right, he said to Elzevir, he brought ugly weather with you and a
• 5:11:21
  drowning wet. Would he take a supper bel before you get to work.
• 5:11:26
  Elzevir thanked him kindly, but would not drink. So the man led on
• 5:11:30
  and we followed him. We crossed a bailey or outer court, where the
• 5:11:33
  rain had made the gravel very mari, and came on the other side to
• 5:11:37
  a door which led by steps into a large hall. This building had once
• 5:11:42
  been a banquet room, I think, for there was an inscription over it,
• 5:11:45
  very plain in lead. He led me into his banquet hall, and
• 5:11:51
  his banner over me was love. I had time to read this while the
• 5:11:56
  turnkey unlocked the door with one of a heavy bunch of keys that he can
• 5:12:00
  his girdle. But when we entered, what a disappointment. For there were
• 5:12:04
  no banquets now, no banners, no love, but the whole place gutted
• 5:12:08
  and turned into a barrack for French prisoners. The air was very close as
• 5:12:15
  where men had slept all night, and a thick steam on the windows.
• 5:12:19
  Most of the prisoners were still asleep, and they stretched out on straw paliases
• 5:12:22
  round the walls. But some were sitting up and making models of ships out
• 5:12:26
  of fish bones, or building up crucifixes inside bottles, as sailors loved to
• 5:12:32
  do in their spare time. They paid little to heed to us. As
• 5:12:37
  we passed though, the sleepy guards, who were lounging on their matchlocks,
• 5:12:41
  nodded to our conductor, and thus we went right through that evil, smelling,
• 5:12:45
  whitewashed room. We left it at the other end, went down three
• 5:12:51
  steps into the open air. Again crossed another small court, and so came
• 5:12:55
  to a square building of stone with a high roof, like the large dovecots
• 5:12:59
  that you may see in old stack yards. Here our guide took another key,
• 5:13:03
  and while the door was being opened, Elzevir whispered to me, it
• 5:13:07
  is the well house. And my pulse beat quick to think we were so
• 5:13:11
  near our goal. The building was open to the roof, and the first
• 5:13:17
  thing to be seen in it was that tread wheel of which Elzevir had spoken.
• 5:13:21
  It was a great open wheel of wood, ten or twelve feet across,
• 5:13:23
  and very like a mill wheel, only the space between the rims was
• 5:13:27
  boarded flat, but had treads nailed on it to it to give foothold to
• 5:13:32
  a donkey. The patient beast was lying loose stabled on some straw in a
• 5:13:37
  corner of the room, and as soon as we came in, stood up
• 5:13:40
  and stretched himself, knowing that the day's work was to begin. He is
• 5:13:45
  here long before my time, the turkey said, And alwas the place so
• 5:13:49
  well that he goes into the wheel and sets to work by himself. At
• 5:13:53
  the side of the wheel was the well mouthed, a dark round opening with
• 5:13:57
  a low parapet rinded rising two feet from the floor. We were so near
• 5:14:03
  our goal, Yet were we near it at all? How do we know
• 5:14:07
  Mhwna meant to tell the place of hiding for the diamond in those words,
• 5:14:11
  they might have meant a dozen things beside. And if it was of the
• 5:14:15
  diamond they spoke, then how do we know the well was this one?
• 5:14:19
  There are a hundred wells beside. These thoughts came to me making hopeless.
• 5:14:26
  Sure, and perhaps it was the steamy, overcast morning and the rain,
• 5:14:30
  or a scant breakfast that beat my spirit down. For I have known men's
• 5:14:34
  mood change much with weather and with food. But sure it was that,
• 5:14:38
  now we stood so near to put it to the touch. I liked our
• 5:14:42
  business less and less. As soon as we were entered, the turkey locked
• 5:14:48
  the door from the inside. And when he let the key drop it to
• 5:14:52
  its place, and it jangled with the others on his belt, it seemed
• 5:14:56
  to me he had up had us as his prisoners in a trap. I
• 5:15:00
  tried to catch his eye to see if it looked bad or good, but
• 5:15:03
  could not, for he kept his shifty face turned always somewhere else. And
• 5:15:08
  then it came to my mind that if the treasure was really fraught with evil,
• 5:15:14
  this coarse, dark haired man who could not look one straight was to
• 5:15:18
  become a minister of ruin to bring the curse home to us. But if
• 5:15:23
  I was weak and timid, Elzevir had no misgivings, He had taken the
• 5:15:27
  call of twine off his arm and was undoing it. We will let an
• 5:15:32
  end of this down the well, he said, And I have made a
• 5:15:34
  knot in it at eighty feet. This lad thinks the treasure is in the
• 5:15:38
  well wall eighty feet below us. So when the knot is on well lip
• 5:15:42
  we shall know we have the right depth. I tried again to see what
• 5:15:48
  look the turnkey wore when he heard where the treasure was, but could not,
• 5:15:52
  and so fell to examining the well. A spindle ran from the axe
• 5:15:56
  of the wheel across the well, and on the spindle was a drum to
• 5:16:00
  take the rope. There was some clutch or fastening which could be fixed or
• 5:16:04
  loosed at will to make the drum turn with the tread wheel or let it
• 5:16:07
  run free, and a foot brake to lower the bucket fast or slow or
• 5:16:11
  stop it altogether. I will get into the bucket, Elzevir said, turning
• 5:16:18
  to me, and this good man will lure me gently by the break until
• 5:16:21
  I reach the string end down below. Then I will shout, and so
• 5:16:23
  fix you the wheel and give me time to search. This was not what
• 5:16:30
  I looked for, having thought that it was, I should go. And
• 5:16:33
  though I liked going down the world little enough, yet somehow now I felt
• 5:16:37
  I would rather do that than have Master Elzevir down the hole and me left
• 5:16:41
  locked alone with this villainous fellow up above. So I said, no,
• 5:16:47
  Master, that cannot be. Tis my place to go, being smaller and
• 5:16:51
  a lighter weight than thou, and thou shalt stop here and help this gentleman
• 5:16:53
  to lure me down. Elzevir spoke a few words to try to change my
• 5:17:00
  purpose, but soon gave in, knowing it was certainly the better plan,
• 5:17:03
  and having only thought to go himself, because he doubted if I had the
• 5:17:07
  heart to do it. But the turnkey showed much ill humor of the change,
• 5:17:12
  and strove to let the plan stand as it was, and for Elzevir
• 5:17:15
  to go down the well. Things that were settled he said, should remain
• 5:17:21
  settled. He was not one for changes. It was a man's task this
• 5:17:23
  and no child's play. A boy would not have his senses about him,
• 5:17:26
  and might overlook the place. I fixed my eyes on Elzevir to let him
• 5:17:32
  know what I thought. A master Turnkey's words fell lightly on his ears,
• 5:17:36
  as water on a duck's back. Then this ill eyed man tried to work
• 5:17:41
  upon my fears, saying that the world is deep and the bucket small,
• 5:17:45
  I should get giddy and be overbalanced. I do not say that these forebodings
• 5:17:49
  were without effect on me, but I have made up my mind that bad
• 5:17:53
  as it might be to go down, it was yes worse to have Master
• 5:17:56
  Elzevir prisoned in the well, and I remained above. Thus the Turkey perceived
• 5:18:03
  at last that he was speaking to death for years, and turned to the
• 5:18:07
  business. Yet there was one fear that still held me, for thinking what
• 5:18:11
  I had heard of the corry shafts in Purbeck, how men had gone down
• 5:18:15
  to explore, and there had been taken with a sudden gidness, and never
• 5:18:18
  lived to tell what they had seen. And so I said to Master Elzevir,
• 5:18:25
  are sure the well is clean, and that no deadly gas is lurk
• 5:18:27
  below. Thou mayst be sure. I knew the well was sweet before I
• 5:18:32
  let thee talk again. Down he answered, For yesterday we lowered the candle
• 5:18:37
  to the water, and the flame burned bright and steady. And where the
• 5:18:41
  candle lives there man lives too. But thou art right. These gases change
• 5:18:47
  from to day to day, and we will try the thing again. So
• 5:18:49
  bring the candle, master, jailer. The jailer brought a candle fixed on
• 5:18:55
  a wooden triangle, which he was wont to show strangers who came to see
• 5:18:59
  the well, and lowered it on a string. It was not till then
• 5:19:03
  that I knew what a task I had before me, for looking over the
• 5:19:07
  parapet and taking care not to lose my balance. Because the parapet was low,
• 5:19:11
  and the floor round it green and slippery with water splashings. I watched
• 5:19:15
  the candle sink into that cavernous depth, and from a bright flame turn into
• 5:19:21
  a little twinkling star, and then to a mere point of light. At
• 5:19:26
  last it rested on the water, and there was a shimmer where the wood
• 5:19:30
  frame had set ripples moving. We watched it twinkle for a little while,
• 5:19:34
  and the jailer raised the candle from the water and dropped down a stone from
• 5:19:38
  some he kept there for that purpose. This stone struck the wall half way
• 5:19:45
  down and went from side to side, crashing and whirring, till it met
• 5:19:48
  the water with a booming plunge. And there rose a groan and moan from
• 5:19:53
  the eddies, like those dreadful sounds of the surge that I heard on lonely
• 5:19:59
  nights in the sea caverns underneath our hiding place in Purbeck. The Jada looked
• 5:20:04
  at me then for the first time, and his eyes had a gargly meaning,
• 5:20:08
  as if he said, there that is how you will sign when you
• 5:20:14
  fall from your perch. But it was no use to frighten, for I
• 5:20:18
  had made up my mind. They pulled the candle up forthwith and put it
• 5:20:22
  in my hand, and I flung the plaster's hammer into the bucket where it
• 5:20:27
  hung above the well, and then got in myself. The turkey stood at
• 5:20:32
  the brake wheel, and Elzevir leant over the parapet to steady the rope art.
• 5:20:37
  Sure thou comest to it, lad, he said, speaking low,
• 5:20:41
  and put his hand kindly on my shoulder, our head and heart. Shore
• 5:20:47
  Thou art my diamond, and I would rather lose all other diamonds in the
• 5:20:49
  world than aught should come to thee. So if thou doubtest, let me
• 5:20:55
  go, or let not any go at all. I've Outmaster, I said,
• 5:21:02
  touched by tenderness, and wrung his hand. My head is sure.
• 5:21:07
  I have no broken leg to turn it silly now, for I guessed he
• 5:21:11
  was thinking of whole head, and how I had gone giddy on the zigzag
• 5:21:18
  end of Chapter fifteen. Chapter fifteen, The well the grave doth gape and
• 5:21:26
  doting death is near Shakespeare. The bucket was large, for all that the
• 5:21:33
  turnkey had tried to frighten me into thinking it small, and I could crouch
• 5:21:37
  in it lear enough to feel safe of not falling out. Moreover, such
• 5:21:41
  a venture was not entirely new to me, for I had once been over
• 5:21:45
  gad Cliff in a basket to get two Pelgrine's eggs. Yet none the less
• 5:21:48
  I felt ill, at ease and fearful when the bucket began to sink into
• 5:21:52
  that dreadful depth, and the air to grow chilly. As I went down.
• 5:21:57
  They lowered me gently, enough so that I was able to take stock
• 5:22:02
  of the way the wall was made, and found that for the most part
• 5:22:06
  it was cut through solid chalk. But here and there, whether the chalk
• 5:22:10
  failed or was broken away, they had lined the walls with brick, patching
• 5:22:14
  them now on this side, now on that, and now all round by
• 5:22:18
  degrees. The light, which was dim even overground that rainy day, died
• 5:22:22
  out in the well till all was black as night but for my candle,
• 5:22:27
  and far overhead I could see the well mouth white and round, like a
• 5:22:33
  lustreless full moon. I kept an eye all the time on Elzevir's cord that
• 5:22:37
  hung down the well side, and when I saw it was coming to a
• 5:22:41
  finish, shouted to them to stop, and they brought the bucket up near
• 5:22:45
  level with the end of it, so I knew I was about eighty feet
• 5:22:48
  deep. Then I raised myself, standing up in the bucket and holding by
• 5:22:52
  the rope, and began to look around, knowing not all the while what
• 5:22:56
  I looked for, but thinking to see a hole in the wall, or
• 5:23:00
  perhaps the diamond itself shining out of a cranny. But I could perceive nothing.
• 5:23:06
  And what made it more difficult was that the walls here were lined completely
• 5:23:10
  with small flat bricks and looked much the same all round. I examined these
• 5:23:15
  bricks as closely as I might, and took course by course, looking first
• 5:23:19
  at the north side, where the plumb line hung, and afterwards turning round
• 5:23:23
  to the bucket till I was afraid of getting giddy, but to little purpose.
• 5:23:29
  They could see my candle moving round and round from the well top,
• 5:23:33
  and knew no doubt what I was at. But Master Turnkey grew impatient and
• 5:23:37
  shouted down, what are you doing? Have you found nothing? Can you
• 5:23:40
  see no treasure? No? I called back, I could see nothing.
• 5:23:45
  And then are you sure, Master Block, that you've measured the plummet true
• 5:23:48
  to eighty feet. I heard them talking together, but could not make out
• 5:23:53
  what they said for the bim bomb and echo in the well till Elzevir shouted
• 5:23:59
  again, They say, this floor has been raised. You must try lower.
• 5:24:04
  Then the bucket began to moose lower slowly, and I crouched down in
• 5:24:08
  it again, not wishing to look too much into the unfathomable dark abyss below.
• 5:24:15
  And all the while there rose groanings and moanings from Eddy's in the bottom
• 5:24:18
  of the well, as if the spirits that kept watched over me jewel were
• 5:24:22
  yammering together that one should be so near it, and clear above them all
• 5:24:27
  I heard Grace's voice, sweet and grave, Have a care, have a
• 5:24:33
  care how you touch the treasure. It was evilly come by and will bring
• 5:24:36
  a curse with it. But I had set foot on this way, Now
• 5:24:41
  I must go through with it. So when the bucket stopped some six feet
• 5:24:45
  lower down, I fell again to the diligently examining the walls. They were
• 5:24:49
  still built of the same shallow bricks and scanned coarse by course as before.
• 5:24:53
  I could at first see nothing, But as I moved my eyes downward,
• 5:24:59
  they were brought up by a mark scratched on a brick close to the hanging
• 5:25:03
  plummet line. Now, how unlikely a man may glance through a book.
• 5:25:10
  Yet if his own name, or even only one nice it should be printed
• 5:25:12
  on the page, his eyes will instantly be stopped by it. So too
• 5:25:18
  if his name be mentioned by others in their speech, though should be whispered,
• 5:25:21
  never so low, his ears will catch it. Thus it was with
• 5:25:26
  this mark, for there was very slight. Should I think not one in
• 5:25:30
  a thousand would ever have noticed it at all. Yet it stopped my eyes
• 5:25:33
  and brought up my thoughts suddenly, because I knew by instinct that it had
• 5:25:37
  something to do with me and what I sought. The sides of this world
• 5:25:42
  are not moist, green, or clammy, like the sides of some others,
• 5:25:45
  where damp and noxious exhalations abound, but dry and clean. For it
• 5:25:52
  is said that there are below hidden entrances and exits for the water which keep
• 5:25:56
  it always moving. So these bricks were all so dry and clean, and
• 5:26:00
  this mark as sharp as if it made yesterday, though the issue showed that
• 5:26:04
  it was put there a very long time ago. Now the mark was not
• 5:26:10
  deeply or regularly graven, but roughly scratched, as I've known boys score their
• 5:26:15
  names, or alphabet letters or a date on the alabaster figures that lie in
• 5:26:18
  Moonfleet Church. And here too was scored a letter of the alphabet a plane
• 5:26:25
  why, and would have passed for nothing more, perhaps to any not born
• 5:26:29
  in Moonfleet. But to me it was the cross pall or black why of
• 5:26:33
  the Mahoons, and whose shadow we were all brought up. So as soon
• 5:26:38
  as I saw that, I knew I was near what I sought, and
• 5:26:41
  that Colonel John Mahoone had put this sign here a century ago, either by
• 5:26:47
  his own hands or by those of a servant. And then I thought of
• 5:26:51
  mister Glenney's story that the colonel's conscience was always unquiet because of a servant whom
• 5:26:56
  he had put away. And now I seemed to understand some thing more of
• 5:27:00
  it. My heart throbbed fiercely, as many another's heart has throbbed when he
• 5:27:06
  has come near the fulfillment of a great desire, whether lawful or guilty.
• 5:27:10
  And I tried to get at the break, but though by holding on to
• 5:27:14
  the rope with my left hand I could reach over far enough to touch the
• 5:27:17
  brick with my right, twas as much as I could do. And so
• 5:27:21
  I shouted up the well that they must bring me nearer in to the side.
• 5:27:26
  They understood what I would be at, and slipped a noose over the
• 5:27:29
  well rope, and so drew it into the side and made it fast till
• 5:27:33
  I should give the word to loose again. Thus I was brought close to
• 5:27:37
  the well wall, and the marked brick near about the level of my face.
• 5:27:41
  When I stood up in the bucket there was nothing to show that this
• 5:27:45
  brick had been tampered with, nor did it sound hollow when tapped, though
• 5:27:48
  when I came to look closely at the joints it seemed as though there was
• 5:27:52
  more cement than usual about the edges. But I never doubted that what we
• 5:27:56
  sought was to be found behind it, and so got to work at once
• 5:28:00
  fixing the wooden frame of the candle and the fastening of the chain, and
• 5:28:04
  chipping out the mortar setting with the plasterous hammer. When they saw above that
• 5:28:11
  first I was to be pulled into the side, and afterwards fell to work
• 5:28:15
  on the wall of the well. They guessed no doubt how matters were,
• 5:28:18
  and I had scarce begun chipping when I heard the turnkey's voice again, sharp
• 5:28:22
  and greedy. What are you doing? Have you found nothing? It chafed
• 5:28:26
  me that this grasping fellow should be always shouting to me, while Elzevir was
• 5:28:30
  content to stay quiet, So I cried back that I had found nothing,
• 5:28:36
  and it should know what I was doing in good time. Soon I had
• 5:28:41
  the mortar out of the joints, and the brick loose enough to prize it
• 5:28:44
  forward by putting the edge of the hammer in the crack. I lifted it
• 5:28:48
  clean out and put it in the bucket to see later on in case of
• 5:28:51
  need if there was a hollow for anything to be hidden in, but never
• 5:28:55
  had occasion to look at it again, for there behind the brick was a
• 5:29:00
  little hole in the wall, and in the hole what I sought. I
• 5:29:06
  have my fingers on the wall, too quick for words, and brought out
• 5:29:07
  a little parchment bag. For all the world, like those dried fish eggs
• 5:29:11
  cast up on the beach that children call shepherd's purses. Now shepherd's purses are
• 5:29:15
  crisp and crackled to the touch, and sometimes and then a pebble get inside
• 5:29:19
  one and rattle like a pea in a drum. And this little bag that
• 5:29:22
  I pulled out was dry too, and crackling, had had something of the
• 5:29:26
  size of a small pebble that rattled it in the inside of it. And
• 5:29:30
  I knew well that this was no pebble, and set to work to get
• 5:29:34
  it out. But then the little bag was parched and dry twas not so
• 5:29:37
  easily torn, And at last I struck off the corner of it with a
• 5:29:41
  sharp edge of my hammer against the bucket. Then I shook it carefully,
• 5:29:45
  and out into my hand there dropped a pure crystal, as big as a
• 5:29:51
  walnut. I had never in my life seen a diamond, either large or
• 5:29:56
  small. Yet even if I had not known that Blackbeard had buried a diamond,
• 5:30:02
  and if we had not come hither of set purpose to find it,
• 5:30:04
  I should not have doubted that what I had in my hand was a diamond,
• 5:30:08
  and this of matchless size and brillants. It was cut into many facets,
• 5:30:15
  And though there was little or no light in the well save my candle,
• 5:30:18
  there seemed to be in this stone the light of a thousand fires that
• 5:30:22
  flashed out, sparkling red and blue and green. As I turned it between
• 5:30:26
  my fingers. At first I could think of nothing else, neither how I
• 5:30:32
  got there, nor I had come to find it, but only of it,
• 5:30:36
  the diamond. And there was such a prize Elzevir and I could live
• 5:30:40
  happily ever afterwards, and that I should be a rich man and able to
• 5:30:44
  go back to Moonfleet. So I crouched down in the bottom of the bucket,
• 5:30:48
  being filled entirely with such thoughts, and turned it over and over again,
• 5:30:53
  wondering continually more and more to see the fiery light fly out of it.
• 5:31:00
  I was, as it were, dazed by its brilliance and by the
• 5:31:03
  possibilities of wealth that it contained, and had perhaps a desire to keep it
• 5:31:07
  to myself as long as might be, so that I thought nothing of the
• 5:31:10
  two who were waiting for me at the wellmouth, till I was suddenly called
• 5:31:14
  back by the harsh voice of the turnkey, crying as before, why are
• 5:31:18
  you doing? Have you found nothing? Yes, I shouted back, I
• 5:31:23
  have found the treasure. You can pull me up. The words were scarcely
• 5:31:29
  out of my mouth before the bucket began to move, and I went up
• 5:31:32
  a great deal faster than I had gone down it. In that short journey,
• 5:31:36
  other thoughts came to my mind, and I heard Grace's voice again,
• 5:31:40
  Sweet and grave, have a care, have a care how you touch the
• 5:31:45
  treasure. It was evilly come by and will bring a curse with it.
• 5:31:49
  At the same time, I remembered how I had been led to the discovery
• 5:31:53
  of this duel, first by mister Glenney's stories, a second by my finding
• 5:31:56
  the locket, and third by Ratsey give me the hint that the writing was
• 5:32:00
  a cipher, and so had come to the hiding place without a swerve or
• 5:32:04
  stumble. And it seemed to me that I could not reached it so straight
• 5:32:08
  without a leading hand. But whether good or evil, who should say?
• 5:32:15
  As I near the top, I heard the turnkey urging the donkey to trot
• 5:32:18
  faster in the wheel so that the bucket might rise the quicker. But just
• 5:32:23
  before my head was leveled with the ground, he set the brake on and
• 5:32:27
  fixed me where I was. I was glad to see the light again and
• 5:32:32
  Elzevir's face looking kindly on me, but vexed to be brought up thus.
• 5:32:36
  Suddenly, just when I was expecting to set foot on Terra Firmer, the
• 5:32:41
  turnkey had stopped me. Through his covetous eagerness. Said he might get sooner
• 5:32:45
  at the jewel. And now he craned over the low parapet and reached out
• 5:32:48
  his hand to be crying, where's the treasure, Where's the treasure? Give
• 5:32:51
  me the treasure. I held the damond between finger and thumber my right hand
• 5:32:56
  and waved it for Elzevir to see. By stretching out my arm, I
• 5:33:00
  could have placed it in the turnkey's hand. I was just going to do
• 5:33:03
  so. When I caught his eyes for the second time that day, and
• 5:33:07
  something in them may be stop. There was a look in his face that
• 5:33:11
  brought back to me the memory of an autumn evening when I sat in my
• 5:33:14
  aunt's parlor reading the book called the Arabian Nights, and how in the story
• 5:33:18
  of the Wonderful Lamp, Aladdin's wicked uncle stands at the top of the stairs
• 5:33:22
  when the boy's coming up out of the underground cabin, and will not let
• 5:33:26
  him out unless he first gives up the treasure. But Aladdin refused to give
• 5:33:30
  up his lamp untich he should stand safe on the ground again, because he
• 5:33:33
  guessed that if he did, his uncle would shut him up in the cavern
• 5:33:37
  and leave him to die there. And the look in the turnkey's eyes made
• 5:33:41
  me refuse to hand in the jewel till I was safe out of the well,
• 5:33:45
  for a horrible fear seized me that as soon as he had taken it
• 5:33:48
  from me, he meant to let me fall down and drown below. So
• 5:33:56
  when he reached down his hand and said give me the treasure, I answered,
• 5:34:00
  pull me up, then I cannot show it to you in the backet
• 5:34:03
  nay lad, he said, cousining me, tis safer to give him now,
• 5:34:07
  and have both hands free to help you getting out. These stones are
• 5:34:10
  wet and greasy, and you may chance to slip, and, having no
• 5:34:12
  hand to save you, fall back on the well. But I was not
• 5:34:17
  to be cheated, and said again sturdily, no, you must pull me
• 5:34:21
  up first. Then he took to scowling and cried in an angry tone.
• 5:34:26
  Give me the treasure, I say, or it will be the worse for
• 5:34:27
  you. But Elzevir would not let him speak to me that way. I
• 5:34:32
  am breaken. Roughly. Let the boy up. He's sure footed and will
• 5:34:36
  not slip. Tis his treasure, and he shall do with it as he
• 5:34:38
  likes. I know that thou shalt have a third of it. When we
• 5:34:41
  have sold it. Then he tis not his treasure, no nor yours either,
• 5:34:45
  but mine, for it is in my well, and I've let you
• 5:34:48
  get it. Ye, I'll give you a half share in it. But
• 5:34:52
  as for this boy, what has he to do with it? Will give
• 5:34:55
  him a golden guinea. He'll be rich to pay for his pains. Tush
• 5:34:59
  cries Elzevir. Let us have no more fooling. This boy shall have his
• 5:35:02
  share, or I will know the reason why. Aye, you shall know
• 5:35:06
  the reason, fair enough, answered the turnkey. Tis because your name is
• 5:35:10
  black, and there is a price of fifty upon your head and twenty upon
• 5:35:12
  this boy's. You thought to outmit me, and you are yourself outwitted.
• 5:35:17
  In here. I have you in a trap, and neither leaves this room
• 5:35:19
  except with hands tied and bound for the gallows, unless I first have the
• 5:35:22
  jewels safe in my purse. On that I whipped the diamond back quick into
• 5:35:30
  the little parchment bag and thrust both down snugget and bached his pocket, meaning
• 5:35:33
  to have a fight for it anyway before I let it go. And looking
• 5:35:37
  up again, I saw the turnkey's hand on the butt of his pistol and
• 5:35:41
  cried, beware, beware, he draws on you. But before the words
• 5:35:45
  were out of his mouth, the turnkey had his weapon up and leveled full
• 5:35:48
  at Elzevir. Surrender, he cries, or I shoot you dead, and
• 5:35:52
  the fifty is mine. Another, giving time for answer, fires Elzevir stood
• 5:35:59
  on the other side of the well mouth. Then it seemed the other could
• 5:36:00
  not miss him at such a distance. But as I blinked my eyes at
• 5:36:03
  the flash, I felt the bullet strike the ard chain to which I was
• 5:36:06
  holding, and saw that Elzevir was safe. The turnkey saw it too,
• 5:36:11
  and, flinging away, his pistol sprang round the well and was at Elzevir's
• 5:36:15
  throat before he knew whether he was hit or not. I've said that the
• 5:36:18
  Turkey was a tall, strong man and twenty years the younger of the two,
• 5:36:22
  so doubtless when he made for Elzevir, he thought he would easily have
• 5:36:25
  him broken down and handcuffed, and then turned to me. But he reckoned
• 5:36:29
  without his host, for although Elzevir was the shorter and older man, he
• 5:36:33
  was wonderfully strong and seasoned as a salted thong. Then they hugged one another
• 5:36:37
  and began a terrible struggle. For Elzevir knew that he was wrestling for life,
• 5:36:41
  and I dare say the Turkey guessed that the stakes were much the same
• 5:36:45
  for him too. As soon as I saw what they were at and that
• 5:36:49
  the bucket was safe fixed, I laid hold of the world chain and climbed
• 5:36:52
  up bit by swinging myself onto the top of the parapet, being eager to
• 5:36:56
  help Elzevir and get the turnkey gagged and bound. One made our escape.
• 5:37:00
  But before I was well on the firm ground again, I saw that little
• 5:37:03
  help of mine was needed, for the turnkey was flagging, and there was
• 5:37:07
  a look of anguish and desperate surprise upon his face to find that the man
• 5:37:11
  he had thought to master so lightly was strong as a giant. They were
• 5:37:15
  swaying to and fro, and the jailer's grip was slackening, for his muscles
• 5:37:18
  were overwrought and tired. But Elzevir held him firm as a vice, and
• 5:37:23
  I saw from his eyes and the bearing of his body, that he was
• 5:37:26
  gathering himself up to give his enemy a fall. Now I guessed for the
• 5:37:30
  fall he would use would be the Compton toss, for though I'd never seen
• 5:37:34
  him give it, yet, he was well known for a wrestler in his
• 5:37:37
  younger days, and the Compton toss was his most certain fall. I shall
• 5:37:41
  not explain the method of it, but those who've seen it used will know
• 5:37:45
  that tis a deadly fall, and he who lets himself get thrown that way,
• 5:37:48
  even upon grass, is seldom fit to wrestle another bout the same day.
• 5:37:53
  Still tis a difficult fall to use, and perhaps Elzevir would never have
• 5:37:56
  been able to give it had not the other that who had taken one hand
• 5:38:00
  off the waist and tried to make a clutch with it at the throat.
• 5:38:04
  But the only way of avoiding that fall, and indeed most others, is
• 5:38:07
  to keep both hands firm between hip and shoulder blade. And the moment Elzevir
• 5:38:11
  felt one hand off his back, he had the jailer off his feet and
• 5:38:15
  gave him Compton's toss. I do not know whether Elzevir had been so taxed
• 5:38:21
  by the fierce struggle that he could not put his fullest force into the throw,
• 5:38:25
  or whether the other, being a very strong and heavy man, needed
• 5:38:27
  more to fling him. But so it was that, instead of the turnkey
• 5:38:32
  going down straight as he should, with the back of his head on the
• 5:38:34
  floor, for that is the real damage of the toss, he must need
• 5:38:38
  stagger backwards a face or two trying to regain his footing before he went over.
• 5:38:45
  It was those few staggering paces that ruined him, for with the last
• 5:38:49
  he came upon the stones close to the wellmouth that had been made wet and
• 5:38:53
  slippery by continual spilling there of water. Then up flew his heels and he
• 5:39:00
  fell backwards with all his weight. As soon as I saw how near the
• 5:39:04
  wellmouth he was got, I shouted out and ran to save him. But
• 5:39:08
  Elzevir saw it quicker than I, and, springing forward, seized him by
• 5:39:11
  the belt just when he turned over. The parapet wall was very low and
• 5:39:15
  caught the turnkey behind the knees as he staggered, tripping him over into the
• 5:39:18
  wellmouth. He gave a bitter cry, and there was a wrench on his
• 5:39:22
  face when he knew where he was come. And twas then Elzevir caught him
• 5:39:26
  by the belt. For a moment I thought he was saved, seeing Elzevir
• 5:39:30
  setting his body low back with heels pressed firm against the parapet wall to stand
• 5:39:34
  the strain. Then the belt gave way at the fasting and Elzevir fell,
• 5:39:40
  sprawling on the floor, but the other went backwards down the well. I
• 5:39:48
  got to the parapet just as he fell head first into that black abyss.
• 5:39:52
  There was a second of silence, then a dreadful noise, like a cocoanut
• 5:39:57
  being broken on a pavement. For we once had cocoanuts in plenty at Moonfleet.
• 5:40:03
  When the bat of the man came on the beach, then a deep,
• 5:40:06
  echoing blow, where he rebounded and struck the wall again, and asked
• 5:40:11
  of all the thud and thundering splash when he reached the water of the bottom.
• 5:40:18
  I held my breath for sheer horror, and listened to see if he
• 5:40:22
  would cry, though I knew at heart he would never cry again after that
• 5:40:26
  first sickening smash. But there was no sound or voice except the moaning voices
• 5:40:33
  of the water Eddi's that I had heard before. Elzevia slung himself into the
• 5:40:40
  bucket. You can handle the brake, he said, to me, let
• 5:40:41
  me down quick into the well. I took the brake lever, lowering him
• 5:40:45
  as quickly as I durst till I heard the bucket touch water at the bottom,
• 5:40:49
  and then stood by and listened. All was still, yet I started
• 5:40:55
  once and could not help looking round over my shoulder, for it seemed as
• 5:40:57
  if I was not alone in the well high and though I could see no
• 5:41:00
  one, yet, I had a fancy of a tall, black bearded man
• 5:41:04
  with coppery face chasing another round and round the well, mouth. Both vanished
• 5:41:11
  from my fancy, just as the pursuer had his hand on the pursued.
• 5:41:15
  But mister Glenney's story came back again to my mind, how that Colonel Mahowne's
• 5:41:18
  conscience was always on quiet because of a servant he had put away. And
• 5:41:23
  I guess now that the turnkey was not the first man these walls had seen
• 5:41:29
  go headlong down the well. Elzevir had been in the well so long that
• 5:41:34
  I began to fear something had happened to him when he shouted to me to
• 5:41:37
  bring him up. So I fixed the clutch and set the donkey going in
• 5:41:41
  the tread wheel, and the patient drudge started on his round, wreaking nothing,
• 5:41:47
  whether it was a bucket of water he brought up, or a live
• 5:41:48
  man or a dead man, while I looked over the parapet and waited with
• 5:41:53
  a cramping suspense, to see whether Elzevir would be alone or have something with
• 5:41:57
  him. But when the bucket came in sight, there was only Elzevir in
• 5:42:03
  it. So I knew the turnkey had never come to the top of the
• 5:42:07
  water again, and indeed there was but little chance he should after that first
• 5:42:11
  knock Elzevir said nothing to me till I spoke, let us fling the jewel
• 5:42:18
  down the well after him. Master blocke it was evilly come by and will
• 5:42:21
  bring a curse with it. He hesitated for a moment, while I half
• 5:42:26
  hoped yet half feared he was going to do as I asked, but then
• 5:42:30
  said, no, No, thou art not fit to keep so precious a
• 5:42:34
  thing. Give it to me. It is thy treasure, and I will
• 5:42:37
  never touch a penny of it. But fling it down the well, thou
• 5:42:41
  shalt not. For this man has lost his life for it, and we
• 5:42:45
  have risked ours for it. Aye, I may lose them for it too,
• 5:42:48
  Perhaps so I gave him the jewel end of Chapter fifteen, Chapter sixteen,
• 5:42:59
  Part one. The jewel all that glisters is not gold Shakespeare. There
• 5:43:07
  was the turkey's belt lying on the floor, with the keys and manacles fixed
• 5:43:11
  to it, just as it had failed and come off him at the fatal
• 5:43:15
  moment. Elzevir picked it up, tried the keys till he found the right
• 5:43:18
  one, and unlocked the door of the well house. There are other locks
• 5:43:23
  to open before we get out, I said, aye, he answered,
• 5:43:29
  but it is more than our life is worth to be seen with these keys.
• 5:43:32
  So send them down the well after their master. I took them back
• 5:43:36
  and flung them, belt and keys and handcuffs, clanking down against the sides,
• 5:43:41
  into the blackness and the hidden water at the bottom. Then we took
• 5:43:45
  pale and hammer, brush and ropes and turned our backs upon that hateful place.
• 5:43:51
  There was the little court to cross before we came to the door banquet
• 5:43:55
  hall. They were locked, would be knocked until a guard opened them.
• 5:43:59
  As for the plant ostra men, who had passed an hour before, and
• 5:44:02
  only asked where's Ephraim, meaning the turnkey he is stopping behind in the well
• 5:44:07
  house, Elzevir said, And so we passed on through the hall, where
• 5:44:11
  the prisoners were making what breakfast they might, of odds and ends, with
• 5:44:15
  a savory smell of cooking and a great patter of French. At the outer
• 5:44:19
  gate was another guard to be passed, but they opened for us without question,
• 5:44:25
  cursing Efraim under their breath that he did not take the plain pains to
• 5:44:27
  let his own men out. Then the wicket of the great gates swung to
• 5:44:33
  behind us, and we went into the open again. As soon as we
• 5:44:37
  were out of sight, we quickened our pace, and the weather, having
• 5:44:40
  much bettered, and a fresh breeze springing up, we came back to the
• 5:44:42
  bugle about ten in the forenoon. I believe that neither of us spoke a
• 5:44:48
  word during that walk, and though Elzevir had not yet seen the diamond,
• 5:44:52
  he never even took the panes to draw it out of the little parchment bag
• 5:44:56
  in which it still lay, hid in his pocket. Yet if I did
• 5:45:00
  not speak, I thought, and my thoughts were sad enough, for here
• 5:45:06
  were we a second time flying for our lives. And if we had not
• 5:45:10
  the full guilt of blood upon our hands, yet blood was surely there.
• 5:45:15
  So this flight was very bitter to me, because the scene of death at
• 5:45:18
  which I had been witnessed this morning seemed to take me farther still away from
• 5:45:22
  all my old happy life, and to stand like another dreadful obstacle between Grace
• 5:45:27
  and me in the family Bible, lying on the table in my aunt's best
• 5:45:32
  parlor was a picture of Cain, which I had often looked at with fear
• 5:45:37
  on wet Sunday afternoons. It showed Cain striding along in the midst of a
• 5:45:41
  boundless desert, with his sons and their wives striding behind him, and their
• 5:45:45
  little children carrying slung on poles. There was a quick swinging motion in the
• 5:45:51
  bodies of all, as the NAMA's needs, always stride as fast as they
• 5:45:55
  might, and never rest. And that this were set hard and thin,
• 5:45:59
  with etern wandering and disquiet. But the thinnest and most restless looking and hardest
• 5:46:04
  face was Cain's. And on the middle of his forehead there was a dark
• 5:46:08
  spot which God had set to show that none might touch him, because he
• 5:46:14
  was the first murderer and cursed forever. This has always been to me a
• 5:46:19
  dreadful picture that I could not choose but look at it, and was sorry
• 5:46:22
  indeed for Cain, for all he was so wicked, because it seemed so
• 5:46:26
  hard to have to wander up and down the world all his life long,
• 5:46:30
  and never be able to come to moorings. And yet this very thing had
• 5:46:34
  come upon minaw for here we were with the blood of two men on our
• 5:46:38
  hands, wanderers on the face of the earth, who durst never go home.
• 5:46:44
  And if the mark of Cain was not on my forehead already I felt
• 5:46:47
  it might come out there at any minute. When we reached the bugle,
• 5:46:52
  I went upstairs and flung myself upon the bed to try to rest a little
• 5:46:56
  and think. But Elzevir shut himself in with the landlord, and I could
• 5:47:00
  hear them talking earnestly in the room under me. After a while he came
• 5:47:06
  up and said that he had considered with the landlord how he could best get
• 5:47:08
  away, telling him that he must be off at once, but letting him
• 5:47:12
  suppose that we were eager to leave the place, because some of the excise
• 5:47:15
  had got wind of our whereabouts. He had said nothing to our host about
• 5:47:19
  the turnkey, wishing as few persons as possible to know of that matter,
• 5:47:23
  but doubted not that we should, by all means hasten our departure from the
• 5:47:26
  island, for that as soon as the turnkey was missed, inquiry would certainly
• 5:47:30
  be made for the plasterers, with whom he was last to see. Yet
• 5:47:36
  in this thing, at least fortune favored us, for there was now lying
• 5:47:40
  at cows and ready to sail that night, a Dutch cooper that had run
• 5:47:44
  a cargo of hollands on the other side of the island and was going back
• 5:47:45
  to Scheveningen. Freighted with wool. Our landlord knew the Dutch captain well,
• 5:47:52
  having often done business for him, and so could give us letters of recommendation
• 5:47:56
  which would insure us a passage to the Low countries. Thus, in the
• 5:48:00
  afternoon we were on the road, making our way from Newport to cows in
• 5:48:03
  a new disguise, for which we had changed our clothes again and now wore
• 5:48:07
  the common sailor dress of blue. The clouds had returned after the rain,
• 5:48:14
  and the afternoon was wet and worse than the morning, so I shall not
• 5:48:18
  say anything of another weary and silent walk. We arrived on Cow's Key by
• 5:48:22
  eight in the evening and found the cooper ready to make sail and waiting only
• 5:48:26
  for the tide to set out. Her name was the Gouden Room, and
• 5:48:32
  she was a little larger than a bona Venture, but had a smaller crew
• 5:48:34
  and was not near so well found. Elzevir exchanged a few words with the
• 5:48:40
  captain and gave him the landlord's letter, and after that they let us come
• 5:48:45
  on board, but said nothing to us. We judged that we were best
• 5:48:48
  out of the way, so went below, and finding her laden deep and
• 5:48:52
  even the cabin full of bales of wool, flung ourselves on them to rest.
• 5:48:57
  I was so tired, heavy with sleep, that my eyes closed almost
• 5:49:02
  before I was lain down, and never opened till the next morning was well
• 5:49:07
  advanced. I shall not say anything about our voyage or how we came safe
• 5:49:11
  to Schevinicken, because it had little to do with our story. Elzevir had
• 5:49:17
  settled that we should go to Holland, not only because the cooper was waiting
• 5:49:21
  to sail Thinther, for we might doubtless have found other boats before long to
• 5:49:23
  take us elsewhere, but also because he had learned at Newport that the Hague
• 5:49:29
  was the first market in the world for diamonds. This he told me after
• 5:49:33
  we were safe house to a little tavern in the town, which was frequented
• 5:49:37
  by seamen, but those of the better class, such as mates and skippers
• 5:49:41
  of small vessels. Here we lay for several days while Elzevir made such inquiries
• 5:49:47
  he could without waking suspicion as to who were the best dealers in precious stones
• 5:49:51
  and the most able to pay a good price for a valuable jewel. It
• 5:49:56
  was lucky to for us that Elsvia could speak the Dutch language, not well,
• 5:50:00
  indeed, but enough to make himself understood and to understand others. When
• 5:50:04
  I asked him where he had learned it, he told me that he came
• 5:50:07
  of Dutch blood on his mother's side, and so got his name as Elzevir,
• 5:50:11
  and that he could once speak in Dutch as readily as in English,
• 5:50:15
  only that his mother dying when he was yet a boy, he lost something
• 5:50:18
  of the facility. As the days passed, the memory of that dreadful morning
• 5:50:25
  at Carrysbrook became dimmer to me, and my mind more cheerful or composed.
• 5:50:30
  I got the diamond back from Elzevir and had it out many times, both
• 5:50:33
  by day and by night, and every time it seemed more brilliant and wonderful
• 5:50:37
  than the last. Often of nights, after all the house was gone to
• 5:50:42
  rest, I would lock the door of the room and sit with a candle
• 5:50:47
  burning on the table, and turn the dilmond over in my hands. It
• 5:50:52
  was, I have said, as big as a pigeon's egg or walnut,
• 5:50:55
  delicately cut and faceted all over, perfect and flawless, without speck or stain.
• 5:51:02
  And yet for all it was so clear and colorless. There flew out
• 5:51:06
  from the depth of it, such flashes and sparkles of red, blue and
• 5:51:10
  green as made one wonder whence these tints could come. Thus, while I
• 5:51:15
  sat and watched it, I would tell Ezevir stories from the Arabian nights of
• 5:51:19
  wondrous jewels. Though I believe there never was a stone that the eagles brought
• 5:51:23
  up from the valley of diamonds known, nor any of the Caliph's crowned itself
• 5:51:27
  that could sell this gem of ours. Sure that at such times we talked
• 5:51:33
  much of the value that was to be put upon the stone, and what
• 5:51:36
  was likely to be got frid, but never could settle, not having any
• 5:51:40
  experience of such things. Only I was sure that it must be worth thousands
• 5:51:45
  of pounds, And so sat and rubbed my hands, saying that though life
• 5:51:51
  was like a game of hazard, and our throes are to the two been
• 5:51:52
  bad enough, yet we have made something of this last. But all the
• 5:51:59
  while a strange change was coming over us both and our parts seemed turned about.
• 5:52:04
  For whereas a few days before it was I who wished to fling the
• 5:52:07
  diamond away, feeling overwrought and heavy hearted in that awful well, who helped
• 5:52:12
  me from it. Now. It was he that seemed to set a little
• 5:52:17
  store by it, and I to whom it was. All in all,
• 5:52:21
  He seldom cared to look much of the jewel, and one night, when
• 5:52:25
  I was praising it to him, spoke out, set not thy heart too
• 5:52:29
  much upon this stone. It is thine, and thine to deal with.
• 5:52:32
  Never a penny will I judge that we may get for it. Yet,
• 5:52:36
  were I thou and reached great wealth with it, and so came back one
• 5:52:38
  day to Moonfleet, I would not spend it all on my own ends,
• 5:52:42
  but put aside a part to build the poor houses. Again, as men
• 5:52:45
  say Blackbeard meant to do with it. I did not know what made him
• 5:52:51
  speak like this, and was not willing, even in fancy to agree to
• 5:52:55
  what he counseled for. With that gem before me, lustrous and all the
• 5:52:59
  brighter felle lying on a rough deal table, I could anything of the wealth
• 5:53:03
  it was to bring to us, and how I would most certainly go back
• 5:53:06
  one day to Moonfleet and marry Grace. So I never answered Elzevir, but
• 5:53:11
  took the diamond and slipped it back in the silver locket, which still hung
• 5:53:15
  round my neck for that was the safest place for it that we could think
• 5:53:18
  of. We spent some days in wandering round the time making inquiries, and
• 5:53:25
  learned that most of the diamond buyers lived near one another in a certain little
• 5:53:29
  street whose name I have forgotten, but that the richest and best known of
• 5:53:33
  them was one Christian Aldebrand. He was a Jew by birth, but had
• 5:53:37
  lived all his life in the Hague, and besides having bought and sold some
• 5:53:41
  of the finest stones, was said to ask a few questions and to trouble
• 5:53:45
  little whence stones came, so they were but good. Thus, after much
• 5:53:49
  thought and many changes of purpose, we chose this Alderbrand and settled we would
• 5:53:56
  put the matter into the touch with him. We took an evening in late
• 5:54:00
  summer for our venture, and came to Alderbrant's house about an hour before sundown.
• 5:54:06
  I remember the place well, though I have not seen it for so
• 5:54:07
  long, and would certainly never liked to see it again. It was a
• 5:54:11
  low house of two stories, standing at a little from the street, with
• 5:54:15
  some wooden palings and a grass plot before it, and a stone flagged path
• 5:54:19
  leading up to the door. The front of it was whitewashed with green shutters
• 5:54:25
  and had a shiny leave magnolia trained round about the windows. These jewelers had
• 5:54:30
  no shops, though sometimes they set a single necklace or bracelet in a bottom
• 5:54:33
  window, but put up notices proclaiming their trade. Thus there was over Aldebrant's
• 5:54:41
  draw a board stuck out to say that he bought and sold jewels, and
• 5:54:45
  would lend money on diamonds or other valuables. A sturdy serving man opened the
• 5:54:51
  door, and when he heard our business was to sell a jewel, left
• 5:54:53
  us in a stone floored hall or lobby while he went upstairs to ask whether
• 5:54:57
  his master would see us. A few days later, the stairs creaked and
• 5:55:03
  aldebrand himself came down. He was a little wizened man with yellow skin and
• 5:55:08
  deep wrinkles, not less than seventy years old. And I saw he wore
• 5:55:12
  wore shoes of polished leather, silver buckled, and tilted heeled to add to
• 5:55:18
  his stature. He began to speak to us from the landing, not coming
• 5:55:22
  down to the hall, but leaning over the handrail. Well, my sons,
• 5:55:26
  what would you with me? I hear you have a jewel to sell,
• 5:55:30
  but you must know I do not purchase sailor's flotsam, softis on moonstone
• 5:55:34
  or catsie, or some pin headed diamonds. Keep them to make brooches for
• 5:55:38
  your feet, arts for old brand buys. No toys like that. He
• 5:55:44
  had a thin and squeaky voice, and spoke to us in our own tongue,
• 5:55:48
  guessing no doubt that we were English from our faces. Twas true he
• 5:55:52
  handled the language badly enough, Yet I was glad he used it, for
• 5:55:55
  so I could follow all that was said. No toys like that, he
• 5:56:00
  said again, repeating his last words, And Elzevir answered, I, may
• 5:56:03
  it please your worship. We are sailors from overseas, and this boy has
• 5:56:07
  a diamond that he would sell. I had the gem in my hand already,
• 5:56:11
  and when the old man squeaked peevishly out with it, then it see,
• 5:56:15
  let see, I reached it out to him. He stretched down over
• 5:56:21
  the banisters and took it, holding out his palm hollowed, as if swore
• 5:56:25
  some little poultry stone that might otherwise fall and be lost. It nettled me
• 5:56:30
  to have him thus underrate our treasure, even though he had never seen it,
• 5:56:34
  And so I plumped it down into his hand as if it were as
• 5:56:37
  big as a pumpkin. Now the hall was a dim place, being lit
• 5:56:41
  only by our half circle of glass over the door, and so I could
• 5:56:45
  not see very well. And in reaching down, he brought his head near
• 5:56:48
  mine, and I could swear his face changed when he felt the size of
• 5:56:52
  the stone in his hand, and turned from impatience and contempt to wonder and
• 5:56:59
  delight. He took the jewel quickly from his palm and held it up between
• 5:57:03
  finger and thumb. And when he spoke again, his voice was changed as
• 5:57:07
  well as his face, and had lost most of the sharp impatience. There
• 5:57:12
  is not light enough to see in this dark place. Follow me, and
• 5:57:18
  he turned back and went upstairs rapidly, holding the stone in his hand,
• 5:57:22
  And we close at his heels, being anxious not to lose sight of him,
• 5:57:25
  now that he had our diamond, For all he was so rich and
• 5:57:27
  well known a man. Thus we came to another landing, and there he
• 5:57:33
  flung open the door of a room which looked out west and had the light
• 5:57:36
  of the setting sun streaming in full flood through the window. The change from
• 5:57:41
  the dimness of the stairs to this level red blaze was so quick that for
• 5:57:45
  a minute I could make out nothing, but turning my back to the window,
• 5:57:48
  saw presently that the room was paneled all through with painted wood, with
• 5:57:52
  a bed let into the wall on one side, and shelves round the others,
• 5:57:56
  on which were many small coffers and strong boxes of ice. The jeweler
• 5:58:02
  was sitting at a table with his face to the sun, holding the diamond
• 5:58:06
  up against the light and gazing into it closely that I could so I could
• 5:58:08
  see every working of his face, the hard and cunning look that had come
• 5:58:14
  back to it. And he turned suddenly upon me and asked, quite sharply,
• 5:58:18
  and what is your name? By whence do you come now? I
• 5:58:22
  was not used to walk under false names, and he took me unaware,
• 5:58:25
  Sir, I must needs blurt out, my name is John Trenchard, sir,
• 5:58:29
  and I come from Moonfleet in Dorset. A second later I could have
• 5:58:33
  bitten off my tongue for having said as much, and saw Elzevir frowning at
• 5:58:37
  me to make me hold my peace. But was too late then, for
• 5:58:41
  the merchant was writing down my answer in a little parchment lenger. And though
• 5:58:45
  would seem to most but the little thing that he should thus take down my
• 5:58:48
  name and birthplace, and only vexed us at the time, because we would
• 5:58:52
  not have known it at all whence we came. Yet in the overrulings of
• 5:58:56
  Providence, it was ordered that this note in mister alder Brand's book should hereafter
• 5:59:02
  change the issue of my life from Moonfleet in Dorset, he repeated to himself
• 5:59:08
  as he finished writing my answer, And how did John Trenchard come by this?
• 5:59:15
  And he tapped the diamond as he lay on the table before him.
• 5:59:19
  Then Elzevir broke in, quickly, fearing no doubt lest I should betrayed into
• 5:59:22
  saying more, nay, sir, we are not come to play at questions
• 5:59:26
  and answers, but to know whether your worship will buy this diamond, and
• 5:59:29
  at what price. We have no time to tell long histories, and so
• 5:59:33
  I must only say that we are English sailors, and that the stone is
• 5:59:36
  fairly come by. And he let his fingers play with the diamond on the
• 5:59:41
  table, as if he feared it might step away from him. Softly,
• 5:59:45
  softly said the old man, All stones are fairly come by. But had
• 5:59:51
  you told me whence you got this, I might have spelled myself some tedious
• 5:59:55
  tests which now I must crave pardon for making. He opened a cupboard in
• 6:00:00
  the paneling, and took out from it a little pair of scales, some
• 6:00:03
  crystals, a black stone, and a bottleful of green liquid. Then he
• 6:00:08
  sat down again, drew the diamond gently from Elzevir's fingers, which were loath
• 6:00:12
  to part with it, and began using his scales, balancing the diamond carefully,
• 6:00:18
  now against a crystal, now against some small brass weights. I stood,
• 6:00:23
  with my back to the sunset, watching the red light fall upon this
• 6:00:26
  old man as he weighed the diamond, rubbed it on the blackstone, or
• 6:00:32
  let fall on it a drop of the liquor, and so so could see
• 6:00:34
  the wonder and emotion fade from his face, and only hard craftiness left in
• 6:00:41
  it. I watched him meddling till I could bear to watch no longer,
• 6:00:45
  feeling a fierce, feverish suspense as to what he might say, and my
• 6:00:48
  pulse beating so quick that I could scarce stand still. For was not the
• 6:00:53
  decisive moment very nigh, when we should know from these parched up lips the
• 6:00:56
  value of the jewel, and whether it was worth risking life, for whether
• 6:01:00
  the fabric of our hopes was built on shore foundation or on slippery sand.
• 6:01:06
  So I turned my back on the diamond merchant and looked out of the window,
• 6:01:08
  waiting all the while to catch the slightest word that might come from his
• 6:01:12
  lips. I found then, and at other times, that in such moments,
• 6:01:18
  let the mind be occupied entirely by one overwhelming thought. Yet the eyes
• 6:01:23
  take in, as it were, unwittingly, all that lies before them,
• 6:01:27
  so that we can afterwards recall a face or landscape of which at the time
• 6:01:32
  we took no note. Thus it was with me that night, for thou
• 6:01:37
  I was thinking of nothing but the duel. Yet I noted everything that could
• 6:01:41
  be seen through the window, and the recollection was of use to me later
• 6:01:45
  on. The window was made in the French style, reaching down to the
• 6:01:48
  floor and opening like a door with two leaves. It led onto a little
• 6:01:52
  balcony and now stood open for the day was still very hot, and on
• 6:01:57
  the wall below was trained a pear tree, which was half in barred the
• 6:02:00
  balcony with its green leaves. The blinds inside and heavy shutters shod with iron
• 6:02:07
  on the outer wall, and there were beside strong bolts and sockets from which
• 6:02:11
  ran certain wires whose use I did not know, But o'er the balcony was
• 6:02:17
  a square garden plot, shut in with a brick wall, and kept very
• 6:02:21
  neat and trim. There were hollyhocks round the walls, and many colored poppies,
• 6:02:25
  with many other shrubs and flowers. My oars fell on one, especially
• 6:02:30
  a tall, red blossomed the rushy kind of flower that I had never seen
• 6:02:33
  before, that seemed indeed to be something out of the common, for it
• 6:02:37
  stood in the middle of a little earth plot, and had the whole bed
• 6:02:40
  nearly to itself. I was looking at this flat, thinking of it,
• 6:02:45
  but wondering all the while whether mister Alderban would say the diamond was worth ten
• 6:02:48
  thousand pounds or fifty or a hundred thousand. When I heard him speaking and
• 6:02:53
  turned round quick My sons, and you, especially son John, he said,
• 6:03:00
  and turned to me, This stone that you have brought to me is
• 6:03:03
  no stone at all, but glass, or rather paste, for so we
• 6:03:07
  call it not but what it is good paste, and perhaps the best that
• 6:03:11
  I have seen them. So I had to try it to make sure.
• 6:03:15
  Begin as tie chemic trysts, no sham can stand. And first it is
• 6:03:21
  too light in weight. And second we rubbed on this basanos or black stone
• 6:03:26
  traces no line of whiters any diamond must. But third and last I have
• 6:03:30
  tried it with a herminiactic proof and dipped it in this most costly lembic,
• 6:03:34
  and the decord remains pure green and clear, not turbid orange. A Diarmond
• 6:03:38
  leaves it. As he spoke, the room spun round, and I felt
• 6:03:45
  the sickness and heart singing that comes with the sudden destruction of long cherished hope.
• 6:03:51
  So was all a sham, a bit of glass for which we had
• 6:03:53
  risked our lives. Black Beard had only mocked us, even in his death,
• 6:03:59
  and from which men were become the poorest outcasts. And all the other
• 6:04:03
  bright fancies that had been built on this worstltherasus thing fell down at once like
• 6:04:07
  a house of cards. There was no money now with which to go back
• 6:04:11
  rich to Moonfleet, no money to cloak past offences, no money to marry
• 6:04:15
  Grace. And with that I gave a sigh, and my knees failing should
• 6:04:21
  have fallen, had not Elzevir held me. Nay Son John squeaked the old
• 6:04:26
  man, seeing I was so put about take it not so hardly. For
• 6:04:30
  though this is but paste, I say not it is worthless. It is
• 6:04:33
  fine work, as as if I have seen. And I will offer you
• 6:04:37
  ten and silver crowns for it, which is a goodly sum for a sailor
• 6:04:41
  lad to have in hand, and more than all the other buyers in this
• 6:04:44
  time would bid you for it. Hush, tush, cried Elzevir, and
• 6:04:48
  I could hear the bitterness and disappointment in his voice, however much he tried
• 6:04:52
  to hide it. We are not come to bake for silver crowns. So
• 6:04:56
  keep him in your purse, and the devil take this shining sham. We
• 6:05:00
  are welcome of it. There is a curse upon the thing. With that,
• 6:05:04
  he caught up the stone and flung it away out of the window in
• 6:05:08
  his anger, end of Chapter sixteen, Part one, Chapter sixteen, Part
• 6:05:18
  two. This brought the diamond bier to his feet in a moment, You
• 6:05:23
  fool, you cut it full, He shrieked, are you come here to
• 6:05:26
  beard me? And when I say the thing is worth ten silver crowns,
• 6:05:30
  do you fling it to the winds. I had sprung forward with a half
• 6:05:33
  thought of catching Elzevir's arm, but it was too late. The stone flew
• 6:05:38
  up in the air, caught the low rays of the setting sum for a
• 6:05:41
  moment, and then fell among the flowers. I could not see it as
• 6:05:45
  it fell, yet followed with my eyes the line in which it should have
• 6:05:48
  fallen, and thought I saw a glimmer where it touched the earth. It
• 6:05:52
  was only a flash or sparkle for an instant, just at the stem of
• 6:05:56
  that same rushy red flowered plant, and then nothing more to be seen.
• 6:06:00
  But as I faced round, I saw the little man's eyes turned that way
• 6:06:03
  too, and perhaps he saw the flash as well as I. There's via
• 6:06:08
  ten crowns, said Elzevir. Let us be going, lad, and he
• 6:06:11
  took me by the arm and marched me out of the room and down the
• 6:06:15
  stairs. Go, and a blight on you, says mister Aldebrand, his
• 6:06:19
  voice being not so high as when he cried out last, but in his
• 6:06:22
  usual squeak, And then he repeated a blight on you, just for a
• 6:06:26
  parting shot. As we went through the door, we passed two more waiting
• 6:06:32
  men on the stairs, but they said nothing to us, and so we
• 6:06:34
  came to the street. We all walked along together for some time without a
• 6:06:38
  word, and then Elzevir said, cheer up, lad, cheer up,
• 6:06:42
  thou sayest thyself, thou fearest, there was a curse on the thing,
• 6:06:45
  so now tis gone. Maybe well quit of it. Yet I could not
• 6:06:51
  say anything, being too much disappointed to find the diamond was a sham,
• 6:06:56
  and bitterly cast down at the loss of all our hopes. It was all
• 6:07:00
  very well to think there was a curse upon the stone so long as we
• 6:07:03
  had it, and to feign that we were ready to part with it.
• 6:07:06
  But now it was gone. I knew that at heart I never wished to
• 6:07:10
  part with it at all, and would have risked any curse to have it
• 6:07:12
  back again. There was supper waiting for us when we got back, but
• 6:07:18
  I had no stomach for vittals, and sat moodily while Elzevir ate, and
• 6:07:22
  he not much. But when I sat and brooded over what had happened,
• 6:07:26
  a new thought came to my mind, and I jumped up and cried,
• 6:07:30
  Elzevir, we are fools. The stone is no sham, tis a real
• 6:07:33
  diamond. He put down his knife and fork and looked at me, not
• 6:07:37
  saying anything, but waiting for me to say more, and yet did not
• 6:07:41
  show so much surprise as I expected. Then I reminded him how the old
• 6:07:47
  Merchant's face was full of wonder and delight when first he saw the stone,
• 6:07:51
  which showed he thought it was real then, and how afterwards, though he
• 6:07:53
  schooled his voice to bring out long words to deceive us, he was ready
• 6:07:57
  enough to spring to his feet and shak out loud. When Elzevir threw the
• 6:08:00
  stone into the garden. I spoke fast, and in talking to him,
• 6:08:06
  convinced myself, so when I stopped for want of breath, I was quite
• 6:08:08
  sure that the stone was indeed a diamond, and that Aldebrand had duped us.
• 6:08:15
  Still, Elzevir showed little eagerness, and then he said, tis like
• 6:08:18
  enough that when you say, is true. But what would you have us
• 6:08:22
  do? The stone is flung away, yes, I answered, but I
• 6:08:26
  saw where it fell and know the very place. Let us go back now
• 6:08:29
  at once and get it. Do you not think that Aldebrand saw the place
• 6:08:33
  too, asked Elzevir. And then I remembered how when I turned back to
• 6:08:37
  the room after seeing the stone fall, I caught the eyes of the old
• 6:08:41
  merchant looking the same way, and how he spoke more quietly after that,
• 6:08:45
  and not with the bitter cry he used when Elzevir tossed the jewel out of
• 6:08:49
  the window. I do not know, I said, doubtfully, let us
• 6:08:55
  go back and see it fell just by the stem of a red flower that
• 6:08:59
  I marked. Well what I added, Seeing him still hesitate and draw back,
• 6:09:03
  do you doubt shall we not go and get it? Still he did
• 6:09:07
  not answer for a minute, and then spoke slowly, as if weighing his
• 6:09:11
  words. I cannot tell. I think that all you say is true,
• 6:09:17
  and that this stone is real. Nay, I was half of that mind
• 6:09:21
  when I threw it away, and yet I would not say we are not
• 6:09:23
  best without it. Twas you who first spoke of a curse upon the jewel,
• 6:09:27
  and I laughed at that as being a childish tale. But now I
• 6:09:33
  cannot tell. For ever since we first scented this treasure, luck has run
• 6:09:37
  against us, John, Yes, run against us very strong. And here
• 6:09:41
  we are flying from home, called outlaws, and with blood upon our hands.
• 6:09:45
  Not that blood frightens me, for I have stood to face to face
• 6:09:48
  with men in fair fight, and never felt a death blow given so way
• 6:09:52
  on my soul. But these two men came to a tricksy kind of end,
• 6:09:56
  and yet I could not help It. Tis true that all my life
• 6:10:00
  I have served the contraband, but no man ever knew me to do our
• 6:10:04
  foul action. And now I do not like that men should call me felon,
• 6:10:08
  and like it less that they should curse thee and call thee felon.
• 6:10:11
  Tool. Perhaps there, maybe are all some curse that hangs about this stone
• 6:10:17
  and leads to ruin those that handle it. I cannot say, for I
• 6:10:22
  am not a parson Glenny in these things. But Blackbeard, in an evil
• 6:10:26
  mood, may have tied the treasure up to be a curse to any that
• 6:10:29
  use it for themselves. What do we want with this thing at all?
• 6:10:33
  I've got money to be touched at need. We may lay quiet this side
• 6:10:37
  of the channel, where thou shall learn an honest trade, And when the
• 6:10:41
  mischief was blown over, we will go back to Moonfleet. So let the
• 6:10:45
  jewel be John, Shall we not let the jewel be? He spoke earnestly
• 6:10:52
  and most earnestly at the end, taking me by the hand and looking me
• 6:10:56
  full in the face. But I could not look him back again, and
• 6:11:00
  turn my eyes away, for I was wilful and would not bring myself to
• 6:11:03
  let the diamond go. Yet, all the while I thought that what he
• 6:11:07
  said was true, and remembered that sermon that mister Lenny preached, saying that
• 6:11:11
  life was like a y, and that to each comes a time when two
• 6:11:17
  ways part, and where he must choose whether he will take the broad and
• 6:11:21
  sloping road all the steep and narrow path. So now I guessed that long
• 6:11:26
  ago I chosen the broad road, and now I was but walking farther down
• 6:11:32
  it, in seeking after this evil treasure. And still I could not bear
• 6:11:36
  to give all up, and persuaded myself that it was a child's folly to
• 6:11:40
  mad liftling away so fine a stone. So instead of listening to good advice
• 6:11:45
  from one so much older than me, I set to work to talk him
• 6:11:48
  over, and persuaded him that if we got the diamond again and ever could
• 6:11:52
  sell it, we would give the money to build up the Mahown almshouses.
• 6:11:56
  Nay, well in my heart that I never meant to do any such thing.
• 6:12:03
  Thus, at the last Elzevir, who was the stubbornest of men and
• 6:12:07
  never yielded, was overborne by his great love to me and yielded. Here.
• 6:12:14
  It was ten o'clock before we set out together to go again to Alderbrand's,
• 6:12:18
  meaning to climb the garden wall and get the stone. I walked quickly
• 6:12:22
  enough and talked all the time to silence my own misgivings. But Elzevir hung
• 6:12:26
  back a little and said nothing, for it was sorely against his judgment that
• 6:12:30
  he came at all. But as we neared the place, I ceased my
• 6:12:33
  chatter, and so we went on in silence, each busy with his own
• 6:12:37
  thoughts. We did not come in front of alder Brand's house, but turned
• 6:12:42
  out of the main street down a side lane which we guessed would skirt the
• 6:12:45
  garden wall. There were few people moving, even in the streets, and
• 6:12:51
  in this little lane there was not a soul to meet. As we crept
• 6:12:52
  along in the shadow of the high walls, we were not mistaken, for
• 6:12:57
  soon we came to what we judge was the outskide of Alderbran's garden. Here
• 6:13:03
  we paused for a minute, and I believe Elzevir was for making a last
• 6:13:07
  remonstrance, but I gave him no chance, for I had found a place
• 6:13:11
  where some bricks were loosened in the wall face, and set myself to climb.
• 6:13:17
  It was easy enough to scale for us, and in a minute we
• 6:13:19
  both dropped down in a bed of soft mold. On the other side,
• 6:13:23
  we pushed through some gooseber bushes that caught the clothes, and distinguishing the outline
• 6:13:27
  of the house, made that way till in a few steps we stood on
• 6:13:32
  the pelouse or turf, which I had seen from the balcony three hours before.
• 6:13:37
  I knew the twirl of the walks, and the pattern of the beds,
• 6:13:41
  the rank of hollyhocks that stood up all along the wall, and the
• 6:13:44
  poppies breathing out a faint, sickly odor. In the night. An utter
• 6:13:48
  silence held all the garden, and the night being very clear, there was
• 6:13:53
  still enough light to show the colors of the flowers where one looked close at
• 6:13:56
  them, though the green of the leaves wasned to gray. We kept in
• 6:14:03
  the shadow of the wall and looked expectantly at the house, but no murmur
• 6:14:07
  came from it. He might have been a house of the dead, for
• 6:14:10
  any noise the living maid there. Nor was there light in any window,
• 6:14:15
  except in one behind the balcony to which our eyes were turned first. In
• 6:14:19
  that room there was some are not yet gone to rest, for we could
• 6:14:23
  see a lattice of light where a lamp shone through the open work of the
• 6:14:26
  wooden blinds. He is up still, I whispered, and the outside shutters
• 6:14:33
  are not closed. Elzevir nodded, and then I made straight for the bed
• 6:14:38
  where the red flower grew. I had no need of any light to see
• 6:14:42
  the bells of that great rushy thing, for it was different from any of
• 6:14:47
  the rest, and besides, that was planted by itself. I pointed it
• 6:14:52
  out to Elzevir. The stone lies by the stalk of that flower, I
• 6:14:56
  said, on the side nearest to the house. And then I stayed him
• 6:15:02
  with my hand upon his arm, that he should stand where he was at
• 6:15:04
  the bed's edge, while I stepped on and got the stone. My feet
• 6:15:11
  sank in the soft earth as I passed through the fringe of poppies circling the
• 6:15:15
  outside of the bed. And so I stood beside the tall rushy flower.
• 6:15:19
  The scarlet of its bells was almost black, but there was no mistaking it,
• 6:15:23
  and I stooped to pick the diamond up. Was it possible. Was
• 6:15:27
  there nothing for my outstretched hand to finger except the soft, rich loam,
• 6:15:33
  and on the darkness of the ground, no guiding sparkle. I knelt down
• 6:15:37
  to make more shore, and looked all round the plant, and still found
• 6:15:41
  nothing. There was light enough to see a pebble, much more to catch
• 6:15:45
  than leam, and flash of the great diamond. I knew so well it
• 6:15:49
  was not there. Yet I knew that I had seen it fall beyond all
• 6:15:53
  room for doubt. It is gone, Elzevir, it is gone. I
• 6:15:59
  cried out in anger, but only heard a hush from him to bid me
• 6:16:02
  not to speak so loud. Then I fell on my knees again and sifted
• 6:16:07
  the mold through my fingers to make sure the stone had not sunk in and
• 6:16:10
  been overlooked. But it was all to no purpose. And at last I
• 6:16:15
  stepped back to where Elzevir was and begged him to light a piece of match
• 6:16:18
  in the shot of the holly hocks, and I would screen it with my
• 6:16:22
  hands so that the light should fall upon the ground and not be seen from
• 6:16:26
  the house, And so search round to the flower. He did, I
• 6:16:30
  asked, not because he thought that I should find anything, but rather to
• 6:16:33
  humor me, And as he put the lighted match into my hands, said,
• 6:16:37
  speaking low, let the stone be lad. Let it be, for
• 6:16:44
  either thou didst failed to mark the place right, or others have been here
• 6:16:47
  before. Thee tis ruled we should not touch the stone again, and so
• 6:16:52
  tis best. Let be let be let us get home. He put his
• 6:16:59
  hand upon my should gently, and spoke with such an earnestness and pleading in
• 6:17:03
  his voice that one would have thought it was a woman rather than a great
• 6:17:06
  rough jant. And yet I would not hear, and broke away, sheltering
• 6:17:11
  the match in my hollowed hands, and making back to the red flower.
• 6:17:15
  But this time, just as I stepped upon the mold, coming to the
• 6:17:18
  bed from the house side, the light fell on the ground, and there
• 6:17:22
  I saw something that brought me up short. It was but a dint or
• 6:17:27
  impress on the soft brown loam, And yet before my eyes were well upon
• 6:17:32
  it, I knew it for the print of a sharp heel, a sharp,
• 6:17:36
  deep heel, having just in front of it the outline of a little
• 6:17:38
  foot. There is a story every boy was given to read when I was
• 6:17:42
  young, of Crusoe wrecked upon a desert Isle, who walking one day on
• 6:17:47
  the shore, was staggered by a single footprint in the sand, because he
• 6:17:51
  learnt thus that there were savages in that sad place where he thought he stood
• 6:17:53
  alone. Yet I believe even that footwint in the sand was never greater blow
• 6:17:59
  to him than was this impress in the garden mold to me, for I
• 6:18:03
  remembered well the little shoes of polished leather, with their silver buckles and high
• 6:18:08
  tilted heels. He had been there before us. I found another footprint,
• 6:18:15
  and another leading towards the middle of the bed, and then I flung the
• 6:18:18
  match away, trampling the far out in the soil. It was no use
• 6:18:22
  searching farther now, for I knew well there was no diamond here for us.
• 6:18:27
  I stepped back to the lawn and caught Elzevir by the arm Aldebrand has
• 6:18:32
  been here before us, and stole away the jewel. I whispered, sharp,
• 6:18:37
  and looking wildly round in the still night, saw the lattice of lamp
• 6:18:40
  light shining to the wooden blinds of the balcony window. Well there's an end
• 6:18:45
  of it, said he, and we are saved. Further question tis gone,
• 6:18:48
  So let us cry good riddence to it and be off. So he
• 6:18:52
  turned to go back, and there was one more chance for me to choose
• 6:18:56
  the better way and go with him. But still I could not get the
• 6:19:00
  jewel up, and must go farther on the other path, which led to
• 6:19:03
  ruin for us both. For I had my eyes fixed on the light coming
• 6:19:07
  through the blinds of that window, and saw how thick and strong the boughs
• 6:19:11
  of the pear tree were trained against the wall about the balcony. Helzevir,
• 6:19:17
  I said, swallowing the bitter disappointment which rose in my throat, I cannot
• 6:19:22
  go till I have seen what is doing in that room above. I would
• 6:19:25
  climb to the balcony and look in through the chinks. Perhaps he is not
• 6:19:29
  there, perhaps he's left our diamond there, and we may get it back
• 6:19:32
  again. So I went straight to the house, not giving him time to
• 6:19:37
  raise a word to stop me, for there was something in me driving me
• 6:19:40
  on, and I was not to be stopped by any one. From that
• 6:19:42
  purpose, there was no need to fear any seeing us, for all the
• 6:19:48
  windows except that one were tight shuttered, and though our footsteps on the soft
• 6:19:52
  lawn woke no sound, I knew that Elzevir was following me. It was
• 6:19:56
  no easy task to climb the pear tree, for all that the boughs looked
• 6:20:00
  so strong, for they laid close against the wall and gave little hold for
• 6:20:03
  hand or foot. Twice or more an unripe pear was broken off and fell
• 6:20:10
  rustling down through the leaves to earth. And I paused and waited to hear
• 6:20:14
  if any one was disturbed in the room above. But all was deathly still,
• 6:20:18
  And at last I got my hand upon the parapet, and so came
• 6:20:22
  safe to the balcony. I was panting from the hard climb, yet did
• 6:20:27
  not wait to get my breath, but made straight for the window to see
• 6:20:30
  what was going on inside. The outer shutters were still flung back as they
• 6:20:36
  had been in the afternoon, and there was no difficulty in looking in,
• 6:20:38
  for I found an opening in the lattice blind just leveled with my eyes and
• 6:20:42
  could see all the room inside. It was well lit as for a marriage
• 6:20:48
  feast, and I think there were a score of candles or more burning in
• 6:20:52
  holders on the table or in sconces on the wall at the table on the
• 6:20:56
  farther side of it, away from me. And facing the window, sat
• 6:21:00
  Aldebrand, just as he sat when he told us the stone was a sham.
• 6:21:04
  His face was turned towards the window, and as I looked full at
• 6:21:08
  him, it seemed impossible, but that he should know that I was there
• 6:21:14
  in front of him. On the table lay the diamond, Ah diamond,
• 6:21:18
  my diamond, for I knew it was a diarmand now and not false.
• 6:21:22
  It was not alone, but had a dozen more cut gems laid beside it
• 6:21:25
  on the table, each a little apart from the other. Yet there was
• 6:21:29
  no mistaking mine, which was thrice as big as any of the rest.
• 6:21:33
  And if it surpassed them in size, how much more did it excel in
• 6:21:37
  fierceness and sparkle. All the candles in the room were mirrored in it,
• 6:21:42
  And as the splendor flash from every line and facet that I knew so well,
• 6:21:47
  it seemed to call to me. Am I not queen of all diamonds
• 6:21:51
  of the world? Am I not your Diarmond? Would you not take me
• 6:21:53
  to yourself again? Would you save me from this sorry trickster? I have
• 6:22:00
  my eyes fixed, but still knew that Elzevir was beside me. He would
• 6:22:03
  not let me risk him myself in any hazard alone without he stood by me
• 6:22:07
  himself to help me in case of need. And yet his faithfulness but galled
• 6:22:12
  me now, And I asked myself with a sneer, am I never to
• 6:22:17
  stir hand or foot without this man to dog me? The merchant sat still
• 6:22:22
  for a minute, as though thinking, And then he took one of the
• 6:22:25
  diamonds that lay on the table, and then another, and set them close
• 6:22:29
  beside the great stone, pitting them as it were with it. Yet how
• 6:22:33
  could any match with that? For it outshone them all as the sun outshines
• 6:22:37
  the stars in heaven. Then the old man took the stone and weighed it
• 6:22:42
  in the scales which stood on the table before him, balancing it carefully and
• 6:22:47
  a dozen times against some little weights of brass. And then he wrote with
• 6:22:52
  pen and ink and a sheepskin book, and afterwards on a sheet of paper,
• 6:22:55
  as though casting up numbers. What would I not have given to see
• 6:23:00
  the figures that he wrote? Or was he not casting up the value of
• 6:23:03
  the jewel and summing up the profits he would make? After that, he
• 6:23:07
  took the stem between finger and thumb, holding it up before his eyes,
• 6:23:11
  and placing it now this way now that, so that the light might best
• 6:23:15
  fall on it. I could have cursed him for the wondering love of that
• 6:23:19
  fair jewel that overspread his face, and cursed him ten times more for the
• 6:23:23
  smile upon his lips, because I guessed he laughed to think how he had
• 6:23:29
  duped two simple sailors. That very afternoon there was the Damond in his hands,
• 6:23:34
  Ah Damond, my Darmond in his hands, and I but two yards
• 6:23:40
  from my own, only a flimsy veil of wood and glass to keep me
• 6:23:42
  from the treasure he had basely stolen from us. Then I felt Elzevir's hand
• 6:23:48
  upon my shoulder. Let us be going, he said, a minute more,
• 6:23:52
  and he may come to put these shutters to and find us here.
• 6:23:56
  Let us be going. Damads are not for simple folk like us. This
• 6:24:00
  is an evil stone and brings a curse with it. Let us be going,
• 6:24:03
  John. But I shook off the kind hand roughly, forgetting how he
• 6:24:10
  had saved my life and nursed me for many weary weeks, and stood by
• 6:24:12
  me through bad and worse. For just now the man at the table rose
• 6:24:18
  and took out a little arm box from a cupboard at the back of the
• 6:24:21
  room. I knew that he was going to lock my treasure into it,
• 6:24:25
  and that I should see it no more. But the great jewel, lying
• 6:24:30
  lonely on the table, flashed and sparkled in the light of twenty candles,
• 6:24:33
  and called to me, Am I not queen of all darmonds of the world,
• 6:24:37
  Am I not your diamond? Save me from the hands of this scurvy
• 6:24:41
  robber. Then I hurled myself forward of all my weight, full on the
• 6:24:45
  joining of the window frames, and in a second crashed through the glass and
• 6:24:49
  through the wooden blind into the room behind. The noise of splintered wood and
• 6:24:53
  glass had not died away before there was a sound as of bells ringing all
• 6:24:57
  over the house, and the wires I seen, and the afternoon dangled loose
• 6:25:00
  in front of my face. But I cared neither for bells nor wars,
• 6:25:04
  for there lay the great jewel, flatting, flashing before me. The merchant
• 6:25:08
  had turned sharp round of the crash and darted for the diamond, crying,
• 6:25:11
  thieves, thieves, thieves. He was nearer to it than I, and
• 6:25:15
  as I dashed forward, our hands met across the table, with his underneath
• 6:25:18
  upon the stone. But I gripped him by the wrist, and though he
• 6:25:22
  struggled, he was but a weak old man, and in a few seconds
• 6:25:23
  I had it twisted from his grasp. In a few seconds, but before
• 6:25:29
  they were passed, the diamond was well in my hand. The door burst
• 6:25:32
  open, and in rushed six sturdy serving men with staves and bludgeons. Elzevir
• 6:25:37
  had given a little groan when he saw me force the window, but followed
• 6:25:41
  me into the room and was now at my side. Thieves, thieves,
• 6:25:45
  thieves, screamed the merchant, falling back, exhausted in his chair, and
• 6:25:48
  pointed to us. And then the knaves fell on a just too quick for
• 6:25:52
  us to make for the window. Two sit on me, and four on
• 6:25:56
  Elzevir. On one man. Even a jart cannot fight with four, above
• 6:26:00
  all when they carry staves. Never had I seen master block, overborne or
• 6:26:06
  worsted by any lords. And fortune was kind to me at least in this
• 6:26:11
  that she let me not see the issue. Then, for a staff caught
• 6:26:14
  me so round and knock on the head, as made the diamond drop out
• 6:26:17
  of my hand, and laid me swooning on the floor. End of Chapter
• 6:26:23
  sixteen. Chapter seventeen at imeguin, as if a thief should steal a tainted
• 6:26:33
  vest, some dead man's spoil and sicken of his pest hood, tis bitter
• 6:26:41
  to me than wormwood. The memory of what followed, and I shall tell
• 6:26:45
  the story in the fewest words I may. We were cast into prison and
• 6:26:49
  lay there for months in a stone cell, with little light and only foul
• 6:26:55
  straw to lie on. At first we were cut and bruised from that tussle
• 6:27:00
  and cudgeling in Aldebrand's house. And it was long before we were recovered of
• 6:27:03
  our wounds, for we had nothing but bread and water to live on,
• 6:27:08
  and that so bad as barely to hold body and soul together. Afterwards,
• 6:27:15
  the heavy fetters that were put about our ankles set up sores and galled us,
• 6:27:18
  so that we scarce could move for pain, and of the yarn galled
• 6:27:23
  my flesh. My spirit chafed ten times more within those damp and dismal walls.
• 6:27:30
  Yet all that time Elzevir never breathed a word of reproach, though as
• 6:27:36
  my wilfulness had led us into so terrible a strait. At last came our
• 6:27:42
  jailer one morning and said that we must be brought up that day before the
• 6:27:45
  garrect, which is their court of a size, to be tried for our
• 6:27:49
  crime. So we were marched off to the court house in spite of sores
• 6:27:55
  and heavy arms, and were glad enough to see the daylight once more and
• 6:27:59
  drink the o, even though it should be to our death that we were
• 6:28:03
  walking for. The jailer said they were like to hang us for what we
• 6:28:07
  had done in the court house. Our business was soon over because there were
• 6:28:11
  many to speak against us, but none to plead our cause, and all
• 6:28:17
  being done in the Dutch language. I understood nothing of it except what Elzevir
• 6:28:21
  told me. Afterwards, there was mitter Aldebrand in his black gown and buckled
• 6:28:26
  shoes with tip tilted heels, standing at a table and giving evidence how that
• 6:28:32
  one afternoon in August came two evil looking English sailors to his house under pretense
• 6:28:36
  of selling a diamond, which turned out to be but a lump of glass,
• 6:28:41
  and that having taken observation of all his dwelling, and more particularly the
• 6:28:44
  approaches to his business room, they went their ways. But later in the
• 6:28:48
  same day, or rather night, as he sat matching together certain diamonds for
• 6:28:52
  a coronet ordered by the most illustrious, the Holy Roman Emperor. These same
• 6:28:56
  ill favored English sailors burst suddenly through shutters and window and made forcible entry into
• 6:29:03
  his business room. There they furiously attacked him, wrenched the diamond from his
• 6:29:07
  hand, and beat him within an ace of his life. But by the
• 6:29:11
  good providence of God and his own foresight, the window was fitted with a
• 6:29:15
  certain alarm, which rang bells in other parts of the house. Thus his
• 6:29:19
  trusty servants were summoned, and, after being themselves attacked and nearly overborne,
• 6:29:25
  succeeded at last in mastering these scurvy ruffians and handing them over to the law,
• 6:29:30
  from which mister Aldebrand claimed sovereign justice. Thus much, Elzevir explained to
• 6:29:37
  me afterwards. But at that time, when that pretender spoke of the diamond
• 6:29:41
  as being his own, Elzevir cut in and said in open court that twas
• 6:29:45
  a lie, and that his precious stone was none other than the one which
• 6:29:48
  we had offered in the afternoon. When Alderbrand had said twas glass, then
• 6:29:53
  the darmand merchant laughed and took from his purse our great diamond, which seemed
• 6:29:59
  to fill all the place with light and dazzled half the court. He turned
• 6:30:03
  it over in his hand, poising it in his palm like a great flourishing
• 6:30:07
  lamp of light, and asked if twas likely that two common sailormen should hawk
• 6:30:12
  a stone like that, nay more, that the court might know what daring
• 6:30:17
  rogues they had to deal with. He pulled out from his pocket the quittance
• 6:30:19
  given him by Chalamov the jew of Petersburg, for this same jewel, and
• 6:30:23
  showed it to the judge. Whether it twas a forged quittance or one for
• 6:30:29
  some other stone we knew not, But Elzevir spoke again, saying that the
• 6:30:33
  stone was ours, and we had found it in England. When mister Aldebrand
• 6:30:37
  laughed again and held the jewel up once more, were such pebbles, he
• 6:30:41
  asked, found on the shore by every squalid fisherman. And the great diamond
• 6:30:47
  flashed as he put it back into his purse and cried to me, am
• 6:30:51
  I not queen of all the diamonds of the world. Must I house with
• 6:30:53
  this base rascal? But I was parless now to help. After Aldebrand,
• 6:31:02
  the serving men gave witness, telling how they trapped us in the act red
• 6:31:04
  handed, and as for this jewel, they'd seen their master handle it any
• 6:31:08
  time in these past six months. But Elzevir was galled to the quick with
• 6:31:15
  all their falsehoods, and burst out again that they were liars, and the
• 6:31:18
  duel hours till a jaila who stood by, struck him on the mouth and
• 6:31:22
  cut his lip to silence him. The process was soon finished, and the
• 6:31:27
  judge, in his red robe, stood up and sentenced us to the galleys
• 6:31:30
  for life, bidding us of mar the mercy of the law to outlanders,
• 6:31:34
  for had we been but a Dutchmen, we should sure have hanged. Then
• 6:31:41
  they took and marched us out of court as well as we could walk for
• 6:31:45
  fetters and Elzevir with a bleeding mouth. But as we passed the place where
• 6:31:49
  Aldebrand sat, he bows to me and says in English, you'll, servant,
• 6:31:53
  mister Thtrenchard, I wish you a good day, sir John Trenchyard of
• 6:31:57
  Moonfleet in Dorset. The jailer paused a moment, hearing alder Man speak to
• 6:32:03
  us, though not understanding what he said, so I had time to answer
• 6:32:07
  him, good day, sir Aldebrand, liar and thief, and may the
• 6:32:11
  diamond bring you evil in this present life, and damn nation in that which
• 6:32:15
  is to come. So we parted from him, and at the same time
• 6:32:21
  departed from our liberty and from all joys of life. We were fettered,
• 6:32:26
  together with other prisoners in droves of six our wrists manacled to a long bar,
• 6:32:33
  but I was put into a different gang from Elzevir. Thus we marched
• 6:32:37
  a ten days journey into the country to a place called Imeguen, where a
• 6:32:41
  royal fortress was building. That was a weary march for me, for twas
• 6:32:47
  January, with wet and marry roads, and I had little enough clothes upon
• 6:32:51
  my back to keep off rain and cold. On either side rode guards on
• 6:32:56
  horseback with loaded flintlocks across the saddle bow and long whips in their hands,
• 6:33:00
  with which they let fly at any laggard that was hard enough for men to
• 6:33:06
  walk where the mud was over the horses fetlocks. I had no chance to
• 6:33:11
  speak to Elzevir all the journey, and indeed spoke nothing at all, for
• 6:33:15
  those to whom I was chained were brute beasts rather than men, and spoke
• 6:33:19
  only in Dutch. To boot there was but little of the buildings of the
• 6:33:23
  fortress begun when we reached emmiego Inn, and the tasks that we were set
• 6:33:29
  to was the digging of the trenches and other earthworks. I believe that there
• 6:33:33
  were five hundred men employed in this way, and all of them condemned,
• 6:33:37
  like us, to Gali work for life. We were divided into squads a
• 6:33:42
  twenty five, but Elzevir was drafted to another squad on a different part of
• 6:33:47
  the workings. So I saw him no more except at odd times now and
• 6:33:51
  again when our gangs met and we could exchange a word or two in passing.
• 6:33:56
  Thus I had no solace of any company but my own. I was
• 6:34:00
  driven to thinking and to occupy my mind with the recollection of the past.
• 6:34:07
  And at first the life of my boyhood, now lost for ever, was
• 6:34:11
  constantly present, even in my dreams, and I would wake up thinking that
• 6:34:15
  I was at school again under mister Lenny, or talking in the summer house
• 6:34:18
  with Grace, or climbing weather Beach hill with the salt channel breeze singing through
• 6:34:22
  the trees. But alas these things faded when I opened my eyes and knew
• 6:34:29
  the foul smelling wood hut and floor of fetid straw, where fifty of us
• 6:34:33
  lay in fetters every night. I say, I dreamt these things at first,
• 6:34:37
  but by degrees remembrance grew blunted, and the images less clear, and
• 6:34:44
  even these sweet sad visions of the night came to me less often. Thus
• 6:34:49
  life became a weary round in which month followed month, season followed season,
• 6:34:56
  year followed a year, and brought always the same eternal, profitless work.
• 6:35:03
  And yet the work was merciful, for it dulled the biting edge of thought,
• 6:35:07
  and the unchanging evenness of life, gave wings to time. In all
• 6:35:14
  the years the locusts set for me at Emenguin, there is but one thing
• 6:35:18
  I need to speak of here. I've been there a week when I was
• 6:35:21
  loose to one warning from my arms, and taken from work into a little
• 6:35:25
  hutter part where there stood a half dozen of the guard, and in the
• 6:35:29
  midst a stout wooden chair with clamps and bands. A fire burned on the
• 6:35:33
  floor, and there was fume and smoke that filled the air with a smell
• 6:35:37
  of burned meat. My heart misgave me when I saw that chair and far
• 6:35:42
  and smelt that sickly smell. For I guessed this was a torture room,
• 6:35:48
  and these the torturers waiting. They forced me into the chair and bound me
• 6:35:52
  there with lashings and a cramp about the head. And then one took a
• 6:35:56
  red harn from the fire upon the floor and tried it a little way from
• 6:36:00
  his hands to prove the heat. I had screwed up my heart to bear
• 6:36:06
  the pain as best I might. But when I saw that iron, sighed
• 6:36:08
  for sheer relief, because I knew it for only a branding tool, and
• 6:36:12
  not the torture. And so they branded me on the left cheek, setting
• 6:36:19
  the arm between the nose and cheek bone, where twas plainest to be seen.
• 6:36:25
  I took the pain and scorching light enough, seeing that I had looked
• 6:36:27
  for much worse, and should not have made mention of the thing here at
• 6:36:30
  all, were it not for the branding mark they used. Now this mark
• 6:36:36
  was a y, being the first letter if he m Magowan, and set
• 6:36:41
  on all the prisoners that worked there, as I found afterwards. But to
• 6:36:45
  me twas much more than a mere letter, and nothing less than the black
• 6:36:49
  y itself, or cross pall of the mahoons. Thus as a sheep is
• 6:36:55
  marked with his owner's keel and can be claimed wherever he may be. So
• 6:37:00
  here was I branded with the keel of the Mohoons, and marked for theirs
• 6:37:04
  in life or death, whithersoever I should wander. Twas three months after that,
• 6:37:11
  and the mark healed and well set that I saw Elzevir again, And
• 6:37:15
  as we passed each other in the trench and called a greeting, I saw
• 6:37:18
  that he too bore the cross pall full on his left cheek. Thus years
• 6:37:26
  went on, and I was grown from boy to man, and that no
• 6:37:30
  weak one either, For though they gave us but scant food and bad the
• 6:37:33
  air was fresh and strong, because in Anguin was meant for pallace as well
• 6:37:37
  as fortress, and they chose a healthful sight. And by degrees the moats
• 6:37:44
  were dug, and ramparts built, and stone by stone the castle rose till
• 6:37:48
  twas near the finish, and so our labor was not wanted. Every day
• 6:37:53
  squads of our fellow prisoners marched away, and my gang was left till nearly
• 6:37:59
  last, being engaged in making good a calvert that heavy rains had broken down.
• 6:38:06
  It was in the tenth year of our captivity, and in the twenty
• 6:38:10
  sixth of my age. That one morning, instead of the guard marching us
• 6:38:14
  to work, they handed us over to a party of mounted soldiers, from
• 6:38:18
  whose matchlocks and long whips, I knew that we were going to leave Immenguin.
• 6:38:22
  Before we left, another gang joined us, and harm my heart went
• 6:38:26
  out when I saw Elzevir among them. It was two years or more since
• 6:38:32
  we had met, even to pass a greeting. For I worked outside the
• 6:38:34
  fortress, and he on the great tower inside, and I took note his
• 6:38:40
  hair was whiter, and a sadder look upon his face. And as for
• 6:38:45
  the cross pawl on his cheek, I never thought of it at all,
• 6:38:48
  for we were all so well used to the mark that they one bore it
• 6:38:52
  not stamped upon his face, we should have stared at him as on a
• 6:38:55
  man born with but one eye. But though his look was sad, yet
• 6:39:00
  Elzevir had a kind smile and hearted releeting for me as he passed, And
• 6:39:04
  on the march, when they served out our food, we got a chance
• 6:39:07
  to speak a word or two together. Yet how could he find room for
• 6:39:11
  much gladness, For even the pleasure of meeting was marred because we were forced
• 6:39:17
  thus to take notice it where of each other's misery, and to know that
• 6:39:21
  the one had nothing for his old age but to break in prison, and
• 6:39:23
  the other not the prison, to eat away the strength of his prime.
• 6:39:30
  Before long all knew whether we were brown, for it leaked out. We
• 6:39:33
  were to march to the Hague, and thence to Scheveningen to take ship to
• 6:39:37
  the settlements of Java, where they used transported felons on the sugar farms.
• 6:39:44
  Was this the end of young hopes and lofty aims to live and die a
• 6:39:48
  slave in the Dutch plantations? Hopes of grace, hopes of seeing moonfleet again,
• 6:39:52
  were dead long long ago. And now was there to be no hope
• 6:39:56
  of liberty or even wholesome air this side of the grave, but only burning
• 6:40:02
  sun and steaming swamps and the crack of the slave driver's whip till the end
• 6:40:06
  came? Could it be so? Could it be so? And yet what
• 6:40:11
  help was there? Or what release? Had I not watched ten years for
• 6:40:17
  any gleam or loophole of relief and never found it. If he were shut
• 6:40:22
  in cells or dungeons in the deepest rock, we might have schemed escape,
• 6:40:26
  But here in the open, fattered up in droves. What could we do?
• 6:40:30
  They were bitter thoughts enough that filled my heart as I trudged along the
• 6:40:33
  rough roads, fettered by by wrists to the long bar, and seeing Elzevir's
• 6:40:38
  white hair and bowed shoulders trudging in front of me, remembered when that head
• 6:40:44
  had scarce a grizzle on it, and the back was straight as the massive
• 6:40:48
  stubborn pillars in old Moonfleet Church? What was it had brought us to this
• 6:40:52
  pitch? And then I called to mind a July evening years ago, the
• 6:40:59
  twilight summer house, and a sweet grave voice that said, have a care
• 6:41:03
  how you touch the treasure. It was evilly come by and will bring a
• 6:41:08
  curse with it, aye, twas the diamond had done it all and brought
• 6:41:15
  a blight upon my life since that first night I spent in Moonfleet Vault,
• 6:41:21
  and I cursed the stone and Blackbeard and his lost Mahoons, and trudged on,
• 6:41:26
  bearing their cognizance branded on my face. We marched back to the Hague
• 6:41:33
  and through that very street where Aldebrand dealt, Only the house was shut,
• 6:41:38
  and the boar that bore his name taken away, So it seemed that he
• 6:41:42
  had left the place or else was dead. Thus we reached the keys at
• 6:41:48
  last, And though I knew that I was leaving Europe and leaving all hope
• 6:41:52
  behind, it was a delight to smell the sea again and fill my nostrils
• 6:41:56
  with the keen salt air. End of Chapter seventeen. Chapter eighteen. In
• 6:42:06
  the bay, let broad leagues dissever him from yonder foam. Oh God,
• 6:42:12
  to think man ever comes too near his home hood. The ship that was
• 6:42:19
  to carry us swung at the boy, a quarter of a mile off shore,
• 6:42:22
  and there were rowboats waiting to take us to her. She was a
• 6:42:26
  brig of some hundred and twenty tons burthen, and as we came under the
• 6:42:30
  stern, I saw her name was the Orumzeber. Twas, with regret unspeakable,
• 6:42:36
  I took my last look at Europe, and casting my eyes round,
• 6:42:40
  saw the smoke of the town dark against the darkening sky. Yet knew that
• 6:42:45
  neither smoke nor sky was half as black as was the prospect of my life.
• 6:42:52
  They sent us down to the orlop or lowest deck, a foul place
• 6:42:55
  where there was no air nor light, and shut the hatches down on top
• 6:42:59
  of us. There were thirty of us, all told, hustled and driven
• 6:43:03
  like pigs into this deck which was to be our pig stye for six months
• 6:43:07
  or more. Here was just light enough when they had the hatches off,
• 6:43:11
  to show us what sort of place it was, namely as foul as it
• 6:43:15
  smelt, with never table seat nor anything but roughest planks and bulks. And
• 6:43:22
  there they changed our bonds, taking away the bar and putting a tight bracelet
• 6:43:26
  round run wrist with a padlocked chain running through a loop on it. Thus
• 6:43:32
  we were still armed six together, but had a greater freedom and more scope
• 6:43:36
  to move. And more than this, the man who shifted to the chains,
• 6:43:41
  whether through caprice or perhaps because he really wished to show us what pity
• 6:43:44
  he might padlocked me on to the same chain, with Elzevir, saying we
• 6:43:48
  were English swine and might sink or swim together. Then the hatches were put
• 6:43:53
  on, and there they left us in the dark to think or sleep or
• 6:43:57
  curse the time away. The weariness of Yemnguin was bad, indeed, and
• 6:44:03
  yet it was a heaven to this night of hell, where all we had
• 6:44:07
  to look for was twice a day the moving of the hatches, and half
• 6:44:11
  an hour's glimmer of a ship's lantern while they served us out the broken vitals
• 6:44:15
  that the Dutch crew would not eat. I should say nothing of the foulness
• 6:44:19
  of this place, because two, it was too foul to be written on
• 6:44:22
  paper, And if it was foul at starting, but twas ten times worse
• 6:44:26
  when we reached open sea, for of all the prisoners, only Elzevir and
• 6:44:30
  I were sailors, and the rest took the motion unkindly. From the first
• 6:44:37
  we made bad weather of it, for though we were below and could see
• 6:44:41
  nothing, yet twas easy enough to tell there was a heavy head sea running
• 6:44:45
  almost as soon as we were out of the harbor. Although Elzevir and I
• 6:44:48
  had not had any chance of talking freely for so long, and were now
• 6:44:52
  able to speak, as we liked being linked so close together, we said
• 6:44:56
  but little, and this not because we did did not value very greatly one
• 6:45:00
  another's company, but because we had nothing to talk of except memories of the
• 6:45:04
  past, and those were too bitter and came too readily to our minds to
• 6:45:10
  need any to summon them. There was too the banishment from Europe, from
• 6:45:15
  all and everything we loved, and the awful certainty of slavery that lay continuously
• 6:45:21
  on us like a weight of lead. Thus we said little we been out
• 6:45:27
  a week, I think, for time is difficult enough to measure where there
• 6:45:30
  is neither clock, nor sun nor stars. When the weather, which had
• 6:45:36
  moderated a little, began to grow much worse. The ship plunged and labored
• 6:45:41
  heavily, and this added much to our discomfort, because there was nothing to
• 6:45:45
  hold on by, and unless we lay flat on the filthy deck, we
• 6:45:48
  ran a risk of being flung to the side whenever there came a more violent
• 6:45:52
  lurch or roll. Though we were so deep down, yet the roaring of
• 6:45:57
  wind and wave was loud enough to reach us, and there was such a
• 6:46:00
  noise when the ship went about, such grinding of ropes, with creaking and
• 6:46:04
  groaning of timbers, as would make a landsman fear the brig was going to
• 6:46:08
  pieces. And this some of our fellow prisoners feared, indeed, and felt
• 6:46:14
  a crying or kneeling, chained together as they were upon the sleeping deck,
• 6:46:18
  while they tried to remember long forgotten prayers. For my own part, I
• 6:46:25
  wondered why these poor wretches should pray to be delivered from the sea, when
• 6:46:29
  all that was before them was life long slavery. But I was perhaps able
• 6:46:33
  to look more calmly on the matter myself, as having been at sea and
• 6:46:37
  not thinking that the vessel was going to flounder because of the noise. Yet
• 6:46:42
  the storm rose till twas very plain that we were in a raging sea,
• 6:46:47
  and the streams which began to trickle through the joinings of the hatch showed that
• 6:46:49
  water had got below. I've known better ships go under for less than this,
• 6:46:56
  Elzevir said to me. And if our skipper hath not a tight craft
• 6:47:00
  and stout hands to worker, there will soon be two score slaves the less
• 6:47:03
  to cut the canes in Java. I cannot guess where we are now.
• 6:47:07
  May be offul Shant, maybe not so far, for this sea is too
• 6:47:11
  short for the bay. But the Saints send us sea room, for we've
• 6:47:15
  been wearing these three hours. Twas true enough that we had gone to wearing,
• 6:47:22
  as one might tell from the heavier roll or wallowing when we went round,
• 6:47:26
  instead of the plunging of attack. But there was no chance of getting
• 6:47:29
  at our whereabouts. The only thing we had to reckon time with all was
• 6:47:33
  the taking off of the hatch twice a day for food. And even this
• 6:47:37
  poor clock kept not the hour too well, for often there were such gaps
• 6:47:41
  and intervals as made our bellies pine. And at this present we had waited
• 6:47:45
  so long that I craved even that filthy broken meat they fed us with.
• 6:47:52
  So we were glad enough to hear a noise at the hatch, just as
• 6:47:55
  Elzevir had done speaking, and the cover was flung off, letting in a
• 6:47:59
  splash of sore water and a little dim and dusky light. But instead of
• 6:48:03
  the guard with their muskets and lanterns and the tubs of broken vittals, there
• 6:48:07
  was only one man, and that the jailer who had padlocked us into gangs
• 6:48:12
  at the beginning of the voyage. He bent down for a moment over the
• 6:48:17
  hatch, holding on to the combing to steady himself in the sea way,
• 6:48:21
  and flung a key on a chain down into the orlop right among us.
• 6:48:25
  Take it, he shouted in Dutch, and make the most of it.
• 6:48:26
  God helps the brave, and the devil takes the hindmost. That said,
• 6:48:33
  he stayed not one moment, but turned about quick and was gone for an
• 6:48:37
  instant. None knew what this play portended, and there was the key lying
• 6:48:41
  on the deck and the catch left open. Then Elzevir saw what it all
• 6:48:45
  meant and seized to the key. John cries, he speaking to me in
• 6:48:48
  English. The ship is foundering, and they are giving us a chance to
• 6:48:51
  save our lives and not drowned like rats in a trap. With that,
• 6:48:55
  he tried the key on the padlock which held our chain, and it fitted
• 6:48:57
  so well that in a trice our gang was free off fell the chain clanking
• 6:49:03
  on to the floor, and nothing left of our bonds but an arm braced
• 6:49:04
  it, clamped round the left wrist. You may be sure the others were
• 6:49:08
  quick enough to make use of the key when they knew what it was.
• 6:49:11
  But we waited not to see more, but made for the ladder. Now.
• 6:49:15
  Elzevir and I, being used to the sea, were first through the
• 6:49:18
  hatchway above, and oh the strength and sweet coolness of the sea air instead
• 6:49:23
  of the warm, fetid reek of the oulop below. There was a good
• 6:49:27
  deal of water sousing about on the main deck, but nothing to show the
• 6:49:30
  ship was sinking. Yet none of the crew was to be seen. We
• 6:49:36
  stayed there not a second, but moved to the companion as fast as we
• 6:49:38
  could for the heavy pitchy of the ship, and so came on deck.
• 6:49:44
  The dusk of a winter's evening was setting in, yet with ample light to
• 6:49:47
  see near at hand, and the first thing I perceived was that the deck
• 6:49:51
  was empty. There was not a living soul but us upon it. The
• 6:49:55
  brig was broached too, with our bows against the heaviest sea I ever saw,
• 6:50:00
  and the waves swept our fore and aft. So we made for the
• 6:50:03
  tail of the deck house, and there took stock. But before we got
• 6:50:06
  there I knew why twas the crew were gone, and why they let us
• 6:50:10
  loose. For Elzevir pointed to something whither we were drifting, and shouted in
• 6:50:14
  my ear, so that I heard it above all the raging of the tempest.
• 6:50:17
  We are on a lee shore. We were lying head to sea,
• 6:50:22
  and never a bit of canvas left except one storm stasil. There were tattered
• 6:50:26
  ribbons fluttering on the yard to show where the sails had been blown away,
• 6:50:30
  and every now and then the stacle would flap like a gun going off to
• 6:50:33
  show it wanted to follow them, but for all we lay head to see
• 6:50:37
  we were moving backwards, and each great wave as we passed carried us on
• 6:50:41
  stern first with a leap and swirling lift. Twas over the stern that Elzevir
• 6:50:47
  pointed in the course that we were going, And there was such a mist
• 6:50:51
  up with the wind and rain and spin drift, that one could but see
• 6:50:53
  a little way. And yet I saw too far from the mist to which
• 6:50:57
  we were making a stern board, I saw a white line, like a
• 6:51:00
  fringe or valance, to the sea. And then I looked to starboard,
• 6:51:06
  and there was the same white fringe, and then to larboard, and the
• 6:51:08
  white fringe was there too. Only those who know the sea know how terrible
• 6:51:14
  were Elzevir's words uttered in such a place A member before. I was exalted
• 6:51:18
  with the keen salt wind, and with a hope and freedom that had been
• 6:51:22
  strangers for long, But now twas all dashed, and death that is so
• 6:51:27
  far off to the young, that moved nearer by fifty years, was moving
• 6:51:32
  a year nearer. Every minute. We are on a lee shore. Elzevir
• 6:51:37
  shouted, and I looked and knew what the white fringe was, and that
• 6:51:41
  we should be in the breakers in half an hour. What a whirl of
• 6:51:45
  wind and wave and sea. What a whirl of thought and wild conjecture.
• 6:51:49
  What was that land to which we were drifting. Was it cliff with deep
• 6:51:53
  water and iron face where a good ship is shattered at a blow and death
• 6:51:56
  comes like a thunder clap? Or was its shelving sand where there is stranding
• 6:52:02
  and the pound pound pound of the waves for howls before she goes to pieces
• 6:52:07
  and all is over. We were in a bay, for there was the
• 6:52:11
  long white crescentce of surf, reaching far away on either side, till it
• 6:52:15
  was lost in the dusk, and the brig helpless in the midst of it.
• 6:52:18
  Elzevir had hold of my arm and gripped it hard as he looked to
• 6:52:22
  larboard. I followed his eyes, and where one horn of the white crescent
• 6:52:26
  faded into the mist, caught a dark shadow in the air, and knew
• 6:52:32
  it was high land looming behind. And then the murk and driving rain lifted
• 6:52:37
  ever so little, and as it were only for that purpose, and we
• 6:52:41
  saw a misty bluff slope down into the she like the long head of a
• 6:52:45
  basking alligator, poised upon the water, and stared into each other's eyes and
• 6:52:49
  cried together the snout. It vanished almost before it was seen, and yet
• 6:52:56
  we knew there was no mistake. It was the snout that was there,
• 6:53:00
  looming behind the moving rack, and we were in Moonfleet Bay. Oh what
• 6:53:04
  a rush of thought then came daizing me with its sweet bitterness, to think
• 6:53:08
  that, after all these weary years of prison and exile, we had come
• 6:53:11
  back to Moonfleet. We were so near to all we loved, so near
• 6:53:18
  only a mile of broken water, and yet so far for death lay between,
• 6:53:22
  and we had come back to Moonfleet to die. There was a change
• 6:53:27
  came over Elzevir's features when he saw the snout. His face had lost its
• 6:53:32
  sadness and more a look of sober happiness. He put his mouth close to
• 6:53:37
  my ear and said, there is some strange leading hand as brought us home
• 6:53:41
  at last. And I'd rather drown on Moonfleet Beach than live in prison any
• 6:53:45
  more. And drown we must within an hour. Yet we will play the
• 6:53:48
  man and make a fight for life. And then, as if gathering together
• 6:53:52
  all his force, we have weathered bad times together, and who knows but
• 6:53:56
  we shall weather this. The other prisoners were on deck now and had found
• 6:54:02
  their way after they were wild with fear, being landsmen and never having seen
• 6:54:07
  an angry sea, and indeed that sea might have frighted sailors too. So
• 6:54:12
  they stumbled along, drenched with the waves, and clustered round Elzevir, for
• 6:54:17
  they looked on him as a leader, because he knew the ways of the
• 6:54:19
  sea and was the only one left calm in this dreadful strait. It was
• 6:54:25
  plain that when the Dutch crew found they were invayed, and that the ship
• 6:54:29
  must drift into the breakers. They had taken to the boats, for gig
• 6:54:33
  and jolly boats were gone, and only the pinnas left amidships. Twas too
• 6:54:37
  heavy a boat perhaps for them to have got out into such a fearful sea.
• 6:54:41
  But there it lay, and it was to that the prisoners turned their
• 6:54:45
  eyes. Some had hold of Elzevir's arms. Some fell upon the deck and
• 6:54:49
  caught him by the knees, beseeching him to show them how to get the
• 6:54:52
  pinnace out. Then he spoke out, shouting to make them hear, friends,
• 6:55:00
  any man that takes to boat is lost. I know this bay,
• 6:55:03
  and know this beach, and was indeed born hereabouts, but never knew a
• 6:55:06
  boat to come to land in such a sea save bottom upper most. So
• 6:55:11
  if you want my council there, you have it, namely to stick by
• 6:55:14
  the ship. In half an hour we shall be in the breakers, and
• 6:55:18
  I will put the helm up and try to head the brig bows onto the
• 6:55:21
  beach. So every man will have a chance to fight for his own life,
• 6:55:25
  and God have mercy on those that drown. I knew what he said
• 6:55:30
  was the truth, and there was nothing for it but to stick to the
• 6:55:33
  ship. There was small chance enough. But those poor fear demented souls would
• 6:55:40
  have nothing of his advice now twas given, and must need go for the
• 6:55:42
  boat. Then some came up from below, who had been in the spirit
• 6:55:47
  room and were full of drink and drink, courage and heartened on the rest,
• 6:55:51
  saying they would have the pinnace out and every soul should be saved.
• 6:55:55
  Indeed, fate seemed to point them that road for a heavier sea than any
• 6:56:00
  on board, and cleared away a great piece of larboard bullocks that had been
• 6:56:03
  working loose, and made as it were, a clear launching way for the
• 6:56:07
  boat. Again did Elzevir try to prevail with them to stand by the ship,
• 6:56:12
  But they turned away, and all made for the pinnace. It lay
• 6:56:17
  amidships and was a heavy boat enough, but with so many hands to help,
• 6:56:21
  they got it to the broken bullocks. Then Elzevir, seeing they would
• 6:56:25
  have it out at any price, showed them how to take advantage of the
• 6:56:27
  sea and shifted the helm at little till the urungzebe fell off to larboard and
• 6:56:33
  put the gap in the bullocks on the lee. So in a few minutes
• 6:56:37
  there it lay at a rope's end on the sheltered side, deep, laden
• 6:56:40
  with thirty men who were ill found with oars and much worse found with skill
• 6:56:44
  to use them. There were one or two before they left shouted to Elzevir
• 6:56:48
  and me to try to make us follow them, partly, I think because
• 6:56:52
  they really liked Elzevir, and partly that they might have a sailor in the
• 6:56:56
  boat to direct them. But the others cast off and after us with a
• 6:57:00
  curse, saying that we might go and drown for obbsinate Englishmen. So we
• 6:57:07
  too were left alone on the brig which kept drifting backwards slowly, but the
• 6:57:11
  pinnace was soon lost to sight. Then we saw that they were rowing wild
• 6:57:15
  as soon as she passed out of the shelter of the ship, and that
• 6:57:18
  they had much ado to keep her head to the sea. Then Elzevir went
• 6:57:23
  to the kicking wheel and beckoned me to help him, and between us we
• 6:57:26
  put the helm hard up. I saw then that he had given up all
• 6:57:30
  hope of the wind shifting and was trying to run her dead for the beach.
• 6:57:36
  She was broached too with her boughs in the wind, but gradually paid
• 6:57:40
  off as the staceel filled, and so she headed straight for shore. The
• 6:57:45
  November night had fallen and it was very dark. Only the white fringe of
• 6:57:48
  the breakers could be seen, and grew plainer as we drew closer to it.
• 6:57:52
  The wind was blowing fierce than ever, and the waves broke more fiercely.
• 6:57:56
  Nearer the shore. They had lost their dirty yellowah when the light died,
• 6:58:00
  and were roding after us like great black mountains with a combing white top
• 6:58:06
  that seemed as if they must overwhelm us every minute. Twice they pooped us,
• 6:58:11
  and we were up to our waists in icy water, but still held
• 6:58:14
  on to the wheel for our lives. The white line was nearer to us
• 6:58:18
  now, and above all the rage of wind and sea. I could hear
• 6:58:22
  the awful roar of the undertoes sucking back the pebbles on the beach. The
• 6:58:26
  last time I could remember hearing that roar was when I lay as a boy
• 6:58:30
  one summer's night TwixT sleep and waking in the little whitewashed bedroom at my aunt's,
• 6:58:37
  And I wondered, now if any sat before their inland hearths this night,
• 6:58:41
  and hearing that far distant roar would throw another log on the flower and
• 6:58:45
  thank god they were not fighting for their lives in Moonfleet Bay. I could
• 6:58:51
  picture all that was going on this night on the beach. How Ratsey and
• 6:58:55
  the Landers would have sighted the udung zebe perhaps at noon preps before, and
• 6:59:00
  knew she was embayed and nothing could save her but the wind drawing to east.
• 6:59:04
  But the wind would hold pinned in the south, and they would see
• 6:59:07
  sail after sail blown off her, and watch her where and where, and
• 6:59:11
  every time come nearer in and the talk could run through the street that there
• 6:59:15
  was a ship could not weather the snout and must come ashore by sundown.
• 6:59:19
  Then half the village would be gathered on the beach, with the men ready
• 6:59:22
  to risk their lives for ours, and in no wise wishing for the ship
• 6:59:26
  to be wrecked, yet anxious not to lose their chance of booty. If
• 6:59:30
  providence should rule that wrecked she must be. And I knew Ratsey would be
• 6:59:36
  there, and Damon Tewkesbury and Laver and like enough Plas and Lenny, and
• 6:59:41
  perhaps and at that, perhaps my thoughts came back to where we were,
• 6:59:45
  for I heard Elzevir speaking to me. Look, he said, there's a
• 6:59:47
  light twas, but the faintest twinkle, or not even that, only something
• 6:59:52
  that told there was a light behind drift and darkness. He grew clearer as
• 6:59:57
  he looked at it, and again was lost in the murk. And then
• 7:00:00
  Elzevir said, Maskew's match. It was a long forgotten name that came to
• 7:00:07
  me from so far off, down such long alleys of the memory, that
• 7:00:11
  I had, as it were, to grope and grapple with it to know
• 7:00:15
  what it should mean. Then it all came back, and I was a
• 7:00:18
  boy again, on the trawler, creeping shorewards in the light breeze of an
• 7:00:22
  August night, and watching that friendly twinkle from the manor woods above the village.
• 7:00:27
  Had she not promised she would keep that lamp alight to guide all sailors
• 7:00:30
  every night till I came back again. Was she not waiting still for me?
• 7:00:36
  Was I not coming back to her now? But what a coming back?
• 7:00:40
  No more a boy, not on an August night, but broken branded
• 7:00:45
  convict in the November gale twas well. Indeed there was between us that white
• 7:00:49
  fringe of death. That she might never see what I had fallen to.
• 7:00:55
  Was likely Elzevir had something of the same thoughts, for he spoke again forgetting
• 7:00:59
  Prepp, that I was a man now and no longer boy, And using
• 7:01:03
  a name he had not used for years, Johnny, he said, I
• 7:01:07
  am cold and sore, down hearted. In ten minutes we shall be in
• 7:01:11
  the surf. Go down to the spirit locker, drink thyself and bring me
• 7:01:15
  up a bottle. Here we shall both need a young man's strengths, and
• 7:01:18
  I have not got it any more. I did as he bid me and
• 7:01:22
  found the locker, though the cabin was all a wash, and having drunk
• 7:01:26
  myself, took in the bottle back twas good Hollands enough, being from the
• 7:01:30
  captain's own store, but nothing to the old arrawrat milk of the wye.
• 7:01:33
  Not Elzevir took a pull at it and then flung the bottle away tis so
• 7:01:40
  and liquor, he laughed, And good for autumn chills, as Ratsy would
• 7:01:44
  have said. We were very near the white fringe now, and the waves
• 7:01:48
  followed us higher and more curling. Then there was a sickly wan glow that
• 7:01:53
  spread itself through the watery air in front of us, and I knew that
• 7:01:56
  they were burning a blue light on the beach. They would all be there
• 7:02:00
  waiting for us, though we could not see them, and they did not
• 7:02:04
  know that there were only two men that they were signaling to, and those
• 7:02:07
  two Moonfleet Bourne. They burned that light in Moonfleet Bay, just where a
• 7:02:12
  little streak of clay crops out beneath the pebbles. And if their vessel can
• 7:02:17
  make that spot, she gets a softer bottom. So we put the wheel
• 7:02:21
  over a bit and set her straight for the flare. There was a deafening
• 7:02:26
  noise as we came near the shore, the shrieking of the wind and the
• 7:02:29
  rigging, the crash of the combing seas, and over all the awful grinding
• 7:02:33
  roar of the undertoes sucking down the pebbles. It is coming now, Asavia
• 7:02:38
  said, and I could see dim figures moving in the misted lair from the
• 7:02:42
  blue light. And then, just as the org Zebe was making fair for
• 7:02:47
  the signal, a monstrous combing sea pooped and washed us both from the wheel
• 7:02:52
  forward in a swirling flood. We grasped at anything we could, and so
• 7:02:56
  brought up a bruised and half drowned in the fore chains. But as the
• 7:03:00
  wheel ran free, another sea struck her and slewed her round. There was
• 7:03:04
  a second while the water seemed over under and on every side, and then
• 7:03:10
  the ourogzebe went broadside on Moonfleet Beach with a noise like thunder and a blow
• 7:03:15
  that stunned us. I have seen ships come ashore in that same place before
• 7:03:21
  and since, and bump on and off with every wave, till the stout
• 7:03:25
  bulks could stand the pounding no more and parted. But twas not so with
• 7:03:30
  our poor brig for after that first fearful shock, she never moved again,
• 7:03:34
  being flung so firm upon the beach by one great swamping wave that never another
• 7:03:40
  had power to uproot her. Only she careened over beechwoods, turning herself away
• 7:03:45
  from the seas as a child bows his head to escape at cruel master's ferule,
• 7:03:51
  and then her masts broke off, first the fore and then the main,
• 7:03:55
  with a splitting crash that made itself heard above all. We were on
• 7:04:00
  the lee side, underneath the shelter of the deckhouse, clinging to the shrouds
• 7:04:04
  now up to our knees in water as the wave came on, now left
• 7:04:07
  high and dry when it went back. The blue light was still burning,
• 7:04:12
  but the ship was beached a little to the right of it, and the
• 7:04:15
  dim group of fishermen had moved up along the beach till they were opposite us.
• 7:04:21
  Thus we were but a hundred feet distant from them. But twas the
• 7:04:23
  interval of death and life. For between us and the shore was a maddened
• 7:04:27
  race of seething water, white foaming waves that leapt up from all sides against
• 7:04:33
  our broken bullocks, or sucked back the pebbles with a grinding roar, till
• 7:04:37
  they left the beach nearly dry. We stood there for a minute, hanging
• 7:04:42
  on and waiting for resolution to come back to us. After the shock of
• 7:04:45
  grounding on the weather side, the sea struck and curled over the brig with
• 7:04:49
  a noise like thunder and the force of countless tuns. They came over the
• 7:04:55
  top of the deck house in a cataract of solid water, and there was
• 7:04:57
  a crash, crash, crash of rending wood as plank after plank gave way.
• 7:05:03
  Before that stern assault, we could feel the deck house itself quiver and
• 7:05:07
  shake again as we stood with our backs against it. And at last it
• 7:05:11
  moved so much that we knew it must soon be washed over on us.
• 7:05:17
  The moment had come. We must go off. The next big wave runs
• 7:05:21
  back. Elzevir shouted, jump when I give the word, and get as
• 7:05:23
  far up the pebbles as you can before the next comes in. They will
• 7:05:26
  throw us at ropes end to catch. So now goodbye John, and God
• 7:05:30
  save us both. I wrung his hand and took off my convict clothes,
• 7:05:37
  keeping my boots on to meet the pebbles, and was so cold that I
• 7:05:41
  almost longed for the surf. Then we stood waiting, side by side till
• 7:05:45
  a great wave came in, turning the space TwixT ship and shore into a
• 7:05:48
  boiling caldron. A minute later, twas all sucked back again with a roar,
• 7:05:53
  and we jumped. I fell on hands and feet where the water was
• 7:05:57
  a yard deep under the ship, but got my footing and floundered through the
• 7:06:02
  slop in a desperate struggle to climb as high as might be on the beach
• 7:06:06
  before the next wave came in. I saw the string of men lashed together
• 7:06:10
  and reaching down as far as man might to save any that came through the
• 7:06:12
  surf, and heard them shout to cheer us, and marked a coil of
• 7:06:17
  rope flung out. Elzevir was by my side and saw it too, and
• 7:06:21
  we both kept our feet and plunged forward through the quivering slack water. But
• 7:06:25
  then there came an awful thunder behind the crash of the sea over the wreck,
• 7:06:29
  and we knew that another mountain wave was on our heels. It came
• 7:06:33
  in with a swishing roar, a rush and rise of furious water that swept
• 7:06:37
  us like corks up the beach till we were within touch of the rope's end,
• 7:06:41
  and the men shouted again to hearten us as they flung it out.
• 7:06:45
  Elzevir seized it with his left hand and reached out his right to me.
• 7:06:48
  Our fingers touched, and in that very moment the wave fell instantly with an
• 7:06:52
  awful suck, and I was swept down the beach again. Yet the undertoe
• 7:06:57
  took me not back to sea, for amid the floating wreckage floated the shattered
• 7:07:02
  main top, and in the truck of that great spar I caught, and
• 7:07:06
  so was left with it upon the beach, thirty paces from the men and
• 7:07:08
  Elzevir. Then he left his own assured salvation, namely the rope, and
• 7:07:12
  strode down again into the very jaws of death to catch me by the hand
• 7:07:18
  and set me on my feet. Sight and breath were failing me. I
• 7:07:22
  was numb with cold, and half dead from the buffeting of the sea.
• 7:07:25
  Yet his garret strength was powerful to save me then, as it had saved
• 7:07:30
  me before. So when we heard once more the warning crash and thunder of
• 7:07:33
  the returning wave, we were but a fathom distant from the rope. Take
• 7:07:38
  hard, lad, He cried, tis now or never, And as the
• 7:07:42
  water reached our breasts, gave me a fierce shove forward with his hands.
• 7:07:47
  There was a roar of water in my ears, with a great shouting of
• 7:07:49
  the men upon the beach, and then I caught the rope end of chapter
• 7:07:56
  eighteen, Chapter nineteen, On the beach Tall for the brave, the grave,
• 7:08:07
  that are no more, all sunk beneath the wave, fast by their
• 7:08:11
  native shore cowper. The night was cold, and I had nothing on me
• 7:08:19
  save breeches and boots and those drenched with the sea, and had been wrestling
• 7:08:26
  with the surf so long that there was little left in me. Yet once
• 7:08:32
  I clutched the rope, I clung to it for very life, and in
• 7:08:36
  a minute found myself in the midst of the beach men. I heard them
• 7:08:41
  shout again, and felt strong hands seize me, but could not see their
• 7:08:47
  faces for a mist that swam before my eyes, and could not speak because
• 7:08:52
  my throat and tongue were cracked with the salt water, and the voice would
• 7:08:56
  not come. There was a crowd of me, of men and some women,
• 7:09:02
  and I spread out my hands blindly to catch hold of them, but
• 7:09:07
  my knees failed and let me down upon the beach. And after that I
• 7:09:11
  remember only having coats flung over me, and being carried off out of the
• 7:09:17
  wind and laid in warmest blankets before a fire. I was numb with the
• 7:09:23
  cold, My hair was matted with the salt, and my flesh white and
• 7:09:27
  shriveled. But they forced liquor into my mouth, and so I lay in
• 7:09:33
  drowsy content till utter weariness bound me in sleep. It was a deep and
• 7:09:41
  dreamless sleep for hours. And when it had left me gently, as it
• 7:09:47
  were, inch by inch, I found I was still lying, wrapped in
• 7:09:52
  blankets by the fire. Oh what a vast and infinite peace was that,
• 7:10:00
  to lie there, half asleep, yet wake enough to know that I had
• 7:10:03
  slipped my prison and the pains of death, and was a free man here
• 7:10:08
  in my native place. At last, I shifted myself a little, growing
• 7:10:15
  more awake, and opening my eyes saw I was not alone, for two
• 7:10:19
  men sat at a table by me, with glasses and a bottle before them.
• 7:10:26
  He is coming, too, said one, and may live yet to
• 7:10:30
  tell us who he is, and from what port his craft sailed. There
• 7:10:37
  has been many a craft, the other said, has sailed for many a
• 7:10:41
  port and made this beach her last, And many an honest man has landed
• 7:10:48
  on it, And never one alive in such a sea. Nor would this
• 7:10:52
  one be living either, if it had not been for that other, brave
• 7:10:56
  heart to stand by and save him. Brave heart, brave heart, he
• 7:11:03
  said over to himself, Here pass me the bottle, or I shall get
• 7:11:07
  the vapors. Tis good against these early chills. And I have not been
• 7:11:11
  in this place for ten years past, since poor Elzevir was cut adrift.
• 7:11:19
  I could not see the speaker's face from where I lay upon the floor,
• 7:11:23
  yet seemed to know his voice, and so, fumbling in my weakened mind
• 7:11:27
  to put a name to it, when he spoke of Elzevir and sent my
• 7:11:32
  thoughts flying elsewhere Elzevir, I said, where is Elzevir? And sat up
• 7:11:40
  to look around, expecting to see him lying near me, and remembering the
• 7:11:45
  wreck more clearly now, and how he had saved me with a last shove
• 7:11:49
  forward on the beach. But he was not to be seen, And so
• 7:11:56
  I guessed that his great strength had brought him round quicker than had my youth,
• 7:12:00
  and that he was gone back to the beach. Hush, said one
• 7:12:04
  of the men at the table. Lie down and get to sleep again.
• 7:12:10
  And then he added, speaking to his comrade, his brain is wandering.
• 7:12:15
  Yet do you see how he has caught up my words about Elzevir? No
• 7:12:21
  I struck in my head is clear enough I am speaking of Elzevir Block.
• 7:12:26
  I pray you tell me where he is? Is he? Well? Again?
• 7:12:33
  They got up and stared at one another and at me when I named
• 7:12:37
  Elzevir Block, And then I knew the one that spoke for Master Ratsey,
• 7:12:41
  only grayer than he was. Who are you? He cried, who talk
• 7:12:48
  of Elzevir Block? Do you not know me? Master Ratsey? And I
• 7:12:55
  looked full in his face. I am John Trenchard, who left you so
• 7:13:00
  long ago. I pray you tell me where is Master Block. Master Ratsey
• 7:13:06
  looked as if he had seen a ghost, and was struck dumb at first,
• 7:13:11
  but then ran up and shook me by the hand so warmly that I
• 7:13:15
  fell back again on my pillow, while he poured out questions in a flood.
• 7:13:19
  How had I fared? Where had I been? Whence had I come?
• 7:13:25
  Until I stopped him, saying, softly, kind friend, and I
• 7:13:29
  will answer, Only tell me first, where is Master Elzevir? Nay that
• 7:13:37
  I cannot say, he answered, for never a soul has set eyes on
• 7:13:42
  Elzevir since that summer morning we put thee and him ashore at Nieuport. Oh
• 7:13:48
  fool me, not I cried out, chafing at his excuses. I am
• 7:13:55
  not wandering now. Twas Elzevir that saved me in the surf last night,
• 7:14:00
  twas he that landed with me. There was a look of sad amaze that
• 7:14:07
  came on Ratsy's face when I said that, a look that woke in me
• 7:14:11
  an awful surmise. What cried he was that master Elzevir that dragged thee through
• 7:14:18
  the surf. I twas he landed with me. Twas he landed with me,
• 7:14:26
  I said, trying, as it were, to make true by repeating
• 7:14:30
  that which I feared was not the truth. There was a minute's silence,
• 7:14:36
  and then Ratsey spoke, very softly. There was none landed with you.
• 7:14:42
  There was no soul saved from that ship alive save you. His words fell
• 7:14:49
  one by one upon my ear, as if there were drops of molten lead.
• 7:14:56
  It is not true, I cried. He pulled me up the beach
• 7:15:00
  himself, and it was he that pushed me forward to the rope. Aye,
• 7:15:06
  he saved thee. And then the undertoe got hold of him and swept
• 7:15:11
  him down under the curl. I could not see his face, but might
• 7:15:15
  have known there was never a man save Elzevir could fight the surf on Moonfleet
• 7:15:21
  Beach like that. Yet had we known twas he, we could have done
• 7:15:26
  no more. For many risked their lives last night to save you both,
• 7:15:32
  we could have done no more. Then I gave a great groan for utter
• 7:15:37
  anguish to think that he had given up the safety he had won for himself
• 7:15:42
  and laid down his life there on the beach. For me to think that
• 7:15:51
  he had died on the threshold of his home, that I should never get
• 7:15:55
  a kind look from him again, nor ever hear his kindly voice. It
• 7:16:03
  is wearisome to others to talk of deep grief, and beside that no words,
• 7:16:08
  even of the wisest man, can never set it forth, nor even
• 7:16:12
  if we were able, could a memory bear to tell it. So I
• 7:16:18
  shall not speak more of that terrible blow, only to say that sorrow,
• 7:16:22
  so far from casting my body down as one might have expected, gave its
• 7:16:29
  strength, and I rose from the mattress where I had been lying. They
• 7:16:34
  tried to stop me, and even to hold me back, But for all
• 7:16:37
  I was so weak, I pushed them aside, and must needs fling a
• 7:16:42
  blanket round me, and away back to the beach. The morning was breaking
• 7:16:49
  as I left the why Not for twas in no other place but that I
• 7:16:53
  lay, and the wind, though still high, had abated. There were
• 7:17:00
  light clouds crossing the heaven very swiftly, and between them patches of clear sky,
• 7:17:06
  where the stars were growing paler. Before the dawn the stars were growing
• 7:17:11
  paler. But there was another star that shone out from the manor wood above
• 7:17:17
  the village, although I could not see the house, and told me Grace,
• 7:17:22
  like the wise virgins, kept her lamp of light all night. Yet
• 7:17:26
  even that light shone without luster for me then, for my heart was too
• 7:17:32
  full to think of anything but of him who had laid down his life for
• 7:17:36
  mine, and of the strong, kind heart that was stilled forever twas well.
• 7:17:44
  I knew the way so sure of old. From why Not to beach,
• 7:17:49
  For I took no heed to path or feet, but plunged along in
• 7:17:53
  the morning dusk, blind with sorrow and weariness of spirit. It was a
• 7:18:00
  fire of driftwood burning at the back of the beach, and round it crouched
• 7:18:03
  a group of men in reefing jackets and Southwesters, waiting for morning to save
• 7:18:10
  what they might from the wreck. But it gave them a wide berth,
• 7:18:14
  and so passed in the darkness without a word, and came to the top
• 7:18:18
  of the beach. There was light enough to make out what was doing.
• 7:18:22
  The sea was running very high, but with a falling wind, the waves
• 7:18:27
  came in more leisurely and with less of broken water, curling over in a
• 7:18:33
  tawny sweep and regular thunderous beat all along the bay for miles. There was
• 7:18:41
  no sign left of the hull of the oaring zebe but the beach was shewn
• 7:18:45
  with so much wreckage as one would have thought could never come from so small
• 7:18:51
  a ship. There were barrels and kegs, gratings and hatch covers, booms
• 7:18:56
  and pieces of masts and trucks, and beside all that, the heaving water
• 7:19:03
  inshore was covered with a floating mask of broken matchwood, and the waves,
• 7:19:08
  as they curled over, carried up and dashed down on the pebble planks and
• 7:19:14
  beams. Beyond number, there were a dozen or more of men on the
• 7:19:18
  seaward side of the beach with oil skins to keep the wet out, prowling
• 7:19:23
  up and down the pebbles to see what they could lay their hands on.
• 7:19:27
  And now and then they would run down almost into the white fringe, risking
• 7:19:32
  their lives to save a keg, as they had risked them to save their
• 7:19:36
  fellows last night, as they had risked their lives to save ours, as
• 7:19:41
  Elzevir had risked his life to save mine and lost it there in the white
• 7:19:47
  fringe. I sat down at the top of the beach, with elbows on
• 7:19:52
  knees, head between hands, and face set out to sea, not knowing
• 7:19:59
  well why I was there or what I sought, but only thinking that Elzevir
• 7:20:03
  was floating somewhere in that floating skin of wreck wood, and that I must
• 7:20:08
  be at hand to meet him when he came ashore. He would surely come
• 7:20:15
  in time, for I had seen others come ashore that way. For when
• 7:20:19
  the Batavia man went down on the beach, I stood as near her as
• 7:20:23
  our rescuers had stood to us last night. And there were some aboard who
• 7:20:27
  took the fatal leap from off her boughs and tried to battle through the surf.
• 7:20:34
  I was so near them I could mark their features and read the wild
• 7:20:38
  hope in their faces. At the first and then the undertow took hold of
• 7:20:44
  them, and never one that saved his life that day. And yet all
• 7:20:48
  came to beach at last, and I knew them by their dead faces.
• 7:20:52
  For the men I had seen hoping against hope TwixT ship and shore, some
• 7:20:57
  naked and some clothes, some bruised and sorely beaten by the pebbles and the
• 7:21:03
  sea, and some sound and untouched, all came to beach at last.
• 7:21:11
  So I sat and waited for him to come. And none of the beech
• 7:21:15
  walkers said anything to me, the Moonfleet men thinking I came from Ringstave,
• 7:21:19
  and the Langton men that I belonged to Moonfleet, and both that I had
• 7:21:25
  marked some cask at sea for my own, and was waiting till it come
• 7:21:29
  in. Only after a while Master Ratsey joined me, and, sitting down
• 7:21:37
  by me, begged me to eat bread and meat that he had brought.
• 7:21:41
  Now I had little heart to eat, but took what he gave me to
• 7:21:45
  save myself from his importunities, and having once tasted, was led by nature
• 7:21:51
  to eat all, and was much benefited thereby. Yet I could not talk
• 7:21:56
  with Ratsey, nor answer any of his questions, though another time I should
• 7:22:02
  have put a thousand to him, myself, and he, seeing twas no
• 7:22:06
  good, sat by me in silence, using a spyglass now and again to
• 7:22:11
  make out the things floating at sea. As the day grew, the men
• 7:22:17
  left the fire at the back of the beach and came down to the sea
• 7:22:21
  front, where the waves were continually casting up fresh boil, And there all
• 7:22:26
  worked with a will, not each one for his own hand, but all
• 7:22:30
  to make a common horde, which should be divided afterwards. Among the flotsam
• 7:22:38
  moving outside the breakers, I could see more than one dark ball like black
• 7:22:44
  buoys, bobbing up and down and lifting as the wave came by, and
• 7:22:48
  knew them for the heads of drowned men. Yet though I took Ratsey's glass
• 7:22:53
  and scanned all carefully enough, I could make nothing of them. But I
• 7:23:00
  saw the pinnace floating bottom up, and farther out, another boat deserted and
• 7:23:04
  down to her gunwale in the water. Twas midday before the first body was
• 7:23:10
  cast up, when the sky was breaking a little and a thin and watery
• 7:23:15
  sun trying to get through. And afterwards three other bodies followed. They were
• 7:23:22
  part of the pinnace's crew, for all had the iron ring on the left
• 7:23:26
  wrist, as Ratsey told me, who went down to see them, though
• 7:23:30
  he said nothing of the branded y, and they were taken up and put
• 7:23:34
  under some sheeting at the back of the beach, there to lie till a
• 7:23:38
  grave should be made ready for them. Then I felt something that told me
• 7:23:44
  he was coming, and saw a body rolled over in the surf, and
• 7:23:48
  knew it for the one I sought. Twas nearest me. He was flung
• 7:23:52
  up, and I ran down to the beach, caring nothing for the white
• 7:23:56
  foam nor for the undertow, and lay hold of him, for had he
• 7:24:02
  not left the rescue line last night and run down into the surf to save
• 7:24:06
  my worthless life. Ratsey was at my side, so between us we drew
• 7:24:12
  him up out of the running foam, and then I wrung the water from
• 7:24:15
  his hair and wiped his face, and, kneeling down there, kissed him.
• 7:24:22
  When they saw that we had got a body, others of the men
• 7:24:26
  came up and stared to see me handle him so tenderly. But when they
• 7:24:30
  knew at last I was a stranger and had the iron ring upon my wrist
• 7:24:36
  and a y branded upon my cheek, they stared at the more until the
• 7:24:41
  tail went round that I was he who had come through the surf last night
• 7:24:45
  alive, and that this poor body was my friend who had laid down his
• 7:24:51
  life for me. Then I saw Ratsey speak with one and another of the
• 7:24:56
  group, and knew that he was telling them our names. And some that
• 7:25:00
  I had known came up and shook me by the hand, not saying anything,
• 7:25:03
  because they saw my heart was full. And some bent down and looked
• 7:25:07
  in Elzevir's face and touched his hands as if to greet him. Sea and
• 7:25:14
  stones had been merciful with him, and he showed neither bruise nor wound,
• 7:25:18
  but his face wore a look of great peace, and his eyes and mouth
• 7:25:23
  were shut. Even I, who knew where it was, could scarcely see
• 7:25:29
  the wide mark on his cheek, for the paleness of death had taken out
• 7:25:33
  the color of the scar and left his face as smooth and mellow white as
• 7:25:37
  the alabaster figures in Moonfleet Church. His body was naked from the waist up,
• 7:25:45
  and he had stripped for jumping from the brig and we could see the
• 7:25:49
  great, broad chest and swelling muscles that had pulled him out of many a
• 7:25:55
  desperate pass and only failed him for the first and last time, so few
• 7:26:00
  hours ago. They stood for a little while looking in silence at the old
• 7:26:07
  lander who had run his last cargo on Moonfleet Beach, and then they laid
• 7:26:12
  his arms down by his side and slung him in a sail and carried him
• 7:26:18
  away. I walked beside, and as we came down across the sea meadows,
• 7:26:23
  the sun broke out, and we met little groups of school children making
• 7:26:27
  their way down to the beach to see what was doing with the wreck.
• 7:26:32
  They stood aside to let us go by, the boys pulling their caps and
• 7:26:37
  the girls dropping a curtsey when they knew that it was a poor drowned body
• 7:26:41
  passing. And as I saw the children, I thought I saw myself among
• 7:26:45
  them, and I was no more a man, but just come out from
• 7:26:49
  mister Glenny's teaching in the old Almshouse hall. Thus we came to the why
• 7:26:56
  Not, and there set him down. The inn had not been let,
• 7:27:00
  as I had learned afterwards, since Maskew died, and they had put a
• 7:27:04
  fire in it last night for the first time, knowing that the brig would
• 7:27:08
  be wrecked, and thinking that some might come off with their lives and require
• 7:27:14
  tending. The door stood open, and they carried him into the parlor,
• 7:27:18
  where the fire was still burning, and laid him down on the trestle table,
• 7:27:23
  covering his face and body with the sail. This done, they all
• 7:27:29
  stood round a little while, awkwardly enough as not knowing what to do,
• 7:27:34
  and then slipped away one by one, because grief is a thing that only
• 7:27:38
  women know how to handle, and they wanted to be back on the beach
• 7:27:42
  to get what might be from the wreck. Last of all went Master Ratsey,
• 7:27:48
  saying he saw that I would, as leef be alone, and that
• 7:27:52
  he would come back before dark. So I was left alone with my dead
• 7:27:59
  friend, and with a host of bitterest thoughts. The room had not been
• 7:28:03
  cleaned. There were spider webs on the beams, and the dust stood so
• 7:28:08
  thick on the window panes as to shut out half the light. The dust
• 7:28:14
  was on everything, on chairs and tables, save on the trestle table where
• 7:28:18
  he lay. Twas on this very trestle they had laid out David's body,
• 7:28:26
  Twas in this very room that this still form, who would never more know
• 7:28:30
  either joy or sorrow, had bowed down and wept over his son. The
• 7:28:37
  room was just as we had left it an April evening years ago, and
• 7:28:41
  on the dresser lay the great backgammon board, so dusty that one could not
• 7:28:47
  read the lettering on it. Life is like a game of hazard. The
• 7:28:52
  skillful player will make something of the worst of throes. But what unskillful players
• 7:28:57
  we had been? How bad are throes? How little we had made of
• 7:29:03
  them? End of Chapter nineteen, Part one. Twas with thoughts like this
• 7:29:14
  that I was busy while the short afternoon was spent, and the story went
• 7:29:18
  up and down the village. How that Elzevir Block and John Trenchard, who
• 7:29:22
  left so long ago, were come back to Moonfleet, and that the old
• 7:29:26
  lander was drowned saving the young man's life. The dusk was creeping up as
• 7:29:30
  I turned back the sail from off his face, and took another look at
• 7:29:33
  my lost friend, my only friend, for who was there now to care
• 7:29:38
  a jot for me? I might go and drown myself on Moonfleet Beach for
• 7:29:42
  any one that would grieve over me? What did it profit me to have
• 7:29:47
  broken bonds and to be free again? What use was freedom to me?
• 7:29:51
  Now? Where was I to go? What was I to do? My
• 7:29:55
  friend was gone, so I went back and sat with my head in my
• 7:29:59
  hand, looking into the fire, when I heard someone step into the room,
• 7:30:03
  but did not turn, thinking it was Master Ratsey come back and treading
• 7:30:07
  lightly so as not to disturb me. Then I felt a light touch on
• 7:30:11
  my shoulder, and looking up, saw standing by me a tall and stately
• 7:30:15
  woman, girl no longer, but woman in the full strength and beauty of
• 7:30:21
  youth. I knew her in a moment, for she had altered little except
• 7:30:25
  her oval face had something more of dignity, and the tawny hair that used
• 7:30:30
  to fly about her back was now gathered up. She was looking down at
• 7:30:33
  me and let her hand rest on my shoulder. John, She said,
• 7:30:37
  have you forgotten me? May I not share your sorrow? Did you not
• 7:30:42
  think to tell me you were come? Did you not see the light?
• 7:30:45
  Did you not know there was a friend that waited for you? I said
• 7:30:51
  nothing, not being able to speak, but marveling how she had come,
• 7:30:55
  just in the point of time, to prove me wrong to think I had
• 7:30:57
  no friend, And she went on, is it well for you to be
• 7:31:02
  here? Grieve not too sadly, for none could have died nobler than he
• 7:31:06
  died, And in these years that you have been away, I have thought
• 7:31:10
  much of him and found him good at heart. And if he did aught
• 7:31:12
  wrong, twas because others wronged him more. And while she spoke, I
• 7:31:18
  thought how Elzevir had gone to shoot her father and only failed of it by
• 7:31:22
  a hair's breadth. And yet she spoke so well. I thought he never
• 7:31:26
  really meant to shoot at all, but only to scare the magistrate. And
• 7:31:30
  what a whirligig of time was here that I should have saved Elzevir from having
• 7:31:34
  that blot on his conscience, and then that he should save my life,
• 7:31:38
  and now that Maskew's daughter should be the one to praise Elzevir when he lay
• 7:31:42
  dead. And still I could not speak, And again she said, John,
• 7:31:48
  have you no word for me? Have you forgotten? Do you not
• 7:31:52
  love me? Still? Have I no part in your sorrow? Then I
• 7:31:56
  took her hand in mine and raised it to my lips, and said,
• 7:32:00
  dear mistress Grace, I have forgotten nothing, and honor you above all others.
• 7:32:06
  But of love. I may not speak more to you, nor you
• 7:32:08
  to me, for we are no more boy and girl as in times past.
• 7:32:14
  But you a noble lady, and I a broken wretch. And with
• 7:32:18
  that I told her how I had been ten years a prisoner and why,
• 7:32:23
  and showed her the iron ring upon my wrist and the brand upon my cheek.
• 7:32:29
  At the brand, she stared and said, speak not of wealth.
• 7:32:33
  Tis not wealth makes men. And if you have come back no richer than
• 7:32:37
  you went, you are come back no poorer nor poorer John in honor,
• 7:32:41
  and I am rich and have more wealth than I can rightly use. So
• 7:32:45
  speak not of these things, but be glad that you are poor and were
• 7:32:48
  not let to profit by that evil treasure. But for this brand. It
• 7:32:52
  is no prisoning to me, but the Mohoon's badge, to show that you
• 7:32:57
  are theirs and must do their bidding. Said I not to you have a
• 7:33:00
  care how you touch the treasure. It was evilly come by and will bring
• 7:33:04
  a curse with it. But now I pray you with a greater earnestness,
• 7:33:08
  see you bear this mark upon you. Touch no penny of that treasure if
• 7:33:12
  it should some day come back to you, but put it to such uses
• 7:33:15
  as Colonel Monhune thought would help his sinful soul. With that, she took
• 7:33:19
  her hand from mine, and bade me good night, leaving me in the
• 7:33:25
  darkening room, with the glow from the fire lighting up the sail and the
• 7:33:27
  outline of the body that lay under it. After she was gone, I
• 7:33:33
  pondered long over what she had said and what that should mean when she spoke
• 7:33:37
  of the treasure one day coming back to me, But wondered much the most
• 7:33:41
  to find how constant is the love of woman, and how she could still
• 7:33:45
  find a place in her heart for so poor a thing as I. But
• 7:33:48
  as to what she said, I was to learn her meaning this very night.
• 7:33:52
  Master Ratsey had come in and gone again, not stopping with me very
• 7:33:56
  long because there was much doing on the beach, but bidding me be of
• 7:34:00
  good cheer and have no fear of the law, for that the bane against
• 7:34:03
  me and the head price had been dead for many a year, twas Grace
• 7:34:08
  had made her lawyers move for this, refusing herself to sign the Hue and
• 7:34:12
  Cry, and saying that the fatal shot was fired by misadventure, and so
• 7:34:18
  a dread which was just waking, was laid to rest forever. And when
• 7:34:22
  Ratsey went, I made up the fire and lay down in the blankets in
• 7:34:25
  front of it. For I was dog tired and longed for sleep. I
• 7:34:30
  was already dozing, but not asleep, when there was a knock at the
• 7:34:33
  door, and in walked mister Glennie. He was aged and stooped a little,
• 7:34:37
  as I could see by the firelight, but for all that I knew
• 7:34:41
  him at once, and sitting up, offered him what welcome I could.
• 7:34:45
  He looked at me curiously at first, as taking note of the bearded man
• 7:34:49
  that had grown out of the boy. He remembered, but gave me very
• 7:34:53
  kindly greeting, and sat down beside me on a bench. First he lifted
• 7:34:59
  the sail from the dead body and looked at the sleeping face. Then he
• 7:35:03
  took out a common prayer, reading the Commendamus over the dead and giving me
• 7:35:07
  spiritual comfort. And lastly he felt talking about the past. From him,
• 7:35:12
  I learnt something of what had happened while I was away, though for that
• 7:35:15
  matter, nothing had happened at all except a few deaths, for that is
• 7:35:19
  the only sort of change for which we look in Moonfleet. And among those
• 7:35:23
  who had passed away was miss Arnold, my aunt, So that I was
• 7:35:27
  another friend the less, if indeed I should count her a friend for though
• 7:35:32
  she meant me well, she showed her care with too much strictness to let
• 7:35:36
  me love her. And so in my great sorrow for Elzevir, I found
• 7:35:40
  no room to grieve for her, whether from the spiritual solace mister Glennie offered
• 7:35:45
  me, or whether from his pointing out how much cause for thankfulness I had
• 7:35:48
  in being loosed out of prison and saved from imminent death. Certain it was
• 7:35:53
  I felt some assuagement of grief and took pleasure in his talk. And though
• 7:35:59
  I may by some be reprehended, he said, for presuming to refer to
• 7:36:03
  profane authors after citing holy scripture, yet I cannot refrain from saying that even
• 7:36:08
  the great poet Homer counsels moderation in mourning, for quickly says he cometh satiety
• 7:36:15
  of chilly grief. After this, I thought he was going, But he
• 7:36:18
  cleared his throat in such a way that I guessed he had something important to
• 7:36:22
  say. And he drew a long folded blue paper from his pocket. My
• 7:36:26
  son, he said, opening it leisurely and smoothing it out upon his knee.
• 7:36:32
  We should never revile fortune, And in speaking of fortune, I only
• 7:36:36
  use that appellation in our poor human sense, and do not imply that there
• 7:36:40
  is any chance at all. But what is subject to an overruling providence.
• 7:36:44
  We should never, I say, revile fortune, for just at that moment,
• 7:36:48
  when she appears to have deserted us, she may be only gone away
• 7:36:52
  to seek some richest treasure to bring back with her. And that this is
• 7:36:56
  so, Let what I am about to read to you, prove so light
• 7:36:59
  a can and set it by me, for my eyes cannot follow the writing
• 7:37:03
  in this dancing firelight. I took an end of candle which stood on the
• 7:37:07
  mantelpiece, and did as he bid me, And he went on, I
• 7:37:11
  shall read you this letter which I received near eight years ago, and of
• 7:37:15
  the waitiness of it you shall yourself judge. I shall not here set down
• 7:37:18
  that letter in full, although I have it by me, but will put
• 7:37:22
  it shortly, because it was from a lawyer, tricked with long winded phrases,
• 7:37:26
  and spun out as such letters are, to afford cover afterwards for a
• 7:37:30
  heavier charge. It was addressed to the Reverend Horace Glennie, perpetual curate of
• 7:37:34
  Moonfleet, in the County of Dorset, England, and written in English by
• 7:37:40
  here Rootsten, Attorney and Signariat of the Hague in the Kingdom of Holland.
• 7:37:44
  It set forth that one Chrispigeon Aldobrand, jeweler and dealer in precious stones at
• 7:37:49
  the Hague, had sent for here Rootsten to draw will for him, and
• 7:37:52
  that the said Crispigein Aldebrand, being near his end, had disposed to the
• 7:37:57
  said here Rootsten, that he Aldebrand was desirous to leave all his goods to
• 7:38:02
  one John Trenchard of Moonfleet, Dorset, in the Kingdom of England, and
• 7:38:07
  that he was moved to do this, first by the consideration that he Aldebrand
• 7:38:11
  had no children to whom to leave aught, and second because he desired to
• 7:38:17
  make full and fitting restitution to John Trenchard, for that he had once obtained
• 7:38:21
  from the said John a diamond without paying the proper price for it, which
• 7:38:26
  stone he Aldebrand had sold and converted into money, and having done so,
• 7:38:30
  found afterwards both his fortune and his health decline, so that although he had
• 7:38:34
  great riches before he became possessed of the diamond, these had forthwith melted through
• 7:38:40
  unfortunate ventures and speculations, till he had little remaining to him but the money
• 7:38:45
  that this same diamond had brought. He therefore left to John Trenchard everything of
• 7:38:49
  which he should die possessed, and being near death, begged his forgiveness if
• 7:38:53
  he had wronged him in ought. These were the instructions which here Rootsten received
• 7:38:59
  from mister h Aldebrand, whose health sensibly declined, until three months later he
• 7:39:03
  died. It was well here Rootsten added that the will had been drawn in
• 7:39:08
  good time, for as mister Aldobrand grew weaker, he became a prey to
• 7:39:12
  delusions, saying that John Trenchard had laid a curse upon the diamond, and
• 7:39:18
  professing even to relate the words of it, namely that it should bring evil
• 7:39:22
  in this life and a nation in that which is to come. Nor was
• 7:39:26
  this all, for he could get no sleep, but woke up with a
• 7:39:29
  horrid dream, in which, so he informed here Routsten, he saw continually
• 7:39:33
  a tall man with a coppery face, and black beard draw the bed curtains
• 7:39:38
  and mock him. Thus he came at length to his end, and after
• 7:39:42
  his death here Rootsten endeavored to give effect to the provision of the will by
• 7:39:47
  writing to John Trenchard at Moonfleet, Dorset to apprize him that he was left
• 7:39:51
  sole heir. That address, indeed was all the indication that Aldobrand had given.
• 7:39:56
  Although he constantly promised his attorney to let him have closer information as to
• 7:40:00
  Trenchard's whereabouts in good time. This information was, however, always postponed,
• 7:40:06
  perhaps because Aldobrand hoped he might get better and so repent of his repentance.
• 7:40:11
  So all here Rootsten had to do was to write Trenchard at Moonfleet, and
• 7:40:15
  in due course the letter was returned to him with the information that Trenchard had
• 7:40:19
  fled that place to escape the law, and was then nowhere to be found.
• 7:40:23
  After that, here Rootsten was advised to write to the Minister of the
• 7:40:26
  parish, and so addressed these lines to mister Glennie. This was the gist
• 7:40:32
  of the letter which mister Glennie read, And you may easily guess how such
• 7:40:36
  news moved me, and how he sat far into the night talking and considering
• 7:40:40
  what steps it was best to take, for we feared lest so long an
• 7:40:42
  interval as eight years having elapsed, the lawyers might have made some other disposition
• 7:40:48
  of the money. It was midnight when mister Glennie left. The candle had
• 7:40:52
  long burnt out, but the fire was bright, and he knelt a moment
• 7:40:55
  by the trustful table before he went out. He made a good end,
• 7:40:59
  John, he said, rising from his knees. And I pray that our
• 7:41:03
  end may be in as good cause when it comes. For with the best
• 7:41:07
  of us, the hour of death is an awful hour, and we may
• 7:41:10
  well pray has every Sunday to be delivered in it. But there is another
• 7:41:14
  time, which those who wrote this litany thought no less perilous, and bade
• 7:41:18
  us pray to be delivered in all time of our wealth. So I pray
• 7:41:22
  that if after all this wealth comes to your hand, you may be led
• 7:41:26
  to use it well. For though I do not hold with foolish tales or
• 7:41:30
  think a curse hangs on riches themselves, Yet if riches hath been set apart
• 7:41:34
  for good purpose, even by evil men, as Colonel John Mohune set apart
• 7:41:40
  this treasure, it cannot be but that we shall do grievous wrong in putting
• 7:41:44
  them to other use. So fare you well, and remember that there are
• 7:41:48
  other treasures besides this, and that a good woman's love is worth far more
• 7:41:53
  than all the gold and jewels of the world. As I once knew,
• 7:41:57
  and with that he left me. I guessed that he had spoken with Grace
• 7:42:02
  that day, And as I lay dozing in front of the fire alone in
• 7:42:06
  this old room, I knew so well, alone with that silent friend who
• 7:42:10
  had died to save me, I mourned him none the less, but yet
• 7:42:12
  sorrowed not as one without hope. What need to tell this tale at any
• 7:42:18
  more length, since you may know by my telling it that all went well?
• 7:42:22
  For what man would sit down to write a history that ended in his
• 7:42:26
  own discomfiture? All that great wealth came to my hands. And if I
• 7:42:30
  do not say how great it was, tis that I may not wake envy,
• 7:42:33
  for it was far more than ever I could have thought. And of
• 7:42:37
  that money I never touched penny piece, having learnt a bitter lesson in the
• 7:42:41
  past, but laid it out in good works with mister Glennie and Grace to
• 7:42:45
  help me. First, we rebuilt and enlarged the almshouses beyond all that Colonel
• 7:42:51
  John Mohune could ever think of, and so established them as to be a
• 7:42:55
  haven for ever for all worn out sailors of that coast. Next we saw
• 7:43:00
  the guidance of the brethren of the Trinity, and built a lighthouse on the
• 7:43:03
  snout to be a channel beacon for sea going ships, as Maskew's match had
• 7:43:07
  been a light for our fishing boats in the past. Lastly, we beautified
• 7:43:11
  the church, turning out the cumbrous seats of oak, and neatly pewing it
• 7:43:17
  with deal and baize that made it most commodious to sit in of the sabbath.
• 7:43:21
  There was also much old glass, which we removed and reglazed, all
• 7:43:25
  the windows tight against the wind, so that what with a high pulpit,
• 7:43:29
  reading desk and seat for master clerk, and new commandment boards each side of
• 7:43:33
  the holy table, there was not a church could vie with ours in the
• 7:43:37
  countryside. But that great vault below it, with its memories, was set
• 7:43:41
  in order and then safely walled up. And after that nothing was more ever
• 7:43:45
  heard of Blackbeard and his lost mohunds. And as for the landers, I
• 7:43:51
  cannot say where they went. And if a cargo is still run of a
• 7:43:53
  dark night upon the beach, I know nothing of it. Being both Lord
• 7:43:57
  of the manor and justice of the peace. The village too renewed itself with
• 7:44:03
  the new almshouses and church, there were old houses rebuilt and fresh ones reared,
• 7:44:08
  and all are ours except the why Not, which still remains the Duchy
• 7:44:12
  Inn. And that was led again, and men left the cuffs at Ringstave
• 7:44:18
  and came back to their old haunt, and any shipwrecked or travel worn sailor
• 7:44:22
  found board and welcome within its doors. And of the Moonhune Hospital, for
• 7:44:26
  that was what the almshouses were now called. Master Glennie was first warden,
• 7:44:30
  with fair rooms and a full library, and Master Ratsey head of the beadsmen.
• 7:44:36
  There they spent happier days till they were gathered in the fullness of their
• 7:44:40
  years, and sleep on the sunny side of the church, within sound of
• 7:44:44
  the sea, by that great buttress, where I once found Master Ratsey listening
• 7:44:48
  with his ear to ground. And close beside them lies Elzevir Block, most
• 7:44:52
  faithful and most loved by me, with a text on his tombstone. Greater
• 7:44:56
  love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for
• 7:45:02
  his friend. And some of mister Glennie's verses, and of ourselves, let
• 7:45:07
  me speak last. The manor house is a stately home again, with trim
• 7:45:11
  lawns and terraced balustrades, where we can sit and see the thin blue smoke
• 7:45:15
  hang above the village on summer evenings, and in the manor woods. My
• 7:45:21
  wife and I have seen a little Grace and a little John, and little
• 7:45:23
  Elzevir, our first born play, And now our daughter is grown up fair
• 7:45:29
  to us as the polished corners of the temple, and our sons are gone
• 7:45:32
  out to serve King George on sea and land. But as for us,
• 7:45:36
  for Grace and me, we never leave this, our happy moonfleet, being
• 7:45:40
  well content to see the dawn tipping the long cliff line with gold, and
• 7:45:44
  the night walking in dew across the meadows, to watch the spring clothe the
• 7:45:48
  beech boughs with green, or the figs ripen on the southern wall, while
• 7:45:52
  behind all is spread as a curtain, the eternal sea, ever the same
• 7:45:57
  and ever changing. Yet I love to see it best when it is lashed
• 7:46:02
  to madness in the autumn gale, and to hear the grinding roar and churn
• 7:46:06
  of the pebbles like a great organ playing all the night. Tis then I
• 7:46:10
  turn in bed and thank God more from the heart perhaps than any other living
• 7:46:15
  man, that I am not fighting for my life on Moonfleet Beach. And
• 7:46:19
  more than once I have stood rope in hand in that same awful place and
• 7:46:25
  try to save a struggling wretch. But never saw one come through the surf
• 7:46:30
  alive in such a night as he saved me. End of Chapter nineteen,
• 7:46:38
  End of Moonfleet by J. Meade Falconer