For Faith and Freedom

by Walter Besant

  CHAPTER XLVIII.

  THE ISLAND OF PROVIDENCE.

  It was some time in the month of March, A.D. 1686, that we landed inProvidence. The settlement--from which the Spaniards had now nothingto fear--then consisted (it is now, I learn, much larger) of no morethan one hundred and fifty people in all, the men being all sailors,and ready to carry on again the old trade of privateer or pirate, asyou please to call it, when they should be strong enough to buy orhire a ship and to equip her.

  We stayed on the island for two years and a quarter, or thereabouts.It is one of an archipelago, for the most part, I believe, desert.The settlement was, as I have said, but a small one, living inscattered houses; there were plenty of these to spare (which hadbelonged to the former settlement), if one only took the troubleto clear away the creeping plants and cut down the trees whichhad grown up round them since the Spaniards came and destroyedthe colony. Such a house, built of wood, with a shingle roof, wefound convenient for us; and after we had cleared the ground roundit and repaired it, we lived in it. Some of the people helped usto a porker or two and some chickens. They also gave us some saltbeef and maize to start with. That we had little money (only whatwas left over from the sale of Alice's ring) made no differenceto us here, because no one had any at all, and at this time therewas neither buying nor selling on the island--a happy conditionof things which will not, I take it, last long. So great is thefertility of the ground here, and such is the abundance whichprevails, that we very shortly found ourselves provided with allthat we wanted to make life pleasant. Work there was for us, buteasy and pleasant work--such as weeding our patches of vegetablesand fruit in the early mornings; or going to fish; or plantingmaize; or attending to our pigs, poultry, and turkeys; and for therest of the time, sitting in the shade conversing. It is none toohot in this place, though one would not in the summer walk abroadat noon; nor is it ever too cold. All the fruits which flourishunder the tropics grow here, with those also which belong to thetemperate zone. Here are splendid forests, where you can cut themahogany-tree, and build your house, if you please, of that lovelywood. Here we ourselves grew, for our own use, maize, tobacco,coffee, cocoa, plantains, pines, potatoes, and many other fruits andvegetables.

  Barnaby soon grew tired of this quiet life, and went on board aschooner bound for New England, promising that we should hear fromhim. After two years we did receive a letter from him, as youshall immediately learn. When he was gone we carried on a quietand peaceful life. Books, paper, and pen there were none upon thisisland. Nor were there any clothes, so that the raggedness of ourattire (we were dressed in the sailors' clothes our friends theprivateers gave us) became incredible. I made some kind of guitar onwhich we played, and in the evening we would have very good playingand singing together of such pieces and songs as we could remember.I made verses, too, for amusement, and Alice learned them. We foundour brother-settlers a rough but honest folk, to whom we taught manyarts: how to procure sea-salt, how to make wine from pineapples,how to cure the tobacco-leaf--things which greatly added to theircomfort; and, seeing that there was no church on the island, weevery Sabbath held a meeting for prayer and exhortation.

  Seeing, then, that we had all that man could desire, with perfectfreedom from anxiety, our liberty, a delightful climate, plenty toeat and drink--ay, and of the very best--and that at home there wasnothing for us but prison again, and to be sent back to the placewhence we had escaped, we ought, every one will acknowledge, to havefelt the greatest contentment and gratitude for this sure and quietrefuge. We did not. The only contented members of our household wereJohn Nuthall and the woman Deb, who cheerfully cultivated the gardenand fed the poultry and the pigs (for we had now everything aroundus that is wanted to make life pleasant). Yet we were not contented.I could read the signs of impatience in the face whose changes I hadstudied for so long. Other women would have shown their discontentin ill-temper and a shrewish tongue; Alice showed hers in silence,sitting apart, and communing with herself. I daresay I also showedmy discontent; for I confess that I now began to long vehementlyfor books. Consider, it was more than two years since I had seen abook! There were no books at all on the island of Providence--notone book, except a Bible or two, and, perhaps, a Book of CommonPrayer. I longed, therefore, for the smell of leather bindings, thesight of books on shelves, and the holy company of the wise and theingenious. No one, again, could look upon Robin without perceivingthat he was afflicted with a constant yearning for that which hecould not have. What that was I understood very well, although henever opened his mind unto me.

  Now I confess that at this time I was grievously tormentedwith the thought that, Alice's marriage having been no truemarriage--because, first, she was betrayed and deceived; and, next,she had left her husband at the very church porch--there was noreason in the world why she should not disregard that ceremonyaltogether, and contract a marriage after her own heart. I turnedthis over in my mind a long while; and, indeed, I am still of theopinion that there would have been nothing sinful in such an act.But the law of the country would not so regard it. That is quitetrue. If, therefore, I had advised these unhappy lovers in sucha sense they would have been compelled to live for the rest oftheir lives on this island, and their offspring would have beenillegitimate. So that, though the letter of the law caused a mostcruel in justice--_summum jus summa injuria_--it was better that itshould be obeyed. In the end, it was a most happy circumstance thatit was so obeyed.

  I have presently to relate the means by which this injustice wasremoved. As for my own share in it, I shall neither exaggerate norshall I extenuate it. I shall not defend it. I will simply set itdown, and leave judgment to a higher Court than the opinion of thosewho read these pages. I must, however, acknowledge that, partly inBarbadoes and partly in Providence, I learned from the negresses,who possess many secrets and have a wonderful knowledge of plantsand their powers, the simple remedies with which they treat fevers,agues, rheumatisms, and other common disorders. I say simple,because they will, with a single cup of liquor boiled with certainleaves, or with a pinch of some potent powder gotten from a plant,effect a speedier cure than our longest prescriptions, even thoughthey contain more than fifty different ingredients. Had I possessedthis knowledge, for example, while we lay in Exeter Jail, not oneprisoner (except the old and feeble) should have died of the fever.This said, you will understand presently what it was I did.

  It was, then, about the month of March, in the year 1688, that aship, laden with wine, and bound from New York to Jamaica, put inat the port of Providence. Her captain carried a letter for me,and this was the first news of the world that came to us since ourflight.

  The letter was from Barnaby. It was short, because Barnaby had neverpractised the art of letter-writing; but it was pertinent. First,he told us that he had made the acquaintance at Boston (I mean thelittle town Boston of New England) of his cousins, whom he found tobe substantial merchants (so that here, at least, the man GeorgePenne lied not), and zealous upholders of the Independent way ofthinking; that these cousins had given him a hearty welcome forthe sake of his father; that he had learned from them, first, thatthe Monmouth business was long since concluded, and, so great wasthe public indignation against the cruelties of the Bloody Assize,that no one would again be molested on that account, not even thosewho had been sent abroad should they venture to return. He alsosaid--but this we understood not--that it was thought things wouldbefore long improve.

  'And now,' he concluded, 'my cousins, finding that I am well skilledand have already navigated a ship with credit, have made me captainof their own vessel, the _Pilgrim_, which sails every year toBristol and back again. She will be despatched in the month ofAugust or September. Come, therefore, by the first ship which willset you ashore either at New York or at Boston, and I will give youall a passage home. Afterwards, if you find not a welcome there, youmay come back with me. Here a physician may find practice, Robin mayfind a farm, and sister will be safe from B. B.'

  At this proposal we pricked up our ears,
as you may very wellbelieve. Finally we resolved to agree to it, promising each otherto protect Alice from her husband, and to go back to Boston withBarnaby if we found no reason to stay in England. But the womanDeb, though she wept at leaving her mistress, would not go back tothe place where her past wickedness might be remembered, and JohnNuthall was also unwilling, for the same reason, to return; and,as this honest couple had now a kindness for each other, I advisedthem to marry and remain where they were. There was on the islandno minister of religion, nor any magistrate or form of governmentwhatever (yet all were honest); therefore I ventured to heartheir vows of fidelity, and prayed with them while I joined theirhands--a form of marriage, to my mind, as binding and as sacredas any wanting the assistance of a priest. So we handed over tothem all our property (which was already as much theirs as ours),and left them in that sunny and delightful place. If the man was arepentant thief, the woman was a repentant magdalen, and so theywere well matched. I hope and believe that, being well resolvedfor the future, they will lead a godly and virtuous life, and willbe blessed with children who will never learn the reason why theirparents left their native country.

  There is little trade at Providence, but many vessels touch at theport, because it lies between the English possessions in Americaand those in the West Indies. They put in for water, for fruit, andsometimes, if they are short-handed, for men, most of them in theplace being sailors. Therefore we had not to wait long before avessel put in, bound from Jamaica to New York. We bargained with thecaptain for a passage, agreeing that he should find us provisionsand wine, and that we would pay him (by means of Barnaby) on ourreaching Boston (which is but a short distance from New York).Strange to say, though we had been discontented with our lot, whenwe sailed away Alice fell to weeping. We had murmured, and ourmurmuring was heard. We should now be permitted to live out whatwas left to us of life in England, and we should die and be buriedamong our own folk. Yet there are times when I remember the sweetand tranquil life we led in the island of Providence, its soft andsunny air, the cool sea-breeze, the shade of its orange groves, andthe fruits which grew in such abundance to our hands.