Moonfleet

by John Meade Falkner

  CHAPTER 8

  THE LANDING

  Let my lamp at midnight hourBe seen in some high lonely tower--_Milton_

  Maskew got ugly looks from the men, and sour words from the wives, as hewent up through the village that afternoon, for all knew what he haddone, and for many days after the auction he durst not show his faceabroad. Yet Damen of Ringstave and some others of the landers' men, whomade it their business to keep an eye upon him, said that he had beentwice to Weymouth of evenings, and held converse there with Mr. Luckhamof the Excise, and with Captain Henning, who commanded the troopers thenin quarters on the Nothe. And by degrees it got about, but how I do notknow, that he had persuaded the Revenue to strike hard at the smugglers,and that a strong posse was to be held in readiness to take the landersin the act the next time they should try to run a cargo. Why Maskewshould so put himself about to help the Revenue I cannot tell, nor didanyone ever certainly find out; but some said 'twas out of sheerwantonness, and a desire to hurt his neighbours; and others, that he sawwhat an apt place this was for landing cargoes, and wished first to makea brave show of zeal for the Excise, and afterwards to get the whole ofthe contraband trade into his own hands. However that may be, I think hewas certainly in league with the Revenue men, and more than once I sawhim on the Manor terrace with a spy glass in his hand, and guessed thathe was looking for the lugger in the offing. Now, word was mostly givento the lander, by safe hands, of the night on which a cargo should berun, and then in the morning or afternoon, the lugger would come justnear enough the land to be made out with glasses, and afterwards lie offagain out of sight till nightfall. The nights chosen for such work werewithout moon, but as still as might be, so long as there was wind enoughto fill the sails; and often the lugger could be made out from the beach,but sometimes 'twas necessary to signal with flares, though they wereused as little as might be. Yet after there had been a long spell ofrough weather, and a cargo had to be run at all hazards, I have known theboats come in even on the bright moonlight and take their risk, for 'twassaid the Excise slept sounder round us than anywhere in all the Channel.

  These tales of Maskew's doings failed not to reach Elzevir, and for somedays he thought best not to move, though there was a cargo on the otherside that wanted landing badly. But one evening when he had won atbackgammon, and was in an open mood, he took me into confidence, settingdown the dice box on the table, and saying--

  'There is word come from the shippers that we must take a cargo, for thatthey cannot keep the stuff by them longer at St. Malo. Now with thisdevil at the Manor prowling round, I dare not risk the job on Moonfleetbeach, nor yet stow the liquor in the vault; so I have told the_Bonaventure_ to put her nose into this bay tomorrow afternoon thatMaskew may see her well, and then to lie out again to sea, as she hasdone a hundred times before. But instead of waiting in the offing, shewill make straight off up Channel to a little strip of shingle underneathHoar Head.' I nodded to show I knew the place, and he went on--'Men usedto choose that spot in good old times to beach a cargo before thepassage to the vault was dug; and there is a worked-out quarry theycalled Pyegrove's Hole, not too far off up the down, and choked withbrambles, where we can find shelter for a hundred kegs. So we'll be underHoar Head at five tomorrow morn with the pack-horses. I wish we could beearlier, for the sun rises thereabout, but the tide will not servebefore.'

  It was at that moment that I felt a cold touch on my shoulders, as of thefresh air from outside, and thought beside I had a whiff of salt seaweedfrom the beach. So round I looked to see if door or window stood ajar.The window was tight enough, and shuttered to boot, but the door was notto be seen plainly for a wooden screen, which parted it from the parlour,and was meant to keep off draughts. Yet I could just see a top corner ofthe door above the screen and thought it was not fast. So up I got toshut it, for the nights were cold; but coming round the corner of thescreen found that 'twas closed, and yet I could have sworn I saw thelatch fall to its place as I walked towards it. Then I dashed forward,and in a trice had the door open, and was in the street. But the nightwas moonless and black, and I neither saw nor heard aught stirring, savethe gentle sea-wash on Moonfleet beach beyond the salt meadows.

  Elzevir looked at me uneasily as I came back.

  'What ails thee, boy?' said he.

  'I thought I heard someone at the door,' I answered; 'did you not feel acold wind as if it was open?'

  'It is but the night is sharp, the spring sets in very chill; slip thebolt, and sit down again,' and he flung a fresh log on the fire, thatsent a cloud of sparks crackling up the chimney and out into the room.

  'Elzevir,' I said, 'I think there was one listening at the door, andthere may be others in the house, so before we sit again let us takecandle and go through the rooms to make sure none are prying on us.'

  He laughed and said, ''Twas but the wind that blew the door open,' butthat I might do as I pleased. So I lit another candle, and was forstarting on my search; but he cried, 'Nay, thou shalt not go alone'; andso we went all round the house together, and found not so much as amouse stirring.

  He laughed the more when we came back to the parlour. ''Tis the coldhas chilled thy heart and made thee timid of that skulking rascal ofthe Manor; fill me a glass of Ararat milk, and one for thyself, and letus to bed.'

  I had learned by this not to be afraid of the good liquor, and while wesat sipping it, Elzevir went on--

  'There is a fortnight yet to run, and then you and I shall be cut adriftfrom our moorings. It is a cruel thing to see the doors of this houseclosed on me, where I and mine have lived a century or more, but I mustsee it. Yet let us not be too cast down, but try to make something evenof this worst of throws.'

  I was glad enough to hear him speak in this firmer strain, for I had seenwhat a sore thought it had been for these days past that he must leavethe Why Not?, and how it often made him moody and downcast.

  'We will have no more of innkeeping,' he said; 'I have been sick andtired of it this many a day, and care not now to see men abuse goodliquor and addle their silly pates to fill my purse. And I havesomething, boy, put snug away in Dorchester town that will give us breadto eat and beer to drink, even if the throws run still deuce-ace. But wemust seek a roof to shelter us when the Why Not? is shut, and 'tis bestwe leave this Moonfleet of ours for a season, till Maskew finds a rope'send long enough to hang himself withal. So, when our work is donetomorrow night, we will walk out along the cliff to Worth, and take alook at a cottage there that Damen spoke about, with a walled orchard atthe back, and fuchsia hedge in front--'tis near the Lobster Inn, and hasa fine prospect of the sea; and if we live there, we will leave the vaultalone awhile and use this Pyegrove's Hole for storehouse, till the watchis relaxed.'

  I did not answer, having my thoughts on other things, and he tossed offhis liquor, saying, 'Thou'rt tired; so let's to bed, for we shall getlittle sleep tomorrow night.'

  It was true that I was tired, and yet I could not get to sleep, buttossed and turned in my bed for thinking of many things, and being vexedthat we were to leave Moonfleet. Yet mine was a selfish sorrow; for I hadlittle thought for Elzevir and the pain that it must be to him to quit,the Why Not?: nor yet was it the grief of leaving Moonfleet that sotroubled me, although that was the only place I ever had known, andseemed to me then--as now--the only spot on earth fit to be lived in; butthe real care and canker was that I was going away from Grace Maskew. Forsince she had left school I had grown fonder of her; and now that it wasdifficult to see her, I took the more pains to accomplish it, and met hersometimes in Manor Woods, and more than once, when Maskew was away, hadwalked with her on Weatherbeech Hill. So we bred up a boy-and-girlaffection, and must needs pledge ourselves to be true to one another, notknowing what such silly words might mean. And I told Grace all mysecrets, not even excepting the doings of the contraband, and the Mohunevault and Blackbeard's locket, for I knew all was as safe with her aswith me, and that her father could never rack aught from her. Nay, more,her bedroom was at the top of the gabled wi
ng of the Manor House, andlooked right out to sea; and one clear night, when our boat was cominglate from fishing, I saw her candle burning there, and next day told herof it. And then she said that she would set a candle to burn before thepanes on winter nights, and be a leading light for boats at sea. And soshe did, and others beside me saw and used it, calling it 'Maskew'sMatch', and saying that it was the attorney sitting up all night to poreover ledgers and add up his fortune.

  So this night as I lay awake I vexed and vexed myself for thinking ofher, and at last resolved to go up next morning to the Manor Woods andlie in wait for Grace, to tell her what was up, and that we were goingaway to Worth.

  Next day, the 16th of April--a day I have had cause to remember all mylife--I played truant from Mr. Glennie, and by ten in the forenoon foundmyself in the woods.

  There was a little dimple on the hillside above the house, green withburdocks in summer and filled with dry leaves in winter--just big enoughto hold one lying flat, and not so deep but that I could look over thelip of it and see the house without being seen. Thither I went that day,and lay down in the dry leaves to wait and watch for Grace.

  The morning was bright enough. The chills of the night before had givenway to sunlight that seemed warm as summer, and yet had with it the softfreshness of spring. There was scarce a breath moving in the wood, thoughI could see the clouds of white dust stalking up the road that climbsRidge down, and the trees were green with buds, yet without leafage tokeep the sunbeams from lighting up the ground below, which glowed withyellow king-cups. So I lay there for a long, long while; and to make timepass quicker, took from my bosom the silver locket, and opening it, readagain the parchment, which I had read times out of mind before, and knewindeed by heart.

  'The days of our age are threescore years and ten', and the rest.

  Now, whenever I handled the locket, my thoughts were turned to Mohune'streasure; and it was natural that it should be so, for the locketreminded me of my first journey to the vault; and I laughed at myself,remembering how simple I had been, and had hoped to find the placelittered with diamonds, and to see the gold lying packed in heaps. Andthus for the hundredth time I came to rack my brain to know where thediamond could be hid, and thought at last it must be buried in thechurchyard, because of the talk of Blackbeard being seen on wild nightsdigging there for his treasure. But then, I reasoned, that very like itwas the contrabandiers whom men had seen with spades when they weredigging out the passage from the tomb to the vault, and set them down forghosts because they wrought at night. And while I was busy with suchthoughts, the door opened in the house below me, and out came Grace witha hood on her head and a basket for wild flowers in her hand.

  I watched to see which way she would walk; and as soon as she took thepath that leads up Weatherbeech, made off through the dry brushwood tomeet her, for we had settled she should never go that road except whenMaskew was away. So there we met and spent an hour together on the hill,though I shall not write here what we said, because it was mostly sillystuff. She spoke much of the auction and of Elzevir leaving the Why Not?,and though she never said a word against her father, let me know whatpain his doing gave her. But most she grieved that we were leavingMoonfleet, and showed her grief in such pretty ways, as made me almostglad to see her sorry. And from her I learned that Maskew was indeedabsent from home, having been called away suddenly last night. Theevening was so fine, he said (and this surprised me, remembering how darkand cold it was with us), that he must needs walk round the policies; butabout nine o'clock came back and told her he had got a sudden call tobusiness, which would take him to Weymouth then and there. So to saddle,and off he went on his mare, bidding Grace not to look for him for twonights to come.

  I know not why it was, but what she said of Maskew made me thoughtful andsilent, and she too must be back home lest the old servant that kepthouse for them should say she had been too long away, and so we parted.Then off I went through the woods and down the village street, but as Ipassed my old home saw Aunt Jane standing on the doorstep. I bade her'Good day', and was for running on to the Why Not?, for I was late enoughalready, but she called me to her, seeming in a milder mood, and said shehad something for me in the house. So left me standing while she went offto get it, and back she came and thrust into my hand a littleprayer-book, which I had often seen about the parlour in past days,saying, 'Here is a Common Prayer which I had meant to send thee with thyclothes. It was thy poor mother's, and I pray may some day be as preciousa balm to thee as it once was to that godly woman.' With that she gave methe 'Good day', and I pocketed the little red leather book, which didindeed afterwards prove precious to me, though not in the way she meant,and ran down street to the Why Not?

  * * * * *

  That same evening Elzevir and I left the Why Not?, went up through thevillage, climbed the down, and were at the brow by sunset. We had startedearlier than we fixed the night before, because word had come to Elzevirthat morning that the tide called Gulder would serve for the beaching ofthe _Bonaventure_ at three instead of five. 'Tis a strange thing theGulder, and not even sailors can count closely with it; for on the Dorsetcoast the tide makes four times a day, twice with the common flow, andtwice with the Gulder, and this last being shifty and uncertain as totime, flings out many a sea-reckoning.

  It was about seven o'clock when we were at the top of the hill, and therewere fifteen good miles to cover to get to Hoar Head. Dusk was upon usbefore we had walked half an hour; but when the night fell, it was notblack as on the last evening, but a deep sort of blue, and the heat ofthe day did not die with the sun, but left the air still warm and balmy.We trudged on in silence, and were glad enough when we saw by a whitestone here and there at the side of the path that we were nearing thecliff; for the Preventive men mark all the footpaths on the cliff withwhitewashed stones, so that one can pick up the way without risk on adark night. A few minutes more, and we reached a broad piece of opensward, which I knew for the top of Hoar Head.

  Hoar Head is the highest of that line of cliffs, which stretches twentymiles from Weymouth to St. Alban's Head, and it stands up eighty fathomsor more above the water. The seaward side is a great sheer of chalk, butfalls not straight into the sea, for three parts down there is a lowerledge or terrace, called the under-cliff.

  'Twas to this ledge that we were bound; and though we were now straightabove, I knew we had a mile or more to go before we could get down toit. So on we went again, and found the bridle-path that slopes downthrough a deep dip in the cliff line; and when we reached thisunder-ledge, I looked up at the sky, the night being clear, and guessedby the stars that 'twas past midnight. I knew the place from having oncebeen there for blackberries; for the brambles on the under-cliff beingsheltered every way but south, and open to the sun, grow the finest inall those parts.

  We were not alone, for I could make out a score of men, some standing ingroups, some resting on the ground, and the dark shapes of thepack-horses showing larger in the dimness. There were a few words ofgreeting muttered in deep voices, and then all was still, so that oneheard the browsing horses trying to crop something off the turf. It wasnot the first cargo I had helped to run, and I knew most of the men, butdid not speak with them, being tired, and wishing to rest till I waswanted. So cast myself down on the turf, but had not lain there long whenI saw someone coming to me through the brambles, and Master Ratsey said,'Well, Jack, so thou and Elzevir are leaving Moonfleet, and I fain wouldflit myself, but then who would be left to lead the old folk to theirlast homes, for dead do not bury their dead in these days.'

  I was half-asleep, and took little heed of what he said, putting him offwith, 'That need not keep you, Master; they will find others to fill yourplace.' Yet he would not let me be, but went on talking for the pleasureof hearing his own voice.

  'Nay, child, you know not what you say. They may find men to dig a grave,and perhaps to fill it, but who shall toss the mould when Parson Glenniegives the "earth to earth"; it takes a mort of knowledge
to make itrattle kindly on the coffin-lid.'

  I felt sleep heavy on my eyelids, and was for begging him to let me rest,when there came a whistle from below, and in a moment all were on theirfeet. The drivers went to the packhorses' heads, and so we walked down tothe strand, a silent moving group of men and horses mixed; and before wecame to the bottom, heard the first boat's nose grind on the beach, andthe feet of the seamen crunching in the pebbles. Then all fell to thebusiness of landing, and a strange enough scene it was, what with themedley of men, the lanthorns swinging, and a frothy Upper from the searunning up till sometimes it was over our boots; and all the time therewas a patter of French and Dutch, for most of the _Bonaventure's_ menwere foreigners. But I shall not speak more of this; for, after all, onelanding is very like another, and kegs come ashore in much the same way,whether they are to pay excise or not.

  It must have been three o'clock before the lugger's boats were off againto sea, and by that time the horses were well laden, and most of the menhad a keg or two to carry beside. Then Elzevir, who was in command, gavethe word, and we began to file away from the beach up to the under-cliff.Now, what with the cargo being heavy, we were longer than usual ingetting away; and though there was no sign of sunrise, yet the night wasgreyer, and not so blue as it had been.

  We reached the under-cliff, and were moving across it to addressourselves to the bridle-path, and so wind sideways up the steep, when Isaw something moving behind one of the plumbs of brambles with which theplace is beset. It was only a glimpse of motion that I had perceived, andcould not say whether 'twas man or animal, or even frightened bird behindthe bushes. But others had seen it as well; there was some shouting, halfa dozen flung down their kegs and started in pursuit.

  All eyes were turned to the bridle-path, and in a twinkling hunters andhunted were in view. The greyhounds were Damen and Garrett, with someothers, and the hare was an older man, who leapt and bounded forward,faster than I should have thought any but a youth could run; but then heknew what men were after him, and that 'twas a race for life. For thoughit was but a moment before all were lost in the night, yet this was longenough to show me that the man was none other than Maskew, and I knewthat his life was not worth ten minutes' purchase.

  Now I hated this man, and had myself suffered something at his hand,besides seeing him put much grievous suffering on others; but I wishedthen with all my heart he might escape, and had a horrible dread of whatwas to come. Yet I knew all the time escape was impossible; for thoughMaskew ran desperately, the way was steep and stony, and he had behindhim some of the fleetest feet along that coast. We had all stopped withone accord, as not wishing to move a step forward till we had seen theissue of the chase; and I was near enough to look into Elzevir's face,but saw there neither passion nor bloodthirstiness, but only a calmresolve, as if he had to deal with something well expected.

  We had not long to wait, for very soon we heard a rolling of stones andtrampling of feet coming down the path, and from the darkness issued agroup of men, having Maskew in the middle of them. They were hustling himalong fast, two having hold of him by the arms, and a third by the neckof his shirt behind. The sight gave me a sick qualm, like an overdose oftobacco, for it was the first time I had ever seen a man man-handled, anda fellow-creature abused. His cap was lost, and his thin hair tangledover his forehead, his coat was torn off, so that he stood in hiswaistcoat alone; he was pale, and gasped terribly, whether from the sharprun, or from violence, or fear, or all combined.

  There was a babel of voices when they came up of desperate men who had abitterest enemy in their clutch; and some shouted, 'Club him', 'Shoothim', 'Hang him', while others were for throwing him over the cliff. Thensomeone saw under the flap of his waistcoat that same silver-haftedpistol that lay so lately next the lease of the Why Not? and snatching itfrom him, flung it on the grass at Block's feet.

  But Elzevir's deep voice mastered their contentions--

  'Lads, ye remember how I said when this man's reckoning day should come'twas I would reckon with him, and had your promise to it. Nor is itright that any should lay hand on him but I, for is he not sealed to mewith my son's blood? So touch him not, but bind him hand and foot, andleave him here with me and go your ways; there is no time to lose, forthe light grows apace.'

  There was a little muttered murmuring, but Elzevir's will overbore themhere as it had done in the vault; and they yielded the more easily,because every man knew in his heart that he would never see Maskew againalive. So within ten minutes all were winding up the bridle-path, horsesand men, all except three; for there were left upon the bramblygreensward of the under-cliff Maskew and Elzevir and I, and the pistollay at Elzevir's feet.