CHAPTER XXXII
HOW AMYAS THREW HIS SWORD INTO THE SEA
"Full fathom deep thy father lies; Of his bones are corals made; Those are pearls which were his eyes; Nothing of him that doth fade, But doth suffer a sea-change Into something rich and strange; Fairies hourly ring his knell, Hark! I hear them. Ding dong bell."
The Tempest.
Yes, it is over; and the great Armada is vanquished. It is lulled forawhile, the everlasting war which is in heaven, the battle of Iran andTuran, of the children of light and of darkness, of Michael and hisangels against Satan and his fiends; the battle which slowly and seldom,once in the course of many centuries, culminates and ripens into aday of judgment, and becomes palpable and incarnate; no longer a merespiritual fight, but one of flesh and blood, wherein simple men maychoose their sides without mistake, and help God's cause not merely withprayer and pen, but with sharp shot and cold steel. A day of judgmenthas come, which has divided the light from the darkness, and the sheepfrom the goats, and tried each man's work by the fire; and, behold, thedevil's work, like its maker, is proved to have been, as always, a lieand a sham, and a windy boast, a bladder which collapses at the merestpinprick. Byzantine empires, Spanish Armadas, triple-crowned papacies,Russian despotisms, this is the way of them, and will be to the end ofthe world. One brave blow at the big bullying phantom, and it vanishesin sulphur-stench; while the children of Israel, as of old, see theEgyptians dead on the sea-shore,--they scarce know how, save that Godhas done it, and sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb.
And now, from England and the Netherlands, from Germany and Geneva, andthose poor Vaudois shepherd-saints, whose bones for generations past
"Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold;"
to be, indeed, the seed of the Church, and a germ of new life, liberty,and civilization, even in these very days returning good for evil tothat Piedmont which has hunted them down like the partridges on themountains;--from all of Europe, from all of mankind, I had almost said,in which lay the seed of future virtue and greatness, of the destiniesof the new-discovered world, and the triumphs of the coming age ofscience, arose a shout of holy joy, such as the world had not heardfor many a weary and bloody century; a shout which was the propheticbirth-paean of North America, Australia, New Zealand, the PacificIslands, of free commerce and free colonization over the whole earth.
"There was in England, by the commandment of her majesty," says VanMeteran, "and likewise in the United Provinces, by the direction of theStates, a solemn festival day publicly appointed, wherein all personswere solemnly enjoined to resort unto ye Church, and there to renderthanks and praises unto God, and ye preachers were commanded to exhortye people thereunto. The aforesaid solemnity was observed upon the 29thof November: which day was wholly spent in fasting, prayer, and givingof thanks.
"Likewise the Queen's Majesty herself, imitating ye ancient Romans, rodeinto London in triumph, in regard of her own and her subjects' gloriousdeliverance. For being attended upon very solemnly by all ye principalEstates and officers of her Realm, she was carried through her said Cityof London in a triumphant Chariot, and in robes of triumph, from herPalace unto ye said Cathedral Church of St. Paul, out of ye which yeEnsigns and Colours of ye vanquished Spaniards hung displayed. Andall ye Citizens of London, in their liveries, stood on either side yestreet, by their several Companies, with their ensigns and banners, andthe streets were hanged on both sides with blue Cloth, which, togetherwith ye foresaid banners, yielded a very stately and gallant prospect.Her Majestie being entered into ye Church together with her Clergy andNobles, gave thanks unto God, and caused a public Sermon to be preachedbefore her at Paul's Cross; wherein none other argument was handled,but that praise, honour, and glory might be rendered unto God, and thatGod's Name might be extolled by thanksgiving. And with her own princelyvoice she most Christianly exhorted ye people to do ye same; whereuntoye people, with a loud acclamation, wished her a most long and happylife to ye confusion of her foes."
Yes, as the medals struck on the occasion said, "It came, it saw, and itfled!" And whither? Away and northward, like a herd of frightened deer,past the Orkneys and Shetlands, catching up a few hapless fishermen asguides; past the coast of Norway, there, too, refused water and food bythe brave descendants of the Vikings; and on northward ever towards thelonely Faroes, and the everlasting dawn which heralds round the Pole themidnight sun.
Their water is failing; the cattle must go overboard; and the wildnorthern sea echoes to the shrieks of drowning horses. They musthomeward at least, somehow, each as best he can. Let them meet againat Cape Finisterre, if indeed they ever meet. Medina Sidonia, with somefive-and twenty of the soundest and best victualled ships, will leadthe way, and leave the rest to their fate. He is soon out of sight; andforty more, the only remnant of that mighty host, come wandering wearilybehind, hoping to make the south-west coast of Ireland, and have help,or, at least, fresh water there, from their fellow Romanists. Alas forthem!--
"Make Thou their way dark and slippery, And follow them up ever with Thy storm."
For now comes up from the Atlantic, gale on gale; and few of thathapless remnant reached the shores of Spain.
And where are Amyas and the Vengeance all this while?
At the fifty-seventh degree of latitude, the English fleet, findingthemselves growing short of provision, and having been long since out ofpowder and ball, turn southward toward home, "thinking it best to leavethe Spaniard to those uncouth and boisterous northern seas." A fewpinnaces are still sent onward to watch their course: and the Englishfleet, caught in the same storms which scattered the Spaniards, "withgreat danger and industry reached Harwich port, and there providethemselves of victuals and ammunition," in case the Spaniards shouldreturn; but there is no need for that caution. Parma, indeed, who cannotbelieve that the idol at Halle, after all his compliments to it, willplay him so scurvy a trick, will watch for weeks on Dunkirk dunes,hoping against hope for the Armada's return, casting anchors, andspinning rigging to repair their losses.
"But lang, lang may his ladies sit, With their fans intill their hand, Before they see Sir Patrick Spens Come sailing to the land."
The Armada is away on the other side of Scotland, and Amyas is followingin its wake.
For when the lord high admiral determined to return, Amyas askedleave to follow the Spaniard; and asked, too, of Sir John Hawkins,who happened to be at hand, such ammunition and provision as could beafforded him, promising to repay the same like an honest man, out ofhis plunder if he lived, out of his estate if he died; lodging for thatpurpose bills in the hands of Sir John, who, as a man of business,took them, and put them in his pocket among the thimbles, string, andtobacco; after which Amyas, calling his men together, reminded them oncemore of the story of the Rose of Torridge and Don Guzman de Soto, andthen asked:
"Men of Bideford, will you follow me? There will be plunder for thosewho love plunder; revenge for those who love revenge; and for all of us(for we all love honor) the honor of having never left the chase as longas there was a Spanish flag in English seas."
And every soul on board replied, that they would follow Sir Amyas Leigharound the world.
There is no need for me to detail every incident of that long and wearychase; how they found the Sta. Catharina, attacked her, and had to sheeroff, she being rescued by the rest; how when Medina's squadron left thecrippled ships behind, they were all but taken or sunk, by thrustinginto the midst of the Spanish fleet to prevent her escaping with Medina;how they crippled her, so that she could not beat to windward out intothe ocean, but was fain to run south, past the Orkneys, and down throughthe Minch, between Cape Wrath and Lewis; how the younger hands wereready to mutiny, because Amyas, in his stubborn haste, ran past two orthree noble prizes which were all but disabled, among others one ofthe great galliasses, and the two great Venetians, La Ratta and LaBelanzara--which were afterwards, with more than thirty oth
er vessels,wrecked on the west coast of Ireland; how he got fresh water, in spiteof certain "Hebridean Scots" of Skye, who, after reviling him in anunknown tongue, fought with him awhile, and then embraced him and hismen with howls of affection, and were not much more decently clad, normore civilized, than his old friends of California; how he pacified hismen by letting them pick the bones of a great Venetian which was goingon shore upon Islay (by which they got booty enough to repay them forthe whole voyage), and offended them again by refusing to land andplunder two great Spanish wrecks on the Mull of Cantire (whose crews, bythe by, James tried to smuggle off secretly into Spain in ships of hisown, wishing to play, as usual, both sides of the game at once; butthe Spaniards were stopped at Yarmouth till the council's pleasure wasknown--which was, of course, to let the poor wretches go on their way,and be hanged elsewhere); how they passed a strange island, half black,half white, which the wild people called Raghary, but Cary christened it"the drowned magpie;" how the Sta. Catharina was near lost on the Isleof Man, and then put into Castleton (where the Manx-men slew a wholeboat's-crew with their arrows), and then put out again, when Amyasfought with her a whole day, and shot away her mainyard; how theSpaniard blundered down the coast of Wales, not knowing whither he went;how they were both nearly lost on Holyhead, and again on Bardsey Island;how they got on a lee shore in Cardigan Bay, before a heavy westerlygale, and the Sta. Catharina ran aground on Sarn David, one of thosestrange subaqueous pebble-dykes which are said to be the remnants of thelost land of Gwalior, destroyed by the carelessness of Prince Seitheninthe drunkard, at whose name each loyal Welshman spits; how she got offagain at the rising of the tide, and fought with Amyas a fourth time;how the wind changed, and she got round St. David's Head;--these, andmany more moving incidents of this eventful voyage, I must pass overwithout details, and go on to the end; for it is time that the endshould come.
It was now the sixteenth day of the chase. They had seen, the eveningbefore, St. David's Head, and then the Welsh coast round MilfordHaven, looming out black and sharp before the blaze of the inlandthunder-storm; and it had lightened all round them during the fore partof the night, upon a light south-western breeze.
In vain they had strained their eyes through the darkness, to catch, bythe fitful glare of the flashes, the tall masts of the Spaniard. Ofone thing at least they were certain, that with the wind as it was, shecould not have gone far to the westward; and to attempt to pass themagain, and go northward, was more than she dare do. She was probablylying-to ahead of them, perhaps between them and the land; and when, alittle after midnight, the wind chopped up to the west, and blew stifflytill day break, they felt sure that, unless she had attempted thedesperate expedient of running past them, they had her safe in the mouthof the Bristol Channel. Slowly and wearily broke the dawn, on such a dayas often follows heavy thunder; a sunless, drizzly day, roofed with lowdingy cloud, barred and netted, and festooned with black, a sign thatthe storm is only taking breath awhile before it bursts again; while allthe narrow horizon is dim and spongy with vapor drifting before a chillybreeze. As the day went on, the breeze died down, and the sea fell to along glassy foam-flecked roll, while overhead brooded the inky sky, andround them the leaden mist shut out alike the shore and the chase.
Amyas paced the sloppy deck fretfully and fiercely. He knew that theSpaniard could not escape; but he cursed every moment which lingeredbetween him and that one great revenge which blackened all his soul.The men sate sulkily about the deck, and whistled for a wind; the sailsflapped idly against the masts; and the ship rolled in the long troughsof the sea, till her yard-arms almost dipped right and left.
"Take care of those guns. You will have something loose next," growledAmyas.
"We will take care of the guns, if the Lord will take care of the wind,"said Yeo.
"We shall have plenty before night," said Cary, "and thunder too."
"So much the better," said Amyas. "It may roar till it splits theheavens, if it does but let me get my work done."
"He's not far off, I warrant," said Cary. "One lift of the cloud, and weshould see him."
"To windward of us, as likely as not," said Amyas. "The devil fightsfor him, I believe. To have been on his heels sixteen days, and not sentthis through him yet!" And he shook his sword impatiently.
So the morning wore away, without a sign of living thing, not even apassing gull; and the black melancholy of the heaven reflected itselfin the black melancholy of Amyas. Was he to lose his prey after all?The thought made him shudder with rage and disappointment. It wasintolerable. Anything but that.
"No, God!" he cried, "let me but once feel this in his accursed heart,and then--strike me dead, if Thou wilt!"
"The Lord have mercy on us," cried John Brimblecombe. "What have yousaid?"
"What is that to you, sir? There, they are piping to dinner. Go down. Ishall not come."
And Jack went down, and talked in a half-terrified whisper of Amyas'sominous words.
All thought that they portended some bad luck, except old Yeo.
"Well, Sir John," said he, "and why not? What better can the Lord dofor a man, than take him home when he has done his work? Our captain iswilful and spiteful, and must needs kill his man himself; while for me,I don't care how the Don goes, provided he does go. I owe him no grudge,nor any man. May the Lord give him repentance, and forgive him all hissins: but if I could but see him once safe ashore, as he may be erenightfall, on the Mortestone or the back of Lundy, I would say, 'Lord,now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace,' even if it were thelightning which was sent to fetch me."
"But, master Yeo, a sudden death?"
"And why not a sudden death, Sir John? Even fools long for a short lifeand a merry one, and shall not the Lord's people pray for a short deathand a merry one? Let it come as it will to old Yeo. Hark! there's thecaptain's voice!"
"Here she is!" thundered Amyas from the deck; and in an instant all werescrambling up the hatchway as fast as the frantic rolling of the shipwould let them.
Yes. There she was. The cloud had lifted suddenly, and to the south aragged bore of blue sky let a long stream of sunshine down on her tallmasts and stately hull, as she lay rolling some four or five miles tothe eastward: but as for land, none was to be seen.
"There she is; and here we are," said Cary; "but where is here? andwhere is there? How is the tide, master?"
"Running up Channel by this time, sir."
"What matters the tide?" said Amyas, devouring the ship with terribleand cold blue eyes. "Can't we get at her?"
"Not unless some one jumps out and shoves behind," said Cary. "I shalldown again and finish that mackerel, if this roll has not chucked it tothe cockroaches under the table."
"Don't jest, Will! I can't stand it," said Amyas, in a voice whichquivered so much that Cary looked at him. His whole frame was tremblinglike an aspen. Cary took his arm, and drew him aside.
"Dear old lad," said he, as they leaned over the bulwarks, "what isthis? You are not yourself, and have not been these four days."
"No. I am not Amyas Leigh. I am my brother's avenger. Do not reasonwith me, Will: when it is over I shall be merry old Amyas again," and hepassed his hand over his brow.
"Do you believe," said he, after a moment, "that men can be possessed bydevils?"
"The Bible says so."
"If my cause were not a just one, I should fancy I had a devil in me. Mythroat and heart are as hot as the pit. Would to God it were done, fordone it must be! Now go."
Cary went away with a shudder. As he passed down the hatchway he lookedback. Amyas had got the hone out of his pocket, and was whetting awayagain at his sword-edge, as if there was some dreadful doom on him, towhet, and whet forever.
The weary day wore on. The strip of blue sky was curtained over again,and all was dismal as before, though it grew sultrier every moment; andnow and then a distant mutter shook the air to westward. Nothing couldbe done to lessen the distance between the ships, for the Vengeance hadhad all her boats carried away but o
ne, and that was much too smallto tow her: and while the men went down again to finish dinner, Amyasworked on at his sword, looking up every now and then suddenly at theSpaniard, as if to satisfy himself that it was not a vision which hadvanished.
About two Yeo came up to him.
"He is ours safely now, sir. The tide has been running to the eastwardfor this two hours."
"Safe as a fox in a trap. Satan himself cannot take him from us!"
"But God may," said Brimblecombe, simply.
"Who spoke to you, sir? If I thought that He--There comes the thunder atlast!"
And as he spoke an angry growl from the westward heavens seemed toanswer his wild words, and rolled and loudened nearer and nearer, tillright over their heads it crashed against some cloud-cliff far above,and all was still.
Each man looked in the other's face: but Amyas was unmoved.
"The storm is coming," said he, "and the wind in it. It will beEastward-ho now, for once, my merry men all!"
"Eastward-ho never brought us luck," said Jack in an undertone to Cary.But by this time all eyes were turned to the north-west, where a blackline along the horizon began to define the boundary of sea and air, tillnow all dim in mist.
"There comes the breeze."
"And there the storm, too."
And with that strangely accelerating pace which some storms seem topossess, the thunder, which had been growling slow and seldom far away,now rang peal on peal along the cloudy floor above their heads.
"Here comes the breeze. Round with the yards, or we shall be takenaback."
The yards creaked round; the sea grew crisp around them; the hot airswept their cheeks, tightened every rope, filled every sail, bent herover. A cheer burst from the men as the helm went up, and they staggeredaway before the wind, right down upon the Spaniard, who lay stillbecalmed.
"There is more behind, Amyas," said Cary. "Shall we not shorten sail alittle?"
"No. Hold on every stitch," said Amyas. "Give me the helm, man.Boatswain, pipe away to clear for fight."
It was done, and in ten minutes the men were all at quarters, whilethe thunder rolled louder and louder overhead, and the breeze freshenedfast.
"The dog has it now. There he goes!" said Cary.
"Right before the wind. He has no liking to face us."
"He is running into the jaws of destruction," said Yeo. "An hour morewill send him either right up the Channel, or smack on shore somewhere."
"There! he has put his helm down. I wonder if he sees land?"
"He is like a March hare beat out of his country," said Cary, "and don'tknow whither to run next."
Cary was right. In ten minutes more the Spaniard fell off again, andwent away dead down wind, while the Vengeance gained on him fast.After two hours more, the four miles had diminished to one, while thelightning flashed nearer and nearer as the storm came up; and from thevast mouth of a black cloud-arch poured so fierce a breeze that Amyasyielded unwillingly to hints which were growing into open murmurs, andbade shorten sail.
On they rushed with scarcely lessened speed, the black arch followingfast, curtained by the flat gray sheet of pouring rain, before which thewater was boiling in a long white line; while every moment behind thewatery veil, a keen blue spark leapt down into the sea, or darted zigzagthrough the rain.
"We shall have it now, and with a vengeance; this will try your tackle,master," said Cary.
The functionary answered with a shrug, and turned up the collar of hisrough frock, as the first drops flew stinging round his ears. Anotherminute and the squall burst full upon them, in rain, which cut likehail--hail which lashed the sea into froth, and wind which whirled offthe heads of the surges, and swept the waters into one white seethingwaste. And above them, and behind them and before them, the lightningleapt and ran, dazzling and blinding, while the deep roar of the thunderwas changed to sharp ear-piercing cracks.
"Get the arms and ammunition under cover, and then below with you all,"shouted Amyas from the helm.
"And heat the pokers in the galley fire," said Yeo, "to be ready if therain puts our linstocks out. I hope you'll let me stay on deck, sir, incase--"
"I must have some one, and who better than you? Can you see the chase?"
No; she was wrapped in the gray whirlwind. She might be within half amile of them, for aught they could have seen of her.
And now Amyas and his old liegeman were alone. Neither spoke; each knewthe other's thoughts, and knew that they were his own. The squall blewfiercer and fiercer, the rain poured heavier and heavier. Where was theSpaniard?
"If he has laid-to, we may overshoot him, sir!"
"If he has tried to lay-to, he will not have a sail left in thebolt-ropes, or perhaps a mast on deck. I know the stiff-neckedness ofthose Spanish tubs. Hurrah! there he is, right on our larboard bow!"
There she was indeed, two musket-shots' off, staggering away with canvassplit and flying.
"He has been trying to hull, sir, and caught a buffet," said Yeo,rubbing his hands. "What shall we do now?"
"Range alongside, if it blow live imps and witches, and try our luckonce more. Pah! how this lightning dazzles!"
On they swept, gaining fast on the Spaniard. "Call the men up, and toquarters; the rain will be over in ten minutes."
Yeo ran forward to the gangway; and sprang back again, with a face whiteand wild--
"Land right ahead! Port your helm, sir! For the love of God, port yourhelm!"
Amyas, with the strength of a bull, jammed the helm down, while Yeoshouted to the men below.
She swung round. The masts bent like whips; crack went the fore-saillike a cannon. What matter? Within two hundred yards of them was theSpaniard; in front of her, and above her, a huge dark bank rose throughthe dense hail, and mingled with the clouds; and at its foot, plainerevery moment, pillars and spouts of leaping foam.
"What is it, Morte? Hartland?"
It might be anything for thirty miles.
"Lundy!" said Yeo. "The south end! I see the head of the Shutter in thebreakers! Hard a-port yet, and get her close-hauled as you can, and theLord may have mercy on us still! Look at the Spaniard!"
Yes, look at the Spaniard!
On their left hand, as they broached-to, the wall of granite sloped downfrom the clouds toward an isolated peak of rock, some two hundred feetin height. Then a hundred yards of roaring breaker upon a sunken shelf,across which the race of the tide poured like a cataract; then, amid acolumn of salt smoke, the Shutter, like a huge black fang, rose waitingfor its prey; and between the Shutter and the land, the great galleonloomed dimly through the storm.
He, too, had seen his danger, and tried to broach-to. But his clumsymass refused to obey the helm; he struggled a moment, half hid in foam;fell away again, and rushed upon his doom.
"Lost! lost! lost!" cried Amyas madly, and throwing up his hands, let gothe tiller. Yeo caught it just in time.
"Sir! sir! What are you at? We shall clear the rock yet."
"Yes!" shouted Amyas, in his frenzy; "but he will not!"
Another minute. The galleon gave a sudden jar, and stopped. Then onelong heave and bound, as if to free herself. And then her bows lightedclean upon the Shutter.
An awful silence fell on every English soul. They heard not the roaringof wind and surge; they saw not the blinding flashes of the lightning;but they heard one long ear-piercing wail to every saint in heaven risefrom five hundred human throats; they saw the mighty ship heel over fromthe wind, and sweep headlong down the cataract of the race, plunging heryards into the foam, and showing her whole black side even to her keel,till she rolled clean over, and vanished for ever and ever.
"Shame!" cried Amyas, hurling his sword far into the sea, "to lose myright, my right! when it was in my very grasp! Unmerciful!"
A crack which rent the sky, and made the granite ring and quiver; abright world of flame, and then a blank of utter darkness, against whichstood out, glowing red-hot every mast, and sail, and rock, and SalvationYeo as he stood just in fr
ont of Amyas, the tiller in his hand. Allred-hot, transfigured into fire; and behind, the black, black night.
* * * * *
A whisper, a rustling close beside him, and Brimblecombe's voice saidsoftly:
"Give him more wine, Will; his eyes are opening."
"Hey day?" said Amyas, faintly, "not past the Shutter yet! How long shehangs in the wind!"
"We are long past the Shutter, Sir Amyas," said Brimblecombe.
"Are you mad? Cannot I trust my own eyes?"
There was no answer for awhile.
"We are past the Shutter, indeed," said Cary, very gently, "and lying inthe cove at Lundy."
"Will you tell me that that is not the Shutter, and that theDevil's-limekiln, and that the cliff--that villain Spaniard onlygone--and that Yeo is not standing here by me, and Cary there forward,and--why, by the by, where are you, Jack Brimblecombe, who were talkingto me this minute?"
"Oh, Sir Amyas Leigh, dear Sir Amyas Leigh," blubbered poor Jack, "putout your hand, and feel where you are, and pray the Lord to forgive youfor your wilfulness!"
A great trembling fell upon Amyas Leigh; half fearfully he put out hishand; he felt that he was in his hammock, with the deck beams closeabove his head. The vision which had been left upon his eye-ballsvanished like a dream.
"What is this? I must be asleep? What has happened? Where am I?"
"In your cabin, Amyas," said Cary.
"What? And where is Yeo?"
"Yeo is gone where he longed to go, and as he longed to go. The sameflash which struck you down, struck him dead."
"Dead? Lightning? Any more hurt? I must go and see. Why, what is this?"and Amyas passed his hand across his eyes. "It is all dark--dark, as Ilive!" And he passed his hand over his eyes again.
There was another dead silence. Amyas broke it.
"Oh, God!" shrieked the great proud sea-captain, "Oh, God, I am blind!blind! blind!" And writhing in his great horror, he called to Cary tokill him and put him out of his misery, and then wailed for hismother to come and help him, as if he had been a boy once more; whileBrimblecombe and Cary, and the sailors who crowded round the cabin-door,wept as if they too had been boys once more.
Soon his fit of frenzy passed off, and he sank back exhausted.
They lifted him into their remaining boat, rowed him ashore, carried himpainfully up the hill to the old castle, and made a bed for him onthe floor, in the very room in which Don Guzman and Rose Salterne hadplighted their troth to each other, five wild years before.
Three miserable days were passed within that lonely tower. Amyas,utterly unnerved by the horror of his misfortune, and by theover-excitement of the last few weeks, was incessantly delirious; whileCary, and Brimblecombe, and the men nursed him by turns, as sailorsand wives only can nurse; and listened with awe to his piteousself-reproaches and entreaties to Heaven to remove that woe, which,as he shrieked again and again, was a just judgment on him for hiswilfulness and ferocity. The surgeon talked, of course, learnedly aboutmelancholic humors, and his liver's being "adust by the over-pungencyof the animal spirits," and then fell back on the universal panacea ofblood-letting, which he effected with fear and trembling during a shortinterval of prostration; encouraged by which he attempted to administera large bolus of aloes, was knocked down for his pains, and then thoughtit better to leave Nature to her own work. In the meanwhile, Cary hadsent off one of the island skiffs to Clovelly, with letters to hisfather, and to Mrs. Leigh, entreating the latter to come off to theisland: but the heavy westerly winds made that as impossible as it wasto move Amyas on board, and the men had to do their best, and did itwell enough.
On the fourth day his raving ceased: but he was still too weak to bemoved. Toward noon, however, he called for food, ate a little, andseemed revived.
"Will," he said, after awhile, "this room is as stifling as it is dark.I feel as if I should be a sound man once more if I could but get onesnuff of the sea-breeze."
The surgeon shook his head at the notion of moving him: but Amyas wasperemptory.
"I am captain still, Tom Surgeon, and will sail for the Indies, if Ichoose. Will Cary, Jack Brimblecombe, will you obey a blind general?"
"What you will in reason," said they both at once.
"Then lead me out, my masters, and over the down to the south end.To the point at the south end I must go; there is no other place willsuit."
And he rose firmly to his feet, and held out his hands for theirs.
"Let him have his humor," whispered Cary. "It may be the working off ofhis madness."
"This sudden strength is a note of fresh fever, Mr. Lieutenant,"said the surgeon, "and the rules of the art prescribe rather a freshblood-letting."
Amyas overheard the last word, and broke out:
"Thou pig-sticking Philistine, wilt thou make sport with blind Samson?Come near me to let blood from my arm, and see if I do not let bloodfrom thy coxcomb. Catch him, Will, and bring him me here!"
The surgeon vanished as the blind giant made a step forward; and theyset forth, Amyas walking slowly, but firmly, between his two friends.
"Whither?" asked Cary.
"To the south end. The crag above the Devil's-limekiln. No other placewill suit."
Jack gave a murmur, and half-stopped, as a frightful suspicion crossedhim.
"That is a dangerous place!"
"What of that?" said Amyas, who caught his meaning in his tone. "Dostthink I am going to leap over cliff? I have not heart enough for that.On, lads, and set me safe among the rocks."
So slowly, and painfully, they went on, while Amyas murmured to himself:
"No, no other place will suit; I can see all thence."
So on they went to the point, where the cyclopean wall of granite cliffwhich forms the western side of Lundy, ends sheer in a precipice of somethree hundred feet, topped by a pile of snow-white rock, bespangled withgolden lichens. As they approached, a raven, who sat upon the topmoststone, black against the bright blue sky, flapped lazily away, and sankdown the abysses of the cliff, as if he scented the corpses underneaththe surge. Below them from the Gull-rock rose a thousand birds, andfilled the air with sound; the choughs cackled, the hacklets wailed,the great blackbacks laughed querulous defiance at the intruders, and asingle falcon, with an angry bark, dashed out from beneath their feet,and hung poised high aloft, watching the sea-fowl which swung slowlyround and round below.
It was a glorious sight upon a glorious day. To the northward the glensrushed down toward the cliff, crowned with gray crags, and carpeted withpurple heather and green fern; and from their feet stretched away tothe westward the sapphire rollers of the vast Atlantic, crowned with athousand crests of flying foam. On their left hand, some ten miles tothe south, stood out against the sky the purple wall of Hartland cliffs,sinking lower and lower as they trended away to the southward along thelonely ironbound shores of Cornwall, until they faded, dim and blue,into the blue horizon forty miles away.
The sky was flecked with clouds, which rushed toward them fast upon theroaring south-west wind; and the warm ocean-breeze swept up the cliffs,and whistled through the heather-bells, and howled in cranny and incrag,
"Till the pillars and clefts of the granite Rang like a God-swept lyre;"
while Amyas, a proud smile upon his lips, stood breasting that genialstream of airy wine with swelling nostrils and fast-heaving chest,and seemed to drink in life from every gust. All three were silent forawhile; and Jack and Cary, gazing downward with delight upon the gloryand the grandeur of the sight, forgot for awhile that their companionsaw it not. Yet when they started sadly, and looked into his face, didhe not see it? So wide and eager were his eyes, so bright and calm hisface, that they fancied for an instant that he was once more even asthey.
A deep sigh undeceived them. "I know it is all here--the dear old sea,where I would live and die. And my eyes feel for it; feel for it--andcannot find it; never, never will find it again forever! God's will bedone!"
"Do you say that?"
asked Brimblecombe, eagerly.
"Why should I not? Why have I been raving in hell-fire for I know nothow many days, but to find out that, John Brimblecombe, thou better manthan I?"
"Not that last: but Amen! Amen! and the Lord has indeed had mercy uponthee!" said Jack, through his honest tears.
"Amen!" said Amyas. "Now set me where I can rest among the rockswithout fear of falling--for life is sweet still, even without eyes,friends--and leave me to myself awhile."
It was no easy matter to find a safe place; for from the foot of thecrag the heathery turf slopes down all but upright, on one side to acliff which overhangs a shoreless cove of deep dark sea, and on theother to an abyss even more hideous, where the solid rock has sunk away,and opened inland in the hillside a smooth-walled pit, some sixty feetsquare and some hundred and fifty in depth, aptly known then as now,as the Devil's-limekiln; the mouth of which, as old wives say, was onceclosed by the Shutter-rock itself, till the fiend in malice hurled itinto the sea, to be a pest to mariners. A narrow and untrodden cavern atthe bottom connects it with the outer sea; they could even then hear themysterious thunder and gurgle of the surge in the subterranean adit,as it rolled huge boulders to and fro in darkness, and forced before itgusts of pent-up air. It was a spot to curdle weak blood, and to makeweak heads reel: but all the fitter on that account for Amyas and hisfancy.
"You can sit here as in an arm-chair," said Cary, helping him down toone of those square natural seats so common in the granite tors.
"Good; now turn my face to the Shutter. Be sure and exact. So. Do I faceit full?"
"Full," said Cary.
"Then I need no eyes wherewith to see what is before me," said he, witha sad smile. "I know every stone and every headland, and every wave too,I may say, far beyond aught that eye can reach. Now go, and leave mealone with God and with the dead!"
They retired a little space and watched him. He never stirred for manyminutes; then leaned his elbows on his knees, and his head upon hishands, and so was still again. He remained so long thus, that the pairbecame anxious, and went towards him. He was asleep, and breathing quickand heavily.
"He will take a fever," said Brimblecombe, "if he sleeps much longerwith his head down in the sunshine."
"We must wake him gently if we wake him at all." And Cary moved forwardto him.
As he did so, Amyas lifted his head, and turning it to right and left,felt round him with his sightless eyes.
"You have been asleep, Amyas."
"Have I? I have not slept back my eyes, then. Take up this great uselesscarcase of mine, and lead me home. I shall buy me a dog when I get toBurrough, I think, and make him tow me in a string, eh? So! Give me yourhand. Now march!"
His guides heard with surprise this new cheerfulness.
"Thank God, sir, that your heart is so light already," said good Jack;"it makes me feel quite upraised myself, like."
"I have reason to be cheerful, Sir John; I have left a heavy load behindme. I have been wilful, and proud, and a blasphemer, and swollen withcruelty and pride; and God has brought me low for it, and cut me offfrom my evil delight. No more Spaniard-hunting for me now, my masters.God will send no such fools as I upon His errands."
"You do not repent of fighting the Spaniards."
"Not I: but of hating even the worst of them. Listen to me, Will andJack. If that man wronged me, I wronged him likewise. I have been afiend when I thought myself the grandest of men, yea, a very avengingangel out of heaven. But God has shown me my sin, and we have made upour quarrel forever."
"Made it up?"
"Made it up, thank God. But I am weary. Set me down awhile, and I willtell you how it befell."
Wondering, they set him down upon the heather, while the bees hummedround them in the sun; and Amyas felt for a hand of each, and clasped itin his own hand, and began:
"When you left me there upon the rock, lads, I looked away and out tosea, to get one last snuff of the merry sea-breeze, which will neversail me again. And as I looked, I tell you truth, I could see the waterand the sky; as plain as ever I saw them, till I thought my sight wascome again. But soon I knew it was not so; for I saw more than man couldsee; right over the ocean, as I live, and away to the Spanish Main. AndI saw Barbados, and Grenada, and all the isles that we ever sailed by;and La Guayra in Caracas, and the Silla, and the house beneath it whereshe lived. And I saw him walking with her on the barbecue, and he lovedher then. I saw what I saw; and he loved her; and I say he loves herstill.
"Then I saw the cliffs beneath me, and the Gull-rock, and the Shutter,and the Ledge; I saw them, William Cary, and the weeds beneath the merryblue sea. And I saw the grand old galleon, Will; she has righted withthe sweeping of the tide. She lies in fifteen fathoms, at the edge ofthe rocks, upon the sand; and her men are all lying around her, asleepuntil the judgment-day."
Cary and Jack looked at him, and then at each other. His eyes wereclear, and bright, and full of meaning; and yet they knew that hewas blind. His voice was shaping itself into a song. Was he inspired?Insane? What was it? And they listened with awe-struck faces, as thegiant pointed down into the blue depths far below, and went on.
"And I saw him sitting in his cabin, like a valiant gentleman of Spain;and his officers were sitting round him, with their swords upon thetable at the wine. And the prawns and the crayfish and the rockling,they swam in and out above their heads: but Don Guzman he never heeded,but sat still, and drank his wine. Then he took a locket from his bosom;and I heard him speak, Will, and he said: 'Here's the picture of my fairand true lady; drink to her, senors all.' Then he spoke to me, Will,and called me, right up through the oar-weed and the sea: 'We have hada fair quarrel, senor; it is time to be friends once more. My wife andyour brother have forgiven me; so your honor takes no stain.' And Ianswered, 'We are friends, Don Guzman; God has judged our quarrel andnot we.' Then he said, 'I sinned, and I am punished.' And I said, 'And,senor, so am I.' Then he held out his hand to me, Cary; and I stooped totake it, and awoke."
He ceased: and they looked in his face again. It was exhausted, butclear and gentle, like the face of a new-born babe. Gradually his headdropped upon his breast again; he was either swooning or sleeping, andthey had much ado to get him home. There he lay for eight-and-fortyhours, in a quiet doze; then arose suddenly, called for food, ateheartily, and seemed, saving his eyesight, as whole and sound as ever.The surgeon bade them get him home to Northam as soon as possible,and he was willing enough to go. So the next day the Vengeance sailed,leaving behind a dozen men to seize and keep in the queen's name anygoods which should be washed up from the wreck.
CHAPTER XXXIII
HOW AMYAS LET THE APPLE FALL
"Would you hear a Spanish lady, How she woo'd an Englishman? Garments gay and rich as may be, Deck'd with jewels had she on."
Elizabethan Ballad.
It was the first of October. The morning was bright and still; the skieswere dappled modestly from east to west with soft gray autumn cloud, asif all heaven and earth were resting after those fearful summer monthsof battle and of storm. Silently, as if ashamed and sad, the Vengeanceslid over the bar, and passed the sleeping sand-hills and dropped heranchor off Appledore, with her flag floating half-mast high; for thecorpse of Salvation Yeo was on board.
A boat pulled off from the ship, and away to the western end of thestrand; and Cary and Brimblecombe helped out Amyas Leigh, and led himslowly up the hill toward his home.
The crowd clustered round him, with cheers and blessings, and sobs ofpity from kind-hearted women; for all in Appledore and Bideford knewwell by this time what had befallen him.
"Spare me, my good friends," said Amyas, "I have landed here that Imight go quietly home, without passing through the town, and being madea gazing-stock. Think not of me, good folks, nor talk of me; but comebehind me decently, as Christian men, and follow to the grave the bodyof a better man than I."
And, as he spoke, another boat came off, and in it, covered with theflag o
f England, the body of Salvation Yeo.
The people took Amyas at his word; and a man was sent on to Burrough, totell Mrs. Leigh that her son was coming. When the coffin was landedand lifted, Amyas and his friends took their places behind it as chiefmourners, and the crew followed in order, while the crowd fell in behindthem, and gathered every moment; till ere they were halfway to Northamtown, the funeral train might number full five hundred souls.
They had sent over by a fishing-skiff the day before to bid the sextondig the grave; and when they came into the churchyard, the parson stoodready waiting at the gate.
Mrs. Leigh stayed quietly at home; for she had no heart to face thecrowd; and though her heart yearned for her son, yet she was wellcontent (when was she not content?) that he should do honor to hisancient and faithful servant; so she sat down in the bay-window, withAyacanora by her side; and when the tolling of the bell ceased, sheopened her Prayer-book, and began to read the Burial-service.
"Ayacanora," she said, "they are burying old Master Yeo, who loved you,and sought you over the wide, wide world, and saved you from the teethof the crocodile. Are you not sorry for him, child, that you look so gayto-day?"
Ayacanora blushed, and hung down her head; she was thinking of nothing,poor child, but Amyas.
The Burial-service was done; the blessing said; the parson drew back:but the people lingered and crowded round to look at the coffin, whileAmyas stood still at the head of the grave. It had been dug by hiscommand, at the west end of the church, near by the foot of the tallgray windswept tower, which watches for a beacon far and wide over landand sea. Perhaps the old man might like to look at the sea, and seethe ships come out and in across the bar, and hear the wind, on winternights, roar through the belfry far above his head. Why not? It was buta fancy: and yet Amyas felt that he too should like to be buried in sucha place; so Yeo might like it also.
Still the crowd lingered; and looked first at the grave and then atthe blind giant who stood over it, as if they felt, by instinct, thatsomething more ought to come. And something more did come. Amyas drewhimself up to his full height, and waved his hand majestically, as oneabout to speak; while the eyes of all men were fastened on him.
Twice he essayed to begin; and twice the words were choked upon hislips; and then,--
"Good people all, and seamen, among whom I was bred, and to whom I comehome blind this day, to dwell with you till death--Here lieth the flowerand pattern of all bold mariners; the truest of friends, and the mostterrible of foes; unchangeable of purpose, crafty of council, and swiftof execution; in triumph most sober, in failure (as God knows I havefound full many a day) of endurance beyond mortal man. Who first of allBritons helped to humble the pride of the Spaniard at Rio de la Hachaand Nombre, and first of all sailed upon those South Seas, which shallbe hereafter, by God's grace, as free to English keels as is the bayoutside. Who having afterwards been purged from his youthful sins bystrange afflictions and torments unspeakable, suffered at the hands ofthe Popish enemy, learned therefrom, my masters, to fear God, and tofear naught else; and having acquitted himself worthily in his place andcalling as a righteous scourge of the Spaniard, and a faithful soldierof the Lord Jesus Christ, is now exalted to his reward, as Elijah was ofold, in a chariot of fire unto heaven: letting fall, I trust and pray,upon you who are left behind the mantle of his valor and his godliness,that so these shores may never be without brave and pious mariners, whowill count their lives as worthless in the cause of their Country, theirBible, and their Queen. Amen."
And feeling for his companions' hands he walked slowly from thechurchyard, and across the village street, and up the lane to Burroughgates; while the crowd made way for him in solemn silence, as for anawful being, shut up alone with all his strength, valor, and fame, inthe dark prison-house of his mysterious doom.
He seemed to know perfectly when they had reached the gates, opened thelock with his own hands, and went boldly forward along the gravel path,while Cary and Brimblecombe followed him trembling; for they expectedsome violent burst of emotion, either from him or his mother, and thetwo good fellows' tender hearts were fluttering like a girl's. Up tothe door he went, as if he had seen it; felt for the entrance, stoodtherein, and called quietly, "Mother!"
In a moment his mother was on his bosom.
Neither spoke for awhile. She sobbing inwardly, with tearless eyes, hestanding firm and cheerful, with his great arms clasped around her.
"Mother!" he said at last, "I am come home, you see, because I needsmust come. Will you take me in, and look after this useless carcase? Ishall not be so very troublesome, mother,--shall I?" and he looked down,and smiled upon her, and kissed her brow.
She answered not a word, but passed her arm gently round his waist, andled him in.
"Take care of your head, dear child, the doors are low." And they wentin together.
"Will! Jack!" called Amyas, turning round: but the two good fellows hadwalked briskly off.
"I'm glad we are away," said Cary; "I should have made a baby of myselfin another minute, watching that angel of a woman. How her face workedand how she kept it in!"
"Ah, well!" said Jack, "there goes a brave servant of the queen's cutoff before his work was a quarter done. Heigho! I must home now, and seemy old father, and then--"
"And then home with me," said Cary. "You and I never part again! We havepulled in the same boat too long, Jack; and you must not go spendingyour prize-money in riotous living. I must see after you, old Jackashore, or we shall have you treating half the town in taverns for aweek to come."
"Oh, Mr. Cary!" said Jack, scandalized.
"Come home with me, and we'll poison the parson, and my father shallgive you the rectory."
"Oh, Mr. Cary!" said Jack.
So the two went off to Clovelly together that very day.
And Amyas was sitting all alone. His mother had gone out for a fewminutes to speak to the seamen who had brought up Amyas's luggage, andset them down to eat and drink; and Amyas sat in the old bay-window,where he had sat when he was a little tiny boy, and read "King Arthur,"and "Fox's Martyrs," and "The Cruelties of the Spaniards." He put outhis hand and felt for them; there they lay side by side, just as theyhad lain twenty years before. The window was open; and a cool airbrought in as of old the scents of the four-season roses, and rosemary,and autumn gilliflowers. And there was a dish of apples on the table: heknew it by their smell; the very same old apples which he used to gatherwhen he was a boy. He put out his hand, and took them, and felt themover, and played with them, just as if the twenty years had never been:and as he fingered them, the whole of his past life rose up before him,as in that strange dream which is said to flash across the imaginationof a drowning man; and he saw all the places which he had ever seen, andheard all the words which had ever been spoken to him--till he came tothat fairy island on the Meta; and he heard the roar of the cataractonce more, and saw the green tops of the palm-trees sleeping in thesunlight far above the spray, and stept amid the smooth palm-trunksacross the flower-fringed boulders, and leaped down to the gravel beachbeside the pool: and then again rose from the fern-grown rocks thebeautiful vision of Ayacanora--Where was she? He had not thought of hertill now. How he had wronged her! Let be; he had been punished, and theaccount was squared. Perhaps she did not care for him any longer. Whowould care for a great blind ox like him, who must be fed and tendedlike a baby for the rest of his lazy life? Tut! How long his motherwas away! And he began playing again with his apples, and thought aboutnothing but them, and his climbs with Frank in the orchard years ago.
At last one of them slipt through his fingers, and fell on the floor. Hestooped and felt for it: but he could not find it. Vexatious! He turnedhastily to search in another direction, and struck his head sharplyagainst the table.
Was it the pain, or the little disappointment? or was it the sense ofhis blindness brought home to him in that ludicrous commonplace way,and for that very reason all the more humiliating? or was it the suddenrevulsion of overstrained nerves,
produced by that slight shock? Or hadhe become indeed a child once more? I know not; but so it was, that hestamped on the floor with pettishness, and then checking himself, burstinto a violent flood of tears.
A quick rustle passed him; the apple was replaced in his hand, andAyacanora's voice sobbed out:
"There! there it is! Do not weep! Oh, do not weep! I cannot bear it!I will get you all you want! Only let me fetch and carry for you, tendyou, feed you, lead you, like your slave, your dog! Say that I may beyour slave!" and falling on her knees at his feet, she seized both hishands, and covered them with kisses.
"Yes!" she cried, "I will be your slave! I must be! You cannot help it!You cannot escape from me now! You cannot go to sea! You cannot turnyour back upon wretched me. I have you safe now! Safe!" and she clutchedhis hands triumphantly. "Ah! and what a wretch I am, to rejoice in that!to taunt him with his blindness! Oh, forgive me! I am but a poor wildgirl--a wild Indian savage, you know: but--but--" and she burst intotears.
A great spasm shook the body and soul of Amyas Leigh; he sat quitesilent for a minute, and then said solemnly:
"And is this still possible? Then God have mercy upon me a sinner!"
Ayacanora looked up in his face inquiringly: but before she could speakagain, he had bent down, and lifting her as the lion lifts the lamb,pressed her to his bosom, and covered her face with kisses.
The door opened. There was the rustle of a gown; Ayacanora sprang fromhim with a little cry, and stood, half-trembling, half-defiant, as if tosay, "He is mine now; no one dare part him from me!"
"Who is it?" asked Amyas.
"Your mother."
"You see that I am bringing forth fruits meet for repentance, mother,"said he, with a smile.
He heard her approach. Then a kiss and a sob passed between the women;and he felt Ayacanora sink once more upon his bosom.
"Amyas, my son," said the silver voice of Mrs. Leigh, low, dreamy, likethe far-off chimes of angels' bells from out the highest heaven, "fearnot to take her to your heart again; for it is your mother who has laidher there."
"It is true, after all," said Amyas to himself. "What God has joinedtogether, man cannot put asunder."
* * * * *
From that hour Ayacanora's power of song returned to her; and day byday, year after year, her voice rose up within that happy home, andsoared, as on a skylark's wings, into the highest heaven, bearing withit the peaceful thoughts of the blind giant back to the Paradises of theWest, in the wake of the heroes who from that time forth sailed out tocolonize another and a vaster England, to the heaven-prospered cry ofWestward-Ho!
Westward Ho! Or, The Voyages and Adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, of Burrough, in the County of Devon, in the Reign of Her Most Glorious Majesty Queen Elizabeth Page 33
