Rob of the Bowl: A Legend of St. Inigoe's. Vol. 1 (of 2)

by John Pendleton Kennedy

  CHAPTER XI.

  Pale lights on Cadez' rocks were seen, And midnight voices heard to moan, 'Twas even said the blasted oak, Convulsive heaved a hollow groan. And to this day the peasant still, With cautious fear avoids the ground, In each wild branch a spectre sees And trembles at each rising ground.

  THE SPIRIT'S BLASTED TREE.

  Dauntrees, after his unmannerly escape from the credulous landlady,hastened with his two companions, at a swinging gate, along the beachto the fort, where they found Garret Weasel waiting for them in a stateof eager expectation.

  "Is the dame likely to be angry, Captain?" were the publican's firstwords.--"Does she suspect us for a frisk to-night? Adsheartlikens, itis a perilous adventure for the morrow! You shall bear the burden ofthat reckoning, Master Captain."

  "I left Mistress Dorothy groping for a secret at Hoodman-blind,"replied the Captain, laughing. "She has found it before now, and by mycomputation is in the prettiest hurricane that ever brought a frownupon a woman's brow. She would bless the four quarters of thee, Garret,if thou shouldst return home to-night, with a blessing that would leavea scorch-mark on thee for the rest of thy days. I shouldn't wonderpresently to hear her feet pattering on the gravel of the beach in fullpursuit of us--dark as it is: I have left her in a mood to tempt anyunheard of danger for revenge. So, let us be away upon our errand. Youhave the eatables safe and the wine sound, worthy Weasel?--Nicholas,"he said, speaking to the Lieutenant--"are our horses saddled?"

  "They are at the post on the other side of the parade," replied theLieutenant.

  "Alack!" exclaimed Weasel--"Alack for these pranks! Here will be aweek's repentance. But a fig for conclusions!--in for a penny, in for apound, masters. I have the basket well stored and in good keeping. Itwill be discreet to mount quickly--I will not answer against the dame'srapping at the gate to-night: she is a woman of spirit and valiant inher anger."

  "Then let us be up and away," said the Captain, who was busilybestowing a pair of pistols in his belt and suspending his sword acrosshis body.

  "A cutlass and pistols for me," said the publican, as he selected hisweapons from several at hand.

  Arnold and Pamesack were each provided with a carbine, when Dauntrees,throwing his cloak across his shoulders, led the way to the horses,where the party having mounted, sallied through the gate of the fort ata gallop.

  Their road lay around the head of St. Inigoe's creek, and soon becameentangled in dark, woody ravines and steep acclivities which presented,at this hour, no small interruption to their progress. Pamesack, on aslouching pony, his legs dangling within a foot of the ground, led theway with an almost instinctive knowledge of his intricate path, whichmight have defied a darker night. The stars shining through a crisp andcloudless atmosphere, enabled the party to discern the profile of thetree tops, and disclosed to them, at intervals, the track of thissolitary road with sufficient distinctness to prevent their entirelylosing it.

  They had journeyed for more than two hours in the depths of the forestbefore they approached the inlet of St. Jerome's. Dauntrees hadbeguiled the time by tales of former adventures, and now and then bysallies of humour provoked by the dubious valour of the innkeeper,--forWeasel, although addicted to the vanity of exhibiting himself in thelight of a swashing, cut-and-thrust comrade in an emprise of peril, wasnevertheless unable, this night, to suppress the involuntary confessionof a lurking faint-heartedness at the result of the present venture.This inward misgiving showed itself in his increased garrulity and inthe exaggerated tone of his vauntings of what he had done in sundryemergencies of hazard, as well as of what he had made up his mind to doon the present occasion if they should be so fortunate as to encounterany peculiarly severe stress of fortune. Upon such topics the partygrew jovial and Dauntrees laughed at the top of his voice.

  "The vintner's old roystering courses would make us lose our road indownright blindness from laughing," he said, as checking himself in oneof these out-breaks, he reined up his horse. "Where are we, Pamesack? Isurely hear the stroke of the tide upon the beach;--are we so near St.Jerome's, or have we missed the track and struck the bay shore short ofour aim?"

  "The she-fox does not run to her den where she has left her young, by atrack more sure than mine to-night," replied the guide:--"it is thewave striking upon the sand at the head of the inlet: you may see thestars on the water through yonder wood."

  "Pamesack says true," added Arnold. "He has found his way better than ahound."

  A piece of cleared land, or old field, a few acres in width, laybetween the travellers and the water which began now to glimmer ontheir sight through a fringe of wood that grew upon the margin of thecreek or inlet, and the fresh breeze showed that the broad expanse ofthe Chesapeake was at no great distance.

  "The Wizard's Chapel," said Dauntrees, "by my reckoning then, should bewithin a mile of this spot. It were a good point of soldiership to pushforward a vanguard. That duty, Garret, will best comport with yourmad-cap humour--there may be pith in it: so, onward, man, until you arechallenged by some out-post of the Foul One--we will tarry here foryour report. In the mean time, leave us your hamper of provender. Come,man of cold iron, be alert--thy stomach is growing restive for a deedof valour."

  "You are a man trained to pike and musquetoon," replied the publican;"and have the skill to set a company, as men commonly fight with men.But I humbly opine, Captain, that our venture to-night stands in noneed of vanguard, patrol or picquet. We have unearthly things towrestle with, and do not strive according to the usages of the wars. Iwould not be slow to do your bidding, but that I know good may not comeof it: in my poor judgment we should creep towards the Chapel together,not parting company. I will stand by thee, Captain, with a sharp eyeand ready hand."

  "Thy teeth will betray us, Master Vintner, even at a score rods fromthe enemy," said Dauntrees: "they chatter so rudely that thy nether jawis in danger. If thou art cold, man, button up thy coat."

  "Of a verity it is a cold night, and my coat is none of the thickest,"replied Weasel with an increasing shudder.

  "I understand you, Garret," responded the Captain with a laugh; "wemust drink. So, friends, to the green grass, and fasten your horses tothe trees whilst we warm up the liver of our forlorn vintner with acup. We can all take that physic."

  This command was obeyed by the immediate dismounting of the party andtheir attack upon one of the flasks in the basket.

  "It has a rare smack for a frosty night," said Dauntrees as he quaffeda third and fourth cup. "When I was in Tours I visited the abbey ofMarmoustier, and there drank a veritable potation from the huge tunwhich the blessed St. Martin himself filled, by squeezing a singlecluster of grapes. It has the repute of being the kindliest wine in allChristendom for the invigorating of those who are called to do battlewith the devil. The monks of the abbey have ever found it a most deadlyweapon against Satan. And truly, Master Weasel, if I did not know thatthis wine was of the breed of the islands, I should take it to be adripping from the holy tun I spoke of:--it hath the like virtue ofdefiance of Beelzebub. So, drink--drink again, worthy purveyor andvaliant adjutant!"

  "What is that?" exclaimed Weasel, taking the cup from his lips beforehe had finished the contents. "There is something far off like the howlof a dog and yet more devilish I should say--did ye not hear it,masters? I pray heaven there be no evil warning in this:--I amcold--still cold, Captain Dauntrees."

  "Tush, it is the ringing of your own ears, Garret, or it may be, likeenough, some devil's cur that scents our footsteps. Make yourself afire, and whilst you grow warm by that grosser element we will take arange, for a brief space, round the Chapel. You shall guard the foragetill we return."

  "That is well thought of," replied the innkeeper quickly. "Light andheat will both be useful in our onslaught:--while you three advancetowards the shore I will keep a look out here; for there is no knowingwhat devices the enemy may have a-foot to take us by surprise."

  Some little time was spent in kindling a fire, whic
h had no soonerbegun to blaze than Dauntrees, with the Ranger and the Indian, setforth on their reconnoissance of the Chapel, leaving Weasel assuredthat he was rendering important service in guarding the provender andcomforting himself by the blazing fagots.

  They walked briskly across the open ground towards the water, and asthey now approached the spot which common rumour had invested with somany terrors, even these bold adventurers themselves were not withoutsome misgivings. The universal belief in supernatural agencies in theconcerns of mankind, which distinguished the era of this narrative, wassufficient to infuse a certain share of apprehension into the minds ofthe stoutest men, and it was hardly reckoned to derogate from thecourage of a tried soldier that he should quail in spirit before thedreadful presence of the Powers of Darkness. Dauntrees had anundoubting faith in the malignant influences which were said to hoverabout the Wizard's Chapel, and nothing but the pride and subordinationof his profession could have impelled him to visit this spot at an hourwhen its mysterious and mischievous inhabitants were supposed to beendued with their fullest power to harm. The Ranger was not less keenlyimpressed with the same feelings, whilst Pamesack, credulous andsuperstitious as all of his tribe, was, like them, endowed with thatdeeply-imprinted fatalism, which taught him to suppress his emotions,and which rendered him seemingly indifferent to whatever issue awaitedhis enterprise.

  "By my troth, Arnold," said Dauntrees, as they strode forward,"although we jest at yonder white-livered vintner, this matter we havein hand might excuse an ague in a stouter man. I care not to confessthat the love I bear his Lordship, together with some punctilio ofduty, is the only argument that might bring me here to-night. I wouldrather stand a score pikes in an onset with my single hand, where thebusiness is with flesh and blood, than buffet with a single imp of theWizard. I have heard of over-bold men being smote by the evil eye of abeldam hag; and I once knew a man of unquenchable gaiety suddenly mademute and melancholy by the weight of a blow dealt by a hand which wasnot to be seen: the remainder of his life was spent in sorrowfulpenance. They say these spirits are quick to punish rashness."

  "As Lord Charles commands we must do his bidding," replied theforester. "When the business in hand must be done, I never stop tothink of the danger of it. If we should not get back, Lord Charles hasas good men to fill our places. I have been scared more than once bythese night devils, till my hair lifted my cap with the fright, but Inever lost my wits so far as not to strike or to run at the goodseason."

  "_Laet lopen die lopen luste_, as we used to say in Holland," returnedthe Captain. "I am an old rover and have had my share of goblins, andnever flinched to sulphur or brimstone, whether projected by the breathof a devil or a culverin. I am not to be scared now from my duty by anyof Paul Kelpy's brood, though I say again I like not this strife withshadows. His Lordship shall not say we failed in our outlook. I didpurpose, before we set out, to talk with Father Pierre concerning thismatter, but Garret's wine and his wife together put it out of my head."

  "The holy father would only have told you," replied Arnold, "to keep aLatin prayer in your head and Master Weasel's wine and wife both out ofit."

  "So he would, Arnold, and it would have gone more against the grainthan a hair-shirt penance. I have scarce a tag of a prayer in mymemory, not even a line of the Fac Salve; and I have moreover a mostspecial need for a flask of that vintage of Teneriffe on a chillynight;--and then, as you yourself was a witness, I had most pressingoccasion to practise a deceit upon Mistress Dorothy. The Priest'scounsel would have been wasted words--that's true: so we were fain todo our errand to-night without the aid of the church.--Why do you halt,Pamesack?"

  "I hear the tread of a foot," replied the Indian.

  "A deer stalking on the shore of the creek," said Dauntrees.

  "More like the foot of a man," returned Pamesack, in a lowered voice;"we should talk less to make our way safe.--There is the growl of adog."

  Arnold now called the attention of his companions to the outlines of alow hut which was barely discernible through the wood where an openspace brought the angle of the roof into relief against the water ofthe creek, and as they approached near enough to examine the littlestructure more minutely, they were saluted by the surly bark of a deepthroated dog, fiercely redoubled. At the same time the sound ofreceding footsteps was distinctly audible.

  "Who dwells here?" inquired Dauntrees, striking the door with the hiltof his sword.

  There was no answer, and the door gave way to the thrust and flew wideopen. The apartment was tenantless. A few coals of fire gleaming fromthe embers, and a low bench furnished with a blanket, rendered itobvious that this solitary abode had been but recently deserted by itspossessor. A hasty survey of the hut, which was at first fiercelydisputed by the dog--a cross-grained and sturdy mastiff--until a sharpblow from a staff which the forester bestowed sent him growling fromthe premises, satisfied the explorers that so far, at least, they hadencountered nothing supernatural; and without further delay or commentupon this incident they took their course along the margin of St.Jerome's Creek. After a short interval, the beating of the waves uponthe beach informed them that they had reached the neighbourhood of theshore of the Chesapeake. Here a halt and an attentive examination ofthe locality made them aware that they stoodu upon a bank, whichdescended somewhat abruptly to the level of the beach that lay somefifty yards or more beyond them. In the dim starlight they were able totrace the profile of a low but capacious tenement which stood almost onthe tide mark.

  "It is the Chapel!" said Dauntrees, in an involuntary whisper as hetouched the Ranger's arm.

  "It is Paul Kelpy's house, all the same as I have known it these twentyyears:--a silent and wicked house," whispered Arnold, in reply.

  "And a pretty spot for the Devil to lurk in," said Dauntrees, resuminghis ordinary tone.

  "Hold, Captain," interrupted the Ranger, "no foul words so near theHaunted House. The good saints be above us!" he added, crossing himselfand muttering a short prayer.

  "Follow me down the bank," said Dauntrees, in a low but resolute voice;"but first look to your carbines that they be charged and primed. Iwill break in the door of this ungodly den and ransack its cornersbefore I leave it. Holy St. Michael, the Archfiend is in the Chapel,and warns us away!" he exclaimed, as suddenly a flash of crimson lightilluminated every window of the building. "It is the same warning givento Burton and myself once before. Stand your ground, comrades; we shallbe beset by these ministers of sin!"

  As the flashes of this lurid light were thrice repeated, Pamesack wasseen on the edge of the bank fixed like a statue, with foot and armextended, looking with a stern gaze towards this appalling spectacle.Arnold recoiled a pace and brought his hand across his eyes, and wasrevealed in this posture as he exclaimed in his marked Dutch accent,"The fisherman's blood is turned to fire: we had best go no further,masters." Dauntrees had advanced half-way down the bank, and the glaredisclosed him as suddenly arrested in his career; his sword gleamedabove his head whilst his short cloak was drawn by the motion of hisleft arm under his chin; and his broad beaver, pistolled belt, and wideboots, now tinged with the preternatural light, gave to his figure thatrich effect which painters are pleased to copy.

  "I saw Satan's imps within the chamber," exclaimed the Captain. "As Iwould the blessed Martyrs be with us, I saw the very servitors of theFiend! They are many and mischievous, and shall be defied though webattle with the Prince of the Air. What ho, bastards of Beelzebub, Idefy thee! in the name of our patron, the holy and blessed St.Ignatius, I defy thee!"

  There was a deeper darkness as Dauntrees rushed almost to the door ofthe house with his sword in his hand. Again the same deep flashes offire illumed the windows, and two or three figures in grotesquecostume, with strange unearthly faces, were seen, for the instant,within. Dauntrees retreated a few steps nearer to his companions, anddrawing a pistol, held it ready for instant use. It was discharged atthe windows with the next flash of the light, and the report wasfollowed by a hoarse and yelling laugh from the
tenants of the house.

  "Once more I defy thee!" shouted the Captain, with a loud voice; "andin the name of our holy church, and by the order of the LordProprietary, I demand what do you here with these hellish rites?"

  The answer was returned in a still louder laugh, and in a shot fired atthe challenger, the momentary light of the explosion revealing, asDauntrees imagined, a cloaked figure presenting a harquebuss throughthe window.

  "Protect yourselves, friends!" he exclaimed, "with such shelter as youmay find," at the same time retreating to the cover of an oak whichstood upon the bank. "These demons show weapons like our own. I wille'en ply the trade with thee, accursed spirits!" he added, as hedischarged a second pistol.

  The Ranger and Pamesack had already taken shelter, and their carbineswere also levelled and fired. Some two or three shots were returnedfrom the house accompanied with the same rude laugh which attended thefirst onset, and the scene, for a moment, would have been thoughtrather to resemble the assault and defence of mortal foes, than thestrife of men with intangible goblins, but that there were mixed withit other accompaniments altogether unlike the circumstance of mortalbattle; a loud heavy sound as of rolling thunder, echoed from theinterior of the chapel, and in the glimpses of light the antic figureswithin were discerned as dancing with strange and preposterous motions.

  "It avails us not to contend against these fiends," said Dauntrees."They are enough to maintain their post against us, even if they foughtwith human implements. Our task is accomplished by gaining sight of thechapel and its inmates. We may certify what we have seen to hisLordship; so, masters, move warily and quickly rearward. Ay, laughagain, you juggling minions of the devil!" he said, as a hoarse shoutof exultation resounded from the house, when the assailants commencedtheir retreat. "Put on the shape of men and we may deal with you!Forward, Arnold; if we tarry, our retreat may be vexed with dangersagainst which we are not provided."

  "I hope this is the last time we shall visit this devil's den," saidArnold, as he obeyed the Captain's injunction, and moved, as rapidly ashis long stride would enable him to walk, from the scene of their lateassault.

  Whilst these events were passing, I turn back to the publican, who wasleft a full mile in the rear to guard the baggage and keep up thefire,--a post, as he described it, of no small danger.

  It was with a mistrusting conscience, as to the propriety of hisseparation from his companions, that Garret, when he had leisure forreflection, set himself to scanning his deportment at this juncture.His chief scruple had reference to the point of view in which Dauntreesand Arnold de la Grange would hereafter represent this incident: wouldthey set it down, as Weasel hoped they might, to the account of aproper and soldier-like disposition of the forces, which required adetachment to defend a weak point? or would they not attribute hishanging back to a want of courage, which his conscience whispered wasnot altogether so wide of the truth, but which he had hoped to concealby his martial tone of bravado? There are many brave men, he reflected,who have a constitutional objection to fighting in the dark, and he wasrather inclined to rank himself in that class. "In the dark," said he,as he sat down by the fire, with his hands locked across his knees,which were drawn up before him in grasshopper angles, and lookedsteadily at the blazing brushwood; "in the dark a man cannot see--thatstands to reason. And it makes a great difference, let me tell you,masters, when you can't see your enemy. A brave man, by nature,requires light. And, besides, what sort of an enemy do we fight?Hobgoblins--not mortal men--for I would stand up to any mortal man inChristendom; ay, and with odds against me. I have done it before now.But these whirring and whizzing ghosts and their cronies, that flyabout one's ears like cats, and purr and mew like bats--what am Isaying? no, fly like bats and mew like cats--one may cut and carve atthem with his blade with no more wound than a boy's wooden truncheonmakes upon a south wind. Besides, the Captain, who is all in all in hiscommand, hath set me here to watch, which, as it were, was a forbiddingof me to go onward. He must be obeyed: a good soldier disputes noorder, although it go against his stomach. It was the Captain's wishthat I should keep strict watch and ward here on the skirt of the wood;otherwise, I should have followed him--and with stout heart and step, Iwarrant you! But the Captain hath a soldierly sagacity in his cautions;holding this spot, as he wisely hath done, to be an open point ofdanger, an inlet, as it were, to circumvent his march, and thereforestraightly to be looked to. Well, let the world wag, and the upshot bewhat it may, here are comforts at hand, and I will not stint to usethem."

  Saying this the self-satisfied martialist opened the basket and solacedhis appetite with a slice of pasty and a draught of wine.

  "I will now perform a turn of duty," he continued, after hisrefreshment; and accordingly drawing his hanger, he set forth to make ashort circuit into the open field. He proceeded with becoming cautionon this perilous venture, looking slyly at every weed or bush which layin his route, shuddering with a chilly fear at the sound of his ownfootsteps, and especially scanning, with a disturbed glance, thevibrations of his long and lean shadow which was sharply cast by thefire across the level ground. He had wandered some fifty paces into thefield, on this valorous outlook, when he bethought him that he hadventured far enough, and might now return, deeming it more safe to benear the fire and the horses than out upon a lonesome plain, which hebelieved to be infested by witches and their kindred broods. He hadscarcely set his face towards his original post when an apparition cameupon his sight that filled him with horror, and caused his hair to riselike bristles. This was the real bodily form and proportions of such aspectre as might be supposed to prefer such a spot--an old woman in aloose and ragged robe, who was seen gliding up to the burning fagotswith a billet of pine in her hand, which she lighted at the fire andthen waved above her head as she advanced into the field towards theinnkeeper. Weasel's tongue clave to the roof of his mouth, and histeeth chattered audibly against each other, his knees smote together,and his eyes glanced steadfastly upon the phantom. For a moment he lostthe power of utterance or motion, and when these began to return, asthe hag drew nearer, his impulse was to fly; but his bewilderedreflection came to his aid and suggested greater perils in advance: hetherefore stood stock-still.

  "Heaven have mercy upon me!--the Lord have mercy upon me, a sinner!" heejaculated; "I am alone, and the enemy has come upon me."

  "Watcher of the night," said a voice, in a shrill note, "draw nigh.What do you seek on the wold?"

  "Tetra grammaton, Ahaseel--in the name of the Holy Evangels, spare me!"muttered the innkeeper, fruitlessly ransacking his memory for somecharm against witches, and stammering out an incoherent jargon."Abracadabra--spare me, excellent and worthy dame! I seek no hurt tothee. I am old, mother, too old and with too many sins of my own toaccount for, to wish harm to any one, much less to the good woman ofthis wold. Oh Lord, oh Lord! why was I seduced upon this fool'serrand?"

  "Come nigh, old man, when I speak to you. Why do you loiter there?"shouted the witch, as she stood erect some twenty paces in front of thepublican and beckoned him with her blazing fagot. "What dost thoumutter?"

  "I but sported with my shadow, mother," replied Weasel, with atremulous attempt at a laugh, as he approached the questioner, in anill assumed effort at composure and cheerfulness. "I was fain to divertmyself with an antic, till some friends of mine, who left me but amoment since, returned. How goes the night with you dame?"

  "Merrily," replied the hag, as she set up a shrill laugh which moreresembled a scream, "merrily; I cannot but laugh to find the henpeckedvintner of St. Mary's at this time of night within the sound of thetide at the Black Chapel. I know your errand, old chapman of cheapliquors, and why you have brought your cronies. You pretend to be aliegeman of his Lordship, and you travel all night to cheat him of fiveshillings. You will lie on the morrow with as sad a face as there is inthe hundred. I know you."

  "You know all things, worthy dame, and I were a fool to keep a secretfrom you. What new commodity, honest mistress, shall I find with Rob?The port i
s alive with a rumour of the Olive Branch; I would be earlywith the Cripple. Ha, ha!" he added, with a fearful laugh, "thou seestI am stirring in my trade."

  "Garret Weasel," said the beldam, "you may take it for a favour, pastyour deservings, that Rob will see thee alone at his hut even in daytime: but it is as much as your life is worth to bring your huff-capbrawlers to St. Jerome's at midnight. It is not lawful ground for thee,much less for the hot-brained fools who bear you company. Who showedthem the path to my cabin, that I must be driven out at this hour?"

  "Worthy mistress, indeed I know not. I am ignorant of what you say!"

  "They will call themselves friends to the Chapel: but we have nofriends to the Chapel amongst living men. The Chapel belongs to thedead and the tormentors of the dead. So follow your cronies and commandthem back. I warn you to follow, and bring them back, as you would savethem from harm. Ha! look you, it is come already!" she exclaimed,raising her torch in the air, as the flashes from the Haunted Houseillumined the horizon; "the seekers have roused our sentries, and thereshall be angry buffets to the back of it!" At this moment the firstshot was heard. "Friends, forsooth!" she shouted at the top of hervoice: "friends, are ye? there is the token that ye are known to befalse liars. Wo to the fool that plants his foot before the Chapel!Stand there, Garret Weasel: I must away; follow me but a step--raisethy head to look after my path, and I will strike thee blind and turnthee into a drivelling idiot for the rest of thy days. Remember----"

  In uttering this threat the figure disappeared; Garret knew not how, ashe strictly obeyed the parting injunction, and his horrors were greatlyincreased by the report of the several shots which now reached his earfrom the direction of the Black House.

  He had hardly recovered himself sufficiently to wander back to thefire, before Dauntrees, Arnold, and Pamesack arrived, evidentlyflurried by the scene through which they had passed, as well as by therapidity of their retreat.

  "Some wine, Garret! some wine, old master of the tap!" was Dauntrees'salutation; "and whilst we regale as briefly as we may, have thou ourhorses loose from the trees; we must mount and away. To the horses,Garret! We will help ourselves."

  "I pray you, Master Captain," inquired the publican, having nowregained his self-possession, "what speed at the Chapel? Oh, an we haveall had a night of it! Sharp encounters all round, masters! I can tellyou a tale, I warrant you."

  "Stop not to prate now," interrupted Dauntrees, in a voice choked bythe huge mouthful of the pasty he was devouring; "we shall discourse aswe ride. That flask, Arnold, I must have another draught e'er we mount,and then, friends, to horse as quickly as you may; we may be followed;we may have ghost, devil, and man of flesh, all three, at our heels."

  "I have had store of them, I can tell you--ghosts and devils withoutnumber," said Weasel, as he brought the horses forward.

  "You shall be tried by an inquest of both, for your life, if you tarryanother instant," interposed the Captain, as he sprang into his saddle.

  "What! are we set upon, comrades?" cried out the vintner, manfully, ashe rose to his horse's back, and pricked forward until he got betweenPamesack and Arnold. "Are we set upon? Let us halt and give them anaccolado; we are enough for them, I warrant you! Oh, but it had wellnigh been a bloody night," he continued, as the whole party trottedbriskly from the ground. "We had work to do, masters, and may tell ofit to-morrow. Good Pamesack, take this basket from me, it impedes mymotion in these bushes. Master Arnold, as we must ride here in singlefiles, let me get before thee: I would speak with the Captain. Whoshould I see, Captain Dauntrees," continued the publican, after thesearrangements were made, and he had thrust himself into the middle ofthe line of march, and all now proceeded at a slackened pace, "but thatmost notorious and abominable hag, the woman of Warrington--Kate, wholives, as every body knows, on the Cliffs. She must needs cometrundling down before me, astride a broomstick, with a black cat uponher shoulder, and sail up to the fire which I had left, for a space, tomake a round on my watch--for you may be sworn a strict watch I made ofit, going even out of my way to explore the more hidden and perilouslurking-places where one might suspect an enemy to lie. So, whilst Iwas gone on this quest, she whips in and seats herself by the fire,with a whole score of devils at their antics around her. Then up Icome, naturally surprised at this audacity, and question them, partlyin soldier-wise, showing my sword ready to make good my speech, andpartly by adjuration, which soon puts me the whole bevy to flight,leaving Kate of Warrington at mercy: and there I constrained her todivulge the secrets of the Chapel. She said there had been devilishwork under that roof, and would be again; when pop, and bang, andslash, and crash, I heard the outbreak, and saw the devil's lights thatwere flashed. I could hold no longer parley with the hag, but was justmoving off at full speed to your relief, determined in this need todesert my post--which, in my impatience to lend you a hand, I could nothelp--when I heard your footfall coming back, and so I was fain to bideyour coming."

  "A well conceived sally of soldiership," said Dauntrees, "and spokenwith a cavalier spirit, Master Garret. It hath truth upon the face ofit: I believe every word. It shall serve you a good turn with hisLordship. What does Kate of Warrington in this neighbourhood? Shetravels far on her broomstick--unless, indeed, what seems likely, shehas taken her quarters in the cabin we disturbed to-night. These crowswill be near their carrion."

  By degrees the party, as they pursued their homeward journey, grewdrowsy. The publican had lost all his garrulity, and nodded upon hishorse. Arnold and Pamesack rode in silence, until Dauntrees, as ifwaking up from a reverie, said--

  "Well, friends, we return from no barren mission to-night. His Lordshipmay have some satisfaction in our story; particularly in the vintner's.We shall be ready to report to his Lordship by noon, and after that weshall hasten to quiet our Dame Dorothy. The night is far spent: Ishould take it, Arnold, to be past three o'clock, by the rising of themoon. At peep of day we shall be snug upon our pallets, with no loss ofrelish for a sleep which will have been well earned."

  As the Captain continued to urge his journey, which he did with theglee that waits upon a safe deliverance from an exploit of hazard, heturned his face upwards to the bright orb which threw a cheerful lightover the scenery of the road-side, and in the distance flung areflection, as of burnished silver, over the broad surface of St.Mary's river, as seen from the height which the travellers were nowdescending. Not more than two miles of their route remained to beachieved, when the Captain broke forth with an old song of that day, ina voice which would not have discredited a professor:

  "The moon, the moon, the jolly moon, And a jolly old queen is she! She hath stroll'd o' nights this thousand year, With ever the best of company. Sing, Hic and hoc sumus nocturno, Huzza for the jolly old moon!"

  "Why, Garret, vintner, art asleep, man?" inquired the Captain. "Whydost thou not join in the burden?"

  "To your hand, Captain," exclaimed Weasel, rousing himself and pipingforth the chorus--

  "Hic and hoc sumus nocturno, Huzza for the jolly old moon!"

  which he did not fail to repeat at the top of his voice at each return.

  Dauntrees proceeded:

  "She trails a royal following, And a merry mad court doth keep, With her chirping boys that walk i' the shade, And wake when the bailiff's asleep. Sing, Hic and hoc sumus nocturno, Huzza for the jolly old moon!

  "Master Owl he is her chancellor, And the bat is his serving-man; They tell no tales of what they see, But wink when we turn up the can. Sing, Hic and hoc sumus nocturno, Huzza for the jolly old moon!

  "Her chorister is Goodman Frog, With a glow-worm for his link; And all who would make court to her, Are fain, good faith! to drink. Sing, Hic and hoc sumus nocturno, Huzza for the jolly old moon!"

  This ditty was scarcely concluded--for it was spun out with severalnoisy repetitions of the chorus--before the troop reined up at the gateof the Fort. The drowsy sentinel
undid the bolt at the Captain'ssummons, and, in a very short space, the wearied adventurers werestretched in the enjoyment of that most satisfactory of physicalcomforts, the deep sleep of tired men.