CHAPTER VII
In which we Prepare to Fight the Spaniard
A man came panting down the street.
"Captain Ralph Percy!" he cried. "My master said it was your horsecoming across the neck. The Governor commands your attendance at once,sir."
"Where is the Governor? Where are all the people?" I demanded.
"At the fort. They are all at the fort or on the bank below. Oh, sirs, awoeful day for us all!"
"A woeful day!" I exclaimed. "What's the matter?"
The man, whom I recognized as one of the commander's servants, a fellowwith the soul of a French _valet de chambre_, was wild with terror.
"They are at the guns!" he quavered. "Alackaday! What can a few sakersand demi-culverins do against them?"
"Against _whom_?" I cried.
"They are giving out pikes and cutlasses! Woe's me, the sight of nakedsteel hath ever made me sick!"
I drew my dagger and flashed it before him. "Does't make you sick?" Iasked. "You shall be sicker yet, if you do not speak to some purpose."
The fellow shrank back, his eyeballs starting from his head.
"It's a tall ship," he gasped, "a very big ship! It hath ten culverins,beside fowlers and murderers, sakers, falcons, and bases!"
I took him by the collar and shook him off his feet.
"There are priests on board!" he managed to say as I set him down. "Thistime to-morrow we'll all be on the rack! And next week the galleys willhave us!"
"It's the Spaniard at last," I said. "Come on!"
When we reached the river bank before the fort, it was to find confusionworse confounded. The gates of the palisade were open, and through themstreamed Councillors, Burgesses, and officers, while the bank itself wasthronged with the generality. Ancient planters, Smith's men, Dale's men,tenants and servants, women and children, including the little eyases weimported the year before, negroes, Paspaheghs, French _vignerons_, Dutchsawmill men, Italian glass-workers,--all seethed to and fro, all talkedat once, and all looked down the river. Out of the babel of voices thesewords came to us over and over: "The Spaniard!" "The Inquisition!" "Thegalleys!" They were the words oftenest heard at that time, when strangesails hove in sight.
But where was the Spaniard? On the river, hugging the shore, were manysmall craft, barges, shallops, sloops, and pinnaces, and beyond themthe masts of the _Truelove_, the _Due Return_, and the _Tiger_, then inport; on these three, of which the largest, the _Due Return_, was of buteighty tons burthen, the mariners were running about and the mastersbawling orders. But there was no other ship, no bark, galleon, orman-of-war, with three tiers of grinning ordnance, and the hated yellowflag flaunting above.
I sprang from my horse, and, leaving it and Mistress Percy in Sparrow'scharge, hastened up to the fort. As I passed through the palisade Iheard my name called, and, turning, waited for Master Pory to come up.He was panting and puffing, his jovial face very red.
"I was across the neck of land when I heard the news," he said. "I ranall the way and am somewhat scant of breath. Here's the devil to pay!"
"It looks another mare's-nest," I replied. "We have cried 'Spaniard!'pretty often."
"But this time the wolf's here," he answered. "Davies sent a horseman ata gallop from Algernon with the tidings. He passed the ship, and it wasa very great one. We may thank this dead calm that it did not catch usunawares."
Within the palisade was noise enough, but more order than without. Onthe half-moons commanding the river, gunners were busy about our sakers,falcons, and three culverins. In one place, West, the commander, wasgiving out brigandines, jacks, skulls, muskets, halberds, swords andlongbows; in another, his wife, who was a very Mary Ambree, supervisedthe boiling of a great caldron of pitch. Each loophole in palisade andfort had already its marksman. Through the west port came a horde ofreluctant invaders,--cattle, swine, and poultry,--driven in by yellingboys.
I made my way through the press to where I saw the Governor, surroundedby Councillors and Burgesses, sitting on a keg of powder, and issuingorders at the top of his voice. "Ha, Captain Percy!" he cried as I cameup. "You are in good time, man! You've served your apprenticeship at thewars. You must teach us how to beat the dons."
"To Englishmen, that comes by nature, sir," I said. "Art sure we are tohave the pleasure?"
"Not a doubt of it this time," he answered. "The ship slipped in pastthe point last night. Davies signalled her to stop, and then sent a ballover her; but she kept on. True, it was too dark to make out much; butif she were friendly, why did she not stop for castle duties? Moreover,they say she was of at least five hundred tons, and no ship of that sizehath ever visited these waters. There was no wind, and they sent a manon at once, hoping to outstrip the enemy and warn us. The man changedhorses at Basse's Choice, and passed the ship about dawn. All he couldtell for the mist was that it was a very great ship, with three tiers ofguns."
"The flag?"
"She carried none."
"Humph!" I said. "It hath a suspicious look. At least we do well to beready. We'll give them a warm welcome."
"There are those here who counsel surrender," continued the Governor."There's one, at least, who wants the _Tiger_ sent downstream with awhite flag and my sword."
"Where?" I cried. "He's no Englishman, I warrant!"
"As much an Englishman as thou, sir!" called out a gentleman whom I hadencountered before, to wit, Master Edward Sharpless. "It's well enoughfor swingebuckler captains, Low Country fire-eaters, to talk of holdingout against a Spanish man-of-war with twice our number of fighting men,and enough ordnance to batter the town out of existence. Wise men knowwhen the odds are too heavy!"
"It's well enough for lily-livered, goose-fleshed lawyers to hold theirtongues when men and soldiers talk," I retorted. "We are not makingindentures to the devil, and so have no need of such gentry."
There was a roar of laughter from the captains and gunners, but terrorof the Spaniard had made Master Edward Sharpless bold to all besides.
"They will wipe us off the face of the earth!" he lamented. "There won'tbe an Englishman left in America! They'll come close in upon us! They'llbatter down the fort with their culverins; they'll turn all theirswivels, sakers, and falcons upon us; they'll throw into our midststinkpots and grenades; they'll mow us down with chain shot! Theirgunners never miss!" His voice rose to a scream, and he shook as with anague.
"Are you mad? It's Spain that's to be fought! Spain the rich! Spain thepowerful! Spain the lord of the New World!"
"It's England that fights!" I cried. "For very shame, hold thy tongue!"
"If we surrender at once, they'll let us go!" he whined. "We can takethe small boats and get to the Bermudas. They'll let us go."
"Into the galleys," muttered West.
The craven tried another feint. "Think of the women and children!"
"We do," I said sternly. "Silence, fool!"
The Governor, a brave and honest man, rose from the keg of powder. "Allthis is foreign to the matter, Master Sharpless. I think our duty isclear, be the odds what they may. This is our post, and we will hold itor die beside it. We are few in number, but we are England in America,and I think we will remain here. This is the King's fifth kingdom, andwe will keep it for him. We will trust in the Lord and fight it out."
"Amen," I said, and "Amen," said the ring of Councillors and Burgessesand the armed men beyond.
The hum of voices now rose into excited cries, and the watchmanstationed atop the big culverin called out, "Sail ho!" With one accordwe turned our faces downstream. There was the ship, undoubtedly.Moreover, a strong breeze had sprung up, blowing from the sea, fillingher white sails, and rapidly lessening the distance between us. As yetwe could only tell that she was indeed a large ship with all sail set.
Through the gates of the palisade now came, pell-mell, the crowdwithout. In ten minutes' time the women were in line ready to load themuskets, the children sheltered as best they might be, the men in ranks,the gunners at their guns, and the flag up. I had run it
up with my ownhand, and as I stood beneath the folds Master Sparrow and my wife cameto my side.
"The women are over there," I said to the latter, "where you had bestbetake yourself."
"I prefer to stay here," she answered. "I am not afraid." Her colour washigh, and she held her head up. "My father fought the Armada," she said."Get me a sword from that man who is giving them out."
From his coign of vantage the watch now called out: "She's a longship,--five hundred tons, anyhow! Lord! the metal that she carries!She's rase-decked!"
"Then she's Spanish, sure enough!" cried the Governor.
From the crowd of servants, felons, and foreigners rose a great clamour,and presently we made out Sharpless perched on a cask in their midst andwildly gesticulating.
"The _Tiger_, the _Truelove_, and the _Due Return_ have swung acrosschannel!" announced the watch. "They've trained their guns on theSpaniard!"
The Englishmen cheered, but the bastard crew about Sharpless groaned.Extreme fear had made the lawyer shameless. "What guns have thoseboats?" he screamed. "Two falcons apiece and a handful of muskets, andthey go out against a man-of-war! She'll trample them underfoot! She'llsink them with a shot apiece! The _Tiger_ is forty tons, and the_Truelove_ is sixty. You're all mad!"
"Sometimes quality beats quantity," said West.
"Didst ever hear of the _Content_?" sang out a gunner.
"Or of the _Merchant Royal_?" cried another.
"Or of the _Revenge_?" quoth Master Jeremy Sparrow. "Go hang thyself,coward, or, if you choose, swim out to the Spaniard, and shift from thywet doublet and hose into a sanbenito. Let the don come, shoot if hecan, and land if he will! We'll singe his beard in Virginia as we did atCales!
'The great _St. Philip_, the pride of the Spaniards, Was burnt to the bottom and sunk in the sea. But the _St. Andrew_ and eke the _St. Matthew_, We took in fight manfully and brought away.'
And so we'll do with this one, my masters! We'll sink her, or we'll takeher and send her against her own galleons and galleasses!
'Dub-a-dub, dub-a-dub, thus strike their drums, Tantara, tantara, the Englishman comes!'"
His great voice and great presence seized and held the attention of all.Over his doublet of rusty black he had clapped a yet rustier back andbreast; on his bushy hair rode a headpiece many sizes too small; by hisside was an old broadsword, and over his shoulder a pike. Suddenly, fromgay hardihood his countenance changed to an expression more befittinghis calling. "Our cause is just, my masters!" he cried. "We stand herenot for England alone; we stand for the love of law, for the love ofliberty, for the fear of God, who will not desert His servants and Hiscause, nor give over to Anti-Christ this virgin world. This plantationis the leaven which is to leaven the whole lump, and surely He will hideit in the hollow of His hand and in the shadow of His wing. God ofbattles, hear us! God of England, God of America, aid the children ofthe one, the saviours of the other!"
He had dropped the pike to raise his clasped hands to the blue heavens,but now he lifted it again, threw back his shoulders, and flung up hishead. He laid his hand on the flagstaff, and looked up to the bannerstreaming in the breeze. "It looks well so high against the blue,doesn't it, friends?" he cried genially. "Suppose we keep it thereforever and a day!"
A cheer arose, so loud that it silenced, if it did not convince, thecraven few. As for Master Edward Sharpless, he disappeared behind theline of women.
The great ship came steadily on, her white sails growing larger andlarger, moment by moment, her tiers of guns more distinct and menacing,her whole aspect more defiant. Her waist seemed packed with men. But nostreamers, no flag.
A puff of smoke floated up from the deck of the _Tiger_, and a ball fromone of her two tiny falcons passed through the stranger's rigging. Acheer for the brave little cockboat arose from the English.
"David and his pebble!" exclaimed Master Jeremy Sparrow. "Now forGoliath's twenty-pounders!"
But no flame and thunder issued from the guns aboard the stranger.Instead, from her deck there came to us what sounded mightily like aroar of laughter. Suddenly, from each masthead and yard shot outstreamers of red and blue, up from the poop rose and flaunted in thewind the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew, and with a crash trumpet,drum, and fife rushed into
"Here's to jolly good ale and old!"
"By the Lord, she's English!" shouted the Governor.
On she came, banners flying, music playing, and inextinguishablelaughter rising from her decks. The _Tiger_, the _Truelove_, and the_Due Return_ sent no more hailstones against her; they turned andresolved themselves into her consort. The watch, a grim old sea dog thathad come in with Dale, swung himself down from his post, and came towardthe Governor at a run.
"I know her now, sir!" he shouted. "I was at the winning of Cales, andshe's the _Santa Teresa_, that we took and sent home to the Queen. Shewas Spanish once, sir, but she's English now."
The gates were flung open, and the excited people poured out again uponthe river bank. I found myself beside the Governor, whose honestcountenance wore an expression of profound bewilderment.
"What d'ye make of her, Percy?" he said. "The Company doesn't sendservants, felons, 'prentices, or maids in such craft; no, nor officersor governors, either. It's the King's ship, sure enough, but what is shedoing here?--that's the question. What does she want, and whom does shebring?"
"We'll soon know," I answered, "for there goes her anchor."
Five minutes later a boat was lowered from the ship, and came swiftlytoward us. The boat had four rowers, and in the stern sat a tall man,black-bearded, high-coloured, and magnificently dressed. It touched thesand some two hundred feet from the spot where Governor, Councillors,officers, and a sprinkling of other sorts stood staring at it, and atthe great ship beyond. The man in the stern leaped out, looked aroundhim, and then walked toward us. As he walked slowly, we had leisure tonote the richness of his doublet and cloak,--the one slashed, the otherlined with scarlet taffeta,--the arrogance of his mien and gait, and thesuperb full-blooded beauty of his face.
"The handsomest man that ever I saw!" ejaculated the Governor.
Master Pory, standing beside him, drew in his breath, then puffed it outagain. "Handsome enough, your Honour," he said, "unless handsome is ashandsome does. That, gentlemen, is my Lord Carnal,--that is the King'slatest favourite."
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