CHAPTER XII
In which I Receive a Warning and Repose a Trust
Shortly before daybreak I was wakened by a voice beneath my window."Captain Percy," it cried, "the Governor wishes you at his house!" andwas gone.
I dressed and left the house, disturbing no one. Hurrying through thechill dawn, I reached the square not much behind the rapid footsteps ofthe watch who had wakened me. About the Governor's door were horses,saddled and bridled, with grooms at their heads, men and beasts gray andindistinct, wrapped in the fog. I went up the steps and into the hall,and knocked at the door of the Governor's great room. It opened, and Ientered to find Sir George, with Master Pory, Rolfe, West, and others ofthe Council gathered about the great centre table and talking eagerly.The Governor was but half dressed; West and Rolfe were in jack boots andcoats of mail. A man, breathless with hard riding, spattered with swampmud and torn by briers, stood, cap in hand, staring from one to theother.
"In good time, Captain Percy!" cried the Governor. "Yesterday you calledthe profound peace with the Indians, of which some of us boasted, thelull before the storm. Faith, it looks to-day as though you were in theright, after all!"
"What's the matter, sir?" I asked, advancing to the table.
"Matter enough!" he answered. "This man has come, post haste, from theplantations above Paspahegh. Three days ago, Morgan, the trader, wasdecoyed into the woods by that Paspahegh fool and bully, Nemattanow,whom they call Jack of the Feather, and there murdered. Yesterday, outof sheer bravado, the Indian turned up at Morgan's house, and Morgan'smen shot him down. They buried the dog, and thought no more of it. Threehours ago, Chanco the Christian went to the commander and warned himthat the Paspaheghs were in a ferment, and that the warriors werepainting themselves black. The commander sent off at once to me, and Isee naught better to do than to dispatch you with a dozen men to bringthem to their senses. But there's to be no harrying nor battle. A showof force is all that's needed,--I'll stake my head upon it. Let them seethat we are not to be taken unawares, but give them fair words. Thatthey may be the sooner placated I send with you Master Rolfe,--they'lllisten to him. See that the black paint is covered with red, give themsome beads and a knife or two, then come home. If you like not the lookof things, find out where Opechancanough is, and I'll send him anembassy. He loves us well, and will put down any disaffection."
"There's no doubt that he loves us," I said dryly. "He loves us as acat loves the mouse that it plays with. If we are to start at once, sir,I'll go get my horse."
"Then meet us at the neck of land," said Rolfe.
I nodded, and left the room. As I descended the steps into the growinglight outside, I found Master Pory at my side.
"I kept late hours last night," he remarked, with a portentous yawn."Now that this business is settled, I'll go back to bed."
I walked on in silence.
"I am in your black books," he continued, with his sly, merry, sidelongglance. "You think that I was overcareful of the ground, that morningbehind the church, and so unfortunately delayed matters until theGovernor happened by and brought things to another guess conclusion."
"I think that you warned the Governor," I said bluntly.
He shook with laughter. "Warned him? Of course I warned him. Youth wouldnever have seen that molehill and fairy ring and projecting root, butwisdom cometh with gray hairs, my son. D'ye not think I'll have theKing's thanks?"
"Doubtless," I answered. "An the price contents you, I do not know why Ishould quarrel with it."
By this we were half-way down the street, and we now came upon the guesthouse. A window above us was unshuttered, and in the room within a lightstill burned. Suddenly it was extinguished. A man's face looked downupon us for a moment, then drew back; a skeleton hand was put out softlyand slowly, and the shutter drawn to. Hand and face belonged to the manI had sent tumbling among the graves the evening before.
"The Italian doctor," said Master Pory.
There was something peculiar in his tone. I glanced at him, but hisbroad red face and twinkling eyes told me nothing.
"The Italian doctor," he repeated. "If I had a friend in Captain Percy'spredicament, I should bid him beware of the Italian doctor."
"Your friend would be obliged for the warning," I replied.
We walked a little further.
"And I think," he said, "that I should inform this purely hypotheticalfriend of mine that the Italian and his patron had their heads mightyclose together last night."
"Last night?"
"Ay, last night. I went to drink with my lord, and so broke up their_tete-a-tete_. My lord was boisterous in his cups and not oversecret. Hedropped some hints----" He broke off to indulge in one of his endlesssilent laughs. "I don't know why I tell you this, Captain Percy. I am onthe other side, you know,--quite on the other side. But now I bethinkme, I am only telling you what I should tell you were I upon your side.There's no harm in that, I hope, no disloyalty to my Lord Carnal'sinterests which happen to be my interests?"
I made no answer. I gave him credit both for his ignorance of the veryhornbook of honour and for his large share of the milk of humankindness.
"My lord grows restive," he said, when we had gone a little further."The _Francis and John_, coming in yesterday, brought court news. Outof sight, out of mind. Buckingham is making hay while the sun shines.Useth angel water for his complexion, sleepeth in a medicated mask suchas the Valois used, and is grown handsomer than ever; changeth thefashion of his clothes thrice a week, which mightily pleaseth hisMajesty. Whoops on the Spanish match, too, and, wonderful past allwhooping, from the prince's detestation hath become his bosom friend.Small wonder if my Lord Carnal thinks it's time he was back atWhitehall."
"Let him go, then," I said. "There's his ship that brought him here."
"Ay, there's his ship," rejoined Master Pory. "A few weeks more, and the_Due Return_ will be here with the Company's commands. D'ye think,Captain Percy, that there's the slightest doubt as to their tenor?"
"No."
"Then my lord has but to possess his soul with patience and wait for the_Due Return_. No doubt he'll do so."
"No doubt he'll do so," I echoed.
By this we had reached the Secretary's own door. "Fortune favour youwith the Paspaheghs!" he said, with another mighty yawn. "As for me,I'll to bed. Do you ever dream, Captain Percy? I don't; mine is too gooda conscience. But if I did, I should dream of an Italian doctor."
The door shut upon his red face and bright eyes. I walked rapidly ondown the street to the minister's house. The light was very pale asyet, and house and garden lay beneath a veil of mist. No one wasstirring. I went on through the gray wet paths to the stable, and rousedDiccon.
"Saddle Black Lamoral quickly," I ordered. "There's trouble with thePaspaheghs, and I am off with Master Rolfe to settle it."
"Am I to go with you?" he asked.
I shook my head. "We have a dozen men. There's no need of more."
I left him busy with the horse, and went to the house. In the hall Ifound the negress strewing the floor with fresh rushes, and asked her ifher mistress yet slept. In her soft half English, half Spanish, sheanswered in the affirmative. I went to my own room and armed myself;then ran upstairs to the comfortable chamber where abode Master JeremySparrow, surrounded by luxuries which his soul contemned. He was notthere. At the foot of the stair I was met by Goodwife Allen. "Theminister was called an hour ago, sir," she announced. "There's a mandying of the fever at Archer's Hope, and they sent a boat for him. Hewon't be back until afternoon."
I hurried past her back to the stable. Black Lamoral was saddled, andDiccon held the stirrup for me to mount.
"Good luck with the vermin, sir!" he said. "I wish I were going, too."
His tone was sullen, yet wistful. I knew that he loved danger as I lovedit, and a sudden remembrance of the dangers we had faced togetherbrought us nearer to each other than we had been for many a day.
"I don't take you," I explained, "because I have need of you
here.Master Sparrow has gone to watch beside a dying man, and will not beback for hours. As for myself, there's no telling how long I may bekept. Until I come you are to guard house and garden well. You know whatI mean. Your mistress is to be molested by no one."
"Very well, sir."
"One thing more. There was some talk yesterday of my taking her acrossthe neck to the forest. When she awakes, tell her from me that I amsorry for her to lose her pleasure, but that now she could not go evenwere I here to take her."
"There's no danger from the Paspaheghs there," he muttered.
"The Paspaheghs happen not to be my only foes," I said curtly. "Do as Ibid you without remark. Tell her that I have good reasons for desiringher to remain within doors until my return. On no account whatever isshe to venture without the garden."
I gathered up the reins, and he stood back from the horse's head. When Ihad gone a few paces I drew rein, and, turning in my saddle, spoke tohim across the dew-drenched grass. "This is a trust, Diccon," I said.
The red came into his tanned face. He raised his hand and made our oldmilitary salute. "I understand it so, my captain," he answered, and Irode away satisfied.
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