Clara Vaughan, Volume 3 (of 3)

by R. D. Blackmore

  CHAPTER XVII.

  Instead of enraging or maddening me, as the writer perhaps expected,this execrable letter did me a great deal of good. I determined tolower that insufferable arrogance; and brought all my thoughts to bearupon one definite object, the recovery of my darlings and the punishmentof that murderer. I did not believe that he had destroyed them, or waslikely to do so; for had not their mother's spirit referred to them asliving?

  Without delay, my yacht was prepared for a lengthened cruise; the towercommitted to Marcantonia and the gray sentinel; and with Petro for myskipper, I sailed on the following day. Alas, the three months nowelapsed during my delirium, had they not like the sea itself closedacross the track? All the neighbours knew was this, the felucca hadpassed Point Girolata, and had been seen in the early morning, standingaway due south. All the villagers, and even the men from the mountain,thronged the shore as I embarked, and there invoked Madonna's blessingon poor Signor Valentine, so basely robbed of wife and children.

  When we had rounded Girolata, we bore away due south, and in less thanfifteen hours made the Sardinian shore in the gulf of Asinara. Here wecoasted along the curve, inquiring at every likely place whether anysuch vessel had been sighted as that which we were seeking. But we couldlearn nothing of her until we were off the Gypsum Cape; where somefishermen told us, that at or about the time we spoke of, a swiftfelucca, built and manned exactly as we had described, glided by themand bore up for the town of Alghero. We too bore up for Alghero, andsoon discovered that the roving vessel had undoubtedly been there: evenLepardo, the captain, was described by the keen Sardinians. But she hadonly lain to for a few hours, and cleared again for Cagliari. ForCagliari we made sail as hard as the sticks could carry, and arrivedthere on the fourth day from Cape Girolata.

  The pirates, if such they were, had offered their vessel for sale atCagliari; but, failing of a satisfactory price had sailed away again,and after much trouble I found out that their destination was Valetta.To Valetta also we followed, feeling like a new boy at school who ismystified by the experts--innocent of much Greek themselves--with a gamewhich means in English, "send the fool on further."

  When at length we reach the Maltese capital--where I was not sorry tohear once more my native tongue--we found the felucca snugly moored nearthe "Merchant's Yard," and being refitted as a pleasure-boat for awealthy Englishman. This gentleman knew a good deal about ships, butnot quite enough. Pleased with the graceful lines and clean run of thefelucca, he had given nearly twice her value for her; as he soonperceived when the ship-carpenters set to work. He was in the vein toafford all possible information, being thoroughly furious with thecondemnable pirates--as he called them, without the weakness of thecomposite verb--who had robbed him so shamefully of his money. He toldme that my children had been ashore, and Harry was much admired andkissed in the Floriana. One thing the sailors did which would havesurprised a man unacquainted with the Corsicans, or perhaps I should saythe islanders of the Mediterranean. They decked my little babe withflowers and ribands, and bore her in procession to the church of St.John of Jerusalem; and there they had her baptized, for Lepardo hadfound out that she had never undergone the ceremony. I was anxious tosee the record, but was not allowed to do so; therefore I do not knowwhat the little darling's name is, if she be still alive: but they toldme that the surname entered was not Vaughan, but Della Croce. It wassaid that the sailors had become very fond of her, the little creaturebeing very sweet-tempered and happy, and a pleasing novelty to them.Very likely they named her after their own felucca.

  The crew being now dispersed, some to their homes, and some on boardships which had sailed, I was thrown completely off the scent. All Icould learn, at a house which they had frequented, was that Lepardo, thecommander, had long ago left the island. Whither, or in what ship, hehad sailed, they could not or would not tell me: he had always plenty ofmoney, they said, and he spent it like a prince. But Petro, who was amuch better ferret than I, discovered, or seemed to have done so, thatthe kidnapper and murderer had taken passage for Naples. My heart fellwhen I heard it; almost as easily might I have tracked him in London.At Naples I had spent a month, and knew the lying ingenuity, thelaziness in all but lies, of its swarming thousands. However, thelittle yacht was again put under way, and, after a tedious passage, wesaw the Queen of cities. Here, as I expected, the pursuit was baffled.

  I will not weary you with my wanderings, off more often than on thetrack, up and down the Mediterranean, and sometimes far inland. If Imarked them on a map, however large the scale, you would have whatchildren call a crinkly crankly puzzle, like Lancashire in Bradshaw.Once, indeed, I rested at the ancient tower, near my Lily's grave, whichI always visited twice in every year. I have some vague idea, now in myold age, that though we Vaughans detest any display of feeling--exceptindeed at times when the heart is too big for the skin--we are insubstance, without knowing it, a most romantic race. Whether we arethat, or not, is matter of small moment; one thing is quite certain, weare strutted well and stable. We are not quick of reception, but we aremost retentive. Never was there man of us who ever loved a woman andcast her off through weariness; never was there woman of our house whoplayed the jilt, when once she had passed the pledge of love. And afterall I have seen of the world, and through my dark misfortune few menhave seen more, it is my set conclusion that strong tenacity is theforemost of all the virtues. My enemy has it, I freely own, and throughall his wickedness it saves him from being contemptible.

  For a time, as I said before, I paused from my continual search, andabode in the old gray tower. That search now appeared so hopeless, thatI was half inclined to believe no better policy could be found thanthis. Some day or other the robber would surely return and lay claim tothe lands of the Della Croce. At present he durst not do it, while underthe ban of piracy and the suspicion of his uncle's murder. Moreover, Ithought it my duty to see to the welfare of my children's property.Under the deed-poll of the old Signor, his friend at Prato and myselfwere trustees and guardians. But I could not live there long: it wastoo painful for me to sit alone in the desolate rooms where my childrenought to be toddling, or to wander through the shrubberies and among theuntended flowers, every one of them whispering "Lily." Formerly I hadadmired and loved that peculiar stillness, that rich deep eloquentsolitude, which mantles in bucolic gray the lawns and glades of Corsica.But when I so admired and loved, I was a happy man, a man who hadaffection near him, and could warm himself when he pleased. Now thoughI had no friends or friendship, neither cared for any, solitude struckme to the bones, because it seemed my destiny.

  After striving for half a year to do my duty as a hermit Signor, I foundmyself, one dreary morning, fingering my pistols gloomily, and fitting asmall bullet into my ear. My thumb caught in the guard of the Signor'slocket, and jerked it up my waistcoat. It was the same which the poorold man had pressed to his dying lips. There was Lily's hair andHarry's, and a tiny wisp of down since added, belonging to baby--nameunknown. Looking at them and seeing how Lily's bound them together andto me, I felt ashamed of my cowardly gloom, and resolved to quit myselflike a man in my duty towards the three. I rode at once to Prato, andpersuaded Count Gaffori to come and live at the tower. Like his oldfriend the Signor, he had only himself and his lovely daughter to thinkof; but unlike Signor Dezio he had lost nearly all his paternalproperty, through political troubles. Therefore it was for him nolittle comfort and advantage to be placed at the head of a householdagain, and restored to some worldly importance. Nevertheless, his senseof honour was so nice and exacting, that I thought I should neversucceed in bringing him to my views; and indeed I must have failed butfor his daughter's assistance. A very sweet elegant girl she was, andshe had been a great friend of my Lily's. If I could ever have lovedagain, I should have loved that maiden: but the thing was impossible.

  The old Count promised to come and settle at Veduta tower--which name,in light days, I had corrupted into "Vendetta"--and
living there toassume the management of the estates, in trust for my lost infants, assoon as his arrangements could be made. I saw nothing that need havedelayed him a day; however, he declared that he must have a month to getready, and he was plainly a man whom nature meant not to be pushed. SoI employed the interval in having my dear old "Lilyflower" overhauled atMarseilles, coppered, and thoroughly painted. I could not bear to alterour little love-boat, as my darling called it, even in outwardappearance; but like our love she had laboured through many a tempest;unlike it, she needed repairs. However, I saved from the painter'sbrush our favourite quarter-deck bench, whereon through the moonlightwatches my Lily seemed still to recline.

  And so my life for some years wandered on, a worthless, unsettled,forlorn existence, only refreshed at intervals by return to the scenesof past happiness. If I had really wronged Lepardo Della Croce, hecould hardly have wished for a better revenge. But in truth I had neverwronged him. Even if I had never come near his betrothed, it is quitecertain she would not have accepted him. And he, by his own desertion,had left her free to choose.

  Late in the autumn of 1812, when I had abandoned all hope of everrecovering my little ones, except by one of those eddies of Providence,which we men call accidents, and in which I place my confidence to thishour, at that season, I say, I landed at Gibraltar, being wind-bound inthe straits. We were making for Lisbon, where I was to ship someEnglish watches, guns, and fine cutlery for Ajaccio. What a loss ofrank for the "Lilyflower," to turn her into a trading smack! Well, Icould not see it so; and I am sure her late mistress, who with all hersweet romance was an excellent hand at a bargain, would have thought itfar more below my dignity for me to sponge on our children. There wasplenty of money in hand at Veduta tower; but having retired fromstewardship, I did not feel myself justified in drawing upon mychildren. Therefore, and for the sake of the large acquaintance andgreat opportunities gained, I had renewed my connection with the firm ofGreen, Vowler, and Green. Somehow, I could not bear to revisit theshores of England; otherwise I am sure that with the knowledge I nowpossessed of the Mediterranean ports, and a house of such standing andenterprise to back me, I should quickly have made my fortune. Myvessel, moreover, was much too small for the fruit-trade, even if Icould have lowered her to an uncleanly freight; but she was just thecraft for valuable goods in small compass. I knew the Corsican fondnessfor arms and first-rate cutlery; and the tools the poor Signor Deziomeant to astonish me with, certainly did astonish me by their wonderfulbadness. True, the material was good, but all the waters of theRestonica will not convert a hammer into a handsaw. Although hardwarewas not at all in his line of business, Peter Green most kindlyundertook to send me a cargo of first-rate Sheffield and Birminghamgoods, by a return fruit-schooner. These, consigned to his Lisbonagent, I could fetch away, as I pleased, or wanted them. Havingarranged with a shrewd merchant of Ajaccio to take my goods wholesale,and save the dignity of all the Vogheni from haggling, I had alreadymade six trips, and in spite of the most tyrannical douane perhaps inall the world, I as a Corsican, importing goods in a Corsican bottom,had cleared very nearly three hundred per cent. on my outlay. We werenow on our seventh voyage, to reship the last of the second Englishconsignment, when a violent gale from the west met us right in theteeth, and we were forced to bear up for the anchorage. A first-ratesea-boat the "Lilyflower" was, although she had been built for racing,and for two or three years had beaten all competitors, whenever therewas wind enough for a cat to stand on the sheets. But one hot June dayshe got beaten in a floating match, when the lightest bung went fastest,and her prig of a "noble owner" sold her in disgust, and built a thingthat drew as much water as a nautilus. In her he was happily upset, andcould hardly find a sheet of paper to hold on by. Knowing some littleabout yachts, from my pool and reach experiences, I bought the famousracing cutter at about a quarter her value; and even in these, her oldendays, she could exhibit her taffrail to the smartest fruit-clipper--thename was then just invented--that ever raced for the Monument. Herregister was fifty tons, but she carried eighty.

  Landing at Gibraltar, I kept clear of my countrymen, not that I dislikethem, but because--well I cannot tell why; and strolled away to theSpanish and Moorish quarters.

  It was a windy evening, and in front of a low refreshment house somesailors and Spanish girls were dancing. A squabble arose among them;something I think it was about a young girl's dress. Knives were drawn,and two men were stabbed in less than the time I am speaking. I justsaved the life of one, just saved it by half an inch. A fine-lookingSpaniard lay under a Moor, who had tripped him up in their quick way.The point of the knife had flashed through the Spaniard's shirt and hisflesh was cut, before the swing of my stick--upwards luckily--had jerkedthe Moor off his body. If I had struck downwards, or a millionth partof a second later, the blade would have stood in the heart. But I knewthose fellows by this time. The Moor lay senseless from the quickupper-cut on his temples, and the knife was quivering where the impulsehad failed it.

  Now if Petro and I held deliberate choice--"proairesis" Oxford callsit--not to be turned into knife-sheaths, our only chance of developinginto action that undeniable process of "nous," was to be found in thepolicy, vulgarly called "cut and run." At a shrill signal, from shipand from shore, the Moors came swarming silently and swiftly. Theiryellow slippers and coffee-coloured legs seemed set upon springs byexcitement. Some of the Spaniards stood bravely by us, and with theiraid we hurried the wounded man into our boat, and pushed off just intime. Unlike the Corsican peasants, our pursuers carried no fire-arms,and before they could get any, we were at safe distance.

  Having sent for an English surgeon, we kept the poor sailor on board theyacht, until he was quite out of danger. We Britons are not, as ageneral rule, an over-grateful race; we hate to be under an obligation,and too often illustrate the great philosopher's saying, that the doerfeels more good will than the receiver of a kindness. Moreover, theSpaniards, in the neighbourhood of the Rock, could hardly be expected tolove us, even if we were accustomed, which it is needless to say we arenot, to treat them with decent courtesy. Therefore I was surprised atthe deep and warm gratitude of this wounded man. A thing that enhancedhis debt to me--for life, in my opinion, is very little to owe--was thathe loved a young girl, the one over whom they had quarrelled, and he wasabout to marry her.

  Discovering who I was, for he knew nothing of me at first, he saw thathe could be of no little service to me. The only obstacle was a solemnoath; but from this, he believed, he could soon obtain release. With anEnglishman's honest and honourable repugnance to any breach of faith, Iwas long reluctant to encourage this absolution. But the thought of myhelpless children, robbed of their inheritance, and, still worse, of afather's love, and dependant on the caprice of a superstitious villain,this, and the recollection of my desolating wrongs, overpowered allscruples. And is it not a wiser course, and more truly Christian, toport the helm than to cross the bows of another man's religion, at anyrate so long as it be Christian also, though frogged in a pensioner'scoat?

  Being duly absolved--for which he would not allow me to pay--the Spanishsailor told me all he knew. He had been Lepardo's mate, on many asmuggling run, and in many an act of piracy off the coast of Barbary.But he had never liked his captain, no one ever did; though all the crewadmired him as the cleverest man in the world. After the felucca wassold and her crew dispersed, the mate had followed for a while thefortunes of Lepardo. He told me things about him which I knew not howto believe. However, I will not repeat them, because they do not seemto bear upon my story. The name of my little girl he could notremember, for he was not at the christening, and she was always calledthe baby. Being a good-natured man he took kindly to the children, andtold me anecdotes of them which brought the tears to my eyes.

  After two or three months spent at Naples, they all left suddenly forPalermo, on account, as the mate believed, of my unexpected arrival; andhere he lost sight of his commander, for tired by this time of an idleli
fe, and seeing no chance of any more roving adventures, he accepted aberth in a brig bound for the Piraeus, and now after many shifts andchanges was first mate of a fruit vessel sailing from Zante to London.The most important part to me of all his communication was that, ontheir previous voyage, they had carried to England Lepardo Della Croceand my two dear children. That murderer and kidnapper had taken thelead in some conspiracy against the government of the Two Sicilies, andthrough the treachery of an accomplice had been obliged to fly for hislife. Disguising himself he contrived to reach Gibraltar, and tookrefuge on English ground. He was now very poor and in great distress,but still clung to the children, of whom he appeared to be fond, and whobelieved him to be their father. The "Duo Brachiones" touching there,as usual, for supplies, Lepardo met his old mate ashore; and begged fora passage to England. They took him to London, and there of course lostsight of him. He was greatly altered, the mate said, from the Lepardoof old. Morose and reserved he had always been; but now misfortune hadcovered him with a skin-deep philosophy. But his eyes contracted andsparkled as of yore, whenever my name was mentioned; and the mate knewwhat his intention was, in case he should find me a happy man. Thesimple mate was still more surprised at the alteration in my children;as pretty a pair, he said, as ever he set eyes on. But they were keptmost jealously from the notice of the crew, and even from their ancientfriend's attentions; they were never allowed to be on the deck, exceptwhen the berths were being cleaned. They seemed to fear their reputedfather, a great deal more than they loved him.

  Upon hearing this last particular I seized the mate by the hand, andfelt something rise in my throat: I was so delighted to learn that thepirate had not succeeded in carrying nature by boarding. The next day Ileft Petro to see to the hardware business--to which we were bound bycharter--while I set sail in the "Duo Brachiones" for the arms of mydarling little ones.