Clara Vaughan, Volume 3 (of 3)

by R. D. Blackmore

  CHAPTER X.

  When I awoke, the summer dawn was stealing faintly through thebarricaded windows. Oh! how I longed for one draught of air, even asLondon imports it! My head was burning and my eyes distended from thetainted stuff around me, and my hands, and arms, and even shoulders werestiff from over exertion. Languidly regarding the brick I had worked sohard for, and commiserating much the plight of my tender hands, I feltinclined to give it up, till I thought of all at stake. My poor Uncle indeadly peril through my desperate folly; Conrad too, as that murdererimplied, in a critical position. My own life also--it might be a weekbefore the monster returned; and I felt sure that I could not live morethan three days in that corruption. The oppression was so horrible,especially when I stood up, that I resolved at all hazards to break oneof the windows. I had tried to do so the night before, but they werebeyond my reach, and I had no stick, for I durst not touch the polesthat propped the unlucky porpoise. Now, I had a good missile, and aftertwo or three vain attempts from the closeness of the bars, I hurled thebrick-bat through the glass; and, as it raised the sacks a little, Iobtained more light, as well as a breath of air. The taint upon theglass, the reek of the deadly gases, even cleared away for a shortdistance round the fracture.

  Cora was fast asleep no doubt, and the crash of the glass did notdisturb her; so I fell to again, and worked very hard till breakfasttime. If I could only get out by noon, in time for the two o'clocktrain! When I expected my jailor, I hid away under the porpoise theseven bricks I had removed since daylight--for I could work much fasteras the aperture increased--and then I fastened my blanket over the hole.After drinking the milk with some relish--eat I could not in thatpestilential den--I returned to my labour, and prepared to attack thesecond course in the thickness of the wall. By this time I hadcontrived, with the help of a brick, to extract the hold-fast from thebench, which I could not do the night before; and very useful I foundit, both as a hammer and lever. So with rising hopes, I resumed.

  Oh, cruel disappointment! The second course was bedded in cement harderthan the bricks themselves. Most likely they had formed the outside ofthe wall, until Lepardo added the nine-inch lining of headers. I wasutterly dismayed; and now my beloved knife, which had stood like ahero-martyr all its grinding indignities, broke off short at the haft,and left me helpless and hopeless. And I was getting on so well, and soproud of all I had done. There was nothing for it but a storm ofcrying. It served me right for ill-treating my dear father's knife soshockingly.

  I cried for at least a quarter of an hour, before it occurred to me whata great baby I was. Then, with the tears in my swollen eyes, and sobsthat made my net-pressed bosom sore, I began to grope and peer againalong the sides of my prison. There was more light now than hadhitherto entered, since Cora dropped the curtain. This was partly owingto the position of the sun, and partly to the interposition of thebrick. Just opposite that window, on a shelf where lay an old Penguinlooking very bilious, I spied the corner of a little box, half coveredwith tow and moth-eaten feathers. Snatching it eagerly, I found it tobe a match-box. But alas, how light! With trembling fingers I pulledit open, for it was one of those that slide. There were three, and onlythree, fine stout lucifer matches, with the precious blue still on them.But even if they should prove dry enough to kindle, what good would theybe to me?

  "All the good in the world," said hope, looking towards the door, "ifyou had shown sense enough, Clara, to fall to at that door, before yourknife was broken, you might have cut through it by this time. Now youcan't, that is certain; but why shouldn't you burn it down?"

  At any rate, I would try; that is, if my matches would only strike fire.I had felt last night a piece of candle on the floor near the crocodile.This I soon laid hands upon; and now for operations. No fear of oldCora smelling the smoke, for she spent all the forenoon, as I knew well,in a little chapel she had established quite at the top of the house;and this being the festival of St. Bottle-imp, she would be twice asdevout as usual. As for suffocating myself, that I must take the chanceof. Much better to die of curling wood smoke than of these crawlingodours.

  To give the wood, which was hard and solid, every inclination to burn, Ichanneled it first in a fan from the bottom with my little pen-blade.Then I cut off the lower half of my precious candle, and smeared thetallow in the shallow grooves I had made. This being done, I broke,with as little noise as possible, some other panes of glass, to admitthe air to my fire, procured all the wool and tow that I could reach,and a pile of paper, and steeped them, though it sickened me to do it,in the rank oil from some of the specimens.

  All this being ready at hand, I prepared, with a beating heart, to trythe matches, on which the whole depended. I had taken the precaution ofslipping them just inside my frock, hoping that the warmth of my bodymight serve to dry them a little. The first, as I rubbed it on thesandpaper, flashed for a moment, but did not kindle; the second justkindled with a sputter, but did not ignite its stick: the third--I wasso nervous that I durst not attempt it then; but trembled as I looked atit. I would not even breathe for fear of damping the phosphorus.Perhaps three lives depended on the behaviour of that match. Indesperation at last I struck boldly! a broad blue flame leaped upon theair, and in a moment my candle was lighted. In the hollow of my hand Icarried it round the room, to search for anything likely to be ofservice to me. Oh! grand discovery--behind a great tabby cat, I found abottle containing nearly a pint of naphtha, used, I suppose, forsingeing some of the hair off. Now I need not fear, but what I couldburn the door down; the only thing to fear was that I should burn myselfas well, used the naphtha very cautiously, keeping most of it as a lastresource.

  Then commending the result to God, I set my candle carefully at the footof the door, just below the spot where all my little grooves converged.At once the flame ran up them, the naphtha kindling angrily with aspatter and a hiss. The blue light showed in livid ghastliness all thehorrors of the chamber. The naphtha was burnt in a moment, it seemed togo off like gunpowder; from a prudent distance I threw more upon it, andsoon I had the delight of seeing a steady flame established. The lumpsof tallow were burning now, and the wood began to smoulder. Severaltimes I thought that I must be choked by the smoke, till it went in acloud to the windows, and streamed away under the sacks.

  As the fire grew and grew, and required no more feeding, I lay on myface, to get all the air possible, at the further end of the room, wheremy loose mortar was scattered. I could feel my heart thumping heavilyon the pavement, and my breath was shorter and shorter, as much fromfear as from smoke. If once I became insensible, or even if I retainedmy senses but failed to extinguish the fire, nothing more would ever beknown or heard of Clara Vaughan; there would be nothing even to hold aninquest upon. I must burn ignobly, in the fat of that dreadfulporpoise, and with the crocodile, and all those grinning beasts, soawful in the firelight, making faces at me! Surely it must be time,high time to put it out; that is to say if I could. Once let the flamegather head on the other side of the door, and with my scanty means Inever could hope to quench it.

  At last, I became so frightened, that I hardly let it burn long enough.It was flaring beautifully, and licking deeper and deeper (with ductilewreathing tongues and jets like a pushing crocus), the channels preparedto tempt it; and now the black wood was reddened, and a strong heat wasgiven out, and the blazes began to roar; when I cast on the centresuddenly my doubled blanket, and propped it there with the pillow.After a few vain efforts, the flames, deprived of air, expired in graysmoke; then I removed the scorched blanket, and let the smoulderingproceed.

  The charring went on nicely for perhaps a quarter of an hour, and thesmell made me think of bonfires and roast potatoes; and I gouged awaywith the claw of the holdfast, until I saw that, by a vigorous onset, alarge piece might be detached; so I stepped back and ran at it with amighty kick, and with a shower of dust and sparks, a great triangle flewout before my "military heel."

  At the
risk of setting myself on fire, though gathered in the smallestpossible compass for a girl rather full in the chest, I squeezed throughthe hole in the door, and met face to face old Cora.

  She could not speak, but fell back upon the steps, and rolled in fits ofterror. I thought her black eyes would have leaped from their sockets;they came out like hat-pegs japanned. Pressed as I was for time, Icould not leave her so. I ran up to the pump-trough for water, and putout the fire first, and then poor Cora's hysterics.

  I cannot repeat her exclamations, to our ears they are so impious; butthe mildest of them were these, as rendered weakly into English.

  "Holy Madonna, most sacred mother, take back your blessed heart. Takeit back, for the sake of the God that loved you, take it back, andtrample on the wicked stomach of her who dared to steal it. You havecome through the fires of hell to fetch it, mother of the beloved one,lo I hold it out to you."

  I gladly received my poor gordit, and left the old lady, as there wasnow no danger, to recover her wits at leisure; for I had not a moment tospare.

  As I entered Mrs. Shelfer's door, the church clock at the top of theSquare was striking twelve. By the two o'clock train I must go, or Imight as well have stopped in my dungeon. Though the smoke had purifiedme a little, I still felt conscious of a nasty clinging smell; but itwould have surprised me, if there had been time, when the little womancried,

  "Lor bless my soul, Miss Vaughan, where ever have you been? Why, Mr.Chumps the butcher--"

  "The bath in one moment, and all the water in the house. And as I throwmy things out, burn them in the garden."

  In twenty minutes I was reclad from head to foot, and as sweet as anygirl in Gloucestershire; my eyes were bright with energy, and mydripping hair in billows, like a rapid under the pine-trees. I had notime to tell Mrs. Shelfer, who was off her legs with excitement, oneword of what had happened, or what I was going to do; but flung onmyself another hat and cloak, then her old bonnet and little green shawlon her, dragged her out of the house, and locked the door behind us; forMrs. Fletcher, after waiting and wondering long about me, was gone toconsult Ann Maples. If Mrs. Shelfer's best bonnet was twenty-two yearsold, her second-best must have been forty-four; at any rate it appearedcoeval with herself.

  Patty trotted along at my side, wondering what would come next. Herthin little lips were working, and her face was like a kaleidoscope ofexpressions; but whenever I glanced toward her, she cast her eyes up,with a scared weird look, as if she was watching a ghost through askylight, and trudged still faster, and muttered, "Yes, yes, MissVaughan. Quite right, my good friend; not a moment to lose."

  "And pray, Mrs. Shelfer, where do you suppose we are going?"

  "Oh, I knows well enough "--with her eyes like corks drawn bydistance--"I knowed it all the time. Yes, yes. Let me alone for that.Patty Shelfer wasn't born yesterday. Why only Tuesday was a week--"

  "If you guess right, I will tell you."

  "Why going to Charley, Miss Vaughan, to be sure. Going for Charley'sopinion. And very wise of you too; and what a most every one does;particular when he have money. But how you knowed he were there--"

  "Where?"

  "At the great wrestling match to be sure. And he wanted to take me; athing he ain't offered to do fifteen year next oyster-day. No, no, saysI, with Miss Vaughan away, and most likely among them resurrectioners--"

  Here she cast at me a glance, like a flash of lightning, to see if thehit had told. In a moment I understood all that I had not cared to askabout; why she trembled and shrunk from my hand, why she feared to lookat me, and fixed her eyes away so. She believed that I had been burked,and that what she saw walking beside was my spirit come to claim burial.I could not stop to disprove it, any more than I could stop to laugh.

  "And his grandfather were a sexton, Miss; and our Charley himself afirst-rate hand at the spade."

  "Mrs. Shelfer, we are close to the place. Now, listen to what I say.It is not your husband I want, but Farmer Huxtable, whom you saw at thedoor. Nothing but a question of life and death would bring me amongthis rabble. No doubt there are many respectable men, but it is noplace for a lady. The farmer himself knows that, and has never dared toask me; though his wife and daughter, in ignorance, have. It ishalf-past twelve exactly; in a quarter of an hour at the utmost, I mustspeak to, and what is more, carry off the Devonshire competitor. Yourhusband is here, and on the Committee, you told me. I expect you tomanage it. Go in at once and find him. Stop, here is plenty of money."

  In her supreme astonishment, she even dared to look at me. But shefeared to take the money, although her eyes glistened at it, for Ioffered more gold than silver.

  "Come back to me at once; I shall not move from here. Mind, if thefarmer loses the match through me, I will pay all, and give the moneyfor another."

  For once the little woman obeyed me, without discussion. She pushedthrough a canvass door into the vast marquee, or whatever it ought to becalled, and was admitted readily on giving her husband's name. I hungback, but with a sense of the urgency of my case, which turned my shameinto pride. Many eyes were on me already of loungers and outsiders. Intwo or three minutes poor Patty came back, bringing Mr. Shelfer himself,who ever since his ducking had shown me the rose and pink of respect.He even went the length now of removing his pipe from his mouth.

  "Very sorry indeed, Miss Vaughan, very sorry, you know. But we darrn'tinterrupt the men now. Our lives wouldn't be worth it, and they'd killboth the umpires and the referee too you know. Why it's fall for fall,only think of that, Miss Vaughan, it's fall for fall!" And theperspiration stood upon his forehead, and he wanted to run back.

  "What do you mean?" In spite of my hurry, I felt deeply interested.How could I help it, loving the farmer so?

  "Why, the Great Northern won the first throw by a bit of foul play, afoul stroke altogether, and no back at all, say I, and my eyes is prettygood; however, the umpires give it, and you should see John Huxtable'sface, the colour of a scythe-stone; he knew it was unfair you know. Andyou should see him go in again for the second fall. 'I could ha dooedit,' I hear him say, 'I could ha dooed it aisy, only I wudn't tryAbraham, and I wun't nother if can help it now.' None of us knows whathe mean, but in he go again, Miss, and three times he throw SamRichardson clean over his shoulder, and one as fair a back as ever wasin sawdust. But the umpires wouldn't give it, till just now he turn himover straight for'ard, just the same as a sod in a spade, and theycouldn't get out of that. And now they be just in for the finishingbout, and if you want him, your only way is to come. May be, he'll tryAbraham, when he see you. Ah they've catched."

  A shout inside proclaimed some crisis; Mr. Shelfer, in his excitement,actually pulled me in without knowing it. Once there, I could not goback; and the scene was a grand and thrilling one.

  In the centre of a roped arena, hedged by countless faces, all rigid,flushed, and straining with suspense, stood two mighty forms; thestrongest men in England and perhaps in all the world. A loose sack, orjerkin, of the toughest canvass, thrown back clear of the throat,half-sleeved, and open in front, showed the bole of the pollard neck,the solid brawn of the chest, and the cords of the outstretched arm.Stout fustian breeches, belted at waist, and strapped at knee, casedtheir vast limbs so exactly, yet so easily, that every curve was thew,and every wrinkle sinew. Thin white stockings, flaked with sawdust andlooking rather wet, rolled and stood out, like the loops of a mace, withthe rampant muscles of the huge calf, and the bulge of the broadforeleg.

  As the shout proclaimed, they had caught or clutched; a thing which isdone with much fencing and feinting, each foining to get the best grasp.Where I went, or what happened to me, I never noticed at all, soabsorbed at once I became in this rare and noble probation of gloriousstrength, trained skill, and emulous manhood.

  Round and round the ring they went, as in musical measure, holding eachother at arms' length, pacing warily and in distance, skilfully poisedto throw the weight for either attack or defence. Each with
his lefthand clutched the jerkin of the other, between the neck and shoulder,each kept his right arm lightly bent, and the palm like a butterflyquivering. Neither dared to move his eyes from the pupils of the other;for though they were not built alike, each knew the strength of hisfellow. The Northern Champion was at least three inches taller than theSon of Devon, quite as broad in the shoulders and large of limb, but notso thick-set and close-jointed, not quite so stanch in the loins andquarters. But he was longer in the reach, and made the most of thatadvantage. On his breast he bore the mark of a hug as hard as a bear's;and his face, though a fine and manly one, looked rather savage andspiteful.

  The farmer was smiling pleasantly, an honest but anxious smile. For thefirst time he had met with a man of almost his own power; and on a turnof the heel depended at least four hundred pounds, and what was morethan four million to him, the fame of the county that nursed him. Abovethem hung the champion's belt, not of the west or north, but of Englandand of the world.

  Suddenly, ere I could see how they did it, they had closed in thecrowning struggle. Breast to breast, and thigh to thigh, they tugged,and strained, and panted. Nothing though I knew of the matter, I sawthat the North-man had won the best hold, and as his huge arms enwrappedmy friend, a tremble went through my own frame. The men of the Northand their backers saw it, and a loud hurrah pealed forth; deep silenceensued, and every eye was intent. Though giant arms were round him andTitan legs inlocked, never a foot he budged. John Huxtable stood like abuttress. He tried not to throw the other; placed as he was, he durstnot; but he made up his mind to stand, and stand he did with avengeance. In vain the giant jerked and twisted, levered, heaved, andlaboured, till his very eyeballs strained; all the result was ropes andbunches in the wide-spread Devonshire calves, and a tightening of theclench that threatened to crush the Northern ribs. As well might acoiling snake expect to uproot an oak.

  As this exertion of grand stability lasted and outlasted, shouts aroseand rang alike from friend and foe, from north, and west, and east; evenI could not help clapping my feeble hands. But the trial was nearlyover. The assailant's strength was ebbing; I could hear him gasp forbreath under the fearful pressure. By great address he had won thathold, and made sure of victory from it, it had never failed before; butto use a Devonshire word, the farmer was too "stuggy." Now, the latterwatched his time, and his motive power waxed as the other's waned. Atlength he lifted him bodily off his legs, and cast him flat on his back.A flat and perfectly level cast, as ever pancake crackled at. Thundersof applause broke forth, and scarcely could I keep quiet.

  With amazement the farmer espied me as he was bowing on all sides, andamid the tumult and uproar that shook the canvass like a lark's wing, heran across the ring full speed. Then he stopped short, remembering hislaboured and unpresentable plight, and he would have blushed, if he hadnot been as red as fire already. None of such nonsense for me. I calledhim by name, took his hand, and with all my heart congratulated.

  "But, farmer, I want you immediately, on a matter of life and death."Beany Dawe and the children came, but I only stopped to kiss Sally, andmotioned them all away. "If you remember your promise to me, get readyfor a journey in a moment, and run all the way to my lodgings. We mustleave London, at two o'clock, to save my Uncle's life."

  Mr. Huxtable looked astounded, and his understanding, unlike his legs,for the moment was carried away. Meanwhile up came Sally again, caughthold of my hand, and silently implored for some little notice, if onlyof her costume, violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. Icould only kiss her again.

  "Oh do come, farmer Huxtable, do come at once, I entreat you; or I mustgo alone and helpless."

  "That you shan't, my dearie, dang Jan Uxtable for a girt lout."

  "Please, sir, I am sent to tell you that the umpires gives it no fall,and you must play again."

  The man looked abased by his errand; even he knew better. In my hurry Ihad paid no attention to the ominous hissing and hooting around a knotof men on the benches at the end.

  The farmer's face I shall never forget; as he slowly gathered the truth,it became majestic with honest indignation. A strong man's wrath atdeceit and foul play sat upon it, like a king on his throne.

  "For the chillers--" he stammered at last--"ony for the poor chiller'ssake--else I'd never stand it, danged if I wud, Miss Clara; it make aman feel like a rogue and a cheat himself."

  Then, with all the power of his mighty voice he shouted, so that everyfold of the canvass shook, and every heart thrilled fearfully:

  "Men of Lunnon, if men you be, no chap can have fair play with you. Itbe all along of your swindling bets about things you don't know nothingof. You offered me five hunder pound, afore ever here I come, to sellmy back to the Northman. A good honest man he be, and the bestcross-buttock as ever I met with; but a set of rogues and cowards that'swhat you be; and no sport can live with you. As for your danged belt, Iwun't have it, no tino, it wud be a disgrace to the family; it shan'tnever go along side the Devonshire and Cornwall leather. But I'll throwyour man over again, and any six of you to once as plases."

  Then, thorough gentleman as he was, he apologized to me for his honestanger, and for having drawn all eyes upon me, as there I stood at hisside.

  "But never fear about the time, Miss Clara, I won't kape you twominutes. I'll give him Abraham's staylace this time. They have a droveme to it, as us hasn't a moment to spare."

  Proudly he stepped into the ring again, and again the North Countrygiant, looking rather ashamed, confronted him. No fencing or feintingthis time; but the Devonshire wrestler, appealing thus to the public,

  "Now look here, Lunnoners, wull e, and zee if this here be a back,"rushed straight at his antagonist, grappled him in some peculiar manner,seemed to get round his back, and then spun him up over his own leftshoulder, in such a way that he twirled in the air and came down dead onhis spine. Dead indeed he appeared to be, and a dozen surgeons cameforward, in the midst of a horrible silence, and some were preparing tobleed him, when the farmer moved them aside; he knew that the poor manwas only stunned by concussion of the spine. Awhile he knelt over himsadly, with the tears in his own brave eyes:

  "I wudn't have doed it, lad; indade and indade I wudn't, ony they forcedme to it; and you didn't say nought agin them. It be all fair enough,but it do hoort so tarble. That there trick was invented by a betterman nor I be, and it be karled 'Abraham Cann's staylace.' I'll show ehow to do it, if ever us mates again. Now tak the belt, man, tak it--"he leaped up, and tore it down, with very little respect, "I resigns itover to you; zimth they arl wants you to have it and you be a better mannor deserves it. And I'll never wrastle no more; Jan Uxtable's time beover. Give us your hond, old chap. We two never mate again, unless youcomes down our wai, and us han't got a man to bate e, now I be off theplay. There be dacent zider and bakkon to Tossil's Barton Farm. Give usyour hond like a man, there be no ill will atween us, for this herelittle skumdoover." Perhaps he meant skirmish and manoeuvre, all inone. Sam Richardson, slowly recovering, put out his great hand, allwhite and clammy, and John Huxtable took it tenderly, amid suchuproarious cheering, that I expected the tent on our heads. EvenShelfer's sharp eyes had a drop of moisture in them. As for Beany Dawe,he flung to the winds all dithyrambic gravity, and chanted and dancedincoherently, Cassandra and Chorus in one; while Sally Huxtable blottedall her rainbow in heavy drops.

  Hundreds of pipes were smashed, even the Stoic Shelfer's, in the rush toget at the farmer; but he parted the crowd right and left, as I mightpart willow-sprays, and came at once to me. Whether by his aid, or bythe sympathies of the multitude, I am sure I cannot tell, but I foundmyself in a cab, with Sally at my side, and Mrs. Shelfer on the box, andthe farmer's face at the window.

  "Twenty minutes, Miss, I'll be there, raddy to go where you plases. Itbain't quite one o'clock yet. I must put myself dacent like, avore Ican go with you, Miss; and git the money for the sake of them poorchiller, if so be they Lunnoners be hon
est enough to pai. Jan Uxtablenever come to Lunnon town no more."

  With thousands of people hurraing, we set off full gallop for AlbertStreet.