 | CHAPTER X. The pilot |  |
10. CHAPTER X.
O'er Horncliffe-hill, a plump of spears,
Beneath a pennon gay.”
Marmion.
The sharp sounds of the supper-bell were
ringing along the gallery, as Miss Plowden gained
the gloomy passage; and she quickened her
steps to join the ladies, in order that no further
suspicions might be excited by her absence.—
Alice Dunscombe was already proceeding to the
dining parlour, as Katherine passed through the
door of the drawing room, but Miss Howard
had loitered behind, and was met by her cousin
alone.
“You have then been so daring as to venture,
Katherine?” exclaimed Cecilia.
“I have,” returned the other, throwing herself
into a chair, to recover her agitation—“I have,
Cecilia; and I have met Barnstable, who will
soon be in the Abbey, and its master.”
The blood, which had rushed to the face of
Cecilia on first seeing her cousin, now retreated
to her heart, leaving every part of her fine countenance
of the whiteness of her polished temples,
as she said—
“And we are to have a night of blood!”
“We are to have a night of freedom, Miss
Howard; freedom to you, and to me; to Andrew
Merry, to Griffith, and to his companion!”
“What freedom more than we now enjoy,
Katherine, is needed by two young women?
Think you I can remain silent, and see my uncle
betrayed before my eyes? his life perhaps
endangered?”
“Your own life and person will not be held
more sacred, Cecilia Howard, than that of your
uncle. If you will condemn Griffith to a prison,
and perhaps to a gibbet, betray Barnstable, as
you have threatened—an opportunity will not be
wanting at the supper table, whither I shall lead
the way, since the mistress of the house appears
to forget her duty.”
Katherine arose, and, with a firm step, and
proud eye, she moved along the gallery, to the
room where their presence was expected by the
rest of the family. Cecilia followed, in silence,
and the whole party immediately took their several
places at the board.
The first few minutes were passed in the usual
attentions of the gentlemen to the ladies, and the
ordinary civilities of the table; during which, Katherine
had so far regained the equanimity of her
feelings, as to commence a watchful scrutiny of the
manners and looks of her guardian and Borroughcliffe,
in which she determined to persevere until
the eventful hour when she was to expect Barnstable
should arrive. Col. Howard had, however, so
far got the command of himself, as no longer to
betray the same abstraction as before. In its place
Katherine fancied, at moments, that she could discover
a settled look of conscious security, mingled
a little with an expression of severe determination;
such as, in her earlier days, she had learned to
justice of an honourable mind. Borroughcliffe,
on the other hand, was cool, polite, and as
attentive to the viands as usual, with the alarming
exception of discovering much less devotion to the
Pride of the Vineyards, than he commonly manifested
on such occasions. In this manner the meal
passed by, and the cloth was removed, though the
ladies appeared willing to retain their places longer
than was customary. Col. Howard, filling up
the glasses of Alice Dunscombe, and himself, passed
the bottle to the recruiting officer, and, with a
sort of effort that was intended to rouse the dormant
cheerfulness of his guests, cried—
“Come, Borroughcliffe, the ruby lips of your
neighbours would be still more beautiful, were they
moistened with this rich cordial, and that too, accompanied
by some loyal sentiment. Miss Alice
is ever ready to express her fealty to her Sovereign;
in her name, I can give the health of
His Most Sacred Majesty, with defeat and death
to all traitors!”
“If the prayers of a humble subject, and one
of a sex that has but little need to mingle in the
turmoil of the world, and that has less right to pretend
to understand the subtilties of statesmen, can
much avail a High and Mighty Prince, like him who
sits on the throne, then will he never know temporal
evil,” returned Alice, meekly; “but I cannot
wish death to any one, not even to my enemies, if
any I have, and much less to a people who are the
children of the same family with myself.”
“Children of the same family!” the Colonel repeated,
slowly, and with a bitterness of manner
that did not fail to attract the painful interest of
Katherine; “children of the same family! Ay!
even as Absalom was the child of David, or as
let it pass unpledged—let it pass. The accursed
spirit of rebellion has invaded my dwelling, and I
no longer know where to find one of my household,
that has not been assailed by its malign influence!”
“Assailed I may have been, among others,”
returned Alice; “but not corrupted, if purity, in
this instance, consist in loyalty—”
“What sound is that?” interrupted the Colonel,
with startling suddenness. “Was it not the crash
of some violence, Borroughcliffe?”
“It may have been one of my rascals who has
met with a downfall in passing from the festive
board, where you know I regale them to-night, in
honour of our success!—to his blanket,” returned
the Captain, with admirable indifference; “or it
may be the very spirit of whom you have spoken
so freely, my host, that has taken umbrage at your
remarks, and is passing from the hospitable walls
of St. Ruth into the open air, without submitting to
the small trouble of ascertaining the position of doors.
In the latter case there may be some dozen perches
or so of wall to replace in the morning.”
The Colonel, who had risen, glanced his eyes,
uneasily, from the speaker to the door, and was,
evidently, but little disposed to enter into the pleasantry
of his guest.
“There are unusual noises, Capt. Borroughcliffe,
in the grounds of the Abbey, if not in the building
itself,” he said, advancing, with a fine military air,
from the table to the centre of the room, “and, as master
of the mansion, I will inquire who it is that thus unseasonably
disturbs these domains. If as friends,
they shall have welcome, though their visit be unexpected;
and if enemies, they shall also meet with
such a reception as will become an old soldier!”
“No, no,” cried Cecilia, entirely thrown off her
guard by the manner and language of the veteran,
and rushing into his arms. “Go not out, my uncle,
go not into the terrible fray, my kind, my good
uncle! you are old; you have already done more
than your duty; why should you be exposed to
danger?”
“The girl is mad with terror, Borroughcliffe,”
cried the Colonel, beading his glistening eyes
fondly on his niece, “and you will have to furnish
my good-for-nothing, gouty old person with
a corporal's guard, to watch my night-cap, or the
silly child will have an uneasy pillow, till the sun
rises once more. But you do not stir, sir?”
“Why should I?” cried the captain; “Miss
Plowden yet deigns to keep me company, and it
is not in the nature of one of the—th, to desert
his bottle and his standard in the same moment.
For, to a true soldier, the smiles of a lady are as
imposing in the parlour, as the presence of his
colours in the field.”
“I continue undisturbed, Captain Borroughcliffe,”
said Katherine, “because I have not been
an inhabitant, for so many months, of St. Ruth,
and not learned to know the tunes which the wind
can play among its chimneys and pointed roofs.
The noise which has taken Col. Howard from his
seat, and which has so unnecessarily alarmed my
cousin Cicely, is nothing but the Æolian Harp of
the Abbey sounding a double bass.”
The captain fastened on her composed countenance,
while she was speaking, a look of open admiration,
that brought, though tardily, the colour
more deeply to her cheeks; and he answered, with
something extremely equivocal, both in his emphasis
and his air—
“I have avowed my allegiance, and I will abide
her company, so long will she find me among
her most faithful and persevering attendants, come
who may, or what will.”
“You compel me to retire,” returned Katherine,
rising, “whatever may have been my gracious
intentions in the matter; for even female
vanity must crimson, at an adoration so profound
as that which can chain Capt. Borroughcliffe to a
supper-table! As your alarm has now dissipated,
my cousin, will you lead the way? Miss Alice
and myself attend you.”
“But not into the paddock, surely, Miss Plowden,”
said the captain; “the door, the key of
which you have just turned, communicates with
the vestibule. This is the passage to the drawing
room.”
The lady faintly laughed, as if in derision of
her own forgetfulness, as she bowed her acknowledgment,
and moved towards the proper passage;
she observed—
“The madness of fear has assailed some, I believe,
who have been able to affect a better disguise
than Miss Howard.”
“Is it the fear of present danger, or of that
which is in reserve?” asked the captain; “but,
as you have stipulated so generously in behalf of
my worthy host here, and of one, also, who shall
be nameless, because he has not deserved such a
favour at your hands, your safety shall be one of
my especial duties in these times of peril.”
“There is peril then!” exclaimed Cecilia;
“your looks announce it, Capt. Borroughcliffe!
The changing countenance of my cousin tells me
that my fears are too true!”
The soldier had now risen also, and, casting
aside the air of badinage, which he so much delighted
apartment, with the manner of one who felt it was
time to be serious.
“A soldier is ever in peril, when the enemies of
his king are at hand, Miss Howard,” he answered;
“and that such is now the case, Miss Plowden
can testify, if she will. But you are the allies of
both parties—retire, then, to your own apartments,
and await the result of the struggle which is at
hand.”
“You speak of danger and hidden perils,” said
Alice Dunscombe; “know ye aught that justifies
your fears?”
“I know all,” Borroughcliffe coolly replied.
“All!” exclaimed Katherine.
“All!” echoed Alice, in tones of horror. “If,
then, you know all, you must know his desperate
courage, and powerful hand, when opposed—yield
in quiet, and he will not harm ye. Believe me,
believe one who knows his very nature, that no
lamb can be more gentle than he would be, with
unresisting women; nor any lion more fierce, with
his enemies!”
“As we happen not to be of the feminine gender,”
returned Borroughcliffe, with an air somewhat
splenetic, “we must abide the fury of the
king of beasts. His paw is, even now, at the outer
door; and, if my orders have been obeyed, his entrance
will be yet easier than that of the wolf, to
the respectable female ancestor of the little red-riding-hood.”
“Stay your hand for one single moment!” said
Katherine, breathless with interest; “you are the
master of my secret, Capt. Borroughcliffe, and
bloodshed may be the consequence. I can yet go
forward, and, perhaps, save many inestimable lives.
Pledge to me your honour, that they who come hither
peace, and I will pledge to you my life for the
safety of the Abbey.”
“Oh! hear her, and shed not human blood!”
cried Cecilia.
A loud crash interrupted further speech, and
the sounds of heavy footsteps were heard in the
adjoining room, as if many men were alighting
on its floor, in quick succession. Borroughcliffe
drew back, with great coolness, to the opposite
side of the large apartment, and took a sheathed
sword from the table where it had been placed; at
the same moment the door was burst open, and
Barnstable entered alone, but heavily armed.
“You are my prisoners, gentlemen,” said the
sailor, as he advanced; “resistance is useless,
and without it you shall receive favour. Ha!
Miss Plowden! my advice was, that you should
not be present at this scene.”
“Barnstable, we are betrayed!” cried the agitated
Katherine. “But it is not yet too late.
Blood has not yet been spilt, and you can retire,
without that dreadful alternative, with honour.
Go, then, delay not another moment; for, should
the soldiers of Capt. Borroughcliffe come to the
rescue of their commander, the Abbey would be a
scene of horror!”
“Go you away; go, Katherine,” said her lover,
with impatience; “this is no place for such as
you. But, Capt. Borroughcliffe, if such be your
name, you must perceive that resistance is in vain.
I have ten good pikes in this outer room, in twenty
better hands, and it will be madness to fight
against such odds.”
“Show me your strength,” said the captain,
“that I may take counsel with mine honour.”
“Your honour shall be appeased, my brave
is my aversion, and your cause most unholy!
Heave-ahead, boys! but hold your hands for orders.”
The party of fierce-looking sailors, whom Barnstable
led, on receiving this order, rushed into
the room in a medley; but, notwithstanding the
surly glances, and savage characters of their dress
and equipments, they struck no blow, nor committed
any act of hostility. The ladies shrunk
back appalled, as this terrific little band took possession
of the hall; and even Borroughcliffe, was
seen to fall back towards a door, which, in some
measure, covered his retreat. The confusion of
this sudden movement had not yet subsided, when
sounds of strife were heard rapidly approaching
from a distant part of the building, and presently
one of the numerous doors of the apartment
was violently opened, when two of the garrison
of the Abbey rushed into the hall, vigorously
pressed by twice their number of seamen, seconded
by Griffith, Manual, and Merry, who were
armed with such weapons of offence as had presented
themselves to their hands, at their unexpected
liberation. There was a movement on the part of
the seamen, who already were in possession of the
room, that threatened instant death to the fugitives;
but Barnstable beat down their pikes with
his sword, and sternly ordered them to fall back.
Surprise produced the same pacific result among
the combatants; and as the soldiers hastily sought
a refuge behind their own officers, and the released
captives, with their liberators, joined the
body of their friends, the quiet of the hall, which
had been so rudely interrupted, was soon restored.
“You see, sir,” said Barnstable, after grasping
cordial pressure, “that all my plans have succeeded.
Your sleeping guard are closely watched in
their barracks, by one party, our officers are released,
and your sentinels cut off by another,
while, with a third, I hold the centre of the Abbey,
and am, substantially, in possession of your own
person. In consideration, therefore, of what is due
to humanity, and to the presence of these ladies,
let there be no struggle! I shall impose no difficult
terms, nor any long imprisonment.”
The recruiting officer manifested a composure,
throughout the whole scene, that would have
excited some uneasiness in his invaders, had there
been opportunity for more minute observation; but
his countenance now gradually assumed an appearance
of anxiety, and his head was frequently
turned, as if listening for further, and more important
interruptions. He answered, however, this
appeal, with his ordinary deliberation.
“You speak of conquests, sir, before they are
achieved. My venerable host and myself are not
so defenceless as you may choose to imagine.”
While speaking, he threw aside the cloth of a side
table, from beneath which, the colonel and himself
were instantly armed with a brace of pistols each.
“Here are the death warrants of four of your
party, and these brave fellows at my back can account
for two more. I believe, my transatlantic
warrior, that we are now something in the condition
of Cortes and the Mexicans, when the former
overran part of your continent—I being Cortes,
armed with artificial thunder and lightning,
and you the Indians, with nothing but your pikes
and slings, and such other antediluvian inventions.
Shipwrecks and sea-water are fatal dampers of
gun-powder!”
“That we are unprovided with fire-arms, I will
not deny,” said Barnstable; “but we are men who
are used, from infancy, to depend on our good
right arms for life and safety, and we know how
to use them, though we should even grapple with
death! As for the trifles in your hands, gentlemen,
you are not to suppose that men who are
trained to look in at one end of a thirty-two
pounder, loaded with grape, while the match is
put to the other, will so much as wink at their report,
though you fired them by fifties. What say
you, boys! is a pistol a weapon to repel boarders?”
The discordant and disdainful laughs that burst
from the restrained seamen, were a sufficient
pledge of their indifference to so trifling a danger.
Borroughcliffe noted their hardened boldness,
and taking the supper bell, which was lying near
him, he rang it, for a minute, with great violence.
The heavy tread of trained footsteps soon followed
this extraordinary summons; and presently, the
several doors of the apartment were opened, and
filled with armed soldiers, wearing the livery of the
English crown.
“If you hold these smaller weapons in such
vast contempt,” said the recruiting officer, when
he perceived that his men had possessed themselves
of all the avenues, “it is in my power to
try the virtue of some more formidable. After
this exhibition of my strength, gentlemen, I presume
you cannot hesitate to submit as prisoners
of war.”
The seamen had been formed in something like
military array, by the assiduity of Manual, during
the preceding dialogue; and as the different
doors had discovered fresh accessions to the
strength of the enemy, the marine industriously
completely arranged in a hollow square, that
might have proved formidable in a charge, bristled
as it was with the deadly pikes of the Ariel.
“Here has been some mistake,” said Griffith,
after glancing his eye at the formidable array of
the soldiers; “I take precedence of Mr. Barnstable,
and I shall propose to you, Capt. Borroughcliffe,
terms that may remove this scene of
strife from the dwelling of Col. Howard.”
“The dwelling of Col. Howard,” cried the
veteran, “is the dwelling of his king, or of the
meanest servant of the crown! so, Borroughcliffe,
spare not the traitors on my behalf; accept no
other terms, than such unconditional submission
as is meet to exact from the rebellious subjects of
the Anointed of the Lord.”
While Griffith spoke, Barnstable folded his arms,
in affected composure, and glanced his eyes expressively
at the shivering Katherine, who, with
her companions, still continued agitated spectators
of all that passed, chained to the spot by their apprehensions;
but to this formidable denunciation,
of the master of the Abbey, he deemed proper to
reply—
“Now, by every hope I have of sleeping again
on salt water, old gentleman, if it were not for
the presence of these three trembling females, but
I should feel tempted to dispute, at once, the title
of his majesty—you may make such a covenant
as you will with Mr. Griffith, but if it contain one
syllable about submission to your king, or of any
other allegiance, than that which I owe to the Continental
Congress, and the state of Massachusetts,
you may as well consider the terms violated at
once; for not an article of such an agreement will
choose to follow me as leader.”
“Here are but two leaders, Mr. Barnstable,”
interrupted the haughty Griffith; “the one of the
enemy, and the other, of the arms of America.
Capt. Borroughcliffe, to you, as the former, I address
myself. The great objects of the contest,
which now unhappily divides England from her
ancient colonies, can be, in no degree, affected by
the events of this night; while, on the other hand,
by a rigid adherence to military notions, much
private evil and deep domestic calamity, must follow
any struggle in such a place. We have but
to speak, sir, and these rude men, who already
stand impatiently handling their instruments of
death, will aim them at each other's lives; and who
can say that he shall be able to stay their hands
when and where he will! I know you to be a soldier,
and that you are not yet to learn how much
easier it is to stimulate to blood, than to glut vengeance.”
Borroughcliffe, unused to the admission of violent
emotions, and secure in the superiority of his
own party, both in numbers and equipments, heard
him with the coolest composure to the end, and
then answered in his customary manner.
“I honour your logic, sir. Your premises are
indisputable, and the conclusion most obvious
Commit, then, those worthy tars to the good keeping
of honest Drill, who will see their famished natures
revived by divers eatables, and a due proportion
of suitable fluids; while we can discuss the
manner in which you are to return to the colonies,
around a bottle of liquor, which my friend Manual
there, assures me has come from the sun
my side of the island of Madeira, to be drunk in
a bleak corner of that of Britain. By my palate!
know by instinct, sir, that a shipwrecked mariner
is a fitter companion to a ration of beef and a pot
of porter, than to such unsightly things as bayonets
and boarding-pikes!”
“Trifle not unseasonably!” exclaimed the
impatient young sailor. “You have the odds in
numbers, but whether it will avail you much in a
deadly struggle of hand to hand, is a question you
must put to your prudence: we stand not here to
ask terms, but to grant them. You must be brief,
sir, for the time is wasting while we delay.”
“I have offered to you the means of obtaining in
perfection the enjoyment of the three most ancient
of the numerous family of the arts—eating, drinking,
and sleeping! What more do you require?”
“That you order these men, who fill the pass to
the outer door, to fall back and give us room. I
would take, in peace, these armed men from before
the eyes of those who are unused to such sights.
Before you oppose this demand, think how easily
these hardy fellows could make a way for themselves,
against your divided force.”
“Your companion, the experienced Capt. Manual,
will tell you that such a manœuvre would be
very unmilitary, with a superior body in your
rear!”
“I have not leisure, sir, for this folly,” cried
the indignant Griffith. “Do you refuse us an unmolested
retreat from the Abbey?”
“I do.”
Griffith turned, with a look of extreme emotion,
to the ladies, and beckoned to them to retire, unable
to give utterance to his wishes in words. After
a moment of deep silence, however, he once more
addressed Borroughcliffe in the tones of conciliation.
“If Mauual and myself will return to our prisons,
and submit to the will of your government,”
he said, “can the rest of the party return to the
frigate unmolested?”
“They cannot,” replied the soldier, who, perceiving
that the crisis approached, was gradually losing
his artificial deportment in the interest of the
moment. “You, and all others, who willingly invade
the peace of these realms, must abide the issue.”
“Then God protect the innocent and defend the
right!”
“Amen.”
“Give way, villains!” cried Griffith, facing the
party that held the outer door; “give way, or
you shall be riddled with our pikes!”
“Show them your muzzles, men!” shouted Borroughcliffe;
“but pull no trigger till they advance.”
There was an instant of bustle and preparation,
in which the rattling of fire arms, blended with the
suppressed execrations and threats of the intended
combatants; and Cecilia and Katherine had both
covered their faces to veil the horrid sight that was
momentarily expected, when Alice Dunscombe
advanced, boldly, between the points of the threatening
weapons, and spoke in a voice that stayed
the hands that were already uplifted.
“Hear me, men! if men ye be, and not demons,
thirsting for each other's blood; though ye walk
abroad in the semblance of him who died that ye
might be elevated to the rank of angels! call ye this
war? Is this the glory that is made to warm the
hearts of even silly and confiding women? Is the
peace of families to be destroyed to gratify your
wicked lust for conquest; and is life to be taken
in vain, in order that you may boast of the foul
deed in your wicked revels! Fall back, then, ye
give passage to a woman; and remember that the
first shot that is fired, will be buried in her bosom!”
The men, thus enjoined, shrunk before her commanding
mien, and a way was made for her exit
through that very door which Griffith had, in vain,
solicited might be cleared for himself and party.
But Alice, instead of advancing, appeared to have
suddenly lost the use of those faculties which had
already effected so much. Her figure seemed rooted
to the spot where she had spoken, and her eyes
were fixed in a settled gaze as if dwelling on some
horrid object. While she yet stood in this attitude
of unconscious helplessness, the door-way became
again darkened, and the figure of the Pilot was
seen on its threshold, clad, as usual, in the humble
vestments of his profession, but heavily armed
with the weapons of naval war. For an instant,
he stood a silent spectator of the scene; and then
advanced calmly, but with searching eyes, into
the centre of the apartment.
| CHAPTER X. The pilot | |