Chapter Fourteen.In which some new Characters appear on the Stage, although the Corporal is not to be heard of.The loss of the boat was reported by Obadiah Coble at daylight, and Mr Vanslyperken immediately went on deck with his spy-glass, to ascertain if he could distinguish the corporal coming down with the last of the ebb-tide, but he was nowhere to be seen. Mr Vanslyperken went to the masthead and surveyed in every direction, but he could neither see anything like the boat or Corporal Van Spitter. His anxiety betrayed to the men that he was a party to the corporal’s proceedings, and they whispered among themselves. At last Mr Vanslyperken came down on deck, and desired Corporal Van Spitter to be sent to him. Of course, it was soon reported to him that Corporal Van Spitter was nowhere to be found, and Mr Vanslyperken pretended to be much astonished. As the lieutenant took it for granted that the boat had been swept out with the ebb, he determined to get under weigh in pursuance of his orders, pick up the corporal, if he could find him, and then proceed to Portsmouth, which was the port of his destination. Smallbones attended his master, and was so unusually active, that the suspicious Mr Vanslyperken immediately decided that he had a finger in the business; but he took no notice, resolving in his own mind that Smallbones should some day or another be adrift himself, as the corporal was, but with this difference, that there should be no search made after him. As soon as the men had finished their breakfasts, the cutter was got under weigh and proceeded to sea. During the whole day Vanslyperken cruised in the Zuyder Zee looking for the boat, but without success, and at last he unwillingly shaped his course for England, much puzzled and perplexed, as now he had no one to act as his steward to whom he could confide, or by whose arrangements he could continue to defraud the ship’s company; and, further, he was obliged to put off for the present all idea of punishing Jemmy Ducks, for, without the corporal, the marines were afraid to move a step in defiance of the ship’s company. The consequence was, that the three days that they were at sea Mr Vanslyperken confined himself altogether to his cabin, for he was not without some fears for his own safety. On his arrival at Portsmouth, he delivered his letters to the admiral, and received orders to return to his cruising ground after the smugglers as soon as he had replaced his lost boat.We have observed that Mr Vanslyperken had no relations on this side of the water; but in saying that, we referred to the epoch that he was in the service previous to the accession of King William. Since that, and about a year from the time we are now writing about, he had brought over his mother, whom he had not, till the peace, seen for years, and had established her in a small apartment in that part of the town now known by the name of the Halfway Houses. The old woman lived upon a small pension allowed by the Dutch court, having been employed for many years in a subordinate capacity in the king’s household. She was said to have once been handsome, and when young prodigal of her favours; at present she was a palsied old woman, bent double with age and infirmity, but with all her faculties as complete as if she was in her prime. Nothing could escape her little twinkling bloodshot eyes or her acute ear; she could scarcely hobble fifty yards, but she kept no servant to assist her, for, like her son, she was avaricious in the extreme. What crime she had committed was not known, but that something lay heavy on her conscience was certain; but if there was guilt, there was no repentance, only fear of future punishment. Cornelius Vanslyperken was her only living child; she had been twice married. The old woman did not appear to be very fond of him, although she treated him still as a child, and executed her parental authority as if he were still in petticoats. Her coming over was a sort of mutual convenience. She had saved money, and Vanslyperken wished to secure that, and also have a home and a person to whom he could trust; and she was so abhorred, and the reports against her so shocking where she resided, that she was glad to leave a place where every one, as she passed, would get out of her way, as if to avoid contamination. Yet these reports were vague, although hinting at some horrid and appalling crimes. No one knew what they exactly were, for the old woman had outlived her contemporaries, and the tradition was imperfect; but she had been handed down to the next generation as one to be avoided as a basilisk.It was to his mother’s abode, one room on the second floor, to which Mr Vanslyperken proceeded, as soon as he had taken the necessary steps for the replacing, of the boat. As he ascended the stairs, the quack ear of the old woman heard his footstep, and recognised it. It must be observed, that all the conversation between Vanslyperken and his mother was carried on in Dutch, of which we, of course, give the translation.“There you come, Cornelius Vanslyperken; I hear you, and by your hurried tread, you are vexed: Well, why should you not be vexed as well as your mother, in this world of devils?”This was a soliloquy of the old woman’s before that Vanslyperken had entered the room, where he found his mother sitting over a few cinders half ignited in a very small grate. Parsimony would not allow her to use more fuel, although her limbs trembled as much from cold as palsy; her nose and chin nearly met; her lips were like old scars, and of an ashy white; and her sunken hollow mouth reminded you of a small, deep, dark sepulchre; teeth she had none.“How fare you, mother?” said Vanslyperken, on entering the room.“I’m alive.”“And long may you live, dear mother.”“Ah!” replied the woman, as if doubting.“I am here but for a short time,” continued Vanslyperken.“Well, child, so much the better: when on board you save money, on shore you must spend some. Have you brought any with you?”“I have, mother, which I must leave to your care.”“Give it me, then.”Vanslyperken pulled out a bag and laid it on the lap of his mother, whose trembling hands counted it over.“Gold, and good gold—while you live, my child, part not with gold. I’ll not die yet—no, no, the devils may pull at me, and grin at me, but I’m not theirs yet.”Here the old woman paused, and rocked herself in her chair.“Cornelius, lock this money up, and give me the key there, now that is safe, you may talk, if you please, child: I can hear well enough.”Vanslyperken obeyed; he mentioned all the events of the last cruise, and his feelings against the widow, Smallbones, and Jemmy Ducks. The old woman never interrupted him, but sat with her arms folded up in her apron.“Just so, just so,” said she, at last, when he had done speaking; “I felt the same, but then you have not the soul to act as I did. I could do it, but you—you are a coward; no one dared cross my path, or if they did—ah, well, that’s years ago, and I’m not dead yet.”All this was muttered by the old woman in a sort of half soliloquy: she paused and continued—“Better leave the boy alone—get nothing by it;—the woman—there’s work there, for there’s money.”“But she refuses, mother, if I do not destroy the dog.”“Refuses—ah, well—let me see:— can’t you ruin her character, blast her reputation? she is yours and her money too;—then, then—there will be money and revenge—both good; but money—no—yes, money’s best. The dog must live, to gnaw the Jezebel—gnaw her bones—but you, you are a coward—you dare do nothing.”“What do I fear, mother?”“Man—the gallows, and death. I fear the last, but I shall not die yet:— no, no, Iwilllive—I willnotdie. Ay, the corporal—lost in Zuyder Zee—dead men tell no tales; and he could tell many of you, my child. Let the fish fatten on him.”“I cannot do without him, mother.”“A hundred thousand devils!” exclaimed the old mother, “that I should have suffered such throes for a craven. Cornelius Vanslyperken, you are not like your mother:— your father, indeed—”“Who was my father?”“Silence, child—there, go away—I wish to be alone with memory.”Vanslyperken, who knew that resistance or remonstrance would be useless, and only lead to bitter cursing and imprecation on the part of the old woman, rose and walked back to the sallyport, where he slipped into his boat and pulled on board of the Yungfrau, which lay at anchor in the harbour, about a cable’s length from the shore.“Here he comes,” cried a tall bony woman, with nothing on her head but a cap with green faded ribbons, who was standing on the forecastle of the cutter. “Here he comes; he, the villain, as would have flogged my Jemmy.” This was the wife of Jemmy Ducks, who lived at Portsmouth, and who, having heard what had taken place, vowed revenge.“Silence, Moggy,” said Jemmy, who was standing by her.“Yes, I’ll hold my tongue till the time comes, and then I’ll sarve him out, the cheating wagabond.”“Silence, Moggy.”“And as for that ’peaching old Corporal Blubber, I’llWan Spitterhim if ever he turns up again to blow the gaff against my own dear Jemmy.”“Silence, Moggy—there’s rowed of all, and a marine at your elbow.”“Let him take that for his trouble,” cried Moggy, turning round, and delivering a swinging box of the ear upon the astonished marine, who, not liking to encounter such an Amazon, made a hasty retreat down the fore-hatchway.“So there you are, are you?” continued Moggy, as Vanslyperken stepped on the deck.“Silence, Moggy.”“You, that would flog my own dear darling duck—my own Jemmy.”“Silence! Moggy, will you?” said Jemmy Ducks, in an angry tone, “or I’ll smash your peepers.”“You must climb on the gun to reach them, my little man,” replied his wife. “Well, the more I holds my tongue now, the more for him when I gets hold on him. Oh! he’s gone to his cabin, has he, to kiss his Snarleyyow:— I’ll makesmallbonesof that beast afore I’m done with him. Flog my Jemmy—my own, dear, darling Jemmy—a nasty lean—”“Go down below, Moggy,” said Jemmy Ducks, pushing her towards the hatchway.“Snivelling, great-coated—”“Go below,” continued Jemmy, shoving her.“Ferret-eyed, razor-nosed—”“Go down below, will you?” cried Jemmy, pushing her near to the hatchway.“Herring-gutted, bare-poled—”“Confound it! go below.”“Cheating rip of a wagabond! Lord, Jemmy, if you a’n’t shoved me down the hatchway! Well, never mind, my darling, let’s go to supper;” and Moggy caught hold of her husband as she was going down, and with surprising strength lifted him off his legs, and carried him down in her arms as she would have done a child, much to the amusement of the men who were standing on the forecastle.When it was dusk, a boat dropped alongside of the cutter, and a man stepped out of it on the deck, when he was met by Obadiah Coble, who asked him, “What’s your pleasure?”“I must speak with the commander of this vessel directly.”“Wait a moment, and I’ll tell him what you say,” replied Coble, who reported the message to Mr Vanslyperken.“What sort of a person is he?” demanded the lieutenant.“Oh, I don’t know—sort of half-bred, long-shore chap—looks something between a bumbailey and a bumboatman.”“Well, you may show him down.”The man, who shortly after entered the cabin, was a short, punchy little fellow, with a red waistcoat, knee-breeches, and a round jacket of green cloth. His face was covered with carbuncles, some of them so large that his small pug-nose was nothing more in appearance than a larger blotch than the others. His eyes were small and keen, and his whiskers of a deep red. As soon as he entered the cabin, he very deliberately locked the door after him.“Nothing like making sure,” observed he.“Why, what the devil do you want?” exclaimed Vanslyperken, rather alarmed; while Snarleyyow walked round and round the thick calves of the man’s legs, growling, and in more than two minds to have a bite through his blue worsted stockings; and the peculiar obliquity with which he carried his head, now that he surveyed with only one eye, was by no means satisfactory.“Take your cur away, and let us proceed to business, for there is no time to lose,” said the man coolly, taking a chair. “Now there can be no eavesdropping, I trust, for my life may be forfeited, if I’m discovered.”“I cannot understand a word of all this,” replied Vanslyperken, much surprised.“In a few words, do you want to put some five thousand pounds in your pocket?”At this question Vanslyperken became attentive. He beat off the dog, and took a chair by the side of the stranger.“Ah! interest will always bring civility; so now to the point. You command this cutter, do you not?”“I do,” replied Vanslyperken.“Well, you are about to cruise after the smugglers?”“Yes.”“I can give information of a cargo to be landed on a certain night, worth ten thousand pounds or more.”“Indeed!” replied Vanslyperken.“Yes, and put your boats in such a position that they must seize the whole.”“I’m very much obliged to you. Will you take something, sir, any scheedam?” said Vanslyperken, unlocking one of his cupboards, and producing a large stone bottle, and a couple of glasses, which he filled.“This is very good stuff,” observed the man; “I’ll trouble you for another glass.”This was one more than Mr Vanslyperken intended; but on second thoughts, it would make his new acquaintance more communicative, so another was filled, and as soon as it was filled it was emptied.“Capital stuff!” said he of the rubicund face, shoving his glass towards Vanslyperken, by way of hint; but the lieutenant would not take the hint, as his new guest had already swallowed as much as lasted himself for a week.“Butnow,” observed Vanslyperken, “where is this cargo to be seen, and when?”“That’s tellings,” replied the man.“I know that; but you have come to tell, or what the devil else?” replied Vanslyperken, who was getting angry.“That’s according—” replied the man.“According to what?”“The snacks,” replied the man. “What will you give up?”“Give up! How do you mean?”“What is my share to be?”“Share! you can’t share—you’re not a king’s officer.”“No, but I’m an informer, and that’s the same thing.”“Well, depend upon it, I’ll behave very liberally.”“How much, I ask?”“We’ll see to that afterwards; something handsome, depend upon it.”“That won’t do. Wish you good evening, sir. Many thanks for the scheedam—capital stuff!” and the man rose from his chair.But Mr Vanslyperken had no intention to let him go; his avarice induced him at first to try if the man would be satisfied with his promise to reward him—a promise which would certainly never have been adhered to.“Stop! my dear sir, do not be in such a hurry. Take another glass.”“With pleasure,” replied the man, reseating himself, and drinking off the scheedam. “That’s really prime; I like it better every time I taste it. Now, then, shall we go to business again? I’ll be plain with you. Half is my conditions, or I don’t inform.”“Half!” exclaimed Vanslyperken; “half of ten thousand pounds? What! five thousand pounds?”“Exactly so; half of ten is five, as you say.”“What! give you five thousand pounds?”“I rather think it is I who offer you five thousand, for the devil a penny will you get without me. And that I will have, and this bond you must sign to that effect, or I’m off. You’re not the only vessel in the harbour.”Vanslyperken tried for some time to reduce the terms, but the man was positive. Vanslyperken then tried if he could not make the man intoxicated, and thus obtain better terms; but fifteen glasses of his prime scheedam had no effect further than extorting unqualified praise as it was poured down, and at last Mr Vanslyperken unwillingly consented to the terms, and the bond was signed.“We must weigh at the ebb,” said the man, as he put the bond in his pocket. “I shall stay on board; we have a moonlight night, and if we had not, I could find my way out in a yellow fog. Please to get your boats all ready, manned and armed, for there may be a sharp tussle.”“But when do they run, and where?” demanded Vanslyperken.“To-morrow night at the back of the Isle. Let me see,” continued the man, taking out his watch; “mercy on me! how time has flown—that’s the scheedam. In a couple of hours we must weigh. I’ll go up and see if the wind holds in the same quarter. If you please, lieutenant, we’ll just drink success to the expedition. Well, that’s prime stuff, I do declare.”
The loss of the boat was reported by Obadiah Coble at daylight, and Mr Vanslyperken immediately went on deck with his spy-glass, to ascertain if he could distinguish the corporal coming down with the last of the ebb-tide, but he was nowhere to be seen. Mr Vanslyperken went to the masthead and surveyed in every direction, but he could neither see anything like the boat or Corporal Van Spitter. His anxiety betrayed to the men that he was a party to the corporal’s proceedings, and they whispered among themselves. At last Mr Vanslyperken came down on deck, and desired Corporal Van Spitter to be sent to him. Of course, it was soon reported to him that Corporal Van Spitter was nowhere to be found, and Mr Vanslyperken pretended to be much astonished. As the lieutenant took it for granted that the boat had been swept out with the ebb, he determined to get under weigh in pursuance of his orders, pick up the corporal, if he could find him, and then proceed to Portsmouth, which was the port of his destination. Smallbones attended his master, and was so unusually active, that the suspicious Mr Vanslyperken immediately decided that he had a finger in the business; but he took no notice, resolving in his own mind that Smallbones should some day or another be adrift himself, as the corporal was, but with this difference, that there should be no search made after him. As soon as the men had finished their breakfasts, the cutter was got under weigh and proceeded to sea. During the whole day Vanslyperken cruised in the Zuyder Zee looking for the boat, but without success, and at last he unwillingly shaped his course for England, much puzzled and perplexed, as now he had no one to act as his steward to whom he could confide, or by whose arrangements he could continue to defraud the ship’s company; and, further, he was obliged to put off for the present all idea of punishing Jemmy Ducks, for, without the corporal, the marines were afraid to move a step in defiance of the ship’s company. The consequence was, that the three days that they were at sea Mr Vanslyperken confined himself altogether to his cabin, for he was not without some fears for his own safety. On his arrival at Portsmouth, he delivered his letters to the admiral, and received orders to return to his cruising ground after the smugglers as soon as he had replaced his lost boat.
We have observed that Mr Vanslyperken had no relations on this side of the water; but in saying that, we referred to the epoch that he was in the service previous to the accession of King William. Since that, and about a year from the time we are now writing about, he had brought over his mother, whom he had not, till the peace, seen for years, and had established her in a small apartment in that part of the town now known by the name of the Halfway Houses. The old woman lived upon a small pension allowed by the Dutch court, having been employed for many years in a subordinate capacity in the king’s household. She was said to have once been handsome, and when young prodigal of her favours; at present she was a palsied old woman, bent double with age and infirmity, but with all her faculties as complete as if she was in her prime. Nothing could escape her little twinkling bloodshot eyes or her acute ear; she could scarcely hobble fifty yards, but she kept no servant to assist her, for, like her son, she was avaricious in the extreme. What crime she had committed was not known, but that something lay heavy on her conscience was certain; but if there was guilt, there was no repentance, only fear of future punishment. Cornelius Vanslyperken was her only living child; she had been twice married. The old woman did not appear to be very fond of him, although she treated him still as a child, and executed her parental authority as if he were still in petticoats. Her coming over was a sort of mutual convenience. She had saved money, and Vanslyperken wished to secure that, and also have a home and a person to whom he could trust; and she was so abhorred, and the reports against her so shocking where she resided, that she was glad to leave a place where every one, as she passed, would get out of her way, as if to avoid contamination. Yet these reports were vague, although hinting at some horrid and appalling crimes. No one knew what they exactly were, for the old woman had outlived her contemporaries, and the tradition was imperfect; but she had been handed down to the next generation as one to be avoided as a basilisk.
It was to his mother’s abode, one room on the second floor, to which Mr Vanslyperken proceeded, as soon as he had taken the necessary steps for the replacing, of the boat. As he ascended the stairs, the quack ear of the old woman heard his footstep, and recognised it. It must be observed, that all the conversation between Vanslyperken and his mother was carried on in Dutch, of which we, of course, give the translation.
“There you come, Cornelius Vanslyperken; I hear you, and by your hurried tread, you are vexed: Well, why should you not be vexed as well as your mother, in this world of devils?”
This was a soliloquy of the old woman’s before that Vanslyperken had entered the room, where he found his mother sitting over a few cinders half ignited in a very small grate. Parsimony would not allow her to use more fuel, although her limbs trembled as much from cold as palsy; her nose and chin nearly met; her lips were like old scars, and of an ashy white; and her sunken hollow mouth reminded you of a small, deep, dark sepulchre; teeth she had none.
“How fare you, mother?” said Vanslyperken, on entering the room.
“I’m alive.”
“And long may you live, dear mother.”
“Ah!” replied the woman, as if doubting.
“I am here but for a short time,” continued Vanslyperken.
“Well, child, so much the better: when on board you save money, on shore you must spend some. Have you brought any with you?”
“I have, mother, which I must leave to your care.”
“Give it me, then.”
Vanslyperken pulled out a bag and laid it on the lap of his mother, whose trembling hands counted it over.
“Gold, and good gold—while you live, my child, part not with gold. I’ll not die yet—no, no, the devils may pull at me, and grin at me, but I’m not theirs yet.”
Here the old woman paused, and rocked herself in her chair.
“Cornelius, lock this money up, and give me the key there, now that is safe, you may talk, if you please, child: I can hear well enough.”
Vanslyperken obeyed; he mentioned all the events of the last cruise, and his feelings against the widow, Smallbones, and Jemmy Ducks. The old woman never interrupted him, but sat with her arms folded up in her apron.
“Just so, just so,” said she, at last, when he had done speaking; “I felt the same, but then you have not the soul to act as I did. I could do it, but you—you are a coward; no one dared cross my path, or if they did—ah, well, that’s years ago, and I’m not dead yet.”
All this was muttered by the old woman in a sort of half soliloquy: she paused and continued—“Better leave the boy alone—get nothing by it;—the woman—there’s work there, for there’s money.”
“But she refuses, mother, if I do not destroy the dog.”
“Refuses—ah, well—let me see:— can’t you ruin her character, blast her reputation? she is yours and her money too;—then, then—there will be money and revenge—both good; but money—no—yes, money’s best. The dog must live, to gnaw the Jezebel—gnaw her bones—but you, you are a coward—you dare do nothing.”
“What do I fear, mother?”
“Man—the gallows, and death. I fear the last, but I shall not die yet:— no, no, Iwilllive—I willnotdie. Ay, the corporal—lost in Zuyder Zee—dead men tell no tales; and he could tell many of you, my child. Let the fish fatten on him.”
“I cannot do without him, mother.”
“A hundred thousand devils!” exclaimed the old mother, “that I should have suffered such throes for a craven. Cornelius Vanslyperken, you are not like your mother:— your father, indeed—”
“Who was my father?”
“Silence, child—there, go away—I wish to be alone with memory.”
Vanslyperken, who knew that resistance or remonstrance would be useless, and only lead to bitter cursing and imprecation on the part of the old woman, rose and walked back to the sallyport, where he slipped into his boat and pulled on board of the Yungfrau, which lay at anchor in the harbour, about a cable’s length from the shore.
“Here he comes,” cried a tall bony woman, with nothing on her head but a cap with green faded ribbons, who was standing on the forecastle of the cutter. “Here he comes; he, the villain, as would have flogged my Jemmy.” This was the wife of Jemmy Ducks, who lived at Portsmouth, and who, having heard what had taken place, vowed revenge.
“Silence, Moggy,” said Jemmy, who was standing by her.
“Yes, I’ll hold my tongue till the time comes, and then I’ll sarve him out, the cheating wagabond.”
“Silence, Moggy.”
“And as for that ’peaching old Corporal Blubber, I’llWan Spitterhim if ever he turns up again to blow the gaff against my own dear Jemmy.”
“Silence, Moggy—there’s rowed of all, and a marine at your elbow.”
“Let him take that for his trouble,” cried Moggy, turning round, and delivering a swinging box of the ear upon the astonished marine, who, not liking to encounter such an Amazon, made a hasty retreat down the fore-hatchway.
“So there you are, are you?” continued Moggy, as Vanslyperken stepped on the deck.
“Silence, Moggy.”
“You, that would flog my own dear darling duck—my own Jemmy.”
“Silence! Moggy, will you?” said Jemmy Ducks, in an angry tone, “or I’ll smash your peepers.”
“You must climb on the gun to reach them, my little man,” replied his wife. “Well, the more I holds my tongue now, the more for him when I gets hold on him. Oh! he’s gone to his cabin, has he, to kiss his Snarleyyow:— I’ll makesmallbonesof that beast afore I’m done with him. Flog my Jemmy—my own, dear, darling Jemmy—a nasty lean—”
“Go down below, Moggy,” said Jemmy Ducks, pushing her towards the hatchway.
“Snivelling, great-coated—”
“Go below,” continued Jemmy, shoving her.
“Ferret-eyed, razor-nosed—”
“Go down below, will you?” cried Jemmy, pushing her near to the hatchway.
“Herring-gutted, bare-poled—”
“Confound it! go below.”
“Cheating rip of a wagabond! Lord, Jemmy, if you a’n’t shoved me down the hatchway! Well, never mind, my darling, let’s go to supper;” and Moggy caught hold of her husband as she was going down, and with surprising strength lifted him off his legs, and carried him down in her arms as she would have done a child, much to the amusement of the men who were standing on the forecastle.
When it was dusk, a boat dropped alongside of the cutter, and a man stepped out of it on the deck, when he was met by Obadiah Coble, who asked him, “What’s your pleasure?”
“I must speak with the commander of this vessel directly.”
“Wait a moment, and I’ll tell him what you say,” replied Coble, who reported the message to Mr Vanslyperken.
“What sort of a person is he?” demanded the lieutenant.
“Oh, I don’t know—sort of half-bred, long-shore chap—looks something between a bumbailey and a bumboatman.”
“Well, you may show him down.”
The man, who shortly after entered the cabin, was a short, punchy little fellow, with a red waistcoat, knee-breeches, and a round jacket of green cloth. His face was covered with carbuncles, some of them so large that his small pug-nose was nothing more in appearance than a larger blotch than the others. His eyes were small and keen, and his whiskers of a deep red. As soon as he entered the cabin, he very deliberately locked the door after him.
“Nothing like making sure,” observed he.
“Why, what the devil do you want?” exclaimed Vanslyperken, rather alarmed; while Snarleyyow walked round and round the thick calves of the man’s legs, growling, and in more than two minds to have a bite through his blue worsted stockings; and the peculiar obliquity with which he carried his head, now that he surveyed with only one eye, was by no means satisfactory.
“Take your cur away, and let us proceed to business, for there is no time to lose,” said the man coolly, taking a chair. “Now there can be no eavesdropping, I trust, for my life may be forfeited, if I’m discovered.”
“I cannot understand a word of all this,” replied Vanslyperken, much surprised.
“In a few words, do you want to put some five thousand pounds in your pocket?”
At this question Vanslyperken became attentive. He beat off the dog, and took a chair by the side of the stranger.
“Ah! interest will always bring civility; so now to the point. You command this cutter, do you not?”
“I do,” replied Vanslyperken.
“Well, you are about to cruise after the smugglers?”
“Yes.”
“I can give information of a cargo to be landed on a certain night, worth ten thousand pounds or more.”
“Indeed!” replied Vanslyperken.
“Yes, and put your boats in such a position that they must seize the whole.”
“I’m very much obliged to you. Will you take something, sir, any scheedam?” said Vanslyperken, unlocking one of his cupboards, and producing a large stone bottle, and a couple of glasses, which he filled.
“This is very good stuff,” observed the man; “I’ll trouble you for another glass.”
This was one more than Mr Vanslyperken intended; but on second thoughts, it would make his new acquaintance more communicative, so another was filled, and as soon as it was filled it was emptied.
“Capital stuff!” said he of the rubicund face, shoving his glass towards Vanslyperken, by way of hint; but the lieutenant would not take the hint, as his new guest had already swallowed as much as lasted himself for a week.
“Butnow,” observed Vanslyperken, “where is this cargo to be seen, and when?”
“That’s tellings,” replied the man.
“I know that; but you have come to tell, or what the devil else?” replied Vanslyperken, who was getting angry.
“That’s according—” replied the man.
“According to what?”
“The snacks,” replied the man. “What will you give up?”
“Give up! How do you mean?”
“What is my share to be?”
“Share! you can’t share—you’re not a king’s officer.”
“No, but I’m an informer, and that’s the same thing.”
“Well, depend upon it, I’ll behave very liberally.”
“How much, I ask?”
“We’ll see to that afterwards; something handsome, depend upon it.”
“That won’t do. Wish you good evening, sir. Many thanks for the scheedam—capital stuff!” and the man rose from his chair.
But Mr Vanslyperken had no intention to let him go; his avarice induced him at first to try if the man would be satisfied with his promise to reward him—a promise which would certainly never have been adhered to.
“Stop! my dear sir, do not be in such a hurry. Take another glass.”
“With pleasure,” replied the man, reseating himself, and drinking off the scheedam. “That’s really prime; I like it better every time I taste it. Now, then, shall we go to business again? I’ll be plain with you. Half is my conditions, or I don’t inform.”
“Half!” exclaimed Vanslyperken; “half of ten thousand pounds? What! five thousand pounds?”
“Exactly so; half of ten is five, as you say.”
“What! give you five thousand pounds?”
“I rather think it is I who offer you five thousand, for the devil a penny will you get without me. And that I will have, and this bond you must sign to that effect, or I’m off. You’re not the only vessel in the harbour.”
Vanslyperken tried for some time to reduce the terms, but the man was positive. Vanslyperken then tried if he could not make the man intoxicated, and thus obtain better terms; but fifteen glasses of his prime scheedam had no effect further than extorting unqualified praise as it was poured down, and at last Mr Vanslyperken unwillingly consented to the terms, and the bond was signed.
“We must weigh at the ebb,” said the man, as he put the bond in his pocket. “I shall stay on board; we have a moonlight night, and if we had not, I could find my way out in a yellow fog. Please to get your boats all ready, manned and armed, for there may be a sharp tussle.”
“But when do they run, and where?” demanded Vanslyperken.
“To-morrow night at the back of the Isle. Let me see,” continued the man, taking out his watch; “mercy on me! how time has flown—that’s the scheedam. In a couple of hours we must weigh. I’ll go up and see if the wind holds in the same quarter. If you please, lieutenant, we’ll just drink success to the expedition. Well, that’s prime stuff, I do declare.”
Chapter Fifteen.In which the Crew of the Yungfrau lose a Good Prize, and Snarleyyow loses his Character.The next morning the Yungfrau was clear of St. Helen’s, and sounding the eastern part of the Isle of Wight, after which she made sail into the offing, that she might not be suspected by those on shore waiting to receive the cargo. The weather was fine, and the water smooth, and as soon as she was well out, the cutter was hove-to. In the hurry of weighing, Mr Vanslyperken had not thought, or had not known perhaps, that the wife of Jemmy Ducks was still on board, and as he was turning up and down on the quarter-deck, he perceived her on the forecastle, laughing and talking with the men.“What woman is that?” said he to Jansen, who was at the wheel.“De frau, mynheer. Dat is de frau of Shimmy Duk.”“How dare she come on board? Send her aft here, marine.” The marine went forward and gave the order; and Jemmy, who expected a breeze, told his wife to behave herself quietly. His advice did not, however, appear to be listened to, as will be shown in the sequel.“How came you on board, woman?” cried Vanslyperken, looking at her from top to toe several times, as usual, with his hands in his great-coat pockets, and his battered speaking trumpet under his arm.“How did I come on board! why, in a boat to be sure,” replied Moggy, determined to have a breeze.“Why did you not go on shore before the cutter sailed?” replied Vanslyperken in an angry tone.“Why, just for the contrary reason, because there was no boat.”“Well, I’ll just tell you this, if ever I see you on board again, you’ll take the consequences,” retorted Vanslyperken.“And I’ll just tell you this,” replied Moggy; “if ever you come on shore again you shall take the consequences. I’ll have you—I give you warning. Flog my Jemmy, heh! my own dear, darling Jemmy.” Hereupon Moggy held out one arm bent, and with the palm of her other hand slapped her elbow—“There!” cried she.What Jemmy’s wife meant by this sign, it is impossible for us to say; but that it was a very significant one was certain, for Mr Vanslyperken foamed with rage, and all the cutter’s crew were tittering and laughing. It was a species of freemasonry known only to the initiated at the Sally Port.“Send the marines aft here. Take this woman below,” cried Vanslyperken. “I shall put all this down to your husband’s account, and give him a receipt in full, depend upon it.”“So you may. Marines, keep off, if you don’t wish your heads broken; and I’ll put all this down to your account; and as you say, that you’ll pay off my pet, mark my words, if I don’t pay off on yours—on your nasty cur there. I’ll send him to cruise after Corporal Van Spitter. As sure as I stand here, if you dare to lay a finger on my Jemmy, I’ll kill the brute wherever I find him, and make him intosaussingers, just for the pleasure of eating him. I’ll send you a pound as a present. You marine, don’t be a fool—I can walk forward without your hofferin’ your arm, and be damned to you.” So saying, Moggy stalked forward, and joined the men on the forecastle.“D’ye know much of that strapping lass?” said Mr Vanslyperken’s new acquaintance.“Not I,” replied Vanslyperken, not much pleased at the observation.“Well, look out for squalls, she’ll be as good as her word. We’ll draw the foresheet, and stand in now, if you please.”It was about dusk, for the days were now short, and the cutter was eight miles off the land. By the directions of the informer, for we have no other name to give him, they now bore up and ran along the island until they were, by his calculations, for it then was dark, abreast of a certain point close to the Black Gang Chyne. Here they hove-to, hoisted out their boats, three in number, and the men were sent in, well armed with pistols and cutlasses. Short had the charge of one, Coble of the second, the stern sheets of the third was occupied by Vanslyperken and the informer. As soon as all was ready, Jemmy Ducks, who, much to Vanslyperken’s wish, was left in charge of the cutter, received his orders to lie-to where he was, and when the tide made flood, to stand close in-shore; and all was prepared for a start, when it occurred to Vanslyperken that to leave Snarleyyow, after the threat of Jemmy’s wife, and the known animosity of Smallbones, would be his death-warrant. He determined, therefore, to take him in the boat. The informer protested against it, but Vanslyperken would not listen to his protestations. The dog was handed into the boat, and they shoved off. After they had pulled a quarter of an hour in-shore, they altered their course, and continued along the coast until the informer had made out exactly where he was. He then desired the other two boats to come alongside, told the crews that they must keep the greatest silence, as where they were about to proceed was directly under where the smugglers would have a party to receive the goods, and that the least alarm would prevent them from making the capture. The boats then pulled in to some large rocks, against which the waves hoarsely murmured, although the sea was still smooth, and passing between them, found themselves in a very small cove, where the water was still, and in which there was deep water.The cove was not defended so much by the rocks above water, for the mouth of it was wide; but there appeared to be a ridge below, which broke off the swell of the ocean. Neither was it deep, the beach not being more than perhaps fifty feet from the entrance. The boats, which had pulled in with muffled oars, here lay quietly for nearly an hour, when a fog came on and obscured the view of the offing, which otherwise was extensive, as the moon was at her full, and had shone bright.“This is all the better,” whispered the informer: “they will fall into he trap at once. Hark! hist! I hear oars.”They all listened; it was true, the sound of oars was heard, and the men prepared their arms.The splash of the oars was now more plain. “Be silent and ready,” whispered the informer, and the whisper was passed round. In another minute a large lugger-built boat, evidently intended for sailing as well as pulling, was seen through the fog looming still larger from the mist, pulling into the cove.“Silence, and not a word. Let her pass us,” whispered the informer.The boat approached rapidly—she was within ten fathoms of the entrance, when Snarleyyow, hearing the sound, darted forward under the thwarts, and jumping on the bow of the boat, commenced a most unusual and prolonged baying of Bow wow, bow wow wow wow!At the barking of the dog the smugglers backed water to step their way. They knew that there was no dog with those they expected to meet, it was therefore clear that the Philistines were at hand. The dog barked in spite of all attempts to prevent him, and acting upon this timely warning, the lugger-boat pulled short round, just as lights were shown from the cliffs to notify an enemy at hand, for the barking of the dog had not escaped the vigilance of those on shore, and in a few seconds she disappeared in the mist.“Blast your cur! Five thousand pounds out of my pocket,” exclaimed the informer. “I told you so. Chuck him overboard, my men, for your pockets would have been lined.”Vanslyperken was as savage, and exclaimed, “Give way, my men, give way; we’ll have her yet.”“Send a cow to chase a hare,” replied the informer, throwing himself back in the stern sheets of the boat. “I know better; you may save yourself the trouble, and the men the fatigue. May the devil take you, and your cursed dog with you! Who but a fool would have brought a dog upon such an occasion? Well, I’ve lost live thousand pounds; but there’s one comfort, you’ve lost too. That will be a valuable beast, if you put all down to his account.”At this moment Vanslyperken was so much annoyed at the loss of what would have been a fortune to him, that he felt as angry as the informer. The boat’s crew were equally enraged, the dog was pommelled, and kicked, and passed along from one to the other, until he at last gained the stern sheets, and crouched between the legs of his master, who kicked him away in a rage, and he saved himself under the legs of the informer, who, seizing a pistol, struck him with the butt-end of it such a blow, that nothing but the very thick skull of the dog could have saved him. Snarleyyow was at a sad discount just then, but he very wisely again sought protection with his master, and this time he was not noticed.“What are we to do now?” observed Vanslyperken.“Go back again, like dogs with their tails between their legs; but observe, Mr Lieutenant, you have made me your enemy, and that is more serious than you think for.”“Silence, sir, you are in a king’s boat.”“The king be damned,” replied the informer, falling back sulkily against the gunwale of the boat.“Give way, men, and pull on board,” said Vanslyperken, in equally bad humour.In equally bad humour the men did give way, and in about an hour were on board the cutter.Every one was in a bad humour when the affair was made known; but Smallbones observed, “that the dog could be no such great friend, as supposed, of Vanslyperken’s, to thwart his interests in that way; and certainly no imp sent by the devil to his assistance.” The ship’s company were consoled with this idea, and Jansen again repeated, “that the tog was but a tog, after all.”
The next morning the Yungfrau was clear of St. Helen’s, and sounding the eastern part of the Isle of Wight, after which she made sail into the offing, that she might not be suspected by those on shore waiting to receive the cargo. The weather was fine, and the water smooth, and as soon as she was well out, the cutter was hove-to. In the hurry of weighing, Mr Vanslyperken had not thought, or had not known perhaps, that the wife of Jemmy Ducks was still on board, and as he was turning up and down on the quarter-deck, he perceived her on the forecastle, laughing and talking with the men.
“What woman is that?” said he to Jansen, who was at the wheel.
“De frau, mynheer. Dat is de frau of Shimmy Duk.”
“How dare she come on board? Send her aft here, marine.” The marine went forward and gave the order; and Jemmy, who expected a breeze, told his wife to behave herself quietly. His advice did not, however, appear to be listened to, as will be shown in the sequel.
“How came you on board, woman?” cried Vanslyperken, looking at her from top to toe several times, as usual, with his hands in his great-coat pockets, and his battered speaking trumpet under his arm.
“How did I come on board! why, in a boat to be sure,” replied Moggy, determined to have a breeze.
“Why did you not go on shore before the cutter sailed?” replied Vanslyperken in an angry tone.
“Why, just for the contrary reason, because there was no boat.”
“Well, I’ll just tell you this, if ever I see you on board again, you’ll take the consequences,” retorted Vanslyperken.
“And I’ll just tell you this,” replied Moggy; “if ever you come on shore again you shall take the consequences. I’ll have you—I give you warning. Flog my Jemmy, heh! my own dear, darling Jemmy.” Hereupon Moggy held out one arm bent, and with the palm of her other hand slapped her elbow—“There!” cried she.
What Jemmy’s wife meant by this sign, it is impossible for us to say; but that it was a very significant one was certain, for Mr Vanslyperken foamed with rage, and all the cutter’s crew were tittering and laughing. It was a species of freemasonry known only to the initiated at the Sally Port.
“Send the marines aft here. Take this woman below,” cried Vanslyperken. “I shall put all this down to your husband’s account, and give him a receipt in full, depend upon it.”
“So you may. Marines, keep off, if you don’t wish your heads broken; and I’ll put all this down to your account; and as you say, that you’ll pay off my pet, mark my words, if I don’t pay off on yours—on your nasty cur there. I’ll send him to cruise after Corporal Van Spitter. As sure as I stand here, if you dare to lay a finger on my Jemmy, I’ll kill the brute wherever I find him, and make him intosaussingers, just for the pleasure of eating him. I’ll send you a pound as a present. You marine, don’t be a fool—I can walk forward without your hofferin’ your arm, and be damned to you.” So saying, Moggy stalked forward, and joined the men on the forecastle.
“D’ye know much of that strapping lass?” said Mr Vanslyperken’s new acquaintance.
“Not I,” replied Vanslyperken, not much pleased at the observation.
“Well, look out for squalls, she’ll be as good as her word. We’ll draw the foresheet, and stand in now, if you please.”
It was about dusk, for the days were now short, and the cutter was eight miles off the land. By the directions of the informer, for we have no other name to give him, they now bore up and ran along the island until they were, by his calculations, for it then was dark, abreast of a certain point close to the Black Gang Chyne. Here they hove-to, hoisted out their boats, three in number, and the men were sent in, well armed with pistols and cutlasses. Short had the charge of one, Coble of the second, the stern sheets of the third was occupied by Vanslyperken and the informer. As soon as all was ready, Jemmy Ducks, who, much to Vanslyperken’s wish, was left in charge of the cutter, received his orders to lie-to where he was, and when the tide made flood, to stand close in-shore; and all was prepared for a start, when it occurred to Vanslyperken that to leave Snarleyyow, after the threat of Jemmy’s wife, and the known animosity of Smallbones, would be his death-warrant. He determined, therefore, to take him in the boat. The informer protested against it, but Vanslyperken would not listen to his protestations. The dog was handed into the boat, and they shoved off. After they had pulled a quarter of an hour in-shore, they altered their course, and continued along the coast until the informer had made out exactly where he was. He then desired the other two boats to come alongside, told the crews that they must keep the greatest silence, as where they were about to proceed was directly under where the smugglers would have a party to receive the goods, and that the least alarm would prevent them from making the capture. The boats then pulled in to some large rocks, against which the waves hoarsely murmured, although the sea was still smooth, and passing between them, found themselves in a very small cove, where the water was still, and in which there was deep water.
The cove was not defended so much by the rocks above water, for the mouth of it was wide; but there appeared to be a ridge below, which broke off the swell of the ocean. Neither was it deep, the beach not being more than perhaps fifty feet from the entrance. The boats, which had pulled in with muffled oars, here lay quietly for nearly an hour, when a fog came on and obscured the view of the offing, which otherwise was extensive, as the moon was at her full, and had shone bright.
“This is all the better,” whispered the informer: “they will fall into he trap at once. Hark! hist! I hear oars.”
They all listened; it was true, the sound of oars was heard, and the men prepared their arms.
The splash of the oars was now more plain. “Be silent and ready,” whispered the informer, and the whisper was passed round. In another minute a large lugger-built boat, evidently intended for sailing as well as pulling, was seen through the fog looming still larger from the mist, pulling into the cove.
“Silence, and not a word. Let her pass us,” whispered the informer.
The boat approached rapidly—she was within ten fathoms of the entrance, when Snarleyyow, hearing the sound, darted forward under the thwarts, and jumping on the bow of the boat, commenced a most unusual and prolonged baying of Bow wow, bow wow wow wow!
At the barking of the dog the smugglers backed water to step their way. They knew that there was no dog with those they expected to meet, it was therefore clear that the Philistines were at hand. The dog barked in spite of all attempts to prevent him, and acting upon this timely warning, the lugger-boat pulled short round, just as lights were shown from the cliffs to notify an enemy at hand, for the barking of the dog had not escaped the vigilance of those on shore, and in a few seconds she disappeared in the mist.
“Blast your cur! Five thousand pounds out of my pocket,” exclaimed the informer. “I told you so. Chuck him overboard, my men, for your pockets would have been lined.”
Vanslyperken was as savage, and exclaimed, “Give way, my men, give way; we’ll have her yet.”
“Send a cow to chase a hare,” replied the informer, throwing himself back in the stern sheets of the boat. “I know better; you may save yourself the trouble, and the men the fatigue. May the devil take you, and your cursed dog with you! Who but a fool would have brought a dog upon such an occasion? Well, I’ve lost live thousand pounds; but there’s one comfort, you’ve lost too. That will be a valuable beast, if you put all down to his account.”
At this moment Vanslyperken was so much annoyed at the loss of what would have been a fortune to him, that he felt as angry as the informer. The boat’s crew were equally enraged, the dog was pommelled, and kicked, and passed along from one to the other, until he at last gained the stern sheets, and crouched between the legs of his master, who kicked him away in a rage, and he saved himself under the legs of the informer, who, seizing a pistol, struck him with the butt-end of it such a blow, that nothing but the very thick skull of the dog could have saved him. Snarleyyow was at a sad discount just then, but he very wisely again sought protection with his master, and this time he was not noticed.
“What are we to do now?” observed Vanslyperken.
“Go back again, like dogs with their tails between their legs; but observe, Mr Lieutenant, you have made me your enemy, and that is more serious than you think for.”
“Silence, sir, you are in a king’s boat.”
“The king be damned,” replied the informer, falling back sulkily against the gunwale of the boat.
“Give way, men, and pull on board,” said Vanslyperken, in equally bad humour.
In equally bad humour the men did give way, and in about an hour were on board the cutter.
Every one was in a bad humour when the affair was made known; but Smallbones observed, “that the dog could be no such great friend, as supposed, of Vanslyperken’s, to thwart his interests in that way; and certainly no imp sent by the devil to his assistance.” The ship’s company were consoled with this idea, and Jansen again repeated, “that the tog was but a tog, after all.”
Chapter Sixteen.In which we change the Scene, and the Sex of our Performers.We must now leave the cutter to return to Portsmouth, while we introduce to our readers a new and strange association. We stated that the boats had been ensconced in a very small cove at the back of the Isle of Wight. Above these hung the terrific cliff of the Black Gang Chyne which, to all appearance, was inaccessible. But this was not the case, or the smugglers would not have resorted there to disembark their cargo. At that time, for since that period much of the cliff has fallen down, and the aspect is much changed, the rocks rose up from the water, nearly perpendicularly, to the height of fifty or sixty feet.At that height there was a flat of about one hundred feet square in front of a cave of very great depth. The flat, so called in contradistinction to the perpendicular cliff, descended from the seaward to the cave, so that the latter was not to be seen either by vessels passing by, or by those who might be adventurous enough to peep over the ridge above; and fragments of rocks, dispersed here and there on this flat, induced people to imagine that the upper cliff was a continuation of the lower. The lower cliff on which this front of the cave was situated, was on the eastern side as abrupt as on that fronting the sea to the southward; but on the western side, its height was decreased to about fifteen feet, which was surmounted by a ladder removed at pleasure. To this means of access to the cave there was a zigzag path, used only by the smugglers, leading from the small cove, and another much more tedious, by which they could transport their goods to the summit of this apparently inaccessible mass of rocks. The cave itself was large, and with several diverging galleries, most of which were dry; but in one or two there was a continual filtering of clear pure water through the limestone rock, which was collected in pits dug for that purpose on the floor below; these pits were always full of water, the excess being carried off by small open drains which trickled over the eastern side of the platform. Some attention to comfort had been paid by the inhabitants of these caverns, which were portioned off here and there by sail-cloth and boards, so as to form separate rooms and storehouses. The cookery was carried on outside at the edge of the platform nearest the sea, under an immense fragment of rock, which lay at the very edge; and by an ingenious arrangement of smaller portions of the rock, neither the flame was to be distinguished, nor was the smoke, which was divided and made to find its passage through a variety of fissures, never in such a volume as to be supposed to be anything more than than the vapours drawn up by the heat of the sun.In this abode there were at least thirty people residing, and generally speaking, it might be called a convent, for it was tenanted by women. Their husbands, who brought over the cargoes, returned immediately in their boat to the opposite shore, for two reasons; one, that their boats could only land in particular seasons, and could never remain in the cove without risk of being dashed to pieces; and the other, that the absence of all men prevented suspicion; the whole of the interior smuggling being carried on by the other sex, who fearlessly showed themselves on every part of the island, and purchased their necessary supplies of provisions here and there, without exciting any misgivings as to the nature of their employment. A few isolated cottages, not far from the beetling brow of the cliff above, were their supposed abodes; but no one ever troubled them with a visit; and if they did, and found that they could gain no admittance, they imagined that the occupants had locked their doors for security, while they were busied with their labours in the field. Accustomed to climb up the tortuous path from the cave to the summit, the women would, on the darkest night, carry up their burdens and deposit them in the cottages above, until they had an opportunity of delivering their contraband articles into the hands of their agents; and this traffic had been carried for many years, without the government or excise having the slightest suspicion by what means the smuggling was accomplished. As we before observed, the great articles in request, and which were now smuggled from France, were alamodes and lute-strings. The attention of Government had been called to check the admission of these goods, but, hitherto, their attempts had not been attended with much success.At the grey of the morning after the attempt to seize the smugglers had been defeated by the instrumentality of Snarleyyow, upon the top of the immense fragment of the rook which we have described as lying upon the sea-edge of the platform was perched a fair, slight-made little girl, of about twelve years of age. She was simply clad in a short worsted petticoat and bodice of a dark colour; her head was bare, and her hair fluttered with the breeze; her small feet, notwithstanding the severity of the weather, were also naked, and her short petticoat discovered her legs half way up to the knee. She stood there, within a few inches of the precipice below, carelessly surveying the waves as they dashed over the rocks, for she was waiting until the light would enable her to see further on the horizon. By those who might have leaned over the ridge above, as well as by those who sailed below, she might have been taken, had she been seen to move, for some sea bird reposing after a flight, so small was her frame in juxtaposition with the wildness and majesty of nature which surrounded her on every side. Accustomed from infancy to her mode of life, and this unusual domicile, her eye quailed not, nor did her heart beat quicker, as she looked down into the abyss below, or turned her eyes up to the beetling mass of rock which appeared, each moment, ready to fall down and overwhelm her. She passed her hand across her temples to throw back the hair which the wind had blown over her eyes, and again scanned the distance as the sun’s light increased, and the fog gradually cleared away.“A sharp look-out, Lilly, dear; you’ve the best eyes among us, and we must have a clue from whence last night’s surprise proceeded.”“I can see nothing yet, mother; but the fog is driving back fast.”“It’s but a cheerless night your poor father had, to pull twice across the channel, and find himself just where he was. God speed them, and may they be safe in port again by this time!”“I say so too, mother, and amen.”“D’ye see nothing, child?”“Nothing, dear mother; but it clears up fast to the eastward, and the sun is bursting out of the bank, and I think I see something under the sun.”“Watch well, Lilly,” replied the woman, who was throwing more wood on the fire.“I see a vessel, mother. It is a sloop beating to the eastward.”“A coaster, child?”“No, mother, I think not. No, it is no coaster—it is that king’s vessel, I think, but the glare of the sun is too great. When he rises higher I shall make it out better.”“Which do you mean, the king’s cutter on the station, the Yungfrau?”“Yes, mother,” replied Lilly, “it is. I’m sure it is the Yungfrau.”“Then it is from her that the boats came last night. She must have received some information. There must be treachery somewhere; but we’ll soon find that out.”It may appear singular that Lilly could speak so positively as to a vessel at a great distance; but it must be remembered that she had been brought up to it, nearly all her life. It was her profession, and she had lived wholly with seamen and seamen’s wives, which will account for her technical language being so correct. What Lilly said was true; it was the Yungfrau, which was beating up to regain her port, and having to stem a strong ebb tide during the night, had not made very great progress.“There are three other vessels in the offing,” said Lilly, looking round, “a ship and two brigs, both going down channel:” and, as she said this, the little thing dropped lightly from rock to rock till she stood by her mother, and commenced rubbing her hands before the now blazing fire.“Nancy must go over to Portsmouth,” observed the mother, “and find out all about this. I hardly know whom to suspect; but let Nancy alone, she’ll ferret out the truth—she has many gossips at the Point. Whoever informed against the landing must know of this cave.”But we must introduce the mother of Lilly to the reader. She was a tall, finely-featured woman, her arms beautifully moulded, and bare. She was rather inclined to be stout, but her figure was magnificent. She was dressed in the same costume as her daughter, with the exception of a net worsted shawl of many colours over her shoulders. Her appearance gave you the idea that she was never intended for the situation which she was now in; but of that hereafter. As the reader may have observed, her language was correct, as was that of the child, and proved that she had not only been educated herself, but had paid attention to the bringing up of Lilly. The most perfect confidence appeared to subsist between the mother and daughter: the former treated her child as her equal, and confided everything to her; and Lilly was far advanced beyond her age in knowledge and reflection; her countenance beamed with intelligence; perhaps a more beautiful and more promising creature never existed.A third party now appeared from the cave; although not in canonicals, his dress indicated his profession of a priest. He approached the mother and daughter with, “Peace be with you, ladies.”“You forget, good father,” replied the elder of the females, “my name is Alice—nothing more.”“I crave pardon for my forgetting who you were. I will be more mindful. Well, then, Alice—yet that familiar term sounds strangely, and my tongue will not accustom itself, even were I to remain here weeks, instead of but two days—I was about to say, that the affair of last night was most untoward. My presence is much wished for, and much required, at St. Germains. It was unfortunate, because it proves that we have traitors among us somewhere; but of that, and of the whole affair, I will have cognisance in a few days.”“And should you discover the party?”“His doom is sealed.”“You are right.”“In so important and so righteous a cause, we must not stop at aught necessary to secure our purpose. But, tell me, think you that your husband will soon be here again?”“I should think not to-night, but to-morrow or the next he will be off; and if we can show the signals of surety he will land, if the weather will permit.”“’Tis indeed time that I were over. Something might now be done.”“I would so too, father; it is a tedious time that I have spent here.”“And most unfitting for you, were it not that you laboured in a great cause; but it must soon be decided, and then that fair lily shall be transplanted, like a wild flower from the rock, and be nurtured in a conservatory.”“Nay, for that, the time is hardly come. She is better here, as you see her, father, than in the chambers of a court. For her sake I would still remain; but for my husband’s sake, and the perils he encounters, I wish that, one way or the other, it were decided.”“Had there been faith in that Italian, it had been so before now,” replied the priest, grinding his teeth, and turning away.But the conversation was closed at the appearance of some women who came out of the cave. They were variously clothed, some coarsely, and others with greater pretensions to finery: they brought with them the implements for cooking, and appeared surprised at the fire being already lighted. Among them was one about twenty-five years of age, and although more faded than she ought to have been at that early age, still with pretensions to almost extreme beauty. She was more gaily dressed than the others, and had a careless, easy air about her, which suited to her handsome slight figure. It was impossible to see her without being interested, and desiring to know who she was.This person was the Nancy mentioned by Alice in her conversation with Lilly. Her original name had been Nancy Dawson, but she had married one of the smugglers of the name of Corbett. Her original profession, previous to her marriage, we will not dwell upon; suffice it to say, that she was the most celebrated person of that class in Portsmouth, both for her talent and extreme beauty. Had she lived in the days of King Charles the Second, and had he seen her, she would have been more renowned than ever was Eleanor Gwynne; even as it was, she had been celebrated in a song, which has not been lost to posterity. After a few years of dissipated life, Nancy reformed, and became an honest woman, and an honest wife. By her marriage with the smuggler, she had become one of the fraternity, and had taken up her abode in the cave, which she was not sorry to do, as she had become too famous at Portsmouth to remain there as a married woman. Still, she occasionally made her appearance, and to a certain degree kept up her old acquaintances, that she might discover what was going on—very necessary information for the smugglers. She would laugh and joke, and have her repartee as usual, but in other points she was truly reformed. Her acquaintance was so general, and she was such a favourite, that she was of the greatest use to the band, and was always sent over to Portsmouth when her services were required. It was supposed there, for she had reported it, that she had retired to the Isle of Wight, and lived there with her husband, who was a pilot, and that she came over to Portsmouth occasionally, to inquire after her old friends, and upon business.“Nancy Corbett, I must speak to you,” said Alice. “Come aside: I wish you, Nancy, to go over immediately. Can you go up, do you think, without being perceived?”“Yes, Mistress Alice, provided there is no one to see me.”“The case is so important that we must run the risk.”“We’ve run cargoes of more value than that.”“But still you must use discretion, Nancy.”“That’s a commodity that I’ve not been very well provided with through life; but I have my wits in its stead.”“Then you must use your wit, Nancy.”“It’s like an old knife, well worn, but all the sharper.”Alice then entered into a detail of what she would find out, and gave her instructions to Nancy. The first point was to ascertain whether it was the cutter which had received the information; the second, who the informer was.Nancy, having received her orders, tied the strings of her bonnet, caught up a handful of the victuals which was at the fire, and bidding the others a laughing good-bye, with her mouth full, and one hand also occupied, descended the ladder previously to mounting the cliff.“Nancy,” said Lilly, who stood by the ladder, “bring me some pens.”“Yes, dear; will you have them alive or dead?”“Nonsense, I mean some quills.”“So do I, Miss Lilly; but if you want them dead, I shall bring them in my pocket—if alive, I shall bring the goose under my arm.”“I only want the quills, Nancy,” replied Lilly, laughing.“And I think I shall want the feathers of them before I’m at the top,” replied Nancy, looking up at the majestic cliff above her. “Good-bye, Miss Lilly.”Nancy Corbett again filled her handsome mouth with bread, and commenced her ascent. In less than a quarter of an hour she had disappeared over the ridge.
We must now leave the cutter to return to Portsmouth, while we introduce to our readers a new and strange association. We stated that the boats had been ensconced in a very small cove at the back of the Isle of Wight. Above these hung the terrific cliff of the Black Gang Chyne which, to all appearance, was inaccessible. But this was not the case, or the smugglers would not have resorted there to disembark their cargo. At that time, for since that period much of the cliff has fallen down, and the aspect is much changed, the rocks rose up from the water, nearly perpendicularly, to the height of fifty or sixty feet.
At that height there was a flat of about one hundred feet square in front of a cave of very great depth. The flat, so called in contradistinction to the perpendicular cliff, descended from the seaward to the cave, so that the latter was not to be seen either by vessels passing by, or by those who might be adventurous enough to peep over the ridge above; and fragments of rocks, dispersed here and there on this flat, induced people to imagine that the upper cliff was a continuation of the lower. The lower cliff on which this front of the cave was situated, was on the eastern side as abrupt as on that fronting the sea to the southward; but on the western side, its height was decreased to about fifteen feet, which was surmounted by a ladder removed at pleasure. To this means of access to the cave there was a zigzag path, used only by the smugglers, leading from the small cove, and another much more tedious, by which they could transport their goods to the summit of this apparently inaccessible mass of rocks. The cave itself was large, and with several diverging galleries, most of which were dry; but in one or two there was a continual filtering of clear pure water through the limestone rock, which was collected in pits dug for that purpose on the floor below; these pits were always full of water, the excess being carried off by small open drains which trickled over the eastern side of the platform. Some attention to comfort had been paid by the inhabitants of these caverns, which were portioned off here and there by sail-cloth and boards, so as to form separate rooms and storehouses. The cookery was carried on outside at the edge of the platform nearest the sea, under an immense fragment of rock, which lay at the very edge; and by an ingenious arrangement of smaller portions of the rock, neither the flame was to be distinguished, nor was the smoke, which was divided and made to find its passage through a variety of fissures, never in such a volume as to be supposed to be anything more than than the vapours drawn up by the heat of the sun.
In this abode there were at least thirty people residing, and generally speaking, it might be called a convent, for it was tenanted by women. Their husbands, who brought over the cargoes, returned immediately in their boat to the opposite shore, for two reasons; one, that their boats could only land in particular seasons, and could never remain in the cove without risk of being dashed to pieces; and the other, that the absence of all men prevented suspicion; the whole of the interior smuggling being carried on by the other sex, who fearlessly showed themselves on every part of the island, and purchased their necessary supplies of provisions here and there, without exciting any misgivings as to the nature of their employment. A few isolated cottages, not far from the beetling brow of the cliff above, were their supposed abodes; but no one ever troubled them with a visit; and if they did, and found that they could gain no admittance, they imagined that the occupants had locked their doors for security, while they were busied with their labours in the field. Accustomed to climb up the tortuous path from the cave to the summit, the women would, on the darkest night, carry up their burdens and deposit them in the cottages above, until they had an opportunity of delivering their contraband articles into the hands of their agents; and this traffic had been carried for many years, without the government or excise having the slightest suspicion by what means the smuggling was accomplished. As we before observed, the great articles in request, and which were now smuggled from France, were alamodes and lute-strings. The attention of Government had been called to check the admission of these goods, but, hitherto, their attempts had not been attended with much success.
At the grey of the morning after the attempt to seize the smugglers had been defeated by the instrumentality of Snarleyyow, upon the top of the immense fragment of the rook which we have described as lying upon the sea-edge of the platform was perched a fair, slight-made little girl, of about twelve years of age. She was simply clad in a short worsted petticoat and bodice of a dark colour; her head was bare, and her hair fluttered with the breeze; her small feet, notwithstanding the severity of the weather, were also naked, and her short petticoat discovered her legs half way up to the knee. She stood there, within a few inches of the precipice below, carelessly surveying the waves as they dashed over the rocks, for she was waiting until the light would enable her to see further on the horizon. By those who might have leaned over the ridge above, as well as by those who sailed below, she might have been taken, had she been seen to move, for some sea bird reposing after a flight, so small was her frame in juxtaposition with the wildness and majesty of nature which surrounded her on every side. Accustomed from infancy to her mode of life, and this unusual domicile, her eye quailed not, nor did her heart beat quicker, as she looked down into the abyss below, or turned her eyes up to the beetling mass of rock which appeared, each moment, ready to fall down and overwhelm her. She passed her hand across her temples to throw back the hair which the wind had blown over her eyes, and again scanned the distance as the sun’s light increased, and the fog gradually cleared away.
“A sharp look-out, Lilly, dear; you’ve the best eyes among us, and we must have a clue from whence last night’s surprise proceeded.”
“I can see nothing yet, mother; but the fog is driving back fast.”
“It’s but a cheerless night your poor father had, to pull twice across the channel, and find himself just where he was. God speed them, and may they be safe in port again by this time!”
“I say so too, mother, and amen.”
“D’ye see nothing, child?”
“Nothing, dear mother; but it clears up fast to the eastward, and the sun is bursting out of the bank, and I think I see something under the sun.”
“Watch well, Lilly,” replied the woman, who was throwing more wood on the fire.
“I see a vessel, mother. It is a sloop beating to the eastward.”
“A coaster, child?”
“No, mother, I think not. No, it is no coaster—it is that king’s vessel, I think, but the glare of the sun is too great. When he rises higher I shall make it out better.”
“Which do you mean, the king’s cutter on the station, the Yungfrau?”
“Yes, mother,” replied Lilly, “it is. I’m sure it is the Yungfrau.”
“Then it is from her that the boats came last night. She must have received some information. There must be treachery somewhere; but we’ll soon find that out.”
It may appear singular that Lilly could speak so positively as to a vessel at a great distance; but it must be remembered that she had been brought up to it, nearly all her life. It was her profession, and she had lived wholly with seamen and seamen’s wives, which will account for her technical language being so correct. What Lilly said was true; it was the Yungfrau, which was beating up to regain her port, and having to stem a strong ebb tide during the night, had not made very great progress.
“There are three other vessels in the offing,” said Lilly, looking round, “a ship and two brigs, both going down channel:” and, as she said this, the little thing dropped lightly from rock to rock till she stood by her mother, and commenced rubbing her hands before the now blazing fire.
“Nancy must go over to Portsmouth,” observed the mother, “and find out all about this. I hardly know whom to suspect; but let Nancy alone, she’ll ferret out the truth—she has many gossips at the Point. Whoever informed against the landing must know of this cave.”
But we must introduce the mother of Lilly to the reader. She was a tall, finely-featured woman, her arms beautifully moulded, and bare. She was rather inclined to be stout, but her figure was magnificent. She was dressed in the same costume as her daughter, with the exception of a net worsted shawl of many colours over her shoulders. Her appearance gave you the idea that she was never intended for the situation which she was now in; but of that hereafter. As the reader may have observed, her language was correct, as was that of the child, and proved that she had not only been educated herself, but had paid attention to the bringing up of Lilly. The most perfect confidence appeared to subsist between the mother and daughter: the former treated her child as her equal, and confided everything to her; and Lilly was far advanced beyond her age in knowledge and reflection; her countenance beamed with intelligence; perhaps a more beautiful and more promising creature never existed.
A third party now appeared from the cave; although not in canonicals, his dress indicated his profession of a priest. He approached the mother and daughter with, “Peace be with you, ladies.”
“You forget, good father,” replied the elder of the females, “my name is Alice—nothing more.”
“I crave pardon for my forgetting who you were. I will be more mindful. Well, then, Alice—yet that familiar term sounds strangely, and my tongue will not accustom itself, even were I to remain here weeks, instead of but two days—I was about to say, that the affair of last night was most untoward. My presence is much wished for, and much required, at St. Germains. It was unfortunate, because it proves that we have traitors among us somewhere; but of that, and of the whole affair, I will have cognisance in a few days.”
“And should you discover the party?”
“His doom is sealed.”
“You are right.”
“In so important and so righteous a cause, we must not stop at aught necessary to secure our purpose. But, tell me, think you that your husband will soon be here again?”
“I should think not to-night, but to-morrow or the next he will be off; and if we can show the signals of surety he will land, if the weather will permit.”
“’Tis indeed time that I were over. Something might now be done.”
“I would so too, father; it is a tedious time that I have spent here.”
“And most unfitting for you, were it not that you laboured in a great cause; but it must soon be decided, and then that fair lily shall be transplanted, like a wild flower from the rock, and be nurtured in a conservatory.”
“Nay, for that, the time is hardly come. She is better here, as you see her, father, than in the chambers of a court. For her sake I would still remain; but for my husband’s sake, and the perils he encounters, I wish that, one way or the other, it were decided.”
“Had there been faith in that Italian, it had been so before now,” replied the priest, grinding his teeth, and turning away.
But the conversation was closed at the appearance of some women who came out of the cave. They were variously clothed, some coarsely, and others with greater pretensions to finery: they brought with them the implements for cooking, and appeared surprised at the fire being already lighted. Among them was one about twenty-five years of age, and although more faded than she ought to have been at that early age, still with pretensions to almost extreme beauty. She was more gaily dressed than the others, and had a careless, easy air about her, which suited to her handsome slight figure. It was impossible to see her without being interested, and desiring to know who she was.
This person was the Nancy mentioned by Alice in her conversation with Lilly. Her original name had been Nancy Dawson, but she had married one of the smugglers of the name of Corbett. Her original profession, previous to her marriage, we will not dwell upon; suffice it to say, that she was the most celebrated person of that class in Portsmouth, both for her talent and extreme beauty. Had she lived in the days of King Charles the Second, and had he seen her, she would have been more renowned than ever was Eleanor Gwynne; even as it was, she had been celebrated in a song, which has not been lost to posterity. After a few years of dissipated life, Nancy reformed, and became an honest woman, and an honest wife. By her marriage with the smuggler, she had become one of the fraternity, and had taken up her abode in the cave, which she was not sorry to do, as she had become too famous at Portsmouth to remain there as a married woman. Still, she occasionally made her appearance, and to a certain degree kept up her old acquaintances, that she might discover what was going on—very necessary information for the smugglers. She would laugh and joke, and have her repartee as usual, but in other points she was truly reformed. Her acquaintance was so general, and she was such a favourite, that she was of the greatest use to the band, and was always sent over to Portsmouth when her services were required. It was supposed there, for she had reported it, that she had retired to the Isle of Wight, and lived there with her husband, who was a pilot, and that she came over to Portsmouth occasionally, to inquire after her old friends, and upon business.
“Nancy Corbett, I must speak to you,” said Alice. “Come aside: I wish you, Nancy, to go over immediately. Can you go up, do you think, without being perceived?”
“Yes, Mistress Alice, provided there is no one to see me.”
“The case is so important that we must run the risk.”
“We’ve run cargoes of more value than that.”
“But still you must use discretion, Nancy.”
“That’s a commodity that I’ve not been very well provided with through life; but I have my wits in its stead.”
“Then you must use your wit, Nancy.”
“It’s like an old knife, well worn, but all the sharper.”
Alice then entered into a detail of what she would find out, and gave her instructions to Nancy. The first point was to ascertain whether it was the cutter which had received the information; the second, who the informer was.
Nancy, having received her orders, tied the strings of her bonnet, caught up a handful of the victuals which was at the fire, and bidding the others a laughing good-bye, with her mouth full, and one hand also occupied, descended the ladder previously to mounting the cliff.
“Nancy,” said Lilly, who stood by the ladder, “bring me some pens.”
“Yes, dear; will you have them alive or dead?”
“Nonsense, I mean some quills.”
“So do I, Miss Lilly; but if you want them dead, I shall bring them in my pocket—if alive, I shall bring the goose under my arm.”
“I only want the quills, Nancy,” replied Lilly, laughing.
“And I think I shall want the feathers of them before I’m at the top,” replied Nancy, looking up at the majestic cliff above her. “Good-bye, Miss Lilly.”
Nancy Corbett again filled her handsome mouth with bread, and commenced her ascent. In less than a quarter of an hour she had disappeared over the ridge.
Chapter Seventeen.In which there is a Great Deal of Plotting, and a Little Execution.We will follow Nancy Corbett for the present. Nancy gained the summit of the cliff, and, panting for breath, looked round to ascertain if there was any one in sight, but the coast was clear: she waited a minute to recover herself a little, and then set off at a brisk pace in the direction of the hamlet of Ryde, which then consisted of a few fishermen’s huts. It was an hour and a half before she gained this place, from whence she took a boat, and was safely landed at the Point. The fisherman who brought her over was an old acquaintance of Nancy’s, and knew that he would have to remain to take her back, but he was well paid for his trouble, and it was a lucky day for him when Nancy required his services. The Yungfrau had rounded St. Helen’s, and was standing into Spithead, when Nancy landed, and the first door at which she knocked was at the lodgings of Moggy Salisbury, with whom she was well acquainted, and from whom she expected to be able to gain information. On inquiry, she found that Moggy had not come on shore from the cutter, which had sailed during the night very unexpectedly.This information pleased Nancy, as Moggy would in all probability be able to give her important information, and she took up her quarters in Moggy’s apartments, anxiously awaiting her arrival, for Nancy was not at all desirous to be seen. In due time the cutter was again anchored in the harbour, and the first order of Mr Vanslyperken’s was, that Moggy Salisbury should be sent on shore, which order was complied with, and she left the vessel, vowing vengeance upon the lieutenant and his dog. The informer also hastened into a boat, and pulled on shore on the Gosport side, with a very significant farewell look at Mr Vanslyperken. Moggy landed, and hastened, full of wrath, to her own lodgings, where she found Nancy Corbett waiting for her. At first she was too full of her own injuries and the attempt to flog her dear, darling Jemmy to allow Nancy to put in a word. Nancy perceived this, and allowed her to run herself down like a clock; and then proposed that they should send for some purl and have a cozy chat, to which Moggy agreed; and as soon as they were fairly settled, and Moggy had again delivered herself of her grievances, Nancy put the requisite questions, and discovered what the reader is already acquainted with. She requested and obtained a full description of the informer, and his person was too remarkable for Nancy not to recognise immediately who it was.“The villain!” cried she; “why if there was any man in whom we thought we could trust, it was—him;” for Nancy had, in her indignation, nearly pronounced his name.“Nancy,” said Moggy, “you have to do with the smugglers, I know, for your husband is one of them, if report says true. Now, I’ve been thinking, that the cutter is no place for my Jemmy, and that with this peak-nosed villain he will always be in trouble. Tell me, will they let him in, if he volunteers?”“I can’t exactly say, Moggy; but this I can tell you, that you may be very useful to them in giving us information, which you may gain through your husband.”“Ay, and not only through my husband, but from every body on board the cutter. I’m yours, Nancy—and here’s my hand on it—you’ll see what I can do. The wagabond, to attempt to flog my own dear, darling duck—my own Jemmy. Only tell me what you want to know, and if I don’t ferret it out, my name’s not Moggy. But hear me, Nancy; I join you now hand and heart, though I gain nothing by it: and when you choose to have him, I’ll bring you my little duck of a husband, and he will be worth his weight in gold, though I say it that shouldn’t say it.”“Thanky, Moggy; but you shall not work for nothing;” and Nancy laid a gold Jacobus on the table. “This for your present information. Be secret and cautious, and no gossiping, and you’ll find that you shall have all you wish, and be no loser in the bargain. And now, good night—I must be away. You shall see me soon, Moggy; and remember what I have told you.”Moggy was astonished at the sight of the gold Jacobus, which she took up and examined as Nancy departed. “Well,” thought she, “but this smuggling must be a pretty consarn; and as sure as gold is gold, my Jemmy shall be a smuggler.”Nancy turned down the street, and passed rapidly on, until she was clear of the fortifications, in the direction of South Sea Beach. A few scattered cottages were at that time built upon the spot. It was quite dark as she passed the lines, and held her way over the shingle. A man was standing alone, whose figure she recognised. It was the very person that she wished to find. Nancy watched him for awhile, and observed him pull out a paper, tear it in two, and throw it down with gesticulations of anger and indignation. She then approached.“What’s o’clock?” said Nancy.“Do you want the right time?” replied the man.“To a minute,” replied Nancy, who, finding that the password was given correctly, now stopped, and faced the other party. “Is that you, Cornbury?”“Yes, Nancy,” replied the man, who was the same person who went on board of the cutter to give the information.“I have been seeking you,” replied Nancy. “There has been some information laid, and the boats were nearly surprised. Alice desires that you will find out what boats entered the cove, whom they belonged to, and, if possible, how they obtained the information.”“Boats nearly surprised!—you don’t say so,” replied Cornbury, with affected astonishment. “This must indeed be looked to. Have you no idea—”“None,” replied Nancy. “There was no vessel to be seen the next morning—the fog was too thick. Have you seen Wahop?”“No; I thought he was on the Isle.”“He ought to have been, but has not come; I have been at the oak-tree for three nights running. It’s very strange. Do you think that he can have played false?”“I never much liked the man,” replied Cornbury.“Nor I either,” replied Nancy; “but I must go now, for I must be back at the crags before daylight. Find out what you can, and let us know as soon as possible. I shall be over again as soon as the cargo is run; if you find out anything, you had better come to-morrow night.”“I will,” replied Cornbury; and the parties separated.“Traitor!” muttered Nancy, when she was once more alone. “If he comes, it shall be to his death;” and Nancy stooped down, picked up the pieces of paper which Cornbury had torn up, and put them in the basket she carried on her arm.It will be observed, that Nancy had purposely thrown out hints against Wahop, to induce Cornbury to believe that he was not suspected. Her assertion that Wahop was not on the island was false. He had been three days at Ryde, according to the arrangement. The bait took. Cornbury perceiving that the suspicion was against Wahop, thought that he could not do better than to boldly make his appearance at the cave, which would remove any doubts as to his own fidelity.Nancy hastened down to the Point, and returned that night to Ryde, from whence she walked over to the cave, and was there before daylight. She communicated to Alice the intelligence which she had received from Moggy Salisbury, and the arrangements she had proposed to her, by which the motions of the cutter could be known.“Is that woman to be trusted, think you, Nancy?” inquired Alice.“Yes, I believe sincerely she may be. I have known her long; and she wishes her husband to join us.”“We must reflect upon it. She may be most useful. What is the character of the officer who commands the vessel?”“A miser and a coward. He is well known—neither honour nor conscience in him.”“The first is well, as we may act upon it, but the second renders him doubtful. You are tired, Nancy, and had better lie down a little.”Nancy Corbett delivered the pens to Lilly and then took the advice of her superior. The day was remarkably fine, and the water smooth, so that the boats were expected that night. At dusk two small lights, at even distances, were suspended from the cliff, to point out to the boats that the coast was free, and that they might land. Alice, however, took the precaution to have a watch on the beach, in case of any second surprise being attempted; but of this there was little fear, as she knew from Nancy that all the cutter’s boats were on board when she entered the harbour. Lilly, who thought it a delight to be one moment sooner in her father’s arms, had taken the watch on the beach, and there the little girl remained perched upon a rock, at the foot of which the waves now only sullenly washed, for the night was beautifully calm and clear. To a passer on the ocean she might have been mistaken for a mermaid who had left her watery bower to look upon the world above.What were the thoughts of the little maiden as she remained there fixed as a statue? Did she revert to the period at which her infant memory could retrace silken hangings and marble halls, visions of splendour, dreamings of courtly state, or was she thinking of her father, as her quick ear caught the least swell of the increasing breeze? Was she, as her eye was fixed as if attempting to pierce the depths of the ocean, wondering at what might be its hidden secrets, or as they were turned towards the heavens, bespangled with ten thousand stars, was she meditating on the God who placed them there? Who can say?—but that that intellectual face bespoke the mind at work is certain, and from one so pure and lovely could emanate nothing but what was innocent and good.But a distant sound falls upon her ear; she listens, and by its measured cadence knows that it is the rowers in a boat: nearer it comes and more distinct, and now her keen eye detects the black mass approaching in the gloom of night. She starts from the rock ready to fly up to the cave to give notice of an enemy, or, if their anticipated friends, to fly into the arms of her father. But her alarm is over, she perceives that it is the lugger, the boat dashes into the cove, and the first who lands strains her to his bosom.“My dearest Lilly, is all well?”“Yes, all is well, father; but you are well come.”“Run up, dearest, and let the women be ready to assist. We have that here which must soon be out of sight. Is the Father Innis here?”“Since Thursday last.”“’Tis well, dear; you may go. Quick, my lads, and beach the cargo:— see to it, Ramsay; I must at once unto the cave.” Having given these directions, the father of Lilly commenced his ascent over the rough and steep rocks which led up to the cavern, anxious to obtain what information could be imparted relative to the treachery which had led to their narrow escape two nights preceding.He was met by Alice, who cordially embraced him; but he appeared anxious to release himself from her endearments, that he might at once enter upon matters to him of more serious importance. “Where is the Father Innis, my dear?” said he, disengaging himself from her arms.“He sleeps, Robert, or, at least, he did just now, but probably he will rise now that you are come. But in the meantime, I have discovered who the traitor is.”“By all the saints, he shall not escape my vengeance!”Alice then entered into the particulars related by Nancy Corbett, and already known to the reader. She had just concluded when Father Innis made his appearance from the cave.“Welcome, thrice welcome, holy father.”“Welcome, too, my son. Say, do we start to-night?”“Not till to-morrow night,” replied the husband of Alice, who having ascertained that, in all probability, Cornbury would come that night, determined, at all risks, to get possession of him; “we could well be over before daylight, and with your precious person I must not risk too much. You are anxiously expected.”“And I have important news,” replied the priest; “but I will not detain you now; I perceive that your presence is wanted by your men.”During this colloquy the women had descended the ladder, and had been assisting the men to carry up the various packages of which the boat’s cargo consisted, and they now awaited directions as to the stowing away.“Ramsay,” said the leader, “we do not return to-night: take the men, and contrive to lift the boat up on the rocks, so that she may not be injured.”An hour elapsed before this was effected, and then the leader, as well as the rest of the smugglers, retired to the cave to refresh themselves with sleep after their night of fatigue. As usual, one woman kept watch, and that woman was Nancy Corbett. The ladder had been hauled up, and she was walking up and down, with her arms under a shawl, to a sort of stamping trot, for the weather was frosty, when she heard a low whistle at the west side of the flat.“Oh, ho! have I lured you, you traitorous villain?” muttered Nancy; “you come in good time;” and Nancy walked to the spot where the ladder was usually lowered down, and looked over. Although the moon had risen, it was too dark on that side of the platform to distinguish more than that there was a human form, who repeated the whistle.“What’s o’clock?” said Nancy, in a low tone.“Do you want the right time to a minute?” replied a voice, which was recognised as Cornbury’s. Nancy lowered down the ladder, and Cornbury ascended the platform.“I am glad you are come, Cornbury. Have you heard anything of Wahop?”“No one has seen or heard of him,” replied the man, “but I have found out what boats they were. Did the lugger come over to-night?”“Yes,” replied Nancy, “but I must go in and let Mistress Alice know that you are here.”Nancy’s abrupt departure was to prevent Cornbury from asking if the boat had remained, or returned to the French coast; for she thought it not impossible that the unusual circumstance of the boat remaining might induce him to suppose that his treachery had been discovered, and to make his immediate escape, which he, of course, could have done, and given full information of the cave and the parties who frequented it.Nancy soon reappeared, and familiarly taking the arm of Cornbury, led him to the eastern side of the platform, asking him many questions. As soon as he was there, the leader of the gang, followed by half-a-dozen of his men, rushed out and secured him. Cornbury now felt assured that all was discovered, and that his life was forfeited. “Bind him fast,” said the leader, “and keep watch over him; his case shall soon be disposed of. Nancy, you will call me at daylight.”When Cornbury had been secured, the men returned into the cave, leaving one with a loaded pistol to guard him. Nancy still remained on the watch.“Nancy Corbett,” said Cornbury, “why am I treated thus?”“Why?” replied Nancy, with scorn; “ask yourself why. Do you think that I did not know when I sought you at the beach that you had sailed in the cutter, had brought the boats here, and that if it had not been for the lieutenant taking his dog in the boat, and its barking, you would have delivered us all into the hands of the Philistines?—wretched traitor.”“Damn!” muttered Cornbury; “then it is to you, you devil, that I am indebted for being entrapped this way.”“Yes, to me,” replied Nancy, with scorn. “And, depend upon it, you will have your deserts before the sun is one hour in the heavens.”“Mistress Nancy, I must beg you to walk your watch like a lady, and not to be corresponding with my prisoner any how, whether you talk raison or traison, as may happen to suit your convanience,” observed the man who was guard over Cornbury.“Be aisy, my jewel,” replied Nancy, mimicking the Irishman, “and I’ll be as silent as a magpie, any how. And, Mr Fitzpatrick, you’ll just be plased to keep your two eyes upon your prisoner, and not be staring at me, following me up and down, as you do, with those twinklers of yours.”“A cat may look at a king, Mistress Nancy, and no harm done either.”“You forget, Mr Fitzpatrick,” replied Nancy, “that I am now a modest woman.”“More’s the pity, Mistress Nancy: I wish you’d forget it too, and I dying of love for you.”Nancy walked away to the end of the platform to avoid further conversation. The day was now dawning, and as, by degrees, the light was thrown upon the face of Cornbury, it was strange to witness how his agitation and his fear had changed all the ruby carbuncles on his face to a deadly white. He called to Nancy Corbett in an humble tone once or twice as she passed by in her walk, but received no reply further than a look of scorn. As soon as it was broad daylight, Nancy went into the cave to call up the leader.In a few minutes he appeared, with the rest of the smugglers.“Philip Cornbury,” said he, with a stern and unrelenting countenance, “you would have betrayed us for the sake of money.”“It is false,” replied Cornbury.“False, is it? you shall have a fair trial. Nancy Corbett, give your evidence before us all.”Nancy recapitulated all that had passed.“I say again, that it is false,” replied Cornbury. “Where is the woman whom she states to have told her this? This is nothing more than assertion, and I say again, it is false. Am I to be condemned without proofs? Is my life to be sacrificed to the animosity of this woman, who wishes to get rid of me, because—”“Because what?” interrupted Nancy.“Because I was too well acquainted with you before your marriage, and can tell too much.”“Now, curses on you, for a liar as well as a traitor!” exclaimed Nancy. “What I was before I was married is well known; but it is well known, also, that I pleased my fancy, and could always choose, I must, indeed, have had a sorry taste to be intimate with a blotched wretch like you, sir,” continued Nancy, turning to the leader, “it is false; and whatever may be said against me on other points, Nancy Dawson, or Nancy Corbett, was never yet so vile as to assert a lie, I put it to you, sir, and to all of you, is not my word sufficient in this case?”The smugglers nodded their heads in assent.“And now that is admitted, I will prove his villany and falsehood. Philip Cornbury, do you know this paper?” cried Nancy, taking out of her bosom the agreement signed by Vanslyperken, which she had picked up on the night when Cornbury had torn it up and thrown it away. “Do you know this paper, I ask you? Read it, sir,” continued Nancy, handing it over to the leader of the smugglers.The paper was read, and the inflexible countenance of the leader turned towards Cornbury—who saw his doom.“Go in, Nancy Corbett, and let no women appear till all is over.”“Liar!” said Nancy, spitting on the ground as she passed by Cornbury.“Bind his eyes, and lead him to the western edge,” said the leader.“Philip Cornbury, you have but a few minutes to live. In mercy, you may see the holy father, if you wish it.”“I’m no damned papist,” replied Cornbury, in a sulky tone.“Lead him on then.”Cornbury was led to the western edge of the flat, where the cliff was most high and precipitous, and then made to kneel down.“Fitzpatrick,” said the leader, pointing to the condemned.Fitzpatrick walked up to the kneeling man with his loaded pistol, and then the others, who had led Cornbury to the edge of the cliff, retired.Fitzpatrick cocked the lock.“Would you like to say, ‘God have mercy on my treacherous sinful sowl,’ or anything short and sweet like that?” said Fitzpatrick; “if so, I’ll wait a couple of seconds more for your convanience, Philip Cornbury.”Cornbury made no reply. Fitzpatrick put the pistol to his ear, the ball whizzed through his brain, the body half raised itself from its knees with a strong muscular action, and then toppled over, and disappeared down the side of the precipice.“It’s to be hoped that the next time you lave this world, Master Cornbury, it will be in a purliter sort of manner. A civil question demands a civil answer, anyhow,” said Fitzpatrick, coolly rejoining the other men.
We will follow Nancy Corbett for the present. Nancy gained the summit of the cliff, and, panting for breath, looked round to ascertain if there was any one in sight, but the coast was clear: she waited a minute to recover herself a little, and then set off at a brisk pace in the direction of the hamlet of Ryde, which then consisted of a few fishermen’s huts. It was an hour and a half before she gained this place, from whence she took a boat, and was safely landed at the Point. The fisherman who brought her over was an old acquaintance of Nancy’s, and knew that he would have to remain to take her back, but he was well paid for his trouble, and it was a lucky day for him when Nancy required his services. The Yungfrau had rounded St. Helen’s, and was standing into Spithead, when Nancy landed, and the first door at which she knocked was at the lodgings of Moggy Salisbury, with whom she was well acquainted, and from whom she expected to be able to gain information. On inquiry, she found that Moggy had not come on shore from the cutter, which had sailed during the night very unexpectedly.
This information pleased Nancy, as Moggy would in all probability be able to give her important information, and she took up her quarters in Moggy’s apartments, anxiously awaiting her arrival, for Nancy was not at all desirous to be seen. In due time the cutter was again anchored in the harbour, and the first order of Mr Vanslyperken’s was, that Moggy Salisbury should be sent on shore, which order was complied with, and she left the vessel, vowing vengeance upon the lieutenant and his dog. The informer also hastened into a boat, and pulled on shore on the Gosport side, with a very significant farewell look at Mr Vanslyperken. Moggy landed, and hastened, full of wrath, to her own lodgings, where she found Nancy Corbett waiting for her. At first she was too full of her own injuries and the attempt to flog her dear, darling Jemmy to allow Nancy to put in a word. Nancy perceived this, and allowed her to run herself down like a clock; and then proposed that they should send for some purl and have a cozy chat, to which Moggy agreed; and as soon as they were fairly settled, and Moggy had again delivered herself of her grievances, Nancy put the requisite questions, and discovered what the reader is already acquainted with. She requested and obtained a full description of the informer, and his person was too remarkable for Nancy not to recognise immediately who it was.
“The villain!” cried she; “why if there was any man in whom we thought we could trust, it was—him;” for Nancy had, in her indignation, nearly pronounced his name.
“Nancy,” said Moggy, “you have to do with the smugglers, I know, for your husband is one of them, if report says true. Now, I’ve been thinking, that the cutter is no place for my Jemmy, and that with this peak-nosed villain he will always be in trouble. Tell me, will they let him in, if he volunteers?”
“I can’t exactly say, Moggy; but this I can tell you, that you may be very useful to them in giving us information, which you may gain through your husband.”
“Ay, and not only through my husband, but from every body on board the cutter. I’m yours, Nancy—and here’s my hand on it—you’ll see what I can do. The wagabond, to attempt to flog my own dear, darling duck—my own Jemmy. Only tell me what you want to know, and if I don’t ferret it out, my name’s not Moggy. But hear me, Nancy; I join you now hand and heart, though I gain nothing by it: and when you choose to have him, I’ll bring you my little duck of a husband, and he will be worth his weight in gold, though I say it that shouldn’t say it.”
“Thanky, Moggy; but you shall not work for nothing;” and Nancy laid a gold Jacobus on the table. “This for your present information. Be secret and cautious, and no gossiping, and you’ll find that you shall have all you wish, and be no loser in the bargain. And now, good night—I must be away. You shall see me soon, Moggy; and remember what I have told you.”
Moggy was astonished at the sight of the gold Jacobus, which she took up and examined as Nancy departed. “Well,” thought she, “but this smuggling must be a pretty consarn; and as sure as gold is gold, my Jemmy shall be a smuggler.”
Nancy turned down the street, and passed rapidly on, until she was clear of the fortifications, in the direction of South Sea Beach. A few scattered cottages were at that time built upon the spot. It was quite dark as she passed the lines, and held her way over the shingle. A man was standing alone, whose figure she recognised. It was the very person that she wished to find. Nancy watched him for awhile, and observed him pull out a paper, tear it in two, and throw it down with gesticulations of anger and indignation. She then approached.
“What’s o’clock?” said Nancy.
“Do you want the right time?” replied the man.
“To a minute,” replied Nancy, who, finding that the password was given correctly, now stopped, and faced the other party. “Is that you, Cornbury?”
“Yes, Nancy,” replied the man, who was the same person who went on board of the cutter to give the information.
“I have been seeking you,” replied Nancy. “There has been some information laid, and the boats were nearly surprised. Alice desires that you will find out what boats entered the cove, whom they belonged to, and, if possible, how they obtained the information.”
“Boats nearly surprised!—you don’t say so,” replied Cornbury, with affected astonishment. “This must indeed be looked to. Have you no idea—”
“None,” replied Nancy. “There was no vessel to be seen the next morning—the fog was too thick. Have you seen Wahop?”
“No; I thought he was on the Isle.”
“He ought to have been, but has not come; I have been at the oak-tree for three nights running. It’s very strange. Do you think that he can have played false?”
“I never much liked the man,” replied Cornbury.
“Nor I either,” replied Nancy; “but I must go now, for I must be back at the crags before daylight. Find out what you can, and let us know as soon as possible. I shall be over again as soon as the cargo is run; if you find out anything, you had better come to-morrow night.”
“I will,” replied Cornbury; and the parties separated.
“Traitor!” muttered Nancy, when she was once more alone. “If he comes, it shall be to his death;” and Nancy stooped down, picked up the pieces of paper which Cornbury had torn up, and put them in the basket she carried on her arm.
It will be observed, that Nancy had purposely thrown out hints against Wahop, to induce Cornbury to believe that he was not suspected. Her assertion that Wahop was not on the island was false. He had been three days at Ryde, according to the arrangement. The bait took. Cornbury perceiving that the suspicion was against Wahop, thought that he could not do better than to boldly make his appearance at the cave, which would remove any doubts as to his own fidelity.
Nancy hastened down to the Point, and returned that night to Ryde, from whence she walked over to the cave, and was there before daylight. She communicated to Alice the intelligence which she had received from Moggy Salisbury, and the arrangements she had proposed to her, by which the motions of the cutter could be known.
“Is that woman to be trusted, think you, Nancy?” inquired Alice.
“Yes, I believe sincerely she may be. I have known her long; and she wishes her husband to join us.”
“We must reflect upon it. She may be most useful. What is the character of the officer who commands the vessel?”
“A miser and a coward. He is well known—neither honour nor conscience in him.”
“The first is well, as we may act upon it, but the second renders him doubtful. You are tired, Nancy, and had better lie down a little.”
Nancy Corbett delivered the pens to Lilly and then took the advice of her superior. The day was remarkably fine, and the water smooth, so that the boats were expected that night. At dusk two small lights, at even distances, were suspended from the cliff, to point out to the boats that the coast was free, and that they might land. Alice, however, took the precaution to have a watch on the beach, in case of any second surprise being attempted; but of this there was little fear, as she knew from Nancy that all the cutter’s boats were on board when she entered the harbour. Lilly, who thought it a delight to be one moment sooner in her father’s arms, had taken the watch on the beach, and there the little girl remained perched upon a rock, at the foot of which the waves now only sullenly washed, for the night was beautifully calm and clear. To a passer on the ocean she might have been mistaken for a mermaid who had left her watery bower to look upon the world above.
What were the thoughts of the little maiden as she remained there fixed as a statue? Did she revert to the period at which her infant memory could retrace silken hangings and marble halls, visions of splendour, dreamings of courtly state, or was she thinking of her father, as her quick ear caught the least swell of the increasing breeze? Was she, as her eye was fixed as if attempting to pierce the depths of the ocean, wondering at what might be its hidden secrets, or as they were turned towards the heavens, bespangled with ten thousand stars, was she meditating on the God who placed them there? Who can say?—but that that intellectual face bespoke the mind at work is certain, and from one so pure and lovely could emanate nothing but what was innocent and good.
But a distant sound falls upon her ear; she listens, and by its measured cadence knows that it is the rowers in a boat: nearer it comes and more distinct, and now her keen eye detects the black mass approaching in the gloom of night. She starts from the rock ready to fly up to the cave to give notice of an enemy, or, if their anticipated friends, to fly into the arms of her father. But her alarm is over, she perceives that it is the lugger, the boat dashes into the cove, and the first who lands strains her to his bosom.
“My dearest Lilly, is all well?”
“Yes, all is well, father; but you are well come.”
“Run up, dearest, and let the women be ready to assist. We have that here which must soon be out of sight. Is the Father Innis here?”
“Since Thursday last.”
“’Tis well, dear; you may go. Quick, my lads, and beach the cargo:— see to it, Ramsay; I must at once unto the cave.” Having given these directions, the father of Lilly commenced his ascent over the rough and steep rocks which led up to the cavern, anxious to obtain what information could be imparted relative to the treachery which had led to their narrow escape two nights preceding.
He was met by Alice, who cordially embraced him; but he appeared anxious to release himself from her endearments, that he might at once enter upon matters to him of more serious importance. “Where is the Father Innis, my dear?” said he, disengaging himself from her arms.
“He sleeps, Robert, or, at least, he did just now, but probably he will rise now that you are come. But in the meantime, I have discovered who the traitor is.”
“By all the saints, he shall not escape my vengeance!”
Alice then entered into the particulars related by Nancy Corbett, and already known to the reader. She had just concluded when Father Innis made his appearance from the cave.
“Welcome, thrice welcome, holy father.”
“Welcome, too, my son. Say, do we start to-night?”
“Not till to-morrow night,” replied the husband of Alice, who having ascertained that, in all probability, Cornbury would come that night, determined, at all risks, to get possession of him; “we could well be over before daylight, and with your precious person I must not risk too much. You are anxiously expected.”
“And I have important news,” replied the priest; “but I will not detain you now; I perceive that your presence is wanted by your men.”
During this colloquy the women had descended the ladder, and had been assisting the men to carry up the various packages of which the boat’s cargo consisted, and they now awaited directions as to the stowing away.
“Ramsay,” said the leader, “we do not return to-night: take the men, and contrive to lift the boat up on the rocks, so that she may not be injured.”
An hour elapsed before this was effected, and then the leader, as well as the rest of the smugglers, retired to the cave to refresh themselves with sleep after their night of fatigue. As usual, one woman kept watch, and that woman was Nancy Corbett. The ladder had been hauled up, and she was walking up and down, with her arms under a shawl, to a sort of stamping trot, for the weather was frosty, when she heard a low whistle at the west side of the flat.
“Oh, ho! have I lured you, you traitorous villain?” muttered Nancy; “you come in good time;” and Nancy walked to the spot where the ladder was usually lowered down, and looked over. Although the moon had risen, it was too dark on that side of the platform to distinguish more than that there was a human form, who repeated the whistle.
“What’s o’clock?” said Nancy, in a low tone.
“Do you want the right time to a minute?” replied a voice, which was recognised as Cornbury’s. Nancy lowered down the ladder, and Cornbury ascended the platform.
“I am glad you are come, Cornbury. Have you heard anything of Wahop?”
“No one has seen or heard of him,” replied the man, “but I have found out what boats they were. Did the lugger come over to-night?”
“Yes,” replied Nancy, “but I must go in and let Mistress Alice know that you are here.”
Nancy’s abrupt departure was to prevent Cornbury from asking if the boat had remained, or returned to the French coast; for she thought it not impossible that the unusual circumstance of the boat remaining might induce him to suppose that his treachery had been discovered, and to make his immediate escape, which he, of course, could have done, and given full information of the cave and the parties who frequented it.
Nancy soon reappeared, and familiarly taking the arm of Cornbury, led him to the eastern side of the platform, asking him many questions. As soon as he was there, the leader of the gang, followed by half-a-dozen of his men, rushed out and secured him. Cornbury now felt assured that all was discovered, and that his life was forfeited. “Bind him fast,” said the leader, “and keep watch over him; his case shall soon be disposed of. Nancy, you will call me at daylight.”
When Cornbury had been secured, the men returned into the cave, leaving one with a loaded pistol to guard him. Nancy still remained on the watch.
“Nancy Corbett,” said Cornbury, “why am I treated thus?”
“Why?” replied Nancy, with scorn; “ask yourself why. Do you think that I did not know when I sought you at the beach that you had sailed in the cutter, had brought the boats here, and that if it had not been for the lieutenant taking his dog in the boat, and its barking, you would have delivered us all into the hands of the Philistines?—wretched traitor.”
“Damn!” muttered Cornbury; “then it is to you, you devil, that I am indebted for being entrapped this way.”
“Yes, to me,” replied Nancy, with scorn. “And, depend upon it, you will have your deserts before the sun is one hour in the heavens.”
“Mistress Nancy, I must beg you to walk your watch like a lady, and not to be corresponding with my prisoner any how, whether you talk raison or traison, as may happen to suit your convanience,” observed the man who was guard over Cornbury.
“Be aisy, my jewel,” replied Nancy, mimicking the Irishman, “and I’ll be as silent as a magpie, any how. And, Mr Fitzpatrick, you’ll just be plased to keep your two eyes upon your prisoner, and not be staring at me, following me up and down, as you do, with those twinklers of yours.”
“A cat may look at a king, Mistress Nancy, and no harm done either.”
“You forget, Mr Fitzpatrick,” replied Nancy, “that I am now a modest woman.”
“More’s the pity, Mistress Nancy: I wish you’d forget it too, and I dying of love for you.”
Nancy walked away to the end of the platform to avoid further conversation. The day was now dawning, and as, by degrees, the light was thrown upon the face of Cornbury, it was strange to witness how his agitation and his fear had changed all the ruby carbuncles on his face to a deadly white. He called to Nancy Corbett in an humble tone once or twice as she passed by in her walk, but received no reply further than a look of scorn. As soon as it was broad daylight, Nancy went into the cave to call up the leader.
In a few minutes he appeared, with the rest of the smugglers.
“Philip Cornbury,” said he, with a stern and unrelenting countenance, “you would have betrayed us for the sake of money.”
“It is false,” replied Cornbury.
“False, is it? you shall have a fair trial. Nancy Corbett, give your evidence before us all.”
Nancy recapitulated all that had passed.
“I say again, that it is false,” replied Cornbury. “Where is the woman whom she states to have told her this? This is nothing more than assertion, and I say again, it is false. Am I to be condemned without proofs? Is my life to be sacrificed to the animosity of this woman, who wishes to get rid of me, because—”
“Because what?” interrupted Nancy.
“Because I was too well acquainted with you before your marriage, and can tell too much.”
“Now, curses on you, for a liar as well as a traitor!” exclaimed Nancy. “What I was before I was married is well known; but it is well known, also, that I pleased my fancy, and could always choose, I must, indeed, have had a sorry taste to be intimate with a blotched wretch like you, sir,” continued Nancy, turning to the leader, “it is false; and whatever may be said against me on other points, Nancy Dawson, or Nancy Corbett, was never yet so vile as to assert a lie, I put it to you, sir, and to all of you, is not my word sufficient in this case?”
The smugglers nodded their heads in assent.
“And now that is admitted, I will prove his villany and falsehood. Philip Cornbury, do you know this paper?” cried Nancy, taking out of her bosom the agreement signed by Vanslyperken, which she had picked up on the night when Cornbury had torn it up and thrown it away. “Do you know this paper, I ask you? Read it, sir,” continued Nancy, handing it over to the leader of the smugglers.
The paper was read, and the inflexible countenance of the leader turned towards Cornbury—who saw his doom.
“Go in, Nancy Corbett, and let no women appear till all is over.”
“Liar!” said Nancy, spitting on the ground as she passed by Cornbury.
“Bind his eyes, and lead him to the western edge,” said the leader.
“Philip Cornbury, you have but a few minutes to live. In mercy, you may see the holy father, if you wish it.”
“I’m no damned papist,” replied Cornbury, in a sulky tone.
“Lead him on then.”
Cornbury was led to the western edge of the flat, where the cliff was most high and precipitous, and then made to kneel down.
“Fitzpatrick,” said the leader, pointing to the condemned.
Fitzpatrick walked up to the kneeling man with his loaded pistol, and then the others, who had led Cornbury to the edge of the cliff, retired.
Fitzpatrick cocked the lock.
“Would you like to say, ‘God have mercy on my treacherous sinful sowl,’ or anything short and sweet like that?” said Fitzpatrick; “if so, I’ll wait a couple of seconds more for your convanience, Philip Cornbury.”
Cornbury made no reply. Fitzpatrick put the pistol to his ear, the ball whizzed through his brain, the body half raised itself from its knees with a strong muscular action, and then toppled over, and disappeared down the side of the precipice.
“It’s to be hoped that the next time you lave this world, Master Cornbury, it will be in a purliter sort of manner. A civil question demands a civil answer, anyhow,” said Fitzpatrick, coolly rejoining the other men.