THE COMING OF ADAM AND OF OUR GREAT JOY THEREIN
The moon was paling to daybreak as, having climbed that rocky stair I have
mentioned, we came upon the cliff and stood, hands tight-clasped, where
we might behold the infinity of waters; and after some while, looming
phantom-like upon the dawn, we descried the lofty sails of a great ship
standing in towards the land and growing ever more distinct. And as we
watched, and never a word, her towering canvas flushed rosy with coming
day, a changing colour that grew ever brighter until it glowed all
glorious, and up rose the sun.
Suddenly, as we watched the proud oncoming of this ship of glory, my lady
uttered a little, soft cry and nestled to me.
"The sign, Martin!" cried she, "God hath sent us the sign, beloved; see
what she beareth at the main!" And there, sure enough, stirring languid
upon the gentle air was the Cross of St. George. And beholding this
thing (that was no more than shred of bunting) and in these hostile
seas, ship and sea swam upon my vision, and bowing my head lest my
beloved behold this weakness, felt her warm lips on mine.
"Dear Martin," said she, "hide not your tears from me, for yonder is
England, a noble future--home, at last."
"Home?" said I, "Aye, home and peace at last and, best of all--you!" Thus
stood we, clean forgetting this great ship in each other until, roused by
the thunder of another gun, we started and turned to see the ship so near
that we could distinguish the glint of armour on her decks here and there,
and presently up to us rose a cheer (though faint) and we saw them make a
waft with the ensign, so that it seemed they had discovered us where we
stood. Hereupon, seeing the ship already going about to fetch into the
harbour, we descended the cliff and, reaching the sands below, stood there
until the vessel hove into view round the headland that was like unto a
lion's head, and, furling upper and lower courses, let go her anchor and
brought up in fashion very seamanlike, and she indeed a great and noble
vessel from whose lofty decks rose lusty shouts of welcome, drowned all at
once in the silvery fanfare of trumpets and a prodigious rolling of drums.
Presently, to this merry clamour, a boat was lowered and pulled towards
us, and surely never was seen a wilder, more ragged company than this that
manned her. In the stem-sheets sat Adam, one hand upon the tiller, the
other slung about him by a scarf, his harness rusty and dinted, but his
eyes very bright beneath the pent of his weather-beaten hat. Scarce had the
boat touched shore than his legs (dight in prodigiously long Spanish boots)
were over the side and he came wading ashore, first of any.
"Praise God!" said he, halting suddenly to flourish off his battered hat
and glance from one to other of us with his old, whimsical look. "Praise
God I do see again two souls, the most wilful and unruly in all this world,
yet here stand ye that should be most thoroughly dead (what with the peril
consequent upon wilfulness) but for a most especial Providence--there stand
ye fuller of life and the joy o' living than ever."
"And you, Adam," reaching her hands to him in welcome, "you that must march
'gainst a mighty city with men so few! Death surely hath been very nigh you
also, yet here are you come back to us unscathed save for your arm; surely
God hath been to us infinitely kind and good!"
"Amen!" said Adam and stooping, raised these slender hands to his lips.
"Howbeit, my Lady Wilfulness," quoth he, shaking his head, "I vow you ha'
caused me more carking care than any unhanged pirate or Spaniard on the
Main! You that must bide here all alone, contemning alike my prayers and
commands, nor suffering any to stay for your comfort and protection and all
for sake of this hare-brained, most obstinate comrade o' mine, that must
go running his poor sconce into a thousand dangers (which was bad) and
upsetting all my schemes and calculations (which was worse, mark you!)
and all to chase a will-o'-the-wisp, a mare's nest, a--oh, Lord love you,
Martin--!" And so we clasped hands.
In a little, my dear lady betwixt us, and Adam discoursing of his
adventures and particularly of his men's resolution, endurance and
discipline, we got us aboard the _Deliverance_ which the men were already
stripping of such stores as remained, filling the air with cheery shouts,
and yo-ho-ing as they hove at this or hauled at that. Climbing to the
quarter-deck we came at last to the great cabin, where Adam was pleased
to commend the means I had taken to our defence, though more than once I
noticed his quick glance flash here and there as if seeking somewhat. At
last, my lady having left us awhile, he turns his sharp eyes on me:
"Comrade, how goeth vengeance nowadays?" he questioned. "What of Sir
Richard, your enemy?"
"Dead; Adam!"
"Aha!" said he, pinching his chin and eyeing me askance, "was it steel or
did ye shoot him, comrade?"
"God forgive you for saying such thing, Adam!" quoth I, scowling into his
lean, brown face.
"Aha," said he again, and viewing me with his furtive leer. "Do ye regret
his murder then, Martin?"
"Aye, I do from my heart--now and always!"
"Hum!" said he, seating himself on my tumbled bed and glancing whimsically
at me, "Martin," quoth he, "friend--brother--you that talked bloody murder
and hell-fire with a heart inside you clean and gentle as a child's,
thou'rt plaguey fool to think thy friend Adam be such fool as not to know
thee better. Hark'ee now, here's your fashion: If you found the enemy you
sought so long and him in a Spanish prison, first you cursed, then you
comforted, then eased his pains, watched your chance, throttled your gaoler
and away to freedom, bearing your enemy along wi' you--is't not something
the way of it--come?"
"Truly, Adam!" said I, all amazed, "though how you chance to know this--"
"Tush!" said he. "'Tis writ plain all over thee, Martin, and yonder cometh
our lady, as peerless a maid as ever blessed man's sight--for all of the
which I do love thee, Martin. Come, now, I will take ye aboard the prize
and hey for England--this night we sail!" So we joined my lady and coming
down to the boat were presently rowed to the Spanish ship, a great vessel,
her towering stem brave with gilding and her massy timbers enriched by all
manner of carved work.
"She had a name well-nigh long as herself, Martin," said Adam, "but Godby
christened her _The Joyous Hope_ instead, which shall serve well enough."
So we came beneath her high, curving side, where leaned familiar
figures--lean, bronzed fellows who welcomed us with cheer that waked many
an echo. Upon the quarter-deck was Penruddock the surgeon, who bustled
forward to greet us himself as loquacious as ever and very loud in praise
of the cure he had once wrought in me; and here, too, was Godby, to make a
leg to my lady and grasp my hand.
"Why, Mart'n--why, pal, here's j'y, scorch me wi' a port-fire else!" quoth
he, then, hearing a hail from the beach, rolled away to look to his many
duties.
"She's good enough vessel--to look at, Martin," said Adam, bringing us into
the panelled splendour of the coach or roundhouse; "aye, she's roomy and
handsome enough and rich-laden, though something heavy on her helm; of guns
fifty and nine and well-found in all things save clothes, hence my scurvy
rags; but we'll better 'em when our stores come aboard."
And now, my lady being retired; he showed me over this great galleon, so
massy built for all her gilding and carved finery, and so stout-timbered as
made her well-nigh shot-proof.
"She's a notable rich prize, Adam!" said I, as we came above deck again,
where the crew were at work getting aboard us the stores from the
_Deliverance_ under Godby's watchful eye.
"Aye, we were fortunate, Martin," pausing to view this busy scene, "and all
with scarce a blow and but five men lost, and they mostly by sunstroke or
snakebite; we could ha' taken the city also had I been so minded."
"'Twas marvellous achievement for man so timid, Adam!" quoth I.
"Nay, comrade, I did but smite the enemy unbeknown and where least
expected; 'twas simple enough. See now, Martin," said he, pinching his
chin and averting his head, "I am very fain to learn more of--to hear your
adventures--you shall tell me of--of 'em if you will, but later, for we
sail on the flood and I have much to do in consequence."
So I presently fell to pacing the broad deck alone, dreaming on the future
and in my heart a song of gratitude to God. Presently to me comes Godby:
"Lord, Mart'n!" said he, hitching fiercely at the broad belt of his
galligaskins. "Here's been doin's o' late, pal, doin's as outdoes all other
doin's as ever was done! Talk o' glory? Talk o' fame? There's enough on't
aboard this here ship t' last every man on us all his days and longer. And
what's more to the p'int, Mart'n, there's gold! And silver! In bars! Aye,
pal, shoot me if 'tisn't a-laying in the hold like so much ballast! Cap'n
Adam hath give his share to be divided atwixt us, which is noble in him and
doeth us a power o' good!"
"Why, the men deserve it; 'twas a desperate business, Godby!"
"Aye, pal, good lads every one, though we had Cap'n Adam to lead 'em. 'Twas
ever 'Come' wi' him! Ten minutes arter our first salvo the fort was ours,
their guns spiked, an' we running for the harbour, Sir Adam showing the
way. And, Lord! To hear the folk in the tower, you'd ha' thought 'twas the
last trump--such shrieks and howls, Mart'n. So, hard in Cap'n Adam's wake
we scrambled aboard this ship, she laying nighest to shore and well under
the guns o' the fort as we'd just spiked so mighty careful, d'ye see, and
here was some small disputation wi' steel and pistol, and her people was
very presently swimming or rowing for it. So 'twas hoist sail, up anchor
and away, and though this galleon is no duck, being something lubberly on a
wind, she should bear us home well enough. 'Tis long since I last clapped
eye on old England, and never a day I ha'n't blessed that hour I met wi'
you at the 'Hop-pole,' for I'm rich, pal, rich, though I'd give a lot for a
glimpse o' the child I left a babe and a kiss from his bonny mother."
Thus, walking the broad deck of this stout ship that was soon to bear
us (and myself especially) to England and a new life, I hearkened to
God-be-here Jenkins, who talked, his eyes now cocked aloft at spars or
rigging, now observing the serene blue distances, now upon the boats plying
busily to and fro, until one of the men came to say the last of our stores
was aboard. And presently, being summoned, Adam appeared on the lofty poop
in all the bravery of flowing periwig and 'broidered coat.
"Ha, Mart'n," sighed Godby, hitching at his belt as we went to meet him, "I
love him best in buff and steel, though he'll ever be my cap'n, pal. There
aren't what you'd call a lot of him, neither, but what there is goeth a
prodigious long way in steel or velvet. Talk o' glory! Talk o' fame!
Pal, glory's a goblin and fame's a phantom compared wi' Cap'n Sir Adam
Penfeather, and you can keel haul, burn and hang me else!"
This night at moonrise we warped out from our anchorage and with drums
beating and fifes sounding merrily, stood out into the great deep and never
a heart that did not leap at thought of home and England. And now cometh my
lady, dressed in gown I thought marvellous becoming, and herself beautiful
beyond all women, as I told her, whereat she cast down her eyes and
smoothed her dainty silks with her pretty hands.
"Fie, Martin!" said she, mighty demure. "Is it well to be so extravagant in
praise of your own?" Which last words put me to such ecstasy that I fell
dumb forthwith; noting the which, she came a little nearer to slip her cool
fingers into mine, "Though, indeed," quoth she, "I am glad to find you so
observant! And my hair? Doth it please you, thus?" And now I saw her silky
tresses (and for all their mutilation) right cunningly ordered, and amid
their beauty that same wooden comb I had made for her on the island. "Well,
dear sir?" said she, leaning nearer. At this, being ever a man scant of
words (and the deck deserted hereabouts) I kissed her. And now, hand in
hand, we stood silent awhile to watch this cruel land of Darien fade upon
our sight. At last she turned and I also, to view that vast horizon that
lay before us.
"What see you, yonder in the distance, dear Martin?" she questioned.
"Yourself!" said I. "You fill my world. God make me worthy! Aye, in the
future--ever beside me henceforth, I do see you, my Damaris!"
"Why, to be sure, loved man! But what more?"
"I want for no more!"
"Nay, do but look!" said she, soft cheek to mine. "There I do see
happiness, fortune, honours--and--mayhap, if God is kind to us--" She
stopped, with sound like a little sob.
"What, my Joan?" I questioned, fool-like.
"Greater blessings--"
"But," said I, "what should be greater--"
"Ah, Martin--dear--cannot you guess?"
"Why, Joan--oh, my beloved!" But stepping out of my hold, she fled from me.
"Nay," cried I, "do not leave me so soon."
"I must, dear Martin. You--you will be wanting to speak with Adam--"
"Not I--Lord, no!"
"Why, then--you shall!" said she and vanished into the roundhouse
forthwith, leaving me wondering like the dull fellow I was until (and all
at once) I understood and my wonder changed to joy so great I might scarce
contain myself; wherefore, beholding Adam coming, I hasted to meet him and
had clapped him in my arms or ever he was aware.
"Marry us, Adam!" said I. "Marry us, man!"
"What, ha' ye just thought on't at last, Martin?"
"Aye, I have!"
"Tush!" said he. "'Twas all arranged by my lady and me hours agone. Come
into the coach."
And thus, upon the high seas, Adam (being both captain and magistrate)
married us forthwith, and because I had no other, I wed my Damaris with
my signet ring whereon was graven the motto of my house, viz: a couchant
leopard and the words, "Rouse me not." And who so sweet and grave as my
dear lady as she made the responses and hearkened to Adam, and he mighty
impressive. For witnesses we had Master Penruddock the surgeon and Godby,
and now, my lady retiring, we must crack a bottle, all four, though I know
not what we drank.
And presently Adam drew me out upon the quarter-deck, there to walk with me
a while under a great moon.
"Martin," said he suddenly, "you have come by rough seas and mighty
roundabout course to your happiness, but there be some do never make this
blessed haven all their days."
"God comfort them, poor souls!" quoth I.
"Amen!" said he; and then in changed voice, and his keen gaze aloft amid
the swelling sail, "What o' the lady Joanna, shipmate?" So I told him all
the best I remembered of her and described how nobly she had died; and he
pacing beside me said never a word.
"Martin," said he, when I had made an end, "I am a mighty rich man, yet for
all this, I shall be something solitary, I guess."
"Never in this world, Adam, so long as liveth my dear lady--"
"Your wife, comrade--'tis a sweet word!"
"Aye--my wife. And then, am I not your sworn brother? So like brothers will
we live together in England, and friends always!" And hereupon I clasped an
arm about him.
"This is well, Martin," said he, gripping my hand. "Aye, 'tis mighty well,
for nought under heaven is there to compare with true friendship, except
it be the love of a noble woman. So now go, comrade, go to her who hath
believed in you so faithfully, hath steadfastly endured so much for
you--get you to your wife!"
End of Project Gutenberg's Martin Conisby's Vengeance, by Jeffery Farnol