Mr. Bangs Accredits Himself--Silences Squire Walker--Constable
Rigby in the Kitchen--The Inquests--Arrests, and Mr. Newberry--The
Beaver River Contingent--Mr. Bangs and the Squire Consult--The Army
Prepares--Wilkinson's Heroics--Mr. Bigglethorpe on Fishing.
When Timotheus returned, he was not alone; a slightly built man of
medium stature, and rather flashily attired, rode beside him. The Squire
strode to the gate, to learn that the younger Pilgrim had accomplished
his various missions successfully, and to be presented by him, in his
usual clumsy way, to Mr. Bengs, a friend of Mr. Nash as was. "Yore men
is right, Squire; my neme is Bengs, Hickey Bengs, end pore Nesh sent for
me to kem end help ferret out a geng of dem excise slopers, end here I
find my pore friend merdered. I tell you, Squire, it's too dem bed, O,
too dem bed!"
The Squire felt he must be cautious these times, but that did not hinder
him being hospitable. "Come in, Mr. Bengs, and breakfast with us. My man
will put your horse up. I have Nash's papers in my possession from his
own hand, and, if I find they confirm your story, we will all be glad to
take you into our confidence. You, of all men, understand the necessity
for caution, and will, I hope, not take my precaution amiss."
"O Lud, no, Squire; yo're pretty shore to find letters frem me ameng
pore Nesh's papers, or some memorenda about me. H.B., you know, Hickey
Bengs."
Timotheus led the new detective's horse away, and the gentleman himself
entered the house and office with the Squire. "Coristine," said the
latter, familiarly addressing the lawyer, "would you mind looking up
Errol quietly and sending him here?"
Of course he didn't mind, and soon returned with the minister. Both
noticed that the Squire had two loaded pistols on the table before him,
the stranger being on the other side. "You can remain, Coristine. I must
introduce you, and the Reverend Mr. Errol, my fellow trustee in the
matter of these papers, to Mr. Bengs. Mr. Coristine is in the law, Mr.
Bengs."
The dapper gentleman with the red tie and large scarf pin bowed amiably
to the two witnesses of the interview, and Mr. Carruthers, with the
minister by his side, proceeded to examine the papers. "Here it is," he
said, after a few minutes of painful silence, "but what in aa the
warld's the meanin' o't? B.R.--B.T.--R.C.P. The date is Saturday night."
"I think I know," interrupted the lawyer. "How will this do: Beaver
River, Ben Toner, Roman Catholic Priest?"
"The very thing! Well, here's Sabbath. Prom. cum S.W.L.C. sup. eq."
Coristine had written the words down to study them. At last he said:
"It's a mixture of French, Latin, and English abbreviations; Promenade
or walk with Schoolmaster Wilkinson, Lawyer Coristine on the horse."
"Eh, man!" ejaculated the pleased Squire; "I'll hae to turn lawyer
mysel'. Now, here's later doon, the same day--B.D.--S.C.--P.O. scripsi
H.B. ven. inst. Come, my prophetic friend."
Triumphantly, the lawyer rolled out: "Bride's Dale, Squire Carruthers,
Post Office. I have written H.B. to come instanter."
"Have you his letter, Mr. Bengs?" the Squire asked, and at once it was
produced with the Flanders post mark on it, written on the Bridesdale
paper, and in Nash's peculiar way. Still Mr. Carruthers doubted. How
could he be sure that the letter had fallen into the right hands, or
that this smooth-spoken swell was not a cunning agent of Rawdon's?
"John," said the minister, stooping, and lifting something off the
carpet, "here's a bit of paper you've dropped out of the pocket-book, or
perhaps out of that bookie you're reading from."
The Squire eyed the paper, and then, stretching his arm over the table,
shook the detective warmly by the hand. "It was very foolish of me, Mr.
Bangs, not to have seen that at first. It gives notice of your arrival,
and describes you perfectly. There's a bit of Latin, Mr. Errol, you
might ask our friend. It seems to be a sort of watchword with a
countersign."
The minister took the paper and read, "quod quaeris?" whereupon the
detective smiled, and answered promptly, "molares ebrii."
"What in aa the warld's yon, Coristine?" enquired the Squire.
"Mr. Errol asked Mr. Bangs, 'What are you looking for?' and he answered,
'For full grindstones.'"
"When a man is _ebrius_, John," continued the minister, "he's no' just
sober. Weel, weel, the catechis is over, and ye can tak' puir Nash's
frien' into our plans. Thank Providence, there's the breakfast gong."
The ladies were astonished to see the new arrival enter the dining-room,
the breakfast-room table being too small, with his three inquisitors. He
was quite polite, however, though a little stiltedly so, as if not to
the manner born. Mr. Terry insisted on vacating his seat in Mr. Bangs
favour. He said: "There's a foine Oirishman from the narth by the name
av Hill Oi wud be plazed to have some conversation wid, so yeez 'll jist
koindly ekshcuse me all," and left for the kitchen. There were sixteen
people at the table, so when Squire Walker turned up, Marjorie, who had
been brought in to equalize the sides, had to yield her place to him,
and follow the veteran to the lower sphere, in one apartment of which
the children, under Tryphosa's rule, had a separate table. To this Mr.
Terry invited his countryman, the old schoolmaster, who, in spite of his
recent deipnosophistic repast with Mr. Maguffin, was ready for something
warm. He confidentially whispered to Mr. Terry that no doubt nagurs had
sowls and were human, but he wasn't pudden' fond of their society. In
the dining-room, Mr. Bangs and Squire Walker, in the centre of the
table, were in exile, for Wilkinson and the Captain flanked the former,
and Coristine and Mr. Perrowne the latter. Mrs. Du Plessis sat between
Carruthers and Mr. Thomas; Miss Halbert between the minister and Mr.
Perrowne; Miss Du Plessis between the dominie and the doctor; and Miss
Carmichael between Coristine and the colonel. Mrs. Carruthers, who
occupied one end of the table, had the colonel on her right, and her
sister-in-law, who took the other end, was supported in the same way by
the host. Squire Walker, a portly man, but not too heavy for exercise,
with a baldish head and large reddish whiskers, sporting a velveteen
shooting coat, high shirt collar, and large blue silk scarf with white
spots, was a man of much intelligence and a good talker. His
conversation compelled attention, and, like the glittering eye of the
ancient mariner, held, now Mr. Perrowne and now the lawyer from much
pleasanter ones with their respective ladies. He seemed to take a
fiendish pleasure in capturing Wilkinson from Miss Du Plessis, and the
Captain from her mother, and even sent his conversational shafts far off
to the Squire and the doctor, and to the presiding matrons. Mr. Errol
and the colonel were happily sheltered from him. Perhaps the new
detective perceived the state of unrest and terrible suspense in which
many of the company were on account of Squire Walker's vagaries, and
chivalrously sought to deliver them. Eyeing keenly the autocrat of the
breakfast table, he remarked, "I'm afraid you heve fergotten me,
Squire?"
"Don't think I ever had the pleasure of your acquaintance, sir."
"Oh, perdon me, you hed though. Two years ago, a large, stout, heavy
bearded men kem to yore ohffice, with a yeng Cuban who could herdly
speak a word of Inglish, asking you to commit him fer smeggling
cigars--"
"Haw! haw! haw!" laughed Mr. Walker, "and you were the bearded man were
you, eh?"
"Do please favour us with the whole story, Mr. Bangs," asked the
hostess.
"Go on, Bangs," added its victim, "I don't mind, haw! haw!"
"The Squire asked the big revenue detective how he knew the cigars were
smeggled, and he said that nobody could pay the duty and sell these
cigars for seven dollars a hendred. The Squire asked to see the cigars,
and while the pore yeng Cuban with the bleck mousteche stood twirling
his sombrero and looking guilty, he took one, smilt it, and then smouked
it. He said to the big detective, 'I won't let you hev a warrent for
that pore foreigner on any sech evidence, for I ken bey the very same
cigar at Beamish's for five dollars.' The detective said, 'Are you shore
the cigar is the same?' when the Squire pulled a drawer open end brought
out a box of the identical erticles. Then, the big men thenked him,
hended him a revenue card, end took the pore Cuban away. Next day
Beamish's was raided, end Nesh and I kem in for quite a rewerd."
"Then the detective was Nash?" asked Mr Walker.
"Yes, Nesh, with a big men's clowthes on, padded out."
"And what were you in the matter?"
"Oh, I wes the pore yeng Cuban thet could herdly speak Inglish."
"I don't think he can yet," whispered Miss Carmichael to Coristine, who
thought it an immense joke.
"So you made Squire Walker an informer against his will, Mr. Bangs,"
said Carruthers.
"Yes; but it was complimentary, too. We knew if there were any good
cigars in the village, the Squire's wes the best place to look for
them."
"You should have had me up for having smuggled goods in my possession,"
said the complimented talker.
"No, no, Squire; you see you were the next thing to Queen's evidence,
and they always go scotfree."
"A receiver and Queen's evidence! and the miserable little Cuban! Haw!
haw! haw!"
That is the story of how Squire Walker was silenced.
After breakfast there were prayers, as usual, conducted by the two
clergymen, and when they were over, the three J.P.'s, Doctor Halbert
being one, assembled for consultation in the office. Tom Rigby, the
constable, reported himself to the magistrate's court, and thereafter
adjourned to the kitchen, there to hold converse with his brother
veteran, Mr. Terry. Tom was tall, and as straight as if he had swallowed
a ramrod. He gave the military salute with great precision and
regularity. He was a widower, and a frequent visitor in the Bridesdale
servants' quarters, whence it was commonly reported that he had an eye
on Tryphena. Sylvanus had heard of this, with the effect that he lost no
opportunity of running down the trade of a soldier, and comparing it
most unfavourably with the free, rollicking life of the heaving sea. To
hear Sylvanus speak, one would imagine that the _Susan Thomas_ was
annually in the habit of circumnavigating the globe. The children's
breakfast was over, and they were all out in the garden picking certain
permitted flowers, and presenting them to their favourites among the
guests; but Mr. Terry had still remained, conversing with Mr. Hill,
whose book-larnin' was so voluminous that he made slow progress with his
breakfast, having had his cold tea thrice removed by his eldest daughter
and replaced with hot. When Rigby entered and saluted, the veteran rose
and returned the salute. "Good morning, Sergeant Terry! was it company
colour sergeant or on the staff you were, sir?"
"Lasht noight, Carporal Rigby, Oi was sargint-major for the firsht toime
in my loife. I wuz promawted loike."
"That would be in the volunteer service, Sergeant-major."
"Yiss; but we had a rale cornel in command that's been through the
Amerikin war, they till me."
"Sergeant-major, there are no American soldiers."
"Shure, an' Oi'm thinkin', corporal," said the veteran, feeling a
metaphorical thrid on the tail av his coat. "Oi'm thinkin' there's some
pretty foine foightin's been done in Ameriky; Oi've sane it, carporal,
wid my own two eyes."
"A dog can fight, Sergeant-major, and cats are tantamount to the same
thing; but where, I say, is the soldierly bearing, the discipline, the
spree-doo-cor, as they say in France? Sergeant-major, you know and I
know that a man cannot be a tailor today and a soldier to-morrow, and an
agent for pictorial family bibles the day after."
"I dunno, for you see you're a conshtable an' Oi'm a hid missenger in a
governmint ahffice in the city."
"A soldier, Sergeant-major, can always serve the country, is, even as a
soldier, a government officer; that is a very different thing,
Sergeant-major."
"The cornel here was tillin' me there was min in his rigiment that was
merchints an' lawyers an' clerks, an' shtudints, as good sowldjers as
iver foired a carrboine or drawed a shabre on the inimy."
"That was a case, Sergeant-major, of mob meeting mob. Did these men ever
charge as our cavalry charged at Balaclava; did they ever stand,
Sergeant-major, as we, myself included, stood at Inkerman? Never,
Sergeant-major, never! They might have made soldiers, if taken young;
but, as they were, they were no more soldiers than Sylvanus Pilgrim
here."
"You shet up yer tater-trap, Consterble Rigby, an' don't go fer to abuse
better men nor you aint," angrily interrupted the subject of the
corporal's unflattering comparison. Then, seeing the veteran, hopeless
of convincing his opponent, retire to the garden to join the children,
Sylvanus waxed bold. "A soldier, Trypheeny, a common soldier! Ef I owned
a dawg, a yaller dawg, I wouldn't go and make the pore beast a soldier.
Old pipeclay and parade, tattoo and barricks and punishment drill, likes
ter come around here braggin' up his lazy, slavish life. Why don't he
git a dawg collar and a chain at wonst and git tied up ter his kennel.
Ef you want a man, Trypheeny, get one as knows
A life on the ocean wave
And a home on the rollin' deep,
none o' your stiff starched, nigger driven, cat o' nine tails, ornery
common soldiers."
Tryphena snickered a little, but the constable went on with his
breakfast, not deigning to waste a syllable on such unmilitary trash as
Sylvanus, with whom it was impossible to reason, and to come to blows
with whom might imperil his dignity. Some day, perhaps, Pilgrim might be
his prisoner; then, the majesty of the law would be vindicated.
A messenger came and summoned the constable to accompany the coroner,
Dr. Halbert, to Richards, and bring the body of the murdered detective
to the post office. On such an occasion, the pensioner's dignity would
not allow him to drive the waggon, so Rufus had to be pressed into the
service. Squire Walker, as the presiding magistrate, in view of
Carruthers personal connection with the death of the subject of the
jury's verdict, appointed the detective temporary clerk of the court
that should sit after the inquests were over. Fearing that few of the
settlers warned would turn out as jurors, through fear of the Select
Encampment people, the master of Bridesdale chose a sufficient number of
men for the purpose from the present sojourners at his house. These,
some time after the doctor's departure, sauntered leisurely towards the
most public place in the neighbourhood. Arrived at the post office, they
found a large unfinished room in an adjoining building prepared for the
court. This building had been begun as a boarding house, but, when
almost completed, the conviction suddenly came to the post office people
that there were no boarders to be had, all the transients of any
financial value being given free quarters in the hospitable mansion of
the Squire. Hence the house was never finished. The roof, however, was
on, and the main room floored, so that it had been utilized for church
and Sunday school purposes, for an Orange Lodge, for temperance and
magic lantern itinerant lectures, and for local hops. Now, with the dead
body of Harding laid out upon an improvised table of rough boards on
trestles, it assumed the most solemn aspect it had ever exhibited. Three
oldish men were there, whom people called Johnson, Newberry, and
Pawkins; they were all the summoned jurors who had responded. Soon, from
the other side, the waggon came in sight, and when it came forward, the
remains of Nagle, alias Nash, were lifted reverently out and into the
hall, where they were placed beside those of one of his murderers. The
elder Richards accompanied the doctor, in order to give his testimony.
The mad woman and her son were also there, in charge of Sylvanus and Ben
Toner. Just as the party prepared to constitute the coroner's court, a
stumpy figure on a high stepping horse came riding along. He was well
disguised, but several persons recognized him. "Seize him," cried Squire
Carruthers. "It's Grinstuns," said the lawyer. "Stop him!" shouted
Bangs. But, Rawdon, having seen what he wanted, wheeled his horse and
galloped away. There was neither saddled horse to pursue him, nor rifle
to bring him down. "All the better," remarked Mr. Walker to his brother
J.P.'s; "had he seen mounted men and fire-arms among us, he'd have smelt
a rat. As it is, he thinks we are on the defensive and moving slowly."
It was evident, from what people heard of the presiding magistrate's
conversation, that the court had decided in favour of measures
offensive.
It was easy to get twelve good men and true for the first inquest. In
addition to Johnson, Newberry, and Pawkins, there were the constable and
Mr. Terry, Messrs. Hill and Hislop, Sylvanus, Timotheus, and Rufus, with
Mr. Bangs and Maguffin. The colonel was an alien, and Carruthers did not
care to sit on the jury. Dr. Halbert presided, flanked by his fellow
justices, and Wilkinson, though a minor witness, was made clerk.
Several persons identified the slain Nagle or Nash, and gave evidence as
to his relations with Rawdon's gang. Ben Toner's information and
Newcome's attested confession were noted. Mr. Errol and Coristine,
backed by the Captain and Ben, told how the body was found. Wilkinson
and Perrowne related their share in conveying the corpse to Richards'
house, and Richards confirmed their story. The coroner himself, having
examined the body, affirmed that the deceased came to his death by a
fracture of the skull, inflicted by a heavy blow from some blunt
instrument from behind, followed by a pistol shot in front through the
temple. Two persons, evidently, were concerned in the murder. Who were
they? Matilda Nagle was sworn. She repudiated the name of Rawdon. She
testified that a man called Harding brought her a note from her long
lost brother Steven, asking her to meet him at the barred gate in the
narrows at a certain hour late on Monday morning. She went, but Rawdon
would not let her go beyond the barred gate, so she called Stevy over.
He came to the foot of a tree, where Rawdon told her she must stay; and
then she saw Harding run up behind him and hit him over the head with an
iron bar, and he fell down and went to sleep. Did Rawdon shoot him? She
shivered, and didn't know, nor could any cross examination extract this
evidence from her. Harding knocked him down with the iron bar, and he
went to sleep, and she couldn't wake him. Then she went to the corpse
and cried: "Oh, Stevy, Stevy, wake up, do wake up quick, for he'll come
again." The court and jury were deeply affected. Old Mr. Newberry, the
foreman of the jury, brought in the verdict to the effect that the
deceased was murdered by a blow from an iron bar administered by one
Harding, producing fracture of the skull, and by a pistol shot in the
left temple by some unknown person. Thus the first inquest came to an
end. The second inquest would have been a matter of difficulty, on
account of the large number of people supposed to be implicated in
Harding's death, had not Ben Toner, who had been called out of court,
returned with three good men and true, namely Mr. Bigglethorpe, M.
Lajeunesse, and a certain Barney Sullivan. These three parties, moved by
the entreaties of Widow Toner, had set out early in the morning to look
up the missing Ben; and were so delighted with their success, and so
tired with their walk, that they were willing to sit on anything, even a
coroner's jury. Accordingly, a new jury was empanelled, consisting of
Messrs. Johnson, Newberry, and Pawkins, Bigglethorpe, Lajeunesse and
Sullivan, Errol, Wilkinson and Richards, with the Captain, Mr. Bangs,
and Squire Walker. The latter was chosen foreman. The coroner himself
acted as clerk. Ben Toner had seen the deceased in company with one
Newcome, and had heard him addressed as Harding. The coroner testified
to having examined the body, which exhibited no shot wound of any kind,
but the forehead was badly bruised, evidently by a stone, as gritty
particles were to be seen adhering to it, and two table knives were
still resting in the neighbourhood of the heart. The jury examined the
corpse, and, led by the foreman under guard of the constable, went out
across the road and over the fence into the field where Mr. Terry and
Coristine found the dead Harding lying. The place was well marked by the
beaten down grass, blood stains on a large boulder and on the ground,
and by the finding of a loaded revolver. Carefully examining the spot,
the detective pointed out, at last, the very root, not more than three
quarters of an inch thick, which formed a loop on the surface of the
ground, in which the unfortunate man's foot had caught, precipitating
him upon the stone. Every member of the jury having examined it, Mr.
Bangs took out his knife and cut it away in order to prevent similar
accidents in future. The coroner did not think the blow sufficient to
kill the man, though it must have rendered him insensible. The killing
was done by means of the knives. These were identified by the Squire and
Timotheus as belonging to the Bridesdale kitchen. There was neither time
nor necessity for prolonging the examination. Matilda Nagle and her son
Monty, with much satisfaction, confessed that they had followed the
Bridesdale force and had seen the man fall, that she had turned him over
on his back and struck him to the heart with the knife she carried,
which she left there, because she had no further need for it. Her son
had followed her example. The jury retired, or rather the court retired
from the jury, and, when Squire Walker called the coroner in again, he
read the second verdict, to the effect that the deceased Harding, while
in a state of insensibility owing to a fall, had been murdered by one
Matilda Nagle with a table knife, and that her son, commonly known as
Monty, was accessory to the deed. The double inquest was over, and the
bodies were transferred to coarse wooden shells, that of Nagle being
claimed by his fellow detective, and Harding's being left for a time
unburied in case some claimant should appear.
The magistrates, and Mr. Bangs as clerk, now sat in close session for a
little over half an hour, inasmuch as they had already come to certain
conclusions in the office at Bridesdale. One result of their conference
was the arrest of the madwoman and her son, much to the regret of the
Squire, Mr. Errol, and many more. Rigby was ordered to treat them
kindly, and convey them, with a written order signed by the three
justices, to the nearest town, there to hand them over to the police
authorities to be forwarded to their appropriate lunatic asylum. Old Mr.
Newberry, whom the case had very much affected, volunteered to accompany
the criminals, as he had to go to town at any rate, and offered to drive
them and the constable there, and take his wife as company for the
insane Matilda. Accordingly, he brought round the waggon in which he had
driven up, and took the constable and his prisoners away towards his own
house, which was on the road to their destination. The Squire and his
battalion were much relieved to find that they were not responsible for
Harding's death, although the fact reflected on their aim as
sharpshooters. The two wounded men were informed that a magistrates'
court was sitting, but evinced no anxiety to lodge a complaint against
any person or persons in connection with their injuries. The coroner
paid Messrs. Johnson and Pawkins their fee as jurymen, and, with the
Squire's permission, invited them to dine at Bridesdale; but they
declined the invitation with thanks, and returned, in company, to the
bosom of their families. The lawyer, filled with military zeal as a
recruiting officer, seeing that the new Beaver River contingent was
armed, asked Carruthers if he had room for them.
"The mair the merrier," answered the Squire, and bade him invite them.
So Coristine invited the three to dinner, and to help in the support of
the justices in the afternoon. Barney Sullivan said he wasn't going to
leave Ben. Mr. Bigglethorpe, as a fisherman, had always wanted to see
these lakes, and, if it would help the cause of good fishing, he was
ready to lend a hand to drive out poachers and pot-hunters. Pierre
doubted how Madame would take his absence; of course there was Bawtiste,
but, well yes, for the sake of the poor dead M'syae Nash and Meestare
Veelkeenson, he would stay. Que dommage, Meestare Bulky was not there, a
man so intelligent, so clever, so subtle of mind! Mr. Bigglethorpe was
introduced to the drawing-room, but Pierre, though invited, would not
enter its sacred precincts. He accompanied Barney to the kitchen, and
was introduced by Ben to the assembled company. His politeness carried
the servants' quarters by storm, and wreathed the faces of Tryphena and
Tryphosa in perpetual smiles. Mr. Hill and the Sesayder succumbed to his
genial influence, and even the disheartened Maguffin, though deploring
his poor English and lack of standing colour, confessed to Rufus that
"his ways was kind o' takin'."
"Squire Carruthers," said the detective, as they re-entered the office,
"there is wen thing you failed to have den at the inquest."
"What is that, Mr. Bangs?"
"To search the bedy of the men, Herding; bet I attended to thet, and
found pore Nesh's letter to his sister. Pore Nesh mest hev lost his head
for wence, since he trested thet dem villain. I seppowse there's no such
thing as a kemera ebout here?"
"No; what did you want a camera for?"
"To phowtogreph this Herding; there's a mystery about him. Nesh trested
him, and he terned out a dem traitor. Nesh mest hev known him before; he
would never trest a stranger so. Is there no wey of taking his
likeness?"
"There's a young lady staying here, you saw her at breakfast, Miss Du
Plessis, who's very clever with brush and pencil, but it's no' a very
pleasant task for a woman."
"No, but in the interests of jestice it might be well to risk offending
her. If you will reintroduce me more formally, I will esk the lady
myself."
Mr. Bangs was escorted to the garden, where the lady in question was
actually sketching Marjory and the young Carruthers in a variety of
attitudes. To the Squire's great astonishment, she professed her
readiness to comply with the detective's desire in the afternoon, if
somebody could be left to accompany her to the post office adjunct.
"How long will it take, Miss Du Plessis?" he asked. "A few minutes," she
answered, "a quarter of an hour at most."
"Then, if you will allow me, I shell be heppy to be your escort, and
indicate the features that should be emphasized for purposes of
recognition. As I ride, I ken easily overtake the perty." This being
agreed to, Mr. Bangs asked Carruthers to let him look over Nash's last
memoranda, as they might be useful, and any recently acquired papers.
Among the latter, taken from Newcome, was a paper of inestimable value
in the form of a chart, indicating, undoubtedly, the way to the abode of
Serlizer and the Select Encampment generally. In the memoranda of Nash's
note-book the detective found a late entry F. al. H. inf. sub pot. prom,
monst. via R., and drew the Squire's attention to it. "Look here,
Squire, et our dog Letin again; F. perheps Foster alias H, Herding,
informer, under my power (that's through some crime entered in this
book), premises to show the way to Rawdon's. This premise was made last
Tuesday, at Derham, a whole week ago."
"Why is Harding called an informer?"
"Because he belengs to an infamous cless raised up by our iniquitous
kestoms administration. These informers get no selery, bet are rewerded
with a share of the spoil they bring to the depertment. Semtimes they
accuse honest men, and ectually hev been known to get them convicted
falsely. Semtimes they take bribes from the greatest scoundrels, and
protect them in their villainy. Nesh thought he hed this fellew safe by
the law of fear; bet fear and envy and the dread of losing Rawdon's
bribes, combined in his treacherous heart to make a merderer of him."
"But Nash couldn't have written that letter last week. He knew nothing
of his sister's whereabouts till yesterday morning."
"Exectly; see here is the nowte, a sheet out of this very book fowlded
ep. End it says: 'Meet me at wence, not later than noon, outside the
barred chennel. You say he followed Rawdon from the powst office; then,
at sem point behind Rawdon, this Herding must hev terned ep, end, O dem
the brute if he is dead! hev cheated the cleverest fellow in the
service."
"But why should he have killed him? Why not leave that to Rawdon?"
"Rawdon's kenning and deep. When he knew it wes Nesh, he got a fright
himself end then frightened Herding into doing it. I'll bet you whet you
like, thet revolver found with his body is the kelibre of the bellet
wound in pore Nash's head. I'll look when I go ep this efternoon. His
trick was to lay it all on Herding; I shouldn't wender if he towld thet
med woman to kill him. It's jest like him, dem the brute!"
In order that due preparations, in the shape of accoutrements, might be
made, and after dinner delay avoided, the Squire and the colonel
assembled the forces. Including the absent Richards family, the
upholders and vindicators of the law numbered twenty-six. The Captain
had already signified to Richards senior his willingness to take command
of the scow and its complement of five men, armed with guns, and with
axes for cutting away the barrier at the narrows. There was much romance
about this side of the campaign, so that volunteers could have been got
for marine service to any extent; but the means of transportation were
limited, and even that able-bodied seaman Sylvanus had to be enrolled
among the landsmen. Happily Tom Rigby was not there to see him descend
once more to the level of military life. The colonel, rejoicing in
Newcome's chart of the marked road, called for cavalry volunteers.
Squire Walker, Mr. Bangs and Maguffin, having their horses with them,
naturally responded. It then came to a toss-up between Mr. Perrowne and
Coristine; the parson won, and the disappointed lawyer was relegated to
the flat feet. As the doctor had been major in a volunteer regiment, the
Squire ceded the command of the infantry to him. It was proposed to have
at least one man behind as a home guard, but nobody was prepared to
volunteer for this service, Messrs. Errol, Wilkinson, and Lajeunesse,
who were severally proposed, expressing their sense of the honour, their
high regard for the ladies, and anxiety for their well-being, but
emphatically declining to be absent from the common post of duty and
danger. Miss Halbert voiced the opinion of the fair sex that, being
eight in number, including the maids, they were quite able to defend
themselves. Nevertheless, the Squire inwardly determined to send old
Styles, the post office factotum, back with Miss Du Plessis. The main
attacking force of infantry consisted of Doctor Halbert, in command,
sergeants Carruthers and Terry and their two squads, the first
comprising privates Errol, Wilkinson, Coristine, Bigglethorpe,
Lajeunesse, and Hill; the second, privates Hislop, Toner, Sullivan, Hill
junior, and the two Pilgrims. Then, arms were inspected, and the twenty
bludgeons dealt out, five for the cavalry, and fifteen for the infantry.
Most of these had attachments of stout common string, but those of the
three commanders, the Squire, the two clergymen, and the two
pedestrians, were secured with red window cord, a mark of preference
which rejoiced the hearts of three of them, namely, the younger men.
With doubtful hands the dominie received his gun, and the minister more
boldly grasped a similar weapon. At the request of the colonel the
cavalry were served with a hasty luncheon, and thereafter set forward,
with the exception of the detective, Miss Du Plessis' escort, to patrol
the road and open communication with the Richards for the purpose of
intercepting the enemy's possible scouts. Two waggons were ordered to
take the infantry to the lake settlement, so that they might be fresh
for the work before them.
In his martial accoutrements, the dominie's soul was stirred within him.
He repeated to his bosom friend pieces from Körner's Leyer und Schwert,
but as the lawyer's acquaintance with the Teutonic tongues was limited,
including _sauer kraut, lager bier, nix kum araus, donner-wetter_, and
similar choice expressions, he failed to make an impression. Nobody in
the house knew German, unless it were Tryphena and Tryphosa, who had
picked up a little from their mother, and, of course, he could hardly
lie in wait to get off his warlike quotations on them. Ha! he remembered
Wordsworth, and rolled forth:--
"Vanguard of liberty, ye men of Kent!
* * * * *
They from their fields can see the countenance
Of your fierce war, may ken the glittering lance,
And hear you shouting forth your brave intent."
Still failing to awake a responsive echo in the heart that once beat in
poetic unison with his own, he turned to Mrs. Du Plessis, and, alluding
to the departed colonel, recited in her native tongue:--
"Honor al Caudillo,
Honor al primero,
Que el patriota acero
Oso fulminar.
La Patria afligida
Oyo' sus acentos,
Y vio' sus tormentos,
En gozo tornar."
"That is very pretty, Mr. Wilkinson, and I thank you much for recalling
the pleasant memories of my early speech. Is there not an English
translation of these words?"
"There is, Mrs. Du Plessis, by Sir John Bowring, It is:--
Hail, hail to the Chieftain,
All honour to him
Who first in the gleam
Of that light bared the sword!
The drooping land heard him,
Forgetting her fears;
And smiled through her tears,
As she hung on his word."
The dominie had thought only to give expression to the poetic fervour
called forth by the circumstances, but accomplished a good deal more,
the establishment of a common ground between himself and the nearest
relative of a very charming and cultivated young lady. The said young
lady came up to join in the conversation, and request Mr. Wilkinson to
repeat all that he knew of the battle hymn. The lawyer was secretly of
the opinion that his friend was making an ass of himself, and that, if
he were to try that poetry quoting business on Miss Carmichael, he would
soon discover that such was the case. Yet, if the Du Plessis liked that
sort of thing, he had no right to interfere. He remembered that he had
once been just such an ass himself, and wondered how he could have so
far strayed from the path of common sense. It was worse than Tryphosa
and Timotheus sitting down to sing with a hymn-book between them.
"What are you doing out in the garden all by yourself, Eugene?" asked a
small voice. He looked down and saw Marjorie fingering the barrel of his
rifle. "Don't you know," she continued, "that all the people have gone
in to dinner?"
"Did the gong sound, Marjorie?"
"To be sure it did. Tell me, what were you thinking about not to hear
it?"
"I was thinking about a dear little girl called Marjorie," answered the
prevaricating lawyer, picking the child up and bestowing a hearty salute
upon her lips.
"You're a very good boy now, Eugene; you get a clean shave every day. Do
you go to Collingwood for it in the night time, when I am in bed?"
"No, Marjorie; I get the cat to lick my face," the untruthful man
replied.
"What? our pussy Felina that spits at Muggy?"
"The very same."
"Then I'll ask Tryphosa's father if he would like to have the loan of
Felina. Don't you think she would do him good."
Coristine laughed, as he thought of Mr. Hill's stubbly countenance, and
carried "the darlin'" into the house.
At the dinner table he found himself punished for his day-dreaming.
Bangs was on one side of Miss Carmichael, and Bigglethorpe on the other,
and he was out in the cold, between the latter gentleman and the
minister. Mr. Bigglethorpe resumed the subject of fishing, and
interrogated his right hand neighbour as to his success at the River. He
laughed over the so-called mullets, and expressed a fisherman's contempt
for them as devourers of valuable spawn, relating also the fact that, in
the spring, when they swarm up into shallow parts of the stream, the
farmers shovel them out with large wooden scoops, and feed them to the
pigs or fertilize the land with them. Finding he had more than one
auditor, the fishing store-keeper questioned the Squire about the
contents of his brook, and, learning that dace, chubs, and crayfish were
its only occupants, promised to send Mrs. Carruthers a basket of trout
when the season came round. In order to give a classical turn to the
conversation, the dominie mentioned the name of Isaac Walton and
referred to his poor opinion of the chub in the river Lea. "I know the
Lea like a book," said Mr. Bigglethorpe, "and a dirty, muddy ditch it
has got to be since old Isaac's time. When I was a schoolboy I went
there fishing one afternoon with some companions, and caught not a
single fish, hardly got a nibble. We were going home disappointed, when
we saw a man at the reservoir above the river, near the Lea bridge, with
some eels in a basket. They were queer looking eels, but we bought them
for sixpence, and one of our fellows, called Wickens, put them in his
fishing can; then we maide for home. Before we could get there we had to
cross a pretty rough part of the Kingsland road. It was pretty dark,
but, of course, the shops were all lit up and we sawr a lot of boys,
common cads, coming our wy. Just in front of a public house they called
out 'Boots, Boots! fish, fish!' and out caime a stout lad of about
eighteen to lead the gang. Three of us clubbed our rods over them,
briking the top joints, of course, but Wickens wouldn't fall in with us.
So Boots ran after him, followed by a crowd. When Wickens sawr he
couldn't escype, he opened his can, took out an eel and slapped it over
Boots' fyce. The beggar just yelled, 'O, Lawr, water snykes!' and he
ran, and Wickens after the crowd like mad, slashing 'em with the water
snykes. O dear, O dear, I shall never forget those snykes to my dying
dy."
"Are there any water snakes in our rivers in Canada?" enquired Mrs. Du
Plessis.
"Oh yes, ma'am," answered the fisherman, "I imagine those lykes we are
going to visit this afternoon are pretty full of snykes. Mr. Bulky,
whose nyme is known to Mr. Coristine, I'm sure, wears long waterproof
boots for wyding in the Beaver River--"
"But, Mr. Bigglethorpe," asked the fair questioner, "how can one ride in
a river?"
"Excuse me, ma'am, I did not say riding, I said wyding, walking in the
water. Mr. Bulky was wyding, one morning, with rod in hand, when, all of
a sudden, he felt something on his leg. Looking down, he sawr a big
black water-snyke coiled round his boot, and jabbing awy at his leg. It
hung on to him like a boa-constrictor, and squeezed his leg so tight
that it gyve him a bad attack of gout. He had to get on shore and sawr
it in two with his knife before the snyke would leave go. Fortunately,
the brutes are not venomous, but that beggar's teeth scratched Mr.
Bulky's boots up pretty badly, I must sy."
When they rose from the table, Miss Carmichael went up to the lawyer and
said: "Please forgive me for punishing myself between Mr. Bangs and Mr.
Bigglethorpe. I sigh for good English." The lawyer answered, all
unwittingly, of course, in his worst brogue: "Miss Carrmoikle, it's my
frind Wilks I'll be aafther gitten' to shtarrt a noight school to tayche
me to shpake Inglish in aal its purity." To this there could be but one
response: "Go away, you shameful, shameless, bad man!" It pleased the
lawyer better than a more elegant and complimentary remark.