A BREATHLESS DISINTERMENT.
By this time we were up to all the ins and outs of everything. A sailor
has such a knowledge of knots, and the clever art of splicing, that you
cannot play loose tricks, in trying on a yarn with him. Jerry Toms and I
were ready, long before that day was out, to tie up our minds in a
bow-line knot, and never more undo them. Jerry went even beyond my
views, as was sure to be, because he knew so much less of the matter; he
would have it that Parson Chowne had choked the two children without any
aid, and then in hatred and mockery of the noble British uniform, had
buried them deep in Braunton Burrows, wearing a cockade for a shovel
hat, purely by way of outrage.
On the other hand, while I agreed with Jerry up to a certain distance, I
knew more of Parson Chowne (whom he never had set eyes upon) than to
listen to such rubbish. And while we agreed in the main so truly, and
thoroughly praised each other's wisdom, all the people in the house made
so highly much of us, that Jerry forgot the true line of reasoning, even
before nine o'clock at night, and dissented from my conclusions so
widely, and with so much arrogance, that it did not grieve me (after he
got up) to have knocked him down like a ninepin.
However, in the morning he was all right, and being informed upon every
side that the cook did it with the rolling-pin, he acknowledged the
justice of it, having paid more attention to her than a married lady
should admit, though parted from her husband. However, she forgave him
nobly, and he did the same to her; and I, with all my knowledge of
women, made avowal in the presence of the lady-housekeeper, that my only
uneasiness was to be certain whether I ought to admire the more Jerry's
behaviour or Mrs Cook's. And the cook had no certainty in the morning,
exactly what she might have done.
This little matter made a stir far beyond its value; and having some
knowledge of British nature, I proposed to the comitatus, with deference
both to the cook and housekeeper, also a glance at the first housemaid,
that we should right all misunderstanding by dining together
comfortably, an hour before the usual time. Because, as I clearly
expressed it, yet most inoffensively, our breakfast had been ruined by a
piece, I might say, of misconstruction overnight between two admirable
persons. And Heaviside came in just then, and put the cap on all of it,
by saying that true sailors were the greatest of all sportsmen;
therefore, in honour of our arrival, he had asked, and got leave from
the gamekeepers, to give a great rabbiting that afternoon down on
Braunton Burrows; and he hoped that Mrs Cockhanterbury, being the
lady-housekeeper, would grace the scene with her presence, and let every
maid come to the utmost.
Heaviside's speech, though nothing in itself, neither displaying any
manner at all, was received with the hottest applause; and for some time
Jerry and I had to look at one another, without any woman to notice us.
We made allowance for this, of course, although we did not like it. For,
after all, who was Heaviside? But we felt so sorely the ill effects of
the absence of perfect harmony upon the preceding evening (when all our
male members of the human race took more or less the marks of knuckles),
that a sense of stiffness helped us to make no objection to anything.
And tenfold thus, when we saw how the maids had made up their minds for
frolicking.
These young things must have their way, as well as the nobler lot of us:
for they really have not so very much less of mind than higher women
have; and they feel what a woman is too well to push themselves so
forward. They know their place, and they like their place, and they
tempt us down into it.
Be that either way--and now unwomanly women waste their good brains upon
a trifle of this kind--rabbiting was to be our sport; and no sooner was
the dinner done, and ten minutes given to the maids to dress, than every
dog on the premises worth his salt was whistled for. It would have
amused you to see the maids, or I might say all the womankind, coming
out with their best things on, and their hair done up, and all
pretending never even to have seen a looking-glass.
Madame Heaviside (as she commanded all people to entitle her) was of the
whole the very grandest as regards appearance. Also in manner and
carrying on; but of this I have no time to speak. Enough that the former
Naval Instructor thought it wiser to keep his own place, and let her
flirt with the game keepers. We had dogs, and ferrets, and nets, and
spades, and guns for those who were clever enough to keep from letting
them off at all, and to frighten the women without any harm. There must
have been five-and-twenty of us in number altogether, besides at least a
score of children who ran down from Braunton village, when they saw what
we were at. There was no restraint laid upon us by any presence of the
gentry; for Sir Philip was not in the humour for sport, and the Squire
of course kept himself to his room; and as for the Captain, we had no
token of his return from South Devon yet.
Therefore we had the most wonderful fun, enjoying the wildness of
the place, and the freshness of the river air, and wilfulness of
the sandhills, also the hide-and-seek of the rushes, and the many
ups and downs and pleasure of helping the young women in and out,
also how these latter got (if they had any feet to be proud of)
into rabbit-holes on purpose to be lifted out of them, and fill the
rosettes of their shoes, and have them dusted by a naval man's very
best pocket-handkerchief--together with a difficulty of standing on one
foot while doing it, or having it done to them, and a fear of breathing
too much out--after smothered rabbit at dinner-time--which made their
figures look beautiful. Enough that I took my choice among them, for
consideration; and jotted down the names of three, who must have
some cash from their petticoats. Let nobody for a moment dream that
I started with this intention. The rest of my life was to be devoted
to the Royal Navy, if only a hot war should come again; of which we
already felt simmerings. But I could not regard all these things, after
so many years at sea, without some desire for further acquaintance with
the meaning of everything. At sea we forget a great deal of their ways.
When we come ashore--there they are again!
This is a very childish thing for a man like me to think of.
Nevertheless I do fall back from perfect propriety sometimes; never as
regards money; but when my feelings are touched by the way in which
superior young women try to catch me; or when my opinion is asked
conscientiously as to cordials. And this same afternoon the noble
clearness of the sun and air, and the sound of merry voices glancing
where all the world (unless it were soft sand) would have echoed them,
and the sense of going sporting--which is half the game of it--these and
other things, as well as the fatness of the rabbits' backs, and great
skill not to bruise them, led the whole of us, more or less, into
contemplation of Nature's beauties. We must have killed more than a
hundred and fifty coneys, in one way and another, when Heaviside came
up, almost at a run, to a hill where Jerry Toms and I were sitting down,
to look about a bit, and to let the young women admire us.
"What's the matter?" said I, not liking to be interrupted thus.
"Matter enough," he panted out; "where is Madame? The Lord keep her
away."
"Madame is gone down to the water-side," said Jerry, though I frowned at
him, "together with that smart young fellow--I forget his
name--under-keeper they call him."
"Hurrah, my hearties!" cried Heaviside; "that is luck, and no mistake.
Now lend a hand, every lubber of you. Her pet dog Snap is in the sand;
'with the devil to pay, and no pitch hot,' if we take long to get him
out again."
We knew what he meant; for several dogs of an over-zealous character had
got into premature burial in the rabbit-galleries, through the stupidity
of people who crowded upon the cone over them. Some had been dug out
alive, and some dead, according to what their luck was. And now we were
bound to dig out poor Snap, and woe to us all if we found him dead!
I took the biggest spade, as well as the entire command of all of us,
and we started at quick step for the place which Heaviside pointed out
to us. He told us, so far as his breath allowed, that his small brown
terrier Snap had found a rabbit of tender age hiding in a tuft of
rushes. Snap put all speed on at once, but young bunny had the heels of
him, and flipped up her tail at the mouth of a hole, with an air of
defiance which provoked Snap beyond all discretion. He scarcely stopped
to think before he plunged with a yelp into the hole, while another and
a wiser dog came up, and shook his ears at it. For a little while they
heard poor Snap working away in great ecstasy, scratching at narrow
turns, and yelping when he almost got hold of fur. Heaviside stood, in
his heavy way, whistling into the entrance-hole, which went down from a
steep ascent with a tuft of rushes over it. But Snap was a great deal
too gamesome a dog to come back--even if he heard him. Meanwhile a lot
of bulky fellows, who could do no more than clap their hands, got on the
brow of the burrow and stamped, and shouted to Snap to dig deeper. Then
of a sudden the whole hill slided, as a hollow fire does, and cast a
great part of itself into a deep gully on the north of it. And those
great louts who had sent it down so, found it very hard (and never
deserved) to get their clumsy legs out.
No wonder that Heaviside had made such a run to come and fetch us. For
Snap must be now many feet underground, and the Naval Instructor knew
what it would be to go home to Nanette without him. He stood above the
slip and listened, and there was no bark of Snap; while to my mind came
back strangely thoughts of the five poor sons of Sker, and of the little
child dwelling in sand, forlorn and abandoned Bardie.
"Dig away, my lads, dig away!" I cried, from force of memory, and
setting example to every one; "I have seen a thing like this before; it
only wants quick digging." We dug and dug, and drove our pit through
several decks of rabbit-berths; and still I cried "Dig on, my lads!"
although they said it was hopeless. Then suddenly some one struck
something hard, and cried "Halloa!" and frightened us. We crowded round,
and I took the lead, and made the rest keep back from me, in right of
superior discipline. And thence I heaved out a beautiful cocked-hat of a
British Captain of the Royal Navy, with Snap inside of it and not quite
dead!
Such a cheer and sound arose (the moment that Snap gave a little sniff),
from universal excitement and joy, with Heaviside at the head of it,
that I feared to be hoisted quite out of the hole, and mounted on human
shoulders. This I like well enough now and then, having many a time
deserved without altogether ensuing it; but I could not stop to think of
any private triumph now. The whole of my heart was hot inside me,
through what I was thinking of.
That poor honest fellow, who so eschewed the adornment of the outward
man, and carried out pure Christianity so as to take no heed of what he
wore, or whether he wore anything whatever; yet who really felt for
people of a weaker cultivation, to such an extreme that he hardly ever
went about by day much,--this noble man had given evidence such as no
man, who had lost respect by keeping a tailor, could doubt of. In
itself, it was perspicuous; and so was the witness, before he put up
with a sack, in order to tender it.
The whole force of this broke upon me now; while the others were showing
the hat round, or blowing into the little dog's nostrils, and with a
rabbit's tail tickling him; because in a single glance I had seen that
the hat was our Captain Bampfylde's. And then I thought of old Sir
Philip, striding sadly along these burrows, for ever seeking something.
"Dig away, dig away, my lads. Never mind the little dog. Let the maidens
see to him. Under our feet there is something now, worth a hundred
thousand dogs."
All the people stood and stared, and thought that I was off my wits; and
but for my uniform, not one would ever have stopped to harken me. It was
useless to speak to Heaviside. The whole of his mind was exhausted by
anxiety as to his wife's little dog. No sleep could he see before him
for at least three lunar months, unless little Snap came round again. So
I had to rely on myself alone, and Jerry Toms, and two gamekeepers.
All these were for giving up; because I can tell you it is no joke to
throw out spadeful after spadeful of this heavy deceitful sand, with
half of it coming back into the hole; and the place where you stand not
steadfast. And the rushes were combing darkly over us, showing their
ginger-coloured roots, and with tufts of jagged eyebrows threatening
overwhelment. For our lives we worked away--with me (as seems to be my
fate) compelled to be the master--and all the people looking down, and
ready to revile us, if we could not find a stirring thing. But we did
find a stirring thing, exactly as I will tell you.
For suddenly my spade struck something soft, something which returned no
sound, and yet was firm enough to stop, or at any rate to clog the tool.
Although it was scarcely twilight yet, and many people stood around us,
a feeling not of fear so much as horror seized upon me. Because this was
not like the case of digging out poor bodies smothered by accident or
the will of God, but was something far more dreadful; proof, to wit, of
atrocious murder done by villany of mankind upon two little helpless
babes. So that I scarce could hold the spade, when a piece of white
linen appeared through the sand, and then some tresses of long fair
hair, and then two little hands crossed on the breast, and a set of
small toes sticking upward. And close at hand lay another young body, of
about the same size, or a trifle larger.
At this terrible sight, the deepest breath of awe drew through all of
us, and several of the women upon the hill shrieked and dropped, and the
children fled, and the men feared to come any nearer. Even my three or
four fellow-diggers leaped from the hole with alacrity, leaving me all
by myself to go on with this piteous disinterment. For a moment I
trembled too much to do so, and leaned on my spade in the dusky grave,
watching the poor little things, and loath to break with sacrilegious
hands such innocent and eternal rest. "Ye pure and stainless souls," I
cried, "hovering even now above us, in your guardian angel's arms, and
appealing for judgment on your icy-hearted murderer, pardon me for thus
invading, in the sacred cause of justice, the calm sleep of your
tenements."
In this sad and solemn moment, with all the best spectators moved to
tears by my deep eloquence, as well as their own rich sympathies, it
struck me that the legs of one of the corpses stuck up rather strangely.
I had not been taken aback, at all, by the bright preservation of hands
and toes, because I knew well what the power of sand is when the air is
kept far away; but it was dead against all my experience, that even a
baby, eight years buried, should have that muscular power of leg.
Without any further hesitation, up I caught the nearest of them, being
desperate now to know what would be the end of it.
Three or four women, whose age had passed from lying in to laying out,
now ran down the hill in great zealousness; but though their profession
is perhaps the most needful of all yet invented by human nature, there
was no exercise for it now. For behold, in the evening light, and on the
brink of the grave, were laid two very handsome and large Dutch dolls,
clad in their night-gowns, and looking as fresh as when they left the
doll-maker's shop. The sand remained in their hair of course, and in
their linen, but fell away (by reason of its dryness) from their faces,
and hands, and feet, the whole of which were of fine hard wax. But the
joints of their arms and legs had stiffened, from having no children to
work them, also their noses had been spoiled at some stage of their
obsequies; and upon the whole it seemed hard to say whether their
appearance was more ludicrous or deplorable.
However, that matter was settled for them by the universal guffaw of the
fellows who had been scared of their scanty wits not more than two
minutes since, but all of whom now were as brave as lions to make
laughter at my expense. This is a thing which I never allow, but very
soon put a stop to it. And so I did now, without any hard words, but
turning their thoughts discreetly.
"Come, my lads," I said, "we have done a better turn to the gentleman
who feeds us, than if we had found two thousand babies, such as you ran
away from. Rally round me, if you have a spark of courage in your
loutish bodies. You little know how much hangs on this; while in your
clumsy witless way, you are making a stupid joke of it. Mr Heaviside, I
pray you, seek for me Mistress Cockhanterbury; while I knock down any
rogue who shows the impudence to come near me."
Every man pulled his proud stomach in, when I spoke of the
lady-housekeeper, who was a Tartar, high up on a shelf, allowing no
margin for argument. She appeared in the distance, as managing-women
always do when called upon; and she saw the good sense of what little I
said, and she laid them all under my orders.