Friend to the sea, and foeman sworn
To all that on her waves are borne,
When falls a mate in battle broil
His comrade heirs his portioned spoil--
Chalice and plate from churches borne,
And gems from shrieking beauty torn,
Each string of pearl, each silver bar,
And all the wealth of western war.
ROKEBY.
As the Skipper strode towards the town, his dogged air and lowering
brow evinced the disquiet of his spirit at what had just occurred. He
was nettled by the maiden's rejection of his proffered gift, and a
still deeper feeling of resentment agitated his mind against the
Secretary. Far other man was he than he was deemed by the burghers of
St. Mary's. In truth, they knew but little more of him than might be
gained from his few occasional visits to the port in a calling which,
as it brought him a fair harvest of profit, laid him under a necessity
to cultivate, for the nonce, the good opinion of his customers by such
address as he was master of.
Cocklescraft belonged to that tribe of desperate men, until near this
period in the full career of their bloody successes, known as "The
Brethren of the Coast." His first breath was drawn upon the billows of
the ocean, and his infancy was nursed in the haunts of the buccaneers,
amongst the Keys of the Bahamas. When but a lad, attending upon these
wild hordes in their expeditions against the commerce of the Gulf, he
chanced to attract the notice of the famous Captain Morgan, whilst that
most rapacious of all the pirate leaders was preparing, at Jamaica, for
his incursion against Maracaibo. The freebooter was charmed with the
precocious relish for rapine conspicuous in the character of the boy;
and, with an affectionate interest, took him under his tutelage,
assigning to him a post near his person, rather of pageantry than
service--that of a page or armour-bearer, according to the yet
lingering forms of chivalry. The incredible bravery of the buccaneers
in this exploit, and their detestable cruelties were witnessed by this
callow imp of the sea, with a delight and a shrewdness of apprehension
which gave to his youthful nature the full benefit of the lesson. He
was scarce two years older when, in the due succession of his hopeful
experience, he again attended his patron upon that unmatched adventure
of plunder and outrage, the leaguer of Panama; and it was remarked that
amidst the perils of the cruise upon the Costa Rica, the toils of the
inland march over moor and mountain, and the desperate hazards of the
storming of the city, the page, graceful and active as the minion of a
lady's bower, and fierce as a young sea-wolf, was seen every where,
like an elvish sprite, tracking the footsteps of his ruthless master.
The history of human wickedness has not a more appalling chapter than
that which records the fate of the wretched inhabitants of Panama in
this assault; and yet, in the midst of its shocking enormities, the gay
and tasseled familiar of the ruffian pirate chief tripped daintily
through the carnage, with the light step of a reveller, and pursued the
flying virgins and affrighted matrons, from house to house, as the
flames enveloped their roof trees, with the mockery and prankishness of
an actor in a masquerade. This expedition terminated not without adding
another item to the experience of the young free-booter--the only one,
perhaps, yet wanting to his perfect accomplishment. The Welsh Captain,
laden with spoils of untold value, played false to his comrades, by
stealing off with the lion's share of the booty; thus, by a gainful act
of perfidy, inculcating upon the eager susceptibility of the page an
imposing moral, of which it may be supposed he would not be slow to
profit.
Such was the school in which Cocklescraft received the rudiments of his
education. These harsher traits of his character, however, it is but
justice to say, were, in some degree, mitigated by a tolerably fair
amount of scholastic accomplishment, picked up in the intervals of his
busy life amongst the scant teaching afforded by the islands, of which
the protection and care of his patron enabled him to profit. To this
was added no mean skill in music, dancing, and the use of his weapon;
whilst a certain enthusiasm of temperament stimulated his courage and
even whetted the fierceness of his nature.
Morgan, having run his career, returned to England, a man of wealth,
and was knighted by the monarch, in one of those profligate revels by
which Charles disgraced his kingly state; the page was, in consequence,
turned adrift upon the world, as it is usual to say of heroes, "with no
fortune but his talents, and no friend but his sword." Riot soon
exhausted his stock of plunder, and the prodigal licentiousness of "The
Brethren of the Coast," forbade the gathering of a future hoard. About
this date the European powers began to deal more resolutely with the
banditti of the islands, and their trade consequently became more
precarious. They were compelled, in pursuit of new fields for robbery,
to cross the isthmus and try their fortunes on the coast of the
Pacific--whither Cocklescraft followed and reaped his harvest in the
ravage of Peru: but in turn, the Brethren found themselves tracked into
these remoter seas, and our adventurer was fain, with many of his
comrades, to find his way back to the coves and secret harbours of
Tortuga and the Keys, whence he contrived to eke out a scant
subsistence, by an occasional stoop upon such defenceless wanderers of
the ocean as chance threw within his grasp. The Olive Branch was a
beautiful light vessel, which, in one of his sea-forays, he had wrested
from a luckless merchant; and this acquisition suggested to him the
thought that, with such necessary alterations as should disguise her
figure and equipment, he might drive a more secure, and, perchance,
more profitable trade between the Atlantic colonies and the old
countries; so, with a mongrel crew of trusty cutthroats, carefully
selected from the companions of his former fortunes, and a secret
armament well bestowed for sudden emergency, he set himself up for an
occasional trader between the Chesapeake and the coast of Holland. A
lucky acquaintance with the Cripple of St. Jerome's gave him a useful
ally in his vocation as a smuggler; the fisherman's hut, long believed
to be the haunt of evil spirits, admirably favoured his design, and
under the management of Rob, soon became a spot of peculiar desecration
in popular report; and thus, in no long space of time, the gay,
swashing cavalier, master of the Olive Branch, began to find good
account in his change of character from the Flibustier of the Keys into
that of smuggler and trader of the Chesapeake. He had now made several
voyages from St. Mary's to the various marts of Holland and England,
taking out cargoes of tobacco and bringing back such merchandise as was
likely to find a ready sale in the colonies. His absence from port was
often mysteriously prolonged, and on his return it not unfrequently
happened that there were found amongst his cargo commodities such as
might scarce be conjectured to have been brought from the ports of
Europe,--consisting some times of tropical fruits, ingots of gold and
silver, and sundry rich furniture of Indian aspect, better fitted for
the cabinet of the virtuoso than the trade of a new province. Then,
also, there were occasionally costly stuffs, and tissues of exceeding
richness, such as cloth of gold, velvets of Genoa, arras tapestry, and
even pictures which might have hung in churches. These commodities were
invariably landed at St. Jerome's Bay before the Olive Branch cast her
anchor in the harbour of St. Mary's, and were reshipped on the outward
voyage. The Cripple of St. Jerome's had a few customers who were
privileged at certain periods to traffic with him in a species of
merchandise of which he was seldom without a supply at his
command--chiefly wines and strong waters, and coarser household goods,
which were charily exhibited in small parcels at the hut, and when the
bargain was made, supplied in greater bulk by unseen hands from secret
magazines, concerning which the customer was not so rash as even to
inquire--for Rob was a man who, the country people most devoutly
believed, had immediate commerce with the Evil One, and who, it was
known, would use his dagger before he gave warning by words.
The open and lawful dealing of the Skipper, in the port of St. Mary's,
had brought him into an acquaintance with most of the inhabitants, and
as his arrival was always a subject of agreeable expectation, he was,
by a natural consequence, looked upon with a friendly regard. His
address, gaiety of demeanour, and fine figure--which last was
studiously set off to great advantage by a rich and graceful
costume--heightened this sentiment of personal favour, and gave him
privileges in the society of the town which, in that age of scrupulous
regard to rank, would have been denied him if he had been a constant
sojourner. Emboldened by this reception he had essayed to offer some
gallant civilities to the maiden of the Rose Croft, which were
instantly repelled, however, by the most formal coldness. The Skipper
was not so practised an observer as to perceive in this repugnance, the
actual aversion which the maiden felt against his advances to
acquaintance; and he was content to account it a merely girlish reserve
which importunity and assiduous devotion might overcome. His vanity
suggested the resolve to conquer the damsel's indifference; and as that
thought grew upon his fancy, it, by degrees, ripened into a settled
purpose, which in the end completely engrossed his mind. As he brooded
over the subject, and permitted his imagination to linger around that
form of beauty and loveliness,--cherished as it was, during the long
weeks of his lonely tracking of the sea, and in the solitary musings
and silent night-watches of his deck,--a romantic ardour was kindled in
his breast, and he hastened back to the Port of St. Mary's, strangely
wrought upon by new impulses, which seemed to have humanized and
mellowed even his rude nature: the shrewder observers were aware of
more gentleness in his bearing, though they found him more wayward in
his temper;--he was prouder of heart, yet with humbler speech, and
often more stern than before. The awakening of a new passion had
overmastered both the ferocity and the levity of his character. He was,
in truth, the undivulged, anxious, and almost worshipping lover of
Blanche Warden.
When such a nature as I have described chances to fall into the loving
vein, it will be admitted to be a somewhat fearful category both for
the lady and the lover's rival. Such men are not apt to mince matters
in the course of their wooing.
This was the person who now plied his way towards the port, in solitary
rumination over two distinct topics of private grief, each of a nature
to rouse the angry devil of his bosom. He could not but see that his
first approach towards the favour of his mistress had been promptly
repelled. That alone would have filled his mind with bitterness, and
given a harsh complexion to his thoughts;--but this cause of complaint
was almost stifled by the more engrossing sentiment of hostility
against the Secretary. That he should have been rebuked for his
behaviour, by a man,--and a man, too, who evidently stood well with the
lady of his love; taken to task and chid in the very presence of his
mistress,--was an offence that called immediately to his manhood and
demanded redress. Such redress was more to his hand than the nicer
subtleties of weighing the maiden's displeasure, and he turned to it
with a natural alacrity, as to a comfort in his perplexity. It is the
instinct of a rude nature to refer all cases of wounded sensibility to
the relief of battle. A rejected lover, like a child who has lost a
toy, finds consolation in his distress by fighting any one that he can
persuade himself has stood in his way, and he is made happy when there
chances to be some plausible ground for such a proceeding. The Skipper
thought the subject over in every aspect which his offended pride could
fancy. At one moment the idea of quarrel with the Secretary pleased
him, and almost reconciled him to the maiden's coldness; at the next he
doubted whether, after all, she had in fact designed to repel his
friendship. He vibrated between these considerations for a space in
silence: his pride quelled the expression of his anger. But by degrees
his quickened pace and sturdier step, and, now and then, that slight
shake of the head by which men sometimes express determination, made it
plain that the fiery element in his bosom was rising in tumult. At
length, unable to suppress his feeling, the inward commotion found
utterance in words.
"Who and what is this Master Secretary that hath set the maiden of the
Rose Croft to look upon me with an evil spirit? I would fain know if he
think himself a properer man than I. Doth he stand upon his fingering
of a lute, and his skill to dance?--Why even in this chamber-craft I
will put it to a wager he is no master of mine. Is he more personable
in shape or figure?--goes he in better apparel? or is that broken
English of his more natural to the province than my plain speech, that
he should claim the right to chide me for my behaviour? Is it that he
hath a place in the train of his Lordship? Have not I served as near to
a belted knight--lord of a thousand stout hearts and master of a fleet
of thirty sail?--ay, and in straits where you should as soon expect to
meet a hare as that crotchet-monger. A bookish clerk with no manly
calling that should soil his ruff in the space of a moon! By Saint
Iago, but I will put him to his books to learn how he shall heal the
stroke of a choleric hand, when the time shall serve to give him the
taste of it!--Mistress Blanche would not be importuned--indeed! And he
must be my tutor to teach me what pleaseth Mistress Blanche. He
lied--the maiden did not mislike my question;--she but hung her head to
have it so openly spoken. I know she doth not set at naught my favours,
but as damsels from custom do a too public tender of a token. Old
Anthony Warden counts his friends by their manhood, and he hath shown
me grace:--his daughter in the end will follow his likings--and as the
father's choice approves, so will hers incline. Am I less worthy in old
Master Warden's eyes, than yonder parchment bearer--that pen-and-ink
slave of his Lordship's occasions?--he that durst not raise his eye
above his Lord's shoe, nor speak out of a whisper when his betters are
in presence? What is he, to put me from the following of my own will
when it pleases me to speak to any maiden of this province?--I am of
the sea--the broad, deep sea! she hath nursed me in her bosom,--and
hath given me my birth-right to be as proudly borne as the honours of
any lord of the land. I have a brave deck for my foot, a good blade for
my belt, the bountiful ocean before me and a score of merry men at my
back. Are these conditions so mean that I must brook the Secretary's
displeasure or fashion my speech to suit his liking?--We shall
understand each other better, in good time, or I shall lack opportunity
to speak my mind:--I shall, good Master Verheyden,--you have the word
of a 'Brother of the Bloody Coast' for that!"
Before the Skipper had ceased this petulant and resentful
self-communion, he found himself in the neighbourhood of the Catholic
Chapel, nearly in front of the dwelling of father Pierre, when the good
priest, who was at this moment returning from noon-day service, took
him at unawares with the salutation,--
"Peace be with you, son!--you reckon up the sum of your ventures with a
careful brow, and speak loud enough to make the town acquainted with
thy gains, if perchance some of the chapmen with whom thou hast dealing
should be in thy path. How fares it with thee, Master Skipper?"
"Ha, Mi Padre!" exclaimed Cocklescraft, instantly throwing aside his
graver thoughts and assuming a jocular tone. "Well met;--I was on my
way to visit you: that would I have done yesterday upon my arrival, but
that the press of my business would not allow it. You grow old, father,
so evenly that, although I see you but after long partings, I can count
no fresh touch of time upon your head."
"Men of your calling should not flatter," said the priest smiling.
"What news do you bring us from the old world?"
"Oh, much and merry, father Pierre. The old world plies her old trade
and thrives by it. Knavery hath got somewhat of the upper hand since
they have quit crossing swords in this new piece of Nimeguen. The Hogan
Mogans are looking a little surly at the Frenchman for cocking his
beaver so bravely; and our jobbernowl English, now that they can find
no more reason to throttle each other, have gone back to their old
sport of pricking the side of our poor church. You shall find as many
plots in London, made out of hand and ready for use in one month, as
would serve all the stage plays of the kingdom for the next hundred
years--and every plot shall have a vile Papist at the bottom of it,--if
you may believe Oates and Bedloe. I was there when my Lord Stafford was
made a head shorter on Tower Hill. You heard of this,--father?"
"Alack! in sorrow we heard of this violence," replied the priest, "and
deeply did it grieve my Lord to lose so good a friend. Even as you have
found it in England, so is it here. The discontents against the holy
church are nursed by many who seek thereby to command the province. We
have plotters here who do not scruple to contrive against the life of
his Lordship and his Lordship's brother the Chancellor. Besides, the
government at home is unfriendly to us."
"You have late news from England?" inquired the Skipper.
"We have,--and which, but that you are true in your creed, I might
scarce mention to your ear--the royal order has come to my Lord to
dismiss his Catholic servants from office--every one. His Lordship
scruples to obey. This, Master Skipper, I confide to you in private, as
not to be told again."
"To remove all!" said Cocklescraft. "Why it will sweep off his nearest
friends--Anthony Warden and all."
"Even so."
"There is fighting matter in that, upon the spot," exclaimed the
Skipper. "By St. Sebastian, I hope it may come up while I am in port!
The Collector, old as he is, will buckle on his toledo in that quarrel.
He has mettle for it; and I could wish no better play than to stand by
his side. Who is this Secretary of my Lord's private chamber? I met him
at the Collector's to-day."
"Master Albert Verheyden," replied the priest.
"I know his name--they told it to me there--but his quality and
condition, father?"
"You may be proud of his fellowship," said father Pierre; "he was once
a scholar of the Jesuit school at Antwerp, of the class inscribed
'Princeps Diligentiae,' and brought thence by my Lord. A youth, Master
Cocklescraft, of promise and discretion--a model to such as would learn
good manners and cherish virtuous inclinations. You may scarcely fail
to see him at the Collector's: the townspeople do say he has an eye
somewhat dazzled there."
"Craving pardon for my freedom, I say, father Pierre, a fig's end for
such a model!" exclaimed the Skipper, pettishly: "you may have such by
the score, wherever lazy, bookish men eat their bread. I like him not,
with his laced band and feather, his book and lute: harquebuss and
whinyard are the tools for these days. I hear the Fendalls have been at
mischief again. We shall come to bilbo and buff before long. Your
Secretary will do marvellous service in these straits, father."
"Son, you are somewhat sinful in your scorn," said the priest, mildly;
"the Secretary doth not deserve this taunt----"
"By the holy hermits, father, I speak of the Secretary but as I think.
He does not awe me with his greatness. I vail no topsail to him, I give
you my word for it."
"The saints preserve us from harm!" said the churchman. "We know not
what may befall us from the might of our enemies, when this hot blood
shall sunder our friends. In sober counsel, son, and not in rash
divisions shall we find our safety. It doth not become thee, Master
Cocklescraft, to let thy tetchy humour rouse thee against the
Secretary. It might warrant my displeasure."
"Mea culpa, holy father--I do confess my fault," said the seaman, in a
tone of assumed self-constraint--"I will not again offend; and for my
present atonement will offer a censer of pure silver, which in my
travels I picked up, and in truth did then design to give, to the
Chapel of St. Mary's. I will bring it to the chapel, father Pierre, as
soon as my vessel is unladen."
"You should offer up your anger too, to make this gift acceptable,"
returned the priest. "Let thy dedication be with a cleansed heart."
"Ha, father Pierre," said the Skipper, jocularly; "my conscience does
easily cast off a burden: so it shall be as you command. I did not tell
you that whilst my brigantine lay in the Helder, I made a land flight
to Louvaine, where a certain Abbot of Andoyne,--a pious, somewhat aged,
and, thanks to a wholesome refectory! a good jolly priest,--hearing I
came from the province, must needs send for me to ask if I knew father
Pierre de la Maise, and upon my answer, that I did right well, he begs
me to bring his remembrance back to you."
"I knew father Gervase," replied the priest with a countenance full of
benignity--"some forty years ago, when he was a reader in the Chair of
St. Isidore at Rome. He remembers me?--a blessing on his head!--and he
wears well, Master Skipper?"
"Quite as well as yourself," replied Cocklescraft. "Father, a cup of
your cool water, and I will depart," he said, as he helped himself to
the draught. "I will take heed to what you have said touching the royal
order--and by St. Iago, I will be a friend in need to the Collector.
Master Verheyden shall not be a better one. Now fare thee well, father.
Peregrine Cadger shall have order to cut you off a cassock from the
best cloth I have brought him, and little Abbot the tailor shall put it
in fashion for you."
"You are lavish of your bounties, son," replied the priest, taking
Cocklescraft by both hands as he was now about to withdraw. "You have a
poor churchman's thanks. It gives me comfort to be so considered, and I
prize your kindness more than the cassock. A blessing on thy ways,
Master Cocklescraft!"
The Skipper once more set forth on his way towards the port; and with a
temper somewhat allayed by the acting of the scene I have just
described, though with no abatement of the resentment which rankled at
the bottom of his heart, even under the smiling face and gay outside
which he could assume with the skill of a consummate dissembler, he
soon reached the Crow and Archer. From thence he meditated, as soon as
his occasions would permit, a visit to the Cripple of St. Jerome's.