JACK AND PEARSON'S JOURNEY TO THE NORTH, AND HOW JACK WAS EMPLOYED ON
THE ROAD.
The sky was clear overhead, and a damp mist was swept by a south-east
wind over the face of the country. Jack and the Scotchman rode on till
they were clear of the village without speaking.
"I am glad to have you in my company, Master Deane," said the latter,
now for the first time throwing off all disguise.
"I am obliged to you," said Jack. "I knew you, Master Pearson, the
moment I saw you."
"So I thought," was the answer. "When we parted at Cambridge, I was not
certain in which character I should come to Saint Faith's. However, you
might have found it difficult to come north without me, and I therefore
have made arrangements to accompany you."
"But why this masquerading, Master Pearson?" asked Jack. "Mr Harwood's
recommendation makes me place confidence in you, but I tell you frankly,
I would rather know more about you than I do!"
"Very sensibly spoken," said Pearson, laughing. "The state of the times
makes `masquerading,' as you call it, necessary; but of one thing you
may be sure, that I mean you fair; I will treat you honourably. Had I
not given you warning, you would have returned to Nottingham, and have
been clapped probably into the stocks; for depend upon it some of the
country gentlemen round would have been too glad to get hold of your
father's son, and by punishing him, keep in awe others of less degree."
"I am sure you mean me well," said Jack, whose disposition made him
unsuspicious of others. "But we shall pass within a short distance of
Nottingham, and I should like to go and pay them a visit during the
evening, when the darkness will prevent me being recognised, just to
tell them where I am going, and what I propose doing."
"Oh, Master Brinsmead will do that in a few days!" answered the northern
drover; "depend upon it there are some on the watch for you, and you
would run a considerable risk in returning home, even for a short time."
Jack thought this very likely, and did not press the point, but suddenly
another idea occurred to him.
"I might surely visit Harwood Grange?" he observed; "no one would be
looking for me there, and I should like to see Mr Harwood and gain some
information respecting the persons to whom I am to deliver these
letters."
"I will think about that, my lad, as we ride on," answered Pearson.
"Our direct road will take us a good deal to the east of Sherwood
Forest, and your visit to the Grange would cause considerable delay. I
do not at present see that this is necessary, though, to be sure, you
may have some attraction there with which I am not acquainted."
He gave a peculiar glance as he spoke, which drew the colour into his
companion's cheeks.
Jack was mounted on a strong, active nag, but he soon found that it was
very inferior in speed to the one Pearson bestrode, and frequently he
had to use whip and spur to keep up with him.
"We must get you another beast," observed the latter; "it will make the
difference of two or three days to us in our journey, and I always like
to know that my friend is mounted on as good a steed as I am when we
ride together. We know not the moment when we may have to try the metal
of them both."
"If that's the animal you were riding when I met you between Nottingham
and Cambridge, it's a good one," observed Jack, remembering the leap he
had seen Pearson take, and the speed with which he had afterwards gone
over the ground.
"Ay, the very same," answered Pearson; "Black Bess and I seldom part
company. I would have no other person bestride her; and I doubt whether
she would allow it, if any one were to make the attempt."
"But this horse belongs to Mr Strelley," said Jack; "I have no business
to change it for another."
"Oh, I will settle that matter," answered Pearson; "you will accept the
loan of one from me, and I will send your nag to meet old Will as he
comes west. In a couple of hours we will stop to breakfast at the house
of an old friend of mine, and I have no doubt that we shall find a steed
in his stables just suited for you."
At the time Master Pearson specified, they drew up before a farm-house a
little off the high-road. A sign, however, swinging over the door
showed that occasional entertainment was afforded there also to man and
beast. The landlord, who had very few of the characteristics of a
Boniface, being a tall, thin, hard-featured man, received Pearson as an
old acquaintance, and, the horses being sent to the stables, ushered
them into a small oak parlour, intended for the accommodation of his
private guests.
"We may here rest without the risk of being observed," said Pearson to
Deane, as he threw himself into a chair. "A wise man will not make more
confidants than are necessary, and will not let the rest of the world
know what he is about or where he is going. We will have some
refreshment, and then I will go and search for a better steed than
yours, which shall be returned in due course to your employer."
Pearson having intimated to the host that refreshment would be required,
it was quickly placed on the table; and, like a man who knew not when he
might have another opportunity of feeding, he applied himself to the
viands, advising his companion to do the same. This Jack did with right
good will; and the meal being despatched, Pearson advised him to amuse
himself as best he could in the room, while he went out to look for a
horse fit, as he said, for Jack to ride.
Deane could not help feeling puzzled at times at the caution his
companion considered necessary to use. Still, so little accustomed was
he to the world, that it did not occur to him that he was otherwise than
a respectable character, with whom he was perfectly safe in consorting.
He paced the room without finding any thing to amuse himself with. Not
a book on a shelf, nor a picture on the wall. A sanded floor, a dark
oak table, several benches, a chair of large proportions, used probably
for the president at clubs of convivial meetings; with a few of smaller
size, completed the furniture of the oak-wainscoted room. He was not,
however, kept very long before Pearson returned, telling him that he had
procured a horse on which his saddle was to be placed; and Jack, going
out into the stable-yard, found a man leading up and down a fine,
strongly-built steed, which, if not possessing all the points of which
Pearson's own horse could boast, was evidently an animal well capable of
performing a rapid and long journey at a stretch.
"The account is settled; and now let us mount and be off," said Pearson,
throwing himself into his saddle, and, having whispered a few words into
the ears of their ill-favoured host, he put spurs to his horse, and with
Jack by his side quickly left the village behind. Jack was highly
pleased with the paces of his new acquisition, and soon saw that he
should be able to push on over the ground at far greater speed than when
he had his own steady-going nag under him. In a short time, coming to a
fine open, grassy piece of land, he could not resist the temptation of
putting spurs to the animal's side, and starting off for a gallop.
Pearson shouted after him to stop; but Jack found it no easy matter to
rein in his steed. On turning his head, he found that the drover was
following him; and, though he fancied that he himself was going at full
gallop, his companion was quickly alongside him.
"That is very like a young man, but not the act of a wise one!" said
Pearson. "You should always keep your horse's strength for an emergency
on a long journey. His limbs are supple enough, I'll warrant; there was
no necessity for trying them just now."
"I could not help it," said Jack, tugging at the same time at the rein.
"The animal has mettle enough for any thing, I should think."
"I see that I must help you," said Pearson, "or you will not bring that
animal up in a hurry, till you have well-nigh sawn his mouth in two.
So-ho! Rover!" he cried out, adding a few cabalistical-sounding words.
In an instant the animal threw himself on his haunches, so suddenly
indeed, as nearly to unseat his rider. He was too good a horseman
though to be played such a trick.
"The beast is no stranger to you, Master Pearson," he observed.
"No; he has carried me over many a mile," was the answer. "I would not
wish to put you on an animal I had not tried. And now we will make play
over this ground, though at more moderate speed than you were going at
just now."
They found accommodation for the night in a small roadside inn. On the
next day, when passing through Grantham, as the travellers were
approaching the open square of the market-place, they observed a large
crowd collected round a person elevated above their heads on the top of
a huge cask or table, so it appeared. He was throwing out his arms in
every direction. Now pressing his hands together, now lifting them
towards heaven in the attitude of prayer. Most of his auditors seemed
to be listening to him with rapt attention. As they drew nearer, Jack,
on looking at the countenance of the speaker, was convinced that it was
no other than the Independent preacher whom he had met in company with
Master Pearson. From the words which fell from his mouth it was
difficult to ascertain what principles he was inculcating. He was
speaking at the moment of some wonderful dream with which he had been
favoured by Heaven. He was warning the people of the dreadful
calamities which he knew, in consequence of what he had seen in his
vision, were about to fall upon the land. He seemed, however, to be
dealing out tolerably even-handed justice towards all other
denominations. He had nothing in its favour to say of Protestant
Episcopacy, and as little of Romanism. He was hurling abuse at
Presbyterianism, and warning the Independents that their day of grace
had passed, that they were no longer holding up a standard in Israel,
while he condemned the Baptists for maintaining unscriptural doctrines.
"Woe! woe! woe!" he shouted, "woe to this country! woe to this people!
Listen, ye stiff-necked and stubborn generation! A new revelation is
about to be vouchsafed to you; will you receive it, or will you refuse
it? Those who are ready to receive it will hold up their hands, and
shout with joy at the thoughts of their emancipation from the slavery
under which ye have hitherto groaned in the bonds of bitterness and the
darkness of despair! Those who have made up their minds not to receive
it must take their departure from among us, and go back to the place
whence they came, there to await till summoned to go down into the pit
full of fire and brimstone, already boiling up to welcome them!"
No one moved from among the crowd, the greater number of whom held up
their hands, as invited by the speaker, and gave way to a shrill cry,
which swelled by degrees into a loud ringing shout, which was repeated
again and again.
Jack, to satisfy himself, asked Pearson if he knew the name of the
speaker.
"I know his name, Master Deane," answered his companion: "you must ask
the bystanders if they know it. They will probably tell you that it's
the Reverend Simon Stirthesoul, one of the newest of new lights who have
appeared in the kingdom in this favoured reign. There are many such;
and of great advantage will they prove to the spiritual welfare of the
people. They have an especial work, it seems to me, to show that all
the old forms of worship are wrong, and invent as many new ones as their
imaginations can devise. Wherever they spring from, they're serving the
Pope of Rome well, for the more the Protestants are divided, the better
will it be for his faithful children in this realm of England."
Jack wished to stop and hear more of the remarks made by the preacher,
but to this Pearson objected, observing that he did not wish to delay,
and that they would bait their steeds a few miles beyond the town, at a
roadside inn.
Pearson expressed a more important truth than he himself was aware of at
the time. From the time of Elizabeth up to that period, a number of
Popish priests, chiefly Jesuits, had been introduced into the country
under various disguises, having received dispensations from the Pope to
act any part they might consider most advisable for the establishment of
new and strange doctrines; thus dividing Protestant interests. There is
undoubted evidence of this. Most of these men, well trained in foreign
universities, accustomed to the ways of the world, were admirably fitted
for the part they were destined to perform. Some pretended to be
Episcopalians, others Presbyterians, and others Nonconformists of all
denominations. Many exerted their talents in the invention of new
sects, and they were certain to gain proselytes, being well versed in
the study of human nature. They knew thoroughly how to adapt the
principles they advocated, and the tenets they taught, to the tastes of
their hearers, and there can be no doubt that the rise of the many
strange sects which appeared at different times, from the accession of
Elizabeth, was owing to the efforts of these Popish emissaries. A
considerable number were from time to time apprehended, and found
possessed of treasonable documents, proving that they were Papists in
disguise. Some indeed were executed in consequence of having been found
guilty of treasonable practices, while others narrowly escaped the same
fate. It seemed but probable, from his connexion with the Jacobites,
that the Reverend Simon Stirthesoul was one of these disguised plotters.
"I gave you a packet of letters from Mr Harwood," observed Pearson, as
they were standing in the evening at their inn. "If you look over them,
I shall be able to tell you the best route to take in order to call on
the persons to whom they are directed. Your friend made it a great
point that you should deliver them in person, and I am sure that he is a
gentleman you would wish to oblige." He fixed his keen glance at Jack
as he spoke. "The greater number are, I see, directed to gentlemen in
Yorkshire. You may well consider it an honour to be so employed. Sir
Herbert Willington, I see; Colonel Slingsby, Joe Hovingham of Hovingham
Hall, Master Haxby of Haxby Grange, are all good men and true. In
Northumberland too, I see you have a few to Oxminston, and Widdrington.
It will take you some time to get through them all, for they're not men
who let you come to their door and ride away again without showing you
hospitality. It will give more time to Jock McKillock to get the herd
together."
Deane made many inquiries of his companion with regard to the character
of the people on whom he was to call, and he was somewhat surprised to
find that they were all strong Jacobites, the greater number indeed
being Romanists. Still, his suspicions were not sufficiently aroused to
make him refuse to deliver them. This would of course have been the
wisest thing to have done. He was, in truth, anxious in every way to
please Mr Harwood. He still continued to indulge in dreams of some day
winning the fair Alethea. He very naturally thought that if he could
please her father, he would have less difficulty in so doing.
The horse Pearson had selected for Deane showed wonderful speed and
bottom, and seemed scarcely fatigued when, between sunrise and sunset,
he had gone over the best part of a hundred miles. When once in
Yorkshire they proceeded at a somewhat slower pace, having somewhat
longer time to rest at the houses at which they called. On these
occasions, Pearson assumed the character of Jack's servant, and
invariably accompanied the horses to the stables, and stayed during the
visit with the grooms and other servants. He was not idle, however,
though he might have appeared to be so. He lost no opportunity of
making inquiries as to what was going on in the neighbourhood, as well
as informing himself of the proceedings of their masters.
Jack had no cause to complain of any want of hospitality on the part of
those to whom he delivered Mr Harwood's letters, but in several
instances he was received with an air of stiffness and formality which
showed that full confidence was not placed in him. Indeed, when on one
or two occasions he was cross-questioned, having really no information
to give, he was speedily again dismissed. He received, however, several
letters in return, which he was especially directed to deliver in person
to Mr Harwood. On looking at the covers, he was surprised to find that
no superscription was placed on them.
"Never mind," was the answer, "you know for whom they are intended.
Keep them securely, and the object we have in view will be attained."
He mentioned, at length, the circumstance to Pearson.
"It's all right," he replied; "a letter without an address, provided the
bearer knows to whom he is to deliver it, is safer in these perilous
times than a letter with one. Keep them carefully, Master Deane, and
Mr Harwood will be duly grateful to you when you deliver them."
As they advanced north, Pearson invariably left the high-road to seek
for quarters at some distance from it during the night. Before lying
down to sleep on these occasions, he never failed to visit the stables.
Jack observed also that he remained booted and spurred during the night.
Generally before daybreak they were again in the saddle, and proceeding
at a rapid rate on their road. The Cheviots were already in sight, when
one morning Pearson roused up Jack.
"To horse, my lad, to horse!" he exclaimed. "If you wish to retain your
liberty, or your life indeed, you will put a hundred miles between you
and the Cheviots before sundown. I have just had the information
brought me, that you have been accused of delivering letters to
disaffected persons, and that a plot has been discovered for dethroning
the present king and bringing back King James. As I did not see the
letters which you had to deliver, I cannot say how far the accusation is
just, but to you it will come to the same thing. I have so far led you
into the scrape by giving you the letters, and I have resolved to bear
you company; for I doubt, without me, that you would manage to escape."
"This is bad news indeed," exclaimed Jack, sitting up in bed, and
beginning to dress as rapidly as he could.
"But if I go south, how shall I be able to execute Mr Strelley's
commission? What will Jock McKillock do with the cattle he has brought
thus far on the way? and what am I to do with the money with which I was
to pay for them?"
"I have thought of all that, my friend," answered Pearson. "Give me the
money, and I will settle the matter with Jock McKillock, and the cattle
shall be driven south as safely as if you were at their tails."
Jack could not help feeling considerable hesitation as to the propriety
of yielding to Pearson's proposal. Honest and unsuspicious as he was
himself, great doubt had crossed his mind as to the character of his
companion. To be sure, if he persisted in continuing his journey, and
endeavouring to meet Jock McKillock, he very likely might be
apprehended, and in that case he would certainly lose the money in his
possession; but then if Pearson was not honest, it would equally be
lost. The latter saw by the working of his countenance, the doubts that
were crossing his mind.
"You hesitate to give me the cash," he observed. "You are perfectly
right; at the same time, I promise you that it shall be properly spent
for the advantage of your employer. Oaths are like pie-crusts, too
often only made to be broken, therefore I will not swear what I will do:
but accept the promise of a man who wishes you well, and you will have
no cause to regret having trusted me."
Jack at length, seeing that there was no help for it, agreed to
Pearson's proposal, and, though not without some reluctance, handed him
over the money for the proposed purchase of cattle.
"It is safer in my pocket than in yours, let me tell you, Master Deane,"
said Pearson, as he stowed it away in his leathern pouch. "There
breathes not the man on either side of the border who would attempt to
take it from me."