A QUEER CATECHIST.
A boat upon the Wye, being pulled upward, between Llangorren Court and
Rugg's Ferry. There are two men in it--not Vivian Ryecroft and Jack
Wingate, but Gregoire Rogier and Richard Dempsey.
The _ci-devant_ poacher is at the oars--for, in addition to his new post
as gamekeeper, he has occasional charge of a skiff which has replaced
the _Gwendoline_. This same morning he rowed his master up to Rugg's,
leaving him there; and now, at night, he is on return to fetch him home.
The two places being on opposite sides of the river, and the road
roundabout, besides difficult for wheeled vehicles, Lewin Murdock,
moreover, an indifferent horseman, he prefers the water route, and often
takes it, as he has done to-day.
It is the same on which Father Rogier held that dialogue of sinister
innuendo with Madame, and the priest, aware of the boat having to return
to the ferry, avails himself of a seat in it. Not that he dislikes
walking, or is compelled to it; for he now keeps a cob, and does his
rounds on horseback. But on this particular day he has left his roadster
in its stable, and gone down to Llangorren afoot, knowing there would be
the skiff to take him back.
No scheme of mere convenience dictated this arrangement to Gregoire
Rogier. Instead, one of Satanic wickedness, preconceived, and all
settled before holding that _tete-a-tete_ with her he has called
"cherie."
Though requiring a boat for its execution, and an oarsman of a peculiar
kind--adroit at something besides the handling of oars--not a word of it
has yet been imparted to the one who is rowing him. For all, the
ex-poacher, accustomed to the priest's moods, and familiar with his
ways, can see there is something unusual in his mind, and that he
himself is on the eve of being called upon for some new service or
sacrifice. No supply of poached fish or game. Things have gone higher
than that, and he anticipates some demand of a more serious nature.
Still, he has not the most distant idea of what it is to be, though
certain interrogatories put to him are evidently leading up to it. The
first is,--
"You're not afraid of water, are you, Dick?"
"Not partickler, your Reverence. Why should I?"
"Well, your being so little in the habit of washing your face--if I am
right in my reckoning, only once a week--may plead my excuse for asking
the question."
"Oh, Father Rogier! that wor only in the time past, when I lived alone,
and the thing worn't worth while. Now, going more into respectable
company, I do a little washin' every day."
"I'm glad to hear of your improved habits, and that they keep pace with
the promotion you've had. But my inquiry had no reference to your
ablutions--rather to your capabilities as a swimmer. If I mistake not,
you can swim like a fish?"
"No, not equal to a fish. That ain't possible."
"An otter, then?"
"Somethin' nearer he, if ye like," answers Coracle, laughingly.
"I supposed as much. Never mind. About the degree of your natatory
powers we needn't dispute. I take it they're sufficient for reaching
either bank of this river, supposing the skiff to get capsized, and you
in it?"
"Lor, Father Rogier! that wouldn't be nothin'! I could swim to eyther
shore, if 'twor miles off."
"But could you as you are now, with clothes on, boots, and everything?"
"Sartin could I, and carry weight beside."
"That will do," rejoins the questioner, apparently satisfied; then
lapsing into silence, and leaving Dick in a very desert of conjectures
why he has been so interrogated.
The speechless interregnum is not for long. After a minute or two,
Rogier, as if freshly awaking from a reverie, again asks,--
"Would it upset this skiff if I were to step on the side of it--I mean,
bearing upon it with all the weight of my body?"
"That would it, your Reverence, though ye be but a light weight--tip it
over like a tub."
"Quite turn it upside down--as your old truckle, eh?"
"Well, not so ready as the truckle. Still, 'twould go bottom upward.
Though a biggish boat, it be one o' the crankiest kind, and would sure
capsize wi' the lightest o' men standin' on its gunn'l rail."
"And surer with a heavier one, as yourself, for instance?"
"I shouldn't like to try, your Reverence bein' wi' me in the boat."
"How would you like, somebody else being with you in it--_if made worth
your while_?"
Coracle starts at this question, asked in a tone that makes more
intelligible the others preceding it, and which have been hitherto
puzzling him. He begins to see the drift of the _sub Jove_ confessional
to which he is being submitted.
"How'd I like it, your Reverence? Well enough, if, as you say, made
worth my while. I don't mind a bit o' a wettin' when there's anythin' to
be gained by it. Many's the one I've had on a chilly winter's night, as
this same be, all for the sake o' a salmon I wor 'bleeged to sell at
less'n half-price. If only showed the way to earn a honest penny by it,
I wouldn't wait for the upsettin' o' the boat, but jump overboard at
onest."
"That's game in you, Monsieur Dick. But to earn the honest penny you
speak of, the upsetting of the boat might be a necessary condition."
"Be it so, your Reverence. I'm willing to fulfil that, if ye only bid
me. Maybe," he continues, in a tone of confidential suggestion, "there
be somebody as you think ought to get a duckin' beside myself?"
"There is somebody who ought," rejoins the priest, coming nearer to his
point. "Nay, must," he continues; "for if he don't, the chances are we
shall all go down together, and that soon."
Coracle skulls on without questioning. He more than half comprehends the
figurative speech, and is confident he will ere long receive complete
explanation of it.
He is soon led a little way further by the priest observing,--
"No doubt, _mon ancien bracconnier_, you've been gratified by the change
that's of late taken place in your circumstances. But perhaps it hasn't
quite satisfied you, and you expect to have something more--as I have
the wish you should. And you would ere this, but for one who obstinately
sets his face against it."
"May I know who that one is, Father Rogier?"
"You may, and shall; though I should think you scarce need telling.
Without naming names, it's he who will be in this boat with you going
back to Llangorren."
"I thought so. An' if I an't astray, he be the one your Reverence thinks
would not be any the worse o' a wettin'?"
"Instead, all the better for it. It may cure him of his evil
courses--drinking, card-playing, and the like. If he's not cured of them
by some means, and soon, there won't be an acre left him of the
Llangorren lands, nor a shilling in his purse. He'll have to go back to
beggary, as at Glyngog; while you, Monsieur Coracle, in place of being
head-gamekeeper, with other handsome preferments in prospect, will be
compelled to return to your shifty life of poaching, night netting, and
all the etceteras. Would you desire that?"
"Daanged if I would! An' won't do it if I can help. Shan't, if your
Reverence 'll only show me the way."
"There's but one I can think of."
"What may that be, Father Rogier?"
"Simply to set your foot on the side of this skiff, and tilt it bottom
upwards."
"It shall be done. When, and where?"
"When you are coming back down. The where you may choose for
yourself--such place as may appear safe and convenient. Only take care
you don't drown yourself."
"No fear o' that. There an't water in the Wye as'll ever drown Dick
Dempsey."
"No," jocularly returns the priest; "I don't suppose there is. If it be
your fate to perish by asphyxia--as no doubt it is--strong tough hemp,
and not weak water, will be the agent employed--that being more
appropriate to the life you have led. Ha! ha! ha!"
Coracle laughs too, but with the grimace of wolf baying the moon. For
the moonlight shining full in his face, shows him not over satisfied
with the coarse jest. But remembering how he shifted that treacherous
plank bridging the brook at Abergann, he silently submits to it. He,
too, is gradually getting his hand upon a lever, which will enable him
to have a say in the affairs of Llangorren Court, that they dwelling
therein will listen to him, or, like the Philistines of Gaza, have it
dragged down about their ears.
But the ex-poacher is not yet prepared to enact the _role_ of Samson;
and however galling the _jeu d'esprit_ of the priest, he swallows it
without showing chagrin, far less speaking it.
In truth there is no time for further exchange of speech--at least, in
the skiff. By this time they have arrived at the Rugg's Ferry
landing-place, where Father Rogier, getting out, whispers a few words in
Coracle's ear, and then goes off.
His words were--
"A hundred pounds, Dick, if you do it. Twice that for your doing it
adroitly!"