A strange-looking craft crossed Bideford Bar and anchored in the Pool
about three weeks after this popular outbreak. She looked like a
squat Dutchman: her bows were unusually round and bluff, even for
those times; her mast was stepped much farther aft than the rules and
proprieties of ship rigging tolerated, and on her roomy forecastle
appeared a considerable mass of something, covered lightly over with
a tarpaulin. Such a nondescript vessel had never been seen in those
waters before, and many were the conjectures ventured on as to her
class and calling. Some thought she must be a smuggler brought in
for repairs. Others pronounced her to be a light-ship, which, for
unknown reasons, had resigned her friendly office, and was taking a
holiday; and a few of that class whose judgments are more romantic
than reasonable affirmed, with a knowing jerk of the head, that she
was a king's sloop--a revenue cutter got up in that odd fashion to
beguile the unwary, to catch, as they said with a chuckle, 'a weasel
asleep;' but what she really was remained, after all, a mystery.
'Rattler, ahoy!' shouted a genteel-looking man, who had been seen
about Appledore for more than a week, and now made his appearance on
the quay,--'Rattler, ahoy!'
A voice responded from the vessel, and, a boat being lowered, two men
rowed ashore and took the stranger off.
'I scarcely expected to see you here, Captain Robinson,' he said,
when he reached the deck; 'but it will expedite matters. You've had
a fine time for pearl-fishing, eh?'
'A very fine time, Mr. Cocks, ever since we left Plymouth. The sea
has been like a millpond, so that we finished operations sooner than
I expected; and, as I wanted to see the face of a ship's chandler, I
ran in here.'
'And what's the result of your operations?'
'Oh, very satisfactory. There's no doubt about the matter at all.
The evidence has been drawn up and signed, and you can have it now if
you please.'
That very evening the genteel-looking man betook himself to a justice
of the peace, accompanied by Jim Ortop, and made such depositions
that the worthy magistrate was necessitated, much against his will,
to issue a warrant against James Stauncy, as charged with having
scuttled on the high seas the brig Sarah Ann. The next morning that
warrant was duly served by the village constable, who had received
instructions to bring the captain at an early hour before the
minister of justice; and, faithful to his duty, he appeared at the
appointed time, accompanied by Stauncy, at the house of Squire Hart,
who was universally esteemed and respected as a humane and impartial
administrator of the law.
Poor Mary! her heart died within her when the fussy official hurried
away the light of her eyes. Sinking into a chair, she sat gazing at
the fire, spellbound, pale, and trembling, heaving deep sighs, and
exclaiming, ever and anon, 'The quicksand! the quicksand!' and so she
continued for hours, until a neighbour, like a true friend, looked in
on the stricken woman, and endeavoured to soothe and comfort her
afflicted spirit.
There is an amount of sympathy with fellow-suffering amongst the
middle and lower classes especially, which serves to mitigate no
little the miseries of life; and few there are who do not meet with
some kind spirits prepared to act the part of the Good Samaritan, and
to help in bearing the burden of woe. The wife of the captain found
it so; and much, indeed, did her shocked and sensitive nature require
a wise and aiding sympathizer, for such was the nature of the
evidence brought against Stauncy that the magistrate, whilst he
roundly asserted his repugnance, and spoke cheerily to the arraigned
seaman, was under the necessity of committing him for trial; and he
was hurried away in a hired vehicle to Exeter, without being
permitted to see his wife and kiss his children.
How much he smarted and writhed under the deprivation may be
conceived; but perhaps it was wisely ordered for Mary's sake, for a
parting, and _such_ a parting, would have overwhelmed her, stricken
and crushed as she was; whereas the cruelty of the thing, and the
thought of hastening to him as soon as might be, gave a turn to the
tide of her feelings, and helped to bring into action again her
strong and resolute mind.
'Don't be cast down, Mary,' said her visitor, the widow of a
respectable farmer, who had seen no little tribulation, and was much
looked up to for her sagacious mind and sterling character. 'The law
is a terrible thing, no doubt, and is sometimes severe without being
righteous; but there is a power above the law which can say, "Thus
far shalt thou go, and no farther." 'Tis a heavy blow, sure enough,
but worse things might happen than for honesty to be suspected and
for innocence to suffer. He'll come clear out of it, Mary; and the
result will be outweighing compensations for all you are now
suffering. Cheer up, and look on the bright side of things.'
'You mean well, Grace,' she replied. 'You have a wise head and a
kind heart; but my fears are stronger than my hopes. I've had a
presentiment of this from the time Stauncy went to sea, and I wish I
could think him clear of all things. I can confide my mind to you,
and it'll be a relief to do it. I greatly fear that Stauncy has been
led into temptation, and has committed himself some way. I say led
into temptation, for his heart revolts at crime as much as mine, and
it could only have been under the influence of drink, and of wily,
wicked reasoning, that he was persuaded to be the cat's paw of that
heartless, unprincipled man in Appledore.'
'Phillipson you mean, Mary; and as like as not he has been the cause
of the wrong, if wrong there be. Do you really think the charge is
true?'
'I scarcely know what to think, Grace. Sometimes I cast the thought
from me as I would hurl away a viper, and then again it twines round
my heart with such irresistible power that I start at my suspicions,
as though I were guilty myself. One thing I know--the merchant gave
Stauncy a sum of money the very day he sailed, and I would rather
have had a pest in the house than that fifty-pound note.'
Her visitor was silent for a while. This revelation perplexed her;
but, knowing how to be candid without being unkind, she replied, 'I
can't a-bear that roguish, wicked Phillipson, Mary: I've suffered too
much from his grasping, cruel heart to think that any good can come
with his gifts. You may depend upon it, he is at the bottom of all
this; and at any rate it helps to make a bright lining to the dark
clouds. Whatever Stauncy may have done, it will be traced to the
merchant, and, as he has money and friends enough to rescue him even
from the fangs of the law, he must carry the cap'n with him. He'll
be high and dry after all, Mary.'
'God grant it!' she answered; 'but-- There's a knock at the door,
Grace;' and, deeming that signal of approach sufficient, the door was
opened by the very gentleman whose merits they were discussing.
'Good afternoon, Mrs. Stauncy,' he said, standing in the middle of
the room, 'I came to tell you not to trouble yourself about the
cap'n. That good-for-nothing fellow, Jim Ortop, has been lying, as
usual, and his father is vowing vengeance because Stauncy threatened
him; but I'll see all made right, and punish the scamps, as sure as
my name's Phillipson.'
'Sir,' said Mary, 'you know more than I do about it, and can tell
whether you are trifling with me or not; but do you think Squire Hart
would have suffered my poor James to be taken to jail like a criminal
on the word of Jim Ortop? Who was the gentleman that said so much,
and insisted in such a way, that the magistrate couldn't help
himself?'
'Gentleman?' said the merchant quickly; 'what do you mean?'
'I mean,' she answered, 'that a strange gentleman, who has been about
here for more than a week, obliged the squire to commit him for
trial, and insisted on his being sent off to Exeter directly.'
'I never heard of it,' the merchant replied, with a frown on his
brow; 'but I'll make that gentleman, whoever he is, eat up his words
faster than he uttered them, and you shall see whether the service of
the Phillipson family isn't proof against all the magistrates and
lawyers of the country. This is Friday: on Monday I'll go to Exeter,
and drive you down too, if you like.'
The prospect thus held out so filled her mind on the instant that she
could say no more; but her worthy friend relieved her of the
necessity by telling him as much of her own thoughts as she
considered fitting.
'You know me well, Mr. Phillipson,' she said; 'and I should think my
presence is enough to bring any wrong to remembrance. I am what I
am--a poor widow--through you, robbed of the inheritance of my
fathers; and I am not the only one you have sacrificed to your
insatiable avarice. The cry of Miss Herbert, the poor crazed lady,
must surely be ringing yet in your ears. It's seldom enough you
darken the church doors; but don't you mind the last time you were
there, how she rose when you entered, though the service had begun,
and, exclaiming, "The widow's curse! my curse!" rushed out, to escape
a presence more tormenting than the presence of an evil spirit could
have been. And now, I'll warrant, you are trying to add to the
number of your victims, whose cries rise up to heaven like the cry of
Abel's blood. Mr. Phillipson, the judgment of God has leaden feet,
and therefore, in mercy, it has not reached you yet; but its advance
is as sure as the sun's rising. If its feet are leaden, its hands
are iron, and whom it grasps it holds. You had better take care how
you fasten another millstone round your neck.'
'You're an impudent woman!' he replied angrily. 'You, and the like
of you, throw all your misfortunes into the teeth of those most
troubled by them, because property happens to change hands through
extravagance or folly. You won't improve your condition by such
remarks, believe me. I can hinder as easily as I can help. Mrs.
Stauncy, I'll call for you on Monday morning at nine o'clock, if you
like to go.'