a compassion on a poor devil as can neither eat nor drink his belly
full." And with that, and ere he was aware, I had my hands upon his
throat. The sudden action took him by surprise, and though he struggled
I forced him presently upon his knees. "Why," says I, pleasantly,
"sure, I told you I was upon the King's service, Tom, engaged by his
sacred Majesty for to get rid of rascals like yourself." But then,
getting his breath, he opened his mouth to cry for help, only on the
instant I slipped a splinter of wood atween his teeth. So there was he
soon, bitted and bound safe enough.
Now these transactions fell, and with little noise, in the shadow of
the barn, where it ran forth to the margin of the wood; and no sooner
was Tom secured than there was the noise of someone opening the door,
and Creech's footsteps sounded in the yard. In an instant I slipped
Tom's cloak about me, and, all muffled to my nose, withdrew a pace into
the darkness, at the same time letting the point of my sword fall on
the cully's chest. I reckon that he knew well enough what was enjoined
on him, for he never stirred; but I was a little anxious about Creech,
lest, even in his state, he should recognise my voice. He stopped at
the corner and called Tom in a loud voice, to the which I made a surly
reply.
"Cold, eh?" says he, with a chuckle, "and sulky? Well, if 'twill warm
you, you'd best put a bullet through Galloping Dick. D'ye hear? We have
a little game atween us, and if he gets by you ye shall answer for it."
I durst trust myself to nothing but a mumble by way of answer, but it
suited Creech, who swaggered off to the barn again; and then, getting
Tom in my arms, I dragged the body into a coppice, and presently
resumed my post as sentinel. 'Twas a shrewd night, and the hours passed
very slowly; but there was that in my heart to warm me against the
cold, for I knew that all hung upon the change at midnight. And when
that time came, and there was once more the sound of feet in the yard,
I drew up stiff and stark, being solicitous for the hazard. Twas Blake
that came to relieve me, but, as fortune had it, his head was mazed
with sleep and drink, and he paid me little attention. I growled out an
oath or two, to which he gave no answer, his teeth chattering in his
jaws; and with that I left him, and rounding the corner I made straight
for the entry. When I got in, there was Ned lying in a heap upon some
straw, snoring like a swine, and Creech, as I perceived, seated with
his back against the wall, and his eyes lifted meditatively to the
rafters.
"That you, Tom?" says he, and without even a glance at me, chucked his
thumb towards a pile of bottles.
"There's no sleep yet in that voice," thinks I; and, seating myself in
a dark corner, where the lanthorn shed no light, I helped myself to
wine. 'Twas grateful enough to a pinched stomach, but when I was done,
and stretched snugly in the straw, there was I, destined to wait upon
Creech's convenience, till so be as it pleased him to fall off. He had
by this, as I could see, shook off the most of his liquor, being, I
fancy, in no wise comfortable as to the bargain he had struck with me.
But that did not disturb me, for I could bide my time; only it gave
me a start, I confess, when, after half an hour in this fashion, he
got upon his feet and came towards me. I had all along been feigning
slumber, and as he came I managed to bury my head deeper in my cloak,
lest he should take a suspicion of my phiz. He stood over a moment,
and then, "Drunk," says he, and fitting his foot into the small of my
back, shoved me a pace forward. I rolled a little more upon my face,
and gave a grunt, like one stirred in a deep sleep; and then I knew
'twas all right, for Creech's jaws cracked in a yawn, and, retiring to
his corner, he flung himself down. From where I lay, and by the faint
light of the lanthorn, I could perceive him turning the casket over in
his fingers, and presently he popped it in the straw beneath him, and,
laying his head upon it, disposed himself for the night.
To this point the affair had gone very well, but I must now wait until
Dan was nodding, and a little more than that too. So the better part
of two hours elapsed before I made a movement. Then, pulling myself
cautiously into a sitting posture, I listened. The barn reverberated
with the noise the two cullies made; there was little doubt about
Creech this time. I rose, still as a spectre. The light flickered upon
Dan's body; and very slowly I drew near. I warrant there was never
a mouse so quiet as me as I bended over him, with my fingers in the
straw. Pah! the job was easy enough done, for all it was so furtive.
For, the box proving hard to his neck, his head had slipped away, and
there was no need to disturb him in extracting it; and, more by token,
when I had inserted my fingers, they came upon a bag of goldfinches
too, the which, as I recalled, was in our pact. And so with exceeding
wariness I fetched both of 'em out, and only a quiver upon Dan's
features to mark for it. That accomplished, I tripped it to the door,
which I unlatched gently. Now all was going well enough, and I should
have had the booty without more ado than a sharp time in the frost;
only who should intervene, unexpected, but the fat sneak Kettle, upon
whom, prowling round the barn after some dirty business of his own, I
stumbled over the threshold. The shock sent me back against the door,
which fell to with a loud bang, and what with that and with the alarm
Kettle made, Creech and the others were upon their feet and wide awake
in a moment. Knocking the innkeeper aside, with a curse on him for
his interference, I slipped forth of the yard and made forthright for
the wood. But Creech was sharp enough too. He bellowed with rage, and
came roaring upon me with his pair of rascals at his heels. There was
little enough to spare between us, though the dark was on my side. But
then again 'twas the dark that made against me too; for, mistaking my
direction, I ran into the forest upon the side away from Calypso, and
shortly found myself in a wilderness of coppice, scarce able to move a
yard for the undergrowth about me. Creech was not far off, for I could
hear him breaking through the wood and yelling at the top of his voice.
I reckon there was never a cully in such a taking afore.
But I was not yet quit of 'em--not by any means; for here was I,
uncertain of my position, and wanting a nag to carry me safe out of
their hands. And the worser part of it was, that Creech was pretty sure
to happen upon the mare in his wanderings. Still there was nothing
further to be done at this juncture for the noise of my advance would
be heard, and so I lay very still in the brake for upwards of an hour.
By that time the night was yielding, and the dawn came up in a thin
white mist, that stretched like a counterpane upon the forest. Overhead
heavy-bellied clouds were labouring in clumsy flight towards the west.
I knew Creech would not have given up; but 'twas foolish to remain
longer in concealment, and so very circumspectly I crept through the
wood towards t'other face of the barn, where, I guessed, Calypso was
tethered.
Calypso was there, sure enough, but so was someone else; and had it
not been that I proceeded with such stealth, he must have overheard
the sounds of my progress. Creech knew me too well to suppose I would
have left the roan to him, and there he sat upon his haunches, just
afore me in the bracken, with his eyes on the nag. Not a twig stirred
as I approached, and my steps fell noiselessly upon the grass, for here
the forest was more open. And thus I came within spring of Dan, when
drawing a pistol, I suddenly walked out of the bushes with the most
unconcerned air you can imagine. Creech turned sharply, but the nozzle
of my barker was at his forehead.
"Ah, Danny, Danny!" says I, "you would not rob a poor young fellow of
his mare!"
Creech turned white with rage, and swore horribly.
"Hush, Danny, hush!" says I. "Think on your immortal soul, Danny, and
forego wicked words--also," says I, "those ugly weapons, being the
instruments of an evil life."
Dan said nothing, but I meant to take his fangs out, and so brought him
to sharply with the pistol.
"Drop 'em!" says I briskly; and with another furious oath Creech threw
his barkers to the ground. After that I had gathered them up, says
I again, very cheerful, "And now, Danny," I says, "'tis time for an
innocent young fellow like me to be getting home to his mammie; which
being so, with your kind help, faith, I will e'en venture to mount the
nag, me and my treasure," and I slapped the box underneath my coat.
Creech was livid, and his eyes glared on me full of the devil; but I
kept him under with the pistol, and drove him, sullen, up to Calypso.
Vaulting into the saddle, I turned and took off my hat to him, with
a mocking tongue; but in that instant, whenas my back was towards
him, Dan had skipped into the thicket, and now I heard him scrambling
through the bushes, yelling and whistling as he went. I was not afraid
of him or his creatures, but I did not design to be caught, and so set
Calypso's heels to work. But just as I did so there came up a clatter
of hoofs from the yard near by, and I knew that Creech was upon my
track. Calypso flew forward like a swallow, and at the same moment the
noise of a pistol spread echoes abroad, and a bullet snipped a corner
from my hat. That was my signal to be gone. "Come, my girl," says I;
and the roan, leaping to the rowels, sped down the narrow pathway in a
gallop.
The track was as lean as a gutter, and sloped very sharply; the bushes,
too, pressed hard upon it, and 'twas not the least of my hazards to
come down that descent at a breakneck speed. But I knew well enough
that the pursuit would be instant, and that Creech was in too black a
rage to pick his footsteps. So I kept the nag to her pace, and on she
rushed, floundering from side to side, swaying against the bushes, and
slithering over the smooth rocks. I held her up with the reins, and
more than once saved her from coming down upon her prats; and once she
took me sudden under the overhanging bough of a tree, which fell so
low that the sight of it set me a-blinking. But or ever I was past my
doubts we were through, and the mare was clattering for the high road.
Not until we reached this did I pull in, and twist about in my saddle
to inspect what was forward. Creech and his men were not yet forth of
the wood, but I could hear 'em pounding away down the path, and guessed
that they were none so far away. But for that I cared not a groat, for
Calypso was staunch and fleet, and more than a match for any horse in
the shires. So, pulling her round upon the Belbury road, I urged her
into a gentle canter.
I reckon that they must ha' been amazed, when they were come to the
highway, to see me no more than half a mile away, and jogging along as
easy and unconcerned as you please. But that was in my device, for I
had no animosity against such a braggart fool as Creech, and, as I have
said, I was tickled by a pretty touch of humour. So on I cantered, and
Creech and his two lads behind me, very much excited, as I conceive, by
the prospect of overtaking me. That, however, was not my notion; and no
sooner were they drawn within shot than I put the spurs into Calypso
and forged out of range again. This manoeuvre I repeated several
times, till their faces must ha' been yellow with chagrin. If they had
entertained but a grain of reason about 'em, they might have seen as
I was merely playing with 'em. And maybe they did; but Creech had no
stomach for defeat, and, being now a veritable cauldron of passions,
stuck as close to me as he might. And thus we galloped, the four of us,
at length into Belbury.
Here I dropped into a canter, and coming to a halt afore a little inn
in the main street, I flung out of the saddle and opened the stable
yard. T'others were not yet round the corner, and so, tethering Calypso
to a stake in the wall immediately below a window in the upper floor,
I bade the ostler give her a bite where she stood, and hurried into
the hostelry. I was now, as you may conceive, possessed of a roaring
appetite, and ordered breakfast forthwith to be served in the said
upper room. And no sooner was I got there and set comfortable upon a
seat, than the three horses came thundering down the road and drew up
with a plunge before the doorway. I laughed at that, for I knew they
were too drunken with rage to think straightly; and I had half a mind
to invite Danny to breakfast. Sink me, but the ninnies thought that
they had nicked me! For presently after, up comes the innkeeper with
the breakfast, but bearing a message for me, from "three gentlemen
below, as, saving my presence, would be glad for to breakfast in my
company."
Lord, how it set me laughing! "Why," says I, "if they be honest folk,
Benjamin, by all means."
"They have ridden hard," says he, hesitating.
"Why, so have I," I answered; and then, but still with reluctance, he
was departing, when I suddenly fetched him back. "Has the coach been
long gone?" says I; for though 'twas early I knew the next stage was
long.
"'Tis gone half an hour," says he.
"That is well," I thinks to myself, and, dismissing him with a nod, I
threw open the window and looked down into the yard. There was Calypso,
ready bridled, and munching her oats beneath me. That too contented
me, and I sat down and handled my knife. It was a little time afore
any feet ascended the stairs, and then at last the handle turned and
in tramped Creech, all alone, with a look of triumph fastened on his
ugly face. It was clear they had had some parley outside, and he was
set to beard me. I rose to my feet, and making him a deep bow, waved my
fingers at a chair.
"Pray you, sit down," said I, very ceremonious; "I takes it kindly of
you, Danny, to come for to cheer up an old friend like this. 'Tis poor
fare to a nobleman such as you, but suitable enough for a humble man
like me."
Creech scowled, for he had not looked for me to talk in this fashion, I
warrant.
"You're game is up, my precious cully," he said savagely, "and you'd
best put a pleasant phiz on you and give in."
I glanced at the clock. "I think not, Danny," I says softly; "there is
some mistake, sure. There's ten more hours to run--a pleasant little
holiday for all three. And, by the way, where are my friends Ned and
Blake? I don't see their handsome faces."
Creech grinned in a sour way. "You'll make their acquaintance soon
enough," says he.
"Oh! waiting outside, eh?" says I. "Bashful, eh?"
"Yes," says Creech, showing his teeth. "Just waiting outside on your
convenience, Captain; just awaiting for to help your honour into the
saddle."
"You overload me with favours, Danny," says I, going on with my
breakfast undisturbed.
But Creech's temper was too constrained to carry the jest further, and
he broke out harshly,--
"Hark 'ee, Dick; why the hell d'ye pull such a long face over the job?
What does this play-acting do? Bah! Out with the casket, and we'll
split a bottle on it."
Forthwith I put my hand under my coat, and fetching out the casket set
it on the table afore me. Upon that I placed the bag of guineas, and
atop of all a brace of pistols.
"Come and take 'em," says I, mimicking Creech's own words to me. "Come
and take 'em, Danny. Here they are.--Rip me, Danny, where's your grit?"
He swore abominably, and made a step to me; but slipping my fingers
over a barker, I cocked it. Dan drew back and gazed doubtfully at the
door. I knew what was passing in his mind, and how he was meaning to
set the other tykes on me; but I said nothing, merely replacing the
baubles in my pocket. This distracted Creech again, and he yelled,--
"Give 'em up, you young hell-hound!"
I laughed, and at the laugh Creech's temper snapped, and he flung
himself upon me. He was no coward Creech, though mighty judicious out
of his rage. But his leap availed him little now, for plump goes my
pistol on his skull, and down he comes to the floor. I walked to the
window.
"Good-bye, Dan," I said.
Creech, scrambling to his feet, with his eyes agog, made as though to
follow me, and then sprang at the door, screaming to his men. But I was
already out of the window ere he had reached the stairs, and dropping
silently upon Calypso, cast her free. Another instant more, and, the
gates of the yard opening, Calypso shot past the inn, and, gathering
her knees under her belly, was sweeping out of Belbury at a gallop.
I was already a quarter of a mile away, when glancing behind, I
saw them making a start, for they were in no wise prepared for my
diversion, and were thrown into confusion thereby. But now they came
abreast for me at their hardest, for all of which the roan held her
own without any difficulty. In this way the chase sped into the open
plain beyond Belbury, Creech clinging like a leech, as I knew he would,
to the smell of the gold. Half-way across the moor I stopped and
listened. There, for sure, was what I wanted right ahead of me; and so,
clapping back my heels, I galloped over the rise afore me, and came
down into the hollow, where the coach was rumbling along like a blowsy
bluebottle. 'Twas rolling and lurching and pitching, like as if 'twas a
cockle at sea, and I soon overtook it and hailed the driver. He looked
at me suspiciously, but reined in his horses, and I pulled the mare
across the window.
"Why," says a piping voice, that I recognised, "bless me! here is our
young gentleman again."
I gave the old mawkin a wink, and glanced round the company. There was
Hoity-toity, as plump and proud as you please, leaning back against the
cushions with her nose in the air.
"Your ladyship," says I, addressing her politely, "I trust that you
have enjoyed your night's rest to the full."
"I am in tolerable health," says she shortly, but eyeing me in some
wonder.
"Life, your ladyship," says I, very sententious, "is full of reverses,
best forgot; and the most excellent intentions are fraught with the
most woeful issues."
"Oh!" she broke in coldly, "if you are come to recount your failure,
your time is ill spent. In truth, I had not remembered your face till
this good gentleman spoke, and I had never a thought for your errand."
But if I was in any doubt about my business, it was that ungracious
speech disposed of it; and, saying no more, I drew the casket from my
pocket, and, bowing low to the saddle with a great air of ceremony,
passed it to her.
"If I am remembered in your ladyship's sneers," I says, "I beg it shall
be along of those young gentlemen of blood you talk of." But here I
glanced along the road, and there was the noise of hoofs coming over
the hill. "And I pray," said I, turning again to her, "that you will
now, as always, accept the accidents of fortune with better submission."
I saw that the fat merchant had been eager to speak for some time,
and now he jumped up and opened his mouth wide. But I laughed, and,
sweeping my hat to the saddle, pulled off the mare and left 'em, with
the lady staring in an amaze at the casket on her knee.
"Drive on," says I to the coachman; and, slapping the leaders with
the flat of my sword as I passed, I spurred Calypso across their
noses and out upon the furze-grown common. As I did so, there was
Creech and Blake clattering up on their blown nags. Crack goes the
coachman's whip, and the horses plunged forward; but by that I was out
of sight behind a clump of trees upon the heath, where, pausing, I
looked back. The noise of a great commotion reached me; and there, as
I guessed, stood Creech with t'others about the coach. I reckon that
the passengers would have short shrift with that angry party. I watched
'em for a while, with my sides a-shaking for laughter, and then put the
nag to a trot across the common. Dan, I vow, must have been astonished.
But 'twas a pretty even division after all; for I kept the goldfinches
and Creech resumed his jewels, whereas Hoity-toity had the privilege to
take a lesson in manners.
THE TURTLE-DOVES
'Tis not the first face of a predicament that is always the right
aspect, and men may, as often as not by holding their peace, come at
the heart of the matter, always provided there is naught in the case
to make the blood sing. Now in a pretty lively turn of life on the
road I have met many types, and some of these such characters as you
would scarce credit; but 'tis not always that they are conjoined thus
in their odd individualities with a stirring episode; and hence I pass
them by in these accounts of my career. Nevertheless there was in the
meeting with Sir Damon Boll that which pleased me mightily, at least in
the end. Indeed, 'twas a rare piece of chicanery from the outset, what
time I left the Boar's Head in a chaise and two horses of my own for
Epsom, like any gentleman with an important journey of his own before
him. And so in truth I had, for I was to set up for my lord, if you
please, with a lackey and all; but the affair, though 'twas humorous
beyond fancy, enters not into this adventure. It was enough that the
thought tickled me on my road out of Southwark, going by Camberwell
and Newington, and I was in a fair good humour as we rocked along the
ruts that sharp November evening.
When the postilion was come out by Streatham and was for making across
the heath, the moon, that was half and bright, struck into the lowering
clouds, and the open waste glowed of a sudden swiftness. The window
of the chaise was open and the air streamed in, but I could make out
little with my peepers because of the blackness. And here there was
a savage rocking of the body of the chaise, and a cracking as of a
wheel against something. So popped I forth my head and roared to the
postilion, cursing him for his clumsiness, and he cursing back at the
horses; and between us there was a pretty commotion. For here was a
nobleman (save me!) upon his travels with a damned dung-fork of a
rascal on whom he might let loose his tongue and be not questioned.
That was how I phrased it to myself, being not as wroth as I seemed,
but indeed enjoying to feign it; when withdrawing my head, as we
were got back again upon the track, I espied a blacker shadow in the
blackness about the heath.
It held my eye a moment, for I knew it well enough to be the figure of
a man, and then it darted into nearer view; and the light, bettering at
the same instant, showed me a fellow with a hat askew on the back of
his head, a heavy pistol at the stand-and-deliver, and a face under a
dark mask at the chaise's edge.
"Hold!" says he loudly to the postilion, and catches at the horse
nearest. The frightened fellow pulled in, and says this night-bat, as
boldly as you will, and as cheerfully, poking his barker through the
window, "now, my good sir, pray do not dally, but hand out forthwith.
Dalliance, my dear sir, is the spirit of my lady's chamber, not of
snapping sharp winter nights like this. Disgorge, my buck, disgorge!"
Now you will conceive it was an odd situation for Galloping Dick to be
thus waylaid and handled after the manner of his own craft, though this
was not the first occasion that it had happened. But to that you will
add this, that there was that in his air, as in his voice, and in the
very swagger of his challenge, which showed me here was no ordinary
tobyman. So says I to myself, silently gazing in his pistol: "What have
we here?" And then aloud said I: "Sirrah, what do you?" in a lordly
tone.
"Faith," says he, not lowering his pistol, but speaking in a rollicking
way, "be not my words plain, brave knight, or must I make 'em bark? I
require of you all that you have in the chaise, barring what I will
spare you out of charity, your clothes and cock-hat for the sake of
shame."
"Oh!" said I, in a hesitating way, "then are you a gentleman of the
road, rascal?"
"You honour me to put a name upon me," said he, with an inclination of
his head. "For myself, I should desire to go unnamed, so as to escape
the perils of the law."
"I will tell you this," I broke out in seeming indignation, "you shall
be well hanged--that's your destiny."
"Maybe," said he, carelessly. "As well be picked by crows on a gallows
as in a ditch. Deliver, my lord."
"I ask your indulgence, Captain," said I, in another voice; "there is a
packet I would fain keep--"
"Pish! I must have all or none," he interposed. "Yet I am in a mood to
indulge you, so be you give me your hand on paper that I took all off
you."
This made me perpend, for my wits are sharp, and I began to guess that
this was maybe by way of a wager, and that the fool was rattling the
dice on his life.
"I will do that," said I, after a pause, "if you will let this document
that is important to none but myself remain. I have sixty guineas
also."
"Hand 'em over," says he, in a jocose way.