Ludar told me, when presently I had revived enough to hear his story,
that when the tide turned and I did not appear, the Frenchman laughed
and bade them haul the anchor and thank Heaven they were rid of a thief.
"Whereat," said Ludar, "we came to words, and the maiden took your part
and besought the fellow to wait a half-hour. But he would hear none of
it. He said he was master here, and, if we liked not the ship, we might
go out of it. Indeed," added he, "he had a mind, he said, to put us all
out and be rid of so ill a company. Then there was nothing left but to
let him have his will, and we sailed. Yet I was not surprised to see
you back."
"And she--she did not deem me a traitor?" I asked.
"That maiden," said Ludar, gravely, "knows not what traitor means."
Whereat I felt partly humbled, partly comforted.
"Yes," said Ludar, "I am glad to have you back, Humphrey, for this
voyage bodes uneasily."
"How do you mean?" I asked.
"Our messmates," said he (and then I noticed that he wore a sailor's
jacket), "are a scurvy crew, as you will presently discover. The
captain already repents that he has taken us. The old nurse is hard to
please." Here he sighed. "The serving man is a fool. And the
stranger--"
"Ay, what of him? Who is he?"
"He is a half-witted spark, a fugitive from justice, and, to boot, an
impudent coxcomb whom I have had ten minds already to pitch over the
ship's side. He was hidden here on board before we came, having killed
a man at Court, he brags, and seeking shelter in Scotland till the storm
be past. But here he is."
The stranger was a slim, well-shaped youth, with a simpering lip, and
dainty ringlets descending to his shoulders. He was dressed
extravagantly even for the land, and for the sea ridiculously. His
doublet was of satin, bravely slashed and laced, and puffed to the size
of a globe on either thigh. His hose were of crimson silk, gaily tied
with points and knots. His shirt was of the same hue, with a short
taffeta cloak over, bound at the neck by a monstrous ruff, out of which
his face looked like a calf's head from a dish of trimmings. To crown
all, a white plume waved in his hat, while the rapier at his waist was
caught up jauntily behind him, so that the point and the hilt lay on a
level at either hip. His face was both cheerful and weak; and, as he
strutted up to where Ludar and I stood, his gait reminded me much of a
chanticleer amidst his spouses.
He was delivering himself of some poetic rapture, addressed, as it
seemed, to the mud banks of the Essex shore, and feigned to perceive
neither Ludar nor me till he came upon us.
"So," said he then, eyeing me, "here is our Flying Dutchman, our bolt
out of the blue, our dragon's tooth turned to man. And, by my sword, a
pretty fellow too. Count me as thy patron, my Hollander, and if, as I
judge by thy face, thou hast a tooth for the honey of Parnassus his
garden, and the dainty apples of the Muses' orchard, thou shalt not
starve verily. To be brief, I favour thee therefore, thy fortune is
made."
I was bewildered enough by this speech, not a tithe of which could I
understand. I took it ill to be called Dutchman, and dragon's tooth;
nor, albeit I was a printer's 'prentice, did I know what he meant by
Parnassus. Still, as he seemed friendly disposed, I answered:
"I thank you."
"Thank not me," said he, raising his hand. "Let not the groping man
thank the lamp, nor the briar the brook. Thank the sun whence the lamp
hath his light, and the ocean to whom the brook oweth his waters. Thank
that incomparable paragon, that consummate swan, that pearl of all
perfection, my mistress, of whose brightness I am but the mirror and
medium."
"Pardon me, sir," said I, feeling very foolish to comprehend not a word
of his fine talk, "if you have anything to tell me, pray, say so; but,
for the life of me, I cannot discover what you mean by all this."
"I mean," said he, "that she, my lady, the Aphrodite who rules these
waves, the star who guides our course, the nymph who suns her locks on
this poor ship, the same condescends to call you her servant; wherefore,
owe it to her, that thou mayest also call me thy master."
I began to weary of this jargon. Moreover, the fellow now seemed to be
talking about matters which he had better leave to Ludar and me. So I
said:
"You are none of my master. I have a better."
He looked a little hurt at this, I thought, and said:
"Can an ass call the horse its master when a man claimeth both? Who is
this mortal, sirrah, that I may scorn him?"
"This gentleman is my master," said I, growing very hot, and laying my
hand on Ludar's arm.
The gallant laughed.
"Pretty, on my life! The dog hath its parasites, the scullion his
menial, the earthen pot his mug, and each puffeth himself into a
gentleman thereby. And who may you be, forsooth?"
"Ludar McSomhairle Buidhe McDonnell of the Glyns," said Ludar, solemnly.
The fellow laughed outright.
"I do remember," said he, "a pretty jest of Dan Aesopus about a jackdaw
who thought himself a peacock because he had a monstrous long feather to
his tail. Prithee, thou silly son of Neptune, knowest thou not that if
I did bid thee carry me my box from the fore-deck there to the poop,
thou must crawl with it like my jack-porter? And, by my soul, I have
named the very service that brought me hither. Therefore, my lord Sir
Ludar McSorley Boy McNeptune McMalapert McDonnell of the Glyns, fetch my
box below. And should the burden be too heavy for thy dainty fingers,
pray thy serving gentleman here to lend thee a hand."
Ludar, who was leaning against the mast, yawned; whereat, the gallant
dropping his fine speeches, turned as red as a lobster, and with a loud
French oath, drew out his rapier and flourished it.
Ludar watched him contemptuously for a while, until the blade, getting
courage at every pass, ventured a modest prick. Then he leapt out like
a cat on a mouse, and caught the silly fellow such a grip of the wrist
as sent his sword spinning on the deck. Picking it up, he quietly broke
it over his knee into three pieces, which he pitched one after the other
overboard.
"Now, master jackanapes," said he, returning to his adversary, and
catching him by his starched ruff. "You shall follow your sword."
Then the poor fellow, scared out of his wits, let go a string of oaths,
and vowed to heaven he did but jest, and loved us both like his own
brothers, and, would Ludar but unhand him, he might count on him as a
friend for life, and so forth. Even Ludar could not help laughing at
the figure he made; and having lifted him a little on to the gunwale,
let him down again with a "get you gone then."
'Twas wonderful how the gallant's courage came back as soon as he stood
free.
"By my soul," said he, with a gay laugh, "thou'rt a brave lad, and I
like thee for 't. A jest is like marrow in a dog's bone, and life
without sport is a camel's track. Come, thou and I shall be friends, I
see; and crack more jokes than one ere this voyage be over. And, in
sooth, Achilles doth well to make proof now and again of the strength of
Hercules. Why, my Hercules, I warrant thou couldest lift that box of
mine with thy finger and thumb. I pray thee, for my admiration, see if
thou couldest so carry it from where it now lies to my cabin in the
poop; and our flying Dutchman here shall be judge that the feat be
fairly done."
Ludar, with a grim smile, owned that he had the worst of this encounter,
and made the fellow happy by carrying his box in one hand; although he
alarmed him not a little by offering to carry him in the other.
When this little jest was over, the captain came to us with orders to
join the crew in making all things ready for presently meeting the sea
breezes at the river's mouth; so we had no more time just then to think
of Master Coxcomb.
It moved my admiration to see with what a will Ludar worked at his task.
He made no question of the Frenchman's right to order his services; and
methought, as he hauled away cheerily among his ill-favoured messmates,
he looked as noble as had he been marching at the head of an army. The
ship's crew was, to tell the truth, a scurvy company. Not counting us,
there were but eleven of them, mostly French, who talked and cursed
while they worked and three English, who sulked and grumbled. They
stared in no friendly way at Ludar and me when we joined them; nor did
they like us the better that, without much knowledge or seamanship, we
yet put our backs into what we did, and bade them do the same. Ludar,
indeed, born to command, was not sparing in his abuse of their laziness;
and it vexed me a little to see how he thereby made himself an enemy of
every man among them.
Towards nightfall we were all ship-shape, and the watch being set--of
which Ludar was one--I had leisure to go below to seek the sleep I
sorely needed. I would fain, before doing so, have visited the maiden
to satisfy myself that all went well with her. But I durst hardly
venture so far without her bidding. I sought my berth below,
therefore--and a vile, foul corner of the hold it was--and laid myself
down, wondering what would be the end of all this journeying.
There was a sailor--one of the Frenchmen--down beside me, who, when he
saw who I was, sat up and began to talk. In a foolish moment I betrayed
that I understood some of his French lingo, whereat he--being more than
half drunken--waxed civil, and his tongue loosed itself still more.
"Who is she?" he whispered presently, in his foreign tongue.
"A lady," said I, shortly.
"So! and monstrous rich, by our lady! Comrade," said he, "I helped
carry her box on board. Do you take me for a fool? There is something
weighs more in that than a maiden's frocks--eh, my friend?"
"You are a fool," said I.
"A fool? Ha! ha! 'Tis well. And I am fool enough to-- you be her man,
they say? and an honest fellow? Ha! ha!"
"Ay, ay," said I, drowsily enough, "let me go to sleep."
"Ay, ay," said he, "even if it be silver pieces and not gold, 'twill be
enough to make men of thee and me. Dost hear, sluggard? Thee and me,
and no more planks and ropes, and--"