"By your leave, captain, we be eight leagues east of Flamboro' with a
southerly breeze falling fast. The ship lies in the wind and the tiller
is swinging."
"Take the helm, master, and keep her head straight. Humphrey, fetch
down the poet. He and I will mount the first watch to-night. Maiden,
do you get what rest you may, ere your turn comes in the morning."
"Ay, ay, my captain," said she cheerily, and went.
"Humphrey," said Ludar, calling me back, when she had gone, "do you
wonder that I love that maiden?"
"I do not," said I.
"Is she you love as fair, as brave, as noble?"
"She is," I answered, "every whit as fair, every whit as brave, every
whit as noble."
"Then why," he asked, looking hard at me, "are you sad when you speak of
her?"
"Alas," said I, "she loves me not. Ludar, talk not to me of her; I will
go fetch the poet."
The poor fellow was by this time well-nigh at the end of his patience.
For, though he had fixed himself cunningly in the rigging of the
foremast, seating himself on the royal yard, and hugging the mast
lovingly with his arms and legs, he found himself unable to budge, or
even see what was going on below, by reason of the dizziness which
afflicted him. How he had got up so far, and managed to cut the ropes
behind him, he never could explain. But a man will do desperate feats
for his life's sake.
It was no light task to dislodge him. With my maimed arm I could not
haul myself up the rigging even to the lower top-yard, much less carry
up to him his dangling ladder. All I could do was to hail him and bid
him be of good cheer till we had him down.
"Cheer," he cried, "cometh not in a voice from the void, neither is
there help in empty breath. Come up, for I am weary of my perch; and
verily, if the mountain come not to Mahomet, the prophet must abase
himself to the mountain. In short, my man, I am near tumbling."
"Hold on," cried I. "I shall fetch help and all will be safe."
"Oh, that the giants would pile Pelion on Ossa and get me out of this
heaven!" I heard him say. Methought, however, the fellow could not yet
be in desperate straits to talk thus.
At last the seaman scrambled up and fetched him down, not without many
protestations and caveats by the way. Once down, however, he shook his
fluttered plumes, and crowed like any chanticleer.
"_Facilis descensus Averni_, as our Maro hath it. As the muse droppeth
from the heights, and the golden shower descendeth, so visit I once more
the Arcadian plains. Which remindeth me, where is my Danae, and how
fareth she? Apprise her, I pray you, of my return. And, by the way,"
added he, puffing himself valiantly, "where is the varlet that late
sought my life. He and I must settle scores before this night be an
hour older. Fetch him hither and by my--"
"See here, Sir Popinjay," said Ludar, coming forward impatiently, and
cutting the speech in twain, "the time is gone past for this fooling.
If you be a man, you may prove it now. If not, on my soul, you shall go
aloft again. Come, you share this watch with me. Put some food into
your body, and then keep sharp look-out ahead. You see the entire crew
of this vessel, save the two women; therefore, cease to be half a man
and make yourself two."
The fellow turned pale at this news, and cast a glance up and down the
empty ship. Then, without a word, he took up half a loaf and a mug of
beer from the cabin table and walked forward.
"Humphrey," said Ludar, "get to bed, your turn will come."
But to bed I could not go; and Ludar for once, I found, was not hard to
persuade.
There was in truth much to be done before we could think of rest.
Together we overhauled the ship's rations, and found what would last us
for long enough yet. We examined, too, our ordnance, which was but
meagre and ill-fashioned; we had three pieces on either side, besides a
small swivel gun on poop and forecastle. The ammunition was sufficient
for these and for the few pistols and muskets which we found in the
Frenchman's cabin. Further, we looked long and hard at our charts,
which seemed well marked for the passage we were bound on. The English
fellow, we discovered, had been several times that way; and, though he
was no pilot, he said he yet knew the Bass Rock from a mud bank, and,
provided we fell in with neither pirates, tempest, nor the Spaniard,
could put us into Leith Roads right side uppermost as well as any man.
Whereat we felt easier in our minds than we had been.
By the time all these consultations were ended, the watch was half
spent. Ludar therefore ordered me below, whether I would or no, to
rest. In truth I was ready for it, and fell asleep almost before my
head touched my pillow.
When I awoke, Ludar stood beside me.
"Up!" said he, "all goes well, and your watch-partner awaits you."
"Ludar," said I, springing up. "Why do you give me the partner who
belongs of right to you?"
"'Tis a time for work," said he, with a smile, "not for play. Am I not
captain here? To your watch, Humphrey."
I went on board. There stood she on the forecastle, looking ahead and
singing softly to herself.
I left her and went aft. The sailor was still at the helm, having
volunteered a double watch to see us through the night. All behind was
ship-shape and trim. Ludar had been busy, clearing the decks and
bringing back to order the confusion left by the late battle. There was
nothing for me to do. Therefore, with beating heart I walked forward
once more.
She turned at my coming and greeted me frankly.
"Welcome, messmate," said she. "Is all well?"
"All is well," said I. "The Captain has done the work of ten men, and
nought is left for me and you but to look ahead."
"And he is resting?" asked she. "Think you his wounds were dressed?"
"I helped him tend them before I went below," said I. "They were but
scratches."
"And your arm," said she; "it still hangs heavy. May I not bind it for
you, Humphrey?"
I wished I was the heathen Briareus then, with an hundred arms. There
was magic in her touch; and no charm of witch or fairy could have mended
my bruised limb as did she.
After that, we sat silent awhile, looking out to sea. The soft light
was spreading on the east, heralding the coming day. The slack breeze
flapped lazily in the sails overhead and scarce ruffled the drowsy
ocean. The stars one by one put out their little lights and vanished
into the blue. There was no sound but the creaking of the yards and the
gentle plash of the water on the hull; only these and the music of a
maiden's song. It went hard with me, that night. For a while, as I sat
there, gazing into her face and listening to her music and feeling the
touch of her hand on my arm, I was fool enough to think all this--all
this peace, all this beauty of the ocean dawn, all this lulling of the
breeze, all this music, this gentle smile, this tender touch, spelt
love; and there came a voice from the tempter that I should tell her as
much then and there. What hindered me, I know not. 'Twas not alone the
thought of Ludar, or the remembrance of my own honour, or the fear of
her contempt. Be it what it may, I was helped by Heaven that night to
be a man, and with a mighty effort to shake off the spell that was on
me. So I rose to my feet and walked abaft. Many a time I paced to and
fro cooling my fevered brow ere I ventured to return. But when at last
I did, I was safe. She stood there motionless, radiant with the first
beams of the royal sun as he leapt up from the sea.
"Look, Humphrey," she cried. "Is not that worth keeping watch for?"
Then she broke again into song.
"Is that an Irish song you sing?" I asked.
"It is. How knew you that?"
"I guessed it. What does it mean?"
She blushed.
"'Tis a song the maidens sing at home--an old, old song," said she,
"that I learned from my nurse."
"I pray you, sing it again," said I.
She turned her face to the rising sun, and sang, in English words, as
follows:
Who cometh from the mountain like the sun for brightness?
Whose voice ringeth like the wave on the shingle?
Who runneth from the east like the roe?
Who cometh?
Is it the wind that kisses my tresses?
Or is it the harp of Innis thrilling my ear?
Or is it the dawn on Ramore that dims my eyes?
Who cometh?
Is he far? Is he near? Whence comes he riding?
Dazzling in armour and white of brow?
Is it for me that he filleth the mountains with music?
Who waiteth?
Who cometh?
"'Tis a wild song, full of riddles," said I. "Maybe there is a song
somewhere which has the answers."
"I know it not," said she.
"Not yet," said I.
She looked up at me quickly as if she doubted my meaning. But I looked
out seaward and asked:
"Where in Ireland is your home, maiden? Is it near Ludar's castle on
the sea?"
"Hard by," said she. "The McDonnells and O'Neills are neighbours and
foes." And her brow clouded. "My father, Humphrey, is the bravest of
the O'Neills as Ludar's father is the bravest of the McDonnells."
"And does your father hold Dunluce?" asked I.
"I know not," said she. "I have never seen my father, Turlogh Luinech
O'Neill, though I love him as my life. At two years I was sent away to
England with my English mother, who was but a hand-fast bride to the
O'Neill."
"And what may that be?" I asked.
"'Tis a custom with us," said she, "for the chiefs to take wives who are
theirs only so long as a better does not present herself. My mother,
Alice Syngleton, the daughter of my father's English ally and preserver,
Captain Syngleton, was thus wedded, and when I was two years old--so my
old nurse tells me--he married the great Lady Cantire of the Isles.
Wherefore my mother was sent home to England with me, and there we lived
till she died three years ago; since when I have pined in a convent, and
am now, in obedience to my father's summons, on my way to my unknown
home. My father, being, as I understand, allied to the English, who
have dispossessed the McDonnells, I was to come over under the escort of
an English officer of Sir William Carleton's choosing, who was my
mother's kinsman. You know what peril that brought me to, and how,
thanks to you, I am now making a safer journey, and a happier.
Humphrey," said she, "till I met you and Sir Ludar, I had thought all
men base; 'twas the one lesson they taught us at the convent. I have
unlearned the lesson since."
"Pray Heaven you never have to relearn it," said I, groaning inwardly to
think how near I had been to giving her cause.
Thus we talked that morning. At every word, what little hope I had once
had of her love faded like the stars above our heads. Yet, instead of
it came the promise of an almost sisterly friendship, which at the time
seemed poor enough exchange, but which was yet a prize worth any man's
having. She bade me tell her about myself, and heard me so gently, and
concerned herself so honestly in all that touched me, and praised and
chid me so prettily for what I had done well and ill, that I would my
story had been twice as long and twice as pitiful. The only secret I
did not tell her, you may guess. She did not. But she heard me
greedily when I came to tell of my meeting with Ludar and of our
adventures near Oxford; and for his sake, as much as for my own, she
thought kindly of me and promised me her friendship.
Our watch was ended, and we were in the act of quitting our post, when
the maiden, taking one last look seaward, cried: "Is not that a sail
away there?"
Sure enough it was, sparkling on the westward horizon, some two leagues
to the larboard.
"Who cometh?" said I to myself, echoing the maiden's song.