There was a long row of sheds at the far end of the town of Hull, open
towards the Humber, and enclosed on three sides towards the town. A
little patch of green lay on one side the city wall; on the other,
between the sheds and the river, ran a small footpath, and behind rose
a good-looking dwelling of two stories high. With a quick but quiet
step--unusually quiet, indeed, for he generally displayed his high
opinion of himself in the elasticity of his toes--Captain Barecolt
pursued the little path till he came in front of the sheds, and then
paused to reconnoitre the ground.
He first looked into the open side of the buildings; but nothing did
he see only sundry stockfish hanging up in rows by the tails, together
with a heap of coals in one corner, and two large bales or packages
covered with canvass in another. He then looked over the Humber, where
the sun was struggling with some misty clouds, gilding the sky, and
glittering on the calm, unruffled waters. There was nothing of great
importance to be discovered on that side either, and the only object
that seemed to attract the attention of the worthy captain was the top
of a boat's mast, which rose over the bank between him and the river.
As soon as he perceived it, he turned an ear in that direction, and
thought he heard people speaking, upon which he advanced quietly to
the top of the bank and looked down. There was a man in the boat,
apparently about to push off, and another standing on the shore,
giving him some directions; and the first sight of the latter showed
our friend that he had not mistaken his way; for there he beheld the
stout, tall, good-looking elderly man whom he had seen with Mrs. White
on the preceding evening.
His back was turned to Captain Barecolt, and, as the latter stood
waiting till the boat had pushed off, he heard him say, "Well, don't
make a noise about it. Do everything easily and quietly."
The man in the boat, however, at once caught a sight of the intruder
upon their conversation, and pointed towards him with his hand, upon
which Mr. Hugh O'Donnell turned quickly round, with an inquiring and
somewhat stern expression, and then advanced straight up to Captain
Barecolt, while the boat rowed away.
"Pray, sir, are you wanting me?" demanded Mr. O'Donnell, with
a strong touch of that peculiar percussion of the breath which has
acquired--why or wherefore who can tell?--the name of "brogue,"
regarding the captain, at the same time, with not the most amicable
glance in the world.
"Yes, Master O'Donnell," replied Barecolt, in good plain English, "I
am wanting you; and by your leave we must have a little conversation
together."
Hugh O'Donnell gazed at him with some surprise, for he recollected him
well as the French officer who had visited the sign of the "Swan" on
the preceding evening; but he was a cautious man, notwithstanding his
Milesian blood, long accustomed to deal with somewhat dangerous
affairs, and well aware that the most indiscreet of all passions is
surprise; and therefore, without appearing to recognise his visiter,
he said, "If our conversation is to be at all long, sir, it had better
be within doors than without."
"It may be long," replied Barecolt, drily; "and yet it cannot be very
long, for I have not too much time to spare; but, whether long or
short, it had better be where we can have no eaves-droppers, Mr.
O'Donnell; and so we will walk in."
Barecolt followed him to the house, where a clean and respectable old
woman-servant was seen sanding the floor of a parlour, the boards of
which were scrubbed to a marvellous whiteness, though the walls, to
say the truth, were somewhat dingy, and a strong flavour of tobacco
smoke rather detracted from the purity of the air. That odour,
however, was no objection to the nose of Captain Barecolt, who cast
himself into a chair, while the master of the mansion sent away the
servant and closed the door.
As soon as this process was complete, the worthy captain fixed his
eyes upon Mr. O'Donnell, and demanded, "You recollect me, of course,
sir?"
"I think I have seen your face somewhere," replied the Irishman; "but,
Lord love you! I never recollect anything after it is over. It's
better not, sir. I make life a ready-money business, and keep neither
receipts nor bills."
"Quite right, Mr. O'Donnell," replied Captain Barecolt; "but yet I
think I must get you to draw a draft upon the past. That word or two
from Mrs. White will tell you what it is about;" and he handed his
companion across the little round oaken table a small bit of paper.
O'Donnell took it, read the contents, and then mused for a minute or
two, tapping the table with his fingers.
"Well, sir," he said, at length, "what is it you want to know?"
"All that you can tell me about the young lady whom they call Arrah
Neil."
"Oh, sir, I will tell you all I know about her in a minute," replied
the other; "he is now at the 'Swan,' Mrs. White's own house, under
the care--or, if you like it better, in the hands of a very reverend
gentleman called Master Dry of Longsoaken."
"That won't do, Mr. O'Donnell--that won't do," exclaimed Barecolt.
"What I want to know is about the past--not the present--of which I
know more than you do, Mr. O'Donnell."
"I never seek to know anything of other people's business," replied
O'Donnell, drily. "I have enough to do to attend to my own."
"Which is the supplying Roman Catholic gentry with salt fish for fast
days, together with beads, missals, crucifixes, and other little
trinkets for private use," answered Barecolt, who had been using his
eyes and forming his own conclusions from numerous indications
apparently trifling.
O'Donnell, without any change of expression, gazed at him gravely, and
the captain continued--"But that is nothing to the purpose, my good
friend. I see you are a prudent man, and I dare say you have cause to
be so. However, I will tell you why I inquire; and then we will see
whether you will not be kind enough to a poor young lady to give her
some information concerning her own affairs, of which, from the death
of poor old Sergeant Neil, and his papers having been carried off by
this old puritanical hunks Dry, she has been kept in ignorance. You
must know that this young lady has found great and powerful friends in
the Lord Walton and his sister."
"Then why did they suffer her to fall into this man's hands?" demanded
O'Donnell.
"Because they could not prevent it," replied Barecolt; and he went on
to give a full account of the march from Bishop's Merton and the
skirmish which had taken place upon the road, with all of which we
need not trouble the reader, whose imagination can supply or not, as
it pleases, Captain Barecolt's account of his own deeds of arms. From
those deeds, after due commemoration, he went on to speak of Lord
Walton's anxiety for poor Arrah Neil's safety; and though we cannot
presume to say his tale was plain or unvarnished either, yet there was
enough of truth about it to make some change in Mr. O'Donnell's views.
"Where is Lord Walton to be found?" demanded the latter.
"He is with the king at Nottingham," answered Barecolt. "Well then,
he shall hear from me before long," replied O'Donnell.
"You had better let me bear him your message, my good sir," said the
captain. "You may judge, from my being entrusted here with such
important business, that I am one in whom you may place the most
unlimited confidence."
"Perhaps so, sir," answered O'Donnell; "but if I were such a fool or
such a scoundrel as to betray other people's secrets, how should I
expect that you would keep them?"
"That is very true," rejoined Barecolt; "but if you do not tell them
to me, and help me too to get the young lady out of this town of Hull,
you will be compelled to tell them to her enemies, and may make her
situation a great deal worse than it is now."
"They can't compel me; I defy them!" cried O'Donnell, sharply; "and
help you to get her out of Hull I will with all my heart, but how is
that to be done?" The next moment he asked, in a meditative tone,
"What makes you think they will ask me any questions?"
"I not only think they will ask you questions, Mr. O'Donnell, but I
will tell you what those questions will be," replied the captain; and
taking a paper from his pocket he went on: "Before many hours are over
you will have Mr. Dry himself here, and perhaps the justices, if not
the governor, and you will be asked, 'Whose daughter was her
mother?--are any of her family living?--in what county?--in
Ulster?--whether the estates were sequestrated or the blood
attainted?--where the money came from you used to send to poor Neil,
and how much it was a-year?'"
"Oh, by----, they must have got hold of a good clue!" exclaimed
O'Donnell, with more agitation than he had hitherto displayed.
"That they have, Master O'Donnell," replied Barecolt; "but if Dry
comes alone, as he will most likely do at first, he will ask you one
other question before he tries to force you, and that is: how much you
will take to tell him the whole story, that he may possess himself of
the property and force the poor child into marrying him."
"Ay, he's a reasonable man, I dare say, Master Dry," replied the
Irishman, with a sarcastic smile; "but he will find himself mistaken:
and, as to forcing me, they can't! Moreover, for your own questions,
good sir, all I shall say; is this: that you may tell Lord Walton that
he must take care of this poor young lady."
"That he is willing enough to do without my telling," answered
Barecolt.
"Ay, but he must take care of her like the apple of his eye," replied
O'Donnell; "for if any harm happen to her he will never forgive
himself. He is a kind, good man--is he not?"
"As gallant a cavalier as ever lived," said Barecolt.
"And young?" demanded O'Donnell.
"Some seven or eight-and-twenty, I should guess," was the answer.
The master of the house mused.
"That may be fortunate or unfortunate, as it happens," he said at
length; "at all events he ought to have intimation of what he is
doing. Tell him that he shall hear more from me very shortly--as soon
as possible--as soon as I can get leave: and now to speak of how to
get her out of Hull."
"But will you not let me tell Lord Walton who she is?" demanded
Barecolt.
"If Sergeant Neil has told him anything already--well," replied
O'Donnell; "if not, he shall hear more soon; but at all events tell
him to cherish and protect her as he would one of his own kindred; for
if he do not, and have any more heart than a stone, he will repent it
bitterly. No more on that head, master: now for your plans."
"Why, Master O'Donnell," replied Captain Barecolt, "my plans, like
your secrets, are my own; and I do not tell them easily, especially
when I get nothing in return."
"But you said you wished me to help you to get the young lady out of
Hull," rejoined O'Donnell. "How am I to do so without knowing what you
intend to do?"
"I will show you in a minute, Master O'Donnell," replied Barecolt.
"What I need is horse flesh; and as far as I can see, very little of it
is to be found in Hull. The governor walks afoot; the officers of the
garrison, such as it is, trudge upon their own legs; and I have seen
nothing with four feet but sundry cats, half-a-dozen dogs, and every
now and then a fat horse in a coal-cart. I want beasts to carry us,
Master O'Donnell; that is my need: and if you can find means to
furnish us with them, I will contrive to get the young lady out."
"Oh, there are plenty of horses in Hull," answered O'Donnell; "but how
did you come hither?"
"By sea," replied his companion; "but that matters not. If you can
bring or send three good horses, one with a woman's saddle, to the
first village on the road to York--I forget the name of the place--you
will do me a service, aid poor Arrah Neil, and be well paid for your
pains."
"To Newlands, you mean," said O'Donnell; "but Newlands is a long way
for you to go on foot. 'Tis more than two miles, and if you are caught
you are lost. Stay--there is a little low ale-house by the green side,
just a mile from the town gates. The horses shall be there; but at
what time?"
"Some time before daybreak to-morrow," replied Barecolt; "for as soon
as I see the first ray of the sun, I am off with my companions."
"Have you more than one?" demanded the Irishman.
"The lady--and a gentleman, a friend of mine," answered the worthy
captain; "otherwise I should not have wanted three horses."
"But how will you pass the gates?" inquired the other; "they are very
strict at that side, for they fear enterprises from York."
"There's my key," replied Barecolt, producing the governor's pass;
"but, for fear it should not fit the lock, Master O'Donnell, I shall
try it five or six times before nightfall. What I mean is, that I will
go out and in several times, that the people may know my face."
His companion gazed at the pass, and then at Captain Barecolt for
several moments, wondering not a little what might be the real
character of his visiter, and what were the means by which he had
contrived to obtain the document which he spread before him. There it
was, however, not to be doubted--a genuine order under Sir John
Hotham's own hand, for the sentries, guards, warders, and officers of
all kinds of the town of Hull, to give free passage, at any hour
between daybreak and nightfall, to Captain François Jersval, and the
workmen employed by him to inspect and repair the fortifications of
the city, and to offer him no let or hindrance, but rather afford him
every aid and assistance.
"And now, Master O'Donnell," continued Barecolt, observing with a
certain degree of pride that he had succeeded in puzzling his
companion, "let us speak about the price of these horses."
"That I cannot tell till I buy them," replied O'Donnell, "but I shall
see you to-night at the 'Swan,' and we can settle that matter then."
"Perhaps I shall be out," answered Barecolt, recollecting his
engagement with Hazard and Falgate.
"Well, then, I will wait till you return," replied O'Donnell; "but in
the mean time I must get the horses out before the gates close
to-night. To what price would you like to go for the two?"
"I said three, Master O'Donnell," exclaimed Barecolt; "pray, do not be
short of the number."
"No, no," replied the other; "there shall be three; but I will pay for
the young lady's horse. I have money in hand that should have gone to
poor old Neil; but when I wrote about it he did not answer."
"Dead men seldom do," said Barecolt; "but as to the price--there is no
use of buying anything very beautiful for me. My own chargers are of
the finest breed in Europe, between a Turkish courser and a powerful
Norman mare; but as I don't want these horses that I now bespeak for
battle, all that is needful will be to see that they be good strong
beasts, willing to work for a day or two. But one thing that is to be
remembered, Mr. O'Donnell, is, that if you do come up to the 'Swan'
seeking me, you are only to know me as 'de Capitaine Jersval, one
French officier, who be come to help de governeur to put de
fortification in de repair.'"
"And pray, sir, what is your real name?" asked O'Donnell, with an air
of simplicity.
"What is Arrah Neil's?" rejoined Barecolt; and, both laughing, they
separated for the time, without affording each other any further
information.