rage and fear, leapt from his seat, whipped out his sword, and flew upon
me with the ferocity of a wild beast. But that a stool stood between
us, a stumbling block to him in his fury, I had peradventure been
pierced to the heart or ever I could draw my own weapon. That obstacle
gave me a bare respite. My sword was out and met his clashing, and for
the space of five minutes we thrust and lunged, parried and riposted, in
the middle of the floor, over the table, by the mantel, in the corners,
as the stress of combat carried us. I had always the advantage of him
in that I was calm and master of myself, whereas he was drunken with
rage, maddened by hate, and desperately fearful of the gallows he had
set up for Jan Verhoeff. In mere swordsmanship he was not far from being
my equal; had he been in truth my equal, his skill might have prevailed
even over his fury. Suffice it to say that after a hot bout of some five
minutes I struck his sword from his hand, and pinning him down upon a
chair, with my blade at his throat, I bade him sternly give heed to
certain conditions on which I would spare his vile and wretched life.
[Illustration: PINNING HIM DOWN UPON A CHAIR, I BADE HIM STERNLY GIVE
HEED TO CERTAIN CONDITIONS ON WHICH I WOULD SPARE HIS LIFE]
These were, first, that he should write, at my dictation, a full
confession of his guilt and treasons, such as should at the same time
clear Jan Verhoeff from the accusation made against him. Second, that he
should quit the city that night by seven of the clock, and until then
keep within doors. The clemency of these conditions wondrously
astonished him; and perceiving that he was utterly at my mercy, he
accepted them without demur. Within an hour I had his confession,
sealed, in my pocket, together with the other papers in his hand.
You may wonder that I showed mercy to so heinous a villain: hear my
reasons. I might have slain him; but then I should have had no
confession, such as I needed to right Jan Verhoeff. I might have
extorted the confession from him, and then delivered him to the council
for formal trial and meet punishment; but then many things would have
come to light that it were best to keep hidden, especially the
questionable part played by the Burgomaster, the which for the sake of
the city, and more also for the sake of Mistress Jacqueline, I would
fain leave enshrouded. Furthermore, I had now the hold upon goodman
Burgomaster that I needed to assure the happiness of two young souls.
Leaving Volmar a shrunken heap in his chair, and being fully assured
that Bargen would be no more troubled with him, I made my way to Mynheer
Warmond's house. As I came to the door, there issued forth the Captain
of the Guard, whose countenance put on a most sorrowful look when he
beheld me. He halted upon the threshold, heaved a sigh, then took me by
the sleeve and said--
"Sir, I hold a warrant for your arrest under the hand and seal of the
Burgomaster, and to be executed at seven of the clock to-morrow
morning."
"Let not that trouble you," said I, and had he been my own countryman,
in my gaiety of heart I should have poked him in the ribs; such a
pleasantry is inexpedient with a Dutch burgher. "Come for me here within
a half hour, and I avouch your warrant will be annulled."
He left me, wondering.
I entered to the Burgomaster, who fell a-trembling when he saw me, and
demanded with a stammering tongue what my business was with him upon the
Sabbath. I told him very shortly, and never in my life have I seen so
piteous a spectacle as that little round rubicund man at the hearing of
my story. His conscience pricked him sore, in that he had harkened to
ill counsels and dallied with the thought of surrendering. His lips
quivered, his limbs shook as with palsy, and with the back of his hand
he brushed away the tears that coursed down his fat cheeks. He besought
me very earnestly to advise him what he must do, mingling together in
lamentable outcry his good name and his daughter that loved him.
[Illustration: I TOLD HIM VERY SHORTLY, AND NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE I SEEN
SO PITEOUS A SPECTACLE AS THAT LITTLE ROUND RUBICUND MAN AT THE HEARING
OF MY STORY]
"Mynheer," said I, "there are two things you may do. The first is, to
keep silence. This unhappy business is known wholly to none but you,
Cosmo Volmar, and myself--and in part to my servant and Jan Verhoeff,
who have their reasons for holding their peace. The second is, to undo
the wrong you have done your daughter and her promised husband. Thus
you will both preserve the reputation for courage you won at the point
of the ham bone"--(I could not withhold this quip)--"and win a new
renown for fatherly indulgence and magnanimity of soul."
Upon this the Burgomaster looked somewhat more cheerfully; but again his
face fell, and he turned away his eyes, as with a faltering voice he
told me that he had ordered my arrest.
"And here is the Captain of the Guard," said I, as I heard his clanking
step without, "come for the cancelment of your warrant."
The Burgomaster was overcome with humiliation when aware that I knew
already of the warrant. He tore the paper passionately across, and wept
hot tears when he placed the captain's hand in mine and bade him cherish
me as an honest man. There was ever something of the play actor about
goodman Burgomaster.
And now I have told my story. You may like to know that the city did
not yield to the Spaniards, but held out for a good month beyond, and
was then relieved by Prince Maurice, who advanced through a fierce
rainstorm at the head of a large and well-furnished army. I was
presented to him on his entrance by Sir Francis Vere, who with a grave
countenance related how he had chosen me, as one expert in war and
cunning in counsel, to assist the burghers in their extremity. When the
Prince had thanked me in the name of the United States of the
Netherlands, and invited me to continue in his service, Sir Francis drew
me aside and said in my ear--
"Thou'rt a cunning rascal, and be hanged to thee."
But I leave you to say whether 'twas cunning that served me best.
The praises and blessings heaped upon me by the two ladies, the mother
and the sweetheart of Jan Verhoeff, were dearer to me even than the
commendation of Prince Maurice. Methinks it is better to make two or
three happy than to take a fenced city. In the spring of the next year
Jan wrote me word that he had been made councillor and town clerk of
Bargen, and was now the husband of pretty Mistress Jacqueline.
I had almost forgot to say that such pricks of conscience as beset me
for permitting Volmar to escape a traitor's doom were stilled but a few
days after he in secret quitted the city. His dead body was then
discovered in the moat. Whether he was drowned in swimming, or removed
(as he would have said) by the Spaniards for that he had failed them, I
know not; only I believe in my heart that justice was done.
[Illustration: tailpiece to Third Part]
*Interim*
Many a time and oft did my grandfather sing the praises of Prince
Maurice of Nassau, whom he loved as a man, revered as a prince, and
admired as a warrior. He told me that this stout and worthy Prince had
studied the art of war from a boy up, and made many innovations in the
practice thereof, for the which this age is to him much beholden;
namely, he armed his horsemen with the carbine instead of the lance, and
taught his soldiers the true use of the spade in siege work. Before his
time men of war were wont to scorn that humble tool, and to look upon
such as handled it as boors and rascals. My grandfather was with him in
the three months' siege of Groningen, and beheld with admiration the
work of his sappers and miners, how they drove mines in the shape of the
letter Y beneath the walls of the city, and springing them one night,
the north ravelin was blown up into the air with forty of the garrison,
of whom one was cast alive and sound at his very feet in the besiegers'
camp.
He told me too how in the summer of the year 1595, he came very near to
losing his life. Prince Maurice had raised the siege of Grol, drawing
back before the troops of Christopher Mondragon, a little old man of
ninety-two, who had practised war from his youth, yet without receiving
a wound. The Prince laid an ambush for this marvellous warrior, and set
his cousin Philip to accomplish it; but the old man heard of what was
toward, and took measures to counter it, so that when, about daybreak,
Count Philip sent forward a handful of men to pounce upon the enemy's
pickets, they saw themselves faced by a great number of Spanish horsemen
drawn up in order. Whereof when tidings were conveyed to Count Philip,
he donned his casque, and drew his sword, and putting spurs to his
horse, galloped into the lane that divided him from the Spaniards, being
followed at the first only by four of his nobles, and then by others of
his horsemen, among whom my grandfather was one.
And when they were shut in that narrow pass, up started the Spaniards on
the watery pasture lands on either hand, and fired their guns at them
very hotly. Count Philip was shot through the body from a harquebus,
which, by reason of its closeness, set his clothes a-fire, and the
flames could not be quenched save by rolling him, all wounded as he was,
among the sand and heather. When he sought to mount his horse and ride
away, his strength failed him, and he fell to the ground and was taken
prisoner and carried away dying. My grandfather, following in the
charge, was thrown from his horse in the disorder and confusion, and
only saved himself by crawling through the hedge, and swimming the river
that ran by the margin of the field.
A matter of three months thereafter, my grandfather was with Sir Francis
Vere when that valiant captain was sent by Prince Maurice to take the
castle of Weerd. Upon Sir Francis demanding that the warden of the
castle should yield it up, that doughty commander refused him with
scorn, albeit he had no more than a score and six men at his back. But
when Sir Francis opened upon the place with his artillery, these folk
fell into a panic and laid open their gates. Their captain claimed the
honours of war, but Sir Francis made answer that he should have no
honours but halters for the stiff-necked simple men that had dared to
defend their hovel against ordnance. Whereupon he made the six and
twenty draw lots with black and white straws, and they that drew the
white were immediately hanged, save only the thirteenth, to whom his
life was given after that he had consented to do hangman's work upon his
fellows. The noose was cast first about the neck of their captain, but
the rope parting asunder, certain of Sir Francis' men held him under the
water of the ditch until he was drowned. My grandfather fell out with
Sir Francis upon this matter, deeming his truculency to be unworthy of a
gentleman; and when the troops went into winter quarters, he took ship
and returned to England, bearing a richly gilt sword, the gift of Prince
Maurice.
He then took up his place in the Queen's Guard, but had accomplished
scarce four months in the royal service when that adventure befell which
follows next in order. It was known that King Philip was making ready a
fleet of sixty sail to invade Ireland, and Sir Walter Raleigh was
instant that the Queen's ministers should destroy that fleet in Spanish
waters, saying that "expedition in a little is better than much too
late." At that time the Spaniards were rejoicing in that Hawkins and
Drake had come to grief in their enterprise against Panama, and were
dead of a broken heart. Sir Walter's counsel was deemed good, and the
Queen, enraged with the King of Spain for that he was abetting the Irish
rebel Tyrone, fitted out ninety-six sail to convey 14,000 Englishmen to
the harbour of Cadiz, setting over them Lord Admiral Howard and the Earl
of Essex, and granting to Raleigh the command of twenty-two ships.
Contrary winds delayed their setting forth, the which, as Sir Walter
affirmed, caused him deeper grief than he ever felt for anything of this
world. And Providence so fashioned it that my grandfather performed a
hardy feat in Cadiz harbour a good month before Sir Walter set sail, as
you shall now read.
*THE FOURTH PART*
*CHRISTOPHER RUDD'S ADVENTURE IN SPAIN,
AND THE FASHION IN WHICH HE PLAYED
THE PART OF A PHYSICIAN*
[Illustration: headpiece to Fourth Part]
*I*
It has never been my lot to hold great place, whether in the employment
of Queen Bess, or of her successor, King James; and when I think how
sorely fortune hath buffeted some noble persons that served those
monarchs, I count myself lucky in my obscurity.
Of all the noble men with whom I ever had to do, Sir Walter Raleigh was
in my computation beyond compare the noblest. It frets me still, after
forty years, that I was not of his company on that famous voyage to
Cadiz when, as he writes in his History, "we stayed not to pick any
lock, but brake open the doors, and, having rifled all, threw the key
into the fire"; by the which figure he signifies the capture and
destruction of that great town, with vast spoils both of merchandise and
money. I was stayed but by accident, or, more truly, by the hand of
God, who had other work for me, as you shall hear.
It chanced that one day, about Easter of the year 1596, I had been to
visit Sir Walter in his house at Mile End, where he then lived to take
the country air, and because, being out of favour with the Queen, his
lodging in her great house by the Thames was not much to his liking. In
name he was still Captain of the Guard and Warden of the Stannaries, but
the former office was performed by one Master John Best, and the latter
was, I think, in abeyance. He had but lately returned from his voyage
to Guiana, and was even then occupied with the writing of the book
wherein he relates his doings there, together with certain wonders that
I must hold to be fables. It is clean against nature that men should
have eyes in their shoulders and mouths in their breasts.
I had visited him, I say, and sat talking very late, finding him wrapt
up in his project against Cadiz, where a Spanish fleet was fitting out
with the intent to invade Ireland. It was understood, when I left him,
that I should be one of his company in the _Warspright_, provided I
could obtain leave from the Queen to quit my place in the royal Guard
for a season. I rode back to Westminster, and, having stabled my horse,
was proceeding on foot to my lodging, in a little mean street by the
river, when it seemed to me on a sudden that I heard footsteps, as of
one dogging me. It was very late, as I said; all honest folks (myself
excepted) were abed; and having a modest love of myself, I halted and
whipped out my sword, peering into the darkness, and stretching my ears
for the sound that had brought me to a check. But all was silent as the
grave, and I laughed a little when it came into my mind that
peradventure 'twas no more than the echo of my own footsteps. Whereupon
I put up my sword and went on, my thoughts being busy with the matters
of Sir Walter's glowing discourse.
While I was thus rapt away, building, I doubt not, fantastical castles
in Spain, on a sudden I was set upon by a hulking fellow that threw
himself upon me out of a dark alley-way. The first warning I had of him
was a sharp crack as the bludgeon he aimed at me struck a shop-sign that
hung low over the street; but for this, without question I had suffered
a broken skull. Even so I lacked time to draw sword or dagger, for the
man flung aside his club and sprang upon me, grappling me to himself
with a grip of iron. For a moment I yielded, out of policy, to his
embrace, being careful, nathless, to maintain my footing; then, being
very well practised in wrestling, and having good command of my breath,
I dipt my arms about his middle and, with an ease that amazed me, gave
him the backfall. Down he went upon the cobbles, and I stood over him
while he lay and groaned.
[Illustration: DOWN HE WENT UPON THE COBBLES, AND I STOOD OVER HIM WHILE
HE LAY AND GROANED]
At this hour of the night it were vain to look for any help from the
watch, and I was in the mind to leave the fellow where he lay. Yet
having a certain curiosity to see what manner of man he was, I felt in
my fob for the steel and flint I was wont to carry, and when I found
them not, only then remembered that I had left them on Sir Walter's
table; he had borrowed them of me to light his pipe of tobacco, the
which was a wondrous strange thing in those days. (That is Sir Walter's
pipe, yonder in my cabinet; he gave it me for a keepsake a little while
ere he died.) Having no light at command I resolved to bring the man to
my own door, but a few steps distant; wherefore I stooped and hoisted
him to his feet, and then took him by the collar with one hand, and with
the other held my naked sword to his posteriors, and so marched him
before me up the street. When we came to my door, and my servant opened
to my knock, I thrust the man in front of me so that he stood within the
light of the lamp.
He was a sorry knave, now that I beheld him clearly: a very ragged
Robin, as foul in person as ever I saw. But I understood now the reason
why I had so easily thrown him, for his countenance, so much of it as I
could discern through a thick and tangled beard, was wan and sunken; his
eyes shone with that glitter which bespeaks famine or fever; and his
body, goodly in its proportions, was bent and shrunken together. In
good sooth I had no cause to be vain of my prowess, and when the fellow
turned his burning eyes upon me, regarding me sullenly, yet with no
touch of fear, I was seized with compassion, and bade my servant go
fetch meat and drink. He went about my bidding sluggishly, halting ever
and anon to cast a backward glance, as though doubting the policy of
playing good Samaritan to so uncouth and villainous an oaf. While he was
absent I told the man that since he would surely be hanged for his
attempt upon me, 'twere well he should eat and so fortify himself
against his destiny. What I said in jest he took in earnest; but
whether it be true or not, as I have heard tell, that with the hangman's
noose dangling before him a criminal has no relish for food, certainly
this man fell with very keen tooth upon my viands, and cleaned the
platter with marvellous celerity.
Having dispatched my servant to bed, I sat me on the table and
questioned the man, why he had waylaid me. He was loth to speak, but by
little and little I drew from him his history, which he related not as
one seeking to move pity, but by way of recompense, so it seemed to me,
for the hospitality he had received. With his first words I own my
heart warmed to him, for his speech smacked of my own country in the
west, though intermixed with many quaint outlandish terms. His story I
will relate in brief.
His name was William Stubbs, and he was born at Winterbourne Abbas, not
a great way from my own birthplace. He had gone young to sea, and made
several voyages with Master Cavendish, having indeed served as boatswain
in the _Desire_ with that worthy seaman and commander. He had roved the
Spanish Main, and I proved his veracity in that particular by putting to
him sundry questions begotten of my own knowledge. 'Twas plain that he
had the common fault of seamen, spending his gains more quickly then he
earned them, roistering it on shore while his money lasted, and when all
was spent going to sea again in quest of more. But I perceived as he
proceeded in his discourse that he was better than most in natural wit,
and had made more profit of his adventures, in knowledge if not in pelf.
He had a passable facility in both the French and the Spanish tongues,
and his head was stuffed with a great quantity of curious information,
which made me wonder that he had sunk so low as to become a common
footpad.
The reason of that I learnt in order. Being on board the _Revenge_ in
that unlucky voyage of Sir Richard Grenville, he fell with many of his
comrades into the hands of the Spaniards, who dealt with him very
scurvily, as their custom is, and finally condemned him to the galleys.
For three long years he was chained to an oar, and suffered all the
miseries of unhappy prisoners in the like case. But it befell one day
that the galley wherein he rowed fell foul of a Dutch vessel, which
opened upon it with valorous broadsides, and after making havoc as well
among the slaves as the crew, finally rammed it with great vehemency and
stove a hole in its side. In the hottest of the fight, a round shot
broke the chain that held Stubbs to his oar, and, seizing the moment
when the Dutchman rammed and all was confusion, he leapt overboard and
swam to that vessel, whose side he clambered up by the main chains. He
came very near perishing at the hands of the crew, who at first supposed
him to be a rascal; but when they learnt his true condition, they hauled
him aboard with comfortable words, and brought him after many days to
their own country. Thence he contrived to reach London, only to fall on
evil hap, for his sufferings in captivity had sapped his strength, and,
when he sought employment in his own trade he found no master mariner
willing to accept him. Thus, reduced by sickness and famine, in his
desperate strait he bethought him of conquering fortune on the highway,
but was now ready to believe, seeing the unhappy issue of his first
essay in that line of life, that he was at odds with Fate, and must
needs, as he said, "kick the beam and ha' done with it."
When I heard this piteous story, and saw upon the man's neck and wrists
the scars that were full proof, to all that knew the Spaniards, of his
having rowed in their galleys, my anger against him was wholly quenched.
I told him heartily that he should not hang for me, and then, perceiving
that my good food had wrought upon his sickly frame, I bade him get
himself into a closet wherein my servant kept my boots and sleep there
for the night, promising to see him again in the morning, and perchance
do somewhat to set him on his feet. The man was clean staggered by this
kindness, as I could plainly see; but he did not thank me; and when he
had crept into the closet and flung himself down heedless upon the
floor, I turned the key in the lock for security's sake and went to my
bed.
My servant was in a pretty fret and fume when he found the man there
asleep in the morning, and eyed me with a disfavour that made me feel
guilty towards him: a good servant hath in him something of the tyrant.
When I bade him give my guest water for washing (whereof he was in great
need), and meat and beer, his silence was a clear rebuke. But when he
came again after doing my bidding he had somewhat to tell me.
"The rogue asked me your name, sir," quoth he, "and when I told him, he
asked further whether you were akin to one Master Christopher Rudd of
Shirley."
"And what said you?" I asked, knowing my servant.
"I said, sir, that he were best wash himself."
"A proper answer," said I, laughing. "When he has eaten, bring him to
me."
And when the man came before me, cleaned of his foulness and with his
beard trimmed, I saw that he was a goodly fellow, and felt the more
sorry for him.
"You asked of one Master Christopher Rudd of Shirley," I said; "what
have you to do with him?"
"Are you his kin, sir?" he asked doubtfully.
"We are of one family," I said, "and now you will answer my question."
And then he told me a story that filled me with as much trouble as
amazement. Chained to him, on his galley, had been a young Frenchman,
whom, even before their common misery had made them friends, he had
surmised to be a man of rank. When they had learnt to trust each other,
the Frenchman and he often talked together of the chances of escape, and
each promised the other that, should fortune favour him, he would use
his endeavours for behoof of him that was left. Stubbs said that, for
his part, he feared he could do little, being an Englishman; whereupon
the Frenchman told him that he had sundry good friends among the
English, notably Christopher Rudd, of whom indeed he had been a close
comrade in the service of King Henry of Navarre.