as I set it out of his reach. Then calling for a basin, I poured into
it a little of the contents of my second vial, and dipping the sponge
into the liquid, I delicately anointed his sweating brows, telling him
'twas a sure begetter of sleep tranquil as a child's.
"Your hand is rather that of a swordsman than of a physician, cousin,"
he said, thereby giving me a wrench in my soul, lest he began to suspect
me. But he proceeded: "Yet it is delicate in its touch as a woman's;
you give me great comfort, cousin."
I continued to bathe his temples until I had wrought him to a fair
placidity; then admonishing him to be punctual in taking his doses of
the former admixture, I left him, promising to visit him again on the
morrow.
My next concern was to certify myself that Raoul was still among the
galley-slaves, and whether he was of those that remained aboard or of
those that were employed ashore. To this end I dispatched Stubbs to the
sea-wall in the afternoon, a little before the time when, as he had told
me, the day's work was wont to end, there to keep a watch. He returned
soon after sunset, and told me that he had seen his whilom comrade among
those that were marched into the barracks. I inquired eagerly how he
looked, and my heart was very bitter when he replied that my friend was
worn to a shadow, with lamentable sunken cheeks and haggard eyes.
Nevertheless I rejoiced that he was yet alive, and comforted with this
assurance I bent my mind to the working out of the plan I had devised
for his deliverance.
On the morrow I went somewhat earlier to see my patient, whom I found
wondrously gracious, for that he had slept a good four hours without
waking. Indeed, he believed himself to be already cured, and I had much
ado to persuade him to take his dose. I showed him that his distemper
being of long standing, it was sheer madness to suppose that it could be
wholly banished in so short a space of time, and proceeded to expound
the necessity of continuing not only in the course he had begun, but
also in a subsidiary treatment which I would forthwith explain.
Don Ygnacio, as I have said, was of enormous bulk, and the ills from
which he suffered, when they were not merely figments of a disordered
imagination, proceeded from too instant a devotion to meat and drink and
an over-softness of living. In a word, his greatest need was temperance
in these things, together with a more frequent use of his muscles.
Accordingly I made him strip to his shirt and stand in his stocking feet
in the middle of the room, and then put him through such simple
exercises as the Dutch captains use with the common soldiers--extensions
of the arms, bending of the trunk, and so forth. It was matter for
merriment to see the great hulks, at my urging, make desperate endeavour
to touch his toes, and come not within half a yard of accomplishing it.
I kept him at these motions, paying no heed to his protestations, for a
good half-hour, by the which time I had wrought him to a fine heat and
perspiration, so that when finally I permitted him to sink back upon the
cushions of his divan he was more wholesomely tired, I warrant, then he
had been ever in his life before. While he sat and fanned himself, and
quaffed slowly the cup of sherris I allowed for his refreshment, I made
him a neat discourse for which I was beholden not to Master Ambrose
Parey, but to my own wit. 'Twas sound sense as well as a furtherance of
my device.
"You must know, senor," I said, "that this distemper of yours never
assails men of spare frames and active bodies. The husbandman, the
mariner, the poor scavenger of the street never suffer in this wise, nor
is their _Ramus stomachichus_ ever in peril of dissolution. In truth,
their bodily exercise does but strengthen the nerves in all their
conjugations, so that their inward parts perform their offices to
perfection, and furthermore furnish to them in some sort an armour
against the assaults of disease. For a speaking ensample you have the
slaves of your galleys, those reprobates whom you have in your august
charge. Did ever you know one of them to suffer from any derangement of
the _Ramus stomachichus_?"
Since I conjectured Don Ygnacio's knowledge of the anatomy of man to be
less than my own, and that was infinitely little, I got the answer that
I expected, with the addition that if any galley-slave should have the
impudency to suffer from a gentleman's complaint, he would certainly be
cured by the bastinado.
"Now therefore," I continued, here drawing largely upon my invention,
for a purpose, as you are to see--"now therefore, it is one of the
miracles of our nature that a man beset by this dreadful distemper,
being set in juxtaposition with a man of exceeding spareness, but
otherwise sound in his members and organs, the infirmity of the one is
in a manner fortified by the wholeness of the other, or as Spegelius
hath it in his renowned tractate, the debility of the one is engraffed
and mingled with the virtue of the other. The trial of this remedy is
attended with sundry notable perils and incommodities, wherefore it is
not to be lightly undertaken, and I leave it for this present until we
have made a proper experimentum of the more vulgar means."
The captain heard this with great attention, and made me many
compliments on the profundity of my learning, though he might have read
Spegelius his tractate from cover to cover without finding the passage
that I gave forth with so great unction. Leaving the precious seed to
germinate, I betook myself away in high contentment, though not without
a qualm and tremor at the lengths whereto my audacity was carrying me.
Having sought my faithful attendant, I dispatched him to make sundry
purchases at the armourers of the town, a knife at one, a dagger at
another, small weapons in goodly number, but not more than one weapon at
any one shop, lest suspicion or curiosity should be excited. These
weapons, when he brought them to the inn, I bade him enfold them in
strips of cloth I held in readiness, and wrap them in two several
parcels. While this was adoing, I took my way to the sea-wall, noting
very particularly the positions of the four galleys, the extent of water
betwixt them and the shore, the manner in which the shore curved to a
point, and all other information that was necessary to the execution of
my plan. As I walked hither and thither, I was observed by a captain of
soldiers that chanced, as it seemed, to be taking the air by the
sea-wall, and who accosted me, asking me with a kind of truculency what
I did there.
"Noble excellency," I replied, "I am but a poor student of medicine of
the French nation, making a brief sojourn in this your town."
"A Frenchman, and I warrant me a spy!" he cried, and hailing a soldier
from the guard-house near by, he assured me that I should soon company
with rats and beetles in the castle dungeon.
"Beseech you, senor," I said, "my illustrious cousin Don Ygnacio de
Acosta, captain of the royal galleys, will have somewhat to say to that.
Come with me straightway to his house, and we shall learn if such
immodesty of language pleasures him."
My bold and assured mien daunted this strutting fellow, and he began
incontinently to make excuse how that he wot not of my condition, and
craved my pardon for the unmannerliness whereinto he had been betrayed.
I took him very coldly, and set forth to return to my inn. This is a
slight matter, unworthy of mention but for that which ensued.
That same evening, a little before the hour when the slaves were wont to
be immured in their barrack, I came to the door of Don Ygnacio's house
and inquired of the majordomo how the worshipful captain did.
"Desperately sick, senor," he replied. "He has but now commanded me to
summon hither Don Diaz de Rotta, physician to the constable of the
castle."
"Is the messenger gone forth?" I demanded, in no little perturbation,
for the presence of a true physician was like not only to undo all my
stratagems, but also to stand me in a pretty hobble. Hearing that the
lackey was even then donning his outdoor livery (for among the Spaniards
punctilio rules over high and low alike), I bade him stay the man until
I should have seen his excellency.
When I entered to him I was amazed beyond measure to see his pitiful
condition. He lay back on his divan, uttering most dismal groans, his
countenance of a deathly pallor, and his eyes astare as with the very
fear of death. He thrust out a feeble arm when he saw me, and cried in
a faint voice--
"Out of my sight, rapscallion! You have killed me with your vile
nostrums."
[Illustration: "OUT OF MY SIGHT, RAPSCALLION!"]
My terror and amazement were little less than his own, for I knew my
drugs to be harmless, albeit nauseous, and I could not come at any
reasonable explanation of his distemperature.
I inquired of the majordomo, who had followed me into the room, the time
when this alteration had manifested itself, and his answer removed all
my apprehensions that Don Ygnacio was in imminent peril of dissolution.
He had eaten a very hearty dinner soon after I left him, and fallen
asleep, but was awakened by a violent commotion in his inward parts, and
had been, to put it in plain English, as sick as a dog. It was told me
afterwards by my good friend and physician Sir Miles Ruddall that my
drugs themselves would not have wrought so mightily upon him but for the
unwonted exercise whereto he had been enforced, and his monstrous
gluttony thereafter. Having a shrewd suspicion that this was all that
ailed him, I made him drink a cup of sherris mingled with cognac, and
spoke soothingly to him, resolving with a stubborn hardness of heart to
turn his incapacity to my own purposes. I upbraided him, mildly, yet
with earnestness, for that his imprudence had well-nigh undone all my
cure, and avouched that it was high time to attempt the experimentum I
had formerly suggested.
"I am very sure," said I, "that there will be found among your
galley-slaves a man of the right degree of leanness to accommodate your
excellency, and I will instantly command your coach to attend you, so
that we may go down to their place and make trial of this sovereign
remedy without delay."
The strong liquors had already revived him, and his face was recovering
its proper ruddiness. Likewise his spirit took on its natural hue, the
proof whereof was his exceeding fierce outcry.
"Ods my valiancy!" he cried, "shall I join skins with a rascal, I,
hidalgo of Spain? Never will I permit such scum to approach my person."
"Truly, senor," said I, "it is impossible to conceive a gentleman of
your exalted rank coming within a span's-length of a mean rascal, but I
opine that there are among the slaves some of reputable condition,
perchance some English prisoners, or Flemings, only they are in general
of a brawny lustiness that suiteth not with the experimentum."
"Why, so there is, now you put me in mind of it," he said with a
brightened eye. "There is a Frenchman, a notorious reprobate, but that
is nothing against his rank, which is but little less than my own. And
for leanness a rake could hardly match him; his leanness is not far
short of transparency."
"That is right good hap," said I, raging inwardly that he should speak
thus of my friend, for I made no doubt it was he. After fortifying him
with more wine, I linked my arm with his, and took him slowly to his
coach, and when we had mounted into it, gave the word to the driver to
convey us to the barrack. We halted for a brief space at the inn, and I
brought out my henchman, carrying the two parcels which, as I told Don
Ygnacio, held things needful for our trial. I bade Stubbs perch himself
beside the driver, and we went on.
We had to pass on our way the small dock wherein the captain's galley
lay, and here I let fall a word of admiration of the fine lines of the
vessel, asking very innocently whether it were one of the royal galleys
of his charge.
"It is my own vessel," he said with much complacency, and then nothing
would content him but I must instantly go with him and see the vessel
more closely. It was plain he held it in high esteem, and since I had a
reason of my own for desiring a nearer acquaintance with it, I yielded
to his wish in the manner of one humouring a sick person. He was by
this time, in truth, so nearly returned to his wonted state that I began
to fear lest he should declare the experiment of transfusion
unnecessary. I accompanied him aboard the vessel, where he showed me
the place for the crew, and those for the rowers and the soldiers, and
his own place, very richly caparisoned; also the piles of arms and some
barrels of gunpowder. Having admired the galley and all its
appurtenances with great fluency of utterance, I entreated him to
proceed to the barrack, advising him that the day was already far spent,
and it were best to accomplish our purpose before the chill of night
descended on us. And so we came to the barrack.
*IV*
Notwithstanding, or maybe by reason of, the marvellous good hap that had
attended all my devices up to this present time, I was aware of a
flutter of disquietude about my heart as I followed Don Ygnacio into the
building. What I purposed doing must needs be done very quickly, and
one untoward accident might very well prick the bladder of my imposture
and wreathe a noose about my neck. I had laid my plans as warily as I
might, and now all stood upon my composure, the degree of
brazen-facedness I could muster, and the degree to which the Spaniard
could be gulled.
We came first, having entered the passage, to the guard-room, where some
dozen soldiers were assembled, casting the dice and taking their ease.
The door of a room adjacent to it stood open, and there my eyes lit upon
the captain that had accosted me by the sea-wall, who, when he beheld
me, rose up from his seat with trepidation, believing without doubt that
I had brought his general to punish him. I paid not the least heed to
him, and he made haste at Don Ygnacio's bidding to go to the hall
beyond, where the galley-slaves were confined, and bring forth the
Frenchman.
When he was gone I asked Don Ygnacio whether there were not some private
room where we might do our business, since it was not seemly that we
should be at the gaze of so many goggling eyes while the experimentum
was a-doing. He led me to a small ante-chamber some few steps along the
passage towards the hall, Stubbs remaining with his parcels at the door
of the guard-room, perfectly at ease, though he stood within
arm's-length of the men that had formerly oppressed him. Presently I
heard a clanking of chains, and the captain returned, bringing with him
a lean and lanky scarecrow of a man, naked save for his loin-cloth, his
poll and face being shaven clean. It smote me to the heart to see in
his hollow eyes and sunken cheeks the altered lineaments of my dear
friend, erstwhile comely and jocund as any you would see. He lifted his
eyes as he came in, and regarded Don Ygnacio with a look of gall, not
turning his gaze upon me.
"A sorry knave," said the Spaniard to me. "Think you, cousin, there is
enough virtue in him for our business?"
"We can but try, excellency," I said, and at the words Raoul shivered
and looked at me with such amazement that I feared lest an unlucky word
should betray me. I dealt upon him a sudden and meaning frown, the
which escaped the observation of the others, they having eyes for the
slave alone. To my exceeding joy he had the wit to take me, and cast
down his eyes in the manner of one that hath no more hold upon the
world. Then I turned to Don Ygnacio and said:
"He hath a wild look, senor. It were meet that we have two soldiers
here with us, so that we may make our trial in comfort and security."
"Certes," he replied, "we have already Captain Badillo; we will have a
man from the guard-room."
"By your pardon, senor," I said, "the senor captain did me the honour to
affront me a while ago, and his presence at this time will so trouble
the conjugations of the nerves, the which needs must be in perfect
tranquillity, as to imperil the good success of our undertaking."
"It was a lamentable error, excellency," stammered the captain. "I wot
not that the worthy physician was akin to your excellency."
"Go, sirrah," said Don Ygnacio sternly. "Who affronts my kin affronts
me. Send hither two men from the guard-room."
I was never better pleased in my life than when the captain departed,
for the two common ignorant soldiers would be much less like to suspect
me. Thereupon I called to Stubbs to bring in the parcels, and when he
came, a little behind the soldiers, I shut the door, bade him undo one
of his bundles, and said gravely that all would soon be ready for the
experimentum.
Stubbs loosed the ropes and laid them, in the manner of a careful
servant, beside the bundle. From this when it was unrolled he took first
three strips of a dark cloth, about an ell long, which he laid over his
arm. Then he brought forth a small roll of white canvas and gave it to
me. I motioned him to withdraw to a little distance, as also the
soldiers; then I made Raoul stand a few paces from Don Ygnacio, facing
him. Posting myself betwixt the two, I drew from my pocket a small box
of powder of chalk, and unrolled the canvas, yet so that the Spaniard
might not see its inner side, and with solemn circumstance I dusted it
with the powder. This done, I stretched it out between my arms, and
making two strides towards Raoul I bade him look intently thereupon
while I counted ten. I heard Don Ygnacio breathing hard behind me as I
gravely told the numbers one by one, and when Raoul informed me with his
eyes that he had read the words I had carefully imprinted on the canvas
(they were: "Grip the Spaniard by the neck whenas I give the sign") I
rolled up the canvas and stepped slowly backward, beckoning with the one
hand Don Ygnacio, with the other Stubbs and the soldiers, to draw near.
You are now to observe that Raoul and Don Ygnacio were within a
hand-breadth of each other, that one of the soldiers was close to me,
and the second beside Stubbs. All was silent. On a sudden I let forth,
very sharply but without raising my voice, the one word "Now!"
Instantly Raoul was at Don Ygnacio's throat; I closed with my soldier
and held him in a strangling embrace; and Stubbs, with the neatness of a
skilled hand, dealt his man a blow that stretched him senseless on the
floor. Quick as thought he handed to us two of the cloths that he had
upon his arm, and we clapped them into the mouths of our prisoners, he
doing the like with the third. So sudden were our motions that there
had been not the least opportunity of resisting us, and though Don
Ygnacio offered to cry out before the gag was comfortably settled
between his teeth, Raoul bade him in a fierce whisper be silent or his
life was forfeit. It was short work to truss them with the ropes,
thanks to Stubbs his deftness, and I knew with infinite gladness of
heart that the first part of my device was accomplished.
[Illustration: INSTANTLY RAOUL WAS AT DON YGNACIO'S THROAT]
There was still much to do, and our peril was but beginning. In two
words I acquainted Raoul with my plan. I asked him how many soldiers
were on guard among the galley-slaves; he told me four, and every one
had a key to the padlocks wherewith they were fettered to the wall. My
design was to set free the slaves, seize upon the Captain-General's
galley, the which he had so obligingly shown me, and put to sea. It was
necessary to our success that the soldiers in the guard-room should be
silenced, and also the Captain Badillo, if he was yet at hand; but since
we could not hope, being but three, to overcome a dozen men, we must
perforce first set free the slaves, by whose assistance the feat might
be easily compassed. Moreover, there was great need for haste, Stubbs
having told me that it was drawing near the time when the cookmen were
wont to bring in the slaves' supper from the outhouses.
I opened the door stealthily, and peered along the passage to the
guard-room. There was none in sight, but neither was there so much
noise proceeding from the room as I should have liked. Nevertheless,
since our case was desperate and would not abide long rumination, we
durst not stay for the nice weighing of chances, but had to act at once.
I had had the soldiers brought into the room for a purpose, namely, that
we might dress ourselves in their garments and so gain some covert for
our device. I bade Stubbs strip the two soldiers of their gaberdines,
and these we donned, he and I, and then proceeded with all quietness
along the passage to the slaves' hall, Raoul being carried betwixt us,
so that the clanking of his chains might not draw the soldiers forth of
the guard-room.
Coming to the door of the hall we set Raoul down, and thrust him before
us into the room, entering close behind him. I saw in a quick glance
the miserable slaves lying in a long row by the wall, and four soldiers
conversing in a group about the middle of the room. The dusk of evening
forbade them to perceive at once that the two supposed soldiers that had
entered were not their comrades, and when at our approach they were
certified thereof they had not the time to collect their wits, for
Stubbs, by a little the foremost, smote one of them a dint that sent him
headlong against the wall, and then immediately grappled with another.
Meanwhile Raoul and I had not been idle, each dealing with his man, and
in a few moments we had all four at our feet, begging for mercy.
This had not passed without some noise, but having been careful to shut
the stout oaken door behind me I had a reasonable hope that the sound
would not have penetrated to the guard-room. The clamour that might have
been feared from the slaves did not arise, so great was their
consternation. I asked Raoul to acquaint them with our design, whiles
that with Stubbs' aid I stripped the soldiers of their outer garments
and their arms, and trussed and gagged them as we had done afore with
the others.
Raoul told the men that all who could muster their courage had a good
chance of escape, but they must in all points obey me, a countryman of
the great Dragon (so Sir Francis Drake was commonly known among them),
who had come to their succour, and had already made a prisoner of Don
Ygnacio. He promised them hard work, and maybe their fill of fighting,
and adjured every man that had no stomach for it to remain in his
fetters rather than irk the rest. Then we went swiftly from one to
another, unlocking their chains with the keys we had taken from the
soldiers. Never a man of them elected to remain, and though Raoul was
for leaving certain of them that he knew to be poor-spirited, I deemed
it best to release them all, lest those that were left should raise an
uproar and so bring us into danger.
We arrayed four of the stoutest of them in the garments we had taken
from the soldiers, covering their shaven heads with the morions that
hung on pegs to the wall. Then with these four and four others, Raoul
remaining in the hall, we ran swiftly down the passage to the
guard-room, burst open the door, and by the vehemency of our onset
overthrew the soldiers there in marvellous brief time. Stubbs and
myself we set to a-trussing the fellows, but the slaves contemned such
delicate work, and gave quietus to their whilom oppressors with such
weapons as came first to hand.