THE LAND'S-END CONJUROR.
Mr. Brown and his companion returned, after a three-hours' search,
without having found the boy or learnt any tidings of him. The mare had
eaten her warm mash, and Mrs. Brown had procured the assistance of
Josiah Trenow to give her a good rub-down and make her comfortable, and
he was having a glass of beer after his exertions, when Mr. Brown and
his companion came in.
"Thank 'ee, 'Siah," said Mr. Brown; "I do b'lieve the mare ha'n't had
such a rub-down for a month. Look here's a great strong arm, sir," he
continued, taking Josiah by the arm, while he called the gentleman's
attention to it.
"I shouldn't like to engage in single combat with him," replied Mr.
Morley, smiling, "if he is as strong as he looks."
"No fie! no fie!" said Mr. Brown. "Peggy! Peggy! Polly! Polly! Why the
women are all run away after the boy, I s'pose. Peggy, my dear!"
"Well, landlord," said Josiah; "what news have 'ee got about the boy?"
"Why no news," replied Mr. Brown, sitting down thoughtfully in his
wife's chair, a liberty he seldom took, unless he was "up in the
clouds," as she called it. "Sit down, sir, if you please. Why, a good
many people seed the boy and the mare go up, an' a fine passle seed the
mare come down again all of a rattle, without the boy, but nobody seed
the boy thrawd, an' nobody have seen the boy since, so far as we can
hear. Whisht, esn't et, 'Siah, boy?"
"Whisht! iss fie, 'tes whisht enough," said Mrs. Brown, coming
downstairs to hear the news too.
"That boy es so sure ill-wished as ever anybody wor in this world," said
Josiah; "he's in a queer por, an' ha' be'n so for a bra' bit."
"Why what are 'ee tellen', 'Siah," said Mr. Brown; "how shud 'ee think
so, boy?"
"Why for many things," replied Josiah; "the boy Bill wor took out of the
workhouse, worn't aw? and he ha'n't growd since--not an inch, I do
b'lieve. He can hardly reach to the mare's shoulder, and yet he do keep
that mare in good condition, with her summer's coat up all the year
round, like the squire's hunter, and better too, I b'lieve. He's mighty
fond of going out by night, too. I've seed that boy, when I've been
coming home from bal, two or three o'clock in the morning, going up by
Chapel-Carnbrea by hisself, whistling."
"What! our boy Billy whistling that time o' night?" said Mrs. Brown;
"dear lor'! I should think he'd be afeard of the pixies. And up there,
too!"
The conversation was evidently getting too dismal for Mr. Morley, and he
changed the subject by ordering a glass of brandy and water for himself,
and one each for Mr. Brown and Josiah.
"Come, Polly," said Mr. Brown, as he went to get the brandies. "Polly!
Polly! pretty Polly!"
He got no assistance, however; for Polly was gone out on some errand for
her mistress; and it really seemed as if he called the people about him
more from habit than anything else, for, like him who called spirits
from the vasty deep, poor Mr. Brown was not very much distressed or
astonished if they didn't come. While they were drinking their brandy
and water, the conversation turned again on the marvellous; and Mr.
Brown said, "I wondar ef 'twould be any good to ask 'The Maister' about
it."
"About what?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"Why about the mare, to be sure," replied her husband; "she's ill-wished
as much as ever the boy es. Something frightened her more than human,
I'm sure;--what do you think, 'Siah?"
"Well," said Josiah, "I never seed a beast tremble like that afore. I
worked my arms off, purty nigh, afore she begun for to dry, an' then she
dried up all of a rattle, an' snorted brave."
"I'll go up now and ask 'The Maister,'" said Mr. Brown; "the mare es
ill-wished, I do b'lieve;"--so he drank up his brandy and water, and
started at once.
It was not, even then, very late, and Mr. Freeman's house was but just
outside the village.
"The Maister" was at home, the maid said. What did Mr. Brown please to
want.
"I do want to speak to him 'pon private business," replied Mr. Brown.
So Alice Ann shewed him into the best parlour, and left him there in the
dark, as she had orders to do to all visitors who came to "The Maister"
on private business.
Very soon he heard a rumbling noise in the room above, and then a
clanking of chains; and then he heard a voice, as if coming from the
floor of the room he was sitting in, telling him to beware of what he
was doing,--to keep all things secret,--and to tell "The Maister" all;
and then all would be well. All these mysterious sounds--coming
sometimes from above, and sometimes from one part of the room he was in,
and sometimes from another, when everything was shrouded in
darkness--were calculated to strike terror into a stronger mind than
poor Mr. Brown possessed; so that when Alice Ann came to the door and
asked him to follow her upstairs, he was confirmed in his belief that
"The Maister" was connected with "The Prince of Darkness," and was
prepared to see hobgoblins and spirits dancing about as he entered the
awful room.
Alice Ann knocked at the door three times, and at the third knock the
door flew open, and Mr. Brown was pulled in by some invisible hand, and
the door was closed again. He remained standing just inside, having a
screen of thick black cloth hanging before him, to prevent his seeing
what was in the room. He thought his last hour was come, and trembled
until his knees knocked together, and his teeth chattered in his head.
At last, a voice from the furthest corner of the room said:--
"John Brown, your business is known, without your telling it--as most
things are. Are you prepared to go through the ordeal necessary to free
the mare from evil hands, and the boy from witchcraft?"
"Oh! ye-es, Maister," said the poor man, in a tremulous voice: "I'll do
anything. I do know that your power is great, and your knowledge is
greater."
"Then down on thy knees, trembler, and do my bidding to the letter, or
woe be unto thee! And listen to what is now to be spoken." And down
flopped poor Mr. Brown on his knees, and awaited the ordeal, which he
interrupted occasionally, by sundry interjections and parenthetical
remarks of his own.
(_The Conjuror_) "You have a gentleman staying in your house?"
(_Mr. Brown_) "Oh! yes; and a very nice gentleman he is."
(_The Conjuror_) "He admires your mare?"
(_Mr. Brown_) "He do so."
(_The Conjuror_) "He must ride her!"
(_Mr. Brown_) "He shall, Maister. (Oh lor'! a wild harum-scarum like he
to ride the mare. Oh lor'! Peggy! Peggy! Oh lor'!)"
(_The Conjuror_) "Now listen. That gentleman must, within three days
from this time, ride the mare to the Land's-End point, and look over the
point, and the spell will be taken off which now hangs over the mare,
and the boy will be restored. If not, beware of what may befall you and
your household. The rider must have no friend or assistant within fifty
yards of the point."
(_Mr. Brown_) "Oh lor'! Peggy! Peggy! What shall I do? No mortal man
would do that. Oh lor'!"
A bell was now struck in the further end of the room, and the black
curtain was drawn up suddenly, when the room appeared to be all on fire.
There was a brilliant red light shed all around, and a thin vapour
filled the room, through which he saw the conjuror standing, dressed in
a black gown, and white wig, surrounded by ornaments composed of what
seemed to be silver, and small mirrors, which reflected the furniture of
the room, and multiplied them twentyfold. The conjuror then said, in a
solemn voice, "Do my bidding, or beware! your doom is fixed!"
The black curtain was then suddenly dropped again, and, after a few
minutes, the door was opened as before, and Mr. Brown was pushed out by
some invisible hand, and the door was locked on the inside.
Thus did this pretended necromancer work on the superstitious fears of
the ignorant and weakminded, and make them believe that he knew more of
their affairs than he really did; and thus did he gain a power over them
which no reasoning or persuasion could shake.
This is no exaggerated picture; for, at that period, there were numbers,
with less pretensions than Mr. Freeman, both men and women, who
practised these arts and received handsome incomes--not only from the
illiterate and ignorant, but from people in the higher walks of life, so
rife was the feeling of superstition which prevailed at that period, not
only in the county of Cornwall, but throughout the whole kingdom of
England. Well-to-do farmers, it was well known, paid one of these
emperics annual salaries to keep the _evil eye_ from their cattle. It is
not to be wondered at, therefore, that poor Mr. Brown should place
implicit reliance on what such a notable man as "The Maister" should
tell him, and determine to have "The Maister's" commands carried out to
the very letter, if it were possible that it could be done. If he had
been commanded to ride the mare to the brink of the Land's-End point
himself, or over it, he would have done it, without hesitation; but how
was he to get a stranger to do so for his benefit? It required
consideration; and, as two heads are better than one, he determined to
consult his wife at once, and they could put their heads together, he
thought, and the thing would be managed somehow,--for he had great faith
in his wife's wisdom; so he went home to sleep upon it.