NORMAN CROSS--WIDE EXPANSE--_VIVE L'EMPEREUR_--UNPRUNED WOODS--MAN WITH
THE BAG--FROTH AND CONCEIT--I BEG YOUR PARDON--GROWING TIMID--ABOUT THREE
O'CLOCK--TAKING ONE'S EASE--CHEEK ON THE GROUND--KING OF THE
VIPERS--FRENCHMEN & WATER
And a strange place it was, this Norman Cross, and, at the time of which
I am speaking, a sad cross to many a Norman, being what was then styled a
French prison, that is, a receptacle for captives made in the French war.
It consisted, if I remember right, of some five or six casernes, very
long, and immensely high; each standing isolated from the rest, upon a
spot of ground which might average ten acres, and which was fenced round
with lofty palisades, the whole being compassed about by a towering wall,
beneath which, at intervals, on both sides, sentinels were stationed,
whilst outside, upon the field, stood commodious wooden barracks, capable
of containing two regiments of infantry, intended to serve as guards upon
the captives. Such was the station or prison at Norman Cross, where some
six thousand French and other foreigners, followers of the grand
Corsican, were now immured.
What a strange appearance had those mighty casernes, with their blank
blind walls, without windows or grating, and their slanting roofs, out of
which, through orifices where the tiles had been removed, would be
protruded dozens of grim heads, feasting their prison-sick eyes on the
wide expanse of country unfolded from that airy height. Ah! there was
much misery in those casernes; and from those roofs, doubtless, many a
wistful look was turned in the direction of lovely France. Much had the
poor inmates to endure, and much to complain of, to the disgrace of
England be it said--of England, in general so kind and bountiful.
Rations of carrion meat, and bread from which I have seen the very hounds
occasionally turn away, were unworthy entertainment even for the most
ruffian enemy, when helpless and a captive; and such, alas! was the fare
in those casernes. And then, those visits, or rather ruthless inroads,
called in the slang of the place 'strawplait-hunts,' when in pursuit of a
contraband article, which the prisoners, in order to procure themselves a
few of the necessaries and comforts of existence, were in the habit of
making, red-coated battalions were marched into the prisons, who, with
the bayonet's point, carried havoc and ruin into every poor convenience
which ingenious wretchedness had been endeavouring to raise around it;
and then the triumphant exit with the miserable booty; and, worst of all,
the accursed bonfire, on the barrack parade, of the plait contraband,
beneath the view of the glaring eyeballs from those lofty roofs, amidst
the hurrahs of the troops, frequently drowned in the curses poured down
from above like a tempest-shower or in the terrific war-whoop of '_Vive
l'Empereur_!'
It was midsummer when we arrived at this place, and the weather, which
had for a long time been wet and gloomy, now became bright and glorious;
I was subjected to but little control, and passed my time pleasantly
enough, principally in wandering about the neighbouring country. It was
flat and somewhat fenny, a district more of pasture than agriculture, and
not very thickly inhabited. I soon became well acquainted with it. At
the distance of two miles from the station was a large lake, styled in
the dialect of the country 'a mere,' about whose borders tall reeds were
growing in abundance, this was a frequent haunt of mine; but my favourite
place of resort was a wild sequestered spot at a somewhat greater
distance. Here, surrounded with woods and thick groves, was the seat of
some ancient family, deserted by the proprietor, and only inhabited by a
rustic servant or two. A place more solitary and wild could scarcely be
imagined; the garden and walks were overgrown with weeds and briers, and
the unpruned woods were so tangled as to be almost impervious. About
this domain I would wander till overtaken by fatigue, and then I would
sit down with my back against some beech, elm, or stately alder tree,
and, taking out my book, would pass hours in a state of unmixed
enjoyment, my eyes now fixed on the wondrous pages, now glancing at the
sylvan scene around; and sometimes I would drop the book and listen to
the voice of the rooks and wild pigeons, and not unfrequently to the
croaking of multitudes of frogs from the neighbouring swamps and fens.
In going to and from this place I frequently passed a tall elderly
individual, dressed in rather a quaint fashion, with a skin cap on his
head and stout gaiters on his legs; on his shoulders hung a moderate
sized leathern sack; he seemed fond of loitering near sunny banks, and of
groping amidst furze and low scrubby bramble bushes, of which there were
plenty in the neighbourhood of Norman Cross. Once I saw him standing in
the middle of a dusty road, looking intently at a large mark which seemed
to have been drawn across it, as if by a walking stick. 'He must have
been a large one,' the old man muttered half to himself, 'or he would not
have left such a trail, I wonder if he is near; he seems to have moved
this way.' He then went behind some bushes which grew on the right side
of the road, and appeared to be in quest of something, moving behind the
bushes with his head downwards, and occasionally striking their roots
with his foot: at length he exclaimed, 'Here he is!' and forthwith I saw
him dart amongst the bushes. There was a kind of scuffling noise, the
rustling of branches, and the crackling of dry sticks. 'I have him!'
said the man at last; 'I have got him!' and presently he made his
appearance about twenty yards down the road, holding a large viper in his
hand. 'What do you think of that, my boy?' said he, as I went up to
him--'what do you think of catching such a thing as that with the naked
hand?' 'What do I think?' said I. 'Why, that I could do as much
myself.' 'You do,' said the man, 'do you? Lord! how the young people in
these days are given to conceit; it did not use to be so in my time: when
I was a child, childer knew how to behave themselves; but the childer of
these days are full of conceit, full of froth, like the mouth of this
viper'; and with his forefinger and thumb he squeezed a considerable
quantity of foam from the jaws of the viper down upon the road. 'The
childer of these days are a generation of--God forgive me, what was I
about to say?' said the old man; and opening his bag he thrust the
reptile into it, which appeared far from empty. I passed on. As I was
returning, towards the evening, I overtook the old man, who was wending
in the same direction. 'Good evening to you, sir,' said I, taking off a
cap which I wore on my head. 'Good evening,' said the old man; and then,
looking at me, 'How's this?' said he, 'you aren't, sure, the child I met
in the morning?' 'Yes,' said I, 'I am; what makes you doubt it?' 'Why,
you were then all froth and conceit,' said the old man, 'and now you take
off your cap to me.' 'I beg your pardon,' said I, 'if I was frothy and
conceited; it ill becomes a child like me to be so.' 'That's true,
dear,' said the old man; 'well, as you have begged my pardon, I truly
forgive you.' 'Thank you,' said I; 'have you caught any more of those
things?' 'Only four or five,' said the old man; 'they are getting
scarce, though this used to be a great neighbourhood for them.' 'And
what do you do with them?' said I; 'do you carry them home and play with
them?' 'I sometimes play with one or two that I tame,' said the old man;
'but I hunt them mostly for the fat which they contain, out of which I
make unguents which are good for various sore troubles, especially for
the rheumatism.' 'And do you get your living by hunting these
creatures?' I demanded. 'Not altogether,' said the old man; 'besides
being a viper-hunter, I am what they call a herbalist, one who knows the
virtue of particular herbs; I gather them at the proper season, to make
medicines with for the sick.' 'And do you live in the neighbourhood?' I
demanded. 'You seem very fond of asking questions, child. No, I do not
live in this neighbourhood in particular, I travel about; I have not been
in this neighbourhood till lately for some years.'
From this time the old man and myself formed an acquaintance; I often
accompanied him in his wanderings about the neighbourhood, and, on two or
three occasions, assisted him in catching the reptiles which he hunted.
He generally carried a viper with him which he had made quite tame, and
from which he had extracted the poisonous fangs; it would dance and
perform various kinds of tricks. He was fond of telling me anecdotes
connected with his adventures with the reptile species. 'But,' said he
one day, sighing, 'I must shortly give up this business, I am no longer
the man I was, I am become timid, and when a person is timid in
viper-hunting, he had better leave off, as it is quite clear his virtue
is leaving him. I got a fright some years ago, which I am quite sure I
shall never get the better of; my hand has been shaky more or less ever
since.' 'What frightened you?' said I. 'I had better not tell you,'
said the old man, 'or you may be frightened too, lose your virtue, and be
no longer good for the business.' 'I don't care,' said I; 'I don't
intend to follow the business: I daresay I shall be an officer, like my
father.' 'Well,' said the old man, 'I once saw the king of the vipers,
and since then--' 'The king of the vipers!' said I, interrupting him;
'have the vipers a king?' 'As sure as we have,' said the old man--'as
sure as we have King George to rule over us, have these reptiles a king
to rule over them.' 'And where did you see him?' said I. 'I will tell
you,' said the old man, 'though I don't like talking about the matter.
It may be about seven years ago that I happened to be far down yonder to
the west, on the other side of England, nearly two hundred miles from
here, following my business. It was a very sultry day, I remember, and I
had been out several hours catching creatures. It might be about three
o'clock in the afternoon, when I found myself on some heathy land near
the sea, on a ridge of a hill, the side of which, nearly as far down as
the sea, was heath; but on the top there was arable ground, which had
been planted, and from which the harvest had been gathered--oats or
barley, I know not which--but I remember that the ground was covered with
stubble. Well, about three o'clock, as I told you before, what with the
heat of the day and from having walked about for hours in a lazy way, I
felt very tired; so I determined to have a sleep, and I laid myself down,
my head just on the ridge of the hill, towards the field, and my body
over the side down amongst the heath; my bag, which was nearly filled
with creatures, lay at a little distance from my face; the creatures were
struggling in it, I remember, and I thought to myself, how much more
comfortably off I was than they; I was taking my ease on the nice open
hill, cooled with the breezes, whilst they were in the nasty close bag,
coiling about one another, and breaking their very hearts, all to no
purpose: and I felt quite comfortable and happy in the thought, and
little by little closed my eyes, and fell into the sweetest snooze that
ever I was in in all my life; and there I lay over the hill's side, with
my head half in the field, I don't know how long, all dead asleep. At
last it seemed to me that I heard a noise in my sleep, something like a
thing moving, very faint, however, far away; then it died, and then it
came again upon my ear as I slept, and now it appeared almost as if I
heard crackle, crackle; then it died again, or I became yet more dead
asleep than before, I know not which, but I certainly lay some time
without hearing it. All of a sudden I became awake, and there was I, on
the ridge of the hill, with my cheek on the ground towards the stubble,
with a noise in my ear like that of something moving towards me amongst
the stubble of the field; well, I lay a moment or two listening to the
noise, and then I became frightened, for I did not like the noise at all,
it sounded so odd; so I rolled myself on my belly, and looked towards the
stubble. Mercy upon us! there was a huge snake, or rather a dreadful
viper, for it was all yellow and gold, moving towards me, bearing its
head about a foot and a half above the ground, the dry stubble crackling
beneath its outrageous belly. It might be about five yards off when I
first saw it, making straight towards me, child, as if it would devour
me. I lay quite still, for I was stupefied with horror, whilst the
creature came still nearer; and now it was nearly upon me, when it
suddenly drew back a little, and then--what do you think?--it lifted its
head and chest high in the air, and high over my face as I looked up,
flickering at me with its tongue as if it would fly at my face. Child,
what I felt at that moment I can scarcely say, but it was a sufficient
punishment for all the sins I ever committed; and there we two were, I
looking up at the viper, and the viper looking down upon me, flickering
at me with its tongue. It was only the kindness of God that saved me:
all at once there was a loud noise, the report of a gun, for a fowler was
shooting at a covey of birds, a little way off in the stubble. Whereupon
the viper sunk its head, and immediately made off over the ridge of the
hill, down in the direction of the sea. As it passed by me, however--and
it passed close by me--it hesitated a moment, as if it was doubtful
whether it should not seize me; it did not, however, but made off down
the hill. It has often struck me that he was angry with me, and came
upon me unawares for presuming to meddle with his people, as I have
always been in the habit of doing.'
[Picture: Once I saw him standing in the middle of a dusty road]
'But,' said I, 'how do you know that it was the king of the vipers?'
'How do I know!' said the old man, 'who else should it be? There was as
much difference between it and other reptiles as between King George and
other people.'
'Is King George, then, different from other people?' I demanded.
'Of course,' said the old man; 'I have never seen him myself, but I have
heard people say that he is a ten times greater man than other folks;
indeed, it stands to reason that he must be different from the rest, else
people would not be so eager to see him. Do you think, child, that
people would be fools enough to run a matter of twenty or thirty miles to
see the king, provided King George--'
'Haven't the French a king?' I demanded.
'Yes,' said the old man, 'or something much the same, and a queer one he
is; not quite so big as King George, they say, but quite as terrible a
fellow. What of him?'
'Suppose he should come to Norman Cross!'
'What should he do at Norman Cross, child?'
'Why, you were talking about the vipers in your bag breaking their
hearts, and so on, and their king coming to help them. Now, suppose the
French king should hear of his people being in trouble at Norman Cross,
and--'
'He can't come, child,' said the old man, rubbing his hands, 'the water
lies between. The French don't like the water; neither vipers nor
Frenchmen take kindly to the water, child.'
When the old man left the country, which he did a few days after the
conversation which I have just related, he left me the reptile which he
had tamed and rendered quite harmless by removing the fangs. I was in
the habit of feeding it with milk, and frequently carried it abroad with
me in my walks.