The Pirate Page 38

  CHAPTER XII

  I strive like to the vessel in the tide-way, Which, lacking favouring breeze, hath not the power To stem the powerful current.--Even so, Resolving daily to forsake my vices, Habits, strong circumstance, renew'd temptation, Sweep me to sea again.--O heavenly breath, Fill thou my sails, and aid the feeble vessel, Which ne'er can reach the blessed port without thee!

  _'Tis Odds when Evens meet._

  Cleveland, with his friend Bunce, descended the hill for a time insilence, until at length the latter renewed their conversation.

  "You have taken this fellow's wound more on your conscience than youneed, Captain--I have known you do more, and think less on't."

  "Not on such slight provocation, Jack," replied Cleveland. "Besides, thelad saved my life; and, say that I requited him the favour, still weshould not have met on such evil terms; but I trust that he may receiveaid from that woman, who has certainly strange skill in simples."

  "And over simpletons, Captain," said his friend, "in which class I muste'en put you down, if you think more on this subject. That you should bemade a fool of by a young woman, why it is many an honest man'scase;--but to puzzle your pate about the mummeries of an old one, is fartoo great a folly to indulge a friend in. Talk to me of your Minna,since you so call her, as much as you will; but you have no title totrouble your faithful squire-errant with your old mumping magician. Andnow here we are once more amongst the booths and tents, which these goodfolk are pitching--let us look, and see whether we may not find some funand frolic amongst them. In merry England, now, you would have seen, onsuch an occasion, two or three bands of strollers, as many fire-eatersand conjurers, as many shows of wild beasts; but, amongst these gravefolk, there is nothing but what savours of business and ofcommodity--no, not so much as a single squall from my merry gossip Punchand his rib Joan."

  As Bunce thus spoke, Cleveland cast his eyes on some very gay clothes,which, with other articles, hung out upon one of the booths, that had agood deal more of ornament and exterior decoration than the rest. Therewas in front a small sign of canvass painted, announcing the variety ofgoods which the owner of the booth, Bryce Snailsfoot, had on sale, andthe reasonable prices at which he proposed to offer them to the public.For the further gratification of the spectator, the sign bore on theopposite side an emblematic device, resembling our first parents intheir vegetable garments, with this legend--

  "Poor sinners whom the snake deceives, Are fain to cover them with leaves. Zetland hath no leaves, 'tis true, Because that trees are none, or few; But we have flax and taits of woo', For linen cloth and wadmaal blue; And we have many of foreign knacks Of finer waft, than woo' or flax. Ye gallanty Lambmas lads,[31] appear, And bring your Lambmas sisters here; Bryce Snailsfoot spares not cost or care, To pleasure every gentle pair."

  While Cleveland was perusing these goodly rhymes, which brought to hismind Claud Halcro, to whom, as the poet laureate of the island, readywith his talent alike in the service of the great and small, theyprobably owed their origin, the worthy proprietor of the booth, havingcast his eye upon him, began with hasty and trembling hand to removesome of the garments, which, as the sale did not commence till theensuing day, he had exposed either for the purpose of airing them, or toexcite the admiration of the spectators.

  "By my word, Captain," whispered Bunce to Cleveland, "you must have hadthat fellow under your clutches one day, and he remembers one gripe ofyour talons, and fears another. See how fast he is packing his wares outof sight, so soon as he set eyes on you!"

  "_His_ wares!" said Cleveland, on looking more attentively at hisproceedings; "By Heaven, they are my clothes which I left in a chest atJarlshof when the Revenge was lost there--Why, Bryce Snailsfoot, thouthief, dog, and villain, what means this? Have you not made enough of usby cheap buying and dear selling, that you have seized on my trunk andwearing apparel?"

  Bryce Snailsfoot, who probably would otherwise not have been willing to_see_ his friend the Captain, was now by the vivacity of his attackobliged to pay attention to him. He first whispered to his littlefoot-page, by whom, as we have already noticed, he was usually attended,"Run to the town-council-house, jarto, and tell the provost and bailiesthey maun send some of their officers speedily, for here is like to bewild wark in the fair."

  So having said, and having seconded his commands by a push on theshoulder of his messenger, which sent him spinning out of the shop asfast as heels could carry him, Bryce Snailsfoot turned to his oldacquaintance, and, with that amplification of words and exaggeration ofmanner, which in Scotland is called "making a phrase," heejaculated--"The Lord be gude to us! the worthy Captain Cleveland, thatwe were all sae grieved about, returned to relieve our hearts again! Wathave my cheeks been for you," (here Bryce wiped his eyes,) "and blitheam I now to see you restored to your sorrowing friends!"

  "My sorrowing friends, you rascal!" said Cleveland; "I will give youbetter cause for sorrow than ever you had on my account, if you do nottell me instantly where you stole all my clothes."

  "Stole!" ejaculated Bryce, casting up his eyes; "now the Powers be gudeto us!--the poor gentleman has lost his reason in that weary gale ofwind."

  "Why, you insolent rascal!" said Cleveland, grasping the cane which hecarried, "do you think to bamboozle me with your impudence? As you wouldhave a whole head on your shoulders, and your bones in a whole skin, oneminute longer, tell me where the devil you stole my wearing apparel?"

  Bryce Snailsfoot ejaculated once more a repetition of the word "Stole!Now Heaven be gude to us!" but at the same time, conscious that theCaptain was likely to be sudden in execution, cast an anxious look tothe town, to see the loitering aid of the civil power advance to hisrescue.

  "I insist on an instant answer," said the Captain, with upraised weapon,"or else I will beat you to a mummy, and throw out all your fripperyupon the common!"

  Meanwhile, Master John Bunce, who considered the whole affair as anexcellent good jest, and not the worse one that it made Cleveland veryangry, seized hold of the Captain's arm, and, without any idea ofultimately preventing him from executing his threats, interfered just somuch as was necessary to protract a discussion so amusing.

  "Nay, let the honest man speak," he said, "messmate; he has as fine acozening face as ever stood on a knavish pair of shoulders, and his arethe true flourishes of eloquence, in the course of which men snip thecloth an inch too short. Now, I wish you to consider that you are bothof a trade,--he measures bales by the yard, and you by the sword,--andso I will not have him chopped up till he has had a fair chase."

  "You are a fool!" said Cleveland, endeavouring to shake his friendoff.--"Let me go! for, by Heaven, I will be foul of him!"

  "Hold him fast," said the pedlar, "good dear merry gentleman, hold himfast!"

  "Then say something for yourself," said Bunce; "use your gob-box, man;patter away, or, by my soul, I will let him loose on you!"

  "He says I stole these goods," said Bryce, who now saw himself run soclose, that pleading to the charge became inevitable. "Now, how could Isteal them, when they are mine by fair and lawful purchase?"

  "Purchase! you beggarly vagrant!" said Cleveland; "from whom did youdare to buy my clothes? or who had the impudence to sell them?"

  "Just that worthy professor Mrs. Swertha, the housekeeper at Jarlshof,who acted as your executor," said the pedlar; "and a grieved heart shehad."

  "And so she was resolved to make a heavy pocket of it, I suppose," saidthe Captain; "but how did she dare to sell the things left in hercharge?"

  "Why, she acted all for the best, good woman!" said the pedlar, anxiousto protract the discussion until the arrival of succours; "and, if youwill but hear reason, I am ready to account with you for the chest andall that it holds."

  "Speak out, then, and let us have none of thy damnable evasions," saidCaptain Cleveland; "if you show ever so little purpose of being somewhathonest for once in thy life, I will not beat thee."

  "Why, you see, noble C
aptain," said the pedlar,--and then muttered tohimself, "plague on Pate Paterson's cripple knee, they will be waitingfor him, hirpling useless body!" then resumed aloud--"The country, yousee, is in great perplexity,--great perplexity, indeed,--muchperplexity, truly. There was your honour missing, that was loved bygreat and small--clean missing--nowhere to be heard of--a lostman--umquhile--dead--defunct!"

  "You shall find me alive to your cost, you scoundrel!" said theirritated Captain.

  "Weel, but take patience,--ye will not hear a body speak," said theJagger.--"Then there was the lad Mordaunt Mertoun"----

  "Ha!" said the Captain, "what of him?"

  "Cannot be heard of," said the pedlar; "clean and clear tint,--a goneyouth;--fallen, it is thought, from the craig into the sea--he was ayeventurous. I have had dealings with him for furs and feathers, whilk heswapped against powder and shot, and the like; and now he has worn outfrom among us--clean retired--utterly vanished, like the last puff of anauld wife's tobacco pipe."

  "But what is all this to the Captain's clothes, my dear friend?" saidBunce; "I must presently beat you myself unless you come to the point."

  "Weel, weel,--patience, patience," said Bryce, waving his hand; "youwill get all time enough. Weel, there are two folks gane, as I said,forbye the distress at Burgh-Westra about Mistress Minna's sadailment"----

  "Bring not _her_ into your buffoonery, sirrah," said Cleveland, in atone of anger, not so loud, but far deeper and more concentrated than hehad hitherto used; "for, if you name her with less than reverence, Iwill crop the ears out of your head, and make you swallow them on thespot!"

  "He, he, he!" faintly laughed the Jagger; "that were a pleasant jest!you are pleased to be witty. But, to say naething of Burgh-Westra, thereis the carle at Jarlshof, he that was the auld Mertoun, Mordaunt'sfather, whom men thought as fast bound to the place he dwelt in as theSumburgh-head itsell, naething maun serve him but he is lost as weel asthe lave about whom I have spoken. And there's Magnus Troil (wi' favourbe he named) taking horse; and there is pleasant Maister Claud Halcrotaking boat, whilk he steers worst of any man in Zetland, his headrunning on rambling rhymes; and the Factor body is on the stir--theScots Factor,--him that is aye speaking of dikes and delving, and suchunprofitable wark, which has naething of merchandise in it, and he is onthe lang trot, too; so that ye might say, upon a manner, the tae half ofthe Mainland of Zetland is lost, and the other is running to and froseeking it--awfu' times!"

  Captain Cleveland had subdued his passion, and listened to this tiradeof the worthy man of merchandise, with impatience indeed, yet notwithout the hope of hearing something that might concern him. But hiscompanion was now become impatient in his turn:--"The clothes!" heexclaimed, "the clothes, the clothes, the clothes!" accompanying eachrepetition of the words with a flourish of his cane, the dexterity ofwhich consisted in coming mighty near the Jagger's ears without actuallytouching them.

  The Jagger, shrinking from each of these demonstrations, continued toexclaim, "Nay, sir--good sir--worthy sir--for the clothes--I found theworthy dame in great distress on account of her old maister, and onaccount of her young maister, and on account of worthy CaptainCleveland; and because of the distress of the worthy Fowd's family, andthe trouble of the great Fowd himself,--and because of the Factor, andin respect of Claud Halcro, and on other accounts and respects. Also wemingled our sorrows and our tears with a bottle, as the holy text hathit, and called in the Ranzelman to our council, a worthy man, NielRonaldson by name, who hath a good reputation."

  Here another flourish of the cane came so very near that it partlytouched his ear. The Jagger started back, and the truth, or that whichhe desired should be considered as such, bolted from him without morecircumlocution as a cork, after much unnecessary buzzing and fizzing,springs forth from a bottle of spruce beer.

  "In brief, what the deil mair would you have of it?--the woman sold methe kist of clothes--they are mine by purchase, and that is what I willlive and die upon."

  "In other words," said Cleveland, "this greedy old hag had the impudenceto sell what was none of hers; and you, honest Bryce Snailsfoot, had theassurance to be the purchaser?"

  "Ou dear, Captain," said the conscientious pedlar, "what wad ye hae hadtwa poor folk to do? There was yoursell gane that aught the things, andMaister Mordaunt was gane that had them in keeping, and the things werebut damply put up, where they were rotting with moth and mould, and"----

  "And so this old thief sold them, and you bought them, I suppose, justto keep them from spoiling?" said Cleveland.

  "Weel then," said the merchant, "I'm thinking, noble Captain, that wadbe just the gate of it."

  "Well then, hark ye, you impudent scoundrel," said the Captain. "I donot wish to dirty my fingers with you, or to make any disturbance inthis place"----

  "Good reason for that, Captain--aha!" said the Jagger, slyly.

  "I will break your bones if you speak another word," replied Cleveland."Take notice--I offer you fair terms--give me back the black leathernpocket-book with the lock upon it, and the purse with the doubloons,with some few of the clothes I want, and keep the rest in the devil'sname!"

  "Doubloons!!!"--exclaimed the Jagger, with an exaltation of voiceintended to indicate the utmost extremity of surprise,--"What do I kenof doubloons? my dealing was for doublets, and not for doubloons--Ifthere were doubloons in the kist, doubtless Swertha will have them insafe keeping for your honour--the damp wouldna harm the gold, ye ken."

  "Give me back my pocket-book and my goods, you rascally thief," saidCleveland, "or without a word more I will beat your brains out!"

  The wily Jagger, casting eye around him, saw that succour was near, inthe shape of a party of officers, six in number; for several rencontreswith the crew of the pirate had taught the magistrates of Kirkwall tostrengthen their police parties when these strangers were in question.

  "Ye had better keep the _thief_ to suit yoursell, honoured Captain,"said the Jagger, emboldened by the approach of the civil power; "for whakens how a' these fine goods and bonny-dies were come by?"

  This was uttered with such provoking slyness of look and tone, thatCleveland made no further delay, but, seizing upon the Jagger by thecollar, dragged him over his temporary counter, which was, with all thegoods displayed thereon, overset in the scuffle; and, holding him withone hand, inflicted on him with the other a severe beating with hiscane. All this was done so suddenly and with such energy, that BryceSnailsfoot, though rather a stout man, was totally surprised by thevivacity of the attack, and made scarce any other effort at extricatinghimself than by roaring for assistance like a bull-calf. The "loiteringaid" having at length come up, the officers made an effort to seize onCleveland, and by their united exertions succeeded in compelling him toquit hold of the pedlar, in order to defend himself from their assault.This he did with infinite strength, resolution, and dexterity, being atthe same time well seconded by his friend Jack Bunce, who had seen withglee the drubbing sustained by the pedlar, and now combated tightly tosave his companion from the consequences. But, as there had been forsome time a growing feud between the townspeople and the crew of theRover, the former, provoked by the insolent deportment of the seamen,had resolved to stand by each other, and to aid the civil power uponsuch occasions of riot as should occur in future; and so many assistantscame up to the rescue of the constables, that Cleveland, after fightingmost manfully, was at length brought to the ground and made prisoner.His more fortunate companion had escaped by speed of foot, as soon as hesaw that the day must needs be determined against them.

  The proud heart of Cleveland, which, even in its perversion, had in itsfeelings something of original nobleness, was like to burst, when hefelt himself borne down in this unworthy brawl--dragged into the town asa prisoner, and hurried through the streets towards the Council-house,where the magistrates of the burgh were then seated in council. Theprobability of imprisonment, with all its consequences, rushed also uponhis mind, and he cursed an hundred times the folly which had not rathersubmitted to the
pedlar's knavery, than involved him in so perilous anembarrassment.

  But just as they approached the door of the Council-house, which issituated in the middle of the little town, the face of matters wassuddenly changed by a new and unexpected incident.

  Bunce, who had designed, by his precipitate retreat, to serve as wellhis friend as himself, had hied him to the haven, where the boat of theRover was then lying, and called the cockswain and boat's crew to theassistance of Cleveland. They now appeared on the scene--fiercedesperadoes, as became their calling, with features bronzed by thetropical sun under which they had pursued it. They rushed at onceamongst the crowd, laying about them with their stretchers; and, forcingtheir way up to Cleveland, speedily delivered him from the hands of theofficers, who were totally unprepared to resist an attack so furious andso sudden, and carried him off in triumph towards the quay,--two orthree of their number facing about from time to time to keep back thecrowd, whose efforts to recover the prisoner were the less violent, thatmost of the seamen were armed with pistols and cutlasses, as well aswith the less lethal weapons which alone they had as yet made use of.

  They gained their boat in safety, and jumped into it, carrying alongwith them Cleveland, to whom circumstances seemed to offer no otherrefuge, and pushed off for their vessel, singing in chorus to their oarsan old ditty, of which the natives of Kirkwall could only hear the firststanza:

  "Robin Rover Said to his crew, 'Up with the black flag, Down with the blue!-- Fire on the main-top, Fire on the bow, Fire on the gun-deck, Fire down below!'"

  The wild chorus of their voices was heard long after the words ceased tobe intelligible.--And thus was the pirate Cleveland again thrown almostinvoluntarily amongst those desperate associates, from whom he had sooften resolved to detach himself.

  FOOTNOTES:

  [31] It was anciently a custom at Saint Olla's Fair at Kirkwall, thatthe young people of the lower class, and of either sex, associated inpairs for the period of the Fair, during which the couple were termedLambmas brother and sister. It is easy to conceive that the exclusivefamiliarity arising out of this custom was liable to abuse, the ratherthat it is said little scandal was attached to the indiscretions whichit occasioned.