Book: The Blue Pavilions

S >> Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller Couch >> The Blue Pavilions




He struck off the sodden track and dived into the mist, Tristram
following close at his heels. Their way lay over hillocks and
hollows of sand in which they sank ankle-deep at every step.
In two minutes they lost sight of the regiment, and were walking with
their faces set, as it seemed, towards a wall of grey atmosphere,
impenetrable by the eye. After five minutes of this Tristram
groaned. He had eaten nothing for twenty-four hours, and his limbs
were weak as water.

"Courage, my son! A few paces more."

Almost as he spoke a building loomed out of the mist, and they found
themselves before a doorway, over which hung the sign of "The Four
Seasons." A sentry, who stood beside the entrance, presented arms
and let them pass. Captain Salt led the way indoors and up a rickety
staircase to the right, on the first landing of which they found two
pages in waiting.

"Say that Captain Salt desires to see his Majesty."

One of the pages tapped at the door, and, having delivered the
message, commanded them to enter. The place in which Tristram now
found himself was a low-browed room, smelling highly of sawdust and
stale tobacco. It was bisected by a long table of clean white deal,
at the end of which were seated three gentlemen whose attire bespoke
a considerable estate. All three looked up as the pair entered, and
in the centre our hero at once recognised his Majesty, with the Earl
of Marlborough upon his left hand, and upon his right a general of a
plain but shrewd and honest countenance, who glanced at Captain Salt
for a moment and resumed the writing upon which he was engaged.

King Willliam set down the bundle of papers that he had been conning
with a sour expression, as if tasting bad wine, and ordered the
Captain to come forward, which he did, with a profound salute.

"I have examined the lists, Captain Salt. They tally with other
information which my admirals and generals have been able to give me;
though, as they have not your advantages, their knowledge is of
necessity scantier."

Beneath his words there lurked a contempt which made the Captain
wince.

"Your Majesty, I have endeavoured to do my duty--such as it is."

"You say well. The disgrace lies with those who make it necessary."

"I am glad your Majesty should regard it in that light."

"Rest assured that I do, and admit the magnitude of the service you
have done us. I understand you have come for your reward."

"Say rather that I have brought it."

"Explain yourself."

"I ask no reward, your Majesty, but the discharge of this young
recruit." As he spoke Captain Salt drew Tristram forward from the
doorway, where he was standing awkwardly.

"This is very extraordinary. I expected some request for money, I
will confess."

"There are some things which rank above money," said the Captain with
feeling.

"We are told so," replied William drily. "But might I ask for an
instance or two?"

"There is paternal love. Your Majesty, this young man is my son."
The Captain, at this point, brushed away a tear with the back of his
hand.

"Why--but surely I remember his face?"

"That is probable: for you yourself, sire, did him the honour to
enlist him, no longer ago than last Friday."

"I remember the occasion. But it did not then appear--at least, to
my recollection--that he was a son of yours, Captain Salt."

"Will your Majesty be good enough to note the likeness between us?"

"I do not doubt your word. I merely remark that the two gentlemen
who then interceded for him omitted to mention his parentage."

"Their names, I believe--"

"They were two gallant but wrong-headed gentlemen of his late
Majesty's navy--Captain John Barker and Captain Jeremiah Runacles."

"It is to those gentlemen, who have guarded him from his infancy,
that I would restore this young man."

"This is very magnanimous conduct."

"A father, sire, may for his son's good disregard his own yearnings.
I would, with permission, escort him back to Harwich and assure
myself of his happiness. Your Majesty need have no doubt of my
return with the next transport."

"Indeed, Captain Salt, I myself should advise you, for your own
safety, to be out of the way until this small storm has blown over.
Present yourself as soon as you return. Sir," he continued,
addressing Tristram, "you are discharged from my service, which, I
must say, has not bettered your looks. Return to your guardians and,
if they will allow you, cultivate some small amount of loyalty."

"I thank your Majesty very heartily," Tristram replied ingenuously,
"and I regret if the plant has, until now, found no place in our
garden."

"The squadron will sail again for England at midnight," said William
with a faint smile; then, turning to the Earl of Marlborough, "My
lord, will you write out the order?"

At this moment one of the pages entered with a note for the King.

"Let him come in," said William, after opening it and running his eye
over the contents; then, addressing Captain Salt, "I fear this puts
an end to our conversation for the time. If you will wait below, the
necessary papers shall be brought to you. Farewell, young man; and
when you embrace them, assure Captain Barker and Captain Runacles
that I have still some hope of their finding a better mind."

They bowed and withdrew, giving place to the newcomer, who entered at
that moment--an old gentleman in a suit of dark blue edged with
silver. As he passed them in the doorway his eyes scanned Tristram
narrowly, and he appeared to hesitate for a moment as if desirous of
putting a question to the youth.

Unconscious of this look, Tristram followed his father down the
stairs of the auberge. They had hardly reached the bottom, however,
when a voice called from the landing above, and the Earl of
Marlborough descended after them.

"Here are the papers," he said. "But, young sir, would you mind
waiting here for a minute or two while I speak with your father in
private?"

With this he opened a door upon the left and led the way through a
dark passage to a covered skittle-alley at the back of the house.
It was a deserted and ramshackle arcade and offered the poorest cover
from the rain, which dripped through the roof and drifted under the
eaves. The skittles lay here and there, as if the last player, weary
of the game, had been tossing them about at haphazard. Here the Earl
paused, looked around him, and began in a low voice.

"My friend, I regret to perceive that you begin to act without
instructions."

"In what way?"

"You propose to return at once to Harwich with this son of yours."

"Certainly, my lord. It appears to me that I have deserved a holiday
by this week's work."

"You shall take one; but not at Harwich just yet."

"And why not at Harwich?"

"For two reasons. In the first place you do no good, but harm, in
returning thither at this moment. Understand that I am only asking
you to defer the visit for a week or two. At present I am awaiting
certain necessary information, without which you will hardly lay your
hands on the good fortune I intend for you."

"You are mysterious, my lord. This boy of mine--"

"Will bring you wealth and dignity, I promise, if you allow me to
conduct the affair. If not--"

"What is the other reason?"

"The other reason," replied the Earl, looking down and moving a
skittle gently with the toe of his boot--"the other reason is that I
require you to spend the first part of your holiday elsewhere."

"Where may that be?"

"At Saint Germains."

"My lord, you risk my neck with much composure!"

"There is no risk at all, unless--"

"Pray finish your sentence."

"--Unless you refuse," said the Earl significantly.

"Proceed, my lord." Captain Salt's face flushed scarlet; then a sweat
broke out on his temples, where an instant before the veins had
swelled with rage.

"There is nothing to prevent your starting at once. You have altered
the fuses, I suppose?"

"Yes."

"And made all the arrangements?"

"Nothing is omitted. The guns will be fired twenty minutes too soon,
at ten minutes after nine. As William knows nothing about the
signal, and has made his dispositions for half-past nine, the poor
fellows will have some fun for their pains, after all."

"Excellent!" said the Earl smiling. "It only remains for you to
start. Here are the papers; I advise you to keep them carefully
sorted. This, in cipher, is for James. It is full of promises; and
in addition, to keep his spirits up, you can give him an account of
the mutiny, pointing out how near it came to success. A boat shall
take you to Sevenbergen; after that you know the road--the usual one.
The word is _Modena_. You will take your son with you, of course,
and persuade him (if you can) that he is travelling back to Harwich
by the shortest road."

"That will be difficult."

"From Paris return to Dunkirk, and there await a letter from me.
By that time I hope to be able to send you information, on the
strength of which you may at once sail for Harwich. Meanwhile guard
that young man as the apple of your eye. . . ."

We will return to the subject of this amiable advice. Tristram had
been kicking his heels for ten minutes or more in the draughty
passage, and wondering if he should ever know the taste of food
again, when the door opened on the landing above, and the old
gentleman in blue and silver descended the stairs from his audience.
He was clearly in something of a hurry, and strode past our hero as
if unaware of his presence, but turned on his heel at the end of the
passage and came swiftly back.

"I ask your pardon, young man," he began, in a quick, foreign voice,
"but I thought I heard his Majesty speaking to you of a Captain
Runacles as I entered the room. Forgive me if I seem too
inquisitive, but do you happen to know Captain Jeremiah Runacles?"

"I know no reason, sir, against my answering. I know him well, and
love him."

"Ha? Where does he live?"

"In Harwich."

"He keeps hale?"

"In excellent health for his age."

"Could he still answer for himself with a small-sword?--I mean not
with a young adversary, but, say, with a man of my age?"

"I have not the slightest doubt of it, sir." Tristram stared at the
old gentleman, who was of a tall unwieldy figure, short bull neck and
choleric complexion.

"You will see him again shortly?"

"With God's help I shall see him in three days' time."

"Then I'd be obliged by your taking him a message from me. Tell him,
sir, that I, Captain Van Adrienssen, may be heard of at The Hague at
any time, and have not forgotten a certain promise of his (to cut my
comb) which he uttered at one time when our ships lay alongside off
the Texel. Assure him that, though night parted us, I still retain
the boot which he flung at my head and into my ship. Say that I have
been waiting ever since for the man who fits that boot, and warn him
that we are both well stricken in years and have little time left in
which to try conclusions. You have that by heart?"

"Yes, sir."

"Repeat it."

Tristram did so.

"Very well; now be careful to deliver it."

And, nodding his head sharply, the old gentleman hurried away on his
business just as the Earl and Captain Salt returned from their
colloquy.



CHAPTER IX.


THE FOUR MEN AT THE "WHITE LAMB".

"Well, my son," began Captain Salt, as the Earl reascended the
stairs. "Thanks be that we are alone together at last! Do I not
keep my promises?"

"Indeed, father, you are kind. There is only one thing--"

"What is that?"

"I should prefer to return to Harwich alive; and seeing that I have
eaten nothing for a day and a half--"

His father interrupted him by taking his arm and hurrying him off to
the kitchen of the auberge, where a fat woman was basting a couple of
ducks before a roaring fire.

"Pardon me, mistress," he began in Dutch; "but can you give this
young man a breakfast?"

The hostess seemed to be annoyed.

"What does he want?" she inquired sharply.

The question being interpreted to Tristram, he answered that he
wanted everything, but that in the meantime the ducks would serve to
break the edge of his fast.

"But these are for his Majesty."

"What have you besides?"

"Salt fish."

"I will begin with salt fish."

"Bacon."

"I see," said Tristram, nodding up at a regiment of hams that
depended from a rack overhead; "I will eat these also. What else?"

"Cheese."

"On second thoughts, I will begin with cheese while the fish is being
prepared. Is that all?"

"Mother of God! Is it not enough?"

"How can I tell yet? Let me see your bread and cheese."

The woman left her ducks, and in a minute had dumped down a loaf and
a huge round cheese of an orange colour before our hero.

"When do we start?" he asked, with his mouth full.

"Shortly after dark."

"Then I have plenty of time."

"I should hope so. Hostess, bring a bottle of wine."

"Two bottles," Tristram interrupted.

"It will get into your head."

"I hope so, for my head is something light at present."

"You propose, then, to spend the day in eating and drinking?"

"Unless you know of some better amusement with which we can beguile
the time."

"None whatever. And as I must leave you for some time while I make
arrangements for our return--"

"I shall not be lonely," said Tristram, with a glance at the ducks,
followed by an upward look of resignation directed at the rows of
hams.

It was dark when Captain Salt returned, and found his son on the
settle where he had left him. Tristram was not sitting, however, but
stretched at length and breathing heavily. At the farther end of the
table sat the host and hostess of the inn, engaged in making out the
bill.

"One--two--three--six bottles!" exclaimed his father, counting the
ruins on the board. "Why, the boy is drunk!"

"No, father," Tristram interrupted, sitting up and rubbing his eyes;
"not so much drunk as asleep, and not so much asleep but that I could
see the landlord here add three empty bottles to the two I had
finished, without counting one that came full to the table and was
emptied by him for his supper."

Captain Salt shot a searching glance at the couple, who coloured and
seemed confused.

"What is this?" he cried, examining the reckoning. "Two ducks!"

"Ah, I'm afraid it is true that I ate one of the ducks."

"But they were for his Majesty!"

"It appears they were cooked on the chance of pleasing his Majesty,
who left, however, without inquiring for them. The landlord and his
wife have just eaten the other. Is it time to start?"

"Yes."

Tristram jumped up and stretched himself, smiling amiably on the host
and hostess, who returned his look with no very good will. Captain
Salt, having made the proper deductions calmly, paid the reckoning,
and they left the house.

Outside the weather was still dirty, and a wind, which had gradually
risen since the morning, blew in their faces charged with chilly
moisture. The mist, however, had cleared a little, and Tristram, as
he rammed his hat tightly on his head before facing the night, could
see the lights of the squadron far out upon the black and broken
waters of the Maese.

"In what ship do we return?" he asked.

The wind apparently drowned his question; for Captain Salt started
off without replying and led the way down across the sandbanks.
It seemed to Tristram that their path lay to the left of that by
which they had approached the inn early in the morning. He was
straining his eyes on the look out for the wooden landing-stage, when
suddenly, on climbing a ridge somewhat higher than the rest, he saw
the white fringe of the waves glimmering close under his feet and the
inky shadow of a boat, in which sat a couple of dark forms. One of
them, hearing the low whistle uttered by Captain Salt, scrambled
forward to the bows and held out a hand.

Tristram looked at his father, who nodded. They entered the boat in
silence, and within a minute were being rowed rapidly across the
tide. It struck our hero that the oars made remarkably little noise,
in spite of the energy with which they were plied. He was about to
speak, but checked himself on seeing his father raise a finger to his
lips. "What is the meaning of this?" he wondered. His enormous meal
had made him drowsy; and deciding that, if not allowed to speak, he
might at least nod, he closed his eyes.

He opened them again with a start. From the shore behind them the
roar of guns had just burst out upon the night.

This was his first impression; but the sound was not repeated, and in
a moment or two he fancied he must have been dreaming of the salute
he had heard in the lazarette of the _Good Intent_, as the squadron
sailed out of Harwich. The boat was still moving with unabated
speed, and the dark, choppy water stretched all round them.
Through the murky night the ships' lanterns still shone steadily
enough, but farther off than before, and at a sharp angle behind his
right shoulder.

"It seems we are not steering very straight for the fleet," he could
not help remarking.

"We are not steering for the fleet," said his father.

"But I thought--"

He broke off as a series of sharp flashes danced out in the distance,
followed by the rattle of musketry and a dull, confused shouting.

"You perceive," Captain Salt remarked, "that the squadron is not the
safest means of reaching Harwich."

"What are they doing out there?"

"They are killing each other."

"That sounds very unpleasant."

"And as the night is too dark to distinguish faces with any
certainty, I thought you would prefer to go home by another way."

"A longer way?"

"It is certainly a trifle longer; but then, as it won't expose you to
the risk of being killed--"

"That's true. I won't grudge the time."

The explosions of musketry, meanwhile, had been following each other
faster and faster, and at length became incessant.

"Bravo!" muttered Captain Salt to himself; "this will take some time
to quell."

"What did you say?"

"I was thinking, my son, that 'tis lucky you have somebody to look
after you."

Tristram sought for his father's hand and pressed it. "I am not
ungrateful, as you think."

"Why should I think so? You will have more yet to thank me for, I
hope."

The boat at this moment swung to the left, around a sandy promontory
that hid the jets of firearms behind them; but waves of light still
flickered across the black sky and the shouting still went on, though
growing fainter as they hurried forward. By one of the flashes, more
vivid than the rest and accompanied by the crackle of a whole volley,
Tristram saw that the boat was now being propelled down a narrow
channel, both shores of which he could just perceive across the
gloom.

Captain Salt suddenly raised both hands to his mouth, and hollowing
the palms, uttered three mournful cries, long and loud, like the
wailing of a gull.

Within half a minute the sound was echoed back from the darkness on
the right shore, for which the boat immediately headed. After thirty
strokes Tristram felt the sand rub beneath the keel, and they came to
a stand.

"Show the light!" his father called, jumping out into the water that
hardly covered the insteps of his riding-boots.

The red glow of a lantern appeared as if by magic, and revealed a man
standing but twenty yards ahead on a gentle slope of sand. He held
the lantern in one hand, and his right arm was slipped through the
bridles of two horses that waited, side by side, and ready saddled,
their breath smoking out on the night wind.

"Dear me," Captain Salt observed, reaching a hand to Tristram, and
helping him to land; "I forgot to ask if you could ride."

"A very little, my father."

"You will find it difficult, then, to trot. Therefore we will
gallop."

"You intend me to climb upon one of these beasts?"

"That is easy enough."

"I do not deny it; but I suppose you also wish me to stay on."

"Come; we must lose no time."

"Luckily the soil of Holland, as far as I am acquainted with it, is
soft and sandy. On the other hand--"

"Well?"

"I was about to remark that they grow an immense quantity of tulips
in this country, which demand a harder soil."

"We shall pass none."

"That is fortunate. For when I reach home and they ask me,
'Well, what have you done in Holland?' it would be sad to own,
'I have done little beyond rolling on a bed of tulips.'"

With this he climbed into the saddle and thrust his feet well into
the stirrups, while his father whispered a word or two to the
boatmen, who were about to push off on their return journey.

"Are you ready, my son?" he asked, returning and mounting beside him.

"Quite."

"Forward, then!"

The two horses broke into a trot. "Ugh," exclaimed Tristram, bobbing
up and down.

"I told you we must go faster. Stick your knees tightly into the
saddle--so."

The wind and the night began to race by Tristram's ears as his horse
leapt forward. The motion became easier, but the pace was terrifying
to a desperate degree; for it seemed that he sat upon nothing, but
was being whirled through the air as from a catapult at the heels of
his father, who pounded furiously through the darkness a dozen
yards ahead. For three minutes at least he felt at every stride an
extreme uncertainty as to his chances of realighting in the saddle.
It reminded him of cup-and-ball, and he reflected with envy that the
ball in that game is always attached to the cup with a string.

At the end of ten minutes Captain Salt reined up, and Tristram's
horse, after being carried past for twenty yards by his mere impetus,
stopped of his own accord and to his rider's intense satisfaction.

"Look," said the Captain, pointing to the sky behind them, which was
now illumined by a broad scarlet glare.

"What is that?"

"One of the ships on fire."

"Then I am better off where I am."

"Did you doubt it?"

"I was beginning to. . . . How much farther must we ride?"

"Two leagues."

Tristram groaned, and they set off again, but more slowly, for the
road now was paved with bricks instead of the loose sand over which
they had travelled hitherto, and moreover it ran, without fence or
parapet, along the top of a formidable dyke, the black waters of
which far beneath him caused Tristram the most painful apprehension.
Captain Salt, guessing this, slackened the pace to a walk. The glare
still reddened the sky behind: but either the firing had ceased or
they had passed beyond sound of it. At any rate, they heard only the
water lapping in the dykes and the wind that howled over the wastes
around.

Tristram had long since lost his hat, and his nose was bleeding from
a sharp blow against his horse's neck. He was trying to stanch the
flow when the chimes of a clock pealed down the wind from somewhere
ahead and upon his right. His father halted again, and after
scanning the gloom for a minute uttered again the three calls that
were like the wailing of a gull.

Again the signal was answered, this time from their left, and the
spark of a lantern appeared. "Dismount, my son," said the Captain,
setting the example and leading his horse by the bridle towards the
light; "we leave our horses here."

"For others?"

"No, for a canal-boat."

"This country may be flat," thought Tristram; "but decidedly the
travelling is not monotonous."

As he drew near the lantern, he saw indeed that they were on the edge
of a canal, wherein lay a long black barge, with a boy on horseback
waiting on the tow-path, a little ahead of it. On the barge's deck
by the tiller an immensely fat boatman leant and smoked his pipe,
which he withdrew placidly from his lips as Captain Salt gave the
password to the man with the lantern and handed over the smoking
horses.

"_Modena!_"

The fat man spat, stood upright and prepared for business as the
passengers stumbled on board. Not a word more was spoken until
Tristram found himself in a long, low cabin divided into two parts by
a deal partition. By the light of a swinging lamp he saw that a
bench ran along the after-compartment, and asked if he might stretch
himself out to sleep.

"By all means," said his father. "I was going to propose it myself.
We shall travel without halting till morning."

"Then 'good night.'"

"You appear in a hurry."

"It seems to me that it's my turn."

The barge was hardly in motion before Tristram began to snore.
Nor did he awake till the sun was up and shining in through the
little opening by the stern, through which he could see the legs of
the fat steersman on deck. While he rubbed his eyes his father
appeared at the cabin door with a bundle in one hand and a big
market-basket in the other.

"You sleep late, my son. I have already been marketing, as you see."

"Then we are at a standstill."

"Yes, but we move on again in three minutes."

"What have you bought?"

"Your breakfast. See--" and the Captain spread on the cabin table an
enormous sausage, two loaves of bread and a bottle of red wine.

"That is good, for I warn you I am hungry."

"But first of all you must dress."

"Am I not already dressed?"

"Let me point out that the uniform of a private soldier in his
Majesty's Coldstream Guards differs in so many respects from the
native costume of these parts that it can hardly fail to excite
remark. Listen: I have here two suits of clothes, in which we must
travel for the next day or two; I as a private gentleman and you as
my lackey."

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