In the Days of Drake - Joseph Fletcher 2 стр.

Whats all this? said I, as we pushed our way to the front.

The sailor jumped to his feet and touched his forelock civilly enough. He looked at John Broad.

Marry, Master Humphrey, answered John Broad, you see this great fellow here, with a beard so long as the Turks? A cometh into our village here, God knows where from, and must needs fall to breaking the heads of peaceable and honest men.

Tis a lie, said the sailor. At least, that part of it which refers to peaceable and honest men. As to the breaking of heads, I say naught.

But whose head hath he broken? asked Jasper.

Mine, sir, whined Peter Pipe. God ha mercy!  it sings like Benjamin Goods bees when they are hiving.

And why did he break thy head?

Let him say, said the sailor. Aye, let him say.

Peter Pipe shuffled his feet and looked out of his eye-corners. He was a creature of no spirit, and always in deadly fear of something or somebody.

Maybe he will clout me again, said Peter.

Fear not, said the sailor. I would not hurt thee, thou two-penny-halfpenny drawer of small beer. Say on.

This man, then, Master Humphrey, a cometh into our kitchen and demands a pot of ale. So I fetched it to him and he paid me

Was his money good?

Oh, aye, good money enough, I warrant him, said Geoffrey Scales.

I said naught to the contrary, continued Peter. But no sooner had he drunk than he fell to cursing me for a thief, and swore that I had served him with small beer, and with that he caught up the tankard and heaved it at me with such force that my jaw is well-nigh broken.

And didst serve him with small beer?

I serve him with small beer! Nay, Master Humphrey, bethink you. As if I did not know the difference betwixt small beer and good ale!

That thou dost not, said the sailor. Young sir, listen to me. I know thee not, and I fear thee not, and I know not why I should trouble to talk to thee. But thou seemest to be in authority.

Tis Sir Thurstans nephew, whispered the constable.

What know I of Sir Thurstan? Young sir, I am a man of Cornwall, and my name it is Pharaoh Nanjulian. They know me in Marazion. I have been on a venture to the North Seas plague take it, there is naught but ice and snow there, with white bears twenty feet long

List to him! said someone in the crowd.

I will show thee the white bears trick, an thou doubtest me. But to proceed. Young sir, we were wrecked sixteen good men and true we were off the Norroway coasts, which methinks are fashioned of iron, and we underwent trials, yea, and hunger. After a time we came to Drontheim

Where is that?

A sea-coast town of Norroway, young sir. And thence we took ship to Scarborough. But there was no ship at Scarborough going south, wherefore I set out for mine own country on foot. And to-day, which is my first on this journey, I came to this inn for a pint of good ale, and paid my money for it too, whereupon yonder scurvy knave gives me small beer, thin as water. And I, being somewhat hot and choleric of temper, threw the measure at him, and rewarded him for his insolence. So now I will go on my way, for tis a brave step from here to Marazion, and I love not ye north-country folk.

Not so fast, quoth John Broad. Thou must needs see Sir Thurstan before we let thee go.

What want I with Sir Thurstan?

Marry, naught; but he may want something with thee. We allow not that wandering rascals shall break the peace in our village.

If thou talkest to me like that, Master Constable, I shall break thy head, and in such a fashion that thou wilt never more know what peace is. We men of Devon and Cornwall allow no man to lord it over us.

Thou shalt to Sir Thurstan, anyhow, said John Broad. We will see what the law says to thee. I fear me thou art a man of lawless behavior; and, moreover, there are strange characters about at this moment.

Dame Good had two fowls stolen last night, said a voice in the crowd.

Yea, and there are two fine linen sheets stolen from the vicarage hedge, piped another.

He looks a strange mortal, said a third.

And wears gold rings in his ears, cried a fourth. A must be a foreigner, and maybe a Papist.

Foreigner or Papist I am not, good folks, but a true-born Englishman, and a good hater of all Frenchmen and Spaniards. So let me go forward peaceably. As for the clout I gave Master Peter, here is a groat to mend it. I have but a round dozen, or I would give him two.

With that he would have moved forward, but John Broad barred the way.

Not till I have taken thee before his worship, said he. What, am I not constable of this parish, and duly sworn to arrest all suspicious persons, sturdy beggars, and what not?

The sailor paused and drew his breath, and looked at the constables round figure as if in doubt what to do.

I am loth to hurt thee, said he, but if I hit thee, Master Constable, thou wilt never more drink ale nor smell beef. Know that once in Palermo there came upon me a great brown bear that had got loose from his ward, and I hit him fair and square between the eyes, and he fell, and when they took him up, his skull it was cracked. Is thy skull harder than the bears?

At this John Broad trembled and shrank away, but continued to mutter something about the law and its majesty.

You had better go with him before my uncle, said I. He will deal justly with thee. He is hard upon no man, but it might fare ill with John Broad if Sir Thurstan knew that he had suffered you to go unapprehended.

Oh, if you put it in that way, he answered, and turned again, I will go with you. Heaven send that the good gentleman do not detain me, for I would fain reach York to-night.

So we all moved off to the manor, and as many as could find room crowded into the great hall where Sir Thurstan sat to deliver judgment on all naughty and evilly-disposed persons. And presently he came and took his seat in the justice-chair and commanded silence, and bade John Broad state his case. Then Peter Pipe gave his testimony, and likewise Geoffrey Scales, and then Sir Thurstan called upon the sailor to have his say, for he made a practice of never condemning any man unheard.

After he had heard them all, my uncle considered matters for a moment and then delivered judgment, during which everybody preserved strict silence.

I find, first of all, said he, that Peter Pipe, the drawer, did serve this man with small beer instead of good ale. For what! I watched the man as he told his story, and he did not lie.

I thank your honor, said the sailor.

Wherefore I recommend Geoffrey Scales to admonish Peter at his convenience

Yea, and with a stick, your honor, said Geoffrey.

So that he transgress not again. Nevertheless, the sailor did wrong to maltreat Peter. There is law to be had, and no man should administer his own justice. Wherefore I fine thee, sailor, and order thee to pay ten groats to the court.

As your honor wills, said the man, and handed over the money. I have now one left to see me all the way to Marazion. But justice is justice.

Clear my hall, John Broad, said my uncle. This order the constable carried out with promptitude. But when the sailor would have gone, Sir Thurstan bade him stay, and presently he called him to his side and held converse with him.

Dost thou propose to walk to Marazion? he asked.

With Gods help, sir, answered the man.

Dost thou propose to walk to Marazion? he asked.

With Gods help, sir, answered the man.

Why not try Hull? Thou mightest find a ship there for a southern port.

I had never thought of it, your honor. How far away may Hull be?

Forty miles. What means hast thou?

But one groat, sir. But then I have become used to hardships.

Try Hull: thou wilt find a ship there, I doubt not. Hold, here are twelve shillings for thee. Humphrey, have him to the kitchen and give him a good meal ere he starts.

Your honor, said the sailor, is a father and a brother to me. I shall not forget.

Do thy duty, said Sir Thurstan.

So I took the man to the kitchen, and fed him, and soon he went away.

Young master, said he, if I can ever repay this kindness I will, yea, with interest. Pharaoh Nanjulian never forgets.

With that he went away, and we saw him no more.

CHAPTER III.

ROSE

There being no disposition on my part to renew our differences, and none on his to lead up to an open rupture, my cousin Jasper Stapleton and I got on together very well, until we had reached the age of nineteen years, when a new and far more important matter of contention arose between us.

Now, our first quarrel had arisen over the ultimate disposition of my uncles estates; our second was as to which should be lord over the heart and hand of a fair maiden. To both of us the second quarrel was far more serious than the first which is a thing that will readily be understood by all young folks. It seemed to both of us that not all the broad acres of Beechcot, nay, of Yorkshire itself, were to be reckoned in comparison with the little hand of Mistress Rose Herrick.

For by that time Mistress Rose had grown to be a fair and gracious maiden, whose golden hair, floating from under her dainty cap, was a dangerous snare for any hot-hearted lads thoughts to fall entangled in. So sweet and gracious was she, so delightful her conversation, so bewitching her eyes, that I marvel not even at this stretch of time that I then became her captive and slave for life. Nor do I marvel, either, that Jasper Stapleton was equally enslaved by her charms. It had indeed been wonderful if he or I had made any resistance to them.

As to myself, the little blind god pierced my heart with his arrow at a very early stage. Indeed, I do not remember any period of my life when I did not love Rose Herrick more dearly than anything else in Gods fair world. To me she was all that is sweet and desirable, a companion whose company must needs make the path of life a primrose path; and, therefore, even when I was a lad, I looked forward to the time when I might take her hand in mine, and enter with her upon the highway which all of us must travel.

However, when I was come to nineteen years of age, being then a tall and strapping lad, and somewhat grave withal, it came to my mind that I should find out for myself what feelings Rose had with regard to me, and therefore I began to seek her company, and to engage her in more constant conversation than we had hitherto enjoyed. And the effect of this was that my love for her, which had until then been of a placid nature, now became restless and unsatisfied, and longed to know whether it was to be answered with love or finally dismissed.

Thus I became somewhat moody and taciturn, and took to wandering about the land by myself, by day or night, so that Sir Thurstan more than once asked me if I had turned poet or fallen in love. Now, both these things were true, for because I had fallen in love I had also turned poet; as, I suppose, every lover must. In sooth, I had scribbled lines and couplets, and here and there a song, to my sweet mistress, though I had never as yet mustered sufficient courage to show her what I had written. That, I think, is the way with all lovers who make rhymes. There is a satisfaction to them in the mere writing of them; and I doubt not that they often read over their verses, and in the reading find a certain keen and peculiar sort of pleasure which is not altogether unmixed with pain.

Now it chanced that one day in the early spring of 1578 I had been wandering about the park of Beechcot, thinking of my passion and its object, and my thoughts as usual had clothed themselves in verses. Wherefore, when I again reached the house, I went into the library and wrote down my rhymes on paper, in order that I might put them away with my other compositions. I will write them down here from the copy I then made. It lies before me now, a yellow, time-stained sheet, and somehow it brings back to me the long-dead days of happiness which came before my wonderful adventure.

Now, as I came to an end of writing these verses I was suddenly aware of someone standing at my side, and when I looked up, with anger and resentment that anyone should spy upon my actions, I saw my cousin Jasper at my elbow, staring at the two words, To Rose, which headed my composition. I sprang to my feet and faced him.

That is like you, cousin, said I, striving to master my anger, to act the spy upon a man.

As you please, he answered. I care what no man thinks of my actions. But there, pointing to the paper, is proof of what I have long suspected. Humphrey, you are in love with Mistress Rose Herrick!

What if I am? said I.

Nothing, but that I also am in love with her, and mean to win her, he replied.

After that there was silence.

We cannot both have her, said I at last.

True, said he. She shall be mine.

Not if I can prevent it, cousin. At any rate she has the principal say in this matter.

Thou hast not spoken to her, Humphrey?

What is that to thee, cousin? But I have not.

Humphrey, thou wilt heir our uncles lands. Thou hast robbed me of my share in them. I will not be robbed of my love. Pish! do not stay me. Thou art hot-tempered and boyish, but I am cold as an icicle. It is men like me whose love is deep and determined, and therefore I swear thou shalt not come between me and Rose Herrick.

I watched him closely, and saw that he valued nothing of land or money as he valued his passion, and that he would stay at nothing in order to gain his own ends. But I was equally firm.

What do you propose, Jasper? I asked. It is for Mistress Rose Herrick to decide. We cannot both address her at the same time.

True, he said; true. I agree that you have the same right to speak to her that I have. Let us draw lots. The successful one shall have the first chance. Do you agree?

I agreed willingly, because I felt certain that even if Jasper beat me he would have no chance with Rose. There was something in my heart that told me she would look on me, and on me only, with favor.