Part 24 (1/2)
”You see, Borroughcliffe!” exclaimed the colonel, exultingly, ”the lad is ruled by an instinct in all matters of law and justice. I hold it to be impossible that a man thus endowed can ever become a disloyal subject. But our breakfast waits, and Mr. Fitzgerald has breathed his horse this cool morning; let us proceed at once to the examination.”
Borroughcliffe motioned to the sergeant to open the door, when the whole party entered the vacant room.
”Your prisoner has escaped!” cried the cornet, after a single moment employed in making sure of the fact.
”Never! it must not, shall not be!” cried Dillon, quivering with rage, as he glanced his eyes furiously around the apartment; ”here has been treachery! and foul treason to the king!”
”By whom committed, Mr. Christopher Dillon?” said Borroughcliffe, knitting his brow, and speaking in a suppressed tone: ”dare you, or any man living, charge treason to the --th!”
A very different feeling from rage appeared now to increase the s.h.i.+vering propensities of the future judge, who at once perceived it was necessary to moderate his pa.s.sion; and he returned, as it were by magic, to his former plausible and insinuating manner, as he replied:
”Colonel Howard will understand the cause of my warm feelings, when I tell him that this very room contained, last night, that disgrace to his name and country, as well as traitor to his king, Edward Griffith, of the rebel navy.”
”What!” exclaimed the colonel, starting, ”has that recreant youth dared to pollute the threshold of St. Ruth with his footstep? but you dream, Kit; there would be too much hardihood in the act.”
”It appears not, sir,” returned the other; ”for though in this very apartment he most certainly was, he is here no longer. And yet from this window, though open, escape would seem to be impossible, even with much a.s.sistance.”
”If I thought that the contumelious boy had dared to be guilty of such an act of gross impudence,” cried the colonel, ”I should be tempted to resume my arms, in my old age, to punish his effrontery. What! is it not enough that he entered my dwelling in the colony, availing himself of the distraction of the times, with an intent to rob me of my choicest jewel--ay! gentlemen, even of my brother Harry's daughter--but that he must also invade this hallowed island with a like purpose, thus thrusting his treason, as it were, into the presence of his abused prince! No, no, Kit, thy loyalty misleads thee; he has never dared to do the deed!”
”Listen, sir, and you shall be convinced,” returned the pliant Christopher, ”I do not wonder at your unbelief; but as a good testimony is the soul of justice, I cannot resist its influence. You know, that two vessels, corresponding in appearance to the two rebel cruisers that annoyed us so much in the Carolinas, have been seen on the coast for several days, which induced us to beg the protection of Captain Borroughcliffe. Three men are found, the day succeeding that on which we hear that these vessels came within the shoals, stealing through the grounds of St. Ruth, in sailors' attire. They are arrested, and in the voice of one of them, sir, I immediately detected that of the traitor Griffith. He was disguised, it is true, and cunningly so; but when a man has devoted his whole life to the business of investigating truth,” he added, with an air of much modesty, ”it is difficult to palm any disguise on his senses,”
Colonel Howard was strongly impressed with the probability of these conjectures, and the closing appeal confirmed him immediately in his kinsman's opinion, while Borroughcliffe listened with deep interest to the speakers, and more than once bit his lip with vexation. When Dillon concluded, the soldier exclaimed:
”I'll swear there was a man among them who has been used to the drill.”
”Nothing more probable, my worthy friend,” said Dillon; ”for as the landing was never made without some evil purpose, rely on it, he came not unguarded or unprotected. I dare say, the three were all officers, and one of them might have been of the marines. That they had a.s.sistance is certain, and it was because I felt a.s.sured they had a force secreted at hand, that I went in quest of the reinforcement.”
There was so much plausibility, and, in fact, so much truth in all this, that conviction was unwillingly admitted by Borroughcliffe, who walked aside a moment to conceal the confusion which, in spite of his ordinary inflexibility of countenance, he felt was manifesting itself in his rubric visage, while he muttered:
”The amphibious dog! he was a soldier, but a traitor and an enemy. No doubt he will have a marvelous satisfaction in delighting the rebellious ears of his messmates, by rehearsing the manner in which he poured cold water down the back of one Borroughcliffe, of the --th, who was amusing him, at the same time, by pouring good, rich, south-side Madeira down his own rebellious throat. I have a good mind to exchange my scarlet coat for a blue jacket, on purpose to meet the sly rascal on the other element, where we can discuss the matter over again. Well, sergeant, do you find the other two?”
”They are gone together, your honor,” returned the orderly, who just then re-entered from an examination of the other apartments; ”and unless the evil one helped them off, it's a mysterious business to me.”
”Colonel Howard,” said Borroughcliffe, gravely, ”your precious south- side cordial must be banished from the board, regularly with the cloth, until I have my revenge; for satisfaction of this insult is mine to claim, and I seek it this instant Go, Drill; detail a guard for the protection of the house, and feed the rest of your command, then beat the general, and we will take the field. Ay! my worthy veteran host, for the first time since the days of the unlucky Charles Stuart, there shall be a campaign in the heart of England.”
”Ah! rebellion, rebellion! accursed, unnatural, unholy rebellion, caused the calamity then and now!” exclaimed the colonel.
”Had I not better take a hasty refreshment for my men and their horses?”
asked the cornet; ”and then make a sweep for a few miles along the coast?” It may be my luck to encounter the fugitives, or some part of their force.”
”You have antic.i.p.ated my very thoughts,” returned Borroughcliffe. ”The Cacique of Pedee may close the gates of St. Ruth, and, by barring the windows, and arming the servants, he can make a very good defence against an attack, should they think proper to a.s.sail our fortress; after he has repulsed them, leave it to me to cut off their retreat.”
Dillon but little relished this proposal; for he thought an attempt to storm the abbey would be the most probable course adopted by Griffith, in order to rescue his mistress; and the jurist had none of the spirit of a soldier in his composition. In truth, it was this deficiency that had induced him to depart in person, the preceding night, in quest of the reinforcement, instead of sending an express on the errand, But the necessity of devising an excuse for a change in this dangerous arrangement was obviated by Colonel Howard, who exclaimed, as soon as Borroughcliffe concluded his plan:
”To me, Captain Borroughcliffe, belongs, of right, the duty of defending St. Ruth, and it shall be no boy's play to force my works; but Kit would rather try his chance in the open field, I know, Come, let us to our breakfast, and then he shall mount, and act as a guide to the horse, along the difficult pa.s.ses of the seash.o.r.e.”
”To breakfast then let it be,” cried the captain; ”I distrust not my new commander of the fortress; and in the field the Cacique forever! We follow you, my worthy host.”