Part 12 (2/2)

In front of him, on the table, lay the diamond-our diamond, my diamond; for I kneas a diamond now, and not false It was not alone, but had a dozen ems laid beside it on the table, each a little apart froas any of the rest And if it surpassed them in size, how much more did it excel in fierceness and sparkle! All the candles in the room were mirrored in it, and as the splendour flashed from every line and facet that I kneell, it seemed to call to me, 'Am I not queen of all diamonds of the world? aain? will you save me from this sorry trickster?'

I had my eyes fixed, but still knew that Elzevir was beside me He would not let me risk myself in any hazard alone without he stood by me hialled me now, and I asked myself with a sneer, A , and then he took one of the diamonds that lay on the table, and then another, and set the them, as it were, with it Yet how could any match with that?-for it outshone them all as the sun outshi+nes the stars in heaven

Then the old hed it in the scales which stood on the table before hiainst sohts of brass; and then he wrote with pen and ink in a sheepskin book, and afterwards on a sheet of paper as though casting up nuures that he wrote? for was he not casting up the value of the jewel, and su out the profits he would er and thu it now this way, now that, so that the light ht best fall on it I could have cursed hi love of that fair jewel that overspread his face; and cursed hiuessed he laughed to think how he had duped two simple sailors that very afternoon

There was the diamond in his hands-our diamond, my diamond-in his hands, and I but two yards frolass to keep me from the treasure he had basely stolen from us Then I felt Elzevir's hand upon ,' he said; 'a minute more and he may co Diamonds are not for sis a curse with it Let us be going, John'

But I shook off the kind hand roughly, forgetting how he had saved my life, and nursed h bad and worse; for just now the man at the table rose and took out a little iron box fro to lock my treasure into it, and that I should see it nolonely on the table flashed and sparkled in the light of twenty candles, and called to me, 'Am I not queen of all diamonds of the world? am I not your diamond? save me from the hands of this scurvy robber'

Then I hurledof thefrah the wooden blind into the roolass had not died away before there was a sound as of bells ringing all over the house, and the wires I had seen in the afternoon dangled loose in front of my face But I cared neither for bells nor wires, for there lay the great jewel flashi+ng before me The merchant had turned sharp round at the crash, and darted for the dia 'Thieves! thieves! thieves!' He was nearer to it than I, and as I dashed forward our hands met across the table, with his underneath upon the stone But I gripped hiled, he was but a weak old rasp In a few seconds-but before they were past the diamond ell in my hand-the door burst open, and in rushed six sturdy serving-iven a little groan when he saw me force the , but followed me into the room and was now at my side 'Thieves! thieves! thieves!' screa back exhausted in his chair and pointing to us, and then the knaves fell on too quick for us to make for the o set on ht with four-above all when they carry staves

Never had I seen Master Block overborne or worsted by any odds; and Fortune was kind to me, at least in this, that she let ht me so round a knock on the head ason the floor

CHAPTER 17

AT YMEGUEN

As if a thief should steal a tainted vest, Some dead man's spoil, and sicken of his pest-Hood 'Tis bitterer to me than ood the memory of what followed, and I shall tell the story in the feords I may We were cast into prison, and lay there for ht, and only foul straw to lie on At first ere cut and bruised fro in Aldobrand's house, and it was long before ere recovered of our wounds, for we had nothing but bread and water to live on, and that so bad as barely to hold body and soul together Afterwards the heavy fetters that were put about our ankles set up sores and galled us so that we scarce could alled my flesh, my spirit chafed ten times more within those damp and dismal walls; yet all that tih it was my wilfulness had led us into so terrible a strait

At last caht up that day before the Geregt, which is their Court of assize, to be tried for our crime So ere marched off to the court-house, in spite of sores and heavy irons, and were glad enough to see the daylight once h it should be to our death that alking; for the jailer said they were like to hang us for e had done In the court-house our business was soon over, because there were ainst us, but none to plead our cause; and all being done in the Dutch language I understood nothing of it, except what Elzevir told own and buckled shoes with tip-tilted heels, standing at a table and giving evidence: How that one afternoon in August calish sailors to his house under pretence of selling a dialass: and that having taken observation of all his dwelling, and more particularly the approaches to his business-room, they went their ways But later in the saether certain diamonds for a coronet ordered by the most illustrious the Holy Rolish sailors burst suddenly through shutters and , and made forcible entry into his business-room There they furiously attacked him, wrenched the diamond from his hand, and beat hiood Providence of God, and his own foresight, the as fitted with a certain alar bells in other parts of the house Thus his trusty servants were su themselves attacked and nearly overborne, succeeded at last inthen justice

Thus much Elzevir explained to me afterwards, but at that ti his own, Elzevir cut in and said in open court that 'twas a lie, and that this precious stone was none other than the one that we had offered in the afternoon, when Aldobrand had said 'twas glass Then the diareat diaht and dazzled half the court He turned it over in his hand, poising it in his palht, and asked if 'twas likely that two common sailor-men should hawk a stone like that Nay ues they had to deal with, he pulled out froiven hi, for this saed quittance or one for so that the stone was ours and we had found it in England When Mr Aldobrand laughed again, and held the jewel up once more: were such pebbles, he asked, found on the shore by every squalid fisherreat diamond flashed as he put it back into his purse, and cried to me, 'Am I not queen of all the diamonds of the world? Must I house with this base rascal?' but I was powerless now to help

After Aldobrand, the serving- how they had trapped us in the act, red-handed: and as for this jewel, they had seen their master handle it any tialled to the quick with all their falsehoods, and burst out again, that they were liars and the jewel ours; till a jailer who stood by struck him on the mouth and cut his lip, to silence hie in his red robes stood up and sentenced us to the galleys for life; bidding us admire the mercy of the law to Outlanders, for had we been but Dutched

Then they took and marched us out of court, as well as we could walk for fetters, and Elzevir with a bleeding mouth But as we passed the place where Aldobrand sat, he bows to lish, 'Your servant, Mr Trenchard I wish you a good day, Sir John Trenchard-of Moonfleet, in Dorset' The jailer paused awhat he said, so I had time to answer him:

'Good day, Sir Aldobrand, Liar, and Thief; andyou evil in this present life, and damnation in that which is to come'

So we parted from him, and at that same time departed from our liberty and froether with other prisoners in droves of six, our wristsfrom Elzevir Thus we marched a ten days' journey into the country to a place called Y That was a weary march for me, for 'twas January, et and h clothes upon uards on horseback, with loaded flint-locks across the saddlebow, and long whips in their hands hich they let fly at any laggard; though 'twas hard enough for men to here the mud was over the horses' fetlocks I had no chance to speak to Elzevir all the journey, and indeed spoke nothing at all, for those to whom I was chained were brute beasts rather than men, and spoke only in Dutch to boot

There was but little of the building of the fortress begun e reached Y of the trenches and other earthworks I believe that there were five hundred men ealley-work for life We were divided into squads of twenty-five, but Elzevir was drafted to another squad and a different part of the workings, so I saw his

Thus I had no solace of any co, and to occupy my mind with the recollection of the past And at first the life of my boyhood, now lost for ever, was constantly present even inthat I was at school again under Mr Glennie, or talking in the su Weatherbeech Hill with the salt Channel breeze singing through the trees But alas! these things faded when I openedwood-hut and floor of fetid strahere fifty of us lay in fetters every night; I say I drearew blunted and the iht came to me less often Thus life became a weary round, in which month followed ht always the same eternal profitless-work And yet the as ht, and the unchanging evenness of life gave wings to tiuen, there is but one thing I need speak of here I had been there a hen I was loosed onefrom my irons, and taken from work into a little hut apart, where there stood a half-dozen of the guard, and in the midst a stout wooden chair with clamps and bands A fire burned on the floor, and there was a fume and smoke that filled the air with a save me when I saw that chair and fire, and suessed this was a torture roo They forced s and a cramp about the head; and then one took a red-iron from the fire upon the floor, and tried it a little way from his hand to prove the heat I had screwed up ht, but when I saw that iron sighed for sheer relief, because I knew it for only a branding tool, and not the torture And so they brandedthe iron between the nose and cheek-bone, where 'twas plainest to be seen I took the pain and scorching light enough, seeing that I had looked forhere at all, were it not for the brandingthe first letter of Yuen, and set on all the prisoners that worked there, as I found afterwards; but toless than the black 'Y' itself, or cross-pall of the Mohunes Thus as a sheep is marked, with his owner's keel and can be claimed wherever he may be, so here was I branded with the keel of the Mohunes and marked for theirs in life or death, whithersoever I should wander 'Twas three months after that, and the ain; and as we passed each other in the trench and called a greeting, I saw that he too bore the cross-pall full on his left cheek

Thus years went on and I was grown froave us but scant food and bad, the air was fresh and strong, because Yuen was meant for palace as well as fortress, and they chose a healthful site And by degrees the , and ramparts built, and stone by stone the castle rose till 'twas near the finish, and so our labour was not wanted Every day squads of our fellow-prisoners aged in ood a culvert that heavy rains had broken down