Part 17 (1/2)
”Who would not die, sir, for such a woman?” said Sir Humphrey (and he said truly), as he showed that letter to Amyas
”Who would not? But she bids you rather live for her”
”I shall do both, youngin God's cause; we go for the honor of God's Gospel, for the deliverance of poor infidels led captive by the devil; for the relief of my distressed countrymen unemployed within this narrow isle; and to God we coer is He that is within us than he that is against us”
Soh himself came down to Plymouth, accoiven her one with them Westward-ho, but for Sir Huh: but I cannot find evidence for it At all events, on the 11th June the fleet sailed out, having, says Mr Hayes, ”in nuood choice, as shi+pwrights, masons, carpenters, smiths, and such like, requisite for such an action; also mineral men and refiners Beside, for solace of our people and allureood variety; not o the least toys, as ht the savage people, e intended to win by all fair h, even to that tenderness towards the Indians, which is so striking a feature of the Elizabethan seamen (called out in them, perhaps, by horror at the Spanish cruelties, as well as by their more liberal creed), and to the daily service of God on board of every shi+p, according to the simple old instructions of Captain John Hawkins to one of his little squadrons, ”Keep good company; beware of fire; serve God daily; and love one another”--an armament, in short, complete in all but men The sailors had been picked up hastily and anywhere, and soon proved themselves a mutinous, and, in the case of the bark S, a piratical set The entle a new Mexico, became soon disappointed and surly at the hard practical reality; while over all was the head of a sage and an enthusiast, a man too noble to suspect others, and too pure to ot his scheme perfect upon paper; well for him, and for his company, if he had asked Francis Drake to translate it for him into fact! As early as the second day, the seeds of failure began to sprout above ground The h's bark, the Vice-Admiral, suddenly found theious sickness, and at ht forsook the fleet, and went back to Plymouth; whereto Mr Hayes can only say, ”The reason I never could understand Sure I a them forth And so I leave it unto God!”
But Amyas said more He told Butler the captain plainly that, if the bark went back, he would not; that he had seen enough of shi+ps deserting their consorts; that it should never be said of him that he had followed Winter's example, and that, too, on a fair easterly wind; and finally that he had seen Doughty hanged for trying to play such a trick; and that he ed too before he died Whereon Captain Butler offered to draw and fight, to which A taken a second look at Amyas's thews and sinews, reconsidered the matter, and offered to put Aht, if he could find a crew to row him
Amyas looked around
”Are there any of Sir Francis Drake's men on board?”
”Three, sir,” said Yeo ”Robert Drew, and two others”
”Pelicans!” roared Amyas, ”you have been round the world, and will you turn back from Westward-ho?”
There was a moment's silence, and then Drew came forward
”Lower us a boat, captain, and lend us a caliver to et h, if I row him aboard all alone to my own hands”
”If I ever coet you,” said Aotten you and your honest conditions,” said both the other Pelicans; and so away over the side went all the five, and pulled away after the adnals Luckily for the five desperadoes, the night was all but cal, and so away into the boundless West
The Raleigh, the largest shi+p of the squadron, was of only 200 tons burden; The Golden Hind, Hayes' shi+p, which returned safe, of 40; and The Squirrel (whereof more hereafter), of 10 tons! In such cockboats did these old heroes brave the unknown seas
CHAPTER XII
HOW BIDEFORD BRIDGE DINED AT ANNERY HOUSE
”Three lords sat drinking late yestreen, And ere they paid the lawing, They set a co”--Scotch Ballad
Every one who knows Bideford cannot but know Bideford bridge; for it is the very omphalos, cynosure, and soul, around which the town, as a body, has organized itself; and as Edinburgh is Edinburgh by virtue of its castle, Roypt by virtue of its pyrae But all do not know the occult pohich have advanced and anie for now five hundred years, andto Prince and Fuller, of this fair land of Devon: being first an inspired bridge, a soul-saving bridge, an ale, and last, but not least, a dinner-giving bridge All do not knohen it began to be built soher up, hands invisible carried the stones down-streaht to the present site; until Sir Richard Gurney, parson of the parish, going to bed one night in sore perplexity and fear of the evil spirit who seeel, who bade build the bridge where he himself had so kindly transported the materials; for there alone was sure foundation a sand All do not kno Bishop Grandison of Exeter proclaiences, benedictions, and ”participation in all spiritual blessings for ever,” to all ould pro alike the interests of their souls and of their bodies, ”make the best of both worlds”
All do not know, nor do I, that ”though the foundation of the bridge is laid upon wool, yet it shakes at the slightest step of a horse;” or that, ”though it has twenty-three arches, yet one Wer four bushels salt-water e is a veritable esquire, bearing are proper on a plain field), and owning lands and tenee has, froed suits at law, and finally (for this concerns us iven yearly dinners, and kept for that purpose (luxurious and liquorish bridge that it was) the best stocked cellar of wines in all Devon
To one of these dinners, as it happened, were invited in the year 1583 all the notabilities of Bideford, and beside theer of Annery close by, brother of the marshal of Munster, and of Lady Grenville; ariches a snare, parted with the as he lived, that he effectually prevented his children after hi into the temptations thereunto incident
Between hiue was better or worse than one caught above; and as that weighty question could only be decided by practical experiood dinner, he would give the bridge one; offered a bet of five pounds that he would find them, out of the pool below Annery, as firm and flaky a salmon as the Appledore one which they had just eaten; and then, in the fulness of his heart, invited the whole company present to dine with hi with the at table, he was invited too
So there was a reat hall at Annery, such as had seldoe Hankford feasted Edward the Fourth there; and while every one was eating their best and drinking their worst, Rose Salterne and Don Guz each other all the lances; for not only was her father at the table, but just opposite her sat none other than Messrs Williaer, lieutenants in her h a few days before
Rose Salterne and the Spaniard had not exchanged a word in the last six h they had met many times The Spaniard by no means avoided her company, except in her father's house; he only took care to obey her carefully, by see always unconscious of her presence, beyond the stateliest of salutes at entering and departing But he took care, at the sae whenever he was in her presence; to be more witty, more eloquent, more romantic, more full of wonderful tales than he ever yet had been The cunning Don had found hi another, and a far more formidable one In the first place, Rose deserved a very severe punish dared to refuse the love of a Spanish noblereater punish the honor of his attentions, and the sunshi+ne of his sh in that notion, but there was cunning too; for none knew better than the Spaniard, that women, like the world, are pretty sure to value a man (especially if there be any real worth in him) at his own price; and that the ive for hih price on himself, and pique her pride, as she was tooit Heattention to some one else: but he was too wise to enation, or disgust, or despair in Rose's heart, but would have never brought her to his feet--as it will never bring any wo So he quietly and unobtrusively showed her that he could do without her; and she, poor fool, as she was an forthwith to ask herself--why? What was the hidden treasure, as the reserve force, which made him independent of her, while she could not say that she was independent of hie ae? how pleasant to learn it! Some capacity of love beyond the coreater, wiser, richer-hearted than she was, as well as better-born Ah, if his wealth would but supply her poverty! And so, step by step, she was being led to sue in forma pauperis to the very man whom she had spurned when he sued in like for so the priestess of so able to thank Heaven that she was not as other wo fast too much for Rose, as it is too much for most For none knew better than the Spaniard how much more fond wo than of being worshi+pped, and of obeying than of being obeyed; how their coyness, often their scorn, is but a mask to hide their consciousness of weakness; and a mask, too, of which they themselves will often be the first to tire
And Rose was utterly tired of that same mask as she sat at table at Annery that day; and Don Guz (conceited coxcolance at her now and then, and was not abashed when he saw that she dropped her eyes when they met his, because he saw her silence and abstraction increase, and so like a blush steal into her cheeks So he pretended to be as much downcast and abstracted as she was, and went on with his glances, till he once found her, poor thing, looking at hi at her; and then he knew his prey was safe, and asked her, with his eyes, ”Do you forgive hbor, and falter, and drop her eyes, and raise theht repeat the pleasant question And then what could she do but ansith all her face and every bend of her pretty neck, ”And do you forgive me in turn?”
Whereon Don Guzh, with story, and jest, and repartee; and became forthwith the soul of the whole co of all cavaliers And poor Rose knew that she was the cause of his sudden change of mood, and blamed herself for what she had done, and shuddered and blushed at her own delight, and longed that the feast was over, that she ht hurry home and hide herself alone with sweet fancies about a love the reality of which she felt she dared not face
It was a beautiful sight, the great terrace at Annery that afternoon; with the s up and down in twos and threes before the stately house; or looking down upon the park, with the old oaks, and the deer, and the broad land-locked river spread out like a lake beneath, all bright in the glare of the reat ladies who did the honors, Mrs St Leger the hostess, and her sister-in-law, fair Lady Grenville All chatted, and laughed, and eyed each other's dresses, and gossiped about each other's husbands and servants: only Rose Salterne kept apart, and longed to get into a corner and laugh or cry, she knew not which
”Our pretty Rose see up to her ”Cheer up, child! ant you to co to us”
Rose answered she knew not what, and obeyed mechanically
She took the lute, and sat down on a bench beneath the house, while the rest grouped the?”
”Let us have your old song, 'Earl Haldan's Daughter'”
Rose shrank fro ballad, which chihts; and Frank had praised it too, in happier days long since gone by She thought of him, and of others, and of her pride and carelessness; and the song seemed ominous to her: and yet for that very reason she dared not refuse to sing it, for fear of suspicion where no one suspected; and so she began per force-- I
”It was Earl Haldan's daughter, She look'd across the sea; She look'd across the water, And long and loud laugh'd she; 'The locks of six princesses Must be e-fee, So hey bonny boat, and ho bonny boat! Who cohter, She walk'd along the sand; When she are of a knight so fair, Co to the land His sails were all of velvet, His old, And 'hey bonny boat, and ho bonny boat, Who saileth here so bold?'
III
”'The locks of five princesses I won beyond the sea; I shore their golden tresses, To fringe a cloak for thee One handful yet is wanting, But one of all the tale; So hey bonny boat, and ho bonny boat! Furl up thy velvet sail!'
IV
”He leapt into the water, That rover young and bold; He gript Earl Haldan's daughter, He shore her locks of gold; 'Go weep, go weep, proud maiden, The tale is full to-day Now hey bonny boat, and ho bonny boat! Sail Westward-ho, and away!'”
As she ceased, a h her
”In the East, they say the nightingale sings to the rose; Devon, ale and rose in one”
”We have no nightingales in Devon, Don Guzman,” said Lady Grenville; ”but our little forest thrushes sing, as you hear, sweetly enough to content any ear But what brings you away froentlemen so early?”
”These letters,” said he, ”which have just been put into my hand; and as they call htful company from which I must part so soon”
”To Spain?” asked half-a-dozen voices: for the Don was a general favorite