Part 27 (1/2)
The night wore on, and there was no sign of stir ah they could not see the vessels theuished by their relative height from those in the town above) remained motionless; and thea rich prize (for of course the toas paved with gold) within arm's reach, and yet impossible
Let Amyas and his reat Ar storm, of which they, like Oxenham, Hawkins, and Drake, are but the avant-couriers, will burst upon every Spanish port from Corunna to Cadiz, froo de Leon will not escape their share Captain Amyas Preston and Captain Sommers, the colonist of the Berh, though larger far than Leigh's, where Leigh dare not land; and taking the fort of Guayra, will find, as Leigh found, that their co has been expected, and that the Pass of the Venta, three thousand feet above, has been fortified with huge barricadoes, abattis, and cannon, nable--to all but Englishmen or Zouaves For up that seven thousand feet of precipice, which rises stair on stair behind the town, those fierce adventurers will cli, whiletheir officers to kill theo, hewing a path with their swords through woods of wild plantain, and rhododendron thickets, over (so it seems, however incredible) the very saddle of the Silla, down upon the astonished ”Mantuanos” of St Jago, driving all before the burnt the city in default of ranso the coast, the masters of the deep
Huo, between the peaks, used by slers This is probably the ”unknoay of the Indians,” which Preston used
I know not whether any men still live who count their descent from those two valiant captains; but if such there be, let thelish navy tells no otten raid of Arace 1595
But though a venture on the toas impossible, yet there was another venture which Frank was unwilling to let slip A light which now shone brightly in one of the s of the governor's house was the lodestar to which all his thoughts were turned; and as he sat in the cabin with Amyas, Cary, and Jack, he opened his heart to theo without doing the very thing for which we came?”
All were silent awhile At last John Brimblecombe spoke
”Show o”
”My dearest man,” said Amyas, ”ould you have? Any attempt to see her, even if she be here, would be all but certain death”
”And what if it were? What if it were,ceased to shrink froic climes, I never knew the beauty of his face”
”Of death?” said Cary ”I should have said, of life God forgive ht wish to live forever, if he had such a world as this wherein to live”
”And do you forget, Cary, that theworld of time, by so much the more fair is that eternal world, whereof all here is but a shadow and a dream; by so much the more fair is He before whose throne the four mystic beasts, the substantial ideas of Nature and her powers, stand day and night, crying, 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, Thou hast s, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created!' My friends, if He be so prodigal of His own glory as to have decked these lonely shores, all but unknown since the foundation of the world, with splendors beyond all our drealory of His face itself! I have done with vain shadows It is better to depart and to be with Hier, self-deception nor pretence, but the eternal fulness of reality and truth One thing I have to do before I die, for God has laid it on ht, and then, farewell!”
”Frank! Frank! remember our mother!”
”I do res with her many a time; and where I would fain be, she would fain be also She sent in honor, as the Spartan , 'Come back either with this, or upon this;' and one or the other I must do, if I would meet her either in this life or in the next But in the meanwhile do not mistake me; my life is God's, and I promise not to cast it away rashly”
”What would you do, then?”
”Go up to that house, Aives ive”
”And do you call that no rashness?”
”Is any duty rashness? Is it rash to stand a bullets, if your queen has sent you? Is it o to seek Christ's lost lamb, if God and your own oath hath sent you? John Brio”
”If you go, I go with you!” said all three at once
”No Amyas, you owe a duty to our reat estates, and are bound thereby to your country and to your tenants John Brimblecombe--”
”Ay!” squeaked Jack ”And what have you to say, Mr Frank, against ?--I, who have neither shi+p nor estates--except, I suppose, that I aood company?”
”Think of your old parents, John, and all your sisters”
”I thought of them before I started, sir, as Mr Cary knows, and you know too I caade at the very foot of the cross”
”Soo with you, Frank,” said A back the boat's crew in case--” and he faltered
”In case I fall,” replied Frank, with a smile ”I will finish your sentence for you, lad; I ah you o Unhappyyour more precious lives!”
”Not so, Mr Frank! Your oath is our oath, and your duty ours!” said John ”I will tell you ill do, gentle with hirave matters to chance, friend John”
”Chance, sir? When you have used all your oit, and find it fail you, then what is drawing lots but taking theit in God's strong hands?”
”Right, John!” said Frank ”So did the apostles choose their successor, and so did holy men of old decide controversies too subtle for them; and ill not be ashamed to follow their example For my part, I have often said to Sidney and to Spenser, e have babbled together of Utopian governments in days which are now dreams to me, that I would have all officers of state chosen by lot out of the wisest andsure that they should be called by God, and not by ree to Sir John's advice?”
They agreed, seeing no better counsel, and John put three slips of paper into Frank's hand, with the simple old apostolic prayer-- ”Shohich of us three Thou hast chosen”
The lot fell upon Ah
Frank shuddered, and clasped his hands over his face
”Well,” said Cary, ”I have ill-luck to-night: but Frank goes at least in good coh I suppose I was too poor a body to have such an honor fall on me And yet it is hard for flesh and blood; hard indeed to have come all this way, and not to see her after all!”
”Jack,” said Frank, ”you are kept to do better work than this, doubt not But if the lot had fallen on you--ay, if it had fallen on a three years' child, I would have gone up as cheerfully with that child to lead me, as I do noith this my brother! Aht already”
Amyas went on deck, and asked for six volunteers Whosoever would come, Amyas would double out of his own purse any prize-ht fall to that man's share
One of the old Pelican's crew, Simon Evans of Clovelly, stepped out at once
”Why six only, captain? Give the word, and any and all of us will go up with you, sack the house, and bring off the treasure and the lady, before two hours are out”
”No, no, my brave lads! As for treasure, if there be any, it is sure to have been put all safe into the forts, or hidden in the mountains; and as for the lady, God forbid that we should force her a step without her oill”
The honest sailor did not quite understand this punctilio: but-- ”Well, captain,” quoth he, ”as you like; but no man shall say that you asked for a volunteer, were it to jump down a shark's throat, but what you had me first of all the crew
After this sort of temper had been exhibited, three or four o, but Amyas forbade him
”I'll volunteer, sir, without reward, for this or anything; though” (added he in a lower tone) ”I would to Heaven that the thought had never entered your head”
”And so would I have volunteered,” said Simon Evans, ”if it were the shi+p's quarrel, or the queen's; but being it's a private matter of the captain's, and I've a wife and children at ho money for my life”
So the creas made up; but ere they pushed off, Amyas called Cary aside-- ”If I perish, Will--”
”Don't talk of such things, dear old lad”
”Iwithout Yeo and Drew But if they approve, go right north away for San Doo and Cuba, and try the ports; they can have no news of us there, and there is booty without end Tell entleman; and mind--mind, dear lad, to keep your terumble as they o well”
The tears were glistening in Cary's eyes as he pressed Amyas's hand, and watched the two brothers down over the side upon their desperate errand
They reached the pebble beach There seeht was the moon, and so careful a survey of the place had Frank taken Leaving the men with the boat (Amyas had taken care that they should be well armed), they started up the beach, with their swords only Frank assured A from the beach up to the house, and he was not mistaken They found it easily, for it wasit, struck into a ”tunal,” or belt of tall thorny cactuses Through this the path wound in zigzags up a steep rocky slope, and ended at a wicket- gate They tried it, and found it open
”She may expect us,” whispered Frank