Part 43 (1/2)
”I trust her ed already,” said Mrs Leigh
”Well, if she would not do it, I would, and ask pardon afterwards, as Raleigh did about the rascals at Sh, these are tiland alone, but the world, the Bible, the Gospel itself, is at stake; and we s, lest we suffer more terrible ones”
”God will take care of world and Bible better than any cruelty of ours, dear Sir Richard”
”Nay, but, Mrs Leigh, we must help Him to take care of them! If those Smerwick Spaniards had not been--”
”The Spaniard would not have been exasperated into invading us”
”And we should not have had this chance of crushi+ng hi, h written to you of late?”
”Not a word, and I wonder why”
”Well; no wonder at that, if you kne he has been laboring The wonder is, whence he got the knowledge ith to labor; for he never saw sea-work to my remembrance”
”Never saw a shot fired by sea, except ours at Smerwick, and that brush with the Spaniards in 1579, when he sailed for Virginia with Sir Humphrey; and he was a mere crack then”
”So you consider hih in the Netherland wars, and in Ireland too, if not of the strength of shi+ps, yet still of the weakness of land forces; and would you believe it, the er, and ive up the land defences to the naval ones”
”Quite right he, and wooden walls against stone ones for ever! But as for twisting, he would persuade Satan, if he got him alone for half an hour”
”I wish he would sail for Spain then, just now, and try the powers of his tongue,” said Mrs Leigh
”But are we to have the honor, really?”
”We are, lad There wereon shore, and said--which I do not deny--that the 'prentice boys of London could face the bluest blood in Spain But Raleigh argued (following h in that) that we differed from the Low Countries, and all other lands, in that we had not a castle or town throughout, which would stand a ten days' siege, and that our ramparts, as he well said, were, after all, only a body ofas the enemy has power to land where he will, prevention, rather than cure, is our only hope; and that belongs to the office, not of an arreed on, and a fleet we shall have”
”Then here is his health, the health of a true friend to all bold mariners, andhere to-morrow, as I hope--for he left London with me, and so down by us into Cornwall, to drill the train-bands, as he is bound to do, being Seneschal of the Duchies and Lieutenant-General of the county”
”Besides Lord Warden of the Stanneries! How the h
”How the man deserves to thrive!” said Amyas; ”but what are we to do?”
”That is the rub I would fain stay and fight the Spaniards”
”So would I; and will”
”But he has other plans in his head for us”
”We can make our own plans without his help”
”Heyday, A yet and you refuse hiht”
”Well, so iven a sort of promise to him, nevertheless”
”Not for me too, I hope?”
”No: he will extract that himself when he comes; you must come and sup to-morrow, and talk it over”
”Be talked over, rather What chestnut does the cat want us monkeys to pull out of the fire for him noonder?”
”Sir Richard Grenville is hardly accustoh
”I meant no harm; and his worshi+p knows it, none better: but where is Raleigh going to send us, with a inia The settlers ain long before this arh ca (for his twelve-month would be over ere the fleet could start) upon so peaceful and useful an errand; and the next five months were spent in continual labor on the part of Amyas and Grenville, till seven shi+ps were all but ready in Bideford river, the adh
But that fleet was not destined ever to see the shores of the New World: it had nobler work to do (if A the United States
It was in the long June evenings, in the year 1588; Mrs Leigh sat in the open , busy at her needle-work; Ayacanora sat opposite to her, on the seat of the bay, trying diligently to read ”The History of the Nine Worthies,” and stealing a glance every now and then towards the garden, where Amyas stalked up and down as he had used to do in happier days gone by But his broas contracted now, his eyes fixed on the ground, as he plodded backwards and forwards, his hands behind his back, and a huge cigar in his mouth, the wonder of the little boys of Northaates, to see the back of the fa captain who had sailed round the world and been in the country of headless ons, and then popped back their heads suddenly, as he turned toward them in his walk And Ayacanora looked, and looked, with no less adot nolook from Amyas than they did; for his head was full of calculations of tonnage and stowage, of salt pork and ale-barrels, and the packing of tools and seeds; for he had proh to do his best for the new colony, and he was doing it with all his ain to her book, and heaved a deep sigh It was answered by one froh
”We are a melancholy pair, sweet chuck,” said the fair”What isabout, there?”
”Because I cannota very white fib
”Is that all? Come to me, and I will tell you”
Ayacanora moved over to her, and sat down at her feet
”H--e, he, r--o, ro, i--c--a--l, heroical,” said Mrs Leigh
”But what does that h was about to have said the naelic face hung opposite upon the wall She paused unable to pronounce his naazed on the portrait, and breathed a prayer between closed lips, and drooped her head again
Her pupil caught at the pause, and filled it up for herself-- ”Like him?” and she turned her head quickly toward the
”Yes, like hiesture ”Now, mind your book Maidens must not look out of thein school hours”
”Shall I ever be an English girl?” asked Ayacanora
”You are one noeet; your father was an English gentleether
”You seem quite merry there,” said he
”Come in, then, and be merry with us”
He entered, and sat dohile Ayacanora fixed her eyes oes on the reading?” said he; and then, without waiting for an answer--”We shall be ready to clear out this day week, mother, I do believe; that is, if the hatchets are made in time to pack them”
”I hope they will be better than the last,” said Mrs Leigh ”It seeoods which we should consider worthless for ourselves”