Part 14 (1/2)
Poor Timothy was thunderstruck to find the conjurer acquainted with all these circuht be so bauld as to ax a question or two about his own fortune The astrologer pointing to the little coffin, our squire understood the hint, and deposited another shi+lling The sage had recourse to his book, erected another scheme, perfor recited another mystical preamble, expounded the book of fate in these words: ”You shall neither die by war nor water, by hunger or by thirst, nor be brought to the grave by old age or distemper; but, let me see--ay, the stars will have it so--you shall be--exalted--hah!--ay, that is--hanged for horse-stealing”--”O good ive forty shi+llings as be hanged”--”Peace, sirrah!” cried the other; ”would you contradict or reverse the i is your destiny, and hanged you shall be--and comfort yourself with the reflection, that as you are not the first, so neither will you be the last to swing on Tyburn tree” This coreat measure reconciled hi tone, to ask whether he should suffer for the first fact; whether it would be for a horse or a ht knohen his hour was coravely answered, that he would steal a dappled gelding on a Wednesday, be cast at the Old Bailey on Thursday, and suffer on a Friday; and he strenuously recoay in one hand, and the Whole Duty of Man in the other ”But if in case it should be in the winter,” said the squire, ”when a nosegay can't be had?”--”Why, then,” replied the conjurer, ”an orange will do as well”
Theseadjusted to the entire satisfaction of Ti to know the fortune of an old companion, who truly did not deserve sohi, he dropped a third offering in the coffin, and desired to know the fate of his horse Gilbert The astrologer having again consulted his art, pronounced that Gilbert would die of the staggers, and his carcase be given to the hounds; a sentence which made a much deeper impression upon Crabshaw's raceful fate He shed a plenteous shower of tears, and his grief broke forth in soth he told the astrologer he would go and send up the captain, anted to consult hiery Cook, because as how she had informed him that Dr Grubble had described just such another reat stomach to thetogether
Accordingly the squire being dismissed by the conjurer, descended to the parlour with a rueful length of face, which being perceived by the captain, he dens of apprehension
Crabshawno return to this salute, he asked if the conjurer had taken an observation, and told hi Then the other replied, he had told him more than he desired to know ”Why, an that be the case,”
said the seao aloft this trip, brother”
This evasion would not serve his turn Old Tisiphone was at hand, and led hi into the hall of audience, which he did not exa been directed to the coffin, where he presented half a crown, in hope of rendering the fates more propitious, the usual ceremony was performed, and the doctor addressed hi, ”You an't much mistaken, brother,” said he, ”heave your eye into the binnacle, and box your compass, you'll find I'm a Crowe, not a Raven, thof indeed they be both fowls of a feather, as the saying is”--”I know it,” cried the conjurer, ”thou art a northern crow,--a sea-crow; not a crow of prey, but a crow to be preyed upon;--a crow to be plucked,--to be flayed,--to be basted,--to be broiled by Margery upon the gridiron ofcolour at this denunciation, ”I do understand your signals, brother,” said he, ”and if it be set down in the log-book of fate that we rapple, why then 'ware timbers But as I kno the land lies, d'ye see, and the current of my inclination sets me off, I shall haul up close to the wind, and ery
But howsomever, we shall leave that reef in the fore top-sail--I was bound upon another voyage, d'ye see--to look and to see, and to know if so be as how I could pick up any intelligence along shore concerning ht, and has lost co man; ”art thou a crow, and canst not srieve for Greaves, behold his naked carcase lies unburied, to feed the kites, the crows, the gulls, the rooks, and ravens”--”What! broach'd to?” ”Dead as a boil'd lobster”--”Odd's heart, friend, these are the heaviest tidings I have heard these seven long years--there must have been deadly odds when he lowered his top-sails--smite my eyes! I had rather the Mufti had foundered at sea, with eneration on board--well fare thy soul, flower of the world! had honest Sa?” Here the tears of unaffected sorroed plentifully down the furrows of the seanation, ”Hark ye, brother conjurer,” said he, ”you can spy foul weather before it co of this here squall? B--st ive an account of this here d--ned, horrid, confounded murder, d'ye see--mayhap you yourself was concerned, d'ye see--For my own part, brother, I put my trust in God, and steer by the co and your conjuration of a rope's end, d'ye see”
The conjurer was by no means pleased, either with the an to soothe the captain's choler, by representing that he did not pretend to omniscience, which was the attribute of God alone; that human art was fallible and imperfect; and all that it could perform was to discover certain partial circumstances of any particular object to which its inquiries were directed That being questioned by the other , he had exercised his skill upon the subject, and found reason to believe that Sir Launcelot was assassinated; that he should think hi the h he foresaw they would of themselves save hi the spoil, and one would give inforainst the other
The prospect of this satisfaction appeased the resentrief of Captain Croho took his leave withoutjoined by Crabshaw, proceeded with a heavy heart to the house of Sir Launcelot, where they found the do the least symptom of concern for their absent h to conceal froht's fate This fatal intelligence he reserved for the ear of his nephew, Mr Clarke, who did not fail to attend hi but ruay, and the predicted fate of Gilbert Him he forthwith visited in the stable, and saluted with the kiss of peace
Then he bemoaned his fortune with tears, and by the sound of his own la the litter
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
IN WHICH THE CLOUDS THAT COVER THE CATASTROPHE BEGIN TO DISPERSE
We uing with great veheence obtained from the conjurer, and penetrate at once the veil that concealed our hero Know then, reader, that Sir Launcelot Greaves, repairing to the place described in the billet which he had received, was accosted by a person ned story of Aurelia, to which, while he listened with great attention, he found himself suddenly surrounded by armed men, who seized and pinioned down his arms, took away his sword, and conveyed him by force into a hackney-coach provided for the purpose In vain he expostulated on this violence with three persons who accompanied him in the vehicle He could not extort one word by way of reply; and, froan to be apprehensive of assassination Had the carriage passed through any frequented place, he would have endeavoured to alarm the inhabitants, but it was already clear of the town, and his conductors took care to avoid all villages and inhabited houses
After having travelled about twoopened, our adventurer was led in silence through a spacious house into a tolerably decent apartment, which he understood was intended for his bed-chamber In a few minutes after his arrival, he was visited by ato smooth his countenance, which was naturally stern, welcoood cheer, assuring hi, and desired to knohat he would choose for supper
Sir Launcelot, in answer to this civil address, begged he would explain the nature of his confinement, and the reasons for which his arms were tied like those of the worst malefactor The other postponed till to-morrow the explanation he demanded, but in the , left hi, to double lock the door of the roorated on the outside with iron
The knight, being thus abandoned to his own an to ruminate on the present adventure with equal surprise and concern; but the more he revolved circumstances, theto the state of the mind, a very subtle philosopher is often puzzled by a very plain proposition; and this was the case of our adventurer--What est impression upon his mind was a notion that he was apprehended on suspicion of treasonable practices, by a warrant from the Secretary of State, in consequence of some false malicious information; and that his prison was no other than the house of a er, set apart for the accommodation of suspected persons In this opinion he co his own conscious innocence, and reflecting that he should be entitled to the privilege of habeas corpus, as the act including that inestimable jeas happily not suspended at this tined hireeably undeceived in his conjecture His ears were all at once saluted with a noise froainst the wainscot; then a hoarse voice exclaiade advance--detach e the country--let them be new booted--take particular care of the spur-leathers--o, tell my brother Henry to pass the Elbe at Meissen with forty battalions and fifty squadrons--so ho, you Major-General Donder, why don't you finish your second parallel?--send hither the engineer shi+ttenback--I'll lay all the shoes in my shop, the breach will be practicable in four-and-twenty hours--don't tell me of your works; you and your works be d--n'd”
”assuredly,” cried another voice from a different quarter, ”he that thinks to be saved by works is in a state of utter reprobation--I myself was a profane weaver, and trusted to the rottenness of works--I kept my journeymen and 'prentices at constant work, and my heart was set upon the riches of this world, which was a wicked work--but now I have got a glirace--I a but the working of the Spirit--avaunt, Satan--O! how I thirst for communication with our sister Jolly”
”The communication is already open with the Marche,” said the first, ”but as for thee, thou caitiff, who hast presue my works, I'll have thee rae of powder, and thrown into the eneue operated like a train upon many other inhabitants of the place; one swore he ithin three vibrations of finding the longitude, when this noise confounded his calculation; a second, in broken English, complained he vas distorped in the moment of de proshection; a third, in the character of His Holiness, denounced interdiction, excommunication, and anathemas; and swore by St Peter's keys, they should howl ten thousand years in purgatory, without the benefit of a single an to halloo in all the vociferation of a fox-hunter in the chase; and in an instant the whole house was in an uproar
The clamour, however, was of a short duration The different cha opened successively, every individual was effectually silenced by the sound of one cabalistical word, which was no other than Waistcoat A char of P----, dispossessed the fanatic, dumbfounded the mathematician, dismayed the alchemist, deposed the Pope, and deprived the squire of all utterance