CHAPTER VI
OF MY SHAMEFUL SUFFERINGS AND HOW I WAS DELIVERED THEREFROM
I awoke with a sound in my ears like the never-ceasing surge and hissof waters, a sound that waxed ever louder. Hearkening to this, Ipresently sought to move and wondered, vaguely uneasy, to find thisimpossible: I strove now to lift my right hand, found it fast held,tried my left and found it in like case, and so became conscious ofsomething that gripped me about the throat, and ever my wonder andunease grew. And now, opening my eyes, the first thing they lighted onwas a small pool of blood and beyond this a battered turnip, and beyondthis, the carcass of a dead cat, and beyond this again, a pair of trim,buckled shoes, cotton stockings, wide breeches and a broad belt whereswung a tuck or rapier prodigiously long of blade; in a while (my eyesranging higher yet) I beheld a thin face scarred from mouth to eyebrow,a brown face with bright, very quick eyes and strange ears, they beingcut to points like a dog's ears. Now looking at this face, it seemedto me in hazy fashion that somewhere and at some time I had seen such aface before. All this while, the noise I have likened to the sea hadbeen growing louder, so that I began to recognise voices and evenwords, and, lifting my head as well as I might (by reason of the thingthat gripped my throat), I saw faces all about me--they hemmed me in onevery side and stretched away to the churchyard wall.
Then, all at once, the knowledge of my situation rushed upon me; I wasin the pillory.
"Huroor! 'E be a-coming' round!" cried a voice.
"Time, too!" shouted a great, strapping fellow near by. "'Tis sinfulshame to waste good bad-eggs on rogue as knoweth not when 'e do be hit!He be a mark as babe couldn't miss--a proper big 'un!" So saying, thefellow let fly an egg at me, the which, striking the board within aninch of my face, filled the air with suffocating stench.
This was a signal for me to become a target for all the garbage of thevillage. And now, indeed, good cause had I to be thankful for my thickmane of hair which (in some sort) saved me from sundry cuts andbruises, howbeit my face was soon clotted with blood and filth.
Vain were it to tell all the frenzy of rage that possessed me as Istood thus helpless against my howling tormentors, chief of whom wasthe great fellow I have mentioned, who (by reason of height and lengthof arm) struck me oftenest; once indeed when (beside myself with fury)I raised my head to curse him, he took me a blow in the mouth with somevile missile that set my very gums a-bleeding.
"Lord love ye, shipmate--that's the spirit!" said a voice below me,"But keep the wind o' them--don't let 'em rake ye--douse yourfigure-head. Lie low, shipmate, lie low and trust to your comrade AdamPenfeather--and that's me. Patience is the word!"
Looking whence the voice came I beheld the man with whom I had talkedthat morning; now as our glances met, one of his bright eyes closedslowly and, nodding twice, he turned and elbowed his way through thecrowd. Small liking had I for this fellow, but with his departure asense of loneliness gripped me and needs must I lift my head to stareafter him, whereupon a rotten egg struck me above the eye, causing amost intolerable smart; at this moment, too, the great fellow swung acat's carcass by the tail, but, or ever he could hurl this stinkingmissile, a hand clouted him heavily over the ear from behind, tumblinghis hat off, whereupon he turned, bellowing with rage, and smote hisnearest neighbour with the foul thing meant for me. In an instant allwas uproar around these two as the crowd, forgetting me, surged aboutthem. Thus for some while, during which the fight raged, I was leftunmolested and looked hither and thither amid the swaying throng forthis fellow, Adam Penfeather, but he was vanished quite.
At length, the big fellow having sufficiently trounced his opponent,the crowd betook itself (and very joyously) to my further baiting andtorment. Now as I hung thus in my shame and misery, faint with myhurts and parched with cruel thirst, my gaze lighted upon a small, bonyman--a merry-eyed fellow with wide, up-curving mouth, who laughed andjested continually; it was as he stooped for some missile or other thathis eye met mine, and in that bright eye methought I read a sudden pity.
"O cull," says I hoarsely, "a mouthful o' water--"
"Pal," says he, winking, "all's bowmon!" Whereupon he turned andvanished in the crowd and I, burning in a fever of thirst, panted forhis return, straining my eyes for sight of him; then, as he came not, Igroaned and drooped my head, and lo! even then he was before me bearinga tin pannikin full of water. This in hand, he mounted the steps ofthe pillory and, despite the jeers and hootings of the crowd, waslifting the life-giving water to my eager lips when forth leapt the bigfellow and sent water and pannikin flying with a savage blow of hisfist.
"None o' that, peddler!" he roared. And now, as I groaned and lickedat bleeding lips with swollen tongue, the little man turned (quick as aflash), tripped up the great fellow's heels and, staying for no more,made off through the crowd, that gave him passage, howling its acclaim.
The afternoon dragged wearily on and, what with the suffocating stenchof the filth that plastered me, what with heat and dust and agonisingthirst, my suffering grew almost beyond endurance; a deadly nauseaseized me and I came nigh to swooning. But now, in this my greatextremity, of a sudden, from somewhere on the outskirts of the crowdrose a shrill cry of "Fire!" the which cry, being taken up by others,filled the air with panic, the crowd melted as if by magic until thevillage green and the road were quite deserted. All this I noted butdimly (being more dead than alive) when I became conscious of one thatspake in my ear.
"Stand by, shipmate, stand by! There's never a rogue left--all run tothe fire--stand by to slip your moorings!"
"Let be," I groaned, "I'm a dead man!"
"Then here's that shall make ye quick," says this fellow Penfeather,dangling a great key before my swimming eyes. "Here's freedom from yourdevil's trap and a plaguy time I've had to come by it."
"Then for the love o' God--let me out," I groaned.
"Easy all, shipmate!" says he, turning the key upon his finger. "Forlook'ee now, here's me, (a timid man) run no small risk this lasthalf-hour and all for you. Now a bargain's a bargain, you'll agree?"
"Well?" says I, faintly.
"Why then, shipmate, if I free ye of your bonds, wilt be my comradesworn? Aye or no?"
"No!" says I. "Plague take ye that bargain with dying man. No!"
"Why then," sighs he, "here's a good rick ablaze, here's John Purdy thebeadle wi' his head broke, and here's me in a sweat, alack--and all tono purpose, since needs must you in your bilboes bide."
"Do but get me a draft of water!" I pleaded.
"Nary a drop!" says he, spinning the key on his finger under my nose,"Nor yet a foaming stoup o' good Kentish ale--nut brown--"
"Ha, rogue--rogue!" I panted, 'twixt parched lips. "I'll yet--avengethis torment--an' I live!"
"The legs of a man," says he, "are a vain thing and his strengthlikewise, and as to vengeance, shipmate, well--how goeth your vengeanceas be more to ye than fortune or riches?" Here he paused, but I heldmy peace and he continued, "Here's you now, you that was so mighty andfierce--aye, a very hell-fire roarer--here's that same you a-hanginghere a very helpless, pitiful fool, shipmate, and thirsty 'twouldseem--"
Here I groaned again.
"And one not over sweet!" says he, stopping his nose.
Hereupon I cursed him, though faintly, and he comes a step nearer.
"'Tis said my Lady Brandon and her gallant Sir Rupert Dering--him youoverthrew, shipmate--do mean to come and take a look at you anon,though 'tis shame you should be made a raree show--burn me!"
Hereupon, I fell into a sudden raging fury, striving so desperatelyagainst my bonds that the devilish engine wherein I stood shook andrattled again; but I strove to no purpose, and so presently hung therespent and bruised and breathless whiles Penfeather spun the key on hisfinger and sighed:
"Shipmate," says he, "wherefore irk yourself wi' bonds? Say but theword and I'll deliver ye, bring ye to safe harbourage and cherish yewith much good ale. Be persuaded, now."
"Why then," groans I, "give me bu
t until to-morrow to do what Iwill--and I'm yours!"
"Done!" says he, and forthwith set key to padlock; but scarce had hefreed the head-board than he falls a-cursing 'neath his breath. "Easy,comrade, easy!" quoth he, softly. "Bide still awhile--hither comethyon beefy fool back again--so will I make show of miscalling ye till hebe gone." The which he did forthwith, giving me "scurvy rogue" and thelike. Now, lifting my head, whom should I behold but that same tallfellow had been my chief tormenter, and who now hasted over the greentowards us.
"It be now't but Farmer Darrell's rick ablaze," says he to Penfeather,"so let 'un burn, says I, Farmer Darrell be no friend o' mine. So I become to sport wi' yon big rogue awhile." Herewith he stooped for somemissile to cast at me; but now I straightened my back, the head-boardgave and, ere the fellow was aware, I was creeping swiftly upon him.Taken thus by surprise small chance had he, for, leaping on him, I borehim over on his back and kneeling on him, buried my fingers in histhroat. And so I choked him (right joyfully) till Penfeather grippedmy arm.
"Lord love me!" cries he, "Will ye kill the fool?"
"That will I!"
"And hang for him?"
"Nay--he's scarce worth it."
"Then, devil burn ye--loose his windpipe!" So I loosed the fellow'sthroat, and, despite his feeble kicks, began to drag him over the grass.
"What now, comrade?" says Penfeather. "Sink me, what now?"
"Watch and see!" So I brought the fellow to the pillory wherein I sethim, and plucking the key from Penfeather, locked him there in mystead; which done I kicked him once or twice, and having found thecat's carcass made shift to hang the stinking thing about his neck;then tossing the key into the pond, I took to my heels and left thefellow groaning mighty dismal.