CHAPTER IX
"MISERICORDIA ET JUSTITIA"
(_The ironic motto of the Spanish Inquisition_)
They had passed Cape de St. Vincent, and, under a huge copper-colouredmoon which flooded the sea with light and seemed like a chased bucklerof old Rome, were slipping along towards Faro, southwards and eastwardsto Cadiz.
The night was fair, sweet, and golden. The airs which filled the sailsof the square-rigged ship were soft and warm. The "lap, lap" of thesmall waves upon the cutwater was soothing and in harmony with the hour.
Elizabeth had been sleeping in the cabin long since, but Commendone, oldMadame La Motte, and the little weazened Don Perez were sitting on theforecastle deck together, among the six brass carronades which weremounted there, ready loaded, in case of an attack by the pirates ofTangier.
"You were going to tell us, Senor," Johnnie said, "something of the HolyOffice, and why, when you leave Seville, you leave Spain for ever."
Don Perez nodded. He rose to his feet and peered round the wooden towerof the forecastle, which nearly filled the bow-deck.
"There is nobody there," he said, with a little sigh of relief. "Thatfellow we took aboard at Lisbon is down in the waist with the mariners."
"But why do you fear him?" Johnnie answered in surprise.
The little yellow man plucked at his pointed black beard, hesitated fora moment, and then spoke.
"Have you noticed his hands, Senor?" he asked.
"Since you say so," Johnnie replied, with wonder in his voice, "I havenoticed them. He is a proper young man of his inches, strong and anathlete, though I like not his face. But his hands are out of allproportion. They are too large, and the thumbs too broad--indeed, I havenever seen thumbs like them upon a hand before."
Don Pedro Perez nodded significantly. "_Ciertamenta_," he answereddryly. "It is hereditary; it comes of his class. He is a sworn torturerof the Holy Office."
Johnnie shuddered. They had been speaking in Spanish. Now he exclaimedin his own tongue. "Good God!" he said, "how horrible!"
Perez grinned sadly and cynically as the moonlight fell upon his yellowface. "You may well start, Senor," he said, "but you know little of theland to which you are going yet."
There came a sudden, rapid exclamation in French. Madame La Motte,speaking in that slow, frightened voice which had been hers throughoutthe voyage, was interposing.
"I don't understand," she said, "but I want to hear what the gentlemanhas to say. He speaks French; let us therefore use that language."
Don Perez bowed. "I am quite agreeable," he said; "but I doubt, Madame,that you will care to hear all I was going to tell the Senor here."
"Phut!" said the Frenchwoman. "I know more evil things than you or DonCommendone have ever dreamed of. Say what you will."
Don Perez drew a little nearer to the others, squatting down, with hishead against the bow-men's tower.
"You have asked me about the Inquisition, Monsieur and Madame," he saidin a low voice, "and as ye are going to Seville, I will tell you, foryou have been courteous and kind to me since I left Lisbon, and you mayas well be warned. I am peculiarly fitted to tell you, because mybrother--God and Our Lady rest his blood-stained soul!--was a notary ofthe Holy Office at Seville. We are, originally, Lisbon people, and mybrother was paying a visit to his family, being on leave from hisduties. He caught fever and died, and I am bearing back his papers withme to Seville, from which city I shall depart as soon as may be. It isonly care for my own skin that makes me act thus as executor to mybrother, Garcia Perez. Did I not, they would seek me out wherever Imight be."
"You go in fear, then?" Johnnie asked curiously.
"All Spaniards go in fear," Perez answered, "under this reign. It is thehorror of the Inquisition that while any one may be haled before it on acomplaint which is anonymous, hardly any one ever escapes certainpenalties. Senor," his voice trembled, and a deep note of feeling cameinto it, "if the fate of that wretch is heavy who, being innocent ofheresy, will not confess his guilt, and is therefore tortured until heconfesses imaginary guilt, and is then burned to death, hardly less isthe misery of the victim who recants or repenteth and is freed from thepenalty of death."
"_Tiens!_" said La Motte, shuddering. "I have heard somewhat of this inParis; but continue, Monsieur, continue."
"No one knows," the little man answered, "how the Holy Office isstriking at the root of all national life in my country. And no one hasa better knowledge of it all at second hand--for, thank Our Lady, I havenever yet been suspected or arraigned--than I myself, for my brotherbeing for long notary and secretary to the Grand Inquisitor of Seville,I have heard much. Now I must tell you, that the place of torture isgenerally an underground and very dark room, to which one enters throughseveral doors. There is a tribunal erected in it, where the Inquisitor,Inspector, and Secretary sit. When the candles are lighted, and theperson to be tortured is brought in, the executioner, who is waitingfor him, makes an astonishing and dreadful appearance. He is covered allover with black linen garments down to his feet and tied close to hisbody. His head and face are all hidden with a long black cowl, only twolittle holes being left in it for him to see through. All this isintended to strike the miserable wretch with greater terror in mind andbody, when he sees himself going to be tortured by the hands of one whothus looks like the very Devil."
Johnnie moved uneasily in his seat and struck the breech of a carronadewith his open hand. "Phew! Devil's tricks indeed," he said.
"Whilst," Don Perez went on, "whilst the officers are getting thingsready for the torture, the Bishop and Inquisitor by themselves, andother men zealous for the faith, endeavour to persuade the person to betortured freely to confess the truth, and if he will not, they order theofficers to strip him, who do it in an instant.
"Whilst the person to be tortured is stripping, he is persuaded toconfess the truth. If he refuses it, he is taken aside by certain menand urged to confess, and told by them that if he confesses he will notbe put to death, but only be made to swear that he will not return tothe heresy he hath abjured. If he is persuaded neither by threateningsnor promises to confess his crime, he is tortured either more lightly orgrievously according as his crime requires, and frequently interrogatedduring the torture upon those articles for which he is put to it,beginning with the lesser ones, because they think he would soonerconfess the lesser matters than the greater."
"Criminals are racked in England," Johnnie said, "and are flogged mostgrievously, as well they deserve, I do not doubt."
Perez chuckled. "Aye," he said, "that I well know; but you have nothingin England like the Holy Office. But let me tell you more as to the lawof it, for, as I have said, my brother was one of them."
He went on in a low regular voice, almost as if he were repeatingsomething learned by rote....
"What think you of this? The Inquisitors themselves must interrogate thecriminals during their torture, nor can they commit this business toothers unless they are engaged in other important affairs, in which casethey may depute certain skilful men for the purpose.
"Although in other nations criminals are publicly tortured, yet in Spainit is forbidden by the Royal Law for any to be present whilst they aretorturing, besides the judges, secretaries, and torturers. TheInquisitors must also choose proper torturers, born of ancientChristians, who must be bound by oath by no means to discover theirsecrets, nor to report anything that is said.
"The judges also shall protest that if the criminal should happen to dieunder his torture, or by reason of it, or should suffer the loss of anyof his limbs, it is not to be imputed to them, but to the criminalhimself, who will not plainly confess the truth before he is tortured.
"A heretic may not only be interrogated concerning himself, but ingeneral also concerning his companions and accomplices in his crime, histeachers and his disciples, for he ought to discover them, though he benot interrogated; but when he is interrogated concerning them, he ismuch more obliged to discover them than his accomplices in any other
themost grievous crimes.
"A person also suspected of heresy and fully convicted may be torturedupon another account, that is, to discover his companions andaccomplices in the crime. This must be done when he hesitates, or it ishalf fully proved, at least, that he was actually present with them, orhe hath such companions and accomplices in his crime; for in this casehe is not tortured as a criminal, but as a witness.
"But he who makes full confession of himself is not tortured upon adifferent account; whereas if he be a negative he may be tortured uponanother account, to discover his accomplices and other heretics thoughhe be full convicted himself, and it be half fully proved that he hathsuch accomplices.
"The reason of the difference in these cases is this, because he whoconfesses against himself would certainly much rather confess againstother heretics if he knew them. But it is otherwise when the criminal isa negative.
"While these things are doing, the notary writes everything down in theprocess, as what tortures were inflicted, concerning what matters theprisoner was interrogated, and what he answered.
"If by these tortures they cannot draw from him a confession, they showhim other kind of tortures, and tell him he must undergo all of them,unless he confesses the truth.
"If neither by these means they can extort the truth, they may, toterrify him and engage him to confess, assign the second or third day tocontinue, not to repeat, the torture, till he hath undergone all thosekinds of them to which he is condemned."
"It is bitter cruel," Madame La Motte said, "bitter cruel. It is nothonest torture such as we have in Paris."
Commendone shuddered. "Honest torture!" he said. "There is no torturewhich is honest, nor could be liked by Christ our Lord. I saw a saintburned to his death a few weeks agone. It taught me a lesson."
The little Spaniard tittered. "It must be! It must be!" he said; "andwho are you and I, Senor, to flout the decrees of Holy Church? Theburning doth not last for long. I have seen a many burned upon theQuemadero, and twenty minutes is the limit of their suffering. It is notso in the dungeons of the Holy Office."
"What then do they do?" Madame La Motte asked eagerly, though shetrembled as she asked it--morbid excitement alone being able to thrillher vicious, degenerate blood.
"The degrees of torture are five, which are inflicted in turn," Perezanswered briskly. "First, the being threatened to be tortured; secondly,being carried to the place of torture; thirdly, by stripping andbinding; fourthly, the being hoisted on the rack; fifthly, squassation.
"The stripping is performed without any regard to humanity or honour,not only to men, but to women and virgins, though the most virtuous andchaste, of whom they have sometimes many in their prison at Seville. Forthey cause them to be stripped even to their very shifts, which theyafterwards take off, forgive the expression, and then put on themstraight linen drawers, and then make their arms naked quite up to theirshoulders.--You ask me what is squassation?"
Nobody had asked him, but he went on:
"It is thus performed: The prisoner hath his hands bound behind his backand weights tied to his feet, and then he is drawn up on high till hishead reaches the very pulley. He is kept hanging in this manner for sometime, that by the greatness of the weight hanging at his feet, all hisjoints and limbs may be dreadfully stretched, and on a sudden he is letdown with a jerk by slacking the rope, but kept from coming quite to theground, by the which terrible shake his arms and legs are alldisjointed, whereby he is put to the most exquisite pain; the shockwhich he receives by the sudden stop of the fall, and the weight at hisfeet, stretching his whole body more intently and cruelly."
Johnnie jumped up from the deck and stretched his arms. "What fiends bethese!" he cried. "Is there no justice nor true legal process in Spain?"
"Holy Church! Holy Church, Senor!" the Don replied. "But sit you downagain. Sith you are going to Seville, as I understand you to say, let metell you what happened to a noble lady of that city, Joan Bohorquia, thewife of Francis Varquius, a very eminent man and lord of Highuera, anddaughter of Peter Garcia Xeresius, a most wealthy citizen. All this Itell you of my personal knowledge, in that my brother was acquaintedwith it all and part of the machinery of the Holy Office. And this is amost sad and pitiful story, which, Senor Englishman, you would think astory of the doings of devils from hell! But no! 'Twas all done by thepriests of Jesus our Lord; and so now to my story.
"Eight days after her delivery they took the child from her, and on thefifteenth shut her close up, and made her undergo the fate of the otherprisoners, and began to manage her with their usual arts and rigour. Inso dreadful a calamity she had only this comfort, that a certain piousyoung woman, who was afterwards burned for her religion by theInquisitors, was allowed her for her companion.
"This young creature was, on a certain day, carried out to her torture,and being returned from it into her jail, she was so shaken, and had allher limbs so miserably disjointed, that when she laid upon her bed ofrushes it rather increased her misery than gave her rest, so that shecould not turn herself without most excessive pain.
"In this condition, as Bohorquia had it not in her power to show her anyor but very little outward kindness, she endeavoured to comfort her mindwith great tenderness.
"The girl had scarce begun to recover from her torture, when Bohorquiawas carried out to the same exercise, and was tortured with suchdiabolical cruelty upon the rack, that the rope pierced and cut into thevery bones in several places, and in this manner she was brought back toprison, just ready to expire, the blood immediately running out of hermouth in great plenty. Undoubtedly they had burst her bowels, insomuchthat the eighth day after her torture she died.
"And when, after all, they could not procure sufficient evidence tocondemn her, though sought after and procured by all their inquisitorialarts, yet as the accused person was born in that place, where they wereobliged to give some account of the affair to the people, and, indeed,could not by any means dissemble it, in the first act of triumphappointed her death, they commanded her sentence to be pronounced inthese words: 'Because this lady died in prison (without doubtsuppressing the causes of it), and was found to be innocent uponinspecting and diligently examining her cause, therefore the holytribunal pronounces her free from all charges brought against her by thefiscal, and absolving her from any further process, doth restore herboth as to her innocence and reputation, and commands all her effects,which had been confiscated, to be restored to those to whom they ofright belonged, etc.' And thus, after they had murdered her by torturewith savage cruelty, they pronounced her innocent!"
"I will not go to Spain! They'll have me; they're bound to have me! Idare not go!" La Motte spluttered.
"Hush, Madame!" said Perez. "Even here on the high seas you do not knowwho hears you--there is that man...."
Again Johnnie leapt to his feet; he paced up and down the little portionof the deck between the forecastle and bowsprit.
Elizabeth was sleeping quietly down below. He had seen her father die.His mind whirled. "Jesus!" he said in a low voice, "and is this indeedThy world, when men who love Thee must die for a shadow of belief intheir worship! Surely some savage pagan god would not exact this fromhis votaries."
He swung round to Perez, still sitting upon the deck.
"And may not we love God and His Mother in Spain?" he asked, "withoutdefinitions and little tiny rules? Then, if this is so, God indeedhides His face from Christian countries."
"_Chiton!_" the Spaniard said. "Hush! if you said that, Senor, oranything like it, where you are going, you would not be twelve hours outof the prisons of the Holy Office. If that hang-faced dog who is downbelow with the mariners had heard you, you might well look to yourlanding in the dominions of his Most Catholic Majesty."
He laughed, a bitter and cynical laugh. "Well," he said, "for my part, Ishall soon be done with it. Hitherto I have been protected by mybrother, who, as I have told you, is but lately dead; but, knowing whatI know, I dare no longer remain in Spain. 'Tis a wonder to me, indeed,th
at men can go about their business under the sun in the fashion thatthey do. But I am not strong enough to endure the strain, and also Iknow more than the ordinary--I know too much. So when I have deliveredthe papers that I carry of my brother's to the authorities in Seville, Isail away. I have enough money to live in ease for the rest of my life,and in some little vineyard of the Apeninnes I shall watch my grapesripen, live a simple life, and meditate upon the ferocity of men.--Butyou have not heard all yet, Senor."
Johnnie leant against the forecastle, tall and silent in the moonlight.
"Then tell me more, Senor," he said; "it is well to know all. But"--helooked at Madame La Motte.
"_Continuez_," the old creature answered in a cracked voice; "I alsowould hear it all, if, indeed, there is worse than this."
"Worse!" Perez answered. "Let me tell you of the fate of a man I knewwell, and liked withal. He was a Jew, Senor, but nevertheless I likedhim well. We had dealings together, and I found him more honest in hiswalking than many a Christian man. Orobio was his name--Isaac Orobio,doctor of physic, who was accused to the Inquisition as a Jew by acertain Moor, his servant, who had, by his order, before this beenwhipped for thieving. Orobio conformed to religion, but the Moor accusedhim, and four years after this he was again accused by an enemy of his,for another fact which would have proved him a Jew. But Orobioobstinately denied that he was one."
"I like not Jews," Commendone said, with a little shudder, voicing thepopular hatred of the day.
"Art young, Senor," the Spaniard replied, "and doubtless thou hast notknown nor been friends with members of that oppressed race. I have knownmany, and have had sweet friends among them; and among the Ebrews are tobe found salt of the earth. But I will give you the story of Orobio'storture as I had it from his own mouth.
"After three whole years which he had been in jail, and severalexaminations, and the discovery of the crimes to him of which he wasaccused, in order to his confession and his constant denial of them, hewas, at length, carried out of his jail and through several turnings andbrought to the place of torture. This was towards evening.
"It was a large, underground room, arched, and the walls covered withblack hangings. The candlesticks were fastened to the wall, and thewhole room enlightened with candles placed in them. At one end of itthere was an enclosed place like a closet, where the Inquisitor andnotary sat at a table--that notary, Senor, was my brother. The placeseemed to Orobio as the very mansion of death, everything appearing soterrible and awful. Here the Inquisitor again admonished him to confessthe truth before his torment began.
"When he answered he had told the truth, the Inquisitor gravelyprotested that since he was so obstinate as to suffer the torture, theHoly Office would be innocent if he should shed his blood, or evenexpire in his torments. When he had said this, they put a linen garmentover Orobio's body, and drew it so very close on each side as almost tosqueeze him to death. When he was almost dying, they slackened, at once,the sides of the garment, and after he began to breathe again, thesudden alteration put him to most grievous anguish and pain. When he hadovercome this torture, the same admonition was repeated, that he wouldconfess the truth in order to prevent further torment.
"And as he persisted in his denial, they tied his thumbs so very tightlywith small cords as made the extremities of them greatly swell, andcaused the blood to spurt out from under his nails. After this, he wasplaced with his back against the wall and fixed upon a little bench.Into the wall were fastened little iron pulleys, through which therewere ropes drawn and tied round his body in several places, andespecially his arms and legs. The executioner drawing these ropes withgreat violence, fastened his body with them to the wall, so that hishands and feet, and especially his fingers and toes, being bound sostraitly with them, put him to the most exquisite pain, and seemed tohim just as though he had been dissolving in flames. In the midst ofthese torments, the torturer of a sudden drew the bench from under him,so that the miserable wretch hung by the cords without anything tosupport him, and by the weight of his body drew the knots yet muchcloser.
"After this a new kind of torture succeeded. There was an instrumentlike a small ladder, made of two upright pieces of wood and five crossones, sharpened before. This the torturer placed over against him, andby a certain proper motion struck it with great violence against bothhis shins, so that he received upon each of them, at once, five violentstrokes, which put him to such intolerable anguish that he fainted away.After he came to himself they inflicted on him the last torture.
"The torturer tied ropes round Orobio's wrists, and then put those ropesabout his own back, which was covered with leather to prevent hishurting himself. Then, falling backwards, and putting his feet upagainst the wall, he drew them with all his might till they cut throughOrobio's flesh, even to the very bones; and this torture was repeatedthrice, the ropes being tied about his arms, about the distance of twofingers' breadth from his former wound, and drawn with the sameviolence.
"But it happened to poor Orobio that as the ropes were drawing thesecond time they slid into the first wound, which caused so great aneffusion of blood that he seemed to be dying. Upon this, the physicianand surgeon, who are always ready, were sent for out of a neighbouringapartment, to ask their advice, whether the torture could be continuedwithout danger of death, lest the ecclesiastical judges should be guiltyof an irregularity if the criminal should die in his torments.
"Now they, Senor, who were very far from being enemies to Orobio,answered that he had strength enough to endure the rest of the torture.And by doing this they preserved him from having the torture he hadalready endured repeated on him, because his sentence was that he shouldsuffer them all at one time, one after another, so that if at any timethey are forced to leave off, through fear of death, the tortures, eventhose already suffered, must be successively inflicted to satisfy thesentence. Upon this the torture was repeated the third time, and thenwas ended. After this Orobio was bound up in his own clothes and carriedback to his prison, and was scarce healed of his wounds in seventydays, and inasmuch as he made no confession under his torture, he wascondemned, not as one convicted, but suspected of Judaism, to wear fortwo whole years the infamous habit called the _sanbenito_, and it wasfurther decreed that after that term he should suffer perpetualbanishment from the kingdom of Seville."
The Frenchwoman, who had been listening with strained attention, brokein suddenly. "_Nom de Dieu!_" she cried; "to be banished from therewould surely be like entering into paradise!"
Perez went on. He took a morbid pleasure in the telling of these hideoustruths. It was obvious that he had long suffered mentally under theobsession that some day some such horrors might happen to himself.Connected with it all by family ties, absolutely unable to say a wordfor many years, now, under the sweet skies of heaven, in the calm andsplendid night, he was disemburdening himself of that which had beenpent within him for so long.
He seemed impatient of interruption, anxious to say more....
"Ah," he whispered, "but the _Tormento di Toca_, that is the worst, thatwould frighten me more than all--that, the _Chafing-dish_, and the_Water-Cure_. The _Tormento di Toca_ is that the torturer--that fellowdown there with the sailors has doubtless performed it full many atime--the torturer throws over the victim's mouth and nostrils a thincloth, so that he is scarce able to breathe through it, and in themeanwhile a small stream of water, like a thread, not drop by drop,falls from on high upon the mouth of the person lying in this miserablecondition, and so easily sinks down the thin cloth to the bottom of histhroat, so that there is no possibility of breathing, the mouth beingstopped with water, and his nostrils with the cloth, so that the poorwretch is in the same agony as persons ready to die, and breathing outtheir last. When the cloth is drawn out of his throat, as it often is,that he may answer to the questions, it is all wet with water and blood,and is like pulling his bowels through his mouth."
"What is the _Chafing-dish_?" Madame La Motte asked thinly.
"They order a large iron chaf
ing-dish full of lighted charcoal to bebrought in and held close to the soles of the tortured person's feet,greased over with lard, so that the heat of the fire may more quicklypierce through them. And as for the _Water-Cure_, it was done to WilliamLithgow, an Englishman, Senor, upon whom my brother saw it performed. Hewas taken up as a spy in Malaga, and was exposed to most cruel tormentsas an heretic. He was condemned in the beginning of Lent to suffer thenight following eleven most cruel torments, and after Easter to becarried privately to Granada, there to be burned at midnight, and hisashes to be scattered into the air. When night came on his fetters weretaken off. Then he was stripped naked, put upon his knees, and his headlifted up by force, after which, opening his mouth with ironinstruments, they filled his belly with water till it came out of hisjaws. Then they tied a rope hard about his neck, and in this conditionrolled him seven times the whole length of the room, till he almostquite strangled. After this they tied a small cord about both his greattoes, and hung him up thereby with his head down, letting him remain inthis condition till the water discharged out of his mouth, so that hewas laid on the ground as just dead, and had his irons put on himagain."
"Is this true, Senor?" Commendone asked in a low voice; but even whilehe asked it he knew how true it was--had he not seen Dr. Taylor beatento the stake?
"True, Senor?" the little man said. "You do not doubt my word? I see youdo not. It was but a natural expression. You are fortunate to be acitizen of England--a citizen of no mean country--but still, as I haveheard, now that His Most Catholic Majesty is wedded to your kingdomthere are many burnings."
"At any rate," Johnnie answered hotly, "we have no Holy Office."
"Aye, but you will, Senor, you _will_! if the Queen Maria liveth longenough, for they tell me she is sickly, and not like to make a goodlyage. But still, to come from England is most deadly unwise, and I cannotthink why a _caballero_ should care to do so."
Johnnie did not answer him for a moment. He knew very well why he hadcared, or dared, to do so. He looked at Madame La Motte with a grimlittle smile.
The woman took him on the instant.
"A chevalier, such as Monsieur here, hath his own reasons for where hegoes and what he does," she said. "Take not upon you, Monsieur Perez, toenquire too much...."
Johnnie stopped her with a sudden exclamation.
"But touching the Holy Office, Senor," he said, "what you have told meis all very well. I am a good Catholic, I trust and hope; but surelythese circumstances are very occasional. You describe things which havedoubtless happened, but not things which happen every day. It isimpossible to believe that this is a system."
"Think you so?" said the little man. "Then I will very soon disabuse youof any such idea. I have papers in my mails, papers of my brother's,which--why, who comes here?"
His voice died away into silence, as round the other side of the woodentower of the forecastle--with which all big merchantmen were provided inthose days for defence against the enterprise of pirates--a blackshadow, followed by a short, thick-set form, came into their view.
Johnnie recognised Hull.
"I thought you had been asleep," he said, "but thou art very welcome. Weare talking of grave matters dealing with the foreign parts to which wego, and the Senor Don here hath been telling us much. Still, thouwouldst not have understood hadst thou been with us, for Don Perezspeaks naught but the Spanish and the French."
The little Spaniard, standing up against the bulwarks, looked uneasilytowards Commendone and his servant, comprehending nothing of what wassaid.
"This man is safe?" he asked in a trembling voice.
"Safe!" Johnnie answered. "This is my faithful servant, who would diefor me and the lady who is sleeping below."
A freakish humour possessed him, a bitter, freakish humour, in thisfantastic, brilliant moonlight, this ironic comedy upon thesouthern-growing seas.
"Take him by the hand, Senor," he said in Spanish, "take him by hisgreat, strong right hand, for I'll wager you will not easily shake ahand so honest in the dominions of the King of Spain to which we sail."
The little man looked round him as if in fear. There was an obvioussuggestion in his eyes and face that he was somehow trapped.
"Hold out thy hand, John Hull, and shake that of this honest gentleman,"Johnnie said.
The big brown hand of the Englishman went out, the little yellow fingersof the Spaniard advanced tentatively towards it.
They shook hands.
Johnnie watched it with amusement. These dreadful stories of unthinkablecruelty had stirred up something within him. He was not cruel, but verytender-hearted, yet this little play upon the doubting Spaniard waswelcome and fitted in with his mood.
Then he saw an astonishing thing, and one which he could not explain.
The two men, the huge, squat John Hull of Suffolk, the little weazenedgentleman from Lisbon, shook hands, looked at each other earnestly inthe face, and then, wonder of wonders, linked arms, turned their backsupon Johnnie and the sleepy old Frenchwoman by the carronade, and spokeearnestly to each other for a moment.
Their forms were silhouetted against the silver sea. There was aninexplicable motion of arms, a word whispered and a word exchanged, andthen Don Perez wheeled round.
In the moonlight and the glimmer from the lantern on the forecastle,Johnnie saw that his face, which had been twitching with anxiety, wasnow absolutely at rest. It was radiant even, excited, pleased--it worethe aspect of one alone among enemies who had found a friend.
"'Tis all right, Senor," Perez said. "I will go and fetch you the papersof which I spoke. You may command me in any way now. You are notyourself--by any chance...."
John Hull shook his head violently, and the little Spaniard skipped awaywith a chuckle.
"What is this?" John Commendone asked. "How have you made quick friendswith the Don? What is't--art magic, or what?"
"'Tis nothing, sir," Hull answered, with some embarrassment, "'tis butthe Craft."
"The Craft?" Johnnie asked. "And what may that be?"
"We're brethren, this man and I," Hull answered; "we're of theFreemasons, and that is why, master."
Johnnie nodded. He said no more. The whole thing was inexplicable tohim. He knew, of course, of the Freemasons, that such a society existed,but no evidence of it had ever come to his knowledge before this night.The persecution of Freemasonry which was to ensue in Queen Elizabeth'sreign was not yet, and the Brethren were a very hidden people in 1555.
There was a patter of feet upon the ladder leading up to theforecastle-deck. Perez appeared again with a bundle of papers in hishand.
"Now, then, Senor," he said, "you shall see if this of which I have toldyou is a _system_ or is not. These are documents, forms, belonging to mybrother's business as Notary of the Holy Office. Thus thou wilt see."
He handed a piece of parchment, printed parchment, to Commendone.
Johnnie held it up under the light of the lantern, and read it, with achilling of the blood.
It was "The Proper Form of Torture for Women," and it was one of manyforms left blank for convenience to record the various steps.
As he glanced through it, his lips grew dry, his eyes, straining in thehalf-sufficient light, seemed to burn.
There was something peculiarly terrible in the very omission of aspecial name, and the consequent thought of the number of wretches whosevain words and torments had been recorded upon forms like this--and wereyet to be recorded--froze the young man into a still figure of horrorand of silence.
And this is what he read:
"_She was told to tell the truth, or orders would be given to strip her. She said, etc. She was commanded to be stripped naked._
"_She was told to tell the truth, or orders would be given to cut off her hair. She said, etc._
"_Orders were given to cut of her hair; and when it was taken off she was examined by the doctor and surgeon, who said there was not any objection to her being put to the torture._
"_She was told to tell the truth or she would be commanded to mount the rack. She said, etc._
"_She was commanded to mount, and she said, etc._
"_She was told to tell the truth, or her body would be bound. She said, etc. She was ordered to be bound._
"_She was told to tell the truth, or, if not, they would order her right foot to be made fast for the trampazo. She said, etc. They commanded it to be made fast._
"_She was told to tell the truth, or they would command her left foot to be made fast for the trampazo. She said, etc. They commanded it to be made fast. She said, etc. It was ordered to be done._
"_She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the binding of the right arm to be stretched. She said, etc. It was commanded to be done. And the same with the left arm. It was ordered to be executed._
"_She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the fleshy part of her right arm to be made fast for the garrote. She said, etc. It was ordered to be made fast._
"_And by the said lord inquisitor, it was repeated to her many times, that she should tell the truth, and not let herself be brought into so great torment; and the physician and surgeon were called in, who said, etc. And the criminal, etc. And orders were given to make it fast._
"_She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the first turn of mancuerda. She said, etc. It was commanded to be done._
"_She was told to tell the truth, or they would command the garrote to be applied again to the right arm. She said, etc. It was ordered to be done._
"_She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the second turn of mancuerda. She said, etc. It was commanded to be done._
"_She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the garrote to be applied again to the left arm. She said, etc. It was ordered to be done._
"_She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the third turn of mancuerda. She said, etc. It was commanded to be done._
"_She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the trampazo to be laid on the right foot. She said, etc. It was commanded to be done._
"_For women you do not go beyond this._"
Johnnie finished his reading. Then he tore it up into four pieces andflung it out upon the starboard bow.
The yellow parchment fluttered over Madame La Motte's head like greatmoonlit moths.
Then he turned and stared at Don Pedro, almost as if he would havesprung at him.
"'Tis nothing of mine, Senor," the little man said. "You asked me totell you, and that I have done. I am no enemy of yours, so look not atme in that way. Here"--he put his hand out and touched John Hull--"hereI have a very worthy brother, eke a Master of mine, who will answer forme in all that I do."
The old Frenchwoman began to gather her vast bulk together to descendinto the cabin for sleep.
Johnnie helped her to her feet, and as he did so a sweet tenor voiceshivered out beneath the bellying sails, and there was the thrid of alute accompanying it:
"_I sail, I sail the Spanish seas, Hey ho, in the sun and the cloud To bring fair ladies Wool to Cadiz, To deck their bodies that are so proud, In the ship of St. James a mariner I_"....
Suddenly the voice of the singer ceased, shut off into silence.
There was a half-frightened shout, a flapping of the sails as thesquare-rigged ship fell out of the night wind for a moment, and then aclamour of loud voices.
"Over the side! Over the side! The man from Lisbon's gone."
Johnnie had jumped to the port taffrail at the noise, and he saw whathad happened. He saw the whole of it quite distinctly. A long, lithefigure had been balancing itself upon the bulwarks, giving its body tothe gentle motion of the ship.
Suddenly it fell backwards, there was a resounding splash in the quietsea, and something black was struggling and threshing in a pool ofsilver water. From the sea came a loud cry--"_Socorro! Socorro!_"
From the time the splash was heard and the cry came up to the forecastlethe ship had slipped a hundred yards through the still waters.
Johnnie jumped up upon the bulwarks, held his hands above his head for amoment, judged his distance--ships were not high out of the water inthat day--and dived into the phosphorescent sea.
He was lightly clad, and he swam strongly, with the long left-armoverhand stroke--conquering an element with joy in the doing of it--gladto be in wild and furious action, happy to throw off the oppression ofthe dreadful things which the little Spaniard had droned upon the deck.He got up to the man easily enough, circled round him, as he rosesplashing for the third time, and caught him under the arm-pits, lyingon his back with the other above him.
The man began to struggle, trying to turn and grip.
Johnnie raised his head a little from the water, sinking as he did so,and pulling down the other also, and shouted a Spanish curse into hisear.
"Be quiet," he said; "lie still! If you don't I'll drown you!"
Commendone was a good swimmer. He had swam and dived in the lake atCommendone since he was a boy. He knew now exactly what to do, and hisvoice, though half-strangled with the salt water, and his grip of thedrowning man's arm-pits had their effect.
There was a half-choked, "_Si, Senor_," and in twenty to thirty secondsJohnnie lay back in the warm water of the Atlantic, knowing that for afew minutes, at any rate, he could support the man he had come to save.
It was curious that at this moment he felt no fear or alarm whatever.His whole mind was directed towards one thing--that the man he had divedto rescue would keep still. His mouth and nose were just out of thewater, when suddenly there came into his mind the catch of an old song.
He heard again the high, delicate notes of the Queen's lute--"_Time hathto siluer turn'd_...."
Hardly knowing what he did, he even laughed with pleasure at the memory.
As that was heard, a strong, lusty voice came to him.
"I'm here, master, I'm here! We shall not be long now. Ah--ah-h-h!"
Hull, blowing like a grampus, had swam up to them.
"I'll take him, master," he said; "do you rest for a moment. They'llhave us out of this 'fore long."
There were no life-belts invented in those days, and to lower a boatfrom the ship was long in doing. But the _St. Iago_ was brought up withall sails standing, the boat at the stern was let down most gingerlyinto the sea, and four mariners rowed towards the swimming men. It wasnear twenty minutes before Hull and Commendone heard the chunk of theoars in the rowlocks. But they heard it at last. The tub-like galleyshadowed them, there was a loud cry of welcome and relief, and then thetwo men, still grasping the inert figure of him who had fallenoverboard, caught hold of the stern of the boat. Willing hands hauledthe half-drowned man into the boat. Johnnie and Hull clambered over thebroad stern, sat down amid-ships, and shook themselves.
The moonlight was still extraordinarily powerful, and gave a fallen dayto this southern world.
As Commendone shot the water out of his ears, he looked upon the limp,prone figure of the man he had rescued.
"_Dame!_" he cried; "it is the torturer that we've been overboard for.Pity we didn't let him drown."
John Hull had turned the figure of the Spaniard upon its stomach and wasworking vigorously at the arms, using them like pump-handles, as thesailors got their oars into the rowlocks again, and pulled back towardsthe shivering, silver ship near quarter of a mile away.
"I'll bring the life back to him, master," said John Hull. "He's warmnow--there! He's vomited a pint or more of sea-water as I speak."
"I doubt he was worth saving," Johnnie said in a low voice to hisservant's ear. "Still, he is saved, and I suppose a man like this hath asoul?"
Hull looked at Commendone in surprise. He knew nothing about the manthey had rescued; he could not understand why his master spoke in thisway.
But with his usual dog-like fidelity he nodded an assent, though he didnot cease the pumping motion of the half-drowned man's arms.
"Perhaps he hath no soul, master," Hull said, "you know better than I.At any rate, we have got him out of this here sea, and so praise God Whohath given us the sturdiness to do it."
Commendone looked at his henchman and then at the slowly revivingSpaniard.
"Amen," he said.