CHAPTER XII
AT THE YEW-TREE
All the common-sense of England, more abundant in those days than now,felt that the war had not been fought out, and the way to the lap ofpeace could only be won by vigorous use of the arms. Some few therewere even then, as now there is a cackling multitude, besotted enough tobelieve that facts can be undone by blinking them. But our forefatherson the whole were wise, and knew that nothing is trampled more baselythan right that will not right itself.
Therefore they set their faces hard, and toughened their hearts likeknotted oak, against all that man could do to them. There were nomagnificent proclamations, no big vaunts of victory at the bucklingon of armour, but the quiet strength of steadfast wills, and the sternresolve to strike when stricken, and try to last the longest. And sotheir mother-land became the mother of men and freedom.
In November, 1802, the speech from the throne apprised the world thatEngland was preparing. The widest, longest, and deadliest war, since thedate of gunpowder, was lowering; and the hearts of all who loved theirkin were heavy, but found no help for it.
The sermon which Mr. Twemlow preached in Springhaven church wasmagnificent. Some parishioners, keeping memory more alert thanconscience, declared that they had received it all nine, or it might beten, years since, when the fighting first was called for. If so, thatproved it none the worse, but themselves, for again requiring it. TheirRector told them that they thought too much of their own flesh-pots andfish-kettles, and their country might go to the bottom of the sea, if itleft them their own fishing-grounds. And he said that they would wake upsome day and find themselves turned into Frenchmen, for all things werepossible with the Lord; and then they might smite their breasts, butmust confess that they had deserved it. Neither would years of prayerand fasting fetch them back into decent Englishmen; the abomination ofdesolation would be set up over their doorways, and the scarlet woman ofBabylon would revel in their sanctuaries.
"Now don't let none of us be in no hurry," Captain Tugwell said, afterdwelling and sleeping upon this form of doctrine; "a man knoweth his owntrade the best, the very same way as the parson doth. And I never knewno good to come of any hurry. Our lives are given us by the Lord. And Henever would 'a made 'em threescore and ten, or for men of any strengthfourscore, if His will had been to jerk us over them. Never did I see noFrenchman as could be turned to an Englishman, not if he was to fast andpray all day, and cut himself with knives at the going down of the sun.My opinion is that Parson Twemlow were touched up by his own consciencefor having a nephew more French than English; and 'Caryl Carne' is thename thereof, with more French than English sound to it."
"Why, he have been gone for years and years," said the landlord of theDarling Arms, where the village was holding council; "he have neverbeen seen in these parts since the death of the last Squire Carne, to myknowledge."
"And what did the old Squire die of, John Prater? Not that he were to becalled old--younger, I dare say, than I be now. What did he die of, butmarrying with a long outlandish 'ooman? A femmel as couldn't speak aword of English, to be anyhow sure of her meaning! Ah, them was badtimes at Carne Castle; and as nice a place as need be then, until theydipped the property. Six grey horses they were used to go with to LondonParliament every year, before the last Squire come of age, as I haveheered my father say scores of times, and no lie ever come from hismouth, no more than it could from mine, almost. Then they dropped tofour, and then to two, and pretended that the roads were easier."
"When I was down the coast, last week, so far as Littlehampton," saida stout young man in the corner, "a very coorous thing happened me,leastways by my own opinion, and glad shall I be to have the judgmentof Cappen Zeb consarning it. There come in there a queer-rigged craftof some sixty ton from Halvers, desiring to set up trade again, or to dosome smoogling, or spying perhaps. Her name was the Doctor Humm, whichseem a great favorite with they Crappos, and her skipper had a queername too, as if he was two men in one, for he called himself 'Jacks'; afellow about forty year old, as I hauled out of the sea with a boat-hookone night on the Varners. Well, he seemed to think a good deal of that,though contrary to their nature, and nothing would do but I must go tobe fated with him everywhere, if the folk would change his money. He hadpicked up a decent bit of talk from shipping in the oyster line beforethe war; and I put his lingo into order for him, for which he was verythankful."
"And so he was bound to be. But you had no call to do it, CharleyBowles." Captain Tugwell spoke severely, and the young man felt that hewas wrong, for the elders shook their heads at him, as a traitor to theEnglish language.
"Well, main likely, I went amiss. But he seemed to take it so uncommonkind of me hitching him with a boat-hook, that we got on togetherwonderful, and he called me 'Friar Sharley,' and he tried to take upwith our manners and customs; but his head was outlandish for Englishgrog. One night he was three sheets in the wind, at a snug little cribby the river, and he took to the brag as is born with them. 'All discontray in one year now,' says he, nodding over his glass at me, 'shallbe of the grand nashong, and I will make a great man of you, FriarSharley. Do you know what prawns are, my good friend?' Well, I said Ihad caught a good many in my time; but he laughed and said, 'Prawns willcatch you this time. One tousand prawns, all with two hondred men insidehim, and the leetle prawns will come to land at your house, Sharley.Bootiful place, quiet sea, no bad rocks. You look out in the morning,and the white coast is made black with them.' Now what do you say tothat, Cappen Tugwell?"
"I've a-heered that style of talk many times afore," Master Tugwellanswered, solidly; "and all I can say is that I should have punched hishead. And you deserve the same thing, Charley Bowles, unless you've gotmore than that to tell us."
"So I might, Cappen, and I won't deny you there. But the discourse wereconsarning Squire Carne now just, and the troubles he fell into, beforeI was come to my judgment yet. Why, an uncle of mine served footmanthere--Jeremiah Bowles, known to every one, until he was no more heardof."
Nods of assent to the fame of Jeremiah encouraged the stout young man inhis tale, and a wedge of tobacco rekindled him.
"Yes, it were a coorous thing indeed, and coorous for me to hear of it,out of all mast-head of Springhaven. Says Moosoo Jacks to me, that nightwhen I boused him up unpretending: 'You keep your feather eye open, mytear,' for such was his way of pronouncing it, 'and you shall arrive tolaglore, laglore--and what is still nobler, de monnay. In one two treemonth, you shall see a young captain returned to his contray dominion,and then you will go to his side and say Jacks, and he will make presentto you a sack of silver.' Well, I hailed the chance of this prettysmart, you may suppose, and I asked him what the sailor's name would be,and surprised I was when he answered Carne, or Carny, for he gave it intwo syllables. Next morning's tide, the Doctor Humm cleared out, and Ihad no other chance of discourse with Moosoo Jacks. But I want to knowwhat you think, Cappen Zeb."
"So you shall," said the captain of Springhaven, sternly. "I thinkyou had better call your Moosoo Jacks 'Master Jackass,' or 'MasterJackanapes,' and put your own name on the back of him. You been with aFrenchman hob and nobbing, and you don't even know how they pronouncethemselves, unchristian as it is to do so. 'Jarks' were his name, thevery same as Navy beef, and a common one in that country. But to speakof any Carne coming nigh us with French plottings, and of prawns landinghere at Springhaven--'tis as likely as I should drop French money intothe till of this baccy-box. And you can see that I be not going to playsuch a trick as that, John Prater."
"Why to my mind there never was bigger stuff talked," the landlord spokeout, without fear of offence, for there was no other sign-board withinthree miles, "than to carry on in that way, Charley. What they may doat Littlehampton is beyond my knowledge, never having kept a snug cribthere, as you was pleased to call it. But at Springhaven 'twould be thewrong place for hatching of French treacheries. We all know one anothera deal too well for that, I hope."
"Prater, you are right," exclaimed Mr. Cheeseman, o
wner of the main shopin the village, and universally respected. "Bowles, you must have animagination the same as your uncle Jerry had. And to speak of the Carnesin a light way of talking, after all their misfortunes, is terrible.Why, I passed the old castle one night last week, with the moon to oneside of it, and only me in my one-horse shay to the other, and none buta man with a first-rate conscience would have had the stomach to do so.However, I seed no ghosts that time, though I did hear some noises asmade me use the whip; and the swing of the ivy was black as a hearse. Alittle drop more of my own rum, John: it gives me quite a chill to thinkof it."
"I don't take much account of what people say," Harry Shanks, who had adeep clear voice, observed, "without it is in my own family. But myown cousin Bob was coming home one night from a bit of sweethearting atPebbleridge, when, to save the risk of rabbit-holes in the dark, for heput out his knee-cap one time, what does he do but take the path inlandthrough the wood below Carne Castle--the opposite side to where youwas, Master Cheeseman, and the same side as the moon would be, only shewasn't up that night. Well, he had some misgivings, as anybody must;still he pushed along, whistling and swinging his stick, and saying tohimself that there was no such thing as cowardice in our family;till just at the corner where the big yew-tree is, that we sometimesstarboard helm by when the tide is making with a nor'west wind; thereBob seed a sight as made his hair crawl. But I won't say another wordabout it now, and have to go home in the dark by myself arter'ards."
"Come, now, Harry!" "Oh, we can't stand that!" "We'll see you to yourdoor, lad, if you out with it, fair and forcible."
Of these and other exhortations Harry took no notice, but folded hisarms across his breast, and gazed at something which his mind presented.
"Harry Shanks, you will have the manners"--Captain Tugwell spokeimpressively, not for his own sake, for he knew the tale, and had beenconsulted about it, but from sense of public dignity--"to finish thestory which you began. To begin a yarn of your own accord, and thendrop it all of a heap, is not respectful to present company. Springhavennever did allow such tricks, and will not put up with them from anyyoung fellow. If your meaning was to drop it, you should never havebegun."
Glasses and even pipes rang sharply upon the old oak table in applauseof this British sentiment, and the young man, with a sheepish look,submitted to the voice of the public.
"Well, then, all of you know where the big yew-tree stands, at the breakof the hill about half a mile inland, and how black it looms among theother stuff. But Bob, with his sweetheart in his head, no doubt, wasthat full of courage that he forgot all about the old tree, and themurder done inside it a hundred and twenty years ago, they say, untilthere it was, over his head a'most, with the gaps in it staring likeribs at him. 'Bout ship was the word, pretty sharp, you may be sure,when he come to his wits consarning it, and the purse of his lips, aswas whistling a jig, went as dry as a bag with the bottom out. Throughthe grey of the night there was sounds coming to him, such as had noright to be in the air, and a sort of a shiver laid hold of his heart,like a cold hand flung over his shoulder. As hard as he could lay footto the ground, away he went down hill, forgetting of his kneecap, forsuch was the condition of his mind and body.
"You must understand, mates, that he hadn't seen nothing to skeer him,but only heard sounds, which come into his ears to make his hair rise;and his mind might have put into them more than there was, for the wantof intarpreting. Perhaps this come across him, as soon as he felt ata better distance with his wind short; anyhow, he brought up again'a piece of rock-stuff in a hollow of the ground, and begun to lookskeerily backward. For a bit of a while there was nothing to distemperhim, only the dark of the hill and the trees, and the grey lighta-coming from the sea in front. But just as he were beginning for tocall himself a fool, and to pick himself onto his legs for trudginghome, he seed a thing as skeered him worse than ever, and fetched himflat upon his lower end.
"From the black of the yew-tree there burst a big light, brighter thana lighthouse or a blue thunder-bolt, and flying with a long streak downthe hollow, just as if all the world was a-blazing. Three times it come,with three different colours, first blue, and then white, and thenred as new blood; and poor Bob was in a condition of mind must be seenbefore saying more of it. If he had been brought up to follow the sea,instead of the shoemaking, maybe his wits would have been more abouthim, and the narves of his symptom more ship-shape. But it never wasborne into his mind whatever, to keep a lookout upon the offing, noreven to lie snug in the ferns and watch the yew-tree. All he was upfor was to make all sail, the moment his sticks would carry it; and hefeared to go nigh his sweetheart any more, till she took up with anotherfellow."
"And sarve him quite right," was the judgment of the room, in highfettle with hot rum and water; "to be skeered of his life by asmuggler's signal! Eh, Cappen Zebedee, you know that were it?"
But the captain of Springhaven shook his head.