CHAPTER XVIII.
DRUSILLA'S LETTER.
On the morning following the arrival of the ships, boats were sentshoreward for water and for shingle. The shingle was required forballast, the old and polluted ballast having been cast overboard in theendeavour to clear the vessels of the infection.
Jacob Hartop was in charge of one of the boats from the _Revenge_, andall through the day he laboured in the heat of the sun with his men,shovelling shingle into his boat and making trip after trip between theshore and the ship. When he landed on his second trip he sought outGilbert Oglander.
Gilbert looked very different now from the gaily-apparelled lad who hadgone on board the vice-admiral's ship at Plymouth in the earlyspring-time. His face was burned to a rich ruddy brown; his clothes weresoiled and ragged, the gilt lace trimmings tarnished; the feathers hadbeen torn from his cap, which was now but a sorry covering for hislong-grown hair. Like all his companions, he had, for reasons of economyas much as for those of comfort and convenience, altogether abandonedhis boots, and his bare feet, like his face and hands and arms, were assunburnt as those of a Sicilian fisherman. He was kneeling in the shadeof a large spreading date-palm, peeling a ripe orange for Red Bob, whenJacob Hartop approached him. He glanced up and nodded to the oldbuccaneer, smiled in greeting, and proceeded to divide the orange intoliths, handing them one by one to his patient.
Jacob sat down on the soft warm sand and watched the lad for a fewmoments in silence.
"Art weary, Jacob?" asked Gilbert, hearing the old man's heavybreathing.
"Ay, weary of waiting for the Dons," answered Jacob, bending over andtaking up a handful of the sand and letting it slowly stream out againbetween his gnarled fingers. Then presently he added: "Thou hast heardof the coming of the two ships from home,--eh, Master Gilbert?"
"Yes," returned Gilbert, wiping his hot brow with the back of his hand."Phew! Would that they had brought a few hogsheads of our Devonshirecider with them. But that were too much to expect, methinks." He rose tohis feet and stood beside Jacob, with his hands lightly clasped behindhis back, and gazed out upon the sea towards where the little _Revenge_rode at anchor. "Hast heard aught of their news, Master Hartop?" heasked.
Hartop shook his head.
"Naught to speak of," he answered. "It seemeth that Sir Francis Drakehath been summoned to Her Majesty's court, where he is in great favour,and that Sir Walter Raleigh hath fallen into disgrace; but more thanthis I have heard nothing. It may be, however, that thou'lt learn morefrom the letter that I bring thee," he added, thrusting his hand intohis doublet. "Sir Richard bade me give it thee, saying as he handed itunto me, 'Tell Master Oglander that I would willingly have kept theletter myself, for that by the superscription I do judge it to be amessage from my little sweetheart Drusilla'."
Gilbert fairly leapt at the letter when it was produced.
"It is! It is from Drusilla!" he cried, as he glanced at his name uponit. "'Twas she indeed that writ it!" Whereupon he pressed the missive tohis lips, glanced at it yet again, and then exclaimed; "Only to thinkon't, Jacob! Is't not truly passing strange that my sister had this inher hand--ay, and haply kissed it as I do now--scarcely a month ago!"He was about to break the seal, but he forebore. "Nay," he said, "I willnot read it now. Let me wait until the joy of receiving it hath abated;"and kissing it again he thrust it securely under his belt and went oncemore among the sick men, attending to their wants, and giving them suchcheer as they had not known for many a day.
In the afternoon, when most of the invalids were asleep, Gilbert escapedfrom the beach and climbed the high bank of land to the level groundabove, where the olive-trees grew. He perched himself upon one of thelower boughs of one of the largest of the trees, and, resting his backagainst the main trunk, took out his letter.
It had been written, not at Modbury Manor but at Willoughby Grange, theDevonshire seat of Sir Lester Willoughby. Gilbert read it slowly,dwelling on each word with fond interest.
Writ at Willoughby Grange, in the County ofDevon, the 5th day of August, 1591.
_I know not, dear my brother Gilbert, if this letter will ever reach thee, but Master Christopher Pym hath but now ridden hence from Plymouth to tell me that the good ship "Barbara Jane" is being fitted to sail to the Western Isles with victuals for the Lord Thomas Howard his fleet, and to bid me write to thee in the hope that if thou art alive (as I pray God thou be) thou shall know hereby the things which have befallen us in thy so long absence, and of how Jasper Oglander hath proved himself to be a most iniquitous person with no good in him, who hath been secretly working to the ruination of our home and family, to the uttermost grief and distress of our saintly mother._
_These things I must confide to thee, dear Gilbert, even in the order in which they happened; for 'tis meet that thou shouldst know them at the soonest possible time, so that thou mayest come back to us, if haply thou canst, and aid us in our tribulation. Yet even now, as I do indite these lines, I can scarce put the matter in its true order, so much confused am I in mind concerning all that hath disturbed our happiness, and so greatly do I fear (despite Master Pym's assurances) that thou art indeed and in truth dead and gone, as Jasper hath so positively averred. Of this terrible report of thine untimely death, we have no assurance either of truth or of disproof, and can only devoutly pray (as we do daily and nightly pray) that 'tis yet another of Jasper Oglander's evil and wicked falsehoods, set forth to gain his own advantage and advancement. But alas! I much fear me that I shall never, never see thee again, and that thou art, as the letter said, no more in this world._
_We were concerned (as thou knowest) about the strange absence of cousin Philip. It was said by his father that he had gone on horseback upon a journey of pleasure into the country. But this report hath been proved false, utterly false. Philip is even at this present time abroad in Spain, working in league with our country's enemies. We learnt it at the time of our dear grandfather's sudden death--_
Gilbert started back in amazement as he read these last words, almostfalling from his seat on the olive-tree.
"Grandfather's death!" he cried aghast, dropping the letter on his lap.And then, as in a flash, his thoughts sped back to the time of hisleaving Plymouth and the sight of the flag flying at half-mast on thetowers of Modbury Manor. "_Grandfather's sudden death!_" he repeated,and for many minutes his brain seemed to be stunned by the news. Histear-filled eyes wandered eastward across the broad blue sea. Far awayin the mid-distance between him and the clear horizon he saw, almostunconsciously, a little ship ploughing her way under full sail onward inthe direction of Flores. At any other time and in a different mood thesight of that ship, where ships were so seldom to be seen, would havearoused in him a keen concern. But now he gave it only an instant'sthought, and turned to continue the reading of Drusilla's letter.
_We learnt it at the time of our dear grandfather's sudden death, which befell within an hour after thou hadst gone off to join the "Revenge". A messenger had ridden in hot haste to the manor, bearing a letter for grandfather. What the letter contained and whence it had come we knew not; nor could it be found anywhere in the library. But later, when, at the instance of our mother, Jasper took horse for Plymouth to warn thee of what had happened and bring thee back if there were yet time, Christopher Pym came within to our mother and handed her the letter, saying that he had discovered it at the spot where uncle Jasper had mounted his horse, and declaring that the letter had fallen from Jasper's belt. The letter was from Master Peter Trollope in Plymouth, and it told that both Jasper and Philip Oglander were traitors; that it was they who had contrived the escape of the Spanish prisoners of war, and that Philip Oglander had sailed with them for Spain in the ship "Pearl", which Jasper had purchased, from Sir Walter Raleigh out of money stolen, on the nigh
t ye wot of, from poor old Jacob Hartop._
_Master Pym hath always held to the belief that 'twas the shock of reading this letter that brought about my Lord Champernoun's death._
_Greatly were we all concerned when we heard that the "Revenge" had set sail, and that thou hadst departed in her. 'Tis hard to believe, but Master Pym doth continually aver that Jasper (although 'tis certain he had ample time to warn thee) purposely held back from seeing thee or telling thee of my lord's death, desiring that thou shouldst quit the country in ignorance and run the risk of death by battle or storm, rather than that thou shouldst return home to thy rightful heritage, and so deprive him of his heart's desire. For it is now manifest to us all that Jasper, even from the first moment of his landing in Plymouth, hath been scheming and planning how he might cheat thee of thy rights, and become himself the Baron Champernoun and the owner of Modbury Manor and all the family estates._
_And he hath now gained his wish: whether honestly or not can only depend upon whether thou art still alive. At the first he affected to sorrow over thine absence, speaking of thee as "Lord Champernoun" and "his lordship, my dear nephew", and the like. But on a day in the month of May he returned from Plymouth town in great haste and seeming grief, and when his wife, Donna Lela, besought him to tell her wherefore he wore a so doleful countenance, he produced a letter. "'Tis for this that I mourn," said he with a great sorrowful sigh, as he handed the letter to our mother. "'Tis a letter newly come from Sir Richard Grenville," said he. "Read it, good my sister, and God give thee strength to bear its terrible news." And ere mother had read beyond a dozen of the written lines she uttered a scream that might have been heard in the buttery, and fell back in her chair crying, "Oh! my son, my dear son! dead! dead! dead!" And Christopher Pym, seeing that her eyes were flooded with tears ere yet she would read the letter to its end, rose from the supper-table where we all were, and, said he, "I pray you, my lady, let me read you the letter;" and she gave it unto him, and he read it aloud so that all could hear. It told of a great storm that my lord Thomas Howard his fleet had encountered in the Bay of Biscay, and of how the "Revenge" in particular had been sorely buffeted by the mountainous waves, and of how one great wave, sweeping over her decks, had carried off many gallant men, and among them Master Gilbert Oglander._
_When Master Pym came to the end and read the name of Richard Grenville, his eyes darted across the table to Jasper Oglander, and the look that Jasper returned to him was dreadful to behold. Master Pym with no more ado went round to where Jasper sat and touched him on the shoulder, and presently Jasper rose and they quitted the room together. We knew not what their intent might be, but 'tis certain that they quarrelled, and 'tis certain that from that day to this good Master Christopher Pym hath never set foot in Modbury Manor._
_Now it was not many days thereafter that Jasper began to show by his bearing the thing that was in his mind. He bade all the servants and household address him and speak of him as "my lord", he signed his letters "Champernoun", and if Parliament had been in session, I doubt not that he would have hastened to take his seat in the House of Peers. He gave orders for many changes in the manor-house, he commanded the foresters to hew down our best and bravest oak-trees in the park, and he sold the timber to the shipwrights with which to build ships withal. But more unhappy than all else was his overbearing manner towards our mother. He treated her as though she had no right to remain under the roof, and his Papist wife, whom (as Master Pym hath told me) he had brought over from some hovel in Honduras, was thrust into our mother's place as Lady Champernoun._
_Thou canst well understand, dear my brother, how grieved was our mother at all this. She lingered not longer in the place than was barely needful to gather her own personal possessions together, and then, carrying me with her, she set off to Willoughby Grange, where we now are._
_'Twas but this morning (as I have said) that Master Christopher Pym came hither with word that the "Barbara Jane" is about to sail for the Azores. He hath spoken long and earnestly with our mother, and she is so sorely distressed that she hath bidden me do what she had willingly have done with her own hand--write to thee, in the hope that thou art still alive, and tell thee of these things. And what hath given her a strong hope is, that Christopher Pym doth now positively declare that the letter which Jasper averred had come to him from Sir Richard Grenville came not from Sir Richard at all, but was a base and wilful forgery._
_Much more have I to tell thee. But I have already spent many hours over this long letter, which hath yet to be read by our mother and writ out again by Master Pym, who will set it forth in more seemly English than I, an ignorant girl, can command._
_Farewell, dear my brother. The Lord bless thee and bring thee home in safety, and govern thee with His grace and make thee a good servant to our Queen and country. Thy loving sister, so long as thou livest in the fear of God_,
_DRUSILLA OGLANDER_.
Grasping the letter in his hand, Gilbert bent forward with his head uponhis knees and wept.
Long, long he remained thus, now weeping in sorrow for his mother, nowyearning to be back in England, now fretting over the fate that kepthim, as it were, a prisoner on foreign shores. Oh, why were the Spanishso long in coming? Why did they delay?
Suddenly he was aroused by hearing strange sounds: the tinkling ofdistant bells, the shrill, penetrating whistle of boatswains' pipes, andthen the loud report of a cannon. He stood up and glanced through thefoliage down at the fleet, and there he saw that the ships were inunwonted commotion. Boats were passing to and fro along the line. Nearto the admiral's flag-ship there was a strange vessel with fresh whitesails that had been newly furled. It was the same ship that he hadalready seen making her way across the sea. He turned and glanced overthe water to make sure that this was so, for he could not well believethat she had come so quickly, or that he had remained inactive so long,brooding over the letter. Yes, it was indeed the same ship.
But what was this that he now saw upon the far horizon? He strained hiseyes in eagerness. Away in the east, like a string of threaded beadsupon the line of the horizon, there appeared a whole armada ofships--ten, twenty, forty, nay, more even than this. And they weresailing westward towards Flores--westward from Spain!